Swimming's Over

swim season is officially over. from 2:45-6 i now have free time that i havent had since the summer. everyday since i arrived here at school, ive had some kind of practice for swim. but now, its over. til next season that is.

im not really sure what to do with myself now that i have this free time. i finish up my classes everyday around 2 o clock. i have a couple hours there to do whatever i want. yes, i do my homework and sometimes use that time wisely, but sometimes i dont. the past two days ive just watched movies and took naps. real productive i know... i must find something to do with my time, or things could get bad.

i think im gonna start going to the gym again starting next week. i havent lifted weights since the beginning of the season and i definitely want to get back into it. my roommate and other teammates have been going to the gym since last week. i am gonna join them next week for sure so i can fill some of my time. also, i want to stay in shape.

my season went well as i explained to you all in a post before. complete success and a great time. i can and cant wait for the next season to begin. definitely have some mixed feelings about it. we had recruits here this past weekend and it looks like we have some cool kids coming in. also a lot of fast ones! they are going to be a big help to our team as we lost so many good seniors. next year is going to be just as good, that i know for sure.

until then, i will fill my time with something, and that something has not been determined yet. wish me luck in finding that 'thing' to do with my spare time.

if you have time, check out this video. i watched this before every race i swam. it's a great one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4x-yQlWoT0

this is the commentary that goes along with it...

'The Theory of Evolution claims that "only the strong shall survive". Maybe so, maybe so. But the Theory of Competition says "just because they're the strong doesn't mean they can't get their asses kicked". That's right. See, what every long shot come from behind underdog will tell you is this: The other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be turned against you. Fair enough... But what the odds don't know is this isn't a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking, just remember: out here, the results don't always add up. No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off. Don't be surprised if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling "Uncle". And then suddenly, as the old saying goes, "We got ourselves a game".

Swimming

So this past weekend i participated in the SUNYAC Championships. they were held in buffalo, ny at erie community college. we left on wednesday and swam thursday, friday, and saturday. so essentially, we swam for a full weekend. that weekend was one of the most mentally and physically draining i have experienced in a while.

when we arrived, we just checked into our hotel, and stretched as a team and did a little warm up. our hotel was about fifteen minutes from the pool so we had to take our travel bus there every time we had to get to the pool. wednesday was a quick day since it was 3:30 by the time we arrived. the next three days would be fun, but stressful at the same time.

thursday was the first day that we had to swim our events. the team was up at 6:30 that morning to stretch together and eat breakfast together. luckily our hotel had free breakfast. that was really nice! we left around 8:00 to get to the pool. as we got to the pool my body was just waking up. i havent been up that early in a very long time. warm up was 8:30-10:00 since the meet started at 10. i was in the pool as soon as i could be. it got crowded really fast which made it hard to actually get swimming in. but i managed to get a good warm up. that day i swam the 200 individual medley. i didnt do as well as i should have or wanted to, but i still dropped time and went a lifetime best time. it felt great to go that fast. i didnt end up making it back to finals at night, but i was okay with that. it felt great to just go fast.

friday was the same as thursday except i swam a totally different race. friday was the day i swam my primary event, the 100 breast. going into the race i was seeded with a 1:03.60 and was in 7th place. everyone was fast. in prelim's i went a 1:01.63. that was a lifetime best! going into the evening session of finals, i was seeded 9th. so not where i could have been, but i made it back for finals. at finals i went even faster. i swam a 1:01.13. it was great! i didnt think i was actually gonna be able to go any quicker but i did. that day was great. i was really happy with the way i had swum.

saturday was another repeat of thursday and friday. again, i swam a different race. i swam the 200 breast on this day. i dont really enjoy this race at all. it's too much breaststroke for me. i can deal with the 50 and the 100. any more than that, no thanks. in prelim's i was ranked 14. i needed to get higher than that and that's just what i did. i got 12th. two spots higher was just enough for me. i came in with a time of 2:24. i dropped 5 seconds. i finished my day with a 2:19.

by the end of the weekend i came out of SUNYAC's tired and completely done with swimming. as a freshman i did really good. i had met the expectations of all the coaches and i was glad i could do that for them. i am already looking forward to next year and how fast i'll go. i plan to work harder and swim even faster!

'Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.'

-Danny Mac-

Super Bowl Outcome Was the Way I Wanted It

super bowl 44 was a success. for the most part. although my patriots didnt get in there, the next best thing was for the saints to beat the team i hate most, next to the steelers. to me, the whole first half was very boring. i thought the game was going to be a complete shoot out between the two. but, it wasnt. at least in the first half. i watched with amazement as each team went back and forth.

half time was better than the first two quarters; to me at least. the who is one of classic rocks greatest bands. it was a nice half time show. they sang their most known songs at least i thought that was the case. you could hear the crowd in the backround singing along with the band. they are getting pretty old, but their music will always live on.

the second half got exciting. this is the part i liked the most. the teams came out with excitement and energy, much more than in the first half. obviously the saints came out with more as they scored more points and won the game. drew brees, the saints quarterback, did a great job at managing his team to a victory. peyton manning also did a good job, but it wasnt good enough.

congratulations to the new orleans saints! first super bowl win in franchise history. hopefully my patriots can get back to the super bowl very soon and do what the saints did on this very day. hope you all enjoyed the game. if you wanted the colts to win, im sorry. there's always next year. maybe. we shall see. have a good night all.

'sports do not build character, they reveal it.'

-john wooden-

-Danny Mac-

Super Bowl Sunday

today is sunday. on sunday, i watch football. until its over that is. today is the last day of watching football on tv til next season. it is super bowl sunday. super bowl 44 is between two high caliber teams that have high powered offenses and great defenses. the two teams playing are, the indianapolis colts, and the new orleans saints. i dont like either of these teams. but, since i have to choose one of them to win, i'm going with the saints. they have a great story coming into this football game and it's a great team to begin with. they beat my team; the new england patriots. im going over to my friend's house to watch the game on their big screen hd tv. it's gonna be grand. my whole team will be there as well.

the game is gonna be a good one, thats for sure. i'm not sure what the outcome is gonna be but whatever happens, the saints better win. thats all im saying. i hope you all enjoy the game that starts in a little over an hour. ill be back after the game to tell you how the game was and my thoughts! have a great day.

'confidence is a stain they can't wipe off.'

-lil wayne

-Danny Mac-

Quote

so my friend always comes up with great quotes. i dont know if he actually made this one up, but it was a great one either way.

'i'd rather be hated for who i am, than loved for what i'm not.'

-richie sebuharara-

that's my boy right there. that's all for today's posts. sorry for the lack of posts on this saturday... prolly have a couple more tomorrow. SUPER BOWL SUNDAYYY!!

have a good night all. love you.

-Danny Mac-

Quote

so nothing really important in this post, but i found this quote to be quite hilarious. back at home i have good friends that are irish. 100% full blown irish. the quote i found is, 'God invented whiskey to keep the irish from ruling the world.' now my family is irish. i may not look irish but its in there somewhere. especially in the family. that's my quote of the day right there. for sure. hope you enjoyed it!

-Danny Mac-

Nothing

classes are over for the day, all i have left is an hour and a half of swim practice. that's not even gonna be that bad. glad it's friday today. no practice tomorrow so we're goin' to the Syracuse mall. just hanging out until practice at 3. then who knows! we'll see what life throws at me.

'always keep an open mind, and a compassionate heart.'

-Danny Mac-

TGIF

today is friday. it is gonna be a good day. pysch, basketball, and health. then i'm done for the week! i am what you call, excited. i hope you guys are as well. have an awesome day. ill be back later sometime to tell of my friday.

'weekends dont count, unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.'

-Danny Mac-

Thoughts Before Bed

it is 11:30. i'm not very tired but i know i have to go to bed and try and get some sleep. psych test tomorrow should be interesting. did some studying this evening, probably could have done some more, but oh well. we'll see how it goes. morning is coming. ill let you all get some sleep. good night to all. and remember, 'through every dark night, there's a brighter day after that. so no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep your head up, and handle it...'

-Danny Mac-

Musica

i thoroughly enjoy music. i dont really have a favorite type of music. it usually always depends on the mood that i'm in at the time. take the morning for instance. when i wake up in the morning, i am not a person that you would really wanna try and talk to. i'm barely alive when i wake up. so to get my body going, and my head thinking, i will usually listen to some kind of upbeat song/band. this morning i listened to some jimmy eat world. they are one of my favorite bands. i listened to 'work' and 'pain' by them.

during the day while walking to class, or just hanging out in my room, i'll listen to whatever pops up on my ipod. i usually just let my ipod go on shuffle and see what comes up. while just sitting around a couple really good songs came on. the first that came on was, 'bastard' by ben folds. the song name is kinda weird, but the song is great. i really enjoy it. a couple songs went by and another one of my favorite bands came on. say anything is the name. 'alive with the glory of love' started to play. from the first notes i heard, i knew what great song it was.

then there's warm-up music that gets me going before a swim meet. this playlist includes many different bands and singers. artists include: blink-182, coheed and cambria, eminem, jay-z, the red hot chili peppers, and super mash brothers. all of the songs i listen to before a race are fast, loud, and my favorite to listen to to get excited.

going to bed is a whole different story. mainly when i go to fall asleep i will listen to, the fray, and motion city soundtrack. i just turn my ipod on to my sleeping playlist (haha) and let them play until i fall asleep. i do listen to some other stuff in bed, but those are the main bands i'll listen to to go to bed.

music is something that's very important to me and i am always listening to it. if you ever see me walking around campus or anything, i will always have my headphones in and my ipod on. i don't like the quiet that i will tell you. it bothers me and makes me uncomfortable sometimes. noise is great and silence is NOT golden. if you any new or old or anything kind of music that you think i should listen to, lemme know. i'm interested in some new stuff! thanks. stay fresh everyone.

'sticks and stones may break my bones, but the girls will always love me'

-Danny Mac-

A Little Bit About Myself

as you may know, my name is Dan. People call me different things here at school and i like that i have a couple nicknames. it ranges from, my real name; Dan, to: Puppy, D-Mac, Asian Dan, Asian, Danny Mac, or just Daniel. i dont really get daniel that much but the others are the norm.

if you couldnt tell, i'm asian. 100% pure bread, right from Korea. i was adopted when i was four months old and have been here ever since. i have one brother and one sister. my brother is 15 and is in 10th grade. he is very smart. my sister is happily married at the age of 24. she has a child on the way too! her first one. i will be an uncle in june. her and her husband mark live in alfred, ny. she works at a local hospital while mark finishes his schooling. my mom is a substitute teacher in my hometown while my dad works with ibm.

how did i end up coming to cortland you might be asking yourself? well, i have always wanted to be a gym teacher and a coach. cortland provided me with the best possibility of getting a solid education at a great school. they are known for their education programs here and are highly looked at. my high school gym teacher also attended this fine university. also, as an athlete, i wanted a school where i could compete and do well. cortland fit that perfectly. i have been swimming since i was about 6 years old. they were interested in me swimming here and they had a very good team. the combination of a great education/major, and a very good swim team led me to this place. i'm very happy with my decision to come here.

its about that time again. time to go to practice. it's really cold today again. and i do not like that at all. hopefully the pool water is somewhat warm again. i'll be back to tell some more about myself... maybe. have a good afternoon everyone.

'if you ever dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize.'

-muhammad ali

~Danny Mac~

Wednesday's Are Pretty Boring

My day is coming to an end. It is now 9:50 pm on a Wednesday night. I'm just hanging out with my roommate and much that we can do on a Wednesday but that's alright. Like I've said before, I like relaxing and doing nothing. It satisfies me.

Practice went very well today. We pretty much do the same things everyday now since there's not too much else we have to do before SUNYAC's. We warmed up, did a little prep set, and got right into the fast stuff we had to do for the day. I had to do three broken one hundred yard swim's doing breaststroke. This stuff gets really tough. You get tired very fast, but that's the point. We start from the blocks in the deep end, and swim 25 yards and get a ten second break. Not too much rest, but we're not supposed to get that much. My teammates and I did the set perfectly. We got out early and we got to get dinner!

Dinner tonight was with, Dan Max, Sean, Justin, Mongo, and Ben. Every time we go to Neubig, we always have a good time with each other. We had another great night at dinner. We get really loud sometimes, and out of hand. But that just means we're having a good time.

My favorite movie is on so I'm definitely staying up to watch it. 'Notorious' is the name of it. I should probably go to bed before it ends, but that will not happen. Just like every other night that I watch movies. It's all good though. I'm still up for my classes and thats all that matters.

Hopefully my day tomorrow is more exciting than the last couple days. We shall definitely see what happens thats for sure. Maybe i'll go out on a limb and do something crazy. Guess we'll have to find out.

p.s. the quotes will be random ones that i find fun or just something i like. i will always end with one. have a good night all!

'Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate!'

~Danny Mac~

Today... is Wednesday

Today has been very uneventful let me tell you. I woke up at 8:45 this morning, brushed my teeth, put my contacts in, put on some warm clothes and walked to my first class that started at 9:10.

My first class of today was Psychology. Some stuff in that class is interesting, but the other half is not interesting at all. I am not a fan of lectures or anything where I sit still for long periods of time. We actually have a test coming up on Friday. I'm kind of ready but I definitely have to do some more studying before Friday comes along. The information we're learning now is pretty easy but can get confusing and hard to understand at times. Some of my teammates are in the class too which makes it better. I sat for fifty minutes, took notes, and left that class as soon as I could.

Basketball is my second class of my Wednesday. This is one of my favorite classes. It's all about basketball. It's not my favorite sport, but I do have a lot of fun playing it. Four other swimmer's are in the class with me. We like to be partnered together. The five of us suck. And that's the truth. It's still so much fun to play basketball though. Today in class we learned how to shoot. It seems really easy to do, but there is a lot of technical things that must be done. Hopefully we get to some competition and games in that class soon.

My last class of the day is Health. What can I say about health? To me, it's a joke of a class. Not to be mean, that's just what I think. We do learn a lot in class, but it just takes our huge class a while to get through all we're supposed to. Today we learned disorders that dealt with depression. I'm not depressed at all. That is a very good thing too. I enjoy the class I'm not gonna lie.

Now it's time for swim practice. Another day of not doing too much. Boy do I love going to practice! I'll let you know how it all goes after dinner sometime later tonight. Remember, "Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."

~Danny Mac~

End of Day 1

Since I made this blog in the middle of the day, I will start from there. We had to make this blog in my Writing Studies class. I thought it was a pretty good idea. I have had a blog before but never really kept up with it. With this one I will definitely keep up with it. I will most likely post something mid-afternoon and then later that night. There may be some time where I will post in the morning, but I wouldn't count on it.

My day was very uneventful. Same kind of Tuesday and Thursday. My last class of the day was actually cancelled. That made my day that much better. I usually have another hour and fifteen minute class after Writing but today I did not. Instead I got to go back to my room and just chill. It was nice to just relax until practice a couple hours later. I watched a movie and took a solid nap until the last possible minute that I could. It felt great to nap during the day.

Practice was not very hard and it will not be very hard for the rest of the season. I like these days where we can go into practice, not swim very much, and just have a good time. Most practices early in the year are really hard and not fun at all. We did a warm up, a main set, and then some power stuff. The power stuff is definitely my favorite. After practice I went to the dining hall here at school. My friends, Dee's, Dan Max, Justin, D.C., and Gino were all there with me and we sat together. A very eventful dinner to say the least...

I will have another post for you all tomorrow at some point during the day. I hope you all got the chance to see what HALF my day was like. Hope you come back to read some more again! Thanks.

-Danny Mac