7th Grade Science Project

I actually wrote this the other day but I'm barely posting it.

I have a new reason to be physically tired. We are going on a family vacation on a cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel in exactly 6 months. I have resolved to walk every day Wed-Mon for the next 6 months. (Not Tuesdays because that’s our meeting night.) I’m going to walk at Studewood Park and if it rains I’m walking at the mall. EVERY SINGLE day, six days a week. On the weekends I may just walk here in the neighborhood. I have got to stick to my resolution to exercise more and to cut down on the sugar and the carbs.

The challenge is going to be to have the time to walk and to write. I have to do both! Those are my 2 big goals for the next 6 months. Lose weight and finish my novel!

I want to do a good job on this novel too. I don’t walk to do a half-butt job either. I have a gauge I use to decide whether I’ve done a good job or not. It’s my middle school science project. I can’t remember any more if it was 7th grade or 8th grade but it was one of those years that I had Mr. Novak for science. He was a really young cool teacher that you loved to hate. Anyway, I decided on a crappy science project subject that I did at the last minute, of course. But the worse part of all was that I didn’t even take the time to cover my back boards with material or to have a nice presentation. All I had were naked boards, the report taped to the boards, hanging haphazardly, some diagrams, and the glass and candle. It was pretty sad!

What made the story more sad was this. My math teacher, Ms. Boins was walking down the aisle of the cafeteria tables looking at projects. I was down a little ways looking at someone else’s nice project. I was watching them from the corner of my eye walk from project to project and she would comment on each one. When they stopped in front of mine I saw him lean toward her and whisper something. She said, “Thank you Steve! Thank you!” I knew by that comment and action that he must have told her that it was my project and that I was standing nearby because after she said that she did not make one comment about my project. She just moved down to the next one.

I was so embarrassed! I felt so ashamed for not doing a good job. The worse part of it was that I knew I hadn’t done a good job. I knew that I had not given that project my 100%.

So now that’s my gauge in life. Do I feel like I did about that science project? I felt that way about my thesis. I just feel like I did not give my thesis my 100%. I don’t want to feel like that about this novel. I want to do a good job that I’m proud of and I don’t want to feel like that 7th grader again.