1) The different views regarding skateboarding on campus.
2) Fraternity and Sorority life at UCF.
3. All the events at UCF that make it seem like one big community, such as Pegasus Palooza.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
final draft
Right now I am 18 years old and in my freshman year of college. My brothers are four and six years older than me and we get along great now. However, that was not the case growing up. Since my brothers were only two years apart they were a lot closer together than with me. Subsequently being the youngest my brothers beat me up a bit, usually verbally but not always. I hated them for it and never thought there would come a day that I would actually thank them.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
Every Sunday that summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Every Sunday there would be new skaters out to play but for the most part it was the same group. The regulars were Scot, Rob, Rick, Tom, Dave, Matt, Andy, Tom, Jeff and I. While we were the dedicated few out there every Sunday there were always at least five others. To me Scot, being the oldest (around 50), was the captain. He was not the strongest skater but he was a leader and always knew where to be for the play. Rob was about 27 and an offensive defenseman. He was one of the fastest skaters and could handle the puck with ease. Rick was a bit peculiar. He was probably in his 40s and was scruffy looking guy who drove one of those big black vans (pedophile vans). Tom, also in his 40’s, was Rick’s friend who drove a big white “work” van (also pedophile van). They were not the strongest skaters but they still had fun, maybe because they were always hitting that bong like Cheech and Chong. Dave (around 27) was a stand up guy who enjoyed playing but was a bit of a lazy skater. Matt and Andy (late 20’s) were definitely the enforcers. They were big man and solid skaters which made it hard to get the puck by them. To be honest they were so similar in their techniques and looks that it took me a couple months to differentiate between their names.
And then there were my brothers, Tom and Jeff. At the time Tom was 20 years old and Jeff was 18 years old. Tom was down for the summer from the University of Florida and Jeff was getting ready to start his freshman year there. Jeff has always been more of a laid back person when it comes to everything. I guess you could say he is just not confrontational. He is one of the fastest skaters out there and will fight for the puck in the corner, no matter how big the opponent is. Tom has always been the most enthused about hockey and spent the most time practicing his form. He even follows all the drafts and reports during the season. Being a great stick handler and skater, Tom was a puck hog and a bit cocky. This has annoyed me for years because he is a bit of a gloater when he makes a great play. This is definitely what sparked this infamous day in my life.
An important thing to understand is that in a game a skater can make a mistake and have minimal repercussion or consequence for it. However, if a goalie is just a centimeter out of position it could mean he let down the whole team. This puts a lot of pressure on the goaltender and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming and it can be easy to loose your composure. Being a goalie myself I fully understand this but the most frustrating part is that most others do not. In my view this is the best part of playing a pick-up game. Nobody is keeping score so you can feel free to experiment with some new moves or techniques and there are no worries if they don’t work out.
Mike was not a regular for Sunday morning pick-up games since he lived about 25 minutes away, but he still came out to play every now and then. Everyone was always happy when he did because he was a goalie and it is always fun to shoot on a goalie rather than three metal posts. Mike (around 30) was a nice guy who would have helped anyone out. But yet he always seemed a little odd. He set an alarm for every fifteen minutes so he could take a break and cool off. Granted it was probably 90 degrees out in south Florida and the goalie pads added about ten to fifteen degrees, but still I have played for hours without a break. He also didn’t have much form and just flopped around trying to save the shot. Having a bit of training from more experienced goalies myself I tried to give him some pointers on the butterfly position but he was not very open to it. The butterfly style is when the goalie puts the leg pads on the ground sideways to cover more of the bottom of the net. This is a very important technique for making a save in a breakaway situation. Had he been more open minded, this day may have never happened.
This day of hockey started off like every other. We all put our sticks in the center and Scott closed his eyes and separated them for random teams. I was always happy when my brothers and I ended up on the same team. Luckily I had that day because my brother Tom was on a hot streak. After playing for about an hour and a half we were all exhausted from the blazing sun beating down on us. Rick suggested a a water break and everyone agreed. At this point in a pick-up game our big defensemen Andy and Matt become lazy because there is no consequence if they get scored on since it is just for fun. This was the pitfall for the day. Rob seemed to always have energy but he went out the night before and was a bit sluggish. So unluckily for Mike his whole team was moving slow. A breakaway is when a player from the opposing team has the puck with no defender in between him and the goalie, which gives him a free shot. My brother Tom got many of these rare chances that day and scored every time. He had a handful of pretty deeks up his hand and made them work with ease. He would move the puck so well that Mike would dive the wrong way because he tricked him. If the goals weren’t embarrassing enough Tom had to add some rude comments after them as well.
We have no clue how many goals he made but there were definitely at least eight in a row that threw Mike over the top. I have no clue how to say this other than that it was the biggest temper tantrum that I have ever seen and it was by a grown man. He broke his goalie stick over the post and threw his gloves in the air. All of us were shocked by his overreaction. He then proceeded to skate away and did not come back for another ten minutes. I never looked at him the same after this. I can completely understand the stress and frustration he was under but any age above ten and you shouldn’t act like that. On the way home I actually thanked my brothers for giving me such a hard time growing up, because I would never react that way. If I ever get worked up over something I remember how ridiculous Mike looked and would not want anyone to think of me like that.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
Every Sunday that summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Every Sunday there would be new skaters out to play but for the most part it was the same group. The regulars were Scot, Rob, Rick, Tom, Dave, Matt, Andy, Tom, Jeff and I. While we were the dedicated few out there every Sunday there were always at least five others. To me Scot, being the oldest (around 50), was the captain. He was not the strongest skater but he was a leader and always knew where to be for the play. Rob was about 27 and an offensive defenseman. He was one of the fastest skaters and could handle the puck with ease. Rick was a bit peculiar. He was probably in his 40s and was scruffy looking guy who drove one of those big black vans (pedophile vans). Tom, also in his 40’s, was Rick’s friend who drove a big white “work” van (also pedophile van). They were not the strongest skaters but they still had fun, maybe because they were always hitting that bong like Cheech and Chong. Dave (around 27) was a stand up guy who enjoyed playing but was a bit of a lazy skater. Matt and Andy (late 20’s) were definitely the enforcers. They were big man and solid skaters which made it hard to get the puck by them. To be honest they were so similar in their techniques and looks that it took me a couple months to differentiate between their names.
And then there were my brothers, Tom and Jeff. At the time Tom was 20 years old and Jeff was 18 years old. Tom was down for the summer from the University of Florida and Jeff was getting ready to start his freshman year there. Jeff has always been more of a laid back person when it comes to everything. I guess you could say he is just not confrontational. He is one of the fastest skaters out there and will fight for the puck in the corner, no matter how big the opponent is. Tom has always been the most enthused about hockey and spent the most time practicing his form. He even follows all the drafts and reports during the season. Being a great stick handler and skater, Tom was a puck hog and a bit cocky. This has annoyed me for years because he is a bit of a gloater when he makes a great play. This is definitely what sparked this infamous day in my life.
An important thing to understand is that in a game a skater can make a mistake and have minimal repercussion or consequence for it. However, if a goalie is just a centimeter out of position it could mean he let down the whole team. This puts a lot of pressure on the goaltender and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming and it can be easy to loose your composure. Being a goalie myself I fully understand this but the most frustrating part is that most others do not. In my view this is the best part of playing a pick-up game. Nobody is keeping score so you can feel free to experiment with some new moves or techniques and there are no worries if they don’t work out.
Mike was not a regular for Sunday morning pick-up games since he lived about 25 minutes away, but he still came out to play every now and then. Everyone was always happy when he did because he was a goalie and it is always fun to shoot on a goalie rather than three metal posts. Mike (around 30) was a nice guy who would have helped anyone out. But yet he always seemed a little odd. He set an alarm for every fifteen minutes so he could take a break and cool off. Granted it was probably 90 degrees out in south Florida and the goalie pads added about ten to fifteen degrees, but still I have played for hours without a break. He also didn’t have much form and just flopped around trying to save the shot. Having a bit of training from more experienced goalies myself I tried to give him some pointers on the butterfly position but he was not very open to it. The butterfly style is when the goalie puts the leg pads on the ground sideways to cover more of the bottom of the net. This is a very important technique for making a save in a breakaway situation. Had he been more open minded, this day may have never happened.
This day of hockey started off like every other. We all put our sticks in the center and Scott closed his eyes and separated them for random teams. I was always happy when my brothers and I ended up on the same team. Luckily I had that day because my brother Tom was on a hot streak. After playing for about an hour and a half we were all exhausted from the blazing sun beating down on us. Rick suggested a a water break and everyone agreed. At this point in a pick-up game our big defensemen Andy and Matt become lazy because there is no consequence if they get scored on since it is just for fun. This was the pitfall for the day. Rob seemed to always have energy but he went out the night before and was a bit sluggish. So unluckily for Mike his whole team was moving slow. A breakaway is when a player from the opposing team has the puck with no defender in between him and the goalie, which gives him a free shot. My brother Tom got many of these rare chances that day and scored every time. He had a handful of pretty deeks up his hand and made them work with ease. He would move the puck so well that Mike would dive the wrong way because he tricked him. If the goals weren’t embarrassing enough Tom had to add some rude comments after them as well.
We have no clue how many goals he made but there were definitely at least eight in a row that threw Mike over the top. I have no clue how to say this other than that it was the biggest temper tantrum that I have ever seen and it was by a grown man. He broke his goalie stick over the post and threw his gloves in the air. All of us were shocked by his overreaction. He then proceeded to skate away and did not come back for another ten minutes. I never looked at him the same after this. I can completely understand the stress and frustration he was under but any age above ten and you shouldn’t act like that. On the way home I actually thanked my brothers for giving me such a hard time growing up, because I would never react that way. If I ever get worked up over something I remember how ridiculous Mike looked and would not want anyone to think of me like that.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
rough draft
Right now I am 18 years old and in my freshman year of college. My brothers are four and six years older than me and we get along great now. However, that was not the case growing up. Since my brothers were only two years apart they were a lot closer together than with me. Subsequently being the youngest my brothers beat me up a bit, usually verbally but not always. I hated them for it and never thought there would come a day that I would actually thank them.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
All summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey every Sunday. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Every Sunday there would be new skaters out to play but for the most part it was the same group. The regulars were Scot, Rob, Rick, Tom, Dave, Matt, Andy, Tom, Jeff and I. While we were the dedicated few out there every Sunday there were always at least five others. To me Scot, being the oldest (around 50), was like the captain. He was not the strongest skater but he was a leader and always knew where to be for the play. Rob was about 27 and an offensive defenseman. He was one of the fastest skaters and could handle the puck with ease. Rick was a bit peculiar. He was probably in his 40s and was scruffy looking guy who drove one of those big black vans (pedophile vans). Tom, also in his 40’s, was Rick’s friend who drove a big white “work” van (also pedophile van). They were not the strongest skaters but they still had fun, maybe because they were always hittin that bong like Cheech and Chong. Dave (around 27) was a stand up guy who enjoyed playing but was a bit of a lazy skater. Matt and Andy (late 20’s) were definitely the enforcers. They were big man and solid skaters which made it hard to get the puck by them. To be honest they were so similar in their techniques and looks that it took me a couple months to differentiate between their names.
And then there were my brothers, Tom and Jeff. At the time Tom was 20 years old and Jeff was 18 years old. Tom was down for the summer from the University of Florida and Jeff was getting ready to start his freshman year there. Jeff has always been more of a laid back person when it comes to everything. I guess you could say he is just not confrontational. He is one of the fastest skaters out there and will fight for the puck in the corner, no matter how big the opponent is. Tom has always been the most enthused about hockey and spent the most time practicing his form. He even follows all the drafts and reports during the season. Being a great stick handler and skater, Tom was a puck hog and a bit cocky. This has annoyed me for years because he is a bit of a gloater when he makes a great play. This is definitely what sparked this infamous day in my life.
An important thing to understand is that in a game a skater can make a mistake and have minimal repercussion or consequence for it. However, if a goalie is just a centimeter out of position it could mean he let down the whole team. This puts a lot of pressure on the goaltender and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming and it can be easy to loose your composure. Being a goalie myself I fully understand this but the most frustrating part is that most others do not. In my view this is the best part of playing a pick-up game. Nobody is keeping score so you can feel free to experiment with some new moves or techniques and there are no worries if they don’t work out.
Mike was not a regular for Sunday morning pick-up games since he lived about 25 minutes away, but he still came out to play every now and then. Everyone was always happy when he did because he was a goalie and it is always fun to shoot on a goalie rather than three metal posts. Mike (around 30) was a nice guy who would have helped anyone out. But yet he always seemed a little odd. He set an alarm for every fifteen minutes so he could take a break and cool off. Granted it was probably 90 degrees out in south Florida and the goalie pads added about ten to fifteen degrees, but still I have played for hours without a break. He also didn’t have much form and just flopped around trying to save the shot. Having a bit of training from more experienced goalies myself I tried to give him some pointers on the butterfly position but he was not very open to it. The butterfly style is when the goalie puts the leg pads on the ground sideways to cover more of the bottom of the net. This is a very important technique for making a save in a breakaway situation. Had he been more open minded, this day may have never happened.
This day of hockey started off like every other. We all put our sticks in the center and Scott closed his eyes and separated them for random teams. I was always happy when my brothers and I ended up on the same team. Luckily I had that day because my brother Tom was on a hot streak. After playing for about an hour and a half we were all exhausted from the blazing sun beating down on us. At this point in a pick-up game the defense becomes lazy because there is no consequence if they get scored on since it is just for fun. This was the pitfall for the day. A breakaway is when a player from the opposing team has the puck with no defender in between him and the goalie, which gives him a free shot. My brother Tom got many of these rare chances that day and scored every time. We have no clue how many he made but there were definitely at least eight in a row that threw Mike over the top. I have no clue how to say this other than that it was the biggest temper tantrum that I have ever seen and it was by a grown man. He broke his goalie stick over the post and threw his gloves in the air. All of us were shocked by his overreaction. He then proceeded to skate away and did not come back for another ten minutes. I never looked at him the same after this. I can completely understand the stress and frustration he was under but any age above ten and you shouldn’t act like that. On the way home I actually thanked my brothers for giving me such a hard time growing up, because I would never react that way. If I ever get worked up over something I remember how ridiculous Mike looked and would not want anyone to think of me like that.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
All summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey every Sunday. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Every Sunday there would be new skaters out to play but for the most part it was the same group. The regulars were Scot, Rob, Rick, Tom, Dave, Matt, Andy, Tom, Jeff and I. While we were the dedicated few out there every Sunday there were always at least five others. To me Scot, being the oldest (around 50), was like the captain. He was not the strongest skater but he was a leader and always knew where to be for the play. Rob was about 27 and an offensive defenseman. He was one of the fastest skaters and could handle the puck with ease. Rick was a bit peculiar. He was probably in his 40s and was scruffy looking guy who drove one of those big black vans (pedophile vans). Tom, also in his 40’s, was Rick’s friend who drove a big white “work” van (also pedophile van). They were not the strongest skaters but they still had fun, maybe because they were always hittin that bong like Cheech and Chong. Dave (around 27) was a stand up guy who enjoyed playing but was a bit of a lazy skater. Matt and Andy (late 20’s) were definitely the enforcers. They were big man and solid skaters which made it hard to get the puck by them. To be honest they were so similar in their techniques and looks that it took me a couple months to differentiate between their names.
And then there were my brothers, Tom and Jeff. At the time Tom was 20 years old and Jeff was 18 years old. Tom was down for the summer from the University of Florida and Jeff was getting ready to start his freshman year there. Jeff has always been more of a laid back person when it comes to everything. I guess you could say he is just not confrontational. He is one of the fastest skaters out there and will fight for the puck in the corner, no matter how big the opponent is. Tom has always been the most enthused about hockey and spent the most time practicing his form. He even follows all the drafts and reports during the season. Being a great stick handler and skater, Tom was a puck hog and a bit cocky. This has annoyed me for years because he is a bit of a gloater when he makes a great play. This is definitely what sparked this infamous day in my life.
An important thing to understand is that in a game a skater can make a mistake and have minimal repercussion or consequence for it. However, if a goalie is just a centimeter out of position it could mean he let down the whole team. This puts a lot of pressure on the goaltender and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming and it can be easy to loose your composure. Being a goalie myself I fully understand this but the most frustrating part is that most others do not. In my view this is the best part of playing a pick-up game. Nobody is keeping score so you can feel free to experiment with some new moves or techniques and there are no worries if they don’t work out.
Mike was not a regular for Sunday morning pick-up games since he lived about 25 minutes away, but he still came out to play every now and then. Everyone was always happy when he did because he was a goalie and it is always fun to shoot on a goalie rather than three metal posts. Mike (around 30) was a nice guy who would have helped anyone out. But yet he always seemed a little odd. He set an alarm for every fifteen minutes so he could take a break and cool off. Granted it was probably 90 degrees out in south Florida and the goalie pads added about ten to fifteen degrees, but still I have played for hours without a break. He also didn’t have much form and just flopped around trying to save the shot. Having a bit of training from more experienced goalies myself I tried to give him some pointers on the butterfly position but he was not very open to it. The butterfly style is when the goalie puts the leg pads on the ground sideways to cover more of the bottom of the net. This is a very important technique for making a save in a breakaway situation. Had he been more open minded, this day may have never happened.
This day of hockey started off like every other. We all put our sticks in the center and Scott closed his eyes and separated them for random teams. I was always happy when my brothers and I ended up on the same team. Luckily I had that day because my brother Tom was on a hot streak. After playing for about an hour and a half we were all exhausted from the blazing sun beating down on us. At this point in a pick-up game the defense becomes lazy because there is no consequence if they get scored on since it is just for fun. This was the pitfall for the day. A breakaway is when a player from the opposing team has the puck with no defender in between him and the goalie, which gives him a free shot. My brother Tom got many of these rare chances that day and scored every time. We have no clue how many he made but there were definitely at least eight in a row that threw Mike over the top. I have no clue how to say this other than that it was the biggest temper tantrum that I have ever seen and it was by a grown man. He broke his goalie stick over the post and threw his gloves in the air. All of us were shocked by his overreaction. He then proceeded to skate away and did not come back for another ten minutes. I never looked at him the same after this. I can completely understand the stress and frustration he was under but any age above ten and you shouldn’t act like that. On the way home I actually thanked my brothers for giving me such a hard time growing up, because I would never react that way. If I ever get worked up over something I remember how ridiculous Mike looked and would not want anyone to think of me like that.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday morning hockey
Right now I am 18 years old and in my freshman year of college. My brothers are four and six years older than me and we get along great now. However, that was not the case growing up. Since my brothers were only two years apart they were a lot closer together than with me. Subsequently being the youngest my brothers beat me up a bit, usually verbally but not always. I hated them for it and never thought there would come a day that I would actually thank them for it.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
All summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey every Sunday. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Getting crap from my brothers for every little thing I did created a tougher shell around me and taught me to just roll with the punches and realize that most of the time its not worth doing anything. You look like an immature jerk for overreacting and it is better to just be a man and own up. When it comes to sports everybody make mistakes and has an off day, even the pros. It is how you act on days like this that defines your true character.
All summer my brothers and I had been going to our city park to play hockey every Sunday. We would get to the rinks around 10:30 and by then there would be enough skaters to start a pickup game. The range of players spread all skill levels spanning all ages from 14 to late 50’s. Everyone’s favorite part of Sunday morning hockey was that it was strictly for fun. Nobody even kept score.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
invention
1) It was a mere pick-up game of hockey that opened my eyes to growing up. I grew more mature and thanked my older brothers for always giving me a hard time when i saw a grown man have a temper tantrum over a game that nobody was keeping score.
2) Hurricane Wilma came through my town with devastating destruction. Even though there was great damage to everyone's home, there was silver lining on the dark clouds. The hurricane brought neighbors and communities closer together.
3) Every generation has a catastrophic event. Even if people were little kids when it happened they will be able to answer the question, "where were u when?" Such as when JFK died. For my generation it was, "Do u remember where you were on September 11?" I remember that hectic day in fifth grade and will never forget it.
2) Hurricane Wilma came through my town with devastating destruction. Even though there was great damage to everyone's home, there was silver lining on the dark clouds. The hurricane brought neighbors and communities closer together.
3) Every generation has a catastrophic event. Even if people were little kids when it happened they will be able to answer the question, "where were u when?" Such as when JFK died. For my generation it was, "Do u remember where you were on September 11?" I remember that hectic day in fifth grade and will never forget it.
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