Nevermind… I’ve found the problem:

C:\Documents and Settings\Elliot>tracert googleadservices.com

Tracing route to googleadservices.com [127.0.0.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms localhost [127.0.0.1]

Trace complete.

It’s blocked in my HOSTS file (C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc). I’ve commented the line containing the domain googleadservices.com, but now it says: “Unable to resolve target system name googleadservices.com.”

The changes I made to Walnut High continue to resonate. I never realized how much of an impact I would make. High school was a smaller environment, where you could directly relate with the people. And it seemed possible to be at the top of of the school, be the #1 student.

I never had a chance. Part of the reason I left, I now feel, is that my grades and skills aren’t quite good enough. In an environment where it feels like I should be the best, I definitely was not. I fell somewhere in the middle of the class in terms of grades and standardized test scores. It seems that many students felt I was very smart. That makes me feel awesome, but it’s not true. I often kept my scores a secret. I justified this by considering such measures of achievement to be artificial and inaccurate. And they are. But the unfortunate truth is that, had I done better, I probably would have boasted of my scores.

On the other hand, I’ve always got to keep in mind the people that are seemingly below me. I can remember so many very humbling instances. People at the bottom, truly do have a brilliance. Every person can bring something profound to the table. So I fully disagree with any separation between classes of students – AP vs. honors vs. regular. Students in lower level course are geniuses. Just not in the way that academics expect. I sympathize most with these students. It’s where I belong. I’m somehow incredibly fortunate to have gotten to where I am.

My impact includes the solar car project, yes. And I was active in FBLA, President of Computer Club, Chess Club. But I was far from the best leader. There is just so much that I should have done better, that I’m depressed just thinking about it. Additionally, there are the people. I left high school chiefly because I didn’t think I meshed with the people. It seemed that there was not one person who was my type. Yet, those people are there. Good friends that I worked with in the solar car team. Why didn’t I meet any such people in class? The kind of people I like, the kind that I work well with, are not the ones in the highest level IB courses, I now realize. They’re in regular classes – but they’re not the typical student. They took the initiative to join the solar car project, and that really shows something. There is truly so much more to school than the classes. The classes. I regret having to waste so much effort on them.

Yet, I can relate with the teachers. I remember them fondly. But not for what we did in class, although that was reflective of their character. It was what we did outside of class. But I have to agree that classes are a necessary evil. I’ll have to continue thinking about whether classes are actually conducive to learning.