Thats it, June 2011

I know I didn't post on June 9th, but I needed a break. Well deserved, I might add.
And this final blog post isn't going to be easy to write, I have so much to say. A year of torment and humiliation and stupidity and fun all summed up in a few paragraphs. That's no easy task.

In some ways the year went by extremely fast.
In terms of science projects and upcoming movies, it was so fast.

But if I think about beginning band being right next to my Algebra class, and them getting better throughout the year. Or the neighborhood dogs weaning their barking when I came by because they saw me every day and knew who I was, then the year was treacherous and long.

It was an unpredictably big year for me. My parents split up, and I've seen some of the strongest people I know loose their footing but keep dancing. This was the last year I will spend in school with my best friend, Issy. And the first year with Kenzie, who I can only hope will become a close friend.

No I didn't smoke, or drink or have sex. I didn't beat out my nemesis or join the popular click. But I learned so much more than algebra and geography. Humans, middle schoolers in particular, are a strange race. And I think understanding why they do the things they do has just replaced my goal of looking like a Nicholas Sparks character.

Do I feel different?
Do you feel your new age on your birthday morning? No, I feel like I see people differently now, some stayed the same though. I feel like looking at the future now is actually much harder than it was at the beginning of the year.
I think that's what 8th grade, this year in all, as taught me the most.
They future is never going to go exactly as planned.
So maybe I'll end up a screenwriter or go to Stanford, or maybe I won't. I can hope, and I can work for it but life has a way of changing plans and I don't know yet if we should really try to change them back or not.

Messing with life doesn't seem like the best plan.

I still have four more years of planning and gosh, even more after that. I'm way too young to be able to say where I will be at 30, or 25, or 20.

I can, however, keep my head up and enjoy all that I know for certain is coming my way. Like high school, and this summer!

And I can look back and see my school, not as a prison in disguise, but a truly impressive accomplishment. I can't say middle school didn't change me, but I can say I didn't let it change me. Understand? It did what it did, but I didn't do it to myself, and If I'm not mistaken I'm still pretty awesome.

That's all I have to say about that.
Until next time, at the 9th Grade Observer.

Does your mom wear Crocs?

1 day left...June 8, 2011

The unofficial guide to surviving middle school. (These may be recycled, sorry)

Don't have a bag half your weight or greater.
Excessive emoticons are repulsive.
Be around things and people that make you happy.
Don't tell jokes you don't get yourself.
Don't let someone who isn't a teacher teach you any Spanish words.
Beware the mid-door poles and mats.
Hold on to your pencil at all times.
Don't say abbreviations like their words. Except btw, pronounced b-t-dups.
Know at least one rapper and one of his song titles.
Get a catch phrase.
Don't swear, because you have no idea how many times I have seen my friend slip up and crash and burn and other bad adjectives.
Sit on the darker side of the cafeteria.
Always have your hand raised in PE, just always.
Don't correct your teachers. They don't tend to like it.
In order to get to class faster find a way to go through a 6th grade hallway, they always run everywhere so its generally easy to pass through what with them all being long gone.
Don't ever encourage someone to play 'Whats in your bag?' unless your positive all the freaky stuffs out of yours.
Do not take your favorite stuffed animal with you on the first day of school, people react poorly to that.
Make sure the sound is off on your phone before you show anyone the video of you dancing to Love to love you.
Find a video that makes you happy, mine is Love to Love you by Donna Summers. Google it. Now.
Don't ever google blue waffle.
Learn the names of the Jersey Shore characters. For reference of course.
Remember that most 8th graders favorite movie has Will Ferrel in it so keep conversations below intellectual.
Refrain from using words like correspond and barren or parched.
No one looks good in blue eyeshadow. Less is more.
Don't quote Star Wars in public. People laugh now and then post mean things about you on FB later.
Don't be disappointed if you aren't invited to a party. Your invite was probably lost with all your Birthday cards in the mail.
Don't carry around Simon and Garfunkel lyrics in your back pocket.
And I think most importantly, but often most over looked...
Don't wear Crocs.

2 days left...June 7, 2011

Here's the deal. And I know I sound like Howie Mandel ,but seriously. Throughout middle school I have had people who support me and people I look up too. Those two groups are essential.

My parents and a few choice friends are people I could really go to through all 3 years. And my idols, though unaware of the notebooks I have tracking their every more (I love you Ellen....,) guided me through a lot of it too.

Don't underestimate the power of influence. Hugs before drugs, kids.
I was inspired and heavily influenced by the favorite TV characters, actors and television personalities. They kept me in check. And perhaps it helped that I didn't have idols like Paris Hilton and Brittany, because then I'd be bald and have a sex tape.

Then again that seems to be working out for them right?

So here's the tip- Get a support group, not like my AA meetings, but kinda and don't be afraid to look up to people, except you Croc wearing mom.

My celebrity idol is Blake Lively (you too NPH, you too) and aside from the recent nudes, shes bright and fresh and fun and has a cheerleader attitude minus the pom poms and idiocy. Offense cheerleaders. I watch her interviews and I think, I want to be able to make people happy like that, and to have stories to tell like that, too! I see her and shes beautiful (you too NPH, you too) and I want to look like her.

Its something to work for, something that isn't a grade or a new friend. Something for ourselves. And having something like that could make all the difference in middle school, especially 8th grade.

Finals went alright today, and the count down is on '2.'
I'm scared and excited. My mom says that's what makes us young, having the combination. So I'm not putting it out, because despite what you may think because of my 'older' crushes, I value my youth!

Does your mom wear Crocs?

3 days till the end...June 6, 2011

The 8th Grade Observers 4th to last tip of the day...

Everyone who comes into middle school is on equal playing fields. From the moment you get up on that first day of school to the time you get off the bus you could be a scene kid, or popular, or a stoner or a brain. 

The problem is you don't have that big of a say in the whole matter. You can dress how you want and act the part, but you've been cast as soon as you step through the double doors. And somehow that's okay. 

Eighth grade is different. The people know you, even if you don't know you. The teachers have already whispered their judgments in the teachers lounge and the object is no longer simply to fit in, as it was above, when it didn't matter what you were as long as you were something. 

This time you want to be cool. Its a different game with the same, stale players. And the rules can't really be manipulated. You can't take  off your glasses and let down your pony tail and turn into Reese Witherspoon. And walking down the hall with your friends isn't like linking arms with Regina George. 

The moments aren't 'firsts' anymore and while the means of getting it may be unique, the object isn't. 

Whats cool? 

Is it writing a blog?

Or reading a blog?

Is it wearing tight pants or baggy ones?

Should you color your hair like a unicorns crap or tie ribbons in it?

Take the quote-'Beauty must be defined as what we are, or else the concept itself is our enemy'

This is true obviously, if you add in there between 'are and 'or.' 

The same is true for 'cool.'

But even more true than that is that cool is not caring what cool is. 

Its tired and old but this advice is like your favorite sweatshirt.

Have faith in 'cool' being something, not earned, but thrust upon us after forgetting entirely what it is. 

There's a girl in my class, Bertha, who may be the coolest person I have ever met. She likes her music and her clothes and shes nice, but isn't aggressive and, my god, shes the coolest person I have ever met. 

I hope I'm like her one day, because as you can probably tell, this is hard advice to take. Even for me.

I'm not telling you to let your nails grow out like the hall monitor, Ms.Cookie, or pick at scabs in class or anything.

I'm saying that if, or more correctly when, you do something that you regret. Something petty and insignificant like saying the wrong thing to your crush or getting a late on a homework. Don't treat it like anything more than what it is. Because when you look back at sixth grade what you 'were' won't even come to mind and in eighth, trust me when I say 'cool' will be entirely different and no one, not even your self is going to remember what you said that made you cry when you got home or what you did that was sooo embarrassing. 

Until tomorrow my Croc wearers.

June 2, 2011

Hello there?

Friend is defined as a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. At least that's how dictionary.com defines it. 
But to me a friend is so much more than 10 words. 


To me a friend is someone who....
Wants to be with me, whenever, wherever. 
Has advice, even if they know I won't take it. 
Stops me when I look stupid. 
Tries to teach me how to be mean. 
Lets me take the virgin sip. 
Hates people I hate. 
Makes up incredibly over thought out secret nick names with me.
Won't let me sit closer to the TV just because it's their house. 
Texts me when my favorite movie's on TV, so we can watch it together. 


My friends, the real ones who I may have known for 8 years or 3, are the ones that mean it when they say 'I love you' and when they say 'Luv ya' r even 'ILY.'


They're the reasons I'm going to miss middle school, there's only two of them. 
Bernie and Issy, they're so different. Except for their mutual hatred towards each other. Most of my friends hate each other, I think I'm just to awesome to share. Just a theory. 


And they will try to see me over the next 4 years, they'll try to stay in touch, and they didn't even write that they would in my yearbook. 
Because I figure time is the biggest compliment someone can give you. If they listen through your story of standing behind a man with 14 cans of Campbell's soup at the store. And watch your favorite TV shows, and text back sole syllables but don't want the conversation to end. 


I cried the other night. It was more of a surprise than you would think because I didn't think my tear ducts worked, but alas..I'm a mere mortal, even if I am one of the better, higher ones. I cried into my mommy's shoulder and I got really scared. 


I remember the night before middle school, my mom caught me crying and I begged her, I mean begged her, to not make me go. It seemed like the middle of the night, it was probably 9, and I had this big black bag because I though colors were against the rules and I had practiced for days on how to open a pad lock. 


I'm not going to beg her to not make me go to high school, because I realize it's the next natural step, and I have been working very hard to enforce this personal rule about not caring about things I can't change. 


I can't change the fact that in late August I'm going to experience my first first day of school without Issy. And there's nothing I can do about Bernie not sitting behind me in whatever first class I have next year. 


Maybe this won't make sense but Thursday was the last day of the year we had homeroom. Bernie had to leave to work on her finals dance for choir and I sat there, alone, for an hour. I watched Ariel dance to no music and people take pictures and one girl even asked me if I felt okay. I did, I just didn't have anyone to talk to, to seem normal with, to be abnormal with. 


And my biggest fear is that next year every day is going to be like that last homeroom. 


I suppose that's something I can change though. 


That was sad for me. I didn't cry, but then again I'm not usually one to point out the lasts of everything. So I think in a way it was a big deal. 


The awards were Friday, and there was some heavy crying there. I got the awards for orchestra, straight As, straight As for 3 years, GPA higher than 3.5, science and citizenship. Not a bad deal. I didn't win the American Legion, but I'm white, skinny, and middle class. So no big shocker. 


Finals week starts Tuesday, so one more full day of middle school. Resistance is futile? 


Does your mom wear Crocs?


Before I go I want to let you in on a little idea I had. From tomorrow to Thursday I will post four final tips on how to survive, or more accurately come out alive, from middle school. 


Should I start tonight? Don't believe a word someone in an older grade says to you. Today I told my little sister Paul Revere was Johnny Appleseed's best friend, they went to Julliard together. 


Should you believe that tip? You wouldn't believe me if I told you to anyway.