01 May 2009

Senior week, AP exams

- Monday was the only regular school day this week. Because the underclassmen all were taking state standardised testing the seniors had activities and stuff this week.
- Tuesday: Administration and class officers gave presentation about end of the year activities such as the senior picnic, senior prom, and graduation ceremony. Because the class of 2006 was such troublemakers, the officers struggled with the principal over letting us go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo for the picnic. Finally, the principal and leadership compromised that either we behave well or not go at all. I'm not going to the picnic; it costs $35 by the way if anyone wants to know, and instead I'll either find some work to do that day or show up to school and sleep (just so that the state gives the school a few thousand more dollars just because I stepped in the door). Also, the class president used the current recession to promote discounted prom prices that take place the week before the week of prom. It's not a big difference though ($5 for singles, $10 for couples), but hey, at least it was a pretty cool marketing tool. I'll write about prom a bit later. The only class I had that day wasn't really a class; it was a teacher's assistance period, the period I usually get to help out for a few minutes, sleep, study, and catch up on procrastination. After school was calculus homework center and a baseball game where Evergreen Valley came from behind to win 4-2 over Mt. Pleasant.
- Wednesday: The class took panoramic pictures out in the stadium. Because the seniors were being uncooperative, impatient, and all nasty it took about 30 minutes to set up the stadium. Given how my school is bursting at the seams of students it was tough to set up the picture so that every student could be seen and not cut off. After the photo, an African musical group called Tabia did a guest performance. A catering company provided barbeque for lunch, with salad and roasted chicken. Unfortunately, the state's nutrition laws forbid soft drinks/"non-nutritious" food/drink to be served anytime during the school day, so the only drink the caterers could provide was water. How ironic it was to celebrate graduation from high school with lack of freedom. >:( But oh well; I have the choice to buy my own soda if I feel like it. Again, this was a one-period only day, consisting of English class.
- Thursday: The counselors gave a presentation about graduation requirements and diplomas. Yeah, since I'm a pretty smart student with all beyond-passing grades I didn't really care for it, which's the reason why I nearly forgot about today! Afterwards there were three class periods: Third (calculus), fourth (band), and fifth (economics). It was my first official 3:00 dismissal since...er junior year I believe, since this year since I don't have 7th period I normally get off school at 2:10 or earlier. After school I went to Jamba Juice for the school band fundraiser, ordered a peach perfection. Finally when I got home I watched my DVR'ed copy of the premiere of NBC's new cop show Southland, about the LAPD dealing with gang crime and such in South Central Los Angeles. Surprisingly, it stars Benjamin McKenzie, who played Ryan Atwood in teen soap opera The O.C. from 2003-2007, as main character Officer Ben Sherman! I didn't even do a background check on the show; I just DVR'ed the show to compare it with ABC's new show about NYPD, The Unusuals. Both are good TV, but I seem to like Southland better (I've seen the pilots of both shows).
- Friday: Two San Jose Police officers came to do a presentation on responsibility for the law based on a story about a young man who was locked up for two years since turning 18, for a DUI/murder. That was ordinary, but in the end when the officers took students' questions hell began to break loose. Some students' questions covered bulletproof vests, use of weapons, and disposal of evidence, but then some idiots had the audacity to ask if cops smoked weed or distributed confiscated narcotics amongst themselves. They obfuscated my proposed question about whether lowering the drinking age to 18 would help/hurt the DUI issues. (back in February, Lesley Stahl of CBS News's 60 Minutes did a story about this) So I asked a bunch of friends and the campus police officer about the issue; the campus police officer said that the 21 age limit saves lives and that lowering the drinking age would cause HUGE problems at first but the "sin value" (sin as in misbehaviour, not sine as you math geeks would think) of it would decrease so yeah. After that the senior class presented a photo slideshow, and a chef from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco demonstrated cooking risotto (italian rice) for us. Finally, after lunch we picked up our graduation caps/gowns, which took a couple hours given how many of us there are. My AP Government teacher cancelled his study session today because he was surprisingly called in for supervision. But oh well, he gave me some study materials, and I'll do a lot of studying this weekend. I was a bit pissed to learn that this year the counselors enforce a "no backpacks" policy for AP Exams this year because of...you guessed it...a bunch of no good !@#$%^&*() cheaters. Since I have a research paper about the Beat Generation due that day, I'll have to rush to get it to my teacher before I take the exam. I bike to school and am trying NOT to carry a backpack on Monday for the Gov. exam, so all I'll do is put my pencils, eraser, and USB disk (I'll be presenting a powerpoint to class Monday) in my pockets and slide my English paper in a manila envelope to deliver to my teacher through the school office. Of course, there's also something called e-mail.

Next week is going to be HECTIC compared to this one. First, schedules resume to normal times, yay? Second, I have AP Exams on Monday the 4th (U.S. Government/Politics) and Wednesday the 6th (Calculus BC). On Monday, baseball game vs. Prospect; Friday baseball game vs. Willow Glen. I'm sure the EV Cougars will win these given I've seen them win against them in the past. GO COUGARS! And also I need to start planning for prom and preparing for a summer job since I work as cashier for the school lunch line and the school year's ending soon.

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