McDonald’s at Midnight

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It was 11:46 pm on a Friday night, the 26th of January. My family and I were coming home from some event and were far too exhausted to make a meal at home. My dad made the executive decision that we would be having McDonald’s for dinner. I had gotten a cheeseburger Happy Meal with chocolate milk, even though I was above the legal age of ordering one. The employees either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I wouldn’t blame them; they worked for minimum wage in a fast food chain, and night shifts were tiring enough without criticizing a customer.

My family and I took our meals to go, exiting the restaurant we had been to thousands of times in the past. Yet for some reason, I paused. I looked back at the restaurant. The sallow lighting behind the door highlighted the cheery yellows and reds of the interior, starkly contrasting the gloom of the night. Shadows cast by the awnings gave the gray concrete depth. The yellow arch glowed with backlights, a clear and familiar sight. I took a picture and hurried to catch up with my family.

Unbeknownst to me, I would spend the next four months driven by bizarre inspiration. I wanted to capture that eeriness and intrigue I felt that night through my paints. I sketched and smeared, staring at the picture for the minute details. The drainpipe in the wall, the orange permit sticker on the glass, the grids on the ceiling. I pestered my friend (an artist as well) with updates, asking for criticism and advice. Finally, on May 5th, I was content with my product.

My story just goes to show how inspiration can come from the strangest places. The world has cool things everywhere! You just need to look around.

How to Make The Most of the Upcoming School Year

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The school year is steadily approaching as summer dwindles to an end, which means it’s time to prepare and get back into routine. However, going beyond academics and succeeding in all your classes, here are a list of tips to remind yourself of during the school year! While it’s important to focus on school itself, there’s still so much more to school than just studying and getting good grades. Let’s ensure that this school year is truly memorable for you and everyone else around you! Good luck in the upcoming school year!

  1. Have fun with friends
  2. Get to know new people
  3. Go after your passions
  4. Challenge yourself
  5. Go outside of your comfort zone
  6. Explore new interests and electives
  7. Create traditions and memories with your friends
  8. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small
  9. Be kind to others
  10. Set goals to motivate yourself
  11. Be willing to make mistakes and learn form them
  12. Seek help whenever you need it
  13. Learn how to cope with stress and anxiety
  14. Learn more about future career opportunities
  15. Develop time management skills as well as other life skills
  16. Go to school dances and events
  17. Attend a sports game
  18. Join clubs
  19. Make the most out of the school year
  20. Live in the moment

What to Expect from a CUSD Girls Tennis Camp & Tryouts

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As the school year approaches, many high schools in the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) are preparing for the girls tennis season, as it is a fall sport. The preparation includes tennis camps and tryouts, where girls of all levels play each other to be placed on the team of their caliber. If you are looking to join your high school’s tennis team, listed below are what you should expect:

  1. Conditioning: During tennis camps the girls are expected to do a multitude of running drills to get their speed, endurance, and agility improved for the season. One drill is commonly known aspect “Suicides” where players line up on the baseline and then sprint to the lines below, making sure to touch the baseline again after each one. Another conditioning drill is relay races, where players divide up into teams and do one “Suicide.” Whichever team finishes first wins, and the losing team has to do whatever “punishment” the winners pick, like 10 squats or 10 jumping jacks.
  2. Hitting Drills: In both the tennis camps and tryouts, the girls play hitting drills with the coach on their court. This entails games where coaches feed players the ball, such as overhead and volley drills. There are other drills that include hitting forehand and backhand shots and then coming up to the net with an approach shot, followed by a volley and/or overhead.
  3. Practicing Serves: Players practice their serves simultaneously at the baseline during the camps. Usually while practicing their serves, there will be cones in the service box to target. This is advantageous since it teaches the players how to serve in match play by focusing on the corners. If you hit a cone, you typically will not have to participate in whatever conditioning the other girls on your court have to do.
  4. Live Ball: During live ball, the girls play games against each other, such as Queen(s) of the Court. In Queen(s) of the Court, there is either a single girl or two girls that are the queens on one side of the court. All the other girls have to challenge the queen(s) and if they win, they replace the queen(s) on the other side of the court. There are many other live ball games like Queen(s) of the Court that test how a player responds in match play.

I hope my explanation clarifies any questions you may have about how high schools in the Capistrano Unified School District operate their girls tennis camps and tryouts.

– Sophia B.

Tips For Getting Through High School As A Freshman

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According to studies, it is reported that 60-70% of students feel nervous or anxious for a new school year. It is normal to feel scared or worried about a new school year since there are new classes, teachers, and maybe a new environment for some, especially if you are going into your freshman year. Here are some tips from a previous freshman to get you through your freshman year of high school and to help ease your worries. 

Making new friends is essential in school, and freshman year has got to be the most important year for a few reasons. Freshman year is when most people start forming their friend groups, so after freshman year, it might be more challenging to try and find your crowd because people have already found their people. However, that is only sometimes the case and you can still be in a friend group after freshman year, but it is best to make new friends during freshman year. Furthermore, if you enter your freshman year of high school with a group of friends, there is a high chance that you will not end your high school with the same group of friends. People change, and it’s a reason why many friend groups that enter high school together don’t last, and this was the case for my friend group. So don’t worry if your friend group is falling apart!

Academics are also as important as making friends in my freshman year of high school! Unlike middle school, in high school, your grades matter, so the way you manage your grades is important. To get a good grade and keep it there, there are a few things you should do, but the most important one is paying attention in class. If you pay attention in class, you will actually learn things and it will make it very easy for you when doing your assignments or tests. Of course, you can have fun during class too, but try to keep it so that you pay attention when you need to pay attention. Another major tip for keeping your grades high is to turn in your work on time! As a student who has procrastinated multiple times before, I learned the hard way that if you postpone your homework or your assignments, it will stress you so much when you have to do it late at night. You do not want to be up at 11 pm in the night rushing an assignment that takes a week to do, but you’re rushing to turn it in at 12 pm because you didn’t do it. However, academics don’t define who you are and you shouldn’t be over-exerting your body and brain if you can not handle the workload. Your well-being is more important.

Getting enough sleep will help you out with so many things in school, especially academics, so getting enough sleep is extremely crucial. If you lack sleep, you can’t focus during class because you are so tired, so your grade might plummet. So, set up a sleep routine that allows you to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Finally, there are lots of people in high school that are judgemental and they might make your high school experience not as fun. However, if you just stop caring about what people think about you, then it will make your high school life so much easier! Don’t let others ruin your high school experience! 

Hopefully, these will help you make your high school years worthwhile or at least ease your worries about starting high school. Your life as a student is not forever, so make it worthwhile by enjoying your high school years.

Making Waffle cones Without A Waffle Maker Recipe

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Most households don’t own a waffle cone iron. However, most have a innate craving for a hot waffle cone topped with scoops of creamy ice cream. That crunch with the soft bite of the ice cream is just something that I would want everyday.

Recipe:

Duration: 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • All purpose flour or wheat flour (125 grams)
  • Salt, however sea salt is preferred over table salt (A pinch)
  • Cane sugar (25 grams-40 grams)
  • Brown sugar (optional) (5-20 grams)
  • 2 eggs
  • Butter (unsalted) (30 grams)
  • Vanilla extract ( 2 teaspoon)
  • Whole Milk (60 grams)
  • Heavy Whipping Cream (20 grams)

Instructions:

Set 30 grams of butter into a pan and begin melting it on medium heat. You want to keep it in the pan until it becomes brown butter. This is when the butter becomes more fragrant and helps enhance the flavor.

Wile the butter is simmering, measure out all of your other ingredients. The two sugars should be combined nicely with the salt and vanilla extract. Add one egg yolk into that sugar mixture and combine it well. Add all of your heavy whipping cream into the bowl and mix well. After that set that aside and check on your butter.

After seeing that your brown butter has been simmering and burning out all of its water content, add an ice cube to the pot and take it off the heat. Set it aside after straining it into a bowl.

Add one third of your flour into the sugar and cream mixture with a folding technique. After getting all of the clumps out, slowly add your milk in while mixing. Repeat until all of your ingredients have been well combined.

Take your brown butter and slowly incorporate that into your mixture. The consistency should be liquid but be able to still hold a little bit of its shape. One way to test this is to take a spoonful and draw a figure eight in your bowl. The batter should be smooth and without clumps.

Grease up a frying pan with just the tiniest bit of butter or using a non stick pan is fine. Set the heat to high for 45 seconds before bringing it down to medium. Once that is done, take one fourth cup of your batter and pour it into your pan. Once you see some bubbles on your batter, it is almost time to flip. When the glossy sheen goes away, it is time to flip.

Enjoy your crunchy waffles with some ice cream!

California National Parks Ranking

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So I tend to travel a lot, and some of my favorite adventures have been to our Californian national parks! I’ve been to all 10 of them except for Channel Islands National Park, so I’m going to rank the other 9! It will be in order from worst to best, although none of them are bad.

8. Pinnacles National Park

Pinnacles National Park isn’t a particularly interesting national park. It’s very small and far from here, but it’s still nice. It has some good hikes, but the competition is so steep that it just gets pushed down to the bottom of this list. If you’re in the area, I’d recommend checking it out, but it’s hard to justify driving all the way up there just for Pinnacles.

7. Joshua Tree National Park

I love Joshua Tree and it’s a huge jump up from Pinnacles, but it’s just the least amazing out of the parks. It’s a lot closer, only being about 2.5 hours away, and is a lot bigger. Joshua Tree also has some very diverse and interesting hikes. There’s a lot of shorter trails and there’s almost no, if any, hikes longer than 2 hours.

6. Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is a great national park with good hikes, but the scenery is, in my opinion, nicer than Joshua Tree’s. It is a lot farther, but it’s very nice.

5. Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon is essentially the same as Sequoia but it has Hume Lake. Hume Lake is just a really nice place with nice walking trails around it and a lot of ducks. Otherwise, it’s the same thing pretty much, and they’re right next to each other.

4. Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park is maybe the most unique of the Californian national parks. There’s a lot of geothermal activity in this park, like mud pools and geysers. It also has some nice forest hikes. The only reason this isn’t higher is because it’s hard to get to. The closest real hotel is in Redding, which is an hour away and can get extremely hot in the summer.

3. Death Valley National Park

Death Valley is a beautiful national park. It has some of if not the best hiking trails out of any of the parks. There’s a lot of trails with climbing too if you enjoy that. This park is also huge, almost the size of Puerto Rico, so I can really only talk about what’s around The Oasis resort properties. Speaking of which, they’re pretty nice and close to a lot of the more popular areas, including Badwater Basin and Artists Pallet

2. Redwood National Park

Redwood National Park is essentially a better Sequoia National Park. It’s much more coastal and has some of the best biking areas I’ve ever experienced. It also has some amazing scenery and some pretty great hiking trails. Redwood isn’t even that isolated compared to the other parks, and is a great stop if you’re doing an RV trip up the west coast.

1. Yosemite National Park

This shouldn’t be surprising if you’ve ever been to Yosemite, there’s a good reason it’s ranked as the best national park on many online rankings. It has by far the best scenery of any of the national parks and also some of the most enjoyable trails. Yosemite is also huge and has much more to offer outside of the main Yosemite Valley, which gives you so many things to do on its own. The campgrounds are also excellent, with a good hotel if that’s not your thing. Overall, it’s definitely worth the visit.

So there you have it, a ranking of (almost) every Californian national park. Have you been to any of these parks? Would you agree? What would you change?

Books about California’s National parks are available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.

Book Review: Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer

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From the get-go, this book is a must-read for anybody who is interested in the field of biology, or anybody who wants to get to know how the system that keeps them alive works.

This work is divided into several sections, each explaining a specific part or aspect of the immune system. Dettmer first introduces the immune system and how it evolved from around 541 million years ago, when multicellular animal life suddenly exploded, causing bacteria and other microorganisms to become an existential threat, as they could use these ecosystems of organisms as free energy at the detriment of the former. As a result, some organisms such as sponges evolved what would be known as “humoral immunity”, or proteins that would float around and kill microorganisms that were not supposed to be in an animal’s body. This system ended up being so successful that evolution did not phase it out, and rather made it a crucial aspect of an organism’s immune defense.

The book then goes on to explain more aspects of the immune systems, such as different parts of it including the different cells that make it up, including macrophages and neutrophils, which are integral to the functioning of the immune system. After going over these two crucial parts of the immune system, Dettmer then goes on to talk about the process of inflammation and its causes in relation to the immune system.

Although it would be impossible for me to include every single one of this book’s many complex topics in this review, I think that this book was great, and made topics that would otherwise be complicated and tedious to read seem very interesting. The author of this book also has a very well-known science Youtube channel, Kurzgesagt, which I highly recommend checking out.

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

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Near the end of the school year, my English class read a book called Unwind. Unwind is a well-known dystopian novel among middle schoolers such as myself. Unwind takes place in the United States in the future. In this world, there are many twisted laws. One of these laws includes parents being able to send their kids off to get unwound. This means that the kid will be sent off to get used for their body parts, which basically kills them. This law sets up the entire plot for the book and makes the book a page-turner and an exciting and easy read.

   At the beginning of the book, we get introduced to three kids named Connor, Risa, and Lev who have all been sent to be unwound. These three meet by escaping from Juvey cops while being transported to be unwound. From here they travel to a school where Lev turns in Conner and Risa and simultaneously causes a huge scene where Connor and Risa are able to run away and part ways with Lev. As the book continues we follow the journey of Connor and Risa until they find their way to a sanctuary for unwinds like themselves. We also follow Lev’s complicated journey who also ends up finding himself at the sanctuary with the other two. As the story continues Lev runs away from Connor and Risa, separating the trio again. Soon after, their lives interlink again, which leaves them with some events that help contribute to stopping unwinding.

Unwind is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. The easy-to-like characters and the suspenseful and breathtaking moments in the book were my favorite parts. Almost every character in the story is very likable and respectable in their own unique way. Some characters are more entertaining than others such as one of the main characters, Connor who is a hothead, which causes many action-packed and engaging events. Some moments that stood out for me include when Conner, Risa, and Lev team up after escaping and when Lev betrays the other two. If you are in middle and even high school and haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it to you. If you have read the novel I’m sure reading this again will do nothing but good. This book contains many topics such as betrayal and heroic moments that will intrigue kids in middle and high school.

Overall, Unwind is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. I loved all of it, but if I had to choose which parts of the book were the best I’d pick the descriptive action moments and the likable and fun characters. As you continue to read you’ll be able to imagine the scenes in the story making the book a page-turner. Once you finish the book you’ll be begging for more. I highly recommend this book to anyone even if you’ve read it before.

-Matthew R.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Tribute to Altria, Goddess of the Great Sea

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My name is Zemis. I am the Chieftess of the Tribe of Sea. We worship the gods and goddesses of the Great Sea. Those gods and goddesses are Lord Nautilus, god of Sea creatures, Lady Altria goddess of the Great Sea, Lady Tamor goddess of Sunken Ships, Lady Lirel goddess of Water, Lady Esther, goddess of the said to be Mythical sea creatures called the Umbrae, and Lord Rlira, husband of Lady Altria and god of the Great Sea. All said to live near Blue Bay, where the Tribe of Sea resides. Lately the goddess of the sea, Altria, has been restless. We hope that if we give her a tribute, then she will become calm. If that does not work, we will give her a handcrafted trident, embedded with gems. It’s good to have a back-up plan right?

~*~

Our tribute is our finest fruits, a chest full of jewels and silk, enchanted armor and weapons, as well as a volunteer, Iris, to protect Altria when she herself cannot. If something goes wrong, hopefully the trident will tide Altria over. The trident has been in my family for centuries. Adorned in diamonds, emeralds, and amethyst. My messenger, Lilly, sent this letter to Lady Altria and Lord Shyros.  

Lady Altria and Lord Shyros,

I, Zemis, Chieftess of the Tribe of the Great Sea, request your presence in Blue Bay for a Tribute Ceremony. 

Jewels, silk, our finest fruits, and a guard, Iris, volunteered to be given as well.  I hope you will come.

Timok,

Zemis

Hopefully they will come. We need to be able to receive and send out ships. Tsunamis are very dangerous. After the letter is sent, I wait patiently for Lady Altria and Lord Shyros to arrive. If they even come. Suddenly, a loud ringing sounds throughout the Capitol of the Great Sea. The bell for when an imperial being arrives. Imperial beings are gods and goddesses. 

“MS. ZAMOE!” Yelled a new trainee as Guard of the Bell. Whose name I think is Tarlock.

 “Dear, it’s Zemis,” I replied. Tarlock blushes profusely. “Sorry miss,” He says apologetically. 

“It’s quite alright,” I reassure him with a warm smile, “No harm done.”

 He nods in thanks. “I came to inform you that Lady Altria and Lord Shyros have arrived,” He says. 

I smile again. “Thank you for informing me,” I tell him. 

 I then run up to my room to change. I change into a white dress that goes up to my knees with flared out sleeves. Then slip on some black boots with heels and I leave down to the harbor. Everything is set up perfectly thanks to my sister, Evumeimei, but everyone calls her Mei or MeiMei. I bow down low to Altria and Shyros.

 “What is this? We were promised something grand,” Altria spoke. Was what was in front of her not grand? 

~*~

I sighed. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. 

“In the letter I informed you of jewels, silk, and fruits, your imperial beings,” I tell them.

 “No, this is not acceptable,” Shyros grits out, as if our very presence ails him.

 “If this is not acceptable to you, I have another offering,” I inform.

“Oh?” Altria asks, intrigued. 

I nod. Then gesture to MeiMei to bring the trident. Once she hands it to me, I kneel and present it.

“The Trident of Prosperity, passed down in my family for eons. I offer it to you, Lady Altria and Lord Shyros,” I solemnly say. 

Altria raises an eyebrow. “The Trident is powerful, the aura of magic is strong. Thank you, Zemis. We will treasure this tribute and the Great Sea will return to calm,” She says.

I bow. “Thank you, Lady Altria, Lord Shyros,” I say. 

I had hoped silks, jewels, and fruits would be enough to satisfy them but the Trident did. Like I said, it’s always good to have a backup plan. 

Response to Current Events: The 2024 Election

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If you’ve been keeping up with the news, I’m sure you have noticed that Colorado has banned former President Trump from being on the ballot. Despite your political stance, one must question if this is Constitutional. Is this action silencing the voices of voters from Colorado? If so, would that be against the First Amendment, which writes, “Congress shall make no law […] prohibiting the freedom of speech […]” (US Constitution). Are citizens forced to vote a certain way by removing a president from the ballot? Is the election being rigged by not having a fair amount of voting in each state?

Colorado stands on the 14th Amendment and argues that this allows them to disregard Trump on the ballot. The 14th Amendment Section 3 reads:

“No person shall be a […] elector of President and Vice-President, […] having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, […] or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability” (US Constitution).

From my understanding, Colorado is using this Amendment to claim that President Trump engaged in insurrection in the 2020 Election and on Jan. 6, 2021, a protest at the U.S. Capitol. One must question whether the 2020 election was a hoax; if Trump was doing shifty business, wouldn’t that mean he would have won rather than Biden? Despite claims that Trump cheated in the election, President Biden won in a landslide with 306 Electoral College votes, while Trump had 232. 

Another topic that has been vigorously discussed is the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Many have argued that Trump was behind these ‘attacks,’ which may be true (who knows). However, political commentator Tucker Carlson brought suspicious footage of police officers escorting rioters through the building to light. Democrats were seen to manipulate the information about the death of police officer Brian Sicknick. Video Linked Here. With this knowledge in mind, can President Trump be prosecuted for these ‘rebellions,’ or is he innocent? If he is clear, it would not be Constitutional for any state to prohibit his ballot.

Although you may see this situation in a completely different way, you must look out for the future of our country. Democracy is being lost with the power of the states increasing while our voices are being quieted. We, the country’s future, must protect democracy, free speech, and the Constitution.

Books about presidential elections are available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. They are also available to download for free from Libby.