what i've learned in the past month.

1: it's a good idea to proofread your essays before you hand them in.

2: pastels are a ton easier than oil pastels.

3: if you bring a picture to model off of, and it creeps your art teacher out, you'll do a 20 minute sketch of it.  If you don't bring one, she'll pick an ugly hummingbird for you and you'll waste two months on an oil pastel of it.

4: you might be able to get away with some things.  But if it involves missing homework, your parents will find out.

5: parking in the middle of the road is a bad idea, because as soon as you get out of the car, the previously deserted road will fill up with old ladies.

6: old ladies are only cute when they're not mad at you.

7: you can read summaries of a book and you will completely understand anything that anybody in the real world will ask you about the book.  But you'll get a 17% on the quiz.

8: when doing reports on various sorts of mushrooms found around your house, "I fed it to my brother and this, this, and this happened" is not the sort of "scientific observation" your teacher was looking for.

9: don't turn in the rough draft of your lab report, particularly when there's paramecium water all over it.