What I'm... No. 13

I really feel like there are more books but, for the life of me, I cannot remember what they are.

Reading:

Books:

The Fifty Year Mission Volume I: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross & Mark A. Altman

I really loved this. Star Trek is something I have been interested in for a long time and learning how the show was made and what the people who made it feel about it. The entire world of television is fascinating to me, especially low-budget television.

Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray

This was an okay book. I was really interested in learning about Leia's thoughts regarding the failing bureaucracy of the New Republic, but a lot of the book dragged. Little disappointing. 

Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston

I loved this book. It was very clever and well thought out. I quite liked the story and the way it was written.

Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed

This book was very good. I enjoy reading about characters not featured in the movies because I feel like the author can do something new, and I like new.

The Book of Joy by The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

This book was very interesting. I am neither Catholic nor Buddist, but I feel like the discussions in this book are universal and very important.

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport

This book was very interesting. I have always loved the Romanovs, and I find their plight both inevitable and avoidable.

The Pope of Physics by Gino Segre and Bettina Hoerlin

Enrico Fermi is fascinating. And he built the first sustained nuclear reactor underneath the squash courts at the University of Chicago.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

I quite liked this book. It was very funny, but I feel like there was not a high proportion of mystery for a mystery novel.

The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047

This book was amazing. It's the Great Depression crossed with the hyperinflation of the mark in post-WWI Germany crossed with scifi crossed with postapocalyptic novels. What falls first when the world implodes?

Listening:

Music:

Paramore

I am really loving Paramore recently. Hard Times is one of my favorite songs, and I am very excited for After Laughter.

Fall Out Boy

I am very excited about Fall Out Boy's new album. Although the new song is not my favorite kind of music, I am excited for them to try something new.

All Time Low

All Time Low's new album is also very exciting. I loved Future Hearts and am very excited to see what they will do next.

Vampire Weekend

I dearly love Unbelievers, and who doesn't love a band that sings about Oxford Commas?

Ed Sheeran

You may know that I love Ed Sheeran, and that hasn't changed.

Florence + The Machine

Honestly, if one of your official artist photos is one with gold glitter all over your hands, what is not to love?

Green Day

Still loving Green Day. Contemplating going to a concert.

Watching:

Movies:

Moana

I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Moana is my favorite new Disney movie, and I cannot wait to watch it again. Every time I hear How Far I'll Go, I start to cry a little bit. The movie was just amazing.

Sing

This movie was really cute and funny. Plus, Scarlett Johansson can sing?!

Trolls

This was just a cute, dumb movie. Nothing wrong with that.

The BFG

This was a good movie. Not my favorite, not my least favorite.

Strange Magic

This movie was completely ridiculous. Much as I love George Lucas, there is a reason other people edited his plot. Completely bonkers and cliche to boot.

Sky High

The redeeming factor of this movie is Danielle Panabaker. Otherwise, Disney Channel cliche.

TV:

The Flash

I literally think it would be impossible for me to love The Flash any more than I already do.

Arrow

I am now in Arrow season 4, and I quite like it. Oliver is getting over his emo phase, and the team is starting to come together proper.

Supergirl

I like Supergirl now, but when it was owned by Fox or whoever, it was not good. But I now have to go back to the beginning and get caught up: a summer project.

Dancing with the Stars

I love Simone Biles, and her dance to How Far I'll Go is my favorite thing to ever come from the show.

Doctor Who

I love Doctor Who! And the new season is really amazing. Everything so far is amazing, and I love Bill. I am really excited to see what comes next.

Class

I love Class, and I love that Doctor Who is doing something different and new and cool. I like the characters and I am intrigued by their future.

Property Brothers

Something I watch when I am not really doing anything. Has anyone else noticed that all their houses look sort of similar?

Fixer Upper

I like Fixer Upper better than Property Brothers, but a lot of their houses still look the same.

Victoria

I LOVE VICTORIA! I love Jenna-Louise Coleman, I love Victoria herself, I love Albert, I love the way they did the show, the way it was organized, just the whole show was amazing!

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

I love Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency. The TV show better than the book. I feel like Dirk on the show has a layer of honesty that the book didn't have.

YouTube:

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I love the Lizzie Bennet Diaries! I feel like the series expanded on all the characters and situations I felt were underused in Pride and Prejudice itself. I am just really happy with the way the show was made.

vlogbrothers

It is no secret that I love vlogbrothers, and that has no changed. Still love 'em.

Dan & Phil

Still love these dorks too.

100Days

John Green and his best friend in a 'healthy midlife crisis' that involves swearing, incessant DFTBA.com promos, bad jokes, and complaints about not being able to listen to music while exercising. Plus, I was introduced to my meditation app by this show.

Geek & Sundry

I love Geek & Sundry. My brother recently bought Ticket to Ride, inspired by TableTop. I regularly watch Critical Role, even though I am way behind. I watch TableTop a lot (love Wil Wheaton!). I watched all of the Guild, and watch the Flog (Felicia Day!). I am also slowly making my way through Space Janitors.

Felicia Day

I LOVE FELICIA DAY! I am watching the Dragon Age webseries, and her gaming streams. I also recently watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which is the best ever!

Crash Course

I love Crash Course. Currently watching: Astronomy, World History 2, Physics, Philosophy, Literature, Mythology, Intellectual Property, and Sociology. I plan to watch the American Government and Economics series this summer along with my online class.

Girl Meets Pixels

I love Girl Meets Pixels, her current households are amazing.

Rosianna Halse Rojas

Rosianna has the greatest taste in books I have yet run across on YouTube.

Squaresville

This is a webseries inspired by living in a small town, and features Mary Kate Wiles, a super great actress from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

And there's everything. I really have to keep better track of my books in the future.

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Chorus of the Day!

Today was gonna be the day
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do, about you now

Last Chorus of the Day:

Say Goodbye by Green Day

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La! ~SCP

Making the Case for Smaller Classes in Public High Schools

As a high school student, my classes often happen or don’t happen based on the number of people who enroll in them. Low numbers mean the classes get canceled, even if they are greatly beneficial to the students in them. This happened to me recently. I won’t get into the details, but a class I had really been looking forward to was canceled, leaving the twelve students stranded without another option.
What particularly bugs me about this particular instance is that this class is filled with incredibly intelligent kids—the kind that get high test scores, win the school money, and don’t ask for anything but classes that challenge them and make them better. We wanted this class, needed it, for all the good it did us, the way it made us better thinkers, better test-takers, and better students. Also, it was something that would make colleges remember our applications.
Basically, this whole thing has made me very angry. I am the kind of student that this high school wants, but they won’t even keep this class so I can at least finish the program. My school is making it hard for me to be a ‘gifted’ kid, something that they theoretically want all of their students to be. Like, what even?! You want me to go to this school, to do these kinds of classes because it makes you look good. I am making this school look good, and you are preventing me!
Sorry, I got a little carried away there. Basically, this is my argument for ‘small’ classes.
Firstly, I get it. It all comes down to the money. Everything is about money. But my education is earning you money. I am making money for this school by having high test scores and showing up every day. Can you just pay one teacher for one more hour? Is paying for twelve kids to take an equivalent class online really that much cheaper? You already have a teacher for this subject, and he has an open hour. Why can’t you just put us there?
Plus, this school is one of the best in the state. You pride yourselves on being the best school in the county. You want to be a good school. Why then are you cutting the very programs that make you exceptional? Why are you preventing the students who make this school look good from doing the things you excel at? Why are you cutting programs that make this school attractive to people who move here? If you keep cutting unique programs, your rivals may take prospective students that would have come here.
Lastly, small classes are good for students. Every single college who has sent me a brochure in the past six months (and trust me, there are a lot) has been bragging about the small class sizes at their school. They put it in a super big font on the first or second page of their immaculate little booklets. Having an average class size of under thirty would make this high school look great, and a twelve person class would bring down your average a lot. I don’t know why you seem to think a class is only worthwhile when all the seats are filled, but I enjoy my classes more when some of the seats go empty.
Additionally, these classes with small enrollment sizes are the classes full of ‘gifted’ kids. If you keep cutting these classes, there won’t be any place for us to go. Without AP and Honors classes, this school would not have the same standard of excellence it has had for these 150+ years. I don’t want that to happen, and I am sure you don’t either. There are kids depending on advanced classes for their education. Small classes of smart kids: those are what you should be preserving.
My final point: if I had known scheduling the classes I want was going to be so hard, I would have followed K to that amazing online school because this isn’t worth it.
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Chorus of the Day!

Say goodbye to the ones that we love
Say goodbye to the ones we love
Say goodbye to the ones that we love
Goodbye to the ones that we love

Last Chorus of the Day:
Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey

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La! ~SCP

Bullet Journaling

I recently started a bullet journal, which I know is a very cliche blogger thing to do. However, I would like to think I am not just a cliche blogger. My bullet journal isn't beautiful, or colorful, or particularly nice to look at. Mostly, it is just a list of things I haven't done, repeated every day. It's a repository of my homework and the little tasks I need to do every day. My work schedule, my tests, emails to send, and questions to ask... my bullet journal does what I need it to, with very little effort on my part. What I can say definitively is that this is the only organizational system I have stuck with for more than two weeks. I have been bullet journaling for over two and a half months. What I have found is that I just needed a place to put everything, a place I would come back to every single day and record what I had done and still needed to do. In fact, bullet journaling has greatly increased my productivity. I quite like it. Here are some pictures of my bullet journal as an example of what it looks like. And some extensive examples of my... unique handwriting.

This is my March monthly spread. As you can see, I did not write many blog posts but did read a lot.

These are my daily pages for the week of February 27th through March 5th. Quite a lot happened, mostly Calc homework.

And here are my daily pages for the week of March 6th through March 13th. I organize my weeks Monday through Sunday because that makes the most sense on a school year schedule.

This is my future log, the record of events that are happening more than a month in advance. In pride of place, you can see my AP exams! YAY!

This is my index. I just add spreads as I get to them. Simple.

This is my key. As you can see, I initially made it more complicated than I needed.

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Chorus of the Day!

Will you still love me
When I'm no longer young and beautiful?
Will you still love me
When I got nothing but my aching soul?
I know you will, I know you will
I know that you will
Will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?

Last Chorus of the Day:
Still Breathing by Green Day

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La! ~SCP

Divide by Ed Sheeran

It has now been a week since Divide, Ed Sheeran's newest album, came out. And I finally feel ready to talk about it.
The album has a bit more of a pop sound, but it still keeps the sound Ed has had since the beginning. There are some Irish influences, but still soulful ballads like before. His voice hasn't changed, and I love the album just as much as the others. Here's my discussion of the tracks.
Eraser: Eraser starts off the album well, with hard chords and a melodic tune that repeats underneath his vocals. You can tell this song is autobiographical because he references his life many times.
Castle on the Hill: I love Castle on the Hill. It is just amazing, the stories of childhood and the rising chorus. This song just rings of hope and nostalgia. He just sounds so content when he sings this.
Dive: I love this song. It is a bit of a departure, exploring a side of a relationship that Ed hasn't before. His words are so true, so perfectly descriptive of so many relationships.
Shape of You: I like Shape of You, and I have to admit that I like it more everytime I hear it. The background music is so nice with the bit of synth.
Perfect: I love Perfect. It has a bit of fluctuation in his voice, and swings a bit, which is so nice. It just makes me happy.
Galway Girl: I LOVE GALWAY GIRL! This song is so great, just the chorus, and the whole Irish theme, and just the amazing!
Happier: I love Happier. It is just heartbreaking. Ed is exploring new territory, post-breakup stuff. I love how he does not imply that he was better than the new guy, but that he is happy for her.
New Man: I love following up Happier with New Man. It is the polar opposite of the other song. Ed is still supportive, but he is hesitant that his ex is actually okay.
Hearts Don't Break Around Here: I love this song. It is just so calm and pretty and relaxing and awesome and I love the message.
What Do I Know?: The message of this song is perfect, and I love Ed so much for writing it and including it in the album.
How Would You Feel (Paean): I love the stripped feeling of this song, the calm and the soulfulness. It has a wonderful melodic progression, and just feels like a great song.
Supermarket Flowers: This song made me cry so much. It is so sweet that Ed would write a song about his mother. I just can't even...
Barcelona: This is a thematic shift from Supermarket Flowers, but I love it. The sound is very different and it is more carefree than much of this album.
Bibia Be Ye Ye: I love this song. Carefree and fun, the story of my life with all the forgetfulness. I love it.
Nancy Mulligan: Nancy Mulligan has Irish influences as well, and I love the family story that Ed wove in. I wonder if these are his grandparents, but I think it is really sweet regardless.
Save Myself: This song made me cry so much. I have nothing else to say.
And that's the album. I strongly recommend that you listen to it.
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Chorus of the Day!

'Cause I'm still breathing
'Cause I'm still breathing on my own
My head's above the rain and roses
Making my way away
'Cause I'm still breathing
'Cause I'm still breathing on my own
My head's above the rain and roses
Making my way away
My way to you

Last Chorus of the Day:
Disenchanted by My Chemical Romance

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Why Do I Do This to Myself?

So, last week was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I was in my school's Variety Show, so I spent a long time at the school dancing. Normally, this would be hard, but it would be fine if I hadn't fallen down the stairs and twisted my ankle. (I'd like to here point out that the ankle twisting was about six weeks before tech week, so I was pretty much fine.) So, I am dancing for at least two hours every night after school, with a twisted ankle, in high heels. And I just thought to myself, "Why am I doing this?"
And so I thought about it, and thought about it, and I realized: I am doing this thing because I love and because I love the people doing it around me. There is a certain group of people that I dance with on this show, and nothing else, so I love the opportunity to hang out with these people that I dearly love and don't often interact with.
The relationship between us is something special, something I would not want to want to miss out on just because it was hard, and that applies to most of my life. I just wish that I did not have to push myself to inhuman lengths just to do the things I love.
I don't know where I was going with this story, but you can take or leave what I've made of it. See you soon!
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Chorus of the Day!

You're just a sad song, with nothing to say

About a life-long, wait for a hospital stayAnd if you think that I'm wrongThis never meant nothing to you

Last Chorus of the Day:
The Judge by twenty one pilots

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