120/365

I had a nightmare about accidentally skipping three Mock Trial after-school practices, and getting kicked off Varsity. =[

Day 8 ~ The One Feeling During The Season That You Won’t Ever Forget

To be honest, it's that moment when I'm on the field, just before we perform, with the crowd watching you and the stadium lights shining down... It's one of the best feelings in the world. I don't get the same vibe from parade, although the adrenaline rush from performing is amazing anywhere, anytime. There's just something special about the brightness of truly being on the field in the night - the one bright spot in the stadium; the one place where everyone is watching. Then, of course, winning sweepstakes or first in our division is pretty awesome as well. =]

119/365

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Science Bowl!!!

So A Team's record through the qualifying rounds was 3-1-1; we tied with Monte Vista and lost to Santa Theresa. Santa Theresa's only win was against us though, which was... interesting. Foothill beat us 4-0-1 in our bracket (their one loss was against us). But we moved on to quarterfinals? semifinals? where we sort of got owned by Monta Vista. Not completely though - the end score was something like 74-114. But in any case, it was pretty awesome. I played a total of 1 1/2 rounds (since technically I'm only an alternate) but I got to get some questions right! It was fun. =] They had yummy Costco muffins and Costco pizza too; it made me happy. =P

I had opportunities to make random quips too. We have to introduce ourselves whenever we begin a round, so one moderator asked us to add, in addition to our name, some random fact about ourselves, so I told them that I spin rifles. It sounds much cooler than just saying, "I'm in Colorguard," especially since there are many deprived people in this world who don't know what that is. Another moderator asked what our favorite sports team is (a lot of people said they don't have one - what do you expect, we're nerd!), so I just went, "Marching Band is a sport, right?"

I left early with Zach; the rest of the people (excepting Erin and Natasha, who also left early) stayed to watch another round after we got eliminated. They apparently went ice-skating after, which sort of makes me sad, since I wanted to go, but it wouldn't have been a good idea, on account of the still-bleeding cut on my ankle (you'd think it would have stopped bleeding after a full day!).

We all went to Melanie's after though, she had yummy food. =] Cocktail shrimp, lots of fruit, sandwiches, chips, and cookies! We watched a bit of Schoolhouse Rock, then played some Rock Band. =D

It was a really fun day. Competing is stressful though... Ah well. It's still awesome. =P Hopefully I'll be on A Team (as in actually on it, not just an alternate) so I can stress myself out! =D

*****

Epic fails of the day...

Simplify [sqrt(19) + sqrt(5)][sqrt(19) - sqrt(5)]
Zach: 19 - 5
You mean 14...?

Sally (or whatever) brings 3 shirt, 2 pants, and 2 pairs of shoes (not sure about the items of clothing) on a trip. How many possible outfits can Sally make?
Tommy: 24
He apparently did 3*2*2*2... Same with the 2+2+5+2 from practice, except with multiplication... xP

The equation y - 4 = 3x intersects the y-axis at which point?
Tommy: (0, -4)
Whoops. Wrong sign. =[

A human somatic cell has how many pairs of homologous chromosomes?
Boozer: 23
So this isn't a fail exactly, but sex chromosomes aren't homologous...

DDT was banned for its destructive effect on which type of animal? (I forget the exact wording...)
Monta Vista dude: Tuna?
It was birds, especially birds of prey. The DDT would make the eggshells of their eggs super thin, so when they tried to brood them, they'd essentially just be crushed by the mother's weight. This wasn't too much of a fail either, but tuna? Really?

I'm sure there were a few more, but I love how we know all this random knowledge (like the three types of magma and their range of temperatures!) yet we screw up on simple math or just blank out... xD

The Effects of AP Bio On My Life

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I got this adorable, soft, fluffy, fuzzy stuffed animal today. It's so cute! Anyways, I guessed that it was a female. The thing is, I didn't do this based on the fact that it's wearing a pink ribbon... I did it based on the fact that it's a calico cat.

Calicos are predominantly female, since to have that coloration, a cat must possess two alleles which code for orange and black, and these are sex-linked, present on the X chromosome. Therefore a cat must have 2 X chromosomes to be a calico. The only way for a calico cat to be male is from nondisjunction, which ends up in the cat having the genotype XXY, known as Klinefelter syndrome in humans (characterized by a sterile male with underdeveloped male genitals and female attributes). Yeah. Not the pink ribbon, the biological explanation for the coloration. Oh, Mr. White...

Day Seven ~ Least Favorite Marching Memory

Uhm... Fainting, definitely. Lunges around the track sort of sucked too. xD Every drop in the show, forgetting work, doing the wrong work... Being yelled at for not being able to get work down... Yeah, there are a few. But the benefits and positive aspects of Colorguard far outweigh the unsavory parts.

Oh, and the very first parade competition. That route was horridly long, and it just wasn't the same performing without the chill of the night air and the blinding stadium lights shining down on you...

118/365

I hate it when people ditch what was supposedly their "favorite club" because they did well once in another club.

First it was _ _ _ _- _ _ _ _ _, and now it's apparently _ _ _ _. And you said you wanted to run for officer positions in both? There's certain things you need to learn... If you aren't willing to devote the time to the clubs and competitions, if they aren't your absolute first priority, if they don't have your absolute passion, then don't even bother.

There's an art in being involved in multiple clubs and trying your hardest in all of them. I know. I have quite a few academic clubs (five, to be exact), that all seem to have competitions on the same days. I need to skip a few, because there's absolutely no way that I would be able to attend them all, but when I can, I do. I don't make up excuses as to why I don't think I can attend something, because I planned to go out with friends, or because my parents were going somewhere. Even if you show up, saying that you might not be there just shows the lack of effort in attempting to show up.

Oh, and one more thing? Don't fool yourself. A few positive comments and some awards doesn't mean that you're absolutely splendid at whatever it is you're involved in. You keep saying it was because other people helped you along, but with your attitude, one would think you got there yourself, and want the world to know it. Focus on your weak points, and don't exaggerate your strong ones. I'm not saying you don't deserve recognition for your achievements, simply that there's always something to improve on, and the "Why can't you just realize I did this well?" attitude isn't going to get you anywhere.

That Was Freaky...

I was taking a shower, and while I was shaving my legs, I forgot that I had this surface scab (you know, those that aren't really scabs since the blood doesn't pool on the surface, it comes out in little dots? I don't know how to describe it...) on my ankle, so I sort of ran the razor over it and ripped off half the scab then proceeded to rip some more skin off. I have this shallow furrow in my ankle now. It wasn't big or anything; it stung a bit, but mainly I was just like, "Wow, really? I'm retarded. I can't believe I forgot that was there..."

So I kept shaving and ladeeda, and after a few more seconds, the wound or whatever you want to call it started dripping blood. I'm not kidding, it literally started oozing blood from the ankle down. At that point, I sort of looked at it and went, "Crap." (Hey, it was a lot of blood!) But I figured it would stop, so I rinsed it off and kept taking my shower, except the damn thing wouldn't stop bleeding. Like I'd get rid of all the blood and the next time I looked down, there was a nice new bloody river flowing down my ankle. I remember looking down once and seeing my whole ankle red, and the water around my ankle a reddish-pink. And for a girl with really bad eyesight, that's sort of... impressive?

But it was rather freaky, so after I finished showering, I walked downstairs (with a pad of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of my foot, so the blood wouldn't drip all over the floor), and by the time I got to the kitchen (which is where our Band-Aids and crap is), I had another river of blood down the side of my foot.

Anyways, that was my legit "Oh Sh*t" moment of the day.

Pyro Nerds!

We had the flame test in chem today, where you burn barium/copper/strontium/potassium and look at the color of the flame. Anyways, Joanne/Faustine/Courtney/Jessie/I finished the mini-lab, so we started burning the sticks that the elements were on, and mixing colors and all that good stuff.

So we finished burning sticks, and I head on over to Peter and Ross's group, since they always do a ton of awesome stuff. They were burning pennies. =] As in, the post-1982 pennies. Since they're copper-coated zinc, and zinc has a lower melting point than copper, the penny would start melting on the inside with the copper still being solid, and tapping it on the lab table would cause the zinc to ooze out. (See? There's chemistry involved! We're pyros, but we're not just pyros.) We decided it would be awesome if we had a crucible, since we could then fuse all of the zinc bits together and get a nice block of zinc. xP I love how Mr. Coburn did absolutely nothing about it - when Joanne and I were still burning pennies and he wanted to turn off the gas, he asked if we were done burning stuff. =P

So after that lab group stopped, I got Joanne to do it with me, and Peter came over to watch. I tried burning a pre-1982 penny on accident - it turned cherry red and started flaking. o.o But anyways, we burned a few more pennies and it was pretty awesome. =D If any of you ever get to try this, adjust the Bunsen burner so that there's that bright blue triangle within the flame, then hold the penny at the tip of the triangle. Once it starts melting (you'll be able to tell; it'll like, bend), pull it out of the flame and tap it on the tabletop.

So anyways, I now have a zinc penguin and a demolished copper "penny" that looks like it's oozing zinc (the two pieces are fused together).

Day 6 ~ Favorite Marching Memory

Oh jeez, there are so many! Most of them not even directly related to marching... xD I love our bus rides to and from competition, and how we used to get back around midnight. Jhay's random little quips (beaten puppies, God pulling the wings off angels, being Nemo or a piranha, etc.) were pretty amazing... We had a pretty beast Publish or Perish game going on this year while waiting for announcements at one of the comps. I could go on forever. =]

117/365

I'm academically average! Yay C- in APUSH! Hm. Yeah, this isn't average, at least not in my social group... I would cry if not for the fact that this is due to our having only a single assignment in the gradebook as of yet, and that assignment being a pop quiz that freaked out pretty much the whole class. xD

I love how Mr. Coburn humors the pyro nerds in his class, including myself. =]

116/365

.

This made me so ridiculously proud of myself... xD

Day 5 ~ Favorite Show You've Seen

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115/365

My subconscious scares me sometimes.

I had this dream last night in which I lived in this quaint little village, where you knew pretty much everyone, but vampires started to appear. But these weren't your typical suck-your-blood vampires, oh no. They pretty much ate you whole. They would also something bash your head in with rolled up pieces of paper, and if that didn't work, they whipped out a block of tile from thin air. Plus they had little pieces of metal that, in the smallest quantities, could set you on fire. It was really creepy.

In any case, I guess I was trying to fight these demons, but they couldn't see me? I remember saving this one teenager from being burned, then I saved this old lady called Betty Smith, and shoved her into her group of friends to be protected. But her friends pushed her around their circle (trying to protect her, I should add) that she broke out the other side, and there were two vampires who burned her despite my efforts. Then two of my friends tried to save her, and one of the vampires tried to burn them too, by putting the pieces of metal down the back of their shirts when they bent over. I was able to save them, and somehow shoved the pieces of metal down the shirt of one of the vampires, and found out that it works on vampires, though not to the same extent as humans. [Side note - The vampire who tried to/burned Betty Smith, and tried to burn my friends was blonde with her hair in a half-updo, wearing a magenta dress and a red shawl].

After a while, the vampires discovered that I was the one foiling their attempt to, I don't know, eat and burn all of mankind, and tried to kill me. I somehow found a companion - I seem to remember the person being a guy, but I'm not sure, because I remember Courtney in the dream but I can't place where - and we were both trying to save the village and stay alive. We met this old guy which snapped our picture as we ran past, which freaked both of us out, because there was something about vampires having a connection with cameras. But we discovered it was a Polaroid, which calmed us down, because vampires use digital cameras (don't ask me why/how I "know" this...). So we ran up to the guy, he gave us the picture and these sheets of paper.

Eventually, this guy? and I found this old hut thing to hide out in (it was literally tiny, the max number of people that could have fit was probably three), and it had symbols on the walls. After a bit, I was able to find out how it worked - it was apparently an anti-mystical creature boundary. We read the pages, which described all of these mystical creatures, and apparently the vampires who ate/burned people were called Batman Johnsons. There was also this creature called a Luminar that could shoot shards of crystal out of the palms of its hands, and a little invisible lump creature thing that was supposed to be nice. There was a lot of information on more creatures too; I remember there being something about a companion puppy as well. But it was really interesting, and would have been a nice read if, oh right, we weren't being hunted down by crazy man-eating, flesh-burning Johnsons. (Rofl. xD)

Eventually this creature found us, and I was able to activate the barrier, so he got trapped in the wall for a few minutes. But either I wasn't working the spell right, or it was weak from non-use, because he escaped outside of the walls, and apparently made a hole in the hut, and stabbed my friend in both eyes. I thought the creature was a vampire, but it used shards to pierce my friend, so maybe it was a Luminar... At this point, I kill off whatever it was somehow, and sit sort of sit there petrified.

Then I woke up, and apparently the whole thing was a psychological experiment on how people would react in times of great stress? I was one of the few people who actively sought out to prevent the vampires from killing off others; a lot of people just tried to protect themselves, and a few even joined the vampires. One of them remembered stabbing someone in the eyes, so... I guess that was a correlation? It was creepy...

In any case, I was really freaked out when I woke up, especially since I didn't get so much into the "psychological experiment" part. If the dream was an hour long, maybe 30 minutes were spent protecting others without the vampires knowing it was me, 10 were spent running away, 10 were spent reading the manual, 9 were used to trap and eventually kill whatever crap thing killed my friend, and one minute was devoted to the "waking up" from the "psychological study."

Anyways, I have really weird dreams...

Day 4 ~ Least Favorite Show You've Performed

I really love all the shows I've performed... The only thing I can think of that gave me a surprise in a not-so-good way was that my first year in, we had to wear bright red bras, fishnets, and black pleather pants with red designing. Plus super red lipstick. Oh yeah, and I got to be lifted upside-down by Boozer, who, by the way, both dropped me and punched me in the face at least once. =P

But even with the shock of having to "act sultry" my first year, Zorro was an amazingly fun show, and I still loved it. =]

Day 3 ~ Favorite Show You've Performed

.

I'm not really sure why, but I really loved Thrill Ride... I really liked Zorro and Purple Pageant too (hell, I just love Colorguard completely), but... I'll never forget these wigs. xD Plus it gave me my first experience on rifle. =]

*****

As for "non-official" shows, our Homecoming halftime this season really rocked it. Bad Romance and Thriller ftw! ;D

114/365

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Partying It Up After Finals!

I was literally out from 2-10pm today, for fun, which never happens. xD

Anyways, I went over to Zach's for like 2 hours. We didn't do much, but hanging out was nice...

Went bowling with Sling, Davy, Cory, Chrison, and John at Dublin Bowl. Funfunfun. =D I actually didn't do too badly the first game. We had some pretty epic times too.
Davy was talking about how pro people bowl, and decides to imitate one. So he walks up, bowls something, turns and does a victory pose then walks back laughing. And he gets a strike. It was EPIC; I wish we got it on film. xD We tried to "replay" it, but it never happened again... At least, not with a strike.
Then I was bowling, and for some reason I was laughing really hard (probably either Davy or Cory being a retard), so when I go to bowl, I pretty much get dragged backwards by the ball, and fall to the ground. Oh, right, and this was a seven-pound ball too. I normally use the ten, but the seven was there for "muscling" it. xP Oh, they got that on film...
So yeah, fun times bowling. We walked to Burger King and Dollar Tree after too, and just wandered around. I love DVHS kids, they're so cool. =D

Invaded Lisa's house after as well; we watched The Green Hornet! I LOVE Jay Chou. He's freaking ninja!!! Lisa and I talked a bit, then I had to leave. =[ But when I was putting my shoes on, I was going to sit on the floor, and didn't realize there was this mini step thing to the side (in my defense, it was dark). So... I sat down right where the step was and fell backwards. We got a good laugh out of that one. xD

*****

I love my friends. ♥ We have school tomorrow though... =[ Back to homework and tests... But hey, upside - I don't have an A Period anymore! For the first time in my high school life! (And that's counting since 8th grade, because I had geometry!) So happy. =D

Day 2 ~ Favorite Corps

Blue Devils, anyone? =P Bias or not, they're pretty awesome. =]

113/365

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Day 1 ~ Name, Instrument, Background

Name - Erica "Kitten"

Instrument - Rifle

Name of Instrument - Pookie

Background - My sister was honestly the one who sought out Colorguard. I remember her practicing with a flag back when they actually had auditions, and just thought it was sort of cool. I used to be a bandie (flute all through middle school), but I didn't have enough room to take band as a school course. I figured I could take Marching Band (extra-curricular) and march flute, but I was never particularly good at it, and wanted to try my hand at something new.

Colorguard has been an amazing experience. We've done two seasons of field, and the 2010 season was our first in parade. I started out on flag, everyone spun rifle a bit my second year, and now I've transitioned onto the rifle line! It's tough, and I don't agree with my district's ruling that it shouldn't count for PE credits (it's more intense than PE!). As for the name of my rifle, it's been a tradition to name your rifle or sabre (not flag though, don't ask me why). I guess I just started calling mine Pookie for no good reason, but hey, it has a name now! We also have a little tradition of ending up giving people nicknames. It's not everyone, mainly just a few people whose nicknames come naturally. We have an Ellen "Ninja" and a "Chicken Little" Ellen. One of my fellow guardies calls me Kitten every so often, so I guess that can sub in as my guardie name.

So I'm totally psyched for marching season next (or this, technically) year. I'm pretty sure we're still doing parade - oh no, no costume change! - which is pretty nice, because that means I'll have done two seasons of field, and likewise for parade. I'm also very tempted to buy a rifle myself once I graduate, if only to spin a bit for fun in college.

Marching Band Challenge!

Day 1 - Name, instrument, background
Day 2 - Favorite corps
Day 3 - Favorite show you’ve performed
Day 4 - Least favorite show you’ve performed
Day 5 - Favorite show you’ve seen
Day 6 - Favorite marching memory
Day 7 - Least favorite marching memory
Day 8 - The one feeling during the season that you won’t ever forget
Day 9 - Biggest marching disappointment
Day 10 - Greatest marching achievement
Day 11 - Favorite marching tradition
Day 12 - A note to your director(s)
Day 13 - A note to your section leader
Day 14 - Design your own dream show
Day 15 - Your statement to the world about marching

*****

Yes, I'm doing two "challenges" simultaneously.

112/365

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Oh Davy...

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I don't know what to say to this. =P
I feel like it would be in bad taste to make a quip about Sling...

111/365

I'm done with finals, and done with the SAT! It wasn't too bad; my essay definitely brought my grade down a bit though... It sort of sucked, and I don't think it addressed the prompt that well, which was stupid since it wasn't even one of those hard prompts. Nothing about "technology" or "today" because those both rule out books (unless you read non-fiction about technology that's really recent). But I stupidly chose a hard-to-support side, but I realized this like halfway through the essay, so I was like, "Crap... -sighs- BS time..." But I'll see...

Anyways, I'm not going to worry about this until February 10, when scores come out. I will say that I really hope I don't need to take it again though... I'm going out with friends on Monday to celebrate and savor this homework-less (for the most part) weekend! And it's three days! (Even though I spent 8 hours at school today, what with the SAT and the Mock Trial run-through. xD)

I'm so screwed for the SAT tomorrow... I've been too busy studying for finals that I didn't even think about the SAT...

110/365

Final Finals Update!

AP US History [X] - Well, I didn't beast it, but I was one of the four As! An A- actually, but screw that. Many thanks to Eric, Davy, Jess, and Bhumika for helping me study! =D

Honors English 11 [X] - No idea what I got on this, but I should have a solid A. I only need a 68% for a solid A, and something like a 36% for an A-, so if I don't have at least an A-, I will shoot myself. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. xD (Edit: I got a 93%, so I'm set!)

Over and done with ~

Mock Trial
Yoga
AP Chemisty
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology

On the to-be-beasted list ~

None! Finals are over (for this semester at least)!

Finals Overview ~

I did pretty well on all of my finals, even if bio was curved. =P I'm so glad for that. APUSH is going to be curved too, so my A will go up a bit. I have straight solid As! Not even a single A-! And I had given up getting anything higher than an A- on bio. I'm happy. =D So finals are over, an we have a three-day weekend! Life is good. Even if I have SATs tomorrow, which I haven't prepped for at all...

*****

Funniest thing ever after school today. We had a Science Bowl meeting (only like, 5 people showed up, but meh), and Cheyenne walks in with Quickly's. HOSA was selling it for $3.00 in the quad, but I didn't have money. =\ So Mr. White decides he should go support HOSA (since he's the advisor), but wasn't sure if he wanted to drink it since it's full of sugar, and I joked that he should give it to me. He leaves, then Cheyenne offers to lend Melanie and me money to buy bubble milk tea, so we head on over. On the way there, we see Mr. White coming back with two cups, and we asked him why he bought two.
"I... got one for Erica..."
Yep. That's right. My bio teacher bought me Quickly's. xD I'm paying him back of course, but I just felt that it was pretty amazing. Who would have thought?

Mr. White, I love you for curving the summer reading test. Now let's see if I can keep that new-found A. (Probably not, but one can always hope?)

109/265

Finals Update #3 ~

AP Calculus AB [X] - I didn't think it was hard; it was pretty simple, but it wasn't super easy either. I did really well though; I'm happy. I apparently missed a problem on which the graphs weren't in order? Like graph I wasn't choice A, it was choice C, and so on. Probably my fault, but it's sort of annoying. Meh. I might have gotten it wrong anyways. xD

AP Biology [X] - So there was some stuff on there that he told us we didn't need to know... And a few repeat questions... I hope I did well, but I really don't know. -sighs- I just need a B+. Please?

Over and done with ~

Mock Trial
Yoga
AP Chemistry

On the to-be-owned list ~

AP US History
Honors English 11

Mr. King keeps putting in assignments and whatnot, and they are slowly dragging my grade down...

108/365

Finals Update #2 ~

Yoga [X] - Done. True/false about poses and matching pictures with the pose name. I got one wrong, technically, but she's accepting that answer as well, since the picture was sort of blurry. I'm not sure what to say about this other than the fact that it was super easy... Oh, and that I could have gotten a flat 0 and still kept my A.

AP Chemistry [X] - Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. The MC seemed pretty easy; the FR was slightly harder but still not too bad. I'm unsure about a few FR answers, but overall, I think I did pretty well. In any case, I'm pretty sure I'm keeping my A.

Over and done with ~

Mock Trial

On the to-be-owned list ~

AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP US History
Honors English 11

107/365

Finals Update #1 ~

Mock Trial [X] - The trial went well, as always. I thought I talked a bit too fast at times and sort of stumbled over an explanation, but overall, it was pretty good. The judge (Mrs. Woodward) said I was really believable and controlled my hand gestures and such well, so I'm hoping I did well! =]

On the to-be-owned list ~

Yoga
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP US History
Honors English 11

I Guess I'm Done

I think in your "characterization" of me today, you hit almost every point I had to say about you.

Apparently I'm really snide when I help people? I don't know how you'd know, because you never ask me for help in the way you say I do. You said you ask for help in calc? Yeah, right, you with your 100-and-whatever would ever ask me for help. Plus, snide-ness is an opinion, which may be influenced by the fact that you hate being "taught" unless you have a specific question. And if I'm so snide, why do you always ask me for help with Mock Trial questions? If you don't like my tone, have you thought telling me would help? Even if my tone isn't great, at least I help instead of ignoring you. Oh, right, you think I do that too. Except when I ask when I've ever ignored you, you can't come up with a single example, and just declare that I have.

I'll tell someone if I don't want them to look at my notes, or if I don't want to help them. No, you insist that "[the notes] don't help," and only admit you don't want to help after I logically tell you why your argument doesn't make sense. I'm frank; you beat around the bush until there's no other option but to actually say your true intention.

Oh, and after getting over this barrier, you find it prudent to go on a huge rant in class about how I apparently "screw you over" and tell you we don't need to know something and we end up needing to know it. Well, sorry if I'm not a psychic; I don't get why you would expect me to know what's on the test any better than you do.

And apparently I over-dramatize everything. Yeah, sure. I'm pretty sure I know what my parents expect of me more than anyone else though, even if the other person is in my family. There's plenty of things that go on when guests, because that's what she was, aren't visiting. So okay, I'm dramatizing things because someone who was visiting insists that my parents don't expect as much from me as I say they do.

And the worst thing you do? You're fake. Absolutely fake. You even had me fooled for a few years. I ignored my gut instinct and everything my family told me because I thought you were better than that. But you pretend to be all nice and loving and helpful until there's something to be gained from your friends. Strengthening a different friendship, getting a better grade, something that would help you. Then your former friends get tossed aside and stepped on.

*****

I cried through math and lunch. I don't even know why I would waste the tears. Maybe it's because I was sad someone would ever think that of me. Maybe it's because I was surprised that someone like you could accuse me of not helping others. Maybe because I thought you were better than that. I've tried to defend you against the back-talk (oh yeah, it's definitely there) but if you really think I'm snide, don't help you, ignore you, and try to screw you over, then fine, I don't care what they say about you anymore. Keep in mind that there are plenty of people who think the same exact thing about you.

Oh right, I've sort of wanted to say this for a while, but I felt bad because I was probably just going crazy. But today's incident has lent me conviction. Have you ever noticed that you don't have any really close female friends who go to our school, and are in our grade? You used to. But oh, wait, you screwed them over. Just like you think I'm trying to do to you. You're close to guys, and girls either not in our grade or not in our school. I'm speculating (yeah, object to that) but that's probably because they don't present a threat to you and your perfect little world with your perfect little grades. You screw us over with friends, with grades.

*****

So you know what? If you want to hate me, go ahead. I should have seen it a long time ago when those little things happened, but I just glossed over. I figured you had other stuff to deal with. It wasn't just me either. That thing with Amy? I don't know her, so I just accepted that she was mean to you, but I really don't think that was the case. The incident last year with those two girls who used to be as close as your sisters? I tried to see things from your point of view, but screw it. You don't get another chance. I'm not a believer in "no more chances," but I'm sick of dealing with your crap. Too bad I can't cut you out of my life and history completely.

I can be spiteful and completely ignore you from now on, but I'm not a spiteful person. I can pretend it never happened, but unlike you, I'm not fake. But I refuse to deal with you anymore. You're my schoolmate, my classmate, but I don't care. You can be a stranger.

I know who you are now, and not a moment too soon. You can be glad that you don't need to deal with my "snide-ness" anymore; I don't care. I'm done.

106/365

Ouch. Racism!

105/365

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GIANTmicrobes

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I feel like an AMAZING nerd, but I really want these. I got the syphilis one a while ago. The little plush dolls are actually pretty cute... And just so I can keep track of which ones I like the most (if I ever get around to buying these xD), I'm making a list here. A lot of them look the same though. Oh well, they're cute. =] And yes, I just called bacteria/viruses cute.

The Flu
The Clap/Gonorrhea
Heartworm
Tuberculosis
MRSA

Amoeba
Krill
Scum

Egg Cell
Sperm Cell

104/365

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I have "The Remedy" stuck in my head. Especially the first verse...

"Well I saw fireworks from the freeway
And behind closed eyes I cannot make them go away
Cuz you were born on the 4th of July, freedom ring
Now something on the surface, it stings
I said something on the sruface
Well it kind of makes me nervous
Who says that you deserve this
And what kind of God would serve this?
We will cure this dirty old disease,
Cuz if you've gots the poison, I've gots the remedy..."

I really hate people who brag. Especially people who brag subtly. If you brag, at least don't try to hide it.

103/365

Finals are going to suck. I'd love if I could have straight solid As, but I can't get a solid A in bio, so...

*****

Mock Trial - I love this class. I actually have a passion for it, and it doesn't add any stress to my workload. It's actually like my chill-out class, and it's nice it's only offered A period, because then I don't have to worry about having to go to some ridiculous class every day. It gets sort of competitive at times, and I still get nervous, but it's amazing. In any case, the final (as always) is going to be a run-through of the case. Not worried about this class in the slightest. =]

*****

Yoga - Another class in which I don't have to worry about the final. It would be sort of sad if I did... But it's just true/false type questions and matching pictures of poses with their names. I could probably legitimately fail this final and still have an A. Or I could legitimately fail this, and not have an A, and it wouldn't even matter because I'm taking it pass/fail! xD

Chem - I'm worried about this. I'm pretty sure I can get at least an A-, but I'd really like an A in this class. Given how I've been doing on tests in this class, I'm not sure I can get a solid A, but I'll try... =\ I'll have time to study for this though, since I'm definitely not doing squat for the yoga final. xD

*****

Calc - I better get a solid A in this class. If by some freak event of nature I don't, I'll be tremendously disappointed in myself. But this is another final I won't really worry about. I'll review a bit so I don't forget formulas and theorems and whatnot, but I'm pretty much good.

Bio - So screwed. It's my lowest grade right now, and I need to get at least a B+ to get an A-... And I need over 100% to get an A. I'll need to study like hell... =[ It's funny how the one class I need to study the most for is paired with the one "easy" class that I still need to review for... At least I don't have bio and chem on the same day... I would shoot myself.

*****

APUSH - I'm sort of worried about this class. Probably not going to get a solid A unless I happen to get a solid A on my final, so... It shouldn't be too hard getting an A-, especially since I'm pretty sure Mr. Hodges would round up if I happened to get an 89.6% or whatever. I'll need to study a bit, but if I'm just aiming for A-s, I'm good.

English - On the other hand, I have time to study for APUSH, since my English grade will be fine. If I want an A, I'll need like a 66% (36% for an A-). I think I did pretty well on the written portion, and the final won't be too specific, so I'll just review the crapload of notes I have, and I should get at least a 66%. =P

*****

I rather like my final days this year. I have one easy class with one I need to study for. Now I just need to get around to studying for them... -sighs- But bio is the one final I feel especially screwed for. The rest I only feel screwed for if I want a solid A. I'm fine with A-s though, especially since I'm at least going to have one, so yeah. I just really hope I don't get a B in bio. I can't afford it, considering I got one in Euro last semester... ='[

Finals are coming up. Crap. =[

102/365

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So I was sort of bored picking out clothes this morning, and I tend to dress up in random outfits when I get bored. =P I also braided my hair in chem since we weren't doing much for the first 20-ish minutes, and decided to keep it that way. This wasn't a "spirit day" with Clarie, but it's where the whole concept originated from. xD

*****

Mock Trial was spent studying bio with Marc. xP We got through it all, and I thought I knew the material pretty well, but... And it still pisses me off every time people say that bio isn't hard and that it's easy to understand. For you, maybe, but not the rest of us.

We reviewed what we need in our lab notebooks for chem, then played Jeopardy! (Chem Style) I was in Tommy's group, so we totally beasted. It was sort of amusing, because for questions with multiple answers, I would come up with one and Tommy would say the other... =P But anyways, we got 10 points extra credit!

The bio test sort of sucked. I feel so screwed for that final... We reviewed a bit for the final too, and I talked to Mr. White after class a bit about my grade.

Lunch was spent discussing college with Michael, Peter, Tommy, and Ross. They went into engineering, and I felt dumb, so I left and talked to Tony for a bit. =]

The vocab quiz for English was pretty easy; there were a few questions that were slightly confusing, but not so much that I couldn't figure them out. We had this little class review thing for the final too - Mr. King loaded the PowerPoint with random quotes from classmates, pictures, and audio. It was pretty awesome. =D

*****

Went to IHOP after school with Auntie, Mommy, and Jess. Their pancakes are good; the rest of the food was decent, but nothing especially tasty. I would go back and get all you can eat pancakes though, even if that meant like, four pancakes. xD

I would feel bad saying this, but you're a liar, and you belittle everyone you meet. I really hope you get screwed over by your own actions.

101/365

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This is so Mr. White. xD

It's interesting how every time I feel absolutely horrible about myself, I get an urge to sleep out on the driveway... The middle of the road would work too.

Sometimes I wonder whether your life would be better without me in it. You keep saying it wouldn't, but the things I do, and your reactions, just really make me think. I wasn't raised to be attuned to people emotionally. For me, the best part of having friends was/is having people actually tell me, no matter how infrequent, that I matter in their lives. And I'm sorry for how I repay you. I'm sorry I can't always be there for you. I'm sorry my own troubles render me incapable of helping others. I'm sorry for what I feel like doing right now.

I'm sorry.

Grades

They suck to keep up. It's ridiculous the amount of emphasis everyone puts on grades, and to be honest, a single bad overall grade isn't going to murder your chances of getting into a good college. But to be honest, no one has a right to complain about them. I keep talking about my B in Euro, saying it was because of the ridiculous difficulty of the class, especially compared to the other Euro classes, but while that undoubtedly played a part, there are people who got As in that class, and I should have been one of them. I justify my really low scores on my two AP tests and French Subject SAT last year by saying it doesn't matter, because I'm not majoring in anything remotely related to European history or French, but those are just excuses. There isn't any reason for me to not have done well on those tests.

And as for every person who has, in their lifetime, blamed one of their grades on a harsh teacher, or on the fact that "no matter how hard I try, I just don't get it," we need to stop. A low grade is the product of nothing but yourself. It may be influenced by multiple things - a hard grading scale, an insanely difficult test - but in the end, it's your own fault if you don't achieve the score you want. The exception is when everyone failed, which is extremely unlikely - even for the calc test that had an average of 46%, there were people who got As. And while it may be harder for us to achieve just as high of a grade as those to whom the subject matter comes naturally, there isn't any reason that we can't. We're not stupid, just unmotivated, undisciplined, and unwilling to do all that it takes to get that score. We say we will, but think about it. Facebook, Tumblr, AIM? How often have we gone on those sites while "studying?" How often have we gotten distracted?

It's time we stopped blaming our grades on everything but ourselves, and took a step back to realize, the only ones shouldering the blame should be the ones we're currently pardoning - no one else but "me, myself, and I."

People are never always there for you. And the main is reason is because they have their own worries and sadness. You have enough trouble hiding your pain, that dealing with someone else's just seems impossible. I try, but I don't succeed. And don't lie to yourself either; you know you haven't always been there for everyone you promised to be there for.

100/365

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This is so true. I'm allowed to do a lot of stuff on the list (although my extra-curriculars are all academic-ish: Mock Trial, Mu Alpha Theta, Acadec, marching band...) though. I also didn't get any of the praise and lavish admiration and whatever. And I wouldn't know my parents' motivation. And I've gotten a B before, and know other Chinese kids who have gotten Bs before. Not that I didn't feel absolutely horrible about it, but still... Pretty accurate.

"In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that 'stressing academic success is not good for children' or that 'parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun.' By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that... if children did not excel at school then there was 'a problem.'"

I Love Chem Review Classes!

As in, we don't do anything in chem except "review." Or in my case, go on Blogger and post about "reviewing." But I basically spend the first half hour "studying" and doing practice problems, then for the rest of the class (and mainly through tutorial) I listen to music and chill. And annoy people. =P We got our electrochem tests back too - 100% on FR, 90% on MC. Not too bad. =]

I should probably review for the Gatsby essay later during tutorial (hah, yeah right)... Ah well. I love having wifi at school. =D

Kitten Love ♥

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99/365

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Cold Stone did that weird "Birthday Club" coupon thing, but they sent it out at the beginning of the year instead of actually around your birthday, so my sister and I went yesterday (after California Pizza Kitchen! =D) and got our ice cream.
I always get strawberry ice cream with graham cracker pie crust, mainly because I can't think of anything else that would taste good mixed, and isn't something "normal," like mint chocolate chip. In any case, yummy! =]

Matthew Kurz ~ Don't Leave Me

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It's All Good

That's what I tell myself every time I feel inferior. Life is hard, but I'll graduate high school. I'll move onto college and bigger things. I'll leave this place behind, and that one B in Euro won't matter. That less-than-splendid score on that math test won't matter. That slip-up during trial won't matter. That drop during a show won't matter. It'll all be good in the end. I'll be good in the end.

It's funny how I can get through the worst of days without shedding a tear, but have a perfectly good day and feel like crying at the end.

98/365

"The lifelong excuse that intelligence isn't everything is merely something the stupid tell themselves to boost their low self-esteem."

Rather harsh. Intelligence really isn't everything; I know more than one really smart person who is disliked by a great majority of their peers due to their... less than stellar social skills. In the long run, social skills really do have the potential to carry you far. Of course, you have to have the smarts, or at least some degree of them, but they really aren't that important...
Then again, there are the smart people who can fake their social skills until that one fateful moment when the claws come out and the knives plunge into your back. Those are the worst.

97/365

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So I currently have three boxes of fudge-covered Oreos downstairs. I'm dying to try them, but my stomach has been rather... uncooperative today. =[

The Guessing Game!

Nerd version. But not really, because pure guessing can't be really nerdy. In any case, every time my family goes to a restaurant, or more oftentimes, grocery shopping at Costco or Ranch 99 (or anywhere else we buy a ton of food) I like to guess how much we'll spend when we're in line. I don't calculate the prices and mentally round and add stuff up in my head, I legitimately just look at our cart, and go, "That looks like about $67." I'm usually within $5, because I usually round to the nearest ten.

I had my closest guess today, when we went to go eat at Elephant Bar. I almost forgot to do it, but my aunt was like, "I think we spent around $60 today." And so I just piped up, "I think it's 70... 8... dollars." It turned out to be $78.14. =] It's just something random I do, but every time I'm close, it seems like a little victory. xD

Style & Fashion

Since my sister went shopping today, I figured this would be relevant.

So she went to a Coach outlet and spent $640 or so. And while I understand that Coach stuff is expensive, she has 4 black Coach bags. In addition to other color Coach bags, and other brands (Louis Vuitton, Dooney and Burke...) So I get that you want a purse or a few to carry stuff around in when you're just hanging out (because we, unlike guys, don't have huge pockets), but why do you need so many?! And she bought a Coach computer case too. That, to me, is just like "...wtf?"

As for clothes, you obviously want to find something flattering, but why so picky? Personally, I don't give a crap if my jeans or shirt are a bit loose, or my shoes make my feet look bigger than they are, as long as they're comfortable. I love how whenever people talk about buying clothes, it's about it being the right color, the right style, hugging your body in the right places, etc. Comfort is rarely ever mentioned. Call me weird, but I'd much rather have a pair of really baggy but comfortable jeans that look sort of weird, than a pair of tight body-hugging jeans that are extremely flattering, but also uncomfortable.
In regards to price, I really don't see why ANYONE needs a pair of $200 jeans in any case, at any time, for any reason. Unless they're on sale for like $30. =P Because Seven For All Mankind jeans are pretty comfy. xD

I believe I've ranted about makeup before? If not, the summary is... Makeup is yucky. Stay away from it unless you have a reason to put it on. By that, I mean you're an actor, model, a part of Colorguard or a dance team, and stuff like that. Not because you have a tiny blemish on your forehead, so therefore you must apply foundation to your whole face. Plus concealer, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and blush.

*****

Anyways, it's just my opinion, so feel free to laugh at me. I'd be perfectly comfortable wearing a pair of sneaker, some sweats, and a baggy tee to school every day. But hey, I have nothing against people who are fashionistas. Each to her own. =]

96/365

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Mock Trial Scrimmage Yesterday

It was awesome. Lots of alumni showed up - Cece, Zhuchen, Alyssa, Lana, Adam, Cady, Andy, and George (with whom I had never been on the same team, but he seems cool).

Karishma and Gunjan were stunners in pre-trial, as usual. =P

Prosecution ran out of time to direct Alex/Angel, which was sort of a bummer, because she didn't even get to the part where she got assaulted. Defense ran out of time crossing her too; it was sort of amusing, because time ran out just as Steven finished asking a question... Alex sat there with this little smug smile on her face, it was funny.

My direct was okay, messed up once (blanked on a part of an answer), but got it in later. Tiffy also asked me if I'd like to repeat my answer, but I had finished and was surprised, so I said rather abruptly, "No." After it came out, I sort of wanted to slap myself, but ah well... Apparently I (along with Tiffy, and apparently Lisa?) got marked down for laughing and clapping during the trial (it was so fun though!). Which might explain why I only got a couple of 5s, but I didn't get anything lower than a 4, so I guess I did pretty well, according to the scores at least. In any case, I never laugh/clap during an official trial (or I do it silently behind a hand), so Ramsey said she wasn't worried about that.

Lisa got the varsity spot for Sydney Campbell - Ravid is varsity alternate. She's going to be pretty awesome in the future. =D I can totally sympathize with her, since I was varsity alternate my freshman year too. Hopefully she'll get to go to a few trials; I know I subbed in two, I think, and served as a shadow timer once. Maybe she'll be the new prosecution expert next year too, when Ramsey graduates! xP

Tate/Madison's cross was amazing. He's exactly like an 8th grader... It's awesome for his role. He was hilarious. =]

Steven only had 8 seconds to re-direct Nick/Jesse, so he squeezed in the question about, "Mr. Woodson, did you commit the assault of Angel Sterling?" and Nick finished the last word of his answer exactly when time was called. It was epic. xD I have to admit, I did clap and laugh really loud after that...

We had some pizza after, and talked about improvements and stuff. To be honest, I never would have imagined I'd be the expert witness sophomore year. I was pretty proud of myself for landing alternate frosh year, and I was expecting at least a varsity spot soph year, but not the expert. I tried out for a lay witness, and got moved up - I was insanely happy about it. xD I guess I just have that weird authoritative tone? Which sort of makes sense, my style of speaking tends to change when I'm in a more formal setting, or when I'm talking to authority figures. I learned a lot from Wendy and Ramsey about how to phrase answers though, so a big thank you to them. =] In any case, I'm happy. Even though, as Lana says, my witness has the weirdest conclusions in the world (the brick fell from the building on the right of Angel, and struck the left side of the back of her head!).

I find it amusing that even though I know the conclusions are rather ridiculous, I still try to defend them even when I'm not in trial. I feel bad when people call Dr. Brook Crane crazy, or suggest that he/she is on drugs. xD

95/365

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So my sister bought these Special K Fruit Crisps from Target and all, and I stole a pack (teehee) and they're sooo good! =D They're like little crispy bar things. With yummy stuff inside. I don't know, I just think they're amazing. A bit sweet, but hey, you can never get too much sugar. ;P But anyways, these + blackberries + blueberry Costco muffins + Asian coconut bread + apple juice + Goldfish + Twix + Laffy Taffy = a very, very, very happy Erica. In terms of food at least. =]

94/365

I think I'm addicted to apple juice. I've been drinking copious quantities of the stuff for the past, what, week or so? I'll be eating some random stuff, like rice, or yogurt, or Goldfish, and I'll get this random craving for apple juice. Hm.

93/365

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92/365

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Colorguard 2010 Fall Season, Rifle Line
Get it guard! ♥

Cocky people piss me off...

Yay For Bio Lectures!

I am so ridiculously tired, and this lecture on gene transcription, modification, and whatnot is definitely not helping me stay awake. Oh, and I found a new pet peeve today. One of my classmates nods almost every time the teacher says something, and it’s really, really annoying. And she says “That’s what I would have said” repeatedly too. -sighs- Sorry, but no one cares, and while nodding your head shows you're listening, half the time, it doesn't matter, and another quarter, you're just mindlessly bobbing your head. But in any case, I don’t want to be back at school. So tired… =[ Ah well, I can take a nap during lunch.

Fedora Day!

Clarie and I had another spirit day! They've been sort of haphazard and all, since we've been busy. Ah well. Anyways, today's theme was simple, just a nice black fedora. ;D They're cool though! I had a personal spirit day along with that, which was basically to wear every wearable Christmas present I got (excluding sleepwear). It fit in perfectly, since I got the fedora from Clarie. =P

*****

Mock Trial was pretty chill; Ellen came in and went through crosses/re-directs of Jesse Woodson and Sydney Campbell. We also found out that for our very first trial in the competition, our prosecution team is going up against Miramonte's defense. And for those of you not educated in the standings of schools in terms of Mock Trial, Miramonte has not lost a trial for 7 years in our county competition. Yeah. But we're going to be awesome, and we're going to pummel them! =D

Mrs. Petrich is finally back for yoga! She's been gone since the day after Back to School Night... It's crazy. Also rather funny though, because when we had subs, the class would breeze through all of our salutations, and today, everyone went super slow. xP

Calc was pretty boring. We learned how to do integration and approximations (left, right, midpoint, and trapezoid). I completely didn't listen (was doing a crossword), so when we had to do this group project thing, I had to get Zach to explain to me exactly what we were doing. It's really simple though, and I learned how to do simple integration a while back, so that was cool.

And I slept during lunch.

We did these mini presentations on the causes of the Civil War in APUSH. He didn't check the notes. It made me sad. And we have a DBQ next class, likely on the causes of the Civil War, so that should be pretty easy. It's going to suck though... =[

*****

The first day back wasn't too bad... I still wish break were longer though... And I have a crapload of English to cram into this week. I don't think anyone in the class is done, or even close to being done, with the project. Eric hasn't started, poor guy. He had too much fun in China. xD Ah well. I'll finish somehow. Blah.

91/365

I really, really, really hate it when you compare me to other people. I don't care if they sleep more than me. I don't care if they don't spend as much time working on homework as me, and still get good grades. Let me be my own person. Please.

666 Post!!!

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Here's a cute little guy for us all. =P For those of you who are slow and didn't get that, 666 is the devil's number. Although I'm pretty sure I just sort of dedicated the devil's number to the devil. Post-wise at least. Ah well, whatever. xD

90/365

So at the beginning of every break, I tell myself, "I'm not going to procrastinate. I'm going to get all my homework done the first few days so I can totally relax for the rest." And at the end of every break, I find myself cramming in assignments, notes, essays, projects, whatever else was assigned that I just didn't feel like doing. And the day before we get back to school, I'm always up after midnight finishing up the stuff due the next day... I guess I never learn. =P

89/365

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I just don't. I think they're absolutely stupid. Why do you have to make them at a New Year? Why can't you make your "New Year's Resolution(s)" in July? And besides, who goes through the year thinking about the 15 or so resolutions they made at 12:00am January 1st? And I know that lots of people make resolutions beyond their capacity.

"I want 5s on all my AP tests." Well, so do I, but the thing is, neither of us studied quite enough for the tests last year, and you don't seem very willing to do so this year, given the grades you have in your classes now, and your lack of effort to make them better.
"I want a 2300+ on my SAT." So do we all, but your consistent 2000-2100 range seems to say something about that resolution.
"I need to swear less." Yes, yes you do. But didn't you just send me a text 5 minutes ago with two swear words in it?

I just find it stupid that we have "New Year's Resolutions." I'll make my resolutions when I want, thank you very much.

88/365

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