an epic “skipping school” letter

20 Sep an epic “skipping school” letter

howdy friends!

sorry it’s been a while… been working on “Hot Wheels City” Season 2 and that’s been taking up most of my time. it’s coming together really well and I can’t wait to share all the episodes, plus some behind-the-scenes photos with you soon.

a week ago I was going through my hard drive, looking for an old essay I wrote and I stumbled upon this document. from what I can gather, I skipped a required “career day” for a powder day. then, using the criteria for “wellness” that the Health teacher taught us, I justified my absence.

here’s the letter I wrote:

Luke Guidici
hhp-60
2/16/99
career day

I did not go to career-day. You might be wondering why I did not go and why I am openly telling you. Well here is why.

In tenth grade I took a tv production class. I worked on videos, I edited, directed, worked camera, did graphics. It didn’t take long and I came to love filming. I bought a camera and began to shoot my friends snowboarding and skating. Being behind a camera is what I want to do in life. I feel at home there, it lets me be creative and show my thoughts feelings and emotions with others.
Both men and women have succeeded in the film industry and more and more women are directing and produce movies than ever before.

That wasn’t the only reason I didn’t go to career day. I did something for my spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, and physical wellness. I hung out with friends and went snowboarding. How does this benifit my spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, and physical wellness you may be wondering? I am going to tell you.

I will start with spiritual wellness. Snowboarding is almost a religiuos experience for me. To be in the mountains is. When I am in the mountains and look out at the snow on the trees and on the rocks and hear the silence, I know that this is not all one giant cosmic blunder. I see the Creators hand, the love that he has put into the Earth and the planning that has gone on. Being in the Mountains gives me an extra reminder to thank my Lord for all that he has given me and for how fortunate I am.

My emotional wellness was helped because I was able to go and do something that I love and push my limits by jumping off of rocks and riding fast. This helped my self esteem.

I was able to master new skills of new lines thanks to the 18″ of new powder. I have also able to use my creativity in building a jump at my friends house the night before and work on new tricks. These helped my Intellectual wellness.

My social wellness has nurtured by getting to hangout and party with friends. I usually pick school over socializing and this time I choose the other. It was fun to hangout and dance with girls. I have gotten a date as a result as the time I spent with them that night.

Shoveling snow for 3 hours is quite a workout. So is snowboarding for 7 hours. I did both and this was good for my physical wellness.

In conclusion, I weighed the options and decided that going snowboarding on an epic day was more important for me, on that day than going to school. This was for several reasons, first I already know what I want to do. And second it was better for my overall wellness than going to something that wouldn’t have done anything for me and that I wouldn’t have enjoyed.

how did things shake out? well, I’m not sure how bad I got docked in the class, but I know I got a 4.0 that year, so it must not have been bad.

also, I still: snowboard, work in the film industry, and am a contrarian. so I guess I didn’t need that career day after all =)

-Luke