Essential Question Response: School and Goals

Essential Question: What will make me happy? / What is in my future?

As you have probably figured out by now, I am a geek. And as such, I enjoy school-- probably a lot more than I should (note: please know that 'school' does not entail the daily torture session known as 'math'). There are many, many reasons why I love my school as much as I do.

One of the first reasons is, of course, friends. When I'm hanging out at the Alley, it isn't hard to be happy-- my friends can always make me laugh, even if I've had a bad day, done not-so-great on a test, or just read Pirates of the Caribbean spoilers saying that my favorite character is going to die in the third movie. People at the Alley are generally random, insane, and very illogical ("I am from Canada, and my eyes are brown. Therefore, cheese."), so it's difficult to be bored. Over the year, people at the Alley have decorated for Halloween and Christmas, played foursquare, played Tackle Frisbee, played Trombone, participated in 'How to be a Ninja' Tutorials, been fire hazards, glomped and been glomped, had dance- and sing-alongs to inane songs on iPods, gotten sugar high, organized and participated in Easter egg hunts... the list goes on and on. And though, of course, friends have been depressed and bad things have happened, we pull through and keep laughing.

Another thing I love about my school (which name shall not be mentioned in the unlikely event that someone reading this is a stalker) is the opportunities it offers. There are clubs, teams, organizations, brilliant teachers, a huge array of really interesting classes (which I unfortunately do not have enough time to take), plays, performances, community service opportunities, and so on. I love the feeling of knowing that though I may not be able to take advantage of it all, there will always be new people to meet and something new and enjoyable for me to do.

But of course, much as I enjoy my friends and classes (not math), school does have its downs. Stress is rampant, and though I rarely break down, I definitely get upset what with homework, tests, and the pressure about grades. When I first came to my school in fifth grade, I viewed a C as OK. My perspective-- influenced by friends and teachers-- has changed drastically. Here is a grading rubric that shows the mindset of the average overachiever in my school:

A = Acceptable
B = Bad
C = Crap
D = Doomed
F = Find a new school

I have not gotten to this point yet, but I'm getting close. Sometimes this mindset seems very appropriate and reasonable, and sometimes it freaks me out. Yes, part of me misses the days when a C truly was average. But while I do think that laughter is essential to everyday life, so is perseverance, responsibility, and intelligence. All of that is reflected in grades-- which in turn play a huge role in the future. Grades now will determined what classes I take later, what my grades will be in the future, what college I get into, and what job I end up with. Everything starts here, and I'm sure I speak for my fellow geeks when I say that I don't want anything lower than an 'Acceptable' future.

Essential Question Response: Friends

This post is a response to my Essential Question ‘What will make me happy?’

I recently saw this video on someone else’s blog, and I really liked it:



There are two reasons this video makes me happy to watch.

The first is, I’m pretty sure, the same reason it makes other people smile: it’s a moving and inspiring story that makes you feel like even the smallest gesture can escalate into a huge movement that really makes a difference. That’s what happened with Free Hugs—now people from Korea to Amsterdam are involved in it, and are, in a little way, making people happier.

The second reason is that it reminds me of my friends. Where I hang out at school (a place called the Alley… I don’t know who named it or why, so don’t ask, but it’s not a real alley), we have a form of free hugs called ‘glomping.’ A glomp is a ‘sudden and random hug-attack that comes out of nowhere and needs no explanation’ (definition courtesy of one of my friends). The first few months of school you could hardly take a step in the Alley without being glomped. It’s died down a bit by now, but there are still times when someone will suddenly go on a glomping spree. And if someone is feeling upset—and looks like it—it’s not unusual for them to get a hug. Sometimes glomps are just as a joke—one of my friends once glomped another guy and then sang ‘You’re Beautiful’ to him while kneeling—but other times it’s a gesture of comfort and friendship.

So I guess what I really want to say in response to my essential question is that my friends make me happy. They’re there to joke around with, but they can be serious if you need it. They never hesitate to comfort you if you look sad. Another thing I really love about everyone I hang out with is that we, to put it bluntly, have no shame. We’ll belt along to ‘Popular’ for irony’s sake (we’re pretty far from popular) even if the entire campus is staring. We’ll be fire hazards by doing a self-dubbed ‘foot-dance’ on the stairs even when there’s no music. We’ll jump around and call ourselves ninjas although most of us can’t even do a handstand.

So like the man in the ‘Free Hugs’ video, my friends aren’t afraid to do things that are usually dubbed as stupid or the farthest thing you can get from cool. Because of them, I laugh (sometimes up to the point of hyperventilation) every day. They make me very, very happy.