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.  

N1- SPRING into Spring!

  Well, although spring isn't my favorite season, it is definitely a nice break from the freezing cold weather we endure during the winter. I cannot explain how much I hate the cold weather. It's nice at the beginning of winter, before Christmas that is, but after that it should just skip to beautiful weather. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen so we'll just have to deal with this transition into warm or cold weather. Anyways I like spring because it gets to be nice enough weather where I can change my outfits up a little more than wearing hoodies and sweatpants. I can actually wear shorts or jeans for once in my life. Also, spring occurs throughout May. Actually, spring goes from March 20th or 21st to June 20th or 21st and summer goes until September 21st. Mr. Currin revealed that this is how he can get away with telling people his birthday is during the summer, when in actuality, it's September 15th. I'm sorry, I'm not very motivated right now and I'm putting random facts on this blog because I can't think of anything else to write about spring. I think the reason I'm not focused is because Justin Bieber is being talked about because of his new song "Boyfriend." It's actually really good and I think I might purchase it on the itunes. I also think that the chorus sounds similar to Justin Timberlake, whom I love. Anyways, I also think I'm distracted by the Macbeth video being shown with Jordan Hall trying to show that he's paying attention, when he really isn't. I also am distracted by the Dodgeball tournament that is occurring today at 5:30. I think its going to be pretty exciting because the teams are all very good. Honestly I hope the Freshman class wins because they are the underdogs and I think that would be hilarious if they won.     

N2- Interview with Bill Penny

Bill

                                                                          Penny

  Obviously, many of you know that Bill Penny is the Bulldog's lead reporter and writes the "Teacher Feature" column at The Bulldog student newspaper. Fortunately, Bill Penny had time to share a few facts about himself before pursuing yet another life threatening article story. When faced with the question relating to his favorite dinosaur, he responded with "Pass, next question." I realized this was a normal response because that question was pretty challenging, so I moved on the next question which was "What do you want to be or where do you want to go after high school?" Bill Penny then responded yet again with, "Pass, next question." This confused me and made me wonder if Bill Penny was going to answer any of my questions. When I confronted him about this he became very defensive and almost threw a chair at another interviewing group of reporters. I got a little scared, but after about ten minutes he calmed down. Then I asked him if he had a best friend, and he replied Gavin Laben because he was the first person Bill met when he came to Alden. Gavin also lives across the street from Bill Penny, which adds to their friendship bond. Now I don't want to confuse anyone and make them think that Gavin is Bill Penny's only friend. Bill Penny has multiple friends, but has Gavin as his best friend. Now that that's cleared up, I asked what his favorite subject is in school and why. Bill answered math class, but only algebra, like mental math. I thought to myself that math includes other components like trigonometry and geometry, but Bill Penny added that algebra was the only part he enjoyed because he is good at it. Then after this debate on mathematics, I asked the question "What is your favorite song/ band right now?" He replied the band Avett Brothers was the "bee's knee's" and his favorite song was "Laundry Room" because it is good. This was the last of the questions I asked Bill Penny, so I went back to the first two questions. After asking the first question about dinosaurs for a second time, Bill Penny answered, "Pass, next question" once again, and I got a little nervous. I asked the question about what he wants to be for a second time, and I surprisingly got a calm response. Bill wants to be an accountant in the future, but plans on taking the first year off. Once this question went over smoothly, I tried asking the dinosaur question for a third time. After about three minutes of deep thought, he finally replied, "Pterodactyl" because everyone thinks it's a bird, but it's really a dinosaur. I have to be honest in saying that this interview had to be the most productive interview I've ever encountered and it made me understand Bill Penny a lot more.    

M3-Really?

Really? Why would you ever text and drive? People know what can happen and they just do it anyways. It really bothers me. Plus I don't understand how they can text and drive. I mean I have a hard time changing the radio station without swerving. I can't even look at my phone when I'm driving. It's just really annoying when I'm trying to drive peacefully and I see someone not paying attention to the road. In an article recently sent to the class, I read this portion and found it very interesting. "The typical time it took a driver who was not texting to respond to the flashing light was one to two seconds. But when the driver was texting, the reaction time extended to three to four seconds, and the texting motorist was 11 times more likely to miss a flashing light altogether" (Forsyth). Really? This should be proof enough that people should stop texting and driving. My sister, Andi, is probably the worst offenders. She's gotten better, but she was becoming one of those people. So not only does she text while she drives, but she speeds as well. I literally can't be a passenger in her car because I get so nervous. I ask her to stop texting and she pretty much says that she does this all the time and she's really good at it. Really Andi? That's not something to be proud of!I even offer to text for her so she doesn't text, but she claims it's a private conversation. What's so important that you have to text that person right away? I mean you can wait until you get home or to your destination? No text is that important. I don't care if Angelina Jolie texted you saying she wants you to be in her next movie. It's not worth possibly losing your life, or ending someone else's...plus that text would probably be fake.

M2- Sooooo Embarrassed!

Okay so I spent the entire class Wednesday trying to think of an embarrassing moment, but I just couldn't come up with a quality one. But thank goodness I went to the Sabres game that day, or else the most embarrassing moment of my life wouldn't have occurred. By the way, the Sabres won the game in overtime, no big deal. Anyways, the setting was Washington street, next to a random building which I don't know the name of. There was also a lovely aroma in the air. At first I thought it was the smell of Honey Nut Cheerios, but my dad mentioned Lucky Charms and I quickly changed my mind. Although this has nothing to do with what happened, I felt it needed to be said. Anyways, back to the embarrassing story. My dad and I were speed walking down the street, and there were a few people behind us, but not super close. So as we were walking, I get the awesome idea (at the time it was more awesome) to Hardcore Parkoure on the side of the building. For those who don't know what Hardcore Parkoure is, it was on the T.V. show The Office, although it was known before The Office. it's where the main purpose is to move from place to place by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing, and jumping on walls, buildings, or any place that is impossible for people to climb. This makes these Parkourers pretty hardcore, thus the Hardcore Parkour. Now I'm not a legitimate Parkourer. I'm The Office version of a Parkourer, where I just jump off walls and reach a maximum height of like nineteen inches. Anyways, I chose to do this off the building my dad and I were walking by. So I jump off the wall that's to my left and I say "HARDCORE PARKOUR" relatively loud. However, as I begin to land on my right foot, my sprained ankle from volleyball came back to haunt me and it completely gave out, and I pulled an "Austin Hopcia" and fell completely on my side. It wasn't even that awkward until the people who were walking behind us came up and were like, "Oh my gosh are you okay?" and I literally sprang up and speed walked away saying "Um, I'm fine..." Then my dad started laughing hysterically. It was pretty embarrassing, but it does make a good memory!