Dec 9
I remember back in 9th grade and years before that (to a lesser extent)
I used to spend all of my time reading. I would read through class,
through lunch, and I would read when I was supposed to be at home doing
my homework. I didn't really have too many friends. I used
to enjoy boasting that I had many acquaintances, but no friends. I'm not
sure if that was really true (or if it's still true), it all depends on
how you define a friend. But I miss those days when I could bury
my troubles in the troubles of the fictional character who was on my mind
at the time. Captain Hornblower, Chronicles of Narnia, Science Fiction
Novels, the list goes on. In 8th grade I read a 200+ novel every
single day. I think I had around a 2.5 GPA. I miss being able
to come home a bury whatever's bothering me in a good book, to loose myself
in some make-believe world. I guess I could still do it, but it's
no longer a habit any more. Now I come home and watch TV or play
computer. No more reading. You can loose yourself in a book
so much more than you can in a TV show or in a game. In a book, your
whole mind, you whole imagination is working, is engaged in that novel.
And you don't have to think about the world swirling around you.
Dec 5
3:26 p.m.: Journalism is miserable. Sitting in class is fine.
I like computers and that's what tides me over. And working with
the reporters and editors isn't bad. But it's when I have to work
with the advisor that things get really bad. I find it hard to work
with her. I mean, she's not a bad person, but we both are rather
stubborn and have very different view of how the paper should be.
I'm worn out way before my time. If anything, a fallout shouldn't
happen until second semester at the earliest. But here I am having
a terrible relationship with the advisor already. And once a week
I have to give up and entire lunch time to hold a one on one conversation
with her about the state of the paper and how I'm not doing my job.
I've done a little work on this web page. I'm going to have no
more than two month's entries load at once, the rest can be found on the
archive page. I also added some new photos and fixed the only ones
so that they don't load quite so large and blurry.
Dec 1
I'm taking the SAT II tomorrow. Wish me luck ó I'm going to need
it. Last time I took the SAT II Math IIC and scored in the 59th percentile.
And that's not the type of score that gets one into Northwestern ó especially
with a 3.6 GPA.
I'm so tired. Life seems to just wear me out. Journalism
is such a pain. I'm usually fine in the class. I have a bad
habit of simply emotionally and mentally detaching myself from what is
going on. I don't really register the consequences of things such
as articles being submitted a week and a half late. I simply sit
in front of my computer and enjoy the wonderful technology provided by
ROP. That way Journalism isn't that bad. But things do get
bad when I'm forced to have a discussion with Sumberg. First, she's
overruling my authority on layout and wasting time by creating a committee
to come up with layout guidelines for the paper. If she wants layout
guidelines, have me or one of the editors do it. It doesn't make
sense for people who aren't involved in layout to come up with layout guidelines.
And as editor in chief I should have final say. In addition she created
an organizational chart that gives the status on the staff for various
staff members, as in who's over who. She put herself over me, meaning
she's my boss and gets to overrule me. But section 48907 of the California
Ed. code says that the content of student publications is in the hands
of student editors, and that faculty do not have jurisdiction over that
content unless it is obscene, slanderous, or libelous. I even showed
that to her at the beginning of the year. But that's enough on journalism
for a while.