Dear Future Freshman Part II

   Okay, so this may be a day late, and I admit that, but really, I would consider it lucky that it got done at all. I still don't understand how a guy like me, who can't seem to even decide what to eat for breakfast, is supposed to give advice to another person, but I guess that I have to give it a shot.

   So, in this part I'm going to talk about, well, stuff. Mostly the whole academics part, since that is something that I can talk about that you probably want to know about. You might be expecting high school to be some sort of cold prison with tough teachers that give you a hard time and throw pop quizzes at you twice a week. I can guarantee you that it is not, since that was basically what I imagined when I came. As long as you try, you will do fine, I guarantee it. Also, the teachers are great and always try to help as much as they can to make you do your best. By the way, the school isn't actually that big and scary, it's only three wings and four floors. At some point you'll realize that it's actually pretty small, unless, like me, you have Mr. Princic's class at fifth period, which is the absolute farthest away from the cafeteria that you can get.

   Okay, so maybe I wasn't wicked on topic, but I'll try to do better for the next one. Always room for improvement.

Dear Future Freshman

So, I guess that this is supposed to be my guide for surviving high school. Sadly, I was never any good at this so, lucky you, having to read it. I'm writing this at 11:00 by the way, which brings me to my first point. 

   DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, PROCRASTINATE, EVER. It has always been my weakness, and in high school, it will be your downfall. One teacher will give you some insane project, that will scare you, but you'll feel like you can take your time, because it isn't due for a few weeks. Then, you get slapped across the face when two other teachers assign projects that are due the exact same day as the other one. Your work load triples and you start tearing your hair out and possibly even sobbing. If you go down this road, you will be up until at least one in the morning several nights a week. For instance, I had an English assignment that I fell behind on slightly. I figured that I'd be okay, as I had done most of it, but then my history teacher assigned an assignment that turned out to be 53 paragraphs due two weeks later. In total, not including the English, it turned into 53 paragraphs,  24 pages, 21 political cartoons, 14 days, 14 citations from 8 sources, 12 debate prompts, 3 essays, 3 days up past midnight, and 1 complete nervous break down to top it all off. Then I had to finish the English, which was NOT fun.

    That brings me to my second point. You need to PARTICIPATE IN CLASS. We only got that project because there were only like 3 people (including me) who actually opened their mouths and said something in his class. So do me a favor, and don't let that happen to you, trust me, it was not a very enjoyable experience.

   Lastly, get involved in some after school activities. Believe me, I was never into that. I was the kind of person who came to school, did what I had to, and went home. When I got to the high school though, I decided to get involved. Now I'm a member of the drumline (which is not just drums, trust me I'm a guitarist), and am kind of a part of the council of social concern. I'm loving it, and I'm just really glad I found something that I could do and enjoy, as opposed to middle school, where all I could see was sports teams. They have a lot of those, if you're into that, but they have have lots of other stuff though. Literally, if you're into it, they have it, so you should do it.

   That's all the help that I can give, so good luck.

My Super Awesome But Way Too Long Week

   Another week done. This one seemed to drag on forever and ever. I'm just glad I made it through it and also that I have all ten of my fingers.

   So Wednesday, we performed at band night and since I'm the only person there who wasn't in band, it was kind of awkward. I played once and spent a lot of the rest of the time either playing scales in the band room or listening to the rest of my friends play. 

   Sadly, one if the kids in the drumline with me had an accident in wood shop and ended up slicing up his fingers pretty badly. He's okay now thankfully but it stinks that he didn't get to play that night. Instead, I ended up playing his drum to make the thunder noise which was actually pretty fun but scared me a lot since you have to hit it really hard and I thought that I'd break it.

    Finally, this week my boss offered me some hours for next weekend which I'm like ecstatic about since up to now it hasn't exactly been a paying job, but then again I guess you really can't pay a guy to clean the toilets and do all the other odd jobs around the place. Still, I get paid and I can't wait because it's going to be awesome.

Another Week

   Another week, another blog. Who knows? Maybe I'll write a decent post at some point. My week has been absolutely crazy and I don't even know how I dealt with it. Let's just say that certain people can be extremely stubborn and their actions end up messing up the lives of those around them. It hasn't been very fun at all, and that's all that I have to say about that.

   In addition, I'm not feeling overly optimistic about the upcoming show, as the Pit hasn't been as well off without Amy, who is still MIA. Speaking of which, Amy, if you're out there, we kind of need you.

   In other news, Joel and I are going to have the greatest children's book that has ever been written, and it will be absolutely fabulous-ish.

   So, besides all of the sh*t that I really don't feel like talking about here, this is my life at the moment. I want a new vacation already, which isn't even okay, and I'm just hoping to make it to summer.

VACATION

   It has been a wicked long week and I am so glad that vacation is finally here. I decided that I'm going to sleep until at least 3 tomorrow and then spen the rest of the day shredding on my guitar to celebrate. After that, I'll probably spend the rest of the week being the weirdo that I am and trying not to make my dad send me off somewhere to, "be tested," and, "learn to be a normal human being."

I'm not looking forward to that at all. 

   I'm really hoping that I don't have drumline over the weekend because it's just been murder for the pit since Amy mysteriously vanished like a month or so ago. I'm really starting to wonder what happened to her, since nobody mentions her absence. If we do go, at least Nora and Phil will be there so it won't be completely terrible. Plus, maybe I'll get lucky and something will happen to Tim so that he can't come back and make our lives like a living hell. 

   That's all that I've got this week, if anybody actually decided to read through this whole thing.

The Faster and The Furious...er

   So apparently today is national sibling day, so my brother asked me if I wanted to go and see Furious 7 with him. We went and I regret absolutely nothing. With all of my movie critiquing geniousness, I give the movie a 10/10 and a 100,000,000/10 for complete badassness. I'm pretty sure that almost none of that was English but I really don't care right now. IT WAS EPIC. Besides the usual guys, Jason Statham was in it too, which kind of made it hard to root for either side, since he's my favorite actor, yet the rest of the team are so cool as well. In the end, I really just wanted Statham to kick the Rock's a**, but sadly that didn't happen, yet. He totally would have though, any day of the week and if you don't believe me just watch this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RX93O5p9pI0. At the end of the movie, Hobbs (The Rock) locks Statham away in an underground cell. Statham tells him that he will just get out anyway, and Hobbs looks at him and then replies with something along the lines of, "Okay. When you dig through 38 feet of cement and steel, I'll be waiting for you, with my fist and a bodybag." I'm just gonna say, no cell can hold Jason Statham. He would have clawed his way out and then killed Hobbs as easily as if he was a fly. Other than that part great movie, GREAT CARS, and tons of action. Everybody has to watch it, like right now.

The Book Thief Review

   So I'm not going to get the chance to watch the movie, so my review is going to be of the book. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I think that it is one of the better books that I have read that is set during the time period. I like how Markus Zusak managed to create his own world, showing the Germans as actual people, at a time when most just see them as evil Nazis, murdering Jews left and right. Yes, that is shown, but shown with it are the few exceptions, those that chose not to follow, but to see the world in a different light, and that's what I really like about it.
   In my opinion, the author could have shown more of how the war was progressing throughout the book, instead of showing the small glimpses of it it as it turned around. We only really start hearing about the war when it takes the bad turn for Germany and the allies start coming back. I think that if it had made other connections to the war earlier in the story, that I would have connected even better with it, seeing the highs and lows in the Book Thief's life in response to the war itself.
   All in all however, this book is great. The characters are awesome, their personalities are so interesting, and the plot is fabulous. The only thing is, I don't think I want to see the movie because then I can't picture Rudy running against Deutschner like this anymore http://youtu.be/jdZ6RA_c6oE.

Better Late Than Never

    So...... I kind of forgot to post this on Friday because I'm stupid and forgetful, and I just remembered it so here it goes. By he way Mrs. Gillis is free to create her own rant blog to talk about me. Just putting it out there.
      This week it's really hard to think of something good to rant about without doing the obvious stuff, like war and hunger. My life's been pretty good, and people haven't been as crazy, which is great. On second thought, Mr. Toomey's project was pretty stupid and time consuming. In a short statement it consisted of  24 pages, 21 political cartoons, 14 days, 14 citations from 8 sources, 12 debate prompts, 3 essays, 3 days up past midnight, and 1 complete nervous break down to top it all off. It was a pretty fun week. That project may have destroyed all the love I have for history, and it is one of my favorite subjects. It was brutal. On top of that I had other homework, two jobs, drumline practices and a competition, two clubs, and still trying to find time to actually live. The last bit didn't actually happen until the day after I passed in the behemoth project, and I'm still trying to catch up.
   On the bright side I'm going to New York City this week and it should be a lot of fun. I can't believe that I'm actually going, it's a place I've wanted to visit my entire life and I hope that it's as awesome as I've imagined.

New Rules At Market Basket

So I just got back from the dance so don't judge me if this makes absolutely no sense. I still can't hear myself think and can't really concentrate on this right now. Last Sunday, when i went in to work, my manager told me that we have a new policy. Every time that we bring carriages into the store, we are forced to offer to help someone out to their car with their cart. I know what you are thinking. So what? Help some elderly people out with their stuff, its the nice thing to do. Well, the not so practical part is that we HAVE to ask every time, so if everybody at the checkout are big guys that obviously do not need help, I have to help them anyway. Believe me, when I tried not to because they were all big guys that didn't need help, my manager made me go up to one and ask. If some random guy in a shirt and tie asked to help you outside, would you say yes? Over four hours of asking, zero people accepted the offer. Not very surprising to me, but you can think what you can think. That's all that I have for now but I'll find something else for next week I'm sure.

A Few Suggestions To The World

   As of this week, I have a few recommendations for how things should be done. Firstly, I think that all cars should be equipped with back-up cameras or have lower trunks so that when people back up, they can actually tell if there are a line of Market Basket carts passing behind them and so that they do not run into and/or run over said carts. It really got to me last Sunday. I got hit by several cars that were backing up and my carriages almost got tipped over and pushed under a car. However, neither of those options would do any good, since most of the people that ran into my carts didn't even look before backing up. They just pulled out at 60 miles an hour. In addition, I save a special place in my heart for those very special people who choose to start their cars and back out automatically, almost killing people. It is usually possible to look at the lights on the backs of the cars that I pass to see if they are running or if i can pass them. These few however, make that impossible and because of that, on separate occasions, both my carts and I were hit and pushed out of the way. I love those people soooo much(sarcasm, if that wasn't understood already). Finally, I have one more problem with people. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR COFFEE IN YOUR CART, THEN I HATE YOU VERY MUCH. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR COFFEE IN YOUR CART WHEN YOU PUSH IT AT ME AND WALK AWAY, YOU ARE DEAD TO ME. Sorry, I had to get that out.

Courage

Courage

It keeps you up, 

when the world knocks you down.

It takes many forms,

And can be used by anyone

That has the will to do so.

Courage is the unstoppable force

That crashes against the immovable object.

Its enemy is cowardice,

Its stimulant, despair.

It is a tool of strength,

And cannot be won or bought,

Only earned.

One way or another.

It is in the eyes

Of every man, woman, and child.

Only it is buried deeper inside some than others

It is awakened when hope is lost, 

Love is in danger,

And lines are crossed.

It allows even the weakest of people,

To face even the greatest of Titans.

With honor,

With duty,

With Courage.

The Invasion of Market Basket

    When people say snow, people get scared. When others say blizzard, they become afraid. When people become afraid, they decide to stock their houses with food. When people decide to stock their houses with food, they all rush to Market Basket at 12:00. When people rush to Market Basket en mass, there aren't enough carts in the store, and when there aren't enough carts in the store, people get angry at the guys responsible for the carts (me).
    This past Sunday at Market Basket, in the week leading up to THE BLIZZARD OF 2015, people were losing their minds and almost fighting hand and foot for any type of food that they could get their hands on. The only way I can think of describing it is Market Basket's version of D-Day. Apparently when you say on TV that we are going to get like 30 inches of snow, everyone becomes extremely worried. It got so bad that they had me and every other employee that they could spare scouring the parking lots for any carts that we could find. At one point, I was bringing in at least 12 or 13 carts at a time, and I didn't even make it through the front door. A huge mob of people actually came out of the store and met me in the middle of the street, blocking traffic for like three minute, and took all of my carts. After a few more attempts with bunches of carts, I actually made it into the store with one cart left over. Inside were three people. One man's face was pleading with me to give it to him, another was a woman with murder in her eyes, and the last was some guy trying to reach over my shoulder and snatch it away. I looked at all of them, threw my hands in the air, said,"Switzerland," and walked away as fast as I could. I'm not quite sure who got it, but afterwards the first man asked me if I could go and grab one for him as well, so I ran out into the parking lot and tried for five minutes to find a single cart. I eventually got it to him and he was extremely happy.
    While I was out there, a friend and I started talking about how we could make a fortune by opening a business of pre-ordering carts to people for five dollars each. We would have made a ton of money just from that day alone, and even though I doubt I'd be a part of it, I think that that should be something that grocery stores do, since it just makes sense.
I hope that next Sunday is better, but with more snow on the way, I'm not counting on it.

The Ace of Hearts

I Am the Messenger: Ace of Hearts

      I think that this is my favorite Ace out of all of them. It would be fun delivering messages to complete strangers, but when you have to deliver them to your friends? That’s when it gets interesting. I was so happy during this Ace because we actually finally find out what is up with Marv. Throughout the entire book, he is just portrayed as a low-life and a jerk, but during this part, we catch a glimpse into who he is and what he stands for. For years, he has been putting all of his money into an account to give to his kid that he had with his old girlfriend Suzanne Boyd. Her father took her away from him, and instead of giving up, he decides to help them, even if he does so and never sees the child. He isn’t stingy for the sake of being stingy, it isn’t even being saved for his use, he’s passing it on. Another interesting message to me, was Ritchie’s. Throughout the entire book, he is displayed as a kind of uncaring, go with any flow that he can find kind of guy. The kind of guy that just drifts through life, never achieving anything or even attempting to do anything for himself. I like his message a lot because it seems like everybody knows a guy like him at some point in their lives and it was nice to see that Ritchie managed to work his way out of that way of living. Lastly, one of my favorite messages was the one delivered to Audrie. Throughout the ENTIRE book, I’ve been waiting for that message to happen. It makes me feel so happy for Ed, knowing that he had been waiting for the moment forever. It must have been wonderful and dreadful for him at the same time. Wonderful because he gets to be there with her and love her, but also dreadful because he loves her so much and wants to go farther than the dance. Yet, he restrains himself, and manages to deliver the message in a beautiful way. These messages seem to be the most beautiful, since they all end up returning to Ed. They are the most special, and transform the group completely for good.   

The Ace of Diamonds

Response to I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, Part One: The First Message

    This is seriously one of my favorite books of all time right now. I love it a lot. In my mind, this is the best Ace, the Ace of Diamonds. My favorite message is the girl who runs barefoot, because that was one of the happier ones that he delivers and because of that it was way more enjoyable. I love the way that he gives her an empty shoe box and her father looks at Ed like he's a crazy lunatic.
     Another great message was the one for Milla. It's impossible not to love her. She's so nice and loving that it makes everyone feel bad about her alzheimer's. It is so sad, as she is just about the least deserving person for something like that to happen to. I really wish that she was like my grandmother or something. It seems as if her entire life is like a sick joke. She marries a good guy who dies in the war, loses her mind, and then simply starts accepting this random stranger as her husband, loving and caring for him as if he was her husband.
     I didn't love the other message very much. It was a worse one with a terrible man in it who should go and die somewhere, alone and unloved. This entire message is filled with Ed going back and forth on his plan of action. He tries to go into the house, but cannot due to his paralyzing fear that takes control of his body, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. He leaves, and then finds a gun in his mail box. I love his reaction, because it seems so close to how any regular person's reaction would be if it happened to them. I'd end up doing the same thing, except I'd end up blasting AC/DC all night long while losing my mind. Other than Ed receiving the pistol in his mail box, my favorite part of this message is how Ed decides to deal with the guy. I mean, he manages to drug him, drive him out to the middle of nowhere, force him, at gunpoint, to climb to the top of the cathedral, and then manage to actually pull the trigger took a lot of self control that I wouldn't be able to possess. I'm so happy however, that he chooses not to shoot him and instead give him a second chance. It's that human part in all of us that shines through in this message and shows us that no matter what, we are all human.