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DEX DELIVERS
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Yup, it’s me again, here to talk about things one would expect me to know nothing about. This time, I’m here to talk about tips for going to school. Studying, homework, listening in class, etc. … yeah, THAT kind of school.

One would think that, from studying so much about majiya, I wouldn’t have time for school. And indeed, that’s all I ever did when I went there. However, I still passed, and am even attending a university in my realm, which I’ll be getting back to in a few minutes. And if I can do it, then you most certainly can, so keep your hopes up!

Anyway, let’s start off with something simple: Going back to school!

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GOING BACK TO- … NEVER MIND, HE SAID IT ALREADY
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Returning to school after 2 months of video-game playing is always difficult, especially in high school. You brain is in sort of a shut-down mode because you need to get used to everything. Therefore, here are some tips that should help you out.

My apologies for the time factor. I know it’s already 2 months into school, but this is something you can save and treasure for the remainder of the year and then look forward to following the next school year. This should help you keep your mind somewhat on school during the holidays and therefore decrease your carelessness towards education and thereby make you altogether better at school.

See how good I am at this?

And, as a note to the fiasco of my last delivery, you MAY take me seriously this time.

– Make sure you use a lot of your OLD stuff. Parents like to save money by having you use your old supplies, but you’re tired of them, and are thereby uninterested. Whereas, if you have new stuff, you totally can’t wait to go to school and try them out. This is BAD. You’ll be more distracted by your new stuff rather then paying attention to the first few critical key-pointers of the class introduction. Also, kids, having a stapler and glue stick doesn’t make you the best-prepared in the class, especially if it’s gym.
– Know the route to class beforehand. Get there an hour or two early (preferably without sacrificing sleep), and do a routine walk-around your school once or twice, heading to your classrooms. Do it in order of your schedule, not distance from other classes.
– Get a locker a few days before school starts. Preferably right after you get your schedule. Therefore, there are more options and locations for you as well as the opportunity to have one nearby your classes.
– Get a locker nearby your FIRST class. This way, if you’re running late, you can save yourself some time, whereas you don’t get routinely late for your additional classes. You should have time to get to the locker and then to the next class easily after that, then you’ll have your whole lunch period to walk to the other end of school (not all the time) and get your stuff for the next class. Should the remainder of your classes be on the other end of the school from your locker and first class, then I suggest you bring all the books you need for both.
– Bring lots of paper for the first few days and make a scene about it. This is the time where other students already have paper, so go ahead and bring a lot. Then, around the middle of the year, don’t bring as much so that those pesky ‘paper-borrowers’ (anyone ever return any?) won’t be able to borrow paper from you because you USE all of yours. As they knew you had so much paper at the start of the year, they will think you’ve used it all and thereby be much more encouraged to get their own.
– Finally, don’t judge teachers on first days or what students say to them. If you wanna judge them, do it exactly 2 months into the year, where they begin to get bored with their life. If you wanna judge something, judge students that say stuff about teachers on the first day.

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GETTING THROUGH YOUR DAY
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The hardest part about school is enduring the full 6 hours of non-stop lecture, boredom, and work that’s so obvious that the teacher could do it him/herself. So why do you do it? There will be a point in time where the teacher will be dead and you’re not (maybe the next 2 million years), and you will need to know how to do that work, because teachers aren’t very good at doing work when their dead. … unless, of course, you reanimated them from the dead, but let’s assume you don’t have any 6-foot popsicle sticks or cyan-colored candles and that you CAN’T reanimate. So you would HAVE to know how to do the work.

And to do that, you need to endure the days of school and at least learn something from each. So here are a few tips from yours truly that should assist you.

– Bring a 3-part lunch and eat it during the breaks as well as lunch period. Why? Well, if you don’t eat a lunch at all, you’ll have no energy in the later 2 classes when your brain should be fully awake, and thereby you would fall asleep. If you eat a big lunch, then your body works so hard to digest it that your energy output exceeds input (at that given moment), and you fall asleep anyway during class. So eat just about equal portions of lunch food during breaks (and NOT during class), and you should have the energy to go around the whole time.
– Smell good and know it. Wear deodorant, or some body spray, or just blast yourself with 3 litres of air freshener. If you smell good, you feel confident about yourself, and it leads you to try harder during class. If people pass out all around you or don’t make eye contact and throw up about something else 5 seconds after you pass then, you probably don’t smell good, but so long as you’re confident that you do, that’s fine. However, if you’re sent to the office because of it … well, you might be taking it too far.
– Write notes. The teacher says something, write it down. If you can’t write it down, ask them to repeat it over and over until you do. Not only will this be good for looking back to, but it will encourage the teacher to write more stuff on the board for you to copy as well in the fear that you would never stop asking for them to repeat it.
– During a break, if you can, go outside for 5 minutes. Fresh air and sunlight is always good for the body, and if you feel good about yourself, you want to do more.
– Finally, once a week, do something (preferably not life-threatening, non-vandalizing, and un-abusive) different that nobody has ever done before at the school. Run a lap around the entire building during lunch period, shake hands with 50 different people (wash them after), send a completely anonymous letter to one of your teacher saying how he could do his job better. That sort of thing. It’s fun, and gives you somewhat of an interesting reputation.

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BULLYING
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Schools have them, but don’t want them. No one likes them, and that’s why they exist. They have friends who usually are them, but some who don’t want them to exist. What are they? Bullies, of course.

I don’t have very many tips for you against bullies because I can handle myself against them. But here’s a few tried and true methods you could use to help make the school zone a more pleasant place to be.

– If you’re a bully … yeah, don’t do it. It’s not cool. Also, you’ll be plunged into cold, never-ending guilt about your past for the rest of your life. That’s not cool either. I’ll come after you. Really. I will …
– If you see someone getting bullied, DON’T JUST WATCH! Get the teacher, or an adult, or somebody with really big muscles or something to help them! If there’s no teacher, then get as many people as you can to just casually stand all around this guy, staring at him as though he just sprouted tentacles out of his head. Give him hardly any room to move around, everyone slowly walking in as though you’re zombies, with the occasional “we don’t want you.” unemotionally directed towards him. It’s indirect, and yet humiliates him to such an extent that it would scar him to never do it again. … of course, I would just turn his bones inside out, but I’m assuming you’re not a majiya controller.
– If you’re the one being bullied, and they are resorting to physical contact, guard your chest, neck, and head. If you do, then they can’t kill you. You’re immortal to them. Usually you get beaten up, and that’s fine, because the more you’re beaten up, the tougher your body automatically becomes, so you’ll be able to take it much more in the long run. After you take a beating, if you can, try to get to your feet each time on your own. If you can’t, don’t be afraid to stay down and even call for help. People will respect your endurance and tolerance for pain, not to mention your honesty towards your requirement of assistance, and you will become popular yourself. See how you can use bullies to your own advantage?
– After taking a beating, go get some help. Go to the office, report them, and offer the evidence all over you to support your claim. Don’t be afraid of what they would do to you. If they’re not suspended … well, you already took a beating from them, so it won’t hurt as much the next time.
– If you’re on the ground and they’re kicking you (disrespectful), protect your rib cage with your arms. Broken ribs are fatal, while broken arms can heal easily. Try to take as much abuse as you can by your arms and legs while protecting everywhere else, and you’ll find that you’ll actually last quite a while until help arrives.

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HOMEWORK AND STUDYING
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Ok, I’m beginning to get bored with writing now, so I’ll end this off with some tips on homework and studying – the two most dreaded aspects of school. I would imagine you’re looking at the title here and thinking “Oh geez, I NEED this!”. Well, no problem, just read on ahead.

– DON’T, whatever you do, complain about homework. So you have 10 pages of work to do, huh? COULD BE WORSE! Just dit down with a sharp pencil and DO the homework. Write it up, proof-read it, and just finish with a flourish of perfection, and THEN complain about it! Oh, whoops, I forgot, you ALREADY DID IT, so there’s nothing to complain about. See, if you didn’t have the homework, you wouldn’t have complained about it, so if you just DO the homework, you won’t have to complain! See just how EASY it is?
– If you don’t understand a question or problem, first make sure you understand the WORDS the question is composed of. If you don’t know what ‘majiya’ means, look it up, then combine the definition to the rest of the question. It should make the question even simpler. if not, break it into fractions.

For example:

Write 5 majiya-based abilities that level 4 controllers can perform.

Now I’ll split the question:

“Write 5 …” … ok, it wants me to write 5 things down. I’ll put down 5 bullet points on my paper

“… majiya-based …”

What’s majiya again? I’ll look it up. Ah, here we are, majiya is the essence of existence. Something based on the essence of existence.

“… abilities …”

Abilities. Ah, I see. Majiya techniques. Write 5 majiya techniques! I can do that! … oh wait, before I do, I’d better read the rest of the question! (ALWAYS do this …)

“… that level 4 controllers can perform.”

OH! That changes everything. I was going to write all about what level 2s and 3s can do, but it says I need to write 5 things that level 4 controllers can do. I’m a level 4 controller, so I can totally do that!

See? Easy! Remember to always read the ENTIRE question, because there might just be a restriction to it.

– Same thing applies to studying. If you’re reading a book, and don’t understand some part of it, then look it up. Don’t just read it and not understand everything, because that’s just wasting your time.
– Don’t just read your notes, read them TO something. Put up a picture of someone on your computer and read to them as though they’ve never been to the class you’re taking, explaining things beyond what your notes say if you can. If you can’t, then you have to read about that certain aspect more. Simple as that.
– Again, don’t complain, just DO it. After you’re done, THEN you can complain all you want.
– Finally, no pressure, alright? Don’t rush through the books, but instead take your time and actually read through it. Better you nail one section nicely rather then guess the whole way through.

That’s it. Have fun, and remember to always eat breakfast and BRUSH YOUR TEETH before coming to school.