Category: school

One Chip

jared315Leave a comment

Recently, we sat down to do a Hill Talk Podcast where we partook in the One Chip Challenge. We didn’t do the real challenge of eating the whole chip because our teacher is liable for our health and safety, but I must say, that shit still hurt. I can’t even describe the chip as spicy, it was just painful. As soon as I bit into the chip, I tasted a disgusting flavor of heat and pepper. The chip was thick, crispy, and dry as hell. Thus making it very hard to chew. It resembled eating sandpaper in my mind. My first reaction to the heat was to hiccup. My diaphragm began to convulse with the power of 1,000 stampeding wildebeests. I could’ve sworn I was gonna throw up. This all happened in a blink of an eye, and as time progressed, so did the pain. The chip lit up my spice receptors like a Christmas tree, it would be safe to say that the only thoughts on my mind were the exponentially increasing pain, and the chocolate milk I was thirsting to chug. Breathing became a difficult task, and speaking became an unintelligible blabber. This one chip fucked me up. If it wasn’t for the lemon juice chemically neutralizing the capsaicin, I’d be a goner. Even with this bitter miracle of fruit juice, the chip still put me on my ass. I could’ve sworn I contacted IBS, I mean, how could a healthy intestinal circuit feel like it’s moving shattered glass all because of one chip. I will rue the day that I participated in the Paqui One Chip Challenge.

Amazon.com: Paqui Carolina Reaper Madness One Chip Challenge Tortilla Chip
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPaqui-Carolina-Madness-Challenge-Tortilla%2Fdp%2FB01M748NRN&psig=AOvVaw2H6tlDP3Wis_qjLB5n8KQZ&ust=1644354821226000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCND4-pnB7vUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF

I’m tired. Like really tired.

ojaipizzaLeave a comment

I’ve been really tired recently. With the stress of applying to colleges and school, I really need a break. There are a lot of tests and I did pretty bad at them while I needed to finish my college application. There is just too much stuff I need to do, and I really don’t have time for myself to review for all the tests. One of the most annoying things recently is that I need to retake the test for English Language Proficiency. I’ve taken this test more than ten times, and I just couldn’t get to the minimum score. I’m really tired of this. At the same time, every senior already gets into some good college except me. I haven’t got any acceptance and I’m so worried about whether I am able to get accepted by any college. Every day started to feel the same and I’m tired of it. Wake up, breakfast, school, and sleep. It’s just so boring that I couldn’t do anything more than that. I just don’t know how people wake up and get so excited for their day or have so much fun in school. I just don’t know-how. I only eat less, even skip lunch or dinner, and get tired every other day. How can people look so normal, and be happy every day?

Photo Credit: HuffPost UK

Pre-Chip Journal

navraj22Leave a comment

This Monday. 10 Am. Ojai Valley School. The last conference room on the right. It’s going down.

I will be orchestrating the show of the century via my video podcast. Myself, my co-host, and my newspaper’s editor will be eating the world’s spiciest chip. On camera. It WILL be the highlight of my year or the reason I get violently ill and have to leave school.

Going into the new year, I needed new ideas for my budding podcast. To be honest, my coverage and predictions about Omicron were shaky to say the least, some would even say disastrous but hey you live and you learn.

ANYWAYS, a ton of planning has gone into this. I had the idea on a crisp Thursday morning at 7:15 am on the toilet browsing Tik Tok. I saw this random old dude force feeding himself for views on tik tok when I saw him down 4 or 5 very spicy chilies, some daused in the world’s hottest hot sauce, followed up by a shot of vodka and him spraying WD-40 down his gullet. The funniest part is he starts with this cute little gag accent which slowly transitions into him moaning, whining, and crying as he forces himself to eat them (attached his so-called highlights at the bottom). Truly enthralling stuff. When I got to Journalism that day, I was instantly bombarded by my teacher and editor about not doing enough during my time between episodes (true but no way I would admit it).

“I’m gonna make my editor eat something so hot, she doesn’t have a tongue to tell me to slack off less,” I thought to myself.

It’s a pretty great plan if you factor our the fact that I will be torturing myself and my co-host for a gag/to see my editor’s face when she eats this chip.

I have created a whole show around the one spicy chip which I will outline:

First, we will chat around for a second, maybe get a cameo on the fourth mic from our teacher, get some other Journalism students to chime in and what not, setting the stage for the main event. Then, we will spin a wheel to determine the order in which we eat the chips. Then, another wheel will be spun to determine how much of the chip will be eaten: 60% for 1/3, 35% for 2/3, and 5% for 3/3. You are gonna hear “another wheel” a handful more times throughout this blog. Get used to it. After this spin, we will eat the chip, and film our reaction for 3 minutes. We will then all play Family Feud while handling the heat. The winner will get first dibs to spin two wheels that are mostly filled with things that help heat like milk and carbs, but also some negatives like tonic water and an onion. The other two will spin this wheel in the order of their points in Feud. After this, we will have a spelling bee, something my editor is impossibly terrible at. After this, we will probably wrap up, and that will be our show.

I am pretty excited, but I hope nobody gets a stomach ulcer leading to me getting sued. I’ll attach the podcast to my next blog so stay tuned.

VC: TikTok Legend

Shithousery

navraj22Leave a comment

My favorite sport is football. Not the bloodsport played with the oval ball by yanks, but the beautiful game, joga bonito, or if you lack any sense of intelligence and cultural awareness “soccer”. Specifically the Barclays Premier League (also called the English Premier League).

The thing that sets footy apart is the fact that supporters of teams are allowed to be rowdy. Fans consistently scream obscenities, light flares, and heckle the players and opposition supporters.

Partizan Belgrade vs Red Star probably has the most heated rivalry (between fans) in European soccer. The clubs represent their fans’ political ideology and personal identities. These clubs’ fans have literally stabbed each other over support, and fights are a given outside every fixture. Most notably, fans light flares inside the stadium which seems like it should be illegal, but hey…it’s the Balkans.

VC: Copa 90

English fan culture is equally unique. Fans mostly just yell the most obscene and insulting things they can, oftentimes insulting dead relatives and getting into players’ heads. The chants they yell in support of their players are often touching and tailored to their players. For instance, Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters often chant, “Heeeeee’s Koreannn, He’s only on loan for a seasonnnnn, but we think he’s fookin brilliantttt, he’s Hwang Hee Channnnnnnn,” in honor of the Korean loaned star.

VC: The Wolfpack

These chants unite fans in ways unthinkable to American sports fans. Here is a foreign Man U fan leading the chants, known by all supporters, in a local pub.

VC: Football Away Days

I implore you to go explore the world of football chants, fair warning, it can get kind of raunchy.

VC: SommitSports

(THESE ARE THE RAUNCHY ONES PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!)

VC: SommitSports

These fan groups are stems for identity, FC St. Pauli fans broke away from Hamburg SV fans because of the racist, sexist, and all-around toxic supporters, forming their own group that stands for inclusion.

When fans or players are acting a little wild, it’s called “shithousery.” Here are a few examples.

VC: Vaulted

VC: Dan1S

Football > Ovalball. If this didn’t convince you I don’t know what will

Saved

navraj22Leave a comment

I nearly made the biggest mistake of my life.

Leading up to the college visit trip I took last week, I was adamant about applying and going to NYU. So adamant in the fact that I was prepared to apply early decision, meaning if I got in I would have to attend.

When I tell you I was saved by a thread I mean it. I was millimeters away from making the worst decision ever.

NYU was not the place for me. I had thought that going to a school without a campus would be fun, my experience this summer in New York made me feel free, and living in New York and attending school seemed ideal. This was mostly because I was with one of my closest friends whose sister went there, so we spent most of our time shopping and eating rather than being students. It was a whole different story at the school. The tour guide talked more about her getting cut from the quidditch team than student life and did many other similar things, making me realize that maybe I wanted more of a college experience.

I had just gone to see Michigan before NYU, where I went tailgating and sat in the student section at the Big House. My friend who goes there showed me around and showed me what it is like to be a student at a big school. I had the best time and realized that this is something I can’t go without in college. I also thought the traditional campus layout would make studying easier, everything was just more simple.

These two factors combined and made me realize what an idiot I had been. Judging my college choices on a fun week I had without considering schools, sheerly basing the biggest choice I will have made in my young life on location.

I feel super relieved I changed my mind about applying to NYU early decision, and that I went on the tour as the feels at the schools were different than the ideas in my head of what they would feel like. It feels surreal that I was that close to making such a big choice based on nothing.

PC: Knight Photography

Homesick

karolineticoLeave a comment

“Do you miss home?” “Do you miss your parents?” As an international student, these are the questions that I receive most often from people. My answer has always been no, and inexplicably, I’ve never missed home while I’m in a foreign country.

But that answer has changed recently.

During Christmas break, I lived near the LA area, where large Chinese community exists. There, you can find almost anything from China and other places in Asia. I never knew that there could be such a place in the US.

When I had authentic Chinese food in one of the restaurants, I suddenly realized that I do miss home. Or more precisely, the two years of my life in China before I came here. I miss my old school, my friends, and my hometown Nanking. I had a sudden urge to book a flight and go back at that moment. But after 5 seconds, I remembered that my friends are not in China either, they are in Germany, Ireland, Canada… just the same as me.

The feeling of nostalgia was something that I never experienced, and I now I finally understood how other people felt when they say they missed home.

Photo Credit: https://www.welikela.com/

Covid

udarsh318Leave a comment

So, as of right now my test results haven’t come back, but I’m pretty sure I have covid. My mom and dad both came back positive when they were tested, and seeing as I have been quite sick over the last week I’m pretty damn sure its covid. My mom is holding out hope that I’m negative so I can go to school, but I’m less optimistic. The actual sickness hasn’t been all that bad most of the time. The worst part for me are the headaches and the dizziness. Plus I’ve had these weird things I call “brain shocks” that I normally get when I miss my meds. I really don’t know how to describe them other than brain shocks. Thats like what they are, they suck ass though. When I was taking a different medication, Pristyq, they would get so bad that I would blink and get them. They suck, a lot. Anyway, I’m hoping I can go to school soon but I kinda doubt it. I probably won’t be back till next week, which sucks because I’m gonna get behind in AP chem and that is not good at all. Luckily it gives me more time to work on my research paper for english that I still have not finished. Anyway, long story short, don’t get covid, its not a vibe.

Sick Flu Vector Illustration Poor Guy Stock Vector (Royalty Free) 43639450

photo credit: shutterstock

PLEASE! I Just Want a Good Gym…

ojaipizzaLeave a comment

I understand that the school gym is not perfect like the gym from other schools because of Thomas Fire. Part of our campus has been burned, therefore, our gym has to move out to the small place behind the bathroom so we have enough room for classes. The mud covers all the equipment in the gym and the smell of the rusted dumbbell makes the atmosphere in the gym more like a “real” gym. However, the maintenance is really bad, the number of people and the direct sun cause all the equipment to rust and break. Last week, one of my friends went to the gym and he literally got hurt when doing the bench press; the bracket of the bench broke. Although weightlifting is not a competitive sport like basketball and soccer, the school should be still taking the weight lifter seriously. Not many students want to become a bodybuilder, but there are a few who are serious about fitness. 

The purpose of doing fitness is not only want to have a good body shape but also to build a good lifestyle; a healthy lifestyle. It’s important to have a regular routine of eating, sleeping, and working out. Eating too much protein powder and meat will only break your body, therefore, finding the balance of eating vegetables and meat is really important to become healthier and stronger. The only way to get stronger is to keep working out, and the use of having a long good sleep is to let the muscle rest and let it rebuild to a stronger muscle.

If you are curious about my workout routine here it is:

MONDAY – ARM EXERCISE (BICEP/ TRICEP)

TUESDAY – LEGS (GLUTES/ HAMSTRING)

WEDNESDAY – CHEST 

THURSDAY – BACK, SHOULDERS (TERES MAJOR/ TRAPEZIUS)

FRIDAY – ABS

Photo Credit: Zac Efron

Philosophy For Children

karolineticoLeave a comment
http://www.peopleinneed.net

Philosophy seems distant from young children, but early exposure to philosophy and philosophical thinking can benefit children’s future development.

A lot of times, kids can come up with questions that are hard to answer, like “What is space?” “What is right and wrong?”.

Obviously, we can’t explain Einstein’s theory of time relativity to them when they ask what is the meaning of time. These questions are mostly either involving too many different concepts, or there is simply no absolutely right answer. This is when philosophical thinking comes into play, children can learn and develop their own answers.

By learning various concepts, children can improve in academic learning and form a more organized understanding of the world.


Some people may argue that it is too early for children to start “thinking about thinking” or it could be overwhelming. And yes, it is a possibility. Philosophy for children doesn’t need to include obscure terminology or deep philosophical history. Basic themes like Logicism and elementary ethics are enough and comprehensible for elementary or middle school students.


French students are required to learn philosophy in the last year of secondary school. Educational systems around the world should consider adding philosophy to the curriculum.

Application Deadline Is Closer Than It Appears

ojaipizzaLeave a comment

This month is the season for seniors to apply to college if they want to apply for Early Action (EA) or Early Decision (ED). In fact, I was planning to apply to Early action, but everything wasn’t going the way I want to be. My plan was to finish all the essays for every college one day before the deadline. The deadline is closer than it appears. I always thought I have time, so I do a little every day and sometimes I don’t even do it. Without a doubt, I couldn’t finish it and doesn’t have enough time to send it to my counselor and correct it. Two days left before the EA deadline! I just can’t believe how fast the deadline has shown up. I spent two nights burning the midnight oil, trying to finish it all. Of course, I still can’t finish the application, and I have to give up on EA for this time.

Yes, I took my lesson, I should be taking this seriously. Once it passes the deadline, there is no way back to regret it. I started to feel the “Real” stress from college applications. “College deadlines are no joke.” My college counselor always tells me that, and now I understand that it’s really not a joke.

Photo Credit: College Application Deadline