Mateo Garcia

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: 

If there was ever a book to read in your free time, it’s definitely this one. With probably one of the longest titles for a book you’ll ever find, this is the story of a man who has been involved with several important historical events over the course of his 100 years of life. Alan Karlsson escapes from his old people’s home to go on one last adventure, and retells everything that he’s experienced. This book is filled to the brim with comedy, history, and surprisingly a lot of action for a centenarian. I absolutely loved this book, and I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. 

You on Netflix:

If you’re not really into bloody murders and psychopaths, this show probably isn’t for you. Otherwise, You is one of the most exciting psychological thrillers, and is definitely on this list. With the third season just coming out pretty recently, the series takes a different approach compared to the last two seasons, and is definitely a thrill to watch.

Die Hard:

Although the holiday season is still a bit away, there’s never a wrong time to watch Die Hard. But for when the time does come, it’s definitely not Christmas without watching John McTiernan’s classic action film. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is the best example of a heroic and great policeman, as he single-handedly rescues hostages from a terrorist group in the most action-packed way possible. And we can’t forget Hans Gruber, who is a greater Christmas villain than the Grinch. The sheer levels of brilliance that Alan Rickman brought to this character makes this movie my all time favourite.

Inka Peru Charcoal Broiled Chicken:

Nothing beats Peruvian food when it comes to cultural Latino cuisine. When I first found out about this restaurant I was skeptical since most Peruvian restaurants don’t live up to the real food back at home, but this restaurant does Peru justice. Ranging from all sorts of traditional dishes such as ceviche, lomo saltado, or arroz chaufa, this place has it all when it comes to Peruvian cuisine. If you ever do go there, make sure to get my personal favourite, chicha morada, I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Cold Showers:

You’ll be surprised when you hear about all the benefits of cold showers: from increasing circulation to reducing muscle soreness and potentially boosting weight loss. I’ve personally started taking cold showers, and I’ll admit it is not an easy thing to do. The
hardest part about it is definitely the mental aspect of showering yourself in cold water. But the best part is that if you manage to overcome that reluctance, you’ll be able to overcome so many more things much more easily.

Devin Radzely

What if…?:

This has to be my favorite show of the year. It’s just incredibly fun. There hasn’t been one bad episode so far. Whether you are just a casual fan of Marvel or like digging deep into lore, you will love What if…?

Extreme Ownership:

I read this book a few years ago but I still think about it to this day. As cliche as it sounds, it changed my outlook on life. Although not for everyone, the philosophy explored in this book really resonated with me. As the name suggests, this book taught me to take more ownership of my actions and particularly of my failures. Through this philosophy, I found that taking responsibility for things allowed me to feel more in control of those things.

Doing your college essays early:

After the many long stressful nights, I can without a doubt say you should start your college essays way earlier than you are currently planning. Even starting my essays well over a month before they were due, I still feel the immense pressure of the looming deadline and the anxiety of feeling my essays might not be good enough. If I could do this all over again, I would definitely finish as many essays as I could over the summer before the stresses of school can add to the stresses of writing the essays.

LEMMiNO:

I am shocked by the extremely high quality content you can find on YouTube nowadays. In my opinion, the channel LEMMiNO is the pinnacle of that high quality content. With a handful of professional level, highly polished hour-plus long documentaries and many other mini documentaries with similar production value, you will be hard pressed to find better produced or more interesting videos on all of YouTube. If you like puzzling and unexplainable stories or information about random but surprisingly interesting topics, you should definitely check out LEMMiNO.

Taking notes on paper:

Last year, with everything being virtual, I took most of my notes online, just typing them in Google Docs. However, this year, with school being back to in-person, I have switched back to writing out notes on paper. I don’t know what it is, but if I actually write the information out, rather than typing it, I just remember it. Although digital notes provide much easier and better organization, paper notes have some intangible benefit (at least to me that is) and I think you should give them a try.