“What could go wrong?” I ask myself. “Well just about anything,” I answer. “You can take one step out the door and trip on your untied shoelace. In the worst-case scenario, you step outside and are ambushed by the fragment of a meteor that didn’t burn out through Earth’s atmosphere in time. After all, just because there is a low chance of something happening, doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” “That’s no way to live,” I tell myself. “Living in fear of uncertain things will only hold you back. This is a bit of a slippery slope fallacy but how far will your anxiety go? If you think simply stepping outside is enough to warrant concern right now, what will stop you from telling yourself that getting out of bed is too dangerous? Are you eventually going to say that being alive is also dangerous? “There’s a saying I’m sure you’ve heard: the past is history, the future is unknown, and today is a gift—that’s why we call it the present. In other words, you can’t change what’s already been done and will never be able to predict the future. So enjoy the present, because no matter how much you worry about what can happen, you will never know what’s to come.” “But does that not scare you? I mean, not knowing. If we’re talking about sayings then there’s the one that goes: humans do not fear the dark, but rather what lurks in the dark. Put differently, humans are uncomfortable with the unknown. We’re supposed to be afraid of things we don’t fully grasp.” “Being afraid of the unknown does not mean doing nothing. It means doing something despite knowing you might fail. It’s about courage.” “But how can I be courageous when I’m scared of the world? You said it’s about doing something even if I fail, but failing hurts. Especially, when you know you tried your hardest. Human feelings are intangible, but they hurt. They hurt a lot. They hurt so much I don’t want to experience them anymore. That’s why I hide in my bubble. It’s why I think anything can go wrong.” “And you’re right. Anything can indeed go wrong. But anything can also go right. “Remember when you had to go to a retreat for a weekend? You didn’t want to go because you barely knew anyone else who was going, but you went anyway. Did you not make good friends while you were there? You could have gone the whole time alone, but instead, something good happened and you left the retreat with new companions. “Remember when you were asked by other students in your class for help, and eventually they asked for you to lead a study session? You begrudgingly accepted to do it and grew more confident in your communication abilities. You also gained a better understanding of concepts you didn’t fully understand, so when it was time for the exam, you weren’t worried about failing in the slightest. “Remember when you entered a bookmark contest for school? You knew you weren’t the best at drawing or design, but that didn’t stop you from submitting an entry. Then about a week later, your name was said in the morning announcements and they said you were one of the winners. Everyone in your class congratulated you and you felt happy. “For every bad thing that happens to you, there will always be a good thing that follows. Life isn’t a flat, straight road. It has several hills and turns that make driving feel scary, but at the end of the road, you’ll find one of the most rewarding destinations.” “But-” “No,” I interrupt. “No more ‘buts.’ I am not saying that your feelings are invalid. I am not saying that your concerns do not matter. I am saying that you can’t give up before you have even started. And I’m not just talking about things like school or work. Don’t give up in life.” “OK. So how do I do it?” I ask. “How do I not give up? I just remember good things?” “I guess.” “I guess? You don’t sound very confident.” “I don’t want you just to remember good things from the past. Then you’ll be stuck in the past which, as I said before, you shouldn’t worry about it. “Instead remember what you can do now. Right now you can form meaningful relationships. You can start developing a skill you’ve always wanted to have. You can go on a hike and see the world from above. You can be kind to someone. You can laugh at a silly meme. You can try a new food. You can feed bread to a duck. You can write a poem. You can tell yourself that it’s going to work out. “Remember that you have the choice to not give up. Actually, I take that back. You have the power to not give up. And don’t say I am lying because I know you do. After all, I am you.” I sit with myself in silence as the night’s cool air brushes itself on my skin. “What can go wrong?” I ask myself. “Well just about anything. But just about anything can go right.” I look up and stare at a single star. Even against the pitch darkness of the sky, the star shines bright—a reminder that failure doesn’t mean I have to give up. I can always shine as bright as a star as long as I remember I have the power to keep going.

In my opinion, the best series are those which have a little bit of everything. I’m talking drama, comedy, romance, action. And if there’s one Netflix series that combines all of these genres to near-perfection: it’s Scissor Seven. Before I start raving about Scissor Seven, I should give a brief synopsis of. Scissor Seven is a Chinese animated series centered around an amnesiac young man, named Seven, living on an island with two blue chickens. Struggling to make ends meet, he takes on the job of an assassin with his weapon of choice, a pair of scissors he can control telepathically. However, it isn’t long before he comes face to face with enemies that are connected to his past life. I’ll be the first to say that this synopsis doesn’t seem very interesting at first. In fact, it seems a little cliché. However, Scissor Seven does an incredible job of taking something that initially appears mundane and making it something interesting, having audiences yearn for more. Let’s begin by discussing the development of the plot. Many of the early episodes are purely comedy, that uses the world’s absurdity to its advantage. Examples of these comedic episodes include a fight with a super-powered old lady or a dog and cat going through relationship troubles because they cannot have a child together. Each episode appears as its own self-contained story, but as the plot moves forward we see how each of these episodes develops and shapes Seven’s character. Because the audience gets time to connect with the characters through the humorous episodes, it increases the stakes later on when the series begins to get more serious. Now, let’s discuss the characters, arguably one of the most important aspects of any series. After all, if the audience cannot understand the characters’ motivations, the story will inevitably fall flat. Scissor Seven has many characters and more than half can have their own separate analysis essay, so we’ll just focus on two. Starting with Seven, the main protagonist. When the audience first meets Seven, he simply appears as a dumb, gullible, and unempathetic guy, considering he puts very little thought into becoming an assassin. However, Seven is a terrible assassin and it’s mostly because he cares for his targets. Consistently, we see Seven fail missions because he helps the target instead, showing that Seven’s character is deeper than it appears. Then, there’s Dai Bo, one of the blue chickens Seven lives with. Dai Bo claims to be Seven’s childhood friend and is the one who convinces Seven to become an assassin. Dai Bo is uncaring and greedy, but we also see him soften up as he spends more time with Seven. Not only does this show that the characters are capable of changing, making the story feel a lot more alive, but also that character relationships in the series matter. In essence, every character interaction is a step towards character development, making no character unimportant. The final positive thing to say about Scissor Seven is that it’s short. With there only being four seasons so far and the average episode lasting around 10 minutes, there’s almost no reason why someone can’t binge the entire series over one weekend. So what are you waiting for? Go watch Scissor Seven!

A college major is a commitment to learn and develop skills in one specific area of knowledge. When it came time for me to pick a college major I was stuck. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do in my future career, thus picking a major was no easy task. There were so many available majors that sounded interesting, so picking just one felt impossible. Somehow I needed to pick a major that satisfied all of my interests. So, eventually, I settled on marketing. Let me explain why. I would argue that marketing consists of three major components: human psychology, statistics, and creativity. Marketers need to understand human psychology to create and implement marketing strategies in ways that will attract the average consumer. Then, there’s statistics. Marketers use statistics to determine market trends and a marketing campaign’s success probability. Finally, creativity is used by marketers to invent unique and innovative ways of remaining competitive in the marketplace. All three of the components mentioned earlier include something I find interesting. In the case of human psychology, I have always been interested in figuring out how the human mind works. Essentially, I’m interested in the kind of psychology that answers questions like “Why do certain people react one way or another depending on the situation?” I think being able to figure that out is appealing because it can help you understand why someone is the way they are and use that to interact with them in ways they feel comfortable. Moving on to statistics: I like seeing numbers tell a story. When enough data is collected, statistics can present certain patterns. These patterns can give an insight into what’s happening in the population. However, this is why I like that marketing consists of both, human psychology and statistics. One covers what the other is missing. So, while statistics tells us the “what,” psychology tells us the “why.” Finally, there’s creativity which is perhaps the component I am most passionate about. Through creativity, I can demonstrate parts of my personality I may want others to see. Obviously, in a business setting, there’s a limit to how much personality I can show in my marketing, but there is still room for uniqueness. A large reason for this is that marketing is scientific in that it can consist of trial and error. Someone can develop an effective marketing strategy, but once more companies implement the same strategy it loses its effectiveness. So, marketers need to be creative and constantly design new strategies, which may not always work. Effectively, it encourages uniqueness because it allows companies to easily stand out. That’s why I feel marketing is a career that encourages individuals to present some of their personality and uniqueness in their work. Marketing, to me, is a major that grabs characteristics of other subjects and meshes them together to create a challenging subject that allows for logical and creative solutions. In other words, it’s perfect for someone like me who is interested in learning about many things.

To be honest, it feels weird to speak so openly of my best friend. The two of us can talk for hours, but during that time, neither of us will talk about how much we appreciate each other. To talk so positively about him on a platform where basically anyone can read what I have to say is strange, needless to say. After all, if there is one person who should be reading these words, it’s him. So, to pressure myself into reading this to my best friend, the following text will be directed to him: I first met you in kindergarten. At the time, you were mostly just a friend of a friend. No more, no less. But then third grade came along, and we were in the same class. It was then that our friendship began to blossom, and you became someone I was glad to see at school. At the time I didn’t recognize this, but I looked up to you during those elementary years. Your ability to solve problems with minimal effort was something that encouraged me to work harder. I would think “I have to be more like him” and after trying and trying, I eventually got to your level. Soon enough, you would come to call me the “smart friend” because of my high grades. But truthfully, you might have played a part in getting me to that point. Middle school was a peculiar time. Physically and mentally, people our age were changing, and I knew of several people who were no longer close friends with the same people from elementary school. However, our friendship proved to be strong, and it never faltered during that time. Unfortunately for me, you can blackmail me with the several cringy moments I had in those years. But if there’s one positive that comes from that: you stuck with me despite the cringe. So, it’s not all bad. Entering high school, it was clear to us that our friendship would not break off anytime in the future. Our bond was so inseparable that our classmates even made jokes about us being like an old married couple. Despite that, we still paused for a second when someone in our class asked us “Are you guys best friends?” We knew we were, but it caught us off guard as we had never explicitly said we were to each other. Thus, from that moment on we would say “We’re more than best friends. We’re homies.” Now, we’re both in college—figuring out how to be adults. We’ve matured and changed a lot since we first met, but I think our friendship has only become greater. We motivate each other to do our best and support one another when we need help. I know this to be true because we don’t hesitate to tell each other about new achievements in our careers or education. I think one defining moment of our friendship occurred about one year ago. You sent me a text message explaining you needed help with an assignment. A few minutes later, we were on a phone call together and you explained that the assignment required both of us to express each other’s positive traits. We were both awkward about stating each other’s positive traits and we struggled to show pleasure for the compliments we received, but we did it. Doing that assignment showed us that we’ve been friends for so long because we sincerely appreciate each other’s company, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. All this is to say: thanks for being my homie, John.

Sometimes a temporary lighthearted hatred for someone is all it takes to become friends. At least that’s the lesson I learned from playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with my friends. For context, my high school had two separate lunch periods. Students were placed in one of the two periods and in my sophomore year, the group of friends I typically ate lunch with became separated because of this. I was not very close with the people who remained and they were not very close with each other, meaning it made for a relatively awkward period of time where we didn’t really know how to talk to one another. We managed through it, but our friendship changed after the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (in a good way). As it turns out, we were all huge fans of the series. Three of us even bought Nintendo Switches just for the game. So we eventually brought our consoles to school and paired them so all six people in the group could play and from that moment, our friendship started to strengthen. Six-player battles get hectic, really fast—even with items turned off. More importantly, they can get very competitive. I think this is why we were able to become great friends. We would yell at each other, accusing each other of cheating although we knew it was fair. We would target one person if we noticed they were winning by a significant margin. From an outsider’s perspective, it may sound like toxic behavior, but at the end of the day, we all recognized that the game wasn’t as serious as we made it out to be. However, the moment that solidified Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as my top multiplayer game was when we stayed after school to play it. Normally, our playing sessions only happened during lunch, but for some reason, that day we decided to stay after school and play together. We even managed to get another two players. Since most students left at that point, the only sounds were the sounds of our yelling and laughing as we played. Eventually, one of the school’s staff members told us we had to leave, but I can still feel the joy I felt that day. The joy of recognizing every moment is temporary so you’re just glad you can spend it with your friends and have fun. That’s why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is my go-to multiplayer game.

“Fun things are fun.” A quote from one of my favorite anime. Is the quote silly? Yes. However, it also stuck with me ever since I first heard it about four years ago. Allow me to go backward in time. It was late March 2020 and my school had recently shut down all in-person classes due to the coronavirus. With not much to do, I decided to watch anime, an entertainment medium I had been meaning to interact with but never had the chance. Looking through the large catalog of available anime on Netflix I stumbled upon an anime whose title sounded familiar. After reading the synopsis I realized it was an anime my friend had recommended to me called K-On. I won’t lie; I was quite apprehensive about what to expect out of the series, but before I knew it I binged through the entirety of the series in just four days. Something I had never done before with any other series. So what was it that was so captivating about the series…? It’s simplicity. For context, K-On is a slice-of-life anime about a group of four high school girls who start a band at school known as Ho-kago Tea Time. The cast of girls each have their own personalities that primarily fall into some kind of archetype. Yui is the clumsy klutz, Ritsu is the loud tomboy, Mio is the shy voice of reason, and Tsumugi is the kind rich girl. Of course, there’s more to their personalities (otherwise I don’t think I would have enjoyed the anime as much) but their interactions with each other are what “complete the package.” Arguably the most important character is the eventual fifth member of the band, Azusa. It’s important to know that although the Ho-kago Tea Time members compose and play music, a lot of their time is spent goofing off and eating snacks in the club room. Much of this is in disappointment to Azusa who joined the band thinking it was a serious band. However, as the series progresses we see as Azusa develops and eases up while going along with the antics of the other members. I’m not sure if it was because the series was well-directed or I watched it towards the end of my high school life (or a mix of both) but to this day, the final episode of K-On remains one of the few anime to make me shed a tear. For that reason alone, I think it makes sense why I consider K-On one of my favorites. But that isn’t enough to explain why I think the series as a whole is so captivating. You see, what truly captivated me most about K-On was the way the characters approached life. To them, life is about making happy memories and most importantly, having fun. The series consistently has still shots of two statues in the school’s staircase: one is a rabbit and the other a tortoise. I interpreted these statues as the idea that life goes by fast, but to slow down and appreciate the present. K-On and its characters showed me that life doesn’t need to be hard. It can be and likely will be sometimes, but life is always full of happy little moments. Life can always be as simple and silly as the quote. So, to conclude, I like K-On because it serves as a reminder to enjoy life.