Category: Personal Writing

¨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).

So, recently, I heard a grandfather clock. Here’s a fact: I really hate grandfather clocks. It is not because the height: tall clocks are fine, I do not hate mall clocks. It is not because the old design: I don’t pay attention to it much. Nor is it because of the loudness: I am fine with my grandma’s cuckoo clock. It’s simply because of the type of noise it makes: that low, menacing, repeating ding. It sounds like doom, it sounds like inevitability. If anything, it sounds exactly like the first time I heard it: in a game. In a game where your entire goal is don’t die. The first time I heard that, it scared me to death, because the way it chimed was like death mocking you. Doom. It’s like it’s reminding you of your eventual fate: ‘Hey, you’re running out of time,’ or ‘It’s only 3:00, you’re not done yet.’ The worst part, is that you couldn’t even see it. The game was deathly silent (except for the singular occurrence where there would be a distant sound of barking: save yourself, dog!), it relied on sound more than anything, so when the grandfather clock chimed it always sent chills down my spine. At first it scared me, but the second ding was more haunting though it never changed. You could go through all the levels and still hear it chime, down the hallway, in the darkness. It only gets more menacing: it kind of makes me want to cry. You can’t see it, only hear it. And even if you beat death once, twice, six times! You’d still die at the end of the game. I guess that clock was always telling you that (you’d run out of time), but you disregarded it as an attempted distraction from your survival, or even just ambience. I used to have nightmares of that clock: of the complete feeling, doom. Complete doom, until the end, because technically, clocks do represent time in every way.

Here we are for the fourth time, on the same story.

On day 5, my mom took me to the grand canyon. The drive to the grand canyon from pheonix was around 2 hours long, I should’ve been able to sleep, but as I have discovered, it is extremely difficult for me to fall asleep on something that is not a bed. So the 2 hours of the drive were spent of me attempting to fall asleep and failing.

Once I was able to see the grand canyon, its size was completely overwhelming; the same could be said about its height. As I walked along the edge, it was quite confusing to look to the right and see nothing moving, the grand canyon looked as if it was painted across the sky. An incredible scene of red, orange, and yellow paints splashed across a colossal sized canvas. It was the quintessence of “nature”, an incredible canyon formed over millions of years through erosion. Being there was an honor in of itself, it was easy to see why it was considered one of the “wonders of the world”. The only thing taking away a partial amount from how incredible this scene was, was the intense heat. The sun felt like a laser beam shining all of its power directly on me, but it was probably only because I’m Canadian and it never gets hot in Canada.

Overall, seeing the grand canyon was one of the most memorable moments of my life. if I had to option to see it again, i would say yes, and for anyone who wants to go to see it, but is hesitant. I say take the opportunity.

I’m very proud to talk about this game because it won the Steam VR Awards. I highly recommend people to go check it out because it has the best story I’ve ever seen on VR. The story goes as told: Moscow was bombed or nuked and it sent radiation all around the surface along with some demonic monsters. Everyone retreated to a massive shelter, the metro, although there are monsters in there as well, Nosalises. You play as Serdar, a doctor that begins to experience… darkness, when he gets lost in the metro looking for his wife. This game practically gets to show you what it’s like being schizophrenic. It spikes so much emotions within an individual. As for me, I felt empathy and literal protectiveness or happiness from the characters within the game. When people died it actually hurt, when a child came out, I was talking to him like he could actually respond, and they had great humor as well. Serdar’s wife went a little crazy and broke this mushroom farm, soon, Serdar was asking Max, the chief of the station what happened, “Is she (the wife) alright?” “Yes, yes, she’s fine, unlike our mushrooms!” The quotes are the best thing you would have ever heard. Like one of them at the start of the game is “Do we rely on our eyes too much? Are we too convinced that what we can see is real, and what we can’t see, is not?” This quote alone makes me love it because throughout the story, it gives you reasons to trust ourselves rather than our eyes. to that game, I’m proud to say I’m an addict/in love with it. I don’t want to spoil it too much though so watch it or something because this game makes me fall on my knees!

This winter break felt like a dream. Just four days after I had arrived back home in Switzerland, I was on my way to the Alps with my family. Sitting in the car, passing through snow covered villages in the mountains filled me with an immense sense of joy: this was a feeling I had been missing so deeply in Canada. Back in our cottage in the middle of Rueras (a tiny town in the middle of the Alps, with more cows then inhabitants), I put on my snow clothes, grabbed my snowboard and headed to the mountain without even unpacking my suitcase first. The feeling of snowboarding down the slopes for the first time after a whole year is (in my opinion) one of the best feelings in the world. After a couple of runs on the slopes, my brother and I decided to head to our favourite off-piste spot. Hidden behind the slopes on the top of the mountain, barely visible from the skilift is a steep crevice that we love to ski down. The snow was deep since it had been snowing for multiple days in a row now, so we effortlessly slid through it, all the way to the bottom of the mountain just to do it again. This is how we spent the next two weeks of winter break: wake up bright and early, head to the mountain, ski for a few hours, eat a traditional ‘Älplermagronen’ in the only restaurant in the resort, ski more, go home at 5pm and do it all again the following day. Even Christmas Eve was celebrated on the mountain with a celebratory fondue chinois and some night-skiing.

I honestly can’t imagine a better winter break and I am so happy that I was able to spend it back home in Switzerland with my family. I’m very glad to be back in Canada but I already miss the endless days spent in the Alps.

This time I’m going to talk about my winter break, which, I believe most of us was expecting. During my holidays I was able to finally meet my family again, I was so happy to see them. But the best of my holidays wasn’t the gifts, was the time that I spent having fun with my family, especially with my brother and friends. If I’m being honest, I didn’t do a thing of schoolwork. I didn’t even take up a pencil or see a screen.

It’s funny how the night seems endless when you’re lying awake, yet morning comes too soon. Sleep and I haven’t been on good terms lately. It’s not for the lack of trying- I’ve closed my eyes, quieted my thoughts, and even played those “soothing ocean wave” sounds on my phone. But no matter what I do, rest feels just out of reach.

Now, the days blur together in a haze of yawns and half-finished thoughts. My body moves on autopilot, but my mind feels like it’s wading through quicksand. Conversations slip away mid-sentence, and even the simplest tasks seem monumental.

Still, there’s something strangely poetic about these sleepless hours. The world is so quiet at 3 a.m., like it’s holding it’s breath. My thoughts are loudest then- sometimes they spiral, but other times they find clarity. Maybe it’s exhaustion lowering my defenses, or maybe it’s just the rawness of the hour.

I know this can’t go on forever, eventually, sleep will catch me, and I’ll wake up feeling whole again. But until then, I’m learning to find beauty in the stillness of the sleepless nights and the blurry softness of the days that follow.

For this Christmas break, my family and I decided to spend the holidays in Canada. We normally travel to the city where my grandparents and the rest of my family live, but since I currently live in Canada, my dad thought it would be more convenient if they came to Canada and visited other cities in BC. I found this plan good because after living for three months here, I got curious to know if other cities in Canada were as beautiful as Victoria.

Finally, we decided to visit Vancouver and Whistler. My family came to pick me up on Sunday, and we stayed here for a couple of days so I could show them some of Victoria’s charms. After a couple of days, we took a ferry to Vancouver. We stayed there for three days. Because I’ve already been to Vancouver multiple times, we decided we would just relax those days. Finally, after some days, we took a bus to our final destination; Whistler. In whistler we stayed 13 days. I was really excited because normally when I go to a ski village i normally dont get to stay more that a week. MY family and I all love to ski so this was like paradise to us. We skied for about 10 days and I enjoyed every single minute of them. Finally on the last day we decided to go to the glacier wich is the highest part of the mountain. I was kind of scared for my brother because he was still learning to snow board  after he swiched from skies and we would have to take black slopes. Still he came with us and we completed the hard part. After we thought we where cleare my brother got confident and started to go really fast. I wast concentrating on him but when we where meter from the end of the slope my brother fell.

He started yelling really loudly and could not stand up. We had to call ski patrol and they took him down in a toboggan. My dad and I followed them until we reach the clinic. There they took x ray scan and he turned out to brake he’s colorbone!

 

I am going to be writing about my trip to Costa Rica, Tamrindo. To get to Costa Rica for the holidays we have to take 3 planes which took us 2 traveling days. When we first arrived to Tamrindo which was a city in Costa Rica it was gorgeous lots of trees and it was warm. The people in Costa Rica only speak Spanish and very little English which made it challenging for us. Most of our days were spent by the beach or by the pool and sometimes we would go out and explore the towns. We cooked our own food in our Airbnb and we ate outside together. We spent 2 weeks there and when it was time to go home my whole family was sad.

I decided to watch the movie Equilibrium (2002) because of its dystopian themes, as I wanted to delve deeper into the dystopian genre now that we have begun this unit. This movie connects with the themes explored in the book Brave New World. The film had many thematic parallels to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Both works depict societies engineered for artificial stability, where emotional suppression and societal control reign supreme. Equilibrium portrays a world devoid of emotion, maintained through mandatory mood-altering drugs, which was similar to the artificial happiness and societal conditioning in Brave New World. Both narratives highlight the dangers of sacrificing individual freedom and emotional expression for the illusion of a perfect society.

I gave the movie four out of five stars. I do not usually enjoy dystopian media, however, I liked the way Equilibrium set the scene. Also in contrast to the book Brave New World,  Equilibrium did not have any sex related aspects which I found to be much more comfortable and made it more enjoyable. The movie features one of my favourite actors, Christian Bale, which was also a factor for my high rating.

Going into the now passed Winter Break, I was ready to dive head first into the relaxation and quality family time I don’t usually get during normal school weeks. This Winter Break was a little different however: As you can already tell, I usually don’t do anything special for any holidays, which means that any event which is normal to others is more valuable to me; Now this is not because we’re poor or anything, however it is due to the fact that our family has very few times where everyone in the family is free to go somewhere for a day. So, I thought that I would be able to just do normal at home relaxations. I was, however, proven wrong; Unlike many people my age I was pretty active this winter holiday; I always took care of the dog and her necessities, cleaned the house on a frequent basis, got an upgrade to my computer (more than 15 times performance boost from one upgrade) and also, unexpectedly, went on a trip. Since I don’t have enough time nor the will to write about my whole winter break, lets focus on the last 2. Let’s begin with the Winter Trip; On December 30th, my mom and dad called us into a discussion at the family table – right off the bat you either know you are screwed or its a good news – and they told us about their plans of going to Cyprus Mountain on the 2rd of January of  this current Year. To say I was surprised means to say nothing, as not only a trip in general was a rarity, however, I haven’t been to Cyprus in 8 years. Fast forward to January 2nd, my family and I awoke – at 4:40 mind you – and began the road trip towards the Ferry Terminal (took us around 2 ish hours to wait and get on the fairy. By now it was 7ish, and my sisters and I decided to step out and walk around (it was really cramped in the back of the car with 3 people). We wandered around for what seemed like one of the longest hours of my life until we finally heard the “you have arrived” speech from the captain. Rushing back, we buckled up and continued our journey up until downtown Vancouver: There we stopped, and got ourselves some snacks from Starbucks before continuing our journey towards the mountain. The service was terrible, so make sure you have a good service provider if you plan to go to any high elevation/distant region such as Cyprus Mountain. When we got there, however, we were pretty disappointed to find out we couldn’t even ride our sleighs there as everything required the lift pass (stacks fast when you have a family of 5). Despite our disappointment, we found another mountain around an hour away – can’t recall its name – and we went there instead. There we were greeted with nice views, less people, and most importantly, no need for a lift pass. And so we spent our day there; riding our sleds and walking around. At around 5 ish we headed back, grabbing some A&W as well as some more Starbucks before our 4 hour journey home. at 10:28, we were home.

In regards to the magical component of my pc, it is important to note that prior to this upgrade I was using a 2.5 Inch 256 GB SSD, with a max transfer rate of 250 mb/s (for write) and 230 mb/s (for read) speeds. for a long time I have wanted to not only upgrade from that to a faster disk, but also to have more storage in my PC. this is where the M.2 NVMe SSD comes in place; this is a basic 256 GB SSD, which cost me 20 bucks used from Facebook marketplace. This ssd (solid state drive) is a disk drive which plugs directly into your motherboard (NOTE: before rushing to get this technology: Make sure your motherboard has a slot for this device!! Not all motherboards support this form of data transfer, so look for a sideways port with a screw nearby – the port on the motherboard should have 2 lines (one long one short), and if it has 3, tough luck, as this means your motherboard only supports a SATA and not a nvme ssd (nvme uses the same technology as the Graphics card in your pc meaning its ultra fast and usually beats the sata ssd ) and after you determine the slot (it may also be done by googling your motherboard ports) you need to check the generation of the port (this will help you decide the right ssd for you).and since it uses the same   After you figure out the generation of the port, make sure to get a ssd of that generation or lower (unless your motherboard only supports up to gen 2 speeds). After you insert it, make sure the disk shows up in disk manager before getting ready to clone it. Next, clone device (may be done through the terminal or Balena Etcher (Balena is what I used since it’s easier), and after you clone your drive, you may then wipe the old one, restart the computer, go into bios (making sure your new disk is the boot disk (or has boot “priority”). I would recommend leaving the other (old) disk as additional storage in your PC. Press F10 (or save and exit setup in bios, and boot back into windows; open Disk Management (on windows) or Disks (on Linux Mint), and format the disk into NTFS (for windows) or ext4 (for Linux). Boom! You are now set! To double check that the disk you installed is now your main drive open up Task Manager (on Windows) and after clicking on the performance tab click on your new disk and make sure its called “C” (or disk 1) and on the bottom right it should say System Disk.. You may now Copy all of your old files and put them onto your old drive. Bonus Tip: If the old drive doesn’t show up at all after format go into Device Manager (On Windows), click “ATA/ ATAPI Controllers and right click each one and disabling them. Reboot/restart and your old disk is visible and may be used now!  This is how I spent my Winter holidays, where I not only got double the storage in my pc for 15x the performance boost, but also got to spend time with my family.

Every year around Christmas time, there is a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) across different places in Canada. It’s one day (which is different for different cities) where thousands of people come together to find as many birds as they can within their circle. You can do this as a small group or independently. People all over the country count birds on the chosen day for conservation purposes. It started in 1900 and has become an annual birding day for the country ever since. British Columbia usually gets the most birds in Canada for this day, especially the south coastal areas (Victoria, Vancouver etc.) because they are one of the few places in Canada not covered in snow, or a lot of snow. And temperatures are milder meaning there is more bird activity. I took part in the Duncan Christmas Bird Count on 29 December. It was a rainy day, but I still managed to get over 50 species (personally). Across Canada, 293 species were reported for the 124^th CBC which was more than last year. This is mainly because of the effects of the El Niño year which is making this winter milder than it usually is. The warmer weather is keeping some species who have usually moved further south by now in search of a warmer climate, to stay up in Canada longer because their food it still available for them. 218 out of 293 of the species were reported in BC.

Christmas just recently passed so I thought this would be great to write about. I understand that to some people Christmas might not feel the same but with me even if there’s no snow, or no Christmas activities, it doesn’t matter too much because I do appreciate the small hours of anticipation and watching everyone’s inner kid come out. I got some pretty silly gifts too which was amazing, and was one of the reasons I really love it. I got the classical oranges in my Christmas stocking. For some reason it’s tradition for us and I’m yet to understand why haha. I also didn’t wish for too much either so watching myself be surprised was great, I got a little necklace, It’s amazing, best part is I don’t have to take it off! I also got an amazing gift from my home-stay-student, a harmonica! I’ve been screwing around with it a lot and I can make some sad war type music and some iconic movie whistles as well. All that I’m waiting for now is the snow so I can walk around at night, build a snowman, throw snowballs at my friends, and just lay outside for like an hour or two! Snow is what I’m really waiting for. To make the Christmas even better, our home-stay stayed with us throughout the break, I don’t want him to leave but it was really nice that he stayed around with us. Overall, this Christmas was great and I can’t wait for more holidays and even more breaks from school!!

When winter break finally began I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I would have never guessed that I would be stuck at home with parental control (logs you off the wifi), doing chores, and listening to the torturing sounds coming from the TV which we all know as cocomelon. If you don’t know what cocomelon is, I will not be telling you because you will forever be traumatized with the sounds of ‘singing’ nursery rhymes and they will be trapped in your head. Like at this very moment, ‘Wheels On The Bus’ is playing in my head! I advise you to NEVER search it up. My 2 year old cousin came over and he is definitely an ipad kid. I always found cocomelon being stupid and despised those animated characters. I LOVE animations and I’m pretty sure I made that very clear, but whoever created cocomelon has put an eternity of pain upon many parents. I have never heard anyone saying, “I love cocomelon it’s awesome! It teaches my kid so much and is very entertaining!” Do you know why? BECAUSE IT SUCKS! It is so stupid. The worst part about it is definitely when my 2 year old cousin drags me to the couch and forces me to watch cocomelon and if I don’t obey, then he will throw a big tantrum until I listen. I am pretty sure that I am officially mentally insane and the only one to blame is cocomelon. Cocomelon owns me a new brain! One day, I was sleeping in because I don’t have to wake up for anything. I was having the best dream ever where I was saving the world and suddenly-
MY TWO YEAR OLD COUSIN IS SLAPPING ME ON THE FACE AND TELLING ME TO WAKE UP! Why is he up so early (it was 9:00)! I can’t forget the random beef he has with my glasses. When I least expect it or when he wants my attention, he takes my glasses and slams them on the ground. My glasses have been through more than many people in this world. Surprisingly, they’re not broken… yet. They do have a lot of scratch marks and I can barely see, but it’s fine! Even after all of the torture this kid put me through, he is still one of my favourite people and I love him to bits. Don’t ask why, I just do. I love this kid.

With school finally over for the holidays comes my favourite time of year; ski season! The moment school was over, off I was to the mountain. The best part was being blessed with 39 centimeters of fresh powder over Friday night last weekend. Saturday started off nice, especially with all of the new snow. The wind was gusting quite a bit over the top of the mountain so unfortunately the peak chair stayed closed through all of Saturday. Nonetheless, I was still able to make some amazing runs through a bunch of glades between some of the runs. It was quite low visibility, but it was still a great day to say the least.

Sunday was discouraging at first, but it ended up being unbelievable in the end. My first run was a little bumpy. All of the snow that had been skied out on the front side from Friday’s snow had thawed out near the bottom of the mountain from the sun and had gotten a bit icy. However, it was quite a cold morning for the hill, and the top of the mountain that hadn’t been skied out yet ended up being some of the best snow I had skied. I ended up dropping in off of the side of the peak into this chute and then into a large patch of glades. Good thing it wasn’t icy! I’m sure the run would’ve been treacherous without the sheer abundance of powder everywhere. The drops off the peak seemed to have the best snow out of the whole mountain, and I must’ve made four or five of the same run. It really was amazing. Along with the awesome powder, it was a total bluebird day too which made this day super fun. December seems to always provide some of the best skiing days out of the whole season up at Mount Washington, so I always try and soak them up. Even just the feeling of being out there up in the mountains in so relaxing. I’ll just plant my poles in the ground, go sit down for a minute, and just take these days in while I look out at the Coast Mountains and the valley below. This weekend I better bring along a drink!

OMG guys can you believe it? CORY CAME BACK!!! I’m so hyped man I’ve missed him so much I’ve been a fan since like… FOREVER. Anyways, his new manga? BOMB. I bought it ASAP. it’s totally getting me out of artblock like THANK YOU KING!!! SAMURAI STAND UP?! Also, I didn’t get the chance to write about this before but I am SO sad that Jujutsu Kaisen ended and the end was so rushed too, like? BUT, to be fair, Gege was kinda being forced to write it anyways. He wasn’t allowed to stick to his original plot which, WHY??? Everyone also kind of moved on too, like… was that not a generational manga? That was bomb. BOMB. NEVER moving on from that manga. At least Miu knows what I’m talking about, she my blood. Also, Arcane ended… Jinx and Ekko deserved better. The ending was (°Д°). Also IDC what ANYONE says, Jayce defender 4 life. Also Viktor, him too (he was cool, DON’T play with me cause (👁ˋ _ ˊ 👁)). Also, Ryan and Blake know (also Sydney) that I’m a Tyler, The Creator fan (big time), but I doubt anyone else knows. Fav song on the new track? I Killed You (or Rah Tah Tah). But fr fr, Tyler should put Pigs Fly on spotify cause that’s my ALL TIME FAVOURITE. If y’all follow me on insta (MmmmWatermelon) you’ll be seeing some SICK artworks soon I promise (I might even make a separate account for art ∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?).

Reflecting on all the amazing memories I have created with classmates who have already flown back to their original homes, I have no recollection of how fast the time has passed besides the lingering feeling of longing. I will still of course try to keep in touch with as many possible friends as I am able to with busy home lives, tedious school schedules, and more. However, I have found a new unfamiliar form of understanding. Knowing I had already gone through this process twice more in my first years at Brookes, I had never expected myself to find new feelings I had never felt before. Previously I felt I needed to reach out and constantly try to reconnect with every friend I had made to no avail. Fighting to keep the once-present memories alive which I hoped could stay in my daily routine forever. It kept me back from truly appreciating the small amount of time I was able to have with them. By not fully understanding as I do now, how most great things do not last forever, I could never understand how special each moment you have with someone truly means. Life moves fast and I am so grateful I was even lucky enough to have met everyone I have met this first term. I hope this following term brings as many new beginnings as these first months have and I hope everyone who has sadly left Brookes will be able to remember fondly everyone who will be forever missing their presence

Deep in the snow-clad wilderness of Norway’s Jotunheimen mountains, where the wind howled like the laments of lost souls, whispered an ancient creature—a Wendigo. While the Wendigo is commonly associated with North American folklore, Norwegian elders said that such a monster once roamed their cold heights, cursed by hunger and loneliness.

Years ago, a hunter named Stian entered into Jotunheimen on his own. The villagers warned him of the cursed fjell, where lengthy winters capture travelers and force them to commit desperate things to survive. Stian laughed at their tales. He was proud of his resilience, knowing that his expertise and provisions would get him through.

The first week passed without incident. Stian discovered deer and rabbit trails, but the air became colder and thicker. Storms devastated the peaks by the second week, forcing him to seek safety in a small, abandoned hytte. Snow piled heavy, keeping him inside. His resources diminished. Hunger gnawed at his gut, and his thinking deteriorated with each passing day.

On the tenth evening, he heard a knock. Stian, weak and shivering, opened the door, expecting to find another stranded soul. Instead, a figure stood there, strangely tall and shrouded in darkness. Its eyes flashed a strange blue, and its voice was as frigid as the winter wind.

“You called me,” it murmured.

Stian staggered back. He hadn’t called anyone, but his thoughts were filled with truth. In his desperation, he cursed the gods for leaving him and his agonizing hunger.

The skeletal hand of the creature brushed Stian’s face as it entered. It said, “I can make your pain go away.” “But hunger comes at a cost.”

Desperation tainted Stian’s thoughts. He agreed. With a smile that resembled ice shards, the Wendigo put its hand over his chest. He felt a terrible, never-ending craving as an intolerable cold ran through him.

The following day, a gaunt and hollow-eyed Stian was discovered wandering the mountains. His once-steady voice had become a raspy whisper as he described an insatiable desire for human flesh. It was too late, but the villagers ran away in fear. Stian had lost his humanity. Stalking the peaks in perpetual agony, he had transformed into Jotunheimen’s Wendigo.

Hikers still report hearing his wailing cries on stormy nights. Furthermore, anyone who goes too far might spot a shadow among the trees, waiting and watching—always hungry.

 

As my time in Victoria comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of gratitude in my life. Through meditation, I’ve learned to appreciate the people and experiences that have changed me, and one of the things I’m most grateful for is the friendships I’ve made, especially with people from all over the world.

One friendship that stands out is with Emma, a kind and sweet girl from Switzerland. It’s incredible how quickly we bonded, and I know it might sound a bit cheesy, but it feels almost as though we’ve known each other forever. We’ve talked about recent vacations we have had, and to me, it’s funny to think how, some years, my winter breaks spent skiing in the U.S. started to feel repetitive and forgettable. But now, thanks to Emma, things might change. She lives in Switzerland, and we’ve already talked about visiting each other, which excites me beyond words. She has shown me photos of Zurich and Zermatt, which are breathtaking, and I can’t wait to ski with her there.

It’s truly amazing how new friendships can make me look at travel and holidays completely differently. I now fantasize about future trips and visiting all my friends from around the world. As my time in Canada ends, I feel deeply thankful for the people I’ve met. These friendships, long-distance or not, will always be a part of me, and they’ve made my time here unforgettable. Though I’ll miss this place, I’m excited about the new memories and adventures.

Today was the last day of school week, so i woke up early for breakfast, and get ready for school day. My first class was relaxed so I took the chance to read some more of my new book Fourth Wing. I spent most of the class reading it. Next I had science, I worked in my energy evidence that I’m almost finished with. After that I headed to advisor where i got some more reading time before lunch. In PE we had basketball self assessments, which was fun to do. Then i moved to Individuals and Society, where I worked on my essay The Consequences of World War 1. Once classes were over I went back to my room, after sometime of being there I decided I wanted to read some more. After a while I went down to the dining hall for dinner, then ready my self for a good night sleep, to have a productive day tomorrow.

I had to push a car with my dad on the way back from the library. Let me explain. After school, my parents were running late (30 minutes), so I decided to go to Tim Hortons like any normal person would in that situation. Once my mom finally came, we went home. The moment I arrived I didn’t have time to rest or sit down, I had to deliver newspapers. My dad decided he would help me out and we both quickly got that over with. I asked hi if we could go to the library since we were done and I was looking for a new book to read. My dad said that we could, but first he had to give some money to one of his workers and he needed it instantly since he was buying a new car (he got a REALLY good deal that my dad helped him get). The thing is, this car, was a bit run down, but I didn’t care because it wasn’t my car.

Once we were FINALLY done with that my dad and I immediately headed for the library. We got there only to realize it was closed. We were heading back when my dad’s worker called him and asked my dad if we could give him a ride. My dad asked if it was ok and I didn’t want to be be rude, so I told him it’s ok. It was only going to take 10 extra minutes anyways. We go there and my dad drops him off. My dad’s worker gets into his brand-new-run-down car and my dad was following him because they were going to park the car in a different lot (and after that my dad was going to drop him to his house). We are turning right and it was a bit inclined, but that shouldn’t be a problem… or so I thought. I hear a loud noise. I didn’t think much of it until I see my dad’s worker’s car, start rolling in reverse. Is it weird that before thinking about my safety, I thought about my dad’s truck getting a huge dent? I cared more about the truck then anything else. I had the sudden urge to get out and try to stop the car from hitting my dad’s truck (I love that truck). Thankfully, my dad’s worker was smart enough to actually know what a break is used for and realized what was going on in time. If my tru- my dad’s truck got a single scratch, I would never let this man get away with it. HE WOULDN’T HEAR THE LAST FROM ME!

My dad and his worker were trying to figure out what to do, while I just mindlessly watched them, too tired to understand what the hell was going on. My dad had to park his car in a nearby parking lot and he made his way to help his worker. I personally would not even offer it and respond with, “Yeah, you got yourself caught in quite the pickle. Anyways, I wish you the best buddy, but I have to go do… uhm… something more important than this. So, bye!” My dad is too nice to do that and felt bad for the poor man (I felt bad for our truck, but sure). There was another parking lot nearby and in order to get there we had to PUSH THE CAR BACK! Can I mention that the last thing I had wad was half a bagel from Tims and it was 4 hours ago? Our plan managed to succeed and my dad tried figuring out the problem. It wasn’t working because it was still rolling back. I hate scammers even more now… they really do ruin lives…. After a bit of my dad and his worker going back and forth, taking turns to try driving this thing and figuring out what the hell is wrong with it, I was silently waiting for my dad to tell me get in the driver’s seat. I mean, it made more sense that two grown men would push the car instead of one grown man and a weak teenager who… wants to drive.

“Gurjas, get in the drivers seat.”
“LET’S GO!!! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO SAY THAT!!!”

Safe to say I was the life of the party. I was so happy imagining myself driving this on the actual road. Don’t worry… this is DEFINETLY NOT illegal. definitely. I did not complain about the incident after that- WE GOT HOME AT 8:26 PM! I HAVE HOMEWORK, I NEED TO SHOWER, I AM STARVING, AND I CAN BARELY OPEN MY EYES! I showered. I ate. I check the time. It’s 8:42 pm. That gives me enough time to finish my homew- I slept. I woke up at 4:00 am feeling restless and my legs are barely keeping me up right now. I would not be writing this in my uniform all ready for school if it weren’t for the fact that we are playing soccer today for PE. “Guess I’ll just do my homework,” I thought to myself, “as much as I can… and try to keep my eyes open for the rest of the day, but its not guaranteed. Man, I’m never asking to go to the library again. Except today. I want to go today.”

Moral of the story: Don’t ask your dad to go to the library because then your dad’s worker’s car will stop working and you’ll have to deal with that by pushing it up a small hill and arrive home very late. AND YOU WON’T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE LIBRARY!

These past month I have been feeling very down, all of that feeling is mostly because I do not want to go back to my old school. I don’t want to loose my friends that I made here, those friends mean a lot to me in a way I thought no one could in this short period of time.

I am trying to assure I spend all mine time with them, and I want to have a last good time with every single one of the those that matter a lot to me, I want to keep contact to mostly of them or I will just follow their social media to see how their lives are going. But one thing I am sure this time was really nice to me and I will not ever forget these 4 Incredibles months I spend in Canada.

I liked the school and the ambient so much that I want to come back next September and stay here till the end of high school, since I will have people that already mean a lot to me here I will have a good welcome back ( I hope). I will make sure that these last 23 days in the best way possible, I will miss here a lot!

As the United States election sweeps the nation and puts many Canadians into a state of panic, fearing the countless effects it can have on our public society, all I can think about is the recently viral clip of Barron Trump. In this clip, you can see how the Trump family acts with one another, especially how Barron Trump and his mom speak to each other. Before packing his things to get going for school Barron speaks in the thickest Slavic accent, which has severely reminded me of myself when I was the same age. The now famous quote reminds me of a time that seemed long ago when I spoke barely any English, had to go to special speaking counseling, and even had to work extra hard just to make the sound of the letter r. I struggled a lot in elementary school speaking let alone writing, and even though I find this extremely funny looking back on past videos of myself reflecting on my growth through a simple video has been a refreshing way of clearing my head. So what I am trying to say is thank you to whoever has published this clip into the world as it has brought a new sense of clarity and humor into my life.

a few weeks ago I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time, yes, I am well aware I’m a few centuries late to watching it. Mostly on the weekends (because I don’t have time on school days), I watch movies with my dad, Interstellar is next, I can’t wait! If you are like me and have been living under a rock for a while and you don’t know the movie, it’s about a guy named Will, he’s a really smart kid but he doesn’t exactly have anything exciting going on. He’s a janitor at this school and this really difficult problem gets put up in the halls on a board, when Will solves it, the teachers try to get through to him but can’t so they try to get a therapist to help him loosen up and help him (The 4th and last therapist was Robin Williams!). Each session goes on and they get more and more in depth with talk about romance, relationships, deaths, weird stuff like that, maybe I’m into light romance type movies? Not too sure… One thing I really like about movies though is when they bring a quote or action from the start of the movie and reintroduce it at the end. Good Will Hunting did EXACTLY that. Will’s therapist is telling him that he missed out on a great baseball game to “go see about a girl”. Then at the end of the movie, Will decided to go chase this girl he recently had a fight with, he missed the therapy lesson but left a note saying, “I gotta go see about a girl”. Sweet things like that, that I like. Also the way the therapist worded a lot of things, it had deep meanings it was a great movie, awesome movie (I might watch more like that, I’ll be in touch!).

It’s time to write my personal writing and I want to talk about how in the last couple of days my work had piled up and I got sick. Right now, I’m trying to catch up with my tasks. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish soon, I just want to recover from this illness.

We are now not so far from returning home for the winter break and I can’t believe that after this I won’t see some of my friends again. I’ll keep texting them and remain in contact but despite all this I’ll miss them. On the other hand, I’m happy that finally we will have a break from school, but even if I decide to rest and relax on the holidays, I’ll have to do my personal proyect.

I love Christmas so much. Theres so much to enjoy about it, the decorations, gifts and food and being around people to celebrate it. My family celebrates it because of the birth of Jesus. I think Christmas is the best holiday ever, especially if you get to spend it in a country that snows so that you can get the white Christmas experience. Everything about Christmas has such a homely feeling. This year I’m going to stay in Canada for Christmas and Im going to celebrate with My mom, Stepdad and my siblings and my Russian friend Polina because she has been begging for a Christmas sleepover. Polina is good at baking so I am going to make her bake me something Christmassy like a gingerbread man. So I am so excited for Christmas.

Just yesterday the island was affected by something called a “bomb cyclone” It’s not too serious, I mean we aren’t going to get flooded or anything but we will get strong winds, heavy rain, and the tide will be up. As someone who lives smack dab right next to the ocean my house and neighborhood often suffer from power outages, for instance, remember that power outage that happened 2 weeks ago? Well, while the school and other dwellings in sed area got power back at around 8 pm my house did not get power back until 8 am the next day! Now back to the present day with our friend who is the bomb cyclone, our friend is seriously affecting the houses in my neighborhood whether it be; trees, fences, and my gazebo that nearly flew away due to the wind that was whistling through the night. Due to the storm, my house lost power last night, it all started when the lights started flickering which of course I thought was odd until the power went out leaving me completely in the dark, this is a common occurrence in my household so all you can do is light candles and wait out the inevitable time the power gets turned back on. I texted Ely, Eva, Polina, and Roberta asking if their power had gone off as well, but to my surprise, everyone had power except me! I then waited out until we had power and of course power had majestically turned on at the crack of dawn at 5 am in the morning. Now I understand BC hydro is busy and is constantly working around the clock but I mean shouldn’t BC hydro have some kind of back up generator to power the city without having to sit in the dark for hours, and this is me speaking as a resident of a neighbourhood that always gets power last. BC Hydro, shouldn’t you atleast have a plan especially in the rainy season when we have bomb cyclones coming at us? I mean I used to live in Winnipeg where there would be at least 7 different blizzards in a year and our power was on all year round and we had a power outage once every two years, I understand Winnipeg has different whether conditions but why cant BC hydro just adapt better solutions to harsh whether?

I hate power outages and I hate BC Hydro.

Whatsaheart is an emerging artist in the alternative and electronic music scene, known for blending introspective themes with atmospheric sounds. His music is often put with “zoomergaze” genre, characterized by a dreamy aesthetic. I deeply admire his ability to blend raw emotion with ethereal, and experimental soundscapes. His tracks like “Snakelike (The Stars Collide)” and “For Her” feel like windows into a deeply personal, introspective world, yet they resonate universally with themes of love, loss, and resilience.

His latest song, “Taking Over Me” and “Ferris Wheel (Back to You),” continue to explore himself longing, personal struggles, and self-reflection. Whatsaheart has been growing his fanbase on Spotify and Amazon Music!

I find his music incredibly inspiring, and it’s often my go-to playlist. Tracks like “Taking Over Me” and “Lovesick” remind me of how art can connect us to emotions we sometimes struggle to express. What sets Whatsaheart apart for me is his authenticity and ability to create a sonic universe that’s as haunting as it is beautiful.

 

Please be sure to check out his profile on Spotify, Amazon or whatever else you use to listen to music!

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Ry6DudE0QFcXoUdXsCQfV

Since I was young, people around me, like my family or friends have always listened to Spanish music. I, on the other hand, had always preferred English music. The main reason for that is that as a kid learning to speak English as a second language, I was encouraged to practice it by singing along to music in English. Subsequently, I developed a taste for American music, hearing it most of the time to the point that my non-English speaking mom memorized some of my favourite songs in English. However, since I’ve been here, I’ve realized how much I miss Mexican music. I miss hearing my mom sing her favourite songs on our way to school or my friends singing them on our car rides trying to make me join them. This sense of nostalgia made me realize what I was missing and made me appreciate the beautiful songs my first language can create. Now, whenever I hear music in Spanish, I feel a comforting connection to home, a reminder of where I come from and the colourful culture that shaped me. Now, I’ve started listening to more music in Spanish, and I’m sure that when I go back to Mexico, I’ll be able to sing along with my mom and friends.

Little Miss Sunshine is a movie that has been on my mind for a long time. I watched it for the first time in March of this year, a second time in June, and now I’m seriously considering a rewatch. In my relatively short life, I’ve had the privilege of watching many movies. This year alone, I have watched enough movies to be called a movie buff (one hundred and thirty three movies to be exact) but no movie entranced me as much as Little Miss Sunshine. The portrayal of intricate and dysfunctional family dynamics possessed an unmatched level of realism. In just one hour and forty one minutes, the actors and crew were able to capture profound emotions, comedy, meaningful one liners, and delightful moments in a naturally cohesive manner. It is beyond human comprehension how everyone involved in the creation of the film had been able to come together, collaborate, and sync on such a profound level to produce a film as flawless as this masterpiece. Little Miss Sunshine is a cinematic gem that follows the Hoovers family as they try to get to a children’s beauty pageant. On the way they face numerous challenges and learn how to work together and overcome obstacles. The film has a heartwarming message of self-acceptance and reminds those watching that happiness can be found in the most unexpected places, even amidst chaos and shattered aspirations.

To stay in my little scheme of writing about Canada, I would like to reflect on one of my most memorable trips I have ever taken. About five years ago, my parents and I took a big, 2-week Trip to Quebec, Toronto and Montreal. It was rather a big deal for my family, since it was the first time they “showed” me Canada, the place where my mom grew up and where my parents got married. I remember little me being incredibly exited, I only knew Canada as the country of bears, snow and maple syrup. A very present memory I have still have is when we visited the ice hotel in Quebec. I was very impressed, a whole building build out of ice! I recall the highlight being drinking apple juice out of ice glasses, and I remember feeling like Elsa from Frozen. My parents told me all about their marriage in that hotel. I also still hold very lovely memories from Quebecs old town, where we walked in the snow for hours. The snow was like nothing I had ever seen before, and I was so in awe of the meters of white cotton candy that I suddenly found before me. Thinking back, I realise I most of my memories from Canada took place in the snow. A thing that I still dream about today, is a beautiful husky sleigh ride that we took in some lost forest, a couple of hours outside of the city. The landscapes that we admired from our cozy seats were spectacular. Even though it was almost  a near death experience for me, since I spent 3 hours in -28 degrees not moving, I have never done anything alike since then. The whole trip was an amazing experience and I promised to myself I would come back to that awesome country as soon as I could – and look where I am now!

Going to an international school and being surrounded by people from such diverse backgrounds and cultures has made me realize how important and valuable languages are. Growing up, I never realized what a gift and privilege it was, to be able to communicate in such a variety of languages. I’m very grateful for my parents, to whom I owe my ability of speaking Czech. Being born in Switzerland meant that German immediately became my second language, helping me communicate with everybody on a daily basis. And while I must admit that German is definitely not my favourite language (considering my personal preference for French, Italian and English), mainly because of how complex it is, I still believe that it should be admired for it’s beauty. Its literature, poetry, and rich history reflect a depth of thought and emotion that deserves greater appreciation.

One of my favorite aspects of German is its ability to capture complex emotions in unique ways. A great example is the word Vorfreude. This word, which translates to the joyful anticipation of something yet to come, has no direct English equivalent. It perfectly describes the spark of excitement and happiness before an anticipated event. Vorfreude is something we all experience daily, whether it’s the thrill of planning a trip, the anticipation of a celebration, or the joy of knowing you’ll see a friend after a long day at school. Vorfreude can always be found in the simple moments.

The word ‘Vorfreude’ always reminds me to savor the build-up and not just focus on the outcome. These layers of excitement to ordinary moments have made me look for joy in the everyday.

My big achievements this school year are my grades and my courage to make new friends. It was difficult to begin the school year without my best friends, Regina and Fernanda, since they returned to Mexico. Even though that was difficult, I still ended up making some amazing friends. This year, my marks in school have improved a lot because I am putting more effort into getting good grades, focusing better and learning from mistakes I had in the past. Overall, I think I made a lot of good achievements so far and hope to make many more.

There’s something about the world around me that’s… nostalgic almost. If you’ve lived around the Colwood/Langford area for a large part of your life you probably know what I mean. Like when you take a walk up the street you grew up you have the realization that everything has completely changed since you were a small child. Maybe it’s that park near your house that’s been bulldozed, or that store that’s closed its doors that you used to go to all the time when you were younger, or maybe it’s that field that you used to walk around in that got developed into a neighbourhood. Whatever it may be, it represents the passage of time.

Seeing the changes happening around your world is a feeling that nothing else can really match, and it feels so odd looking back to how everything was when nothing you see looks the same. You’re almost a stranger to the place that you’ve been living your entire life when you compare how everything was. Maybe it’s something that you notice every so often with places you used to visit all the time, or maybe it’s something that you’ve never really noticed. Taking a walk through the same place just a decade later shows the effect that time has on the world around us.

Last week, I was away in Taiwan with my dad. We went for nine days (seven full days) as an attempt to see all 31 endemic bird species. We left for the ferry on Thursday evening and flew from Vancouver at 15 minutes past midnight to Taipei, Taiwan. It was a 12.5-hour flight, and we arrived early morning. Once we landed, got out of the airport, and got our rental car, we immediately hopped in and started birding. It was a warm, humid day as we travelled from park to park. The following day we got our first endemic, Taiwan Liocichla. As the days were going by, we saw some amazing scenery, stayed at some weird hotels, and ate and saw some peculiar food. I remember one of the menus advertising snails, large intestines, and pig snouts. A few times you must cook your food. You have a bowl of boiling water on a flame, and a bowl of raw mystery meat, lots of different kinds of mushrooms and veggies. We threw them in and hoped for the best. On one of our days, we had a long drive to chase an endemic, Styan’s Bulbul. In order to get it, we had to drive to the east coast along a dangerous, narrow, wet, one-lane road on the side of a mountain. There were avalanches everywhere, holes in the road, places where half the road was down the cliff. Lots of tunnels as well. While we were waiting for the next road opening in a part, we had an hour to waste where we saw the bulbul on a telephone pull. When we walked back to the car, there was a monkey (Formosan Rock Macaque) who was climbing up the car towards my open window I forgot to close. If they get in the car, they will ruin and take everything. We tried to scare it off and it climbed on top of the car and stood its ground, showing its teeth the finally climbing down. We saw lots of monkeys and street dogs as far as the mammals go. A few squirrels and a serow as well. Unfortunately, on the last couple days, the park where we had planned to get the last tricky endemics was closed due to a Typhoon coming so we were unable to get all the endemics. The last endemic we got a few hours before heading to the airport was a Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler. A skulker but we managed to see it thanks to a group of photographers in a huddle desperate to get a glimpse at this hard bird. This made the final count of endemics, 26/31. The flight home left at midnight and landed in Vancouver at 6:30pm. We got the 9pm ferry and got home at 11:45pm.

As you all know, I am a Sea Cadet, and keeping uniform up to it’s best standards is one of the major responsibilities, especially when you are a senior like me. The boots I have are from the late 1950s; this means that there is organic leather which makes the boot easier to shine than it’s new counterparts. This leather allowed me to polish the boots up super fast and make them ready for cadet nights in 1 to 2 and a half hours. However, I was faced with a constant problem; the polish would flake, creating uneven surfaces on the boot, also known as boot cancer. To fix this, there are two routes; you may either strip the boot (take off the layers) which will take you a long time to rebuild the layers, or polish over and smooth out the surfaces. From my 6+ years of experience in Cadets, it is best to strip the boots and to build them up from the ground again. This however, didn’t help the issue, and the polish kept on flaking and falling off. I decided to try the other method out as well, where I build polish on top of the cancerous areas. This too didn’t work, in fact it only worsened as the dried out polish didn’t stick well to the more humid polish.

This brought me back to the drawing board, as I wasn’t sure of what to do at this point. I was ver desperate at this point, even thinking about leaving my question on Reddit when I remembered about something; My Friends! Being very desperate I shot them all a message, hoping for the best. They went with me to the Summer’s Military camp, making them a reliable source especially since I knew all of them personally. I have showed them pictures of my boots and asked about their opinion, and sure enough they pointed out one detail that I failed to notice. The boot was dry! They joked around saying “how about you offer it a drink or two” and even “ain’t you a sea man?”, “ain’t they supposed to be hydrated 24/7?”.

They were right; I was too concentrated to look good which caused me to not pay attention to the minor details. Using their help as a guide I stripped the boots (it took ~20 minutes for each boot) and applied the one thing the boot needed; The Moisturizer. After that, I buffed (term for building up layers of polish, in this case I have built up the first the 3 layers with a buffing brush) the boots and left them out to dry. This will create a so called steady base layer on which the whole polish relies on. This process is currently in the making and I can’t wait to share any future results/personal experience with what happens next.

It was day 4 in Arizona. On day 4 out of 6 of being in Arizona, me and my friend had plans to go to a go karting place. Once we arrived, it took quite a while before it was our turn. To pass the time we ate some of the food there. I can’t quite recall what I ate, but I think it was pretzel sticks. After we ate, it was our turn to do go karting. I had never done it before, and we had three rounds to do it. The moment I started driving the kart I thought it was kind of fast, but after about 10 seconds I realized it was much slower than I imagined. To me it felt like a speed of around 20 – 40 km/h, I was unsure. In the first round, I ended up placing 4th for fastest lap time, while my friend on the other hand ended up placing first. At the time, I thought it was because I was stuck behind a bunch of slow drivers, which could’ve been the case, but after reviewing some photos that my parents took, I realized it was because my foot was on the brake the entire time, which similarly happened to my friend the first time he went go-karting. My friend placed 1st, and I placed 4th for every single round after that. I blamed the result on the fact that I had my foot on the brake the whole time. After the go-karting was over, my friend and I decided to play some of the arcade games, where I destroyed him 10 – 2 in air hockey. After this, my mom had plans to take me to the Grand Canyon the next day, not with my friend because he had stuff to do.   

Life as a boarding student on weekends

As a boarding student my weekend mornings are usually slow and relaxed. I woke up at 11:00 and head down to the dinning hall for brunch. This weekend, my friends and I decided to try a restaurant in downtown called The cactus Cafe Club.

After brunch we spend the afternoon talking and getting ready for dinner on downtown. In the restaurant I decided to order a salmon dish, while my friends ordered stake.

After dinner, we wanted to try out the new winter menu in Starbucks, and then went back to school and called it a night.