What I learned in High School

friendships, mechanics, grammer, history, music, science

Prom

This year I went to two proms. I took my girlfriend to both of the proms. Both of them were very fun and I had a great time being with my friends and seeing all the different vehicles. There were some parts of both proms that I like more than the other.
The first weekend was the prom at my school. Before the grand march we went and took some pictures with friends and then with my class. Then the grand march started. We started with the drive up. I took one of my friends' really nice F-150. Then we walked through the school and at the very end we took out picture for the photographer. Everything flowed really nice. After the grand march, we went to the nearby town and ate at the ballroom there and then we had our dance until about midnight. The dance was probably my favorite part of my schools' prom. Everybody was dancing and having a great time, plus we had a good DJ. The after prom was pretty fun too.
Now just this weekend, I went with my girlfriend to her prom. It was a lot of fun there but the grand march wasn't set up the greatest. I took a really nice '69 Chevy Chevelle that a friends' dad let me borrow. The drive up was fun but after we were done with the drive up, we had to sit around until 5:30 for the actual grand march to start. This wasn't that big of a deal but I liked how at my prom everything just kept moving and we didn't have to stop and wait. We also took the pictures with the photographer before the drive up. After the grand march, we were bussed about a total of two blocks, which was kinda dumb that they wouldn't let us drive, to the community center for the dinner and dance. I was a bit disappointed in the dance because the DJ wasn't the greatest and there just wasn't many people dancing. But I loved the after prom. It was better than the one at my school. They had a Fear Factor game that was really fun to watch. Then after that, there was a hypnotist. This guy had everybody laughing really hard. It was probably the highlight of my night. Also, at the end everybody got a couple prizes whereas at my prom, you had to have your name drawn to win anything. After both proms I went home and slept the majority of the next day.
I had a lot of fun at both of these proms and I have many memories I will always remember.

Fishing

It's 5:30 in the afternoon. I'm just getting off of work. I walk out the doors of the business that I work at located in a small town located in southwestern Minnesota. The day is finally over and now I get to go enjoy the rest of my day. Quickly, I leave the shop and jump in my truck. I drive up to the local gas station and fill my truck up and grab a piece of pizza along with a couple other things. Then I get back into my truck and head out of town to pick up a buddy of mine. Earlier we had made plans to go fishing. I pull up to his house and we put his fishing pole, tackle box, and cooler in the box of the truck. Now we're off to my house to grab my pole, tackle box, bucket and anything else we might need. We check the bait that we had bought to use a few days ago, but sure enough, all of it was dead. O well, we have PowerBait! We get back into the truck and drive down the road headed for the lake that we have heard of some fish biting at. On the way we discuss a few things, including our bet for the night. The bet was decided to be for the first fish caught, first keeper, and biggest keeper. For each of these we would give the other a $1 scratch off lottery ticket. That gave us the chance to win $3 of lottery tickets which could possibly give us even more money. As we pull up to the lake we notice something we hadn't really thought about earlier when we made the plans. It was pretty windy out. Earlier in the day is was dead calm so we thought it would be a great day to go fishing. We didn't realize that the wind had picked up more than we thought it did. We see the waves but we go fishing anyways. We got there just in time because as soon as we get out another truck pulls up and the people get out to get some fishing in too. The spot we decided to fish on had water washing over it quite a bit whereas the other day we went fishing when it was calm, there was no wind so it was a pretty dry area. It was a good thing that I had worn my waterproof boots that I still had on from work. I walked out into the little crick and stood on a couple rocks where the water was just washing over my feet. My buddy stood up on a big rock on the edge because he didn't have waterproof boots on. We casted out multiples of times. I caught the first fish. A small crappie. That meant I got a dollar scratch off. Next, my buddy caught a few more small crappies and a small sunfish. Also, he had a carp that bit his hook. We almost had it landed but then it snapped his line. When he put the new lure on, he seemed to be having a lot of luck with it. He caught a lot of small crappies. Then he hooked another nice sized fish. This one was a bullhead. He almost had the fish in his hand when it snapped his line. That's two fishing lures that fish had made off with. We spent about another half hour there but didn't have much luck after he lost the second hook. At this point, despite my boots being waterproof, my feet were soaked. There was quite a few waves that washed over the tops of my boots. Right before we decided to leave, I caught another small crappie but we decided to call it quits being as not much was biting. My buddy caught the first and biggest keeper since we had only caught one worthy of keeping. Now I owe him a couple scratch offs. We had a great time just hanging out together and are looking forward to the next time we go back. Hopefully the next time won't be so windy.

Timber Lake Road

Tonight a few of my friends and I are going to a haunted road. This road is actually called Timber Lake Road. We have heard rumors and stories about hauntings that have gone on there and we want to see for ourselves if they are really true or if these people are just yanking our chain. I have heard stories about if from both of my brothers so I am really interested. There are 10 other people that are going to be going with us so obviously we are going to have to take two vehicles. A couple of the people have to leave early anyways so that'll work out just fine.
There are a few different stories that I have heard about the road so I am curious to see for myself. One of the stories is that supposedly when you are driving along the road your brakes won't work. In the midst of your brakes not working, a red Corvette comes out of the ditch and begins to chase you. To prevent it from catching you, you'll drive faster. But you don't have any brakes. Then right at the end of the road, the car will go into the ditch and crash into a tree and then suddenly your brakes will work again right as you come up to a stop sign.
Another story that I have heard about the place is about an old house that used to be up there. Just recently the house started on fire so it had to be torn down and rebuilt. There used to be a woman and her children that had lived there. One day the woman went into town and came back to find her children had been murdered. This made her very sad and angry and so she decided to hang herself. Now she haunts the place. I have heard that if you get out of your car and say you have the woman's children she would come out and chase you. I have no idea if that will work or not.
Also some other things I have heard about the place is that you will see red eyes in the trees and that some people once experienced banging on the truck and roof of their car. When they stopped in town later on they looked on the car and found some footprints and handprints. There have also been sightings of ghosts in the cemetery nearby.
I don't know if any of this stuff is true or if any of it will happen but I do think it will make for a fun night. It'll be a good night of just a bunch of us friends hanging out and having fun. We will all be going off to college pretty soon so we won't be able to do this type of thing much more. We are just making the best of the time we have.

End of School

So the end of high school is coming up for me and I've got a lot of stuff to plan for and get done. I'm ready for summer and for school to be over. I'm ready for college...or at least I think I am. I'm ready to be out on my own and start my own life all on my own. My last year of high school has been going pretty good and I'm actually enjoying it. I've been trying to make it more fun than I have in the past. Next year however, I can't wait to be able to meet new people and hang out with different friends. I'll still hang out with some of the friends I have right now but I think the majority of the time I'll be spending with other people. I hope I get the chance in the next couple years to go to Alaska. The career I am going to college for supposedly has a chance to go on an internship to Alaska and work on the pipeline. I think it would be a cool experience, plus I just really want to go to Alaska.
Next year will be a fun and tough experience at the same time. I know I'll be working a lot but I'll also be hanging out with lots of different people. Paying for things will probably cause an issue for me like it does for many other people. That is another advantage for the internship. I would be getting paid some pretty good money while I am up there. Then when I get back to the college, I start up where I had left off at. I just feel like I am ready to move on in life, to bigger, better things. The past 4 years have been a lot of similar things, just a little more complex each time. I have learned lots of useful things and now I just feel like it is time to finally move on and use all of the knowledge that I have gained. I have worked hard to complete high school and now the end is finally in sight. I'm very excited. I'm trying to keep on track and finish off the year on a good note and not slack off (too much anyways). I know I'll miss my friends from high school but I will meet many other new friends and I just can't wait for the college experience. Life will obviously be different because I will be paying for all of my food, housing, and everything else I will need. Although I will be off on my own, my parents will only be 30 minutes away from me so it won't be too far of a drive to go back home, but I'm sure it'll be far enough to keep me from going back almost every day. My parents have been helping me prepare to go to college and I have also been working hard on getting things lined up that I will need wherever I am going to live. Overall though, I'm very excited and ready to start college and move up in life.

4 wheeling

I love to go 4 wheeling. It's one thing you can do pretty much anytime you are bored. One of the funnest times to go 4 wheeling is whenever there is a lot of mud (as long as you have permission to go on the property otherwise it might end up not being quite as fun in the end). I like just feeling the wind blowing through my hair as I am driving down the road. Whenever I go riding, I usually go with a couple friends. If I get stuck I'm sure I'll neeed some help getting out. The best things to do are either find a huge mud puddle or find some fun jumps and hills to climb. My personal favorite is by far the giant mud puddle. I love getting going really fast and hitting the puddle at fast speeds and watching it push the waves out in front of me and then having the water come back and soak me. Another thing that is really fun to do with the mud puddle is to go on the edge of it and just start going in circles or figure 8's alot and whipping the mud at your friends. Just keep in mind that if you do this, watch out for wherever everybody else is as this could get kind of dangerous.
When there isn't a mud puddle available, the other thing my friends and I like to do is just drive around in groves or out on the roads. We like to find things to jump such as field approaches or dirt hills. Other than that we just like to go cruising around in the ditches or messing around in the grove.
One of the things that I get kind of disappointed about is that we can't ride in the ditches April through August because it is breedings season for the pheasants and other animals that may be living in the ditches. Although it disappoints me, I can completely understand why we can't and I respect that. So that is the time that we mainly just cruise around on the roads or find trails that we can ride on. Either that or we find some private property that people will let us ride on . Overall though, my favorite thing to do is the mudding in either mud puddles or in a field. I just love the feeling that it gives me and it helps me take out some stress. If I'm having a bad day I like to just go riding around. No matter what, I'll always love riding 4 wheelers and I will continue to for as long as I possibly can.

Duct Tape

If there is ever anything broken that you need to fix, there is only one thing good enough to do the job. That, my friends, is DUCT TAPE! There is nothing else out there that has ever held up good enough for me like Duct Tape did. I've tried everything from Mighty Putty to Gorilla Glue. Believe me, that Mighty Putty isn't near as mighty as Billy Mays said it was. Besides that, Duct Tape has been around for a very long time so it has developed a reputation on being very reliable in many different areas. It can hold just about anything together. Just ask Red Green from the Red Green show. He is very reliant of Duct Tape. The whole show is all about different things you can do with Duct Tape. He has done thousands of different things with it from creating a lawnmower that you ride a bike to use it to an easier way of parallel parking.
Not only does Red Green use Duct Tape, but like many other people I have used it for some of my own causes. Some of them that I remember involved hockey sticks. I used to play hockey alot when I was younger so I would break quite a few sticks. Now obviously when I would break one, I couldn't just go buy a new stick at the time. I was young and had no money. So what did I do? I taped it back together with Duct Tape. Now I have seen other people try this with other types of tape but none of them held up like my good ol' Duct Tape. We also used it for our skates to keep them tight around the ankles. I have also used it many times around the house to hold lots of random things together.
I'm sure there are lots of other things out there that people use Duct Tape for and I've heard lots of elder people talking about it because it has been around pretty much their whole lives. Like I said before, it can fix just about anything. So when in doubt, grab a roll of Duct Tape.