OK, I will start with Thanksgiving. Yippee! The pilgrims came and killed my ancestors… Yay! I don’t like Turkey! Yay! I don’t like stuffing! Yay!

 

Past Week:

 

Over the past week or two, I have had a lot to think about. Or rather, just one thing to think about really hard. Whatever, you are just going to have to speculate as to what it is, because I am not saying. Anyway, to say the least, I was not overly enthused for the holiday, though I was able to see my aunt, which is always enjoyable. The highlight of my Thanksgiving was watching the movie Elf (which happens to be my favorite holiday movie of ALL TIME). I was really feeling the holiday spirit after the credits, with the puffin keeping it real and all. I started listening to holiday tunes, though. The only amusing part of the day was how my mother spent all day preparing an amazing dinner for my extended family and when we all sat down, it took me just under two minutes to eat my meal (and I wasn’t even rushing). F’real. I timed it. So I just sat there for the remainder of the meal, not eating.

 

Friday I spent the day watching TV (not normal for me at all) and I tried to clean my room (tried being the operative syllable). Finally, I went to Night of the Mayas, which was quite enjoyable, if somewhat tedious due to my companions. I will not elaborate, as it would not do to speak ill of others, especially as they have no chance for equal advocation.

 

Saturday, I spent again watching TV (the last time I watched this much TV on a weekend, I was watching the Lord of the Rings movies with my father. I watched the whole extended trilogy in just over a day [it was a little over 1:00 in the morning, if memory serves] and without break. It was intense. Anyway,), then proceeding to church. Nothing too exciting at church, except for the whole save-your-eternal-soul kinda thing. On the way home, we picked up one of my brother’s friends and another one came over so I am writing listening to the cackling of the three in the main basement area. They were playing SuperSmash Bros., which I opted to avoid for the majority of the evening. I did play one round, which my brother forfeited, saying he had wasted his energy on a CP. Noob. Now they are playing Naruto, and saying random things like “My Chakra didn’t charge fast enough, noob!” and “I am now more powerful, despite a lack of Chakra!” I think Chakra is an energy or something… I dunno.

 

Debate:

I went to a bunch of tournaments since last I posted. I didn’t do overwhelmingly well, but I am learning a lot on blocks and general LD material from my debate captain. He is a senior, and when he graduates at the end of the scholastic year, I am pretty much done, as I will no longer have a way to win in debate. My life will be over as far as successful debate is concerned. I will post my cases for this topic, once they are irrelevant.

 

One debate my opponent and I walked into the classroom, and the judge asked us if we had timers. We replied yes, but we agreed that we still wanted hand signals. We go through the round, and the judge dutifully gives us our signals for three, two, one, half, and time… until my last six-minute speech. I forgot my timer on my desk, and the judge either forgot, or actively decided not to give me hand signals, so I ran to 7:12 without knowing it. The judge informs me of this at the end of the round, and says she will just take speaker points off. Well, she did. She took ten points (on a six to twenty-five scale, this loss is critical) so I lost by a pathetic amount. The shame was I beat my opponent on every point they made, and I beat their value criterion, extended all my points, and protected my criterion… *sigh*

 

Another debate (and this one actually got me mad, and I don’t get mad at debate tournaments, except for when faced with incompetence) I give my first six-minute speech as the Aff. I run a second (5:59) under-time, and I had to cut my last two sentences (no biggie). My opponent stands up and asks me for a brightline on my value criterion (my value criterion being the equal observation of human rights, this question was pretty simple), so I answer, “equality must be served totally, or it’s not served at all, by definition”. Not overly clever, I’ll admit, but it answered the question. They then ask me for the warrant statements for my second and fourth contentions. I don’t have warrant sentences for my second and fourth contentions. If my case had one sentence warrants, then I would have about fifty contentions. As it is, I use paragraph-sized explanations for all my points. So I answer, but she cuts me off after the first clause, and says, “so you don’t have warrants, then, do you?” Affronted, I say, “No, I don’t have warrant sentences. I have warrant statements.” I then proceeded to repeat my paragraph explanation for want of a better answer. She cut me off saying, “I already told you: you don’t have warrants”. Well, I may not be the LD Guru my debate captain is, but I know what a warrant is. She then says, “Ok, that’s all, but let’s move on to something else. Let’s examine your Value Criterion some more…” She then ends cross-ex and gives her speech. She starts by saying, “Ok, well, my opponent lacks warrants for his contentions, and by the rules of debate, if you vote on a point anyone makes, it must be warranted so you can just throw away his contentions. Looking to his value criterion, he lacks a brightline, so we can discard that from the round as well. Don’t let him extend these points! They are no longer valid! So with no offense coming off the affirmative, we can default to the negative and I win. I don’t mean to be technical, but you can’t vote for the affirmative anymore. However, I will go over my case again, just to be clear, then give you voters for the round.” . . . . . . Ok, where to begin…?

1. Do not use terms such as “warrant” and “brightline” in a debate.
2. A value criterion that has “equality” in it, USUALLY doesn’t need a brightline.
3. I can’t extend points when I have only had one speech, as was the case when she told the judge I couldn’t extend points.
4. Refuting her arguments would have been extending points, so by her order, I could not even argue.
5. A debater isn’t supposed to declare voters until the other debater has had at least one chance to respond to a speech. In other words, NOT DURING FIRST SPEECH.

So I respond to the speech opening with, “My opponent just told you that she does not wish to be technical, but that’s too late. What is happening is: 1. She misinterprets my lack of a warrant sentence for a lack of warrant. I will explain why this is untrue. 2. She says that lacking a brightline negates the validity of a value criterion. Again, equality cannot have a brightline, for to have one, means to have no equality at all. 3. To make things really clear, I will explain the warrants for each and every one of my contentions again, just in case it wasn’t heard. 4. I will refute my opponent’s case. Starting with my case…” Then she gives her rebuttal using new arguments to my contentions (BAD), and then she does not extend her own points (REALLY BAD). I give my final speech saying effectively that she cannot make new arguments in a debate, if we are being so technical. I then said that she dropped all her points, at which point she stands up and says “I DID NOT!” (she did, though). Talking during your opponent’s speech is about as bad as it gets in debate, short of blood shed. If I had made a false statement, that is for the judge to decide, then hold against me. By talking during my speech, she looked sloppy, and she called attention to something that ultimately worked against her, as I was telling the truth. I still don’t know whether I won the round, but I really need to know, because I didn’t break, and if that round was the cause, I may actually get annoyed. But enough ranting for now, until later readers!

 

Anjo,

 

 

Post-Script~

Oh, yeah! Here are some of my favorite quotes:

 

1. Luck is the residue of design. Fate is the residue of stupidity ~ me
2. You sit on a throne of lies ~ Elf
3. Confidence is power. Arrogance is foolery. Hesitation is weakness ~ me
4. Let’s take an Apathy Vote! ~ me
5. Deliberation is Wisdom. Initiative is efficient. Rashness is vulnerability ~ me
6. You will have to excuse my low tolerance for condescension ~ The Boondocks
7. It’s just the weight of the world ~ Josh Groban

 

Toodles!

Well. I have tired hands to begin with, so I am just going to skip the last month and add it later.

Highlights of the month:

Finding the joys of facebook
Going to debate tournaments
Keeping my grades up in everything but English
Going to the Community Fair (Friday and Saturday)
Starting a story for English class titled: “the Happy Little Dictator” – I will post this when there’s enough of the story (it’s a long term project)

 

So last week was a four-day week as we had Friday off for the fair. I went after school Thursday to all my clubs to find they weren’t running due to the fair. *Sigh* so I hang out in the auditorium with friends until about five when my mother picks me up. From there I go home and get a quick dinner and go back to the school for the football game. This was fun, but there weren’t as many people as there usually were, so it was a little weird. Thursday afternoon my mother and brother leave for a tour of nearby colleges. I got to stay home with soda, cookie dough, and pop tarts. Friday I go to the fair and I hang out there from 10 in the morning till about 10 at night. Nothing really notable that I would put on a blog, but it was fun anyway. Saturday, I have to wake up at 5:30 to re-write my debate case (re-write because my last one went 1 and 4 with a BYE) and then leave for a tournament. Nothing really notable at the tournament, but one of my friends had this issue with a camera. I wonder if it can be cured with prescription medication (no offense, of course)… At the tournament, I go for the first round, and I walk into a computer lab. The room only had one table, large enough for two. Sadly, it was a four-person debate, so it was a little messed up. The judge was a nationally ranked debater, and he was funny, if abrupt. We debated, and at the end I asked for judge feedback. To the first of our opponents he asked, “What the h*** were you doing here? You were completely unprepared.” To the second he said, “You, too” To my partner, he said “good, but more confidence.” To me he said, “… and YOU. You need to stop being an @$$ hole.” It was pretty funny. Second round, we debated two really good people. I don’t know if we beat them, but it was a good round. Third round, we debated two people from our school. Generally that doesn’t happen, but it was a small tournament. I had the first round judge again, and his general comments the second time were: to my partner, “more confidence.” To my two opponents, he said “stop being @$$ holes.” To me he said, “much better. Now you have arguments with merit.” Yay me. After the debate I get home and go to the fair, but fewer people were there the second day. Today I am bored and I remembered that I have not posted in FOREVER, so here you are alert readers…

 

Have a smiley day!

OK, a bunch happened since my last entry, but I am just going to quote favorites from a facebook quiz I just took:

First question:

Do you like Bananas?
Everybody does

 

If you could choose one super human power, what would it be?
Apathy

 

Define yourself in three words…
Glorious, Supernatural, Conceited

 

What was your last thought?
Trying to think of a good answer for this question

 

How do you feel?
Glorious, Supernatural, Conceited, and, of course, Startlingly Handsome

 

What three words would your best friends use to describe you?
“doesn’t speak for others? Oh that’s technically 4”

 

Are you an indoor or and outdoor person?
Indoor… I don’t have a computer outside

 

If you won the lottery, how would you spend your millions?
Broadcasting that someone who doesn’t play the lottery can still win the lottery.

 

If you could be successful at any job in the world, what would that job be?
Messiah

 

Describe your perfect Sunday morning.
Getting over Saturday night

 

Aliens have landed and selected you to visit their home planet. Do you go with them?
Do I get souvenirs?

 

If you were one word, what word would you be?
Vainglorious

 

What I dislike about the general public is…
A lack of communal moral standards even though agency is present

 

Are you self-obsessed?
Are you reading my answers? I don’t think you are

 

Die with wealth, or with a loved one?
I would have both, so what does it matter?

 

Describe your evil twin.
Myself, just not as handsome

 

(this one’s terrible)

If a tree fell down in the forest and hit a mime, would it make a sound?
Well, apart from the squishing sound?

 

As the president of the United States, what would be the first three things you will enact?
An unlimited term of office, Martial Law, The destruction of all checks and balances

 

What kind of drugs have you tried?
I get high on ladders

 

Favorite Cartoon?
You will never ever EVER beat Road Runner and Coyote

 

Do you believe in God?
I believe in myself, if that’s what you mean

 

Have you ever hooked up with three girls in one night?
Probably not, if I did, I don’t remember

 

That is what the questionnaire was like, and it went on FOREVER. Seriously. If you want to read more, go to my facebook to read the whole entry. Oh, yeah, I am going to a sweet sixteen party in a couple hours. Earlier I was making the present (earrings I crafted myself) and my mother was trying to “help” me. That meant I watched her spend twenty minutes putting together designs and asking me how I liked it. She goes to get more supplies from the basement, and I come up with a design I like…My mother didn’t know how to get there. So she asks me. I get my father’s GPA for her, and she stares at it for about ten seconds, then flips it over and stares a little longer. Finally she asks me “can you turn this on?”. I do, and I hand it back to her. She takes a little while, and just hands it to me, picks up a phone and calls the hostess for directions. She is having major communication issues with the person, and I walk back in the room and tell her I have the address. She continues on for another five minutes getting directions. Furthermore, when I clarify where it is, she says I am wrong, takes the GPA from me and looks at it. She has the nerve to tell ME that I was wrong (in the end, I was right after all) even though I was the one to turn it on… aggravating… Anyway, I hope you like my quiz answers!

 

Toodles!

School. Yay.

Well, not really. You already have my schedule, but after a couple of weeks, I shall now share on my experiences.

First period is English. The teacher is really good at what he does, but he expects too much from us. I think it's because he teachers, like, the entire senior honors English classes, but only one sophomore class. I think he pulls up the standard. Oh, well. At least I will OWN next year’s English. We had to do a presentation on webpages this week. Didn’t go so well. I chose to do my webpage on the school homepage. In retrospect, I think the English teacher RUNS the school homepage, and I was none too kind in my examination thereof. Plus, I ran over time. Ew.

Second Period is Math. The only thing that gets me through THAT class is knowing that after this year, it’s all over. The nightmare of public education level math is over. Plus, on my last test, I forgot to do a question, so I only got a 41/40. Darn.

Third period is Physics. This class seemed really bad at first, but it’s getting better. It is pretty much one long-term homework assignment, and labs. The class periods are either study periods to do the homework, or we go over the homework. Even better, the teacher only checks the homework for completion, which is good as it is IMPOSSIBLE. Seriously, it’s really hard. Anyway, The last test in that class was a 102%, but I don’t know what it was worth.

Lunch. Yay. The only non-standard oriented part of school. Lunch is good, coupled with the fact that there are a lot of people I know in that lunch… Even my brother, but we do not talk much. We aren’t on really good terms. Anyway, Lunch is good.

Fourth period is social studies. I have a teacher who doesn’t seem to be that into written assignments, so that’s good. However, we had an in-class essay, and we only got one period. ONE PERIOD. My essay was written on loose-leaf paper and it was TWELVE SIDES OF PAPER. That was completely ridiculous. Other than that the class isn’t bad. I keep up with current events very well by reading the comics, so I can do this current event journal up to date (Today in the world: Hagar the Horrible came back from England to find tax-collectors at his house).

Fifth Period alternates. Study hall seemed like it would be fun, but now it’s not that fun. The teacher, for some reason unbeknownst to man, changed the class to silent work periods. Ew. Orchestra is fun, we get to play pretty instruments and try to make music. Chorus is fun, too. We get to try to sing (I can barely hit the high B on the Bass clef. I have issues, but not with lower tone singing) and the pieces are fun.

Sixth Period is Spanish and I have a VERY competent teacher. Which is good. She knows how to handle things, plus I already have over a hundred percent average in that class because of extra-credits. Yay.

Seventh Period is French. *sigh* That class was going to be SO much fun. Then the “Spartan Freshman” ruined it. They think they are the kings of the world, and do whatever they want. I think it is a matter of days before they get written up.

After school activities:

Monday: Youth to Youth. This is a program that… I dunno how to describe it, but it’s fun. Sadly, I have to leave early to get to a cello lesson. Still, the cello lesson is fun, except that over the summer, I forgot how to play the cello. Which impeded my ability to PLAY cello. Oh, well. For some reason, I couldn’t try out for districts last year (that reason being that I was a lowly freshman). However this year, I was told, by my teacher, that I should try out for districts. I guess it’s worth a shot. Anyway, the people who run districts decided this year, “Hey, let’s let the freshman try out this year, too!”. Annoying, to say the least. I might do mock trial, which would be Monday evenings, but I haven’t decided yet.

Tuesday: Debate. I am doing a two person debate type this year, known as Public Forum. It’s fun, but I wish I could do LD, which is over-all better. Except that LD has no partners, and partners are fun.

Wednesday: Is my free day. In other words, the day in which I do all long term assignments.

Thursday: Men’s choir. This is also known as Tribesmen, and it’s fun, because my “I can’t hit the high notes” problem is not an issue. Also, Young Democrats Society meets Thursdays, but it has yet to start. Something else happens Thursday, but I cannot remember what. Oh, well.

Friday: This might be academic team, but I don’t know how to join. It’s an issue, but haven’t put forth an overwhelming effort to find out how to go about becoming a member.

Some time during the week, I am going to start taking Piano lessons again. However, I am also trying to start taking Viola lessons, which could be an issue because I am supposed to practice at least a half hour a day for each instrument. I am not doing so well with that.

So overall, my schedule is pretty good, though I have this horrible feeling that I forgot something(s).

 

In my life, there’s not too much going on. Mostly concentrated on not failing school. However, another issue I have is that I am broke. Seriously broke. My cell phone was on a two-year plan, and it was a pretty bad phone. It could take pictures, but that was about it. My parents also took the plan that made it such that I couldn’t text, but after the incident at the pool party (see previous entry) I was able to text. *spooky* Anyway, Verizon changed my plan so I could get a new phone in twenty months instead of twenty four. Yay. Except that I had to buy the new phone. I got the price that would come with a two-year plan (ironically enough, cheaper), but I didn’t get any credit towards a new phone. So I had to pay cash for my new phone and all the equipment (headset [for hands-free], music software, car charger, et cetera) because the equipment for my old phone was outdated. So I decided to get a good phone. I couldn’t decide between the Razr and the Chocolate, but in the end, the Chocolate won out. I also opted to pay the extra money to get an Ipod navigation wheel on it, so it was a little bit pricey. Thus, I am broke. It was worth it, though.

 

Sorry for taking so long to post, alert readers,

Regards,

School started on Monday. To quote myself:

Effort=Ew.

Anyway, my schedule wasn't very forgiving. I walk into my first period class and I get my schedule which is as follows:

First Period-Honors English
Second Period-Calculus
Third Period-Honors Physics
Fourth Period-Lunch
Fifth Period-Honors Cultural Studies
Sixth Period-Alternates between Chorus, Orchestra and Study Hall
Seventh Period-Spanish
Eight Period-French

    That being said, I went to English where my teacher started out by giving us home work and the course syllabus. I am going to be SO proud of myself if I pass that class (not really, I exaggerate). Anyway, from there I went to Math which made me feel sad. I walk in and the teacher starts by saying, "you know all the material your past math teachers you would need to know for application? Well... you need it now, and if you don't know it, you will fail and not succeed and burn in hell. We will be working on a college text book and cover a semester or more of material for a course designed to be one and a half semesters..." And so on. So after that I went to science where I sat down, was then told that I needed to move to my new seat, and immediately was called down to a general assembly for all sophomores. That being said, I then had to stand in class walk to the front of the room and leave. When I came back, the rest of the class was gone for the junior and senior respective assemblies. So I burned the rest of that class BY MYSELF in the physics lab.
    After that, I went down to lunch, hoping for friends in the same period lunch (there are three at my school) and was, for once, rewarded for my hope, but not necessarily optimism. So I then get to a table where there are ten people sitting at a table for eight MAXIMUM. It isn't working out too well. So I then go to social studies and there is a class of THIRTEEN (not including teacher)! Not that I am superstitious, but my math and science classes both have twice or more that number (oddly enough, a student would later be switched out of the class, making it thirteen total). So there we find out that it will be a lecture/discussion class (yay!). So then I have the joy of going to STUDY HALL! Yay! And surprisingly enough, there are people I know there (Freshmen, and a couple of other sophomores). Not only that, but the teacher has a "look the other way" policy for talking and socializing during "study" halls. I go to Spanish and the teacher is someone I helped out with some random thing last year (moving plants, or something), so I was already in favor (yay!). After that was French, the class  I was looking forward to most. It was all I hoped for, with friends from all grades. All in all, not too bad, but with a lot of effort required throughout the day.

Second day:
Just kidding, I am not going to waste space writing the same thing over again.

 Highlights from the week:


Signing someone's yearbook from last year.
Seeing Wicked with a friend! It was amazing.
Watching the movie "The Odyssey" with some friends after school.
Making Facebook (can't remember exactly when).
Giving someone my chemistry notes from over the summer.
Taking a two question, all period test for English on summer reading. Neither question was on the Odyssey. Darn.
Taking a social studies quiz and taking about two pages to answer a five point question.
Listening to a bunch of music on YouTube
Not-so-highlight~ All my facebook friends have more friends than I do. Damn.
Not-so-highlight~ Today a group of my friends (most of them from the Odyssey viewing) are out doing something. They talked about it in front of me, but for lack of an invitation, I am now at home on a Friday night. Damn.


Try to cheer me up, I'm feeling down...

I just had the incomparable pleasure of finishing the book the Odyssey after about a day and a half of reading. Don't get me wrong, but the book needed editing. For example:
~When Odysseus is asked, innumerable times, "who are you?" and he replies by going into this long-winded speech of his life. Most of the time, he is lying and makes something up. I ask why he cannot say, "who I am matters not, just that I am not Odysseus..." or even more simply, "I am John Smith, from Greece" Is it that difficult? No, he has to give a long description of how he toiled and was ailed by all manner of demons. *sigh*
~When Odysseus is on speaking to the creepy ghost-people, why can he not just say, "what's new, Akhylleus?" (or however you spell his name). No, he must say:
"Agamemnon, you, mightiest of the many kings to have sailed from Ithaka against the great walls of Troy, what grievous misfortune is this, that I should see you among the souls of those whom the Gods willed to move on?" (or something like that) and then Agamemnon gives an abbreviated autobiography describing his death in full. He doesn't even have the courtesy to say, "I was killed by my cheating wife and her lover when I came back from Troy!" He must say things like, "Ah, alas, mighty tactician that you are, great Odysseus, I fell not on the field of battle, for you know that we sailed different courses after the battle was o'er. No, it was my lot that I should come by long way from Troy to [insert some random many-lettered seaport name here] whereupon I heard of my bloodline, still dwelling in my noble house. I then made my way from [seaport] to the pass of [insert some random many-lettered name here] and then onward to my home. There, I came home, to find my great hall, standing as it did before the nine years taken from me by Troy in addition to the year (or whatever it was) on the journey home and I find my court, awaiting my return. Alas, the return they all looked upon with deception and malice. What unfortunate circumstance it was when I heralded the royal courts of my kingdom, I went to greet my loyal subjects. A greater ailing I could never imagine, for instead of loyal subjects, I was to find traitors and betrayers in my noble house. Nay, 'twas not to safety and rest I went to, rather it was to death. A man courted my wife, and for years just stayed friendly. However, he had not a single honorable intention in him. For he took my wife's consort and marooned him on an island, food for the gulls and birds in the air. Then he went forth to my house and courted my wife, she resisted, but not for long. He plotted to murder me, Odysseus, Master Tactician. And murder me he did, upon my return. Kassandra, my consort was murdered as I breathed my last. My noble home, dirtied and sullied in blood. Oh, great Odysseus, 'tis better to go through years of trials, as you  have, then to have been allotted my fate. Be wary, Odysseus. You may have that and worse waiting for you upon the arrival to your sanctuary..."
~All this would be said in hexameter WITHOUT PUNCTUATION!

My summary of the book is the following:
Odysseus is at Troy for nine years. Wins renown.
Odysseus returns home, having to face many trials and testing.
Odysseus comes to his house disguised to see how he has been missed and who is still loyal.
Odysseus wins the contest of axes as a beggar man, then kills suitors.
Athena helped, too.

The last week of school.

So, like every good student, I am working on summer reading. I have to read the Odyssey, which would be an amazing book if only we did not have to take notes on it. I also have to read the Great American Essays of the century, or something, re-read animal farm (I haven't read it in YEARS) and then re-read night and dawn, because I do not remember anything. Not TOO bad, right?

Now I have a story for you:

   In a conversation with an angel a man asked, "what is the nature of heaven and hell?"
   In response the angel showed him two doors. The angel opened the first door. Inside there was a large round table with a divine soup in the center. People were seated around the table with spoons long enough to reach the soup. When the man looked closer, he saw their faces, thin and gaunt, the eyes were dull and hopeless. He realized that the spoons were long enough to reach the rich fulfilling soup, but because they were longer than a human arm, no one could eat.
   As the door closed, the man shuddered. The angel said, "You have seen hell"
   Then the angel opened the second door: It was the same as the first- a large round table with soup in the center and the long spoons that reached it. However, here the people were laughing and talking merrily.
   "I don't understand," said the man.
   "It is very simple," said the angel, "the people here have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves..."

Think about that.

Here is some logic I used when questioned about safety in a national park while vacationing in Canada:

Logic Made E-Z
1. I have never seen a buffalo stampede
2. I have never seen a saber-toothed tiger
Therefore, saber-toothed tigers cause buffalo stampedes
3. I see buffalo
4. I continue to not see any saber-toothed tigers
5. Buffalo stampedes trample things and people in the way
Therefore, I am at no risk of being trampled

Really makes you respect my brilliance, doesn't it?

Just letting all of my readers know that I am still alive after seeing wildlife in Canada and Glacier National. Yay. I will post later.

Well, much has happened since my last post, up to and including a great appreciation for the use of a high power internet connection for a computer. I am making this post from Canada, of all places. Well, The vacation started, of course, with an argument. My mother told me that I would need to bring a carry on piece of luggage for the airplane ride. I however, disagreed, stating that I would be fine with just one suitcase. I have found that I would much rather be slightly unprepared as opposed to having to pack ANYTHING more than I need to. So that being said, I think that I chose pretty well. So far my mother has been very adamant on noting the importance of being prepared, so I find it highly ironic that I am the only person in a family of four to remember a toothbrush. Pretty sad.

So

Well, I got up at about five today, and I was surprisingly relaxed. That is  an odd thing about me, I almost never get nervous about a test. Like, ever. So I woke up and immediately started doing what every Exam-ridden student would do: I read the book Dave Barry Turns Fifty. So, at about seven fifteen my mother says that it is time to get ready. I get ready and all, and we leave. During that trip I am reminded THREE times that I have a final exam. OK, this exam was worth one fifth of my grade, and I forgot about it. NOT. So I go to the class, and everyone is there early studying and asking questions, except for, of course, the teacher. Fifteen minutes before class starts she arrives (she is normally there an hour early) and we all get into the classroom. Know, it is interesting to see who studies how. For example, we had one person with note cards, the people next to me were reviewing the notes, people were asking each other questions and harassing the teacher with details about the final. So I was there, and I decided to read the year Nineteen Sixty Two out of the Dave Barry book.  The good student knows not to stress out over an exam. On further reflection, a good student also knows the wisdom of studying and reviewing. OH, well. not much I can do about that now. Either way, I know I passed. You may be asking yourself: "How does he know he passed his exam?" And to that I would respond: "Well, I had prayed right before the exam for about thirty seconds, and I also had my lucky Euro". You may even ask, hypothetically, of course, "What does a Euro have to do with anything?" To which I would say that it has absolutely nothing to do with anything, with sole exception that it was given to me by my best friend before she left for Europe and it is INCREDIBLY lucky. Crazy lucky. Don't let the secret out or else the next presidential candidate will want to take it so they might have a prayer of beating Obama, which obviously they do not, given that Obama is, in fact, Obama. Anyway, this Euro has given me this super luck and I remembered it for the exam today. What this Euro did not do, however, was make me work faster than normal. So three hours after starting the test, I finally hand in my copy. Yeah, you read right. Three hours. That's, like, one hundred and eighty minutes, which is about ten thousand eight hundred seconds (don't quote me on that, I am tired and I am not sure I can do math any more. I found that after the last day of school, after math class, I did not know how to do anything beyond: 3+4=7 or something, and so I find it incredibly hard to figure out anything as I need fingers to count past six). So anyway, I come out of the exam and immediately I am late for something else (as opposed to being slowly late). After coming home I find that I need to go home and use the computer, but my father was working in the home office, so I had to wait for him to finish his conference call to see if I could use the computer. Of course, it was one of the once-in-a-life-time calls that lasted for four hours. Or something close to that. Anyway, I got to watch my brother's slide show and then use the computer, and I really should be getting off soon, because it is past my bedtime . I will still get up tomorrow with no and only so all is good . I really like those emoticons. So now I will play BF2 for a little bit and get me off to rest.

Post Script- I will be making a Harry Potter Series Review Website very shortly, in which, amazingly enough, I will give a chapter-by-chapter review of the whole series. Just because I can.