True Fear

Today something happened to me that has not happened to me since my youngster days when ghosts hid in every shadow and every spider was poisonous, I experienced true fear. It has been a long time since I experienced true fear, I have become somewhat of a master of simply focusing on the positives of situations and it is difficult to be afraid when you ignore the negatives and try to only see the positives. But today, today was different, I found myself in a situation when there were simply no positives to be found. When Lizzie Halper's slideshow malfunctioned I knew it was only a matter of time before I was called up to help, in the past four years I have become somewhat of the go to guy for technology in our class. However I did not expect to be stumped, when I hit that brick wall I looked around and realized my truest fear, failing my classmates. When I realized there was nothing I could do I died inside, I've never cared all that much about myself really, I like to pretend I do because it bothers people, but really, I could not care less, it is everyone around me that always comes to mind first, and not always for the better, if I really dislike someone and I know I can do something to bother them then I'll generally do it before even considering what happens to me as a result. After realizing this I really started to think about how I think and how it affects my decision making (for the record I just changed effects to affects because I know not doing so would drive many of you crazy, especially Emily the apparently mini Serensky). For instance, as you all know we all came to school in rather unorthodox methods today, as many of you know marc Vitantonio, marc Golsmith, and I rode in a small wooden cart, affectionately dubbed the the bearded crusade caravan, rigged to Danny pecchio's car. As some of you may not know our little cart was rear ended on our way in, this would have nothing to do with this post if it were not for the fact that I have realized that the moment I saw the gator about to pummel us into oblivion the only thought that came into my mind was that marc was in that cart and that if I let go of it he would flip over, take the full force of the gator, and well... Bye bye marc. Now this may be an extreme example but never did I put into consideration that holding on to the cart made it considerably more likely to pulverize me. Fortunately we kept the front of the cart down and marc was forced upward rather than colliding with the gator and we all made it virtually unscathed. I find this mode of thinking rather interesting as I have also felt it was human nature to consider yourself first, therefore either I am not human, or it is not human nature to do so, both are probably equally likely. The moral of the story is that contrary to popular belief the darklord does care about others, and therefore may indeed have a soul. It is a scary thing to find you have always had a soul.

Lets Focus On the Positive

Well fellow AP English 12 Students,

I guess this is goodbye... well for some of you. Though I am quite disappointed to be leaving AP English, the end of an era, I'm just not the type to focus on what brings me down. Instead I am just trying to focus on the positive aspects which have prepared me to finally leave AP English. Finally the hostility will be gone, no more intense AP English Discussions where it is necessary to interrupt everyone to get an A, no more attacks for my mispronunciations of names and words, for the record I prefer to pronounce them as they are spelled, so Iago will always be I-ago to me, and I won't even get started on the other names. I won't get glares from everyone playing with me for putting ridiculous cards down in apples-to-apples, not knowing who the people are, and most importantly I will no longer be FALSELY accused of simple selecting the center most card... those with poor sportsmanship, you know who you are. No longer will I have to shield my eyes from the paper next to me in order to try to spare my self esteem as I see others' scores which were five or ten points ahead of my own. Going back to critical remarks I may never hear an attack for having such a large backpack, or pretending to be considering dropping it on the heads of unsuspecting freshman below, they just are not worth it Chase, it is not worth jail. So goodbye AP English Students, and if you want to survive I recommend you start using the elevator, go break a leg.

Adios,
Chase

10 Reasons Why You Don't Want to Miss Out

10. You will learn to face your fears, whether it be turning in your first SOAPSTone or just talking with Ms. Serensky you will learn to face your fears in this class.

9. You will learn how to write good college essays, I think this was one of the biggest perks of taking this class, Ms. Serensky actually sits down with you and helps you plan out an excellent college essay.

8. You will learn how to manage stress. This without a doubt the most stressful class I have ever taken, and it has lead me to some serious break throughs in managing stressful situations.

7. You will learn to budget your time, and eventually how to have a life when having one seems impossible. This leason is imperative for college, because if you are going to be successful, you're going to have to study, but you need to know how to have a goodtime too.

6. You will learn the game of life, or as we call it, the game of simultaneous disappointment. Serensky will teach you the hard lesson that life really just is not fair and that sometimes you just have to be prepared for disappointment.

5. You will learn how to write. Just know this, for those of you who read this and think "Oh come on, I already know how to write," you're wrong, and if you think you're right... well then you're just an annoying narcissist.

4. You will learn how to participate in an English Class without sparknotes. To succeed in English you are either going to have to learn to actually do the work, or find a far more complex method of cheating (if thats even possible which I doubt).

3. You will eventually become friends with the most intimidating teacher in the school. Whether or not you're actually friends you probably will not really know, but you will atleast think you are friends and thats all that matters.

2. You will get to laugh at everyone else when they have absolutely no idea why you are speaking weirdwhen you are actually receiting quotes. Now you know why we were laughing at you.

1. I know it's surprising, but you will have fun. I do not know the source but when I look back on my past two years of AP English I know I have had fun and that it was completely worth it, it is a lot of work, but Ms. Serensky knows how to keep your spirits up.

Get These Voices Out of My Head

*Inside Chase's head during the English AP Test
Lady Bracknell: [To Chase] "'This shilly-shallying witht he question is absurd'" (Wilde, 9)
Junior: [To Lady Bracknell] "'Wait a few minutes'" (Currie, 258)
Lady Bracknell: [To Chase]"'I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury'" (Wilde, 9)
McMurphy: [To Lady Bracknell]"'What's this thing?'" (Kesey, 69)
Junior: [To McMurphy] "'Makes as much sense as anything else'" (Currie, 229)
McMurphy: [To Junior] "'I told you I'm not up on this talk" (Kesey, 69)
Lady Bracknell: [To herself] "'I think it is high time that [he] made up his mind'" (Wilde, 9)
McMurphy: [To Chase] "'Questions ain't bonebreakers, they ain't sticks and stones'" (Kesey, 68)
Junior: [To McMurphy] "'What difference does it make?'" (Currie, 244)
McMurphy: [To Chase] "'You don't have to answer, do you?'" (Kesey, 68)
Lady Bracknell: [To McMurphy] "'The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound'" (Wilde, 13)
McMurphy: [To Junior] "'Chief, you're our last bet'" (Kesey, 142)
Junior: [to McMurphy] "'I know what it says...is true'" (Currie, 49)
Lady Bracknell: [To Junior] "'I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me'" (Wilde, 14)
Junior: [To Lady Bracknell] "'Whenever it tells me about the future, things always happen exactly the way they're described'" (Currie, 49)