Snow Days Blog

Snow days are, in my opinion, one of the most controversial things that could happen to a school student in student years. They are good in many ways but bad in other ones.

Good – IT’S A SNOW DAY! You’re out of school! What could be better than that? The day is yours, you don’t have to do homework, and you’re not stuck in a seat for six hours.

Bad – IT’S A SNOW DAY! You’ve had no time to plan anything for the day, so you’re usually stuck at home doing nothing and being totally bored. Plus, if the schools deemed the roads too dangerous to travel, you’re parents usually do too and you can’t get out of the house.

Personally, it depends on what day of the week the snow day is and what time of the year. If it’s the beginning or the end of the week, it’s definitely cool with me because I get a long weekend. If it’s in the middle of the week, it’s not as great because you still have school afterwards to look forward too. Also, how much snow actually came is a big factor. If there’s barely any snow on the ground, then it’s pointless to even go outside because you can’t do anything with the snow. But if there is a bunch of snow, as there is now, you can do REALLY AWESOME stuff with it.

Dakota

Climate Effects Blog

I was thinking the other day about the way that climate may affect people’s way of life, their behaviors, their emotions, etc, and decided to blog about it. It has to have at least a little effect on these things, does it not?

I mean, in terms of way of life, people in Siberia are going to have very different recreational activities and careers than those, say, in Florida. People in Siberia most likely stay inside their houses most of their days as temperatures are very frequently twenty below and less. People in Florida can do many more things outside of the house because the temperatures are more favorable.

As for behaviors and emotions, it seems like climate would affect them as well. You can’t tell me that people who live in Seattle where it rains a lot and Texas where there is nothing but arid land have a different outlook on people and life than people who live in Jamaica or Brazil where everything is beautiful and the weather is constantly amazing.

Then it makes me wonder – if people had the choice to live anywhere in the world, wouldn’t the majority want to live in the places where climate is more fair and forgiving? I suppose this is true if one looks at population density; more people live in the tropics than the polar regions. Just a thought.

Dakota

Facebook - My Dearest Friend and Worst Enemy

Facebook holds a significant place in my heart (not really, but that’s how the cliché goes). It at least factors into my life pretty largely. I spend a lot of time on it, checking status updates, posting my own, chatting with friends; it’s a pretty nifty little website.

But it has taught me a very important lesson – do not get on Facebook if you want to get anything else done. I have learned the hard way that homework is neither doable nor feasible when I am on Facebook. I don’t know, it just doesn’t get done. When I am supposed to be doing my chores or doing my classwork, Facebook has a devilish way of stealing my precious time. For a good friend, he can be pretty sneaky and deceiving at times when I need him least…

“And I just can’t pull myself away!” These are good lyrics to describe my relationship with Facebook. He doesn’t really do any good for me, and usually detracts from my overall success, but he has grown on me and is now something I can’t live without!

Dakota

Stay off the Roads!

I am finally a legal solo driver! It’s amazing that it has finally happened. I can drive by myself anywhere I want to. The freedom is the greatest part. I don’t have to have my parents drive me everywhere; I can just go there myself!

The second time I took the driver’s test, I passed. The instructor wanted to fail me again for screwing up my parallel parking but because I had passed it the first time I took the test, she crossed out the failure (thank goodness).

The major downside to this solo driving is the solo payment of gas and insurance for my car. I am looking for and failing at finding a job to pay for these necessities. So for now my mom and dad are helping out with both, but I have to pay them back when I get the money to do so.

It’s also kind of aggravating that mom doesn’t want me to drive on icy roads – she’d rather drive me places in situations like this. I think that I would learn how to drive in bad road conditions best if I do it myself, don’t you agree?

And I realize now that this blog has no natural flow, and for this I am genuinely sorry, haha.

Dakota

It's Christmastime in the City!

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, in my opinion. Most everything is good with life – school is out, family is in, and snow is coming!

School has made for an interesting first half of the year. The classes aren’t much harder than last year but the transition was a lot easier than the one from freshman to sophomore year. There’ve been a lot of complications between my friends and it’ll be good to get away from all the drama. And quite frankly, I’m just getting tired of school, so a break couldn’t have come at a better time!

I get to see the family for Christmas! Yay! It really is great though because I only get to see my family outside of Owensboro about once a year, so when that time comes, I really cherish it. We’ll get to catch up on everything that’s happened over the year, seen how everyone has grown and changed, etc. I love the get-togethers at Christmastime for this very reason.

I can’t tell you how ready I am to see some snow, and more importantly, a white Christmas! Just waking up on Christmas morning, looking out the window to a blanket of snow, and then rushing into the front room to open presents under the tree like a little kid all over again, it’s just wonderful.

I know this blog was pretty generic, but oh well! I’m so happy its Christmastime!

Professional Sports Players

In my history class about a month ago, we were talking about professional athletics and getting paid the big bucks to play a game that takes almost no intellect to play. Mr. Fuller’s view on this was that it is very unfair that people can get paid so much money just because they play a game well. I disagreed.

I explained that though it may not take much brains to play a sport, it is the physical talents of the players of these sports that makes them worth their while. They are, in a way, entertainers. If people worldwide didn’t want to see them show off their talents, they would all be out of jobs. But because so many people watch and enjoy sports, they are in business.

Mr. Fuller later brought up the fact that most professional players only go to college to put them on a preparatory pedestal for pro sports. He said this was wrong. But I took it a totally different way. First of all, they must have the credentials necessary to get into that college to get into that college. Second, just in case their professional career (their talent) doesn’t work out, they have a backup plan in the college education they received.

I can see both sides but obviously, I think I’m right. =P

Finals

Finals are about the worst thing I think I have ever had to endure during my high school career. I mean, a whole week dedicated to making students remember every little thing they’ve learned in each class all year long? That’s crazy! I guess getting exemptions helps, but it’s still a rigorous week. Thankfully, finals went well for me this year.

My first final was orchestra. I went to the band room but it wasn’t open, so I went to the chorus room instead. When class started, we immediately put in a movie because Mrs. Elliot said that Mrs. Yonts would be late. Later we found out that Mrs. Yonts wasn’t coming at all because her baby was sick because she was teething. That was wonderful – one final down.

My second final was English. I got into the room, studied vocabulary for about ten minutes, then goofed off the rest of the time until time to take the final. I blew through the final and again goofed off the rest of the time. I got a 97%! Halfway there!

My third final was anatomy. I was thinking this one was going to be harder than it really was. I studied pretty much the entire review period and got the test and again blew through it. I got a 93%. Almost out of the woods!

My fourth final was math. This one was going to be my hardest, I was sure. I reviewed a bit and then just tried to relax. I was given the test and immediately thought it was going to be hard. I worked my way through it, and it actually wasn’t that bad. And I checked my grade later on Infinite Campus – 99% baby! I was elated!