Genuinely Giancarlo

Dear friends, it is I. Yes, after all this time, I have returned to the blog. I hope you can forgive the absence, and know that I am really trying to post more. I've been really busy lately and the blog hasn't been my number one priority but fear not: more posts will be coming. Anyway. I bring you this post in a messy way because, like many things in my life right now, my thoughts aren't exactly the most organized things ever. I hope you'll bear with me as I try to straighten myself out through this keyboard I sit in front of. So let's begin. First up: THE END. In one hundred and twelve days, I will be sitting in the UCCU Event Center at Utah Valley University, not only attending but also conducting my high school graduation ceremony. It seems so weird to me that after all this time, the comforting consistency of public school will be in my life no more. Of course, I'm excited to graduate. It will surely be an exciting time and I can't wait to get out in...

For me, the beginning of each new year is always about reflection. What did I do last year? What made me happy? Sad? What do I want to do again? But the most important question I always ask myself about a recently-finished year is this: What did I learn this year? Of course, it wouldn't be very beneficial for me to try and go through and review every single fact, detail, or new bit of information that I picked up during the span of the last twelve months. Instead, I try and go through the biggest lessons I learned over the year and how they can help me be better in the coming year. In this post, I am going to try and get out the most important things that the year 2016 taught me. Hope it makes sense. Lesson 1: The path you ultimately take is different than the one you think you will (and that's okay) If you asked me on January 1st, 2016, to tell you how I imagined 2016 would go, I probably would have told you something that's not even close to how the year...

Yesterday, I had the incredible privilege of watching as my high school's football team took home the state championship trophy, capping off an incredible undefeated season.  And I couldn't be any happier. In all honesty, yesterday was one of the best days of my life. The excitement and hype lasted from when I got out of bed in the morning to when I collapsed into that same bed 19 hours later, exhausted but still exhilarated from the day's events. So allow me here to explain exactly what made yesterday so great. In order to understand some things, you'll need a little bit of background. I go to Bingham High School. Bingham has a long and fairly consistent story of success and triumph in most areas, but especially in football, and especially in the past few years. Since 2006, Bingham has won the state football championship six times, including yesterday (2006, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016), which is quite an impressive record. Last year, Bingham was expected to ...

Yesterday, I turned eighteen years old. Yes, I am now old enough to legally open a bank account, vote, and purchase dry ice, if I so desire. Oh, the powers of adulthood. But if any of you remember, something else very important besides my birth happened on October 20th. It was when I started my blog! On October 20, 2015, I turned seventeen years old, and I started my blog, Genuinely Giancarlo.  Throughout the past year, I've written many blog posts (although they have been less frequent recently - I apologize!) and the response has been nothing but positive. I didn't know exactly how things would turn out with this blog, but I discovered that a lot of people like it when you sit at a computer for a while, put your thoughts into written text, and publish them on the internet. Who knew? So I don't know exactly what I want to say here. But I'm going to just write a whole bunch and hope that at least a little bit of it makes sense. When I started this blog...

Tonight, I will attend a high school football game, like I do every Friday during the first few months of school. I'll get suited up, face paint on, cheers ready, camera in hand. I'll be ready for all the fun and the excitement that naturally comes with any football game. But for me, this isn't just any football game. This one is special. So why is this one so different for me? Well, I've attended both of the high schools that are playing each other. Yep. Tonight I'll be cheering on my Bingham Miners as they take on my West Jordan Jaguars in what will likely be one of the most special games (to me) that I'll ever watch. So you could say I'm excited. Jaguar from Birth: I'm sitting on Santa's lap wearing a sweet "West Jordan Jags" sweatshirt. Christmastime, 2007 A Little Bit of Background If you just started following my blog or you don't know me very well, fear not. I'll catch you up. I grew up in West Jordan, Utah d...

In less than twelve hours, I will have begun the final year of my high school experience. And I could not be more excited. I can't wait for all the football games. All the dances. All the funny experiences and wonderful memories. I can't wait for the new friends I'll make, and all the old ones I'll get closer with. I can't wait to go door-to-door in December, sacrificing my worthless sleep for the people that need my aid so much. I can't wait for the assemblies. I can't wait for the basketball games, defending our championship and getting so pumped in the process. And the best part? There are so many exciting things that I have not even thought about yet. Things that I don't even know are going to happen. In a way, all this excitement kind of freaks me out. But what really freaks me out? I never thought that my path would go this way. If you had asked me five years ago, I never could have guessed that I would be where I am now at this moment. I n...

I can't believe it's been a year. As I woke up on August 2, 2015, I became informed that one of my classmates, Stephany Villegas, had died the night before in a car accident . I felt confused, sympathetic, and deeply saddened by the news. It was kind of hard for me to process what had happened. "How could she just be... gone?" was the question I kept asking myself. This girl that I sat behind in my Spanish class was dead, and I would never see her again. In my life, I haven't had too many direct experiences with death. I mean, all four of my grandparents have passed away and I have known a few other people in my life that have died, but I consider myself very much spared from a lot of the pain that death brings. And so Stephany's passing was hard. It came out of nowhere and I didn't really understand how it had happened or how to react to it. But what made it harder was the fact that she was so close to me in age. One of the things that made my p...