Final 07-08 Sched

First Semester

1. Study Hall - Wolf
2. AP Euro - Cameron
3. Arch/Ftns/Bowl - Wiggins
4. AP English IV - Thompson
5. Senior Lunch
6. Spanish V AP - Boukal
7. AP Calc AB - Klaeren
8. AP Bio - Wolf


Second Semester

1. Fl Hoc/tnbl/Rec Game - Burton
same
3. Study Hall - Dryden
same
same
same
same
same


initial thoughts? ive heard good things about wolf. ive had burton before and hes awesome. IM SO PISSED THAT I DONT HAVE MAY FOR AP EURO!!!! cameron sucks so much and ive heard that from a plethora of people. hardy said that thompson is really good (um.... yikes?) ive got the klaerenator so thats good and ive got wiggins who seemed like a nice guy when i interviewd him for pony express.

PLEASE COMMENT THIS AND TELL ME WHAT WE HAVE TOGETHER! =)

Hell's Kitchen

as im sure u probably dont know, i am addicted to hell's kitchen. HK is the only reality tv show that i watch cuz the rest SUCK. well, i cant say that, the apprentice was great seasons 1-3 but after than it became about the glitz and the ratings, not about the business. but anyways, HK is your run of the mill reality tv show with a group of people completing tasks to win the grand prize, a dream job working in a resort restaurant. what sets it apart is the antics of one of my personal heroes, Chef Gordon Ramsay. this guy is absolutley hysterical to watch on TV, and he is the biggest star of the show. its hard to describe his appeal, but i think it has something to do with his constant stream of swears and insults directed at the cooks :D

anyways, its mere hours away from part 2 of the grand finale!!!! time to make some predictions. so its all down to the two final contestants, Rock and Bonnie.

i like rock. hes a cool guy but he has a big temper as we saw when he lost the lobster task lol. hes an excellent chef, but im not sure how well he can run his own restaurant. his leadership style is more slow, steady, and quiet whereas ramsay's is fast fast fast and ****IN LOUD!!!! (dont u love that the FCC censors only the middle bit of words. everyone can hear the IN at the end of FUCKIN lol.) however, this guy used to be an executive chef (much like my cousin) and i think that background shouldve given him the edge on bonnie and yet i dont think it has at all.

bonnie used to be a nanny for some snooty rich family in LA but she was more of a personal chef and babysitter than actually doing housework. shes got a nice personality and seems very likable and i KNOW that chef ramsay likes her. shes screwed up a ton during this season but ramsay always gives her a second (or third or fourth or fifth or.....) chance to get back on her feet which she usually does. lol i still remember her line from the first episode "[chef ramsay] makes me wanna pee my pants cuz hes SCARY!" bonnie has shown throughout the season that she has some great culinary talent and has some effective leadership skills.

BOTTOMLINE i dont know who to root for. rock is a cool guy and seems a lot more determined than bonnie is, but bonnies pretty cute and she has a nice butt so i dont mind if she wins.

the show seems to be hinting around that bonnie will win because they focus a lot on rock's setbacks in finale part I and only focused on bonnie's victories. however, this mite just be trying to trick us into thinking just that. we'll see what happens.

Summer and Stuff

in case you are one of the few people that i havent bragged to, i mean, told, i got a new phone a few days ago, the motorola RIZR Z3 series from T-Mobile. here are the specs http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?device=f34e6f5f-52a0-43cc-ac13-8e7329dc5da3 and as you can see, its a very sweet phone. its a notch above the RAZR series because it has a 2 megapixel camera and stereo sound. i gotta say that i love this thing almost as much as i love my car. i can put all kinds of pics and music on it, and it even has VOICE COMMANDS!!! when turned on, i can say something like "call billy bob" and guess what.... BILLY BOB WILL BE CALLED!!!! how sweet is that? so yeah this phone kicks ass and it was worth the 50 bucks i spent on it.

i was reading the manual for it a few days ago and i just love the DONT DOs section of it. it says to "avoid the ground. dont drop your phone." and "don't put your phone in the microwave to dry it off." i am not joking. those are exact phrases from this book. i know they have to say those things for legal reasons, but i still find it hilarious that in this day and age people need to be reminded that if something delicate drops from your hand, something bad will happen because of gravity (or intelligent falling if you enjoy reading The Onion).

looking back at my blog topics, i've had few non-HP related postings this summer. meh, i guess im just getting lazy. my DC trip a few weeks ago was a lot of fun as usual. hell, DC is the perfect city for me. its got enough history and politics to satisfy any 17 year old republican boy for a loooong time. too bad i didnt see any major protests like i did last time. haha, i was walking along the mall and the cops surrounded a group of like 50 protestors who evidently had camped out on the national mall overnite. big mistake. they were shoving them up against the paddy wagons and throwing em in. gotta love the DoJ.

highlights? well the presidential chopper was DIRECTLY overhead when my dad and i were walking to the jefferson memorial. thats right. i was just a couple hundred feet away from GEORGE W. BUSH!!! it was so exciting. the flag was up when i went to the white house so GW was home that day. i wonder why he wasnt in crawford, i mean hes taken more vacation days than any other pres in the history of this nation.

the hotel food was rather nice altho i did get tired of the dinner buffet after the fourth day.... altho any hotel that is 2 blocks away from the air and space museum and has a pizza hut inside it is good with me lol. so anyways good times in DC altho i gotta say that the city's majesty wears off a bit with all the visits there. idc where my dad has a conference, i wanna go somewhere else. maybe philadelphia, boston, or some other place seeped in history. or maybe i could go to texas? that'd kick ass rite there. texas is such a friggin awesome state altho the climate is a bit too hot for my liking.

ya'no what word i DO NOT want to hear spoken out loud anymore? COLLEGE. i have always looked forward to goin to college and bein on my own and all that good stuff but my parents have warped this experience into something twisted and wrong. all i hear these days are "jason when are you gonna fill out those college apps?" "jason why did u put that down on that app? print out a new sheet and start over again" "jason why havent you read the course book?" "jason why havent we met with the college admission people from that one school?" WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR GOSH DAMN MINUTE!!!! SONUVABITCH IM ON IT SO GET OFF MY FUCKIN BACK!!!!!

sorry bout that outburst. yelling at them will only make the situation worse and besides, this nightmare will all be over on that blissful day where i mail in the apps and wait for Judgement Day. rite now im planning on applying to 5 diff colleges but that'll probably change as the weeks go on. ive always said that i wanted to apply to harvard or princeton just as a joke to see if i could get in, but i just realized that neither of those schools have what i want in a college.

im not a very picky person. in fact, im a type B personality and i like to go with the flow. im not picky at all when it comes to dorms. quite frankly any dorm room is preferable to this hellhole i endure each and every day. im hoping that i can get a parking space and bring my car with me so i can have a means of transportation but i dunno if that'll be possible. but i digress. harvard and princeton dont have education departments and i really want to keep that door open.

i mean, im gonna major in history and maybe i can squeeze in a minor in political science so what do u do with those degrees? law school? bah, i took a law course at COD before and i hate law. too much memorizing of pointless legal terms and keeping your nose in books all day long. politics? i'd love to do that but i dont want to rely on that for a career. i see teacher as the best option for me so i would love to get a teaching certification in college. i would never teach little kids and i dont have the money to pursue a PhD rite away so i'd get it in secondary school education.

thinking about all this makes my head hurt. i still gotta get through senior year and i kinda hate to say it, but im kinda ready for skool to start. i want to get through this year and all this college shit and then i'll graduate on May 30th, 2008 and i can begin the next chapter in my life. kinda sad saying goodbye to everyone. i mean, sure i'll keep in touch with lots but u cant keep in touch with EVERYONE.

so anyways, this summer has definitely been one of the if not the best summer of my life for a number reasons. i found the trick to making summer seem longer than it is. eagerly anticipate something towards the end of summer so that way it makes summer draaaag aloooong. see, i couldnt wait for HP 5 or HP 7 to come out so summer literally dragged on for me and it seemed to last forever. do u see me complaining? hell naw! summer was slow, enjoyable, and was all totally worth it. NOW its moving at breakneck speed and will soon be over in 2 short weeks. thats rite boys and girls. 14 days from this day is the first day. theres a lot i still want to do but i feel that ive accomplished a lot this summer and i have no regrets about it.

Deathly Hallows Part III, a conclusion

this'll be the shortest posting of the three. i just wanted to do one more post to look at the series as a whole and look at HP 7 compared to the rest of it.

i read the sorceror's stone when i was 9 years old (it was the relase of HP 3 in fall 1999 and the excitement around it that got me into the series), and i've been hooked ever since eagerly devouring each and every book since that one. ive waited 8 long years for this conclusion to the series, and it wildy exceeded my expectations. what ive seen looking back at the books is how JK really adapted her novels and has made them keep pace with the faction of her most loyal fans, kids who read the first book when they were 8-12 and are now 18-22 who have literally grown up with harry potter.

of course you had the nice vocab words such as incredulous that were unfamiliar to little jason in fourth grade, and these continued to book 7. yet it was the manner of her writing them that has given the impression that she was aiming each progressive book at an older and more mature audience. just lookit how many swears there are in HP 7 when compared to book 1 or the jokes between the two. dont get me wrong, i loved reading about ron's uncle who entertained people by pulling flowers out of his...... and that is why i applaud JK.

most authors have a writing style set in stone and refuse to budge. JK has adapted her writing to her base of hardcore fans, and that has made the series even more enjoyable. and now let me talk about something that ive been thinking about for a while now.

does the harry potter series have a religious undertone to them? im thinking that they do. the most obvious religious connection i found in the series was the whole end of book 7 *spoilers ahead*

and harry willinginly giving himself up to die and therefore ensuring that he would be resurrected and come back to lead Hogwarts to victory. i remember once that an interviewer asked JK if she was religious, and she replied that she was a Christian and that question annoys her because the question "do your beliefs influence your writings" is a better one and said no more after that. i see a lot of religious alusions throughout the series protraying harry as a Christ-like figure, and ive read some persuasive arguments from people supporting this as well.

anyways, i would like to reiterate my opinion in support of JK and the way she ended the series. everyone has been telling me how "corny" the last few chapters were and that the epilogue was "disney-like" and "childish." im not going to say that these things angered me, but i must say that people who say that arent looking at things from the author's standpoint. does JK want to write an epilogue that is 500 pages long, answers every question, and no one will read but the most dedicated fans? hell no. JK wanted to end the series on a good note that leaves the reader feeling good.

what did the epilogue accomplish? 1. harry/ginny and ron/hermione had children and includes names and ages 2. the reader gets a glimpse of some of the most important characters IE draco and neville 3. hogwarts has returned to normal 4. the trio is happy and content in their lives 5. all is well. thats rather a lot in less than 7 pages. could it have been longer? sure. could JK have written an epilogue that goes something like this: "the trio was content. voldemort was gone and would never return. life goes on." most definitely, but thats stupid.

was the ending a bit corny? yes. but i liked it. it left me feeling rather good that harry/ginny and ron/hermione are happy and making lots of babies w00t! u guys think this is disney? hell, disney is a lot worse than this, and JK couldve gone further but didnt. did the ending wrap up nicely and have everyone congratulate harry and have all the magical races living together and everyone held hands and sang kum-ba-yah (figuratively)? yes. but it effectively closed the book and i think it did this excellently.

*spoilers end*

of course everyone wont be satisfied with the ending of a book, but thats a good thing in society. it shows the diverse thought processes of our race and indicates healthy frontal lobes which is always desirable in this day and age when many people have shut that part of the brain off lol.

how has this series affected my life? i cant say that its changed my life and turned me on to reading and all that blah blah blah. i was harry potter for halloween 1999 or 2000 (its hard to remember that far back) and still have the kickass wand! w00t! ive read and reread these books and loved them every time and am still flabbergasted that its all over and done. i still have the encyclopedia to look forward to, but thats a loonnng way aways and i know that the HP 6 movie and probably HP 7 movie will be out before then so i will turn my attention that way.

in conclusion, thank you, JK Rowling for writing a magnificent series. i have greatly enjoyed reading, theorizing, and discussing these books for years. kudos to you! kudos! i leave you with these words of wisdom.

"not my daughter, you bitch!" - mrs. weasley