eraser-less pencils

I just got back from confirmation, where my small group and I snipped starfish out of multicolored construction paper in order to remind ourselves to make a difference. Afterwards, we were let loose to wander the church in search of something to make a difference in the first place. I plucked a plastic bag from the floor and put it in the garbage can, which probably spared the spine of an elderly janitor with hair growing out of his ears.

The fact that this was the highlight of my day should tell you something about the state of things as of late.

You know what really burns my cookies? Seniors forever griping of the ignorance of freshmen. At least freshmen are harmlessly frolicking under their mushroom clouds, completely detached from reality. I mean, sure, collectively we couldn't light a 70-watt light bulb, but we don't cause great disturbances (excluding the in-school felonies committed thus far by the class of 2005 in three months that outnumbered those committed by all four classes last year). But seniors, they're forever driving a fork up their own asses, wailing piteously under their mountains of homework, college applications, and gradually-molding ramen noodles. I don't understand why it is they deem it necessary to constantly piss on freshman (and sometimes even literally). Eventually freshmen'll end up as seniors as well (most of us, at least), and with a significantly larger amount of homework, even, considering the work increases with the passing of each year. Seniors have had three years of transition into their massive homework loads, whereas freshman suddenly had the mounds of homework thrust upon them. Most importantly, however, it really hurts to have some senior who's never spoken to you immediately write you off as some fool who sniffed crack until their brain devolved into goo. Freshman are just like seniors in the fact that they're simply trying to make it through high school without committing suicide first. Either that or they're trying to get interviewed on a public television network by smoking their weight in weed. Whatever the reason, the stereotypical views of freshman are offending and condescending, especially since I don't consider myself a typical freshman. A typical note-passing, giggling, shrieking freshman.

I'd bet anyone a small handful of magic beans that, come 2005, when I'm a senior, a disgruntled freshman will accidentally bump into me, and within seconds they'll be writhing on the floor as I beat their skulls in with the aid of the nearest textbook. They even grate on my nerves with their cheese grater of doom, and I am a freshman.

The other day in Japanese, we were playing Bingo as a review method for the then-upcoming finals. Much to my delight, Japanese pencils were being dealt out as prizes, even though they didn't have erasers. I wondered why that was, but then remembered that the Japanese don't make mistakes. So yeah, about three people, including me, called out 'Bingo' in unison. This one peon, whose name is David, stood up with flailing arms and screeched, 'I win, I win! I said "Bingo" and they didn't, and you can't win without saying the name of the game.' He seemed very proud.

I turned around, concluding that I would crumple his pride, and replied coldly, 'I said "Bingo"; sit down, fool.'

A hollow victory, but damnit, I wasn't going to let some dumbass jip me out of my pencil.