Week 9 [Juggling and Gathering]

 [Juggling] 

For years I had been waiting for this moment, since I was a kid I felt this urge that I was destined for greatness. Nothing but success would be tolerated and although it sounded nice in my head the work I had to put myself through was damaging. Even as a 16 year old boy, working a 9-5, I wasn’t worried about my future. This sensation orbited around me at all times almost like a barrier of protection, it kept me sane and hopeful. Maybe I manifested it, but now here I am, one day away from playing in the College Football National Championship against Alabama. Yes, it sounds surreal but I feel like all of my life I’ve been the star on a big stage and this was no different than my middle school district championship game, or my high school state title game. 

Game day had finally arrived, and the energy circling the field and locker room was electric. Their wasn’t much talk in the locker room as everyone used their own way of getting ready and hyped up for the game. Finally, as we were nearing kickoff. Our team came together as one. As the quarterback and leader of this team I felt it was only necessary to show my gratitude and appreciation for eacj person around me. 

“Alright boys, this is it. Our last show of the year.” 

“I am so damn proud of each and every one of you. We all came to this school as teammates not knowing a single person and now we’ll be leaving tonight as brothers, whether we win or lose, I will always love you guys. Win on three! 1..2..3...WIN!!” 

As I ran onto the field I could feel that sensation begin to orbit around me again, like it was my time to show everyone who I was. Initially, while running onto the field I was nervous. The screams and cheers of hundreds and hundreds of thousand fans gave me chills, but once again, that orbiting sensation kept me sane. 

Our team started with the ball first, as we huddled up I could feel the anxiety flowing through my veins. Although I was nervous I couldn’t show any sign of fear to my teammates, as their quarterback it is my job to lead them. After I broke the huddle I could feel every step, and every swing of a limb. My body was at piece, and my breathing started to slow down. Almost as if I had just found my yin and yang. At the sound of the whistle I came back to reality and was already in shotgun formation to hike the ball. 

“What just happened”, I thought. 

Before I hiked the ball, I could smell the fresh turf and beaten up leather of the football. It brought me back to my good old days. All the way to high school where I truly developed as a man. When I was forced to grow up because of the passing of my father. Walking home after every practice not being able to afford a car without my father, and then having to wake up five hours later to work a midnight shift at Perkins to support my family. From that point on in my life I was determined to strive for greatness and nothing less. 

The noise of the crowd brought my head back to the field, and as I looked around the stadium, I knew he was watching from above and was proud of the boy he raised. 

[Gathering] 

It was the first day of winter break, and everyone including myself was soooo excited! After a long and hard semester along with finals, everyone was ready to relax and or party. And that is exactly what we did. Me and my friends went to the frat house down in UCLA just to have a good time. Once we got there, we noticed a big buff man was standing at the door as security. As I approached the the door I was nervous he would embarrass us but he let me and my friends right in. I feel like it was because we were ladies and all of the guys just want more girls. After we got in the party we noticed the house was fairly big. Their was a bar, a pretty spacious backyard, and drinking games going on inside and outside. I myself isn’t much of a drinker so I decided to go out and smoke some weed. After minding my own business and torching a few bowls I went and sat down on a huge red bean bag. When I jumped onto the bean bag I felt so relaxed. My body slowly sank into the bag like quick sand. I felt so observant so decided to look around. Strangely enough, all of the people around the beer pong table wore jerseys and cut offs T’s or tank tops. Then I worked my way outside and noticed that a lot of the outside were smoking and wearing beanies. They had a cool type of style, many of them wore rings, chains, and designer hoodies. Them at the bar their was a wide variety of people. The majority of them seemed sober and were having a good time with a drink.