Buckle up! Please keep your arms, legs, and heads inside the ride at all times as we embark on this journey together. That’s right, it’s time for a brand new blog on the internet: Schwally Online, with your host, Schwally (that’s me!).

Welcome to my blog!

This is my first time doing something like this, so I hope it goes well! I honestly have barely any idea as to what I’m actually doing or how I’m actually doing this, so if you’ve found this page, good for you! Honestly, I’m not even that good of a writer. I still have my sister proof-read my emails and essays that I write – except for this (I haven’t told her, or my family, that I’m doing this, so hopefully I can finally learn to write).

Down to the nitty gritty – the format of this blog (since I know you care about this part deeply). I have a plan, granted “I should point out, at this moment, it is a fairly terrible plan. And almost certainly won’t work” (The Doctors, Doctor Who). Here goes: I’m going to post once a week – at this point I’m not sure if that is a lot or a little for this kind of thing. I will have a cycle of 4 topics (covering the 4 weeks of a month): Schwally’s Top 10 (a ranking, and I’m starting with this), Schwally in the Kitchen (a recipe and some commentary maybe? I sort of have a cooking channel I’ll get into next week), Schwally Special Feature (like a special guest on a podcast or a random topic of my choosing), and Schwally’s Monthly Life Update (self explanatory). That’s how it’s gonna go, at least for now.

Alright onto this week’s topic: since this is the very first post I am making, I figured since you may not know who I am, I’ll be talking about…

Schwally’s Top 10 Things to Know about Schwally

10. My Name

Confession time: my name isn’t actually Schwally, sorry to disappoint. My name is actually Zachary (Zach) Schawelson. I was given the nickname Schwally at summer camp a few years ago when I was in a cabin of 4 people, and 3 of us were named “Zach.” We ended up going by our last names, except “Schawelson” is too hard to pronounce (you try it), so a friend of mine remixed it to be “Schwally,” and the nickname has stuck with me for the past 6 years – so I’m going with it!

Fun fact: I learned about 2 years ago that my dad actually had the same nickname growing up. To me it’s pretty funny that we both had the same nickname growing up and they both came about independently. Now he wants to go by “Schwally Sr.” or “The Original Schwally” and me to go as “Schwally Jr.”.

9. One of my Debatable Opinions

A little bit down the road, I will probably do a whole blog post about this, or maybe I’ll include one of these at the end of posts for people to argue about in the comments, but I have a whole list of questions that spark debate. However, these aren’t political debate questions, these ones are stupid (on the level of “is water wet?”). Since this is the very first blog post, I’ll keep this one sort of mild, but keep in mind, these questions can cause great divide amongst people.

So, is cereal a soup? To me, yes. Yes, cereal is a soup. No, I am not looking for the definition of soup or the definition of cereal. I am looking for how you feel about it. Some common counters to this are: “soup is hot” (ever heard of gazpacho soup?) or “soups are savory, not sweet” (dessert soup is actually a thing). Anyways, I believe that cereal is a soup. If you have other thoughts, let me know in the comments. Feel free to debate – but no hate. Respect one another. #Respect

8. Education and Early Life (hey, every Wikipedia page has one, this will be on mine)

I spent the first part of my life growing up in the Phoenix area in Arizona. I attended Laguna Elementary School for Pre-K through 4th grade when I moved to BASIS Scottsdale for 5th – 12th grade. I started attending Congregation Beth Israel when I was in 2nd grade, and started going to summer camp at Camp Daisy and Harry Stein (Camp Stein, formerly Camp Charles Pearlstein). Being Jewish was a huge part of my life in middle school and high school since the other part of my life was devoted to my academics at BASIS. Whether you believe it or not, I felt like in high school I was leading a double life – one life at BASIS, and one life in my Jewish community. I had different friend groups, different nicknames… and somehow the two groups only met/crossed-over just a few times. This is just a little bit of information for now, but I’m positive I will go into more of my personal history later on.

7. Where I’m at in Life (right here, duh)

While I spent the first part of my life in Phoenix, I am currently in Tucson, AZ attending the University of Arizona! I graduated in May 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Optical Sciences and Engineering (and minors in Astronomy, Mathematics, and Leadership Studies and Practice); and I plan to graduate again in May 2024 with a master’s degree also in Optics. As I’m gearing up to graduate, I have begun my job search and am currently applying to many places. However, I think I am ready to move away from Arizona – I’ve lived here my whole life, never experienced what ‘cold’ really is… I think it’s time I have some change in my life. I am ready.

6. Things I want to Build (You’re about to find out I’m a nerd… if you didn’t already know)

One extra thing to know about me is that I love to build and create things – I started out with LEGOs, and am now finishing my degree in engineering. However, there are a few things out of pop-culture I really want to make myself (short list, but I promise you there are a lot more):

A sonic screwdriver (from Doctor Who) that uses IR to actually turn things on and off.

• Other things from Doctor Who: cosplay-able Dalek; life-size TARDIS.

An Eye of Agamotto (from Doctor Strange) that actually opens and closes and lights up to hand motions.

A lightsaber (from Star Wars) that can extend and collapse at the push of a button, and still be battle-ready.

5. Hobbies

Throughout this blog, you will probably hear about a lot of my hobbies, or just things I like to do in general, so I will keep this section pretty short (also, I’m pretty sure I’m missing a few things, so this list probably isn’t complete).

Playing guitar (and just music in general), baking, cooking, storytelling (I am starting to get back into reading), watching tv and movies, playing disc golf, learning, trivia, board games (I am also starting to get back into video games), Magic: The Gathering 3D printing, and engineering.

4. I am a Master Chef (not really, but… okay?)

I love cooking and baking! I grew up baking so much and all the time, I got to make my uncle’s wedding cake, and my dad even helped me create my very own Youtube cooking channel! Zach’s Kitchen was a 2-episode phenomenon ranking in over 500 views (yeah… I know that’s not a lot nowadays lol). Here is the link to find them: http://tinyurl.com/oldZachVideosPlaylist. I’ll include some pictures below to other things I’ve made before below.

Besides baking, I love to cook! I can’t wait to try and share recipes with you on this blog, let’s make some good food! If you have suggestions or want to see a specific food/recipe, let me know!

3. My Bucket List and Life Goals

Only like 2 or 3 weeks ago is when I started this, so I’m sure there are things that are missing. In the Notes app on my phone I created my first ever “Bucket List/Life Goals” and I think it’s a pretty ambitious list, to be honest. Without further ado (also, I won’t expand too much upon these here since I’m sure I will talk about each individually on other posts), my bucket list:

Obtain a bachelor’s and master’s degree, write and produce (and release) my own music, write and publish a YA book, continue Zach’s Kitchen, open a bakery, have a wedding/marriage/family and kids, become an engineer, become a rabbi, travel, see the northern lights, skydive, fly a plane, figure out how to make a Doctor Who video game, compete in a disc golf competition (higher level), and start a weekly blog (CHECK!).

2. Somewhere Fun I Have Traveled To: Storybrooke (yes, actually)

If you’ve seen the show Once Upon a Time, you should recognize the town name. If you haven’t seen the show… well you should. Anyway, believe it or not, Storybrooke is a real(ish) place! While there may not be somewhere on Google Maps called “Storybrooke” the town where they filmed it is real and called Steveston, in Richmon, British Columbia (yes, Canada – but only like a 2.5 – 3 hour drive north of Seattle, WA). Back in high school, I went to visit my dad on a work assignment in Seattle, and we got to spend a really fun weekend together. The first thing we did after the airport was going to Storybrooke. In the information center, they had little pamphlets where certain scenes and shops were actually in the town (fun fact… well not really fun… but the clock on top of the clock tower is actually CGI!). We walked around for a few hours and I can say that I, myself, have eaten grilled cheese and tomato soup in Storybrooke. It was magical (haha). I’ll include some photos of the trip below (included are the library/clock tower, Granny’s Cafe, Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop, Main Street, and a Bakery – the man working there was really nice and gave us some free bread!). It was a really fun day in January 2017, and I’m still sad the show ended.

1. My Philosophy on Life

Someday, there’s going to be a famous quote that is created by me. I forget what tv show/movie/book I learned this from, but there is a difference between ‘surviving’ and ‘living’. Honestly, a lot of my outlooks on life come from pop culture (songs, tv shows, movies, books, etc.). So let me share a few quotes that I strive to live by.

“We went away when we were very young/To find the person who we would become/To find the person who was hidden somewhere inside/What we discovered these it still holds true/The friends you make become a part of you/The friends you make will each return to you like the tide…The time is short and there’s so much to do/Don’t waste a moment of what’s given to you/Don’t waste a moment ’cause you’ll never see it return.” (Stars in the Sky by Camp Harlem)

“We all change. When you think about it, we’re all different people, all through our lives. And that’s okay, that’s good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.” (The Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who)

“Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish. and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind…  Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.” (The Twelfth Doctor, Doctor Who)

“There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.” (The Fourth Doctor, Doctor Who)

“Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person.” (The Tenth Doctor, Doctor Who)

(Okay enough Doctor Who quotes, I’m beginning to tear up… honestly may just do a top 10 DW quotes soon…)

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” (Winnie-The-Pooh)

“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” (Elbert Hubbard)

Alright, no more quotes… and there you have it! My very first blog post! I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please come back next week, and in the meantime, feel free to reach out to me in the comments below with feedback or things you want to see in the future!

I will come up with some clever outro at another time, but for now…
Schwally out!