School... day before day after tomarrow

[Cancer]

I start high school on Thursday... Luckily, I look older than I am so only the people in my class and the people who already know me will know I'm a freshmen! Woo! And that helps with the older girls too.
Unfortunately, I'm completely overloading myself this year so I probably won't have as much time as I had thought originally. I'm taking about 11 credit hours versus the regular 8. I don't know if you consider that a lot but it's pretty ridiculous from my point of view.
Ah, the drawbacks of being a genius... I've also had band practice 3 hours a day for the last two weeks and 12 hours a day the week before that... And the only reason I freaking did band was so I could be in jazz band but now I can't because I don't have time! Gah!
But you know you must be hot if you can be in all honors classes, be a band geek, AND be a gamer and the girls still like you (Yes, I'm talking about me.).
But of course, just before school starts, one of my best friends has to all the sudden start giving me all this crap and basically decide she hates me... so now I have to try to work all that out with her before school otherwise it'll just be awkward...
So... This sucks.
Oh, just something on the side, you people who mentioned you're majoring in music, what would you say would be the best path for my high school years if I want to do the same?

[captnjeter]

....and enjoy your school days cause all there is after that is f'n WORK lol. No 2-3 month summer, no week long Spring Break, no 2 week Christmas break. :p

That's why I'm going into sports radio. Work is fun and if I do baseball, I have winters off and if I do football I have March-Mid July off. Of course, if it's fun I wouldn't want to have time off.

Cancer: If you're majoring in music, which I considered doing in ninth and tenth grade, I would take music theory (or you're school's equivalent to music theory) as soon as you're eligible to do it (in my school you needed to be a junior and have high NYSSMA scores). Be in some sort of musical group, which you are in. And try to preform... a lot. If your school has a musical, try to get involved with the orchestra for that. If there's a talent show (my high school had an actual rock show where student bands would play) definitely sign up for that. Just get involved and never be afraid to start playing an instrument in the band room if you and a couple of people are interested. And the music festivals, as you probably already know, are a must. Not sure how casual your school will be with just playing instruments, but usually once the teacher knows you and knows you won't just bang on a piano, it'll be good. Maybe I'm just spoiled by how casual my school is, but if you are really good at an instrument, then if your in the band room during a free period, it should be fine. I never really got in too deep with music in school, because I do most of mine solo (and usually U2 and Rolling Stones and Coldplay aren't what most music teachers want students to play), but everyonce in a while I'd have a free period and go down to randomly play Coldplay on piano, sometimes with a friend.

What instrument do you play, by the way?

[Grejo]

be a teacher. get summers off and fail students at your desposal

[Cancer]

Yeah, you have to be a sophomore to take music theory but they would've let me do it anyway because I'm known by most of my music teachers as being fairly advanced. But I think that anything they would do in there would be too easy since I've taught myself quite a bit of theory to where I could probably pass the class without even paying attention. I do perform a good amount. I played two jazz concerts at the beginning of the summer (awesome drum solo, terrible trumpet solo...). A couple friends and I are planning to start a Coldplay type band as soon as we find somewhere to practice and we'll probably perform in any talent shows there are. The real problem is, is that I'm pretty good at everything, and amazing at nothing. The only reason people think I'm very good is because I can improv extremely well on piano. If I hadn't done band then I'd be able to do both music theory and jazz band but then I'd lose just about all of my classical outlet.
And to answer your question, I play piano, trumpet, French horn/mellophone, bass, guitar, drums, a little bit of trombone, and a little bit of flute. I plan to start taking lessons for flute and violin simply because I think it would be good to have at least one woodwind and one concert string.

[Zabka]

From my friends who did the classical music festival circuits like Tanglewood and Aspen, it seems that focusing on an instrument is extremely helpful to set yourself apart. While the diversity of instruments is impressive, trying to excel at one would be really helpful. I have friends who were jazz pianists---man that is a way to really impress girls when you get older. Take the classes that are offered, or try to take more advanced ones if you can through a local college in your spare time or in the summer. If you have a gifted and talented program, take advantage of the class offerings or independent studies. Realize that the world is full of musicians and when you get to college, you will come across many who are incredible---so try to keep your eyes beyond the limited world of your high school and look more broadly. This can apply to academics as well.

[Rdaug27]

be a teacher. get summers off and fail students at your desposal

Nothing wrong with that, unfortunate the teachers don't get paid more than they do. You also need to consider stuff like Social Security. The district I graduated from, and the one my step father teaches at doesn't pay into Social Security. See when you get older you get to worry about all that kind of stuff. START SAVING YOUNG!!!!

[Zabka]

I have NO expectation for social security to be around when I am retirement age. The next 20 years or so will wipe that out unless they raise taxes on the working.

[ZEZEEMAYO]

....and enjoy your school days cause all there is after that is f'n WORK lol. No 2-3 month summer, no week long Spring Break, no 2 week Christmas break. :p

Thanks for reminding me Rdaug.

[EagleOne]

You guys really need to succeed in school so ya'll don't have to be like me, Always working and almost never at home plus out in the harsh conditions is sometimes unbearable. Like my dad always said " Stay in school son, pay attention son" but my reply was " Naw I want to make some money now" and I truely regret not finishing school. Enjoy the easy life now because your days are numbered and time does fly. Married with kids takes priority because I used to say f**k this job and quit but now I have a greater responsibility and must work like a dog to have a comfortable living. Take my advise don't f**k up and hit the books, excel to your full potential and don't half-ass it. Sacrifice now to enjoy the easy life later so you don't have to make money something to always worry about.

[Grejo]

eagleone you're a male dancer alright?


i got 2 weeks left before my senior year


and i now know that i got a chance to go to a great school like UW-Madison so i'm definitly going to study my ass off this year and retake the ACT's to see if i can do any better.

[Rdaug27]

Yeah don't do like me and not take a math your senior year lol. I paid the penalty for that when I went to take some college entrance exams

[Master_Ian]

I've allways been good at math I just didn't see the point so I have to do a bunch over again for not trying in high school. Motivation has allways been my problem and I was like 1 percent away from testing out of writing. I'm at a community college now to get my gen eds out of the way and then Im transferring to the University of Arizona once Ive done as much as I can do here. I was accepted to UofA and I could of gotten in to Berkley College of Music but it was way too expensive. I see where your going with it though I've allways kind of enjoyed writing I just didn't like it in high school when they tell you down to the last paragraph what it has to be about. I think I only need a very few math credits to be a musical performance major, which if all else fails would also let me be a studio musician. People may not see me as much around here with a full time college shedual and my work schedual. But good luck to everyone.

[CHRIST]

I just hate summer reading, I don't mind reading books if they are books that are interesting, but I hate being forced to read books and then analyze them which I'm honestly terrible about, I really don't give a **** what point they are trying to get across I just want to read for the story and entertainment.

[Zabka]

eagleone you're a male dancer alright?


i got 2 weeks left before my senior year


and i now know that i got a chance to go to a great school like UW-Madison so i'm definitly going to study my ass off this year and retake the ACT's to see if i can do any better.

That's great Grejo. You are taking Calc 2 already, which I have to expect is at least somewhat advanced as differential equations can be a bitch to do. I took my SAT's 2x myself and improved enough my second time (not statistically an outlier, but optically looks better). Back then, the scores had not been normalized (lowered scores by a couple hundred points), you took the exam with #2 pencils, and there was no writing section. But any time you go from just under a number to just over it, it helps. Plus back then they had Achievement tests that were knowledge not aptitude tests that some colleges took more seriously since you couldn't adjust for grades at one school for another...and those were cake.

The worst thing somebody can do is not try. Worst than can happen is rejection--and learning from the process, and the best is success. By the way, this works in many things in life: college applications, females, etc.

[Zabka]

I just hate summer reading, I don't mind reading books if they are books that are interesting, but I hate being forced to read books and then analyze them which I'm honestly terrible about, I really don't give a **** what point they are trying to get across I just want to read for the story and entertainment.

I used to feel the same way. Here's the thing though...it's more fun to read when you can read it on a different level beyond the story as well. You get a second level of story and further insight into what the author is saying. Put another way, it's sort of like solving a puzzle or a mystery. There is a pleasure you can derive out of seeing the craftsmanship behind somebody's writing and the cleverness of the author's choice of words and structure--and then talking to others about it and seeing completely different points of view.

It's better to do when you aren't forced to do it for whatever reason. But try not to close your mind to the concept...just recognize that high school is probably not a great place to do it. Besides, most high school curricula will have you analyze a piece of writing and then will have a "right" answer about what it means. That's just BS as most authors would rather their readers draw their own conclusions instead of some teacher who is reading the teacher's version of Cliffs notes telling you that you are right or wrong in your interpretation. I busted an English teacher of mine for using cliffs notes for a book we were reading--I read teh book and the notes and saw that the teacher couldn't see anything beyond what was in the cliff's notes. So one day in class, I read along with her. outloud.

The problem with reading isn't the reading--the problem is that many teachers don't know how to do it. I wonder if our resident English major Phoenix would agree.