The Little Things

I discovered that being alone for a week and trying to figure out adulthood can make me kind of grumpy.

My apartment is filthy? I have no internet and setting it up is unexpectedly complicated? Job applications are incredibly frustrating? I have no one to talk to? There is an unexpected fourth roommate no one told me about? Under normal circumstances, I save swear words for really choice moments; since I don't swear much, if I do, anyone who knows me is well aware that I REALLY mean it. Last week, though, the aforementioned circumstances had me swearing like a sailor to myself (well, maybe not quite that badly, but comparably speaking...), since nobody could hear me anyway and I had to vent my frustrations about ants and dust and no internet somehow.

Sorry, Mom.

My made-of-awesome roommate and best friend has returned, though, thank goodness. And I have discovered that, as in studenting, it's the little things that make adulting bearable.

Things like:

1. Drive-thru banks are kind of entertaining.

2. Finding a candy from the front desk at the hostel in Toronto in your purse.

3. Phone calls.

4. Making CD covers for the music you get to play in YOUR CAR.

5. Having time to write.

6. Getting a library card.

7. Reading books that were not assigned to you.

8. Feeling loved because you have seven zillion Facebook notifications after not having been online constantly.

9. Buying stamps with tigers on them.

10. When you finally do get the internet back, it is AWESOME.

High School as Hogwarts

So I have this pretty awesome little sister.

And said little sister has some pretty awesome friends.

They decided that high school would be rather more interesting if it were more like Hogwarts.

And since Hogwarts must operate under some form of block scheduling (like we have at my old high school; classes rotate so you don't have the same classes every day), they made a list of all their classes and what they would be if they were classes at Hogwarts.

It goes something like this:

Biology: Herbology
Math: Arithmancy
Chemistry: Potions (lab days: Double Potions.)
Environmental Science: Care of Magical Creatures
English: Charms
Physics: Transfiguration
French (or any foreign language class): Ancient Runes
History: History of Magic
Health: Muggle Studies
Driver's Ed: Flying
Gym: Quidditch
Band: Defense against the Dark Arts
Pass offs-Practical Exams
Competitions-Duels
Creative Writing: Divination

Now of course there are some imperfect comparisons - the band teacher at our high school has been around far too long to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, for instance. But still, it's amusing how many things line up quite nicely.

And I don't know about you, but I would be much more inclined to go to gym class if it was Quidditch, or to physics if it was Transfiguration.

Maybe if high school was more like Hogwarts more people would be more interested in it. Which would be nice. Wouldn't it? I think so. High school gets treated as kind of useless by a lot of people, but I think there's a lot to learn from it (and I'm not just saying that because I write books for high school aged people).

I mean, I might never use algebra again but I learned about symbolism (which I use all the time) and writing DBQs (which I'm currently being paid to tutor about) and that I love theatre and writing, and it led me to my awesome friends and my geeky self. Which I don't think is a waste of time.

So turn high school into Hogwarts and capture people's attention! Sounds good to me.

I shall leave you with this: