Dear Freshmen: Only 956 Days Left! That is...if I did my math right.

Which isn't likely, if you know me at all.

Why, hello there, blog! It's been almost a month. I bet you'll never guess what I should be doing right now. What was that? Homework? Oh. Good guess.

So, there's lots of things going on with me right now, including being ridiculously busy and loving every second of it. Okay, not every, but most. Between Cross Country, Theatre, homework, and having a social life/a minute to relax and catch my breath, I have had next to no time to blog. As a matter of fact, right now I am skipping my allotted Facebook time to write this. Alright, back to the topic for the day. So I had this idea last night about writing some advice for Freshmen. I know a lot of people will go "Hey now, you're a sophomore. That barely counts as superior." But that's exactly it: (we're learning colons in AP Lit-did I do it right?) my freshmen year is still fresh (ha ha, no pun intended) in my mind, plus I have a lot of freshmen as friends. And let's face it people, there have been way too many times this year when I have seen distinct freshmen behavior. Also, you know how in yearbooks and stuff they always go around and ask the seniors what advice they would've given their freshmen selves, and it's always some cliche nonsense like "be yourself"? I'm not going to do that here, because that's long term stuff. A freshmen is not going to wake up, look at himself in the mirror and say "today, I'm going to be myself." I think that piece of advice is a load of crap, but perhaps that's another blog post, and I'm already getting lengthy. So here it is, folks, my advice to high school freshmen:

1. Your teachers are there for you. I promise. Even the most tyrannical, overbearing, and homework junkie teachers want you to succeed. That's why they got the job. Maybe I'm biased because both of my parents are teachers, but it's always been true for me. You should learn early on how to communicate with your teachers, because they're the only people that can really help you in whatever class it is they teach. Your friend Suzy, no matter how smart she is, can not tell you what to do when you were out til all hours at a rehearsal for your school play and you didn't study and now you bombed your math test. Talk. To. Your. Teacher. Figure out when you can retake it or get extra help. They're there for you!

2. You will stay up way too late. Like I said, I'm a pretty busy person. I usually have a thousand and one different things that need to get done that I never get started until at least 8 at night. It's okay to stay up late and finish things up, but don't forget that you need your rest, too. I usually divide and conquer: what absolutely needs to get done tonight, and what can I do tomorrow at lunch or if I have free time in a previous class? It works pretty well. Most teachers don't care when the homework is done, just that it is. You'll get some that lecture you about being prepared for class, and don't get me wrong, it's really important. Just don't sweat it too much if you don't have the willpower to stay awake and push through it all in one night.

3. You will look stupid in front of everyone at least once. But that's okay, because everyone else does the same thing. I can't even tell you how many ridiculously unintelligent answers I've given in class due to zoning out or trying to BS my way through a question. That is my life in AP Euro right now. Don't get hung up on it, though, because you're not the only one to give a stupid response or have a panic attack after being forced to sing a song about passing bills to the tune of I Kissed A Girl in your AP Gov class. Wait...was that just me? Yes? Oh.

4. Stop worrying. Stop worrying about how all of your middle school friends aren't friends with you anymore. Stop worrying about how you're never going to graduate because you're having trouble keeping your grades up. Stop worrying about having a date to homecoming. Stop worrying about the sheer pile of busy you have sitting in your lap. You can do it.

5. Be yourself! Just kidding. More on that later.