Josh Karthikeyan Week 16 - One Last Time!
“One last time.” It has been a year! A full year. After all the AP tests, I recently enjoyed the musical, Hamilton, and I noticed how in “One Last Time,” Washington emphasizes how “the nation learns to move on.” And I think that line is so core to our identity. It is important that as a society, we are able to move on from one thing and onto the next because growth only happens when we keep pushing forward.
Looking back, it is almost insane to see how much time has passed since the beginning of the year. Junior year, put simply, was a rollercoaster. The kind that exists as the ultimate thriller like X2, where Six Flags themselves call it “downright scary.” But in every thrill, there always is that anticipation which is what causes the most remembered moments. The waiting, the build up before it finally happens and once it does, it makes everything worth it. The feeling of emotional catharsis after that huge test or presentation is what lets me keep on going.
One of the checkpoints of my week that kept me grounded was these blogs. It was a moment where I had to reflect on what was going on through my week and the best part was that since it was worth a grade, I could never procrastinate! These blogs were an important reminder to appreciate what was happening in the world around me.
And now, our times of writing blogs for the class are over. Our cohorts are ending. And it is time to move on …
Image via the Hamilton Musical Fandom
It’s crazy that junior year is almost over. I know that I’ve been dreading it ever since I saw my sister go through her junior year. You are absolutely right when you talk about moving on from one thing to the next, since that is exactly what we have to do this summer: we have to move on from high school to college, which is insane to say. It feels like just yesterday we got told that we would have two weeks off from school because of some virus and now we have to apply to college. Junior year was an absolute roller coaster. With all of its assignments, late nights, and crashouts, it certainly has been an emotional and physical roller coaster. When you mentioned the most remembered moments, I immediately think of the weekends of this year, specifically Sunday mornings, since that was the time that I could really catch up on my sleep this year. Throughout the year, I feel like my sleep schedule has gotten progressively worse, with me sleeping later and later each day, until the week after APs, I started getting really sleepy at an early 7pm. I absolutely can’t wait until the summer when I can sleep more consistently. As you mention, blogs were kind of a marker for me that represented time passing, since we would do one every other week. In a hectic schedule, it was a reminder that time was moving, weeks were passing, and that we actually were getting closer to summer rather than farther away from it.
ReplyDeleteHi Josh! Yes! I still can’t believe I won’t be able to write another blog or blog comment anymore… well at least for this class. Endings always seem so bittersweet, but alas as you said, it’s necessary to move on.
ReplyDeleteEven though the concept of “moving on” may seem like a given, it really does reflect growth in each chapter of our lives. I especially hear the words “move on” as a piece of advice to individuals who were recently broken up from a relationship. It makes sense though, because being someone’s intimate partner for a certain period of time and then suddenly getting rid of that bond can definitely seem scary. But moving on means closing that door and opening a new one, and once you move on, you carry that knowledge with you for the rest of your life.
For me, the school year has certainly moved both slow and fast if that makes sense. It felt like the days were slow, but the weeks were fast, and now suddenly it’s the end of the year! I definitely understand how you feel about the build up of anticipation. Especially for the POAS, the buildup of creating small sections and then combining them together not only felt satisfying, but it also felt fulfilling. Looking back, it’s crazy how much we wrote (13.5 pages!!!) in a short span of time. Hopefully you all feel the same way, but I for one felt relieved that I didn’t have to prepare and research about a person for many hours before writing the sections in class anymore, though I did enjoy it while it lasted. Part of being in a class like this is really the sense of achievement that you get at the end for completing difficult assignments or projects. Thank you for this amazing blog, Josh! Have a wonderful summer!
Josh, you’re right that it’s been a full year, but what’s just hit me is that it isn’t just eleventh grade that is over: it is eleven years of schooling! I know that sounds the same, but it’s really wild that we’ve almost finished the entirety of school and will be soon moving into the next phase of our lives. It is actually scientifically proven that anticipation is what keeps us going in many scenarios, such as scrolling through social media in the hopes that you will find something interesting or even in gambling where you could win big(yeah fat 1/16 chance). In your writing, I love your use of comparisons of junior year to a “‘downright scary’” rollercoaster, as it accurately symbolizes the message of your passage in a memorable way. Your optimistic tone is also amazing because it implies that you leave junior year on a high on that roller coaster. Thank you for a fantastic piece!
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