Kane Week 3- Mornings in the Kane Household

     Every morning in the Kane household is definitely interesting. Sometimes you wake up to some burnt toast, but other times it is not as simple. This morning, before I went to school, I woke up to the sound of a fox screaming in my backyard. This is a normal occurrence considering I live on a creek in the middle of the woods. I continued getting ready for my day when my brother woke up to tell me that there was a hawk sitting in the middle of the yard. I went outside to go check it out and make sure he was okay. He started screeching at me, and I ran for the hills. Never thought I'd be running from a bird, but I did. I went back inside and hopped in the car and went to school. 

    I like to consider my family a little different because of what goes on in our house in a day.  We have 2 dogs. Both are such family-oriented dogs, but griffin, our Brittany spaniel, always likes to spice things up. He even knows how to open the doors in our house. Because of this, doors are often left open. 2 days ago, a bird got into our house. He ran upstairs and killed the bird right then and there. That was a wake-up call.

    I guess it's not always about birds and dogs in the morning. Some mornings we all wake up and eat a nice family breakfast. It's always nice to wake up like that. But it usually doesn't stay as "normal" like that. Doing the dishes usually involves singing to Luke Bryan in the kitchen, and dancing around the island. 

    I love my family, and our crazy mornings, and I hope you enjoyed the little stories I shared. 

 

 

Apruzzi Weeks 3 - The Weekend

     As the relieving day of Friday approaches,  I usually begin to make plans with my friends. This may include going out to dinner, or hanging out at someone's house, taking pictures, etc. The weekend is appeared to be a magical way of stress relief when really, it's the quite opposite. Sure, 2 days of not going to school are enjoyable, but that does not mean there is no work in the slightest. 

    As the day of Saturday approaches, I wake up as though there is no school to complete, and am filled with excitement for the plans my friends and I have made. Eating breakfast without worry, watching Netflix, sleeping in a little more, taking extra long showers, etc. As the hours pass by tediously, the closer it gets to the "main event". Finally, I'm with my friends enjoying the so-called "break from school". 11pm hits. I do my daily check on schoology, you know,  just in case I missed anything minor. I then see an overwhelmingly long list of assignments that are due tonight and tomorrow night (Sunday). Not only is the list long, but the assignments are very time-demanding. There goes my entire wave of stress-relief right down the drain. Most of the time I cut my fun short, and either leave early to quickly rush through the schoolwork, which is of course completely ineffective in my learning, or I may have luckily throughout my Chromebook to my friend's house in case this may have happened. Cramming all of the school work in by 11:59, and finally being free, except, Sunday then approaches. I am given another list of assignments that are due Sunday night. The message I am trying to display here is that there really is no break from school, it is a never-ending cycle. The short amount of time I actually DO get to exercise my social life, I just end up being overridden by busywork. 

Is "Assassins Creed Valhalla" another flop in the series?- Albarracin Weel 3

    The Assassin's Creed franchise is a monumental empire of games that has lasted for over a decade.  The earliest installment was released in November 2007, and considering the gorgeous graphics and scenery, smooth and invigorating game play, and captivating and emotional plot, it was definitely ahead of its time.   Generations of players have played and enjoyed the earlier installments, and  such a powerful memory has created a very loyal and emotional fan base.  The earlier installments offered refreshing protagonists in that they had extremely human flaws but admirable ambition, yet they were all completely different in personality.   Assassin's Creed allowed its players to be in control of a warrior with supreme control and technique over their weaponry, acrobatic ability, and tactical maneuvering.  This was the bases for each game, and the community fell in love with it.  Assassin's creed came out with consecutive masterpieces, and enjoyed the success of them all.  However, like any overly ambitious entity, it flew too close  to the sun.  Instead of progressing the franchise with  a driven plot and improving game play, the developers of Assassin's Creed decided to smother the community with a stale plot and overwhelming action to compensate for it.  For over 4 years, we were given games with lackluster plots and choppy game play, until we were given a breath of fresh air with Assassin's Creed Origins.  Although this game seemed to have saved the plot of the franchise, the two most recent games "Odyssey" and "Valhalla" have plunged the rich history of the franchise into the farthest depths of a creative slum.  Instead of a brave, immersive game, we are given a boring rpg that has no correlation to the original plot the creed.  Although the graphics are refreshing, I find no other qualities of this game attractive or nostalgic of the original plot of the game.  The protagonists are naive and self obsessed, and they provide no room for improvement as the plot is so self centered that humility in the name of the creed is an anomaly.  The original protagonists during the golden years of the franchise served as legends to learn from, but these new protagonists  only seek to serve their own interests, and  its just exhausting to see. 

                                 

                                                                                                                                              

         Edward Kenway                                 The Great Altair                     Ezio Auditore               

These are the heroes of the series, and so far no other protagonists have served as an example to follow.

Uelses Week 3 - Fridays

      I used to believe that Fridays were the best day of the week. There has always been this huge association between Fridays and happiness. People tend to try and make it through their week as quickly as possible until it’s Friday and the weekend, and as soon as Sunday morning hits, the cycle starts again. It seemed as though you were supposed to just expect the week days to be boring. And for a while, my weeks would look just like that. I made it through the school week, did my homework, and waited for the weekend to finally come. 

     Something about this seemed off. Why did a lot of people just waste 5 days of the week looking forward to one or two days. It is just an endless cycle of boringness with that thought process. But in the world today, it’s hard to not think like that. Most jobs are on week days, and weekends are the only time some people have to relax. School was on Monday-Friday, with Friday nights being the time when students could relax and know that they had the whole next day to themselves. 

     However, my thought process changed after a while. Something in specific that made this mental change happen was the pandemic. After having to be stuck inside all day every day for a few months, I realized, as I’m sure a lot of others also did, that being able to simply do things and see people is enough to look forward to, whether it’s on a Friday or a Monday. People should live with the thought that every single day can be just as fun and fulfilling as a Friday. Otherwise, going through life will just be repetitive.

Karve Week 3- Driver's License

This past weekend I had my last driving lesson, which marks a month until I have to take my driver's license test. The lesson went pretty well overall. We practiced parallel parking, and while I am not THAT bad at it, I am really thankful that I'm allowed to use a backup camera on the test. I'm also grateful that I can hit the curb during the test, and still pass. I haven't done that yet, but I have a strange feeling that when I'm under the pressure of getting my license or not, I will. We then drove on the highway. I've driven on the highway before and have become pretty comfortable with it, so the lesson went pretty smoothly... except for the fact that we almost got into an accident, but it wasn't my fault. I swear! Throughout the course of the lesson, we drove on Route 33 and would take a ramp on and an exit off, and basically repeat that process for what felt like forever. When getting on the highway, there were two lanes. I had the right of way, and the other lane had to yield. However, a New York Jeep decided to ignore the 50 million yield signs posted, and decided to go anyways, nearly side sweeping us. My driving instructor assured me that it wasn't my fault and that I did the right thing by slamming on the breaks. I was also informed that the test has been made easier due to COVID, and I don't even have to leave the parking lot, so hopefully, I pass. I'm really excited to get my license and to be able to drive my friends around.

Cohen Blog Week #3 (Playstation Five)

     This past weekend, I finally opened up my Playstation 5 that my sister brought me as a late Christmas gift. Being that the Playstation 5 is so hard to obtain, I was in shock and ecstatic to have received this from her. She also had brought me a couple games to go with it. The games were NBA2k21, Spiderman: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. 

    My favorite game is Sackboy: A Big Adventure.  This game reminds of the classic Mario Bros adventure games. In the past, I have played Mario Bros with my family.  It made the game more exciting to me. I actually played this game with my family and it turned out to be a really great time. We were all yelling, and laughing at each other while working together to complete the levels. We ended up playing for hours and when everyone went to their rooms, I decided to crack open the Spiderman: Miles Morales game. 

    When I started playing the Spiderman game, immediately I was taken aback by the graphics. Everything looked so realistic to the point that I felt like I was apart of the game. As I was swinging from building to building within the game, I thought about how far the graphics have come since the PS4, PS2, or even the PS which is the first one my family ever owned. The images used to be animated but not definitely not as realistic as today. I’m excited to see wat features and graphics that NBA2k21 and Mortal Kombat have to offer as well. 

Henchy Week 3 - A Brief History of Time

    This week, I finished reading Stephen Hawking's famous book A Brief History of Time. I would like to take this post to reflect on a few of the major questions that the book incites.

    One topic from the book is the continuous expansion of the universe. As scientists currently believe, our universe is continually expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Hawking explains how 'dark matter', a substance which scientists do not understand, fuels this phenomenon. Now, shortly, before I reflect on that point, I should also mention how physicists currently believe the universe is flat. Back to dark matter, if the universe is indeed flat, then it must be using astronomical amounts of energy to continually expand (which is inherently self-contradicting, but that is for another time). However, this conclusion is unsettling, because it is counter-intuitive and raises many questions such as "Where does this energy come from?" and "Where is the universe expanding into?"

    While Hawking was unable to provide solid scientific answers, as is the whole physics community, he gave an insight which many believe is crucial to resolving these contradictions. He mentions how the area beyond the universe may simply exist as a fourth spatial dimension which humans cannot perceive. This is, in fact, supported by the abstract mathematics of cosmological physics, where some formulas assume there are more than three spatial dimensions. Incredibly quickly, the principles of the cosmos seem to offer more questions than answers; this trend only continues.

    Consider other physical phenomenon which Hawking narrates on in his book. Take wormholes, for example. A wormhole is theorized to be passage where two points, incredibly far away, are connected through a 'portal'. However, if our universe is flat as mentioned, there is no mathematical way to connect two points with a distance shorter than a straight line between them. As one can see, not only is logic being violated by these contradictions, now the abstract mathematics that used to describe them is invalid also.

    One more example to think about is quantum entanglement. Commonly referred to as the most bizarre prediction of quantum and cosmological physics, quantum entanglement is a theory which claims atoms that have previously interacted are still affected by each other, despite any arbitrary distance and time between them, almost as if atoms have a 'DNA' which can be altered by simple interaction. This, I will leave to you to rationalize on your own.

    These phenomenon are incredibly complex, and I am only explaining the bare minimum, but it should still get the point across.

    Personally, the most ambiguous questions in physics, and by extension our universe, revolve around the existence of the un-observable. Our human architecture quickly fails us in the realm of physics, where we often need many more than three spatial dimensions. This begs the final, and most overwhelming, question, "How much will the universe allow us to know?"

    Finally, I would like to invite everyone who reads this to tell me what they think. I love hearing how others rationalize these extremely irrational topics, so please let me know what your explanations are in the comments below.

The Expanding Universe

Tayi Week 3 - Checkmate

    Competition within families can be a good way to bond. It makes being stuck at home much more bearable. We always try to pick sides in a show, especially to figure out who the villain is. Lighthearted arguments can be fun, but debates become exciting when they become serious. I have not been interested in politics, but since my brother has been arguing with my parents more and more, it forced me to become very involved. Luckily my family never holds grudges against each other and can agree to disagree.

    My family has learned over time that being competitive is something that makes our family bond more than anything, however, there is one thing I hate being competitive with: school. I am pretty indifferent to school debate, as it is not as personal to me. It seems as if it's family against family, a game of chess where the parents are the players, and their kids the pawns. That statement may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it still occasionally establishes a toxic environment at the dinner table. In this game, I certainly feel like an insignificant piece on the board.

    My parents, aunts, and uncles love to showcase their children's accomplishments. While they may deny their competitiveness, they obviously show it. One of my cousins was even the valedictorian of her school. This is just one example of the high-level gameplay that I am experiencing. Of course, I'm proud of her, but obviously, I'm extremely envious. Another cousin got a 1590 on his SATs (the max being 1600). My brother had a perfect GPA and was in the top 5% of his class. Yes, my brother is on my “team,” but he overshadows me by a lot.

    I have accomplishments I am proud of. For example, I am very proud to reach high honor roll. As if not everyone else on the board has reached high honor roll. This feeling of being on the bottom creates an enormous amount of pressure. But I have to say, If I wasn't in this game, on the board, I would have a big problem with my motivation. Thinking about it now, I'm sure I'm the only one who actually cares about this “game.” My parents are very proud of me and believe in me. That is what is important to me. My cousins and I are super close too. Overall, I'm glad I have something like this to motivate me. But it would be really nice to win this game.

White Week 3, why AOT's Trost arc is my favorite arc of the show

 White Week 2 - why AOT's Trost arc is my favorite arc

Ian White, Week 3 - Great Anime/TV arc's

https://www.amazon.in/Poster-Attack-Titan-Fire-rp13799/dp/B017S9THMC

    In light of Attack on Titan's (AOT) final season, I decided to talk about my favorite arc in the show, so far. But for people who have not seen or ever heard of AOT, Allow me to be your enticement to be a couch potato for the next couple of weeks. AOT is a show about the remnants of humanity couped up behind towering walls at the mercy of these large human-like creatures called titans. The show follows a diverse cast of characters all with different interests and viewpoints about their and humanity's situation. The main character, Eren a short-statured, as well as tempered person whose only goal, is the elimination of any enemy he deems a threat. Mikasa Erens ''adopted sister'' whose only goal in life is to make sure Eren hasn't run off and die.  And Armin a blond-haired trouble friend of Eren who has self-confidence issues as well as dependability issues. The show follows these three as well as the cast on unraveling the titan's secrets and fighting for humanity's survival. 

https://attackontitan.fandom.com/wiki/The_Struggle_for_Trost_arc

        The Trost arc Episodes 5-13, deals with the reclamation of land (the city) lost to a titan attack on the city a few years prior.  After Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, all go through rigorous training they are finally ready to take on the titan threat.   Overconfident in their abilities Eren and the other members of his squad are quickly overrun and eaten alive (If I didn't mention this already titans are scary) With only Eren and a few others (Main Cast that the viewer doesn't know yet) getting away.  After regrouping most of the no-names and cast are shocked to the point of giving up on life itself and some opt for suicide.  Armin who was shaken to the core allowed a titan to walk right up to him and swallow him.  Before he was devoured Eren pulled him out of the mouth of the titan and was instead eaten.  This came as a shock to me as literally ep5 already killed off the main character and now left the rest of the cast in a perilous state.  But before their death, the remaining members grouped together to try to make it to an armory to replenish gas and supplies. Their journey following was only met with more death and uncertainty eventually leading to them getting their supplies but end up surrounded by titans.  Unable to escape any hope for life is lost, being at the mercy of man-eating giants.    

https://attackontitan.fandom.com/wiki/Attack_Titan_(Anime)/Image_Gallery

      BUT, a titan suddenly comes in and starts killing off other titans one by one giving the other members a chance to escape alive.  Bewildered the cast goes out and escapes to the safety of the walls, leaving only a few behind to help stragglers and view this awe-inspiring spectacle.  After killing more than 20 titans (for a soldier killing one is a massive achievement) Eren Yeager thought to be dead comes out of the nape of the titan alive and healed (passed out).  Shocked by his in a sense reincarnation, Mikasa takes Eren to the safety of the walls.  people who saw him die are confused and frightened to the point where they are held at gunpoint of the entire forces holding the walls secure.  Eren comes to and is mortified by how the people are treating him and is dazy about how he is alive. Only narrowly diffusing the situation Armin successfully allows for Eren's survival, if he proves his worthiness to humanity. This is filled up with a second mission to plug a hole in the wall (this is how the titans got in).  This mission goes relatively without a hitch (except for a bunch of people being eaten.  This in the show, marks the first time ever that humanity has fought back against the titans and won.

  

https://attackontitan.fandom.com/wiki/The_Struggle_for_Trost_arc

    Overall the Trost arc is my favorite arc in the show as of now and was the most interesting for me.  Because actions taken in this arc surprised and intrigued me to figure out along with the cast the forces that drive their world.  It set up for the shows premise, and grim reality faced by all the scharicters and it made a very straight point that no member of the cast has plot-armour.  Half the people we our introduced to die within seconds of combat.  I think that the show also has a great score and op that is accompanied by some of the most down to earth charicters.  The story is only elevated beyond this point in the show and gets utterly fantastic.  If you are a fan of action and mystery tightly wrapped in an easily bingable package i'd reccomend AOT and especially the trost arc to spend your otherwise meaningless time on.  

(Aot can be viewed entirely on Crunchroll and Hulu and partially on Netflix and funimation)

Allen Week 3: Reanimation and Philosophy

  What is it about something that makes it what it is to us? Sounds like a rather odd question to ask but my recent experience with my affectionate yet incredibly obtuse “cat” (using the term loosely in this case) brought this deep philosophical question to light. 

Humphrey is a very devoted creature, but not to his family.  He is in love with a toy mouse.  The mouse in question is a very cheap, orange mouse that came from a pack of mice that cost like $2 (he does own more expensive toys which he scrupulously ignores).  He loves to fetch this particular mouse, and then bring it back to us so that we can throw it for him again and again (hence his feline identity confusion).  He fetched this mouse so often, it fell to pieces in front of his sad little eyes.  We were forced to abduct the mouse away from Humphrey in order to save its remains, and what ensued for the next week was the most emotional crying and caterwauling in the history of feline kind.  We tried to introduce him to other mice, but he wouldn’t even touch any other toys.  There was something special about that specific mouse and the material it was made out of.

We felt bad that he had lost his best friend, so we did the only thing possible for a family of engineers.  We took the remains apart and cut up the string that wrapped around it to make new mice.  What proceeded was the reanimation of the mob of Franken-mice.  We experimented with creating several other mice assembled from a piece of string from the original mouse interwoven with new string around new mouse bodies.  Some of these mice were rejected by our fickle feline, but a select chosen few survived the selection process and will be retrieved when thrown.  Interestingly, these elite Franken-mice differ greatly from each other and yet they have been clearly deemed as the reincarnation of Humphrey’s original beloved mouse. 

In his small “cat” brain (both cells of it), Humphrey clearly has some schema, which we will never discern, that defines the core essence of his original mouse so that he can distinguish it from all the others with all the same characteristics and even the same exact string from the original. It makes you wonder, where else in life do we do the same thing (the holey remnants of a favorite shirt, the photo from your favorite vacation spot, the last hug of a lost relative)?

Humphrey and His Mice

Vaughn Week 3 - Little Guyana

     My Mom being from Guyana has provided me with a ton of opportunities to explore and learn about Guyanese culture. However, I only started capitalizing on these opportunities about 2-3 years ago. Aside from my mom occasionally cooking Guyanese dishes, I wasn't really exposed to the culture in any other ways until we started visiting my aunt who lived just outside of Little Guyana, which is a small neighborhood in Queens, New York. 

Little Guyana has all types of small shops that carry authentic Indo-Guyanese goods, and most of the people who live in the area are also Indo-Guyanese. When my Mom and Aunt's relationship was getting closer, we often visited her every 2 months and stayed for a couple days. During these visits, my Aunt would show us around Little Guyana, where there was loud Caribbean music, street performers, and the smell of Guyanese food, which often take influence from African and Caribbean dishes. With how lively and fun the atmosphere was, I was instantly pulled into the culture and began learning more and more about it. I learned a lot about the food and traditions through my Aunt, as she always cooked authentic Guyanese meals when we were there. These visits to my aunt's house are also what got me into cooking, and now that's a part of my daily life, as I've learned to make many traditional Guyanese dishes such as metemgee, pepperpot, and Guyanese mithai. 

My visits to Little Guyana also helped me incorporate religion into my life. With my aunt being a very faithful Christian, and my constant research about Guyanese culture, I ended up learning about a lot of religions, such as Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, which are also the most commonly practiced religions in Guyana. Although I haven't associated myself with any religions yet, learning about the religions has taught me a lot about the history and culture surrounding them, which I find pretty interesting. 

Overall, visiting Little Guyana over the years has been a life-changing experience. 

It has provided me with new perspectives about the world and has exposed me to many new experiences. I plan to keep on learning about not only the Guyanese culture but many other cultures for the rest of my life. I think other people should too, as It will create a much more open and accepting world. 

Little Guyana

Post Week 3- Travel Anxiety

    Almost every year my Aunt and Uncle take me to Disney World. We've been doing it since I was in 6th grade, when they took me for my first ever time. My first trip was amazing and magical. I didnt worry about school work because, lets be honest, 6th grade homework is a walk in the park. I was young and excited to be in Florida, nothing was causing me anxiety.

    My travel anxiety started in the begginging of 8th grade. I was going on two trips that year. The first one, a trip to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, with my Dad. The second, a trip to Disney World with my Aunts, Uncle, Mom, Brothers, and Grandparents. I noticed my Anxiety on the first plane ride with my dad. I was sitting in my seat and out of nowhere, I got such a bad feeling. I was scared the plane was going to crash, or malfunction, or that we'd end up in the bermuda triangle. The same thing then happened a couple months later on my trip to Disney. 

    Anxiety on the plane wasnt the only anxiety I got. When It came to school work, I was so focused on being in Florida I forgot to take the time to get my school done. Which ended up putting so much weight on my shoulders towards the end of the trip. I was scared to fall behind or not understand what we were learning. I HATED falling behind in class. 

I'm going to Disney again in about 2 weeks and although we are driving down, I'm still having lots of anxiety. This time around my mom is gonna be staying home and I don't really like being away from home. Im scared I'm gonna fall behind on schoolwork when I'm there. And to top it off I'm extra anxious about COVID down in Florida. But I am going to try and do everything I can to avoid most of my travel anxietys. 

Moore Week 3 - Life As We Knew It Review

     

    Life As We Knew It is a small book published in 2006 by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It’s probably a book that most people have never heard of, but it’s actually my favorite book. It’s about a teenage girl’s perspective on, essentially, the end of the world. In the book, an asteroid hits the moon, shifting it closer to the earth. This affected the tidal waves causing giant tsunamis to wipe out cities along the coast and made the volcano erupt in Yellowstone, clouding the sky with ash for months. 

It sounds kind of cheesy when I look back on it, but it actually gets very real as the book goes on. Instead of focusing on the teenage girl’s journey to saving the world like some novels, it focuses on her family’s survival and their struggle to have the basic necessities like food, water, and heat. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania where almost everyone leaves in search of food, leaving her family isolated throughout winter without electricity. The book focuses on how her family fought to find other people, and how her family survived by themselves. 

In some ways, I feel like I can relate to the main character, Miranda. She’s a teenage girl in suburban Pennsylvania living through a completely abnormal experience. Although instead of living through the apocalypse like her, I’m living through a pandemic. The beginning of the apocalypse in the book is actually very similar to how the beginning of the pandemic was back in the spring of 2020. In the book, people rushed to grocery stores to stock up on food before it all disappeared, just like how at the beginning of the pandemic people panicked and stocked up on toilet paper and food causing grocery stores to have major shortages. School closing in real life was actually very similar to how schools closed in the book as well. 

All in all, I really love the book and the entire series too. There are four books in the series, the second one follows a boy who lives in New York City, the third one then joins Miranda’s story with the boy’s story, and then the fourth book is about Miranda’s little brother in the future. I liked how the series has a character that I can relate to, and that it’s a thrilling book since it’s so realistic. At least I know from the book that if an asteroid hits the moon, we’ll most likely survive it since we live in the same area as the characters.

Link

Zhang Week 3 - Reading Adventures

  I’ve been an avid reader ever since I was able to make sense of words. When I was in elementary school, my mom would bring me to a library every week and would borrow a huge bag of books for me to read. Sometimes we even brought home around twenty books! Of course, I wasn’t able to finish them all in one week, but I kept reading at a decent pace, and very quickly, I had read nearly all of the books in the children's’ section. 

        Although I enjoyed reading most of the books, I definitely had my favorites. I think this is because more than the act of reading in itself, I enjoyed getting immersed in a fictional world with interesting characters time and time again. I remember a few of my favorite series back then were Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Septimus Heap, The Chronicles of Narnia, and a lot more that I can’t recall at the moment because it has been so many years. 

        With series like these which I really loved, I tended to read them at an extremely fast pace. I would scan through chapters without noticing the details and nuances in the writing because I was so desperate to know what would happen next in the story. I’d often feel a little lightheaded after intense sessions of reading because I had processed so much information in a short period of time. Since then, I’ve tried to correct this habit of racing to the end of books because it not only left me with a fraction of understanding of what went on, but also made stories end much sooner. 

        For me, the biggest downside of reading is reaching the end of the story. I’ve never been fully satisfied with endings to books, even if the endings are as optimal and happy as possible. I think it’s because when I read a story with developed world building, I spend days just imagining the scenery and characters in the book, and I almost feel like I’m part of this picture. So, when the story comes to an end, it’s like an unpleasant surprise to me, because I just want to see what happens next in this imaginary world, even if the characters have already gone through enough events to last a lifetime.

        I really miss being able to read a book just for fun everyday. I’ve read a good number of novels and series during high school, but they were mostly crammed into the summer and I also stuck to one genre which made the books a little repetitive. I suspect I won’t have much time to read in college either, but I hope maybe when I’m older and have a job, I can fit a few minutes of reading into my daily schedule. Reading helps me relax while still engaging my mind in a fun way, and I think it would be good for me to do this more often.

Level Week 3 - Hair struggles

     If you do not know,  but many of you do I have very curly hair. My grandmother gave me beautiful curls since I was little. Everyone that I have met has always told me how lucky I am to have such pretty hair. As much as it is pretty, sometimes it is a major pain in the behind. 

    When I was little I really did not know how to handle or care for it. I would only wear it in tight high buns because I thought it looked ugly and it was always super tangled. My mom would always have to help me detangle my hair in the shower because they were too hard for me to get out. I would lose handfuls of hair after each shower. The end of this story is that I did not know how to take care of my hair since I was the only one in my family that really had. this hair. 

    It did not really get better as I grew up, when I was 12 years old I had to cut off about 12 inches of my hair because it was so damaged and tangled. I hated it. My hair was up to my ears, it was poofy and ugly. However, it did change my life. I finally learned that I had to take care of my hair and I couldn't treat it how my friends treated their hair. 

    I stopped going to hair salons that didn't specialize in curly hair because it would make my hair more damaged than before. I started to only wear my hair down to learn to like it and prevent it from tangling itself, brushing my hair before I shower and then in the shower to make the detangling part a little easier for myself. I learned that the popular hair products did not work for my specific hair type so I had to find products that worked for me. Of course, this was frustrating because the products would tend to be more expensive and they had much fewer choices. 

    I now drive about two and a half hours to get my hair cut in a salon that specializes in the type of hair that I have. I sleep with certain pillowcases to help make my hair less frizzy, sleep with my hair in a special shirt so I do not lose my curls when I sleep. I learned that I hated how my hair was when I was younger because I did not know how to maintain it. Now that I have developed a routine that works for me, I am more proud of my hair and feel more confident with it. 

Voloshen Week 3- Redundancy and Anxiety

     Obviously life has been pretty redundant for most people due to the pandemic. I really didn't think that doing the same thing everyday would have an effect on me, but that was back in March. I made my way through the summer without being too bothered by it, but in the past few weeks it has been a little overwhelming. 

    Everyday, I eat the same breakfast, I do my school work, I go for a run, I eat dinner and sometimes watch a movie, but then I go to bed just to do the same thing over again the next day. One day, I started feeling a little anxious out of the blue for what seemed like no reason. I didn't even know it was anxiety at first, it just felt like something was off. A few days later, I felt out of control. I was distracted all the time. I just felt like I had this rock in my chest that wouldn't go away. I started to obsess over ideas about my future that weren't necessarily true, but everything reminded me of these ideas so I couldn't escape. I eventually reached out for help and I had some really long conversations with my mom which made me feel safe and calm. 

    I am feeling a lot better recently. I realized that not everything has to be figured out. I know I like to isolate my thoughts and feelings and put a label on them so I know exactly what they are, but I couldn't do that this time which made me panic. I like to figure things out, but at my age, I know that life doesn't have to be figured out. Some adults are still figuring things out. I just have to remember to be happy with where I am right now, change up my routine, talk to people, know I'm not alone, and accept that the unknown is part of life even though, at times, it can be confusing and scary. 

Vakiener Week 3- Perspective

      A perspective is a tool, a weapon, and a teacher all in one. Over the past years, a lot of things have happened that have created a lot of differing opinions in the American public. Opinions are no issue and in fact, they are an important part of what makes America, America. However, the thing that does concern me is that people are becoming too devoted to one side and are refusing to explore other possibilities.

   America was built on freedom of speech. Our ancestors fought a war so that they could be free to express their own opinion. Today we tend to squander that right by forming our own factions based on opinions and tearing each other to pieces over them either on Twitter or in real life. Now I'm not saying that we all need to share one opinion or that we all need to get along. I understand that is an unrealistic and impossible goal to achieve in today's climate, and not only that then we would just become a society of mindless robots. What I do think can be accomplished is every single person looking at the other side of an argument. We even as junior writers understand the importance of a counter-argument. When we analyze writing we also analyze the other side of the argument as well and in many cases when viewing the other side opinions change. Even then sometimes we don't but even still viewing the other side of the argument still gives people a new perspective and a new chance to learn.

    The issue that we see very much in the commonplace today is people unwilling to see the other side. Many politicians vote solely based on the party rather than the actual bill. Peaceful rallies and protests turn violent because people don't appreciate what they are saying. The need for change in America is great right now. We are faced with numerous challenges that we have never seen before and fully devoting ourselves to only one way of solving the problem will never work. Because it is as Wayne Dyer said, "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.

Blackham Week 3 - New Normal

    We’ve all heard the phrase, “This will be our new normal.” To be honest, I hate that phrase. I don’t want a new normal. I just want to go back to ordinary life. One where we can go to football games, sit at circular tables at lunch, smile at people, laugh with friends, and see all A-Z students in the school at the same time. While I like a lot of aspects of hybrid, at this point, I just want normal, everyday school. Especially this week, I’m so ready for this to be over. I’m done feeling trapped behind a mask and enclosed in the walls of my house. It’s so discouraging to realize that it's not going to get better anytime soon.

    It’s crazy to think that we haven’t had “normal” in over 10 months (313 days) since March 13th. (We’ve almost made it through a whole year!) I was at track practice when I heard about the school closing. I was thrilled!! I would have had three huge tests the next Monday and was not prepared at all! I was stressed and needed a break! Two weeks off was exactly what I needed. Then covid just continued to get worse, and those two weeks turned into two months. School didn’t reopen, track season was canceled, AP tests were taken at home, and I never got to celebrate the last day of school with my friends. Because my dad works at a hospital, we have to stay extra careful. As I wrote about in my last post, this was a great time to reconnect and create memories with my family, but I still missed my friends. Now ten months later, there are friends that I still haven’t seen in person since that Friday. People that I used to see every single day, I haven’t seen in ten months. 

    I’m someone who really likes order and knowing what’s coming. I don’t like uncertainty or surprises. And this year has been full of uncertainty. Every minute of every day, we don’t know what might happen next or what curveball is coming our way. So many of our questions are answered by “I don’t know.” Will covid go away soon? Will we have prom this year? Will our senior year be normal? Will 2021 be better? 

    I just don’t know. My mom made a comment a few days ago responding to the question, “Will 2021 be better?” She said, “I don’t know...but I’m okay with that.” I’m working on being okay with uncertainty - I’m not there yet, but I’m learning how to cope with not knowing what’s ahead. Along with that, I’m working on adapting and being okay with this “new normal,” realizing that our lives will never be exactly the same. It hurts, and every day I hope I could just wake up from this bad dream of a year. While I hope it will all get better soon, I’ll keep learning until we get there. 

 

Harclerode Week 3- MLK Volleyball Tournament

    Even though this past weekend was very stressful for me thanks to all of my school work, I was able to get away from that stress for a little bit by doing one of my favorite things: playing volleyball. This weekend was the Pennsylvania Kick Starter Tournament, and I think it went fairly well for only being our second tournament of the season. It was on Sunday and Monday in Reading, PA. We went down early on Sunday to spend the day with another family from my team that we're good friends with. We didn't have to report to the sports center until 3:30, so we went to a nearby mall and then went to lunch before returning to our hotel to get ready to go. Sunday was the first half of pool play, and it went very well! We were playing up in the 18s National division, so I was a little nervous, but we actually went undefeated. We finished by 8:30, so then we were able to have dinner and hang out at the hotel with some other families. 

    The next day, our first game (and last game of pool play) was at 9:00, and we actually played against a team that was in our age group but was also playing up. We won and placed first in our pool, so then we made it to semifinals. We were so excited, but also really nervous; after making it this far, we wanted to win the whole thing! Semifinals were tough, but we won in two sets and made it to the finals. Now we had a different problem, though-- our volleyball club's 18s team was also there, and they are a really, really good team. Since this was an 18s tournament, and they are a very talented team, we had to face them in the finals. We scrimmage them all the time at practices and are always able to keep up with them, but this was different. It was an actually competitive environment now because the gold was at stake. It was kind of weird to be playing against our own club's team, especially since a lot of us are friends with a lot of them outside of volleyball. Nevertheless, everyone knew they were in for a good match.

    This game was probably the toughest one that we had to play in the entire tournament. But, it was also really fun. We won the first set 25-20, so we were hopeful that we were going to be able to win. However, we lost the second set 18-25, and in the third tie-breaker set, we lost by two-- 13-15. I was a little disappointed, but I was also really proud of how we played, not just during that match, but in the whole tournament. We ended up getting silver medals, and for this tournament being for the 18s age group, I think we did great. I can't wait for the next tournament, but unfortunately I'm going to have to because our next one isn't until March! It's really upsetting that I have to wait a whole month, but now my team is going to have a whole month of practice. Next tournament, we want to come home with the gold!

Febbo Week 3 - New Schedule

    As you all know, we are very quickly approaching the new semester, meaning new classes and different schedules. Currently, I have first block study hall every day, so I don't have to come to school until 9 ish, on the days I have to go in. Having a first block study hall is very nice because I am able to sleep in and it makes me feel less rushed in the morning if my alarm goes off at the right time HAHA. Another, plus about having a first block study hall is that, since you are going into school later, there is less traffic trying to get to school and all the buses are already gone. 

      Unfortunately, I don't have a first block study hall next semester, which is going to be a big change for me. Having not had to come into school until 9:15 to having to be at school by 7:30, isn't going to be a very fun switch for me. I go from only be in school for 3 blocks, to being in school all day, with the expectation of my third block study hall I will have on ACE days. 

    I am definitely going to miss being able to sleep in on the days I have school, but luckily wake up early most days, but it was always nice being able to get some extra sleep.

    Besides, having fewer study halls next semester, my classes are hopefully going to be a little easier and more manageable for me. I am currently in 3 core classes and next semester I will only be in 2 core classes with 2 elective classes. Therefore, I'm hoping for a good second semester and end to my junior year. Can't believe I am already halfway done with junior year... it's INSANE.

Rosynek Week 3- [Fried] Pickles

86% of the population likes pickles. The common assumption to come with that is that all of them enjoy fried pickles. I, personally, love pickles, but I love fried ones more.

They first made their appearance in the culinary scene in the 1960s. The first known fried pickle recipe was called "French Fried Pickles," that used sweet pickle slices and pancake mix. A man named Bernell ("Fatman") Austin began creating a recipe for fried dill pickles in Atkins, Arkansas in 1963. That secret recipe is kept only by the family. It is used once each year at "Picklefest" in May in Atkins.

They have become increasingly popular as time goes on. They are seen as appetizers or to accompany dishes. They are frequently served with ranch dressing, but can also be eaten with other creamy dressings. Before ranch dressing was introduced, the Fatman used ketchup. Some chains that offer fried pickles are Chili's, Texas Roadhouse, Hooters, and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Fried foods in themselves are good.. in moderation. Fried pickles have a high fat intake and 700+ mg of sodium. A simple serving from a restaurant or a recipe is good enough for one day.

 

 Pickles actually began to be eaten more than 4,000 years ago. Mesopotamians began soaking cucumbers in acidic brine to preserve them. Cleopatra in 50 B.C said that pickles in her diet contributed to her health and beauty. Julius Caesar fed them to his troops to make them strong.

Pickles were actually brought to America by Christopher Columbus. He loved traveling with them because they were easy to eat and survived long journeys. In 1659, Dutch farmers in New York began growing a surplus of cucumbers, pickling them, and selling them out of barrels in the street. At the 1893 Chicago World Fair, the "Pickle King" (H.J Heinz) sent a few boys to tempt the people to visit his booth. He had given out 1 million pickle pins by the end of the fair, and repeated the process. By the 2010s, Americans were eating more than 2 million pounds of pickles a year.

Pickles that are not fermented help give people benefits of vinegar, spices, and cucumbers. Drinking pickle juice reduces muscle cramps, and helps with weight loss and diabetes. Pickles boost people's intake of antioxidants.

Overall, they're a healthy snack and provide some health benefits. Eating and staying healthy is all about balance, and eating these let you have a crunchy and tasty snack.

Ellis Week 3 - The Old Life

 

        Anyone who has been around me over the past 10 months is probably so sick of hearing how much I miss the old life and how I wish things stayed the same. I am the type of person who constantly wonders “what if” and “if this didn’t happen then everything would be different”. Well, I did a lot of that type of thinking over quarantine. 

From March to June, I never left the house to see anyone. This was really upsetting at first because I saw other people hanging out and enjoying their “2 weeks” of bliss. However, my family lost a few people throughout the process, which made things a lot more personal and I understood how important it was to take things seriously. With this being said, it didn’t make staying in isolation for 4 months any easier. For one thing, my 16th birthday was not quite the sweet sixteen I had always wanted. Instead, it was spent taking a chemistry test online and getting takeout from a restaurant next to a gas station haha. Along with that, I don’t even remember Easter happening. I just spent a lot of days playing wii and staring at a wall. 

Over the months, I would continuously replay March 13th in my head because it was my last day of normalcy. I remember hearing that schools in our area were closing, and I was praying during lunch that day for Nazareth to close as well. I was so overwhelmed with school that I needed a break…if only I knew. Square dancing was cancelled during gym that day which really frustrated me because that is my favorite part of the school year. (I was also ignorant and had no clue how dangerous covid was) I later went to eagle block where my friend offered to drive me home, which meant what would’ve been my last day on a school bus ever was taken away. (Of course, I didn’t know that at the time) We ended up getting milkshakes on the way home, and as we were there he got a text saying school was closed for two weeks. I was thrilled. That was the last time I saw a friend, or was in a public place, until June. 

I am thankful we are able to go to school, but I really miss having everyone here. I miss seeing my L-Z friends and going to school 5 days a week. I miss the relationships I had with so many friends last year that drifted due to COVID. I miss the annoyance of having to avoid certain people in the hallways and getting to hug my best friends when I pass their locker. I miss being crammed next to one another in the cafeteria and wishing I could skip volleyball fourth block. I like to think that everything happens for a reason, but I am having a tough time understanding this one. I miss my old life. I am not a fan of this new one we’ve been brought into. 

Ernst Week Three- Missing Vacation

 I feel like I haven’t been on vacation in forever. The last time I went on vacation with my family was like five years ago. Every year I go to Virginia to stay with my aunt, but it doesn’t always feel like a vacation and I didn’t even get to go last year. We were going to go this summer to Disney World (I have a little sister), but then Covid happened. We were going to drive down and make it a road trip, like we did in 2015 and 2014. It is actually a lot of fun!  

We would stop in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. My aunt and cousins live in Manassas, Virginia, so we stay with them for a few days. In South Carolina, we stop in Myrtle Beach, even though my Grandma is the only one who likes the beach. Georgia is my favorite because we stay in Savannah. It is so pretty there and is also so historic. My mom likes to stop in Senoia as well. Then we finally get to Disney. 

I am not the biggest fan of Disney World, since I am not a kid anymore, but it can still be a lot of fun. The road trip is the most exciting part and it’s also fun just staying in a hotel and not being at home anymore. There are roller coasters and things to go on, which are my favorite. Also the food is really good. This year we were going to bring my best friend along, which would just make it even more fun. Hopefully we can go next year because I really miss it.