"Why Don't You be the Writer, and Decide the Words I say..."

Dear Serious Sonneteers,

Do you ever reach a point where there's no more "up" from here?

It's almost like you've been climbing a mountain. You've prepared yourself for months, conditioning your body to handle the challenging elements so you can face any obstacle head on. You are proud of each step even if it may be misplaced, because you are still moving towards a goal. You push forward despite the looming possibility of failure. You fight against doubt. Simply imagining the top is enough to boost your morale.

And then you reach it, the idolized precipice. It surpasses your expectations, satisfies a dream tucked profoundly within the folds of your heart. Not only have you made it, you've proved to yourself that you are capable of something great.

Yet, another thought soon consumes you. Without a goal, without anymore rock to climb, there is only one direction to go. What a horrible realization that no matter how much you've labored to climb, you will at some point have to stumble back down. From that point on, the feat doesn't seem as significant. You are a person who has climbed a mountain, but who's world is slowly falling to pieces.

I am a person who has climbed a mountain and is waiting to tumble back to earth. Ellie Golding seems to understand my predicament, or at least listening to her song "The Writer" is causing me to have delusions of sympathetic singers. Anyways, it's been a rough week and I'm starting to doubt the significance of success. Hopefully you're in a better mind set.

Please post some sunshine soon,

arctic hipster

P.s. Kudos to any of you who noticed the new font.

Breakfast Dance Party

Dear Dancing Manics,

This morning Student Council helped wake up a bunch of stressed out teenagers.

For the last couple years the council has been serving cereal, fruit and yogurt during exam week to "feed young brains". The program is pretty successful considering the majority of high school aged students have a tendency to sleep in, rushing to school without having eaten breakfast. Not only does skipping a meal slow brain function, it also can drastically affect mood. High School students' bodies are already running rampant with hormones that cause them to lose concentration on normal lessons, not to mention we have the attention spans of nats. However, we still become engulfed by various education experiences, although not academic. For example "How To Text While Having Eyes Remain on the Board", "The Effects of Red Bull and Monday Mornings" and my personal favorite, "How to conjure the Correct Answer When a Teacher Singles You Out for Clearly Being Stuck in La la Land". From a teacher stand point, the odds are already stacked against students when it comes to school and a lack of food only worsens the situation. 

Lack of food + Stressed out Teenager = Incredibly Difficult Exam. 

To relieve some of the tension in the school this morning, my friend and I suited up in complete 80's aerobics wear and blasted some dance music. Not only did the crazy costumes attract students to the food table, but they also caused some giggling. Between the two of us we had sparkly safety orange head bands, two pairs of bright purple tights, teal body suits and some rad rasta fire sneakers. The atmosphere was incredibly lightened compared to  a typical exam morning. My friend and I were dancing while dishing up cheerios and milk, kids were shyly grooving as they moved towards the gym, and teachers were bopping as they passed our table. A real breakfast dance party to sneak in a bit of fun before taking a desk in the gym. 

Well... we had fun at least. Perhaps not everyone was as pumped as we were, but you have to admit it'd probably would make the exam seem a lot less scary when there are two eccentric girls wearing fluorescent outfits offering you cereal bars. Besides, spandex in the morning is great way to start your day!

Dance, even if you're by yourself,

Arctic Hipster