Refresh!

                So there’s a nice little story that goes with this blog entry. All of it is true.

                It’s no secret that I purposefully sat next to my good friend Abby on the first day of Online Publishing. It’s also no secret that since then, we’ve made ourselves a few inside jokes. For example, nearly every single time we say something loud enough for our teacher, Mr. Currin, to hear it, he never does. It’s those moments when we’re retorting back and forth sassily that he actually hears something and comments on it, which we happen to find rather hilarious. There's also the time that Abby and I wrote back and forth to each other through wikispace messages in binary for a week, even though we knew that Mr. Currin has the power to view every message we send.

                Let’s focus on just one other inside joke, though (one with a lengthy backstory so I can fulfill the word requirement). This one has been going on since the second blog group posts were assigned. Every two weeks, blog groups (those can be identified by the letter and number at the beginning of the title of every blog) and articles for the school newspaper are due. Weekly, comments about current events (Item(s) of Interest) are due. Mr. Currin has no problems putting up Items of Interest, and we come up with the article ideas and more or less manage them ourselves. It’s the blog groups that Mr. Currin has some difficulty posting.

                It’s not that they never get set up on the wiki. It’s that he gets distracted in side conversations and managing other things like article ideas that need to be approved (which I understand, actually does take forever since some people manage to put off the task of thinking of an idea until deadline day). However, it is in the period of time between the completion of the Item of Interest and the publication of the blogs on the wiki that give me a hard time.

                I get bored easily. Very easily. Usually, after I've completed the Item of Interest for the week and my idea for the paper is submitted, I just sit on the Blog Group page of the class wiki pressing the refresh (F5) button over and over again until something shows up. Finally, after having to go through this five separate times, Abby told me, "Steph, stop caressing your F5 button." And thus, an inside joke was born.
                There are just two other things that I want to tell you, dear viewers (but mostly, to you, Mr. Currin). After every article in the newspaper, the journalists receive a grade and an additional comment. Both Abby and I usually do exceptionally well in the grade, but lately Abby has been... Less than satisfied with the comments she received, which are valued around our little corner based on the number of syllables in the comments. It almost makes me feel bad that she only gets two or three syllables of commentary ("Outstanding", or "Good Work") while I get things like, "An Exceptionally Good Piece This Week" or "I'm So Proud To Have You As A Member Of The Bulldog". Also, Mr. Currin, she feels as though you use her seat as "the punishment seat". The last couple of times that seating was an issue, you moved a student over right next to her in our corner.
                 So... That last paragraph was a bit awkward for those of you who are not Mr. Currin... (For the record, I did have permission from Abby to type this; I'm not typing behind her back. I'm typing it right next to her).
                Author's Note: Abby and I really don't have anything against Mr. Currin. He's actually one of our favorite teachers. We're just complainers. We complain a lot.