So Counting.

The final portion (math) of the HSAP is tomorrow and I'm really tired because I've been staying up later and later to do these blogs and re watch my favorite scenes in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. So I'm going to bed now to get some much needed sleep.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

P.S. this is so counting as my blog for today.

Carrier Pigeons (More Valuable Than You Would Have Guessed)

Today was day one of HSAP testing. The topic of today was English, more specifically, writing (reading comprehension is tomorrow). Our topic for our essay was something along the lines of 'what do you think is the most valuable form of communication in today's society'. Luckily for me, I had just written an essay about the wonderful thing that is the Internet and how it is the best way of communication. What a crazy random happenstance. (And no, I didn't write it for fun, though that does seem like something I would do. I wrote it for my Governor's School application.)

I re-wrote my essay as best I could manage on the scratch paper provided (I had to keep asking for more paper and after the third piece, the teacher just brought me a whole stack), and my finished product was four pages long (double spaced; had to leave room to edit).

So, do you remember how in yesterday's blog I complained about the people that take four eternities to finish their tests? Well... let's just say I was one of them today (but not to get out of class, I just truly wanted my essay to be decent, and I knew that when I got done I'd just have to sit there for a couple hours, so why not, right?). I didn't finish last in the room I was in, but pretty close. I think that (in my room), there were about two or three people that finished after me. But, hey, we still got out in time to go to third period, and I got to read Lennox's lines in Act 5 Macbeth (there are only about six literal lines of text. Not six times of talking, just the amount of dialogue that takes up six lines.).

Anyway, the entire time I was writing the essay, I wanted so bad to just scratch out what I had and write an essay on carrier pigeons. These tests are a joke, anyway, so why not add my wonderful sarcasm, right? (I ended up sticking with the Internet because I kind of really want to graduate).

'Til tomorrow,

--A

P.S. that was an abrupt ending. Oh well. (Also, there are a lot of parenthesis in this entry...)

HSAP

So, rather than discuss something deep or heavy or anything like that, I'm just going to complain about standardized testing. While I understand that HSAP scores are (maybe?) important, I think that it's pretty ridiculous that they take up so much time.

At my school, we run on an A/B schedule with four classes each day (not including lunch and Enrichment, and don't even get me started on Enrichment. That's a rant for another day entirely...). Anyway, we also have the privilege to take classes at the college down the hill if we pass something known as 'Compass Testing', have good grades, and a teacher recommendation, and the college classes are taken extremely seriously (by me, anyway. I can't speak for the other people at my school.)

For those of you who don't know, HSAP is a standardized test that takes place over the course of three days and determines if you get your diploma or not. From what I've heard, it's incredibly easy, and I really have absolutely no worry about it at all. I have also heard that it SHOULD take around ten minutes to complete each part (and this from a person that I wouldn't exactly label as a "genius"...) but the wonderful people at my school who are oh so smart think 'I'll just take a long time so that I don't have to go back to class'. (Wonderful). What they fail to realize, or fail to care about, is that no one can leave until EVERYONE gets done. This is bad for people like me who are taking junior and college level classes and are missing important lecture time.

Because of the thoughtful tenth graders at my wonderful school, I am missing my Spanish 102 class which we just so happen to have an exam in that day. Thankfully, my Spanish professor was willing to work with me and scheduled me to take the exam on Friday. Fortunately, I'll get to take the test instead of receiving an automatic zero. On the downside, I have classes on Friday.

Frustration ensues.

Don't you just love teenagers, especially when combined with standardized tests?

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Just Dance

There are a few video games out there that when you hear about them, you just think 'in what universe is this a good idea?' When I heard about a Wii game named 'Just Dance', this was my exact reaction. The premise of the game is that there is a person on the screen who dances and the players have to mirror the dancer and earn points. The player with the most points at the end of the song wins.

A couple weeks ago at my school, we had what the administration called a 'Community Day' in which we did a bunch of pointless and quite frankly stupid tasks that was supposed to strengthen the bonds and family-feel among the students. (Yeah, right.) Anyway, one of the stations was a 'Just Dance' station where they had two Wiis set up and had Just Dance on one and Just Dance 2 on the other. The point of the station was so that the students would begin to feel more comfortable with being themselves around their peers. (Here again, yeah, right.) It was quite humorous from the sidelines, and part of me wanted to get up there and dance, but there was no way I was going to do it in front of these people. They would have teared me apart.

The week following, my friend, Jonathon, had a birthday party and one of my other friends brought Just Dance 2. This time, I did dance. These were my friends and I knew that rather than laughing at me like my school mates would have, they would be laughing with me.

Let me tell you: it was hard. No matter how easy it may appear when you're just watching it, do not be fooled. It is a HARD game. Not to mention, it really gives you a work out. The first song or two aren't that bad, but then you get to about the sixth consecutive dance and you are sweating bullets and ready to drop. Two days after playing, my arms were still unbelievably sore (though admittedly, I'm not exactly what one would call 'in shape', but I digress.)

This is why I think that Just Dance is an awesome thing for America, and the world really, but particularly the U.S. You are always hearing about how everyone in America is fat and has no physical activity, but that is due largely to the fact that a lot of Americans are stationary during the day while at work, and there really isn't a fast, fun, and convenient way to get exercise, until Just Dance. If everyone would just do thirty minutes of Just Dance a day, America would be a much healthier place. Just Dance is fast, it really works you out, and most importantly, it's genuinely fun.

Just Dance. Go play it.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

P.S. I'm really sorry, but the whole 'two blogs' thing just isn't happening. Some things came up and my whole day kind of got scrambled up, so...

*sigh*

For the third time now I'm going to have to disappoint you with a sorry excuse for a blog. I wasn't exactly planning on being out so late and I anticipated having more time to write this blog.

As it stands, my vision is so blurred that I cannot count the number of fingers I am holding up when my hand is right in front of my face.

To make up for this (and the other) pathetic excuses for blogs, I am going to write two blogs tomorrow to make up for my slackness.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Sweat and Tiredness

I'm really sorry to be doing this again, but I find myself in the same situation as the other day when I wrote the crappy cop-out blog about how it was late and I was tired. I went to the birthday party of a good friend of mine and now it's late and my eyes are closing at odd intervals and I just want to sleep.

While I hate to write a blog this short and crappy (especially multiple times) I just don't think I can keep myself awake enough to form coherent sentences much longer.

I promise to regale you with fascinating tales of the party tomorrow when I'm not as tired and can think clearer. I will also talk about the wonders that Just Dance could do for America.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Dedication

A lot of the time, people will often change their minds multiple times about what they want to do with their lives. In fact, the majority of the people that I go to school with don't even have the slightest idea of the field that they even want to go in to. These are sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen-year-olds we're talking about, here. I personally find it sad when someone who is that close to having to make a decision that big about their lives just has no idea what they want to do, or even some vague ideas.

I think that a major problem with a lot of the youth today is they don't see or worry at all about the future. It's something that's just that: the future. Not the present. They think that high school will be it for them. Sure, the future is coming, and they're going to have to make a decision, but that is a thing to contemplate and worry about later when the time comes.

Well, I've got a message for all of the people just biding their time with absolutely no idea about what they want to go into: the time to decide and start planning is now. Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or just later; it's NOW. It truly hurts my heart to see those kids who just wander aimlessly and put off their homework or studying to go party. Now don't get me wrong, I think it's important to have a social life, but you CAN have both a social life AND good grades.

One day, when those people are working hard at multiple jobs just to support themselves and their families, they are going to look back and think 'man, what was I thinking? I should have just buckled down and done my homework.' And that's why it hurts my heart. Because while they may be the people I don't much care for or want to spend my time with now, one day they are going to be sad and have lots of regrets, and right now they don't even realize/care.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding like an after school special or something here, but I'm typing because it's the truth, folks. Alright, I'll just wrap up and be done venting now.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Whoops....

So, I was all cozied up in my bed, ready to drift off to sleep when I remembered that I had to do a blog today, less I fail the BEDA challenge. I grudgingly drug myself out of bed and over to the computer to type this really fast, copout blog.

To make up for this littly crappy post, I'll write an extra long one tomorrow.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Want, Truly

There have been a select few things that I have wanted, truly wanted, in my life. Of course there are the little things that I thought I "wanted" (toys, clothes, etc.), but very rarely have I felt the feeling of true want.

The first time I can recall "wanting" just so happens to also be my earliest memory. I can recall a certain saltiness to the air (which can be attributed to the fact that we were staying at the beach) and everything being strikingly bright. The visual that I call to mind is a yellow sign with a black arrow pointing up. We were stopped at a bridge that had separated to allow a boat passage. I distinctly remember that we had been sitting there for the equivalent of about five eternities when my little three-year-old self could no longer take it. Overcome with hunger, I began crying and yelled "EEEEAAAAAAATTTTTT!"

The second instance of "want" that I can recall (which comes from my more recent past) was my baby, Salem. The second I stepped onto my grandmother's porch and saw that little black ball of fur and he looked up and mewed at me, I knew I was his, and he was mine. I crouched beside the cage and simply said, "Hello, Salem." We went to my grandmother's home to eat Mother's Day lunch. We left with Salem, who is now right around two years old.

The third time I "wanted" is now. As I have stated in previous blog posts, I have applied to the Governor's School for Mathematics and Science, and up to about a few days ago, it was something I "wanted" and didn't really want. Don't get me wrong, it was something I wanted, but it was more of a numb want. It seemed so far away, a time reserved for junior me, and I was still just a sophomore, not a care in the world. When my friends who applied to the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities got their acceptance letters, it awakened something in me. I looked at my calendar and realized, 'hey, I'm only going to be a sophomore for another two months, and then everything is going to change.'

And I realized how desperately I wanted, truly wanted to be a Govie, one of the few, the elite, the Chosen Ones. What was once a numb ache has morphed into a new beast entirely. I now hurt for this, and that is truly wanting. It used to be that I would think of it every now and again in passing, but now it is at the front of my mind, constantly there, constantly gnawing at me, capturing my full attention.

In class. At night, trying to go to sleep. Doing homework. Taking a shower. Cooking. Cleaning. Organizing. Eating.

No matter what I do, it is there, and I can't make it go away.

I fear that my only cure at this point is May 1st. The day of the Decisions.

Wish me luck.

'Til Tomorrow,

--A

Spiderman as Revolution

Every so often, something or someone comes along and changes everything that we know, or we thought we knew. It could be the discovery that the world is flat, it could be the realization that race does not biologically exist, or it could even be a fictional character.

Enter Spiderman, the hero who changed it all.

When Stan Lee, the "father of superheroes", proposed the idea of Spiderman, he was immediately shot down. He was told that the idea of a superhero named Spiderman was the dumbest idea ever heard; who on earth would like a hero called Spiderman? People hate spiders. Not only was this so called "hero" spider themed, but he was going to be a teenager. Superheroes were supposed to be grown men, not children. The next major flaw of Spiderman was just that; he had flaws.

Are you kidding me? This guy was a hero? Weren't heroes supposed to be flawless, strong, incorruptible?

Back in the 50's and 60's when Lee first proposed Spiderman, this sort of thing was unheardof. Superheroes were supposed to all be like Superman. All men. All strong. All impossibly moral.

Stan Lee was shot down, laughed at, and ridiculed.

Today, Spiderman is amoung the most popular and well known of all the Superheroes, joining the ranks of Batman, Superman, Iron Man, and many more. There are three Spiderman films along with numerous television shows and comic books. Spiderman has costumes, decorations, dishes, backpacks, action figures, and yes, even Snuggies (which I am the proud owner of).

This is why I personally love Spiderman, because he defied what everyone told him he had to be. Because while he is a superhero, he also has a human side, an unperfect side, and so many more people can relate to him than they can to the alien that is Superman and the multimillionaire that is Batman. Spiderman, not afraid to be the posterboy for underdogs.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Tomorrow is Monday...

...so that is why this blog post is so short and nonsensical. It's kind of late and I'm kind of tired and I don't want to be blogging right now; I want to be curled up in my bed, sleeping. If I was more efficient, I would have written this blog earlier in the day, but what can I say? I'm a procrastinator at heart, so instead I spent the whole day laying around willing it to be May already for many reasons:

1) I get to know if I was accepted to GSSM (*crosses fingers*)

2) I'm (finally) starting drivers ed and therefore taking a step closer to a for real driver's license

3) It's the last month of school

So there you have it. If you have the capability to make it May and just totally skip April, then I would be forever in your debt. If not, then... I don't know. I'm tired and irritable. Have to get up at unholy hours in the morning to go to school.

'Til tomorrow,

--A

Limitless, Goat-tees, Frozen Yogurt, and Acceptance

Today, the second of April, 2011, was a good day. As can be seen in the title, there were four main parts to my day that were just day-makers. Those little things (and some not so little things) that just make your day. I am going to break down and discuss individually these four parts individually, and it will be evident why today was a good day:

1) Limitless: The first day-maker was Limitless. Limitless is a movie that came out on March 18 of this year and is about a man who begins taking a drug that allows him to access one hundred percent of his brain. (Did you know that humans only ever access twenty percent of their brains? Crazy, isn't it?) At first, the man is amazed at what this drug allows him to do and it seems to be a miracle drug. He completely turns his life around and becomes extremely rich over an extremely short amount of time. Although his life seems perfect, he discovers a new side to the drug; a darker, more sinister side. For fear of giving to much away, I'll leave it at that and let you go watch the movie. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it was pretty good.

2) Goat-tees: This is my second day-maker, and for you to understand it, I have to tell you a story. While I was eating with Lois, Kendall, and Lois' family, I told them in passing about how my grandmother says that any man with a goatee looks like my father. The conversation moved on to other topics, and my story was eventually forgotten. As we walked out into the parking lot, Lois' mom spotted a man with a goatee and said 'hey, look, there's your dad' and we all laughed. After the laughing had died down, Lois' sister piped up and said 'so, what is a goatee, a kind of shirt?', and for some reason, this was particularly hilarious to me at the time and I died laughing. Kendall then said 'what would that be, a shirt with a goat on it?' and I continued laughing hysterically (Get it, get it? It's a goat on a tee shirt, therefore goat-tee?......) Anyway, that is why I want a shirt with a goat on it and nothing else so I can be like 'hmmmm, I think I'll wear my goat-tee today.

3)Frozen Yogurt: I love frozen yogurt. But not just any frozen yogurt. My favorite thing ever is plain tart frozen yogurt with kiwis, strawberries, and raspberries from Blueberry Frog. Enough said. (Blueberry Frog-- go there.)

4) Acceptance: The fourth and final day-maker for me is the best. You know what they say about saving the best for last. Anyway-- a few of my friends (Lois, Eleeza, and Dylan) applied to the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities. Today, I received a message from an excited Dylan proclaiming that he had gotten his letter and he had been accepted to the Governor's School. A couple hours (maybe... I think it was a couple hours. It felt that long) later, Eleeza's mail came and she, too, had gotten accepted. What seemed like five eternities later, Lois' mail came and she was accepted, too. I know it may be insubstantial to an outside person like me, but I was genuinely excited and joyful for them. I knew that they could do it. (Not to mention now I'm feeling all nervous and jittery about the Governor's School for Math and Science where I applied to go. We don't get to find out until next month though.... I think I'm going to throw up...).

So, these were my day-makers. I'm really glad that all of these things happened because they overshadow the fact that it is day two of Script Frenzy and I am already way behind. I suppose I should go work on that, now....

'Til tomorrow,

--A

P.S. Congratulations to Lois, Eleeza, and Dylan for getting in to GSAH! I knew you guys could do it.

I Must Be Crazy...

As some of you know, April first, aside from being the total pain that is April Fool's Day, is the starting day for two very important events, the first being BEDA, or Blog Every Day April. BEDA is basically where you post a blog daily about anything and everything on your mind. No length requirement, no topic that has to be covered. Just pure and utter brain barf. This will probably be advantageous for me the first couple of days because I'll have topic ideas and things I want to blog about, but as the month goes on, I am going to run out of ideas, trust me.

The second big event that starts on April first is Script Frenzy. Script Frenzy is a bit more rigorous than BEDA, and I'm assuming that it's going to give me a little bit of a harder time (though I've never actually done either BEDA or Script Frenzy before...). Script Frenzy is a program that you compete in and over the course of one month (April), you have to write a script that is at least on hundred pages long. The script can be for a TV show, a stage play, a movie, a comic book, or anything else, really.

For Script Frenzy this year, I am doing a script for a graphic novel. I have always been fascinated by superheroes, and I decided, 'hey, why not have my own?'. So, with that mindset, I set out on a journey to come up with my very own superhero. When creating this hero, I wanted to do something new, something unique, not just the same old, same old. Don't get me wrong, gotta love the classics, who wants to read about a Superman or Batman rip off, right? I finally came to the conclusion that my superhero had to have six key components to even be partially original and my very own:

1) No superpowers! I decided that my superhero was not going to have superpowers because I love superheroes without superpowers (Batman, Rorschach, etc.). I always thought that they were so much more realistic and so much braver than other heroes because they were just average, normal, everyday people who were going out and risking it all to fight crime and save lives.

2) My superhero had to be something besides white. Nothing against white people, I love them dearly, (not to mention I am white), but the whole white superhero thing is overdone. all of the big superheroes are while, and I wanted to add a little color, a little spice, into the mix. This is how I decided that my superhero would be of Hispanic heritage and the comic book would be set in South America. (Not to mention, I love Hispanic names. They are so pretty, and just flow off of the tongue.)

3) My hero was not going to be rich. I'm sorry, Bruce, I love you to pieces, but the whole endless bank account thing may kind of count as a superpower. I wanted my hero to have to deal with real life problems, and I wanted it to be realistic, here again. Realistically, if a person was going out every single night and fighting crime and had a day job, they would be exhausted. They would start slacking on either their job or their hero work, and I'm guessing it'd be the former. Slacking on the job means getting fired or not making a lot of money. That's why I decided to make my character on the poverty line without much to his name.

4) He had to have an arch nemesis. For obvious reasons. How boring would that be without a super villain for my superhero? Anyway, I decided to take the realistic approach on the bad guy, too. The bad guy was not going to be a super genius, he wasn't going to be an unstoppable lunatic; he was just going to be an everyday guy doing extraordinarily bad things. That's why my super villain is a drug lord.

5) He had to have a love interest. That's where my feminist, young, pretty law enforcement officer, Liliana, came into the mix. Where would Superman be without Lois Lane? Spiderman without M.J.? Nite Owl II without Silk Spectre II? Batman without Robin? (Okay, that last one was a joke. I know that Batman and Robin are just friends... for the most part.)

6) Finally, my hero was going to have a dark and conflicted past because he's human, and everyone makes mistakes. I'm not going to go into much detail about this last point because I don't want to give anything away. So, that's my plan for my superhero. I really want both Script Frenzy and BEDA to go well. I am going to try my best to stay on top of them both, but I'm not making any promises because I know how these things generally end up going. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

'Til tomorrow,

--A