Update

Things have been pretty busy lately, but are settling mildly. I will start with today, then describe the days from the last few posts up until today.

So today at school Rachel's Challenge had an assembly. The father of a girl killed at Columbine High School back in the 90s spoke. A message was given about spreading kindness, reaching out, being positive, among other things. For the most part I agreed with it as it was in tune with Christian values (and values associated with most belief systems). Perhaps one of the biggest things I took from the presentation, however, was the importance of writing things down. A point stressed in the presentation was to write down goals, and keep a journal. I suppose this is my form of a journal. It was really impressive how, though very idealistic, deep what Rachel wrote was for such a young age. Really positive and thoughtful people are a rare and beautiful thing. Looking on my blog, I feel pretty shallow and cynical, but I suppose that I should just continue and see how it evolves. There is little to no point lying to yourself on your own blog or diary.

September 15, 2009:
Jesse Pak told me how to play Yu-Gi-Oh. The first time he made me use a lousy PAK of cards while he dominated me with some cheap rigged setup. The second time he killed me as well. I guess that game takes more skill that I thought. I read a poem called ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER by John Keats (1795-1821). Basically Keats was really happy to have been able to read a translation of Homer's classic. Back in the day, before internet, things like that were appreciated so much more. Information is so accessible nowadays, at an elementary level, there is very little searching to do if you want to learn about something. Wikipedia is such a great study partner.

September 16, 2009:
This day was mostly homework. I had to turn in something to TURNITIN.com. I think that it is a really annoying site for some things, such as notes. I remember in APUSH it would highlight like every single one of my proper nouns. For stuff like essays and things it is pretty okay, for now at least. If that site stays in existence too long, the database will get too large and everything will be plagurizing. Stopping cheating gets harder and harder with new technology. Every improvement creates more loopholes and opportunities than all the safeguards it makes.

September 17, 2009:
For Spanish class I had to give an oral presentation. My spoken Spanish is really bad. Writing and reading isn't too bad with the huge number of cognates. Speaking and listening are what kill for Spanish. Still seeking to improve, listening to more Spanish music and stuff to improve comprehension and get used to the accent, but still very difficult.

September 18, 2009: At this part I'm doing really hardcore preparation for debate competition which is the following day. I'm getting very nervous because I have not done formal debate for. Jimmy and I are coordinating our organization of materials. As a team, we communicate very well.

September 20, 2009:

(Will describe debate in depth later)

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To be continued... Got a lot of days to fill in!