A Lenient Day

I am glad to say that today is one of my favourites, as we did not do much, only listening to the last few presentations and doing a book activity. I received pointers on my essay I did last week or so, which I will take into consideration; I have the habit of trying too hard to embellish things without realizing it, and it can lead to tangents. Once my next essay rolls around, I believe I will be confident! But regarding today as a whole, it was more relaxing. Thank goodness.

More Presentations

There is not much to say about this day, only presentations took up the class and I was beyond bored. Listening to presentations in general is a tedious thing, but hearing anything I have little interest in is torture. I must say that the only fun I gained from the entire ordeal is making my PowerPoint -- everything else was such a bore. But that is to be expected, so I am not too upset; I am grateful to at least learn something new.

Presentation Day, Hooray

Did I ever mention the project Mr. Rease assigned to us regarding finding information about a country's culture? If I did not, well tough cookies. Today was the day to present, and I was quite surprised to discover I did well with a pass! My normal problem of talking fast did pose a difficulty because my dialect is hard to understand. The fact that I was nervous only worsened it, making my speech faster. It is hard to understand what I am saying in general, so I am not too surprised, but I do wonder why I speak so fast and why I find it difficult to articulate my words. Not to mention my occasional habit of stuttering. Well, it matters little to me, I made an A, hooray!

ACT Prep Day

I feel a bittersweet victory today; on one hand, I did not have to go to 4th block for its entirety, but on the other hand, I had to work with MATH. Truly the bane of my existence. Although I was glad to be with my peers, I was immensely bored; I still paid attention to what was being spoken, however, and tried to understand what I was working with. Like most instances, I struggled, but I was able to solve a few problems I initially wanted to give up on! I can tell right now that my problem is time; I spend too much time on each problem trying to understand what on earth is going on. This is why math is evil INCARNATE. At least I am identifying my areas of struggle. Will I actually try to work on them? Ehhhh.

What Can I Say, It Is Essay Day

The entire class was comprised of a "test day" of sorts where we finally had to write an argumentative essay. Of course, I was given a ridiculous prompt that was hard to really gather evidence for since I had to pull it from thin air, but I put something together! Is it good? I do not know. But I finished. I am at least glad Mr. Rease stop torturing us for now and let us have the rest of the day off. I do not get paid enough for this!

Claims and Evidence

Today, the class went over that prompt I complained about yesterday and determined if the claims and evidence were sound using a fame or shame score. The results... could have been better. I made a good claim, but apparently the evidence has to be right afterwards or it is not correct. Which... honestly makes sense, but I shall be upset anyway because I made a mistake and that is clearly the rational choice! I am glad to take that notion of evidence into account, of course! The day was one of the better ones this week, possibly because most of the class decided to disappear into the abyss before 4th block. As I say, the less the merrier, and today was a merrier day.

Be Careful Of Flowers, You May Be Shot

Worry not about the title, no flowers (that the world knows of) can shoot a person with a bullet, but it would be interesting if it did exist. Anywho, the reason for the title leads into what I had to do today, which was research some interesting customs of Italy. I learned that upon being invited to a dinner, it is polite and customary to bring a gift: chocolates, pastries, or flowers. But bringing the wrong flower in terms of symbolism, such as a flower that stands for immense hatred or death (an example would be Monkshood), is very disrespectful! That little activity was admittedly fun since I learned something about Italy, as well as other countries from my classmates. The last ten minutes were less than pleasant considering Mr. Rease had the nerve to forsake us and give a prompt before the end of the day. A traitorous, unforgivable act!

Culture

Discussing culture and diversity was the main agenda today, and considering I care very little about the concept of culture itself, I was bored out of my mind. Culture is such a bore to me, I cannot explain why but discussing it is such a mute point in my brain. I understand that culture is crucial, yada yada, it is important to know one's roots, blah blah, but does that matter at this specific instant? Perhaps it does, but it certainly does not to me. The only highlight of the day was watching a video where people from other countries practically insulted American culture into the ground. I was both offended and amused, a great combination!

Another Test and a Project, Wish I Could Object

Due to the class' less than dignified scores on Friday, we were given the chance to take a new one and hope we did not bomb it as well. I appreciate the gesture wholeheartedly. Afterwards, we discussed culture and the seven themed that accompanied it, with the project following not too long after. Our assignment has us researching the culture of a country and detailing it in a PowerPoint or poster, which has the chance for fun; however, I was more than upset that we could not choose our own countries, as I desperately wanted Japan. Alas, someone else got my dream country. I at least got Italy, a country I like for both its beauty and the opportunity to make memes of their affiliation with pasta. While I can understand that letting the students choose their country may result in repeated countries showcased or the easy route being taken by choosing to do American culture, I still am not satisfied with the method! But oh well, what can I do? Ho del lavoro da sbrigare!

Test Day

Golly gosh, golly gee, today was test day; it was a multiple choice passage that certainly humbled me considering I bombed it. A failure. An embarrassment to the family name, I am. On the bright side, I have another chance on Monday, so I have not become too much of a disappointment to my lineage. I was incredibly displeased with my results, which goes to show that I read the question without reading the question. My paranoia of running out of time interferes with my thinking and leads me to make easily avoidable mistakes. Hmm, surely it is my teacher's fault for assigning it, that is why I failed, yes!

Should a Man and Mother Have a Nurturing Relationship?

Today, we went over a prompt which discussed the question above, and I personally disagree with it. A man has no obligation to take care of his mother after he is an adult, she brought him into the world and he is simply the byproduct. Also, what if the mother is anything but motherly? Should the man still nurture her? Blood ties do not equate to true family, only the bonds that are made, at least to me. Mr. Rease challenged us to talk to our mothers about what we discussed today, but I would rather not; I would like to not be backslapped.

Comedian, More Like "Come End Me"

Although the events of today were filled with the NHS ceremony finally arriving, I was able to slither my way back into my 4th block. As much as I did not miss it, I missed it. Mr. Rease had it too easy, not having the honour of hearing my quips from the back of the room! Today was the start of another prompt which, surprise, I find difficult. But the prompt itself is simple, I can understand that, it is just the task of finding claims and evidence on said prompt. I can find evidence on many topics with research, but most of the prompts lately require me to dig up evidence from my own mind and experiences; that is the problem. At least I recognized where I am mostly struggling at, so that is progress! I think.

My Concern Levels Are Growing

I had important business to attend to with the National Honor Society, which took up my entire 3rd block, 4th block, and well after school ended. This equates to many missed days in my 4th block most of all, and I am worried my grade will drop as a result. That cannot happen, my grades are my lifeline! I do intend on remaining in school instead of going home after the NHS ceremony tomorrow to make up for lost time; I only hope I have not missed too much of import. If I have, I will take the next available flight to Wuhan, China.

I Was Swiped Out Of My Class A Bit Too Conveniently

Before the end of 3rd block, I, along with many other students, were called out and told to report to the driver's ed class. I was indeed curious, and hoping for something edible if I am honest, but it was revealed to be an ACT class orchestrated by Mr. Sanderson. Was I a bit disappointed? Slightly, but I will use this chance to increase my scores of course. The entire class took up 2nd lunch wave and 4th block, so I have little clue about the lesson taught in class today. From what I heard, it is another inane prompt asking some insipid question about the relationship of two things that does not even need to be considered together. Do these AP people have a life? Come on!