So, week before last (Feb. 6th-10th) was SPIRIT WEEK. And, let me tell you, it rocked. But first, the backstory. If LAST YEAR was any indication, spirit week is a serious thing. The grades compete against eachother in challenges and decorations. 06 (the current seniors) won last year, so everyone wanted to dethrone them. Our grade, the MIGHTY 08, was not seen as a very spirited grade, so we had something to prove. The general setup is that, each day, grades get points for the percentage of the grade that dresses up, as well as the lunchtime challenge activity. Also, each grade has a forum. It's kind of like an open area that you can just chill in. All of a grade's lockers make a square around their forum. Kind of harrypotteresque. The grades decorate the forums, and are ranked by a panel of teachers. So Monday's theme was color day, and we were orange. (09-purple, 07-yellow, 06-pink). The senior guys all wore really tight pink girls shirts. It was really funny. I just wore an orange soccer jersey with an orange buttondown over it. Just as a side note, our school colors are white, green, and blue. We go crazy like that. The lunchtime activity was like that old show, singled out. I made it to the last question, but boo hoo I don't have blue eyes. A junior guy and a senior girl (both cool kids) won points for their teams. Also, the decorations were ALL balloons and shitty streamers. Uneventful day. Tuesday was holiday day. We originally were going to have Thanksgiving, but that was too offensive (oh nos native americans!) so instead we got...mardi gras. The antithesis of offensive, I know! It was a lot of fun, though. I looked like this: (Others: 09-Halloween, 07-St Patty's Day, 06-July 4th). The lunchtime activity was the gallon challenge. Drink as much milk as you can in 10 minutes. Our guy was trucking it, but then he puked. We lost. The winner drank about 1/2 to 2/3 of a gallon. Wednesday was when we really picked it up. It was cowboy/ranch/farmer day for everyone. We got a ton of attendence, won the tests-of-strength lunchtime challenge, and WON THE DAY. Which, as I was saying, was the day most indicative of spirit, as the first two days are warmup and the last two days are cooldown. They should call it spirit Wednesday. We got to have the STANLEY CUP (buckets covered in duct tape) for the next day. Thursday was a lot of fun. It was age day, and we were elementary schoolers. (09-retirees, 07-babies, 06-college). We decorated our forum like a bedroom, complete with a ton of toys, including my dartboard and castle. We brought in a N64 and played Mario Kart. Here is a picture of me winning. I have the grey controller: I totally JUST realized that two of those guys are wearing the same shirt. It's from the laser tag place where basically everyone had birthday parties. My "costume" involved green samba sneakers, quicksilver shirt, a hoodie of my elementary school, basketball shorts, and a flip-up haircut that was very convincing. The lunchtime activity was jeopardy, and we brought the STANLEY CUP to show our awesomeness. I, keeping the theme of last year, fucked it up royally. We got last and I am on a straight path of blazing inferno to next year's jeopardy challenge. FRIDAY, the COUP DE GRAS or whathaveyou, was EMO DAY. Technically it was emo/punk, but come on, I wasn't about to not dress emo. (Stereotype day: 09-grunge, 07-preps, 06-jocks/cheerleaders). Our forum was a concert for a stage. It looked awesome. I played some songs, like "I DONT believe in a thing called love" and "Wonderwall", because those are basically the only songs I know how to play on guitar. I was also lead singer for our fake emo band, with songs like "10PM Curfew" and "I play guitar for the same reason I cut myself". (Lyrics: Attention attention x40). Let's get to it with some PIX: Andre as an emo wistfully staring. Don't stare at these too much. I'd hate for some emo girl's pr0n folder to be andreemocorner.jpg and catcherintherye.txt Andre as an emo staring with that I'm-too-cool-for-not-cutting-myself look. Those wristbands gave me fake but semi-convincing cutting scars. Oh, also, I have safety pins in the button holes of my shirt. It's kind of hard to see. Also, my hair is a little short for 100% emocity, but the pictures don't do my sweet emo side part justice. Andre as an emo angstfully staring in his corner. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm holding a copy of Catcher in the Rye, which I kept in my back pocket. Now, I don't know if those pictures accurately portray it, but my (girls style) pants were ferociously tight. It was difficult to climb stairs. Here are some quotes I got about these pants: "Not even kidding, those are the tightest pants I have ever seen." "Um, do you even have a dick?" "How does that book fit into your pocket?" One girl even said, "You look like my ex-boyfriend's twin. Literally. The fit of the pants, the eyeliner, the hair part...nothing is different." And of course, "Those pants are SO TIGHT" x100 Many people just sort of laughed and asked who owned the pants. A few people said it looked good...that creeped me out. At the end of it all, the Freshmen got last, as expected. It was really tight between 08 and 07...BUT WE PREVAILED, getting second place. It was awesome. Nobody could touch 06, though, they just overall did well at every aspect of it. However, second place is wildly successful, and we won best forum two or three times. So, a much more awesome spirit week. I see only bright things in the future for our grade. Awesome times. I really want to dress like an emo kid again. 2/19 edit: Today is the notable anniversary of Spontaneous Combustion. What a fun night, I'll tell you. I've been working on my next set like mad, whenever that happens to be.