Well, one of the busiest periods of my life so far is about to begin. It is just before 10 on Sunday night and I will start training for my new job as a financial aid processor at 7:45 a.m. My morning will change. I used to read my online newspapers at work. Not now. I'm going to have to get up a half hour early and read them. At least I'll still have that ability at the newspaper. But that's a little thing, except it means 30 less minutes of sleep.
It's been quite a weekend. I did a lot of cleanup around the house on Saturday after the flood. The Charlestowne Mall even had 2 inches of rain. I was surprised it got reported because nobody ever goes in that mall anyway.
I worked at the paper from 2 till about 8 at night. One of the reporters, Darryl, had his 2 year old car die on him. That's brutal. 2 years and the car goes. So he was supposed to cover a big swim meet but he obviously had to miss it. So my boss asked me to call the Rosary High School (they're Catholic BTW) and get a report . I did that and low and behold I had an article! Here it is.
Rosary swimmers top dynamite field
By Adam Bartolo
Daily Herald Writer
Four of the top girls swimming programs in recent history met in Aurora Saturday for the inaugural Rosary Invitational: Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Naperville Central and the host Beads.
At a meet in West Chicago earlier in the season, the Wildcats scored higher than Rosary, so the Beads were anxious to succeed at their home invitational.
Sure enough, Rosary got off to a quick start, taking first and second place in the opening 200 medley relay. The winning team of Kara Savegnago, Brittany Doss, Mackenzie Powers and Amy Schaefer finished at 1:49.00.
That momentum seemed to propel the Beads the whole meet as they won with 407 points ahead of Neuqua’s 349.
Freshman Olivia Scott had a solid meet for Rosary. She won the 100 butterfly at 57.4 and came in second to Naperville Central’s Amy Prestinario in the 200 IM.
“She’s young and she’s just going to get better as the season goes on,” said Rosary coach Bill Schalz.
Prestinario also won the 100 back at 58.22.
For Neuqua, Kathleen Patterson took first place in two events: the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle.
Schalz also noted the meet had a distinctive conference feel. With only four competing teams, the squads were able to send numerous reps for each event.
So then I went to my friend Rebecca's birthday party. There were about 6 or 7 of us there and we played Mario Kart on a big screen TV. From what I hear, when I was racing, I looked I was in a trance. Mouth open, fingers moving furiously, the rest of my body perfectly still. It had been a while since I played Mario Kart and when you're in a big group of people who are into it, that kind of thing just never gets old no matter what your age is. We played Apples to Apples, a board game, and then for the first time, I got to see a glow in the dark condom. This is apparently when you go to a young married couples' house. We blew the condom up so it was about the size of a balloon and started hitting it around the room like it was a volleyball. I have to say that condom felt weird. And that was just when it was in my hands...
Anyway, I went to home at midnight and got ready for Sunday. I went to Wheaton Bible and Rob Bugh talked about the second Commandment, the one about not having any idols. At one point, he mentioned money and he asked a very provocative question. Why is it when we pull out a 50 dollar bill at the grocery store, we think no big deal, but we would hesitate to drop in the offering plate at church?
I set next to a new friend of mine, Simon, who's from Germany. He's been coming to Ecclesia and fitting in well. As I was walking out of the service, I saw a familiar girl. I knew her from somewhere, put I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She was short, but had the same long brown hair that went down the length of her back. She went straight up to me and gave me a huge hug. And she said "It's been so long. Adam right?" I'm thinking, "Oh crap. I'm screwed here." I said Very good." Then she said "Yeah, I'm Tamara." Inside, I let out of a sigh of relief and I wondered how I forgot her name! Almost a year ago, she came to my small group a few times and we became friends. So she's back for about 10 days after working on cruises for a few months. So I invited her to Ecclesia and we sat next to each other. For a few reasons, I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her that night, but I'm sure I'll see her next week.
Then it was football time! I drove to Rookie's and watched the first half of what would be a 28-20 Jets win over Buffalo. Great win. I knew Seattle would kill the Giants but I didn't expect the Giants defense to allow 42 points. I feel bad for the GM Ernie Accorsi, who's retiring after this season. He deserves better than this.
My team went 3-3 in volleyball today. We got swept in the first match and swept the next one. There are only 4 teams in the league, so the talent disparity is going to be huge this season.
Then after a quick shower, I drove to Ecclesia. Chris talked about living with a mission. His point was living missionally is not something you do or somewhere you go, it's who you are. It's a way of life that you live each day. I agree, the standard is high, it's tough to measure up to what Jesus lived out. Being a Christian is not easy, especially today. And I've gone through some challenging times lately. But I'm going to keep on riding. I'm going to struggle, but I believe God is a sure and faithful thing in a world that is so unsure and changing.
At the end of the service, we celebrated a baptism of a girl I didn't know. As I was helping with the takedown of the Ecclesia set, I caught up with Rachel and I finally got to meet her sister, which was neat. She graduated from high school in South American last June. Then Rachel told me the doctor she worked for had some colleague come in and take the staff all out to dinner. I asked where. She said "Some place called Wildfire." My mouth dropped. She got taken to a great steakhouse, one of my favorites, and had her bill paid for. When we had lunch brought into my job, it was honey baked ham sandwiches. I guess I was in the wrong industry.
The night ended well asabout a dozen of us from Ecclesia went to Muldoon's, one of my favorite restaurants, for dinner. I ordered a Bass Ale to celebrate my new job and a Chicken Spinach Melt sandwich (chicken, swiss cheese, and spinach artichoke dip) with the spicy seasoned fries. Yes, I am still alive after eating spinach tonight.
Now in my head, I'm planning my Monday. I'm leaving at 7 to stop at Houghton Mifflin to gather a few things before I go. Then I have to be in Hoffman Estates by 7:45 and I'll be there until about 5 p.m. I'll drive home and with traffic, it'll take until 5:45-6 to get home. I'll change out of my Donald Trump clothes, grab dinner, and head over to the paper at 7 for about 3-4 hours. So I'm looking at 15 hours of work tomorrow.
Prayers for strength and endurance would be greatly appreciated.
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