Apparently I've Never Learned Anything (The Week in Review)

So I haven't posted in awhile because school started, whoop-de-doo. We haven't really done anything yet but there seems to be a common theme to most of my classes this year, all linked to the class that will probably be the reasoning for my unavoidable existential crisis, IB Theory of Knowledge, which is basically a class where you revert to your 6 year old self asking "Why this?" "Why that?" "Why is this that?" "Why can't that be this?" I have never been a quizzical person. Ever. I like listening and thinking. Questions have never been moy forte but now they kind of have to be. But between TOK, IB History and IB English, there seems to be a common them for my courses this year.

There is no such thing as historical fact.
The value of truth differs depending on where you see the world from.
Basically, everything I know is wrong or will be proven wrong.
Delightful, isn't it?

So when everyone else in the world is happily sitting in class "learning" about how the world works, IB kids are sitting in class thinking that we've spent 17 years of our lives "learning" things that may or may not actually be correct. My friend told me the other day that you've never actually touched anything in your life because there is always a space between particles of matter. How messed up would your head be if someone just casually told you that even the thought that you have ever made physical contact with anything is a lie? Knowledge we are taught is simply what we deem most correct for our worldview and place in history. But in 50 years, it could all be proven false. If that doesn't make you feel useless as an educated person, I don't know what will.

So on top of that I've got band 3 days a week, and we've "learned" all of the opener and ballad sets but my side of the field needs a little work because by some strike of unluckiness, I am the only officer within a 30 yard radius. I think that warrants another whoop-de-doo. I'm letting that out on my 3 views per post blog because I really need to stay positive and encouraging but it's been wearing on my nerves lately.

On top of that is a bunch of eminent IB assignments; the most daunting being my EE due by mid-December. That seems like a long time but it's not, and right now it looks like a long, grueling road to the final draft. Present topic - "A comparison of the origins and usages of Chinese, Greek and Mayan astrology" Let's check back in 4 weeks and see if that is still the case. I got some recent research done at the UNF library (and a delicious dinner of Starbucks Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappucchino and Chik-fil-a) so I'm pretty happy with it for right now.

So lots of stuff in a short amount of time. Colleen está cansada. I hope I've sufficiently befuddled your views of reality.

Have an excellent August 26th,
Colleen

Diagnosis: Senioritis

I think I've know for awhile now, but it's official. I have a severe case of Senioritis. And my senior year hasn't even started yet. Help.
Don't know what Senioritis is? Well, I am here to raise awareness for this horrific affliction.
Senioritis (n.) The feeling or phenomenon when students procrastinate often and hold little conviction for finishing schoolwork or attending class. So named because it tends to affect seniors because they are being accepted into college and no longer see the point.
Symptoms:
Netflix binging
Excessive sleeping
Fatigue
Procrastination
Chronic unenthusiasm

I have several theories about Senioritis. First of all, it will affect 100% of seniors at some point in their life. Some may have aggressive cases like me or some may be fortunate enough to have the mental immunity to bring this heinous disease down to something akin to to the common procrastination cold. But everyone will get it. Everyone will think for at least a month or two that the new episode of Game of Thrones or The Voice is vastly more important than the assignment due tomorrow or the exam coming up. Everyone will think at least once about the pointlessness or uselessness of a certain assignment or assignments. It's inevitable. Nothing is certain except death and procrastination.
My second theory is that International Baccalaureate is the leading cause of premature Senioritis. I've seen Senioritis symptoms in my classmates as early as sophomore year, and I assume that is because we take senior level courses during our sophomore year.

Why am I just now being diagnosed? Because I had one job to do this weekend. Do SOME kind of summer work so I don't have to do it after a full day of band camp this week or cram it all into next weekend. But did I do that? No. I watched the kick off of Shark Week and went to Chik-Fil-A. Did I have plenty of time to do it? Yes. Did I make excuses so I could put it off further? Yes. The only real work I did was play some of my marching show music but that only happened because our woodwind technician messaged me about having my music all memorized. Usually I can get at least one thing done in a 48 period of nothingness. But not this time. This was my final warning sign. I am living with Senioritis. This should make things a little bit difficult. Great.

Have an excellent August 10th (for the next hour or so),
Colleen

Summer Days, Drifting Away

First of all, I am extremely tired right now because I "preached" at my church for our Youth Sunday at the 8:30 am, 11 am, and 5:45 pm services, with a clarinet section leader meeting on the other side of town in between, so I've been at home a grand total of 55 minutes today, so if this post has a bunch of spelling mistakes and strange phrases, that is why.

So today is kind of sort of my last day of summer, which is kind of tragic and makes me wonder if time travel is actually real because I could have sworn it was July 4th like a week ago. It's my kind of last day of summer because now until school starts I have Band Camp, Monday through Friday, 9-5. I know, insane, and in the heat of the Florida summer to top it off. I'm excited but I'm also nervous, because a) I'm a new section leader and I don't know what to do half the time, b) My summer has been exhausting and this is gonna be tough, c) I'm dreading the eventual start of school and all of the summer homework that has to go along with that. Procrastination is always the best way to avoid stress, right? Ah, no. But my brain still hasn't completely comprehended that yet. Today was also as I mentioned, Youth Sunday at my church, which is usually the marker for the end of the summer because we reflect on all the trips we've done over the summer and this Sunday is our summer youth intern's last Sunday so if we don't have a summer intern, I guess that technically means summer's over.

So today was a great day in some aspects, lots of people complimented me on my sermon-ish thing at church, and we finished all of the bandanas for our massive army of 29 clarinet players. But in the largest way, it was a sad day. Those lazy summer afternoons and fun summer nights are pretty much over, and it's pretty much built into our DNA to mourn the end of summer, and even this big, tough, mature senior is really wishing it didn't have to end.

Well, wish me luck tomorrow! And yes, by the way, I did quote Grease for the title of this entry and I am not ashamed.

Have an excellent August 3rd,
Colleen

The Beginning

So I started this blog today for a number of reasons:
1. I've been thinking about it all summer but have procrastinated until now
2. First days of the month are usually pretty good times to start things
3. I've got time to kill today
4. I wanted to start it up before band camp, which is Monday (I really wanted to put a nervous/excited emoji thing here, but I either don't know how to put one in or they don't allow me to. *shrug*)

But what really put me over the edge was that the Common Application opens today! Which, in my opinion, is the prospective college student's real first day of senior year, because from today on, I can apply to colleges. Scar-y! At least for me because I hate making decisions, take this blog for example, I've been thinking about it since May and now it's August.
For those of you who don't know about CommonApp, consider this your learning lesson for today because if you are applying to college, you really need to know about this site. It's basically a mega-application site used by almost all private universities and a considerable amount of public universities as well. You create an account and through the site you send in your essays, see testing requirements and a whole bunch of other essential stuff for your application. And despite the 12 separate emails from colleges telling me to sign up and apply today, I haven't signed up yet because I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible because I'm apparently a scaredy cat, but getting started this early is super helpful in keeping the stress down later in the year because of homework and extracurriculars and part-time jobs and everything else us seniors have to deal with between now and graduation.

So point being, today is a day for beginnings. Beginning my blog, beginning the official college application process and really beginning thinking about my future. omygoodness. Let's see where this goes.

Have an excellent August 1st,
Colleen

First post about stuff

First post, well, here goes:

So basically, I created this blog to chronicle the ever exciting and confusing time known as senior year of high school. I hope that blogging about all the things that happen to me this year will 1. Help me mange my sanity 2. Give me something to look back on when it's all said and done and 3. Potentially help out future stressed out seniors and hopefully help guide them down the weird path that is the end of high school.

Disclaimer:
I am probably not the average, ordinary high school senior. First of all, I'm in the International Baccalaureate program, which is an internationally recognized advanced curriculum program, so the things I have to do for that are probably different than most other students, so when I start using a bunch of strange acronyms and abbreviations, just know it's because I'm in this program. Second, I am in the marching band at my school. This may sound like not a big deal but believe me, we take it very seriously and a lot of my posts from now until at least December will include or be centered around that. So in addition to weird IB acronyms, there will be lots of music terminology that many may not be able to relate to.

But if you still want to read, despite the weird stuff that I'll probably be talking about, get ready because here we go.

Have an excellent August 1st,
Colleen