It’s actually been a bit longer than I would like between posts. I haven’t felt inspired to write recently. I’ve felt pretty good but there hasn’t really been anything that I’d like to share. Plus, I’ve been busy with school. Finals have been taking up most of my time, but overall they’ve been pretty easy. I’m taking my last final on Wednesday of this week and I’m confident that I’ll do alright. This post will probably be more like a quick update of what I’ve been up to and stuff. Think of it more like a filler episode of your favorite anime. Also, my favorite anime is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood which is where the title comes from. 

I’d like to reflect a little bit about my first semester at college. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Waking up at sunrise three days out of the week didn’t make me miserable like I first thought it would. If anything, I enjoyed it. It’s pleasant. The peace and quiet of the eerie morning stillness welcomed me with open arms. At my house it’s rare when there is complete silence and waking up early allowed me to enjoy a small taste of it. My courses were not out of this world either, they were on par with the courses I took during Senior year. The people I met were pretty cool. Not the kind of people I’d go and hangout with, but during class they were enjoyable to be with. Overall, this semester was a success and I am happy to have taken the leap and gone to college. 

We’re already on the second week of December, and to be honest I already expected to have a most of my Christmas shopping done. That is not the case though, I’m super behind. I’ve already bought a couple gifts like a new game for my brother’s xbox and a graphics card for my other brother. My other siblings pretty much have everything they could ever ask for which makes it difficult to get a good gift. I have a list made out with some gift ideas that I thought of for each member of my family but I think I can do better. Here’s my list, if you guys have any suggestions or gift ideas please let me know. I don’t even know what I want for Christmas at this point. 

My last post I said I was beginning to read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and so far it’s pretty good. I’m not too far into it, but it is vastly different from the past few books I’ve read. I like it though. It is a roman á clef, meaning that it’s a story about real life overlaid with fiction. It’s my first time reading a piece of literature like that. The main characters are American expatriates living in Paris and Hemingway discusses the themes of love and death through them. I wish I would have read this amazing piece a lot sooner. 

Apart from reading, I’ve been spending time on the playstation I bought during Black Friday. I’ve mainly been playing God of War. It is truly a masterpiece. The visuals are beautiful and it has a compelling story. The God of War series has been out for a while, but if you’re just starting with the newest one, you won’t be confused with where the story is at. I love it. I also have a Nintendo Switch, and I definitely need to get the new Super Smash ASAP. I’ve had it on the GameCube, Wii, and 3DS, but now I can smack my friends and family with Kirby on the Switch. I’m hoping someone gets it for me for Christmas, but I’m doubtful that I will. So I’ll probably end up having to buy it for myself after getting everyone on my list gifts. Which is totally fine! Talking about new releases, the trailer for the new Avengers movie also recently. It was funny to see Thanos “T” posing on the Avengers and super tragic to see Robert Downey Jr. running out of oxygen, trapped in space. April of 2019 is going to be exciting. 

If you read to the end, thank you! Sorry if the writing seems a little forced. I haven’t done anything worthy of sharing, but that’ll change soon. I’ve mainly been waiting for the end of my finals to have time for myself. I have been wanting to go see the sunset from the top of South Mountain and I think I’ll finally get to do that this week. If I can, I’ll take pics to post them on here. I’m happy for this semester to be over; I can proudly say that I did it all by myself. I took my math final today and I got a 95% on it. So, that’s awesome. To all of you who completed a semester of college this week or last, congratulations! I am proud of you. I said this post would be something special, so for every like or retweet on my tweet where I linked this post, I’ll be donating $5 to the It Gets Better Project, an organization that provides support to LGBTQ+ youth. December is a time of giving, and this is my way of doing so. Thank you all for reading! Merry Christmas! 

-Jonathan 🙂