Posted inEducation, Opinion, Community, Student Journals

Weeks of Quarantine

Matthew G by Matthew G

This week has been rather eventful for me. I will be going to get an injection in my spine for my herniated disks. What I have been told is to avoid eating for a few hours beforehand, they will give me a sedative and then inject a steroid into my back and neck while I am unconscious. I admit that I am slightly nervous over the ordeal, but if it means my back pain will be alleviated at least a little bit, then I’m willing to do it. Besides this, nothing else of real note has happened in my life this week. Something minor was that I listened to the entirety of the Alice in Chains album discography since I had the time, and I consider them to be my favorite band. However, I wasn’t very familiar with their most recent material. My opinion is that the music that they released in the 90s is the best of their catalog, although the most recent stuff is also excellent, just not up to par with the older material. Their two most recent releases, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and Rainier Fog, are slightly two slow and monotonous for my tastes, although the singles and a few album cuts are still good. Of these two, I feel that The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is the worst, as it feels so much slower and sludgier than any other Alice in Chains album and, at least in my opinion, most of the songs are too long for their good, not one of the songs in under four minutes. This can be shown with the title track, which is six minutes long when it should only be three or four minutes long. Not only that, I feel as though it is the least memorable Alice in Chains record. Rainier Fog, on the other hand, is a little better; it is far more memorable although it has the same issues with length, the songs are a little faster paced, so it helps mitigate the effect at least somewhat.

Posted inEducation, Opinion, Community, Student Journals

A Time for New Beginnings

Betsabe G. by Betsabe G.

Good afternoon, quarantine queens (and kings):
Today is finally Friday! I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for school to be over! This week has been quite a long week. I have surprisingly had a lot of free time this week, which felt so weird, but also made it feel longer. I am so used to having a bunch of homework to turn in, but instead, I have procrastinated on this blog and am honestly not feeling very stressed. I kind of like the idea of writing my blog entries on Fridays only because I can tell whoever is reading these is focused on all about my week. This week has consisted of using my new spinner. Let me just tell you guys, it is probably the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life. This spinner is supposed to help me with my off-ice spins/rotations. I have only been practicing some single rotations and working on my form. My little brother has been trying to use it, too. It is one of the funniest things ever. To be honest, sometimes I think that he is even better at using it than I am. Of course, that is because he just swings his arms around and tries not to fall down, but I, on the other hand, am all about form.I’ve got to start slow with only single rotations until I can gradually get to the multiple rotations and faster spins. I can truthfully tell you that I am having a little bit of trouble trying to keep my balance, but that is only because I am scared that I am going to fall. I think that the fear of falling is what causes me to fall sometimes. It is like I am too busy overthinking about how scared I am that I am going to fall that I just slowly start to move my thoughts from having a suitable form to not falling. That is a huge no-no. One of the number one rules for skaters, and most sports, is never to let the fear of falling keep you from flying. Well, in this case, do not let it keep you from skating. You see, it’s different when you’re actually on the ice.You don’t have time to think. You kind of just have to go for it. I am so ready to get back on the ice and just go for it. I did something crazy, well not necessarily crazy, I guess. I ordered a pair of inline roller skates so that I can practice even though I can’t go to the ice skating rink. The only thing that I didn’t really like about them was the color. I only had the option to get them in purple. I mean, they don’t look completely terrible, but they are just a teensy bit too girly. Those of you that know me to know that I rarely wear colors. Here’s to trying something new.

Posted inEducation, Opinion, Community, Student Journals

No Ice is Fine… For Now.

Betsabe G. by Betsabe G.

Howdy partners. Before COVID-19 decided to take over the world and lock us up in quarantine, I had been thinking about starting a youtube channel. It would have been about my figure skating journey. My journey with the different spins, jumps, hops, etc. that I will learn. I was looking forward to it, too. I was going to start recording myself during my practice and my training sessions with my coach. But without a moment’s notice, we were put on quarantine. Now instead of being able to practice all of these moves, stretches, and jumps on the ice, I only have the opportunity to practice them in my family room or back/front yard. It’s tough. One of the spin positions that I have been able to master this week is the Chinese Spiral. It is honestly not as easy as it looks, and it takes a lot back flexibility, strength, and gracefulness. When I was preparing to do this, I watched a video by one of my favorite coaches, Michelle Hong, that was about how to do the Chinese Spiral. I had to do a whole bunch of stretches for my back. They were absolutely insane, but after a couple of days of watching that video and doing some super hardcore stretches, I was finally able to do the Chinese Spiral. Although it is not as perfect as I would want it to be, I am slowly but surely getting there and can’t wait to finally be able to do it without any support. When it comes to figure skating jumps, you have to have a whole lot of strength, agility, speed, and most importantly it has got to be graceful. I know what you’re probably thinking right now, “What? How can you be both graceful and strong at the same time?” Well let me just tell you, it is one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. But at the end of the day, when you land your first Waltz Jump on the ice, you will be more than thankful for combining opposites into one to make a beautiful move. I still haven’t been able to land the jump on ice since the rink I go to temporarily closed down just when I was about to try it. Still, I have been doing tons of training here at home to get my Waltz Jump perfect so that I can have a better chance at landing it when I finally can go to the ice rink. I have been working on my form and landing for this jump. This is because once I can land this jump perfectly, all of the other jumps will fall into place one after the other. Although I wish that I could be practicing all of the jumps and spins at the ice skating rink, I guess my family room and backyard will just have to do for the time being.

Posted inEducation, Opinion, Community, Student Journals

More Nilla Cookies!!

Jorge J. by Jorge J.

This week has indeed been chaotic. I rushed to do my entire schoolwork, even though I did not understand the lesson. Taking classes online is the absolute worst. A bunch of teachers piled up their work on top of each other, which caused me to stay up all week past my bedtime. I did finish my work, though, but at what cost? My sleeping schedule is erratic, and I am struggling to stay awake when it is in the afternoon. I understand that everything is changing but sheesh. Can you take it down a bit?

In between schoolwork, I would binge-watch a bunch of Sailor Moon, so I would not have been too stressed out. It is rather neat that I get to rewatch Sailor Moon, but I just keep thinking how cool it would be to be from the moon.

Can I just yell “Crisis Make Up” so I can only do whatever I want? On top of watching a bunch of Sailor Moon, I have listened to a bunch of Hatsune Miku, and I realized that this quarantine is messing me up. I just have a song on repeat to calm me down. I feel like this whole ordeal is further expanding my musical horizons, which is a good thing, but I haven’t been able to find a new artist to just binge.
I ran out of Nilla cookies a few days ago. My heart broke when I realized the box was empty. My hand was digging inside for a good while until I realized it was the end. The good thing is that I have Marias cookies, so it’s not that bad right now. I feel like this is how my origin story would be, me looking for some Nilla cookies. Then I bump into some aliens, who abduct me. When I wake up inside of their mothership, they tell me to become their supreme ruler. I would say yes, then I take over the entire universe and enslave the stars to make a light show for my amusement. Is that too much to ask?
I haven’t been able to read as much as I used to. I have books at home, but all of them are about madness and murderers, which could inspire some pretty dangerous ideas during this quarantine, so I just decided to read a bunch of manga till I get some new works. Hopefully, it will be soon. I miss the sound of the pages flipping and the texture of the cover against my fingers. See, this quarantine is messing up with my mind!
Maybe that would be my origin story. I was just kidding (not really). It would be cool, though, if I were to become an eldritch truth and convince humanity to praise me. Then I would tell them to bring me Nilla cookies! I wish this were to happen.