As Junior year is coming to an end, I feel myself having mixed feelings. On one hand, the end of Junior year means the end of a year of schoolwork and 6:30 am wake ups, allowing for three months of free time, assuming my parents haven't completely booked me for summer camps. On the other, that means in less than a week, I will be considered a Senior in high school. This is a pretty nerve wracking and depressing thought for me. I don't particularly like school, mind you, I mainly just like the people in the school. When I become a Senior, that means I only have one year left to be around all my friends and cram in as many memories as I can. Becoming a senior will also mean that the final stage of the college process will kick in, no doubt bringing tons of anxiety and stress along with it. I feel as though at some point I might just give up and decide I don't really care where I end up going, as long as I don't have to deal with the college process anymore.
One big thing I am dreading about becoming a Senior is that it will be my last year in my high school sports. Only one year to prove myself, play my heart out, etc. This is kind of unfortunate since I frequently during sports (especially towards the end of the season) I tend to play worse than the beginning of the season, merely because I grow tired of the sport, or I just get lazy. I definitely don't like this phenomenon that seems to grab me in nearly every sport, and I really don't want it to happen as it did Junior year. I don't want end my high school athletic career with a half-assed season. Sports seasons are generally my favorite part of the year. I love going out after school to get food before a basketball game and hanging out with everybody on the bus. The season always seems to go by quickly, though. One day it'll be the start of the season and we're having "tryouts", then the next it'll be senior night and I'll be playing on my home court/field for the last time. This part I'm dreading the most. I really don't like goodbyes.
Goodbyes are the part that I'm really dreading. Senior year is all about "Last" everything. The Last fitness class, the Last full day, the Last high school test, the Last bell, among a long line of the Lasts I'll have to go through as a Senior. Everyone in my class is going to go on their own separate paths, though some may cross. Saying goodbye to my classmates and teachers is going to be the hardest. I know I'll see them again and all, but I'll still miss them all the same.
These past four years have already gone by so fast; I'm sure my final year will go even more so. I just hope I find time to enjoy it and savor it.
Have a great summer y'all!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Motherboy XXX
Some of you may have chosen to read this post because you saw the "XXX" in the title, and curiosity overcame you. Perhaps others actually recognized the reference. Truth is, I'm not creative enough to come up with interesting, random titles. "Motherboy XXX" happens to be an episode name of a television show that I have recently become infatuated with. I would argue this show is by far one of the wittiest, funniest, and most creative TV shows ever. It even tops The Office in my book, which, if you know how much I like the Office, is saying a lot. I have two words for you: Arrested. Development.
I have a dim memory from a while back of coming across the Season 3 DVD amidst the clutter of our movie shelf in the basement. It was a hot summer day and I had grown sick of infomercials and Roseanne reruns, which is all there really is to do at my house in the middle of nowhere, and decided to recline in the basement, the only place in my house that isn't scorching, and watch an episode or two. I don't remember what episode, or really anything special about the experience. It didn't have much of an impact on me then. I probably had no idea what was going on in the show, and most likely the jokes were far too clever for me so I didn't get them.
Fast forward three years in the Uni lounge during a 6th hour free period where a friend decided to bring in a TV show to watch (this was before Super Smash bros took over the lounge), It was Arrested Development season 1. I vaguely recognized the name and recalled that I might have watched an episode before. I didn't remember it being such a good show, and told my friend this, but he insisted that it was really funny, so I'm like okay, why not I'll watch some. It was freaking hilarious. I was hooked on it. I borrowed the first disk of the season from him and took it home that weekend. All I really did that weekend was watch those eight episodes over and over again, along with season 3 which I had dug out of the basement.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching Arrested Development, the basic gist if the show is that this guy, Michael Bluth, has to keep his father's company afloat while his father is in jail because the authorities think his father has been doing some shady dealings with a country that the U.S. isn't on great terms with. He has this really dysfunctional high-class family that's just so ridiculous in everything that they do that it's absolutely hilarious. One of my favorite characters on the show is Tobias, which is Michael's sister's husband whom she married as an act of rebellion to her parents, who quit being a psychiatrist to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, which leads to many funny auditions and roles he takes on, once even going into drag impersonating a nanny, Mrs. Featherbottom so that he can still be with his family after his wife Lindsay kicked him out.
It blows my mind how clever this show is. Everything is planned out perfectly, even the characters are named specifically to be tied in to later jokes or plot lines. They use a lot of word-related humor that's subtle yet hilarious, unlike shows like Family Guy (still a great show) where they really diverge from the plot to bring you humor in "that one thing that happened one time" clips. To sum things up: It's simply the best show on earth.
Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but my show's on. Toodles.
I have a dim memory from a while back of coming across the Season 3 DVD amidst the clutter of our movie shelf in the basement. It was a hot summer day and I had grown sick of infomercials and Roseanne reruns, which is all there really is to do at my house in the middle of nowhere, and decided to recline in the basement, the only place in my house that isn't scorching, and watch an episode or two. I don't remember what episode, or really anything special about the experience. It didn't have much of an impact on me then. I probably had no idea what was going on in the show, and most likely the jokes were far too clever for me so I didn't get them.
Fast forward three years in the Uni lounge during a 6th hour free period where a friend decided to bring in a TV show to watch (this was before Super Smash bros took over the lounge), It was Arrested Development season 1. I vaguely recognized the name and recalled that I might have watched an episode before. I didn't remember it being such a good show, and told my friend this, but he insisted that it was really funny, so I'm like okay, why not I'll watch some. It was freaking hilarious. I was hooked on it. I borrowed the first disk of the season from him and took it home that weekend. All I really did that weekend was watch those eight episodes over and over again, along with season 3 which I had dug out of the basement.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching Arrested Development, the basic gist if the show is that this guy, Michael Bluth, has to keep his father's company afloat while his father is in jail because the authorities think his father has been doing some shady dealings with a country that the U.S. isn't on great terms with. He has this really dysfunctional high-class family that's just so ridiculous in everything that they do that it's absolutely hilarious. One of my favorite characters on the show is Tobias, which is Michael's sister's husband whom she married as an act of rebellion to her parents, who quit being a psychiatrist to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, which leads to many funny auditions and roles he takes on, once even going into drag impersonating a nanny, Mrs. Featherbottom so that he can still be with his family after his wife Lindsay kicked him out.
It blows my mind how clever this show is. Everything is planned out perfectly, even the characters are named specifically to be tied in to later jokes or plot lines. They use a lot of word-related humor that's subtle yet hilarious, unlike shows like Family Guy (still a great show) where they really diverge from the plot to bring you humor in "that one thing that happened one time" clips. To sum things up: It's simply the best show on earth.
Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but my show's on. Toodles.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
ADD, Chai, and Padthai
It had been about a month and a half since I went to the initial career testing session. My dad decided it was high time that we make the trek up to Glen Ellyn for the second time during one of my school breaks, so before we headed to Florida for spring break, we stopped by for my analysis session. Following much of the same procedure we followed the first time, we got up early in the morning and I watched Arrested Development on the way up, and when we arrived in Glen Ellyn, I got another chai tea latte.
When we walked into the career center, I was the only person there. The secretary greeted my dad as though he was an old friend. I suppose after three children through their program, he kind of was. A lady I recognized from the first visit led us into a small office with a table and comfy spin chairs. Me, my dad, and the lady all sat around the table while the lady pulled out the thick folder of my results. She started by showing us the statistics of the results of the tests of how they measured up to other people's results. I did pretty high in most, but a few were REALLY low. One of them was left hand dexterity, which wasn't a huge surprise, I know the left side of my body is practically useless. Another one was grip strength which was a little unexpected, since we do grip strength testing for P.E. and I'm usually around the average if not a little above. Now for the analysis of these results and what they say about my personality. With my curiosity piqued, the lady started to go through each test and tell me things about myself.
Right off the bat she goes right in and asks if I'm ADD. Feeling sightly shocked, annoyed, and amused by this question I told her I didn't think so. My dad immediately said, slightly defensively, "No. No, we don't think she is". The lady smiled, nodded, and continued. She then outlines my statistics pointing out how high I scored with some and saying how great that was, before she went on to the lower ones. She told us the low grip strength score told her that I didn't have very high endurance, so I needed to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This was dead on, I've always highly valued my sleep. i don't think I've ever stayed up past 11 doing homework. I wasn't entirely sure how one could determine that from a grip strength test, but I didn't have time to question because we moved right along.
The rest of the session she merely told me things about myself, and most were dead on. From my answers from one of tests she determined that I have the type of personality where I look at the pros and cons of things and tend to focus on the cons, which I could see evidence of. I also apparently really value my work and when people critique my work I take it more personally than some. Again, some truth to it. She applauded me for my ability to type well on the computer, of which I told her I type with one hand mainly, and I accidentally used both on the test. She said that was fine, but highly recommended a typing program. Whatever. My typing is fine, woman.
Right before she was going to suggest possible jobs for me, she had one more aspect of my personality to reveal to me. Through one test she was able to determine that I really didn't like to work hard if someone else could do the job. Bulls eye. I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm sure it's probably true of a lot of people, but the fact that it's built into my personality explains a lot to me. I've always been a big fan of shortcuts and cutting down my workload. It also slightly explains why cross country season was such an internal struggle. Though I'm sure it was for everyone else, they somehow managed to keep their complaints during races nonverbal.
I wasn't so excited about the jobs she outlined for me. She insisted that they were high paying jobs that had flexible hours (so I could get sleep), and they wouldn't take a ridiculous amount of time in school to get (perhaps satisfying her notion that I was ADD). She put down three different engineering careers, optometrist, and zoo keeper. Engineering I already decided I wasn't into, I had no interest in eyes or cutting into them, and I actually wouldn't mind being a zoo keeper since I'd get to work with animals, but I'm not so sure that's all that high paying. When I told all of this she said triumphantly, perceiving that her analysis of me was true, "See! You automatically focus on what you don't like about the jobs. You aren't going to find a job that you like everything about". I was annoyed at her for no real reason, but throughout the last half hour of the session I was less than engaged in her little lecture.
When we finally got out of the career center, we stopped by Noodles and Company for a quick lunch since I was really craving some padthai. While munching on my noodles, I contemplated all that the session had brought to light. The session had left me with a couple job possibilities, but more than that, it taught me something about myself, and affirmed things I already suspected. As we headed home, my dad asked me how I thought it went. I said it was good, but expressed my surprise in her assumption I was ADD. He agreed and let me be for the next two and a half hours as I watched more Arrested Development. I still don't think I'm ADD, but there sure are times I wonder.
SQUIRREL!
When we walked into the career center, I was the only person there. The secretary greeted my dad as though he was an old friend. I suppose after three children through their program, he kind of was. A lady I recognized from the first visit led us into a small office with a table and comfy spin chairs. Me, my dad, and the lady all sat around the table while the lady pulled out the thick folder of my results. She started by showing us the statistics of the results of the tests of how they measured up to other people's results. I did pretty high in most, but a few were REALLY low. One of them was left hand dexterity, which wasn't a huge surprise, I know the left side of my body is practically useless. Another one was grip strength which was a little unexpected, since we do grip strength testing for P.E. and I'm usually around the average if not a little above. Now for the analysis of these results and what they say about my personality. With my curiosity piqued, the lady started to go through each test and tell me things about myself.
Right off the bat she goes right in and asks if I'm ADD. Feeling sightly shocked, annoyed, and amused by this question I told her I didn't think so. My dad immediately said, slightly defensively, "No. No, we don't think she is". The lady smiled, nodded, and continued. She then outlines my statistics pointing out how high I scored with some and saying how great that was, before she went on to the lower ones. She told us the low grip strength score told her that I didn't have very high endurance, so I needed to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This was dead on, I've always highly valued my sleep. i don't think I've ever stayed up past 11 doing homework. I wasn't entirely sure how one could determine that from a grip strength test, but I didn't have time to question because we moved right along.
The rest of the session she merely told me things about myself, and most were dead on. From my answers from one of tests she determined that I have the type of personality where I look at the pros and cons of things and tend to focus on the cons, which I could see evidence of. I also apparently really value my work and when people critique my work I take it more personally than some. Again, some truth to it. She applauded me for my ability to type well on the computer, of which I told her I type with one hand mainly, and I accidentally used both on the test. She said that was fine, but highly recommended a typing program. Whatever. My typing is fine, woman.
Right before she was going to suggest possible jobs for me, she had one more aspect of my personality to reveal to me. Through one test she was able to determine that I really didn't like to work hard if someone else could do the job. Bulls eye. I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm sure it's probably true of a lot of people, but the fact that it's built into my personality explains a lot to me. I've always been a big fan of shortcuts and cutting down my workload. It also slightly explains why cross country season was such an internal struggle. Though I'm sure it was for everyone else, they somehow managed to keep their complaints during races nonverbal.
I wasn't so excited about the jobs she outlined for me. She insisted that they were high paying jobs that had flexible hours (so I could get sleep), and they wouldn't take a ridiculous amount of time in school to get (perhaps satisfying her notion that I was ADD). She put down three different engineering careers, optometrist, and zoo keeper. Engineering I already decided I wasn't into, I had no interest in eyes or cutting into them, and I actually wouldn't mind being a zoo keeper since I'd get to work with animals, but I'm not so sure that's all that high paying. When I told all of this she said triumphantly, perceiving that her analysis of me was true, "See! You automatically focus on what you don't like about the jobs. You aren't going to find a job that you like everything about". I was annoyed at her for no real reason, but throughout the last half hour of the session I was less than engaged in her little lecture.
When we finally got out of the career center, we stopped by Noodles and Company for a quick lunch since I was really craving some padthai. While munching on my noodles, I contemplated all that the session had brought to light. The session had left me with a couple job possibilities, but more than that, it taught me something about myself, and affirmed things I already suspected. As we headed home, my dad asked me how I thought it went. I said it was good, but expressed my surprise in her assumption I was ADD. He agreed and let me be for the next two and a half hours as I watched more Arrested Development. I still don't think I'm ADD, but there sure are times I wonder.
SQUIRREL!
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