Alright, it's nearly the end of summer, I'm starting my senior year of high school next week, and I haven't been doing jack squat lately. Last Friday I went to an optional Pep band event at my high school and got to hang out with some good old school friends of mine. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. On Sunday, I marched with my high school's band in the Richfield Day's parade, and it was hot as hell (just about). Then, on Monday I was back at the high school at 7 AM to play some Pep band tunes for the freshman at their orientation and pretty much show them what Pep band is like, and so they could learn the words to one of the songs we play called "We're Loyal to You Illinois", but the band refers to it as "School Song". Those were some busy 3 days, and they were a busy 3 days that I actually rather enjoyed. I mostly enjoyed them because I had finished up my summer AP Lit. homework, which consisted of reading two books, The Picture of Dorian Gray and To Kill a Mockingbird, and then typing up some enormously long book notes on them, and doing a mock timed writing on Dorian Gray. Those three assignments took up a heck of my time, but that's why they call it summer homework for an AP class, huh?
Anyways, those three days came and went, and now today was a really sluggish day for me. All I did was get up, shower, eat breakfast (at 11:00, so I ate lunch an hour later), brush my teeth, sit on the computer and watch Doctor Who, then bail a load of hay with my dad, sit back on my lazy ass and watch more Doctor Who and TV, and that was about it. I did not do a whole lot around the house until about an hour ago, which was cleaning out the dishes in the sink and filling the dishwasher up. My older sister was giving me a stern talk and said that I needed to get up and do something, and in my head I was strongly agreeing with her, but I couldn't bring myself to really say "Yeah, you're right, I need to do something now." All I could muster out was a little "...yeah..." while looking at the TV screen. After that little situation, I decided to go up to my room and put some clothes away that my mom had finished getting out of the dryer and folding up. I also made my bed and made everything look nice and tidy. I will also admit that my bedroom looks way too clean for an 18-year-old teenage guy. I should have clothes laying all over the floor, bed sheets messed up, papers and miscellaneous items everywhere... but I don't. My bed is usually nice and neat, and my room is generally a little too clean. But that's besides the point. I'll make my point now. Once I finished cleaning around my room, my mind finally clicked and reattached itself to my brain and I gave myself a little pep talk and "enlightened" myself (Ah, finally! I'm getting to the topic of this blog!). I walked back and forth and told myself several things that I hope to follow through with throughout the entire school year. It wasn't a talk where, yeah, I'll work on that for the first two weeks of school and then give up. No. I'm gonna get this going when school starts and keep it going through school and now, hopefully through summer.
You might be wondering (but most likely not) what I told myself I would do when school starts. I thought it through a while, and here is what I've decided:
- I will not be going on Facebook at all Monday - Friday, with a possibility of going on Friday nights, but probably not. Last school year I was on Facebook 75% of the time after I got home from school, and it caused me to not get done with homework some nights, which isn't ever a good thing for me.
- I am going to work out for a half hour every day after I get home from work at 5:30, so I'll get done with my work out at 6, and then do my homework. I will do things like use my shakeweight, do push-ups, ab crunches, possibly bike a bit, and just keep my fitness up since I'm not taking a gym class anymore. I was in FIT for Life last year in school, and that really helped me with my muscle and my health in general.
- In the event that I don't have any homework on any given day, I will force myself to go outside and play basketball or baseball, or just walk around the woods and find something to do. I will not sit in the house all evening long and watch TV and play games on my iPad. I may give an exception to watching an episode or two of Doctor Who if I deem it okay for myself, but otherwise nature and the outside world is my only other option, for real.
- I am going to cut back on the amount of those amazingly tasty fudge bars that I just looooove. Yeah, I can let a little humor into this blog, I'm not gonna be totally serious (I mean, I'm serious about what I'm talking about, but, you know what I mean :) ). If I get hungry, I'm going to look for something healthier to eat, like a hard-boiled egg, or some yogurt. An egg actually sounds tasty right now... I wonder if there's any in the fridge...
- I'm going to be in bed no later than 10:30 every night, with the obvious but usually unfortunate exception of being up late due to homework. I'm hoping that isn't the case this year, as I'm not taking any classes that have any chance of containing work or projects that I don't get done right away. I mean, come on, I'm taking Consumer Math, I'll pass that with flying colors!
So yeah, that's my plan for school this coming fall. I'm changing my ways and I want to keep it that way forever. Yes, that's a lot to ask of myself, but I'll do my best to enact during school. I start my new job tomorrow, so I'll need to get these changes going sooner rather than later, but no later than Tuesday, September 3rd (the first day of school)! I know I can do this, I have faith that I can change and make a difference in my life. It's gonna happen, no matter how hard I find it to be. Don't believe me? You just wait and see.
