Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 7-28

[Yankee4Life]

I have Virtua Tennis 3 for the PC.

[Yankee4Life]

I stayed up all night and am a tad out of it o_O. I'm gonna go to sleep at around 5pm so I can get up at 5am.

Man, you aren't going to have any random thoughts today. By 1pm, you'll be walking into random walls because you'll be so tired.

[Campo09]

Damn School starts in 3 days. that sucks.

I have emulators to play n64 on pc.

[Dan]

-I finally broke down and bought a PS2, seeing as we apparently weren't getting a new tv anytime soon and the one we have now is one of those Zenith or Panasonic sets inside a fancy wooden box. A 360 wouldn't really make any sense. The tv was my great-grandma's. Funny, it's two years older than our last tv.

-Guitar Hero II rocks. Yeah, I'm the only 8th grader who likes the modern rock/alternative genres, and all these "oldies" don't exactly impress me, but hey - it's still a great game. Come on, who wouldn't want to play a plastic guitar with 5 frets to The Fratellis?!

-MLB 06: The Show is amazing. It feels exactly like the MVP series, only better. The commentary is awesome - many stadium- and player-specific audio and comments during the game, and the presentation and cutscenes are nice. Gamplay is great, I just can't get used to the baserunning (base selection is weird) and pitching (cursor marks where the break starts, not where it ends) systems. I don't follow baseball much anymore so year-old rosters don't really make any difference to me.

-I have a 100+ page AT&T bill sitting beside me. It came in a box. Lists every single free data transfer I've made (including each webpage I visit), every single phone call and text message, all of it. I do quite a lot of IMing on meebo.com on the phone, so that's a good chunk of the list right there.

-Went to an Altoona Curve game last night. They're the Pirates' AA affiliate. The stadium's about 45 minutes away from me. For $5 tickets, bought from a friend, which included free food (their company picnic), the baseball isn't all that bad. Sure there were a total of 8 errors, but the seats were like $40 PNC Park seats, and the ballpark was lively.

-School starts tomorrow. 8th grade. Last first day of school at this ****hole of a school. Public school next year, thank god. I need new friends.

-The school I'll be attending next year will then be a year old. It's huge! something like $45 million to build. New gymnasium, weight room, artificial turf football/soccer/field hockey field...wow.

-I went to the gym with my grandpa this summer for 3 months. I could only do about 10 pounds on most of the machines. I made a goal for myself of passing up his max lifting weight, since he's actually a pretty strong guy. I went from 10 pounds to 40, which is about where he's at. I felt proud.

-Where you at, where you at, where you at wit a baseball bat?

-Summer reading sucks. Summer of the monkeys? First book I've read since the last Harry Potter. Too bad there wasn't an audiobook...I couldn't convince my parents to let me watch the movie, either.

-Stop it with the MySpace friend requests from pornstars already! I woke up one morning to 8 of them, another one just popped in my inbox now. That isn't even the half of why I hate MySpace.

-I mailed one of those messenger backpacks from Aeropostale to the guy I work with in England yesterday. Apparently they're much cheaper here. I couldn't make out the stuff in his address, so much different from ours. I'd be mildly surprised if he gets it.

-Off to make another sig, tootles!

-dan

[tebjr]

Y4L,

Where did you get Rocketbowl at?

[superciuc]

I'm wondering why school starts so early in the states? I start school the 13th of September.

[Yankee4Life]

I'm wondering why school starts so early in the states? I start school the 13th of September.

And when is your last day of school?

[ronmexico]

It actually varies when you start in the States, mostly on the region you live in. In Chicago they start in early August from waht I know, but in New York, we start 2nd week of September. On the West Coast it's usually in between there, but we all have the same amount of school (give or take a couple days).

[superciuc]

And when is your last day of school?

9th of June.

[ronmexico]

Man, you aren't going to have any random thoughts today. By 1pm, you'll be walking into random walls because you'll be so tired.

Not with the power of Jolt Gum and 5 hour energy. =D

http://www.joltgum.com/

[abc006]

I start school in FOUR DAYS, and I'm still not done with my summer assignments. The summer, as always, went by fast. (Does it ever not?)

[Yankee4Life]

9th of June.

You are lucky. That's another reason why Italy is a great country.

I start school in FOUR DAYS, and I'm still not done with my summer assignments. The summer, as always, went by fast. (Does it ever not?)

That's what it always did for me. Heck, in my high school I had to have a summer reading list. Not every high school had to do this either.

[abc006]

Well I go to a really tough school, we have to read two books and do six separate assignments relating to the books - that doesn't sound incredibly hard for 9th grade, but A) It's harder than anything else in the public school system, and that about doubles by sophmore year. They say it's three hours of homework minimum each night, I think they're perhaps exaggerating a bit, but not by much at all. That's actually good that they give hard assignments, because then the kids who can't stand so much work drop out when they see how much you have to do.

[Yankee4Life]

Three hours a night for homework in the summer? What the hell is that about? No way would I like to do that.

[superciuc]

Three hours a night for homework in the summer? What the hell is that about? No way would I like to do that.

Meh, i don't have homework during the summer. I'm a lucky guy.

[Kccitystar]

...it's back to school time. Man, I feel good saying that. After a year and a half not attending college, I finally managed to get everything sorted out and in tune for this week, when college starts. Everybody thinks I am rusty and I am going to struggle but I think completely the opposite. They kind of forgot that I graduated with honors, and that I was in a charter school when I was much younger. After today, a chunk of my social life will be sacrificed to achieve the 4.0 GPA I've dreamed about.

I'm so happy to be where I am at this point, because many months ago I thought I would never attend because of all the problems that kept happening to me, but I didn't quit. I didn't give up because in my heart I knew I wanted to attend college so I made it possible. Here I stand, college bound, with my schedule, ID, and my book bag, and it feels good knowing that I am entering territory where many chose not to go, those that did benefited greatly from it, and I couldn't have been where I am right now if it wasn't for everybody's support, both friends and family.

...My first class is simple. English composition 101. I blog a LOT, so this should be quite a breeze. I hope.

...Vick is an idiot, and anyone who still believes he is innocent after everything that has been presented is a complete fool.

...I hate how they have commercialized the skateboard culture and pushed it into the mainstream. Now companies like Nike, who have NEVER chosen to enter the skateboard market are trying to cash in. Where were they in the last 20 years when skaters were pushing for their sport to be legalized? Where were they when skaters wanted to put on contests, or to be sponsored? I'm sure Nike and the other big name companies never pushed for a public skate park, but now that skateboarding is widely accepted, they want to cash in on it's popularity, jump in on the bandwagon and be "heroes" of sorts. Get outta here with that nonsense.

...On that topic, Skate is a great video game, but I don't like it, sole purpose being that it is an EA title and I've been playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for years since the days of Playstation 1.

...My friends want to "rebuild" me like the Six Million Dollar Man. They feel that I've deviated significantly from them to a point where I'm barely like them. I always felt that I was entitled to different tastes in everything, music, clothes, girls, entertainment, so what the fsck?

...So Jennifer is in Albany for college, and I did not make a move. When she is due to come back, (November or so) I will make a move. I won't ask her out, but I will ask for some clarity. Where does she see our friendship going? I feel it can be something more, it has the potential to be something past being friends, but that is up to her. If things don't work out, we'll still be cool at the end of the day, so I won't put my emotional state in her hands like a lot of guys do with women...

...For Halloween, I want a Daft Punk helmet.

...If the Yankees do not advance anywhere in the post season, Torre deserves the blame. People can say "4 WORLD SERIES, 4 WORLD SERIES" but forget that he costs us 2 WS as well.

[abc006]

Three hours a night for homework in the summer? What the hell is that about? No way would I like to do that.

Good god, no, only (yeah , "only) during the height of the school year. Summer's more like prorastinating for the first two months, then maybe half an hour a night the last month.

[superciuc]

he costs us 2 WS as well.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER THAT! AAAAARGH!

[Dan]

IMHO, there's too much emphasis on homework these days. Kids need to have a life. I mean, going to school from seven or eight in the morning till three or four in the afternoon is enough work for a kid. Honestly, why would anyone want to do anymore schoolwork after a day like that?

Yet Americans still don't seem to be smart enough.

At my school, we dropped the A and B classes. Yes, dropped them. Now the class lists are chosen at random. I've heard from people, and even from a parent or two, that it was because the teachers didn't feel like writing up two different lesson plans for the A and B classes - they just wanted one plan and let the smart kids get done early and the not-so-smart ones have more homework. So I sit in the back of the class and doodle website designs in my notebook and the teachers yell at me cause I'm not taking notes on long multiplication, something we've been doing for three years now.

Another rumor I've heard is they dropped the A and B classes is to be politically correct. Bullsh*t. Don't get me wrong, I certainly see it as being true. But they're not letting the smart kids reach their potential in fear of others feeling left out, or feeling sorry for themselves? Give me a break. I know this is the reason behind it.

Our school colors are black and gold. A few years back, when I was in 4th grade, we had Black and Gold classes. Those classes were organized according to the previous years' grades. The Black class was the smarter class, yet parents still complained about the name 'Gold', despite the abilities of the students in the class. So the following year we changed it to Angels and Saints, being a Catholic school.

Parents complained again. "Why is [name] in the Angels class?" So at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, classes were divided according to abilities no more.

And the other half of parents took their turn to complain. "My child won't reach his/her potential if the classes are this way!" Students left. The total student count of the school was almost cut in half, from almost 400 to somewhere around 200.

Now, starting the 07-08 school year, our classes are still randomly divided. Teachers assign more homework than ever, yet some still get more than others. Many of us used to do the quickie homework in the 15 minutes before school started in the morning. Last year they decided not to allow that anymore, since "homework is for home." Who gives a **** where the homework is done, as long as it's finished on time? In protest, a few friends of mine started doing all of their homework, sans about 15 minutes, at home. Whatever wasn't finished was saved until the previous night. Sure they got a few detentions, but they couldn't understand why it mattered where homework was done.

Sorry about the rant, but I felt like typing something long and I found my opportunity. I think my school is a bunch of BS. I don't know what the public schools are like, but surely it isn't as bad as this little private school.

-dan

[ronmexico]

Rant well taken, I remember that I didn't even have to do any work for my first 5 or 6 years of school. I have parents who were educated outside this country, so they taught me how to multiply double and triple digits by the time I got to school. I sat in the back of the room marveling at how the kids couldn't comprehend c is for cat. (I knew how to read too obviously) Now I knew how to read in 2 languages and couldn't figure out how these parents could not have taught their kids to atleast understand simple phonetics. I also went to one of the better public elementary schools in NYC, so it wasn't like everyone was dumb, their education was just a matter of laziness. And then in 2nd grade, the teachers complained that I was restless, you know why? because the 40 minute assignment I would finish in 10 and have 30 minutes to do stuff that bored kids do, play around, doodle, talk to other kids. The teacher ended up bringing my parents in to complain that I was a distraction, and what my dad recommended, give him 2 pages of math problems, it'll keep him in order. After about 3 months, she was giving me 4 pages to do, while the other kids drew pictures and were still working on theyre phonetics. Moral of the story, the educational system is lacking in so many ways that it's quite saddening. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking them make kids do math problems, but as a result I got into one of the top high schools in NYC and have an opportunity at NYU (except for ******* money).

O, and PS, hours upon hours of homework don't help when the kids do the bare minimum to make it look like they did their homework. Class sizes are too big, and if you look at it analytically, the more students you have, the more you farther the the ranges will be. You will have technically more able kids, but more less able kids, and those are the ones that need attention, but do not get it because they do not have the ability to participate in a discussion where the people who are more capable of participating. The weak get weaker, and the strong are stunted because they have to have the quality of the discussion lowered and the middle stay in the middle maintaining the status quo.

/End rant?

Edit: Sorry, I got distracted and went off topic kinda up there, too lazy to fix it though.

[DoubleD]

Man I hated school.

Proud to say I'm a high school drop out (Well, I have my GED which is essentially a high school diploma) with no financial worries (Sold wholesale stuff online originally, now I'm into real estate). F' the public school system which teaches the majority of people nothing they will need in life. Oh and lets not forget instilling into kids that they need a college degree to be successful in life. Do I want my doctor spending 10 years at a college? Ofcoarse. But how many people become doctors, lawyers? Have fun knowing you wasted so much of your time devoted to school even though you wind up with the normal 9-5 job that you would have gotten even without the education you have.

[DoubleD]

Oh and since we're complaining about the school system...

My mom is 56 and has been a teacher for 30+ years, including being at her current school for...well, I know atleast 20 years.

She makes a grand total of around 36k a year.

bull man, bull.

[superciuc]

I hate school now. When i was a kid i loved school. But now i hate everything about that ****.

The teachers don't want to help you. And if you don't do your homework because i don't know how to do it they're gonna say "oh, really? You can't do your homerwork, i'm gonna let this know to your parents, maybe they're gonna help you"

I had a teacher and she insulted me and my schoolmates.

[HFLR]

I'm wondering why school starts so early in the states? I start school the 13th of September.

I started in August 6th and my last day of school is on November 30th then again on school on the second week of January...

...This is the first time ever I have watched live TV on my PC :stickman: , thanks MLB.TV.

...Y4L did you downloaded it?

...Since I don't have anything else to comment here I'll put a funny picture every week.

Cya next week guys!

[Yankee4Life]

...Y4L did you downloaded it?

No, not yet because I was busy last night. I was working this weekend. I am hoping to look at it on Monday.