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