P2- My First Choice Blog This Week!

 So about two weeks ago, the Alden Bulldog Newspaper staff held a draft where each member was moved to increase productivity in the work force. I originally sat on the right side of the room, from the door, close to the windows. I sat next to Kathleen Herter and Laura Slojkowski. I had probably the best times of my life near those two. Anyways after we changed seats, Mr. Currin moved me in between Mike Steffan and Brian Stoldt. At first I was a little apprehensive about this arrangement, but Mr. Currin reassured me that it would all work out for the better. So, I trusted Mr. Currin and decided this would be a good thing. Boy was I mistaken. I'm not going to lie, the conversations I've heard are very hostile and extremely confusing. For example, today Mike Steffan asked Brian Stoldt what teacher he should write an article about this week. By the way, we were assigned this article about three days ago. Many people had already chosen their teachers. So Brian responds with a speech on how he's given Mike plenty of choices and that Mike needs to get on task. This conversation went on for a good 25 minutes. There was a lot of repetition and quite a bit of close calls when it comes to curse words. I started to get a little nervous for awhile, then Mike finally chose to write about Mrs. Delzer. This marked a truce in their battle, and I made a small sarcastic comment on how strong their friendship is. I had no idea that this would cause an outbreak. Brian agreed that their friendship was very good, but Mike said that it's a "love-hate" relationship. This is where sh#$ hit the fan. I'm sorry for my almost bad language, but that's how it was. So, Brian then confronted Mike on what the "hate" part of the relationship is. Mike did not respond and pretty much shrugged the entire time. Then Brian went into another speech on their relationship and asked why it was a "love-hate" relationship. This then went on for about 10 minutes. I'm not going to lie, I feel in danger almost the entire work day. And now Brian is giving editor advice to Mike and is feeling lied to. I had to meet with Brian for one of these "advice sessions," but when you have the best reporters in the world it's pretty difficult to take any other advice, but I'm sure he was helpful to other editors... So, now Brian is saying that he feels attacked and that no one respects his authority because of a vote ending in a 4-1 vote that his meetings were not helpful. I felt pretty bad for him, but Mike's response was "I don't feel bad at all." I'm going to go ahead and say this is the "hate" part in their "love-hate" relationship.      

P1- T.V. Time!

Television is a very touchy subject. It's bad in so many ways, but it also benefits a lot of peoples. I probably watch more T.V. than I should, but it's just a part of my daily schedule. After school, I go straight to my homework and once I finish that I turn on the T.V. and watch until about 9 o'clock. I know this is kind of rough, but I don't have as much to do as I used to. When my mom babysat at home, I used to come home and she'd have food ready for me. This also contributes to my bad eating habits, but that is a completely different subject. Now, I'm not saying that my mom is the reason I watch so much T.V. It's really my choice and I just get home and have the urge to watch Law and Order S.V.U. This brings me to what T.V. shows I watch. Law and Order S.V.U. is definitely my top show. I'm not really sure why because pretty sensitive subjects, like rape and child abuse are involved, but I'm just always in the mood to watch it. Now that I think about it that makes me sound kind of weird...Anyways, another show I find myself watching is Dance Moms. This show makes me so angry, I can't even explain it. Well, actually I can because I wrote an entire blog on it once. I keep watching it because I think it makes me feel better about my life and that I don't have to deal with these people. And finally, my favorite show of all time would have to be Psych. Not many people have seen this show, and it makes me so sad because all my T.V. quotes are from this show and no one ever knows what I'm talking about. I think it's the funniest show because the actors in it are so witty and just hilarious. This show is about a very observant guy who pretends he's psychic to solve crimes with his best friend and a police station. This is a really vague description of the plot line and it doesn't give the show any justice, but trust me, if you watch it you'll agree with me! Alright, now on to the rest of the blog requirement: So there are two televisions in my house that have D.V.R. (I suggest you get it because it is awesome) These actually cause problems because whenever my dad wants to watch a game, he always has to check if I'm recording anything. Plus most of the time, it's my older sister Alli recording her "Real Housewives of New Jersey" episodes. Other than that, D.V.R. is my best friend.    

O3- Ode to Julie Fetzer...

So for my choice blog, I've decided to confess that I am feeling lost without my good friend, Julie Fetzer. She is on a cruise this week and will not be in school until Monday. This is great for her, but miserable for me because Julie and I always make our "rounds" after second block and walk to Mrs. Gramza's advisement afterwards. We have either Physics, Physics Lab, or Physical Education depending on the day. Thankfully we are in the same class second block everyday, so we can begin our "rounds" directly after the bell rings and don't have to worry about trying to find each other or waiting for one another. So our "rounds" usually begin at Mr. Domino's classroom where we walk downstairs to Julie's locker, which is right across from Mr. Currin's classroom. After Julie puts all her folders away, we say hello to Mr. Currin, just to be nice and have a quick discussion about our A.P. Lit class and what our plans were for the day. After we bid the Currin Advisement Family farewell, we walk down to the hallway with the guidance office and turn right to get to my locker so I can put my books away. Once I finish with the placing of my books, Julie and I go to her advisement so she can sign in and out. Then we visit Mr. Wild to check on National Honor Society news. Julie goes because she is the president, and I just tag along since I have no other friends to walk with.....or just any other friends.....Anyways, we then go to Mrs. Gramza's advisement where we tend to Student Congress matters, and make fun of Jordan Hall because he doesn't do anything to help us and just gets lunch while we plan and actually do work. So back to my problem with Julie not being around... Since Julie is absent, going to her locker would be unnecessary for me, which would force me to go straight to my locker after second block. This then eliminates the opportunity to visit Mr. Currin's advisement. I also skip going to Julie's advisement for obvious reasons, and Mr. Wild always claims he has nothing new for NHS, so I finish the "rounds" extremely early and have nowhere to go, but Mrs. Gramza's advisement, which is full of freshmen. Don't get me wrong, I actually like the kids in her advisement, but during the announcements they're really quiet...I mean really quiet. It makes me a little nervous, but it's my only option. So this is why Julie Fetzer's absence is really affecting me. I hope she is having a fun time on her cruise, but I cannot wait for her to return so I don't have to be super awkward in the halls.      

O2- College!!

"College has its skeptics, and the skeptics make good points. Does a four-year university make sense for every student? Probably not. Is the modern on-site college education necessarily the ideal means to deliver training after high school? Maybe not" (Thompson). I'm not going to lie, I really didn't think I would enjoy this article. I thought it was just going to be another article telling us to go to college because it will all be better in the long run, and that there is no excuse for not attending college. However, the quote above shows both sides of the argument being discussed and that shows open mindedness, which I like to read about. Like the article said, college is not for every student, but they definitely prove the benefits of going to college and getting an education further than high school. I am personally going to college to pursue a career in education, but I do understand the mind set of kids who are deciding not to go to college and go straight to work. It seems like it is the more beneficial and easiest way to get money in the future to go straight to a job, but this article shows facts and examples of how going to college increases your chance of a high paying job, which proves to be more rewarding.  "6.7 million NEET American youths to $4.75 trillion, equal to nearly a third of GDP, or half of U.S. public debt" (Tompson). This is just one of the multiple statistic recordings in the article which prove that not going to college is more expensive than going to college. I'm not saying that college isn't expensive, and I know that isn't what the article is trying to convey either, but I think the article justifies the fact that kids who don't attend college are having significant troubles that could've been avoided or decreased by getting an education and succeeding in a career they enjoy.

  

O1- Thanks Da Papa!

My father is...Da Papa! I literally call him that on a regular basis with a weird accent. I'm not sure how it came about, but it just kind of stuck. Now, both my sisters call him that. I'm kind of the trend setter for my family. Despite this awesome talent, I'm not my dad's favorite child. I know this is sad, but my other sisters aren't the favorites either. No, my dad's favorite in the family is his golf clubs. This is no joke. He told me on more than one occasion that he loves his golf clubs more than me. On my seventeenth birthday card he wrote, "Schmaesh, well you're not as great as my golf clubs, but you're alright!".... Thanks Da Papa. I'm pretty sure he's joking, but it's hard to tell sometimes if he's being serious or not. Anyways, Da Papa is a very simple guy. He enjoys quite a bit of sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, hockey, and curling. He plays in a men's basketball league. He actually told me that he was down a player for their game that day. Obviously, I offered to play with them because he coached me for five years when I was younger in basketball, and I'm still pretty good at it (Physical Education Class Hero. No Big Deal.) But his response was "Schmaesh, no offense, but I need good and physical players on my team." Again, thanks Da Papa. I tried to defend myself and used the P.E. class example on how good I am, but he just told me that I would be playing with 50 year old guys and that they would not hesitate to foul me. So, I responded to that with the fact that I'm kind of a beast and that I would also not hesitate to foul them either. Needless to say, he didn't let me go. Now, back to his characteristics. Well, he's bald. That's pretty fun. He also gets pretty annoyed whenever I talk, as he calls it, "stupid" to our dog, Harley. I do it anyways, but he doesn't like it. My dad and I also have a secret handshakes. I would tell you what it was, but it's kind of a secret. We also say goodbye very weirdly. Instead of hugging or shaking hands, we head-but and say "mer." My sister, Alli, started the "mer" when she got her cat, the Fuzziasteiny. It kind of stuck with the family so now whenever my dad goes to work or on a trip, we say farewell saying "mer." But, yeah... That's Da Papa, and I love him even though he loves his golf clubs more than me!    

N3- DO WORK!

So for this blog we're suppose to write about where we work, where we want to work or our future career. I am not currently employed anywhere, and my friends won't let me live it down. I'm actually planning on working over the summer at Darien Lake. However, I don't want to work in the water park or anything  like that because every person I talked to who work at Darien Lake said they hated working there because the water park was discusting and the people there were smelly. I want to work at the Darien Lake Hotel because I've been told that it's much nicer than the rest of the park. I know that it may seem lame of me to talk about this since I don't have a job, but this is a blog so that's that. Now on to my future career, teaching. I want to be a high school English teacher, kind of like Mr. Currin, but not completely. Unlike Mr.Currin, I won't make creepy faces at my students whenever they want my attention...Just saying. Anyways, I'm going to Niagara University to attend the English education department. I'm really excited because Niagara's program actually sends the students out freshman year to schools to observe the different age groups of classrooms. I went to a luncheon on March 25th and some of the English Department members spoke about different situations they went through. One told a story about how she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, but she went to student teach at a school, and a kindergartener bit her leg and punched her in the face. Needless to say, she decided against teaching ages 4-6. I've spent my middle school years with my mom babysitting a variety of kids. I think that my experience with those kids also made me want to teach high school students.