Where Plans Fall Down

Subtitled "My Mindful Friend Lives Mindfully"

*A short pretext from the author
I use the word scenario because I dislike "part", and "scene" implies a play. These scenarios will be based upon true stories from my life. As a note, the title is creatively crafted to coincide with my clever, confounding mind. These scenarios, and the whole they create (Where Plans Fall Down: My Mindful Friend Lives Mindfully) is written solely for the author's enjoyment and the enjoyment of the, albeit limited, interested audience. Shall we dance?

SCENARIO ONE: The Alley; Ah the Rain

As I stepped into the alley, the scene was set.

Of course I have to take the trash out when it's creepy...Then again, if I had just done it earlier when I was asked...
Carrying the trash bag and thoughts of murder, I bravely walked on. When I looked down, I saw the frightening shadows of trees blowing moderately in the wind. If I looked up, I saw the eerie orange street light and dark leaves blowing across them. At left was the garage and the unfamiliar joined outline of the four or five trash cans. Fine, two of them were recycling. Still creepy.

I managed to maintain my cool at 11:30 in a dark, rainy alley to put the trash in the can. That's when I had to turn around. Everything is always goes smoothly until you turn your back to the enemy. As I started to slowly walk back, I resisted the urge to nervously look back. However, whenever you resist one thing, another always pops up. Since I wasn't looking back, I began to accelerate as I walked toward the sidewalk. When I reached the sidewalk I could look down the alley, and I did. Nothing.
Wow, what is wrong with me? There's clearly nothing there. I was just down there!
When I got to the "home stretch", the last little bit up to the front door - hoo boy! That's when I ran. I had gotten the heebie-jeebies being so close to the door, and I high-tailed it out of there. I just barely survived an attack on my life by nothing!


Time jump: The next day
As I walked, Major spotted them first. The enemies had converged at the crossroads and were prepared. Three, no four, maybe even five of them, all sitting in the trees ready to ambush us. They saw that we saw them however, and quickly understood that since they could no longer ambush, they would lose. The squirrels had given up.

Time jump: Thursday, after school; the day before the alley
It had been raining on and off all day. Then, as we all were waiting to go home, the sun broke up with the sky, and the sky couldn't handle it. It poured.

It rained. Such a wet, cold, shivering experience of pleasure. The rain always comes, the rain always goes. But the rain doesn't always wash down our barriers. It did. It rained.

We were a smaller group now; people had been slowly dwindling away as their rides came, or as they left for meetings or sports. There was an awning several inches from us, but no one wanted to leave the group. So we stayed. In the rain. A group. We chatted, starting a conversation that never had any aim (that's the best kind). What we were didn't matter, only who we were. The rain is good at stripping away our identities, good at freeing ourselves from possession. Good job, rain. It's only been four weeks, and yet it's already been four weeks. An awkward time, I'll admit. Superficial friendships are a necessity, and yet they are hated. So confusing...
The rain had done its job though - now I just wait for the results. Life should be done grading my test soon, I guess. For now, all I can do is, like others in countless different forms, wait. I'm just gonna tough it out.
Me: thanks rain
Me: see you
Me: lylas
Me: bye

THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD

This blog should never die.

So yeah, school is really cramping up my life. Poo. Less time for blog/computer/fun/life. Damn.
So yeah, sorry I haven't updated in 10 days (read: FOREVER). I don't even really know what to say...
Ugh if anything this post is turning into a "Garret is still alive and so is this blog" post. That sucks. I need something to write about.....


Oh, here's something I guess. Mr. Vaughn Wallace and Ms. Alexandra Bailey came down to DC this weekend. That was fun. We didn't really "do" much, just mostly walked around...Alex left earlier today, Vaughn leaves tomorrow. I'm staying.

So yeah, Vaughn came home sick with a fever. I think I caught it, but I don't have the magic fever that will keep me out of school. But that's not why I want a fever. At the risk of sounding like some crazy psycho who has mental disorders, I'm going to say this: I miss the feeling of having a fever. I've forgotten what it's like to feel all warm then get the chills. I want to experience that again. In fact, I feel sorry for Tom Cruise and his "immunity" to illness. Hah. Sucks to be him. He doesn't get to really live. Illness and death are part of life, and if you were to eliminate one of them from your life, you may as well embrace the other forever; give up illness, go ahead and take death; give up death, better increase how much illness you get - otherwise your life is as boring as living in nothing. Savvy?

Heh heh heh...I watched some of POTC 2 and most of the first. I just couldn't watch the whole things though. Ah well. Still good. Speaking of movies, I want to see all 6 Star Wars movies in a row sometime. I just don't know where that time is going to come from.

Oh, I found something cool out. For those of you who both use iTunes and regularly go to Starbucks: next time you go to Starbucks, pick up a Song of the Week card. Then go home and get your free iTunes download. I've discovered that's a good way to find good new music and experience different styles of music you may not listen to otherwise. I love it. Maybe you will too.

So Sports Day (read: Field Day for older kids) is this Friday. I'm on the Pink team. Hooooow fun. I had to buy a pink shirt because, heck, I don't own one! So I figured if I'm buying one I'm buying a shirt I'll wear again. I picked one that I thought I might wear again: it's a shirt that says in white letters "REAL MEN WEAR PINK". Pretty fly. [Did I really just say something was "fly"? Yes, yes I did.]

So...you may have noticed that my posts are fewer and longer. I'm happy with that. Are you? If not, I can try to update more. The only troubles with daily or regular updates: 1) I feel obligated to post, and 2) I don't have as much to say.
On the contrary, irregular posting can turn my blog into a massive spam dump. But I think I'll stick with this for now, unless of course all 3 or 4 of you who read this don't like that. Just lemme know, or don't because I usually don't get replies when I ask for them, yet when I don't I get 2358798659649917247243907534 replies. So whatevs.


I'm officially out of things to say...wait not yet. School! Change in routine: Mom drives me to school in the morning, and I usually walk home. Fun! Oh and I brought Major after school one day and EVERYONE loved him. YES! SCORE FOR ME AND THE DOG! Oh! And I wrote my two rough drafts for the school newspaper. I don't really know if they're any good, but I feel content that I'm part of a Journalism class. And uh...oh. I'm actually learning in French. Weird. And Bio still sucks. And and and and...uh...yeah.

Hope you're all pleased with this megapost.
This is Garret Wallace (Gart, GWW, Gary, Wally, Wallmaster, Wallynator, Gar, Gargar, haha E-callaw, and all those good names) SIGNING OFF. lol newscast...

School Update time!

So I noticed from questions from this person who goes by the name of "Krista". This person is clearly acting under the identity of an generic unknown such as to retain his/her anonymity. If you have found that your safety and security depend on the secrecy surrounding your identity, yet also feel the explicit need to reveal your true self to me for want of connection or private talk, you may do so. Contact me privately at wallynator@gmail.com.


So, I will now respond to said questions from "Krista". Let me begin.

Q: "so you said you had 5 hour-long periods per day, do you just like not have every class every day?"
A: Correct. I only have 5 classes a day, meaning therefore I could very well have a lesser number of academic classes than art classes.

Q: "do you only have five hours of school plus lunch, or how does that work?"
A: School begins promptly at 8:15 A.M. with our Homeroom meeting. Then the day continues with the first three periods, lasting from 8:30 to 9:30, from 9:35 to 10:35, and from 10:40 to 11:40. Then all students go to Lunch from 11:40 to 12:35. Then we end the day with Periods 4 and 5, lasting from 12:40 to 1:40 and then from 1:45 to 2:50. The day ends here at 2:50.

Q: since math classes are not divided by topics, does everybody in a grade take, like, the same course? and what do they call the courses?
A: No, not precisely. All students in grade 10 take similar math courses, but depending on the teacher the speed and/or difficulty level changes. Each course is simply called "Math".

If you find yourself with any further questions, simply post them here. I will answer all questions presented before me, as long as they are appropriate and able to be answered by myself. Thank you for your time reading this post.



Ok, so lemme give you an update on school. Obviously, today is Thursday, but did you know...today was H day! I've survived my first cycle! Tomorrow it's back to A day. Here's my schedule for tomorrow, if you're interested:

Math
French
PE
LUNCH
Journalism
SPORTS DAY ASSEMBLY (normally History)

SPORTS DAY?!!!???!!!!11?!/!/?!!??!??!?!!!!! WHAAAAT?!
Oh yeah. Field Day for big kids.
So the assembly takes place of my History quiz. But more importantly, it goes over Sports Day (w00t) and gives us some clue of what we're doing. They put up a massive list of who is on what color team. The teams have kids from all grades, 6-12, so it should be very fun. Now go on, guess what color I am......I said guess!





...Pink.


Bleh, not that I have anything against pink, but I seriously don't want to wear it. Just no.


But moving on. So I've learned Life Skills is a repeat of last year, Bio has a bunch of carry-over information (stuff I've already learned that they're learning for the first time), and French actually isn't so so bad. Goody.

So that's all I really have to say. Woop-di-do.

A note to "Krista": I love your idea, but I think I'm a little confused. This is what he/she said:

"you could use your design tech and 2D art skills to create a model of it!
then in your essay you could write about how you're an active member of the exclusive PokeMafia and are using this project to raise awareness about everyone's favorite POCKET MONSTERS!"

I get the essay part, but what do you mean by creating a model of it? Like a 3D model of my own P world? Cuz that would be sick.


DAMN these posts are getting long...

School at WIS! (MEGA SUPER LONG)

This is much too late. I fail. But it is school.

In case you didn't you know or forgot, I go to the Washington International School (WIS): website. We follow the International Baccalaureate program (IB), and there are about 55 students in the grade.

I suppose I'll start off with my schedule...A note about that. The scheduling system is very different, with 5 hour-long periods a day. Also, you can forget ALL about rotation and revolution. They're byebye. There are eight days (A-H) that we cycle through. Example: Monday - Friday = A, B, C, D, E; Next Monday - Friday = F, G, H, A, B
Make sense? Anyway, here be my classes:

Math: Unlike SA, WIS does not divide math classes by topic. Each year all topics are covered with increasing complexity and difficulty.

--Math has been pretty good so far! I've only had two classes, but they've been pretty good. I think next class we're moving on from review, oh no, so I'll update later.


English: Just your standard English course...We've started reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller - it's not too bad so far. Oh, this class is with my homeroom. Some classes are like that.

-- English is going well. The teacher is the only one on the new internet system, which is really cool. Teachers can make blogs, start forum discussions, have their own WIS wiki thing - VERY cool! As for the actual class, it's very standard. Nothing really special or different. Just imagine your English class except with a different teacher, different students, a new room and building, and a different curriculum. See, just like yours.


History: History at WIS has a completely different focus (I think) than Euro or World Civs. It's more world-wide oriented, but not really. We're mainly concerned with the 1800's through World Wars I and II, then on to the aftermath. Not too different, but *crap my mom just texted me, she wants me to go to bed* it feels like it has a new direction. Might just be me...

--The history teacher is crazy. Then again, most of mine have been (Sadd, Styperk, now Huff...), so I should be used to it. Here's a list of things she does that you shouldn't, should you ever become a high school history teacher:
o She calls us "children".
"Children, children! Quiet when someone else is talking!"
o She openly insults her husband, although I don't think she means to.
"You know, I was talking the other night when my husband stopped me and told me he was getting confused. He asked if I could state the topic then continue each time I switch topics. After 20 years, don't you think my own husband could understand me?" Uh...yes?
o She looks weird.
...So that's history.


French: French and other foreign languages are treated very seriously at WIS. The teacher speaks only in French, unless she absolutely has to speak in English. We have serious homework and serious classwork. Serious course.

--French is no longer a joke. DAMN. I miss SA French. I liked having a joke class. Oh well...Nothing else to say.

Bio: Bio is just like last year's bio. Mostly new stuff but some review material. I'm running out of things to say about these classes...

--Bio seems kinda boring, but nowhere near as boring as Travis. Thank goodness.

Physics: So I had to pick 2 sciences. I chose bio because I've already done some of it last year, and then my parents told me physics would be better than chem. We'll see.

--Mr. Chow. Yeah. That's the physics teacher. He has a funny accent sort of. Wow. Yeah, this is the class where I will pay the least attention, laugh the most, and maybe learn the least. Today someone got me distracted at the beginning of class and I had uncontrollable laughter for the rest of the period. I had NO CLUE what was going on - it was that bad.

Art 2D: This is REAL 2D art. I really, really loved Dr. Edward's class, but this is totally different. I'm glad to have a change, but I also miss drawing all the time. Now we're actually exploring the thought behind art and all kinds of different mediums.

--Coooool.

Design Tech: This is like a tool/simple machine-type class. The new textbooks have all these pictures of machines and all this stuff. People generally like it though, so maybe it'll be cool.

--I've never been much of a tool person. We'll see how this goes.

Life Skills: This is almost the exact same class as last year. Darn.

--The teacher told us she was on substances. She meant like coffee and medicine, but you could tell she was clearly on drugs. No questions about it. Druggie.

PE: I'm not writing anything. It's PE, what did you expect?

--It's PE.

Journalism: Journalism is for those interested in writing articles for the school newspaper, the International Dateline. I don't know the chances of our articles getting in, but it's fun so far.

--My first article is going to be about Apple's "Let's Rock" event tomorrow. Rumor and some evidence says they're announcing a new Nano. Looks totally sick. And I'm covering it!


So those are all my classes. Except lunch. The cafeteria food is a lot like Sewickley's, except I would actually eat it, and I do. hooray.

So the biiig difference this year is the Personal Project. Every student has to do it, there's no way out of it, even new kids who have had like half the time to work on it. But beside that. The Personal Project [I refuse to call it PP because its NOT! That's something else :)] is a long-term project that has to do with things you're interested in. You can create something (ie. model, art, etc.), you can help in the community, you can do all sorts of things. You have to work on it for like 30 hours total, and then you write a report on it and present your final product+report at a big ol' fair. Sounds hard, but I don't think it will be too bad. I think I'm going to do a sick drawing of something for mine, but I don't know yet. Any suggestions anyone? (I know someone will say P!) I open.

WOWZAH. Now that I've written all that, it's time for me to go to bed! Have fun trying to take in ALL that info about my new school...I'll try to start that story soon but we'll see if I have time. Keep thinking of ideas for it!

END 11:10

CRAP/New Plan!

This is the best I can do for now! I'm posting filler junk really fast because it's 11:00 and I have school tomorrow so I need my sleep! DANG I never got to post all my goodies, but I will someday hopefully soon...

So yeah, I need your help! I want to write a continuing story, so that every week or however often I post you'll get to see a new part of the story! Only problem is, I have no idea what to write about, so I want simple suggestions from the people who will be reading it. All you need/should tell me is like what they write on the back of books. A little plot starter that introduces an idea and/or a character. Got it? Now get those minds working because all you need is IMAAAAAGINAAAATION!

P.S. Stay tuned for info about my school