Oddities of Autumn

Ah... Autumn, the season of colours, thanks, togetherness, freezing cold temperatures, and school- perfect is it not?

Of course I love the colours of the trees, it is something I feel all Canadians are thankful for, but I hate the restarting of school and the cold. Recently it feels like we have gone straight from Summer to Winter. The current temperature at 6:46 PM EST is 7 degrees Celsius which is equal to about 47 degrees Fahrenheit for you American folks. Now as you may or may not have noticed, this temperature is below norm, even for Canada. Whenever I walk outside I shiver, whenever I walk inside I shiver, when ever I go anywhere, I shiver. In other words, I am more or less shivering 24/7. I love the way everything looks though, though I wonder if the cold is worth it... The plants will just die sooner. There I go again, being as cynical as ever... Some things will never change.

Anyway, aside from the weird weather, school hasn't exactly been great either... I got 79.89999999% on my business test, which I guess you could round to 80 and I don't feel very confident about my English test either, though I suppose hoping for the best and preparing for the worst might help my predicament- a bit. As for my French test, I managed to get 100% on that at least, though I have a presentation on myself coming up (in French) and it involves me memorizing some basic info on myself in French (again, I stress that) and the worst part is it says to be creative. How am I supposed to be creative if it is an oral presentation? I don't have the time to make a bristol board and Sonia told me creativity is measured in terms of how you write the speech, but I am at a complete standstill. What should I write? Can someone give me an idea? The example we got went like this (I translated it into English)...

Hi! My name is Homer Simpson. I am big and yellow. I am not very intelligent, but I am very funny. I do not have any hair. I love to eat. My favourite hobby is to sleep. In my family, there is my wife Marge, my son Bart, my daughter Lisa, my daughter Maggie, and me. We live in Springfield. There, I work in a nuclear factory. I hate my boss! And I hate to work!

As you can see, I don't have much to work with. Sonia and Kanishkan told me to impress the teacher with things like the past-tense and future-tense, describing things I did over the summer, but somehow it seems so insufficient- especially because there is this girl in class who is always trying to show off her French skills and compete with me. Whenever the teacher asks a questions she simply blurts it out because she can't handle not raising her hand like a normal person. Once, in class, we were on teams answering French questions and I got places on her team. She answered every question herself without referring to the team once, and that was when I spoke up and told her that I was here too, and I wanted to say something, so I pushed my way through and started answering. According to my other friends she is the same way in all our other classes as well.

Speaking of friends, I managed to talk to a few more people now, but it still seems so hard! Most of the friends I have made are guys. I have no idea why, they are just easier to talk to and invite a lot less drama like girls. On the unfortunate side of things though, everyone thinks of me as the "shy" one. I am not shy! There are some people I just don't want to talk to. Like this one girl, Nuvya, who is always talking about erections and ejaculation- disgusting, I know, but for some reason everyone loves her.

Academically speaking I am not happy with school. My marks are not what I would like them to be, and I feel as if the work is too hard. I guess I just need to try harder... I already spend every lunch in the library working though, what more can I do?

As for school in general, it is going well. I haven't seen anyone using drugs until now, and no one is bothering anyone, though I did see something really weird the other day. As I was passing through the courtyard on my way to class, I saw these guys hitting a girl who was standing with her front to a wall, with a rock. At first I thought they were abusing her and that this must be illegal, but the eleventh graders in front of me, upon seeing my face, explained that they paid her to do this to her. In other words, she was soliciting personal abuse to make a few extra dollars. Pathetic, huh? Another thing I wanted to talk about would be the cliques in the commons. In our commons area we have the "bump" a low platform which starts at stairs and ends as a plateau, the "hill" which is a taller version of the "bump", and the "ditch" which the the same thing as the "hill" but inverted. Common knowledge at the school is,

The "ditch" is for the coloured kids, i.e.; Asians, Africans, Jamaicans... etc.

The "hill" is for the white kids

and the "ditch" is for the emo kids.

So far each description has proved true. Today my friends and I sat on the "ditch" and we observed the various groups. I have to say, if one wanted to become a psychologist, North Park is the right school for them. So many different groups!

Now, before I sign off yet another blog post, I would like to post the comment my English teacher gave me on my essay,

Wow! What an effort- you went above and beyond what was expected. Nicely done. Try not to "overdo". When an assignment asks for a paragraph- that really is all that is needed. I don't want you to research when you don't have to. I can see you are an enthusiastic student! Looking forward to your bigger essays! =)

Also, on Monday I have a business presentation, and Tuesday I have a French presentation and a Shakespeare test. Wish me luck, and I wish you all the best.

-Ghazal