A Puzzle On Things That Puzzle Me

12345678910111213141516171819202122
Across
  1. 1. When my grandmother passed away when I was in sixth grade, I grew very afraid of this. Until then it never really occurred to me how easy it was to lose something so close to you. Without any warning, I was suddenly told I could never talk to my grandmother again. What I really learned from this was that I really wanted to do something with my life. If life is so fleeting, why waste it?
  2. 4. I’ve spent the last six years with these people, but I’m not even sure if we’ll still be close in a year. I know one of them has already told me he wants to break off all connections after he leaves. It’s hard to imagine we won’t be seeing each other next year.
  3. 7. I hate it when things come to an end because I’m not really good at these. Although I’m really excited to graduate and move on in my life, I feel that leaving a place that I’ve spent the past six years of my life is going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’m going to lose the sense of safety and security that it provided me as I’m suddenly launched into the real world.
  4. 8. This word has so many meanings. Force times distance; that’s the academic side of me talking. A job; that’s the part of me that’s focused on what I’m going to be doing when I get older. I guess the two of those are sort of connected. It’s also a Rihanna song.
  5. 10. I had one of my teachers ask me what my greatest one was for a recommendation letter, and it took me an entire week to think of an answer.
  6. 13. These three letters strike fear into me whenever I hear my English teacher say them, and to this day I still struggle writing one. I’m just glad I won’t have to really do these in the future.
  7. 16. I used to hate playing this when I was younger; it was boring and took up valuable time that I could have used to play video games or watch TV. But as my workload began piling up in the last few years, I found myself returning to this to take a break. Why does something that I once loathed provide me an escape from reality now?
  8. 17. I quit this team; it’s been four years but I finally left. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I don’t have to try and keep up with my teammates anymore, and I plan to work out on my own pace, but there’s still a part of me that feels kind of empty after leaving.
  9. 18. For every college I’ve applied to, this has been my first choice major. But honestly, I’m not even sure if I really want to pursue this in the future. I have no experience with it, but I’ve always liked science and math. Maybe I’m just worried that this isn’t the right path for me. There are people who firmly understand what they want to pursue in the future; they’ve had plenty of experience outside of school, role models, or just a burning passion for these fields. Do I really feel the same?l
  10. 19. I used to read this in the AM New York on the way to school and use them to predict my day. The numbers next to my sign were supposed to tell me how my day was going, but they never dropped below a 7. I guess everyday was supposed to go well.
  11. 20. This use to be my favorite thing to do when I was growing up. It gave me a way to give my crazy dreams and aspirations a physical form through acrylics, oil pastels, or color pencils. As I grew older I lost the creativity I needed to fully explore art and I never really stray from the norm anymore. Maybe I’m just insecure about how others view my attempts at creativity.
  12. 22. Recently my teeth have shifted a little, which is kind of odd because I wear these every night.
Down
  1. 2. Force times radius? Rotational momentum? What’s this supposed to mean? All of these concepts are just words to me and I can’t even grasp any of them. Somebody please help me.
  2. 3. I applied to one of these programs for this summer, but honestly, I don’t even like biology. That’s an understatement. I hate biology. So why did I sign up? Did I feel that I needed to prove something to myself? Or was I sick of sitting at home and always wishing I had more to do?
  3. 5. I used to have a huge book full of these when I was younger. I would bring it in to school and my friends and I would think about some questions for the entire day. I loved brain teasers because they encouraged me to think outside of the box and explore beyond the seemingly normal solutions. My time spent solving these puzzles was good practice for the present, because my entire life is a puzzle at the moment.
  4. 6. I really suck at this, but I’m on the varsity team. They needed more people to reach the minimum number of team members and I was promised a free spot on the team if I join. My average is so low, and I’m not sure what my purpose on this team is. The fact that I’m still on this team must say something about me.
  5. 9. Sometimes I feel really tired but I’m not sure if I should do this. I just have so much work to do and I procrastinate way too much…Even when I finish my work early I can’t manage to have a normal sleep schedule. A consistent full eight hours has eluded me for years. I guess nothing in my life is really certain, not even the amount I get every night.
  6. 11. What is even happening in this class? It’s like I’m learning a foreign language and I’m expected to grasp it immediately. Objects? Variables? Methods? None of these words mean anything to me. My next test is going to be rough. That’s an understatement.
  7. 12. Our club is barely acknowledged by the GO, despite having existed since before I came to Hunter. I’m confused how they expect us to fulfill our obligations as a normal club, like Carnival commitments, but refuse to provide us a room, a schedule or anything that we are entitled to. The administration has lost all our equipment, so as of now we’re not doing much of anything. It’s just kind of an excuse for all my friends to hang out in a room on Wednesdays.
  8. 14. I really hate it when people ask me what mine are. It really forces me to think about what’s wrong with me, and to come up with a way to word it nicely so it looks good. Instead of “stubborn,” I’d say “passionate about what I believe in.” Instead of “uncertain,” I say that I “like taking into account all the possibilities before deciding on something.”
  9. 15. This word scares me the most. It’s not certain at all. In fact, it’s the farthest thing from certainty that I can even think of. The only people who really claim to understand this are psychics (but I think they’re all liars anyways). It’s the only thing I can think about right now, and I hate it.
  10. 21. Sometimes I want to talk to them. I can’t help it. Blame my hormones. But there aren’t many that I talk to on a regular basis. I stopped talking to one of my closest friends last year for some reason and I’ve only recently started talking to her again. I’m not sure what I did wrong. And I’m not sure she knows either.