A reflection on this past year in English

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

Michael Altshuler

        This year in English has been a wild ride. Not only in terms of learning but the class in general as well, and I do have to say, this has been one of the most challenging classes I’ve had and I am glad for that. We started the year with journal entries and learning how to use/post to the blog. The second week of school I remember the Tuesday where Fitz was driving me to school and told me that we were gonna start doing weekly assignment sheets. I personally felt that this system would be better than daily assignments the second that he told me. Little did I know how big of an impact these assignment sheets would make on my life.

My life and it’s expectations

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

- Charles Darwin

I want to live my life to the fullest. I want to make every day the best it can. I want to make sure that in every moment, I will realize how special it is. I have come to the conclusion that we are only young once, so I am going to make my youth the best it can be. I may not have everything in the world, but I certainly have everything I need. I don’t need all the extras, I can work with what I have. I think the extras would be nice, but I’d rather be happy with what what I’m already with. I only have one life, I only have one youth, and I have just want I want to make my life good.

A look into a day of mine

“Today was a good day” 

- Me

I have no idea what to write about so I’m just going to talk about today and why today was so great. This morning I woke up probably the latest I’ve ever woken up at around 9:20AM. This may seem pretty early to most of you but my sleep schedule usually makes me wake up at around 7:00-7:30. After laying in bed for a solid 30 minutes I woke up and headed downstairs for breakfast. For breakfast I finished off a box of Special K cereal and because I eat a lot for breakfast I had around five bowls of it. 

Sometimes you have to miss out

“For everything you have missed you have gained something else”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

      This past week I was out biking once again and I got a flat tire,  it sucks. So I walked down the trail all the way to the mill & main for my mom to pick me up. We struggled to get it in the car but eventually it fit. I got home and immediately got to work on fixing the wheel. Because one of my friends knew about my flat tire, he told his dad, who is really good with bikes, to see if he could help. His dad came over not to long after and started to get to work.

Taking the time to notice things I couldn’t before

“I like noticing details that nobody else sees.”

- Anonymous 

I stepped out onto the old, worn down cement steps in the front of my house, ready for the walk that I was about to journey on.

Sean also doesn’t like reading books

“Books, books are bad” - Sean Leahy

      Books, ohhh books, books are bad, but hey here I am starting a four paragraph metacognition on the topic of reading books. Hmm, where to start. Ok so basically the entire process of this reading log that Fitz is making us do has been pretty annoying and chaotic. At first I couldn’t even figure out what book I should pick out. But as time went on I just chose a random book that I found in my shelf that only sounded interesting because it had the words “true story” on it. After I had picked out a book for me to read, it was time for me to actually read the book.

Building a trail system in my backyard

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt” 

- Anonymous biker

       It’s a normal Tuesday in quarantine. Online school cramming in work for the week, everybody staying at home during quarantine making the streets turn into a ghost town. School ends at what’s the first thing I decide to do, go outside and take my bike out. There isn’t much else to do because well, I can’t see my friends and I can’t go visit anyone so I might as well spend my time doing something I love. I take couple laps around my house hitting some natural bumps and using them as jumps that lead into clumps of humps. Not to long after I take a break and sit on my bike seat, I look towards the bright blue sky covered with clouds of all kind. And I just sit there and think. I think about all the things I could do with my bike in my own backyard. I think about how I could transform the yard I already have into a small bike park that’s good enough to keep me entertained. I think about the endless opportunities put out right in front of me at my own house. After enough thinking I finally make the impulsive decision to get started on making a trail.

You never know what’s going on in someone’s life

“Unless you really understand others, you can hardly attain your own self understanding”

- Miyamoto Musashi

      Weekdays in my house are not ordinary ones. My sister comes home from school in a 2013 dark Honda Civic at 7pm 4/5 nights each week because her musical rehearsal keeps her late. Whenever she comes in the door I am able to get out a singular, “Hello” before she darts up the stairs into her room without saying anything to me. I usually just accept it because I figure she has a lot of homework to do. When dinner is ready she comes down 10 minutes late each time because she is so focused on her work. Having a conversation is hard to do with her because I have learned that she is pretty severely impacted by her anxiety. Usually she is mean to me for no reason and I just figure it’s because she is a 16 year old girl that is stuck with a 13 year old boy as her brother. But over time I have started to learn that the main reason she is mean to me is because of her anxiety. This anxiety has built up in her over the years of her in high school because she is taking lots of AP and honors classes that give her a ton of homework. Her being mean to me is just a way of her releasing that stress and anxiety out of her. Learning this has caused me to become a lot more aware of what she is going through and why she does what she does. Her releasing her anxiety in that way really makes you realize, everybody who is mean has a reason for being mean, and them being mean is a way to release the stress or anger that has built up in them over time.

A thank you message to Fitz

“Thank you for your part in my journey” 

- Anonymous 

        All of my life I never found a purpose, a reason to write. But now, ever since 8th grade started, I’ve found what’s been right in front of me this entire time.