Diana-Kisa

I have been on Tumblr now since before my last journal post, however long ago that was. After being on Tumblr for that long, I have come to realize how much dA does not live up to Tumblr standards. At all. So this journal is just be ranting. You have been warned.

I always loved dA and the community and whatever and felt that even though it was starting to have some problems, I was supportive and wanted to stay. I became a Beta Tester to actually give my input on problems and had mom buy me a two year premium membership. I made a few internet friends, got involved in a few community things and was even the 'founder' a lot of clubs.

I was a little nervous about getting on Tumblr, since I had tried it before and couldn't figure out how to use it, and quickly retreated to dA, thinking that it was easier to navigate. Only before school ended did I think to try Tumblr again. I figured out about the tags on there and started following people.

Now I'm following over 100 people and drool over everything that shows up on my dash.

The thing with dA, is that someone may have really good art, but just like any person, their interests may change. So you've watched this person and then you come to see that their interests have changed into something you're not really interested in. But that's okay, because you still have a lot of other people that you're watching so you just click out of their deviations stack, because you don't want to hurt their feelings by unwatching them.

But what if everyone's stuff was like that? I'm watching over 500 people and there are only 2 people that I've stopped for in clicking out of deviation stacks.

I left for all this time and came back to over 10,000 messages. If I had been watching only the two people whose art I actually cared for, I would probably have had around 50-70 messages. Not thousands.

Plus, the art on Tumblr. On dA, it's about growing to be a better artist or something like that. On Tumblr, they're already there. You see amazing and funny and beautiful art every time you scroll. Your blog can be filled with your own art, or it can be filled with whatever the hell you want. Audio posts, videos, whatever. Also, the fandoms you're a part of are more cozy and tight nit and more of a family than on dA. And I don't know about anyone else with a Tumblr, but the drama on there seems to be so much lower than on dA. It's just ridiculous.

But yeah. I wish I could give back my premium membership so that I could get my money back. I just don't see it being worth it, and I'd rather have that money for other things.

I finally understand.

Woo! We've finally had our awards day (graduation) and are almost out of school. And I say almost, because Walden gets the weird idea that having our finals after we graduate makes sense. Yeah, I don't know either.

Either way!

Now I actually feel a bit sad, knowing I'm probably never going to see a lot of these people again. Even if I did come back to visit, a few teachers will be gone and there are just some people who I probably never will see again, because they'll stay in the Walden bubble and go their own way and all that.

I have a couple of my friends on multiple IM services that I have so I know that I'll get to keep in touch that way and I know of a few people who will constantly be pestering about days to spend at the mall or something. But still. I've been at that school for a long time and allowed myself to get attached to everyone because I'd figured that I was going to stay until senior year. I hadn't thought that I was going to be leaving for Junior year at another school.

But the darkness in my brightly colored journal aside, I will be heading to go down to Florida on the 16th, so that's going to be fun. I also plan on helping Lora get our costumes and stuff together for Dragon*Con and that's going to be a lot of fun as well.

All I have to do is get these finals out of the way and I'm done!

Alright, well, I shadowed at St. Francis today.

It. Was. Awesome.

I've been at Walden since I was in 6th grade and I'm now in 10th. Walden had always bragged about being this top-notch school with all these qualified teachers and since it was a smaller school, they were saying that it would be a more personal one-on-one experience.

But my God has it changed.

Maybe at some point Walden was like they always brag about, but now the teachers have about the same motivation as the students, which isn't a whole lot. People that had stayed long enough would say that the Lower School was great. The Middle School was okay and that the High School sucked.

But I thought that all the High Schools and just schools in general were the same. That the students were still all 'bleh' about their schoolwork and that there were high expectations on the teachers that couldn't always be reached so it wasn't always their fault.

But it wasn't that way at St. Francis AT ALL. The students actually asked questions, not because they were confused, but because they were CURIOUS. Because they actually wanted to KNOW stuff, not just learn what they were 'supposed' to and take a test and move onto the next grade. The people there actually want to learn and they have this sort of energy at the END OF THE YEAR. Right before finals and stuff. I mean, the seniors only have about 8 more days of school and they're gone.

Last year, 3 out of 8 teachers were fired. 2 teachers are going to be leaving THIS year. Walden can't go through huge transitions like this and come out just fine on the other end. Even Mrs. Elder (the Dean) and Mrs. Mueller (Director of Admissions) were calling my mom today, because they were wanting to know why the heck all these high schoolers were changing schools! Walden is going to end up being hit by a HUGE blow. Even in my sisters class, only 2 students plan on staying to go to Walden. And that's out of 30 something kids. (Walden High School is lucky to be over 40 students in all the grades put together.)

All of whom are going to be in 8th grade next year.

Mrs. Mueller and Mrs. Elder were both wanting to actually convince my mom to have me stay. She wasn't having it, of course, and explained to both of them that yes, I am serious about changing schools and that no, we don't care that you're going to make a better effort next year. Walden is such a tiny school that it wouldn't surprise me if they tried all the guilt things they could possibly get to get me to change my mind. For some reason, Walden believes I'm leading some sort of revolution and getting all these kids to leave.

Which I'm not. In fact, I'm pretty sure half of the kids that are leaving didn't even consider St. Francis. But whatever they want to believe. Now Mrs. Elder wants me to talk to me about why I'm leaving Walden and to be honest.

I can be honest.

Walden now is like getting a public school education, except you're paying around $14,000 to get it. It's not my fault all the other students and parents are having the same idea as me and getting out while they still can. _{Maybe I'll go to that meeting in my new St. Francis shirt to really top this all off. Might as well. They should know.}

Since like... 6 minutes ago, I have gotten 4 calls from a 'Restricted' number on my cellphone. When I google what that means, they say not to answer it, because it's normally telemarketers and stuff.

But, of course, I read that google stuff after I answered the phone the second time he called. It was basically just

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

"...hello?"

"...hello?"

Then he hung up. It was some chinese guy, I think. Asian, I know, from the accent. But I'm not sure what exact area. Sounded chinese though.

It's rung 2 more times since me actually answering it and I'm sure it'll ring again while I'm writing this journal. Hopefully whoever it is will realize they probably have the wrong number or go both someone else

_{Also, I found a One Coin 9 piece collection on ebay for less than $85. :I Just saying. If only my mom would agree to buy that, since the rest of the stuff is like... $155-180+ to buy the set normally.}