School. That one word should sum it up. It's self-explanatory. School. School is hard. School sucks. School should die. And to think, I used to like school. Sophomore year is hard. One thing that really pisses me off is SAM, the online report card. Our teachers can post all of our grades online and our parents can see them at any time.

I am normally a good student but I had a rough first semester. The first few grades were pretty bad for me. I know I can raise them by the end of the marking period to get those coveted A's, but my parents logged in, saw my (current) marks, and started yelling at me. My parents and I have argued about school before. That why I hate it so much now.

Things like SAM and school ruin my otherwise good relation with my parents. I am a good kid. I don't do drugs, smoke, have sex, drink alcohol, skip school, or any of those other stupid things people my age do. Yet, my parents feel the need to berate me for every little detail of my life. So what if I don't want to start reading SAT books now? I'm not taking it until next year. I'm stressed. I hate my life.

Schedule for 2nd semester:
Period 1: French III
Period 2: Adobe Photoshop Essentials
Period 3: Study hall/Choir
Lunch @ 10:20 AM
Period 4: Honors English
Period 5: Honors Cultural Studies
Period 6: Honors Algebra II
Period 7: Honors Chemistry

French III – Last year, French class was awesome. I had to coolest teacher ever and it was something to look forward to at the end of the day. This year, my teacher is terror and I have her first thing in the morning. She actually said to our class, "I know it's early, I know I'm bitchy, but you have to learn the material!" Thank goodness I'm good at French or I'd be failing right now. The tests are harder this year and they have a lot of grammar and vocab. There are actually people who get really atrocious grades in that class. I managed to scrape by 1st marking period with an A-, and I consider that a bad grade especially since French is an academic level class, not honors.

Right now, I'm okay in this class. I'm not too worried, but every marking period we have to memorize a French poem and recite it in front of the whole class. It's not hard but it just adds to the stress already surrounding class. It's hard to say in English how much I hate French class, so maybe I can say it in French; Je déteste ma classe de français. Il doit mourir maintenant! Merde!

Adobe Photoshop Essentials - Wow, this class is boring. I basically take pictures with Photobooth while the teacher talks.

Honors English – Normally, I like English. But that's normally. This year, I have an insane teacher and we don't learn anything at all. There is so much s*** in that class that I don't even want to repeat it here. Suffice it to say, I hate that class, its stupid projects, assignments, and the stupid books we have to read. We learn nothing, get nothing done, and it's just a waste of my life. My teacher doesn't teach; she gets sidetracked and goes off on a tangent and insists that we take notes on the s*** that spews from her mouth. I want to learn in English, not talk about London cabdrivers (that lecture took a whole class period). One student got so fed up with our class that she dropped it and is doing an independent study. Lucky duck.

Honors Cultural Studies – I usually like social studies but in cultural studies, it's basically world history and current events in-depth. Like, every-little-minuscule-detail-matters in-depth. At times, it's interesting but mostly, it's Hell. Do I really care about the history of Latin America? No. there is so much useless information that we do not need to know. Shoot me, please.

Honors Algebra II – I consider myself pretty darn smart. Call me conceited, but I am (both conceited and smart). The thing is, I hate math. I can get by in that class, but I hate it. I'm really considering dropping down to an academic level class next year just so I don't have to deal with it. But, if I take an academic math class, will colleges still accept me? Stupid colleges. If they don't accept me, they don't know what they're missing.

Honors Chemistry – I love this class. My teacher is awesome and I can actually pass this class without too much trouble. It's a good class to have at the end of the day. Woo.

Midterms & testing in general – Our midterms were last week. They were pretty tough. My parents were not happy. Also, I took the practice PSAT and got a terrific score considering that I did not study beforehand. However, my parents already want to discuss classes and college and other things like that. Whenever I have these "talks" with my parents, I always end up crying. It's not just the talk itself, it's a lot of factors combined. Life is stressful. I'm going to fail at it. The end.

Moving on, let's talk music. We finished up all our winter concerts and now concentration is on the musical. Auditions were in December and this year, we're doing Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. There are wayyyyy too many people in the girls' chorus. Our director shouldn't have been so nice. If he had cut some people, we would sound better but NO, instead we sound awful because there are so many tone-deaf people. In a MUSICAL. @#% &*^%#!!! I'm upset, as you can tell. We girls outnumber the guys by a whole lot. It's supposed to be the other way around. Boo.

So, some happier news; our debate team rocks. We totally pwned this tournament we just competed in (did I just say "pwnd"?!). Hopefully, our school will give us more funding for being so insanely awesome, but not likely. Whatever; we know we're cool. Another thing; our FBLA club (I'm the Secretary now) also did well at the regional competition. 14 of us made it to States including me! I'm also attending the HOBY Leadership Conference in May. Each school sends only one outstanding sophomore to represent their school. I applied back in November and I was chosen! Yay!

So goes my life. Most of this was old news but at least I posted another entry. Second semester is now beginning and school will probably suck even more. Ah well, I'll live. I always do. Comment!