End of Summer

pinkypie222Leave a comment

Every year before summer starts, I always assume it will last forever and that I don’t have to worry about anything except my tan. I feel free with basically no worries until August rolls around, and suddenly the days start flying by, and all I can do is mourn how great summer felt. This year it was the worst yet. Most of the summer, I was distracted by traveling and being around my friends, I didn’t even give school one thought.

When August started, I was still out of town, so I didn’t realize that by the end of the month I would be back in school. As soon as I got home, all of my motivation disappeared. I had procrastinated all of my summer work, and now I had to cram it all in the short period I had. I think I literally read every single day, not because I wanted to, but because I knew this year would be hard and I had to be prepared for the worst.

I’m still mourning summer like it was my last bit of freedom ever, but I’m also one step closer to graduating high school, which is amazing. I was honestly expecting worse coming back to school. I thought I needed to have everything figured out as soon as I came back, but I was only stressing myself out. I know the year will grow more challenging in the depths of winter, and I’m trying my hardest to ignore it. When the time comes, I’ll probably regret that too.

“School Background” by Words as Pictures/ CC0 1.0

College

spinakopitaLeave a comment

Though I’m a Junior, thoughts about college are racing through my mind. I feel like I’m the only one stressing about it, but in reality, I want to get it over with this year so that next year I know where I want to apply. I know the places my parents and grandparents want me to go. But what about where I want to go? I wake up in the morning and immediately just start researching because of how interested I am. I’m so excited to move on to a different chapter of my life once I finish high school. I know it’s a while away, but it’s something to look forward to and work hard for during my final two years. College essays, applications, and the SAT are all so stressful, and I believe that it’s something that I should start preparing for now, so that in the future I’m more than ready to move on and start my own life as an adult.

Colleges have many options, but one thing I’m sure of, at least for now, is that I want to stay in California close to home. A lot of my friends tell me that college is your 4 years to leave and experience something new, but I couldn’t imagine anywhere else that I would even want to live. Maybe my mind will change within two years, but I know that California is my home, so even if I do end up leaving. I will 100% come back.

New School Year

0neh1tw0nder_击Leave a comment

Around 2 weeks ago, counting camping, school had started. The first week of school was easy, I mean, it always is leading up to prep for all school camping and eventually going out to camp. Camping itself was fun, along with the weekend following it, me and my brother went to go see LA Galaxy versus the Seattle Sounders. I’m not the biggest on soccer, but it was fun for my 9 year-old brother, so that’s all that matters.

I’d say, not a lot besides that weekend had started off this school year. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have things in the future I’m looking forward to, such as My Chemical Romance with my friend, going to see more local shows, a trip to Patagonia and a trip to Greece.. and I’m sure a lot of other things that I can’t think of right now. Nonetheless.. I have a feeling that this year’s gonna be a pretty solid year.

Junior (education year) - Wikipedia

P.C. – Google, “junior year”

Skin

lalapaloozaurLeave a comment

It never felt hard to fake a smile, it came almost automatically to me. I never noticed when I would fake it just like how I never noticed the color of my skin. It was a color my mom would idealize as in Africa the lighter the skin the prettier you were. So with her panther-like complexion she admired me which left me happy with my identity.  As for my father he loved my mothers skin and loved me for being a combination of him and her. I never noticed my skin until I began to be treated differently for it, I would try to pinpoint what it was. I’d say things like, “maybe it was my non-European features.” Or maybe it was my curly hair. During middle school I was severely bullied, where my identity felt as if it was just my skin. When I moved away from that environment I began slowly forget the harsh comments that were made. Although the micro aggression would sometimes appear it wouldn’t affect me. Up until my trip to Switzerland where I was called the n word multiple times by multiple people, but this time it was with my friends the people I trusted the world with but yet not a single one stood up for me and so as that word was being said towards me it felt as if my entire world was crumbling. Though I forgot because we are taught to forget to move on. So a year went by I let go of one of those friendships and I moved on. Up until it was brought up again this year, I don’t know if it was something in the air or it was my body reprocessing it but it broke me. I cried, I cried and cried. And I began to feel as if I was 12 years old again, on my knees begging and praying to god asking him why he would create me like this with tears that could fill the atlantic ocean. As I woke up the first thing I noticed was not the acne on my face or the puffiness of my eyelids, it was my skin color. I felt as if it was truly the only thing people saw me for. Up until now I cannot say I have moved on. I still cry from time to time wondering why I was born this way. But I am slowly trying to forget and move on as what else am I supposed to do?

PC: Google

The Summer I Worked All The Time

Blondebundles67Leave a comment

This past summer I turned in my resume to over 10 businesses. I only got one call back. I knew that getting a job would be hard but I never thought that it would be near impossible. When I got the call from the manager at Skating Plus that he wanted to interview me, I was over the moon. After my interview I was sure that I would get the job. I already had 4 friends working at Skating Plus so they could put in a good word for me. The day i got the call I was in Ralph’s shopping for pickles. The moment I heard “we would like to hire you”, I jumped up and down holding my jar of pickles. Still on the phone with the manager who had just hired me I walked around the store continuing our conversation. The second the phone hung up I called my best friend and roomate Chelsea who worked at Skating Plus and told her I got the job. A week later Chelsea was the one training me for my very first shift. I picked things up quickly and soon became friends with my new coworkers. I made over $3,000 that summer from working. I would work mornings, nights and doubles. My first paycheck I went on a shopping spree, because I had earned it. I am still working at Skating Plus trying to balance running cross country, going to school, homework and spending time with my family and friends.

PC: Google

College Decisions

Bl@ckBe@nsLeave a comment

Credit: Google

Recently, I went to the lower campus to talk about the colleges we applied to and committed to. It was very interesting, but it was weird to be the only person in that group to mention a lower-tier school. Some people were talking about committing to UCLA, NYU, UCSB, and Pomona College, while I was just there, like ” so after spending four years at a college prep school, I will be attending somewhere that is super easy to get into.” But yet again, I did it because I didn’t have the funds to do all four years, unless I wanted to sell my organs and bone marrow to the black market.

But at the end of the day, I feel I made a good choice for myself and my wallet. Instead of paying literally 100k over four years, I only have to do it for two. And I’m hoping that if I really lock in, my chances of getting into a good UC will be higher.

Film Review — Wake Up Dead Man

StrawberryMushroomLeave a comment

While Wake Up Dead Man is undoubtedly the weakest film among the Knives Out trilogy, it is still an extremely enjoyable viewing experience.

The presentation and cast are the best they’ve been in the trilogy so far, with Daniel Craig and Josh O’Connor in particular having passion, charisma, and chemistry that radiates throughout their delightful interactions.

Another aspect of the film I appreciated is its approach to religion as a primary theme. Despite Christianity being deeply rooted within the narrative’s events and messages, the film doesn’t enforce one singular outlook on religion. Characters—primarily Wicks, Jud, and Blanc—parallel different responses and interpretations of Christian values, providing nuance and ambiguity where most other religious stories would impose a clearer, black-and-white answer. Wicks uses religion to justify self-serving actions, weaponizing it as a means of harvesting power and manipulating his followers to his will. Jud wants nothing more than to spread the healing and love of Christ, serving the world instead of fighting it. And Blanc represents absolute neutrality, acknowledging how faith can be a source of healing while resenting the religion’s historical abuse and hypocrisy.

However, the narrative’s ending and twist reveal is what ultimately brings this film down from its predecessors. While the killer’s motivation—on paper—makes sense, their plan relies on so much suspension of disbelief and convoluted coincidences that the mystery becomes impossible to deduce for viewers. In an attempt to make the murders seemingly unsolvable, the film sacrifices a narrative that makes sense as well as opportunities to incorporate clever foreshadowing throughout its runtime.

Wake Up Dead Man Knows the Whodunnit is Inherently Political. (It's also a Perfect Movie.) ‹ CrimeReads

PC: Google

In Between

riceandsoysauce4Leave a comment

I think growing up is less of a big moment and more of a bunch of small realizations that keep stacking up.

Lately, it’s been hitting me that I’m actually leaving for college soon. Not in a “new chapter!!!” kind of way, just in a quiet, slightly unreal way. Like I’ll be doing something normal and then remember, oh… this isn’t going to be my everyday life for much longer.

It’s strange because nothing around me has really changed yet, but I feel different in it. Like I’m already a little bit detached from things that used to feel permanent.

And at the same time, I don’t feel fully ready for whatever’s next either. I don’t have everything figured out, I don’t suddenly feel like an adult, and I definitely don’t have some clear version of who I’m going to be when I get there.

I think that’s the part no one really says out loud. You don’t magically become ready just because it’s time to move on.

It’s more like you’re in between versions of your life, and you kind of have to step into the next one before you feel prepared for it.

So yeah, I guess this is what it feels like. Not super dramatic, not super clear. Just slowly realizing things are ending while something else is about to start, and being somewhere in the middle of that.

PC: Google

Friends

myfatcats2Leave a comment

I love my friends. They are my lifeline in a way. My real friends have been there for me through my ups and downs. We have a group chat name called “famuliegh” and I think that’s funny. Anyways, my friends are the best. We have so much fun, we always go to the beach, hang out, and there aren’t ever any problems between the 4 of us. Friends are people who are there for you no matter what, and that’s why I love my friends. The last thing I’m gonna leave here is that, even through some ups and downs that I’ve had with some of my friends, we’ve worked it out and stayed close; our friendship is reciprocal, and that’s why I love my friends.

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The Solution for Shopping Addicts

zombiegxrlLeave a comment

I think I have an addiction. I love buying clothes. I love buying clothes online, I love buying clothes in-store, and most of all, I love thrifting. Despite my urges, I’ve really held back from online shopping and shopping at in-store name-brand stores because the prices are way too high. The thrift store is a retail addict’s dream. Cheap clothes, searching through thousands of pieces, and avoiding fast fashion. Spending so much money each week isn’t sustainable, so I’ve found a perfect method to make my money back. Every time I go thrifting, I pick out would-be expensive name-brand clothing that I know I don’t want. I’ll spend twelve dollars at most on an originally fifty-dollar pair of jeans. I then take photos and measurements and list them on online selling sites and make huge profits. I obviously can’t sell it for its original price, but anything higher than twelve dollars is a profit, and twelve dollars isn’t much. Also, any clothes I outgrow or no longer like get posted. I’ve been selling multiple items a week and making money just by shopping and getting rid of old clothes. I will be getting a job over the summer to make more money, but reselling clothes is the best cheat method for shopping addicts.

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