Best Day. Ever.

November 5, 2009. 11:37PM. Anticipating, expectant, slightly hopeful, nervous.
November 5, 2009. 11:39PM. Shocked, surprised, confused, denial, realization, happy, trembling, overjoyed, on-top-of-the-world, jumping off the walls, I-would-scream-in-happiness-if-my-dad-wasn't-sleeping mode, life-couldn't-get-any-better mood, this-is-the-best-day-of-my-life feeling.
Suffice to say. November 5. Of 2009. At 11:39PM. Despite the fact that it was 21 minutes away from midnight. November 5. Was indeed. The best day of my 15-year old life. Best. Day. No matter what cruddy things happened to me earlier on that day. It's been overruled. Even if my day started from awful. It's now awesome. I don't even remember what I did. But it was definitely an awesome day. A beautiful day. A wonderful day. A terrific day it was! What did I do? NO CLUE. But it doesn't matter. It was, to put it simply, an absolutely-positively-awesome-possum-blossom-tremendous-stupendous-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day. November 5 is the best day ever. November is a wonderful month. 5 is a wonderful number. When you combine them, it's just the most incredible thing. Ever. Am I repeating myself too much? I'm repeating myself too much. Okay.

Home Sweet Home

August 17, 2009
So, without really telling anyone (it slipped my mind, really), I headed off to San Diego yesterday afternoon with my family. I was kind of queasy during the ride, but I survived. I took a bunch of naps, so I wasn't all that miserable during the drive. Anyhow, we then finally made it to the hotel, Sheraton. Our room's baloney had a nice view of the nearby cay and faraway city of tall buildings. Yesterday, my sister and I just vegetated around the hotel room. My dad had a meeting--since, after all, the reason why we're here is because he has a business trip and it's not like he needs two large beds--and my mom was snoozing. On my sister's laptop we played The Game of Life (it's like the gameboard). Then night fell and my sister was dragged off by my dad to go to this dinner party. My mom and I had pizza that was being served in a restaurant downstairs. It was a pretty interesting pizza, it had some herbs in the cheese that made it taste really unique. We also had some instant noodles that my mom brought along for the trip. They were good, almost better than the pizza, if I do say so myself (I'm a noodle when it comes to noodles!).
Today my mom, sister, and I went to the San Diego Zoo. Unfortunately a business trip is a business trip up to the very end and my dad was off at meetings almost the entire day. Besides facing some occasional nausea, it was pretty fun. I saw flamingos, pandas, orangutans, lions, elephants, giraffes, koalas, polar bears, and loads of other animals. During our little adventure, we got lost. You'd think with three heads (two that are more intelligent than my own) and a map, we'd do better. But instead, we looped around the same place three times. However, if you've ever been to the San Diego Zoo you have to admit that the place is huge! Do we turn here or do we turn there? It's a maze there. Granted, I suck at reading maps and have a poor sense of direction, but really, it's not a small world after all.
August 18, 2009
show. It was entertaining, even though the sun was crisping the back of my neck. You know, I never did figure out which one of the whales were We went off to the World of the Sea today. Yes, I mean Sea World. And by "we", I meant my sister and I. According to my family, we've been to Sea World several times before, but being the nutcase I am, I have absolutely no recollection of being there. Generally, if I see a place I've been to before, even if it's been a long time since I've been there, a lightbulb shines over my head and I'm like, "Hey, this place looks familiar!" Not with Sea World, though. It was like it was my first time there. Anyhow, so on impulse, I made my sister to buy us churros and we ate our cinnamon-y treat while watching the dolphin show. Since we got there around 10-11AM, my sister decided that we'd have lunch after the show. I ended up dragging us to this Italian place. I had some tomato sauce over penne pasta with chicken and sausages flanked with a breadstick. It was pretty good, ignoring that fact that it was overpriced and the meal overall was small. Well, it was simple pasta (no spices and herbs that some restaurants like to go crazy with), the kind I like best, so it's not like I have any big complaints. Then we went to go watch the ShamuShamu. Is Shamu one of the current whales there? What if Shamu died? I mean, will the show still be called Shamu? Yeah, I had no clue what the deal was with that. Anyhow, after the show, since that one rapids ride was right there (the one just like the Bigfoot Rapids ride at Knott's Berry Farm), my sister and I went for a spin. Since I was feeling adventurous, I wanted to go ride of the Travel to Atlantis ride. Of course, my sister who has a fear of heights and rollercoasters waved me goodbye as I went in line by myself. The ride was fun. What I like about rollercoasters is that they scare the heck out of me. I mean, what's the fun of rollercoasters if there's no thrill in it? It's like watching a horror movie (which is ironic because I just can not watch horror movies, because I'll probably kneel over and die). Some people prefer to cower away and not face the fear. Whereas others go on and be a masochist so they can pee in their pants during the ride and come off saying it was the funniest thing ever. Except there are those people who just aren't afraid of the speed or drop, and they just go crazy during the ride just because. And before I continue on, did I mention there were a lot of Caucasians around? Yeah, well there were. Since I live in a place where there are a bunch of Asians haunting almost every single corner, I thought it was really strange that there were so many of them. Since I was just one person riding and I obviously can't have the entire "boat" to myself, I sat in the back of a group of Caucasian buddies. If you ask me, it was pretty awkward. Not only it was really obvious to outsiders that I was not part of their group, but they kept turning around to look at me. Was it because they splashed water on me on accident while they were messing around amongst themselves (even though it's unsafe to put your hands outside the boat!) or was it because they suddenly realized that a stranger was hitching a ride with them? Regardless of the reason, I felt very self-conscious the rest of the day. My sister met me at the end of the ride and we continued walking around, looking at the animals and such. My sister wanted us to go feed the dolphins or at least the mantarays, but being the bum I am, I complained about being tired and that I have a low endurance for walking (although I suck at running, my legs and muscles are more adjusted to running more than walking). We browsed through some gift shops while waiting for our mom to drive by and pick us up, then we left. My dad's company once again, had some kind of dinner party, but this time, my mom was picked and dragged away to the social gathering. My sister and I had some American-Japanese food. My sister had some caterpillar sushi and I had udon (ah, yes, maybe one of the best noodles of the world). After eating, my sister was gracious enough to let me steal her laptop to play Plants vs. Zombies. Yes, it is a stupid sounding game, and depending on who you are, you'll take one look at the game before saying, "It looks like a stupid game". You have to plant these plants in order to protect your house from the brain-eating zombies and stuff. Personally, I think it's a very amusing game with cute graphics when you ignore the zombies, whose limbs fall off after attacking them a lot.
So that's pretty much all the excitement that has been going on with me. Besides the ride home, but that wasn't all that fun. We drove and drove, I napped, my sister read. My sister just had to order a smoothie from Starbucks before we left the hotel so we had to stop at Jack-in-the-Box to use the bathroom because she didn't pipe up about needing to go to the toliet until after we passed two reststops. Well, since it was near lunchtime, we just ordered food there and then we ate on the rest of the way home. Back to our sweet little home.
Did I mention that I disliked staying at Sheraton? Okay, so here's the deal. It's 4AM, and the fire alarm goes off. To my family, we just heard a really annoying siren and we didn't know it was the fire alarm until my sister went out into the hall to check what was going on. We all rolled out of bed to evacuate the building when the announcer came alive and said it was a false alarm. Earlier that day there was an unpleasant small of cigarette smoke that rolled into our room through the vents. And after the announcement, the disgusting smell visited us once again. I think that our room neighbor was a crazy smoker and his thing set off the alarm or something. It wasn't just that. The next morning I had to get up to buy a stamp for a postcard and send it off on it's merry way when the alarm sounds again. My mom asked the lady at the front desk about what the heck was going on, and according to the lady, their alarms are very sensitive. Burning or small smoke could set the place into chaos. I guess it's better than the alarms not being sensitive at all until the third alarm came. There's only so many "false alarms" a person can handle. I swear that it's our neighbor because my family's always smelling cigarette smoke and I just roll out onto the cold balconey. I have enough trouble breathing without secondhand smoke! I hate smokers, they ruin everyone's life and they are ruining mine. I'm glad that my dad aren't like most smokers. Yeah, he smoked, he smokes. But he only smokes once or twice in China with his old Chinese buddies (peer pressure is bad!). Except what makes him so different is that he doesn't get hooked on it. He could smoke one cigarette and push the rest of the box away. There won't be any mood swings, no need for nicotine, nothing. Even though I really wish my dad wouldn't smoke at all (but in China, almost everyone smokes. I really hate it there, sometimes.) but I can't have the whole package, now can I?

All Students Take Cookies

Huh, I haven't blogged in a while. I've been trying to minimize the amount of time I spend on the computer because, one, it's hot and my computer is just radiating heat. Two, the bill has recently increased on only our house, I don't even know the details, but my mom has been everyone's case about stop wasting stuff. Yet she's the one who turned on my fan when I said I didn't need it. Oh well, I'll just turn it off after I'm done typing this. Anyhow, yeah, I've been humoring my mom by drawing and writing in my notebook since she thinks I've done nothing but sit in front of the computer all summer (and go to cross country). I sometimes think that she can't see me when I'm reading a book or when I'm doing my math homework. Three, I do have math homework and recently, if I'm not listening to my sister explain triangles to me or I'm not doing the homework she assigned me, I'm sleeping. My mom thinks I'm sick because I've been sleeping maybe over 12 hours a day. So yeah, I'm supposed to be doing my math homework right now, but I felt like typing stuff today. Since I'm talking about math, I'm going to teach you guys a nifty math trick my sister showed me.
Ever heard of quadrants? Trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan)? No? Well you might not get this then. So there is quadrant I, II, III, and IV. It'd make more sense if I drew a diagram so bear with me (or not read this and go on with your lives).
Imagine this as a graph that you'd normally graph your lines or whatever functions you graph on (ignore the "----"s, they're just to keep the "|" in place):
--------------| y
Quadrant II | Quadrant I
--------------|
--------------|
____________________ x
--------------|
Quadrant III| Quadrant IV
--------------|
--------------|
So if you ever need to determine what sign (positive/negative) a trigonometric function is there's something you can use to help you remember it as long as the quadrant is given. "All Students Take Calculus", or the one I liked better, "All Students Take Cookies". So "All" is quadrant I and it means that sin, cos, and tan, they're all positive. You could probably tell since quadrant I is where the x and y are both positive. "Students", the S symbolizes that only sin is positive, the rest are negative. "Take", the T means that only tan is positive. "Cookies", the C obviously means that cos is the only one that is positive.
Well that was a really bad explanation, but hopefully I'll look back at this when the school year starts again and be able to understand what in the world I'm talking about.
Because I have three lessons of math to do (and no, I didn't procrastinate and the homework piled together, my sister assigned all of it today), and since my sister is threatening to make my homework due tomorrow, rather than the day after tomorrow, I should go now. Bye guys!

Bloop (er)

So let me tell you of my near death experience. It was after cross country today when Hee Soo and I went to Yasmin's aunt's house to go swimming. At first, we sat around, stealing the food there, and then after changing, we finally went to go swimming. I was staring at the pool water for a little and turned around to look at Hee Soo and Yasmin. However, Yasmin had an evil smile on her face and she proceeded to push me into the pool. "Wait! I'm not mentally prepared yet!" were my final words before submerging. It was probably a good ten seconds before Yasmin was forced to jump in to save me. Yup, I was like, drowning. Before you judge me, I haven't swam in about five years! And yeah, I came along because I had strange urges to go swimming again. Anyhow, as a random statement, I didn't see my life flashing before my eyes. Instead, I was just attempting to swim to the surface, which failed to work, and I was thinking, "I wonder how long it's going to take Hee Soo and Yasmin to figure out that I'm going to need help." Heh, but then after that happened, Yasmin dug out all the noodles and water toys out for us.
Oh, and I realized, I have a harder time floating now. I blame cross country. My muscles are too heavy for my fat to allow me to sustain buoyancy or something. Oh, I felt smart saying that sentence! Anyhow, yeah, I can still float a little, but my face is dangerously close to the water and I feel like any disturbance of the water is going to run water up my nose, which is a feeling I would rather experience as little as possible.
Anyhow, time to tell my tale of stupidity. So there was this weird floating thing in the water swishing around. Since I was using just one noodle, water still splashed in my face. I assumed that floating thing was a flotation device, therefore grabbing a hold of it. It was kind of weird, though since it had a lid to it. When I opened and looked into it, it looked empty. I don't really remember anymore, but for a moment, I thought it was a storage device. Without really thinking about it, I put one of Yasmin's little cousin's toy duck in it, when Yasmin started yelling at me to take it out. I thought about asking why, but she seemed like she was going to kill me if I didn't already, so I turned it over to see what looked like soap fall out. Then Hee Soo and Yasmin started to panic because they knew that obviously what I did was dump a bunch of chlorine into the pool. Thanks to the pool net and Hee Soo's diving skills, Yasmin and Hee Soo were able to retrieve the clorine bars (or something, I actually still don't know what it is, I'll just be sure not to touch anything that's floating around in the water that has white stuff in it). I kind of felt like a dimwitted child for a while. I stood (floated) by idly, watching the adults work. It was rather dumb of me to put the rubber duck in the "container" since Yasmin told me before I did so to not to. This is why I get annoyed when people call me smart. No matter who it is or how many times they tell me I'm "smart", it'll never change the fact that I'm such an utter moron sometimes that I can't cover it up by acting wise or getting decent grades. At times like these I wish I could gouge my brain out and give it to science so they can find the cure to retardation. But as that one person from Drum Island (where Chopper is from) said in One Piece, "He strived to heal this island of illness, but there is no medicine that can cure stupidity!"

I Believe I Can Fly

Today was a much anticipated day, but it didn't turn out to be as exciting as I thought.
At cross country, it was finally the watermelon relay run, and I was pretty upbeat about it. Until I realized this morning that none of my friends were there. It was still pretty fun, though. My team won! I think my team won last year, too. I think. I'm not too sure, I could be thinking about something else. Anyhow, after the epic race, Mr. Wat cut the watermelon and everyone took a slice or two. It was really sweet, so carrying the heavy thing around was worth it, I suppose.
Then, later on in the day, I was going to Emily's house to meet up with some friends I haven't seen in a while. Jennie, Sarah Chiang, Sarah Zhang, Amanda, Susie, Justina, Avi, Timothy, Matt, and obviously, Emily herself. I can't say it was really fun, but I wasn't bored or anything. It was nice to see everyone again--especially those who don't go to the same school as me--and there was lots of laughs exchanged.
Nothing to cheer about, but there's nothing to complain about. It was a rather neutral day, I guess.

I'm Back, Guys!

So I finally come back to Blogger to find that no one else that I'm following has posted anything. Come on, I disappear all the time, but you guys can't, post more! Just kidding. Anyhow, so I've been kind of busy, but not really. It's more like busy playing computer games. So the main reason that I was gone for a long while was World of Kung Fu, or as my sister, Joy, her boyfriend, Matt, and I say it, Wok-Fu (don't judge me just because I'm Chinese!). It's an online game, kind of like Maple Story, Guild Wars, and all those other games. Anyhow, in case you didn't know, I'm absolutely horrible with computers. I can destroy them so fast while trying not to, it's not even funny. Sometimes it's a really bad virus, another time I killed my harddrive, but one way or another, I'm just murdering my computer, and I think my dad is getting tired of always trying to fix it. Then again, I have a tenancy to break other things, too. Anyhow, I just got a new harddrive, so my computer is relatively empty and I didn't have Wok-Fu on my computer anymore. So I downloaded it to find it freezing up on me all the time, so I barely got to actually play. My sister, in frustration, tried to figure out what was wrong with my computer, but failed. But suddenly, my sister came up with the idea of me using her old laptop, which she used to play Wok-Fu on, so it was already on there. We were just like, "Why didn't I think of it sooner!" So for the last few days, I've just been playing Wok-Fu practically all day, me on my sister's old laptop, and Joy on her new one. There hasn't been cross country on since Wednesday, either, so I'm not exhausted when I come home and just sleep all the time. I've almost done with my math homework, too, though. My sister's been very generous when I work on my homework and when I get to play Wok-Fu with her and Matt. I'm supposedly finishing up on it right now. I am, but I stop to type this blog post once in a while though. I don't like leaving my blog all alone for too long. It makes me feel like I might just never come back, causing this blog to join my pile of diaries and journals that I started, but they're all blank after the first few pages. Anyhow, yeah. I also needed record another thing.
Today was a pretty busy day if you ask me. First, I had to wake up around 7:30AM, get ready, and I set off to Yasmin's house. For what, you may ask? Kayaking. Obviously, I'm not kayaking at her house, but her dad was going to drive us to the beach, since he's cool like that. So the kayaking group consisted of Yasmin, her cousin, Catherine (Katherine?), Diana, and I'm there, too, of course. I got at her house around 8:15, I think, but Diana was running late. When we were driving to the beach, it was nearly 9:00, which was the time everything was supposedly to start, but we ended up standing around, waiting for other people. The instructor all started off explaining a few things to us like the map and where we are going to go. It was an interesting experience. I went on the same kayak as Diana, Yasmin went with Catherine. It took me a long while to handle paddling, but I think I'm doing pretty okay. Except there were a few times where I totally threw the boat off course and we nearly hit the yachts dock. The instructor saw Diana and I crash, so he started lecturing us. For some reason, he kind of annoyed me. It's not that he's mean or anything. He's just teaching us after all, but for some reason, the things he says just kind of bothers me. And he always seem to be there when we're doing bad! Like, we were all paddling, Diana and I. We were doing really good, even though we were kind of behind because we were the last few to leave the Wetlands (a place where you can only go into when it's hightide, because it's really shallow. You could even feel the clay with your hand and stuff). Then Yasmin's kayak appeared out of nowhere, but Diana, being the crazy person she is, threw a chunk of the clay she took at her boat. Then our boat turned a bit, so it was heading for Yasmin's boat. Diana and I were trying to divert from danger, but ended up bumping into them. Of course, the instructor just had to be there and said, "What, you girls still can't go straight? Show me how to move the kayak straight!" Then yeah, we started paddling away from them, since the instructor seemed to bother Diana, too. Anyhow, the day was overly- all. I want to go kayaking again soon. On a Sunday, next time, though, because today, the instructor was telling us to go faster and such, when we just wanted to chill. On Saturdays it's this orientation thing, where the instructor tells you how things work, and all that stuff, then you follow him everywhere. Plus, I, for one, was a little rushed, because I had art class at 2PM, and the kayaking thing ended at 1. I just went directly from Yasmin's house to my art class. My shorts were still wet from kayaking when I got back home at 4! It was nice to change into dry pants, though. Just saying. Ugh, but my arms ache, and my back for some reason. I think I did something crazy and forgot about it. Well, hopefully I won't be dying tomorrow when I wake up! Hopefully . . .

Highlighters are Bright

So before I forget, which would be in Hee Soo's favor, I'm going to blog about the highlight of my day. Heh. Well, I was at cross country, as usual, we did the tempo run on the wet and muddy grass. Not fun. I was running with Hee Soo and Patricia, though, at a decent pace. I thought I heard the whistle signaling group C to stop running already, but it seemed really distant that I thought I was imagining things. And so I kept running, as did Patricia and Hee Soo. When we finished, we realized that we ran with group B, which was three minutes more, so we ran twelve minutes instead of nine. Good thing we didn't make that kind of mistake on the distant runs. I know I'd be doomed. Yesterday we usually run more than we usually do, since it was a Monday, and group C had to run four miles. I seriously just died after the run. My face was probably all pink and I was actually sweating (I have a sort of sweating problem, so I'm unable to sweat very easily, even if I work really hard) a lot. Group B had to run six miles! If I accidentally ran into their group, I honestly don't think I'd be here typing this blog post. Anyhow, the tempo run was not the high point of my day--even though it just started. So I was stretching next to Hee Soo and we were talking about Vocaloid. We have been a lot, ever since we started discussing about Anime Expo costume ideas, although we are not sure if we're even going to be going. Anyhow, I was saying how I watched a really violently cute video of Vocaloid, like quite a few of them are. I'd write the title, but I don't want to encourage people watching it. Let's just say there's a mental hospital, a chainsaw, and people. Continuing on with what I was saying earlier, I was singing this one part of the song over and over, which was driving Hee Soo crazy. Then we went onto which part we thought was the scariest. She thought it was the part where Meiko used the chainsaw to, um. Anyhow, she was explaining to me how Meiko is the crazy character who is commonly the murder in the videos. Right when she said, "the murderer", the coach, Mr. Wat, was walking by and he stopped to stare at Hee Soo. It was hilarious if you asked me. Mr. Wat's expression was almost as if he was trying to say, "You would know those kinds of people." Hee Soo shifted her eyes and looked away in awkward embarrassment. Mr. Wat shook his head jokingly and walked away. I wonder what he was thinking. It's not like he knew what we were talking about, so maybe he thinks we're killers. Probably not. I think he heard the first part, where Hee Soo was saying, "She's usually the murderer," so might think we're just talking about some television show, or something. That's what I would probably think if someone I was passing by mentioned something about a murderer. Well, anyhow, yeah, I thought it was pretty funny, but I guess you really have to be there to actually think that it's humorous. Heh, although Hee Soo didn't think so at the moment.

What Happened?

Well, I totally don't remember what's been happening in the last few days, so I'll have a hard time summing it up.
There was Friday and we were playing Foccer in cross country again. I managed to not trip. I just go rammed into by Yasmin several times, but it's all good. No bruises, no cuts, which means no bleeding internally or externally. If you ask me, it was a pretty successful day.
I went home after going to the weight room, took a shower, went on the computer for a bit. It was around 11 o' clock when I decided to sleep for a little while. I didn't see it coming, my mom yelling at me to wake up. At 3 o'clock. I had another potluck to go to, this time with Revathi, Diana, Yasmin, Hee Soo, and, Pooja. A small group of people who I had to make sandwiches for! So once again I had the duty of making sandwiches. Once I was done, I had a few moments to mess around and then I had to bustle over to Friendship Park, which only took me a few minutes to walk to from my house. It was pretty fun. Pooja brough yummy pasta, Hee Soo brought soda and leftover chips (from her sister's party apparently), Diana brought chips, Yasmin brought cookies and some random french bread that smelled really good, and Revathi brought the plasticwear. The food was good. Once again, though, my sandwiches had leftovers. I don't think I mentioned this in the blog post about the other potluck, but apparently everyone ate before coming and was too full to finish my sandwiches. I ended up eating a bunch of it and near the end of it, a few people took one. Anyhow, we just sat around, talking for a while, then Revathi and I kept stealing Hee Soo's bike--which she used to ride over to the park--to ride around the park. It was fun. I haven't ridden a bike in several years. I was really shaky at first, but then I got the hang of it again, and I was glad that you never really forget how to ride a bike. We sat down like civilized people again to talk, eat food randomly, then at some point, Yasmin stole Hee Soo's bike, Diana and Revathi ran off to go on the swings, and other crazy stuff was happening. During all this time, a bunch of pictures was being taken. It was nice how we actually got pictures of all of us hanging out. Most of the time, Diana and Revathi just hide from the camera, so there aren't ever any decent pictures to post on Facebook or anything. Of course all the other people on Facebook (especially the people including Jennie, Emily, Timothy, Avi, and Kyle) post millions of pictures of every time they go out and play.
On Saturday, I just went to art class. I saw Julia, of course. We talked a bit during break. It was pleasant to have someone to talk to for once. As I believe I've said before, during break, I normally just sit there, on some days I get up for a drink of water, but other than that, my butt is on the chair.
Today, Sunday, I didn't accomplish much. I did clean a big chuck of my room, I'm so proud of myself! Oh, and during the course of the week, I've slowly been progressing on my math homework. My sister says that I have until Friday to make up all the work I should have done while she was in China--in the end, I never finished it--or else she'll start charging me money for each late day. My family is crazy, my sister keeps telling me, "do your math homework!", my mom tells me a few minutes later, "clean your room!", and my dad just appears out of nowhere to steal my chips (jokingly. He always steals my food.) when he can get his own from the bag. I can't do my math homework and clean my room at the same time, guys! I could try, I did try, I failed. In the end, I gave up and starting playing games on my computer. Since I cleaned a part of my room, I guess I'll spend tomorrow doing some math homework instead. That way I can sort of keep the two of them happy. Oh, and my dad should just get his own chips.

Zoom Zoom Zoom (Toyata? commercial)

As always, I've been sleeping, as well as being lazy, a lot, so as time zoomed past me, I failed to blog about my day, so I'll be posting about yesterday and today. Well yesterday, Diana, Revathi, and I all went over to Yasmin's house--since it's unfair to always make her go to the opposite side of town to see us while we just sit around waiting for her--to just hang out together. It was pretty fun. My mom had to give both Revathi and Diana a lift to Yasmin's house, so we all got there at once. At first, we were just lying around in Yasmin's room, talking a bit, then her mom bought pizza from Costco. They're pizza is delicious and all, but I only ate one slice (and a half because Revathi ate one half then forced the other half upon me) because I had lunch before I went to her house, which coincidentally happened to be pizza as well. It took us a while to eat the pizza and such, then Yasmin brought out a "special dessert" which turned out to be flan. It was pretty good, although I expected it to be sweeter, since I've only had the unhealthier kind a few times before. After we were done stuffing our faces, we set out to a park near Yasmin's house where there's this huge hill that took forever to climb. I was all trying to race Yasmin to the top but I died halfway. When we all got to the top, we were wandering around in circles, trying to a find a decent spot to sit, but we ended up sitting under the sun's rays near the freeway. When we settled down, we started the main event of the day, playing "I have never...". It was fun and all, even though some of our "I have never"s was pretty lame, but that doesn't really matter as long as you have fun, right? I think Yasmin won, but I didn't really pay attention to that. There was also this one guy named Sebastian or something who is apparently everywhere where Yasmin is, so he's like some creepy stalker in her eyes. Yasmin was all freaking out even after her left the park. Stalkers are so creepy and annoying. They need a life, seriously. I don't get stalkers. If they like someone, don't they know that they're slowly making the person they like hate them by stalking? It makes a really bad impression. Anyhow, when we were about to leave, Diana was all pointing out how this couple was all making out, so she yelled out, "Ew, people making out!" and kind of ran away. I don't think they heard her, though, because she turned back and said, "Ew, they're still making out!" She's crazy. On the walk back, Diana and Revathi all had to use the restroom really bad, so they were all trying to power walk back to Yasmin's house. Thankfully Yasmin and I thought to go to the bathroom before leaving the house. We didn't really do much when we were back at Yasmin's house. Yasmin randomly challenged me to Guitar Hero and I failed horribly. Then Revathi's mom came and I hitched a ride home with her. So that was basically the end of that day.
Today, nothing much happened, but the time trials for cross country was today. I thought I did decently well, since I ran at a pretty constant pace. Except when I got my time, it was like 18:50 or some time around that, I think. That's pretty bad for a two mile run. That's over a nine minute per mile average. I probably ran the first mile in eight minutes, slowed down a little from fatigue, and ran around ten minutes the last mile. I was hoping I'd do better, but I think I got around twenty minutes last year, so it's an improvement?

Without a Shred of Doubt

So today, I woke up at 12PM to make sandwiches. Nice way to start off a day and a blog post! Anyhow, so Susan, a friend of Michelle's that I became friends with in Biology class, randomly invited me to go to a pot luck after cross country this one time. There would be a bunch of people from Tezlaff who I don't really know, but I was just like, sure, why not? So since it was a pot luck, obviously, I had to bring food, but Susan didn't do a great job at organizing and seeing who was going to bring what, so I just made sandwiches. The little get together was at Heritage Park at 2PM, so I just chewed on one of the sandwiches I made while watching some great anime. "One Piece" is awesome, I love it. I used to keep up with it, but then I stopped randomly, and now I'm starting up again from the very beginning. There's like 400 episodes, though, so far. I wonder what's taking so long for it to end, but I just love "One Piece", I'd be so sad if it ended. A lot of animes that I watch end at the 12th episode, so it's nice for one that I watch is really long. "Bleach" is pretty long, too, but I think it's going to end soon.
Stepping away from my little anime rant and back to my day, I was wandering around Heritage like a lost puppy. Susan told me it'd be near the baseball field, but there were so many people sitting in groups and such that I wasn't too sure where they were. I called Susan's cell phone, but one of the Tezlaff people I don't know, I think it was Jee Soo or Michelle (not the one I know), picked up and was attempting to help me get there. Apparently it was easier to just tell them where I was then where they were. Since I was standing near the baseball field alone, the group of people there stood up and waved to me. When I got there, there was a bunch of mats spread out under a tree, and I realized that most of the people already came but just off doing errands like filling up the water guns or water balloons. Susan and Julia, another person I know from cross country, got out of a car and was carrying buckets of water balloons. After everyone gathered up, I had to ask Michelle (Pang) for everyone's name. I don't know anyone's last name, but the people who gathered together were Michelle (Pang), Susan, Julia, Abraham, Young, Ian, Jee Soo, Michelle, Heidi, Allyson, Amanda, Edward, Joshua, and Shawn. It was pretty fun. We first had to eat because Michelle (Pang) was dying from hunger since she didn't eat lunch. Then we had an epic balloon fight where we all ganged up on Susan, and she was just like, "Why me?" She ran crazy fast and everyone just chased after her. She was totally soaked afterwards. I managed to stay pretty dry, but then Allyson and Julia decided I was too dry. After running around like crazy people, they finally got me wet. Then people set up the little volleyball net that Michelle (Pang) brought, while Susan, Julia, Allyson, and I ran over to Allyson's house, which was really close by, to make more water balloons. When we came back, everyone was either sitting on the laid out mats or playing volleyball. Since we came back with the real fun, we started it off with a water balloon toss. You know, where you toss the water balloon back and forth between two partners to see if they'll drop/break it or not. After that, we armed ourselves with the water balloons and water guns again to go out to war. It was soaked more this time, but that just means it was more fun for me. Occasionally throughout the day, I'd go on a little "break" from the festivity and eat a brownie or two. Amanda made them and they are so good! She left around 4PM, though, because of a basketball game and left them for us to eat. I brought them home with me since no one else wanted to, and because they were just that good. Enough about the food, the day has not yet finished. Well, Joshua actually didn't come until around 4PM--apparently he was out eating with his family or something--and everyone decided to take pictures in remembrance of the day. At first, everyone was being crazy and wanted us to make a pyramid, but that wasn't very successful. After a few crazy shots of us jumping in the air and just scrunched together in a group, a bunch of people started to leave. It came down to a small group of people, me, Michelle (Pang), Michelle, Susan, Julia, Jee Soo, Shawn, Joshua, and Edward. We played this weird Rock-Paper-Scissors Truth-or-Dare game where the loser has to do a Truth-or-Dare. Edward lost the first time, so we made him propose to Shawn and kiss his hand. It was pretty hilarious, yet kind of sad since it was embarrassing for them to do that in public. Well, we played that game again a few times, Michelle had to choose one guy amongst the group who she'd prefer the most to marry, Joshua had to call Susan's stalker and tell him to back off. I managed to stay in the safe zone, so I didn't have to do anything, just laugh and be amused at what everyone else was doing. Later we just went in a circle doing truths and such. My truth wasn't very interesting. To me that is. They just asked if I was a guy, which girl in the group I'd choose to go out with. Automatically I pointed to Michelle. Everyone was like, "Really?" for a moment, but then I explained how I've known her since kindergarten and everyone immediately understood. Then we just sat around talking, but it was maingly just Joshua talking. I used to think he was a bit annoying when we had P.E. together, but today, I thought he was really interesting to listen to. It wasn't like he was hogging up all the talking, but it was kind of like he was the entertainer and we were the audience. Once in a while, we'd have our moment to talk, exchanging interesting comments, then it'd turn back to Joshua. It's not like he's just talking to fill up the silence either. I really don't like people who just can't appreciate a moment of silence. Some people just feel the need to always be talking or making someone else to talk a lot. It wasn't like that with that group. The day was relaxed, but still fun. I had just met a lot of these people, and yet I didn't feel uncomfortable around them. I assume that these are just the kind of people Michelle is drawn to. I still remember a particular conversation I had with her. I was telling her how there was a lot of other people I knew from elementary school at Carmenita and I hung out with them. Michelle said something along the lines of how I was lucky and that she had to make new friends among people from other schools at Tezlaff. But I had no doubt that the people Michelle chose as friends are great people. Now I know, after meeting a good amount of them, that they seem to be just that, wonderful people. I hope I'll be able to become closer friends with them gradually.

Angel-Tear Moments

It's pretty late, 12:47AM. I was too busy goofing around on Facebook to blog about this earlier, but I'll just do it now. Well, today was my friend, Tanya's, graduation from Whitney high school. She was a valedictorian and everything. She's just like my sister, isn't it a shame that I can't follow in their footsteps? Oh well, self-satisfaction is more important? Yeah, I'm not very pleased with myself, so that kind of failed already. Anyhow, as I was saying, her graduation. I hold a bit of a grudge towards Whitney students because they're so exclusive with their students, I really don't like some of the people my age there because they just used me for their purposes in elementary school, and most importantly because my parents always wanted me to go there. They wanted me to be this smart, overachieving child like my sister. Big laugh right there. Well, today, as I listened to the valedictorian speeches, I felt touched by their words and almost cried. It's pretty embarrassing with my sister on one side and my piano teacher on my other. Since my old piano teacher teaches Tanya, too, so she was invited along to the ceremony. My piano teacher's really cool, she's really involved with her student's lives, but not in a nosy way. She's like a second mother to us. Unfortunately, I had to disappoint her as well by never practicing the piano, always messing up during the recitals and crying in front of the judge like an utter fool, then I just quit. Man, I'm really chewing myself out today. Anyhow, as I attempt to get back on track, the speeches were wonderful. I wish I was able to quote their words about happy endings and new beginnings, able to quote their words with the same amount of spirit as they had at the podium. One said how when people think of Whitney, they think of nerds, but that particular valedictorian loved basketball. However, due to an unfortunate event, he was put in the hospital. "I awoke with not only my family around me, but my friends and my basketball team. Even though I was told I probably wouldn't be able to play basketball this year, with my friends' and team's encouraging words, I didn't lose hope." He talked about the bonds of the family-like sport teams and that even though, to his great dispair, he was unable to play his in his final basketball season of high school, he was able to gain something greater. He was able to become greater friends with his teammates, ones that would last a life time. His speech, even though I loved Tanya's, was the best in my opinion, and sticked in my mind. Well, before the valedictorians, an English teacher had a speech of his own for the graduation address. It was just as grand. His words were funny and touching at the same time, filled with emotion for the students he watches walk away every year. Some come back. Some don't. I wondered about my graduations. We'd all be walking away on different paths. Who knows when or if we'll be able to meet again, my friends and I. But the English teacher, staying true to the subject he teaches, wrote a poem to his students called "The Garden". I wish very much that I was able to absorb every word he said. This isn't even a close imitation of his words, but it's like a blend of what I thought he said and what I thought he meant: "All of you started as seeds that teachers have watered everyday, and look at you grow into trees. I still think of the moments when we were together in class, laughing together, although most of the times you were all laughing at me. But I'll really cherish the times we talked outside of class and were able to get to know each other. And although I may never see you again, I'll look up towards the sun and look for your leaves." Maybe my dad recorded his speech. If that's the case, I'll try to post it up on here, or at least type out his words.
I hope, and yet, I'm sure, I'll meet my friends again, after we've seperated ways. Even if we don't, I'll still remember them vividly in my memories. If not my memories, my heart. I'll look up at the sky every now and then, just to think of them, even for a moment, and wondering if they're thinking of me. Whether we're close friends or distant, I'll remember them and hold tight onto the precious times we've had together. Even the people I said that I hated, the ones who go to Whitney. I still remember them, all the times we've had together in elementray school at recess. Even though I felt like I flipped through friends like the wind to an open blank book. One or two new friends a year, just people I'd hang out with during recess. If not a new friend, there was Michelle, the one person I felt that really understood me behind my violent exterior and liked me because I was me. Not for my food nor for my pens or pencils. She wanted to hang out with me because I was Jenny, as I wanted to be around her because she was Michelle. Even if it's Michelle, my best friend, I wonder if she'll remember me in ten, twenty, thirty years. We'll go to different places, meet new people, make new friends, maybe find someone we'll love for the rest of our lives. However, I'm confident that I won't forget. And hope they'll remember me once in a while, too, my friends, my classmates, everyone. I don't count on it, but I hope and, although I do not believe in God, I pray.

Octagon

Octagon is so cool. I'm not even kidding.
"What is this feeling of love that makes my heart ache so much now that it's come to an end? The end of this love that I've only begun to realize was inside me all this time."
Yeah. That's how I feel. So today was the Octagon Club banquet. It was so much fun. When I first got there with Diana, I waited for her to show up before going in, I was confused what was happening. The Octagon officers were passing out pins, papers, and tickets. Since Octagon is a division, or something, under the Optimist Club, our little game for the banquet was that if you say "no" (which is not optimistic!) then your pin gets taken away by the person who points it out first. The people who got the most pins won a prize at the end. I got tricked into saying "no" several times, and I managed to get my pin back, only to accidentally say "no" again, then get it taken away. It was hard to not say "no" but it was all good fun there with Diana and Hee Soo, my two Octagon buddies.
I totally went crazy from drinking soda. I normally don't drink soda, since I personally don't like it, but there wasn't anything else, so I took one. But when I do drink soda, I go on super hyper mode. Not even joking there. Every time I laughed, my face turned all red and I'd just keep laughing like I was hysterical.
Anyhow, the officers were giving out certificates to people who had a lot of hours in the club, HeeSoo got one, but Diana and I didn't. I really regret not participating in the club now. It's kind of late since there's not going to be any more activities except for tomorrow, which I'm going to! Next year, though, I'll try to go to all the events and dedicate more time into my club.
So there was also a raffle, and I won! I never win stuff! I actually won this other thing, too, but the officers were like, "That's just to make you feel good for winning something." Yeah, that was weird, but I was happy I won anything, period.
I really regret not getting more involved in the Octagon events. I honestly do. Isn't it sad that I only realized today, on the last meeting, that I really love Octagon? It's the only place that I really felt like I belonged. With my friends, yes, it's fun, we know each other really well, but sometimes, I feel like I'm not even there, and I feel like sometimes they aren't fully conscious I'm there either. It's probably out individual attention is spent on someone else, so I'm bound to not be focused on once in a while, and I understand. My undying love for my friends will never change because of my selfish need for their attention. Perhaps I do the same thing to them without even realizing. But, continuing on, the other clubs I'm in, we hardly do anything, we never get to bond, we never get together, and we never have fun together. Even though most of the people in Octagon don't know me very much, if at all, and they don't talk to me, but there's this feeling I felt today. It was as though I was part of something, something I don't even feel like when I'm with my family. It was like an aching pain of love in my heart. I'm not even sure how to explain this sensation I feel in my chest.
Today was a really good day. Maybe my best in a long time. I had lots of fun. Besides Octagon, in Biology, this girl I sit next to named Kara, I used to sit next to her in Science last year, in the 8th grade. She and I, along with two others, Athalia and Alec, sat at a table and would always be laughing over something together. Well, anyhow, Kara finally brought me the picture we took together on the last day of school. Those were really good times.
This song almost makes me want to cry. It's "Swing, Swing" by All American Rejects. Elliot, one of the Octagon officers played this song on his guitar and sang to it today. I'm sad that all these happy feelings will just be a memory in my heart, just like many I carry along with me. I wonder how many people of Octagon will remember and cherish this day as much as I, or if Kara will think back to the 8th grade even after we've grown old, to just say, "I remember that class, it was so much fun. Jenny was Freefall, Athalia was Apple Crack, and Alec was Dorkstar."
Ah, now I am crying.