Learning "and stuff"

Well. Here we are. It's practically the first day of school. Again. Funny how it always seems to happen every year isn't it? Honestly I don't like school very much. I love learning and being with my friends, but I hate the rest of it. The crowds, the grades, the homework etc. However, for some reason, my parents still "expect me to go to school" and "do my best" and "have a successful future." It's whatever. Since I'm being forced to go, along with the rest of you, I figured I might as well share my sage words of wisdom that I've acquired in my 12 years of schooling.

1. Go to class. This may seem obvious, but it takes a lot of self-motivation to get myself there. (Staying in class once you get there however is a different story. I can spend 20 minutes going to the bathroom if needed.)
2. BE SO FRICKIN PROUD OF YOUR SCHOOL THAT YOU GET EMOTIONAL THINKING ABOUT LEAVING IT EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE ONLY A SOPHOMORE. Seriously. Go to football games, basketball games, musicals, spirit bowls, anything your school provides you gotta show your face at. And learn the words to the fight song. I mean honestly. It's like singing the star-spangled banner for the President.
3. It's ok to leave for lunch. Treat yo self to that sandwich you've been craving, or even just a frosty. Yes I understand that our options are limited. But at least you're not sitting in the lunchroom every day.
4. Learn to spell the grade you're in. Yes I know how hard sophomore is to spell. If it were up to me it would be 'softmore' but some guy thought it would be hilarious to mess with your brain a little.
5. Remember peoples names and USE THEM. (s/o to Rachael.) Not only does it make people feel important, but it also makes you seem nicer when you ask for a piece of gum.
6. Speaking of gum: GIVE IT FREELY MY FRIENDS. After doing some math, I have come to this conclusion. If a pack of gum is around $1.69 at the gas station, and there are 12 pieces in each pack, that makes one piece of gum 14 cents. So you can be the biggest jerk in school and charge people 14 cents for a piece of gum or you can just suck it up and give it out. Throw it off the balcony. Bless peoples lives.
7. Talk to people. Sometimes the person you least expect can be one of your best friends if you give them a chance. For example. In seminary this year I was put right in the middle of a class full of strangers. I literally had never even seen any of them this year. But I figured that the Gospel is the same no matter who you learn it with and I decided to talk to them. Even though the first boy I sat by offered me a drink from his water bottle (which I politely declined) I soon found out that he was actually way cool. He was a dancer, could play the harmonica and had a really catchy laugh. I discovered that everyone in that class was just a friend waiting to be found. I also met the great love of my life in that class although he's homeschooled so I most likely will never see him again.
8. Don't give a frick frack about boys. (Or girls.) Ladies, you absolutely definitely DO NOT need a boy to make your high school experience complete. They're fun for a minute but after that it's all drama and stress and frankly none of it is worth it. At least not now. If you already have a boy consider yourself lucky. If not don't waste a single thought over it. Besides, being single is fun. Really. It is. Right?
9. Join clubs. Unfortunately I have a job that doesn't leave me any time to join anything. But last year I dragged Rachael along with me to math club and tried valiantly to get others to come with. Now I know you're probably thinking, "But Grace, math club? Could you have chosen anything less exciting?" in response I say, "No. It was pretty bad. But it also wasn't. I mean yes it was math that I was choosing to do voluntarily, but the kids were pretty nice and I got a lot of free food out of it. The point is to just join something. Colleges dig that. Or so I've heard."
10. If you wake up one morning and you can just feel that it's going to be a bad day, it's ok. It's perfectly fine to let yourself wallow in self pity for a while. If worst comes to worst, just text your mom and get the heck outta there. Not doing this has led to me crying in the hallway after school feeling like death and probably looking like it too. It's fine though. That's why you surround yourself with cool friends who don't mind witnessing small breakdowns every once in a while. Related: If you feel like wearing sweat pants to school, just do it. Everyone will just be wishing they had done it too.
11. Pack a lunch from home. This way you don't waste precious time standing in the lunch line getting the same old boring food each day. But if you do get school lunch be so so nice to the lunch ladies. They have the power to do anything they want to your food if you cross them.
12. APPRECIATE THE DAYS YOU WATCH MOVIES IN CLASS. This is a perfect time to nap, do homework, or draw pictures.
13. Bring a notebook dedicated solely to drawing pictures and writing poems. This way you don't fill up your math notebook with doodles and tic tac toe games. It saves everyone the trouble of buying a new book 2 months into school. (Sorry mom.) Besides then you have all these awesome pictures and stuff to look at later.
14. Remember peoples birthdays gosh dangit. I firmly believe that birthdays are the happiest day of the whole year whether they're mine or not. They're a perfect opportunity to embarrass your friends with funny hats and the happy birthday song 4 times at lunch. And you also get to write a rockin card and buy candy for someone else. So. It's a win-win I guess. But really I have a list of every person I know and their birthday+what they like to eat or do or whatever so I'm guaranteed to get a good present for them. ALSO this puts them in debt to you so you get a present on your birthday as well. (If you would like me to be the first person on YOUR birthday list, my birthday is December 21 and I like pink laffy taffy's and life savers. You're welcome.)
15. Go to the dances yo. You can't find a better room full of sweaty teenagers dancing to overplayed music anywhere else. Plus they're just fun. And the corsages are so so pretty and I would wear them all the time if it wasn't frowned upon. Oh- add that to my birthday list please.
16. Sometimes your best friends will go on vacation for several weeks at a time several times in the year and leave you alone. DO NOT PANIC. Just try not to let your other friends see how close you are to a breakdown. Then beg your traitorous friend to bring you a postcard. Anything. You deserve it.
17. Don't sweat it if your school turns ghetto in a major way. Bomb threats and bathroom fires are no big deal. It just means less time in school and that's what everyone wants anyway.
18. Make time to do nothing. Whether this means watching Netflix (I suggest the following: How I Met Your Mother, Glee, Psych, Chuck, Parks and Rec, even Teen Beach Movie if the day has really sucked.) or just laying on your bed, or taking a 30 minute shower. It's ok to put off your homework for one day. It's not the end of the world.

Basically if you look at high school with a very chill attitude you'll be fine. Better than. Just look ahead to graduation and remember that one day you'll wish you were back in high school. Or so I've heard.