Stressful

I haven't posted anything for a while because I've been really busy. I don't think Mrs. Brown is even checking this anymore, if she ever really did in the first place. The journalism class dropped the picture journal, and now we're just focusing on the yearbook.

I'm really worried for this yearbook. We have 16 school days left (Technically 14 for the Sophomores, because of our Ashland trip at the end of this month) and there is hardly anything done in it. I sort of just want to spend a whole extra weekend in Mrs. Brown's classroom to finish all of the pages that the rest of the students can't seem to get done.

I don't know why I care so much. I guess I just hate having crappy work on my record. A yearbook I've contributed to can't be incomplete. Seriously. - and, I totally would do extra work on the yearbook.. but I have SOOOO much going on right now. It's really horrible. I am so stressed out. I've never felt this way before. It's so bad, my whole body aches from it. I am so exhausted. I wish I was four people. There is way too much going on for me. I've realized that I can't handle a busy life. I like having time to do nothing. Not being useful is perfectly fine for me. I'm never making this "help everyone" mistake ever again. Well, at least, I don't want to.. but I can't help myself. I'm too kind
:/

This really sucks, because all of my friends outside of Triangle Lake want to see me. They're nagging at me and trying to plan things. I keep not wanting to do anything, because I have so much work in ALL of my classes to finish, but I miss my friends. So, of course, I make the worst decisions and put off my work for a longer time. I've actually put off seeing my friends for a while.
I just have a lot going on, and I'm just... swamped. I just wanted to say something about it, since it IS school-related.
Art project.

Yearbook pages.

Late Biology work.

Passing off math.

Finishing resume.

Finishing To Kill a Mockingbird questions.

Earning money for the field trip.

Talking to my mom about my new boyfriend.

Finding something for Father's Day.

Visiting my friend and her baby.

Visiting my bestie.

Going to the high school bash.

Planning for my birthday.

Behaving myself at home.

Catching up on my show.

Talking to my brother's teacher about his work.

Dealing with my completely dead hair.

Staying in touch with my grandmother.

and
Trying to make time to talk to and see my new boyfriend,
all with 10/20 of these things needing to be done in LESS THAN 14 school days.

So I have school things stressing me out, and personal things.
Also, about my birthday planning... I'm turning 16, and it bothers me. People expect me to have a big party. I don't want a big party. There's A LOT of stressful things going into that, also, but the biggest is the day when I do it. I want to do it at least a week after my actual birthday, that way everyone is done with school and things and it's hopefully a bit mellow for them, but I don't know if that will work. My aunt is going to be staying with us, and my cousin isn't invited. Also, there's this three-week college opportunity coming up, and it's five days after my birthday, up until july 8th. I have a 4th of July bash I go to at my 3rd cousin's house every year. but I want to do this college thing really bad. But it's $520 for the whole three weeks, and $40 for each credit. It's expensive.

I want to explode. I have so much on my plate.

Not to mention my part in the Aventa magazine. Jeez. This is all going to kill me
>.<
I've realized how short time really is. I used to think that a month was long... it's not. Three months isn't even that long. I'm like, "oh. Summer will be nice for me, after the stress of planning things dies down." but now. I'll have to do work up until the end of July (because of my bestie's birthday). As soon as I'm finally finished and able to relax, I'll have to start thinking about school again, because I'll have only one month left. Great, right?! !!!!!
Plus, my step grandmother is probably going to want to see me at some point, and I want nothing to do with her. Also, my baby brother and both of my grandparents have birthday's in June. I have to get things for them. and also visit my great grandmother's and father's graves, because they sort of have the same anniversary thingy in june. the day before my birthday. and all of this planning is just running into my school stuff. and I sort of just want to disappear
Gah!!

* 16 days left, for all but the seniors.
* I have no idea if I'm posting anything more or not. Sorry.

One of Those Days..

I'm having an off day. There's only Freshmen and two Sophomores here at school today (Savannah and I) - minus the middle and elementary schoolers. My classes are all empty and different. I'm so tired of everything changing.

     This weekend is the Triangle Lake Auction. It's being held in the gym/cafeteria on Sunday. I know I should go, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm holding back, but not necessarily on purpose. It just doesn't feel right to go. I don't fit in well and I won't be buying anything. There's not really any major reason for me to be there. Plus, Savannah's not going to make it, she has somewhere else to be.. so I wouldn't even have anyone to see.
     Last night, my ex-boyfriend and I were thrown into the same chat room on facebook by total accident... and he just flipped out on me. He drives me crazy, and because of him, I've been totally depressed all day. At lunch, I felt sick and couldn't really eat, but I forced myself to. Afterwords, I ended up having a lot of energy and started dancing around and talking to a lot of people... but now I'm back to being less happy. As usual.
     I don't really have a purpose for posting today. I just figured you deserved to read something, I suppose. Lately, people have been really nice to me, and honestly, I don't quite understand it. It's nice, though, I guess. Shawn is starting to befriend me more than ever now. It's a little bit odd, but I appreciate his gesture. He told me some things last night that I never really paid attention to when coming from other people... but if a rude boy who ever so suddenly began being kind can see what close people can see... I wonder how many other people have noticed and have wanted to tell me the same thing. He was right, and I know it.
I deserve better.

* 27 school days left
* Prom? Creeping up on us.
* Triangle Lake Auction news on the way.

Calendar

Sunday (May first) is Triangle Lake's largest social event: the auction. You will be hearing more on that later. The Monday following the auction is a No-School-Day. That forces a Friday-School-Day upon us. Every time we have school on Friday, I feel like the day is really long and everything just seems to be off track. We have two Friday-School-Days in May. That is something I am not looking forward to.

*28 school days left.
*Prom's coming up. By the time Sam gets me the info, it'll be too late.
-     >.< I apologize for the major delay.
-     Professional Planners... can't work with 'em, can't work without 'em. :P

Laker Girls

...Take it from someone who knows... at this age, love is really hard. It's amazing, sure, but right now... it's not worth it.
You won't listen to me. You have no reason to. In fact, you have more reasons not to, but I'm telling you the truth. It's better for you to focus on your family and education. I don't want to see another broken heart for as long as I'm here.
Remember: life isn't over after high school.

"You have your whole life to do these things."

*29 school days left.

♥5-11-11

This past weekend, a local Eugene policeman was shot and killed in Springfield. I drove passed the cross, flowers, and balloons on the highway on my way home on Sunday, and two women were there dropping off a bouquet of roses. I didn't know the officer, but I wanted to do the same as those girls... and it got me thinking...
maybe I don't have the right to post this, because it's an intrusion of privacy and I was just a stranger... but I feel like we need to remember. I've gone through A LOT of loss in my short life so far, and I often hear people talk about how they've never really known anyone who's died. Maybe a great aunt who you met when you were two months old.. but does that really count?
You Lakers know someone (so I don't ever want to hear from you that you don't)...
Let's take a day to remember Shaleen. Today. Tomorrow. August 27th. Maybe May 11th... any day you choose is fine - but don't forget. Shaleen was a loved person who should never be forgotten. My heart breaks for all of the people close to her who she left behind. I can't help but to feel the most empathy available.

Would you like some details? Here's an article the Register Guard published after the facts...

Shaleen Monticue
Date of birth: August 27, 1991
Date of death: May 11, 2010
Appeared in print: Friday, May 14, 2010, page A1.

TRIANGLE LAKE — It happens far too often — somewhere. There’s a crash, a teenager at the wheel. Someone’s been killed.

It happened here Tuesday. And a school of just 122 in 12 grades plus kindergarten is in mourning after losing one of its most popular students, a cheerleader, a volleyball player, a member of the choir and someone who had a “wicked” sense of humor but was always kind to the younger kids.

Shaleen Monticue, 18, was killed when she was thrown from the passenger seat of a white 1992 Jeep Cherokee driven by a former boyfriend who was hoping to win back her love, according to the boy’s father.

“He loved Shaleen,” Steve Williams said of his son, 17-year-old junior Ethan Purkey. They had been boyfriend and girlfriend off and on, a typical teenage thing, Williams said.

“It’s a horrible thing,” he said of the accident.

Williams’ son, who sustained minor injuries, including a damaged left heel that has him wearing a brace and using crutches, spent Tuesday night at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. “Physically, he’s doing OK,” Williams said. “Mentally, he’s really torn up right now.”

“He’s struggling really hard,” Lisanne Dickenson, whose daughter attends Triangle Lake, said of Ethan Purkey. He’s bruised and scratched up, she said. “Mostly it’s a broken heart. His physical wounds will heal, but this is never going to go away.”

Dickenson and her daughter, Triangle Lake freshman Savannah Dickenson, climbed down the steep, tree-covered hill off Bureau of Land Management Road 16-7-12.1 Thursday, to retrieve some personal items from the crash scene for Ethan Purkey. The vehicle was hauled out Wednesday.

Savannah was in tears by the time she climbed the 300 feet back to the logging road off Highway 36.

“There’s people blaming him,” Savannah said of her friend, Purkey. “And there’s people praying for him. We all know this is hard for him.”

Of the more than 16,000 teenagers who die in the United States each year, most — almost 50 percent — are killed in automobile crashes, according to a report released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’ National Center for Health Statistics.

Kids call it “mudding”

Around Triangle Lake, the kids call it “mudding,” said Triangle Lake Schools superintendent and principal LeAnne Raves. Since the crash that has devastated her school, she has discovered that kids usually don’t wear seat belts when they go four-wheeling on the area’s logging roads. They might be wearing them when they get there, but they take them off for the thrill of the ride.

None of the three teens riding in the vehicle owned by Ethan Purkey’s mother, Terri Purkey, was wearing a seat belt, according to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, which is still investigating the crash.

“We were just driving a log road, and we didn’t think we needed it,” said Ryan Schaenzer, 15, who was riding in the back seat of the vehicle Tuesday.

It was Schaenzer who crawled to the top of the hill, hiked down the logging road, then flagged down a motorist to hitch a ride about two miles west to the Low Pass Market, where store manager Sam Singh called 911 about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

“The kid’s a hero — it’s amazing what he did,” said Lisanne Dickenson, who said she lost a boyfriend to a fatal car crash when both were Springfield teenagers in the early 1980s.

Sitting at the school Thursday afternoon, his left eye swollen and black with three stitches below it and two above it, Schaenzer recalled what happened. He, Purkey and Monticue left school in the Jeep Cherokee about 3:20 p.m. Tuesday to go “off-roading.” They drove to the top of the logging road, and then were headed back down when they slipped off the road after coming around a turn.

“We were going slow,” Schaenzer said. “We hadn’t done anything illegal, no drugs or anything like that. Nobody had their seat belts on or anything, but I tried to get mine on.”

Investigators said Tuesday that they don’t think alcohol played a part in the crash.

Schaenzer, who was sitting behind the driver’s seat, said he put his hands to the vehicle’s ceiling as it began to roll to steady himself. He thinks they may have rolled as many as 15 times.

“We rolled mainly to the side, but we ended up going end-over-end at one point,” he said.

They finally landed upright, Schaenzer said. But Monticue, whose window was rolled down, was no longer in the vehicle and Purkey had been thrown into the back seat. Schaenzer reached forward and grabbed the steering wheel as the Jeep Cherokee continued to meander to a stop. Then he turned the engine off and got out. He made his way about halfway back up the hill to where Monticue lay. He checked her pulse, but she did not have one.

“I let Purkey know that she didn’t make it and I was going to go get help,” Schaenzer said.

One of his shoes had come off, so he took the other one off and carried it in his hand as he made his way back down the logging road. When he returned with the paramedics who picked him up at the Low Pass Market, Purkey had climbed to where Monticue’s body was, and covered her with his coat, said Schaenzer, who spoke with a grief counselor made available to students at school Thursday.

Memorial held at school

Flowers and balloons marked the spot Thursday where tire tracks still could be seen on the logging road. Savannah Dickenson couldn’t stop the tears as she sat with her mother and talked about Monticue, who she had known for about three or four years.

“She’s smart,” she said, keeping her friend — who was one of only nine members of the junior class and whom everyone called “Shay” — in the present tense. “She’s crazy. She’s a lot of fun to be around. She’s always there for everybody.”

Raves, the principal, said Monticue, who lived in the area with her grandmother and legal guardian, LaVerne Monticue, was “very well-liked. She had a wicked sense of humor, but she was never mean-spirited,” Raves said. “Our younger students remember her because she was always nice to them or rode the bus with them or baby-sitted them.”

Raves is finishing her second year at the school after eight years at Lebanon High School, where tragedies like Tuesday’s are more common.

“But it’s always difficult,” Raves said. “The kids are doing pretty well. They’ve had good support and have monitored each other closely. We are proud of them for that. Today, it probably hit a little harder,” she said, referring to a memorial service students and staff held outside in the 70-degree sunshine Thursday. They read poems they had written about Monticue and released two doves in her memory.

Monticue’s school locker, No. 115, was covered Thursday with photographs of her and notes that stretched seven lockers wide.

“We all love Shay and miss her truly,” one note read. “We all wish that all this did not happen but I guess in a way it was time to let her go.”

- By Mark Baker

The Register-Guard


[Click Here] to view the original article

* Prom details on the way
* 30 school days left.

Laker Pride Expectations: Non-Classroom Behavior Expectations

As promised....

• "MS and HS Announcement

After one week of improvement (85 - 90 [%]) the MS and HS levels are positively reinforcing students meeting the goals by giving 10 minutes of extra free-time during Reading. Elementary teachers will be creating their own reward time with special circumstances for Title; try to fulfill the reward within 1-2 days of the improvement. "We" will let you know if there is improvement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Announcement:

The three main school rules are being SAFE, RESPECTFUL AND RESPONSIBLE

You are all developing into responsible school citizens.

You have learned by now how to manage yourselves positively and productively in many ways are are expected to be Responsible by doing the right things at school without being ask.

Lately we are having some serious problems outside of the classrooms and we need your help with keeping things clean and in good working order.

We are expecting you to pick up your trash in the hallways, cafeteria, bus, all outside areas, the gym, classrooms and bathrooms and put things in trash cans. If you see trash please pick it up and throw it away even if you didn't put it there. Remind your friends in a nice way to throw things away properly if necessary.

We are expected you to write words and pictures only on paper - never, ever on any walls, desks, tables, books, or any school equipment, without adult staff permission.

We expect you to flush toilets. If a toilet isn't working, please report it to a teacher or the office.

If there is not improvement within one week we will have to make some rules to help students, which may not be fun. Such as: only using the bathroom at certain times, signing in and out of bathroom use, cutting into break times for cleanup, and there are many other restrictive possibilities. We do NOT want to do these things, so....

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! WE CAN DO IT!!!! GO LAKERS!"

-----------------------------------

 Well, there you go. The announcement that all middle and high school teachers were required to read aloud to their students first period. I think it's kinda funny.. because it's like they're treating us like dogs or something. They have to spell it out in black and white, give us ultimatums, and bribe us to do what they want.
- I personally take care of my trash and the school property. This is an example of how one person (in this case, who can't pick up after themselves and be a responsible adolescent) can ruin something for everyone. Arrogance isn't bliss.

Let me remind you that this announcement is verbatim, a quote. It's in desperate need of some editing, but since everything on my blog is true, I've left it the way it is. Let's not go judging this girl's writing skills, based on a copied piece of paper, now.
:P

* 31 school days remaining. No school on the following Monday, Lakers. School on that Friday.
* Prom is closer than ever! I suppose I should really get on Sam's case to give me all the deets (for those of you who would like to know, who don't).

Cracking the Whip.

(Did anybody else hear the slashing noise of a whip in action, ripple through the air when they read that title? Hmmm... I must be a weird one..)

     Today, at precisely 8:05 AM, my English teacher read an announcement to my class. An announcement that, typically, did not coincide with me. I may have a dirty room and a messy bunch of papers in my backpack, but I am neither disrespectful nor messy at my learning environment.

     The announcement called for the action of cleaning. Teachers and staff said that they wanted us to be clean and organized. They reminded us to clean up our messes in our classrooms and in the hallways, and even jogged our memories about flushing the toilets! Haha. Who wouldn't flush a toilet at school? I don't think anyone wants to get called out on for leaving a mess in a porcelain fish grave. At the top of the white paper, it talks about what they expect of us. In a week (I'm guessing next Tuesday, since the announcement was given out on Tuesday...) they hope to see an eighty-five to ninety percent change, and if they do, we'll get an extra ten minutes of free time added around our lunch/reading period; if they don't see a good enough change, there will be a lot of consequences. Would you like to read the rest of the details? I'd be happy to post the announcement for you. Right here on this very blog(:

*[Announcement]
*Prom details coming soon.
* 36 days left until the end of the school year. For the Lakers.