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.

Summer???! (35)

Today is April 19, 2011, unfortunately, the anniversary of the oil spill - but on a high note, we only have 31 school days left here at Triangle Lake! School is scheduled to be released on June 15th this year. Not only is it the end of the school year, but it's also a terrific anniversary... my birthday!!

     In this post, I announce the beginning of an "End of the Year Countdown!" How excited are you for the summer? Do you already have every moment planned out like some of us do, or are you planning to just kick back and deal with whatever comes? Living on the lake makes the latter of the suggestions much easier. Feel like going swimming? - Jump in a suit and head for the docks! and for those of you who do not reside here near the water, I welcome you to my house anytime this summer(:

* Still extracting Prom details.

* 35 school days remaining!

The Purpose: to vent

     My last post was full of what seemed to be a lot of depression. I was angry, hurt, and overall upset about things. I now feel shameful for saying the few rude things I said. Honestly, I was really just venting. I hope you can forgive me, blogger… but, you know, it’s good to speak out about topics that others would rather avoid. I feel like it brings people closer together, and gives us more to talk about – and isn’t that partially what I made this blog for? To talk about subjects that boil throughout the school, yes, that is true.

     On another, more calming note, I’m still working on getting all of the information that I need to fill you in on Prom. I have asked a few different sources for the deep details, but none of them are for sure yet. Let’s hope they get their plans together before the date gets here!! May 6^th and 7^th will be here before we know it(:

P.S.
     Some of you may have noticed... before today, my posts were not commentable by non-blogger users. For your own contentment, I fixed that problem, and anyone may comment on any one of my posts. So feel free to go comment crazy!!:D

Wow.

As I've said before, I began this blog as basically just a way to get a grade in my journalism class. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to start a blog about the school. Some people around me even said, "You're blogging about our school? That's so cool! No one does that. Our school isn't bloggable..." but I disagreed. I thought that maybe I could make the school bloggable. 'There's enough interesting things going on here. This is a good place. I could inform students of events and talk up the area...' etc. Now, almost exactly two weeks later, my view of the school has changed completely. I feel horrible saying this, but the majority of things you could say about the people here are bad. - Sure, it's a grounded area who's adults thrive on making a close, caring, inviting, and all around loving community, but it's not all strawberries and perfume. I absolutely LOVE that the mature people here have a dream of a perfect, close-knit community, and I wish that it were true, but it's not.
     When I first came to Triangle Lake, I was a very unhappy teenager. I had lived in the city all of my life. It was all that I knew, and more than anything, I wanted to stick to the familiar. Triangle Lake seemed like a good enough place for the young Henasie to roam, but I'm grown enough now that my idea of the perfect place is not in the country in the middle of nowhere. I have a family of five (my two younger brothers, my mother, my mother's boyfriend, and myself) all to whom this place seems to be perfect for, but it's not perfect for me. The fact that my family loves it out here so, has kept my complaining to an almost non-existence... but I can't do that forever.
     Everyone told me, "You'll be ok. I know things aren't so great for you right now, but in a couple months, they'll get better. Once you get to know the place and all the people, you'll be just fine. You're a terrific girl. You'll make good, new friends and fit in perfectly!" That, however, was not the case. My first day at Triangle Lake Charter school was a nerve-wracking event for me. It was roughly September 7th, and all I could do was wish it were already June.
     This school is a very small place. There are about 150 - 200 kids in the whole building, and they educate all 13 grades. With a small amount of people, you would imagine that there were small amounts of classrooms and desk space - which is mostly true - but as a new student, I had no idea where all of the classrooms were. I had no friends. The day I became apart of the student population was the first day I had ever stepped foot into the building, and I was terrified. All I had was a single piece of white paper with pitch black markings to guide me around. My schedule was not enough to get me where I needed to go. The beginning of the school day was very odd for me, but after I found out how great my English teacher was, I began to relax a bit. I started to feel as if the day would be ok... but then, the bell rang to release us to our next 70 minute period, and I panicked. I couldn't find my second period Health class. I was told that all of the high school classes were in the same wing, and that all were numbered, but this tricky 16 was nowhere to be found. I planned to follow the other students in my class, but they were all up and gone before I even got my things together. The feeling of despair that began to build inside of me was almost too much, and I wanted to run away back to where I came from. I had to have a teacher in the halls escort me to the class, and when I walked in, I was grateful, but the kids in the Sophomore class made me feel terribly inferior for getting lost. They made fun of me, and laughed. Wow, such a welcoming group, right?
     I never told anybody about that moment, because it hurt too much to relive. I had just gone through the heartbreak of losing a bunch of my friends and moving to a whole new place... a group of strangers mocking me was nothing I was proud of. The fact that the students weren't very nice didn't make my mission of happiness any better. Every time I brought up the fact that the kids were mean, my mother just blabbed the same thing as before. I knew it wouldn't get better. I could feel it rising in my core. Things would only get worse, and honestly, I tried my hardest to believe otherwise, but no matter how I handled the things that life began to throw at me, what I least hoped for started taking its toll.
     My family fits perfectly out here, (you know this, I've already said it) but I don't fit in at all. I've never had this problem before. Ever. I'm like a puzzle piece that was switched out of its old box and into a new one. Since that first day that people made fun of me and refused to open their arms to me (besides one, very amazing young lady, who not only opened her arms but also opened her heart and made me apart of her life, setting herself upon my Best Friends list), I’ve had a bit of resentment towards the students. I’ve tried not to show it, because I’m typically a nice person.. I’m forgiving, and always give people the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, I suppose it was a good thing for me to be a little edgy with the group.
     Last school week (April 4^th – April 8^th) was kind of a sad time for me. After the months and months of sad time out here, I had finally gotten used to the way things were… and then I started getting sick. I went to school Monday and Tuesday and tried to tough it out, but I just felt all below the weather and couldn’t handle it. I went home Tuesday after school and slept until Thursday evening, when I went on Facebook to visit with some people who I missed dearly. When I logged on, my newest closest friend informed me of the hatred towards me at the school…
     Back in September, my boyfriend of exactly 7 months broke my heart to no end, and I’ve been completely devastated ever since. I loved him more than life itself, and dealing with something like that, the hate from school, and the move from my friends all mashed together is really hard for someone like me to do. I’ve learned to cope with the pain I’ve gathered over the last 28 weeks, but I’ve never actually done anything to ease it. It’s been building up like fiery hot lava deep beneath the Earth’s surface, down in the core where nobody expects it to erupt, but it can’t stay pressured down there forever now, can it?
     When this friend of mine told me what these boys in my class were saying about me, while I was at home bedridden and terrible, I didn’t know what to do. I felt so horrible. I went straight to my messages and vented all of my feelings out to them. I told them all that I was tired of dancing around their crap and wasn’t going to take it anymore. These boys (and others) don’t know anything about me but my name, and that doesn’t say much of the person that I am at all. What right did they have to say the things they did about me? I was so hurt. It seems as though, ever since my baby brother was brought into this world, everything in my life has gone down hill (I don’t blame him, though. My love for him overpowers everything). All I want more than anything in the whole entire universe right now is to disappear and never return. I mean… it feels as though the whole school is saying things about me now. People I don’t even know are talking things they have no business speaking of. All I have to say to them and their horrid ways of treating people is: wow. "Wow," that they’re as hurtful as they are.
     The point of this post was just to show you, viewers and adults of the lake, that the school isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s a nice place, in general, but when you get down to it, when you look at the dirty details, it’s a really warped set of mind to place yourself in. I’m considering being homeschooled. I, honestly, have temper problems when things really get to me, and I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret – even if I said I was going to.
     This is bullying in its sincerest form, and I pray that it never happens to another student again.

Oh, and just to clarify things, I'm not really trying to put down the school or area... that's not the purpose. When I said that there's nothing good to say about the people out here, I didn't mean that fully. They're good people... but the kids are not the nicest.

*Notes on Prom coming soon.

New Trimester For the Lakers!

      As all of you know, whether you go to Triangle Lake or not, Spring Break has been a recent thing on everyone's mind. The lot of us have just gotten over it, and yesterday for us Lakers was the beginning of a new trimester. Sounds exciting right? - Not always.
     Being a small school, the curriculum here has less classes for you to choose from. It's a little hard to get used to (being in the same classes all year 'round, I mean) after being in such a big place as I was before, but I suppose it's worth it. They have the requirements you need in order to graduate. That's all that matters right? At my old school, there were pages of different classes you could take as electives and such. They even had a German class! Pretty cool, huh? I wanted to take German for a while, but while I was there, I decided to take Spanish.
     Spanish is the only language class they offer here, so.. as you might be able to guess.. I decided not to take a language class this year. They don't have German, and it's something I'm sure I'd enjoy a lot. I've taken Spanish class a million times these last sixteen years of my life, and I don't want to do it again. The same goes for Shop. I took Shop class back in the eighth grade, and even though I had fun with friends and all the ideas I could create, I hated it. Shop class was horrible to me, and I never want to do it again. I'd say being at Triangle Lake and not enjoying a lot of activity is sort of a mix you want to stray away from. This trimester, since I despise wood-shop and P.E. so, I'm taking Art and going to be T.A-ing for two separate elementary classes. Everything else on my agenda is, unfortunately, exactly the same (though there are some joyful classes on my list).
     With these few new classes of mine, the joy of subjects I love (art, journalism, and english), and the fading feeling of Spring Break, I’ve come to the realization that it’s finally the end of the year. With that said, it’s only natural to think of Summer and late educational activities..
     Triangle Lake is the smallest school I have ever been in, and they make up for their lack of students with their abundance of equipment and specialty events. Soon, the Juniors, Seniors, and Sophomores are going to be taking two separate trips to Ashland, Oregon to view a few plays with their English/Literature teacher, Mrs. Brown. Juniors and Seniors run the school here, just as they do at any other place, but what they don’t run are the adults’ decisions. This year, as before, they’re going to be staying two nights in a hotel in Ashland, accompanied by chaperones and a hotel pool. Sure, that and the rest of the vacant-to-you details seem fun alone, but as a Sophomore, I’m lucky enough to be able to stop off at the Redwood Forest in California, as well as to see ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ on stage. Though the three separate grades are mostly looking forward to the trips, I’d have to say that it’s not what we truly care for.
     To my findings, Prom is the biggest thing on everyone’s mind around this time of the year. The halls and facebook accounts have been buzzing with talk of the dance, and while the set date creeps up on us, the word becomes more and more recent, and soon, it feels as if the whole world will be talking about our lonely masquerade - Wait! Did I just type, “masquerade?” Yes, yes I did. This year, Prom for Triangle Lake is going to be a masquerade! It makes the whole idea of Prom seem more like a fairytale than ever, doesn’t it? Every time I think of masquerades, I imagine Cinderella at the ball, because the “hiding your identity” concept is all the same.  Don’t you think so?
     Anyway, I’d love to continue to sit here and go on about Triangle Lake and it’s interesting Prom preparations, but - believe it or not - I have a life I need to resume. So this is me, signing off. Check back soon to see the rest of the details for Prom. I promise to get them all organized into my next post. Have a great rest of your day!