Tag: Blogging

Best friends

kittenqueen3Leave a comment

All my life, I’ve considered many different people to be my best friend, and these people have come and gone. During my freshman orientation, my eye caught a girl wearing the same outfit I was planning on wearing. After an hour of name games and icebreakers, I decided I was going to talk to her. The first thing I said, which we still joke about today, is “To be honest you look like the only normal person here.” She brought me to her room and then we went to lunch together, little did I know she was going to be my best friend. On the first day of classes, I realized she was in my history and we quickly got close. The next weekend I had an argument and fell out with my school friends from the previous year. I started only hanging out with her and I learned to love her so much, we found out we had so much more in common then we could’ve imagined. As the year continued we just grew closer and closer, we ended up going to a concert together and hanging out outside of school. In April i got very close with two other girls and subliminally pushed her away. I didn’t stop being friends with her, I just started hanging out with these other girls more. As summer neared I worried our friendship would fade as she lives in LA and we both were traveling a lot. The exact opposite happened, we talked every day and got way closer we only saw each other once which was sad but we enjoyed our day together. In the middle of the summer, I had a falling out with the two girls I mentioned earlier and I was crying in the car with my mom when we passed her mom’s house and saw her mom outside. As our moms talked she came out and hugged me and held me as I cried in her arms. At that moment I realized she was more than just another best friend she was like a sister. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love her I genuinely don’t know what I would do without her. Sometimes we make jokes about being platonic soulmates and that may or may not be true but one thing is for sure she’s my best friend. She isn’t like any other “best friend” I’ve had before and I know she’s going to read this. I was thinking about what I was gonna write my post about this week and someone said write about something you really love and other than Taylor Swift, I truly love her. This year we have almost every class together and nothing could make me more happy than spending my whole day with her.

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an edgy poem like who am I to complain

lizlovelaughLeave a comment

DIRGE OF A BATTERED NATION

For this, the clay grew tall?

I think as political landscapes crumble

As the fast food employee,

with a college degree,

grumbles.

Into this?

Into the vision of empty factories and shattered glass

Into cafes where no longer,

We talk with one another.

Into fist fights that end in shootings and knifings

Born into this?

Into hospitals so expensive, it’s cheaper to die

Into a land that shakes with explosions

And vibrates with each war cry

Walking and living through this

Dying because of this

The republica fell,

and the clay grew tall

PC: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ec/ff/c5/ecffc50318e785fc353bbaee14e915bc.jpg

One final post… I think

Pete WebbLeave a comment

This is the fifth post I’ve written in one sitting, I’m pretty sure this makes me up to date… I’ll ask Alula since she seems to be the only one counting. I think I’m going to clean my room after work today. It desperately needs it, fortunately for me I love cleaning my room, I think the transition from a complete mess to a space that people want to be in is spectacular. It’s not even just the before and after, I really like picking this up, organizing, and throwing things away like the whole process is good.

Ok, im back at home, it’s like 8:30, I’m not going to clean cause im tired but I think I’ll do some work in the morning and then finish it off tomorrow night. I’m going to watch Scent of a Woman and see if it’s actually good, prob won’t be. Alright, I think that’s just about enough words and I don’t really want to be doing homework anymore so I’ll see you next week. Maybe. More likely in a couple weeks when I have to catch up on a bunch again.

Two down Three to go

Pete WebbLeave a comment

How did I even get this far behind on blog posts this is crazy. Steely Dan is so fire. I mean Do It Again is just such a head bopper, how does one even create something so in tune with the human spirit? Not to mention the other songs on that album, I can’t remember the name right now but you know the songs I’m talking about. Speaking of music, I really wish I could consume more of it, I actually would like to be able to absorb it, like through my skin, idk I feel like it never sounds high quality enough. I want my body just like be the music. When I die I just want to be a sound frequency, probably of a Steely Dan song, well not really, I definitely would take a while to decide what song I want to be after this life. Maybe A Milli by Lil Wayne that song is excellent. Or White Ferrari which is actually like a mid-song but the way it looks on the oscilloscope makes up for all the averageness of the track itself. Ok, I’d say that’s about one hundred and fifty words so I’ll stop just talking nonsense.

Blog Post??

Pete WebbLeave a comment

Hello and welcome back to Emanuel’s blogs. One hundred and fifty words of free thought so that he doesn’t get zeros on them. He being me, I am he, there is only me. Anyway, I love garage sales, it’s like modern-day exploring. Today I got a carabiner watch and a point-and-shoot camera. The camera is a Canon Powershot SD600 I like the way it looks and feels in my hand. It has a tiny viewfinder which I think is cool. I don’t have a charger for it but Ben does so I’ll go over to his house after work and pick that up probably.

I’m so done with school, I know this is a fairly universal feeling for seniors in their last month of Highschool but holy moly it’s getting to be a lot. Something about listening to the junior talk about college as if it’s the most important thing ever really bothers me. Like why are they so keen to change who they are to fit into a school, every single one of them is incredibly smart and industrious and interesting but for some reason they have this competitive, verging on toxic, view of the college process. Like if they would just be themselves they would probably do better than when they all freak out about how to curate the application to a school.

The best movies by genre

lizlovelaughLeave a comment

Here are my mini-Oscars

In general best movie ever: Scent of A woman. Already wrote an entire blog post about how great this movie is, but overall 10/10 across all categories- especially acting, plot, and screenwriting.

Soundtrack: for me, it’s a 3-way tie between Baby Driver, O Brother Where Art Thou, and 500 Days of Summer.

Action: John Wicks- super basic but true like for me it goes in order of chapters 1, 4, (3 and 2 tie). All the action is super satisfying to watch, but an underrated one would be Scarface

Horror: ok the scariest movie I’ve ever seen is the Lighthouse but it’s not really scary. It’s just really gross and made me the most uncomfortable- I really don’t like this movie.

Romance: to be honest I’ve only seen a ton of romcoms, but my favorite has to be Notting Hill, 10 Things I

hate About You, and My Best Friend’s Wedding.

Comedy: Superbad- it’s just hilarious I love Fogell and the Cops, haha.

Best “film bro” movie: The Pianist, French Dispatch.

Cinematography: The Grand Budapest Hotel.

PC: https://www.eastman.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_overlay/public/Scent%20of%20a%20Woman%202211-154_F.jpg.webp?itok=u9ZElJDe

what I’ve been playing on the piano pt 2

lizlovelaughLeave a comment

Imagine rainfall, accompanied by the sound of warm piano slowly picking away at the layer of your sorrows, that’s how I feel when I play Laura by Erroll Garner. It’s a song I’ve been learning lately, and one of the hardest and technically challenging songs I’ve tackled this year- but most rewarding. The arpeggios are INCREDIBLE.

Just listen: https://musescore.com/user/29018022/scores/5523956

the rain last week made me want to go back to playing more moody jazz. Pieces with really pretty and new york city-type chords. Songs like Almost Blue (Chet Baker), and Scenery (Ryo Fukui).

amore mio aiutami by Piero Piccioni is perhaps one of the most beautiful songs I learned on the piano. I can’t stop playing it. Another one like it is Lujon by Heny Mancini

I found one of my Dad’s old Billy Joel books, and I’ve been playing the music (that I could play) in there too. Billy Joel is the master of complex and heavenly chord progressions. I especially liked Just the way you are, and The Stranger (interlude).

Surprisingly, George Michael and Sade’s songs, although very slow, are a blast to play on the piano. Their melodies are so satisfying to play.

Also, I watched the pianist 2 days ago

PC: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0a/dd/33/0add33eacbe38a514e36cd04922630ff.jpg

perpetually ill

lizlovelaughLeave a comment

Up until last month, I thought I was invincible. I had gone the whole school year without getting sick once. Yet, here I am stuck with the fourth cold I’ve got in the span of 30 days. I can’t remember the last time I could breathe through my nostrils when I didn’t have to stand up every 10 minutes or I would drown in snot. What is going on? There is some vicious cycle where everyone around me keeps getting sick- they mutate it, and I get the disease again. I know I’m part of the problem but I am very upset!

And this week, not only did I become re-infected with the same, dreadful disease that I had spent the last month battling, but now I have allergies. I am all for the super bloom California is gearing up for since all this rain, but now I don’t think I will ever feel comfortable again (at least until this Summer).

pc: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/03/17/istock_000012840411medium-34fc0b1434fa2d4986b6600f06a87f4f6a88d3c2-s1100-c50.jpg

Surf Journal

Pete WebbLeave a comment

As part of surfing for sports, inspired by Logan’s running journal, Logan and I decided to make a surf journal of each session we had over the week. We surfed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week because Logan’s leaving to Mammoth. We had this idea on Tuesday so that’s our first day. To explain the data at the top of each day: The Santa Barbara East Bouy (closest buoy to Ventura) collects information 24/7 about conditions at sea. The first piece of info is wave height, then the period in seconds, then the strongest swell direction, then tide on the beach (not collected from buoy), then wind speed and direction. Onshore means the wind is blowing from out at sea onto the beach, this is generally considered bad and creates “mushy waves” as opposed to off-shore winds which, generally speaking, create barreling waves, but more realistically steeper and better-formed waves. So here are the first two journals for this week.

Surf journal 

3/7/234.7ft @ 6s, 277 W, 1.9ft rising, 5mph onshore 

Logan: 

3 really good waves, learning how to stomp on the back of the middy and turn it. Walk to nose to gain speed. Lul period was challenging and messed up the session a little mentally.

 Emanuel:
 One really good wave plus some other shorter ones. The good session got better in the end as the tide rose and the wind died down. Felt really good turning and working on my Steez 

3/8/234.3ft @ 10s, 270 W,  20mph cross-shore  

Emanuel: Ben, Kenya, Logan and I surfed all on longboards. Good session despite very small waves and high wind. Ben lost the fin to his board so I surfed finless which was more fun than I thought it would be. It required a lot more strength and body control which actually felt like a good way to train in those aspects of surfing. Waves were supposed to get bigger as the session went on but honestly, conditions got worse. Maybe because we were deeper in the bay in a less exposed area to swell.  

my recent poems

lizlovelaugh1 Comment

“An Old Farmer’s Smile” 

The dirge of a battered life

Wrinkles his weathered face, 

A life of work and little grace, 

But in his eyes, there is still a fire, 

And his smile is warm, like summer mires.

He surveys his earthy prize,

It speaks of love and toil and pride, 

Of hard-won peace that can’t be denied, 

For the dirt and sweat of his daily chore,  

So when you see that farmer smile, 

Take a moment, stay a while, 

For his happiness is worth a fortune, 

And his simple smile, a true accomplishment.

“A Bird’s Last Look”

The bird takes flight, with a weary sigh

Against a sky of blue, he soars high

His eyes take in, the world below

So much to see, he doesn’t know

Where to go, what to do

With just one life,

So he dips and dives, on graceful wing

A dance of life, a symphony to sing.

And as the sun sets in the west

The bird slows down, his time at rest

One final look, at what he’s known

Before he’s gone, and off he’s flown.

PC: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c3/e9/4c/c3e94c419a65a59ae365fabcf16f6459.jpg