I made this myself! And yeah, I realize that the tetris board is "only 9 squares wide". It's a design, not real. So we'll all just appreciate it, please. Positive feedback only!
(Ha)

Something that has really been bothering me lately is online bashing. It's one thing to do something that offends people, it's quite another to do something TO offend people.

I suppose it's significant to start off by admitting that perhaps this is a form of online bashing? I'm certainly online, and this might be specifically calling out some people. But it's not meant to be offensive, or rude. It's more of a musing, that I hope may influence people to calm down a little.

I just do not see the point in online arguing! It's like going to a debate, except nobody listens to the other person! Particularly since the topic of the conversations usually involves something small to start off with, gradually escalating into just a back and forth of who is a large 'fag'. What is apparently not understood by the 2+ parties involved: At no point in the argument will the other person realize that they are, in fact, the biggest fag. It will not happen. And no, after the 300 messages back and forth of immature name-calling, the original issue will not be resolved. Because after that, who on earth would admit that they were incorrect? Although I guess that's not the point of it all. The point is, there is no point. It's just "fun".

"Fun". That is not a word I'd use to describe this, although I know others who would. To me, it's fun to tease people, maybe make them a little angry, and then back off. My rule of thumb is that you can say anything you want to someone, as long as it is obviously not true. In my opinion, it is not fun to offend people I know with everything I do, and on purpose. I'm not the most thoughtful person in the world, I know that for sure. But sometimes I'm surprised at what people try to get away with online.

Behind a computer you're a different person, I realize. It's the disguise of the internet, nobody has to know who you are. I remember when the internet was just getting exciting for young people, and in school they had to start showing the videos about 'cyber bullying' and online stalkers. To always think about exactly who might be reading what you post. I don't think that's the problem any more. I believe people are thinking too much about who will be reading it... and using it as a sick advantage. You post something knowing full well that someone else will read it and get mad. And that's the point of it. Some point.

I find no glory in offending people for no reason. It's horrible. Who wants to go online and see their faith or interests or idols ripped apart for no reason? I know the difference between opinion and bashing. It's not even a fine line, really. It's a fat line that you can see from a mile away. Yet I have the feeling that people are trying to slink by it unnoticed and pretend they had no idea, while really knowing full well that they are being completely inappropriate.

But what do I know, I could be just as bad. The difference is, I try not to be, because I at least make some attempt to be conscious of other people's feelings. And I will never truly understand the joys of upsetting friends for the simple reason of stirring up a little "fun" for myself.

I designed a logo for the school geography trip banner. It did not win the vote. Apparently, it was "very close". Ah well. So I figured I may as well give it a proper burial and let it die alone on the internet with you.

First of all, I am up way later than I usually should be on a school night (11:00!!), so. Let's get this thing done.

Recently, I acquired my Class 5 Driver's Permit. Which means I can now legally drive an ATV across a highway! Oh, and drive a vehicle by myself. So, now that I have all this alone driving time, I finally have time to listen to music. I like music plenty, but I'm a person who can't listen to music while doing other tasks -my head gets too cluttered. But now I have a nice excuse to listen to my music for a good half hour, which is the amount of time it takes me to get anywhere. This has led to me to find out something about myself. I enjoy singing!

Not well, I might add. I can only sing at least one octave above the accepted notes of any popular song. Mainly because they are all 'sung' by computers these days. However, I still try, and since I'm alone, who really cares? So, now I get to enjoy singing along (terribly) to all my favourite music!

But what about... the radio?

The van I occasionally drive is equipped to play an iPod... but does not have an adapter for my iPod touch, so it frequently falls out, causing loud, startling static, which causes me to fix it, which causes my eyes to not be on the road, which causes accidents [potentially]. So I prefer to listen to the radio, which never falls out of its adapter. However, the two old men who do the morning show on the local radio station fail to play many of my favourites, and instead enjoy broadcasting songs I don't know the words to. Does this stop me? NO. I have discovered a new joy in singing to songs I don't know! You would be surprised how incredibly easy it is to completely block on the lyrics of a song and sing over them. And you feel awesome too, because hey, guess what? You just wrote a song! Sure, you're not getting paid, but maybe it's for the best, since the words probably don't make sense, don't always rhyme, and follow a wandering train of thought rather than a real topic worthy of singing about.

So that's my new hobby. You don't have to be a good singer to let slightly melodic words come out of your pharynx.

A new semester has begun, and with that semester comes a new class: English- literary focus. Compared to the Comprehensive focus course, it is more about interpretation and reading than about the structure of language. So, one of the first days, we were doing a worksheet that was something about preparing us to read Macbeth (the Shakespeare play) and all the questions were things like 'does everyone have the ability to kill in order to get what they want?" "are all leaders ambitious?" and "do people have the ability to alter their destiny"? Stuff like that. We filled out our answers and then went through it as a class, having mini debates on each answer. By the way, if you have not read Macbeth, it's really not important to the understanding of this post. Anyway, as we were doing the questions, I was finding that in order to answer every question, I was mentally referring to Harry Potter. Examples...

In the first question, "Does everyone have the ability to kill in order to get what they want?", all I could think about was when the spell reflected off Harry and he didn't do the actual killing, so his soul remained in tact. That, and the fact that he couldn't perform unforgivable curses unless his heart was really in it, which it wasn't. He's just not a killer!

The next question, "Are all leaders ambitious?", I found myself pondering on when... Dumbledore? said [referring to Harry] that not some people work to be leaders, and some people have leadership thrust upon them, basically meaning that Harry didn't choose to have people rally around him, he just happened to the the Boy Who Lived and took the title on well.

The last one, "Do people have the ability to alter their destiny". This brought me two things to think about. First, there is a commercial on currently. I don't quite remember what brand, but it's something like Nike, a sports brand. The ads feature people talking about destiny like "Destiny doesn't do a 5 mile run every morning", "Destiny has never driven two hours to practice", "Destiny can't do this [followed by some sort of hockey trick". The point of the ad is, of course, that it is not destiny that decides things, it is your own hard work. Which brought me to the idea that maybe Destiny is just a word made up to explain bad situations. Which kind of works in with my ideas on religion. But that's beside the point. The Harry Potter reference here was when Dumbledore told Harry that Voldemort could have walked away, never tried to hear the prophecy, and have been fine. But it was the fact that he set everything in store with this prophecy that was his downfall in the end. Also, when Harry understands the difference between being dragged into the arena to fight, and walking in with his head held high... so I don't know about that last question. Maybe destiny is real, but I think the path you choose to get there makes the real difference.

That was heavy. The point is, Harry Potter has taught me way too much, and now all my ideas are based around it. Good thing I've read them so many times!

Maybe Voldemort is a tragic hero in the end...
Teagan

Maybe it's because I am newly licensed and freshly trained, maybe it's because I have a respect for myself and others' well being, and maybe it's because I have a brain. But I can not stand bad drivers!

I mean, I don't expect everyone in this tiny little town to be doing curb-to-curb and proper lane placement all the time, especially when the lanes are covered in snow and impossible to see. But when you're at a traffic light and you're turning, yeah, it's probably a good idea to use a signal light. Even throwing on the signal light during a turn makes more sense than just plain not signaling. That's ridiculous! And dangerous. When I'm in the middle of an intersection establishing my turn, waiting for you to go through, and you turn, that's absurd. You know, turning signals are not optional, or unnecessary, or trivial. THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Particularly in busy areas.

Do whatever you want to when you are in the country with nobody around, or alone in your driveway, or in your magic fenced off area created to act like an idiot in. But do not endanger my life with your careless shitty driving. Because that's just uncool.

FACT.
I am not in university.

FACT.
I am not an adult.

I've also never claimed to be an adult, begged to be treated like an adult, or assumed that people would treat me as such.
And yet, I can't remember a time where people have treated me the age I was. Maybe when I was a baby. But I don't remember. In junior high, every other day was a lecture on how you are being treated like high school students now. Which makes no sense. In high school, every class is designed to horribly mimic post secondary education, apparently. Every poorly done assignment is met with the awful "You can't hand in things like this in University". That's why I go to high school, thanks.
Or the common "You want to be treated like an adult, you have to act like an adult". Actually, no, I want to be treated like a person my own age with a brain. There never seems to be a middle ground. You either have to sit there with an EA watching over your shoulder talking in a soft voice and scrambling for information they don't possess, or you have to sit there and listen to your teachers explain that you are not allowed to be concerned about marks/tests because it's harder in university.
"You don't like referencing your information? Then you're going to fail in university". Cool. Good. I have nothing against referencing, I was just asking a question...
"You need to know how to study for a test! Or else you'll fail in university!" Yeah, you'll also fail in high school, but no big deal...
I'm all for sharing tips on tests and grades etc, but I just don't see why suddenly everything is based on how you would have gotten graded if you had handed such a disgrace into a professor. Since when did high school become university? I understand the emphasis that should be placed on it... I just don't agree with increased expectations, because it's in the future.
On one hand, I can see how people think it's helpful, better preparing us for the future. On the other, bigger hand, I just want, for once, to get to be a high school student. And be treated/graded as one, too.