Summertime Blues

We all know how tiring this last month of school has been. With AP classes coming to an end, we crammed to prepare ourselves for the ever-feared tests. For a month solid I worked harder than I ever worked in my life. I really didn't even work that hard looking back on it, but at the time I thought I was going to die of work overload.

Now that the tests are over, school is basically coming to a close. I played Frisbee in English class yesterday, and I watched a documentary that tried to convince me we never landed on the moon in Physics today. Life has calmed down from the torrential hurricane it was before to a nice cool breeze.

Along with a big stress release, this breeze has blown something our way. It has brought in the prospects of the future. What will summer bring us? What will next year bring us?

As I began to think of such things, a realization hit me like I was a rabbit on the freeway. This summer is going to be harder than the last month of school has been for me. As Thatcher mentioned, I have a new interest in running Cross Country this summer with the team. Whether or not I run on the team next year is to be determined, but I am going to run with them as often as possible this summer. I am going to hang out with the team, run with them, and get ripped legs with them. When I went running with Chris and James last night, I realized just how much more in shape I am than when I ran at Eisenhower. We ran at a pretty good jog, and we went for about 3 and a half miles; back in the day, I would have died. When we stopped, my heart wasn't beating that fast, I wasn't gasping for air, and I didn't hurt at all. I felt pumped.

So, while I'm excited to run this summer and be crazy ownage, I remember the other two teams that I am going to be practicing with. The swim team is going to be practicing for 2 hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at about 9 o'clock in the morning. That means that I will be running every morning at 7, and going straight to the pool upon return to the school, getting in, and swimming for two hours. I'm determined to be a much stronger swimmer this year, and I'm going to give it my all at practice instead of the lousy half-way covenant of the previous year.

This means that before lunch time every day, I will have already had a four hour workout. that is really depressing. I know its going to be incredibly good for me, and I'm gonna get ripped doing it, but its going to be dang tough. Especially when I will be having water polo practice with a team I'm joining several times a week in addition to all this.

I'm really excited to exercise so much, because, lets face it, I'm really skinny. I'm gonna get ripped, and its going to be great. I am also going to get very rich this summer. See, in addition to these three team practices every day, I will have work for about 6 hours every day Monday through Thursday, meaning I will be in the water about 10 hours a day. I don't know about you, but I'd classify that as amphibious. That is a LOT of treading water. I guess it pays well, which is a good thing. For teaching for 6 hours, I'll be getting about 64 dollars a day. Very nice.

So, between Cross Country, Swim, Water Polo, 6 hours of lessons a day (plus whenever I'm scheduled for lifeguarding) and, of course, the weekly Frisbee Friday session, this summer is going to be DEATH, plain and simple. If I don't die of exhaustion, I'll prune to death in the water. I'd advise you to take some before and after pictures, because you'll be amazed at the changes...if all goes according to plan. I'm gonna be a few thousand dollars richer, a few more pounds heavier, have recognizable pectorals, calfs, abs, and biceps, and chlorine-bleached hair. I'm gonna be a new sort of guy.

Overall, this summer will be good to me, but I can easily see it being the hardest time of my life so far. However, the endless hours of movies that we are going to watch are going to be good times, and I am very excited for them. Let us not forget the list we have compiled, which I still have, and may we go through with our plans of watching each one of them.

Here we go, death comes for me, but I'll only be made stronger for it. Come and get me summer.

Procrastination

Procrastination

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the world can be a tiresome place to live in. With so many quotas and deadlines to meet, the world is constantly caught up in one huge rush order. We all know people who are obsessive compulsive about every little detail. They are the people who keep every piece of paper that comes under their possession in a marked file. They mark every due date in their planners, and get to work on it the moment they get home from school, no matter how long they may have to get it done. You may say that it is an admirable quality to be prepared, but upon closer examination, anybody can see that a person consumed by such a characteristic is simply robotic.

Why rush life? It’s a question I ask myself frequently. I look around and I see so many lost souls, confined to their programmed routines, never stopping to enjoy their surroundings. They have a deadline to meet, and their primal instincts tell them their project must be complete before its actually due. In the words of Ryan Shupe, these are the kind of people who miss things every day, simply because they are driving in the fast lane. They don’t get to smell the flowers or enjoy the ride; their destination is far more important to them than the process of getting there.

I am the kind of person who likes to smell the flowers along the road. In fact, I’d say that I’m the person most people see picking the flowers as they wiz by going a mile a minute. Everyone makes the word “procrastination” out to be an abomination, but in my opinion, it smells rather nice. While everyone else has the wind in their face and a huge assignment in the back of their minds, I find myself care-free and relaxed, strolling along on my merry way.

Of course, when the due date comes and everyone else has finished the work, I am still smelling the flowers on the wayside. Those finished with their work scoff at me and tell me there is no hope for one such as I. They tell me my procrastination has gotten me nowhere, that I can’t possibly accomplish my aims. If they could see clearly, they would realize that their workaholic mind-set has gotten them even further behind than me in the race of life, and they wouldn’t be chastising me. It is at times like this that I leave my flowers and pick up my pencil and gather my thoughts. I begin a steady sprint to the finish. I weave into my work every conscious particle of my refreshed mind, and I finish the race.

Panting at the finish line, I read back over my work and find something far more profound than any automated response my hasty counterparts pulled together. In their rush to finish early they forgot the most important element of work: play. Procrastination is not putting of work until the last possible second; rather, it is making work a walk, a game, and a sprint in the park. In my defense, I never put off work. I simply start my work with something that will get my mind off of it.

It is plain to see that procrastination is the real key to success. Forget automation. Infuse work with play, and with a little bit of a kick at the end of the race, you’ll finish stronger than any robot could ever manage. Take the time to smell the flowers. “Time flies too fast, I got to make it last. So enjoy it; relax, chill out, just give it a try. I say simplify.” Ryan Shupe has definitely got the right idea.

The Orange AP Test

Here's a little first-draft English assignment that I just wrote. It was due a month ago, but thats besides the point. What really matters is that I did it, and I'm going to turn it in tomorrow.

The Orange AP Test

Taking an AP class is a lot like peeling an Orange. When you sign up for your classes at the beginning of the year, you want to choose the juiciest, most plump classes you can find. It is your design to get the most for your money, so you choose carefully. When choosing, you must remember that you can only handle so many AP classes, just like you can only eat so many oranges before you tongue feels raw. Once you sign up for the classes, and the year begins, you begin to peel away the undesirable exterior, little bit at a time, trying to get to the good stuff on the inside. In any AP class you take, there is always a peel of worthless crap that you have to work your way through before you can get to the juicy, nutritious knowledge. You are always being fed the “how to pass the test” part of the orange—that’s the worthless part—and you never really get to the good “this is how and why this works this way”. Nobody is to blame for this, but that’s the way it is. The guy at the store who sells you the orange knows that you are gonna have to peel your way through the orange, just like the teacher knows that you have to learn how to take that single test at the end of the year.

So, the entire year we struggle with the peel. We can smell a hint of the really juicy part of the class all the time, but it is always out of our reach, because we can never really get the peel off completely. By year’s end, when it is time to take the AP test, the peel has been removed, but now you are left with an orange that went bad a year ago! It stopped smell good a long time ago, but you spent $83 bucks on it, and endless hours trying to peel it. You aren’t about to throw it out the window. So what do you do? You take the test, and you eat the orange. Its just terrible. The material that you learned all year long has gone bad, and the tasty juices are all but gone. You find yourself eating a dried up, worthless piece of biotic stuff that isn’t benefiting you in any way, shape, or form.

But you can’t stop eating it. You are in the middle of a test. The counselors are standing there, forcing you to eat the nasty orange. All you want to do is throw the orange at them, but that would benefit you even less, as you would lose all “privileges” to eat it as you are sent to the hall, your 83 dollar orange behind closed doors.

So instead, you muscle your way through the test. You plug your nose and force it down. You do everything you can do finish the orange in the remaining time, and make the best of your crappy situation. You do the best you can, despite wanting to hurl, and then, in the blink of an eye, the orange is gone. You’ve eaten the entire rotten orange.

You don’t know how you did, because the entire process became a blur to you. You feel a sense of anxiety as you realize that you won’t see the results for another few months. Your digestive system and the AP readers are so slow that you will have forgotten eating the orange when you finally see the results. The results are there, staring you in the face, and man alive does it stink.

The First Week of High School

The First Week of High School

As I am now nearing my senior year of high school, I look back and remember my first days of attendance at Taylorsville High School. My first week as a sophomore met me with several challenges and instilled in me a variety of emotions new to me. Looking back on that week, I think of several items that, would have saved me a lot of trouble had I known them at the time. I found these secrets myself through the course of natural events. I believe that, if applied, they will make the first week—and following high school experience—of any sophomore who applies them much easier and more fun. It is my hope that the secrets I am about to share will be for the benefit of the new students of the high school I love so much. May the sophomores who read this take it seriously, and may their first week of school be all the better for it.

My first word of advice is confidence. It can be easy for new students at any high school to feel intimidated or overpowered. However, those feelings will pass with time as you grow more accustomed to the high school life. Every other student at the school has gone through the exact same experience, and they all came out alive. Confidence is the primary factor for your success at school in every aspect of it.

The next thing all you sophomores need to remember is that high school—besides being bigger and busier—is a much different place that what you are accustomed to. With more diverse classes, many new people from other junior highs, and dozens of teams, clubs, and cliques, it can be even more intimidating. Just remember to be confident; open yourself to these new ideas. Introduce yourself, and get to know the people in your classes. You will be with them for the rest of your high school experience, and the longer you wait to introduce yourself to them, the harder it will be. If you enter your classes with an open mind and make a good first impression, you will find yourself making many new friends very quickly.

To add to this friend-making business, I am going to let you in on another little secret that I have discovered: the opposite sex does not have cooties, contrary to popular belief. Keep your eye out for that cute girl, or that studly guy, and then introduce yourself. High school is meant to be a fun time of your life. Eventually you will realize that the more friends you have of the opposite gender, the more fun it is. However, a word of advice: try not to get into a steady relationship. A good friendship with multiple people of the opposite gender is much more fun than a really tight relationship with one of them. Remember that you are only in high school once, and that you will have plenty of time later to have relationships. For now, take it easy, and have fun. Make wonderful memories that will last a lifetime, not a phony relationship that will last to graduation.

Another good way to have fun in high school and have awesome experiences is to involve yourself with the school. If you want to join a club or a team, join it. Remember that confidence is key; don’t back down from something that you want to do just because you are afraid to try it. Personally, I haven’t gone straight home after school since elementary school. I have involved myself with many teams, including Cross Country, Track, the Academic Team, Swim, and even Water Polo. When I joined the Swim team as a sophomore, I didn’t really even know how to swim. I joined Water Polo later that year not even knowing what it was or how it was played. If I had never gotten involved with my school, the only memory I would have of high school is going home and playing endless hours of video games. Yet here I am two years later, and I can look back on my high school experience and recall so many wonderful times that I’ve had on these teams. I have met many wonderful friends and gained many new skills; where I couldn’t swim before, I can now swim all four competitive strokes. Where I didn’t know what Water Polo was before, I can now tread water with ease, play the sport relatively well, and have a great time while doing it. I can say that I am proud to be a Warrior, because I have fought, lost, won, and become a better person by being Warrior. One of the best words of advice I can give is to take pride in your school and join the clubs and sports that will make you happy. It has made all the difference in my experience.

To sum it all up, start the year out how you want it to end. If you want good grades, start working for those grades immediately. If you want to have a lot of friends, start meeting people right off the bat, and it will happen. If you want to be a student body officer, a star athlete, the President of a club, part of the school musical, or even just a good student, then the best time to start is the first week of school when your slate is clean. Get on top of your work, investigate what the school has to offer you, and give the school what you have to offer it. Remember that your year will end the way that you want it to end, but you have to start now; confidence is the key.

I do not think that I have much more advice to give that can help you with your first week (and year) of high school. The only other pointers I can think of are to bring a chair to mass class change day (because the line is horrendously long) and to not be afraid to try the cafeteria food, because it is actually pretty darn good. Other than that, remember what I’ve said, and you should be ready to rock and roll. High school is what you make it; nothing more, nothing less.