More albums

The other day my dad went to a garage sale and got me some old LPs:

• The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
• Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats – Harmonicats’ Selected Favorites
• Paul McCartney – McCartney
• Johnny Rivers – And I Know You Wanna Dance
• The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
• The Who – Live at Leeds

Most of them are in pretty rough shape. One side of McCartney is badly scratched and probably unplayable. A previous owner of the Harmonicats LP put their name and address on a sticker or label that obliterates part of the last track. The Johnny Rivers album has a crack that extends to the first few songs on each side, but it still plays, albeit with a rather loud pop every 1.8 seconds. That doesn’t bother me, though. I know what “Secret Agent Man” sounds like anyway.

I haven’t really had the time to play the records much. I’ll probably have to give them a good cleaning before I really play them. They’re not really dusty, as I’d think a lot of old records would be, but they’re dirty.

In my last post I said that I somehow got all the multiple choice questions right on the test I had last week in my World History class. I thought that was a shocker until today, when I took this week’s test, and, as usual, made some guesses. Later in the day I ran into an acquaintance who has the same teacher (Mrs. “Griffin”) for a different class. She said that during her class, Mrs. Griffin was grading papers and said that I had gotten all of the questions on this test right and that she should make the tests harder. (I told you she had a sense of humor!) But this wasn’t some baseless allegation, because on my way out of school, another person I knew flagged me down and told me how I did on the test.

I guess I’m doing something right. I found out today (during the class, no less) that I have a pretty good grade, but she hasn’t graded a lot of hard, important assignments yet.

If my posts are sounding like a broken record (har har), at least there’s a different link in each one.

When it comes to weird lists, trust Wikipedia. First we have the list of songs whose title appears more than twenty times in the lyrics. The current champion of the list is “Weird Al” Yankovic (a favorite of mine), with 21 songs. Next we have the list of songs whose title does not appear in the lyrics. That oughta even things out.

Who, me?

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve talked a bit about my World History teacher. On this here blog I usually name the characters in my life who wouldn’t get me in hot water for naming them. Even though I doubt my History teacher would do that, she’s fixing to get herself fired (or something worse), so rather than risk the possibility of incriminating her, I’ll call her Mrs. “Griffin.” Of course, those of you who go to my school will see through this veil right away, but it’s worth a try.

She’s a pretty good teacher. When it comes to teaching, I mean. Her lectures are comic gold. I swear she should go into stand-up if this teaching thing doesn’t work out (joke). But she gives a ton of work which isn’t entirely responsible for but plays a major part in keeping me busy racking my brain or worrying about having to do brain-racking for a great deal of the weekend. I do the notes for the chapter done during the week, leaving time during the weekend for to write the two papers: one about a recent article in a newspaper (the New York Times extremely strongly encouraged) and the other about whatever she decides it should be about, basically. I’m actually kind of glad I got let go from my job before the semester began; having a job on top of all this homework (not to mention rest of my life) would probably push me over the top. But no matter what, school comes first (by a nose, followed by band practice with a close second, and there goes blogging, and here’s youth group bringing up the rear).

The other day I got into Mrs. “Griffin”‘s class before most of the other people — not unusual. As I took my seat, which faces her desk across the room, she startled me.

“You!” she said.

Of course I had to say, “Me?”

“You got all of the multiple choice questions right on Monday’s test,” she said, or something to that effect.

I expressed my disbelief by practicing my vowel sounds and then said, “Really?”

“Yes, you should be in my AP class.”

The test (which is every Monday, by the way) had three parts: identifying the countries of Europe (which I had thought I aced, but she made no mention of that), multiple choice questions (about 20th century literature, taken from her lectures rather than anything from the book), and essay questions (about things from the chapter in the book).

Basically I made a bunch of wild guesses and they were all correct. So this is only an island of comfort in the sea of unrelenting homework and really-bad-(for-me) grades. In fact, I wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) treat it as an indication of anything at all. I don’t know what grade I have in her class, but it’s probably a C. I’ll be lucky if I can pass with a B.

One a lighter note, I’m getting into record thing a bit. Today I bought these singles online:

• The Beach Boys – “Surfer Girl” b/w “Surfin’ Safari”
• Kelly Clarkson – “Breakaway”
• Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” b/w “You”
• The Guess Who – “These Eyes” b/w “No Time”
• Hoobastank – “The Reason”
• Mary Hopkin – “Those Were The Days”
• Tommy James and the Shondells – “Crimson and Clover” b/w “Do Something to Me”
• The Lovin’ Spoonful – “Do You Believe in Magic” b/w “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice”
• Elvis Presley – “It’s Now or Never” b/w “A Mess of Blues”
• ? and the Mysterians – “96 Tears”
• Sly and the Family Stone – “Everyday People” b/w “Sing a Simple Song”
• Three Dog Night – “One” b/w “The Show Must Go On”
• The Vogues – “My Special Angel”
• The Zombies – “Time of the Season” b/w “She’s Coming Home”

Yes, I bought vinyl records. To those of you who ask “Why?”, I counter with “Why not?” To those of you who ask “Why dont you just get itunes and buy an ipod theyre not that expnesive and get with the 21st centry u stupid dumbface,” I say “(1) You seem to have an alarmingly poor grasp of the English language, and (2) leave me alone.” I like what I like, and that’s that.

This Ask Jordon is brought to you by my meatspace friends, Kevin (“Kagy”) and Sean.

kevin (kagy): What do you think of the Ouija board and everything Satanic-related? Since it’s on my mind and all.

I wouldn’t really go so far as to say that Ouija boards are instruments of the devil, but I pretty much think that they’re objects of harmless entertainment and nothing more. With regards to the old commercial (“Are you moving it? I’m not moving it…”), I think everybody was moving it.

sean: since you’ll be a junior next year, what colleges are you thinking of applying to?

No idea. I’m only allowed a shot at public colleges within the state (because my parents decided a while ago that I’m going to apply for a particular scholarship).

List of unusual personal names. If you don’t like your name, be glad it’s not “If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned” or “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116.”

Matchmaker, matchmaker

Yesterday at school some people from Student Government came in and passed out forms resembling the ones you get for multiple choice tests. They sort of said that it was a sort of personality test for you to fill out and hand in, and then they’d analyze the results and tell you who you should and shouldn’t be hanging out with. Oh, and taking the test was free, but you have to pay next week to get your results. They encouraged everyone to take the test so that they would appear as possible matches on others’ results.

I thought the idea of it was to hook people up. Actually, judging by the types of questions, I was sure of it. And my sister heard that it was a tie-in for Valentine’s Day. So it’s not about who you should and shouldn’t hang out with so much as it is to get you a date. I wonder what sorts of results it will give for people who are dating each other. Who might be better for each of them? Are they even that good for each other? Will he end up going out with her best friend while she hooks up with his brother? Sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer in the making to me.

I think it’s not so much too hook people up as it is a ploy to raise money. Well, they’ve sold me. I could use a good laugh, anyway. I’ll probably be matched up with a plastic bag they found near the street.

Answer — I mean, Ask Jordon.

Tom: I can not think of anything good to ask so, what question would you like to answer?

I can’t think of any (besides, where would the fun be in that?). If you can’t think of any either, don’t worry about it.

nicole: what does the flag of Colombia mean

I’ll assume this has to do with my post from a few months ago in which I revealed photographic evidence that my school had been flying the Colombian flag upside-down.

According to the Wikipedia article Flag of Colombia: “Yellow represents the gold Colombia once owned until the arrival of the Spanish, blue indicates the country’s contact with two oceans and red represents the blood that Colombians spent in their struggle for independence from Spain.”

Microsoft Art Collection. You’d figure that any hugely rich company should have an art collection, so why not the boys in Redmond? They’ve got some interesting works, actually.

A capital idea

Although I don’t like my World History teacher very much, she has her good points. For example, she believes that her students should learn. And by learning I don’t mean rote memorization — I mean actually, well, having a good idea about what you know.

Recently she was lecturing about art styles (since the history book covers politics, she has to lecture about art and test us on both). As a native New Yorker, she knows the City well. She told us that we should go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or one of those art museums) if we ever went to New York. Then someone made the classic suggestion, “Why don’t you take us on a field trip there?”

Ninety-nine out of 100 teachers would let such a comment pass, but to everyone’s surprise (or mine, at least) she looked into taking a class field trip to New York City. Over the next few days, she said that New York was too expensive, so she would try to organize a trip to our nation’s capital: Washington, D.C. I’ve always wanted to go to Washington. This would be a dream come true, I guess.

Now the teacher has given some more details. Firstly, she says, we shouldn’t get too worked up about it because the trip has to be OK’d by the school management, and then the school district’s regional office, and so forth. If it actually comes to pass, then it will be something like this.

• Washington, Virginia, Pennsylvania.
• During spring break (March 18-27).
• Bus(es).
• Limited number of students (lottery).
• Not the White House (teacher says it’s boring, but I think she just doesn’t like who lives there).
• $420-$500.

I don’t want to say I’m excited and looking forward to this trip, but, well, I am. I know, it’ll be a darn shame when someone up in some office turns the trip down, but at least I can hope.

The reason I haven’t posted lately is to give you plenty of time to submit your answers for the meme I posted a few days ago. Well, now I think that just about everyone who wants to answer has done so. So it’s time to go over the facts and the fibs.

1. My birthmark is on my upper arm.
   Out of four people, two got this right. It’s a fib. My sister’s birthmark is on her upper arm; mine is on the top of my head (or so I’ve been told).
2. I’ve met the brother of the President of the United States.
   Two people thought this wasn’t true, but it’s a fact. I met Jeb Bush when he visited my school in 1998. The gubernatorial candidate revealed to my class that his brother “might” run for President. I recounted his visit a few months ago.
3. I own only five CDs.
   Fib. Three of you were able to see through this one. I may be lame, but I’m not that lame.
4. The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up is a police officer.
   Only one person didn’t guess this was a fact. I lost interest in being a cop after I heard about the night shift.
5. I’ve ridden in a Goodyear blimp.
   Two thought this was false, but it’s actually fact. I rode in the Stars & Stripes when I was six or seven. The airship is conveniently located in nearby Pompano Beach, and I pass its base on the way to and from school.
6. I’ve never used public transportation.
   No one was duped by this fact. School buses don’t count.
7. I am horrible at chess.
   Fact. I can play, sure, but I’ve never won a game.
8. I always order a quesadilla when I go to a Mexican restaurant.
   Formerly fact, but now a fib.
9. I have two chipped teeth.
   Fib: just one. It was from when I was at the bottom of a dogpile when I was maybe nine.
10. During ninth grade I never missed a day of school or used the bathroom during class time.
    Fact. Loser.
11. I own four guitars.
    Fact. Two acoustics, two electrics. I only play one of the acoustics, though.
12. I once had a fish named Neon.
    Fact. It was a betta that was predominantly blue but also had bits of red, orange, maybe green, and white.
13. I lived in a condominium for six weeks.
    Fact. It was between living in my old house and my new house, for which the deal hadn’t yet been finalized. I was eight.
14. I visit relatives in Nebraska every three or four years.
    Only one of you picked out that it was a fib. I have no ties to Nebraska and have never been there.
15. I have a rock collection.
    It sounds so dumb, it has to be a fib, right? Fact. I gathered some rocks near the Laurel Caverns in 1999 and took them home in a shoe box and that was that. Well, I think I still have it…

“Methuselah,” a bristlecone pine is the world’s oldest living thing at 4,767 years, and has lived over a millennium longer than any other tree. And you thought you were old!

Bye-bye, comment spam?

It’s recently been announced that Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search have teamed up with the developers of several popular blogging programs (including my own WordPress) to fight comment spam in blogs. Comment spam, of course, is basically spam that gets posted as comments to blog entries, thus making life harder for readers (who have to pick out real comments from junk) and better for the spammers (who now have another link to their site, which increases their ranking in the search engines). And you as reader will see no difference between links that have it and those that don’t (unless you’re a Firefox user and you change your UserContent.css file to display nofollow links differently than regular ones).

But, as I say, the big boys of search and blogs have teamed up to support a way not of blocking comment spam per se, but rather, making the spammers’ attempts to win the search engine rankings game futile. This new solution, which they all will begin supporting as soon as possible, is simply an attribute placed in an anchor tag (a link). The blogging program developers will have their programs screen links in comments and add rel="nofollow" to the code that makes the link work. As the search engines crawl web pages, they will ignore the links that have rel="nofollow". That way, the link doesn’t count toward the URL’s search engine ranking.

And of course, this doesn’t have to be used in just blogs. If you’ve ever had a guestbook, you know that spam can be a problem too. And there are probably other uses for nofollow that I can’t think of at the moment. But I wonder how the spammers will work around this one. They always find a way. Surely no one’s going to actually click on their links when reading comments in blogs, so they’re going to have to review their battle plan. Whatever they come up with, it’s going to be very clever.

For the record, here’s what I do to prevent comment spam: I screen comments before they’re posted. Comment spam isn’t an issue for me at this point, but it may become one in the future, so I want to be prepared.

Here’s the announcement about the nofollow attribute from Google Blog, Yahoo! Search Blog, and msnsearch’s WebLog. I didn’t know Yahoo! and MSN had blogs. (But I first read about this whole thing on the Google Blog.) Methinks Yahoo! and MSN are Google copycats, as usual.

And now for something different. I don’t usually post memes — okay, I have never posted a meme — but I thought this one was cool (picked it up from Scotto). Post 15 facts about yourself, but five of them have to be made up. Everyone then guesses which are the untrue ones. Then, post this on your journal and see if I can guess which ones you’re bluffing about!

Well, you don’t have do the second part. But take a whack at these:

1. My birthmark is on my upper arm.
2. I’ve met the brother of the President of the United States.
3. I own only five CDs.
4. The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up is a police officer.
5. I’ve ridden in a Goodyear blimp.
6. I’ve never used public transportation.
7. I am horrible at chess.
8. I always order a quesadilla when I go to a Mexican restaurant.
9. I have two chipped teeth.
10. During ninth grade I never missed a day of school or used the bathroom during class time.
11. I own four guitars.
12. I once had a fish named Neon.
13. I lived in a condominium for six weeks.
14. I visit relatives in Nebraska every three or four years.
15. I have a rock collection.

I’m not as fascinating as I thought. Or am I? Leave a comment and tell me the five ones that you think are lies. I’ll post the right answers in a future entry.

(People who know me personally will probably do a little bit better, and people who live in my house and are my sister will probably be barred from participating because I solicited their help with fabricating fibs but ended up not using any of theirs.)

Scratching the surface

Two days ago I had macaroni salad with my breakfast. It tasted kind of weird, like oil or wax or something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, and even though it tasted strange, I ate some of it.

As you may recall, last summer I acquired some records (you know, those big black CDs). I had never really got around to playing them because I didn’t know how to work the turntable. Well, recently my dad showed me how to do it, so yesterday I spun Beatles discs such as Hey Jude, the White Album, and Abbey Road. I also gave my recently bought copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a first play. It sounded pretty nice, though I did notice one thing that I confirmed with later research. As you move from the outside towards the center of a record, the sound quality deteriorates. And this was quite noticeable (on Side 1, at least) with a brand-new record.

It’s no wonder people switched to CDs. But I think I like records; they seem to be more — well, personal, I guess — than CDs. When you play a CD, you don’t get to position the laser to indicate exactly where it will begin playing. (You can’t even see which tracks are where anyway.) You can see the stylus traveling around the record (or, rather, the record traveling under the stylus, or leading the stylus around, or whatever). And there are lots of hazards associated with keeping records (dust and heat, to name a few). You really have to be involved.

And it was quite neat figuring out, while listening to Side 2 of Abbey Road (which has a sort of medley of songs), how they managed to place space (“banding”) between the tracks and still have one song blend right into the next. The groove quickly takes the stylus across this large, otherwise blank space by leading sharply toward the next track rather than going around easily in a circle. In Abbey Road‘s case, that part of the groove just happens to have sounds on it rather than being quiet.

I’m looking forward to buying more records.

Oh, and after I played some of the records, I had the rest of the macaroni salad. And it was then that I realized what it tasted like: record cleaning fluid! I’m not talking slightly, either. It tasted as though someone had sprayed the stuff on. I ate the rest of it anyway. Mostly.

In a previous post I said that I would download a particular program to generate stereograms. Well, it turns out that that particular program bites. The only way you can view the “hidden” image in each “stereogram” is to look at it normally; that way you get a pretty good idea, because you can see the outlines of the shapes quite clearly. And you’re liable to hurt yourself trying to relax/de-focus your eyes like you’re supposed to; there’s nothing to see! Needless to say, I’m not going to name this program or tell you where you can get it. It’s a waste of time.

Give me an “A“! Give me an “S“! Give me a “K“! Give me a “Jordon“!

Get me a life! … No? Darn. It was a good try.

Yellow Chicken: Why did you choose WordPress? How did you pick? Why not something like Movable Type?

The why: It seemed very customizable and easy enough to use (it is, in fact). It also appealed to me because it runs on PHP, which I like to dabble in.

The how: Someone on my web host‘s message board heard my plea for a good program and recommended WordPress.

I basically ruled out Movable Type after reading this Blog Software Breakdown. I didn’t happen to see WordPress there (it’s the very last column). MT runs on CGI/Perl, which I’m not too crazy about for some reason — probably because of having to upload files as ASCII and chmod them and all that.

At The Chemistry of Vinyl, you can learn about the science behind vinyl records and… how to make your own? Um, check it out and don’t blame me if you break your stylus trying to play your own “records.”

Domo arigato, Mr. Kevin

Today my friend Kevin (who posts comments here as kevinkagy) treated my sister, our friends, and me to lunch at Benihana for his birthday (actually, I think his parents picked up the bill, but it was still nice of his folks). I had only been there once before. (If you don’t know what the place like, it’s a pricey Japanese restaurant where a chef prepares your food at your table.) Our party consisted of ten people in all — Kevin, his family, and his friends. Ten people crammed at a table that was a stove first. But I guess any table could get uncomfortable if you’re sharing it with ten people. The chef was impressive, as they all are. I don’t know how they do it.

Well, thanks Kevin (and family), and happy birthday!

Randy Cassingham, published Dvorak keyboard expert, summarized a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article in a recent edition of his weekly column, This is True:

I wonder how many of my teachers have no idea what they’re doing. I could probably think of a few who might have failed their certification tests.

By the way, I highly recommend subscribing to True if you want to read crazy but absolutely true news stories from around the world each week. It’s free and I’m not getting paid to say this. I’ve been reading it for over two years. From my personal experience, Mr. Cassingham is a nice guy, and the fact that he’s a Dvorak keyboard aficionado doesn’t hurt either.

Just when I thought I had seen everything on the Internet:

I don’t think I can say much more about that.

Bread! And more!

Today I went to lunch at Atlanta Bread Company. It was for the good grades I had just gotten on my latest report card. My parents wanted to thank me and stuff for working so hard in school. But I don’t work hard. I wouldn’t say I coasted either, but I feel that I don’t deserve going out to lunch or dinner for it as we usually do.

For the health class that I’m taking online this semester (which is quite easy, by the way), I had to read this non-school-board web page: Improving Self-Esteem. It says that there are “THREE Faces of Low Self-Esteem.” One of them follows.

Sounds like me. Maybe I don’t have the best self-esteem, but at least I don’t slit my wrists or write poetry.

High self-esteem or low, I went to lunch at this Atlanta Bread Company. I have to say, the place had a nice atmosphere, especially because there was hardly anyone there. The roll they gave me with my cream of baked potato soup was okay, but it was nothing to name your restaurant after. I also had a sandwich involving chicken, pesto sauce, tomatoes, and focaccia bread. It was very good. It should have come with pasta to top it off. I had iced tea to drink. It was revelation to me: not all iced tea is Lipton Brisk in a can. Needless to say, I found out I’m not a tea drinker.

Nice place, that ABC. I’d go there again.

I’ve played a little bit with stereograms after my last post, which prominently featured the topic. I even found out how you can make stereograms yourself. There is software specifically designed to do it, but the only information I could find about stereogram programs was over ten years old (darn the Internet!). I did find that you can make simple ones in a program like Photoshop. Here’s one that I made (the solution is posted as a comment):

I’ve been able to make some slightly more complex ones, but like this one, they’re plagued by the fact that I can’t make the hidden image too wide, or your eyes won’t be able to focus on it. Mine won’t, anyway. Mine are probably like yours. Unless you need glasses or something.

Actually, whilst writing this (actually actually, whilst writing the bit below), I did find a pretty good looking program that actually seems to make good stereograms. I’m not sure if it’s actually free, though. I’ll actually have to try it out.

This guy is a Human Doormat. He claims to take anything you dish out on him. Stand on him. Wipe your feet. Have a seat, if you like. He’ll stand it (well, not really). He’ll also pay you $100 (US) an hour to trample him. The guy even has some $250 challenges.

I think he gets a bang out of being stood on, if you know what I mean. To each his own…

It’s stereoscopic!

Remember those “Magic Eye” images that were popular in the ’90s? The crazy pictures you kind of had to gaze at funny until a hidden image jumped out? I don’t know about you, but ever since I figured out how to see them (about six months ago), I’ve wanted to make my own. The software required to make good ones is very expensive. But some bright mind has presented a way to do it with, of all things, JavaScript. Check out the article, “Stereoscopic Vision in JavaScript,” and be sure to try out the working example of the script. You type a short string of text and the JavaScript thinks and chugs and spits out your text in a stereoscopic “image” that’s actually just a bunch of text. Plus, you get a choice of black-and-white or color (I recommend the latter for easier viewing.)

Have a look at this one I made (the solution is posted as a comment):

I wrote a bit about these images six months ago.

School is going better after the first day of the semester; i.e., I’m not feeling queasy anymore. My teachers I can put up with. But I’m getting loaded with homework for the weekends, and much of consists of essays. You may think it’s funny that I, a prolific writer, would have trouble writing an essay, but I don’t. I hate essays from the deepest crevices of my soul. Besides Brussels sprouts, I genuinely cannot think of something I hate and would try to avoid more than writing an essay or a paper.

But, well, I’ll just have to get used to it. (Insert some comment about colleges here.)

In other school news, the new campus was formally dedicated today, nine months to the day after the bells of the main building first rang. It was the auditorium that was holding it back. The ceremony, appropriately, was held in there. The general student body hasn’t even had a look inside yet, but we were able to get a glimpse of the place with a live closed-circuit TV feed of the event. Some teachers chose to show it during their classes, but others didn’t. My first hour teacher put on CBS instead (she couldn’t get CNN), and called the ceremony something along the lines of “stupid.” She didn’t even teach anything. Nay, she didn’t even lecture, because she hardly teaches when she does that (her lectures are quite funny, though).

For winter sales, businesses often use snowflakes in their advertisements in case you forgot that it was winter or something (though in all fairness, not all of us get snow). If there’s one thing you should remember from the first grade (besides that paste is not a good substitute for peanut butter), it is that snowflakes always have six sides. This gallery of recently discovered mutant snowflakes (sound warning) shows oddballs such as seven- and eight-sided flakes.

One day down… how many to go?

Today was the first day of the new semester, so I got all new teachers and classes. Fate has smiled upon me like a little boy when he burns ants to death with magnifying glass. I don’t think anyone — and I mean anyone — gets as nervous as I do on the first day of the semester. I felt flushed and sick to my stomach throughout much of the day. I stopped jittering during third hour though.

But I had reason to be nervous. There were two teachers I did not want to get. Naturally, I got those very two teachers back to back, first thing in the morning! (Did you know that ants give off smoke when you burn them?) One seems to be a cranky loudmouth who can’t leave her political opinions at the door (which isn’t very good for a history teacher; even though I agree with her, I’d complain if I had more guts). And if I don’t develop a deep-seated fear of writing essays by the end of the semester, then my name isn’t Jordon Kalilich. My Spanish teacher likewise wants to dive into work, work, work and blows up if you get out of your seat. The only reason I’m not still ill over just these two teachers is that the day has been so long.

Next I had Algebra II, which I switched into largely at my geometry teacher’s urging. The teacher is new this semester and seems very laid back, which I found to be so very relaxing that I stopped shaking. She didn’t talk much except to read the entire text of the syllabus, which is usually so full of “fluff and bull” (a catchphrase picked up from my freshman English teacher) that teachers who want to get things done just skim it. Then she gave us a test to see how much we knew. I didn’t get as far as I’d hoped because (a) I didn’t know some of the stuff, and (b) I didn’t have

Dang. I forgot to buy a calculator after school.

a calculator. Hopefully I won’t really need one, but I probably will. I’ll have to get one this weekend, because I don’t think I’ll need it before then.

This semester I have B lunch, which is during third hour. That is, you go to third hour, then you go to lunch, then you come back and finish the class. It’s a crazy idea to me, but I’ve never had that lunch period before. It does seem to make third hour go by faster. And it’s a lot of fun because I get to eat with an all-star cast of friends and friends of friends from previous semesters’ lunch periods.

Though he didn’t mean to do it, my last English teacher made me hate English. In particular, he made me hate writing essays (but I wouldn’t say that the fear is deep-seated yet). When I walked into the English room (right next door to my algebra room), I almost cried tears of joy at the sight of the young teacher and her friendly handwriting on the board. I then sat and watched as a motley crew of friends — well, mostly acquaintances — took their seats and talked with each other. It turns out that the teacher doesn’t stink, and it should be an easy class. I would liken this turn of events to the little boy’s sister who wants to be a vet when she grows up coming out into the yard and asking the little boy what does he think he’s doing torturing one of God’s creatures and then saving the poor little ant just before he is to be a crispy critter.

Oh, and I’m taking health class (Life Management Skills, actually) online. It should be pretty easy.

So that was my first day of the semester. It shouldn’t be that horrendously horrible. I just have to get used to the quirks of each teacher and all the work I’ll have to do. I just have one more complaint.

How teachers should be consistent with one another! One is always telling you to do something that another teacher says you shouldn’t do in their class, and so on. Case in point: my Spanish teacher doesn’t “believe in” extra credit, and yet my English teacher gave an assignment today to help us “start off the semester with some extra credit points.” I’d pay to see them defending their ideologies in the teachers’ lounge. Sheesh.