"What's up with your attendance?"

I figured that now would be a good time to tell everyone why i've been missing so much school recently.

About a week or two ago my mom had gotten the swine flu and was put into the hospital because of it and wasn't doing to good. The doctors told me that I shouldn't go to school because I could give other people the swine flu even though I didn't have it myself. So, I missed a whole week of school.

Then, last Monday at like 2:30 a.m. I woke up with an extremely high fever (over 103) and was shaking violently because of that. I seriously couldn't stop shaking. It was terrible so my mom ended up taking me into the emergency room (where I sat for 6 hours) and the doctor told me that I had a viral infection and sent me on my way, not giving me any medicine or anything, telling me not to go to school until I had a follow-up appointment. My follow-up wasn't until Monday so I was extremely sick for the rest of the week and basically slept the entire time. Then on top of all that crap for some reason my nose decided that it would just start bleeding for no reason at all until it felt like it should stop. I had 3 nosebleeds and each probably lasted about 15 minutes. It freaking sucked.

So I made it until Monday and went to the doctor and my mom told him all that was wrong with me and immediately put me on Tamiflu, which is the treatment for the swine flu, and told me not to go to school for two more days.

The medicine sucks. It makes me loopy and drowsy and when it starts kicking in I turn all red and feel like I have a fever. Not to mention even thinking about swallowing pills makes me want to gag. I seriously hate it.

So, that's what's up with my attendance.

Lord of the Flies (The Game)

Danny and I made a board game for our Lord of the Flies project and I think it's pretty cool. I feel like we accomplished a lot and made it look as good as we could with no artistic ability whatsoever. What I would have done differently would be to paste it to a big piece of cardboard so that it wouldn't be so flimsy and would last a lot longer.I would have also gotten better game pieces because right now all we have are different colored pencil erasers. I also think that if I could magically get me some artistic-ness that I'd re-draw everything so that it would look better. And yes, we are prepared to present the game and let the class play it, hopefully, it won't be too boring.

While reading the Lord of the Flies, I learned that being trapped on an island can bring out the worst in people and make people revert back to their original instincts to survive.

What did I learn about myself?? I have no idea. I guess I learned about a book I had never read before and that I liked it a lot. (Yeah, I know that was a really generic answer. Sorry.)

What if??

What if I can't come up with a topic to write about?

I am pretty bad (okay, more like terrible) at coming up with things to write about when given the opportunity. I get scatter-brained and tend to ramble about useless topics until I feel that I have sufficiently humiliated myself enough to go ahead and quit writing.

I am more of a "you tell me what to do, and i'll do it" person rather than one who just comes up with something out of their imagination and does it. I am much more confident in my writing when I have something to stick to (like what your obstacles are).

When I have free reign over what I write about I feel like I should write about anything and everything all at once and it comes out a jumbled up, terrible, idiotic mess.

So next time, can you tell us what to write about or at least an alternate topic because I happen to lack an imagination.

http://www.schwimmerlegal.com/smiley.jpg

Obstacles Suck.

Wouldn't it be great if we could go through life without anything preventing us from doing whatever we wanted when we wanted to? But no, that would be ridiculous and unrealistic because of a thing called obstacles, and obstacles suck.

Some of the obstacles that I am facing this year are keeping my grades up, making sure that I get into college (and applying on time), getting a better grade on my ACT's/SAT's, deciding what I want to major in, and making sure I actually going to school more than half the time.

I want to make sure that I get a better score on my ACT's and SAT's because I am only a couple of points behind from getting the biggest Bright Futures Scholarship. I mean, you need a 27 on the ACT and I got a 26, that's a one point difference!!

For me to decide what I want to major in would be an extremely big deal because I have NO IDEA what I want to do later on in my life. I know all the things that I don't want to do, but I can't think of anything that I'd actually want to do. I feel like I should just settle and be an accountant or something else that's extremely boring...

Knowing me though, i'll probably just end up being a professional hobo. Bah-Hum-Bug.

One of the biggest obstacles for me is actually coming to school. I know most of you know what senior-itis is, but I had sophomore-itis, junior-itis, and am trying really hard not to have senior-itis. I don't even have a reason to miss so much, I actually ENJOY school. (Shocking, I know.) But, I am going to try not to have senior-itis because I don't want to miss any of the "fun" that I'm supposed to have this year.

To the Freshmen.

Dear Freshman,

I know that everyone has been telling you how important it is to stay focused and how important it is that you do what you're supposed to. I also know how annoying that is, but just keep in mind that they're only trying to help you out.

When I was a freshman I didn't take my classes as seriously as I should have, I didn't hang out with the greatest people, and I hated a lot of my teachers. Because of this my grades weren't what they could have been and I've had to work harder throughout the rest of high school and not have as much fun. At the beginning of my freshman year, I remember that I did not like my math teacher at all. I thought that she gave us to much homework and was really strict. Then during my sophomore year, I had a not so great math teacher and it made me realize how much I actually learned in my former math teacher's class, and how much fun I had during it, and how much I actually liked her, and now even in my senior year every time she sees me in the halls she stops me and always asks how I am doing in my math class.

So my advice to you is to pay attention to your teachers, stay focused, don't hang out with the wrong people, and even if you don't like your teachers remember they're just so strict because they want you to succeed. I know it may not seem like it, but you'll most likely learn the most from the teachers who are more strict (well, some of them anyway) and will thank them later on during your high school career.

Sincerely,

A Former Freshman.

Senior Year.

This year, I would like to participate more in school things. So far, I've joined Key Club, Mu Alpha Theta, and the National Honor Society. I've also been going to more football games and after school things. Key Club does community service and things like that so I joined that because I don't really have very many hours. I joined Mu Alpha Theta because I like math and I thought it would be pretty fun. Last year, I was asked to be a member of the National Honor Society so, of course, I did that...

Some of my goals this year are to get my GPA at least up to a 3.5 (I have a 3.45) or a 3.6, to get a 27 on the ACT because I only got a 26 the last time or get a 1270 on the SAT because I only got a 1200. I would also like to be accepted to the University of South Florida (or some other college).

This year, I am looking forward to all the senior privileges, going to prom, and graduating. Some of the senior privileges that I am looking forward to are: not having to take the exams if you have an A or B in the class, and any others. Hopefully prom will be really fun. I plan on going with a bunch of my friends all in one group and having a good ole' time. Graduation is a big deal for me because I will be the first person in my entire family to actually graduate from high school. Because of that a ton of my family will be coming down and visiting us and then, the day after graduation, is my birthday so they'll be there to celebrate my 18th birthday with me too.