Cell Phones In Class

Hey conan,
So it's friday ... which is my day ... just kidding ... but seriously I'm so happy because I have a free right now and then academic recovery for 25 minutes and then my day is OVER.  Today I'm picking Alex up at some sonic (the drive in fast food place) at 4:30 ... usually my dad picks him up on the way home from work so this should be interesting :) So anyways ... I'd like to talk about something that happened to me in honors US history last period.  In the beginning of the year my teacher made his little speech thing and in it he talked about cell phones for a bit.  I don't really remember what he said exactly but I think it was on the lines of "if I catch you with a cellphone in my class I wont think highly of you anymore, and we wont be friends" so today i was checking something on my phone for like three seconds and the desks were arranged in two circles, one inside the other.  I was sitting in the outer circle on the opposite side from him with two people blocking his view of me, but then when I went to check one more thing on my phone I guess he saw me cause he said "bad boy austin" and I quickly put it away.  And even though there was only about 7 minutes of class left I feel like he kind of ignored me a couple times, or at least treated me in an odd way.  I'm really hoping that this was all in my head or that if it wasn't he will forget about it by Monday because I really like my history teacher and his class, and I love history.  and on top of that he and I were kind of getting to know each other in our short talks before class, so I'd hate to lose that, and I'd hate to lose the chance of getting a letter of recommendation from him if I ever needed one.  Okay well that's all for now because I have to go read something.  Until next time,

Austin Rapkin-Citrenbaum

FRIDAY ... Camera :D

Hey Conan, so this one's gonna be short because I get out of school at 2:40 and it is 2:24 so I'm probably not going to have the time to write some long-ass thing BUT irrigardless (as GG used to say) I shall write a lil' sumthin sumthin ... anyways so today's Friday which I am obviously pumped about because its the weekend and all ... today was a good day, got my work done and all, I actually had a test first period and I aced it! I even got the extra credit because my stupid math teacher didn't realize that I'd figure out how to do the problem on my calculator which once I figured it out (less than a minute after I read the problem) I got the answer in about a minute ... whereas if I had actually done it the way he'd expected me too it would have taken maybe 10 to 12 minutes ... so that was awesome ... So I have been trying to decide for some time now, the camera that I want to get ... and yesterday I finally found the one I want, it is Nikon's D3100 

  

That's a picture incase you were wondering ... well I actaully gotta go now because I still need to post this on tumblr and stuff so i guess thats all ... until next time (I'm working on a better way to finish)

Austin Rapkin-Citrenbaum

 

PSAT Sleeper

Hey Conan, I just finished taking my PSAT (practice SAT) it's cool cause the test cuts my day in half instead of having less classes, I have insanely short periods ergo no learning today. One extremely weird thing happened during my PSAT, there was this one kid who fell asleep within the first five minutes of the first section (reading) he then began to snore pretty loudly which was annoying and distracting but my proctor was kind of an idiot so he actually did not notice. After the time was up for the first section the proctor told us to get our calculators out and quickly gave directions on the second section (math) this kid wakes up from his nap, turns the page on his test booklet, and goes back to sleep ... snoring ... again. So a half hour later when the time limit is up for the second section we get a five minute break to go to the bathroom and stretch or whatever. The sleeper, as we shall call him, wakes up and goes to the restroom. When he comes back he goes up to the proctor and says, "I think my snoring is distracting, I don't want to take this test. Can I go home?" he then leaves. So weird right? anyways in other news my lifelong best friend got accepted early decision to the University of Pittsburgh yesterday and I am so excited for her. It's so crazy how much your life changes once you get accepted to school, especially early decision. It makes you see the real result of all your work in grade school, and it must be a huge relief to get the good news so early in the year and not be so worried / nervous for the rest of the year. Well that's all for now coco until next time...

Austin Rapkin-Citrenbaum

...random...

Hey conan, so let me start by saying, I had written this other post but I just decided not to use it ... I'm going to just post it in brackets so it doesn't totally go to waste...

[Hey Conan, I’m going to jump right into something. I have discovered that there is a social injustice in fire drills. Now let me explain, first I’ll state the obvious. Fire drills are totally, one hundred percent, pointless. First lets say there is a fire, and the people in the building know its not a drill for arguments sake lets say an announcement was made that this was legitimate. People are going to exit the same way they would in a drill, which is also the same way they’d regularly exit the building, the only difference will be instead of being calm people will be running like hell and possibly carrying “valuable possessions” which can only make evacuating more difficult and dangerous. Now lets pretend that there really is a fire, but people think it’s a drill. The people leaving the building (keep in mind they will be calm because they think it is a drill) will not be aware of the precious seconds they have to leave; therefore they run the risk of taking too long and getting trapped inside the burning building. On top of that many of them will actually be exiting in a direction that will take them to the fire, which will cause mass panic and eventually those people will all be … for lack of a better word … screwed. So in a nutshell, a fire drill doesn’t prepare you for a REAL fire in any way. The only thing it actually does is hurt you. Fire drills actually make the chance of getting out of a flaming building worse because they give you a false sense of security. ANYONE who works or lives in a place where fire drills are the norm knows that when the alarm sounds you leave. And as individuals are exiting they are thinking about what they were in the middle of doing prior to the alarm and waiting to get back to it. If there really is a fire, and the alarm sounds, people are going to think its just a drill … because there could NEVER be a real fire right? So what I’m basically saying that fire drills are totally unnecessary. I know what you’re thinking, “Austin what does this have to do with a social injustice?” Well I’m getting to that now. Last Monday at seven thirty in the morning, the school fire alarm went off. There were about 1500 students and teachers gathered outside IN THE RAIN!]

so that's basically it ... the story pretty much ends with me spending the entire time looking for a single friend but basically unable to do so ... ergo social injustice. In other news ... I've been getting tired recently at around 11 at night, which is fine until you realize that not six months ago I could get 4 hours of sleep for 5 weeks straight and feel fine. so I'm hoping it's a growth spurt ... I'd really like a few more inches. At this moment in time I am choosing not to do two homework assighnments (both due tomorrow) the thing is that I have done a lot of work today and don't really feel like doing any more ... although I suppose i should ... maybe it's time to go ... until next time

see ya around buddy boy!

Austin Rapkin-Citrenbaum