Gemini - The Twin

Nice. Love is one of a kind. Great listeners. Very good at confusing people… Won't take any crap from anyone. Lover, not a fighter, but will still knock you out. Great at losing things. Forgetful. Sarcastic and childish at times. Trustworthy. Always happy. VERY loud. Talkative. Outgoing. Very forgiving. Has a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong.

OM NOM NOM

.

If I can consistently make people's days better, if they feel happy around me, then I've accomplished my goal.

Perspective

I woke up today and just felt supremely crappy. I couldn't even describe how crappy I felt. I woke up around 6:30 and just laid in bed and cried for a bit until 7:05... I leave for school at 7:05. Life just seemed so pointless, then taking the lit test didn't help my spirits any. I thought of all the times I screwed up supremely and how I can't even accept myself for who I am sometimes. I say I don't care what other people think, and for the most part, that's true, but I still want to be someone who people like to be around - how could I do that if I couldn't even stand to be around myself? I was sort of tired of pretending to be happy; I do a pretty good job a lot of the time. Whenever I seem sad, it'd never the worst - I'm usually the happiest when I'm the saddest, if that makes any sense. I'm the little bubbly girl who people freak out about if they see sad, so I don't want to put them through that. So I bottle it until I'm alone - I cry myself to sleep and punch walls. But every time I feel just like life isn't worth living, I see my friends and realize why I go through this. I remember all those times when I thought about suicide and remember why I didn't actually try it. I know my friends love me, and I love them too. I could call them at 3am if I needed and they would be there for me. Sometimes it just takes some perspective. Despite all the teasing and however many times I tell them that they're mean, I really couldn't live without them. When I say I'm a people person, I mean it. Without the people I have in my life, I wouldn't be here.

Sometimes all you have to remember is that it's not yet the end. We'll always go through rough patches, but that's what our friends are there for; we'll struggle and strive through it all. Take a day to yourself and do your favorite things - avoid work like the plague. No matter how bleak life may seem, there are those people who love you unconditionally. If you ever need to talk, they're there. All you have to remember is that there's another day... Stay positive. =]

Continuation of Spirit Days!

Yeah, forgot to post about this. Anyways, we're continuing that this year. The first one - on the first day of school - was biker chicks!

Memories =]

I really haven't been posting enough. Hm.

Well anyways, I did indeed finish all of my homework in time. APES was last to go. None of my classes have quizzed me on it yet, but that just means I'll be completely bombarded this next week. Ah well...

The first week of school went pretty well; lots of homework already, but that's what you get for taking 6 AP classes... Oh, I got a free chem textbook! Coburn was giving them out since they're all old and ratty and he got new ones. My teachers are pretty awesome - all of them are hilarious and classes should be fun. =]

We started Chinese school again - five returning members from our class. Daniel, Lance, Kim, and Ashley. Yay... We got combined with 10th since they barely have any people too, and our class is now "Chinese Culture." It's... interesting.

*****

Practice today from 9-4 (technically, although we ended at 4:30...) Both Jhay and Kyle came, it was awesome! Kyle remembered me too; it was funny because apparently Jhay had told him pretty much no one he knew was still there, so Kyle was like, "I thought you said I didn't know anyone! I kept looking at her and thinking, 'She looks so familiar!'" It was pretty impressive though, since Kyle spent most of his time with the weapons line, and I, at the time a puny freshman (now a puny senior), was not on the weapons line.

In any case, we did stretches, across the floors, Jhay made us run 10 laps around the quad, and Kyle taught us a tiny bit of contemporary choreo (which included not one, but TWO, of Edric's classic body rolls). It was also pretty interesting because some of the exercises we did were ones Kyle made, like Paper Planes. Alex was trying to explain to him what it was, and he was just like, "That's my exercise!" It was rather funny. And we listened in on Jhay's Colorguard clinic, during the course of which he showed our 2009 field show.

The guys' waterpolo team was washing cars for a fundraiser (I'm assuming), shirtless. So yeah, I was eating my potato salad, then half the guard runs outside so I just follow because I thought it was something interesting. Shirtless guys washing cars. Interesting? xD Then Toria decided she wanted to get her car washed, so Laura, Edie, Alex, and I piled in, circled to where the cars were getting washed, then Toria decided not to do it. Meanwhile, Alex was leaning over my lap gaping. It was amusing.

Cleaned some work today. As in all the work we have so far... Pretty productive day, although extremely tiring. And the band was only there from 1:30-4pm. Psh. Slackers. xP

Time to head off to bed (I've been sleeping early the past couple of weeks...) so I can cram studying econ and lit and taking gov notes tomorrow. =]

Officially a Senior

And with that comes senioritis! School starts on Wednesday and I'm still not done with my summer homework! Half of my APES homework left and the most annoying part of the lit reports... Plus I should probably study for the quizzes/essays/whatever I'll have on these summer assignments... But studying can wait until later. xP

I guess I'm ready for a whole new year of excitement - put junior year behind me, senior year here I come! Yay for a whole new episode of love, hate, stress, drama, and teen angst! It'll be fun... Plus balancing all of the club responsibilities I have (oh what have I gotten myself in to?) - I think I have officer positions in six clubs? Captain, two president positions, two vice president positions, and a treasurer position. Jeez...

Well anyways, life's good and busy and stress-filled already, but I always love a challenge! ;D

Professional Cello Rack Assembler

Ross, Courtney, and I stayed behind for like two hours assembling a cello rack for Mr. J. It started out with, "Hey, do you guys want to throw that stuff away for us?" and ended with "Mr. J! Look at how pretty it is!" xD I failed a lot. But hey, it was fun and it ended up looking nice! Now we know that if the three of us ever drop out of college, we can start a cello rack assembly company together! No high school diploma needed!

We had try-outs for rifle/flag today. Sneakily but not really. Basically, Elaine told us she wanted to see it, so we did it. She didn't mention that they were the auditions, but whatever. Chloe's little brother came to teach us some rifle stuff too; he's a sophomore and CRAZY good. He's been spinning since elementary school though, so that's to be expected...

Anyways, band camp is fun. =P Lots of sun, lots of sweat. Yay planks and pushups. No concussions yet, so that's always good. Three more days (and registration tomorrow)! =]

Steal the Bacon!!!

The first day of band camp wasn't too bad. Except for the fact that after running two laps, I felt light-headed and had blurry vision for a few minutes... I'm so out of shape... -sighs-

We played Steal the Bacon with a shoe today. xD I got two points (yay go me!) in a row (w00t! =P) then I tried to go for three and got completely tackled to the floor. Consecutive rounds included me being in the middle of a huge mob trying to get the shoe, me being dragged around, me being chased around the room, and me chasing people around the room. Basically, I ended up with lots of rug burns, some bruises, and a loose tooth. Don't underestimate the power of band geeks when put to a task like stealing bacon... =P
Ross also learned to ski today. xP He got dragged around SO MUCH during that game, sometimes on his feet, sometimes not. It was absolutely hilarious to watch - he's either gotten a lot more outgoing or I just haven't really been paying attention.

Also got a ride home from Ross today, even though it's technically not legal yet. What a gentleman. xD

MIT + Harvard

Late posts, so I'll keep them short!


What can I say, MIT is very technical. Our info dude was AMAZING. Absolutely hilarious. PE credits can be satisfied through pistolry, archery, and fencing. Dorm rooms are huge. Buildings are connected (no struggling through snow!).

Harvard is... big. Grand. Impressive. Not as intimidating as I'd think, but not as magnificent either. Very nice campus, nice people. =]

Statue of the Three Lies

[Not] John Harvard
[Not the] Founder
1638 [But really 1636]

Columbia + Yale

Yay NYC! We didn't really do much; just checked out the good old Statue of Liberty and drove through Times Square. Saw a Verizon strike going on...

I didn't really like Columbia's campus all that much. After Penn and Princeton, it just seemed sort of lacking in comparison. Stifling, almost. I didn't stay for the info session or tour because I needed to rush off to Yale, so I still don't know much about the place. The science facilities are pretty awesome though, and they're doing some funky stuff with quantum dots that's rather intriguing.


Yale is slightly intimidating in it's structure. It's amazingly pretty, but very gothic and sort of has an edge. I don't really like the academic structure all that much, just in terms of majors/minors. Minors aren't even offered and it's strongly discouraged to double major. I feel like that's a bit limiting for me, since I'd love to learn a ton about more things, but of course, freedom with the courses is still afforded.

Penn + Princeton

Penn seems like an amazing environment, very cohesive as a unit, albeit slightly isolated from the outside world. VIPLM is definitely something to check out, seems like it would fit my ideals perfectly...

Princeton on the other hand, is slightly intimidating with the junior paper and senior thesis, but the campus is absolutely GORGEOUS. Plus the relationship and proximity with the town (as well as Philly and NYC) are pretty awesome.

See You On the Other Side

I'm off to the East Coast for a week! (Well, more like 4 days...) The sucky thing is that I'll be in NYC but won't be able to browse and sightsee. -sighs- Nah, I'll be off visiting UPenn and Princeton, Columbia and Yale, MIT and Harvard. Yay.

Keep me company on AIM/Facebook/e-mail and help me not go insane during this period of excessive college touring!

And COSMOS 2011 Ends...

It's been so long since I last posted... We've "graduated" from COSMOS! It's been one hell of an adventure. I'll definitely cherish every single one of the memories I've made. It's been an absolutely amazing month.

*****

Leesaw/Ysa/Suna - Thanks for all the late night tea parties and friendletting. I didn't hang out with you guys as much as I would have liked to, but you definitely made my stay here enjoyable. Reading circles, going to World Market... I couldn't have asked for better roomies.

*****

Go5 - I absolutely love you guys... Bowling and pool, "silver in motion" and other chem jokes, knocking random stuff over, bashing cheerleaders, cutting each other off on bikes, playing "Where's Toto?," making weird facial expressions to make one another laugh, bus rides with human pillows and epic games of 99, bubbles!, breaking curfew to play cards, semi-failing at labs, out-of-context things that I rarely understood, stressing like hell to save Brandon's ass, and all of the epic daily fails that come with being us.

Chris (aka Mr. Literal) - "All day baby, all day!"
Brandon (aka Dr./Mr./The Fro) - "SOUR!"
Erica (aka Shorty/Child/Vicious Little Asian Woman) - "OH SHIT!"
Shiori (aka Shiori) - "... -smiles-"
Ryan (aka Toto) - "Caw caw!"

-thump thump- ♥

*****

All we see is Cluster 8!

Biking One-Handed, Hell Yeah!

We had a guest lecture this morning on x-ray crystallography. It was sort of interesting, but I was just so tired for no reason... Ah well.

I took charge of compiling all the pictures to be color printed for posters; sort of disorganized but whatever. Turned out fine.

Distinguished speaker series lecture on baculoviruses and genetic engineering. I completely tuned out since I was exhausted for no particular reason, so I'm not really sure what was said. The dude's PPT was crazy bright colors and all caps though; it was rather annoying. Oh well.

The solar cell lab today turned out pretty nicely - 348 millivolts generated for the win! Apparently I'm very good at scraping off carbon coating in straight lines. Yay me?

I biked from Annex back to the dorms pretty much all one-handed since we had to bring back posters for our project. I'm rather proud of myself, although braking is a pain and I always seem to brake hard when I bike one-handed...

Went bowling and played more Pump - they had KPop and stuff, it was pretty awesome. Watched Chris and Brandon battle it out over the air hockey table, which was funny because it'd be really intense and the puck would just fly off the table.

Finished my project PPT tonight. I was going to work on the poster until I realized I didn't have anything printed out for it... Fail.

*****

My blog posts are always just a random jumble of events now. I think it's a combination of being busy and being tired/lazy. I can't believe there are only 2 days left in COSMOS... The first week passed by so slowly. This is so depressing... -sniffles- Probably not too much of the gang of five any more either, since Shiori's in Palo Alto and Toto's in San Diego... -sighs-

Domo and Gummy Bears!

1) Chris got 8 different Domos in a row from one of those mini toy things that you see everywhere. Oh, and there were only eight ones to collect. What are the odds?! Then we all got one that matched our personality, with only one blip in the middle (we got a repeat). Chris gave me the devil Domo. Figures. xD It was either that or Godzilla because I go around destroying everything, but Godzilla is big, and I'm not... xD

2) Professor Allen set off the fire alarm today. We did the elephant toothpaste demo, which was awesome, then he did the potassium chlorate + gummy bears one. Which produces lots of light and smoke. So he put two gummy bears in, and it was AWESOME, and then the next 3 minutes were spent with people holding books and binders trying to fan the smoke away from the fire detector. It didn't work. xD Professor Allen also burned a few holes in the carpet, because one of the gummy bears like jumped out of the test tube.

3) Just because I never said, I'm now proficient enough at biking to cut Brandon off. I do it to Chris occasionally, but he still bikes to fast for me to want to expend the energy to cut him off. But Brandon, yes. Many times. It's fun.

4) I'm pretty much finished with my research paper, and it's pretty nice. Fifteen pages total, one title page, about 3 for works cited, and around 2-3 for pictures. So I have about 8 pages of text, double spaced. Not too shabby... Might need to go back and edit though. Thursday is a complete project day - posters and PPT for the win...

5) Chimchar. =P

6) We spend way too much time at the MU. Bowling (Shiori OWNED today), pool, Time Crisis, DDR thing (called Pump -shrugs-), and air hockey. Amazing. We were supposed to leave at 7:45... We actually left at like 8:30. xP