Aidan Graham 's blog

I am the type of person that loves music. I always am listening to music weather that’s during school, at home, or in the car. There is so much music and I am not picky about anything. I like all types and know that each and every song has meaning behind it and can relate to people.

1. Don’t stop believing- Journey:
   Throughout this song they tell you over and over again to never stop believing. This relates to me in many ways because no matter what I am doing weather that is during a football game or at home do something, I never stop believing and never give up and get to my goal. This song stands out to a lot of people because of how popular it is and everyone likes it.

2. Be Yourself – Trippie Redd:
This song is a little explicit but this is a song that tells you to just be yourself and do what you want. Trippie Redd has a lot of songs with messages to just be who you are and not care about what others think. This connects to me because I am always trying to be myself and try not to care what others think.

https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/quinn-xcii/life-must-go-on-g1b857154.html

3. Life Must Go On- Quinn XCII:
This song was not on you tube and not a lot of people know about this but this is a really good song by an artist that is not really know. This artist has a lot of music with meaning and Life Must Go On talks about how you need to move on with your life and if something bad happens you just need to continue. It also talks about how you need to move on with your life and not just live in one moment. You have to continue your life and live it at the fullest and that is what I always try to do. Here is some of the lyrics of the song.

‘Cause life must go on (go, go on)
One blink, then it’s all gone
I said life must go on (go, go on)
Even when you know it’s all wrong
Whether you’re high, whether you’re low
Gotta keep on, be a part of the show
I said life must go on (go, go on)

4. Free- Zac Brown Band:
This song represents a lot and how we are free in life and we can do what we want. This goes to the bigger picture of everyone in american including me as well. Also it talks about being free as kids and we can have fun and do what we want and that relates to me.

5. Happy- Pharrell Williams:
This is just a very happy song and will most likely get you in a good mood. As the title of the song says, this song is telling you to just be happy and have a good time and this relates to me because whenever I get the chance I am trying to have a good time and live life the best that I can possibly can.

 

State Championship

The game that will never be forgotten
The tingling sensation in the bones
The stands packed with fans
Our team, orange and blue, going for a state championship

Warming up and getting pumped to play
Remembering everything we worked for
Get into a huddle for a pre-game speech
Break it down, one last time: 1, 2, 3 HUSKIES

 

 

If you live in american and watch football your are most likely to play football at some point in your life, whether that is playing in the backyard with your friends or playing for a team. I started playing football in second grade and am still currently playing. During football I have learned respect, leadership, teamwork, and that I have people by my side no mater what.

Specifically to me, I have been around football for as long as I remember and it is something I talk about a lot. My dad played college football and now coaches football and the same school I go to. Not knowing if this was a bad or good thing he was actually my sophomore football coach, and more specifically he coached my position group. Everyone always asks me if I liked it or not and honestly I thought that it was fun. I spent more time with him than I probably ever have and that’s what football is about. Its about the relationships you have with the coaches and players because if you look back at it our record was 2-7.

Just like in the chapter “Lives of the dead” by Tim O’Brien I learned that people go through a tough time and have to overcome their problems. Something that I always thought about was I being pressured into playing football? Sometimes I thought about was I only playing to make my dad happy? When I was little I really enjoyed playing but now that I get older it seems like it takes a lot of time. I feel like for every sport you cant wait for it to be over but at the end of the season I am always glad I played because I will have memories for the rest of my life. Currently I am on JV and this year we old had 2 games. We practiced for basically 9 months and it upstarted a lot of people and it made a lot of people quit the team. Next year I know it will be different because I will be a senior and I will probably play but when I look back it, I’m glad I played because there was nothing else I would have rather been doing.

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Football has changed me for the better in every way. Our coach always talks about how we are leaders and how people look up to us and its the little things that we do that make a difference. Every adult can probably agree that the more things you do in high school the more memories and the more fun it will be. My dad always has a lot of story’s of football whether that was when he was a kid or when he was in college. I wish I could have seen videos of him playing because he seemed to be pretty good.

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I have so many memories and funny story’s during football. Now that the seniors are graduating I have to write a speech for one of the players. This player has been one of my best friends over the season and I am going to miss him a lot. This shows during football you make friends that feel like family and nothing can take that away. Just like in the book we read for class Tim O’Brien was very sad when the girl he was friends with forever past away because over being with that person everyday and all of a sudden that person is gone.

Football is a sport that will soon be gone and it is honestly sad. 2 years ago all the junior highs in district 203 have converted to flag football because they are trying to prevent injuries such as concussions. There are people that are trying really hard to stop football at the high school levels as well and it is kind of working. The numbers of people that are playing keep on going down every year and eventually there wont be enough people to play. This is sad because they are taking away kids fun and the experience of football that I had and I am glad that I had. Injuries come with every sport and if people want to play the sport they should be able to play.

 

As you can see, I have grown up on football and it has been around me for as long as I remember. It made me who I am today and without it I wouldn’t be the same. I am glad that I was able to play my entire life and I am still not sure if I will decide to play in college. In my mind I feel like I don’t want to, but I don’t want to regret not playing when I get older. Eventually I will figure out the answer for the next stage of my life

 

 

 

Courage: The ability to do something that frightens one. This is googles definition of courage and as you can tell it is a different than Tim O’ briens, the author of The things they carry.” Talking about courage O’Brien says “it comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance , and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest” (38). To him courage is not the extreme bravery it is doing good and basically being able to stay alive in the war. Obviously there are many reasons why Tim O’brien has a definition of courage and the biggest reasons is war. War was a scarring memory for people and being able to fight was the norm and it didn’t take courage. 

If I had to define courage I would say that it is being able to do something that you don’t feel comfortable with and being able to get through it. Sometimes it is really hard for people to gain the courage to be able to do something and that’s how it is. I feel like now I would never have the courage to jump into a war and go kill people. Back during this time period people were being drafted and being forced into doing this. Im sure that they didn’t want to do it either but they had to man up and have the courage to jump in and fight for the country.

As talked about in the chapter PTSD was very common during this time. PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The reason for this being so common during this time period was because young men were being thrown into the war and they saw blood, death, and violence right at their feet, and it is hard to recover from that. In our generation we have people that we can talk to about our problems such as psychiatrists and it lets us get through our problems. At the time of the war nobody knew what it was and there was nobody to talk to, so people committed sucide. As you can see, the times have changed so much and the courage that people had back during the war was high because they knew that if they went in, they would come out a completely different person and maybe even with a mental disorder.

Overall Courage is something that everyone needs to get through problems. Everyone has a different definition of courage and since the war it has changed a lot. I never grew up with war so I could never picture myself being by that and to have the courage to fight, I couldn’t. Tim O’brien did a great job displaying courage during this chapter and it shows because he had experience.

 

In the chapter Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong we read about a soft and innocent girl named Marry Anne Bell who changed throughout her time in Vietnam to a hardcore predatory killer. There is nothing wrong with being a woman going into war but the chances are you will not come out the same. War can change anybody from being soft because of what you see and have to go through during these terrible times. Vietnam was very violent and there are gruesome pictures to show for it.

Since Mary Anne was always around men during the war and she had to change her lifestyle she started to become like one. Tim O’brien shows how she cut her hair and started wearing camo and that is completely different because at the beginning of the chapter he says that she has long hair and wear pink dresses. I believe that if you are with men everyday trying to survive and having to kill people you are not going to come back the same. This is the same in today’s society. We are not really around war but if we do something that we are not comfortable with and we keep doing it we will eventually change and be fine doing it.

Even though Mary Anne was very tough during the war she hated the sight of blood and hated seeing death and that could traumatize a person. A problem that was occurring this time period was PTSD; standing for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD was very intense for this time period because nobody knew how to deal with it. Nobody had anybody to talk to so when they would get stressed out some people would kill themselves. This was very sad because they risked their lives to fight in war and it ruined their lives.

Overall Mary Anne made a dramatic change from being a normal, innocent, soft girl to being a hard core killer that wore dark clothing. I think that in today’s society, anybody can change but during the war it was easier. War was very harsh and had an impact and people. Nobody came out the same after the war and that is what war can do to a person.

 

Hi, my name is Aidan Graham. I am currently a junior at Naperville North High School. I play football and lacrosse for the school. In the winter I also lift for football off-season. I have been playing football since 2nd grade and I started playing for the St. Raphael Football League.

Along with football I played soccer for a while as well. It got to hard to do two sports so I cut it too one and I chose football. In the winter I played basketball but I stopped playing in 5th grade. In the spring I played baseball and I stopped playing because our school didn’t have a team and I did track. When high school came I hated track so I started playing lacrosse for the first time. Overall I really liked it and now it is one of my favorite sports. For fun I hang out with my friends and family. I normally play a lot of basketball or just hang out at someones house. Every once and a while I will skateboard. I find it fun but I just don’t have the time to get good at it. One of my hobbies when I was a kid is that I started collecting football cards and now I have a huge stash of them. I don’t really look at them anymore but it is still something cool that I have. When I am at home and I want to relax I will watch TV, movies, or play video games. My favorite Netflix show is All American, it is about a high school football player from a bad neighborhood that has to deal with some problems. I watch a lot of movies so I do not exactly have a favorite When I play video games I normally play GTA with my friends.

I am part of a family of 4 not including my dog. I have one brother who is a sophomore and a dog named Willie. Willie is a Miniature Schnauzer and is about to turn 11 years old. Something that is interesting about me is that my dad works at the same school that I go to. He was my P.E teacher for a semester one year and was my football coach sophomore year. At times its weird but for the most part it is pretty normal. My favorite food is a steak burrito from Taps. I go there after every football game and sometimes on the weekends. It is only good if you get it with guacamole and sour cream. If I am not in the mood for a burrito I will probably get mac n cheese from Noodles and company. I am not exactly sure what I where I want to go to college yet or what I even want to do when I get older. I know that is important and that I am going to have to make a decision soon but when the time comes I will probably figure it out. Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope you come back to read the next one.