The (Fake) Stock Market

Mondays: my least favorite day of the week.  They're even less pleasant when they're accompanied by a downpour of rain (and you have to walk through it multiple times during the day).

I finished up my second article for the local paper today during yearbook.  This article is all about my school's Christmas dance that was this weekend.  There really wasn't all that much to say about the dance, so it's a little on the short side.  The paper also asked for some pictures, so I asked Jordan if she could send some of the ones she took.  (I would have asked more people, but I didn't know of anyone else I could ask who took pictures!)

Remember when my pencil got stolen in the bathroom?  Well, the exact same thing happened again today.  I'm never letting my pencils out of my sight at school again.  I'm running out of pencils.

Remember that rain I mentioned earlier in the post?  If it wasn't bad enough having to walk to and from the bus stop today, I also had to walk through it to and from peer tutoring over at the middle school (when I think it was raining the hardest).  The wind was also blowing really strongly one way each time.  By the time I got to peer tutoring, my front was soaked, but my back was almost completely dry, and by the time I got back to school, it was the complete opposite.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't freezing and the rain didn't feel like ice water.

We started doing a stock simulation in economics.  We started with $100,000, and we have to invest at least half of it in stocks under five dollars.  I had no idea it was so hard to find stocks for under five dollars!  I think we managed to find three or four.  If anyone knows of any cheap stocks we can invest in, please let me know.  Otherwise we may end up buying a thousand more shares of the few we did find.  Our group has also lost $73.99, but that's a smaller negative number than when I checked earlier.  We still have more than $97,000 left to invest, so I'm not too worried about the negative right now.  In fact, I think I'm going to go try and find some under $5 stocks now.  The cool think about this simulator app is I can "buy" stocks now, and when the market opens it'll automatically buy them.  (I know nothing about the stock market, so maybe the real stock market works like that too.  I don't know.)

Even More Stress

Is it really only Wednesday?  This week has been so long.  Today was a mixture of getting things out of the way that have been bothering me forever and adding even more things to stress me out.

We had an open book test in AP U.S. history today.  It really wasn't hard since it was open book.  If only we could do that for every test...

All we did in AP English today was work on our annotated bibliographies.  I still don't have mine even halfway done.  I'm not looking forward to working on that.  Even though it's not that difficult to write, I feel like it's going to take forever.

Ji and I have one yearbook page that's due this Friday.  The only problem is standardized testing is going on the next couple of the days in the computer lab, so we can't work on them during yearbook class.  That means we have to work on them at home.  I didn't even know we could access the yearbook stuff from home until Ji told me we could today.  I really hope we're able to get that finished.

At the end of computer applications I had to go up to the guidance office.  I've been trying to send my transcripts to colleges through this e-transcript thing for over a month now, but the guidance office wasn't getting my requests through the thing.  I'm not even really sure what was going on, but we have it all sorted out now.  My transcripts have finally been sent!

During lunch Haley and I ended up sitting at the table where Jordan and Bridget were selling dance tickets.  Haley said she sat at our usual table, and some immature boy started throwing food at her, so she moved over there.  I didn't see it happen since I was late to lunch because I'd been in guidance.

Peer tutoring was pretty much the same as usual.  I helped two girls with some worksheets, and in the other class, I really just sat there and watched.

We had a test in economics today.  The thing with econ tests is that I feel like I know it well, and I do perfectly fine on most of it, but there's always at least two problems that I get to and have no idea what the answer is.  It bugs me because I swore I went over everything.  Today, there were still a couple of hard ones, but I thought I remember talking about it, so I may actually be right this time.

I completely forgot that I had a hair appointment after school today until my sister reminded me as we were getting off the bus.  Regina was trying to get me to cut a ton off, but I told her that wasn't happening.  I don't think I've had my hair short since freshmen year.  I like how easy it is to brush my hair when it's short, but other than that I hate when I have short hair.  Instead, I just got it trimmed.

I really need to go work on my annotated bibliography, but I want to get some other stuff (including another blog post) done before I work on that.  It's going to take up my whole day!

I Need a Break

I'm am so ready for Thanksgiving break!  I need these five days off of school.  I'm beginning to get really stressed out, and a break will be nice.  I mean most of the stress is coming from college stuff, and I'm going to spend break applying to two colleges.  Still, no school helps take a bit of the stress off, and I think I could the main college-related thing that was stressing me out sorted out today.  So, hopefully it will be an unstressful break for me.  (If my sister succeeds in getting me to go Black Friday shopping, then I guess we can throw the unstressful break out the window.)

Since it was the last day before break, we didn't do much at school today.  I had an AP U.S. history test first thing this morning, but other than that, I didn't do much today.  We're researching for our trend analysis paper (with an annotated bibliography) in AP English, but I don't really consider researching to be hard work (unless you're having trouble finding information).

Our Jostens yearbook representative was in our yearbook class today to show us how to create the portrait pages, but all that required was us sitting quietly and listening to him talk.

I'm way ahead in computer applications, so our teacher asked Ji, Bethany, and me to help her wrap pennies from Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF.  Once we were finished with that, Ji, Alyssa, and I went up to the guidance office since we each had seperate things that we needed to get worked out.  That's when I hopefully got the biggest college-related thing sorted out.  Guys, applying to college can be hard when things don't go right.  I think I go to a great school, but something I didn't learn until this year is that it's sometimes hard to get things figured out because of the small staff.  I've been trying to get this sorted out forever, but our guidance office consists of two people (a guidance counselor and a secretary), and whenever I have time to go in there, they never seem to be in there (hence why I went during class today).  It was starting to get frustrating.  I've never had this problem until this year, since you don't really need to deal with guidance much (except during scehduling times) until senior year.  Hopefully, that's all sorted out though, and as soon as I send in these two applications, I'll be done applying to college.  (Then I just have to be accepted...)

Just like us high schoolers, the middle schoolers weren't doing much today either, so I didn't do much during peer tutoring today.  In the first class I'm in, I helped one girl with math a little bit and helped two boys study for a social studies class.  In the second class, the were watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving while working on a math worksheet that they didn't really need help on, so I spend the whole time just watching Charlie Brown.

We did actually do work in econ today, but it was easy and not nearly enough to take up the whole hour and a half we're in there.  Most of the class was spent doing nothing.

Since getting home, I feel like I've accomplished a lot, but it really doesn't seem like much looking back on it.  I managed to get some reading done, which hasn't really happened in a while.  I got half of a college application filled out, which I'm relieved that it's nearing being done.  I also filmed a video that I was currently in the process of editing before I got in the shower and then started writing (first my story and then this).  I have over twenty minutes of footage, so I hope to get it edited down a lot, which probably won't happen since I can't bear to leave out anything when it comes to books.  As soon as I post this I'm going to get back to editing that, and I'll hopefully have it up before I go to bed, which is looking less likely as it's getting late.

My Pencil Got Stolen in the Bathroom

I got the pleasure of beginning my day by standing out in the rain waiting for the bus.  I was also alone because my sister stayed home sick.  I'm so glad that the bus actually came early today.  Normally, I would mind the rain, but being stuck at school with wet clothes and hair isn't fun.

All of the seniors with a certain GPA or above had a meeting this morning about a scholarship.  One person in our county gets it, and the winner recieves full tuition for four years at any college in Indiana.  It's a great scholarship, and I'm going to apply for it.  It's just that I don't want to go to college in Indiana.  There is one college (that I really like) that I applied to that's in Indiana, so I'm still applying for the scholarship.  We'll see what happens if I get it.

This meeting ran into our first class, which meant I had less time than normal to complete my AP U.S. history test.  Thankfully, I got done on time.  I think it's because I knew I had less time, and I made myself focus more than usual.  (I'll admit that I sometimes zone out in the middle of tests.)

We got to peer edit papers in AP English.  Basically every problem that was pointed out in my paper is stuff I already know.  The problem is I'm not sure how to fix those problems.  This paper is proving to be very difficult.  When I'm finished writing this, I'm going to go through it and do some editing myself.

Here's an interesting story:  Whenever I go to the bathroom at school, I always leave my books and things sitting on this ledge thing over the sinks.  I've been doing this since freshmen year, and I've never had a problem.  Today I did the same thing I always do, and when I went to get my books, my pencil was gone.  My eraser, book, and notebook were all still there, but the pencil was gone.  I looked around, thinking maybe I dropped it, but it was nowhere to be found.  I think someone stole it.  I wasn't too bothered by it.  I just went to my locker and got a new one.

I really funny part of the story was during econ.  Some people started complaining about how they'd had bad days, so our teacher started going through every person in the class and asking them how their day went.  When he got to me, I was just going to say that my day had been fine when Jordan mentioning that I did actually have a bad day.  I don't know if she was referring to the pencil thing or what happened while peer tutoring (I'll get to that in a minute.) as I had just told her and Haley both.  I kind of stammered for a bit before just saying, "My day was fine, but my pencil did get stolen in the bathroom."  Everyone in the class, including me, burst into laughter, and I turned bright red, which Haley pointed out to me.  After a few minutes, the teacher said he wasn't even going to ask for that story, and we moved on.  It was interesting though.

As for what happened during peer tutoring over at the middle school, I was put in charge of helping three sixth graders with a math worksheet today.  They were doing really well.  They were each dividing up the problems and doing them on the board.  Then, the boy got frustrated over something and decided he wanted to do them himself, so he went and sit at a desk and worked on them alone.  Then, the two girls got into an argument because one girl didn't think the other was being fair, so they insisted on working the problems alone.  It was kind of dissapointing.  I remember at the beginning of class being really impressed by how well they were working together, and by the end of class that had fallen apart.  At least all three of them had a pretty good idea of what they were doing.  That was the point of the worksheet.

On a bright side, the pouring rain had stopped by the time I went over to the middle school, so I didn't have a problem with that.  I also got a ride home with Ji instead of riding the bus.  That was especially nice since I was lugging home books for my sister Regina, so she could get homework done.  Overall though, it wasn't a bad day.

Veterans Day and Mixed Up Schedules

We started off the school day with a Veterans Day program.  It was nice.  We had a guest speaker who had been in the army but is now a dentist.  They honored the seniors who have joined the National Guard.  It was a cool ceremony for the most part.  If any U.S. veterans read this, thank you so much for everything you've done for our country.

Because of the program, our schedule for the rest of the day was a bit different than normal.  The middle school, where I go part of the day for peer tutoring, also had a different schedule today.  This made it a little weird when I went over there today.  Usually, I'm in two different classes.  I start in one class, and then when the bell rings, I go to a different class.

When I got there today, the first class I'm normally in had already started.  (I usually get there right before class starts.)  Then, they were going to their third block class instead of their fifth period class like usually.  (If it sounds confusing, that's because it is.  I have no idea who in the middle school thought it was a good idea to just completely reorder all of the classes one day.)  There was nothing for me to do in either of the classes I'm usually in, so I just sat in one of the teacher's rooms and wrote random stuff.  It was a bit awkward most of the time because she was just sitting at her desk while I sat at a desk scribbling in my notebook.

After a while, the bell rang, and the kids were now going to their fifth period class.  I headed over to the second classroom I'm normally in.  I was there for a total of ten minutes before it was time for me to leave and head back over to the high school.  I feel like I did nothing.  That's not really true though.  I did help one girl with some problems, come up with some dividing fractions problems for a boy to work on the board, and read a quiz to a couple of kids.  Still, because of the long amount of time I spent just sitting there, it feels like I did nothing.

We finished watching The Italian Job in econ.  It was a good movie.  It's not typically something I'd choose to watch, but I enjoyed it.

I feel like there was something else that I really wanted to mention in this post, but I can't think of anything.  I can't shake the feeling that something else kind of big happened to me today.  Maybe I'm just thinking that because it's 11/11/11...  I'll probably remember in a couple of minutes.  I'm too tired to worry about it now.  It's past midnight, so I'm going to go to sleep.  I'll add on to this in the morning if I remember.

Teaching

I had to go to school early today for a Beta Club meeting.  Beta Club meetings never take that long.  Basically, I just walk in, sign in, find out whatever's going on, and leave.  She always has donuts there for us, but I never eat any.  I'm the sort of person who's in no mood for food until I've been awake for an hour or two.  (And I've usually only been awake for about an hour when I get to the meeting.  I sleep in as late as possible.)

Beta Club is in charge of the blood drive our school has.  We're supposed to donate blood, or if we can't, find someone else to.  I never plan on donating blood (Words can't describe how terrified I am of blood.  It would be horrific.), so I asked my sister to donate blood.  For some reason, this is incredibly exciting to her.  She just turned sixteen two days ago, so she just barely makes the age limit for donating blood.  I'll never understand her happiness when I handed her the forms.  I'm going to stop talking about this because typing the "b" word is getting to me.

In AP U.S. History today, we all had to talk a bit about a part of the chapter that had been assigned to us.  I had about three paragraphs.  Basically all I had to say was Parliament gained power as the real exectutives of Britain, and they weren't as concerned with controling the American colonies because it meant raising taxes which wouldn't make the landholders and merchants, who they relied on for support and re-election, happy.  That's almost exactly what I said actually (except it was slightly more detailed).

The Internet was down at school today, which meant we couldn't really work on yearbook stuff.  Instead, we flipped through TV channels.  Ji had the remote, and she never stayed on one channel for more than five minutes.  We watched parts of Scooby Doo, Alton Brown, news channels, and various other things.

Remember how I sayed peer tutoring was stressful?  That has gotten so much better lately.  Before I started peer tutoring, I was kind of afraid that it would make me doubt the fact that I want to be a teacher.  Luckily, it hasn't.  In fact, I think I'm more sure now than I was before.  It's made me consider becoming a middle school or special needs teacher though.  When I first got put in special needs classes at the middle school, I wasn't too happy about it, but it's really not that bad.  I still think I'm going to stick with high school (and not special needs) though.  I don't know if I could deal with middle schoolers all day.

It's gotten to the point where I've gotten comfortable with the teachers and aides in the classrooms I'm in.  I also know a lot of the kids better, and I don't feel as awkward working with them anymore.  One boy gave me a high-five when I walked in the classroom today, and there's another boy that likes to ask me questions about what high school's like every day.

Today, I was going over multiplication flash cards with three of the kids.  Two of them were supposed to be competing to see who could get the most, but the other kid kept cheating and telling one girl the answers.  Then, both of them would try and grab the card out of my hand quickly.  I had to keep flipping the cards without giving one to either girl.  All of this over who could get more cards?  It's fine for an hour and a half, but I don't know if I could deal with that all day.

Even though I don't want to teach middle school, this experience has made me more sure that I want to teach high school.  I think before I was worried because it's such a big decision, and I didn't want to screw it up.  To be honest, that still worries me a bit, but I really do think I'm making the right decision by majoring in secondary education.  Let's just hope I'm right.

I almost forgot the mention this, but Haley, Jordan, and I were talking about Pottermore at lunch today.  Both of them have gotten in.  I want my email!  They were telling me how awesome it is and everything.  I can't wait to be sorted!  Jordan's a Slytherin and Haley's a Ravenclaw.  Haley wanted to be a Slytherin, so she's not too thrilled.  She says she doesn't think she'd ever be able to get into the common room.  I really hope I get Hufflepuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if I get Ravenclaw as well.  If only my email would come!

Four Day Weekends Throw Me Off Track

The four day weekend really screwed up my days, sleep schedule, etc.  I laid in bed for hours last night before finally falling asleep at some time during the early morning.  I honestly can't remember a whole lot of the day because I was half asleep through most of it.  Hopefully I can think of some things for this post.

We turned in our first paper in AP English.  This paper is our first assignment that goes toward getting college credit.  I'm kind of scared to think about the fact that she might be grading it right now or maybe already has.  I don't think it was that great, but I hope that's just because I'm so nervous about it.

We finally got to hand out yearbooks during yearbook class today.  It really wasn't that eventful, but I like knowing that everyone finally gets to see it (even if I had nothing to do with last years).  Ji and I handed out books to the kids in Spanish and study hall.  The study hall kids had kind of scattered across the school as some where in the library and some went to teachers rooms to get help, so we had to go to about four different places other than the Spanish and study hall rooms.  After that was all done, we finally got our theme for this year's yearbook down.  I'm so excited about it!  It's basically the theme that the teacher and I talked about at the workshop over to summer, which makes it even awesomer to me.

Third block was stressful because I was supposed to help this kid who absolutely refused to do his work.  The teacher told me to go help someone else because he refused to do anything.  Luckily, the girl I ended up helping had no problem actually working, and everything after that went fine.

I almost forgot to mention that my friends and I discovered that one of our friends switched schools today.  It was really unexpected, and there were a few sad moments today when someone would comment on how weird it felt that she wasn't there.  I'll miss her.  I now have an empty seat beside me in AP U.S. history and government.  She was quiet like me, so when it was just us two, we didn't really talk to each other since I don't think either one of us is great at starting conversation.  Still, she's an awesome person, and it sucks that she won't be there anymore.