I've been wondering lately, What would cause Mr. Bowman to kick me out of the band program next year? I'm trying to get my Associates before I go to college, so I don't have very many free periods. I was, at the time at least, only able to fit Jazz Band into my schedule. But my band teacher said that unless I also do Wind Symphony, he won't let me play in Jazz Band. I don't understand. I'm pursuing a much higher education than most high school students, and he isn't even willing to work around it? He said that the last time someone said they couldn't do it because of their Associates, they ended up joining the choir. But that was someone else. I guess I can understand that it may seem I'm not as dedicated to band by not taking Wind Symphony, but at the current moment, I can't fit it into my schedule. I guess he also has a policy where he gives people in Wind Symphony the majority and there already is 4 trombones from Wind Symphony wanting to do it. But I still don't understand, when he's been saying that I've become one the better bass trombonists that he has had, but he won't let me into the jazz band. Well, I guess I may never find out. Oh well.

I wondered today why some AP tests are a surprise while others are the easiest thing to take. Take the one I took today for example. I took a couple practice tests and did lots of reviews before I took the test today. In all of my studying, the multiple choice questions were slightly harder and the free-response ones were slightly easier, but they were fairly similar. When I actually took the test today, not only did they switch, but it was multiplied by 100. The multiple choice questions were really easy, and the free response ones were the hardest thing I have ever done. Maybe they just want to keep you on your toes or something. Maybe they also were just trying something new, and everyone that took it this year were the guinea pigs. I don't know what exactly was in those professors' heads. I guess the College Board could've had new professors write the test, and the professors only knew how to write free-response ones. I don't know if anyone, aside from a select few, will ever know. I just hope it doesn't happen again on the AP test I have on Friday.

Why are Prom tickets so expensive? Is the school just trying to make money, or does it really cost that much? I don't think it really costs $30 per couple for Prom. I bet that the Provo Library only costs around $200 an hour to rent for 3 hours, so $600. Then I bet a D.J. costs around $300 for the whole dance. They will be having chocolate fountains, which is a great improvement. Those will probably cost $500 for the chocolate, the rental, and the stuff to dip into the chocolate fountains. That's about all the costs of the dance. That would be a total of $1400 for Prom. I think that they could get at least 200 couples to the dance. 200 couples paying $30 each equals to $6000. Where does the extra $4600 go? I think that school dances in general are over-priced. How come they don't just come out and say that it is a fundraiser for the school or something? Prom already costs a bunch, because you have to rent a tux and pay for dinner and pictures. Why charge even more to get into the dance? I think there's some explaining that should be done. Maybe I'm just being unrealistic, but I don't think I'd be off by $4600. I think they should have the tickets cost like $15. They would probably also get more people to come anyway, which would still bring in money.

I took the ACT today with tons of other high school students. I was waiting in line, waiting for it to start, when I started wondering how much money people made from students taking this test. I think they make a lot of money doing it. It costs $30-40 to take the test. I would say about $10 per person would be put towards paying the professors to write the test, people to give it, and people to correct it. It probably costs less than a dollar to print the test materials. That still leaves $20-30 per high school student taking it to the makers of the ACT. Then you have to realize that they give this test around 5 times a year. Someone has to be making a lot of money. I think maybe I'll just make a prestigious test company and make millions. It would be really easy. The AP test is another one. They re-use about 2/3 of the test each time. So the only parts they have to write are the free-response and a third of the multiple choice. It does cost more money to grade these ones though, because they have to fly a bunch of teachers out, pay for their room and board, and pay for them to grade the tests. But each AP test costs $83 to take. Figure that one out.

I was riding on the freeway today, noticing how crazy Utah drivers are. So I started wondering, Why are Utah drivers the worst drivers in the nation? I started thinking of some answers. I think one reason is that Utahns have this mindset of putting themselves before anyone else. That would cause them to drive recklessly, because they would think that someone else should yield to them. Maybe it’s the whole driver’s ed program. I wouldn’t really know, because I’ve never taken driver’s ed, especially here and in another state. I was thinking it might be the requirements people have to have to get a driver’s license. Maybe the test isn’t as hard or you don’t need to do as much. Maybe it’s that our police force doesn’t crack down on it enough. I think that they should crack down on it more, because it really almost scares me into not wanting to drive. Anywho, all I know is that Utahns are crazy drivers. So a word of caution if you are coming to Utah, expect to see a ton of crazy stunts by stupid, idiotic drivers.

Yesterday, a very interesting thing happened. A bird attacked another bird and started eating it on my lawn. When I came outside, the bird flew away, leaving it's prey behind. I inspected the bird and found that it had a tag on one of it's legs. I called my mom to come out, and she ended up putting it into a shoe box. We asked around, and found that the dead bird was probably a competition pigeon and its predator was a falcon. I wondered, "Why would one bird turn another of its own kind into carrion?" Well, one of the people that saw it said that its talon was caught in the pigeon when they pulled up. I thought maybe it just chewed out the area around its talon so that it could get away. But when I looked at the bird, there was a big gaping hole on one side that looked like the predator was trying to get to the heart or something else. I don't think it would've had to eat away that much to get its talon out. Then I thought that maybe it was hungry and couldn't find anything else to eat, so why not just it what was easy to find? I also thought that maybe it usually ate pigeons. My most radical thought was that the devil took the predator over and just decided to go on a killing spree. I don't know if I'll ever find out for sure, but I think I'll go with the circle of life theory and say that it normally eats pigeons.

I know I've written a couple blogs about nursery rhymes, but they raise a lot of questions when you think about them. They also aren't very logical. Maybe Mother Goose is actually a conspiracy designed by the KGB to make the Allies to think illogically and turn into Communists. I just don't think anyone has the courage to come out and say that they are wrong. If it isn't a conspiracy, then what are we trying to do to the next generation of dominate Americans. Are we trying to confuse them? I'm surprised that children just don't sit down and start crying after reading them, because they are so confusing. I think someone should write some rhymes that actually make sense and are educational instead of the confusing rubbish that children read now.

Have you ever sat down and thought about the rhyme about the lady had a lot of children and not much money, so she raised them in a shoe? First of all, how could she have had children without a husband, unless she went out of her way? Maybe that's how she made money. I think I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that her husband left her. But then the question is raised about how she doesn't have enough money. She could take her husband to court to get child support. There is also many government programs to help unfortunate people. I don't think she would have enough money to afford a shoe to live in. Can you imagine how big of a shoe that would be? I think it would cost more money to build a shoe that size than it would just to buy a little apartment. I think that America is just trying to poison the minds of the same people that are suppose to take over for us. Maybe we are just too prideful to think that any generation could be as great as us, so we try to impair our kids. Who will ever know?

Have you ever wondered about the nursery rhyme about the guy who had a wife, but couldn't keep her, and so he locked her up in a pumpkin? I certainly have. I mean, if he couldn't keep her, why not just let her go? Maybe he was a very controlling man who didn't want to be embarrassed. I think that it'd be more embarrassing for people to know that you locked your wife in a pumpkin shell, but that's just my personal opinion. I think the reason he couldn't keep her is because he probably spent all of his time loving his pumpkins too much. I mean, how else could he grow a pumpkin big enough to force his wife into exile? And I also don't believe that she lived there very well. What did she live off of in the first place? I think it would be pretty boring to live in a pumpkin myself. Also, wouldn't she just have been able to easily dig or eat her way out? Maybe she was mentally unstable, and so that's why he locked her up. I guess we'll never know the why's about Mother Goose and her nursery rhymes.

Reflecting back on my childhood brings back many memories. One of these memories is a rhyme that I had to practice a simple little piano song to a bunch of times. It is, "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" I always wondered who was the stupid person that would even ask such a question. I mean, does any even know what a woodchuck looks like? I've always thought it to look like a beaver. That assumption could be very wrong. If people really wanted to educate young minds as they were painstakingly having to practice a eight measure song over and over about a woodchuck, you would think they would have the courtesy of at least putting a picture of one in the book also. Also, wouldn't a woodchuck be able to chuck wood? If not, why would they call it? If it chucked something else, like it's dinner, then why not call it the dinnerchuck or berrychuck? Maybe it's just me, but usually people name things for a reason. Also, why would a 6-year old being forced to learn to play piano want to know how much wood a woodchuck could chuck? All they care about is finishing their 15 minutes of practicing so that they can go play outside. Anyway, maybe this is a question that no one will ever know the answer too, except for that stupid guy who thought of the question in the first place.

I used to work at a sub shop called Charley's Grilled Subs. It was a pretty fun experience, and I noticed a lot of things working there. One of them was differences between girls and guys on what meat they usually ate. Guys usually ordered one of our steak sandwiches, whereas females usually ordered one of our chicken or turkey sandwiches. I always wondered why that was the case. Maybe male taste buds are different than a female's, therefore they like different kinds of meat. Maybe society has just conformed to the old stereotype that beef is a man's meat, and chicken is a lady's meat. I may never find out exactly why it was, but there certainly is a pattern.

I think that there should be a limit to how much teacher's expect you to spend on projects for school. I recently built a trebuchet for Physics that had to throw a shot put about 100 yards. The whole project probably cost me and my group around $150. People might say, "Well, it is to show that you understand the concepts." But we could've been assigned to build a smaller one that could've cost less than half as much. We would've still be able to show that we understood the concepts. I think that $150 for a single project is really excessive. Maybe if the teachers would just be more realistic. Parents already pay fees for high school at the start of the year that can end up being over $200. That's excluding fees for taking AP and the ACT tests, tours, club fees, etc. But then we're still required to build a project that ends up costing us over $150. I truly believe that the school district should set a limit and the teachers should assign projects that realistically fit within that limit.

Lately, I've been wondering why the end of the term seems so far away, when it really isn't. This past week, I was thinking that the term ended in like a month, but it actually ends in two weeks. Maybe it's because I've been missing some class for a DECA competition or something like that. Maybe it's also because teachers just aren't really saying much about it this term. I think everyone at my school agrees with me also. I mean, when I saw that, I started asking everyone about it. Everyone was really surprised that it ended in two weeks. It seems like midterm was just a couple days ago. I don't know what is floating through the air, but whatever it is, I think it will be gone next term. People count down the days until the end of school. It's crazy. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to deal with it.