Journal #43- Standardized Test Stuff

Taking standardized tests to assess mental health issues is not really a fair way of assessing a persons mental ability.  During World War II these tests were used to determine if youth could join the military or not.  This was not a very fair way of doing it as the graders tended to determine test scores by race instead of intelligence level.  Today, standardized tests are no longer used to assess the mental health of a person, which is a good thing.  Some people are just not good test takers, so you cannot just base a persons mental health on a test score.  Also, mental health is a lot more complicated than physical health.  It is too hard to base an entire person's being on one standardized test.  If I were to take or make a standardized test for mental health, I would cover the topics of common sense and basic decision making.  These questions would not be hard to answer for a person without any disabilities. Question one would ask if the person had been diagnosed with any previous mental illness.  After reading the SQ story, I was surprised at how the insanity problem escalated so quickly.  Dr. Speakie was working with good intentions at the beginning, but fear and gaining power gradually drove him to have alternative motives.  The SQ test was not really a fair way of testing people.  When almost the entire population of the world deemed insane, they should have changed their test.  This topic can also compare to the standardized tests that we have to take for school.  It really is not fair to give one test to test every student the same age, regardless of their ability level.  These tests are also given with good intentions, but their results have been kind of warped in recent years.  It is interesting to see how these problems are the same as they were years ago.

Journal #42- more heroes

In a time many years in the future, there lived a boy that did all the right things for all the wrong reasons.  This boys name was Sassafras.  He was sixteen years old when he encountered his first problem.  In a time of war, both his parents had gone off to fight on a distant planet.  They were declared missing in action after they were lost in a space shuttle battle.  Sassafras was were depressed by this and he believed the evil alien species of frogs was responsible for his parents missing.   These frogs had attempted to take over the earth and he was promised to avenge his parents by scourging the frogs from the planet.  It was definitely the right thing to do as the frogs had been responsible for countless incidents that had nearly wiped out the human race.  Sassafras was determined to become the hero of  the land by saving earth.  The only problem was that  he did this for the wrong reasons.  He was determined to act out of revenge instead of being motivated by compassion or try to compromise with the evil frogs.  He trained long and hard in the obstacle course in his backyard and eventually he was fit enough to take on the frogs.  He was armed with nothing more than pepper spray and a soda for the ride.  He jumped in his brand new sports hovercraft and went out to save the world.  With the help of a few friends, he was able to repel the forces of frogs from the planet and save the day.  In the end, Sassafras was welcomed as a hero like so many others of our time.  He had vanquished an evil foe, but at the sacrifice of his motives.  His great works can be compared to Batman and Ironman of our materialistic world.

Journal #41- Hero

Heroes are the ultimate role models.  They are above the class of normal humans and seem to have superhuman qualities.  In today's society, heroes can be regular people, or they can be the super humans we see on TV.  This includes batman, superman, spiderman, and the list goes on and on.  My favorite fictional super hero is probably batman.  Really he is just a normal guy in a pretty awesome suit and car.  He has all this cool technology that makes him so much better than all the enemies he versus.  The new Batman movies are cool, which is why I like batman the best.  Now off the topic of super hero, and onto the topic of normal everyday heroes.  A hero can also be classified as a person who goes out of their way to help others.  This is a quality that less and less people seem to possess these days.  One normal hero that comes to mind was the pilot of the airplane that crash landed in the Great Lakes a few years back.  He kept his calm and was able to save a bunch of peoples lives with his quick thinking and actions.  Other heroes include members of the military.  They are willing to put their life on the line for the good of the United States.  Heroes in essence, represent something bigger than themselves.  They represent the ideals of good defeating evil even when faced with unprecedented odds.  In today's society most people just think of super heroes when the word hero is mentioned, but it is some much more than this.  Every person can be a hero, just by showing that they care more about others than they do about themselves.  Back of the topic of examples, another group of heroes include firefighters.  They are willing to put their life on the line for the good of the people they are trying to save.  By placing someone else as more important than themselves, they are a hero.

Journal #40- Free Write

This journal I will talk this track season.  Track started way back in November for me.  I started getting back in shape two weeks after cross- country state, and have been running ever since.  Official practice started back in January with the rest of the team.  I knew this had to be my season to succeed, so I can run in college.  I have been practicing as hard as I can in our hard workouts.  At this point I can tell that it has been paying off, because I have already dropped my four hundred meter time by 1.5 seconds.  The start of the season went well.  I qualified for indoor state in the 4x800 and 4x400.  At state, my 4x800 relay placed seventh, but my 4x400 was disqualified.  In my 800 split, I ran a 2:05, so I was pretty happy.  My outdoor personal record was a 2:03 last year.  Then outdoor season started, in which we have had two meets.  This past Monday I ran a 53.6 four hundred meters, and was pretty happy with it.  My goal by the end of the season is to run under two minutes in the eight hundred meter run and under 52 in the four hundred meter run.  These will be pretty difficult goals to achieve, but I think I can do them if I work hard enough in practice and peak at the right time.  I am hoping to qualify for state in all three of my events.  Last year our team went undefeated in the regular track season, so we have a big reputation to uphold.  We have a number of great athletes, so I am excited for the rest of this season.  I realize that it comes down to the effort I put into practice, and my attitude at my races that will determine how I finish this season off.  We have a big invitational meet tomorrow in Pana, and I am ready to run fast.  There is supposed to be a lot of competition in it, so I am excited about what I can do.  Then next weekend is the biggest invitational we attend.  My goal that day is to break the school record in the 800.  This will be a very painful race, but if I can do it, it will definitely be worth it. 

Journal #39- Spring Break

This spring break came at the perfect time.  I needed a break from school for a while to regain my composure and get ready for this last sprint of six weeks.  I am not ready for this school year to be over, and it flew by too fast.  I did have a very good spring break though.  It started out with a movie night at my house where a bunch of friends and I watched Les Miserables.  It was a really good movie.  The next day I just relaxed and did a little chemistry homework.  Then on Saturday I went to a track meet where I ran a personal record in the 400.  It was a pretty good day.  On Easter my family and I made chocolate donuts and went to church.  We also had an Easter egg hunt, which was fun.  That afternoon, I went and hung out with friends and played Ultimate Frisbee.  The rest of the week consisted of procrastinating on my homework and hanging out with friends.  It was nice to get the chance to relax at home instead of running around from school to sporting events.  I also ran everyday, which felt good to get out and exercise.  Over the course of the week I also saw a number of movies that were very good.  This included The Host and GI Joe Retaliation in theaters, along with Taken 1 and Taken 2 at a friends house.  As a whole, I had a great time over spring break, and am not really ready to come back to school.  With just six weeks left, it is hard to stay focused on school work.  This is not good because I have two AP tests coming up and I have to be at the top of my game for them.  Spring break provided a great opportunity to take a break from the craziness of life, but I guess it is good to be back on a regular schedule again. 

Journal #38- Job Shadowing

Last Thursday I went to CMT Engineering for my job shadowing experience.  I learned a lot while I was there, as I was able to go around and talk to multiple types of engineers.  I talked to an aviation, electrical, sewer, mechanical, and civil engineer.  From this experience I found out that all engineers share basic similarities.  This includes good communication skills, being organized, and knowing how to make and read construction models.  During the morning of my job shadow, I went around to all these different types of engineers.  Then I went to the Corner Pub with the person I was mainly following.  In the afternoon, we went out to the Spring Creek Sewer Plant out past the airport.  This has been CMT's biggest job for the past five years, as over fifty engineers had worked on it.  The sewer treatment plant is nearly completed, so it was cool to see just how sewage water is cleaned.  I took a field trip to this location two years ago when it was under construction, so it was awesome to see how it has changed.  Through this experience, I learned a lot about the engineering workplace, and was told time and time again, that no amount of schooling can fully prepare you for the hands on workplace.  The best way to learn is to try and fail, and try again.  After visiting CMT engineering, I am a little more interested in the engineering field.  Sitting in a desk all day is not really what I want to do, but engineers get the opportunity to go and see their projects being built, so I liked this aspect of it.  Another reason why engineering appeals to be is because I enjoy math and science courses.  These two areas are vital for an engineer.  The best part about engineering is that there are so many different types.  I enjoy chemistry and biology a lot, so maybe I will look into Bio-medical, and Bio-tech engineering.  Going to CMT was a great real- life experience.

Journal #37- Blue Monk

Many unique images come to mind when I was listening to Blue Monk.  During the introduction, I was thinking of an old run down western town, with very few inhabitants.  I imagined a person walking down the street and the only noise around was this song playing from a near by saloon.  As the song progressed I changed my opinion and the image of the back streets of New York came to mind.  Since the Harlem Renaissance played an important part of the jazz age, I guess this image makes sense.  In this section of the song, I pictured a tomcat walking down the alley, like an image out of the Aristocats.  The calm sense that the song portrays makes the image seem like it is night time, and all around is quiet.  As the song progresses, I get the image that I am in an empty saloon that has a lone piano player just playing away.  To me, the song almost seems depressing, yet their are many exciting parts to it.  As the bridge of the song plays, I got a picture of an old fashion tap dance show.  Im not sure where this image came from, but the beat of the song makes it fit.  During the quiet, slower section of the song, I saw a cat sneaking up behind a mouse, once again in the backstreets of New York City.  It continues to trail the mouse for sometime as the music stays quiet and in a steady beat.  When the dynamics increased, I pictured the chase getting closer and when the melody comes back, I saw the image of the cat and mouse cut out to credits like at the end of a movie.  For the remaining seconds of the song, I saw an image of the credits rolling down the screen until the music cut out.  I was surprised at the amount of imagery that comes to mind after just listening to a song.