Don't Wait for a Change, Be the Change.

         If you want something to happen, don't just wait for it and hope for it to be done for you. Each and everyone of us are much stronger than that. No matter how enormous the change may be, if you don't give up, you'll be able to achieve it. Don't just wait by yourself and hope that it'll come to you. Stand up, and start running and screaming. Even if things turn out all wrong and messed up, isn't it better than just waiting there and having a definite plan that nothing will happen?

        Here's one of the most common and best examples for a change : Relationship. ( Boyfriend and Girlfriend) Let's say Boy A likes Girl A. They're friends and Boy A isn't satisfied with it. If he does nothing and just waits there, hoping for Girl A to take the initiative, than of course nothing will happen. But if he becomes brave and asks her out, then there's actually a chance of change rather than nothing at all. Besides, even if Girl A rejects him, and things get awkward, isn't it better to say that you had the will to try? If Girl A knows Boy A's feelings, she might come to like him back. But he never confessed, then she will never know, and won't develop any feelings for him. The best option is to be the change, not wait for it.

     Don't wait for a change, be the change. Of course this saying doesn't only apply to relationships. It applies to everything. Instead of hoping for someone to lead you, YOU lead. The ones that stand up and start running and screaming, the ones that become the change and not wait for it, are the ones that all of us will remember forever.

Word Count: 300

Time passes by, once again.

        While life passes day by day, time will continue to move. Before each of us know it, we'll be full grown adults looking back at our childhood, laughing the day away. Right now, while I'm still young, I want to make the very best of the time presented to me. I have my entire life ahead of me, but how long do I truly have? Many people in this world think that "death" is the worse thing ever. Once you die, you die. Some of us believe in heaven and hell, while others of us believe nothing happens once we leave this world. From my prospective and my opinion, I believe death to be one of the most beautiful things of all time.  Just like graduation, death is a new beginning for all of us. I used to believe that nothing happens after death, but now I'm convinced, and have a unique amount of hope that it's a new beginning for all of us. We are all equal to each other, no matter what skin color we have or the place we were born in. Time doesn't stop for anyone, it won't stop for me and it won't stop for you.

        YOLO. You only live once, so make the most of it. The BEST time in our lives is when we are young and have the confidence to take on the entire world, without a second thought. While we're young, we have to try many different things, even if they are "stupid." As I personally said in the past and now the present - " The most stupidest memories, are the best memories." I'm convinced that most of us don't want to be forgotten when we die. We don't want to be part of the "normal people." We want that ONE PAGE in the history book to be dedicated to us. There's nothing in this world worse than then wasting your precious time. Time is most likely the number 1 thing that all of us take for granted. Even if death is a new beginning, that doesn't mean this life, right now, is irrelevant.

       Time passes by, once again. Personally, from my experience and thoughts, looking back at my memories when I was younger, always leave me in tears. I will always wish and will continue to wish that I would be able to relive those precious and important moments. I don't want to time to move on. I don't want to grow up. I don't want to graduate high school. I don't want to leave my friends. Time won't wait for me, the only thing I can do now is to make memories. - Setsu
       
Word Count: 445

Least Favorite Season

          My most favorite season is autumn, and of course, my least favorite season is winter. Autumn is nice and warm and the colors during this season are absolutely breath-taking. Of course, "breath-taking" can also apply to winter as well. Winter always seems to cause the most problems regarding my health. I have asthma, so it really does take my breath away thanks to the temperature. Winter is when I receive the most asthma attacks, since my body prefers warm temperature. Winter is also sometimes incredibly dull looking. Even though I personally love the color white ( My most favorite color) it just doesn't feel right. Everything is white when you go outside and most of the time it's a pain. Now if the snow, ice and wind weren't cold, then I could see winter as one my most favorite seasons. 

 

       The color white is a reason why I don't completely hate winter. I personally love the color white. It's a color that hasn't been dyed by any other color. It follows it's own path, ignoring everyone and everything else. It's completely independent and not plain at all. I used to think the color white was the most stupidest color there ever was. I thought it was way too plain and shouldn't even exist. As time passed though, white become as most favorite color because I believe it's the best color that represents myself, other than the color black. The fact that white follows it's own path and is unaffected by everything else is so unique. 

         The cold is why winter is my least favorite season out of the four seasons. I have to wear layers and layers of clothes almost everyday during winter just to get a little bit of warmth. With the combination of wind during winter, could make one of the worst days ever for me. Winter is too bad in temperature by itself, but with wind, it makes everything worse. Wind works well with every other season, benefiting each and every one of them, but for winter it's just horrible. 

         

Don't get me wrong though. I can see why you winter lovers love this season the most. You can go sledding, make a snowman, and have snowball fights. But for me, there are more negatives in winter than positives. Even though winter just started, and thanks to it we have a snow day, I can't wait for it to end. Maybe one day I'll like winter, but as of now, 12/20/12 I don't like it. 

Word Count : 421

          

Trust

        In this world, one of the most important things is to have trust in other people besides yourself. But just how much trust should we put in them? Enough trust that's worth our lives or no trust at all? Trusting others is what every single one of us do, whether we notice it or not. Whether we known that person since forever or a much shorter amount of time. Whether they earn that trust or not, sometimes we trust them fully. Our trust in the people we love might just stay forever, or they could disappear, forever.

         Trusting people is not an easy thing, even though sometimes we think it is. Not every single one of us can trust someone we've known for a day or since kindergarten. It can be hard, painful sometimes. Some of us faced incidents in the past that will never be forgotten. Our trust in people is limited. No matter who the person is, the full trust that we had before in people, will never meet the person. Trusting is no doubt a double-edged sword. There's no trust in this world that isn't. No trust in a person can only have positive effects, there will always be negative.

          Losing trust in people is by far one of the most horrible feelings that we'll ever have. Just is a paper, once you crumbled it up, it'll never restore back to it's full original form. There will be damages everywhere no matter how much we or they try to soothe them. Trust isn't a thing we can all buy again with our money. Once you lose it, you lose it. Trusting others is irreplaceable no matter who we are or where we are. To have no trust means your alone.

          Having trust within others is by far one the most best feelings that we'll ever have. Just like earth, all countries in this entire world were created though the trust in others. We don't just wake up someday and hope to make a country. With trust, we depend on other people besides our selves to create that magical country. A country is not one person, it's a group of people who trust each other and will help one another in their moment of need. To have trust means your not alone.

Word Count: 516

Eyes wide open

          Our eyes is something that all of us take for granted. Our eyes are our treasure that is impossible to replace. No amount of money that equal the value of our precious eyes. Without our eyes, the world is gone. Even with our four other senses that we have, losing sight means losing them all. Eyes are what makes us who we are. It shows us the kind of person we are. We can't exactly look in a mirror or anything in the matter, without eyes. So let's keep our eyes wide open until our time has come. Pray that nothing happens to them, and that we'll have them for as long as we live. Look beyond the sky and look beyond ourselves. Eyes wide open.

           Our eyes show everything about us. It shows our emotion and our true selves. Everything lies in our eyes. Whether we divert our eyes away, or keep them looking straight forward, without looking back. They are the ones that keep us going and support us. We cry in despair with them and we have courage with them. The look on a person's eyes is what they truly are. We should judged and characterized by our eyes instead of our: race, size, and friends.  Our eyes are all different, it's a unique feature to all of us. Showing them off isn't such a bad thing.
       
Word Count: 244

After a Bad Start

The feeling we get when we start off horrible and hoping that we will recover, is one of the worst feelings we can have. Whether it’s starting on a new trimester, a sports competition, race, etc. We don’t know if we will ever recover from the bad start, we just know that we’ll do our best to overcome it.  We start to wonder if it’s the end of the world, just from a few quizzes or tests. We sometimes think that grades are everything and we try to keep them up as best as we can. We try to win for our school, but with the bad start that we had, we failed to do so. With all of these losses, which path will we take afterwards? Will we hope that we can learn from them and recover from them?

There are only two options we can take after the bad start. One option is to give up and continue failing and not try anymore. Each and every one of us can do that. We were affected by the loss, and we think recovering is impossible. We think that continuing to try is futile. Since we didn’t get rewarded before.  The other option and also the harder opinion, is to try to get revenge. When I say revenge I don’t mean killing or any of the sorts. I mean recovering from the loss and to move forward. “Keep on running forward” is one of the best quotes I have ever heard. It’s helped me multiple times no matter how many times life has stopped me.

                It’s much harder than it sounds. Some of us just can’t say that we will study hard and get an “A” next time. We need to make a commitment to it. Some of us need to show more emotion then others to overcome it. There may be people who don’t have study to get the best grade. There may be people who recover really fast without trying at all. But those people don’t know hard work like us normal people do. There’s a difference between smart people and hardworking people. Yet they can also be the same people. Smart people can be considered people who don’t have to try and people who work hard for the grade. I personally don’t see it that way. I believe they are separate. Smart people are smart. Hard working people are hard working. The struggle that hard working people go through is something that not even the smartest person in the world will know about.
           
              If you want to follow through and recover from the bad start then there’s no other option then to work hard. Even after we work hard and the results are still just as bad as before, we have to continue to work harder and to neutralize the bad start. Keep on running forward, don’t even think about looking back. Once we start, we hard working people will overcome anything and everything that stand before us.

Word Count: 501

Hardest and Happiest Moments in our Lives

            Even though the hardest days in our lives are memorable sometimes, there are also happy moments that will stay with us forever.  In a year, there is 365 days, but only a small number of those days are memorable. Although the hardest days are indeed amazingly memorable for me, it's the happy moments in my life that I will forever cherish more. For example: Today I finally passed my driver's test, completely making me the happiest male on the face of the planet, for the day at least... December 8th 2012, will always be in my memories because I consider it one of the happiest moments in my life so far. To even have these moments in my life is a unique pleasure. Although I don't like the hard times, I know that as time passes by, things will go my way. 

           Always take down the hardest moments first. It's similar to saying " homework first, then play." To do  your homework first and finish it, means that you won't have to worry about it anymore, after you finish it for the remainder of the day. You can play to your hearts content after the hard times are over. Our hardest times may be difficult to overcome and recover from, but it makes us who we are. We wouldn't be us without these moments. The hardest moments make up half of who you are, the other half belongs to.. our most happiest moments in our life. 

          Whether you passed an all important test, whether you got an amazing present, a happy moment is the moment in our lives. Each person is different in this world, and our definitions of happiest may not intersect. But one thing is for sure, the happiest moments in our lives are the moments where we truly smiling and have that fuzzy feeling saying " it's great to be alive." 

Word Count: 310

Confidence is Key

       When your about to break a wall standing in front of you, confidence is the key to winning. I obviously don't mean a wall literally, I mean an obstacle, like a drivers test, ACT, SAT, opponent in a sports game, etc. If you have confidence, you have a much better chance of winning then you would without confidence. If you don't have confidence from the start, and say some lines like " Well, I'm probably going to fail anyway, " or " let's give it our best shot, even though we'll still lose! " kind of lines, then you already loss from the start, regardless of the score in the end. Why should you even get the victory if your not confident? Do you think that if you don't get your hopes up that luck will go your way? Get your hopes up. Have confidence that you will win no matter what. Try your best and give it your all, no matter what anyone says about it, and regardless of the result. If you lose in the end, at least you had confidence. You'll soon forget about the loss and move on and take the victory next time.

        Don't lose hope to the very beginning. If you already think you are going to fail then odds are you ARE going to fail. No one is lucky every time during a test. I personally used to think that if I don't get my hopes up that I was going to get a good grade on a test. It worked quite a bit of times, but not anymore. I learned that you have to have confidence before taking a test that you will do well on it. If you fail, well at least you died trying. You know what I mean.  Rather than having no confidence in the beginning and lose, which is similar to a double loss.

        Here's a narration for you guys. I believe narration is similar to a story, so here's a story. The first time I took my drivers test, I knew I was going to fail even before even taking it. My mind only processed myself failing the test repeatedly, never once did I imagine myself passing the test. On the day of the test, I went to the driver's licence place, obviously nervous. I thought that I might just get lucky and that God will shine on me helping me pass the test because I have given up. I spent about 10~15 minutes with the driving instructor and at the end he gave me the results quite bluntly. I failed. I couldn't believe it. I didn't get my hopes up at all, and I thought that would work in my favor. Obviously it didn't. When I got home, I was really depressed and completely disappointed in myself. I thought if only I had more confidence in my driving, I would have passed ... it was a really valuable lesson that I learned, that I will never forget, ever.

Word Count: 596

Our lives

There are many things that can change your life. Whether it's a present from a special someone or a new person entering your life.  Or graduation. Obviously there is more life changing examples that can be used, but these are the subjects/events that are on my mind right now.  Things come and go, whether we want it to or not. Our entire lives can change in an instant of any time. Our lives may change, making them better or worse, but our memories will always stay the same. Memories are our life. Those precious pieces in our minds is what make us who we are. Whether our lives change for better or worse, it’ll always be memorable.

               Something as small as a present during Christmas can change our lives. The cheap presents sometimes might not mean much to us but as always the quote that always comes up “It’s the thought that counts.”  No matter what the present is, we’ll probably look back at it one day and laugh. Getting a present from our friends may seem like an everyday thing to some of us, but to others, it’s one of the best events that we will treasure forever. No matter what the present is, deep down in our hearts we’ll love it.
 
                A new life can come with a new person entering our lives. Whether it’s a baby, our old classmates, or someone from our past.  As time wanders off and loses control, that person will change our lives. Sometimes whether we want them to or not.  A new life with that person can be a special thing. That person could be the person we spend the rest of our lives with. That person could be the most powerful person in this world. That person could be the one who saves you. Who knows.

               Graduation is one of the most well-known life changers there is. Graduating high school is huge. The relationships that we’ve made over the years can change in an instant. Graduation means a new life, sometimes a new life on our own. With graduation means getting older. As each year passes, we go to the next grade and grow older by 1. Each age is life changing, no matter how small it may be.

               There are many life-changing events that we still haven’t experienced and there are just as many events that we have experienced.  Our lives changes at any time and sometimes without us knowing. It’s our precious job to take them all in and to make the best of them. Then one day, in our memories, we’ll look back at our life changes and wish to relive them.  –Setsu

 

Word Count - 448

           

GPA

              Grand Point Average. GPA is really important for high school, college, etc. It shows how well your doing in your classes as an average. It's the thing that you usually are concerned about regularly if you check for grades frequently. If someone wants to know how smart you are, they sometimes ask the question: "What's your GPA currently?" and then you might tell them your GPA and they will decide whether you are "smart" or not. Well, the thing is GPA does not determine how smart you are. There are many things in the world you can do to be called "smart" For example, you can know the answer to a single problem that nobody else knows and you just might be branded as smart. There's much more in school then just the grade, but in this time period it seems like the GPA is what all students care about. Some students would do anything to get their grade up, because they think it shows how smart they are, and they know it's what colleges look at when your applying for college.

          There are many students that I personally know that are really smart, they just don't try to do the homework/assignments in school. GPA requires repetition. You have to want the grade to get the grade, continuously doing the homework, projects, quizzes, tests, etc. But if your lazy and don't do the homework you won't have a high GPA. A high grade point average is awarded to people who try their hardest in school whether they were smart or not. Me for example. I'm not smart, and I'll never be smart. But I know how to try hardest, do my homework every night and study. That's why I have a decent grade point average.

          GPA doesn't mean your smart, I've talked about that. But just because I said it doesn't mean your smart doesn't mean it's meaningless. GPA is used for many, many things. Obviously, college is the prime example for how your grade point average matters. Your grade point average has to be above a certain number to enter some colleges. It's also used for some jobs too.

Word Count: 361

Using your Time wisely

             Using time wisely is the key for many things. Like, College, homework, part-time job, etc. Time goes on and goes on for the rest of our lives. It's the matter of how we use it that counts. Everybody does different things with the time that we have. Whether it's after school, before school, during school, after work, after waking up, etc. If you know how to use your time wisely, then you control just about everything that goes around your life. 

             For example, after-school, I have hours and hours to do anything I want. But what do I do in those hours? How much time am I going to spend on homework and do my part-time job? I have to plan how I'm going to use my time wisely. Lately, I've been managing my time really badly. I sometimes go a few more hours than expected from my homework. I usually finish all of my homework in around 2-3 hours but it takes me around 3-4 hours now. Now what I'm planning is I should "use my time wisely" by taking breaks within homework sessions to do whatever I want. It might benefit my head better and shorten the time I need to think through a math problem and lower the time that I spend on homework each night. 

            College is great example for supporting the phrase " Use your time wisely." College students have to spend numerous amounts of hours outside of class to study the material and do the homework. They have to learn what they are going to do every night and plan it out wisely. For example: if they have a reading assignment like reading 100 pages a week. Most likely they won't read all 100 pages within a night. They will manage their time and read, say 20 pages for every 5 nights. That's using the time given to you to do the homework wisely. 

            Time is everything. If you want to treasure the time that you have, then you might as well use it wisely, and the way you want to. I know that some of you may have plenty of time to do whatever you want, but you can use it wisely to set a schedule for homework, friends and so on. In the amount of time that your bored and have nothing to do, you can allocate that time for extra studying or so on. Don't forget to add a few breaks every now and then too because those are just as important as the study time. Find a way to use your time wisely, so it's memorable and so that it just won't be another day of your life. 

Word Count: 443

More than one way

              There's usually more than one way to approach something.  More than one way to live. But when there's more than one way for everything, there's always a "correct" way. From my point of view, it seems like there is a correct way to live. Even though everyone have their own way of living, it feels like society explains life in a different manner than it once did. You go to school everyday, learn, respect your teachers, go home, do homework and have fun with your hobbies. Then go to sleep and start the next day over. We then graduate, go to college, get a career and have a family for as long as we live. That's pretty much the general life without the specifics right? 

             There's more than one way to live your life though. Even if your friends and family tell you that you should go to school and get a career, should you? A "normal" life is what most common people look for and strive to do. Some people have more luck than others, while others have much less. There's always a different way to live your life. Try to be different, you don't always have to agree to what other people say to you, if you want to then that's your choice. I'm not saying that you should not go to school, I'm just saying that there's more than one way you can choose. The most important thing is to know that your not strapped down to only one option.

            When there is a different way to do something, people will go for it. Some of us love to stand out and try something different than the "correct/fundemental/best" way to do it. It's those kinds of people who do their best to stand out of the group that makes the entire world so unique. America is the one of the better examples. We don't have just have one race here, we have every race. Each and everyone of us are different from each other and that's why we are strong. We respect each other and help each other. I'm not saying that other countries aren't as strong or united as us. Sometimes the same race all in a country is a wonderful thing. I never been in a single race country so I wouldn't know. That's why I'm only talking about the country I was born in, America.

         All in all, my point is that there's more than way to do everything. Being "normal" is good, but being an individual is also good.

Word Count: 428

Reality and the Virtual World

Since this is my last blog of the trimester, I thought I should finish it up talking about the ever so beautiful reality. All of my blogs are "only reality." I don't confuse anything outside of reality, with reality. Talking about the reality I live in, helps me know myself a whole lot better. I sometimes write about the things that I go through, without making it a everyday thing about myself. I try not to use the word "I" too much because then I'll be talking about my problems rather in the topic I'm on. My blogs are meant to help people think more in depth with life. Sometimes I get out of hand and talk about useless stuff, but I hope you will continue to listen to me while I "blog."

"Reality" is beautiful. Sometimes some of us mix up reality and the virtual world, and I admit I'm one of them. The virtual word is also great, sometimes even better than reality in my opinion. The virtual world is the place where we can escape from reality and forget what happened that day. We can have fun with our friends online, not thinking about the harsh things that happened. You can be a completely different person online, changing yourself. Since we're behind a computer screen the other person can't do anything to you and obviously, some people have taken that in account and have taken advantage of it. As I said before I was one of them. On a online game that I played, I was a really high level among others. I played the game all day with my real life friends and online friends. When I was alone and my real life friends didn't join me into this game yet, I felt like I was a completely different person online. No one could touch me. Since I was a high level, I felt like I was a little mean to the lower levels from time to time. That no longer happens, but I just wanted to say that some of us have been sucked into the virtual world and had a hard time thinking about it when we came back into reality. 

No matter what we do, we'll never be able to escape reality, it'll always, always, always come back to us. We have to face our problems sooner or later, but it's best to face them now. Reality (life) has it's ups and downs, that's what makes it reality. In the virtual world, everything can go right for us. Some games are designed that way. Maybe games were made because there were some people who gave up on life and wanted sometime more exciting. But we need "downs" in our lives to get something greater because all of us learn from those mistakes and life lessons. 

Word Count: 472

Getting Help

There's nothing wrong with receiving help. Getting help is something that all of us do, and some of us do it on a regular basis. Like receiving help from teachers on a certain problem at school or from our peers,family and friends. Some of us have too much pride to ask for help sometimes, and I admit that I'm one of them. I personally don't ask for help often, and most of the time when I do, it's not implied. Although, recently I've been seeing help in a new light, my savior sort of. We can't do everything by ourselves, we need to trust others.

Raising your hand in class is tough for some of us. Some of us are shy and really just can't get our voices out. So we either ask our question after class or during class where nobody else is listening or watching. Getting help doesn't have to be during in class in front of everyone, you just have receive help. Asking a teacher a question about a problem that you don't understand is reassuring. Your teacher tries he's/her best to explain the process to you, and afterwards when he's/ she's done, you feel relieved that you asked. Put yourself out there. Asking for help is what makes us human, no one human can do everything alone, without help.

Asking for help from our family and friends is the easiest way to get help and it doesn't feel like losing your pride at all. I would say, lose that pride. Pride is nice of standing up for yourself, but if you don't trust others and let them help you, then there's not a point in having it in the first place. Most of us can talk to our family members about anything, since we known them for a long time. We sometimes know how they'll react before we even ask them. It's more reassuring that way. Friends are just a little bit tougher. Depending on how much you've been with them and how much you trust them, you don't exactly know how they will react. For example: I could ask one of my friends for help and he could joke around and say no, and I'll take it seriously.

My point is sometimes you shouldn't be so independent because there's nothing wrong with help. All of us ask for help at some stage in our lives and we'll probably continue asking for help from time to time. You can try to be alone and have no one else to help you, but you'll be taking the much harsher path. Getting help will shorten that path and make it a lot easier to walk on.

Word Count: 450

Everyday Moments

Pictures are special. You can take them whenever and where ever you are. When you take a picture, it preserves your memories in the moment that you were once living in. Taking pictures during a trip is a wonderful thing. Rather than trying to buy souvenirs and such, pictures are less expensive and more meaningful, at least to me anyway.  I love taking pictures and I capture my precious moments regularly. When I have some free time, after a while, I look at my pictures. It doesn't matter if it’s was a day ago or 10 years ago, the picture brings back unrepeatable memories. Live in that single moment, because no matter what you do, you won’t be able to relive it again.

Every day passes by before you know it. Every day is unique and all of us take that for granted. We should treasure the days that we live each day. Rather than just waiting until the end of the week. If you read my earlier blogs I've said this before: Today is 10/23/12. After today is over, I will never be able to relive this day again. I will be able to live a Tuesday again, but not 10/23/12. The things that I do on this day can’t be replaced or changed. These moments are mine.

Showing that you appreciate everyday isn't easy. You can easily speak words saying that you will, but you won’t.  Not until you show it. The way I show how I appreciate every day is by having a point chart/diary. I rate the things I do each day from 1 to 5. 1 being ok and 5 being one of the most amazing things I have ever done.  My point chart also goes negative a lot of time if something occurs that I don’t like. My chart started around 2011 or 2010 and it’s been going every day since. I look back, and I smile. When looking at them, when they’re in my own words, I feel the emotion I had at the time. Whether I was happy, bored, crying, I showed it all in my daily writing. 

So find the thing that helps you appreciate every day. It can be anything like changing your activities every day, or hanging out with your friends. Every day is unique and shouldn't be taken for granted. Time travels fast, make the best memories of yours, now. 

Word Count: 401

Who will be World Number 1 at the end of the year?

Currently the Number 1 Tennis Player in the World right now is Roger Federer. But how long can he maintain his world number one title? Novak Djokovic is closing the gap in points to take back his number one ranking. Also, he has challenged Roger Federer to see who will be world number one at the end of 2012. I believe there's only 3 tournaments left in 2012, so this will definitely be very close. Will Roger Federer maintain his current ranking, or will he drop down to No.2? Or will Novak Djokovic take back his world number 1 ranking and be No.1 for two years in a row?

In the last tournament they both played well. Novak ended up winning the tournament (Shanghai.) Roger only made to the Semi-finals, and there he lost to Andy Murray - the grand slam winner of US Open, who is currently on fire right now.  With Roger only making it to the TOP 4 and Novak winning the entire tournament, it reduced the distance between them even more. If Novak wins the next tournament, he WILL regain his world number 1 ranking that he lost to Roger a few months ago. Both of them have a lot of pressure on them, but lets see who can take it better than the other.

One of the tournaments left in 2012 is Basel. Basel is the birthplace of Roger Federer. So we all know that Roger Federer won't lose there so easily, then again he doesn't lose easily to anybody. This is a tournament that Federer loves to win, going by his expression when he won it last time. Also another one of those tournaments is the ATP World Tour Finals. The place where Roger has won 6 times at. He is currently known as the best indoor hard court player. He dominated the other 7 players that competed in the tournament because the hard court there suits he's style of play nicely. Roger Federer is currently the strongest tennis player on grass and indoor courts. While, Novak is the strongest hard court player overall currently. With both of them in fine form, we'll just have to wait and see who gets the 2012 world number 1 spot.

Word Count: 461

Future, Mirai, Present.

I'm sure all of you guys know what "future" is, but do you know what "mirai" means? If you know what future is, then you also know what mirai is. Yes, mirai is the Japanese word for future. Since, I'm a senior in high school, I have to start thinking about my future. At least that's what everyone's saying. I haven't truly decided what I want to be when I grow up yet, but right now, presently, I want to travel around this vast world. I have never been outside of Iowa and Illinois. The only thing I believe, I should have on my mind after high school is college. I don't know what college I'll be attending so I'll just have to wait and decide soon.

The reason I bring this topic up isn't to just discuss about my future, but also the future itself. Kinda. Do you believe the end of the world will be on December 21st 2012? Well, I don't know exactly. Whether it happens or not, I don't care. I believe things always happen for a reason, and if we die, we all die together. Instead of dying off one by one in the vast future. The future is something I could talk about for days, because it's endless. What you do now, will affect your future. For example, your grades. I don't want to be limited to the amount of colleges I can get into because of my grades. If I try harder now, and receive high grades then it'll benefit me as a whole in the future when I graduate and even after that. I don't need regrets.

What's more important? The future or the present? It's an opinion question. There's always people who think differently from each other, contradicting. In my opinon, the present is much more important then my future. Solely because the future is dependent on the present. What you do now will affect your future in every single aspect. Another example: I friends I made in high school might even stick with me in the future. The memories I make now, will continue in the future with me. If I learn some college material now, I won't have to work as hard as I do if I didn't learn the material in the future. I know they are really bad examples, but I think you knew even before you started reading the examples.

Word Count: 403, might continue and revise.

Long Term Assignments

I'm not a big fan of long term assignments. If you don't understand what I mean, then I'll rephrase it. Homework that's given to you and then due in a week or two weeks. Obviously the time given to you to do the homework is nice, and some teachers usually give you more than enough time to do the assignment. But I have a few reasons why I don't like long term assignments.

First is time management on my part. I don't know how to manage my time correctly in order to do the assignment. Usually like most students I wait until very last one or two days to do it. Pretty much cramming for it. It always happens no matter how hard I try. For example, my AP Economics teacher gives us a good amount of pages in the Econ book to take notes over, and he gives us two weeks to do them. I don't know what happens, but I always end up using up the first week and end up having to use the last week to do the notes. Of course they are really nice notes that benefit me, and maybe this way might even be better for me. Who knows. But I don't think I'll be able to keep this habit of mine once I enter college. From what I heard from my teachers, almost every assignment is individual and long term. They give you a packet consisting of dates for the tests,quizzes and homework, but never speak of the packet ever again. They expect you to do the work yourself. Which isn't a bad thing, and I guess that's why they are called "professors" instead of "teachers" in college. I don't have any background information so don't assume that all of the things I've said so far are accurate.

These blogs are a good example of long term work too. I usually wait until Friday or Sunday to do them. Except when we have blogging time in class, like now. It might be my style but, the blogs I write last minute, are always better then the rest of my blogs, in my opinion.

Homework that's not due until after a few weeks is very independent. Most of the time, I usually just prefer before a short, nice homework that's due in a few days. They are usually a lot smaller and easier to do, depending on the class that's it for.

Word Count: 409

Everyday, Reality

From my point of view of the world, it feels like we do the same thing everyday over and over. We go to school, meet our friends, finish school, eat, do hobbies, work, then sleep and start the next day over. Isn't that a little boring? I feel like it is. But everyone seems to have gotten used to it at this stage in their life. An ever changing day in life. Of course there are some days that are different from the rest, and that's what we live for. If everyday was the exact same day, is there really a point in living? I don't believe there is. But if there is a least one day each week that's different from the rest, then its a whole different story. 

During summer, without school it was kind of boring. Of course I'm not saying that with school it wouldn't be boring. I personally  had nothing to do besides some of my hobbies, but it's not like I can do that every second of everyday. I tried hard to change it up a bit everyday, and everyday got a lot more fun. I hung out with my friends and started to change my hobbies up a bit. So that reality wouldn't be so boring. If we try hard and change our days little by little I think all of us would appreciate and not take granted for everyday that we live on this planet.  

The week goes like this: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then Saturday. We call these days that we live in by these names. But when we name the days by date it's a lot different. For example, today is 10/14/12. After this day is over, I will never be able to relive this day again. But I will be able to relive "Sunday" again. When I think of days by date, I get sad. A day is a day, no more time then that. You have 24 hours to spend on 10/14/12.

Word Count: 333

Japanese Class

I remember in the eighth grade, we picked what classes to attend in high school. Of course, like everyone else I didn't take it seriously. But when I got to the foreign language part, I started to get serious. There were quite a few options and I had no idea what to choose at first. There was Spanish,  Chinese,  German,  French ( I think) and Japanese. Maybe I missed a few I don't know, either way I was seriously considering Chinese since I'm about 20% Chinese according to my mom and dad. Then, I looked at the word "Japanese" I was smiling. I was like " this is the one!" I circled it, and now to this day, I have never ever regretted it since. Japanese class has always been the class I look forward to every single day. Everyday was different and fun. Japanese class is different then any other classes in Kennedy, no doubt. If it's not too late for you, and you still have a chance to take Japanese at Kennedy, take it. You won't regret it. The atmosphere of this class is far different then any other class I have taken or currently taking at Kennedy. Everyone feels like a really close friend of yours, even like family on some days. This also includes the sensei (teacher).

During my first year at Kennedy and first year in Japanese class, my sensei ( teacher) was Henklemann sensei ( I'm pretty sure I didn't spell it right sorry). She was a fun teacher and was very hard working at times. We focused on learning Japanese characters everyday, and learned really helpful Japanese words that we all still use today. After freshman year ended, she stopped being my sensei. Carolin-sensei was my new teacher. Of course I was really upset that she had to leave Kennedy, and teach the Jefferson students, but things change over time. At first, I thought Carolin-sensei was really weird. Still even today, we would waste so much time talking about stuff that had nothing to do with Japanese. I really like it. No matter what sensei I have, as long as I learn more and more Japanese, I just know that it'll be a fun experience.

The time I circled "Japanese" in eighth grade with never be filled with regret. I'm actually really glad that I circled it that time. It's one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

Word Count : 404

Break Free

Some of us are shy, afraid to do presentations, afraid of being judged by others and some of us want everyone to like them. Well unfortunately, not everyone is gonna like you. Also, you won't necessarily like everyone you meet. You can be shy when your young, but when you grow older, it needs to go. If your afraid to do presentations, rehearse a lot so you won't completely panic when you present. There will always be presentations in school, and you won't be able to avoid all of them. Might as well get used to them. If your afraid of being judged by others, don't be. Why should you care about what everyone else thinks about you? Live your life the way you want to, in other words, break free. 

Shyness. I've been really shy since elementary school. I wouldn't talk too much to people around me, and I was afraid to interact with strangers. I would let people approach me first, rather then me approaching them. That was me before. Now when I see a student inside of school having the same problem as me in the past, I go up to them and sit by them. Then I create small talk. I'm aware that this action doesn't necessarily work on everyone, but it's worth a shot.  There were people who have done the same thing to me in the past, and I'm truly thankful to them. I wouldn't be myself today if it wasn't for them. Unfortunately, I was quite shy in the first 3 years of high school too.... yeah I know. Well, Junior year wasn't too bad, with the help of some teachers I broke free little by little. They helped get ready for Senior year. They obviously knew my weaknesses and improved them greatly. The same exact thing my Senior year teachers are helping me with now.

Afraid to do Presentations. Well, yes, there are still multiple people that I know that are afraid or just plain suck at giving presentations. They stutter, mess up and their face becomes red while doing all of that stuff. The more presentations you do, the less you will be afraid to do them. Especially if the presentations you give in Junior year were like 10+ minutes. Imagine that. 10 whole minutes standing in front of the class, hoping you won't screw up. All eyes watching your every moment.

I'm sure some people already noticed already but, you start to notice the only time your nervous is before you do the presentation. Not during. Well at least this all goes for me. My hands would sweat everytime I start a presentation, hoping that everything would go well and that I don't mess up and everyone would laugh at me. One of my fears. But now that I think of it, if they laugh, I would probably laugh too! That's just the way I am. I love seeing people laugh. Also, when I see people laugh I tend to laugh too.

That's pretty much all I have to say. I feel like I spread-ed this topic way too much. I'll try to do better next time. I hope I gave you at least something to think about. I just wanted to show you and myself also, that I can't keep these weaknesses. That everyone and myself included need to break free and become an individual. I'm almost there.

Word Count : 667

Hard Work

Well, while I'm currently writing this, I still am not done with all of my homework. But I'm really close. I just wanted to say to explain and maybe tell you a little bit about the feeling you receive after a hard days work of pretty much anything. For example, it really does relaxes me that I get all of my homework done, and that I work hard on all of them. The feeling that you receive knowing that now you can relax is one of my most favorite feelings. I can do anything I want after I finish the work required kind of feeling. Freedom. Sometimes even being proud of yourself. I'm sure everyone has encountered this feeling at least once, and it doesn't have to be homework. I can only imagine what the cast/director feel after finishing a movie and knowing that several people will probably watch it. People who receive their pay after a week or a couple weeks of work. People that achieve the career that they wanted since elementary school. I'm sure they look back at that time and get the feeling saying that " I did it." Hard work won't abandon you. If you give it 100% + and not something like 50%, you WILL get your reward. Sooner or later you will. Whether it's studying for a major test tomorrow or rehearsing for a presentation it will pay off it the end. If you study and review the material that you get in class everyday, it will stay inside your brain before you know it. Sometimes all you need to do is pay attention in class to get a good grade within the class. Of course, for some of us and including me paying attention while a teacher is giving us a lecture IS hard work. It will pay off in the end though because if you pay attention during class, review after school and do the homework, you won't have to study as much and won't panic when the test paper is sitting right in front of you.

Everyone has to work hard at some point in their life. It's just the matter of how many times you do it. For example, I played tennis and currently am playing tennis. I remember on the first day of tennis practice I pretty much sucked. I didn't know how to hit the ball at all, and all I was thinking about was hitting it w/o hitting it into the net. I worked amazingly hard after that day and after few losses. I hate losing. Especially when something is one on one. Tennis is mostly one on one. Your dependent on yourself and no one else. I watched several videos on YouTube almost everyday striving for coaches to teach me the fundamentals on tennis and sometimes just the things that I thought were cool. I worked hard and added the stuff I learned from videos on to the tennis court. It's paid off. I made it to the regular Junior Varsity rather than the JV with the freshman and sophomores. It felt like I ranked up, and it was a great feeling.

Word Count: 525

Time flies.

I don't have too many memories in either elementary school nor middle school. High school is where it's at. I haven't really started hanging out with a "group" of friends until about sophomore year. I remember myself always being excited to being able to hang out with my friends so casually. The reason for that is, in 9th grade I was very quiet and didn't really talk to anybody besides some friends I already knew, and did not make that year. I remember there being days when I didn't utter a single word while in school because I didn't have any classes with my friends. Even during Japanese class during freshman year I was quiet. When I look back to see how much time flies it's always been a large amount. I almost never just look back at yesterday, because most of the time I don't have any idea what I did. Even though many people, songs, inspirations, friends and family tell us to treasure the time that we have and treasure it everyday, it's not really possible. I would like to treasure everyday, but I can't. The reason for that is because of repetition. Most of us are stuck in repetition. In other words, we go to school everyday, we get done and then some of us have work after that, that they sometimes do everyday. We do homework, talk to our friends, then sleep. Then we start the next day all over again with probably the same schedule in mind. Not everyday is unique. No matter how I see it, there needs to be events that stand out from the rest. That's why during weekends me and my friends hang out together. To make that single day memorable and unique. Even though the hang outs are pretty similar to each other like where the places we go, it's always different in the jokes that we make and have fun with. It's unique. There's no other way to put it. I'm sure when I enter college and maybe if I somehow part ways with them, I will always have those memories in my heart no matter how long it is. 

Time doesn't wait for anyone. It never will. Time will always continue to move and people will change. That's the truth. It doesn't need to be a fact to be relevant. "Man, it's already been 4 years since the last election when Barack Obama won?" "I'm already in my senior year of high school?!? It feels like I just entered high school yesterday!" " It's already been 6 years since my little brother has been born huh." I hope that somehow, we at least make a few memories that we can keep in our hearts no matter how long time leaves us. 

Word Count: 560

Pressure

Even though a lot of people I know and just a lot of people in general suck under pressure, I believe I'm ok or sometimes even better under immense pressure. A few days ago, I was under a bit of pressure taking my Pre-Calc quiz. I've been struggling in that class for quite a while now, and it's the class with my lowest grade currently. With that pressure, I saw my results to the quiz the next day when my teacher graded the papers. He called my name and he said "Great Work!" and shook my hand. I looked at the quiz and I aced it 30/30. I was super proud of myself and really happy. Usually even though a lot of people around you put pressure on you, the added pressure that you put on yourself is the one that counts. For example, how well did you want to do on that quiz? You didn't have to ace it, you could have easily added a significant amount of pressure on yourself, not always a whole lot.

Obviously, before a presentation there's a lot of pressure and nervousness or just about everyone. But the thing is it's only for that amount of time. During the presentation, you could easily be locked and get done without even knowing it. "Your the one that puts pressure on yourself."

Word Count: 225

Comments

One of my most favorite things to read ever. One of the best things on YouTube, sometimes even better than the videos itself, is the comments. There are many sites on the internet that use the comment box option under the video, article,etc. Anyone can comment depending on the site. You get to hear the voice of others after/before the video. I really like comments because they make it more lively in my opinion. Think about YouTube without the comments below the video. All we would do is watch the video and move on to the next. With comments, you can spend a lot of time just looking at them, sometimes even more time then the amount of time you used to spend watching the video.

Comments are also a great way to make yourself get more subscribers or a little more better known, depending on how "good or funny" the comment is. YouTube has a function called " Top Comment" where people can thumbs up a comment that they like and if the comments receive enough or a lot of thumbs ups they can be the first comments you see upon watching the video. Possibly, maybe people would look up the username that posted that comment and subscribe them or whatever. The reply mode is really good as well. You can reply to other comments and maybe start a war, which I see quite often on YouTube.

Comments benefit everyone. Just receiving comments on a video that you uploaded excites you. It's a fun way to make YouTube a lot more interactive with many people. You can make friends on YouTube from a kind comment that they or you posted on a video of yours or theirs. Comments can show that people are actually watching your video and liking it or hating it. To rap it all up, comments are very useful and is a very important necessity to have on a site for everyone to enjoy reading/replying, etc.  

Word Count: 332

People Change Over Time.

Whenever I look back at my childhood and the friends I had, I always wondered if I followed the right path. There was this time in elementary school where I had to choose between two groups of friends, where I'm at now is where I'm at. I won't ponder in my past too much since I'm not a fan of that past. But anyway, don't you wonder if you did something diferently you would be at a completely different place right now? In elementary school ( I had 3) I had little friends. I was never a friend of everyone in the class, I'm still not today, and I will never be. I always stick to my little groupie. The typical small group of friends that only hang out with each other. Whether it was Garfield, Cleveland, and Hiawatha, I always stuck with my little group that I somehow managed to make friends with.  What if I never moved to different elementary schools? If with I never went to Hiawatha would I still have all the friends I have today? Most likely not. If I stuck with Garfield/ Cleveland maybe I would be at a different high school than Kennedy. I would be living a different life.

I remember myself being the "Class Clown" once. Boy, was that funny. It was during middle school when I changed myself completely. I wanted to be more studious and have better grades. There were even a lot of times where I chose doing my homework rather than hanging out with my precious friends. Believe me, no one wants to do that. I don't know why but I did it. Over time, from class clown of elementary school times I became less trustful of others. I didn't interact with other students for a moment of time in my life. I really can't believe how much I changed, but I like it. I'm satisfied with the path I'm on now. I would probably change some stuff a little bit though, like a girlfriend or so.... but in the end I'm satisfied. Friends that I met from elementary, middle, high school have stuck with me through thick and thin. From my point of view, it's funny really, none of them have changed while I have. I can't believe it. To think that some of them actually were with me from elementary school all the way to graduation of class of 2013 hopefully.

I will never forget the friends that I have left or the people that have left me. People change. Not everyone will stick with you, there will always be people who drift away from you eventually. But the things that us humans do so well is that we know how to have fun while it lasts. We treasure the moments, and we have these things called "eternal memories."

I'm obviously went off topic.

Word Count: 476

Working Hard.

            I understand that each grade should be harder then the last one. For example, 12th grade is supposed to be "harder" than 11th grade. From where I'm at, yes it's harder, but no one said it was a lot harder. Each grade I learn new things, obviously. But I feel as if 12 grade is far different than any other grade I have faced. 12th grade is facing all my weaknesses and improving each and every one of them to get me ready for the all mighty "College." I have many teachers who attack my weak points such as: Tests, quizzes, critical thinking, reading, presentations, discussions, etc. All of them are things I believe I need to improve drasically before entering a College ( which I don't know where yet.)

            When I was in elementary/middle school I've always heard my mom, dad, relatives, friends, etc, talking about high school and far up from that. I remember in elementary when all the teachers would ask you " What do YOU want to be when you grow up?" I've always wondered why they were talking about that stuff. I mean, we were in elementary/middle. We were young. Yet, somehow I just knew that time would fly away from me. Even though I hardly have any memories from my childhood/elementary and some of middle school even high school, I still don't believe how much I changed since then. It's impossible for anyone's brain to remember everything they did and what happened at each moment of everyday. My point is, even though we were young and sometimes didn't know better, teachers help us get ready for the next level. Whether we remember all the material or not.

            Knowing that there will always be more work ahead will always get me. No matter how hard I work, the work is endless. Even after College, I know I might separate from my friends and live my own life. Having a solid career and possibly a family. Whether it's family struggles, career troubles, friend relations, family relations, etc. there will always be a new day full of work waiting ahead for you. This life that we have in the real world isn't some kind of game, it's obviously reality. We can't level up and stay the same age forever. We can't fix problems immediately. We strive and work harder for the people around us. This is life, working hard for a more perfect future.

Word Count : 507

Expectations, etc.

Expectations can go really far. I've been thinking about expectations a lot lately. Like when a teacher expects you to put outside time to study school material. They don't care if it takes hours or a few minutes, they expect you to put in some time. I agree with them to an extent. Sure putting in time after school and looking over what you did in class that day or even looking forward to what's happening next is great. It helps get more in depth with your studies. It's just a matter of time each person is willing to do that. Not all of us are free and can let homework and studying consume us after school. Some of us are busy will work, sports, etc. I would say don't expect too much, expect lower so you won't be too disapointed.

For me, I expect really high most of the time. For example, when I'm about to start school the next day, I expect that I'll have around 2-3 hours or homework when I get back home. High expectation helps me a lot. If the homework amount travels lower than my expectation then I'll be happy. If the homework amount would ever be higher then 2-3 hours, then I'll cry. Simple as that.

Expectation from teachers will almost always put pressure on students. I'm not saying it's alot of pressure it's just the matter of how much expectation. Now for me, expectation from my parents is much greater. I guess expectation changes from person to person. If, for example, my parents expect me to attend college for four years and acheive a great career, then I would be willing to reach those expectations because I was already thinking about some of that. But what if they wanted me to attend college for more than 4 years? Would I do it? Who knows, the higher the expectation the least likely me myself would do it.

Word Count: 323

Inspiration.

 

With inspiration, comes something magnificent. Everyone inspires one another. Strong or weak, inspiration is still inspiration. Inspiration is one of the biggest key components to make something new. Everything in the world came from inspiration from another. The best works, the worst works, countries, discovering new things, songs, books, writing, poems, videos, websites and etc. pretty much everything you do come from being inspired.

                Inspiration is what keeps me and many others going.  When I make a video for YouTube (which I do regularly) the video doesn’t come from scratch in my mind. The video came from many others who inspired me to do that type of video. I have many friends that inspire me to try different things and to keep up the hard work. Like I mentioned earlier in the first paragraph, not all inspirations are big and helpful, but usually an inspiration doesn’t come alone.  There will always be multiple, whether within the same work or many different works.

                To me, inspiration can come from anyone, but the biggest ones are indeed my rivals. I have a rival who’s far better than me in making YouTube videos. I get inspired by her regularly because of her videos. Inspiration gives me a really amazing topic to expand upon and work on. It helps me reach a new level when I try something new and different from the others.  To me, inspiration is my life because I can’t do anything without it.

                Of course, I’m sure some of the world’s most important people have been inspired as well. Inspiration can come at any time, like childhood or even when you’re a full grown adult. Roger Federer, the person I always mention in my posts, was inspired by Pete Sampras – a 14 grand slam winner and was the top holder of grand slams until Roger broke the record by winning his 15^th. Inspiration can help you break all sorts of records that can’t be done by just anyone. To me, Roger is one of my biggest inspirations by far. You have no idea how much he has done for me. I’ve tried to copy his tennis moves, learning almost every aspect of his forehand, backhand, serve, etc.  Of course my moves will never be able to compare with his, but he made me spend almost every day after school enjoying the game of tennis.

                Whether you know it or not, you probably already have been inspired. Inspiration can come quick or slow but it can also come without you even knowing. It can come from your family, friends, teachers, pets, videos, websites… anywhere. I believe one of the things that make us human is the way humans are so easily inspired, well most of us.

 

Words: 455.

                Might continue later

Long Ways to Go

          We're only a couple weeks into school but I'm already to start playing tennis in 3rd term. It's really hard waiting, it really is. Me and my friends still go to the tennis courts and play from time to time. We all improved drastically in almost every shot. Also, there are also many times where we catch ourselves talking about what happened during the season, losses, wins, coaches, etc. Memories are the best things, treasure them, because unfortunately, some of them disappear.

          Only if tennis would be in all 3 terms, I would love it if that was the case. First and third terms can be outside on the Kennedy tennis courts, and second term and be a inside court somewhere. With only one term, it felt like it went by really fast. Most days when we had practice, we really didn't do much. We mostly did silly exercises, but they were exercises that gave us a really nice laugh.  There was this one time when everyone had to get into a horizontal line and one person, and one person only had to volley with everyone in the line. Honestly, there was a ton of pressure. In the line and outside of the line. While you were in the line you had to be ready to volley with the hitter when he came to you. Being the hitter has obviously more pressure because everyone is staring at you intently. It was all fun though, Coach Bova's exercises are the best.

         

         

US Open Final Match Review

So the Djokovic vs. Murray match is today and it will definitely be one for the history books. Novak Djokovic who has won 5 grand slam titles is going to try to defend his title here from last year and take down Andy Murray. Andy Murray World No.4 is going for his very first grand slam title. Known as the "Big 4" or "Big 3," the four highest ranked tennis players, only Andy has not won a grand slam title. Obviously because of that, people call it the “Big 3” since tennis fans don’t believe he can be considered in their elite group if he hasn’t won even one slam. Roger Federer has 17 slams, Nadal has 11 and Novak has 5. Another reason for that is the fact that the “Big 3” has been dominating the game of tennis. Anyways, it will be a fun match to watch with all the pressure on Andy Murray once again.

                Tons of pressure was on Andy during the Wimbledon 2012 match against the greatest of all time, Roger Federer. Roger Federer who has won in Wimbledon 7 times now, tying with Pete Sampras’s all-time record. Andy Murray just can’t seem to win a grand slam title. To be honest, I believe he is a fantastic player, but with the Big 3 right in front of him it’s almost impossible to pass and go to the final every time. Every player on tour can feel it too. It’s total domination. Andy Roddick once said “These guys are getting REALLY good.” Andy Roddick is a grand slam winner and just retired a week or so ago by the way. Obviously, getting left out and not being considered one of the top gets inside your head.  To make matters worse, Andy is British. A British tennis player hasn’t won a grand slam title in about 80 years, that’s why there’s intense pressure always riding on his shoulders. At Wimbledon, the crowd was cheering for him and not Roger. Even though Roger was Wimbledon’s “favorite son,” Andy Murray is Wimbledon’s “Native son.”  

Many people consider Roger Federer to be a Living Tennis Legend. Just standing across the court facing him is such as honor. Now on Wimbledon grass, that’s different. Roger is the best player on grass, pretty much a fact since he won the grand slam for 5 years in a row and 2 more times afterward. Andy Murray has lost to him repeatedly in grand slam titles. Andy Murray has to pick it up if he wants to take down the World No.2 Novak.  Novak must also be in top form. It will defiantly be a fun, yet heart breaking match to watch since only one of them can come out at the top.

                Novak Djokovic was the one tennis player who dominated everyone else on the tennis tour in 2011. He has only won the Australian Open this year, which is short from last year’s domination of 3 slam titles. There were many people expecting him to dominate once again this year, but it didn’t happen. He does have Roger Federer (1) and Rafael Nadal (3) on his back every tournament.    

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Putting it all together as a whole.

          I have been in Japanese class for a little more then 3 years now. We learn multiple Kanji every week, and we practice our sentence structures with new points to increase our understanding of the Japanese language. It's hard learning it and writing it but it's especially hard speaking it. I can write out the characters, especially Hiragana very well, as well as everyone else in the class. We been doing it since freshman year. The one thing I see almost everyone having trouble with and including myself, is speaking it. Speaking fluent Japanese is what I aimed for in Japanese in the first place. You can learn all the katakana, hiragana and maybe even all the Kanji, but if you can't speak the language then everything is worthless. I believe everything we learned in the class all leads to speaking it. Speaking the language puts everything you learned thus far together. It really is a lot harder then it looks.

         It's like memorizing everything in the class and being able to do the homework every night, but you don't get the real meaning behind it. Thus, it gets you when you take the test. I believe that's why homework percentages are lowering. Tests are more important, and take up more percentage of the entire grade rather in homework. They want us to see the entire picture not just a part of it.

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US Open Reviews & Opinions

          So the US Open is concluding and I am disappointed with the results and the semi-finalist/finalist. Especially because my favorite player didn't make it into the finals, but he did amazing in my opinion. Roger Federer made it to the Quarter-finals which isn't bad, and he might maintain his World Number 1 ranking after this tournament if Novak Djokovic doesn't win US Open, which will be hard, since he won last year and is the favorite to win this year. The one thing that stands out about the US Open is the audience. The crowd is very loud and cheerful. It's a really nice atmosphere for the tennis players and everyone else. Obviously the courts and ball boys/girls are top notch and ready all the time for what ever is gonna happen, on and off the court.

          I believe in order of the most important slams, the US Open is ranked 3rd out of 4. First is Wimbledon,  then Roland Garros, US Open and then Australian Open. Although I believe out of the four, the US Open is the biggest stadium. Even though many tennis players consider Wimbledon to be a tennis players dream place to win at, US Open isn't too far away from that. Obviously, it's a slam. Just winning one will put your name in the record books.

         This is my first year actually taken interest in the slams, since I wasn't interested in tennis at all until I joined tennis in 3rd trimester and have a feel for the ball. Although it doesn't seem like this US Open is will stand out from the rest. Rafael Nadal didn't enter the tournament due to knee injury and Roger got taken down by Berdych. Djokovic, the defending champion is still going strong, but anything can happen over the course of the few remaining days. The 2012 US Open will have a major chance to stand out from the rest, if a player who hasn't won a single slam would be to win this slam. Since Del Potro and the top 3 seeds have been completely dominating the game for a really long time.

        All in all, I enjoy watching a slam on TV. It really does have a completely different feel from smaller tournaments. People do mostly judge a tennis player by how well they do in slams and how many they won. That's the reason why a lot of people believe Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time, since he won 17 slams, more than anyone in the history of the sport. US Open is a very exciting 2 week tournament and definitely has a New York feel to it, obviously because it's held in New York.

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Politicks.

             This year is a very special year. Not just because we have an election coming up, but because some students from my class (class of 2013) are eligible to vote. One of them is me. I'll be turning 18 in September, and I'm learning about politics more than ever. I have to classes that talk about the election of 2012 almost every day. My Government class and my AP Lang class. Yesterday and today, my government class was in lab rooms. We went to Isidewith.com and we had to answer a few questions on many issues, like immigration, healthcare, taxes, environment, and so on. When we were finished, we went to had a look at our results. I wasn’t surprised at all. Most of my answers leaned towards the green party, I believe it was called. Also known as the neutral party. When I looked at the results between Republicans and Democratic, my results went towards Democrats a lot more. I’ve always favored Democrats anyway.

In my opinion, the thing I’m about to tell you is very cool. Every morning at the start of my first period my teacher asks us if we have any questions about something we watched on the news last night or just something about the election/politics that we have been wondering about. He answers them quite brilliantly and very wordy.  There are only a few people who ask every day, but it manages to take up a good 5-10 minutes of class, which is obviously nice.  

I watched Romney’s speech around a week ago and I thought it was a little strange. It was indeed my first time watching an acceptance speech but that was not one of the things I thought was strange. We talked about the strange thing in my Advanced Placement Economics class, it was the fact that the Romney's audience only consisted of white people, there might have been a few black or Latino people, but almost probably, from my view consisted of 99% white people. While on the Democratic side, there was everybody. Almost every race came to see Obama. I thought that was really cool to be honest. The Republicans can stick to there one school way, individualized and the reason why we got into this economic mess in the first place. Democrats will continue on the path they believe and try to move us in the right direction, the way to create new jobs to help the country.

Bill Clinton's speech was stunning and absolutely genius, I'm sure most of us can agree to that. He's speech was around forty nine minutes and I watched the whole entire thing on youtube, stunned. Sure, I haven't seen many speeches and this is my first time actually paying attention to the presidential election, but the speech was inspirational. I don't feel like Clinton was taking sides for the most part, he just believed that the Democrats are setting us up in the right direction to create new jobs instead of losing more jobs. My favorite part from the speech is when he said that none other president before him or himself could of dug America out of that hole in four years. I believe Obama did great but it wasn't very noticeable to everyone in America. Although the audience kept clapping when Clinton was trying to speak, I thought he earned all of those claps. 

A while ago, me and my friends get stuck on the topic of politics sometimes. We talked about how Obama hasn't done much for this country, we thought he was very inactive. Obviously, most of us didn't watch the news everyday and focused on them. 

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"How to do Homework right."

So recently it's been so hard for me to do my homework. Anyone else having this problem? This is my final year in high school and I knew it was going to be hard with three AP classes. It's been so hard to do everything in a single night. It feels like schools will overwhelm you with homework from time to time, sometimes even endlessly. It takes around 2-3 hours for me to finish my homework for the day, and sometimes even more. It shouldn't take that long, in my opinion. There are are a few reasons why I believe that. One, I believe the reason why it takes some people that long is because we are easily distracted. Whether it's the television or texting, I personally lose my train of thought and forget what I was doing. Music helps me concentrate though. I can easily sing to it while I work on my homework. It depends on the person.

Another reason why I believe homework shouldn't take that long is because of the attention you use in class while the teacher is talking. If you know how to do the homework it shouldn't take TOO long. But if your spacing out in class like most of us do, you don't how to start the homework when you get home. My advice is that you and of course me, is to spend that amount of time in class paying full attention to the teacher and assignment so you know what to do on the homework when you get home. It's almost been everyday now, but I have been having this issue. So I'm starting to pay a lot more attention than usual in all of my classes. Make sure you have a water bottle by the way, you'll need it.

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What to Expect from Roger, and Review Kind of

Ok, first real blog, here we go! This blog will be about "What to Expect from Roger Federer" and kind of a review about him.

If you read my "About Me" post, you would have known already that I absolutely love tennis. Just the thrill of holding a tennis racket while hitting a fast ball that comes at you, just feels so amazing. People may think tennis is one of the most easiest sports to master, but they're obviously wrong. In tennis you need to have complete concentration and you have to stare at the ball every single swing you use. The person who got me into tennis and inspired me so much is Roger Federer.

Right now, currently at this date, Roger Federer is World number 1. He's been World number one before for 5 years straight, completely dominating the game of tennis. He is one of the world's most recognizable athletes, because of his achievements. Roger has won 17 gland slam titles, more then anyone else in the history of the game. Only 4 slams occur within a year and it's very hard to even win one of them. In the past decade or so, only 4 people have won grand slams, right now I believe the top guys are completely dominating the court and not letting anyone else win. Which isn't a bad thing, the strongest wins fair and square.

I expect that Roger Federer will win a couple more slams before he retires. I believe that he still has it in him, even though he's 31 years old and many people usually retire in the 30s. Federer's form, in my opinion, looks great right now. He's more or less not running around his side of the court, but gliding. He's forehand is still top notch, and he's backhand is showing the world that that is not something you should target, and say that the backhand is he's one of his weaknesses. Just because the one handed backhand is going extinct from tennis, doesn't mean it has to be found as a weakness in every player that uses it. I personally prefer the old handed backhand over the two handed backhand. Only a few players other than Roger uses the one handed backhand now these days. In 2011 many people ruled out Roger as being a grand slam contender, since he didn't win even one slam that year. Although, after he took Wimbledon this year he showed everyone that 30 years old was the new 20 years old.

As I said before, I do expect Roger to win slams, but I also expect him to retire when he truly wants to, instead of holding back because of his fans. Many fans have said that they don't know what they are gonna do when Roger hangs up his racket. Some said they might even stop watching tennis regularly. That's how much Federer has a impact on he's fan's lives. I don't want him to just keep playing because of us, I want him to keep playing because he loves the game of tennis and that he's hungry for more slams. Which is what I'm seeing from Federer right now. A truly remarkable tennis legend, that I believe is the Greatest of All Time in the history of tennis.

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First Post, Introducing Myself

        What's up guys? Starting today, I'll be writing blogs regularly because of my AP Lang class! I"m a senior in high school and working really hard to graduate. I have about 2-3 hours of homework each day after school because I'm taking 6 classes this term, and 3 of them are AP classes. AP Econ, AP Japanese and obviously this one, AP Lang. We've only been in school for about a week now, but things are already starting to heat up with all the assignments, tests, etc.  My goal by the end of my senior year is to 100% prepare myself for college next fall.

           One thing about myself is that I'm easily inspired. Which is a great thing, in my opinion. I get inspired in tennis, video editing, presentations, anime, manga, books, movies, etc. I talk about those much more in depth after a few more posts. Inspiration helps me work a lot harder towards a goal that I set myself. I usually aim to go way past that goal, no matter how difficult it is. Sure, there are many obstacles everyone has to go through to achieve that certain goal that they set themselves or someone else sets for them, but setting that goal isn't the limit, we can go farther. Before summer, I set a lot of goals for myself involving tennis, my most favorite sport in existence. I had a lot of things to work on because during tennis season, i lost several double matches and I also lost 1 out of 3 single matches. I hate losing more then anything. To be honest, I don't really mind losing in doubles too much, but if it's in singles when there's only one person standing in front of me across the net, I can't afford to lose. Winning 2 out of the 3 singles during the tennis season at my school wasn't too bad to be honest. The one I lost was also very close.

                There are many people who help me in my life. My mom, dad, friends, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandpa, grandma, and my little brother. All of them have helped me out in so many different ways.  Whether it's inspiration or happiness, I'm thankful they are in my life.

So that pretty much raps up my introduction before starting the blogs! I hope you will enjoy reading my bloggies, while I might read some of yours!

Sincerely, Setsu


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