11 - Lucas V: The Best Homemade Halloween Costume

 

    The week before Halloween I had a great idea of what I should wear. The person I wanted to become was a character from Clash of Clans and Clash Royale which were very popular mobile games at the time by a company named Supercell. I had worn this costume on Halloween in 8th grade which I believe was in 2017/2018 ish. I had the weekend before to go shopping and design what I would wear. This costume was all custom so my mom and I would have to go shopping at art stores like Jo-Anne and Michales. This was a pretty good DIY costume since I did all the cosmetics and my mom would do the fabric designs. I remember spray painting the shovel and the helmet in my backyard.

    I wore this to school but unfortunately, I got the shovel confiscated because I didn’t know you could bring those to school. The thing was that I didn’t use it as a weapon and plus I had a helmet that wasn’t taken away. Everyone at school was amazed at how the costume came out and people actually knew the reference to the game. There was even foam coal that would pin onto my backpack making the costume like the troop in the game. With this fabric with the foam coal, my mom designed it so that I could actually lift it up and get my supplies from my backpack.

    
    Later that night before I went out to trick or treat, I made some adjustments to the costume. Instead of having a piece of orange paper for the flame, I made a hole in the pool noodle(the housing) and put in those battery-operated candles to give it that sort of real effect. This was another great idea as during the night people can see the flame and it makes me stand out from the crowd of kids in the neighborhood. I still have the costume and I might wear it again next year with some adjustments so that it can fit me.

Word Count: 343

11- Antonio L: Second Guessing, Again, and Again

 Second Guessing, Again, and Again

Still stuck on doing something? DOUBT you’ll get it done on time or have the motivation to do it? How can someone have doubt?

To put it simply, it’s like letting yourself fail before you let yourself start. Telling yourself that you could make this decision now to quit so you don’t have to face the embarrassment of failing in the future.

A longer explanation of doubt involves the process of overthinking. It’s nice to strategize how you want to do things in life, but overthinking means thinking about the minimal things that could mean a lot to you and how things would progress after that, mainly affecting you and your future.

There’s a lot of doubt in the people around you as well. You don’t know it because they’re probably overthinking the simplest things as well, like starting a conversation, wondering things like, “What if they don’t want to talk?”, “How can I keep the conversation going?”, “What do I gain from talking to this person?” or “What if now’s not a good time to talk to them?”

High school in my eyes will always be about how people try to build a positive image for themself so no one can really hate them. Because they doubt, they doubt that anyone thinks of them as any good. 

But we don’t know that. We don’t know how everyone feels about one another, and the absence of an answer will create more doubt in a person’s mind, doubt that’ll carry on to other things, like public presentations. No matter how big the audience, or how important the topic you’re presenting, people will begin to imagine the worst possible outcome and consider it more probable than the best outcome they can think of at that moment. 

This builds missed opportunities for people, as they don’t allow themselves to experience the mistakes and embarrassment for themselves, instead of in their head. In the absence of communication, people will spend most of their time in their own minds, becoming comfortable with how they think of the world around them, mashing fantasy and reality. 

That’s why it’s best to allow yourself to do some things normally, without an overly complicated plan. Instead, just a simple one that can be improvised along the way. Something that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. Because a person who thinks a lot is a smart person, but they’re also a very cautious person, usually cautious about the wrong things. 

I myself doubt a lot, also for the wrong reasons as well, though you probably didn’t know that because you already have your own image of me, but here I am, shaping your image of what you think about me, and I won’t know how I’ll get viewed for it. 

Almost makes me doubt whether to mention or write about this, but I don’t care as much. Choosing what to care about and how to move on past that can allow you to doubt less. Building confidence in yourself is one way to help as doubt can also be connected to self-esteem issues. Conformity in what you do normally can allow you to be at your best, perform at your best. 

Moral? Don’t care about every little thing so much, but that’s up to interpretation, and I wonder how this’ll be interpreted, but I don’t have to worry since it’s not in my control., best I can do is hope I actually wrote something good enough to deserve a good interpretation.

Word Count: 581

11 - Charlene H: Selling Myself Short

Word of the Week: Doubt            

Feelings of self-doubt are normal, occurring when a person experiences a level of uncertainty about an aspect of who they are.

Usually, people learn to overcome self-doubt, and sometimes, short-term self-doubt is a good thing. Self-doubt can cause people to reflect on, question, and challenge themselves in order to improve. It can even be a source of motivation.

However, self-doubt can also be a vicious parasite, slowly eating away at someone and making it nearly impossible for the person to explore inner peace. 

I’m going to share something most people don’t know about me. From fifth grade to the end of middle school, I was plagued with self-doubt that consumed parts of my life. Sixth grade was one of the best school years of my life, I’m not going to deny that, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t constantly doubting myself.

Failure was one of the main reasons for my excessive self-doubt. Every time I made a mistake, no matter how minor it was, I was always embarrassed and I overanalyzed, and this happened daily. I sometimes spent hours after school thinking about mistakes I made and how I could’ve prevented them. It fueled those feelings of doubt that liked to shoot me down. I couldn’t see good qualities in myself; I was entangled in the idea that I was stupid and annoying.

But when I was in seventh grade, I discovered a quote: “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” Though this isn’t something I abide by, it was still eye-opening for me. Now, the quote obviously does not apply to major life events such as a financial setback or moving into a new place. It’s more specific to trivial things. Even with overthinking habits, I surprisingly had never once considered that most of what I had worried about became insignificant as I went from one worry to another. The moment I read the quote, I tried to remember the trivial mistake I was worrying about a year prior, but I couldn’t.

Currently, self-doubt doesn’t rule my life the way it did years ago, but I am still affected by it. My mind often becomes fixated on events where I feel I am not confident in my abilities, which gives me freeze responses and makes it hard for me to concentrate.

I am still learning that too much doubt can hold me back from my performance. The only antibiotic to the infections of self-doubt is self-belief, and it takes courage to keep going up against self-doubt and not succumbing to it.

Word Count: 434

10: Blu McCormick- My Room

My bedroom, my comfort place, my creative output, the place of my individuality. It wasn’t the most common for me to enjoy talking about my house. Growing up, and even still now, I never let people in on where I lived. Long story short, I had this irrational fear of people coming to my house and doing something inexplicable. I don’t know how this fear has come to be, however, I still love to share about place within my home's walls, especially my bedroom.

If I were to invite any of you to see my room, coming in would be quite the experience. For starters, my room is always freezing, and it’s not because the heating doesn’t work here. I keep a fan on blast 24/7 in there. Staying in colder temperatures has always been comfortable to me, so I’ve never seen it as odd, but now as I type this out, it’s a bit silly. The smell of my room is also notable too. That sentence may sound odd and even gross, but I ensure you that it’s a good thing. Wall plug-ins are a must in my room, and the smell of the spray I use each day has just come to stay. I’d describe this scent as fruit in general, since my wall plugins may be cherry or tropical, while my spray is berry. And finally, your eyes will be directed immediately to my back wall, which is covered entirely with ivy to created a fake plant wall. It’s super dark and rich in color, and it fits my theme perfectly! Now, that’s enough for the IMMEDIATE experience of my room…

Going along with the theme of wall decor, I have nature-themed posters scattered across the walls of this room. Butterfly prints, a larger tapestry categorizing insects, flower posts, and a huge array of small random things plastered up on these not-so-bare walls. While my room continues to get filled with more decorations, I still have to buy more and more. Just recently, my mom bought me this colorful terracotta frog that looks like it’s climbing a wall, so I HAVE to have that up too! I’m able to stick a lot of things on these walls still, and my ceiling is still pretty bare. I do have some hanging plants and other things hanging, but a lot of it is still bare!

Moving away from my smaller decor, my furniture can be what you’d expect. IKEA basics, including my white bed with built-in drawers and a trundle, my old white 8 drawer dresser, and a (you guessed it) white shag rug,  as well as some pieces from World Market, including my daybed and bedside table. My bed and daybed are decorated with fruit themed covers, my bed covered in a peach decorated comforter, and my daybed topped with a yellow pineapple futon (isn’t my decor so consistent?). I really like these pieces, they’re what I’m familiar with and perfectly fit the theme of my room. Fruity smell, nature-esque decor, what a perfect fit! 

Some final small detail to add would be the lighting and sound of my room, yes I know this blog is getting quite long, but my room! LED lights, fairy lights, and small decorative lights are sporadically placed all around my places. And I always have some sort of music playing, whether it’s on my silly little speaker, my TV, or from my room next door.

So there you have it, a tour of my room without confronting my out of pocket fear of inviting people over. I hope you can get a small sense of  where I live in, and can see my character in how I’ve designed it. I love my room, and I hope you smudge at least enjoyed it yourself!

Word Count: 632

10 - Grace B. Windshield Wipers, My Worst Enemy

This past weekend I discovered a new arch nemesis of mine. You would think it’d be a person or something harmful to me, but no, it's not. It's an essential object that wipes away the tears of the sky while driving, meant to enhance your vision of the roads ahead. You guessed it, windshield wipers. 

I was having a great day at work, making sandwiches, salads, and pouring huge amounts of soup in bread bowls. Time flew by and it was time to take my lunch break. I decided to make a 6 inch turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, and provolone cheese, and of course I toasted it in the oven. I grabbed a soda and a bag of chips and trotted to the car. I saw a friend and we talked for a minute, and with a funny grin on my face I sat in the driver's seat to prepare to eat the delicious masterpiece I had just concocted. Unfortunately it was extremely hot in the car, so I turned on the car then the AC and relaxed for a minute to enjoy the moment of silence. Then disaster struck.

Now something I forgot to mention is that I have my license, but unfortunately no car insurance. And the car I was sitting in? Yeah, that was my sisters. Technically I hadn’t driven since my license test back in October of 2021, it was now March 2022 and obviously my memory of the objects in the car were a bit foggy, so no judging. 

I’m not sure what exactly caused this tragedy, but suddenly the windshield wipers just turned on. Without a hesitation I clicked up and it stopped for a few seconds and *swoosh* the wipers went. And I tricked clicking again and again there was pause then *swoosh.* At this point my patience was not tested, but the annoyance began. Again and again I went clicking and *swoosh, swoosh, swoosh,* the wipers went. Now I was mad. The aroma of my delicious sandwich was already filling the car, my stomach growling, and the embarrassment I had of the people walking by seeing my struggle was just getting to me. At this point I was just clicking up and down, and the windshield wipers were just continuing to *swoosh.* I suddenly pulled it back and the windshield cleaner came out spraying the car. Then the wipers went spreading it around. I suddenly came to the conclusion that this was never going to be fixed. I was devastated then I did one more click and bam it stopped. No more swooshing. I was relieved.

In conclusion, you can stop the windshield wipers by putting the thing in its original position, that's what I googled anyway. I still have no clue where the original position is, so when tragedy strikes again, history will definitely repeat itself.

478

10 - Lilly T.: We Can Do It

Think of times when you or a character that you’ve seen or read about could have done something to help someone else who was in need. Were you able to help them? Was that character able to help them? Being brave doesn’t have to be something as extreme as risking your life in order to help another person or thing.

Standing up for what you believe is a simple, but also hard, form of bravery. Some people are not mentally prepared for opposing opinions, while others are scared to see how others will react to their statement. Being brave is an internal battle of conflicting emotions with yourself. However, it can also affect other people.

Extreme examples of bravery would be risking your life for another person or animal. Some may say they can easily risk their life for another person, but it’s not as simple as that. They might be able to say that, but can they really do it? Saying you can do something requires very little effort, but actually getting around to doing it, especially if it is something important, requires different amounts of responsibility and bravery depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

Bravery is not a trait that everyone has, but it is an important trait to have if you want to accomplish or protect something important to you. If you tell yourself you are going to do something, then go through with it. In times of crisis, bravery is definitely an important trait to have.

Word Count: 252

 

10 - Tyler B: Borderlands Greatest Villain

 

Anyone who has played Borderlands 2 knows exactly who I’m talking about, here’s some background info. Borderlands is a first-person looter shooter video game that is set on a chaotic planet called Pandora, Handsome Jack is the insane CEO of a company that technically owns the planet, but he wasn’t always like that. He had a wife and a daughter, who turned out to be a Siren (1 of 6 women gifted with superpowers in the whole universe) who turns out to be very valuable, as a man tries to kidnap her. During the chaos she uses her powers to activate 2 turrets to kill the kidnapper, but accidentally killing her mother, which sends Jack off the deep end, as he makes a personalized prison to keep his daughter in so she doesn’t hurt anyone else, but also uses her powers with technology to help execute his grand plan, to kill all the bandits on Pandora. Which seems like a somewhat reasonable goal, all the bandits on Pandora are crazy people abandoned and left for dead, there’s only one problem with that, he sees every living soul on Pandora as a bandit, meaning he wants to kill a entire planets worth of people, now do see the crazy part?

Getting into the main games, he hires the help of 5 vault hunter to help him find a vault (alien tech gates that lead to ultimate power) and throughout the events of the Pre-Sequel, Jack shows his first signs of insanity. Instance one, after the mayor of a mining town on Pandoras moon tries to attack Jack even after he said he would let the mayor go, Jack proceeds to kill the mayor, following this with the statement “woah, that felt kinda good”. Instance two, after being assisted by 2 legendary vault hunter and a group of scientists, after thinking that all the scientists are trying to betray him, he proceeds to toss them all out a airlock in space, again following this action with the statement “Damn, this feels good”. After many other events that don’t matter to Jacks story, he is betrayed and left for dead inside a vault, where he then escapes and kills the CEO of Hyperion, changing his name to Handsome Jack, names himself the new CEO, and starts his plan to destroy all life on Pandora.

Moving into Borderlands 2 I will summarize some of the events of the start of the game. Jacks daughter, Angel, has been told to help 6 vault hunter that he tried to kill earlier, until he tells her to betray them. After the events of Angels betrayal she then helps the vault hunter, for real this time, find a vault key that opens a vault that will summon a monster for Jack to use to destroy Pandora, as it is revealed that Angel is a siren that is guarding the key, we reach Jacks breaking point. Angel asks the vault hunters to kill her, as she has been trapped in a cage for 15 years of her life, Jack does not like this, because though his actions and the way he treats her says differently, Jack truly did care for his daughter and love her, and in his mind he was just protecting her from the dangers of life on Pandora. After the death of his daughter, we see a change in his mannerisms, before he would talk to the vault hunters and make jokes about them and just say random stuff, now, anytime he talks to them, he is deadpan and serious, they took the only thing that mattered in his life away from him and he wants to make them pay. Later on he gives a speech to the entirety of the planet, slandering the hunters for brutally murdering his daughter and how him, the real hero of the story, will end them, as he puts it, “because that’s what heroes do”. We now reach the end of the game, where the vault hunters defeat Jack, kill the guardian ( the monster Jack was trying to control), and then get a monologue from Jack about how he’s the hero, they’re the villains and that this isn’t how his story ends. Jack then is killed, ending his reign of terror over Pandora, toppling Hyperions massive corporate empire, and ending the story of one of video games greatest villains.

What makes Jack the great video game villain? To me it’s because he truly believes he is the hero, bringing peace to a lawless world, we see his noble goal turn into brutal bloodlust and rage as more in his life is taken away from him. Throughout the 2 games he is in we see the signs and cues of his psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies grow and grow until it’s too late to save him. He was the hero, but by the end of his life, he was most definitely the villain of his own story.

Word Count: 824