No Name

I was not sure what too call this post.

We never really know what life is going to throw at us.

"Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time."

That's some Forrest Gump for you. A fan told me I was getting lazy with my quotes so there yeah go.

Well I hurt the good ol' trusty ribs again so here I am sitting at the courses Cafe with my cappuccino typing away, but this post isn't about my little sob story about how much pain I am.

This post is about something that happened last night.

Last night for dinner, Mike, Lina, Jessica, myself and of course little baby Erik all went to this place in Penrith called the Stone Grill. Its an excellent little place.

It wasn't about the food though even though it was fantastic. It's about the conversations we were having, the smiles, the laughs, the whispers. It all seemed to good.

It made me sad that yet another adventure is coming to end. But with every ending, a new beginning.

It's a little hard to explain but its one of those you had to be there moments.

I always hear stories from Mike, Paul, Jess, Cam, just everyone. I am always jealous because I don't have any cool fun stories too tell the group but it doesn't matter because my adventures have only just begun, and I am looking forward to the journey ahead.

A short story movie producer on Vimeo once said in one of his movies, called The Dark Side of the Lens, said "I may not make much of a living, but at least it's a living worth scraping"

Hope all is well

Aj

Aus

Looks like I might be back on the sidelines everyone.

Last night during a technique session I hate a hole sideways and got tossed around pretty good. I ended up tweaking my ribs and they are in a bit of pain this morning. Plan is to ice all day today and see how I feel tomorrow. If its bad tomorrow still, maybe its time to just come home.

Anyway,

I hope all is well,

Aj

Raceing

As the legendary Michael Jordan once said "I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying."

I basically lived this quote yesterday as I paddled the race I went into with high expectations and equally high hopes. I was felling good and thought that today was going to be the second of a few good races.

Unfortunately it was not. I ended up having one of the greatest learning experiences of my life.

But the funny thing was it wasn't from my failure.

Here's the story;

At the end of the day, Mike and I were walking back to the car, not really saying much when one of Mike's old coaches, Shaun Pierce, ran into us. Shaun and Mike had a quick chat and I stopped to hear the chat. Mike asked how the day went for Great Britain, and Shaun's answer was quite positive. Except he said they lost one man. The sad thing was an unnamed paddler had missed out on Semi Finals by two seconds. That two seconds was a touch penalty.

I then thought to myself, I had a lot of penalties, I mean a lot. But I wasn't shooting for finals. I was simply shooting for a good race and I was putting myself down because of a race that didn't go the way I wanted it to. I then took the words my mom had earlier said to me, I was out for a good 2 and half or three months from injury. It wasn't because I was being a lazy bum. I had legitimately lost three months. I was putting to much pressure on myself when really I just needed to relax and race the race I could.

My mind was in the wrong place but thats just learning.

Hope you are all still fans after this little bump!

Hope all is well

Aj

Funny Story

Hey everyone!

I have arrived safely to Australia.

With the blistering 40+ degree weather, the jet leg, the 6 am run every morning on top of two more work outs is running me down already. So much for youth being invincible

Unfortunately I have come down with a bit of a cold. Oh well. I am in Australia and that is all that matters.

Now for the funny story

I am unsure with how up to date you all are with the cyclone that just hit the Eastern Coast of Australia but it hit hard. The good news is no one died just severe damage done to infrastructure.
The source of Australia's Banana's is actually local. Unfortunately the largest banana plantation's got hit and totally destroyed. The supply of bananas might be out by the end of the month. On top of this, banana prices are expected to triple in the next week.
Now for the funny stuff.

The other day when Mike and I were driving back from the course we heard a couple of jokes on the radio about the banana situation.

"Bananas have become so valuable that Ke$ha is going to start spelling her name with a banana instead of a dollar sign"

"Bruno Mars wants to be a bananaaire"

Say it with an Aussie accent and its ten times better.

Anyways,
I hope you guys are freezing in the great white north!


Aj

The Mind

The first stroke is always the most awkward.

It takes two before the paddles can generate enough force to create the momentum for the boat to travel forwards.

It all starts from your abs. The wind up in the abs is the source from which the force then goes through your pectorals to the bicep, triceps, forearms, then your hand pulls back against the paddle, like a trigger to a gun, that pulls the water away from you and moves the boat forward.

Repeat.

After so many repetitions lactic acid starts to set in. The feeling of my forearms ready to explode is the feeling of success. I know I am pushing myself hard enough. I need more.

I paddle until my muscles burn and my veins pump battery acid; then I paddle some more.

All I can think about is the next stroke, the next move.

A flat boat is what truly keeps it all together.

It's more of an art really.

The animosity my mind has towards my muscles for wanting to quit on me is what keeps me going through a work out.

Some people ask how I stay motivated. It's the simple destruction of every single muscle fibre I use. The stiffness, the soreness, the exhaustion.

I love getting in amongst the aerobic pain every fall and winter. Its almost as good as the easy technical sessions all summer.

It's the purpose that drives us. It's the challenge of beating yourself.

Ask any real athlete and the true nemesis is the mind.

Some people say the battle is on the field of play. That is a very small part of it. It's behind the scenes where the battle takes place.

I call them the three F's: Fatigue, failure, and fear. Every athlete has faced them, and the best have over come them. That's what separates the champions from the competitors.

The mind is the final battle.

Plans

As of now, I am unsure of what is going to happen in my life.

All I know is this Sunday I am leaving to Australia for a given amount of time which is still not an assigned number.

I am also unsure of what I am will do myself without school. Probably just train my butt off and work on that guitar of mine.

There's an update for you guys!

Aj

Milestones

The first thing that came to your mind when you read Milestones, well for some of you at least, you thought I was talking about the major chain restaurant. Well if thats what you thought your wrong. When I say Milestone I mean a momentous time in life at a certain place and time frame during your life. For some people its birthdays, driver license, car, first job etc. I could go on forever. I have narrowed down my small life into three Milestones.

1. My acceptance to NSS

2. First World Championships in France

3. My birthday, as it was the greatest day in history.

(just kidding)

3. Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day I write my last high-school test. Scary huh?

A lot of things are running through my mind and unfortunately one of them isn't math. My mind is racing with University, Australia, growing up, and the washer that just clicked letting me know my laundry needs to be dried.

It's a cray feeling. When something for twelve years (for me twelve and a half) has been something you did in a five on two off shift work manner. Somedays it drove me crazy and somedays it made me happy. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a sad day though. I have finally made some concrete friendships at this school since September, and it all went by so fast.

I probably won't get invited to grad which sucks to but thats beyond the point I have come to realize. What I have come to realize is that high school went by in a blink of an eye.

You can almost say it was a thing of beauty.

An anonymous poet said "You can catch or miss beauty in the blink of an eye, thats what makes it beautiful"

This quote has helped me realize how important this twelve and a half years has been.

I have learned, succeeded, failed, and even worked my butt off even though some people think I didn't.

These years have been the years that I will probably forget someday's and others I will treasure each and everyday for the rest of my life.

Tomorrow will be the end of one chapter and a beginning of a new one. I hope that my new friends will be in this next chapter as some of them, I have a feeling, will be friends that I will still know in the next five years.

Life is like a growing plant, if you don't grow with it your gonna fall behind.

Well I guess thats what new with me. I will post more new and exciting things tomorrow!

And as always, I'm goin with it :)

Hope all is well

Aj

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher