2 Months: 1st Quarter Down!

Yikes! I think that each monthly update on school will begin with my mental freakout of the fact that my time as a Senior is slowly slipping by. It is crazy to realize that it is already Fall Break, thus meaning that the First Nine Weeks of my Senior year is gone. Only three more nine-week periods, and that's it! Everything is going just as fast as everyone told me that it would. At times it worries me that everything will pass me by in the rush of life, but I find comfort in the fact that I am doing my best to live it up, and have as much fun as possible with all of my amazing friends while I still have the opportunity to do so at my/their convenience. Here's the rundown of my classes!

American National Government:
The class is going well for me, and next Friday will be our 2nd test. (I did quite well on the first one, btw) At the moment, we are discussing the Civil Rights Movement. In about a month I will have to turn in my one and only (thank goodness!) paper. I haven't quite started on it, but I'll get around to that one of these days. I have to write a four to six page, double-spaced argumentative paper on the issue of teen drinking. I'm sure that it will be interesting.

American History to 1865:
I do believe that I have somewhat adjusted to my teacher. I suppose that she isn't as bad as I had originally put her out to be. I have found a better way to take notes for her class, which has helped tremendously. I just had my second test, on which, hopefully, I did well. I turned in my paper over the Battle of Gettysburg, and I am patiently awaiting my results on that, too. My fingers are crossed!

Band:
Spoiler Alert!!! There will be a future post dedicated solely to the events of this past week regarding Band! I am finally done, I repeat, DONE, with field marching for the rest of my life! I can't yet say how we did at contest, as I will do so in the aforementioned post to come. (Really though, I think everyone has a general idea, just saying) I am thrilled to start Concert Band next Tuesday! Also, my All-State tryouts are closer than I could imagine...9 days away. Yikes! I feel prepared, but I am getting nervous. It is literally coming down to the wire. Regardless of the outcome, I promise to dedicate a post to that as well. Also, if the thought comes to anyone reading this, I would love it if you could send a few prayers my way on the morning of Saturday, October 30th. I'll need all the help I can get!!! :)

Botany:
Our collections are up to 58 different plants. Our collecting has slowed down a bit, I'm not entirely sure why, though. I would think that we would be all over that, since many/most species will be withering away in the coming weeks, but I suppose that that isn't my decision.

English IV:
Nothing new really, we did finish a unit on subject-verb agreement not too long ago. Since then, I have become increasingly aware of my sentence structures as I write. Soon I will have to decide on a new 9-Weeks novel. I'm not sure what I will choose, but, hopefully it will be much easier to follow than my previous book.

Library Aide:
Much of what I do in this hour pertains to me being on the yearbook staff. Have I mentioned that I have become the school paparazzi? Yes, that is me. Mrs. Fuxa sends me out on missions of acquiring lovely candid shots of everyday Pi-Hi. It is interesting what people do when a camera is pointed towards them. The Jr. High kids all ham it up and pose with their best buddies and make cheesy gestures. I'd say that the overwhelming majority of HS girls freak out when they so much as see the camera, usually saying, "Oh my gosh, you are NOT taking a picture of me!!!!!!!! I look horrible today!!!!" The guys are almost as bad as the JH kids, because they pose with their buddies, but instead of a cheesy gesture, they strike a tough-guy pose, or sometimes, they (try) to make mildly obscene gestures. True story.. Nonetheless, I have managed to capture some priceless pictures of my compadres.

Very soon, I will begin offseason practice. I will be entering a world of pain, tight muscles, and Icy-Hot.  I am trying to mentally prepare myself for this, but it's always much worse than I can force myself to remember. Each year, I am convinced that this is what it will be like as I age, which makes me dread that process even more, although I believe that the achy joints and pain beats the alternative by a long shot.

Other Highlights:
We recently celebrated Spirit Week, during which I had a load of fun! We had decent days this year: Monday was Redneck Day, which was highly misinterpreted as Western/Hillbilly/Redneck Day. Nonetheless it was good for some laughs. Tuesday was Favorite Team Day, which the Senior Class didn't participate in due to the fact that we were off collecting Carnival prizes. Wednesday was Stoplight Day. The code to the day: Green=Single, Yellow=In between/Talking to someone/It's Complicated, Red=In a Relationship. There were a few people who took it literally, and dressed in the whole Stoplight motif (those were my favorites, FYI). As for me, I totally rocked the Green Light look! Thursday was Halloween Day, another good one. Shea, Tonisha, and I had a cool group theme. Somehow, Shea managed to get ahold of two authentic Garfield County Inmate tops. So, Shea and Tonisha were inmates, and I dressed as a prison warden. Many people said I could've passed for the whole "Walker, Texas Ranger" look, but it was fun, no less. Friday was, of course, Spirit Day! Once again, Shea, Tonisha, and I made group t-shirts that spelled out PHS/Go, Fight, Win. I thought that they were pretty nifty, if I must say so myself.

Also, my class has another achievement to add to our list: We are the only class that has never, EVER, won Carnival. Not once. We usually came close in grade school, but in years past, everyone just had bad morale, and usually our candidates weren't that motivated, either.

Before I know it, it will be three months, and everyone will be in preparation for Thanksgiving!