Prepare to, for probably the first time, be jealous of me. Channing Tatum will be in my high school auditorium tomorrow afternoon to talk to a select number of fourth period classes who had the highest percentage of donated cans.
See, we're doing this thing called the "Souper Bowl of Caring"; super creative, right?
Anyway, the top ten fourth period classes that brought in cans were given the opportunity to listen to him talk tomorrow and then the number one class gets to have a meet and greet with Mr. Tatum after the assembly.
I'm sad that my fourth period class was not as inspired to bring cans as some of the others in my school because I think it would have been worth it just for the chance to stare at him for 52 minutes.
But there's no turning back the clock-- what's done is done -- so I will not be getting to see Channing... Maybe next time a celebrity makes an appearance at my school I will be more dedicated, or maybe I'll just be stuck wishing I'd have brought in 1,500 cans (that's how many the number one class brought). Insane, right?
I mean, some girls at my school went door to door in their neighborhoods with wagons and trucks, practically begging people for cans, so that they could possibly see/meet Channing. I mean he is extremely attractive, but is he really worth all that effort? Especially when it takes away from your schoolwork? I don't think so...
Even more pathetic are the people who actually went to stores and spent money on hundreds of cans. COME ON PEOPLE.
Now please don't get me wrong, I think it's absolutely fantastic that our school was able to collect so many cans because they're going to a great cause, but the fact that the only reason some people brought in cans was so they could meet a celebrity is just sad. Aren't people generous anymore? I seriously doubt any of those Tatum-obsessed girls would have done all that, whether it be door-to-door pleading, or just plain buying cans, had Channing Tatum not been a part of the reward.
It just shows the priorities of my generation, and it makes me quite sad.
This is why I am planning on bringing some of my owns cans to school tomorrow, if they will still except them, and just donate them to the cause because I want hungry people to have food.
Hopefully in the future people will be as enthusiastic to donate cans just because it's the right thing to do.
Another thing you should understand, I completely understand where these girls were coming from, being a fan of Channing myself. I toyed with the idea of going to my neighbors to collect cans, but never did because I simply had too much homework and other things going on. So please don't think that I am separating myself from the rest of my peers because I'm not.
Instead, I am merely reflecting on this experience in the hopes that people, myself included, will remember my advice the next time they are asked to donated something as simply as canned food for a good cause.
On a completely random and unrelated note, my voice instructor informed me today that my voice recital will not be until next Tuesday due to inclement weather expected tomorrow. This gives me an extra week to memorize the French!!! It's also a relief because I sort of lost my voice this weekend and would have sounded rubbish had it still been tomorrow.
31 January, 2011
19 January, 2011
You're Invited!
What: Winter Voice Recital
When: February 1st
Time: 6:00 PM
Problem: I DON’T HAVE MY SONG MEMORIZED!
It's a choir kid's worst nightmare... (especially when the choir kid in question is a perfectionist with OCPD)
Usually, for me memorizing songs is like breathing— it comes naturally, effortlessly. Apparently those memorization skills don’t translate when it comes to foreign language solos…
Ever since sixth grade I’ve been telling my many voice lesson teachers that I only do solos in English. This stems from a fear of sounding like am silly, little white girl. Which, considering I am a silly, little white girl, is a perfectly valid fear.
I can’t roll my R’s and the most popular language for solos is Italian, so you see my problem.
Anyway, I had managed to avoid foreign languages up until this year…but my private voice instructor desperately wants all of her students to be 1st Sopranos, but I am an Alto, so that doesn’t really work out very well for me.
I mean, sure I can hit a high G, but that doesn’t mean I want to... Especially not in front of an audience when my heart’s beating a thousand times a second.
So my voice teacher really wanted me to sing “The Crucifixion” this year, which was appealing because of its length (only about 60 seconds long), but when I saw three high F’s, I went running for the hills.
When I told her that I thought it was a little high for me and asked if we could possibly try a song with a range more appropriate for an Alto, but she wouldn’t hear any of it… That was, until I suggested we try something foreign.
She was so excited that I was finally going to try something in a different language that she even had the piece I’m doing transposed so that I only had to hit a high E.
So what exactly am I singing? — “Romance” by Claude Debussy. It’s in French. None of the lyrics repeat. UGH.
I actually had a voice lesson yesterday, and was informed that, since my last lesson, I had improved nearly 200% since the last time I had sang the song, which lifted my spirits quite a bit.
Well, wish me luck because I still haven’t managed to sing the song without making a single mistake yet, and I only have four more days before I have to sing it in front of about thirty or so people…
(Oh, and in case you hadn't already figured this out, random Googler, I'm not actually inviting you to my recital because that would just be weird. Hope you're not too disappointed.)
When: February 1st
Time: 6:00 PM
Problem: I DON’T HAVE MY SONG MEMORIZED!
It's a choir kid's worst nightmare... (especially when the choir kid in question is a perfectionist with OCPD)
Usually, for me memorizing songs is like breathing— it comes naturally, effortlessly. Apparently those memorization skills don’t translate when it comes to foreign language solos…
Ever since sixth grade I’ve been telling my many voice lesson teachers that I only do solos in English. This stems from a fear of sounding like am silly, little white girl. Which, considering I am a silly, little white girl, is a perfectly valid fear.
I can’t roll my R’s and the most popular language for solos is Italian, so you see my problem.
Anyway, I had managed to avoid foreign languages up until this year…but my private voice instructor desperately wants all of her students to be 1st Sopranos, but I am an Alto, so that doesn’t really work out very well for me.
I mean, sure I can hit a high G, but that doesn’t mean I want to... Especially not in front of an audience when my heart’s beating a thousand times a second.
So my voice teacher really wanted me to sing “The Crucifixion” this year, which was appealing because of its length (only about 60 seconds long), but when I saw three high F’s, I went running for the hills.
When I told her that I thought it was a little high for me and asked if we could possibly try a song with a range more appropriate for an Alto, but she wouldn’t hear any of it… That was, until I suggested we try something foreign.
She was so excited that I was finally going to try something in a different language that she even had the piece I’m doing transposed so that I only had to hit a high E.
So what exactly am I singing? — “Romance” by Claude Debussy. It’s in French. None of the lyrics repeat. UGH.
I actually had a voice lesson yesterday, and was informed that, since my last lesson, I had improved nearly 200% since the last time I had sang the song, which lifted my spirits quite a bit.
Well, wish me luck because I still haven’t managed to sing the song without making a single mistake yet, and I only have four more days before I have to sing it in front of about thirty or so people…
(Oh, and in case you hadn't already figured this out, random Googler, I'm not actually inviting you to my recital because that would just be weird. Hope you're not too disappointed.)
17 January, 2011
Books Have Feelings Too
My whole life I've never really acted like the age I was. I've always been very mature and ever since eighth grade I've been asked by people what college I was currently attending. Just the other day a guy in my choir asked me if I was a senior. Mind you, we're now half way through the school year and I see this kid every day.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I've never really been a kid... or a teenager for that matter.
I mean, sure, there are certain things about me that are character traits of the typical teenage girl, but usually I am more like an adult.
I could go more into that, but that's not really why I started the blog post, so I'll save that for another time. What I really wanted to talk about was how teenagers in my generation don't read enough.
Seriously, so many people talk about how they don't read any of the required reading for school, yet alone read for fun.
It just makes me sad... Especially because there are so many things that you get when you read such as a wider vocabulary and a better imagination. Overall, reading makes you smarter.
And apparently the world agrees with me because many new inventions are making reading more appealing and "easier" for people everywhere to do. For example, electronic reading devices such as the Nook and the Kindle allow you to carry around a portable library, and new phones with Kindle apps allow people to have books on their phones.
Personally, I don't use a Kindle or a Nook and I hopefully never will (some people think that physical books will eventually be completely replaced by electronic copies... that's one of my worst nightmares), but I do appreciate that they are making more people become interested in reading. Not a lot of people I know, but at least some where there are people whose intelligence levels are increasing.
Now that I've said something positive about Nooks and Kindles (which I will now collectively refer to as Nooks because that's shorter), I have to talk about the negative.
Why I hate Nooks:
1. Their commercials litter my TV. It's annoying because you don't see commercials for actualy books on TV. Not even the Harry Potter books were advertised on TV when they were first released. Books are better than TV commercials and the devices that you can read them on should be too.
2. They might make books become considered obsolete and therefore cause publishing companies to stop printing them. This would compeltely break my heart because there is nothing better than opening a brand new book and hearing the spine creak, or the smell of books (old and new).
3. I get made fun of for carrying around books in my purse, yet it's perfectly fine for my friend to carry around her Nook. Double standards much?
I could continue, but I feel like I've hated on Nooks enough for one day.
Read books more and buy them so that hopefully they will continued to be published for a very long time.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I've never really been a kid... or a teenager for that matter.
I mean, sure, there are certain things about me that are character traits of the typical teenage girl, but usually I am more like an adult.
I could go more into that, but that's not really why I started the blog post, so I'll save that for another time. What I really wanted to talk about was how teenagers in my generation don't read enough.
Seriously, so many people talk about how they don't read any of the required reading for school, yet alone read for fun.
It just makes me sad... Especially because there are so many things that you get when you read such as a wider vocabulary and a better imagination. Overall, reading makes you smarter.
And apparently the world agrees with me because many new inventions are making reading more appealing and "easier" for people everywhere to do. For example, electronic reading devices such as the Nook and the Kindle allow you to carry around a portable library, and new phones with Kindle apps allow people to have books on their phones.
Personally, I don't use a Kindle or a Nook and I hopefully never will (some people think that physical books will eventually be completely replaced by electronic copies... that's one of my worst nightmares), but I do appreciate that they are making more people become interested in reading. Not a lot of people I know, but at least some where there are people whose intelligence levels are increasing.
Now that I've said something positive about Nooks and Kindles (which I will now collectively refer to as Nooks because that's shorter), I have to talk about the negative.
Why I hate Nooks:
1. Their commercials litter my TV. It's annoying because you don't see commercials for actualy books on TV. Not even the Harry Potter books were advertised on TV when they were first released. Books are better than TV commercials and the devices that you can read them on should be too.
2. They might make books become considered obsolete and therefore cause publishing companies to stop printing them. This would compeltely break my heart because there is nothing better than opening a brand new book and hearing the spine creak, or the smell of books (old and new).
3. I get made fun of for carrying around books in my purse, yet it's perfectly fine for my friend to carry around her Nook. Double standards much?
I could continue, but I feel like I've hated on Nooks enough for one day.
Read books more and buy them so that hopefully they will continued to be published for a very long time.
10 January, 2011
That Sounds Like a Personal Problem to Me
The other day, my friend informed me that I was suffering from OCPD, which she explained as sort of like OCD only way more intense.
With semester exams at the end of this week, I had forgotten about this diagnosis until just now and since I was not completely satisfied with my friend's explanation of the disorder, I decided to do a little research.
My research skills are few and far between, so I just went straight to Google (by go-to source) and simply clicked on the first link that appeared-- Wikipedia. (Shocking)
SInce I'm sure you're all incredibly interested in my issues, I will include the interesting/important parts of my findings (And, hey, who knows? You might just learn something about yourself):
"Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency. People with OCPD may feel anxious when they perceive that things are not right. This can lead to routines and rules for ways of doing things."
Yeah...that's like me, only in text form.
Anyway, I guess I should list the symptoms (go ahead and take this time for a little self-analysis):
"Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, and schedules; being very rigid and inflexible in their beliefs; showing perfectionism that interferes with completing a task; excessive focus on being productive with their time; being very conscientious; having inflexible morality, ethics, or values; hoarding items that may no longer have value; and a reluctance to trust a work assignment or task to someone else for fear that their standards will not be met."
As far as the hoarding goes, it says that people with OCPD tend to hoard money, not items. The reason for this often lies in a fear of problems that could occur in the future, which would lead to a need for extra money.
Early in my life, I probably would have denied having a hoarding problem, but I have since then matured and know better-- I do have a money hoarding issue. It's something that I have had problems with since I was a child. Any time I would get money from relatives for my birthday or Christmas I would save and hardly ever spend it. Thankfully, I have managed to improve and do spend more of my money now (mainly on books, but that's something, right?)
Another thing I learned was that I had incorrectly diagnosed myself when I was younger, I used to say that I had OCD because that, ADD, and ADHD were the only disorders that I really knew something about, but I have since learned that, while OCD and OCPD have their similarities, there is a fine line between the two.
"Despite the similar names, they are two distinct disorders, although some OCPD individuals also suffer from OCD, and the two are sometimes found in the same family. People experiencing OCPD do not generally feel the need to repeatedly perform ritualistic actions-- a common symptom of OCD --and usually find pleasure in perfecting a task whereas OCD patients are often more distressed after their actions."
Great, so I get pleasure from my insanity.
Last thing that I found out was that OCPD only occurs in about 1% of the general population (so, random Googler, you're probably safe), 3-10% in psychiatric patients, and that it is twice as common in men than women.
I guess that makes me a double-whammy, general population AND a female. (I always knew that I was special, I just didn't know how special.)
Anyway, I'm going to go see a therapist now...
Hopefully you didn't find yourself staring back at you through those Wikipedia quotes, but if you did, then at least know that you're among friends... well a friend-- me.
With semester exams at the end of this week, I had forgotten about this diagnosis until just now and since I was not completely satisfied with my friend's explanation of the disorder, I decided to do a little research.
My research skills are few and far between, so I just went straight to Google (by go-to source) and simply clicked on the first link that appeared-- Wikipedia. (Shocking)
SInce I'm sure you're all incredibly interested in my issues, I will include the interesting/important parts of my findings (And, hey, who knows? You might just learn something about yourself):
"Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency. People with OCPD may feel anxious when they perceive that things are not right. This can lead to routines and rules for ways of doing things."
Yeah...that's like me, only in text form.
Anyway, I guess I should list the symptoms (go ahead and take this time for a little self-analysis):
"Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, and schedules; being very rigid and inflexible in their beliefs; showing perfectionism that interferes with completing a task; excessive focus on being productive with their time; being very conscientious; having inflexible morality, ethics, or values; hoarding items that may no longer have value; and a reluctance to trust a work assignment or task to someone else for fear that their standards will not be met."
As far as the hoarding goes, it says that people with OCPD tend to hoard money, not items. The reason for this often lies in a fear of problems that could occur in the future, which would lead to a need for extra money.
Early in my life, I probably would have denied having a hoarding problem, but I have since then matured and know better-- I do have a money hoarding issue. It's something that I have had problems with since I was a child. Any time I would get money from relatives for my birthday or Christmas I would save and hardly ever spend it. Thankfully, I have managed to improve and do spend more of my money now (mainly on books, but that's something, right?)
Another thing I learned was that I had incorrectly diagnosed myself when I was younger, I used to say that I had OCD because that, ADD, and ADHD were the only disorders that I really knew something about, but I have since learned that, while OCD and OCPD have their similarities, there is a fine line between the two.
"Despite the similar names, they are two distinct disorders, although some OCPD individuals also suffer from OCD, and the two are sometimes found in the same family. People experiencing OCPD do not generally feel the need to repeatedly perform ritualistic actions-- a common symptom of OCD --and usually find pleasure in perfecting a task whereas OCD patients are often more distressed after their actions."
Great, so I get pleasure from my insanity.
Last thing that I found out was that OCPD only occurs in about 1% of the general population (so, random Googler, you're probably safe), 3-10% in psychiatric patients, and that it is twice as common in men than women.
I guess that makes me a double-whammy, general population AND a female. (I always knew that I was special, I just didn't know how special.)
Anyway, I'm going to go see a therapist now...
Hopefully you didn't find yourself staring back at you through those Wikipedia quotes, but if you did, then at least know that you're among friends... well a friend-- me.
07 January, 2011
Tutoring Mishaps
Usually I am a very dedicated, hard-working student; I get mostly A's and sometimes one or two B+'s, but recently I've been struggling to even make an 80 in Chemistry.
This has got my inner perfectionist in a state of panic because while my first semester grades don't affect my exemption from final exams, my grades next semester will have a major impact on my last few weeks of school.
See, if you score commended on all your TAKS tests (Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science), have a second semester average of an 85 or above, three or less absences, and five or less tardies in every class you can be exempt from finals.
I have been able to achieve this the past two years without really having to worry about whether or not I would have an 85 or above semester average, but this year I'm not so sure about that... If I can't find someway to get my Chemistry grade up next semester, then I'll be taking that final and I'm pretty sure I would fail that, which wouldn't help my grades at all. But right now, I'm focusing more on my semester exams, which are quickly approaching.
My Chemistry exam is next Thursday and in an attempt to prepare myself, I asked a friend of mine to tutor me. It didn't go quite like I had imagined... When I asked my friend if they would tutor me, they said that they would and that since they were already going to be tutoring another of my friends in Chemistry that night that I should just join them. Being as desperate as I was, I agreed to the double tutoring session knowing that I probably wouldn't be learning very much; my two friends are crazy when they get together and the other one being tutored is one of the most ADD humans I have ever met, myself excluded.
Sadly, my assumptions were correct; my friend managed to half-way finish a single balancing equation problem and I think I'm more confused about Chemistry now than I was before the tutoring. Oh well, I didn't have any actual homework to do last night, so I basically just hung out with my friends for three hours as I attempted to make them focus, and they goofed around and got me off-task. It was actually really amusing, and I had a good time doing nothing productive.
If the three of us ever end up studying together again I'll have to try a little harder to keep them on-task. We'll see how well that goes...
This has got my inner perfectionist in a state of panic because while my first semester grades don't affect my exemption from final exams, my grades next semester will have a major impact on my last few weeks of school.
See, if you score commended on all your TAKS tests (Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science), have a second semester average of an 85 or above, three or less absences, and five or less tardies in every class you can be exempt from finals.
I have been able to achieve this the past two years without really having to worry about whether or not I would have an 85 or above semester average, but this year I'm not so sure about that... If I can't find someway to get my Chemistry grade up next semester, then I'll be taking that final and I'm pretty sure I would fail that, which wouldn't help my grades at all. But right now, I'm focusing more on my semester exams, which are quickly approaching.
My Chemistry exam is next Thursday and in an attempt to prepare myself, I asked a friend of mine to tutor me. It didn't go quite like I had imagined... When I asked my friend if they would tutor me, they said that they would and that since they were already going to be tutoring another of my friends in Chemistry that night that I should just join them. Being as desperate as I was, I agreed to the double tutoring session knowing that I probably wouldn't be learning very much; my two friends are crazy when they get together and the other one being tutored is one of the most ADD humans I have ever met, myself excluded.
Sadly, my assumptions were correct; my friend managed to half-way finish a single balancing equation problem and I think I'm more confused about Chemistry now than I was before the tutoring. Oh well, I didn't have any actual homework to do last night, so I basically just hung out with my friends for three hours as I attempted to make them focus, and they goofed around and got me off-task. It was actually really amusing, and I had a good time doing nothing productive.
If the three of us ever end up studying together again I'll have to try a little harder to keep them on-task. We'll see how well that goes...