Shark Attack

I remember my first soccer team. I was 8, we had grey and black uniforms, and our team name was the Knights (no doubt the boys on the team picked that name). Our first practice was in an overgrown grass field way out in the country behind an elementary school I think. I got my first real crush that season of soccer, too. His name was Jay and he was at the top of all the 9 year-olds in my mind. I've used several of my early soccer days to help me cope as a coach with my current U-10 soccer team. We're named the Sharks, but to everyone else I call them the misfit toys. We only have 11 players because 3 of them quit before the season even started and only 6 of them showed up for the team picture. We had our first game last night and everything I ever taught them about passing, dribbling, spreading out, and the overall point of soccer went right out the window. But after our 4-2 loss in the season opener, 8 year-old Dylan said "It's not about winning, it's about having fun." 8 year-old Dylan has a heck of a lot more wisdom than the 8 year-old version of myself. But it's true, I don't remember how many games I lost or won or tied in all of my years playing soccer. I do remember being so nervously excited every saturday and how the snack after the game made up for everything. These are good memories and reminders when my competetiveness kicks in (pun) and I want to yell at the 14 year-old referees for not calling fouls. Because on the bright side, even as a coach, the parents still offer me a snack after the game. Go Sharks!

quote of the day

Laura: "Who do you think I'm going to marry?"
Me: "I have no idea, why would I know that?"
Laura: "I mean, do you think it'll be a US citizen?"

During bible study...
Erica: "I have a story that goes along with that. I was looking at the ground the other day..."
Cheryl: "Oh this will be profound!"

Friday Favorites

So much good TV last night. The premeires of the Office and Parks and Recreation happened and one was way more funny than the other. I also stayed up until 1am to watch the USA womens national team play Canada. Who knew game time was at 8pm in Portland, making it 11pm here? It was worth a few lost hours of sleep though. Soccer always is. Folks always ask if the show Parks and Recreation is like my actual job. There are similarities actually, but there's no way real life is that hilarious. The character of Ron Swanson could only be written into a script. On last night's show, Leslie Knope, the main character and deputy director of the department gets asked to run for City Council. This got me thinking harder about something I've been thinking of doing for a while now. Katie Simmons for Rock Hill City Council (or Mayor, whichever comes first). You may say, "Katie, you don't care about politics." Well, you're right. I don't. But I just have so many opinions about things! Example: I would give the Rock Hill Parks and Recreation Department anything they want. But that kind of already happens anyway. And "Simmons 2030" is too long to go on a button so I'd have to get married to someone with a bit shorter name I think. I am well on my way though, seeing as how current City Counciler Kathy Pender (up for re-election in 2012, so vote for her) personally asked me to join the Kiwanis Club. I'm not going to because I'm poor right now, but it's pretty cool that we're down like that. In the mean time, if someone wants to come up with some cool campaign pen and poster board ideas for me, that'd be cool. Make sure it's something that looks good in your yard and goes with any outfit. Maybe one of those trendy shadow outlines of my hand giving a thumbs up. That says it all I think.

The good, bad, and ugly

Today's thoughts, summed up in 3 categories:

The Good:
I got free lunch today and a peice of cake. I got an article published today. I feel way less sick today. GLEE season 3 premieres tonight and there's a party going down. Needtobreathe's new album came out today and as far as I can tell, it freakin rocks.

The Bad:
I've never complained about facebook, because really, the design of a website is the least of my problems. But facebook is literally like digging through the trash these days. There's way too much crap on the home page and there's this stupid sidebar that tells you when someone comments on their 1st grade teachers comment of a photo that someone else commented on. It needs to go back to the days before there was a movie about it and the most high-tech thing you could do was click a thumbs up button. Everytime you post an album of pictures, it takes up the entire screen and it chooses the worst or most boring one of the whole batch to display so that everyone can see it. And suddenly it felt like I had more friends, but I really don't. It's just that facebook has decided to tell me when friends of friends of friends update their status. But if I cared about that 3rd generation of friend, I would request them myself. Thumbs down, facebook.

The Ugly:
If you've looked up at the sky the past almost 5 days, you know what I'm saying.

Just another day at the office.

This weekend I took some of our Youth Council kiddo's down to Chucktown for the annual SCRPA conference. Since no one knows what that is, it's probably not that exciting. And honestly, it would've been more exciting for me if I got to stay at the conference all week and learn about how to be a better parks and recreater. But we spent some good time at the beach on saturday and went out on the town saturday night. The 6 teenagers that we took are literally some of my favorite people, and that's weird because not a lot of people like teenagers. But I'm lucky and get to spend a great deal of my job hanging out with the best teens in Rock Hill. I can honestly say I don't laugh that much around people my own age, it's so fun to be around young people sometimes. And high school boys are just hilarious, that's a fact. They did so well on their presentation on sunday and I was so proud. As I sat in the floor and clicked the powerpoint for them, I got really proud about the city I live in (which happens very often) and I'm super glad to be a part of a community that really offers a lot for kids and youth. My job so rocks.

Weekend Quotes, obviously:
While driving behind a truck with a blown tire...
Ginny: "I'm so hungry, I thought that smell was food. Then I realized it was tar."

Ktb: "Dude! Did you watch the Phineas and Ferb 2-dimensional movie?"
Me: "No."
Ktb: "umm yea me neither...."

Anna: "The fried green tomatoes are served over grits. So then if you get the shrimp and grits, that's too much grit!"

quote of the day

Me: "I'm actually writing a book called Crap Katie Says."
Caitlin: "I would read that."
Me: "It's pretty much my blog."
Grace: "Anne Frank published her diary. You could publish your blog."

Edge of Glory

It's a good thing Monday is labor day so that I can recover from my weekend so far. This weekend I lived life as the ultimate sports fan would. Yes I went to 3 football games, 3 nights in a row, to watch my 3 favorite teams play. I left work early Thursday to have dinner with my fam then to catch the Panthers/Steelers game with Dad over a Blue Moon (im talking about the beer, not an artsy term for the sky). As far as Friday, there is nothing better to do in Gaffney than cheer on the Indians at the Reservation, as they wipe the floor with teams like Greenwood. My old yet current pal Erica and I braved the storms and cheered on our old school but left at halftime when the rain got to be annoying. And on Saturday, the best game of the weekend went down in Charlotte when the Gamecocks not-so-easily beat ECU. This all was a swell way to spend my labor day weekend and the start of the football season. As you can tell, me and Cal are ready for another heart-wrenching season of Gamecock football!

Now let's talk about something that's greater than football: In my ever-growing need for Jesus, I love to learn over and over that nothing about life is actually about me. I get psyched to think about what Christ did for us. Not to prove that He can die on a cross and be awesome, but that He loves me enough to get me out of the sin I was born with and will never be able to get out of by myself. I like almost everything John Piper says, but I came across this: "There is only one explanation for God's sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is the riches of His grace, it is all free. It's not a response to our worth. It's the overflow of His infinite worth. In fact, it is what divine love is about in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us sepremely happy forever, namely, His infinite beauty." I mean, not even the fact that He came to die for us is actually about us. I've been thinking about that this week (yea just thinking about it, because I sure don't understand it). And I tell ya it's much better than all the stuff I tend to think/worry about that won't matter past next week, much less close to eternity. Everything He does is for the purpose of making His name greater than mine. Lady Gaga, you don't know nothin' bout glory.

Also, the QOTD:
Me: "Today is Bickell's birthday! Let me text her!"
Erica: "Oh cool, September 4th?"
Me: "What's today?"
Erica: "September 4th."
Me: "Then yea."