Julie 4 - Field Hockey

Field Hockey has been apart of my life since fourth grade. I love the sport and I always look forward to it on boring days. I play all year long, both indoor and outdoor, for both the Nazareth Area High School Team as well as Marajoka, a local indoor and outdoor club.

Over the weekend, we had our first indoor field hockey tournament. After practicing for about three months and then being placed on a team, I was restless for my first tournament. I was put on Marajoka Purple one of the three U19 teams we have. I didn't know most of the girls on the team, but I soon learned who they were and how they played.

I would like to say that we won the tournament, but the opposite is to be said. We lost three of our games and tied one. Though, this is a valuable learning experience for the entire team. We were able to learn how to play with each other, so that, hopefully, our next tournament goes better.

As a goalie, I have to be able to recognize the weak and strong points of each player. This is hard to do during practice, but once in a game like situation it is easier to point out.  This tournament allowed me to do just this, and now I know who is stronger in offense, in defense, or who can do both amazingly.  This is super important to know because in indoor field hockey there are usually five players on the field over outdoor where you have 11 players on the field.

Even with this tough start to the indoor session, I am hoping that after some more experience my team will be able to qualify for NIT's(National Indoor Tournament).

Grace and I on game day(when? no clue)

Liz 4: My thoughts on the SAT

So this past Saturday I took my first SAT, and honestly I was completely underwhelmed. Everyone talks about the SAT being this super hard, important test, but as I took it, I realized it was practically the same as every other standardized test out there. It got me thinking, if all these tests are practically the same, why are some held in higher regard than others?

I’ve taken my fair share of standardized tests: IOWAs at Holy Family (which are practically the same as the PSSAs), Keystones, PSATs, SATs, and probably more that I can’t think of at the moment. While these tests differ slightly, they really seem to have the same setup and goals. Also, most of these tests are required to graduate and get into a good college. Why can’t we just take one that sums up everything? Or maybe not just take them at all. Honestly they seem pointless to me. They test the most narrow section of information/skills that we learn in high school. I think that entrance exams (which are often also required) done at colleges are the best way to test a student’s knowledge. Let’s be real though; standardized tests are just a convenient, however inaccurate, way of ranking schools and judging their abilities.

Sydney Week #4 Chameleon

So as many of you know I got a chameleon, whom I named Dio, this past Saturday. It has been a very fun yet very difficult challenge to figure out the best way to take care of him. One of the main struggles that I’ve been dealing with is figuring out the feeding schedule. Since I don’t get home from school until the middle of the day, my parents will tend to feed him instead. This may not seem like a problem at first, but my parents tend to spoil their pets. Instead of feeding him the usual 2-3 crickets, they like to feed him 4-5, so Dio has become quite chubby quite quickly.

Another struggle has been figuring out how to keep the cage humid. Since chameleons are tropical reptiles, they require a humidity of at least 70%. This means that we had to install a dripper which constantly drips water into the cage in order to keep the humidity up. We quickly realized that this wasn’t going to work since the cage became flooded from the extra water. Luckily we were able to figure out a way to catch the water, so that Dio would not have to live in a swamp.

Overall, I am very glad that I was able to get a chameleon. Even though it has been a lot of work to figure out how to properly care for him, I am still grateful for the fun yet challenging experience.  (Sorry for the red light in the pictures. That’s the light from the heat lamp in his cage)

MeiLi Van Hise 4- The Mandela Effect

A few weekends ago, my friend Morgan and I hosted a friendsgiving. We spent the ENTIRE day cooking food, setting up the dining room, and most of all stressing out over every single little detail. It was a blast. In the final moments just before people arrived as we were putting the chicken nuggets in the oven (because we’re teenagers and naturally chicken nuggets trump a turkey) and many dishes were keeping warm on the stove, she looked up at me and with a burst of every asked me if I thought it was a good idea to play Left, Right, Center when everyone arrived.

I said of course because who doesn't love that game? She went into the other room and came back with the tiny box so we wouldn't forget about it later on in the night (which we did… oops…). She then turned to me and said,

    “Did you know that it's actually called Left, Center, Right?”

I asked her if maybe it was just a knock off brand because that couldn’t possibly be right, my whole life it's been Left, Right, Center. She then explained to me how her mom said the same thing, until they googled it and found out that ALL of the games were titled “Left, Center, Right” in that order. 

And that’s where the real fun began… She whipped out her laptop and searched “Mandela Effect Examples” in the google search bar and clicked this link:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g28438966/mandela-effect-examples/

As it turns out, there are many many things that are widely known as one thing but in actuality they are called/mean/have different qualities and names. This conspiracy originated, and got it's name, when Nelson Mandela died in 2013. Mandela was a civil rights activist in South Africa who was arrested in the 1980s and sent to prison. However, many people all over the world recall him dying in prison when in reality he lived for over 30 more years. The premise of the concept, as described by the New York Times is “a recent refinement of false memory that typically refers to pop culture or current event references.” I highly encourage you to check out the link and even do a little research on your own. It’s absolutely fascinating to me.

   

Adria Week 4- The Cruel Minds of Middle School Girls

Middle school-- when all everyone cares about is popularity, and absolutely nothing can stand in the way of achieving it. This was such an immense period of transition for most kids, but in this case specifically girls. They are trying to cement their friend groups, and if that means cutting someone out then so be it. 

My sister is 12 years old and in 7th grade; she is sweet, kind, friendly, caring, beautiful, and absolutely 100% hilarious. She is my best friend, and probably the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for. When my parents told me at 4 years old that I was going to have a sister, little did I know how much she would change my life in all the right ways. However, we are complete and polar opposites of one another-- she is outgoing whereas I am shy, she is unapologetically herself, whereas I have a harder time being myself around anyone but my friends and family. So when she told me that she feels like she can’t be herself around her “closest” friends, I knew something had to be wrong. I watched her do it, too. If her friends would come over, she would act too different. As I observed, I would tell her, and all she could admit to me was that she liked the way she was around them and that they were good influences anyway. I of course disagreed, but I also wanted to support my little sister. About a month ago, her three absolute closest friends started spreading rumors about her-- horrible, vicious rumors that were simply false. I remember her coming home and sobbing, telling me that they cut her off and told her she was a disgusting person. The first thing I wanted to do was text them; one of them even I was close to. My heart still breaks for my little sister, because middle school is just about the most vulnerable time to lose friends. But, she was eventually okay because of one of her friends who stuck by her, took her side, and believed her. Middle school girls, from mine and my sister’s experience, can be simply cruel. In fact, as I am learning in AP Psychology right now, it is the beginning of the adolescent years which is the state at which everyone is trying to find themselves. Last night, that friend who has been there for her for years and she called her best friend, told my sister that it was “no wonder they said those things about you, you are a horrible person and deserve nothing.” I got home late and my parents told me what happened. I just wanted to hug her, but she was locked in her room hysterically sobbing. That friend had been the one to sleep on the bathroom floor with her because she was throwing up that entire night before. She was the same friend who stood by her side when everyone was turning against her and spreading disgusting rumors. Now, ordinarily, such a topic would not be on my mind-- if anything, the minds of high schoolers would be. But ever since this happened to my little sister last night, I felt that it had to be observed in this blog post. Why must they be so mean? Why must they exclude people and cut them off as if they had never spoken before? Why must they say such things to my best friend and expect me not to call them out on it? Why must I be expected to keep my mouth shut and not say a word to them? Why must a human being say these things to another human being? Why must these things happen, and why must they victimize my little sister?

Stephan Nigohosian 4: The Christmas Miracle

Planning things with a group of indecisive people never goes well, as I have learned over Thanksgiving break. Our friend’s birthday was over the break, and we had the brilliant idea to decorate her car. We decided that we were going to do a Christmas theme for her car, as she is obsessed with Christmas. We struggled to make a basic plan of what we were going to do in the weeks leading up to it;  we could not figure out when we were going to go shopping and decorate her car. What was even worse was everyone’s schedules were already filled those two weeks.

Everything was going well until the weather had to ruin everything. Of course, we had to schedule everything on the only two days it snowed. We had to go buy everything and decorate her car all in the same day. We finally ended up going to Target and Five Below, buying gift cards, cotton as fake snow, a blow-up camel, wrapping paper, and fake lights. We quickly got everything and went over to her house to decorate. At this point, we just couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. Our original plan was to decorate late at night when she wouldn’t see us, but we were forced to do it at two.

It was probably better this way as we would get to see her excitement when she saw her car. Our goal was to make it look like Christmas threw up in her car. We wrapped her seats in wrapping paper, strung lights around the roof of the car, and filled her car with cotton, candy canes, and ornaments. We even connected an outdoor inflatable Christmas camel to her outdoor outlet and put it in her trunk.

Even though our plans fell through, we couldn’t have hoped for a better result. She was very surprised when she realized we hadn’t just done a bunch of balloons and some streamers; we did a whole Christmas shebang. Seeing her reaction was probably the greatest part. She was just so happy and her reaction was priceless.

Mackenna 4: Experimenting with Napping

For the past few months, I've been feeling very tired and lazy, so I've been playing around with a few strategies. I've found that taking a fifteen to thirty-minute nap every day has boosted by work ethic by a ton. It's made me a lot more aware of myself and my surroundings as well as what I need to get done each day. Not to mention I'm finding that I have an increased tendency to actually want to work and I've been so much more efficient every day. 

I was so surprised by this that I had to do some research. I happened to come across this article from the National Sleep Foundation that uses a statistic from a research study done by NASA. Using military pilots and astronauts, they found that a forty-minute nap is extremely beneficial. The study shows that performance increased by 34% and alertness skyrocketed to 100%. 

I found the information really fascinating and I plan on doing a lot more napping in the future. I think that even if you happen to have a busy day it's worth it to take some time out of your day to refresh your mind so that you can work your hardest that day. Especially with our school day starting so early in the morning, it's crucial that we all get enough sleep. In fact, most people don't know that we actually need between seven and nine hours of sleep to fully function every day. Most teenagers in this day and age aren't getting that kind of sleep, which causes us to fall behind in most aspects of our lives. Therefore, I think it's really important that we try to get a decent amount of sleep every night to help prevent conflict in our lives. 

Owen 4: Maturity & Driving

Maturity can range from being able to hold a simple conversation about a serious topic all the way to making responsible decisions when driving. As I am growing up and getting older I find myself paying more attention to the life of myself and my peers and becoming aware of those who are mature and those who are not. I find myself getting in debates about the maturity of my own friends with my parents constantly. 

In my opinion, I find the maturity level of kids my age to be quite low especially when it comes to driving. As many of you know, this time of year there are lots of new drivers out on the road including myself. Now you may be wondering why I’m singling out driving only but it will make sense. The other day I was driving home from lifting practice at our school and I was at a traffic light. I was heading straight but the car in front of me was turning left, now I knew the first car on the other side of the street was also turning left so I naturally anticipated for that car to make the left turn although they are supposed to yield to traffic. Well low and behold the car behind the one turning jumps out in front of me in a big hurry to go where they are going. 

While on the inside I was fuming, and a bit on the outside I held my composure and I was able to avoid an accident. I think maturity had a role to play in my own decisions and if the adult in the situation were more mature we wouldn’t have had the problem. However, maturity at my age not only allowed me to prevent an accident but I was able to learn from it and anticipate something like that happening again. 

Kadison 4 - Love

Recently, a friend and I got into a conversation about the concept of love. We were talking about high schoolers saying “I love you” or “We’re in love”. She was saying that you can’t be in love with someone after only a month or two of dating, and is often frustrated with couples breaking up and saying “I never loved her/him” afterward. Teenagers don’t have the ability to distinguish the difference between infatuation and actual love. Chances are, they do not truly know each other well enough to say “I love you”.

On one hand, I agree. I think there is a lot involved with the concept of love that teenagers don’t understand. For instance, trust is a key part of love, and many teenagers are not mature enough to fully trust someone else, which can lead to going through the other person’s phone, creating rumors, getting jealous, etc. I mean, how can you possibly know if you “love” someone after only knowing and dating them for a month or two? Teenagers can be involved and still have meaningful relationships with each other, but chances are that this “love” is simply infatuation or adoration. 

On the other hand, I also think that the concept and true definition of love is always changing, depending on one’s growth, experience, and mindset. When a teenager says “I love you” there is a chance they genuinely mean it; there and then, in that moment, they are truly in love with their significant other and who that person is. As kids grow into teens, and teens grow into adults, their perception of what love is changes. A teenager’s definition of love is going to be different than an adult’s more “mature” version of love. Actually, I read a study somewhere (I would link it, but I don’t remember where I saw it) that said couples that stayed faithfully married to each other defined love as a choice and commitment, instead of a feeling. The article said that love isn’t just a feeling (like lust, adoration, or infatuation); it's a conscious choice that couples make every day. 

Of course, the entire topic of love is very controversial. All I have mentioned so far is strictly about romantic love. There are several different types of love, including platonic or familial love. The Greeks had seven different words for all the different types of love. I say “I love you” to my friends all the time, but this does not mean I would want to date them or spend the entirety of my life with them. I use this phrase to show I care about them and that I want them to be happy. I use it to convey my feelings of appreciation, intimateness, and affection, because that is what “love” means to me (at least in a platonic way). I find these different versions and opinions on love both fascinating and interesting to talk about.

Reinert Week 4 - The Corn Epidemic

The Corn Epidemic

I just finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan for this class. The book exposed the long convoluted food chains that have taken over in our industrial agricultural society. The book covers the author’s experience with farmers and hunter/gatherers. It opened my eyes to the flaws in our food chains.

I found the most interesting part of the book to be the exposure of corn. Corn has dozens of uses, shown in the graphic above, that can be unlocked with heavy processing. However, this variability has its drawbacks. One acre of industrially grown corn can require 50 gallons of fossil fuels. 50 gallons of oil is far too much for corn. This seems especially ineffective when you take into account that we mix fossil fuels with corn products. We first mixed ethanol with fuel in the world wars to stretch the oil supply. It seems smart to make ethanol, 50 gallons of oil for 328 gallons of ethanol. This doesn’t account for oil still making up the majority of fuel, the wear ethanol puts on engines, the amount of energy it takes to process corn, and the negative effects of petroleum fertilizers on the environment. As a country we grow ridiculous amounts of corn that we don’t use. We only eat a small portion of corn. Most is turned into bio-fuels or used for animal feed. Our excess corn is force fed to animals that aren’t meant to eat corn. Cows, for example, have a highly developed digestive system that is perfect for digesting grass. Corn destroys them. They produce lesser quality meat at a fast pace, while causing environmental damage. Cows are blamed as being dirty methane emitters, but when fed a proper pastoral diet of grass, they help reduce the carbon footprint. What I’m trying to say is that the next time you go to a fast food joint or the grocery store, remember the impact of corn.

For further reading on the problems with agriculture and corn, I recommend this article.

Joe 4: Self-Teaching Myself How To Be a Teleporting Ant Jedi Wizard

One of my more public hobbies is making short action/sci-fi videos. Every time I get a free moment or two, I’ll come knocking on my sister’s bedroom door and watch her face grimace with annoyance as I loudly explain I need her to help me record some video footage. To her credit, it isn’t glamorous work. It usually demands her standing in the middle of the street, holding my phone, as I flail around interacting with things that exist only in my head. However, she is quite good at it and is almost always the one holding the camera in all of my films. (Don’t tell her I said this, but there is absolutely no way I would be able to do any of this stuff without her help, albeit begrudging.) 

Despite the truly riveting task of sword-fighting nonexistent monsters, I consider it all a formality. Once I tell my sister she’s free to go, I get to start the portion of the process that I enjoy the most; editing. I’m not entirely sure what sitting down in front of a computer for upwards of 12 hours at a time does for my physical health, but for my mental wellbeing it’s a life saver. 

Reaching a point where I can easily sit down and give myself superpowers was not a fast process. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a high school class dedicated to “Advanced 3D Compositing” or, in English, “How to Make Really Cool Stuff That Doesn’t Exist.” That’s where the self-teaching came in. Countless hours of video tutorials and forum surfing took me to every corner of the internet in my search for knowledge. It was like a mystical quest, except instead of dragons and goblins hindering my path, there were viruses and pyramid schemes. And yet, in spite of the unconventional tactics and seedy websites, I learned as much as I would have in any classroom. 

I discovered like-minded artists and filmmakers to inspire me. I happened upon amazing communities, with each member bringing their own style and passion for the very thing that enthralls me on a daily basis. In a sense, it was a more enriching experience than any other learning I had ever done. 

To this day, I still am learning new tips, tricks, and techniques that I can incorporate into my own work. This industry is constantly changing, presenting new challenges to overcome all the time. And it is truly one of my favorite things about it all. 

(My sister throwing a basketball at my head for video purposes)

Ryan 4: Indoor Soccer

This winter i'm playing soccer with the Nazareth boys varsity soccer team at an indoor complex called the Lou Ramos Center. The Lou Ramos Center is thirty minutes from my house in Allentown. We have games every Sunday through the winter against eight other teams in our league. It's a nice complex with two turf fields inside, a lot smaller than a normal soccer field. It's less competitive than the actual high school season, but it's still a lot of fun.

This year i'm excited because our team is really good. We had a game this past Sunday and won. We dominated the other team throughout the game, the score was five to three. Our team has older kids that we picked so that we would be good. Were in the varsity league so the teams we play will put up a fight, but i'm still hoping we win it.

Our team is very laid back, last game we were laughing throughout it. It is competitive, but we have fun. Our coach is one of our players' dad so there is a chill vibe. Its fun playing with friends on my team, especially when we are winning.

Overall, I enjoy the different soccer setting in the winter. I'm excited to play next Sunday and hopefully win the league, but to also have a good time with my friends. I've always liked indoor soccer when the Pocono Dome was still open because of the fast paced play and and high scoring games. So i'm happy to play again this winter with Nazareth.

Connor 4: Dunkin Part 2

It’s really hard to find things that are interesting to blog about when all you do in your spare time is sit around and sleep, so I decided to do a part two of sorts to my Dunkin blog. It’s either about work again, or a blog about how every time I go inside my house I go straight to my bed and go to sleep until I absolutely am required to be awake. 

First things first, I wanna give an update on Judy, or “the deer lady.” Apparently, she is posting on Facebook so she is ok, just not taking the donuts at the end of the night. I saw the concern about her in the comments and she is ok. Still reminds me of the witch from Hansel and Grettle, but ok. Hopefully, the deer obesity problem in Nazareth will go back down. I know many people who have gotten into accidents and had their cars totaled because of these giant deer we have around here. 

The next thing I want to bring up is something you may not have ever heard me mentioned, but I hate people. I’m not sure if that’s ever come up, but it’s true. On my job interview, my boss asked me one reason why he shouldn’t hire me and I flat out laughed in his face and said, “Because I hate people!” He then laughed and gave me the job anyway. His mistake, not mine. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and most of the customers are lovely people, but there are a few that keep me raging for hours on end. 

I am usually asleep the second I get home from work, but this one customer came in today and I am still steaming with rage from her. It is 10:58. She comes through every day and always orders a medium vanilla latte with one Splenda and skim milk. She never says this, but there can be no foam on her latte or she will lose her mind. Today we were training a new person and he made her drink perfectly, and I closed the window before she had a chance to complain and she beeped at me. I tried to take the heat so the poor new kid wouldn’t get harassed on day two, but one of these days I’m gonna lose it on her. It happens every day. 

We never actually learn anyone's name at Dunkin. We call that lady Vanilla Latte. Every time she shows up I turn off my headset and say, “It’s Vanilla Latte, I am not dealing with this …” All of our regulars have drinks instead of names. Toasted Almond comes by and we all get excited. There is nothing particularly fun about him it’s not like he tips or is extremely nice, we just know his drink and get excited. Leafy Fields also comes in a lot. He gets an XL tea with a bag of harmony leafy and a bag of chamomile fields with the strings ripped off.  No one has names at Dunkin. (Hi Hazelnut Frozen Coffee with Extra Hazelnut and Whipped Cream) Only one person will understand that. 

Besides dealing with Vanilla Latte and the ulsers that follow, I do actually have fun working at my job. It gets really busy at times, but it is not something I really mind doing. My blogs may make it seem kinda rough, but as some of you may know, I need to complain at least 30 times a day to sustain my body temperature. It really is fun though, but probably not fun enough for a third blog. This week, my goal is to actually do something so I have something interesting to blog about. 

Emma 4: Looking for a new job

I’ve been working at Emily’s Ice Cream for about 6 months. It’s usually relatively easy to work there, and the tips are really good in the summer. The hourly pay is also really good. It’s not far from my house, so getting there takes less than 5 minutes. The best benefit of working there is that I can bring home ice cream whenever I want it, and I can always get ice cream for free. Working there so far has been convenient and fun.
     However, there are some problems in the store that bother me. The biggest issue for all of the workers right now is that we have not been paid. Our boss constantly pushes back our pay days, never paying us on time. She is so far behind that we have not been paid for the end of October. Sometimes she doesn’t pay us the right amount, either. We all have to keep track of our hours to make sure she pays us the correct amount.
    It’s really frustrating to not be paid for so long, especially because it’s Christmas time. Not only do I need to pay my car insurance, but I need to be able to buy my family presents. Christmas is really expensive, and I was looking forward to being able to buy my family nice presents this year instead of giving them DIY things like I’ve been doing since I was little. I’m not sure if I will even be able to buy any presents this year because of not being paid.
   A lot of my coworkers have texted my boss about the situation, but she does not respond to our concerns. I’ve been looking for new jobs because of how it’s looking to continue working at Emily’s. I think if I get hired at a new place, I’m going to continue working at Emily’s, but also work at a more reliable place.

Alanna, 4; Driving !!

 After months of waiting, I am finally eligible to get my license this weekend. I am so excited to have the freedom and ability to go out when I want and need but of course that comes along with the responsibility of having your license and car. All that has been on my mind the past few weeks was this driver's test and all my plans after I would (hopefully) pass. I finished the 60 hours of driving with my parents, and the 6 hours with an instructor but there was one thing keeping me, the online course I needed to complete.

This course is about 30 hours long, give or take, and normally about a month to finish. I was halfway through with the course when it asked me to complete a voice authentication test. It would not let me continue the course until I did so, so naturally, I did. After doing it twice, it did not work. After a few times of trying, I decided it was pointless and to give up. I asked my driving instructor what to do but he was no help. But as of today, Sunday, December 8th, he decides to tell me he will not give me my license till I complete this course. I explained the situation but he was not about to budge. So when I got home, I logged onto the website to contact the course’s customer service about the issue. When I did, they asked for my name, date of birth, address, and social security number so they could verify the account was mine without the voice authentication. I gave them all the information and they responded with, just wait, they responded with:

I’m sorry, this course has two voices for the authentication test on this account, therefore must stay locked. Please re-register some other time.

Say what. My dad signed me up for this course in July and it was 100 dollars. I am shaking even thinking about asking him to sign me up again and pay AGAIN. To say the least, all my hopes and dreams of ever getting my license this week were crushed this past weekend. I was so happy and excited but now I have to wait another month, most likely, along with being ripped off 100 more dollars.