From Good to Worse

For the second straight year at Mulvane High School, the students have participated in a competition between the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes. The competitions were random and required participation such as wearing a hat, wearing green, or who dressed up for spirit week. The winners were determined by percentages of students who participated in each class. And for the second straight year the Seniors won. The underclassmen will claim the competition is rigged for the Seniors to win but frankly I don't care and either will they when they are Seniors.

The reward for the winning class is a trip to Worlds of Fun at the end of the school year. This year due to budget cuts and our school already being short on money, students were required to pay $20 to go on the trip. The fee was not a problem for our class apparently as over 2/3 the students ended up going.

The trip was set to leave the school at 7 a.m. which is really early for someone who doesn't get the bed til midnight at the earliest and isn't anywhere close to being a morning person. But I didn't care how tired I was or how early it was, I was going to the closest thing to fun in Kansas, Worlds of Fun-which is technically in Missouri but it counts. The bus's were split up with guys in one bus and girls in the other, one downfall of the trip. So we stuffed 50 some 18 year old guys into a bus with limited leg room for 3 hours and we were off.

The trip up went smoothly and as planned something that didn't happen later but that's for later. We stopped in Otttawa to get some food before we hit the park and would be forced to pay $4 for a drink if your thirsty which in my opinion should be illegal. So I ate a pretty large breakfast at Burger King as I was blessed with a little bit of my father's tightass gene. So we loaded back up and before we drove each other insane, the Mamba was in sight. For those who don't know of the Mamba's badassness, its a roller coaster that takes you almost straight up 200 feet in the air and sends you back down at 75 MPH.

As our teachers gave us the "Don't embarrass Mulvane speech", we were more worried about the first ride we were going to ride. For me, it was the detonator, which was fun and all but I had to have the Mamba next. One thing I learned from this trip is that you learn a lot about your classmates. You find out the people who you thought were the toughest people ever were scared to death of roller coasters or the most timid people or what we like to call "Ride Warriors"

The day went fast and 5 o'clock came faster then we could have imagined. As the group I was in tried to squeeze in the last couple rides of the day, we witnessed a middle schooler vomit all over the waiting deck for the Mamba and after that it all went downhill.

The storms that the weathermen had been predicting had arrived in full force. We saw a few cloud to ground strikes of lightning and casually started to make our way to entrance to leave. That casual stroll turned to a full out sprint after a bolt of lightning struck a roller coaster inside the park about 100 yards away from me and set a building on fire. We ran through the rain which felt like rain on steroids. We got on the bus safe and sound and ended up having to wait on students who were closer to the lightning strike as the park was keeping them in a storm shelter. We got our missing students after about 30 minutes and at that point everyone was on edge. The storm was massive and was going straight up our route home, the turnpike. We tried to go around it and took about an hour detour around Kansas City to avoid the heavy rain which was a failure at best. Our driver couldn't see anything which forced us to go 40 MPH the whole way home. After seeing 2 semis tipped over on the side of the road, students were seriously worrying whether we would make it home alive. We got to a break in the storm and stopped at a rest stop, one of many stops, and got some food and filled up with gas.

Well the satellites for the credit card machines were down at this rest stop so we had to wait an hour for them to get back up before we could fill up the busses-made me wonder what the world would really be like if electronics failed. Our bus driver had a terrible and stinky accident. As she was filling up the bus with gas, somehow the gas shot back out of the tank and all over here-remember that busses take diesel. So she changed into new clothes but that didn't eliminate the stench. Not to mention that there are 50 guys on a bus with all the windows up that just ate a week's worth of junk food and McDonalds, so things got gassy.

Our next dilemma was the other busses windshield wipers broke down (which doesn't bode well in a storm) and their bus driver couldn't figure out how to fix it. So their idea of fixing it was the other bus would just follow our bus closely so we would block the rain. So if you weren't freaking out by this point you were about to be. We had just received a phone call and were told the turnpike at El Dorado was closed because multiple semis were tipped over and that the storm we were about to hit had already produced a tornado. The bus was hot and tensions were high, there was almost three fights and the students were about to take over the bus themselves.

Well as you can tell we made it home safe and sound, I didn't write this on the bus before I died but after a 7 HOUR trip from Kansas City to Mulvane, I was surprised I didn't. All in all, the trip was worth the hassle, it was a great way to spend with the people I have grown up with forever and many whom I will not see after we go to college. If nothing else, it will be a great story to tell and grow as its told for years to come.

Prom Recap

So this weekend was one of most important weekends of this small town as about 90% of the town came to watch the Juniors and Seniors walk in for prom. This year I went with a group of 23 seniors and 1 Junior (poor guy) to prom. My 1st Date, Oh ya there is more than one, was Taylor Parsons and my other date, due to a track meet where her date couldn't make it back, was Lauren Caldwell. The day started off just fine, while all the girls were getting ready since 9 a.m. , I was sleeping until about 12! Just another reason being a guy is much cooler than being a girl. From then I watched some Family Guy (Side note, I have my Dad watching this now and he loves it, who would have known?) and then played some call of duty until about 2:45 p.m. Pictures were at 3:30 in English Park. Deciding where to take pictures about started World War III between the girls and when I tried to step in and help by suggesting we just not take pictures, they didn't take me too serious. Well pictures went about as well as possible when trying to get 24 people to show up on time and then get them lined up to look at about 40 cameras. Luckily we got through pictures fairly quickly and finally got to get away from the parentals.

Our mode of transportation was a party bus! If you've never seen or rode on one, its pretty much a dance floor on wheels with 2 stripper poles on it. Dancing on this became difficult with our driver taking offense to not slamming on the brakes or peeling out. Once again the girls were about to have a throw down over whose Ipod to listen to and what song we wanted to play as we walked off the bus at the high school. Finally everyone decided on a song ("California love" Tupac and Dr. Dre) and everything was fine again.

We ate at P.F. Chang's which is definitely the best Chinese restaurant in Wichita so I was pumped! We got right in with our reservations and had a gay black man for our Waiter. I had the Sesame chicken which was delicious and other than some food getting mixed up, this went fairly well and we were set to head back to the school.

We arrived at the high school about 8 p.m. and walk in went beautifully after about a zillion pictures. Then finally the fun began. The first half of the dance was disappointing mostly because of the song selection but the last half made up for it where the DJ's finally figured out some decent songs. Charlie Hansen and Megan Bryant were crowned homecoming queen and king. By the end of the dance I was sweating profusely after "breaking it down" to the best of my abilities (which are not good).

After prom was surprisingly a big disappointment. For three years, after prom had been an awesome experience with dodge ball tournaments, 3 vs. 3 bball tourneys, ping pong tourneys, guitar hero competitions and much more. This year had none of these and had limited activities and was poorly organized. But as usual, we made the best of it and ended up having some fun. We played blackjack and I got to see which of my friends I would want to take to Vegas and which would lose it all there. Then finally the prize giveaway started and as usual I didn't win anything big. No TV, Xbox, Fridge, or grill. Nope I won the game Cranium. Oh ya and a box of hot tamales (which I don't even like) so the wait for the prizes was also a disappointment

Overall though, the night was a great success as we all had a great time. I will try and get more pictures up on here and facebook later when I can get my mom's camera. For now these will have to do.

P.S. 15 more days of school!

Prom Recap

I'm backkkkkkkk!

Well well well, how long its been since I've been on and filled in the tons of people that follow my blog (or like 3). But thanks to you few that do. I can't really put my finger on why I haven't been updating my blog exactly. Way too busy? Maybe, Don't have anything really to blog about? hmmm kind of, Laziness? Probably a little of that. I'll just say that's a combo of those three but I'll give it a try now.

1. Baseball- Baseball didn't start how I would have liked but we have been playing a lot better as of late and are looking forward to the rest of the season and what it hold for us (hopefully another trip to state!). Specifics? Ok we lost our first two games to Wellington. No one hit the ball well and we didn't pitch and play defense well enough to make up for our lack of hitting. We then proceeded to lose our first game to the Hill (Rose Hill for you non-Mulvanians) but made it a game after nearly being run ruled, the game ended 12-8. The next game we finally got the monkey off our back and won the game 8-5. That sparked us for our next double header where we swept Circle, winning 3-0 and 14-3. We have Andover next Monday and hope to continue our winning streak into league play.
2. Wind- This goes back to baseball and baseball SUCKS in the wind. Another reason I hate Kansas weather, if its not snowing, raining, or sleeting...it is blowing wind straight into my face in left field. It actually gets annoying every time you look up for a fly ball and your hat flies off and blows to the fence! Maybe I'll need to find a way to keep my hat on my large dome. Superglue? not worth it. Or the wind could just stop f'n blowing like I'm in a hurricane! But that would mean some other crappy weather is coming so I'll just deal with it I guess
3. Scholarships- there these sweet things where if you fill out some forms and write an essay, the group your filling it out for will give you FREE MONEY. My mom and me (with a lot of help from my mom but I've helped) have been filling out about every scholarship I think is out there. I guess she wants to pay for the least amount of college as possible. But there is a catch. You have to use the money your awarded for school. So even if I do get one, it's not going towards my summer fund so I can achieve my ultimate goal of not getting as my mom would call it "an actual job". I guess watching little kids 3 hours a day and mowing a lawn once a week doesn't meet her standards of this thing she calls a job.
4. Tick-Tock- Time is counting down towards, barring I don't do anything too dumb, graduation! I think I have 23 actually days of school and 39 total days until my last day at the place I'll be so sad to leave being the high school....not.
5. Its that time- Oh how I love warm weather! I can wear shorts, cut off t's (show off the guns), and of course its tip-ten weather. I've played tip-ten ever since I can remember. I played with all of Travis's friends when he was in high school and have played ever since. My friends and I have taken it to a new level now and when we have money (not often) will play it for money. If I win consistently, is that considered a job? I'm not asking

This is about all thats going on right now in my life, I know it is excting, but other than this I need to start a persuasive research paper and have no idea (aka motivation) what to do it over, so if you have any ideas or spare research papers laying around, feel free to let me know.

Miscellaneous March

I don't have anything in particular I want to talk about so I'll just put some random things I have done or am going to do in March....

1. I recently watched a somewhat old movie by the name of "Hurricane". I got it from Netflix, which I'm addicted to. The movie is about an African-American boxer, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who was falsely imprisoned by a corrupt police force and judicial people in the state of New Jersey. He was sentenced three counts of murder and wrote an autobiography while in prison "The 16th Round". Another African American from that area who was somewhat adopted by a group of Canadians to prepare him for college, read the book and was moved by it. He visited Rubin in prison and these three Canadians get Rubin a hearing in the supreme court where he is ordered to be released. The movie is however one sided as there are still questions about whether Rubin was really innocent or not. Either way, great movie, watch it if you haven't seen it.



2. One downside of doing everything you do on a couch (eat, sleep, read, computer, watch TV, play Xbox, or homework) is that you lose things and it takes me getting off my lazy butt to find them. I think I'm going to tie a string around my phone and attach it to my wrist because that thing gets stuck in between cushions and lost in blankets daily (very annoying).



3. I have way too many hobbies: I play Xbox, read books occasionally, watch about 5 TV shows a week, any sporting event, watching movies, being on the Internet, read 3 sports magazines (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News), and still try to fit in homework somewhere in between. I'm trying to figure out which hobby I want to set aside for a while as I've become terrible on time management this semester but can't figure it out. Maybe I just need to figure out how to multitask more efficiently?



4. Basketball finally is about to mean something: Mostly in the NBA as the playoffs approach in the beginning of April but NCAA basketball begins the greatest tournament in sports in about 2 weeks. I will be filling my bracket out to perfection or nowhere close to it, probably the latter.



5. March also means MLB baseball is on its way. This also means fantasy baseball! Oh yeah, I should probably add fantasy sports to my hobby list. I'll probably get in more leagues than I know what to do with, hoping that I may actually win one of them.



6. Spring break- Colorado = as Borat would say it "Great Success". As much as I hate being in the cold, I would honestly rather be skiing in the mountains than being on the beach any day. Although I do want to take a cruise sometime, I'm thinking a huge family one too, I wonder who'd throw who off the boat first?



7. After Spring break means only 7 more weeks of school for me!

Oh and for those of participating in the annual "McGuire Big 12 Tourney Challenge", you can make your checks out to Corbin McGuire, I also accept cash.

On to the next one

So last night capped off my final basketball game as a high schooler, and as I will seriously miss playing the sport of basketball, I will not miss the drama and baggage that came with playing it these last two years. Now its on to baseball: Dill Pickle seeds, batting practice, taking some pop flies, shagging balls, sometimes a little goofing off, and most importantly dew time are all the great things that come with playing baseball. Dew time, for all of you who don't know, is when after practice everyday, someone on the team goes and buys a case of mountain dew. Everyone with a truck pulls up and we make of circle of trucks and sit to drink our dews and talk, argue, mess with the softball players, or play "death hack". Death hack in a nutshell is just a game with a hacky sack and the goal is to hit someone with the hacky sack. It can get very intense and usually leads to arguments and more yelling.

Last year, all of us were bored sitting around during dew time and the softball players had gone to eat and some had left their cars at the parking lot. So we decided that we would move Taylor Parsons in between two trees. So we all picked up the back end of her car and rolled it into the grass between two trees. Well later when she came back and freaked out that her car was in between two trees, she made a break to steal Tyler Springer's car, so he decided he was going to steal her car as well and park it on a huge mound of dirt in the sports complex. I don't know how her Honda civic made it back down from the hill but it did by some miracle but needless to say she has a new car now. The softball girls would later retaliate with water balloons, all of which I dodged I might add.

One more "game" we have in Dew Time is after your done drinking your mountain dew. You must see how long you can stand on your empty can. Now you may think this is impossible but surprisingly the record held by Justin Parton is over 13 seconds with all of his weight on top of his empty mountain dew can. My goal is to beat that...doubting it though.

So there is a brief summary of what goes on during and after baseball practice, I'll try to get some pictures of the dumb stuff we do during this season

Drumroll...

Well yesterday was the last of my college visits that I will probably use and I went to, of course, Kansas State. The day started with a 7 a.m. wake up call, which usually I'm not a pleasant person in the morning but today I didn't care because I was that excited to get to Manhattan aka Manhappenin. After two Jr. mcskillet burritos-not sure why they go rid of the regular mcskillet burrito-I took a nap and read my ESPN magazine and by that time we had arrived in Manhattan ready for what the day had in store for us.

It was actually a near perfect day as far as the weather, about 40 degrees, sunny and no wind. So the day was set as we checked in, got my free shirt, and then set off on our campus tour. Our guide was pretty good, especially at walking backwards and saying the word "Wild" about 20 or so times. After seeing about everything on campus, most memorable being the dorms and student union where we saw two basketball players in Rodney McGruder and Wally Judge. After the tour, I met with with an admissions advisor who was in one word, awesome. Answered every question I had and was interested in what I wanted to do later in life and what was important to me on a personal level. My next trip was to the Arts and Sciences building to meet with an advisor from the Journalism and Mass communications building. She was also excellent in giving me an idea of what type of classes I would be taking and to start thinking about what type of minor I would like to take because it is required for a JMC major to have a minor as well.
This would conclude my "official visit" but not my day in Manhattan.

As my family always does while in Manhattan, we went to Varneys because you can never have to much purple, right? I got a new pair of sweats and annoyed my mom into buying Travis a sweet Saint Patty's Day/K-State hat, your welcome Travis. We then decided to walk down the street to see if our friend Fitz was in his office. He was and he gave me some great perspective on why I need to go to K-State. One of them was that K-State JMC major offers a broader area to study in every area that a journalist will work in: Writing, broadcasting on TV and radio. He said this is important because he does all of these things and so do most people in the Sports Media Field. Another compelling reason for me to go is to prove to Fitz that there may actually be a decent softball player in the McGuire family. He also said that after a couple years of schooling I could work with him and get some great experience in the field and start building my resume.

Fitz told us to go to back across town to campus to see the Dole Building, this is where they do most of the video and radio broadcasting for students. The main guy in charge there gave us a tour of the place and it was pretty cool to see what these students, that work for him, were doing with video editing and pretty much running their own TV show. Seeing all of this kind of put K-State over the top for me.

The last leg of the day was my favorite because we were going to watch the K-State/Nebraska game. We got their pretty early to watch the team warm-up and were surprised to see the team having a "Dunk Contest" which was pretty entertaining. Entertaining enough for me to record about 2 min. of it on my phone. The game was very exciting, more exciting than I had hoped but a win is a win so I'll take it.

I slept most of the way home as I was tired from the long day. Later that night as I was about to go to sleep, I was thinking about all of this deciding on a college thing and it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be. It wasn't necesarily one particular thing that swayed me to K-State but a combination of a a lot of things and I think it just felt right when I was on campus. I could see myself being there next fall and that was huge for me. So as I'm sure you all have figured out I will keep bleeding purple and attend K-State next year!