I don't understand life, and life does not understand me. That's the way it always was, and that's the way it will always be.
halifix
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Name: Simon
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Birthday: 9/29/1989
Gender: Male


Interests: Anything. I mean, how can you NOT like anything? But really, Golf King and DDR. and anime songs.
Expertise: Creative outlet for stupidity. IE, video games.
Occupation: Student
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Member Since: 10/17/2003

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

[18:41] <Shiya-Shia> I really get what you mean by having no hope of getting to semis for me
[18:42] <Shiya-Shia> Did not know that many jokbos would show up
[18:42] <tomato> lol
[18:42] <tomato> what did you expect
[18:42] <tomato> its freaking silvia
[18:42] <tomato> its the way to play it
[18:42] <tomato> until season5
[18:42] <Whoopsy> lol
[18:42] <Shiya-Shia> thought maybe 4-5 jokbos in qualifer, 10 in 2nd
[18:42] <~Haruka> what are you smoking
[18:42] <Shiya-Shia> everything
[18:42] <~Haruka> silvia has two options
[18:42] <~Haruka> jokbo
[18:42] <~Haruka> or quit
[18:42] <~Haruka> that's it
[18:42] <Shiya-Shia> lol
[18:43] <Shiya-Shia> Aelya convinced of my stupidity for the... 5th time
[18:43] <Revelus> unless you're mygo
[18:43] <tomato> even mygo made a jokbbo
[18:43] <tomato> lol
[18:43] <Revelus> in which case you try to chip silvia without jokbo
[18:44] <Revelus> and by that he meant max teeoff to some spot and jokbo the toma
[18:44] <tomato> also
[18:44] <tomato> saw muslimbbrother in dfo
[18:44] <tomato> or something
[18:44] <tomato> wonder if its the same
[18:44] <tomato> as on pangya
[18:44] <Shiya-Shia> well I don't mind ppl making own jokbos
[18:44] <Shiya-Shia> but copying really pisses me off
[18:44] <tomato> whats the difference
[18:44] <~Haruka> quit the game
[18:44] <~Haruka> or wait for season 5
[18:44] <tomato> you get the same freaking result
[18:44] <tomato> lol
[18:44] <Shiya-Shia> Just pissed, Aelya
[18:45] <~Haruka> sure
[18:45] <tomato> its like saying
[18:45] <~Haruka> so are 9999 people
[18:45] <~Haruka> they should quit or wait for season 5
[18:45] <tomato> i dont like people buying a computer
[18:45] <tomato> should make your own
[18:45] <tomato> in the end you get the same result
[18:45] <tomato> just that in pangya you actually get 100% the same aim assumingy ou use the same drive
[18:45] <~Haruka> should all stop using wikis too
[18:45] <tomato> so i dunno
[18:45] <~Haruka> and farm our own information
[18:45] <~Haruka> because pride
[18:45] <~Haruka> by mygo
[18:45] <Shiya-Shia> mm. you feel stronger than me.

[18:46] <Whoopsy> how long does it take for cannon to shoot again?
[18:46] <Whoopsy> 70s
[18:46] <Whoopsy> ?
[18:46] <~Haruka> 46 it fires
[18:46] <~Haruka> from 120
[18:46] <~Haruka> so
[18:46] <~Haruka>  74 seconds
[18:46] <Whoopsy> qq
[18:48] <tomato> i just never see the whole "make everything yourself" thing
[18:48] <Whoopsy> dilemma on trudis on 4
[18:48] <tomato> if you do plan on doing that you have to either a) be one of the pioneers and not join the game 6 years late
[18:48] <tomato> or b) always be behind everyone else who accepts help or info in some form
[18:48] <tomato> and learn to live with it
[18:48] <tomato> otherwise there is not much you can do i guess
[18:48] <Shiya-Shia> okay.
[18:49] <Bosco> top 3 will be hard i think
[18:51] <tomato> are you talking to gm about your account
[18:51] <tomato> int he game?
[18:51] * neko|box has joined #fackthisgame
[18:51] <Whoopsy> not yet
[18:52] <~Haruka> also
[18:53] <~Haruka> Shiya-Shia- we have no room for that silly pride and pettiness in here, if you don't like it you may as well leave here and stick to #pangya
[18:54] <Whoopsy> o.O
[18:55] <neko|box> :o
[18:55] <Whoopsy> no idea how I will deal on back 9
[18:56] <Whoopsy> itens management very poor
-
[18:56] * Disconnected

 

 

 

 

 

What follows is pm

[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:43] <halifix> oh, oh well
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:44] <halifix> Just want to not have a bad relationship
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:44] <halifix> I don't mind if you feel like informing me, because I don't understand/know about a lot of stuff
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:45] <halifix> But could you please refrain from saying my emotions are wrong?
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:45] <halifix> I can't really control them that well, and I try to have convos to... um
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> [20:46] <halifix> not insult or argue usually, just maybe debate a bit or find stuff out
[21:37] <Haruka> so what is there to talk about
[21:37] <Shiya-Shia> can you agree?
[21:38] <Haruka> nobody said your emotions were wrong
[21:38] <Shiya-Shia> That's the sense I was getting
[21:38] <Haruka> but can you blame me for laughing? give it some serious thought
[21:38] <Haruka> you, and those who think like you
[21:38] <Haruka> believe that in a game like pangya, everything should be done on your own
[21:38] <Haruka> not spoonfed
[21:38] <Haruka> not helped
[21:38] <Haruka> mygo is the same as you
[21:39] <Haruka> what kind of silly attitude is that
[21:39] <Haruka> since when did we as humans
[21:39] <Haruka> ever do anything on our own
[21:39] <Shiya-Shia> that's not my point, and I agree with you
[21:39] <Shiya-Shia> I didn't know that much about how much is copied from others on Pangya
[21:39] <Haruka> same as any other game
[21:39] <Haruka> every game's got a wiki
[21:39] <Shiya-Shia> okay
[21:39] <Shiya-Shia> okay
[21:39] <Haruka> people write guides
[21:39] <Shiya-Shia> opkay
[21:40] <Shiya-Shia> please listen.
[21:40] <Shiya-Shia> I had already agreed with you long ago earlier when I was pissed
[21:40] <Shiya-Shia> It's just that you then continued to press the point and not read carefully what I said
[21:41] <Haruka> yeah, cause I think it's really stupid
[21:41] <Shiya-Shia> ?
[21:41] <Haruka> mygo decided I was "arrogant and too full of herself, never backing up her points" when I told him off for this same crap
[21:41] <Haruka> prior to this, we were friends
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> I'm not getting your point
[21:42] <Haruka> just as you may feel strongly about this
[21:42] <Haruka> I feel strongly about it too
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> no, I don't feel strongly about facts
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> what I do feel strongly about is when you go and say my emotions are wrong
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> not whatever ideas I come out with even if emotions are in them
[21:42] <Haruka> you're not making sense anymore
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> [18:44] <Shiya-Shia> Just pissed, Aelya
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> [18:45] <~Haruka> sure
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> [18:45] <tomato> its like saying
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> [18:45] <~Haruka> so are 9999 people
[21:42] <Shiya-Shia> [18:45] <~Haruka> they should quit or wait for season 5
[21:43] <Shiya-Shia> I don't mind that point

[21:43] <Haruka> yeah
[21:43] <Shiya-Shia> I don't know what happened with mygo, so I can't really talk about that
[21:43] <Shiya-Shia>  Shiya-Shia- we have no room for that silly pride and pettiness in here, if you don't like it you may as well leave here and stick to #pangya
[21:43] <Shiya-Shia> said that 10 mins after I already said okay.
[21:44] <Shiya-Shia> You'd already won the argument
[21:44] <Haruka> yes, I felt the "okay." sounded very negative
[21:44] <Shiya-Shia> what I meant that to mean was yes, I understand
[21:45] <Shiya-Shia> Was getting a bit angry at the time, so I was trying to cool off
[21:45] <Shiya-Shia> I was not in any mood to make a further comment
[21:45] <Shiya-Shia> I wasn't trying to pick a fight and keep myself pissed, was just saying "okay, I need to cool off"
[21:46] <Shiya-Shia> that quit from irc was me turning off computer and reading a book/listening to music to cool down so I could talk to you
[21:46] <Shiya-Shia> Mind if I say more?
[21:46] <Haruka> feel free
[21:47] <Shiya-Shia> I'm not as emotionally strong as you I guess, I try to take what everyone says seriously
[21:48] <Shiya-Shia> I was crying for a bit and unable to get my mind off how you just ignored some of what I was saying and continued to pick at a faulty point, especially one I've already said you're right on
[21:48] <Haruka> well that's what I do to people who piss me off
[21:48] <Shiya-Shia> that may be a personal psych issue of mine, but please don't do it with me
[21:49] <Shiya-Shia> I've never done it to you or anyone on this server.
[21:49] <Haruka> and I could say that's just a part of my personality and to not piss me off?
[21:50] <Haruka> I'm a fan of debating, but when people start throwing around emotions then it's all fair game
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> going to copy the lines I said
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> I try not to throw around emotions.
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> [18:41] <Shiya-Shia> I really get what you mean by having no hope of getting to semis for me
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> [18:42] <Shiya-Shia> Did not know that many jokbos would show up
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> [18:42] <Shiya-Shia> thought maybe 4-5 jokbos in qualifer, 10 in 2nd
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> [18:42] <~Haruka> what are you smoking
[21:50] <Shiya-Shia> [18:42] <Shiya-Shia> everything
[21:51] <Shiya-Shia> [18:42] <Shiya-Shia> lol
[21:51] <Shiya-Shia> [18:43] <Shiya-Shia> Aelya convinced of my stupidity for the... 5th time
[21:51] <Shiya-Shia> [18:44] <Shiya-Shia> well I don't mind ppl making own jokbos
[21:51] <Shiya-Shia> [18:44] <Shiya-Shia> but copying really pisses me off <- I understand how you would argue with these two statements alone
[21:51] <Haruka> yeah I think that was pretty ignorant right there
[21:51] <Haruka> first of all "Did not know that many jokbos would show up"
[21:51] <Shiya-Shia> [18:44] <Shiya-Shia> Just pissed, Aelya <-by this I meant that I may not be rational at the moment
[21:52] <Shiya-Shia> I already agreed with you
[21:52] <Haruka> well
[21:52] <Shiya-Shia> [18:45] <Shiya-Shia> mm. you feel stronger than me.
[21:52] <Shiya-Shia> [18:48] <Shiya-Shia> okay.
[21:52] <Shiya-Shia> [18:56] * Disconnected
[21:52] <Haruka> yeah, that comment sounded like you were attacking me
[21:52] <Shiya-Shia> okay
[21:53] <Shiya-Shia> I don't try to attack people
[21:53] <Haruka> why the hell would I feel stronger than you

[21:53] <Shiya-Shia> sorry that I did not state that at the start
[21:53] <Haruka> I can't even play the game anymore
[21:53] <Shiya-Shia> you were typing a lot of lines in response to my comments
[21:53] <Haruka> yeah, cause you pissed me off with your ignorance and persistence in being angry
[21:53] <Haruka> at something so trivial
[21:54] <Shiya-Shia> when I said I was just pissed, meaning even if I understand your logic I will need a while to cool down
[21:54] <Shiya-Shia> I'm sorry I'm not that good with my emotions
[21:54] <Haruka> then perhaps you should have just stopped while you were ahead?
[21:54] <Shiya-Shia> I did stop.
[21:54] <Haruka> the fact that you threw out this [18:45] <Shiya-Shia> mm. you feel stronger than me.
[21:54] <Haruka> told me you wanted to keep going
[21:54] <Haruka> also
[21:54] <Haruka> [18:48] <Shiya-Shia> okay.
[21:54] <Haruka> sounded very sarcastic
[21:54] <Haruka> like "yeah sure whatever keep yapping"
[21:55] <Shiya-Shia> okay.
[21:55] <Haruka> there it is again
[21:55] <Shiya-Shia> what I meant was "I get it now, so it would be nice to not keep pressing the point"
[21:55] <Shiya-Shia> sorry, was continuing my thought
[21:55] <Haruka> the connotation given out by "okay." can be expanded to "yeah, whatever"
[21:55] <Haruka> only with the period, of course
[21:56] <Haruka> in an age where we don't use periods in casual chatting, they're used to show seriousness or the sarcastic tone of emulating seriousness
[21:56] <Shiya-Shia> okay, we had a misunderstanding
[21:56] <Haruka> which is the difference
[21:56] <Haruka> between "lol" and "lol."
[21:56] <Shiya-Shia> alrite
[21:56] <Shiya-Shia> do you have comments for the future?
[21:56] <Haruka> not at all
[21:57] <Shiya-Shia> It just feels like this is going to happen again
[21:57] <Haruka> dunno
[21:57] <Haruka> ftg was a channel created because we hated the pangya channel
[21:57] <Haruka> precisely because of narrow-minded views and constant bitching about really trivial things
[21:58] <Haruka> as you already have noticed, we don't give two shits about rmting, hacking, whatever
[21:58] <Shiya-Shia> Okay, I'm trying not to be narrow-minded.
[21:58] <Haruka> that is not to say we condone or anything, but like
[21:58] <Shiya-Shia> 2nd part I'm sorry about but I don't know which things are trivial since I don't know as much
[21:59] <Haruka> none of that "I'm really offended!" crap here, keep it to a minimum
[22:01] <Shiya-Shia> If I'm not joking around, I'm probably being serious about what I say, and not sarcastic
[22:01] <Shiya-Shia> joking around as in a happy mood
[22:02] <Shiya-Shia> I don't have the flame mode because I know how much I'd love to do that and it doesn't help much
[22:03] <Shiya-Shia> Even now I'm sorta frustrated because you've taken this argumentative stance when I'm trying to reconcile (this is an honest opinion, not an attack)
[22:04] <Haruka> cause you're actually trying
[22:04] <Haruka> should not be necessary
[22:04] <Shiya-Shia> so you're saying we shouldn't have had this talk? :/
[22:05] <Haruka> actions speak louder than words, and in the case of online text chatting, what you say will convey your deeper thoughts
[22:05] <Haruka> dunno, I'm not a fan of being so mechanical with this kind of stuff

[22:05] <Haruka> I think it should just come naturally
[22:06] <Shiya-Shia> you were right about the periods and whatnot showing my bad mood
[22:06] <Haruka> I would not have patronized you so much if you didn't approach me like this, for example
[22:06] <Haruka> because I did hear that all the GMs blew you off and basically told you to shove it
[22:06] <Shiya-Shia> oh, that was Bawkzie, and I think they were being lazy in general, ya
[22:07] <Shiya-Shia> I try to judge people only by what I directly hear from them
[22:07] <Haruka> lazy is not right
[22:07] <Haruka> more like
[22:07] <Haruka> "stop ruining what's already started"
[22:08] <Haruka> whether or not they know shit about jokbos isn't really important, nobody ever said ntreev was good at making balanced events
[22:08] <Haruka> and nobody ever said pangya was even a balanced game
[22:08] <Haruka> why do you think they told you to shut up
[22:08] <Haruka> why do you think I got pissed
[22:09] <Haruka> crying over split milk is really silly
[22:09] <Haruka> and even now, you are continuing to weep over it
[22:09] <Shiya-Shia> I didn't mind too much earlier
[22:09] <Shiya-Shia> and I did vent a little
[22:09] <Haruka> would be a good idea to just learn from this and use it to better yourself
[22:10] <Shiya-Shia> Okay, this is going nowhere
[22:10] <Shiya-Shia> We can't agree on a topic
[22:10] <Haruka> exactly
[22:10] <Haruka> why are you even bothering
[22:10] <Shiya-Shia> I'm that sort of person


Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Player2: It's time all of you knew the truth about OGPlanet
Player2: The company has removed every employee that cared about the players
Player2: the only people that remain have zero care for the customer and are only out to make money
Player2: Bug fies have been and moar? continue to be a thing of the past
Player2: fixes
Player2: Many of you have already seen the new bugs presented in Papel yesterday
Player2: The only reason that got fixed is because it had monetary value behind it
Player2: If you have questions at any time, feel free to ask them
Player2: I moar? do my best to answer them.
Player2: Essentially, OGP no longer cares about community whatsoever
Player2: Then do something about it
Player2: Anyone who used only PayPal, you have up to 3 years to chargeback all of your money
Player2: with 0 penalties
Player2: a chargeback not only removes your money from them, but also charges them $20
Player2: All of the creative staff which came up with original updates left the company
John: Hmm so you basically want to sabotage your company per say.
Player2: That's why everything this year was just re-supplies
Player2: I want all of you to know the truth, and not just "know" it.
Player2: Because there were a lot of people who put in 24/7 effort into a company, just to get screwed over
Player2: abd for the company to show that it doesn't give a crap about the players
Player2: which includes money embezzeling at the highest level
John: Why thank you random disgruntled OGP employee!
Player2: The only way to show the company you know what is going on is to stop paying for worthless items
Player2: all of your items are virtual, so a chargeback moar? not hurt you
Player2: and OGP can't do ANYTHING about it
Player2: since they did not physically ship you anything
Player2: You can chargeback through Auth too - but it may hurt your credit rating
Player2: you should check with your bank first
Player2: Even if your astros have been spent
Player2: you can charge back everything
Player2: from up to 3 years in the past
Player2: the only thing is - they ban you
Player2: Just remember that OGP is very close to shutting down due to having barely any staff left
Player2: so be careful where you spend your money
John: haha i knew about the staff releases =P
Player2: Since OGP only cares about $, hit them where it hurts
Player2: Just make sure you contact your credit company first to ensure no penalties
Player2: If you get penalties on your score, don't do it.
John: Yeah
Player2: This isn't supposed to hurt you as a person.
Player2: You should pass this information on to any players who have not played in a while, but purchases Astros
John: what are the chances of OGP shutting down?
Player2: Personall,y - I'd say OGP's odds are not that great of staying around
John: But you said they're focused on just earning money...
Player2: But if they don't have any way to get money besides a small player base
Player2: 1 day / a few days can't keep them aflot
Player2: afloat
Alex: i knew there was problems btw when only 200 players were able to play 1000 holes in 2 weeks time... and worse... 13,000 were able to play 100 in 2 weeks
Player2: That shows the declining player base
Player2: and players losing interest
Sarah: Player2: Personall,y - I'd say OGP's odds are not that great of staying around
Sarah: I said that back when north wiz was released D:
Player2: the new head GM is a pawn
Player2: most of the GM's you knew have either been fired, walked out, or moar? be fired
Player2: For being on the side of the players over the company
Player2: money was not a part of it
Player2: houehoue - exactly
Player2: The main point I came in here to make
Player2: Is that you need to spread this
Player2: to the forums, in-game

And a personal message I recieved yesterday from 19.

"Just thought I should let you know that I was fired yesterday, for some really... umm.. un-fireable reasons. but whatever.
I dunno who went crazy in the IRC channel last night, but what they said is i guess kinda true.. but anyways, I just thought I owed it to you to let you know that OGP is prettymuch replacing everyone they can with people who will work for cheaper, and don't care much about the quality of the community or anything like that. I used to manage a bunch of the events in the game, like the Elite 8 with Rumble Fighter. They fired me just yesterday, and as you can see, they've already cancelled todays tournament, or 'postponed' it. The entire holiday event going on right now was completely planned out months ago by people who no longer work for the company. This is probably the last big event that's going to be worth playing for awhile, unless they manage to find someone else to come up with these events.

So far, Support005, myself, and Support021 have been removed from the company, or have quit, due to the way they treat the staff and players. You can probably expect to see Support018 get fired come Monday or sometime soon as well. He hasn't done anything wrong, but they'll find a reason. Basically anybody who asked to be paid more than laughable salaries, or anybody who has tried to tell the higher-ups that we need to focus less on making money in the games, and more on fixing the bugs and problems, is being removed. The original co-founder of the company who came up with the ideal for OGPlanet is also gone. You can expect to see Support007 removed from his post sometime soon as well.

I know this is probably discouraging to read, and I don't want to seem like some disgruntled ex-employee or something like that at all, but I wanted to let you know what's going on; so you can at least have an eplanation as to why so many of the bugs aren't being fixed, and as to why the quality of the support in the game has dropped so much."


Monday, September 10, 2007

"Hey, open the door, Simon's coming!"
"Who's Simon?"
"...just open the door!"
"Hey, that's not Simon, that's Carl!"
"... my name is Simon."
"No it's not, it's Carl!"
"Simon!"
"You look more like a Carl."
"Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon!"
"Simon says your name is Carl."

"Hey, last night, after I jumped in my bed and you jumped in my bed, it was really noisy! Alex said it was squeaking all night!" (They jumped on the bed. Like how kids do.)

I need to spend more time finding math jokes and pickup lines. Preferably high level ones that only geeks can understand.

I started procrastinating on the second week of school. That's not a good sign. But, I am going to all my classes still. Although I do have to try to stay awake sometimes. Perhaps it's because I will very easily get sidetracked, stepping out of my room to get some food and then spending 4 hours talking about random stuff to people. It's mostly M-W-F that's tiring, but for some reason, it's hard to stay awake in Music 49A, even though I have a 2 hour break before and after class. If I still had an iPod, I could probably force myself to stay awake by playing a jamming song, but bleh. Some people just put you to sleep. It's usually better if I'm learning something, though.

...I had planned out a lot of things to say, and thought it was gonna be a really long post, but now I can't remember what I wanted to talk about. Oh well. Have some videos/songs! The ones you probably haven't heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukfAWxWXb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xg3AJKB4YI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjjBU-iNA0
Those links are probably not so happy and peppy you'll suffer from severe fluid leak someplace. A lot of the ones on these pages are, though. http://www.phpbbcity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?mforum=stormofbullets&t=1493&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&mforum=stormofbullets


Monday, September 03, 2007

I'm now a UC (University of California) Berkeley freshman, residing in Bowles Hall (room 509) on the weekdays, going back to my home half the weekends. I have 4 math classes: H54: Honors Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, 55: Discrete Mathematics, 70: Transition into Upper Division Mathematics, and H90: Honors Undergraduate Seminar in Mathematical Problem Solving. I have two music classes, 49A: Thinking About Music, and 49C: Harmony, as well as Physics H7A: Honors Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Basically, this means I'm learning linear algebra right now, while 55 and 70 seem to be teaching about the same thing, how to prove things in mathematical terms (but I get full units for both), and 90 is just something for fun. I've got theoretical physics, a broad musical interest class, and a basic music class in writing counterpoint and whatnot.

It's been pretty mellow at school right now. I haven't felt any urgency kick in, although I am already procrastinating on homework due tomorrow (at 2:00pm, but still, I should do it, it's just writing a few hundred words on a piece of music I like). Not having my own computer at school is having the side-effect of making me more social, which probably means I'll regret more things in my freshman year. Again. I'm not too comfortable with sleeping in dorms yet; I tend to wait for the other person to fall asleep so I can start moving around and fail to sleep myself. (Either that or go to sleep so early my roommate isn't back yet.) When I stay at my home, most of all I do is sit at my computer do random things. Although, I did read Good Omens, because I just got my own copy. Apparently, taking 21 units while every other freshman is taking 13-16 is bad, but I think I can handle it if I concentrate on academics. My dad, however, wants me to get a job as well. (I don't think he knows I have more classes than average.)

In TAS, the class of 2007 was known as the smart/nerdy class, because we had the longest honor roll and whatnot. My presence probably helped this. Now, I'm one of maybe 3 or so students from my high school's (Newark Memorial High School) class of 2007 to go to UC Berkeley. All our teachers noticed that we definitely got worse grades overall compared to the other classes; we rarely did AP History homework, this year's AP Chemistry class got mostly 1's and 2's, and... well, the juniors did more work than we ever did. (This isn't just senioritis.) NMHS is going down the drain, and it only has 9 AP courses. In my senior year it got a new principal, who is also bringing his vice-principal from his old school, San Ramon Valley High School, where they were known as "Dumb and Dumber." We didn't get rated by WASC, because the last time they visited (I was in Taiwan then) there was gang warfare, and if we lose accreditation, that would really suck for everyone still there whose diplomas are now invalid. (But this school has a 40% dropout rate I heard, so it won't have too much of an effect.)

We had two really good English teachers at NMHS, called the Hallfords. Mr. Hallford was English Department chair, but he retired at the end of my junior year (2006), so Mrs. Hallford took over, teaching AP English. Then, in September, Mr. Morones replaced her and made this testing organizer (who doesn't even teach English) the Department chair. Mrs. Hallford has taught at NMHS for 15 years, and other than another teacher who's been there 8 years, every other English teacher has only been there 1-3 years (the pay really sucks for new teachers). Mrs. Hallford, when she was sick, would sometimes let Mr. Hallford sub in and teach the class. Then some teacher threw a hissy fit and said he/she felt "uncomfortable" around Mr. Hallford, and thus Mr. Morones banned a previous department head from stepping on campus. If he did, the police officer (we have one on campus) would be oblidged to arrest him. (He was later allowed on campus, but not during school hours, so we could have Saturday sessions and sessions at least an hour after school ended.) We learned about this when we walked in to English class, discovering the message on the board, and a really crappy-at-teaching grad student sub having no idea how to teach anything.

Of course, the senior class (those that had honors/AP English, since Mr./Mrs. Hallford were the only ones teaching it) went loco, because the Hallfords are great teachers. They started distributing one-page newspapers telling of the story (written anonymously); I believe there were 3 of them. The officer confiscated them at a school-wide meeting after seeing seniors leaving with them. (That eventually blew over, and people were allowed to display the newspapers on binder covers and whatnot, probably because the 2nd newspaper explicitly stated the law regarding free speech and regulation of student materials. Mrs. Hallford kept the 1st one on her cabinet for a long time.) Things mellowed out a bit, until some students saw on the scheduling board for next year (it was kept in a room in the counseling office, even though it should obviously be private), and Mrs. Hallford would be teaching Honors English III, not AP English IV. Then we heard that at Senior Awards Night, where the AP teacher traditionally announces who gets their department awards, the English depeartment chair Mr. Morones selected might be reading the awards. The chair didn't really know people in class, and she only knew a few people, like me (I was in School Site Council). But then, at Senior Awards Night, Mrs. Hallford announced to present the English Awards. Basically everyone who was in Honors English stood up and gave her her own round of applause. I think Mr. Morones might have feared Mrs. Hallford's influence (even though no one other than the seniors had actually had her classes), because after graduation, when it would be really hard to organize anything, he announced that Mrs. Hallford would be teaching at the junior high. Drama, huh?

Oh, and the Touhou series rocks. http://pooshlmer.com/


Thursday, August 30, 2007

I'm taking 4 math courses, 2 music, and 1 physics. College has really given me the chance to really unbalance my life.



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