Well now...

I hope you have all started your procrastination for the first thing on the finals to do list. I am trying, but since i have to take some finals early, my whole schedule is messed up!

Any who, i learned a few interesting things today and i thought i would share them!

1. Noodles and company doesn’t have chicken Alfredo…?

This statement was tweeted by Lauren Stines earlier today, and i was rather sad to hear it. I love chicken alfredo! It is my favorite pasta dish in the entire world. But never fear, i talked with Paige Heffernen, a new employee, and she said that they have amazing food. I guess that they have different noodle dishes from different regions of the world and that the prices are relatively low, around 8 dollars of you add extras. I will have to try this place out!

2.Teachers comb their hair in the bathroom.

I guess it’s good to know that as we grow older, our vainness will not vanish, or is it? As i was urinating and minding my own business, a teacher came into the bathroom, entered the stall beside mine, and began covering the seat with toilet paper. There were 5 other stalls available and she chose the one right next to mine? That’s like being a guy and with 10 other urinals available in the bath room, and choosing the one right next to an already present person. Awkward.

Anyway, (this was a long urination mind you, i drank two of my camelbak waterbottles before second hour when all of this happened) the teacher proceeded to sit down, grunt a lot, and then wipe profusely. How do i know this might you ask? Because i have ears! And in the stall  RIGHT NEXT TO ME there is a grunting teacher. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

After the teacher finished her business and washed her hands, turning off the water with the paper towel and everything (tree killer), she bent down and pulled a brush out of no where. I don’t know if she kept it in her shoe or what, but this was crazy. Not really, she pulled it out of her purse that i couldn’t see through the crack between the door and stall wall. The teacher combed her hair for 2 minutes. No joke. I think she counted 100 strokes. Then she walked out. At this point i wasn’t doing anything but squatting over the pot and staring in amazement. I thought it was only young girls who did that!

3. If you take Allie Sindlingers phone, she will manhandle you like a dog abuser. 

I know it’s not funny to joke about abusing dogs, but I couldn’t think of another example of what the whole scene looked like. Josh Zimmerman attempted to take Allie’s phone during 5th hour today and she leaped from her desk and onto him like a crazy mistress. It was quite scary. Needless to say, Josh didn’t hesitate in giving her phone back. I think she frightened him a bit.

Sarah =]

Finals To-Do List

So as we all know, this is the last week of fall term. This means that we will check up on our second term schedules, have little homework, and a lot of studying to do in order to prepare for finals. This also means that the majority of us will take advantage of no homework to do things rather than study, procrastinate like no other, and cram the night before. A couple mental breakdowns due to stress and grade dependent finals may be thrown in there too. So, i have developed a check list to help all of you lost souls out there pass your finals (notice i said “pass”, not “do well”).

First things first: You must acknowledge the fact that you probably won’t do well on all of your finals. 

If you have a case of senioritis, like me, you will not have put all the effort you could have into this terms grades, and it probably shows. Therefore, in two days time, you cannot learn everything you skimped on through out the term.

Second: Become best friends with a super smart kid. 

See that kid in the middle? Prime example of smart friend. Plus, he likes harry potter which is even better.

I’m extremely pleased that i have intelligent friends. I can rely on them to teach me the necessities for the final. But for those of you who don’t have a smart friend, give a smart kid a compliment and beg for their help. The smart kids are nice, well most of them, and since they already know everything, they don’t need to study! SIDE NOTE: If you make them food, they will be more likely to help you.

Third: Go to Barnes and Noble. 

Gather your super smart friends and wait in line for a table to open up for you to sit at to study for an hour. Make sure yo purchase something from the Starbucks. A mean lady will kick you out if you don’t. The noisy atmosphere of everyone trying to study is very beneficial to your brain. You may not know it, but your brain takes in two streams of knowledge at a time. Conciously, you take in what you are trying to learn, but my theory, is that though you are not focusing on what the other kids studying are saying, you can absorb that information too! You can thank AP Psych for that bit of advice.

Fourth: Don’t do this until the day before finals.

Lets face it. You aren’t going to study on monday. You might on tuesday. But you definitely will on wednesday. You see, you won’t feel the pressure until it gets down to the very last minute. It’s like football players and watching the clock. After it gets to the fourth quarter and there is a minute left, the chances of winning when a team is 1 touchdown short is very real. They feel the pressure to make it happen. Plus, when you have all of the knowledge in your brain recently, you’ll remember it best of all!

The best thing about this tip is that under all of the pressure, you will feel the need to cry. Let it all out sweetie. Better it happen wednesday night than when you are actually taking it in class. That’d be embarrassing.

So there you go. Enjoy this last week of fall term. Go out side and play, forget about finals until wednesday, and pray that you pass.

Sarah =]

In Stall Graffiti

Inspirational Stall Quotes

Art has always intrigued me, but something i don't understand is the graffiti inside of the women's bathroom stall. What's with all the hate ladies?

Today as i was urinating in the women's restroom on the south end of Kennedy (squatting of course. I wouldn't want to actually sit on the seat. It freaks me out), and i was reading the back of the stall door. It read, and i quote, "You are a jew." I have two problems with this. One: whoever wrote that with sharpie on the stall door is prejudiced. What's wrong with being Jewish? I don't see anything wrong with it. Two: Using the word "Jew" to offend someone is real lame. To me it means that that person has a limited vocabulary because they couldn't find a better word to use to insult someone. Come on. There are a whole range of words in various languages that could have been used, and they used Jew? That is ridiculous.

See, i just don't understand why bathroom stall graffiti has to be negative! Last year, in the swim locker room bathroom stall, someone had drawn a unicorn! That's what i like to see. Not Insecure girls taking satisfaction out of writing crude things on the wall to make other girls feel bad about themselves. That is absolute B.S.

Another popular one is the cliched SS<3'sDM. Come on. If you have the nerve to write your initials on the bathroom stall, write out the whole name! Let everyone know your feelings! You're already putting them out there for others to read in their private time. Your feelings are private, and girls read them in the privacy of the stall, how interesting! I do appreciate the love though. It's good to know that there are more than just haters using my usual bathroom stall.

So ladies, if you happen to come across a happy sticky note in a bathroom stall. Feel free to take it. I'll be spreading the love. I encourage you to do the same.

Sarah =]

Another Annotated Bib:3

Picoult, Jodi. Perfect Match. Atria Books: New York. 2002. (293 pages)

Another Jodi Picoult book, yes it is true. I think I am becoming addicted to her writing. This time I enjoyed reading about the struggle a mother faced when her son was raped by a priest. Cheerful topic right? I've always wondered what is wrong with someone's brain when they are intrigued by a child's form and proceed to rape them. Rape takes something so innocent and clean, and turns it into something dirty. Those stories sometime haunt me at night, and I feel so guilty for not doing anything to prevent child rape.

Again with the Criminal Minds. There are numerous episodes that have to do with rape. Sometimes it is the trigger that creates the monster, sometimes is the act that the monster commits, but other times it has to do with the FBI agents and their own past. It happens so many people and goes unreported so much, it makes me want to cry!

I couldn't put this book down. I always find myself reading my books in Mr. Hoyer's class instead of doing the math I should be doing. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't care either, as long as I keep my grade up. Too funny. This book took me about two weeks to read, because I didn't want it to end! I enjoyed the novel so much, I was hooked on another Jodi Picoult book.

I read Plain Truth last time, another Jodi Picoult book, and that inspired this read. I know I need some variety, but these are just too good! No book by Picoult is the same as another. I would consider myself a Jodi Picoult super fan. I can't wait to read the rest of her novels!

Sarah

Annotated Bib: 2

Picoult, Jodi. Plain Truth, Pocket Books: New York. 2000. (358 pages)

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors of all time. I have read some of her books before, including My Sister's Keeper, and Nineteen Minutes. Picoult's novels never fail to impress.

This time, I read Plain Truth. This book had me hooked from the start. I love nothing more than a good mystery, and this is exactly what this is. Like my experience with The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I couldn't put this book down. The entire way through the book, i was left wondering, who really did it? The culprit wasn't unveiled until the final pages when all other issues had been resolved. I loved this book. Picoult always has endings with a twist.

I felt that I could relate to the main character in this book. She was a defense attorney with a somewhat amish background. When her cousin is being charged with murder, she steps in to take the case. The book works through the legal process, emotional roller coasters of multiple characters, and has a twisted ending. I feel like I can relate to the main character because I watch quite a bit of Criminal Minds, a T.V. show that examines the minds of criminals and uses the observations to solve cases. The defense attorney in this novel has to psychologically examine the mind of her cousin, attempting to unravel the truth.

The reason I wanted to read this book was because it was recommended to my by my nook. It makes recommendations based on the other books that I have read when I am shopping for a new book. I also had background experience with reading some ofJodi Picoults other novels. My nook was correct. I am going to keep using it for reference from now on. I would recomend this book to anyone. It is such a great read!

Sarah

Le Premier Concert

I have just arrived home from the infamous Premier Concert that the Kennedy show choirs put on every year to give a sneak peak into their shows for the season. I must say. I have mixed opinions!

My first thoughts as i was walking in to the building probably had to do with the fact that i needed to get the camera out of the Torch room in order to take these pictures. But my second thoughts probably had to do with the immense amount of people who were already in line, waiting to enter the auditorium and claim their seats. It was only 6:10! The concert started at 7:00.

After receiving help from a very nice janitor who opened up the Torch room for me so i could retrieve the camera, i made my way back to the auditorium where i met up with Hanna Krivit and Annie Feltes who wanted to help take the pictures. We found some seats and waited out the rest of the hour.

The show began with a performance from Moonlight Express, Kennedy's jazz choir. When people think about show choir, the images that come to mind tend to include 45+ sparkly outfits, with lots of singing and dancing. Moonlight Express is also a show choir. Though there is not a lot of dancing, the singers use their voices to their full potential and never fail to impress.

The first song performed by Moonlight Express was If We Ever Needed the Lord Before, arranged by Robert Sterling, featuring soloists Marie Treangen (there are photos of this wonderful lady on my photography page!), and Will Heller. This was a wonderful song, i thought, to start off the night. It grabbed my attention at first, but it was rather repetitive. I also didn't think that it showed off the different sections very well. Everyone sang together except for the soloists. I like me some diversity! I have pretty much the same review for the second song, Coloudburst arranged by Kirby Shaw. If there were any soloists for this song, i didn't remember them. Which means they should make themselves more memorable! Mr. Armstrong has a lot to live up to, replacing Mr. Sands. If this were a "who wore it better?" poll. I would vote Mr. Sands.

The freshmen show choir, Chanteurs, was next. They performed their opener, Disturbia, arranged by S. Anderson, their ballad, You haven't Seen the Last of Me, arranged by Dr. Martin Hearne, and Telephone, arranged by Mac Huff. Typically, i think Chanteurs does a rough job at their first performance, but i was rather impressed with them, for their first performance. You can't compare Chanteurs to Happiness or Protege, they're on a whole other level, but Chantuers seemed pretty put together tonight! I didn't like the first solo by Myah McCoy, it seemed too forced, but i'm sure that with a little vocal training, she can work it. The ballad soloist (sorry i don't know the name!) i thought did fantastic! She used her voice and it was stunning. She stood out against the background vocals. The only critique i have for that one would be stage presence. The ballad soloist was rather awkward and didn't seem to know what to do with her hands, but all of that will come in time.

"Give me a P!" "P!" "Give me an R!" "R!" "Give me an O!" "O!" "Give me a T!" "T!" "Give me an E with an accent mark!" "E with an accent mark!" "Give me a G!" "G!" "Give me another E with an accent mark!" "Another E with an accent mark!" "What does that spell?!" "PROTEGE!"

Protege has a lot of changes this year, with a whole new group and a brand new director, Mr. Armstrong. Like Mr. Sands did, Armstrong directs both Protege and Moonlight Express. He has a lot to live up to, and i don't think he's there yet. I was rather disappointed with the lack of sound coming from the stage during Protege's performance. Though i love the message Armstrong i trying to get across, i would have liked it more if he hadn't announced it to the audience, so they could figure it out for themselves. I dunno. I hope that protege can pull louder voices out of their bodies, or they're going to lose points! They performed Sing, arranged by Steve Shanley, a medley with You Move Me and The Sound, arranged by Dr. Martin Hearne, and Spread the Love around fromSister Act, also arranged by Martin Hearne.

Happiness! Oh my goodness. There is no other show choir that can compare. Their stage presence, their confidence, their voices, their choreography, it is all amazing. Performing The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face, the opener, arranged by Michael Reese, Bailey Steinke rocked her solo. She came out of no where and fit the role perfectly! The full skirts were used to their full potential, that made for some great pictures! Facials were also put to use, and were really effective! The ballad, a medley, Times of Your Life and I Want More, arranged by Anita Cracacuer, blew me away. I think i like last years ballad better, but only because it was asong that brought down the house. This ballad, however, has a beautiful section of aucapella (i have no idea how to spell that), it is super duper effective. No Joke. And i love the closer!!!!!!!! It puts together lyrics from four different songs to create a whole new song called In the Club, arranged by Joshua Greene. It is a mind blower. SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait to see the rest of the show!!! And Ben Feltes, your solo was super cool.

I would also like to congratulate Happiness on their win of the most popular show choir in America. Good Job!

Sarah =]

Inspired

Thursday night was the last worksession for this comming issue of The Torch. Lemme tell ya. It was a party.

It all began Wednesday night when we came in after school to get started on the pages for the paper. Starbucks had just released their holiday edition cups for the season. Rachel Gilman got a little excited. You see, she has this unmeasurable love for the holidays. So she brought in all sorts of lights to decorate the workroom with. Chinese lanters, christmas tree lights, she even planned on making paper snowflakes. It was too funny. The workroom is now a pimped out fire hazard that inspires all sorts of journalistic creativity. It looks great!

happy holiday from the torch staff!

The next exciting thing, at least for Rach, was the christmas music. Let me remind you. It is two days after halloween. Rachel is our workroom DJ. We listened to christmas music for the majority of the night. Rachel was high on life.

When the music finally changed from Justin Beiber’s new christmas sound track, Annie Feltes and Riley Galbraith got up and did The Wobble. Needless to say. We had dance lessons that night.

To the third party observer, this may not seem so awesome, but if you stood in the workroom, you could feel the energy flowing from the Torch staff. Everyone was having a good time, and although there was much fun happening, pages were completed!

Thursday night was the last worksession for the upcomming issue of The Torch. We were a little less crazy and DJ Rachey Rach played a little bit of everything. We got down to business. Though we still had the inspiring, pimped out, fire hazard, lights on, we knew we had a deadline. We worked hard on our pages, discovered some mistakes, and the majority of the staff was out of there by 9 o’clock. That has to be some sort of record. The Editorial Board and Ben Feltes (brown) were the last to leave around 10, munching on cookies and participating in a Photo Booth photo shoot. I think you’ll enjoy the shots.

it was the cookies

Rach is lactose intolerant feasting on ice cream

the face

baby belly bump

Get excited for The Torch on Friday, November 11th (this coming friday). My photo pages are legit.

Rachel Gilman=Rach=DJ Rachey Rach

Sarah =]

Hypocrites

Hypocrite is defined as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs by dictionary.com. My definition is someone who is ignorant enough to call someone else a hypocrite. Come on.

I find it interesting how hypocritical it is to call someone a hypocrite. We are all hypocrites at some point or another, yet we feel it is okay to accuse others of this feat. Why is that? Why do we feel as though we aren't guilty of the same act? Is it genetic? Is it a disease? Is it possible to stop? I don't have an answer. But, i, myself, suffer from this hypocriticism.

You know what is funny though? i can't think of one instance where i was a hypocrite. I can think of plenty of other situations where i thought to myself that others were rather hypocritical though. I supposed that i a symptom of hypocriticism. You can't see when you're guilty of it.

It's funny. I have been a hypocrite this entire post.

Sarah

Right Now

As of right now i am sitting in AP Environmental Science in the computer lab. We are supposed to be doing this poster project thing that is due monday, and we have these article things due tomorrow, and a study guide due next week. I don’t know, but it seems like senior year is the most stressful, academically, out of all four years of high school.

Freshman year you’re the new kids. Teachers don’t expect you to be mature, smart, or know what you are going to do with your life. The homework loads were typically easy projects that were due in a couple weeks from the assignment date, and any other homework was considered completion.

As you move on the Sophomore year, the teachers treat you a little more like an adult. They trust you more and expect you to actually pay attention in class. They also grade the hardest, considering the fact that now that you have attended Kennedy for a year, you know what’s up.

Now junior year is awesome. You realize that advanced classes don’t do anything for you except lower your GPA. You may have dropped your language class, opening up a spot in your schedule for a fun class, or a 1st or 6th hour release. Freedom an hour before school lets out is pure bliss. I truly recommend it.

Senior Year. This is the big one. By now, you are expected to be and act mature, know what you want to do with your life, and apply to 3957q4908574 colleges in your free time. You may have a part time job and have some sort of idea what college you would like to attend out of the 9475039475 colleges in the world. To be honest. I find it hard to find time to attempt to apply to college. When i do get free time, i usually want to spend it relaxing because the rest of my week has been go Go GO! This year is stressin’ me out man.

Oh! And don’t forget prom! You’ve got that to worry about too. What color dress are you going to wear? It is much more important than deciding on the rest of your life. After all, prom is now. The rest of your life is later.

If only it worked that way. =[

Sarah