Saturday, September 29, 2007

i'm happy!

Today was a good day! Haven't had one of those in a while. I woke up around 7:30 because I have this inability to sleep for more than around 8 hours a night. So then around 10 I went to IHOP with the flutes. It's a nice change to not have to worry about getting to school on time and arranging rides for people after IHOP breakfasts, that's for sure. And we can take as long as we want to just talk about whatever...

Then afterwards it was off to errands then Jen's house for section stuff. Or more like it, I just looked at Jen's Europe pictures. It kind of makes me sad I didn't get to go, but that's ok. It's 100% my mom's fault I didn't go anyways. I had suggested we go to the Philippines over Christmas break, so that was the plan, and of course I couldn't go to Europe and then the Philippines all in one year. But then when the time came around to get serious about planning, she freaking decides that we need more time to spend in the Philippines, or more like she, my brother, and my sister need more time. Her excuse? "You have to stay for the winter concert." I told her it was canceled, but she didn't care. What. The. FUCK. So I was stuck at home pretty much by myself since I saw my dad for like 20 minutes a day. I had to cook all of my food or buy it, clean not just after myself but after everybody in the house, on top of all of my other responsibilities. And for the second time, since the year before they did the same thing to me when they went to Australia. I did my mom a favor when she got home and gave her another vacation: one all-expense paid guilt trip. All expenses paid by her, of course, in the form of a PS3 she didn't get me for Christmas that said she would. It feels even better now because I don't have the time to play it (yet), so it sits in the corner looking pretty. I'm sure what I just typed will make me sound like the brattiest ingrate ever, but if you were in my situation, you'd feel the same way. Two almost month-long vacations one year after another, while I'm stuck at home with my dad, whom I don't particularly like? Do the math. Supposedly I get to go to the Philippines when I'm a freshman in college, but we'll see about that. If it's true, I think a major makeup shopping spree is fair play.

Back to my awesome day... When I got home I napped. And this was a great nap, mind you. I usually wake up from my naps feeling totally disinterested in everything around me, but this nap actually made me happy when I woke up. And then I went to church, which I was actually looking forward to. I'm not going to lie, I think church is the longest and most boring hour ever. I don't ever feel mentally engaged when I'm there, unless it was for Confirmation. I wish every mass could be like a Confirmation class. Don't get me wrong, I think I'm pretty strong in my faith, but church is just like... boring. But not today, or at least I had a better attitude about going today.

And theeen I had Thai food for dinner. SPICY Thai food. Well actually I ordered my green curry medium... but it was really spicy. It cleared my sinuses, made me cry, and pretty much burned my mouth. Delicious. Spicy food always makes me happy. Well, spicy Asian food at least. I've read somewhere that eating curry releases endorphins too, which are those chemicals that make you happy. I guess I've had a lot of endorphins today? Sounds like I took drugs.

Now here I am... dreading to do my APEL project. That class is such a joke. A relaxing joke, though. I'm glad I have it first period because there's nothing mentally stimulating in that class anyways. Just a bunch of reading and "analysis" which is basically common sense stuff. Or "questions about the storyline" which could easily be answered by Sparknotes. But hey, it's AP credit and a GPA booster and whatnot. Works for me. Those kids in Brit Lit are working harder than I am anyways.

I'm excited for the Westview Tournament! I hope somebody records RB's and Poway's shows, I really want to see what they look like. Hopefully really cool, I want this year's competition to be as fierce as last year's. Let's hope everybody brings it...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Sunset has Begun...

Alright. So. Senior year. Yeah.

I don't really know how I feel about my last year at MC yet. On the upside, I know band will be as awesome as always, and better even than usual. But for the other aspects of my high school life, I'm not too sure. For one thing, I didn't think I would feel senioritis so early. It's not bad, I'm not procrastinating or anything, but I just think about not doing the things I should be doing more often. I gave up reading Hamlet and just Sparknote'd the rest of the play, which is perfectly fine because I understand it better than if I just read the book, and if I was a "good" boy and read the book and then read the Sparknotes... well it wouldn't make much difference, would it? So I took the shortcut. Shame on me. Oh well!

College apps are another thing I'm not looking forward to. I'm also squeezing in one more SAT subject test, just for kicks I guess. I was pretty disappointed with my Bio test since I thought I studied my ass off for it, and got a score lower than I expected... Ironic, since I went into the SAT reasoning test thinking I was going to get owned because I didn't study any of the material intensively, but I wound up getting an acceptable score. Hmm. Then my Math II test... ugh. What a nightmare. I hadn't seen any of the material since sophomore year because I took AP Calc last year, so I had major reviewing to do, which I actually did. Then on the morning of the test, my alarm failed to go off, and my whole family (all of whom were awake at the time) failed to find their common sense and let me sleep in the one time I didn't need to. I woke up with 10 minutes until the test started. I'm surprised I actually made it to school on time and didn't completely fail, although my score was still... not that great. So, now to the Literature test. Supposedly if you got an 800 on the language parts of the SAT reasoning test, it's still easy to get a 600 on the Lit test. Joy. But I test much better on Lit than on math, so we'll see how it goes.

I know some of the people who read this will be thinking "ugh here he goes, what does he have to worry about, the scores are good enough, blah blah blah..." In reality, I have all the right in the world to stress. UCLA is so incredibly competitive, and some people who I thought would get in last year didn't, so... yeah. I think my stress is justified.

I'm scared to write the actual essays for my apps too. I think I've given up on Stanford, so I'll just stick with applying to the UC system. My order? UCLA, Berkeley, Santa Barbara... and then I really don't know after that. I'll probably apply to UCI, UCSD, and whatever else just because I won't have to do an additional app for any of them, but if I have no other choice than to go to those schools, I will be very disappointed. Then there's all of those scholarship essays to worry about too... well not really, I would just blow them off, or at least all of the ones that have deadlines before college apps are due. I think it's probably more important to get into the college first, then worry about paying for it after, yeah?

Ok so the negative stuff is done. I think. Now on to the positive aspects of my life...

Band is amazing. I'm not even that intimidated by Torns anymore when he pwns me in Wind I. And I got nailed pretty bad the other day, too. But what do you expect? Piccolos were not meant to play in chorales... easily at least. Besides, I like playing technical passages much better than lyrical ones, at least on piccolo. Flutes are meant for the more lyrical lines, right? It's amazing how out of shape my concert flute can get before I suspect something to be wrong. I thought I just sucked when all of my notes kept cracking and I couldn't sustain high notes very well and my tone was as airy as Paris Hilton's head. I was partly right, but I just got it back from Ozzie's today and it plays SO much better. I wish I thought of taking it to the shop before my audition, just so Torns would know that I don't have that crappy tone. At least not all of the time. On the much more positive side, when I passed off the first part of the 3rd movement to Torns, he said "nice job, good articulation". HALLELUJAH. I think I may have gotten one compliment a year from Torns, so maybe my quota for this year is up, but I'm so glad I did something right in front of him for once.

Mkay so my negative thoughts aren't gone yet. But who cares, it's my blog and my rant so I can write about whatever! :p

I DO NOT LIKE MY CLASSES.

APEL, AP Bio, and AP Calc AP >>>>>>>>>>>>>>. APEL, AP Physics.

AP Gov is ok. But I do not like my classes this year... Filipino is chill as always, I'm glad to have it because I need a period in the day to chill out and breathe. APEL is a joke, but at least it's an easy joke that gives me college credit (knock on wood). AP Physics is boring. If I hadn't switched tables, I would die. Katrina, Kevin, and Jin keep me sane in that class. On the up side, I FINALLY got an A on a quiz. Phew. It's pretty pathetic since I took AP Calc last year yet I make stupid misakes on similar material. But I can't say I'm trying terribly hard... because I'm not. Haha.

AP Gov is fun, but people in that class annoy me SO MUCH. Actually, the student composition in most of my classes pisses me off. A lot. I am so tired of some of them, a few in particular, that it's... ugh. I don't know what it is. I usually don't have this strong of aversion to people, and I'm all about giving people 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chances. But some people just use them up within a day. LAKSDJFAKLSFJAWERKLJBKLJBELKGRJE. But I will not let them get to me...

Even though my graduation is still a long ways off, I keep thinking about leaving MC. On one hand, I really want to get off to college and experience a new start in a new city (hopefully) with a new independence. On the other hand, I don't want to leave all my friends. Realistically, I think I will lose touch with maybe 85% of them after the first year in college. I think that's normal. I know it's pretty much inevitable, but I don't want to face it. Hmm... but I should just live in the now for that aspect. Enjoy all of the friendships I have, so I'll have the memories to look back on after thost friendships have faded away. Kind of a morbid thought, but hey. No day but today.