Ilima Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Magic Note [Insert Star Wars theme here]

So I don't really like magic notes. It's an interesting factoid that I choose to overlook. So what if I don't condone something we're doing! It interferes with priority number one. If I focus on why I don't like this, I'll gain resentment towards magic notes. I will stop writing in an act of defiance. Defiance that will do nothing to help me. Defiance is not what I need to do well in school. I shall look into my Psyche to find this cause when it will not affect my performance at this school. For now, I will keep it in the back of my mind until that later date. You may notice a difference in the mood of this blog post. I am smarter now. I will not let predominantly negative emotions get the best of me when I am not in a safe environment so I can learn how to control it. That's why. Now, this week was exceedingly... long. In reflection of that, this blog will be exceedingly long, as long doesn't necessarily mean boring. I shall go through this by period. First, science. In science, we are preparing for the culmination of our science projects, intended to be finished in first quarter. Chanel has been a great science partner in this. I haven't really been doing all that much, but that is a matter of human nature. I was reluctant to progress outside of class for the fear I might do something wrong and get in trouble. In math, I was exceedingly bored over the subject matter, as it was irrelevant and we learned nothing of much merit. Apparently the average student can't come to the conclusion that the standard mathematical operations for negative integers doesn't also apply to all rational numbers. At least that's what I gathered from the choices made by the Department of Education and the people over at Houghton Mifflim Harcourt. In Leadership, in which I am including homeroom and advisory, all the matters that make this week long took place. I had a hard time with the previously mentioned magic notes. It seemed that, the more I knew someone, the harder it was to write their magic note. Does this mean I don't put enough thought into most of the magic notes? Do I have to get to know everyone better? That is the question on my mind, as well as others'. That took up the majority of my thought process in the second half of the week. In band, we learned how to play our instruments. I discovered that Horacio, my French Horn, was in fact broken. It is currently in the process of being fixed. In English, we are simply preparing for yet another writing piece that takes up the majority of our grade. I quite like this kind of grading. It's a lot better than having the grades evenly spread out. If you miss a medium assignment, your grade goes down if the grades are equally distributed. You don't miss 60% of your grade unless you're stupid or absent. If you're stupid, you deserve the F. If you're absent, you can make up for it. Better than a slight error drop your grade. In torture Social Studies, we still face the "Chimpanzee Bug" that is mysteriously making those who come in contact with infected persons infected. However, those with a brain seem to be immune. More investigation is being done, by those with brains, of course.

Trying to convince Chanel to call our science project "Vesty McVestface"

Some of the highlights of this long week include band. Horacio, however broken he may seem, is still very much spirited and will be fine. I had fun playing him. That sounds wrong until you realize that Horacio is a French Horn. English is going smoothly and I am starting to have a vision of what I am doing for this quarter's 60% of the grade assignment. The science project that has been sucking up all of our time is no longer sucking up all of our time as of Monday. Of course, every week has its bad parts. Like torture Social Studies. We are currently facing an epidemic of greater worry than the Opioid crisis: the "Chimpanzee Bug" epidemic, swimming through Ewa Beach and injuring the IQs of many. No reported brain deaths yet. The magic notes were unnecessarily hard to write, but I feel like that will deescalate as time passes. Everything deescalates as time passes. Math, as usual, is, in my own words, "STOOPIT FOR NO REASON AT ALL." There is not a reason to have this school system. It makes me sad how stunted my learning has become. Wow. That got deep. And that's why you don't go down rabbit holes.

Basically, I learned that I'm going to have to work harder to do my magic notes. I'm going to have to get to know everyone so I can have an easy time writing my magic notes. I also confirmed my suspicion that we are going to be doing the same kind of thing we did in the first quarter for all the classes that were boring during first quarter. Honestly a disappointment. I expected more from intermediate school. I guess I learned that expectations always lead to disappointment, unless they're low, unspecific expectations. A valuable asset for later in life.

My favorite magic note for this week was Allanah's. I chose hers because it had the best message. It was funny and felt like one of the most heartfelt. It's nice to have someone who knows how I really feel.. Sometimes I do feel lonely in Leadership. The thing is, everyone's personality is so different from mine, so I have trouble making friends with them. I especially feel confident because she said, "I was you last year." It means I can fit in fine here and gives me confidence. Sorry Matthew. Your magic note was a close second. :P

Week # I Stopped Counting Im Really Bad at Doing this Stuff to Have Normal Blog Titles Oh Well :| THE FUTURE! EXCITING!

Well, 2nd quarter is here. I was hoping it would go by just as fast as first quarter did. So much for hoping. Most of my classes are just boring now and the ones that aren't go by too fast. How come an hour of getting our instruments in band is shorter than an hour of sitting in torture Social Studies? Story of my life. At least we're doing the National History Day thing in torture Social Studies this quarter. I hope it will be a nice breath or fresh air from people being stupid about stupid stuff. Instead, I get people being stupid about not stupid stuff. I feel honored to have that privilege. We don't have subs anymore, I guess that's a good thing. Another good thing is shifts! I always make the best segues (look it up.) One thing I didn't like is that I worked in the morning every single day! Do you know how hard it is to haul a bike a mile and a half to school at 7:00 a.m?!? I mean, It's not that hard, but still, it's nice to have some variety. Out of everyone, I'm the only one racing to and from school every day, trying not to be late. Throughout the week, I noticed that we've been on our own more and more. I don't really have an opinion of it yet, I just noticed it. When we made the Halloween flyers, I was surprised that everyone littered theirs with pictures. Nobody understands that pictures taint a message with superficial charm that attracts people because of the picture, not the message. Well, I can't win everything. At least I got my instrument in band!

Alize properly shows my thoughts of school.

One highlight of the week was getting my instrument in band. I've been waiting all of first quarter. FINALLY! Another highlight is that torture Social Studies will likely be about 1% less torturous. Who knows, maybe I'll actually like torture Social Studies this quarter! A lowlight would be that I worked in the morning every day this week. It had to be me, the guy who rides his bike to school every single day. Wait, If I ride my bike, how am I supposed to carry a FRENCH HORN? Another lowlight would be that my classes are boring now. There's nothing new or interesting now. It's the exact same. I'm predicting an existential crisis later now that I think about what I'm saying right now. THE FUTURE! EXCITING!

I learned that we aren't being led through school anymore. If someone didn't already notice it, It will become more evident as the change becomes more and more drastic. Like I said before, I don't think it's necessarily good or bad yet. Only the future holds the answer. I also learned, reluctantly, that this is going to be a long and repetitive year. And a long and repetitive eighth grade year after that. That makes me sad. I was hoping to look forward to the future. THE FUTURE! EXCITING!

THERetreat blog that is about the retreat and how the location of the retreat has affected how we plan and bond and generally do cool things because it is the cool thing to do btw the retreat was really fun

By Craig Stephenson

             The retreat was unique because we got to go to a whole new place. That helped us in different ways. As soon as we arrived, the different atmosphere from school confirmed to us that the pace was special and that there was a greater purpose than just having fun, because we can just have fun at school. It helped us plan because we felt that we could only plan like that at the retreat, which made us focus more. The breeze and the types of grass also helped me focus because my allergies stopped.

             The retreat also helped us bond. We had lots of fun swimming in the ocean. We can't do that at school! We used the kitchen for the chopped competition, in which we had to work together to make a dessert. Clearly, the location of the Leadership Retreat benefitted us.

:)

oops my clock is late

(Disclaimer: This was done in 15 minutes)

This week was really fun. I loved the retreat! My favorite part was bonding with everyone. During the sessions, I feel like our period benefited from taking time to review our strengths and weaknesses. I really learned a lot about how others think about me. Planning for the rest of the year was fun, too. I had lots of fun swimming with everyone. All in all, the retreat was really fin

One highlight of the week was bonding with everyone at the retreat. I really had fun. Another highlight was the chopped competition. I liked all of the dishes and am glad that period 3 won. A lowlight of the week would be magic notes. I had trouble trying to say positive things to everyone and still sound genuine. Most of my magic notes were only two sentences long.

On the bus back

I learned that it's important to manage time wisely and improvise. I learned this because the bus came super late on Wednesday and we were behind schedule all day. We had to spread out the chopped competition. This also affected Thursday and Friday's schedule. The new schedule worked fine, though.

My favorite magic note was Laila's. I like it because I can see what Laila means. I can see how I've grown as a person. I can see how people like my personality. I can see that every word is genuine. Also, Laila has a nice signature.

Quarter 1 blog I'm nervous help

Remember this?

This quarter went by fast! I really can't believe it! At the same time, so much has changed since the first day! The biggest thing was probably our jobs. I didn't know very much about them before we started doing them. It perplexed me why I had to get up early in the morning to go work until school started. I was used to getting to school right on time so I could cram in some extra free time. Over the course of this quarter, I realized that we need to devote a lot of our time to leadership. It seems obvious now, but you don't fully understand something until it happens. A couple weeks later, while we were doing flag football, I never found a time to eat lunch. I didn't want to leave class early because I was worried it would affect my grade. I thought I'd be able to fit some time for eating in somewhere, but I never did. Again, I underestimated how much time it would take. The week flag football ended was the worst week of my life (I am prone to exaggeration). Why? Because that was the week probation kicked in. I wish I was never on probation. I was less than halfway done with a really long book, and I just abandoned it and got two smaller books. This was less than a week before probation. The worst part is that I lost a lot of my free recess week, since our period had after school sales. A running theme of this is that I don't expect something so I'm unprepared and negative consequences happen. That's pretty much what the major events were. What has changed me more than any event was being with the rest of the leadership class, especially my period. I have new friends, new not-so-friends, new people to talk to. It's a lot better than being in leadership basically alone. Because of them, I'm a better person. I'm not necessarily smarter because of my new friends. I'm happier. I'm more social. And that's going to carry me through the hard times in life. Not math, not science, friends.

Optimism

A highlight of the quarter would be band. I've mentioned it in a positive light in every weekly
blog, besides when we had subs the whole week, and for a good reason. I never feel stressed or worried in band, and the few tests we got were easy and required little studying. What we learn is fun and everyone is invested. I bet band will stay a sanctuary from all the hectic parts of life. Another highlight would have to be being with and talking to everyone. It's more fun than I realized. I've never bothered to just have a conversation with people so different from me. A low light of the quarter was social studies. Every single day, nobody ever listened. Still, nobody listens. This is the first time in my life in which a class acted more well-behaved when we had a sub than our actual teacher. Another low light of the quarter was how little I got to see my old friends. We got lunch, recess for 1 week every three, and whatever classes we share. This is problematic for my friends on a different team. I feel like I'm slowly being separated from them, day by day, piece by piece, and there's nothing I can do to stop it! Great, I just got myself in a bad mood.

Sorry Emma I don't have many pictures. :(

The big thing I learned over the course of the quarter is to not underestimate anything. Even the most mundane of things can backfire if you aren't careful. For example, not eating lunch for almost two weeks. Also, thinking you can read an absurdly long book in two weeks. If I hadn't pushed aside my AR goal, I would never have been on probation. If I studied for a science test, I'd get an A. I'm going to start doing this in second quarter. I want you to see how my grades are different for the two quarters.

In second quarter I'm looking forward to doing the 6th grade orientation dance choreography stuff. It sounds fun. Why does it sound fun to me? Because I'll finally have some long-term thing to challenge me! Hard times define a character way more than easy times, so why not be optimistic about it? Why should I dread being challenged and eventually overcoming challenges? That's what life is all about! I am looking forward to the hard times. Hard times are the best times to become a better person. Hard times give us purpose, even if that purpose is just to get through the hard times. Hard times are why I joined leadership.