Senior Year Already!

I cannot believe I'm a senior already! So much has happened I cant even begin. 

I went to my first "rock" concert last week and saw Nickelback...AMAZING! I had the best time there singing (attempting to sing) all of my favorite songs. I've been to a John Mayer concert which had quite a different audience but I loved being a part of both. One very laid back and one with a rock on kind of attitude. 

Now its college application time. Half of the conversations at school are revolved around Stanford, Berkeley, or any other UC school. "You think he'll make it?" "I'm so stressed out!!" That has been every other sentence in all of my AP and IB classes.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't one of the stressed out students but I have been trying to stay above most of the dirt. By this point I have either made an effort in school or I haven't. There's not much left for me to do - you can't cram the last month of high school trying to make up for the last 3 years. Fortunately, I wasn't asleep at the wheel.(I'm feeling cheesy today with my little sayings.)

My plan so far is to make sure I give myself lots of time so I can submit my best application. So far so good :) - again with the cheesiness...
Anyways I am still doing golf, which by the way our team won 1st place again at CIF Southern Sectionals, and I am still a co-leader of Comanches Care. This month we volunteered at the aquarium, at the Boys & Girls club, and at an elementary school fundraiser. Next month's volunteering I have planned the Special Olympics fall games. I am very excited for this one too! It was my favorite event last year. We are also going to make holiday cards for a childrens' hospital and volunteer at a Thanksgiving marathon. Busy busy!

And for my last cheesy saying of the day - I can't wait for what else life brings me!

San Francisco

      We visited some family members in northern California and during the week we visited San Francisco! I love San Fran. It was a gorgeous day and as we crossed the Bay Bridge and we could see all of the buildings, the bay coast, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It felt very surreal as if it were a microcosm of New York, well a less crowded NY.
       Anyways, once we found parking, we went to Pier 39 and it was adorable. It had little restaurants and shops everywhere. We were walking down the pier and we smelled the most delicious crepes! In the window we could see the crepe guy making them. He made a s'mores crepe with marshmallows and chocolate nutella. He also made one with cheese, ham, avocado, and tomatoes. We obviously had to have some so we bought a fruit and chocolate crepe and a Hawaiian crepe. Superb.

I finished the trip by buying souvenirs and gifts for my friends and family back home. One day I hope to either go to school in San Francisco or maybe find a career out there. It was a wonderful trip.

Visualize the Shot

       Yesterday I went to the driving range with a bunch of my friends. Lately I haven't been able to hit my driver well and I was kind of avoiding the club altogether. Anyways, I was watching all of the guys crush their drivers - they are guys so of course they want to hit it as far as they could. As I was seeing this good shots that were straight (mostly) and far, I wanted to try my driver again.
      Surprisingly, I was hitting the ball great! They were pretty straight and a lot farther than I would normally hit it. So we continued practicing and I had a good time.
      When I got home I was thinking about why I had hit my driver well. Then I realized it was because of the guys! I was watching their shots and it gave me a visual of what my hit should look like. Being able to see the shot allowed me to focus on it and perform better.
     So next time I get in a funk with any of my clubs I have to visually see the shot before trying to smack it :)

Women in Sports Conference

       This last Tuesday I was chosen to attend the Women in Sports Conference for the Southern Section athletic girls. My coach nominated my sister and I to go, along with some other girls from our school. It was pretty interesting. They had four different speakers, all women and all very successful. Each woman talked about her life and the obstacles she had to overcome.Michelle Smith, a famous softball player was there and she talked about her travels to Japan, the Australian Olympics, and her recovery after a major accident. Her elbow was broken and she had to fight through the doctors shaking their heads at her softball dream. She proved them wrong and was able to play softball and not only did she prove them wrong but she also pitched faster than she had pitched before the accident.
      My favorite speaker, Kaitlin Sandeno, told us about the early start of her Olympic career. She is a professional swimmer and competed in the Olympics for the first time when she was 17 years old. She took home a bronze to her home in Orange County. I won't go into her entire life but she stood out to me because she is such a stud. She had the best attitude towards...life pretty much. She told us that her goal in life is to be happy and that's how she faces all her problems. She was at the lowest point of her career when she was injured and told she wouldn't be able to compete, but she kept on going and giving it her all. She is definitely one of my idols. Her accomplishments, her smile, and her passion shows me that I can do anything (excuse me for the cheesiness but its true!).
   

Boys and Girls Club!

        Last week Comanches Care volunteered for the Boys and Girls Club. It is an afterschool day camp for kids that live close by. So my sister and I get there to set up the soccer field (basically some cones and a ball). Then I went around and asked/encouraged the kids to come play. Before I knew it there were 40 kids that wanted to play! I was kinda worried but I figured just throw us all together and say go. That was my plan and I stuck to it.
        The high school kids from my school showed up and we spread ourselves out on the field. Then I threw the ball up into the air and yelled go!!! In the beginning of the game it was obvious that one side was dominating the other because it was the big kids versus the little kids. So the CC members joined the little kids and made it more even. I had a lot of fun I will admit. It was the first time in a LONG time that I could be a kid. By the end of the game (about an hour and a half later) I was pooped!
         After getting some feedback from our club, I have decided to volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club atleast once a month. I think some other centers have volleyball and basketball courts too. Now I'M excited :) This whole kid thing is contagious.

Communication

        When I was in seventh grade I was one of the quietest kids in school. I didn't say hi to anybody other than my close friends and I was never one of the social butterflies. I was just shy Shyla. My dad noticed this and he told me that I needed to break this shell of mine. He told me that every single day I had to talk to five new  people at my junior high school. When he told me this I was so scared! I thought he was crazy and I dreaded going to school that day.
        The first day it was all I could think about. Finally, I saw some kids in my class that I didn't know and I approached them. Obviously, it was not as scary as I thought it would be and by the end of the week I was so happy. I could talk to a kid without looking down or mumbling.
       I am very grateful to this day that my dad made me do that little "exercise" of his. Not only did this allow me to grow socially with kids, but it gave me a boost when talking to adults too. With this new club of ours, I am dealing with working adults all of the time. Every month we plan at least two or three events. So I pick up the phone, dial a company, and work out the schedule with them. I am so comfortable talking with them now. I have to be confident, clear, and "I gotta sell it." If I get them interested in us, then the event will go much smoother since they appreciate our help.
        I think communicating with adults and teens will benefit anything that I pursue in the future.

Watching the Pros

         Recently I went to Maui, Hawaii and I had the privilege to attend and follow the professional golfers at the SBS golf tournament. Alot of pros including Paul Casey, Ogilvy, Kenny Perry, Reteif Goosen, Stewart Cink and many more played some awesome golf. It was an amazing experience to watch these guys kill in such a tough sport! To get so good and to be so precise and powerful almost EVERY shot just blows my mind. I watched them hit a tiny white ball 280 yards (almost three football fields) and knock it right next to the pin.

         My dad entered the Professional-Amateur tournament which was the day before the pros played on tv. This tournament gave the amateurs (my dad) a chance to pick one of the pros that was playing in the real tournament and to play a round of golf with them. They did call it a tournament but they didn't follow the normal match rules so it would be more fun for the higher scoring amateurs. Anyways, my dad picked Pat Perez. He had a lot of fun with Pat who is an awesome golfer. He is one of the long ball hitters out there and  it was killer to watch him crush the ball.

        Like any sport, pros do make mistakes (but rarely haha). On the eighteenth green Sean O'Hair had a shot into the green and he needed to land it close and make the putt for birdie. If he made birdie, he would tie with first place and have a chance to make the playoffs. He ended up hooking the ball right into the hazards. I felt so bad for him because I know exactly how he felt when I hit a shot on 18 that totally threw my score down the drain. (Well maybe not as badly since I wasn't playing in front of hundreds of fans and national television.) It was the nerves that got to him. I guess the professionals are human after all.

      This will definitely be an experience that I won't forget.