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.

What To Say...

Brian, help me out. What do you do when your life's so chaotic that you don't know what to blog about? It's hard to funnel these events in my life to produce some sort of moral or cohesive story at al. I just feel lost in my own life's happenings. It's all too much.

Well I'm having trouble filter it out, so I'll try to say it all.

School - My schoolwork's taking a hit because of my disorganization, and my absolute loathing of Algebra II. I'm going to have to pull out some serious studying for finals if I want to salvage myself. My interactions with my friends and acquaintances are changing rapidly, and I'm not sure how to react. Old friends suddenly start to look like trash, and bare acquaintances show an incredible person. Through it all, I find myself much more understanding than anybody in the school. I hear sharp, harsh 'shut ups' thrown around all the time to outsiders, and I hate it. I can't even remember the last time I said that and meant it seriously.

Music - The new piano lessons are going great. Did I mention? I may not have. I have a new teacher. Really cool dude. In contrast, the band is attempting a concert, but we are botching it terribly, and at this point, I dread that the thing will fail entirely - it won't happen, or won't be very good. Apart from that, I'm getting gigs weekly now, and it has had a profound affect on my life. Suddenly I work part-time (sort of). My income for a month has doubled. But on the other end of that, I'm spending a lot more on music as well - Save For Rachel is in final production stages, but with all the money by now that I've spent on CDs and cases and production in general, I'll have to sell at least ten albums to make up for my losses. Let me just say, I had better sell more than ten albums. If you're interested in receiving one, I will be selling them next week at school, and extras at any of my gigs (5 dollars a pop). If you're just a blog reader and interested, leave a comment and I'll try to figure something out. I'm still trying to get a band together...

Confirmation - I'm getting confirmed this coming Monday. I'm not sure what to think - my morality right now is still tossed about. I feel like I'm making progress, but I am so, so unsure of everything in life right now. Maybe this will help me find my way again. But I'm not sure it will.

I'm sure there's more to say, but there's too much too say to bother saying it. And if anybody knows how to upload mp3's to a blog, please, please leave a comment.

First Gig

Disclaimer: That is not me, nor is it my guitar.

Apathy and distraction suck, let me tell you.

I rue the day that teachers invented BlackBoard (online homework system). I had a tough enough time doing homework in my room all alone. I'd get distracted even then. How did they think it was that good of an idea? Wasn't it obvious that people would end up on Facebook, or YouTube, or anywhere but where they are supposed to be?

Ugh. It sucks. My grades for this semester aren't going to be too hot, not at all. My grades this first quarter were really bad with Dad and all, and I'm not having much luck trying to make up for it this quarter.

But it doesn't matter, and you know why? I've already made up my mind about my career, and I'm fairly certain that I'll want to do the same thing for ages. I want to be a musician, plain and simple. I actually just played my first gig this last Friday at the Dream Cafe. It didn't turn out like I expected (I was double-booked, took shifts with two other musicians, and ending up playing (and singing) mostly on guitar) but for the most part it turned out well. It's a miracle too - I got the job just as I ran broke, and now I've got enough to make it through the month. Barely, but still.

So I'll try to keep up with schoolwork, but I'm not honestly too worried about it. With my music, I've got plenty of backup plans. In fact, if I do go to college, it will be mostly to try to do something more with my music, maybe join some cool music program.

Also, I kind of lied about Save For Rachel. Underestimated production time and what-not. Still looking to get cover art and booklets and what not. So may be a couple of weeks, because I'm heading to Seattle this coming weekend. Sorry, any BK readers.

For now though I'll try to keep up with my homework after practicing piano. That's my priorities right there.

Saving Up

I've managed to spend virtually nothing all this month. And it's almost December. Which means, with my $100/month allowance, I'm going to have $200 Dec. 1st. The reason for me saving up like this is that I plan to get my little brother, Andy, something special for Christmas.

I've got it all in twenties. It makes me reluctant to spend any of it, which is a good thing. Anyway, the other day there was a jean day at my school. Kids got to wear jeans so long as they gave a dollar. The money went towards someone in Oregon who had recently lost a 5 - month old child. I would have, and seriously considered donating towards it, but that meant I would have to break a twenty, which I was reluctant to do. So, I skipped it.

Bad move. Later that day, a girl called me out on it, angry that I hadn't donated money. I thought it was pretty ridiculous that she was getting mad at me, but I did feel bad. So, when somebody offered me a couple of dollars to do some Algebra homework for him, I agreed. Later I gave donated the money towards the cause.

Moral of the story is that there is no black and white as far as morality concerned. The whole day was a gray area for me. I wonder, if higher powers ever examine my life and look at that day, will they figure that I did right, or that I did wrong?

Overwhelmed

I want to apologize for not posting much, but it turns out that being a sophomore makes things quite a bit harder, especially for me.

So hold tight, give me some time, read a few webcomics.

Update

Like I said, I've been kind of busy. I'm trying to get better grades than last year, so it's difficult to take time for blogging. But I found some time now, and I have some highlights of the past week or so.

First Day Of School: I got a lot of stares today. It was probably because I showed up in a full suit, tie, and top-hat, complete with nice shoes.

Second Day Of School: As I get used to getting up early for band, it becomes apparent that band will both be more fun as well as more of a project for me. It'll be a big year as far as that's concerned.

Labor Day Weekend: Basically picked up the chord. By the end of the weekend I had learned all the fundamental chord changes I needed to impress people marginally.

Second Week of School: So naturally, I take a day out of the week to not carry any books, but strap a guitar on and play my guitar, walking down the halls. People seemed to like it.

Here's my schedule:
0 hour - Band
1st hour - Biology
2nd hour - Theology
3rd hour - Algebra II
4th hour - Spanish II
5th hour - Computer Programming
6th hour - English II
7th hour - World History

Oh, and I've been working on Mondays! Quite a bit...

Back to School...

Yeah, I'm back to school. I'm kind of busy and don't have much to write about as of yet, but I'd just like everybody to know that I am no longer using therandomnessoflife.com as a URL. To get to my blog, you'll have to use alcatraz014.blogspot.com like we used to. I will hopefully be registering therandomnessoflife.net sometime soon, so this is merely temporary. The reason is so that I can finally get my blog unblocked at school. Thanks for being patient.

Mondays, Part 2

Here's another part of my half-finished book. If you want to read the first part, here it is.
Mondays
A little background information - I wrote most of this while I was in eighth grade. At that time I went to St. Mary's Catholic School. Great place. At any rate, recess was a very big thing for most of the students, mostly because of competition. As eighth graders, we played the seventh graders in football. It often got really tense and at times both teams were known to cheat and play dirty. It was mostly from this that inspired this 2nd part of my book.
Enjoy! Comment if you like it!

After Algebra, there was History with Mrs. Lancaster. As usual in the class, I sat with everyone else, but read ahead, ignored the teacher’s discussion and did none of the checkpoint questions that everyone else did. So far, I’d been doing this for a month with no consequences. While they were reading about the War of 1812, I was reading about the end of the Depression. I had asked Mrs. Lancaster if she knew that I wasn’t with the class, but she just laughed and told me to do my work. She was a character.

While switching back to homeroom Andy bumped into me and said, “You suck. Wait for me next time you jackass.” I did my best to ignore the comment, and set my things on my desk. It was hard to ignore him sometimes, but it was always harder to punish him for it. For example, if I punched him for insulting me or annoying me, he would not logically link the two together and stop doing what caused me to punch him, but defiantly say something along the lines of “I didn’t do anything. You’re just a jerk.” This did nothing for either of us but further infuriated me. But for now it didn’t matter what he said to me. It was time for recess.

The school was small, maybe two hundred kids for the nine grades it offered: Kindergarten through eighth grade. Each of the grades got recess, but this was the last year that I would get the privilege before high school. The upper grades- the fifth, sixth seventh, and eighth grades- had their recess right after the lower grades, which were fourth on down.

As for the games, classes usually compete against the others. Eighth versus Seventh; Sixth versus Fifth; and so on. The sport was a variable, and the game pool included kickball, bump, basketball, dodgeball, four-square, wallball, red-ass, and many others. But the eighth and seventh played two-hand-touch football out on the grass field. It was what the two classes lived for. There was rivalry and friendship out on that field, and each football game was better than the last.

I ran out onto the field to face the seventh grade with my team. The odds were stacked against us. They had perhaps a seven-man advantage. Nick, our quarterback was shouting orders at everyone. We were receiving the kickoff. The ball soared into the end zone and Mark kneed it for a touchback. Hike! Nick dumped it to Luke, who made some good running yardage. Hike! An incomplete pass. Hike! A long pass to Mark. Hike! A short dump to me, touchdown. Score, 1-0, us.

I was a surprised at a touchdown so early; we weren’t usually this smooth this early in the game. When you’re in a football game and you’re outnumbered, no yardage marks, and no first downs, it’s hard to get a good start. On top of that, there were no referees, so if they cheated, than oh well.

We kicked off and I managed to tag the recipient before he could make it too far. John and I rushed Peter, the seventh grade quarterback. We had to rush through maybe three times as many blockers, but we pretty consistently made it through and if we didn’t make a sack, then we at least put good pressure on their QB, Peter.

So it was their ball. Hike! John and I sack Peter. Hike! QB run, maybe a ten yard gain. Hike! Incomplete pass. Punt! A quick recovery for us. We didn’t do so well for the next series of plays, and the game continued in such patterns until the score was 2-2, until it was late in the game. We had the ball perhaps fifteen yards from the end zone. It was fourth down, too long to give an easy pass, and too short to give a soaring one. I whispered to John, “I’ll be open.” On the hike, I ran straight into the end zone as fast as I humanly could. Still running, I turned to see the ball hurtling toward me. Still running, I felt my foot connect with a leg, and tripped over it. Crashing down, I saw Peter grin and make a grab at the ball.

He missed of course, but my class immediately sprang into action. John, having seen the deliberate tripping laid Peter out on the grass, and the seventh graders tried to come and wrestle us down. They weren’t able to; they couldn’t. While our age and strength may not be much use for two-hand-touch football, any sevie would be sadly outmatched to us when it came to fighting. But it was very hard for seven of us to fend off fifteen of them, even with our advantage of strength.

There wasn’t much else but tackles, but the two classes were in an all-out brawl by the time a teacher came and broke it up. He took the ball and said a little speech about our behavior, and said that the next time it happened, it would be gone for the week. It’s a simple thing to say, right? Not for him. He turned this into a five-minute long ordeal. I didn’t pay much attention, but there was something strange about how he said the speech. It was probably just that his voice kept on squeaking in the middle of it. I didn’t care. He was a pathetic teacher, and I had disliked him ever since I first set foot in the school. The only reason we hadn’t gotten in worse trouble was because he wouldn’t have known how to deal with it. All I gathered was that if it happened again, the football would be taken.

The bell rung and we clamored up the stairs, walked past the huge map of the world, and into our separate classrooms with plenty of exchanged glares.

To Be Continued...

Dress Code

As I've said before, I go to Bishop Kelly Catholic High School. Somehow, though, I've failed to mention a certain dress code that binds all students of Bishop Kelly. A dress code that I usually abide by, but recently slipped and got a violation. Apparently if you get two violations in the whole school year, you have to serve a detention. The third and fourth violations are equal to in-school suspensions.

Well that's just bull if you ask me. For punishment, we sit in this little room with a one-sided mirror and copy down, word-for-word, the dress code policy. Now I am no fast writer. I can text. I can type. But write? You'd have to give me some time. And here is what I (and plenty others before me) had to write down, out of the student handbook:

DRESS CODE POLICY Philosophy: The purpose of the dress code policy is to contribute to the academic atmosphere of the school, to give students a sense of equality, and to lend dignity to both the individual and the school, while providing a sense of school unity and identity. The intent of this policy is to provide general guidelines for students, parents, and faculty so that expectations are clear. General Dress Code: All clothing articles should be well-kept, clean, neat and should fit appropriately. Pants - Dress slacks, business casual, khaki style, or cargo pants are acceptable and must be worn at the waist. No denim, camouflage, or athletic pants may be worn. Belts - Belts must be worn with pants that have belt loops. Shorts - Walking or cargo shorts may be worn and must extend past mid-thigh. Athletic, mesh, denim, frayed or cut-off shorts are not allowed. Skirts/Skorts – Skirts/Skorts may be worn by female students and must extend to the top of the knee when standing up straight. No denim is allowed. Shirts – All shirts must have collars and sleeves. Mock and full turtlenecks are acceptable collars. Shirts may be worn untucked if the hem is straight and does not extend past the belt line. All other shirts need to be completely tucked in. Shirts must be buttoned and worn appropriately to not show excessive neckline. Sweatshirts/Fleece/Crewneck Sweaters – Bishop Kelly, college/university, or unadorned/plain sweatshirts or crewneck sweaters may be worn with or without a collared shirt beneath it. No other sweatshirts or crewneck sweaters are allowed. Jackets/Sweaters – V-neck, button up, and zip-up sweaters, jackets and hoodies may be worn as an addition to the above stated “shirts” policy. Jewelry – Jewelry should be worn in moderation and in good taste. Excessive jewelry and ornamentation is not acceptable. Body Piercing/Tattoos – With the exception of earrings for female students, no other body piercing or tattooing is allowed to be visible. Hats/ Head Coverings – Head coverings of any kind are considered inappropriate for the school environment. No hats, visors, hoods, stocking caps, beanies, or bandanas are to be worn in the building. Shoes – Shoes must be safe and appropriate for school. Bedroom slippers are never allowed. Hair Requirements – Hair should be kept neat, clean, trimmed appropriately and properly styled. No unnatural hair colors are allowed. Hair styles should not become a distraction to the learning environment for the individual or for others. The expectation for male students is that hair should be out of the eyes when hanging naturally, off of the collar when hanging naturally, and cut above the earlobes. If a student’s hair is not appropriate, the student will be given 3 days to comply with a request from the administration and after that time the student will be placed in “In-School Suspension” until the hair is appropriate. Facial Hair is not permitted. Mass Dress: The Mass Day dress code is designed to reflect dignity and respect. Boys must wear collared shirts (No Polo Shirts) with a tied necktie and long slacks or khaki pants all day. Girls must wear dresses or skirts and collared blouses, or dress slacks and collared blouses all day. No flip-flops or sweatshirts are to be worn on Mass Days. Spirit/Team Dress: On designated spirit days, all students will be allowed to wear Bishop Kelly tee shirts. On game/competition days not designated as a school-wide Spirit Day, team members may dress alike in the spirit of team unity and school pride. Team dress includes appropriate clothing outlined in the Bishop Kelly Dress Code, Bishop Kelly tee shirts, and/or jerseys with sleeves. Consequences: The dress code is in effect from the beginning of the school day until the end, which will be signified by the first and last bell. Students will not be permitted in class if they are out of dress code. Any class time missed due to being out of dress code will be considered as an unexcused absence, and credit for any class work missed shall not be granted. Students not in dress code will need to: 1. correct the problem immediately 2. call parents for a change of clothing if the problem cannot be corrected, or 3. remain in In-School Suspension until the problem is corrected or until the school day ends. Dress Code Violations are cumulative through the academic year. The first violation will be a written reprimand/warning; a second violation will be an After-School Detention; any subsequent violations will result in a one-day, In-School Suspension.





I doubt you'll look through all of this, but personally, I think it's ridiculous. Because there's something that comes up long before the dress code policy, right there at the beginning of the student handbook.

OUR BELIEFS
† JESUS CHRIST is our ultimate teacher and role model.
† Learning is our priority.
† Moral development and service to others is central to learning.
† All students strive for excellence consistent with ability.
† All students are valued for their unique spiritual, intellectual, moral, physical, social, creative and emotional gifts and needs.
† Our Christian learning environment is the responsibility of students, parents, teachers, staff, coaches, alumni, and administrators.
† Continuous improvement is imperative to developing lifelong learners.


Notice the first statement of beliefs. Jesus Christ... would he enforce a dress code as strictly as Bishop Kelly does? Where three dress code violations throughout the entire school year result in an in-school suspension? This argument probably doesn't hold up, but I wish that we didn't have to put up with such ridiculous restrictions from a place that constantly preaches tolerance and kindness. Well that's my spin on things anyway.

Service Learning Day

Interesting day of school today. Interesting because I'm using the phrase "day of school" loosely.

At Bishop Kelly Catholic High School, we're asked to put in 'service hours', or time volunteering for various projects for homeless and sick and elderly and anything else. Like coaching for a Special Olympics Team, or helping out at the local shelter. Stuff like that.

And one day a year, we have Service Learning Day, where the whole school goes with their first period class to wherever they need to go to do service. So we have everyone going different directions. One class to the park, one class to the Greenbelt, one class to a suburban neighborhood, one class to BK, etc.

We went to the suburban neighborhood I mentioned. We did some yardwork for some elderly people who weren't able to clean up their yards anymore. In retrospect, it was some pretty light work, and we all found that we were overequipped with rakes. We would've gotten by with two but we had thirty.

Interesting bit from that, at one of the houses we went to, we found a wheelbarrow full of half-frozen rotting leaf-water. The smell would've knocked out most people in the immediate vicinity, but I've got a really bad nose. So I got stuck with getting rid of it. And boy did it stink!

So I pulled it out of the side of the houses' garage and up front to the street. Now wait, how the hell was I going to get rid of it? I know! Use the street sewer! "Hey Mark! Help me lift this manhole cover off!" And we lifted it up and dumped the disgusting concoction down the sewer.

While this was fun, I'm pretty sure it was illegal. Which makes it more fun. But it was a good day and we got to do some good work.

A Look Down The Halls

I was bored this morning and had my camera handy. Take a look at what it's like before school.

Semester 2

The good news about this semester is that I've really only got five classes this semester that I have to work on. Five out of eight. Because three of them is boy's PE, Computer Apps II, and Band.

The bad news is that the other five just got a lot harder. Jsut like last semester, I've got homework nearly everyday in English, and I end up with harder material with everything else.

I still know I'm lucky. There are still some freshman having to go through health and speech this semester. And don't get me wrong - I liked speech, but both classes have a considerable workload, and they aren't all that easy. And health was hell on earth for me.

So really, conpared to my last semester, this should be pretty good. And just like last semester, I really like my schedule. I've got PE last, so I get to have some fun before school ends. I just hope I can keep it up in the other five. It may be difficult. We'll see...

Gone Out With A Bang

Well, here we are. School starts tomorrow. So for the final day of Winter break, I had some fun. I went out with a bang.

Here's how today played out:

After inviting my good friend Troy over, we played on my new Wii until my cousins showed up- Nathan (12) and Nolan (9). Mom soon got sick of us playing downstairs and took us out to lunch at Smoky Mountain Pizza. We stuffed ourselves with an XXL meatlovers pizza before nearly passing out from fullness. Geez, they make some really good pizza. A must eat!

After digesting our meal for a little bit, we all shuffled into the car and started driving out to Idaho Iceworld, the local ice rink. Mostly this was because I had gotten an email that said we had hockey practice that day and my folks thought it would be a good idea to bring everybody else out for a free skate. But it turned out that the practice schedule ended up kind of messed up. So what happened was that I skated with my little brother, Troy, Nathan, Nolan, and several other teammates that had shown up on the free skate. And when the coach showed up, he pulled some strings and booked a sticktime for us. So after a couple of hours of skating with my friends and relatives, I walked over to the other rink, put on my gear, grabbed my stick, and got on the ice.

It really wasn't much of a practice, but it was fun as hell. We actually just scrimaged for an hour. And who wouldn't enjoy that?

After finishing that up, my cousins bid farewell and started driving back to California, we took Troy home, and I went home as well. After a great dinner, I went back downstairs, and started typing this. And now here I am. And tomorrow, I have to wake up again to go to school. It saddens me alot to know I can't have any more lazy days during the week. But that's life. I'll just have to make the best of it.

Back At School...

Well what do you know. One day out and I've already gone back into a schoolroom.

Here's how the day played out: I got up with my brother at about 7:30 AM to go to school with him. I wouldn't normally of course because, oh wait, we go to different schools, but my friend was hosting a little poker party and I decided I'd show them a thing or two about cards. That and I used to go to Andy's (my little brother's) school with him, so it was really nice to see some of my old teachers there. St. Mary's hasn't changed a bit. Unless you count the new stairs.

So after arriving and saying hi to the principal and teachers, I found my friends and left. We grabbed donuts and milk and went on our way, smothering ourselves with baked sugars. Once we got to this kid's house we busted out the cards and chips between the four of us and started playing. I'm pretty good at poker, and if you don't count the ridiculous 'all-in' round at the end, I definitely won. It's all about the odds.

My friends soon made a mess of the chips and a fifth friend showed up while we were cleaning up. Bored with cards, we decided to play football instead. We had the two best players vs. the other three. Of course, they underestimated my skill as a football player. My throw could be straighter and faster, but I can play QB pretty well for a two-hand-touch game of street football. We didn't really keep score, but I think we won.

After that, we played some hide and seek with a twist, which was that when they found me they'd beet the crap out of me for fun. I laughed and tried to beat up just one of them, but always overwhelmed. Oh well, I was outnumbered and I suck at fighting, so I can live with that. We constantly fought and beat on each other and laughed because of it. I walked out of that house with plenty of bruises and cuts, but I don't regret it. It was about as fun pain can be.

We went back to St. Mary's and chilled there for a bit until school was released at noon. I hitched a ride with one of my friends and headed back home. After two or three meaningless hours, I realized I had to find some way to occupy myself. So off to the YMCA I went. And again accomplished nothing. I somehow ended up in a deep conversation with some guy named Richard and afterwards scrambled for a pool game. Unfortunately, there were four people there who were all to busy trying to beat each other to play me. So I did virtually squat.

And now I'm back home and blogging after a nice dinner. This day has helped me realize something though. With full days to do nothing, I'm gonna have to find some way other than video games and computer to occupy myself. Maybe I could take up ice sculpting...

Mondays

I've got nothing to write about today so I though I would stick in an excerpt from a story I wrote a year ago in eighth grade. Plus I'm really mad I have to go to school in less than two days from now.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock, blaring incessantly, tearing me away from sleep. I slammed the snooze button, even when I knew it didn’t do me any good. I fell back to sleep for a few minutes, but only to have the clock ring again as programmed. This time, sleep had left me again.

I tore myself away from the warm sheets and pillows to meet the harsh morning. As usual, I took my shower and dried off, thinking my normal Monday thoughts. This is stupid. Why do we have school today? Why do we have school at all? I always had these sorts of thoughts on Mondays, and this one was no different.

After getting dressed I walked downstairs to the kitchen to scrounge some breakfast. Bagel? Cereal? Toast? I grabbed the quickest meal available to me- a breakfast bar from the cupboard- and ate it while climbing back up the stairs. Andy had just gotten up and dressed, and we passed through the hall silently.

I brushed my teeth and gathered up my things for school, just beginning to worry about the half-dozen assignments that I hadn’t done. It was late in the morning by now, so I didn’t wait for Andy, but got my bike ready once I was packed. It was a cold morning, and the nine-block ride, albeit I had a jacket, numbed my fingers and made me shiver. Upon reaching the school, I harbored a tremendous temptation to turn around and do something useful or fun for the day, but I resisted as usual. After all, it was just another Monday.

I stepped into the gymnasium to face the day that awaited me. A few of my classmates looked as I walked in and greeted me, but most looked apathetic, concealing their own storms of anger. Not that I expected anything more; they were all as mad at the world as I was. Monday did this to people, especially students and teachers. There was something about this godforsaken day that put everybody in bad moods.

Mark, Luke, and John were three of my closest friends. Mark was a Hispanic boy who I had known since first grade. He was very strong and knew enough weak points and body locks to beat the crap out of nearly anyone in a fair fight. Luke, I had known since third or fourth grade, and though obnoxious and a bit short, was fun to be around. John was a huge, burly character who had joined the class just this year, but he immediately fit in with us and was soon a close friend of mine. I hung with them until the bell rung and we shuffled off toward homeroom.

Algebra was our first period subject, but it seemed like stupid placement to me. Most assignments that you forget to do can be done throughout the day, but not for Algebra, and when there was an assignment virtually every day, there were few days where we didn’t have homework. Mrs. Higgins was our teacher, and she was pretty nice, but I still had to go to the library to try to catch up with the math that I didn’t do. I tried to do the work that was assigned, but you always had to have a good calculator, which I didn’t have at home. And the math seemed so repetitive after a while, it was hard not to be sidetracked. I finished the unfinished work and got my late grade as usual. After all, it was just another Monday.