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.

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!"

Why So Serious? I'm in IB.

The Extended Essay. Duhn. Duhn. Duhn. It's like my high school thesis, and all IB diploma candidates have to write one to get their diploma. It's supposed to be somewhere around 4,000 words, and you can write it on anything you want. For the longest time I struggled with what to write my essay on, because I am interested in SO many things. It's like I went from "Oh, fashion and feminism might hold some possibilities" to "what can I write about with the Arab Spring and The Hunger Games?" It was like a stream of consciousness piece of writing, flowing from one idea to the next, with a thin thread connecting the concepts. Finally, I was eating dinner at a local pizza place when the idea struck me. I gasped aloud and yelled really quickly "TERRORISM IN THE DARK KNIGHT!!!!"

Since then I've been on a wild roller coaster ride. My Process Paper was due on November 1, and I had to title it using a 6 word memoir. Not to brag, but mine was brilliant. Why So Serious? I'm in IB. Yeah, that just says it all. The title of the actual paper will be even awesomer. Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn: An Analysis of the Role of Terrorism in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Boom!

So I went to the library to do some research. When I found the terrorism section I was greeted with this:

I had to stand there in shock for about 5 minutes. Inside I was like, "Whaaaa?" THERE WERE SO MANY BOOKS!!!! Eventually I found a starting place and claimed a study station. I sat there, scribbling notes and listening to the soundtrack of The Dark Knight (never underestimate the power of good background music while studying). I had finished off my white chocolate mocha frappuccino from the good people at le Star Bucks, and naturally I had to pee. Fearing for the safety of my stack o' books while I was gone, I left this warning to any overeager librarians on a mission to re-shelve every book in sight:

There are added benefits to writing about Batman, after all. It did give me a pretty good excuse to buy a Batman mask at ye olde Party City. After I had selected a suitable mask and had begun to walk away, an employee called after me and said, "Do you need a grappling hook?" Very tempting, but I declined. The mask was super awesome until my dog ate it (first time a canine of mine has eaten my homework). I have developed a decent Batman voice -

Just like that.

Down the Rabbit Hole...

One of the central requirements of IB is the Extended Essay. Basically, you have to write a 4,000 word essay on a topic of your choice, and you have something under a year to do it in. This has been a major issue for all of us, as we've been floundering for ideas. Thankfully, our simply fabulous school librarian arranged for us IB Diploma victims to head to a nearby university's library. It was awesome because A) I didn't have to go to classes or go to Latin that morning. And B) because the university library has an incredible 3 million volumes on any and every subject you can possibly think of. It was fantastic. They let us loose in the library and like hounds on a hunt we chased after our prey: knowledge. There were so many different areas of interest I chose one at random, and immersed myself in books about the Holocaust and WWII. I wasn't planning on doing my EE in that area (I would love to, but I had other things in mind), but those thick, dark volumes with titles like Double Jeapordy: Gender in the Holocaust were just too tempting to ignore.

Libraries are the best and this one was HUGE. I am of the opinion that this library ought to supply shopping carts, because there were so many books I liked and only so many I could carry. Eventually I began focusing on my potential essay idea: The politics and terrorism in The Dark Knight trilogy. I'm seriously going to write my high school thesis on Batman? Yes, I am at this moment, or unless the muses of IB strike me over the head with a better idea. But think about it. Villains like Ra's al Ghul and Talia al Ghul want to destroy Gotham because they believe it is a broken center of corruption and vice, and think it is the mission of the League of Shadows to do the task. Remind you of anyone? And all that revolutionary, power of the people stuff in The Dark Knight Rises? Do the French and Russian Revolutions ring any bells? What about the fact that Bruce Wayne is filthy rich, and all the good characters are capitalist fat cats? See, it is a good idea. It tackles global issues that are forefront in politics right now, and it gives me a legitimate excuse to watch The Dark Knight movies over and over again.

I spent a great deal of time wandering through the political sections and a friend found me a great book about the philosophy of Batman while she was in the comic sections. Lunch was awesome. We got pizza from cafeteria and ate outside, soaking up some sun after hours bent over dusty tomes. The afternoon was spent on laptops searching the databases. I was successful there too. I think we all got lots of valuable information, and had a fantastic time.

But this is the beginning of a very long and arduous process. We will spend the next several months delving into our topics and becoming experts on minute details. Who knows? I may be sick of Batman by the time it's all said and done. But at least we got one final sunny day out of it.