Month: December 2023

Positives of this year

leapingwaterLeave a comment

It is absolutely unbelievable, but this year is almost over. I am writing this 30 minutes away from November 30th, and I still feel like November just started. So many amazing things have happened this year that I will never forget. I have been able to be roommates with my best friend for a second year now, which has brought so much happiness to my life. I am so thankful for everything she does for me, as well as her loving heart, sense of humor, and our constant singing together everywhere we go with songs that will not get out of our head. I am surrounded by so many beautiful friends, and I have continued to make new ones as well in this past year. I have gone on very memorable camping trips. Even though I really was thinking the entire time how much I would love to take a shower right in that moment, looking back I am really happy I had gone and made memories, and met new people. I am thankful that I have such an amazing family, and that they are in great health. I had a really fun sixteenth birthday with my family and friends from inside and outside of school, where we all decorated cakes (which didn’t all turn out looking so good…) I traveled to Japan for the first time with my best friend. I passed my permit test! I went to a concert with my friend which was really fun! I’ve had a really amazing year, and I can’t believe that just in a month, it will be a new one.

pc:me

Top Trader Joes Items

leapingwaterLeave a comment

Almost everything from Trader Joes is scrumptious to me. Through this blog, and after looking up the products I have come to find that they have removed some of their best items. Anyways, it has been my favorite supermarket for my entire life, so I would like to share with you my all time favorites. These are not in any particular order. I also had to cut out quite a few because there are too many.

1.PB & J Bars

These unfortunately are the ones that I cannot find online, so I suspect that they have been removed. I remember eating these all the time in middle school and elementary school. I was able to finish a whole box of these in on sitting. They are so scrumptious.

pc:https://ovsjournalists.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ce00c-pbandj2bbars-2.jpg

2. (PREVIOUS) Mini Chicken Tacos

I cannot explain enough how much these were my favorites. I had been eating these forever. I miss them so much. One day, I think a couple of years ago, I went to Trader Joes, and found that they had remade the mini chicken tacos. Bring the old ones back please.

pc:https://www.becomebetty.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-1480194333365.jpg

3. Dark Chocolate Covered Pineapple Gummies

These are actually a very recent discovery for me. I learned about them this summer when my friend Rory and I were dragged in by a Trader Joes salesperson. We tried them and we looked at each other and realized we had to buy them. We were victims of their marketing. I want more. I just looked them up… they have also been removed from Trader Joes, I am not happy. Rory just told me she thinks they are summer limited edition which makes sense actually.

pc:https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/B6cAAOSw~TtlDwA0/s-l1200.webp

4. Mushroom and black truffle flatbread

My dad actually bought this for me for the first time after online school during covid for lunch. I highly recommend.

5. Vegan Vanilla Cookie and Creme Bonbons

My mum showed these to me when I asked her to get some ice cream on our way back from school, and she told me that we had dessert at home. I’m so thankful that I tried these. I’m not even vegan but I would choose these over the non vegan ones any day. 1200/10.

pc:https://www.traderjoes.com/content/dam/trjo/products/m20604/68059.png/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280

Typing…….

graypenguinLeave a comment

There are many things I would like to write about in this journal, but the reality is that not all of it is the kind of content that I would honestly show to the public. Every Friday comes around and I spend all day trying to wrap my head around what to write about, and the name of the blog. I can honestly say that I feel like I have already written most of it down.

Today I want to write about something I’ve been into lately. Before I came to this school, I had barely touched a computer. The computer I am using now is the first one I got in my life. To be honest, I feel like it is about to reach the end of its useful life, so I would like to get a new computer this winter break. Something that my roommate and I have been into lately is playing typing games. You get points for typing for 5 minutes. Before I came to this school, my highest score on that test was 32. But the other day, after a long time, I got 78 points. I think it is a big improvement for me. This skill will help me in many things in my life, both in my work and in my studies. I am now looking forward to my score going up a little bit at a time. My goal is to be able to do blind touching perfectly by the time I graduate.

ps;https://images.ctfassets.net/p0qf7j048i0q/Ye7XLtAQbu92riigoreTz/300f1f0104786bc5eda435cf8bf4e3e1/G1352603244.png?w=3840&q=75&h=3840&fm=webp

You begin to miss

urmom8beanLeave a comment

I miss SDLC. I miss my familia. Take me back.

It was actually the best experience I’ve ever had. If you don’t know what SLDC is I’ll explain it.

It’s the student leadership and diversity conference, otherwise known as the POCC (people of color conference) At the conference we talk about things that normally aren’t addressed at our PWI’s (Primarily white institutions) We talk about microaggressions, inappropriate comments, or jokes, codesiwtching, and being proud of our culture. We have amazing inspirational strong guest speakers, who talk about their experiences as people of color. We have family groups that intermingle everybody of all races, cultures, sexualities, and ethnicities. They are huge groups of about 70 people. Home groups are smaller groups in our family groups where we can talk about topics more in-depth. We address things like abortion laws, cancel culture, and socioeconomic status. It is safe to say all these people were on a totally different level of maturity that isn’t in most teenagers. Not only that but they understood what it was like being in a PWI and related to the problems we went through. When I thought I was the only person going through this stuff at least 20 other people spoke up about similar if not the same experiences.

It wasn’t all serious talks and guest speeches. We didn’t sit for hours listening to one guy speak over and over. we would joke around, laugh, rap, dance, and party. The guest speakers would rap their speeches reaching into the depths of your soul.

It was life-changing.

I met the most amazing people ever. I got a whole new familia. My affinity group, the Latinx group, the loudest best most fun group, was probably the highlight of my trip. I met the most amazing people, I came out of my shell and was dancing with everyone. we had our own dance party at dinner which continued into our affinity group time right after. I have never felt so at home. I never wanted it to end.

alas it did, I cried a lot. The closing ceremony was a lot. One of the main speakers had us do an exercise where we found people we love, people who changed our lives, and people who made our experience. I didn’t last two seconds without crying. People came up to me thanking me for dragging them into the dance circle and teaching them to dance. I cried while hugging people I literally met two days ago. i probably cried for hours that day, my friends all made fun of me. I miss them.

I plan on using what I learned there to make OVS better. Making people aware, it’s hard but I’m working on it.

What is the call, free us all!

SD!

PC: my friend

The pressure eats away at you.

urmom8beanLeave a comment

The title doesn’t lie. School seems to get harder and harder, with college, student government, and planning things for our affinity group. Although academics aren’t a lot of pressure, I sure did give myself many extracurricular things to do. Balancing everything is a lot of work. I’m pretty sure every senior can agree with that. The work is like a tapeworm. They find their way into you and eat all the nutrients you eat, and once they are done with that, they move on from you.

You’re left drained

If I’m being honest, I’m not sure what I’m writing. All I know is that I have a lot to do, but I’m not even sure where to start. I also feel like time is just moving on and I’m so busy doing everything that I’m not enjoying it. But I do have the most beautiful memories, I have some of the best people surrounding me. I’m looking forward to break but that’s also the halfway mark of my whole senior year. I also have to turn everything in for college.

Very scary stuff

I just hope I get to finish everything soon as I can finally look up and enjoy senior year.

PC:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/587086501455589819/

Finals

uwucutiepatootieLeave a comment

I am terrified by the finals that I need to take next week. All year I’ve been talking about how I was going to make an academic comeback but instead, my grades just keep on dropping. This semester, my grades were pretty average and not too bad but I know that all of my grades will drop so far down once I take my finals. In English and ap world, I’m not too nervous because I understand what is happening. I am better at just keeping a summary of what we are doing. In chemistry and in Algebra II, I have no clue what is going on. There is way too much to memorize and since the first week of school, I have given up on these two subjects. Whenever I fail a test, which is a lot, I am always able to help myself by doing corrections. Unfortunately, there are no corrections for finals. I need to get lucky and hope that everyone in my class fails their exams so the grade can have the most insane curve.

“School Books” by Krzysztof%20Puszczy%u0144ski/ CC0 1.0

home stretch

purcyLeave a comment

Why do all my teachers assign projects at the same time? Like for real how are they about to expect us to complete 6 final projects in one week. I don’t mind doing a project but why would they make it so that we have something worth 15% of our grade impossible to finish on time. I think that’s why this year has gone by so fast for me because I never have enough time to get everything done. I don’t understand how I’m getting so much homework. The thing is none of my classes give a substantial amount of homework but they all give some. It’s not usually super hard, it’s just time consuming. I feel like I understand the content, and I have plenty of support and the ability to get help but I just have to spend an insane amount of time getting it done. We’re on the home stretch. One more week.

Finals Rant

godgoldngloryLeave a comment

With finals approaching, I thought it was only fitting to write another rant discussing my thoughts on finals. First off, I don’t enjoy how much emphasis schools put on them. Finals are meant to be a test of how much knowledge you have acquired during the semester or school year. However, what if someone was able to learn a very good amount of stuff and is proficient in the skills taught in the class but is not necessarily a good test taker. Because many teachers stress the final so much, that student is probably going to be a worse test taker when it comes to something as big as a final. And, even if the student has a high grade in the class because they are proficient in the class and understand the concepts, since they are such a bad test taker, their grade could plummet to a number that doesn’t represent their true understanding of the class. This can be true especially because some teachers make the final such a significant portion of the grade overall.

If I were to provide a solution for this issue, I would recommend the teacher to provide different methods for students to prove their understanding of the course. They could do a traditional written test, or maybe a presentation of some sorts. The means of displaying comprehension could vary in general based on the class, but I feel this would be a more fair way to test the student’s knowledge without completely erasing the finals system, as I do think it is important to some degree. Another thing is making the final count for no more than 25% of the grade. Finals that range from 30% and up are solely testing the student on how good of a test taker they are. One of the more telling aspects of a grade, in my opinion, are class participation and homework grade. Both of these demonstrate not only enthusiasm and effort of a student, but also how dedicated they truly are the learning the material.

To conclude, I don’t believe the current education system is exactly fair, particularly when it comes to finals and their impact on a student’s grade. If teachers could provide more means of testing, as well as not have it count for the majority of the overall grade, many solid students would not have their grades falter due to unfair and unaccomodating methods.

5 Ways to Beat Stress During Finals - SBU News

PC: https://news.stonybrook.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/stress.jpg

My week……

graypenguinLeave a comment

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas break is only 2 weeks away. I am amazed at how fast this week has gone by. In this blog, I would like to write about the highlights of this week. The biggest event of the week was the soccer game. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would play soccer this year. One of the reasons is that until last year there was no official girl’s team. But having an actual game motivates me and makes soccer more enjoyable. I was only able to score one goal in this game, but I thought it was great to go for one goal with great teammates. The result was 4-2 and I enjoyed the game for the first time in a long time. However, there were many issues in these games, and I thought that I needed to run more and improve my physical strength. Today, on Friday, we are watching our recorded game on the tv. To be honest, when I look at my own game, I am embarrassed because there are many areas where I am not strong enough. If I have a chance in the next game, I would like to score more than two points.
This weekend I want to prepare for the final exams and study so that I don’t choke myself.
I want to get my driver’s license and finish watching a Korean drama that my roommate and I are currently watching. I will be on vacation in two weeks, so I want to give my all to everything I do.

pc:https://www.jfa.jp

i love spotify wraped

purcyLeave a comment

I love spotify wrapped so much. I hated it last year but that was because I was embarrassed about mine. This year it is literally so good. So many people hate that others post them on their stories and stuff but I love looking at them because it tells you so much about that person. It’s so much fun to see how many minutes I listened to and what podcasts I kept up with the most. It makes you recap over all the music you listened to all year and forgot about. I see why people hate it but I just don’t and my wrapped playlist is my new favorite. I love how many different genres it is and that it’s all songs I know really well. I hate looking for new music, it feels like a chore to me and spotify just made a super long playlist with every song I actually like on it and it’s so easy to listen to.

photo cred: me