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

6. Kaiyue L. The Struggle To Be a Nice Person

One of the best life advice I've been given are gifted by my therapist, "Be nice at your own risk". 

As much as kindness is being praised as a thoughtful, caring, and generous behavior, some people still think it’s a sign of weakness. There seems to be a perception that a kind person is soft and emotionally frail, while an individual who is rude and blunt, more often than not is someone who is considered tough, socially intriguing, and even admirable.

At first this advice was incredibly hard for me to take in. As a people-pleaser, I've always thought that people would like me better and see me as more valuable if I gave as much as I could.  Instead, I realized that people actually appreciated it less. In fact, because of my inability to say no to people, they only came to me when they needed something, as if I was a tool.

I like listening and taking care of people, but I'm tired of people emotionally dumping on me. Actually, "tired" is a euphemism. It's hard to set limits. It's harder especially when you're a highly empathetic person, have a depressive disorder yourself, and already let people emotionally dump on you before. And it's even harder when those people are family. So I'm really lost on how to set limits since the dynamics with each person is different and all of this affects every aspect of me and my life, including creativity, memory, attention span, sleep... everything.

Don't let people do this to you.

The nicer I was towards my peers, the more I found myself holding unrealistic expectations for others. I would go above and beyond for any of my friends, and took it personally when they were not willing to do the same for me.  What I did not understand was that they were taking care of their own needs, and that it was my responsibility to do the same for myself.

My point is NOT to be unkind toward other people, but to be nice with limits. When the little voices inside of your head are telling you that helping this person might put your own mental health at risk, don't do it. Having boundaries is NOT egotistical nor cruel, repeat after me. 

Word count: 378

6- Khiem D. : The Regenerative Man And The Undying Flame: Analysis Of Agni From Fire Punch

 The Regenerative Man And The Undying Flame: Analysis Of Agni From Fire Punch 

Yes I Used An Image Of Him On a Mug

    Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto is a manga focused on the story of Agni, a boy who is “gifted” with the power of regeneration. The following are technically spoilers but mostly for the first chapter so not that big of a deal. In the world of Fire Punch, the world is engulfed in an ice age after an unspecified event gives everyone powers. We pick up as Agni and his sister willingly sacrifice pieces of their bodies to feed a village of the elderly and long story short, some organization finds out their cannibals, and one of the generals with the power of a fire that will not go out torches everyone. No one survives but Agni and his sister, except his sister only has a strong enough regeneration to tell Agni one word, “live”. And so for eight years, Agni writhed on the ground of the village, flesh in a violent circle of regenerating and burning. Only one word Burned(Pun Intended) into his mind. Live.

To avoid spoiling the incredible story I will be vaguely describing events that develop him as a character. As mentioned before he burned for eight years before the start of his journey so he has the mental maturity of a 15-year-old in a 23-year-old man’s body which also happens to be in constant agony. Throughout the first half of the journey he mostly is focused on revenge and mostly only focuses on since there is nothing left in the world, that is until he meets Togata. Through Togata the plot develops along and now he has a new role to play, literally, as in he is forced to be an actor. Through Togata he builds his first real friendship in the story and the bond goes well. Fast forward a couple more story arcs and now we get to why you get to look at that hilarious mug above. Basically long story short he basically has now adopted an amnesiac person that resembles his sister and is basically making her into his memory of the sister he lost. Along with this, he is living in a house with a bunch of people who he killed the entire family of, which they are unaware of. As you might imagine, this does that lie well in anybody’s conscience to the point where a brutal depiction of depression is splayed out with the common signs like loss of appetite and the less normal action of fatally wounding oneself with the knowledge that you cannot die. The mere mediocrity of my writing cannot encapsulate the feeling the manga feels in this arc to which I must urge you to read it yourself.

He goes through a major change after this but covering it without spoilers is literally impossible but I will vaguely describe it so you have something to think about if you finish the manga. Well basically the end touches on the nihilistic end of everything and even has a space tree that has our main character inside. Now for that part done I’ll wrap this up. I’d be lying if this wasn’t a blatant advertisement to read Fire Punch and I really think it is a manga worth reading, though I can’t promise it is one that you will feel great after reading it. But where it strikes is the quality of Fujimoto’s writing as he produced such a work of art that despite being a heart-wrenching tale still pulled me back in. If interested, look for it on Mangarock.to. 

Word Count: 589