Moral Dilemma

November 10, 2011

(7:06pm)

See this computer:

That is the computer that Caleb Churchill can no longer use. Yes, Carney banned me from ever using it again. EVER!!! Like the entire year!!! Appearantly, the computer began to be slow, so Carney (NOT Doña) blamed it on me. It's probably slow because of all of the traffic it gets. Every time I'm on, there's like 10 different windows open (not mine by the way, Carney). I'm a little mad about that, but what made me even madder was that he said if any computer breaks, I will be banned from getting on ANY computer for the rest of the year. Do you know how many jacked up computers New Town has?

Just had a physical, and since I’m 19, I had to do it myself. Not bad. I just hate the gowns we have to wear. At the end of my physical, my physician commended me on making “good choices” compared to some teens in my group.

Also, Doña and Ms. Dauka said that they love how I always wear my button.

I wish I could have had Ms. Dauka as an actual teacher. I think we would have had fun.



November 9, 2011

November 9, 2011

(10:30pm)

Robotics today. We have a new person, Tayvon (I think that's the spelling). They completed the robot structure for the most part. We just worked on stablizing the robot and programing it to move on its own.

Robotics Club

Doña was upset today because of how stressful and chaotic the past 2 days have been. There were people skipping class, getting left behind during field trips, leaving school for McDonald’s, leaving class without saying where they were going…it could go on. I snuck up behind her and gave her a hug. She enjoyed it. She even gave me a smiley face stamp on my hand because I make her happy, but it doesn’t show well.

She let me borrow her camera so that I could continue making my blog wonderful and enjoyable. Carney says it’s like a Twitter feed. Ms. Philips and Ms. Casale came to talk about parallel enrollment.

I don't think I'll be able to do it, but I might give it a try. Got a quiz in AP Bio tomorrow, so I need to rest. But first:

What's this inside of the computer? Peanut butter?

Here are some pics of our robot:

And thank you Shautria for unknowingly showing me how to put captions under my pictures ;) I’ll be sure to ask you to prom. JK

Thank you for sticking with me

November 8, 2011

(10:11pm)

We were supposed to have our meeting today, but the college field trip interfered with it, so it was postponed. I have a whole lot to discuss. I also need to find out a good time to meet with my mentee about her work. I can't ever seem to find her (not your fault, by the way, if you're reading this, Kayla).

I hung out with Mrs. Cathirell after school today to search for schools and scholarships. We found a couple before we had to break. She asked me why I used to hate her in 9th grade. I had issues in 9th grade. I only hated her because 1) she was a white teacher who seemed too nice and jovial to teach a room full of rowdy black kids, 2) she kept refering to us as “friends”, 3) I miss interpreted AVID's acronym (Advancment Via Indivisual Determination) to mean “a class for kids who are too dumb or need help getting to college”, and 4) she was always in my face, trying to bring me into a group discussion, read my sentences, or get me to talk. She even pulled me aside a couple of times to just have random conversations with me. And she would be VERY bubbly, like a hyper “white” high school girl!!! It would bug me how much she paid attention to me. I remember one conversation we had one time as I was walking into the library during lunch:

Mrs. Cathirell: Oh, hi Caleb! (From her office, smiling widely, waving, bubbly)

Me: Um...hi. (Confused, why is she SOOO hyper all the time?)

MC: Hey, guess what. (Approaching me, has papers in her hands)

Me: [silence; questioning/stolid stare]

MC: I met your sister today, Jacquylin (pronouncing wrongly).

Me: It's Jacquynn (JAW-QUINN).

MC: She seems nice. Are you twins?

ME: No, I was held back a year. (Nonchalantly)

MC: Oh. Do you have other siblings?

ME: 2 sisters at Deer Park and an older brother here.

MC: Micah?

Me: yeah.

MC: I would have never guessed. He looks nothing like you.

Me: We're adopted.

MC: (gasping almost excitingly with her hands on her chest) That's so cool!

Me: (Jaw dropping and face shifting from nonchalant and stolid to a bitter “How the heck is that so cool” face)

MC: One of my bestfriends is adopted (either ignoring my face shift or picking it up).

Me: (silent, face shifts back to nonchalant)

MC: All of your siblings are adopted?

Me: Yeah.

MC: Oh, cool. (Flashing a smile) So what class do you have?

Me: Lunch.

MC: You're not going?

Me: No

MC: Do you ever go to lunch?

Me: Sometimes.

MC: Well, you should eat something during the day, it's not healthy to go without eating.

Me: (Silence, looking around)

MC: Well, if you ever want to talk, my office is always open.

Me: Okay (not really focused on her, wanting her to stop talking).

MC: I enjoy having you in AVID. I mean, if only you would talk more. You look so scared and uncomfortable in class. You're a good student, Caleb, I wish I had more like you.

Me: :) (though I try hard not to, I smile. More like blush. Trust me, I'm dark, but I still turn red when I blush)

MC: I gotta go see Doña real quick, so I'll see you later. It was nice talking to you.

Me: You too.

Another one I can remember was after 1st quarter 9th grade. I was about to leave school when she caught up to me:

MC: Hey, Caleb.

Me: Hi, Mrs. Cathirell.

MC: You got a C as your 1st quarter grade in AVID.

Me: (I chuckle)

MC: You would have a B if you did your bloody Learning Logs (smiling and looking at me afterwards)

Me: (eyes wide from shock of her say that, then I laugh softly)

MC: You headed home?

Me: yeah, I live in those Red Run apartments.

MC: Oh cool. (Smiling) Well, have a good day.

Me: You too.

But, besides the journals, my favorite day was field day. I love that day. I choked on a bagel during the bagel eating contest, but rocked it during the relay. I wore all under armor that day. I kinda hate this photo because my eyes were closed.

TGIM

November 7, 2011

(10:11pm)

TGIM: Thank God it's Monday!!! Or atleast that’s the video title.

 

It had some good points to it that we should use everyday, not just Monday. AVID scholars especially should follow it. One of the sub topics was that we are here by choice and that we should treat our job (or AVID, in our case as well as school) as a blessing. We could be worse off. Think of all of the people who wish they could have our opportunities. There aren’t any you say? Look deeper, listen around. Trust me, you’ll find some. I know of a couple who wish they could have been in AVID, not dropped AVID, not been kicked out of AVID, or even wish they had AVID at their school (that one’s mostly teachers). Don’t treat AVID like it’s a bird’s course (old time term that means you can “fly by” in a class), like I did for the first year and a half, because you won’t even take flight long enough before you end up falling right on your beaks. And once a baby bird falls, it’s in danger of being taken by predators. I know it’s a bird analogy, but it’s true.

Just in case you're wondering what I did the rest of the day, I climbed a wall and hopped a fence to walk home. I've been climbing since I could walk.

November 5-6, 2011

November 6, 2011
(10:11pm)
Not much today. Went to church and was soooo tired because I had to watch the OSU-KSU game. I fell asleep during prayer. The high light of the day was after service when I got to hold baby Alex. She's so adorable. She's only about 3 months now. She has a tiny scratch on her nose. I held her for about a minute, but she was very fussy, so her mom took her. Her mom gave her a pacifier and she calmed down for a while, but spit it out and was fussy again. I was trying to tickle her, but she grabbed my finger. Her hands are so small but she has such a strong grip. For a while, she had both of my hands. She actually smiled a bit, about 5 seconds. When I tried to pull free, she tightened her grip. I got free once, and she started to cry, so I gave her my fingers again, and she stopped. She tried to put them in her mouth. She so adorable. And her parents said I'd make a great father (telling me, of course, to wait about 5 years. I'm cool with that).

Oh yeah, Jessica, Jaelen's friend hung out with us all day today. She's like a new part of the family now. Yippee. I love her though. She's cool.

November 5, 2011
Yesterday (writing this 11/6) I played at the Homecoming game. It went well. Some funny things that happened, a bee flew into a girl's trac, and she didn't know; I came up with a crude idea for a sign to do for a sign: New Town= Chris, Owings Mills= Rihanna, Hit someone!!!; Titanettes were good, but I could see my parents were trying to hide their true emotions on the dance moves (they're old-school). Not much else happened afterwards. I just passed through the day doing whatever, but damn how the day moved by slowly.

Oh, also came up with a song track in my head, but it was near midnight and I was TY-URD. I can't even remember one line or what it was about, but I would have bought it on itunes.

November 3 & 4, 2011

My Day Off?

November 4, 2011

(10:11pm)

I suck at staying in my house. All I did was play XBox, watch Netflix, and eat. After about noon, I got dressed and headed to school. I know, it's strange. I almost broke my back hauling my AP Biology book. I brought it so that I could put it in my locker. I missed Doña and Mrs. Cathirell. That made me sad. I saw Ms. Dauka though (didn't she get married?). I just hung with Ms. Lori, Ms. Shay, their children (both Ms. Lori's daughters and Ms. Shay's baby son), Cody, and Ms. Banisters 2 sons (who look exactly like her). We just watched Zoo Keeper. I ended up leaving at 3:30ish, after everybody had already cleared out. I was on the verge of walking home when a kid ran right past me. He was a lengths away when I saw that he had dropped his phone. I ran after him, but he went in the locker rooms. Ms. Ridgely returned it to him for me. That felt good, except for it being cold, me not having a jacket, and my asthma acting up a little.

(11:25pm)

Just realized I wrote over my blog from yesterday, so here's the make-up:

1. IN YOUR FACE JUNIORS!!!! We beat you in the obstacle course, but you put up a good fight.

2. I gave Ms. Cathirell the flipcam back too early, so I couldn’t record any of the pep rally.

3. I got to hang out with Ms. Shay after school. Well, more like the door was open and I walked in and sat down.

4. I looked up how to do the Electric Slide, Step in the Name of Love, and the moves from Happy People.

5. Also looked up the video from Lighters. I couldn’t find the clean version.

6. I came home and found another song by R. Kelly that I liked called “I believe”.

That’s pretty much it.

RIP 2013

November 2, 2011

(10:11pm)

First off: IN YOUR FACE, JUNIORS!!! Y'all broke the number one rule when it came to a competition or match: DON'T BE COCKY!!! Now look, y'all talked trash, wrote “trash” (to keep it semi PG) on our window, and put up a commercial on Titan TV like y'all were the **** (I said SEMI PG, didn't I), now y'all lost. I am laughing at one junior (whose name I shall keep confidential) who, after the game was over, was still waving the flag of a senior around like it was the game saving grab. I was thinking, “[girl's name], why the hell are you still talking trash and cussing out the seniors and waving our flag slandering us? Sit down and act civil!” Side note: why is it everytime you get black people in a competition against one another, they want to fight? I counted at least 5 fights during the game. Proud of #28, my sister, with the runs, downs, and defense. Good game, sis! Oh, I had “RIP 2013” written across my knuckles, but, no camera, so no pictures.

Told Kayla Clark that I would be her mentor, she got more excited than I anticipated. She nearly knocked me over. I'm sad I couldn't stay with her longer. I had to go to robotics club to work on our robot. I'm gonna meet up with her some time soon to have a look at her schedule for after school, maybe lunch, so I can work with her on her AVID Vocabulary. There's more stuff, but she asked me about it, so I'll start there.

I lost my black head phones, camera, most of my pens.....am I losing my mind!?!?!? I'm losing and forgetting things like I'm a 50 year old man! I thought I lost my “Inspire” pin and was devistated. I cleaned my room. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO GET ME TO CLEAN MY ROOM!!!