AHHHH!!!!! I"M FREAKING OUTTTTT BECAUSE MY MOM DOES THIS EVERY NBIGHT!!!!

ooh, we did this in class a couple weeks ago! except the teachers skipped the bud part for some reason :(

Rose: I got to see my crush today! And I finally advanced on one of my group projects :D

Thorn: The other group project I'm working on. Lord. I still maintain that group projects are a terrible way of doing things. My parents agree, because the only thing they could possibly give you is practice working in a team, and when you're actually in a job, so my parents say, the type of teamwork you do is really different anyway because there's a boss who assigns you your work. What's going on in these group projects is that everyone has a different idea, and then you've got to sit around trying to think of compromises or new ways of doing things, and it takes up so much time and effort. You don't even learn anything, you just try to get everyone reconciled. And then other people (the ones I've been working with, anyway) usually have terrible ideas. Just from an objective standpoint, they always come up with something that's really difficult to research or that doesn't even make sense no matter how you look at it. And then you have to assign all the responsibilities and figure out who'll do what, with the result that you can't get a cohesive picture of your final product because you don't know what the other parts of it are like. All you can do is a little piece of something, and so naturally since you have no unifying vision, the project doesn't come out that well. And besides it's so hard to get the roles assigned: either people are difficult and grabby, or they won't do their part, or they just sit around saying they don't mind which part they have, and nobody does anything in the end. Not only that, but everyone has a different schedule, so it's really hard to get everyone together to talk about things. And so then one gets distracted with all that other stuff, instead of learning and researching and writing and presenting - homeschooling is honestly much better for learning, just because it's so much simpler and non-distracting. All you have to do is learn and think and question and do your assignments, without all the mental buzz of people and places and arranging meetings.

Anyway, with one of my group projects, things are working out rather well. Everyone's nice, and cooperative, and committed to getting it done (knock on wood) and it's gone rather well. The teacher is also being super helpful and understanding. But in the other one - good gracious. There are four people besides me, and one is all laconic and oily and conceited and hasn't contributed a thing (which may be good, because if he did I don't know what he'd come up with), and another one has a topic idea that's really opposed to mine and I don't know how he thinks we're going to research it -! And it turns out that the group was evenly divided on which idea to do, so he asked the teacher to choose and she chose his :( I really wanted to do the other one, just because it would've been so interesting. The teacher is not being super helpful - I mean I really like her teaching style, and she's really sweet, but she isn't even sticking to her own deadlines, and I feel like she isn't giving us students as much support as we need. She's probably doing her best, though, and I don't want to sound harsh and critical; it's just a little irritating. 

Anyway, I really don't like group projects :( If they want to show us how to work with people, there should be special classes or assignments for that, but it shouldn't be something that detracts from our actual studies. One thing is studying, another thing is teamwork. Sigh.

Okay, on to the bud... well, I want to start a club! There are already tons of clubs, but none of them seem dedicated to just plain Having A Fun Time. And I think we really need that, because a lot of the kids are kind of depressed and wilted-looking. And they just don't get that many opportunities around campus to do something sociable and exciting. So I was thinking I should start a club where people can have parties and picnics and outdoor movie nights and maybe go on trips around the city sometimes. I just need to get a few people interested first. I probably won't have time to do it until winter break, but maybe... I've been really excited about the possibility! 

Cool idea!! I remember doing this! Hm. A rose today was that I was able to sorta connect for a moment with a classmate when doing our science experiment due to our shared ignorance on one of the questions we had to answer lol. Also I did some work with clay after school today and I love working with clay it's so calming and focused and peaceful and easy... I'm making a cup, which is going to look so cool!! Hopefully it doesn't crack like my first one did though...

A thorn for me was that I had to listen to some students in a higher grade gossip and gossip at school today... sometimes gossip is just so unnecessarily mean, y'know? Or actually, I take that back; those girls weren't super mean, but there were some things that they didn't have to say. I just really don't like gossip when that gossip is being used to say bad things about people. Whether those people are there to defend themselves or not. Just don't say it! Or try to word your opinions and feelings in a nicer and more accepting way, and realize and acknowledge (haha that word looks like, "ack, knowledge!") that you're not the person that you're gossiping about, and you don't know what they might be dealing with.

A bud for me... well, tomorrow is going to be really fun. Ice cream! Clubs! Except also I have to run a mile tomorrow... which I am not looking forward to. :/

But now I want ice cream... so a bud for today is I'm going to eat some ice cream right now!! Bye :DD

I've done this at school :D I just looked at Celine's and Poinsettia's, and now I'm embarassed about the few sentences I'm going to write XD

Rose: Going to the first writing club of the year at my school, which I've always loved :)

Thorn: Intrusive thoughts, but it's probably every day's thorn. Admins, sorry if this is innappropriate for CB. I won't say anything else. 

Bud: Tomorrow is a field trip. A scavenger hunt. Then it's a long weekend, and I'm really excited for that.

And Celine and Poinsettia, I'm sorry about your thorns. @Celine, I agree with you on gossip, and I think that's good advice :) @Poinsettia, I hope the projects turn out okay. That must be really frustrating. 

i've done this at camps and things before & i really like it!

rose: i had a lot of good conversations with people at school today! i like a lot of ppl in my classes but sometimes it's hard to talk to them? and it seems like me & my best friend are kinda both becoming friends-ish with the same new people. also, beautiful fall weather.

bud: the weather being nice and cool and the trees changing! hiking! new friends!

thorn: i missed a concert i wanted to go to :( 

rose: yesterday was homecoming and my friend who doesn't go to the same school anymore came :D it was a lot of fun!!

thorn: some friends invited me for a day of hiking and swimming and stuff today but my parents wouldn't let me go D:

bud: five day weekend so hopefully I can finish all my homework-

@Amity, haha, yeah... hope you had fun on your field trip today!! And *hugs* sorry about your intrusive thoughts :/ you're an amazing person (I say this very genuinely :) )!! Best of luck with that <33

Rose: well... today, my squish was just like casually announcing to the class that he was excited for a book club that my classmate and I are running this year, which was kinda nice to hear but also sorta like eek we don't really have anything really solidly planned out for this I feel like 90% of our meetings will just be awkwardness because I am an awkward person who wanted to be a club president for some reason and he's like "I have expectations!" soo... but :D idk, and the way he said it was very precise?? Which was sorta weird, but nice?? o_O also I get an adrenaline rush whenever he looks at me, which is yeah haha :) btw, by precise I mean like very calm and controlled which was kinda weird because he's usually constantly giggling and joking/his tone goes up at the end (idk how to explain it...) in my perspective but idk. I still have to do my homework ah... so we will try to make this short! :D

Thorn: hm... not sure. I had a pretty good day, actually :DD

Bud: watching Over the Garden Wall!!

Rose: enjoying CB time.

Thorn: block party today. I don't really like meeting people. I also had to help clean.

Bud: school tomorrow! We don't get much homework, but every week there's a new writing task, and it's basically my favorite thing to do!

Rose: I had a good lunch today!

Thorn: I did not do well on by Biology test today. (But thankfully we have test corrections :)

Bud: Looking forward to tommorrow! Tuesdays are my favorite day of the week, every week. I have ASL (my favorite class this year), I accompany for a choir, and I have A Capella rehearsal.

Rose: hanging out and talking to my friends

Thorn: test tomorrow and math finals :(

Bud: clubs! 

this is such an awesome idea, Piano Man!! thanks for this :D

rose: i got a lot of outlining for my november novel done today! also, my english teacher returned my essay and said it was one of the greatest student pieces he's ever received (which is probably because my opening sentence compared a victorian woman to a groundhog). also i got to listen to a lot of music :D

thorn: so there were two people who were kind of becoming my friends, but one of them got transferred out of all my classes, and the other one turned out to be homo- and transphobic so.. ://

bud: writing my novel this november!! the villains of this year's novel are lowkey some of my favorite characters i've ever written :D i'm also excited to be doing curtains for my school's fall musical :DD

I forgot to do this yesterday so I'll do both days.

Monday

Rose: Went to Candler Park with buddy class! It has a new playground and we had a blast, although I got dizzy.

Thorn: Four Square was really boring. There's this kid who always stays King and has the worst rules. Eg: Peanut Gallery (can't talk while in line) 

Bud : almost fall break!