Author: 1998sakura

Time

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I have Depression. I can’t control it – I don’t know when it comes and makes me depressed. My depression started a couple of years ago, and I’ve noticed a pattern for when it comes. Every two months it suddenly hits me. Sometimes it comes out of the blue, or sometimes something triggers my feelings and it happens. The trigger can be really simple, but it can be a big deal to me.

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Photo Credit: Evelyn Brokering

When I am depressed I feel really lonely and nothing seems interesting, it is very painful. To forget the pain I make myself busy by participating in activities and doing projects on my own. When I am not depressed I am very happy, I laugh at stupid jokes, hum along to my favorite songs, and blast music in my room and dance with friends. I forget how I felt when I was depressed, and I have a great time.

I think the only solution to solving my depression is time. I need time to process things. I hope that time will actually solve it, and until then I will keep myself busy.

Cal Lutheran

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On Saturday morning at 10 o’clock, I visited a college, Cal Lutheran, in Thousand Oaks, CA. I was curious about this college because it is opening a new multi-media building in fall, 2017. Also, my grandfather, Herb Brokering, is a famous priest among the Lutheran community. Although I am not Lutheran, I am interested in becoming one because of my grandfather. He wrote plays, books and songs for the Lutheran Church. 

The day I visited this college, I was worried that it would be very conservative and strict, since the name of the college is “Lutheran.” However, it was not. It was as nice as other colleges that I visited before, and had a very open-minded community. For example, they were giving out free condoms, and talked about other religions, like Islam. This was very interesting to see at this type of school.

The campus was very natural, surrounded by mountains and a creek, but it is still close to cities like Malibu and Los Angeles. I really enjoyed the tour and am considering attending this school.

Photo Credit: http://www.callutheran.edu

Hero?

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Photo Credit: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

Today is Crazy Friday at my school. This week, the theme was Superhero Day – which meant we had to dress up as a hero. Today at breakfast, my friend asked me if minions were heroes. I started laughing, and said no. She said she asked because she wanted to wear a minion costume. However, after a few seconds I realized that minions are superheroes, because in the movie they saved the moon.

The definition of “hero” on Google is “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” When you think of it this way, Minions are heroes.

Many other things are heroes too – not only characters on the screen, but also heroes around me. For example, my friends save me everyday from my boring life, Jack the Cat saves me from being too stressed, and my family supports me and gives me love. I appreciate all the heroes out there, and I hope I am one too.

Senioritis

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After I got accepted to a few colleges, I started to become extremely lazy. I just want to be done with high school and I don’t have the motivation I used to have, due to the fact that senior grades don’t affect the chances of being accepted.

I don’t know if I am simply becoming lazy, or if I have senioritis. Senioritis is a word I hear a lot these days. The definition is: “A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation (Urban Dictionary).”

After reading the definition, I am pretty sure I have senioritis. Previously, I never knew it existed, and I am surprised I have it. I have 130 more days until graduation and I hope my senioritis does not affect that time. Instead of just thinking about college, I want to appreciate the last days I have at this school, and as a high school student.

Photo Credit: collegetransitioninitiative.com

“Fences”

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Today I watched a movie called Fences with my English class. The movie is about an African-American family. The main characters are: an alcoholic, an old-fashioned father, a housewife, and their sons – one who wants to be a football player, and one who has a job related to music. The father is a stubborn character who wants his son to learn how to “survive” rather than play football.

This movie takes place after the segregation and discrimination against colored people was abolished, and when white and colored people became one nation. Time Changes by Rose Maxton tells us that the pain and the wounds in our hearts are healed as the time changes. Since tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I feel the need to recognize this tragedy in our history. I am glad that in my generation I can go to school and socialize with colored people. Because there were many abolitionists who worked hard for us to be equal, I can live in this great generation.

Photo credit: http://www.comingsoon.com

The Olympics Is the Key!!

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I was officially turned down by the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. I applied for the Winter Games volunteer program earlier this year. My plan was to work at the Korean games so that I’d have experience on my resume for when I apply for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

I was disappointed, but had suspected I was going to be turned down since I can’t speak Korean, and one of the questions on the application asked about that. Even if I had gotten the job, the event will take place in the middle of my freshman year of college, which is bad timing.

I want to volunteer for the Olympic games because I think this event is very special, and makes the world come together. Also, I like to make friends with people from around the world – our generation can form relationships with other countries despite our history. For example, I have good friends who are Korean and Chinese, but my Japanese grandparents were enemies with people from these same countries. Their generation does not have the same type of relationships that I do.

I think the Olympic games can make a big difference, and I want to be part of this special event. I really hope I can contribute by volunteering for Tokyo 2020. I’m crossing my fingers!

Photo Credit: thumbs.mic.com

Becoming Bilingual

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When school starts back up after Christmas break, it will mark two years of living in the U.S. for me. I’m from Japan and went to a Japanese-speaking school most of my life. Since my father is an English speaker, my English listening skills were perfect when I came to America, but I couldn’t express myself verbally.

I came to the U.S. when I was 16, and I knew it was my last chance to become truly bilingual, since 16 is the age you start losing the natural ability to learn a second language. So I made a strict rule for myself: I couldn’t speak any Japanese to anyone at my school (since there are Japanese students.) It was very difficult to stop using my first language all of a sudden. When a Japanese student would start speaking to me in the language, I would ignore them. It felt awful. At first it was very difficult both emotionally and physically, but because of my strict rule, my English improved very quickly. For four months I followed this rule, until the school nurse reached out and told me to relax, and not to be so strict with myself. I took her advice and started speaking Japanese and making Japanese friends.

There was a period of time when I felt I couldn’t speak any language, since I was trying to improve my English but at the same time was losing my Japanese. After getting through that, I finally can say I can speak both Japanese and English. It was worth the struggle.

Photo Credit: i.huffpost.com

An Intramural Scrimmage?

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After voting for the first time in my life, I was shocked by the result of the election. When I woke up after the results came out, I felt like I woke up to another world. To me, the outcome was not predicted and was surreal. I know friends who cried, not because they were happy but because they were scared. I read online that 8 transgender teens committed suicide on that day. It is very sad to see so many people depressed and heartbroken, and even taking their own lives because of this election.

It’s been almost a week now since the election, and my thoughts have changed – I am more motivated and positive about the future. As Katy Perry tweeted, “Do not sit still. Do not weep. MOVE. We are not a nation that will let HATE lead us.”

President Barack Obama told the nation that it is time to come together. “The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.  And over the next few months, we are going to show that to the world. Everybody is sad when their side loses their election. But the day after, we have to remember we’re actually all on the same team. This is an intramural scrimmage.”

I am going to hope for the best, and I want to play a part in bringing people together.

Photo Credit: abcnews.com

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

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Have you heard of hand, foot, and mouth disease? I’m from Japan, and there it’s called 手足口病, meaning exactly “hand, foot, and mouth disease.”  手=hand, 足=foot, 口=mouth, and 病=disease.

This disease was very famous in Japan, because we learned in history class that it was a dangerous disease that killed a lot of people in the past. My Chinese friend told me that it was famous in China too, and that it killed a lot of people there.

This virus is currently going around Ojai, but it’s mild and no one has died from it. In our school, since it’s a boarding school, it has spread very quickly. I googled this disease and found out that it’s more common among young children, not teenagers. It’s very odd that it is going around OVS and Ojai.

When it was spreading around the most, we had parents here for family weekend, meaning that parents came to our campus. Our school has students from all over the world, so parents from China, Japan, Germany, and many more places came. In the near future, if we hear that these countries are getting the disease, sadly it might have come from Ojai.

Photo Credit: http://www.zdnet.com

Vote!

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This weekend, I voted as an American citizen for the first time in my life.

I was with my family in a restaurant when I was filling out the ballot. The waitress saw me voting, and came over to our table and started talking to us about her opinion. She told us she wasn’t voting because she didn’t like either one of the candidates. She said that a woman should not be a president because women are emotional, and that Trump is crazy.

Photo Credit: http://www.theodysseyonline.com

If I only had the information she had, I would probably choose not vote either. But we need to really do our own research and get the right information, so we can make intelligent and informed decisions about who to vote for. Every vote counts and our future is in our hands. We cannot let a single vote go to waste. So please everyone, if you are eligible, please VOTE!