Working

udarsh318Leave a comment

I have a job at a local bar, or pub, I guess. It’s got a bar but also has places to sit. Anyway, I’m a busser and the Host, which is kinda cool. I get $15 an hour plus tips every night, and I usually get like 10-20 bucks from each server and sometimes the bartender, so I end up going home with like 30ish dollars every night I work, which is two to three times a weekend. In addition to the 8-12 hours, give or take, I get another 60-90 dollars per weekend. It’s pretty good money, it pays for gas and car insurance and stuff. After a while, I’ll have a solid amount of money and that might help me when I go to college and stuff.

But, there are definitely downsides to working every weekend. For one, I don’t hang out with friends very often and I don’t really have a lot of time in general. I end up missing a lot of school events and things, and sometimes that kinda sucks you know? Sometimes it feels like I’m losing friends because I work so much, and It’s not exactly necessary for me to work, but I want to have a car and I need to work to have a car so here we are. Anyway, I’m gonna quit at the beginning of next summer so I can have one more summer where I do whatever I want so I guess I’ll just look forward to that.

Five Swedish restaurants with fantastic locations | Visit Sweden

Credit- visitsweden.com

No more high school baseball

im6footLeave a comment

My high school baseball career has come to a close.

I recently contracted Covid-19 which caused me to miss our round 2 playoff game, which would ultimately be the final game of our season and final game of my high school career. It was a weird feeling knowing I just my time as a high school athlete ended without being able to do anything about it. I got so many texts and phone calls from people telling me how sorry they were that this happened to me but I didn’t feel sorry for myself nor did I feel any emotion at all. I was just focused on making sure the people around me didn’t get sick while everyone else was focused on the fact I can no longer play high school baseball.

The funny thing is I am content with my career coming to end the way it did. For instance, in the last game I played in we won, our school got its first-ever playoff win in school history, and I balled out. So there’s no bad taste in my mouth about how my high career came to an end. I am also playing baseball in college so that makes this ending not too bad.

However, there are a few things I miss about high school ball. I’ll miss the road trips to away games, the inside jokes with the guys, getting yelled at by my head coach, and getting out of class early on gamedays. I’ll miss the early morning lifts, the post-game workouts, the late nights hitting off the tee, the extra work after practices, the sprints, batting practice, catching bullpens the day after catching a whole game because we don’t have a backup catcher. But the one thing I’ll miss the most the memories I’ve made with all my teammates.

pc: mlb.com

Why Charles Oliveira Couldn’t Beat Conor McGregor

jared315Leave a comment

Recently at UFC 274, new #1 contender Charles Oliveira called out Conor McGregor to compete for the vacant lightweight title after losing his title due to not weighing in at the proper weight. I understand that Oliveira is chasing the PPV dollars that come from challenging The Champ Champ, but in the long run of his career, it is a big mistake. In my opinion, Oliveira would be killed if he stepped into the octagon with McGregor due to one key factor. This factor is Oliveira’s terrible eyesight. Oliveira is a world-class level fighter, only being relinquished from his title due to missing weight, however, one thing that not many fans may know is that Oliveira must wear glasses outside of the ring due to his compartmentalized vision. This obviously affects him in the octagon, as he cannot wear glasses. Against most of his other opponents, this hasn’t jeopardized his career entirely, however, we have seen Oliveira be grounded by pure strikes like in the Gaethje fight where he got dropped by a nice uppercut. Against McGregor, a striking genius, Oliveria would be down and out in the first round; of my life. I believe that Oliveira’s jiu-jitsu gives him a chance, but McGregor’s takedown, defense and range would really restrict his game to only haphazard striking, which is not the optimal plan of attack against a world-class striker. For these reasons, I believe Charles Oliveira should not have called out Conor McGregor, but regardless it’s impossible to know until the fight happens, so until then, we’ll see.

pc: sports illustrated

Poem 1

karolineticoLeave a comment

They can’t stay in the present.

Because

their eyes are three seconds ahead,

their head is three years behind.

And the light

that shines above the head,

is seven more years 

slower than tears.

scopeblog.stanford.edu

Shocking Shoes

bartholomulethegreatLeave a comment

Last weekend, I attempted to buy a pair of white shoes for a job that I have recently gotten, but I found out that the pair of shoes that I wanted to get was sold out at the Nike store I went to. After I found this out, it got me wondering about Nike statistics and how many shoes they sold annually. Let’s just say that the amount of shoes sold annually is quite shocking. This number is around 780 million pairs sold annually. Shockingly 800 million dollars are made from sales of Air Force 1s alone. Let’s just say the average price of an Air Force is 100$, this one style of shoe comes in three main styles lows, mids, and highs. That means there was an estimated 8 million pairs of shoes made every year. That means that you could give everyone in LA two pairs of Air Forces and some leftover. It seems that even with the number made every year they are always sold out. As I was told by the Nike employee that I asked, they almost never have them in stock because they are being bought constantly and the only time they really have them is when someone returns them. Nike makes around 30 billion dollars per fiscal year meaning that Air Force 1s make up around 2.6% of Nike’s annual revenue.

Image Credit: Nike

My Obsession With Germany

karolineticoLeave a comment

I always thought it was weird to be obsessed with a country. But after a big struggle to avoid going to Germany, a weird enthusiasm for that country grew in me.


I find myself getting overexcited every time I encounter any kind of German connection, including people’s German last names, WW2 in history class, and even Sauerkraut from lunch. I almost forgot the reason that made me so afraid of going there. Instead of an inevitable reality, it turned into an attraction to a foreign culture.

Sadly, the same obsession didn’t happen with learning German. I have only opened my German books only once since this school year started.


As of today, this obsession is slowly fading away like my German skills, but one day I will pick both of them up and go to Germany.

www.politico.eu

Formula 1 Makes me Angry

cannassuerLeave a comment

Pretty much since the beginning of COVID, I’ve been a pretty big Formula One fan. Although my favorite driver/team changes frequently, my undying hate for Redbull and Max Verstappen has not changed. With the increasing amount of seasons of Drive to Survive and Redbull’s latest success, half of Formula one media either involves Christian Horner or Max. I cannot stand it, the father-son relationship between Max and Christian is appalling. The amount of money that Redbull is willing to dish out to make Max happy is so annoying. They design the entire car for this literal child to just crash into people and the wall. He’s far too aggressive and dangerous for Formula one which is exemplified greatly by the last couple of seasons of Formula One. He actively breaks every rule he can and was even given his World Championship on a silver platter. I have no idea how this spoiled excuse of a driver has a seat in one of the top teams. I get that he’s fast, but he has almost double the number of crashes as he has podiums. I bet half of RB’s budget is spent on repairing this kid’s car because he clearly can’t keep it away from the wall or other people’s cars. Max is really just a Mustang driver who made it too far in motorsport.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Similarly, if you watch the sky sports coverage, and/or Drive to Survive, you’re probably aware of the absurd amount of Christian Horner in both. The only team principal that’s ever interviewed mid-race in the Sky Sports coverage is Christian Horner and he never has anything useful to say. Not only that but he probably has more screen time on Drive to Survive than every single driver or team principal. All because he eats this reality TV crap up for dinner. I’ve never seen anyone on any sports-related reality tv who likes to hear themselves talk more than Christian. And all he does is sit there like an idiot and complain about Mercedes and Todo who never did anything to them except win. Oh no, Mercedes is better than you. I understand that it sucks to lose especially for an extended period of time, but why do you have to whine and moan about it for an entire season of DTS it’s debilitating. I just want a normal season of Drive to Survive where Christan shuts up and we actually get other voices than his dumb British accent and his ugly eStAtE.

The Biggest Vibe

jared315Leave a comment

Many anime in the anime world tend to be boring, or just plain in some way; it’s a seemingly unexplainable phenomenon that separates great anime from the boring ones. If I had to describe what made this separation, I would describe it as the overall vibe. A perfect example of an anime that is great despite lacking a super intriguing story that draws you in is Space Dandy, an anime I’ve recommended before and an anime I’ll recommend again. It’s one of Shinichiro Watanabe’s masterpieces, in my opinion, creating a perfect ambiance with a mixture of charismatic characters and unique settings. Space Dandy is also accompanied by a masterpiece of a disco soundtrack and unparalleled animation. The show is above all else, consistent with its entertaining environment, continually drawing in the viewer despite lacking an incredibly unique or special plotline. Space Dandy is an anime that holds a special place in my heart and I should hope that everybody that watches a decent amount of anime will have watched it.

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24/7 Anxiety (Yay)

treefroggyLeave a comment

Trigger warning for anxiety, OCD, and violent intrusive thoughts

I have been so anxious lately and nothing has been helping. Everything makes me anxious. Talking to people makes me anxious, being near people makes me anxious, people’s expectations make me anxious, and even thinking about those things makes me anxious. Knowing how behind I am in school makes me anxious, and thinking about how I’m disappointing people by not being my normal self is making me anxious, and feeling like I have no one who really likes me at school is making me anxious. It’s making me anxious that my birthday is coming up, and I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself when I become an adult next year. Even being alone in my room makes me anxious because I’m just avoiding my anxious thoughts and the thought of having anxiety makes me anxious.

So yeah, literally everything is making me anxious.

My obsessive thoughts are not helping. Most of it is stuff like people are going to die because of the socks I picked out, my family will get into a car crash because I used the wrong color pen, or that I didn’t step on an equal amount of cracks with both feet and so now my leg is going to get amputated. I get super anxious about everyday actions causing harm to people I love or to myself. I can’t avoid the anxiety even if I’m not thinking about other people and their thoughts of me, because even my brain has turned against me. It’s really hard to keep the obsessive thoughts away, and not doing the compulsions that come with them gives me so much anxiety that it’s overwhelming.

Basically, it feels like I’m in a sinking ship and nothing is working to help me learn to swim and nobody is hearing me when I ask or scream for help and everybody hates me. Anyways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SMirC-thumbsup.svg

Time Flies…

ojaipizzaLeave a comment

After this week, I have four weeks left. I don’t know how to describe my feelings, but it all just happened too fast. Because of the pandemic, I didn’t even feel like I’m a high schooler and I’m about to go to college. For half of my high school, I’ve been staying in my house and doing homework. During the other part of my high school life, I was still busy studying and getting ready for college. I wake up, study, gym, and sleep every single day. My high school year has been very different from my expectations. I thought those things that happen in high school movies are the things that are going to happen to me, but I guess it’s just a movie, right? Time flies by way too fast. It’s really hard for me to take it slow and enjoy the moment. Even the bad times I’ve been through are going so fast.

Photo Credit: HuffPost UK