To the Girl Who Criticized my Attire

So, awhile back (a really long while back, actually), some friends of mine told me what a girl that I had believed to be my friend was saying about me and my clothes.  Apparently, she wonders why I "dress like this all the time".
For most of you that know me in person, you've kind of picked up on the fact that I wear skirts pretty much all the time.  And by "pretty much", I mean all the time.  At least in public.  So...what's wrong with that?
To the girl who criticized my clothing...why couldn't you ask me yourself?  In fact, I believe I told you while we were sitting together in the same classroom, and if I wasn't telling you, I was telling a teacher and you could have easily heard.
To begin with, that's how my mother was raised and that's how she raised me.  Is that my only reason?  Absolutely not.  I feel more comfortable in skirts.  And yes, I can do everything that you can do in your leggings, in my skirts.  No, I'm not too hot in the summer.  Yes, I'm too cold in the winter, but that's because winter is too cold, it has nothing to do with my skirts.
Perhaps I could ask you why you always wear pants.  I don't believe I've ever seen you in a skirt, except for special occasions.  Why is that?
Let me state something now: Skirts are traditional female attire.  Pants are traditional male attire.  Why are you questioning me for constantly wearing something that is traditionally something a woman would and should wear?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Why do you of all people care what I wear?  Yes, I know, I don't always dress fashionably.  Sometimes I just don't care.  Sometimes you just don't care.  We just dress differently when we have our lazy days.
You wear leggings to school.  I wear skirts.  Is this a problem?
I don't like guys staring at my butt.  So why would I wear clothing that would frame my butt?  Because guess what...no, guys shouldn't stare, but we all know that at least some of them will.  Is that okay?  Uh...no, but they're gonna do it anyway.  I mean, murder isn't okay, but some people still do it.
And please don't bring up that guys can look up my skirt.  Why am I going to stand over their head and give them access to look up my skirt?  And if a guy pulls up my skirt to take a look, I can kick him and/or punch him if I need to.  Also, I wear shorts under my skirts in the summer and leggings underneath them in the winter....  It's no different than you wearing spandex underneath your cheer skirt.
Also, why did I wear a jacket over my women's ensemble dress?  Because, I don't care to have my shoulders showing.  And as to the person you were talking to, who said I wasn't supposed to do that...all of the girls were there when we picked out the dresses, and Mrs. Fischer said that if we wanted to wear jackets over them, we were welcome to do so.  If that girl wasn't there when we picked out dresses, for whatever reason, that's her own fault and she doesn't need to be saying I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be.
In short...why do you care what I wear?  What I wear doesn't affect you in any way shape or form and if it does, I'm sorry?  I'm sorry I wear things I feel comfortable, even if it's not "fashionable"?  I'm sorry that you feel the need to talk to other people about my clothing?  I'm sorry that my dressing in a way that I feel comfortable and modest makes you unhappy?  Everyone knows I'm all about pleasing others...constantly...of course....  No seriously, I can be a bit of a people pleaser, but I'm not changing myself to make others happy.  I am sorry that I have displeased you, oh great one, you shall see me in leggings when hell freezes over.  The end.
~Katie

Business Teaching Game?

Okay, so...this game isn't exactly a "teaching" game at all.  It's called Flight Rising an is a game completely centered around dragons.  You breed them, train them in battle, feed them, name them, change their genes around, etc.  Where am I getting that it's a business teaching game?!
Well, also, in this game you do a thing called "gathering", four of the gathering types produces food for you dragons, while the remaining two provide you with other items that you don't need to survive in the game, but can give you cool things.

The way that gathering can help with business type skills is that you decide where you need to gather and how much you need to gather there.  Do most of your dragons eat plants, but you have some dragons that eat meat and you have absolutely zero meat?  Maybe you should go hunting.  Are your food stores all stocked up?  Well, why not dig or scavenge?

Then, with the things you've scavenged or dug up, you can go to the Auction House, and sell them!  But oh no!  What do I price my "white rook" for?!  All you have to do is figure out how much other people are selling their white rooks for, then price your white rook at the same or a little lower.  Or...if the lowest price you could sell it for is less than the price you'd get for selling it back to the store...your best bet is to either sell it back to the store, or hang onto it until the price for white rooks goes back up.

You find all kinds of things you can sell, in your "hoard".  It has different tabs for different things.  You decide what you want to sell and what you want to keep.  Some things, it's better to hang onto.  For example, there's a place in Flight Rising called the "coliseum", which is where your dragons can battle either other player's dragons, or monsters.  I stick to battling monsters.  But they need battle items.  If you have a lightning dragon and a fire dragon, but you only have ability stones for a nature dragon, you might want to sell the nature battle items and get some lightning and fire battle items!

There's also a place in Flight Rising called the "trading post".  At the trading post, there's one place where you can get one thing for free every day, another place where someone buys your items for more than you could sell them in the store, but they get to choose what they want and you might not even have it, one where you can answer questions about Flight Rising and get treasure in return, one where you can trade different items you may have for one big item, usually apparel, for your dragon to wear, and a last place where you can turn some of the things you keep in your hoard into goos, mucks, slimes, oozes, and something else, but I don't remember what, and then you can use those, as well as other materials to make more things.

Also!  If there are things you have in your hoard that you want to make sure you don't sell or throw away or give away, you can move them to your vault.  Which is fantastic.  You can even move gems and treasure into your vault.

How does business come into this?  Well, you have to know what to price your items for.  If you're making things to sell, you need to know what's in demand.  A great way to do that?  The forums.  Not all forums are about selling, in fact, there's one forum that's not even for anything Flight Rising related, it's just so people can have fun and talk about anything and everything.

The more I play Flight Rising, the more I realize I'm doing things like, making business transactions, marketing, sort of budgeting (not exactly) and I feel like if you homeschool (or even if you don't), Flight Rising would be a great place to go and sort of make your own business/market on there for selling this that or the other thing.  Maybe I'm way off, but that's just how it seemed to me.

~Katie

My First Basketball Game!

Okay, so no, I haven't seen a basketball game at all, until yesterday night....  I've been to one football game and that was because I was working concessions...and also...I only saw the tail end...where we did actually win!
But, anyway, I was at the basketball game last night, because I have been promoted to Select Singers (elite singing group at my school), because they needed more altos, so I'm singing alto.  I usually sing soprano, but I enjoy singing alto in church...so...not too different.  Oh and the reason why four Select Singers (counting myself), were there, was because we were singing the national anthem.  We sang accapella and I have heard lovely compliments about us.
So, about the game, I sat on the enemy bleacher side, because Dakota (I may have mentioned a Dakota previously, but not this Dakota.  This Dakota is a girl, and...not the other Dakota....) was filming it for the live stream and the only other person she had up there with her was the vice principal, who was acting as the announcer.  And he really does have a very good announcer voice!  I was impressed.
I feel like we annoyed a few people, because we were cheering with the student section from the other side of the gym, but hey, we gotta show our school spirit!  And hey, I've decided to share some things I learned during my first basketball game!

1. People get way too involved...like...they think that everyone is the rep sometimes!
2. Things that look like they should be legal...aren't....
3. And things that look like they shouldn't be allowed...are?!  
4. There is a lot more falling down than I anticipated.
5. It seems to be more of a contact sport than it's made out to be.
6. Those umpires have got to be in fantastic shape, because they're running all over the court, keeping up with the action and the players and they NEVER SEEM TO GET WINDED.
7. It has got to take a lot of dedication to be a coach....
8. Each player only gets five fouls.
9. It is hard for me to tell what a foul is....

So yeah...basketball....

~Katie

Rant on Feminism

I am not a feminist.  I am a very independent person, but not a feminist!  Wanna know something?  Every person, whether they're a man, woman, boy or girl have equal rights.  Wanna know something else?  Until a child is 18, they are under their parents' control.  Does that make them any less of a human?  Do people view them any differently than another person?  I don't think so.  Maybe, but I don't think so!  They don't have fewer rights, they have the same rights, but they are different!  Just like men and women are different.
The trigger for this rant, was Monday, when I was at a community dinner and someone mentioned my age, so I told them I was eighteen and they asked me if I had registered for the draft yet.  No, I haven't.  No, I don't plan to.  Not because I don't love our military, but because I am not the type of person who could go into our military.  They asked if wasn't it everyone who was supposed to register now?  No, still just guys.
Why aren't women ever ranting about how all women should be required to register for the draft?  I haven't seen it!  Instead, I see women ranting about how men and women are equal, women should be allowed to go shirtless, women should have this, this and that in a job, women should be allowed to have abortions and men can't say anything about it, even if the woman is pregnant with his child.
But do you wanna know what really irritates me about the whole thing?  If a woman doesn't agree with this, this or that about the feminist movement, they don't care about the women who sacrificed for the equal rights of women.
Well, listen up, equal doesn't mean same.  I have equal rights as my friend Steven, but guess what...he's 6'3''...should I be all upset because I'm not the same as him?  Nope.  I'm like...a foot, give or take, shorter than him.  I have equal rights as my friend Elizabeth (known to me as Awesome), but she has celiac and I don't.  Should she be all upset because I can eat gluten no problem?  Nah.  Sure, we're different...but we're still equal.
Sure, women can do pretty much anything a guy can do...I mean, other than naturally pee standing up....  And hey, most men are stronger than women, so women can't make their percentage for people able to benchpress 500lbs higher than men's.  Oh, and also, women and men are built differently, so I guess men and women also can't have the same build.  Wait, men can't have babies.  Or woo someone with their feminine wiles.  Oh and also, I've heard way more stories of men talking their way out of a tick--oh wait, no more women talk their way out of tickets.  Women are typically much more intuitive than men are, but men tend to be fairly observant at times.  Women are usually more outwardly emotional, but men tend to stuff more....
But I mean, I guess women and men are the exact same.  No differences.  At all.  Whew, glad I got that off my chest!  After all, I've almost been hit by both men and women on the street...wait, no, it was a girl that accelerated so she could get across the road before I, a pedestrian, who was closer to the other side than she was, could.  I've never almost got hit by a guy.  Of course, give it time.
Men and women aren't the same!  They just aren't!  They have equal rights and they are both equally human...but they aren't the same.  They are different.  That's why there are men AND women, because they are not the same.  And to act like they are is idiotic.
*big exhale*  Until next time....
Your ranting blogger,
~Katie

Electives

So...I have a friend who attends a different school than I do.  One of the classes offered at their school is Consumer Math.  This friend does not enjoy math, let alone Consumer Math, so when the new semester rolled around, she wanted to opt out of this class.  She was told she couldn't.
However, that's not the bad part about this.  The bad part is that this won't even count as a credit.  Not a business credit and not a math credit; this will count as an elective.
The reason she wasn't allowed to transfer out was not because it's full-year class.  This is what she told me: "...when I tried to explain that [an elective is not a required class], he said that it's required for this school, but it goes on your record (?) as an elective.".
If a class is required, that class should count as a credit, not an elective.  Especially not when the student has not elected to take this class, but has been forced.  If you google, "elective definition", this is what pops up:

I see...

Even at my school, we have a required class for Seniors called "Take Charge of Your Finances" (shortened to "Take Charge", by students and faculty), however, it does not count as an elective, because we have not elected to take it, it is required.  It counts as a business class.

If my friend were to switch schools, on her transcript, that class would go under either "business", or "math", but most likely math.

In the state of Kansas, which is where both of us attend school, a person is only required to have three math credits, and Algebra and Geometry need to be covered.  In other words, if someone takes one Algebra class and one Geometry class, and one other math class, they're good.  Here's the link I got that information from: Information  Considering that that came from the Kansas State Department of Education...I think they know what they're talking about.

At this school, her senior year, my friend will also be required to take something they call, "Advanced Math", which is basically Algebra2, all over again.  It will count as a math credit, but it is not something she will need and is something that she should be allowed to opt out of.  Yet she isn't.

That is not right.

To call something an elective when a student is still forced to take it, is wrong and if you consider that an elective, you need to go to back to English class and learn vocabulary.

If you want a certain class to be required at your school, go right ahead!  However, if you are going to require a class, it is not an elective.  Count it as math or count it as business, Consumer Math would fit in either one, but do not count it as an elective, because it is not an elective.

Rant over.

~Katie

The New Semester and Decapitation!

Before you ask, no, no one has been decapitated at my school recently...it was just a catchier title than "The New Semester and Wednesday Night Church".  Plus, it was shorter.
So...at school, our English teacher retired for personal reasons, which leaves the Juniors and Seniors all messed up class-wise.  We've been split up among different classes.  We have online classes, classes with the 9th and 10th grade teachers, and then a thing called PBL (Project Based Learning) English.
Of course, I took PBL English...I guess that's kind of unsurprising...I've been homeschooled most of my life, and I tend to learn better when I do things I enjoy doing or learn about things I prefer to learn about...and sometimes I'll learn about other things along the way.
Our first project has been assigned, but the rest we get to choose.  Our project is Vikings!  Whoot whoot!  And from this project, I already know my next project!  The Vikings had a game called...um...I'll have to look it up and I'd rather not right now, but, a guy in my class and I are going to do it together.  We don't have all the stuff figured out exactly, but I feel like I'm going to do most of the research part and he'll do the physical part where he makes the board and stuff, I'm not sure though...we haven't talked about it, because we're supposed to still be focused on our current project...it didn't work well, but...yeah....
I'm still figuring out my schedule though, because it's been changed.  Last semester: it was Biology, Choir, Weights, Peer Tutor, Econ, Art, English, CCR.  This semester, it is: Biology, Choir, Peer Tutor, Art, Government, Take Charge, English, and CCR.  So, I guess it hasn't changed too much...but it feels like it to me.  So far so good.  And I'm learning pottery.  I stink at it.
So, about the decapitation.  We had an interesting conversation after we read through and discussed Romans chapter seven...it was about decapitation!  The entire thing started because our youth pastor asked if there were any prayer requests and someone said a prayer request, which made me remember that my cousin, Norma, told me about an Amish buggy getting hit, and that the humans were okay, but that the horses died....
Then, one of the guys said that if the buggy was caught just right, the horses could be decapitated by their bits.  Then, the youth pastor told us about these people who saw a deer get decapitated by a vehicle and the head went flying, and other than being headless, the body was perfectly fine...so of course I had to ask how long a human head would retain consciousness after a person was beheaded...which of course led to Jonas saying that he read somewhere about a guy who told his friends to watch him after he was beheaded and see how long he blinked after his head was chopped off and they counted 15 seconds.
And then of course we had to begin factoring if there would be consciousness longer depending on how the head landed.  And this was all at church.  I really like my Wednesday church.
~Katie

My 2015?

Not like this is a few days late or anything, but eh.
My 2015...oh my.  So...I made some new friends, lost some fake friends, cemented some enemies, had some fights, had some heartbreak, had some laughs, had some ice cream...a lot, actually.  I plan to add some pictures later this week, no promises.
Schoolwise....  Well, I got highest GPA for my Junior class, and attended the Junior/Senior Banquet, which had, of course, good food, and fantastic decorations (as done by the Juniors).  I switched from a private school to a public school.  I was a lead in my school's fall musical.  I've been in Scholars Bowl and have placed at every meet we had...one meet we even placed first and I was so happy!  I auditioned for District Choir...didn't make it, but my teacher left me a sweet note, letting me know that she saw and was proud of my effort.  Made it through the first semester of my Senior year with all As and NO ABSENCES!  BAM!  (Sorry, excited).
Family-wise...of course we had Thanksgiving and Christmas (I GOT PURPLE PJS WITH A KITTY ON THEM!!!).  I went to the birthday parties of my cousins.  Went on a trip to Colorado with my cousin, Mom and Stepdad.  My non-biological, non-legal brother Donny came down to visit for The Fourth of July.
Friend-wise.  I started playing League of Legends and have met so many people through there.  Some of my best friends.  But...yeah...I've made new friends.  Kalli, Victoria Jenica, Dakota, Shelby...another Shelby, Wolfie, Kyle, Kyle, George, Jacob, Tyler, Alex, Mr. Barnett, Alli, Jesse SO MANY FRIENDS.  Not all of those are from League...and a few of them aren't really my friends anymore...but some of them I'm really close to.  Like...Jacob, Wolfie, Kyle, Kalli.  I'm close to my other friends too...but not that close.  These four people, I could basically tell anything.  And I have told them a lot of things.  Actually, I could probably tell any of these people anything...I just choose not to, because...ya know, a girl's gotta have some secrets.
Personally...got a boyfriend, lost a boyfriend, blogged a bit, made some people mad (not on purpose, it's just that some people get mad when I voice my opinion on my blog).  Joined a few Facebook groups and left the same Facebook groups.  Grew a bit and shrunk a bit....
Pet-wise!  I got two baby boys!  Poro and Tinker.  They are my babies.  I love them so much.  They are definitely adorable.  I plan to keep them until either I or they die.
Spiritually...grew some, shrunk some, but it's always, always a battle and even if you're at your peak, there is always further you can grow.
I'm sure there's a lot of other things too, that would maybe be a bit better thought out...but...there we have it...my year?
~Katie