Sunday, February 23, 2014

What grade am I in again?

This semester I have found myself faced with a very strange problem: I honestly don't know how to answer the question "What grade are you in?". I'm in grade nine for everything except English, in which case I've already finished grade 10 and have moved on to a grade 11 class. I think my peers figure I'm insane.
Thing is, I've always been the kind of kid who goes into gifted programs. I've done reports on Leonardo da Vinci, built a Rube Goldberg machine, learned university-level biology and physics, worked in a university microbiology lab. . . . I could go on. Most of the time I finish schoolwork early and I almost always land in the nineties for academics on my report cards. My worst subject: gym. My point? I'm all over the map when it comes to school.

Lately I've been answering the what-grade-you-in question with the following: "Nine. I think. Mostly. I'm in grade eleven for English." Because it really depends on what subject you're looking at. So I guess what I'm trying to say is being a genius is overrated. All of a sudden you've got a whole new set of problems most people can't relate to.

Teenagers and television

I must confess that I'm one of those people who watches random preteen cartoons. My list of cartoons is as follows:
Phineas and Ferb
Teen Titans
Winx Club
Legend of Korra
Avatar the Last Airbender
W.I.T.C.H.
Ben 10
Kim Possible
Sofia the First

I think out of all of those the one I'm most likely to get laughed at for is Sofia. I own every season of a show I was introduced to by a five year old, and I have no shame. No shame at all.

Moving on though, I am increasingly amazed at and occasionally disgusted by the ongoing debate at whether or not it's "cool" for adults or teenagers to watch shows like My Little Pony or that weird new talking animals show based on the Littlest Pet Shop toys I liked as a kid. I've got to say that the only issue I have with MLP is that I watched a different version on Treehouse when I was four and younger. It just feels weird, like I'm trying to pretend to be younger or something bizarre like that. Usually I don't have to pretend, it just happens.
But anyways, sometimes I just have to laugh at the many debates going on in the comments section of Youtube reviews of shows like that. Couldn't we discuss something important instead, like the protests in Ukraine or discrimination in public schools or something? Seriously, if politics were discussed with the same heat and dedication as TV shows, NOBODY could complain about the state of democracy. Who cares what you watch behind closed doors? I know I don't. All things considered, I guess I'd just like to live in a world where I don't automatically say "You got a problem with that" whenever someone sees me watching Phineas and Ferb. Just sayin'.

(Edit: I do not own every season of Sofia the First. I was referring to Phineas and Ferb. Just to be clear : )