Category: Personal Writing

Lately, I’ve been feeling a strange mix of nostalgia and homesickness. It’s not for a place I’ve ever lived in, but a place that has always been my second home – Czechia. Both of my parents are from there, and even though I grew up in Switzerland, I’ve spent most summers of my life in the Czech countryside or in Prague. My parents always made sure that we visited my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins at least a few times every year. What feels weird now, is that I’ve never felt this kind of longing for Czechia before. Maybe it’s the distance, or the fact that I haven’t been back in over a year, but for the first time, I truly understand how much I love it.

When I was younger, I didn’t appreciate it the way I do now. I dreaded the long eight-hour car ride from Switzerland to my grandparents’ house, staring out the window, counting down the hours until we finally arrived. The summer days in the countryside always seemed to last forever and I often felt bored, waiting for something more exciting to happen. I always referred to my grandmas hometown as the “middle-of-nowhere” (which I guess it kind of is). But now, I look forward to it like never before. What once felt routine, now feels special. I miss the little things – the smell of my grandma’s cooking, the warm summer nights biking with my cousins, the quiet hikes through the forests. Even the sight-seeing and museums in Prague, which I once found tiring, now feel like places I can’t wait to visit and walk through again.

Even though I’m sad that my exchange year in Canada is “slowly” coming to an end and leaving will be hard, I’m so excited to go back and spend my summer with my family in Czechia. I’m grateful that Canada helped me realize how much I love my second home – a place I once took for granted but now truly appreciate.

“All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA is a song that explores themes of success, power, and self-awareness. Kendrick’s rap verses focus on the skepticism towards fame, fake people, and superficial relationships. He reflects on the importance of recognizing and letting go of the toxic aspects of life, ultimately embracing the rewards that come with this understanding. On the other hand, SZA’s verses focus on pursuing dreams and the realization and rewards of achieving one’s potential. The chorus, “This may be the night that my dreams might let me know, all the stars are closer,” speaks to the idea of acknowledging one’s aspirations and recognizing the long process of achieving a goal. The song also explores the unique challenges and obstacles them as black artists face. They address the struggle to manage the pressures of the entertainment industry while staying true to their culture.

While watching Romeo and Juliet was an experience that brought many emotions. Romeo and Juliet, it’s a story about love and fate, a fate that was beyond the character’s control, yet drive everything that happens. The intensity of Romeo and Juliet’s love is breathtaking, and these emotions have lasted hundreds of years. It feels pure and as a flame all-consuming, but it’s also tragic how their story didn’t end as expected and led to disaster. The tension between their love and their family’s hatred is so palpable that it almost seems like the universe itself is conspiring against them. What stands out to me is the sense of urgency in their relationship. They fall in love so quickly, yet they are determined to make it work, no matter the cost, hoping that their immense love ends their parent’s dispute. In a way, their passion makes their love seem inevitable and profound. But the tragic ending reminds me that love, no matter how deep, it cannot exist in a void, and external factors-like family conflict and societal expectations-have a huge impact on the individual. What also strikes me is how young they are. Juliet, in particular, is so young and still so full of life, and Romeo is driven by his emotions more than reason. Their impulsive decisions lead to their untimely deaths, which, while heartbreaking, serve as a powerful reminder of how fleeting and fragile life can be. At the same time, it raises questions about fate and whether the tragedy was avoidable. Could their love have survived in a different world, or was their fate sealed from the moment they met? I find myself wondering how different things might have been of their families had just been able to set aside their old grudges. All in all, Romeo and Juliet are a complex, emotional journey. It’s a reminder of how powerful love can be, but also of the costs that can come with it when circumstances seem out of our control. It’s an unforgettable story, one that stays with you long after it ends.

Welcome back to the Polish-Vlog 😁! A lot of stuff happened since the last blog, so I suggest you read through the last posts to ensure you know what is the main issue, my goal, and how I plan to solve it. I bet those of you who kept track of my Polish-Vlog are probably eager to hear whether or not my idea has worked or not; The thing is, I have both good and bad news about this situation. If we consider the fact of using the method introduced earlier (polishing in areas where there is no high stress, and in places where there is that I should reduce the amount of layers to preserve the shine), it was a great idea, at least it seemed like it. You see, the thing is that my cadet boots are kind of like Poodles – yes, the dog – because they, like their counterpart prefer to be treated in a very high standard, and not everything you introduce to them is always in their liking; the same thing can be said about my boots; any polish that was put on to high stress parts (no matter the amount) was always, and I mean always cracking. This was annoying as I thought I have already relieved the issue, but apparently not. This is very annoying, as it leaves my boot diverse in colour, texture, and smoothness, which is very, and I mean VERY visible from a 3rd person’s perspective. But, I do have some good news, too. For starters, the boots are coming along pretty well (aside from the struggles mentioned earlier) and I can start to see the growth in the depth of colour with every additional layer (what I mean by that is the more polish is put on to a boot, the denser the coat and it absorbs more light). Another good news is that the boot is getting close to competing with people that have the same generation (version) of boots as me; this is especially good for competition, however, I am still yet to get to that level of boot polishing on these boots. 

So, what are my solutions to the problems faced? I have a plan, however I am afraid to experiment in case I have to take off the polish again. Top keep intrigue and interest to my posts I will make sure to let you all know of my method/ new Idea. Once again, any questions, comments, or concerns can be left below; Stay safe, and see you in the next one!

Let It Happen is a song by Tame Impala, and written by Kevin Parker in the year 2015.  Since the first time that I listened to this song, I knew it was out of this universe. As you listen to the song, it’s like it takes you on an astounding journey. This seven minute song (nearly eight minutes) has an extremely powerful melody and lyrics. However, most importantly, it has become my life moto. It’s all about letting go, and letting this happen (quite obvious by the title). I am a strong believer in the saying “everything happens for a reason”, and I think this song talks about just that. In an interview with Under the Radar, Parker said “finding yourself always in this world of chaos and all this stuff going on around you and always shutting it out because you don’t want to be part of it. But at some point, you realize it takes more energy to shut it out than it does to let it happen and be a part of ‘it’.” This song completely encapsulates the mindset that I want to have in the future, and it made me realize that it really isn’t that serious, and you have to let things go and move on with in order to live life.

 

Recently I bought a new game (Monster Hunter Wilds) but it doesn’t come out till Feb 28. Also, today is my dad’s birthday. During the weekend I played lots of roblox with my all time best friend Tarissa. We played a game called Dead Rails where you basically travel 80km through Texas all the way to Mexico in order to escape some plague that turned everyone to zombies. By the way, you’re travelling through a desert and you need to keep your train fueled. You also need to survive zombies, werewolves, vampires, and rogues that shoot you. We played many rounds through the three day period, and the one time we got to the end, the enemy base killed us. I was so upset. Instead, we played a few horror games like Demonology, which is basically phasmophobia (a game where you’re ghost hunters and your job is to identify types of ghosts haunting buildings).

Every year there’s this event that goes on sometime in February (22nd I believe). You raise funds leading up to that date and the once it’s time you go on a walk (5km or 2.5km). For my service project this year, that’s what I did, walked and raised money for homeless youth. Honorable mention, we named our group (Me, Blake, and Theo) “The Amazing Handsome Fellers” and when we got to the event to sign up they already knew who we were. We walked up to sign in and they said “Are you guys the Amazing Handsome Fellas?”. The best feeling in the world, being recognized by a random, I’m so popular. Usually the walk is pretty calm and fun but I remembered from last year that they give out snacks halfway through the 5km walk. Knowing so, I didn’t eat as much leading up to it, and all I could think about WAS the food. Once we reached halfway, all I saw on the stand was cold granola bars… Such a tragedy. You would think after raising around 990 dollars we would be given more than just a cold granola and some drinks but apparently not! I’m gonna sign a petition for them to bring back celebration cookies and gummies!

During the week I realized that since I cached up with the work, I needed to do, my daily life has improved more. I am finally able to sleep more in the night. I’m being careful to not delate work, so it doesn’t start to pill up again. Now I have much more time for myself, and I realized that I need new hobbies since the ones that I used to do were in México, now I need to figure out new ones to spend my time. During the mean time I’ll be careful with my time management, so all the aspects of my life are perfectly balanced.

In shadows deep where whispers dwell,
Two hearts entwine, a tale to tell,
A love forbidden yet pure and bright,
Like stars that flicker in the night.

The streets are filled with silent cries,
While two young souls are born to rise,
They meet in secret, hearts collide,
Bound by a fate they cannot hide.

Juliet’s eyes, like dawn’s first light,
Romeo’s words, so soft, so right,
Together, they dream of love untold,
But in their world, their hearts must fold.

A blade, a vial, the poison’s kiss,
A twist of fate, an endless abyss,
They part too soon, yet love remains,
In the silence where their memory reigns.

Okay, Hear me out. I just realized how awesome and interesting Harley Quinn as a character truly is. I used to think that Harley was just an insane psychotic villain especially because of her laugh. Then, I realized that I cannot say anything about her laugh because I probably look insane myself with my laugh. Also looking at her character from a psychological or cognitive way is actually quite fascinating. Literally no one is like her or can even close to her character! First of all, she went to medical school; became a psychiatrist; worked in an asylum; FELL IN LOVE WITH HER PATIENT (Joker); BREAK THAT PATIENT OUT OF THE ASYLUM SHE’S WORKING IN; began a life of crime; got arrested by BATMAN; went to jail; got out of jail with a freaking BOMB ON HER NECK; saved the world; go back to jail; get out of jail BEFORE BREAKING UP WITH THE MADMAN (Joker); and lastly, going out on her own. LIKE SHE IS INSANE! INSANELY AWESOME! If you watched it you know exactly where I got that previous dialogue from. You ca hate her, but you have to admit that her lore goes crazy. I know the Suicide Squad is a pretty hated movie and I can honestly see why, but her character in general is just incredible. I still think that it’s so insane how far she went for love especially thinking about how that was literally her patient at a certain place in time, and the Joker didn’t even care about her in the first place. He was just using her. Which makes total sense because that’s exactly how his character is supposed to be perceived. He never wanted Harley in the first place, he only wanted Batman. I don’t know where I randomly started thinking about Harley, but I kind of want to watch some of the movies now or the animated series. If anyone’s got any recommendations just let me know!

Of course, being in the season of winter calls for another trip up to Smithers, BC to reconnect with the rest of the family! It’s hard to believe that it’s already been four months since the last fall trip up for hunting. Admittedly, this trip takes quite a different approach compared to the summer or fall trips that I make up North, with lots of snowmobiling and skiing instead of hunting and fishing. Back in June of last year, I managed to snag some super cheap tickets off of Air Canada for this winter, and I’m glad that I booked for my dad and siblings when I did. Instead of driving this trip, we flew, which really is that much easier. The flight that runs once a day from Vancouver to Smithers takes a mere 1hr 10m compared to the fifteen hours that would’ve been spent in the truck all day. The past long weekend provided a perfect opportunity to make a trip up North without having to miss a ton of school. Five days ended up being perfect. Whenever I’m able to go and reunite with everyone up North, I always have an amazing time, and this trip was no exception.

And what awesome trip would be complete without highlights? Each trip up to Smithers always has its own set of highlights, every time. There are so many memorable highlights from this trip, but I’ll just talk about a couple for space’s sake. The most memorable highlight for me was definitely being treated to 20 centimeters of fresh, dry powder on the ski hill! I definitely had some of the best skiing all season just on Wednesday. My second most memorable highlight would have to be ripping around on an 850 snowmobile on Paradise (Guess) Lake. Up North, all of the lakes are frozen over for most of winter. Lakes are also a perfect place for testing the limits of snowmobiles. To say the least, going 110 km/h on an snowmobile alone is probably one of the most thrilling experiences you can have, ever. The adrenaline rush is off the charts. This concludes another successful and memorable trip up to Smithers. Until June!

All week, I’ve been counting down the days until the weekend so I can finally hop back onto Roblox. School keeps me busy, but the second I’m free, all I want to do is jump into the game and catch up with my friends. There’s something about Roblox that isn’t just about playing—it’s about the connections, the inside jokes, and the late-night  that make it so much fun.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to find a great group of friends. It all started with just a few random games together, but somehow, we’ve built this little community that feels like home. Everyone in the group is so different, coming from all kinds of backgrounds, but that’s what makes it special. We all bring something unique to the table, and it just works.

One person I’ve grown especially close to is Arthur, aka The Beekeeper. From the moment we started playing together, we just clicked. Whether it’s teaming up in games, joking around, or just talking about random things, it’s crazy how quickly we’ve become friends.

Then there are the girls in the group, who make everything even better. Jazmine and Aubrie are two of the sweetest people I’ve met online. They’re both so fun to be around, and no matter what we’re doing—whether it’s playing seriously or just goofing off—we always have a great time. It’s rare to find a group where everyone genuinely gets along, but somehow, we’ve made it work.

Outside of the group, one of my closest friends is Aii. We’ve been friends in real life for a while now, and I know I can always count on her. Even though she isn’t part of the Roblox crew, she’s still a big part of my life, and I’m grateful for her.

It’s funny how a game can introduce you to people who end up meaning so much.

Last weekend, my mum and I went hiking with our dog when we spotted a wolf. It was quite close, about 15 metres away from us, and it was just watching us and slowly walked around shrubs and trees, minding its own business. Even though it was pretty close, it would disappear about of sight easily, and camouflage into the forest that at times we would not see it. Then all of a sudden, we would spot it again just standing there. As we walked further up the trail, away from the wolf, to the top where we were above it, because we were on a hill, I noticed it went onto our path we had just walked up and was sniffing around. It was probably sniffing at my dog’s scent. It kept slowly walking up the trail, so we decided to keep walking on to get out of its way to continue the hike. It was a very cool experience, and I am excited to know that I have now seen Canada’s top three largest predators (not including the Polar Bear): Black Bear, Cougar, Grey Wolf. There are hundred of wolves on Vancouver Island, but they do not like being around people so most of the population is away from the cities, meaning that people rarely get to encounter them on the island. In the Autumn, my mum volunteers at Rocky Point Bird Observatory to band owls (mainly Northern Saw-whet Owls) for bird monitoring purposes and I will sometimes go with her to help retrieve them from the nets. At a particular bird banding station sight, you can often hear wolves howling down by the beaches at night. It is an incredible feeling listening to them which is one of the many reasons why they are one of my favourite animals.

I was born in Winnipeg at Saint Vital Hospital, and soon after my birth, I was on a plane headed to Ukraine, specifically to Kherson. My entire family lives in Kherson, so many relatives welcomed me as I returned from Canada. My dad’s family is originally from Yakutsk, Russia, and they moved to Kherson before the collapse of the Soviet Union while my mom’s family has always lived in Ukraine. Growing up in Ukraine was certainly an experience that, although I don’t fully remember, I miss dearly. Whenever I look at old photos of myself smiling in my babushka’s apartment with her cat Vaisya and her yellow parrot Yasha, a wave of nostalgia washes over me, making me long to return to the country I once called home. I remember baking and playing with my cousins Yana and Stasik, they were a big part of me growing up even though they were much older than me, they always took time to teach me things or to walk with me to markets, they are both still in Ukraine along with my aunt and uncle, Yana was a teacher, and Stasik is in the army fighting in the war. Many of my other relatives still live in Kherson because, in truth, they have nowhere else to go they do not have the opportunity to go anywhere else. Hearing from my relatives is both a happy and sad moment as they are safe, but we never know the next time they are in danger or hurt. My Babushka apartment recently got caught in an air strike, and the left side of the building was destroyed, the apartment that I grew up in, the apartment I had some of the happiest moments in as a child, is practically destroyed, thankfully, my babushka lives with us here in Victoria, but all the memories and items that apartment contained can never be replaced. The country I called home is being destroyed, and I will never be able to go back and see the great history and happy memories it once held, I can not go back to the same country I once knew; the children of Ukraine will never be able to experience the country their parents once new, and this is what saddens me most of all.

My personal writing is gonna be about the top 3 places I would like to travel to and why. The first place I would like to travel to is Paris. I have always wanted to go to Paris since I started becoming really good in French. I have always wanted to go see the tower especially at night which is a reason I would like to go I want the other reasons are because Paris is really beautiful and they have really good pastries that I have always wanted to try. The second place I would like to travel to is Hawaii, and specifically Maui. I have been to Maui 2 times but each time I have always loved it, there is lots of activities and it is very beautiful my favourite part is watching the sunset and its even better because its right on the beach. Lastly I would like to travel to Spain, I would like to travel to Spain because I have seen lots of photos and heard a lot of good things about it and it sounds really amazing I would really like to see the castle building in the Barcelona.

This weekend I spent time with Kiyanah, Erick, my parents and as well I spent time at work. I worked Thursday, Friday night and Saturday morning. Even though I spent a lot of time at work I still had time to spend with Kiyanah my best friend, we watched movies and ate food. For Valentine’s Day, I hung out with Erick he came over to my house and we decided to order food and watch movies and bake together. At the end of the weekend I spent a lot of time studying for exams and doing homework and I was very productive. I also took time to hang out with my parents, helping them cook dinner and watching movies as a family. Overall, I felt like this weekend was a very good and productive and I ended up having a great time hanging out with the people I care about.

Almost completing the second term of the school year, I have especially loved the spin ASA provided by the school. Before this term, I had never even considered joining a spin class let alone attending one every Thursday. At first, I believed it would be stupid, an almost fully pointless form of exercise, and much more. Nonetheless, I attended the first class at the beginning of January and haven’t looked back since. Becoming more and more grateful for each class that flies by, I am so proud of myself for looking past my first judgment as well as my comfort zone. These spin classes provide me with a fun-filling workout surrounded by helpful staff and of course my best friends. These cardio workouts use balanced techniques of strength and encouragement to provide the satisfaction the gym or any sport brings. It has been such a pleasure beyond words can describe. I loved this term of ASA’s as they have truly opened my eyes to new opportunities and I will for sure in the future start stepping out of my comfort zone more often!

No, I’m surprisingly not talking about Halo, the game. I’m talking about the TV adaptation! I’ve never played the Halo games before but I will be soon, but I have been watching the show and there’s so much amazing stuff in it I can’t get enough haha! I’m gonna try and finish the series on the weekend when I have time. If there’s anyone else that have watched Halo, they would have seen how GIANT John is compared to the others in the show, compared to one of the actors I think he was over a foot taller… Pablo Schreiber is his actual name, I think he’s like 6’4 or something!? On top of that he’s muscular as hell! Apart from me being head over heels for him, I also really like the fighting and fighting mechanics they have in that. For some reason I’ve been getting really weird when I watch gory things happen but Halo doesn’t have too much intense gore! The way too, how John dodges an attack from the corner of his eye or because of a sound-cue gets me in love with the show. Another thing that makes it really good is the dialogue and development. John was before, a Spartan (A super-soldier that has an emotion blocker) that was meant to only listen to orders and nothing else. When he had a gun pointed to his head by a marine he said “I’ve been on that side of the gun. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t wanna know. But we always know, don’t we? But if you’re gonna kill me, at least look me in the eyes.”. It stopped the marine from shooting and it just looks amazing when you see how much character development he has. My final point is when he was flipping a coin with a doctor and guessing, it landed on heads 8 times in a row, but he said he wasn’t guessing, he knew. The reason he doesn’t get affected by deaths around him is because he knows who’ll die and who won’t. As the movie progresses though, there’s a lot of surprising deaths and it hits John hard, revealing more emotion, and SO MUCH character development, can’t wait to finish it!

It was a normal summer day, and my parents were cooking for the family reunion that afternoon and the opportunity presented itself like a dream come true. I was 10 years old and although I had never driven, I was sure I could do it because I had seen my parents drive before and, in my eyes, it shouldn’t be difficult. After all, who can’t drive if they already know what the steering wheel, the accelerator and the brake look like?
I had begged my parents to let me take driving lessons, but they weren’t sure because I was still very young. In my desperation I made the childish decision to take advantage of their distraction to approach the car parked in the driveway. I looked at the car that had just been taken out of the dealership, at that moment there was a voice in my mind that told me it was better to go out accompanied by my older brother (That way the punishment would be for both of us). The car was there, but for me it represented absolute freedom. My heart was beating fast, not out of fear, but out of the excitement of doing something forbidden. My 12-year-old brother kept telling me it was a bad idea, but I was fed up with being late everywhere. I opened the driver’s door and, as if I already knew how to do it, I started the engine.
I put the car in gear. It was just a short trip, nothing complicated. I wanted to go visit my grandparents who lived on the other side of my small town. The road was already quite familiar to me, but I didn’t count on how different it felt to be behind the wheel.
Halfway there, I realized I was driving too fast. I tried to break a little, but I ended up braking so hard that we almost skidded on a curve. I felt an urge to go back home, but I kept going. When I finally got to my grandparents’ house, I didn’t know how to park. I parked in the worst possible way, with the car on a mound of dirt, my grandparents came out to help me get the car to safety and congratulate me for having arrived at their house safely.
I was so happy that I didn’t even remember that I had taken the car without permission, 10 minutes after my arrival at my grandparents’ house I only heard my mom’s truck park and the slam of the door announcing her arrival. The last thing I remember is having to take the car back with my brother crying out of shame for being a hostage and my mom correcting me for everything I was doing wrong to scold us both at home.

I thought to re-do my introduction:

Hi, my name is Lola, and I am Canadian. I like a lot of things: Combat games, horror games, sleeping, drawing, food, socializing… but I also hate a lot of things: People who are too moronic to understand that life has rules and it doesn’t play fair, people who think everyone is out to get them, people who don’t give a chance or a damn and instead are too fixated on themselves. I also have a lot of neutral emotions: math, science, art, very certain people in my life. Of course, there are some things I can’t care about at all. There are some things I care about too much. Some things I have yet to know exist. I guess you could say, I don’t like people, but not in the “I’m scared of socializing” way, not in a fearful way at all. I genuinely hate people.

I have an opinion, one where we are the strongest species on earth and so much so we think to be entitled to everything. We think we are entitled to judge others, we think we are entitled to be racist, we think we are entitled to destroy and tear down—not “love” and “create” but instead the demolition of earth which made the mistake of harbouring our species. Yes, for the love, we are animals like the rest of the planet. For the love, we are the stupidest species to walk earth. For the love, even a beetle has more of a purpose than us. So what can we do, if we create to protect the things we destroyed, and destroy in the process of creating? Well, we must cease to exist.

Of course, you don’t want to cease to exist: You’ve got your internet, you’ve got your standards, your trends, your messed up and twisted opinions, and you’ve got TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram and Netflix, and you’ve got your hate for studies but love for “rizz”, and you’ve got average grades because you use ChatGPT. But imagine a world without humans. “Terrible, wild, anarchy” or maybe, stable like life was supposed to be. You have your internet, but what does it do for you except distract you from reality? You have your standards, but what does it do for you except degrade our species? You have your messed up and twisted opinions, but what does it do for you except create division? You have your TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram, but what does it do for you except sour your vertebrate brains? You have your hate for studies but love for “rizz”, but what does it do for you except give you a grocery store job? You have your average grades because you use ChatGPT, but what does it do for you except prove Socrates point?

Maybe there was something that was supposed to happen a long time ago, something good and something bad, but something we’ll never know. We’ve gone places we weren’t supposed to.

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote my Last PW, where I wrote about how my life management skills were not really helpful. I had a hard time dividing my time between school, social life, study’s, relationships, and work. It is already hard to relate with others, and not having enough time make it even harder. I finally started to catch up with all the work that I had pill up.

In a couple of weeks, I will finally be back in México. I will finally meet my parent’s, family, and friends once again. I love so much my country of origin, since all that ever was part of me is there, from memories to some of my strongest friendships, I hope that in my next Pw I’ll be able to say more.

As the second month of the year approaches, I reflect on the hard work we have all done as a class and how much we have all grown as individuals. Besides completing the massive amount of summatives, exams, and so on, we have all grown in ways different from one another. I have been able to grow alongside my self-management skills following the retirement back home of a classmate from term one to Brazil. Despite the five-hour difference in time zones, I have been able to continue having contact by ensuring all my tasks for the day have been completed ahead of time before calling or texting this person. This has been a huge change for me, however, surprisingly it has gone very well so far.  Besides a few late submissions, I have been able to keep updated with all my classes which may seem unimpressive to most, however, on top of two sports, learning a third language, ASA’s, and being able to still have a healthy social life I am very proud of the work I have done. I am proud of everyone in our class who has been able to do so as well, and I hope we will all continue to be able to practice such skills going into the IB diploma program next year.

First of all, no I do NOT mean CHAi, it is very-much clearly cha. Why am I ranting about this? Because every single God Damn time I end up correcting someone, they end up saying it more because people think it’s funny. This happened to me at least like 6 times and I always ends with people STILL CALLING IT CHAI BECAUSE APPARENTLY I AM A COMEDIAN WHEN I AM MAD AND RAGING! Don’t call me stupid. I know chai is also a term in India, But you all are STILL pronouncing it wrong. It’s not as strong as you pronounce it. It’s more like “ch-i” if you know what I mean. I can’t really explain it on text. Also I’m Punjabi and I am a sikh and in Punjab you call it “cha.” Hindus call it “chai” to give some credit. Also to be fair, it is sort of our fault that it is miss pronounced in the first place because when Punjabi’s started immigrating we started calling it chai and now we have faced the consequences of our ancestors’ past mistakes. Now I feel embarrassed ordering a CHAI Tea Latte from McDonalds because nobody knows what a CHA TEA LATTE is! Also, WHO THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO BRAIN WASH GOOGLE?! No, in Punjabi it is NOT referred as CHAI! I JUST EXPLAINED THIS!

On the surface, Black Swan can seem like a drama about the cutthroat world of ballet. However, to reduce it to such simple terms would be doing the film a great injustice. The phycological horror film a fantastic crafting character-based tension and dread, with each scene building up as captivating as it is horrifying. The main character Nina wanted to prove she could play the Black Swan and White Swan equally, and she pushed herself to the limit of sanity to prove she was right for the role. This showing how ballerinas have to live to the impossible expectations set for them to be perfect. Throughout the film her mental state worsens and she begins to have hallucinations. At the end of this gut wrenching film, her last words after giving everything at her performance were, “I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect.” This is a truly beautiful finale as it makes us reflect on how perfection comes at a great cost, in this case being Ninas state of mind and life. This film also paralleled the story of Swan Lake through the characters and the plot of the story. Nina starts as the White Swan, pure, innocent and naive. Throughout the movie, however, we see a different side of her, both literally and figuratively, as at times there are literally two Ninas there at once. Her strive for perfectionism aligns with the Black Swan, assertive, seductive, determined. By the end of the movie, Nina fully embodies the black Swan, as she ultimately kills the white swan inside of her, and is perfect.

Consider every time you’ve been stuck in traffic or looked at the price of a plane ticket, or just how excruciatingly long those ferry rides are. Now imagine a way to get around the heavy traffic, slow speeds, and high expenses. Pegasus are a reasonably low maintenance vehicle, they need nurturing just as any ordinary horse, they come with no gas expense, or part replacement. The sky is vast and without obstacles, birds are of no concern here. It would be like one 

Immeasurable highway, traffic would be impossible. Even if every person were to get themselves a Pegasus, such a problem (traffic) would be unattainable. Only if the government got involved and reinforced Pegasus rules such as stoplights. But for such a mystical, otherworldly vehicle, the government shall not interfere. What would’ve been a 4 hour road trip turns into a 30 minute serene, mystical experience. I do not understand why everyone has moved on from Pegasus at such an alarming rate. They were the topic of conversation in the third grade, but now it seems everyone has moved on. I, myself, do not understand how the Pegasus went from being such a prevalent symbol in ancient Greece to being nearly forgotten altogether. I wish the hype for the Pegasus name would be regained in the near future, and that Tesla starts mass-producing Pegasus-shaped flying cars, or rather, car shaped flying Pegasus. Now having said all of this, i think it is important to mention that I do not possess any strong feelings about Pegasus and got very carried away writing. 

 

“Which season of the year do you like best? Why?”

In my own personal opinion, I think that winter is the best season of the year.

Now, to compare winter to other seasons, I will start with summer. Summer is a nice season overall, but it is super difficult to get to a comfortable temperature when it is always so hot out. In the summer, you can take off your shirt and still be hot. Whereas in the winter, if it is too cold out, you can just put on clothes to warm up. Some may argue that you can do a lot of different stuff in the summer, but winter also has the same qualities. In winter, you can go skiing, snowboarding, sledding, or other winter sports which is much better than what summer has to offer. Along with this, winter is the only time that there is snow, which gives something to look forward to because the snow looks great in photography; and the snow lining the peaks of the mountains makes the mountains look more visually appeasing then how they look during summer. Not only this, but if there is enough snow, it makes everything much more quiet, which is a rather calming. Overall, winter has many better qualities than summer, but what about other seasons? Nothing very interesting happens during fall, it is just heavy rain all the time and the only unique thing is the trees having different color leaves. Spring looks quite visually appeasing, also making it good for photography. But winter has these exact same qualities, with even more extra stuff than spring. So to conclude, winter is the best season of the year.

Psychology is something that has always fascinated me. I’ve always been curious about how people think, feel, and behave, and I think that’s why psychology catches my attention so much there’s something so interesting about understanding why people do the things they do, and psychology helps answer so many questions about that. I first got interested in psychology when I started learning about emotions and how they affect our behavior especially when it comes to mental and physical health, how different emotions can change the way we act, and how we can learn to control them. It made me realize that the mind is so powerful, and we don’t always fully understand how much it can influence our actions. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to know more about why people react in certain ways to different situations which made me search into moral philosophy as well as they are quite connected. What interests me is how psychology is not just about understanding other people, but also about understanding yourself. It’s helped me reflect on my thoughts and behaviors. For example, when I’m feeling anxious or nervous about something, I now understand why my body reacts the way it does, I think looking into psychology more can help me deal with challenges in my life and also help me relate to others better and it could possibly something I would like to study  in the future.

I have a friend from Amboise, France, named Lilith, though she goes by Lily an ironic coincidence, as that happens to be my name as well. I met her in September 2023 through mutual acquaintances, and when we first spoke, it quickly became clear how similar we were, not just in name but in our perspectives, aspirations, and goals. We joked that we must be twins separated at birth, and over the past year, we’ve grown very close as we talked and shared experiences and mutual friends. Although Lily lives in France, she occasionally visits Los Angeles to see her Dad, which is always a fun occasion, especially since the 9-hour time difference between France and Victoria can be challenging. Despite the distance, our connection has grown very strong in a relatively short time. I would genuinely consider her one of my closest friends she’s incredibly kind, and understanding, and has an amazing sense of humor. I feel incredibly fortunate to have met her, It’s truly insane to think that without the invention of technology like cell phones, I might never have crossed paths with someone who has become such an important part of my life, so in that way, technology is so useful to connect with people and friends from around the world. Many people think they haven’t found a good friend and to that, I say they are probably out there, across the globe thinking the exact thing you are.

Recently, I’ve been trying to convince a lot of my friends to watch my favorite (favorite = better than any other movie I’ve ever watched) movie: The Silence of the Lambs. It’s been my favorite for an incredibly long time – I fell in love with it the moment I first watched it (I was about 9), and I still can’t quite explain why. I have always loved watching crime documenteries, reading and researching about crime and psychology and this movie perfectly captured all of my interests and I just couldn’t get it out of my head for months. Maybe it’s the way the story is built around such a deep psychological battle rather than just action, but it completely mesmerized me and when I found out that it wasn’t based on a true story, I couldn’t believe it.

Every single aspect and plot twist in Silence of the Lambs is so fascinating and incredibly thought-through. Not only is it extremely realistic (it was based on the actual serial killer called “Buffalo Bill”, but the story isn’t actually true) but also very entertaining to watch. It plays with fear – not through cheap horror, but through really unsettling dialogue, tension and the feeling that the main character, Hannibal Lecter, is always one step ahead. It’s so fascinating to watch a movie where the most terrifying character isn’t the one chasing people through dark alleys but is sitting completely still, speaking in a clam, intelligent voice, peeling apart someone’s mind like a puzzle. The actual psychological depth of the film is what interests me the most. Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, is forced to seek the help of Hannibal Lecter to catch another serial killer, Buffalo Bill. What makes their “relationship” so interesting is that while she is trying to analyze him, he is analyzing her. Every conversation between them feels like a “mental chess match”, because while Hannibal is picking apart her past, her fears, she is trying to use his knowledge as a “retired serial killer” to find other criminals. There’s something about the way he “dissects” people, that makes him one of the most interesting characters I have ever seen.

What makes this film even better, is that it’s part of a larger collection of movies. Red Dragon talks about Hannibal’s earlier years and serves as a prequel, while Hannibal follows his life after escaping captivity (after Silence of the Lambs) and Hannibal Rising is all about his childhood and origins, and gives a lot of insight into how he became the figure and serial killer we know. I love how all these movies intertwine and connect, revealing more layers of Hannibal’s character and the investigations around him. Every time I rewatch these movies, I seem to discover something new about the story – they’re brilliant.  So yeah, I’ll probably keep trying to convince my friends to watch them – because, honestly, they’re missing out.

Grey’s Anatomy is a tv show that follows around the life of 5 interns: Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, George, and Alex. Along with their attendings and the chief: Dr. Shepard, Dr.Burke, Dr. Bailey, Dr.Webber, Dr. Hunt, Dr.Hann, etc. The show takes place in the Seattle Grace Hospital, where the interns, nurses, and attendings have to work together in order to keep people healthy and help out on their problems. Through out the seasons of the show we can not only see the problems and personal life of the characters, we can also see the struggles they have as interns on the medical field. The main character is Meredith Grey, she is the daughter of a high ranked doctor, so we can see her struggle to achieve the expectations people have of her. We see the show through her perspective and are able to hear her thoughts of all the struggles her coworkers and herself have to study. The series mixes the intense emotions of the characters with the reality of being a medical consultant, it goes deeper into exploring the complex feelings such as love, loss, ambition, etc. I like the show because as it progresses, we can see different characters who undergo significant personal growth, making the characters evolve in relationships just as important as the medical challenges they encounter.

When the sun’s out, the stoke is up. This has been the narrative up in the mountains for the last couple weeks, actually. After a grim 3 weeks up on Mount Washington with absolutely no snowfall, we are finally back! Last Friday finally delivered 13cm of fresh powder, and the cold front over the island right now made the snow even better. Last weekend was a cooler one, but definitely an amazing one too. It still blows my mind that I’ve been skiing Mount Washington for over three years, and I still keep finding new spots. The terrain up on the mountain here really is amazing if you know where to find it. The ski trip, well, wasn’t the greatest. I would call that day sheer ice. The part of the mountain that actually has the nice terrain was closed off, mainly due to a lack of snowfall when the trip was happening. What you see from the lodge actually isn’t everything on the mountain, in fact, if you go around the peak and down a bit onto a smaller ridge, you can enter the whole backside of the mountain! Here you can find a large bowl which is accessible by a small-ish chute that usually isn’t very skied, and a whole ridge on the other side that is only accessible through a short boot-pack. Funnily enough, even a short book-pack is enough to deter people away from the top part of the ridge. Saturday and Sunday provided some of the best skiing that I’ve had all season, with untouched snow, steeper technical terrain, and almost no people, even on the height of a Saturday. Last night even delivered an extra 34cm of powder on top of the first 13! I can’t wait to get up again this weekend to take advantage of the amazing snow and untouched terrain.

When I decided to come to Canada, one of my main reasons was to live in a place with snow. I have dreamed about this for as long as I can remember. Even though everyone always warned me saying “It’s too cold” and “You’re not gonna like it when u get all your clothes wet” I always ignored them. When I first arrived in Canada I was a little disappointed by the hot weather of Victoria’s summer but I kept my hopes up, anxiously waiting for winter.  As months passed and the weather kept getting colder my friends and I started to progressively get more and more excited. When the temperatures finally started reaching minus degrees it was time for winter break so I left with the hopes that the snow would wait for me to come back.

The first week back in school the weather started getting hotter again. At this point, I started to lose hope of any snow at all. As the weeks passed, the temperature was only rising. Finally, one day, as I was checking the week’s weather forecast I saw that there was a high chance of snow the next day!! As soon as I double-checked to make sure, I ran into my friend’s rooms and told them the good news. We all got excited and decided to do a sleepover so we would all wake up to snow together. The rest of the day all I could think about was snow.  Finally, the night came and we all went to sleep in my room. We went to sleep pretty early and accidentally left the windows open. In the morning a friend was wakened up by the cold when she went toward the window to close it she saw all the plants and streets covered by snow. She woke us up in excitement and we all ran towards the window. When I saw it I gaped at the whit scenery outside my window.

Every day in February so far, it has snowed, and temperatures have been below zero. Some people, especially international students at Brookes I’ve noticed, seem to love this weather, while others don’t. A particular little bird that we get at our hummingbird feeder at home is one who (I think) does not like the cold temperatures. The Anna’s Hummingbird. The only hummingbird on Vancouver Island that stays put all winter (mainly in Victoria). Hummingbirds, like all living organisms, need food. They mainly feed on the nectar from flowers but in order for those flowers to be accessible, it needs to be semi-warm. Most hummingbird species are found in Central and South America. When I went to Ecuador two years ago, I must have seen about 25 different species of hummers. Back to my point, the Anna’s Hummingbird has become reliant on humans and the feeders they put out for them. So many people have started putting hummingbird feeders (a mixture of sugar and water, usually in a red circular feeder because the colour red attracts them) out for them in Victoria that they have mostly stopped their migration patterns to a warmer climate in search of food, because there are now food sources here for them. The most important thing you can do if you put a feeder out, is to keep putting it out with food throughout the winter because their life can become dependent on it. Since it has been below freezing point, the food we put out for them quickly freezes. It is important to keep thawing it out and refilling it. When it was snowing, we had to put a cone over the feeder because the snow kept covering it up. When we had a snow day, I stood outside for about 10 minutes, watching them, as well as other birds, come and go at our feeders as a tried to take photos of them. I noticed than, that the Anna’s Hummingbird had stayed in our tree all day and whenever we brought the feeder in to change the food, it would wait patiently then come buzzing down for a drink.

I am sure that those of you who are actually interested in my goal – or at least somewhat follow what I am up to – you are probably interested if my hypothesis and solutions were right and could actually solve my issues. but first, let me share with you the recent events that transcribed so that you can understand the full picture; Ever since the start of this Year, I wanted to get my boots up and looking as shiny as they were before; the only setback being the boot polish cracking. My best guess as to what was happening was that I was applying the boot polish in areas of high mechanical intensity – in other terms, those parts were under constant movement – meaning the polish, when it dries up, gets exhausted and eventually falls off. Among the world of Boot Polishers this event is called “Polish Flaking”. This believed to be true, however, the problem was not only in figuring out the issue, it was also in solving it. As the cadet boots I have are mismatched, my left boot is super shiny (as it does not have that much intensity zones) whereas my right has tons of areas with these spots. My solution was to only polish the “toe” of the boot (the part where it is hard and stays stationary) as well as the sides of the boots. This, however, made the boot look uneven and ugly compared to the other. This is where my next phase comes in to plan: I planted a small layer of polish of the areas which have high intensity – which minimizes the visibility of the peeled shoe polish, as well as creating a slight shine which under certain angles can look similar to the one on my other boot. The “toe” of the boot also got several layers of polish, and with the addition of Sapphire Polish (top tier Polish: Very expensive) which my friend gave to me as a present I got to a pretty good shine, however there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be done to create the shine I once had. If you have any questions on how to polish your boots make sure to leave a comment and I will reply with a solution to your problem. That’s it for this time, and my progress will be posted here soon, see you all in the next Polish Vlog😊!

“What’s more important: being healthy or having lots of money? Explain why you think so”

From my perspective, having lots of money is a much better alternative to being healthy because, well, put simply: you can buy stuff to make you healthy. But that is likely not the main focus of the question, I believe the question is saying: “you can only choose one”. So, in that case, I believe that being healthy is more important than having lots of money.

One example of this in history was Henry the VIII. Who was the king of England. He had a large amount of money, obviously being a king, but he was extremely unhealthy. He was severely overweight, and although this was preventable. He is an example of how money cant make you healthy. Being unhealthy also causes risks of having an illness which is not preventable. Which even money cant fix.

Along with the the risk of severe illness, happiness is also something that money cant buy. A common counter to this argument is: “You can just buy something that makes you happy”, although this is a true argument, that happiness is always going to be temporary, which is not something that is associated with being healthy. Being healthy means you are consistently happy due to a good mental state, which will always prevail in the face of temporary happiness.

To conclude, being healthy is better than having a lot of money, because being healthy means you are less likely to get a severe illness, and being healthy means you are happier overall.

 

I think at this moment in time I’m experiencing the worst physical pain ever, I’ve been through many kinds of painful things like for example, I broke my arm when I was a kid. But I would never wish the pain of wisdom teeth aches on my worst enemy. Starting this month it has become clear to me that my wisdom teeth are growing in and are forming roots which is insanely painful, what started off as a simple earache slowly developed into a fever. During this fever and earache combo, I began feeling pain at the back of my mouth specifically my back teeth, my mom took one look at my teeth and let me know she was calling the dentist. At the dentist, I got x-rayed and the dentist smiled and said “Yep you’re gonna probably have to get all 4 removed under general anesthesia”, in that moment I think I died inside. Have you ever seen those videos of people getting all 4 of their wisdom teeth removed, if you haven’t then I’ll describe it to you, under anesthesia you don’t have absolute control over what you do or say, and don’t even get me started on how swollen your face is going to get. Am I very nervous? Yes! But is this a common and non-dangerous experience, also yes so I think I’ll be fine if rather get them out than keep them in with the pain I’m going through.

¨Brave New World¨ by Aldous Huxley was an exceptional read that left me with a deep sense of reflection on the nature of society, technology, and individuality. One of the aspects I truly appreciated about the book was its ability to combine a gripping narrative with though-provoking themes. Huxley’s exploration of a dystopian future, where conformity is prioritized over personal freedom, made me think about the dangers of overreliance on technology and the potential loss of individuality.

The world Huxley created is chilling, fascinating, yet unstable. The idea of society where people are conditioned from birth to fit predefined roles and where emotions are suppressed to maintain social stability felt both eerily possible and alarmingly relevant. The novel made me question the balance between societal order and personal autonomy-something that is increasingly significant in our own world, where technology and societal pressures continue to shape individual lives on similar ways.

What I also found compelling was Huxley’s critique of consumerism. The citizens of this future society are constantly pacified by pleasure and material goods, yet they lack any real sense of fulfillment or purpose. This commentary on the emptiness of a consumer-driven existence resonated with me. It made me realize how easy it is to become caught up in a cycle of superficial satisfaction, which can prevent people from pursuing meaningful, authentic experiences.

The characters, especially Bernard Marx and John the Savage, were complex and engaging, serving as vehicles for Huxley’s philosophical ideas. I found myself empathizing with them, particularly John, who was caught between two worlds, one that values freedom and individual thought, and the other that thrives on conformity and control. His struggle highlighted the profound consequences of living in a society that suppresses true emotion and thought.

Overall, ¨Brave New World¨ is a timeless work work that challenged my perceptions and made me reflect on the path our own society is heading. Huxley’s vision of a future dominated by technology, pleasure, and control felt both cautionary and eye-opening, and I truly appreciated the book’s ability to push the reader to think critically about the values we hold dear.

I woke up ate 3 AM I was really tired, but I was excited for the ski trip to Mount Washington. We were going to a ski trip planned by the school. I had to get ready quickly, grabbed my ski gear, and met my friends at the bus. The trip was long but I was asleep almost the whole ride. When we arrived, the sunrise incredible full of different colors. The mountain was really good everything was covered in snow and it wasn’t that cold. We spent the day skiing, eating and having fun. Every run was better and really fun. My friends and I tried the hardest sloped, and it was amazing there was some fluffy snow but there was also a lot of ice in the slopes. When we went back, my legs were sore, and I was really tired. On the ride to the school I fell asleep again until we arrived. Even though waking up early wasn’t easy, the trip was worth it.

There’s something magical about the first sip of coffee in the morning. It’s not just the caffeine—it’s the ritual, the comfort, the way the steam rises like a gentle wake-up call. For me, that first sip is a small, quiet moment of peace before the day rushes in.

I’ve always loved how coffee feels like a bridge between moments. It’s there when I’m starting a busy day, sitting in silence before the chaos begins. It’s also there during the slow, lazy afternoons, paired with a good book or a long conversation with a friend. There’s a rhythm to it, like a pause button I can press whenever life feels too overwhelming.

My favorite part, though, is how coffee connects people. There’s something about sharing a cup with someone that makes conversations flow easier, laughter feel lighter, and even silence feel comfortable. It’s like a universal language—a small, simple thing that brings us together.

Maybe that’s why I love it so much. It’s not just a drink; it’s a feeling. Warmth in a cup, a little reminder to slow down, breathe, and enjoy the moment before it slips away.

Today marks the beginning of the third week of my marathon training block. With just 15 weeks left until the Vancouver Marathon in May, the reality is starting to set in fully. These past few weeks I have been running and excercising every day and I don’t think I remember the last time, were I didn’t feel sore. The weeks have been filled with highs and lows: I can feel myself getting stronger and faster but at the same time I feel myself getting frustrated over the slow progress. There are days were I feel like I could run the marathon tomorrow and then there are days were even running the smallest distances feels impossible. Running has been a very important part of my life for a while now, but training for a full marathon is a whole new level of commitment to me.

Looking back, my running journey started in June of 2023 when I had set myself the goal of running 10km in September. The only way that I can describe those first few months is: painful. But apparently that didn’t scare me off enough, because right after finishing my first race, I signed up for the Prague Half Marathon in April. That winter and spring I spent countless hours on streets and trails, trying to get as much time on my feet as possible. In April I crushed the 21.1km with a new PB and it was one of the best days of my life. After that training block I decided to take some time off and just enjoy the beauty of running without any race pressure, but the goal of running a marathon was always in the back of my head. Before moving to Canada for a year, I subconsciously knew that I wanted to challenge myself. So after countless hours of thinking this whole project and seemigly unachievable goal over, I finally signed up for the Vancouver Marathon in May. I know that running a full marathon is an incredible achievement, so I’m trying to go into this experience open-minded and with a positive mindset (with the hopes of making it to the finish line!).

Since I was little, my family and I have gone skiing at least once a year. Every year I anxiously waited for winter for the sole reason of going skiing. On these trips, I would normally go with my family to someplace in the U.S.A. Yet, even though I enjoyed them, I’ve always wanted something else: skiing with friends. I always saw videos of people skiing with friends or heard stories of my parents when they used to ski with their friends, which made me crave it for so long. Part of the reason why I came to Canada was so I could go skiing with my peers.

Therefore, when I heard we would be having a ski trip, I got excited. I rushed to sign myself up and told my friends to do so as well. That was about a month ago, so I forgot the date of the trip. But now, as the date gets closer, I can’t contain my excitement.Next week I Ill be on the top of Mt. Washington, not just for skiing but enjoying the adventure with my friends.

As you may (or may not) remember from my last pw post, I had trouble with polishing my boots; This was because I intended to use polish in spots of the boot that were always under physical stress (bending) and this is why it quickly cracked and fell off (a process known as Flaking polish). I have been stuck with this problem for a long time, as my other boot was all polished up and shiny in the areas where the other boot’s polish just fell off. Last week, however, everything changed, when I looked t one of my senior’s boots and got an idea. The solution to my problem was so obvious I even laughed at myself for not coming up with it sooner; It turns out that if the polish doesn’t stick there, I shouldn’t force it to! simple as that! This meant I could remove the polish from those areas and focus on the areas which are more prone to be seen (the front of the boot, heels). I am currently in the process of building up more polish layers to catch up to my other boot, and after that I may start to build up the layers more and more to make an even shinier surface on the both of them. This is not the end of the Boot Polish Series, so, if you are interested in how to polish your boots you may always use my previous PW posts as a guide and if you have any questions please comment down below, I will answer them in the next blog post.

Just like that, my 12-day-long vacation has come to an end, and it’s back to reality. After almost 2 weeks of lounging, eating as much as I can, and having my feet in the sand, I’m back home at my desk writing this PW. This is my third year going to the same city, at the same time, to the same resort. It may sound a bit repetitive, but it’s actually made some of the most memorable trips for me. Once you visit the same place for the third time (at least in Puerto Vallarta), I’ve noticed that the people who are still there are always so happy to see me and my family come along.

The shopkeepers, the staff at the resort, and really anyone who we had talked to the year before lit up when we came over and said hello. There was this one server, who had talked to me and my family quite a bit, who saw us back at the pool on the second day of our trip. The minute he saw us, he looked so happy and excited that we decided to come back. The hospitality in the city is something I really adore. Yesterday, when me and my family were getting on the shuttle to the airport, one of the staff members came over to us to say goodbye, and she said “Same time next year?” It’s hard to not want to come back after how amazing everyone has been over the last couple weeks. Then there’s the miracle of air travel, which somehow gets me over half of Mexico and the entire continental United States in just under five hours. It’s crazy to think about. Puerto Vallarta, you have everything I want.

Well, let´s just start saying and everything lately has been a mess on my life, is like somebody was making a joke on me to drive crazy slowly, and I must admit is achieving it, indeed, I´m driving crazy, and I do not know how to recover the control of my own life. You must well remember that just a few weeks ago we returned to school, well in the exact moment that I got here I literally see and felt how everything just suddenly started to accumulate, I have a lot of work, and it feels endless, I’m actually so tired to be making work after work. Worst of all is that I’ve been falling behind without being able to catch up with all my work, I even got sick and that obviously did not help at all, I just have more work than before.

As it goes for for anyone who has met Roberta, our wonderful, dear classmate and friend among sorts, we have all witness your abstract ways of life. Through the way she intracts, to the way she smiles with all her teeth, Roberta is a type of person no one shall ever forget. The type of person who will always be able to cheer you up from any troubles in your life, while still being able to be there for you and more in a caring, loving way. Without the help of her and her almost unbelievable humor, Brookes Westshore this year would not have been anything sort of depressing for many in the dorms and for the ones willing to come to this school. I am so greatful to have met this sort of person, I wouldn’t have been unable to find anywhere else in the world besides the heart of Mexico where this weirdo is from. Roberta and all the rest of my wonderful new friends this year have been able to show me how truly special Brookes Westshore is and I’m so exitced to be spending the rest of the term with all of them inculding Roberta’s not noticeable aura.

Crazy Rich Asians is a story that follows the main character, Rachel Chu. Rachel is a professor at NYU, who lives a normal middle-class life. Rachel’s boyfriend, Nick, is from Singapore and is invited to go back to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding along with Rachel. What Rachel doesn’t know is that Nick belongs to one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. When they arrive, Rachel is submerged in a life of luxury and elegance. Rachel has to fight the expectations of high society and the judgments of Nick’s family, especially his mother, Eleanor, who does not approve of Rachel and Nick’s relationship. As the movie goes on, we can explore the expectations of high society and the pressure that is put on different people. We can even see Rachel creating her own insecurities based on society’s standards and questioning her position in her boyfriend’s life. Rachel, as an outsider, faces judgment because of her background as a Chinese-American who is not as connected with her culture. As a woman, we can see Rachel is considered an unfit woman for the luxury life and unable to meet expectations, while Nick, as a man, gets to live life as a wealthy, successful man free of judgment. This movie can help us understand the pressure society puts on us. We can analyze more deeply the double standards we are expected to meet as a part of society. We can understand the importance of being ourselves and finding out who we are, so when we are faced with the occasion of someone having high standards, we won’t be affected by it or have thoughts that may create insecurities.

I have a dog called Bobo who is very energetic but sometimes annoying. She has brought stress and fun into our lives since the day we got her which was a few years ago. She was a street dog who was rescued from the streets of Mexico. She is a pure black, slender, medium sized dog with pointy ears. She looks a lot like a Formosan Mountain Dog, but we decided to do a DNA test on her since we were curious, and the results were mainly a mix of Doberman, German Shepard, and Pitbull. Anyhow, I am going to write about one of her many adventures. My mum and I were finishing a camping trip a couple summers ago and we decided to spend the last couple hours at the top of a mountain somewhere in BC (on the mainland) to have late breakfast and a hike. Later that day we were catching the ferry back to Victoria. We were preparing breakfast and had tied Bobo to a nearby tree a couple metres away. I was surprised she was so well behaved and went over to give her a carrot (which she loves). She was gone. I picked up the end of the lead and dangling from it was her harness. But no dog. She had obviously managed to get out and was now somewhere in the wilderness in this deserted place with nothing on her with bears and squirrels around. You may be wondering how we will get her back. We know she will come back because she does this sometimes when we let her off the lead, but we had a ferry to catch which was a few hours drive away. She’s a pretty smart and independent dog but her recall is horrendous when she is on the hunt. It’s as if her listening skills switch off as soon as she’s unclipped. Plus, she has the attention span of a fly. We spent the next 2 hours looking for her and pacing about. We couldn’t go far because we knew she would come back to the last spot her saw us. Eventually, I saw her racing towards me (she was not paying any interest to me though) and my mum was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes fixed on another ground squirrel. This was my only chance of getting her as my patience was wearing off. Just as she was sprinting past me, I leaped forwards landing on her and we both fell to the ground. Don’t worry, she’s a strong dog and was completely fine. After that we leashed her up and drove to the ferry. Something over-the-top like this (not always an off-lead scenario) seems to happen almost every week but this was the most memorable one for me I think.

Sometimes I stare at my reflection, holding a piece of gold jewelry in one hand and silver in the other, and I feel completely torn. Gold has this warm, timeless glow that makes me feel elegant and bold. But then there’s silver-cool, understated, and effortlessly classic. They both have their charm, and yet, I can never seem to pick one that truly feels me.

I’ve tried to settle the debate, Some people say it’s about skin tone, warm or cool undertones, but honestly, I think my undertones are just indecisive as i am. One day, gold seems to complement me perfectly, like sunshine on my skin. The next day, it feels too flashy, and I find myself drawn to the subtle shimmer of silver instead.

It’s not just about aesthetics either-it feels symbolic, like I’m trying to decide between two parts of my personality. Gold feels daring, confident, maybe even a little bold. Silver feels calm, graceful, and steady. The truth is, I probably have a bit of both in me, which is why choosing between them feels impossible.

So, I switch back and forth, letting my mood or the occasion decide for me. Some days, I’ll mix them together because, honestly, why not? Maybe it’s less about picking one and more about embracing the fact that I don’t have to.

If anyone else is stressing out about school project due dates coming up, just know you’re not alone. I am so scared about my I&S essay coming up. I’m especially afraid of personal project. My past self had big expectations for myself. My present self is just telling me to survive at this point (I got no expectations). My personal project is actually quite interesting and I’m enjoying what I’m doing, but I have no motivation when it comes to the reports themself (the most important part about the whole damn thing). I finished part A by completely forcing myself to do it. Part C was completed in one day because I actually found it fun to reflect my work for once because I actually had to go through a lot to get the product that I wanted. My part B though, IT IS NOT COMPLETE! It’s not like I don’t know what to write for Part B, I got many ideas, but I just find it stupid that we have to talk about the ATL skills and how we’re going to use them. LIKE WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! I’M JUST GOING TO USE THEM! THERE IS NO NEED TO DEDICATE AN ENTIRE SECTION FOR THAT THING! You’re probably thinking, “but Gurjas Part B was due a while ago and if you finished part C in one day you can finish Part B, too.” To that I’ll say that my brain refuses to do work if I don’t want to do it. That’s why I like Personal Writing. I get to talk about anything I want freely and get to shut off my brain for a bit. Plus, I don’t honestly think anybody will read this. Except Mr. MacKnight because this is pretty much his job. Well, I got to work on personal project because I procrastinated ’til last minute and I’m going to end up in trouble if I don’t finish my work. Side Note: This is shockingly smaller than most of my PW’s (I tend to write A LOT).