Ricky N

TL;DR: Highschoolers can work as much as 80 hours per week on schoolwork and necessary extracurriculars. How can people expect them to also find the time for jobs, especially in this hard economy where adults can't even find jobs?

Someone told me today that I was lazy and mooching off my parents because they give me money for food, and I don't have a job.

Perhaps in the past, it was more appropriate for highschoolers to have jobs. I am under the impression that nowadays, between the lack of any jobs period, and the fact that highschoolers have to do some much more to be competitive, it isn't practical to expect them to work even minimal hours.

In order to get into the colleges that I'd like to, I need to have excellent grades and a variety of extra -curriculars. That means I need to spend seven hours at school each day, plus two to three hours on homework. I also spend about four hours on my daily sport and creative extra-curricular, whatever they may be at any given time. On the weekends I have tournaments or performances, and time to work on longer school projects and finish homework from the week. I also need community service as part of my school requirement and college requirement, which I only have time for on the weekends. At busy times of year like this, I spend about 80 hours a week on school and my extra-curriculars.

I repeat. I am "WORKING" 80 hours per week. I may not be getting paid, but they are still necessary activities in order for me to have a future and to get a job that I want. I spend more time "working" than both of my parents combined.

I'm not alone in this, either. I may be doing more than the average highschooler, but I know plenty of people that do as much as I do, if not more. Why do people feel they have the right to judge us and call us lazy, just because we're not doing the kind of "work" they think we should?

I'm sorry to be ranty, but I really want to know; do people actually, seriously believe that modern highschoolers have time to work? It would literally be impossible for me to get a steady job, because my other obligations vary so much in time that I couldn't commit myself to any one shift. How do people expect us to work a job?

Personally, it's really difficult to put them in order. My list, from favorite to least favorite of the movies would probably go:

1) The Incredibles

2) Ratatouille

3) Finding Nemo

4) Monsters Inc.

5) WALL-E

6) Toy Story 3

7) Cars

8) Up

9) Toy Story 2

10) Toy Story

11) A Bug's Life

The top four are all so creative and great that I had a hard time ranking them, they're all practically equal. I never really loved the Toy Story franchise as much as everyone else, I just couldn't get attached to the characters... that's why they're so low on the list. Although, I will give that Toy Story 2 had one of the saddest scenes ever, had me crying for the rest of the movie.

I love 'em all, though. So, what order would you put them in? Or, what are your top favorites, or least favorites, and why?

Out of all the gay guys I've ever met in real life, I have never been attracted to any of them. They're all flamboyant, there's all very feminine, they can be shrill and obnoxious at times... but I've never met one that I found attractive. In fact, I've had very few "crushes" on any men at all, and the few that I have had interest in have all been very straight, and friend-zoned.

I've been home sick, and the only things on the Tivo were Friends and Will and Grace. So, I've been watching Will and Grace for the last 6 hours... and I see how successful and nice and attractive Will is, and how successful and attractive and nice all the people he dates are... and I think "I will never find a guy anywhere close to any of those perfect people". I dunno, I'm just kinda depressed now.

So why aren't more guys like the guys in sitcoms? Why can't people be successful and nice, why is everyone obnoxious and unambitious? Am I just unlucky in the people that I meet? Help me out, guys.

Or does the fact that they're male make them fall under a veela's charm anyway?

It seems that nobody is really logical anymore; even those who claim to make logical decisions are being dumb. For instance: "the countries with the highest qualities of life also have high percentages of atheistic populations. Therefore, atheism increases quality of life" as is the implication of many in this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201009...

Keep in mind, this is not something against atheists or science, but rather against illogical people. The above statement is one of the most basic logical fallacies: correlation does not imply causation. Not to mention, something like the quality of life of an entire country is far more complicated than "atheist vs christian".

That's just an example. But it seems every time I get into a debate with someone (or an argument, same thing in my mind, really) I try to reason and they just repeat what they think is right. Perhaps I'm just blinded, but I like to think that I try really hard to be logical when I'm debating something.

Anyone else notice that people tend not to listen to reason very much?

When they first break open the hatch, Desmond is playing this song. Then when he goes back in time, he's in the bar and he hears it (and again when he goes back the next night). It's really catchy, anyone know what song it is and who performs it?

...but claim to be either gay or straight? If looks don't matter, then why don't you date people of both genders? Last time I asked this, I was told I was "insensitive and shallow" because I think sexual attraction is an important part of a relationship.

So tell me: if what's on the outside doesn't matter, why do you only date one gender, the one that you think looks better?

...but then claim to be be gay, or straight, or whatever. I believe the term for that is "pansexual". Now I don't know about you guys, but I claim to be gay because I am sexually attracted to males. I can also be romantically attracted to them, but the same thing applies to women. I can love someone of any gender, but I'm only attracted to men. So, I can't really say that "only what's on the inside counts", because honestly, I only like men, and I only like men that have some semblance of attraction. Sure, I'll be friends with women and unattractive men, but I'm not sexually attracted to them.

So how does romantic attraction differ from sexual attraction to you? I don't really understand.

Indians are part of the Caucasian race. This is a fact. Just because they aren't European doesn't mean they're not Caucasian... where does this stupid misconception come from?

"the general physical type of some or all of the indigenous populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia" -Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race

I am not a Christian, nor am I even a theist. Let's just get that out of the way.

Anyway, I browse the R&S section a lot, and naturally I see a lot of atheists answering questions in which they deny the existence of god. That's all fine and dandy, but the only answers that irritate me are when people use the words "fictional" or "fairy tale". I don't know why, these two phrases bug the hell out of me. It makes me think of the person that uses them as being incredibly pretentious, as well as idiotic. Things like "doesn't exist" "isn't real" or "fake" don't bother me, but those two do. Sky daddy is annoying too, but it's not nearly as bad. Why do those specific phrases bother me?

I'm an agnostic panentheistic deist, and although I do enjoy how smart that label makes me sound, it also accurately sums up my beliefs about god and the universe. What's yours? I'll give you a word bank to choose from:

Deism

Polytheism

Monotheism

Atheism

Gnosticism

Agnosticism

Pantheism

Panentheism

Henotheism

Monolatrism

I believe it's in everyone's best interests if we can correctly label ourselves. Many people who jump on the "atheist" bandwagon are really one or more of the things above.

and that she named it Kitty Purry? What do you think of this?

http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/07/the_kids_ar...

This article discusses both race and LGBT issues. It claims that The Kids Are All Right is "messed up on race" because it involves a white family as the main characters. Out of the supporting characters, "only" three of the six are not white. Of course, if the characters were in proportion to the actual non-white population in the US, there would only be 1.5 ethnic characters. But no, if one the main characters isn't ethnic (even though they're a family and all RELATED, which would make it impossible for them to be of any other race), then the movie is racist. And of course, they say that this is all reflecting on the gay community, which is apparently racist and horrible.

Does this seem incredibly stupid to anyone else? Does anyone agree with it? If so, why? It doesn't seem to make sense that we can't be allowed to make movies about white people any more... In my opinion, this kind of stupidity is what keeps racism alive. By yelling "racist!!" at every little thing, you simply perpetuate fear of racism and encourage people to be spiteful about race. What do you guys think, LGBT?

Okay, so maybe the one I used in the title question (o.O) is a little unnecessary. But it seems that whenever I'm typing conversationally, I feel the urge to insert smilies and emoticons to change the mood of the sentence. If I would smile at the end of the sentence, I go =). If I want to indicate that I'm being silly, I go =P. Facial expressions are a key part on communication, as is vocal inflection. Yet, people still say I'm immature and silly for using them in my text. With typing, you get neither of these, and without them, your meaning is often misunderstood.

For instance, an emoticon can completely change the meaning of a sentence:

You're so stupid!

You're so stupid! =P

If you saw the first one up on your facebook wall, you'd be upset. If you saw the second one, you'd know they were joking. There are other instances where it's convenient to use an emoticon to get your meaning across... so why am I immature for using something that helps accurately convey my meaning?

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-7_jobs_to...

From "7 Jobs to Skip College For"

"4. Nuclear Power Reactor Operator: $79,100 median salary

Since nuclear power reactor operators work with highly sensitive equipment, they need an understanding of physics and engineering, as well as active learning and troubleshooting skills. The higher pay correlates to the highly specialized skill set required. "

Is it just me, or should nuclear technicians at least have to GO TO COLLEGE? I mean, really. We have people who barely managed to pass highschool operating nuclear power plants? Who's genius idea was this? Am I the only one a little freaked out by this thought?

I've decided that I really want to play on my highschool's soccer team this fall. I tried out in Freshman year, got on the JV2 team (there's three teams: varsity, JV and JV2), but dropped out because I was too stressed and wasn't enjoying playing. Since then, I've been doing drama and clubs and not playing any sports.

However, with more free time this year and more desire to play, I think I can handle being on the team. I just don't know if they'll let me. Not only is there my history of dropping out freshman year, I also have some commitments that would cause me to miss up to three games and the first two tryouts (out of ten). There was also a summer training program that was supposed to get all the players in shape, but I've missed it already.

When I list out all the problems like that, it seems like there's zero chance I can make the team. I'm not worried about them rejecting me because I'm not skilled or something (because everyone who tries out gets on the team, basically) but what do you guys think? Does it seem like too much? I bet they probably won't even remember me from freshman year, since they barely saw me at all, but do the current conflicts make it impossible?

Why is everyone a hypocrite? Why is it so easy to be one? All the time, I find myself dong things that would really irritate me if someone did it to me, but I justify it somehow. What is it about humans that makes us do that? And everybody is a hypocrite, don't even try to pretend that we're not. :P

Being a teenager has never been easy. Raging hormones, stressful social lives, and parental control all make it one of the most trying times in anyone's life. It seems that recently the stress has simply continued to build, with teens often spending twice as much time as their parents at their "job" of being a highschooler.

Teens are becoming more and more competitive when it comes to getting into college. Once upon a time, participation in a single sport or the ability to play an instrument was the expected extracurricular for a teen, with maybe a summer job between years. Nowadays, highschoolers are expected to juggle diverse and simultaneous extracurricular activities, as well as complete hundreds of hours of required community service or work and struggle with a minimum of two hours of homework each night.

At times, teenagers spend more time working than even both their parents combined. The average adult works 9:00-5:00. Of course hours vary, but the total hours per week averages at about 40. Compare this to teens: a highschooler spends the same amount of time, if not more, on schoolwork alone (7 hours of school, plus at least an hour of homework each night). Then, of course, there's required work or community service hours, which depending on the school vary from 10 hours per semester to over 100 hours per year. We can't be forgetting extracurricular activities, necessary for staying in shape, staying popular, and being competitive in college applications; these add another 10-30 hours of work per week. Let's add on some chores that one must complete at home, adding perhaps 5-10 hours of work per week. With all of these activities accounted for, a teen can end up "working" as much as 80 hours per week, DOUBLE the average work time of an adult.

You pile this ridiculous workload on top of the stresses teens have dealt with for all eternity (which I'm sure you all know, having been teens at one point), and I honestly can't understand how they can handle the work. Many teens just see this as normal, as the way things are. Do you think it's appropriate?

Those of you who already know what this is, here's a link to a brand new sawstel forum, a revival of what was once the best place to read and play sawstel!

----> http://z10.invisionfree.com/Sawstel/inde%E2%80%A6

If not, I'll give a brief description. Sawstel is a roleplaying game, similar to a "choose your own path" novel. Set in the house of a crazed madman with ghoulish monsters set out to destroy you, he has captured you to play a "game", similar to the ideas found in the "Saw" franchise. I write a short part of the story, and give you some options to choose from at the end. You all post what you want to do, and the winning option (by majority) is followed up on. The story progresses as you make your choices in the deadly house. You may die, but no fear; we can just start a new thread!

If you follow this link, you can read an example of a sawstel story under the thread <Sawstel>, and participate in the new story in the thread <Sawstel - Revived>.

----> http://z10.invisionfree.com/Sawstel/inde%E2%80%A6

If you like it, tell your friends! I'm just trying to bring back a game which I always found fun, but has died off in recent times. So, have you heard of sawstel? Do you like it? Answer below!

Take the quiz, its fast and easy. I enjoy these little things, even though they're stupid and completely useless, haha.

http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/G/gayomete...

I got 40%.