Friday, May 7, 2010

Sheer perfection.

Location: The Couch
Listening to: Stewie plotting on Family Guy
Days til Graduation: Probably 31 or so.

Today. Was. Glorious.

Those are really the only words I can use to describe it. I can't think of a single thing that went wrong today. Everything just flowed so nicely and went wonderfully and was happy and good.

I got my AP Psych final back, and I got a B+ (which is way better than I thought, because I had to sharpen the pencil I was borrowing from this other kid, and the pencil-shaving-dust set off my allergies, so I was a bit distracted while I was taking it). So I'm getting an 89.9% in that class, and after Tuesday, we're just doing really easy work to more or less pad our grades. I'm pumped.

Then, I got to miss a lot of my classes to practice the big group stuff our choirs are doing for the Variety Show. So I just got to hang out with my friends in our theater and goof off. And not go to classes. Which means not getting homework and not having to deal with the really stupid people I have some classes with.

One of the guys brought in his (super awesome) sound system (huuugggeee speakers and a mixer and all kinds of awesomeness), so someone hooked their iPod up to it during our lunch and we had a dance party in the theater. It was kind of like what I imagine living in the movie Fame or an episode of Glee would be like. They were just cranking music and we were all singing along and dancing around and having fun and it didn't seem like real life. It seemed like a movie.

After school, White Chocolate and I practiced. We were both super exhausted from all the dancing during the day, so we pretty much just messed around and failed at all of our attempts at playing our song. But it was still really fun. And, here's the best part:

WE'RE DEFINITELY HANGING OUT ON SUNDAY!!! He figured out that he would definitely have time to hang out Sunday night, so he's coming over and we're going to watch Paranormal Activity (so I can be all scared and jumpy and maybe he'll comfort me?) and Once (which makes me cry). And he's going to bring his guitar so we can practice if we feel like it. And I'm just really, really excited.

Then, tonight, I went bowling with a bunch of people. It was a blast. We tried to do all of these trick moves and they turned on the blacklight at one point and we took all kinds of stupid pictures and just acted like teenagers. And, because I live in the stupidest state in the world, it's snowing and raining at the same time, even though it's the middle of May. But the weather did have one bright side: Alison, Steve and I had an epic snowball fight in the parking lot of the bowling alley. We used cars as shields and the snow was the perfect pack-y-ness and it was pretty much just the best thing ever.

On my way home I took these pictures. They're kind of paradoxial: All spring/summer things combined with snow. It makes me smile.


The first one is a bunch of garage sale signs covered in snow.
The second one is the flowers on the apple tree in my yard (also snowy).
The third one is this cool pink tree near my house (also snow covered).

It was pretty awesome. Anyway, to answer Cal's question from yesterday's post, this is how the AP system works:

The grading scale is different for each particular test. You also get different amounts of time for the different tests. But the final score for all AP tests when they combine the scores from the individual parts of the test (this is the score that determines how many college credits you can get for taking the test) is on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the best you can do).

For the AP Lit test, there are usually between 45 and 60 multiple choice questions that make up about 50% of your grade, and three essays that make up the other 50-ish percent. The way the essay questions always go is like this. For the Lit test, Q1 gives you a poem and tells you to analyze it focusing on a particular aspect (the character's feelings, symbolism, etc) and you have to use quotes and literary knowledge/terminology to support your thesis. Q2 is the same basic concept, except it gives you a passage from a novel or story instead of a poem. Q3 gives you a prompt and lets you choose your own book to write about. So it could ask you something like, "Many books use setting as a way to emphasize the traits of the main character. Pick one of the following novels or a work of equal literary merit and explain how the setting helps to enhance your knowledge of the main character's personality." And then you just have to use what you remember from a book you read to write and support your answer.

Essays and free response questions are graded on a scale of 1-9 with 9 being the best.

I'm going to go sleep now. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for explaining that to me. I am happy to hear you did well and had such a great day. I totally get the 'Fame' and 'Glee' references. I was a drama person in High School also and in my first year of college before I decided to become a teacher instead of an out of work (but brilliantly talented) actor. I have had many of those spontaneous moments when you just act silly because you are surrounded by awesome people who get it. Good luck on Sunday. First date I had I took a girl to see 'Alien' - best idea I had EVER.

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  2. Those pictures are fantastic. The backdrop of night with the white laying on the pink tree makes for a spectacular composition. Makes me miss living up north.

    Once... always a good choice.

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