The Blogging Experience

"Why do I have to write a blog?" "Seriously Mr. Parker. Must we waste our time with useless exercises like blogs?"

That pretty much sums up how I felt when I was given my first blog assignment. I thought blogging was just going to be another pain in the you know where, homework assignment that I would have to dreadfully complete every other month. What was I going to write about? How was I going to go past that first sentence? What should the subject be or would anybody even care?

Me when I realized I needed to blog | Image Courtesy of 929theBull

As I tentatively embarked upon the annoying journey of fulfilling my duties as a "blogger", I began with random subjects that were less personal but easy to write about. Procrastination was the first thing that came to mind, as I find myself facing it on a regular basis, so it was easy to write about for my first post. My next two blogs were about soccer, yet another subject I am fairly comfortable with as I have been playing soccer since I was five.  The deadline for the second set of blog posts approached much faster than I had anticipated.  Why was I having such a hard time coming up with something to write about? My next few blog posts were less than memorable to say the least.   As I stared into space, sitting behind my computer, facing my fifth blog post, wondering what in the world I would write about next, it dawned on me that this experience wasn't supposed to be about what I know and feel comfortable writing about, but rather a means to delve more deeply into myself and allow myself to explore the areas I am less comfortable talking about.   It is at that moment that I decided to write about my sister Izzy and what she means to me.  For the first time my blog post was personal.  It was about a subject matter that was dear to me and close to my heart; something I cared about and took pride in.  It felt good to express myself on a personal level; quite cathartic to say the least.  The post about Izzy was followed with a post on gratitude and my relationship with my parents.  Not all my posts were personal in nature.  I also found myself writing about things that really crawled under my skin.  We are a fairly liberal family with a high tolerance level for most people and cultures.  Something about Donald Trump however, and his bigoted, biased, view of the world annoyed the crap out of me.  My blog posts became a canvas for expressing my disbelief and repulsion for his political platform and the reaction he was getting from the Republican electorate. It felt good to have an opinion on the state of our nation.

Looking back at my year of blogging, although I found it painful at first, I feel as though it has allowed me to grow as a person and develop as a writer. Despite my initial hesitation, it felt good to write what was on my mind.  I never thought that writing could be so fulfilling.

Missing School

Hello everyone. I know this is a popular topic to write about on blogs, but this happened to me personally this past week, so it's something I wanted to discuss. Missing school used to be heavenly. You got to stay in bed all day, watch some T.V., and didn't have to worry about anything but recovering. Unfortunately, missing school in high school is a luxury we can't afford.

I recently missed four days of school due to minor surgery and the workload I received was unbelievable. From just those four days I missed: a total of three AP Geography tests, a timed essay, and two math tests. Four days of staying at home and I missed six tests. Is it just me or does everything happen when you don't go to school? For example you aren't there for one day, you miss four tests, thirty-three assignments, and a bear was in the cafeteria. Since returning to school I have somehow managed to make up two of the three Geography tests and the timed essay. Today I am attempting to wipe out the remainder of the makeup tests that stand before me.

During the first couple years of school, a day off was one of the best possible things to happen at the time. Everybody needs a day off, and in elementary school and most of middle school, it was definitely worth it. Before high school, the stakes were significantly lower when it came to missing school. You missed one or two assignments, and worst case scenario you missed an easy quiz. You had absolutely nothing to worry about and you could sit back, relax, and focus on your recovery. Unfortunately, high school is nowhere near the same. Missing school is like basically murdering your GPA, and if you miss too much school, you might as well kiss honor roll goodbye. When I missed school my GPA took a big hit, and it took me a while to return it to its former self. I also chose the best week to get surgery, finals week so I suppose I need to take responsibility. And believe me, I have definitely learned my lesson.

Image Courtesy of FunnyAnd

I suppose we all have to learn to grow up someday and as we cross into adulthood, with our care free kindergarten days a distant memory, we must face the realities of life. I'm sure in ten years I'll look back on these high school experiences and will seem like such a breeze. I'm just grateful to be feeling better and as my wonderful mother always says, "Stop complaining and just get it done."

In the end, missing school isn't what it used to be and if you choose to take a sick week, don't say I didn't warn you. If you relate to this topic because you've been in my shoe, check out this similar post I read a while ago by Charlie here.

Thanks for reading.

Laziness

Hello all. Today I'm going to be talking about the one thing that never seems to disappear from my life, and that one thing is laziness. If I were to choose one quality to completely dispose of, it would be laziness. Sure, after a long and busy week one day of sitting around and doing nothing is great, but for me this happens every single day. Everyday I seem to live through the same routine. I wake up, have something to eat, and then I do absolutely nothing. I have literally no desire to do anything whatsoever.

Image Courtesy of Ego

Because of this awful habit, I almost never hang out with friends. People will ask me to hang out with them and I'll come up with the most ridiculous reasons not to go. So while I'm stuffing my face on the couch with Cheezits, my friends are out and about doing something with their lives. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want to hang out with my friends. It's just that every time I get invited to do something, my bad habit of laziness gets the better of me. The combination of laziness and my awful practice of procrastination is a detriment to both my social and school life.

Image Courtesy of Imgfave

All in all, if I had the ability to get rid of this bad habit, believe me I would. I've just come to the conclusion that I'm going to need to accept the fact that laziness is going to be a part of me for the rest of my life. The real battle will be when I fight this terrible habit.

Thanks for reading fam and stay tuned for my next couple of posts. Sorry this one was shorter than usual. Until next time.

Procrastination

procrastination (n): the action of delaying or postponing something

Procrastination. Whether you admit it or not, we are all guilty of doing this at some point in our lives. Some of you put off going to the gym, and some of you leave that huge project to the night before. I have no issue admitting that I have a problem with procrastination. I have been procrastinating this blog entry since the day it was assigned, and now I find myself typing this entry the day before it's due. Welcome to the life of a professional procrastinator.

One of my typical methods of procrastination is the classic do all the work the night before technique. If I get assigned something in class and the assignment is due in a week, I'll usually put off that assignment until the night before it is due. If you already think that's bad, listen to this. When I get these week long assignments, I always get time in class to work on them. However, since I am a "professional" procrastinator, I'm not about that "use your time wisely in class" life. A true procrastinator does maybe a minute of work max, and then does the rest of the work the day before the assignment is due. If you find yourself actually doing work in class, you're doing it wrong.

Live by this motto! Image courtesy of Puravidamultimedia

This next type of procrastination is a very common procrastination technique. This is called the "Sit Down With An Original Goal To Get Things Done and Get Nothing Done After A Couple of Hours Technique." Sometimes I'm ashamed of my bad habit of procrastination, so once in a while I'll sit down and actually try to do my work in advance. However whenever I do this, I end up getting extremely distracted and end up at a Nigel Thornberry compilation or Pepe the Frog memes when my original goal was to do some Vital Vocab. 

Speaking of Nigel Thornberry compilations...

Image courtesy of Twitter

If you actually want to become a procrastinator, you're in luck because I happen to be an extremely good one. Here are two world class professional tips on how to become one. (PLEASE DON'T ACTUALLY DO THIS)

Image courtesy of Meme Storage

1. Don't use your time wisely in class. If you want to become a true procrastinator, you need to do anything but the assignment. Go on Youtube, your phone, or anything that will distract you from doing your work. 

2. Do not care about anything except for the due date. If you have an assignment due in a couple of days, do nothing until the day before your assignment is due. This is a basic skill any procrastinator needs to possess in order to succeed in the procrastination community.

Before you say anything, yes I know that in my later years of high school and in college these procrastination techniques will not be as effective. If I keep this habit up, I will most likely be serving you your Big Mac at McDonalds as you look at me with a look of pity, but that is beyond the point. I want to let all of you know that you don't need to worry about me. I, Cameron Chevre, will serve proudly as a professional procrastinator until my life crumbles before my eyes and I have to move back in with my parents. 

So peace out fam, I'll see you at the next due date.