so i've been trying to work out a little bit more. on saturdays, callista and i try to meet up and go walking/jogging. the first week, i was a bit afraid for my back, so we just walked a few miles at la cienega park. the second week, we decided to jog a bit, so we walked a bit to warm up, then i jogged a mile, then walked a few more laps...hating it!! it was so hard just to do one stinking mile. two days later (like clockwork-i get delayed soreness), my legs were soooo sore. boy, did i feel out of shape.

this past saturday, i couldn't meet up with callista 'cuz susan invited beektory to her church denomination volleyball tournament. art, hubert, and i met up with susan and her church at this national park in irwindale from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening. we started off a little shaky, losing out first match (at least it went to three games and the scores were pretty close), but we went undefeated from that point on. yup, we won first place! i think we played about 7 matches in all. toward the end, i was so exhausted, and all i was doing was passing! the last match, it was seriously art and hubert going strong that won it, 'cuz it was so evident that most of us on our side and everyone on the other team was really, really tired. but i was standing there watching art and hubert hit and block over and over again, and i was just thinking, "good thing they're still okay 'cuz i'm barely standing up back here." i mean, they were tired, too, but they were still so awesome!

i hafta say, art, hubert, and susan were awesome as always, but everyone on the team was really good. there was this other passer next to me who basically never played volleyball, but he ended up getting served more than me, and his passing was excellent. and the back row, which usually doesn't see much action in a 9-man team, really stepped it up for some clutch plays.

and susan's church is so great! we met a lot of the kids and the adults, and they were so nice to us. and her kids are soooo cute. there was a point where arthur's legs started cramping up, and the adults were so concerned, offering acupuncture, and the kids were all massaging him and stuff. and then one time i kinda hurt my wrist a little, and this pastor kept on giving me this handkerchief he soaked in ice water to wrap around my wrist during our breaks...so nice! and susan's kids are sooo cute. at every time out and after every game, they would give us water and try to cater to our needs. we had some "espn moments" where the kids would rush the court after we won some of the matches. they gave us all nicknames...art was "secret weapon," hubert was "shotgun," and i was "evolution." (okay, secret weapon and shotgun i understand, but evolution? i guess it sounds kinda cool...hehe).

the other thing that i really liked about our team was that we didn't stack it the way a lot of other teams did...we played some junior high kids, while most of the other teams had mostly college kids and adults. also, all the other teams had pretty much the minimum two girls, usually stuck in the back row, doing nothing but serving (although there was this one ahjoomah we played against that was really good serve receive/defense...she even dug art up a few times). we had three, one in the back, me in the middle for serve receive, and susan setting...she was the only girl setter in the whole tournament. but then, she's that good. then, most team had more guys up front (because they had a guy setter), so they were sometimes able to put four blockers up, usually about 3 went up on hubert in the middle. we had three guys up front only, with susan hanging back for defense, but we still blocked really, really well, and most teams couldn't stop art and hubert with their blocks. so anyways, all this just to say that i love that we won without doing the typical things to milk all the advantages of playing 9-man...

so pilgrim got first place, and we won a 27 inch tv and some really nice crystal trophies. hubert and art were named mvp, and they got their own trophy and a portable cd player + car kit (with the price tag still on it...59.99...not too shabby) ;p

it was a good day to play...hot at times, but otherwise, a pretty nice day. the only thing was, we literally watched smoke coming over the mountains and head toward us...those wildfires. during the second to last game, i started realizing that it hurt a bit to breathe in deep...but i asked hubert and susan if they felt anything, and they said no...art said that he felt it at the very end...kinda scary...

the church treated us to dinner afterwards, and then susan, hubert, and i headed over to susan's place, where we met up with art, michele, eric (michele's friend), eunice, and jenny. (we had to call eunice on the way over to share the news - she couldn't make the tournament 'cuz she was studying for the upcoming cpa exam) since susan, hubert, and eunice hadn't seen it, we watch matrix reloaded...after wrestling with susan's tv to hook up the dvd player for about 30 minutes. susan, of couse, fell asleep, but woke up for the architect scene...

then we just hung out and talked...got home at around 2:30. 'cuz of daylight savings, we thought of it as 1:30...