For the past few years, I’ve been under the impression that I manage my time well and that I’m a good student.

Apparently, I’ve been deluded.

I had my senior portrait session today. I expected it to be a huge waste of time, since I hate taking school pictures, but I actually enjoyed it. My photographer was awesome; he would set up a shot and then stand there for about half-a-minute waiting for me to give him a real smile. :)

There was one shot where he didn’t want me to smile at all. So I tried to set my mouth into a straight line, but he didn’t seem to like it very much and asked for a “soft smile,” whatever that means. So I tried that, and he immediately went, “No, no, that’s a smirk.” :D

I somehow survived the first two weeks of school. Calculus is definitely my most grueling class this year; I’m already kind of lost when it comes to vertical tangent lines and cusps. But whatever. Although I’d like to say something optimistic like “Everything’s okay once you get past the first two weeks,” I know that’s not true. Things are going to get harder. But I think I’ll get through.

This year, I’ve decided to look at school with a new mindset. In the past few years, I’ve mostly been content with just “getting by” (with the exception of a few classes… like Geometry), but this year I really want to put my all into every class — to excel, instead of just drifting along and picking up a few things here and there.

A lot of this is due to the fact that I’m currently taking AP Literature, the one class I wanted to take in high school ever since I learned of its existence. I took a great English class last year, but I grew lazy during the second semester and, as a result, didn’t learn as much as I could’ve. I don’t want that to happen this year.

I can’t say I’ll keep this resolution throughout the whole year. In fact, I’ve already kind of failed because I scribbled some random junk on an Economics worksheet because (1) I didn’t feel like doing it, and (2) the teacher wasn’t collecting it. It’s a bad habit of mine that I really have to kick.