Goals, Summer 2010

I need to organize my crazy thoughts and make sense of a few things I want to do by the end of the summer. Hopefully I'll actually be able to do some of these things:

1. Read my Bible every day! 
2. Write a complete story, no matter how long, or how short. It just needs to have a complete beginning, middle, and end. And some character development! 
3. Read lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots etc. etc. of BOOKS. Thank goodness for the freedom to have access to an awesome public library.
4. Become more flexible, i.e. improve splits, back-bends, etc. etc.
5. Journal lots. Attempt a daily habit.
6. Learn the piano arrangements of "Discombobulate", by Hans Zimmer for the Sherlock Holmes 2009 movie soundtrack (SO EPICLY COOOOOL), "Alice's Theme" by Danny Elfman for the Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland soundtrack (ALSO EPICLY COOOOOL), and practice all of the exercise pieces that my piano teacher gives me.
7. Survive piano camp.
8. Practice violin! Lots! Improve vibrato! Learn tricky bowings! Etc.!
9. Polish up HTML semi-skills, and learn CSS and maybe JAVA or PERL or Python or some other programming language.
10. Knit a chain scarf. Ala Yokoo.
11. Get into the habit of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Will help loads in the future. Or so my mum tells me.
12. Read Shakespeare's plays. Especially A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gosh I love that play.
13. Survive Driver's Ed. 

Clogs!

Not the stereotypical teenager kind--you know, the Birkenstocks? You know, the kind that has reached the same level of popularity as Uggs? Yeah, anyway, TWO of the blogs that I follow both featured clogs of some sort in their posts recently!

Modest is Hottest--a very cool and non-conformist (in idea and motive) fashion blog that is about dressing MODESTLY. ZOMG PPL DRESS MODESLTY THESE DAYS? I CAN BEARLY SPELL ITTT!!! And the two totally cool peeps who are behind it (Me and Sal) are Christian. Which is just so cool, because I've also been looking for a fashion blog done by a Christian (and I don't count, mainly because I rarely post at my "fashion blog" and b/c my outfits are twisted ST brain childs).

2nd blog: Style Rookie, aka ST here on this piece of Internet. I've referenced this blog waaaaaaay too many times for my own good. I think I'm a bit obsessed? This is weird b/c she's only a year younger than me? Yeah, I'm so not a stalker, srsly!? I still think that it's pretty amazing that she managed to convince her parents to let her skip school for the Commes Des Garcons x H&M collection AND for a pair of Miu Mius.

Yes, I observe fashion now and then. And attempt to make non-boring outfits myself, sometimes. It's just another outlet through which I try to express my "I AM NOT A STEREOTYPICAL TEENAGER" vibe. I do not obsessively FaceBook, try to use correct grammar and punctuation as often as possible, and do not shop at Abercrombie, Hollister, Aeropastle, or American Eagle. Not that doing those things are wrong, of course. Everyone's different, even the people who do all of the above things. I just enjoy doing things that are off the beaten path, different, even "strange" things, and try not to crack under peer pressure in the behavioral part of my life. But that part still yet needs a bit of work.

"There's no place like home." *tap* "There's no place like home." *tap* "There's no place like home." *tap* *POOF!*

Home again! Well, actually got home yesterday, but only got time to blog just now. Woopeee!!! Tomorrow's the last day of dance camp, and then I am FREE to finally sleep in! And RuneScape (why yes I AM a geek I do indeed play RuneScape. And like it!)!! And do other stuff that somehow corresponds with my summer goals! Huzzah!

Vacation!

Headed off to vacation for the next 5 days! So, no new posts in that time. But I wish everyone a happy Friday!

~Adios!

FREEDOM!

Yes I am free to go after whatever goals I want to go after for the next two and half months! Roughly speaking, anyway. This is just a quick post to celebrate the last day of school. Because what would a blog about school be without a celebratory entry about the END of a school year and the commencement of a new BEGINNING?

Even if you're not out from school yet, the weather is not going to suddenly turn into winter so....

HAPPY SUMMER, Y'ALL!

FINALS PROGRESS: 1/3 COMPLETED and some mo' reflectin'

Finals are one-third over! Well, technically, only 1/4 done, because this semester I only have 4 classes that didn't already take their finals early. So, one down today, one more tomorrow, and TWO on Friday. Gah. But one is English, so it shouldn't be that hard. My teacher even said so herself. [Speaking of my English teacher, she used to look a little like Anna Wintour. Then she got a haircut and now looks a little like Julie Andrews. Just sayin'.]

It was a great way to end a fantastic year of Concert Orchestra (aka the "freshman" orchestra, even though some genius freshies have auditioned into the higher orchestra). But, before fun and games comes work. Lots of it. Sort of. We sorted this huge amount of music into their respective "score orders": score meaning the conductor's version of the piece (which has every single part of every single instrument on it), and then the parts of the instruments themselves, which go in this order: violin I, violin II, sometimes violin III/treble viola, viola, sometimes viola II and III, cello, and bass. And then all of the other instruments after that, like piano, percussion, and woodwinds. Then each massive stack of music went into their respective folder/boxes, and were stored away in this huge shelf/drawer thing in the music library (which is a tiny room filled with those sliding shelves).

And then! We (as in the collective we, but really it was just a bunch of kids--others mulled around elsewhere, like by the piano, just sitting around, or actually studying. but of course, few people chose the latter option.) started a game of ninja. Which is basically a bunch of kids (or whoever) standing around in a sort-of circle and try, in an organized fashion, to tag the hand of another person, thereby getting him/her "out". It's hilariously fun and every person under the age of thirty should play it. Youtube it if you still don't know what I'm talking about.

Then came a few rounds of "WAH!", which is even harder to explain than ninja, so, when searching on Youtube for these curious kids' games, just look for a bunch of people standing in a circle, raising their arms and saying "WAH!". The point is SPEED. Go as fast as you can without messing up.

And yet another curious circle game! Called "zoo", I think. It also is a go-as-fast-as-humanly-possible-and-don't-mess-up-or-hesitate game. Since I don't think it's on Youtube, I'm going to try to explain it. For the record.

1) To start with, you slap your hands on your thighs TWICE and clap them ONCE. Repeat this rhythm throughout the entire game, when you're not doing something.

2) Now, to DO something: each person chooses an animal, and each person has to choose a different animal. Each animal has its own sign/symbol/shape that you make with your arms and hands. REMEMBER YOUR ANIMAL'S SYMBOL/SHAPE/SIGN.

3) Then, to start: slap slap clap, slap slap clap, and someone does: slap slap [their animal sign], slap slap [someone else's animal sign]. The slap-slaps MUST go between the signs. 

4) Then: the person who has the animal with the sign that the first person signed second (the action that is highlighted) must do the slap slap [their animal sign], slap slap [someone else's animal sign].

5) Everyone else must keep doing the slap slap clap rhythm while one person is doing the signs.

6) The signs go around the circle in that order, but you don't have to choose the animal sign that the person sitting next to you has. You can choose any animal, and the person who chose that animal has the responsibility to pick up the pattern and do the signs. 

7) If you miss, you're out (well, duh).

8) Get as fast as you can!

Was that coherent at all? Blargh, must go study for finals. But one more thing! Our orchestra "final" was one of those quizzes that tell you to read the directions first before doing anything. The instructions that followed that first one were all strange, and involved drawing or standing up and saying something or doing something else. You know what the last instruction was? "Now that you have carefully read all of the instructions, go back and only do 1 and 2. Sit back and see how everyone else does." AHAHAHAAHAHHAHA! The people who actually did do all of the stuff felt bad about it, and we all laughed it off. Then, our orchestra teacher (who is probably not coming back next year- :'-( boohoo sadface) told us that we must step back and think about what we are getting ourselves into before we make decisions about important things to do. We can't just jump right into something without even knowing what the big picture is about! And we have to learn to say no to certain things, even if they are good things that we want to do. You have to pause and think about what's really going on here, and whether or not you'll be able to do it. I think that that would stop a lot of arguments from even starting, especially in ye olde "cyber world", where so many people type up angry comments or emails and just hit send without actually thinking about what they are saying. 

And those are my two cents for today. Good day.

How to Survive Dissecting In Biology

School is going on FAR too long. We still have a week before we are set free on the 11th of June. Foo.

Well, in biology we are actually doing something stereotypical-high school-ly! Yes, we are

DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNNNN

Dissecting frogs.  That smell really bad. From the preservatives. That apparently smell better than ones from previous years. Which makes me shudder to think of what they must've reeked of back when my parents dissected frogs. In a country far, far away from here.

It's actually not that gross or anything--it's just the terribly GROSS smell that gets really annoying. So, when dissecting frogs, wear a scarf or something that can be used to filter the smell from your nose. Yes, that is a must. And wear surgical gloves. And those lab glasses, if you don't wear glasses already. To protect your eyes from mysterious liquids that could possibly land on your eyeballs.

Have I scared you from ever taking HS bio forever? MWAH HA HA. Not really. Biology is cool! And sometimes fun! (If you get a cool teacher.) Take it! It might be a requirement anyways! Plus you get to go on field trips. Or you should. Because biology cannot be taught simply through classwork.

All of this makes me happy, because in the comic FoxTrot, by Bill Amend (super cool Apple-fan dude), Paige, one of the characters, is also in 9th grade and in biology and dissected frogs! Which makes me feel like my life is sort of cooler, all of a sudden, but not really. Because truth really is stranger than fiction.

And--GAH. Lots of end-of-year projects/assignments to complete. Does anyone know anything about the current situation between the U.S. and Iran?

HELLO INTERNETZ GREETINGZ FROMZ LONGZ HIATUSEZ and Reflections on the Past Year

Yeah. Sorry for the lack of postage! I was out all of Memorial Day weekend with a fever/headache/cold/type/thingy and I still have a slight cough (but I WILL SURVIVE!).

Finalz are next week, dudez! For me, anywayz. How many wordz can I use that will involve z's? I dunnoz. Is it annoyingz yetz? Well I will just quit doing that because it's difficult to be typing "z" after so many wordz (ahahahahahaz).

Anyway, continuing on w/da post (I should abbreviate that phrase or something. I think I'll be using it a lot.  COWDP--YES):

It's sort of hard to believe that I've actually (almost) been through my freshman year of high school. There's only three more years left before I have to brave the real world! (HS is the preparation for the "real world", apparently, even though the real world doesn't give you grades? I guess that's what college is for.) I still feel like I'm in middle school or something, because part of me isn't really accepting the fact that I am GROWING UP (oh scaryscaryscaryscary). INTO AN ADULT. (oh superscarysuperscarysuperscary).

Maybe I should just move to Neverland. Or Wonderland.

But then that would be cheating, because I would be avoiding my reality and not accepting responsibility for the things that I do in this world, which is (unfortunately) the only one I have. Well, except for maybe RuneScape. But that doesn't count, because it's obviously just a game (and SUCH a time-eater-uper).

It makes me sad, a little. I feel like I have a stick in the mud of childhood, and I don't want to let go and be sucked into the current of the grown up world. Sadly, life can't be all fun and play. Or make-believe. Elementary school was much easier for this type of end-of-year stuff. Back then, growing up was fun and cool (and such things like end of year field trips were still in existence). Plus, there was the assurance that you would have friends back at school the next year. Now, I'm not saying that all my friends are going to move away this summer, but it's just that things were more "stable" then, you know?

As excited as I am to be moving on to 10th grade (and hopefully getting more involved in school!), I will still miss this freshman year, when everything was highschool-but-flavored-with-middle-school-still (except for maybe less drama, obvz). It just seemed like middle school, but with a little more work and a little less tight-knit. [EDIT: This post sums up most of my feelings about growin' up.]

I guess I'm saying that a little part of me will always remain a child, no matter how old the rest of me gets. I'll always believe in magic, classic Disney movies (i.e., the pre-Hannah Montana phase), and recess.

But, I've grown to like summer vacation more as I get older. The harder you work, the more you'll appreciate breaks.

Have a happy summer, everyone!