The Bus Beckoner

My gift is to beckon buses.

I go to the Park-n-Ride to get to school, and for the past few days, I've noticed that whenever I take out my ID (which is my bus pass), the bus shows up. I'll be standing in line waiting for the bus to come, and I just decide to pull out my ID that way I'm prepared when the bus comes, and I look up, and it's coming down the street!

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, because I'm probably just patient enough to wait the almost 10-15 minutes for a bus, and I know this, so I wanted to disprove this strange coincidence to myself today. As I parked at PnR, I got out my ID then, before I could even see the people waiting in line. Then I make the short walk down to the actual bus stop, and as soon as all the people are in view, I find them not there, and instead the bus is pulling away! The 120-X that I'm supposed to take to school!

At this point, I started freaking out a little in part because I just missed my bus, but also because as I tried to disprove a theory, it turned out being true anyway. I am all-powerful. When it comes to buses.

Don't be confused, though. It's not necessary that I pull out my ID for the bus to come, it can come on it's own anyway, but if I pull it out before it gets there, then it will come.

So I have a theory. On my ID, it has my name, it says STUDENT, and it has my ID number, like all previous IDs have. But the IDs this year have an addition, which is some random way long number underneath the ID number. I think that these number are some kind of secret codes that give the card owners special abilities. Mine obviously beckons buses, which is why I am The Bus Beckoner. I feel like there are probably a few other chosen individuals with this ability, but we are few.

It makes me wonder what everyone else can do... This calls for further inspection...

Oh. And P.S. I didn't miss my bus. I got at the PnR a little early and watched as the bus before the once I catch drove away. I was still on time to class, which is good because it's my favorite class this semester: Gen Chem haha.

They Grow Up So Fast

Today, I told Jack Jack I loved him. He rolled his eyes at me. Haha.

They grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday Chaelomen and MJ were changing his diapers... Sniff sniff.

Ha but yesterday a bunch of my friends and I were hanging out one last time before college starts, and we went to see Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It was pretty funny, I would recommend seeing it. But it has a weirdness to it, so that I spent much of the movie looking at the screen with a "wtf" face. I liked it, though. It was funny. I would probably buy it.

And if you do go see it, there's a fun little thing at the end of the credits. Not like a continuation of the movie, just a fun "the end" thing that made me happy I waited.

Do You Feel Safe Yet?

Last year in one of my English classes, modern lit, we had to write about a "hot" issue. I wrote about the school IDs which they now make "mandatory" to wear. And last night or the night before, I was looking through all of my old homework on the computer, and I found it and am particularly proud of it (mostly), so I thought I would share. My dashes represent the school name, btw.

For the safety of the students? Yeah right.

As you walk through the halls of ------- High, what strikes you the most? The well-kept building? No. The school-spirited students? No. The amazing teachers? No again. How about campus security stopping students to demand, "Where's your ID?" Yes, yes I do believe that's it. The students being badgered all day about those little plastic cards with a picture. And why? To keep our school safe, of course.

Because those little IDs really cut down on school violence, don't they?

One Wednesday morning, actually, I was stopped by one of the deans. Where's your ID? In my pocket. Put it on.

Lesson number one: ------- wants you to be miserable. I was in a good mood that day, my morning had gone really well and I was just headed to hang out with friends, so apparently I agreed with a little too much enthusiasm. He immediately turned around, "That's it! Come to the dean's office right now!"

"But I'm putting it on..." Which was probably the first time I'd put it on since school started.

"I don't care, come on!" I went, because the fight wasn't worth it to me, but later when my parents found out, they were pissed. At the school. For punishing me while I was complying. They even came down to talk to the deans and try to fight it, but to avail.

Because according to district policy, students must display ID cards at all times on school grounds and at school activities. If they don't, warning first, then lunch detail, Wednesday school, and finally suspension. But anyone refusing to wear their ID won't care about having to pick up trash during their off hour. And a suspension would be welcomed for a chance to sleep in.

The main problem, however, is this: I wasn't caught for easily a month and a half into school. For that long I had been not wearing my ID. Aren't these supposed to make you safe by preventing strangers from roaming the halls? Granted, I'm not a stranger and I do attend -------, but that's a full month and a half that I would've been free to attack the school. And there are some students who still haven't been caught without IDs.

Do you feel safe yet?

It's not even just those not wearing IDs. Some students simply don't like their picture, so they cover it with stickers, effectively turning the ID to a random piece of plastic. Other students switch IDs with opposite sexes, even with other school's students. A complete stranger could come to the school with a lanyard and a random plastic card, and they're in.

Do you feel safe yet?

The problem doesn't even need to go outside our own school. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't Harris and Klebold students at Columbine? Couldn't they have shot up their school just as easily while wearing their IDs on a school-issued lanyard?

Do you feel safe yet?

If we all wear our IDs, does that honestly make the school a safer place? Maybe our time should be spent learning about not discriminating and accepting others' differences instead of being wasted by wondering where our IDs are. Maybe, for once, the school should focus on winning the war, not the battle.

Happy Friday the 13th

This is me spilling salt on the ground to celebrate. We also broke a mirror, and stepped on many cracks. Unfortunately, we failed to find a ladder to walk under and a black cat to have cross our path. Oh well, there's always May 2011.

And no worries, we made sure we got the glass from the mirror all swept up.

Don't worry, we have a pocket knife. And an Indian.

So, as I'm sitting here reading an awesome new blog, I really want to tell someone about it, but I got the awesome new blog off of MJ's blog, and so pretty much everyone already knows about it.

But then I realized that I've got a few of my own friends, (a whole 1 person comes to mind) and so everyone should check out this new blog :)

And since I stole that from MJ and the majority of the people reading this probably already know about it, I'll tell you about our hike we went on really quick. Last Tuesday, I wanted to hang out with some of my friends and do something awesome and free, so we went hiking in Boulder. It's this random little place, but it was really pretty. It's 3 miles up and 3 back, and it runs along a little river. And we saw a lady on a horse coming down the trail as we were going up. It was really pretty.

We didn't get a chance to get to the top, though, because Ally had to get back home by 2 or something, but we're gonna try to go up again sometime in September or maybe October, so I'll let you know how it turns out. :D

I gave Sara a pine cone, which she later threw into the river.

It looks kinda like we're standing on a green screen or something, but we're actually standing on a little ledge on the side of the mountain.

Looks like someone left an offering for the Gods.

We didn't actually see a mountain lion, no worries.