I will never get "Fever" out of my head.

In Max's defense, he said that some of his points were "not so accepted truths," so we probably shouldn't take them as seriously as some of us are. <coughcough>

In Max's not defense, I never promised to make all of my Mondays Question Mondays! About a month ago, I said, "I think I'm going to make my Mondays question days occasionally, and Max, you are free to make your Mondays question days occasionally, as well."

For today's not-so-smooth transition, I'm going to post a picture of Professor Flitwick around the time he was stabbed with a fork by Hagrid:

I pride myself in my ability to come up with controversial and fairly equally divided poll questions. I certainly received help in coming up with a few of them because I like to use my resources, so I thank those people. Here are some examples:

• We first learned that a handful of people put their socks on first and a handful of people put on their pants first.
• Some people prefer Richard Harris, and others maintain that his replacement, Michael Gambon, is superior.
• The debate between crunchy and creamy peanut butter can get pretty intense.
• Cheese and chocolate: need I say more?

This time, Max, I have failed. I honestly thought that I would have people on my side who believe that bacon would be delicious in frozen drink form. Maybe somebody else besides me will vote "yes," but it's not looking good. Time will tell. Except we can't hear time -- can we, Max?

Until next time, Max,

I'll bring construction paper, scissors, glue, and colored pencils for our project tomorrow.

Bryan's Snacks

Hi, Max! By now, you probably know that when I told my sister "Believe in yourslef" on her wall yesterday, it was, in fact, not a Bryan fail but a reference to iCarly. Right now, my mind kind of hurts from my government homework, so I'm going to blog about something easy. Hell's Kitchen is on in the background -- I'll blog about food!

Max, it's very hard for me not to eat something between lunch and dinner or between dinner and sleep. Luckily, I have a lot of favorite snack options I can turn to in those times of need.

You are probably well aware that I am a big fan of cheese. I'll go for any kind of cheese, really -- sharp cheddar slices, Colby-Jack cubes, string mozzarella. I will say that in the sphere of cheeses, nothing gets better than sharp cheddar.

For me, Chex Mix is a good metaphor for society. There are so many different parts -- long, short, round, square, crunchy, crunchy -- and a handful of it tastes impressively delicious. The components of Chex Mix combine into a tasty snack, so diverse people form a complex society.

Finally, I realize that healthy snacks are extremely important. Just ask Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper:

By the way, their last names are totally different. They are married, aren't they? I guess I'm not opposed to Mrs. Pepper keeping her given last name -- it just makes sense, considering what's inside of her container. Anyhow, I was going to say that I like watermelon, too.

And I have an issue with this sentence of yours: "His music is far too good to be jazz." That's not okay.

Max, I'll see you tomorrow! Remember, German club meets Thursday.

It seems to me some kind of harmony is on the rise.

Those things there? Definitely not words. Not cool, Max.

I thrive on three-word fragments.

School starts tomorrow. (That's a sentence, not a fragment, but it still has three words.) Max, I'm glad you brought up the topic of leadership.

We are leading the school. If some people think that seniors are the only leaders in the school or that being a senior automatically makes them leaders, they should reform their thoughts. However, while it's true that any person of any status can be given the not-so-glamorous title of "leader," what I've noticed at Roncalli is that people spend a great deal of time looking up to the senior class; it's common, automatic, and perfectly natural.

Let me tell you a secret: every year, many, many seniors get away with crappy attitudes. It's easy. It's inconsequential. There are some good leaders, and there are some bad leaders; that's inevitable, right? But what would it be like if every single senior at Roncalli strove to be a good leader? Aren't we capable of that? What kind of attitude should we assume?

"If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." I love this quote, but I cringe at the word "inferiors" in this context. Everyone, do me a favor and give that word a positive connotation. It's absolutely true that we, as seniors, have achieved a higher status than any other student at Roncalli. We cannot equate our status as seniors with our status as human beings.

4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was created, and three years ago, we were freshmen. Maybe sometimes, instead of looking at freshmen as "freshmen," we should think of them as "people." That equates us with them. We orient fellow human beings when they're lost. We welcome them into a family when they feel alienated. We don't cut them in the lunch line to get food sixty seconds earlier.

I'm just going to throw this one out there, too -- I assure you that jokes about freshmen were old even when they were new.

Now that all of that's out of my system, I'll reiterate that any person of any status can be a leader. It's extremely helpful with concrete leadership positions, and I totally encourage that, but it's not by any means necessary.

Lead by example. Remember that we're all humans. Dedicate yourself to what you're passionate about. Remember that any situation can be looked at in two different lights.

Let's make it a great year.

Max, I'm a cheese man.

Momma Mia - Abba

Hello Bryan, lovely poetry yesterday!

Bryan, on this thirteenth day of August, it is with gratitude that I say happy birthday to my mother!

You may have seen my Facebook status yesterday about my printer being dead so I had to draw, with crayons, my mother’s birthday card.

Bryan, I may have gotten an A in art, but I cannot draw with crayons.  I am a pastels guy.

I only have one thing left to do before tonight's deadline -- my last German blog -- and I've already planned it all out, so I'm giving myself a little break right now. Also, I'm pretty sure I just opened a lot of doors for Max to brag about how he's been finished for a few days, now. Oops.

Bryan, I found this funny.  We both know that I do not need you to open the door for me to brag about how I did something better than you.  Yes, Bryan, I am relating the speed of completion with the quality of work.

Time to go all-nostalgic on you Bryan.

In about two and a half months, we will return to school as seniors. I actually have one final proposal in this blog post -- that as seniors, rather than taking the easy route of glorifying ourselves, we focus instead on being welcoming leaders and role models at Roncalli. Maybe I’ll devote a future post to this topic.

Bryan, this is from the first ever post on TPA.  You know, the one where “TPA” became a legal initialism?

Yes, Bryan, the day we have been awaiting for three glorious years is already upon us.  The time has flown far too fast, but I have enjoyed every step of the way.  I found that sentence quite humorous.  If time has flown, then how was I stepping?

This is our moment, Bryan, to lead the school.  Okay, so probably not the school, but the German club for sure.  Then you of course have the band to co-lead, while I have the newspaper to co-edit.

It will feel odd driving into the Roncalli parking lot for the first time as a senior, then walking down the illustrious middle hallway, knowing that my locker is there, but not actually remembering my combination.

Speaking of being a senior, guess who got a Whoopee Cushion yesterday?  This kid.

Bryan, throughout our senior year, we should make it our goal to not look forward to the weeks ahead, but rather embrace the time we have at Roncalli.  We only have one hundred and eighty, or so, days left at that school, and many of those will most certainly be spent outside of class or thinking about college.

I suppose I should get to the poll results Bryan.

Beyond any comprehension of the mind, Bryan, the poll was  split ten to ten in terms of cheese to chocolate respectively.

Bryan, I look forward to knowing your answer, but we all know I am a cheesy person.

Until Monday, Bryan,

Enjoy your time without summer work.

Edit:  Cheese got an eleventh vote before I changed the poll.

Rolling in the Deep - Adele

Bryan, I think we have just started our first blog war.  Well, I suppose that will depend on your response on Sunday.

Call it cheesy, but I would far rather lose chocolate off the face of the earth than lose my cheese.

It is not that I even am that big of a fan of cheese.  I love alfredo and parmesan in particular, in case you were wondering.

Now why am I so pro-cheese, you ask?

Well it may not be Question Monday, but I definitely have the answer.

Bryan, chocolate is so delicious, but it is so unhealthy.  It tempts me, Bryan.  I have never been tempted to go eat a wheel of cheese, but bars of chocolate have become my nemesis.

Do not take me the wrong way chocolate.  I love you, I really do, but all that I do is viciously shred you with my teeth and you always try to retaliate.  I cannot take it any more chocolate, but I really hope that you fall off the earth.

Disclaimer:  Christopher Columbus disproved falling off the earth.

Well, Bryan, I have to go away now and do not know what time of night I will return.  This should explain the time and length of this post.  Here is a song to make it longer!

Until tomorrow Bryan,

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas.

Cheese or Chocolate?

Abby from the comments:

"I predict... disagreement on one point."

Max, if she's talking about your point that "nothing is worse than dark chocolate," then she couldn't be more correct. Not that "correct" isn't an absolute.

I like dark chocolate. I like when there's dark chocolate in my M&Ms, in chocolate muffins, or just by itself. Overall, dark chocolate is just a good thing for me. And in my opinion, Max doesn't have a normal palate -- I've learned within the past week that Max likes neither Subway nor pizza, which is not normal -- so he's not allowed to make food judgments. I mean, "not normal" is a good thing in my eyes, but . . . so is dark chocolate.

But that's not what my post is about today. I want to talk about a more important issue that was brought up earlier in my life through a few vlogbrothers videos.

Hank asked a simple question: cheese or chocolate? John answered, "Why did you just name two things I can't eat anymore? God, that's so mean!" Hank's response was, "Chocolate, because it's more advanced. It's more difficult. It's more new and fresh and complex."

So you'd think that chocolate won the battle. But then a few months later, when John and Hank were looking for things to feud about, Hank brought up the "cheese or chocolate" issue again. Here's what he said: "I'm a cheese man, myself. There are just more kinds of cheese than there are kinds of chocolates; I feel like I would be giving up more."

How could Hank have been so wishy-washy? I'll tell you why. It's because the "cheese or chocolate" issue is kind of like modern political issues in that it's hard to know what the right thing to do is.

I wonder what this week's poll is going to be . . . hmm. . . . Well, as for last week's poll, Charmander is the most common favorite starter Pokemon among our readers. I picked Pikachu because I don't know anything about Pokemon and somebody referenced Pikachu on Whose Line Is It Anyway? recently.

For the new poll, I ask everyone one question: cheese or chocolate? I want you to think of it like if you pick one of them, the other one would disappear from the world. I like them both; I really do. More than most people would understand. Few people know which of the two I prefer, though. I'll let everyone know which one I voted for after the results are final.

Feel free to debate which one is better.