Wake Me Up!: Summer Goals and YouTube.

Before you read the rest of this post, look up the song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham!  Why?  Because that’s what I’m listening to as I write this.  Found it?  Okay, now keep reading.

I promised you that I would keep you updated on how I’m accomplishing my summer goals, and truth be told, I keep forgetting what they are.  Basically they amount to “have an awesome blog-worthy summer and write about it.”  I’ll have to go back and see what they actually are later so that I can actually update them specifically, but I’m lazy so that will have to wait until some other time.

Tennis is continuing!  As I mentioned in my last post, my dad and I played tennis for the first time in 2 years or so, and this past Saturday, we played again.  Now, if you recall, I did not exactly play extraordinarily well (read: the number of times the ball landed in the court was largely overwhelmed by the number of times the ball went out of the court).  This week… was not much better.  But!  All in all, it was still better than last time, admittedly in a slightly more anticlimactic way, if that makes any sense.  Let me elaborate…

While I did improve on my forehands, landing the ball inside the court was still a bit difficult as I tend to hit them long (though this time considerably lower and with more power behind them).  Also, I felt as if my improvement was underscored by my dad’s improvement.  Seeing as he has always been a better tennis player than me (understandably so), he has started to regain some of his earlier skill faster than I have.  Which makes the small improvements that I made seem more insignificant than they would be if say, he had not improved at all.

I hope that didn’t just make it more confusing.

Anyways, I still enjoyed playing, and a little frustration is not going to stop me from playing again.

In other news, my list of chores has been mostly completed, with just a few hours to spare before my mother and sister get home.  I have written all of my thank you cards (though I need to mail 5 of them still), I have done my laundry, I have cleaned my desk area, I have set up my new alarm clock, and I have cleaned my room (though it needs to be spiffed up again today because ahh, some things just get chronically messy).  Because the majority of those chores are a bit boring, I’m only going to touch on my ALARM CLOCK situation.

Now, here’s the thing. I have issues with getting up in the morning, especially when I have to wake up before 7am (not often, but it happens).  My old alarm clock had two alarms–one that I would set to be just music from my iPod playing and another one 20 minutes after the first that would be the standard buzzer.  Now, lately I have been waking up somewhere between those two alarms–around 10 minutes after my music starts playing.  During the school year, however, I almost never woke up to my standard clock alarm.  So, generally, as a “just in case” measure, I set 4 or 5 alarms on my iPhone, which always wake me up (because they sound like a fire truck honking in my ear).  My mom is apparently worried that in college I’ll end up missing class because I’ll have slept through it, so she got me a new alarm clock for my birthday.  This alarm clock also has an iPod dock and is also a nice digital picture frame thingy as well!  So, of course I uploaded a bunch of pictures of my friends and family to it, making sure to leave some room for any new pictures I might take at college.  The only thing is… I don’t think the iPod function on it is working.  I still wake up between my first and second alarm, but the music isn’t playing when I do.  Because I normally sleep through the first alarm anyways, I have no idea if it’s going off and then stopping or if it’s not working at all.  And the buzzer alarm on it is slower than my previous buzzer alarm.  Beep… beep… beep… Rather than beepbeepbeepbeep.  You get what I’m saying?

I’m not seeking to look the gift horse in the mouth (is that the right saying? sounds so odd), but there are definitely some kinks that I need to work out before I get to college.  At least I’ll always have my fire truck phone alarms as a back up.

Anyways, another thing that has been occupying my weekend is YouTube.  Now, I’m sure you’re all saying “Goodness, haven’t you always used YouTube?”  And yes, I have.  But I primarily used it to listen to music that I didn’t have on iTunes yet or to check out new songs and albums that I was thinking of buying.  (Like right now, I’m listening to that song that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  On YouTube.)  HOWEVER, I have just started to watch videos on YouTube by people that you might have heard of:  charlieissocoollike, nerimon, frezned, et cetera.  Right now, I’m watching Tom (aka frezned) because he’s hilarious and has a similar personality to mine (that sort of wide-eyed thinking, if you will?).  <–that doesn’t make sense.

One thing that you may or may not know about me is that I have an unfortunate habit of seeking out celebrities that I believe that I could be friends with in real life and then moping around wishing that I could be friends with them.  If you didn’t know that, you probably knew that I claim a lot of people as my “future husbands,” in a completely joking manner of course.  Basically, I love their talent and spunk, and that’s generally the end of it.  [Random fact:  I have a letter to Rupert Grint in my sock drawer from last year, and I recently shredded a letter to Nick Jonas that I wrote during an unfortunate phase that I had in middle school.]

What is weird about this whole YouTube thing is that I suddenly have a desire to become one of these internet “celebrities.”  I would like to think that I’m a fairly awesome person, and I enjoy sharing my views and music and thoughts with the world.  However, I am…awful at cameras and editing and all that jazz.  Plus, I don’t think I would know where to start talking.  Yesterday I made an adorable video for my best friend AbbyBay of just me making faces at the camera.  It turned out pretty well, but I mean, it was still weird webcam quality.

I’m still considering doing something on YouTube (because I think it’d be fun), so if you have any ideas on how I could possibly get started with that, please shoot me a message or comment on this. Thanks!

For now though, I suppose I will have to just keep watching the already acclaimed YouTube stars and wonder what it would be like if we were legitimately friends. (Cool? Creepy? Eh, who cares.)

This is the end of this blog post, and to spark some excitement for the next one, I will leave you with one word–a word that may or may not have to do with my next “goals” update.

Geocaching.

supersecretlyawesome xx

The Pros and Cons of Early Graduation.

I am a high school senior.  I am also in college.  Confusing?  Let me explain.  Two years or so ago, my father’s job was transferred from the East Coast down to the good ol’ Southwest. My little sister moved down with him in August to start her freshman year, and I just joined him a month ago and started college.  How is this possible, you might be wondering?  Well, here’s the answer:  early graduation.  Early graduation is basically what it sounds like–you graduate early at the end of your first semester.  My early graduation is a bit different than normal because instead of receiving my diploma in December, I will still walk with my class and receive my diploma in June—however, it still qualifies as an early graduation.  In case your school offers early graduation, here are some pros and cons that I have found that you should consider before making your decision!

Pros.

1.  College courses.  If you graduate early, you can enroll in a semester at a local community college and complete a lot of your basic coursework as well as classes that do not relate to your major.  For example, I am going to be an engineering major, so to reduce my coursework, I am taking a lot of history, government, and social classes this semester.  This way I do not have to take any of those extra non-related classes next fall, and I can focus entirely upon my major-related courses.  Plus, these classes that I don’t necessarily love are a bit easier than they would be at “real” college, which is always an advantage.

2.  Job Opportunities. Because you aren’t in school from 7am until 3pm, you have more time available to work, and because of this, you will be more attractive to employers than someone who can’t work during the majority of the day.  College schedules are more flexible than high school schedules.  For three days of my week, my classes only last until 11am, which means that I can work during lunches—and because of this, I was hired on the spot on my second day of job-hunting!  Having this extra time gives you an advantage over other job-seeking students that might still be in high school.

3.  More time.  As I mentioned, without high school, you have so much more time than you normally would.  While you should use this time to be productive and take classes or work, you can also devote some time to fun activities such as learning a new instrument or writing Sparknotes posts (you could become the next Dan Bergstein!).  Obviously you still should devote a lot of time to your classes or job, but this can be a great time in your life to pursue one of your dreams or ambitions. 

4.  No senioritis!  Okay, okay—I know that there is plenty of senioritis during the first semester of senior year (and for some, junior year as well).  But because you graduate early, you’re done with high school early!  No more sitting in classes bored to death or listening to obnoxious drama.  Plus, if you take college classes during your now-free second semester, you’re done with your classes during the first week or so of May.  Which means that, yes, you have even more time.  Win-win!

Cons.

1.  Detachment from high school activities.  This is the worst problem of early graduation in my opinion.  Senior year is supposed to be one of the best years in high school.  You rule the school, and teachers give you some slack to allow you to finish college applications.  There’s prom, senior sweatshirt day, and lots of other senior-related activities.  If you graduate early, you are a bit detached from the rest of your class, and you miss out on a lot of senior-mentality, as I suppose you would call it.  While early graduation is great, it almost feels like you’re leaving high school too early, without a chance to enjoy your last year with your friends.  This brings me to my next point…

2.  Detachment from friends.  While my problem might originate from the fact that I moved half a continent away, many early graduates have the issue of seeing their high school friends less than they normally would.  Even when I was still living in the East Coast during first semester, I had one dual enrollment class for Calculus, and I know that I saw a lot of my friends less because I was only in school for half of the day.  Obviously you will still maintain great relations with your close friends; however, some of your acquaintances might fall by the wayside after your early graduation. 

Overall, I think early graduation is a great opportunity, especially if your school does not offer many AP classes or opportunities for dual credit.  While you might be a bit detached from your high school after your last semester, there are so many great opportunities gained from early graduation, and I think that it should be an option for students in all high schools.