third time's the charm
a preparation of the next nine months of my academic career
so, i’m a junior now.
which is crazy — considering the fact that if you told kei two years ago that they would’ve made it this far — they would simply shake their head and tell you that “no, that’s not true, i thought we were starting our freshman year!”
but alas, time has come and go, and i can now officially say that i’ve completed my first week (or three days) of junior year. although many people claim this year to be the most stressful, i wholeheartedly agree for many reasons:
i’m currently looking for a job at the moment, (because whilst being a freelance graphic designer is super fun, i’ve currently hit art block) but i have spent more time working on my literary arts magazine more than anything else (it’s about a month old and i’m so proud of how far it’s come)
the way how i keep telling myself that i’m going to work towards my drivers permit is kind of insane… i would love to be on the road and driving right now, but my excuse is that i’m always busy and never time to work towards it… which will change. i hope.
my junior year schedule, i will say, is pretty rigorous in itself, i’m currently taking two AP classes, (APUSH and AP lang, send your prayers now) precalculus — which, i don’t find difficult at the moment — but i might eat my words up, because although i’m a year ahead than most of my friends, i still find math pretty difficult. i do have that balanced out with chemistry and spanish (i opted not to take honors for both of those classes because i genuinely would’ve stressed myself out too much).
however, i did manage to find the joy in my junior year, and i do have a couple of things that i’ve managed to enjoy so far:
seeing all of my friends! i haven’t seen a lot of people i knew since the end of the last school year, so it was so fun catching up with so many people whom i haven’t seen in person forever, because i am a homebody and didn’t socialize for most of the summer (if we aren’t taking into consideration the multiple art camps i went to).
our lunch table. tucked into a little corner under our school’s grassy quad, although small, finds home into so many of my beautiful friends. we all end up congregating like sardines into this table, which i will admit (although cramped) feels nice and homey. additionally, we are next to a microwave, which is convenient when i can just slide out of the table and heat up my food whenever i need to.
surprisingly, although stated that i hated previously due to academic rigor, my classes. all of these classes include people that i enjoy being around very much, and for most of these classes, i do share them with the same one or two people, so i think it’s going to be a very fun year.
i got back into dancing! one of the highlights of the week so far was after school on the first day, where i got dragged into a classroom with two of my friends and spent a good fifteen minutes learning kpop choreo (which i will have to pick up on sooner rather than later).
for some reason canva decided to give me 30 days of canva pro for free? which i should be taking advantage of right now… i think my art block has to disappear.
finally getting to reunite with one of my best friends during the school year! she’s a year younger than me, and although she’s so much taller than me (for scale i am 5’1), i treat her so much like my little sister. we only share one class together unfortunately, but it’s still so fun to have my weekly late night calls with her.
speaking of that one class we share together: musical theater! it’s one of the classes i’m taking this year, and so far, it might be my favorite. the roster is extremely goated, all of my favorite people are in that class, and if you know me well, you know that i am a theater kid at heart. i’m super excited.
new music releases! recently, i listened to wishbone by conan gray, and cried like a baby. (woah i didn’t mean to quote vodka cranberry). my favorites are definitely vodka cranberry, eleven eleven, and class clown. i’m super excited for this friday, because so many of my favorite artists are releasing music: karma by stray kids, i barely know her by sombr, and a matter of time by laufey, to name a few.
movies! letterboxd is my holy grail, and although i haven’t managed to watch a lot of movies this past week due to school, some things in cinema i am looking forward to include:
the sing along to kpop demon hunters, a movie that i admit i enjoy way too much
the 60th anniversary re-release of the sound of music, one of my favorite childhood movie musicals
the re-release of the raimi spiderman trilogy, including the release of spider man 2.1
seeing hamilton in theaters FINALLY!
honey, don’t!
after the hunt
now you see me, now you don’t
wicked: for good (and many more, but these are the ones i can list off the top of my head)
i’ve fallen in love with scrapbooking and collage making, most of my school supplies have this kind of design with them for this year, which i love!
adding on to music, i did stream the entirety of willoughby tucker, i'll always love you by ethel cain, because preacher’s daughter was the first ethel cain project i fell in love with (also one of my favorite albums of all time). from the former, my favorite songs are nettles, dust bowl, and waco, texas!
and finally, before i make this too long and start spilling my entire life and it’s secrets, i’m excited to continue friday movie nights! a tradition that started in the middle of my sophomore year (i can’t pinpoint the exact time), this is one of the things i truly look forward to at the end of the week. the basic gist of it resorts in spinning a wheel of movies that me and one of my best friends curated, elimination style, and the last movie that ends up standing is the one that we end up watching! it truly has been a long time, and this is a way for me to slowly branch out into forcing myself into watching different movies, because i am a chronic late night watcher and need someone to have good commentary with during those hours! some notable favorites so far ended up being:
any of the spiderman films (we’re slowly making our way through all of them, i think the next one that might show up if the wheel grants us is the tom holland spider verse!)
conclave (watched at a very fitting time)
everything everywhere all at once (this was one we ended up watching the night of my birthday, yes, it was a wednesday)
although i know my junior year might be rough, i’m so glad i’ve found ways to keep myself decently happy so that i (hopefully) don’t fall into a state of burnout. i hope to have a good year! and to any other juniors out there reading this, we’re gonna do great. i love you <3
