Decisions, Decisions

Work------Monday-Friday (8:00am - 5:00pm)
High School Practice------Monday-Friday (6:30pm-8:45pm)
AAU Practice-------Saturdays (11:00am-1:00pm)
Individual Instruction------Saturdays/Sundays (anytime)


Hmmm....

I'd say I'm just a tad busy.


I'm always coming and going. Am I coming home after work, or am I going to practice after work? I can't tell which is right half the time. This sounds like too busy of a schedule for some. When I really think about it, I'm like holy shit, Kristen...where did your life go?

But then I think that through. My life didn't go anywhere. If anything, my life went awry in college. Basketball has always been my life. It was my life until college, but then my foot happened, which lead to senior year...and looking back, I wasn't happy. I wasn't satisfied. There was always something missing. Two things missing to be exact. One of them is back now. Basketball.

Coaching my kids this fall re-lit the fire. It reaffirmed my longing to coach in college one day. So...giving my weekends to a bunch of 12 year olds...that sounds like a great weekend to me. Now, in addition to head coaching my AAU girls, I'm assistant coaching at a high school. As said schedule shows, that is also quite time consuming. We basically have a college-level schedule.

So here's the gist of it. I may not "go out" on Fridays or Saturdays anymore. I may spend my weekends with 12-18 year olds and their parents. I may travel to games and get home at 1 in the morning. I may have practice every day. But you know what? This is all I've ever really known. And I like it that way. Last year without it, there was too much time for bullshit. There was drama. There was this and that. I don't want any of that.

Some might call it lame, but I call it ambition. I've always found a way to balance social and work, and I fully intend to do so now as well.

I enjoy being busy. I enjoy being on the go. There is less bullshit in your life that way.

Goldfrapp

I love Goldfrapp. If you've never listened to them, you should. There is a song for just about every single emotion and feeling out there. Love, giddy, happy, sad, out of control, horny, dizzy, free-falling, tired, out of control, like you're on speed, lonely, anxious...

Love it.

I hope Oscar is okay :'-(

Life Update

AAU season is unofficially over for the fall. I say that because we will continue to practice, but only once a week as more of a skills session, rather than a game preparation mentality. I couldn't have asked for a better response from all the girls in regards to the changes they faced. I came in, challenged them and kicked their butts. Most of them caught on pretty quick. Some of them haven't caught on...mostly because of their parents.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with their progression. I had my doubts after our first tournament, but after a few changes on my part in what we worked on in practice, they really came around. We played for a championship in our last tournament against the defending State  Champions--lost by 13. That is HUGE considering my team, in the past, lost to them by 40 or 50 every time. We turned a lot of heads in the past two weeks.

Apparently I'm a good coach? I was approached by a lot of people at our last two tournaments congratulating me on the job I've done in turning the team around. Remarkable and unbelievable were a couple of the words thrown around. It wasn't all me, however. My assistant and I work extremely well together. Still, though...we are only a small part. We can only guide them...we can't play for them. They are the ones out on the court every game. The turn around is because of how they bought in to our coaching. Gee I'm proud :-)

Because of all of this, I've had a multitude of coaching offers from some of the area high schools. I decided the best opportunity for me would be at Oak Ridge Military Academy. There is a lot of talent there, that I can help prepare for college. Plus...I'll get to become involved with college coaches again. AKA get my name out there for my dream job.

Practice for that is underway... Excluding their terrible attitudes, it's great! haha. More on that as it unfolds. I'm heading up to Richmond this weekend to see old friends. I miss that place!!!

Age is just a number, baby.

Age.

I've always bee very mature for my age. People have said that since I can remember. Oftentimes, it has made it more difficult to connect with people my own age...but I've managed!

I've always enjoyed the fact that while I'm pretty mature, I can still get in touch with my younger, inner child side. The playful side.

But what about those people who are stuck in the younger years? You all know who I'm talking about. That one friend you know who never acts their age. Not in terms of having fun or goofing around...but in terms of their maturity. It's like they are stuck at the ripe age of 18. And it annoys the hell out of you.

The way they treat people. The way these individuals conduct themselves in certain situations. You have to be careful...if you hang around them too often, you find yourself acting idiotically young too.

::smacks forehead::

Doh. We've all been there. While we care about these people, isn't it best to just cut them out of the picture? I mean....they only come running to you with the same, exact set of problems as 1, maybe 2 months earlier. Enough is enough right?

I mean, how many times can you talk someone out of them thinking that "Jessie doesn't like mehhhh because she didn't text me baaaaack in like, 5 minutes. Oh my goshhhhh...that means she like, doesn't care about mehhhh." To which you say, "Oh now...I'm sure she was just tied up for a second." ::in your mind, "you know...tied up going to the bathroom, maybe having a REAL conversation with another human being...maybe going through a drive thru..."::

"Oh my gossshhhhhh...you don't care about me eitherrrrrrrr..... You just want to stick up for Jessie. UGHHH you never take my sideeeeee."

Yea. No f'in shit, Sherlock. Because you're a complete psycho and you're never right.

::deep breath::

These...my friends....are the ones I'm talking about. We all know people like that. Luckily for me, I can't say I have any of those in my life at the moment. Nor do I plan on ever catering to such a situation in the future. But I've heard enough stories this week from friends about this situation to relate to them, and post my thoughts.

For those of you out there stuck at 18 terrible years of age.... Grow the fcuk up. Whining is not attractive. Being needy? Not attractive either.

Independence? Now there's a turn on.

For those of you listening to such infantile complaints and remarks...cut ties. People like that will never learn. They will only continue to piss you off and make the same mistakes.

Cut them out.

Forks, NC

I'm in LOVE with the weather right now.

It is now fall.  The summer was long.  A record number of days with blistering heat. The ground has been parched for quite some time. I prayed and prayed for relief from the heat. It just starts to wear on you...

The first day of fall was 95 degrees. There was no hope.

But then today happened :)  When I left for church this morning, it was beautiful, but I was somewhat disappointed. It was breezy, sunny and 63 degrees. Gorgeous. The forecast, however, said that it was supposed to be raining ALLLL day. Hmph.

As I drove home I thought, "Ehhhhh the weather people effed up again. Big surprise there. I bet it went west of us." And then I reached the part of the road that takes you by the airport. The trees part, and you can see the sky for miles. I reached the top of the hill and made the slight turn...my soul smiled :)  The dark clouds loomed ominously off in the distance behind the runway.

I don't know why I love dark, cold, wet, dreary.... I don't know. I just do. Some people feel that way about sunshine. But for me...a perfect day is a day like today. Maybe part of it is because I don't care about getting wet. My hair doesn't matter to me. I normally put it up wet anyways. I like sweatshirt weather. Maybe that's it. I don't know.

I'm laying on my bed right now listening to the rain fall on the pavement, the roof and the leaves of the trees. The breeze blowing through my windows is so refreshing I cannot possibly put it into words.

While this post is pointless and very boring to anyone reading it, I don't care. I'm super happy that God blessed me with a day like this. Oh...and it's supposed to do the same thing tomorrow :) This kinda makes me want to move to Forks. You Twihards know what I'm saying!

I think fall is finally here ^__^

It's only Tuesday?

Ok, well when I wake up in a few hours it will be Wednesday, but DAMN.

I am so tired this week. The past weekend was my first AAU tournament as a head coach. Had a blast despite not winning the whole thing. The girls have a lot of work to do. Therefore, I decided to make practice a little different. I presented them with the option to make it pretty damn hard or pretty damn easy...

Monday morning came way to f*ing early. My alarm went off and my heart almost stopped, I think. From coaching, my voice has been off all week. I woke up Monday and felt like I had a cold or something. When I first woke up, I felt fine. But as the morning went on, things got fuzzier and fuzzier. It was so weird. I didn't cognitively feel tired....but I was. I wasn't in a bad mood either. I literally couldn't put a finger on what was wrong, but something was definitely off and no matter what I did, nothing helped.

Not even a Diet Dew. Yea... scary.

So I went to practice that night, fully expecting for the girls to practice horribly due to the fact that they had JUST played the day before and the day before that. I was planning on being a hard ass and going home with heightened blood pressure.

Those girls embraced everything I was trying to do. They did everything I asked and got on each other when someone wasn't doing exactly what I asked. I was sooo happy.  My day completely turned around. At 9 pm.  Love them!

This morning I was having a dream about a college graduation. Instead of Pomp and Circumstance playing as whoever it was graduating processed in, the theme song from The Office was playing. Odd right? I thought so too.  I thought it was odd until I came to and woke up for the morning. I looked at my watch. 7:46?? SHIT.

That was no graduation....that was the sound of my alarm going off HAHAHA. Apparently I was so zonked, I reached over and turned off my iPhone alarm (which takes talent if sleeping). I was late for work by 15 mins.

We had meetings ALLLLL day. When everything was said and done, I now have my hand in about 9 different projects. Sweet life.  One of those is due at 8am. So here I sit, still working on it.

Hey this kind of feels like college.....

Oh wait, I went to Richmond. This stress is NOTHING like that place. Unreal.

On a personal note...I feel pretty good for the most part. Whatever is going on with my allergies can stop anytime now. Oh....and if any new people feel like making their way into my life...that'd be fantastic. No offense to the people I already know and love, but I need to make some friends here in Greensboro. Some....non-typical friends I guess I should refer to them as.

Ah screw it, I'll just say it. Where my gays at?

AAU

Sheesh-

Posts are just flowing out of me this morning. I want to update more frequently. Been a little busy lately.

My first AAU tournament as a head coach is this weekend!!!! I'm beyond pumped!

We had our first scrimmage last night. Without having our best player playing, we did just fine! I walked away pretty happy. The effort was there...that is my number one request. There is a lot to work on, but they were trying.

It has been a challenge getting them to break old habits. The old coach never really...taught...basketball stuff. He coached his daughter. That's about it.

The girls are responding very well, though. Better than I could have imagined. I see moments of brilliance and understanding. We will get there. By spring time, we should be pretty darn good. It is a matter of repetition, getting used to my style, learning the plays...and remembering them :)

I'm trying my hardest to be patient.  I now understand why coaches were impatient sometimes. You see what these kids can do....and you can't get it out of them right then and there. But I'm reminding myself that I will get it out of them in time.

I'm growing, I'm learning, I'm loving it. Like McDonald's LOL I'm lovin' it. I'm McLovin it.

OK TOO MUCH COFFEE.