Is there such a phobia? Because I probably had it, not long ago.

A week from now, on Monday, I will officially make the move from middle school to high school. It's a change that I have been feeling uncertain about. It seems like the clock will really be ticking once I enter high school. My mother is now pressuring me to take classes and study for the SATs and attend seminars. And now I'm being urged to...

- Talk to my teachers (which is a bit hard for me, since I'm not that outgoing as of the past few years and I feel like it's really shallow to befriend your teachers just to get a good recommendation letter for college)

- Make a "professional" email (I don't want to have to check three different emails. I already hardly check one of them - and besides, I figure I'll get spam mail if my real name is in the email's name. And I would really be angry if people were judging me by my email. I know, in this world, first impressions can mean everything, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.)

- Attend extra classes outside of school (my mother insists that a lot of other people are taking them and I have to in order to keep up. But I don't like the idea of that either, because it feels like I'm using money in order to get ahead in school. Just because other people are doing it doesn't mean it's right. Well, I suppose I may be the only one who has such warped and illogical morals.)

- Stop wasting time on the Internet (that's something I intend to work on myself. For instance, I am planning to quit Crunchyroll. Maybe not completely. I might come back once in a while, but I will probably stop visiting on a regular basis. I've already started to think of my "farewell" message. It's painful for me to leave something behind, but not as much as I would have thought a few months ago. It's time to move on. I no longer want to be chained to it.)

And I don't really know what to expect of life in high school. Back when school was still in session, all of us 8th graders went over to the high school campus (it's pretty much across the street, so it's nearby) and listened to some people talk about various parts of the school. They encouraged us to join clubs and participate in leadership activities and whatnot. Near the beginning of the session, the students said, "Well, I bet you think from what your siblings and friends have told you that it's all about studying." Then they paused, and added, "Well, it is sort of like that..."

I certainly hope not. In this country, what with some of the best universities being located here (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, UC Berkeley, UC LA, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Pomona, Northwestern...), the competition gets too fierce. If you ask me, it's like in middle school they're preparing you for high school, and then in high school they're preparing you for college, and then in college you're being prepared for...Your job? The rest of your life? I'm not really sure. (As for when you've got yourself a steady job, I think you're just waiting for retirement. XD) I have heard that some of my fellow students have been taking classes during the summer, such as Geometry, so that perhaps they can move up a level in math and will not have to take Geometry in high school. (I don't see the need to rush. Why not take it easy? You should be able to take Calculus by your senior year if you just go the grade level route.)

Well, I'm sure there's a lot more to high school than just studying for tests all the time. (It's not like I study as much as I should anyways, since I often think to myself, "Eh, I'll probably end up studying something that isn't on the test. I'll be wasting my time.") But I have no idea what everything else is like either. I've looked at the school lunch menu and read the policy, but what does that really tell me about the people there? How can I know what I've read in novels really reflects the high school I'll be attending? Will it be similar to middle school or a whole different universe? I guess the only thing that can be done is to experience it for myself. I am no longer afraid, or at least less so than before. But I'm not completely looking forward to it, either.

Labels: change, classes, college, crunchyroll, email, expectations, fear, first impression, future, high school, internet, judge, life, moral, preparation, quit, SAT, studying, teacher, uncertain

Recently we had an event at my school called Kennedy's Best Dance Crew. This is like the actual TV show - people choreograph moves and then dance in front of the school to the beat of music. (I haven't actually watched America's Best Dance Crew, but oh well.) Our school day had a wacky schedule on Friday because of the show. There were many dance crews.
No Parking Here Males wearing caps and shirts that have a P in a circle with a slash on it. (like those no U turn or no smoking signs) I guess they were okay, but I didn't find them very interesting.
Epic Phail Females wearing a white shirt with a vest and a skirt. They were kind of blah. Hence the name (though I don't think they intended it to be a literal description). I don't want to put them down, though, should they be unhappy about it.
Purple Pixies Females wearing a pinkish purplish (I wouldn't call it purple, but it's not exactly pink. Maybe fushcia? Violet? Magenta? Aubergine? etc.) shirts and either skirts or pants (I think it was pants, but I don't remember any longer). They weren't that interesting either. I guess they're just so-so. Though a few of them were able to do cartwheels and stuff.
J-Walkers If you don't know, Jay walking is a crime, apparently. It's when you don't cross the street using the crosswalks. Anyhow, this was an all girl group. They all have white shirts with a colored J on it, and pants that were also colored. They were energetic, so I liked them.
Medical Tape Males wearing aqua blue jackets and jeans, I think. They had some cool moves. They were very popular since after the show a lot of people talked about voting for them. (I heard someone called them Duct Tape, though...)

Oh yeah, and we had three judges.
Joseph I think that was his name. He was a guy who said nice things. That's about it.
Shannon She said nice things, mostly about the clothing the people wore. I thought they were judging the dancing, not the outfits. (I mean, yeah, it does matter, but not very much.)
Paula Abdul I think you might know who she is if you watch American Idol. Not the real Paula - an imposter! Judging by the voice I suspect it is a certain PE teacher at my school. Wow, they let him crossdress. How miserable for him. He said nice things, too. (I guess they all have to.

Here are the hosts, security, and joke acts.
Hungarian Ballet Troupe Not a real ballet troupe, it's probably two counselors or teachers dressed up. I think one of them is probably Ms. Crowe, but no guarantees. They were dancing at first until a teacher burst on stage and told them they were supposed to be hosting, not actually dancing. They are pretty amusing. One of the two always says things like, "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, it looks like you want to throw up," or "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, you look like a chicken," or "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, you look like a robot, and I had a scary dream about robots last night." The other person always says, "IT GOOD!" or "YOU'RE GOOD!" in an odd accent.
Security This consists of Mr. Moustakas, the woodshop teacher, and Mr. Robinson, a PE teacher. (They look alike, actually, since they both wear basketball shorts and a white shirt, and neither has that much hair on their heads) When summoned, they run onto the stage and take away any offending people.
Two Boys I forget their names. I think one was Akitas. He bribed the hosts to let him perform. The first act they did was that the two ran around the stage with pretty streamers. One of the boys was wearing a strange rainbowy lit up thing. The second time only one boy performed. He wore a banana suit and kept shaking something (sticks? batons? maracas? something like that) to a song that goes "Peanut Butter Jelly Time!". He fainted and was dragged away by his partner. The last time was when one of them dressed up as Chico, the cougar school mascot, and wore a red dress on top of it. They played "Lady in Red" on the speakers. The two boys were dancing (one boy was pretending that he thought it was Chico, not someone inside) but then Chico's head came off, and the boy jumped away in disgust. Anyhow, it was pretty amusing.

I would say it was all pretty cool except for one thing - THE MUSIC IS WAY TOO LOUD. It's a good thing I wasn't sitting in the front of the room or I would be deaf. You can feel the ground pulsing just slightly. One of my friends had her hands over her ears because it was so loud. I would've done that too but I thought it might be rude.

Labels: crews, dance, deaf, funny, host, humor, joke, judge, kennedy's best dance crew, loud, music, security, show, stage

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