Rocklin Junior All-Stars: Norcal Champs

The Rocklin Junior All-Star team has lots to be proud of this summer. They have been Area Champions, District Champions, Section Champions, and now, Northern California Champions for the 13 to 14 year old league. Now the undefeated team is headed for Laguna to play not only against a Southern California team, but against teams from ten different states across the Western Region. So now the team and my family are scrambling to book hotels, pack bags, set up car pools, and bring competitive play for the first game of the week, which is against a team from Montana.

It has been so exciting follow the All-Star team this year. From the day school ended, if not before, our family had been gearing up for the upcoming All-Star season. With my dad being the manager of the team this year, there has been nonstop talk in our house about possible line-ups, team-building pool volleyball games, and the hopes of getting to where we are today.

The games have ranged anywhere from 18-1 wins to wins made in the last inning due to a walk-off hit. This was the case for our last game against Hollister, which was a nail-biter up until literally the very last hit of the last inning. After that hit to win the 1-1 tied game, Rocklin fans cheered and a croud of royal blue stormed the field to take pictures with the former-freshman and possibly future-freshman players. It was all so exciting and felt surreal as we were driving back from American River College to the Pizza Place to celebrate the team's accomplishment. So now with talk of appearances on local news stations and possibly ESPN's broadcasts of the Little League World Series and only two days before we make the long trek down to Southern California, we all couldn't be more excited.

My trip to the East

So I just got back from a trip to Maryland and Upstate New York a couple days ago, and let me tell you, it feels great to be home. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all of my mom's side of the family, but I don't love automatically becoming the babysitter because I am a teenager.

Well, my grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles (my mom comes from a family of 8) live in Maryland, but my uncle was getting married and wanted the wedding in New York where my grandpa's family owns a house on the lake.

Due to some sort of lack of communication, all the other teenage cousins didn't come until the wedding, the very end of my two weeks there. So basically I was stuck with a 9 year old and a couple 6 year olds for most of the time.

I've now seen enough iCarly to last a lifetime.

Also, when you stuff a bunch of people (all equally stubborn and outspoken) into one house, tensions tend to run high. That, PLUS all the preparations for the wedding, made for a pretty drama-filled two weeks.

Of course, there were some highlights: Swimming in the lake, tubing, playing capture the flag with the neighbors, and the wedding was a blast.

But like I said, I'm happy to be home.

Frappe

I don't know about anyone else but I love Starbucks Frappachino's!! Maybe it is just the double roasting of the beans that I like. Anyway, I usually just get the plain kind with no special sauce or whipped cream because they have upped the price. I think a large caramel is $5.10. What a rip off. You could buy 3 bars of dark chocolate for that. But, I was looking for cappuchino makers today for no reason when I came upon a frappachino maker! It makes the exact same thing but you can make it however you want. It's by Mr.Coffee and it got good reviews on Amazon so I think I might have to buy it. The Frappe maker is 80 dollars at Target, which is kind of pricey, but well worth the money if you're addicted like me and would use it all the time.

http://www.target.com/Mr-Coffee-20-Ounce-Frappe-Maker/dp/B002FWMF8G

I Hate Bieber Fever

Honestly, I hate Bieber Fever. Legitimate hatred.. This past weekend I went to Las Vegas, THE city for partying  for a basketball tournament. Other than the four nationally proclaimed tournaments there, the theme of the weekend was Justin Bieber's concert. Seriously, who goes all the way to Vegas to think about Justin Bieber? Sure not me, but that's what i ended up doing seeing 22 year old grown women freaking about him in my hotel. Honestly, what's the big deal he sounds like a like he's four and i gotta be honest, the first time i heard him sing i thought he was a little black girl... Honestly, I hate Bieber Fever!

The last workshop this summer

Off to San Diego today for the last workshop and what marks the end of summer for the Nichols family. Once we return it will be a slow, steady transition back into the Rocklin High Schools. The highlight of this 9-day trip will be Sea World on Sunday with Carson.

Have enjoyed the activity on the blog and hope to go back and read more this week. Some folks are missing, and that worries me, but we'll build a great team. The changes in journalism continue to amaze me, and excite me. OK, the Sherrod case (look it up) points to the dangers of blog style journalism. Our lies can be more powerful. But so can the rapidity at which we deliver truth.

Most interesting point to me in scanning this summer was that 8 days ago Amazon announced it officially sold more e-books than printed books. OK, this could be good for the environment. But does that make me even more old school because I like the smell and feel of a real book? I suspect it will change even more quickly than we realize, that we will hit a tipping point. It does bode well for college students I suspect.

Time to gather up our final things and hit the road. Newport Beach tonight and in the morning, then on to San Diego. cn

Inception

So last night I went to go see the movie Inception directed by Christopher Nolan. Before seeing the movie I didn't really know what it was about, I had only heard it was about dreams and people getting into them. Though that is true, it was more complicated, the people were able to explore people's dreams and get ahold of their secrets. In my opinion, I was confused half the time. It was a pretty good movie though, it had a good story line. There were many twists and turns that it wasn't predictable, which was good. I don't really want to give too much away on what happens but I do recommend seeing the movie, it really makes you think..

2 and two thirds down, 2 and a third to go.

Last week I decided that by this week I was going to have finished my A.P. World summer homework.

I kind of succeeded. I'm a day late, but the whole thing is done. Plus these blog posts took care of two thirds of my Journalism work. Now i just have to make 1 more of these posts, read two books, answer questions on those, memorize some equations, and do some Spanish work. Sounds like fun...