Author: rangerthecat

6 WEEKS.

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6 weeks.

I CANT WAIT.

I’ve been counting down from 100 days, but spring break was our LAST BREAK OF THE YEAR!

Everyone keeps saying to avoid the disease known as Senioritis, but at this point, I have no idea if that’s possible. Even a few of my teachers seem to be counting down the days.

In 2 weeks, AP testing will be going on. I’m nervous for my 2 tests, AP Psych and AP English, but also excited because after the test in Psychology, we’re leaving our text book behind and watching movies and doing fun activities. Also, we will already have taken our final exam, so I will have nothing much to worry about in terms studying for that class.

As for my others, I will still be having finals and homework. But, for Law and Society, we will be having a big mock trial as our final, and I have a feeling that it will be really fun! I’m excited to see what it’s about.

College is in the very near future, and I still don’t know where I’m going yet. My first choice is way too expensive, so I’m just very unsure at this point. I have to decide by next week, though, so at this point I’m just hoping I make the right choice.

Let’s just make it through the next few weeks! Then it’ll be a nice break from school until I embark on a whole new adventure.

Easter Sunday

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I remember up until about 5 years ago, I would always get up on Easter Sunday to my favorite breakfast, French Toast, and receive a basket that the “Easter bunny” had brought me. It was filled with all that green fake grass, colorful socks, candy, toys, and other fun things.

This year, there was an Easter egg hunt on campus. I didn’t attend, but I did think back on how much fun Easter used to be. Maybe it’s because I really love bunnies! They are just so darn cute I can’t help myself. But also, holidays were always a time that my family spent together. My dad would be off work for holidays and have free time to spend with us doing whatever we wanted.

Easter has always been a holiday that I didn’t quite understand. I mean, I know it’s a religious holiday, but my family has never been religious, yet we still celebrate it. I guess it’s just the fun of it all, having something to celebrate and an excuse to go out and do things that have become a tradition to your family.

This Sunday, I went to the farmers’ market and got coffee in town instead of participating in any traditional Easter Sunday activities. But, I really didn’t mind. I had a great time hanging out with friends. Maybe next year I will celebrate Easter again, but who knows?

Happy Easter!

Internet Censorship

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I can’t believe that it has gotten to a point at this school where we will have our every move monitored while using the internet.

I can understand that students have been using the internet for inappropriate things during inappropriate times, but I just can’t believe that it has come to this.

All I want to do is to go on Facebook for a few minutes during my free period and play some tetris, look at some photos, and chat with people from back home. But, because student have been extremely stupid and disrespectful, I can’t even spend a few seconds on facebook in my “free” time, and I have to wait until weekends or after study hall.

Personally, I don’t do anything wildly inappropriate on the internet. Sometimes, I’d go on facebook during study hall or play a few games during my free period. I also like to use Skype to get information about homework from my other friends that don’t live on campus.

I like to think of myself as an adult, and my peers would think of themselves as the same. It’s ridiculous how we are treated like children and monitored, even if we want to do something simple like watch a video on Youtube.

I’m so over this…

Family.

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This weekend, my Mom came down all the way from Santa Cruz to see me and take me out for the weekend. I was counting down the days until I could see her, and when she finally got here, it was the best feeling ever.

Each day, whether it is on purpose or not, I think about my family. My mom, dad, brother, and sister. All of them cross my mind at some point during the day. Even if we are fighting or haven’t talked in a while, I always think about them no matter what.

Before I came to this school, I guess I never realized the importance of family. I took them for granted more than I even like to admit and I did not pay them enough respect. But being away from them for so long has lead me to truly appreciate all of my family in every single way.

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All of the things my parents have done, whether they have been good or bad in my perspective, have been for me, my sister, and my brother. Looking back, I cannot say I would have had them do anything differently. Of course, in some of those moments, I thought I absolutely hated them because of some decisions that were made or rules that were enforced. Some punishment seemed like the end of the world. But my parents had a much different perspective than me, of course – they did things that they believed would be best in the long run rather than short-term.

Time spent apart from my family was, at first, something that I really enjoyed. And to some extent, I still enjoy it. But a larger part of me realizes that in the past years, I have not spent time with them the way that I should have. I spent more time complaining about what we didn’t do and things that didn’t go my way that I have not cherished the memories with them.

And, even though friends can be considered to some people family as well, there are only those few people related to you by blood that are truly of the utmost important. No matter who you spend the majority of your time with, or who has been the most prominent guiding figure throughout your life, family is the root of your existence. Family is the reason that you are on this earth. Family should be the most important thing in each and everyone’s life. They are the people that have made you who you are.

I will never take them for granted again.
Who knows how much longer we have left?

Lacrosse

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Out of my 4 years at the Ojai Valley School, I have played lacrosse for 3. At first, it wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but it has grown on me and I have truly began to love it.

I’m not an extremely athletic person, and when I first played lacrosse, it was hard for me to keep up with some of the drills and especially hard for me to play a game without becoming exhausted. But I started to love the game and build my skills. It became so much fun for me, and when it ended, I was already looking ahead and couldn’t wait for next year’s season.

The next year, unfortunately, we didn’t have enough girls to make a team. It was really upsetting at first, but we still practiced as a team and scrimmaged against each other, which gave me an opportunity to improve my skills a lot, along with some of my other team mates. I thought it would be a great way to really prepare myself for this year’s season.

But of course, as it always seems to happen, another issue arose, and after weeks of practices, followed by a small complication in numbers, we were unable to have a lacrosse team again this year. It really puts me off to know we physically had the number of girls that we needed, and that we had already scheduled all of our games with other schools.

I was extremely excited the first day of practice, knowing it was my senior year and that the team could really make this year a good one for the ladies lacrosse. We had a bunch of new players along with some returning, experienced players that would really be able to lead the team. As captain, I was determined to teach the girls to love the game like I once learned to. By the 2nd week, a lot of them were improving a great amount and I could tell that they were really enjoying themselves out there on the field.

There’s nothing that we can do to revive our team now. All of our games have been cancelled, and since it has, we have broken up as a team and filtered into other sports commitments. It really disappoints me to know that we could have had a really solid team and been tough competition if we had practiced hard and kept the team together. But unfortunately, it looks like I’m going to have to finish out my senior year on weak note, all of my effort for lacrosse being wasted away. That’s just life, I guess, but I really do wish there was something I could do to change this reality.

So long, lacrosse. It’s been a blast while it’s lasted.

Ojai Valley School continues to Relay

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In the past two years, I have been one of the many students from Ojai Valley School to attend an amazing event called Relay for Life. It is sponsored by the American Cancer Society to raise people’s awareness and fight against cancer in a fun and community-oriented event.

When I first signed up to attend the Relay for Life event at Buena High school in Ventura, I had no idea what it was about. But within no time, there were hundreds of people and tents set up all around the track with different information, games, prizes, raffles, and live music as well. Everyone was walking or running around the track, and it was a great feeling to see all of these dedicated people in once place.

All of the teams, including the OVS team, raises money ahead of time to donate to the American Cancer Society to help research. Last year, our school raised over $5,000, earning us the Silver award, which means we donated in the middle category of high-level contributors. Although OVS is a little school, we are still mighty. Donating $5,000 is such an amazing contribution that I never could have even imagine for us.

This year, OVS is in the game once again – we even have our own Ojai Valley School page on the Relay for Life website where there is information and an opportunity to donate to this great cause. (Click on the link to go to the page)

Personally, I absolutely CANNOT WAIT for the Relay for Life event this year. It has been an amazing experience in the past, and I’m sure we can contribute just as much if not more this time. So far, we have $50 worth of donations, but I know how supportive our school will be and the donations will grow greatly over time. If money isn’t an option, anyone can contribute by attending the event and walking, running, or just being there to support. The first year was great, the second was even better, and I’m looking forward to a flat out amazing time this year.

I highly encourage everyone to check out the Relay for Life website and our school’s personal page and help support the fight against cancer!

Countdown

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I CAN HARDLY HANDLE IT!!!!
I’m getting so anxious there are no words to describe the feeling.
So anxious and crazy and excited and nervous that I can hardly focus.
I want graduation to come; even though I’m going to miss this place like crazy, there will be the most amazing feeling when I walk across that stage and officially become a college student. I will officially have made it to a place in life that I had serious doubts about a few times in my past.
Oh, and I guess that going to Cabo with 7 of my closest friends doesn’t exactly suck either, huh? 😉

So, due to this slight mental chaos that I’m having, I’m going to have a random blog.

First, I wanted to start by sharing a video and singing duo that I find to be just utterly fantastic.


They call themselves Jayesslee, two twin sisters named Janice and Sonia. They have so many covers of songs that have millions of views on Youtube, so the’re pretty popular. Their harmonies just make me want to melt… And I can’t stop listening to this specific one. I highly recommend anyone and everyone to listen to their stuff!

Secondly, I’m just getting so nervous waiting for my last college decision. I’m so pleased with the schools that I got accepted into (and a little bit disappointed with the ones I was rejected from). But most of my friends have already received their Chapman letters of acceptance, and I’m getting very antsy – I JUST WANT TO KNOW! I checked online on the website, and it says that my decision letter has been mailed out already, so it’s just a matter of time… Unfortunately I’m not the most patient person on the planet.

And last, I know that they are over about 2 months away, so I still have time, but I am already stressing out over the AP tests. Man, am I glad that I dropped out of a few of the AP classes I had been taking in the beginning of the year and lightened my load. Now, I only have AP Psych and AP English as opposed to 5 total as I had in the beginning. Still, I feel like these will be really difficult tests and I’m definitely no where near as prepared as I’m hoping to be. One of these weekends I’m going to have to do some serious looking into what the tests are going to expect.

For now, I’ll just keep looking ahead to the good things in my future like graduation and Cabo!!!!! Hopefully it will help the time pass faster, because as of now, it feels like everything is going by so slowly, I can hardly stand it.

College, College, College

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Remember back in December/January when I posted a nice little blog about waiting for colleges to respond back to applications?

Well, finally, the waiting is over! (Most of it, at least).

Last Wednesday, I was sitting with a few friends when I looked to see I had a text message on my phone. It was from my Mom, so I wasn’t expecting anything super mind-blowing.

But instead, I open it and immediately start freaking out. She told me that Cal Lutheran had sent a letter to my house addressed to “Accepted Student” and asked if she could open it. Of course I said yes, called her, and she read me the letter. It said I had been accepted and that they were offering me a $15 thousand scholarship. I was so excited I even asked her to send me a picture of the letter.

Cal Lutheran wasn’t a school I was absolutely dying to go to, but getting that acceptance made me feel just that much more secure. I felt like I didn’t have to worry as much, and that I could relax for the rest of my college admissions (or rejections).

When I returned to school from the honors ski trip, I checked my mail box, and surprisingly there were two more letters waiting for me from Sonoma State and San Jose State. Accepted!!! I then checked online at Cal Poly, and unfortunately I wasn’t accepted like I was hoping… But to be honest, I wasn’t as disappointed as I had thought I would be. About a week later, I logged onto UC Merced‘s website and had another acceptance waiting for me!!!

I’m still waiting to hear from 2 colleges, Chapman and UC Santa Barbara. I really hope I get accepted, of course, but at this point I’m just too excited that I got into 4 colleges that if I don’t get in, it won’t be the end of the world.

Now comes the time to choose which one I want to go to. It’s going to be a really tough decision. Most of them are good schools and I feel like I’d have a great time at all of them. At this point, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do, but it feels AMAZING to know I have options and that I don’t have to worry anymore.
I finally did it! There’s only 82 days until I graduate from high school and then just a few more months until I will be onto the next 4 years of my life in a new place.


Honors Ski Trip

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Last week, I had one of the best weeks I’ve had so far this year. I took a trip with 18 of my classmates and close friends along with 4 faculty members to Yosemite for the Honors Ski Trip.

Now, I’ve been to Yosemite before when I was younger and I do remember parts of it. But it was so different than I had remembered and so amazing. It was a completely different experience and a really great one at that.

Day #1:
After arriving the night before when there was hardly any snow, we woke up unsure if there would be good skiing conditions. Nevertheless, we went up to Badger pass, rented our skis, and set off on our first cross country skiing journey. The skiing itself was extremely difficult for me, and I fell over at least every 3 minutes. It was so frustrating and I wasn’t really having the best time. about 20 or 30 minutes in, it started snowing lightly. It got colder, then began to snow harder and harder until I could hardly feel my hands or see very far ahead of me. We stopped for lunch at a campground, which was about 3 miles from where we started, and took a break in the cold snow storm for about 20 minutes. Then, we headed back the way we came to make a 6 mile trip. It wasn’t that far, really, but it seemed like it to be because I was terrible at the skiing, but being surrounded by beautiful scenery definitely enhanced the experience.

Day #2:
It wasn’t as hard for me the 2nd day because I had gotten used to the hang of the skiing, but I was still really slow. We went the same way as we did the 1st day, but part way through, we cut off the main path and went a few miles out on a side trail. It was so beautiful, with many less people, and it was sunny and warm (well, compared to the first day). At our stopping spot, we went up a really steep hill onto a flat area where some of us (including myself) stopped and ate lunch as a small group continued on to another destination. We stayed at this spot for an hour or a little bit more, making snow forts, having a snowball fight, building a snowman, and sleeping in the snow with the warm sun beating down on us. It was a very peaceful and beautiful experience. When we got back and were loading up the vans, a group of us saw a coyote that was so close to us we could almost touch it. Its eyes were extremely greenish-yellow and vibrant, and he was so much more calm than I would expect.

Day #3:
This was by far my favorite day. We split into two groups, one that went on another ski trip and one that went on a hike by half dome and the huge waterfall. We walked a while through the trees until we spotted a beautiful bobcat that was only about 20 feet away from us. It wasn’t scared or nervous, and just went about doing whatever it wanted to. I had never seen one before and it was probably the best part of the day – it’s not very often people see bobcats roaming around, even in Yosemite. We took a very nice hike about 4 more miles out to a location called Mirror lake. It wasn’t a very full lake when we were there, it was a bit more dried up than I imagined, but it was still beautiful. We stopped and ate lunch here and did some rock-climbing, if you could call it that… it was more of a sad attempt.
At the end of the day, we went back to where the hike started and took an interesting journey into what are called the “spider caves”. It’s pitch black, cold, rocky, and the spaces to fit through are extremely small. We weren’t allowed to use lamps, so we were all helping the person behind us through. I only made it through the first half of the cave; I chickened out and found a way to get out. The rest of the group, however, crawled through more small spaces for about 20 minutes until they made it out at the other end.

Overall, I would say it was an extremely valuable experience. I saw so many things that I hadn’t ever seen before, and we had SO much fun in our cabins at night playing charades, twister, and cooking dinner together.

To be honest, I was extremely sad for this trip to end and I wish I could do it at least one more time. All I can say is, I’m thankful for the time I spent with those people and that I had the opportunity to experience these new things. It was truly great.

The Musical!

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Well, this week has been a big blur of practicing for the musical. It has been very busy and very, very hectic. From sorting costumes to remembering cues, it has been a very challenging feat for all involved. But, tonight, it all payed off in our opening night performance of Utopia in America.

We have been preparing for so long now, but I still didn’t feel extremely ready in the beginning of the night. I was extremely nervous, but we had run through it quite a few times, so I was confident that everyone else knew what they were doing; it was just me I was worried about, because I’m so air headed sometimes.

Musicals are so stressful and time consuming, and get me really nervous. I mean, we’ve been practicing since a few months ago, and our directors have worked harder than ever to make this perfect, and everyone in the cast wanted to make it nothing less than that for them.

There were some extremely funny moments, some moments where we messed up a bit, and some moments where it was more perfect than I ever remember it being in the past. Even though it was very hectic and busy, it was still extremely fun and, in the end, not as stressful as I had thought.

I’m just glad to have the first performance out of the way, so everyone is even more prepared for tomorrow’s two showings. And, everyone that watched it said they liked it, and I think they genuinely meant it. Overall, it was a very solid first show and I couldn’t have hoped for anything better.