Apps and Introspection

So, the season of college applications is utterly upon us.

I suppose I should be happy that my parents are letting me apply to MIT EA (they are SUPER cool and all of their coolness cannot be contained within one parenthetical statement), but I can't bring myself to feel as happy as I should be, i.e. bouncing off the walls, screaming up and down, acting out all the trappings of excitedness short of being actually accepted (through a miracle). I guess it's because they wouldn't let me go there if I did get in. But the college application is about you, not your parents! The invisible audience/readership cries. Yes, yes, I keep hearing that. Ultimately, I get it that it's my decision (I will be a legal adult by that time, anyway), but it's just so difficult.

There's no use in thinking about that issue now, however. I don't even know if I'll be accepted to any of the schools on my list, much less MIT. So for now, I have to focus on the application itself, and try to paint the most honest picture of me that can be portrayed to the admissions committees of MIT and various other post-secondary schools.

Part of me is excited about this process, as I get to make many trips down memory lane and reminisce about days when life was seemingly simpler, and all I had to worry about was practicing enough piano. But sometimes, the pressure and stress block the lane and I sit there, unable to remember even one reason why I enjoyed elementary school so much (was there something about soup?).

I've got to let it go. I've also got to let go all the nasty jealousy monsters that have been popping up whenever I think or hear about my friends' accomplishments. I am extremely proud of them, and they are amazingly accomplished! But it all adds to my inferiority complex, and I feel like I won't be admitted to any college once they realize how many opportunities I squandered as a lazy freshman/sophomore/junior.

But we can never go backward, only forward (I am 99.999995% sure that this is a quote by someone, +/- 0.05% error). "We are never told what might have happened." (Now this is a real quote, by C.S. Lewis, one of the coolest writers ever, for his philosophy about stories and many, many other reasons.) The only possible way I can "atone" for missing out during my young life is to seize opportunities wisely in college and beyond, and look at everything with a critical and analytical eye, but trusting intangible qualities of life and God when I have exhausted everything in my power. And while I'm exhausting everything in my power.

Tee minus nine times sixty minutes

Huzzah, I have maintained once-a-week posting for a successful two weeks! But seriously, I thought about posting earlier, but I was all homework and nothing creative happened in my brain. Except for choosing to complete a psych group activity in purple ink. But that's hardly creative.

Life is a swirl of college applications, scholarship applications, essays to be written that have nothing to do with school (I do not count college apps towards my school work, as it is not turned in for a grade. ooh I would be an awesome teacher. not really), and an imaginary list in my mind that consists of things I would absolutely LOVE to do/finish, but do not have the time for because of college apps, other apps, and homework. So my life this week has gone back to being tinged with the queasy tone of a yearning to accomplish great and creative things while chained to the cold cell of reality by my procrastinatory tendencies-combined-with-Internet. Or I am just going through another phase of information overload, when I have realized that I can do anything, and want to do everything, but must choose between everything because there are only twenty-four hours in a day, at least six of which must be devoted to sleeping so my brain does not go on strike.

So, in the spirit of trying to do things (both required by various organizations and not), I shall make a list of things I would like to do, very much, if I have the time:

1. Write a collection of short stories. I have the ideas. They must go on real virtual paper.
2. Draw birthday cards for all my friends. I like drawing, and my friends. This is an inevitable combination of the two.
3. Practice piano. I am only writing it here because I really need to do so. Extremely.
4. Learn Perl. Just because.

There, that isn't such a bad list, is it? I should have plenty of time to--OH MY GOSH IT IS MIDNIGHT AND I HAVE DONE NOTHING PRODUCTIVE.

I really hope that's not how today turns out to be. I've got nine hours. I've got to make them count.

Genesis

This is reintroduction to the blog, as I have some Very Defined Goals for it right now, after years of on-again-off-again posting as my whims dictated.

And so, presenting said Very Defined Goals!

1) Chronicle my last year of being in public (i.e. free) schooling FOREVER. Hooray for introspection and all that (and a psych class), with ramblings on school classes, school social constructs, college applications, and whatever else might pop into my brain as if it was the opposite of the birth of Athena!

2) Yeah, that's pretty much it.

I'm going to try to keep to a schedule of posting at least once a week, probably on Fridays, as I won't have to deal with immediate school homework deadlines.

And so, presenting the Very First Days!

School started normally enough. The first day was mostly a waste of time. The official day for all non-freshman started at around noon (not including the pointless pepfest that lasted for forty-five minutes), and ended around three hours later in a swirl of syllabi, seating assignments, and tales of summer activities/teachers' private lives. Except for calculus BC (which is really more like multivariable calc--it's complicated) when we started with REAL NOTES!! I think that is going to be my favorite class, even though I haven't done real math in such a long time and my problem solving skills have gone deeper underground than a badgermole.

The second day was the official first day, with full-length classes and all that exciting stuff. Lots more homework than I've ever gotten at the same time. My planner is looking like how it would usually look in the middle of a semester, not at the beginning. My sleep schedule is behaving likewise. Getting only five to six hours of sleep is not as fun anymore.

I learned all about microarray analysis. My mind is blown. DNA is infinitely more complicated than I ever imagined it to be. I love biochemistry.

The next day I gathered proof that my social skills are extremely sub-par (I think they went AWOL along with my problem solving skills). Makes me wonder how I will survive the independence required of a college student. (this could be fodder for a full-length post)

Friday's have gotten more and more appealing as my high school career progressed. I love Fridays now.

Well, that's it for now because my memory is shaky and I have piles and piles of homework waiting to teeter over and consume the electronic bits of my workspace (ooh, fancy). Thank goodness for typewriters.

Summer headaches

Summer homework not going as awesomely as it should be. Mainly because procrastination is really really bad and my parents have told me to do tons of practice ACT and SAT tests (3 hours of testing a day! Hooray!)

And I've embarked on Camp NaNoWriMo.

Seriously.
SOMETHING must be wrong with me.

Non-sitting duck

I have been passive for too long. I did nothing really special to celebrate my "middle school graduation" or any other "major milestones" in my life. Perhaps it's because I know that the things of this world are going to pass away eventually, but something inside me still makes me want to commemorate those events, somehow.

So, I will do something really spectacular by the time I graduate from high school. You know, so I can look back fondly and not say "oh crud all I did was procrastinate and eat junky school food man oh man how am I ever going to survive college." A few tentative goals...

1) Write a novel. Yes, I haven't actually FINISHED one yet. It's terrible! But don't worry, I've got an idea and a 12-hour flight (USA to Asia, woot woot) ahead of me, so I should be okay. I hope. The Lord knows.
2) Submit something to Teen Ink. Why not?
3) Knit Christmas gifts for my real-life friends this year. I've got a month of summer time. Let the knitting begin! (small things--I haven't got the time to knit full afghans)

Perhaps more! But 3 is a good number. Cue elementary school musical song time!

[music note] [music note] "3, is a magic number, oh yes it is...it's a magic number" [music note] [music note]

Have an awesome active (therefore, non-passive) summer!

A House Made of Au

TWO MORE half-DAYS LEFT!!!

ONE MORE FINAL-ish test TO GO!!!

HUZZAH!

iSpeed Post (AND SUMMER HOMEWORK!!!)

The last monday of the school year. Kind of ominous. No, not really.

I must study for my two actual finals tomorrow, and then I have a semi-final on Wednesday and no finals on Thursday, the last day of school! Huzzah!

Alright. I should get off blogger and get going on my chemistry fact sheet. Seriously! You can do the end-of-year reflection later! (just don't procrastinate on that...or else!)

Speaking of procrastination/homework, I actually have LEGITIMATE summer homework this year!!!! And I'm happy-excited for it!!!!! So much so that I am writing out the entire word "l-e-g-i-t-i-m-a-t-e" and resorting to Clique-like double word phrases!!!! The assignment: to do a study guide on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and then choose another book from the list on the back of the assignment guide and write a characterization essay about it, using lots of textual supporting facts!!!!! Now, before you start thinking that I am some uber-nerd (um, not really, I procrastinate too much), I must tell you that I have never had ACTUAL summer homework before, that was ACTUALLY assigned by my school.


:-D No, smilies do not do my excitement justice. I must post:

From here, found via Googling "excited homework"

"I haven't been avoiding you..."

Sorry for neglecting you, blog! Man, the last post was LAST YEAR! And I am writing this on the penultimate normal school day of the school year! Huzzah! This has been a very bad blog about my high school experience. For nearly all of second semester, I have been absent! I will count that as my hiatus, and then try to be more faithful during my junior year, even if it means a sentence a day. At least during every school day.

Anyway, to conclude the post, I will make the conclusion that watching episodes of As Told by Ginger on Youtube does NOT mix well with blogging.

Adios!

The Beginning of an End

Note, it says AN end, not THE end. Because the end comes at different times for different things. For example, the end of Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign for world emperor-ship ended quite a long time after the end of those poor dinosaurs, who could no longer function in an environment that did not have the over-hanging water shield of sorts that gave them the humid antediluvian environment in which they thrived.

I thought it would be fitting to end this year with a post, seeing as I haven't been posting at all lately--school, life outside the Internet, my parents finally enforced their "no-Internet-until-we-get-home" rule with a changed password, take your pick. (although I still personally blame procrastination)

I've discovered the magic of allowing the desktop picture to change! Apparently this is also better for the pixels of your computer screen or something, because it allows them to give different areas of your monitor different brightness levels, or something. That did not come out as literate as it sounded in my head. Ahem, moving on...

2011 is almost here! Or is here already, depending on when this post is read. We have almost completed another revolution (is that the correct term?)/orbit around the sun! Huzzah! We must forget all of the bad things that people have done to us, and focus on trying to build bridges, clean up the environment, and hopefully do something BIG so that the poverty issue in environmentally-threatened areas of the world will be greatly diminished. For people, in the end, are more important than the trees, even though they are of immense import to our ecosystems.

But most important of all is their souls, for it does truly matter what you believe in, and no, we are not random bits of matter left over from a cosmic accident.

With that cheery thought in mind, I just want to wish the entire hemisphere of the world a happy new year's eve! See you in the year of TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST, GIVE OR TAKE A FEW DAYS/SECONDS/MONTHS!

Swan Lake

A great deal of ballet is hard work. And grace. And some natural ability also helps, too. But if you really love the art, and want to dance, then by all means dance. With your heart, your soul, and your mind.

I shall forever rue the day when I was a tiny second grader, griping about how ballet was too "slow" and"boring" (because, looking back now, it is most definitely not). But, I believe that every happens for a reason. Just because I'm not dancing ballet anymore doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it! Thank goodness for Anaheim Ballet.  Huzzah for ballet dancing! And most dancing in general!  And Chinese traditional dance (which is what I am fortunate enough to do)! But on to what I think was supposed to be the main part of this post.

The music of the Swan Lake ballet is so haunting, and mystifying, and just magical in general. It perfectly captures the hopeless feeling of the story, and the despair and grief that results in its climax. Because, like any good classic story, a character MUST die.

I think my sentiments can be fully described in the first part of this video (even though I can't understand a word the guy is saying, except maybe for a few cognates "prima ballerina" and such).

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING(MADNESS) MONTH!

As you may have noticed (oh tiny corner of the Internet), I haven't posted in practically a month! Bad blogger etiquette! But I offer a very reasonable reason for my absence...

I did it. I won NaNoWriMo. The official shebang. Not even the YWP thing, where you get to choose your word count goal (I was going to do 20,000, but then said, "why not just go for the big kill?"). I WROTE 50,000 WORDS that somehow resemble something that looks remotely like a very disorganized novel (seriously--I have the ending written out in the middle of the manuscript if you could even call it that).

I'm not really going to do anything further with my "novel". It's not my favorite story idea, and I don't really know how to finished fleshing it out. I wanted to do a different idea, but that would have required me starting the story all over at the beginning, and I already had a few things written out for that story.

I pantsed it this year. And here are a few things that I've learned along the way:

• Never pants a mystery novel. For me, anyways (tried that this year--yeah, didn't really work out). Always have an outline, and know who did it and all those wonderful secrets before you write the book! It will save lots of time afterwards, when you're staring at the screen and going, "Now how would my main character find out about...?"
• NaNoToons are really the most hilarious things to read when panicking about a flailing word count.
• Pep Talks can be fun! Except when they are from Lemony Snicket. Then they are exciting.
• Dares are there to be done. And to help you increase your word count!
• This can help a lot with your typing accuracy.
• Never procrastinate. This goes for school assignments and personally assigned things (coughNANOWRIMOcough).
• Do not neglect your normal life (aka school assignments and other deadlines) while attempting. Result could be fatal.
• I'm better at writing beginnings and endings than middles. Which is not that good, because the middles are the most exciting parts of the novel!
• Writing is awesome. 
• Writing is totally epic.
• I love writing even more than I did before.
• I am going to write a novel about NaNoWriMo next year.

And if you want to know what my "novel" was about, then check out this word cloud (word size based on amount of usage) courtesy of Wordle.net:

It will tell you all you need to know. (click to make larger)

Bonus points if you can guess what my main character's name is! (ahahahaha) :-)

How to YAWP

I'm going to be Petra Andalee for Halloween. Or my version of it, I guess (of both Petra and Halloween). I usually spend Halloween nights watching a movie (that has almost nothing to do with the holiday), but this year, I'll have to amend that plan. Darn holiday on a sunday! They should fix the date of Halloween on, like, the last Friday or Saturday of October. I think I'd prefer Saturday, because Saturdays are just good days to celebrate things. And because the letter S makes me think of Spooky, Scary, and Sinister things (alliteration FTW!).

Speaking of rules of poetry: my English teacher is a HUGE fan of Walt Whitman, and is a great supporter of the thought that people should yawp barbarically now and then. If you don't know what or how to produce your "barbaric yawp" (a term Whitman actually came up with, in his "Song of Myself", Leaves of Grass, #52), then please refer to the following guide:

1. Make yourself stand out, either by standing on a chair, waving your arms around, or just staring creepily at someone.
2. Take a deep breath (recommended, but not required).
3. Yell/proclaim/sound out the word "YYYYAAAAWWWWWWWWWP!", with emphasis on making a gutteral sort of sound and the "AW" syllable of the word.
4. Yes, you have to say "YAWP".
5. Well, technically there's another way to yawp barbarically--you can just express yourself creatively, either through a painting, a story, a song, or anything else that is a representation of a part of yourself.

And there you go! This could work for a "trick" on Halloween if the people don't give you candy. Much more environmentally friendly than TPing or forking or egging someone's house. My English teacher actually had us line up around the windows of the classroom next to us and YAWP into the room. The kids in the room stared at us like we'd grown two heads each. We exited quickly.

Speaking of Hallo-school things: My chemistry teacher decided to introduce us to a bunch of really awful chemistry puns, such as:

"What do you call a prisoner in a funny clown costume?" A SILICON (silly con, get it?)
"Everything but the kitchen...." ZINC (you should know this one)
"What do they do with dead people?" They BARIUM (ahahahaha)
etc.

Back to Petra Andalee! All I really need is her checkered coat, for which I'm using a long checkered zip-up collared shirt-jacket-thing. And then her high-waisted pants, a black belt, black fake leather shoes, and a white button-down collared shirt. Voila! What are you dressing up as?

I need more sleep

Hello again, after a month-long hiatus! It felt terrible to just leave the last post as a tagging one, and so here comes this post, after 30+ days!

School has been very...school-y. Homecoming week's come and gone (what kind of a theme is "Defying Gravity"?), with no particular regrets or disappointments, mainly because I did not participate in the crowded, bad-music filled gym that constituted the HC dance (although I did miss a live concert with Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, :-( but at least I have it on CD). An advanced class that I heard horror stories about in previous grades actually isn't so bad, and I really need to get working on my time management skills!

The afternoon bus that I ride has become completely populated by middle schoolers. They all either sit in a big cluster (ahahaah Statistics vocab ahahahaha okay school is getting to me) in the middle or back of the bus and spend the entire ride TALKING about things that they don't really understand, like why violins are so expensive. (MS-ers: "It's just a stick of wood and some hair!" Me, in my head: "NO IT'S NOT IT IS A VERY SOPHISTICATED BOWING INSTRUMENT AND I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU MAKE AN ENTIRE VIOLIN BY HAND!!!") But that's what everyone does--they talk about things they don't really understand, just so that they can maybe understand it a little better, or to find someone else who shares their opinion.

I have discovered that I love physics! As much as I can love something that I don't really understand. Yet. Even thought I'm not taking it as a class, I've checked out a book entitled "Basic Physics" (boy, you don't get any more obvious than that, eh?) from the library and am going to use it as the aloe to satisfy my burning need to understand HOW THE WORLD OPERATES. Can't wait for physics! And chemistry (the class I'm actually taking) is a blast, even though we aren't really told why anything happens. Yet. I hope.

TAG! YOU'RE IT!

Thanks to Elizabeth from A Collection of Reflections! But no, I don't get to run around, chasing people across the blacktop. Instead, I'll do the Internet version of that! Even better, no? No? Okay, well, um, on with the taggin'!

CRAZY 8s

8 books you've read recently:

Desecration (Left Behind series--wonderful end-of-the-world stuff)

Enola Holmes: The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye (so sad! and the end of the series, too...)

A Wizard of Mars (Young Wizard series--awesome fantasy/sciencey fiction series. perfect for wannabe-geeks like me :-D)

The book of Genesis (from the Bible, where else? Trying to read the entire Bible in a year! Yeah!)

Lord Brocktree (Redwaaaallll!)
The Inside Story (Sisters Grimm series. Man, I read a lot of series, don't I?)
A True and Faithful Narrative (about a bookseller's daughter in the 1600s! OMGosh! They had books back then? ahahahahahahjkjkjkjk AHEM.)
The Wizard of Oz (Like, the original version. I can tell how it was totally written for small CHILDREN.)


8 Songs or Albums I listen to All the Time:


"Big Yellow Taxi", by Joni Mitchell (I love her sound, her self as a person, everything!)
Mozart, Sonata in A Minor, K.310 (hurrah for classical music geeks! I'm also learning this song on the pianah.)
Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker Suite. (Gosh I love that ballet. It is my favorite...favorite.)
"Cross the Line," Superchick (love the music video. Makes me want to go bash some cultural barriers.)
Barlow Girl--their album, Another Journal Entry. I think they're my favorite Christian band, tied with Superchick and Casting Crowns, of course. Which leads us to...
"What if His People Prayed," Casting Crowns (Didn't see that one coming, did ya? ahahaha. But, in all seriousness, this song has such an important message.)
"Valentino," Diane Birch. Once again, awesome music video. It's got this dancey-yet-not-too-much-like-pop-music sound that I extremely enjoy. 


8 Things I Love:


God (well, He's not a thing, obviously, but I still love Him!)
The truth (and I know that sounds cheesy, but really--lying is way uncool)
BOOOOOOOOOOOOKSSSSSSSSSS (and, I guess, the public library. Does this count as two things?)
Being different from the "mainstream". If not in appearance, then in mind and character.
Rainy, gloomy, cloudy days. These days are perfect for reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. And just for pondering Deep Things in general. And for writing.
My parents (how many teenagers would say that, eh? But really--I'd be nowhere without them. Literally.)
Patterns and coincidences. In life, in nature, in most art. They're a sign of the Creator's masterpiece (which is you, me, and the natural world!)
Typewriters, and typing on them (except when the ribbon wears out...bleh. Heading for Amazon!)


8 Things I've Learned This Year:


Practice slowly (for any musical instrument).

Sleep away camp isn't all that bad. Especially if it's at a university (ahahahaha).
Second-hand clothing stores are wonderful places to go find clothes, unless you go with someone who doesn't think that highly of second-hand clothes (unless they are from friends).
God is amazing.
Driving/car control is much harder than it looks.
English teachers are really cool (okay, I've known that since 6th grade, but still...)
Shakespeare (when actually acted out) isn't all that bad. It's quite good, really. Which is why he's considered a classic author, I suppose (duh!).
There are no such things as concidences.


And one extra one (although this is entirely of my own doing and thus completely optional): 
People can surprise you. Especially by their kindness.


8 New Recipes I Want to Try and Make by the End of the Year:


[Hmm....I don't really cook, but if I did, then here's the list:]
1. Soup (seriously--a good soup is difficult! Although it seems so simple...)
2. Turkey Avocado sandwich (I just had one at a restaurant the other day and it was DELICIOUS. The best turkey sandwich EVER.)
3. Fudgecake (this is something I say a lot, usually in place of swear words. It'd be interesting to actually make the stuff!)
4. Cookies. (the Internet kind, ahahhaha not really)
5. Scrambled eggs with bell peppers and ham (yum! and fairly simple--throw those three things into a pan, and stir-fry away!)
6. Ratatouille, as seen in the movie of the same name. It looks absolutely delectable.
7. Elvish bread from Lord of the Rings. Not possible, but there's no harm in trying, right? (Plus I love the scene where Legolas is describing the bread, saying one small bite will fill up a grown man for hours [or something]. And then Merry says to Pippin: "How many'd you have?" Pippin: "Four." xD okay, that was from the movie, but whatevz. Hilarious! Ahem...that leads us to...)
8. This Asian noodle soup that my mom made on Labor Day, with small scallops and this awesome flavoring stuff and ramen noodles. The best way to make noodles, ever.


8 Favorite Online Hangouts:


Ah, this one is making me excited (hurray for the Internet generation?)
1. Blogger (obvs)
2. Young Wizards Discussion Forum (yay for nerdiness...)
3. NaNoWriMo YWP (in November, and thereabouts)

4. YouTube (a necessity for someone without an MP3 player)
5. Runescape (yeah...any time I spend on there is too much time. unless I'm hunting hill giants.)
6. Google (does this count? It's my homepage.)
7. Gmail
8. Apple site (ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaZOMG IS THAT A NEW IPOD NANO)

8 projects I need to work on:


1. AmStuds homework. If you're taking the class, you'll know what I'm talking about.
2. My "short story" which is quickly becoming a "not-so-short-story/novella"
3. My novel, which is actually supposed to be a novel.
4. Writing. In general.
5. Assembling a gift-email for my friend. (With pictures!)
6. HTML. Learning, using, and understanding.
7. Reading all of the Redwall Books.
8. Reading through the entire Bible in one year. (Best for last, :-D)

8 other people I think should do this:


Hmmm...does this go for anyone? Then anyone it is....
1. Wendelin Van Draanen (the awesome author behind Sammy Keyes)
2. R. L. LaFevers (another awesome author--go check out Theodosia Throckmorton!)
3. Tru (who doesn't love pretty little things? especially cupcakes.)
4. Quintessajazz (another about-school-and-other-things blogger, only much cooler than me. And a WVD fan!)
5. JD (and no, I'm not initials-biased. She's actually written a book! And published it! Under the age of eighteen!)
6. CasadillaAndPeetaBread (Sammy fan with awesome drawing skills! aka xxCammyLoverxx. I can't link to her because apparently her blog "cannot be found by blogger".)
7. Mila (a fashion blogger who's not afraid to tell the world about her style!)
8. Gilda Joyce (okay, she's a fictional character, but that doesn't mean she can't come up with at least 56 things about herself!)

Okay, simple rules--If you're tagged, do the above categories (with your own answers, of course) and then tell 8 other people to fill this thing out! But, since some of the people mentioned above probably don't have that much time to do this, I shall say that this is optional.

Gosh this is a long post.

Foursquare--the internet version

So apparently a new Internet thing is up. It's called foursquare, and it has NO resemblance at all to the beloved childhood blacktop game (unfortunately). Basically, the main idea is to broadcast where you are to the internet (or Facebook and twitter, at least) on your phone (with either texts or Internet, if your phone has it). You can find out more on their website (just Google it! Or, fine, the link is here).

I just wanted to talk about it a little (seeing as I am a citizen of the Internet, what with this blog and everything), especially after I read an article about it in my dad's Time magazine (I don't usually read it much, except for when there's something in it about new internet/techy stuffs [yeah geek wannabes FTW]). I guess I've been expecting something like this to happen, eventually? Like the idea of combining "real life", so to speak, with the Internet. So, voila! Foursquare is invented! The more you go to certain places (in real life, please, not just sitting on your couch and pretending to be at the local grocery store, or something), the more "badges" and potentially cool/free stuff you'll get! (Assuming the places you go to know about foursquare, of course.)

Now, to be even more review-like, a list of pros and cons! (as I see them):

PROS:

• It encourages people to actually get out more, and physically go to places they won't usually go to (such as the gym, quirky little cafes, etc.). Motivation: special foursquare "badges" and (if the places you go to know about foursquare) free/discounted stuff/special offers to foursquare users.
• Another social networking site! Wait, or should that be a con?
• You can get insider information on places near you/your city via other foursquare patrons. Akin to the idea of asking your friend about that new store/deli/yoga place before actually going there. And you can offer your own tips too!

CONS:

• It lets other people know THINGS about you (people that you might not want to disclose every detail of your life with). Especially if you do lots of checking in from your house. And are paranoid.
• Another social networking site! Still not sure about this one.
• Not for spies. Unless they're trying to throw someone OFF of a trail (that would be interesting). But I suppose real spies and secret agents wouldn't have an online profile anyway!

It's also one of those techy things that boldly proclaim: THE FUTURE IS HERE AND YOU BETTER BE PREPARED, BUCKO. Mainly with the fact that it's a mix of "real life" and "virtual life" on the internet. And yes, they do have cool features that allow you to satisfy your need for privacy while also enjoying foursquare, but something about the reward system makes my brain go on HIGH ALERT.

What makes me stop and think about this new phenom is the very fact that it is trying to make real life a game, but one without punishments. I suppose the "no bad side" is because it's more of a social networking site, but it's much too close to the idea of being a game in real life to be comfortable. And this might just be my over-voracious science fiction reading habit talking, but something ominous always lurks behind the sunny, paradise-like forefront of new technology.

But hey--people have been wrong about doomsdays before. 

More listage!

School is commencing in a matter of days. Single digit days, to be exact (bleh). And so I've been reminded (by the dear old companion known commonly as the "calendar") that I haven't exactly done anything to get ready for school, except for get a new backpack and get my schedule. Which leads us to...

THINGS I MUST DO BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS

1. Get all school supplies ready (i.e., notebooks, writing utensils, writing utensil holders, calculator, file folder thingy, etc.).

2. Go "back to school" shopping. If there's time.

3. Finish reading The Fellowship of the Ring. By Friday, preferably.

4. Finish reading Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis. I'm so close! I can taste it! (erm...)

5. Finish reading Twelfth Night, by our favourite Bard, William Shakespeare (no idea why I decided to go all British there).

6. Finish reading The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or at least get halfway through.

7. Read an Anton Chekhov short story. Or five.

Yeah...so half of it is the remainder of my summer reading list (assigned by me), and the first two are really the only ones that are consequential to the purpose of that list. Hmmm.. (NTS: stop making lists of things that have nothing to do with the list title!)

Relaaaaaax

Schedule change pending. Sometimes I wish that I didn't go to such a big school. Well, relatively big. And that our school had enough money to continue everything, every year, and budget cuts were a thing of the past. But no. It's the present and near future. I just hope that the new school board has some sensible people on it.

But God has everything under His control! Who am I to worry about things that are way beyond my control? I've been trying to let Him handle everything, but I still worry and fret about useless things sometimes. For "faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it". And I want to be more faithful to God this year, and forever.

Oh, and in response to my template background: why yes, 1+1 does INDEED equal pencil. Why didn't I see it before?!?!

Rite(s) of Passage, Spring, etc. etc.

Got my permit today!! Aaaahhh!!!!! Watch out roads, here I come! Sort of. Not sure yet if I'm completely ready to drive yet. But it's a skill that's practically necessary for everyday life here, and I don't want to burden my parents by having them drag me everywhere. But I'm in no hurry to be "independent". I guess I already am, in a way. I haven't got any brothers or sisters, and I usually am home alone right after school in the school year. But I still get into disputes with my mom about what I want to wear, which is SO STUPID. Almost makes me wish I don't really care about clothes, like when I was little. But, unfortunately, I do, a little. I'm interested in clothes as an art form (this is a great example--don't judge it, just watch), not those garments displayed in those "junior's" sections of department stores.

But that is another post for another blog, another time. Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is a lot weirder than I thought it would be, but I suppose that depends on what the definition of weird is. And I am rambling because I had a late lunch and need to go knit.

Farewell until later,
The Blogger

RESOLUTIONS and Back to School-centric posting!

Methinks the going-back-to-class process has already started. We're picking up our schedules (and thus getting our pictures taken for our school I.D.s) tomorrow, and today was the first day of school tennis practice. Ugh, I'm quite out of shape for tennis. Not too bad, but not really good, either. Doesn't help that the JV coach this year is also the girl's track coach. Sigh... must get used to running. Running can be fun, I suppose, but I personally prefer biking better. Maybe because I'm a terrible distance runner? And can only do sprints? Ja?

I suppose this calls for a back-to-school resolution list. Yes! I will do that. And then go choose what to wear for picture day tomorrow. Procrastination is not helpful. At all.

School Year Resolutions, 2010-2011:

1. Be faithful and diligent in my Quiet Times (basically daily Bible studying).

2. Do Quiet Times in the morning, every day (we'll see how this goes).

3. DO NOT procrastinate. Especially on projects involving gluing things to a poster board.

4. To finish my story, if not finished by first day of school.

5. Journal more often (no, blogging doesn't count).

6. Practice more piano. And violin.

7. Blog wisely.

There, I think seven's a good number. I hope that I'll be able to remember these. Well, have a happy August! I hope that you've all had a good or passable summer, and wish you luck on adjusting from summer to school. In the meantime, live summer out to the fullest while you still can! So cheesy, but most cheesy things are mostly true.

Cultured

Caution: quasi-philisophical post ahead. Read on at your own peril.

America has its own unique culture, even though the country itself is only a few centuries old (a young lad, he is!). In the 1900s, each decade had its own identity, something that sets apart the '20s from the '50s and '90s and so forth (and the aughties? I think not. I'll still call the past decade the 0s, pronounced the "Oh"s, thankyouverymuch). Each generation has their own worldly experiences that seem completely alien to their children. Each generation also has the option to pass down their culture to the next, whether it be in old records, ancient scrapbooks, or musty books that were the Harry Potters and Redwalls of their childhood (hey, I like those books!).

Because America is also known as a "melting pot" of all the different immigrants who've arrived here, there are also cultures from all around the world mingling here, in this common land of freedom.

I started out this post wanting to rant about how the Cultural Revolution of China has left me little for learning about my parent's cultures, but I see now how wrong I would be if I decided to complain about that. I remember the ancient days of Greece and Rome, where songs and tales (both epic and ordinary) were spread by songs, or storytellers, not books and other tangible things. Cultures and customs stayed alive because the next generations remembered the tales of old, and honored those memories.

Because, those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. History repeats itself. There is nothing new under the sun. We have to learn about the past in order to not repeat its mistakes.

And our parents, no matter how annoying they may seem to be at times, each have their own unique stories to tell. If only you ask.