Moved!

Asa-Ame.ORG

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♥ Hiro

Just a Heads Up!

Just a heads up that if all goes well, Asa Ame will be moving to a new home by the middle of next week! :]

I'll keep you updated.

Graduated!!!

(I got a lot of diplomas... o_o)

I am free! I graduated yesterday afternoon, and I've got to say, I'm super glad.
I slept in yesterday, and I slept in today, and I'll sleep in tomorrow, and the day after that.... haha.

Anyways, the last few days of school were seriously a waste of time. I had no real final, and mostly all I ever did were stare blankly at things, play cards, read, or play with friends.

The scheduling for the finals were quite messed up.

I had period 1 and 2 and 3 exams on Monday, but then on Tuesday, I had period 1 AGAIN, and then period 4B, then 5, and then 4A exams (the order is kind of screwed up, too). So then on Tuesday, because all the teachers told us not to come, I didn't come in during 1st period, because it would have been utterly pointless.
Well, being the genius person that I am, I was obviously late to my 4B exam. Best moment of my life- walking into the class late.
But then, one of my friends came in like 30 minutes late, so I didn't feel as bad. 8D /epic failure

Anyways, the day later, we had period 2, which I took the "exam" on Monday for, but I had to go in because my orchestra teacher was proctoring on Monday for the American Government HSA (High School Assessments). That woman wasted 2 hours of my life that morning.


(Award I got from the Lazarus Foundation)

On Wednesday, we had our period 6 exam. And after that, the awards ceremony for various awards that people got.

Well, we practiced for that. How to proceed into the auditorium, how to stand in line, how to walk in line, how to sit down when told to- turn, lift, turn, sit, how to take off our hats, how to walk back out... For three hours on Monday.

And on Tuesday afternoon, we had practiced for the Graduation Ceremony. For three hours. How to stand in line, how to walk to our seats, how to walk up to the stage, how to accept everything, how to walk back down...

We were 3 years old again. They made us feel pretty stupid,that's for sure.


The actual graduation was on Thursday, which was yesterday, and I am now FINALLY done. We ate out at Sushi King for dinner, and that was the end of the day.


And I've got to say that my elbow hurts... I think something happened to it when my cat freaking ran away again, and we had to go capture her, and she was being violent.
Not only does she pull my hair, punch my face, claw my wrists and arms and back in the morning at 4:30AM so that I would feed her, now she has to start running away from home. This is quite an abusive relationship, me thinks.

Tomorrow, I need to go to Balticon at night. Hope we can get there and come back in one piece!


(Click & Join?)

Tagged by Pauline!

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you’ve posted your three sentences.

「体を温める」と病気は必ず治る　
石原結實

これを５～１０回、ゆっくりとやり、しばらく休んで、また同じ動作を繰り返し、全部で５セットくらいやるといい。このとき、胸をなるべく前に押し出すように、また、おしりをなるべく後ろに突き出すようにするのがコツだ。
だんだん筋力が付いてきて物足りなくなってきたら、１セット内の回数を１０～２０回に増やしたり、セット数を１０セットに増やすなどして重荷を上げていくといい。

If only my mom hadn't put this stupid book next to my computer... Just a little furter lies MANY normal books... lol

I tag whomever that wants to do it? XD

Prom '08

My last prom of my high school career... My last prom of my life, probably.



My sister sucks at taking pictures, apparently. This would have been the best picture she took- especially if the sun weren't covering our faces.

I seem to be incapable of being EXTREMELY excited about something, or being excited about being somewhere afterwards.
It was an okay night, I guess.
I was tired by 9, and wanting to go home by 10.
I feel very sorry for my date. But it's not like there's anything to do there except go around complimenting each other's dresses.

So I danced. Haha.
I ate. The food was actually pretty good. The meat was cold, though. And I'm not too sure why, seeing to it that I was the first person to get it from that meat cutter?
And they had like 10 different kinds of cake and mini-cakes and fingers... *Q*
But I wish they had Italian ice... <- asking for too much

It reminded me of the so-much-more-expensively-done prom from one that I went 2 years ago for another school in my county. They had a hall reserved in the Raven's Stadium, had 2 types of Pina Coladas, chocolate fountain with tons of stuff to stick into it... It was nice.
Except it wasn't all that great, but then again, hey, I'm incapable of having fun.

I made a collage for my orchestra final project, which I totally wasn't going to do, but my procrastination against my AP test got the better of me...



Oh, and I don't think I mentioned this before, but a short story I wrote won 2nd place in a contest and now I get to go to a convention called Balticon... Except...
1) I don't really know what it is
2) I don't really want to go
3) It's on the day after my graduation to the Monday after
4) I have a calc class starting the day after
5) I'm going to have to miss like 4 graduation parties for it

Oh well.
Hope you guys are having an awesome May? I have 7 days of school left, including the 3 days for "finals" that I think I have none of. :)

" Check List: How to Spot a Child Predator or Child Molester"

Oh! Guess what? I just posted a "comment" for that entry with my article URL, and it's awaiting moderation. Thanks for visiting, Warriors for Innocence!

"Warriors for Innocence"
[I am writing an entry here because apparently, if we even DARE to go against their beliefs in their comments section, they'll "delete comments immediately."]
This sincerely made me laugh... (Text directly quoted from "Warriors for Innocence")

Check List: How to Spot a Child Predator or Child Molester
You need to be aware of the following...
~ A person who is very helpful or alluring
~ A person who exhibits peer-like play
~ A person who has no adult friends and will spend time with children rather than adults
~ A person who plays tickling games and roughhouses/dog piles with kids
~ A person who is immediately accepted into the family
~ A person who refuses to honor boundaries set by you or by society in general
These are all signs of grooming that child predators will use on you, your family, and on entire communities. There is no way to know for sure if someone is a child molester until they have violated a child. Therefore, you cannot accuse someone based on this information. Instead, you can use this as a tool to screen out high risk people, and to keep them away from your children.

Anyone who is nice and will be nice without asking for compensation is naturally, at all times, an evil person wanting to get your baby from you so that he can rape her.

The last time I checked, doing nice things without getting paid was called "volunteering," and being nice to your friends and neighbors were called "common sense." Since when do you need to be paid to justify the fact that you aren't a pedophile?
I find this VERY offending. Many people have been nice to me and my family in the many years we've been around, and I do believe I have been nice to many people without compensation. Sometimes, they don't even realize what I did for them.

But I guess now, they and I are all pedophiles, out to get each other's kids.

As a person going to major in early childhood education to become a GASP!!! PRESCHOOL TEACHER?!?!?, I find this section of the post very offending:

---

A person who has no adult friends and will spend time with children rather than adults:
We all have friends and even acquaintances that we talk with on a regular basis. Child predators devote all of their time to children. Their entire lives revolve around children. They continue babysitting, and often prefer activities and jobs that involve children like mentoring for children’s organizations, coaching, teaching, camp counselors, etc. They will often choose these activities over socializing with their adult peers.

Well, the last time I checked, we were at a very big shortage for teachers. I guess it's because we are all afraid we'll be labeled as pedophiles if we revolve our lives around kids.

I love kids. I love being with them, watch them learn, teach them things and see that they have an enormous capacity to learn and live which we lost long ago.

They are our future.

Without people to guide them, there will be no future generation. But now, apparently, all of us who try to help the children grow up to be responsible, caring adults are pedophiles out to rape and molest little kids.

---

A person who is immediately accepted into the family:
Being accepted into a family situation should take time and trust. Child predators are skilled at manipulating adults into accepting them. Stop and take a look at any situation where a stranger, who approaches your family or child, immediately gains your trust and acceptance.

That is obviously not the person's fault that they were accepted. The family accepted them into their family, and probably because they believe that the person is a good person. It is your responsibility as a parent to gauge who comes near you as safe or unsafe. Just because someone is friendly does not mean he is going to come and rape your kids.

---

I think these people should read over what they write and think to themselves, "Hey... whom are we offending?"
"Do we really care about the kids we say we care about?"
Because if they did, they wouldn't be belittling the educators and people who take care of children because they love children because that is how we are.

We aren't interested in having sex with little kids. We aren't interested in molesting your little kids. I like having fun with them. And I don't consider it a crime to love kids.

I wouldn't want to raise my kids where we are so afraid and paranoid of each other that our children grow up to be very insecure and afraid of the world, unable to trust anyone.

Trust is an important part of a human being's life, and it has taken me YEARS to learn how to have one in people.


Works Cited:
Sues. " Check List: How to Spot a Child Predator or Child Molester." Weblog entry. 29 Apr. 2008. Warriors For Innocence. 3 May 2008.

Done!

School is almost totally done.
14 more days until the end of free education.
And then starts the $24,000 a year education. (My parents need to be happy that I didn't take the $45,000 schools. >E)

And then hell starts with Calculus classes during the summer and jobs (I didn't pass the calculus AP tests with flying colors as most people assume).

But whatever.

The registeration for the community college classes aren't going so well, just because I'm so confused, but I've gotten a student ID, and I'm almost officially "enrolled" in the college, so we'll see how it works.
Now all I need to do is call my university to see if I really need to take Calculus I, especially since I took Calculus BC AP my junior year?
(Has anyone noticed how hard it is to type the world "calculus"? I keep on typing "calclus"...)

And I'm not getting the roommate I want for next school year! I have allergies, so I filed for air conditioning. And now they are going to put me in with some random other girl that has allergies, so I'm going to be stuck with some girl that's going to be blowing her nose every night so that I can't sleep. :(
Terrible!!! I'm demanding for my friend to develop allergies NOW!!!
Anyone know a good way to get allergies?
(We were going to go with boys, but then we'd be stuck in an all-girls dorm, so we thought that wouldn't work too well.)

Anyways, I'm back from Orlando~~~~, and we somehow won, and got Superior rating. I have NO idea why.
There was this awesome orchestra that was like, BLOWS US AWAYYYY????
Except, it was a middle school.
They all had like, perfect pitch and uniform bowing and everything...
But they were also a performing arts school, and that made us feel a little better about ourselves.
Not to mention, we didn't have to compete with them because they were middle schoolers, and we only had to compete with high schools!!! 8D (<- epic failz)

When I came back, facebook had this little chat options and things, and I felt like a person back from the stone-age coming back to the future.

And yes, this was a pretty pointless post.

AND I just got a phone call from some lady who told me that I won 2nd place at a writing competion for a short fantasy story called the Cardboard Box. Haha.
At first, I was like, "???? What's a cardboard box for? Did I lose a cardboard box?"

I think I sounded pretty unexcited. But I really never know how to react to these things.

So now I have to attend a convention for the 23~25th of May, which is convenient because my graduation is on the 22nd.

How exciting.

Alright.

I had SUCH an exciting weekend (well, pre-weekend, to be precise) at College Park.

And I've decided to attend there. ^_^

So pretty much 98% officially, I'm going to attend University of Maryland College Park come fall semester.
(Try stalking me there, stalkers: find me out of the 22,000 students, and countless faculties!)

Well, glad that's good and done.
Now all I need to do is figure out how I'm going to get through the next month and a half...

(The picture is one of the Honors dorms at the university.)

Heads Up!

As far as the college things go, I'm in six, and I have to make a decision by May 1st.
I think it's between St. Marys College of Maryland and University of Maryland though.
I mean, all my other nice-prim schools are $45,000 a year...and I'm really not about to pay that much. x_X

The tennis season started officially yesterday, and I lost 6-8 for the first match. Though I DID come back from an 0-4, we still lost. :(
Oh well. It was a warm-up match? 8D

I don't know why I still try at school.
I really don't want to.
But I still do.

Our graduation is now officially May 22nd!
Which is, might I add, one day before our projected last day of school.
Which means that we are going to get out of school earlier than planned! Hahahahahaha.
PWNZ.

2 Months

Two months -3 days left of school for me.

We get out on May 23rd, and our graduation is in the next week.
I'm so excited!

I'm going to Orlando for a little less than a week for our Music Department Spring Trip, so that cuts down on the days.

And I'm also going to Medieval Times this Friday for a field trip for English. (Don't ask. LOL.)

So, my mom is totally serious about me getting a job for this summer.
I don't know if I should just ditch the applications for summer camps I submitted, and just work at Giants, or if I should actually take those jobs if they are offered. :/
I feel too lazy to actually work with kids. x_X I love kids, but... I mean, I guess I'll change my mind when I get into the summer time.

My friend suggested Young School summer camps... I might look into those.

I only registered for one AP test for May.
Not only does it encase prom YET AGAIN, I know I won't do well on the Physics or the Spanish AP tests.
So I might as well not take them, you know?
I'm only going to take Psychology AP Test and hope I can get a decent score on it... Wing it like I did the World History AP Test.
(I studied the week of? Before? Read the whole AP book... And then wrote a whole essay about India when it asked for Southeast Asia... But still got a 4 for it. I swear that's the reason why I got a 4... Because I know I did pretty well on the multiple choice... .___.)

I mean, I will accept B's for my Spanish and Physics AP classes... For real. I know I can get an A in all my other classes if I try (some, without trying, but that's not the point)... But those two. I gave up. Even before I started.
I understand nothing in physics, and I really envy those friends of mine that just understand with or without reading the stupid books (which,I should probably read, but I know I won't understand any of it anyways).

I wish I could be like them and not be "good" at the subject but still get 5's... :(
I feel very left out. ;(
Especially when they got accepted into schools like Chicago, MIT, UPenn, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Duke...

I totally know 4 people that got accepted into MIT this year, and they only took 1000 freshmen out of over 13,500... So they got my-county happy this year.
Usually, there's MAYBE one from this county every year, but this year, at least 5 got accepted.

Which also comes to my state university, which accepted only 4,000. That seems like a large number, but in respect to 27,000 applicants, that's quite a small percentage (a little over 15%, I believe?). Especially because it's not a "prestigious school" like MIT. And I don't know how much of that is for the spring semester. (I know a few of my friends got spring admission.)

Anyways, enough about my stupid college rant.
I've signed up for mixi, finally!
Except, God forbid, I don't think it's as good as Facebook, since everyone puts fake aliases on there, and you can't search for things very well... Therefore, I have yet to find any of my friends. (And I have like, two. D:)

April 1st: my remaining 3 colleges come back.
Have been accepted into 5, waiting for 3 more... And I have a feeling I won't get into two of them. x_X
Wish me luck. x_x

Quintessence

Totally here to pimp up my new layout for my avatar site, Quintessence! :3






Comment there will be ♥ ed! :D

Asa Ame

*points up*
I've changed the banner, and this blog's name to Asa Ame from Bon Vivant... Because I like that name.

Does anyone know?
If I put the DNS info and things like that for my domain on blogspot, can I still have hosting elsewhere and use the rest of the domain for storage or for sites?
I don't have anything planned for right now, but if I were to want to use it for something, would this domain be stuck with blogspot (and I'd have to, consequently, get rid of the blog from my domain), or can I still make my own subdomain and things like that with my own hosting? :/
Did that make sense?

Edit 2:
Alright (do I ALWAYS start my edits this way?). I'm going to stick with this thing... for now. I'm forcefully sending http://asaame.hirokache.com to http://xhirokox.blogspot.com... So it's a redirect.
Not a real solution, but there's nothing THAT bad about it. And people won't go, "Agh. Blogspot. Stupid thing."

Yeah. I guess that was the effect I was going for. >_>
And I might just get the domain when I graduate/before I go to college, as a "start anew" kind of thing?

What do you think?

Edit:
Alright... I've been looking through my GoDaddy.com account and it seems as though I can't do that...? I mean, I can't find a Total DNS Control And MX Records link that I apparently need.
And I do have a Total DNS: (Not hosted here) , but I obviously can't do anything there because of the... "Not hosted here"...
This is so aggravating. ;(

If I bought a new domain, would it let me edit a Total DNS...? x___X
Or should I just start a whole new blog?
But I like the fact that I have nice entries here. ;(

Curly Whiskers

Yup. Curly whiskers.
The totally intelligent kitty got a little too close to the frying pan when mom was cooking dinner.
Another reason why you don't put your face close to the frying pan, eh?
(If you can't tell, the whiskers on her right side are permed.)

-----

School is over after tomorrow. Spring Break!
I have some things to do tomorrow for Child Education & Head Start that has to do with Spring Egg Hunt (because we can't have religious references...) and Beanie Baby Hunt.
It's been a pain to plan & prepare for, and of course, they threw this whole thing upon us at the end of last week. And left it to us to make the supply list and do everything.
So irritating.
But I'm skipping most of Spanish for that. But my lunch as well, which is pretty bad. I need my food.

----

The Japanese Sister School is coming again, apparently the week after spring break. Students from a Japanese school come to homestay at hosts' houses for a week and "experience America & its school." So they're going to attend the classes of their hosts, and go to the mall, etc. etc.
I was part of the whole committee that did everything 2 years ago when they came, but last year, when we were planning to go over to Japan (I was going with my family anyways, so I wasn't really part of it), the sponsor and I had a glitch (or more like my mom), so I quit Japan Club, and so I'm not helping out this year.
I'm sure it's causing a few problems. lol.

----

So I've been counting how many steps I take with my pedometer. And today, I walked 10790 steps. Including my tennis practice, which was like an hour.
10,000 burns 3500 calories, which is equivalent to 1 lb. But the fact that I'm not losing anything comes to show that I'm consuming much more than that, or at least over the max of like 2100 calories, so it's not even balancing out... I've been gaining fat sooo much. And I dont like it.
But of course, it's not like I can stop eating. :(

Yahoo! News reported that the last Harry Potter book is going to be 2 movies instead of 1... Money hoggers. D:
I really want to read that Jodi Picoult book...

----

My neighbor was just cussing and yelling at his dog and dragged her away by her collar even though she was screaming in pain. Dragging her, yelling at her as he did. Because she didn't listen to him when he cussed and yelled at her to come, and wanted to play with my dog.
All he had to do was pick her up. She's not that big.

He is the most amiable person ever. He's always so nice, and lets my dog attack him in zeal, lets her lick him and hugs her. But tonight, he scared me.
Like, really scared me.

I don't know which is the true him. We have been thinking, almost jokingly, that he hits or abuses his dogs. You would never think that by looking at him. How he plays with his dogs and kids every day outside. How nice he is.
But we've also taken care of his dogs, and for more than a week at a time, and we know that they are scared of the hand above their heads.

My dog isn't. I don't know what kind of a home she was in before she came to our house, but whatever abuse they did to her, it wasn't physical. She loves people, and have no idea what's going on when someone makes a gesture to slap her, or show her brooms, or things like that.

But his dogs... They flinch and run away. It really scares me.
Which one is the real him?

I'm losing more and more respect for men every day...

Seussical!

Edit: I just counted how many mangas I own in this house. Result?
457. lolol. XD
Just BTW, did I ever mention that I hate daylight savings??? /Edit



Wow, I didn't know Seussical was spelled with eu instead of ue until now! Silly me. XD
It was actually not bad at all. I was surprised greatly! I thought, "silly, stupid, childish." But if it weren't totally "Seuss," then I would have enjoyed it as a normal musical.

But then again, some things were a little lame... XD "If something goes bad, just think how lucky you are!"

But I think A person's a person... No matter how small...." was cute.

A lot of my friends/classmates were in it (obviously), and it was cute and funny to see them in weird Dr.Seuss characters.

The auditorium was PACKED when I went on Saturday, even though there for 4 days for the show. For that day alone, we had waiting list of 100 people (though I have no idea how a waiting list was supposed to work for a play that's already full...?), and they pre-sold 2000 tickets! o.o

I think I was supposed to think about my Senior Week seriously a few months ago. But I was sooo caught up in everything (midterms, tests, essays, projects, college...) that I didn't plan anything at all. And I have a feeling that it's a little late to do anything conventional, like Beach, anymore.

Everyone around here rents out beach-houses for a week, and gets wasted and drugged up there with their friends (and I hopefully wouldn't be doing that...). And I'd have loved to go there... if...

1: I had a bathing suit
2: I'd actually look GOOD in a bathing suit
3: It didn't require so much planning
4: I knew how the hell this whole system worked
5: If I had enough "close friends" that are "close friends" with all my other friends enough to go.

So basically, I'm kind of book up on the not going thing.
Poor Hiroko. So lame. ;(

Now, to be booked up again, I have an English paper due this Friday, and Unit Plan for Foundations in Curriculum and Instruction (AKA: Early Childhood Education II), which is TOTALLY a pain in the ass, another Lesson Plan for ECD that requires Easterness... For Head Start...

BUT!!! Next weekend is Spring Break!!
Our break is super early this year. And I like it! :)

Tennis practice, for me, starts for real this week. And I really need to make the ladder this year... Start. I'm a senior. It will be pretty ridiculous and disheartening if I don't make it... >_>

I'm having real issues with overeating. I don't know how to stop it. x__X It's starting to cause real problems...
Chew gum... Maybe... But other stuff are SO much yummier... >_>

I think I mentioned before that I am doing my English papers on Assisted Suicide (yes?). Today, I realized that my sister is doing a research paper on it as well... That's REALLY freaky... And you know, I don't already just have 20 sources for her to look through...?

I sent out two application for jobs for the summer today. Both of them were for summer camps. And if you haven't deduced... I've never held a job before... Somehow, I don't think babysitting counts. I've always volunteered with everything. Summer camps... making videos... So this is the first time. o_O

Thanks for all your comments, always! Makes my day when I see new comments. ^^

Rain~

Edit: My body aches ALL OVER from the conditioning from yesterday.
I have issues in the morning and after I get out of the bed with my body hurting all over the place (am I crunched up during sleep?), but today, I was in pain all day when I tried to move... While I'm sitting, it's fine, but as soon as I try to get up, or start walking... Good god. I can't even press hard or put any force into anything I do without my muscles aching. I guess it just comes to show how out of shape I am...

I went to watch Suessical!, a Dr. Suess Musical, at our school. This was the first and last time I watched a play at our school. It wasn't bad. /Edit


Contrary to the Facebook Graffiti Wall drawing I did a week or so ago... It isn't snowing. It's raining.
But we still had tennis practice.
More precisely, Conditioning Practice.

Nothing even remotely close to what cross country was, but cross country was waay back when. Tennis is now. And I'm so out of shape. I used to be able to run 1 mile warm-up, 1 mile cool-down, and 3~8 miles in between.
Now? *gasps for breath after 10 minutes* *dead*

I am writing a series of four papers about Assisted Suicide for English.
I had a few books I wanted to check out for articles, but they were already checked out, so I have Medical Ethics: Life and Death and Suicide.
My mom, when she saw the books next to my computer, naturally, went ".... O_O"

Don't worry, mom, I'm not suicidal right now.

Not to add to the emo-ness, but I'm also reading An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison.

We have our third work-shop for the PCs4Kids Workshop. It's just slightly behind schedule... Like... We were supposed to be doing two workshops a month. This is our third in three months...
Just a little. ;)

And I have to get up so early for that. And get to school around 8:30. That's too early for a Saturday.

And I just realized that it's already 11... And I've done nothing.
Woops?

I'm going to go watch Suessical, our school play, tomorrow. Everyone says it's good, but I don't see anything all that exciting about a cat in a hat prancing around stage, or little kiddies wearing yellow tu-tus tap-dancing on stage.

Defintion of "Loneliness"

I have put up an English paper I wrote on the Definition of "Loneliness." The definition of the world loneliness isn't just what you expect...

Because it's a little long, it's been cut for conveninence. :)

And a "movie" I made for my presentation of it:



We had our first day of Girls' Try-Outs for tennis today. We ended up with 13 girls trying out! I thought we were going to have like... 10. Well I guess we have our complete team right there... Which is pretty depressing, seeing to it that most of the incoming freshmen can't hit... But I guess we can't be wishing for too much... After all, it's OUR school who lost half of the ladder last year.

Haosi's 2-Second Chinese Lesson:
Haosi: wo bu xi huan chi _______
I dont like to eat _____
Hiroko: penguins
Haosi: qi'e
企鹅

Ican't believe he translated that. D: That's terrible! You should NEVER eat penguins!!!

I really want to learn Chinese.
But I have a feeling this isn't the way to go. XD

March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Book: An Unquiet Mind Kay Redfield Jamison
Song: Cassie Flyleaf
Pieces: Concerto No.1 J.S. Bach

So cold.
Sooo cold.
But no matter how cold it is, it's still March.
I guess the saying, "March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb" is pretty true. Actually, I think it's practically true every year except for the fact that sometimes, even the end of March is feaking freezing.
My freshman year, I think our try-out days were below freezing every day, and the north wind was... agh. We were all bundled up. My fingers couldn't move off the racket or on its own accord so I stood there with my hand glued to my tennis racket, and the other hand barely having a life of it's own. I thought my fingers were going to freeze off.

Our pre-season tennis hitting thing is today at 3. I'm semi-excited. Now I'll have no more time for myself after school, which is kind of annoying, since I can't get through the day without naps. But I hope I can get rid of at least some fat? That would be great.
Try-outs day is on Tuesday (only one day this year instead of three...), so we get to freeze in the cold. Ice-cubed Hiroko, ready for serving.

The wind is so hard that it's shaking the house... I don't know how we're supposed to play tennis in this weather...

We have two weeks left until Spring Break. It's so close. And then a month later, we go to Orlando for our spring trip! A week away.
Well, it would be even more exciting if it weren't for the fact that I am so bored of going to Universal Studios and and Disney World, moreso becuase we used to go every year, but that's okay.
It's with our music department at the school, so a lot of my friends are going. That should make it a little better.
20 hour bus rides! W00t! So exciting! Painful necks, backs, legs, brain. And we have to turn in every single homework the day we come back... But that's okay.
We went to Orlando 2 years ago too, so I don't know why we are going again.
My freshman year, we went to Virginia Beach, then Orlando, Florida my sophomore year, and Myrtle Beach my junior year, and Orlando, Florida again, my senior year.

I added Labels for this blog. *points to right bottom*
Now you can browse through all my rambles and shambles by looking up what you want to read about. Haha.
I had to spend a while, knitting together the loose labels so that it wasn't such an enormous list of categories. So I'm down to those few (still a lot, but the list was ENORMOUSLY long before I started).

Happy One-Day-Late February 29th! We'll see you in 4 years!

Dedication & Hard Work=Stupidity?

Book: An Unquiet Mind Kay Redfield Jamison
Song: In The End Linkin Park
Pieces: Concerto No.1 J.S. Bach

My internet is working again! For the first time since last Tuesday, and well for the first time since the 4th. Are we going to get money back for the 3 weeks that we've been out/having problems?!

Tennis season is starting out next week~. It's going to get busy again!

93 words

Speedtest

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6
Mind:	4.6
Body:	7.5
Spirit:	6
Friends/Family:	4.1
Love:	5.4
Finance:	5.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

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Today, in psychology AP class, my "friends" and I were having discussions about "hard work" not being anything good, and that just because someone works hard, they should be considered "smart;" on the contrary, the people that are "really" smart should be considered as "smart," and those that try hard are just stupid people in GT classes only because they try.

The "friends" is in quotes because there is one girl that is not my "friend," especially since 1: she has been quite bitchy (excuse my language) for the past few weeks for I don't know what reason...(I guess I just piss her off. Good! :]), 2: I don't talk to her at all out of psychology class, and 3: she is just a "smart people wannabe." Like, seriously.

On the argument, I was obviously on the "there's nothing wrong with working hard to get a good grade." If you aren't going to put in the effort, why do you have to complain? If you know you are "smarter" than him, and the only reason why people think he is smart is because he works hard, and "looks" like he is smart, then why don't you keep on thinking it and go on?

I know the girl that is irritated is, indeed, very smart. She was in the same accelerated GT math class in middle school as I was, and is taking AP Calculus BC as a junior (as I had). She is taking a lot of AP classes as well, and I'm sure she is taking better classes than he is.

But what is wrong with trying? Being "gifted" and smart naturally. That's all great. But people that put in the effort to compensate for the lack of extreme gift, and if they can do enough and the effort pays off to the extent that they can be considered "very smart" by other people in all of his AP/GT classes... Then I see nothing wrong with that. I think, on the contrary, that the "gifted and naturally smart" person is just being lazy. Laziness. If you don't "seem" smart because you are out having "fun" while he is at home on the weekend studying... How can you argue?

I'm sorry other people seem to have misconceptions that he is "smarter" than you are. But really... if you put in the effort and even look HALF as serious as he is, I'm sure everyone will think that you are a genius.
There are people that can do well without even trying; those who can understand very well the things that normal people can't.

The girl who I mentioned above as the "wannabe"... I don't know much about her. I guess she considers herself smart. But if we are looking at how other people perceive others, most people...actually, probably everyone other than her, would think that I am much smarter than she is. And this isn't even being arrogant. It's just the way people view me.

But I work hard. (Well, I used to. These days, I slack a little... errr... Yeah. Just a little!) What did she say?

"You have a problem with what we are saying because you are one of the people we are talking about."

Um, excuse me? I may try?
My response was:

"Well I'm sorry I'm not so brilliant as you are." (I REALLY hope she got my sarcasm... -_-;)

I was quite irritated. Yes, I try. (And I didn't forget to bring everything I needed to class today.) Is there something you want to suggest about the fact that I have to "try"? I may have to "try" but I am in better classes than you are, considered smarter, considered "gifted."

You can't be in GT/AP classes just by "trying" if you aren't smart to some extent.
And though I sound like an idiot and a broken record, I don't see how it makes you stupid if you study and try to get good grades.

If you can get the same grades without trying, good for you. But I admire and think it is a very good thing that those people who have to "try" to get the same thing you do can, and take the time and effort to do so.

I'm sorry I worked hard to learn English (though I don't even remember doing so since I have "repressed memories" of the terrible times I had. It's what we are talking about in psychology: whether or not they actually exist. XD). I'm sorry I didn't grow up in a house hold that hold the belief that you have to be naturally gifted to be smart.
I'm sorry I am not in Pre Calculus senior year, and instead, finished Calculus BC AP junior year, and took Differential Equations at a community college for 1 semester.
I'm sorry I take AP Psychology with you and always get one of the highest grades in the class.
I'm sorry I take AP Spanish V while you take Russian 3(?). Value education. Value integrity and effort.

I think it is a very good "gift," if that works at all, that he can work hard and achieve what he achieves. I don't think anyone should belittle him for that.
Sure, he may not be as "smart" as you are, but that is no reason to make him inferior. Trying hard is nothing to be ashamed of. If you can do well doing so, then I think it's much better than being "naturally gifted" and doing well for no reason.

I am around many people that are completely amazingly smart, and some are actually, what I consider, geniuses.
I am around people that get 2200, 2310, 2360, 2400, on their SAT's.
I am around people that get into MIT, UPenn, Harvard, Princeton.
And they can do things that I have to take much effort in understanding, and sometimes not understanding at all. On tests that I got C's in in Differential Equations? The girl that got into MIT got 100's.
The concepts that I never understand in AP Physics? Some of my friends get it in a flash, and have taken them their junior year.

My sister, I have to admit, is MUCH smarter than I am, and have so much more "potential," as well as being "naturally gifted." But she tries.
She is planning to take mostly AP classes next year. She constantly gets 4.0's. She understands concepts, and helps her senior classmates in her Calculus AB AP class that she takes as a sophomore.
She is both sides of the argument. She is naturally smart, and tries to be even better.

Well, if you haven't gotten the idea already, I truely admire those with determination and is able to put effort into what they do, no matter how good/bad they are at things.
Because I think it's a very important factor in their life. You can't just cruise through life just because you are "smart." You have to try in many ways.
And not trying and considering yourself smart will hit you later on.

Poema

Si yo tengo la abilidad
para fabricar tu dolor a
Un amor para mi
Yo te daré el mundo
Hasta la luna brillaré
A abrazarte

Si tú me das tus amores
Mi cariño será tu
Para siempre mi querida

Si yo tengo la abilidad
Para llenar tu corazón puro
Con tu amor para mi
Yo te daré el milagro del sol

Si tú me das tus amores
Mi cariño será tu
Para siempre mi querida

-----------------
Um. My internet is broken.
It has been for the past 3 weeks.
So I can't do homework, research, much less surf around on the internet... And I'm wasting my time watching Dragon Ball GT... My life is in shambles!!!

Ice Storm

Okay, so it wasn't exactly a storm, but it sleeted.
And very badly so.
Enough for us to get our first snow day of the year.
As I thought, pretty late.
It's middle of February, and we our first snow day.

We initially had a two hour delay, so after checking that out (the internet took FOREVER to load, so we had three browsers open at once on two computers...), we emo-ly went back to bed for 2 more hours.
When I was getting ready to go to school, I asked my sister, "Are you sure that we have school today?"
And my sister looked at me in a wtf-u-r-so-stoopid way, and said, "They don't just change things like that!"

But I wanted to make sure, since my mom was obviously breaking apart ice in the front driveway. So I went back to SchoolsOut.COM, and loaded the page, and surely:

Posted at Wed Feb 13 07:24:01 -0500 2008

Due to inclement weather, all _____ County public schools are closed today, Wednesday, February 13.

Yes yes. I don't mind at all. I'll forgive you for telling me it's a two-hour delay.


Everything is iced-up, and the trees are covered in ice. And it's like 46 degrees? so it's all going to melt soon, but it's still iced-up everywhere.


I would totally not want this flower for Valentine's Day...
Which is coming up!
Yay for Chocolate Day!

Now, because I haven't been doing anything for the past week or so, I should probably study for my Inferno test that I would probably have on Friday.

Iconoclastic~: Japanese blog

No Worries Now?

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

Well, now that I'm officially accepted to four colleges, I guess I can stop spazzing about my schooling next semester.
My mom was TOTALLY ready to send me to the community college nearby, and I was getting ready to go as well. Because she freaked me out.

I have three dogs in the house. Sometimes, there's four. The ones up in the picture are the two that we're currently taking care of for the weekend.
There is Roxie down below who was at our house for 3 weeks because her parents were at Bali... of all places. lol.


Tennis season is starting up again next month. So maybe I'll lose some of this fat. Hopefully. Except tennis season = compulsive eating. I'm trying not to eat so much junk, but I never knew it was so hard!!! I was able to do it at some point before... but what's up with this problem now?

One subject I'm having REAL difficulty with is Physics. It is totally my nemesis. Like, for real.

Here are my 2nd quarter grades for no one that cares:
Advanced Composition: A
Orchestra IV: A
Early Childhood Education II: A
Psychology AP: A
Spanish V AP: A
Physics AP: B
English 12 Honors: A

I was so surprised about the A in Spanish... And I really need to maintain a B in physics. That is totally... death.
Someone needs to save me from this hell.
Which reminds me... I need to finish reading that Inferno business.

♥ Happy Valentine! ♥