An Ice Breaker from 8th Grade

An Ice Breaking Exercise:

Who are you? Ben Compton

What are you good at: English, Writing, Playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition, Zelda Video Games

What are you excited about this year? Being in 8th. Hanging out with Carter, Alex, and Ryan M.

What worries you about this year:

I’m afraid that I might be crazy. Because I only have three friends, when I came back to school this year, the Guidance Counselor made me take some big official test. Before I started my Dad sat me down and said “I’m just going to tell you this once, this test could really screw you up. Don’t mess around.” I didn’t want to disappoint him. It’s a little scary if you think about it. One wrong bubble and you’re marked as crazy for life. It started out ok, with questions about how I act at parties. I don’t really get invited to many parties, but so I pretended. It also said“The TV is real”, True of false? I mean I guess it is, but the things on it aren’t. How am I supposed to answer this? There was also this question on the test. “The voices in my head tell me to do bad things.” I think this question is pretty unfair, I mean I don’t even have voices in my head. Wouldn’t it be just as bad to have voices in your head telling you to do good things? So now I’m worried that other people do have voices in their heads, and I’m the only one who doesn’t. So that’s what worries me.

What are your goals for this year? Sometimes I think the other kids hate me I think they look at me and say “Hey, did you know that scarring acne is contagious?” Dale Carnegie says in How to Win Friends and Influence People that “If we think happy thoughts, we will be happy. If we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable-Dale Carnegie.” With that in mind, I’m thinking that this year they’ll say “Did you know that scarring acne builds character? We should hang out with him.” Yeah. That’s it. POSITIVITY. This is the year I make friends! And Influence People! Like Dale Carnage

Dale also says when the “Negative Voices start shouting, you should change the radio to Positive-FM.”- Dale Carnage. So I’ll overcome my fears and I’ll conquer even the highest mountains. Just like when Sir Edmond Hilary’s crew all froze to death. When things were looking grim he said (via Dale Carnage’s How to Win Friends and Influence People: “The Mountain maybe big and I may be small, but man was created to destroy and subjugate nature.”

If you could say one thing to yourself at the end of this year, what would it be?

Great job and Go Highlanders! Ben