I'm growing up, but am I ready?

Earlier this evening I'm fairly certain that I intimidated a fellow student here at Dordt College. This caused me to ask myself, am I growing up and becoming an adult, someone who no longer has characteristics of a student, but characteristics of a "grown up"?

My answer-I sure hope not.
Reality's answer-yep.

My answer: I don't think that I'm ready to become an adult, one who has to make life-changing decisions and be responsible 100% of the time. A part of me longs for the days when it was my parents who had to take responsibility for me. Am I ready to make the transition into adulthood? Am I prepared to begin calling other adults in my church by their first name? Am I ready to join the ranks of society as an adult and not just a kid? No, I'm not ready!

Reality's answer: Jim, you're 21 years old and a junior in college, its time that you start acting like it.

But I don't want to. I want to be able to tee-pee someone's house and have people say, "Those darned kids" instead of "Will that man ever mature?"

Now, returning to the terrified student that I had a run-in with. Well, its one of those situations where its half-way through the second semester and you see someone for the first time. I'm assuming that he was a freshman, and I'm hoping that there were other determinants that frightened him. Perhaps it was my stature, 6'5", 205 pounds with a thick upper chest, wide shoulders and overall broad frame, that sent this boy clearing a path for me. Or perhaps it was the fact that I was wearing Dordt College basketball paraphernalia and he knew not to cause any problems with basketball players because of who we roll with. Any of these could have caused this fella to choose an alternate route, but I still came away from this experience with the realization that I am no longer the baby of the family, but instead the last child to become an adult.

An Answer to a familiar question

"Jim, what happened? The basketball team did so well the first semester, why the downfall during the second semester?"

How do I begin to explain my answer to some people who don't really pay much attention to sports?

Let me divulge into a complex answer, do your best to stay with me.

The basketball season started in early November, for a group of 14 guys to work together immediately can be difficult. However, we were able to fight through said difficulties for the first semester. We left for Christmas break with a 8-2 record, including a huge victory at our rival Northwestern.

Second semester was a completely different story. Arriving back at Dordt in late Demember, we began the longer half of the season, 16 games in less than two months. It was upon our return to the academic year that our team began to show signs of decline. Perhaps the biggest reason is the ability to mesh together. We were able to accomplish this task early in the year when other teams were struggling. When the other teams began to play with each other, they became stronger than teams that were unable to play as a unit.

To answer the question I've heard quite often, the simple answer would be our team's ability to work as a whole rather than individual parts.

Disappointing. This word is an understatement to me. Working together since September and having our season end the way it did is disappointing multiplied by the number CRC churches in Grand Rapids (lots).

However, the whole season was not disappointing. We had our fair share of euphoric events. Beating Northwestern, being ranked 15th in the nation in NAIA div. II, being called the "Cardiac Kids" by Mike Byker after two consecutive 1-point victories, and finding out that the Trinity Christian College Trolls will be traveling to Sioux Center next Thanksgivng to take on the Defender basketball team.

As yet another season comes to a close, I can't help but imagine what I'll do with all of my free time. Maybe become an excellent blogger like this person? Who really knows?

My first time...how good will it be?

I consider myself a man that does not follow societal trends, yet blogs have been calling my name for quite some time. I have gotten to know a score (or half a score, or half of a half of score) of interesting persons and have thus far been quite pleased. I have made the executive decision to branch out and expose myself (not literally) to other bloggers.
I've been informed that the first time can be awkward, but I hope that this first blog will not be like the others.
So, to avoid any further embarrasing comments, I'll explain my title.

Trepidations-there is a story behind this one. Senior year in high school, we had just beaten a team comprised of African Americans in a semi-final basketball game that we weren't supposed to win. Yours truly scored 26 points, as well as the go-ahead basket with about 15 seconds remaining in the game.
Following the game we were rushed into a nearby press room where my coach, Steve Vander Ploeg, Greg Mejeur and I were interviewed about the game. One certain reporter, who shall remain nameless, (because I don't know his name) said something like,
"Jim, did you have any trepidations about taking the last shot to give you the lead over Detroit Rogers?"
Up to this point I had always thought of myself as educated and sophisticated, but right there in the press room my life came to a screeching halt. I kept my compusre, and spoke into the microphone, "Trepidations???"
At which point my coach chimed in, "You'll have to keep it to 2 sylables or less for these guys."
Gee, thanks a lot coach, way to look out for me. Anywho, the reporter rephrased the question and I answered it in simple words even an educated chimpanzee could understand.

Ambitions-goals and/or aspirations of mine, short term (who is the lucky lady tonight?) and long term (who is the lucky lady tomorrow night?). As mentioned earlier, I consider my intellect to be second-to-none, which is why I like to use euphasims to intimidate others, which is where ambitions come from.

Opinions-when I typed this word in a Word document, nothing really cool came up when I clicked on synonyms, so thats why I chose "opinions."
My close friends will attest to the fact that I have a low tolerance for stupid people. You can be sure that you will see many posts discussing recent events concerning morons, especially at Dordt where they come out of the woodwork in full force.

Well, my first time is over, how good was it? I hope that your first time reading this will be as memorable as it was for me to write it.