Weirdest weather week ever. Friday and Saturday, it snowed (!!); Sunday was nice and sunny (although I wouldn't go right to warm); and then yesterday was a combination of hail and a thunderstorm. Followed by some more sun about a half hour afterwards. Yeaaaah, there are really no words for the spastic Seattle weather.

Also, ScriptFrenzy started today! I'm not participating because my brain is not capable of both thinking of plot and learning script formatting simultaneously at this point of the year, but it did inspire me to pick up the novel I started for NaNo in November and basically haven't touched since. I think I'll make that my project for the month instead of a script. Decrapifying and finishing will be hard enough, because I had absolutely no idea where the plot was going.

And because completely unrelated tangents are all the rage, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova / The Frames are playing at the Moore at the end of the month! If only I could actually go/tickets weren't sold out. I want to see them so much... xP No one cool ever comes to Seattle for things; it's all east coast or California.

It's 11:39 PM currently. I should probably be more concerned that I have yet to finish my English homework (stupid Invisible Man), but instead, I feel the need to post some -- because I can. (and because I am apparently a glutton for sleep-deprived punishment.)

Anyways. Today I had not one but two meals with my mom's side of the family. We went out for dim sum for brunch to celebrate Easter (I think) and then had a huge family dinner at our house later in the evening, where I consumed about 492304 calories just at dessert. (The Cheesecake Factory's Limoncello Cream Torte - can you blame me?). And I also managed to spill a cupful of soup into a drawer; skills, I tell you. This, of course, resulted in minimal amounts of homework being done. But as I said, apparently I don't care.

And because I'm feeling terribly unoriginal right now, a meme:


( What is... )

So the internet filter at my school isn't working for some reason or another today. Which is why instead of researching for my history paper, I'm currently sitting in my history class writing this post. And just because I've forgotten to do so for a while, so I thought I'd do it while I remembered. The fact that I've gotten very little sleep for the past few days probably isn't helping with the paying attention, either, but I'm just rambling now.

I've been in a terribly horrible fanfic-reading binge. It really doesn't help that the Twilight fandom is so. damn. active. Seriously, every time I check (which is admittedly far too often), there's a whole new batch of stories just waiting to be read. Which is really bad for my lack of time-management skills.

On the positive side, my birthday is coming up in two(ish) weeks! I cannot believe I'm turning seventeen. More excitingly, however, is that I'll be taking my driving test the day after... I'm a little freaked out. While my driving is fine, I cannot parallel park (or variants thereof) for anything. I'm such a terrible judge of distance.

I should probably go back to academia now... Sadly, paying attention is required for actually understanding what's going on.

aka the only post that will have a legitimate reason to only happen once every four years. I can't say that my leap day was particularly eventful (or even enjoyable--too many tests) but at least it was fairly sunny for the majority of the day (after which it was raining pretty hard, but was still nice)

As much I try to deny my nerdiness, I feel like I'm probably unable to avoid it with this one: in my Organic Chemistry class, we've been reading on and off a book called Napoleon's Buttons which is about certain molecules and their role in history. It's actually frighteningly interesting and engaged. Geek much? (But if you like chemistry at all, you should read it. Seriously)

I can't believe that it's nearly March already. I'll be turning... seventeen (!) at the end of the month, and that frightens me. When did we turn into adults? And to further quote Grey's Anatomy, how do we make it stop? I'd really like to go back to a time where the biggest problem was finding a Boxcar children book I hadn't read yet.

I would try harder to makes this post longer, but I'm so lacking in sleep that it would be completely incoherent. Therefore, I'm going to instead catch up on sleep and be able to read in straight lines tomorrow. Exciting, no?

It's been so long since I last posted! I feel like such a bad blogger... -shame-

Sadly, though, not posting (or really doing anything) was kind of nice. This week was my school's mid-winter break, so I spent the entire week basically hanging out with my sister and not doing much of anything. It was a much-needed brain break.

On the plus side, I did get to go to the library and read quite a bit. xP I go through phases where I'll read a book (or two) a day,  and then weeks where the only things I'll read will be for school. It's pretty bad. Highlights from this reading binge were Looking for Alaska by Stephen Green (very Catcher in the Rye, in my opinion,) and Your Big Break by Johanna Edwards (the requisite cutesy chick lit book).

I also watched a lot of TV/movies this break -- even more than usual. My sister borrowed the third season of The West Wing from one of her friends, plus we gave my dad a set of the three Ocean's movies for his birthday, so far too much time was spent in front of TV sets. And I finally saw Across the Universe! I have to admit, though, that it wasn't as great as everyone said it was. Maybe it's just because I'm actually not familiar with many Beatles songs, so the plot (and relative confusion surrounding it) wasn't really as appealing. I spent a lot of time just thinking 'what the hell?'

I should probably get ready for school or something, so this post will just have to end here. Sigh...

Super happy and with pictures of cupcakes, to make up for the lack of posting last week. And just because cupcakes are wonderful things. But they come last because pictures are large.

1. I have just realized why I never listened to audiobooks when I was younger. Out of curiosity, I downloaded an audio version of Twilight, just to see what it sounded like. Bad idea. No fault of the recording, but the reader's voice is just nothing like what I think of when I read to myself. It's... bizzare, to say the least. I'm trying to work through it and listen through the entire thing, though.

2. Barack Obama came to speak at a rally at KeyArena today; a ton of people at my school skipped class to go. I didn't, but then again, I've never really been interested in politics (bad, I know). According to my sister, though (who watched some at school), it was an interesting speech. I should probably start being more interested in politics. xP

3. I'm being silly (and extremely nerdy) tomorrow and going to a math competition (yes, sad). But it's not too bad, it could even be construed as fun. Yay for math on weekends! -eyeroll-

4. And it was Chinese New Year yesterday. On wednesday my family had dinner at my cousin's house, and tomorrow we'll be eating at my grandmother's house, always fun. And with tons of food, yum. You might've been able to tell, I'm a sucker with anything with food. Happy new year for all of you rats! (And non-rats, too)

5. And cupcakes! I got bored on tuesday, so I decided to make cupcakes. Nothing exciting, just plain vanilla with melted chocolate and sprinkles on top, but they were delicious. ^^ And with heart wrappers for valentine's-yness or just because.

( Pictures cut for saving flist space )

xP A little bit of posting failure for the past week; the brain was just not cooperating. But there will be a real post tomorrow, complete with pictures of cupcakes I baked! -lures people in with baked goods smells-

Lovingly yanked from diamondqull's LJ -- a more fun way of telling you about my music (especially since a couple of you asked in my last post).
( iTunes meme )

In fourth grade, my teacher always made us write in-whiches for each chapter instead of writing book reports. I have since learned that they are much more amusing; especially if the author is sufficiently witty. But that's not really important.

This post is spurned out of my lack of wanting to do work, as usual. I feel like my mind has started senior spring a year early, and that's really really bad because my grades are mattering more than ever; I frustrate myself.

I just learned that one of my favorite ex-teachers is putting on a National Grammar Day through Encarta and her Society for the Protection of Good Grammar. If you're at all as geeky and excited by this as I am, you should definitely check it out; Martha is an amazingly fantastic person.

And I'm slightly happier because my iTunes has gone on one of those random spurts of playing all really good songs. It always amazes me when it does that. So, a reader question: if your favorite music program is doing that, what's it playing? (aka: What are all of your favorite songs? I'm always looking for music recommendations.)

I've spent the last five or so hours writing a (terrible and unfinished) essay about differential calculus. No, I don't understand why my math teacher wants us to write an essay. And no, I don't actually know anything about differential calculus. (Just in case you were wondering.)

Fingers crossed for another snow day, so I don't have to turn it in. We had one today, and it was fabulous! I <3 snow.

It's a bit short this week, but I'm supposed to be getting beauty sleep right now. Or something.

1. I'm taking the SAT tomorrow morning, wish me luck! (And Jim is really here for the moral support and calming properties that really attractive fictional characters have.)

2. I know this is the science nerd in me speaking here, but I have discovered my newfound love for anatomy and physiology. I had my first class today, and it's absolutely fabulous. -is geeking out-

3. I'm currently reading the book Stardust by Neil Gaiman, that the recent movie was based off of. I saw the second half of the movie on the airplane, and it was fairly interesting, so I thought that I'd check it out. I'm not very far into it, but it seems decent from the first ten pages or so.

4. Online shopping (well, really online window shopping) is my new favorite time waster. It's pretty bad, because I don't have the money to spend. But I love drooling at the stuff at the Something Silver website. I'm such a sucker for pretty jewelry...

5. Favorite band of the moment is Boys Like Girls, so a video (song discovered through Pandora, actually):

This weekend was absolute bliss. The longness of it, and combined with the fact that it was the end of the semester made it so not stressful.

Saturday was a whirlwind of science and sugar, and was actually a lot of fun. Plus, I can now proclaim my awesomeness at building structures made of toothpicks and Swedish Fish.

Sunday morning was a little painful, as it consisted of the final for my SAT class (aka a fake SAT), but it wasn't too bad, even if my writing score was a bit lacking (by the asian standards, at least). But then I got home, and found out that the other two books in the series we ordered had gotten here, and am utterly unashamed to admit that I finished both in the course of an afternoon. And then after that, I got to see 27 Dresses with my sister and cousins, which was a lot of fun. The movie was predictable, but still cute, which is all you can really expect out of chick flicks. And I may have developed a slight crush on James Marsden, who played the love interest (and is ridiculously attractive).

Monday was full of just relaxing and reading and internet-ing, as I am prone to doing. And faking doing work, which I am even more prone to doing. It was a nice end to all of the active-r stuff that happened on the weekend. And I finished off The Time Traveler's Wife, which I started on Saturday; what a wonderful book.

And of course, today was full of catch-up with all the work that I didn't do over the fun part of the weekend. But I did go to the library, and stocked up on all sorts of decent sounding but completely pointless fluff reading. Yay!

Back to school tomorrow, but it's a pretty light day as it's the start of the new semester, plus the seniors won't be there, so I won't have two of my classes. I might be, dare I say, looking forward to it.

On Friday! Crazy, right? This one's slightly short and even more random than usual, because my brain is slightly fried.

1. So today was the last day of the semester at my school. And lucky me, my last period is in a class with all seniors who were just waiting for senior spring. There are very few things in life that are more annoying than seniors saying how they're all done with high school and knowing that you have Junior Spring to look forward to. It reminded me of that one episode of Gilmore Girls, when Rory had her Saturday final... seriously. Too. Much. Joy. Or maybe I'm just being too pessimistic.

2. I'm going to a science competition tomorrow for Science Olympiad. I know that it's superuber nerdy, but it's actually a lot of fun. And really, the actual science part is beyond the point for me. (Although you have no idea how much I <3 labs). Sadly, though, it does mean leaving the house at 5:30. That's AM. That's what sleeping on buses is for, right? And I do have that down to an art; I blame the two hours I spend on the bus every single school day.

3. Remember that book I recommended from last friday/saturday, Enchanted, Inc? Well, I got my younger sister to read it, and now she's basically in love with it (as am I), so we decided to order the books off of Amazon. Then one of them arrived today (because my mom shipped them separately, as they got available), and when we open it.... it's the third one. As in, the one we can't actually read yet because we don't have the second one yet. It's only been about six hours, and the suspense is already killing me. I will not read it out of order! -pretends to have self control-

4. I'm having some serious baking urges, but the only problem is we only have like the very basics to make stuff, and everything that I want to make we don't have the stuff for. Most frustrating thing ever. So, I'm officially taking suggestions: most fun basic thing to make?

5. Once again out of stuff to say (really, it's the conspiracy of always forgetting the last thing), so I leave you with the Goo Goo Dolls. Seriously, Iris is very high up on my list of Best. Song. Ever.

...because the Big Scary Project of DOOM! is done and over with! As of last night/very early this morning, actually. And it only cost me three hours of sleep and countless amounts of anxiety. Quality is somewhat iffy, but I am so beyond caring because this was pretty much my big dreadful thing before the end of the semester, so now that that's out of the way, I'm ridiculously relieved. Psh, other tests, what? <ignored>

But in other life news, it's been crazy cold (at least, as much as the Pacific Northwest goes) for the past week. It's actually been snowy (tuesday) and icy (the rest of the time) for the entire week. Sadly, no snow days though. And coupled with my bus' penchant for breaking down/not showing up in cold weather, it hasn't exactly been as fun as it could be. Still, I can't be too angry when there's snow on the ground. I <3 winter. ^^

...but I'll call it a friday five anyways. (I started it almost on friday, I swear!) And because Saturday Five doesn't really flow or alliterate quite as well.

1. I'm a really big nerd, I admit it. And one of the various nerdy things I do is Science Olympiad. It's actually rather fun. And for a while now, I've been helping to set up a middle school team for our lower school. It's been absolutely excruciating. Our connection at the middle school is a complete flake: we proposed this idea back in October, and at this moment, we're still waiting to hear to see whether this was possible. And now, the registration for the competition we were going to go to is closed, so chances are it'll be another chance for the middle school to shoot it down. It's not even like the adults have to do anything; they literally just have to sit in the room for an hour so that we can say we're supervised. Argh.

2. I saw Juno last night, which is why this blog entry got off to such a late start. It was good, but not like the uber!fantastic! that everyone has been calling it. I saw it with my mom and sister, which definitely made some awkward moments -coughsexscenecough- but overall, it went pretty well. What was more frightening, actually, was that my mom recognized one of the bands that was playing. It completely boggles my mind that she actually knows anything about rock music.

3. If you're into chick lit (and/or fluffy literature in general) at all, I totally recommend Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson. I picked it up on a whim at the library last weekend, and while it's not going to win a Pulitzer or anything, it is a very enjoyable read. There was just the right mix between fantasy, your typical overworked heroine, and action to not make me want to put it down. It just makes me sad that my library doesn't have a copy of the next book in the series.

4. I am firmly convinced that the SAT is a horrible, devious thing designed to suck all of the joy and brains out of students for the general merriment and money-making of CollegeBoard. Seriously, I just paid nearly a hundred dollars to go sit in an uncomfortable chair and voluntarily take a test for five hours. What is more sadistic than that?

5. This last thing has to be happy because there's been a fair amount of ranting so... uh... Puppies? Rainbows? Flying fairies? As you might've seen, I'm out of interesting stuff to say. So I'll just go with have a good weekend. ^^

When I started my blog, I promised myself that I would keep my academic ranting to a minimum, because that seems to be all I talk about in real life (sad, I know). However, I really felt the need to do a little ranting. Sorry!

I admit, I probably should have noticed the end of the semester sneaking up on me sooner, so the time crunch is all my fault. But assigning extremely open-ended projects and not specifying what you want out of the students? Not okay. I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out exactly what I need to do and how much I need to research. Gaaaah. I'm just going to love the multiple all-nighters finishing this project is going to take. I can't wait until next semester when I'll be taking Anatomy & Physiology instead.

It was written mostly on Friday, I swear! I'm just a teeny bit tardy.

Ripped off a teensy bit from writergrl (AKA Sarah Dessen, one of my favorite authors ever). Basically, me rambling on about five completely random things that I thought about sometime this week, under a banner that makes them look unified. Or something.

1. School. I have to go back this monday, and I am completely not looking forward to it. Aside from the general waking up-ness (which I am not ready to do either), I just can't stand the thought of another six months of class. The ones that I'm taking now are not exactly the most interesting -- I mean, American History? I could live without. But, they did release the curriculum for next year, and I am loving it. Since I'm a senior, I pretty much get to take whatever I want, since the only thing I have to take is a year of english. And there are such great elective classes; I can't wait for Econ and Fiction Writing and a handful of others. -geeking out, a little bit-
2. I really, really have the desire to write some fiction (fan or otherwise). Like, my fingers are literally itching to type something. But every time I go and stare at a Word document, I cannot thing of anything. It's so frustrating. Anyone have any good ways to un-writers block?
   
3. Hate to sound all fangirly, but I've been watch the third season of The Office all week, and really, all it's doing is making me want a Jim. Not necessarily in the romantic way (although that would be nice, since my love life is less than nonexistant), but just having someone who you can joke around and be totally comfortable with and who totally gets you. I'd really, really like that.
4. My sister and I just took all of the ornaments off of our Christmas tree. It made me so sad. Since my family was out of town for Christmas day, I doesn't really seem like Christmas has happened yet, and taking down the tree was just wrong. While I loved being able to travel, I also missed our family traditions -- getting up early, opening our family's presents, having a fantastic breakfast, going to my mom's side of the family and opening presents/having lunch there, and then going to my dad's side for dinner and more presents. To me, that really is the perfect christmas.
5. This is where I run out of things to say. So I'll rip off Sarah Dessen some more, and leave with a YouTube video. My favorite part of Love Actually, which we watched while taking down the ornaments.
   

Fifty books I read this year, in accordance with the community 50bookchallenge. These are only the 50 that were good/bad enough for me to remember; there were scads more mediocre ones that I couldn't remember the titles of. Oops?

Crossposted to 50bookchallenge

Confession: I've never actually seen Batman but use this phrase anyways. And far too often for my comfort, actually.

Clearly, the time change has addled my coherency. I didn't wake up until nearly 2PM today! Admittedly, I didn't go to sleep until nearly 5 AM... But I never wake up that late. There's some sort of internal clock in me that refuses to sleep past noon.

China was absolutely fabulous, but murder on my feet. There was just so much stuff to see (especially in Beijing,) and all of it by foot. But still. I felt so accomplished after climbing the Great Wall. And the shopping was absolutely amazing in Shanghai. So much pretty clothing! I'll have to do a full recap with pictures once I upload them off of my camera. But for now, the highlights, in order of visitation (is that a real word?)

1. The Forbidden City
2. The Great Wall
3. The Ming Tombs
4. The Summer Palace
5. The Temple of Heaven
6. The Oriental Pearl

And in general, lots and lots of food and lots of shopping. And the subway in both Beijing and Shanghai (frightening, but really cool)

Badness: Drivers. They are so ridiculously scary. Because apparently most traffic laws, including stopping for pedestrians, are optional. I lost count of how many times we nearly got run over (walking)/got close to hitting things (in taxis). It makes me feel happy that we actually have enforced traffic laws here. I'll only complain a little the next time someone stops their car on top of the crosswalk.

More to come later. And Happy New Year/End of 2007, everyone!

I swear. I just had to record a podcast -- a fleebing podcast -- for my french class. At least with oral presentations, I don't get the option of hearing my own voice and knowing how much my french accent sucks until after it's all over and graded. I think I prefer that way better. (Actually, I prefer no oral presentations and just having short answers or short essay tests, because those at least you can BS, but that's a totally different story...)

And missing the last two days before Christmas break? A shitty, shitty idea. Now, generally, I love my school's no-homework-over-breaks policy, but that means that everything is piled on right before we leave. So I get to spend all next tuesday and wednesday making up tests. And Wednesday, I don't even have frees, so I'll be taking one during a different class. That should go over well, with our newly-instated attendance-taking in that class. [/rant]

On the flip side of this, I'm superbeyondexcited to be going to China for the first time. Despite the mockery that will be me trying to understand anything anyone is saying, it's going to be fan-freaking-tastic. And I do plan on being super asian touristy in an asian country (oh, the horror!) and taking multitudes upon tons of pictures.

Pardon the terrible pun (especially since it doesn't actually make that much sense,) but I've recently gotten addicted to Pandora Radio. It's kind of ridiculous how interesting (amusing?) seeing what the next song to come up will be. And I now have a list of too many songs that I need to download buy. Shh...

But in all seriousness (and legality), Pandora is a fantastic idea to expose people to new music. Especially people like me, who are admittedly not into the whole music scene but still like to listen to some new things once in a while. And it's so much more entertaining than iTunes.

Now back to staring at the changing titles. I'm such a dork.