I didn't choose the IB Life. The IB Life Chose Me.

I haven't written in awhile. Sorry, but I didn't choose the IB Life. The IB Life chose me. Anyway, second year began with just as much stress as last year ended. For some reason, our teachers think it's better to put all our deadlines at the same time. Don't know why.

The perks of being a second year are numerous. Being half-way done is the obvious one. Also, we get to watch the innocent first years and laugh maniacally. I was listening to one girl talking about TOK, and how it was cool that they sat around and talked about the nature of truth. I found this hilarious for some bizarre reason. But that's the second year mentality. Really, anything is funny in the IB Life, because there comes a point where you'll laugh at anything just to relieve the stress. I also found myself in the position of having to help another first year kid pick out his extended essay topic, and I got all nostalgic.

I have so many projects to get done, books to read, college applications to complete, papers to write, tests to study for that I'm feeling a bit robotic. I'm being perfectly serious when I say that I actually need to miss school to get my homework done. That's the irony of it. Really, I can't focus in my classes because I'm distracted by my nauseating amount of work. I get home, and I'm exhausted from school and my job and CAS and from being so stressed out. Then I don't get homework done. IB is so strenuous that I now think of being at school as a waste of time when I could be working on IB.

Let's see, what's my to-do list look like? Well, I have a biology test tomorrow, a calculus test on wednesday, homecoming skits on thursday, homecoming game on friday, a math IA to put actual math in by friday, a history IA topic to pick, a Model U.N. paper to write along with a resolution, college applications including getting recommendations and writing multiple essays in time to get feedback by November 1, reading some books of literary note that I want on my college resume, my final EE for October 15, my final world literature essay October 16, a pseudoscience fair on October 22, a history IA due about that time, a book drive/fundraiser to organize, CAS, my dog-walking job, and starting Mock Trial up. Throw in a bunch of history readings, math homework assignments, a couple of essays, some unforeseen catastrophe and that sums up my life right now. The IB Life, that is. I don't really have a life at this moment.

"Evaluate to what extent has IB driven you mad? Discuss the ways of knowing." Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Fun Avoiding the Sun

So school is going to start in a week. 7 days left to live. I'm going to spend that time how I spent the rest of my summer: writing, reading a mix of comics and books and The New York Times, watching Netflix, and, of course, homework. Too bad I can't fit in another trip to New York, but I'll manage.

The first rough draft of the extended essay is complete. YES!!!!!! I feel like a weight is off my shoulders. Yet I know I still will work on it, perfecting it until the due date of August 15. Turns out I made amazing scores on my IB tests, my math paper was completed, and I made a top score on the ACT. I feel accomplished. I hope to feel like this at the end of my senior year. We shall see. You can look forward to another crazy year of my travails and lack of sleep.

Summer is Coming

Actually, it's already here. It hasn't really sunk in yet that I made it through my first year of IB. But after taking 5 exams along with my normal school finals, I am so ready for the break.

Yeah, I lied. Summer isn't a break. For some reason, the sanctity of summer free time is not understood by my teachers, who give out summer homework. In all fairness, I have a minimal workload as compared to other summers. Here's my to-do list:

Extended Essay: The role of terrorism in The Dark Knight  trilogy.

Math IA: Lewis Carol's view on math in Alice in Wonderland 

English Paper: The connection between Tolstoy's views of Westernization and how they're expressed in the characterization of Anna Karenina

CAS: Writing, kayaking, walking my fat lab, and assorted other tasks.

Is there anything else? Oh yeah. THE ACT IS COMING! I'm trying to keep cool, but getting scholarships and stuff is riding on my score. No pressure or anything.

Also, I have time for the blog again! Woohoo! I haven't posted in months, but in all fairness, I have taken 5 exams, prepared quite a few projects, and tried to remain sane while doing all this. The blog has additionally been expanded to tumblr. Don't worry. They will be updated in sync.

So visit the new version of I Think, Therefore IB: http://ithinkib.tumblr.com/

Hell Spring

Spring is coming...

That means I have a ridiculous amount of tests and projects due. That is why I haven't been posting recently, so I apologize.

Oh. That and my newfound obsession with that wonderful tv show Merlin. As an Arthurian legend fanatic and BBC worshipper, I'm not sure what took me so long to get to it.

Pi Day

HAPPY PI DAY EVERYONE!!! You should not hesitate to celebrate the greatest of irrational numbers by stuffing your face with pie. I will be stuffing my face with pi, because I have to study for a math test tomorrow.

Evolution Sucks

So we're talking about genetics in biology right now. Naturally, we discussed Thomas Morgan's experiments with fruit flies and his contribution to Mendelian genetics that the chromosome has a role in heredity .

Thomas Morgan

Teachers always talk about Morgan crossing homozygous red-eyed flies with homozygous white-eyed flies and how this led to his ultimate discovery. My question is, how on earth did Morgan make sure the right flies mated with each other? I imagine it looked a bit like this...

Studying genetics becomes an incredibly personal thing, because we all start to think about our own genetic makeup. This continues when we examine genetic disorders, and I can see the wheels start to turn in everyone's head. We were talking about one disease in particular, and the stats of its occurrence. We realized that in all probability that one of us in the class had it, and started to glance around nervously.

Learning genetics is one of the things that makes me want to avoid reproducing like the plague. Besides the whole career thing and trying not to conform to the expectation that I will have kids. Genetics is like a game of Russian roulette. You throw together some sperm and an egg and just hope for the best. Once you consider all the different mutations possible it begins to look bleak.

But it just may be that mutation that leads to the next step in evolution, that gives the human race an advantage in the times ahead. Who knows? We could end up with gills, but for the toxic pollution permeating our atmosphere.

Evolution sucks. I mean, we could have developed wings and laser eyes, but instead we ended up with a bigger frontal lobe and posable thumbs. Pssh. The whole superior intelligence thing is overrated.

Our teacher was explaining that evolution does not go for convenience. Well, Duh! If evolution was based on convenience we would not have evolved periods as an integral part of the placentals' reproductive systems. 

The White Noise of Political Correctness

If I had to characterize my school administration as an animal it would probably be a peacock. That's because they are intent on looking as best as possible, but in reality show a lack of intelligence that is sometimes disturbing. In no way do I want to insult peacocks with the comparison, but metaphor is all I've got right now.

So Friday there's going to be an IB photo shoot. It's for some book that parents and students can get about IB. Anyway, to be in the photo shoot you have to receive a letter of invitation. I was in chorus when these letters came, and when I saw the IB logo I expected it to be some trivial announcement or other. Much to my surprise I didn't receive one. It was when I asked my friend who did that I learned about this photo shoot. My first reaction was "I'm not that ugly!" But as soon as I said it, I realized the reason: it's because I'm white. Seriously. Only non-white kids in our chorus class got the letters, and I later learned that other non-white students had mostly gotten the letters. So all told there are 2 African-Americans, 2 Asians, 1 Indian, 1 Middle-Eastern kid, and 1 really tan white kid that I know of having been invited. 

Really, administration? Did you think we wouldn't notice how you were trying to make the program look unbelievably diverse? It's not that I'm offended, I just find it stupid. My minority friends find it insulting. I know that stock photos always are super diverse and everything, but the sad truth is that the IB program is mostly populated with white kids.

A Visual Approximation

I go to the most diverse high school in my county. Walking through the halls, I see all shades of skin, hear multiple languages, and last year I said good morning to a group of girls wearing hijabs on a daily basis, because we all went to the bathroom at the same time. But there is this elite academy of rich white kids that I happen to be in, because I'm taking advanced classes. It's sad that de facto segregation like this still exists in this day and age, and it's infuriating that the school administration just wants to ignore it. 

It's so laughably horrible that there's going to be a token white kid in these pictures that fail to represent the actual IB student body. Instead of trying to be politically correct without subtlety, we should focus on how to improve education for minority and low-income groups, because I have the rare blessing of receiving a wonderful education in America. The system is broken, and that is clearly evidenced by our rankings in subjects like math and science against other developed Western countries, who consistently score better. This de facto segregation will continue until education is improved for all students to ensure that all can achieve the level of success I have been able to, because I'm a WASP. Of course there is poverty to contend with as a major factor behind this, and governmental blundering. But as a student I would just like to say: 

D.C., GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME BECAUSE YOU'RE LETTING DOWN THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!

Oh, and while your at it, could you please work on the whole exorbitant college admission prices and unchecked student loans? That would be kind've nice, because of the aforesaid reasons. Yeah. I like getting an education. It's kind've an exclusive club.

Trigonometry Memes!

I have a trigonometry test this week. You can tell I've been studying. 

The Guide to Acceptable Situations to Swear for the IB Student.

In general, I'm against the casual use of profanity. To put it in my venerable mother's words, "it is a sign of a weak vocabulary." But there are some instances of profanity I do condone. I bring to you The Guide to Acceptable Situations to Swear for the IB Student.

Today I learned I got a 97% on my most recent Math test. And just when I was seriously wondering if Math Studies might be a less suicidal route. I saw the 62/64 on the test, and inside I was like

Totally killing a test is completely worthy of a good curse. Let your feeling out!

We play Jeopardy review games in history, and I was my team's choice for Final Jeopardy. The teacher read out the question, and everyone stood there stunned. Everyone but me. I quickly scribbled down the answer, gave it to the teacher, who gave me a small nod of approval when he read my answer. I did a little dance as I went to sit back down in my seat. When he read out the answer (Treaty of Greenville) it took all my self-restraint to not say, "Damn straight it's the Treaty of Greenville!" Why shouldn't I luxuriate in a little swearing, I just won my team 5 extra credit points on the unit test.

Then there are the ridiculous questions on tests where you just have to widen your eyes and throw up your hands in defeat. I think of these questions as "What the hell?" questions, because that is the first thought in my head when I see them. Completely acceptable.

Not that high schoolers need an excuse to swear, but at least these are appropriate instances for inappropriate language.

The War Against Boys?

So I was pouring through that source of awesomeness known as The New York Times, when I happened upon an article about how boys are much less likely to succeed in the school system since the Women's Rights Movement. It has to do with behavior, globalization, a broken system and how schools seem to have tried to help girls as much as possible, but haven't made any major attempts to help boys struggling with academia. 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/the-boys-at-the-back/?hp

I've read about this before in that wonderful book When Everything Changed, a book on women's rights movement from 1960 to now written by New York Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins. Apparently sometime in the 70s was when girls began to outdo boys academically, and it has continued to this day.

This is a very interesting scenario. It's bizarre that balancing opportunities has actually tipped the scale to the other side. It appears something must be done. Personally I would appreciate the reinstitution of recess in high school, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Champion

I may grumble about IB and complain that it's full of itself and pretentious and use less than savory words to describe it. I often says IB sucks. But I was very surprised to discover my abilities to defend the program tooth and nail to a non-IB student.

So I was talking about how I want to be Nicholas Kristof when I grow up (New York Times journalist who has championed human rights, most famously in Darfur and the plight of women in best-selling book and hit documentary Half the Sky), and this guy suggested I take Journalism as an elective. I explained that I was taking Chorus, and didn't have room for the class in my schedule. He then managed to characterize IB as a program people only took to look good for colleges, that it makes students sacrifice extra-curriculars for a bunch of bs, that you should just do what you're passionate about and colleges will pay attention to that. 

Well I responded with a passionate defense of a program that I have complained about at every opportunity. Wow. I may hate IB, but I'll be damned if I let anyone else attack it. Thankfully the argument resolved itself amicably, and that was that.

I guess I'm officially an IB student now. You know you're part of a group once you can bash it, but outsiders can't. IB is so messed up. But I get to say that, because that is the privilege I get for working my butt off in trigonometry.

So let me leave you people, no matter what group you're in or not in, however you identify yourself, with this music video from my drag queen role model RuPaul. We're all Champions.

P.S. You might want to fast forward the first 20 seconds, because whoever put this video on Youtube thought 20 seconds of a black screen was great entertainment. 

Math. Ha.

So we're delving into trigonometry. Yeah... Let's just say the real number line isn't wrapping around the circle. It's wrapping around my brain and strangling it. But there's hope yet. According to a New York Times article I read, infinity isn't real. It had interesting things to say, but they all went over my head. My talents lie in the humanities and science.

Why So Serious? MLA.

Finishing up my annotated bibliography for my extended essay on terrorism in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Rather than boring the internet with the details and intricacies of MLA citation, I will share with you things I have found in my research that should be in my paper, but never can be. This is the research I deserve, but not the one I need right now...

These are the birthday cakes for my twin and myself. We both love Batman, but I prefer chocolate cake with white icing, while my twin prefers the exact opposite. They're just ridiculously awesome, and we spent about half an hour making Dark Knight references relevant to cakes. 

"Some men just want to watch the candles burn."

"Yes, Mr. Wayne, it does come in chocolate."

"Why so delicious?"

"When your stomach is filled with deliciousness, then you have my permission to die."

"A birthday party is coming, Mr. Wayne."

"No one cared who I was until I put on this icing."

"The batter rises!"

IB Memes

I was burnt out at the end of last semester, and I expected to be ready to tackle the new one. Thankfully Thorin can put the truth of the matter so well.

Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

Back to school. Whoopie. But the new semester brings some new things. Apparently the school administration populated with Vogons decided to tangle us in even more red tape as far as security is concerned in response to the horrible tragedy in Connecticut.

I myself was thrown into mourning along with the world after the horrible events in Sandy Hook Elementary, feeling a deep ache of pain for those students who had just begun their journeys to knowledge. I remember when I was in Kindergarten. I was curious about everything and passionate about everything, and years later I still am curious and passionate about everything. It saddens me that those kids barely got the chance to begin exploring the world, because I have barely scratched the surface of life with all my years. Years they will never had. I also felt sorrow for the educators, because good teachers have made the difference for me. And now future generations have lost the helping hand of those teachers.

Back to my school. School already resembled prison, and now it really is starting to bear some startling similarities. I won't go into detail, but quite a few of these policies are senseless. It didn't help that our principal stated the reason for increased security as, "to keep not nice people out." Really? With the vast array of words contained within the English language, the head of authority chose the most patronizing combination monosyllabic words possible? Yes *insert fully justified teenage eye-roll here*. Though, allegedly, she got mixed up at the beginning of the sophomore class meeting and said, "The school is not safe." Awkward... I know I should be comforted, but really, I felt a little patronized.

Later that very day, we filled out a survey on the environment of the school. There were questions like how often you did drugs, if people discriminated against you, if you got beat up, if the teachers cared about you, etc. One question was along the lines of "Do you feel safe in your school?" After all this bureaucratic silliness I sure hope so. I kept filling in the "Never" option in answer to questions about whether or not I had been bullied, discriminated against, harassed, etc  in the last year. I began to feel I had missed out on the high school experience. Of course I was bullied and excluded to no end during elementary and middle school, because people treat you like dirt if you fail to conform. 

I had an epiphany while filling out the survey. I distinctly remember being degraded for my love of Star Wars in the 5th grade. I told this to a guy friend of mine nearby, and he scoffed at a love for Star Wars being a source of harassment. It was then I realized my love of the epic, galactic trilogy was taboo only for the reason of being a girl. Little girls who loved spiders, Shakespeare, and Star Wars weren't allowed. A bit girly for a storm trooper? If only they'd had those little surveys in elementary and middle school, because that's where my trial by fire occurred. Kids start tormenting others at an early age, and it's only because I found my niche at my high school that it stopped. 

Seriously, if you are feeling low because others won't accept you, don't hate yourself. I know it's Hell, but I came out of the fires, and burns heal with time.