Merry Christmas!

It's the holidays still. I've had A LOT of time on my hands- time to ponder many things- and it was in this state of immense pondering that I came upon the realization that I HAVE A TON OF STUFF THAT I HAVE TO DO!!!!!!

(Deep breath).... I've got my two late BC Calculus assignments, the new assignment, the problem of the week, my character scrapbook-like conflict project for AP English, vocab #14, my novel review for A Tale of Two Cities, the novel review for Macbeth ("O, happy dagger.."), the second half of the term project about making the world a better place, my online class of Financial Literacy, and also the one for Health so I can graduate in a few months, all the scholarship stuff for the University of Utah if I ever get accepted, and all the scholarship stuff for the Elks National Foundation, which includes various letters of recomendation, service hours, awards, leadership positions, copies, transcripts, forms, and essays. Whew... so uh, yeah.... Merry Christmas!

It was Awesome!

I went to three churches today and not once did somebody tell me I was going to Hell!

Football, weeks 1, 2, and 3

Since it is the weekend, and I actually have time to sit down and do what I want, I decided to write about my experiences as a Woods Cross High School Football player. I am a lineman, though I probably shouldn't be because I'm kinda too small. I line up and go head to head with humungous other fat kids who usually have 50 or more pounds on me. Sometimes it hurts. And it makes me mad that they are beating me just because they have more mass than me. It's really frustrating. I play guard on offense, and D-Tackle or D-End on defense. But enough about that. Let's get on to the games.

Ben Lomond, Aug 22, 2008
I don't start on varsity except for on the punt and kick-return teams, but I did expect to play some guard, and I did. In fact I probably played more than I thought I would. And I did good, believe it or not. The whole team was doing good. At half time the score was 25-7 WX. I played the most in the second half however (can you tell I get excited when I get playing time?), and that's when we just went wild. I honestly got hit harder earlier that week at practice than I did once in this game. I got a phantom holding call on a 29 sweep at the end of the game. Turns out the ref had told my coach that he wasn't gonna let us score any more, so he was going to call penalties. Well, it didn't work so well because we scored again in the next two plays. After the game we came together on the the WX, lifted our helmets up just like we had said we would, and got a wildcat call as a team. The final score was 65-14 WX.

(JV) Syracuse, Aug 28, 2008
Yeah, so because I don't start on varsity I get to play JV. I'm not quite sure it's entirely legal for a senior to play JV, but I guess it must be if I'm doing it. We did it last year with some seniors. And we were good. 5-1 in region play. I came into it really mad because I didn't want to have to play JV, and I was playing alongside a line of sophomores and juniors who didn't quite know everything so well. Yeah, sophomores. Just like my age group, the juniors this year lost quite a few players and their best ones are all starting varsity. In fact 4 of the 5 starting offensive lineman for varsity are juniors. But anyway- I had lots of fun. I started as guard and even as tackle on defense. It was awesome- I got a sack and I even batted down a pass, it was so sweet. We were winning the whole game until they tied us up at 19-19 and we went into overtime. We got the ball first and scored a TD. We then shut them out and won 26-19.

@ Syracuse, Aug 29, 2008
The team is coached by the former WX coach the year before last year. He's a nice guy, I really liked him. These guys hit a lot harder than the last team. On punt I got held every single time. I think I even got the call once. But I fought as much as I could and still it wasn't enough. It was so frustrating. I got a couple plays as end on defense. And I got a few at the very end as guard. Our defense did awesome but our offense got a total of 94 yards. We lost 0-14.

(JV) @ West, Sep 4, 2008
I wasn't feelin it very much this game. I was only supposed to play 1 half according to coach's orders, so I sat out the first half. Well, I played some d-end in the first quarter but I did pretty much horrible and I didn't get back in. And I was on kick-off and kick-return. We led the game 14-0 at halftime I think, but we let them back in, they went on a 24-0 run, and we lost 14-24. I didn't do very good at all.

West, Sep 5, 2008
I came into this one fired up. I was ready to go. I did pretty well on punt- way better than last week. I even think I did better on kick-return. We scored the first touchdown, and then, by a stroke of pure genius from our coach, completed a fake PAT to a man in the endzone for a 2-point conversion. IT WAS SO SWEET!!! I seriously did not think it was going to work, but it did. The holder flipped it over the line to the tight end while the kicker pretended to kick it. Awww man.... I was in at right defensive end when West scored. I lost contain and they gained a touchdown. And then they went for it and barely got over the line for the 2-point conversion. I was so mad. Then they scored again making it 8-15. We just kinda fell apart after that. We fumbled it a couple of times and we just couldn't get it done. I got in as left guard about mid-fourth quarter. We marched up the field and scored on a 128 waggle. It was a thing of beauty. However, we missed the extra point making the score 14-15. We got the ball back with about 50 seconds left in the game and I was still in as guard. We ran pass play after pass play, getting a couple of first downs. The HUGE linebacker that we had talked about all week stunted on me and I put my helmet right in his crotch. He never stunted again. I was proud of myself. But time ran out and we lost 14-15.

Varsity's record is now 1-2
JV's is 1-1

This means WAR

About this time every year an upward surge in the spider population inside the house occurs. It's pretty intense. You don't have to look very hard to find one of these disgusting arthropods. And every year we get a species of spider that I like to call Harold. I don't know exactly what kind they are but they are HUGE, light brownish, and wicked fast little buggers. They are characterized by their large size and a light stripe which runs vertically down their bodies.

I found one earlier today right here in the computer room. When I tried to kill it, it ran underneath the brown rockingchair and I couldn't get to it. I came back a while later and there was one out here in the open, but it eluded me again, escaping to its good old chair. I think there's a colony under there. I gave up and began watching TV. After a while I noticed a specimen out in the hall, a foot or so from the computer room door. This time he wasn't going to get away. I was feeling quite homicidal. I grabbed one of my sister's shoes lying around and I struck at it. I must've hit it on the side or something because it popped up into the air and did some flips. Then, its mangled body wriggling in pain, I made my fatal blow, killing it. It may sound harsh, but hey, this is my philosophy: You're in the house, you die. Plain and simple.

An hour or so later, I walked into the computer room once more only to find a second Harold spider. This time it was at the east end of the room. This one was FAT. I made a move towards it and it tried to flee, but my skills with a shoe were too much for the pitiful creature. This one pretty much exploded; it was so BIG. Its opisthosoma (butt) was bloated and (as one could easily tell from the messy death) full of pus. I think it was with child. I don't really know why this guy was full of a nasty dark yellowish liquid, but it got everywhere. It was disgusting.

A couple years ago we managed to capture two or so of these Harold spiders. One of them was actually carrying tons of tiny little baby spiders on its back. We were lucky to catch them all in one swoop. I watched them through the glass of the jar for hours. It was fascinating. But fascinating or not- the return of the Harold can ultimately mean only one thing: ..................................................................WAR!!! Bring it on.

HA HA HA (evil/triumphant laugh)

Back in September of last year, I boldly stood and declared a promise to the silent rebel everywhere: "I WILL pass this AP Test, and I will do it with an Eleventh Edition!" And so my fate was sealed. Defying all odds, the rampant discouragement of my peers, and the resentful persistence of my teacher that one could only survive the course with an updated 15th (I think it was) edition of the textbook, I saved $68 and bought the 11th edition, passing the course and eventually the AP test. OK, so the book was a few pages off of everyone else's, and it didn't have all those DBQ's in the back of it, but it was exactly the same as the one I needed- text, pictures, and everything. I was quite proud of my unappreciated textbook. Just today I received my AP Test results and I pulled off a 3. Good enough for me, considering I made up most of 2 of the 3 essays, and I didn't confidently complete the multiple choice section. I won this battle, and I did it with an 11th edition. Ha ha ha. I really do love that book.

Tuesday

It's Tuesday (if you haven't already guessed). In 35 minutes it will actually be Wednesday, but right now it's still Tuesday. I didn't do a whole lot today. I didn't go to school because well... I don't have to. Isn't summer amazing that way? I mowed the lawn and did a wonderful job. So good in fact that my parents are gonna let me do it again every week for the rest of the summer! I took a test for my online Financial Literacy class. I took it 4 times until I got 100%. I went to speed training and pretty much almost died by the time I was done. I was so tired it was hard to drive home. Then, thankfully when I did get home, we had pancakes and eggs cooked in hashbrowns for dinner. It was divine. I think I probably ate half of the egg stuff to myself. I love eggs. In fact, I ate 9 eggs yesterday. Yep, and yesterday the microwave broke. Anyway, after dinner I started watching the NBA Finals. I got bored and inspired from that so I went outside to shoot some hoops. I was on fire. I think I grew like an inch because my layup skills were deadly. I couldn't miss around the basket. And then I got excited for Jr. Jazz- which won't even happen until January of 2009 at least. And then I came inside, took out my contacts, did a whole bunch of crunches, and watched the rest of the game. The Celtics lost.... stupid Lakers. Then I took a lovely shower, started cleaning my room, and found a five dollar bill in a birthday card I got last October. Wow. It's been a good day. Tuesdays rock. Usually. Well, at least this one did.

SUMMER!!!!!!

Yay. It's summer time. School is over. No more AP classes or depressing American novels. YES!!!! I am now pretty much a senior. I'm so excited. My senior year is gonna be AWESOME!!!!! I can't wait. I'll be a Student Body Officer and- as revealed by a very much not-expected kidnapping and an intensely wet and blindfolded joy-ride- I'll be a Madrigal too. Yeah, don't ask how it happened. Even I don't know, and I was there when I tried out. I really just wanted to make Concert Choir because I'd never been in a choir class in my life and I wanted to see what it was like, but I put down Madrigals too because I thought I might have a chance. I didn't think I was gonna make it, but the chances were better than last year when I tried out. Turns out I'm a Tenor 2. Whatever that means. I guess I'll find out soon enough. The school year of 2008-2009 is going to be a total BLAST. And football is gonna rock too. Uhhh... I CAN'T WAIT!!!

THANK YOU

I WON!!!! Thank you everyone for your support. Thanks for all the votes and for everybody that wore shirts for me. Thanks to Megan D. for helping me make posters and t-shirts. Thanks to Megan W. for the awesome slogan and thanks to Dan for helping me with the website. Thanks to everyone that walked the halls and got people to vote for me, I couldn't have done it without all of you. I love you guys.

Again, thank you. This is going to be a new experience for me but I am so excited and I can't wait for next year.

"Running" for SBO. Ha ha, get it?

Ryan Hinckley for Vice President of Service!

Sophomores and Juniors of Woods Cross High School, unite and vote Ryan Hinckley for Vice President of Service! Voting starts Tuesday, April 1, 2008, during lunch in the foyer.

People of WX High, I want to serve you next year as an SBO so THINK HINCK and vote for me on Tuesday and Wednesday and then later on Thursday and Friday!