R3 - Mr Currin = Big deal?

“Mr. Currin is kind of a big deal… true or false?”

Seriously Currin? This is just getting pitiful. I find it very hard for you to be a big deal when it comes to the point of asking people if you’re a big deal. I’ve literally been sitting here for a good ten minutes thinking about what I should write, but I’m finding it nearly impossible. I can’t even believe I’m actually writing a blog about this right now. I’m embarrassed.

I’ll give you a few pointers on how to truly a big deal, Mr. Currin. First off, it’s kind of like the Fight Club. Number one rule, don’t talk about being a big deal. It completely ruins the purpose of being a big deal. If you talk highly of yourself, your rep automatically bumps down a few levels. If you want to truly be a big deal, let other people do the boasting, not you.

Second rule of being a big deal, you can’t be a big deal if you’re an English teacher at Alden High School. More than half of your Facebook friends are your former students, and that’s only because they think it’s cool to have old teachers as Facebook friends. It’s time to stop bragging about the 700 or so friends you have on the book, because NEWS FLASH, I have over 1,100. Deal with it.

The final rule of being a big deal? Well that’s easy. You have to be better at everything than everybody around you. And just to clear things up, I’m sitting in the same room as you. You know what that means? You’re not a big deal. I’m the big deal. Welcome to reality. Scared? You should be.

Seeing as this is the concluding paragraph, I’m guessing that you’re expecting the answer. The answer is FALSE, Mr. Currin. Somebody may say otherwise, but their opinion is 100% irrelevant. Good day.

R2 - Most Enjoyable Topic

It’s difficult to pinpoint the specific thing in which I enjoy writing about, but if I had to choose, I would probably have to go with personal experiences. They are much easier to type out and word in your own way, and nobody is there to correct you on details or explanations. You type everything in your own perspective and make it seem like the reader was right there with you.

I think the same goes with most readers as well. It’s always enjoyable to read about the things that people have experienced in life, because it’s a completely different reality than your own. It makes you look at things in a different way and makes you wonder what it is like to be somebody else. My personal favorite stories to read are Michael Steffan’s stories, because you can tell that they are truly genuine. Every detail is most likely exactly how it happened in real life, and that just makes it that much more satisfying.

On the other hand, there are also blogs that I absolutely despise writing about. If you have been up to date with all of my blogs, (which I doubt you are, seeing as there is a total of 0 people reading this blog even right now) you would know that I absolutely hate writing choice blogs. It seems as if Mr. Currin gets too lazy to think of a few more blogs for us to write about, so he just tosses a couple choice blogs in the mix and calls it a day. As a student, I firmly believe that our assignments should already be prepared for us, and we should not be required to think of three entirely new blog subjects because Mr. Currin would rather go grade a couple papers. It’s a good feeling knowing that I don’t have to worry about another choice blog for another day in my entire life.

R1 - End of the Year

If I were to be asked, “What’s the best part about the end of the school year?” just a year ago, I’d respond by saying, “summer and looking forward to the next school year.” This year is a little different though.

It’s the last month of senior year and I can’t look forward to returning to my favorite teachers and seeing all of my friends. It’s pretty much set in stone that I won’t be seeing 80% of the people I’m used to seeing every single day. Sure, I won’t have to deal with getting in trouble for stupid stuff and worrying about hall passes, but deep down I’m really going to miss this place. Alden Central Schools is basically a second home for me. I have come here five days a week for seven hours eight months out of the year for the past seven years. That’s a lot of time.

Infinite memories have come from the times of high school, and I’m positive that I won’t forget many of them. Memories ranging from getting in trouble for calling a teacher crazy on Facebook to the games of Targetball in gym class. I’ll be reminiscing about these times until I’m sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch. High school is a stage in every person’s life that shapes them to become whoever they want to be in the future. That being said, I feel the need to thank the most influential and respectful teachers of my entire Alden Central School journey:

Mr. MacCowan, Mr. Burkhardt, Mr. Currin, Ms. Siuta, Mr. Erhardt, Mr. Casillo, Mr. Turton, Mr. Foss, and Mr. Matecki. Although I may not be in contact with these teachers as much I could, they still have played a huge role in my voyage of education and guidance. You have all been very respectful to me and have influenced me in many different ways, and you all deserve the best in life for the ways you have assisted me.

I remember walking into Mr. Matecki’s homeroom on the first day of middle school just as much as I remember walking into Mr. Turton’s Web Design class on the first day of freshman year. And now here I am, typing away about how I only have a month left. I don’t regret anything from these last four years of high school, and I truly do wish I could go back in time and just start over with freshman year. Maybe when time machines are invented. For now, I’ll just enjoy the memories.

Summer Plans - Q2

My plans for summer are not really set in stone as of today, but there are some things that I am definitely doing and definitely looking forward to.

I’ll go in order from what I’m most excited for rather than going chronologically. On July 29th, I’ll be on my way the island of Jamaica for my sister’s wedding. How many people get to go to Jamaica for their sister’s wedding, seriously? The best part about the whole thing (rather than the marriage) is the fact that there will be unlimited drinks and unlimited food. For an entire week. I’m kind of concerned that I’m going to gain about 10 pounds but I can always take that off when I get home. We are staying at a resort called Sandals and from what I’ve seen online, I’m in for a good time. The legal drinking age in Jamaica? 18. How old I’ll be during that week? 18. Let’s just stop there.

The next most exciting thing on my summer list is my graduation party. Although I haven’t chosen a definite date, it’s going to be a good time no matter what. I want pretty much everybody I know to come so it’s the greatest party of all time. There will be food, swimming Kan Jam, football, kickball, and all other kinds of fun. The after-party cannot be discussed in this class, so we will leave that out. The amount of money that I’m going to get is pretty exhilarating. Last year, my brother got over a thousand dollars, so hopefully my family loves me just as much.

One more thing that I’m pretty excited about is my birthday. I should probably be more excited about turning eighteen, but I’m not even sure how I’m celebrating it yet. Obviously I’m going to have a party, but I think it deserves something more significant. I’ll think of something eventually, but I do know that it has to be with my friends. Most people say family first, but I find it easier to have a good time with my friends rather than family. Don’t worry, I still love them.

Tara and Emily - Q1

For this choice blog, I have decided to write about sitting next to the lovely Tara and Emily. The truth behind that last sentence is that Emily Cole wrote it, and the ‘lovely’ part isn’t actually true whatsoever. In fact, they’re both pretty annoying.

They both tend to obsess over Hannah Montana, and it kind of creeps me out to the point where I need to take a break from working. All I ever hear is the bickering back and forth about how somebody either wrote on the Hannah Montana poster they have displayed behind their computer, or how somebody took it down. It’s not like the poster deserves to be up there anyway, because Hannah Montana does not deserve that fame.

Another annoying thing about the two of them is their tendency to listen to crappy music. It’s like they go to the ‘Biggest Hits’ section of the playlists, and just put their headphones in. The bad part about this is these so called “biggest hits” are actually just mainstream music that doesn’t sound good to human ear. It’s all annoying electronic beats covered up by an even more annoying auto-toned voice. I don’t know it’s still so popular these days, but there is nothing I can do about it except for ignore it, which is what I tend to do about every single class.

Just to refrain from making this blog way too long, I’m going to mention only one more thing that annoys me about these two girls. Tara ALWAYS asks for Emily’s help when it comes to typing articles, and it gets kind of aggravating to hear Tara say, “Wah, wah wah, Emily, I need help, wah wah wah.” She literally says those exact words. After hearing that about 6 times every single class, it makes me want to dig my own ear drums out. I’ve requested a seat change more than once, but Mr. Currin just won’t give in.

P3 - Teacher Evaluations

The article on Teacher Evaluation can be a difficult one to comprehend if you’re just skimming through it, but after a decent conversation with the one and only Mr. Currin, I feel that I understand what is going on.

Rather than being evaluated on their teaching ability in the classroom, teachers are being evaluated off of the test scores at the end of the year. Just because you are preparing a kid to get every question right on the exam on the end of the year, does not mean that they understand the material completely. You are basically programming a kid to get everything right without them truly comprehending the subject. I believe the true way to see if students are being taught properly is seeing how well they can teach it to their peers/classmates. If they have the ability to teach the subject after the teacher has showed them how things work, that goes to show that they do understand what is going on and they can figure out their own problems if they happen to come up.

It’s not fair that great teachers are getting low ratings because they aren’t burning the correct answers into their students’ heads. Even if they aren’t being laid off because of their ratings, it’s still tough for a teacher to keep doing what they love while having a horrible reputation. I believe that teachers should be rated based off of what they do in the classroom. The activities that they perform in class in order for students to learn the material. Teachers shouldn’t have to worry about their teaching abilities all year to see how well their students are going to do on the final test. It’s a pretty confusing concept to wrap your head around in the end, but long story short… teacher evaluations are not fair.

P2 - High School Goals

Looking back on my second blog of this class, it’s pretty evident that I didn’t know exactly what senior year was going to bring me. I probably could have strived to accomplish these goals, but senioritis kicked in hard towards the end and definitely held me back from what I truly wanted to accomplish.

“Obviously, I hope to pass the school year without getting below merit roll, because I don’t want to make myself look bad.” Well would you look at that… I already failed myself. I have yet to make merit roll once this year, and there is only one marking period left. I’m sure if I really, really tried to get merit roll every marking period this year, I could have easily done it. Then I found it was much more relaxing to not do your homework all of the time and to enjoy my last year of high school while I could. College would be easier to do well in I think, seeing as that I am actually going to pay for it. If I’m paying for something, I’m going to try and take advantage of it as well as I can. With that said, I don’t think my high school efforts really reflect the person that I could be.

“Another thing that I plan to accomplish throughout this year is not regretting anything.” What I meant by this in other words is, “do whatever the hell I want.” I try not to be a goodie goodie in school, but the one thing that I do want to do at graduation is walk the stage. I don’t want to ruin that opportunity by doing something stupid in school that would probably lose its comedic value within a couple days. If I were to do something, it would have to be something big at the end of the year… something that will be remembered in Alden for a while. As of right now, there isn’t much planned, but there are still 2 months left of school. I’m probably going to get talked to by the “authority” because of this blog, but that won’t change much. I really hope to leave a mark.

“I want to maintain my friends throughout the year, because by now I have the friends that I want and I don’t necessarily need to make any more in school.” I’m proud to say that I have accomplished this goal, and I hope to for the rest of my life. Everybody will have at least a couple friends that will leave a permanent spot in their life, whether they are close as they used to be or not. I know there are a few friends in my life as of right now that I will make sure I am always in contact with. Technology these days will make it nearly impossible to not be able to track them down if I want to find them. I’m sure I will be invited to family parties, weddings, or any other get togethers in the future. I am already looking forward to reminiscing on the past in years to come with my best friends.

“I hope to accomplish this school year is to get a job and get my own car.” Does it count if I accomplished 50% of this goal? I got my first job back in March and I hope to stick with it for a while. Making pizzas and washing dishes isn’t something I want to do for the rest of my life, but as of right now it’s pretty easy money. I’m still working on getting a car, but that’s only because I’m still waiting to get my license. My 6 month mark of having my permit is coming up in May, so the license is soon to come. I suppose that means it’s time to start saving up money so I can afford a decent car that I can be proud of.

“One final thing that I would like to accomplish this year is get back in the weight room and improve my numbers.” This looks kind of corny looking back on it, but there is no doubt that the weight room has been a major part of my life since the beginning of high school. Although I haven’t improved my numbers too much this year, I’m still proud of what I can do. Recently, I haven’t been in the weight room too much because I seem to have lost the motivation. I plan to get a membership at the Blackwater Gym in Alden, because not only is it right down the road, but it an easy way to stay in shape. Being able to go to the gym whenever I want will be nice. I’m so used to the “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday” schedule of working out at the school that it would be quite the switch. I guess life is full of changes though, and it all takes getting used to.

Overall, it’s safe to say that I did not accomplish most of the goals that I planned to in the beginning of the year. I’m not too disappointed, though. The grades that I achieve in senior year are not going to affect where I go in life, so I am not too concerned about that. I really do hope to leave a mark on this district though. I want to be remembered after all that I have done throughout the seven years of being a part of this school. High school would seem pointless if I wasn’t remembered. I may not have joined many clubs or helped in any activities throughout high school and middle school, but I have tried to leave a good impression of myself. I want teachers to remember me as the kid that made people laugh, but still tried hard enough to get through the classes. I might not have the best grades, but I am proud to say that I have made friends with lots of people. I always give people my full attention, no matter who it is. I like to be seen as everybody’s best friend.

P1 - Television Usage

When I get home after a long and probably boring day of school, I usually end up doing something other than watching television. By that, I use something else to watch television shows or movies.

I honestly can’t even remember the last time I sat down in my Lazy-Boy recliner to see what was being shown on television. Nowadays, all I need to do is fire up my handy dandy MacBook, and watch some Netflix. Netflix just might be one of the greatest ideas of all time. Even though they may not have the best movies out there, it’s always fun to pick out a new TV show and watch every episode of every season is approximately 2-3 days.

Some of my favorite things to watch on Netflix are Louie, Trailer Park Boys, Breaking Bad, and random documentaries that happen to look interesting. As of right now, I’d have to say that Trailer Park Boys takes the cake on my favorite show to watch, but that’s only because I have watched everything else that looked appealing. If you haven’t got around to watching Trailer Park Boys, I highly advise you to do so because it’s easily the funniest show I have ever watched in my life.

I can’t guarantee how many televisions are actually in my home seeing as I don’t usually use them, but I would have to guess around two or three. There is definitely one in my room and there is definitely one in my living room, but I don’t go anywhere else in my house to watch television so I’m not entirely sure. I don’t see why you would ever need more than three, but I guess that all depends on how many people are living in the house.

The positives definitely out-weigh the negatives when it comes to watching television. Sure, you might not get much exercise watching TV for several hours, but you’re not losing too many calories studying for two to three hours either. No matter what you watch, you are getting some sort of benefit off of it, whether it be useful information, a source of laughter, or an easy way to put yourself to sleep. If you watch the news every single morning, you’d probably be surprised on how caught up you are in the world compared to most people. Nothing is more satisfying than being around a group of individuals and being able to actually partake in a conversation because you know what they’re talking about.

Get educated people, watch some television. Learn, Laugh, and Lounge.

O2 - College

As of right now, my plans for college are not much. I haven’t applied anywhere, but that’s because my main intentions are to take a year, or possibly just a semester, off. School work and all of the waking up early nonsense has been getting really old, and I believe an extended break off of it all would relieve my mind and would fully prepare myself for a successful first year of college.

To guarantee that a year won’t turn into two or three years, I am making sure that my father makes me do something with my life. Nothing scares me more than becoming a failure in life, and it’s always a reminder to see how hard some people’s lives are because they didn’t take part in the things that could have made them a happy and successful person. I also believe that if I were attending and paying for college, it would only push me to strive for perfection and excellence. I’m not going to pay for something and not try as hard as I could, and same goes with pretty much everything else in life. If you pay for it, you should utilize it to its full potential.

When I go to college, no matter where it is, I hope to major in Accounting. Some may see it as boring, I see it as simple, and the money that comes with it is very assuring. I am currently in Accounting, and it’s safe to say that I am one of the best in the class. Ever since the first day, it has just been so easy to understand for some reason. There are some areas where it’s hard to understand what is going on, but that’s the point of going to college and learning more about it. The hardest part of Accounting is having to go back and find your mistakes, but since this blog is about my college plans, I’ll refrain from ranting about the issues of Accounting.

Obviously I can’t tell the future, so I’m not going to guarantee that these are my plans. One can only hope that their plans will go exactly as they plan, but everybody knows that that is nearly impossible. Life is full of obstacles, and I am more than curious to see where they will land me.

O1 - Project Glass

Google is on its way to another money booming creation, and this time it’s something that you may not have even thought possible. It is called, Project Glass.

The basic concept of the project is a type of eyewear that you can put on just like glasses, but there are many things you can do while wearing these ‘glasses’. It’s almost as if they have a mind of their own, doing things such as automatically checking the weather when you look out the window, or reminding you to do things when you stare at a blank wall. There have been rumors that the technology will come out before the end of the year, with a price range of $250-$600. Experts are saying that this may not be true, since the technology may need to be worked on for quite some time.

It would be another step, if not leap, into the technology world. There are other things that you could do on these glasses that may wipe out other companies. You can send and receive text messages, along with participating in video chats.

Recently, there as a video on YouTube that was released showing what you would experience if you were to wear the glasses. It starts off with a man waking up and putting the glasses on. He then proceeded to look out the window, which showed him the current weather, and the highs and lows for the day. As he was on his way to the subway to reach his destination, the glasses notified him that the subway services were down for the day, and then proceeded to give him walking directions to his destination. As he made his way to the store, he said out loud, “Where is the music section?” The glasses the pulled up a mini map of the layout of the store, and gave him to directions to the music section. He got a book on Learning Ukulele, and went on with his day. At the end of the video, it shows him at the top of a tall building, and his girlfriend video calls him. She pops up on the bottom of the glasses, and all she can see if the city that he is looking at. He then pulls out a ukulele and plays a song for his girlfriend.

The point of the video is to show how convenient these glasses can make your day, but I believe there are many disadvantages to these glasses. One being that random things can just pop up in front of you while you are walking or driving, and it could be very distracting. That could easily result in serious injury or even death. Also, some are comparing this technology to the movie, “WALL-E”. If you haven’t seen it, the basic premise is a futuristic view of people and how technology is going to bring us down. In the movie, people sit in hovering chairs that they can control with their hands, and anything that they would ever need is available right in front of them due to holographic technology. Things such as eating, socializing, and basic everyday procedures. Project Glass may bring humans to the epitome of laziness, and it could very well make us much less motivated to try and help the world for the better.

It seems as if technology is getting too convenient these days. Who knows what the future has to bring us?

N-2 Spring

Spring may be seen as one of the most favorite seasons of them all for people around the world, but I definitely have a different opinion. Sure, spring brings flowers and warmth, but it also brings stuffy noses and snotty tissues. Nothing makes my life more miserable than a full day of blowing my nose and hoping for a fast recovery. Also, my Dad doesn’t see having terrible allergies as a good enough reason to skip school, so I have to suffer through embarrassing days of school while blowing my nose all day. Terrible, just terrible. Another flaw about this “wonderful” season is that is brings too much rain. Sure, there is a lot of sunlight and warmth, but what’s the point when it’s going to be wet and muggy all day? There is none. If I were to list my favorite seasons in order from favorite to least favorite, it would have to go Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. Spring is definitely the worst season out of them all for said reasons. Another thing… the beginning of spring is always pretty sketchy. You never know if it’s going to stay nice out or if you’re going to get a random burst of snow and have to deal with cold temperatures for another day or two. It’s probably the worst feeling ever having a beautiful spring day one day, then when you wake up the next morning you realize that its thirty eight degrees out and you need to wear a coat and all of that annoying stuff. Looking to my left, I can see that Joseph White’s blog about spring is pretty similar to mine in the fact that is sucks, but all I have to do is look to my right to see that it is one of Michael Steffan’s favorite seasons. I think he is out of his mind, but that’s just my opinion.

N-3 John and Mary's

I was recently employed at John and Mary’s right across from the doctor’s office on Broadway. It is actually my first job so I am pretty pumped to finally get a weekly paycheck. Nothing makes you feel worse than constantly having to ask your Mom or Dad for money whenever you want to go out to have a good time with your friends. I’m still on training so I’m not getting too many hours, but next week I should be on the regular schedule. Tomorrow is my best friend Gavin’s birthday, so I feel it is necessary to take a chunk out of today’s pay check and spend it on a wonderful gift for the man. My main priorities at John and Mary’s are as follows. Washing dishes, taking out the trash, making pizzas, and pretty much everything nobody else wants to do. It kind of sucks but I work with cool people so it equals out. The fellow co-workers that most of you would know are Ryan Sosnowski, Nick Maiorana, Makiah Husain, Miranda Chester, and many other people that don’t go to high school anymore. It’s a unique experience being the guy to make pizza for the people who buy it from John and Mary’s, and I feel the need to do my job the best that I can. Sometimes alternating between different pizzas to make sure they are all cooked right and have the right toppings can get a little confusing and strenuous, but I’m sure I will get used to it over time. I’m just glad that I’ll finally be making some sort of profit so I can give my Dad a break on loaning me a few bucks every now and then, because I know I would hate that if I was a father. So, yeah. Order a pizza.

N-1 Amber Breyer Interview

This week in blogs, Mr. Currin assigned me to have an interview with Amber Breyer, and I could ask her five questions of my choosing. After much contemplation and thought, I thought of the five most ingenious questions a human could ask. The first question was, “If you could relive one year of your life, which would it be and why?” Her response was a pretty simple one, that being freshman year because it was all of the easy classes. Very poor answer in my opinion, but who cares about me. Did I mention that she said Mr. Currin has lame ties? We won’t go there. The second question I asked Ms. Breyer was, “If you could live in any country besides America, which would it be and why?” After an excessive amount of time, she finally said that Australia would be the best place to live because she really likes Australian accents. The third question was my favorite question to ask, “If you were asked to name one of Mr. Currin’s flaws, which would it be and why?” She actually had more than one answer to this one, but the first thing she said was his weird facial expressions that make him look like he has buck teeth. Mr. Currin actually did a demonstration of what she was talking about, and it is definitely a flaw. Nothing to brag about at all. Another flaw of Mr. Currin’s (according to Amber) is that he tends to say that he is a big deal a lot to himself and many others in the district. The fourth question was, “Out of all the salad dressings out there, which one do you prefer the most?” Amber prefers Ranch dressing out of the rest because she enjoys it with chicken fingers, salads, carrots, and pretty much all foods. Except for ice cream. That’s gross. Last but not least, the final question was, “If you could punch either Kyle Klug or Phil Bifulco in the face, which would you choose and why?” The winner was Phil, because she T.A’s for his gym class, and apparently Phil brags about being good at every sport in gym. Amber went on to contradict that statement because he placed 6th place in the Badminton Tournament in gym class. Sounds like Phil got a little too confident, but Amber put him back in his place. That’s all.

M4 - 4 Wheeling Incident

I have 25 minutes to type a choice blog. Because there is no way I am going to take the time out of my Thursday night so I can finish here. So here goes. Today I am going to write about my incident yesterday that almost led me to believe that I was just in a dream. Yesterday me and my friend Adam Strasser decided to go four wheeling with my two four wheelers behind my house. Although, when we go four wheeling, we tend to go onto other people’s land. Don’t tell anybody though. This is a fiction story so you can’t use it against me. We were riding in the back, when my smaller and older four wheeler that Strasser was riding decided to stall out and not start. We were actually on our way back when it happened, so I didn’t even know it occurred until I was about a mile away and realized that he wasn’t behind me. So I turned off my four wheeler and listened to see if he was coming, but I didn’t hear anything. So I decided to turn around and try to find him. He was at the same spot where we decided to leave, and he was trying to start the four wheeler. I felt bad because clearly I left him trying to start a stalled four wheeler all by himself. I tried to start it and actually got it to, but unfortunately it came to a stop pretty quick and we gave up on it. Luckily we had a rope on the back of the other four wheeler so I could tow him back and we could deal with the problem another day. Unfortunately, when we got the other four wheeler started, it decided to die on us. So there we were, 2 miles away from my house at 7:30 at night, without any cell phones and two broken down four wheelers that weren’t even on my land. The only option that we had was to walk to Kyle Klug’s house which just so happened to be right down the road. We walked to his house, very muddy and tired. I knocked on his front door and asked him if he could give me a ride home because we had no other choice. He abided and gave us a ride home. It was a very uncomfortable ride, but that is beside the point. I got home and had to tell the whole tale to my Dad since he was clearly worried about me (or so I hope) since we were gone for so long with no return or phone call. So we walk over to my neighbor Gavin’s house and asked his Dad if we could use his pickup truck so we could wheel the four wheelers into the back of it and just take them home. He gave us permission and actually assisted us in the process. The four wheelers were a good quarter mile from the road, so Strasser and Ihad to run all the way to the four wheelers and then wheel them back. The one that I had to push had a tire off the rim, so it was extremely difficult. My Dad was also there to assist me because it was taking us so long to get back. It probably took a good fifteen minutes to get them to the gate that was blocking the driveway. I will also add that there were huge rocks on the sides of the gate to make it impossible for vehicles to just drive past the gate, so this gave us another problem. We had to lift the four wheelers over the rocks just to get them to the car, and this was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. As we were wheeling the four wheeler over the rocks, I was being cut up by thorns worse than I ever have before, and this has given me quite the amount of battle scars on my arms and legs. I was drenched in sweat by the time I got both of the four wheelers past the rocks. Once we got one of the four wheelers in the back of the truck, we found out that there was no way we were going to get both of them in there, so we decided to strap one of them into the back of my dad’s SUV. It didn’t fit perfectly, so they had to use a few ropes and cords to secure in place. Gavin’s father drove to my house with the one, and it me and my Dad took the longer way because there were less hills and it would secure a safe trip for the four wheeler, because it could easily fall out of the back of the car. I had to hold onto the back of the four wheeler from the passenger seat of the car for the entire ride, and it was a very difficult task. Strasser and I never thought that the situation would blow up to become the incident that it became. When we got home, I thanked Gavin’s father and apologized to my father for what had happened. He understood and said he would have done the same thing, because it really was the only thing that me and Strasser could have done. There was no other way out of it. I didn’t want to tell this story to literally everybody in person, so I figured I would write a blog about. So now if somebody asks what happened to my arm, I can just say read the blog. Easy as that.

M3 - Embarassing Moment

It was just another day in the life of Bill Penny. Wake up, shower, go to school, go home, and do nothing. Unfortunately for Bill, this day was going to be one of the most embarrassing days of school ever. First and second block went as usual. Advisement was about as boring as usual, but I’m sure I had a decent conversation with Mrs. Puntoriero. Then block 3A came around, and this is where the story begins. I ate my lunch and had small talk with the people around me. All of the sudden, I heard a dare being thrown around the table. The dare was to turn the lights off and on to give the kids the impression that lunch is over and they would stand up and leave the cafeteria, even though lunch is still in session. Pretty genius and hysterical idea if you ask me. So I did it. It worked without a single flaw. Everybody stood up, left the cafeteria, and the halls were crowded with students. The one lunch monitor went into the hall to try and hold them off from roaming the hallways, but her tactics were not working. Unfortunately, the lunch lady saw me do it. And she was pissed. So since her plan of getting the kids back into the cafeteria didn’t work, she figured writing me up would be the best decision for her to make. I didn’t know about the write up until fourth block came around when Mr. MacCowan decided to give my class a visit. I didn’t think anything of it because I didn’t think turning the cafeteria lights was a very big deal. That’s when it happened. The room was dead silent because he was in there, so no matter what he said, everybody was going to hear it. All I heard was, “If you flick the lights off again, I am going to flick you off.” This led to a red face, and sheer embarrassment. I also heard a crack of laughter coming Mr. Currin’s direction. Little does Mr. Currin know, but that hint of laughter has led me to create an evil plan to make him the most embarrassed person on Earth. Beware, Mr. Currin. Beware.

M2 - Texting and Driving

I am not one that would defend the right to text and drive, because I find it unreasonable and impossible. There is no possible way you can completely focus on a text message while you are focusing on driving and keeping out of harm’s way. Every time I’m in the car with somebody and I see them attempting to text somebody back while they are behind the wheel, I grab the phone from them. I’m not going to name names, but there is one individual in my grade who has the habit of texting and driving all of the time. Whenever I am in the car with him, I usually text people back for him rather than him attempting to do more than one thing at a time, especially while driving. I just recently started driving, and I’ll be the one to say that I don’t really see how it is possible to accomplish such a feat with good results. I can see texting at a red light or waiting for a train to pass, but during driving and turning seems like a very risky thing to do, and can very much risk the lives of others. I don’t believe statistics are very necessary to get my opinion across, seeing as there are going to be about 2 people who even read this entire thing. Seems like a wasted effort. Lots of people die because of texting and driving and that’s as simple as that. It is obviously something that shouldn’t be done, and there is that infamous ad by AT&T that depicts the result of texting and driving. Unfortunately, there are still kids out there that are not affected by the ads that attempt to change your mind, but they still text and drive anyways. Some people these days seem impossible to make them do the right thing.

M1 - A St. Patty's (Easter) Tradition

For this blog, we are supposed to write about our St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Unfortunately for me, I do not celebrate St. Patty’s day. This doesn’t really make sense seeing as my grandmother is one hundred percent Irish, but whatever. The blog says that if you do not celebrate the holiday, then we should write about another family tradition. One family tradition that I have is Easter. On Easter, my Dad’s side of the family all gathers at my house and eats and all of those other fun things. Every year, the older kids and adults hide eggs throughout the yard, and the little kids go to look for the eggs when they are all hidden. Each egg has a number in it, and there is a sheet with the numbers on it with prices ranging from twenty five cents, to almost two dollars. Depending on whatever eggs you got, that will determine how much money you get. This is great for kids because there is nothing more desirable as a kid than money. Easter isn’t as exciting for me anymore though, because I am now considered one of the older kids, so I don’t get any money like all of the younger kids. That’s all my Easter usually consists of, nothing too exciting. We don’t have any special meals or anything like that. I really don’t know what else to type about since that is all of what my Easter consists of, and my family literally does nothing about St. Patrick’s Day. It’s going to be tough to fit about forty more words into this blog about literally nothing, but I’ll give it a shot. I wonder if Mr. Currin actually reads this…. I guess this is a pretty good way to find out. I want you, Mr. Currin, to confront me about this and tell me that you read this. Thank you.

L2 - Biggest Fears

There are many things to be afraid of in this world, that which includes spiders, the dark, and aliens. I’m not so scared of these things than I am to other things. The main thing that scares me the most out of everything else on this Earth is Slender Man. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, it is a very tall man/creature that is seen wearing a suit. The particular thing about this guy is that he has no face, and he tends to be able to disappear whenever he wants. There is a popular YouTube series on him called “Marble Hornets”. It’s a series of videos that show this guy walking around trying to figure out why this man is following him and what he wants. It’s surprisingly realistic and it always creeps me out to think about it when I’m walking alone at night. I highly advise you watch the entire series of videos if you want to see something scary. Another thing that I am scared of would have to be ghosts. Not just any old ghosts though, the ones that actually do scary stuff. I think it would be cool to have a ghost in the house that does little things because you would always be on your toes and it would be cool to have a conversation with it. I would be scared if it was one of the ghosts that actually attacks you and stuff like that because then there is nothing you can really do about it. The final thing that absolutely terrifies me is Mr. Currin. He is such a scary looking man, and I don't see how anybody can withstand staring at him for more than five seconds with soiling themselves. He likes to pick on students and other faculty members, and everybody is always paranoid with whatever joke he will say about you next. Also, I heard he is going to participate in the Mustache March, which would be a site to see.

L1 - Super Bowl Tradition

I’m sure we all know about the Giants-Patriots repeat match-up at the Super Bowl two weeks ago, and it was obviously a fun one to watch. This Super Bowl was just like any other for me, though. It’s the same thing every year and it never gets old. Every year, somebody in the family decides if they want to hold the party, and everybody gathers there and brings food. Most family members have their own signature dish, like my mother and my aunt. My mom’s tuna salad blows anybody else’s tuna salad out of the water, and my aunt’s cheesy potatoes are out of this world. If you don’t believe me, you are more than welcome to come to the family part next year and try it out for yourself, because I know you wouldn’t regret it. There are normally two television sets in the home that we settle in, and we usually separate from adults to kids. Over the years, I have found myself watching the game with the rest of the adults and I can say it is much more enjoyable. Much more enjoyable being easier access to food, more comfortable seats, and lame jokes. For the first half of the game, we normally just sit around and watch, chat, and eat. Come the half time show, we’re all expecting my Grandpa to make as many inappropriate references about the show as he can. Everybody gets a good laugh out of them and it’s always a good time. The second half of the game is when everybody starts to get really into the game and wants to see who the winner will be. So the talking is down to a minimum, and the focus is to a maximum. The team that my uncle is usually rooting for ends up losing, and all we hear for the rest of the night is the excuses for why they lost, which can get annoying. I always look forward to the next Super Bowl, because nothing beats a good meal and a good football game.

K1- The Escapee

In this picture, you can clearly see that there is an upset gentleman. You might be wondering to yourself what he is upset about. I’ll be the one to tell you.

It was a chilly fall night when Dr. Allen Seymour left work in the hopes of coming home to a nice warm dinner. His walk home was just like any other, but he had a gut feeling in his stomach that something was wrong. He slowly approached his front door, opened it cautiously, and walked in to see something would change his life for the worse. He had never felt the emotion that was running through him as he stood there and stared at his dead wife.

His first reaction was to see if she was truly dead. He ran to the pale, unconscious body and checked for a pulse. There was nothing. He grabbed the phone and called 911. They were there in minutes, but unfortunately could not do anything for the dead woman. They couldn’t find any traces of anybody being in the house prior the incident, and has no evidence to prove how the woman had even died. They did all of the legal work that they had to do, and told Dr. Seymour that they would contact him if they found anything relating to the case. There was nothing this middle aged doctor could do but sit and hope for the best.

When the police and ambulance left, Allen sat down calmly and was hoping that he would wake up from this terrible nightmare. After hours of waiting and doing nothing, he finally gave up and accepted the fact that he had lost his wife, and that he was most definitely in reality. He didn’t know how long he was going to able to live by himself without the love that his wife provided to him.

That’s when he heard it. The opening of a closet door heard from the upstairs. He jumped up and ran towards the stairs, racing up them frantically. To his surprise, it wasn’t what he was expecting to see. There stood a 10 foot tall, green creature. It stared at Dr. Seymour for a good minute, with its beady black eyes. The man stood in shock and the alien towered over him. The alien then shrunk to the size of a tennis ball and ran under the blanket that was lying on the floor. Alan grabbed the chair that was next to him, lifted it over his shoulders, and threw it at the small creature that was clearly on the run. He threw the chair very aggressively. To his disappointment, he missed by an easy five feet, and the alien escaped out of the window.

Alan wasn’t going to just give up like that. He turned around, ran down the stairs, and busted out the front door as fast as he could. He ran out into the street to see if he could see the escaped creature. And just like that, Alan was hit was hit by a tractor trailer and died instantly.

J4 - Choice Blog

What do you know? Another choice blog. I have been sitting here for about 15 minutes deciding what to right about, and I still have no idea. There goes another 5 minutes of nothing. I think I’m going to blame thee Joseph White that is sitting to my left attempting to choose a good last name for the first name, “Eleanor”. Mr. Currin suggested Rigby (referring to the popular Beatles song, “Eleanor Rigby”), but it was quickly shot down by Mr. White. Did you hear the joke about the polar bear that walked into the bar? Too bad, you can’t know it. Sorry. I’m going to write about whatever comes to my head for the remainder of this blog. I can hear Kyle Klug’s voice right now, and that could just be one of the most annoying things on this planet. Joe decided to choose the last name “Grenville” for his character. I think he could have chosen a better last name, but that’s just me. Michael Steffan left early today, even though he wasn’t here for the last class. Mr. Currin made it public that he is currently failing the class, which I find evil. The poor, poor kid really cares about his grades, and there goes Mr. Currin making them public. I’m starting to get really bored of this blog, but I only have to type seventy more words. Brian Stoldt just walked in the door, but I didn’t clap because he is a member of the Bulldog. Today was my first day of late arrival, and it’s definitely the greatest thing ever. Waking up at 7:45 is much better than waking up at 6:30, and that’s a fact. I am going to try and make this sentence as long as possible so it takes up nineteen words. Hey look, I did it. Farewell.

J3 - Favorite Band

There are many bands out there in the hopes of being seen and liked by people, but not many succeed. Most people these days are fans of big name bands that advertise themselves a lot, but that’s a different story for me. I prefer listening to the music that nobody else listens to, because then I know I’m not just like everybody else. My favorite band as of right now would have to be the Avett Brothers. Odds are you have never heard of them, but they are and up and coming band. There are getting more and more popular due to the recent deals with CMT and being named an Artist of the Year by them. I wouldn’t’ call them a country band, but they are more of a bluegrass and country mix. They don’t sound anything like Toby Keith or any of those well-known country singers. If you ever want to check out to see what they sound like, my most preferred songs by them are Laundry Room, Murder in the City, Paranoia in Bb Major, and Tear down the House. One band that they could be compared to to give you a better idea of what they sound like would be Mumford and Sons. They both have more of a country-ish sound, but they don’t overdo it. I have seen them in concert four times, making it five this upcoming April. It’s always a good show, which is another reason I like to see them. Most kids these days are big fans of rap, and rap concerts don’t even compare to artists that have true talent. They have something new to show to their audience every show, but for rappers it’s the same thing every time. If you’re looking for a good band to listen to with true talent, I highly advise giving them a listen.

J2 - Grade Teacher

I didn’t go to Alden from Kindergarten to 5th grade, so anybody reading this probably won’t be able to relate to it at all. On that note, I’d have to say my favorite grade teacher would have to be kindergarten teacher, Mr. Hehr. From what I can remember, he enjoyed me as a student, and every day past kindergarten I would wave and say hello to the guy. I haven’t seen him in over seven years now so he may not even remember me, but I have been thinking about going to a Cleve-Hill open house and visit all my old teachers. It would probably make them feel good knowing that past students remember them and enjoyed them enough to come back and see how they are doing. I’d say the main reason that I chose Mr. Hehr as my favorite grade teacher was because he was the man who started off my entire education career. He also has quite the interesting name. Also, all of my other teachers weren’t as memorable as Mr. Hehr, because they didn’t seem to be into their job and enjoy their students as much as he did. The other teacher that comes close to being my favorite grade teacher would be Ms. Pidanick, who taught the fifth grade. I remember her being a pretty cool teacher because she was chill, and she thought I was funny… or so I hope. I kind of wish I could go back to elementary school, because you seem to be able to get away with a lot more because you’re little and you are prone to make mistakes. Now that we are in high school, teachers seem to think that whatever we do wrong was intentional, which definitely isn’t the case. Teachers need to realize that students are only human, and making mistakes comes with being a person.

J1 - Hero

When you hear the word hero, odds are the first things you think of are fictional superheroes such as Superman and Spiderman. These are not true heroes. True heroes are the ones who save lives and go out of their way for the greater good. People such as doctors, nurses, fireman and occupations of that nature. A hero could also be perceived differently to different people. A teacher could help a student pass a class in order to graduate, and they would be considered a hero to that student. An average citizen could be brave and put himself in danger to save hundreds of other people, and he would be considered a hero. That being said, a hero could be almost anybody you want it to be, as long as he/she helped you in some way that you could not do yourself. It can’t be anything to simple though, like letting you borrow a pencil for a test. The situation would have to affect your life in some significant way, making it change its course completely. Everybody has a hero, whether it is a close friend, family member, celebrity, or even a complete stranger. One hero of mine would have to be my father, even if it seems kind of cliché. Being a father is a difficult task to achieve successfully, and I’d say he did so. My siblings and I have grown to be respectful kids. My parents have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to their children, and I’m proud to say that. After all they have done for us, I see it as disrespectful to not try in life and blow everything off. Parents work to feed and teach their kids, and they don’t take it for granted. Parents are the true heroes of this generation, and they clearly are not being as recognized as they should be.

I4 - Choice (Mr. Currin)

For this week’s choice blog, I decided I would devote this one to my Online Publishing teacher, Mr. Currin. Mr. Currin is a pretty cool guy most of the time, but he has his moments. He’s always calling kids out in class and publicly embarrassing them, which who knows might lead to. He likes to pull pranks on the faculty staff thinking he’s the jokester, but little does he know it’s all going to catch up to him in the end. I can’t keep ranting about the man’s flaws though; because there is no doubt that he is always a happy man. He’s always got a smile on his face and looking to bring to a positive attitude to the people around him. About 15 minutes ago he came up to me and said that there was no way I was going to finish my last two blogs. But look, I’m almost done with the second one. Take that Mr. Currin. I definitely do not regret taking this class though, because nothing makes my mornings better then realizing I am going to have a class with Mr. Currin from 1:05 to 2:25 of that day. One hundred words left until I’m done… what to talk about? Mr. Currin drives a red jeep, and he used to pass my house every morning and we’d share a daily morning wave. Unfortunately, Zach Caito picks me up around 7:20 in the morning, and Mr. Currin passes my house before that. I have this class until the end of the year, and I think it will be the perfect way to end my high school career. Hopefully this will be the last class of the year, but there is a chance that it will be Sports and Entertainment Marketing. I guess the future will hold the answers to all of my questions. I wonder what Mr. Currin’s middle name is…

I3 - Winter Break Highlights

This winter break was just like any other break. Christmas, family, food, and other things of that nature. I’d have to say Christmas was the highlight of my break, because apparently it wasn’t to everybody else in this newsroom. This Christmas was a special one because I filled myself up with plenty of food, and I got a few of the things that I wanted. I got a microphone to record my guitar playing, and I also got the iPhone. I’ve wanted the iPhone for a while now, so that definitely satisfied my needs. My grandparents leave every Christmas to go to Alabama to avoid the bad weather, but it looks like they left at the wrong time this year. The weather has been great since Christmas, and it definitely hasn’t been a white one. Except for last night it snowed a couple inches and a few of the schools got off of school. Not Alden, though. Oh well. I’m kind of going off the topic of my Christmas break so maybe I should go back to it. Another present that I got for Christmas was a new hat, because my old white was getting way too dirty and it was getting extremely noticeable. I now have a darker blue Yankees hat, so if it were to get dirty, it wouldn’t be so noticeable. I’m really just rambling throughout this entire blog because Mr. Currin said there was no way I was going to get my last two blogs done before the end of class. One more thing that I have to say about my break was the New Year, and how it’s a whole new start to try something new. It reminded me that this was the last six months of my high school and I better start thinking about my future. I don’t really have much else to comment on about my winter break so I’m just going to end it here. Hopefully I have a more enjoyable one next year.

I2 - Bucket List

No matter who you are, there is always a list of things that you want to do whether you think you’re able to or not. Things such as climb Mt. Everest, drive a Lamborghini, or even meet the infamous Rob Currin. You can achieve the unachievable by looking at them in a way that they are achievable. You could do this by either doing them with another person, or getting the items that will make your task easier. There is a name for a list such as this- and it’s called a bucket list. If I were to choose three things to do before my own death, the first thing would be to take a weeklong vacation to England. I’m a big fan of the Beatles, so I thought it would be interesting to see how they are portrayed in the country that they originated from. Also, I think it would be cool to see the old buildings and how America is viewed being from England. The second thing that I would want to do before I die is see the Aurora Borealis in Alaska. The view of the night sky from Buffalo can be a pretty boring thing to look it, so I thought it would be a pretty cool experience to see what the sky really looks like without light pollution and other things of that nature. The Aurora Borealis is also known as the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights have a green effect on the sky that not everybody in the world gets to see. They are caused by electrical and magnetic forces and they can be best seen in Alaska. The third and final thing that would be on bucket list, it would have to be skydiving. This is probably on everybody’s list and it may seem a little cliché, but it would no doubt be one of the number things I would want to do before I died. I heard it isn’t that expensive so I’m going to fork over a couple bucks in the future and knock skydiving off the list.

New Year's Resolution

It’s the New Year, and with a New Year comes millions, if not billions of New Year’s resolutions. Most turn out as failures, and are just attempted again in the next year. But for the people who actually try to achieve their goals, a resolution can be seen as motivation. With that, one thing that I would like to achieve this year would be to get a decent paying job, and be able to pay for my own car and get my own weekly paycheck. I don’t want to have to rely on my parents like how I have been for the past 17 years of my life. Not only will this resolution make me feel good about myself, it will also take a lot of stress of my parent’s shoulders because they won’t have to constantly worry or expect me to ask them for 10 dollars to I can go Tim Hortons. I can actually go out with my friends at night and be able to pay for own stuff with having the thought in the back of my head that I am going to have to pay the money back in the future. Another reason why I want to get a decent paying job is because I feel me it will make me more mature and ready for the real world, whenever that time comes. I recently applied to the new Tim Hortons shop that opened up in Alden, but they have yet to call me. I went there yesterday and apparently they are still hiring, so I’m just hoping for the best. My Dad has been constantly nagging at me to get a job, so clearly he is getting sick of me constantly asking for money whenever I go out for the night. That’s his job though, right?

Meghan Snyder

Today I had the privilege to interview the one and only Meghan Snyder. This is seen as a once in a lifetime opportunity to most celebrities and athletes. I asked her eight questions that will sum up this entire blog, starting with “What is your favorite part about Online Publishing?” Her response? Listening to music and typing blogs. What a typical and cliché answer, but that’s all she said. I was expecting a lot more from such an interesting person, but I guess that’s all I have to say about that. She was born in Sister’s Hospital, which just so happens to be the same hospital that my mother works at. She does labor and delivery, so there is a slight chance that my own mother assisted in the birth of Meghan Snyder. When asked to name one of Mr. Currin’s flaws, she responded that he promises his advisement pizza parties, and then forgets so his advisement never ends up getting the pizza. Her favorite gift from the Christmas of 2011 was her cowgirl boots, and also a new red book bag. Her favorite hobbies are basketball, soccer, Twitter, watching Keeping up with the Kardashians, and taking her dogs on walks. Everybody knows about her curly hair, so I asked her if she would rather prefer her hair to be curly or straight. She responded with curly, because her grandmother has curly hair. Her favorite band/singer besides Justin Bieber is Taylor Swift, because she wishes she was her. I’m sure you were all expecting me to say Larrabe in the previous question, but she actually never had the chance to listen to them. To the people who don’t know Larrabe… you’re a disgrace to humanity. Her favorite color is purple, only because it is also Justin Bieber’s favorite color. It was a very poor reasoning, but she refused to speak after that last question. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask her anymore questions. So this is over. Bye.