The Addiction is Real

I can't stop playing this annoyingly-addictive cellphone game called "aa." You start with a circle in the center of the screen with 4-5 spikes coming out of it. Your goal is to add a certain amount of additional spikes without placing one where there is already one in existence. Easy, right? Wrong. WRONG. The spike-filled ball turns directions, speeds up and slows down. If you click too fast you lose. If you click too slow you lose. In the background happy music plays, the ball spins against a simple white backdrop. Then you collide two and a gushing sound interrupts the music as red washes over the screen, the pins come out and as fast as you can you start a new game. And you do it over and over and over and over until you are stuck on level 36 and you hate everything. You can pay or do something to skip a level but there is nothing more unsatisfying that skipping a level. If you can't get past level 36, how will I be able to get past 37. And in the end, I didn't truly win.

This game is almost as addicting as Flappy Bird, not quiet as popular though. I swore to myself I'd never play that stupid game but before I knew I had a high score of 267. Which reminds me of 2047 which will also be the death of me. I NEVER WON THAT GAME. Somehow I knew the "cheat" to the game and I still never won. Allegedly, if you only swipe the same direction the whole time you'll probably win. It always worked for my friends. NEVER FOR ME. What was I doing wrong? Left, down, left, down, left, down, left, down, left, down. Other than those exceptions, I'm not really a phone game person. Now when it comes to social apps I'm severely addicted. YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Snapchat. I have an account for almost everything even if I never use it. Like Kik. Who uses Kik anyway? I actually like figured out why it was called "kik" on my own. When you type "lol" and your fingers are actually shifted one key over you'd accidentally type "kik." But yeah, that's all I've got. No idea why they call it "Vine" or "Tinder." However, I can rant for hours how annoying both Tinder and Hot or Not are, but I guess that's a separate blog post.

I'm Sorry, What?

Laryngitis is one of the most annoying parts of cold and flu symptoms. People get annoyed with you because they can't understand you or your voice is agitating. Right, because I love the sore throat and the in-and-out tones of my own voice. The things you can't do with laryngitis, or at least the doctor suggested I don't do, are actually the worst part about it. First of all, I can't drink caffeine, which aside from water is the only thing I drink. I guess I'll have to result to drinking decaf which is no bueno, and serves no purpose. In addition to that, I can't whisper. Whispering is the only way my voice sounds remotely coherent but apparently is twice as straining. And then there is the try avoid talking all together, but then people think you are being over-dramatic and faking having laryngitis.

The most annoying part is going into class ahead of time to tell your teacher that you can't speak in class today, and then they call on you forgetting what you told them, and in the silence you have to awkwardly squawk out the answer or point to your throat. But when pointing to your throat your teacher is still not going to remember or understand why you are doing weird subtle hand motions towards yourself. It's a mess. It's always a mess.

Why My Daughter Can Dye Her Hair Blue

I look at the blackened eyeliner and the florescent hair that fills the hallways and think to myself, they are still in that phase? I know that slightly sounds harsh and some people will go on to dress like that in their future but others are experimenting still. Here's the thing though, in my opinion, middle school is the time to get that all out. Why? Because I've seen people who dye there hair blue and pink freshman year and regret in two years later. I'm letting my daughter dye her hair blue and my son get his lip ring; in middle school. I want my kids to find who they are sooner rather than later. I know having my mom tell me now when I wanted to dye my hair red made me want to dye it 100 different colors without her permission, and I did. And I totally regretted it too. Giving them that little freedom to put a streak in their hair or let them get that piercing when they want it, will benefit everyone in the long run. My mom was not going to let me get my piercings done but my dad told her that she should let me otherwise when I turn 18 I will be tatted up and have more holes in my face than craters on the moon. Which, is not necessarily true though I see how some angst-filled teens might handle the situation the same way. That is the reason I will let my daughter dye her hair blue.

How to Meet Your Favorite Band (Stalking Musicians)

Here is a guide to meeting your favorite artists, this is completely from personal experience and 80% of the time it works every time. (But honestly, this has had a 100% success rate)

• Figure out when and where they are playing- The smaller the venue the better. So no, this wont help you meet Taylor Swift, though I hope she's not your favorite artist. Anyways, places like Emo's, The Parish, Red 7 are pure gold when trying to meet artists. If they only sell standing room (General Admission) then you are good to go.
• Don't go alone- going alone will make it harder (you'll see why in a sec)
• Come early- Take whatever time they start, subtract 10 hours, arrive then.
• Make friends with the people in line- You and your friend are going to need to befriend super fans who also arrived early. (again, you'll see why)
• Scope out the area- look for the back and side entrances, note places that the band's van will likely park.
• Rotate- Take turn returning to the spots you found to see if any vans have arrived letting your other friend save y'alls spot inline (let your newly befriended fans know what y'all are doing so they don't freak out when y'all save each others spots, hey maybe they'll want to help.)
• Wait for sound check- Once you see the van and you figure out you missed them and they are already inside, wait for sound check. Once they start sound check, they are likely going to stop and get back in van or in my experiences, walk down sixth street and get some food. Once they are a good couple minutes into sound check stay back there until they come out. (make sure you have your camera ready just in case they don't want a photo with you at least you'll have a stalker photo of them ;-) ) 

Congratulations, you now have a photo with, more likely of, your favorite celebrity! They gave you a really strange almost intimidating look when the flash went off. You bought an over priced ticket and merch and now have approximately five hours to go. 

Why October is Perfection

• The Fall Collection at Bath & Body Works

The candle collection during the fall consists of everything from Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin to Leaves and even offer a deal for two full sized candles for only $22. Pumpkin Pecan Waffles is my personal favorite and actually smells like heaven on earth. No but really, it smells like a Sunday morning when you have no commitments, and your mom made breakfast and she is heating up the syrup on the stove and she already has a stack of waffles made and ready to eat. On top of nostalgic candles, their Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin candle, body wash, body lotion, body spray, whipped shimmer body mousse, hand sanitizer, foam hand wash, car air freshener and room spray are the most amazing things to happen to the world and making every moment of your life feel like fall.

• It is the First Month That is Completely the Season of Fall
• My Birthday! (Season of The Libra ♎) 
• Flawless Weather 

Finally the first month after summer where the weather isn't exceeding 100 degrees. While it's not too hot, it isn't too cold either! Its perfectly windy, cool weather for the majority of the month. Also, because it's windy, the pretty Autumn leaves are everywhere and who doesn't love playing in leaves?

• Halloween

Oh yes, who could forget candy organization and trading 2 Dum-Dums for a crunch bar with your siblings

The only holiday you get to dress up (and a little kid isn't sitting on your lap telling you what he wants you to give him). There is also just a lot of candy all the time, and you get to go to as many people's houses you'd like and take their candy (free candy test better). Also, haunted houses and carnivals are  prevalent and are two of the best forms of entertainment. Spook walks and hay rides are also other forms of scary activities during October and are just as fun.

• Finally, Halloweentown Marathons Start Playing On Disney Channel 
• Oh yeah, who could forget, Hocus Pocus

Final Exemptions

Okay so what pisses me off makes me upset about the "Final Exemptions" are as follow:

• The rules aren't clear. 
• Unexcused and  excused absences are grouped into the same category.
• The fact there is a project in place of the assignment.
• You can only "exempt" one of your finals.
• Seniors get to exempt four finals rather than two. 

Starting with the rules being unclear, what the hell. No one told my about the final exemptions until I finally heard the rumor of these alleged waivers that would get you out of a 100 question test, and all you have to do is earn them. (I then asked a teacher about this rumor and she shrugged her shoulders at me...) Yes, I understand you have to have some sort of guide lines to these waivers I mean, ideally that's the point. Administrators do not care about the pressure of students having to take consecutive two-hour-long tests that are worth 1/4 of the students semester average, where the teachers don't hand out reviews until a week or so before. They are doing this for those slacker students who don't push themselves to get good grade because they only come to school because they have to. (Which B-T-DUBS, those students are NOT going to try any harder. They'd probably rather fail a test than do a long project over the material. They aren't trying in the first place so why "waste their time" on a long project.) Though maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's going to work in keeping kids inline so they get the privilege of doing a project. :-)

Secondly, the fact that any kind of absences is "unexcused" as far as these waivers go is so ridiculous. I already have absences due to a field trip and it's like the 4th week of school. And 3 tardies = 1 absences??? Yup. I was 2 minutes late, then 1 minute, then 3 minutes. 6 minutes less of class = being gone for an hour and a half. You are right. You are all right. Sorry I ever questioned anyone. :-/ I guess where this number is coming from is the rule that as long as you make it to class within the first 30 minutes it's considered late and not absent, and 30 min x 3 tardies =  90 min = 1 class period. But for those of us who struggle to get from the locker room (where I'm not a magician, my clothes don't just poof on when I walk into the room) to the third floor that's on the opposite end of the locker room, so I'm constantly tardy to that class.

UPDATE: Okay, so now the rules are a little more clear seeing as I had an interview with Compian. There has to be a project because AISD doesn't permit any exemptions from finals. So instead we are using a model after Anderson High School's final "waiver" system. Where students do a "culminating project" that represents what you learned throughout the semester for a grade that will show up as your final grade.


So project, no longer bothers me. Attendance does get anger me to an extreme. If I'm making a good grade in the class, why does it matter how often I was there to get the grade? And what about the fact you have to have a doctors note to excuse illness. Sorry I didn't pay to go to the doctor when I had a 24 hour stomach virus. :\ I guess I won't be staying home for cold/headaches anymore though.

 

This is just a photo of how I feel about tests. I hate tests. A lot.

Reflecting

This was my first complete year at Austin High, and I’m really happy I decided to come here. It’s the school I’m zoned for, but for some reason in 8th grade I had this great idea to go to McCallum. I thought things would be better there, I live right down the street from it, like a 5 minute walk. It was gonna be great. It was gonna be a lot less stressful there, I knew people there, everyone always talked how laid back it was, and how everyone fits in. Well see, that was a big lie. I almost failed English because I kid you not, the teacher told us on the first day to go out and purchase The Odyssey, because that would be our first reading assignment. The first quiz over it I got a 2/25. I’m a reader, and that was the worst experience of my life trying to read that book on my own. She never went over it in class, ever. We’d do like in class writing assignments where we reflect on what we had read, but it’s hard when you don’t understand what the heck you are reading. It was just a nightmare. Oh but not as bad as The Iliad which is what we got to jump into next. Aside from the teachers, the classes there were so crowded. The amount of people they stuffed into that school was ridiculous. It was impossible to get to class on time because the hallway traffic was a living hell. Like, actually. I don’t really like to think about this, but I’m 900% sure everyone there hated me. Like I had a group of friends who liked me, but everyone there obviously has extremely liberal parents, who raised REALLY liberal kids. And because I was in journalism, some of the things I’d write would be political stories, and would be typically conservative pieces. That being said, my extremely liberal journalism teacher told me, that “You know this entire I’m going to give you a hard time for being the only republican in the class,” she also told me she hated my editorials, and that I didn’t look at all angles. Which I totally did, and I totally do. Anyway, the first party I went to all these guys tried to pull this elaborate prank on me, which I’d go into detail but it was just so stupid. Like, they were trying to embarrass me, which It totally didn’t work but just the thought of them trying to do that really got to me. The thing about McCallum, everyone knew each other and if one person hated you, they kinda all did. And, they kinda all did. Not just because of this, but there were just a lot of stupid rumors flying around, and just stupid drama. So, by the end of the semester I had my one best friend (who doesn’t even talk to me any more) and like a few people who still actually liked me. I knew there was no way I could finish the rest of my high school career in this hell. So after winter break, on what would have been my first day back, I dropped my transfer, had an awkward meeting with the McCallum principal who I had never even seen in my life, enrolled into Austin High, and started over. I knew this was where I belonged. I grew up with all these people. I have so many friends here, and things just seemed different here. A good different.


Now, this is my first complete year at Austin High (well almost, 3 weeks left!) And I am actually really pleased. Still a lot of drama, like a lot. However, I have and made so many new friends. All the stupid stuff seems to just fly out the window. There are just such an array of people here at Austin High. McCallum was so stressful, it was such a competition in the Fine Arts. But now, I look forward to my choir class and see it more as fun, and no longer have to try and out sing the girl next to me. I no longer have a terrible journalism teacher, all my teachers actually care about how I’m doing, in and outside of class. I love all my teachers, they are all so helpful and flexible. The only stressful part is not living close to the school, but I’ve gotten used to the commute. I’m 100% looking forward to spending the next 2 years here at Austin High.