The Topic of Great Randomness

[Tuttle]

Gryph is right about not worrying about the PSATs, but do take them seriously. Don't worry at all, but don't ignore them either. If you can pull off getting high enough they do help a lot for scholarships (*waves fist at boyfriend*) mainly if you can get within the top 10% or some number like that, and get some big name scholarship (its not necessarily for much, but schools love it and will give you more money too if you have it). The PSATs are some of why my boyfriend has managed a full scholarship, but not all and its possible without them anyways so don't worry.

I just finished a term at college. I want grades to come in...I think I pulled off an A, a B, and something I'm not sure of...but passing.

Umm...I really just wanted to reply to Gryph's but this feels short, mainly 'cause it is comparatively to my normal post (I remember my insane one, it makes me happy), but I has a headache so I will be off computer until I get foods and no headaches. Or at least not actively on computer.

Tuttle

[EWizard11]

Oy, PSATS (they're officially called PSATS/NMSQTs, or as my English teacher says, "pee-sat numsquats" )...I took them last year as a sophomore and did really well, but my mom has suddenly decided to go insane and make me study for the math part this weekend...seriously...and I have five TONS of other homework to do plus rehearsal, I REALLY don't have time. BUT it's true, if you do well you can qualify for the National Merit Scholarship competition. It's really competitive and if you actually win, they don't give you much, only like $2500 or something like that. It's the name that's important though.

Ugh, college...I know I have to start focusing on it but high school is so much work and I prefer sleeping to researching colleges...not that I sleep much either...

Which gets me into trouble, because I'm in two choirs at my school and take private lessons (and when the musical starts, we're doing Evita btw, it'll be three really), and not resting really hurts your voice. Our director went off on this rant about it today in vocal ensemble, but the thing is that he used to be a fairly big-time opera singer, very talented, and when he was in high school he didn't really care too much. So I don't think he really realizes that most of us care a lot about music, but we care about school too because we're headed to non-musical careers. I go to a pretty demanding school and I'm a junior with 3 AP classes who's playing a sport and rehearsing for a play this trimester; I seriously don't understand how I even get the 5-6 hours of sleep per night I manage. But I do know it isn't enough...and of course my mom badgering me about a test that's so trivial compared to my enormous history project is very frustrating.

Wow...I didn't mean to rant...sorry guys. I do feel better now though.

[EricG1793]

Well, I just changed my signature.... I hope it's not too long; I put something in there that may take up more than the limit, even on my screen.... Well, this post is mostly for me to be able to see my new signature.

But, I suppose I'll contribute some randomness.

Today or tomorrow, my dad and I might go golfing. This year hasn't been good in terms of golfing; we've only been going four or five times. It's been a couple months since I've gone.... I need new clubs; mine are really, really short. I can't even use my irons; I bent way down to get the club head even with the ball, but when I (try to) shoot, I straighten my back, and the ball goes through the air right over the ball. So I use my dad's irons. My putter, driver, and three wood are all right, but next year I'll definitely need to get a new set.

I've decided that the next big thing I want to sign up for is a digital camera. I told my dad this, and he said that he might want to buy a new one, and I can buy his old one (it's not that old, and takes superb pictures, but it'll get old before I know it so that's why I'm a little hesitant about that one). However... my dad's such a procrastinator. When I got my laptop, he said he was going to buy a new one for himself and I could buy his old one. Fine. I wait a month. Two months. Three months. Four months. He doesn't get a new one. So eventually I said to myself, "I'll start saving my money. Whichever happens first, he gets a new laptop or I get enough money to buy a new one, I'll do." And, I saved up for a year for my laptop.

Now, ten months later, my dad's laptop is nearing its life time. The battery won't charge when it's plugged in with its AC adapter; it'll only charge when it's on its docking station. My uncle said that it was a connection or something on the motherboard, and it'd have to be replaced, which is like 700 dollars, and for that much money my dad can just get a new one. Phew... I'm sure glad I didn't end up with that laptop!!

Therefore, I'm doing the same thing with a camera... whichever happens first, my having enough money saved to buy one, or my dad buying a new one... I'm positive it'll be the first option. And, a few months from now, my dad's camera will probably break somehow.... So, yeah, that's what I'll do. This is the camera I'll save up for.

EDIT:

Well, my signature is too long, so I'll get rid of the divider line. The first line is the one pointing to the FAQs, so members here will know when to stop reading my posts, but new people will keep going and read that line. Perfect!

EDIT 2:

OK, that works. Three lines (for my screen, anyway).

By the way, quoting my SS teacher in my signature made me remember her classroom decorated for Halloween. Man, is it DECORATED!! Spider webs all over the ceiling, little spiders crawling on the ceiling, a sign that says there's vacancy in an old abandoned hotel, purple string lights (that cover up the happy red, white, and blue strand lights) and black fabric, that looks like the top of a dark cave, kinda like icicles, except black, that cover up the bright, cheerful president portraits.... It's pretty scary! And there are skulls coming out of the walls, a poster of a spider that's up to my waist on the wall right next to where I sit, a big poster of an owl sitting on a tree outside of a cracked window with lightning in the sky in the background, a poster that makes it look like there's a hole in the wall and there are red eyes looking into the classroom, and little foot prints of who knows what all over the floor. I was like this the day that it all suddenly appeared: It's crazy; I've NEVER seen a teacher decorate their classroom like that. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking around the room and taking it all in. I can't wait to see her Christmas display....

[Emi]

Wow Eric at least your school allows that in your classrooms!! My school can't have anything that has to do with Christian-based holidays decorations. Such as Halloween (satanistic), Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and so on... I love my school, .

Homecoming's tonight and I'm pretty stoked. I'm not going with anybody, sadly, but it'll still be fun. Hopefully my friends will be around.

Today was the second day at the anime con and my dad already sold out on one of his products! Which is kind of cool. I was a good salesperson and sold a bunch of stuff, haha.

Oh and the last day of spirit week was fun, it was blue and white day. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to do anything so I just made a shirt that said our school name and my year and tied ribbons on it, and around my pants. Our skit got cut short because (no offense) the freshmen took too long! And also the seniors took a long time too (I don't blame them, theirs was actually good). So we got cut short because they were running out of time and the sophomores still needed to do theirs.

Ugh, I gotta finish up.. Homecoming is just around the corner !!!

Dai

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by Emi:
Wow Eric at least your school allows that in your classrooms!! My school can't have anything that has to do with Christian-based holidays decorations. Such as Halloween (satanistic), Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and so on... I love my school, .

Every Christmas they put a little tree in the lobby that has the teachers' names on them, but I've never seen teachers decorate.... I didn't know Halloween and Thanksgiving were Christian-based. Thanksgiving I can kind of see, but I don't really think that was Christian... but Halloween, I can't see any relation to Christianity at all. Hmm. That's odd.

[spyells]

Originally posted by EricG1793:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Emi:
Wow Eric at least your school allows that in your classrooms!! My school can't have anything that has to do with Christian-based holidays decorations. Such as Halloween (satanistic), Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and so on... I love my school, .

Every Christmas they put a little tree in the lobby that has the teachers' names on them, but I've never seen teachers decorate.... I didn't know Halloween and Thanksgiving were Christian-based. Thanksgiving I can kind of see, but I don't really think that was Christian... but Halloween, I can't see any relation to Christianity at all. Hmm. That's odd. </div>[quote]

The first Thanksgiving was done by the pilgrims who were a Christian group. If you think about it it is in fact a Christian holiday even if all of America celebrates it. Christmas as we all know is Jesus birthday. So of course that is religious. Halloween is seen as the 'devils' holiday. So many people who are Christian don't approve of it. Which makes sense because at my elementary school we weren't even allowed by law to celebrate any of the above holidays. Easter included. I don't think that it's fair. I mean I use to look forward to the classroom parties we use to have. They were fun!! Good thing no one cares what you do in high school. I wore a Santa hat for two weeks before Christmas last year. It was great because everyone else on campus did the same. All you saw was red Santa hats everywhere you looked. It was pretty cool. Too bad I don't have a picture. Darn!

[Rhi]

Halloween is seen as the 'devils' holiday. So many people who are Christian don't approve of it.

Um...well, there are a lot of people who don't approve of it and think of it as the "devil's holiday" as you say, but that's not where it comes from. Halloween started as a Celtic festival called Samhain that marked the beginning of the new year and the beginning of winter, and on that day they believed that the boundary between the dead and the living blurred. Then the Romans came and combined it with two of their festivals, Feralia (commemorated the passing of the dead) and a day to honor Pomona (Roman goddess of fruit and trees; bobbing for apples, anyone?). Then of course the Church came along and made November 1st All Saints Day to honor the saints, so October 31st began to be called All-Hallows Eve, from where we get Halloween. Here's a link so you cansee for yourself

[spyells]

I didn't mean for you to be offended. In fact I was just saying what some 'Christians' think. I wasn't speaking for everyone. And I also don't appreciate the way that you approached me on this topic. I was only making conversation I was not asking for a smart mouthed history lesson. If you would like to discuss this with me then PM me next time, okay.

[Rhi]

I'm sorry Spyells, I'm not offended and didn't mean to give a "smart-mouthed history lesson"; I've wondered about the origin of Halloween myself, so that's why I did the research. I didn't mean to sound ticked off or anything, next time I'll read back over the post to make sure my tone doesn't sound aggravated or anything

[EricG1793]

*Is glad to see there is no harm done*

OK, now my day.... Well, today was a very, very tiring day. Well, not tiring like a ton of work, or physically tiring. Well, kind of physically tiring. Eye tiring. We watched movie for three classes, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish. The Spanish one is a long one that we've been watching for a total time of three or four days, so that was expected. But the other two were just out of the blue.... 150 minutes (3 class periods time 50 minutes to a class... my brain's still working! ) of movie watching is tiring to the eyes. But I'm fine now.

[magicalmike]

Well i see that the link to chime is gone, looks like for good. The IRC channel is OK but i wish more people were still on.

New topic. We got to see Lord of the Flies as put on by the mill mount theater group. everyone thought it was bad but I realy liked it. On a theater note Our PLAY IS OVER. It was so bad. Im not being critical everyone agrees it was horible. Well, musical starts in a few weeks, cinderella! Coherent sentences, psh. Generaly im realy happy right now though. But i need to do an english paper. Im off. Dai

[Emi]

Halloween started as a Celtic festival called Samhain that marked the beginning of the new year and the beginning of winter, and on that day they believed that the boundary between the dead and the living blurred. Then the Romans came and combined it with two of their festivals, Feralia (commemorated the passing of the dead) and a day to honor Pomona (Roman goddess of fruit and trees; bobbing for apples, anyone?). Then of course the Church came along and made November 1st All Saints Day to honor the saints, so October 31st began to be called All-Hallows Eve, from where we get Halloween.

Wow pretty interesting.. I think I heard of that before.. But still my town is dumb, so we aren't allowed to do any of that stuff!

Last Saturday was Homecoming and it was pretty fun... didn't dance much though, the person I was hanging with doesn't like to dance? I don't know it was very strange. But I was glad though because I did like five or six hours working for my dad at the Con.

We started the NECAP test today. It's a three day process. (NECAP is New England Common Assessment Program.) We have to take it when we're juniors in high school. It used to be for sophomores but they changed it last year. Which kind of stunk for the juniors last year because they had to take it twice. Okay, back to what I was saying, today we started it and we had to do the writing part, which is mainly essay-ish. In the first question we had to compare how we learn our skills to this master carpenter guy from the reading. Then the second question (for me) was to explain to a child the procedure in playing a favorite game. And that took up two blocks (1 block = 90 mins). I didn't mind that part because that means no homework from two of my classes, but seriously 180 minutes to take a test? That's three hours!! Scary huh? This is a warning to anyone out there in the New England area, when you're a junior in high school, that's what you get to look forward to, PLUS all the PSAT's and SAT's. If you don't get to do that YOU'RE LUCKY!! haha...

Sorry about that rant...

I've been writing my Nano Outline, and I think I'm going to actually stick with the one I'm writing now, because it actually has a plot! Yay! Now I have to wait oh fifteen more days til November!!

Well, gotta go watch the sox's Game 3 of the championship series.. they're losing right now . Come on Matsuzaka!!!

Dai all.

[seabiscuit1009]

Emi:
Well, gotta go watch the sox's Game 3 of the championship series.. they're losing right now . Come on Matsuzaka!!!

Hehe...LET'S GO INDIANS! Sorry, I'm a little happy that the Sox are losing. My family's full of Indians fans, so of course, they're all going nuts right now.

Ehhnnn...Eric, I don't know about on other people's screens, but on my screen, your siggy is 4 lines long, not 3. Just letting you know...I think my screen is a standard size, so...I don't know. I'm just letting you know that your siggy may be too big? (Ugh...I make no sense, and have no clue how to make myself make sense right now.)

So, on facebook they've got this weird application thing called Vampires, (and a related one called Zombies.) I'm just a little bit addicted to this thing, for some unknown reason...it's so random and such a waste of time. But still...it's fun.

I beat my personal best in cross country on Saturday. I went from a 23:20 to a 22:28, which is 42 seconds faster. That's a crazy amount to improve by in one race (since I know most of you aren't runners, and don't really know how hard it is to do that) and I'm still kind of bouncing off the walls because of it. As a result, I'm on varsity next weekend for my last high school meet ever. Not sure I'm ready for my last high school meet ever! But lately, I've kind of been thinking of running college cross country at a division 3 school...I've got a friend who does it, and she was over a minute slower than I was in her senior year, and she thinks I could/should do it...so I'm investigating that. It's crazy; I never thought I'd even be thinking about running in college. I kind of assumed high school would go on forever, and I wouldn't have to worry about it. Oh well...anyway, that's my exciting news. Back to homework!

[EricG1793]

Ehhnnn...Eric, I don't know about on other people's screens, but on my screen, your siggy is 4 lines long, not 3. Just letting you know...I think my screen is a standard size, so...I don't know. I'm just letting you know that your siggy may be too big?

-seabiscuit1009

Oh, OK. Thanks for letting me know! I don't think it's much of an issue, though, because A: For ME, it's three lines, so it's not REALLY long, like it would be if it took up four lines even on my screen, and B: The longest line is a line with links to the Youngwizards FAQs, so it's doing (just) a bit of community service. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm responding to a poke with a kick. I'm not angry at anybody.

Edit:

OOH! Ooh! My 200th post!!! I realize that 200 posts means nothing in this forum, but still, it's twice more than one hundred, right? I was making a post in DD's WoM background and realized I had 201 posts when I went back to review the post, so I realized this was my 200th.

[Gryphon]

I got an 84 on my calc test. I thought I had done really good, but apparently not. I felt like throwing up. Love how I get all of these physical responses to feelings like this? And no, simply passing is not good enough.

>< >< ><

auauauhhnnnnnnn

I spent the following physics period drawing on a worksheet. This is how I get my frustration and aggression out.

I visit the IRC chat sometimes still. I really wish more people would show up. ><

Mmm I never considered writing an outline for nano, but I guess it's a really good idea. O.o


Enough writing, I need to walk the dog and take out some homework. ><