It's Been Awhile

Hey Everyone!

I know, I know...It's been awhile, more like two months. I was going to try and write a post each day that I was in Iowa but even though there was time, there wasn't time. So, I have decided that before I start back up in school for my fourth year, I will update you all on how this Summer has gone and is going. What do you all think about that? 

Let's first start with the National Junior Disability Championships (NJDC) that were held in Ames, Iowa during the week of July 5th-12th. After having tons of fun on the bus ride on the way to Minnesota, we decided to do another road trip with the bus, as well with the same awesome bus driver! First half of the ride out to Iowa was fun, watching movies, reading books, listening to music, laughing and talking with each other. One of the movies that stood out to me, of course, was watching Eight Below (my favorite of Paul Walker's [RIP]) which was one of the movies that I brought. Reason why it stood out was because of what happened when this following scene happened:

The whole bus jumped in surprise when the seal came out of the whale because it was something that no one but my mom and I were expecting it (even I jumped, it gets me every time). It was a little funny seeing everyone jump out of their seats because it brought be back to the day when I saw the movie for the first time in the theaters and everyone jumped up. Sorry team for not warning you! 

Now, another moment that stands out on the bus ride was when broke down in Indiana due to mechanical issues with the bus. We had stopped a few times before our bus driver pulled off at a rest stop while we could get our bus be fixed. We were stuck in Indiana for a about five-six hours but once we got back on the road, we were about seven hours away from our destination. 

Now, after the road trip, we are now in Ames, Iowa getting ready to compete! My first competition was the first day of competition and that was archery. I had a rough time during the first round due to issues with my bow and arrows but I improved during the second round. I shot a 100 which wasn't my worst but not my best either. My next competition was table tennis and I had very close matches that led to game 5 but overall, I won one match but two of my teams made top three of all the athletes! Two days later, I had both field and track which was my final day of competition. For my 100 meters race, my time was 34.22 seconds and I was also in a relay which did great/awesome! For my field events, the following distances were my best that day: Discus - 5.93m, Javelin - 7.49m, Shot Put - 2.88m. All distances were close to personal bests. Overall, I had a great week in competitions and had a fun time with my friends, teammates, officials, event organizers, coaches, families, and more. Children's Lightning Wheels won 2nd place in the large team division! Yay team! 

Our ride home seemed like it went quicker than the ride out there and we got home a little earlier than planned which always feels good. Here are some pictures from the week. Also, if you want more information for the week of this year's Nationals: NJDC 2014. 

 

So, that is the update for Nationals. What else have I been up to this Summer? Well, two days before we left for Nationals, my sister had a new baby - a boy! I met my new nephew the day after we came home from Nationals and he is very adorable. Also, my other nephew (7 years old) stayed with us for a week, a couple weeks ago. It was an interesting week.  When Summer comes around, I always go to work with my Mom to help her with shredding, filing, putting together packets, etc. 

So far, I have done two other things Summer that were a blast. Last Monday, I went to the Somerset Patriots game with my parents, aunt, and uncle which I always enjoy doing. It was a hot day so I wasn't able to stay in the spot where I normally sit the whole time so I moved to the back for the shade. Good chicken fingers and french fries which is usually what I get when I go to ball games. I don't like hot dogs. Well, I do but I don't. That's a story for another time. Sadly, the Patriots lost but it was still a fun day.

The final event that I just recently was at the 19th Annual Softball Benefit Tournament for Children's Lightning Wheels, this past Saturday, which is an event that I go to every year. This tournament is held every year to raise money for my team and I always have a blast. This year was no different, maybe even more fun than other years (don't know why..lol). I have a new nickname from the guys (players, umpires, event organizers), and it is The Commissioner (Commish) which I will enjoy having from now on. I had lots of fun seeing, hanging out, and laughing with the players who I have known for awhile and meeting many new ones. I can't wait for next year and excited for it because it will be the 20th Annual Tournament and it's going to be awesome! Also can't wait to see everyone next year. 

I have more pictures from the event, but the above collage are four of my favorite pictures from the day. Once again, on behalf of the Lightning Wheels, thank you to all the players, sponsors, umpires, and event organizers for another great day!

Well, that is everything that I have done this Summer. Oh! I forgot to mention that for my Spring 2014 Semester for school, I made the Dean's list. I was very happy when I achieved that honor and I'm going to push myself for my last couple (few) semesters to make the list again. 

I hope everyone has/had a great Summer and if you are returning to school, have a great year and push through everything. 

I am not sure when my next post will be but it will be sooner than two months (maybe). 

Until Next Time 

CGoerlich <3

Qualified and Ready

Hey Everyone!

As you know, I am a part of the Children's Lightning Wheels Paralympic Sport Club and I do the sports of track & field, table tennis, and archery. Between May and June, we had three meets (for the Tri-State area), one Invitational meet (my team's meet) and two qualifying meet (Tri-States & Mason's).

I am happy to say that I have qualified in all six of my events that I needed to qualify for (three field events, 100 meter track, table tennis, and archery). This means, I get to compete this summer at the 2014 National Junior Disability Championships (NJDC)!  This year's Nationals will be held in Ames, Iowa.  Looking forward to it as many of my teammates are as well.  We are excited for another week of fun, as well as the bus ride there, as we had an awesome time on the bus last year!

Before we leave, we have about four more practices for all the sports so we can get ourselves ready to take on the rest of the nation. NJDC is during the week of July 5th-12th with a different schedule every day. We also get to meet many other athletes/coaches/volunteers from across the country which is one of the best things about this week. If you want to see what this week is all about, you can check out the website here ---> NJDC 2014.

I may have another post before we leave for Nationals and I am thinking about writing a post, every day as I am there but it would depend on if I have time during the week to do so but I am going to try! :) I hope you all are having a great day and is looking forward towards the official start of summer!

Until Next Time

CGoerlich <3

Bring Back Believe

Hey everyone! 

So this blog post is going to be about one of my new favorite shows, Believe getting cancelled. Now usually when one of the shows that I watch gets cancelled, I'm sad but then I just let it go but for some reason, I just can't let the fact go that Believe was cancelled.  It is a great show with great acting, great characters and it deserves to get another season (another chance at least).  If you don't know what Believe is - here is the synopsis: 

"Levitation, telekinesis, the ability to control nature, see the future... since she was born, Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) has had gifts she could neither fully understand nor control. But now that she is 10 years old, her powers have become stronger and the threat from malevolent forces that would use her abilities to control the world has grown more dangerous. With her life and future in jeopardy, Bo's protector, Milton Winter (Deltroy Lindo, "The Chicago Code"), turns to an unlikely source to keep her safe - Tate (Jake McLaughlin, "Crash"), a wrongfully imprisoned death row inmate who's lost his will.

Tate and Bo begin an extraordinary journey, one in which trust must be earned. One the run and traveling from city to city, every place they stop and everyone they meet will be changed forever. But they'll have to keep going to stay one step ahead of the sinister forces after Bo's power... because it will take a miracle to keep them safe forever. 

Also starring are Jamie Chung ("Once Upon a Time"), Arian Moayed and Kyle MacLachlan ("Portlandia," "Desperate Housewifes.")" - From the NBC's Believe website

What really stands out from this show is the chemestry between Bo and Tate who are portrayed by Johnny Sequoyah and Jake McLaughlin.  Both are stubborn, but Bo changes Tate from being a tough, stubborn, all-about-me type of a guy to a protective, caring individual.  All you have to do is watch one scene of the two together and you will fall in love with each character separately and then the pair of them together will make you wish that you had some type of relationship like they do.

To me and many other fans of the show, it didn't get the chance it should've. The first episode premiered right after an episode of The Voice and received about 10 million viewers but then NBC changed the time-slot and night of the show to Sundays at 9 pm which brought down the 10 million number to 6 million and then to 4 million.  What I ask to NBC is - what did they think was going to happen?  Of course, if you premiere a show after one of the most popular shows on television, there is going to be a larger amount of viewers to turn in to the show.  Then you change it to a night where you are putting a new show up against other high ranking, popular shows like Game of Thrones, Duck Dynasty, The Good Wife, etc. and then expect the show to get the same type of ratings as they did the first episode?

Another thing is, sometimes it takes these type of shows time to gain a loyal following.  One Tree Hill (OTH) was getting ready to be cancelled after their first season but you know what happened? They went on for another eight years. OTH isn't the only show that this happened to. Give new shows a chance and if you're not going to then what was the point of putting them on in the first place?

Believers (fan base for Believe) aren't the only ones upset with NBC but also Revolution, Crisis, Community, and other fans are upset as well.  All the reasons they are upset are some of why we, Believers, are upset but as well is that they not only cut new shows but they also cut really popular shows (Community, Revolution). 

What are we planning to do about this?

• On Sunday night at 9 pm ET, fans of Believe are going to trend using the hashtag #BringBackBelieve for the whole hour (normal time slot of Believe but won't be on because of a new miniseries).  Anyone is welcome to join us at that time, on twitter.  
• Sign as many petitions there are on the web (currently there are four): Petition 1, Petition 2, Petition 3, Petition 4.  There could be other that I haven't seen yet but if you are a fan (or just someone who would like to support), please sign each one and share them so that we can grow the numbers of signatures. 
• LIKE and SHARE this Facebook page that I have actually created.
• And then when Believe returns to the schedule on May 25th to finish up the season, we are going to watch those episodes and hope the ratings go up!

If you have not watched any of the episodes yet, you should really tune in (On Demand, Websites, etc.) because it is an amazing show that deserves to get another chance to create a bigger following towards it. We love the characters, actors, and the plot in general and we, Believers, really believe that this show can become one of the top shows on television and hope even if NBC doesn't bring it back, another network would pick it up.

Thank you for listening and hopefully I will post a following post to this with great news!

Until Next Time

CGoerlich <3 

Birthday Week!

Hey Everyone!

I had a great week this week and I couldn't wait until I could share it with you all! But first, how were everyone's holidays (Easter/Passover)??  I hope you all had a great one! I had a great Easter, getting to spend time with my family and some friends, watching Yankees and hockey playoffs (even though the Devils aren't in it). It was a great day which lead to another great day, MY BIRTHDAY! :) Not just any birthday but my 21st birthday!

My birthday was the Monday after Easter making it April 21st and it was another great day. Went to school and archery practice which equals spending time with friends and then spent the night with my parents which was awesome.  For my first drink, I tried Frozen Blue Hawaiian and probably shocking to my family, I liked it! Why shocking? Because well I'm a very picky eater/drinker as I usually only drink either water or Sprite and eat pasta, chicken, steak, and some other foods. So they were happy they did find something that I enjoyed.  It was a great day.

Another great day happened this week (birthday week) and that was yesterday, Thursday, April 25th! Want to know what happened? If you are family or friends, you probably already know what happened but I GOT A CAR! Yep, a car. I have been waiting to get a car for awhile and thanks to town's fundraising and help from some other people, I got it. I would like to thank whoever has helped me get this because again, if it wasn't for you all, this wouldn't have happened like this so THANK YOU!

 I am already enjoying having a car and excited to be able to drive. My car is a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan and it has hand controls (thanks to Mobility Works).  Due to one of my friend's request, I may post an istagram video or even a YouTube video of me getting in the car and stuff :) So keep a lookout for that! Again, I'm very thankful for everyone's help for this to happen and can't wait to get out and drive some more! I was on Cloud 9 yesterday and was still on it today, I believe.

This week has been awesome and I don't know if I could've asked for a better one! Next weekend is the first track meet of the season and I'm excited for it. You will probably get another post from me after that meet or after next weekend. We'll see. But thank you to all my readers for reading! Have a great weekend!

Until Next Time

CGoerlich <3

Updates!

Hey all!

So it's been a few months since I have written a post. I am sorry! I really did mean to write more but life has gotten in the way but I am hoping to write more as the time goes on now, especially now that the new season has begun and I have a feeling all great things are to come this year! But that's for another time. Right now, for this post, I thought why not catch you up with what I have been up to since December (my last post). What do you all think about that? Great? Good. And so we're off!

• January marked the beginning of my second semester of my third year in college. Can't believe it's been three years already since I graduated high school in 2011! This semester, I am taking interesting classes that will help me further my writing skills, computer skills, and knowledge. I am taking the following classes this semester:

1. Disabled Person in American Society
2. Media Journalism
3. Writing Fiction
4. History of Rhetoric in Writing
5. Writing for Cyberspace
   
• So far, this semester is going great and I have already learned so much! There is still about a month and couple of weeks left of this semester and I am looking forward to what else I will learn. For my Writing for Cyberspace class, I am working on a group blog with two of my friends in that class called Bark. and it is all about dogs (how to take care of, treats, food, parks & beaches, etc.) so I was wondering if you all could go check that out! You can click here - Bark. and also for this class, I am working on a Paralympic Movement website so I hope you check that out when I have it done!

• February marked the beginning of a new sports season! I have been going to the gym with my team since around October but now all the sports have started up again! February 27th was our team's opening dinner which brought most of the members of Children's Lightning Wheels back together, as well meeting new teammates/friends. Then March 6th was our first indoor practice = we're off! Some of the members of the team had a swim meet on the Saturday after our opening dinner and did very well. Archery is plan to start this upcoming Monday, and as planned this Thursday will be our first outdoor practice if the weather agrees with us!  I have a feeling this season is going to be another great one and I am looking forward to meeting new people, enjoy the sports that I have, help new members learn new things, and reach my goals that I have set out for myself for this season!
  
• Oh also, I have started a newsletter for my team which helps all the members and non-members keep up with what we are are doing and if you would like one, please let me know through twitter, instagram, Facebook message (if we're friends), or even on YouTube. All links to my social media sites are on the right  side bar -------->

• Raise your hand if you watched the Paralympics, last month, on television! (How many of you actually raised their hands? lol) How awesome were the Paralympians and sports? Awesome right! I know a lot of it was in the middle of the night, that's what happens when the country is about 11 hours ahead of us, but anyways it was still awesome that they were LIVE on television. United States won two gold (one of them being the US men's sled hockey team beating Russia), seven silver medals, and nine bronze medals. This was a great step towards the Paralympic Movement especially when I saw many comments from people who want even more television cover for the Games and also the great support the sled hockey teams got from Olympians and NHL teams, here in the U.S. This was a great experience, getting able to watch these sports on the television and hopefully there will be more hours to come. Remember to keep a lookout for 2016 for the Rio Summer Paralympics for some more amazing athletes and sports in the summer! :) 

So that's basically what I have been up to lately, also working on some side things with my writing that I hope you all will be seeing soon and I have a good feeling that you will. What stuff am I working on? Well, time will tell because I don't like ruining surprises. So, I hope you all have a great start to the Spring, especially after that crazy Winter we had, and have enjoyed this updated blog post. I promise my next one will not months and months away. Thank you!

Until Next Time

CGoerlich <3