C'est fini!

I like this feeling of being done with it. It was a lot of hard work and strugglefications (yes, that's right, I made a word up) but I do think the end result was way better than anyone could've possibly hoped given our practices, proving that God is a God who can use people to do good and even great things. Now that we're done and midterm evaluations are over, I can get back to my good old gaming ways, especially with the new [white] PSP. Oh baby.

Speaking of midterms, I've got an inkling that this semester's marks aren't going to be quite as hot as last semester's. This is probably due to my two grade 11 IB level courses (i.e. Economics and French). Then again, I'm nearly top of my class in economics (based on the results of our tests) and I'm doing decently (I think) in french. What I'm passive-agressive about is actually History. IM[MHBNR]O -- that is, "in my [most humble but not really] opinion" -- this course is a total waste of time in the way my teacher teaches it. Not only is she self-imposing and conniving in the way she deals with students, and not only does she penalize (more on this word and others like it later) students like me for no reason, she's also a witch, not to mention the fact that she's a perverted old hag who puns and puns, feigning innocence and naivete.

I mean, I'd like to succeed in this course, and I'm sure I could, if I just grovel and suck up to her slime covered hooves, but I refuse. Some kids are okay with being teachers' pets and living their lives like that, but I prefer earning respect and accepting correction where they are due, of course. Such a relationship I've been able to establish with all my other teachers. I don't exactly behave very properly or upright in class (mostly because that gets stale very quickly) but my other teachers and mentors know me enough to not take that as a sign of disrespect. I certainly don't mean to come off as rude and insolent.

I show that I do care about the course material and whatnot not by participating excessively in class or whatever it is people do to get attention, but by doing my best whenever it counts. I've had a pretty good academic record, so it's not like I'm a juvenile delinquent that causes trouble or ignores the teacher for kicks. I'm just very easily bored when the class doesn't move at the pace I'd like.

Of course, others may need more time to absorb because that's just the way they learn, and I'm cool with that. I just hate it when teachers try to constrict and control me. If others need to go over things one more time, by all means, go ahead. Just don't expect me to pay attention to something doesn't interest me. You wouldn't if you were me. Of course, if you're a teacher and you'd just like me to pay attention or at least act like it, then just tell me to nicely and I will. There's no need to resort to being a conniving b*tch, so please, don't be a conniving b*tch. My other teachers are actually very understanding when it comes to this kind of stuff, but not this teacher. This teacher is... unprofessional is the only term I can think of without being really rude and crude.

Here's an example. She likes to give perfect marks to people who write sentences like "If you have two pizzas, you can use one to trade and still have another pizza left over." within formal writing assignments that have absolutely nothing to do with pizzas, and yet she takes marks off of my friend and I for writing "with confusing style". It's not incomprehensible linguistic flare that kills me, it's a retarded teacher who has no idea what she's doing. But don't get me wrong, I'm not angry. Not at this anyway.

This, however, did get me going. She writes "page 138 # 1-4" on the chalk board and changes the page number right before class is over, without letting the class know that she had made a mistake before. I, for once, actually do the homework, but from the wrong page. When I go to explain, this is what I get:

"Yeah, I did the work on the board. I didn't know you changed the page number."
"Mmhmm, but the work was on page 145."
"Well, I just did what was on the board. I'm sorry."
"Alright, well try and pay more attention next time." [insert fake smile with the connotation similar to "Haha, stupid you."]
"..." [insert turn and leave with the connotation similar to a "Haha, f*ck you."]

Of course, in traditional unfairness, she gives the homework mark to someone else that did exactly the same thing I did. I have now decided that History (taught by this unworkable and unprofessional slattern of a woman) is such a worthless subject that I refuse to apply myself in this course. At least not seriously. It's not that I get only bad marks in it, since I have nailed a good number of high 90's in this course -- and all on concrete evaluations such as multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank parts of tests, which really says something about the way this teacher operates. I get 95-100% on all things that are either right or wrong, but on subjective things like written assignments I get marks like 75%. Of course, this might be because I'm a bad writer, but I think my writing skill is pretty much on par with anyone else in the class. In fact, I received the highest mark in the grade this year for grade 10 Pre-IB English, which clearly shows that I've got some kind of skill when it comes to writing.

In fact, my peers almost always ask me to help revise their pieces for them. I pretty much rewrote my friend's piece and he got 100% on that one. I didn't revise a second one and he ended up with something around 65% for that one. My friend, Kishon, was so outraged at my repeat mark of 75% that he was going to show my piece to his english teacher (the head of the english department at my school) to get feedback on whether it was my style that was confusing or the teacher's intellect that was and is lacking [severely]. She just doesn't like me, that's all.

In the end, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about this class and can only wait for the entire thing to be over. What the heck am I going to use a grade 10 credit in Canadian History for? It's not like I'll be pursuing a career in... professional historying?

It's not that I hate her guts. I just don't like her dirty jokes.

Note: About the dirty jokes, she draws penis-shaped diagrams and she writes stuff on the board like "Please me, ______ and ______" when she wants people to put their answers on the board. That's not just iffy diction or misinterpretation of words anymore. It's just blatantly obscene and explicitly sexual. Now imagine that coming from a pug-faced dunderhead of a woman. I puke now.