9 20 2012
I've been pretty sick for the past few days, and I still sort of am, but I've got that DayQuil in me and I'm running. Anyway, I wanted to talk about school now, hide it away in my "catherine's crap" tag, and read it when I can't remember anyone's name anymore. 00/01 - American Studies I'm so glad I'm taking this class. Seriously, especially for being worth an AP English and AP US History credit, it's the most innovative, thought-provoking class I've ever taken. The teachers are so unlike any that I've had before. They're incredibly candid and demeaning in a way that doesn't make you hate them. Sands is a real potato sack standard hipster type. His kid's name is Holden. As in Holden Caulfield. I think he finds it amusing to fill every second of silence with a satirical comment on our lack of global awareness. Taylor is sort of his foil. She's less blunt, still snarky, but more the nurturing motherly type. We always get different types of lessons and analogies from them; however, they're both packed with this second nature type knowledge. It's weird, because it doesn't feel like a regular class at all. We watch movies to analyze cultural identity and run blogs to grow individual voice. We create advertisements to learn persuasive writing, dress up like dead celebrities, scream in passionate debate with the senior class president, lay on sofas, and do whatever. I've met some pretty wonderful people as well. Honestly, I start my day with this. 02/03 - AP Art 2D Design It's really great having back to back double block classes, as the rest of the day seems to fly by. So this class, the best people, the most fun, interesting, artsy people. I didn't know they existed in such a congregated surplus. Our teacher, Ted Kincaid, ze artiste, is hilarious and is really impeccable at what he does. I've never taken a class that's so open and free, and I guess that's because this is the highest level art class I've taken, so it's a given. There are actual people pursuing an artistic career. It's incredible. There's a girl that's got an internship with Disney. The real creative types, not the the stickler, detail crazy, freelance-muffling types that used to parade in the old art classes at Jasper. I'm so thankful for that. I can already see myself growing from all the talent around me and I'm always so proud when Mr. Kincaid compliments me, or anyone for that matter, seeing as everyone in that class deserves a slow clap. Seriously, it's sort of intimidating. 04 - Physics Mr. Grizzle's an ex-military man and it's got a whole bunch of stories from his hard living youth. It's hard to tell if they're fake or not. Either way, he's really experienced and he always ties his lessons down to a really deep moral or some funny story or scenario. Yesterday, he talked about all the motor vehicle accident caused student funerals he's been to and tied it into our lesson on acceleration. I almost teared up. Beyond that, Mr. Grizzle's an incredible teacher. I haven't understood science so well since Biology. 05 - Chinese There honestly aren't too many good things to say about Chinese. Mr. Wu/Wu laoshi is a character though. He constantly says, "that's so weird". It's a small class. People like to mess with him and they get away with it. As relaxed as it is, I'm learning more so far with Mr. Wu than I had at Jasper. 06 - Pre-calculus This is the only class that I'd say I'm struggling in. I feel like I'm actually putting effort into it though, unlike last year in Algebra 2. The teacher, Mrs. Tabanian, is a pretty good teacher, the best math teacher I've ever encountered. Her notes are distinguishably impeccable and easy to follow and when I screw up, I feel this weird need to prove myself to her. I don't really know why. Other than my classes: I've made a some new friends. I'm the junior representative and historian for Habitat for Humanity. "Co-president" for 3D Club. NHS. I'm joining STUCO and I draw the cartoons for the school newspaper. I've gone to all the home games so far, but both of them have been really boring wins. I'm not sure I've ever said this before, but I really like football. That reminds me, homecoming is coming up. My lunch table (+some) has cemented a group even though about two of us have dates so far. We're pretty wonderful. It's sort of nerve racking--getting pretty down to the wire. Overall, West is incredible. Best time of my life, honestly. It's really strange, though, that some of my closest friends aren't even in the state anymore and I thought this year would be pretty miserable without them, but life goes on. (tk33: long distance style)