Melanie Duronio - week 9

 I’m not super into Valentine’s Day, but every year I buy chocolates and roses for my friends through the secret admirer program at our school. I still like to celebrate my platonic relationships with my friends, and it’s a way to show them that I care!

Melanie Duronio - week 12

I went to the doctor’s this week, just for a normal checkup, but while talking with my mom she had mentioned that since I was 17 I was basically an adult. Not going to lie, it kind of hit me like a brick. I’m so close to being an adult now, I’ll be 18 in a year. It’s strange because I’ve always wanted to go to college and get out and see the world but now that adulthood is approaching so quickly it’s starting to freak me out. I can barely cook! I only know how to make toast, how am I supposed to function as an adult? I mean I know I am still a teenager basically, and very young, but despite my youth, I’m expected to start seriously thinking about my future and such in only less than a year. It’s bittersweet to me. I almost feel as though most of my teenage years have been robbed from me anyway, freshman year I wasn’t able to drive myself anywhere so I didn’t always get to hang out with friends, and then COVID hit sophomore year and I’ve been in my house ever since. When you’re a teenager I feel like you’re supposed to have all these amazing adventures with your friends but I haven’t had many due to COVID. I feel as though my teenage years are slipping away and adulthood is approaching too fast.

Melanie Duronio - week 11

This weekend my family and I celebrated my mom’s birthday with her side of my extended family. It was just a small get-together with my grandparents and aunt’s family, sitting on my grandmother’s porch eating birthday cupcakes and drinking hot chocolate. It’s always really nice to see my family during these times but I know that with the weather getting colder last weekend was probably one of the last times I’m going to see them all in person for awhile. It’s made me realize how much I’ve enjoyed seeing my family as much as I could, and how much I’m going to miss seeing them throughout the winter. 

valerie w week 12

 

1. Since watching the show What on Earth my father and I have been going on Google Earth and finding our own mysterious satellite images that we share with each other and try to figure out. It's actually really interesting.

valerie w week 11

 I enjoy science as well as filmmaking and I have been recently watching this show on Science Channel called What on Earth? It's a series where scientists and analysts look at interesting photos taken by satellites and try to find out what they are through common theories.

Sakthi C- Week 12

 Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I was born and raised in a different town that was not Westford. I would definitely have a different set of friends and maybe even a different personality. Would I love playing the sport of basketball? Would I love watching football? I think that friends can definitely influence your interests and change who you are. I also think that the place one grows up in can really define who they are. People who grow up in different places are probably treated differently which can explain why one acts the way they are.

Week 12- Beatriz Ferreira

 It is hard living each day as if it were your last. I think about that every day. Sometimes we are expected to give 100%, but it is not every day that we have the strength to do so. We have to allow ourselves to be sad and learn that it is ok not to feel ok all the time. 

week 12 erin cragg

 Today I walked around Lowell with one of my friends. I love cities and even though it's a small city, I really like it. It's very different than Westford, but it's much more exciting and it's a nice place to walk around. 

Week 12 - Conor Burrell

 This morning it was cold. That kind of cold that chills to the bone. The kind of cold that keeps one under the covers, hiding from the world. Christmas time is a joy don’t get me wrong, but I am also now ready for spring, summer, 60 and 70 degree mornings. The relief when the weather switches suddenly to that will be amazing and cannot be overstated.

Week 11 - Conor Burrell

 Anxiety, hard to breathe, heavy chest. These things occurred when I got into an accident Friday night. A deer jumped out in-front of me an I swerved. Misjudged how much room I had  and ended up hitting another truck parked close to the side of the road. I was ok thankfully, but my truck needs a decent amount of body work done to it. Very frustrating, but hey, in life, stuff just happens.

Week 9 - Conor Burrell

 Prepping to start the new year, 2021, more school, future is nearer, graduation sooner, lots of change on the horizon and I’m not ok with how fast it’s coming at me. Unfortunately life doesn’t really give a crap about what about what I think for feel, it simply goes, nothing more, nothing less. Ideally everyone wants life to go at their own pace of things. Some people are eager for change, others intimidated by it. It’s a mixture of emotions this year. It’s testing my metal as they say, as life is not going to move at the pace I would want it.

Week 8 - Conor Burrell

 Christmas time has arrived and I’ve got to say. I cannot wait. The beauty of the sparkling snow clashing with the bright Christmas lights, mixed with warm feelings of the music and fire and in the fireplaces. These are things that are unmatched and unbeaten in my opinion. No time of year can compare in any way.

Conor Burrell - Week 7

 I had to drive through a horrible storm making deliveries last night, branches and leaves everywhere. A strong and chaotic wind howled in the midnight air. A dear reminder of how strained and stressed the world has become. The past year has pushed everyone and everything to their limits. It is important to let all these locked in emotions out, just like how our world is through these storms.

Kate Barnes- Week 12

I’ve had an idea of what I want to do with my life since the seventh grade. I want to be an architectural engineer. The pay is good, it’s the easiest engineering degree to get, and I’ll get any job easily because most places need to get a certain amount of female employees each year and there aren’t many women in stem. But lately I’ve been wondering if that’s what I actually want to do. Will I be happy doing math for the rest of my life? I guess I better hope so.

Jane Edison - Week 7

 

I think that having a cool room is one of the most important things currently. With spending so much time indoors, and doing homework, oftentimes in our bedrooms, I think it is imperative that students like me have a space that they really like. Room decorations and vibes, if you will, are things that I am really passionate about. I spent a lot of time making my room into one that I am comfortable with, and one that is enjoyable to spend a prolonged amount of time in.

Jane Edison - Week 12

 

I absolutely detest math. In every way shape and form. Whether it's algebra, trigonometry, or even physics; a combination of both science and math in one set of curriculum. I hate that it’s a predetermined answer, not subjective, or thought-provoking in any way. This is all, of course, in my own opinion, because there is something so blood-boiling about having to remember a formula for a correct answer, not an answer you can write yourself.

Patrick Zheng

There are people who I have not seen in ten months. Friends, teachers, people I used to pass by in the hall..... The thought of seeing everyone again makes me kind of anxious, and the idea of seeing familiar people turn into strangers is uncomfortable - everyone is going to be a completely different person than the one I last remember.  

olivia davies week 12

 I wonder if I make bad decisions. What defines a bad decision? Is it one you regret? Or is it one that doesn’t benefit you? If you don’t regret it in the end, does that make it a good decision? As humans, we make decisions everyday, and these decisions decide our fate. I realized that avoiding “bad” decisions at all costs may not help me in the long run. It seems most logical to prevent myself from doing something “bad”, but with this also comes experience, lessons, and wisdom.

Paige Stephan - Week 12

I have been working on recreating the first short story idea in a more time-efficient and hopefully better-paced manner. It was based on an idea that my dad had given to me a while ago, in which a cat who has never seen humans before comes across them for the first time. It is going to be written from two perspectives. This particular perspective is written through a more horror-oriented lens.

week 11- tess acabbo

 I love spontaneous events. One day me and my friends had nothing to do and we decided to drive into Boston together. It was one of the best days, we were living in the moment and taking any opportunity given to us. It was one of those moments where you didn’t need to take a million pictures to remember it. We went into the city with no expectations, we just wanted to get away for a little while. Sometimes when events are planned there are such high expectations of exactly how the day will go. For this spontaneous event, everyone got along and it was a day I will always remember. 

week 11 olivia davies

 The weekly screen time report is very direct and confrontational. When I’m on my phone for long periods of time, that’s all there is to it. Our own perceptions of time can be warped. That’s why they say “time flies when you’re having fun!” However, being on my phone for long is nowhere near fun. I feel awful afterwards, I feel like I threw away half of my day by looking at a small screen. The screentime report is like getting a progress report in your worst class. It shows you that something has to change. 

Sakthi C- Week 11

 Last year, life was limited for everyone. For a certain period of time no one was allowed to leave their house and hang out with any friends. Over the course of this new year, I hope to break through those limitations and do something I want to do. I want to hang out with my friends. I want to leave my house to go to the mall. It’s been a year since I have gone out for vacation and I am hoping I will be able to go out for one this upcoming February break. 

Kate Barnes- Week 11

If I’m being totally honest I don’t think I’ve read all the way through a book since eighth grade. But a few days ago, a friend recommended a book to me called Kingdom of the Wicked, and ever since I’ve been addicted to it. I read 200 pages in a day, which is a pretty big deal for me. I forgot how good it feels to really love a book that you’re reading.

week 11 erin cragg

 I'm currently listening to country music which is something I never used to do. A few of my close friends listen to it a lot and it was all they played over the summer. I listen to it sometimes now because it reminds me of summer and the good times I had with my friends. 

week 11- Tess Acabbo

 During this past year, life has been very hard for everyone. We are so restricted on what we can and cannot do. I haven’t been able to look forward to something in awhile. A few weeks ago I found out I was going to get a new puppy. I am so excited, especially for my dog to have a new friend. I love being able to look forward to something and to be excited and having something new happening

Jane Edison - Week 11

 My family is on the hunt for dogs at the moment. After losing my 14 year old lab 2 months ago, my dog-oriented family is pining to liven up my house and help to make it feel less empty. Some people say that getting another dog so soon is disrespectful to your late pup, or that you are trying to fill the void with another dog. Quite the contrary is my case actually. My family decidedly cannot function without a dog in our home. Dogs are what make home for us. I don’t think we’d be “replacing” Rocky at all. I think we would be adding a new family member. Their presence is their own and their personality not lacking what the last one provided. Each dog is individual and brings their own personality into their owners and own life.

Patrick Zheng - Week 11

There is a shape carved into the desk of my E Block class. It looks like an “H” rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise with the bar of the H extending to the top right corner of the desk and forming a lightning bolt shape. I wonder about the person who made this carving. What class were they in when they made it? What was the teacher doing? Who are all the other people who have sat at this desk, stared at this carving, and pondered its meaning?

Week 11- Beatriz Ferreira

We should try to be a better person every day. I can't understand the concept of "new year, new me" and how we need to have a list of things we'd like to accomplish. Some people start planning for the new year and forget to focus on what they can do with the days they have left, which are also important.

Paige Stephan - Week 11

Yesterday, I went on a long walk through the forest as it was snowing with my dog. I found it nice to be alone for a while and to get a chance to listen to a very atmospheric album with rather fitting scenery to match its creepy atmosphere. Much of the time I was walking through the woods, I was thinking about basing a possible story setting off of it, which the cold and the album I was listening to as I walked through it only amplified the possible darker aspect of.

valerie wilhelm week 10

 

1. I recently went back to my Killington house to spend some time there before the holidays. Most of the people who own houses there don't live in them full time, and because of covid they're living elsewhere. It's pretty sad to see what once was a happy town full of happy skiers and snowboarders is now somewhat deserted.