Fully Qualified:

Another month is almost complete, and therefore it must be time for me to provide another update on my blog.  As long as I continue to procrastinate until the final moments of each month, then at least I can take pride in knowing that I am consistent, even if I am not productive.  Now, I shall recap some of the major events of my life that have occurred in February.

In the wonderful world of speech tournaments, last weekend my Duo partner Joe and I competed in the Region Qualifier at the Bronx High School of Science.  Like all Duo teams, we continue to perform the same piece, entitled "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)."  The Region Qualifier is an unusually brief tournament, with only two rounds, no finals, and none of the shiny stuff like trophies.  Everyone shows up with the intention of competing in a quick succession of rounds, finding out whether or not they have earned what they came for, and then leaving as soon as possible.  In this case, everybody is competing not for first place or some shiny construction of metal but for a "full qualification," the chance to compete in the state championship in Albany.  Joe and I were sent to this tournament because, despite our successes at past events, we were only half-qualified before entering the Regional Qualifier.  Our rounds were crowded but enjoyable.  The second round was somewhat troubling because one of the judges was a nun, who was clearly not amused by the satirical nature of our piece about the Bible.  Despite her efforts to keep us down, nonetheless we earned our full qualification by the afternoon.  I like to tell people that we know have an improper fraction qualification, three halves of the necessary credentials to go to the state championship.  However, not all the results of the day's events were pleasing to us.  While Joe and I came in fourth place, third place was taken by a team that performed a dramatic piece that falls into the worst category of forensics pieces: the Dead Baby category.  In my short career as a competitor in speech, I have seen three separate pieces all focused on a dead child.  Since I am so comedic at heart, there's really nothing that I despise more that a Dead Baby piece.  All of the pieces about Cancer are also dramatic enough to make me bleed from my ears and eye sockets, but the Dead Baby pieces are as overwhelmingly dramatic as they come.

Turning to Academia, I have entered my final marking period of high school, which means newer and fewer classes.  In fact, I only have to show up at my school three days out of the week.  During the two remaining weekdays, I am required to devote six hours per day to Christian Service.  Before February, my service requirement was limited to only two and a half hours each Tuesday morning, after which I would have to go to school for classes in the afternoon.  Naturally, in finding the right service site, I chose a location close to the school on the upper East side of Manhattan.  However, since I live in Queens, I would prefer not to travel to the city when it is not necessary, and now I don't have to show up there on my days of service.  So, I said my goodbyes to the homeless shelter where I used to work on Tuesdays, where I spent hours cracking eggs, chopping vegetables, peeling potatoes, et cetera.  Basically, it was my job to make sure that homeless people got all their food groups.  Now I've left that behind and turned to a location in my own neighborhood, within walking distance of my home.  Two days a week until May, I volunteer at a Pee Wee Folks day care and after-school program, where my cousin Erin has a real job--something that I have never had in my whole life so far.  (I like using the term "real job," because it's such a juvenile thing to say.  I realize that I am eighteen now, but I definitely haven't grown up much.)  I have worked in Erin's class two days so far, and at this point I find it to be a joy.  In the near future, I will probably also work with some older kids in a tutoring program run within the same center.  I am looking forward to putting my old book learnin' to the test.

It is strange that while I am typing my fingers can occasionally just take me away wherever they want to go, regardless of what I had in mind in the first place.  For example, when I started writing the previous paragraph, I intended to tell you more about the Novel Writing course I am taking at school, but the whole subject of volunteering just took over.  Anyway, now I have the chance to give you my first official update on my novel for the Independent Study course that was designed by one of my close friends, Jake.  I have already written the first chapter of my novel, but I need to make a couple of revisions before I move on to the next chapter.  I wish I could give you a title for this work, but so far I haven't decided on one yet.  The closest thing I have to the proper title is "Intervention," and I'm probably not going to come up with anything better than that, but for now it's just a working title.  Regardless of that, whenever I mention the novel on my Twitter profile, I call it "Project Neophyte."  I use that codename just because I like the coolness factor of having a project with its own codename.  I have chosen not to disclose any major plot points or characters at this time, but I will say that it is a story involving a life interrupted by a highly direct form of divine intervention.  I will also say this about my process: I am deliberately inserting as many inside jokes, cameo appearances, and Easter eggs as possible into this work.  Writing a novel is undoubtedly an exhausting, laborious process, and this is the only way I know how to make sure that it will stay fun for me.

Are you still with me after all that?  I really hope so, because I am only now getting to the best part.  Rather than going home after school day, I went directly to the home of my cousin, The Lips, to hang out with him and his friends for a while.  Upon my arrival there, I received a telephone call from my mother, who said that a large envelope had arrived for me in the mail.  She reported that the return address was from Susquehanna University and that the envelope was marked with the words, "ADMISSION DECISION ENCLOSED."  I implored her to open it and tell me of its contents right away.  As it turns out, I have been accepted to Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.  This is the first news of an admission decision that I have heard from any of the schools to which I have applied, and it is such a relief to know that I will definitely go to college somewhere regardless of the what the letters that will come in April might say.  Obviously, I am not going to reach any conclusions until I hear the results from the seven other schools who are still considering my application.  Nevertheless, I applied to Susquehanna for a good reason, and I know that I would be happy to attend that school if I choose to.

Oh, and I have one more thing to celebrate.  I have a brand new laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1525.  All things considered, February 2008 has treated me very well.  Thanks for reading, and I hope that you hear from me sooner than March 31st.

End Post.

Comments

[tvindy]

As long as you blog at least every February 29th, that will be satisfactory.

As for the dead baby thing, there was that episode of House with the baby drowning in the tub. I laughed out loud the first time I saw that scene, because it was so obviously a rubber baby. Strangely, that was not the episode that bore the title "Babies and Bathwater".