In the words of the great Earl Pitts, famous comedian:

"You know what makes me sick? You know what makes me so angry I could walk up to a biker in a motorcycle bar and slap him upside the head?!" - It's grades.

Right now I'm feeling pretty infuriated with the public school system, and also in myself. Grades are something that typically I would say mean quite a bit to me - but lately I've come upon the realization that grades are just another means of being judged by the people around one. Certainly, getting good grades is essential to guaranteeing one a successful future, at least that's what I've been told for the last 15 years of my life . . . Well, thing is, I bombed my last Algebra II/Trig test. That's right, got a nice D, for "Bob, your grade just dropped a full letter, you Dip." There's nothing wrong with D's, unless your Bob, amateur perfectionist. I've always been a fan of making sure my future is guaranteed, and getting a D on a test isn't exactly my idea of pleasureful experience.

If a person's used to getting high grades, and he takes a sudden dive, it can be pretty shocking. I was disappointed with myself that I didn't know better, that I didn't think faster - and then the guilt was transferred into anger, anger against my teacher for not helping me more, anger against people for giving me bad information - then, depression, for submitting into anger. An endless cycle that all teenagers fall into, the cycle of disappointment and joy.

Today was pretty exhausting. Started off with drafting, which I typically enjoy, so that was fun. Next period was Spanish II, and I had a test on advanced verbs or something like that. It was pretty easy, I do well with foreign languages, and I like foreign language - linguistic study may even be something I consider as a profession, but who knows. I can't advertise my "master plan" on the internet because one of you journal-peepers is bound to see it and go, "wow, that was a smart idea Bob had . . ." - maybe even take it from me. Hehehe.

So, next period was when I got the bad news on my Algebra II / Trig test. This chapter is already going better though, I'm actually understanding almost all the material - tonight's homework was cruddy though, so I'm going to need to get some assistance on that.

Last period of the day was chemistry. (This was a block day for those of you that haven't figured this out - it's when you have a lesser number of periods but each class is longer and harder typically). So, today we did an experiment involving the solubility of different substances - what reactants form precipitates (solids in an aqueous solution) and what not. It's fairly complicated, but after I grasped the basic concepts I think I started to understand it.

The bus seemed to take forever to get home today, and I had some really depressed 7th grader sitting next to me for the second half of the ride. He had this sort of contagious depression, and I started thinking of all the times in my life I've had failed relationships and what not. I gave the lad a bit of advice and went on doing the Bob thing, gazing out the window at the wonders of nature and playing back Beethoven in his head.

My mom was being awesome, and almost as soon as I hopped of the bus she instinctively knew it'd be sweet to give me a ride home. She was there within 30 seconds I'd gotten off the bus, and she gave me a lift home. Wonder how they do it . . . got to love the mama. She cooked this really good dinner tonight too - like corn on the cob, and barbecued chicken and such, and rice - it was so . . . mmmm. But to move on, she also took me into Sebastapol today and I got my hair chopped off. Then I decided to cut the hair shorter in the back, and to get a nice "short" hair cut. I like short hair, it's convenient and all, but think this is the last time I'm getting my hair cut like this for awhile. I'm actually going to grow it out long till around next summer, then repeat the cycle. Who knows, time will tell - I don't know if I'd look half-decent in the eyes of society with long hair. Got to worry for the sex appeal you know! (joking smile)

My brain is racked and I have a test on Catcher in the Rye tomorrow, shouldn't be a problem but it IS a timed essay, and I DO like to write quality essays, so I'm going to go reread some important sections and memorize some quotes.

Take care my friends.