Items

• 2020-09-07

  Today's Daily Thought... Semester Journal

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. I cannot believe it is already almost fall. I was thinking about it yesterday and it makes me really sad. Quarantine took so much of our normal life away, and it all just went by too fast. When I really think about it, so much has happened and changed for me over these months and some of which I wish never ended or changed. All the good times I had feel like a blur and all the rough times went by so slow. I wish I remembered more. In a usual year, I would look forward to Labor Day so much. This year I didn’t get to do what I normally do. Labor day usually comes by so slow because I just cannot wait for it to happen but this year it passed me up. Lately that has been all I could think about.
• 2020-09-22

  2020-09-22 covid summer

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Over the summer i guess i did change quite a bit. The main thing that changed was really my hobbies or rather, my newfound disinterest in my old set of hobbies. I always took my hobby far too seriously and it turns out that when i didn’t have any pressure to keep pursuing it, i kind of dislike it a bit. I had a bit of an existential crisis over it but it’s been nice to take a break.. I’ve also gotten used to school a lot better. I’m a lot more responsible nowadays and i have no missing work so that’s nice. It’s partly because of all the time i don’t use up on my hobby but it’s mostly that i just find find it fun to organize my computer. Now that i think about it i really don’t want school to start. I won’t have the choice to stay home because then i’d lose touch with my friends but I’ll really miss not being mentally drained from talking to strangers. There’s also the fact that i don’t want my room to be filled up with papers that i’ll just stare at become overwhelmed by. There’s just so many reasons that i don't want to go back to in-person.
• 2020-09-23

  life during Covid-19

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California Throughout Covid-19, I’ve learned that I don’t really have any hobbies or anything that interests me because I realized all I did was playing video games after school. So I changed myself to be more active by doing some workouts and reading every day. Even though the first try didn’t work very well to keep my routine organize, I felt it was getting better each day since there’s much time I can spend my time on myself. I hope this would make my life a little better.
• 2020-09-14

  Our COVID Summer

  I spent my entire summer walking around San Ramon with one of my best friends. I had plans to go to Hawaii and to go see my Dad in Utah a lot but those plans changed because of COVID19. My mom didn’t really think it was a good idea to allow me on a plane to run around another state in the middle of a pandemic. So my days were spent walking the Iron Horse trail to marketplace, central park, Target, Cal High, or pretty much any park that exists around here. Finding things to do was definitely a struggle but we mainly just wanted some company and someone to talk to so we didn’t have to sit in our houses alone all day. Everyday was definitely an adventure and we made a lot of memories throughout the summer that we will remember forever. It was the summer where you couldn’t do anything or go anywhere because everything was closed but we tried to make the most out of it and ended up a lot closer and happier than we were before the pandemic.
• 2020-09-22

  Business Startup During COVID-19

  COVID-19 literally shook my life straight. Before, my life was full of procrastination, laziness, and just simply unmotivated. I didn’t know my purpose in life but now I came to the realization that I am a certified bad bytch! I was finally able to Launch my second company Peasant Cosmetics and relaunch my slime company Peasant Slimes. I did months and months of research on the hair industry so I can came in prepared to dominate and take over. All companies I have started have my 100% pride behind them, meaning no matter how large it grow to, none of it will be sold. I will always own 100% of the company since I didn’t get into business for the money and I would never really do anything in my life except for 9-5 to get money. I also used several extremely fragranced lotions from Bath and Body works which gives me a few scents to smell for nostalgia into the future.
• 2020-09-29

  The Struggles of Living During a Pandemic

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have faced a series of challenges. The biggest challenge I have faced is my emotions and accepting myself. Being stuck at home has raised my anxiety levels, and question my self-worth. I feel like when I was outside, around my friends, I was much more confident and free- but being isolated really damages you mentally and emotionally. A challenge that my family has faced is that they usually love going outside doing exercise, and they always take us out for runs. However, now that my sisters and I are extremely occupied with school, we can only manage to go together around once or twice a week. A major challenge for society is adapting to remote learning. It has been a very difficult process for myself and other students as well. Staring at a big computer screen for 7 hours is extremely draining, and I find myself falling asleep during the middle of the day, and I even fell asleep during my AP Biology lecture, and I am not the one to fall asleep during school. I also crashed to sleep yesterday immediately after school ended because I was so worn out and exhausted from school. It’s a lot, and I really hope a vaccine for the virus comes our way soon, because I don’t know how I’m going to be able to handle online school for the rest of the school year.
• 2020-09-11

  Escaping the California Ashes

  On Friday,09-11-20, I left my home to head to my boyfriend’s house. The air quality was dangerous and I was excited to leave the unhealthy air. I had my bags packed and then his family and I went into the car. We drove 4+ hours past Tahoe to Reno Nevada. The air quality was better and the views were beautiful. The drive consisted of bright green trees, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and gorgeous rocks. The landscape was something that I hadn’t seen in a while. We eventually arrived into the hotel and had an agenda for the next two days. We went to Harbor Shore Beach in Tahoe and we were able to swim in the water. The water was cold but our bodies got used to it. It was so clear, we were able to see the floor, the fishes, and everything else in the water. The whole trip was so amazing it is something definitely worth writing about. I am so blessed to be able to escape the ashes and poor air quality. I was able to have a relaxing weekend while making memorable memories. While I was there I also watched two baseball games on a huge tv and was able to socialize with different parents and families. It was a great experience to be able to catch up with parents I hadn’t truly been able to talk to. The whole trip was super fun and I’m glad I made the memories I did this weekend. Corona has definitely held back many traveling opportunities for me and it was remarkable to be able to do something fun while social distancing. I have learned and this experience definitely emphasized that no matter what is in the way, you can always overcome it and find something fun to do. You must live with what you are given, and make the best of every situation.
• 2020-12-17

  A Ray of COVID Happiness

  Covid-19 has changed my summer in many different ways. For one, I have grown more in confidence since I’ve been inside for so many months. Being around myself and learning more about who I am allowed me to slowly accept myself. Also, I got to talk to my friends a lot throughout summer quarantine over Zoom and texts, so we were always around to uplift each other constantly. One of my favorite childhood memories is probably when my family and I traveled to Seattle for a few months and we auditioned for the Shake It Up Competition. I was obsessed with Zendaya, (and I still am) so that moment of time really showed me that it would be a dream of mine to be like her when I grow up. The day my sister and I auditioned was a great memory because we were just little kids in the moment who gave it a shot. Although we didn’t make it out of the hundreds of thousands, it’s heartwarming to me because we have been always trying to chase after our dreams in any circumstance. As for a regular update, I’ve been wanting to decorate my room so I’ve been compiling album covers I would want to see on my wall and hopefully being able to order print outs of those soon. To add on, I just applied to be an ambassador for a clothing company I saw on Tik Tok so hopefully I get chosen for that, because the fashion aesthetic the brand displays is so beautiful, Also, it's a black-owned business, so I’d love to support that. Overall, this pandemic has allowed us to recognize our gratitude and things we have a growing passion for.
• 2020-09-25

  A Quick Journal from a Junior in Highschool

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. During quarantine, I’ve noticed that I have a lot more fun in groups than I do by myself. I like being around people if they don’t tire me out- people who are super high energy all the time make me so tired. It’s just hard to keep up, honestly, and it’s definitely not a them thing, so I’ve kind of accepted I just have a really low social battery. School is going to be so draining this year once we go back since a lot of the people I don’t like are in my classes, but I’m not too worried about it since it’s only a few people and I can just ignore them. Quarantine hasn’t really led me on much of a self-journey type of thing, though. I just feel like who I did at the beginning but more anxious; I do know, however, that I am very indecisive. I want to build a PC for gaming and those are usually super expensive, so I’ve pretty much been putting it off for the past few weeks and just building it online instead of in person. The parts come out to around a thousand dollars and I physically do not have that amount of money with me at the moment, which means waiting for deals, which means waiting until Cyber Monday two months from now, and I am very impatient. I’m hoping that my birthday will pull in enough cash to afford the grand fee, because not only do I have to build the computer but I also have to buy a microphone, earbuds, monitors, etc. It’d be pretty cool and I’d be able to cut my time down by an entire month, but because of quarantine I probably won’t have a big birthday even though I’m turning 16- which is for the better because it’s safer. It’s just kind of funny because my Mom wants a cool, socially distanced sweet 16, and that works in my favor thankfully!
• 2020-09-14

  How Covid-19 Shaped my lifestyle

  Covid-19 shaped my summer by making me feel more grateful. It made realize that a lot of people around the world are losing their life even when they were taking precaution for the virus. I am grateful that I live a healthy lifestyle and so does my family. The first part of quarantine we were not even supposed to leave our house, which at first sucked. But as time went on, I started to begin to feel really appreciative of the things that I didn’t notice could have such a huge impact. For example, before quarantine, my dad would take me to school, and bring me home from school. My mom was a teacher so she was at school the same time I was at school, so she was never available to pick me up. My dad went from working in an office 24/7, to working at home 24/7, so he was there for me at any time of the day when I possibly needed him. Even though he worked at home, he was constantly busy with phone calls and virtual conferences, just like he would be doing if he was in an office. So when quarantine started I had told him, “at least you don’t have to drive me to school anymore.” He had told me that even when I was school, how stressful it was to try and make it to school at 2:55pm, I am super excited for this weekend because I go get to hang out with my sister and her new roommates that she moving in with in October. My whole family has known them since before I was born, and my other sister and her fiance are coming so no parents, yay! I also get to hang out with my friends tomorrow which I have been doing, but it’s hard to hang out as a group because everyone has different schedules. We have construction going on in our house so it is super loud and kind of hard to do school while a nail gun and drills are going on upstairs. My dog gets super anxious while loud noises are near so we have to keep her on a leash and she won’t sit still and will bark which really makes me fussy .
• 
  2020-09-29

  Family time

  "This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California."
• 2020-09-29

  My Personal Covid Experience

  9/29: This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. During the pandemic, many people have faced lots of different struggles. These struggles can range from very slight problems to large ones, and thankfully, for my family and I, we are doing pretty well. Personally, I had a few struggles when adapting to the new ways of learning and getting used to not seeing my friends as much. At first, it was fine because I thought of it as an extra-long spring break, but when I realized that we weren’t going back to school in Contra Costa County I was pretty sad. Throughout COVID, I definitely missed my friends and I felt pretty alone. Luckily, my dad was able to keep his job and work from home, so we did not have any financial problems. Covid definitely allowed me to grow closer to my dad and brother because I ended up spending a lot of time with them where I usually wouldn’t see them as much. Socially, I think our county has started to adjust to the new reality and lots of families are starting to get used to it. I think this whole situation has made people realize that they should be grateful for the valuables and people that are in their life. Lots of things (like social gatherings, school, and friends) can be taken away in a second, but family and other really important things will always stay.
• 2020-12-17

  My Experience With Lockdown

  The biggest challenge I faced with corona was not being able to see people or do anything. I wanted to be with friends so badly and being stuck inside my house made me crazy some days. Covid 19 was stressful for my dad because during the begging of quarantine he couldn't have his clinic or perform surgeries. This made my parents stressed about money because just bought another house and have a lot of expenses. However, there were some positives of quarantine. I got so bored I worked out and got in shape a little. I also feel like I got a lot closer with my family, even though I definitely did get tired of them. Quarantine also made me anxious and stressed. I am more of an extrovert and being with people energizes me and makes me happy, so not being able to see people definitely affected me. Quarantine also allowed me to learn new things in the kitchen and I realized that I don’t hate hikes as much as I thought I did. I also found new TV shows that I loved and we also got a cat to entertain us.
• 2020-12-17

  Practicing through COVID-19

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. My biggest overcome with the covid 19 pandemic is trying to find an indoor basketball court to play at. With covid 19 all of the indoor places have been closed and it has been a struggle trying to find a place to play indoors. Now you may be asking why can’t you just play outdoors or shoot outdoors. When playing outdoors you do not have a wall behind you and playing indoors you have a wall behind the hoop when playing outdoors you tend to put too much on your shot or end up messing up your release to get the right amount of power. Also with shooting outdoors the rim is not a normal rim most of the time they are loose or a double rim which is tougher for you to make a shot in. Now I am lucky enough to have my mom as a principal in our district that she could get me into her school secretly to play in her elementary school indoors. Even though the hoop is not as nice as middle school and high schools it is still a good indoor place to practice. I am also hoping that gyms open up again soon so I can get back in there and playing games and working out again.
• 2020-12-17

  How COVID-19 Affected My Daily High School Life

  This is a journal entry I created when school started online learning. At the time, I was frustrated and upset at the online learning, but now I have been able to adapt and overcome the adversity our society faces. Covid-19 has greatly impacted my family. I have been continuously doing online school at California high school and at DVC. I personally strongly dislike it. We are staring at a computer all day for classes and to do homework. The online classes make me tired and lazy. With sports pretty much stopped, it is hard to go outside and practice all by yourself. For my dad, his work has been greatly affected. His workload has dropped and he has constant precautions for his employees. He almost even had to shut down. For my sister, she was finally able to college three months late. They might also cancel her soccer season at UCSB. For my mom, she is very cautious about being around other people because of her parents and their health. This pandemic has influenced the world away from socializing. I can rarely hang out with people and being on zoom is annoying. We are doing the same thing over and over again when it seems like there is no purpose. Our entire world as we know it flipped over and is completely different now. I need school to go to hybrid and sports to start back up soon.
• 2020-09-14

  Pre-Transformation Entry: COVID-19 Response

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. This will mostly be about the shut-in. To be honest, it feels as though not much has changed. At the same time, I feel disoriented. The major difference in my daily activity is the stationary school setting, along with dance practice which I attend from right at home. As I’ve settled into the new life, I feel more aware of how poorly i’ve been treating my own room, and the mess gets to my head. I suppose the quarantine has made me cleaner. Additionally, I’ve more time to spend with my family. It makes me happy to see their faces every day. In darker news, my mom’s condition got much worse, but we’re all here to support her now, and that makes me proud. Being walled up at home certainly did change things.
• 2020-09-29

  Our New Normal

  I think the biggest challenge I have faced because of Covid-19 is coping with the fact that this is how life is going to be for a long time.. Personally I don’t like the unknowns. We don't necessarily know when we'll go back to school or when well be able to play sports games. My family has always been very active and loved to go out and do things, so it has been different to just stay home all of the time. Luckily we have gone on some short day trips to the beach or to different restaurants but to be honest things are just not the same. Sometimes I find myself thinking what I’d be doing at that exact moment if Covid-19 wasn't a thing. Last Friday I was driving to my moms house around 6pm and I realized that if Covid wasn't a thing that I would be in the Cal parking lot tailgating for a football game. These are the type of things that unfortunately us as Juniors haven't really experienced yet and I don’t think we will be able to this year. Hopefully things will start to return to normal soon so we can finish our High School experiences the right way.
• 
  2020-09-22

  My COVID Experience

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. It tells a short story of how life was like for me before we had to go into quarantine due to covid-19.
• 2020-12-17

  Quarantine Glow-Ups

  During Covid-19 I realized that most of the time I do things for other people and not myself. I think it’s because since we stayed at home all the time and I had to stop doing things for other people anyway. During the school year when we actually went to school, I was always really passive and would let people walk over me with things like projects and I would have to do all the work. But then during those couple of weeks when quarantine started and we didn’t have school for a month, I took a lot of time actually taking care of myself since I never had time for self-care during the school year. I think I gained some confidence. I feel like now I don’t really let people make me do all the work anymore and it feels good. Sometimes it is hard though because in one of my classes I’m one of the only juniors and the seniors are scary. Other than having a glow-up during quarantine, my friends and I discovered ways to hang out with each other since we can't go outside. We played a lot of games, like Among Us and Genshin Impact, and they are really fun when you’re playing with friends. I always used to think that I was an introvert (still true) and I didn't need friends, but during quarantine, I learned that I just needed a couple of great friends.
• 2020-12-17

  The Reality of Covid-19

  The biggest challenge I’ve faced while Coivd has happened is not being able to go to school and see family. My family has faced staying at home for most of day, but my dad still has to go to work. Society has faced many lives being taken from this virus. What I’ve learned about myself and how I’ve changed during Covid is I really realized my self worth. Being on quarantine really gave me a lot of time to focus on me for once instead of everyone else.
• 2020-09-29

  Covid-19 journal entry

  When quarantine first started I was happy we didn't have to go to school and i thought we would only be gone for a couple weeks. Now that it’s been more than 28 weeks I obviously am not happy about it anymore. I can’t hang out with my friends anymore and going to work is kind of scary. I hate that we have to wear a mask because when I smile at people they can’t see that I’m smiling at them and I just creepy. My mom is a hair stylist so she was out of work for quite a while, fortunately now she open back up again. My brother also lost his job because the business he worked for had to shut down. My other brother Chase was a senior when it first happened and he just went off to college a couple weeks ago. Chase actually got COVID-19 and that was pretty scary but he didn’t show any symptoms or get sick at all. This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California.
• 2020-11-13

  Politics don't make covid easier

  So far the election has been a long time coming the last four years have been eventful and trump keeps making mistakes. With different troubles and possibilities of executive orders and the supreme court and congress it seems more and more like the election result may not matter trump already has made comments about refusing to leave and if he makes the right order he could achieve this awful goal. But that is beside the point I am not sure who will win, when I think logically he should lose the popular election by several million but I am unsure about the electoral votes instead. With the current system depending on what states he wins it is actually possible to win the entire election with a small subset of the population something like 30 percent if I remember correctly then after that even if he loses the actual electoral vote doesn't happen till December and while they having disobeyed the popular main election yet they have the ability to do so and given that that is made more arbitrarily and often contains businessmen and minor politicians he may win that. an example of why this is so bad you have to look no further than yesterday's executive order. We went through it briefly in class but I looked it up a bit after. but basically, he made it so the department of education is supposed to give more funding to schools that don't follow common core for history and gloss over the hard parts of our history and only glorify it his reasoning was to make us more patriotic but it will deprive people of the truth of what has happened in our past and our mistakes no to mention that he hasn't put a single national mandate on anything regarding covid-19 he even tried to use getting it to better his campaign the ridiculousness of the matter is unprecedented.
• 2020-12-17

  Summer During a Pandemic

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Covid-19 had a pretty major impact on my Summer. My family was planning to go on vacation somewhere, but we obviously weren’t able to do that due to Covid. I was also looking forward to spending a lot of time with my friends and I was also unable to do that. So instead I ended up spending a lot of time at home playing video games. But there were some positives that came out of it. I start playing the guitar again after I haven’t played for a number of years (even though I kinda stopped after school started). I also started working out and taking care of my body more which I typically do during Summer anyway, but this time I could focus more on it because I didn’t have much else to do (again, I kinda stopped after school started). So that is pretty much how my summer went, it wasn’t really eventful, but it wasn’t a complete waste and I tried to make the best of it.
• 2020-09-14

  Covid memories

  "This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California." Covid-19 shaped my summer, mainly by not letting me have any large groups of friends/ people over,which I had just started doing at the end of last year. It also limited the amount of time was allowed to be around my friends in general, and I just recently became more extroverted so that definitely wasn't very fortunate. I also feel like I lost touch with a lot of my close friends from last year. I hope I can see/ talk to them again soon, but I’m not sure if that will come to fruition. But I started some good habits with all my free time, like working out and eating healthier.
• 2020-09-22

  COVID-19 benefits

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Before this pandemic, I feel that I was constantly on the go and blind to many things. It was always go to school , do this, do that, and so on. Since quarantine, I have had lots of down time and have gotten the time to reflect on me as a person. It's been very refreshing slowing down my once hectic everyday life. Due to us being on lock down, I was able to open my eyes to a lot of things. I realized I was putting my energy places where it was unnecessary and trying with people where there was no try back. I had to figure out what relashinships really mattered to me and stop trying with those who show me no attention. Yes this pandemic is crazy but it has been very beneficial to me. I have grown as a person and bettered my mental state.
• 2020-09-22

  Journey of Quarantine

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Throughout my journey of quarantine and covid-19, I have realized that I have changed a lot since before quarantine. I have also realized that I figured out new things about myself, and I also figured out how to never be bored. I have picked up many new hobbies such as fishing and doing DIY projects. Also, I have gotten much more into lifting and working out, because that was the main part of my life during the quarantine. Over quarantine, my friends and I cleaned my garage out, and made it a chill spot with a couch and also a lifting cage for working out. This did cost a lot of money, so we all pitched in to the cause because we were all going to use the cage on a daily basis. After a month or two, we had completely finished it and it was amazing. I used this place every day for the rest of the summer. Another hobby I picked up was owning a fish tank. I have realized that I am fascinated by fish. I have one freshwater tank right now, but I am looking into getting a saltwater fish tank. This does cost a lot more money, but in my opinion, the saltwater fish are much cooler.
• 2020-09-14

  Yellow Skies and Blank Screens

  I’m awake, the sky is yellow, and I don’t want to be in school right now. We wrote a speech awhile back and now we have to listen to them in class. It’s to bad that I don’t like recordings of my voice so therefore, the recording of me reading my speech is going to suck. My cat keeps distracting me from my class so I turned off my camera. I don’t like people seeing me get out of my chair/read or write. It makes me uncomfortable thinking about someone watching me while I’m zoning out. I have work later today which will be okay, My twin and I will most likely pick up dinner which sounds really nice right now. I hope the smoke clears up and it gets colder even though I’m a summer person. Online school is okay though, it's nice to not have to be crammed into a small room with 20 other students in a loud room with no escape.
• 2020-09-07

  My Experience With at Home Learning

  For the most part, I really don’t like the at-home learning, maybe it's because I didn’t get a lot of the classes that I wanted and got a bunch of random classes which was annoying. The way the classes were structured seemed very rushed and unplanned there is not enough of a break between the last 2 classes of the day which leads people to be tired and unwilling to learn. The lunch break is also kind of short and early for many to eat lunch. The classes also don’t give much time to talk with friends as breaks are short and cause people to have unneeded stress. The classes I have often give me work thinking I only have their class and not 5 others piling up work making me more and more stressed every day,
• 2020-06-16

  The Lacrosse Stick

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. My lacrosse stick has gotten very important to me this summer and quarantine. I have improved greatly at the sport of lacrosse. I wanted to get lots better for my first year of varsity lacrosse and pursue my dream of playing an NCAA sport. I have gotten better weight all the time I've had I just want to keep working and hopefully make my dream come true but it started over the quarantine. I started doing tons of work at the start and just kept doing it but the work is not over and I need to keep going.
• 2020-09-14

  Virtual School During COVID

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. I think virtual school has some pros and cons. I definitely prefer it over in-class learning right now just because I still don’t think we are where we want to be in terms of the number of coronavirus cases. I definitely think that learning online is a lot harder. I like the “atmosphere” better because I’m more comfortable learning in my own house. But it’s hard to remember things that I’ve learned through a screen. Some of my teachers act like we should know everything like we are still in school. I appreciate them wanting to treat it as much like a classroom as possible, but it’s honestly hard to learn normally through a screen. It’s also harder to ask questions when the whole class is watching you. I don’t think that teachers should put a lot of pressure on us to know as much as we should as if we were in school. It’s pretty stressful. Also, all of our homework is on the computer and I don’t know about anyone else but doing homework online takes forever. I basically only do homework when I’m not in class; before school, afters school, I’m always doing homework. I don’t really have time to do anything else. I wish the teachers would give a little less homework because it just takes so long to upload everything and input answers from my papers. I get about 4-5 or even 6 hours of homework every night which is kind of overwhelming. Even though I know junior year is supposed to be hard, I didn’t think that it would mean more hours of me doing homework than me sleeping. I think the online aspect of it makes it take longer, and I’d really like for teachers to maybe loosen up on the homework load.
• 2020-12-17

  Covid 19 Challenges

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. A big challenge I’ve faced during covid has been getting used to online school. Knowing when I have which classes, and dealing with internet issues has been the biggest problems. Another challenge my family has faced has been staying safe while everybody works. My Dad, Brother and I all work with the general public so it’s been challenging staying safe. My mom has had it easier because she can do her job while only interacting with 1 or 2 people. It’s been the hardest on my dad because he interacts with the most people and at times can’t maintain 6 feet apart.
• 2020-09-29

  Covid 19

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American studies class at California High School in San Ramon. I just got back from lake shasta, my absolute favorite place on this earth, I think out of all the times I was up there this summer, this past weekend was my favorite. We took the boat out everyday, went for countless dirt bike and polaris rides, and just had a fun time with the family. I am so sad that we had to come home, because I know that this trip was the last “summer trip” of the season. We had to put the boat and sea doos away and it upset me way more than it should have. But I am so happy that even though we are in the middle of a pandemic we were still able to safely have the best summer.
• 2020-12-17

  Covid and Lacrosse

  Ay wat up Journal? This weekend I went to Utah for a college lacrosse recruiting tournament and showcase. During the showcase last Friday night, my team went 3-0 and I had Dallas and Tulsa looking at me. Saturday, while playing with Booth we won our three games that day. I had a bunch of turnovers, GBs, and clears. Later that day i went to walk around the Temple grounds since our hotel was only a block away from the temple. Sunday, we won our semi-final game by one in overtime! We won the championship game by one also in the last 30 seconds of the game! Both games we had to come back after a three point deficit. The games were extremely intense and all of us had to ball out in order to secure those dubs. Matt and I taped five jars of pickles to John’s and Henry’s hotel door using lacrosse tape. We also filled up a wastebasket with water and pickles and leaned it up against their door. I'm extremely grateful that this tournament wasn't canceled. All of my other tournaments for lacrosse have been canceled. We were supposed to go to Las Vegas and Tuscon. I just hope that I have enough film to make a highlight reel.
• 2020-09-22

  Realizations I made during Quaratine

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Since Covid 19 started I learned that I really enjoy eating. I now find myself wondering and being excited when it is time for my next meal. I think eating during remote learning is something I look forward to especially because it is my designated and much-needed break time from school. Since the pandemic, I also realized how bad I am at responding to messaging people. I really don’t like to make the first move because I don’t like to bug people. However, I have been trying to push myself to be a quick responder, check up on people, and chat with them since I haven’t been able to for a while. Because of Covid 19, I was also able to take a film class over the summer. Through that class I was able to pursue and discover my interest and film, I also have learned a lot about the media through history and today. Another thing that I found out about myself through quarantine is sometimes I can be short with people. Especially when I spend all day with them and I am stuck inside not always doing things I enjoy. I am working on being more aware of myself when I think that happens Because of Covid 19, I also discovered how much I appreciate a movie and ice cream night every Friday. It really motivates me to work my butt off during the week because I know I get to do something I enjoy with my family at the end of the week. In fact, my sister and her boyfriend, and I are now rewatching all the movies in the Marvel cinematic universe! And this week I believe is either Thor or Captain America! This week I also am excited because I get to dye my sister’s boyfriend's hair pink! And Madison is going to make whoopie cookies! :D
• 2020-12-17

  Online School During COVID-19

  Thursday 9/17- Overall I have mixed feelings about online learning. It’s nice to say at home, instead of going to school at 7 or 8 am. However I feel like online school is messing with my productivity. It's not fun staring at a screen for 6 hours straight sitting in the same position. Also, it feel like I;m not learning anything, school used to be about learning but now its just trying to pass the classes and turn work in on time. Additionally, some teachers (not you, or all teachers) are giving us a lot of work. Since this whole online learning is new, it's still hard to adjust to it. When we don't finish classwork during class, we have to finish it for homework, which also adds on to our work load. It's difficult to soak in the information during online lectures or lessons because it's sometimes hard to focus at home. I tend to view my home as a place to relax and outside of my house is where i get work done, but constantly being stuck in one room doing 6 hours of classes and at least 4 hours to do homework is not good for my mental or physical health. On the other hand, i'm not really the type of person who likes to be in social setting, so online learning is somewhat nice. My procrastination has gotten much worse because I get too overwhelmed to start homework i just push it off and i have no motivation left to do any homework or assignments anymore. There also is a lot of stress when it comes to technical difficulties. Sometimes the wifi goes down, or the computer jams which causes u to be late or marked tardy. It's also really confusing for homework due dates and grades.
• 2020-11-09

  Getting scammed over $5000 overseas.

  It was late at night, around 2-3 AM. I was staying up because I didn’t have school due to the pandemic. I was browsing on a trading website called Alibaba. It is where manufactures around the world sell their products to other traders to resell. I was just browsing anything that came to my mind and i thought of searching a car i have wanted for a long time. I searched up a Mercedes G63. Apparently these people had their car inventory in Greece but they first ship the vehicle to somewhere else before shipping it to me. I was so manipulated to think I was getting something too good to be true. I bank transferred $2000 then $3000 overseas. This was the biggest mistake of my life but one to learn from.
• 
  2020-11-03

  Spyglass Golf

  In may of 2020 I qualified for a major golf tournament at one of the most famous courses in Norcal, Spyglass hill. It was an amazing experience. The only downside was that there had to be modifications to the tournament due to COVID-19. These modifications were nothing major. The most impactful one was the fact that we could not take the pin out of the hole before we putt. It is a strange thing to look at when you are so used to an open hole to roll your ball into. However, my favorite part about any tournament gotta stay the same. The sound of solid contact with a golf ball. I was just thankful to be out on the course and not stuck inside, getting to feel and hear what a pure swing feels like once you make contact directly in the middle of the club face.
• 2020-10-27

  The Last Day Of School

  It was march, at school people were talking alot about the coronavirus but nobody really saw how big the issue was. I remember in previous weeks my hirstoy teacher asking our class, “Do you guys think this virus will eventually affect us? What do you think? Will we be affected?” I remember the whole class pretty much saying “Nah we will be fine,” there were maybe a select few who saw this coming, but for the most part nobody had a clue it would bring us here. Even my teacher. Towards the end of that school day, everyone didn’t understand what was going on, but all we knew was that we didn’t have to come to school the following Monday. It was a Friday. I went to my friend’s house after school with my frined group at the time and we all talked about the possibilities, and how we might get a two week extention on spring break, not knowing this would be the last time we hang out for a pretty long time before all of our friendships changed. We never knew that over half a year of growing and learning in highschool, and that one of our very few summers as a teen would be stripped away from us.
• 2020-10-27

  Lonely life at home

  Due to pandemic restrictions, I had to stay at home for very long without meeting anyone outside. So there was a lot of time being alone myself in my room doing school work through online and playing some games. After a few days passed, the life was getting bored and I wanted to meet my friends. I felt no longer joy I used to have with my friends. So I started getting used to a voice chat to have some talk with my friends who are very closed with, which I felt little better. I also spend my time talking with my family. And I’m grateful that I could feel my life was getting better.
• 
  2020-09-21

  Loss in a COVID World

  I believe this is a point of interest to talk about, since it’s likely that many will wonder, out of innocent curiosity, what it’s like to lose someone in a time of crisis. I should describe it as transcendental. May your soul be touched. My beloved mother didn’t die from COVID-19. She had been unknowingly battling cancer for several years, and had it diagnosed at its most lethal stage. I still shake my hands at the doctors who had ignored her concerns for all this time, because maybe she would still have been here if it weren’t for them. But how would that affect me? Would things remain the same at home? I have to say, I shudder at this thought, too. Colon cancer, which metastasized in the liver. She passed from liver failure in the later part of this year, 2020. I, the foolish child, was so preoccupied that I couldn’t understand why my uncle woke me at 4 am in the morning that day. With a classic sleepy rub of the eye, I told him, “I have a math test today.” And if it hadn’t been for the pain in his eyes, I wouldn’t have gotten up at all. There she was, lying eerily still in her bed, but she was also gone. As the people around me sobbed and turned away, all I could do was stand and stare. It felt like something was out of place. I felt out of place. If you could try to imagine it, remain perfectly still as you are and think of yourself exiting your body. Look around you without looking. That’s how it felt, everything slightly blurry by the darkness, lightness in my feet as if I were floating, a static, metal taste in my mouth, the sounds of sobbing flooding my ears, I couldn't handle it. I started to cry, and buried myself in the crook of my brother’s chest for support. To be in the unknown, and lose what you have, is the most frightening experience I wish for nobody else to have gone through. The pain is truly insufferable… but the healing process counts for so much of who I define myself as now, that I couldn’t imagine the year going any other way. The funeral was held the following sunday. It too was such a different experience. We took many long, empty roads to reach the cemetery. Seeing few cars on the road is commonplace for such a road, but to see none at all was creepy. I relinquished my thoughts to sleep. Upon our arrival, I put my mask on and stood before 50 some odd people who had come to see my mother off. That’s right, I thought comfortably, Mom was very well loved. The notion was reassuring. We exchanged hugs and hellos and sorrys, all the usual pleasantries you would expect at an event not so pleasant, and made our way to the casket for the gathering to take place. I’ll leave the eulogy I wrote here, in case you were curious and thought, I wonder what this stranger said at their mother’s funeral, because this is expected when you are here to read about losing a loved one. Finally, when all was said and done, condolences were given again. This time, though, I hardly recognized anyone. It must’ve been the masks that obstructed our faces, because I saw the attendees, and they saw me, but it was still so unfamiliar. The later part of that day I spent confused. I suppose that’s how we start when we learn to adjust, which I did. Presently I am still healing, but it’s not so bittersweet when I think of her, moreso sweet than bitter. The metal taste in my mouth begins to wear off, and I am feeling free. I hope she also feels free. And I hope this provided the insight you were looking for when you came across this page. We all love and lose in the end. Focus your energy towards healing, and you will learn to grow with the changes.
• 2020-04-08

  Birthdays During Covid19

  When the stay at home order was first put in place back in March many events, gatherings, and plans had to be cancelled. One special day that many people didn’t want to go unnoticed were birthdays. My friends and I saw multiple stories and videos of people doing drive by birthdays in order to celebrate the special day of their friends and family. One of my best friend's birthday was in April. Before we went on lockdown we were planning on doing a surprise birthday party at his house. Unfortunately this was cancelled because of the lockdown. I’m sure you can imagine the disappointment that we all felt because we couldn’t celebrate with our friends. We decided to do a birthday drive by. All of our friends gathered at the park around the corner from his house in our cars in order to drive by. I looked around as I sat there. This was our new normal that we were going to have to accept. I saw a row of cars behind mine waiting to wish our friend happy birthday through our car windows. I heard all my friends yelling from car to car in order to talk to each other. We drove by his house multiple times and eventually stopped in front to talk to him individually and do the best we could to give him a good day. Instead of swimming in his backyard and eating pizza together, we sat out front yelling and honking. We realized things had changed but thankfully we were able to make the best of the situation were in.
• 2020-09-09

  Skating Under A Sunless Sunset

  September 9th, 2020. The first day in years where I wake up and I am terrified by what I see: the world outside my window is drenched in orange light. I blink multiple times and bolt up, making sure I am not dreaming and that I am in complete control of my faculties. I sit in my room, stunned, for a few moments, then go about my day as usual. I peek my head outside for a moment, and smell nothing in the air. None of the smoke that had been plaguing our noses for the past few days was permitted among the copper splendor. My whole morning, I am terrified of what this could potentially mean: that the fire was close. That we could be in danger. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth for the morning. After class, I go about my normal after-school activities, gaming on my computer and playing on the guitar. At about 6 in the evening, I decide to myself “screw it.” I pick up my board, put my earbuds in, and get out of the house. The orange is dimmer, but still terrifyingly beautiful to look at. I skate around, listening to my favorite music as I observe the neighborhood around me, the same shapes with different meanings now. I dare not to pull out my phone to ruin this moment, knowing a photograph or video from it will ruin the moment for me. I stop along Mangos Drive and just sit on the curb, board behind my feet, and I stare up, hearing only my music and the occasional car passing by. A true calm, I was in, one I hadn’t been in in a long time. And so I sat there, knowing where the sun sets, but seeing no sun. I knew when it did set, but not through sight. Through feeling. The lukewarm day turned colder, the orange dimmed to a vibrant brown, and I felt phenomenal. I skated back home, not caring to check how long I’d been gone, knowing it was well worth it however much time I spent out there. I snapped out of it, and continued with the things I had been doing before, playing games and the guitar. Not once, that whole day, did I smell or taste smoke. And I am grateful for it.
• 
  2020-10-27

  Times of a Bitter Sweet Pandemic

  During this pandemic, I have been feeling a wave of emotions. Loneliness, solidarity, confusion, boredom. These past few months have not been easy for anyone, to say the absolute least. Being isolated has taught me a lot about myself; a lot of things that have been hard to cope with. However, there was one thing that brought me joy during these times: baking. Baking ties in with so many things I like. Art, food, TV, and designing. On July 1st, it was my little sister Melia’s 9th birthday. For this important day, I decided to do something extravagant and make Oreo cupcakes. I’ve never made Oreo cupcakes because my family isn’t much of a sweet tooth, (and are kind of obsessed with richer tastes like strawberry) but my little sister LOVES Oreos. Because of that, I spent an entire night baking her cupcakes- making sure they were up to perfection. Knowing that she wasn’t able to get a proper celebration or party made me sad, but also motivated me to make the best out of that day just for her. The fumes of the sweet vanilla filled my kitchen as I spent the next few hours baking batches and batches of cupcakes. I would take occasional tastes of the batter just to make sure it was mixed evenly, of course. The cupcakes were left to bake for an hour, and that was the time I spent to make sure the decorations would be perfect. The next day, I surprised her with the cupcakes and she was ecstatic. I was worried that it the cupcakes weren’t enough for a 9 year old because the pandemic limited me from getting her a physical present, like a toy. Nobody’s ever went out of their way to make such cool cupcakes, she said. I even went with to one of Melia’s friends houses with her so we could share our sweet surprise with them. Not only did I make my sister’s day, but I even made some other little kids’ day too! Although this story may seem like any regular birthday surprise, it showed me how much the littlest things could bring someone so much joy, and there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it may be a dim one.
• 2020-03

  Going to The Market During COVID-19

  During the COVID-19 pandemic the only time most people left there houses was to go to a market to get food once and awhile. In my house one person would go once a week and everyone always wanted to be the person to go. We would have a shopping list that everyone would write what they wanted and the person selected would have to get everything on the list. During to the market it felt like no one was on earth anymore. The roads were empty with no one insite. The markets were the busiest place so they had to restrict the number of people inside at once. While inside the market everything felt so dirty because you would constantly think about “was this touched by someone who had COVID.” This is important to remember because this is the only place people went during the pandemic and it made them happy just to get out of the house.
• 2020-10-27

  Driving during COVID

  The first time I went driving after March 13th was to drop off groceries to my aunt. The freeway was empty with very few cars on the road. It was very peaceful being alone on the road. I heard the music from my car but not alot of other car engines.
• 2020-10-27T12:06

  An Unexpected Return

  After being out sick for a week filled with chills, doctors appointments, the smell of soup, and the feeling of my warm blanket, I finally returned to school on Friday. I could see the empty classrooms, hear the quiet rooms, smell the hand sanitizer, touch the desks and door handles with precaution, and taste the uneasiness in the room. I heard whispers of people talking about “the coronavirus”. I saw people wiping down their desks and chairs. I smelt of constant cleaning supplies. I felt my heart beating faster than normal. This were all new senses that were coming to me in one day. I was confused and scared of the uncertainty of it all. I was barely comprehending and my mind was filled with thoughts and heat full of emotion. Little did I know, that was my last day of school.
• 2020-10-24

  Discord Dodgers Fumble

  After multiple games on CS:GO Sam, Will, Mateo, Elias, and I decided to watch the stream of the 2020 World Series game 4. Will projected the game in the call on discord. Many of us including me dislike the Dodgers and therefore rooted for the Rays. When Brett Phillips went up with runners on 1st and 2nd we were thinking it was the end because of Philip’s poor stats. I remember distinctly not being able to hear anything in my headset because we were all screaming so loud into our microphones on the call when Brett singled into center. The center fielder fumbled the ball wasting time and on the throw the catcher dropped the ball scoring 2 and giving the Rays the win. It makes me sad that we can’t meet and see each other to watch the game but, it was nice to play and listen to my friends.
• 2020-10-27

  Senses Throughout the Covid Experience

  I remember the intercom on March 13th telling the students “School will be out for two weeks due to the Coronavirus.” At first, this was awesome, we got time off school with no homework!! But then the break never stopped and school never resumed to what it used to be. Being quarantined went from days, to weeks, to months, and hasn’t stopped yet. We barely finished the school year online and thought we would go back at the start of next year. Oh were we wrong! All we see is the computer screen! We were quarantined for another 3 months and proceeded to do the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year online. Hopefully we get to go back to school next semester. We will be able to talk to one another and get out of the boring home. This virus has blocked us from our homecoming, football season, sports, hanging out with friends, celebrating holidays, socializing at school, and seeing family. Instead, we are on the computer for 5-6 hours a day either in zoom meetings or doing homework. We now can’t touch everything, talk to who we used to, and taste all of the diverse foods we would go out and have. It isn’t healthy! We need to go back to school next semester even if it is hybrid. This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone and we need to get through this together.
• 2020-10-27

  A New Perspective on Sports

  When I heard that football was going to be returning, I can’t express how shocked and excited I became. In the past few months, my family and I had been locked up in our houses, unable to do all of the fun activities that we had loved to do before the Virus. Luckily, the spread was starting to slow, and now things, like sports, were starting to come back again. My family and I are huge football fans (GO STEELERS!), and when we heard this news we were ecstatic! While watching the first game on TV, we were shocked as to how much about it had changed. To start, no one was allowed in the stands. When watching the game, you could see all the yellow and black seats along the horizon. Usually, these seats would be packed with life. The next thing I noticed was the noise. Since there were no crowds, there were no cheering or noises coming from the background. Usually, music would also be playing to entertain the fans, but a lot of these sounds were removed. The NFL tried to add in pre recorded background noises to put into the game, but it just wasn’t the same. After watching this game, I realized how much COVID-19 has changed the things that I love. I am thankful for the slow of the spread and all of the precautions being put out to keep the public safe, but this event really made me realize how my take on the little things had changed.
• 2020-10-27

  One Thing From The Pandemic

  Over quarantine I was felt extremely bored and each passing day felt the same. I kept seeing people talking about how this was an opportunity for us to learn new skills and take advantage of all the free time. I had came up with many ideas for what I could try and do like playing the guitar or boxing, but they couldn’t hold my interest for long and I eventually gave them up. One day my friend asked me to bake something for her dad’s birthday. I had dabbled with baking in the past, but I never took it too seriously. I was watching a video about a dessert that looked really good so I thought, why not. I got up, went to the store, bought all the ingredient I needed, and proceeded to make the dessert. It took me a lot longer than expected and I ran into some issues while cooking, but in the end I was really happy with what I had accomplished. The whole house was filled with the smell of sweet caramel and I have to say it looked really good. First I let my family try it and the verdict was that it tasted incredible. My friend and her family really enjoyed it was well. After hearing all the compliments that were bestowed upon me, I longed for that feeling of accomplishment. So I continued to make desserts for my family and friends and every time I improve just a little bit.