Last Day.

So today I've decided I'm going to write my journal, because I kind of need to vent out my thoughts, etc. This year is now almost over, and today, I spent the day reflecting on events that happened to me. I get that people probably don't want to be reading the 'story of my life', because frankly, it just might be a bit boring. So anyway, these couple of days have been a bit hard for me, for various, personal reasons that I won't disclose in this public journal. Today I learned some stuff that's been going on in the family from my mom, and I realized that this would impact me a lot. I gave it a lot of thought, and used a lot of my time to think about me, my life, and my future. Also, through reading my current book, the Count of Monte Cristo, I've learned a lot about 'perspectives'. The book touches a lot on philosophy, and a lot about emotions. Somehow, right at this moment, I feel that at times I can relate to the protagonist of the story. My parents also gave me a talk on my attitude to school, work, and life. All these kind of linked up, and I realize that if I want to fix the problems, and succeed in life, I'm going to have to change a lot on my attitude and perspectives in different things. For the past 15 years I've been fortunate enough to be born in a family where I basically have no worries in anything serious. It wasn't that I took things for granted, because I understood how fortunate I was, it was more like I didn't think anything would happen that would put me in a difficult situation. So anyway, now that I'm in highschool, I realize that life is more serious than facebook, the internet, etc. I also realize that I have to take things more seriously and can't just expect everything to turn out the way I planned, like it did for the past 15 years. So my new year resolution this time, is to push myself more, and push myself to the limit, where I know I can go. I'm  not expecting like a dramatic change next morning suddenly, like I wake up, and suddenly I'm a whole better person. It will take time, but I'm willing to commit to it. I'm going to embrace 2012 with a new attitude.

Fathers.

So today, I decided to write a journal although I already 'struck-out'. Today's topic is on how much I love my parents and my family. I realize that there are times when I get mad at them, or they get mad at me, and I wished I didn't have parents. But right now, at this moment, I am forever grateful. You know how sometimes in a day, you encounter a certain topic many times in just that one day. Well, when that happens to me, I consider it as my 'lesson of the day'. So today, my 'lesson' was on how fathers are important. Last Friday, my dad came back from Belgium. My mom, brother, and dad all kept it a secret from me. Originally, I thought he was coming back the coming Friday, but he came back a week earlier than I expected. So when I saw him last Friday, I was so happy I actually started crying. He came back at just the right time. I was stressed about my SATs so I'm glad to have had my dad with me during my stressful moments. So anyway, today, my friend sent me a youtube link of a video about life insurance, and although it was an advertisement, it was a really touching one. It was on how a father was dying, and he was making a video for a daughter (who was maybe about 6 at the time) and told her in the video that he was playing 'hide-and-seek' with her, and how this time, the game is going to be longer. Anyways, the video was really touching. It brought me to tears. I think it brought a LOT of people to tears, because later on, I saw the video on the news channel. Apparently, it has already reached 80,000 views or something. Then, when I was doing homework, I was listening to music, and 'Hurt' by Christina Aguilera came up. It's about how she lost her dad and how she's sorry for everything. So basically, today, a lot about 'being grateful for your father' subjects came up. So it's my lesson of the day. I love my dad. :')

Today. December 6.

I realize that I've already missed three journals (probably four now). But I feel like writing a journal today anyways. So today was in general an "OK" day. Yesterday, I had a quite a lot of homework, so I went to bed quite late. Before class started, I went to check my PSAT score. Although I got quite a high score, I actually dropped 3 points from the practice test. That makes me kind of annoyed and sad. I knew that I didn't do as well as in the practice test, but still. Dropping down 3 points is 30 points by SAT marking systems. So my final score actually means its a worse score than my SAT practice tests. This makes me worried about my SAT score. PSATs are supposed to be easier... right? Anyway, although it is a pretty high score compared to the rest of the school, I'm still kind of annoyed. There are more people who got a higher score than me this time, but they're all in higher grades than me. Still. I wanted to get a higher score. Geometry was alright this morning. I'm really happy about my test score in the chapter test though. Chemistry is kind of hard as usual, and the teacher is assigning a LOT of homework as usual. I'm going to be having a FUN (sarcasm) week I bet with all the chemistry homework. In musical production class we practiced another scene, I was in charge of taking pictures with one of my friends. I can't seem to get good pictures though. But somehow, my friend can capture amazing pictures. Then in MUN class I almost fell asleep when we were talking about political systems. In orchestra I was really glad because I thought I played quite well today. So tonight when I was doing homework I listened to many songs. I love listening to music when I'm doing homework. I listened to songs for example: talking to the moon, the one that got away, count on me, etc. Then I also listened to this internet meme, the "Trolololol man". It's hilarious. Now, I'm listening to Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu, which is one of the pieces I'm going to master before I die, when I find time. It's one of my absolute favorite pieces ever, and I WILL be playing it one day. I literally can't stop listening to it.

TODAY!!

Today, in general is a GREAT DAY!!! Although today is an amazing day, I've still got worries in my head. I feel heavy when I think of it, and it makes me depressed, so I try not to think about it. Anyway, first off, about TODAY. So today I had to wear a shirt, a skirt, and a tie (I didn't actually wear my tie for long haha) because of a 'tradition' of the girls basketball team where we wear formal stuff on the day we have a game. So yeah it was kind of embarrassing being the only people to wear formal stuff with everyone staring. But oh well. Then at lunch, we bombarded a friend of ours because it was her birthday. It was actually pretty amazing. We made a fake cake out of shaving cream and smashed it onto her. Then we each had an individual plate of shaving cream and rubbed it on her. It was really fun, until she started attacking us too. So in the end, we've all got shaving cream on us.Then we made her wear this really sexy dress and super high high-heels. It was really fun. Then the rest of the day wasn't as fun until school ended. By the way, our team chant for the yellow team isn't very good, to be hones. Our chant includes a heck lot of 'gobbles'. And you know what else makes gobbling sounds? Turkeys. So anyway after school, we went to our basketball game. It's my first ever game, so I was really nervous. I'm SO glad and happy because I was put in the starting five, but only because one of the members weren't there. Still. It's an achievement because atleast our coach chose me yayyy. I thought the game was quite good, though we lost. We showed great improvements though. I'm so glad. When I got home, I crashed onto the sofa and started sleeping. So yeah, now after thinking about today's awesomeness, I'm now dragged back to reality. Sometimes I hate reality. But who doesn't? But still, today in World History class we learned about 'gratitude'. I'm not saying that I'm feeling 'ingratitude'. I'm saying that I don't like thinking about what's coming this weeked. So anyway this weekend we have our SAT test. This score goes on my official record, I think. So like the future people looking at my college app can see it. I'm in really big pressure now, I could cry any moment.Sometimes I feel like people expect a lot out of me, and in truth, I'm not that good. I don't know why they think so much, because I'm really not that prepared and stuff. Then there's sports day. I don't want to disappoint my team. I want to win. I'm really stressed now. Like really, really stressed. I'm feeling sick, and tired, and I feel like really panicky. I'm trying to take my mind off it, but I know I have to face it anyway. I don't know what to do.

Sports today

So today in PE, we practised for sports day. It was really fun. We started off with tug-of-war. We learned how to properly do tug-of-war and win. We had to lean our backs and make it straight. By the end, everyone had a mild ropeburn on their hands, and their biceps from the rope rubbing against it. It was like all red like a lobster. Then we practised fro the 5 legged race. In my case, because I teamed up with 4 other girls, we had a 6-legged race. We won with a record of 1'05" around the basketball court against a group of boys, who were just really uncoordinated. Their punishment was that they had to do pushups, but still tied together. Then after that, we didn't do anything else and got freetime for the rest of the period, so I picked up a soccerball and started practising for the soccer game on Sunday. I really like soccer, although I never actually played it in school. I have a soccerball at home, and its the only sports equipment I can play with that wouldn't make much of a sound, since I live in an apartment and the noises would annoy the neighbors. So at home when I get bored, I kick around a soccerball. I love dribbling the soccerball and I've played it so much that I'm actually used to the ball around my feet and I can manipulate it in most directions I want. (But obviously, I'm still not very good at it, and need much more practise). Then after PE, I went on to basketball practise. For me, this was the funnest basketball practise, mostly because I didn't get yelled at at all, which means that I didn't make much mistakes. I even managed to shoot in some balls during the drills, which was usually hard for me. Furthermore, today, I joined the team of the older players, so generally, it was an easier game, because the people were more experienced. When I play with the other team with people like me who just joined basketball this year, sometimes its hard to play because the older players keep getting the ball from us, and also I have to do a lot of the running. It's really annoying. Plus, with the older team, I know a lot more of their tactics so it was really fun. So today, in general, was a good day for me. I can't wait for tomorrow's match against this other school! I finally get to wear my jersey.

Ahhhh I need sleep or else I'll look ugly.

Yestserday, I had only four hours of sleep. FOUR HOURS. That's barely enough for me. So I slept on my way to school, and during homeroom. I managed not to fall asleep in class, which was a miracle in itself. So anyway, recently, I just got braces in. When I looked in the mirror, I realized how much I've changed. My face looked different. But I don't think its because of the braces. I think its just from everything. Sleepless nights, and late night homework and pressure has really affected how I look in person. There are black circles under my eyes, my skin tone is kind of weird, and even my hair looks ugly. I'm really annoyed because I won't get to sleep in on both this Saturday and Sunday, because of the SAT test and Sportsday. So I won't get a chance to get my livelier look back soon. I really hate how I look now. I think I look really ugly. This is all caused from the daily late-nights and exhaustions that have finallly caught up with my body. I hate this. I look so dead and not alive. Also, because of my braces, I can't really eat a lot, so this causes HUNGER. During PE and basketball practise, I get tired really easily now and that's really bad. I'm really annoyed. I need to sleep earlier. I'm actually really tired and it's only 10:42, but there are still things to do. Even if I do go to bed, I still won't be able to fall asleep. It's really irritating because everytime before I go to bed, my body's like, "need to get sleep now", but when I'm actually on my bed, my brain's like, "JUST KIDDING!" And I end up lying there for another half-hour or so. I remember a couple of months ago, I couldn't fall asleep for some reason. I don't know why but I just physically couldn't sleep. It's like my body is not the least bit tired. And it was like I was an insomniac, or had a sleeping disorder or something. I used to think that people that sleep in class are just plain ignorant and just bored. But now, I'm starting to feel the temptation of sleeping in class. But I can't, because that would be a bad thing to do and I would probably get in trouble. So now, I'm going to get to bed as soon as I can.

Football.

So first of all, today in PE, WE WON OUR FOOTBALL GAME!!! I'm so happy, and so proud of my teammates. I tried my best being the captain of the team, and it paid off, I guess, since we won. I'm pretty happy about it. But some people in the opposing team didn't have the best of sportsmanship. They were unhappy, and kept saying that we used little tricks and fouls that helped us win. But to be honest, WE DIDN'T. One of the things I emphasized to my team was that NO MATTER how much we want to win, WE CAN NOT CHEAT. Or else that would not be winning. You wouldn't feel good about yourself after you win, and would instead feel terrible. Some of the people on the other team did cheat a little as they got desperate, because our scores were 30-12 to our advantage. So some of them grabbed me by the waist, or held my arm or something, which was cheating. But I didn't want to make a big scene out of it, so I just quietly told them that what they were doing is an intentional foul. Some of them listened to me, which was good; there were less fouls and 'tricks' towards the end of the game. Also, I think sportsmanship and attitude is very important. Sportsmanship determines what the opposing team thinks of you. If you win by cheating, or get aggressive when the other team scores, most likely, even if you do win, the other team won't respect you. Sportsmanship is a big part of being an athlete and respecting your opponent. If you encounter a team that is worse than you, but has good sportsmanship, you would respects them. Attitude is also important. It is part of having good sportsmanship. When we were winning, we didn't trashtalk them or anything. We continued playing normally, because we knew that if we said anything else, they would probably get more upset. Also, even as we were leading 30-12, I kept reminding my teammates, treat this game like its still 0-0, that way, we won't be careless, and will still have the right attitude. So in general, today's PE class was fun, and I'm glad I'm getting an A in PE!!!

This Weekend...

So this long weekend was quite eventful. Basically, it started off really fun. On Friday, I went to see this amazing film called 'In Time', starring Justin Timerlake (who knew? he could sing and act) and Amanda Seyfried (who also sings, by the way). It's an amazing and original film. The writer of the plot must be really creative... I'd never have thought of this idea. (By the way, quite a while back, when the 'Curious Case of Benjamin Button' became a center of attention, I was really shocked because I had actually thought of that idea before. I remember I used to tell my mom 'what if people were born old and died young?' Then one day she came up to me and told me they made a movie about that idea. My face was like: O.O I used to think they overheard me talking or something. But now I don't think so.) After the movie, I went around with my friends around the mall, did my nails, and tried on some makeup. It was really fun. I really wanted to buy this Jill Stuart eye liner set but its sooo expensive. Then on Saturday, I got my braces for the buttom row of my teeth. It hurts SO MUCH. I can't actually eat now. When I got the braces, somehow, the braces made me bite the inside of my cheeck, so there are like little cuts from the braces. Then on our way home, I was eating this icecream when suddenly two of the braces popped out, so we had to drive back and get it re-glued. It still hurts A LOT, and I still can't eat much. It sucks. Then on Sunday, I did a whole set of SAT practise, and did really badly. For some reason, I just couldn't focus and made A LOT of careless mistakes. I really hope I'll do well on the SAT practise next weekend. (And sports day, ahhh). But finally, to end the weekend on a happier note, I watched ANTM Cycle 17!!! Yayyyy!!! I think this cycle is the BEST. The models auditioned for CSI, modelled on stilts, made their own music video, and who knows what else is to come? Oh my god, I love this cycle so much. I think sooo many girls are pretty, like Shannon, Dominique, Kayla, oh my god I think they are the three prettiest girls EVER. It's not even fair. But anyway, this long weekend was eventful.

Jellybeans

Jellybeans are probably one of the most awesome food/snack/candy on this planet. Not only does it come in different colors, it also comes in different flavors. I've had watermelon flavored jellybeans which actually have a green skin and red inside, like an actual watermelon. Some of my favorite flavors include:Root Beer, Berry Blue, Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, Island Punch, Strawberry Cheesecake, Toasted Marshmallow, Tuttie Frutti, and list goes on and on! At times I like to think that jellybeans go deeper than just a food/snack/candy. As a famous president,  Ronald Reagan once said,

"You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans."

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. Ronald Reagan was a big fan of jelly beans. It was essential in the Oval office and Air Force One after he was inaugerated. Moreover, the blueberry flavor was actually invented because of him. He needed white, red and blue jelly beans for his inaugural parties. At times of my deep philosophical moments, I imagine jellybeans being ways of defining human beings. Like Ronald Reagan said, the way each person eats a jellybean is different. What he later on followed up was that some people grab handfuls, while others pick certain flavors. This is quite a silly analogy, but it actually explains a lot. I'm the kind of person who pick certain flavors. This probably means I am a more cautious person and more careful. And someone who try handfuls with different flavors probably display a more adventurous nature. And people who don't even care about what flavor they are eating, and just popping them in their mouth, this is probably the kind of person who doesn't fully appreciate jellybeans. A fun fact: did you know that Jelly Bellys are the first ever jelly beans to go outerspace? And here's an ultimate challenge: Ever tried eating a whole jellybean pack with a knife and fork?

Laughter

I'm going to start a series of posts, whereby I talk about a topic derived from a favorite quote of mine. So this is today's quote:

A day without laughter is a day wasted

                                 -Charlie Chaplin

I think laughter is very important. For me, I say 'Some laughter a day, keeps doctors away'. I think this is very true. Someone once told me, everytime you laugh, your life is extended by 5 seconds. I hope this is true, but I'm kind of confused as to what is laughing 'one time'. Does this mean you laugh once, like a 'ha'? Or one minute? For me, it doesn't really matter. As long as you laugh. I try laughing at everything (well, most things, because people who laugh at everything are kind of annoying.) Laughs are actually proven to be beneficial to health because they can increase blood flow or something.  A laugh is the best remedy to everything, from a boring assignment, to a bad day. Laughing actually makes people feel better. People who make other people laugh, I think those are the best kind of people, and the nicest and most generous. From the famous movie 'Singing in the rain', one of my favorite songs if 'Make 'em laugh'. Laughter is also contagious, when someone starts laughing, other people around start laughing too. To share your laugh is also a blessing to other people around you. Imagine if we could get the whole world to be laughing at once. That might just be one of my projects later on. I might try to use facebook to make a group whereby I set a date and try to get as many people (from different places, because I don't really care for timezones) to videotape themselves laughing at the exact same moment. When that's done, they can mail it to me or something, and I can make it into a video, etc. This might break the world record, and also get people to laugh more. This might actually make someone's day. So laugh. Because its worth it. And always remember, laughing is one of the three core ingredients of life: Live. Laugh. Love.

There is no purpose to life.

If someone were to read this title only, they'd think its a suicide note. Today was a pretty depressing day. So basically, I knew that I accidently (kind of) didn't do some of my homework. Someone told me the homework was for Wednesday, turns out its wan't so I was really annoyed the whole day. Then in basketball practise, I was kind of annoyed at some people because she wouldn't pass the ball. Oh my god. She tossed the ball randomly at the hoop, when I was completely wide open. I was kind of annoyed at that. Plus, I was really tired today. So about an hour into practise I was on the verge of fainting. Then while I was waiting for my ride home, I talked to a couple of students about the upcoming BeiMUN. I was under a lot of pressure about it. I heard that I needed to start preparing now. But I didn't know what to prepare, like what kind of information to get, etc. I am almost entirely lost on how to even be a good delegate. I've only ever been to ONE MUN conference, and it was quite an easy one. So I'm a grade 1 noob to most of the other delegates and I could kind of guess that I would be a target for them to attack. I'm kind of worried. But my friend told me to think positive and that if I think I'm going to get beaten up really bad, than I've lost the battle already. So I've got to toughen up! When I came home, I crashed onto the sofa. There wasn't any food so I was hungry and tired and really annoyed at life. I locked myself up in the bathroom and thought about all the homework I had to do later. Then I thought that there was no purpose to live. I mean, what exactly am I living for? Some grand prize at the end of the road of life? I really don't know. I just think to myself: exactly what is so good about the future that could be my motivation to live on? I know there's all those animals waiting for me to try to save, but really, are human beings really going to stop hunting and poaching? I think humanity is destined for doom. Even kids know its wrong to kill animals. So exactly what happened between the shift from infant to adolescence to finally adulthood? What made the children somehow believe that killing for money is worth it? So like I'm saying, there's never going to be a bright world full of wonder and joy. I think I'm a pessimistic person :D

Plans, plans, plans.

Okay so basically for me my life isn't exactly perfect. But then I guess part of the fun is the imperfection. So here's my ideal schedule: Saturdays I wake up and watch this TV show. Then after lunch I do my homework (hopefully finish it). Then at night I read and do other stuff. Also, I practise my flute and maybe piano. And also have my flute lesson. Then on Sunday I get to sleep-in. I chill in the morning, maybe read or finish homework. In the afternoon I do SAT practise. Then at night (and here's the fun part): I cook. I love baking and cooking I haven't done it for a while, so I've decided that as soon as I get my life settled, I will start baking and cooking again. My plan is to cook or bake something new every Sunday for dinner. Also, every other Saturday, I will be helping out and volunteering with the animal shelter to give away dogs. Plus, I'll be playing my flute on the street to hopefully earn a bit of money to donate to the shelter. This is my plan. I want to help out both myself and others. 'You are either an activist or an inactivist'. I'm sick of just saying things. I need to 'do' more instead of keep 'talking'. Also, when I find time, I'm going to complete my own '95 theses' on how we could improve the animal world, ie. one of the theses would be stop the dolphin killing in Japan. When I finish these 95 theses, I'm going to find the mailbox of hopefully all the world leaders and MAIL IT TO THEM. Hopefully, this would garner attention and pressurize them into actually implementing useful plans that can protect the animal world more. Because frankly, I think animals deserve more rights than that.  And on Sundays, I might go play a couple of basketball games with my brother and my father. I want to keep a balanced and happy life. But first, I need to get a grip!!!

Parent-Teacher Conference Results

My mom went to the parent-teacher conference and while she was there, I was worrying about whether or not I did something wrong in class or whether I'd get in trouble or something. Turns out, when she came back, she was in a good mood and said that there was nothing to worry about, except my Chemistry stuff. I'm really bad at Chemistry. I don't know why, I just am. For a lot of people, Chemistry would be the easier subject compared to classes like English and World History, because Chemistry is just about getting the logic and memorizing it. The thing is, I can't memorize things. I can get stories and plots, just not Chemistry stuff. I think it is important for me to learn to get both things that are rational and sentimental, because I want to major in psychology in university, or something along the lines of that, such as anthropology, etc. For me, I think I enjoy English and World History, etc. more than other people because I actually enjoy reading and studying the characters/historical figures. I think the reason why I want to take this path in the future is because of curiousity. I want to understand why people do certain things and their motivations, etc. I know that a lot of people want to major in psychology, too, but I'm not sure why. But I think a good idea would be to keep my eyes wide open so that I could choose another major it I have to. If I do become a psychologist, I want to travel around the world and study all sorts of neurological diseases that cause psychological problems, etc. But, unfortunately, I get emotional and sentimental, etc. easily, so if I see someone in a poor condition I just might break down in front of them, and that's not good. But, I'll stay strong and persevere.

Football in PE

For the three weeks of each PE chapter, we play a different sport. This time, we're playing football. We re-picked our teams. This time, I'm quite confident that the girls have a chance of winning football, though I think it will be a close game. I had the honor of being the captain for the girls. At the beginning, our team won most of the drills. But they got close this last couple of times, though today the other team lost all drills. Our team had all seven of our players, though the other team only had five. So we called two players off and substitued when someone gets tired. Our game went pretty well. First, we had a touchdown, then the other team also had a touchdown. Then we had another touchdown, and we managed to block off the other team's next attack. I was so proud of our team for being able to do that. We had good teamwork. Then, during our break where the boys went on to play, we practised different plays and positions. We practised for offense mostly. It was hard to do, but we managed. Then we were on again, and we managed another touchdown, and we blocked one of their attacks again. We were doing really well. Our defense was really good because we had worked on it on Monday and it worked. However, their touchdown shouldn't have worked, but someone cheated a little. When one of my teammates was trying to pull of the runner's flag, one of the opposing team player grabbed her arm and pulled her back. At first, though I didn't see it, I thought it was really weird because at first the runner were completely surrounded by our defense so there was no way she could have gotten out. But she did. And I was completely shocked. So aferwards, I asked my teammates what went wrong and they told me. We won in the end, 18-12. I think the most important part we need to work on is the offense. It is very important.

My birthday

Today (yesterday?), November 15th, was my birthday. I woke up earlier than usual to finish off my geometry homework. Waking up was hard. It took several attempts for me to finally be infront of my geometry book. Then at school, I recieved a wave of 'Happy Birthdays'. At my locker, one of my friends gave me a gift. I was really surprised and SO grateful. I never thought she'd give me a gift. So anyway, she gave me this frame and this little yellow rabbit doll which I attached to my locker. At lunch, I expected something to come because the previous day one of my friends told me to bring extra clothes. I thought they were going to drench me in water or something. But no. They covered me with shaving cream. It was unbelievable. They covered literally every spot on the top half of my body, including my hair. I had to walk past the whole cafeteria to get to the bathrooms. It was pretty embarrassing but amazingly fun as well. It was so exhilerating. I can't believe being covered in shaving cream could be so fun! In the bathroom, I had a hard time getting rid of all the cream. In the end, I put my head near the sink and washed my hair. my hair was really messy afterwards, so I spent the musical production lesson with my hood from my jacket on. Then I smoothed it out, but it was still ridiculously tangled. I kept playing and teasing my hair apart for the rest of the day. All through the day I recieved a lot of Happy Birthdays. At the end of the day, I went out with a bunch of my friends to a restaurant. I was so full by the end that I could hardly walk. But I managed to stuff the last bit of the chocolate fondue. It's amazing how much space chocolate can clear for your stomach. I also recieved presents from this bunch of my friends. I got earphones (just what I needed since my current ones are broken), a key chain in the shape of a rabbit (yay!!), a Coach key chain (it's so cool, it's from America), and these amazingly adorable rabbit shaped ear muffs. When my mom came to pick me up, she also gave me a present. She gave me this really cute pillow/cushion and a magazine. I love pillows. I collect them. Then the biggest surprise was when I got home, my brother also gave me a present. I didn't expect one from him although my brother and I give eachother presents on eachother's birthdays. And the presents are normally really cool. So he gave me a choice between ordering something on Amazon.com and adopting an animal from WWF. I went with WWF, since then it would be for a greater cause. So I have to pick an animal to adopt or pick a group of animals in which the donation will be equally split between them. My brother is going to donate them in my name. I've already recieved a present like this last year from my brother where he adopted an arctic fox in my name. Only last year, I didn't choose, and he chose. I was completely surprised last year because I came home from school and this email told me that I had adopted an arctic fox. I thought it was spam but then a package arrived with a certificate and all. So this year's birthday was really cool, too and pretty awesome.

SAT practise

On December 3rd, the highschool students of our school have to take the SATs. This is for a mark to submit to the CTY administratives and to make sure you are above the border to be admitted to its dummer camps. Chances are, we won't pass it the first time. However, we will have a second chance at January. And if we don't pass that, then we can't attend the CTY summer camp for this year. But you could always take it again next year. Still, having a record of 10 SATs probably doesn't look good on your college application. One thing I hate about SATs is the essay. Personally, I don't mind writing essays, as long as we can TYPE them. Hand-writing the essays are not only tiring but also takes up a LOT of valuable energy. By the end of the essay your hands are dead, and you barely have enough energy for filling in the circles for other sessions. My mom makes me do SAT practise every week. Mostly now, I'm just practicing my math sessions. I'm trying to aim for getting at least around 680 to 700, that way, atleast I can join a math camp for CTY. Also, its good practise for later. Once I nail the math section, I can focus more on reading extra books and expanding my knowledge for the english sections: critical reading and writing. Although I get annoyed when I'm doing the practises, but I understand that they are important and essential for me. Someone who doesn't practise at all is not going to go to a good college. Like the Chinese proverb says: There is no free lunch in the world.

Western Black Rhinos

On Thursday, November 10, the Western Black Rhino was declareds extinct. This news means a lot to me. If I tell this to someone, they would probably say, "It's just a subspecies... it doesn't matter. I'm sure there are plenty more rhinos in the world." It's JUST a subspecies??? It DOESN'T matter???  PLENTY MORE??? There happens to only be 5 subspecies. 3 of which are critically endangered. And for those of you who don't know what that means, it means that they are on the brink of extinction. ALL of the rhinos are endangered, but 3 of them are near extinction. Still, ALL are endangered. WHY? Because some people think that its ok to just shoot a rhino and cut off their horns. And why do they cut off their horns? Because some people think that the rhino horns are helpful in Eastern traditional medicines. But are they? NO. Rhino horns have not been scientifically proven to be a helpful ingredient in medicines. Even if they are, it is NOT right to just shoot an animal and cut off parts of its body. What makes them think that we are superior to animals and that they are inferior? Once, I asked a fellow student of mine: "What do you think about human beings using all the resources and killing all the animals?" You know what s/he said? S/he said: "I think its fine. The resources and animals are here for us to use." CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I WANTED TO SLAP S/HE. I wanted to yell in his/her face that HUMAN BEINGS CAME A LOT LATER THAN MOST OF THE SPECIES HERE. Human beings have only been around for about 200,000 years, while techinically, the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. So do the math. This is sounding like a rant. But I'm just so sick of all the ignorant people of this world. How could they look an animal in the eye and pull the trigger? How could they cut down a tree without batting an eye? I'm not saying that I'm not using all these resources, I'm just saying that atleast I am conscious of all the energy I'm using up. One of my dreams as a child was to pay back to Mother Earth, because as a child, I've asked myself: Who am I to use up all these resources and energy? It's like paying back a debt. If you borrowed something, you return it. So I want to do something that could change the world. And when I say the world I don't mean the world of humans, I mean the world of Mother Earth and all the other living beings. If people would just open their eyes, they could see the beauty of the world, and not be blinded by all the killing and wasting. I sincerally hope this would happen one day.

School Ties

Today during club time we watched the movie 'School Ties'. We somehow managed to fit the entire highschool and middleschool into the auditorium... but a lot of them were sitting on the floor. The movie was really touching. It was about how a Jewish boy, David Greene, gets into a rich prep school in Massachusetts. At that time, the Jews weren't very welcome, even in America. At first, when he arrived at the school, he hid the fact that he was a Jew. Everyone were making Jew jokes while he was right there, but he took it all in. He was recruited into the prep-school because he was a star-quarterback. This upsetted one of his friends, Dillon, who comes from a high achieving family of quarterbacks and harvard alumni. After the most important game of the year, where they won, Dillon's resentment towards Greene grew stronger. He was annoyed that he wasn't the quarterback to win the game. Then he also saw his 'girlfriend' breaking up with him for Greene. This up set him a lot, and at that time, he overhears that Greene was actually a Jew. Back at prep-school, he tells the rest of their friends. They start making fun of him and insulting him, with only Reece, his roommate, giving him a little support. They started taunting him in the cafeteria, and even hung up a sign that said 'Go Home Jew' with a Nazi sign at the head of his bed. As the history exam came up, all of the students were nervous about it. Dillon decided to cheat. As he left the classroom, his cheat sheet dropped. The teacher picked it up, but was unable to tell who wrote the sheet (it was written in capitals). The teacher decided to leave it up to the person who cheated to confess, or he would flunk the whole class. Greene saw Dillon do it, and Dillon, out of desperation, accuses Greene in front of everyone. With a secret ballot, the class decided on Greene to confess and were convinced he cheated simply because he was a Jew. In the end, Dillon's roommate Rip told the principal anyway that he saw Dillon cheat. Dillon was expelled. This story has several strong meanings behind it. First, there was the theme of discrimination, whereby Greene was being judged simply because he was  Jew. Second, there was the theme of cheating and honesty. Dillon cheated on the test and accused Greene. Third, there was the theme of perseverance. Greene persevered. This is a strong movie and I'm really glad we watched it.

24

Today in basketball practise, we got our jerseys. FINALLY!!! I'm really excited. I couldn't let go of it when we got it. At first, directly after practise, our coach took us to his office. We all crowded around his cubicle, and stared in awe as he dumped the new jerseys out. We took in the numbers, and all of us locked our eyes on the jersey of number 24. Right before practise ended, our coach gave us a little speech about the jerseys. The number 23 was left out because it was the number of one of the greatest basketball players. Michael Jordan. If anyone got that number, I'm sure he/she would be under great pressure. But then there was number 24 as well. Our coach told us that the number also belonged to a great basketball player, Kobe Bryant. He said that whoever got the number should aspire to play well in basketball. Out of all the new people who got their jerseys, there was 1 senior, 2 sophomores, 4 freshmen, and 1 eighth grader. Our coach told us that the number would be distributed according to age. So the senior would get a smaller number, because the jerseys were distributed from 1 though 99. I counted in my head, and figured that one of the sophomores would get 24, since the senior is going to get 21 (because the last jersey last year was no. 20), and there are two sophomores, each 22 and 24. However I was wrong. When he called out number 24, he looked at me, and asked me what grade I'm in. I got the 24 jersey. I can't believe it! This is means that atleast our coach has a certain recognition in me, because out of all the freshmen (and the sophomore), our coach chose me to be 24. I'm really proud, but at the same time, afraid that I won't be able to live up to the number. But our coach told us to make our own history with the number. So I'm going to make my own history, and make the number live up to me.

Tetris

I've realized recently that I've become addicted to Tetris. But really, its a fun game. I've played it everyday, and haven't had one day where I didn't touch it in any way. By this I mean, because I've gotten so into Tetris, I've even downloaded a computer version, one on my phone, tetris online, etc. but the most common one I use is the one on Facebook, called 'Tetris Battle'. I don't know why, but the one on Facebook seems the most addictive. Tetris is such a fun game. You have to fit the blocks so that it cancels out when one line is full. I find it super fun. Surprisingly, I used to hate Tetris. I used to think that it was hard and boring. But for some reason, I played it once, and immediately got hooked on to it. I remember the first time I won a tetris game. I was ecsatic. I was so happy and excited. But after a few days, where I've won a lot more games, I realized that its really not that hard. On a couple of days, I've been playing tetris so much that I even dreamed about it. Also, I sometimes catch myself picturing the blocks falling into place and the lines cancelling out when I'm bored and daydreaming. It's kind of frightening actually. I can even do a mental game of tetris. I swear I've gone through all the different combinations in which the blocks fall into place. It's actually overwhelming at times. I feel myself yearning for another game of tetris, and familiar feeling of my fingers on the up, left, and right keys and the space bar. I yearn to put the blocks into a perfect spot. I think that I'm going to leave tetris for a while. Maybe that would help me.

Today. November 3rd.

Techinically, its the 4th already. I've been working on my homework and studying that I've finally got time to write my blogger. I really should be getting my sleep. But I still need to do my Musical Production Midterm homework, and study more for chemistry. Today was in general a good day. The first class was geometry and that was boring... as usual. English was really fun today. We spent the lesson solving riddles. That was really fun. I think that if I was 'Supreme Executive Educator' or something, I'd make that a lesson. And call it 'Riddle Class'. People would answer riddles and practise lateral thinking skills. And talk about Tom Riddle. Haha. That was a joke. So after that we had chemistry class. I spent that lesson reviewing for tomorrow's Midterm. Then World History class was slightly boring. We learned about Zheng-He and his trips to various places. Lunch was ok. After lunch was Wordly Wise. I finished my weekly two lessons and played Tetris for the remainder of the lesson. Then we had clubs. I am in the extreme sports club, though actually in my case it is 'extreme sitting'... with friends and gossiping. But today, I actually practised shooting. Then I sat down with my friends and talked and watched guys play basketball. Then school ended and I ran to the cafeteria and stole a couple of cookies from the baking club. I spent the remainder of the afternoon surfing through music with my friends for suitable songs for the chistmas show. Then I did homework for the remainder of the night. And now here I am.

Songs That Mean A Lot

There are many haters in the world. Sometimes, they judge a song by who sang it. If someone else had sang that song, they would worship it. That's stupid. At times I just want to shout, 'SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE MUSIC.' Many of these songs actually mean something. Recently, I've heard the song 'Skyscraper' by Demi Lovato. Many people in this world really hate her for absolutely NO reasons at all. (Haters= Having Anger Towards Everyone Reaching Success). So anyway, her song is about overcoming difficulties and staying strong. Many artists have songs that mean a lot. Most of the themes of the songs are easy to relate to. One artist once said that songs are messages and the artists are the messengers. One song I find really meaningful is 'American Pie' by Don McLean. It was about the airplane crashed that killed some of the best artists in the world. It talks about 'the day the music died'. I also like the song 'Someone Like You' by Adele. It is about her breakup with her boyfriend. I think it is an amazing song. It has good lyrics and a good tune. Most of the best songs in the world are the ones that the singer can actually relate to, and is sang with true passion. Another song I think is probably one of the best songs (it's actually a song from the musical, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the ORIGINAL one) is Pure Imagination. It has such amazing lyrics. I love listening to it. It also has this really mystical and fantastical tune. Eminem also has a lot of songs that mean a lot to him. Like his song 'Mockingjay' and 'When I'm Gone' are both dedicated to her daughter. I think crappy songs that don't mean a thing and are insulting should be banned and made illegal.

How To Come Up With Topics for the Journals

I've decided to write this journal entry on how to come up with topics to write for the journals. Everyday, I google 'random topic generator' and click on the first link and choose the 'opinion' tab, then click 'Generate Topic'. Some of the topics are quite good, but most of them repeat. Today, I decided to just write about this. To be honest, I have a pretty boring life. No one wants to know what I eat for breakfast, or what my brother and I argued about today. So in general, I just use the random topic generator. However, sometimes during the day when I randomly think of a topic that could potentially be something to write about, I save it in my phone. There's a function called ListMaster, and I just basicallly make lists of a lot of things. In this case, a topic to write about. Sometimes, I write about what I feel about what I learned that day. For example, I write about what I feel about certain current events that I learn from MUN class. And rarely, unless something happens, I write about something important that happened, like the HsinMUN conference, or Halloween. Actually, as I am writing this topic, I've just came up with two more topics I can write about, one of them relating to something that happened to me today (deciding on a new flute) and a random idea that just popped into my head (writing whatever, and let the flow of your thoughts take you). Sometimes I think my entries are too long. I don't mind personally. I don't mind writing these long entries because later on in life I can reflect back on these thoughts. But for example, in my musical class, we have to write a journal, too. But its handwritten, and also you have to fill up an entire page. That kind of sucks because if we hand-write it, chances are we will write less, and slower. And if we write slower, it is harder to let your thoughts flow. So I think the best forms of journal are the digital ones. However, my musical production teacher does have a point, that handwriting is a diminishing art, and that it is best if we can preserve our handwriting. And right now, I've just thought of another topic to write about: Handwritings.

Friends

Friends mean a lot to me. Actually, I think they mean a lot to everyone. Friends are the people who know you, and are nice to you. That's the general definition of the word. But really, there's more to it. There are many different types of friends. There are those who you can talk to when there's no one else around. There are those you tell all your secrets to and be comforted by the fact that they won't tell anyone. There are those who although are nice to you, are able to backstab you if they want to. There are those who support you to the end, even if you are wrong. I want a friend who I can completely trust and can confide in if I ever get in trouble. Scratch that. If I do get in trouble and end up in jail, my true friend would not be the one bailing me out, but would instead be the one sitting next to me on the bench saying, 'Boy, that was some adventure." (I'm glad I have some friends like that :) ) Friends are indescribable. The amount of value they are to us is irrevocable. In order to have friends, you yourself need to be one first. I try my best to treat others the way I would like to be treated, that is, helping them out as much as possible, and generally, being nice and supporting them. Today, in a lesson, I'm not sure if I was accidently being rude to one of my friends. It wasn't on purpose, and I was just trying to give him/her an advice, but I may have come off a bit arrogant. I felt really bad afterwards, and apologized. Also, I think that sometimes I can be a bit pushy, and selfish. But I don't do it on purpose. Sometimes, I just forget to think. I feel really bad after though. Today, after basketball, I kept trying to persuade my friend to go back downstairs with me, because I wasn't feeling well. I saw that she was trying to practise really hard, and that she wanted to stay a bit longer. However, I felt like throwing up, so I was being kind of pushy. Afterwards, when I got home, I thought it through, and realized what a ..... I had been. I should have seen how much she wanted me to stop bugging her. I felt really sorry after. So anyway, what I'm trying to say is, friends are one of the most important people surrounding everyone's life. People should appreciate it, and not take them for granted.

Grades

I'm a perfectionist. I want to get straight A's. Everytime I open veracross, I close my eyes, and slowly open, them, hoping none of my grades have dropped to a B. In the asian society, grades mean basically everything. To get a B is absolutely unacceptable. Well, not absolutely, but its enough to depress someone for days. For example, when I learned that I'm probably going to get a B for PE, I was absolutely down for the rest of the day. When we lost that one softball game which cost us the A, I felt like crying. And it sucked. Most of my team were really depressed. We tried our very best, but we still couldn't win. It's horrible being a loser. No one ever remembers the 'second place'. This is my life's motto. I have to be first, because no one cares about who is second. Does anyone remember who the second person to land on the moon is? No. Well, actually I do, but that's a different case. (By the way, the second person to land on the moon is Buzz Aldrin). Sometimes, I think I care about my grades too much, but I know that if I don't push myself, I won't be able to achieve the best that I could have done. I want to prove to people that I can change the world. I want to change the world. I want to go to a good college, and get a good job. But I'm not doing this for me. When I was younger, I used to tell my mom that I didn't have to be rich, and that I'd be happy, like from doing charity work. But my mom told me something that I will never forget: Money can't give you everything, but without money, you get nothing. This is a chinese proverb. Since then I've learned, that to change the world and help those in need, I need to first gain money and power. With money, I can provide more help to those in need, than if I didn't have money. This is my motivation of getting good grades. I don't care if I don't live a rich life with luxurious items. I couldn't care less if I didn't have the best products in my future life. All I care about is to help the people who actually need the money more than I do, and to help out animals and to save the earth. My motivation for working hard is that since I've been born to this world, and that so much resources have been wasted on me, why shouldn't I do something and repay our earth? It is everyone's responsibility to do their best to help our planet. Even though many people couldn't care less, I know that if I've done my part, and tried to persuade others to do the same, than I've tried my best and will have no regrets.

Halloween at PAS

Today is October 27th, so many people who read the title of this post will go "huh?" In PAS, we do Halloween not actually on the day. Who knows why. Today, we had only half a day of 'Halloween Fun'. First of all, I had 4 lessons: Geometry, English, Chemistry, and World History. Then we had lunch. Before that, we channged into our costumes. My Little Red Riding Hood costume was recognized by some. There were some pretty awesome costumes, like a friend of mine dressed up as 'Snake' a character from the video game 'Metal Gear'. He was all suited up as some special force operative, and hid in a cardboard box as cover. Some other friends dressed up as a celebrity couple, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. There were also other pretty creative costumes. This teacher dressed up as Mario in Mario Kart, with a wheel and everything. And another teacher dressed up as a 'comrade' (or Russian Revolution activist), with a hat and 'historically' accurate clothing (I think we can all guess what subject this teacher teaches). The office staff costumes were so awesome I can't even describe it. They were like Abba or something. But my favorite of all were the group costumes. I love group costumes. People come up with the coolest costumes. One of my favorite groups were the 'Wally's' from 'Where's Wally?' There were four Wally's and I think they even brought along a Where's Wally? book. Also, a group of boys dressed up as the Ghostbusters. I thought that was awesome. And then there were the group that dressed up as a hamburger. A hamburger. Someone was the bun, someone was the beef, someone was the lettuce, someone was the cheese, someone was the egg... etc. Also there were the Speedo boys. That was kind of disturbing. They wore a robe to school and I thought they were just the 'Robe People'. But turns out they were wearing Speedos under their robes. There was also another group that was dressed up as Pacman. And another group dressed up as Mario characters. I think the best part of the day was looking at all the costumes, but other than that the day wasn't that special.

Halloween Preperation

Tomorrow is Halloween in our school!! YAY!! Its going to be awesome. This year, I'm dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood. After missing two years of Halloween, I wasn't about to let if pass. So I got a red piece of cloth, and one of my mom's friends made it into a cape. Its a bit short, but its really pretty and I am forever thankful to her. I've also got these awesome boots I got in europe that I never really had a chance to wear. Also, I've got this small flat basket. I went shopping for bread to put in. In the end, I bought breadsticks and biscuits. I also decided to perk it up a little, so later on tonight, I'm going to test different scary makeup to try to atleast make the riding hood scary. Its hard to make a costume scary, I think, unless you're extremely talented, like one of my teachers at a summer camp, where he dressed up as Joker and almost made the little kids pee their pants and the older ones think Heath Ledger came back from the dead as Joker. It was really funny. So anyway, I helped out with many of my friend's costumes. It was fun. Most of us aren't scary, so that kind of defeats the purpose of Halloween, but its been defeated many times before so I'm not too worried. I think in Halloweens-Past for me, I've been stuff like a mummy (wrapped in cloth: REALLY hard to walk), a ghost (the art teacher painted my face blue, and I wore a white dress with blood stains, and my hair covering the entire of my face), a garbage fairy (this was in kindergarten, my dress was made of garbage bags, decorated with little bells, etc. it was kind of sad), a mask (I made a really not scary mask with an eye that pops out), a native american girl (I made the costume myself, and I was quite proud of it), and I can't remember others. I made most of the costumes, because I think that's part of the fun and spirit of Halloween. I think store-bought costumes are stupid. I've seen so many different interesting costumes. I love the group costumes because people come in all sorts of groups: Teletubbies, Winnie the Pooh, OnePiece characters, M&M's, mobs, etc. They're really fun to watch. Another amazing part about Halloween is the guessing of who is who. For example, you'll see someone in dressed as a huge yellow sponge with freckles and bunny teeth, and you'll immediately know its Spongebob, or you'll see a costume of a guy with floppy hair, fake glasses, vans shoes, flicking his hair, with a really bad voice, and somehow managing to resemble a girl, and you'll know its Justin Bieber. I love Halloween, and I'd hate for the Halloween spirit to die.

"You've Got Mail"

The movie "You've Got Mail" is probably one of my favorite films. Although its quite old, and I was maybe only 2 when it first came out, I absolutely fell in love with the movie the first time I watched it. The film is about two person, Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox who are business rivals who fall in love over the internet. Initially, Kathleen Kelly, owner of 'The Shop Around The Corner', a children's bookstore inherited from her mother, is about to be put out of business by Joe Fox, who owns the chain of bookstores, 'Fox Books'. The two, in reality, have disagreements on the issue of putting eachother out of business, and hate eachother. However, on the internet through mailing with screen names (ShopGirl and NYC152), they don't know they are eachother and chat and bond over the internet. The stories later on developes into more conflicts, whereby Joe finds out 'ShopGirl's' identity, etc. The film was starring Tom Hanks as Joe Fox and Megan Ryan as Kathleen Kelly. I thought that throughout the whole film, the atmosphere was amazingly relaxed, sweet, and beautiful. The film itself was absolutely priceless for me. Also, because I like music from the 60's and 70's, the songs in the movie, mostly from those time periods, really made the movie even more amazing for me. The music certainly did contribute to the atmosphere of the movie. Also, I absolutely loved the plot of the movie. Everytime I watch this movie, I feel relaxed and can watch through it many times. This movie really makes me happy even when I'm not.

Naming children

If I were to have children in the future, I would probably adopt twin daughters, and maybe a son. I put a lot of thought into what I should name them. If I could afford it, I would adopt as many children as possible just so I could give them the most wonderful names. For example, one set of names for twin daughters would be Alexia and Ashley. I think names starting with A's are beautiful, and they could be nicknamed the double A batteries. Haha. Also, I've always wanted either Alexia or Ashley as a name for myself. As a person with a significantly short name, I'd love to have a name where there could be a nickname. My name is too short to have a nickname. I have a friend called Alexia, and people call her Lexi for short. Also, Ashley could be Ash for short. If I were to have only one daughter, I would name her Rose. Roses are my favorite type of flowers, and I think the most beautiful. I think Alexandra is a pretty name as well. I'd also love to have Alexandra as a name and have Alex as a nickname, because I think unisex nicknames are cool. I also really like names that are named after colors, like Hazel and Amber. I think those are two really pretty names. I know definitely that I will not name my child something like Anne, or Emma, or Sophie, or Milly, because I think those names are not unique and are far too common. Although, I do think that Alice is a pretty name, and so is Johanna. Ali could be short for Alice and Jojo could be short for Johanna ( I have a friend called Johanna, and she was called Jojo for short). I think that names represent a lot about a person. Sometimes, you look at a person and you think, "Oh yeah, he does look like a Michael" etc. But I think children should have their own choice in names after. Although, I don't really prefer my name, I don't think I will change it. My name is unique, and as my friends constantly reminds me, it is short and sweet.

First MUN Conference

MUN had been really successful this year. This year I attended the HsinMUN conference. There, I met people from all over taiwan, from pingdong to taipei. It was amazing seeing such a great variety of people, there were people who originated from Taiwan, and also people from countries such as New Zealand,  South Africa, different parts of the US, etc. Everyone spoke in a different manner and accent. Some of the accents were really cool (like the british accent of the delegate of UK and the new zealand (?) accent of the delegate of germany) I was the delegate of Sudan for the HRC. It was REALLY hard! I supported the reso submitted by China on the issue of the promotion of peaceful assembly and association (i don't know how many times I've had to type the words 'assembly and association' for the purpose of this conference).Our reso was bashed by delegates of UK, USA, etc. It is hard for delegates of countries who are not as democratic to debate in such issues in the HRC. But personally, I found some of their criticisms were taken too far. They had crossed a line when talking about how our resolution was a waste of time, money, people, resources, etc. and when they said our reso was so bad it shouldn't be debated at all. However, they did bring up some fair points and I acknowledge them for that. The conference was really fun. A lot of the people were experienced and I had a fun time listening to different perspectives and angles of which the delegates would question eachother's resos. I learned a lot these two days and hope to attend more conferences.

Writing the Ghost Story.

Today, I continued a bit of my ghost story. I got really really scared when writing it. I think the weird thing is, when you watch a horror film, you want to watch it, knowing it will freak you out, and in the end you watch it, and get seriously freaked out. I hate horror films. But in sleepovers, there are on the 'have-to-do' list. I hate it, but we watch it anyway. Most of time during sleepover horror films, my head is stuffed in my pillow with ipods pugged in, and sometimes someone narrating. Now when I'm writing the ghost story, because I have to use my imagination, I get really scared. My imagination on ghosts, etc. is really wild. Every night, I imagine all these scenarios with encounters. Even now, as I'm kind of scared. My whole family is sleeping and I'm the only one awake. So when I was writing my ghost story, I listened to music, and it helps. Or else I'll get really freaked out. So now when I read my story, its actually not as frightening as I thought. I kind of dread reading everyone else's story tomorrow. I really hope I don't have a nightmare today. Because I got kind of freaked out, I think I'm going to finish my story at breakfast tomorrow. Today, because of basketball practise, I didn't get a lot of time. But I made good progress. So every year in Halloween, I dress up as something completely not scary. The scariest I've ever dressed up as is a mummy, which was stupid because all I did was wrap my self with strips of cloth and use safety pins to fasten it. This year, I'm going to dress up as something completely not scary. But its a surprise. This is my hint: its something from a French fairytale.

The Two Escobars

On Friday last week in MUN class, we watched a documentary called the 'Two Escobars'. The ‘Two Escobars’ is probably one of the most moving and emotional documentaries on the impact of sports to the world. It is obvious from the film that the impact was indeed very big, affecting the lives of no less than atleast 35 million people, the population of Colombia at the time of the two Escobars. One Escobar, Pablo, was drug dealer who was ruling the Medellin Cartel with an iron fist. The other, Andres, was a nation-wide soccer player. The two were completely opposites. One eventually divided the country, while the other united them. Soccer had been the only connection between the two, in which Pablo was the owner of their team, and Andres was the star player. The documentary circled around the events from the era of the drug-dealing leading up to the World Cup, the country’s elimination, and Andres’ eventual death. I thought the entire situation in Comombia was horrible, but I admired the spirit of the national soccer team. At the end, however, the reactions of the Colombians to the country’s performance at the World Cup was unsupportive. The country had lost its first game in the World Cup, and had subsequently received death threats. Also, a brother of one of the players had been killed. On the second game, everyone's thoughts and emotions were elsewhere, and Andres accidently scored an own goal, causing Colombia to be eliminated. Drug lords of Colombia betting on the country had been angry at Andres and murdered him. This film makes me really depressed and I feel like crying everytime I think again of the ending of the film, where they show the bloodied upholstery on the seat of Andres' car, where he had been shot. It was horrible to think of, especially since they showed footages of Andres during press conferences and in the changing room where he had this expression which could give you a stab of pain and sympathy for him. It was horrible. It must have been a tough time for him after he scored the own goal, and it wasn't as if he WANTED to score for the US. I think people need to think more before they act selfishly and kill someone. The nation had gotten its punishment however: they had lost one of the world's greatest soccer player who was actually PROUD of his own country, even at the very end, when they had betrayed him.

The PSAT

On Saturday, we did the PSAT. Like, the official one. The day before, I went through the 'SAT Manual'. I really wanted to get a better result than the practise test, because I know that many people hace actually improved from last time. I want to improve with them too. I thought it would be kind of embarrassing if I got a lower mark than last time. That would mean I just got lucky on the practise. I think its important that I get a good mark, on both the PSAT and SAT. Let's ignore the fact that its for college, etc. It also gives me practise taking tests, and gives me experience on how to actually revise for a test. Also, my family is in general pretty high-achieving, like my cousins. I think it kind of give me pressure to be on the same standard as them. I don't believe that I'll ever reach erica and derek, but I could always try. And I want to prove to them that I can get pretty far too. Also, I'm naturally competetive, so I want to stay on top, and be the one with the highest score in freshmen year again. I don't like being defeated, and I don't like being second. No one ever remembers who second place is. But people do remember the one who gets first place. I live by that motto. I also live by another chinese motto, which means literally translates to: There are people beyond (this) person, and a sky beyond (this) sky. This means that no matter how good you think you are, or someone else is, there is always someone out there who is better. This motto keeps me going. Even when I am in first place, I don't relax, and I keep moving, because I know there is someone out that is better than me. And plus, if I do stop and rest, someone could catch up. I think a lot of this also comes from the Taiwanese education, where being on top really matters. I think that's all asian education.

Lists

'Lists' are a very important part of my life. I make lists everyday. The most usualy kind of lists I make is homework lists, where I just list down all the homework I have to do. But that's not my only type of lists. I have literally a hundred different lists. Just random lists. Most of which have already ended up in the recycling bin and is now part of another paper. I do lists for all sorts of reasons. I never really knew why I actually make lists. Like when people are bored in class, they normally doodle, etc. but I make lists. It helps me stay awake and focused. So before, I didn't know why I made lists. Until one day in english class last year, we had to write a short story focusing on a particular character which we made up. I made up a character who, like me, made lists. Using this character, I explored different reasons as to why people make lists. It really helped me get into the character, and not only that, I learned more about myself (though ofcourse the character was slightly more exagerrated). So I concluded that making lists is a way of helping me organize life. As a teen, it is most common that I would feel a little bit lost sometimes. So making lists really helps me, even it is a really random list that has nothing to do with anything. I have lists of all sorts: I've probably got about 10 lists of attempting to name all the countries in the worl (I've never actually finisheed), 5 lists of the 50 states (I always go up to >45, then miss out a couple random states), numerous lists of animals (normally categorized into different types: for example arctic animals, amphibians, reptiles), and I've even got lists on things to do while bored in class! There are also really random lists like 'weird icecream flavors', 'different things to put on pizzas', 'oscar winning films', '(celebrity name, ie. John Travolta) films', etc. I really enjoy making lists,  but too bad most of them were scribbled on scrap pieces of paper, and never really kept. I think I should get a notebook and keep all my lists in there. Without lists, I'd be complete 'listless' (excuse the awful pun).

Exhaustion

Today, I felt one of those familiar pangs of exhaustion. For the last couple of days, I've been sleeping pretty late, at around one or something. Normally, like a couple of months back, my normal sleeping time was at about 11, and now its been gradually pushed back to 1. That's not good at all. Now, I don't even feel remotely tired at 11. I've been trying to get my sleeping patterns back to 11 but its really really really hard. I try to do it on weekends because its easier. However, when I lie down at 11, I can't even close my eyes.Now its really annoying. So in my World History lesson, I was fighting to stay awake (hard as it was). Then at the end of the day, I had PE and girls basketball training right next to eachother. In PE, we played a game of 'captain ball'. It was really fun, so I got really engaged and ran A LOT. So by the end of the lesson I was dying from the heat and the sweat. Then we had basketball practise. It was REALLY difficult that lesson because we did fitness training. We ran 6 floors of stairs (3 laps), trying to do each in under 2 minutes. Then  we each did 3 sets of pushups and situps (each lasting one minute). By the end, I was dying. So when I came home, the first thing I did, after I took my shower, was crash onto the sofa. I fell asleep for about an hour or so, then my mom came back and told me to get up and do homework. So I got up and went into my room, and before I could even get my homework out, I crashed onto my bed and fell asleep again. I slept for another hour till my mom came in and woke me up again. I had a REALLY hard time waking up; I kept falling back onto my bed. So in the end, after ages of waking up and crashing down, and dinner, it was already somewhere around quarter to nine. So I started homework REALLY late today. But I managed to try to stay really concentrated and finished all my homework. Everyday, I remind myself to concentrate more and turn off facebook and chat and finish homework early so I can go to sleep. But everyday I still sleep really late and put of my 'early sleeping' plan till tomorrow. Its really hard. So now I try to plan out all my homework evenly on eachday in my notebook to make sure I have a fair amount of homework each night, not too much, and not too little. So now I have to go to bed, and try to fall asleep. I really hope I don't push my sleeping schedule any further into the night. The only way I'm managing to stay alive is from sleeping much more than usual on weekends. I know this is really really unhealthy and not a good habit, so I'm going to try to sleep earlier. Starting tomorrow.

50's, 60's, 70's

The topic of this journal is, yes, based on the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, but no, its not about the political and economical statuses of the times. It's about music. Unlike a lot of people my age, I love music from these three time periods. I have a youtube account and I've got a playlist just full of songs from then.
50's: One of my favorite songs from the 50's is 'Mack the Knife', by Bobby Darin. I listen to it almost every other day and can never ever get sick of it. I also really like 'Catch a falling star' by Perry Como. Another of one of my absolute favorites is 'Fever' by Peggy Lee. Its so addictive for me. Also, I really like 'Earth Angel' by The Penguins, and I've heard it ever since I could remember.
60's: I LOVE 'Moon River' so much. Its one of my absolute favorite favorite songs. I can never ever ever ever get sick of it. I listen to it so much its unbelievable. I also absolutely love 'A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square'. I also LOVE this song so much, especially the Nat King Cole version. Another song I like from this period is the Elvis Presley song 'Are you lonesome tonight?' I also like a couple of the Beatles song from this period. Especially 'Blackbird', its such an amazing song. Another song I like is 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco'. Also, I like the song 'Don't Rain on My Parade' sang by Barbra Streisand on the musical 'Funny Girl'.
70's: One of my favorite songs is also 'American Pie' by Don McLean. I also really really like 'Hotel California' by the Eagles. Also, I like some of the Beatles songs. But there's not a lot of songs I like from the 70's. Although in the 80's, I do like the Stevie Wonder song: 'I Just Called to Say I Love You'. I kind of like the Gloria Gaynor song, 'I Will Survive' but I think it kind of got old and its become a sort of joke now. Another song I find is fun and cool is 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' by Cyndi Lauper, I've listened to it countless times.
These are just some songs I like from this period of time. Some others of my all time favorite artists include: Queen (I love Queen so much), Michael Jackson (sometimes), The Police, Louis Armstrong, etc. Some modern bands and artists I like are: All Time Low, Fall Out Boys, My Chemical Romance, Busted, Avril Lavigne, Rihanna, etc.

America's Next Top Model

On Sunday I watched the last episodes of the reality show America's Next Top Model Season 16. As usual, Tyra Banks hosted the show, and as usual, it was funny. I watched this season pretty late, actually. I started when I think there were the 5 finalists left and they were going to Morocco. The five finalists were: Hannah, Alexandria, Molly, Kasia, and Brittani. Before I saw the episode of Morocco, however, there was an episode flashingback on the whole season. I saw the contestants get eliminated one by one. At the beginning, my favorite was Monique, partly because she was really really pretty and had an amazing body, but also because she had an air of leadership with her. She had her own opinion, but wasn't bossy. My least favorite right from the beginning was Alexandria. During one of the challenges (in which they had to shoot an ad for a brand of coffee), Alexandria was being REALLY irritating and bossy. She kept saying, "I think you should do this, I think she should do that..." She wasn't even the director! Who was SHE to boss people around? Personally, I found that irritating. However on the episode before the top 5, i felt really sorry for her. She won one of the challenges and won a brand new car. All the other girls got jealous and started backstabbing her (but infront of her). They all thought she didn't deserve it. One of the girls almost got kicked off because of this. Anyway, the girl who evetually got kicked off was Jaclyn. She was this really tall (mid-sized) brunette who was like a really spoiled girl. She couldn't even make her own bed. So as the season went on, my favorite was Hannah. She is like a typical girl-next-door, with like an amazing personality. So the top 5: the first to get eliminated was Kasia. She was a plus-sized model, and I admired her for it. But she had a bad photo shoot and couldn't really find clothes that fit her. The next was Alexandria. Even though I thought her photo was actually really pretty (but apparently "not high-fashion") I didn't get to see the last two episodes though, because they aired in taiwan tonight and tomorrow, and i usually watched them on Sundays. So anyway Brittani won in the end, with Molly runner-up and Hannah in third place :( .I know from wikipedia. In America, its actually up to somewhere in the middle of Season 17 (All Star), in which the contestants were returning ones from previous cycles who didn't win. The one representing Season 16 is Alexandria (grrr).

Reasons I shouldn't be writing this Blog post

There are several reasons I shouldn't be writing this blog post. First of all, I am really tired and I think I might fall asleep on the keyboard or something. If I fall alseep straightaway, this will gaurentee me about 5 and a half hours of sleep. Second reason, I still need to print my MUN country profile homework, but I think I'll do that tomorrow morning. Third, I am so tired, I've been spelling every other word wrong and was having to go back every 3 seconds to correct a spelling mistake. Fourth, I am just typing and I didn't even plan out this essay and I'm just writing whatever is on the top of my head, and my fingers can't stop. Fifth, I have a cold, so really, I should be getting some sleep. Sixth, my mom has been calling for me to go to sleep every 10 minutes. I guess she'd been waken by the loud keyboard noises. Seventh, my computer is on the verge of dying from excessive using. This laptop is so old that it can only last about one hour when on batteries. It is actually been so overused that it is starting to make a noise that I know a normal laptop can't. Eighth, I just accidently wrote 'Nineth', proving I am so tired I can't even count anymore. Nineth, I can't think of another excuse except my guts are telling me to go to sleep. I realize that all these 9 reasons circulate around me not having enough sleep and that I'm tired. I think sleep is very important and provides you with essential energy. Except I'm not getting enough. This week, I've been going to bed at around half past 12. It is now half past 1. I realize sleep is important. And that my bed would feel really really really comfortable right now. And that it is beckoning me to lie down. But as tempting as it looks, I realize I have to finish this sentence. Then finish this post. Then post it. Then check if it posted. Then I can turn off the computer and go to sleep. Which is exactly where I'm heading right now.

Allergy Season

Today, is the first day of allergy season for me, I think. This morning, I had a stuffed nose, for absolutely no reason. I hate the fact that I was born with allergies. Right now at this moment, I have a runny nose, and also, I can't breath properly for some reason. Normally, this lasts a few days, until I find some sort of medication or just let it go. I hate having allergies. Also, when I moved to Europe, I started hay fever. I hope, that now that I'm back in Taiwan I won't have hay fever anymore. But apparently, some people still have hay fever, because their body is adjusted to having allergies at a certain time of the year. Another sympton of allergy that I really hate is havinga sore throat. It makes my voice sound weird, and I can feel something stuck in my throat. Even if I try to clear my throat, it doesn't work, and only makes it worse. At one point last year, I found it really hard to breath, especially if I'm lying down. Usually if things get really bad, my mom gives me allergy pills. But I know for a fact that allergy pills aren't really good for your body. Or worse, if you use it too much, your body and the allergy gets accustomed to it, and starts developing an immunity for it. And by then, you'll have nothing that can help with allergies. So I only take allergy pills when absolutely necessary. Allergy pills are taken before sleep, and work the next day. So I take the pills when, for example, I have a flute concert or an orchestra performance, because the allergies affect my breathing, so it makes it hard to blow the flute. I hate allergies so much.

Lost

Today, I experienced a feeling of 'lost'. Its really hard to describe. So basically this is what happened: because I got braces, I found out that I can't actually make a sound on my flute anymore. Normally, I don't really like practising the flute, but today, when I saw that I couldn't even make the slightest sound, I felt a deep sense of 'lost' and depression. For me, the flute has always been part of me, and who I am. I've been playing it for quite some time, so I've become attached to the instrument. I used to be able to play it whenever I like, when I'm feeling happy or down. Now that I can't play a single note, I felt a feeling of both sadness and also a feeling of being lost, and not knowing where I am, like a part of me has been taken away. But I talked to the orthrodontist, and he told me to just get used to the braces and find someone who can help me adjust to the changes. I felt relieved afterwards.
At the beginning of this year (2011), I also had another experience with loss (well, almost-lost). My rabbit was really sick at the beginning of the year. There was blood everywhere, and at one point, she was dying. She was on the verge of dying, and she was at the vet. Those three days, I couldn't sleep, and kept crying over and over again. Therefore we were really relieved (and REALLY lucky) that she survived it. But for about 5 months continually, she kept bleeding, but gradually, through healthy eating, etc. she became better. Now, she is really healthy.
But that experience taught me a lot. It taught me to cherish everything. Although actually contrary to the popular saying "You don't know what you've got, until you lose it", it was more of "You know what you've got, you just didn't think you'd lose it." On some level, it has the same meaning, that we have to cherish everything around us, not just the ones we think we'll lose, but especially the ones we never expect to lose.

The Science of Deduction

'The Science of Deduction', an article allegedly written by Mr. Sherlock Holmes, is perhaps more than an article. It is the base of everyday life, but sometimes it just depends on how deep the deducting goes. Deduction is not only a fictional detail of lives as great as Sherlock Holmes, but it is also everywhere around us. For example, parents try to find out which of the children had stolen from the cookie jar, or students try to find out why a teacher is absent. For me today, I came across a question in my geometry textbook: Alan, Ben, and Cal are seated with their eyes closed, one infront of the other (Alan looking at the back of Ben's head, but can also see Cal, and Ben looking at the back of Cal's head). Diane places a hat on each of their heads from a box they know to contain 3 red and 2 blue hats. They open their eyes and look forward. Alan says, "I cannot deduce what color hat I'm wearing." Hearing that, Ben says the same. Cal then says, "I know what color I'm wearing!" How does Cal know the color of his hat?
This question took me a few minutes to work out. And here is my answer: The only way for Cal to know what color hat he's wearing is only if his hat is red. If Alan says he cannot deduce what color hat he's wearing, then that meants that the 2 sitting in front of him cannot both be wearing blue (then Alan would know he's wearing red). Thus, it leaves us with 3 possibilities: they are both wearing red, or one or the other is wearing either blue or red. But then Ben announces that he too cannot deduce what color he is wearing, eliminating the possibility of Cal wearing blue. Because if Cal was wearing blue, that meant that he could then deduce that he himself must be wearing red, for if he was wearing blue, Alan would know that he (Alan) is wearing red. So that leaves us with Ben having to wear a red hat. This took me a while to work out, but when I did, I felt a sense of achievement.
As Sherlock Holmes would say, "Elementary, my dear Watson!" (though in actual fact, this has never been said through the original 60 stories, but was in fact coined by a 1915 novel, Psmith Journalist, by P. G. Wodehouse)

Braces

On Saturday, I got braces. It was totally unexpected. The visit to the orthrodontist was meant to be just to check on what type of braces I'll get, etc. But they had a spare chair and dentist, so I sat down and they put braces on me. It's what they call an 'invisible' brace, whereby the metal blocks they used to use is now a type of transparent plastic, but the wire is still visible. They also put a spring somewhere along the line on my braces, to somehow part two teethes and make the other one grow out. At the beginning, I thought the braces were ok, and that they didn't hurt at all. The only thing I was concerned with was that it felt kind of weird and stuck out in my mouth. I couldn't even smile properly (afterwards, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom to try to figure out a new way to smile without looking weird). That day, nothing much happened. I ate normally, and found out that a lot of things can get stuck in braces. But on Sunday, I was in a lot of pain. For some reason, it was as if someone had just put the screw on, my teeth started hurting like there was something pressing on it. I couldn't eat at all for breakfast, so instead I put a Papaya and milk in the blender and made some sort of smoothie/milk and ate that for breakfast. At lunch, I tried to eat fried rice, but couldn't chew at all. My teeth were aching and my jaw felt really weak. So I drank a bowl of soup. Aside from that, I had a massive headache which I presume was also caused by the braces. Also, because of the spring in my mouth, it was cutting the inside of my mouth a lot. I also had a hard time opening my mouth, because some brace at the back of my mouth would get stuck onto the inside of my cheeck. I hate my braces, but so far, its only braces on the top row of my teeth. I will be getting braces on the bottom row next month, and that is not something I'm anticipating with joy. I dread the arrival of November 5th.

Camp PAS 2011 - Day 3

On the last day of Camp PAS, I woke up pretty early, and woke up Jenny, too (because that's what friends are for). We went to the lobby, and saw some other people awake as well. So we wondered around, and danced in the rain. We then went back to my tent and I changed the bandage on my knee. After breakfast, we had to pack up our tent. That was probably one of the most difficult tasks I had to deal with in my life. It took us ages to try to fit the tent in a little yellow bag. We tried so many different ways: we sat on it, we jumped up and down on it, we tried to stuff it in with all of our hands, (we almost broke the zipper) etc. In the end we called for help. After, we had to write our camp reflections, of which I wrote one page. In the middle of that, our tent were called back to 'clean-up', but turns out, it was just one jacket that someone left behind. After that, the whole school sat in a circle and Ms. Sherry announced different certificates. Red got the 'Most Improved' award, which I thought was pretty stupid. Our team didn't improve at all. If anything, we became worse because everyone just lost faith in the team entirely. Our way back was pretty much the same, maybe noisier. In our car on the train, the guys were playing truth-or-dare so we were pretty much entertained all the way. Most of the time, I just listened to my ipod. It died about 10 minutes before we arrived, and I was desperately trying to revive it by swining it around, etc. At the train station, I realized I left my ticked on the train, and was panicking, but thankfully, a friend picked it up and handed it to me.
I thought camp was pretty fun, except for the fact that it was raining, and it was muddy. Also, I hated the bugs. I had a total of 15 mosquito bites on just my legs. There were a couple on my arm. But thankfully, I wasn't sunburned at all, I just got tanner. Another thing I realized was that cats in Hualien are REALLY tiny.

Camp PAS 2011 - Day 2

The second day of camp, we woke up quite early, because there were people talking, plus, we didn't actually sleep well anyway. After breakfast, we travelled to rafting place. We put on this useless blue helmet I think was for decoration, and a life jacket. I thought we looked a lot like ninja turtles. There were 10 people in our raft, including a teacher. There were 3 girls (including me), and 6 other guys all older than us, plus Mr. McCool. It was kind of fun, but most of the time, I was worrying about my injury on the knee getting wet. We were pretty well-coordinated and we came from last to somewhere in the front. Then we got stuck on a piece of rock because some guy in the motor boat pushed us there. At lunch, I saw that my injury got pretty disgusting, but there was nothing I can do about it, so I had to make-do and put pieces of tape around the bandage to try and make it stick. After lunch, we continued rafting, and we went to the front again. But our group was going a bit too fast, so a motor boat came and tried to hold our boat while others caught up. The tip of the motor boat was pushing right where I was sitting, so in the end, I was straddeling the seats in the middle and trying not to get pushed off. So at the end of the rafting trip, we went to take a bath, and afterwards, I cleaned up my injury, which didn't hurt, surprisingly. After the rafting, we went back and ate dinner. The girls in our tent were pretty slow at whatever they were doing in the tent, so I had to wait for them, and in the end we were late for dinner, and I had to sit at the vegetarian table. It was probably the healthiest dinner I've ever had. At night, we watched aboriginal people dancing and learned about some of their culture. It was kind of interesting, but the girl sitting in front of me got hit with a glowstick or something. After that, we put on our own shows. The shows our group put on were pretty crap. Everyone admitted it. I loved the show that  I think team Yellow put on. That night, we stayed up and played truth-or-dare. It was fun, except when you had to do a dare. So that night, we had a lot of fun watching people embarrasse themselves, until some teachers told us that our tents were crashing. Turned out, most of our tents were fine, but anyway, the game was ruined, and everyone went to bed. Since our tent was leaking water, we got to sleep in an air-conditioned room, which was REALLY cold at night.

Camp PAS 2011 - Day 1

Our journey to Camp PAS was through a bus, a train, then another bus. On the train, we were seperated by our team colors (mine was red). We met up with our tent members, and decided on a tent leader. Our ride there was pretty much normal. I spent the ride listening to music, exploring my new phone, and walking around and basically socializing with different people. I wore a jumper which had my name on the back, and that caught a lot of attention. Everyone thought it was pretty cool to have names on clothings. I had to explain a lot of times throughout camp that I got it from Belgium, when I was on the netball team. Everyone on the team got one, and we each had our full name and school name + sport on the front, and our nickname on the back. Anyway, towards the end of the journey, we had to make a tent flag. Ours had our initials sowed on, alongside some cut out chickens and ghosts. When we arrived, we set out to put up our tent. It went pretty well, actually. Afterwards, we split up into our teams and had a game in the pool. Unfortunately, I had an injury on my knee, so I couldn't join in. It was really boring and frustrating sitting on the side of the pool while everyone else had fun in the water. After, we went paddling in a lake. That was really fun. There were 5 people in our boat, but one of them didn't do anything (since there were actually one 4 places). We were winning, along with another boat (in our team). But one of the boats from Blue caught up. So in the end, we came somewhere like 3rd or 4th. At night, we had a barbecue, which was a disaster for our group for 3 main reasons: our group didn't have a light (we had to use a flashlight), the fire was really bad in the beginning, and we didn't have any teacher to help us. We tried to make-do and eat whatever we can. That night, I looked up into the sky, and saw the most beautiful night sky and stars I've ever seen. There were SO many stars, and it was really pretty. Our tent had a leak, so the four of us in the tent had to squish up next to eachother. So basically, it was a pretty horrible night. I ended up sleeping on my side, and since we didn't have pillows, I had to sleep on my blanket (later on I felt cold, so I had to sleep on my arm, and it was numb the next morning).

Cutting people in line.

Don't you hate it when people cut in front of you in lines? I know I do. But unfortunately, sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures (ie. lunch time). I know how annoying it feels when people cut in front of you, just exactly when it feels like the line is hardly moving anyway. But in PAS, the lunch line gets so long it is annoying, and you just feel the need to grab a friend, and cut straight in. Imagine this: you are in the classroom waiting for the bell to ring (at this point everyone in the classroom is already packed, with textbooks and bag in hand, completely ignoring the teachers' last comments, and just staring at the clock, or listening for the bell). The familiar sound of the bell goes off, and everyone rushes out the door, and as you near the locker area, you already see crowds of people squishing in, desperate to throw their bags in the lockers, and get to the lunch line. After you dump your bag, you run to the cafeteria, and quickly inspects the line for familiar faces. If you're lucky, your friends might be at the front of the line, but if you're not, you have to queue up just like the rest of them. This happens to me all the time. I never understood how people got to the cafeteria so fast. But unlike some people, I actually feel guilty when I cut the line. I can imagine the people behind me whispering to eachother. But we all know they'd do the same, if they were in similar circumstances. So my solution is: get another table, so there could be a total of 4 lines.

Overrated Books and Authors

Jane Austen: A year ago, when I finished Pride and Prejudice, the school librarian asked me which Jane Austen book I liked most. I said, "Sense and Sensibility". She was surprised, because she thought most people would put Pride and Prejudice over Sense and Sensibility. I told her that I thought Pride and Prejudice was overrated. I thought it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was a great book, but I think I preferred Sense and Sensibility more because over the years, Pride and Prejudice has been used too many times as movies, adaptations, inspirations, etc. and its just gone a bit worn out.
J.R.R. Tolkein: I think he is one of the best authors in the world. Lord of the Rings has been an enormous success. I love the trilogy, and I'm going to get around to reading the Hobbit. But really, its just another trilogy about a quest to save the world. I get that it has some originality, and frankly, some of the plot is really amazing, and I find the author an amazing writer, but I just think that because it has been such a success, people use it as an 'excuse'. There are people who have seen the movies, but haven't actually read the books. These people call themselves "Lord of the Rings Biggest Fans'. I think thats really stupid. You can't be a fan of a trilogy without actually reading the books. This is a lot like the so-called "Harry Potter fans". These people post all over the web and talk about how much they love Harry Potter, and become over-emotional at some of the details. Also, because of its success, I think that this trilogy has become so famous that the 'magnificance' of the book has been exagerrated greater and greater through each generations, just like a snowball effect.
This is all just my opinion, and I understand that most people's opinions are often swayed by others', and that only watching the movie doesn't deprive people of the privelage of being a 'fan'.

A dream house

All through my life, there has always been a blue print of my dream house. And over time, it has been editted, deleted, added, or completely thrown away to start from scratch. But I think its so hard to just decide on ONE house. For example, for some time, I thought about a house shaped like a ship. But at the same time, I wanted an apartment.  Right now, my current dream house would be an actual house. I like houses made of glass (although they have to be bulletproof). If someone was to walk in the door, by their two sides would be two stairs that spiral up to the second floor. Walk straight, and you will see a glass door that leads to the living room. The living room should be really high, like two floors high, so it could provide better acoustics. When you walk immediately into the living room, by the left side would be a TV built into the wall and sofas, etc. By the right side would be a white grand piano raised on a platform, right beside a french window (the kind that extend to the floor with panels of glass, etc.) But the thing is, the entire side of the right wall is actually glass, so you can see the side garden (which could serve as the backyard), and ofcourse the glass has to be bulletproof, and should also have curtains that extend all the way fromthe top to bottom, so I can close it. And halfway between the floor and the ceiling is a glass pathway that led from the top of the stairs to the bedrooms. I realise its really hard to describe if I don't draw a picture. But, in my mind, it would be the perfect house to live in.

My knee.

Today in basketball, I scraped my knee on the floor of the basketball court. I was playing offence, and I collided with someone playing defence. At first, I didn't feel anything except a little sting on my hands and knee. But then I looked down and saw a big white spot on my knee. Turns out that was the graze, but it was white. After I stood up, blood started coming out of the graze. It hurts so much (still does). There were also tiny cuts around it. I asked a friend what the white stuff was. She said it was tissue fluid, and fat. That made me want to throw up. But it was hard, so it couldn't be fat. Still, its obvious that the scratch took off the skin entirely. I didn't go to nurse, instead I just used the first-aid kit. There weren't a lot of stuff, so we had to make do and stick my knee under the water fountain. So my knee was washed in warm water, and it started hurting. I put a bandage on the scratch, but it was a little small so pretty soon blood started leaking out of it. Back, home, my mom put medicine on my cut, using a cotton swab and rolled in medicine. She rolled it over the graze so many times I swear she was doing it just to get the fun out of hearing me scream. So now, I have a new bandage on my knee, and it still hurts like hell.