Category: Senior Literary

This category features the works of senior literary students at Mississippi School of the Arts.

My fixation pt. 2

So, for those who may not remember, I posted a blog consisting of some Egyptian gods and goddesses that I really like and find intriguing. I really enjoy Egyptian mythology and love learning more about it. This post is a continuation of the list from last time. Hope you enjoy:)

Again, these are in no particular order.

1. Ammit

Illustration showing a creature, with the green head of a crocodile, the forelegs of a golden lion and the brown hind legs of a hippopotamus.

If you’ve ever watched Moonknight(great series, btw) then you may already know of Ammit. Does the series accurately depict Ammit, though? Not entirely. First off, she’s not technically a goddess. She’s more often referred to as a demoness or some greatly feared creature. She’s physically depicted as having the head of a crocodile, the front legs of a lion, and the hind legs of a hippo. Her name means “devourer” or “soul-eater”. So… yeah, not entirely friendly. She’s associated with the idea of punishment for the soul. Her image served as a warning to the living to live a good life and avoid wrongdoing. The first thing I noticed after watching Moonknight and looking up the depiction of Ammit was obviously the physical difference.

Instead of looking like this…

ᴀᴍᴍɪᴛ | ɪᴄᴏɴ

She would look like this…

Ammit is a demon creature that has the head of a crocodile the upper body of a lion with huge mane and lower body of a hippo. It eats evil souls. The

I know it’s just a show, but I just find it a little humorous.

2. Anubis

Illustration showing a man with the head of a jackal, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

Despite what you may see in movies, Anubis is a pretty cool guy. It’s not really his fault he’s the god of the dead. Movies may often refer to him as something bad(because Hollywood), but he’s not. He’s depicted as having the head of a jackal and the body of a man. Worshipped throughout Egypt, he’s said to be a protector of the dead as he guides them in their journey through the underworld. He’s also the god of mummification and the afterlife(much like Osiris). He’s said to be a gentle and caring god, ensuring the dead are treated with respect. It’s really neat viewing him in this light.

3.  Ma’at

Illustration shows a woman with a blue ostrich feather on her head, and green wings which she holds out with her hands, she is wearing a red garment.

As the goddess of truth, justice, and balance, Ma’at is associated with order and harmony.  She is often shown as a woman wearing an ostrich feather on her headdress and having wings she holds out with her hands. She’s believed to represent the force that keeps the universe in balance and is called upon events such as crowning a pharaoh, or the signing of a peace treaty.  When people would die and make their way through the underworld to be judged, their deceased hearts would be weighed against Ma’at or her feather. I feel like she’d be like one of those moms where nothing gets past her.

4. Sekhmet

Illustration shows a woman with the head of a green lioness, she is wearing a red garment and holding an ankh cross and a sceptre.

This is the goddess of war, destruction, power, and strength. Her image is used as a symbol of courage and resilience. She is also the goddess of pestilence and plague, and because of this, she was thought to have the power to protect against disease and evil. She’s depicted as having the head of a lioness and the body of a woman and wears a headdress of a sun disc. If you remember me talking about Bastet and Hathor in my last post, I talked about how both of them have the power to protect against disease just like Sekhmet. This is because Sekhmet is the goddess that they turn into when angered. Once calm, she turns back into either Bastet or Hathor. Sekhmet is also considered a warrior of the sun god Ra and would fight against enemies of the sun.

That is it for the list. I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. See you next month. Much love<3

Overwatch Tier list :)

Inside my brain holds vast amounts of knowledge that is absolutely useless to me in reality. This is where I share my information since people don’t like when you yap for hours about overwatch 2. So, let me get my yapping out of my system with this post. Basicalllyyyyy, I made a tier list of all the overwatch heroes from S (best) to D (worst). This is my list and a synopsis of my thoughts. 

I guess this is where I break it down….so

S Tier

In S tier I have Dva, Lucio, Ball, Ramatra, Zenyatta, Sombra, Kiriko, Junker Queen, Sojourn, Baptiste, and Zarya (in order on the tier). D.va is kind of hit or miss depending on skill. If you have a very skilled tank player on your team then yeah she is S, but if your Dva is terrible she’s going to drop to a C or D. This is because she has a kit thats very useful for the team if you know how to time it all. Lucio is a very good support pick right now. He is in the meta at the moment. He takes a decent amount of skill though making it hard for lower ranks to have a meta team composition. His speed boost is just very useful, his ability to hold overtime, and his heals. Ball is a very hard character to play. If your tank is just playing ball to play him your team is going to get rolled. When you play ball, you have to know map layouts, good aim, good use of your abilities, timing, and any other tank skill. He just requires a lot of skill, but if your tank is a skilled ball, you 100% will win. Ramatra is another tank I’d class similarly to ball. He doesn’t require as much skill mostly knowing how to utilize your kit, but I love having a good Ram because he is harder to play against. Next is a support hero, Zenyatta. Zenyatta is also a part of the meta right now in lower lobbies and higher ones. I wouldn’t say you need crazy skill, but you need some. Mostly game sense and aim. His discord ability is so useful in winning fights and his heals are decent. I wouldn’t usually class sombra so high, but she is in the meta right now as well since she got ANOTHER rework on her hero. She is in absolutely every single game I que into and she absolutely destroys the teams back line. Kiriko, also meta right now, is a support who has one of the best kits for survivability. She has immortality, teleportation, and fast healing. 10/10. Junker queen is just unkillable. If you know how to play her kit she is very hard to kill. Sojourn is also meta right now for damage players. She just has good utility and shes a value to have on your team. Baptiste is another support in meta due to his high damage output and great healing. Zarya is a good tank to play but she is not meta at all and I would only suggest playing her if your are a skilled Zarya player. 

A Tier

I’m going to talk about A tier more as a whole because most of what I have to say can be said about all of these heroes. First, let me tell you their names in order of the photo. Bastion, Genji, Winston, Reaper, Symmetra, Reinhardt, Tracer, Widowmaker, Moira, Mauga, Sigma, and Orisa. Almost everyone in A tier provides so much value to your team if played right. Almost all of them are heroes that require a lot of skill to provide any value. Some definitely aren’t like Mauga, Orisa, and Moira. The rest of these heroes you have to have game sense, know flanking strategies, know your kit, have good aim, etc etc. BUT if you are good on them they are very very valuable to your team. 

B Tier

B Tier are the heroes who just aren’t very in meta, kits aren’t that great right now, and I’m just losing matches with these people on my team. We have Junkrat, Mei, Pharah, Soldier 76, Roadhog, Torbjorn, Lifeweaver, Ashe, Brigetta, Doomfist, and Ana. I don’t mind having these heroes on my team but they typically don’t provide a lot unless played well, and they typically just get counter picked. There is one hero in here i would put higher in the tiers though. Ana. Her kit is amazing and so useful, but unfortunately we are only human and everybody’s aim sucks. Ana is a support sniper. You can play her close or long range but your aim has to be good or you might loose the whole game for everyone. A skilled Ana player I would throw to S. 

C Tier

I only have 5 people down here because there aren’t really any characters who are truly terrible. You can win with any comp if you have any skill. In C I have Cassidy, Hanzo, Mercy, Illari, and Echo. Cassidy belongs in D tier honestly. He has no value to the team, his kit is bad, and you have to have good aim to play him. Hanzo is in C due to his recent nerf. He used to could 1 shot people if it was a headshot, but he can no longer do that, so he just isn’t too great anymore. Mercy is a good support she just is not in the meta at all right now. Her healing is way to slow to the point of when you play her you have to ONLY heal. No damage. No damage boosting. Only healing. The meta right now is fast, hit scan, etc. so mercy doesn’t quite do the job. Illari is another support who doesn’t have great healing or dps and isn’t meta so no one is playing her right now. 

After making the tier list and typing this out I want to move Echo to A. She is very good at getting important picks if you know her kit well and have decent timing and aim. I think she is good to have if the person playing her is a good Echo. 

 

Thank you. 

THEY DON’T WANT ME…

Hello guys,

I am back again and tears are flooding my keyboard. Sooo, college season is coming to a detrimental end. I will be receiving my last few decisions this week. I have been accepted to 15 schools, but we always talk about the acceptances and the rejections get no attention. I understand the need of staying positive during this horrid time, but I want to talk about my rejections, how I reacted to them, and how they made me feel later on.

All the colleges I got accepted to had decent acceptance rates (30% and up), but my top schools are 15% and under and they have truly humbled me. Of course I didn’t expect to be accepted to all of them, but I definitely didn’t think there would be so many back to back rejections. The first one was the University of Florida followed by Tulane, Notre Dame, Baylor, Johns Hopkins, University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Swarthmore, and Northeastern. After applying, thinking about the possibility of rejection initially struck me hard, and I thought I would be devastated, crying, and sad. Fortunately, that was not the case and I took the rejections pretty well. When I first open them I’m a little bummed like any normal person would be and I think about them often, not separately but as a whole and it still hasn’t struck me very hard. I only think it will hit me excruciatingly hard if I don’t get into ANY of my top schools. I’m not necessarily worried about that, because I am still awaiting 14 schools to release decisions and I think I have good odds to get at least 2 out of 23 top schools in all. 

Even if I don’t get into them that just means that it’s not meant for me to be there and I have 15 other schools to pick from and am grateful for all my acceptances. I’m just ready to know all my decisions so I can start narrowing down my options, because people keep asking me where I’m going and I am so tired of saying idk. Yet, I’m also not trying to rush the process, because I don’t want to make the wrong decision and I will never have the opportunity to do this again, to be at this exact moment in life again, or to be this same person.

Now to go more in depth on my feelings about the rejections. I am happy that I can honestly say that I have not shed a single tear over a college rejection. Sometimes I don’t know how to feel about that, because it could mean that I am secure in myself, happy with my acceptances, and proud of myself for even having the courage to submit applications to these places. On the other hand it could mean that I didn’t put enough effort into my application, I don’t care enough about the colleges, or that I am very nonchalant. Either way it’s over and I cannot redo it so I’ll just stick with the first option to keep a positive mind, because there’s no point in overthinking about things that are already done. 

The only thing that makes me kind of sad is the thought that if I were at my old school I would have been valedictorian, class president, and probably would have gotten into some of these schools. I think the MSA classes on my transcript probably aren’t taken serious, because they aren’t academic classes. I could have been taking so many more AP and DC classes, but here I am. Colleges say they like creatives and standouts, but that is only true for art, design, music, and dance colleges. College is like monopoly or spades; it’s a gamble and only a very few win. Even those that win get screwed over sometimes, but college admissions is all a game and whoever plays it the best will get the outcome they want. 

It’s been a long wait, but it’s almost over and I am truly excited for the college experience and the ability to explore the world. Thank you for listening to my sob story. The tears flooding my keyboard have now dried!

A New Hyperfixation… Possibly

I’ve always been interested in mythology, but I think it’s lately become a hyper-fixation. To be more specific, I’ve been diving into Egyptian mythology; although, I wouldn’t call it diving into it right now- more like swimming in the shallow waters before getting into the deep end of it. Growing up, I loved movies such as “The Mummy”(1999) and “Gods of Egypt”(2016) and I’ve always enjoyed hearing about how a lot of the mythology deals with the afterlife and not just the various deities. It’s definitely worth doing far more research on, in my opinion. The reason I chose to research Egyptian mythology as opposed to something like Greek mythology is that I feel like Greek mythology is so popularized that everyone knows at least a little bit about it. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it’s interesting, but I like learning more about things that may not be so commonly known. I also view Greek mythology as more or less like a modern reality TV show with a lot of drama like that- as far as the gods and goddesses are concerned. There are a lot of lessons to be taken from Greek myths, for sure, just like many other kinds of myths.

In this post, I want to talk about some of the gods/goddesses I really like and am learning more things about. I hope you enjoy this as much as I like talking about it<3

(Sidenote: these are not in any particular order, there aren’t any that I like more than the others)

1.The Ennead

Colourful illustratons of the nine Ennead gods and goddesses.

The way I understand it, the Ennead is possibly the most popular myth regarding the creation of the world- there are many Egyptian myths that talk about the creation of the world and Egypt. They are a group of nine ancient gods and goddesses that basically work together to make up everything regarding creation including life, death, the atmosphere, moisture in the environment, the sky, etc. Some of the gods and goddesses that are commonly known are part of the Ennead like Osiris(the god of the afterlife and fertility) and Isis(the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic). A few that I’ll list will be those in the Ennead because I really think they’re interesting.

2. Atum

Illustration showing a man wearing a crown, with a long black beard, gold and blue clothing, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

According to a popular Egyptian myth, he is part of the Ennead and he created the world along with the other gods and goddesses. His direct children are Shu(the god of air) and Tefnut(goddess of moisture), and from them, the other gods came to be. He is depicted as a man wearing a double crown for Upper and Lower Egypt. He is associated with the evening sun, and it was believed that he traveled across the sky during the day and passed through the underworld at night before being reborn at dawn.

3. Bastet

Illustration showing a woman figure, with a cat head, holding an ankh and wearing colourful clothing.

Bastet is the goddess of cats, fertility, and childbirth; she is often associated with joy and dance. She is often depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, as shown in the picture above. She is mostly worshipped by Egyptians who own cats(cats are considered very sacred in ancient Egypt). She is believed to have the power to protect against evil spirits and diseases and her image is used as a kind of a good luck charm.

4. Hathor

Illustration shows a woman wearing a red dress and a red sun disc headdress with a snake at the front, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

Hathor is the goddess of love, joy, music, and beauty; she’s often linked to women, motherhood, and fertility. She is depicted as either with the head of a cow and the body of a woman, a woman with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc, or a cow with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc. She is thought to protect against illness and danger, much like Bastet. Egyptian queens are often portrayed with Hathor’s headdress. Hathor is the Egyptian version of Aphrodite- the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

5. Isis

Illustration showing a woman in a red dress with a throne as a crown on her head, she is holding an ankh and a sceptre.

One of my personal favorites(along with Ma’at, who I’ll talk about in another post, possibly) and one of the Ennead, Isis is the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic. She is the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus(god of the sky). She is often depicted as a woman with the hieroglyph for “throne” worn as a crown or with Hathor’s crown. She is believed to perform magic and heal the sick. In some myths, it’s said that the annual floods of the Nile are caused by Isis’ tears over her late husband Osiris.

Those are all that I’ll talk about in this post, and I’ll post a part two to this. There is a lot about the mythology that I find really interesting and I want to learn more about it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I did and I’ll see you guys next time. Much love<3

What YouTube videos have I been watching? :)

I wasn’t sure what I should write about this month since I have previously written about everything involving my interests. I realized I watch YouTube A LOT so here we are. I watch it while I eat, which is a must for me to enjoy my food, and to go to sleep. I also use it as background noise for almost everything I do. 

  1. Jay3

Jay3 is an Overwatch youtuber/streamer who puts out a variety of content. He is someone I watch while I eat and for background noise. On his channel you can watch many different series. I enjoy his two series’ called Elo Hell and I spectated. In Elo Hell he watches people who think they deserve a higher rank in Overwatch 2 and Jay determines if so and if not he gives tips. I spectated is just Jay spectating players in competitive who are hacking/cheating. He has a huge variety of Overwatch content that I love to play in the background while I work or eat. 

2. Ice burgs

Ice burgs is not a channel but a category on youtube consisting of videos that are anywhere between 1-3 hours long. Each video is a certain category that the youtuber discusses in a chart. The chart is shaped like an ice burg showing the two top layers, middle layer, and 2 bottom layers underneath the water. Basically, each 5 sections of the ice burg is filled with subcategories related to the main subject that get progressively deeper, worse, or darker the further down the ice burg. There are tons of these videos regarding different subject matter that I love listening to. Videos like these I mainly sleep to but occasionally I’ll use an ice burg video as background noise to work to.  

3. Broogli

I LOVE Broogli. A lot. He is a youtuber that focuses his entire main channel to explaining the backrooms. He does explanations of each level, item, or entities you can find in the backrooms. I pretty much only watch him when I’m going to bed because I like his voice and his videos aren’t as serious as most videos that explain things. 

4. Stories

Recently, I have been listening to stories to sleep to. I am obsessed with cryptids, specifically skinwalkers. I love to find a good 5-10 hour video of someone telling short, scary stories about skinwalkers. Usually, they get the stories from Reddit and read them with rain or fire sounds in the background. I love listening to these. Chefs kiss. 

 

BONUS: My Encounter with a Skinwalker (totally real)

I drove to Raymond, MS a couple months ago to meet up with someone I had started being friends with. His name is Ken. Anyway, I picked him up from his house and we went to this park called Raymond Military Park, I think. It’s basically just a big circle trail. We get out and decide to do a lap around the trail, and we do. On our second lap around we decided to stop at this bridge we found off to the side of the trail. Underneath was just a small creek. I was not satisfied with being on the bridge because I wanted to explore the underneath. We both found a little area where we could get underneath the bridge and sit. Some stone pilers were broke in the sand making the perfect benches so that’s where we sat. I would say about 30 minutes later we hear rustling in the bushes behind us. It was on the edge of the creek off to our right more but still behind us. We look that way, then back at each other, and we hear something jump out of the woods. It was a deer. We both just kind of froze and looked at this deer in awe. Personally, I knew it was mating season and that buck would smack me with an antler, so I just sat still and watched as it ran down the creek. It got close to the other tree line in front of us and just stopped. The deer turned around and stared at us. Not its body, just its head. I think Ken and I made solid eye contact with this deer for 3 minutes before it leaped back into the woods. No way this deer wasn’t a skin walker fr. 

The End. 

Rare Diseases & Their Symptoms

Hey guys, It’s time for another blog. I had absolutely no idea what to write about so I discovered some rare diseases, and highlighted their symptoms and a few effects on humans that live their life with them. This is very different from the types of blogs I usually write but hopefully it turns out to be a good thing. hope you guys enjoy!

1) Aarskog-Scott syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects the development of many parts of the body, most commonly the head and face, the hands and feet, and the genitals and urinary system (genitourinary tract). This condition mainly affects males, although females may have mild features of the syndrome.

People with Aarskog-Scott syndrome often have distinctive facial features, such as widely spaced eyes(hypertelorism), a small nose, a long area between the nose and mouth (philtrum), and a  widow’s peak hairline. They frequently have mild to moderate short stature during childhood, but their growth usually catches up with that of their peers during puberty. Hand abnormalities are common in this syndrome and include short fingers (brachydactyly), curved pinky fingers (fifth finger  clinodactyly), webbing of the skin between some fingers(cutaneous syndactyly), and a single crease across the palm.) . Affected individuals can also have wide, flat feet with broad, rounded toes. Other abnormalities in people with Aarskog-Scott syndrome include heart defects and a split in the upper lip  (cleft lip) with or without an opening in the roof of the mouth (cleft palate).

 

2) Acanthocheilonemiasis is a rare tropical infectious disease caused by a parasite known as Acanthocheilonema perstans, which belongs to a group of parasitic diseases known as filarial diseases (nematode). This parasite is found, for the most part, in Africa. Symptoms of infection may include red, itchy skin (pruritis), abdominal and chest pain, muscular pain (myalgia), and areas of localized swelling (edema). In addition, the liver and spleen may become abnormally enlarged (hepatosplenomegaly). Laboratory testing may also reveal abnormally elevated levels of certain specialized white blood cells (eosinophilia). The parasite is transmitted through the bite of small flies (A. coliroides).

When symptoms appear they may include itchy skin (pruritis), abdominal pain, chest pain, muscle pains (myalgias), and/or areas of swelling under the skin (subcutaneous). Examination by a physician may reveal an abnormally enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly), and abnormally high levels of granular white blood cells (eosinophilia). The adult worm (nematode) may lodge in the tissues of the abdomen and chest causing inflammation and immune reactions. This may result in inflammation of the lining of the lungs (pleuritis) and/or the membranes that surround the heart (pericarditis).

3) X-linked Myopathy with Excessive Autophagy (XMEA) is a very rare genetic condition. Autophagy is the process of breaking down damaged or unnecessary cell parts such as proteins and organelles. The most common feature of XMEA is muscle disease (myopathy) and slowly worsening muscle weakness, especially in the legs. This disorder is caused by a harmful change (mutation) in the VMA21 gene located on the X chromosome. The inheritance pattern of XMEA is X-linked, meaning that typically only males are affected and females are unaffected carriers. Signs and symptoms usually start between 5-10 years of age, but some patients do not become symptomatic until later in life. There are currently no specific treatments for XMEA. Management focuses on symptoms and may include physical therapy and exercise. XMEA was first reported in medical literature in 1988 and the VMA21 gene was discovered to be the cause of XMEA in 2013.

The most common symptom of XMEA is muscle disease (myopathy) and slow worsening muscle weakness, especially in the legs.

 

“dramamine” by modest mouse: an analysis

“dramamine” is a song by modest mouse that means a great deal to me. it’s one of those songs you don’t listen to often because of how beautiful and impactful it is. i just can’t. i can only listen when i’m ready and when it is needed. the song is praised by many, even finding its way into the car seat headrest song “the ending of dramamine” (with the lyric ‘the ending of dramamine scared david’). anyways, i really love this song & i thought i’d write about what the lyrics mean to me. i’m fully aware this may not be the “correct” meaning, but it’s my meaning– and that is more important in the end. this is what dramamine is to me.

“traveling, swallowing dramamine. feeling spaced, breathing out listerine.”

to start, dramamine is a medication that is used to treat nausea. listerine is a mouth wash. got it? good, let’s keep going. on the surface level, it is evident that our speaker is using dramamine to lessen the uncomfortable side effect of nausea. rather than working through it, he decides to muffle it. keep that idea in your head, it’ll be important later on. 

“i’d said what i’d said and i’ll tell ya, that you killed the better part of me. if you could just milk it for everything, i’ve said what i’ve said and you know what i mean, but i still can’t focus on anything.”

the speaker of this song has an evident grudge against the partner he is speaking to. the relationship they shared left him smaller than he was before. in their arguments, things are being used against the speaker over and over again. their relationship and arguments have left him broken and depressed. he cannot focus on anything after his partner and him have separated.

“we kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves.”

this. this is my favorite lyric from the entire song. it is so powerful with such a small amount of words used. in their relationship, they shared intimacy and committed to all the easy things in life, but did not want to commit to the harder things. they still cough down their sleeves– they don’t want to share the serious parts of a relationship. they are cowards in their own romance. …instead of working through the nausea of their connection, they down dramamine.

“traveling, swallowing dramamine. look at your face like you’re killed in a dream. and you think you’ve figured out everything. i think i know my geography pretty damn well.”

his partner thinks they have everything figured out, but they don’t. these things they argue about are written on the speaker– he knows what is right and he knows what his wrong. his partner is arguing against something he KNOWS, most likely driving them either further apart during their arguments.

 “you say what you need so you’ll get more. if you could just milk it for everything. i’ve said what i said, and you know what i mean, but i can’t still focus on anything.”

his partner will use anything against him to win these fights, but deep down they know they’re wrong. no one is going to win here, and nothing is going to be fixed. their relationship is fundamentally flawed. they have to take dramamine to get through the ride.

so yeah! good song. listen to it if you want. that’s all for this month. bye.

Deciding My Major…

Hiiii, it is blog time!! We are going to be talking about my dream career today, and it is not an average career so it may be a little unconventional. However, I’m really excited to talk about it, because it’s really all I’ve been thinking about lately, so I need to get it off my mind. Okay so first off, I will be going into some form of engineering. I was tuned into computer science for a while, and I have been teaching myself how to code and it is going really good. I have been learning python and swift but those are really easy in the coding world, however JavaScript, C, C++, HTML, and SQL are where it gets tricky and it is so specific that if you are missing a comma or parentheses your entire code will not work whether it is a game, website, or whatever. It is fun to learn at my own pace and a good skill to have but it is not the major for me I do not think. So, my next choice is engineering, specifically mechanical or electrical. I have a huge interest in cars so if I want that I will do mechanical but if not electrical. Mechanical is broader so it is the basis of all its other engineering counterparts. It focuses on things that move and do not move. Some type of engineer has designed or manufactured essentially everything around you. It is based on physics, mathematics, and material science. I can go into so many fields such as automotive, aerospace, biomedical, construction manufacturing and so much more, but I would choose the automotive industry with a focus on visual and functional design, which determines how the car looks and making it easy to repair, or internal and external testing to ensure maximum performance and safety of the vehicles being produced.

 

On the other hand, if I did electrical, I would be more focused on electricity and electronics from microscopic computer components to large power networks. With this degree I can go into automation and robotics, advanced driver assistance systems, aerospace and defense systems, or computer engineering. With this degree I would prefer to still work with cars, but infotainment systems, controls, and circuitry. Either way I prefer to work with cars, but I have a wide variety of opportunities with either one of these. Also, electrical engineering is based on mathematics, physics, and telecommunications. Now let’s get into credit hours, classes, base salaries, and how my life would be set up with each. I applied to multiple tech schools like Washington State, MIT, Stanford, Michigan, all the Ivies except Dartmouth, Duke, etc. The range is 120-130 credit hours for a degree, but the classes differ immensely. Mechanical has classes such as Engineering Graphics, Calculus 1, 2, &3, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, University Physics, and so on so on. Then electrical has Modern Convex Optimization, CAD Design of Digital VLSI, Speech Technology, Advanced Optical and Optoelectronic Instruments and Devices.

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By just the titles of the classes I am sure you can see the difference, but they are both heavily influenced by math and physics and they both use CAD, which is Computer Aided Design. Now the salaries because I know this is what we’ve been waiting for. The average salary for a mechanical engineer in the auto industry is 100k give or take about 5k or so. Starting salaries are more around 75 to 80k right out of college but still great, nonetheless. Meanwhile electrical engineers in the auto industry make 80k starting salary but around 93k in other industries starting salary, but the average is about 120k. Most employers also give health insurance, a good amount of PTO, options to work remote, in office, or hybrid, and they also have travel contracts where you can work within the company at different offices around the us and maybe the world depending on how big the company is. The money is definitely an incentive, but I love understanding how things work and why, especially cars, and if I can fiddle around with them fixing problems all day big or small, I would definitely love it. I know most people dread college but I am actually really excited to go. Thanks for reading my blog and basically helping me decide my career.  

New Year, Same Me

Happy 2024! It almost doesn’t feel real that time has passed that quickly. When the school year started, of course, I knew then that I would soon be graduating. But now that it’s officially our graduation year, the reality of it all is beginning to set in more and more. It feels like time flew away before I had a chance to grab it and enjoy it. That’s partially my fault, which is why I wanna talk about a resolution I have for myself: savoring every waking moment. With it being our first post of 2024, I thought it might be an appropriate(and perhaps predictable) way to start. Now, I’ll be honest, I was not planning on making any resolution for this year because I didn’t think it mattered since I’d break it after a week. This one, however, is something I’m confident I’ll keep because it’s been on my mind for a while.

I suppose, in a roundabout way, it relates to the theme word I chose for this year, which is patience. What patience means for me, in this context, is to not rush life and not try to force things to happen too soon. Just sit back, take a deep breath, and allow things to fall into place as they are meant to. Let go of the steering wheel and enjoy the ride. I have to remind myself that if I worry too much about everything in front of me far beyond what I can see, I fail to enjoy life as it is right now. It is difficult to not worry about what’s about to happen; I’m almost an adult about to graduate high school and go into college(possibly). That impending reality almost naturally comes with a heavy worry hanging over my head; it’s kind of a package deal. Okay so, the whole idea is to not worry, be patient, and enjoy the present time. How on earth will I go about that, knowing how pessimistic I can be?

Well, I guess a good start would be to look on the bright side of literally everything. Yes, even the storm and flood warnings. There is a silver lining to everything and when I don’t immediately see it, I search for it. Okay, what could possibly be a bright side to this thunderstorm? Well, obviously not having to walk back and forth on campus in the cold rain, but maybe it provides an opportunity to enjoy the company of friends inside, read a book, watch a movie, start a new painting, apply for scholarships, etc. Hell, maybe even take a nap and let my brain refresh. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve always loved the sound of rain and thunder and always found it calming. Of course, this is simply an example of how my attitude is going to be when it comes to this new year. And, if all else fails and you literally cannot see a bright side to the darkness, light a match. Make a bright side. Yes, I am very aware of how corny that sounded. Moving on.

The point I wanted to emphasize in this blog is that I don’t feel like this is going to be my year, so I’m going to make it so. Does that sound at least slightly depressing? Maybe, but that’s okay. So, yeah, that’s my resolution for the year. I know I’m not normally this chatty in a blog post(or maybe I am), but I just wanted to have that out in the open. I hope y’all enjoyed this or got something out of this. I don’t suppose this was an expected New Year’s resolution and that wasn’t the intention because I know myself too well; if I had said something more major or dramatic, I would not follow through with it. But I hope you guys had a good New Year so far, and I will see y’all next month. Much love<3

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emo regression and recent obsessions

hello, blog. i forget u exist sometimes. i have a literary analysis of a song i like that’s been in the works since november but my focus isn’t good enough to finish that right now…. so i’m basically just going to infodump everything about my life within the past month on you. hope u enjoy that. 

sudden emo regression: i’m 13 again

i would be lying if i said i wasn’t exactly sure how it happened. since you guys never knew me in middle school, let me describe my past self to you. EMO. i was SO EMO. that probably gives you context to why i am the way i am now– im literally an evolved 2015 emo. i used to be obsessed with the “emo trinity” (my chemical romance, fall out boy, panic! at the disco). my chem was always my favorite, but i was also a pretty big panic! fan (i even saw them live in 2019 before all hell broke loose and brendon spiraled into the worst person possible). i never was too big of a fall out boy fan. i had a couple shirts and a poster (and actually so much more than that. idk why, i always liked them the least of the three) but i never really listened to them as much as my chem or panic!. well, it’s been forever since i listened to the emo music i loved as a kid. that was until i saw that the previous my digital escape member johnnie guilbert was trending on tiktok. when i was in middle school, my digital escape & our world away was two of my favorite channels to watch, along with dan & phil and crankthatfrank (so basically all emo youtubers). i thought “oh, okay. that’s cool. i haven’t seen johnnie in a while, i wonder what he’s up to now” with no knowledge that going back and watching his videos would send be straight back to my emo phase. he wasn’t the only factor in this, as i also started slowing inching towards my ryan ross phase around this time too. those two things combined and what i believe to be me attempting to relive my middle school memories before i graduate sent me straight towards an obsession with all the bands i used to love… except, some things have changed. i’ve been listening to WAY more fall out boy than i used to, and all the panic! i listen to is now pre-split or anything written by ryan ross. my chem is the only band out of the three that i haven’t gotten obsessed with again, which is insane considering it was always my fave out of the three. i’ve also gotten OBSESSED with kellin quinn & sleeping with sirens… same thing with pierce the veil. i listened to a couple of their songs when i was younger, but i’ve gone all in now. i’m absolutely in love with all of their songs combined. also, not really emo, but i’m sort of having a Tool phase too. i’ve been absolutely drowning in music and old favorite frontmen for the past month. 

final college decisions & letting go of my ego

i’ve made my final decisions & it took tons of self-reflection and deciding what was best for me. i felt like i’ve been seen as the really smart kid my entire life, and if i didn’t go to some impressive college then everyone would be disappointed in me. well, i don’t care anymore. i’m not going into debt for the first two years of my college life when i can easily go completely for free & live back at home (i’m tired of sharing things with people). i’ve decided i’m going to go to holmes community college in ridgeland and commute from my home every day. i’m also going to get a job and work at the same time so i can have some money saved up for when i transfer, because that is most likely when i’ll be moving out of home. i’m working on getting my license right now and looking at possible jobs. coming to this college conclusion has completely taken away my anxieties about college and has made me excited to go. i’m so easy to please that the idea of just getting to listen to music on the way to class in my own car makes me happy. 

so many concerts- so little money

guys, going into the new year i remembering telling myself i would go to more concerts this year…. i didn’t expect every artist i love to go on tour all at once. i mean, green day & smashing pumpkins, pixies & modest mouse, BOB DYLAN, and Tool??? i do NOT have the money in my bank account for this. it all started off when i saw green day & smashing pumpkins going on tour together & asked my best friend if he wanted to go with me to see them. we made plans and decided on it and i worked on getting the money for tickets and finding an airbnb… then the pixies and modest mouse announced THEIR tour… and then BOB DYLAN…… and now as we are both going through a Tool phase, we find out Tool is playing in biloxi THIS WEEKEND. how am i supposed to live like this guys. i want to see every concert ever.

ready to graduate & get out of here

i’m sure you all can agree with me here. i am so ready to graduate and GET OUTTA HERE. i miss all my friends from last year SO MUCH and i cannot wait to be able to get to hang out with them over the summer (if my job lets me). i am excited for college and feeling like an adult and just…. everything man. i’m so excited for my own income and getting to spend my own money on what i want (every pierce the veil shirt that has ever existed). i’m excited for concerts and making memories with friends and hopefully meeting new people that will stay in my life!!! i cannot wait for the friendships and relationships that i’ll find myself in within these next couple years. i’m not ready for life after college just yet, but as of right now, i’m starting to warm up to the idea of change.

so yeah! just a yapping blog today. i’ve been wanting to talk a lot recently so i guess this was my chance to get it all out. love u all, read u next time.