Dear Lil Freshies (Pt. 2)

     So, now that you have been acquainted with the WMHS halls and have become numb to the anxieties of High School, I want to tell you a little bit about getting involved. When it comes to clubs and extracurriculars, GET INVOLVED. After school activities are a great way to meet new people and try new things out you didn't know you'd end up loving. The great thing about clubs is that you can do as many as you want, so I suggest you try something new! Step out of your comfort zone in High School, because it'll definitely be worth it.
     When I signed up for my first season of running in High School, I remember laughing as I filled out my Family id. I didn't know how to train for it, and my asthma was poorly controlled which made it even harder. I was never your athlete protégé, in fact XC was my first ever sport. The first week of practice hurt more than I can ever put into words, but the love and encouragement I had from my team and the passion and dedication I learned my first XC season carried with me into not only indoor and outdoor track season, but also my entire Freshman year. Without that "yolo" moment of signing up for XC, something I had no idea I'd end up obsessed with, I wouldn't have grown this year as much as I have. That is why I suggest joining a sport or club that catches your eye. I want you to experience what I have through running and sports. Trust me, doing after school activities is worth it- I met over half of my friends through track, and I've learned how to discipline myself and get my work done off the track and the trails.
     One more thing: don't be afraid of failing. I've said this one thousand times before, but nobody will judge you if you join math team and get a lot of problems wrong. Nobody will judge you if you get 30:00 for your home course pb in XC when most sub 25:00. Follow your passion for you, and if you don't know what that passion is- go find it. There's a quote I love that I'd like to share with you, "If it makes you nervous, you should go for it." So go for it, and enjoy your Freshman year. Make it worthwhile.

Dear Lil Freshies

     To the incoming Freshman class- hello. Welcome to the mixing pot of late nights and early mornings, procrastination, and the tidal waves of stress that makes up High School. It's not all that bad though; I mean I like to say I had a pretty good year, but I came into High School with these expectations that I was just going to buckle down and bang out A's and 4.0's like it was no big deal. This made for a very anxious mind, and I can't stress this enough: ANXIETY AND STRESS DOES NOTHING BUT INHIBIT SUCCESS. Whether it be grades, or even fitting in, worrying about something you can't even control yet is taking up your brain space! Fill your mind up with encouraging thoughts, as well as positive affirmations to keep you motivated and grounded- my favorite is "today's best today." Remember to take your school life day by day, because we all have good days and bad ones as well, and you can't let bad grades or rejection slow you down.  
     If I could tell little eighth grade me some advice, it'd be this: don't be afraid. Fear of acceptance and superiority made me want to change who I was at one point, and sometimes I really felt out of place. Whenever I walked through the halls, I felt like I wasn't supposed to be at WMHS. I hate to break it to you, but you have every right to be there. You belong in High School! I know, sometimes the fact that you're even in High School can throw you off, but you'll get used to it. These are your halls- in these halls you'll awkwardly drop books and disturb the flow of student body traffic, you'll sit on the benches outside of each wing before classes begin and try to finish last night's homework, you'll pretend you didn't see those two upperclassmen enjoying their PDA, and you'll try to find the longest possible route to take from one class to the other. Don't be afraid of the other students either. Turns out, all grades have their mix of people you'll end up meeting and becoming really close with. Don't be afraid to be yourself. If you want to wear your hair a different way than normally- do it. I always tell myself that nobody will go home and remember what you wore: everybody is worried about themselves. Be an individual, and love every second of it. Chances are, you probably will never talk to or see most of these people after High School, so don't be worried about embarrassing yourself. Don't be afraid of failure either. I know that college looms over you every time you even think about grades, but you can't wear down your mind like that. If it's 1 am and you have the choice to study or sleep, sleep. If you get a C or below on a test, don't go home and sit in bed for two hours listening to sad music. You can no longer control a bad grade, all you can do is use the negativity as leverage to prove to yourself you can bounce back. Don't obsess over grades either. I've learned that if it's late and I want to draw and take a breather, it's better to tend to your mental health and well being rather than being tied up in stress. It's all about balance- take care of your hobbies and your passions. You need to be okay in your head in order to excel in school.
     My biggest piece of advice for you guys is to just take care of yourself first. I know the stress will try to eat away at your head, but you can tell it to chill, for lack of a better phrase. Eat enough food, nourish your body, drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep, exercise and treat yourself- do anything you feel would make you happy. Don't forget- you are living as well. Your whole life is not school. Well, good luck, and trust me, you'll have a pretty fun time at WMHS.

My Future n Stuff

     I've always been the type to preach living in the moment. At concerts, I barely use my phone, when hanging out with friends, I try not to only focus on taking pictures together. I spend a lot of time just absorbing my life and its motions. Although this is the case, High School has me in the cycle of waking up and wondering what I could do today to prepare for my future. Everyone spends their days preparing for tomorrow- preparing for the rest of their lives, and most are so caught up in that mindset that they don't even realize the life they DO have flashing away before them. This... idea has been in the back of my head for the longest time, and there's this inner conflict that stems from it. Some may call it giving up, but to me, I have become more awake to the reality of the future. The truth is, there is no future, nor no past. There is only right now- this one second I am in, and from this second I will travel to the next like the last one never happened. I found a quote online a few days ago that reads, "No amount of guilt can change the past, just like no amount of anxiety can change the future." You have no idea how this impacted me. It really set straight the conflict I had with all the days I had scheduled, and all the stress I was putting on myself. I realized that I can't spend every day going to school and doing well because I'm afraid to fail. I shouldn't be afraid to fail. I should be able to walk into that building every day like yesterday never happened, and do what today's best is. Last Cross Country season, we had a mantra, "Today's best today," and to me, that is how I want to live the rest of my life. If today's best today is waking up early, putting myself together, and feeling ready for the day, so be it. If today's best today is only having enough strength to brush my hair, great. Every day is a gift- every day is an idea. A day is one of those objects you draw in art class that has all these asymmetrical faces, and when your class sits around it and draws it, everyone draws something different. Everyone chooses the seat they sit in- maybe because it looks easier to draw from that angle- just like some people choose easy ways to look at their lives and their futures: go to school, get an education that guarantees them a job that pays well, and live a comfortable life. Me? Well, today I aspire to be happy. Tomorrow, I might aspire to sleep on park benches forever, or maybe I'll want to live off the grid in the woods. Who knows, I certainly don't. 

Summer

     Lately, it's been getting much warmer outside, which makes me yearn for summer so much more. We're so close to the end of the year, so close all of us can taste it.  The seniors are leaving this month, and all the spring sports are concluding soon as well. To be honest, I've never been more excited for the last day of school in my entire life. 
     Don't get me wrong, High School is actually really fun, but we all need a break.  Although I don't get a break from sports- I have to train for Cross Country in the fall- having a break from school work is just what I need, and I think I speak for everybody on that one. I can't wait to wake up whenever I want, and go for a bike ride or run in the morning before the heat gets too unbearable.  I cant wait to go to the beach and get super tan and dark, and I can't wait for the food. I don't know why, but ice cream, fried dough, and everything bad for you tastes better in the summer.
     Hopefully, this summer lives up to my expectations, and I don't end up sitting in bed all day doing nothing like usual. I also hope that I get to spend this summer with all the new friends I've made so far in High School. Until then, I better finish my homework.

Disconnection

She lied on the ground,
and looked into the blue sky.
She noticed a bird.

All of a sudden she knew
How it felt to fly away.

My Head is so Fuzzy

     So my sister Candice is a Junior in high school, and tonight is her Junior prom. She's been to prom before, her boyfriend is a senior so she knows what to expect and stuff, but it just hit me how old she is. Candice turned 17 two days ago, she has her license, she has a job, and she is so close to applying to college and leaving me behind. Her boyfriend, who's like my brother, is leaving in a few months too, and it's so overwhelming. All three of us hang out all the time, and to think that that'll never happen again once he goes to college is so... weird. It's weird because that's life as I know it; I go to school with my sister in the car, and once I get home from practice both of them are usually at the dinner table when I join them. In a year, that won't be the case anymore.
     I remember Candice's 15th birthday so vividly. We went out for Mexican food, and at the time I thought she was so old- she was a real teenager. I swear I blinked and the past two years vanished. I'm the fifteen year old now, and I'm the teenager. Candice is practically an adult, and I bet you I'll blink again and she'll have graduated from college.
     It's crazy how fast time flies by. How one day, instead of driving to school together we'll meet up for lunch god knows where and discuss how our careers are going. One day, I'll be watching her get married, and one day I'll have nieces and nephews. One day, we might not live in Woburn, and we might forget the little details of our teen years- like how we walked to our dad's house every Tuesday and Wednesday at 5pm sharp, or how we'd always run into eachother in the kitchen right before 6am on the weekdays. I might be thinking a little bit too far ahead of myself on this one, but one day life as we know it will be life as we knew it, and by then, hopefully we take our families together on vacation, and watch our children play together and remember what it was like to be little kids.

The Book Thief: Movie Review

     This past week, my class watched The Book Thief, a movie based around the book The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. The movie was directed by Brian Percival, and Percival made the tone of the movie much lighter than the book. The movie was a loose representation of the book, and many important points to the plot were left out. As for the plot: The movie takes place in the mid-1900's, in Nazi Germany. Eleven year-old Liesel Meminger was taken to her new home at the Hubermann's on Himmel Street because her mother could no longer care for her. Here, she is raised by Hans and Rosa Hubermann, and Hans teaches Liesel how to read using a book she stole at the scene of her brother's burial. Liesel finds her passion for books, as well as for reading, in Molching Germany. The movie goes through her adolescent years, growing up, facing the challenges of having very little, as well as sharing memories with her friend Rudy. The movie also showcases the challenges and problems with growing up in Nazi Germany, under the rule of Adolf Hitler. But Liesel still manages to have a wonderful life, that only gets more interesting once the Hubermanns harbor a Jew in their basement- Max Vandenburg.
     In the movie, the characters each had their own unique personality. The main characters include: Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Death (narrator), and Max Vandenberg. In the beginning of the movie, Liesel was a very quiet and shy girl, but as the movie progresses, she becomes more open once she finds her place on Himmel  Street. Rudy, Liesel's best friend, is a very energetic and handsome boy, and other characters such as Max and Hans have a very comforting, calm, and open mind, which really deepens the conflict between characters, and gives us a better understanding of how they feel. The acting throughout the movie was very emotional, as well as realistic and natural. The Book  Thief had very good acting, especially from Max and Hans. Each actor fit the bill for the character they were playing as well. Although this was the case, there are some key elements missed from the book that affected the movie. In the book, there is a more solemn tone, yet in the movie, some of the saddest scenes were made positive. The book that Max gave Liesel was blank instead of written in, and Liesel and Max bonded over books instead of nightmares, which was very generic and did nothing special for the movie, or the relationship between the characters. Some scenes not included in the book helped the move though. During the bombing on Himmel Street in the movie, Max actually left the house to go outside for the first time in forever. This scene is very emotional, and captures the way Max saw the world, as well as how human the Jews really were.
     Overall, the movie The Book Thief ranks about a 3/5 stars. The movie as a whole was very entertaining and keeps you interested, but the scenes missing, if added, could've made the movie much better.