Rec Ball

Many people think the Rec isn't safe.  Often times people consider it a place for gangsters to do drugs.  However, I have never thought of the Rec that way.  Ever since my brothers started their basketball career, I have always been found at the Rec.  Whether it be to cheer on my brothers from the sidelines or do score board at the table.  The Rec has always been my safe place.

In the past, Thursdays were when the Rec was the livest.  If you were a stranger passing by, you would instantly hear whistles blown and voices screaming.  All the benches would be filled, often times I would have to sit on the floor.  On this day, the oldest division, 14u, played.  High school players coached, middle school kids plays, and elementary kids watched.  Thursdays at the Rec were days for the community to come together.

On registration day this year, only four kids signed up to play 14u....  Five kids are needed to play on team.  Therefore, there no longer is Rec Ball on Thursdays.  Instead of Rec Ball three days a week- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, there are only two days.  High school coaches are now college students, stressing out about Finals rather than winning a game.  Middle school kids are playing high school ball now and the elementary kids are too young to play 14u. There isn't as much interest for basketball as there had been before.

It's quite sad to see Rec Ball slowly fall apart... However, I'm hoping that soon, there will be more kids interested in playing basketball at the Rec.  I'm hoping that when I have kids (A LONG TIME FROM NOW), I'll be able to sign them up for Rec Ball.  Instead of being a cheerleader or scorekeeper, I'll be one of those crazy parents.

2017 is almost near....

Everyone I asked had said high school would be amazing.  It would be a place where you meet new friends and really find your true self.  But, I had already met my best friend, Emily Canizalez, in middle school.  Also, I was never one to conform, I already had my own strong beliefs that absolutely no one would be able to change.  When I entered freshman year, we had a meeting in the gym with everyone that was a part of the Class of 2017.  Our class advisor, Ferro, ended the meeting saying "this is going to be the BEST four years of your life."  However, I thought to myself "this is going to be the LONGEST four years of my life."

I became Freshman Class President and people started to look up to me.  I joined ASB and ultimately, I gained a second family.  I never struggled with school work- I had A's and B's.  I wasn't being put into trashcans on "Freshman Fridays" and I never had anyone bully me.  I didn't have a terrible start to my high school experience.  Then came sophomore year.  Ferro said how kids need to stop complaining about high school because it goes by so quickly and it's something you will never get back.  After sophomore year, comes junior year and then you will be an S-word and it will all be over.  I never thought anything of it..  I'm in my second year of high school, graduating just seems so far away.

The other day when my mom came home she said "Alannah, you're planning on leaving me?"  I was confused but then I realized she was talking about college.  I asked "where to?"  She said "Minnesota."  Minnesota is 1,947 miles away, a 30 hour drive or a 6 hour flight.  For so long I've been saying I want to go to school out of state (I still do) but oh my, Minnesota is so far away.....  Minnesota isn't even the farthest college I've gotten a letter from because now i'm getting an abundance of college letters and emails.  I have a pile of mail just growing in the corner of my room and I have no clue what to do with it.

We are a second month into the new year.  We have four more months of school left, four more months until summer.  Before, I was so excited for summer to come.  But now I just want everything to slow down.  I'm realizing junior year is coming and pretty soon I'll need to decide what I want to major in or what college I want to go.  High school is going by so fast, 2017 is right around the corner.  

So, embrace high school and go to basketball games or watch the upcoming school play or try something new.  Whatever you do, take Ferro's advice and stop complaining about high school.  It's going to be over with the blink of an eye.

ASB 13-14

Class Council

*cough*cough*

I am like a car.  If I get oil changes, rotate tires and keep the car running by putting in gas, I am perfectly fine.  But when I start to forget about maintenance and stop putting gas in, I stop performing as well as I had before.

When I start to stress, I tend to stop taking care of myself too.  Eating three meals becomes less of a priority and on many occasions, forgotten.  I stop touching my phone and social media is never checked.  If I have an assignment due, meetings to attend or fundraiser to schedule, I tell myself I MUST get it done.  My main focus becomes school or ASB or Class of 2017.  I put aside nourishing myself and when I actually have time to, I'm either too tired or it's way too late to be eating.  There are times where I'll sleep for two hours then have to wake up ready to function for the new day.  I work myself too hard and when I really need to be healthy, my body is exhausted.

I am one to scold people for skipping breakfast because in my opinion, it seriously is the most important meal of the day.  But lately, I haven't been eating breakfast.  I'll warm up my food during fourth period but I get so busy I forget to eat it.  Then I have to warm up my lunch again and even then I don't finish all off my food.  At night time I get home late or I'm just so concerned about homework that I won't eat dinner,  Sometimes my mom will remind me to eat, but I ignore her and make her put dinner in the fridge.

The past few weeks, I've been sneezing more and my nose has been running.  I have upper respiratory allergies, so it's kind of normal.  I just have to take an additional amount of medicine at night and I SHOULD be good to go.  Last night, I had a dry cough,  This morning my throat hurt extremely.  When I went to school I texted my mother "I feel like I'm dying." She wanted to pull me out of class but I said no.  After school, my auntie took me to the doctors and my pediatrician told me it's my asthma.  Asthma causes me to cough and coughing causes me to have a headache and having a headache makes me want to pass out.

Currently, I am running on a fever of 102.1.  I am on a number of medicines.  I am not eating because I do not have an appetite.  I try to sleep but when I wake up I am reminded of the numerous homework assignments that need to get finished.  I am in tears because I am in SO MUCH pain.  I am honestly a hot mess.

Finals are next week, I can't afford to miss school.  I'm stuck between caring for myself and caring for my grade.

Spoiled Brat

On December 7th, just a few weeks ago, my brother Tristan turned 12.  However, if you were to see him, you wouldn't think he was a 12 year old boy in middle school.  He is short, not even five feet tall, you might mistaken him as a fourth grader.  His language is terrible, I don't understand why he finds it necessary to use profanity in every sentence. Oh and his attitude is awful!  He'll throw a fit if he doesn't get his way.  Tristan definitely does not act like a 12 year old.

For his birthday, he asked for an iPod Touch.  Money was tight because of the holidays, so Mom kept saying she didn't think it would fit in the budget.  He cried for it and asked about it every night.  However, Mom had the same response every night.  No one expected him to receive an expensive gift.

One night, I caught my mom searching for iPod Touch prices. I couldn't believe it.  I didn't think he deserved it and neither did my two other brothers.  She said she was just browsing.  I told her not to do it.  It was basically like having a cellphone and I wasn't allowed to have one until high school,  It would be unfair to us if he got an iPod Touch.

While gift wrapping at Target for my Class of 2017 PBO fundraiser, my Mom stopped by.  She handed me a bag and guess what was in it?? AN IPOD TOUCH! What in the world, she said she wasn't going to get it for him..  I wrapped it up but didn't care if it was pretty looking.  The next morning when he opened up the present, I wanted to puke.  Tristan acts like a two year old, he can barely take care of himself, how can he possibly take care of an electronic?

In my eyes, he's a rebel.  In mom's eyes, he's an angel.

It's Gonna Be Rough

Due to a busy start to the year, I was rarely at home and I was rarely with my family.  School had become my home and ASB had become my family.  On those occasions where I was at home, I didn't spend my time with my mom or brothers.  Instead, I occupied myself with my abundance of homework that was piling up or I slept because I was extremely exhausted.  Although my family wanted my attention, they understood that I was busy.

Just last Thursday, my great grandpa passed away.  He was 94 and his health was becoming worse, so we knew the time was coming soon.  He had been in the nursing home since the beginning of this year and at first, my mom would force us to go every weekend to visit him.  However, my brothers would complain about being there because it was boring.  They made the time spent with him not very peaceful.  My mom then decided to let us have the option of seeing him so that our visits would be more enjoyable and relaxing.  My schedule started to get more full and I didn't have time to visit.  I missed out on a lot of opportunities to spend time with him.  I regret not making more of an effort to see him.  Although we knew his death was coming soon, we weren't prepared for all the tears.

School for me has significantly calmed down, I caught up on grades and now I have the holidays to look forward to.  For some odd reason, I was in the holiday spirits much earlier this year than previous years.  While doing homework, I would put on the Taylor Swift (Holiday) station on Pandora.  I was already telling Jake about all the upcoming events we could go to.  Such as attending December Nights or taking a walk on Christmas Card Lane.  I was so excited to be able to spend time with my family again.  But with the recent event that happened, I really don't know how the holidays will be this year..

73.8 miles, 1 hour and 12 minutes away

A long distance relationships (LDR) is an intimate relationship shared between two people who are far away from each other.  According to "Long Distance Relationship Statistics" on statisticbrain.com, there are 14 million couples who are currently in a long distance relationship.  

If you are honest, trust, and communicate with your significant other, being in a relationship shouldn't be difficult.  Occasionally, there may be a disagreement that leads to an argument, but that should be manageable.  However, even if there is honesty, trust and communication, being in a relationship while being miles apart isn't easy.  I would know because my boyfriend, Jake, and I are one of those 14 million couples.

I thought I would be okay when my boyfriend left for college.  I would busy myself with school and ASB, living my life normally, just without him..  However, there are "things that trigger memories" that cause you to miss your significant other or "randomly cry." (buzzfeed.com)  For me, the topic of college was a trigger, when mentioned, I would instantly become sad.  When we discussed it in AVID, I would put my head down, thinking about him.  It was a constant reminder that he wasn't here when I would see couples walking together, holding hands.  As Jake said goodbye to me on his last day, I attempted to fight back tears, but my emotions won and I sobbed.  When he actually left, I realized that I was not emotionally prepared.

Being in a long distance relationship makes being with each other extremely difficult.  Before, if I was craving Wings N Things or Frozen Yogurt, he would take me out later on that night.  Now that he isn't five minutes away from me, we have to schedule a dinner date for the next time he comes back.  If I told him I was bored and had nothing to do, he would visit me at home.  However, if I ever have free time, I have to hope that he isn't busy so that we can have a FaceTime date.  It's frustrating when a simple activity becomes a hassle.

I live in San Diego while Jake dorms in Irvine.  Although we live in two different cities, Mira Mesa is both of our homes.  One of the best feelings ever is when you finally see your partner back at home, after waiting for what seemed like forever.  I'll admit it, long distance relationships aren't always easy and sometimes you question yourself and your relationship.  Some days are definitely much happier than others, however, there are many days where you want to isolate yourself from the world.  Despite the distance, the love for each other remains the same.  It makes being 73.8 miles or an hour and 12 minutes away, worth it.

The Greatest Homecoming On Earth

At Mira Mesa High School, homecoming is the BIGGEST school event of the year.  Students, staff and families look forward to this four part event every year.  With the help of the community, ASB spends early mornings and late nights at the school to provide the best homecoming yet. 

On October 6th, after an exhausting month of preparing, it was finally time to kick off Homecoming Spirit Week.  Students dress up out of the ordinary and participate during lunch time activities.  Every day during lunch there is a table set up with music for people to collect spirit points, hoping to win an ice cream party.  Monday's dress up was Marauder Mimes, students wore black and white clothing.  The activity was The Ultimate Circus Sideshow, similar to Fear Factor, students put their faces in unknown food and ate disgusting food items.  On Tuesday students were to be the Ringling Bros and have a temporary twin for the day.  The activity was Hungry Hungry Lions which required students to kick as many balls as possible in their given corner.  Wednesday's dress up was Magnificent Marauders, a day where students had a reason to dress up.  The activity was Hold Onto Your Seats, musical chairs with a twist.  Thursday's dress up was You Belong In the Circus Day, students wore polka dots, stripes, etc.  The activity was Clown Car Overload, classes stuffed themselves in a van for an allotted amount of time.  Friday's dress up was Class Colors and the activity was Circus Parade, where class floats were admired.  Although only students participate in spirit week, it is important because it is the first event to hype them up for the game.

With one event done, next up was pep rally.  The gym was decorated to look like the inside of a carnival tent.  At 10;51, when headsets were on, the doors opened.  Students rushed in wearing black, white, yellow and blue and sat with their class.  There were circus acts and activities.  Dance team performed and cheer taught the classes multiple cheers.  The royal court was announced as well as nominees for King and Queen.  Class advisers walked out and gave speeches.  It then ended with drum line and confetti canyons.  You could tell from all of the screaming that pep rally was a success.

As soon as rally ended, ASB had to clean up and move on to the next event, game.  Mira Mesa High was playing against Lincoln High.  Instead of a blue out, the student section was a white out.  The 500 people to enter were given blue and yellow powder or light sticks.  During half time, students opened up their bag of powder and threw it up in the air.  Royal Court drove around in convertibles, King and Queen were announced.  Class floats were displayed and classes performed thirty second dances.  At the end of the fourth quarter, ASB started getting ready for the after show.  Screens were put up and acts were brought out.  Other groups were supposed to perform, but due to time, they were cut only dance team performed.  It was a devastating loss of 7-20, but it was a memorable night t that ended with spectacular fireworks.

The last event was homecoming dance.  At 8 o'clock on Saturday night, students lined up with their dates to check in at the dance, A Gatsby Getaway.  The gym was decorated with murals of metallic and shimmer, balloons were hung to ceilings.  The decoration created a 1920's vibe with carnival accents.  If students didn't want to dance there were carnival games, caricature artists and photo booths.  11 o'clock was the end of a four part event.

Although ASB complained about the endless hours spent on homecoming, nothing is better than seeing everyone with a smile on their face because of a successful event. There were many pros and cons to each event, but each event is a learning experience.  Regardless, it is obvious that it was The Greatest Homecoming On Earth.