Saturday, November 23, 2002
My head is killing me... I dunno why. It feels like my eyes are gonna pop out of my head. I'll probably hit the hay when I get home tonight. I hope I can find the Tylenol...
This afternoon my mom called to tell me that my cousins' cheerleading squad placed 1st in the regional competition. It's an elementary school squad, and my cousins Jackie, Lauren and Meaghan are on it. They are aged 10, 8 and 6 respectively. Meaghan is the youngest of the three, and one of 3 girls under age 7 on the squad.
Meaghan is also a competitive gymnast. Sure she's young and her "Level 2" gym class is pretty basic (handstands and roundoffs), but she loves the activity and the competition aspect. At gymnastics, she is always met with stern but ego-sensitive criticism and coaching. She is well-liked by the coaches and thoroughly enjoys her time there.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said about cheerleading. This year was the first year girls that young were allowed on the team. As a result, they were looked down on and ridiculed by the other squad members and the sponsors. The other two girls were reduced to tears each session, but Meaghan, being the feisty girl she is refused to let it get to her and only practiced harder to be accepted as much as any of the other girls.
The cheerleading coach, a foulmouth woman who cares more for the trophy than the girls on her squad, planned from the very beginning to have the three youngest girls excluded from the competitions. She claimed none of the girls knew the routine and they couldn't risk losing the contest. This made my family furious. Not only did Meaghan have the routine down pat, but her membership, pom-pom and uniform costs were very high. This activity isn't for a grade or popularity... It's for fun. These girls are in elementary for Chrissakes! After my aunt and uncle's protests about the way practices were turning out -- the youngest girls being made to perform the routine alone, and being put down with harsh "adult" words -- all parents were banned from the practice area.
A couple of weeks later, my aunt and uncle were informed that Meaghan (as well as the other two girls) could not participate because she didn't know the routine. Bull. When they confronted the coach about it, she said her mind was made up. They then asked her to step outside so they could talk in private. She refused and began directing snide comments and her foul mouth toward my aunt and uncle. My aunt shot remarks back, and the woman began shoving the both of them... physically assaulting them. My uncle seperated her from my aunt and calmed them down. At that point, the coach informed them that Meaghan was no longer allowed to come to practices and that she had been kicked off the team. Astounded at her gall, my aunt and uncle gathered Meaghan's things and took her home... the girl in tears the whole way.
The following morning, my aunt spoke to the Superintendant of schools, the PTA president, the UIL director and the school principal. Each of the officials were appalled at the behavior of the coach and her decision about the girls' performance. Much to the coach's chagrin, all girls were allowed to perform with the squad, and Meaghan was reinstated as a member of the team.
And what were the results? Well, as I said before, they placed first in the region. The performance was solid and Meaghan went out there without an ounce of nerves. She enjoyed what she was doing and certainly proved her worth to the coach, who could have saved everyone a lot of grief had she only put some faith in her cheerleaders.
This afternoon my mom called to tell me that my cousins' cheerleading squad placed 1st in the regional competition. It's an elementary school squad, and my cousins Jackie, Lauren and Meaghan are on it. They are aged 10, 8 and 6 respectively. Meaghan is the youngest of the three, and one of 3 girls under age 7 on the squad.
Meaghan is also a competitive gymnast. Sure she's young and her "Level 2" gym class is pretty basic (handstands and roundoffs), but she loves the activity and the competition aspect. At gymnastics, she is always met with stern but ego-sensitive criticism and coaching. She is well-liked by the coaches and thoroughly enjoys her time there.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said about cheerleading. This year was the first year girls that young were allowed on the team. As a result, they were looked down on and ridiculed by the other squad members and the sponsors. The other two girls were reduced to tears each session, but Meaghan, being the feisty girl she is refused to let it get to her and only practiced harder to be accepted as much as any of the other girls.
The cheerleading coach, a foulmouth woman who cares more for the trophy than the girls on her squad, planned from the very beginning to have the three youngest girls excluded from the competitions. She claimed none of the girls knew the routine and they couldn't risk losing the contest. This made my family furious. Not only did Meaghan have the routine down pat, but her membership, pom-pom and uniform costs were very high. This activity isn't for a grade or popularity... It's for fun. These girls are in elementary for Chrissakes! After my aunt and uncle's protests about the way practices were turning out -- the youngest girls being made to perform the routine alone, and being put down with harsh "adult" words -- all parents were banned from the practice area.
A couple of weeks later, my aunt and uncle were informed that Meaghan (as well as the other two girls) could not participate because she didn't know the routine. Bull. When they confronted the coach about it, she said her mind was made up. They then asked her to step outside so they could talk in private. She refused and began directing snide comments and her foul mouth toward my aunt and uncle. My aunt shot remarks back, and the woman began shoving the both of them... physically assaulting them. My uncle seperated her from my aunt and calmed them down. At that point, the coach informed them that Meaghan was no longer allowed to come to practices and that she had been kicked off the team. Astounded at her gall, my aunt and uncle gathered Meaghan's things and took her home... the girl in tears the whole way.
The following morning, my aunt spoke to the Superintendant of schools, the PTA president, the UIL director and the school principal. Each of the officials were appalled at the behavior of the coach and her decision about the girls' performance. Much to the coach's chagrin, all girls were allowed to perform with the squad, and Meaghan was reinstated as a member of the team.
And what were the results? Well, as I said before, they placed first in the region. The performance was solid and Meaghan went out there without an ounce of nerves. She enjoyed what she was doing and certainly proved her worth to the coach, who could have saved everyone a lot of grief had she only put some faith in her cheerleaders.
Mikey was being stupid at 10:59 PM ::
Work was a bitch today.... I didn't do too much, but there were bitchy people all over the place. "Do this" "Do that" ... it was evil. I've got a headache and I think I'm gonna go to bed soon.... Yeeeeah, right.
Mikey was being stupid at 3:13 AM ::
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Once again, we didn't get to hear the band... This time it was because the guy who invited the band back for tonight got in a fight with the guy who does the PR for the band. Of course, the band was unaware of this, showed up with their equipment and were told to get the hell out... Well, actually it wasn't worded like that. It was more civil... So we all decided to stay again. And this time, I didn't get quite so smashed. I played a couple of good games of pool, but still fell hard to my future brother-in-law.
The place had a bit more people this time around, and the bands that DID perform were ... well... somewhat crappy. They were kinda death metal... Okay, really death metal. Which just makes your head ache. It doesn't help any that I'm still getting over my cold. And even considering the amount of alcohol I consumed, I'm still gonna down some NyQuil. Mmm... NyQuil... garhagharghagrh... Ahem. Anyway.
I also set up my old NES (8-bit) cuz I just got the TMNT video cart I won on e-bay! Damn, that game is tough. There is absolutely no way I can beat that thing. I also played a bit of Castlevania and SMB. It's cool! :D Talked to Dave for a while tonight too... He's the coolest :D
Well, that's it from me for now. I'll see ya later.... Ooo boy, work tomorrow!
The place had a bit more people this time around, and the bands that DID perform were ... well... somewhat crappy. They were kinda death metal... Okay, really death metal. Which just makes your head ache. It doesn't help any that I'm still getting over my cold. And even considering the amount of alcohol I consumed, I'm still gonna down some NyQuil. Mmm... NyQuil... garhagharghagrh... Ahem. Anyway.
I also set up my old NES (8-bit) cuz I just got the TMNT video cart I won on e-bay! Damn, that game is tough. There is absolutely no way I can beat that thing. I also played a bit of Castlevania and SMB. It's cool! :D Talked to Dave for a while tonight too... He's the coolest :D
Well, that's it from me for now. I'll see ya later.... Ooo boy, work tomorrow!
Mikey was being stupid at 2:44 AM ::
Monday, November 18, 2002
Well, yes, here I am Blogging at 5:30 in the morning. This must be why I'm feeling "under the weather" ... Either that or the fact that I'm freezing my ass off. You see, my house has NO climate control system -- unless you count windows as climate control.
But having hardwood floors and nothing but laminate wood blinds on the windows, and very little insulation in the walls makes it difficult to stay comfortable. You may recall that circa August, all of my Cam pics were taken with me half naked (ie. topless) ... Now I'm constantly wearing my hoodie and layered clothing.
It really is impossible to win. When it's hot outside, it's a sauna in here. When it's cold oustide it's an ice box in here. Grr.
So, in case you were curious, I went ahead and updated the pages on the site. I added a new little photo gallery. 8 more pics. This time, they are pics of a guest I got in my backyard after the floodwaters from a couple of weeks ago receded. He's been back there ever since. Now, as much of a Ninja Turtle expert as I am, I'm not where near knowledgable of the real thing. So don't ask me if he is a turtle or a tortoise... My friend told me that he's a tortoise, but I dunno... looks too green to me.
Anyway... so that's up. And all the other pages are updated as well. However, I still don't have a guestbook or an archive section. I need to figure out how to get this blogger to archive. We'll save that for another day.
On a final note, yesterday the site was hacked. The main index page was overwritten with some hacker page. Luckily they didn't delete anything. But I called up featureprice and they are taking whatever action they can. So, if you were looking for ninja turtles at around 10 pm last night and didn't see em. That's what was going on.
Okay, that's all from me. Good night. errr. Morning.
But having hardwood floors and nothing but laminate wood blinds on the windows, and very little insulation in the walls makes it difficult to stay comfortable. You may recall that circa August, all of my Cam pics were taken with me half naked (ie. topless) ... Now I'm constantly wearing my hoodie and layered clothing.
It really is impossible to win. When it's hot outside, it's a sauna in here. When it's cold oustide it's an ice box in here. Grr.
So, in case you were curious, I went ahead and updated the pages on the site. I added a new little photo gallery. 8 more pics. This time, they are pics of a guest I got in my backyard after the floodwaters from a couple of weeks ago receded. He's been back there ever since. Now, as much of a Ninja Turtle expert as I am, I'm not where near knowledgable of the real thing. So don't ask me if he is a turtle or a tortoise... My friend told me that he's a tortoise, but I dunno... looks too green to me.
Anyway... so that's up. And all the other pages are updated as well. However, I still don't have a guestbook or an archive section. I need to figure out how to get this blogger to archive. We'll save that for another day.
On a final note, yesterday the site was hacked. The main index page was overwritten with some hacker page. Luckily they didn't delete anything. But I called up featureprice and they are taking whatever action they can. So, if you were looking for ninja turtles at around 10 pm last night and didn't see em. That's what was going on.
Okay, that's all from me. Good night. errr. Morning.
Mikey was being stupid at 5:51 AM ::
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Just wanted to show off the latest pic that my good buddy Dave created. This is a portrait of Lily and me. It's based on my current webcam pic. Awesome, ain't it? Dave truly is the master of the crayola.
Mikey was being stupid at 10:48 PM ::
Check out I Used to Believe. In case you've never heard of this site, I strongly recommend checking it out... It's really entertaining and reminds me of when I was young.
In the section about bathrooms, I found this one especially funny...
"I used to believe that if you didn't get out of the bathroom as soon as you finished washing your hands, fire and babies would come and get you."
Haha... I didn't ever think that, but I have sent in a couple of my old beliefs. I've read some that are just way out there. Just goes to show how mixed up kids are huh?
Ugh, I've been feeling sick the past few days. I'm probably getting sick... My sister, mom and dad were all sick this past week, and spending so much time with them, I know I'm coming down with the same thing. Both yesterday and today I woke up at 3:30 pm! That's late even for me. Luckily, I haven't been late for work... luckily work has been dead. Though I haven't eaten anything all day. I'm not really hungry, but I know I should eat something anyway.
In the section about bathrooms, I found this one especially funny...
"I used to believe that if you didn't get out of the bathroom as soon as you finished washing your hands, fire and babies would come and get you."
Haha... I didn't ever think that, but I have sent in a couple of my old beliefs. I've read some that are just way out there. Just goes to show how mixed up kids are huh?
Ugh, I've been feeling sick the past few days. I'm probably getting sick... My sister, mom and dad were all sick this past week, and spending so much time with them, I know I'm coming down with the same thing. Both yesterday and today I woke up at 3:30 pm! That's late even for me. Luckily, I haven't been late for work... luckily work has been dead. Though I haven't eaten anything all day. I'm not really hungry, but I know I should eat something anyway.
Mikey was being stupid at 7:29 PM ::