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.
Poem 1
Shocking Shoes
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.
My Obsession With Germany
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.
Formula 1 Makes me Angry
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.
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
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.
24/7 Anxiety (Yay)
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.
Time Flies…
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.
FIFA
My favorite video game series ever is FIFA. I grew up playing the career mode and play nows against my cousins, so playing today reminds me of those times. I remember once, my cousin played me when I was 8 and he kept the ball the whole game, scoring at the last minute of each half. I cried the whole time, but he blocked the door and wouldn’t let me stop playing.
Anyways, in the 10 years since then, I have grown up with FIFA. I moved from career mode to online seasons in FIFA 17 and switched to the ultimate team in FIFA 22. I play in my free time and I played all summer, so I got really good this year, but when school started, I realized I couldn’t play because the wifi at my grandparents was so bad. Solely playing on the weekends didn’t suffice, I needed a solution.
That’s when I realized I could play at school during free periods. Since that realization, I have been playing on the college counseling room tv during all my frees and have been doing homework at home instead of during frees.
I am excited for school to be out so I can play FIFA all year. Here is a photo of my ultimate team’s best player’s card.
I’m Obsessed With Opossums
Everyone be quiet because I’m here to talk about opossums again. I’m not taking any criticisms at this time or any time.
LOOK AT HIM. HE GRABS THE PIZZA. I’M IN LOVE.
My mom reads these posts so I’m not allowed to curse on them but HECKING LOOK AT HIM. HE IS PERFECT. HE HAS NEVER DONE A SINGLE THING WRONG IN HIS LIFE.
His name is Pep and I want to cuddle him so badly. Literally, I’m in love.
Anyways yeah. I saw an opossum and needed to post about him. That’s all.
I’m screaming and sobbing and passing away currently. I love opossums so much.
Center Blocker Bombs
For the first time in eleven years, my school has a boy’s volleyball team and we have done shockingly well. To begin I play middle blocker, which means that I only play in the front row of the court (against the net) and my main goal is to be a wall that blocks the enemy team’s spikes. I also occasionally spike the ball myself. Going back to the volleyball team as a whole, this season we went 4-5 and made it to CIF as third in the league. Sadly we lost our first match in CIF, but for a team of kids that are just learning how to play the sport, we did quite well. To cover the CIF match we were down for the majority of the first two sets but gained a small lead in the third set but we soon lost that lead and eventually lost the match. I think that we played the best we have all season at that specific match and we still have so much room to grow individually, as well as a team. If all of us put our minds to it and work hard we will get there and eventually destroy the league we play in and get first in the league.
Image Credit: Santa Cruz Sentinal
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