Dog Dayz

By Braden Dohrmann

This month has held some terrible weather if you ask me, but a great month for academics and athletics at our school. I finished the first semester with a 4.0 and let me tell you, that is the hardest I’ve ever worked for one.

I have had a great basketball season with my JV basketball team, along with the varsity doing great as well. As a school, our student-athletes rank fifth in the 1A division for academic excellence, which is pretty awesome. I know that my hard work makes our great school look even better, so that’s rewarding. The boys and girls basketball teams are fighting to get in districts, and it looks like they both will. There also look to be some great competitors for wrestling making it to state as well.

As I said last month I was spending winter break in California, and it was nice to get out of weather, but even better to spend time with family for a week.

Our trip started off rough as our car rental didn’t have cars ready for two hours; mind you that was Christmas night, extremely late. However, we bounced back hitting Disneyland for five days and Universal Studios for one day.

Disneyland was nice to have the thrill of all the rides, the sun painting you all day, and the joy and happiness the place gives you. The relaxation and not having to worry about school was nice and much needed for me. However, my family probably got a little more relaxation than me, because I was the designated fast-pass runner. I would run to rides and get fast-passes for our family as soon as they were available making the end of our day faster and more productive with shorter lines.

During our trip the Rose Bowl was played in Pasadena, Calif., between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Oklahoma Sooners. No, I did not go to the game, but rather the players came to us. One of the days we were at Disneyland the football players were all over the place. I saw Georgia’s quarterback who went on to lead the Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl victory. As much of a sport geek that I am, that was pretty awesome.

I have been to Disneyland a couple times in my life, and in the past I could have gone all day, every day of our trip, but I can feel myself growing out of it a bit. No, I don’t not want to go, I just probably do not want to go for the extent of five days. I will have to go back and check out Star Wars Land which is under construction, and go back with a family of my own one day, but I can feel myself growing out of it.

Universal Studios was a new experience for me. A day was definitely enough as there really aren’t too many rides. However, some attractions that really stood out to me were The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the Studio Tour, and Waterworld.

Harry Potter was a cool experience for me, as I grew up loving to read Harry Potter books and watch the movies. The artistic skill that was put into it was pretty amazing. Spot on from the movies. Next, the Studio Tour was cool to see the sets of movies or shows that I have seen before and going through a 3D experience of King Kong and Fast and Furious. Waterworld was also fun, to see a bunch of water special effects, and because we were in the splash zone, getting a little wet while we were at it.

Finally, we traveled down to beautiful San Diego and watched my favorite team, the Washington State Cougars, play the Michigan State Spartans in the Holiday Bowl. The Cougs lost, but the seats were awesome and the experience was once in a lifetime. Tyler Hilinski was the starter of the game as Luke Falk was hurt. I thought he played a great game. Tyler passed away due to suicide less than a month later. The situation is very sad and it is so strange that I watched him start in the Holiday Bowl not long before.

Suicide can be prevented. Hopefully we all learn from this. Hopefully we can all be a little more aware and watch for any signs in our loved ones.

So, let’s start this next month off being a little more thoughtful and kind. Thank you so much for reading this month’s edition of Dog Dayz.

Braden Dohrmann is a sophomore at Montesano High School. He writes about what it’s like growing up in Montesano. He participates in many school sports and activities, works hard in class and enjoys taking vacations with his family.