Back to Business

The start of Fall, and school, has ushered tension and stress back into the hearts of students everywhere. Back to backpacks, buses, and book reports; salutations to school lunches, study buddies, and secretly texting underneath your desk when the teacher has their back turned. And Jambo to Junior Year. Hello to Heck.

AP English and AP US History are keeping everyone's nose firmly lodged between the pages of a textbook, and Chemistry and PreCalculus have everyone snoozing in their seats. Spanish 7/8 is as fun as ever, and a welcome addition to the same-old, same-old schedule is a Journalism class, which has me quaking in fear everytime I hear the word "deadline" (however, I must be doing something right, because I made the position of Co-Editor In Chief!). In short, it's back to the grind.

The problem with school is that it is just so... daily. There is no respite from the mountains of homework we religiously hack at with our pencils and calculators.Sunday truly is the day of rest, the one day of the week I can actually lie down and read. And seeing as though it is as vital to my personal health and well being as breathing, I have been reading as much as I possibly can.

In order:
Beka Cooper by Tamora Pierce
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Brenway
Airhead by Meg Cabot
The Firm by John Grisham
Uneasy Relations by Aaron Elkins

After carbo-loading on classics during class, I find myself craving something sweet: marshmallows like Audrey, Wait! and Airhead. Light, fluffy, make you feel good. And feeling good is necessary, especially when you translate from sunshine-yellow, lemonade summer days, to braving the warfield of teenage drama, and getting your first parking ticket (*sob*). Beka Cooper is actually more of a security blanket, a well-worn favorite, a cup of hot chocolate (which, naturally, goes well with marshmallows :) ). Books like The Firm or Uneasy Relations are steadfast roadblocks, to distract me from actually completing my homework on time. Which both helps, and hinders, I guess. But both procrastination and effort are equally necessary :).

I'm sure that once we hit October tomorrow, all will get easier. Teachers will acknowledge the students who've somehow managed to survive the September Chaos, and with my sister at cheerleading practice 3 days a week, the house may be quiet enough in the afternoons for me to finish my homework faster! Which means reading less of my textbooks, and more of the works that are threatening to pancake the bottom three shelves of my bookcase (all unread books go on the top shelf, and let's just say that this cup has been overflowing for awhile).

I'm so ready for Winter Break already.