This school year was definitely way more stressful than last year, especially in english. For next year I really want to improve my essay writing skills. They got a bit better this year but my writing still is not the best. I also want to improve my procrastination. A lot of projects and essays I did this year I left till like the last minute which is not good. That is probably one of the reasons why this year was more stressful than last year. Also I hope to join clubs next year because I have not been in any my freshman year or sophomore year and it seems like a lot fun. Something I really want to improve is soccer. I hope I can improve over the summer. After the injury I suffered I have been trying to gain back my confidence in my ankle and just overall my skills. It’s a bit difficult because I was out for a month and a half but I’m getting there.

What I am very proud of this year is being able to get through geometry pre-ap. I knew going into that class it was going to be difficult and it was but I pushed through. I may have failed a few tests but I did get a few high A’s on some tests which I was really proud of. I feel like I improved in science. I absolutely hate science but this year was so much fun and easy. I kept a 95 and above all year which is something I am very proud of. I understood all the lessons we learned and overall just a very fun class. I made new friends this year and got closer to some friends too. This year was honestly better than last year and way more fun, but I can’t wait to finally be a junior.

For this blog post i’m going to be talking about my Quinceañera day, August 11th, 2018. I was fortunate enough to be entered in a quinceañera giveaway and won over $10,000 for my quinceañera. The day started at 6 in the morning I had to get my hair done. At the time my hair was super long so I had to wake up early to do my hair because it took about 3 hours to get done. My aunt did my hair which was convenient because she came over to my house and did it. After my hair was done a makeup artist came to my house and did my makeup. I asked him to do like pink tones with a gloss on my lips because I didn’t want anything to extravagant. When both my hair and makeup were done I had some free time before I had to put my big dress on. My quince court which consisted of 3 girls and 4 boys had to be at my house by 11:00 am because the mass was at 12 pm. Before my quince court got to my house I put my dress on and was stuck in my room till my parents told me I could come out. Eventually I was able to go outside of my house and wait for my limo. I saw my whole quince court in their dresses and suits and they all looked so good! The limo got to my house at around 11:15 and took us to church or so we thought. The limo driver ended up taking us to the wrong location and we were like 5 minutes late to church but it was all good :). Then we went to Downtown Bryan to take pictures with my court and it was really fun. Afterwards we went to the venue, it looked so beautiful with all the decorations my mom and I picked out. Then the time came to perform our waltz and surprise dance. Everyone was very nervous, my partner and I kept messing up in one part of the surprise dance but we eventually got it down. Everything went smoothly and then it was time to just dance on the dance floor with all my friends and family. It was such an amazing, incredible night that I will never forget. Im always telling my mom how I wanna go back to that day. Many memories were made that unforgettable day. ❤

If I was a teacher I would have reasonable rules for cell phone usage in class. My first rule would be that when there is a presenter or the lesson is important, no one should be on their phones. The phones are either facing down on the desk or out of sight. This is a nice and not very strict rule and most teachers at Consol have this policy. If a student were to break this rule in my class I would take the phone up and keep it at my desk for the rest of class, simple as that. Also when it is a test day or quiz day phones are to be in a backpack not on the student.

Another policy I would have is that the students are allowed to listen to music while note taking or doing classwork/homework with the exception that the must must be facing down. Many high schoolers listen to music in the halls and in the classroom. It would not bother me as a teacher if a student was listening to music as long as the music is not too loud and the student is not being disruptive. If I do see that this policy is affecting grades in way then obviously there would be change and the privilege to listen to music in class will not be allowed. I feel like these policies are fair and reasonable to the students and the teacher. As long as students respect the rules there should be no problem with phones throughout the school year.

I went to my place at Veterans Park on Saturday March 30th at around 11:45 am. It looked like the first time I ever went to my place, it was cloudy and cold. The trees were a very dark green still and all of them still had their leaves on them. This time I did not hear any birds chirping or see any butterflies unfortunately. Also the little tiny flowers that were there last time where not here this time. It was sad not seeing the flowers because they were really pretty and cute. The sky was filled with grey clouds, I could not see a patch of blue sky not even a speck. It was very windy as well the wind was blowing my hair everywhere. It was not very cold but towards the end when I was about to leave it started to get a little chilly. It started sprinkling as well, I kind of started to panic because I thought I was going to get soaked. There were some birds playing in the trees it did scare me at first though because I did not know what was making all of the rustling noise in the trees. “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs. This quote explains how my opinion about nature has changed. I used to think nature was boring and would never help me with my thoughts. But now this project has made me realize that nature is very stress relieving and can help you like Burroughs said soothe and heal and compose yourself. Not only that but nature is also just overall amazing, you just have to really pay attention to it. This project has opened my eyes about how great and peaceful nature is and one of my favorite projects that I have done in high school yet, pretty sure this will not be the last time I visit my place. :)))

My place has changed a lot since the last time I went. First off today is 3/16/19 and my place looks way more greener than last time. The trees that did not have any leaves last visit and were just leafless now have green leaves on them, they look really pretty. I also noticed that there is 2 trees whose leaves never fall off they kinda look like pine trees but I do not think they are that. There was also little flowers some were white others were yellow, they were small but they were there. Another thing that I noticed was that there was a butterfly it was a Monarch butterfly it was so pretty. The butterfly was orange with its black detailing. The butterfly’s wings were so pretty too. I did not expect to see a butterfly because I rarely see any here but I am glad I did it brought a smile to my face. This time it actually felt like spring was here, it was not too cold or too hot and the weather was just right. The birds were still there and it was like 12:30ish. I think the most peaceful thing about today’s visit was seeing the butterfly and hearing the birds chirps. The sun was out and the sky had some clouds but it was just a overall beautiful day. “I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of the trees, and for the blue dream of the sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” -e. e. cummings. This quote explains my thoughts this time I went to Veterans Park. I am just recovering from the flu and it was my first time out of the house since I got it and I was just thinking what an amazing and perfect day to be outside. Once again going to my place relieved my stress from all of the homework I had over spring break. 😉

For my nature journal I decided to go to the woods at Veterans Park in the morning. I found this nice quiet place by walking on the trail they have for runners. I just took a little bit of a detour and walked into the woods for a bit more peace and quiet from all of the cars and people running and walking close by . My place was in the woods of Veterans park and it was very green and a bit muddy because of all the rain this past week. I noticed that some trees were starting to get green leaves again, there were also trees without any leaves and very green trees. It kinda looked like spring was coming but not really because it was really cold and gloomy.I could hear birds chirping all around me, it was about 9:45 am. It was cloudy and the grass on the ground was wet because of the rain the day before. There was a big patch of mud beside me where i was sitting as-well. The 30 minutes that I spent at my special place was very stress relieving for me. I got to enjoy nature and really pay attention to it. The 30 minutes really helped me see how simple and beautiful nature is. “Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars… and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are simply happy for no reason; they are not going to be become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers – for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.” – Osho. This quote explained perfectly what I was thinking while I was sitting there enjoying the peace and quiet. Everything looked happy no matter the weather or circumstances. Even if nature has no emotions you can tell everything in it is happy and thriving if you get creative with your imagination. 🙂

One thing that really grinds my gears is people smacking gum. Nothing irritates me more than someone smacking their gum very loudly. People who smack their chewing gum are the worst offenders. And for those of us who hate it, it can be crippling. I guess you could say I have Misophonia which literally means the “hatred of sound” it is when negative thoughts, emotions are triggered by specific sounds. I absolutely hate the sound gum makes when it’s being smacked it sounds disgusting and not very pleasing to my ears. I hate that I hate smacking because smackers are everywhere in movie theaters, restaurants, on airplanes and at school. I can’t escape smackers, and I can hear them a mile away. Unfortunately for me i sit in front of one of my peers who smacks their gum right behind me. It is actually the worst 50 minutes of life ever. Another thing that grinds my gears is when people talk way too much for way too long. I have a soccer coach who loves to spend 15-30 minutes explaining a drill and just repeats the same thing over and over again. For example we will be in the middle of a soccer drill and he will stop everything and just start talking and will not stop talking until he feels like it. Half of our soccer practices my team and I are just standing listening to our coach talk, it gets so boring that we start yawning. I sometimes just start dozing off and don’t pay attention at all. My pet peeves are really hard to avoid this year mainly because I have to face them every single day.

My nickname that mostly everyone I know calls me is Jess short for Jessica. This nickname came from soccer last year my freshman year. Basically last year there were 2 Jessica’s on the high school soccer team and it would get really confusing when people would say our names on the field and when we would get subbed out we wouldn’t know which Jessica they were calling off. One day we got really tired of always not knowing who was calling which Jessica, so my teammates decided that I would be Jess and the other Jessica would just be Jessica. Ever since then the coaches and my teammates have called me Jess. My other nickname is “flaca” which stands for skinny. My dad and my uncle have called me this since I was 11. They call me this because they think that I’m skinny and its really just random. This nickname is private only my family calls me this. I personally would not like my friends calling me this because i would feel weird walking around school and then i just hear someone call me “flaca”.

I would die for equality and racism. I would take a bullet, I will do anything for either of these things. The main reason I would die for this is because there is so much inequality in this society. I have personally experienced these things because I am Mexican and have gone through situations where I am treated unfairly or differently. I have been treated like that when I am speaking a different language other than English or simply because I do not look white enough. I have also seen both of these situations right in front of me happen at school or when I am at stores. I believe that every single person on this earth deserves to be treated the same regardless their race, where they came from, color, religion, sexual orientation, education level or mental and physical status. I have seen too many videos on social media of racism and inequality and it frustrates me that there is still so many people in society who can not get their brain wrapped around the idea of treating everyone equally. No one should ever feel less than someone else because of where they come from, how they look like, what they believe in, etc. These 2 things are something I strongly believe in and will continue to believe in.

The first semester of my sophomore year was not as hard as my freshman year. I am not going to say it wasn’t hard because it was, especially geometry and english. This semester these two subjects were painful for me. I do feel like I dropped the ball a few times mostly in these subjects. Next semester I hope not to procrastinate as much as I did this semester. I feel like I should study much more for geometry because I did fail a couple of tests this year. It is obviously not acceptable but going from regular algebra I to geometry pre-ap is a pretty big jump. As for english I need to step up my essay writing skills, and keep up with books that we need to read. I hope to accomplish these tasks I have set up for myself by the end of the year, no excuses.

The positive things about this semester were good in my opinion. First off I made it through try outs and both fitness tests for soccer. I think that shows how strong my mind can be in pushing myself which is so awesome for me. Also my chemistry grade has been amazing all semester, and that says a lot because I suck at science. I have gotten closer with more friends which is something that makes me happy. Another thing is I stayed away from all the friend drama or any kind of drama that happens around school. Many positive things happened this semester which I am happy with and I hope I can bring the positive grades, attitude, and work ethic that I have this semester to the spring semester.