Graduation is coming up in a couple months which means senior year will be coming to a close. Because we are so close to the finish line, many of us just have our minds set on graduating and being done with school. Even though most of us just want to get senior year over with, let’s not forget that we only get to be seniors once and though we may not realize it now, the second semester of senior year has the potential to be one of the best semesters of your life!”

“Grades Don’t Matter Second Semester of Senior Year”

Ok, most of us know that this is only a half truth. Colleges will still look at final transcripts and if your grades really do slip, there is a chance they might rescind you. Hence, grades do matter to a certain extent and we should keep striving to do well in our classes. However, now that college apps are out the window, colleges won’t get the chance to look at your second-semester-senior year-grades since decisions are released before the end of the year. This means that you could cut yourself a little slack and not stress out about earning a single B because it likely won’t have an impact on your college’s decision. Thus, now is the time to breathe and distress because once college started, your grades will matter A LOT MORE. 

Senior Assassins

Now that it’s second semester, it’s time to go wild and be goofy since it’ll be the last time you really get to spend time with your high school friends. Although I am not in assassins myself, I hear from my peers that it’s incredibly fun. The fact that people take it so seriously makes senior assassins a memory that’ll make you snicker 50 years from now. And if you happen to be the one ultimate assassin you just might win yourself some mula! If you want to make some funny memories this semester, senior assassins are the way to go. All it takes is 5 bucks and squirt gun!      

Senior Events

Alas, we can finally participate in the senior events we long coveted to participate in years ago. There is truly a lot to look forward to this semester. Such events include the Senior Fashion Show, the Senior Variety Show, Airband, Senior Celebration, Senior Week, and Prom. All these events are super fun and unique to Naperville North. Really, there is no school that does Airband better than NNHS and we don’t hear about our classmates getting hypnotized in the auditorium everyday do we? Now that we are seniors, we should live the senior life and attend as many senior events as possible because we will only get to be seniors once and these events are the BOMB!

Ditch Days/ PSAT Days/ SAT Days/ Snow Days

Muahahaha. Look at all those underclassmen, stuck in school taking long, awful, boring tests. Now that we are seniors, we get to sit back, relax, and take the day off while these suckers gotta take a test. Oh sweet sweet vengeance. We were all once there too. 

On top of test days, senior year also includes a ditch day. The one ditch day I’m going to go into is the Monday after prom. This is such a notorious ditch day that teachers build their schedules around it so there won’t be much to make up if you choose to ditch. It’s also after finals which gives us a bigger reason to chill as well. What’s nice about having a ditch day the Monday after prom means is that we can spend more time partying and doing after prom activities without stressing about school happening the following Monday. 

Alas, snow days. We haven’t had one yet but in the case we do have one, it wouldn’t matter because we will all be out of here by May 18. Hence, snow days are essentially free days off of school that we don’t have to make up for! Isn’t that sweet? 

Now that I’ve gone through the list of the many reasons why second semester of senior year is the best semester, I hope that y’all take the time to enjoy it and savor every moment. Remember, now is the time when you can go out and have fun with your classmates without the stress you experienced as an underclassmen. Graduation is definitely something to look forward to but don’t lose sight of the perks that make second semester of senior year one you’d want to go back to. 

 

Works Cited

https://media1.giphy.com/media/5n5YCOY8w2caLkNIdr/giphy.gif 

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/978619462537670656/x_45vcBW_400x400.jpg 

https://media0.giphy.com/media/3o7TKAlf31XeTUpXpK/source.gif 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/resizer/LlCJX49AmzEJnPXwVCYuQnkKPg4=/415×233/top/www.trbimg.com/img-5c5b2f35/turbine/ct-1549479730-e9jrta6ilr-snap-image 

 

 

 

If you are vertically challenged like me you’ve probably heard this a million times already: Hey, how’s the weather down there? And you’ve probably rolled your eyes a million times hearing that. But hey, it’s totally ok to be short. In fact , it’s almost like living the high life..ahem…no pun intended. Sure, reaching things might be a bit tough sometimes along with all the teasing but there sure are a lot of perks! If you aren’t already embracing your shortness, it’s about time that you read the blog. Allow me to uncover your eyes and show you the wonders your height could do for you!

Leg Space

Criss cross applesauce? Sitting on a plane? No problem. We’ll make ourselves comfortable in no time. Having shorter legs means we always got a plethora of leg space. This is something that our taller counterparts often envy. Imaging cramming your legs into a tiny space? That must be suffocating. Next time you sit in the back seat of a car or are in an airplane, stretch them legs and savor the feeling of free legs!

Taller Guys

There is no further explanation needed here ladies.

Front Row Seats

Ok, being short means it’s really easy to be blocked in pictures or concerts. However most people will take note of that so you know what that means? You get to go in front! That means you’ll get to be in front of every picture, thus making you the spot light  in every photo. And don’t even get me started  about concerts. You get to be in the very front row! In front of all the action! 

A Shorter Fall

I’m sure there have been times where we all wished that we were 6 ft. But have you ever wondered what it’d be like to fall 6 ft? Being shorter means we are naturally closer to the ground. Hence, there is a shorter fall. Pfft…a shorter fall. Yes it’s a big deal. To feed your inner nerd,  Newton’s third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, being taller means that your head is gonna smash into the ground with a greater force and that the ground is going to smash back at your head with the same amount of force…ouch. I think I’ll go for the shorter fall. 

Discounts

This Friday, I went to the Cinemark  theater in 7 bridges to buy a ticket for the R-rated “ Invisible Man”.  And of course I was greeted with the following question: “Can you show an ID ma’am”. And the best part was that they didn’t bother to check my 6 ft friend was 17. Being on the short end of the spectrum will often land you in these situations. But I’m telling you, it’s not all such a bad thing. Not only should you be flattered that people think you look young but you can use your youthful appearance to win yourself some discounts. If you just lay low and keep quiet about how old you really are you just might snag yourself a cheaper child-priced movie ticket which happened to me on several occasions last year. 

Speaking from a short person’s standpoint, I can certainly say that there is a lot to embrace about being fun sized. Really, who can say no to extra leg space, taller guys, front row seats, short falls, and discounts. But regardless of whatever height you happen to be, every height will have its pros and cons. However, you should love your height because that’s what makes you unique and beautiful! And don’t underestimate the perks your height can bring you. 

 

Works Cited

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/53/09/e5/5309e5d652935f49835e38798dd66878.jpg 

https://66.media.tumblr.com/e5ad89a073044ca0d12c44f5294202fa/tumblr_ncmj2u7ODZ1thtavqo1_500.jpg 

https://media1.giphy.com/media/3o6Mba3ZgAViGsPsf6/giphy.gif 

https://media0.giphy.com/media/VlZ2gfjYNxdVS/giphy.gif 

https://i.iheart.com/v3/re/new_assets/59c6c2fcad0bf4c9f27c8522

 

We all have childhood fears. For some of us, it was the monster in the closet. For others, it was clowns. For those of you who had such fears, you are not alone. As a child, my fears would keep me awake at night. The worst part is that all these fears were “developed”. If you are in need of empathy or up to hearing some hilarious yet frightful stories, I encourage you to read on. 

Generic Aliens 

My grandparents are to blame for this one. Back when I was a kindergartner, my grandparents played a documentary about extraterrestrials. Most of the documentary was probably a hoax but to a 5 year old, everything was true. The documentary was all about people getting abducted and coming back with a strange scar on their wrist. The recreated scenes of the Aliens performing surgery on the abductees were what scarred me the most because I thought it was real. And at that age, I had a low tolerance for seeing blood.  

After watching that documentary I was afraid to go to sleep at night. I would refuse to go to bed unless the light in my bedroom was on. Eventually, there came a point where my dad handed me a mini flashlight and he told me I could turn it on if an Alien ever came to get me and they would run away. For a month, I would sleep with the flashlight on underneath the covers. Unfortunately , my flashlight ran out of battery at a certain point but my fear of abduction eventually dissipated by the time I started first grade. 

Xenomorph Aliens

If something is R rated, there’s got to be a reason behind it. Right around 1st grade, my dad let me watch the movie Aliens with him. The aliens in this movie were far scarier than the human-looking ones I saw in my grandparent’s documentary. These Aliens bled acid blood, drooled acid saliva, penetrated humans with their mouth and tale. But that’s not the part that really scared me. What scared me most were the chest bursters.

 In the movie the Aliens would reproduce by laying eggs. The eggs would eventually hatch and a spider-like creature called a face hugger which  would walk around looking for a host and humans happen to be perfect. Once the face hugger finds its host, it would latch on the host’s through and choke them so they have no choice but to open their mouth and allow for the face hugger to insert a tube down their esophagus to deposit an embryo. The face hugger would eventually die and fall off and the host would regain consciousness for a short period of time. Eventually, the host will fall to the ground, writhing in pain and clutching its stomach. Within moments, a xenomprh Alien will burst out of its chest, covered in blood, and run around killing people. 

After watching that movie, I became paranoid of face huggers latching onto my face when I was unconscious  and depositing an egg in me. My dad did not help me because I would ask him if I had an Alien in me and he would grin and say yes and I would be horrified. One time, my stomach growled when I was about to go to bed and I thought my time had come. I was so distraught and I came to my dad crying because I thought the Alien was going or burst out  my chest and killed me, that’s why my stomach was making sounds. My dad probably rolled his eyes and gave me the “cure” which happened to be an activia yogurt to expel the Alien. Luckily the growling stopped and now I realize I was probably just really hungry. 

Bloody Mary

In second grade there was a boy at my table who was talking about some ghost named Bloody Mary. I didn’t care very much at first but then he went into detail. He said that the ghost would pop in a mirror and rip your face off if you went into a bathroom, locked the door, turned off the lights, and then spun around and said her name three times. 

Since the day I heard about Bloody Mary, I always left the door to the bathroom unlocked when I was using it. I had to be sure that there was a quick escape for me should the ghost ever decide to sneak on me. I continued to leave my door unlocked all through 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade. In those 3 years, I had only walked 3 times. It was until 4th grade that I started locking my door because my nonna walked in on me and gave me a lecture about how I should always lock the door when using the bathroom. 

Just as I was about to overcome my fear, my parents bought me a 6 foot mirror to place in my bedroom and it was on the wall right in front of my bed. For another few months I would struggle to sleep and wrap myself in a blanket  burrito for extra protection. This fear went away by 5th grade after extensive searching on you tube for the Bloody Mary challenge. After realizing   all of ‘em were fake, there was no reason to believe it was real. 

If you ever decide to have kids, please please please do not show them creepy documentaries, R-rated horror movies, or tell them terrifying ghost stories. If you do, be sure to tell them that it is not real because kids are SUPER impressionable. Scaring the crap out of them will keep them from sleeping at night which is very important for their growth. That being said, I hope you got a kick out of my hilarious childhood horror stories. If you ever reflect back on your personal childhood fears, what seemed terrifying must now be terrifically funny.

Works Cited

https://media1.giphy.com/media/sNufDbNmKcRzO/source.gif 

https://i.imgur.com/RAaBOBD.gif?noredirect 

https://media.giphy.com/media/FRQ1Cb5PlXZWE/giphy.gif

Being half Taiwanese, I can’t help but be exposed to some of the most delicious delicacies. Thinking about pork intestines makes my mouth drool…..Huh? You heard me right. I LIKE PORK INTESTINES. And on top of that, I enjoy kidneys and tripe. I can assure you that I am not Hannibal Lecter. The stuff I like is soooo much better than liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. If you are getting sick of the American burger and are up for some adventure, I can guide you in the right direction. 

Spicy Pork Intestines in Savory Hot Sauce

Ok, frankly, pork intestines sound gross but it’s got the most spectacular flavor. The first time I tried intestines, I had no idea that I was eating intestines. My evil dad made me try a piece and wouldn’t tell me what it was until I tried it. I was a little disturbed upon discovering what I was eating but after one bite, I could never go back, one piece of intestine is never enough. I could care less that I was eating intestines after that. 

It’s nice, chewy, and incredibly savory. Pork intestines are UMAMI. The fat coating the interior of the intestine practically melts in your mouth. Oh and we cannot forget about the hot sauce! That sauce will kick start a party of flavors in your mouth. For if you are somebody who loves some spice, this dish is the dish for you. I highly recommend going to Mapo for this dish because it’s so close to Naperville North!

Sauteed Kidneys

I remember sitting in Champ’s class when he asked us if any of us had tried kidney. My hand shot right up along with a few other kiddos. Champ shook his head in disapproval and said it was gross because we were basically eating filter. He is 100% correct. But I was sooo ready to get into a debate to make my point that the deliciousness of kidneys overpowers the grossness of it . 

Kidneys can be sauteed in so many ways. Because Kidney has a neutral flavor, you could saute it in any sauce,spice, and vegetables of your choice. My favorite kidney dish is also at Mapo: nice, crunchy kidney sauteed with crisp bamboo shoots, bell peppers, and black ear fungus seasoned with spicy pepper and soy sauce. Kidney can be made into any delicious combo. On top of that , it has some nutritious benefits. According to https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319229, Kidneys are, “Rich in nutrients and proteins, kidney meat contains omega 3 fatty acids. It is also known to contain anti-inflammatory properties and to be good for the heart”. To all y’all health nuts seeking a nutritious protein source, kidney would be the way to go. 

Steamed Tripe 

First of all, if you don’t know what tripe is, you are missing out buddy. Second of all, its cow stomach. Trust me, tripe is far from bloody cow guts or whatever atrocity your mind may be picture right now. Tripe is something I have been eating since childhood. Back in the day, my parents would drive all the way to a Dim Sum in China Town so we could enjoy this delicacy. Lucky for y’all a dim sum place recently opened a few years ago in Naperville called Min Hin so y’all can try tripe any day. If you don’t know what dim sum is, then you have another reason to venture out and try some good food along with tripe. 

The best part about tripe is its fun texture and shape. Tripe has a crunchy texture, kind of like squid but more brittle. There are a bunch of delicate, dotted flaps attached to it. Like kidney, tripe is tasteless so there is a lot of room for culinary creativity. One of my favorite versions of tripe is Cantonese style steamed tripe you get at a dim sum. The tripe is served right out the steamer on a plate in a wooden box. The ginger sauce that drizzles the tripe is nice, warm, and savory. It’s almost like a soup. The ginger gives the tripe a nice heat and really spices up the tripe. The way this tripe is prepared will be far from tasteless and might even become your go to at a dim sum. If you are up for some dim sum and curious to try something of a new texture in a mouth watering sauce, I suggest you place an order soon!

Again some of these internal organs might sound repulsing but they taste far from that. I encourage you to try them so you can open your palate up for more delicious food you may not have considered before. I am a picky eater so for me to tell you that these dishes are AMAZING, I mean are SPECTACULAR. Now that you have a list of dishes to try, there is no reason to be bored eating the American Burger. Remember, you never know until you try!

 

Works Cited

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319229

https://media.giphy.com/media/26FxJ7t3oj5FEQE7K/giphy.gif 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b5/0d/fe/b50dfedd3d75a517b55fbdd5f7a8f3c4.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/7072/7260450118_f0328e607d_b.jpg

https://chinatown.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/02-Steamed-Tripe-with-Ginger-Spring-Onion.png