“They’re good people and that’s what I like about my friends.”
Teen

“They’re good people and that’s what I like about my friends.”

Oh, my stand partner like, this -- so far for Orchestra this year. I've actually had him as a stand partner in 9th grade, I think, but it was just briefly in the beginning of the year before we had the chair test and we split up. But um, he's actually a pretty nice guy, like despite being brainrotted and having playful fights. I don't know.  There's always like a few friends I have, or acquaintances I have, that, like we're not on bad terms but we have playful fights and it's, it's fun. It's only select people with certain personalities. But you know, I'm just on top of whatever person I'm talking with. I don't know, I seem to act different with every single person. But that's that and so we were hitting each other because um, because playful fighting needs to involve some physical, um, injuri- -- not injuries, physical components where you have to hit -- oh my gosh, that sounds so wrong. Um, so playful fighting includes some smacking each other with bows or rods, and then um, yeah. I think he hit me a bit too hard. And he said sorry, and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, you're actually not a bad person!" But you know, yeah. It's always interesting when I have like a person or one of my friends who usually is not that serious, but they still like, they're still a nice person so they apologize. Well, hm. Okay, scrap that. So it's always interesting how there are people who like usually you would -- wouldn't see them being like, I guess, vulnerable or like some sort of thing like that. Cuz like in that -- in my stand partner's case, he's always so unserious. And then I have another friend. She's always very serious and then -- but when it comes to like actual stuff happening, they know when to apologize and that -- that really amazes me. Like no one tries to interact with these people. They're nice people. I mean, they're strange people. Like, stand partner? Complete Gen Alpha terminology in his brain, and my other friend, she's like super into science. Both of them, not your typical average high schoolers, I think. But like at the end of the day, they're good people and that's what I like about my friends. They're all good people at heart.

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October 9, 2024
“Everybody’s failing to remember what their lines are. It’s complete and total chaos.”
Teen

“Everybody’s failing to remember what their lines are. It’s complete and total chaos.”

So we thought we had until Tuesday or tomorrow to finish this entire presentation, but come Thursday afternoon when I'm on a field trip to Stratford, Canada -- by the way lovely trip -- the Spanish teacher posts an announcement in the Canvas that says, "Record a video of your skit tomorrow during class. I won't be there. We have substitute teachers." So I get on a group chat and I text all my group members, "Hey, we need to finish this script. I'm on a field trip. I'll work on it, but we all need to pitch in." Half of them were not on this field trip, they were at home after school and none of them did anything. I ended up writing the entire rest of the script by myself minus four lines from that one kid. I told him to write his own recruitment to communists speech because there was no way that I was writing that.  And I was just like, "What?" So we go into the presentation and I'm like, "Okay, everybody needs to have their lines memorized. We're presenting." Not only did they not have their lines memorized, they didn't even read the script. So we're filming it with a cheating teleprompter, which I think is totally wrong. And everybody's failing to remember what their lines are. It's complete and total chaos. And then people start reading the stage directions and I had to leave a little bit early to go to a choir thing to sing the national anthem for our spirit week. And we just turned in this horrendous video. So, of course, I'm gonna email the teacher and be like, "What the heck, can we please like have a chance to redo this 'cause my group members didn't read the script. I wrote the entire thing." And I can't afford to let my grade be affected by the fact that nobody else learned their lines 'cause it's a group presentation. So the Spanish teacher's initial response was, "Oh, yeah, tell your group members that they can perform it live on Tuesday." And I'm thinking, "What the heck, I don't want these people going after me." Like, of course, I'd rather have them go after me than me fail this project. But I said nicely in the original email, if she could please notify my group members about whatever decision she makes.…

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October 9, 2024
“When she no longer whistled, we knew we had lost something dear.”
Adult

“When she no longer whistled, we knew we had lost something dear.”

I have to tell you that I come from a family of whistlers. My mother was a prodigious whistler, that she whistled all the time, and I remember when you used to go shopping with her, you know, I was like in my 20s or something. I remember telling somebody I never had to worry about losing my mother because all I had to do was stop and listen for the whistling 'cause my mother whistles all the time. I know -- not loud, just a nice little, whistling a tune. And she whistled while she worked, she whistled while she was happy, she whistled when she was sad. She was just -- it was just she liked to whistle, and I also whistle. I whistle a lot, and I know that since my husband got hearing aids, he's not completely thrilled with the fact that I whistle. So I try to be careful about not whistling around him, but I like to whistle. It's, uh, something that keeps me company, I guess, and I like to have music around me.  And one thing about whistling with my mother. I remember that my sister lives on the other side of the country. She lives in Seattle, and she would come home and visit sometimes. And I remember one time when she came, she said, "What's wrong with Mom? She's not whistling." And it was like, "Oh my gosh, you're right. Mom doesn't whistle anymore." And I was, "I, I don't know. There is something wrong with her, I think."  And it turned out -- as it turned out, she had Alzheimer's. But that was one of the very first things that we noticed that were different. I had noticed some other things, but whistling. It was like when we realized that she wasn't whistling anymore, that it was sad. It was a very -- it was a deep sadness because whistling had been so much a part of her and our perception of our mother that when she no longer whistled, we knew we had lost something dear. And so anyway, that was my thing about whistling. I, uh, know that I’ll always remember my mom whistling and, and try to remember her that way rather than how she became as the disease progressed. And so even right now as I'm thinking about it, I can see her out in the…

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October 9, 2024
“I turn around and there’s a tick right on her arm.”
Adult

“I turn around and there’s a tick right on her arm.”

And there was one summer, I spent the whole summer improvising, because I got a job as a summer camp counselor. And I thought this would be fun. I had worked with kids. I was good with kids. I hadn't been to summer camp before but we were gonna make this happen. I could do this. I show up at summer camp and they go, "Oh no, no, no, no. We do not need more counselors to sleep in cabins with kids and take them to arts and crafts and whatever. We need more people to take them backpacking and canoeing on three to five day trips." And I just stood there and looked and said, "What makes you think I know how to canoe or set up a tent?" And they said, "You'll be great. Don't worry about it." And then, a week later, I ended up in the woods. I hear this 10 year old camper screaming and crying. I turn around and there's a tick right on her arm. And this is the first tick I have ever seen in my entire life. And every part of my body wanted to also join her in screaming. But obviously I could not do that when I am ch- -- in charge of these children in the woods with their first tick. They cannot know it is my first tick. And instead I was very brave and I gave her a hug and I took the tick off 'cause it had been embedded. So I took a bit to calm her down and I got it off. And we talked about it. And afterwards it actually felt really good. Like I was calm after the initial quick second, because I had to be. And since, I've seen many adults encounter their first ticks and seen many adults be very not calm and collected and I'm very grateful that I saw my first tick in a time where I did have to fake it 'til I made it and then I did make it and it actually was much better because of it, so. Sometimes it works. There's a reason sometimes people improvise and also a reason that people just learn on the job.

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October 9, 2024

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