Being A Freshman

Well…that was fast. A fast, smooth 3 months for me. Maybe even for you! From the first day, I had enjoyed all my days in high school. But it’s not done yet, there is still eight more months until 10th grade! Still, I can savor it until then.

In our first day, it got into kind of a rough start for most us freshmen. Having more people from different middle schools, and then enrolling to this school. Simply put, that awkward setting in our classes had diminished over the next three weeks. I got to know my classmates, make friends, get their kiks and chatting in and out of school. However, my schedule got changed within the third week of school. They replace my second period Individual Sports to Philharmonic Orchestra and from my and having HOPE for third period. At least I knew some people in HOPE.

Going to September, nothing really happened for me. I still was being the same old me that had been just stayed with my group. Until about the fifth week of school. I had an eye into someone in World History. But, I just brushed it off and started searching again. In fifth week, I started my Tournament Training for tennis because that’s my main sport. I also have heart for soccer. Manchester United, Newcastle United, Deutscher Fußball-Bund, and my home team, the Orlando City Lions!!! We went to one of their games against Charlotte Eagles and we won 4 – 2!!! With my love for soccer, I tried out for my high school soccer team, Dr Phillips.
For the tryouts, which were in October, I did two days of the tryouts out of the four. I wasn’t prepared for Monday and Wednesday, I had an amazing first concert. From 5 to about 8 pm. When the teams were posted, I was one number away from being drafted. For the most part, I tried. Anyways, I can play better tennis and I have three more years. In the seventh week, I asked out a girl out for a date. Her nickname is Dede. But, I can’t do that because she already had a boyfriend. Even so, we were friends with benefits. Me with other friends set up a “birthday” for because her birthday was way back in the first week of school and we want to celebrate it again. We all gave her gifts, but me and another friend gave her something special and got us a little bit closer. Now, the first nine weeks have pass and the second nine weeks have started. It just flew past like that. And within next year, school will be over. You got to enjoy it while it lasts.

High School Struggles

High School Struggles

They say that the transition from middle school to high school is the toughest transitions. It’s so true!!! At my first day in high school, I didn’t really think about that. It seemed pretty easy at the first week. The second week was pretty okay, but the third week actually caught me! There was sophisticated biology chemicals, complicated math formulas, complex orchestra notes, and the reading class turned from “all right” to just complete “I don’t like my teacher. Why can’t we replace her?”. But at least my HOPE(PE) and Intro to IT are fine to me. Unlike my world history class, my teacher, Mr. Shytle, is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had! It’s like he knows us! He knows how our school is kind of ghetto and he can make teaching funny. Like, “When the the Roman Empire fell, everyone was dumb, all the cities became ratched and dirty. It was ruled by the Germanic Tribes in which they who pee on each other to intimidate people. Nasty, I know.” Yeah, I wish that all my teachers could be like that.

School lunches: the other struggle. “Is this real meat?” “These apples are expired!” “The cheese doesn’t even taste real.” It is a real thing. The cafeteria near the portables is where I usually eat and that place is bad. I mean the pizza I eat there either taste nasty or have no taste at all. The chicken sandwiches are kind of hard and the meatball subs are not even good. I don’t even know why I ate one last week. Probably needed food in my belly. Even the lunch ladies there are so mean! When you enter the number too early and the lady says nothing, they’ll get pissed off so easily! It’s like “Why didn’t you say anything? Like, for real! However, the outside cafeteria is a whole different story! Pizza has better taste and is fresh out the box. Chicken sandwich, fresh off the grill. Finally, the fruits actually has an esthesis on the flavor! Also the lunch ladies are nice polite unlike the other ones.

Ultimately, the other other struggle that will get to you if when you don’t think about it. The large campus and the small time that they give you when you’re walking to class. 8 minutes. That’s all they give you. To walk a college-sized campus? Like UCF or Ohio State big? No…it can’t work. Even when you run. There’s too many people on the sidewalks and there are lots of cars near the car pick-up/drop off area. Also, this is Florida. Even though it’s fall, it’s hot! The sun will never get cool, even when the clouds cover it! Thankfully, not all my classes are far apart. From 2nd period to 3rd period, it’s just a left turn. Now, I starting to get more used to the schedule and getting to know shortcuts to far away classes.

Happy Birthday, Shannen!

Dear Shannen

As a rookie blogger and one of your longtime friends, I wanted to make this blog for your birthday! I don’t remember the first time that we met because I was a still a baby. But I do remember when I was somewhere around 5 years old, when I was playing with my Hot Wheels and when I would get a lot of M&M’s from your dispenser. Then when we moved from Port St. Lucie to Orlando, we got condos that were just a walk away from each other! Whenever both of my parents would go to work, they would send me to your place. You and Sheena would make me comfortable at your place. Just like when you and I were younger back in Port St. Lucie. But, when I moved to an apartment, we started to see each other less and less. When I moved here to Crestlake drive, I didn’t really see you at all. Unless it was something like a party. Any party. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, New Years, etc. Whatever. We would celebrate what we’re doing with our friends. Even in camping or road trips, we will be with everyone we know. Me, my dad, my mom, Sam Sam, Rasheed, Chelsea, Kailey, and even more. But I just wanna let you know, whatever my parents expected, you exceeded in taking care of me. I’m happy to know you and your family.

From, Karl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNEN!!!
\(^.^)/ \(^.^)/

Musical Art

In recent years, music has gone bigger and better with artists making each of their songs better than their last. From alternative rock to EDM to rap and into many other genres. Among these, dubstep and pop appeals to me the best. Dubstep artists like Deadmau5, Nero, Skrillex, and Arion from YouTube are people I listen to when I do something like workouts or anything with sports. Pop artists however, like Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, and Pitbull, are what I listen to when I have some leisure time. Sometimes, I listen to to Trey Songz, Lil John, and Young Money, for when I’m in school and walking to class. But dubstep and pop are my favorites.

This beautiful innovative genre, dubstep, was created by some guy from South London, England. No one knows exactly who or when, but it was the 90s and in 2011 Skrillex made the Amercanised version of dubstep: brostep. When I discovered Skrillex from Pandora, I instantly fell in love with it and I was searching more of this “dubstep” on YouTube. What I listened to was “Kill Everybody” from Skrillex. The title didn’t look pretty, but the song was absolutely lovely! The style and the bass made me stick to it permanently. During that time, it was 2012 and it looked liked it was mainly mainstream in pop culture. Two years later, I’ve expanded my dubstep loving to the different to specific types like trap, post-dubstep, and future garage.

In Orlando, there’s a popular radio show called XL 106.7. It was the most listened to station in Orlando because of how well they’ve expanded. From North Carolina to Spain to South Korea and even countries like Uganda and Gibraltar! Anyways, I listen to it day and night, literally. When I’m sleeping, it’s playing in the background. Even when I wake up, 106.7 is my alarm! No joke. XL is mainly a pop station. Playing Pitbull, Coldplay, Pink, and the new Taylor Swift. The year I discovered this was 2009. The first song I remember they were playing was “Rude Boy” from Rihanna. I liked it than the songs I’ve been listening to. The beat and the lyrics to the song was getting to me. Five years later, it’s one that has grown on me. Now I listen to Avicii, Katy Parry, Phillip Phillips and a ton more!

Boone Mountain Cabin: Fall 2012

Boone Mountain Cabin: Fall 2012

I’ve went to many different places during my time. L.A. in 2011, Philippines in 2004 and 2005, Banff in 2012 and many more. But my first trip to N.C. in late fall of 2013 made me more ecstatic than any other trips before and after. The trip to Boone, North Carolina. \(^.^)/

Sometime in October, our Fall Break has started from my “ghetto” school. When the break started, all I could think was about Boone, because all I heard from my parents were either Boone or NC. In the early morning, we put our stuff in out bag and left at about 4 am. One day is all it takes to go to North Carolina from Orlando, Florida. We head past through Georgia, South Carolina, then North Carolina! Just 14 hrs to get to Boone. But as soon as we got there, there was heavy fog covering most of the town. It was like some thousand feet above sea level, so yeah, it freaked us out. It’s not common in Florida to have such heavy fog. Somewhere in my 5th year of high school, there was a little heavy fog, but you can still see a car from about a mile away. Boone was a different story. It was so heavy, you see the back of another persons’ car. We had spend about an hour just to find the building for the keys to the cabin we’re supposed to stay in. As we got the keys, we drove up a dirt pathway and made it to our cabin and on the site was my aunt Cathy and uncle Ray. Along with their son and daughter, Raynard and Caylee. We unlocked the doors and saw a magnificent sight. Clean wooden floors, beautiful decorations, and lots of space. All of use brought our stuff in and picked rooms. Mine was actually the “man cave” even though not much sports related items were there. All there was is a pool table and a TV. That’s it. But in after all of a days trip, I didn’t care if I slept in the couch. I just went into a deep sleep when I lay down. Until, my ate Sheena, Shannen, Caylee, and Chelsea woke me up as they arrived somewhere at 11pm. They turned on the lights in the room and my eyes just opened wide open. They greeted me and I welcomed them, showed the available rooms and went back to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up early at 7. Other friends of ours arrived somewhere at 5am. I wondered if we were gonna go somewhere, so I asked my family. They said that we won’t go anywhere and that we’ll go tomorrow with everyone else. Later, I saw the ones who arrived at 5am wake up. At that time, my friend Sam, woke up too. It was somewhere in the afternoon. We had chats about random stuff and went outside in the nice cool weather. Perfect 60*F and such a beautiful environment! We saw some old styled bikes and took it out for a spin. Sam’s bike was not as good as mine. It had bad brakes and had an wore down grip. When it was near nighttime, we gathered wood for a bonfire. We only roasted hotdogs from what I can remember… It was 2 years ago, so yeah. After that, though, I went back to the man cave to watch TV and play billiards with friends. I barely have experience from billiards because my family doesn’t have a pool table. Usually, I’d chip the balls out the table and just get the ball, put it back and try again. It was a nice delightful game. I was getting tired and I wanted to watch TV. All I can remember was Spongebob and a football game. I think it was Notre Dame vs Penn State…I don’t know. But it was getting late and everyone was gonna go to sleep to so I turned off the TV, let my friends go to bed, and I made myself go to sleep. Zzzzz…..

For the next few days, we went to the Linville Caverns, where we saw limestone stalactites and stalagmites which were formed for over thousands of years. We hiked to the Linville Falls, where me and Shannen were chasing Caylee, in which I almost lost my iPod. We visited Grandfather Mountain, but we only went to the Mile High Bridge because it was getting late. We went to a corn maze near Boone, which had 3 different corn mazes. When we would get hungry, we’d eat at this Chinese buffet. What was in your Chinese buffet, was in ours, too… so yeah. Not much differences. We left early because we were gonna see the Biltmore Estates in Ashville, North Carolina. What we saw was the antique and rare items of the Biltmore, like fine china pottery, Arabic rugs, British furniture and much more! As we finish with the tour of the Biltmore, we took a walk in the gardens and then headed home. When I reached home and went to bed, I had trouble sleeping because of that amazing trip. It was the first time that I stayed with my friends and family together and in a far-away state. And that’s why the trip to Boone is my most memorable.

Tennis is my Sport

In high school, if you play any kind of sport, there’s a chance that your school has a team for that sport. From cross country running to football to bowling to many, many more. But there’s a sport that I’ve been doing for about 3 years now. Tennis…to some they’ll think of getting the ball over net or to some who watched the US Open or Wimbledon, loud and annoying grunts. Well, players do grunts for a reason. It’s to let all the air out of their lungs. But, tennis, like any other sport, is a form of art. The way you play the point, the way you serve, and the way execute the finishing move. It’s all about technique.
For about 3 years now, tennis has been a part of my life…AND I LOVE IT!!!
I play in the Lake Cane Tennis Center, right next to my house. And during those years, I’ve been moving up the ranks. From Green Dot to Junior Acers to Junior Development and now I’m at Tournament Training. I’ve worked for this for 2 years. In my first year, I only did the Sun & Fun Camp since I just started. At that time, I just did tennis “for fun”. But in my 2nd year, my coach, which is now my private coach, talked to me about doing some private lessons. When we started, it was just 1 hour long. As I got better, he fixed most of my rookie mistakes and did drills to improve them. Now it extended to 1 hr and 30 min. to about 2 hrs. It was then I moved up the ranks from Junior Dev. To Tournament Training. Now, it’s my 3rd week of that class and I think I’m actually in the top court. But, in order to stay there, I need to improve and learn my mistakes and fix it.
Overall, it’s been a fun journey, but a long one ahead too. As a DP Panther, I’m gonna tryout for JV or Junior Varsity. It’ll be one heck of an achievement if I make it.

“When you do something best in life, you don’t really want to give that up

and for me it’s tennis.”    – Rodger Federer

Last Day of Summer

If you didn’t know, yesterday (Sept. 22, 2014) was the last day of summer. 6 weeks ago, I started high school in Dr. Phillips. But summer wasn’t over yet at that time. We went to certain places like Epcot or Florida Mall during the school week. But there was one trip that stood out to me the best than any other trip. Daytona Beach.

Just to say, this was just a random thing that came to my mom’s mind. A thought that came out of my mom’s head, like a moment of “Cuz why not?”. After going to Pho 88 near Downtown Orlando, my mom was thinking to go to Daytona Beach because…she WANTED TO!!! We said okay, then we went home to prepare for Daytona. It was a 1 hour trip and I had a nice little nap. We arrived and saw a very small but fun looking amusement park. But UH-OH…we didn’t bring paper money.( D: ) But we just told the money collector that we’ll bring him some money later.

As we walked under the bridge, we saw the beautiful beach. With people smashing against the waves, ladies hanging around, and men playing football. When we were walking along the waterside, I couldn’t resist the perfect temperature of the water. So, I took off my shirt and headed towards the water. No trunks, but yes shorts.

Just by walking on into the ocean, the pure salty aqua had cooled me down from the bright sun. The tide were strong, so strong that it pushed me to the right and my mom had to call to me and show that I was very far from where we originally started . But my Lola or grandma, in Filipino, was in the fun too! Not anywhere in that time had slowed me down. Especially, when me and Lola were getting hit by the big waves. My grandma is really short, like 8 yr old short. And yeah, she did get pushed a lot. We spent like 2 hrs long in the water. Eventually, we got out of the water to change clothes and got to walking again.

At 8 PM, we got to the boardwalk and saw what was there. For the most part, it was a restuarant and a place to fish. We hanged out in the pier because my dad has a hobby to take pictures there. And there’s no harm in doing what you love, right? In the water, the surfers waiting for the perfect wave, then those waves. The one that appealed to me the most was this young 20 yr old man who was rocking those waves!!! The other was an early 30 yr old man that only rode one wave, but appealed to me because he looked like he surfed for years!!! After my dad was done taking photos of surfers and this dude wearing a Barcelona jersey that had | MESSI 10 | cause I told him to, we ate at Joe’s Crab Shack. It took a long time to get our food but it was worth it. Then, we went home.

When we arrived back home, I was really happy that we took this trip. It helped me unwind from the pressure of high school.

Now, I’m actually thinking of Summer Time Sadness…

FIFA 14 Review (Xbox One)

Review of FIFA 14 (XBOX ONE)

The FIFA games are making huge improvements each year and FIFA 14 is no exception. Especially when I played it in the Microsoft store at the Mall of Millienia. The gameplay is really sharp and not much glitches when I played it. The team I played as , which is Barcelona, was playing against Real Madrid. When kickoff started, I was trying to learn the Xbox One controls because I’m a Playstation gamer. During the 20 min or 20 sec, Real Madrid ran through my defense and scored a really easy goal. It didn’t turn me down though, I was still playing unlike some soccer game in which a team conceives a goal they stop playing. I tried and tried but the RM goalie Iker Casillas had blocked every shot, even my Messi shots! Eventually though, the ref blew the whistle and Real Madrid won. 1 – 0, at least I or my team conceded more goals. That gameplay ended so fast! Like 90 Minute Heroes or whatever that game is called.

What I really liked was the player AI. They didn’t suddenly have a mind of their own for a second. Like in the mobile FIFA 14. Also, the commentary made me feel like I was watching the real “La Liga” game. For example, fighting between the ball in the midfield or especially when I was trying to get shots on the goal. The goalies actually have better AI than in the other installments. In FIFA 13, sometimes, I have to control him to protect the goal. Not in FIFA 14. The celebrations are also nice in the matches. They don’t really repeat the same celebrations unlike in the mobile version.

What I don’t like though is the controls. They confuse me a lot. I haven’t played a FIFA game in the consoles in a while, but it really seems weird. I think they probably do the same thing for the PS3 and PS4. Running is different, passing is different, kicking is different, and trick shots are different. What I’m used to is holding X to run or using the triangle button to simply pass the ball on my PS3 controller. But this is Xbox One, the 6^th generation. Not the 5^th.

My feelings about this game is….PLAY IT!!!! It’s really fun and remarkable, especially when you play online with other people. More better than those hardcore Call of Duty or screamers. It’s a great way to meet people who just like to play the game or meet people who’ve actually play “The Beautiful Game” aka soccer. My recommendation is to not only to get the game on your console, but get on mobile. It’s not as pretty as on the consoles but still pretty similar. Even if you don’t really play or watch soccer, you should play it. It might be better than NBA 2K14. More better than Call of Duty or Battlefield in my opinion.

RATING: 8.5/10