7- Khiem D. : The Dapper, Deranged, Dastardly, Devilish, Satō From Ajin

 The Dapper, Deranged, Dastardly, Devilish, Satō From Ajin

Before we get acquainted with the gentlemen on the left I would like to point out that this was technically a show on Netflix therefore through a loophole I technically am writing about a character from a show. This is by no means an advert for you to go watch the show as it is a stain on what the manga offers so as usual read the manga, it’s great I promise. Satō or Hat (Yes very creative I know) is a man from Ajin, who possesses the power to reform through these ghosts called IBMs making him essentially immortal as everytime he dies, he is reset back to the point his body was when he gained the power. He is the main antagonist of the entire series and poses a great threat due to his inventive usage of his power like when being tranquilized he would cut off his own arm or straight up kill himself to negate the effects of the tranq. Along with that he has an elite military background, an ambiguous amount of black market assets, and the aforementioned IBM, which is essentially a second separate entity that is essentially bulletproof and able to act on its own. With this it makes him a powerful adversary to compete with our protagonists and some very well choreographed fight scenes.

I would be lying if I told you he was an extremely deep villain with a layered backstory but simply put, he is just an agent of chaos. Everything he does is to satiate his innate boredom as an immortal which is an interesting dynamic as every time he seems to have some action that contradicts this, the audience is left wondering if he is truly genuine at that moment or manipulating the game, as he puts it. He observes the world as a game in itself as an immortal, he essentially has a save file so to speak with no actual repercussions. This allows him to keep evolving, finding new ways to use his powers and essentially min-max his way through many situations. From the aforementioned resetting suicide to having his regeneration disintegrate objects, the concepts keep building onto itself making it a very entertaining read. If I had to put it simply he is like the Joker (before the sad clown Joker movie version), only really serving as an obstacle but man is he an entertaining obstacle.

Once again if you haven’t sensed a theme here, I really recommend reading this manga as it is severely underrated mostly due to it’s terrible adaptation. Words cannot describe my hatred for the adaptation as it is on Berserk levels of terrible adaptations. The art in the manga was so immaculately drawn that the sheer sin that most of the adaptation is mostly CGI hurts my soul. The way the author choreographed fights is reason enough, yet it boasts stunning visuals, a whole host of unique ideas (most of which comes from the gentleman above), and overall a pretty gripping action drama story. 

Word Count: 503

7-Krishna Clay: Your Life, Your Choice

 

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? I could take up both sides of this argument, but one key word changes my answer. “Everything.” Everything doesn’t happen for a reason. I don't think everything happens for a reason because I think your choices will change your future. Although you don't control all situations you do control how you handle them. With most things you are at the mercy of the unforgiving world. A way I found to help myself feel more in control is to mainly worry about what I can control. 

The things in life you should worry about are the things you can control. A mindset shift that helped me become a lot happier of a person. It will make you feel like you are a lot more in control of your life and it makes it easier to get up and get what you want because you know that you can do it if you really want it. There might be obstacles but we live in a world where there is never only one way to achieve your goals. 

An example would be college football. This year because of COVID all teams were able to keep their seniors and extra 5th year instead of the usual 4 years. This led to not many people leaving the team which made it harder for high schoolers to get offers because there are less roster spots.  

I can’t control how college football decided to deal with COVID. Although it made it harder for me to get where I want to, from the college coaches I did talk to, I now know that I can play at a high level of college football and be successful there. I see my goal and because i believe that i can get there i only need to worry about how I'm going to get there, because the main route wasn’t an option for me i need to focus on what i do to get there whatever route that is. 

My point is that I could sit and pout about how COVID messed up my whole plan and blame my failure on that. Or I could get up, make a new plan, find a new way, and get where I want to be. Complaining will get  me nowhere so it’s pointless to feel bad for myself because then I am only killing my own dreams. 

Worry about what you can and don't let yourself get in the way of your dreams.

WC:407

7 - Lucas V: Worst Day Of My Life

 

  This story of my Valentine’s day starts in 7th grade at Vaca Pena on Wednesday, February 14 2018. On this day a lot of things had happened. It starts as a regular morning which would soon get worse throughout the day. The first couple periods were doing good, they were normal. As it was getting to lunch time I was hungry. I had my lunch and then decided to play some four square which was a game with four boxes with a person in each. The objective of the game was to make the ball bounce out of the square or catch the ball which would then get that person out.

    I was warming up in this game. I was usually good at it as I played it everyday during lunch. However this day I was somehow off with my movements. I wasn’t as agile and fast. I had slow recovery times. I was basically lagging behind. As the games had gone on, I had one match where I had to get the ball and unfortunately tripped on a person's leg or a backpack. I couldn’t remember since there were lots of things happening at that split second. When I fell, it felt like it was in slow motion and I had looked at the sun blinded by the sunlight. I had no clue what had happened to me.

    From that moment on it was absolutely hell. It of course started off slow with going to the nurse's office and getting an ice pack for my wrist. After I went to my study hall class and I went back to the nurse's office because my wrist was still hurting and also it was very swollen. Sooner or later I had to go to the ER which was not very fun. It was a Wednesday so school had a short schedule. Having my mom pick me up then my siblings which was very hard. I was dying of pain in the car. After that, my mom drove me to the ER and to which was a long process to go in. Had to wait at least an hour to see a doctor, then I took some x-rays. After that, there was another wait to see the doctor again because they had to analyze the x-rays.

    After all that I was given pain medicine, a splint, and an arm slang. The only good thing that happened that day was my mom giving me valentines gifts with a little Lego set to build when I was better.  Coming back to school was hard because my wrist was killing me. A couple of days later I had a doctor's appointment in Vallejo with one of their specialists to check out my wrist. The doctor said that I had torn a tendon in my wrist and that I might need surgery to fix it. Luckily for me I didn’t need surgery. I was then given a cast. Fast forward 6 months later, I had missed a lot in school and had lots of things that I couldn’t do. I had trouble putting my sock on which had sucked. The wrist had fully healed and I was wearing a wrist brace. This upcoming Valentine’s Day will be my fourth year anniversary of that event. I still got PTSD from it from time to time. It will never be the same ever again. Also, the left wrist wasn’t damaged because of my G-Shock watch. Maybe it’s a sign of luck? I will never know.

Word count: 587

7. Tyler B. Craig: The ups and downs of being coward

 

For those who don’t know what I’m referring to, Miracle Workers is a show about 2 angels who have to get 2 humans to fall in love before god blows up the Earth, or at least that’s what the 1st season was about. These 2 angels names are Craig and Eliza, who both work in the department of answered prayers, Craig has been working in this department for 10,000 years, he likes to play it safe and not take risks, leading to many of the prayers he answers being deemed as “impossible” so he spends most of his time helping humans find their keys or gloves through hours of work (melting single snowflakes or blowing a single leaf away). Eliza is a angel who has recently been transferred to the Department of answered prayers, she is a big risk taker and is bold, bold enough to demand that god do something about Earth. But I’m not here to talk about her, I’m her to talk about Craig.

Craig constantly tries to play it safe, when him and Eliza first start on their task of making 2 humans fall in love, Eliza has a plan to make them both run into each other at the hospital by dropping a melon on one of their heads, pretty bold right? Craig doesn’t think this is a good idea so he makes the melon fall and only hit the sidewalk, he believes that the best way to get them to talk to each other is through subtle sly signs and hints. For example, when these 2 humans met they had a talk about badminton, Craig tries to use this as a sign, spending hours blowing a badminton birdie from a roof top court to one of the humans houses. Expecting them to take the sign, but they don’t, and just throws it out the window. Even after this he still tries to play it safe, which in most cases is over thrown by the risk taking of Eliza and later on another angel, Sanjay, and most of the time the risk pays off, except for in one instance. They have 1 day left until the Earth is set to blow up, the humans relationship has been progressing nicely, now they are set to go to a basketball game, where Eliza plans to use the courts kiss cam to get them to kiss. Everyone thinks this is a great idea, except for Craig, he knows these 2 are shy and very timid, so he thinks the kiss cam will just freak them out, instead he suggest they just let them get to that point on their own, without the kiss cam. Of course everyone thinks he is wrong and is just being a coward, and when he tries to stop them from doing this they throw him in the broom closet and lock him in, but when the time comes and they show up on the kiss cam, the humans freeze and don’t kiss, and after a horrible series of events following this such as a mascots appendix bursting and said mascot dying.

 Eliza and Craig almost fail, because no one would listen to Craig and his more timid ideas, I believe the writers of this show are trying to show that there can be unsides to playing it safe, if Eliza had just listened to Craig, they wouldn’t have had to make a mad scramble to try and save Earth. They end up saving it anyways, Craig even makes a very bold and risky decision that could have merged his brain with a bee, very strange I know, you’ll have to watch the show to see more of it. But in the end, the actions of Craig Bog (yes that’s his real name) show that is isn’t a bad thing to play safe sometimes, it could even lead to a happy ending, at least in this case. 

Word Count: 654

6- Grace B. Acceptance and Love

 

Generations before us have created a path to allow us to build a foundation of love and acceptance of all people. Although they have created the push for equality, there is some neglect when it comes down to accepting all people despite their race or sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation has been the main controversy when it comes down to the “boomer” generation. For instance, many homosexual couples have been constantly harrassed because of their sexual preference. Most of the harassment comes from those of previous generations who aren’t willing to learn how to accept what they can’t change.

My experience with discrimination due to sexuality was fairly recent. My parents discovered my sexual preference and removed everything I loved in my life in an attempt to “change” me. I’ve never felt sadness or pain so strong. It's a sad reality when you realize that even those who claim to love you dearly can turn their back on you in a heartbeat.

Race has been the battle for hundreds of years. Many of our elderly generation have experienced major improvements in the way those of dark skin tones are allowed to live. Unfortunately, not all people agree with their freedom. Those with darker skin live with a target on their back. Praying to not make a wrong move because one person with a lot of hate and bigotry could end it all. 

During 2020, attention was brought to the Black Lives Matter Movement, which shined a light on the hurt being inflicted on the black community. Many men and women have been killed just based on the color of their skin and there’s nothing they could have done. Many of these killings happen to be from those who live an “old school” or “traditional” way of life. This shows how an older generation impacts the thoughts of those after them.

The older generations are meant to teach us how to be better, but this process slows down when we are taught to be hateful. As younger people we should try to educate those before us to attempt to create a more loving and accepting community. We have so much work to do.

361

6 - Lilly T: Experiences: Are you a Door or a Window?

 

Doors and windows can represent many things. From openings and closings, to entrances and exits. From my point of view, doors and windows represent how a person experiences something.

I think of people who experience things by going out of their way to travel and do activities themselves as doors. These kinds of people are hands-on and like to experience the world for themselves rather than having someone show it to them through a photo or video. ‘Doors’ tend to open their door often, going in and out to experience something new. 

People who are like windows like to keep to themselves would rather observe to experience over getting out and experiencing it themselves. It’s like staring out the window and watching other kids play while you watch them. All of their experiences come from watching TV, photos, and videos. These ‘windows’ don’t want to get out onto the world and do things that they’ve seen on TV.

I used to be like a door when I was little, but I’m more like a window nowadays. Especially with COVID-19 being an issue, there are a lot of things that I don’t get to do. Everything I learn and experience comes from the internet or from just watching people through the window. 

Word count: 211

6. Tyler B. Octopath Traveler and how it's music inspired me

 

Video game music is something that you only really think of if you are a musician, but with a deeper look at it, music can really change the way a game feels. It could be Hollow Knights piano and strings music giving a calm feeling as you walk around the world, but can also be intense and scary when you run into a boss. Or Doom’s heavy metal making you feel like the coolest person ever as you rip and tear throught demons. But one game has recently stood out to me in terms of it’s soundtrack and how it takes the player into account with the music, Octopath traveler. 

Octopath Traveler is meant to be a love letter to the JRPGs of old, like Final Fantasy or Crono Trigger, where you play as 8 different characters with 8 entirely different stories, which that alone makes the game unique, usually the characters always have some reason to fight together, but not in this game. But the games greatness is only elevated by it’s great soundtrack, which has recently filled me with a musical inspiration that I haven’t felt for a long time. One of the great things worth pointing out is it’s music leading up to boss fights, depending on which character whose story you are following, one of 8 different songs will play leading up to boss fights. For example, Primrose, the dancer, has a song called For Revenge that plays because her story is about finding the people who killed her father. Or Therion, the thief, whose song is called For Freedom because his story is about stealing back a royal families heirlooms after being shackled with the fools brand, a bangle that marks his mistake as a thief. One thing all 8 of these songs have in common is they are all in both the same key and time, and so is the boss music. The composer does this to seamlessly transition from the scene before the boss into the fight itself with a simple transition piece that leads straight into the boss music. Even when you speed through the dialogue or skip the scene entirely the music will still transition in a clean way. Now when you think about how these 8 character pieces can easily connect right into the 4 boss tracks in the game, that’s pretty amazing when you think about. All of the music in this game is created with the player in mind, when you listen to the soundtrack there is never a concrete ending in the songs, they just start over and fade away, the songs are literally made to loop, and I think that’s awesome. I was recently listening to this soundtrack on a drive up to SF, and as I was listening to it, I suddenly felt a inspiration. My mind started think of ways I could change the song so I could play it, or what a rock version would sound like. My mind was growing with ideas, and it was the most inspired I have felt in a long time, and it felt great

Word Count: 517