ÿþ<html> <head> <title>equal sign backslash</title> <link href="journal.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <other=alien, 3dglasses, angel, apple, banana, bear, birthday, blackcat, blindfold, bowlingball, bowlingpin, bubblegum, bus, candycane, candyheart, car, cards, cat, cellphone, chat, cookie, cookiemonster, domino, domokun, donut, duck, earth, elmo, envelope, eye, fenderstrat, fire, flamed, > <emotions=banghead, bawling, beady, biting, blush, boggled, bored, brokenheart, censored, cold, couple, covereyes, crackup, crazy, crowded, darkside, devil, dopey, duh, expressionless, eyebrow, eye-popping, footinmouth, forbidden, > </head> <body><br> <center><table class="journal"><tr><td> <center> <!-- BEGIN MYSHOUTBOX.COM CODE --> <iframe src="http://336391.myshoutbox.com/?extcss=http://lindsey.aldridge.com/sbjournal.css" width="650" height="175" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true"></iframe> <!-- END MYSHOUTBOX.COM CODE--> <p class="title">equal sign backslash</p><br> <p class="other">December '05. Includes my mental breakdown of how much I loathe myself then coming to realization that I'm not the most horrible person on this planet.</p> <p class="currently">My journal by months:<br> <a href="journal.html">Current Month</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="journal1205.html">December '05</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="journal1105.html">November '05</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="journal1005.html">October '05</a> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="journal0905.html">September '05</a> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="journal0805.html">August '05</a> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="journalsum05.html">Summer '05</a><br><a href="http://hs.facebook.com/p.php?id=1548150025&l=f1602949cf" target="_blank">facebook!</a> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/sillylillinzi" target="_blank">MySpace</a></p> <p class="currently">Also, see notes about this page (and my site) <a href="#notes">here</a>.</p></center> <p class="etitle">December 30th, 2005 (2)</p> <p class="entry">I'm REALLY bored, and found this on Georgio's MySpace. Fun!</p> <p class="currently">A- Age of first kiss: 11<br> B- Band I'm listening to right now: Metallica<br> C- Crush: I'd say Luis is a LOT more than a crush<br> D- Dad's name: David<br> E- Easiest person to talk to: Jeska (she doesn't criticize everything ;) Otherwise it'd be Luis)<br> F- Favorite ice cream: vanilla.. plain and simple<br> G- Gummy bears or gummy worms: sour gummy worms, or certian colored gummy bears, but I don't like most gummy things =\<br> H- Hometown: Houston<br> I- Instruments: viola!!<br> J- Junior high: Albright, 7th-8th grade, '01-'03<br> K- Kids: eventually two (at least that's my plan)<br> L- Longest Car Ride: longest one I can remember is here to Missouri when Tony graduated from basic training in the army...<br> M- Mom's name: Valerie<br> N- Nickname: Linz, Reyali, {Middle name}, Cookie?, Lu (Luminescence, Skip-to-my/your-Lu, Luma, etc.)<br> O- One wish: to keep it going<br> P- Phobia(s): no phobias, persay, but I fear and respect spiders a lot... then there are a few weird things, but not enough to be considered a phobia...<br> Q- Quote: hrmm.. Hard choice. I'll go with my current one from QC, "It was like bam, all of a sudden we were retarded for each other." =P<br> R- Reason to smile: Luis<br> S- Song: currently? "For Whom the Bell Tolls" otherwise... hmm.. "Sugar," I guess...<br> T- Time I woke up today: woke up? 8 something... woke up and stayed awake? 11 something... got up? 1 something...<br> U- Unknown fact about me: I don't know.. someone knows pretty much everything, so nothing seems unknown =\... Hey, that's a fact! =P<br> V- Vegetable(s): spinach? (CRUNCHY SPINACH!! Lol to Brit)<br> W- Worst habit: worrying too much (stealing Georgio's answer)... oh, and talking too much =\<br> Y- Years since I've been to church: none, I last went on Dec. 11th... I should be going again this week. However, I don't call it church, I call it meeting (yea, yea, Quakers are weird ^ ^)<br> Z- Zodiac: Piscies (and I can never spell that right... I'm not even trying this time)</p> <p class="entry">So, the ABC's of me? Suuure. I never do those things, except in my mind. This one seemed to be not nearly as personal as some of the ones I've seen, so I decided to take the time =P</p> <p class="entry">Oh, might as well. Here's another thingie-thing from Jean's MySpace... I got 57% >_<</p> <p class="currently">"start at 100% and take away 1% for each of these you have done in the past or are doing right now. When complete put your total in the subject box and repost in a new post. Have fun and be completely honest. I was. =D /"<br> Smoked.<br> Drank alcohol.<br> Cried when someone died.<br> Been drunk.<br> Had sex.<br> Been to a concert.<br> Given a handjob/gotten a handjob.<br> Given a blowjob/gotten a blowjob.<br> Been verbally sexually harassed.<br> Verbally sexually harassed somebody.<br> Felt someone up and/or been felt up.<br> Laughed so hard something came out of your nose.<br> Cheated on a boyfriend/girlfriend before.<br> Been cheated on by a boyfriend/girlfriend.<br> Been to prom.<br> Cried at school.<br> Gotten lost in a WalMart or a department store.<br> Went streaking.<br> Given a lap dance.<br> Had someone of the opposite sex in your room.<br> Had someone of the opposite sex sleep over.<br> Slept over at someone of the opposite sex's house.<br> Kissed a stranger.<br> Hugged a stranger.<br> Went scuba diving.<br> Driven a car.<br> Gotten an xray.<br> Hit by a car.<br> Had a party.<br> Done drugs.<br> Played strip poker.<br> Got paid to strip for someone.<br> Ran away from home.<br> Broken a bone.<br> Eaten sushi.<br> Bought porn.<br> Watched porn.<br> Made porn.<br> Had a crush on someone of the same sex.<br> Been in love.<br> Frenched kissed.<br> Laughed so hard you cried.<br> Cried yourself to sleep.<br> Laughed yourself to sleep.<br> Stabbed yourself.<br> Shot a gun.<br> Trash talked someone and then acted like their best friend the next day.<br> Watched TV for 9 consecutive hours.<br> Been online for 9 consecutive hours.<br> Watched an animal die.<br> Watched a person die.<br> Had sex and/or messed around somewhere with at least 1 person present.<br> Pranked somebody.<br> Put somebody in the hospital.<br> Snuck into someone's room and/or your own room after being out.<br> Kissed somebody of the same sex.<br> Dressed punk.<br> Dressed goth.<br> Dressed preppy.<br> Been to a motocross race.<br> Avoided somebody.<br> Been stalked.<br> Stalked someone.<br> Met a celebrity.<br> Played an instrument.<br> Ridden a horse.<br> Cut yourself.<br> Bungee jumped.<br> Ding dong ditched somebody.<br> Been to a wild party.<br> Got caught stealing something.<br> Kicked a guy in the balls.<br> Stolen a boyfriend/girlfriend from a friend.<br> Went out with your friend's crush.<br> Got arrested.<br> Been pregnant.<br> Babysat.<br> Been to another country.<br> Started your house on fire.<br> Had an encounter with a ghost.<br> Donated your hair to cancer patients.<br> Been asked out by someone that you never thought you'd to be asked out by.<br> Cried over a member of the opposite sex.<br> Had a boyfriend/girlfriend for over 3 months.<br> Sat on your ass all day.<br> Ate a whole carton of ice cream all by yourself.<br> Had a job.<br> Gotten cut from a sports team.<br> Been called a whore.<br> Danced like a whore.<br> Been mistaken for a celebrity.<br> Been in a car accident.<br> Been told you have beautiful eyes.<br> Been told you have beautiful hair.<br> Raped somebody.<br> Danced in the rain.<br> Been rejected.<br> Walked out of a restaurant without paying.<br> Punched someone/slapped someone in the face<br> Taken a wack ass servey and posted it</p> <p class="etitle">December 30th, 2005</p> <p class="entry">Akash just said something to me that really made me feel proud of myself, but after reflection for a minute or two, I realized how much of a NERD I am for, first of all, someone saying it, and second of all, being happy with someone saying it! Here it is, though:</p> <p class="currently">Akash: i got a bunch of PC components in the mail today ... assembling a new system tomorrow. ... [you're] probably the only girl with whom i can discuss this <i>with numbers</i></p> <p class="entry">Yea. So. I'm a nerd. Got a problem with it? I love my nerdiness! (And my nerd, but that's another story =P) *sigh* I want to be a bigger nerd, though. I don't know nearly as much about computers as I should. I need to know a lot more about hardware to be satisfied with myself, and I could always learn more about anything else. I really want to learn SOME programming language.</p> <p class="entry">If you have any knowledge of this, can you talk to me about it, pleeease? I want to write a simple program to do my HTML in. Text area just like Notepad (which is my current editor =P) and two parts on the sides, one with clickable images that would simply insert the HTML for that image (mainly smilie faces, meaning it would insert "<&nbsp;img src="http://lindsey.aldridge.com/smilies/blablabla.gif" >") and have another with the most basic codes, like bold, italic, a href, etc., which would also be clickable. I'd also want to have, basically, macros so that when I press ctrl-b, for example, it inserts "< b >" and, if I'm smart enough to program it, the next time I press ctrl-b, it will close the tag. Very basic program. I like typing out my own HTML, and I've yet to find a program I trust and understand well enough to adopt as my editor. Every time I try, I get to a point where I mess up something, and can't figure out what's wrong without going back to the source and finding the codes myself. No program allows me to do this to the extent that I want to comfortably. However, typing my own stuff takes a while some times, and I'm simply getting lazy. I want these short-cuts, and I think it would be fun to write my own program to get these. =) I'm a neeeeeeeerd. So, anyone with any knowledge wanna help me out? ^ ^</p> <p class="entry">By the way, I just want to say thanks to everyone that came to my party. I hope you enjoyed it. Anyone up for another? I'm thinking about being selfish and throwing myself a birthday party. That would mean spring break. (I have finals (midterms) on my birthday!!! How friggin' crappy is that?!?! I need SOMETHING to celebrate!) Talk to me on AIM or in person if you're up for it. My birthday's in March, and I need at least three weeks planning time, for best results =P</p> <p class="etitle">December 25th, 2005</p> <center><p class="title">Merry Christmas!!</p></center> <p class="currently">Or other winter holiday, gift-giving or not, etc., etc.</p> <p class="entry">Luis got me the greatest gift. He seemed all worried about it, but I love it so much. I was giggling for a looong time while reading "LINZ'S FILE"... Thank you so much, Batman. You can't believe how happy that made me =)</p> <p class="etitle">December 16th, 2005 (2)</p> <p class="entry">Okay, I'm sorry about the entry on the 14th. I was extremely stressed from school (people in Pre-AP Physics with the car assignment should be able to understand that, as should people in band or orch that had to go to that loooooong concert with everything due the next day -_-') and I was having a couple personal problems as well. I just started thinking about a lot of things that bother me and I ended up exaggerating them to an extreme point after a couple days of pounding those negative thoughts in my head.</p> <p class="entry">I don't mean to glorify myself at all by this, but I know I'm not as horrible as I made myself out to be in that entry. I don't always interrupt people, and I always try to listen to my friends when it's something really big. I've never actually done the "Grandpa" thing, that was just an extreme hyperbolic example; I've never done that, nor would I ever do that. I do help my friends. Just today I tried to help four different friends. All week I've helped other people, too. I was just upset and needed to get those things out of my head. I really am not as good a person as I think I used to be, but I'm a lot more interesting person, and a lot less depressing, and therefore easier to talk to (thanks, Andyroo, for telling me this over and over -_-;). I talk quite a bit more and I'm now actually concerned with my own emotions and problems and stuff unlike before. Because of that, I talk to my friends about my things, and it does bother me 'cause I feel like I talk about myself too much. I guess I don't, really, but if anyone thinks I am, please, don't hesitate to tell me. I don't want to be the person I described myself as being in that post, even though I know in some ways I am. I am a jealous person, but I hide it and never act on it, and therefore it only eats away at me and no one else. I'm not really conceited, though I will some times judge people before I know them based on things that cause me to dislike the person. I'm careful about this, though, I don't do it unless the person really is rude or something like that. And even if I judge the person before knowing them, I still always give them a chance if they end up talking to me, and I'm not negative towards them then. I don't stare into a mirror 24/7 or anything, but I do end up looking in them a lot more than ever before, 'cause I see things in myself that I never really saw before, and I can think a lot when looking in the mirror for some reason. I still don't like the fact that I do look so much, though. I still want to apologize for being so rude in jokes to some guys before, but I really am trying to improve on that a lot. If I get really obnoxious, tell me to back off. (Andrew?)</p> <p class="entry">Yea, I don't feel like writing more. Just basically I was really depressed when I wrote it, I was even crying through half of it, and I haven't really cried for months now. I'm better, and I know I still have faults, but they aren't as bad as I made them out to be there. I hope you don't think less of me for what I wrote.</p> <p class="etitle">December 16th, 2005</p> <p class="entry">Finally split December off from November... <p class="entry">Oh, my reading list for now. I'm surprised it hasn't grown recently. <p class="currently"> <i>One Door Away From Heaven</i> - about a third done now<br> <i>Shattered Mirror</i><br> <i>Midnight Predator</i><br> <i>Religions of the World</i><br> <i>Frankenstein</i> (Dean Koontz)<br> <i>The Education of Little Tree</i><br> <i>The Wave</i><br> <i>Politically Correct Bedtime Stories</i><br> <i>A History of God</i></p> <p class="etitle">December 14th, 2005</p> <p class="entry">I hate myself.</p> <p class="entry">I have so many things that I despise about myself that it comes to, simply, I hate myself. I'm going to ramble about some reasons why. And by the way, it will be easier if you either don't read this or pretend like you never did than to talk to me about it, probs.</p> <p class="entry">I used to be shy with no self-confidence and no self-esteem. I grew out of that two years ago, like I'd wanted to for so long. However, with my new-found confidence came a lot of down sides. I used to live solely to help my friends. Now I feel like I'm never there for anyone. All I do is ramble about my own stupid problems. It awes me to think that anyone still wants to talk to me even though all I ever talk about is me, me, me. I've become .... I don't know... Self-absorbed? Some what conceited? Yea. Those work. I used to think I was the ugliest thing in the world. Now I think I'm pretty. When I'm around a mirror, I have the tendency to stare in it. I hate that!!! I'm not that great! I just feel so horrible that I'm that so self-absorbed! For once I see myself as better than some people, but I really am not. I'm stupid because I've let my school career go to shit during high school because of a lot of reasons I don't care to delve into right now, and I'm in no way better than some of the people I look at negatively. I judge people before I know them. I loathe that. I think it's wrong, and yet I do it. I try not to, of course, but trying gets me no where. I'm rude to a ton of my friends. I've improved on that slightly this year, but I've really been a total bitch in the past. Bin, Andrew, Edgar, Tu, Noah, Chung and many others. I've spent so much time taunting them that now I some times feel uncomfortable around them because I am so regretful. Yet I still some times do it! Just to annoy people for humor! That's no way to treat a friend, and yet these people some how still talk to me. I don't deserve that. As I said, I talk about myself way too much. Even in writing this, all I care about is myself. I also complain too much. Hell, you could consider this complaining right now. I complain about all the fucking pains I have that I can't explain or resolve, but I'm not doing much to TRY to resolve them. Sure, I'm telling my mom once every three or so days to schedule a chiropractor's appointment, but she's not doing it and I'm not taking any further action. Even though I'm doing practically nothing about it, I still complain for probably an hour every day to anyone that will listen to me about the pain I'm going through. No one cares! It's my fucking problem and I need to find a way to fix it or deal with it - not just annoy my friends by making them listen to me whine and moan. Luis is fabulous. He's incredible to put up with my shit day in and day out. He doesn't understand that he's the one coming out short-handed in this relationship, though. I turn to him with all my problems. I don't just complain about physical nags, I complain about my family, my dad, school, people I know, everything. He listens to me and helps me through everything. I don't deserve that, though. I don't deserve to have someone be that concerned with what I have to say because it's all insignificant crap that no one else should have to worry about or listen to. I don't care about anyone but myself, it seems. I talk TO other people, not WITH other people. Any friends I talk to, I always interrupt with dumb anecdotes about my own life that DON'T MATTER! Yet I'm the stupid idiot that always opens my mouth and rambles on and on. Some times I start and feel so bad in a couple seconds because I realize I've done it again, but I can't stop. I keep going until I'm done, and then some times try to apologize, but an apology doesn't help the fact that I've just wasted their time and cut off their tale. I want to be there for my friends - for anyone, actually - but I can't do that when I can't shut my damn mouth for five minutes. How anyone puts up with me is really beyond my realm of understanding. I'm picky, whiny, conceited, spiteful, dependent, garrulous (go AP III words!), boring, unable-to-shut-up, and overall just a horrible friend. In middle school I may have been the quiet depressed girl that complained about every aspect of her life every now and then, but at least I was there for my friends whenever they needed me. I wasn't just callous and bitchy and moany all the time. I had time to listen to my friends all the time. They meant more than anything to me. I still claim they do, but how can they mean the most to me if I don't deserve them and treat them with the respect I should give them? I don't help my friends like I should. Instead I change the subject to me. So what if YOUR grandpa died last week, mine died when I was four! That kind of thing. Oh, and I'm also a ridiculously jealous person. I hide it well, but I am.</p> <p class="entry">No, I'm not writing this to get responses from anyone that bothered reading that saying crap like, "Oh, you're my friend. You don't do those things." I don't want those responses. People don't know the kind of crap that goes through my mind each day. I do. I know how mean and arrogant I am. I know how jealous and moody I am. I know how unhelpful and idiotic I am. So what if no one else sees it? I do. That's why I despise/resent/loathe/hate myself. As I said, I'm not writing this for pity. I don't want pity. I don't deserve pity. These things are true. These are some of the things that pass through my mind every day that few others are able to see. These are the reasons I don't like myself.</p> <p class="entry">If you're able to put up with me, thank you. You don't need to, but you do. Then again, I'm just waiting for the day that one of my friends tells me I'm obnoxious and they've been trying to get away from me for years, but I just pushed them to the edge so they blow up on me. Especially if I keep on this outwardly detrimental path, that fate will become utterly inevitable. I can seriously forsee that day when someone just blows up on me and walks away for good. Hopefully I can learn my lesson and better myself before that becomes someone's final resort.</p> <p class="entry">I'm sorry. For everything. I hope I'm able to find a way to improve, but I don't know how.</p> <p class="etitle">December 6th, 2005</p> <p class="entry">I just finished reading and responding to Akash's post about Kerr's philosophy and how it's changed. Because my response there was so long, I'm taking the liberty to copy and paste what has been said on here. You can also see the original <a href="http://thack3r.blogspot.com">here</a>. (Btw, I'll probs make this "prettier" later. For now I'm just posting it.)</p> <p class="entry">Akash:</p> <p class="currently">What Is the "Kerr Philosophy"?<br> I don't think I ever got to see Kerr in its "true" or "purest" form. The recent change in APUSH and a conversation with our beloved Mrs. Coleman got me thinking. I was alone in the English center after taking my Transcendentalism exam, so I went to talk to Mrs. Coleman. I talked to her about what happened in APUSH, and she said something to the extent of "Well, that's how the system used to work."<br> I started to view what we know as Kerr High School rather differently. How, exactly, is Kerr different from other high schools? Yes, we get our work for a unit bundled up into PAKs. Yes, we get seminars. But now, isn't this just combining the high school curriculum into larger chunks and throwing us all into big, noisy rooms we call centers? What are the benefits of the current system? I don't think there are very many. We get a few weeks' work at one time, ok, that's nice. But where is that deep flexibility that I've been led to believe exists?<br> In a sense, we have been "released" from the confines of a traditional classroom setting, only to be held back by other fences. We don't get the benefits of everyday instruction--we're free to do that independently--or are we? Isn't it that the worksheets we would get are now bundled into PAKs? Instead of a week on a topic, we'll get a seminar on Friday of the week covering it. Those who can learn directly from the reading (there are many), are still restrained by the drudgery of PAK work. It's possible to wrangle exceptions from kind teachers, but why is that necessary? Why isn't the Kerr system truly independent and free? Isn't that what it's supposed to be? What I mean is: why isn't it PAK-optional? That would make it a good deal more independent.<br> I'm writing this on a whim and it should be read as such. I haven't looked into Kerr's past very deeply, but I know what it is now and what it claims to be. Has it always been this way? Is Kerr a failed experiment? Have we gradually shifted back to a more traditional system for a reason? Is it teachers who impose convention for their own sakes? Is it the students?<br> I want your opinions. What is the "Kerr Philosophy"? Please post your opinion as a comment so that others can see and discuss it--you don't need any sort of account to be able to post a comment and you can do so anonymously as well.</p> <p class="entry">Mayuri:</p> <p class="currently">In my opinion, Akash is gay. Oh right, concerning Kerr's philosophy...well I think when you say "independent", you're concerned about to what extent we are given independence. I do think we are different from other high schools...we don't necessarily have to go to seminars..with the exception of maybe English..because you're allowed the "independence" to finish the course early, or work ahead. In other high schools, i don't think you're allowed to do that. Pak work is OK. No really it is. lol Because when you think about it..some teachers don't even really grade the paks. They're just completion usually. Whereas in other high schools, the worksheets they do are probably graded. We can easily BS our APUSH paks and just read and learn the info. And we all know..we arent really restrained by the pak work..it's not like we spend days upon days to do paks...we spend maybe 2 hrs lol. Well yea thats what I think. We just want more independence...but I think we have it just to not the extent we desire. BTW it was a nice post.</p> <p class="entry">Jishnu:</p> <p class="currently">I think entry requirements need to be more stringent. The system will work with the right students.</p> <p class="entry">Akash: <p class="currently">Right on, Jish. I've been wondering about the greater number of applicants we've been forced to admit recently. I wonder if it's district pressure or some sort of pressure to increase funding. I think they have become pretty indiscriminate when it comes to letting people in and the increasing number of fights, referrals, and general misbehavior is a testament to that. I think Kerr would be better able to support a true version of the "Kerr Philosophy" if we had dedicated students and teachers who were committed to using that method of teaching.</p> <p class="entry">Edgar:</p> <p class="currently">Agreed, Akash. And Mayuri, the fact that the PAKs aren't graded by some, possibly most, of the teachers is irrelevant. The PAKs may help some people tremendously or just force others who learn by other means to drudge through them, counteracting the independence Kerr promised. And btw, I think at least half the classes force seminars; I remember that most of math and history does. And 2+ hours for how many PAKs? Time isn't something to be wasted (haha, coming from the worst time manager ever).</p> <p class="entry">Me:</p> <p class="currently">I'll start off with what I know of the past, then move a little bit to what I see now.<br> <b>Before:</b><br> The old system was absolutely nothing like it is today. PAKs used to all be due at the end of the term - no time before. When they realized that the majority of Kerr students spent a week or two with absolutely no sleep to finish every single PAK before the cut-off date, they added in individual deadlines.<br> Also, as we all know, the classes used to be incredulously smaller. Looking back even five years, the graduating class is hardly 100. Our class, as juniors, have nearly twice that many. When the school had it's expansion two(?) years before we arrived, they had room to accept many more students. The '06 class was the first to lose as much discrimination towards those being admitted. Our class continued, and as is obvious by looking at the two class who have followed us, it is on a steady decline.<br> <b>More current reasons:</b><br> The building's expansion did make it necessary to accept more people, though the true reason for it is discrict pressure, as you suggested in your comment. As such a small school, we receive very little money from taxes, seeing as it's distributed based on student body. (That's the reason Kerr has so many fundraisers for every little/big thing.) <br> Also, the district is now pushing to make Kerr Taylor's ninth grade center. <br> Looking at Kerr the past few years, it's dropped from exemplary to just .. distinguished? I can't recall the terminology. However, it is one step lower than it has been almost every year of its existance. After they established the school twelve years ago and got it running smoothly for several years, it became exmeplary. I'm fairly certain it remained that way until our freshman year, and since then I'm pretty sure it's failed to go up a step again.<br> Due to the current acceptance rates (caused a lot by the fact that McCutcheon cares more about the tax dollars that we are receiving than the students) our level is declining. It's no longer just the "nerd/geek/smart" school. It's just the "other" school. If this descend continues, I'm certain Kerr will become lost as the fish tank for Taylor.<br> The fact that so many people are allowed into Kerr is really its flaw. That is why the overall intelligence of the school is dropping, and that's why the system is being changed to resemble a normal high school much more in its assignments. The more people accepted, the more people the school has that don't actually care, and the fewer people that care, the less work that gets done. When people all procrastinate and do poorly any way, the school's system adjusts to ease it for the slackers that would most likely prefer to be at a "normal" high school. The work itself has essentially remained about the same, but the way in which it is issued, executed, and completed has been completely revamped from the beginning of Kerr.<br> <b>My Opinion:</b><br> I have to disagree with Mayuri on the PAKs. It's a waste of time if the individual doesn't need it, especially if it's just BSed. I know that few teachers actually grade them, and therefore you don't have to put too much effort into them, but even with BS, they turn out taking much more time than they should because they tend to have a superfluous amount of work that is assigned to be done in a frivilous manner. Who cares if we can draw the outline of some dead guy's head as long as we know all the information we would then write in it? I accept PAKs as what need to be done, however that doesn't mean I like them. I, for one, can learn what is necessary for me to know with much less tedious busy-work than is typically assigned.<br> Science seminars are usually the most lax about necessity to attend, and by the time you reach physics your seminars are non-existant except in the form of a compact disc from the counter. If you are on-time in a course, the seminars are basically mandatory. Other than science, I can't think of a center/class that doesn't require attendance.<br> What you say, Akash, about the "high school curriculum combined into larger chunks" is definitely applicable. Some courses are only work sheets/books, others are just mini-projects, but they all tend to be assignments you'd find any where else. Only the time frame for them is different.<br> The "Kerr Philosophy" is gone. It died several years ago. Unfortunately, I believe it is far beyond revival. Get fewer people overall; get more people that actually care about the school's system. After that reformation we may find Kerr in its "'true' or 'purest' form" again. But that change will never come about until Kerr has been destroyed due to political economics beyond our control (tax dollars and a district/principal that wants them).<br><br> I think my comment is longer than your original post; I apologize, lol. I blame you, though. You told me to read it, and your anticipation for my response sparked my interest more than it may have otherwise.</p> <br><br><br> <a name="notes"></a><p class="currently"><center><strong>Extra note</strong>: If you were wondering, this page, as well as the rest of my site, is coded in Notepad for all .html files. All other files (.css, for example) are done in Wordpad. No editors except my own two hands and my mind/memory.</center></p> <p class="currently"><center><strong>Extra note #2</strong>: If you would like your name or anything about you on this page that you would like taken down, tell me. It's that simple. I won't argue, because I don't think it would be right to leave it up if you don't agree with it. Post something in the ShoutBox (I can delete that message after I use it, too) or IM me at SillyLilLinzi, and I'll do what you asked. =)</center></p> </td></tr></table><br></center> </body> </html>