Patrick on the Edge: At the Halfway Mark

HALFWAY DONE. The "Senior Countdown" starts creeping past milestones at 250 days….200…150, and with each day the seconds seem to fly by ever faster. People are starting to REALLY stress about which colleges will accept them, while the less motivated are scrambling to meet graduation requirements. Halfway done. Everyone told me it was going to go by fast, but this is practically lightspeed.

And I know it will only get faster as the May graduation date looms even bigger. I can still remember the first day of my senior year, the first day of snow, and the last day of the semester as if they were all just last week.

I'm not regretting how fast the year is going though. So far, I've done nearly everything I wanted to accomplish in the past 4 months, and I can't wait to lay on the hood of my car and watch that first summer sunset from Flattop. But I still have another 4 months to go before then, and I intend to do twice as much as I did last semester.

First, I'm going to do all the senior-related activities that the school puts on each year. This includes the boys vs. girls dance (a dance in the week leading up to the Sadie Hawkins, where senior boys and girls put their moves to the test and generally end up making fools of themselves), Mr. Congeniality (a talent and beauty pageant for senior boys which again, ends up in all the contestants making fools of themselves), and the Seminar Senior Statement (an opportunity to get on stage in front of the Service High Seminar program and leave them with one anecdote from your 4 years in high school). All three will be a fun way to leave my mark on Service (and, apparently, make a fool of myself).

Next, I'm going to try to play as many sports as possible. I already go to the gym (almost) every morning, but next semester I'm going to try to play tennis at least three times a week, and since I was selected to go to the Arctic Winter Games for Table Tennis, I'm going to try to get in shape for that by playing twice a week. I'm also going to try to go out for soccer if I have the time, even though I have never played an organized soccer match in my life.

Last, I'm going to try to leave High School with academic prowess. I am currently enrolled in AP French independently, but that class has fallen by the wayside this last semester, something my mother doesn't like. I plan on getting enough work done to pass the AP Test, as well as earning an A.

I don't know if I'll be able to check off all of my to-do list for this semester, but I do know that I'll be busy trying to achieve that goal. That what I want though, and I'm reminded of my sophomore AP U.S. History teacher (who gave me my last "B"), when he told us "You can sleep when you're dead."