Grade 8
Memoir, NarrativeWritingIt was a sunny and refreshing day, and although it was winter, it was comparable to summer weather. It was hot and sunny and everyone was outdoors. The date was February 18, 2017 and it was a Saturday. My friends Alvin, Henley, and I strategically made plans as if we had to create a complex strategy to attack a war enemy. We had made plans the night before, checking the weather and agreeing to go for a long walk to Chicago’s Museum Campus. Our hearts desired and yearned for adventure since we hadn’t hung out together in a while. We were walking there to catch some Pokémon on Pokémon GO, a mobile game designed by the company Niantic to implement an augmented reality system. Augmented reality is a type of technology used to display computer-generated images on a player’s perspective of the real world. All three of us were hyped about the game and had spent months trying to get the rarest and strongest of Pokémon. After hearing about the abundance of Pokémon on the Museum Campus, we walked over to catch some for ourselves.
I started off my day by waking up at around nine in the morning to eat breakfast and prepare for my tutoring session from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feeling robust and excited, I walked out the doors in a jovial mood and headed for the tutoring center. Once I got to the tutoring center, I signed in, sat at a table, and began doing my homework. My tutors were ready to assist me at any time if I was stuck on a problem. I did my work, finished it, and left my tutoring place at around 1 p.m. I leaped for joy at the thought of having an adventure that day. I walked home first just to eat the lunch that my mother had carefully prepared. The meal was delicious and gave me the energy I would need to travel the long distance. I texted my friend Alvin to tell him that I was starting to head over to his restaurant. Although his restaurant was pretty far and I had to cross a lot of streets to get there, I was determined to get to my destination.
Alvin and Henley welcomed me to the restaurant where they spent time taking orders, playing games, and shooting basketball hoops. I joined them in their game of basketball to pass time and to wait until the two were ready to go. It was about 2 p.m. You know what they say: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Two hours flew by in a flash unnoticed because of the intensity of the basketball game. I was sweating as if I had just taken a shower, so I took a break until 4 p.m. when we decided to take our long walk. I took a jacket to sustain my warmth since the night would be cold, but Alvin and Henley did not take any extra clothing since they didn’t mind the cold temperature. The walk was tiring. At one point, we wanted to turn back since it was getting pretty dark, but we persevered. The three of us decided that walking was way too slow since we were still far from the Museum Campus, so we broke into a jog.
At last! We made it to the Museum Campus! It was extremely tiring and I thought I would depend on Alvin to help me when I nearly fainted from how tired I was. We opened up our smartphones and launched Pokémon GO. It was one of the most mouth-dropping things we had seen, a rare and unknown Pokémon on our nearby list.
We dashed straight to the outskirts of the Adler Planetarium to catch the Pokémon Totodile and we eventually got it. The catch was already hyping us up for more, so we decided to hang around the planetarium. We marveled at how many other players there were doing the exact same thing as us: catching Pokémon! We saw people in Pokémon t-shirts and other Pokémon-related apparel. Then, a problem struck Alvin and Henley: they both were practically frozen when it hit nighttime, and we were next to the lake as well, so they were freezing. They had only brought one sweater to share, which was not the right decision for them. I didn’t even have the slightest clue that they had brought a sweater with them, but it was still not enough to keep both of them warm. We knew this was a bad sign since they could possibly catch a cold, so we left with grim faces as we dreaded the long walk back to the restaurant.
To avoid freezing in the shivering and howling February night, we jogged slowly just to build up heat to keep us going. This time, the walk wasn’t too bad. We got to the restaurant faster since we were jogging. We all agreed that the trip was totally worth it and that we had caught so many new Pokémon we had not seen before. We started talking about how life was for each other when we slowed down since we had not really gone into depth about our lives. It was a really fascinating conversation and I learned a lot about my friends that night. We got back to the restaurant at around 6 p.m. I was worn out, and I couldn’t move an inch anymore. I called my father to come pick me up to go home. When he got there, I said my final goodbyes to my friends and thanked them for accompanying me on the trip. The trip from my house to Museum Campus was surely a tiring one, but it wasn’t just about catching the rarest of Pokémon. It was also about bonding and resonating with my friends throughout the journey.
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