The Playoffs are here!

Well its been sometime since my last post but nonetheless here I am. I guess a lot has being going on since last time but it will be hard to try and think of everything that's been going on since then. One main thing that has been on my mind is my coach! I think he has good intentions but many times he's just too much! He's one of those guys who screams and screams no matter if you are doing well or doing terrible. Half the time you are out there trying to do stuff so you don't get screamed at! With me being the lone American on the team he expects a lot from me and he never lets up. I realize that I am supposed to be the guy who does a little bit of everything but he puts the whole world on my shoulders! He says I need to average 30 and 20 or else I'm not doing my job. I have to defend, rebound, score, run the floor, and so on. I like the fact that he pushes me to do things I don't feel like doing or maybe I feel like I can't do but I don't know. We had a scrimmage game earlier this week against a not so good team. It's really hard to get motivated for those games because they are just not good. Well we ended up winning by 40 and coach was still upset. We shook the other teams hand and he immediately made us get on the line and start running! I was pretty angry that night especially since he made me play the whole game even when we were winning by so many and I had to go straight to running after that.

The playoffs have just started after a seemingly forever break. We had close to three weeks off and now we finally play a game. Luxembourg always schedules game weird. We have three weeks off then we try and squeeze a lot of games into a small amount of time. This weekend we had two games, one on Friday and another on Sunday. They were against the top two teams in our league at the moment which in my opinion was good. I like getting the top teams first and having the opportunity to have a really good start. Thankfully, we won both games and now can relax for a few days this week before we play again on Sunday. As usual everything is going good when you are winning but win you are losing life is miserable. People treat you differently, practice is not fun, and you start questioning yourself a lot. That's definitely one of the downfalls of playing basketball for a living. Most people think its all fun and games, which it is to an extent, but when you are not performing or your team is losing your job is always on the line. Job security is not a word that is used often in professional basketball. I hope to never be fired by any team but in the end you have to try and not take it personally. I can imagine that would be hard not to do but it happens so often in the professional world it's something many people have to get used to.

Enough about basketball on to other things. Some good news! My sister Rachel is coming to visit me in Luxembourg! The only people to have come to visit me so far are my parents and that was last year. I understand that it's expensive and that it's hard to get a lot of time off of work so I don't make such a big deal of it. I never would have thought little Rachel would be the first to sibling to come visit mainly because she's somewhat of a homebody. She took a step out of her comfort zone by accepting a job right outside of Atlanta, Georgia which is about two hours from home. Her coming all the way to Europe is definitely a step out! I don't think she would have done something like that if I had not been over here but that's not a big deal. I'm excited she's coming and I'm excited she will be able to see Europe. It seems like it may not be that big of a deal but most people in the world do not leave their own country or at least in the U.S. they don't so I look as this as being a great opportunity for her. I want to try and go to Paris for a couple of days while she is here but I have to ask my coach for a little time off which is going to be interesting. If we can win our next game then I think that I will have a better chance of getting that time off. I'm in the process of trying to plan out some things for her to see while she is here in Luxembourg. Luckily, she will be able to see me play twice! She hasn't been able to see me play since college and I imagine she never thought she would see me play in person again. Whatever the case, I'm happy she has decided to come and would love if other friends and family would visit sometime. Unfortunately, she will not have a long time here but it's better than nothing.

Many things have been going through my mind lately just about my life and other interesting important things. Nothing you need to be worried about but I do a lot of thinking and don't really open up and tell people what I'm thinking. I'm a pretty private guy and me writing these blogs is not in my nature but I try and give you a little something. There are many things going through my head at this very moment that if I don't stop thinking about I'll go crazy. Many people on the outside would never know if anything is bothering me because I try and act the same no matter what situation I'm in. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but It's me. Well I have Monday morning workouts at 9am in the weight room after a weekend of basketball. My body is hurting and I'm hoping that a little sleep will heal me and allow my body to recuperate. The team is going to a spa/resort kind of place tomorrow to relax and chill out. They have swimming pools, Jacuzzi's, sauna's and all that good stuff. I'm hoping that will relax my body and be enjoyable. We will see!

London and more!

             Although I am just now writing about London a week after the fact, it doesn't make my trip any less significant. I had a great time there and was honestly sad to come back. All of the walking I could have done without especially with my hurt ankle so that didn't make things any easier or better. Many times I was just wishing I could go back to the hotel and chill out because my ankle was hurting so bad. I toughed it out though and was able to enjoy the many sights and sounds of London. I honestly probably would have been lost if it had not been for my friend Carole leading the way. It really made my time there much easier and more relaxing since I didn't have to look at maps and subway routes and so on. I was just able to go with the flow and clear my mind as I walked around.

             One of the best things there had to be the food. Being here in Luxembourg I can't say that there is a huge selection of food at a good price. I was not able to eat as much as I would have liked but I did get what I could. I was able to experience the famous "fish and chips" which is nothing more then fried fish and french fries. Its one of the UK's flagship meals and you don't go there without getting it at least once. I thoroughly enjoyed it especially with the vinegar and tartar sauce. I had Japanese food, Indian, mexican, Angolan, and also the famous Sunday roast there in England which was quite good as well. I was even able to snag some Krispy Kreme doughnuts while I was there and was pretty surprised they had that there.

                Another big part of the trip was I was able to see the Lion King in theater! I've always heard about how good the play was and wanted to get the opportunity to see it and I was able to while I was there. I was very impressed with the way they brought the cartoon to life and the imaginative and creative ideas they had. It was well worth the 60 pounds we paid for the tickets. I wanted to go to another production but thought it would be more wise to see other parts of London and not sit in a theater the whole time. To me London does not seem like the rest of Europe. In some places it kind of has an American feel and in others not so much so. For one they drive on the opposite side of the road there which is something I don't think I could ever get used to. There are many little things that define London that no other place has.

                The season is rolling along and we are already to the playoffs. This year is a little different than last year considering there was a good chance we almost didn't make the playoffs whereas last year we had no problem. We just had our last game of the regular season tonight which we lost. The game would have been good to win but in retrospect was not that important.  My body has been acting up lately but I can honestly say I felt great in this past game. My ankle was feeling better as well as my knee so there was not much for me to complain about. I'm hoping my body can hold out to the end of the season and I would do the things necessary to keep it healthy. Speaking of...... I am exploring the idea of possibly playing in another country for the summer and be able to see other places while getting paid at the same time. Im not sure how thats going to work out but all I can do is wait and see what happens. At this point in my life I am really trying to see and experience as many things as I can. I realize that once I get a little older and maybe get a family that I will not have as much free time nor freedom to go where I want when I want. In the mean time I am exploring and learning about this world while at the same time learning about myself.  Yea so I tried to add pictures but the website is acting up so Ill try and get back to that later.

                  

Happy 25th Birthday!

    I'm officially a quarter century old! It's hard to believe that I'm 25 because it seems like just yesterday I was turning 16 and getting my drivers license. In actuality that was almost 10 years ago! It's cool to get older and be able to look back on life and the best times and maybe some of the times that weren't so great. Although I'm very much still in my youth I can feel the adult part of my life starting. Since I am overseas playing basketball I haven't quite transitioned into 100% independence from my parents. Really the only thing I depend on them for is a place to stay when I come home for the summer. It would not make much sense for me to be renting an apartment or something like that for 3 months, max and then coming back over.

I'm excited to think about what life will be like after basketball although I have no idea what direction I will be going in. I'm not sure how long I will play but at the moment I'm just taking it year by year. I realize I will have to stop playing one day and start a real life but the way I look at it is I have an opportunity that most people don't get and that's being able to travel to different places, play a sport for a living, and have fun. I'm not looking forward to getting a job that I have to go to 5 days out of the week, 9 hour work days, and doing the same thing over and over for the rest of my life. I will do that If I absolutely have to but that is my last resort. I have the rest of my life to do that so there is no rush to get there.

My birthday was a really good one this year. I think we all can think back on birthdays and think of the good ones and the not so good ones. I had 3 birthday cakes, dinner from my friend, and a big birthday dinner from the family that always cooks for me here in Luxembourg. They are the nicest family ever and I appreciate everything they do for me and allowing me to feel welcomed in a place far away from home. We had a game later that day and if we'd lost I'm not sure my birthday would have been as good. Good thing we won and we won big. We played really well as a team and have been playing well lately. We found out that we for sure will make the playoffs so that's great news. After the game I just hung out at the gym and celebrated my bday with friends and later that night went to a Superbowl party that was really good. There was a lot of food there and that's what the Superbowl is about! The day turned out to be great and I couldn't have asked for much more.