Status: Enjoy reading
The Second Step: Sophomore Year
Armistice Day
Today is veterans day. You can say I'm unpatriotic but I typically just see this as a day to get out of school. It was kind of odd having school yesterday (Monday) then having school off today, and then going back on Wednesday, but hey I'm not complaining. Today was pretty chill, I had a dental appointment which went smoothly, grinded out hw for a few hours, and then for the past three hours I went to my first varsity basketball tryout. Coach told me a while ago that I was on varsity, but there are no guarantees. Although, today did show much promise; I got a steal on defense almost every play and on offense I was one of the only ones there to completely run the plays correctly. So yea in general things have been looking up lately. Very busy, but still looking up.
Last Saturday was very eventful. We had our PAL Championship meet for cross country. I was very hyped and was spurting out motivational quotes left and right. Our boys varsity team(myself and the other top 6 six runners) was intent on making it to CCS as a team. Our race was the last race and the nerves were very high by the time it started. Off of the starting line I was in first place for the first 50 meters. After then I fell back and paced our teams 4th fastest runner for the following 2.9 miles. Then upon seeing the finish I gave a huge burst and passed 8 runners before sprinting through the finish. It was a good race. But when I saw the times posted, I realized I was one second off of my PR and that our team missed qualifying for CCS by a substantial amount. This was very discouraging, but I was happy for our top boy and girl runners who both qualified for CCS as individuals. Upon heading back on the bus ride home, a huge amount of nostalgia overwhelmed me. I looked back on the experiences we went through this season, and realized how proud I am to have been through this. I became so close to this Vars team and am glad that next year we will only lose one graduating senior runner. He will be missed but our team as a whole will have a shot at CCS once again. We plan to have an after-party after the CCS meet so this coming weekend should be fun.
Last Sunday was also exciting. I had a crap ton of homework to do before a movie date that night. I busted out all of my homework and finished just on time before her dad picked me up. I was going with my date from hoco to see Ouija first then sneak into Interstellar after. Ouija was the typical crappy horror movie, but of course it was an opportunity to be there to comfort my terrified date. Then going into Interstellar I had extremely high expectations as I heard the science behind this space exploration themed movie was very accurate.
It blew me away.
The plot was spectacular in its Hollywood grandeur. The cast was amazing. The writing was spectacular. And of course the science explored topics in Astrophysics and theoretical physics that I find incredibly interesting. The plot was so complex and had so many awe-inspiring moments that I was completely mind blown towards the end. For some reason having this lack of understanding entices my brain in a way that I've only ever experienced through reading books that have very mystical and ambiguous endings. It just allows my mind to explore the depths of my own imagination to either piece together the puzzle or paint its own interpretation of the plot. All in all this film epitomizes the reason why I am interested in science. I could go on about the film but I must stop.
The date itself was fairly romantic and upon arriving home, due to both my company and the film, I was in an incredibly positive mindset. I had renewed faith for my journey in this word.
Then yesterday, Monday, was fairly typical except for a practice SAT feedback session after school. I had received a 1950 on the practice test. This score was well above my peers taking the test with me and is in the 91st percentile. However, I am not content with it. There were many areas that I did poorly on which I know I could have aced easily. I intend to have a score around 2200 or more by the time I take the real deal. This is necessary if I want to fulfill my goal of Stanford or Caltech. But still this test was good practice.
Recently, I have been going about things with a very positive mindset and have decided to eliminate negativity and negative people from my atmosphere. We will see how this plays out, but so far I feel great.
As if transcended from my previous way of thinking.
Last Saturday was very eventful. We had our PAL Championship meet for cross country. I was very hyped and was spurting out motivational quotes left and right. Our boys varsity team(myself and the other top 6 six runners) was intent on making it to CCS as a team. Our race was the last race and the nerves were very high by the time it started. Off of the starting line I was in first place for the first 50 meters. After then I fell back and paced our teams 4th fastest runner for the following 2.9 miles. Then upon seeing the finish I gave a huge burst and passed 8 runners before sprinting through the finish. It was a good race. But when I saw the times posted, I realized I was one second off of my PR and that our team missed qualifying for CCS by a substantial amount. This was very discouraging, but I was happy for our top boy and girl runners who both qualified for CCS as individuals. Upon heading back on the bus ride home, a huge amount of nostalgia overwhelmed me. I looked back on the experiences we went through this season, and realized how proud I am to have been through this. I became so close to this Vars team and am glad that next year we will only lose one graduating senior runner. He will be missed but our team as a whole will have a shot at CCS once again. We plan to have an after-party after the CCS meet so this coming weekend should be fun.
Last Sunday was also exciting. I had a crap ton of homework to do before a movie date that night. I busted out all of my homework and finished just on time before her dad picked me up. I was going with my date from hoco to see Ouija first then sneak into Interstellar after. Ouija was the typical crappy horror movie, but of course it was an opportunity to be there to comfort my terrified date. Then going into Interstellar I had extremely high expectations as I heard the science behind this space exploration themed movie was very accurate.
It blew me away.
The plot was spectacular in its Hollywood grandeur. The cast was amazing. The writing was spectacular. And of course the science explored topics in Astrophysics and theoretical physics that I find incredibly interesting. The plot was so complex and had so many awe-inspiring moments that I was completely mind blown towards the end. For some reason having this lack of understanding entices my brain in a way that I've only ever experienced through reading books that have very mystical and ambiguous endings. It just allows my mind to explore the depths of my own imagination to either piece together the puzzle or paint its own interpretation of the plot. All in all this film epitomizes the reason why I am interested in science. I could go on about the film but I must stop.
The date itself was fairly romantic and upon arriving home, due to both my company and the film, I was in an incredibly positive mindset. I had renewed faith for my journey in this word.
Then yesterday, Monday, was fairly typical except for a practice SAT feedback session after school. I had received a 1950 on the practice test. This score was well above my peers taking the test with me and is in the 91st percentile. However, I am not content with it. There were many areas that I did poorly on which I know I could have aced easily. I intend to have a score around 2200 or more by the time I take the real deal. This is necessary if I want to fulfill my goal of Stanford or Caltech. But still this test was good practice.
Recently, I have been going about things with a very positive mindset and have decided to eliminate negativity and negative people from my atmosphere. We will see how this plays out, but so far I feel great.
As if transcended from my previous way of thinking.