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Writer's pictureBLASE LONDONO

08.27.23 Summer Recap & Goals


My summer was pretty great– I managed to cram a lot of stuff into our eight (ten? I dunno) weeks off. I worked just enough not to get fired from my life guarding job, hit the beach a bunch, played a ton of video games, visited friends and family, the works.


My club team qualified for both Futures league and Junior Olympics, both national tournaments (hosted in California, 'cause we're like, one of three states that actually play the sport). We stayed pretty average in Futures, and actually got bronze in JOs for our (low) division, which is honestly better than I thought we'd do considering we'd lost like half of our starters last season.


After JOs, I went to Croatia for ten days with most of my water polo team– did a bunch of touristy stuff, a couple of Masterclasses and scrimmages, what you'd expect from a sports team vacation. Then, right after coming home, I went backpacking in backcountry Yosemite for five days, which SUCKED. Easily one of the worst experiences of my life. Not to say it was all bad or anything– there were fond memories made and all of that, but I can't say I didn't spend like 90% of the trip miserable.


Other'n that? I took AP Physics C: Mechanics over the summer, which honestly wasn't all that bad, 'cept that the workload was kinda stressful being jammed into six weeks and everything. 'Course, the whole thing was asynchronous (UCScout I love you), so it was never overwhelming or anything.


My goals for this class are pretty basic– learn some more about digital design/electricity/whatever (I have an Arduino, but don't really know how electricity "flows" so I always wing it then spend like three hours fixing broken circuits) as well as getting acquainted with Fusion360. I'd love to be able to actually 3D print things– never done anything like that since CodeRev summer camp when I was like, ten.


Now, in general for this year? Assuming we're talking about the school year here, I'm actually psyched for college. End of junior year I was stressed, not gonna lie– had the whole college app panic sweating about schools and essays and all of that. Don't get me wrong, that stuff's important, and I'm in the middle of writing my essays right now, but it's not that serious. Like yeah, do the work and all of that, but don't freak out over it.


To be fair, I'm not shooting to get into any crazy Ivy League or anything. Hell, to get into Harvard y'gotta start preparing when you're like, six. Gotta be playing eight instruments and speaking twelve languages and have three nonprofits and ace 10 APs and all of that to even have a shot of earning your way in, right? I ain't that kinda guy, so I ain't worried. I have dreams, sure, but worst-case scenario I go to SMC and transfer. Not that bad. Hyped for the college life no matter what happens.

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