Wow, this school year has been very life-changing, just like the last one but even more so.

Before the school year started, I said that I'd be pretty inactive during the school year until December. Well, that lasted a couple weeks, and since then I've only been inactive for a day or two. Why? This school year has been pretty easy and I haven't gotten so much homework. However, things have been way crazier than ever before.

I got 3 new friends this year, and my bond with my best friends is much stronger. I signed up for a class called JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps) so I can become a better citizen, improve my social skills, and so I can easily find nice people to talk to. Well, a lot of students aren't nice but are in JROTC, which is because they want power, they don't want to take gym class, or their parents made them take the class. But most of the students in JROTC are nice.

At the beginning of the year, I was one of the quiet kids, and when I did talk, it was usually quietly. Also, there were barely any people for me to talk to, since none of my friends were in any of my classes. I was shy to volunteer for things too. It was difficult for me to talk to anyone except my friends, and I wasn't trying to talk to anyone else.

Thanks to JROTC, all that changed. I'm always volunteering for community service, I can easily talk to anyone (if I think they're approachable people), and I found many nice people to talk to, and even some mean people that like me and are nice to me.

Also, my 1st trimester of school is now over. Yesterday I took 3 exams and today I took 2. Today was a half day at school so I came home 2 hours ago. That means that I'm off school tomorrow and on Friday I can attempt the fresh start I was going to do at the beginning of the year, but chickened out. I'm going to try to be nice to everyone and try harder (now that I'm more social) to blend in while still being myself.

One of the changes I've made (just because I wanted to) was talking differently, which is why that's been happening. Some people have seen all the changes in me and maybe some feel as if I'm a different person now. Nope, still the same Mario-crazed Pac-fan that so many people on Vizzed know now. XD

An important change happened to me recently that might be pretty noticeable and I want everyone to know. I'm not as cheery any more. That's because for the past couple weeks, despite all these awesome changes that are now normal, I haven't been as happy as usual. That's because some things that used to make me happy don't make me happy anymore, such as being a clown. Lately, more people have been asking me for help and more people have been mean to me, and I want to let everyone know that I can be serious and I experience a lot of other emotions frequently too, not just happiness.

Another thing is, JROTC, my favorite class and my biggest help for high school, is done for me until 3rd trimester. I have no choice but to wait until then. Yesterday everyone said their goodbyes, letting the class know how they feel about us and the entire JROTC program, and how it has changed them. They were inspiring and it made me miss them more than I was going to originally.

One person said that since our class was behind the others in our knowledge and social skills, it was such a great opportunity for her to improve her leadership skills (she has one of the leader positions in the class). Another person said that he's had so much fun with us and it's been a very inspirational experience. (He's one of the new students that's doing his first learning in that class with the rest of us) And another person said that she's been a really shy and quiet person but the class made her open up more and she's had a lot of fun. She cried a few minutes later, when we were all going to leave and break apart from each other for good. (It's impossible for all of us to be in the same class again D=) Her friend, who's usually a class clown, was hugging her and crying too. Again, she's usually a class clown, but she's nice and just like all the other really nice people whenever something unusual like that is going on with someone.

I'm a guy, so of course I didn't cry along with them, but I felt like it, and since then I haven't been that happy. Parting with that class is one of the saddest things I've ever done.

Another thing that has made me unhappy is one of my friends is moving. Right after I got in a small argument with him too. He's happy with me now, but I might never get to see him again. At least I can text him

I'm happy to hear that you talk more easily now and that a lot of people ask you help
But it also sucks that one of your friends moved out and that the JROTC class has stopped for now :
Anyways, I think you'll be able to pull through all of that so I hope that the rest of the school year will be great for you!

Yeah, life does that to you and stuffs.

I'm kinda like you in that area, I find I can socialize with people okay, though I find online stuff more fruitful, (I can just. . . do more stuff on a computor.) Hence I like the community more.

I actually live fairly secluded, so I only have one true friend whom I get to see every once in a while. (maybe once a month, which is pretty decent actually, but not once I get my license! )


Social skills are important, and I'm glad that you've developed them.

I never really, really got to be around other people after I turned 11, but I turned out okay. Now I get to go bowling on tuesday nights, and there are a few people my age there consistently.

Seems like you've got it pretty okay. I mean, maybe even better than I've got it.

Good to have friends eh?

juuldude: A lot of people help me out, too. It'll be easier to pull through all of that than I was expecting since I'm going to be hanging out with friends outside of school more (including my best friends!) and now I can text another one of my friends who I don't get to talk to much.

My friend that just moved away was going to be in my Algebra class Now that he's gone, there's none of my friends that are going to be in any of my classes next trimester (except for maybe the friend whose cell phone number I just got). I might have to make new friends so I'm not alone in all my classes constantly. That's not so hard now, so I'm not too worried about it. Besides, almost all of my friends I can contact outside of school so my school year should still be great

Sword legion : I can do much more on a computer too, but I find real life conversations much better. There's more for me to do in real life in a conversation because of my voice-acting skills

My friends and family are the best things in this world I can ask for, and I might be almost completely different if I didn't have friends or such a loving family. A lot of the decisions I make are influenced by my friends and family. If I was on my own a lot more, I wouldn't do well. I tend to need help from others to do what's best and if it wasn't for me meeting who's now my best friend, I might be pretty different from how I am now.

PacmanandMariofan :


Oh yeah, nothing beats a good conversation with friends in real life, (and one where strangers walking by can't press the dislike button to if they disagree just because. . . . )

I know what you mean when you say you wouldn't be who you are if it weren't for the people who you loved and were around. I'm the same way. I value my online friends a lot because of how few I have in real life, (few being one).

I'm glad that met who I did in both worlds actually. Real life tends to take the scale of influence though. XD

And yeah, I know what you mean when you're talking about that one good friend. I have one too. ^^'

Sword legion : Cool! Most of my friends are really good friends, but only my best friend inspired me to change for the better at first. Now most of my friends inspire me all the time.

juuldude:

Sword legion :

Barathemos :

thing1 :

NintendoFanKimmy :

(Everyone that liked and/or responded to the thread)

Anyone else that'll see this post:

Tomorrow night I'm going to my first school dance. It's for all JROTC students and it's called the Military Ball. A lot of people I know are going, so I should be able to have a lot of fun there! One of them is the freshmen attendant, and she's my best friend! (Audrey, of course) Like I said in my first post in this thread, I've been getting more involved with the school. Well, most of my friends that go there are too!

Today was my first day of my 2nd trimester of 9th grade. It's an almost entirely fresh start because there are so many different people in my classes than before and mostly different subjects. Because of that, I talked to a select few people, and all of them I already talked to a lot before. I'll most likely start talking to new people a little while later. Right now I'm just getting used to my classes and figuring out who to talk to. Most of my classes I'm alone in, but in two classes I have one friend.

Now that I have less people to talk to, it's easier for me to control myself (I kept being slightly immature for some friends of mine) and determine how I want to be in school and anywhere else. That means I'm more confident and content, causing me to be my cheery old self again!

I'm also trying harder to blend in more without changing my personality at all, that way it can be easier for me to be myself. (Confident and happy)

My 1st class is Computer Document Processing. An old bully from all the way back in elementary school is in that class and he might already be teasing me again (I had my headphones on so I don't know XD) It's a great class though because other than him, I have no one to worry about. The teacher already knows me from Game Design A so he welcomed me back. As long as my assigned seat isn't near the bully, I'll be awesome in that class.

My 2nd class is Algebra I. I struggle with Algebra, but I'm hard-working and smart, one of my friends is in it, and she might be able to help me out a lot with Algebra so that should be a good class for me.

My 3rd class is History. It's part 2/2 of the 9th grade course, so it should be a challenge. One of my friends is in there too, but not the same one.

My 4th class is English. Again, it's part 2/2 of the 9th grade course, and it's focused on writing so it should be a challenge. It might be a bad class for me because almost everyone in the entire class of around 30 students is obnoxious. At least there's a few people in there that aren't and two of them I've talked to a lot before. It's a weird class because of that and after most of the class, we go to lunch at around 12:15 (ugh, too late for me!) and then come back for the last half-hour of class. My English class is the worst when it comes to students, right? Nope.

My 5th and final class of the day is Spanish II. I've heard from some people that the teacher I have makes her class really easy and she doesn't really teach anything. I'm so glad for that because in my class, most people seem to not be able to do an arduous task (hooray for using English class vocabulary!) such as shutting their mouths. For freshmen (9th graders) it's an honors class, so it's mostly sophomores (10th graders) in there. I got to be in Spanish II a year early because I took Spanish I in 8th grade and passed (I got a 92%).

Almost all of the 10th graders in there are very chatty (and quite a few of them obnoxious) no matter what. It makes it hard for the teacher to carry out her lesson plans. Surprisingly, they're leaving us 9th graders alone. (a lot of 10-12th graders pick on the 9th graders) All of the 9th graders in the class (which are like 5) are fantastic people that are hard-working and nice. So if there's one class I'll be very social in, it's that one. (Makes sense, since it's a language class and in my school district they always require speaking to people) All of them I've talked to before!

This'll be a very interesting, pretty challenging, and very fun trimester. I can't wait to go back to school on Monday and go to my first school dance tomorrow!

5 periods, and 3 parts? Interesting. The high schools in North Carolina have 2 parts a year, called semesters, and 4 different classes for each part. 

As for the military ball, I'll rfrain from commenting, as it's not really a military ball, since it is not real military. However, if you need advice on your unifrom, or something in general, feel free to PM me, and I'll tell you what I can. 

thing1 : I know it's not actual military, but my school calls it the Military Ball.

My school might get back to semesters within the next couple years. But if we do get semesters, we'll have 7 or 8 classes for each part instead of 4 like schools in your area. That would be pretty crazy and I'd rather have trimesters as I do now.

I don't need any help with my uniform or anything else (since the JROTC teachers helped me with everything necessary already), but thank you so much for the offer!

PacmanandMariofan : I know. It just irritates me a little bit, it all. 

If you need any advice, just let me know, alright? 

PacmanandMariofan :

Have fun with that school dance.

I have a dance I go to every few months, it's nice.

(Though I really wish I could spend time talking to girls there more, and not just dancing all the time. )

thing1 : Yep!

Sword legion : I'm the same way. For a while, I was dancing with a group of guys (once the music changed to fast, non-romantic music) while my friends-that-happen-to-be-girls were by themselves. I wanted to talk to them, but I didn't want to stop dancing and walk over to them. After a while, a song ended, and I did. I talked to them a bit, and then danced with them. XD

You people that I just summoned and

juuldude :

Barathemos :

NintendoFanKimmy :

(Everybody that liked and/or responded to this thread)

Last night was life-changing and very emotional for me. (And I'm a dude, so... )

The "Military" Ball started at 6:30 P.M. and ended at 11:00 P.M. My friend Joe saved seats at a table for my parents and I, so I got to hang out with him first. The event started off with a receiving line (everyone going in line to shake hands with and introduce yourself to the highest-ranked students in JROTC and school board members. That alone took about 30 minutes because there were 200+ people there.

Then we got introduced to one of the adults in charge of JROTC. After that, some JROTC students danced, and then the entire JROTC court (made up entirely of students) danced too. (All of it was slow-dancing) Seeing my friend Audrey standing up there ready made me come close to crying, especially since she was shaking.

After that, we had dinner, and then we got introduced to one of the students in charge of JROTC and the superintendent of the school district. The superintendent's speech was really powerful and it might change my life for good. It will if things go according to my plan.

Next was the best part, the dancing open to everyone. My friend Joe left, making it miserable for me at first, since I had no idea what to do so I sat there at my table, sad, mad, and pretty snappy at my parents trying to get me up there. Eventually, there came a dance I knew I could do, so I went up there with my parents. From the beginning of me dancing well enough, I was very happy. I got to dance with a group of guys I knew and later, Audrey and her friend.

One of the songs I knew most of the words to (Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. LOL), so for the first time in many years I was singing! I'm not that bad at it anymore. I was also in a conga line with a lot of the students. The dancing lasted 2 hours, but I didn't get started for a while, so I didn't feel like I did enough by the time it was over. A lot of people enjoyed having me there with them and quite a few of them said goodbye to me. I decided to say goodbye to all my friends (and some other people I knew) that were there that I could find.

What happened next was one of the best things any friend of mine has ever done for me. Audrey, with her boyfriend right there, asked me to give her a hug. For the first time in so long, I didn't care about what other people would think or say later. And her boyfriend knows me and thinks I'm cool so I'm not in trouble XD

Sounds like the night would be life-changing, right? Well, it was. Thanks to inspiration from so many people there, I'm going to try to expand my interests a lot more and be the best person I can be if that's not too much. Also, I realized that I'm very likable by almost everyone.

PacmanandMariofan : Heck yes you're likable!
Sounds awesome dude! When I go to parties I have a bit of trouble dancing but when I join and just dance a bit with others it all seems to be okay, and sometimes people laugh about my weird dances (in a good way, not in a bad way). Sounds like Audrey and her boyfriend are really cool people, since Audrey gives you a hug as she's a good friend and her boyfriend respects that and he also thinks you're a cool guy!
I think that this JROTC class was one of the best things that could have happened to you

juuldude : Excellent point! And it's true. If it wasn't for JROTC, I'd be the same person I was before. Quiet and unwilling to try new things much. It sucks so much that I have to wait until 3rd trimester, especially since I'm in my social zone now!

I always have trouble dancing XD I did things wrong a lot, people laughed, and I was laughing too. I was having too much fun to let anything bother me.

They are really cool people! Everyone thinks the reason I talk about Audrey the most and she's my best friend is that she's a girl, but it's just a coincidence. She just happens to be cooler than all my guy friends. There are never any "bro-hugs" anymore so Audrey's the only friend of mine that hugs me and the only one I'm willing to hug. (Unless one of my other friends asks me to hug them, then I want to)

PacmanandMariofan :

Wow.

I wish I could say the same thing for myself.

Like I said, we don't get to talk that much at our dances, but it is fun all that same.


I know this may sound silly, but If a girl gave me hug, I'd consider it a very special thing.

Sword legion : It doesn't sound silly to me because that's how it felt when Audrey gave me a hug, even though we've always been just friends and probably always will be.

PacmanandMariofan :

That is one pretty special feeling right there. :3


Hey, I haven't posted in a thread where a conversation kept going between a group of people for a long time.

Good going.