This is, as the title suggests, my first blog. So I'm going to do "first blog" stuff.
First of all, I just want to point out that this blog isn't necessarily going to be a "journal". Very rarely will there be anything about MY personal life. Unless it looks to be a subject that can be extensively discussed by the plethora of strangers that are probably going to subscribe to it (Google+ homies). With that said, I guess a small introduction is necessary.
The name's Josh. I'm from Negaunee Michigan and I'm just about done with my first year of College at Northern Michigan University, with a focus on Computer Science. While many of you probably don't look at that to be a huge deal, it is to me. There was a bit of a journey I had to take in order to get to this point, so I guess I'll start at the beginning.
My Freshman year of high school was shit. Actually, my entire experience with the Negaunee Public School system was a fucking nightmare. Negaunee puts such high emphasis on its sports program, that if you don't participate in one of theses sports, you're considered to be on a lower level than the jock kids. Which is a pretty common affliction with most public schools. I ended up getting expelled from Negaunee High during my Freshman year for "distribution of a controlled substance". My bad. Although, I don't regret it.
Getting expelled from Negaunee meant that I needed to find a new high school to attend. My probation officer managed to pull some strings and got me enrolled into Marquette Senior High School. My entire public school experience seemed to warp into something a little more tolerable there. Even though there was still a disgustingly high emphasis on THEIR sports program, I wasn't treated worse than anyone else there, which was a nice change of pace. I also started coming out of my shell a bit. I still have yet to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. After an exciting year (ALMOST made it through the end of my Sophomore year) of making new friends and doing the bare minimum in all of my classes, I got expelled. Again. Turns out people make a really big deal about students playing with mercury.
After being expelled from MSHS AND NHS, I had no other alternative but to go to North Star Academy. A "charter school". My first year there was pretty fun. Continued to exist outside of my shell. Made some more friends. Being a "charter school" meant that there was no sports program. Actually, from what I saw my first year there, everyone there was sort of...unique. There were actually moderately interesting people there. But that was just my first year there. It went downhill pretty fast. The interesting people all graduated or left, and what was left was a bunch of dumb wangster kids, and a handful of intelligent, interesting people. The latter continued to diminish, while the dumb wangster kids took over and pretty much turned that place into a shithole. I ended up failing my senior year, and dropping out during my Super-Senior year. This is where the story gets a little low.
Dropping out of high school wasn't the smartest move I made. I saw it as an opportunity to mooch off of welfare and do nothing all day, every day. That's exactly what I did. For about two years, I lived in limbo. I woke up in the late afternoon/early-evening every day, rolled out of bed, and sat around until about sunrise. The worst part about that is the fact that THAT isn't even the lowest I was.
The house I was living at for free belonged to a buddy of mine. Actually, a family of buddies. The time came, in early summer of 2011, to move out. My buddies grandpa came by and kicked everyone out so he could renovate the crap heap we turned the House into. I packed my shit and moved out to K.I. with my buddy Kyle, to go live at another buddy's parents. K.I. is like the melanoma of the Upper Peninsula, although from what I understand, it wasn't always that bad. My experience there was more or less the same as the years prior. Sitting around all day doing nothing. Drinking when I could, and playing games when I couldn't. That continued through November (I moved in early June).
One of my friends from MSHS decided to get a hold of me. He ended up driving out to K.I. to pick me up and bring me to town so I could get enrolled in an alternative school, quickly graduate from high school, and get enrolled in NMU. That same week I told my roommates off, moved back in with my parents and began working on graduating. I graduated High School in about a month and got accepted into Northern.
Now I'm here. Got my own apartment, a job on campus, and am significantly better off than I was before. BAM! First blog. Done. Stay tuned.
