Books

As I've grown older I've come to realize how little I read anymore. Growing up, reading was one of my favorite things to do and I was a total bookworm. I'd read any book I could get my hands on and lock myself in my room all day reading books (mostly fictional). I read everything from To Kill A Mockingbird all the way to Percy Jackson. Over the years I've acquired a few books that I really enjoy, my favorite obviously being the one and only:

Harry Potter is the best. Don't deny it. Image Courtesy of Kazamerican

As the years go by I find myself reading less and less. I've noticed that I only end up reading only when I have to. For example, I only read when it is for an English book report or essay I have to write based off of a book or if I have to read a textbook for a test. Other than that, I don't read too much anymore. I used to read books, magazines, newspapers, and even online articles. Now, I'd rather watch a video than sit down and read a nice book. And the sad thing is, I know I'm not the only one who does this.

Although my bad habit of doing anything but reading has been going strong for a couple of years now, I am determined to end it. I am intent on reading often and my goal is to read a book a month. I mean we have to start somewhere, right? Even though books are lame to most people, I am going to stick to my roots and pick up my old tradition of reading.

I mean think about it. All of these amazing, exciting movies coming out these days were originally books and nine times out of ten, the book is better than the movie. Reading also helps you out greatly in school. Not only does it advance your vocabulary, but it will make writing those long essays ten times easier.

So instead of constantly watching T.V. or playing my Xbox, I'm going to pick up a book from time to time and I encourage all of you to do the same.

Sleep

In my previous post, I talked about laziness. Now I bet while you were reading that you were wondering, what drives a kid to sit at home and do nothing all day? Yes, I know laziness is a terrible thing, but the one thing that makes it all worth it is sleep. Being asleep is one of the best feelings you could ever have and I know many people would agree with me. Had a long day? Jump in bed and take a nap. Feeling sore from a work out? Go to sleep. Just tired in general? SLEEP! Waking up from sleep feeling fresh and new is one of the best feelings in the world. You could sleep for fifteen minutes or eight hours and it still feels amazing.

Image Courtesy of Funny

Over the years I've come to notice the amount of sleep I've been losing and it worries me. When I first moved here to Utah, I went to Ecker Hill Middle School. The school start time was around 8:45 which was heavenly. On top of that, I lived in Pinebrook so I could leave my house at around 8:42 and still arrive at school on time. The next year, however, things changed. When I made the transition from an 8:45 start time to a 7:30 time it was rough. My parents had work and loved their sleep too, so they couldn't drop me off at school anymore either. That meant I had to wake up even earlier to take the 6:48 bus to school. Imagine waking up at 8:00 every morning for a year and then having to wake up two hours earlier the next year.

The transition to junior high school also came with mountains of homework and tons of studying. This not only resulted in a lot of stress, but also a lack of sleep due to all of the late nights with school. This introduced my worst enemy, sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep can come with some serious short and long term health issues.

So make sure you get your sleep in everybody because it is totally worth it. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go take a nap.

Laziness

Hello all. Today I'm going to be talking about the one thing that never seems to disappear from my life, and that one thing is laziness. If I were to choose one quality to completely dispose of, it would be laziness. Sure, after a long and busy week one day of sitting around and doing nothing is great, but for me this happens every single day. Everyday I seem to live through the same routine. I wake up, have something to eat, and then I do absolutely nothing. I have literally no desire to do anything whatsoever.

Image Courtesy of Ego

Because of this awful habit, I almost never hang out with friends. People will ask me to hang out with them and I'll come up with the most ridiculous reasons not to go. So while I'm stuffing my face on the couch with Cheezits, my friends are out and about doing something with their lives. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want to hang out with my friends. It's just that every time I get invited to do something, my bad habit of laziness gets the better of me. The combination of laziness and my awful practice of procrastination is a detriment to both my social and school life.

Image Courtesy of Imgfave

All in all, if I had the ability to get rid of this bad habit, believe me I would. I've just come to the conclusion that I'm going to need to accept the fact that laziness is going to be a part of me for the rest of my life. The real battle will be when I fight this terrible habit.

Thanks for reading fam and stay tuned for my next couple of posts. Sorry this one was shorter than usual. Until next time.

Three Reasons Why Finals Suck

Finals.. The time of headaches, long nights, stress, and panic attacks. Quarter finals are the most "anticipated" part of the year. I think I can speak for all of my peers when saying quarter finals are awful. Here's three different reasons why quarter finals suck.

Image courtesy of HerCampus

1. Finals are all at the same time
One of the worst thing about finals is not only that there are so many of them, but that all of these tests are at the exact same time. It's extremely annoying that I have to study for five tests that occur within the span of two days. Just this week I had two math tests, a biology test, an AP geography test, and an English test. In order to do well on just one of those tests, you have to study for an extremely long period of time. Take my AP geography test for example. I studied for a total of five hours by rereading the book around four times, studying vocabulary and flashcards, reviewing previous tests, and memorizing Keynotes. And the funny thing is, it only gets harder from here.

2. They make or break your grade
Another troubling thing about finals is that they are more than likely going to determine your final grade. Towards the end of the quarter, I'm usually barely averaging a 4.0 GPA. By time finals roll around, I need to be extra careful because if I screw up on one of these tests, my GPA is dropping and then I'm in deep trouble. This not only forces me to throw my social life out the window, but it adds an extra layer of stress to my everyday life. This brings us back to the studying for ten hours a day topic. If I want to achieve the GPA I want, I'm going to have devote my entire life to studying. That means from the time I get home to the time I jump in bed, I have to be sitting at my desk reading my textbook.

3. Stress is prime in finals week
I've already mentioned the amount of stress that comes with finals above, but I can't stress this fact enough (hehe see what I did there). The combination of an abundance of studying and a lack of sleep can really stress someone out to the point of a mental breakdown. The fact that my parents take my grades extremely seriously doesn't help either. Finals are extremely stressful, plain and simple and I have to find ways to defeat my anxiety.

All in all, finals really do suck. They may be the only thing between you and the GPA you want. They may be the root of all of the stress and unhappiness in your life. However, the satisfaction of getting a good grade after the hours of studying is definitely worth it in the end.

Thanks for reading my dudes.

Soccer Part 2: Transition from Rec to Club Soccer and ODP

When I moved to Utah, my parents had decided that I needed to go to the next level if I were to get serious about soccer. That's when they signed me up for Park City Soccer Club and I was ecstatic. When I first joined the team, I knew things would be different. From the first practice, I realized that the difference between recreational soccer and club soccer was monumental. Don't get me wrong, Southern California is one of the best areas for soccer development in the country, so I grew up around basically the same standard, but in general recreational soccer around the country is nowhere close to its club soccer counterpart. I sensed the difference in skill and knowledge for the game automatically. As I examined my new teammates, I was troubled. I had always been the best on all of my previous teams, and now, things were quite the opposite. Although club soccer was hard for me to adjust to, I ended up loving the new experience.

 The club I currently play for. Image courtesy of Park City Extreme Cup

 

I have been playing with Park City Soccer Club for three years now, which translates to five seasons. I began my journey with this club, excited, yet nervous at the same. I was eager to experience club soccer for the first time, but I was scared about the transition from rec to club. Nevertheless, I decided to do everything in my power to play to the very best of my ability. My first two seasons with the club were slow. I played left wing for the majority of these seasons, scoring a couple of goals throughout those games. Although at left wing I wasn't at my best, I was noticed by John Cairel, who was the coach for the older team. I had the honor of playing with the team older than me, as well as the team for my age group. I believe this helped develop my game even further. Towards the end of our third season, we hadn't done very well in the league for the third year in a row. The club decided we needed a new coach. That's when things changed for the better for our team. My dad, who had previously been involved with the club for a short period of time, filled in as our team's head coach. His presence made an instant impact within our team. He filled in as coach for our last five games, where we won four of them, and lost our last game 3-2 against the number one team in the league. The next season, with the addition of some new players, my dad took us to promotion from Division 3, to Division 2. Within that season I played left wing, but my dad allowed me to try central midfield which I felt I did well at. We also have a very impressive habit of at least making it to the finals of every tournament my dad has coached us under. We won second at a Premier tournament in Las Vegas, and have won every other tournament we have participated in. This season I have been playing central midfield. During this season, we were doing amazing and were heading for promotion. However, we lost our most recent game, basically putting us out of the race for promotion. Even though we didn't get promoted, I believe we'll come back even stronger next year.

An older Cameron killing it on the pitch

Another amazing experience I have had with soccer since my move to Utah, has been the Olympic Development Program, also known as ODP. ODP is when the best players in the state come together to form a team, and participate in a prestigious tournament against other regions in the country. I had never experienced anything like this in California, so I was extremely excited. My friend Forrest and I tried out for the team together, and we both agreed that the standard of play was super high and extremely fun. After the first three tryouts, we learned that we had made the first cut known as the player pool, which consisted of forty players who would travel to Nevada for one final tryout to see if they would make the final eighteen. Technically speaking, that put us in the top forty best players in the state for our age, which is an awesome achievement. The trip to Nevada was a weekend long and it was definitely a new experience. For the first time in my soccer career, I was treated like a professional. I was expected to be at the bus on time every day, attend team meetings, and to behave correctly off the pitch. Unfortunately, when it came to the final cut I did not make it. Forrest, however, did make the final eighteen and went on to travel with the team. What sucked even more, was that I made what was known as the "stand by" list, which means if anything happened to one of the eighteen, I would be called up to play. That sadly didn't happen. Nevertheless, I am extremely excited for ODP this year, and I hope that I can make the eighteen along with Forrest this time.

That's my soccer story for now. Bye bye.

Soccer Part 1: My Introduction to Soccer and My Rec Soccer Experience

Football, known as soccer here in the United States, is my passion. I live and breath this sport. There is no time in my life where I haven't been itching to get on a field and kick a soccer ball around. I currently play for Park City Soccer Club. My history with the sport of soccer goes way back to before I was born.

My father, Jean-Marc, was a soccer fanatic. Growing up in Bern, Switzerland, my father constantly had a ball at his feet. The bond between him and the sport of soccer was unbreakable. Sure enough, as my father grew older, so did his skill and passion for the sport. My father became so good, in fact, that he was captain for the academy team of a professional Swiss soccer club, BSC Young Boys. My father played along Swiss national team players, and could have made it there himself, but instead he chose to get an education. He went on to coach top tier players after his career in soccer, and his passion for the sport lives on to this day.

The club my father used to play for. Image courtesy of the Young Boys Wikipedia Page

When my family moved from Switzerland to California, I was about two years old. Growing up, I was an energetic and athletic boy. I played multiple sports other than soccer such as basketball, football, lacrosse, and water polo. Although I loved all of these sports, my main love was for soccer since day one. I have been playing soccer for as long as I can remember. I began my soccer career on a recreational team (rec team) in Palm Desert when I was about four. I must have inherited something from my father, because I was born a talented soccer player. My father was heavily involved in my soccer career. He helped shape the player I have become today, by influencing my style of game as my coach throughout both my recreational and club soccer careers. In my recreational days, I was swerving in between defenders with ease and calmly finishing in front of the keeper, averaging about five or six goals a game. There was no doubt in anybody's mind that I was the star player of each team I played for. I kept up this astonishing habit of scoring numerous goals throughout my entire recreational soccer career, which lasted until I moved to Utah when I was twelve. Although my style of play seemed extraordinary at the time, the standard for recreational soccer was nowhere close to the club soccer standard. Club soccer was fast paced, physical, and you needed to understand the game in order to prosper as a player.

A young Cameron tearing the defense to shreds

The closest experience I had to club soccer before I became a part of it, was the Recreational Allstar Team. This was a team made up of all of the best players within the rec league. This team participated in tournaments and faced off against club teams. The first time I made this team, I was younger than everybody else. Most of the players were as good as, if not better than me, and it was difficult for me to make as big of an impact as I did with my original rec team. I still did my part at tournaments, however, scoring goals and unselfishly providing my teammates with the ball so they could score. Our first tournament was a qualifying tournament for an even bigger tournament called the Tournament of Champions. In this qualifying tournament of many within the region, allstar and club teams faced off to make it to the prestigious Tournament of Champions. The top team from each tournament moved on to the champions tournament. We were underdogs going into this tournament, but we were confident in our style of play and strength as a team. Surprisingly, we breezed through our group stage, grabbing three easy wins and moving on to the semi-finals. The semi-finals were much more difficult than the previous three games. I remember seeing opponents that were twice my size and accusing them of using steroids, because there was no way an eleven year old was six feet tall and had a full grown mustache. Despite the fact that were grown men on the opposing team, we managed to squeeze by with a 1-0 win and moved on to the finals of the tournament. The finals was against the home club, Temecula Valley. This team was extremely difficult to play against from the get-go, and we went 2-0 down early into the game. At half time, our coach attempted to motivate us, but there was no hope. We sat on the bench sadly, and awaited the start of the second half. Although we were extremely discouraged, we managed to fight back when one of our forwards scored an absolutely sensational goal from the middle of the field. This extremely lucky goal motivated us to push forward to fight back in the game. We fought hard and long, yet we were still down 2-1. In the dying moments of the match, we won a free kick in the middle of the field. Our center back pushed up to take the free kick. He kicked the ball, originally intending to cross the ball into one of our forwards, but the ball miraculously went in. The final whistle blew, and we were going into extra time with the game tied 2-2. The ref announced that the extra time would be under the "Golden Goal" rule which stated that the first team to score a goal wins and would move on to the next tournament. We went onto the field, more motivated than ever, and eagerly awaited the referee's whistle to restart the game. The whistle blew, and extra time was on. Temecula Valley put extreme pressure on our team, but our defense held them off brilliantly. Once our defense stopped one of their attacks, our left back began a counter and extraordinarily dribbled the ball all the way down the field. He looked up took a shot, which deflected off of one of their defenders, and the ball landed right at my feet in the box. It all happened in slow motion, I looked up, settled the ball, and hit it with power and precision right into the top right corner. I had scored and won the game 3-2 for my team, sending us to the Tournament of Champions. I can vividly remember my teammates, coaches, and parents pouring onto the field and tackling me into a gigantic dog pile as we celebrated our victory. This was one of my best soccer moments, which only strengthened my passion for the game.

The Palm Desert Allstar Team pose after an amazing win in extra time thanks to hero Cameron Chevre

 In order to prevent this post from being way too long, I'm going to divide this topic in half. Stay tuned for part two of my experiences with soccer, which will discuss the transition from rec to club soccer and my experiences with the Olympic Development Program.

Procrastination

procrastination (n): the action of delaying or postponing something

Procrastination. Whether you admit it or not, we are all guilty of doing this at some point in our lives. Some of you put off going to the gym, and some of you leave that huge project to the night before. I have no issue admitting that I have a problem with procrastination. I have been procrastinating this blog entry since the day it was assigned, and now I find myself typing this entry the day before it's due. Welcome to the life of a professional procrastinator.

One of my typical methods of procrastination is the classic do all the work the night before technique. If I get assigned something in class and the assignment is due in a week, I'll usually put off that assignment until the night before it is due. If you already think that's bad, listen to this. When I get these week long assignments, I always get time in class to work on them. However, since I am a "professional" procrastinator, I'm not about that "use your time wisely in class" life. A true procrastinator does maybe a minute of work max, and then does the rest of the work the day before the assignment is due. If you find yourself actually doing work in class, you're doing it wrong.

Live by this motto! Image courtesy of Puravidamultimedia

This next type of procrastination is a very common procrastination technique. This is called the "Sit Down With An Original Goal To Get Things Done and Get Nothing Done After A Couple of Hours Technique." Sometimes I'm ashamed of my bad habit of procrastination, so once in a while I'll sit down and actually try to do my work in advance. However whenever I do this, I end up getting extremely distracted and end up at a Nigel Thornberry compilation or Pepe the Frog memes when my original goal was to do some Vital Vocab. 

Speaking of Nigel Thornberry compilations...

Image courtesy of Twitter

If you actually want to become a procrastinator, you're in luck because I happen to be an extremely good one. Here are two world class professional tips on how to become one. (PLEASE DON'T ACTUALLY DO THIS)

Image courtesy of Meme Storage

1. Don't use your time wisely in class. If you want to become a true procrastinator, you need to do anything but the assignment. Go on Youtube, your phone, or anything that will distract you from doing your work. 

2. Do not care about anything except for the due date. If you have an assignment due in a couple of days, do nothing until the day before your assignment is due. This is a basic skill any procrastinator needs to possess in order to succeed in the procrastination community.

Before you say anything, yes I know that in my later years of high school and in college these procrastination techniques will not be as effective. If I keep this habit up, I will most likely be serving you your Big Mac at McDonalds as you look at me with a look of pity, but that is beyond the point. I want to let all of you know that you don't need to worry about me. I, Cameron Chevre, will serve proudly as a professional procrastinator until my life crumbles before my eyes and I have to move back in with my parents. 

So peace out fam, I'll see you at the next due date.