It's funny how life can change so much in as little as one year. As I say goodbye to 2004 today, all these memories, good and bad, play like a slideshow in the inner crevices of my mind. I've done and said a lot of stupid things, but there are moments when I have shined... always take the time to reflect what you have done this past year (or day, or week, or even hour), and see if you've learned anything. Like me, I'm sure you have.

Happy 2005.

...I have a secret...I've grown so fond of you....

Hi everyone... :)

Ugh, today I got home, and I was so ravenous! Mmm, ice cream cake is good... so are Honey Nut Cheerios XD Gah, I'm so retarded.

Hi all! I hope everyone had a merry Christmas... and next up: Happy New Year 2005 =)

I spent the past week in Orlando, FL. Tiff (my cool sister) and I rode all these cool roller coasters at Universal... I think I must have screamed enough to last a lifetime (and felt my stomach flip about 10x) ... what an experience! We rode Dueling Dragons, this ride where your feet dangle and you go all over the place, three times... and of course, we braved the Hulk ride. "AHHHHH I'M SCARED." We pigged out on cinnamon churros (yum! but expensive), and we discovered the wonders of the restaurant known as Steak and Shake (yum...I had a huge white chocolate milkshake) ... yes, holidays are the time for good eating :) I hope I didn't gain any weight ._. I don't need it...

I got a red sweater, a red shirt from Tommy Hilfiger, a Disney shirt, and a blue shirt (yes, my yearly purchase of clothing, lol... okay, fine, quarterly) :)

So she said what's the problem baby
What's the problem
I don't know
Well maybe I'm in love
Think about it every timeI think about it
Can't stop thinking 'bout it
How much longer will it take to cure this
Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love
Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love
-Counting Crows "Accidentally in Love"

I went to McDonald's with my friend Zee today. Although we ate, we still had this strange craving for more food... so guess what, we purchased more food! Although if you look at the big picture, I didn't have THAT MUCH, but when I got home, I felt so sick... so I had to take a walk to walk off all that loving McDonald's food. I spent an hour contemplating the mysteries of life while my face became wizened and dry due to the cold. It doesn't feel like Christmas yet!

And I don't feel 17 yet.

(My birthday was Monday.)

Well, I'm trying to convert the pages on my site to PHP (because the popups get a little annoying, I think), so excuse the dust and shambles of my pages. But not like anyone comes here, right? ;D

However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you

-311 "Love Song"

Today, I went to try out for District Band, whoohoo. Unlike the past four years, I went out of the judge room rather confidently. I do believe that out of the last four years, I've stormed out of the room crying and/or complaining about what a horrible flute player I am. The two male judges (that's a first!) were very nice and complimentary of me albeit my cold (achoo!) and my random "blah" notes. Do re mi fa so la si *BLAH* :) I hope I got a decent chair...

We also toured around the Walmart, the place where life centers around in the city I went to audition. That's weird how if a Walmart sits in the middle of nowhere, a town builds around it! A rather scary monopoly... I wonder if Toys R Us and all those retail stores out there will eventually go bankrupt due to Walmart's low prices and its variety of merchandise. Yeesh. I'm not one of those people who can go to Walmart at 3AM for no reason... at least, I don't think. I'm not allowed to be outside of the house past 12AM anyway (city curfew) :)

I worked on Christmas presents and cards. Giving out stuff is so hard, especially with lack of time/money. I took precious time out of studying ... yes, shut up, I do need to study for stuff. I'm really worried about this AP Chem test on Monday because these last couple of days have been rather hazy for me. I've been so sleepy and annoyed with school! Haven't you?

Aww, I'm always missing someone...

Quick entry before I have to depart to the wonderful, exuberant world of studying. I'm a permanent denizen of that world now.

Saturday, I took the SAT - I don't think I did that well, so please don't inquire of my score when the scores come out December 15th... But to go to more happier subjects, I went to Shivani's sweet 16th birthday that evening. She invited the whole brown town (hehe) and of course, us Chinese people (in other words, everyone). Chinatown was reunited :) I miss Melissa so much (our fellow member who turned "traitor" but against her will) ... it was nice hanging out with close friends and getting to know some certain people better. Of course, the alternative to a hot, stuffy house with way too many people is hanging out in the bitter cold!

It's amazing what a dearth of nice, considerate people we have in this world. I recently discovered one of these endangered peoples on Saturday (or merely reinforced my idea of him, anyway). WOW, Dina and I are left impressed by the amazing decency of this one guy. He's the guy that opens doors, that offers his seat when there's nowhere else to sit, that offers the jacket, that follows us in the face of danger, and so on and so forth...not just in one instance, but repeatedly, too! I'm left impressed and with my eyebrow raised in a bemused manner.

I'm trying to read A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar again. I read it awhile back, but I don't have a great recollection of the book. A mesmerizing movie though. I think I cried when I watched it about 2-3 years ago?

I'm sitting here studying vocabulary now... great, great. Gotta love school. I like how if one goes to school until s/he is about 30 years old (graduate school, etc), that's about 1/3 of their life spent in education. The sacrifices we make to have a good life...I wonder if I can stick with school that long when even now, I'm so sick of it... All right, Danielle, hang in there.

IT'S THE FIRST OF DECEMBER! 12/01/04 and also, my birthday is coming up soon! Can you believe it? This year has gone by rather quickly, but with the exception of last month, I can't really say it was my best year... :( I've had better. What a tumultuous, crazy ride life is. Oh well, like the phrase goes, there's always next year, har har... 2005! I can't wait until 2006.

I love McDonald's yogurt parfaits. :)

And Publix = OVERPRICED >:O I bought three tomatoes for $5.03 today... I was wondering why my overall cost for all of my goods was so expensive. Geez.

I really don't know what to write in here. What I'm feeling right now is rather ineffable - I'm not sure if I'm comfortable writing about it just yet...mere words won't do my feelings justice.

New layout, everyone! Winter 04-05 (yes, the lazy way out of not doing a new layout every month) featuring cute little penguins - I didn't know they were inclined to have couples - and "More Than Words" by Extreme. I love that song, and yes, I am a fan of oldies :)

I went to a birthday/dinner party yesterday. Apparently, everyone loved my complexion because these adults kept on pointing at my face and asking my dad how my face got to be so glowing. I know the reason: my complexion used to be SO bad - oily, zitty, etc. Now that I've gotten the zit problem tamed and am now liberally putting on facial lotion, my complexion is definitely more appealing to the eye... now I don't have to grimace as much when I look in the mirror. :/

I am going to take the SAT I on December 4th (in a week!) and I'm going to do so horribly... I haven't "prepped" for it at all, a.k.a. review some math concepts and maybe go over some vocabulary. Grrr. I don't know what's going on in my life anymore - I need to get myself straightened out ASAP, for December is a busy, busy month.

Lyric O' the Moment: So I'm a little left of center / I'm a little out of tune / Some say I'm paranormal / So I just bend their spoon / Who wants to be ordinary / In a crazy, mixed-up world / I don't care what they're sayin' / As long as I'm your girl -"You Get Me" by Michelle Branch

Hi :) This past weekend was awesome - I love going on debate trips just for the fun of it. I went to judge JV (along with Joy), and it was quite an experience. Since most people who read this probably aren't debaters, I'm not going to delve in the frustration of the rounds because nobody cares... and the people that would have cared, I already blabbed to them about it ^_^' It just sucks when you judge people that you know are better than you - but judges have so much power, it's scary.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I laughed. So. Much. It was utterly ridiculous. The littlest things set me off, and once I start, it's like Pringles: the fun doesn't stop. Thanks to Zach, Nakul, and Brian L. for giving me one heck of a fun time (yes, I equivalate laughing a lot = fun) ... And the thing is, if I tried to tell you what made me laugh so hard, I would be at a loss. Must have been one of those "YOU HAD TO BE THERE!" moments. I tend to get those a lot. It was not necessarily a lot of jokes (good and bad) being spread around although there were some; it was just the humor of people and events, I suppose.

Hmm, well, I guess I never laugh that much at school anymore because of a combination of things:

• the people aren't that funny
• the people don't get me
• I don't get the people
• I'm always tired
• School is a depressing environment.

If you want more details about my trip, I guess you can click to my Xanga, although I do write about friends a lot.

Ooh, I think my dog got bit by a squirrel :( I'm sad, she always looks so down/depressed whenever nobody's tending to her attention needs... everything and everybody needs a little lovin' and carin'.

I put up a new cam picture after like, more than a month. I need to be better about this.

THANKSGIVING BREAK this Wednesday. I'm interested in seeing how my Thanksgiving 04 turns out. =) I need to catch up on many hours of lost sleep, get in touch with some people, shop for Christmas gifts, practice flute for district/all-state, study study study, and do a new layout (winter? who knows) ... this had better be good.

Musical Moment: I am hanging on every word you say / And even if you don't want to speak tonight / That's alright, alright with me / 'Cause I want nothing more than to sit / Outside Heaven's door and listen to you breathing / Is where I want to be -"Breathing" by Lifehouse

Aww, I've been in a slump lately. It may be associated with a monthly thing, it may not. Regardless, I've been moping and groaning and complaining... I'm sure all of my good friends think I'm annoying now. Please, please forgive me ^_^ ... you people mean the world to me :)

I need to start utilizing my cell phone. I have 2000 rollover minutes left. Plus, I rarely call people. There are certain people that I am just dying to call, but sometimes, it's really hard to get the courage to press. the. stupid. call. button. I'm the most silly person on earth...and IM has lost almost all of its personal value, so on the personal level scale...

Face to face > Phone > Letter > E-mail > IM

Or something like that. Feel free to alter the order.

I hate missing school. I am always swamped with makeup work/tests/whatever. Someone shoot me. No, I'm kidding, I embrace life. But seriously, everyday, I'm not happy. Even if there's not a lot of work to do, I'm still not YAYY HAPPY GO LUCKY WHOO! I need to rant to someone. I need to cry. I need someone to hold me. I need to hold someone. I need to write all of my thoughts down properly instead of things like "Today I went to the grocery store..." or something insignificant like this. I need to stop complaining, actually... ^_^

I have a question for you: So when is it love, really? I've been struggling to answer this daunting question for about three years now. Still haven't found a definite answer. Come Valentine's Day, I hope to have an answer...(just naming a holiday in the distant future).

Okay, enough of this utter nonsense. Off to study!

Hey all. Sorry for the lack of updates... I usually write utter randomness in my Xanga, so if you want to keep up with me, should this blog prove inadequate, you can visit my Xanga here: click me! Generally, I keep well-thought-out entries on this blog here and the randomness on the Xanga... you know, the "I'm bored/hungry/tired" type entries. :)

So today was awfully cold... right now, I'm standing with my tshirt, pajama pants, AND my really super long (and obese) scarf from Forever 21. It is quiet warm, except I am in need of gloves. My hands are so dry and chapped from the coldness... -_- More lotion-slathering time, eh? I hate putting on lotion... it gets everywhere, it takes awhile to soak in the skin, and I always forget to put on lotion.

Tonight was the annual Veteran's Day concert... a salute to all of our veterans. Mr. Barney spoke, yay, that was nice... I'm so used to hearing him speak in class, but in an environment like at the church with all these veterans, it felt different... anyway, he's a really nice guy. I played the Stars and Stripe piccolo part with Janki and Christina... that went pretty well, considering I haven't practiced this but four times since last year... I still remember how to play all of that piece!!! And most of the other pieces by memory since we played them so many times last year. You know, if I don't start using earplugs soon, I'm going to be deaf by 25... those piccolos are shrill!

Anyway, off to conquer so more unfinished homework. For those that I usually visit: sorry my visits have been so sporadic/few =( I hate my life right now, well, the workload, anyway... or maybe I just work too hard.

Just finished: The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price (nice!)
Currently reading: Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon.

I'm so sleepy...

Earlier, I was doing homework on my bed (yes, I know, not a smart move) ... and I decided to lay my head down for just a little bit when... I woke up 5 hours later.

... Ok, not really, but it's happened before. Thank goodness it wasn't today :) I have a Trig test tomorrow.

94 ON INCLASS ESSAY! THANK GOODNESS...after the last one, I could have sworn I got another mid-B. It has gotten to the point where I take any A, no matter how high or low, in AP Lit... see, I used to hate grades like 91, but now, I treat it like it's a 99 or something... whoohoo. School is kicking my butt (physically - my health is so bad right now... I've gotten two-three illnesses or so this past month). Plus, more "bad" grades are filtering in this year... for example, I've gotten more Cs than I have ever gotten in my schooling career up to this point. Minor grades, but still... when a big red 70 is smack dab in the middle of your paper, it hurts.

So Bush won four more years... I have mixed feelings about this, and I'm sure the rest of America does, too. I hope that during the next four years, he takes steps to bring the country together because looking at the election, we're so deeply split. Kerry's right - we need unity. Hello, the United States of America... I have a lot of friends that are leaning more Democratic, and all this "Bush sucks" talk makes me wonder. Whether you hate him or not, we're stuck with him for another four years. Something interesting I learned in U.S. History - Look at Abraham Lincoln. whom we consider a great president today... he was not popular with the people--he didn't even have friends in the White House-- for the most part, until the turning points of the Civil War. That's weird - not knowing the politics of the Civil War, I always thought that everyone loved Lincoln, but no, that wasn't true. Yet look how he is portrayed now. o_O I wonder how Bush will go down in history. How will I explain him to my kids? Hopefully not using all the derogatory statements that my friends used. He has his good points and his bad points, just like you and me.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" This question, not a common question to begin with, was asked to me not once, but twice yesterday, by two different people. No, they weren't guys who were looking for a girl, and no, the females who asked me weren't lesbian/bi (cough, Ellen Y)... one of my good friends and one of my teachers I had last year were the ones who asked me. I just found that so weird that such a question of great personal weight would be brought up twice in one single day. My personal life is pretty...interesting. Well. I have some reasons why I don't have a boyfriend right now, but sometimes, that inner girl breaks loose from its cage and takes over my emotions and thoughts. I just wish I won't do or say something stupid like I did last time and regret it for years to come. Hey, but you know what they say: you learn by doing ... (like, committing mistakes?) -_-

Dust to Dust ... what the?

Today, I took a day off from school to see Dr. Lin... I've been having problems with my lower back (my parents suspected kidney problems :/), and the last trip to the doctor didn't cure it all the way, so this morning, I went yet again... Dr. Lin is a really nice man :) After doing the usual diagnosis, I even got some acupuncture in ^_^ This was my first time ever, and I always imagined tons of scary pins and needles... but in reality, it wasn't that bad. Just some points of pressure and some pricklyness. I believe getting shots are worse :P I don't know if the acupuncture helped, though... I don't know the science behind it, but hey, if it's been used for thousands of years...

I just read Danielle Steel's book The Promise because Betsy lent it to me... :) I wrote a review on it in Amazon, if you care to read... not one of my better reviews because I'm kind of sick and tired, but it will do, hopefully. One thing, though... I really hope all of her books aren't like that... somewhat bland, flat, predictable... hopefully not to the predicability of Nicholas Sparks =\ Now wouldn't that be a shame...

Well, this week has been HOMECOMING WEEK, and of course, all the days have something funky to it... Tuesday, I dressed up as twins with Ning-Fei and Dina (JAPANESE SCHOOL GIRL OUTFITS + HAIR ...), Thursday, I dressed like a tomboy with my dad's shirt and my cap... whoohoo, "sexy!" I got lots of compliments, which was nice... EDIT: HERE ARE SOME PICTURES... Click on them to view the full size...





Twin Day. I dressed up like Ning-Fei and Dina. We looked like Japanese school girls...

Katherine and me as guys... :D

Why do I have such a bad phobia of phones? Whenever I am seized by the urge to call ________, I shrink away from fear and I never end up dialing _________, letting what could possibly be a golden opportunity of friendship to pass yet again. Even with girl friends, I can't bring myself to call... what's wrong with me? Am I just not concise with speaking or communicating my thoughts? Perhaps it's because I'm too afraid something will slip out that shouldn't... Oftentimes, I ramble, and sometimes, those thoughts aren't what I want people to hear, no matter how close I am with them.

Sorry so short, this entry is mainly just to let you faithful know that I'm still alive. :)

guess what... my wireless keyboard has died... i'm assuming it's the batteries, so i'm using my regular keyboard on the laptop... and it sucks. i don't have the shift key, enter, or backspace to use... so if i mess up, please forgive me. i have to manually right click and do delete or make it a space... so it's really annoying and aggravating. i'll have to fix my keyboard later... oh wait, since i don't have the enter key, i can't make paragraphs nor use html... oops... well, anyway, i'm just letting you know about my predicament. i'll blog a proper entry later. insert smiley face here...

I woke up at 2p.m. today. Yeah, I'm not sleeping at 2am anymore just for the heck of it :) I was engaged in interesting IM conversations last night, and unfortunately, that preceded sleep (right Kevin? Ahaha) ... I suppose it was one of those once-every-now-and-then moments.

Anyway, this past week, I've been spending my days in Atlanta (whooohooo) ... all we did was shop, haha. We whizzed through three malls (THREE!), and that was probably equivalent to 10+ miles of walking, hahaha... I bought some gifts, pants from Gap ($10), and a shirt from Aero ($6) ... yeah, I'm cheap. I usually don't buy clothing over $10 ... I can show you how to get a wardrobe for less than $50, I'm sure ;)

As I toured though all the stores (there's many to choose from in Atlanta), a lot of the stores had their Christmas display already up. Geez, October isn't even over yet... and did we forget about Thanksgiving? I guess on the whole, Christmas outweighs a lot of holidays... well, I like Christmas, but what a way to inundate (hey I like that word) the shelves with red, green, and white... :) They're just after our pocketbooks, that's all. But I still can't wait for Christmas because then this emotionally aggravating ride of a first semester junior year will be OVER, and we'll have time to warm up by the fire, spending quality time with friends and family. :)

I was talking with my good friend Mike last night, and of course, we were reflecting over the past (I seem to do that a lot with him) ... I cannot believe how much stuff happens in one year because I didn't realize that until I was talking with him. My freshman prom? That was a little over a year ago. Merely a year...(May 2003) I feel like freshman year was aeons and aeons ago :\ but it wasn't. Also in May 2003, the current sophomores in college graduated from high school...what, I feel like they've been gone for years as well, not merely a little over a year. =\ I was flipping through my photo albums and the differences between this time last year and now are... great... Time plays a very cruel joke on us.

Fake 9/11 Silver Coins ...

This past week has been rather interesting... A brief outline of what has happened in Dani's life, for those of you that care (then again, if you didn't care, you wouldn't be here, right? :D)

Saturday - Dina and her family came over, and we hung out at my house--bonding time!--, and around 4pm or so Howard came down from Duke University to visit our wonderful city of ________ (cough cough) ... :D x 1000 I was pretty elated because I haven't seen him in over a year. After more hanging out at my house, Howard, Tiffany (my sister), and I crashed at Brian's house (who was home for the weekend as well). The boys and I watched part of the UGA vs. Tennesee game (UGA lost...).

For dinner, we ate out at Ruby Tuesday ... first time I've been to the Ruby Tuesday (and I've lived here for how long?), and of course I ate chicken >=) while Howard and I discussed about the wonderful thing known as our lives. What a roller coaster. After dinner, at the earnest pleading from my sister, we headed over to Wal-Mart :) Why, I'm not really sure. Howard and I ended up buying a 750 jigsaw puzzle, and its pieces still lay scattered on my bedroom floor. It is a really pretty puzzle called "Seaside Leap" with dolphins, a magnificent horizon, and of course, the wonderful creatures of the deep. I have about 30% completion, and at this rate, hopefully I'll finish this by Christmas... gracias, Howard.

Sunday - Chinese school... started a three day spree of eating pizza (darn you, Papa John's) ... tried to study like crazy but whatever. Ended up talking on the phone most of the time...

Monday - This is sad, I'm failing to remember what happened to me two days ago... I was a little peevish on Monday, don't know why "grrrr" -_- When I'm in a bad mood (which is often), it's not a pretty sight :D flute lessons... I have decided that I NEED TO PRACTICE... more than just 1 day a week -_- Howard came over and visited me while I was feverishly studying for tests... yay... :)

Tuesday - ... seriously, what happened yesterday? My memory is that bad.... I do remember doing yoga though...oh yes, and report cards :)

Wednesday - TODAY! ... Mrs. H basically told me, in a somewhat subtle way, that I had failed an AP practice... My God, I stink at AP Practices... also, I took the PSAT, and I think I missed some really silly questions... probably I rushed through them. Sigh. School sucks.

Okay, yeah, I'm not doing this again because this proves that my short-term memory is not so hot :) I barely remember what happened this morning. Isn't that sad? Well, just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive... and I will write a better entry later. :)

I'm currently reading Mine Eyes Have Seen by Ann Rinaldi (a really good historical fiction writer) ... and when I brought it to class the other day, my friend Jane said, "Oooh, new book, let me see..." and she and Ann Marie took a glance at the cover and simultaneously bursted out into the Battle Hymn of the Republic song... "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord..." while of course everyone stared at them. IT WAS SO CUTE "like a musical!" hahaha... gosh, I love my friends.

Hmm, what else happened this week (it is, after all, Wednesday)... I got a 100 on an AP Chem test (yes!), the very one that I was on the verge of tears because I didn't understand how to do a lot of the problems the night before the test... got an 87 on a really easy Spanish test (what the heck... I bet that just killed my average), and totally failed an in-class essay today about the oh-so-wonderful, extraordinary, amazing Billy Budd ... no seriously, there is absolutely no sarcasm here, none at all.... -_-

For those that I usually visit (you know who you are), I will pay you a visit very soon, I'm so sorry for not givin' some loving to you wonderful people :( ... hopefully when this crazy week is over, I'll stop by your wonderful blogs.

I can't believe I've been through 9 weeks of hell (sorry, no other word to describe) already... only three more of these 9-weeks periods left... guess who's ready for Christmas, actually? ^.~ Fall's pretty, and there are some good perks about it (really nice weather, etc.) but it's also hard/long/boring schoolwise. Seeing some Christmas merchandise already on sale (!!!!!!!!! Halloween hasn't even passed yet), I'm already in the mood for some fireside warming, some lovin' (hahaha yeah right, not moi!), exchanging warm-hearted gifts, hitting the mountains (or if you're like my family, the beach in the winter XD...), and consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar-enhanced milk chocolate. Sigh... how blissful.

It's late...

I should be in bed...

The one day when I had little to no homework, I still stay up around 11pm.... ^_^ I think I've gotten so accustomed to sleeping at this (unhealthy) time that any other time would throw off my sleep schedule. Not good! No wonder I sleep until 1pm on weekends... :)

Quick post, sorry. Off to bed.

I spend my evenings studying, studying, and studying, and of course, last night I found myself sleeping at 12:30a.m.... cramming for an AP Chem. test. Of course, my fellow friends were online as well (why do people stay online so late? sigh... we all need like, 8 hours of sleep) See, if I didn't do all those practice problems this past weekend, I would have failed the test today like none other... this goes to show that Practice makes perfect.......but I wish I had more time to, say, practice my flute ^_^ At this rate, I'm never going to make All-State Band...

Well, off to do debate work. How exciting! See, our pitiful class is directly after one of the best classes to breeze through LHS... we pale in comparison to the brilliant people of the class of 2005 :P so there's some pressure on us (06!) to do just as well... but I'm not super geniuses like they are. :)

Gosh, my emotional roller coaster ride (har! trig project...) has been hitting some bumps and some really steep hills... -_- Sigh, I think my hormonal levels must be imbalanced and I need some medication. Either that, or my emotions are trying to tell me that something's up. See, on my trig project, I was going to name my roller coaster ride "Only to Fall Again," but I changed it...

This morning, I woke up scared for my life...I woke up breathing heavily and gladly taking my surroundings in--yes, I'm still alive, and yes, I'm still in the comforts of my own room. I dreamt about my friend and me, and she and I, for some reason, devised a plot... and I remember seeing her with a revolver/gun and shooting and killing these people, people that were our friends (in band?), one by one, until she suddenly stopped at this one person, and she fled. I remember seeing the bodies crumple... I had a revolver too, so I think I dropped it and ran... where I ran and hid, I don't remember. I just remember feeling really scared for my life, and how eventually people would know it was my friend (let's call her Katie) who commited those heinous acts, and I was somehow tied in with her... I think I was trying to hide the evidence (the gun) and also praying that nobody would know that I knew about the plot, and that I actually had a gun in my possession... I was debating on whether I should tell someone of higher authority (teacher?) that I knew it was her and I was involved, too, although I didn't technically do anything...it was terrifying being in that position, and sadly, I have felt this way before. I'm sure everyone's been in that position, although perhaps not as drastic...

I went shopping this weekend. Dillard's was cleaning out its summer stuff... see, the best time to shop is when it's the transition of seasons because stores throw out their stuff at cheap prices... good for you, the shopper. :) I bought this really pretty pink, flowery dress for only $4 (regular price must have been $30 or so)... and some other articles of clothing for cheap prices. I'm content, I guess. Well, I'm not the type of person to be thrilled or ecstatic about buying clothes, unlike some people.

Yeah, to try to boost my mood, I exercised today for about 30 minutes... my mood was temporarily boosted, but now, I'm all depressed/tired/lazy/mmmmphhh again. :( How does one cheer oneself up? I don't think I'll be truly happy until Christmas (well, December)... in two months. I don't even really know why I'm so depressed/down all the time because there's really no good reason. This is weird because last year, fall 2003, my journal entries tell me that I was a happy-go-lucky sophomore... just having the time of my life despite my ups and downs. This year, I feel like I've been sapped of all emotion/energy... and all I am left to deal with is apathy and the ocassional bitter cynicism.

Highlights of my week:

http://autonet.ca/Francais/SalonAuto/storyimages/story10685-picture12572-L.jpg

-I got a new 2005 berry red Corolla... :D

-I think I've gained weight =\ ... well, maybe YOU can't tell, but I can.

-I got an 88 on a Hamilton Lit essay... still not entirely happy about it even though I have a 92 with AP Curve because it doesn't help my grade... I was hoping for a little higher but oh well -_- Gotta take what you get.

-I ate TONS of peanut butter this week... more than I have ever eaten in my entire life...dude, that stuff is good!

I will write more in depth later, ie: more elaboration, but it's Friday afternoon, and I'm tired of staring 24/7 at the computer because of studying or procrastination, or a little of both. Time to get some physical exercise and enjoy the beauty of nature (or the depths of my kitchen, if you're like me who works out in the kitchen) :)

Time is elusive. I can never seem to find enough of it to last me a whole day. Which is ironic because a day does constitute of time.

I get home around 3:30pm everyday from school, put my stuff down, and get on the computer to check email, check who is online, check my website (what you're currently visiting :p), and so on and so forth. Frequently, I do my homework while sitting at the computer, but I find that a distraction at times, especially with all the tools accessible with the click of a mouse--IM, e-mail, music, to name a few. Then as the hours roll by and evening comes, I then take the time to study for quizzes/tests for the following day. Of course, 50% of the time you catch me, I would probably be on IM. I still manage to do both (study/do homework), but the evening still wears away, and the days that I am sitting at the computer, I look at my erroneous desktop clock.

8:34 p.m.

Actually, please note that I said "erroneous," meaning that... it's wrong. It's not really 8:34 - in fact, it's close to 11:45 p.m., to say the least. Nearing midnight. Great. This isn't a once or twice occurence... in fact, recently, it has been nearing every night. Well, you might say, 12am, that's not too bad. Well, consider that because I am bound to the chains of high school until I leave the school in May 2006, I have to wake up every morning around 6:30a.m. (and FYI, recently it has been 6:05 a.m. because my poor car broke down, and I am car-less), get to school, and start class at 7:50a.m. Dangit, you know all those studies about how people really need 8-9 hours of sleep every night? I will tell you right now: THEY'RE RIGHT. 6 hours of sleep is not enough, even though it's a mere difference of two hours... I'm always having HUGE headaches in the morning, heavy eyes, and a gaping expression on my face ("What?") because of those precious two hours of sleep lost. By 5th period, I'm almost out cold....

I know I rambled for what seemed to be hours up there about seemingly nothing important, but please, unless you really have a lot of stuff to do, get your 8 hours of sleep. Your body will thank you later.

Anyway, onto some other blog-worthy events...

I went to collegeboard.org today, and I happened to surf around some colleges and universities because in a year, I will be the one that's applying to colleges. Under the admissions tab, there are things that the school heavily bases their admissions on, things that they strongly consider, and things they consider (you'll see if you visit the site, for those who care) ... For example, in one school, class rank is very important, while in another school, they only just glance at it. I am really worried that when the time comes for me to start filling out those apps, that I won't get into the colleges of my choice (currently hazy at the moment) because I didn't have enough accomplishments/good things to say about me/etc. etc.... okay, fine, I have the grades, and I'm sure I could improve my SAT scores (...hehe) and whatnot, but what else do they want of me? How do I make myself stand out to, say, Ivy League schools, with my glowing application being the one that screams to the admissions officers, "Pick me! Pick me!" ? I know some of my friends have blogged about this before... see, where I live, a lot of people end up going to a big state university. It's a very good college with a very good honors program, band, and football team (take a guess)? :P but there's this (prideful?) feeling deep down that I am capable of getting into places that are more "prestigious" than that. But it's only a feeling--am I really that capable? Or is it just my vanity speaking? I guess we shall see when in a year, the rejection letters will pile up on my table...

Okay, I need to do some homework. Being a junior in high school is no walk in the park. But I'm sure you knew that already, didn't you?

Yo necesito...

-Un grupo de amigos! Well, I have friends, but I don't know... I guess I'm a social butterfly (and yes, Raie, I do bold a lot to emphasize certain things) because I tend to "flit" from group to group. I don't really have one I can call my own, or a group of "best friends." Like right now, I have in mind a group of girls that are pretty close-knit--I'm friends with all of them, even good friends with one of them, but I'm not in their "group." Maybe I don't need a group of friends, and I can just be good friends with everyone so I can get the best of every world. ;D Also, I sort of stopped doing this "best friend(s)" business awhile ago... I don't know, sometimes I feel overwhelmed by this "best" ordeal... being attached ALL THE TIME kind of annoys me, for some reason, like when you only hang out with that one person. I don't know, maybe I'm not making much sense right now because I'm pretty tired. LOL OMG BFF!!!!!!!!!! FRIENDS FOREVER I LOVE YOU XOXOXOXOXOXO that's not really me, I'm not sure if that was ever me... I'm really a reserved person, to tell you the truth. Even with my few really good friends, I don't ever tell them a lot of things about me, like for example, who my mind currently dwells on, my concerns about life, etc. etc. But enough...

-Un vida! I need a life. I don't have one. Saturday night, I'm home... I was studying and I am now blogging. Earlier in the evening, I was sleeping.

-Aprender chino... My Mandarin Chinese is rather stagnant right now, and I really want to be fluent in Mandarin so I could possibly survive on my own (sort of) in places like Taiwan. I look at talk shows on Chinese TV, and when I see Russian people speaking Chinese, despite the fact it's not all the way smooth, it bothers me that if I landed on a talk show like that, I probably wouldn't be able to say what I wanted to say very well, and I am Chinese. I've studied the language since I was 5, but it's a once-a-week thing, and I don't write much at all. When I speak with Chinese "ai-yis" and "su sus," yeah, I speak Chinese, but I can't hold, like, philosphical talks or anything... my vocab's not that expansive. Also, everytime I go overseas, I often don't know how to say certain phrases, so here I am, the American-Born-Chinese girl walking around like "?" :D I bet my extended family thinks it's disgraceful because I can only hold simple conversations in Chinese, like Hi how are you, I'm in 11th grade now, I like to _____, No, I'm not dating anyone, I don't know where I want to go to college. Maybe I should just take this class in college, although most classes offer simplified Chinese if I'm not mistaken (well, at Tech, they do)... a step backwards for me >_<

Okay, I'll stop with the "I need" and my horrible Spanish...

I still need to make my layout. Great. I've become a big-time procrastinator now. AP studying? I'll do that tomorrow.

Today was very invigorating or exhausting, however you want to put it. I volunteered at this elementary school carnival with my friend, and we were kept on our toes at all times. We manned the "BAG DECORATING" booth, and kids just put glue (drew stuff) on paper bags, dumped glitter on it, and put stickers... we ran around showing people what to do and punching holes for the handles. Gah! It took awhile to get everything to calm down... I will not go into the giftbag industry (tied too many handles to care for) and perhaps not work as an elementary school teacher... teachers don't get paid enough for all the work they have to do. By the time I left, I had stickers, glue, and glitter all over me. I never want to see microscopic itty bitty pieces of colorful metallic plastic again.

Afterwards, I went to the lake for a Chinese picnic... excellent weather, though a little windy (another hurricane?) - I ran around in the water with Jennifer, getting my pants wet in the process, great... "played" volleyball, walked around in the sand, hula-hooping. It was a nice getaway from reality, I'll tell you that.

Sometimes, I wish I had some haven I could retreat to whenever I'm not loving life.

...I need to update.

I seem to be lacking in my time-management skills. I need to stop sleeping at 12AM everyday.

A look on what's coming up in my life (not that you care, right? :D)

September 23rd - Beta Club induction, whoohoo... I'll play a simple piece on flute :D I hope it turns out decent because I really need to quell my paranoia of playing in front of people. I manage to lose my composure at times... then again, who doesn't?

September 24th - LHS VS GHS GAME!!!!!!! Our school is really big on football, even though our team wasn't so hot in the past couple of years :c) but they have improved, and we've won games now, yay... It'll be fun, seeing all of my friends again ... I hate separation (a lot of my friends went to GHS after middle school, and guess who was the loser that went to the other school...)

October 13th - PSAT/NMQST (whatever the acronymn is) is coming up soon, and although I think I'll do fine on the Verbal section, I know I'm going to do not so hot on Math and Writing... For some reason, I cannot do math very well (in the class, sure, but outside/real life application, etc...) -_-

Also, hmm... I debated once so far, and I've already missed a debate tournament last week due to our Red Cross retreat... this weekend, I can't go to yet another fun, awesome debate tournament, so I'm a little disappointed about that. Last year, I didn't debate as much as I would like to because of marching band, but now that I'm no longer enslaved by the obligations of marching band, I have most of my Fridays off, but look who's not debating much....? -_- The irony! I think my debate career, if it ever started, died...

This past weekend, I went on a Red Cross camping retreat along with Shivani, Joy, Sheel, and Vic... since I've never camped before, I envisioned a nice room (semi-nice) with at least a bathroom and lights in it. Ahh, we Americans, we're too spoiled... what a wake up call w hen we got to the campsite! To borrow someone's words, the whole area was quite... "primitive." I see why we called it a retreat: a retreat from society ^_^ but it was nice to notice how spoiled we were when we complained about the lack of lights and good beds... haha. We did some group presentations and spent most of the time enjoying the good weather outside with the blanket of beautiful stars above us when nightfall came... it was really pretty, minus the heavy smoke from the giant bonfire for the s'mores. :D And of course, Joy, Shivani, and I got the scare of our lives when this idiot guy started scratching on the cabin walls... it sounded like a bear, okay and when one is out with nature, there is no telling what she sends his/her way... -_- The three of us ran out SHRIEKING ... three girls running out of this haunted cabin shrieking for their mommies (cough, no names...) :D Quite a sight.

And of course, you can't forget ropes course....running around in the woods and whatnot, using our brains to solve puzzles. We did Tarzan and swung from a branch... and balanced a gigantic seesaw... and so on and so forth. How invigorating =D Some highlights of the trip: chocolate dessert, speed limit 12 1/2, Vic and the guitar, claaara, claaara, me choking because I'm a CPR victim, the LHS table... ^_^

It's sad how on "girly" magazines like CosmoGIRL! and Seventeen, I turn straight to the health/workouts section... ~_~ Don't bother with the makeup, fashion... etc. I did this really nice workout from the August 2004 issue of CG! yesterday, and talk about cardio and weight training... when a workout can combine the two effectively, you've got yourself a deal. :)

Anyway, I've had a crazy weekend... maybe I'll blog about it later, not in the mood right now. Why? My brain is quite fried from this APLIT essay I've been doing these past two days. I = perfectionist, but I know Mrs. H will shoot down my dreams... and like, stomp on them. Hello F's??? :) I've been working about 10 hours (rivaling Joy, uh oh) on this stupid essay, and it better be worth all my efforts, too. Due Wednesday.

Hey, I've got a new layout image, but I need to learn how to code well (see prev. entry? Or so) ... and do something snazzy with it. I don't know. All this stuff takes time... gargh! I just need to dedicate a "HTML/PHOTOSHOP" month for me...

Okay. Take time to stop and appreciate your friends and who they are. You may think you don't have people who care about you ... but oooh, there are plenty that love you for who you are and are concerned about. I think I've finally learned how to appreciate that fact lately... love to all of my friends. I'll probably write another long entry that nobody reads about this topic later... but not now. My back hurts...

Hello.

These past couple of days, it has been pouring like there's no tomorrow. Where I live, Hurricane Frances was not in its direct path, but it still dumped lots of rain here. I guess my dry grass is happy now =) It's scary just to imagine winds at 90mph... over here, all the swaying trees and debris at 20mph is bad enough! I hope the people in Florida are recuperating...

My U.S. History teacher is so Republican... either that, or very patriotic, although everyone says, "Yeah, he's Republican. If nothing else." It must be something about serving in marine corps... he has great pride for this country. I told my friend, "Hey, if Bush wins in November, he [my teacher] should hold a party..." She was all aghast and replied, "...I don't want Bush to win!"

Haha, I'm reading Newsweek now. There's an article that states that there's a lot of women that are "skinny and tall" (I guess past 6 feet) so they could never find clothes that fit right. That's funny, a "tall market is heating up" with stores such as Jungle Babies, Chicks with Attitudes... Sad (?) to say that I did not get the Amazonian genes from my family, nope. But it's ironic how the tallest guy (or if I'm wrong, one of the tallest guys) in basketball is... Chinese! I'm only 5'3.5", 5'4"...

Blah, at this rate I won't finish the new layout until late September. That's usually how it is... ^_^' I need like, an insta-layout designer program... :D

[pasted from my Xanga]
On MTV's True Life: I am in an interracial relationship... there are three couples featured: a Caucasian guy and an African-American girl, a Caucasian guy and African-American guy, and a Hispanic guy and a Caucasian girl. Out of all them, I think the happiest is the first one... their families are both accepting of the other and they're both really cute :D ... The guy just asked the girl to marry her, aww! I wonder how I would fare if I were faced with a decision like that--well, interracial relationships. My parents are more for Asian (definitely Chinese...) guys, and I think I would be, too (especially in, say, marriage), but when you're in "love," does it really matter?

I know, I know, I think way ahead of my time :P when I should be focusing right here, right now... but in the event that I do find someone that's not Chinese/Asian... I wonder how that would fare? I've talked about this with someone, how it would be "weird" for the children - I used to think it was hard being Chinese yet not so Chinese in America, but I can only imagine having both sides in my blood. Also, there's just some feeling to keep your family blood consistent/pure, like most Chinese/Asian people like for it to be. Family pride? Not sure. Well, I'll just let my life run its course and see where it takes me in ten years.

I'm making a new layout... I promise. It's taking me awhile because I always put it on the bottom of my priorities. :( I also need to learn how to code more effectively XD ... I suck. I need to take HTML/XHTML/CSS/PHP classes or whatever... Care to help? :p hehe.

Anyway, I came back from NF's party... was really cute and fun. I gorged on Chinese food (not really) and I finally discovered the magic of cream puffs. Mmm... we girls watched The Prince and Me starring Julia Stiles. Blah, the movie was EXTREMELY predictable... I think there are SO MANY movies out there that go like this: some prince doesn't want to be a prince anymore, goes over to America, falls in love, the girl finds out he's a prince, she gets mad, but eventually things work out okay. A "cute" chick flick movie--but I could so tell when they were going to makeout or almost "do-it" everytime in the movie, so yes, once again, predictable. I'm not sure if the critics liked it... probably not. Too cliched? The guy wasn't half bad though, although I've seen better. I proclaimed I wanted to marry a Danish guy when I grew up, but I think I was kidding...

I actually bought clothes this weekend. Lots of sales going on because of Labor Day which by the way, I should wish you all a good one. :) Goody's, there's RACKS full of "Buy 1 Get 1" which is really rare, although I still think $30 for two items of clothing is expensive :P ... I bought a pink/white somewhat long skirt and an American flag shirt @ Stein Mart... earlier, I bought a blue polo (looks like a tennis top) at Rich's, so yeaaa... that's more clothes that I buy in a year lol :)

Jogging = great. I've been making use of my treadmill lately, hehehe... jogging for even 10 minutes is very tolling though, especially when you don't do it often. I need to build my endurance XD ...

Why do I have Mandy Moore's song "Crush" in my head?!?!?! >:O "I got a crush on yoooou..." I hate it when songs are stuck on repeat in my head, especially songs like that. Is it trying to tell me something?

Wow, as of today, I'm ranked 140907 at amazon reviews :D After some really bad reviews where I did not do much but whine about how long the book was (...it was!), I started writing more constructive reviews on books that I have read. I guess my change of heart is working because for most of my reviews (I have 28 so far), at least one person had said it was helpful. Hopefully, I'll make it to the top ____ sometime. Wouldn't that be grand?

I have a vocabulary test tomorrow. Just looking at these soporific word lists make me tired already! Well, at least I am being a sedulous student studying all night for this, plus looking over some debate evidence and writing a book review on The Last of the Mohicans on amazon. *insert big grin* I have a propensity to multitask, although sometimes it proves to be counterproductive... hopefully today is not the case. Gah. Sometimes, I feel like school is my fetter - it chains me to it 24/7, never ceasing to let me go. How am I supposed to get through my last years in high school, four more years in college, and graduate school (possibly? definitely?) Why do we spend 1/2 or 1/3 of our lives in school? Blah... -_- How bizarre.

In case you didn't catch on, I got so bored I started incorporating my list of vocab in that passage above. I guess it's a good way to remember words if you know what you're doing...

Oh, yes, does anyone have any King Arthur books they would like to recommend? I am reading I am Morgan Le Fay by Nancy Springer now because Jane T. said it was good (thanks Jane, although you won't read this...) hehe. I'm such a bibliophile...

Okay, off to try to understand what the heck is the situation going on in Afghanistan (no, not really, but I mean... debate files) ... ^_^ TOURNAMENT SEPTEMBER 11TH AND I'M (Joy?) SO NOT PREPARED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Currently listening to: Standing Still by Jewel

This past Friday was our first home football game. GO PANTHERS. Yea, after going to every (almost all) football game for the past two years as a band member, it was really strange going Friday as a student :) Instead of running around on the field for halftime and just goofing off in the stands, confined by a chain link fence, I stood up for about 3 hours screaming and hollering for our school team. Whoohoo. After a very stressful game, it was tied 13-13 so we went into... TRIPLE OVERTIME (!!!) which is amazing because, put simply, our football team is not great :X ... in the end, we came out at the top, 28-26 so not bad! I'm looking forward to more football games :) which is weird, considering I used to HATE football games with a passion... the game itself was kinda boring =/ esp. when you had to go to all of them every year.

Argh, I hate hormones. Especially the ones that cause you to get all jumpy and jittery inside whenever you think of someone... I don't see twenty-something-year-olds swooning over guys at work... or do they? Well, after reading Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (author of Confessions of a Shopoholic, I don't know anymore... by the way, a cute book :) Isn't chick lit fun?

All right, off to do some (home)work.

Today is August 25th, and I feel like I have been in school for months.

:(

It's not even September yet. What am I going to do those months in between? ... Oh yes, I know already. Study, study, study, study, study... sigh. Mi vida no es interesante.

You know, my friend and I in USHistory always talk about historically lovey-dovey romance movies/novels (you'll see, below), and although that doesn't seem like me...I can't help but like them, too.

I need to make a new layout, but everytime I sit myself down in front of the computer for Photoshop, I take hours to 1) think of the layout b) find the picture(s) c) actually touch Photoshop for the first time and d) do the HTML of it... so maybe I need to set aside one Saturday morning to do this. :D ... I suck.

In USHistory, Mr. B let us watch The Last of the Mohicans because we were "studying" the French and Indian War. I quote that because we don't really do much in his class :X ... but anyway, he's a swell guy for letting us watch movies like that. I've never seen it before until (day before) yesterday, but it's such a good movie! Why do I always miss the good movies and always catch the bad ones ?!?!?!?!?! >:O Half of the movies I watch are utter crap... anyway. The ending is one of the most bittersweet endings ever, and I was about to cry - that, and the beauty of the music never fails to move me. Go John Williams ^_^

Sigh, must depart to complete my studies of Trigonometry (really Adv. Alg) and re-read one of the most boring introductions ever in the history of literature, "The Custom House" from The Scarlet Letter ... -_-

Currently Reading: A Separate Peace by John Knowles, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

I love working out. :)

Every other day or two, I'll pick up the jump rope and jump away. It's really nice cardio - much better than the treadmill XD ... Plus, I'll do a little strength training... especially for the legs. I'm worried they'll be too muscular though, especially my calfs o_O Anyway, I feel happier now (endorphins?), I feel toned, I feel less stressed, and I don't feel guilty for eating those two cookies earlier XD ... Now, off to go conquer the world. :)

I went to the mall today. It's sad how it's so ghetto now... -_- I bought a pair of shorts for $6 though :D gotta love bargains!

Argh, I've started my "read a million books everyday" frenzy again. These days, if I don't have anything to do, I read... yes, it's a nice break from video games, no? ;) Anyway. Recommend any good books? So far, I've read...

-Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredrikkson #
-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald #
-Indio by Sherry Garland #
-Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly

# = recommended

I try to write book reviews on amazon... my goal is try to get into the top ____ (be it 1000, 500, 10...) but I'd have to write a lot of reviews to get there--way over 1000 (even 5000?) with TONS of helpful votes. Maybe I'll get there when I'm... 20 -_-

Sorry so short - my weekends usually aren't overly interesting. ;) more later...

Currently reading: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Things to do: study for APChem * read for APLit * do Trig * practice flute

All you August babies: happy belated birthdays to Joy, Omar, Tiff, and Mike!

Oww, I cut my finger this morning... =\

Anyway, yeah, it's been two weeks since we got into school... wow, two weeks fly by fast, considering those last two weeks were probably my worst weeks ever... ^_^' I still don't feel like a junior, heck, someone thought I was a freshman... sigh, I am already wishing for Christmas, am I not a horrible person?!?! :(

One thing that's different in eleventh grade is the work load! Duh... in tenth grade, you do absolutely nothing ... these past two weeks, I daresay I've done more work than I have in a month in tenth grade. Whoowhee, fun, right? At least I have my "slack classes" near the end of the day. Spanish = Zzz... The class I am in right now kills any interest I have in learning the language... -_-

In other news, I got a haircut to around my shoulders, and last night I braided two little braids... to my amazement, in the morning when I took them out, my hair was poofalicious! Just wanted to experiment around a little :) I got some thoughts about it (did you get a haircut?) so maybe I'll do it again. Sigh, I hate my hair. It lacks pizazz. Flair. Class. Ardour (haha that sounds like a lover's term... am I even using this word right? Zeal?) ... ^_^

My new nickname is dictionary.com ... lol, thanks guys (I should say girls)... :P

I want to write about something remotely interesting, but nothing interesting happens in my life...

Athens Olympics 2004 (yes, I'll talk a little about it like my friend Mark did in his entry :D) started yesterday, and as we speak, the world's most talented athletes are competing for the prized gold medals in the very birthplace of this major sporting event known to the world as the Olympics. If you haven't already, you should tune in to NBC (hehe, maybe just applicable for Americans?) and watch now! For some online coverage, you can visit Yahoo! Sports !

Today, I watched some women's volleyball - China vs. USA - Talk about intense! I was wondering which team to root for because I am, after all, both Chinese and American. All of the girls are very good, which is obvious because they've gotten this far. I think the money for this event is on China, though, and they did win against the USA. Sorry, Americans... the sets' points were pretty darn close, though.

I also watched some swimming (WHOA talk about endurance) and some men's gymnastics. Every year in school, our local cheerleaders strut their stuff at pep rallies and games, and however talented and awesome they may be, I do not wish to view what's up that skirt... With the men's gymnastics in the Olympics, it was a relief not to be seeing some underwear. I watched mostly the Romanian team and some Greeks... (European guys aren't bad looking at all :X) wow, gymnastics isn't easy! It takes a lot of upper body strength to do all the things gymnasts do, and the men's upper body muscles were cah-ray-zee O_O The judges, of course, are really nitpicky about scoring, and with China and the USA, the scores will definitely be close...to this and all the other events, may the best team/person win!

Your Element is Night. You're a loner who is very
creative but never show your work to anyone.
You may smile a little but sadness or
loneliness surround you and other can feel it
when they're near you. You have a dark or
unusual beauty that makes you mysterious and
you probably have a lot of secrets that you've
never told anyone. Your beauty is intriging
and unorthidox but the real thing that makes
you special is your eyes. Something in them
makes them like Diamonds in the Rough.

What's Your Element(girls)? (PICTURES)
brought to you by Quizilla

Whoa, I'm blogging more frequently than I usually do... ;) But yeah, the statements above describe me pretty accurately. I'm really more of a solitary person who would rather be studying (yes, I know, I am the very image of a nerd) than an outgoing chatting on the phone party girl... I find it funny that my star sign, Sagittarius, is notably "solitary" and "independent," for the most part. What do you think? And if you took this quiz too, what did you get? :)

Short blog, must be off to sleep and dream of _______ ... (sweet pastries? that special someone? scary driving experiences? my dog? a 60 on a test? walking on a tightrope? playing in a band? an unsolved murder? who knows...)

I'm so tired...

You'll be hearing that from me a lot as the year goes by. :)

All right, for APlit, we have a test on Friday (yes, those Unit tests) over 150 literary terms and an extra 40 historical terms... no matching either. How are you supposed to study for this?! *cries* ... well, I will put forth more effort for that later because tomorrow, I have two tests on two novels - The Scarlet Letter and The Sun Also Rises ... man, we took a test on The Crucible on the second day of school, and although it was scantron (multiple choice), it was still hard because it asked a lot of questions about the minutest details and/or had very very very similar answers. Argh... I would always eliminate all of my answers except two and of course get the wrong one out of the two. My luck is horrible.

This weekend, I took a four hour nap on Friday :D Woke up at 10pm, bwahahaha... man, I need to start sleeping early :( Saturday, I went out with my family to eat, went to Shivani's to study APChem (hahahah I can imitate Mrs. _____ now, well, not really...I'm not brown enough), but we decided that it's probably just conversions and what not... Some more people came over later, and we chilled. Ah yes, good times - cherish them.

If you haven't seen this already: http://www.jibjab.com for all you Bush/Kerry fans/haters and for all you high school kids, http://www.highschoolhub.org :) I had fun learning some SAT vocab, like you see in my cam picture... the first time I did it, it showed me all these random A words I've never heard before and I miraculously got them all. ^^' gotta love vocab...

Ok bye ^^

I am so tired...

School started on Tuesday, and it's already Thursday. Actually, we really haven't had *that* much work, just some worksheets/review work/tests... yeah. Maybe I need to stop sleeping so late because I am always staying up contemplating the unanswerable mysteries of life in my pathetic excuse of a journal.

And yeah, I practiced flute. I have discovered that in order for me to succeed at anything, I'll have to practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice ... you get the point. I haven't really touched my flute all summer, so I'm a little rusty, and my playing isn't exactly top notch. A little practice will cure that, but I wish I was to the point where I don't have to practice in order to be good. SAME with MATH because once I don't do it for a long, long time (IE: summer), I forget it all... such is my life...

Thank God they are getting rid of Quantitative Comparisons on the SAT. I took a practice SAT test on sparknotes.com (good ol' sparknotes) and it says I'll score a ... 1360 ! That was without checking ANY answer (didn't feel like it) and not using the whole ___ minutes allotted. Well, the score is okay, but definitely not good, especially to my/Asian standards and the (prestigious) schools that I want to go to.... I really need to start reviewing math because I cannot do math at all - see it goes like this, I learn the stuff and I forget it a week later yes that's just how bad I am at math... I HATE MATH and you really start to wonder because I'm Asian :P My verbal I did okay - 720 Let's shoot for that 800... -_-

...Let's see if I remember any Spanish (lack of accents): Mi nombre en la clase de espanol es Esperanza. Yo preferi Daniella pero no estuvo en la lista. Hahah wow, I need to brush up on Spanish (and Chinese) as well.

I'd blog more, but I'm so tired... those @*(@$ bags are appearing under my eyes once again, although luckily I'm not the color of this white napkin here, so it's not *THAT* noticeable.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I went and volunteered at my house. It was like going back to school a week early because I saw way too many teachers for my liking. Sure, I missed them, but not the classes themselves ;) I worked mostly on bulletin boards - actually, I take a long time, so in two days, I only had three done. Yesterday (Thursday), my friend and I worked on our old chemistry teacher's board. We got creative as we did a fish theme - Finding "NeMo". Who would have thought that Mo *is* an element? :D Although I don't think that compound is possible... anyway. We had a blue background and orange fish with all these chemistry "inside" jokes. Those poor kids won't have a clue on what the board says :D ... yeah, it was great fun doing it with you, Zaheera ^_^

I picked up my Cracking the AP US History Exam book this morning and started flipping through. Funny, because I'm not taking the AP class itself -_- I probably should, shouldn't I? I'm probably capable of it. The thing is, a lot of people have said to me, "DON'T TAKE IT!!!!" and the fact that I am not -that- big of a history fan (especially United States history - omg) contributes to it... well, you can take the AP exam without taking the course, although it'll be pretty hard, and Mohan offered to study it (extensively?) with me, maybe. He's so smart. Anyway, we'll see... I didn't sign up for the class because I signed up for AP Lit and AP Chemistry, but the really good (and hard?) AP Chemistry teacher retired, so with the other teacher, supposedly the class itself is really easy now (a joke?). =\ Ahhh... whatever, I hate schedule changes, and I'm not sure if guidance likes me, so maybe I'll just leave it. @$)!@$@*% ... What do you think?

I watched Bad Santa yesterday. Yeah, I guess we were in a Christmas-y mood yesterday - just looking at the snow and all the Christmas decorations made me sigh. December is my favorite month of the year :P Anyway, it was a pretty bad movie in my opinion, and in the next couple of lines, I will tell you why. Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) cussed in 9 out of 10 sentences (so it seems) with f***, s***, a**, and the like. No wonder they rated it R! A couple of lines is okay, but 90% of your lines with those word(s) in it can get pretty darn aggravating =T I'm not a fan of lines like, "You f****** loser why don't you just take your f****** self somewhere else ... oh, s*** why don't you just kiss my f****** a***" EVERY OTHER LINE.

I found the plot rather lacking - I guess it traces the transformation of "Bad Santa" to "Good Santa" but I still didn't think very highly of him at the end. This drunk, sex-loving guy named Willie plays Santa every year in different locations with his short elf pal. Willie cracks safes at the malls he plays Santas in and steals tons of money with the help of his elf pal. Then they move on to other locations, and a year later, they do it again. One year, he meets this rather rotund kid named Thurman Merman who views everything, including "Santa," with such an innocent, angelic air. "Let me make you some sandwiches..." Because the police are out for him, Willie ends up staying at Thurman's house, where the kid reveals to him what he wants for Christmas and his views on Santa. The kid Thurman is rather cute in an odd way, with his chubby face and his blank looks. Willie is slowly and somewhat softened by Thurman's kind demeanor as the movie progresses, and the one act he does at the end somewhat ameliorates the term "Bad Santa" that he has on himself.

Bernie Mac is in this movie, and I really do not like Bernie Mac. His appearance annoys me, the way he is always like O_O I didn't like the way he delivered his lines, and the fact that he did such a bad job in Charlie's Angels 2 does not help =X ... Anyway, in this movie, he plays this guy who is trying to find evidence that could get Willie and elf fired, and eventually he finds out what Willie and his elf pal are up to in their safe-cracking schemes.

I don't think I'd watch this movie again. ~_~

Hello everyone! I just came back from New Orleans. Although it was nice to get away from it all, I've missed everyone. I blogged a little about it earlier, so I don't feel like typing much :) Just read the previous entry to get a little dose of New Orleans.  Well, one thing I must say: the people's taste in New Orleans is hot and spicy - good ol Cajun, huh?

20 Questions to a Better Personality thanks, Emily !

Wackiness: 38/100
Rationality: 32/100
Constructiveness: 50/100
Leadership: 38/100
You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.You are not to be messed with. You may explode.

Somewhat accurate, if not very.

Anyway, school starts on August 3rd for us - that's way, way too early.  It's still summer, technically! -_- We have tax-free days coming soon - you know, for school supplies and clothes. You know, unless you're buying TONS of stuff and/or expensive stuff (ie: computers), you really don't save that much... but try telling that to the frenzied crowd at Wal-Mart. Yeah. It's scary, I tell you.

And because everyone seems to be doing it (okay fine, I saw it on Jane's blog ;D) , I'll compose a "School Year Resolutions" type thing, although knowing me, I won't follow 99% of them ;) Here goes nothing, and someone ought to make sure I'm keeping track during the course of the year...

• Make new friends.
  
• But keep the old.
  
• Stop being so emo(tional)
  
• Study harder (stop it with the video games).
  
• Do well in debate (like, actually know what the heck I'm doing).
  
• Score well on the PSAT (cough, yeah right, no scholarship for me).
  
• Practice flute more than I do now (...I will NEVER make All-State at the rate I'm going)
  
• Be neater with my stuff.
  
• Exercise on a regular basis.
  
• Stop eating so much junk food (well, more like "empty carbs").
  
• DRIVE a lot more.
  
• Fall in love actually, that would be nice, but high school relationships don't last long/work very well. I guess I'd have to look beyond ;D
  

And that's all, folks.

Greetings from New Orleans! Sorry I haven't blogged or told many people (well, my blogging audience in this case) about me leaving... ^_^' Hope you missed me as much as I missed you guys :)

This place is really nice. I finally got to visit the fabled Bourbon Street - and it wasn't exactly my type of street, if you know what I mean. :( :/ There was a strip bar every block or so (yes, just exactly what I wanted! Naked ladies...), and bars are a plenty here. I don't drink/smoke (and I don't plan to) so it was a little uncomfortable. There's loud music everywhere - NOISE POLLUTION! ~_~' This kind of setting takes time to get used to - even when I'm in college, I don't think I'll be like one of these people... ^_^'

Anyway, we've done tons of shopping here - outlet malls are the best!!! I bought a cheap visor here for 49 cents ROFL that's too great. Old Navy Outlet = great. I've also bought some articles of clothing... until yesterday, I didn't spend over $10 on clothes XD Gah, we're so cheap. ;)

Eat more... PRALINES :D They're a delicious delicacy dessert here :D It's pecans covered in sugar (looks like caramel, tastes like... cookie dough? o_O) It's hard to explain, except it's like, 99.9% sugar XD Boy, I'm gonna get fat... because I also found out about beignets or French doughnuts... it's dough fried and covered in powdered sugar. Tastes like Chinese fried doughnuts, actually. :D Man, I'm gonna get fat -_-

Well, I'm on this pay-per-minute computer at this place, so I better go. I'll be back soon (Sunday XD) ... I miss you all! :p

Tired.

I've been feeling really tired lately. Not just "Ooh I need a nap and I'll be fine" tired.

More like drained.

It may be due to the lack of sleep - but I've been waking up at 11am (or so) everyday, so that's more than enough. Actually, more than enough sleep can make you drowsy, so it could be that; getting too much sleep. It's hard getting 8-9 hours of sleep everyday @_@ How do your sleeping habits fare? Good? Average? Great? Bad?

I watched Anchorman with some friends. I thought it would be downright hilarious because the funny Will Ferrell is in it as the starring role (Anchorman Ron Burgundy), but no... if it weren't for the "retarded guy" Brick, I would have a much lower opinion of this movie. Anchorman is about the news team on Channel 4 News, San Diego, California. Back then, women were not very appreciated in the news business, especially as anchor(wo)men, so the four people on the team are quite content with their positions. These four are Bryan Fantana (some Spanish dude), Brick _____ (the HILARIOUS retarded guy who does the weather), Champ _______ (some cowboy whose sexual preferences are a little questionable), and of course, the lead anchor Ron Burgundy (who will read ANY, and ANY line on the teleprompter). Things are just spiffy, Channel 4 News has been bumped to #1 on the ratings list when a new lady comes in - the beautiful journalist, Veronica Corningstone, whose life dream was to become an anchor(wo)man. She and Ron Burgundy hit it off after a few pathetic attempts by Burgundy, but one day, Burgundy is not available to get to the studio in time, and it is Corningstone who delivers the evening news (usually done by Burgundy). He gets super PO'ed, and he is even more furious when he learns that she is to become his co-anchor. After a mishap with the teleprompter (remember, Burgundy reads any and any line on a teleprompter!), he is fired, and Corningstone becomes the lead anchor.

The rest of the movie goes downhill from there because if you watch the latter half, there seems to be no point. The news team barely copes with the absence of their beloved anchorman while Burgundy is wasting his life away in bars and at home. The events leading up to the ending were really stupid, just like 90% of this movie... However, I must say this again; Brick is the guy who makes this movie one you can't help but watch. His comments are absolutely random and hilarious, his expressions priceless. Also, some Old School kids are here - Vince Vaughn as the anchorman of a news station who is rated #2, Luke Wilson as #3 (I think) - but their roles were very minor, which disappointed me. All in all, this movie was really, for lack of better word, stupid, but to some, somewhat-highly entertaining. Watch it with some friends who don't mind a laugh albeit the sheer stupidity of this movie.

I bought two shirts for $7 ($2.99 and $3.99) total at Ross the other day. WOW, they have cheap stuff. O_O Some of it namebrand, too. Their regular prices are lower than some stores' sale prices, so their sale prices are unbelievably cheap. Gotta love good deals, right?

The other day as well, we went to two car dealerships, and I test drove two cars, w00t. Hyundai Sonata and Saturn Ion. The first dealership (Hyundai), the salesman was incredibly RUDE. He was nice in the beginning, but towards the end, he kept on nagging for us to buy a car, and my dad kept on insisting we weren't here to buy a car TODAY, we'll consider it after we look around some more, we'll get back to you, blahblah. The guy kept on forcing my dad to sign here, sign here, sign here, and my dad finally told him "NO, WE ARE NOT BUYING A CAR." The guy was still begging to the end, and he almost wouldn't give us our keys to OUR car back. "Uh, can I have my keys back?" "Sure!..." *five minutes later* "Sir, where are my keys?" "Oh, umm... right!" #*(%&(@*@##$$ Car salesmen sure are obnoxious. If they want to sell cars, they have to be considerate and polite to their potential customers, not rude and forceful. Maybe he was desperate. @_@

We went to a Saturn dealership later. I test drove another car, and I liked it. The Saturn Ion is pretty nice - it's small, it drives smoothly, and it looks appealing. THEN AGAIN I don't know anything about cars (watch me be the person who gets the short end of the stick in life), and THEN AGAIN, I tend to be attached to the first (or one of the first) choices I have, so help me out here. ^_^ Plus, the price isn't bad - one of the cheaper ones. I think $13,000, or $11,000... anyway. On a side note, berry red is a gorgeous color :p I usually go for blue blue blue blue, but this shade of color caught my eye, and I was like, "...WHOA!"

ARGH x 100 I was planning on doing some studying today, especially SAT junk and whatnot. Guess what I'm doing right now: not studying, exactly! School starts August 3rd (so soon), and I need to get back in school mode soon. My brain has melted in the intense summer heat, and I need to salvage what I can. I think I'm going to reread some of the APLIT summer reading stuff to refresh my memory. I finished most of them in June, which feels like ages ago.

Okay, I'm going to take a nap and see if it'll alleviate my drowsiness. Zzz... :)

Today, I decided to designate this as my "music" day :] Well, morning. I picked up the guitar, played/learned some chords (and gaining some new callouses while I'm at it), and actually practiced some flute. I've learned a lot of the basic chords for guitar - D maj, C maj, G maj, A min, D min, E min (my favorite minor chord as of right now) - hopefully, I'll be able to play some songs (from memory) soon!

I like guitar because by itself, you can be a band :D ... well, you can play multiple notes at the same time, unlike most instruments like the flute, clarinet, saxophone, etc. I mean, try playing Michelle Branch or other guitar music on a flute - it doesn't really work. And vice versa - there's the LOTR theme for guitar, but it's single string, so it's not that great. :D Anyway, I do like the blend of the notes that instruments like the guitar and piano can make.

Speaking of piano, I really want to learn piano (I never took lessons), and I can play basic stuff, but I don't really have the patience to learn to coordinate my left and right hands -and- learn how to read bass clef with efficiency... ^_^' Maybe one day. Maybe next summer. Who knows...

Anyway, I spent my late morning/afternoon cutting out stuff from magazines (again) and ornating my journal pages with them. Fun... I really like quotations, so I posted a lot in my pages. Here are some of my favorite ones:

QUOTES

"If you love something, don't set it free"

"I'm not going to shut up. I have earned the right to have an opinion." -Reese Witherspoon

"I've learned that you can make a mistake, and the world doesn't end." -Lisa Kudrow

"I don't care if going to college ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star." -Natalie Portman (Harvard :D she graduated though, right?)

"It's distancing when people say they don't have problems. Life is about messing up and getting on your feet again." - Debra Messing


I watched The Butterfly Effect yesterday... Every suspense/scary movie I see leaves me with a funny feeling as the credits are rolling. Deep thoughts, deep thoughts. Well, let me tell you, I'm still not very fond of Ashton Kutcher as an actor (after seeing parts of Just Married, I was like "...What?!") - you can't really take him seriously, and I don't think he's *that* goodlooking of a guy - but he was okay in this movie. Not A-List material, but decent. He plays a guy named Evan who has all this traumatic events happen to him in his childhood, but the thing is, he blacks out before he actually witnesses those traumatic events firsthand. He visits doctors, and it is suggested that he keeps journals. Evan grows up and attends college, majoring in psychology. One day he's reading over his old journals, and he transports back to when he had written the entry. He realizes he can change the past (funny how he's in the past but he has the brain of his 20-something year old self...) and he does so in order to save from horrible fates his dear childhood friend Kayleigh, her psychotic killer brother Tommy, and his mentally ill friend Lenny. Everytime he goes back to change the past, out comes a new future with new past memories... but each one he is left unsatisfied, so he goes back in time again and again... so when does it end? Anyway, I won't give away spoilers, but the ending is pretty... eh, powerfully strange. You should be left with this weird, unsettling feeling that lingers long after the VHS/DVD is back in its case.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! I hope everyone's out to watch the beautiful display of fireworks tonight. :)

Okay, let me begin by saying: I LOVE SALES. After hearing about awesome prom dress sales at Dillards (is it Dillards or Dilliards? ~_~...) from Joy yesterday (who is too "old" for words :P), we decided to go to the mall and see what was there. Well, we weren't disappointed. They had a couple of racks with dresses $20-$30 (original prices are, what, over $100), so Tiff (my sister) and I went crazy! I must have tried on about 10 dresses! I love trying on dresses and looking elegant - unfortunately, this is not the age where balls and social dances are the thing (I'm such the romantic), so we can only wear them during prom. =\ I found a really pretty glittery aquamarine one, and although it reminded me of a mermaid, I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, the zipper was broken beyond repair, so I sadly put it back on the rack. I also tried on this white dress that blended into silver... really, um, interesting ^_^' "Unique" is the word.

My mom picked out this dark purple one, and it fit nicely (although the chest area still had room... surprisingly -_-) - My sisters and mom were like, Oooo... so elegant! I guess I don't strive for "pretty" (usually characterized by bright, vibrant colors - think princess!) anymore, just "elegant" (can be charactized by darker colors that add a flair). Which is fine. :) To me, "pretty" reminds me of pastel colors, in particular pink, and it's for the young, dainty beautiful girls. "Elegant" sounds more... mature, and I've been told I act older than I really am (unless I'm ROFLing with my friends - then I act like I'm 13 :D). Anyway, the dress has purple glitter flowers on the front. The veil-like material on the front splits into two, and the dress is a little flowy (but not dragging). I like it. $30, not bad. Now I'm good to go for the rest of my high school career - two years left, dang... where did the time go?

We went to Sam's today. It's like Walmart, only everything is in bulk... wow. Talk about food heaven. *amused*

King Arthur is coming out July 7th. It looks pretty good. I'm a pretty big King Arthur fan, and I'm anxious to see the big screen's rendition of the classic. The cast looks impressive. The guy who plays King Arthur (who is it? Too lazy to look it up...) looks like a King Arthur. I always imagined King Arthur as the guy with decent rugged good looks, but quiet, shy. Demure? On the other hand, I always imagined Lancelot as dashing (which accounts for Guenevere's attraction to him...) and audacious. Guenevere is, of course, Guenevere, but I didn't know she does archery and whatnot... :D Maybe I need to read the real accounts of King Arthur (Mallory, anyone?) one time. Kiera Knightley is a pretty good actress (even though The Pirates of the Carribean IS an overrated movie if you ask me), so I think she'll be wonderful.

I finally finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy today. Fans of this book, I'm sorry, but I'm about to begin a long tirade: About halfway through the book, every page was very painful for me to read. I kept on marking page 754 (the last official page) with my bookmark and was glad to see the pages between the page and me dwindle, ever so slowly. The plot? Beautiful Anna Karenina is married, has a son, enjoys a nice status being the wife of a Russian official named Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin, but she's rather bored by her husband (she doesn't love him at all, in fact, there are times when she hates him). One day, she meets Count Alexey Vronsky, who is, of course, dashing and handsome, so she falls in love with him and becomes his lover. Sound familiar? I didn't see why it was called "one of the world's greatest love stories in world literature." Maybe I just don't understand great classics. Maybe Tolstoy's style of writing isn't getting to me. Whatever the case may be, I didn't think there wasn't much love in the story (once again, I am a romantic, so this may have an impact), and Anna and Vronsky aren't even the main characters in the novel. There's an excessive amount of characters, most of them not even that important to the story (SO MANY RELATIVES!), and I often got many of them confused. In the end, I just gave up trying to discern who's who (if you're expecting a master list of characters in Anna Karenina from me, think again). Way too much dialogue, a lot of it was really dull and boring to me. Sure, most of the characers reacted to Anna and Vronsky's relationship, which is important, but in other scenes, they talked about the most senseless topics. I was not amused nor entertained. The ending, however, should hit most readers powerfully, provided that they get there (if I didn't push myself, I would have never made it =\). I did feel a sense of closure, though. Sigh, poor Anna...

I understand that romance may not be the #1 theme in the novel - mostly the ideals and values of the Russian society at the time, and so on and so forth - but you could have warned me about it when the description said "one of the world's greatest love stories in world literature" ...

Set along her story is the tale of Konstantin Levin, a Russian man whose values are very much Leo Tolstoy's own values. I found his side of the story refreshing (he finds loves and is happy while Anna finds... love and isn't quite so happy afterall), and his struggle to win the love of his life was well written. However, after he finally wins Kitty's heart, there are still many more chapters of their life, which I found a little...long and dull, as well. They got married, they lived happily in the countryside, yay, so why are there 500+ more pages to go? ...

Sorry, I'm aware this -is- a great classic, and if I read it and actually absorb its values, maybe I will appreciate this more. It's just that the plot was buried beneath a lot of unnecessary pages, and that has distorted my view of this novel.

...Whew!

I'm reading The Odyssey by Homer. I never read the whole book, and there's a first time for everything. There should be more people like Odysseus and Telemachus in this world. :)

Hello everyone! New layout *and* new entry. Thanks, Jane - what you said made my...day (well it's not day, it's rather late, but yeah). To everyone: Sorry about my absence - I'm really bad about disappearing from the web every now and then, Now... I feel strangely motivated to actually keep at it (my blog, my xanga, etc). I was looking over old stuff, old magazines, writing in my diary yesterday/today when I realized:

HOLY CRAP. DANI. IT'S ALREADY JULY. SUMMER'S ALMOST OVER. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? NOT MUCH. WE HAVE ONE MONTH BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS. GET MOVING.

...I better get myself up and moving. Like what I haven't been doing up until now. *grins* Me and my lazy self. I don't know, I guess it was like an ephiphanic moment. The moment when the lightbulb turns on after years of inactivity... oh I don't know. But it feels nice. :)

For instance, I actually marked on my calendar to EXERCISE on a regular basis. I took out my trusty ol' MAY 2004 SHAPE magazine and put it on the table for full view. See, today, I wrote "START" on my calendar :D Usually, I'm just like *blah*... I suffer from poor eating habits, I never do anything, and when I do, I usually overdo (overexert myself) it so I don't want to do it the second time around. NOW I plan to exercise with a day or two in between (get your rest, you know) ... and watch what I eat more carefully. :D Okay, once again, I will say this... I'm not fat, I'm not overweight, I just want to watch my weight/fat percentage and maintain it or, as I would like, to go down a little. So yeah. I hate it when my friends say what an idiot I am for working out... "YOU DON'T NEED TO!" =\ Yeah, I do. So does everyone else. For good health. :)

These past couple of days have been interesting. The day before Brian was supposed to leave for good ol' NY, he unexpectedly drops by with Omar, who claimed he was looking for his tuner/capo. Riiiiiiight. ;) Clever ruse! Anyway, he didn't find it, and Brian ended up going to football and coming back around 11pm to play some Megaman (while Tiff and I watched)... although the games were originally for NES, they now imported it for Gamecube - all 8 of them or whatever, and let's say, it's hard. o_O Whoever was smart enough to put B as the jump button really needs to be smacked. :D Anyway, quite an interesting meeting, and it was storming pretty badly. He left around 12am or so, silly boy. :)

Today, I watched Spiderman 2 with the Chinese crew - Jane, Omar, Robert, Tiffany - and three other people (Nathan, Alissa, Mike S) ... you know how most sequels are usually downright horrible? (ahem, Shanghai Knights...) This one surprised me. Very much. The plot is pretty much the same - some scientist gets into a freak accident and turns into some crazy terrorizing monster... yeah yeah. That part was expected. The other part, Peter Parker's soul-searching, was quite interesting... I like movies like that, so it touched me. He struggles with his love for MJ, and you can see it in his eyes, his face... :( Well, yeah, some emotional parts, I actually had tears welling in my eyes at one point. Beautiful. And there were some funny parts - more than the first one. :D

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Spiderman's webs cease to work, so one night while he's flying around, he lands on a rooftop... and he can't get back down, so he has to take the elevator while he's still in his Spiderman suit, ROFL! This guy walks in the elevator at the same time, and they show the two of them together. Dootidoo... SO FUNNY.

"Nice Spiderman suit."
"Thanks."
"Where did you get it?"
"I made it myself."
"...Looks uncomfortable."
"Yeah, it gets kinda itchy...it rides up the crotch area."

(THANKS OMAR :D "the kissing part!")

Okay, well, yeah, it's late, and I should go...

Currently Reading: The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Hi, sorry for not posting ^_^ I was out of town most of last week. Also, look for a new layout soon because currently, I'm thinking *really* hard to conjure one up, but that might take awhile. Also, I'll try to update some of my pages because I realized I haven't touched some of these in a year. Oops... :D

Last week, I visited Charleston and Savannah. We were expecting beach weather, but instead, everyday was rainy and/or cloudy. =\ We did, however, made it to a beach in Charleston with the sun somewhat out, but it wasn's screaming SUMMER! if you know what I mean. I jogged around in the sand though - that burns more calories, yea! ...

Charleston is rich in history, and that's a yay for history buffs like my dad (Civil War). We visited some Civil War forts/cannons and whatnot. In addition to that, Charleston is also rich in nature because the South Carolina Aquarium is located there. :D If you like marine biology, this is for you... besides aquatic exhibits, they also had a little of everything else, too - like the mountains, the swamps - so every nature lover should pay that (and any other aquarium?) a visit.

I fell in love with the sea otter there. :D I bought a stuffed animal at the gift shop, so now I have a piece of the aquarium with me...


Lots of shopping to be done in Charleston. There was this one street where there were name-brand stores galore! The Sak 5th Avenue was one of them, although that is way above my league... Lucky (not just for its perfume!), Gap, and more. Unfortunately, I'm one of the girls that _must_ buy things on sale, and I mean > 60% off or something, so I didn't really buy much on this trip except $9 jeans and a black shirt. Yes, I am cheap. And I'm lovin' it (does McDonalds have a TM on that? ...).

Savannah is this quaint city in GA next to the Savannah River. Very enjoyable and enriched in its Southern heritage. In Savannah, we stopped by its downtown, and I loved it! It was actually ALIVE (unlike others...) and there were little shops everywhere! It didn't exactly scream TOURIST TRAP so that was good ;P Coffee shops and internet cafes were abundant, and we stopped by an internet cafe for lunch. Mmm, enjoying fresh salad while on the computer while overlooking the streets of downtown Savannah. Not bad. The river also had some big yachts - even one that was a floating casino!!! How nice :D

That was pretty much my week.

Yesterday was Father's Day =) We rented The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and watched it in the evening. Yes, I never saw it. Anyway, may I say disappointment? I was expecting so much for it ever since the phenomenal The Two Towers but I was left saying, "I don't think I'll watch this movie again..." for ROTK. One, it was just too long. I wouldn't mind if there were good parts in it, but there wasn't much to be seen except for the same thing over and over again (battles galore) or really really drawn out parts. Two, they cut out a lot of stuff from the book if I remember correctly. (well, I was most upset about the Eowyn/Faramir Houses of Healing scene cut --they showed the two together in the VERY end --) Three, they didn't focus on some characters enough, IE: Aragorn, the king himself... we didn't see much of him in this film, well, not enough to make a lasting impression. And where was Legolas half the time? ;( ... Four, maybe it IS Frodo's character in the book (I really need to read the books again), but half the time I wanted to punch Frodo off the cliffs. -_- Well, for this movie, great battle scenes, but they were a bit too lengthy when they were the same thing over and over and over again. Anyway, I could go on, but I'm not a movie reviewer, and a lot of people have already seen this. :D