Finals Week

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time for pain and constant studying. Time for pivotal grades and unimaginable stress.

Time for finals.

Funny thing is I'm writing this during my first final - advanced computer programming. I'm pretty sure I aced it, but I'm also pretty sure it doesn't matter. We already had the AP test and I'm fairly certain I passed it. Mr. Holdridge said that if we passed it we automatically get an A in the class. I could've skipped it if I had wanted to. But I didn't.

You should've seen the halls this morning. Never do you see so many people running around, trying to memorize information. It's pretty ridiculous.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think finals is that bad of an idea, but the thing is (at least at our school), finals have become a requirement. Teachers MUST give out a test the day of finals. That's where I take objection. Teachers should not be forced to give out a huge test at the end of the year. If they feel that it's necessary, than sure, but some classes don't really fit the bill. How are you supposed to give out a final in Horticulture? Or Moral Decision-Making? Or even Theology, if you spent most of your time in deep conversation about ethics rather than church history.

Either way, I'm not going to be getting great grades this semester. I've got two confirmed A's, but I'm afraid that may be all I'm getting this time around. I'll still be lucky if I pass Algebra II.

Ah well. It's just school. I'll keep that in mind.

Finals, Essays, Tests, and Grades

Well I'm not gonna say much about this - I'm just gonna say that it was a lot of stress and it boils down to my grades, which I'll put up here. I'm not the sort of person who is able to or even hard working enough to get a 4.0, so instead I slide by with a respectable 3.5. (note: my geometry grade is actually an A, it just hasn't gotten changed yet) (another note: I'm not putting my grades up to show off, it's more because I've got a lack of content right now and I need to fill in some May posts before I run out of time for it. If you're looking for fresh content from me, try reading Chapter 1 of Mondays at Monday Musings (it's on the side bar.))


Band - A
Computer Apps 2 - B
A PLEASURE TO HAVE IN CLASS NOT WORKING TO FULL POTENTIAL
English I - B
Geometry - B+
Concept Physics - B+
Spanish I - B
A PLEASURE TO HAVE IN CLASS PLEASANT AND HARD WORKING
Theology I - A
Boys' P.E. - A

May

Some of you are probably wondering why I haven't written in so long. It's been ten days since my last May post. Here's the thing - it's not easy anymore. It's becoming especially more difficult to blog, what with very limited computer use both at school and at home, not to mention the things piling up on my plate right now. When it comes down to it, it can be listed like this:

An upcoming concert and a broken instrument

An unfortunate breakup

A fiddler on the roof

That fiddler in an in-school suspension

My avuncular friend, Brian

A story that needs finishing

Finals, essays, tests, and grades

And... a less than ideal situation at home with Gary.

With any luck, I will get to tell you all of these stories. My life hasn't stopped, but I haven't been fortunate enough to put my life down on the computer screen yet. I apologize for the absence. Keep reading though. My story's far from over...

Finals: Day 4 (Last Day of School)

I've got an announcement everyone!

Holy crap it's Christmas Break!

The school day today was only a couple hours long and we only had one class; whatever we usually had at seventh period. For me, that was theology. And God it was easy. Our teacher basically handed the answers to it out weeks ago. Anybody who studied it would be fine, which is why I'm sure I aced it.

I asked my English 1/Speech teacher about how I did on my English final and it turns out I got 95%. I was stunned; this was one of the finals I really wasn't sure about as much. That's the only grade I've got so far aside from the health final. It looks like I did pretty well. I'll have to wait to see how I did on the others.

After the Theology final and the bell, I ran out in the hall, hugging people and shouting "School's out!" and "It's Christmas Break!" and such. Everybody was happy to finally be out of school for a while. And with good cause. Christmas is five days away. Five days. That's a normal school week. It's just so close.

With the holidays approaching, my older brother Micheal came last night and is staying with us for break. I haven't said much about him, but he's twenty, he goes to St. John's in Minnesota, and he's majoring in Philosophy. He's totally buff and spent one of his summers working as a construction worker. He's great company and conversation, and thanks to him I'll be getting my healthy doses of sarcasm this winter.

At any rate, there's no worries. It's nearing Christmas time and I've got family nearby. Happy Last Day of Finals!

Finals: Day 3

Getting a little bit colder...

It's the second to last day of finals now. One more day and it's Christmas Day. I can see it now: skiing up at Bogus; sledding in McCall; a christmas with the family... I can't wait.

Of course, I still have to.

At any rate, aside from my 'Christmas time is here' euphoria, I did pretty well on my finals today. I only had Spanish because I had Speech last week (it's a little bit different schedule for speech). The Spanish test wasn't too hard, just long. There were 116 questions, and I'm confident I got 110 of them at least. For speech I just had to listen to the speeches that had not been done yet. When the bell rang, Mr. Connor (speech teacher) said farewell and merry Christmas. And that's when it really hit me that I wouldn't have a class with a lot of these people ever again. So now I write a tribute to the friends that I'm going to see less in the next semester.

Seth Remling, I had fun hearing your stories firsthand. I hope that I can still hear from you through your blog, but I'll miss seeing you so often.
Gavin, It's good to have someone like you in a first period class. Thanks, I'll see you around.
J.J., You always called me your buddy and put a smile on my face. I hope I'll see you just as much in the next semester buddy.
Brandon, I know you're leaving Idaho soon. I wish I could've heard more of your great speeches. Thanks.
Chelsea, I wish there were more people as individual as you. I'll miss sharing speech with you.
Nikki, I've never seen you sad. Your happiness is contagious; thanks for cheering me up.

These are just a few of my good friends I won't have a class with next semester. That's life. Thanks for the memories...

Finals: Day 2

It's been a strange week so far. They completely screwed up the day-the bell rings at 8:30 and we get out about noon. We have a thirty-minute break and only two classes otherwise. The classes are extended of course and I usually end up sitting around for nearly an hour after finishing the tests. It's a four day week, and each day covers two periods, except for Thursday which only covers seventh.

So how's finals going?

It's so-so. I was right about the Health final; I did get a C, but that's the only final I've taken so far that I actually think I did badly in. So I knocked off Health and English 1 on Monday, and I just finished Geometry and C. Phys today. I think that I did really well in those two, so I'm not worried.

I was doing some thinking about what scores I needed on the finals when I realized something: you fail your finals and your screwed, but if you do well it don't make much of a difference anyhow. I can hardly raise my grades by two percent this week, even if I get one hundreds. I told my folks this and they laughed. They said that this was a "recurring theme" in life. I hope not, it sucks.

Good luck on the rest of your finals ya'all!


"I never let my school get in the way of my education" - Mark Twain

Finals: Day 1

It's Monday again, and I've finally made it to the end of the semester. And finals have begun.

It's break right now, and I just got out of my Health final. There was a fire alarm right in the middle of the exam and we all had to dump our tests and get out. After lingering around for a while, we went back in to try to finish. And guess what? Because of the fire alarm, they extended the day by about twenty minutes. I didn't know they were even allowed to do that. I'm mad.

After the test (I'm thinking I got a C or something) I walked into Freshman Hall. There are still recycling bins littered about Freshman Hall. Apparently, we're cleaning out the lockers. We're just throwing everything away, getting rid of memories. The thing is, I'm looking at the finals in a different way; these are the last days I'll get to be in a class with a bunch of great people. I'm keeping my papers.