Advice for High School Students

Dear kids in high school right now...

I have some advice for you. Advice I really wish someone had told me when I was in high school because it is kinda super important. It is about the very point of high school. See right now you're probably procrastinating doing some kind of homework that involves polynomial equations (functions? Something?) or reading some bit of assigned literature you'd otherwise be enjoying if only you didn't have to think about it. And for what? None of this is going to be relevant to your future employment right? You're not learning important things like how to do taxes? Well... yes, true. But does that make it pointless? No.

OK so you are simultaneously blessed and cursed right now because you're in high school and that seems like a difficult concept to grasp but it is true. See you're in a golden period of your life where not doing something you don't want to do has no immediate consequences. I managed to avoid doing multiple assignments, hand things in late, and generally not put in effort for half of my high school life. It's possible to get by without actually engaging properly, and some of you probably feel like doing that. "This isn't immediately relevant or obviously to my future so I don't need to do it." If things are hard you can just scrape by, graduate, and forget everything you ever learned about coefficients and all that other weird maths hoo-hah. I know I can't remember a damn thing about anything number related...

But here's the thing, and I'm putting it as nicely as possible so don't get offended... shut up about it and just do the work.

You heard me. Yes, High school may seem pointless learning a bunch of standardised stuff you really don't care about but that is simply a lack of forethought. I did high school. I survived. I'm out of it now and kinda in the real world. Thing is, the very point of high school is to suck. Yes. High school is designed to suck. That may seem blatantly obvious to you but it sucking is only a means to an end not the end itself. Sucking has a purpose. You are going to be faced with a bunch of horrible, bland, boring, uninteresting, and seemingly pointless hoops and loops to jump through which you don't want to do... and the point is to shut up and do it anyway.

Because that's life. High school is a life simulator. Sure, one day you may just get your dream job and there won't be any hoops to jump through so much as casually stroll past once you get there but until then things will most likely suck. You are inevitably going to be faced with things you don't like, like a difficult essay for a University course you're doing. A course actually designed to get you what you want. The real world requires work and the work isn't always going to be fun.

The grand practical skill given to you by high school is not whatever they are teaching you in class (though one class might appeal to you) but the skill of sitting down and doing something regardless of how you feel about it. I love my University courses, I really do. they're interesting and wonderful and looking back I have certainly learned a lot that I will take with me to a future career... but at times it has been awful, dreadful, and dull and I had to do it anyway to continue onwards to the good stuff... and that is just part of life. If you sit around being entitled and thinking you can cruise through things later on because high school lets you then when you step out into the real world you'll trip and fall face first into the ground. You'll be behind and need to figure out how to catch up, to sit down and work for hours on end despite your problems with the task at hand.

They're teaching you how to study. They're teaching you how to work. If they cannot give you a passion for their subject than at the very least that is the gift you must take away from high school.

So next time your schoolwork sucks remember that it sucks for a reason... and do it anyway.

Why I Don't Like Running

The answer isn't "because it sucks."

Even though it kinda does.

So in primary school I used to be a lot more active because I was a small child, and small children are like miniature nuclear reactors and if they don't expel copious amounts of energy they explode and kill anyone in a 10m radius. Somehow, despite being like every other kid who runs around, I got fatter than others (I've naturally fixed that now). So despite my efforts not to irradiate my neighbourhood with Smallchildium 245 I just wasn't very good at it. But sometimes things can be fun even if you're not good at them, right? Right.

Well running is compulsory in school. PE classes demand that I embarrassingly participate in sports regardless of aptitude. That would just be a distant unpleasant memory but they didn't just make it compulsory but competitive.

Every year there's a sports carnival where everyone is forced to compete in multiple events and most of all: running. It isn't just a bad class for the entire school, it is a spectator event for everyone's parents to come out and cheer on their kids and film it for prosperity on VHS tapes they've long since stashed away in some chest in the back of the closet along with their only semi-working VHS player they'll uncover one day and relive all the horribly low-quality nostalgia. Thing is, I know I suck. My parents know I suck. My classmates know I suck. Why are you forcing me to show off how much I suck in front of their entire school and their relatives? It didn't motivate me to get better at running, it only made me want to hide whenever it was Sports Day...

Forced competition isn't good for self esteem, especially when you know you're going to lose. See, the only person who really benefits from a school-wide competition is the people who know they're going to win and no one else's parents really need to be there to film it. I suppose you could congratulate the middle kids on their "hard work and effort. It's good that you tried" but when you're so bad and embarrassed in front of hundreds of people "you tried" doesn't give a positive reinforcement about effort it just makes trying seem pointless and leaves a negative association.

I have two 2nd place ribbons. Each one is a slap in the face.

Because an entire year group can't run one on one race track at the same time we had divisions based on skill. I believe I was in E division. That is the worst one. I won those ribbons in year 6 and 7. Coming 2nd doesn't really mean much to a person if there's only two people in the race including yourself (year 6). The next year I one-up'd myself and managed to actually beat someone in a race of 3. Problem is that kid had had heart surgery a few years back... I had only just beaten him.

I don't remember which race it was but at one point I was just so far behind, struggling, tired, and humiliated by the fact that the race had basically finished already and every second I spent running was just another one where every scream and cheer was directed at me. Everyone was looking at me fail and I didn't take it well. I stopped. I couldn't do it. I'd already lost, why even bother to run those last 15 metres?

There wasn't one. I still can't think of a reason.

They didn't let me live that down until I graduated and moved onto highschool where no one remembered it had ever happened.

Competing in general isn't pointless... as long as you have some basic skill in what you're doing. I knew I wasn't good at sports. I had little co-ordination, I wasn't very fit, and I hated doing things in front of others. The idea of enforcing sports into schools is probably now firmly embedded because we're trying to teach kids to be physically active and healthy and that's good... but the way the entire idea is enforced is terrible. It praises the naturally athletic and it humiliates the pudgy and emotionally insecure. Every year I'd be forced to compete. I tried so hard not to be part of it because every single year it just drilled into my brain: you are a loser. Every single one of your peers is better than you. You suck.

Maybe... just maybe... I'd be a fitter person and enjoy sports so much more if only they hadn't forced me to do it in school. Running made me hate myself and gave the other kids a quantifiable measure to make me feel inferior to them.

In highschool these sports carnivals were less enforced. As the years went by I managed to get out of more and more events until I didn't compete at all and took the day as a day off. The less I competed in sporting events I knew I couldn't do well in the more I started liking myself as a person.

I don't hate all sports, even though I generally don't want to do them these days. Team sports were fun because I wasn't singled out and ridiculed. I could participate and it wasn't me losing it was the team losing. No one pointed and laughed me afterwards if the team lost. I didn't have to be good I just needed to contribute. I liked team sports...

But running is one of the worst things that ever happened to me as a child and it took me years to recover from the emotional pain it put me through...

Graduation.

5 years.

5 years it took. From the very first day, wandering around in the midst of people larger than me, feeling quite tiny even for my above average height, to this day. 20th November. This was a good day.

We were children. It seemed so weird going from year 7, top of the food chain in Primary school, to being the bottom and realising that suddenly you were in a pool that you had to swim in when you didn't know how but you needed to learn. The worst part was this was the shallow end, but were blissfully unaware of how deep it gets. How much work and effort is involved in that last year. In that last month. Those 5 years. Those 5 years are to acclimatise you to the final 5 exams. I learnt to swim. I learned to float. I learned to freestyle through to the very end, proud, victorious, happy, content.

I finished exams with a smile. I sat and wrote and wrote. I was the only person I knew who seemed content with all their exams. Though arduous and dificult it was to study and concentrate for so long- it was fun when it was only 3 hours from being over, the same time you pick up that pen hoping that it works (hoping that ALL the pens work)

I haven't truly, PROPERLY celebrated my freedom since exams finished. I wish to start soon. Tomorrow. Exams ended just over a week ago but highschool is now FULLY OVER!

I have grown. As a person, as a student, and physically. In all senses of the word I am now the giant. 5 years ago I looked up at the giants in their leavers jackets and never stopped to think about what it would be like that moment it all ended. That time has come and now I am that giant. I am that man who towers above the newcomers, the one who gets to dispense advise and wisdom I KNOW the little 12 year olds will only ignore because they haven't quite adjusted to the idea that they are small fry. Everything is a matter of perspective and children rarely manage to see just how small they are until they have grown.

Over a hundred former students of Duncraig got to look up and see each one of their classmates photos meld from year 8 to present. We got to see ourselves age in a matter of seconds. Many laughs were had, many embarrassed moments were shown, many different phases of hair were shown. Some hairstyles changed colour or shape each year, others just got larger and larger, some were really short to begin with- something none of us could remember- then suddenly, BOOM! The huge hair we are all familiar with. We have changed. We all have. We are definitely giants now.

I don't remember mine but I was told my hair started small then got larger, then smaller, then larger, then I had a beard then it was present with long hair and beard. I don't remember much as I stood there waiting for my diploma. Standing at the stairs to the stage where all the students and their parents would see me take the coveted piece of paper saying that I endured and SUCCEEDED at those 5 years, I remembered to tell myself fear was irrational, a creation of the mind. I'm walking up, I'm getting a piece of paper. This is all. No fear is needed.

My name is called and I remember walking up those stairs. The next thing I remember is trying to hug the principal as a joke, something I had come to previously when waiting near someone. "Oh you should do the moonwalk!" he said to someone else. "Nah, nah!" "You should hug the principal" I said. "That's a great idea! No, I can't do it you do it!" "OK!" So I decided, this is what I will do. I take my diploma and pose for a photo while shaking his hand. I turn to him and hold out my arms expectantly. He tells me to walk down the stairs now. "Hug me." (Pause) OK I know he's not going to. I leave the stage and the audience's laughter follows as they realise I just got rejected. Always got something to do differently. I always get my laugh one way or another.

I also don't remember the short sentences they said about my future ambitions and goals that we had to write down on a form. But I was told that it included going to Scottland and New Zealand to make films. Lorna found that very sweet that I had put down Scottland as a future place of residence.

The ceremony dragged on at times but in the end it was worth it. I've got a yearbook, I've got a few new memories, I've got another story to tell, I've got a new pair of shoes. I still don't know how to wear a tie but I'm sure one day I'll learn. I didn't get top media student for year 12, but that's OK. I only was beaten by a very small amount and it was great to compete with Jacob. He is my rival. If anyone had to beat me I'm glad it was him. He truly is incredibly talented and it was absolutely awesome to be the man he always aimed to beat and vice versa.

Who knows what the future holds? Nothing is certain after all, but some things can be held to be more probable. Highschool will most definitely not be the greatest years of my life. I won't let it. I will continue to enjoy life more and more. I will always find a way to look at something just slightly different to everyone. I will always enjoy life. I will achieve everything I can. I wish the best for all the ambitions of all my friends. Shane, who dreams of becoming employed by Google or Blizzard, has a great chance of achieving this and it would be absolutely awesome if he achieved it. Blizzard and Google are definitely the best of the best in their fields and it will be hard, but I know he can get there. Just like I know I can make those films I want.

I can do nearly anything. Afterall, I am now a giant.

First Day of School

Last year of school...

...First day of pain...

OK first off, woot I have the same english teacher for the 4th year in a row this year so I'm extremely happy about that :D Anyhoo... public transport. It's made of evil and combined with a bit of sadism with the added danger of there being absolutely no seatbelts! (Buses are just waiting to kill you... the drivers are jittery to suddenly brake and break you) I remember first day of highschool... missed the bus and spent ages trying to get home. Ended up being driven home by one of the teachers.

Fifth year of highschool and you'd think public transport would be fine by now but no. No public transport will never be fine and I am going to buy a car as soon as I can (first I need a job...) so I no longer need to be a slave to the evil overlord known as Transperth. (Curse you fiend! Curse those who dare to allow me to get to places on time! How dare you transport me to places I wish to go to!) OK. First day back I'm walking to the bus and nothing seems out of place...

... until before I get to the underpass (that goes under the incredibly incredibly busy road that the bus goes along) I see my bus driving past. I have to run as fast as I can up the rest of the hill, through the underpass, and up to the busstop. Unfortunately I'm not an olympic sprinter so this task was physically impossible. OK now I'm really annoyed. I've missed my bus and it's up to 45 minutes to the next one and it's over 30 degrees and I'm thirsty. I decide that walking back to school for a bit won't hurt. I get there, have a drink, wander around, speak with the media teacher ect then slowly make my way back to the busstop. At this point in time my two broken shoes are starting to annoy me (one had a gash in it so every step would annoy my foot whereas the other shoe just had broken shoelaces so it was falling apart...) but it doesn't matter... then I go under the underpass, up to the busstop...

... and before I get there I see my bus driving straight past me! MY SECOND BUS! AGGHHH!!!! I had JUST missed it by 5-10 seconds so I litterally yell quite loudly at it "NOOO! BLOODY HELL YOU SON OF A B***! F***! F***! F***! BAS*******!!!!!" (yes children.... I use expletives :P and my list of rude words is quite large.... I even occasionally use shakespearean insults...)

OK, descision: SCREW waiting another 45 minutes or more for a 3rd bus I'm going to walk home... alllllll the way down Marmion and past Whitfords...

... in the boiling heat and extreme sun....

.... with no sunscreen or anything and the inability to tan...

... with broken shoes.....

... and I've been walking around all day so I'm tired as hell....

OK! Down the road we go! Strangely enough who would've thought that walking down a road that takes you 10-15 minutes to get to school along at 80 kilometres per hour would take a long time to walk along? Hahaha not me! Because I'm and idiot! A complete and total idiot!

An hour later, still walking an in so much pain everywhere and constantly swearing under my breath and verbally announcing just how much I hate everything... I realise that if I had waited for that 3rd bus I'd most likely be at home or nearly at home by now... GREAT!!! OK I finally get to the library and I'm like "Yes! Yes!" I trundle in and find the drink fountain that (on any other day) would be far too freezing to drink too much from but it's bloody hot and who cares if it's freezing as anything? That's a good thing! Yaaayyy!!!....

.... now just another 20 minutes of walking and I'm home...

*deep breathe as I ease my way off the bench I had found outside the library*

Must... Kill... Everything....

Then after walking for about... an hour and a half I finally have made it home! Yay! Freedom! A place to sit down! AGH I'M SUNBURNT!!! My arms are bright red and all hurty... hurty not good... I'm on fire and it's uncomfortably hot....

... at least I don't have to walk anywhere :)