A Censored Approach...

Hanging In…

With less than 30 days left of high school…. I’m hanging in by a thread. The year has soared by, up until the last month. I’ve been ready to graduate since I walked in the doors my freshman year. It’s time to be finished.

The more I think about school, the more I think about how this year is pointless. I finished the yearbook and might have to do the next Herald, but other than that…I’m not sure while I’m still here. Yes, I have HTV, but I’m not the most dedicated person…you could say.

My attendance is slowly dwindling down… as long as it stays over 95 percent, I’m good. It takes several Red Bulls just to get me here in the morning.

So… for now. I guess I’ll show up… but being here on time, or staying all day… I don’t think so.

School vs. Anything Else

As my life in high school winds down to a mere 3 months, my ability to be in class seems to keep dwindling lower and lower. I have managed to make it a a full day of school ONE TIME this entire year. How terrible is that? However, I have my reasons.

First of all, I have no real classes. Besides, Lib & Law, I really don’t need to be at school. I mean, HTV and journalism are great, but when I’m finished with my assigned story or layout…what’s left to do? I could be working (and getting paid for it) or I could be sitting in a classroom doing nothing…. which would you pick? The choice is pretty simple.

The only downfall is the lovely teachers and administrators that think I need to be there every stinkin’ second of my life. WRONG ANSWER! I just love getting texts from my advisers asking where I am at! It makes my day! ;) So, sorry Coach, it’s not ‘just’ your class… ;)

I understand that education is extremely important, but after 13 years, I’m finished. I’m ready for college, I guess….but I would like to take some sort of a break before I start the next 4 terrible/great years of my life. 

Skyrim

Over the weekend I bought a PS3. I have never really been into video games, but wanted a system for my room. Originally, just for Netflix and Hulu plus, but that all changed. I kept hearing people talk about how awesome Skyrim was, but I just assumed they were nerds.

I decided to buy the game just to see what it was like. I got home, put it in, and next thing I know 6 hours had gone by. It somehow seemed to capture my mind! It is the best game ever! Over the weekend, all I seemed to do was play that game. Friends came over, but I paid no attention to them. I just kept playing my game. 

Now, I’m running on no sleep, can’t really focus, and really want to go play Skyrim. My addiction is now clear.

Caffeine Deprived

Starting my 8th grade year in middle school, I slowly began drinking massive amounts of caffeine. As time progressed, I became addicted. Year after year I drank more and more caffeine, requiring at least two 20 ounce Red Bulls just to function. 

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to change that. I just stopped drinking caffeine completely. The first few days were terrible. I felt like death had hit me in the face. After I made it though the school day, I had to stumble through work. I mean, working 40 hours a week plus going to school isn’t easy. But, after about the forth day, I started feeling better. By the next week, I felt awesome. 

I started drinking a little caffeine again, such as soda and tea. But, compared to what I had been drinking the past, that was nothing. After two weeks, I started drinking a little coffee. So far, that is what I’ve stuck with. The most caffeine I’ve had in a day is two cups of coffee. 

All I can say, is I am TIRED. I am craving Red Bull, but don’t want to poison my body any more than I already have. So, all I can do is hope I have enough will power to stay away from one! 

Home Sweet Home

The HTV Southern Swing has finally come to an end. I have mixed feelings about it ending. I am happy to finally be heading home, but at the same time I am sad to be leaving all of my friends. 

The trip itself was pretty great. It was awesome to have the opportunity to get off the bus and find a story. I think it prepared me for more real life situations and I will be a better reporter because of it. It opened my eyes to finding a character and turning a lame story into something amazing. The juniors who are on the trip really got lucky. They got to experience what we all should have before we got placed into HTV. They were able to produce a story on their own in 24 hours! That is awesome and will make HTV during the school year a lot easier and they will be more prepared than most of us seniors were when we got into HTV our junior year.

I loved getting to go to all the different cities and seeing sights I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this trip. My favorite stop by far was New Orleans. It was a very unique city and full of interesting things that I wasn’t expecting. My least favorite would have been Louisville. The city seemed dead. There wasn’t really much going on and a crazy cab driver took us to a mall clear across town. I’m still not certain if we were even in Louisville anymore.

There are only a few reasons I am glad to be going home. First, I want to sleep in my own bed. I hate sharing a bed with someone, and further more I can’t stand gross hotel beds. I’m not sure when they wash their sheets and I don’t want to sleep where some nasty person did. Secondly, I am ready to see my friends who are not apart of HTV — and my girlfriend. It feels like I haven’t seen any of them in ages. Of course I miss my family, but I thought friends would cover that as well. Finally, I am ready to do what I want and not have to worry about a story. I know that sounds pretty lazy, but doing a story everyday was difficult. 

Hope all of you enjoyed following us on wwww.htvsouthernswing.com and will continue to follow us through the school year as we go completely HD on wwww.htvmagazine.com! 

Day 8…

Today was a pretty good day. It started out bad, but got better as the day progressed. My sunburn for some reason was terrible when I woke up and felt like little needles were stabbing me everywhere — not fun, at all. After I took some allergy medicine, I was good to go. I slept most of the way to Gatlinburg, but was pretty energetic when we finally got there. 

As we got closer into the city, Kim and I saw a sky lift and called dibs. We thought we were going to have the best story ever! However, after Coach had talked to the manager and got permission, we headed up there. As soon we had purchased tickets, the manager came out and asked what we were doing. I said filming like our adviser had okayed with you, and he said we couldn’t do that. JERK. Well, we ended up going anyways and recorded a quick clip with our phones. Me, Ryan, Kim, Jessica, Breanna, Ali, and Mehleena all went up and saw a great view. 

After that, we ended up doing our story on a group signing and playing instruments in the street. They were very good. Their music was good and they were great characters. 

We then parted ways with Ryan, Breanna, and Jessica and went out to eat. The waitress was sketchy, but the food was good. Ali and Mehleena did some weird skit with their menus. I’m still not quite sure what they were attempting to accomplish.

Once back at the hotel, I met up with Mariah, Ryan, Kaley, and Breanna. We all went to the Ripley’s Haunted House. It was alright, I guess. It reminded me of the dumb ones we have during Halloween in Branson. All the girls, and Ryan screamed the majority of the time. I didn’t really have much emotion, due to the fat girl behind me pulling on my shirt and shouting slow down. I’ll give Ryan props for leading the way, but I still don’t think it was all that scary. After we had that haunted house tackled, Paige met up with us and we went to some ghost theatre thing. They all thought it was pretty scary. I literally laughed the whole entire time. It wasn’t work my 8 bucks! 

Once back at the hotel, I went into Kim, Jessica, and Paulina’s room for awhile. They all seemed pretty crazy. Kim was writing her blog and calling me weird things. Jessica even renamed me something that we will not speak of. Paulina, of course, was acting like a Paulina - words can’t describe her odd personality. 

Well, it’s time for bed. Tomorrow should be a fun day. We are going to meet up with Coaches friend and have a small party with his broadcast class. Then, we have one more night in a hotel, then HOME SWEET HOME! :)

Panama City Beach

Panama by far has been my favorite stop yet. Sitting out in the blazin’ sun all day, drinking Mountain Dew and swimming in the ocean made my two days here pretty awesome. I happened to get both days off, so that made it even better.

There seems to be a couple downfalls to this awesome city though — as you might have noticed in my other blogs I usually have something negative to say. 

First of all, SAND. I do not like sand at all. It gets in places on me it shouldn’t and it won’t come off unless I get into the shower. Then, as soon as I get out of the shower, MORE sand gets on me. That is only one part of my sand hatred. I have a slight case of OCD and seeing the little sand pieces on the floor or on my stuff makes me go a bit crazy. My hotel room is covered in sand and the dumb maids didn’t mop my floor when they came in this morning. I’m not too happy with their poor cleaning. 

Secondly, I got sunburned. I do not like being sunburned at all! It makes me tired, grouchy, sore, rude, and well…just a terrible person to be around. I don’t like not being able to move without feeling that slight pinch of pain and I don’t like having to wear a shirt when I am burnt everywhere. I do like the color red, but not when my skin is that color. Then, since I posted this my mom will more than likely write me and be mad that I got sunburnt. So, let me go ahead and say, IT WAS NOT INTENTIONAL! :)

Alright, I think I got my daily negativity out of my system. Whoo! Oh yeah, one more thing: since I had both days off in Panama besides the gallery, I have to do a story tomorrow in Charleston. We aren’t even getting their until sometime after 7. Perfect. That will be a fun night! :) 

New Orleans: Day Two

New Orleans overall was pretty fun. The city seems dirty, but the culture is pretty awesome. It seems as if every corner has a voodoo shop or some sort of sorcery! All in all, a cool city.

BUT, as with every city there are a few downfalls. First, it is very hot outside and we have to walk everywhere! I don’t wanna walk my large butt every where. I’m too lazy for that! Secondly, the maids at the hotel don’t speak English. I think closing the door was a hint we didn’t need them? Thirdly, Paulina is THE DEVIL and is determined to kill all of us on this trip!

Kim and I had a story to do today and everything seemed to be set up well. However, it was the most boring, awful, stupid thing ever! We decided to do a feature on a ghost tour that is pretty popular! We walked around the French Quarter and some drunk tour guy talked about random facts! Some lady even stopped to tell us it wasn’t true! By the end of the tour I didn’t know if I wanted to kill myself, or everyone surrounding me!

Then, we went to some expensive seafood place. It was overrated. The food was over priced, my coke tasted like soda water, and I waited forever and a day for my food — not too thrilled with that place!

After returning to the hotel some stupid kids were in a room right by the pool! They kept banging on the glass and making the blinds shutter! Ryan threw water on their window, but they continued their nonsense! Where in the heck are their parents?!?!? I would not let my kids bang on the windows at another hotel guest!

Other than that, I am looking forward to Panama and am having a great time on the bus trip!