Last Post. *Tear*

So, it has come to this. After nearly 10,000 words, we part. In this essay, I'll just talk about a reflection of 9th grade, mainly because I have written so many posts that I have ran out of topics. But good thing it happened on the last one, right?

So... Ninth Grade. To be honest, I kind of hated it. I mean, there were parts that I didn't find totally bad, but mostly, I could not wait to get out. With all the new responsibilities that I got this year, added on to the fact that grades actually count, was somewhat of a mountain of stress. I was convinced that I should run away and join the circus, but saner heads prevailed. I stayed in it until the end, and I should feel accomplished, right? I don't really. I just feel tired. Like the feeling you get after you take after a very long test. Its not like exercising, where it is the good kind of tired, but the kind of tired where your head hurts and all you want to do is sleep. But it's the kind of tired that a good nights sleep can't really fix. I think that I just need a break, which is exactly what I'm getting. Then on to high school...

High School will be a huge blast. And a big part of that will be because of Productions. I had a party with the Productions family on Saturday, and it was extremely fun. I think that it's going to be a huge part of my next three years. Along with better classes, driving, DATES, and new friends. I love my current friends, but I need to new ones as well. And along with the Driving subject: I am currently enrolled in drivers ed at A1 Driving School. I have to struggle for consciousness while Jose talks me about inertia and the law of gravity. But whatever. It will all be worth it.

As for future plans, I might get a winter job, hopefully somewhere nice like Red Mango or Starbucks. But as for right now, I help out with construction here and there this summer. Next summer I am going to go live up in Idaho to help my uncle build a house, and I'll get paid quite a bit. I need to pay for gas somehow. We are going up to Bear Lake for our Productions Retreat this year, in a new condo that has never been used before, that can hold up to 64 people. We are going with 24. Also, 2 hottubs and right by the lake. I smile just thinking about it. As for distant future plans, I have decided that I want to be a Pediatritian. I love kids. I am still not sure what college I want to go to, all I know is that I want it out of state.

Last paragraph of all time. Holy. Well, thank you for reading. And thank you Mr. Thompson for assigning this, because it was pretty darn fun. I think that I'm going to miss English the most out of all my classes, because you made it so unique, and really fun. So, this is Jack Nielsen, signing off.

Goodbye.

Goodbyes and Farewells.

It’s that time again. The time where we all say goodbye to our friends that we won’t see for quite awhile. Although it is different this time. But in this blog I will talk about Goodbyes, the end of this year, and some other fun stuff.

                Sadly, there are a lot of us who won’t be seeing each other again. But if you find yourself going to Layton High next year we can be the best of friends. There are quite a few people going to Davis, and I wish them the best of luck, and it is going to be a little hard to say goodbye. I’m sure I’ll see them again, but it’s just going to be weird. There are going to be some people we are going to be glad to get rid of, but still, it’s going to be weird.

                I am, however, extremely excited to meet new people. I am frankly kind of sick of Fairfield, and I’m really excited to expand my group of friends. I made Productions for LHS next year, and I have already met the people in it, and they are some of the nicest people I have ever met, so that is going to be really fun, along with a bunch of other friends from different schools.

                Some of the things I am excited for in high school are driving, dating, new classes, new friends, Productions, and some other fun things. Yes, I turn 16 in just a few months, which means I’ll be dating AND driving. I am so freaking excited. But there is a little problem:  nearly none of my friends my age are going to be allowed to date at the same time as me. But I have many Junior friends, along with even a few seniors, so I’ll still have some opportunities. Any more info on dating, see my blog on Dating. I am currently enrolled in Drivers Ed, and my birthday is in August. I also have a car all set out for me, so things could not get better.

                For the next two weeks, I plan on purely partyin’. We are almost done with End Of Levels, and now we mainly just have fun things to do. This week is going to be pretty fun, but next week is going to be phenomenal. We don’t have school Monday (I don’t know if that’s good or bad), The Ninth Grade Dance, and let’s not forget: It is our last day in Junior High.

                To wrap things up a little bit: I’m pretty darn ready for high school. It’s going to be pretty sad to say goodbye to some good friends, but I think that everyone is going to be better off in high school. I CANNOT WAIT for the next several months, and I hope they live up to our expectations. This will also be one of my last blog posts, sadly. I have one more to go, but I think that this was a great assignment, and It was also really fun.

Have a great week!

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was a very different book. Now-a-days you often read books that are really sappy, or are hard to picture true, but this book mastered the art of being REAL. There was no sugar coating, there was no exaggerating. It was a plain and simple take on life.

               

 The story starts our introducing you to 16-year-old Hazel Grace, a cancer patient. She has had cancer for a very long time, and it is basically just a matter of how long the doctors can keep her alive. She has to live her life with an oxygen tank, because she can’t breathe right. She goes to Cancer Support Groups (for the sake of her mother) and tries to keep a happy face, although she has somewhat lost care for life. She was this way, until she met Augustus Waters. Augustus is a very handsome and kind young man, who has only one leg. He had to have a leg amputated, when cancer invaded his leg. But, he has been NEC (No Evidence of Cancer) for more than a year. Hazel meets Augustus in the Cancer Support Group, and she takes interest in him almost immediately. The two soon fall in love, and spend a lot of time together. Hazel is still struggling with cancer, but she finds it easier to manage with someone like Augustus at her side. The two even go to Europe to meet one of their favorite authors, who wrote a book about cancer that Hazel absolutely adores. Things soon take a turn for the worse, as Augustus finds out that tumors have invaded his entire body. He goes to get an MRI, and he “lit up like a Christmas tree.” Hazel soon watches the love of her life slowly die in front of her eyes. Augustus loses his strength, and becomes terminally ill. Hazel then has to take care of Augustus, while she is still dying herself. Augustus Waters died earlier than Hazel, leaving her alone.

This book is quite a tear-jerker, I must say. I found myself heartbroken many times while reading this book. There were points in this book, though, that were honest and true outtakes on life. Augustus Waters had a very special look on life. He, in some ways, kind of reminded me of myself. He would not let himself deny the simple pleasures in life. If there was a pretty girl, he would look at her (and if he hadn’t, he would never have met Hazel). He was also very big on metaphors. He would buy cigarettes and put them in his mouth, but not light them. He liked the feeling of having a form of death so close to him, but not letting it harm him. Hazel looked at life as just a thing. It was only one thing in a world of oblivion. She also said a quote, which was “Everything is just a side-effect of dying.” Which, I have to completely agree with. All of us are dying, all the time. Every second we live, every breathe we take, we are slowly dying. She says that happiness, sadness, pain, everything is just a side effect of dying.

 There was another quote in this book that I also found intriguing. Hazel undergoes many challenges in her life, most of which involve pain, emotional and physical. “That’s the thing with pain. It demands to be felt.” Pain is one of the most extreme emotions, because it demands itself to be felt

To close, I will state one more quote, from Augustus. “We don’t get to chose if we get hurt in this world, but we have a say in who we get hurt by. I like my choices.” Life is a funny thing. Some people say we need some rainy days to appreciate the sunny ones, but “suffice it to say that the taste of broccoli does not in any way effect the taste of chocolate.” I really liked this book, and I think one of the main reasons I did was because of how honest it was. I strongly recommend this book. To anyone.

Girls...

Hahaha. I can't even type the title and not think about how funny I am. But hey, why not, right? So, this post will probably end up a complete and utter disaster, but let’s go for this anyway. So, let’s talk about girls... Out of my 16 years of experience with girls, I have made some conclusions. For one, as you get older, they become the reason you do almost everything. I sometimes just sit and ponder what portion of my life has been spent with the thought of girls in my mind. I bet at least 90%. The other 10% was probably about food. Secondly, I have found that girls can also be COMPLETELY INSANE. Why? I'll never know. But we (as men) don't really care. The fact that girls are well... girls... makes up for the occasional insanity. But along with the insanity, girls are also a lot smarter than guys sometimes. SOMETIMES. Some of the best advice I've ever gotten has been from a girl. But, we'll talk more about that in the next few paragraphs. We can also talk about what I look for in a girl later on... if you’re lucky.
Let's just elaborate for a second about just the topic of girls. Some of my best friends are girls, and from what I've seen, they are the complete opposite from guys in many ways. First of all, girls don't tend to speak their minds as much as guys. You will find girls say more things like "Fine", "Whatever", "It's totally fine", and even the dangerous "No, go ahead." A girl can also hide her emotions a lot more then guys as well. (Yes, guys actually do have emotions.) A girl can have a crush on a guy for 3 years and the guy wouldn't even know, while if a guy likes a girl, he can't keep it to himself for more than a couple weeks. Either that, or guys are really stupid. Girls can also have about 1,000,000,000 thoughts in their head at the same time, and guys often struggle with 1.

Now, I'm just going to talk about what myself, along with other guys, look for in girls. Believe it or not, I actually care about personality. Not every single guy is a jerk.

***Quick Digress: For those of you girls that complain a lot on Facebook and Twitter about how stupid guys are and how they are all jerks, just SHUT UP. Believe it or not, not every single guy on the face of the earth has the goal of hurting you. You can talk about how done with guys you are all you want, but we both know you're a liar. You want a guy, don't deny it. I've seen your Pintrest. I know you have at least two boards dedicated to 'My DREAM Wedding". So maybe the fact that you've gotten hurt too many times just tells you something about your taste in guys.***

Anyway, back on topic. The thing with guys and attraction is that guys have a sex drive. So yes, that is a factor. But how long can something based on pure physical attraction last? Which is why, especially in Jr. High and High School, some relationships last a couple weeks, or the girl ends up prego. I also have a few personal things that I like in a girl as well. Along the lines of physical appearance, I would prefer more Brunette hair, along with an amazing set of eyes, and perfect lips don't hurt either. A really annoying voice can be a big ruiner as well. Along the lines of mental attraction, I need to have a nice girl. There is absolutely nothing worse to me then a stuck up girl. And who can like someone they have nothing in common with? Thats another biggie. This might be a little odd, but I kind of think it's cute when a girl is insecure about something. If I wanted to date a perfect girl, I'd buy a Barbie. Little flaws and insecurities are what make a person human.

So, this has been my little attempt at this topic. Somewhat successful, would you agree? I might have to continue it later. Well, until next week, Goodbye.

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.