RESTAURANT WARS!

I'm a die hard Top Chef fan and tonight's episode is RESTAURANT WARS!
It's always the BEST episode every season so I'm looking forward to it :)
It always baffle people when I tell them I'm into cooking (I'm specifically interested in molecular gastronomy) but I've had a fascination with food since I was a child.
Anyway I'm super psyched about the episode tonight so I'm blogging..I'll write about it after I watch it!!

Soda fizz, CO2, PKD2L1, carbonic anhydrase 4....

The above list of mumbo-jumbo looks like something that can only be defined to be random...BUT I'm here to enlighten you and tell you that it most definitely is NOT random.
So have you ever sipped a soda and felt like you "tasted the fizz?"
I have.
Have you ever wondered why?
If you did...here's the answer:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113831763&ft=1&f=1001
In short here's the story.
So we're studying the senses in my neuroscience class and right now we're discussing the sense of taste. So I read a Nature paper back from 2006 about a receptor called PKD2L1 that detects sour tastes. Then today I read the link above and realized that the same PKD2L1 receptor that detects sourness also detects fizz. Apparently the fizz, composed of CO2, reacts with carbonic anhydrase 4 (an enzyme that coats the surface of PKD2L1) generating acidity which is then detected/tasted by the PKD2L1 and registered as a taste!
Cool huh?
I thought so.
Well I have a multivariable calc midterm next Monday and I have a stack of homework to finish so I'll round up this blog now.

MIT & ROBOMANIA

I built the field for FIRST Tech Challenge yesterday
It took 7hours, an MIT alum, about 4-5 maybe more 3/4" PVC, a couple of bushings, a 45 degree 1/2" (which actually should be called a 135 degree 1/2", a bit of money, two trips to home depot, PVC glue, and some heavy machinary but the final product is PRICELESS.
I met Stu, the MIT alum on Saturday and he let me use the machine shop in his garage to build a portable, disassemblable working ball shoot with ramps and walls - VERY COOL!
I also had my MIT interview yesterday - eek? nahhh it was FUN.
Strange as that might sound my interviewer was pretty awesome and the conversation flowed through and out the inner crannies of our buzzing minds.
He even showed me his BRASS RAT! Can you say AWESOME?
Well I have a stats test to finish studying for so I'll leave my blog at that.

i web...fun?

Web design is NOT my forte (hence, I used blogspot for this blog so that I wouldn't have to design a webpage).

As editor in chief of my school newspaper my goal this year was to get The Palette (our newspaper) ONLINE!!

To do so, I realized I had to make a webpage from scratch - crazy idea LOL

My co-editor in chief decided early on that she wasn't going to have anything to do with it (until the idea was approved and the webpage was made) so it's been a one man battle for the past month or so but I think I'm making progress.

I wrote a letter to the administration explaining the pros of having an online school newspaper and I also addressed the cons and logically argued why the pros outweigh the cons.

Thanks to my advisor the letters were distributed and the idea I had last year is FINALLY becoming somewhat of a reality - SO EXCITING!

After receiving the 'go ahead' for the web designing portion of my journey I talked to Brian (a mac application pro) to help me out with i web. I met with him today for 30mins went out to dinner and then came home and started designing.

This is what I have so far....

The photo is small but you get the general idea - the blank spaces are for the video, podcast, and horoscope.

Wish me luck to get this web page OFFICIALLY ONLINE by October!!

WATCH THIS SPACEEE

3 calculators + 5.5 math/science courses

YUMMY!
My class list for the 2009-2010 year goes like this:
Neuroscience
Physics
Linear Algebra
Statistics
Calculus with Analytical Geometry (aka Multivariable Calculus @ UCSD)*
Psychology (half science half humanities)
oh and of course I have English, which is always a blast too :)

My courseload reminds me of that warm fuzzy feeling a 'piping roast beef and yorkshire pudding Sunday lunch drizzled with pure beef gravy' gives you on a cold winter's afternoon...YUM! That sounds really good, but not right now since it's hitting the 90sF here in San Diego.

Well as a tribute to my course selection galore I will leave you all with an AWESOME quote from the movie "Stand and Deliver."

"I don't need no math. I got a solar calculator with my dozen donuts. "

- Pancho

* This is for the Fall quarter, in the winter quarter I'll take Intro to Differential Equations and then in the Spring quarter I'll take Vector Calculus :)

Robots

I'm starting a robotics team at my school this year.
We had our first meeting today - worked out the budget and mentor/coach/sponsor situation.
I'm not going to lie, I AM SUPER EXCITED.
I don't have a comp sci or engineering background but both fascinate me and I've always wanted to learn - this is going to be not just a great learning experience for me but also for all the other science club members!

SUPER PUMPED!

NOTE: It was my last day at my internship. I nearly cried when my mentor hugged me and told me she'd miss me :( Spending 10-12 weeks with someone gets you attached.

Here's an update on interesting situations/people from my everyday life:

Gay Animal Facility Man

Walking up and down the vivarium, cleaning rooms stock full of rat cages, and muttering about Tim (aka Tooshay, an animal facility manager, who apparently doesn't do his job). These are the daily activities of this particular animal facility employee (I forgot his name so let's call him Bob).

I see Bob every weekday at least 37 times (but who's counting). With his Einstein hair and bushy white beard any child could mistake him for a skinny santa. Despite our frequent rendevous, we rarely conversed - that is until TODAY.

As I pushed past the clean stack of rat cages (Bob was cleaning rat cages) placed inconveniently in front of the door, I muttered a quick "sorry" and began my quest to find rats XX5149 - XX5153 - 5 rats among the 60+ others, a daunting feat, I know. Suddenly, Bob pounces on me with a surpise question, "Are you British?" I tell him, like I tell many others on a daily basis, that I am Australian. He then starts jabbering on about guy he knows who can tell the difference between various accents etc etc...As I start zoning out and my eyes get back to the task of scanning for XX5151 (I'd found the first 2 rats by that time) I hear the words "...my husband has an amazing ability to hear..." WAIT UP! HUSBAND? I'd seen his ear piercing but that is rarely considered a sign by today's standards.

After this sudden enlightenment we began a long conversation about all-things-gay! (I'm not homosexual personally; however, I have a few gay friends and I love them to death) It was refreshing talking to Bob about the whole Prop 8 controversy in CA and all the misconceptions most Americans have about the gay community - all this talk while being surrounded by rat bedding and the retched stench of rat poo and urine...PERFECT lol.

If I had only spoken to Bob sooner, if only I had used those 37 x 5 x 12 times we had crossed paths to spark up a conversation, if only...

I should stop dwelling on the ifs and realize that I have been fortunate enough to have at least spoken to him on my last day at my internship. It was a conversation that bloomed into a friendship within the first few minutes. It was a shortlived frienship/bond that will be sorely missed. At least I know, IF I ever go back to the Zorrilla lab and walk into the vivarium I'll have a friend there waiting (unless of course he decides cleaning rat cages is boring and stinky as hell and quits).

THE Application

MIT has released its application and it has had quite the face lift!
It slightly caught me off guard at first but definitely exciting. Finally we, EA applicants, can start answering these self-probing questions.
What do you do for PLEASURE?
What do you want to STUDY?
How are you CREATIVE?
Describe your WORLD.
How did you deal with a CHALLENGE?
I have paid for my $75 ticket and I'm headed off on this two month journey to find the BEST way to put my life and who I am on paper. The word limit will be an obstacle but no journey is without its hurdles.
GOOD LUCK FUTURE CLASS OF 2014!
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER.....

Skip the month of July and onto August

Have you been on a midnight stroll? I'm sure many of you have.
But have you been on a midnight stroll and seen a yellow and black polka dot toad, caught it, set it free, caught it, set it free, then watered your garden to make sure the toad didn't get too dehydrated?

Have you rolled down an hill? It probably brings back childhood memories of green pasteurs and daffodils, baby's breath, the warmth of the sun and a bucket full of fuzzy wuzzy feelings.
But have you rolled down a concrete hill - i.e. have you rolled down a road - at a cloud's pace with the bright moon shining through the misty clouds (an eerie reminder of the werewolf stories your cousins told you in a pitch black room many eons ago)?

Have you connected the dots to make a picture? Most have - looking up at the night sky, straining your eyes to make out the few remaining stars that haven't been washed up by the atrocious light pollution.
But have you ever looked down at the road and seen the blotchy holes randomly splattered in the most convenient places and thought "wow, I can connect these dots to draw the best brain ever" (note that the brain has many curviture lines and thus, requires many dots so as to achieve those details - otherwise it would be a very rigid looking brain)?

Although, the majority wouldn't have completed these strange array of activities, some may have and that brings a smile to my face - to know that there are others, like me, who enjoy putting strange twists on the ordinary.

Internship...

My internship at Scripps starts tomorrow...
So it looks like Dr. Logrip will be my day-to-day mentor. Dr. Logrip works with Dr. Zorrilla who works with Dr. Koob.
There's a whole neurotree thing you can find online that shows how they're all connected in the scientific community. PRETTYYY COOL.
oh before I forget..
here's a link to a cool talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.html
VERY AWESOME

Awesome Fact of the Day...

It is 3:18am (Friday)
The day before my SAT Subject test.
Why am I up?
Because I do this crazy sleep schedule thing about once a month and evidently it came early this month.

Well awesome fact I learnt...
I was reading the "MIT Inventions/Breakthroughs" page just now and look what I stumbled across!!

Plan for Canberra, Australia - Marion Mahony Griffin 1894

I did NOT know that she was a MIT graduate!

If you look carefully you can see that it says "Marion Mahony M.I.T. '94"

This is pretty freaking awesome.

The end.

Outside my window...

What do you see when you look out your window?
I see my neighbour's white wall and their window (always with the blinds half open).
I never see anyone through those half closed blinds but it always freaks me out to think that whoever was walking by that window could see me.

I sometimes wonder whether someone is peeking through, watching me while I try to cram out an essay in the early hours of the morning. (I have a strange tendency to wake up at 3-4am and write until I have to get ready for school at 6:30am, I guess you could call me a morning person?) I wonder if they watch as I scream at the computer, pull at my hair, select the entire text and press delete. I wonder if they can read my lips as I read and reread my entire essay about 10 times.

It's interesting to think that these people/this person I have never even met might know some of my secrets. Do they/does he or she know that instead of doing math homework I design programs for my calculator? Do they know that instead of memorizing my wordly wise vocabulary, I'm learning a whole new language as I read papers about neuroscience on Pubmed? These are the things my parents miss. These are the things my friends miss.

Before I used to wonder if someone actually lived next door. I never saw a car drive up the driveway or a car pull up. I never heard a noise. Then one day, I think early January this year, I heard the piano. I peered out my window and saw that the curtains were shut, but I could make out a faint silhouette of a boy or man. I don't hear the piano often but when I do, it's always lovely - it makes me happy.

Recently I've started to listen to music (something I never used to do). Now, from time to time, I slightly open my window and turn up the speakers on my computer a little louder, hoping that maybe the boy who lives next door can hear it and make him happy.

Yellow Green ...

I can tell by the yellow green mucus that I am nearly over this hellish cold.
Was that tmi? If it was I apologize.

Yesterday was my English final - that was fine.
It was also graduation. I sat on the green grass, the sky was clouded over and I was calculating the probability of it raining the entire time.

It was exciting to watch all my senior friends graduate and extra special when my Calculus teacher went up and spoke (he was voted as the staff speaker this year).
Although I've talked to him countless times about his stroke before and how he had overcome it, it was another thing, watching him in front of all those people explaining what was probably one of the darkest times in his life.

It gave me hope and courage to do the same in the near future. So one of these days I will explain one of my darkest moments right here on this blog.

Well all that aside, I am done with my JUNIOR YEAR! It was long and hard and near the end I was beginning to wonder if I would make it but I did. Looking back on it now I don't know why I found the last stretch so long, since it literally feels like it went by in a second (and yes I do realize how cliche that sounds lol).

I know I said in my last blog that I would write a reflection blog but I think there is just too much text in this one so I will do it in my next one.

DONE WITH JUNIOR YEAR...SENIOR YEAR HERE I COME!!!

p.s. I was officially a senior at 4:02pm yesterday WOOT!!

I can see the light...

...at the end of the tunnel.

My last official school day is TOMORROW! Tomorrow is also the day I have my English final.
Oh and yesterday was the Honors Convocation and I won the math and science department awards!

WOOT GIRL POWER!!

Also it is OFFICIAL! I am going to work in Dr. Koob's lab (at Scripps) with Dr. Zorrilla and receive federal stimulus money this summer. I am so excited.

Well Junior year is coming to a close...I will have a reflective blog tomorrow after my final.

TIME OF YOUR LIFE

Green Day

Another turning point;

a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist;

directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test

and don't ask why.

It's not a question

but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable

but in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

Padres Game vs. Poetry Project...

So I just got invited to sit in the BOX at Petco Park for the Padres game tonight BUT I have a poetry project for english due tomorrow.
IT'S A DILEMMA.
For most it would be a no brainer - obviously the Padres game
BUT for me it's a little difficult - I don't want to slack off at the end of the year
mmm
I'll come back on here when I make a decision (preferably before noon today)

New Trend?

So I have a APUSH final today and a Calc BC final tomorrow but I'm finally back from my horrific AP nightmare week and ready to blog again.
It looks like the new trend in blogging these days is to upload pictures of food - mm interesting?
Well let's give this new trend a whirl aye?

pringles

mutated strawberry

chocolate biscuit

chicken?

ANZAC BISCUIT!!!

AP Week...Yumm-O!

My first Ap comes up this Wednesday. Totally psyched for Calc BC! Slightly worried that I won't get a 5 but everyone feels those insecurities.

But I must confess my AP schedule truly is the epitome of HELL!
Wed - Calc BC
Thurs - Japanese
Fri - US Hist
Mon - Bio
Tues - Chem

I can't believe they are one after another - most of my friends have like at least a day break between each one.

I know this entry is boring (think of it as filler).
I AM SORRY.

Senior Prank and MIT

So the class of '09 did their senior prank today.

This is in the school's amphitheatre!

In other news...MIT came to San Diego! I met Kim Hunter and was totally psyched about that and I think the admissions info night just solidified what I already knew - I WANT TO DO RESEARCH and MIT IS THE BEST PLACE FOR THAT.

Well now I have to go study for the AP US history test I have tomorrow. Oh, the humanities - they definitely don't fit into my "inspirational" category.

October Sky...

Just watched October Sky for the 14th time. I swear it is one of THE MOST INSPIRING movies I've seen in my lifetime. Everytime I see it two things happen - 1. I cry 2. I get so hyped up about science and inspired to go make something amazing.

I remember the first time I watch it I was about 10 or 11 and I went and made a huge lego city/castle on my bedroom floor. That caused a few problems because everytime my mum came in she would step on a piece of lego and shout at me - finally after about 2 weeks I was forced to pack my lego city away.

Then I think it was the 9th time I saw October Sky that I did a 2000 piece Disney puzzle - I was about 14. I remember it took me about 3-4 weeks and I was so adamant about doing it by myself in the beginning. After about the first week I had barely anything down and I nearly gave up and I just sat there thinking to myself "I'm never going to get this done." I think a couple days later my friends and I had a movie night and we decided to watch October Sky (this was my 10th time) and it reminded me that I didn't need to do things alone. For the next 2-3 weeks my friends came over every weekend and worked on it for 9 hours a day and during the week I would do it by myself. Finally when we were down to the last piece I remember my two friends and I held the piece and put it into place together.

I wonder how I'll be inspired this time. I wonder how I will commemorate my 14th time watching October Sky. I'm hoping for something truly awesome that might inspire others.

Smores, Bonfire, Beach

So I had my first Smore today. It was somewhat strange but then again all the American food combinations are strange - for example who eats peanut butter with jam? That is just WEIRD.

In other news, my friends and I applied our chemistry knowledge and predicted that a can of soda would explode if put into the bonfire. (PV=nRT) lol and as we had predicted the can exploded but it wasn't a huge BAM BOOM explosion but rather a muffled imitation, which kind of was a disappointment.

The beach was nice. The sunset was romantic. The sand was all over me. It was like any other day at the beach except this time smores and a bonfire were involved.

Random Cameras On Campus - Necessary? Or Not?

So apparently we've had cameras in random places all over my high school campus since a couple students stole a whole stack of laptops last year but the cameras are in such outlandish places that it really doesn't seem like they serve a purpose.

Either they need to get more cameras or just scrap the whole camera idea all together because right now all they're useful for is...well...NOTHING.

NOTE: I had my Chem final - A SUPER DUPER AWESOME WAY TO START THE DAY OFF lol

Resting = Eating?

I just realized something - I force myself to eat when I don't feel like studying even though I'm not hungry. I think it's because I guilt trip myself into thinking that I shouldn't waste time just sitting down and watching tv so I say to myself .. "well if I eat that justifies my tv watching."

WRONG!

It just makes me feel sick (because of the food - you know that feeling you get when you overeat and you truly feel like the food is stacked all the way up your esophagus?) and still leaves me feeling guilty because I wasted an hour of study-time.
I think my brain has permanently just connected eating and resting together. Now I've just doomed myself to gain the freshman-15 when I go off to college - EXCELLENT.

Now back to CHEM STUDYING - orbitals, reaction mechanisms, colligative properties...YUM-O!

p.s. I can't believe I just posted TWICE in one day - I must really want to procrastinate today, which means I must really want to fail my chem final tomorrow. lol

sidenote: the girl I voted for student body president didn't win, the girl I voted for VP didn't win, and you guessed it, the guy I voted for treasurer didn't win - I TOLD YOU SO. ASB is totally a popularity contest. Also, I want to add that the guy who won the VP position totally exploited his embarrassing childhood to get the pity-votes! I don't know whether to call him clever or pathetic...perhaps pathetically clever? lol

Is ASB Just Another Popularity Contest?

My school voted for our student government president, vp, and treasurer yesterday.

To me it just seems like another opportunity for the popular candidates to boost their already overly inflated egos, but hey that's just my opinion.

My grade has so many cliques that it is impossible for the underdog with only a small circle of friends to win over the majority. I hope my choices win (probably unlikely).

On another note, the Community Service Board. Totally excited for this! The board has done so much this year and it's bound to do a whole lot more next year. Unfortunately the Sudanese tutoring center that I've been teaching at the past year and a half might close down because of insufficient funding. I'm hoping to get a charity running at my school to raise about $10 000.

I'm studying for the CHEM FINAL right now - buffers, thermodymanics, electrochem YUM YUM YUM! lol

MEGA NEWS!

I got

105%

on my last chem quiz!

That is all (the little splash of green was in celebration of EARTH DAY)
Tomorrow I have the huge neuroscience convention at UCSD!! EXCITING.
Note: It was cooler today...you could even say it was cold.

Hot, hot, hot!

Approximately 90F today, which is about 32C. That is HOT. It feels like I'm back in Australia. The difference is the air isn't nearly as dry.
In other news - my brother has been playing Halo and Guitar Hero nonstop for the past few months and I came across this article the other day (it's pretty interesting).
CHECK IT OUT!
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=can-kids-become-addicted-to-video-g-2009-04-20
Other than that I'm out of things to write so I'll be back tomorrow with something a little bit more exciting to say.

Check this out!

My friend Danielle gave me a link to this youtube channel and told me that nat (the girl in the youtube videos) reminds her of me.
CHECK IT OUT:
http://www.youtube.com/user/communitychannel?blend=1&ob=4
So if you were ever wondering what a TRUE Ozzi accent sounded like, now you know.
NB: The crocodile hunter accent is FAKE - NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT!!!

Summer + Dr. Koob + Neuropeptide Y = PERFECT!

NEUROPEPTIDE Y

The most unexpected miracle happened this past week!

Until this afternoon I had no concrete idea about what I was going to do this summer. I knew I wanted to do research in a lab and preferably research neuroscience but I didn't have a position.

I applied for two summer programs:
1. BIOCOM
2. HBRI

Both are great but they are programs so I was sure they would have strict guidelines, which would prevent me from being able to conduct my own research - a BIG DOWNER!

Well a few days ago my AP Bio teacher emailed Dr. Koob, I emailed him earlier this year asking him if he would provide me with an internship because he researches alcohol's effects on the brain and he has a team under him that studies eating behavior. And GUESS WHAT?

He immediately responded to my teacher and said he would love me to work with him and his team. In addition to that, it looks like I'll be getting a piece of that HUGE $800billion stimulus package because apparently the Fed govt. wants to fund high school students interested in research!! So it looks like I'll be getting a grant! (kind of?)

I AM SO EXCITED! I wonder if this is how you would feel if you got into the college of your dreams (ie MIT). Actually, on second thought getting into MIT would be MUCH MUCH BETTER! But this fantastic internship opportunity is high up there on the AWESOMENESS chart.

So it looks like I'll be spending the majority of my summer in a lab playing with mice and brains - EPICNESS!!

Affects of NPY antagonist (skinnier mouse recieved injections of the NPY antagonist)

Last AP Chem Test

Had the last AP Chem test today on o chem and nuclear chem. I definitely think I aced the test. I knew all the material and the multiple choice questions were a piece of cake. The final is next Saturday. I can't believe we've covered all the material.

Best class EVER! I love everyone in that class. We're all scholars and the discussions we have are just awesome. I'm going to miss Mr. Lineback's ridiculous analogies LOL I remember when he made a connection between bonds and match.com and everyone was like "are you talking from personal experience?" LOL!

I hope we finish the year off with a BANG - literally. I think some of my classmates and I are going to try and build a hydrogen peroxide mini bomb after the APs are done.

Looking forward to AP Physics next year. Kind of annoyed about the fact that our school doesn't offer Physics C though. Physics B only contains a limited amount of calculus and only touches on a myriad of topics - there's NO DEPTH!

Well this was a pointless blog celebrating my last chem test - WOOHOO!!

Weather

So the day began gloomy and cold - I think the special guy up in heavens knew that I had the AP Psych entrance exam at 7:30am today. It was long and dreary much like the weather outside. The test was 100 multiple choice questions about absolutely NOTHING.

I thought psych would deal more with the functions of different parts of the brain and the effects of the functions on behavior, but apparently the psych class is more concerned about various areas in psychology and how each area approaches behavior. Not that, that isn't interesting because learning about Locke and Hobbes and Descartes is awesome. It's just not what I was expecting.

Now having said that, I will rephrase my opinion of the test - the test was 100 multiple choice questions about interesting facts that I'd rather learn by reading a book than by sitting in an AP class.

But I digress, let's go back to the weather. So approximately 10 minutes after I leave the testing room the sun begins to show its head. EXCITING-NESS! SUMMER IS FINALLY APPROACHING. But no! A couple minutes later the icy wind returns leaving me to walk to my english class shivering in the gloom.

The weather was like that the whole day - sun. gloom. sun, gloom, sun, gloom, sun gloom sun gloom sungloomsungloomsungloom...until the sun merged into the gloom and the gloom melted into the sun and the sun and the gloom created this new type of weather called SULOOM.

The last week or so has been suloomy. I think it's because the weather, like many juniors at this point, doesn't know whether to feel happy because the year is nearly OVER or sad because the APs are in less than a month.

I hope April passes soon and May comes and goes in less than a second because I can't wait to finish junior year and get started on my college apps! (this is what you call sarcasm if you didn't already realize)

HILARIOUS!

FAILURE - We can't spell failure without U.

UNIQUE - Just because you are unique does not mean you are useful.

RETARDS - We all know one.

A picture says a thousand words - I just said 3000+!

Which Functional Group Would You Be?

April 16 = O Chem test

In celebration of all that is O chem I decided to pick a functional group I'd like to be in another lifetime. It's an interesting thought.
If I had to choose, I'd definitely have to go with the haloalkane.
Not only is it holy - HALOalkane (it has a halo) - but tetrafluoroethane (a haloalkane found in air canisters) boils below room temperature and looks bloody AWESOME.

It looks like a mini whirlpool.

A mini whirlpool boiling over with a whole lot of AWESOME-NESS! Sounds like me lol.
Now it's your turn...which functional group would you be?

Homework Rant

The big, bad APs are coming. With that in mind, my stress levels are reaching their peaks. Not only that but my teachers are beginning to pile on the homework and test load. Just this week, the week after EASTER might I add, I have a AP psych test, nuclear and O chem test and a Great Gatsby essay (as well as all the usual homework mumbo-jumbo). Where is the holiday spirit? There is none.

Next week isn't better, I have a digestion, circulation, virus and immune system MEGA bio test, WWII and post-WWII history test and my chemistry final! In addition to those killers I'll probably attain my handy-dandy calc packet. PERFECT.

Oh wait, and before you think, "that isn't too bad..." remember that I have the big, bad APs starting on May 6th, which I haven't even started reviewing for.

Due to this school work overload my parents won't let me participate in the student plays that I've been looking forward to. If I were to tech the shows I would not get home until 10pm every night starting April 21 and ending May 1. Thank God I made time for the musical last quarter.

In my opinion I think the teachers need to take into account our life OUTSIDE academia and stop giving us a whole lot of busy work but hey that's just my opinion.

Enough with the rant and back to the US History reading that I'm pretending to do.

50.5 things

This is my third blog. I had one as a Freshman, another as a Sophmore and Junior, and now with Junior year coming to a close I'm beginning a new one as a soon-to-be Senior.
To begin let me give you a sense of who I am with a list of 50.5 things I can accomplish in under a minute each.

50.5 THINGS (I can do in a minute):
Note: #46 will explain why it is 50.5 and not 50
1. Log onto the MIT admissions website
2. Write a blog entry
3. Look at the scattergrams of 21 colleges on naviance
4. Come up with11 valid reasons NOT to do history reading.
5. Read an article on Scientific American
6. Eat one mini burger from Sammy’s
7. Type “I hate the SAT” 23 times with no mistakes
8. Come up with a brilliant dare for someone
9. Look at a cloud in the sky and tell you what animal it looks like
10. Tell you the 7 elemental diatomics – Professor HOFBrINCl
11. Read an analog clock
12. Put shoes on
13. Brush my hair
14. Do a minute of community service
15. Shout at my brother for playing guitar hero for 5 hours straight and driving my entire family crazy
16. Eat a chocolate bar
17. Go from Tutti Fruiti to Regent’s Pizza
18. Not blink
19. Hold my breath
20. Drink a bottle of water
21. Hold an ice cube
22. Run up the stairs in my house
23. Sign my name
24. Swipe my credit card in a credit card machine
25. Not talk
26. Not laugh
27. Keep my mouth open
28. Smile
29. Read in the car before I feel like throwing up
30. Open my laptop
31. Make myself cry
32. Chew gum
33. Memorize 15 SAT vocabulary words
34. Tell a joke
35. Make fun of Asians, women, Australians or all three at the same time (note: I am a female Asian with an Australian citizenship - I lived in Australia for 16 years of my life)
36. Come up with a one word description for everyone in my calculus class
37. Read someone else's weblog
38. Say sorry
39. Wash my hands
40. Sing the happy birthday song – badly might I add
41. Dislike someone – not a good trait, I’m working on fixing it
42. Get bored
43. Accidentally offend someone by telling them the truth – people have called me ruthlessly truthful since I was in 4th grade
44. Make a friend with a stranger
45. Make someone else smile or even better make someone else laugh
46. Whine about homework – actually this is only HALF true because I usually whine for more than a minute.
47. Make a paper snowflake
48. Send an email to my Australian friend listing how terrible America is – I don’t do this very often anymore
49. Make 6 words using the elements on the periodic table (TaN, SAuNa, KISS, ThINK, HOP, POP)
50. Swallow a pill
51. Since #46 only counts as half I’ll add another talent I possess that can be accomplished in under a minute - Play chopsticks on the piano