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