My timeline

It's been so long since I last posted anything, and so much has gone on since May. I have done plenty of stuff that I wouldn't be able to recall in perfect detail, so without further ado, here comes my May 11-July 22 timeline.

May 26- my 13th birthday! Now, I am officially a teenager.
End of June sometime- Jose Canseco and the Yuma Scorpions come to town. I have my cap, glove, and copy of his memoir ready- complications foil my plans of going.
June 24- Oilers draft Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall in the NHL entry draft.
June 24, 27to29- My Grade 7 finals. Finally, it's over with!
Early July- My basketball team participates in the Great Canadian Shootout Basketball Tournament. We went 1-2 in Round Robin and I believe we finished in 5th place.
JulytoJuly 16-Practices and games during City Baseball tournament; I batted .400 with 1 HR, 3RBI and 3 SB, but the Confederation Park Sharks succumbed to the East Park Kings in the end.
July 18toJuly 22- U of A volleyball all day camp. My team won the week-ending tournament. In the semifinals I managed to get 21 straight serves with the help of my teammates.
July 22- Saw Harry Potter Movie. It was pretty good.

Happy Mothers Day!

Wishing every mother a wonderful belated mother's day.

City and Provincial CHAMPIONS!

Two weeks ago, my Community Team won cities. Then, we won Provincials last week in Calgary. It was a great year in which we went undefeated, and I look forward to Spring League and the 2011-2012 season.



My dad with the other coaches, Thomas Rumball, left, and Chad Bowie.





Here's me shooting free throws in the city finals at WP Wagner. We won, 60-41.

The Champions of the City!

And finally, the PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS!



He's Back

Well, my computer crashed, so for these last few weeks, I've been bored to tears without my laptop. It's quite sad, really. I mean, I didn't think I was one of those people who couldn't last a day without his personal computer.
I'm happy to report that my great friend and computer nerd Martin was able to fix it me, not to mention restore everything.
THANK YOU MARTIN!
I'll be back with updates soon enough, I just wanted to say that I haven't forgot about the blog and you'll be seeing new blogposts very soon with some pictures.

Basketball!

Well, for the last two months I've been doing one thing: Basketball! Yup, one afternoon practice at school, two 7:30 AM practices, two community league out-of-school practices, and a practice game against S. Bruce Smith school every third week. Yes, Mr. Iverson, we ARE talking about practice. Practice practice practice practice practice practice!
I've been doing quite well, but I'm tuckered out! I feel like a full-time ballplayer!
I had a game against SBS tonight and I scored 18 points. But I have to wake up at 6:45 to go to a practice tomorrow.
Ah. I'd love to keep blogging, but I'm just too tired to do it. Adios!

SOME PEOPLE

Well, it's been a while, but here I am- the first blogpost of 2011!
I guess I couldn't think of anything to blog about, or maybe I was just lazy... But that doesn't really matter, does it?
Before I begin, I'd like to wish everybody a somewhat-belated happy 2011. Everyone's made their transitions quite nicely in our family, except for the amount of more snow we've had to shovel. Boy, do we need a snow blower!
There's already been two cars stuck in front of our house, and the towtruck service is taking literally DAYS to get to some victims of the cruel snow, as you probably can't imagine. Of course, my mother has been phoning our city councillor Don Iveson every day to make sure the snow at the end of Westbrook Drive is graded. They finally came over yesterday, but they did almost no work on the condition of these roads. But who I'm really mad at are the two rich people close to were we live, the founder of Saville Systems and the first investor in the Boston Pizza franchise. Saville has people coming to his place to get rid of snow all the time. You think he could do a bit of a good deed and let these snow people get rid of snow at his 80-year old neighbour's houses. Trust me, there are a lot of 80-year olds whom the Youngs help out in terms of snow shovelling or snow removal. You'd think Saville could press a button, or make ONE phonecall, and, it's magic, the snow is all gone! Or the Boston Pizza guy. Give the workers a coupla meals on the house, and I'm sure they'd be happy to come on over and remove snow. Some people.
But seriously. We've been down all kinds of residential streets, and 95 % of the time, the snow that was there has been either graded or removed. You would think that they would offer a little service to the people who are forced to pay ridiculous, through-the-roof property taxes. Some people.
Let's move on, though. How about sports teams? The Toronto Blue Jays traded away Vernon Wells for a bum and a has-been. Some people. The Oillosers? They've won one game so far in 2011, maybe two. Some people. The Raptors? I can't recall a single game they've won in 2011! SOME PEOPLE SOME PEOPLE SOME PEOPLE!

My first Sacrament Meeting talk!

        It's the two week anniversary of being given my talk assignment by our second councillor. I remember that moment. I'm pretty sure that I just smiled and said, "yeah, sounds great", but inside I was going crazy. A talk? How was it humanly possible to give a talk? For a while, I just played video games to avoid any work on it. Then I played piano and then I read before finally giving in. I wrote the talk and today, I delivered it in Sacrament Meeting. I think I did a pretty good job and I'm happy I had the chance to give it. I've included the talk in this blog post. I hope you enjoy it!

Talk

By HUGO YOUNG

                Good morning brothers and sisters. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Hugo Young and my talk today is about the saviour, the life he led, and how we can follow the example he set for us.

One of the goals we have in life is to be Christlike, but too often we set this goal aside for Earthly possessions and other things that are of no eternal value. I admit that I probably couldn’t count the hours I spent playing video games in the days when I knew about my talk but didn’t do any work on it with only two hands. And when you’re playing with the Oilers, there’s always trouble around the corner. Many activities we could do have a high probability of unfavourable consequences. They would violate the guidelines we have been given by our heavenly father as to how we can return to live with him again. I have learned through my brief experiences in this world that it is very easy to go with the flow, become just another member of the crowd, and do the thing that the “cool” people do. It is very difficult to say no. However, I know that if you say no the very first time some activity arises that would not be very Christlike, it is much easier to say no again and again. If you say yes to someone who wants to cheat off your test paper, you could end up cheating yourself in the future. We can also set a good example so that these people realize the thing they are going to do is wrong.

                Picking the right friends is also a stepping stone to making other wise choices. If we choose the right friends, people who are caring and make good decisions, then we are already on our way to being like Jesus.

                Whenever I am in a position where I might make a bad move, I try to think about what Jesus would do. I also try to remember that heavenly father is always watching. I want to prove that I can make good decisions, and that I am worthy of someday entering the Kingdom of Heaven again.

                Jesus is the best example anybody could ever have. He was always kind and loving to others. His thoughts, actions, and words were not the least bit tainted by sin. Another amazing thing about Jesus was how freely he forgave others for their trespasses against him. Even as he suffered through crucifixion, he forgave the Pharisees, when he said, “forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.”

                Jesus was very meek and gentle. He was also extremely compassionate. He showed his love for us and heavenly father in everything he did. He was extremely charitable and he loved little children. I remember learning about Jesus and the little children when I was in primary. The apostles turned away the children as Jesus was very busy, but Jesus told the apostles, “suffer the little children to come unto me”, and he spent time with the children.        

He performed many miracles that blessed others’ lives. He cured the diseased. He raised the dead. He taught many people about the Gospel and turned their lives in the right direction. Most importantly, though, he died for each and every one of us and because of this great sacrifice, we can repent and be pardoned of our sins.

                Heavenly father doesn’t expect us to be as exactly like Jesus. He knows that we will make mistakes. We don’t need to make wine from water, or heal the sick, or raise the dead. We are not asked to die for the world; however, we can live a life of integrity. Following the example of the saviour will help us to do exactly that. We can follow his example through kind words and actions to go along with clean thoughts. This morning, I was a tad grumpy because we were in a rush to get to church and my dad was going to iron my shirt. By accident, he ironed a shirt of my mother’s that I have worn before. I just hate that shirt. Yet I realized that if I had ironed my own shirt, this wouldn’t have happened. I would have worn a crumpled little thing, but I would have avoided this conflict. I assure you that I am wearing my own shirt now, but I wasn’t trying hard enough to be like Jesus. It is a tough task to be like Jesus, but it is not impossible. If we repent when we sin, spread the gospel, and try our best to be like him, we will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven again.  And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.