Season Review: Winter

Winter is my least favorite season of the year. It doesn't even start for a month, but I'm already feeling all the annoyance it will bring. Here's my review of Winter.

Problems with Winter:
1. Shorter days
I think this is the most overlooked downside of winter. While the cold temperatures make outdoor activities harder, at least you have the time to do them, right? In winter daytime hours, not really. The sun setting at 4:30 in the afternoon is killer. I usually stay around Uni until five when my parents pick me up, and nowadays it gets a little dark before then. Personally, I think it's a little dangerous to walk around some parts of campus when it's dark, so I'm basically forced to stay indoors.
2. The cold
While feeling cold is certainly not the best, there are more significant implications of cold weather, as it prevents me from doing certain activities. There are multiple outdoor activities that are either impossible or more difficult in colder weather. In my free time, I'll often go to one of St. Joe's town parks and shoot a soccer ball around for a while. I'd say this activity is perfect in 65-70-degree temperatures, as that's a perfect balance between hot and cold. If it's too hot, you become sweaty within minutes, and thirsty as well. Bringing along a drink is a bit of a pain, so I'd often run a bit to a water fountain. On the other hand, running around in cold weather isn't nice either. You have to wear more heavy clothes, put on a hat, and even then, you still feel the cold. Sometimes in Winter, it's impossible to play due to snow. In extremely cold temperatures, soccer balls can freeze, becoming hard rocks that hurt to kick.
Running is another activity significantly bogged down by winter. While it's still very possible, it becomes much more of a pain. I like running mostly for the feeling of just gliding along, and that's best when I only need a t-shirt and shorts on a warm summer night. On freezing cold winter nights however, I must bundle up. Running around with ten pounds of jackets on you isn't the most pleasant experience. 
Most importantly, Winter makes eating out on campus less enjoyable. Walking around and exploring campus, and often its restaurants, is a great thing to do after school (or even during school). In the warm and pleasant months of august and September, I'd be on campus for over an hour every single school day, even though I'm not enrolled in a U of I class this semester. There's a lot to see even having been here for four and a half years. Going out to eat on campus is also a fun way to hang out with friends during school, even if it's a bit pricey sometimes. With winter inbound, however, I don't see myself going out to eat as much. Instead, I'll be sitting in Seibel or Grainger library after school, most likely wasting my time.
3. The sickness
The worst of flu season is about to get underway, and it'll last until March or so. I don't think there's much explanation needed here, as everyone knows being sick sucks.


However, there are a few nice things about winter:
1. Winter starts when finals end
The feeling of being done with finals is close to ecstasy. To know that you have no responsibilities for school for two full weeks; it's a feeling of freedom like no other. 
2. The looks
Even though it happens every year, seeing the entire landscape covered in white is quite a change of scenery. In particular, it's a great feeling to wake up, look outside your window, and see the blanket of snow outside.
3. Snow Days
Although they are exceedingly rare at Uni High, snow days are always events worthy of celebration. I remember nights where I'd wait around in anticipation for the telltale snow-day phone call that the school sends out. Snow days are truly a blessing, and having the weight of homework and tests lifted off your shoulders temporarily is great.

UIUC Reddit

Now that the November 1 college app deadline, Camacho's calculus test from hell, and the soccer season have all passed, I admittedly have more free time than I know what do with on my hands. And, not much of that time goes to productive things: Watching Youtube, K-dramas, scrolling through my Instagram feed for longer than I'd like to admit. Most recently, I've spent a lot of time browsing the UIUC subreddit.

The thing that makes the UIUC reddit so enjoyable is how ridiculuous it is. UIUC is a prestigious college, with certain programs like engineering and computer science being highly-ranked nationally. However, the school's subreddit doesn't reflect that academic prestige, at least for the most part. Most recently, for example, was the "Morgan" craze. Apparently, a student named Morgan had skipped the lecture section of a history class five times in a row, and would receive a failing grade class if he skipped again. Dozens of posts were made dramatizing the situation, such as this one:



Another thing I find interesting about the subreddit is that it gives me some insight into what some UIUC students are really like. While I've walked around this campus for the last four years plus seeing thousands of students, they might as well have been robots from my point of view. I haven't spoken to any college students enough to know what they're like. In this subreddit, you can see even the most supposedly high-achieving CS or Engineering students cracking stupid jokes. I find that pretty funny.

On top of the jokes, the reddit is also useful for finding information on various university courses. Recently, my friends and I have been trying to find easy general education requirement-satisfying courses at U of I to take in the spring, and there are dozens of posts listing easy classes, or comments describing the course load for a particular course. I also used the reddit to look at potential majors, as I applied to the college November first. I was completely undecided, and so i was considering just applying as undeclared, but I'd heard mixed things about the program.

The subreddit is also a great place to find out more about campus in general. If I want to know how good a certain campus restaurant is, I can find a dozen reviews on it within a minute or two of browsing around.

Weed Warrior

One distinct childhood memory I have is my dad bringing a sack of dirt home. When I first saw it, I was completely confused. So was my mother, especially when he put some dirt in the oven. It turns out he brought the dirt home to test its fertility. Well, you're probably wondering where he got the dirt. He had gone out to Homer, Illinois and dug up some dirt from a seven-acre plot of land he was potentially going to buy. At the time, I didn't think much of this. 

My dad, satisfied with the quality of the soil and the price of the land, purchased the land in early 2011. He then began planning out what he wanted to do with it. I remember seeing pieces of graph paper in his office with a map of the land mapped out. His large-scale plan was to create an orchard of sorts, with many types of fruit-bearing trees, primarily Chestnut trees.

 However, it wasn't going to be easy. The first year of the land was a complete disaster, in fact.  My dad had slightly underestimated something- weeds. Without the various strong herbicides that the previous owners had used, all hell broke loose. Every square foot of those seven acres was covered in ten-foot-tall monstrous woody weeds. Trying to pull them out by hand was no use- there were simply too many.

So, my dad loaned the most badass lawnmower he could find from "Awesome Machines" here in Champaign. Sadly enough, even that monster didn't stand a chance against the weeds from Hell- the blade became bent, rendering it completely ineffective. My dad was quite pissed- I think he was forced to buy a replacement blade. I remember him having an argument of sorts with an employee there. The employee said there's no way weeds could bend a metal blade. I think my Dad said the blade was dull when he rented the machine.

Regardless, my dad had been able to mow down most of the weeds. Not all of them, however. I don't remember how we fully solved the weed problem. However, one method we tried at the time was using gardening hoes. I remembering swinging a hoe like it was a baseball bat (not the best form). I kept at it for what seemed like hours, cutting down weeds left and right. My brothers were working alongside me, doing the same. Unfortunately, we weren't really being careful and checking what was around us. Eventually, my luck ran out. I had just completed a swing, and so I began bringing the blade of the hoe above my head to swing again. There was one problem- my brother Charlie's head was in the way. The blade connected with his head and he yelled out in pain. My dad immediately ran over and scolded me for being such a careless idiot. Feelings of guilt and fear swept over me- was my brother going to be OK? We rushed to the car, and Charlie found some paper towels that he stuck to his head- they turned red with blood. Strangely, however, I don't remember him crying, even though I definitely was. Anyways, the cut turned out to be fairly minor. My brother didn't even need stitches. Still though, the cut stays with him today. A small bump on his scalp remains from an incident that happened years ago.

My Favorite Campus Restaurants

Having ran out of ideas, I've decided to make my next blog on the one topic everyone's interested in: food. Here's a list of my favorite campus restaurants.
This list is obviously super subjective, and I've only eaten once at a few of the places. I've also not eaten at every restaurant on campus, so your favorite restaurant might not be on here.


8. Wendy’s
I’ve only eaten a meal at Wendy’s once, and I wasn’t too impressed. I got a soggy mayo chicken sandwich for around $5 when I could get the equivalent or better at McDonalds for half the price. Anyways, I didn’t put Wendy’s on here for the sandwiches. Wendy’s is here because of the fifty-cent frosty deal, a true blessing. While the fifty-cent frosty is the “small” size, it’s comparable to a medium or perhaps even a large size at Dairy Queen, where the same amount of soft serve ice cream would cost you four or five dollars. While the deal is over now, it was great while it lasted- I remember one week where I got one every day.
7. Potbelly
If I was asked to describe Potbelly in two words, it would be “upgraded subway”. I’d rate the sandwiches to be slightly better than subways, and the place in general is more pleasant to sit down and eat at. Plus, if I remember correctly, the shop has some unique sodas.
However, one piece of advice: there’s a mystery orange pepper that has some next level spice. Don’t add it to your sandwich.
6. Subway
While Potbelly's sandwiches taste better, Subway has a key advantage: price. There’s usually some type of sale going on (a few years back, I vaguely remember the meatball sandwich being around two bucks, which is a steal). Currently, they have some six-inch sandwiches for $3. Paying double the price at Potbelly isn’t worth the small upgrade.
5. Ozu Ramen
Ramen has a reputation as being cheap and low quality but tasty. So, when I decided to eat there during the summer, I was expecting to get a decent bowl of noodles for five bucks or so. I was wrong- this restaurant is the closest thing to fine dining in the Green Street area. It’s a dark but clean sit-down restaurant that serves water in mason jars. I walked in hoping for a cheap meal, and I left feeling the loss of thirteen dollars plus tip. To be fair, the soup is quite good. I recall ordering “spicy miso” which was, to my surprise, actually spicy. Apart from the noodles themselves, the dish had tender beef and a tasty mushroom I don’t know the name of.
4. Panda Express
Panda Express is the most convenient restaurant on Green Street. It’s pretty close to Uni, and as I discovered one day, possible to eat at during lunch period without missing a fifth period class. With the buffet style, you can get your food in two minutes and be on your way. The prices are reasonable as well; a plate of a side and two entrees costs around seven bucks.
However, I’m not the biggest fan of Panda Express. Firstly, there’s little variety, with only fifteen or so dishes to choose from. After going there a dozen times, the food has become somewhat tasteless.  Secondly, the food is very Americanized, which is to be expected with a large chain in America. For example, the Orange Chicken dish, which I’d say is sweet.
3. Cravings
This might be a controversial pick, as Cravings was shut down over what I believe to be food safety issues a couple years back. Regardless, I find the food to be quite tasty. In comparison to Panda Express, Cravings has a larger and more diverse menu. The food is also a little less Americanized and sweet. Something I learned a while back is to always ask for your food to be “spicy”. When I asked for spicy Mongolian Beef, I got almost an entirely different dish than the regular Mongolian Beef, and it tasted a lot better.
Personally, what sets Cravings apart from Panda the most is the rice. All dishes come with plenty of plain white rice, instead of Panda Express where you can only have fried rice.
2. Niro’s Gyros
Niro’s Gyros is an almost shabby restaurant that’s mostly a drive-thru. The seating area inside can fit a full four people, and it’s not exactly pleasant as you’ll be eating within a couple feet of the owner yelling out orders.
While Niro’s Gyros specializes in making the messy, drippy Greek Gyro, I’m there for the best food deal on campus: two Chicago-style hot dogs and a sack of fries for $4. Four dollars at Cracked would get me some tater tots. The hot dogs aren’t out-of-this-world good or anything, but they’re comparable to hot dogs you’d get at a good hot dog joint in Chicago, having plenty of mustard, sweet pickle relish, and two sport peppers. On top of that, they’re technically a dollar each if you get the deal, which is a deal no other campus restaurant can compete with.
1. Jib Bap
This place is literally an upgraded Korean version of Panda express. There are around twenty items on the menu, which are all served in a large paper bowl (a lot larger than Panda Express's bowl by the way). Prices range from around seven to nine dollars. Other than price and quantity, there are a few excellent qualities of this restaurant. Firstly, you always specify how spicy you want your food (mild, sorta mild?, spicy, extra spicy) which helps people avoid sweet food (don't worry though, none of the food is *that* spicy). Secondly, the dishes I've ordered all had rice, noodles, and lettuce as well as meat. This is nice, especially compared to Panda Express where you're only given one side. Lastly, there's one table with comfy chairs.

Country Roads

Summer vacation is around two months long. Two months is quite a long time, and I definitely didn't have enough scheduled activities to make me busy even half the time. One day, after realizing I was watching a YouTube video I'd seen a dozen times before, I decided that I needed to get off my butt and do something. I just wasn't sure what. I needed something that would make me feel accomplished. After a bit of thinking, I remember what I'd done in the previous spring break when I was faced with the same situation- biking to Royal with my younger brother Charlie.

It might seem a bit random and pointless, but I think this activity was perfect. Royal is around eleven miles away from my St. Joseph, where I live. Eleven miles is pretty far away, but it's close enough to see the Royal's grain elevators. Long story short, my brother and I biked there and back that day. 

With summer break, I had a lot more time. So, I decided that I would bike to every small town around St. Joseph. There are plenty of these small towns- Ogden, Sidney, Philo, Homer, and Royal are the closest ones. I made it to most of them by the end of the summer.

There are a few things that made each trip fun. Firstly, my brother and I had to plan out a route. It might sound simple, but we had a problem. We couldn't ride our bikes on the various county and state highways that were the most direct paths to each town. So, we had to find more complicated paths ourselves. Some of these roundabout ways added a lot of distance; in one case, our trip's length doubled from ten miles to twenty miles (screw you, Homer Lake Road, for not having any convenient 4-way intersections every mile). Planning out these routes made us feel almost professional in a way.

Once we had a route planned, and found a time that worked for both of us, my brother and I hopped on our bikes and began the journey. Our trips mostly went like this: we would first head directly for the Kickapoo rail trail, a ten mile gravel bike and walking path connecting St. Joseph and Urbana. We'd ride on that for a few miles, then turn onto some unused country road.

Country roads are actually very enjoyable to ride on, which even I found surprising. Every time my family goes on a long road trip, my Dad takes the "scenic" route- basically just going on slow country roads instead of the interstate. As a passenger in a car, this is frustrating, as it's just more time where I'm either extremely bored or half-sleeping uncomfortably. My dad always says "look out the window. It's very interesting". I personally don't find endless rows of corn and soybean fields interesting.

However, something about those boring country roads changed when I rode on them with my bike instead. I could actually feel the environment around me: the scorching summer sun, the heat coming from the bubbling tar roads, but also the occasional refreshing breeze and the pure smell of country air. And for some reason I can't explain, endless rows of corn and soybeans began to look sort of cool. Maybe it's just the sheer scale of it all. On top of that, I felt that I was actually accomplishing something. Sitting in the car makes me feel extremely unproductive. 

Most importantly though, there is something really satisfying about seeing a familiar landmark from far away. For instance, when I went to Royal, I remember being a few miles out and looking back at St. Joseph's water tower. I could barely see it, and just thinking of how far away I was from home made me go "wow". It's hard to get the same feeling biking or running around in a city, as you can't see where you started.
While it may sound boring or pointless, biking on country to roads to a no-name small town in the middle of nowhere can be quite fun.