Happy Day of the Ninja, etc

I guess it's time to make my blog not look as if it is stuck on Thanksgiving. Anyway, December 5th was the Day of the Ninja! It's usually considered a competitor to Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I support the Ninja-Pirate alliance, mainly because I'm indecisive. Unfortunately, I missed it this year—I remembered a couple hours after school ended.  

Anyway:  Here is how to make a ninja mask from a t-shirt without messing up the shirt. Pretty cool, and I like his shirt-folding method as well.

In other news, I'm nearly done with the rest of my college applications. I'm applying to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Case Western Reserve University, but since I love (and am already accepted to) Virginia Tech, they would have to offer me serious money. Who knows; they might. And they're good schools; if they make the cost lower, I might change my mind.

By the way, I'm adding a link to my boss's blog to my links. She is a terriffic interior designer in the Washington DC Metro Area, and she's always willing to consider new clients. If you or someone you know wants a high-end redesigned house, please comment on her blog or email the address there. Here's a link.

And thank you to Hol&J for the awards! They're on my sidebar now. Unfortunately, I think Hol&J and I read mostly the same blogs, so anyone I would want to give the awards to probably already has them and has had them up for weeks. But if I've forgotten you, please comment!

EDIT:  And the spell checker still won't work.  Ah, consistency.  (Is that spelled right?)

EDIT AGAIN:  Okay, I hopefully will get the lovely awards up soon!  Blogger's just being cranky today…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, it's late. But happy Thanksgiving anyway! I ate waaaay too much good food today. We shared thanksgiving with a couple of families; one we were friends with, and the other we just met today. (Both are very nice.) I hope everyone enjoyed their meals, etc as much as I did!

Today reminds me of how much I am thankful for. Of course, since it is Thanksgiving, but also that I have so very much to be thankful for. I have more than I need of everything, a lot of what I want, I'm healthy, I'm getting to think about my future. I live in a country of freedom, and so many brave men and women are overseas fighting to defend us. And most important are friends, family, and God and the sacrifice he made to save me. I could easily go on. If I wrote everything I could be thankful for, Blogger would have to block my account so I wouldn't flood their servers.

After we got home from our thanksgiving linner (lunch + dinner), Thanksgiving didn't feel done. Since we all have the day off tomorrow, we decided to watch some DVDs my dad had (especially after going to the grocery store to rent Rattatoille and finding out it had just closed. Oh well. Those poor employees deserve to go home early—especially after working on a very family-oriented holiday.). On those DVDs were two episodes of The Prisoner and Stephane Grappelli. Now, the main question: Does anyone have a box set of The Prisoner I can borrow (or at least the first couple of episodes, so I get more than just the intro montage of background information)? It was really funny. (Okay, no one has to lend me their stuff. I'll track it down eventually.)

Enjoy the last couple hours of your Turkey Day!

*Happy Dance*

Happy extremely belated Halloween! I'll post pictures of what I did later.

This past weekend, I got to visit Virginia Tech again, this time for a special open house/fall review program. There was an option to send in my application with my Open House/Fall Review registration, and if I did so, I would find out on the last day of the open house whether I got into Tech. So I did.

So, technically, the Fall Review part (the send-in-your-application-early part) was for minorities. Those of you who know me personally know I am as caucasian as it gets (not that skin color matters). However, I did a camp a couple of years ago for teenage girls interested in majoring in engineering. In engineering, women of any kind are minorities; I believe the ratio of men to women, on average, is something like five to one. In some fields, there are even fewer women. So technically, in engineering, I am a minority.

Virginia Tech hosted us fairly well (as opposed to our hotel, which kept us waiting for our room for a while)(but thankfully the receptionist was really nice). We had a nice buffet dinner before listening to a speaker or two and a panel of students who answered questions. The next day was the official everyone-can-come open house, and there were info sessions about different majors and the different colleges. Then came lunch.

And then we found out. Each person who had submitted his or her application early was called up individually and given a letter. We were all told to not open our letters until we got home (Dad told me to open it in the car.). After the letters were handed out, we left.

I opened my letter a few minutes after getting into the car. I had been a bit worried about my application; you always realize what you should have done in hindsight.

But I got in anyway. Dad was happy, and I called Mom and told her the news. It feels so good to know I'm already accepted to one school (the one I'll probably end up going to, no less). And this isn't early decision; it is non-binding. I can shop around. There are two or three more schools I want to apply to, but knowing I don't have to apply to a safety school will save some time.

Everytime I start thinking about college and my future career, I get excited. *mental happy dance*

Quick Post

This is just a random, piecemeal post. Mainly to try to get the ginormous video off the top of my blog. It's squishing my profile. Ow.

1! I did not get into Regionals Orchestra. Oh well, that's okay. I'll most likely get into District Orchestra unless I slack off. Although with five AP classes, something's gotta give. Who knows.

2! My friend Maggie has started a blog. Pretty cool. Check it out.

3! I gotta run. I still have shopping to do for Angel Tree. I'm really excited about getting stuff for my Angel because she is closer to my age than others I have had in the past, so I actually know what she might want.

Running!

Why do I ever think the spell checker might suddenly start working in Safari? Maybe, just maybe, I should email Blogger support. Nahh, that's too easy.

Arrrrrrrr!

It be talk like a pirate day, me mateys!



There be a lot goin' on in me life. More infos be a comin (perhaps). If I feels like it.

Arrrr!

New violin!

This happened last Saturday. Since I'm kind of short on time (I've been working nearly full time and still have summer homework to finish), I'll just post what I emailed to my private violin teacher and my orchestra director.

We went to Potters, a violin shop in the area. My parents had told the guy that we wanted to move up one price bracket, so that put us in the "Old French/Old German" category. I tried the instruments they set out, and a couple sounded a little nicer than my Doetsch, but I don't think they were buy-worthy. After I was narrowing my choices down to the three I sort-of liked just to see if I would suddenly fall in love with one, a Potters guy came in and, after my parents and I talked with him, that
the French violinmakers (most of the violins on my table were French, and the one German one was one of the first to go) liked making brassy-sounding instruments. When I told him I wanted "sweet and not fuzzy," he told us that Italian violins would be better. Like the one in the display cabinet in my room. When he left and I wasdouble-checking that none of the instruments were perfect, my parents pulled a more expensive instrument off the wall and had me try it. It cost $6500. I liked that instrument's tone better, and the next time the Potters guy came in, we told him about what I had just tried. He
pulled the Italian instrument out of the display case. It was priced at $7000. I liked that one even more, especially when he got me one of the really nice bows to try with it. (That bow was almost a little too ornate for my taste. It had a lot of "bling": a silvery-leaf fleur-de-lis instead of a normal eye on the frog, a non-ebony frog (must have been some kind of bone, but I don't know), etc.) While I tried that out, the Potters guys brought out the next price bracket. The good ones.

I finally narrowed down the more expensive instruments to the Italian one from the display cabinet and a French (! it sounded good!) instrument costing $6200. After listening to S, another Potters guy, play the instruments, I decided that the French violin had less of a brassy tone than the Italian one. Weird. Since I now had about fifteen bows (two price brackets) sitting on the table to choose between, we asked Simon which ones he would suggest I try. He picked out three (of the higher priced ones, of course) and played them each for me, explaining their strengths and tone qualities. I tried them all myself and fell in love with the bow he said was best for spiccatto. I, of course, am a girl—not as strong as a man. I like light bows, even though he said he liked a different bow for overall playing. The spiccatto bow has a beautiful tone. I love it. And it's all personal preference anyway.

Before we left the room to check out, we asked Simon if we would get any credit for turning in my Doetsch instrument and bow. We got $1500 for the Doetsch, but he said that they don't give credit for "nickel bows" and
that the bow I had used with my Doetsch was now my "outdoor bow." He said it with all seriousness, and the new one sounds several gillion times better, especially on my new instrument. But my parents and I still laugh about it. (We didn't laugh to his face, though. And it makes sense; it's just so different than what we all thought before.)

I'm still getting used to the instrument. I kept the same case but get a pleasant surprise each time I open it. I love it. The tone is so much cleaner than my old instrument. I love it, I love it, I love it. That's about all I can think about my violin right now.

Interesting…

The link on this post is related to the post content. In that I am stealing Glee's idea.

Her post.

Embroidered whale pants, huh?

This Google ad isn't bad either.



I have never heard of "Elephant Dung Paper." Is it really eco-friendly? I am part of the eco(system), and if it doesn't smell good I don't necessarily call it friendly.

Weird. And the name. Mr. Ellie Pooh? Wasn't he Winnie the Pooh's cousing or something? And I thought Ellie was a girl's name.

Interesting. I wish their business luck. Their ad is certainly attention-grabbing.

Now to ponder: what would one write on Elephant Dung Paper?

More VT!

Today has been an informative day. I went to the General Engineering information session and learned a lot, such as the general freshman classes and about co-ops and internships. During that presentation, they mentioned that the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session was a 2 o'clock, so my dad and I went to that as well. That info session was much smaller (two parents, two teens, one department person) and a bit more informal, but we got a lot of questions answered. The woman who led that info session confirmed that, yes, Virginia Tech does do study-abroad programs with the Technische Universität Darmstadt (the one I got to visit in Germany). Sweet. And she said that people wanting to intern or co-op are not limited by the internships Virginia Tech students "usually" go to. I could blaze the trail and intern at Apple if I wanted. It would be a great way to find out if I actually want to be an engineer at my favorite computer technology company. I'll explore my options—I'm not only going to research Apple.

I actually took notes this time, so I won't bore everyone out there with every little bit of info I got so I can have a future reference. I found out the reason the Engineering department requires its students to use tablet computers: While taking notes in class, typing in mathmatical formulas or examples; graphing equations; and using Greek and other symbols is a bit tricky. One would have to either go into Paint or Matlab or some other mathematical notation program, quickly input the stuff, and then try to catch up on what the teacher said. But students can write on a tablet and convert the symbols later at a more relaxed pace. Hence, fewer mistakes.

And you can turn in your homework—handwritten on the computer, if you want—online.

I got to play with a tablet in the bookstore, and for a Microsoft/Windows-computer-maker product, it's not bad. The operating system is optimized for the pen and/or the trackpad/mouse, and it can recognize handwriting, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if one could download the teaching powerpoint presentations from Blackboard and then take notes directly on them. I like that!

I hope Apple makes a tablet. Maybe in time for me to go to college.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and it isn't long. But there was another girl wearing an insulin pump on the tour. She saw mine but didn't say anything. Our tour guide mentioned something (I think the time he passed out while giving a tour (I think he is diabetic too, but I'm not sure)), and her mom mentioned that her daughter had diabetes. I, of course, said "Hey! I do too!"

Just thought it was cool. There wasn't as much of that diabetic-to-diabetic connection as I thought there would be, but we were on a a college tour and moderately distracted.

A few random VT facts:

-A person in their fifth year at VT (such as from their co-op,from missing classes while studying abroad, or from a five-year program like architecture or BSMS (five-year Bachelor's and Master's degree program) ) is called a SuperSenior.
-It is possible to do an internship and a study-abroad trip. The presenter at the General Engineering info session said one of her friends did just that. A co-op might be tricky, but VT is all about making the most out of college (hence the amazing undergrad research opportunities).
-Apparently, VT has more undergrad research opportunities than MIT. I'm starting to think that going to VT for undergrad would be a good idea, and I could go get my Master's at an elite school later.

It's almost time for supper. I should have asked one of the presenters what restaurants are good. Oh well; we'll wing it.

Google/Blogger, please fix your spell checker on Safari. Please.

Notes from Virginia Tech

I'm visiting Virginia Tech right now.

My dad and I are staying in the Best Western in Radford. It's a tiny little town. Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are a lot more interesting, but they're not far (it was just cheaper to get a hotel in Radford.)

So. My mom said I should write down what I'm learning about Tech. She suggested email or a blog entry. I'll just blog it, just in case anyone wants my opinion on Tech. Hey, why not?

Anyway. Blacksburg's streets are a bit confusing, especially since I was the lucky one to drive the almost five hours to get to VT and I was tired. But I'm sure I'd figure it out pretty quickly as a freshman.

I went on a campus tour and to a general information session. I got a few questions answered and learned some interesting tidbits about VT.

First, for everyone's peace of mind and safety, they've put up new safeguards to help prevent a new April 16th. That sort of tragedy could happen anywhere, but knowing that Virginia Tech is devoted to security is comforting.

One of the buildings is named ChemPhys. Er— the Chemical and Physics building. They don't have an awesome name for it because no one has donated $15ish million to that department. Unfortunately, as a probable engineering major, I will more than likely have several classes in there. Poor building.

VT does have air conditioning—in upperclassmen suite dorms, which are assigned by lottery. About 9000 people can live on campus, and about 5000 are freshmen. Some are international students. Freshmen get unairconditioned dorms, but the weather in the mountains is not usually as hot as it is here now. Everyone we have met says that this hot weather is very abnormal for Blacksburg. And when I did CTech^2 at VT last summer (camp for teenage girls interested in Engineering), we survived for two weeks in unairconditioned dorms by running four fans 24/7. It was actually fairly comfortable.

Several VT departments, such as Architecture, Interior Design, and Industrial Design are very competitive because the major size is so small. For one department, 90 people are accepted to fill a total of fourty slots.

Engineering is just competitive in general. VT is an excellent engineering school. The only school I might want to go to more (within a reasonable distance—I don't want to move too far off the East Coast just yet) is MIT. Yes, I know it's in Massachussetts. I would have to take Amtrak up there. And it's cold. I haven't seen the campus yet, though, because I think if I fall in love with MIT and get rejected, I'll be incredibly depressed. Visitation can wait until the highly unlikely time after I get into MIT. But I'll probably go to VT. It's great.

Everyone I've met here seems to love Blacksburg and Tech. The convenient bus system makes sure that, if the little town of Blacksburg gets boring, that one can visit other nearby litle towns, Target, Wal*Mart, the mall (actually a pretty nice mall!), etc. The food here is rated second best in the nation. The only college with better food is a school in New England that gets fresh lobster. Lobster is not a deciding factor in my college search, but good food is a plus.

General List of Facts:

-Around 20,000 apply. About 12,000 get in, hopefully to yield a class of 5,000. There's a 60% acceptance rate.
-One is more likely to graduate in five years if one does co-ops, internships, or study abroad trips. Seeing as I could make money doing a co-op or internship, that wouldn't be so bad. But would I still have to pay college tuition for the time I was working?
-The bike shop here is called Hokie Spokes. L. O. L. Cute.
-I might actually want to bring my bike, if I have a good bike lock. (I have to actually relearn how to ride it first, though. Things aren't close together in N.VA. People usually use cars.) The campus isn't tiny, and buses usually come every fifteen minutes. And there is generally a fifteen-minute passing period between classes. And though some buildings have parking lots, I would have to leave my dorm early to take the bus to the parking garage to get my car to drive myself to class and barely get there on time. Phew. (Dorms don't have parking lots. But freshmen can bring cars!)
-If someone gets scared to walk from a night class to her dorm room, she can call the police and have a police officer escort her. (or him.) Apparently, some girls like to jog at night but don't feel safe, so they get a police escort who—what else?—jogs with them. I'm not a jogger, and I don't like walking around at night. But it's good to know.
-The Department/Office/Whatever of Off Campus Housing can help students find good deals on apartments. There are a good number of apartments really close to campus for non-exorbitant rates. Our tour guide, a senior majoring in Sociology, said he shares a three-bedroom apartment with two buddies. Their total rent is $1000 per month. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, but I've never rented an apartment. But I know the prices in Northern VA are much higher, so this is at least better in comparison.
-Gas prices are lower here than in N.VA.
-In-state students: 70%. Out of state: 30%. No quotas. That's just how the applications come in.
-In the bridge that connects Torgerson Hall and another building, there is a nice little study area. It's pretty cool. And somewhere there are two computer labs; one is for Dells (Windoze) and another is for Macs. Because they… have to be apart. Seriously. You don't want those two labs to be too close. There'd be too many geeky shouting matches. It could get ugly.
-But Engineering majors apparently have to have a Windoze tablet. That's right: a tablet. The computers with which one can write on the screen. Doodle. Take notes on top of Powerpoints. Etc. I'll probably find out more at the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session tomorrow. I just found that little tidbit on the website. But I plan to bring a Mac to college as well. My poor Powerbook G4 is starting to slow down. I got it almost five years ago. So I might invest in a nice 15-inch MacBook Pro with a LED-lit screen and four times as much hard drive space as I have now. (Now: 40 GB. I have about 5 GB unused. Time to dump some files onto an external hard drive so I can actually use my computer this year.)

Okay, it's late. I'm tired. Hope you weren't too bored with my VT-information session. There might be more tomorrow. Along with the ECE Information Session, I hope to ask some questions at the Co-Op/Internship office. We'll see.


I steel hav noe speel checckre. Wondulful.

oh SNAP!

I noticed this at work and thought it was hilarious.



I'm trying to learn AutoCAD at my work (I am an assistant to an interior designer who runs her own business). So I was looking at the oh-so-helpful documentation to try to figure out how to draw straight horizontal or vertical lines. I discovered that that feature is a little button that says OSNAP and nearly burst out laughing.

If you do not understand, you probably aren't an American teenager. Don't feel bad. Just ask one for an explanation. Although I don't even really understand why people say "oh snap." I'll post a Wikipedia link.

Clicking here helps one understand the randomness factor I see in this phrase's use (or I just feel like posting a h*r link): http://www.homestarrunner.com/malloween.html

And the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_snap#.22Oh.2C_snap.21.22

Okay, so some rapper popularized it. And it is used as an expression of disbelief. At the moment, I'm in disbelief that AutoCAD would be this hip five years ago.

Wow. I didn't know this post would be so long. Oh well. Enjoy.

picture is from AutoCAD 2002, by the way

I'm back!

…sans four teeth. Of course, that's fine, seeing as that was exactly what was supposed to happen. My wisdom teeth would have otherwise redesigned my entire mouth's layout, precipitating a need for me to get braces. I've never had them and plan to keep it that way. I'm feeling surprisingly good today. There's a bit of dull pain where the teeth came out and I look a little like a chipmunk, but I've been acting almost normal for several hours. Thanks, Mom, for all of the pudding! Although I managed to eat soup for dinner, so I'm making progress. Oh, and I just ate some chocolate. Bar chocolate. Chocoholism will get me back onto solid foods.

And I can feel my lower lip and tounge now. When I came to after the surgery (I did not wake up in the middle, praise the Lord) I wondered why they had wrapped my tounge in an inch of gauze and left something weird sticking out of my mouth. I soon learned that my tounge was not wrapped in gauze—it was only two gauze pads between my upper and lower jaws to catch the blood and facilitate clotting—and that the weird thing coming out of my mouth was my lower lip. Both were numb for a few hours, which I spent reading, doing German homework, and watching Homestar Runner on DVD. And napping, And changing the gauze pads. I'm glad I'm done with those. ***knocks on wood*** They're gross.

And somehow, I managed to bring my blood sugar in at 166. I feel sorry for poor Glee, though. I accidentally corrected my blood sugar to 120 instead of 150 right before I went to sleep, so she had to keep coming into my room, testing me, setting temporary basal rates to get me up higher, etc. Thanks, Mom!

Anyway, I need sleep. Thank you all for your prayers! Everything went fine. I just hope life returns to normal soon. Though I do like the whole veg-out-in-front-of-computer/TV-with-book-close-at-hand-eating-chocolate-pudding-and-ice-cream thing. I'll enjoy what I can while I can.

Man. The spell checker still doesn't work. Bad Google/Blogger! Bad! Bad doggie!

I'm nervous.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I've been stocking up on books, and I have my yet-unwatched DVDs of the five-hour A&E rendition of Pride and Prejudice. And a couple of Homestar Runner DVDs that Hol&J sent me for Christmas. Ready to veg out, pig out on jello, pudding, and mashed potatoes, and generally feel like yuck for a week. Ugh. At least I have entertainment. And summer homework. Some of it is interesting.

But I've been a bit more clumsy today than usual. I'm tripping over my tounge more often. I've heard the horror stories—how my mom had a couple of hers taken out in a not-so-clean office but survived (she didn't tell me about any infections or anything, so I think it was more creepy than infectious), how a few teens have woken up halfway through the procedure, negative reactions to the pain medication, etc. If my oral surgeon uses the wrong saline for my IV-thingy, I may have another horror story to add to the hall of pain: steadily climbing and later insanely high blood sugars. The doctor said he would use Ringers (I think I'm spelling that right, but since this is only the second time I've been knocked out, and the first was when I was three, I'm definitely guessing on these IV-liquid names. I am such a newbie to the horrors of the medical world.) for my IV if my blood sugar was 150ish or above on the morning of the surgery. He said if it was much lower, he would use D-5 (again, guessing on the name. It was D-something.). He only reached that decision after my mom argued with him; he wanted to use D-5 from the start. But my mom said "You do know the D stands for Dextrose, right? Her blood sugar is going to go really high." (not exact words. My memory's not that good.) Hence the above arrangement. No pressure on diabetes control, Ky. None. As long as it's around 150. Exactly would be great. Try to beat Mom's record of 152 on the morning of a surgery when she told the surgeon she'd come in at 150.

Heh. Pray for me. I think everything will be fine, but there are so many things that could go wrong.

Guess what…

I got the Harry Potter book!

And the first word of the book is………

**spoiler alert!**








………The.


Aren't you dissappointed? Angry? Sad?

Okay, I'm done. It's reading time from now until my parents wrench the book from my hands.

I was tagged for this meme a while ago…

I was tagged by Hol&J for this meme a few days over a month ago. And I'm finally getting around to it.

7-10 Things You Don't Already Know About Me:

1. Improper grammar drives me nuts. Though I know I use bad grammar occasionally, I will correct the other people's grammar. When I turn in tests at school, there are usually a few editing marks on the questions where I corrected subject-verb agreement or pronouns. I don't feel like I can concentrate otherwise.

2. I like hats. Weird hats. Santa hats especially—I used to wear them year-round (around the house, at least). I even have a black beanie-like hat with cat ears that one of my friends made. (Really, it's too loose to be a beanie. But it's really cute. Thanks, M!)

3. I talk to myself. I know it looks weird, but I do anyway. No voices in my head—I just converse with myself. It helps me think.

4. I have been a self-proclaimed geek as long as I knew what a geek was. I think that was when my computer was my second hand-me-down computer from my dad—an Apple Quadra. (I think the term Macintosh was in use then, but I don't remember.) I like being geeky.

5. I still sleep with a stuffed animal. It is a dragon puppet named Amis. (Another character from that now-defunct fantasy novel I mentioned in an earlier post.) Okay, so most of my family knows this. But I bet none of you knew how to spell his name!

6. Nonproductivity drives me nuts. That's probably why I stay up so late. And I actually enjoy school to some extent. I get to learn stuff. During the summer, I will be working, reading, learning more German, and teaching myself UNIX. And doing summer assignments. And maybe starting a murder mystery novel that will most likely also find its way into the shiny Trash icon on my Mac's Dock.

7. Speaking of my love of learning (how many teenagers will admit to that?), I enjoy learning to speak with different accents. I can currently fake a moderately-decent British accent, a Southern drawl, and a few squeaky weird voices. I can occasionally do others as well, but those are my favorites.

8. I used to dislike Harry Potter. Around the fourth book, I decided the plot was getting repetitive and boring. I didn't read books five and six until a couple of months ago! I still think the plotlines are repetitive, but at least I enjoy them. And I'm glad I came to my senses before HP7! Now I can go to the midnight release and everything!

Okay, I think I'm done. I started this post before I left for Germany in June, but I knew it needed editing. You can't have all my secrets!

Guess what I got to see today…

I got to play with an iPhone!

I went to the Apple store in Tysons Corner Mall. I asked an employee about running Windoze on a Mac (I may be forced to for college), and he demoed Parallels and Boot Camp for me. He later found my mom, S, and me over looking at the iPhones and demoed the extensive features of Google Maps. Did you know that, not only can the Google Maps feature on an iPhone call for reservations, but it can give turn-by-turn directions from anywhere as well? I love it. I want the price to go down before I buy one, (hopefully around the time I need a new phone—a year or two) but I want one. Good job, Apple! As usual.

Very cool.

I left my blog's front page running in Safari on that iPhone. Maybe it will increase my reader base by a tiny, tiny bit. Maybe one person. Hey, it can't hurt.

By the way, Grill Kabob is an amazing place. We ate lunch there. My mom, S, and I got a chicken kabob with rice and salad and a Gyro platter. Two combos, three people. Those portions are huge. And delicious. And I somehow managed to bolus correctly!

Okay, I'm done. Hopefully this will push all of the gillions of badges from those memes I did yesterday off the first screen. One meme, okay. Several? Obsessive. Dangerous. (Oops, I bet I'm not rated G anymore.) I don't usually do that many memes. Really.

By the way, I think I'll try to post that other one soon. The one Hol&J tagged me for.

Google/Blogger, when on Earth are you going to fix the spell checker?

Way more memes than I like to admit

My cousin recently got her blog rated movie-style. She's PG.

Here's me.

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

So I'm the lovely animated Disney classic all the little kids come to. Wooo.

Anyway, I'm really tired right now. I have been for a while. I've already ranted on the stress I'm feeling from spending four weeks joined at the hip 24/7 with S. She's nice, but I'm an introvert. I have no siblings. I can hardly breathe.

So for more interesting blog content, I'm doing a few Mingle2.com memes and quizzes.

30%

Mingle² - Online Dating

What.

I Scored a 100%!

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

w00t.

$5375.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Online Dating

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Lovely. I would have been worth more, but I'm diabetic. Aww. Silly scientists.

And…
73% GeekMingle² - Free Online Dating
Cool. I lost a few points because I'm a teenager and wasn't playing video games when my parents were kids. Oops. I'll have to work on that. And I guessed on a couple—but the guesses were slightly educated. I'm good at guessing.

So now that I've succumbed to the slightly ridiculous fad of online quizzes, I'm going to end this post and go read the book I just got. Maybe I'll finish it before HP7. Can't wait! (I alrready have plans to go to the midnight release and such! ***happy dance***) Sorry for filling my blog with so many quizzes at once. As soon as I post a few more times, you won't have to scroll past my pitiful chances at surviving a zombie apocalypse anymore. So…I guess about three years. Cool.

Finally!

Okay, I've got about five minutes before I fall asleep in my computer chair, slide back on the chair mat and hit my nose on my desk. We went to a water park today—my favorite, so of course I wore myself out swimming and going down slides.

Various things I did in Germany since my last entry:

Visit the Technische Universität at Darmstadt. I happened to mention to S that I wanted to major in Engineering and that I was considering studying abroad some in college. She and her mom were able to arrange a college tour of one of the five or six schools with Computer and Electrical Engineering in Germany for me. Oh man, I love that place. The school has great programs, great opportunities, and it is in a great location. Darmstadt has a medium-sized city feel, but it still feels German. When I visited Frankfurt (look down) I heard a lot of English…and a lot of other languages. All the tourist shops were a little distracting. It was in some ways a bit too international for my taste. I liked both cities, though.

Anyway. Darmstadt was beautiful. All of Germany is beautiful, actually. I enjoyed the parks I saw. One park had a little library in it. Since no one keeps track of the books in the library, people are free to take books out and keep them or to donate their own books. I have a book from the library inside the Prinz-Georg-Garten. Do you?

The Library in the Garden

I may write a more detailed trip log later. Right now I'll just say that we took a trip to the Rhine River (beautiful) and a trip to Frankfurt (beautiful in a different way).

Pictures:




A view of part of the Rhine from a nearby memorial




A beautiful view from the chair lift. Rhine, wine-grape fields, and pretty little houses. Ahh.





The Römer in Frankfurt. With stadium seats in front. (The Ironman was the day before. Grr. Stop messing up my picture, marathon runners!) = ) (And why is my finger in front of the lens? Drat!)



S and I about to eat our Americans. Americans (Amerikaner in German) are puffy sugar cookies with frosting on one side. They are surprisingly good. (By the way, if you say "Ich bin ein Amerikaner" you are saying you are one of these cookies. If you say "Ich bin Amerikaner" you are saying you are an American. It's the "Ich bin ein Berliner" thing. If he had just said "Ich bin Berliner" he would have said what he meant to say. Thankfully, all of the German people I have met are nice enough that, if I just happened to say that I was "ein Amerikaner," they wouldn't think I was about as smart as the cookie I mistakenly identified with. Such friendly people!)




Die alte Oper (The Old Opera). So pretty. I'll have to see the inside someday. Unfortunately, on Monday we were kind of rushed due to various reasons. Plus, it is nearly impossible to see an entire city properly in only one day. I guess that means I have to go back someday. <irony>What a pity.</irony> Until then, I have a t-shirt with this building on it.

That's all for the moment. Hopefully the next time I try to blog, I will be used to American keyboards again. I keep typing z's instead of y's and double quotes instead of apostrophes. Ugh.

I will get to that meme eventually. It might help for me to be awake when I write it!

Jetlag………

I honestly thought I would blog today. Really. And I guess I am, but just to say that I'll post pictures and more stories from Germany later. Probably tomorrow. We'll see. I'm jetlagged and tired and irritable. I wouldn't be so irritable usually after travel, but spending four weeks cooped up with one person is hard for an introvert such as myself, and I have two more weeks to go. S is a very nice person; I just need some time alone everyday to recharge.

So I'll probably update tomorrow. Sorry about the delay. Hopefully your local bookstore isn't far away so you can find something to read. (As if I update regularly enough for that to matter…)

Sooo… check back later. And happy 4th of July, everybody! **starts humming "I'm Proud To Be an American" and then stops because she realizes it's past midnight**

A Couple of Pictures from Germany!

A view of a castle wall from one of the castles we visited. So very cool.











Some classmates wrote on the board in the not-so-productive-at-the-end-of-the-year Physics class.

It's late and I have to go to school with S tomorrow, so I'ma go sleep. G'night.

The Awesomeness of Germany!

Ky: I'm in Germany right now. With my penpal. It's really cool. I may or may not have mentioned it before, mainly because I didn't want to keep blogging every day about how excited I was.

Anyway, almost everything is a bit different here. I'm in a small town with narrow streets and narrower sidewalks. Frankfurt is only an hour away driving, and Dieburg can be reached within fifteen minutes. Darmstadt is also nearby. I would upload pictures, but I don't think my penpal's computer has the drivers and I forgot the CD-ROM. Oh well; maybe when I get back.

I'll be here for two weeks from this past Tuesday, speaking Denglish (German-English for those of you not familiar with the term; check it out on Wikipedia), going to school with my penpal (her school ends July 4th), and even going to her prom (Der Abschlussball; for graduating students only. She goes to a Realschule, so she graduates at the end of 10th grade and gets an internship.). The keyboards are different here, so don't be surprised if I type a z instead of a y or a \ instead of shift. Heh.

Germany is really cool so far, as I wrote a couple of paragraphs ago. I'm still a bit jetlagged, and waking up at 6 AM to go to school has not helped. I keep nodding off everywhere. But this is Friday night, so I should be able to sleep in tomorrow. At this point in both countries' Daylight Savings Time programs, Germany is 6 hours ahead of EST.

Anywho. Things are a bit smaller here, from the houses to the road lanes to the cars themselves (SmartCars aren't the only tiny cars! They're all tiny! I could probably count the number of SUV's I've seen on one hand.). It's cool, though. One can walk nearly everywhere in the town, and to go much farther, there is an extremely convienient, extremely comprehensive bus system. Driving is sometimes neccesary, for sanity's sake (taking a bus to Frankfurt would probably take twice as long as driving, due to all of the stopping.)

Some things are not smaller. My penpal (I'll call her S) showed me a department store. I didn't even try to count the floors. It was HUGE. (S just said it has 5 floors. Wow.) And there was so much there! Candy, clothes, postcards, school supplies...everything. And apparently it has a restaurant on the top floor. The only stores in America that are comprable are those huge expensive New York stores. Maybe.

Today, I heard my penpal's choir rehearse. It was soooooo pretty--I have never heard so many kids/teens sing in tune! We also went on a tour of the building, but I had a bit of a meltdown because so much German was coming at me so fast I didn't know what the guy was saying. I could only pick out individual words, and by the time I had figured out any of the sentence, he was discussing something else. But Americans speak quickly as well. I just never realized it before.

I'm running out of things to say. So.....

S: Hi @ all I'm the penpal of Ky.She is a nice girl and she is very good at german if she is speaking it. I was very happy when she came to me , because i counted the days till the arrival.
Most things are very different here in germany than in america.
we were at a big city and there it was great to go shopping whit someone who didn't know the language very very well (She can speak german)!!!!!!!!!^^ <(^§^)> <(°§°)>
That's all for the moment!
I like to do some more things with her.
Bye

Ky: Cool.
Oh--by the way, for those of you who don't know, almost ALL drinking water here is carbonated. All of it. Tap water is not carbonated, but S has a machine in her kitchen that carbonates it. I haven't decided whether I like it or not. = )

Hol&J: I started that meme. I just have to finish it. Maybe when I get home... It's a good one, so it's taking me forever to perfect. Ha ha, Ky the perfectionist.

I'm logging off now. Tune in next (undetermined) time for more News From Deutschland!

Drat.

You know those Crest Whitestrips I mentioned in my last post? They expired four years ago.

By the way, I am working on that meme, Hol. I'll post it soonish.

Blech.

Finals are this week. Today was the last full day of school for me; the rest are days that are about 4 hours and 20 minutes long. I can eat lunch at a reasonable time (i.e. not 10:30 AM, as I have had to do this year because of my lunch period classes) and maybe get to work more than two or three measly hours a week—get some serious filing done. Sweet. I'd rather get paid than sit in class and try not to fall asleep. (I don't usually fall asleep in class, by the way. I do get drowsy, though!)

Anyway, an explanation for the title of this entry: I am using Crest Whitestrips right now. The old ones, because my mom insisted in using up the 30-minutes-twice-a-day-year-old variety before buying me the five-minute-once-a-day-for-a-week kind. Which makes sense, but oh man, these things are annoying. When my mom gets home from work soon, she may be greeted with "Ewwo, Moh! Ow wuuh wuhk?" translation: Hello, Mom! How was work?". Lovely. Typing or handwriting is the only way I can communicate until 5 PM. *looks at clock* And I am afraid to swallow my spit because I'm afraid one or both of the Whitestrips will try to go down my throat as well. (Sorry. That sounds gross to me as well.) And to make matters worse, the gel on the strips tastes bad. I'm not deliberately trying to taste it, but since I put these pieces of plastic in my mouth, I am bound to taste them at least somewhat. I've heard that tastebuds die every seven years and regrow after that. I hope that happens right now and they regrow after I stop using these torture devices stupid teeth-whitening things. I hope this works well, though. I'd love to have non-yellow teeth. But I'm glad these are obsolete. The five-minute variety seems heavenly compared to these. I just hope that those don't leave goop on your teeth after the strips come off like these do!

Awwwww…

Short post today. I have my German final exam tomorrow, and while I'm not worried, I'd like some sleep.

Anyway, Radar had to have surgery again. He had to have his right leg's ACL fixed up a few months ago, and the other one decided to get messed up as well. He is doing well. The anesthesia has worn off, and today he hasn't been in much pain. Yesterday, the day we picked him up, he would start whimpering and making squeaky noises whenever his leg started hurting. That, and he was still woozy from the anesthesia and the IV. He has a cast that is multiple inches longer than his tiny little leg (this is a chihuahua, remember) and he has to drag it around, but he's doing well. He made it through one of these already; he's a trained professional. Still, please pray for him!

Double Awesomeness

Yesterday was busy, as I had an orchestra concert. So I'm posting this now.

A couple of months ago, I got a letter from Smith's Medical/Deltec saying that a new Deltec Cozmore system was coming out (looks the same, but with many new features, new software, etc). And it was free to me if I wanted to upgrade. I'm not going to say no to a free upgrade, so I did the online training and the little "what have you learned from staring at pump demonstration videos for two hours" exam. A couple of weeks ago, I finally faxed the form into my pediatric endocrinologist. I never heard anything back from my endo about it.

Meanwhile, since I am going to Germany soon, my mom mentioned that I may wish to get a new digital camera; my camera was between four and five years old, and I would want something little and light that I could shove into my purse. So, after much deliberation and trying out the lovely features of the Canons I was considering at Best Buy (including the "Come on, random person in the video game section. Look over here so I can try out the face detection! Why can't you read my mind!"), I settled on the Canon 800 Elph (something like that. I have also heard this series referred to as the Ixus series, and the model number in Europe is different, I think). My dad and I ordered it online.

After I got home from school, I remembered that my camera was supposed to come in within hours, and since there were no notes on the door from our friendly neighborhood UPS man, it hadn't come yet. Soon Radar, our chihuahua, started barking; there was a UPS truck outside. A guy walked up to the door with two medium-sized boxes. Thinking it was my new camera, I excitedly asked who to sign for. The UPS man, not knowing exactly what I meant, replied "Smith's Medical." (I was actually asking if I should sign one of my parents' names, since they had given me permission and my mom was nearby anyway, but whatever.) Just hearing the word "medical" took a little of the magic out of it (I thought it was infusion sets or test strips), but my mom signed (she came over partially out of curiosity and partially because I don't know how to deal with delivery guys that well) and we got the boxes. We then realized that one of the boxes was from Amazon. And then I realized that Smith's Medical was my pump company. I always think of it as Deltec, which sounds waaay cooler than anything "medical," so I hadn't realized what the box contained. But my camera and my pump came in on the same day!

I won't go into camera specs here, but I will mention the pump. It has amazing new features, such as a basal testing feature complete with blood sugar testing alerts, a disconnect-reconnect bolus feature, and a weekly schedule for bolus alerts and basals. It even has HypoManager, which tells the user how many grams of carbs to eat if he or she tests a low blood sugar. There are a few other features as well, but my favorite is CozFoods. CozFoods is a database that is located and edited on the computer using the new software provided with the pump. Over 400 foods, complete with carbohydrate, serving size, and other nutritional information come pre-loaded. The database is downloaded onto the pump, and the MealMaker feature can be used to add up the carb total for a meal. The user only has to find the food he or she is eating in the well-organized database and enter how many servings he or she is eating, and the pump calculates the bolus and adds it to the MealMaker total. Once the MealMaker has all of the components of the current meal, the user pushes Done and can double check the bolus and change it. Extended and Combination bolus options can even be used with MealMaker. It's amazing. If you want a new pump or are considering pumping for the first time, definitely consider the Cozmo and the CozMore system. The pump has a blood sugar meter attachment that can tell the pump one's blood sugar, and the pump can decide how much insulin or how many carbohydrates are needed. The software is easy to use, but if you use Macintosh computers, you will either have to break down and buy a Windoze computer or use Parallels/Boot Camp/some other emulator. And you need an IR port. The pump itself is wonderful as well. Check it out.

I'm baaaaack!

Sorry for the dearth of posts. All of my teachers seem to think they should all give us projects now.

Anyway, I just saw Pirates 3. Make sure you stay after the credits.

And to ruin it:

The undead monkey goes crazy and turns into a clown. He hijacks the ship, knocks over the cameraman, and all of the characters start singing. Ummm… and the fish turn into tennis balls. The end.

Yeah. Kidding. I think you could guess that. But it's good. Go see it. Just be sure you know that it is 3 hours long before you go.


In other news, I just switched my computer's interface into German. It's cool. I already did that with my gmail account a few months ago.

I really should go. I still have stuff to do.

Tag! I'm It!

My cousin Hol tagged me for the following challenge:
"The rules are simple; give five reasons why you like blogging, and tag other bloggers. No tag backs, but be sure to let them know who tagged you."

<announcer guy>So, without further ado, here's Ky with………
Why! Do! You! Blog! *crowd cheers* </announcer guy>

1. You know that feeling you get when you just experienced something amazing, or horrible, or some other extreme emotion? You just want to share it with somebody. Anybody. And I can do that through blogging, especially if I'm the only one home. I could talk to my dog Radar, but it helps if the receiving end of my story actually knows what I'm saying. Though Radar is extremely cute and sweet.

2. For a while, the main reason I was glad I had a blog was so that I could use it as a travel log. I still like using it to record my adventures. I plan to write about my travels this summer, if that's possible (*singing* going to Germany! w00t w00t w00t). Note to those who click on the link: the posts are mostly very long and they are also in reverse order. Read from the bottom.

3. As a high school student, I get an overdose of logical thinking all day. Even in English class—we learn formulas and specific processes with which to read passages, answer questions, and write essays. (Not math. It's more algorithm-ish.) My blog is my creative outlet. I have long considered myself both a left-brained and a right-brained thinker, and so that one side doesn't get overloaded, the other has to be used sometimes. And since blogging doesn't take that long, I can do it more often than I, say, play around in Photoshop Elements or read. Oh man, I wish I could just read books more. Summer is coming, thank goodness. (And AP Literature and Composition next year, but I don't know about that. There's something about overanalyzing literature that makes most books I read for school incredibly uninteresting. Somehow it managed not to ruin Pride and Prejudice, but the other books have largely been slaughtered by analysis packets and sticky notes. And don't get me started on books that are innately boring *coughAcross Five Aprilsmultipletimesinelementaryschoolcough*)

4. It's a nice break. Before I started blogging, I was working on math homework. (What teacher gives homework before an AP exam most of her class is taking? My math teacher. And several other teachers give homework during the AP-testing weeks. Yuk.) After I got frustrated with partially decomposing fractions (the math classroom was too warm for anyone to do anything except try to stay awake, so hopefully my dad remembers how to partially decompose fractions), I came up here to work on my German project and discovered that I had been tagged. Ahh, break from academia. Sweetness.

5. Blogging gives me a connection with the rest of my family. My parents read my blog, and so does Hol (and I'm assuming that her husband J reads it as well). When I fly off to Germany, my only connections home will be Skype and Burnt Waffles. And with my blog, I don't have to worry about accidentally skyping my parents at two in the morning and missing them completely. Okay, so I could write postcards, but this is so much faster. And I don't have to worry about only having two inches to write in. Nor must I worry that the pretty picture postcard I buy in Germany be mangled and stamped so much by the time it reaches my house the picture is indistinguishable from the messy chickenscratch on the other side.

6. ***Extra Credit!*** My handwriting is moderately bad. On the internet, no one can read your handwriting—because they can't see it! So I don't have to worry about handwritten letters to family being illegible.

Anyway, I’m supposed to tag another blogger. Being a shy person, I’m just going to tag my mom, Glee, of Pig Song. Have fun, Mom! (I hope you love blogging!)

Crunch Time

Okay, everything seems to be piling up this week. I have two projects due, an AP test to study for and take, after school club thingies, etc. Posts will not be plentiful. I'll see if I have any time at all.

1st AP is over!

I just finished my first AP test this year. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. My BG's were a bit high—my history teacher gave us all bagels and juice this morning, and even though I bolused for it, I was still rather not-on-target. But I think I did well anyway. On the essays, I think I got a 7 or 8 on the first one, a 5, 6, or 7 on the second one (it was kind of weird, but some graders might be nice!), and on the last one, I think I got a 9. 9 is best, 1 is horrible, and 0 is off-topic or blank, I think. Combined with my expected score on the multiple choice section, I am pretty sure I got a 5 (the best score). Sweet.

Anyway, since CollegeBoard didn't let me use a mechanical pencil on the SAT but didn't specify that for the APs, So I brought the following bundle of pens and pencils (we use pens for the essays):



Waay too many. I was able to use mechanical pencils, so my efforts in carrying this bundle to school were mostly wasted. Heh. Several of my friends gawked at the number of writing utensils I brought, but (probably) as a future engineer, I've gotten into the habit of bringing three times more stuff than I need to. Oh well. At least I'm extra prepared.

Awww…

I just realized that my last few posts were food-related, so I won't go that route today.

Especially since I couldn't resist posting this picture I took of my lovely doggie last night. For those of you who don't know, his name is Radar and he is a long-haired chihuahua. One of his legs is growing back the hair the vet had to shave to operate on his ACL a few months ago, but he's still as cute as ever.

















I wuv him.

AP Exams Coming Up! What Fun!

I have two AP exams coming up. My AP US History exam is Friday morning, and my English Language and Composition exam is next Wednesday (the 11th and the 16th). I can't wait—to get them over with. These exams might get me college credit and get me out of freshman English and History. As I plan to major in Engineering, it would be great to get the humanities out of the way. Not that I dislike English or History—I would just rather focus on being a nerd/geek. Er—engineer. Whatever.

My English teacher decided to wish us all luck on the upcoming AP today. He often tries to make class interesting by showing us various things he has picked up over the years, such as a unique vase he picked up while he was a garbage collector in college, or old photos from when he was younger. Today, he pulled out a tin lunchbox with a picture of Wonder Woman on it and asked one of the boys in our class what she was wearing on her wrists. I don't know how exactly the boy knew that Wonder Woman wore deflector bracelets, but he answered the question correctly. Our teacher then proceeded to open the lunch box and show us that it contained a large quantity of green rubber band bracelets that had "webvan.com" printed on them in yellow. (This domain seems to be unregistered, by the way.) He explained that, in case we got distracted or started feeling hopeless and overly emotional during the test, we were to snap the bracelet on our wrist to snap us back into reality and deflect distraction. Corny, but cute. He also gave us each a little flat colored marble, like the kind one uses to play mancala. He said that they had been blessed by his wife (I'm sure he was joking on this one) and if we came upon a particularly tough question on the test, we should rub the stone to help us focus. Mind you, we were all laughing from the moment he started passing out deflector bracelets. All the rest of the day, I would see other people who were in his classes snapping their bracelets and accidentally knocking their mancala marbles off their desks. Maybe it was funnier when it was actually happening than it is on a computer screen, but I think it was hilarious.



Thanks for offering to link me, Kerri! I'd love it! And congrats on your blogiversary!

Chocolate is good…

Today at Wegmans I saw this:





Chocolate covered Cinnamon Altoids. Dark chocolate, even. It seemed like it might be a bit weird, but the combination of chocolate and cinnamon is surprisingly good. I've lost count of how many I've eaten today. Thankfully, the carbohydrate count is 1g apiece—nearly negligible. Sweet.

Literally.

In other news, I write on the back of my hand too much. By this point, I can tell you that, if your skin is not dry, a red Pilot V-Ball Grip pen's ink will stay reliably on your hand the longest. Surprisingly, a sharpie washes off quickly, although having adequately moisturized skin will keep any ink from washing off for at least a few hours. Of course, all inks are prone to rubbing off on one's face while one is sleeping, provided that one sleeps on one's hand. Several times during each school year, the following conversation takes place: "What's that on your face?" "There's something on my face?" "Yeah, right there." That is when, after a confirming trip to the bathroom mirror, I discover that I am wandering around with a reminder to not forget to bring my school violin home for a string change. Or some other reminder. One of my yearbook pictures even shows me with an ink mark on the side of my face, but thankfully, you would only notice it if I told you.

Oops. Don't look at last year's yearbook, please.

Fooooood…

Mmmm. I'm stuffed. Kind of to celebrate me finishing my SAT's (even though I still have two Advanced Placement Tests to do, and those are harder) and kind of because we had coupons, we ate dinner at Don Pablo's tonight. I always get the shrimp burrito with beans and a corn cake on the side. The burrito is nice and spicy. And shrimpy. I hope I bolused correctly, but with some restaurant foods, it's a lost cause; I'll still wake up tomorrow morning in the 300's.

But it was worth it. Some foods are. Like good Tex-Mex, or smoothies, or my mom's chocolate-chip-and-crasin scones. Yum. (I had some of the scones yesterday after the SAT. Like I said, YUM.)

Just thought I would make everyone feel hungry before putting the ol' laptop to sleep for the night.

SATs

Okay, every time I read my cousin's blog it makes me want to post. Thanks, Hol!

Anyway, I took my first SAT test today. I'm not allowed to say anything specific about the questions until I get my score, so I'll have to remember the funny thing I wanted to say for a few weeks. I'll post it if I remember!
It was an interesting experience. Because of my diabetes, I got approval from the College Board to get extended breaktime and permission to test my blood sugar, eat, and drink water during the test. (No extra test time, though.) What I did not realize was that I would be in my own private test room with my own proctor. It was kind of cool, especially because I did not have to worry about being rushed into taking the next leg of the test. The proctor was a very nice lady. She would talk to me about college plans, etc during the breaks and always asked me if I was ready to move on before she started reading the directions for the next part of the test. She even wrote start and stop times out for me (very useful!).

I took a SAT Subject Test—World History—last year without accommodations. It was strange. We were all in my school's Auxillary Gym sitting at the tables used for AP testing (for which I also have accomodations, but I only get my own room if my blood sugar goes wacko in the middle of the test. That's fine by me; I don't always like being "special."). It took a long time to fill out the oh-so-fun bubble sheets (writing out our names, birthdays, etc and then bubbling in the same info so the computer can read it). The test was almost like the AP World History Exam I had taken not a month before—I was positive that it had stolen a question from the AP exam. Which would make sense, because both are run by College Board anyway. Heh.

Anyway, that went well. I have to admit the SAT was a bit fun for me; nine sections of problem solving and an essay section. I enjoy problem solving and am fairly good at writing essays. The only bad part: My shoulders hurt from hunching over my test. Not because I was scared anyone would look at my answers—I had my own room, and I doubt that the proctor or the copy machine in the room would have any use for my answers—it's just a bad habit. Oh well.


In other news: I will more than likely be getting a new digital camera soon. Since I will be visiting my penpal in Germany (only 45 days left!) right as school ends, my mom convinced me (okay, so it didn't take that much convincing; I want a new camera) that I should get a new camera to record all of the memories, places, etc. Most blogs I read start each day with a picture. Hopefully, with a new, non-clunky camera, I will become one of those people who carries a camera around ad infinitum and takes pictures of everything funny, interesting, weird, etc. And then blogs about it. Regularly. Seriously, people—I think this is it. I may have found a way to blog more than twice a year. So I might actually build up a huge fanbase consisting of all of seven people. Or maybe eight.

I should seriously do my homework now.

An Answer To A Request

After I got my lovely Scion xB, my cousins in Texas requested that I post a picture of it. I am finally doing that. Keep in mind, if you will, that this car is red usually; the color is a bit orangier because the poor car is covered in tiny specks of pollen.

It's a great car. Thanks, Dad! (even though it is still technically yours)(sometimes he even drives it and moves the seat and the mirrors, which is annoying, but I don't mind)

We Are All Hokies

I know I am late in posting this, but better late than never. I just want to show support for those who lost loved ones in the Virginia Tech shootings. I have been praying for you—for those who lost family or friends, for all of the past, present, and future Hokies, and for the family of the gunman. God bless you all!

Prom

I didn't think I would go to my prom. Either of them.

Last night was my junior prom. I had always just assumed I would be the geeky girl sitting in front of her computer or doing homework on the night of prom But this year, a friend of mine got up a group to go, and I was in it—I didn't have to deal with romantic attachments or anything. It was so much fun. As a rule, girls must talk about their dresses, so here is mine: a strapless, floor-length red satiny dress with some decorative, sewn-in folds on one side on the torso. My mom curled my hair and helped with my nails (I'm a cheapskate). Everytime I saw myself in the mirror I was surprised—I don't look "pretty" very often! The friend who got our little group to go to prom (actually, all of us are geeks/nerds and probably would not have dared to go alone) invited us to her house for dinner, where her parents cooked up restaurant-quality steak, along with salad, rice, and croissants, complete with edible flowers. My friend had baked a truffle tart for dessert (it was amazing). We were fashionably late to the dance. We didn't take a limo because they are expensive and this is only our junior prom anyway. We sat at a table and talked, occasionally getting up to dance. Although talking is an understatement; we were screaming over the music because the DJ apparently thought we were all deaf. Somehow I managed to avoid doing the cha-cha slide. My friends poked fun at me for thinking the directions in that song are ambiguous (but they are!). Besides—try doing "cris-cross" or "reverse" in high heels! (I know I could have taken my shoes off, but I knew what had been on that floor—feet, spilled food, and the bottoms of other people's shoes.)

We left with about forty minutes until the end of the dance to go to the school-sponsored After-Prom. We changed out of our lovely dresses into T-shirts and jeans and spent until 4:30 AM bouncing on moon bounces, playing bingo, and eating free food.

I didn't think $60 would be worth spending just to wear an expensive dress for one night and sit around and do nothing. Suprisingly, prom was extremely fun. (And we actually had fun talking and dancing—not just doing nothing.) I hope we do it next year.

Hopefully I will post again soon—I plan to. But right now, I'm tired. I still haven't quite recovered from staying up until 5 AM this morning.

Okay, I thought with the new Google-Blogger that the spell checker would work, but it isn't. Sigh.

A lot of stuff has happened…

I probably shouldn't state the obvious and say it has been a long time since I last blogged. So I won't.

Anyway, for my main birthday/Christmas present, my parents bought me a car. A new red Scion xB. I love it. It has tons of headroom, I can put lots of stuff in it, and very few people have a non-SUV car shaped like a box/refrigerator/washing machine/etc. Very few people I have told about my car recognize the name Scion xB, and I get that "I have no clue what you're talking about" look. I tell them "It's the box," and they suddenly know exactly what it is. Awesome.

And now for some not-so-good news: My dog, Radar, hurt his leg jumping off the couch. (He is a little guy, so it doesn't bug us too much when he gets on furniture.) He started limping around the house, and we had to block off our staircase. The veterinarian said that Radar would need surgery. A few days later, and we brought home our poor little dog woozy from anesthesia and pain medication. He has a little cast on his leg. It is being take off tomorrow, and hopefully his leg has healed enough for it to stay off. Please pray for him!

Anyway, I'm tired. I need sleep before my late-ish birthday party tomorrow. (School is off today and tomorrow.)


And now that Blogger uses Google's spell checker, I can actually check my spelling!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

My backpack weighed fifteen pounds when I got home from school today.

And usually, backpack weight increases over the year as my backpack fills with old stuff I don't know what to do with. And I didn't have to schlep my math text home today, either. My estimate: End of the year, on a day I don't need my math textbook: 25 pounds. Math day: 30 pounds (or I might just carry the textbook separately).

In other news, some of my classes are very fun this year (Orchestra, German, Computer Science), and some are almost as fun as very fun (Physics and Math (especially because my precalc teacher has a Smartboard)). History and English aren't too bad, either. I just like math and science and German and music more.

I've got homework. Bye.

Once again, the spell checker is broken. Plleaze ekkscus anny mizspelinges.

Happy Dance!

Today is a day of deliveries. Earlier, my mom's laptop charger stopped working after a few years, so my dad ordered a couple of new ones. So we had to share my charger (i.e. steal it from the other person when one's laptop is going on 30% battery power or less). The new chargers came in, so now we have my mom's charger (new), mine (older), and a backup. Finally!

And recently, I ordered my first pair of Birkenstocks. From my parents, I have inherited/been blessed with/been cursed with wide, flat feet. Oh man, do I need arch supports as I grow up. Unfortunately, as I have just started school and walking around the school building with a full and heavy backpack, my knees and feet have hurt. Not seriously yet, but they hurt. But my Birkenstocks just arrived! So when I break my Birks in, I'll probably wear them to school. A lot. And for anyone who's curious, I got a size 36 Regular in Florida, color Cocoa Nuebuck. (Or however you spell that particular color of Birk.) With a soft footbed. Which is softer than a normal one, by the way.

I probably should take advantage of my light workload tonight and practice my violin and shower in the hopes of getting eight hours of sleep. So… I might write again later. Not today. Bye.

How many times does the spell checker have to break? Apparently one more. Sorry for any misspellings. I don't feel like pasting this into a word processor to check it. I'm tired.

School…

School just started on the 5th. I'm tired and already behind on sleep, but thankfully, I seem to have interesting and fun teachers this year, so it shouldn't be too bad. We'll see.

Anyway, if I could have gotten my homework done earlier, I could watch Mythbusters at 9 PM. Oh well. I'll live. Cool show, though. And educational.

I'm gonna go. More updates are pending…when I feel like it. And have time. Those don't happen often at the same time.

Travel Fun

I would have posted this last night, except it was nearly 2 AM. So here it is now.

I didn't blog for the past week (read: weeks) or so because (a) I was in Texas visiting my grandparents (for the past week), and (b) I'm sorta lazy. Hey, it's summer.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun doing things like computer troubleshooting and ordering cable internet (my grandparents have dialup at the moment) and cooking. And eating at nice restaurants, playing a domino game called Chickenfoot that no one really knew the rules to, and listening to them tell stories of what life was like way back when.

But the truly hilarious-ish thing happened on the way home.

A long time ago (past four/five years, anyway), my parents decided that three days of driving to get to Texas was a bit excessive and that a three hour flight is better. Fine with me.

So, on this trip, we left Virginia a day or two before this whole terrorist-with-liquid-and-wristwatch deal. Security was normal. When we left, it was still elevated from the craziness. And my dad decided to take most of his camera equipment as carry-on luggage.

So his camera bag is the lucky one to be tested for explosives. The lady, who knew very little about cameras, pulled out each lens, poked and prodded, and put it back. She was suspicious of my dad's camera because it has some kind of motorized attachment on the base that allows it to take pictures faster. That makes it heavy. Thankfully, she called over another security guy who happens to be a professional photographer, who explained the attachment to the lady (who was probably in training, now that I think about it). The guy and my dad talked a little about photography; has my dad ever been published? no? you should try it. it's fun, you can make some money, yadda yadda yadda. The security lady continues searching. What did she see next that was suspicious?

A nine-volt battery.

She asked my dad why he was carrying the battery. He told her he just needed somewhere to put it. She didn't like that. The way she acted made me wonder if anyone had been able to detonate anything serious with such a little battery. It probably couldn't do more than scorch the tray table, but she was insistent and talked with some security guards for a while.

Eventually, we got out of security with the nine volt battery intact. Thankfully, I didn't mention the four AA batteries in my iPod battery extender pack or the AAA in my insulin pump. Or any of my gadgets. Why a nine-volt battery? Why not our iPods?

All the way home (in the car, leaving the airport—we weren't going to say this on the plane!) we kidded my dad about being a nine-volt battery terrorist. I know that terrorism itself isn't funny, but imagining anyone trying to blow something up with a battery that small is. Ahh, good times.

And she didn't even take the nail clippers he had on him. (Really!)

Busy.

I recently got back from a camp held at Virginia Tech that is intended to inform girls about engineering. There were a lot of demonstrations, experiments, and activities that demonstrated different fields of engineering, and I now kinda want to go into engineering myself. Probably electrical.

In other news, I now have a job working for an interior designer who runs her own business. She is very nice and her work is excellent. And my job, though mostly clerical, is fun. I get to go to the Washington Design Center, a seven-floor building comprised of showrooms for appliances, furniture, stone, leather, fabric, trim, metals, carpet, window treatments, and anything else a decorated house would want. It's all very high-end stuff, but since some of her clients can afford it, she picks stuff out. I carry the samples that she picks out around.

I'm really tired at the moment, so I'm gonna post this now. See ya.

HAHAHAHHA

I'M NOT LAURA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA I HAVE KIDNAPPED HER BLOG.

I'm not Laura either but I've got the computer now. Here's Laura:

Okay, so some friends came over to explode soda with me. And they kidnapped my blog, apparently. At least they don't have my login info.

More pirateness…but at least it's sorta patriotic

Okay, maybe I should have stopped at the tricorner hat. But I remembered a toy sword that has been in my basement probably since I did an oral report on Jacques Cartier in sixth grade. So now, I look like a pirate, minus the eye patch and earring. Just in time for my friends and me to explode sodas. (see prev. post)

Arrrrr… BOOM!

I look like a pirate!
Sorta. Today, I put on a red shirt, a burgundy dress shirt thing, and jean shorts. Then I remembered that I have a tricorner hat that I got in Colonial Williamsburg a few years ago. I had forgotten about the feather in it. Anyway, I put it on, looked in the mirror, and I look sorta like a pirate. A patriotic pirate, but a pirate nonetheless.

Anyway, in lieu of actual fireworks, my parents and I are going to explode some bottles of soda with Mentos mints. We haven't tested it out yet, but you drill a tiny hole in a soda bottle cap, thread some thread or string through the hole, and tape the string that comes out of the bottom of the cap to a single Mentos mint. Not the entire tube. Then, get a bottle of a cheap soda. Diet soda leaves less of a mess because it won't be as sticky as regular soda. Then, replace the cap of the soda bottle with your Mentos + thread cap. Be sure to keep the Mentos out of the soda! Then, when the cap is on, give the thread a hard jerk—and get out of the way. Apparently, the Mentos acts as a catalyst and makes the soda release all of its carbon dioxide all at once—and it goes BOOM. Of course, I haven't actually tried this yet. If I remember, I'll say if it works later. Maybe.

MUZAK!!!

Well, I've been busy this week. With an orchestra camp.
I don't remember if I posted anything for when I did District orchestra, but this camp is like that, but for six days instead of two. We have nearly four hours of playing each day, not to mention classes in music appreciation, wellness while practicing (stretch and take breaks), and even jazz improv (which, on the schedule, was written as Jazz Improve, because they used one o' them Microsoft programs with autocorrect. I heard one guy talking about how one of his friends set a school computer's autocorrect so that it would replace the word "the" with "taco." I wonder how long before someone noticed something was wrong.) Anyway, my back is sore, but it's been fun.

After the camp on Monday, a master class was held. A master class, for those who don't know, is where someone really really good at a particular instrument (the "master") teaches either a group of people or one person in particular. This was one of the ones with one person at a time. The master lets the student play his or her songs, and then he makes suggestions on technique and style. Three people took turns with this master class. They were all amazing. I want to go to more of these things.

Anyway, last night was the final orchestra concert. Everything was great, even though our conductor accidentally knocked over a couple of music stands during the first song, but things got sorted out quickly. We didn't even have to stop; we just kept going. At the end of the last song, I realized why I play violin. It's fun. And this is a group that actually wants to play, instead of just playing because our mommies or daddies told us to.

I just got back from the chamber ensemble concert. It all went really well. I was a bit nervous (I am the first violin for my group, and a lot of my part is very exposed), but I just trusted God to bring us to the end of each movement at the same time. About halfway through the last movement, I got a big smile on my face. God helps when you need him most, if you trust Him. It is amazing how long it takes to learn these simple lessons, but when you learn them, it is life changing. Thank you, God!

Oops!

How could I forget this?

I CAN PICK UP MY PROVISIONAL DRIVER'S LICENSE AT 2 PM TODAY!

Thankfully, I'm a pretty good driver, judging by the fact that my parents seldom brace themselves against the window anymore. And they've complimented my driving.

And sorry for shouting up there. The idea that I can finally get a job, go to Wendy's and get Frostys, and shop more often is very exciting.

And now, back to TV dinner. A computer counts as a TV, right?

I'm FREEEEEEE!

Last day of school! I just got back and am now trying not to sink my wrist into a pile of corn as I type (TV dinner, since I don't feel like cooking). My gym final was pretty easy, though being able to tell exactly what chemical was building up in my leg muscles as I walked the eight laps in thirty minutes that were required was weird (Lactic acid). Thank you, ninth grade Biology. I remember almost nothing, but since I've had a year of chemistry since, it's partially excusable.

And my history presentation went well, even the part where I started talking in Russian (learned phonetically from my Dad, who for some reason is fluent in Russian. Thanks, Dad!) Even though my costume made me sweaty (along with the gym final in the morning). Anyway, I am done.

Sweet. I'ma go eat that TV dinner before my arm cramps up from dodging the corn. Mmmm, chicken, corn, and mushy apple chunks in caramel.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel School Year

Well, the last couple of days have been interesting.

First of all, there is no way any teacher can give me a major project now. We're taking exams. The past two days have been exam days, in which we have two, two-hour periods specifically for taking exams, presenting final exam projects, etc. Most of my exams have not been hard.

And the best part…
School only runs from 7:20 to 11:40. Holy sweetness of freetime, Batman! I have to walk home, since neither of my parents gets out of work that early, but the walk isn't bad. And eating a TV dinner while watching Homestarrunner.com cartoons is fun. And I can turn the volume up as much as I want without disturbing anyone. Nice.

And then Mom comes home. For the past two days, we've gone shopping. I used to hate shopping, but I'm turning into more of a girl now (I've always been one, but now I'm more of a tomboy-girlygirl hybrid instead of just a tomboy who doesn't really care what she looks like. Not that either is bad, but I just feel like looking nicer now.) One of my friends asked if I had a crush on anybody, since I started wearing the occasional skirt to school. Nope. I just feel like dressing up. (the majority of the guys at school are jerks anyway)

In other news, today is my mom's birthday and tomorrow is Father's Day. I'm not putting any ages up, to keep my head on my shoulders.

So Happy Birthday, Mom! And Happy Father's Day, Dad! Love ya both!

Recital

Well, I had my recital earlier today. It went pretty well. All of the students made mistakes, including me, and I am pretty sure all of us were nervous, but it turned out well. I was the second-to-last person to play, which means that I was one of the most advanced players there (when making the song order for a program, directors usually put the most spectacular or well-done pieces at the end). So that was good, and now it's over. And later, I get my first archery lesson in……several months. I hope I haven't forgotten too much (thank you, new National Archery Association president, for changing to Korean-style archery form, so that I can blame my mistakes on being confused with the new methodology!)(for those of you who are clueless about archery, the Koreans are probably the best archers in the world. A switch to their archery form does usually improve one's shooting because the Koreans knew what they were doing when they developed their form.)

Anyway, yesterday, someone thought it would be funny to dump 2000 bouncy balls down the main stairwell at my school. All throughout the day, people would be bouncing bouncy balls in the hallways and classrooms that they found on the floor earlier. One of my friends kept raving about how it was the perfect senior prank, because no one gets hurt (unless they slip!), the prank cleans itself up (people walk off with the bouncy balls), and no property is damaged. And it's hilarious. Oh, if I had only taken the other stairwell on the way to Gym, I could have been hit in the head with bouncy balls!

Also yesterday, two of my classes ended up with the TV's tuned to ESPN2 for the first World Cup game. Germany won! Ja, Deutschland! Ja wohl!

Okay, one more thing. Check this out.

One more post. I keep forgetting to mention this.

Have you heard of Tom Lehrer? He used to write satirical songs and parodies, and sometimes he performed them. The link at the top of this post goes to a flash animation of my favorite song of his (the only one I have heard, I think). It is called "The Elements" and is to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Modern Major General." It doesn't have any bad words, because most of the words are elements from the periodic table. Below the flash window are some links; one leads to a PDF file that has the lyrics.

Try to sing along. Not easy, but so much fun.

Festival, etc

Well, I went to that vendor's stand. Last year, he had so many pretty oil lamps, and there were a few that were not terribly expensive (I think one was $20 or so). This year, he had one dragon oil lamp that was $45, along with other things. Not what I wanted. I don't think so.

So I went to the vendor next door and got a pair of earrings and a necklace. The earrings each have a little violin and a bow hanging from them, and the necklace has the same charm, along with a couple of very pretty red stones and two pearls. Definitely makes up for the overpriced oil lamp. (not that the jewelry was cheap itself, but at least I won't have to worry about it burning down the house…). I plan to wear it to my private teacher's student recital. I will be playing the third movement from Mozart's "Violin Concerto #5" (not the fourth movement, unfortunately. I didn't have enough time to work that up as well) and Massanet's "Meditation de Thaïs." Both very fun pieces.


Why does the spell checker keep breaking? Oh well, I guess it's for the best. I would hate to see its spelling suggestions for "Thaïs".

It's over!

I finished the History SAT II! It wasn't too bad… kind of a median between the AP World History test and the SOL test. I can't talk specifically about any questions, but I don't think I would anyway. Whatever. It's done.

I forgot to drink my frappucino earlier. I'ma go do that… yum.

It's too early…

…for the SAT II World History test. Yet I will be taking it in an hour. Technically, I am supposed to take it this time next year, but I don't want to forget everything I crammed into my head in my AP World History class this year. I've eaten a banana (they calm nerves) and there is a little bottled Starbucks frappucino for me in the kitchen for enough of a caffeinee boost to keep me awake, in addition to that which I got from the Diet Coke at McDonalds. And since I usually try to keep my caffeinee to a minimum, it should work.

Anyway, wish me luck.

In other news, some friends (same ones who had the conversation that started with "can a vampire get drunk off of a drunk guy's blood") and I went to our town's festival last night. We rode some of the fun rides, one of my friends won a little stuffed gorilla in a game, and a couple bought some stuff from the vendors, like pewter figurines and glassblown animals. Me? I had seen a vendor last year who sold oil lamps, one of which was shaped like a dragon. For the record, I like dragons. I collect dragons. And I name most of the dragons I collect. I thought about this vendor's products off and on all year and came to the conclusion that, if the vendor was there and it wasn't too expensive, I would get one. He wasn't there last night, but Friday night is always the least busy because there is no "unlimited rides" bracelet you can buy for thirteen dollars for the rides, and Saturday is always busy, no matter where you go. So my mom said we might be able to stop by the festival again today to see if the guy is there. I think I saw his stand on the vendor list, but we'll see.

I want my frappucino. I'm signing off.