Items

• 
  2021-01-22

  The Push For Fitness

  If there’s anything I learned in the last 8 months, it’s that the world is a very uncertain and chaotic place. A week before quarantine, spending a quiet week alone for Spring break, was all I wanted in life. 9 months later and another quiet week could potentially be lethal. Even though life has been crazy and online school drives people mad, one thing I’ve managed to pick up and get into the habit of is working out. Everyday, no matter what it is, I set aside an hour and a half to at least stand and go on a run or do any form of exercise. Not only is this good for my body, it’s a great stress reliever from a long unstable day of online school, a great time of reflection and a great way to clear my head from the day. Even in the most chaotic of days, and even on days where I have a lot of work to finish, I spend an hour to clear my head, and most times, after a workout and warm shower, I become more productive than ever. I enjoy working out as it is a great way for me to have something to control when the world around me is changing in the blink of an eye. Me four years ago would’ve never expected or predicted that, I would enjoy losing my breath and being sore from my neck down on a daily basis. Not only does it feel like I have control over my life, but working out has become a hobby of mine, acting as a goal I can achieve in the background subtly while dealing with school and life as a 17 year old.
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  2021-07-08T16:15:30

  Shaking Off this Pandemic with Style

  Having experienced a full semester of Junior year virtually during a pandemic, I can thoroughly say that it was the worst experience of my academic career. Every day of this semester was the same as the last, and I couldn't decide what new hobby to get into or find fun in the hobbies I used to do. Although I had this feeling throughout the semester, one person always stuck by my side, and that person was Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is the music industry, queen of pop music, and the reason I love music in the first place. And Taylor's album, "1989," helped me get through my first semester of Junior year. Nothing brought me more happiness than listening to "Shake It Off" after feeling I had just failed all my tests for the week and then walking throughout my house as if I were a model while "Style" playing. I know it seems that I have been a die-hard Swiftie for a long time, but this quarantine was the only reason I discovered my infinite love for Taylor. Every song on "1989" makes you experience every emotion in the world, from feeling happy while listening to "How You Get the Girl" to feeling absolute sadness and existentialism during "Clean," my favorite of the album btw. So this rush of emotions felt while I listened to "1989" perfectly summarizes my experience during my first semester of Junior year. :)
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  2021-01-22

  New Found Art

  During quarantine I’ve had a lot of spare time, but wasn't completely sure how to spend it. Most of the time, when I’m not busy with school work, I’d watch Netflix, but that got pretty boring after a while. Recently, however, I’ve picked up a paint brush, a canvas, and some paint and have started painting. I’ve always loved art but constantly found myself making up excuses and never setting aside time to actually paint. These past months have helped me reflect on myself and realize there are more things to do than just sit around and be sad about the current situations in which I have no control over. It's important during these hard times to find something that makes you happy, even if you are not the best at it, so that life in quarantine is a little easier. Even if I would have never thought in a million years the majority of my junior year in high school would be spent inside my house I consider myself lucky as my family and I are healthy and safe. Despite not being able to see my extended family and celebrate holidays or birthdays with them there's always a way to make the most with the people you have. For my mom's birthday, since I couldn’t go out to buy her anything and don’t own a credit card to buy something online, I had to figure out how to give her a special gift during a pandemic. My new found happiness from painting was that special thing, and so I decided to paint my mom a scene from one of her favorite movies “The Karate Kid”. Finding something I enjoy really helped me cope with the instability and unexpected changes during this pandemic. It gave me both a hobby and goal, as I’m motivated to get better at painting.
• 
  2021-01-21

  Escape from Reality

  The item I chose that best illustrates the past six months in quarantine is a screenshot of my favorite videogame, Valorant. Although I could have chosen any other videogame, I decided to choose Valorant because it is the main game that has brought a lot of happiness to my friends and I when we play it everyday during this quarantine. During this unprecedented time because we must stay safe by isolating ourselves from each other, many people have been experiencing loneliness because they have not had an actual, social interaction in such a long time. Fortunately, through Valorant, I never felt any negative emotions because this game has always allowed my friends and I to play together and build a stronger relationship whenever we were done with our school work. The reason why Valorant connects to the pandemic is because it has been a great way for my friends and I to take a step back and escape from reality. Valorant best represents my current experience as a junior in highschool during a period of unrest in this country because as a junior with many AP classes, high school can feel really stressful and tiring at many times, however I have learned that it is important to focus on my mental health at all times. Thus, playing Valorant with my friends has really helped us relax and forget about all the problems in the world for a brief period of time. Furthermore, I see that a lot of students in highschool complain how this pandemic has stolen a lot of our time that could have been spent making memories, however, I have taken a different approach to this because I found that playing video games such as Valorant is the best way to make memories with friends and it has helped me realize that despite the hardships we face during this pandemic, my friends and I will always have each other’s backs.
• 
  2021-01-22

  More Espresso, Less Depresso

  The item that I have chosen that connects to the pandemic was a Starbucks Coffee. The reason why I decided to choose this item is that there are days that learning over zoom is quite a challenge and that it gives so much pressure on me to be able to adapt to this kind of style of learning. With coffee on my hand, I can focus on class more and it makes me more energetic. When I drink coffee during my zoom classes, I tend to be able to participate more. I love caffeine, it encourages me to also be a positive person during these times because, without any coffee, I wouldn’t be able to learn anything from a monitor screen. Coffee best represents my current experience as a junior in high school because there are days that are sad and depressing, and there are days that are happy and bright. Online learning is a cycle, wake up and learn, after that you rest. I have been doing this since MARCH. Again, this is me with coffee because without any coffee, I am really tired and not energetic. When I have my coffee, I am always feeling refreshed and active! Online learning is something that I am not used to and I fear how with the difficulty of learning online, I am not able to understand the lesson which can lead me to bad grades. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish my goals by staying determined and dedicated to online learning, resulting in a better grade for my classes, (with coffee of course). One word to describe my 2020 year is a challenge. It’s a challenge because there are things I have been through, like losing my grandpa who sadly passed away due to a heart attack and not being able to visit him because of COVID. COVID was mainly the reason why my 2020 was a challenge because I have to figure out new ways to keep myself happy and motivating. Online classes have made me less motivated because it didn’t feel the same and that everything was quite last minute last year. I wasn’t able to keep up with lessons, which discouraged me to continue and of course my grandpa’s sudden death. As from my experiences, the various holidays looked the same for me this year. Christmas and Thanksgiving were the same because I usually hang out with my family. When I do my online classes, I usually have a workspace. Since I know for a fact I am going to sit in one place for the next 9 hours, I have my coffee next to me to keep me up, I have my water, some chapstick, a big monitor screen, my textbooks, and my journals. I also have an office chair with a pad seat cushion for me to be comfortable! Even though those were the basic items on my quarantine workspace, I like to keep things simplistic. I only have things that are essential for me to use for working online, so I am not bothered by that. The three things that I would include in my quarantine survival kit would be some energy drinks, chapstick, and a pen with a journal. The reason why I chose these items is that for the first two, I cannot do anything without them! It’s great to have a lot of energy to do tasks, and some chapstick to have my lips not chapped. I also wanted to bring a pen and journal to describe my experiences in quarantine. I would also use that journal to write down things that bother me and things that I am appreciative of. Words do mean a lot, so I love to express my feelings in a journal to remind me that overall in time, things can get better.
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  2021-01-22

  Reliving my Life as a 6 Year Old

  You know, I don’t see much difference between the lifestyle I’m living right now and to the one I was living 10 years ago. 6 year old Me’s daily routine: Wake up: check Do school work at my desk: check Mope around the house: check Annoy my siblings: check Attempt and fail at anything in the kitchen: check Look outside my bedroom window and daydream: check Draw and doodle endlessly: check Want to see my friends: check Think about what I want to be in the future: check Sleep without expecting much the next day: check This year was horrible. There is, of course, covid happening and political events and natural disasters and death. The world and society is constantly changing and shaping due to the actions of people, possibly in the worst way possible, while all I’m doing is sitting in my room, looking out to the vast blue sky. And I have a confession: I feel like I’m missing out on everything. I KNOW I SHOULDN’T BE SAYING I’M MISSING OUT ON CONTRIBUTING TO THE WORST YEAR POSSIBLE, but I just miss the other not-so-horrible things in life such as experiencing highschool (debatable though), meeting new people (also very debatable), going out for the day, traveling to see family and friends; you know, making memories, having fun, the things that make life worth living. For the past few years of my life, like any teen going through adolescence, I’ve met hardships, failures, tears, but during this lockdown, I’ve haven’t felt any of those things in a while. The same goes for the successes, the excitement, and the joy-- it’s been a while since I’ve felt those too. My life at the moment has reached a straight. Life is supposed to have its bumps - its highs and lows-- a road with unprecedented surprises, but I’ve been going through life as if I’ve pressed autopilot, set to one direction. Time is passing all around me and I’ve been on this one way road, destined to who knows where, and I haven’t done much to enjoy life for what it truly is. However, my situation hasn’t been nearly as bad as others though and I’m truly grateful for that. One thing I won’t ever regret doing is resisting the urge to go out. I’ve been tempted a few times, but I’ve stayed quarantined from others-- you know the one thing that we all should be doing. I’m glad to say that I haven’t put my family, my friends, my neighbors, heck, random strangers’ lives at danger and I’m going to keep doing this until things finally boil down. The last thing I want to do is change someone’s life for the worst. Though it sounds like I’m all gloomy and what not, I don’t think quarantine was a complete waste of time. I’ve been able to sit and reflect in my own thoughts-- the one thing I’ve been trying to avoid. Like I said in the beginning, the life I’m living now is nostalgic of my 6 year old self. Not like the goldfish crackers and PBS kids TV shows kind of way, but the experiences I’m reliving. The last years of my life have been hectic and I’ve been striving for self improvement. I haven’t really sat down and let those experiences marinate. I’ve been doing, doing, doing, but I haven’t asked myself the true reasons for my actions. Self improvement, development of my character, blah, blah, blah, everyone says that stuff, but I’ve asked myself what DO I truly aim for: an end goal? A life goal? Why did I do the things I did back then, and how would they affect me now and later. Thus I revert back to my 6 year old self-- curious about what I want to be in the future and learning what it is to be a good person. I’ve come to realize my many flaws and rethink my mistakes and actions I’ve acted in the past. I’ve come to realize some of the things I did back then and the things I do now aren’t very nice-- for others and myself. Sometimes I’m too judgemental, I overthink things, I’m brash, I take things for granted, I do things for my own benefit-- heck, I can keep listing. To say the least, I’ve become more self-aware. Things aren’t all rosey posey and sunshine and rainbows-- quarantine helped me back down to earth and analyze my own character. I’ve also begun to realize the small things. Not my patience, but the things that give me joy. The nature in my backyard, windy days, my favorite nail polish, hot meals. I’ve been on this 1 track mind for so long that quarantine has made me stop and find joy, even the slightest bit of it, in things I would normally overlook-- the things my 6 year old self would smile for the brim for. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad. Could be better since I miss seeing people THAT aren’t constantly nagging my name to do the dishes, but hey, at least I’ve got my family to entertain me. I don’t know if we’re going out of quarantine anytime soon, but we did just get out of 2020. Cheers to 2021- maybe it’ll get better, maybe it’ll get worse, but hey it’s going to be quite a ride. Hope you enjoyed reading my brain dump and wish me luck as I try to tackle my kitchen; I am very determined to make both something at least edible and some new memories I can look back on.
• 
  2021-01-21

  Cybernation

  This image practically sums up my entire experience in this unprecedented pandemic. Being confined to my room, I was mandated to attend online school through zoom. I now had to spend hours fixated on a screen, forced to learn in a distracting environment. With my phone by my side and countless thoughts running through my head, I found the learning process quite straining to both my mind and eyes. The only escape from school I had was spending time with my friends. However, with the ongoing pandemic and social distancing protocol, we were unable to see each other in person. Although we do see each other virtually, it is difficult to do fun activities as a group and momentarily release our stress. The digital realm has seemingly taken over my life, with untold hours spent through screens, I frequently felt isolated and disconnected from the outside world. I long to soon escape my bubble, to once again see my friends, family, teachers, classmates, and even strangers. For the time being, I will take advantage of this leisure time, hoping and dreaming for a normal society once again.
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  2021-01-21

  A Quarantine Gender Tale

  Living in a pandemic, navigating through the ins and outs of being (almost) 17, and self-reflecting on who I am during quarantine has shaped me into an entirely different person than who I was at the start of 2020. I remember sitting through a speaker presentation for a club I’m in during Transgender Awareness Week; In part because of LGBTQ+ education being moved into virtual spaces and in part because I feel the term now deeply resonates with me, I quickly took this screenshot of the slide defining the term non-binary. Before the pandemic, gender and how I viewed it was never a thought in my head because I often had no time to even reflect on what it meant to be a girl, to be a boy, or to simply exist beyond the binary. But I feel like if this prolonged period of isolation has taught me anything, it’s that gender and my relation to it will always remain an agglomeration of everything and nothing at all, and sometimes that’s perfectly normal.
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  2020-06-26

  Quarantine Adventures on Minecraft

  Although my friends and I were relatively sad that we couldn't hang out with each other due to going in lockdown, it gave us the best excuse to start a world on Minecraft, and of course, build a McDonald's. There was a lot anxious thoughts, fears, and overall clinical depression. However, through it all, we fought together in unity to overcome not only the external struggles due to quarantine, but also our own internal struggles (that was very much poetic). This screenshot holds a lot of meaning to me because it truly shows how we all truly went through a lot this past year, and how we've been able to adapt to this new lifestyle. Nevertheless, this new way of life really hasn't been that horrendous, and in fact, I'm starting to prefer this type of schedule. At the same time though, I really wish that things could go back to normal, so that way, my friends and I's addiction to Minecraft could cease.
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  2020-09-03

  turn back time

  This is a pdf of my award from the annual piano competition. Usually, I would perform in a concert hall with 3 judges and the other contestants. This year, I had to submit my recordings and compete with over 30 entrees. To me, my piano was not the big grand pianos and my setup was not professional as others. After changing songs a month before the due date, I practiced for hours. You think learning an 8-page song in a month is hard, but actually, it was fun with the pressure on. 3 months after submitting, I finally got the news that I won 3rd place. Despite learning a song in a month, I was able to win and place. From this, I learned that hard work never stops and nothing should discourage you. If I gave up when I found out the category I originally applied for was canceled, I wouldn't have won. This was an important event for me because I didn't think I would get close since I was close on time. If I turned back time, I would have initially picked this set of songs and perfected it, even before the quarantine.