Hallway Traffic Cleveland High School Edition

            Walking through the halls of Cleveland is like driving on a freeway that has had a fatal car accident -- one that involved a semi-truck and caused at least six emergency vehicles to appear.

            I don’t know why people think that they are the only ones on the planet when obviously they aren't  There are about seven billion people in the world, and of that population over 1,500 people go to Cleveland. So why people feel that they have the right to stop walking right in the middle of the hall and have a 10 minute conversation while there are at least 10 people behind them is beyond me.

            Then there are the people that walk the pace of a snail when you’re going to be late to class. Is the crazed look of holy canoli I’m going to be late not a hint enough that you should pick up your pace. Or is it that you can sense my anxiety and you are just purposely walking as slow as possible to irritate me, because I am not above shoving multiple people to the side to get there.

            Or how there are two groups of people having two separate conversations in the hallway leaving you the tiniest gap to get through. Then by the time that you adjust yourself to get through leaving as little damage to the people around you as possible, there is always that one person who decides to leave the conversation and they bump into you and act like it’s your fault, but you know it isn't! Like Really?

            This year we have gained a new installment to the hallway hell we live in. Let me introduce you to a new group of juniors who have decided that folding chairs and a table would make their lunch more pleasurable when really they take up the entire hall locker to locker with no gap. While it may be a picnic to them, it is anything but to us. Are you really that amazing that your bottom can’t reside on the ground like the rest of us? Because I really do not enjoy having to be a tightrope walker as I attempt not to step on your backpack or lunch wrappers. Don’t worry if I were to ever be injured walking by; I would stick you with the doctor’s bill.

            The most depressing case of hall blockage is PDA. Public Displays of Affection (shortened by the dorkiest acronym known to man) are impossible to get around. You can’t plow through them or else you might get caught in the cross fire. The sad part is that even if you did go through them they probably wouldn't even notice. Going around them is more than unappetizing because it involves getting near them. The way I look at it is that there is an invisible bubble that separates them from us and if you invade the bubble you combust into flames.

            Then you have the newbies to the hallway: the freshmen. There is always that one little twerp that puts his arm out to block your pathway between the locker and all of his other little twerpie friends. I would like to remind this freshman that I have been taller than him since I could walk, and I’m not about to put up with this when I could walk all over him, so the next time I come down the hall you best make like the Red Sea and part ways.

            Don’t even get me started on the stairs! You are aware that sitting on them as a single person is technically a fire hazard but when four or five people sit next to one another not only is it annoying because you don’t leave room for people to get past as you’re munching down on your french fries, but if the fire alarm were to go off we would all be dead because of you! You wouldn’t move in time and we would then become crispy critters inside our own home away from home.

            As far as the hall on second floor by the SSC there is this group of girls that sit there and eat their lunch and their legs go from one end of the hall to the other causing you to have to focus on something as simple as walking. Do they not notice that people don’t eat in that hall for a reason? Seriously, get a clue. 

            

            So stop being barricades! Open the eyes that you were born with (unless you’re blind and in that case I apologize although you probably wouldn’t be reading this anyway) and use them! Look around to see if where you’re going to stop and have your conversation about the upcoming sports game, or how your boyfriend Tom cheated on you with your best friend Yolanda, and see if you’re going to be in the way of the people who are actually wanting to get to class on time and take advantage of their free education. If you think high school will be the best four years of your life, you are wrong. The best years are the 50 plus you have after this.

Tips for People Who Hate Valentine's Day

          Complaining about Valentine’s Day is more stale than week old croissants. There have been movies, books, songs, clothing to prove the point that Valentine’s Day is more about hate than love. We’re fed up with the same old stories of angry single people who think that their hate of Valentine’s Day will be more convincing the louder they are. But we hear you loud and clear, which is why we’ve decided to go from rants to an anti-rant. So we’ve come up with some easy ways to avoid the Valentine’s Day blues.

          Instead of complaining about couples who go out together for dinner on Valentine’s Day, take yourself out. Make people gawk at the fact that you are sitting by yourself, when truthfully they wish that they were doing the same thing. Sometimes you are your own true love, because no one gets you like you. A book and a pleasant dinner can be more charming company than any date.

          Flowers, chocolates and giant stuffed animals are all key ingredients to a perfect Valentine’s Day, as decreed by Hallmark. Instead of shoving your own face with chocolate, and regretting the calories later, buy some for someone else, because you are not the only person who is having less than a happy day.

          Fake it till you make it. Immerse yourself in the holiday that you hate most by dressing in obnoxiously red and pink. At some point you are going to enjoy yourself, maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but definitely 10 years down the road.

          Have an anti-love party with your friends. Boycott the nauseating traditions and focus on all the reasons that it’s better that you’re single than with some idiot, because let’s face it, boys are kind of stupid and girls tend to always be PMS-ing (and yes we do realize that we are dissing ourselves, but it’s true.)

          Instead of suffering through another Nicholas Sparks novel this holiday, save yourself the tissues and go on a blind date with a book from the library. At the Belmont library they are currently offering a selection of books wrapped in pink tissue paper that could be your next soul mate.

          If you can’t have your own romance, live someone else’s. Go to the movies and get yourself a large popcorn with extra butter and fall under the spell of “Beautiful Creatures.” Rise above moping and take your sister or annoying cousin as your hot date.

          Stop complaining about Valentine’s Day and celebrate the wonder of you. So have a great Valentine’s Day. Life is too short not to enjoy every minute, single or not. And leave the ranting to us.

Disaster on 34th Street

            If you’re the type of person who re-reads Dickens, goes caroling, and un-ironically wears elf ears during the month of December, this column is not for you. However if you are like us and hate the holiday hustle and bustle and hoop-la of the season then please read on.

During the holidays it seems that everyone’s niceness is on high alert, their level of understanding and caring becomes so high that you want to believe it’s true.  I swear every time you walk in downtown Portland and bump into someone during the holidays they become the first to say “excuse me;” any other day this would be a rarity. 

           

            It seems during the holidays there’s always that one family member that never wants to talk to you.  In fact the thought of making eye contact with you makes their blood curdle. This is where that niceness rule doesn't apply. And your mom nags you all the time that you need to be nicer to them, all the while in your head you’re thinking there is no way I’m going to be the nice one. I mean really, it’s not your fault they hate you.

            

            Eating holiday dinners with your relatives can be more than uncomfortable but what is even more tension fraught is cooking for your family. There is the healthy green bean casserole that you try to make that turns out yellow and thick which your relatives enjoy, making it even more disgusting to you. Then there’s the gingerbread that you attempt, not once but twice, that comes out of the oven wet and soupy in the middle no matter how long you bake it. (This concoction was promptly enthusiastically disposed of in the trash.)

Then you have those people that put their Christmas lights up the second they move into their house and they never come down until they leave.  That means they’re up through every single holiday. It always makes me wonder whether their life is just really busy and they don’t have the time to take them down, or they’re just super lazy and don’t feel the need to take them down. Even worse are the people who leave out their pumpkins long after Halloween. (The sight of them rotting does little to bring out any neighborly affection.) You feel ashamed for even living next to them; in fact you almost want to go over there and do the neighborhood a favor by taking them down yourself. 

However, if you’re the one who leaves their lights up you should just get your act together and take them down yourself because it’s pretty tacky. The only time it would be appropriate to leave your lights up is if you lived in the back of the backwoods, even farther down the food chain than rednecks.  Now that’s saying something.

            Not that I've ever had carolers come to my door or anything, but just the thought of it makes me want to rip my hair out, because the constant loop of the same Christmas songs on the radio isn't enough, some people out in the world want to make your life worse by singing the same music you hate at your own house. The Christmas songs that you hate are always the ones that track you down throughout the holiday season.

            Have you ever noticed that there are only like five actual Christmas songs they just have different phrasing of the same melody. Let’s take “Jingle Bell Rock” for example. Artists (if the word applies to former Disney Channel stars) like Hilary Duff all the way to Kenny G (he plays the saxophone, I think) have done a version of that song. I’m sure if you wanted you could listen to only that song for the entirety of your winter break and you would never hear the same version twice.