I sit down, fire up my Chromebook, and open a blank document. It is a Friday, sometime around 10 pm, and I begin writing. Despite putting off the blogs until the last minute, I looked forward to writing them. No limits in terms of a topic, just writing whatever was off the top of my head at that given moment. One day it was about the NYT games I play, or when I had a conversation with my friend about ChatGPT, maybe it was my life story. The limited time I had to finish up my endless thoughts was the perfect end to a tiring school week.
I enjoyed writing the earliest reading memory the most. The assignment was simple, what is your earliest reading memory, only, the question wasn’t so simple. This question however forced me to look back to my oldest memories, perhaps ones that were on the brink of being forgotten. My favorite book as a child, Asterix and Obelix, was almost forgotten, until this assignment. After some digging, I was able to relive the joyous memories I had when I used to read these books as a kid. This then helped me ponder about how we as humans obviously have a limited memory capacity, so we often forget our oldest, and perhaps most memorable memories of our lives. The good ones, the bad ones, are all gone. In a day with so much technology, much of our lives, or memories can be recorded. But in the process of recording, we often forget to live the moments as they come to us. Watching a sunset, waves crashing at a beach, a kid walking for the first time; sure they are good memories to keep a record of, but putting the phone aside and taking it all in is a sure way to have the ability to perfectly relive a moment, until it might be erased however.
As a writer, I think I have reached a new means of expressing my emotions or even just my opinions in a more fluent manner. When I just began writing, it was so daunting, but through the course of this semester, I’ve gained a great number of skills when it comes to writing. Something I’ve been dreading might just become a new passion.
Everything we like, dislike, hate, or love, has a list. I love Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, so I have a list; Fry the coop taking the top spot, Dave’s Hot Chicken follows it, and then Hangry Joe’s. Lists were a common topic among many blogs, one of the most favorite types of blogs to read. There was a blog about NYT games (which I then followed later), and one about the best spots to go for off-campus lunch. These lists helped me gain a little more insight into people’s interests and opinions about a wide array of topics.
So what do I take away from this semester? This semester was a disaster regarding my grades, the effort I put into schoolwork outside of school was dangerously low. Many call it senioritis, and while that is true, I think of it as a mini failure in my life where I lost sight of what matters to me, especially if it was something I might’ve disliked but felt it was important. While most of my collegeapps have been submitted, and a great percent of them don’t require midyear, I weaned off the effort I put into school. After getting rejected from my ED (although it was a huge reach), I immediately realized my mistake. So close to the finish line (high school), and I didn’t give it my best. I let off the push while in first place and lost the race at the line.
Despite some of my shortcomings, I learned a great deal and made great new memories. I’m going to pick up the pace in the following semester, despite it mattering the least. I also want to continue writing these blogs, whether they are published or not, once every other week or even once every week. These blogs gave me unfettered access to my creativity, and are a sure way of me being able to continue utilizing said creativity.