Whistler Mountain, British Columbia

        I am eagerly awaiting the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Even though they are still a few months out, I am so excited that I had to write about them.  It is that time of the year when we feel the first chill in the air and the first frost is just around the corner.  In some parts of the country they have already had snow fall!  In Colorado they had to postpone a baseball game because of snow!

      So, why am I so stoked on the Winter Olympics?  I have always enjoyed the competition of the Olympic Games.  When I was a child my family used to gather round the TV and watch the best athletes from around the world face-off in their sport of choice.  The Winter Olympics occur only once every four years.

      One of my favorite sports and one of my favorite hobbies is snowboarding.  I especially look forward to the Winter Olympics for the snowboarding events.  One of the most exciting to watch is Snowboard-Cross which is a heads-up snowboard race. 

  

     Above, is a female snowboarder that I like alot whom I will be rooting for to win gold in 2010.  Her name is Lindsey Jacobellis and she took silver in Itlay in 2006 because of this fall right before the finish line.

Vocabulary:

eagerly (adv.) - to be excited about something

chill (noun) - a feeling of cold

frost (noun) - a thin layer of frozen water, rain or dew

postpone (verb) - to change the time something is going to occur

stoked (adj) - to be very excited about something (especially used by surfers and snowboarders)

competition (noun) - a game or event with clear winners and losers

occur (verb) - to happen, when something happens

heads-up (adj.) - two or more people go at the same time, especially in a race

Vocabulary Exercise:

1.  I woke up and saw ice on my window and knew there would be a layer of _________ outside.

2.  The NOPI National automobile drag races are ________ style drag races.

3.  I feared my English teacher would give me alot of homework and then it _________.

4.  The World Cup is the highest level of international soccer(football) ________ in the world.

5.  Among the things I get ________ about are D&D, snowboarding and videogames.

6.  I will _______ my dinner party so I have time to do all that English homework.

7.  When I get a fever I get a _______ through my body so I feel very cold.

8.  I _______ and excitedly told my students about the exciting science fiction story we are going to read.

Confessions of a Life Long Gamer

        In the year 2009, the term 'gamer' has a different connotation than it did ten or twenty years ago.  A common use of the word in the modern era refers to people who play video games as a hobby.  Sometimes we hear it used in sports to describe a player who plays with passion and shows dedication to playing a sport.  In a few select places the term also refers to people who play boardgames, strategy games, war games, pen and paper games and role-playing games.  These are some of my favorite topics, and I hope to return to them in later posts.

   I have played video games since I was a child.  It has always been a hobby for me, but now people are earning money and becoming professional video game players.  In some places they are even famous! Not every game is appropriate for every person, but as long as you have finished your homework and have your parents' permission, you can say you are training to be a professional athelete.

Wall Street Journal Article on pro-gaming at mongabay.com


Vocabulary: 
era (noun) - a period of time. Example: the olden days, the middle ages, pre-historic times
gamer (noun) - a person who plays games, especially video games
passion (noun) - a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for something
dedication (noun) - being willing to work for a cause, organization or activity
modern (adj.) - of or having to do with current events, world happenings and technology
boardgame (noun) - a game that is played on a specific surface that the rules are based on
pen-and-paper (adj.) - used to decribe writing that is not done on a computer or other digital device
strategy (noun) - a way of approaching a problem or task intentionally to yield desired results
hobby (noun) - something a person does for fun, usually on an ongoing or repeated basis
professional (noun)-a person who does something for money, or (adj)the qualities pertaining to those people
appropriate (adj.) - describes something that you will benefit from seeing or experiencing

Exercise:

1.  This young adult novel is _________ for 7th and 8th grade students to read.
2.  General Washington's ________ in the Revolutionary War was to use hit and run tactics.
3.  Are you learning ___________ graphing in math class or is it all on the computer and calculator?
4.  One of my favorite hobbies is playing video games, so I am a _________.
5.  I am very _________ about games, that is why I wrote a blog post about them.
6.  The 1800's are called the Victorian _______ because Queen Victoria was the Queen of England.
7.  When people ask about my favorite ________, I tell them I like snowboarding and video games.
8.  Monopoly is a __________ about construction in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
9.  It takes a lot of   __________ to finish a game of Monopoly because they take so long to finish.
10.  My grandmother does not own a microwave, she says she doesn't need  ________ cooking appliances.

Grammar Point:

A lot of non-count, abstract nouns have similar endings.  When you see words that end in -ion like dedication and passion it is a clue that they might be abstract nouns.  This type of noun represents something that cannot be easily defined, seen, held or placed in a box.  Can you find another noun on the vocabulary list above that is like this?