i'm not going to lie and say that my blogging will continue after the end of the school year. there's a good chance that this will be the final post from me, not that many of you read this and care. i'll continue to read the blogs of my classmates if they keep their blogs going.
my relationship with blogging has been a rough one. i was very aprehensive in the beginning. when i first heard the assignment that we would be keeping blogs i wasn't all that excited. blogs tend to bring up the image of 30 something men living in the basement of their parents' house. can you say creepers? we were given plenty of days in the lab to read actual blogs and try to find a topic for ours. i never really picked a topic, i've just blogged about anything and everything. blogging was very challenging for me at first; i would forget about it easily and when i did try to post it was a stretch to reach the 400 words. i almost wished that we just had writing notebooks because i could fill that easier than i could blog.
somewhere in the middle of the school year i began to actually like blogging. there was even a time when i got ahead on blog posts. i don't know what brought about this but the words just came easy and i just kept on typing. this is also about the time when i began to read the blogs of my classmates, and not just the blogs of my close friends. i became very interested in what everyone else had to say. needless to say, my enthusiasim for blogging may have faded but i still enjoy reading them to this day. blogging has gone back to that task that i don't really want to do and have to force the 400 words three times a week. i have often been behind on blogs.
when i treated the blog as strictly a homework assignment it became harder and harder to complete. it was something i saw as being required to do rather than me wanting to do. somewhere around half way through, when i began liking blogging, i wasn't thinking of it as a homework assignment. i was thinking of my blog as more of a place for me to just ramble on and say things that i didn't say during the day. i wish i could say that others would find my blog interesting like i find the blogs of my peers interesting but i don't think i can and i'm okay with that.
i didn't realize just how much i have written on here until i looked back at all my posts. there is a lot of writing here and i'm honestly glad that we did blogs instead of writing notebooks. it's been rough but it was worth it in the end.
Monday, May 25, 2009
junior year: a reflection
the school year is wrapping up and junior year is coming to a close. where did all the time go? i'm gonna be a senior next year and it seems like freshman year was last year. who ever said high school flies by sure wasn't lying. because everything passed by so quickly i'm going to take a walk down memory lane and go through my junior year once more.
summer 2008:
i got my very first job: detasseling. strange as it sounds, i loved it. i received my very first paycheck. i made some great friends out in the fields. was a section leader in the marching band. i may have found myself hating it most of the time but not going to lie, i missed it when it was done. my family and i drove to minnesota for a day to watch a baseball game. twins :). i wanna go back.
fall 2008:
i got a real job at old navy. i walked in knowing no one and now have many new friends. youth leadership for five seasons orientation and retreat. took a leap of faith, meaning i jumped off a telephone pole. met a boy. talked to boy. fell for boy. juggled school, marching band and work. went trick or treating with the foreign exchange students. added one more to the locker. drove to wisconsin with mom and dad to get apples. auditioned for all state.
winter 2008-2009:
took one/two wednesdays a month off for youth leadership. struggled to keep up with all my classes. let my grades slip. experienced working retail during the holidays. got a $500 paycheck. froze in the cold. went to florida with the band. marched in a nationally televised parade. went to everything disney. continued to talk to the same boy. went to my first ever basketball game as a spectator, we won. pitched up in independence. began to work out every wednesday at the y with dad. picked out a flute and piccolo solo for contest. graduated from youth leadership.
spring 2009:
began to refocus on my grades. started my countdown with the beginning of the term. studied here and there for ap tests. got a new car. city solo contest. said goodbye to boy. cried. went to chicago with the spanish class. millennium park and the bean. tried authentic spanish food, even the octopus. began to study more for ap tests. state solo contest. SNHS induction. NHS induction. softball. took three ap tests without studying as much as i should. sprained my ankel. picked up a new perspective on life. anxiously awaited the end of the year.
looking back there were ups and downs and periods of painful boredom but i wouldn't have done anything differently. whatever happens, happens.
summer 2008:
i got my very first job: detasseling. strange as it sounds, i loved it. i received my very first paycheck. i made some great friends out in the fields. was a section leader in the marching band. i may have found myself hating it most of the time but not going to lie, i missed it when it was done. my family and i drove to minnesota for a day to watch a baseball game. twins :). i wanna go back.
fall 2008:
i got a real job at old navy. i walked in knowing no one and now have many new friends. youth leadership for five seasons orientation and retreat. took a leap of faith, meaning i jumped off a telephone pole. met a boy. talked to boy. fell for boy. juggled school, marching band and work. went trick or treating with the foreign exchange students. added one more to the locker. drove to wisconsin with mom and dad to get apples. auditioned for all state.
winter 2008-2009:
took one/two wednesdays a month off for youth leadership. struggled to keep up with all my classes. let my grades slip. experienced working retail during the holidays. got a $500 paycheck. froze in the cold. went to florida with the band. marched in a nationally televised parade. went to everything disney. continued to talk to the same boy. went to my first ever basketball game as a spectator, we won. pitched up in independence. began to work out every wednesday at the y with dad. picked out a flute and piccolo solo for contest. graduated from youth leadership.
spring 2009:
began to refocus on my grades. started my countdown with the beginning of the term. studied here and there for ap tests. got a new car. city solo contest. said goodbye to boy. cried. went to chicago with the spanish class. millennium park and the bean. tried authentic spanish food, even the octopus. began to study more for ap tests. state solo contest. SNHS induction. NHS induction. softball. took three ap tests without studying as much as i should. sprained my ankel. picked up a new perspective on life. anxiously awaited the end of the year.
looking back there were ups and downs and periods of painful boredom but i wouldn't have done anything differently. whatever happens, happens.
Monday, May 18, 2009
countdown
there are 18 days left in class. seniors have seven. twenty five days from today i will be done with junior year. ap tests are done. i have seniors in many of my classes so we're kinda just sitting and doing nothing. no final exams, just some final projects. my physics project is done. my bio project died. this is proof that i cannot grow plants to save my life, i killed them all. i think i watered them too much? or not enough. one of those. for lang we have a multimedia essay that i'm kinda freaking out about because i'm not good with multimedia. what is the point of being in school right now? for the most part i'm not going to be learning anything new in the next 18 days of class, all except for my us history class. we're going to do some learning and not take our final exam until final exam days. i was all for taking the final right around ap test time but no. i have to wait until june 10th to take my final. cool.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
this is see you later, i'm not into goodbyes
as the year is winding down it's finally starting to hit me that i have less than 10 days left with this year's senior class. after graduation i probably won't see the majority of them ever again unless i randomly run into one of them somewhere later in life. my brother is graduating this year and even though my parents insist on him trying to live at home i know he isn't going to. yes, it would make more sense for him to live at home and continue to go about life as if nothing was different but i know that he won't make it through more than a semester living at home. there is already tension between him and my parents over things like curfew and such and i know that college will only intensify these feelings.
growing up ray and i never really got along the best. we argued and fought more than we got along. as we both grew up we started to become closer. i wouldn't go so far to say that he and i are friends, i don't think he would ever acknowledge me at school if i didn't say something to him first, but we get along. as strange as it sounds, we always do the reader's digest vocabulary together. it's just what we do. i've lived with him for my whole life and i'm thinking that our days left together are limited and this saddens me. we're family and i want to see him more than at our family gatherings.
growing up ray and i never really got along the best. we argued and fought more than we got along. as we both grew up we started to become closer. i wouldn't go so far to say that he and i are friends, i don't think he would ever acknowledge me at school if i didn't say something to him first, but we get along. as strange as it sounds, we always do the reader's digest vocabulary together. it's just what we do. i've lived with him for my whole life and i'm thinking that our days left together are limited and this saddens me. we're family and i want to see him more than at our family gatherings.
i guess you could say that i'm afraid of change. i happen to like my life the way it is and i don't really want things to change. next year it's going to be just me and nolan. i don't like nolan. his xbox obsession annoys me to no end and i hate how his friends have changed him from the loveable kid he once was to this rude, disrepectful teenager he is now. he and i used to get along so well and now all we do is argue, mostly over him living on his xbox.
recently, i have found that i'm not good with goodbyes. I don't like goodbyes because goodbye means forever, little tidbit from peter pan for ya. my last goodbye left me in tears and that was over a month ago. in a few short weeks i'm going to be saying my goodbyes to the senior class. i'm not extremely close to anyone there, i only talk to them daily at school. they will go off onto their next adventures and my friends and i will take their places next year.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
conformity
in class we recently read the essay corn-pone opinions by mister mark twain. the main purpose of the essay was about conformity and after our discussion in class i really got to thinking about conformity. and i formulated a conclusion of something that really bugs me; people who refuse to do something just because everyone else is.
they are too wrapped up with trying to be unique that they refuse to do anything they consider conformity. i am going to use the book twilight as an example. i thoroughly enjoy reading so when my friend kristi told me i should read the book because it's really good i did. i enjoyed the book and read the remaining three in the series. i am not going to name names here but i overheard a conversation between two people concerning the book twilight. girl one was very disappointed in girl two for even considering reading twilight just because the book, and now movie, have become mainstream america. girl one claims to be her own person and not do anything that she considers conformity. i want to ask her if she ever gave twilight a chance. did she ever pick up the book and read it? if not, i see no validity in her argument. give it a chance.
people like girl one are afraid of what other people think. they are afraid that other people with think of them as a conformist. who cares if you read the book twilight after it has become a popular book. it's the same for people who stop listening to a band if one of their songs gets played on a radio station. they just can't seem to stand it if other people listen to that band. i don't get it, if you like the music they're making then why stop listening just because others are too? i personally don't care if you started listening to them before they were on the radio or after, it's not that big of a deal.
they are too wrapped up with trying to be unique that they refuse to do anything they consider conformity. i am going to use the book twilight as an example. i thoroughly enjoy reading so when my friend kristi told me i should read the book because it's really good i did. i enjoyed the book and read the remaining three in the series. i am not going to name names here but i overheard a conversation between two people concerning the book twilight. girl one was very disappointed in girl two for even considering reading twilight just because the book, and now movie, have become mainstream america. girl one claims to be her own person and not do anything that she considers conformity. i want to ask her if she ever gave twilight a chance. did she ever pick up the book and read it? if not, i see no validity in her argument. give it a chance.
people like girl one are afraid of what other people think. they are afraid that other people with think of them as a conformist. who cares if you read the book twilight after it has become a popular book. it's the same for people who stop listening to a band if one of their songs gets played on a radio station. they just can't seem to stand it if other people listen to that band. i don't get it, if you like the music they're making then why stop listening just because others are too? i personally don't care if you started listening to them before they were on the radio or after, it's not that big of a deal.
relief
please let me now jump up and down while gleefully exclaiming AP EXAMS ARE DONE! AP EXAMS ARE DONE! over the course of a friday, monday, and wednesday i have taken three tests that determine exactly how well i have mastered the subjects of us history, biology, and english language and composition. it is the score i get on these tests that will determine if i receive college credit or get an exemption from introductory courses in college. my final grade in the class does not matter. are ap tests really a good way to determine if i have mastered the material?
if i would have been asked this question either two years ago or last year then i would say yes, yes they are a good way to determine my level of mastery for the material. this year, my answer has changed. i no longer feel that ap tests are a good way to measure how well i grasped the subject material. wanna know why? it's not because i found this year's tests to be excruciatingly hard, i actually found all three of them to be not bad so i'm not here complaining that they shouldn't count because i think that i failed them. i think they shouldn't count because i honestly don't really know the subject material very well for any of the ap tests i took. thankfully i was able to learn it somehow but i definitely didn't learn it from the books.
in my us history text book there are 31 chapters from early 1700s up through the presidency of george h bush. i read a total of three whole chapters: 29, 30 and 31. in my biology text book there are more chapters, more pages and more words and i don't think i read a single whole chapter. i read sections of chapters but never a whole chapter. then there's lang. there isn't a textbook that goes along with this class; it's nothing like biology or history. those classes are straight facts and biological life processes. lang is not. i went to class almost everyday and that's really the only way to prepare for that test. it's a reading comp test with a lot of analysis and some fancy terms thrown in. there's three essays and i feel like i answered two of them well but the second essay just wasn't good. it's the kind that i never scored well on when we practiced them in class too.
i never did extraordinarily well on tests in either biology or history but my thoughts after taking those tests were that i did well. especially on the history test- i found it to be easy. wait, what? an ap test, easy? how does that happen. the essays were very manageable and because it's over two days since i took the test i can freely talk about the essay topics. i wrote an essay about the relationship of the colonies and great britain. i didn't need to take ap us history to be able to write that essay, that's something i have been taught for years and years now. then i wrote an essay about the homefront of world war II in respect to japanese americans and african americans. i didn't expect essays like that to be on the test. i expected them to be more like the essays i chose not to write because those were tough. the rise of the republican party from 1820-1860? can't do that. didn't read my book.
if i would have been asked this question either two years ago or last year then i would say yes, yes they are a good way to determine my level of mastery for the material. this year, my answer has changed. i no longer feel that ap tests are a good way to measure how well i grasped the subject material. wanna know why? it's not because i found this year's tests to be excruciatingly hard, i actually found all three of them to be not bad so i'm not here complaining that they shouldn't count because i think that i failed them. i think they shouldn't count because i honestly don't really know the subject material very well for any of the ap tests i took. thankfully i was able to learn it somehow but i definitely didn't learn it from the books.
in my us history text book there are 31 chapters from early 1700s up through the presidency of george h bush. i read a total of three whole chapters: 29, 30 and 31. in my biology text book there are more chapters, more pages and more words and i don't think i read a single whole chapter. i read sections of chapters but never a whole chapter. then there's lang. there isn't a textbook that goes along with this class; it's nothing like biology or history. those classes are straight facts and biological life processes. lang is not. i went to class almost everyday and that's really the only way to prepare for that test. it's a reading comp test with a lot of analysis and some fancy terms thrown in. there's three essays and i feel like i answered two of them well but the second essay just wasn't good. it's the kind that i never scored well on when we practiced them in class too.
i never did extraordinarily well on tests in either biology or history but my thoughts after taking those tests were that i did well. especially on the history test- i found it to be easy. wait, what? an ap test, easy? how does that happen. the essays were very manageable and because it's over two days since i took the test i can freely talk about the essay topics. i wrote an essay about the relationship of the colonies and great britain. i didn't need to take ap us history to be able to write that essay, that's something i have been taught for years and years now. then i wrote an essay about the homefront of world war II in respect to japanese americans and african americans. i didn't expect essays like that to be on the test. i expected them to be more like the essays i chose not to write because those were tough. the rise of the republican party from 1820-1860? can't do that. didn't read my book.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
oops
note to self: when using el cabrito's itouch to go blog reading and commenting remember to log out of your blog. i forgot to and then wondered what the heck happened when i looked at my blog today and saw that i apparently love on the border chips and salsa. no lies, that is true it's just that i didn't post that. el cabrito did. sorry for any confusion.
i am a big fan of his itouch. it's quite the nifty little piece of technology and i'm wishing that i had one instead of my cute little pink ipod. don't get me wrong, i love my little pink ipod it's just the more i use his itouch the more i want one. a lot.
i am a fan of technology, it's just that i'm generally not good with it. i can solve the simplest of computer problems and i know how to successfully navigate my way through the world of cell phones and ipods but other than that i'm pretty techonlogically stupid. which is why this final essay is kind of worrisome for me. i do not possess the skills, or required materials to make a video nor do i have any clue how to make a radio essay. i understand that he wants us to get creative and not write just a normal essay but that's what i want to do. i just want to write an essay.
i am a big fan of his itouch. it's quite the nifty little piece of technology and i'm wishing that i had one instead of my cute little pink ipod. don't get me wrong, i love my little pink ipod it's just the more i use his itouch the more i want one. a lot.
i am a fan of technology, it's just that i'm generally not good with it. i can solve the simplest of computer problems and i know how to successfully navigate my way through the world of cell phones and ipods but other than that i'm pretty techonlogically stupid. which is why this final essay is kind of worrisome for me. i do not possess the skills, or required materials to make a video nor do i have any clue how to make a radio essay. i understand that he wants us to get creative and not write just a normal essay but that's what i want to do. i just want to write an essay.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
mayday
yes i know, i am a few days late because today is actually cinco de mayo but ima talk about mayday first. i love may. and mayday. i didn't give any mayday baskets this year, cabrito just high fived my head, he's such a charming kid, but i still like mayday. why do i like mayday so much? because mayday means that it is finally may. may means that it's almost summer and the weather is finally nice. the weather was fantastic on sunday. it was so fantastic that i could not bring myself to do any studying at all. instead i played outside. monkey in the middle. yes, i know, how old am i? i am too old to be playing monkey in the middle but who cares? definitely not me. you know what else i did? i layed on my back and looked up at the sky. life is good.
cinco de mayo! for all of you that don't know spanish it's my-oh not mayo. even though it looks a whole lot like the english word mayo. please get it right. nothing sounds more stupid than bad pronunciation. mack-e-lar-se anyone? hahaha. i'm sorry that you don't get it. so cinco de mayo is some spectacular spanish holiday right? maybe, i'm not exactly sure how big it is. but whatever that doesn't matter. you would think that because it's cinco de mayo we would have a little fiesta en la clase de español, verdad? we are not going to have a quiz that is graded like a test instead. it's okay, it shouldn't be all that hard it's only going to be over the conditional and double object pronouns.
cinco de mayo! for all of you that don't know spanish it's my-oh not mayo. even though it looks a whole lot like the english word mayo. please get it right. nothing sounds more stupid than bad pronunciation. mack-e-lar-se anyone? hahaha. i'm sorry that you don't get it. so cinco de mayo is some spectacular spanish holiday right? maybe, i'm not exactly sure how big it is. but whatever that doesn't matter. you would think that because it's cinco de mayo we would have a little fiesta en la clase de español, verdad? we are not going to have a quiz that is graded like a test instead. it's okay, it shouldn't be all that hard it's only going to be over the conditional and double object pronouns.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
pale people, unite!
this morning i decided that i wanted to wear shorts today. so i put shorts on and looked down at my legs. you know what, i am quite pale. why is this? this is because i do not go fake tanning. and it has been winter / gross weather for the past many many months so i haven't been able to frolic around outside getting a tan. because of my paleness it is obvious that i do not go fake tanning and i have no inclination to do so.
i tried to show you a picture of fake tanning gone wrong but blogger does not want to cooperate at the moment. so i'll just link it instead. she is orange. nice tan right there. what is the point of fake tanning-- especially during the winter. everyone can tell that you have been fake tanning because you are unnatural shade of orange during the winter. all you are doing is killing yourself.
fake tanning causes skin cancer. i will not feel sorry for you if you get skin cancer because you're the one that chose to go tanning. do you know what a nice tan is? a nice tan is a whole bunch of dead, damaged skin cells. so please, continue to go off and get your wonderful tans. according to cabrito my information up there is wrong but hey you know what? that's okay. no one reads my blog. and anyone that happens to stumble upon it probably won't care that my information is not correct.
the american society is too obsessed with looks and looking "perfect." and cabrito is obsessed with his xbox. but to the american society you are accepted if and only if, or iff as my calculus teacher writes, you are thin and tan. and to them, thin is a size 0-2. if you aren't those sizes you are fat. sucks to be you. we live in such a messed up world.
i have ran out of steam with the pale people, unite! post and i have about 100 words left. embroz is watching elmo vidoes. cabrito is word counting and getting very excited about his two blog views. rbetta is fanning herself with her ap bio prep book. speaking of ap bio, we're taking our FINAL exam today and tomorrow. we have 30 days left of school. and we're taking a final. the ap test isn't until may 11th. i cannot wait for may 14th, you know why? because as of may 14th i will be done with ap tests for the year!
i tried to show you a picture of fake tanning gone wrong but blogger does not want to cooperate at the moment. so i'll just link it instead. she is orange. nice tan right there. what is the point of fake tanning-- especially during the winter. everyone can tell that you have been fake tanning because you are unnatural shade of orange during the winter. all you are doing is killing yourself.
fake tanning causes skin cancer. i will not feel sorry for you if you get skin cancer because you're the one that chose to go tanning. do you know what a nice tan is? a nice tan is a whole bunch of dead, damaged skin cells. so please, continue to go off and get your wonderful tans. according to cabrito my information up there is wrong but hey you know what? that's okay. no one reads my blog. and anyone that happens to stumble upon it probably won't care that my information is not correct.
the american society is too obsessed with looks and looking "perfect." and cabrito is obsessed with his xbox. but to the american society you are accepted if and only if, or iff as my calculus teacher writes, you are thin and tan. and to them, thin is a size 0-2. if you aren't those sizes you are fat. sucks to be you. we live in such a messed up world.
i have ran out of steam with the pale people, unite! post and i have about 100 words left. embroz is watching elmo vidoes. cabrito is word counting and getting very excited about his two blog views. rbetta is fanning herself with her ap bio prep book. speaking of ap bio, we're taking our FINAL exam today and tomorrow. we have 30 days left of school. and we're taking a final. the ap test isn't until may 11th. i cannot wait for may 14th, you know why? because as of may 14th i will be done with ap tests for the year!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
huh?
today is physics we were in a computer lab. as we're working on our lab some kids decide to be real cool and play some ultra sonic sounds. for the most part i couldn't hear them, they were much too high for my ears. but a lot of the class could and there would be a constant grumbling every time one went off. now i have a headache. cooool.
it's no secret that i'm very likely to ask you to repeat yourself. my hearing isn't the best. especially in the morning. and when people are mumbling. my dad also has not good hearing. he's even worse than me. he used to drive the open cab tractors around without earplugs.
it's no secret that i'm very likely to ask you to repeat yourself. my hearing isn't the best. especially in the morning. and when people are mumbling. my dad also has not good hearing. he's even worse than me. he used to drive the open cab tractors around without earplugs.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
bucket list?
before i die i want to travel. the whole planet. minus antartica, i don't wanna go there. it's cold there. there are penguins though; i like penguins. i want to visit the states, just kinda drive around the country side; see the sights; get lost in the hustle and bustle of downtown.
i want to cross the border and go to canada; struggle with the french/english language barrier; find the beauty of the land. to mexico and not drink the water. not going there until swine flu is no longer an issue though. the carribbean islands. swim with the dolphins. south america. i wanna go to bolivia. i wanna explore rio. climb some mountains. go to peru.
europe. stay the summer. or maybe a whole year? spain. las fallas. el prado. barcelona. france. paris. the efile tower. the city of lovee. go see some german castles. laugh silently at all the angry sounding germans. berlin, the site of the wall. italy. rome. florence. eat some good italian food. explore austria. off to england. pretend i'm british. pick up an accent. big ben. walk in the rain. drive on the wrong side of the road. sweden. visit toby for real. hahahaha.
asia. see the wall. and the rest of china. india. gandhi. experience buddhism and buddhist teachings. the flea markets. the traditions. japan. vietnam. korea. i could go on and on.
australia. the coral reefs. the outback. kangaroos. new zealand. indonesia.
i just want to explore. escape from america and see how the rest of the world lives. i want to get out of my box and broaden my horizons. the world is such a big world.
i want to cross the border and go to canada; struggle with the french/english language barrier; find the beauty of the land. to mexico and not drink the water. not going there until swine flu is no longer an issue though. the carribbean islands. swim with the dolphins. south america. i wanna go to bolivia. i wanna explore rio. climb some mountains. go to peru.
europe. stay the summer. or maybe a whole year? spain. las fallas. el prado. barcelona. france. paris. the efile tower. the city of lovee. go see some german castles. laugh silently at all the angry sounding germans. berlin, the site of the wall. italy. rome. florence. eat some good italian food. explore austria. off to england. pretend i'm british. pick up an accent. big ben. walk in the rain. drive on the wrong side of the road. sweden. visit toby for real. hahahaha.
asia. see the wall. and the rest of china. india. gandhi. experience buddhism and buddhist teachings. the flea markets. the traditions. japan. vietnam. korea. i could go on and on.
australia. the coral reefs. the outback. kangaroos. new zealand. indonesia.
i just want to explore. escape from america and see how the rest of the world lives. i want to get out of my box and broaden my horizons. the world is such a big world.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
my brother
my brother has an unhealthy love for his xbox. i think he loves it more than life. it's the first thing he does as soon as he gets home and then you never see him again. even though you don't see him you know he's home because of all the yelling your hear bouncing up the stairs. yes, that is right, yelling. cabrito also has this strange obsession with the xbox and xbox live.
yes, i have played xbox before. yes, i had fun. no, i was not any good. but i don't understand why this is all some people do. my brother is addicted to his xbox. he needs his xbox like a heroin addict needs heroin. if he does not get to play his xbox he throws a fit. he is as sullen as the little kid in the candy store who can't get any candy. he pouts. he complains. so what does he decide to do? he goes to sleep. he does not know what to do with himself when he can't play xbox.
when he goes to over to a friend's house you know what they do? they play xbox in big groups. they have no concept of how to spend their time. it's all they do, stare at a TV and yell at the random kids from all over the world. they waste their lives sitting in front of a TV.
he is supposed to only play xbox for two hours after school on weeknights. do you think he follows this rule? nope, everyone else has to keep a watch on the time for him. he is incapable of making sure that he only plays for two hours. then on weekends he can play for as long as he wants. meaning he tries to play all day. and if he's not at a friend's house friday or saturday night then he's in the basement playing xbox. he will play until 11:30 or 12 at night and then come upstairs and go to bed. my parents go to sleep between 9 and 10. my dog barks every single time he comes upstairs. my parents yell at him for waking them up. yet, every week the same exact thing happens.
xbox live is over the internet, meaning when he's playing xbox the internet in the rest of the house moves impossibly slow. no one can use the internet when he's on the xbox. if we get on this is what he does. he sends you a text message. he's in the basement and i'm upstairs. if i get on the internet when he's on the xbox he sends me a text message. i have to have my parents forcibly remove him from the xbox when i have homework to do. otherwise he just keeps telling me that his game is almost done and he'll get off soon but he never does.
i never see him do any homework at all. maybe that's why he doesn't get good grades and often gets his xbox taken away from him because of bad grades.
***an update***
the xbox red ringed of death. i'm heartbroken. not. for all of you that don't know what the red ring of death is, it means that the xbox is broken. oh darn. too bad for him.
yes, i have played xbox before. yes, i had fun. no, i was not any good. but i don't understand why this is all some people do. my brother is addicted to his xbox. he needs his xbox like a heroin addict needs heroin. if he does not get to play his xbox he throws a fit. he is as sullen as the little kid in the candy store who can't get any candy. he pouts. he complains. so what does he decide to do? he goes to sleep. he does not know what to do with himself when he can't play xbox.
when he goes to over to a friend's house you know what they do? they play xbox in big groups. they have no concept of how to spend their time. it's all they do, stare at a TV and yell at the random kids from all over the world. they waste their lives sitting in front of a TV.
he is supposed to only play xbox for two hours after school on weeknights. do you think he follows this rule? nope, everyone else has to keep a watch on the time for him. he is incapable of making sure that he only plays for two hours. then on weekends he can play for as long as he wants. meaning he tries to play all day. and if he's not at a friend's house friday or saturday night then he's in the basement playing xbox. he will play until 11:30 or 12 at night and then come upstairs and go to bed. my parents go to sleep between 9 and 10. my dog barks every single time he comes upstairs. my parents yell at him for waking them up. yet, every week the same exact thing happens.
xbox live is over the internet, meaning when he's playing xbox the internet in the rest of the house moves impossibly slow. no one can use the internet when he's on the xbox. if we get on this is what he does. he sends you a text message. he's in the basement and i'm upstairs. if i get on the internet when he's on the xbox he sends me a text message. i have to have my parents forcibly remove him from the xbox when i have homework to do. otherwise he just keeps telling me that his game is almost done and he'll get off soon but he never does.
i never see him do any homework at all. maybe that's why he doesn't get good grades and often gets his xbox taken away from him because of bad grades.
***an update***
the xbox red ringed of death. i'm heartbroken. not. for all of you that don't know what the red ring of death is, it means that the xbox is broken. oh darn. too bad for him.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
earthh :)
happy earth day! today is the day where there is actually a big focus put on helping save our planet. i don't know if i like the idea of earth day or not. now, i'm not saying that i hate the planet and do all i can to ruin it; what i'm saying is do we really need to devote a single day to focusing on saving our planet? why can't this be an every day focus? nonetheless, i do like earth day. in the spirit of earth day here's a few tips for you:- lower your thermostat. you don't need to have it up around 80 during the winter or down around 60 during the summer. every year our air conditioner stays off until the temperature gets around 90. you have windows, open them. turn on a fan, but don't leave it on when you're not there
- reuse water bottles. avoid buying bottled water, keep one good one and reuse it.
- switch your lightbulbs to compact flourescent bulbs. opt for energy efficient appliances.
- when you're not in a room the light does not need to be on. the fan does not need to be on. unplug your outlets, especially at night. not only does this save energy but it saves you some money too
- recycle all you can. especially newspapers
- drive less. carpool to work. walk, run, jog. there's a reason america is the fattest country and it's because we eat fast food and drive everywhere. short rant coming: two houses down from me is the Bills family. two houses up and across the street are the bills' grandparents. it is common to see the big white escalade drive up the street and park in grandma's driveway. the whole family except for mr bills is fat. they have two kids, do they need an escalade? really?
- reuse your plastic bags from the grocery store. they're great doggie poop bags. they're great trash can liners. at the grocery store, pick paper bags. sure they may be an inconvience to you at the time but in the long run they're so much better
- go paperless with your paycheck. direct deposit. talk to your managers and get your paperstub switched to online only.
- shorten your showers. only do full loads of laundry. run the dishwasher when it's full. and for pete's sake turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth
- plant a tree
- instead of google, use earthle
reduce, reuse, recycle
Sunday, April 19, 2009
work
my new address is 345 collins road. please come visit me. okay, that is not where i live it's just a reference to something one of my friends said to me. he told me i worked so much that i basically live there. i, of course, protested and said that i did not, but truthfully, at the time i did. now i work one to two weeknights and saturday and sunday. it's roughly 15 hours a week, 30 hours per paycheck. oh shoot, i forgot to pick up my check. i'll get that one of these days.
i like work. it's not hard work once you know what you're doing. i have worked since school started so for 8 months at the end of april. but my favorite part of work is the people i work with. when i first started i was the only one from my school that worked there. then over the holidays kate got hired and we're the two kennedy kids. my first day was a scary experience, i do not like being thrown in to situations where i know no one. but now that i have been there for eight months basically, i'm glad i knew no one when i first started. it forced me to open up and meet new people. strangely enough, i love meeting new people but it's not something i like to do. if that makes any sense. let's try this, i don't like being in a group and not knowing anyone and having to make all the awkward introductions but in the end meeting new people is one of my favorite experiences.
i have made some of the best friends i could ask for at work and if it hadn't been for work i wouldn't have known them or made friends with them. a few of them i probably wouldn't have talked to if i knew. here is one specific example, we will call him larry. larry goes to metro high school. for those of you that don't know, metro is the school where there are plenty of drug addicts, public school drop outs, pregnant teens, those who flunked out, and those who had attendance problems. i do not normally associate with people like that. i used to see that they went to metro and immediately stayed away with them. why was i so quick to place a label? because past experiences had all resulted in that label so it was easiest to lump the whole school together. meeting larry has been an eye opening experience for me. he was originally sent to metro because he never went to school when he was in the public school system. for the final trimester of his senior year, he is taking half of his classes at wash and the other half at metro. larry is nothing like the kid i expected him to be after i heard he went to metro. i'm very glad i was wrong about him, i wouldn't trade his friendship for the world.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
done for the year
i am done with contest for the year! you have no idea just how good it feels. now i can kinda slack off until all state starts coming around.
i was in five events at state contest. i am extremely happy with most of them and just happy with a couple. my piccolo solo was just okay, and i'll be surprised if i got a one. i feel that it shouldn't deserve a one, i could have played it better. the duet markus kritzer and i did went well and i am pleased with how it went but we both agree that the best we ever played it was when we ran through it on friday. woodwind choir, eh i don't really care, we got a one. celtic celebration was good. really good. but my favorite performance was the very first of the day; my flute solo. i played the first movement of martinu's sonata. i am in love with how the flute and piano sound together. of all the pieces i have played before that is my favorite.
contest is a day that makes me extremely nervous. i have a nervous habit of biting/tearing at my fingernails on my pointer finger on both hands. i am proud to say that i did not bite or tear my nail once on saturday. that doens't mean that i wasn't nervous, it just means that i have a greater exercise of self control than i used to. why does contest make me nervous? i was playing pieces that i had practiced for months and was ready to play. okay, so my piccolo solo may not have been as ready as it could have been, but it was ready. the only people that were going to hear me were my parents, my lesson teacher, pianist, and a judge i didn't even know. my parents know what i sounded like when i first started playing and are subject to all the wrong notes and rhythms of practicing. my lesson teacher is the same. she hears my play for an hour every single week. she knows that i'm not perfect and little things always happen when i'm playing. my pianist also knows that i make mistakes. i know that if i mess up in front of those people they will not have that as their only image of me. they have all seen my highs and my lows. it's the judge that i have never met before that gets me. how i play in front of them is the only thing they have to know me by. i try to tell myself that i don't care at all what people think about me but you know what, i obviously do. my nerves show that. i think everyone cares just a little at least.
i was in five events at state contest. i am extremely happy with most of them and just happy with a couple. my piccolo solo was just okay, and i'll be surprised if i got a one. i feel that it shouldn't deserve a one, i could have played it better. the duet markus kritzer and i did went well and i am pleased with how it went but we both agree that the best we ever played it was when we ran through it on friday. woodwind choir, eh i don't really care, we got a one. celtic celebration was good. really good. but my favorite performance was the very first of the day; my flute solo. i played the first movement of martinu's sonata. i am in love with how the flute and piano sound together. of all the pieces i have played before that is my favorite.
contest is a day that makes me extremely nervous. i have a nervous habit of biting/tearing at my fingernails on my pointer finger on both hands. i am proud to say that i did not bite or tear my nail once on saturday. that doens't mean that i wasn't nervous, it just means that i have a greater exercise of self control than i used to. why does contest make me nervous? i was playing pieces that i had practiced for months and was ready to play. okay, so my piccolo solo may not have been as ready as it could have been, but it was ready. the only people that were going to hear me were my parents, my lesson teacher, pianist, and a judge i didn't even know. my parents know what i sounded like when i first started playing and are subject to all the wrong notes and rhythms of practicing. my lesson teacher is the same. she hears my play for an hour every single week. she knows that i'm not perfect and little things always happen when i'm playing. my pianist also knows that i make mistakes. i know that if i mess up in front of those people they will not have that as their only image of me. they have all seen my highs and my lows. it's the judge that i have never met before that gets me. how i play in front of them is the only thing they have to know me by. i try to tell myself that i don't care at all what people think about me but you know what, i obviously do. my nerves show that. i think everyone cares just a little at least.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
barack obama. shut up, spencer!
i may have my ipod in but i still hear tamara and spencer talking. so my title is one of the random phrases they've been throwing out. by my rough count i need three more blog posts with over 400 words. well then. this might get interesting. phrophase. i need some more weapons too. and shoes. more stuff from tamara and spencer.
i will describe the scene here. we are in zero hour, the 7am class. because it's thursday we are in the lab. the cave to be exact. we all thought that because we were in the lab monday and tuesday while mr ayers was gone that we wouldn't be blogging today, but guess what. we are. the three people sitting across from me are blogging, revising an essay, and watching person two reivse the essay of person three. the person sitting next to me is pretending like he's going to hit the escape key. and asking me why i'm wearing my glasses. guess what, cabrito, i can trype with your covering my eyes. i dont need to see the screen to type.
we have orchestra today during band. meaning, i don't have band! but i do have contest groups stuff to do. celtic needs to rehearse. woodwind choir is going to rehearse. the duet should probably rehearse. my solos? maybe they should too. there won't be enough time for all of that. oh well.
next topic. in 74 days cabrito is going to costa rica. he had to get all these shots so that he doesn't catch some strange costa rican disease while he's gone. i wish i could go to costa rica. actually, i really wish i was going on the spain trip. that would be fun. but, i'm staying in iowa for my summer. i will now outline the details of my summer plans. so from may 11th through somewhere around the 4th of july i will be playing softball. softball will take over my life and that's all i'm going to be doing. i'll be trying to work at old navy still because i like getting a paycheck every two weeks. after softball i will go back into the corn fields and detassel. and do some rougueing, which is basically being racist against the corn. anything that looks different i get to cut out with a shovel. around july 19th rbetta and i will be traveling to iowa state for a few days. we're going to learn about being an engineer. fun stuff. we're staying in martin. for all of you that don't know, martin is the dorm at iowa state with the suites for rooms. and then when i get home i don't know. then in august it's back to learning the marching band stuff. sad face, that means school is going to be starting soon.
i will describe the scene here. we are in zero hour, the 7am class. because it's thursday we are in the lab. the cave to be exact. we all thought that because we were in the lab monday and tuesday while mr ayers was gone that we wouldn't be blogging today, but guess what. we are. the three people sitting across from me are blogging, revising an essay, and watching person two reivse the essay of person three. the person sitting next to me is pretending like he's going to hit the escape key. and asking me why i'm wearing my glasses. guess what, cabrito, i can trype with your covering my eyes. i dont need to see the screen to type.
we have orchestra today during band. meaning, i don't have band! but i do have contest groups stuff to do. celtic needs to rehearse. woodwind choir is going to rehearse. the duet should probably rehearse. my solos? maybe they should too. there won't be enough time for all of that. oh well.
next topic. in 74 days cabrito is going to costa rica. he had to get all these shots so that he doesn't catch some strange costa rican disease while he's gone. i wish i could go to costa rica. actually, i really wish i was going on the spain trip. that would be fun. but, i'm staying in iowa for my summer. i will now outline the details of my summer plans. so from may 11th through somewhere around the 4th of july i will be playing softball. softball will take over my life and that's all i'm going to be doing. i'll be trying to work at old navy still because i like getting a paycheck every two weeks. after softball i will go back into the corn fields and detassel. and do some rougueing, which is basically being racist against the corn. anything that looks different i get to cut out with a shovel. around july 19th rbetta and i will be traveling to iowa state for a few days. we're going to learn about being an engineer. fun stuff. we're staying in martin. for all of you that don't know, martin is the dorm at iowa state with the suites for rooms. and then when i get home i don't know. then in august it's back to learning the marching band stuff. sad face, that means school is going to be starting soon.
really? whyyy?
my computer at home has caught a virus. real cool. i have all my work saved on that. all my music is on that. all my pictures are on that. and there's a good chance that my hard drive is going to have to be erased. not cool. i'm going to hope and wish and pray that jerry can fix my laptop without having to clear my hard drive.
the virus i have is called spyware protect 2009. it is a scam. scam, i say, it's a scam. it's telling me that i have 34 very serious threats attacking my computer and that i need to pay $50 to download this. it's also affecting my internet; every website i try to go to is secruity blocked for microsoft's reasons. so i couldn't even google this stupid spyware protect 2009 to see how to remove it from my laptop. so i called my uncle bob. he gave me the website to give to jerry so that when jerry comes on saturday he can fix my laptop.
how did i get this virus, you ask? apparently my antivirus didn't update fast enough and the sneaky little virus managed to wriggle it's way in. stupid virus, because of you i have to leave my computer shut off until jerry comes to fix it. my revised essay is on that computer. my revised essay was supposed to be turned in tomorrow. but thankfully mr ayers has changed the due date to monday.
and now onto a completely different topic-- state solo and ensemble contest.
contest is on saturday. at linn mar. city contest was here at kennedy. it was nice, i knew exactly where everything was. now i have to go to linn mar. there's a very good chance that i'm going to get lost, wandering around linn mar high school. i have two solos and three ensembles to play on saturday. at the current moment i'm only nervous for one and that's my piccolo solo. it's high and squeaky at times and it's fast with a lot of notes. i'm kinda nervous.
el cabrito is lame. first, he skipped city contest. now he's skipping state contest. he also has lost not one, but two of the originals for the woodwind choir. i do not envy him. the directors are going to kill him. you see, he's supposed to be a SECTION LEADER. he's not being very section leader-ish at the moment. okay so he wasn't a section leader this year but that didn't stop him from putting all these section leader activities on his NCYL application.
the virus i have is called spyware protect 2009. it is a scam. scam, i say, it's a scam. it's telling me that i have 34 very serious threats attacking my computer and that i need to pay $50 to download this. it's also affecting my internet; every website i try to go to is secruity blocked for microsoft's reasons. so i couldn't even google this stupid spyware protect 2009 to see how to remove it from my laptop. so i called my uncle bob. he gave me the website to give to jerry so that when jerry comes on saturday he can fix my laptop.
how did i get this virus, you ask? apparently my antivirus didn't update fast enough and the sneaky little virus managed to wriggle it's way in. stupid virus, because of you i have to leave my computer shut off until jerry comes to fix it. my revised essay is on that computer. my revised essay was supposed to be turned in tomorrow. but thankfully mr ayers has changed the due date to monday.
and now onto a completely different topic-- state solo and ensemble contest.
contest is on saturday. at linn mar. city contest was here at kennedy. it was nice, i knew exactly where everything was. now i have to go to linn mar. there's a very good chance that i'm going to get lost, wandering around linn mar high school. i have two solos and three ensembles to play on saturday. at the current moment i'm only nervous for one and that's my piccolo solo. it's high and squeaky at times and it's fast with a lot of notes. i'm kinda nervous.
el cabrito is lame. first, he skipped city contest. now he's skipping state contest. he also has lost not one, but two of the originals for the woodwind choir. i do not envy him. the directors are going to kill him. you see, he's supposed to be a SECTION LEADER. he's not being very section leader-ish at the moment. okay so he wasn't a section leader this year but that didn't stop him from putting all these section leader activities on his NCYL application.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
iamafan
i didn't feel like using the space bar i guess. but that's not the point of this. the point of this post is that it's major league baseball season again. of all the professional sports, baseball has the longest season. there are major league games on from april to october. 162 games in the regular season. i am a fan. one of my very first blog posts was about major league baseball if that puts the lenght of the season into perspective for you. i am a minnesota twins fan. it's a family thing. my dad, two of his brothers, and both my brothers are all twins fans.
i have seen countless baseball games on tv and been to kearnels games, but i have only been three live major league games. my first major league game was in colorado with my relatives there. i was staying with them for a little bit and they took me to a rockies game. even though the rockies lost and we left after the seventh inning i was glad to go. the other two games i have been to were both in the hubert h humphrey's metrodome up in minnesota. love. twins won both games that i have been to.
i was watching a game the other night with my dad and i started to wonder as to why the twins were my favorite team. they haven't won a world series since 1991. they're not seen as one of the major powerhouses of the baseball world. they lose their fair share of games. they have good players but their roster isn't chock full of superstars. why do i like the twins? because they're an honest team. it's easy to like the yankees; they're one of the most well known teams in baseball. they are almost always in the playoffs and have plenty of talented players. and money. the yankees have all the money. i do not like the yankees. the yankees buy all the good players and try to make themselves team superstars. they also have some steriod troubles, most recently a-rod.
one thing i don't understand, though, is the ridiculous amount of money that baseball players are paid. it's a ridiculously outrageous amount, especially the yankees players. it's not just the baseball players that get paid this outrageous amount, it's the whole entertainment industry. every professional sport, the singers, the movie stars; all of them. ridiculous amounts. how is it possible for our economy to be bad when endless amounts of money are being paid to all of these people? i don't understand it, but maybe that's because i haven't taken economics yet. the professional athletes, the professional musicians and the tv and movie actors have more money than they know what to do with. why don't they fix our troubled economy? why don't they help give the bailouts instead of increasing our federal deficit?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
an update. skip it.
this post serves one purpose and one purpose only, a grade. it is required to post at least three times a week with 400 words per post. i have ran out of possibly interesting things to say so i'm going to ramble on and be done with this as soon as i get to 400 words.
i am kind of beginning to like blogging. hmm. when the blogs were first assigned i was not a fan. blogging used to bring the mental image of creepy old men who lived in the basement of their parents' house still. blogging is kind of growing on me.
when i have something to say blogging is very easy. right now i don't really have anything to say so getting to 400 words is a struggle. right now is a struggle. a struggle of pulling those non loose teeth proportions.
i have had my braces off four four years. whoa. i have gotten so used to wearing my retainers at night that it feels weird to not wear them. like last night, i was up late doing homework so i didn't want to wake my parents by going and getting them. sometimes i sleep with my contacts in. like last night, i was up late doing homework so i didn't want to go wake my parents so i just went to sleep with them in. i woke up with some blurry vision but after some intense blinking i could finally see again.
i have really bad vision. really bad. without my glasses or contacts i don't see very well up close or far away. and even with my glasses and contacts seeing slightly far away is an issue. there is a very good chance of me getting glaucoma when i'm older. my great grandma and my grandma both have it. i also have astigmatism. that's why i can't see perfectly with my glasses or contacts. for those of you that don't know what astigmatism is, it means that my eyes are shaped abnormally. so even when they give me the abnormally shaped contacts to fit my abnormally shaped eyes things still aren't always a good fit.
random acts of kindness make my day. they really just do. i have been told that i am too nice of a person and that i'm going to wind up hurt because of it. well guess what. you just gotta keep on going. don't let those debby downers get you down.
i get by with a little help from my friends :)
i am kind of beginning to like blogging. hmm. when the blogs were first assigned i was not a fan. blogging used to bring the mental image of creepy old men who lived in the basement of their parents' house still. blogging is kind of growing on me.
when i have something to say blogging is very easy. right now i don't really have anything to say so getting to 400 words is a struggle. right now is a struggle. a struggle of pulling those non loose teeth proportions.
i have had my braces off four four years. whoa. i have gotten so used to wearing my retainers at night that it feels weird to not wear them. like last night, i was up late doing homework so i didn't want to wake my parents by going and getting them. sometimes i sleep with my contacts in. like last night, i was up late doing homework so i didn't want to go wake my parents so i just went to sleep with them in. i woke up with some blurry vision but after some intense blinking i could finally see again.
i have really bad vision. really bad. without my glasses or contacts i don't see very well up close or far away. and even with my glasses and contacts seeing slightly far away is an issue. there is a very good chance of me getting glaucoma when i'm older. my great grandma and my grandma both have it. i also have astigmatism. that's why i can't see perfectly with my glasses or contacts. for those of you that don't know what astigmatism is, it means that my eyes are shaped abnormally. so even when they give me the abnormally shaped contacts to fit my abnormally shaped eyes things still aren't always a good fit.
random acts of kindness make my day. they really just do. i have been told that i am too nice of a person and that i'm going to wind up hurt because of it. well guess what. you just gotta keep on going. don't let those debby downers get you down.
i get by with a little help from my friends :)
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