John Carroll Blogs

Well today I took my Western Civ. test and what else can I say except it was nice to have the A while it lasted because I COMPLETELY forgot that we had this test today and more than likely it's not gonna go so well because even when I study I get from a B-C+ so God Bless. I tried to study as much as I could during the course of today but I didn't exactly have a lot of time and all I could really do was try to cram as much of the power point into my brain as humanly possible so hopefully it doesn't go as bad as I think it will but knowing my luck its going to go terribly and I'm going to be in the stages of grief once I see my grade.

Today in Western Civ. we basically just  reviewed over what we will be having a test on for Tuesday and then got to work on homework or study. Most people aren't doing either and they are just talking, listening to music, or playing games but hey it's their time to waste. Currently I have gotten all of my homework done for the weekend even though I know next mod I am going to get algebra homework even though we have a test because we always do but I got a good chunk of my homework done. Luckily I also had time to study for my algebra test a little longer so hopefully I'll do well on it.

Today during Western Civ. we started to touch base on 9/11 in a random conversation and it honestly lead to a really interesting talk in class. We talked about how after 9/11 airplanes were grounded because of fears from the government and how much 9/11 affected people around us. I for example nearly lost my great uncle but luckily he was in the 2nd tower and managed to escape with his life and some 200 other people he helped to evacuate. See 9/11 was a major tragedy to America but truthfully it helped us grow and notice that our nation wasn't untouchable.

Today in Western Civ we learned about Paul Revere and how he didn't actually finish his journey but yet he got the poem and the legacy for himself anyway. I honestly think the others didn't get enough credit for finishing the journey because they put in the work but got no reward when the slacker did. Its just how the world works I guess because slackers are lucky.

While reading over this document in class today I have taken from it that it was not exactly an act of aggression against Britain but it was indeed a last stand against Parliament's transgressions on the people. They stated how they were mistreated and taken advantage of ands how they felt about it. Since they were taken advantage of they decided to leave the British colonies and become independent and call their new nation the United States.  I think they honestly made a bold yet smart decision to become their own nation because they have been cut off from any British supplies due to leaving and have to fend for themselves but in return if they stayed they would have gotten taxed to death.

There is no reason for me to be sad today because the Packers finally got knocked out of the playoffs yesterday by the Atlanta Falcons and it was such a glorious sight to behold. It was a fantastic game with a loss of 21-44 with almost every receiver and running back scoring a touchdown. Even Matt Ryan ran a touchdown in. Watching that game yesterday was literally the highlight of my day because obviously me being a Bears fan was enjoying watching them get crushed by Atlanta. My dad and I really had some fun yesterday, watching the Packers get destroyed and watching as Pittsburg tried to come back and defeat the Patriots. In all honesty though I thought the Pittsburg game was going to be a lot closer then it actually was because the Steelers have a good offense and defense but I suppose that they just didn't step up to the challenge and Leveon Bell getting hurt didn't help anything either.

FINALLY! Today I reached freedom because I am no longer bound my these mere braces on my teeth (This is also the reason why I was absent from school today). For the first time my teeth actually nice and free but now I have a retainer to depress me. Just like my braces I have to wear the retainer all day every day which is so dumb and stupid because usually you just have to wear it at nights but no I have to wear it constantly.

Truthfully I'm disappointed yet happy at the same time. I was hoping for some new people in my class but at the same time not, it's strange. I did kind of hope to meet new people though in Western Civ. but since nobody new joined I suppose that that isn't going to happen. I'm still happy that Mr. Schick is my teacher though because he makes funny jokes and now moments of zen.

Honestly I'm just really excited for the weekend coming up. Recently I have bought a video game called Overwatch on my computer and I got it for 3 of my friends as well. We have been playing competitively and doing fairly decent but this weekend we are going to play nonstop and try to improve our competitive scores. Currently I'm rated at gold which is right in the middle of everything which makes me feel like I'm only adequate at the game. I just want to get better and I will be so happy once I get at least diamond which is the 3rd best rank.

Today in Human Geo. we had Mr. Schick share some pretty funny stories about his life with us. Most of them were about how he was just a terrible kid in school which honestly surprised me because I wouldn't have thought of Mr. Schick to be a troublemaker. It was very nice though to have a very chilled day in Human Geo. full of laughs and good times.

Today in Human Geo. we decided to not take the test as a class. The only reason that I'm thankful and happy is because I have a low B right now and even a 100% wouldn't really help me that much. I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about another test anymore. Now I will just do the 2 things of extra credit to raise my grade a bit because every little bit helps. I'm just so happy that I don't have a test to study for anymore.

Today in my S.T.E.M. meeting we got to use the Htc Vive and it was so cool. I was the only one who knew what it was before we started using it because I stay updated on all the new gaming consoles and this by far has to be one of the neatest that I've seen. I just loved being able to finally use the vive because I've been wanting to get my hands on it for so long but its just insanely expensive for somebody like me to buy. It's $1,500 which is just crazy but honestly if I had the money I would buy it because going in there and playing that today just made my day.

Today was just absolutely terrible. I had a basketball game which we lost and I was unable to score any points in it. I jammed my finger during said basketball game and it hurts like crazy. Then later in the day I nearly fell down the steps because my sister left something laying right on the top step. To be completely honest today was just one of those days where you cant wait until it's over.

Microloans won the Nobel Prize by helping out the poor because it really was useful to them to be able to borrow a bit of money to get them out of a bad situation. As an organization it is rated very high because it is a very respected organization due to the fact that it has high reviews. Its repay rate for its loans is also very high between 98-99 which makes it have such a high regard. America's greatest philanthropists include Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Li Ka-shing. Warren Buffet donates to charities and Bill Gates gives away half of his fortune to the less fortunate. If I would do a Kiva loan though I would probably donate to somebody that is having trouble running a business in a less fortunate country.

Today in Human Geo. we learned about loans that banks can provide for people to start small businesses. The site is called kiva and they grant people small loans by having people from around the world participate in helping worldwide. Personally after seeing this I think I might start doing Kiva because it seems like it can really help out some people in some difficult places.