Old Nostalgia List 6th Grade -Bo2, titanfall, destiny,ghosts, shadow of mordor -Soccer, indoor team -Christian Music Lee dying -Church rooftop parkour - Dad's old house + ripsticks -Animazement -Sao, Death Note, Fairy Tail, Naruto, etc. 7th Grade -Cities of the underworld -starting guitar -talking while running -started running track -metal music -Overwatch, Halo 5, BO3, Dying Light, -50 Miler -Boy Scout camp -Saw Movie marathon -Creepypastas -Carowinds -Universal with dad -Quitting soccer - 11/22/61 -The revenant movie -Pokemon GO -Podcasts 8th Grade - started doing cross country -Synth pop and 80’s movies -Cross country camping trip -Cross country seahawk trip -Stopped YT -Drift0r -Ukulele -star wars movies -Neil Breen movie marathon -8th grade track with the guys -8th grade civil war - won it -building a pc -go kart -Playing BO3, Overwatch, and BF1 -Will + Nick Graduate -camping with boy scouts and bojangles -The Dark Tower Series -Ian's Camero -Breaking Bad, Drive movie, the place between the pines, 13 Reasons Why -Running Pacesetters -NF Concert and Rap music Summer Before 9th grade -Beach trip with friends, ran to “La Deevotee” -JO Championship in Kansas with Ahmed and Gabe, Saint Louis -Inspired by Prefontaine -Scraping paint with Ian and podcast -Orlando with dad -CC camping trip -dark Tower Movie -Pressure washing the house -All Sports Camp - Star Wars game -Devil’s Tramping Ground -Foreigner concert -Breaking Bad and Coffee -Food Truck festival -Mountain camping trip with family (We watched two horror movies and the Twilight Zone)
Devil’s Tramping Ground After planning this camping trip for a couple of months, Jackson and Davidson Dew, along with my brother Ian and I, decided to go to the Devil's Tramping Ground in Chatham County. It is rumored to be haunted by the Devil himself and all around spooky. We got there and our tent did not pitch, as we had forgotten the correct poles for it. At around 10:00 at night, Davidson and I, who had been sleeping while our brothers were taking the first watch, were awoken and told that the Dew's mom had found out about the trip and wished for them to come back, as she thought it was unsafe. So, we packed everything up and headed out and just as Jackson puts on his seat belt, we here a loud WHOOSH, and a red truck swerves to a stop right in front of us. The drivers side opened right before the truck had even stopped moving and whoever was driving (I couldn't make them out) stepped towards the car, but not before Jackson threw it into gear. We were out of there in 60 and didn't slow down until we hit the highway. I don't know who it was that drove the truck, but I know that if we had been ready just a minute later than we were, we would have been absolute toast. Overall it was a great adventure and camping trip.
Foreigner Concert 8/6/17 Ian and I went with the Dews to go see Foreigner and Cheap Tricks. It was an amazing concert and reminded me of why I love the band. They played some truly great hits like "Cold as ice" and "Jukebox Hero" and even some lesser known but great jams like "Double Vision". We had grass seats so there was a lot of smoke, but that did not take away from the concert at all. I enjoyed it a ton.
Junior Olympics National Championsip We rode up to saint louis on the first day. We were told not to sneak out but we did anyways, we took some pictures with monuments and stuff and ended up in a bar that I led us to because I thought it was a good pizza place. The owner kept his eye on us because he was 90% we were underage just tryin to get alchohol. We saw the arch the very next day and finished the drive kansas The 4x800 was decent, I didnt run particularly well. Ahmed, Gabe, Ian, and I were in the same room the whole week. We went to a mall in Topeka and went to Petland and champion sports to just waste some time. They had some cute puppies and a cute girl who did not look 16 but was 16. She asked for our snap so that was nice. Ahmed was trying ti get laid the night before the 3000 so he fitnessed some condoms. Nothing really happened though. We got bored so we slapboxed for a while and by the morning had to leave a twenty on the counter for the housekeeper, on account of the bloody towel. I ended up gettung four or five hours of sleep, which was all i needed. I ran the 3000 in 10:04, a pr. I was very close to breaking nine minutes. I was the most nervous I had ever been that moment. A lot of little details happened, and those moments are what made the trip fun. We stayed in a hampton the last night and then headed home.
NC State Track meet I ran in the 3000 15-16 boys event. It was my first time and I was nervous and worried that I was out of shape, having missed so many practices. I hoped to make the top 8 that was needed to qualify for the regional meet. I was supposed to come in 5th with my previous times, but when the race ended, I was in third behind Gabe, and with a 20 second lead on the people behind us, so overall I am very happy with it.
Family Visits Galax Grandparents 6/14/17 Today was Father's Day so my brother, my mother, and I headed up to the mountains of VA to Galax to visit my grandfather, Grandsam for the holiday. We had a good lunch of pancit and humba with some bread and coffee. We looked at some family pictures that are as old as 1931 at the oldest and as current as 1990. We started at my mother's childhood pictures, and went onto the Luague family, which has a fairly well-documented history. My great-grandfather died when my grandfather was 11 so there were only a couple of pictures of his. I saw my aunts Emma, Aurora, and Betty. I learned more about my would be great-uncles Illuminado and Pepe Luague. Pepe was supposedly the brightest of the family, but let Betty go to college to become a dentist first because she was older, and he deemed it fair. he was the only one allowed to weigh in on family decisions, even though he was not the oldest. When he was 15 (my grandfather was 5 at the time) and the japanese were occupying the Philippines, he would sneak out of their hiding place in the jungle and go down the river in a canoe to get supplies. He would be frightened not only of the Japanese, (and their boats that go put-put-put) but the crocodile-infested water. He died when Grandsam was 11, and was buried in manila, and since the rest of the family was not present, was buried at a funeral of about 5 people, including my grandfather. He died of Hepatitis, something that people in that time should have not died from. 16 days later, my great-grandfather died. Illuminado is now dead, but had a daughter named Nancy who now lives in Long Beach. My grandfather graduated from the University of Philippines in 1965 and went to the United States in 1966, and the rest is history. He met my grandmother, whose family did not approve of their daughter marrying a filipino at first, and they had my mother and uncle. It was a great time, but it is good to know my family's history and my relatives. My grandfather wants us to go to the Philippines at least once, as he is 77 and my grandmother is younger, but they want to do it as part of their retirement. It was a great Father's Day, and not once did I even have to think of my father, but I celebrated my family and had a great time.
Beach Trip 6/6/17 Had a really fun time at the beach with Sean, Stanton, and Cody. I still woke up every day a t eight to run, but every day was just the stereotypical vacation, which is amazing. I have never been in such a large house before, it's crazy and I have a lot of respect for Mr. Finan to be able to afford all of that. IT was a big change up for me haha. Had a lot of fun; can't wait to do it next year.
NF Concert 5/19/17 I saw NF, a rapper, with my friends Jackson and Stanton last night. it was excellent. They patted us down when we got in, but the venue was really small, so were were really close to him. He was awesome. Kyd the Band opened for him, and they are an absolutely tiny band, they didn't even have any cd's yet, only 3 songs on their website www.kydtheband.com/ . It was an awesome night, but I am really exhausted.
5/16/16 To the seniors that helped me more than they know, Will and Nick, this is for you, Nick Chrapelwry, Thank you for being an inspiration for me, and I know you get that a lot. You showed me what someone can achieve if they put their mind to it. Sleeping only 4 or 5 hours must be rough, but you got that scholarship and ran track and cross country and made a friendship with me. You stopping by the house at night was a very welcome surprise. You and I are very different in most ways but have a lot in common in personality. You weren’t my assigned Merriwood senior but you might as well have been. I learned that day at Merriwood to be more open to people, and that has helped me in the last couple of months in every facet of my life. You also opened me up spiritually, and after reading “Heretics” I was forever changed. You are talented musically, athletically, and academically. You live a healthy life. I can’t wait to see what you will be up to in these coming years. I will see you, though; you going to Duke is something that worked out well for everyone, and I’m sure your mother is happy that you did. I have a feeling that I will be seeing you frequently, as you are fairly local, and will be for the next 4 years, and by then, I will be graduating, and who knows where I will go. You possess something that I don’t: a straight goal, a known purpose and pursuit. You put your mind to the medical field, and you must’ve known that you wanted to do that for a long time. The founding of the IYNA and your involvement in it astounds me. I have a feeling that one day it will be very well known. You could tell me exactly what you wanted to do, achieve, and accomplish. I can’t say the same for me. But overall, thank you for the time you’ve invested in me, and I will be seeing you again. Will Wright, Thank you for showing me one of the most important lessons that I should have ever learned. You showed me how to be happy. You always seem to have a never-ending stream of optimism no matter what situation we’re in. You can be angry, but there’s always a sort of fire underneath it. You are universally liked at are humble school, and it’s difficult to do. You can win over absolutely anyone, and noone has anything to negative to say about you. You were so humble when it was announced that you were actually the valedictorian. You showed me social skills that I would have never known. That it was ok to get fired up and talk fast about something, and it was ok to put yourself out there, and to open up and give your honest opinion. You might not have known it, but you driving me to track practice every day was a big deal for me. The fact that a senior cared enough to ask me, an eighth grader, to ride with him and hang out with him was incredibly humbling and kind. You cared about my taste in music, and we shared a common bond over that. Death Cab For a Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” will stay with me for years to come. Thanks for willing me “all your playlists”. You didn’t care about wearing fancy clothes, or going to a fancy school, you wanted to have fun, go places, meet people, and experience everything. You weren’t afraid to be yourself and state your mind. Luckily you were someone that everyone wanted to know. You also taught me more about politics than I would have gotten in 10 years at this school. You were unapologetically leftist, a democrat, and at our school, a heretic. You thought outside of the bubble of our right-wing upper-class school. Both you and Nick were Democrats and Catholics, and Wesleyan was not a fan of that, But Will, that didn’t stop you from believing what you believed. I know it hurt when you were denied being a Merriwood senior, and I would have killed to have you there. You showed me how to be my own person, and that was something I desperately needed. Goodbyes are hard but I am lucky to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. There is one thing that I am absolutely sure of. You two will have fun, experience things that anyone else would kill for, and go very, very, far in life.