The Yo-Yo They Call Growing Up - Post #211

I swear, my mood bounces more than [insert creative analogy here]. Take today, for example. This morning I was insanely happy solely because somebody was in a good mood. That led to me happily writing a note through Spanish and English, acting insanely weird in Social Studies, playing hand games in math, and passing around the oboe during the fire drill in band.

Then we went to a study hall and started doing the piles of math homework, and it was severely depressing. I hate the pressure between hurrying up to get it done before the bell rings and going through and learning it all. That bad mood pretty much lasted all through sixth period, the second firedrill, and seventh period.

Then I got cheered up again at dismissal, because someone let me borrow a really cool collection of stories by this author...goes by the name of Cosgrove? Really good. Keep an eye out for him.

Then I came home and crashed, I was so tired. Boredom = mildly out of it again...ick.

Then I went to swim practice. Oh dear. We warmed up with the usual 150 swim, 150 kick, 150 drill, 150 swim, then boom, we were into it. (For the record, descending means that every 100 yards gets faster until the last 100 yards is all out, as fast as you can.) It was one 500 descending, two 400s descending, two 300s descending, and one 100 all out. I didn't swim all last week, but Kevin still had me lead the lane. I think he knows more about how to make me swim faster than I do. It's all mental; the only thing keeping you from going faster is your will to push past the pain and fatigue. It's crazy.

And then after practice he pulled me aside and did one of his mini speeches that are near the top of the list of reasons why he's such an amazing coach. He told me his goal for me was to move me up a lane for the fall season, so I'd be swimming with a group of girls who currently I have no chance of keeping up with. For that last 100 all out, they were hitting times like 1:08 and 1:10. I got around a 1:23. But the fact that Kevin has this confidence in me makes me feel like there's a chance I can do it. I don't think I'd push myself half as hard as I do if he wasn't my coach. He knows, when you're about to break down, whether he needs to be tough or kind. It's amazing, and he's one of my heroes for being able to do that.

Erg, homework to do and people to talk to, so I'm out. Ciao everybody.

--Iona