My name is Thomas, but everyone calls me Rusty. I live in the state of Wisconsin in the U.S. in a little town called River Falls. My mother is a doctor, and my father teaches at the university in town. My brother goes to the university in Madison, Wisconsin. I have a dog named Rudy, and two cats named Tanny and Silver. I began studying Japanese when I was in elementary school, and have been studying it every year since then. I am now in my third year of high school.
      I am going to take you through a normal day in my life. I wake up every day between 6 and 6:30. Some days I will shower first, and then go downstairs to eat breakfast, and then come back up to brush my teeth. Other days, I will eat first, and then come back upstairs to take a shower. I have two bowls of maple oatmeal every morning. It's fast, nutritious, and is enough food so that I don't get hungry before lunch. After that, I get dressed pretty quickly, gather my homework from the night before, and drive myself to school. My high school is not very far from my house, but I drive anyway because I have to leave right after school to go to my play rehearsals in the big city about one hour away.
      When I get to school, usually I don't have much time. I hurry to my locker, put my bag and extra books away, then hurry to my Japanese class – sometimes before the bell rings, sometimes not! Our Japanese class is very fun. We don't have a lot of homework, and we learn a lot, so it is more fun than some of my other classes. We get to do different activities every day – reading, playing Japanese games, or learning new characters through a competitive card-slap game. Some days we cook rice during class and eat it at the end! Other days we just have "food day" and spend the whole time making things like oyakodonburi, or gyoza, or okonomiyaki, or anything we want to learn how to make.
      After Japanese, we have a half-hour period that our school calls Focus. It's nothing more than just a study hall. During this time, we are allowed to go to other rooms for the period in case we have to make up a test or anything like that. I and many of my friends all go to the choir and band room every day during Focus. The rooms are big, so many of us can be there, and the teachers are a lot of fun! If I need to do homework, I can sit by myself and work on it. If not, my friends and I usually find a way to have fun.
      Then, after Focus, I have an Economics class. This is a class normally given only to seniors, but I have to take it this year so I have room in my schedule for everything next year. I think the class is pretty boring. We talk about different economic systems, and supply and demand, and how one thing affects another, but I'm not interested in any of that. I do pay attention, though enough to learn what's going on. There is a fun part, however. We are currently in an online virtual stock exchange competition. Everyone in my class is against each other plus a different economics class from a different time in the day. We're given take online money, and spend one day every week in the computer lab, trading, buying, and selling stocks. Currently, I have made the most money out of anyone in either of the classes! Our teacher is very young, and a lot of fun. I think he understands what it's like to be a high-schooler, and knows that we don't like the class very much. He does know that we have to learn it, though, so he tries to make it as fun as possible.
      After that is lunch. I usually have the same thing every day: a cheeseburger, French fries, and milk. Sometimes, if it's something I like, I'll also get fruit. I know this kind of a daily diet probably isn't very healthy, but it's cheap and it tastes good.
      Then, I have Chemistry. This is a really fun class. I understand what's going on in the class very easily, so I don't have to work very hard. Our teacher is a lot of fun, too. She's a short middle-aged woman who pretends to make fun of the students all the time. We know she doesn't mean it, though, so it's funny instead of actually being mean. She also gives us time to work on our homework in class, so if we finish early, we can talk with each other for a long time. Although it's not a hard class for me, it is for a lot of other people, so I feel good knowing I'm one of the better students in class.
      Then comes one of the best parts of my day: choir! This is probably my favorite class of all. Our director is wonderful. She loves her job, she's full of energy, and she's also one of my better friends. Sometimes, when I have extra time during lunch or before school, I will come sit in her office and we will talk about all sorts of different things – politics, relationship, other people, or just how much we love music. In class, we are working on what we call our dinner show. It involves several different pieces from our three school choirs, with a few special solo or group performances. All of these are tied together through a script that tells a story. We also serve an actual dinner to go with the show. This year, our theme is Broadway musicals. All of the songs we are performing are from musicals, and our script tells a story about a Broadway star making her way from nothing to stardom.
      My last class of the day is band. I am in the top band, which is called the Wind Ensemble. Band, I'm sorry to say, is actually kind of boring. I play percussion, and there isn't a lot for us to do. There are about twelve percussionists, and usually only about three or four parts to play on each song. So, for the rest of us, there is not a lot more to do than just sit and wait. The pieces are interesting to listen to, though, so there is something enjoyable about band. Also, our director is a very cool person. He used to be a martial arts instructor while he was in college. During our marching band season, he breaks bricks for every trophy we earn from our competitions.
      After school ends, I don't have very long before I have to leave and drive one hour west to the big city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is there that I am having daily rehearsals for a teen production of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." This is a play about a hospital for insane people, and one person that is admitted to the hospital that isn't insane. He tries to help the other people in the hospital become better friends with each other and eventually get them out of the hospital, but the nurse in charge of them all has different plans. I play one of the insane people that is already in the hospital. This is a very difficult play, mostly because there are such strong emotions that all of the characters have to go through. It's also hard for me because I don't know any of the other people working there; I only met them when we began this production. It is still a wonderful experience, though. I am learning a lot.
      That lasts three hours, which means I get home about 8:00 every night. I relax for half an hour, which usually involves playing video games. Video games are probably my biggest hobby. I own a Nintendo Game Cube, a Playstation2, and Game Boy Advance. My friends and I meet usually every other week to play games together. My old characters from famous Nintendo games. For example, you can play as Mario, Bowser, Yoshi, Pikachu, Samus Aran, Link, Fox McCloud, or Kirby. Another current favorite game for me is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. In this game, up to four people can play at one time. Each player has to have a Game Boy Advance, and have it connected to the GameCube to be used as a controller. The action takes place on the TV, but individual menus are on the Game Boy Advance screen. A lot of teamwork is involved, but so is secrecy. You can make deals with stores that your friends do not know about on your own Game Boy, or get bonus points for completing certain objectives in every level. It is an extremely fun party game, because people can swap out and change characters, so a group of six people could easily rotate in and out of play.
      After that, I usually have enough time to eat some dinner, then drag myself upstairs to work on my homework. I usually manage to finish by 10:30, which means I get into bed at about 11:00, ready to start the next day.