So, personally, I love snowboarding, I’ve been doing it for like 9 or 10 years I think. I learned at Mt Bachelor in Oregon which, is a pretty cool mountain if you ask me. It’s got some pretty sick runs and the summit is super sick. Honestly, the best mountain to snowboard on, way better than Mammoth. Mammoth is pretty solid though, I gotta say. Snowboarding is one of the best sports out there, everyone should try it, except maybe Ella, she’d be horrible. Anyway, there’s a lot you can do too. Like the jumps and stuff, so sick. And when there’s a lot of powder it’s like floating in the air. It’s so cool, you like don’t even feel the snow. Anyway go try it, except Ella, she’d be bad.
This is my second time going to Catalina Island for a camping trip at the little harbor, the first time was two years ago before the pandemic really affect the travel policy. It was a little stressful before I went on the trip because I will be miss a lot of class. After I come back from the trip there will be two days of school and then Winter breaks will begin. In this case, every teacher decided to give a student test before the break started. I just took the AP Statistics test in class today, and I barely study. I mean I am already done applying to colleges, so I don’t think the rest of my grades will affect their decision.
I feel like I went back home when I went back to Catalina Island again. To be honest, there are not many fun activities can do on Catalina Island. We only do hiking and some activities at the beach. However, the place was just so quiet and beautiful which is why I love it so much. It might be boring if you go there by yourself, but going there with your best friends will be a totally different story. I love the places where I can hang out with my friends where no one is around interrupting us and we can truly be ourselves. It’s so nice I can come back again with my friends, and it probably still be one of my favorite places on Earth.
If you have no clue what I am talking about, you probably aren’t put on. It’s cool though, I’ll put you on. Last week I wrote a blog that laid out the chip challenge I orchestrated for my podcast which you can read here: ( https://ovsjournalists.com/2022/02/08/pre-chip-journal/ ).
My Pre-Chip Journal was full of joy, wonder, excitement for the journey I was about to embark on. I had a ton of ideas that were good in theory: many wheels, games, tests, goofs, and gaffes. Some worked some didn’t. We spun the first wheels and ate the chips in the order decided upon by the wheels. The problem arose when we went to play feud before our next wheel. We staggered our chip eating times, my co-host ate, 30 seconds later the editor ate, and 30 seconds later I ate. This led to my co-host being in a hiccup fit when I began playing. My tonsils and ears started burning, I felt my cartilage melting like some sort of Ear Nose Throat doctor’s office diagram-shaped candle. All concerns about the order and plans I had made went out the window. Eff the spelling bee. Eff feud. I. Am. Done.
I frantically mashed click on the computer connected to the tv behind us, spinning the wheel that decides what we get to drink. My co-host couldn’t open his chocolate milk. My editor opened a milk carton like it was a Christmas present. Milk went EVERYWHERE. I finally got to my chocolate milk and had a drink.
Sweet relief overcame my mouth, I was back to normal!
(please watch this, I am using this as a sentence)
VC: NOID
The pepper was dancing on my grave. It was back just as strong as before.
We spun the next wheel, I got lemon juice, which in my panicked state I poured into my chocolate milk, leading to a sour, coddled, sweet beverage that went down terribly. From here on out I don’t remember much. I was dying. I bit into a lemon, which actually really helped, something about the acid canceling the capsaicin.
I then went to lay on the floor. I zoned out on the floor for a few minutes, and when I came out of my pepper trance, I was feeling fine. The burning had moved down to my upper chest, which hurt far less than my mouth. I then ate roughly 7 mini muffins and the infamous wet bread. Wet bread, for those who yet again are NOT put on, is wonderbread with club soda. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy.
At that point, the wheel had gone out the window. I began eating a whole onion, my co-host had the entire lemon turned inside out in his mouth, and my editor was still dying.
Our teacher, throughout this whole experience, was anxiously crossing his arms, pacing, and looked like he was about to collapse out of the fear a student’s stomach lining would rip open in front of him.
The podcast is super funny, which I am proud of. I am more pleased though, with the fact my editor had firey diarrhea the whole night, the best form of payback.
I talk a lot, as many of my fellow journalists and my teachers know. I am quite the talker in most circumstances. During class, I used to consistently be sent outside for being a disturbance for talking in class. But somewhat recently I have learned to control my outbursts of vocal engagement. For example, recently the OVS journalist participated in THE ONE CHIP CHALLENGE, where three of the journalists ate chips that were very spicy. There were many times when I wanted to comment on what was happening, but I was able to make myself just shut up for the duration of the filming of the event. I find that I will speak without thinking and say something stupid that I don’t mean. People don’t realize that about me until they get to know me. I have made great strides in not speaking in class and even just being more of a quiet person in general. I hope that I continue on this path and it allows me to not be as intrusive to the class time.
It’s no secret that I love opossums. I would do anything to have one as a pet. If I could wake up and be holding an opossum’s little toes, I would never have any problems for the rest of my life. I seriously am obsessed with those little guys. Every day I dream about coming home to an opossum and kissing its little forehead and petting its soft fur. I fantasize about finding an opossum on the side of the road and getting to hold it on my lap while I drive it to the vet. I just want to love on an opossum.
If I had an opossum, I would spoil it so much. I would give it little hats and feed it all the food it wanted. Any opossum that lived with me would live the best life ever. I would give my opossums cuddles every day and take them on walks so they stay healthy. Seriously, just give me a chance to have one of those little guys. I would take amazing care of them. I think I deserve a pet opossum.
In my years, I’ve watched a lot of anime. From finishing 12 episode shows left right and center, to watching 718 episodes of One Piece (I’ll finish it one day), I would say I am well versed in the world of anime. So, I figure why not give recommendations. This list has some pretty mainstream options so if you’re new to anime, this index is for you.
Hunter x Hunter
PC: IMDB
Hunter x Hunter follows a talented young boy named Gon, and his friends through the Hunter exam. The Hunter exam tests applicants from around the world to become Hunters. Hunters are given access to information, locations, treasures, and auctions that normal people don’t even know about. The group explores this magical world, discovering people and powers that are hardly imaginable. This show has amazed me every time I’ve watched it. It’s slick and well put together animation makes the show look consistently clean, with not many scenes being too rushed (unlike some other animes *cough* Black Clover *cough*), the complex and detailed storyline also leaves the viewer in awe as the viewer feels such an affinity towards the characters. Hunter x Hunter is definitely on my list of top anime, and it will not be moving any time soon.
9.8/10
Cowboy Bebop
PC: ew.com
Cowboy Bebop is a legendary anime. This neo-noir/science fiction world is invigorating. Its fantastic, flowy, and dramatic animation style is something modern-day animes struggle to compete with, the protagonist is a hopeless nihilist, and the soundtrack… don’t get me started. This show follows a talented, yet disastrous bounty hunter group. The lead character, Spike, is a smooth talker and an even better fighter. Spike’s past is shrouded in mystery, which is slowly revealed. Spike is also accompanied by a few characters, Jet, his mechanic, and a few others introduced later into the show. I would recommend Cowboy Bebop to anybody that has already seen a few animes, rather than it being the first anime, but I would definitely put it on the Must Watch list.
9.5/10
Samurai Champloo
PC: TextandColor.com
For lack of a better word… This anime is goated. The story isn’t the greatest one I have ever seen, but boy is this anime special. The animation left me starstruck and the characters pose a strong yin yang duality. The characters Mugen and Jin are samurai during the Edo Period, however, this twist of the Edo Period has elements of hip hop culture entwined. This anime is really something to behold, with excellent character chemistry and fantastically coordinated fight scenes, I would recommend not overlooking this show.
The Washington Wizards are sending point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and forward Davis Bertans to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a future second-round draft pick and forward Kristaps Porzingis. The Wizards are adding another big in Porzingis, which I don’t get they have Kuzma, Gafford, Hachimura, Bryant, and now Porzingis. I guess they might try and mirror the Cavs who had a boatload of bigs/forwards. Dallas adds a veteran guard who will probably come off the bench and add a stretch-big both will play big roles for Dallas in the latter half of the season.
Washington gets a C for this deal while Dallas gets a B-
pc: clutchpoints.com
Harden heads to Philly:
The Brooklyn Nets are sending James Harden and Paul Millsap to Philly, the 76ers are sending Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, two first-round picks, and Ben Simmons. This is a win-win trade for both teams. the 76ers add a second superstar next to their all-star center Joel Embiid; while New York adds rim protection with Drummond, 3-point shooting with Seth, future assets, and a young all-star point guard/power forward in Ben Simmons. Both teams are in win-now mode and this trade keeps them both in this focus.
Philly gets an A and Brooklyn gets an A as well, in my opinion.
Well, it’s official, the ISS (international space station) will be falling out of the sky by 2031. NASA has stated that in ten years’ time they will bring the ISS down into Point Nemo in the Pacific ocean. What’s special about Point Nemo? It’s the furthest point from land on the earth. It has become a spacecraft graveyard, dozens of satellites, telescopes, rocket boosters, and other such things. The ISS has provided us with tons of experiment data, product testing, and even some world records. It has become a safe international space, where men and women from multiple countries come together to spend a few months doing repairs, experiments, and other space things they might be required to do. It has given us opportunities for peace as well as development. The next ten years will see the last experiments done on the station and then its ultimate burial in the sea. In ten years’ time, we will no longer see the small dot flying across the night sky.
As embarrassing as it is for me to say, I have seen over eighty animes. Yes, I hate myself. But, I am qualified to critique animes, especially the ones that suck. In most of the animes, I have two similar problems. Ok, three if you count the weird incest stuff and blatant sexualization of middle-schoolers. But plotwise my main problems are either a massive plot with no lore and context or a very dark plot that doesn’t deal with it in a dark way. Sure whatever I know I was spoiled by Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan, and Vinland Saga and that’s just how some animes are but I don’t care. I also get really annoyed with bad or shortened endings which you may see me rant about here and there. Now, these aren’t exactly my least favorite animes, most crap animes are just way too boring. So much so I can’t even write about it. Instead, here I have some memorable animes that did something critically wrong.
First, we’ll start with a smoking hot take. Sword Art Online deserves none of the hype it gets. Sure I enjoyed it a lot when I started, but eventually, it got mind-numbingly boring and became an incestual cesspool throughout the second season. I mean in what world does a girl falling in love with her brother in real life and in a video game make any contributions to the plotline? Not only that, but Kirito is just casually given the power to duel wield swords? Which don’t get me wrong is definitely a cool power for the SAO universe, but at least give us a reason to why he has it or show us him getting it. It’s really a failure of storytelling and kind of relies on horny fan service so I’ll give it a solid G- for a good idea but too horny and inconsistent for me.
Seven Deadly Sins is in a similar boat as SAO for me. Part of the reason I really didn’t enjoy this anime was that I watched it in dub and Meliodas’ voice is the same as both the Blue Exorcist MC and young Eren Jaeger. Until he grew up, Eren was an insanely annoying character for me. So when you add Eren’s voice to a small blonde boy who inexplicably looks 12 and has the accumulative power of every Greek God combined there’s not much to like. And no I will not take “he’s a demon” for an answer. Not only that but this fool is eternally bound to some random girl who is cursed to be reborn over and over again. And all this fool does is grope her like what the hell is this? Honestly, Seven Deadly Sins was a perfectly good anime. It has great supporting characters and every fight scene is very interesting, but I cannot handle Meliodas and Liz it’s quite literally excruciating to listen to/watch. Solid S+ for stop groping unsuspecting women in anime PLEASE.
It was honestly pretty tough to decide the last one for the chopping block, so I’ll do an anime that I enjoyed but at the same time am very very disappointed with. Gangsta was quite the hopeful anime for me. It has honestly one of the more interesting plot lines and character creation I’ve seen in anime for a while. The characters are all very tangible and relatable, they give all the major characters and some of the minor ones pretty compelling backstories. But to me, that’s the main problem. Gangsta is standard short-length for an anime (about 12 episodes) and it is way too little time to provide full character backstories and a coherent plotline. Which they provide much more of the former than the latter. For the most part, until the end, the story is mildly interesting. There are some really exciting moments and character introductions, but they never elaborate and give them the screen time they deserve. I mean the other main character doesn’t even get any screen time in the last episode and neither of the other interesting characters gets any as well. The show just ends by killing off the less interesting main character and that’s it. Like they didn’t even give enough time to kill off the rest of the cast. At least give me a good ending. Solid E- for extend the show a little, please.
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.
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