Great News!

I'm not going to skirt around my main point in this post. I'm going to give it to you straight up. Yesterday I received word that I won a scholarship! It's for 10,000 dollars!! 

$2,500 a year. I'm absolutely ecstatic about it. This will help my family out a lot because we all know how expensive college has gotten. I'm truly blessed and lucky to have received so much money and I'm grateful for every penny. This just proves the point that all parents try to teach their kids... working hard in school can pay off. Literally! Well, here's to hoping that I make the most of this amazing gift and do that much better in my college career. 

Photos II

Some more of my photos:

(Taken in Surry, Maine)

(Taken in Bangor, Maine)

(Taken in Fort Knox, Maine)

(Taken in Maine)

(Taken in San Antonio, Texas)

My Economics Mini-Disaster

On Monday I walked into my 1st period economics class a little blue. I was sad to see the weekend gone. My brain was not ready for intensive economic learning. When I got to my desk, I asked my friend, Yoomi, who sits behind me, when our chapter 20 quiz was going to be. Tuesday or Wednesday maybe? She gave me that look one gives when you say something really stupid. She pointed to the board and went back to writing in her notebook. I turned to read, 

"CHAPTER 20 QUIZ TODAY." 

WHAT!? "Are you serious!!!" I demanded. I immediately pulled out my planner. Sure enough, I had written down under last Friday, "Study for eco test on Monday." I hadn't read the chapter! I knew nothing of what chapter 20 might even begin to talk about. I sunk down in my desk completely lost. Most kids would just shrug off the impending failure as no big deal, but I am not most kids. I could feel the tears trying to force their way out of my eyes. I pulled out the book I had been reading and forced myself to concentrate on something else briefly so that I wouldn't have a complete mental breakdown.

After I got myself under control, I turned to Yoomi who had her notes and a book in front of her. "Yoomi, please," I begged, "You gotta help me!" She kindly offered me her notes since she was reading out of the book. Class had started and I could hear the teacher lecturing in the front of the room. I paid him no attention. I was totally absorbed with trying to cram every ounce of information contained in those notes into my head. I read the vocabulary over and over and over. I looked at the equations. I asked Yoomi questions. I could feel my desperate attempt to master the chapter in fifteen minutes failing. I tried to multitask and listen to the teacher and read at the same time. It was starting to become clearer, but I still felt like I was sinking in an overload of information.

Before I knew it the quiz was being passed out. I was writing my name on it. I was reading the first question. I was...I was understanding the first question and knew the correct answer! By the end of the quiz I thought I may have just pulled out a passing grade. I was elated but drained. "I will never forget about a quiz again!" I swore to myself.

Ironically, I ended up getting a 95 on the quiz while my friend Yoomi did not do quite as well. Regardless of the good grade, I do not plan on trying the "cram 15 minutes before the quiz" study method again.

Photos

Here are a few more photos I've taken:

(Taken in Acadia National Park, Maine)

(Taken in Salem, Massachusetts)

(Taken in Salem, Massachusetts)

(Taken in San Antonio, Texas)

(Taken in San Juan, Puerto Rico)

My Dogs... are Weird

This afternoon, while I was sitting in my room, I came to the conclusion that I was bored. Bored out of my mind. As any other kid, I do love the weekends. The brief relief from the chaos of school and all that tedious busy work teachers assign is great. Don't get me wrong. However, where basketball and work used to take up all my free time, I now find myself with an excess of it now that basketball is over. I still work, but I already worked my 20 hours during the weekdays. So, having completed all my major homework assignments on Saturday, I had a whole day with literally nothing on the agenda.

I wandered downstairs looking for some exciting activity to magically present itself. I glanced out the window and saw my dogs sunbathing on the back porch. Now, my dogs love any and every opportunity to come inside the house. What's weird is as much as they love coming inside, they love going into the front yard even more. I'll never understand it. They spend maybe 7/8 of their day outside but the front yard is like the undiscovered utopia to them. Being the generous soul I am (not to mention the person with nothing to do) I decided to take them out front.

The second they got into the front yard, they shot out across the lawn trying to sniff up every inch of it. I stood on the edge of the yard to supervise and get some brief, but much needed, sun. Hazel, the girl golden retriever, loves to search for deer poop. I find it to be disgusting but whatever floats her boat, I guess. Bear, the boy golden retriever, generally just wanders around aimlessly not doing much of anything.

As I’m watching my dogs have the time of their life (Hazel is currently running in small circles in excitement), I hear a voice next door. A little girl has spotted my ecstatic dogs and shouts out, “Daddy look at the cute puppies! I want to pet them!!” Her dad, not seeing me standing in the shadows immediately rejects the idea. His response is, “Those dogs are loose. They could have rabies!” In my mind I’m admiring this man’s responsibility to his daughter’s well being until he adds, “Look at that one running in circles…it must have some kind of brain damage.”

Suddenly I’m a little angry. Hazel may be a goof but that shouldn’t be conducive of brain damage. I think, “I should set my dogs on that rude man!” Of course my dogs would just lick and slobber on the man… hardly the desired result I want. Oh well. It’s probably all for the best.

Besides, is this the face of a killer?

(Bear)

First Post

I decided to try this blog thing out. I'm an avid reader of On the Upside, a blog written by the mother of two of my very good friends. She's very witty and quite hilarious at times. Its amazing all the people who read her blog and comment daily. I don't really expect anyone to ever read this, especially considering I don't have very many interesting things happen to me on a day-to-day basis. 

I suppose I will use this entry to tell a little bit about myself for the rare straggler who wonders by and is bored enough to read this. I'm a senior in high school, planning to attend A&M University next fall. I played varsity basketball but that ended in early February so my short-lived  career is over. I love photography and attempt to take decent pictures from time to time. I generally don't watch television, which is weird for a teenager I suppose. 

Well that is my short "about me" part for those of you who were wondering. From here on out I'll try my hand at witty, interesting topic filled blogs. But if I fail, who will really know?

Oh, here's one of my photos