My View of the Valley

Well, I've graduated. One Act Play ended up going great, since we advanced to area, and I'm finally free from the Valley.

I also would like to tell my reader that I've moved my blog some time ago to zachpeterson.net, and I won't be making many new posts here. Probably none. So, with that said, I'll see you at the new site.

One Act Play sucks. I mean really sucks. Nobody seems to care, one certain know-it-all doesn't know his lines, and Ms. P just gets more and more sick after each passing day because of the stress.

I lost it tonight.I was pissed off, and I snapped on a friend that called me during practice. I seriously have no idea where to go next. I plan to speak to Ms. P tomorrow morning about all this, hoping either to convince her that it's a lost cause, gently quit, discuss new strategies, or find out that we're trudging on with the same old shit. I have no clue, and I'm scared to death.

If I was working with any other teacher I would have quit weeks ago, but Ms. P is different. She cares more than any other teacher than I have ever had. But, unfortunately, the cards are stacked against us.

None of the lousy underclassmen care about the play, the school doesn't care since they never give us any money, the arrogant prick who doesn't know his lines gets mad at other people for his shortcomings, and many other things.

I'm going to go and cool down now.

It was a long day yesterday. Not only did I pull off a ten hour day helping run a UIL meet, but I also watched UNT stomp Troy 90-64. Not a bad day, but a very tiring one.

I'm about to write two essays today. One for English and one for Economics. The Econ one should be simple, since it's just a one page bullshit session about a news article. I'm not too worried about the English, either.

I better get started, then. I just wanted to update real quick.

I'm not watching the Super Bowl today, mostly because I don't give a rat's ass, and also for the reason that I have better stuff to do.

Another essay is in the can today. Hopefully my linux OpenOffice doesn't fuck up the formatting like it did last time I tried it. However, that was whenever I used the utterly craptastic Suse Linux 9. I could poop a better distro than that.

Anyway, not much happened this past week, so I really don't have much to say, other than the fact that at my new job I got paid 72 bucks for working six hours this week. Not to shabby for a high school senior who only has to pay for his gas in his not-so-efficient pickup.

Speaking of a pickup, I want to get rid of it. My parents are looking for me a smaller car to drive when I go to college, and I'll probably get it for graduation. A good present, if I do say so myself. I've been scouring craigslist myself, looking for that special deal, yet to find it.

Guess I'll go looking now...

The final semester of my free education is well underway. It's starting to get to the point that I really just want to get out of this damn Valley. I've been stuck in the Valley for all of my life, and now it's my time to climb out and experience life. Even though I can't wait for that fateful day to come, I'm also scared to death of it. It's going to be weird; not getting the chance to see my parents every day, to have to actually live my own life. I may be sounding stupid right about now, but it's really a weird feeling. It's kind of a good feeling, though.

I might be getting a new part-time job this week. I interviewed for it two weeks ago and the boss-man finally called me back last Friday. I called him back and had to leave a message, so I'm not sure if it was a "you can start tomorrow" call or a "Dear Zach" call. If it's the latter, I guess I could always work at Staples.

Classes at the good 'ol NCTC have started back again. I'm taking Macroeconomics and Composition II this time around. You probably guess where I am if you read this blog somewhat frequently. I haven't been to the Jupiter House in a while, but now that I'm back I've forgotten how cool it was. I can't even write the simplest paper with one iota of creativity when I'm at home. I have to go somewhere that's open, fresh, and new. Somewhere that I don't have to keep up appearances. Somewhere I can let my brain go on any tirade I see fit. I really hope there's a place like this in Wichita Falls. Oh, I didn't tell you about that?

I've pretty much boiled my final college choices down to the University of North Texas or Midwestern State University. The front-runner at the moment is Midwestern, since they're cheaper and are pretty much equal with UNT in the Mass Communication field. I would love to be a news anchorman, a simple reporter, or maybe even a screenwriter. I've already written a pilot for a show I've came up with, but like all first drafts, it's shit. I'll fiddle with it some more.

Until next time, I'll be writing a literary analysis essay about some shitty story in my Lit book. Wish me luck.

The devil is making a snowman and I'm considering voting on the republican ticket. The world has been turned upside down. 97.1 The Eagle has returned to everyone's complete surprise. What was once the best rock station in the State of Texas is now back to reclaim it's throne from 93.3 The Bone. I give 93.3 a month...

Bitchin'

At the Jupiter House again, getting ready to write what will be my last essay for Composition I. I'm kinda excited about the next semester, even though I know that it'll be a whole lot harder. Or at least that's what I hear.

This week has pretty much consisted of school, eating, sleeping, and watching Twin Peaks. I'm completely addicted to it now. I'm halfway through the first episode of the second season. I'll go ahead and name it the best television show I have ever seen. ABC was pretty stupid to cancel it after two seasons. Although, ABC is pretty well known for retarded decisions. Does Cop Rock ring a bell?

Which are your favorite sites for shopping online?

Amazon.com, Buy.com, and mostly Woot.

Football season ended this past friday. We lost to Seymour 29-13. Our guys put up the fight of a lifetime, but it just wasn't enough. In my opinion, there were some very bad coaching decisions, but who am I to judge.

After the game, I walked into the locker room to find the seniors crushed. I along with the rest of the seniors, found ourselves crying and consoling each other. The quarterback, also a senior, was taking it pretty hard. I tried to cheer him up, but the gravity of the situation was too much to just brush off. This was the last time he would ever play with his best friends.

After that, we went to Logan's Roadhouse in downtown Wichita Falls, were the mood was lightened and people started to have a good time. After a long ride home, I trudged into my pickup and started it up, then knowing that that was the last time I would ever be behind the scenes of a football game. A sad evening indeed.

But this starts a new chapter in my final school year. We'll be starting One Act Play practice next week, and I'm the lead actor once again. This year is an ensemble show, which is a completely new thing to me, but it look very interesting and I cant wait to get started.

Christmas is also on its way, and I have no clue what I want for Christmas. My parents are just going to have to surprise me this year.

If you'll excuse me, I may have to go to the store and get some Zicam. I feel a tickle in my throat and snot is starting to drain.

Have you ever recycled an old computer or laptop?  Where did you take it, and what steps did you take to protect your personal information?

I've never recycled a computer myself, since I still use my old computers off and on, but I have prepared computers to be recycled to work during the summer.

One of my tasks was to remove the stone-age Compaq servers out of the network room and move them into the warehouse. I had to remove the hard drives, as well. Since I worked at a school, these drives could hold sensitive information, which meant I had free reign as to how I could torture these drives. Immediately after removal, I threw them as hard as I could into the brick wall, and them dropped them from about six feet a couple times, before chunking them into a cardboard box. all of the drives were hopelessly mangled by the time I was done. It was great stress relief.