Everyone always has at least one moment in which they make a decision that completely upturns their life. What makes them notable, normally, is that they begin completely innocuously, like the decision to switch a class, to make small talk with a specific person, however you respond to them, and only later can that decision maker realize how a radical change to their life hinged on that one choice they didn’t see.
I may be able to call what I did around 3 years ago that sort of choice, but its payoff seems just as innocuously debilitating as its trigger. I saw a playlist on youtube, clicked on it, and listened to it while doing homework.
You might be compelled to laugh, but yes, it can be debilitating! Work moves like molasses if I’m not hearing sick beats, and hearing sick beats can make me less able to focus on what I need to. I’m not sure at this point if my habit slows me down or is the only way I can set my mind to anything vaguely smelling of labor. During regular classes it feels like I have to do anything else just to not lose my mind to the clouds, but nearly all teachers seem to misinterpret multitasking as a character flaw of the youth. I’ve become a Gen Z stereotype, technology has completely divorced my attention span from what organized society finds acceptable.
This weekend was a long weekend with 4 days off because of family weekend. I started each day with running pie everyday to get in shape with an average pace of 8 minutes per mile and the total time of 22 minutes. There weren’t that many trips this weekend besides the collection on Saturday night and Universal Studios on Monday. On Friday I watched the World Series with a few friends. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off was crazy. It was a really relaxing weekend. I finally got a good rest and am getting ready for the school next week. On Saturday we went to Dick’s sporting goods to get some basketball equipment such as compression shorts and KT tape for my knee. We also got some golf stuff like the new released Taylor-made golf balls, TP5X. We went to get food at the Korean barbecue place for dinner afterwards. Today we went to Universal Studios, we went on most of the main rides except Jurassic park because it was closed. However, It was a fun trip especially with all my friends together too.
I’ve been thinking about starting soccer. I played pretty much my whole life and I miss it. The whole reason I quit gymnastics is because I didn’t think I would have time or energy to do two sports. Especially after school games and leaving class early for games I’m a little worried I wont be able to keep up. Don’t get me wrong I love soccer and I love riding but I think it will also feel like i’m not a whole part of the team either because I will have to miss some practices and maybe even games for riding because that will be my priority. I think I’m still going to do it anyways though because cross training has always helped me in riding and gymnastics. I also heard that we have 3 games our second week of practice which sucks because I won’t even be there for our first week of practice which is this week. So I might die but wish me luck.
We finished the football season with a bad loss to the first seed team in our league. Due to my injury, I finally recovered the day before the game. I was not able to be in the starting lineup because I missed 2 weeks of practice. Anyways, I got back in the game during the first half, at 4 minutes. I then played the rest of the game as the cornerback. I had multiple tackles but no picks or interceptions. After the first half the score was already 35-0. I tried to keep working with a few teammates, but I could tell most of the people already gave up after the first half. It seems like they do not care about the game at all. I cared about this particular game not just because I had a great performance during the first half, but also because It is the last game for the seniors. The last game to play with them. However, it was a great season overall. Although we didn’t finish the season with a good record, I did have lots of fun with the team in these 2 months.
Along with a nice and accurate, but short, explanation of the tiers. The works listed early are the ones I favor relative to the others in the same tier.
It Does Not Deserve Rights: Ishmael (sorry Alvarez, but the gorilla gave me Neil DeGrasse Tyson vibes. Say that I’m privileging humanity all I want, but I will stand by my fervent hatred of this book. I rank John Steinbeck’s pro-euthanasia fantasy over this dribble).
I Respectfully Tolerate Them: The Crucible, The Things They Carried, Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (I feel like this is the unofficial “problematic faves” tier. It doesn’t mean that these works weren’t impactful in their own time or can’t still be enjoyed today, but reading them I felt that essential parts of the narrative’s worldview aged poorly, i.e. John Steinbeck’s pro-euthanasia fantasy. And since the worldview of a book is the basis for its themes and who the story is willing to develop, it means that these works, in my opinion, really suffer on their own merits).
Makes Sense They’re Classics: Julius Caesar, Siddartha, The Odyssey. (I find these to be the true neutral, and regard them in the way non-English people regard classic novels. Parts are genuinely moving, parts seem so divorced from contemporary standards for art that they are hard to engage with as a modern audience. A British actress I follow once said that Julius Caesar was her favorite Shakespeare play, which I found interesting because, though I’ve only read three of his plays, I think Julius Caesar is a bit bland by the Bard’s standards).
Uniquely Excellent: The Haunting of Hill House, Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wuthering Heights, Brave New World, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Cannery Row. (It’s my unofficial Whipple tier, I don’t know how she keeps doing this. I usually love these books because they have themes that I really resonate with, because they present interesting questions and tensions, or even because their words are written so wonderfully. But I also feel that these works are very much “favorites” in that I believe they stick in my mind because they have a lot of elements that I personally favor, and might not be universally applicable or endlessly nuanced.)
Actual Masterpieces: Romeo and Juliet, Invisible Man, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye. (These books are like the ones from the previous tier, but they are endlessly nuanced and readers can appreciate them even if they have wildly different interpretations of the text. Ambiguity is always the best thing about art, as arriving at a conclusion can make one feel like they’re part of the artistic process itself. To qualify for this rank, it also helps if every word in the work feels like it was written like magic, i.e. Romeo and Juliet and Invisible Man).
It’s almost 2025. That’s the year I’ve been looking forward to all my life. I’m not so sure I’m excited anymore. Yeah, college is exciting, but I’m not ready to finish high school. Anyway, I’ve finished and submitted all my college applications. It’s a funny feeling because everyone around me is so ready to graduate, and they all have something to work towards. I don’t have a career I’m excited about or a dream college. The only thing I have been working towards is a D1 team and now I know I won’t be on one. I’m afraid because when I don’t have something to work towards I start to wander again. I feel like a zombie. I don’t want to lose my focus. Everything is moving so fast and I can’t believe it’s almost 2025. There are so many things I would do if I had more time. I better fit it all in quickly because there are 78 more days until 2025.
I need a new playlist right now. My music taste is very unique, I like different music depending on my mood I can go from listening to Gracie Abrams to Travis Scott. I like most genres of music, I just hate classical music because it makes me want to fall asleep. I have like 4 playlists of all different genres that I cycle through but I am getting very sick of my main rap playlist. I need to make a new one but I don’t know what songs to even put on it. I am at the point where I have overplayed songs way too much and now am sick of them. I’ve been trying to listen to my 2000 throwback playlist but now I am getting sick of that as well so now I’m listening to my country playlist again. I need to make a driving playlist and a crash-out playlist.
We finally got our first win against pilgrim on Wednesday. Although I didn’t play due to a swollen knee, it was a really close game, a little too close. The score was 27-26. There were a few freshmen that finally got their first playing time and starting time. There were some great passes and rushes from them. In my opinion, Pilgrim is not a good team therefore we should’ve defeated them. We have our last game next Tuesday against a team that is in 1st place in our league. However, I do feel confident about it with all of the practices and experiences during the 5 league games. It will be a tough game but we do have a chance against them. I believe all the injured players will be back in action therefore we will definitely be ready to play against Beacon Hill on Tuesday. We’re currently 1-4 in record hopefully we will end the season with at least 2 wins.
With the upcoming basketball season starting in a few weeks. I feel fully ready and excited for it. During summer I worked with multiple basketball trainers and teams. The team this year is looking great, and has a lot of potential. There is more size in the team now. During the summer it has just been mostly basketball for me. I started the day with basketball practice with the team and ended the day with the trainer. The basketball trainer, Noah, has helped me a lot basketball wise. He has helped me gain more knowledge in the game. He taught me how to control the ball and the speed of the game. I have improved my jumper with his help. I averaged 17.2 points per game and 5 assists during the season in the league I have joined with my friend in Taiwan. Although we have been downgraded to the lower bracket this upcoming season, we still have a chance in making the CIF if we go 8-0 this season. Anyways, I have come prepared and ready this season to win first place in the league this year.
I love listening to music. It helps me focus and get things done. Whenever I need to lock in on cleaning my room, the house, my homework, or when I’m just trying to relax. I always play music. I hate this new rule at school that makes it so we’re just not allowed to listen to music. We can’t use headphones, so how are we supposed to listen to music unless we play it out loud, but if we play it out loud then we’re distracting others and most songs have swear words in them. I get why we aren’t allowed to play explicit music out loud but I’m not trying to listen to some kidz bop remix of my favorite song, so that basically means we can’t play any music out loud. Also, not everyone in a class is going to want to listen to the same music so people would get in arguments about it and make it so no one can listen to music at all. Thanks for listening to my rant have a good day.
OVS Journalism Blog 
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