Hello 'Ilima

Man, so much has happened. This second quarter has felt like one of the longest periods of time in my whole life. I have a couple of explanations for this later on but for on, let’s do the big recap of this quarter. There was a ton of different events that went on during this quarter. We had the last couple Family Nites, the first Recognition Night, a lot of ISA Events, a bunch of Intramurals, and the first Talent Show in years. If I were to rank these events, 1. Playable ISAs (Cornhole and Bowling), 2. Talent Show, 3. Recognition Night, 4. Family Nite, 5. Boys Volleyball and Girls Basketball, 6. Intramurals (Cornhole and Turkey Trot). Starting with the bottom, we find the two intramurals. Now, this ranking is more about one than the other. Turkey Trot was pretty decent. Cornhole, however, is a totally different story. To illustrate what I would otherwise rant about, would you rather spend 1 hour outside doing something that nobody involved wants to do or literally anything else with that hour? I choose the second. Next is Boy’s Volleyball and Girl’s Volleyball. This ISA continues the streak of me suffering during the ISAs as it was blazing hot and pretty boring. Even bringing my water didn’t help much and I was just miserable. This goes right into hand with Family Nite as that ISA was on the same day as one of the Nites. That was the Social Studies and ELA Family Nite and I was working outside. I was doing fine originally but all of the heat eventually short circuited my brain and I was dying. The actual Family Nites themselves were pretty meh. Nothing bad would happen but nothing good would happen either. Moving on, the first Recognition Night is next and it was cool. It was pretty typical to the Recognition Nights from last year and it was still fun to cheer for my friends. But now we can get to events I actually had fun with, starting with the talent show. It was very exciting to watch the different performances and the overall work load was light. But the crown goes to the ISA events that I got to play in. The first one of these was Cornhole which I absolutely sucked in but it was still a cool environment. My favorite out of the two was next, being Bowling. I used to bowl very often when I was younger, but I was pretty rusty. I definitely improved from last year, but that is more of a reflection of how bad I was last year. But the main reason I have these two the highest is because I was able to have actual fun and not just be doing work. Besides the big events, a main part of this quarter was the school work, especially the Big Bad, NHD. Every week was a different assignment for NHD that just stacked over and over again. And then we had to start working on our projects which was just so draining. You can ask anyone that I know about their feelings on NHD and they could rant to you on how much they hate it. At least I have a slim to chance to go to Washington which is something. But besides NHD, there was also just so many tests. There were Financial Literacy presentations, stressful math tests, stupid science tests, big ELA essays, the a boatload of social studies CFAs that all just stacked onto each other and causing the biggest mess. To move on from all of this academic nonsense, I’ve had a really good time out of school. For starters, this was a very festive quarter. Three different holidays happened during this quarter with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. All three of these holidays have a very special place in my heart and in each one, we have tried something new. For Halloween, I dressed up as Satoru Gojo and it was a new experience for me. I never had to put in so much time for a wig for a costume like I did for the Gojo costume. For Thanksgiving, I made a brand new dish that none of my family has tried to do and it was amazing. And Christmas might have not came yet, but it’s already been a festive time with setting up trees, parades, and present shopping. Then, there has been the Fishing Club that has been really fun. I’ve gotten to learn a lot of new things that I would have never thought I could have learned. The best part has probably been casting the reel outside because it was fun emulating fishing. Moving on, my TV antics have gotten much more intense and I’m loving it. Coming up with silly ideas and putting them into motion is so fun and it really drives me and keeps me motivated. I’ve also gotten to spend a lot of time with my friends, whether it’s online or in person. What I can take from this is that despite all of the negativity that happened during this quarter, there is still some happy that allows us to stay alive during the tough times.

The first highlight from this quarter would be field trips. We had two field trips this quarter, one to Campbell and one to Pearl Harbor. The Campbell trip was for the 8th graders to see what Campbell looks like and the different things they offer. It was very fun to see the buildings they had and see the classrooms. It was also good that I had my friends with me to joke about pig kidneys and skeletons. The Pearl Harbor trip was for 8-3 to see the history of submarines and it was really fun. We even got to go inside of a submarine which was awesome because we were up and close with history. The next obvious highlight I have would be the holidays. Spending time with my friends during Halloween and cooking with my family during Thanksgiving are always moments that I cherish and make me feel so loved. Now to be honest, I don’t really have any more highlights that I don’t already always talk about. I could rant about how much I love tv or yap about the great times with my friends, but you’re here for something original so let’s go straight to the lowlights. Lowlight #1 is headaches. It felt like every week I would get a headache which definitely attributed to making this quarter feel like a decade. Constant pain and hurt week to week was always so dreadful and I became very familiar with the taste of NyQuil after this quarter. Lowlight #2 would be the school work. NHD is such a painful, drag of a project that barely serves a purpose. Weeks of nothing but straight research that is then turned into weeks of straight building and creating. And there is like a 0.01% chance that I win anything. It’s so frustrating, specially when we could be using this time to learn actual skills and history instead of NHD. Then with what I mentioned in the last paragraph about the other work we did, it just piles up and it’s so frustrating. They really need to increase winter break to like 4 weeks because I need a break from today to 2027. I’m still mad about NHD but I will hold myself back and instead conclude this on a positive note. Even when your situation sucks, know that it will get better. You can’t let yourself give up because there is a light to the end of this tunnel. You just need to keep on going and one day, you will make it out.

I’ve learned a lot of things from this quarter. Let’s first start with simple things. I learned a lot about fishing, from creating your hook, how to line your reel, and actually being able to cast and throw the reel. I can’t wait for more fishing club meeting so I can become even more experienced. I also learned a lot about taxes and investments in Financial Literacy. I learned about the different types of taxes and how you should invest your money which is information that will be very important to me when I’m older. But then on a more mental sense, the big overall lesson of this quarter would probably be that if you want something done then you have got to do it. I mentioned this a couple blogs ago, but I never explained how I learned the message. I was scrolling on TikTok and came across a guy sitting in the mountains. He talked to the camera about how he went to breakfast with a guy. He asked the guy for advice and he said that he didn’t have any. The journey to success is different for everyone. But the one thing he told him that you should know is that if you want something done, then make it happen. This really resonated with me. I have trouble sometimes with trying new things. I often get frustrated that it didn’t work the first time and I just give up. But I need to know that if I don’t push myself to be better, than I will be stuck where I am. This overall lesson will help me improve on my lows from this quarter and bring a better outlook and mindset into second semester.

Speaking about second semester, there are gonna be some massive things going on. The two topics I will be discussing are Yearbook and Orientation. Starting with Yearbook, the work is going to ramp up as the deadline comes closer. My main goals entering the third quarter are to quickly finish up the Winter Fair and Door Dec pages. All of the pictures should be on the computer and I just need to find the best ones and edit them. I also need have to start working on the names which will take more time. But the more interesting discussion is on Orientation. I’m looking forward to learn more about my role as the Pre-Show. From the description I heard, it should be a job that I can succeed in. I might not be the best at starting small talk, but I can continue a conversation pretty quickly. I also think I have the improv skills needed to be the Pre-Show host. It will also be interesting to learn what we will be doing for the fashion show since the theme isn’t like past ones. Finally, my goals are to be a better tour guide that I was last year and to be able to give a lot more insight to the students. Overall, the third quarter should be really interesting. With that being said, this concludes my blog. I hope you have a great winter break. Cheers to another day!

Man, that was a long chapter. I thought as I closed the large book. The author seems pretty stupid. Curious on what the next chapter was, I looked at the table of contents. Underline and circled in dark red was Semester 2. I’ll read this later. I put the book back on the shelf and went to sleep.