Tag: Star

Camping trip

graypenguinLeave a comment

I went camping last Wednesday through Friday. I like camping, but not being able to get in the shower is a bit of a pain. I hate feeling like I am dirty all the time. I have a routine before I go camping. I get up two hours before the camp leaves, and first I wash my bedding. While I am waiting for the laundry, I take a shower. I always miss the shower when I know I won’t be able to shower for the next few days.
After the shower, I wash my clothes before drying my hair. Then I get dressed and go.

This is my first visit to Santa Rosa. I had only been to one channel island, so I was very excited because my friends told me that the view from the beach there was exceptional. The morning of the camp was very early, leaving at 6:15 a.m. We went to the harbor early in the morning and spent several hours on the boat to get there.
If I were to describe everything that happened at the camp, this vlog would never end, so I will write about my favorite part of the camp and the hardest part.

My favorite part of the camp was going out at night to take pictures of the stars. The sky was so clear, and the stars looked so clear and beautiful. My friend taught me how to take pictures of the stars, and I feel like we became closer friends. The hardest part of the camp was walking over 13 miles on the second day. It was hard, but I enjoyed talking with my friends and singing with them. I also saw a fox along the way; it was very cute. I also enjoyed napping on the beach with my friends. We also played card games on the boat and on the beach, regardless of where we were. I learned two new card games at this camp.
We also saw whales and dolphins on the boat, both on the way there and on the way back. Those things made us feel like they were inviting us to the island.

pc;me

pc;me

Moment to Shine

enternity1030Leave a comment

If I have a moment to shine,
You are the one I shine for.
If I have the fate to fall,
You are the one I fall for.

The night filled with twinkling eyes
I meet you for the first time.
That’s the moment we share,
The moment of my life.

In the same century we live,
Under the same sky we admire,
I dig for every thing we share.
You are the theme of my life.

Beside the glowing fire I
Murmur, sadly
Your soft smile, glowing eyes,

Hide amid a crowd of stars.

The Right Stars

indigoshellLeave a comment

Up on a large hill, or a small mountain (wars have been fought), you would expect the view to be utterly amazing.

And it is.

The mornings can surprise you; you may walk into a cloud of mist with the sun shining through powerfully and cloaking the campus in gold. Some days the sky is a magnifying glass to a sun, blinding white, and permanent sunglasses are needed by everyone.

Nighttime is difficult. The campus lightly shines in yellow, star-like lamps that scatter almost randomly across stairs or walkways, and often overpower the stars.

To stargaze on campus means you must search high and low for the best, unlit spots. There are two areas that I have concluded to be the best spots for the right stars.

The first spot is the lower field, or the big field, while we’re playing glow-in-the-dark capture the flag. I have found out that, if I just stop what I’m doing and lay down on my back, the rest of my team will follow. If you lie down on the right spot the campus lights will not hinder your eyesight, and the stars will shine to their full extent.

The second spot, an easier spot to reach, is the newly built staircase. At night when the sun has fully set and things are quiet, perhaps at 9pm or so, there is a particular step on the staircase that you can stand on and the trees around you will block out the campus lights. Then, if you look up, it looks like the stars are framed by the trees.

No I did not sneak out of the dorm at 9pm to watch the stars.

A Week to Remember

backinphillyLeave a comment

Well, this week has been just incredible. I have faced a TON of success this week.

The big day was Thursday, where I not only received a strong SAT score but also won 1st place in the sports writing category of the Tri-County Journalism Competition that me and my class went to.

Last year, the first place winner was also named John and due to a dramatic pause last year, my heart sank in anticipation of hearing my last name called. However, last year was not my destiny.

Instead, the powers that be made me wait until this year, where I finally corrected my wrongs, and earned the top prize.

I’ll be honest. I was a little bitter this year after one of my classmates (who happens to be one of my closest friends) won a Ventura County Star award for her sports journalism and I received nothing. However, I should be thanking her. I gained a new sense of determination going into the competition this past week after not getting the Star award. By the way, I’m really not that bitter being as she really put out an incredible article to win her award. I was very proud of her. Way to go Daphne!!!!

Anyway, the SAT score isn’t as big of a deal to me despite its affect on my college resume. The journalism accomplishment makes me feel that sense of superiority. I came into the competition expecting that I would win something. I was hopeful for first place. But I knew that after last year, this was my time.

Way to go, OVS journalism! We really made things happen!

Universe

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

We came from darkness

In a flash, the universe was created

Molten rock, frozen metal and fiery space dust crashed and collided across the galaxy 

Stars were born from clouds of gas, nebulae

The sun exploded in the vast blackness

Casting its newborn brilliance into the universe

Misshapen rocks were sucked into its gravitational pull

The third rock cooled just enough to create water

Tiny organisms evolved

With each passing millennium, they changed…

Elements

displacedlocal2 Comments

Pressure and time.

Pressure and time create beautiful diamonds from lumps of coal.
Elements are created from the reactions within stars.
Hydrogen becomes helium through chaotic explosions that leave heat and fire in their path.
The heavier elements get compressed more and more into the center of the giant ball of gases to the point where they want to break out and explode across the universe sending bits and pieces flying. All of the elements come from this process even the very carbon in our bodies.

People are a lot like elements. We collide in different ways. We create changes in the people we meet. There is sometimes friction and violence. People go to war over land, honor, and the god they believe in. They gravitate towards each other like the heavier elements do. They explore out over the world and the universe. Time and pressure push us together. We collide like celestial bodies in space or world superpowers on the brink of war. We are like the carbon that makes us up. We like to think that the rules that govern the rest of the universe don’t apply to us. But we are no more special to the universe than the stars that crated us.

Star

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

For Sonia, my star.

It’s been rough, but maybe this will make you feel better!

But you are fair, my love
Fair and far
Fair as the sea in twilight
Far as the moon cresting at night

Wait…

Far and fair did I say?
Distance means nothing to me
It neither weakens
Nor dulls
My fondness of you

Fair did I say?
Radiant is more true
While the sea shimmers at dusk
Its light dies at dark and fades away

No, love

You are starlight
Soft and shining
Bursting with that hidden fire,
You illuminate the night

A star
A diamond above the cloudy sea
Graceful,
Silver,
Glittering

My star, Calypso
So beautiful and serene,
Flickering bright with secret fire
You beam down gentle light.

Starlight

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

“Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from my memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

The starlight
I will be chasing your starlight
Until the end of my life
I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold you in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let’s conspire to re-ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

I’ll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away, never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes & revelations
And our hopes and expectations
Black holes & revelations…”

–Starlight, by Muse

Starlight. Better than sunlight, moonlight, candlelight, or any other kind of light.

A scientist would tell you the stars are balls of hydrogen and helium gas burning millions of light years away.

An astrologer would tell you their position determines certain aspects about the world and that they have traditional meanings.

A romantic would tell you they are beauty incarnate.

A poet would call them inspiration.

What are they to me?

They are everything beautiful, ethereal, untouchable and divine.

The stars represent dreams, aspirations and hopes that are unachievable, but always there.

Ever fancied someone you shouldn’t?

It hurts doesn’t it?

But it’s kind of a good hurt.

When I look at the stars, I feel that good hurt. It’s like watching someone you shouldn’t love. They are so exquisite, so alluring and magical.

Everlasting, always just above my head, but I can never touch them.

They twinkle because of the constant shifting of the atmosphere.

Their light takes billions of years to reach Earth. Many stars may have supernova-ed and gone millions, even billions, of years ago. But their light will remain until time catches up with their destruction. And by then, maybe a new star has formed.

They make me feel lonely and surrounded at the same time.

So insignificant, but so honored to be able to see them.

I like to think their twinkling reflects humanity, always changing, moving.

We have existed less than an instant in the scope of space and time, a meaningless fraction in the endless span of the universe.

In that blink of time, we have charged ahead, shedding our light and exploring the stars. We question everything, longing to know the secrets and mysteries, the enigma and irresistible pull that surrounds creation.

They make me want to know impossible beauty.

Sometimes when I look up at them I feel something like a physical pull, something yanking me upwards towards the night sky.

Stars…