Foggy Day in AP English

I sit in my usual dark corner of the English room, and now I can barely see. I thought the fog was bad. But this. This I can barely see through. I look down and see the multiple choice test I took yesterday. I know this will be the worst day in the history of AP English. As, I look around the room, one boy in particular stands out in the fog more than anyone else. I don’t know his real name, I just call him Journal Boy. To myself, of course, as I don’t speak to anyone in the class. “the only thing they’d miss if I didn’t show up would be the [pencil] and the [paper] floating around.” Journal Boy looks at his team and the rest of the room and exclaims, “I am both a blessing and a curse.” His group will win. I know it. I, on the other hand, do not have a group—a severe consequence of my not talking. As he spins his pen around on his hand and clicks it, “this sound mixes with the whirr and clang of the rest of the machines.” They all cheer and brag throughout the fog. With each click of Journal Boy’s pencil, “the hand on the end of that arm pumping bigger and bigger as he clenched and unclenched it.” We neared the end of the game, and the tallies on the board just floated along with the rest of the faces, A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s of multiple choice. The only thing that has any detail is Journal Boy’s face—until a look of extreme anguish comes over his face, he suddenly disappears back into the fog. I look onto the board and see, “Winner: Group Bromden.”

The Year of Junior: Junior's Experience in Junior Year AP English

Q: So, Junior, as a person who has successfully completed AP English 11, how do you feel about your accomplishments?
A: Well, having completed another life before this one, I feel like I finally am on the right track. Before this life, I never tried. I thought, “What does it matter?” constantly and “blue was the predominant shade of [my] life,” to invoke what I now know is colorful diction, if I do say so myself (121). It is a completely different life than before, but even if I didn’t relive this part, it would still feel so different because of how much I have changed from this class.
Q: You say you have changed. What would you say is the largest thing you have changed about yourself due to this class?
A: The obvious answer would be to say that I have become smarter, that I know how to use my brain to its fullest potential. But that isn’t the biggest change. At times in this calls, my “grief was full and violent” due to the amount of work that was involved, and I found that, from this work, I learned myself better (299). I grew to become who I am.
Q: So do you plan on taking AP English 12?
A: Without a doubt. It is a difficult class, but I will choose “to suffer every same calamity and anguish a second time” because I know it will make me a better person in the end (292).
Q: Thank you, Junior. Enjoy your End.
A: Thank you. You as well.

Children of Alcoholics

I've really enjoyed this ecclectic and different book that we've been reading for class.  Although, it seems that, as Dominic mentioned in our face-off today, every character's father is an alcoholic.  A friend of mine, Jake*, has an alcoholic parent and I analyzed his actions, deficiencies and strenths, comparing them to that of the characters in Everything Matters!  I found that although he has a very realistic approach to things, he is very critical and expects a lot out of people.  At first, I believed that this easily compared him to Junior, but Junior's all-knowing force seems to help him with a sense of self confidence, which Jake paradoxically does not have.  Also, Jake does not easily forgive people for their faults, which parallels him to John Sr., who condemns many of the men with whom he works.  However, I find that Jake seems to have unrealistically high standards, while John Sr. only asks people to do what he believes they should.  In parallel to Debbie, Jake rarely mentions his father, and obviously, yet forgivably, avoids any detail regarding him.  Debbie also avoids her problems, and mentions to as little people as possible about her past.

I always take into account my favorite Serensky quote: "there is a big difference between people who read books and people who don't."  I whole-heartedly agree with her, and would like to reccomend this book to Jake.  He may or may not be mature enough to handle it, which holds me back a little from telling him to read it.  Yet, I know he can learn a lot about himself from doing so.

*Name has been changed

Unnecessary Nerves

As it so happens, I have nerves today.  In fact, I believe everyone does.  Not only had I been nervous for my biology test, I was nervous that my nerves for something else would cause me to do badly.  My nerves for running the mile time trial today threatened to take over.  Even more so, they threatened my biology grade.  As I continued to think over these nerves (because that'll make them go away...), I realized that they were completely self-fabricated.  I knew I was only nervous for biology because of my time trial.  I knew I was only nervous for my time trial because I made myself nervous.  I mean, this is a pre-pre-season run! Who cares about it other than me? No one.  I keep telling myself this, but I continue to have nerves.  Right as these butterflies in my stomach were really starting to get to me, I found that they were more necessary than I realized.  These nerves help me push myself to do my best and if I didn't do that, no one else would take up the job for me.  My biology test and the test in my mile will only go as well depending on how hard I push myself to do them.  Maybe nerves, seemingly obnoxious and unnecessary at first will help me after all.

Me and Myself  :

The List of Lists

Today I decided to try out this new-fangled list idea that everyone has been talking about...then found I had nothing to make a list.  Therefore, I found that making a list of the 8 best lists in the class might encourage others to follow this magnificent trend:

8. The Silence of Society-Cat Cashy
This revealing post shows how little our society communicates with one another face-to-face.  This shockingly disturbing exposition shows how much we can accomplish in silence, which may not always be a good thing.

7. Qualities of a Good Leader-Lizzy Burl
Burl applies the known qualities of a good leader to McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Although he was "crazy" enough to have a lobotomy, he knew how to lead his people.

6. Some Days You're the Bird, Some Days You're the Statue-Meghan Shroyer
Meghan lists the highs and lows of AP English class.  Her humor shines through, as I find all these things easy to relate to...and disturbingly accurate.

5. "Insanity" in everyday life-Emily Helwig
In this post are quotes from people in Emily's life who have used the word "insane."  It depicts how it is quite overused, but paradoxically versatile.  It truly makes us question the true meaning of insanity.

4. The Awkward-Sarah Greenlaw
Greenlaw asseerts the overuse of the word "awkward" in our teen culture, which I had also notice before reading her blog.  But sometimes you "gotta just bite the bullet" and admit that things can be awkward sometimes.  Her list of incredibly awkward situations made me laugh out loud...making another awkward moment for me and the others in my computer room.

3. Simultaneous Disappointment-Mariel McGuiness
Some of you may have heard of this post from the Blog Banter, but even though I was cracking up in class, it did not give this blog enough justice; Mariel's humorous and somewhat depressing situations are comparable to The Office.

2. The Wonders of Winter-John Shoemaker
John makes me feel less guilty about the Winter Blues.  I knew right off the bat that this had to be high on my list of lists because his halarious list starts off with a bang: Winter is darker than Chase's beard.  I'll leave that as a cliff-hanger for you all to go check out this wondrous list.

1. A Slient Language-Carly Cott
Carly's list of interpretations of body language is not only insightful, but also interesting and keen.  I liked learning about this because I feel that many people misinterperet body language for something it is not.  I encourage you all to go see Carly's list along with the rest of these fabulous interpretations of a blog assignment!

Comparative Analysis

Data Sheets : Paper :: AP (Biology : Chemistry)

Vacation

Every year, a new vacation pops into the heads of my family, and each of us has our own conviction of it.  My dad, worried about money, becomes overjoyed and passionate about good deals (as example, "I just found a hotel for thirty bucks a night!"--Thanks Daddy, all I ever wanted in a vacation was a smelly carpet and bullets being shot two doors away).  My mom begins trying on every outfit in her closet the day we begin to plan the vacation, and buys new clothes as well--most likely to make up for my dad's bartering with the hotel companies.  I begin a stream of opinions, non-stop, and very likely will not stop until weeks after the vacation is over, criticizing it in every single way, planning how to make it better the next time.  But the most strange reaction of all is my brother's; he feels no need for input and remains quiet.  Pathetically, he becomes the biggest target for vacation woes and a victim of all our bickering.

As a child, I can never remember a year where my brother had a happy, carefree vacation.  At age five, in Rehoboth Beach, he got sand in his eye and needed drops for the next two weeks.  Two years later, he got a terrible burn in Florida--the next year my mother learned to put sunscreen on him, only to find that sunscreen had infected his other eye.  Two years later, carefree, little ten-year-old Jonathan Halper planned to spend a week with Mickey, Goofy and the gang, but sprained his neck on the first day on Space Mountain--he was bed-ridden all week.  The worst of all was his thirteen-year-old adventure in Rehoboth Beach.  We had shrimp for dinner and, trying to kick him out of his "picky eater phase" (which still exists, by the way) demanded that he try some.  With the smallest bite, he slapped his hand over his mouth.  I critically said, "Jonathan, it really can't be that bad.  Calm down."  Later that night, he had to be rushed to the hospital, barely able to breathe, and was diagnosed with a death-threatening allergy to shell-fish.  Don't be let down by the fact I left out two stories of 105 degree fevers,one story of an ear infection and countless sunburns.  It is safe to say that my brother never has had high expectations for a vacation, and I guess, therefore, has never been disappointed by one.