The One Where My Journal Is Finished

This has honestly been a surreal experience now that I sit down and think about it. It was strange to methodically sit down for 10 minutes a day to write down the first thoughts that came into my brain. At first I thought it was going to be hard, as it usually happens whenever I am assigned a writing project and its not voluntary my brain just kinda goes blank for the entire time and I have to consciously put an effort to write. But the thing about this project, the structure of it it kinda let me let loose and literally write down the first thing in my brain. The first few times it was very sporadic, you  could see how fast my mind went from one thought to the other and then back to a past thought. It was hard to keep track of the writing at times because most of the time my mind went much faster than my hand could and by the time my hand was writing a word I was already 5 words ahead and the sentences got muddled.

By the middle of the project, around week four, is when I finally sorta got the hang of it. I still skipped words and occasionally my mind veered off of subject completely and I forgot about writing for a few seconds. But the thing is that what made it easier to do was that my mind is almost constantly running in an internal monologue reminding me of things I have to do, characters I have yet to develop, stories I haven't finished writing, etc. Some times they happen one at a time, sometimes they happen in twos and three's and sometimes they are all screaming at me at the same time to the point where I have to stop whatever I'm doing, take a deep breath and organize my mind before continuing. And while it was just basically writing down the never ending monologue in my brain it helped me organize my thoughts, whether I did  it before school or before I sat down to do homework writing down the whirlwind in my mind before either of these gave me a kind of peace of mind, a freedom from the erratic thoughts that course through my mind like fire. So maybe I might continue doing this even if the project is finished, but not limiting myself to ten minutes because then it feels pressured and that wont help at all.

Life Compass

The life compasses on the other hand reflect how my personality and bodily functions are affected by my weekly occurrences. Everything ran smoothly and stable for the most part, the exceptions to this are the Spiritual & Physical factors. Right of the bat you can tell I started of low in both physical and spiritual factors, considering when we began doing the life compasses I was recovering from a cold and my friendships were falling apart around me, in the next week everything took a bump after I rested and spent time with my best friends and family but the next week they took another plunge because I walked everywhere because the car was in the shop. The reason week 4 is high in all the factors is because I did 4 compasses instead of  my usual three but still it was an overall amazing week because despite all the University stuff I had to do, my aunt from New York came to visit and I got to see her.

Week 5 on the other hand was very draining, I had a very long week which included, 2 tests, 3 presentations and a lab report and after finally finishing everything I got a throat infection. Week 6 took another bump up mostly because I had finished everything earlier in the week, plus I had the literary contest which was both exhilarating and terrifying and the only think I had left to do was study for my history test the next week and two of my best friends were coming over to have an X-Men/Marvel marathon with me from Thursday to Sunday. Week 7 stayed pretty steady despite the punch in the face that was the geography exam, which was cushioned by the fact that I got a freaking A in my CIBI test which I was not expecting AT ALL. And so we conclude with week 8, as you can see in the graph it took another small plunge, understandable considering the hell that was the Assembly and the fact that I got stick from spending 7 and half hours in a dust infused amphitheater which caused ANOTHER throat infection, this time extending all the way to my ears and sinuses.

All in all this was a very enlightening experience, and it helps me organize myself so I might actually continue doing it if only for the benefit of clearing my mind.

Goodbye ladies, gents and celestial beings, goodbye.

Wait no you know what, it feels kinda wrong to leave this without a song since the last three posts have ended with one, so here you go:

The One Where Journeys Are Explained

 One of our first assignments for our Journey in Literature class was to keep a "Journey Journal" and decorate it with a collage portraying your journeys in life. Mine is is divided in two, my emotional/personal journeys & my physical journeys.

Personal Journeys 

  The first two pictures on top represent the beginning (and end) of one of my favorite journeys. The people in these pictures are my best friends. From left to right in the picture on the top left: there's Abneris who I've known for almost 6 years, Davianna who I've known for 8 years, Anibal who I've known for 11 years (yeah, more than half my life), me and Karina who I've not spoken to in 2 years because we grew apart. But the first few people I mentioned,  the ones who spent 6 to 11 years with me, our friendship was one that we said would last for the ages and we sincerely meant it. But as it sometimes inevitably happens you start to drift apart and divide even in the moments you need each other the most and you start to see how much you've all changed after going from spending 8 hours together 5 days a week for most of your Elementary/Middle/High School Education to going to different Universities and still communicating but barely seeing each other once every few months. They say this is the test of true friendship, being able to be apart for long periods of time and trusting everything will still be the same, that you'll still be as close as ever once you do see or speak to each other again. Some friendships are able to get through this, but apparently ours is not.

And so it comes to the quote directly below the graduation picture:

 I added this is the sense that we always swore we would never drift apart, and it was actually one of my greatest fears

The picture next to the quote is the newest person to join my journey, her name is Andrea and I've barely known her a year and half and she has become one of my closest friends. She was there for me during my transfer from the Polytechnic University to UPR is currently cheering from the sidelines with my best friend while I complete my transfer to Johnson & Wales. The pictures below the quote and Andrea show the most recent parts of my journey; the first is me and another friend helping my best friend cope with her mother moving, the second is one of my favorite quotes and the last words of a dearly departed companion in Doctor Who, Clara Oswald, while for different reasons I am also asking to be brave in the face of what is happening and what is to come in the next picture which is my future University.

The last two pictures are also quotes, the first one from the musical Wicked and...well, it speaks for it self. The second quote is my favorite quote from Harry Potter:

This is where I'm actually at right now, trying to find my happiness. Trying to remember to turn on the light instead of remaining in darkness.

Physical Journeys

 These are some of my favorite trips. The top left one is when I went to Halloween Horror Nights in 2014 with my best friend, her sister and her mom. The top right one was also with my best friends family, it was actually last December I went with her to Texas to visit her mom and we took a Road Trip ( 13 HOURS OMG) to Georgia to visit her grandma.The middle left picture was my first time to NYC in 2013, I took that picture from the top of the Empire State Building. The middle picture was last November (2015) on my second trip to New York where I was mostly confined to my aunts apartment in Harlem, at first it was because I had to write an essay for my psychology class but then it was because I got sick. The middle right picture was on the trip to Atlanta, GA last December too as is the bottom left picture. The bottom middle picture was the view from the plane as it descended in Houston, TX last December. And, finally, the bottom right picture is the Playbill from Matilda which was one of the few outing I did get to go to last November in NYC even if I was sick. 

And that is all ladies, gents, and celestial beings. Until next time!