James Week 16: Looking Back on Junior Year

When I look back on my junior year, I see a flood of amazing memories. I’ve learned so much, I’ve made so many new friends, and I’ve had so much fun. A part of me wants to relive junior year. As I wrote in my last post, I’m not ready for summer to start. I want to continue learning, continue making new friends, continue having fun. 

But I also realize that I should take a step back. 

Welcome to Suju's, which has been my home for
the past 6 months (Source: Yelp).
During junior year, I felt sleep deprived, overworked, and overstressed. I had no time on the weekdays (play rehearsals would eat up most of my free time), so I would spend my weekends at Suju’s, racing to finish all my work before Monday morning. At one point, I even kept a log of how much time I spent at the coffee shop. Over the course of 14 weeks, I logged over 140 hours at Suju’s (the actual figure is probably much higher—I forgot to log my hours on a good number of days). All that time, I was working on my POAS paper, finishing math homework, and completing AP Chem review logs. I felt like I was stuck in a hamster wheel, continually racing to finish the next task. 

Now, for the first time in forever, I actually have free time. At first, I had no idea what to do with this. It felt hard to stop, to sit back and settle down. For the past ~9 months, I’ve been working, chasing, running. But now? I can actually start LIVING. 

I put COLOR in my outfit!
Exciting, I know.
This month, I started biking again—going up and down the paved section of the Alameda Creek Trail. It took some time to regain my stamina, but I’m now consistently going on 15-30 mile bike rides while listening to audiobooks, keeping my body and mind in top shape. Just yesterday, I went shopping for new clothes! No more black slacks, polo shirt, and blazer—I’ve made peace with the color wheel and added COLOR to my outfits (a shock, I know). I started playing video games again! I have time to play the Phoenix Wright game that has been sitting on my shelf since Christmas. 

Junior year has taught me so much. I’ve trained my work ethic, time management, and concentration. But I can’t continue reflecting, can’t continue staying in the same old place, can’t continue remembering. I’m going to continue moving forward, improving myself in any way possible. 

I’ll see you all next year.

Comments

  1. Neev TamboliMay 18, 2025 at 2:28 PM

    Hey James, those colorful outfits have to continue into senior year; your personality is too cool and friendly to be in those black and white corporate America blazers and button ups and slacks lol. But overall, I definitely relate to your words in the fact that we're actually going to have time now! I've been looking forward to summer ever since spring break let out, and now that the pearly gates of summer are only less than two weeks away, I long for them so much. I still have four AP exams to take, so that's really not helping my junioritis, but as soon as those and the last few days of school are over, you best believe those video games are coming out of the shelves and the keys to my neighborhood pool are coming out the closet. It was great reading and responding to your blogs for this year, and hopefully we can keep in touch next year.

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  2. Emily UngMay 21, 2025 at 9:46 AM

    Hi James! Feeling constantly sleep deprived, overworked, and overstressed is so relatable. School definitely had us busy almost 24/7 and left with barely any time to do the things we actually enjoyed. I also had rehearsals (for dance) every weekend, so I was usually only free on Sunday, when I’d cram all my unfinished work or studying. It’s crazy that you spent such a long time at Suju’s every week! I feel like almost everyone goes there to study, but I usually can’t find the time to go out with all the dance classes I have. It’s great that you’ve been going on bike rides and trying out new clothes. What kind to audiobooks do you enjoy listening to?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Arnav KheniMay 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM

    Hi James. I have to mention that it was one of my friends that pointed out that you were not wearing your iconic suit anymore. And once I saw it, I could not unsee it. One thing I relate to you with is struggling with the dichotomy. When I used to struggle with being busy, I would think that once I got out of it, there would be so much more I could do and so much more to look forward to. But in part due to it being so difficult in finding any opportunities, I have left this weird sort of cut wound. I feel this weird sense of pain from feeling numb and not doing anything of significance, kind of like an empty wound. But when I think of going back to what I used to do, I cannot comprehend how I used to handle the exhaustion. It feels impossible to do what I used to do again, like skin from both sides being unable to reach and cover the wound (sorry if that is too morbid). Though I can see from your blog that you see this as an opportunity to try out new things. Seeing you write about how you are trying to do minor things (like with your clothes) makes me want to go back to how I used to think before. Something I lost in my junior year was my drive to try out something new, and I think I want to try that now.

    As an endnote, it was nice somewhat getting to know you this year. While we did not talk much, when we shared that table one time, you were a really nice person. So when I saw that I was going to be in your cohort, I was interested in seeing what type of blogs you would write. I remember your blog about the way you were struggling with school and life due to your dad’s hospitalization. It felt painful to comment on that as I felt like my sorries sounded so superficial. But I really meant them, and I am proud and amazed of all the stuff you have accomplished this year from the play to your academics (I mean, you are in AP Chem). So, have a fun break and (maybe) see you next year.

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