Echoed Memories

A Whole New Level

2012-01-24T22:44:00.001-05:00

Although I usually can write much more eloquently than this, tonight I'm not even going to try. I'm much too upset, shocked, and above all, furious, to attempt to write a coherent entry.

Today, during Eighth Period, as I was sitting in my English class, attempting to finish annotating a poem, an unfamiliar student entered the room and informed us that we had been selected to participate in a "short survey". At the time, I assumed that said student was conducting a poll for the school newspaper or yearbook. I could not have been more wrong.

According to the directions on the questionnaire that we were given, we were supposed to complete and submit the attached match.com survey, which, in addition to requesting our name and grade, consisted of about twenty multiple-choice questions about our beliefs, values, and extracurricular activities. All of the results would then be analyzed; finally, the week of Valentine's Day, we would be allowed to "buy" the names of students with similar answers for only $3, with all proceeds benefitting "a South Lakes athletic team of your choice".

The issue is, I do not, under any circumstances, want my name released, even to those "with similar answers". I am absolutely furious that such a fundraiser is taking place, and that they are literally selling students' names off. Although very few of my friends were polled, at least at the same time I was, of the people that I talked to who also took the survey, none of them wanted their information released.

I'm currently taking a break from relationships; and I've been played too many times to ever want to be in one again, at least for now. I don't give a damn who gets my name; I'm far too busy to have to deal with my high school's decision to run a dating service. I don't know what I'm more upset about: the fact that the school has and plans to sell off my personal information or that the Fairfax County Public Schools and the South Lakes High School Activities Office actually approved this absurd idea.

My name and heart are not and will never be for sale. Society has reached a depressing and desperate state when it resorts to sinking to this level just to make a bit of money.

Repost, Retweet, and Reblog this. I want to change something.

~Aalliiee

I feel SO Honored

2011-06-17T20:16:00.001-04:00

By now you've probably seen my new header, informing people that I will be taking a long but forced and unintentional blogging hiatus from next Friday until the second of August, mainly because of the excessive paranoia of my summer camp. Now, this wouldn't be an issue if they didn't allow us on the Internet AT ALL, like most camps do (which they better, because my summer assignments aren't going to do themselves...), but the thing is, they do. I mean, we (the campers) are allowed limited access on the Internet, as long as a counselor is looking over our shoulder, ensuring we're not looking at porn. (Or, gasp, Facebook, for that matter; it can be classified as a social networking site (not that I'm particularly thrilled with Mark Zuckerberg's Magnum Opus at the moment, anyway)), but COME ON, who do they think we are, Neanderthals? It's not like half of the camp isn't on Facebook almost constantly at home in the first place.

Anyway, that's not the underlying issue. The reason that I'm currently spending my Friday night typing a blog entry is actually because of a new rule. A rule that is probably considered frivolous by many teenagers returning to haunt Honesdale, Pennsylvania for either three, five, seven, or eight weeks for the umpteenth summer in a row. A rule that I for one (shockingly) do not feel the need to change or rebel against. A regulation was put in place because of none other than Yours Truly.

Yes, my fellow campers, it is my fault that you are no longer permitted to bring a cell phone or otherwise Internet-accessible device for use on Trip Day. It was I who snuck onto the free WiFi provided by the food court at a mall that is so small that it should not be allowed (save the Hot Topic, Starbucks, Carvel Ice Cream Place, music store, and Wet Seal). Hey, how was I supposed to know that the one person who saw me innocently type the Facebook status update of "hi, I'll be home on Sunday!" would go running to a counselor?? But I have to say that the camp is wasting its time banning cellular activity on Wednesday afternoons, (Ok, maybe not, because I would still be using the text message option on Twitter CONSTANTLY.) The ACA accredited establishment knows only half the story. Yes, I will admit that I was on Facebook. I will confess that I knowingly broke an almost-sacred rule by posting a status that was six words longer than allowed. My habit of routinely checking to see if my friends back in Virginia were still alive got the better of me. But I was not on an otherwise "internet-accessible device". I was on none other than the mobile browser of my third generation iPod Touch.

Author pauses to wait patiently for readers to stop gasping and for those audience members who fainted out of pure shock to get back into their desk chairs

So go ahead, start pelting me with hate mail. Send me angry, ranting emails or texts about how it's all my fault that you can't talk to your friends on Wednesdays while sitting on a hot, overcrowded school bus with horrible service on all networks. Or better yet, say it to my face when I step off of the DC/Philadelphia bus next week. I've dealt with worse. And I would just like to say, to anyone who may be reading this, camper or otherwise, that I am nothing less than HONORED to be the underlying cause of yet another easily-bent rule. I was actually hoping that something like this would happen sometime in my life.

Because some rules were just waiting for the right person to break them.

Miracles DO Happen

2011-06-08T22:00:00.001-04:00

I'm just gonna face it: somewhat-miraculous things have happened to me before.

Like the time I wrecked my bike by slamming headfirst into an insanely-large tree root and didn't even require any sort of medical treatment despite the fact that I was knocked out for ten minutes straight.

Or that time that I was being tested on volleyball in gym class earlier this year and I was somehow able to actually return-serve the ball OVER the net rather than missing it altogether, thus passing the exam.

This might not constitute a miracle for some people, but I'm probably tied with Neville Longbottom of the Harry Potter series for the title of Least Coordinated Member of the Human Race.

Up until very recently, last Friday to be exact, I thought I knew what a miracle was. But that was before I had finished one of the last pieces of my art final. And all I'm gonna say is that it's freaking amazing that I managed to not develop Carpal-Tunnel Syndrome from doing nothing but glue-gunning multicolored feathers onto plaster wrap for practically 3-weeks straight.

The miracle in question

So, I'm finally done with my paper-mache oversized butterfly wings, and now they're on display in the art wing for everyone to see. ONE is on display, at least, due to the fact that today at lunch I was informed the brutal truth that half of my project had fallen down sometime between the end of first period and the beginning of seventh yesterday.

Oh well, I guess it was a miracle that it even lasted that long.

Is Change Always Unnoticed Or Am I The Only Exception?

2011-05-28T16:28:00.006-04:00

The first thing I did today when I opened my MacBook Air (besides logging on and all of that other logical nonsense) was check my email. Surprised and relieved (long story) that I only had one message, but curious that it was from some person with an important and official-sounding name followed by an even more important and official-sounding title (DCCC Executive Director), I was a bit hesitant and even wary of opening it. I mean, I'm just a girl from A Small Planned Community That Isn't Even An Official Town. The closest experience I've ever had to my 15-minutes of fame was when my high school principal said he was impressed with how I learned a concept of precalculus for a science fair project that was so confusing that none of the judges actually understood it. That, and the time when I posted a really witty comment on said "town's" Patch site and a bunch of people started quoting it. I NEVER get mail from people like that. Especially from people with 3 CAPITAL C's (of all letters) in their title. I'm not even sure what an IT-Pro actually does for a living. How am I supposed to justify this "professional"-type person emailing me, and WHO THE HECK EVEN GAVE HIM MY EMAIL????

As it turns out, he was the founder of a petition that I signed from Change.org, a site that my EXTREMELY-Libral mother got me into that promotes peaceful social change. He wanted to thank me, because apparently the success of the petition had made headlines in such prominent news sources as The Huffington Post, ABC News, NBC News, Buffalo News and a blog of some sorts titled Talking Points Memo. At least I know what the first few are, but what in the world is the Talking Points Memo? And since when is Buffalo News a nationally-ranked corporation? Check your sources, people. Buffalo may be a bigger city my Small Planned Community That Isn't Even An Official Town, but, last time I looked, all news that happens in it is no bigger deal than stories that take place in say, Detriot.
At least Detriot has decently-known sports teams and good mentions in rap music. Buffalo isn't even home to the The Zoo That Spawned The Best Serpentine Hide-and-Seek Player Of All Time.

Anyway, the underlying issue here is why, if my "support was critical" and they "could not have done it without me", is everyone currently very annoyed at me? My mom's a little ticked off because I have a Biology SOL on Tuesday at 7:20 AM (who came up with that idea??) that I have yet to start studying for. My dad has several more-than-decent reasons to be upset , especially because he had to drive me over to George Mason University today and watch, for three hours, me distributing boxed lunches to the participants and spectators of The WACFL National Debate Tournament.
How was he supposed to know that I did not need the service hours and had already turned in a more-than-adaquete amount to the service coordinator for "students with last names starting with A-M" and that I was only volunteering for "the experience"? A psychologist is currently on my case for a certain academic behavior of mine that causes people to often associate me with A Certain Overachieving Heroine From The Harry Potter Series. Can I help it if I was placed in a program where no one actually participates, especially in biology and history? Even my guinea pig is fed up with me on account of the fact that I never seem to let her out of her cage as much as my mom does. Well, my mom is currently home for 4 hours per day more than I am. Maybe Penelope should take it up with whoever made my county's high school hours from 7:20AM to 2:10PM.

What're YOU looking at??

After all, I'm only "a tremendous supporter of the Democratic Party".

Fighter

2011-05-25T22:13:00.005-04:00

This is a blog, right?
It was made for speaking my mind, wasn't it?
Then why aren't I doing just that?

Is it because the majority of my thoughts are "too personal"?
Don't think so.

Is there the possibility that my parents, who think that I'm only posting book reviews, would kill me?
Probably, but that's not the actual reason why.

It it because I just don't have time?
That statement's laughably inaccurate.

Why, then?

Because, up until now, I've been too scared to tell even half of the truth.
Frozen by fear.
Paralyzed by the prospect of publicly defending my basic rights as a high school student attending a school located in one of the largest school systems in the country.
Up until recently, I thought that they were just too powerful to contend with.
But then I realized that they are only in power because we (a few others and myself) give it to them.
And that there is a fairly decent possibility that if I don't change things, no one will.
After all, I have the opportunity to fight for our rights.
But that opportunity won't last forever.

Anyway, I'm just gonna cut to the chase and tell you what I'm so fired up about, what rights aren't being granted. But if anyone reading this knows who I really am, goes to my school, whether or not you previously knew what I was going through, whoever you are; PLEASE keep quiet about this.
The last thing I need is to get in trouble YET AGAIN just for using the First Amendment to my advantage.

Basically, there are three programs at my school. There are the general education classes that the majority of the student body is enrolled in, IB/honors courses (the International Baccalaureate Program and its precursors), and Special Education service classes, with the majority of said students belonging to the ED/LDSC (Emotional Disability/Learning Disability Self-Contained) program.

The programs don't typically mix; if you're in IB in the 11th grade, then chances are when you were an underclassman, you were in honors classes as part of the IB Middle Years Program (which the entire body of the school's underclassman participate in). Similarly, if you were in general classes your sophomore year and had never before in your life been in an "advanced" program, it would be a challenge to suddenly attempt the IB Diploma Program when you were a junior. The only widely-known (and made) exception is when some students finish an Honors-esque course such as AP Comparative Government and Politics (my school's only offered AP course) after 10th grade and are too "daunted" to proceed with the full IB Diploma, resulting in a drop to a "basic" class. In the aforementioned example, the AP government students must retake a primary history course, World History 1.

Of any mixing of course levels that actually does occur, the ED/LDSC program and its subschool (henceforth referred to simply as The Subschool) unarguably does the least. Many students in this program are (in my opinion) either extremely unmotivated or emotionally burdened. There are some who are exceptions to this generalization, some who mix--there've even been a couple who have/will receive certificates acknowledging their success of completing an IB course or two at their time of graduation--but if I am successful the whole equilibrium of the program will shift, its entire outlook on the possible potentials of its students will (hopefully) be redefined and change for the better. I am in The Subschool and more than fed-up with its meager academic options and expectations. If I am successful, I will be one of, if not the first student from the Special Education department at my school to complete the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.

The thing is, being the first isn't easy by any means, and if anyone said it was, then they obviously haven't had to endure a situation that was even remotely similar to this. It's a complex conundrum of sorts, a persistent problem that is almost as hard to explain (especially without offending any of the involved parties) as it is to have to experience. In the most simplistic terms that I can think of that would still do justice to my dilemma, my mini-revolution, the system of this program in the Special Education department at my esteemed high school is broken. Don't get me wrong, it's a relatively decent idea to give those students who need "a little extra help" in school and jumpstarting the rest of their life a program where they can excel. I'm more than positive that The Subschool was started for that exact purpose. But it has and continues to have gotten more than a bit out of hand; the original concept has, in my opinion, been lost, while the program continues to be warped more and more with each passing year.

First of all, the academics seem to be low-end in almost all of my classes for this year. Now, when coming into this program, I knew that it was going to be nothing like my Gifted and Talented classes at my former elementary school, or even comparable to my previous three and a half years of homeschool and private school. I understand and appreciate the fact that not every single student [who has been] placed in The Subschool is a future rocket scientist, and although every person on this planet has potential, those in this program typically need a little extra help unlocking it; but that is why it was, is, and continues to be a flawed idea to combine The Subschool into one generic, bland, one-size-fits-all program. The truth is, one size DOES NOT fit all, and, farther expanding on my opinion, putting the majority, the"Learning Disability" students, and the minority (a category which I am counted as a part of), the "Emotional Disability" students, together in the same classes was an idea that was so-to-speak DOOMED FROM ITS CONCEPTION, over ten years ago.
Although it is of my understanding that there are a significantly greater amount of "Learning Disability" students in The Subschool than their "Emotional" counterparts and that some fall under both categories, a possible step the could be taken that would DRASTICALLY reduce both the stress levels in educators (who are currently attempting the almost-impossibility of simultaneously teaching the few students, such as myself, who WANT TO LEARN, while trying to 'force-educate' the "Learning Disability" group, who does not appear to want anything to do with school, nor do they seem to care about their high school education in general), AND the "overachieving" students, who, while extremely few in number, are bored to almost-literal tears; not only are they unceremoniously "lumped in" with these other students, but a small percentage (me) also find the material to be quite over-repetitive; for example, in history, this year marked my third time learning practically "the entire course", from the River Valley Civilizations through the Renaissance. (I am also one of only a couple of freshman who is enrolled in a math class that is higher than Algebra 1.)

Pertaining more to the issue at hand is that I should not be discouraged from attempting the IB program. I know that I am one of the first to even consider attempting such a rigorous program, and that (restating my above thought) being the first for anything is NEVER anywhere NEAR easy, but I was still expecting much more support than I have even begun to receive this year. Quite the contrary, more than a few faculty members of The Subschool have questioned my capability, tried to force me to choose between my passion, Art 3, and advanced academics, or even simply expressed their dislike for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in general.
It is explicitly stated in the vision statement of my school that its mission and vision is to "develop a community of learners who strive for academic excellence and value diversity, intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and an international understanding for all students." Except for possibly the parts about "valuing diversity" or "an international understanding for all students", the language and actions of The Subschool do not, by any means, [seem to] follow the aforementioned statement at all. It's tough to "develop a community of learners who strive for academic excellence" or "value intellectual curiosity" when the few potential candidates for IB are discouraged from even attempting to attain said diploma, simply because they are rendered, on no logical basis whatsoever, "incapable". The part about "social responsibility" went out the window when I realized that The Subschool seemed to be pulling an awful lot of strings "behind the scenes" to get their way. (Examples noted but not openly stated.) I am not accusing this program of the educational equivalent of "heresy", rather I am addressing issues that appear to be flawed and need to be resolved.

Because if you don't fight for something, you'll fall for anything.

Over the last 8.5 months, many people have inspired me to write about this matter, but one has made such an impact on me that she, so-to-speak, has "pushed me over the edge". If you ever read this, you deserve more thanks than I can possibly give you for inspiring me to speak out even more explicitly than I already have, as well as telling me to "never give up and never give in".

Mini-Review #1: Riot! by Paramore

2011-05-20T18:35:00.001-04:00

For Christmas, I received two iTunes cards, good for an insane enough amount of money that I was absolutely POSITIVE that they would last me at least a year. No such luck was to be had, however; I ended up using my last bit of credit almost 2 weeks ago, less than 6 months since I had first opened them under the tree.

As you've probably figured out, I love both writing and music, and, putting 2 and 2 together, I'm going to attempt to write a series of mini reviews of each of the various albums that I've bought with said cards. It's not guaranteed that it'll be the best writing ever, but as long as you're not screaming at me bloody murder to "SHUT UP!"*, I'll know that it was at least half decent.

Riot!--Paramore

Despite being a Paramore fan since last June, this was actually the first album that I had gotten around to buying. It wasn't my favorite album, and it was pale in comparison to their most recent installment, Brand New Eyes. Still, there were several songs on Riot! that were standouts to me, saving this otherwise overly-repetitive record.
The fifth track, When It Rains, perfectly expressed the complexity of an anything-but-smooth young romance that is ridden with questions and difficulties, as well as capturing the powerful emotion of depression. For me, a standout line could be found at the beginning of the second verse (1:24) "And when it rains/well, you always find an escape/just running away/from all of the ones who love you". This verse opened my eyes to what I, personally, was missing by "hiding away" whenever I felt alone instead of simply getting help and moving on with life. I am now a much happier person, partly due to those words. I also loved the far-from-typical intro that was found in broken guitar chords. To me, they sounded somewhat like the soothing sound of rain drumming on the roof late at night.
Track 9, We Are Broken, was very easy for me to identify with, especially earlier this year. By only listening to this song a couple of times, one would think that the underlying theme is depression, but after about 20 or so plays, I realized that it was more about the confusion that a young, possibly orphaned refugee would be feeling; feeling weak, exposed and vulnerable, needing the truth, and above all, wanting protection but not knowing from what or how to get it. The first time I listened to it, I recall being quite surprised at the middle part; suddenly, Hayley Williams, the vocalist, rather artistically cries out in despair, "And I'll take the truth at any cost!" To me, that represented the power that a simple plea for help can bring. I never before had thought that only eight words could be so impacting; so deep.
Fences (track 10) was the track that, for me, really solidified this record as being more than mediocre. It was as if the band could somehow see inside my mind; as at the time that I had bought this album, I was going through some of the same issues that I felt this song was talking about. Fences doesn't mess around: right off the bat, it paints a colorful picture of a somewhat-troubled individual who is trapped figurative prison; constantly being watched, monitored and observed. ("I'm sitting in a room/made up of only big white walls/and in the halls/there's people looking through the window in the door/they know exactly what we're here for/Don't look up just let them think there's no place else you'd rather be/You're always on display/ for everyone to watch and learn from/Don't you know by now/ you can't turn back/ 'cause this road is all you'll ever have") Of all 330 songs on my iPod, with many more that I've heard, this track has probably affected me the most, emotionally and psychologically.
Finally, the last standout track on this album was a bonus track by the name of Misery Business (acoustic version) Not to be confused with its more popular counterpart, the regular Misery Business, the acoustic version is included under the "album only" category on iTunes. In my opinion, it is 100% worth it, if not only for this version of the track! While I found the 'normal' Misery Business to sound way too cluttered, busy and chaotic for my taste, its sibling marries Hayley's sheer vocal (and sometimes even a cappella!) power with instrumental acoustics, resulting in a track that is undervalued, and, in my opinion, better than the original.
Despite the repetitive parallels I found between the other tracks (Miracle and Hallelujah as well as CrushCrushCrush, That's What You Get, and For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic), Let the Flames Begin (a track that seemed somewhat out of place on the album) and the busyness that was the original Misery Business; Riot! is saved by several tracks that were not only decent, but throughly enjoyable and emotional. Just as the second book in a series is thought to be the hardest to write, the second album in a band's career seems to be tough to record, and, overall, Paramore did well on this album.

7/10 stars

*Don't like it? Count your blessings; I could be attempting (and failing) to sing.

Team Edward? Team Jacob? Try Team Google.

2011-05-13T18:16:00.002-04:00

Three months ago I wouldn't even have noticed, let alone cared. I would have simply brushed away the article on the basis that this PR-nightmare was just another instance of two major internet corporations each using the efficacious power of advertising to fabricate well-written lies about the other.

But that would have been the case if this scandal had happened in February. Not now, 12 weeks later, in May, 2011.

Last week, the public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller began to circulate emails claiming that Google had been using a less-than-popular feature of its Gmail service, Social Circles, to "scrape and mine social sites from throughout the web....and 'share' that information" without prior consent from its users.
Because of the commonality of Internet privacy leaks, it was impossible to for the public to realize that this scandal was not at all truthful. It was only a disgraceful attempt by Facebook at tarnishing Google's reputation, another battle in the ongoing cyber-feud between the two most popular websites in the world: Google and Facebook.

Now normally, I wouldn't be so interested in the ethics governing PR matters, ethics that were blatantly violated by both Facebook and Burson. But this matter has, so-to-speak "touched my heart"(or as much as one's heart can be touched by a crisis such as this), because of an instance that has affected me personally.

Earlier this spring, my history class was asked to create a Google Earth tour that showcased a hypothetical route of a major military force in any one of the Punic Wars. We then had to present it to not only the class, but also to various teachers and administrators, as well as a representative from Google Earth.
The representative wanted to use some of our projects as a sample to show the Google Earth branch of Google itself, and, to make a long story short, she picked mine. I was extremely impressed by the fact that she appreciated right-brained creative minds such as mine; as well as how much the company seemed to value creativity in general. This instance alone has made me side with Google, especially over a company who seems to have a complete disregard for personal privacy.

So while the rest of the adolescent world is declaring their love for either Team Edward or Team Jacob when camping outside of movie theaters in the freezing cold en masse for the global premiere of Breaking Dawn Part I this November; it's more than likely that I'll be sitting in my room; reading, writing or doing something constructive (shocking, I know), all while supporting Team Google, because from Google Earth to Chrome to the famous search engine itself, Google has only revolutionized how we see not only technology, but also the whole world today.

Lessons Learned from the Eighth Official Day of May

2011-05-08T18:48:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I am the type of person who overanalyzes her life constantly; only a couple of thoughts stuck with me today:

1.)A possible reason why the Christian church typically has trouble attracting "young people" is because they're skeptical about Christianity's values and beliefs.

2.)This essay is going to be the f****** DEATH of me!

3.)Is he seriously going to play his cello in the middle of (arguably) the most well-known public area in this town??

4.)Does Starbucks's free Wifi extend past the perimeters of the establishment?

and last but not least

5.)Gardening is not at all a logical pastime.

Numbers 2 and 4 pertained to the giant essay on Facebook's effect on democracy that is due in approximately 21 hours when my mom's boss leaves work tomorrow afternoon. He's retiring at the end of June, and he, (who has known me since kindergarten), has asked me to reflect upon my thoughts on the subject of the social networking giant in relation to American politics.
Of course, I HAD to turn it into a full-fledged essay complete with citations and bibliography, and now it's 6pm EST, I have other homework *coughartfinalcough*, and, despite having already written 4 paragraphs, am nowhere near done. I was writing at Starbucks, and had never done MLA-style citations before.

Numbers 1 and 3 had more to do with the American holiday that is always celebrated on the second Sunday of May, more commonly known simply as Mother's Day. My mom woke me up at 8am this morning, and I half willingly accompanied/ was half dragged to the early service at church.
The sermon made even less sense than usual, although I now know that I have a slight dislike for smooth jazz, mainly because the music drags on and on with no particular, reasonable, or logical ending.
After church (and Starbucks), I was asked to provide photographic evidence that my father had indeed lived up to his word, and (as a Christmas/Mother's Day present), played his cello on the dock of a certain lake that is often associated with the founding of my town. It didn't help that there was some type of Tsi Chi (whatever that is) festival going on, and the place was not only overcrowded, but also very noisy.
Have you ever tried playing a particular piece of cello music glorifying a graceful yet overpopular bird to the background noise of some Asian pop hit? Me neither. But I did have to videotape the performance! That counts for something, doesn't it?

Finally, I had the epiphany that was number five when waiting for a ride to Starbucks. My mom and I get home from church, I grab my stuff, and begin looking around the house for my mother/chauffeur/partner in coffee drinking.
Said search results in a lack of tangible results, so I begin looking outside. And there she is, in her garden, picking dandelions to feed my guinea pig, Penelope Rose. Please keep in mind, however, that at the time, I didn't know what she was doing, so my brain immediately concluded that gardening is not at all logical.

And why is it? Why should it be? Gardening and anything involving the creation of textiles with a needle are basically the only two creative outlets that I do not enjoy.
But at least sewing/crocheting/the horror story that entailed the elements of a knitting lesson gone terribly wrong/an oversized animal from the Build-a-Bear company/chocolate pudding with strawberries and extra Coolwhip/a TV Land special of Homeward Bound, can result in an actual product (if done correctly), while I can only conclude the following from gardening:

"You go out every single day from March-October, practically break your back/develop arthritis from all of the heavy lifting, get bugbitten and sunburned (I doubt it's possible for even a single member of my family to spend even 2 hours in the sun before developing a major burn, not even a tan), and battle the East Coast menace that is poison ivy; JUST so you can enjoy flowers/veggies for about 2 weeks, but then it gets cold and the whole garden dies, so you have to start all over the next year."

At least that's my take on it, anyway.

And now back to the stupid essay...the things I do for my mom's boss.......

Why I Wish I was Slightly Dyslexic

2011-05-04T12:31:00.001-04:00

I'm not gonna lie, it's the middle of the school day right now, and you're probably thinking one of two things:

EITHER- What teacher lets you on the Internet during class?

OR- How are you able to blog from your phone?

The truth is, neither is true, although the first is the more accurate of the two. I'm on a computer, but no one knows what I'm doing (who said overachievers can't be rebels??), including the teacher. I'm (somewhat) able to justify this entry, however, because we're done with all of our work (we ALWAYS finish early), and the rest of the class is doing NOTHING in particular.

Well anyway, I'm normally pretty good at math (especially geometry), but today we started flip rotations. I could write an entire entry about my struggles with this unit; but just four words sum it up: I SUCK at them.
Although I (still) don't understand why, it turns out that dyslexics tend to do better at this type of math which explains ALOT.

The bell's about to ring, but all I'm gonna say that if I fail this class, then that's why.

So THIS is What Blogging is Like.....

2011-05-03T17:28:00.002-04:00

I'm a first-time blogger, so I'm not quite sure how I should start my first post, (or any post for that matter!), but I'm just going assume that I'm doing OK so far, especially if you haven't lost interest by now.

Anyway, I'm a high school student living in a small town in Northern Virginia who loves all forms of media (ESPECIALLY books and music), the International Baccalaureate program (although I'm an underclassman, therefore I'm in pre-IB), coffee, positive change in the world, technology, being an overachiever, and creativity of all sorts. I write, play piano, cook and do art like there's no tomorrow. I go by Aalliiee (pronounced Ally); so if you think you've heard of me, with a name spelled the way mine is, you probably have. I HATE my real name, so if you know it, then that's great, but I'm not planning to tell the whole world, and using it isn't gonna get you anywhere with me.

My giant paper mache panda!!

I am HIGHLY opinionated (hence the blog title), and will gladly talk your ear off stating or defending my opinions on a wide range of subjects. I try not to rant, but do my best "arguments" in writing, so, although I'm planning for this to mainly be about life, an occasional post that sounds like it would be better off with a debate team will probably find its way onto here. I'm not trying to force opinions for any subject onto anyone whatsoever; but I'm not afraid to speak out and stand up for what is right; I got nerve. And yes, many people have told me to join the debate team (Or forensics. Or both.), but I'm just too busy, and the sad truth is, the deeper into IB I get, the worse the work level is gonna be.