Blue Hair

 This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog in 2013.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place. Enjoy!

My 16 year old daughter dyes her hair.  I'm not thrilled with it, but if this is her form of rebellion, I can live with it.  Dyeing her hair is so much better than many other ways she could choose to rebel.  (Drinking, drugs, sex, etc.)

Usually, she dyes that beautiful head of brown hair red.

I came home to a different experience Thursday night.

Her hair was blue.

She had bought a bottle of blue hair dye at the store, and attempted to dye the red/brown mass blue.

Do you remember the story in Anne of Green Gables, where Anne attempted to dye the mass of red hair black, and it turned green?  This story reminds me of Anne's attempt to dye her hair.

Not only is her hair this hideous color of blue-green, so is her scalp.  And her hands.  Her neck.  Her ears.  Her nose.  Her forehead.  Her fingers are really blue, and her cuticles are just freaky.

Of course, she chose to do this on a Thursday night.  Do you see the problem yet?  She still had to go to school yesterday.  The good news is that hand sanitizer does remove some of the dye.  The bad news is, she's still a ghastly shade of blue.

Fortunately, she has a good sense of humor.  She went to school with a scarf around her neck to hide the dye on her neck.  She left her hair down so it would cover her ears.  Her face and hands are still a ghastly shade of blue, though.

When questioned about the blue, (as any normal person would), she told people one of three things:

1) I've been feeling a little blue lately.

2) I'm releasing my inner smurf.

3) I decided to go Avatar.  Didn't  you get the memo?

I honestly can't imagine what her day was like.  I offered the option of staying home, but she decided to go to school.

I'm proud of her.  It's not everyone who can pull off the blue look and hold their head up in school for the entire day!

Basketball

Tonight, the State Police took on the faculty of the High School in a rather heated basketball
game.  After watching this game, I am thinking that the teachers need to watch their speed over the next few days as they travel the roads!   One of our teachers fouled out!

Seriously, the police officers are no slouches where basketball playing is concerned.  After watching them play an effortless game, I am more impressed than ever by them.  They had just come off a twelve hour shift, and were "winding down" with a game of basketball.  They were polite, they joked with each other, and they teased the teachers.  Several of the officers had been taught by some of the teachers in the building.  The respect between the staff and the police was evident throughout the game.  The students sitting in the stands engaged in good natured banter with each other, and with the staff.  You've got to admit, when you're watching Math Teachers make 3 point shots from half court, and you're watching a social studies teacher outrun a 6'5" officer, and then pass the ball back to another player through the legs of said officer, you have to respect their athleticism.  Of course, the Officers won.  They beat the staff by seven points.  Handshakes, hugs, and high fives ruled the court at the end of the game.

I am a little curious, though.  I know the officers have tomorrow off.  I really want to know how many of the teachers end up calling in too sore to come in to work tomorrow?  You could tell that some of them were definitely feeling it when the game was over. 

Thanks to all of the staff and officers for showing the kids such great sportsmanship, and coming out to have fun with each other on a Thursday night.  You set a great example for our kids!

Mailing a Potato Chip

The annual Physics Phestival is coming up at our high school in two weeks.

The kids do all kinds of fun physics activities as part of this festival- catapulting marshmallows across the parking lot on homemade catapults, building bridges out of spaghetti, etc.

By far, the most anticipated/dreaded portion of the Physics Phestival is the mailing of a single Pringles brand potato chip.  The Pringles must arrive in one piece to the school, and it must be consumed after the package is opened.

The rules are deceivingly simple:
1) Rectangular boxes only.  No mailing envelopes, tubes, cylinders, and plastic baggies alone will be disqualified.
2) Maximum weight = 100 grams.
3) The packaging material may not be of the commercial variety.
4) The package is to be mailed through the USPS using First Class Mail.
5) The package can not have been mailed from the post office across the street from the high school.

Extra Credit will be given for:
1) The least massive successful device.
2) The successful package mailed from the greatest distance.

I've heard stories over the years of how these chips have been mailed:
One young man put his chip in a plastic baggie and took it, addressed and all to the post office across the street from the high school.  The post office then walked the chip (in it's baggie) across the street to the school.  (The reason for rules #1 and #5)

Another enterprising young person covered their chip in shellac.  Five layers of shellac.  They then put the chip in a cut-down version of the pringles container and mailed it to the school.  (Reason for the rule about having to eat the chip.)  That was also the same year another kid set their Pringles chip into one of those hard plastic blocks that look like paper weights.  (Again, now we know why the kids have to eat the chip!)

I think that the hardest part of this project is meeting the weight requirements.  Getting a package in under 100 grams (That's about 3 ounces!)  is harder than you think.  The boxes alone, with nothing in them, weigh close to 3 ounces as it is.  The key is in the packing material.

My daughter's chip was mailed out yesterday.  It came in at 99 grams.  Close, oh so very close.

I'm currently on the lookout for a smaller box.  She can earn 25 bonus points for mailing a second box, following the same rules... only... it must have LESS mass than the first box!  Challenges, challenges, challenges.

So... how would you ship a single Pringles chip? 

High School Orientation

So, my youngest child - our daughter - begins High School next week.  This morning is Orientation for all incoming Freshman, and tonight is Back to School Night for all students.

I've done the high school orientation two times before, and I'm still looking forward to today's orientation.  We'll go in and listen to the principal explain attendance policies to us.  He'll explain the Standards of Conduct. 

And then, we'll break up into small groups and tour the building.

This high school is much smaller than my high school was, and I find it to be very easy to navigate.  However, this school is much bigger than the middle school that my children attended, and it is overwhelming to them.  The fear of getting lost on the first day of class isn't mitigated at all by her older brothers giving her directions to get to the portables just outside the cafeteria by directing her through the pool.  (Our school doesn't have a pool, so you can see just how helpful they are being!)

I have some mixed emotions about sending my last child off to high school.  I was thrilled to leave elementary school behind.  We had a good school, but her 5th grade teacher left me with bad, bad memories of elementary school.  By the time the last day of 5th grade rolled around, I stood out in the parking lot with several other parents who were leaving elementary school behind forever and danced the "Happy Dance". 

Our middle school has been the bright, shining light of school for all of our kids.  We are very fortunate to have a school that challenges our kids, acknowledges that kids who are in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will be mischievous, and works hard to challenge all of that excess energy into academic curiosity.  Considering our ranking in the state, our school test scores, and the high number of children who go on to get college scholarships, I know that they do an excellent job.  I love the teachers in that building, and I love their enthusiasm and love for the children.  When we finished middle school in June, I did cry.  I will miss middle school.

But we have an awesome high school!  The best teachers, ever, and a student body that is motivated and eager.  Why do I find myself so sad?  I think it's because she's moving on to High School.  I'm realizing that she has completed 8 years of compulsory education.  She'll only be at home for a few more years before she moves out and starts her own adventures.   It's a sobering realization.

It seems like only yesterday that she was standing at the bus stop with her brothers.  She was three years old, and wearing a purple sweat suit with a purple tutu and sneakers.  She, Philip, Kyran, and Christina were running around the bus stop, chasing each other around and yelling.  When all of their older brothers and sisters got on the bus and they had to stay behind, all of them started crying.  They were inconsolable that their siblings were going off on an adventure and leaving them behind.

I kind of hate to admit it, but that's how I've been feeling this week. 

This stage in our lives kind of stinks, you know?