The Little Things

It's the little things which make a difference sometimes. Take earlier today, for instance. This week, I have been struggling under a massive amount of work that has all been assigned in the past week, including, but not limited to, three video projects, one 10+ page research paper, and a group presentation for English. So imagine my distress when I get a progress report from my Spanish teacher today giving me a grade of 66% in the class. Needless to say, I was quite distressed. This was then augmented by the fact that I currently have two B's in that class, one C, and a C on the midterm (which averages with the final to form another marking period). My top choice college, Olin College, does not accept students who receive C's in a class (it's damn hard to get into.) So now you know where my issue was.

So I took a closer look at the progress report. Most grades were actually quite good. Mostly A's, one B and one C (on a 15-point assignment, no less, so not even worth that much). But there was also one F. I took a look at that. Zero points out of 64. Damn. I quickly summed up the total points for the marking period, and got about 240. So I was missing over a quarter of the required work for the class, meaning that if I turned it in and got a 100% I would end up with about a 92%.

Distressed, I flipped through my work, and found the assignment sitting there in my binder, having never been turned in. 32 questions, 64 points, and the difference between a D and an A. My teacher accepted it, since obviously I had already done it. Those two pieces of paper literally saved my chance to go to my #1 college choice.

So celebrate the little things, because sometimes they're all that matters.

Junior Prom

Saturday evening was our Junior Prom, and, as I detailed in my last post, I went with a girl by the name of Allison. Honestly, there's not much to say besides the fact that I had a great time and am still trying to recover from lack of sleep. I've uploaded the three best pictures from the pre-prom party to Flickr, which you can view here.

Rebirth

I've been thinking lately about the fact that I haven't posted to this blog in possibly the longest time in its history. So I began considering the reasons for my departure. I narrowed the list down to two things:

1. Lack of inspiration
2. Utter dread of actually having to view the terrible, terrible template it had

So, I decided to tackle the second one first. As you can see, my blog has now returned to a more old-school template with a few new bits of awesome, like the drop-down archive. I've also gotten rid of the link section to dead blogs and instead linked to a few of my own projects and my two favorite blogs. I also upgraded the licensing on my blog to CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, which will confer a few new benefits.

But the template is not the only thing that has changed. I now actually have a few things to talk about, and will do so. (I've actually had a few things to talk about before, but I didn't want to because of the shitty template).

First, I did in fact win National Novel Writing Month last year. My book, The Darkening of Alus, is not completed yet, however, and I'm still trying to force myself to write both that and The Tales of Deepspace, my current writing project. I'll keep you informed of any updates regarding the status of any future books.

Second, I traveled to Florida over Winter Break with the Downingtown High School Blue & Gold Marching Band (combined East & West campuses). I have still been too lazy to pick things for putting on Flickr, but they will come eventually.

Third, thanks to an hour and a half of sitting outside of my local Target in sub-freezing temperatures, I managed to buy a Wii. I currently have only Wii Sports and Twilight Princess, but I intend to pick up a few big-name titles when they release.

Fourth, over Spring Break I took a one-week road trip with my father to visit colleges. As they stand right now, the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering is at the top of my list, with University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania falling into a tie for second place. I'll keep you posted.

Fifth and last, something happened that I was totally not expecting within the past ten days. On the Friday before last (4/13) I was asked by a senior named Mandy if I would go to prom with her. Naturally, being the suave guy I am, I managed to fumble my way into getting the weekend as a time to make sure I was available, which I am, meaning that I now get to go to my school's senior prom as a junior on June 1st. Meanwhile, last Thursday (4/20) I was called and asked by a classmate of mine named Allison if I would go to junior prom with her. Again, I said yes, meaning that over the weekend I got to run around like crazy trying to figure out what to wear next Saturday (4/28). The answer, as it turns, is black pants and a black three-button suit jacket with a purple shirt and purple tie. It looks damn good.

I suppose that that covers my life over the past few months. I do ask for any comments regarding the current appearance of the blog. Like it? Dislike it? Want to condemn me to to the fiery pits of hell for my crimes against humanity and the Internet? Let me know!

Wii

I realize that I haven't posted in a while, so a full update is coming. At the moment, I'm blogging from my brand new Wii. Huzzah.

Tada!

A Political Rant

I realize that political rants are thankfully rare on this blog, but I couldn't help but rant about an issue that was made known to me last night. This particular one has to do with a representative from New York known as Charles Rangel.

Honestly, I'm not sure what Rangel's stance is on the war in Iraq. But I do know his stance on possibly the most touchy war subject since Vietnam: the draft. Rangel supports the draft, and in fact says that you cannot support the war without supporting the draft. This is bullshit. I don't support the war, I'd like to pull out but I know we can't just pick an arbitrary date to do so, but even so, that statement is utter bullshit. Seriously now.

Anyways, according to the bill he'll be proposing soon, all males ages 18-42 would have to register for the draft. I'm not in that age range. Why do I care? I'm 17. In one year, I'd have to register to possibly go and get shot at in a war we really shouldn't be in. Rangel himself, according to my calculations via Wikipedia, is 76, nowhere near the draft range. So I want to send him a message:

Mr. Rangel, if you want to bring the draft back, include yourself. Then we'll see how much you really like the idea.

Hopefully the rest of Congress isn't this asshat retarded. I'm Quiggy and I approve this message.

So About That Novel...

Alternate Title: I Don't Wanna Play, I Just Wanna Bang On The Drum All Day

So today I went to a two-hour meeting on my school's Indoor Drumline program at my school. I intend to play mallets for the 2007 season, which shouldn't be too hard given the fact that I play piano and was impressed as to how easy two-mallet playing is. Four-mallet will be harder, but hey. Anyways, I got home and my parents and I discussed how scheduling will work if I do Indoor, because it is a huge frikkin' time commitment. That's when they got all up in my face about the fact that I'm not meeting expectations and how they think I've got too much on my plate yada yada yada and basically what happens to, and this is an exact figure, 100% of high school juniors. It's only, y'know, the hardest year of grade school.

Anyways, the topic fell inevitable to NaNoWriMo. I'm doing amazingly well this year, as I haven't gotten below 2k any day yet this month. Today is the first exception, since now I've got all kinds of bullshit work. So while I'm not behind, I got quite possibly the worst talk ever. Here's the gist of it:

I've told you before and I'm gonna tell you again, Matt. I think that doing NaNoWriMo this year is stupid. I'm not gonna support you, and neither is your mother. You shouldn't be doing it, it is the least important thing on your plate, and it's only going to hurt you in the long run.

So basically my parents don't give a damn about what is my most anticipated project this year. I've been planning this since at least August. Not only that, I intend to try to get it published for real this year, as it is turning out to be a really good novel that I think would actually stand a chance at some publishing houses.

So if you skipped to the end: parents don't want me writing, I do want me to write, as well as participate in Indoor Drumline. We'll see what happens.

</rant>

Off and Running

Today was the start of National Novel Writing Month. As usual, I'm competing again. I haven't had much time to set up a blog for my novel, but once it's up, I'll let you know. In the mean time, check out last year's novel. You can buy the book there too. Woo.

EDIT: In the meantime, check out this sexy counter to track my progress:

We Interrupt This Blog

I found a funny quote in my history book that I decided to share with. Keep in mind that this is a highly-recomended book for AP United States History: "The early years of Jamestown proved a nightmare for all concerned–except the buzzards."

Illinois, Michigan, and the Rest

So on Thursday night Doug and I went out to see Sufjan Stevens live in concert at the Tower Theater. It was simply incredible. Highlights included the eccentric but awesome butterfly uniforms that everyone wore (think the love children of butterflies and militia members, and you'll get the idea), a few really good new songs, an awesome rendition of the trumpet solo in The Transfiguration, and, of course, Sufjan himself.

Rock on.