Precautions and Prompts

Yesterday the school entered a shelter in place drill due to a unique danger: wildlife. Yes, no one was allowed to leave the building because of one bear, roaming around the Park Meadows area. This past week it has been spotted by civilians and police men all around Park City, from Jeremy and Pinebrook to Main Street and Park Meadows.

Last night it was assumed to be in Park Meadows still, which is where I was having dinner with family friends. It is also where, wether the bear caused it or not, the power went out. Everyone pulled out candles and flashlights, waiting for the lights to come back on. All of the neighboring houses were out as well, but we weren't sure how widespread the blackout was. I called my sister and confirmed that the power was still on by main street- she had no idea what had happened.

After waiting for nearly an hour we decided to go home. It was about 9:30 at night, and I was driving. Of course I didn't even consider the fact that the blackout might have effected the street lights or stoplights, which it did. All of the lamplights were out and when I got to the big intersection by Alberto's and Maverick, the power was still off. Fun times!

Photo courtesy of ksl.com.
Read more about the bear here.

Now that I've updated recent events, let me get the assigned prompt out of the way. "How have you changed this year?" This can go many different ways. How has my writing changed? How have my academics changed? How have my friends changed? How has the weather changed? An so on. Instead of talking about some deep, sentimental changes I've made this year, I'm going to talk about my shoes. (it counts)

I began this wondrous school year with some white high tops. I wore them a lot, which is an understatement. (Visit their website here). They were pearly white the first couple of weeks, but they didn't stay that way for long. Eventually the brown creeped in, and despite many suggestions to wash them, I simply couldn't. They were the only shoes I wore. Soon after they became brown converse I was given Birkenstocks for Christmas.

Some of you may know how great these shoes are. They are amazing for your feet and posture, and incredibly comfy. I got all black classic Arizona sandals, but there are many more styles and colors. If you want to order Birkenstocks, visit their website here. I also got Uggs around the same time. My mom and I were in Jackson Hole for one of my ski races, and while I was warming up on the mountain my mom decided to look around the shops in town. She stumbled upon a shoe store with some incredible deals and ended up getting me some short blonde Uggs for around $100.

My converse were still a wreck, however. My mom decided that she wouldn't have me walking around in canvas shoes covered in dirt/whoknowswhatelse. So we stopped by a shoe store on the way home from a lacrosse game and ended up continuing the tradition. I got another pair of white converse, but this time they were the low rise ones, not the high tops. WOW! A lot has changed in the past year.

Punishing Permit Test

Before you come to conclusions and assume that I'm not smart because I thought the permit test was hard, let me explain.

If you ask almost any fifteen or sixteen year old about the permit test, most would say that it was a piece of cake.

"It was annoying cause it took forever, but it's super easy," an anonymous 9th grader stated.

"And how long did it take you to finish the test?" I asked them.

"45 or 50 minutes, probably."

Well, that wasn't the case for me. That morning I asked my mom to pick me up from school so we could go straight there. The place closes at 5 pm and it says on their website that all tests have to be done by 4, so I wanted to get there earlier. School ends at 2:25, so by 2:30 I figured we would be driving down to the DMV in Heber.

Wellll, after not being able to find my social security card, we ended up leaving for the DMV at 4:15. We got there, filled out the forms, and took my picture. After all of that the guy entering everything asks one of his co workers what time I had to take the test by. Luckily he said that it had to be done by 4:50, which left me at that time fifteen minutes to start and finish it.

I said that I would take it, and after warning me about the time and so on, he finished entering my stuff. I ended up starting the test at 4:40. Yep. I only had 10 minutes to take the permit test, which, by the way, is 50 questions.

And yes, I failed. I ended up with a score of 38/50, which was the cherry on top of my wonderful evening. Why? The score that was required to pass was a 40/50, which meant I would have passed had I gotten just two more questions right.

My permit!

If you live in Utah, are about to turn fifteen (or already have), and wan't go get your permit, study the Utah Drivers Handbook. Most people have them on hand from past tests, or you can find them at any DMV. I found a PDF version online that I've been using to study. Click here to open it.