Merry Christmas and Happy Generic Holidays to all of you. This is my 25th entry, so of course, an archive is just about due. As a little reminder, all those fun conversations will pretty much fall to the wayside when these entries are archived, because I'm too lazy to reply to anything other than this main page. Y'know, I was really going to listen to "I Won't Be Home For Christmas" (Blink 182) today, and I was muchly dreading the day. But thanks to pretty much everyone I know, I've been having a very decent holiday, and I can only hope it continues past 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm thankful for my family (ehh, somewhat), my friends, my relatively good health, my lack of braces for my teeth, and my material possessions (did you really think I'd leave that out?) I'm hoping to go see Catch Me If You Can at Regal in half an hour, so I've nothing else to say. Suffice this: Be Happy.
6:31 pm ~ No, I didn't manage to see Catch Me If You Can. Yes, it was sold out. No, I'm not surprised. Yes, I am bitter. And my friend is a fucking airhead. But I'm okay! Oh yes, I had a great lunch/dinner and I had an all right day, all things considered.
12:30 pm ~ No! What do they think they're doing? Will can't randomly become straight, that's just not right! Damn script writers, it was wonderful and funny (and wonderfully funny) the way it was. No, no, don't mess with its perfect balance. Aaah... No, I'm not freaking out over a tv show. Aren't I past this stage? --Will & Grace, WB
currently listening to: Ocean's Eleven soundtrack
i spiral into oblivion on Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 02:24 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Ah. It snows on the 24th, for the first time in many years. When it snows, it's so peacefully silent outside, I want to sit there forever and just stare at the frosted trees and bushes. Or perhaps take digital photos of it all, too bad I don't have a digital camera...
I love Christmas Eve. I can't believe it! I got the greatest presents. (Get ready for some real shallow boasting and bragging about material goods, because that's why I'm happy...) Edited entry; scroll down for my material happiness
10:28 pm ~ Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise." Sam Pascoe, American scholar. Ha. Ha...
11:43 pm ~ I changed the main font of this page for the first time in its history! Please leave a comment to let me know whether you can view it.
currently listening to: Grand Theft Auto Vice City - Lazlow Presents
i spiral into oblivion on Tuesday, December 24, 2002, at 08:02 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Did I really skip writing anything in three journals yesterday? I must congratulate myself sometime. I spent nearly all of yesterday and today keeping my mom and my brother company doing various things, mainly grocery shopping with my mom at places a little too posh-'n'-shiny to be normal grocery stores (brand new Safeway and Giant, in that order) and playing Pokémon TCG with my brother / watching Rurouni Kenshin DVDs. The last episode of Rurouni Kenshin is stupid... if you've ever considered watching the show, do stop at the end of the Kyoto Arc, there's nothing good after it. Bah... I want the manga, but it's not in English yet (is it?) And in those grocery stores, they play holiday (Christmas) music absolutely everywhere, all day long. I like the songs well enough, but I'm getting too tired of them two days before the real holiday. Which is when I'm hoping to duck out of the house to catch a movie (Catch Me If You Can) with Alina at Regal, then just sort of bum around the cold suburbs for a little while. I guess I should make more thorough plans for Winter Break, my mom thinks I have a whole lot of parties and things but I really don't have anything accomplished yet. And more importantly, I haven't done anything productive (school-wise) for the past 3 days, and I most probably won't tomorrow or the 25th, either. How am I ever going to bring up my GPA if this keeps up? I think I need to give up on my horrible study habits for a few months and just focus on studying for every test and quiz, because I seem to do okay at those as long as I get enough sleep. I mean, I pulled an 86% on a Chem test about a unit that I completely did not understand, so I think that'll be my new goal. I also want to get better from colds faster, my parents gave me a funny look when I said that I was glad I got sick on the first day of Winter Break rather than on a school day... I mean, I'd fall further behind in too many aspects of my life if I were to be sick during school. I don't think I do anything in particular during Winter Break anyway, so this is a good excuse for me to relax and do absolutely nothing. I did go for a dentist appointment today, and I really hate the taste of the fluoride that they used on me... it tasted all fake-sugary, maybe it was aspertame or something. Whatever it was, I kept spitting it out and I brushed my teeth with regular ol' Aquafresh when I got home. Ugh... I don't think they should make dentists' tools taste like bad candy.
There are a lot of things that I "should" do, even in the short term. These are just a few of them. Isn't it a little bit early for my resolutions? Yeah, but you can't time these sorts of things any more than you can time being grateful for the nationally recognized day of Thanksgiving. (It seems that some people are capable of this, but I'm certainly not, so I've stopped trying.)
10:03 pm ~ Yyr... 'Will' vnus Will & Grace ec CU ytunypma -_-;;
currently listening to: Treasure Planet - various BGM (in my head)
i spiral into oblivion on Monday, December 23, 2002, at 09:09 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Grr. I don't want to be in the house and I've been eating too much junk food to compensate for all the hunger that inevitably results from accidentally forgetting dinner three or four times in this past week. I don't normally love food with a passion, but I don't like completely missing meals, either. Bah to homework. When I work practically nonstop from 5 pm to 10:30 or 11:30 pm, I do tend to forget a few essentials. So... IB is a good thing, and I composed several journal entries' worth of rantness in my mind last night about how people should be more grateful, but I guess I'll try to summarize it now. (I don't want to cause you all pain when you read my stupid blog entries.) A number of people (no one reading this) have been complaining about being in the IB program at RM, or saying that IB teachers can't teach. Sure, there are exceptions like Ostrowski and Martioski, and maybe Sullivan (I haven't had her, can't say for sure) but... for the most part, the teachers at RM are excellent, and they do care about whether you do well or not. Unlike what many college professors will be like. RM had a 98% graduation rate for the IB Diploma (the remaining 2% did get some certificates for the classes they took) while the international norm is around 70%. Normally, this means RM has lower standards, except that the IB provides the tests and criteria. RM performs among the best in the world, and having a building built of asbestos does not change the quality of our education! (Hahaha... asbestos... okay, I can't keep a straight face any more...) I wish those that aren't being forced by parents to attend would hurry up and quit, to make room for those who really take advantage of the opportunities it provides. (Goodness, that sounds cheesy, doesn't it?)
10:45 pm ~ Aww... thanks for all those comments! My comment to entry ratio is lookin' good. Heh heh heh. And of course, the actual content and support is muchly appreciated, as always. Now... I'm eating pie right now. I really, really, really did not mean to miss any meals in this past week, and it drives me crazy that I did. So I'm looking at my watch every hour for the next two days or so, so that I can stay on schedule and not do this again. Waking up from hunger and not your alarm clock is a horrible way to wake up! I really do have a poor sense of time, despite all my efforts to the contrary. But anyway. You know what? I envy those people who can keep blogs in which each entry is about 2 sentences long, except for the exceptions. I am really getting long winded, as Min has pointed out to me repeatedly. And... ... ... er, wait... hold on... no, I just lost my train of thought again.
Do I have some attention deficit or is it normal to suddenly forget what one is thinking, on a nearly regular basis? Not that it really would make a difference in my day to day, I'm just wondering. Oh yeah, I was going to say that we (Alina, Sam, Bryan) were just at the Mont College Planetarium for the Winter Solstice. Cool people, nice show, nice telescope, amusing professor (I saw him in 5th grade with Saturday Discoveries! He likens every planet to a food of a certain size), I think we should go back there sometime. And all of you should join Astronomy Club at RM, because we're going to try and do more trips like these... plus I'll have an easier time carpooling. On another plus, I saw the ol' TPMS building (recently rebuilt in 1999 or something) for a fleeting moment as we drove down the road. That was very nice. But, as nostalgic for middle school as I can get, RM is good and I do like it. And (nearly) all of the people here, too.
currently listening to: Some Chorus - Carol of the Bells
i spiral into oblivion on Saturday, December 21, 2002, at 04:05 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Note to self: contact Shadowland and find out which days during Winter Break they will be closed. Today sort of sucked and rocked at the same time. That made sense, it really did; let me explain myself. Before school and in between classes for the entire day, I managed to get little wrapped up goodies and various candies. I love them all, especially the first thing I got a few days ago, and the little thing with Hamtaro on it. And everything edible, of course. And ornamental things. Well, basically everything. I think I can say that for the first time since I was 6 or so (you'll notice that a lot of things in the past two days reminds me of when I was 6) I had a little bit of "holiday spirit". As I think I might have said somewhere (was it online??), I did enjoy the instrumental Winter Concert last night, and everyone who was there rocked. During Period 2, I was very, very sad... my AP US test sucked fantastically and I didn't even go in to talk to Mr Beach during lunch as Pin-yi did, even though I had a much, much lower score (for minor points I did talk to him for a moment after class, and he said something reassuring along the lines of "Yeah, what happened? Oh well, don't fret too much, it's just... a blip on the radar screen". Gahh. I'm very proud of myself that during lunch (before the Math Team photos) I managed to get myself into his class Second semester while conferencing with Ms Rossini, my guidance counselor. And I transferred out of Ostrowski's class and into Ms Petulante's, I've heard lots of good things about her. And I'm dropping Art & Culture in exchange for Digital Art. All of this depends on whether the Digital Art teacher will allow me to take Digital Art B without technically having any of the theoretical prerequisites. Come on... I have quite a bit of experience with computers (in a chronological sense, I don't know that I have a lot of useful experience) and I've taken the first semester of an introductory level Art class which means I do know the elements of design, etc. And did I mention that I'm already thinking about how I can possibly keep McKenna for second semester? I almost forgot about this goal, but I saw this comment (I quote RMT.com all the time now), "good english teacher, easy, formal" (no wisecracks about 'easy', please Min...) So I will try to remember it for the Thursday that we return to school. I will!
The rest of the day was good too, this choral group (Madrigals, right?) was... well, caroling all day. And they came to my Period 2 AP US History and my Period 5 IB PreCal classes! Man... it was so beautiful, they rock so much. And they looked like they were performing, not giggling or anything for the most part. They're great. I have somewhat renewed awe for choral things... but only if they sound as professional as the Mads. And speaking of PreCal, I get along just fine with the teacher considering how much I'm sucking in the class right now (42/60?! For shame...) and how tempermental the teacher can be. Today, we did this fun li'l logic puzzle; Joyce finished first and a lot of other people finished soon after... it may have taken me a while, but I did get it right! And I was very, very sleepy afterward. Strange stuff. They say they hate these puzzles, but I sort of like them. I want to say that I haven't done these since I was 6, in keeping with my li'l theme of nostalgia for the past two days (and because it's true) but it sounds like I'm just bragging, and I feel bad for that. I probably ought to just write this in a little paper journal, I'm keeping 3 or so as it is, aren't I? I don't like to look back on my old entries, but I do this out of an old habit... you see, when I was younger (6 years old! HAH...) I was rather OCD-like, if not actually full-fledged obsessive-compulsive... and when I was 8, I started fretting over whether I would remember my early childhood when I grew older. (Turns out I don't, but at this point, I don't much care about early childhood. I know I was very quiet and introverted, and I know I didn't care at the time, so I was perfectly happy anyway. That's detailed enough.) But now, I'm still terrified of completely forgetting something very important, so I write down a lot of things. Watching Memento didn't exactly help. (Where am I going with this train of thought?)
I don't think I say this often enough. Willa is cool. Meg (both that I know) is cool. Laura [F] is cool. Willie (WAB?) is cool. Wen is cool. Sandy and Yubing are cool. Pin-yi is cool. Jackie is cool. (Half of these people will never read this anyway...)
Sandy rocks even more for today because of the Hamtaro pail. Hahaha! It's awesome!!
9:28 pm ~ I don't feel comfortable talking about the entire evening, but let's just say that I went to a Christmas special at a church. And I don't go to churches, but I did try to be a deist once... when I was 6(!!!) And the highlight of the evening was when the biblical people randomly started Riverdancing. Oh, you should've seen me trying to stop laughing... aah... I almost fell out of my chair...
Two things I totally forgot about, so I don't know whether I just finished writing it yesterday: 1) We got the free rentals for the entire weekend's 7 seat van!! and 2) Mr McKenna read us a story today in class today, likened to Kindergarten's story time, except with stories of reading levels higher than 5 year olds'... yeah, well, it was very amusing. But the couple in the story argued all that time over "The Rope", and never even attacked one another with it! Katherine Anne Porter's offering is a disappointment after weeks of Edwidge Danticat's dead babies in "Children of the Sea" and "Between the Pool and the Gardenias" as well as Edgar Allan Poe's sick, sick protagonist in "The Cask of Amontillado"...
currently listening to: Some Instrumental Thing - Sleigh Ride
i spiral into oblivion on Friday, December 20, 2002, at 04:55 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
I got home from the Winter Concert at RM nearly an hour ago, and I'm really, really tired. But I did have fun! You guys all sounded so great, I absolutely loved it; maybe I should buy the cd recording? Haha, that's a strange thing... But the Wind Ensemble (and Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble) were my favorites, because of Sleigh Ride (and the irish jigs and those various jazzy songs). Sleigh Ride... I remember playing it in 8th grade. I haven't done anything remotely musical for the past 2 years, and as I listened to the Wind Ensemble play it so professionally (well, all things considered) I felt very, very nostalgic about my own brief stint in school bands. It was only 5th grade, 7th grade, and half of 8th grade (all the way through the year, every other day). But still! I think I improved a great deal between 5th and 7th (those years that I did not play), and it's very tempting to try to rejoin it now. I guess I won't... but I was really tearing up there. Hey, stop laughing! I'm serious! It's a beautiful song. Even if I do hate the Winter holidays.
Laura and Willa and Meg are so cool. They just are.
currently listening to: remnants of Winter Concert - Sleigh Ride
i spiral into oblivion on Thursday, December 19, 2002, at 10:33 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
I got Nihilist Bear for some quiz. And I've got nothing to do in CP2 right now. Why am I even typing this?!
Math Team after school today, It's Ac after school tomorrow. Hah, Mike [S], I won the bet... less than 6 people showed up for the It's Ac yearbook photos at lunch today, so I've earned 2 cents for the day. My shiny pennies beat 30 cents in dimes, any day! Few people for Gamer's Club too, but we got at around 8 or so, at least... maybe 10? Thanks to the addition of Ben, who isn't even part of the club, yet was gracious enough to provide another face for the yearbook picture. I hate these photo schedules, I'm going to look horrible in the photos anyway and they disrupt so many days of lunch.
I pulled off my 11 hours of homework-- sort of. Period 1, I'm told that my presentation was good but I realize that I went off on this tangent about the government of Hawaii rather than the culture or art... I didn't intend it that way, but that's how it ended up, and nobody seemed to really mind. Period 2, AP US History, Mr Beach didn't say anything, so I suppose my three pages of textnotes were sufficiently complete... I feel guilty, but I really, really needed to work on the Art project. It's a group project, therefore it outweighs anything else in importance. Meg [L], thanks for the lei Period 1 - 4, that was weirdly fun. Period 3, I didn't do anything whatsoever, but I made a (rare) mistake in judging what the teacher would be expecting of us. McKenna gave us Between The Pool and the Gardenias before Thanksgiving, right? And gave us "Everyday Use" yesterday...? So why, pray tell, did we analyze the Alice Walker story today, and once again postponed the Gardenias story? Why?! Furthermore, why did I not realize that when I neglected to write my four journal entries, I should have at least read the story? I'm not really bashing myself up mentally, it's just that there's nothing interesting happening in CP2... those idiots are babbling about Canada and Switzerland and Canada some more.
Anyone want to see a movie during Winter Break? Not 20, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31.
6:34 pm ~ Aghhh I was so hungry. Now that I've had my veggie burger, I'm okay. Math Team was an informal practice today, where we only got 2 of the 5 team questions, but then again, none of us were the normal Math Team geniuses; not to say that we're incapable of doing anything, but there are lower expectations, and... oh, forget it. It's Ac until 3:30 tomorrow, and perhaps instrumental Winter Concert? Instrumental is better than vocal any day, you people can't make me go to the Choral Winter Concert (this past Tuesday)! I stopped by Beyond Comics at the mall today, and picked up Blade of the Immortal, Volume 6. (Is that loud enough, Min? I know, I must tell Amelia too.) Merry Winter Break to all, and may I make much progress on memorizing my myriad tasks and lists over break.
currently listening to: computer classmates
i spiral into oblivion on Wednesday, December 18, 2002, at 12:45 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Help! There's It's Ac practice after school today, which means I'm gonna be here until 4:30 or 5 pm. But tomorrow morning during Period 1, I have to give a presentation on Hawaiian culture (and art) with Meg [L]. Then, for Period 2, I need to have my textnotes all ready and done to prove that I haven't been slacking off (they will be checked but not collected). For Period 3, McKenna has hinted to us that we ought to catch up on our English journals pretty quickly, which is difficult when I write one page for each short story, and have a) 1 short story to read AND b) 4 English journals to write (A&P, Cask, Owl Creek, Footfalls). For Period 4, Chem, there's this pesky little worksheet that I'm sure I'll forget by this evening, and my grade can't stand to get any more 0's on homework assignments, I'm sure. I've finished my Period 5 Math homework, and Period 6 is Java, we can't have homework for this class, by principle. For Period 7, I'm pretty sure that we have no immediate homework.
Most people use their blogs as a substitute for sorely needed therapy... I use mine as a time planner. Wilma, Christmas concert on Friday? Ben, ice skating or not? ...and so I continue to stare into space. I'm so tired... z_z'
5:01 pm ~ Am I going to the Winter Concert tonight? Hell no... I have 3+ hours from each of my first three periods of the day, and I'm already so dead... I think I wouldn't finish all of it even if I did work nonstop until I leave the house at 6:50 tomorrow morning. Yeah, that's how sad it's become... stupid procrastination! I have to decide which class to temporarily sacrifice, and then which one is the most in jeopardy... I really don't want to do this, but I think it's either AP US or English that's going to suffer, because textnotes are out of 10 points, and English journals... well, despite the sort of threatening tone our li'l warning today took, I doubt McKenna will collect them, since they are "useful" tools in coming up with a topic for our SAP, Jr. Hah, yeah... I don't know, I really want to like the class but it's becoming increasingly difficult, since we've almost never had homework for English before this short stories unit. I like the short stories, but it's so frustrating to try and read them in a hurry, then write a page of reflections (the assignment asks for ½ page, but I wrote the first three at one page each, and I want to stay consistent). And I got a 2/6 on the Chem hw quiz, that's one of the stupidest things I've ever done. How could I read the entire chapter carefully and then not remember one single bit of it the next day? That's less than 24 hours... bah... never mind that.
French was mildly productive, except where I chose to retake the qui/que quiz... long / boring story, I don't want to go into that. I finished around 3/8 of the French Textnotes stuff (IC), and that's probably enough for now. I walked to A1 pretty slowly, and It's Ac was full of fun and laughter, except for those excruciating parts (several different sections today) where I should really know the answer and didn't get it; or worse, where I knew the answer but became convinced that I was wrong... argh, I know I'm going to be an alternate for SC at least part of the time, most probably a lot of the time, and I thought I'd accepted that already... I'm even studying for It's Ac, I really am. That phone survey from the AP Stat student right after I arrived home was probably plotted just because I was thinking all of this. Favorite teacher? I can't say McKenna in front of my mom, she'd start chatting it up. Mr Goetz rocks, and that'll do for a simple survey for school... my favorite subject is now officially Computers, since I've had far too much difficulty with most of the other subjects at some point in my life to honestly say that I still love it. And we might be renting a van from Enterprise for SC, which is good. And how on earth do I keep coming back to this?
Bah. I just forgot what I was going to say... Oh yes. Watching The Occurrence At Owl Creek during English today was hilarious, I mean... that evil Union army voice... it sounded exactly like some monster from Power Rangers or something! And the ending was cool, even though it would've made absolutely no sense if we hadn't already read the story. And just sitting there for 25 minutes, watching the strange, blurry video where the only light was emitted from the television and the computer... well, it was very comforting. Don't ask me to explain or justify this, because I can't. It wasn't even some happifying thing, just... comforting.
8:13 pm ~ So, however many hours later this is, I've done less than half of my textnotes; I think it's around 12/26 right now. Of course, my fingers hurt and I'm getting sleepy, very sleepy... but I Must, Must, Must study for the Hawaii presentation, I don't want to mess up any of Meg [L]'s grade if I forget some important fact or lose an entire index card of notes, or something of the sort. My journal pages sucked, but they got finished, so... ehhh... I still haven't talked to Ms Rossini, but I will, someday. I want to do my English journals now that I'm faced with these other icky, big homeworks. They're not useless assignments, but they're rather big, and the snow days' timing allowed me to procrastinate a little bit too much. Did I say it enough times yet? I'm hoping Enterprise will donate a free or discounted van rental for SC. I think they will, I hope they will, I wish they will...
currently listening to: Johnny Rzeznik - I'm Still Here [Treasure Planet]
i spiral into oblivion on Tuesday, December 17, 2002, at 01:01 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Death Row. As Meg said during Java (while I frantically added the hyperlink to my page during class time), "You're too much, Sharon." All I want to know now is, too much what?
I scored well on my PSATs in one sense, but not so well in another sense. Looking at the raw numbers, the score is not actually a bad score; in fact, it's high enough to get accepted to some colleges, maybe. The thing is, I was expecting something higher. If you'll notice, my PSAT practice score dropped 10 points (or 100 in the SAT sense) from 9th grade to 10th grade. I blame being ill during 10th grade and also having an even more difficult time recalling information from Geometry. I guess I shouldn't have expected a very high score considering that the extent of my experience with the SAT format is 2 days of brief vocabulary word review in English class in 10th grade, and the 9th grade practice test, both mandatory. Hrm, I think I should buy a practice book and just take the tests over and over. I also need to make sure I get a whole lot of sleep in 11th grade. And... maybe review a bit of Geometry and very basic grammar (stupid Writing section!). Oh and, my Art class presentation is on Wednesday... and this is unrelated, but I ought to be able to talk to Ms Rossini during lunch on Tuesday or Wednesday about schedule changes for second semester (*cough*dropping Art*cough*). Tomorrow during lunch will be ridiculously busy, what with dropping courses, a 42/60 on the third Trig Unit Test, OGF, and club photos in the room-that-is-not-the-auditorium, wherever it is. I was so remarkably sleepy during school. Sorry, everyone.
So. Blair beat us in the KMO. It's a sad, sad day... And, another disappointment: someone out there has just claimed that "an SAT score will never be as accurate as your high school grades are". I can't even begin to describe how angry that makes me or how outrageous a statement it is... has this student even heard of grade inflation? Grades don't go up consistently from school to school, and SATs are implemented in order to provide a standardized view that report cards can never produce, even between students attending the same high school. Furthermore, high marks on the SATs obviously do not prove a more creative or more intelligent student; nobody claims that it does. It is intended to judge how academically prepared a student is to enter college, and it does so with more consistency than a GPA does.
As Mr Evans would say, I should be backing all of this up with statistical (or was it empirical?) evidence, but I'm not going to bother, since this was much more rant-like than anything else. Besides, the author of the article I linked to did not include any facts to back up the argument.
currently listening to: Johnny Rzeznik - I'm Still Here
i spiral into oblivion on Monday, December 16, 2002, at 02:52 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Yeah... well... aside from the fact that I need to study for the AP US unit test, and write the dumb Chem composition that I keep postponing (it's already late), life's going to be easy for the next few days. Until Winter Break, that is. So this is an open call to anyone who already is acquainted with me in person. I need to fill as much of my Winter Break with fun plans as possible. Maybe laser tag for one day, or something? I currently have the 20th, maybe the 27th, and the 29th OR the 30th full... and must make plans for all those other days. Now, a certain person who is probably not reading this must make plans for her birthday party... I don't yet know when that will be.
Besides all this weird planning crap, I have to bring up my grades! Cripes. My interim arrived yesterday (or whatever day we last had school) and only two subjects showed up. Funny, last year all my teachers wanted to report my A's and high B's, but this time only two reported anything. My Chem grade is 87.3%, which I've already commented is very sad considering that it is about 1% lower than first quarter, and I put a lot more effort in for first quarter. (Other people might be happy to realize that they can glide through a class easily, but I'm just sad that my efforts for first quarter failed...) My other grade is French, which is a horrendous 79.3%. This is One Point away from a B, which is okay. Except that, you notice, there is a brief message on the interim from my teacher, that says I have a C only because of a C on an Interlude Culturel thing and a D on a VDS (verb quiz). This is very very sad... I really didn't want my parents to know that I'd been getting such cruddy quiz grades. I know that some people have learning disabilities or have high anxiety during tests and high pressure assessments, but I'm supposed to be good at tests! It's what I get for not studying since I was 6 years old, I suppose... well, I've tried, but I don't know how yet. And, *gets distracted*
Oh, look, my song finished downloading. "I'm Still Here" by Johnny Rzeznik is from Treasure Planet, and it's an okay song, but it's not what makes me want the soundtrack so badly. Gimme that great video game BGM!! Why isn't this stuff on iMesh, anyway? It's soooo good. Well, I'll settle for this rock with vocals for now...
Oughtn't I be doing that studying stuff right now? I don't like AP US tests, because they're apparently harder than the AP test in May (which hopefully explains why I consistently score B-, C+, and C on them). And uh, I've been cramming for the quizzes, so I don't know the material very well by the time we have to know about 100 pages (3 to 4 chapters) worth of material. (100 pages'? 100 pages? I drove my mom positively nutty with my nitpicking over her sentences in the e-mail about the SC hotels.)
6:32 pm ~ I'm not sure why no one is taking me seriously, as I've had to forcibly keep people from looking through my journal, but I hate Art. First of all, I do not like my art journal, and I am not keeping it because of anything more than maintaining an A in an idiotically non-honors class. Secondly, I loathe the class with every ounce of my being and I fully intend on dropping it, come second semester. I think that Art is one of the most useless subjects that one can take in high school, not because it is worthless as an idea (I think so but I'm reluctant to say it right now) but because it is impossible to teach it effectively as a class. Instead, MCPS should be focusing on preparing graduating students for real life. Requiring two years of a foreign language is a good example of this, and requiring two years of advanced technology is very good too; unfortunately, in this county, the two are interchangable. Absolutely terrible. Computer class, imperfectly as it is executed in real life (not as well as it ideally should), is still more valuable in teaching useful skills than any Art class.
So yes, I'm just bitter about feeling homicidal every time someone wants to see my art journal. Why won't you people believe me?!
9:00 pm ~ What do you do when you type 80 words per minute but only think at 40 wpm?
Now I lay me down to study,
I pray the Lord I won't go nutty.
If I should fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord I will not flunk.
But if I do, don't pity me at all,
Just lay my bones in the dorm hall.
Tell my teach I did my best,
Then pile my books upon my chest.
Now I lay me down to rest,
And pray I'll pass tomorrow's test.
If I should die before I wake,
That's one less test I'll have to take!
currently listening to: TMBG - James K. Polk
i spiral into oblivion on Sunday, December 15, 2002, at 02:12 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Woo hoo. I've finished sending out my first two batches of e-cards. 16 done... if you have not gotten yours, it may be in the third or fourth batches, but just in case... e-mail me! a brief note, to make sure that I do have your address, because there are a lot I know I'm missing. Whew, this was mostly fun but kinda tiring. Who's gonna do it all automated next year? ME. Making and sending each one manually was stupid. Bah. I think my brother's short friend (something of a brother to me) is coming over to visit and play video games soon, so I should go get ready or something. Which usually means pull on a coat (my brother's room is cold), plug in an extra controller, and head upstairs to join them. I'm pondering doing my homework instead, but that would just be... strange. Still, it's tempting. I may read some short stories for English... this is the most homework I've had for the subject all year! After seeing a big voting thing on SC online for favorite assigned novels (plays seem to be included), I'd like to say that The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crucible and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding are probably the only assigned literature I can remember actually enjoying. And Lord of the Flies is great fun to analyze for class, because it was just so easy. You can make it an allegory for anything. (Yes, I still got an 84 on the final... shhh...) I took an online quiz for Which Harry Potter Character Are You today, but the results were stupid. I'd expect very few IB and magnet students to not get Hermione Granger as a result. Plus the image wasn't that great. But... what's this? Images of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin... live action? Is that possible? They're Prisoner of Azkaban characters... aren't they? Of course they are... but then... the internet has real looking pictures of these people? O_O For the uninitiated (although in today's world, I don't know how you could be) Sirius and Lupin are the two best characters in the Harry Potter universe. Really. (And as a li'l reminder to Min, Lupin is a teacher at Hogwarts. Haha...) (And, I'm referring to this quiz... to see those pictures, take the quiz then click See All Results) But no, I don't like slash fics. Not when it so ill fits the characters, at least.
Goodness. I just noticed that it took me 18 minutes to write that. I type sort of fast but write really slowly, apparently. Hmm... 60 to 80 wpm, leaning towards the upper boundary... 60 is when my fingers are completely frozen and stiff, like right now.
4:53 pm ~ I'm convinced that I have the mental / emotional equivalent of the common cold right now, because I've inexplicably spent hours in front of the computer, something that I did not want to do and something that I did not enjoy... maybe I'm just moody or whatever, I'm not sure, but I'm sorry if I've snapped at anyone reading this. I'm trying my best, really. Sometimes people are stressed out. I think I'll be feeling normal again soon... well, not soon, because Winter Break is coming up for me, but "soon" in the sense of January. December always sucks, whether or not I fall mildly ill. ¬.¬'
6:38 pm ~ Reminder to self, if anyone ever asks me how much HTML I know, the safest answer is "not much". Will someone please look at this site and tell me whether to abandon it or improve it in some specific way? Please...?
10:29 pm ~ Misspelling 'yeah' as 'yea' really, really annoys me. And yes, it is a misspelling.
currently listening to: Weird Al - I Remember Larry
i spiral into oblivion on Saturday, December 14, 2002, at 02:44 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Arghhh. I mean, Friday the Thirteenth went well from a nicely objective point of view, but I wasn't all that happy. For one thing, most of my homework for last night was studying-- I hate that. I can't seem to memorize large chapters (cram? no, I can remember it longer than that) on more than one subject at a time, ie. AP US / Chem / French 3. Which mildly sucks for me. Art sucked, the presentation was on feminism and I felt very uncomfortable there. Wahhh. I can explain more later, or probably not. During the AP US quiz I greatly regretted not reading AMSCO more carefully, and frivolously skimming the fun book o' presidents instead. It's like my extraneous PreCal textbook; it's good for general knowledge, but isn't very well suited to studying for chapter-specific tests. Met someone today who seemed to know my name, Malex. Okay...? And there's another Sharon, which is a strange experience for me, never having to have shared my name since 4th or 5th grade. I'll be all right. Chem test sucked, no matter what anyone says I will never tell the simple difference between ionic and covalent bonding. Every word from every science class within the past 4 years has gone mostly / completely over my head, which makes me very sad. Math and Sciences magnet program? Yeah, right... middle school was worthless to me. Except all of this graph theory stuff, that was part of Geometry...? I'm convinced that I remember it from 6th grade, but I'll have to confirm with some TPMS people on that. Maybe my memory has failed me again.
No matter what you all say, pep rallies suck!! Our cheerleaders didn't fall down during the demonstration, and since Jessica is one, they're cool. But everything else... ehhh... I couldn't cheer, not with VDS study material in my lap, staring me in the face, as well as crowded to death between John Kess, Maddie, and Jueli. (This is irrelevant, but I know that the number of people trying to IM me right now must be tremendously bored, as I'm typing this instead of talking to them. Sorry!) And after being delayed by 10-20 minutes, I did see Treasure Planet after school. It is around 1.5 hours but Regal delays these things horribly, so I didn't even miss very many previews. The movie was nice, which is the best thing I can say to it... they named this one annoying robot "BEN" (and guess what, he has a bad memory...) I slacked off and did not read Treasure Island in 8th grade when I was told to, so I do not know the original story. However, this was much reminscient reminiscent (wahh... I can't spell!) of Titan A.E., and they're both box office flops, which works out rather neatly. I like Jim Hawkins despite his extreme angst. Min, you'll hate him, except for the remotely skateboarding-like sequences. I don't know whether to recommend the movie or not, because it depends on your tastes. Anyone who dislikes a cheesy looking combination of Disney hand-drawn animation and Disney 3D animation will dislike Treasure Planet. Anyone who liked the music in Donkey Kong Country 2 (those first few levels that I played just for the BGM... ahhh...) might enjoy the very loud "background" (read: story) music in Treasure Planet. Those who hated the Bevelle puzzle in Final Fantasy X might do well to close their eyes during some sequences in Treasure Planet, as the 3D animation of the spheres and puzzle-like elements will be very, very frightening. Everyone else: if you can get someone else to pay for you, then you must see this. If you have to pay for yourself, buy a matinee ticket, provided you had some interest in it before reading this sentence. (For reference, I wouldn't recommend non-matinee tickets for any movie but Spider-Man, so... ehh...)
Is that enough for now? I think so, or else I will get carpel tunnel, just like Min. Possibly seeing Die Another Day tomorrow with Dan / Jeff / Yicy, I sure hope so. Possibly watching LOTR: Two Towers at some point, but I must watch the first movie. And then I must read the real trilogy... *hangs head in guilt and shame*... is it just me, or were all the nice teachers grumpy today? And the normally bad teachers either weren't there (Martioski and Johnson) or positively unbearable (Ostrowski)... oh my goodness... did you all see him throw the marker at Megan like that? You don't throw a marker at that speed at any living creature / object, much less a human being! And please, don't joke about throwing the stapler at her instead. I'll make sure you're fired if you do, you evil, evil teacher.
6:54 pm~
fighting2win (6:49:54 PM): McKenna isn't cute!
fighting2win (6:49:58 PM): but his kid is *_*
N2 (6:49:58 PM): lol
N2 (6:50:09 PM): or so you say now... wait till you grow older ;-)
fighting2win (6:50:33 PM): erm.. what.....?
N2 (6:51:03 PM): yes, you too, my friend, will find him as sexy as hell :D
N2 (6:51:11 PM): okey, I'll leave you with that thought and wander off for dinner
fighting2win (6:51:14 PM): HEY
fighting2win (6:51:16 PM): that's not fair!
N2 (6:51:21 PM): LOL
*thinks of SC* Ohhh man... I'm dead... aren't I?
*reads the fourth paragraph of this page* *cracks up* "Transgendered English professor... Min, what have you done to my mind?
currently listening to: Eminem - Without Me
i spiral into oblivion on Friday, December 13, 2002, at 05:25 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Yippie. AP US postponed == bad, because I was somewhat prepared; Chem test half-postponed + French test much easier than expected == very good. But that means one AP US quiz tomorrow, two French quizzes tomorrow, and one-half Chem test tomorrow. I'll deal. Spent most of today whining and complaining which I now regret, because I'm currently in a very good mood, unlike most of today; well, I was feeling a little ill and very fatigued, but that's no excuse.
Everyone who I'm going to send e-cards to, you all rock! Classes went ok to well, but Astronomy Club during lunch was pretty nice, because we talked about politics for 25 minutes before Sam insistently reminded us that we were there to talk about astronomy (*gasp* Really?!) and so we'd just been wasting time and such... or something... I really don't remember quotes and things from today very clearly, for once. Where's my impeccable memory (and spelling skills) when I need them?! Well, no It's Ac after school, except us special sophomore types (and Han, the junior with no life but who's cool anyway) had a brief 2 minute conference with the great McKenna (I'm still having trouble settling on a nickname... any suggestions? [and not you, Min]) about the SC tournament. It looks like it's gonna happen! Wheee! *runs about and celebrates gleefully* And I want you all to know that I did have some hand in bringing it about, what with reserving the rooms at decent rates ($49 per night for a Marriott? Sounds suspicious to me...) and possibly even providing one room for two nights for free, just because my mom feels generous. And should we go all out and get a big van from Enterprise? It looks vaguely possible (but unlikely). I'm great. And this is gonna be a load of fun! It's after exams, which is great for students; it's after exams, which sucks for certain teachers who have over 100 essays (maybe nearing 200?) to grade in a few days, in a mad and frentic hurry-rush. And I looked at my schedule card today, in the media center, which made me sad. I don't want to have Ms Seabreeze and Ms Sullivan... I like Mr Beach and Mr McKenna! They're both great. And I reportedly have Ostrowski again for second semester... *groans and storms off to main office to have this oversight fixed right away*... and I signed up to take the AMC 12, and I don't know when our Mathletes math meet has been postponed to, and I will certainly have a crapload of photos to pose for in the yearbook club photos coming up, what with Gaming Club and OGF (?) and Astronomy Club and It's Ac and Mathletes... it's gonna be terrible! Maybe I should dress up, last year's photo with Astronomy Club looked positively awful. And I got compliments on my shirt today, if "OOOO! FUZZY!!!!" counts as a compliment, which I think it does. Squeals of delight (which can sound perverted but it doesn't have to) are always nice.
I can't stop typing but I'm hyper but I'm also really tired and I need to finish eating my chocolate chip cookie but I need to go on the treadmill and and and I haven't done my Chem outline or my Chem molecular geometry composition, and I don't know whether to hand it in tomorrow or Monday, but I think I'll settle on Monday because we're going to have a substitute, and I don't see how that will even work when we're taking a test, and I really like RateMyTeachers.com when they have funny comments that make my do horrible amounts of research to understand the complex 10th grade IB @ RM references, such as "[person posting] : McKenna :: Hamlet : Ophelia".
11:39 pm ~ I understand the Hamlet reference and Min says the fact that I am not very disturbed at all means I'm sick, perverted, twisted, and many other interesting adjectives. And I've finished my Chem Honors Outline, but I couldn't print it for 5 minutes because I didn't realize that the printer wasn't turned on. Ah well, I can be an idiot at times...
currently listening to: myself, humming out of tune
i spiral into oblivion on Thursday, December 12, 2002, at 04:30 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
I get the computer all to myself for now. Why, you ask? I had the brilliance to show up for It's Ac on a tournament day. Seeing as I'm not on a team, and practice is cancelled, I had nowhere to go. Missed the damn bus by about 30 seconds, except that I didn't try running after it this time. Lookit all that snow outside!
But er, I'm typing not with my mind but with a Dell computer in room 118. I get to use this computer for whatever I want at the moment, since my teacher has left the room in a futile attempt to make the Xerox machine actually do something other than spit out ink. I think she does need to make copies for one of her classes. So the only other teacher here is facing the same direction as me, and I'm not being monitored (except for the keyboard detection software that I'm convinced that Ms Yemi must have installed on some of the computers, to see what these crazy students type). I'm currently bashing my head against the wall (figuratively) from my carelessness. Next time, check the past notification e-mails that I save before I stay after school. Those things tend to say whether there will be practice or not. That way, I can ride the bus home like a normal person, instead of goofing around in a computer lab like a total loser. Nah, actually, it's kinda peaceful here. If AIM Express runs all right, then I'm all set for the next few hours.
I think I need to get Christmas gifts for everyone. I spent half of lunch "studying" for the math test (going to room 110 and helping Nick tutor half of the math class, asking for help from a teacher who was already far too busy) and at OGF, informally debating whether we should be celebrating a greedy, secular Christmas with the same name as the religious holiday. Hallmark would suffer muchly from a change of name ("Wishing you a merry Card / Present / Gift / Pile of Money Day, and a happy new year") as would those of us with poor short term memory. What was I saying? Oh yes, I will try to get all of my friends e-cards and buy as many gifts for them as I reasonably can (without going broke). In fact, one's all wrapped up and ready to go... it'd better get there safely. (You'll see. I don't want to ruin any surprises that may be.) So... I'd better think of something nice. And get cracking on picking out those cards. And such. I'm far too lazy to create my own, after all... (hey, I can do some things, but creating cards is hard artistic work... strains the brain too much)
I bombed the PreCal test today. Sort of... I got most of the first half to work out nicely, but I couldn't remember any formulas or procedures for the second half. Which really sucks, because from what I hear, that was the easier part. Some resolutions for the near future, in no particular order:
That's it for now...
I guess I should stop peskily asking about SC every day, huh? No It's Ac practice for so long makes me anxious. (Oh, that sounds a bit wrong...)
currently listening to: quiet sounds of RM
i spiral into oblivion on Tuesday, December 10, 2002, at 02:45 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Ahhh. I would write my entire day but it's full of conflicting feelings as every day is for many normal people (...*cough*) I was tired when I got home, very suddenly afraid of The Ring for another 30 minutes until my brother got home, and I was forced to get outside to get a bit of fresh air, which did me a lot of good, cheered me up, and got rid of the nausea + dizziness + headaches brought on by the onslaught of in-school stresses that don't usually plague me, such as two French quizzes in one class period (estimated 28/35), receiving my graded recent Math quiz (actually 13/25), my Very Important Teacher being absent and not replying to certain e-mails, and sitting through yet more Art classes and Chem classes. (Oh boy... do I have to answer for that run-on sentence?) And yes, my Chem grade is currently 87.7%... that's almost the same grade that I got at the end of Quarter 1. That's pitiful! I get the exact same marks when I consistently try very hard (Quarter 1) and occasionally put in half-hearted bits and pieces of work and thought (Quarter 2).
But not everything is bad; of course, there's always things to do. Such as, study for It's Ac, possibly attend a practice / watch a tournament tomorrow afternoon (I can never remember when these things are), participate in a Mathletes math meet on Wednesday afternoon, watch or participate in It's Ac again on Thursday afternoon, and make plans to see a movie on Friday afternoon. And then watch 1 to 2 movies on Saturday, as well as attend Chinese class (maybe?) and do various homeworks (bleah). I feel oddly fulfilled just thinking all of this. I haven't been watching very many movies this year though, I don't know what I'm going to do about that.
Finally, I must plug a friend's site that I got the URL of weeks ago, but only now found the paper of... ain't afraid to die and JRock Midget Support Group, both URLs given to me by Yolanda ("yaya"?). Yay for the sites, even if they are hosted on some of the worse free servers *cough*Brinkster*cough... and of course, the URL I painstakingly memorized during lunch at Gamer's Club, The Harry Potter Lexicon. (If you'll notice, I am an officer at Gamer's Club. My college résumé is now complete.)
If anyone currently taking IB Pre-Calc with me is having trouble, MK actually has a MA 102 page, Introduction to Trigonometry. No, I'm serious. They have a tv show starring dear ol' Billy Witte too, if you'd rather watch that instead. I think it's on around 4 or 4:30 pm...
currently listening to: Weird Al - I Remember Larry
i spiral into oblivion on Monday, December 9, 2002, at 04:03 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
People suck and Chem sucks. Which one do you want to hear about first?
What do you do when the balance of your life is perfect except for one element? Do you confront it? Ignore it? Or do you walk away? I don't understand why more people can't remove themselves from the trouble when they get angry. I had the sense to run out of the room when I was frustrated at my brother and the GameCube, didn't I? Take it out on yourself, and not the people that surround you, please.
I'd better clarify. I meant, don't hit others around you. Asking for help is okay.
I also have to do that Chemistry Honors Project Topic and Outline. Know what that means? No, I never got my topic approved; yes, my outline is due on Tuesday. I don't know why teachers can't understand that outlines don't help the vast majority of us; they just make me hate the 1) project, 2) teacher, and 3) subject. Pre-IB Chemistry is the only thing that has ever made me consider dropping out of the IB, if not seriously. (I love it! Why would I ever quit? And more importantly, I don't have any appealing alternatives.) But it's the worst class out there, besides IB Art & Culture, which isn't even an honors class. Bah. Required classes are horrible. Although I am in favor of requiring all high school graduates to have some grasp of computers... how will they ever survive if they can't even type properly?
This is an open call to anyone who goes to RM, do you want to go see a movie on Friday the Thirteenth? Regal, directly after school, any movie you wanna see-- I'll watch it. Just give me some advance warning, at least 1 day. And let me know if you specifically want to watch Die Another Day at Regal on Dec.14... I need a ride and somewhere to hang around for the 3-5 hours preceeding the 4:45 pm movie. ^_^;;
Wahh... I'm so confused... I thought I went to IHOP at 4- or 5-something, right? And it's 7:41 pm now...?? But it feels more like 5 hours have passed, therefore I should be hungry but I'm not. And I thought I barely spent 30 minutes at my mom's office earlier, but it was closer to 2 or 3 hours. Either way, I've wasted the entire day.
Have you heard? Those protective tariffs being placed on certain goods to protect American manufacturers and businesses... are going to be given to those same businesses that lobbied for it. Not only do they profit from every bit of business they steal, they profit from business that is directed away from them. It's disgusting. (I would reference this so it's more believable, but I can't seem to find the paper newspaper right now... I think it was in the WSJ, if you want to search for it yourself.)
currently listening to: Weird Al - I Remember Larry
i spiral into oblivion on Sunday, December 8, 2002, at 05:50 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
I'm hesitant to write this, for a variety of reasons, mainly that I can't remember it very clearly right now... Cast includes, Alex V, Ben, Megan, Stephen [B], Lisa [J], Kristy [H], John [K], and others; no, I can't remember who everyone else was. Yes, they were only people from RM; yes, it was only people I vaguely know the faces of.
We walked into RM, only it wasn't the one in real life, it was one I've constructed in my mind from a number of previous dreams (I ought to draw the building plans for this building someday... maybe it's some other real life place; I can tell you that the school colors seemed to be blue and white, based on the decor). Everyone's walking in, sort of like the actual beginning of school, only there are around 30 of us. A "teacher" (who looks rather more like a humanoid alien) instructs as to today's rules. Wha? Special rules? It seems that today, we're not going to carry out a regular school day. (At this point, I quietly walk to the side and hide my Kenshin bag out of harm's way.) We're given these guns, and assigned teams and team colors... except that they weren't quite guns, but I'm sure they were some kind of equally colorful and deadly weapon. I'm still sort of confused, and standing there feeling stupid in my team colors, but everyone starts running in looking very much enthusiastic. (Now that I think about it, this may be starting out like a game of laser tag...) I can't quite describe the action that ensues, partly because it's foggy and partly because there aren't enough words to describe it... with a Lord of the Flies sort of energy, everyone around me starts attacking one another very violently using the overgrown colorful "guns". It seemed fun, and so I joined in, to some extent... I was mostly running around to get a better idea of what they were doing. The area seemed to transform from the "real" school building into some other terribly dark and shadowy arena, except this isn't like Shadowland, it's also very wet. (Maybe this is from my recent walks in the snow...?) As you may guess, wet arenas make for difficult running / walking. This is the only fun part of the dream. Since this is an action dream (all my dreams nowadays fit into video game-like genres) there must be 1)violence, 2)people from RM OR people from Blair, 3)bright colors, and 4)flying. Now, flying in this dream is achieved either by simply thinking it, or kicking off the ground as one would when jumping, then propelling oneself forward with one's... arms. Think of the flying in Peter Pan, only in 8-foot high corridors, while carrying giant colorful weapons. Generally, although we all did carry these weapons, we didn't use them... almost all the fighting was done by punching. And there was certainly a lot of punching to be done in the building... not only could we punch one another, but there were a number of targets set up, all very colorful as well. I thought I'd start by punching one of these nice, easy stationary things... right? It turned out to be really large, pink, and soft (think Majin Buu from Dragonball Z). Then it started swallowing up my fists and arms when I tried again... well, that creature certainly scared me. I ran away after that, mostly observing the punching and bleeding that is taking place. (I rarely take part in any of my dreams, it's not just because this one is colorful and violent.) After what seems like an eternity (and it was, because I overslept by about 2 hours), some horribly loud noise is heard, and everyone slumps over and walks like zombies toward the entrance. Not everyone looks very injured, especially considering how long they'd just spent beating up each other, but some do notably bleed profusely and look in dire need of bandages or other medical attention. (I do remember which people it was, but it doesn't really seem appropriate to say so.) And in the sense that there was a winner, the authority waiting outside the building declared Alex V to be the one... no, I don't understand this part, either.
And so the dream ends, or rather, it degenerates into a strange sequence where I run / fly after my classmates who are moving ever faster, run away from them in a giant mall, and make my way to Borders (now a department store in the mall) to argue with my brother and my mom over which manga we want to buy with my report card money. As I said, it's boring and irrelevant, except for this one very scary moment where my cell phone did not work.
Now, does anyone dare to interpret my dream?
currently listening to: FF8 - The Man With The Machine Gun (Laguna dream sequence battle music)
i spiral into oblivion on Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 11:34 a.m... it's never too late to change the past
DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE.
On a totally unrelated note, I've been trying to beat Event match #49 in Super Smash Bros Melee. That's where you get 2 lives and 4 minutes to defeat a very difficult Dr Mario, Falco, Pichu, Young Link, Roy, and Ganondorf. This stuff's hard when you really don't care.
Ahhh... I was looking through my Brinkster account, and do you know what I found? One of my old web pages. It's not that bad for something I made this past summer, editing the image in MS Paint. Urgh. In fact, I'd say it looks better than the stuff I produce with Photoshop. Oh yes, there's also the other web page that I eventually gave away to someone else, which I made a very long time ago. That one's kinda ugly, but it has a bit of content, since I went completely scanner-happy... and what's that at the bottom of the graphics section? It's my old fanart! I drew a lot better in 8th grade than I do now. Some o' those pictures are pretty nice, even if they were vaguely based on the actual manga. I ought to try drawing Blade sometime, eh? I still don't know how to draw blood. (That's what I should do in my stupid Art journal, make fake blood with a variety of materials.)
currently listening to: The Offspring - Staring at the Sun
i spiral into oblivion on Friday, December 6, 2002, at 11:44 a.m... it's never too late to change the past
If you'll take a look at the rapidly growing RM section of that teacher-rating site, the most popular teachers are Mr Davis, Mr Hines, Mr McKenna, Mr Thomas, and Mr Frezzo. (Those who get higher scores but only get reviewed by a handful of people don't count...) I think there must be good reason for that. And I think Mr Beach needs to be added to the listing.
I went for a walk in the snow earlier today. Other than the fact that walking through 5 inch deep snow is something of a good workout as far as walking goes, it was very quiet and peaceful, something that my home is not. I liked it a lot, even though the snow sometimes makes me sad.
I have a lot of homework to catch up on... stupid 4-day weekends completely throw me off. I also have to work on a certain personal project. I've mostly given up on burning a cd... maybe drawing or writing something, or if not, maybe something cut and pasted... yeah, I think I'll use that fun glue stick.
Does anyone else notice that RM comments get posted nearly ever frickin' minute? Don't these people have anything more to do than post comments about these teachers? Like maybe... do homework for these teachers?
Porn Star Name: Lana Dangle, Gangsta Name: Green Egg Ass Grabba, Taxi Driver Name: Mangûmolamã Nelson, Pet Name: Doodle Buns. Ewww, that was so strange.
currently listening to: Billy Gilman and Charlotte Church - Sleigh Ride
i spiral into oblivion on Thursday, December 5, 2002, at 09:39 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
If I ruled the world with iron fists / knuckles / various other weapon-like objects, there are a lot of people I would exterminate. Man. How are there so many inherently stupid / poorly reared human beings, anyway? I wish RM were a boarding school, or if else, that we get snowed in at school for a few weeks. I would absolutely love that. But not the way The Simpsons episode today went... how can anyone preach anarchy with those nutty people on the loose? I felt so sorry for Principal Skinner. (I'm not very good at typical views.) Argh. I hate being at home, and I'll have to be here for 3 more days? I think I'll run away in the snow.
currently listening to: Green Day - Platypus
i spiral into oblivion on Thursday, December 5, 2002, at 07:18 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
RateMyTeachers.com - I've revised my opinion on this about 5 times so far today. Good concept, bad execution... the fault lies not in the site's actual mechanics but in students' inherent inability to objectively rate teachers... no, forget objectively, most can't even rate teachers impersonally. I wouldn't trust any opinions on this site too seriously; hell, I don't trust myself to evaluate my teachers. I'm not saying that students' opinions don't matter at all, just that they should not carry so much weight. None of us have the maturity to say anything so personally close and be taken seriously. (By that logic, I don't think you should be reading this page...)
9:32 pm - School's out?! Yes, and the word is spreading fast, Montgomery County Public Schools really did just close all schools (not delay, but close) on a forecast.
About that link above, umm... Did you all see McKenna's li'l fan club?
currently listening to: more snow forecasts
i spiral into oblivion on Wednesday, December 4, 2002, at 08:06 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Hurray, it took absolutely forever but I've got that info I so badly wanted about SC. Turns out the JV tourney is grades 6 to 10. I mean, sixth graders? Those little people? Maybe I shouldn't have laughed so when he said that. I think we'll be just fine though. KMO today didn't go so well, I think it was around 1564? I hear last year's was in the 1700s, which is kinda sad on our part... it's okay though, there's another one in April. Blair will be laughing at us so long for this one. And by that I mean Min. She's bad, she hasn't been updating very much. Yeah... well, Humza should have done the KMO instead of Debate, big mistake, hmph. Anyone willing to tutor me on Earth Science for the April KMO? (I mean someone who actually does know a bit about the subject.)
Back to stranger topics, SC hotel rooms are looking good. See for yourself, they're so cheap that we can almost afford that jacuzzi room (but I bet we won't... damn lack of school funds!) And uh, have any of you ever had a bad dream with a teacher in it? Not a nightmare but a bad dream. I had a really long one last night but the only "chapter" I remember is the last one... a Physics / Chem teacher walked into the Chem lab I was standing in and proceeded to attack me with tear gas or somethin'... it was freaky, and I couldn't get out of the room, so I ended up just scrunching up in the corner and trying to wake up, but I couldn't... Ben did walk into the room, babbled some completely nonsensical sentence about enrolling in extra classes during lunchtime or something. (For anyone else who might be reading this, don't worry, you made an appearance in the dream too, just not this part of it.) And then, I woke up. I think my subconcious was very busy trying to simultaneously dream and analyze, that's why I had so much trouble waking up on 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep. And oh yes... I had my first moment (in recent memory, at least) of not knowing whether I was thinking or talking aloud, yesterday. I was asking about SC (what else?) when I continued with another sentence... I really didn't know I was saying it aloud until he gave me a funny look and asked me to slow down, apparently I was saying the sentence very very quickly. (And no, I'm not going to quote myself.) Ergh. You know I'm going to be beating myself up mentally over this for days, at least. Not knowing the difference between thought and speech is dangerous. And the amusing thing is... that's what we discussed in class.
currently listening to: forecasts for snow
i spiral into oblivion on Wednesday, December 4, 2002, at 05:31 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
*runs around screaming excitedly*
Okay, so that's not very eloquent, but that's the best way to describe my day. I'm remarkably tired and it's so not over, thanks to the horrid Lincoln evaluation essay that I left until the night before... stupid, stupid, stupid! Yeah yeah, I have procrastination issues along with the rest of the nation. Maybe this would be easier if I went chronologically...
My mom is in DC today and tomorrow on work-stuff, so I had to wake up fairly early on my own. No problem, it's only Tuesday, right? My dad drove me to school and I arrived fairly early, yet later than the usual foreign language hallway bunch. I tried to do something useful, but there was nothing to do... first period, we briefly worked on our Culture Report, and my teacher refrained from telling me how much my journal sucks (I'm not so sure she thinks so, but I do). AP US was great with Mr What's-His-Name, that guy in charge of Archaeology Club... he's great. Better'n a field trip, almost. Nothing against Mr Beach, of course... Third period was something of a brain freeze for me, for some reason we discussed "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" (by Katherine Anne Porter) in stylistic devices rather than plot elements, and focusing more than anything on the point of view (direct / free direct / indirect / free indirect)... I managed to not think a single original thought in those 47 minutes. I think I hear my resolution to perform better and participate in English class more go down the drain... yeah, I hear it... I mean, no, I can't just give up like that. I got a 43/50 on my essay, but when I reread it, I did agree with the comments. My most recent lesson therefore is, do not write a two-day essay on two separate days. You will lose your train of thought. Seems obvious, I know, but I screwed up the essay that way.
I can't seem to write. Screw blogs. It's Academic practice was loads of fun, in the sense that I actually did anything there... KMO practice today, KMO tournament tomorrow, and a possible regular practice on Thursday? Holy crap! What a high commitment sort of activity. Yeah... I gave up a special Math event-y sort of thing today to be there. I would be giving up a practice tomorrow as well, except that for some reason, there isn't a practice. Yay for me staying on A Team as long as I have already, and please hope for me competing in SC for It's Ac.
Maybe I should try this again... summing up the day in quotations.
"So, Astronomy is our weakest subject today..." "I can do that one. I already know a little bit, so I'll look up things tonight." "'Look things up'? The KMO is tomorrow." "Yes... so?" "....."
"We're all snow dancing, and hoping desperately, because we basically only need ½ inch of snow to cancel school." "Wimps."
If we can use calculators during tomorrow's KMO we will so beat those other schools. All our Resident Math Genius needs is some assistance in arithmetic.
I looked up what maven means, and I looked up the blogs of a couple of It's Ac people (Seth, Barry, Elissa).
This is irrelevant, but I was remarkably bubbly during school today. Did anyone reading this talk to me in person? You see what I mean? Unbelievably high, or somethin'.
As usual, my brother is the biggest bitch I've ever known (and self-proclaimed, as well!).
I relearned the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs today. As Mr McKenna's examples went, "Humza pushed Sharon." and "Humza smiled." (Please, teachers, be more careful with your examples!) Transitive verbs have a direct object, intransitive verbs do not.
currently listening to: Metallica - The Memory Remains
i spiral into oblivion on Tuesday, December 3, 2002, at 05:42 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
I can't remember my day very clearly except for the second half or so, where I was dizzy / nauseous / falling over. (And I say I'm not sick.) So I guess you'll all have to read about what homework I have... I don't think I've missed a full day of school yet this year, and I'm determined to keep it that way. (I've skipped Art a couple o' times, tho'...) Aaaand, as for SC... stupid forgetfulness and stuff, my teacher hasn't given me the information yet! Grr.
My art journal is due tomorrow, and I have no idea what I'm going to do... it's going to require a modicum of creativity, which is very very exhausting.
What?! I guess I have to go now. Unexpectedly--
currently listening to: every cd I own
i spiral into oblivion on Monday, December 2, 2002, at 03:27 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
Eeep. December 1 already? I only have three more weeks of sanity, maybe not even that much. Should I go all out this year? That is, mail out electronic greeting cards for everyone...? Or should I just sit at home and be unhappy? Hnn.
*waves noisemakers and eats candy* I completed my 7th archive of 25 entries! Have a noisemaker and celebrate my total lack of a social life. *grins*
currently listening to: Vitamin C - Vacation
i spiral into oblivion on Sunday, December 1, 2002, at 12:39 p.m... it's never too late to change the past
blogchalk?
This is my blogchalk:
United States, Rockville, RMHS, English, Sharon, Female, 11-15, anime, gaming.
goto?
can't repeat the past?
why of course you can!
(though I must most strongly discourage it)
yi | er | san | si | wu | liu | chi | ba | jiu | shi | shi yi | shi ni | shi san
may answer to?
Sharon, Ronnie, Ron, Ron-Won, Spatula girl, Grill-gurl...
assisted by?
pitas.com
haloscan.com
sitemeter.com
i sold my soul to...
albhed NUCHI
A U R O N I S M
i
want to be... Young Link (Super Smash Bros. Melee).
Frontpage? SCREW IT! Do it yourself!
globe of blogs
<
?
crappyblogs
#
>
«
Obscure Logs
»
<<
Water!
Elements?
>>
i have no life
stalker's tools?
religious texts?
8-bit theater
megatokyo
userfriendly
penny arcade
life in japan
those kooky people?
Min Ben[J] Willie Kathy Meg[H] Willa Angela[C]
other good stuff?
SC online | ZELDA | Googlisms | DHMO | Viking Kittens | Jabberwocky | Apostrophe Protection | Wooden Periodic Table | CT Testament | OTC | Death Row | Real Applets | Robocode
is not paid for?
Pretending to be cultured, Notes on "significant" past events, Pretending to be literate, Playing with fire and hydrochloric acid, Attending résumé padders / stuffing face with water, Probing numbers in painful ways, Using computers to probe numbers in less painful ways, Pretending to be bilingual.
addicted to?
Video games, comic books, print periodicals, lemon
fanfics, real books, anime, manga, anything that seems
to run on its own, electricity, fire, electrical fire,
foods with no taste, running on my hamster wheel.
enamoured with?
bright flashing lights, anything relating to Rurouni Kenshin, anything with a sword, anything involving a sword metaphor, wolves, spiders, wolf spiders, things that remotely resemble a computer, things that involve a lot of seemingly mind-boggling text.
frightens?
bugs that move faster than I do, certain creepy hallways, school photos, any sort of photo id, AOL, msn, user-friendly interfaces.
i have yet to save the world of...
Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, Golden Sun, Tales of Phantasia, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Warrior II, Kingdom Hearts... and many unfortunate others.
may we recommend?
Lord of the Flies by William Golding; Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Chrono Trigger (SNES), EarthBound (SNES), Final Fantasy VIII (PSX), Final Fantasy X (PS2), Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)
Metallica - The Black Album; Green Day - International Superhits; Dance Dance Revolution - 4th Mix
Ocean's Eleven; Peter Pan; Princess Mononoke; The Bourne Identity; The Lion King
guilty as charged?
otaku:
36% corrupt (I would've scored much higher a year ago)
feminist:
91.4% pure
geek:
24% corrupt
mental purity:
63.8% pure
weirdo:
37.1% corrupt
for your reference?
compatibility?
This site should be fairly readable and look nearly identical in MSIE 6.0 and Opera 6.0; no other browsers have been tested, without any real reason besides laziness. What's Opera? Current efforts are being made to make this site WC3 compliant (so far, failing). What's WC3? This sidebar last updated 12.19.2002.