Advanced Placement in School

The love interest of the main character of my book is Dave Wade, a genius. His parents are both scientists and encourage him to excel in school. For most of his life, Dave wanted nothing more than to please his parents, which meant attending a private school and keeping to himself. But when his senior year of high school rolled around, he decided he wanted to live a little. He begged his parents to enroll him in public high school. They finally did, as long as he promised to keep his grades up.

Dave takes his new found freedom very seriously and views it as a chance to experience the things he never got to. The first time he has a beer at a party, the police catch him. His parents immediately start restricting him more than they did before. When he reveals this to Mclean, she's shocked that he's never really had a chance to be a kid and be a little reckless. He then tells her that he had enough credits to graduate high school after his freshman year because of all the supplement classes his parents encouraged him to take.

This made me think about parents who push their kids and the 'overachievers' that graduate early. Is it really better to have such a head start? To push your kids beyond their childhood and into their young adult years? In my opinion, it affects their emotional maturity. If they were never kids who were irresponsible and made mistakes, then how are they supposed to be responsible adults?

Tattoos

As I get farther into What Happened to Goodbye, Mclean frequently mentions matching tattoos that two of her new friends, Riley and Dave, have. It's a simple black circle on their wrists and it seems to hold a lot of meaning to both of them, or it used to. Deb, another friend, asks about it and doesn't get a direct answer. Deb then says that she's thought about getting a tattoo before but she hasn't yet found something she's passionate about to inspire a tattoo.



I've never been a big fan of tattoos and I don't think I'll ever get one. But I think that they can look amazing on other people, especially if they have a sentimental meaning. I've seen special quotes, song lyrics, tributes to lost loved ones, and some that are completely pointless and the result of a bad decision.

I think that if someone wants to get a tattoo, they should be sure that they want it because they'll be stuck with it forever. There's also the issue of getting what you pay for, so they should try to find a competent artist and be willing to pay extra for their work. Would you ever get a tattoo? If so, of what?

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

For this quarter, I'm reading What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen. The book focuses on Mclean Sweet, a teenager to which moving to a new city has become routine. Each time she moves, she makes a point to transform herself, even giving herself a new name.

Mclean's life is upturned when her mother falls in love with another man who happens to work for her father's favorite basketball team. Mclean 'sides' with her dad, choosing to follow him as he travels from city to city transforming restaurants that are going under. So far Mclean has struggled with family drama, restaurant drama, a mysterious guy named Dave, trying to decide where she fits in, and the odd urge shto be herself instead of a variation of the many personalities she's used before.