This Week In School: Education sure is hard work!

God, mentally right I am just sooo tired. And I'm not really that sure why, perhaps its just because I've just experienced my first 'full Week' after the Halloween Holidays. It wasn't exactly Test ridden either (Test count for this Week has only hit the 5-O-Meter), but I have been working pretty hard, that German conversation that I had to create took me about two hours Homework total (and THANK THE LORD for the English-German Dictionary!), and I had to scrap the original one (far to difficult to translate) and start anew (more Homework, yay). I can't say it was a bad Week though, in fact, pretty much everything I've done this Week has been of (I really do hate to boast!) really, really high quality. 

Monday was okay until Maths, and, as expected I got a measly 6/20 (NOTE: This is the Test BEFORE the last Maths Test so I'm still safe from being held behind in Detention). Can't say anyone else in my Class fared better, I heard the Teacher say that six out of the nineteen people in my Class got 0/20! In hindsight though it was probably a necessary loss because I really tried to get my act together for the next Test, and I can now say it payed off.   

I went back after Lunch feeling really down (I was so consumed by my down-ness that I didn't even notice that pile of Dog-crap in front of me...SPLAT! Mum practically blowtorched my shoes afterwards), but that faded away as soon as I set my eyes on the History Test Result: 18,5/20 WOW! I couldn't nitpick it this time, I got one question wrong fair-and-square! Besides I'd be a fool to not be happy with this Test, I might rub a bit after a 16/20 but a 18,5/20? Nahhh no hardfeelings this time, COS THATS A GRRRREAT (ala Frosties mascot)...RESULT. French had a silver-lining as well, the Teacher has postponed the next Test (which was originally scheduled for Tuesday) to next Monday! YAY! There's something to...not...look...forward too. 

Tuesday was fine, the English Test went well, another 20/20 in my belt (why do I even count this as a subject? At least I've got a lesson were I know that absolutely NOTHING can go wrong!). The German Test after lunch, which was a 2nd chance on the previously failed Test from last Week, went extremely well (So far, I think I've only got about 3 mistakes in the whole Test!). It was exactly the same, so I only had to fill in the blanks from memory. So how about we just forget that last Test...*SETS IT ON FIRE, ERADICATES IT FROM MEMORY*:

 

With the memories of last Week having been completely eradicated, I walked into School on Wednesday with a pretty high esteem level. I didn't quite fare too well in the High-Jump this time, the Teacher would play a game where you would try to jump without touching the rope, and if you failed you will then have two goes to get it right before ELIMINATION! My Class was pretty mean, they would boo and hiss at anyone that didn't make it. Anyway, he would put the rope higher every time, obviously making it harder. I survived without a single scrape until Level 3, where my foot had managed to brush against the rope ever so slightly...after three goes I was out (Reaction from the Class: BOOO!). In the first round, three of my Classmates were eliminated (all Girls), In the Second round no one got eliminated, in the Third round I was eliminated, in the Fourth Round two got eliminated (all girls as well), in the Fifth Round, one person got eliminated (a boy) and in the Final Round I think all made it par one (again a Girl). I don't think I could have standed a chance against beating the last one as the height of the Rope was up to my waist! The small French kids had somehow managed to jump nearly TWICE their height, and they did a backflip before they hit the mat! Say what you want about small people, but in France they're made of STEEEEEL! Technology was much better (finally something I don't suck at) and got rewarded with a welcome 9/10! In case you're wondering, the -1 was due to bad Spelling and I had to messily rub out a few mistakes for a few questions. Come on man, why can't you just gather the guts to give me a 10/10? *SIGH* 

Thursday was mostly a hoot, the Music Test went along smoothly (I had to really revise my ass off on Wednesday night!). Again I can only spot three mistakes, I forgot the names of two Instruments + a insufficent enough answer for one Question. I think with three mistakes I've really set the bar HIGH this time! I mean, how perfect can you get (again, hate to get all boast-y)? And, seen as the time had finally come, I had to stand up in front of the German Class with my Co-Partner to recite our well learnt German. I don't recall much from memory, but apparently everyone in my Class (including the Teacher) now seem to think that I speak really convincing German! The Teacher called it "A new Talent" or something (NO KIDDING!). Sport did seem to be the thorn in a nearly perfect day, with F*CKING PING-PONG! GOD DO I HATE THAT LITTLE PLASTIC BALL! First of all the table is far too small, even if I do manage to hit the bloody ball it just goes flying off the table and bounces all over THE GOD DAMNED PLACE! Secondly, who in the right mind thought that this was going to be a good Sport? Or perhaps its just because I suck at it...But the paddles just seem so uncomfortable in my hands, it doesn't feel right, yer know? I genuinely don't think my Body was built to do Sport!

 

Friday was cool, the Maths Test had me dripping with sweat throughout it though! In a bizarre, out of this World, completely bat-shit crazy twist though...I FINALLY GOT A GOOD MATHS TEST! NO, SERIOUSLY! Yes people, I managed to scrape a 15/20 in a Maths Test! No kidding! *PARADES AROUND THE STREET, SCREAMING VICTORY*. Anyway, the Science Test went really well also, cementing this Week as something that will probably go down in my TOP TEN SCHOOL WEEKS OF ALL TIME just for the sheer amount of good Results I've had. I did take away six hours of my life for Revision though....

And before I type the last words, can I just say that I am completely and utterly scared out of my wits right now: The Science Teacher announced to us that in January, after the Xmas Holidays, we are going to fill in what they call a "Brevet Blanc". Now this is basically a gigantic Test, taking place over two-and-a-half days that will cover EVERYTHING I'VE DONE IN SCHOOL FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS! Oh. My. God. Three Years? For nearly every subject? *FAINTS* Basically, I have now somehow got to revise and learn over THREE YEARS worth of material! I can't even remember what I learnt last Week, let alone three years ago! How am I going to remember that? Let alone have enough time to revise for it? I'll be playing with all my Xmas prezzies in the Holidays, I won't (and quite frankly shouldn't) have the time to Revise for all that! I can learn something off by heart for a Test that will take place the following day, but once its over and I have to fill my brain with more useless Definitions/Video Games/Movies/Historic Facts/Maths Equasions/Three Different Languages it kinda gets all chucked out for all the new stuff to fit in...Basically I'm not exactly looking forward to January! Well, thats the School recap of the Week done - Tim.

    P.S:

Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith....the Series 4 Finale was one of the better SJA Episodes me-thinks. The second part was quite action packed for a Kids T.V Show, and got a little teary eyed towards the end of Part 1 and 2! Not to mention some geat Special Effects shots: Hundreds of Meterorites falling to Earth, The Giant Stomach, Clyde trapped in outer Space ect.... Overall it was 50 minutes of what I could have mistaken for prime time telly! Goodbye for another Year, SJA! 

P.P.S K9 WAS IN IT AS WELL! THATS A PLUS!

This Week In School: My Poor, Poor Legs...

Well, I ran (or very slowly jogged) for almost THREE Hours this Week, and as you can tell by the title of this Post, my legs aren't feeling very well at ALL. In fact, there's a tendon on the back of my right leg right now that is just begging to snap (its already been stretched to bits, poor thing). You know I wouldn't be surprised if my leg had actually broken off during that cross country race on Friday: SNAP! Commentator: "looks like Tim's leg has just finally had enough...." I think I might just pull a sicky next Year (or maybe not), because that was bloody soul-testing. Our College and the one from Mauron always join together every Year for the traditional "Cross" race. A stupid tradition if you ask me, and one of the most pointless things in the entire UNIVERSE that exists only to torture both your soul and your poor, poor body (if I ever feel anything below my knee again it will be a bloody miracle). You can check out my in-depth rant about Endurance running in one of my previous Blog posts here: http://thelazyteenagerinfrance.blogspot.com/2010/09/do-you-know-what-really-grinds-my-gears.html. As if the cross country race wasn't enough, I was also swamped with a TON of Tests: two in French, two in German, two in Art, one in Technology and one in Sport (kinda, he'll be evaluating our performance over a period of weeks). If you think thats bad, wait til' you see the Tests next week...  
The German Test was easy, you just had to write down a string of numbers you heard and then recite another string of numbers to your class while making sure that you p-r-o-n-o-u-n-c-i-a-t-e-d every word correctly (may I also point out that these were SURPRISE Tests, the type I particularly hate because its just an exuse to pray on the kids who don't learn there lessons reguarly), anyway I got 20/20 but everyone in my class got at least 18/20 so no big feat. In the Technology Test I got a measly 8,5/10, which is just quite frankly an insult (SO WHAT I FORGOT TO PUT THE "S" ON THE END OF THE WORD! WHY CAN'T NOBODY EVER GET 20/20 IN THIS LESSON GOD DAMMIT??????), the guy clearly doesn't have the guts anymore to give me a 10/10 rating! I may also comment on my teachers name: Mr Bastide! Anyway after the insult of Technology, I should fare better in Art, in which I had to represent 1 second of motion in 25 Images (fairly easy, akin to the famous stop motion techniques of the 50s Sci-Fi B-movies. Not hard per-say you just need to be a good drawer: ex: a man putting his foot down is about one second, so you'll just have to illustrate that mouvement in 25 different boxes). French was a bit of a disaster as you had to study an old poem, which was clearly wrote by homeless drunk man sat on the side of the street somwhere as it didn't make a lick of sense (one minute the poete was walking down the street describing the "shiny" stars, and then it jumped to him riding a polar bear out in the artic desert! MIND F*CK ALERT! And the dictation were you had to write down a text said to you with as little spelling and grammatical errors as possible, and seen as the French language has so many god-damn words that sound the EXACTLY the same (the sound E has multiple spellings for a start, the word could finish by ee, es, ais, ait, aient, e, i ect...), so basically I'm (pardon the profanity) f*cked. Music was really easy, you just had to read a Biography about Jean-Babtiste-Lully to the Class (imagine my surprise when I found out that "Lully" was a man!), and I also recieved a very welcome 17/20 in the Test we did last week....So all in all, a mixed bag, just PLEASE DONT MAKE ME RUN 6 KILOMETRES AGAIN!!!!!!!!
Now exuse me while I rant at my bedroom wall for fithteen minutes: "ONLY GAVE ME A 8,5/10 DID YOU? WHY YOU LITTLE...$%£@*!"  

NOTE: I didn't actually rant at the wall like a madman for fifthteen minutes, it was just me being "funny."

Do you know what really Grinds my Gears Part 1: Sport

Welcome to What Really Grinds My Gears Part 1: Sport. Now I love alot of things (Doctor Who, Merlin, My Dog, Movies, Peter Pan, Games, My Computer ect...), and I mean ALOT of things...but there is still alot of stuff that I HATE, stuff that I could probably fill a entire Book with (School, Homework, Sport, My Brother, those really long queues at at Theme Parks ect...), or better yet, a Blog Post. This really is one of my pet hates at the moment though: Sport! It is by far the most unfair, pointless and quite simply painful thing around! At the moment we're doing Baseball on Wednesdays and Endurance on Thursdays:

 Baseball is unfair. Its unfair because everyone else on the other team IS SO FRIKKEN GOOD! Why do they keep putting all the weak ones in the same Team? THATS NOT EVEN! ALL THE GOOD ONES ARE IN THE OTHER TEAM! So I was holding the Bat, whacking the Ball and racing towards the first base, only for this really annoying French voice to yell: "YOURRRRR OUTTTT!" I was just Nanometres away from it! They had caught the ball in mid air (which, in this game means that everyone thats not at a Base at this point in the field will be eliminated)! Not just me, but five players were eliminated in one fell swoop. And this one guy catches the ball EVERY single time! The score by the end of the game was 7-32! THATS HARDLY FAIR! HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY WIN AGAINST THIS GUY? Not that I hate him, but he's too far too good, and its just ruining the game for all of us (apart from the people on his Team of course). We tried to eliminate him when we were in Defense, but he hits the ball to the OTHER END OF THE FIELD, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CATCH THAT IN MID-AIR! And by the time we return the Ball he's already done like THREE HOME-RUNS! *SIGH* The funny thing is, this guy only comes up to my waist (HE IS THAT SMALL!) and I'm not kidding, he wears Baby shoes he's so small. He is the closest thing to Speedy Gonzalus on this Earth! And theres always that Jack-ass that likes to rub it in! YES I GET THAT WE'VE LOST, SHUT UP! (Note: I don't actually talk alot in School, so this is just what I'm thinking in my head, not what I actually said.) This guy is just a ASSSS-HOLE! He is just evil to everyone (luckily he mainly keeps away from me most of time) in my School, so nobody tolerates it, and the Teacher actually applied disipline for once when he started flying Insults to everyone. Baseball is clearly a pain, but its nothing compared to Endurance!             

 Endurance is painful both PHYSICALLY AND PAINFULLY! It tests your will in the most brutal of ways and will make your legs ache forever! (My legs are still aching from Thursday!) Endurance, quite simply put, is Running without stopping for fourteen minutes. Sounds simple doesn't it? But NOOO, its the longest fourteen minutes you'll ever have! My legs turn to jelly after the first lap and after the second lap of the field my Body fails completely, and only the sheer power of will alone got me through the next ten minutes! Its the closest thing to Torture, it truly is! The cross country race is on October 15th at our lake, and this is what they've been preparing us for, But Why Though? Why do we have to suffer? I don't know, apparently its a 'tradition'. BULLSH*T! THIS IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY POINTLESS CRAP THAT TORTURES THE SOUL, RUINS YOUR BODY, AND TESTS YOUR WILL! IT WILL DESTROY YOU! WHY TORTURE YOUR ALREADY OVERWORKED STUDENTS THAT (QUITE FRANKLY) CONTINUES TO PRODUCE AMAZING RESULTS ON A WEEK-TO-WEEK BASIS?! ENDURANCE IS EVIL! WHOEVER ADDED THIS TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FRANCE SHOULD BE SHOT IN THE HEAD! NOW THIS IS WHAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!