End of School...

Its almost time. The timebomb that has been in our brain has almost set itself off (The explosion being slacking off and just enjoying every freaking thing around you.) In the duration of the several months we are in school, almost all of them we find hard to wake up to in the morning. The days blend together, and we find ourselves trapped in a whirpool of repetitiveness and schedule. But there is the few weeks left of school, and this is the time that we look forward to ALL. FREAKING. YEAR.

The end of the school year is by far the best time of the calander year, aside from June-August. But even including summer, the last days of school are so much fun, considering you are with all your friends, your teachers don't give a crap, and its basically a party. Expecially because this is our 9th grade year, and we advance up a building a building next year. (Although, Layton High does sort of lack a ceiling... not that we need one). But for 9th graders this year, we have Lagoon day (which I snuck into last year), the 9th grade dance, and other fun stuff to do. But one of the best perks about the end of school is the fact that its just over. Done. You don't have to worry about waking up every morning at 6:30 and doing your homework the night before. You don't have to worry about getting enough sleep. You don't have to freak out about nearly ANYTHING. Why? Because we are so close to summer.

I would like to, if you would allow me, to show you what the word "Summer" paints in my head. I have this porch in my backyard, that has really nice couches and strings of lights and cool curtains. So imagine sitting on this porch with some friends at night, with a slight breeze blowing the drapes a little. Down the stairs, you have my pool, which looks really beautiful at night with the underwater lights on, and the slide going. Then you have the firepit, which, come on, is the PERFECT summer add-on. Sitting on the couch, I am sometimes just filled with this feeling that nothing else can give me. Its almost unreal to me. That, my friends, is what summer means to me.

Now, here is somewhat of a warning. Towards the end of the year, we all slack off. The time bomb I talked about prematurly detonates, leaving you with summer fever, with summer still out of reach. Then you are left with end of level tests and unfinished assignments in your way, while you are too preoccupied with the promise of sleeping in and lazy sunny days. Then your grades tank, and you get yelled at by your parents. I know the situation all too well. SO STAY PRODUCTIVE!

As you can tell, I'm excited for summer, as I'm sure you all are as well. Well, until next week, farewell.

Music and Such...

You would think that I would eventually run out of music to listen to, but you would be sadly mistaken. Yes, thats right. Music...Part Three. Just to let you know, I still have my same theory on music, which was that I can never chose a favorite band or favorite song, because like I said in the first music post, picking my favorite music is like picking a favorite child. I love them all, as long as the songs have a good meaning and a catchy beat. I don't want to hear One Direction sing about what makes me beautiful every second line. I like music I can relate to. Which basically rules out all rap songs, because I don't plan on "smokin' a joint" or "slappin' some booty" any time soon. It rules out some of country, considering I'm not married and I have never lived on a farm, which is basically what country songs are about. But in this small essay I'm going to update you on my new passions.

Have you ever listened to a certain song or band, and soon get flooded with old memories that went along with them? Well this exact thing happened to me just a couple days ago. I was listening to a song from Panic! At the Disco, and I swear, I could see my summer of 2011 flash before my eyes. So latly, I've been listening to some of them, because I simply cannot stand the thought of staying in school another month, so I prefer my mind to be somewhere else. Other then them, I've been listeing to Neon Trees, Bon Iver, Fall Out Boy, Young the Giant, Foster the People, Mayday Parade, and City and Colour. Just single-song wise, I've been listening to Somebody That I Used To Know-Gotye, Coffee's for Closers-Fall Out Boy, Everybody Talks-Neon Trees, Too Close-Alex Clare, End of All Time-Stars of Track and Field, Wash-Bon Iver, Stay-Mayday Parade, Cough Syrup- Young the Giant, and even some musical songs.

Lately, I've been noticing that songs from musicals are actually really good. I've always thought that they were good, I mean, don't get me wrong. But I've noticed that they're actually fun to have on your iPod. (FF: I made productions at Layton High. Go Jack.) Right now I have songs from The Last Five Years, Spamalot, Footloose, Aida, Guys and Dolls, and Les Mis on my playlist, and right now I am buying some of the music from Curtains (Layton High's musical next year).

Lets digress a little here, and talk about movies. Some good movies I've seen lately are: Titanic (again) The Lucky One, The Hunger Games, The Lorax, The Vow, and The Woman in Black, which were all pretty good. I really liked The Lorax, I thought that they did a great job on it. The Hunger Games was really good, but did not live up to the expectations that the book had set for me. The Vow was pretty good, but it was hard to pay attention to the story line when Rachel McAdams is so freakin' hot. The Lucky One was actually not that bad. I went into it thinking that it would just be another chick flick, but the actors were talented, it was stressful, and even funny at times. And the girl in that was also pretty attractive as well.

Anyway, so yeah. I'll probably write another media post in a month or so. (yes, I plan on keeping this blog going, just not so frequent.) But until next week, Goodbye.

Summer Plans

Basically, I've already kind of checked out for the summer. Mentally, anyway. But what's to happen when I am physicall checked out as well? I will be gone for half this summer, doing activities such as BYU Basketball camp, a Moab family trip, EFY, Scout Camp, High Adventure, and a trip to Europe. So I have a busy schedule ahead of me. I'll talk about some of the things I'm plannin' on, because I know that you really care.

First, I'd like to talk about basketball camp. Every year, I go to BYU for their basketball camp where you stay in the college dorms and you play basketball the entire day, and you eat a lot. It is a total blast. Their lunchrooms are one of the best parts. You have so many options of food (we get all of them) and you can eat until you can't move anymore. Normally, if you ever ate as much as we do, you would get fat in like 3 days. But other than sleeping, Basketball is one of the only other things that you do. But its not just pure competition, its fun games and skill building. Also, there are girl's softball and cheerleader camps going on at the same time. You can imagine why I would like going to basketball camp.

Now let's talk about the Scout stuff. Just barely, I became an Eagle Scout, which is pretty cool, I guess. Every year we always go on a week-long camp out. It's not like a "Let's do merit badges and sing songs and crap!" It's actually a camp where you canoe rapids and do other awesome things. There is a downside, though. As you can imagine, I don't particularly enjoy not being in a female presence for 7 days. I am attracted to women. I don't want to be surrounded by my bad smelling, unshowered, guy friends that long. But, it's still fun. It's just it could be better. Like having an activity where you go practice kissing the opposite gender. That sounds fun. I like that.

Bathe, England, and Paris. Yeah, I'm going to Europe for 2 weeks. I'm way excited. You see, I'm kind of an artsy guy, and I am actually really excited to go visit art museums. I also get to go to really nice restaurants. Plus, I get to see the Eiffel Tower, which is where I've always wanted to go. Plus, I'll be in Paris the day of my Birthday, so I'll be 16, so I can date. So my first date will be with one of my best friends Jenna Wolfley... on the Eiffel Tower... sick, I know.

So yeah, this summer is going to be pretty great. I'll be really busy, but I'd rather be really busy then sitting on my couch for days at a time. Also, It's high school, and I've changed my mind from my post a few back. I am actually way excited now. I am so sick of Junior High, and I need summer, and there is no way that I would ever want to go back to Junior High, so High School, here I come.

Titanic

Today, exactly 100 years ago, Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage after she hit an iceberg, with 2435 passengers and 892 workers aboard. Deemed to be unsinkable, because of her watertight compartments and separate areas in the ship that could contain water while the rest of the ship remained afloat. Because of this, there were not lifeboats for every passenger aboard. There was boat room for about half of the occupants on board. Titanic also had some of the finest eating establishments, along with world class staterooms, a gym, swimming pool, and libraries. In this little essay, I plan on talking about what what happened that night 100 years ago, including how Titanic sank, along with other facts, and we might even discuss the movie a bit, if your lucky.

First, lets talk about the actual disaster. Titanic had several compartments along the bottom of the ship, which was where the ship was operated. If an emergency happened, water could fill any two of the apartments, or the first 4, and remain afloat. That night, the boat was traveling very fast, and it was hard to see. When the crew in the crows nest spotted the iceberg, it was too late to turn out of the way, despite their best efforts. The iceberg tore apart the right side of the bow, puncturing little holes like Morse code in the metal. The impact woke some passengers, but the crew said it was nothing, just a little turbulence. Little did they know that Titanic would be completely sunk in about 2 hours. The water started filling each compartment, and the pumps in preparation for a mistake like this couldn't keep up with the invading water. One by one, the compartments filled. Despite the best efforts of the captain, builders, and crew, 5 of the compartments filled, which marked the official fate of the Titanic. One part that I found interesting, is when water started filling, they stopped the ship. But they started again on their voyage, even with the water filling the bottom compartments. The result of this, is they actually drove more water in the ship. Once they realized what was going to happen, they stopped the ship again, and started sending out distress signals. Titanic would never move under its own steam again. After passengers were informed of what was to happen, it started a frenzy. They loaded the First Class onto the lifeboats first, and keeping the 2nd and 3rd classes at bay, until first class was completely loaded. Matter of factly, they only put a enough people on the first class lifeboats to keep them comfortable. From what I've studied, they could have fit almost ten more people per First Class lifeboat. The water at this point had started filling enough to weigh down the bow of the ship so much, it lifted of the stern of the ship on a tilt, and the 3rd class floors started to fill with water. Because of the watertight compartments, each one would have to be filled completely, in order to spill in the next, which is what caused the dramatic tilt in the ship. As more water filled, the more the ship would tilt. About this time, most of the lifeboats were unloaded, which left the people left on the ship practically doomed. The tilt on the ship got to the point where gravity took its course, and the ship split in half. Just the impact alone killed many people. After the ship split, the bow sank, pulling the stern back up vertically AGAIN. The bow then broke away completely from the stern, and started sinking, leaving the stern in a vertical position, which then sank within minutes. When something sinks underwater, it pulls water along with it, so the suction of the ship going under was also another reason of death, because it pulled people along with her. Titanic was completely underwater. As you can imagine, the scene of more than a thousand people floating in the middle of the Atlantic screaming and splashing, was a terrifying sight. There was a ship on its way, but it would be there in hours, and there were hundreds and hundreds of people floating in hyperthermic water. Most of the former passengers of the Titanic in the water died within minutes. Help from the RMS Carpathia came later to pick up the surviving 710 from the lifeboats, and 6 were saved from the water, on top of debris. This disaster ended up as one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history, with a total of nearly 2000 deaths. A little fact, only 10% of men in 2nd class survived because of the "Women and Children first" rule. Although many people died the early morning of April 15th, they will never be forgotten.

In 1985, 73 years after Titanic sank in 1912, it was discovered on the ocean floor of the Atlantic ocean. Thousands of artifacts have been retrieved from the wreckage, including personal possessions of the passengers, dinnerware, and the main architecture of the ship (such as window shutters, chandeliers, etc.) Many of these artifacts are worth thousands of dollars. In fact, a simple postcard sent to the Titanic was sold for 7,000 dollars. While Titanic sank that fateful night, we have many reminders of what happened.

You've probably seen James Cameron's Titanic movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. If you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest it. It is an excellent recreation of what happened 100 years ago. And while there was no love story between Rose and Jack, there were actual facts in the movie, including the ship dynamics, crew members, and how it sank. It is also, in my perspective, one of the greatest films of all time. So if you haven't seen it, do it.

Exactly 100 years ago, Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic ocean. It resulted in nearly 2000 deaths, and is known as one of the biggest disasters of all time. After being struck by an iceberg, the unsinkable ship sank the early morning of April 15th, 1912. While many lives were lost, they shall not be forgotten.

High School Stuff

This is the time of year that everyone starts to panic a little, expecially for ninth graders. The time where the year is ending, when summer makes everyone go a little crazy, and when you realize you have DAYS left until the start of an entire new life. Sometimes when I think about it, its a little hard to take in. I know that high school is going to be a great experience, and hopefully pretty fun. But I've never been that great at letting things go, and I've grown quite used to my life at junior high. But in this little blog post I'll have to talk about some stuff regarding this topic.

First, lets start with just the basic High School plans. Next year, I plan on trying out for Productions, as well as the basketball team. Regarding the classes I'm taking: I am signed up for Intro to health, film, Algebra 2 Honors, English Honors, Theater 3&4, and guitar 1 (I've been playing guitar for 2 years...haha). So pretty basic stuff.

Now lets talk about what is happening to every single teenager at FFJH. Summer Fever. We all have had it at some point in our lives, and it is a disease that will plague our generation, and the next, and the next, and the next for years to come. We group winter and school in the same category, and we group summer and no school in the same category as well. So when things seem to get hotter outside, we think of summer. When we think of summer, we think of no school, even though we are still in school, and maybe even in the actual classroom. Our brains cant function anymore! They're being melted with warm weather and the promise of a 3 MONTH BREAK. So, a tip to all teachers: lower your expectations. We will defiantly stop meeting them.

New topic: Letting go of Junior High. To be honest, this year sucked. Fairfield has gotten so strict this year. We've lost our assemblies, our principal, and our happiness. And let's not forget, I've gotten in trouble for PDA at least 20 times, so yeah. This year hasn't been the best. But Its going to be weird to let it go. Granted, I'll be letting go of some pretty crappy things, but I'll also be losing some friends, and some good memories. I don't know, it's a little sad.

So, to conclude, I'm a bit (I shouldn't say nervous... ponderous, maybe?) It will be very interesting to see how it turns out. Anyway, thanks for reading. Salut.