That Time Already?

I already talked about my performance in the Nutcracker in my last post, but now I'm just a bit too worried about my back to back performances tomorrow morning to go without releasing all this negative energy anywhere. Well then. Now that all of this is good and done, I suppose I need to go back and do my homework now don't I.. Really, now this is just purely bad time management on my part. It may be a stressful time for me, but that doesn't just mean I can go and let myself relax, rewarding myself before I've even finished the tasks. Hmph. I really need a tighter grip on my own life. I've spent too much time recently on dramas, reading, drawing, sketching, and really, just procrastinating. Come to think of it, what was originally just going to be a two line post has already morphed into this block of text. I better leave before I type up a whole book..

Nutcracker!!

And so once more it is that time of year. The time when the Georgia Ballet puts on their annual performances of The Nutcracker, including dancers both student and professional.

This year I was cast as Sugar Plum Attendant, Chinese Tea Ribbon Girl, and Arabian Attendant, in that order. Since i'm way too tired to stay up much longer, I'll just simply state that each of my quick changes between scenes involved running from one side of backstage to the other and were all done in 2 to 3 minutes. Haha, when changing to Tea, I was literaly running across backstage and my teacher was running right behind me, undoing the hooks on my costume, so I was pretty much naked and running..

Yeah, that's pretty much all I wanted to say right now. So.. Goodnight everyone, and wish me luck for my next three performances!!

Master Procrastinator

Wow.

Is it really already the end of Thanksgiving break already?

This year seems so different from last year. Last year we had September break. Last year it felt like every other week was a day or week off. This year though? Nothing like it.

But I suppose I still could have made use of this break to get ahead in AP Bio, perfect my lit research essay and math project, practice my All-State songs for violin, work on my upcoming Nutcracker performance, etc.. Ugh. Just thinking of all that stuff I didn't do gives me a headache. But now here's a list of the stuff I did happen to do: play cards with family until 3 in the morning for a few days, go to a few dinner parties that dragged until 2 in the morning, watch my favorite new drama until 6 in the morning, sleep in until 12 and then proceed to eat eat and eat, um, let's see, run around throwing a Frisbee with my brother until who knows when, eat all the mint chocolate chip ice cream in the house.. Haha, I feel so bad but I can't stop watching these dramas. Just when I finally wean myself off I decide that there's something I really really NEED to watch. And then instead of pacing myself and watching one episode a day or something, I power through and finish the entire thing in a weekend. And some of these dramas are long!!

But that's beside the point. What I really need to concentrate on right now is my math project, due before midnight tonight, and my lit essay, worth 300 points in a category 35% of my grade and due before school starts. If anyone's wondering, we're supposed to submit both assignments online so that's why the due times seem a bit strange and unreliable.

Well ta-ta, I suppose I should go and work on said assignments now before I go and ruin my GPA by watching too many dramas. And I'm not even done with the one I'm watching right now..my hand is just twitching to go back to Dramafever..

Happy Feet TWO

So I went to Merchant's Walk Cinema on Monday with some friends and truthfully, I was hoping we'd be seeing something a bit more..exciting..than Happy Feet's sequel. But I do have to say that the movie wasn't too bad and was pretty uplifting too. All the singing and dancing was really cute and I loved the animations. So maybe it was a pretty nice movie. A lot better than my expectations at least. If you guys need something to do this week, then going out to see Happy Feet Two wouldn't be such a bad idea. It's a kid's movie, but a cute kid's movie at that.

What I'm really waiting for though, is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo this winter. And then new Tim Burton remake of Snow White in March. It has Kristen Stewart in it, but I'm not overly worried about her since Tim Burton is directing it. I mean, have you seen Alice in Wonderland? I'm getting ready for a real wow. Besides, maybe Kristen Stewart has it in her to be something other than a clingy, sob-story vampire girl. Maybe she'll wow me too.

And then sometime in May, it's time for THE HUNGER GAMES!!! Yup. There's really nothing else to be said about it.

Thanks Be Given

What a great way to start out my Thanksgiving break huh. It's only Sunday morning and I can feel the downward slope already. But really, it can't get much worse here now can it?

Well, this morning I got up at the usual unearthly hour of eight and got ready to drive over to my violin teacher's house. With my mom driving, me in the passenger seat, and my brother in the seat behind my mom, we made it all the to Riverside before disaster struck. It had just rained the night before so the roads were wet and we were driving on this downhill road. Only a slight incline, but enough to have an effect what with all the rain. So then we're just driving along discussing what movies are out his week and then suddenly this crazy old man from the opposite direction shifts into our lane. Now mind you, this was only a few meters away and I seriously though we were going into a head-on collision since we were both moving at rather high speeds and while my mother was braking, the ground was too slippery for any real traction. So at the last instant the old guy managed to swerve back into his lane and we took a sharp right. We were too close to fully avoid each other though, so it resulted in slight fender bender as they call it. We lost the covering of our left headlight, the hub for our front left wheel, and received a deep dent in the front of our Toyota Corolla. No one was hurt in what could have easily been a disastrous situation though so I suppose we got off lucky. The other guy though, was driving this huge van and all he got was a nasty scratch in the side of his car.

Then my dad arrived, calmed everyone down, and settled to wait for the police. Long story short, the police couldn't find the little church we were waiting by and took over half an hour to arrive. After several questions, he came to the conclusion that the other party was at fault (duh) and we all went home. Yayy.

So now I'm sitting at home, having missed my violin lesson, and wolfing down mountains of chocolate. I can just tell how much is going to happen this break. Fingers crossed.

It's Been A While

But we're back!!

-silence-

Haha, yeah..not much of a big idea. And no one even knows what I'm talking about right now, right? Well, it's just that I've finally had time (or rather, made time for by neglecting several of my other duties) to read another manga! Albeit a short one this time. A very short one.

While this wasn't my idea of the perfect manga, nevertheless it was a sweet story that left me feeling quite happy though a bit..how should I put it..remorseful. And what exactly was this brilliant manga you ask? Why, nothing other that the comedic but satisfying love story of Ogata Aoi, in the manga AAA by Fukushima Haruka.

A summary from the ever sourceful MangaFox, bringer of millions of dreams and dearly beloved library of manga: Ogata Aoi is in her 2nd year of middle school and is the president of the student council. The middle school she attends is one of the best in the country and is called "AAA". Aoi goes there to meet her first love, but after a surprising meeting, she's finding out that her first love is a gang leader in the neighbor school, called "CCC" (lowest level). Maybe it's only a coincidence that that gang leader and her first love have the same name since they look completely different from each other, but now, Aoi wants to find more about this person....

And of course no manga post is ever complete without pictures! Here we are now~

Like? Dislike? LOVE? I think we all know the answer to that question ;)

Oh, and I've also read this other work by Fukushima Haruka just because the artwork in AAA was so cute and appealing. Otona Ni Nuts is an interesting tale that starts off rather slowly and extremely confusing. However, once the first chapter is finished, the plot is riveting and the characters full of personality. Another cute story for a rainy day. Or maybe even a sunny day ;D Enjoy, everyone!

Oh Halloween..

Today was definitely how I had intended to spend m Halloween. Sure, it was a nice enough day this morning, though it was freezing when i got up and I thought I would fall down from sleep deprivation. I had a nice nap on the bus ride though and we all got huge muffins from our amazing bus driver. I'll be so sad to see her go. She's planning on retiring during the winter holidays, but I really hope she'll change her mind! She's such a nice person.

But that's not anything like how the rest of my day went. I had just been reading this amazing fanfic of Harry Potter. To be truthful a friend had recommended it, it's the first one I've ever read, and it is utterly and unbelievably amazing. After reading less than half of it, I have already changed my opinions about some of the characters of the original series. Believe it or not, but the thought of reading this rewrite is so much more thrilling to me. It's perfect. In fact, here's the link to chapter one http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3766574/1/Prince_of_the_Dark _Kingdom. It may seem confusing and a little slow through the first few chapters, but trust me, it is just the greatest thing I have read in a long while. Be careful though, it has a M rating, so things may get messy later in the series. Do check it out though. Just breathtaking.

But of course I am now once again off topic. Anyways, in the author's imagination, harry one day is poisoned with a potion, i can't spell it at the moment, which causes everything that possibly can go wrong in his day to go wrong. And basically I've written all of this so far so that I can say that I feel like my day has been exactly the same today. Rawr. Awful. I was so grouchy and touchy throughout the day, I made so many snide comments, or at least thought them in my head. I felt really guilty afterwards too even if I hadn't actually said anything. The guilt obviously didn't stop me from wanting to go sneer at this red-eyed, sniffling girl during dance team today though. And I especially wanted to use some polite sassing to make the teacher aware that she was either going to work with me or I was never going back to attend another of her useless meetings again. But I swallowed my unusual anger in each instance and tried to hold my tongue. i still was rather mean to three people today though. One being Jay (again? ugh..I don't know if I feel sorry for him or not. I mean, everyone's mean to him so I try and be nice but just about everything he does, from his "simpering puppy look" to his "i told you so" face, make me want to show my distaste. God. I do feel sorry for him sometimes though. But only sometimes.), the other Austin (he deserved it, and everyone thought it was funny, so it was alright, right? No..), and then my mom (who obviously did nothing to deserve it; I apologized thoroughly though, so she's okay now). I could go on for pages describing every exact action today that was just plain horrendous, not to mention my 80 on the Econ test, but it's 12:24 AM already and I still have yet to study for my physics and American Government test. And I was hoping to be able to read some more of the "Prince of the Dark Kingdom" tonight. Oh well, what was I expecting anyways with all this bad luck today? Someone wish me luck for my honor Orchestra seating audition tomorrow afternoon. I only had time to practice the excerpt for half an hour earlier this evening after I finished my dance class and dinner and had taken my online biology classes module four test.

Halloween...maybe the evil spirits really are out tonight. But don't worry everyone, it's only me that they're haunting. And they've been ever so preoccupied with their task ever since the crack o'dawn today..

Spontaneous Combustion

So this is what the Hunger Games poster would look like if it were in Harry Potter's world.



Pretty awesome right? I'm loving everything about the Hunger Games right now ;) This poster is a little old though..just thought I'd share it in case anyone else is like me --> occasionally misses major events and finds out about them a month or two after they occur. Woo.

The Hunger Games Posters Released!!

Check out these posters ;). Some of them aren't exactly what I expected but kinda of like how Katniss is seen with a soft side in this poster while maintaining an appearance that she could turn fierce in an instant. Peeta doesn't look that amazing in the posters but..I never really expected much of him anyways. Sorry but his face looks so grim in this picture, it doesn't really fit with my imaginings of him. Gale is pretty alright right here. Much better than I expected really. For some reason, his intense looking eyes just remind me of this friend of mine.. I can actually say that I'm looking forward to seeing Liam as Gale, it's seeming like a better decision with each glimpse of the movie preparations. Pretty cool. And as for the other characters, I'm not so into Rue's look. I imagined that she would be a lot sweeter and slightly, well, more innocent? I'm not sure what I'm really going for here, since the picture already makes her seem really innocent. Nevermind, I can't really put my feelings into words. Anyways, I'm really excited about how Haymitch and Effie have turned out. Though they're not the same as how I imagined them, I do enjoy their portrayals of their characters. About Cinna though, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, he feels right for the role. On the other, not so much. And as for Cato, I don't really have much of an opinion, other than that his nose seems a little big and his hair does stand out quite a bit. Well, here are the posters. Enjoy!

So were they? Not quite what you expected? Just as you had pictured all the characters? I can't wait for March 23 to see if the movie's portrayal of the novel fits with my imaginings!

Dreaming!

It really does feel like a dream today. After missing my middle school friends for ever so long, we (well most of us anyways) went to the park today for some Ultimate Frisbee. Needless to say, this didn't go on for the entire four hours, so we played some badminton and other random stuff afterwards, as well as talking about nothing in particular.

At about 6 everyone except for Brian, Daniel, and I left. This was perfectly fine with me ;). But what was not okay was how cold it was getting. I mean, how stupid was it of me to forget my nice, fluffy, warm jacket in the car? It had been cold in the hours previous but since the sun had still been out and we were running around, it was really that bad. But then while we were talking and stuff I kinda half froze.

But then Brian and Daniel decided that everyone else had left already, we should walk over to Fuller's Park for some..pizza? I'm not really too sure about his exact motives. So there we decided to toss around the frisbee a little more, and then stopped when I missed a throw. I was actually pretty surprised that I could catch at all considering my fingers were frozen STIFF and well, they still are now; so it's really hard and kinda irritating for me to type right now. Anyways, we ended up deciding that they would take me home first and then walk back buy some food. I assured them that while there was no available real food at my house, there was plenty of junk food that they would love. So we walked over from the park to my house, and on the way Brian kept offering to give me his sweater since he noticed that I was freezing. He told me that he had four layers on and so it as really fine and Daniel also supported that. But I kept refusing until we were practically two turns away from my house, when Brian stopped, took off his sweater, and gave it to me. It was so nice to wear his sweater jacket. It was so nice and warm and comfy and I was so so happy. Putting it on in front of them was awkward though, I'm so self-conscious about such weird things..

So outside of my house it was pretty awkward taking the jacket off and giving it back too. Then I pressured them into waiting while I grabbed some food for them. In the end I gave them a bag of Garden Salsa Sunchips and French Onion Sunchips, two Chocolate Biscottis, and two pouches of Strawberry Kiwi CapriSun. They tried to refuse it, but I made them take it, telling them that it was to compensate for having them walk me home and the fact that it was already dark and they would have to make their way back to the park and then through the forest on their way to the football game at their school. Before they left we bantered a bit about them getting lost on their way back to the park. At least I think we were joking. I really hope we were joking.

So in a nutshell this was my afternoon after school. All of my friends were at the park before me since they had web day. Lucky. But I feel really fortunate to have been able to meet up with my friends, to have even been invited to the event. That we were all able to talk like we used to just filled my heart. And then having Brian and Daniel walk me home and having Brian give me his sweater? That just about burst my heart. I was so happy today. It's been great. I hope we can rendezvous sometime soon, being with my friends just always makes about ten times as happy as any other day. There really are some bright and shining spots in this dreary darkness we call life. <3~

RIP Steve Jobs

Rest in peace, you deserve it.

I can't even believe that this is happening. Today started out as such an ordinary day, and now.. I find out about the loss of such an amazing person.

Here's a link with information about his life and death Steve Jobs

Spinning

What exactly am I doing? I'm so fused as to what my purpose in life even is..

But on a side note, I'm really angry at my partner in my organization. She's a senior and I'm a sophomore and it's just the two of us running the whole thing so I understand hat we need a little help. What I don't understand however is why she doesn't get it when I tell her that no, I do not want to hire someone who is a JUNIOR. I mean, the junior would be doing her college applications a year before me, and my partner will be doing hers this year. That means that colleges will have already seen my organization's name on two applications before mine and so it'll fail to impress them as much. This doesn't affect my partner at all since she's the one applying this year, but I've worked so hard on this organization and I do not want all of my efforts to be wasted just because the idea has become too common. And why exactly won't she listen to me? We started this together, so it doesn't matter if she's two grades above me, she should listen to my opinion about hiring people too. And it's not like if we don't hire her friend we won't have other applicants. I've already gotten a few freshmen interested; it's just that I haven't had time to really go over the details with them yet. And I have my eye on some eighth graders who can join next year as well. I mean, I have nothing personally against this junior, but if her entrance is going to hurt my future, then we all know what comes first. Really.

The Canterbury Tales

I'm sure that no one noticed, but the title of my previous post was actually supposed to be an allusion to the prologue of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucher, which was alluding to some nice Greek mythology. So I guess I was really alluding to Greek mythology too.. But anyways, the first eighteen lines of the Prologue goes a little something like this:

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmers for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The holy blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

And basically Zephirus is an inspirational force to many, and so I thoughted it would make an appropriate title for my previous post. If no one gets it though and everybody thinks I'm crazy because it seems so random, then I'll have no fun right? But congrats to those of you who did understand the reference ;)

The Sweet Breath of Zephirus

So since I just posted a huge long..um..essay (?) on how awful I feel, I've decided that I need a post to counterbalance it and prove that I'm not completely insane/crazy/mentally unstable. And here it is..

You want to kill yourself? Because no one cares about you. Your family hates you. Right? No. Your parents walking in your room in the morning to only find a dead body. They’ll try their hardest to not think negative, and to just think that you’re fooling around. Then they’ll start shaking you. Why aren’t you breathing? They’ll be broken. Tears. Many tears. More tears than you ever shed. Was it the...m? Were they the reason you did this? More tears. Pain. Every day. Every night. Every single second of every day. Guilt. More guilt. What about your bestfriends? They’re not going to care. Right? No. What’s the first thing that will go through their mind when your principal comes in and tells the class that you’re not alive. While your bestfriend sits there in tears. That girl that you’d smile at but never talk to? She’s now crying. The boy who used to kick you under the table just to annoy you? He’ll be shocked. He’ll be devastated. He’ll ♥ blame himself. What about your teacher? Thoughts crossing her mind. She’ll question if you did it because she didn’t make school comfortable enough for you. Pain. Devastation. All in one. Who organizes your funeral? Who has to go through your stuff? Clothes? Notes? Those few older girls who used to give you daggers at school? They’ll feel regret. They’ll blame themselves. See, if you killed yourself today, you’ll never know what might of happened tomorrow. You’ll never know because you’re dead. Plain dead. Not breathing. Not alive. Just dead. Your family hates themselves for it. Your bestfriend then falls into depression. Tears. Tears. More tears than a river. All because you killed yourself because you thought noone would care. Right? You are loved. By many. Someone right now is thinking of you. And right now, I’m thinking about anyone who has thought or is considering suicide. You are beautiful. No matter if you’re black, white, homo-sexual, tall, short, overweight or anorexic. You are beautiful. You want to kill yourself? Think about it first. There’s no coming back. And I promise, if you do it, you are not only hurting yourself, you are hurting many. You are creating more tears than you led yourself to. You are making everyone miserable and making them all feel guilt and pain. Never will they feel whole like they used to when they had you. You are beautiful. And you are never ever alone.
..♥

Voila. It's actually a post my my friend that I just read and so I was inspired to spread the word and maybe help someone else get through a bad day. I've changed her original post in a lot of places so it's not stealing. Besides, even if it is stealing, the artists of the Renaissance rarely wrote their own original plays. Shakespeare just improved other, not-so-amazingly, plays by unknown writers. And by the way, I was not thinking of suicide, it's just that reading this made me feel like I'd be fine after all. Not that I ever didn't feel that way.. But, that's not the point here. The point is to feel uplifted by my inspirational post and then repost it so that others can see it as well.

Why Is It Always So?

I think I may have just had a sliiight mental break down. I mean, I'm really low on sleep and am so stressed out about school and clubs and everything else right now so I knew that this was going to happen sooner or later. I did try keeping all of my feelings of hopelessness about the world to myself though, since I'm the one always insisting I can manage all of my work. But that's just because I want my mom to be proud of me. Not that she ever really seems like it.. Yeah. But today when my mom started banging on my mental condition about how my math basically sucks, my mental force field that normally holds all the pieces of my despair together kinda slipped for a moment. And then with the gushing torrent of awfulness that crack just opened wider and wider and wider until everything came out. Honestly, I didn't even know I was feeling all of that. I wish there was someone in my life that I could confide in, but I really feel obligated towards myself to preserve a calm-ish, strong-ish, able-to-handle-everything-ish image. So I guess this blog is the only place in the world where I've shared all of my emotions, I mean, who looks at my blog that even cares about me at all? Or even knows me for that matter.. Kinda ironic, huh. The place where the most unlimited stream of audience members could file pass and read about my life is in actuality my only safe place. This is probably the one place in my life where I can really be myself and let all of my real thoughts and opinions out. I don't have to impress anyone here..right? Right. Cause this is my place.

Vitamins=Good For You

So I actually saw this a few days ago but then I just recently decided that it was so ridiculously funny to me that I needed to share it with a wider audience. Who knows, I may even be able to introduce some new people to the sparkling world of Kpop, Kdramas, and outrageously hot guys ;)

Learn the vitamin song with SNSD!!

The girls looking cute in white dresses!

This one's fannncy isn't it?

Fundraising Ideas

Is selling spring rolls really such a great idea? I'm trying to fundraise for Science Bowl and spring rolls just struck me as a great item that was unique and could compete in the school market. However, now I'm concerned as to whether the mostly African and Hispanic population of my school will find a spring roll worth a dollar of theirs. This is especially bad because next week the tickets for the homecoming game and dance will be selling, so I'll have to compete for the students' money. I hope this investment will turn out well as it takes a long time to make spring rolls from scratch. In fact, my mother and I will be getting up much earlier than usual next week to make them. My fingers are crossed.

Neeeed Sleeeep

=.= <-- that is me everyday now.

*.* <-- me when I have an opportunity to sleep

T.T <-- when I realize it's one in the morning again

x.x <-- me if this is going to keep happening

But yeah. Taking an online class is so much harder than I expected. And it doesn't really help that I'm being swamped with projects during school. I now have a research paper and two projects dues within the month. Meanwhile I need to study for tests, figure out how the physics concepts actually work, and do my homework. Plus, today I think I just failed my lit. AP writing and my math test. Yep. Failed. And this isn't even including all of my stuff outside of school. Hellpppp!!!

Silver Lights

We will always remember.

Our generation may not remember the actual day, but we do know the consequences of that day and we will be forever thankful to the men and women who have since then risked their lives to protect our country.

To the brave men and women whose innocent lives were lost on the 11th of that faithful month-R.I.P.

Borders

I can't believe it's closing in 10 days. I mean, Borders has played a huge and really important role in my childhood. I used to just sit there and read throughout elementary summers. Then my friends and I would meet there during middle school. And last year my friend's and I spent large quantities of time in the cafe eating cakes. Borders has seriously been there my entire life. Why is it going bankrupt now? God. I'm almost mad at them for going bankrupt now. Couldn't they have just had some better insight and foreseen the electric trend of the market and made an ebook reader sooner? Look at Barnes and Nobles, they created the Nook and Nook Color and now they're doing fine economically. But I'm mad at Barnes and Nobles, too. And everyone who doesn't regularly buy books anymore. And myself. For always mooching off Borders and just sitting there reading without buying anything. I'm such an awful person. So I guess I'm just mad at everything now. And you know what the sad part is? i don't even have time to really be mad, I'm too busy doing school work, and clubwork, and practicing violin, and dancing, and hurrying towards my death..*keeps on listing*...

Oh. My.

And how exactly is it possible that today is only a Tuesday?

Better question.

And how in the world is it possible that it is just now Tuesday of the third week of school??

Okay. Better yet.

In what world is it even plausible that it is only a Tuesday of the third week of school and I am already deathly tired?

Oh right. This world.

Great.

God Dammit

Wow. So I just spent about two hours cruising around the website for Georgia Virtual Academy looking for the Student Orientation Course so I could hurry up and see the course syllabus. But of course no..I just found out that even though I paid for it yesterday, it only just processed this afternoon and so I can't even take the orientation thing until tomorrow afternoon. And by that time it really might be too late to join the current session, which is sixteen weeks long and starts tomorrow. Instead, I might be force to take the fourteen week long one, which may not seem to be much of a time difference but would make my life immensely harder s right now everything I have to do is balanced just perfectly. If I have to spend more time studying biology of all things, I might just flipping break down like everyone around me seems to expect. Arghh D=<

Ahem.

So I know that I haven't exactly been too active on this blog in the most recent past, but that's because since the start of school, life has been gradually becoming more and more overwhelming, especially with the start of dance classes again as well. But in my free time I have been starting to write a book of sorts. It is by no means professional or even good as I write in sections of literally minutes between classes. Anyways, I was wondering if perhaps I should post my book in chapters on my blog. Again, it's rather just an assortment of ideas that I jolt down whenever possible. Nothing has been planned out and I have no end destination in mind. Basically, whatever I feel like writing at the moment is what I write. Maybe I will post it, after all, I'm rather proud of writing with no direction in mind.

Any Ideas?

So I've just started a club called Science Bowl at my school, and for those of you who don't know exactly what Science Bowl is:

Science Bowl is a high school and middle school academic competition, similar to Quiz Bowl, held in the United States. Two teams of four students each compete to answer various science-related questions. In order to determine which student has the right to answer the question, a buzzer system is used, similar to those seen on popular television game shows such as Jeopardy. Questions are asked in the categories entitled Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Energy, and Earth and Space Science.

So that's that. Now, would anyone have any suggestions for study materials, books, websites, etc. that would help? If so, I'm desperately in need of them as my schedule is already swamped with activities and I don't have that much time left to organize it and buy materials. I'm also keen on finding more effective study strategies and practice tips, so any of these would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Also, I've started an organization called You and Me--anyone interested please contact me via comment or whatsoever, the meetings take place at East Cobb Library, Marietta, GA from 2 to 4 on the second Saturday of every month--where a group of Chinese American teens of high school age help teach adopted Chinese children, children of mixed families, and anyone else interested really, to their Chinese heritage. We teach conversational Chinese as well as culture through games, songs, stories, etc. and hold special meetings during major Chinese holidays such as Chinese New Year. If you are interested or know someone who is interested, then come to the meetings and spread the word! Btw, this is our second year as an organization so we do happen to know what we're doing. Thanks for your time~

2.2% Complete

Yay!! I've made it to the first weekend! But that was an abnormally long feeling week of school, so much homework was given on the first day.. Ugh, just the though of surviving NEXT week makes me want to crawl back to bed, cover my ears, and go back to sleep. And then there's the though that I still have 97.8% percent of school to complete. Oh, excuse me, 97.8% of SOPHOMORE year to complete.. Now there's no September break to look forward to either. T.T" Better get started with that AP Language project now..

Back Home Again!!

...just in time for school. Where has summer gone?

If only with the disappearance of summer also disappeared my summer reading, then perhaps one could deal with the upcoming start of school. Oh, but the day that happens will be the day pigs learn to fly a space shuttle.

Enough said here, it's time to get back to the books..

AP Human Geography Exam

This past May I took the AP Human Geography Exam. My teacher quit in the first few weeks of class and so we had a sub for the rest of the year. Our sub was great as a person but not at all qualified-in my opinion at least-to teach an AP class. So basically I had to self-learn the entire subject. The two books I used to study were REA and Barrons. With these two and nothing else, in one semester I took the AP Exam and got a 5 on it. Hope these books can help someone else, similar dilemma or not!

Countdown

Only 7 days until my SCA starts, 2 days until I leave for NY, and 1 day until both my mom and brother's birthdays. Wow. I haven't been this busy during the summer since last year. Haha, this year's definitely a different kind of busy though, I need to pack for SCA but I won't now how until I start packing for NY and vice versa. I need to "train" for SCA and hike around and stuff. I need to get my mom and brother gifts but really have no way to buy them secretly and I'm far too busy to just make them. I need to make up for not being able to practice violin in China and keep practicing my Chinese instruments. I need to shape up for ballet but am unable to force myself into semi-severe pain. And that's not the half of it either, there so much I need to do right now but can't bring myself to actually do. Turns out a lot of things in my life are just part of a huge countdown. The days until I start school, take the PSAT, take the SAT, etc.. Looks like my fingers won't be enough to count on though, would anyone like to lend me theirs?

Overkill

Almost done watching the amazing Coffee Prince. Haven't even had time to check out the newest episodes of Heartstrings because I'm so preoccupied with Coffee Prince. Haha, I'll miss the series so much when I finish but I can't make myself slow down. On another note, I'll be leaving a Friday for NY so I shouldn't slow down that much.. But I've also had to divide my time into getting ready for SCA. So now I have most of my stuff packed and I spent half an hour in the 97 degree weather today walking around my backyard with an almost 50 pound backpack on my shoulders. Not to mention the fact that its a bit too long for me and doesn't tie properly around my waist. Ah, hopefully it'll all end well. My Coffee Prince finished loading so I'm leaving now to go watch some more~

Live Green

Stockholm is officially the greenest city in the world. The fish caught even in the very center of the central business district is good for consumption. That is a seriously clean city if even the CBD isn't polluted like the major cities of the US and every other country. Wealthy and poor countries alike should endeavor to learn from Stockholm's innovations in the areas of pollution control and energy reduction. Through smart technologies and lifestyle choices we can all work together to stop global warming and other related environmental disasters that could ensue from the current rate of pollution. As more and more pollution will be released from newly wealthy countries such as China, India, and Brazil, the world needs to hasten its efforts in turning green before a global disaster does occur.

Omm nom nom

So..just spending a few lazy summer days watching the relatively old drama Coffee Prince and the super-new on Heartstrings. Haha, enraptured by both but as I'm leaving for NY this Friday, I should start scrambling to get all of my camping gear and stuff together. Oh well, the dramas are so addicting that I just can't bring myself to do anything else. Remembering to practice my violin at night is hard enough, but after not practicing during the five months that I was vacationing in China I really need to get my level back up. Ah..Coffee Prince finished buffering, signing off then!~

Back in the Golden Country

Compared to China, the US just feels so spacey and unproductive. It's summer vacation and I'm just sitting here at my house doing absolutely nothing. In China I used to be able to accomplish three or four interesting things per day. Ah well, I'll just attribute my laziness to jet lag and hope that I can start having fun here in a couple of days. After all, I'll be leaving for New York in less than a week so there has to be some fun left to be had. Gonna go sleep and try to get the time difference out of me.

Dreamland

It's soo early in the morning and I think I'm more tired now getting up than before I actually got any sleep, so I probably should have just stayed awake until now and slept on the plane. Yup, that's right, the plane. Cause I'm going to China today!!!! I'm too busy now loading all the luggage and checking that nothing's been forgotten to really post, but be assured that I'll be posting from China ;) Well, maybe I'll be too busy having fun and eating good food.. Haha.

Finals

Everyone around me is studying so hard and stressing out about their final exams, but for the most part I'm just breezing my way through.. I feel like I'm being so lazy and idiotic like I'm gambling with my future even though my lowest grade is a 96 right now. Ugh. I was feeling so nice and relaxed but with everyone around me studying and me just doing practically nothing, I can't help but feel really guilty, like I don't care about my future or something. But I do, it's just that this semester I'm pretty confident in my own abilities. The doubts of others have affected me though and now I feel a mad need to just study through the night. I think I'll just sleep instead -.-"

Catnip

"In a not-too-distant future, North America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss' young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives." This is the storyline of Suzanne Collins' popular novel The Hunger Games.

As devoted fans know, movie contracts have been signed and casting has been slowly released. Here are the parts known thus far:

First off are the three main characters, Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, and Peeta Mellark. Their roles will be played by Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson respectively.

The Tributes-
District 1: Marvel: Jack Quaid & Glimmer: Leven Rambin
District 2: Cato: Alexander Ludwig & Clove: Isabelle Fuhrman
District 3: Ian Nelson & Kalia Prescott
District 4: Ethan Jamieson & Tara Macken
District 5: Chris Mark & Foxface: Jacqueline Emerson
District 6: Ashton Moio & Kara Petersen
District 7: Sam Ly & Leigha Hancock
-Sam has been in a couple of martial arts films and Leigha is a gymnast who does the stunts on 'Make It or Break It'.
District 8: Samuel Tan & Mackenzie Lintz
-Mackenzie's family website says that she got far in the 'True Grit' casting process, which means she may be a talent to watch. Her sister, Madi, is on the AMC series, 'The Walking Dead.'
District 9: Imanol Yepez-Frias & Annie Thurman
District 10: Jeremy Martines & Dakota Hood
-Jeremy is a stunt guy and also part of the LXD, which is the crazy good dance group that came to national attention because of their star dancer, Harry Shum Jr. from 'Glee.' Jeremy's credits include 'The Expendables,' 'The Green Hornet,' the upcoming 'Sherlock Holmes' film and an episode of 'Community.' Dakota Hood is relatively unknown, like most of the Tributes, but she was part of the American Idol Experience.
District 11: Thresh: Dayo Okeniyi & Rue: Amandla Stenberg
District 12: Katniss Everdeen: Jennifer Lawrence & Peeta Mellark: Josh Hutcherson

Haymitch Abernathy: Woody Harrelson
Effie Trinkett: Elizabeth Banks
Seneca Crane: Wes Bentley
Prim Everdeen: Willow Shields
Mrs. Everdeen: Paula Malcomson
Caesar Flickerman: Stanley Tucci
Portia: Latarsha Rose
Octavia: Brooke Bundy

Cinna, Madge, President Snow and a few other characters have not yet been cast. Any ideas or preferences as to who plays what? What are your opinions on the cast so far? I think it's pretty good and I'll definitely be watching the movie when it comes out, but Josh Hutcherson doesn't exactly fit my idea of Peeta so we'll just have to wait and see how he does. Anyone else planning on attending the premier? I just can't wait to see if the movie matches my visualizations of the book.

Here's the first image release of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Does she look like you imagine Katniss? I was skeptic about how well she would do at first since she was just so blond and smiley, but this picture really calms my doubts and I think she'll do Katniss justice. Hopefully my doubts about Josh were unfounded as well and the movie will really shock me by how it brings the novel to life. Guess I'll just have to wait and see like everyone else.

Judgement Day

Well, it's the 22nd of May and we're all still here so I'll just make the assumption that the world didn't end on the 21st. Now all we have to do is wait and see if 2012 really happens. Obviously I don't put much stock in the idea, but even the most assured will always have room for at least a small corner of doubt. Who knows, maybe the Aztecs did know something we didn't. Maybe the zombie apocalypse will occur, since the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) warns us that we should be prepared for any type of natural disaster at all, including a zombie outbreak. In fact, the CDC recommends reading The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks in order to prepare for a possible attack. The book was featured on the New York Times Bestseller's List and has six chapters, The Undead: Myths and Realities; Weapons and Combat Techniques;On the Defense; On the Run; On the Attack; and Living in an Undead World. Hope I'll still be seeing all of you out there in 2012. Good luck and keep your fingers crossed.

Sweaty..

Just finished my ballet audition and I think I did ten times worse than usual. Ugh. I just crack under pressure and then mess up everything. I concentrate so much on one move that I mess up everything preceding it and so mess the one move up that I'm concentrating on as well. Oh horseradishes, now I have to go practice for my violin audition tomorrow..Will my life never know freedom? Haha, knowing me, I'll probably stress out while I'm playing and kill the music. So I guess I really do need to go practice right this moment, forget lunch.

Intense.

Just saw Thor in 3D and Fast Five tonight with my best friend!!!!!!!!! Haha, we only bought tickets for Thor and then just snuck into Fast Five and I feel kinda bad for doing so, but isn't that what everyone else does? Anyyyways, I'm not going to dwell on a question of ethics right at this moment. I'm too busy being delighted over how amazing the movies were. It's really late right now though so I can't say as much as I would like to on the topic. Doesn't it seem like that's always the case for me? I promise I don't do it on purpose though, it's just that practically th only free time I ever have is a few minutes at night.

So Thor was great except *spoiler alert* Loki ends up just letting go of his life and falling into space. I was so disappointed that he just let go, though it does show that he actually has a good side to him and isn't all evil. I loved his character so much and how he turned out was rather depressing. And then Thor is really only with Jane for a max of three days, during which they strike up an intense love that keeps them searching for each other. Seemed really shallow and unrealistic to me, but it was okay. The movie was great though and the plot and characters kept me riveted the entire time. Thor had some pretty beautiful eyes ;)

Fast Five on the other hand started off really really slow. And confusing. Only towards the middle did it pick up, but when the plot did start unraveling, it spun out extremely quickly and there was hardly a moment where I felt like I could take a breath. Some of the characters were just so ripped it was almost scary and there some very fine cars as well. Haha, the car chase scene towards the end was about thirty minutes long and it was so dramatic and beautiful. Ahh, I kind of want to go back and watch both movies again.

I have a lot more to say about both movies but I don't want to spoil the plot for any possible readers that I might have. And considering it's now 12:23 and I am going to be really busy tomorrow and on the weekend, I should probably listen to my complaining body and just get some sleep. Night everyone!

Fly

Across the Lethe River and in Charon's boat, my soul lingers longingly, glancing at the scenery of the afterlife. Oh! There are the sweet, lush fields of Elysian fields. An island paradise surrounded by sparkling turquoise water. Orchards in abundance and hums of joy drifting on the cool breezes. Farther away are the Asphodel Fields, endless in its nothingless. Densely packed full of mournful souls, crying out for an ending to the monotony of an endless existence. Then just a speck of dust in the corner of my eye, Tartarus breathes and shudders, a horror which exists only to terrorize the existence of others.

I've been so excited this entire week because our dance recital was this week and it actually went fairly successfully this time. Our class had on this gentle, spring green skirts with poofy white shirts, a tight corset, flowers in our hair, and some ribbons on the puffed sleeves. It was beautiful. Naturally I was dying to get to the photo shoot by Keiko Guest Photography at the studio as this was the first year that my parents have agreed to it. With my beautiful satin pointe shoes on, makeup carefully primmed by mom, and costume painstakingly smoothed, I set into the shooting room with a racing heart, big smile, and sky high expectations. Apparently my expectations were just too high to be realistic at all for me and I had overexcited myself for the event. The resulting photos weren't exactly awful, but I don't dare post them as my profile picture either. All in all, my poor inflated dreams were crushed by my own lack of skill and poise. Guess I'll be waiting until next year now..when I'll be able to enter the room again with renewed confidence and thoughts of improving since this year. Maybe I will improve, but I'll also most certainly never achieve the sparkly, pristine visions that just swirl through my head.

New Drama Unveiled!

About this time last year I posted about the manga Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e). Well, this time I'm here to spread word that SM Entertainment is set on producing a drama version of it this summer! For those unfamiliar with the name, SM is a Korean company with the popular boy groups SHINee and Super Junior among others. As representatives from the company revealed “The Korean version will have a total of 16 episodes that draw out stories of hopes and dreams. It’s a teenage comedy with a cute, but strong storyline and a slew of handsome cast members. We’re planning to begin airing it this summer.” Previously there have been Japanese and Taiwanese adaptations of the manga, but I'm hoping that this will be the best one yet as I'm looking forward to seeing my favorite boys cast inside. Not that I can really judge though, as I haven't had the fortune to view the two other versions. However, this one I definitely will not miss! Does anyone else know what they're going to be doing this summer? ;) Because I surely do.

Future notices may be posted as the cast is publicized. However, it depends on my schedule because now is also the time of year for the dreaded AP Exams -.-"

Italian Bagels

So the Ap Humann Geography exam is coming up in about two weeks. now normally this is considered one of the easier exams, so it should be a breeze. But since our teacher is such an idiot and gives us food days and nature walks even so close to the date of the exam when we are so behind, I am seriously more stressed out about this exam than anything else in my life. That is all I have to say. I'm so mad at Mr. Bagley that I don't even want to spend any energy being mad at him. What a nuisance.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

tell me, when am I fairest in the day? Recently I've made a rather surprising discovery that probably no one else would ever care to know. For some odd reason unbeknown to myself, I find that I prefer looking at myself in the mirror more at night than in the morning. The weird thing is, I don't do anything that'll drastically change my appearance during the day. I wear no makeup, don't change my hair, nothing. And yet, I find myself to seem better looking when I look at myself later at night. It's a slightly shocking revelation to me, but then again, what part of me is normal? Again I wonder, what is normal? What is strange? Not for the first time I would love to be able to ask others awkward questions to see if I'm alone in my findings. Maybe there's even a possible correlation between this and the fact that I love staying up so late but hate waking up.. Just an ever so tiny possibility. But probably not. It seems like I'm always trying to connect two completely unrelated things.

End Story

Has anyone ever thought about on the ironic legacy of modern science, which promises to bring progress to humans but is really only speeding the end of the world?

Peanut Butter Sandwich

Dude. I am speechless with awe at how extremely stupid and ignorant our AP Human teacher, Mr.Bagley can continue to be even in the face of death. It been the second time this week that peanut butter has been brought into our classroom. On Monday, one of my classmates with severe nut allergies-meaning she can die within 2 minutes of exposure to nuts, not even touching them or anything-had to leave class because a student had forgotten the other's allergy and began eating cashews. Luckily that time it was caught within seconds. Even so, the allergic student could not return to school until today and today in class her safety buddies smelled a nutty aroma and then saw her paling and start to tremble, which is when they immediately pushed her out of the class. I am told that she would have into apoplectic shock had she been exposed a few seconds longer. While she is recovering and in no danger of dying now, this is unacceptable. This teacher of ours seems not to be able to realize the magnitude of her allergy and continues to treat it as a nuisance while failing to check that no one is bringing nutty items into the classroom. Instead when he started yelling at us today, practically the only thing that came out of his mouth was concern for his new job, telling us that he was going to get fired if we kept these accidents up and that he did NOT want to be shipped of to fight in Afghan. I can understand not wanting to fight, but the class won't take him seriously if all he cares about is keeping his job. No, he needs to impress the fact that someone could seriously DIE from exposure. At this rate, I think the only person in the class who seriously doesn't understand is the teacher. Wow, good job Mr. Bagley. You say you'll "take care" of us? Well go on, don't hold back now, because I haven't seen any of it, either educationally or healthwise.

Clouds

It's such a rainy day outside today. The general mood of things has lowered quite a bit and while I usually like a soft drizzly landscape, today's weather is far it. The clouds seem harsh and endless with rain gushing down like it's trying to drown the world. I love drizzling rain that bathes our yard in a misty glow of sorts. Then when I look out the window it seems as though I'm looking into a fairybook with the perfect setting of spring flowers and mist. The ethereal landscape seems to be so alive and peaceful but also with the perfect hint of mystery. Now though, there is nothing peaceful about black clouds and entire sheets of rain. This rain speaks only of despair, misery, and depression. This is the kind of day that people long for nothing other than to be able to huddle in bed all day, thinking thoughts of nothing and nothing.

Starvation

I just found out that my ballet friends all keep themselves on diets. No wonder they're all slightly skinnier than me. I feel kinda good now that I don't diet and can still maintain my body, but a small part of me that wants to become like them has just found new reason for me to diet as well. If they're all doing it, then won't it be okay for me as well? I know, I know, that's exactly the kind of situation that teachers teach us to avoid at school. "Peer pressure is bad" "Just say no" etc... But even though I know I should do as we were taught, when the situation is real instead of on paper, there seems so much more reason to ignore the teachings and jump on the bandwagon. I'm obviously not going to diet, but that small part of me looks on in hunger for the perfect bodies of my classmates. And we all know how great my will power is, so I suppose the conclusion is once again, we'll just have to wait and see.

Steam

I could rant on and on forever about two of my teachers, who are complete idiots. And I have never called any of my teachers anything bad even if they are just awful, so you can tell that these two are just exceptionally horrible. Mrs. Stewart teaches Magnet Biology when she's really incompetent even for on-level biology classes and Mr. Bagley is our replacement AP Human Geography teacher after the old one had to leave. He hasn't taught this class in 30 years and he talks more on tangents than the actual subject! We talked about PICKLES for HALF AN HOUR in class yesterday. Ugh. Usually I would just deal with it, but the AP exam is in May and we are still on chapter 6 out of 14!!! I want to shake some sense into him but he just keeps on going in his old southern drawl "Ooohh, don't worry about. We'll get there when we get there. Don't worry, that's my job ain't it?". I seriously could right a bahjillion about their faults and idiocy, but I don't want to come off as an extremely hateful person. In fact, I don't even care about Mrs. Stewart's shortcomings, it's really just the AP Exam that has me falling into nervous breakdowns. So what I really wanted to do is just come here and at least express my extreme dislike of their personalities and teaching methods so that I don't lose my sanity. A little piece of me is going to die by the time I finish their classes...

Progress..or maybe not

I decided that I at least have to try. Since writing something down always makes me feel like it becomes set in stone, I made a little notepad while at school yesterday. I'll start writing down the things that I really really need to do each and every day. So far, it's kinda working. That's both assuring and unassuring right now. Since it's working at all, I guess that might be a possible cause for jubilation. But then again, if it's only the second day and it's only kinda working, then what does that say about the future? It seems the only way to know anything for certain is just to watch as it occurs. Even if the notepad fails though, which I'm quite optimistically hoping won't happen, at least I've made some attempt. Maybe the next time I try will be with a more successful idea. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Where is my life going?

So. For the past few weeks/months that I've been MIA from this blog, my time has been filled with episode after episode of Korean dramas. My three favorites from this time period are You're Beautiful, Will It Snow for Christmas, and Secret Garden. While these have all been immensely satisfying, I cannot help but find myself thinking that it's time for a shift in lifestyle. I mean, an entire year of high school has already almost passed me by, and yet here I am, still at the same point in life. I feel as though I'm wasting the hours that I pour into school since I'm obviously not dedicating myself to long term memorization, instead choosing to cram before tests and immediately forget all the information. I also feel as though I need to gain some control over my own actions. For weeks now, nay, months now, I have been pressuring myself to lay off the snacks and food when I only desire them but feel no real hunger. However, each and every time I feel a craving, I continuously come up with a lopsided excuse that sounds false even to my own ears. I tell myself that it is only just one time, or that my day has been absolutely horrendous. When I look back on any week though, it is almost certain that I can find that every other day I have mindlessly crunched on snacks, always with the same excuses. This is not only probably ruining my health, but also wasting more of my already crammed time. I know I should practice violin more often than twice a week, but every time I'm always "too tired" or "not in the mood" saying "I'll do it later". Perhaps I might have more practice hours in if not for the simple fact that I lack the willpower to make myself do even the simplest of any action that requires movement. At this precise moment, I should be practicing violin as I promised myself. Instead I am sitting in front of my laptop again blogging, chatting, and otherwise procrastinating until there is no more time left in this day to practice. The same occurs with a frightening frequency among my school subjects. As I am on a block schedule right now, that means I don't have French or math this semester. Before I forget everything that I've learned, I need to review and practice. When faced with this realization, I always back away from the dilemma and wait to confront it in the future no matter how much more difficult it will be to deal with it then. Just today at school I took the National French Exam. Having had months of advanced notice, I should have started studying long before, even if I still had French this semester. By now you can probably guess the result. Only aware of my present emotions, I procrastinated until yesterday, when I finally realized that there was some inescapable serious studying awaiting me. Earlier this year, my mom was trying to teach me programming. I was an interested enough student, but only enough so long as there was someone to teach it to me. My mom soon feel sick after beginning to teach me and so naturally the lessons were dropped. The books and other material though, were still available for me to learn individually at any moment of my discretion. But I never felt enough cause to pursue programming by myself even though I longed to master the language of computers. For here you see, is the problem at the heart of all my problems. There is never enough willpower in my to force myself to do anything. Much as I rationalize and reason with myself, more often than not it is only a futile struggle within my head. A struggle that most always concludes with a weak decision to do better in the future. But the future is constantly becoming the present, and as the present comes, my dilemma is only ever repeated, never to be broken until I finally muster enough want to sustain my ideal for more than a few days at a time.