Viva la Vida

The title is only because I've had it stuck in my head for a good deal of the last week. And because I love the song. It's just generally pretty solidly awesome. I really should actually own it-- except I know it well enough that I can pretty well play it in my head. Meh.
So this year is winding down pretty quickly. I'm presenting my senior project on Monday and my humanities project on Tuesday. One problem... I haven't started my hums project yet. Oh it will get done... eventually. I have 4 concerts left this year and to be honest, I'm not really excited about any of them. BHS awards ceremony is Monday night and to be honest, I'm actually somewhat excited, simply because it's the only one I've gotten to go to. Not because I haven't won awards, but because I've had auditions that night every year.
We're still eating off all the food that we bought for my recital, but it's given me lots of really good cookies over the past week. And my kitchen is covered in flowers. It's pretty awesome. I haven't practiced since Tuesday, though I'm going to need to start again given the senior/hums project... I need to sort out those reed issues I was having during my recital. Well, someday I'll figure out how to make a decent reed. Until then... I survive.

DONE

Wow. I just finished my recital. It's really a surreal feeling. I didn't do as well as I thought I could and there were some awkward moments. But all in all, I'm happy. And I should be doing homework right now. Or sleeping. I'm not going to practice for the next couple days (though I need to play in order to start up my humanities project). I can't complain, though the evening did not go without a hitch; oh well, whatever. I sleep now. Except by sleep I mean do homework quickly then sleep.

rawr

I don't want to do work. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to do anything. Including writing this. And yet I am.
In other news, my recital is a week away. I have so much to do (like write my recital program...) and ya know, sound decent. It would be bad if I sounded awful at my own recital. Gah.
I really want to go to Caltech. Like now. Which is such a problem because I don't leave for another 4+ months. Gah. School. Poo.

*cough cough* congrats, your computer just got swine flu. Just kidding.

Wowzers

So it's completely official. I'm going to Caltech. I sent off my papers a couple days ago and have rejected everywhere else. It's slightly frightening to realize I'm actually going to college but at the same time I'm so ready to be done with high school. I'm almost done with AP Chem (one more "practice" AP tomorrow and then we should be done done done), I'm done with math, psych never was a big deal, and APES has chilled down a ton. So that really only leaves me with a huge humanities project and my senior recital. Oh my recital. It's proving to be a ton of work, though most of the time I feel like it really will go pretty well. I need to finish up my piece (I'm halfway through) and run through stuff with my accompanist. Meaning... YES I got an accompanist... small miracles happen. What else? I applied for a job at Staples so that I can bring in some money this summer so that I can pretend to afford college. Other than that, life is starting to chill off. I mean, I'm still busy but less insanely so. Like I went to bed at 10 last night.

I MADE A DECISION!!!

Okay, awesome. I'm going to Caltech. Yesssss... it was 77 degrees today. Okay, no, that's not why I chose it. But it just seems like a terrific way to spent the next four years of my life. I mean, I'm going to die, but I will enjoy dying.
Anyways, now that that craziness is done with I suppose I should justify my reasoning. In a school, I was looking for a place that I could graduate in four years with a BS in ChemE and be employable. I was looking for a school with really strong academics. I was looking for a school where the social scene was not dependent on alcohol, unless I was doing an orgo set. I was looking for a school where I could play bassoon. Caltech has all these things. I think I got too interested in the whole "majoring in bassoon" thing and really lost track of what my future held. I couldn't drop the idea.. I'm not really sure why. In the end, I realized that there was a decent chance that I would not be able to juggle the double degree with any amount of success and that future employers wouldn't get that I got a C in Thermo because my junior recital was the next day. At first, this felt like I was making a huge compromise, but I think I'm okay with it. I should have fun over the next four years and learn so much more than I have in high school. Plus, this means I don't have to take AP tests, which means that I can totally chill. That just made my May so much more awesome...
Anyways, life otherwise is pretty sweet. School is chilling out. And I have a date for my senior recital. EVERYONE SHOULD COME. May 11th at 7:30 in the auditorium. BE THERE.

FML

So I'm not ready for college. At all. My math grades indicate that. Which means I'm definitely not ready for MIT or Caltech. Gah. I don't know where to go...
Other than that my grades are good. So I shouldn't get rescinded. But still. It's frustrating when you know that you could do better and yet you just can't. Poo at life.
And my parents are going through all the college financial aid offers today and are telling me what might be financially feasible and what might not be. I really wish money just didn't matter, but it does so I need to deal.
Umm yeah. So there really was no real need to blog. But whatever. Spring break is a week away which means SOWMYA'S COMING HOME. Which is awesome.

DONE

Okay, so I'm officially done with math. Finally. And I will retake multivariable next year and will actually understand it with some degree of clarity. Awesome.
Anyways, I had a pretty sweet day today. Meaning except for the three hour math test. But other than that. I ended the term in chem with an almost decent grade (not an Asian fail) even though my test average was a 67. Ugh. Mrs. Kurzman. WTF.
In any case, I can now start to practice again. And other fun stuff. I need to schedule my senior recital officially and I'm having trouble deciding on a date. But whatever. It'll get figured out. Hopefully before someone takes the multi-purpose room on that day. Hmm, maybe I should figure that out...
College is making no headway. My mom talked to the bassoon teacher at Northwestern and he was supposed to call me Tuesday night and didn't. I was... not too pleased. Like, at all. grr... Anyways, I have no idea where I'm going next year. I'm almost up for saying screw it and going to Drexel. Or MIT. Or UIUC. Because the fights about money are just not worth it with my parents. Because they're just not fun. Gah.

Les Champions

So I gave up French last year (best move ever). But in any case, for the second year in a row, Bedford won math team states. And this time it was a complete win. No ties or nothing. Pretty awesome. Be jealous. AND to make it even sweeter, Lexington didn't win. Awesome to the max. In any case, Yongyi got an 18 (grr), Christie got a 15, and I got a 13. So the seniors did awesome. Shreyas got a 7, Victor got a 4, and Will got a 2. Mm a two. And we got a 12 on team. 71 total. We beat Winchester by 8 and Sharon by a lot. So alls we need to do is BEAT CHOATE. And we will. And it will be epic. And Nipunn and Marissa will actually pick up their phones this time.

Where do I go?

So I got in everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Which means I owe Sowmya ice cream. Bummer.
But now I need to figure out where I'm going. So here's the list (please vote):
JHU/Peabody double degree
Northwestern
Caltech
MIT
Drexel
WashU St. Louis
U. Illinois at U-C
USC

Don't bother voting for any of the last three. I doubt I'm going. Or Drexel for that matter. But anyways...
Life has been nuts. All-state was amazing. Our conductor was an awesome person with a heart of gold and a love of bassoons. Which made the experience really enjoyable. And Alisa, Ruby, and I roomed together which was a party. And Michael Goldberg is the shiz at donkey sounds. ANYWAYS...
Life is slowly chilling off again. Not yet the seniorness I had been promised, but that's okay. It's better than junior year. Everything is better than junior year...

Rawr.

So someone once told me that March was going to be a great month with a lot of free time for a senior and lots of fun. Someone lied to me.
This has quite honestly been a month from hell. I pulled my only all-nighter of the year (so far) and while my grades are up to my freshman year standards, my brain is melting. Half my classes are mind-numbingly simple (psych, senior project, and APES), two are kicking my butt (math and AP Chem), and one is actually interesting on alternating days (Humanities). I love humanities. It is solidly by far my favorite class at the moment. It's so entertaining, with minimal work, and with serious comprehension. In going to miss it next year.

I have no clue where I'm going to college. I lean Caltech at times, MIT at times, and then realized I couldn't read (not that that makes sense Christie...). No, but I know I don't even have all the info and I'm still waiting on Northwestern and JHU and I can't make decisions. BUT I WANT TO MAKE A DECISION.
Okay. All good. Byes.

ALL-EAST!!!

Oh man. So I just did not have a weekend this weekend. Which led to a general state of exhaustion. Which is why I got 11 hours of sleep last night. Which was amazing. But anyways. I had a pretty interesting time at All-East.
So I got to leave school on Thursday at 10 AM after a rousing chemistry test. LAtersss...

Crappp

So as happy as I was to be accepted to Caltech, the ever present "where am I going" question remains. I know. It's all a very nice question to be in the midst of. But it's so confusing at the same time. There are extreme pluses and minuses to both places (aka, one's too close, one's too far away) but things I like about both. And there's a lot I can't yet figure in (like financial stuff). I honestly just want to make a decision. And I want to hear from everywhere else. And at some point, I will make a big long list of pros and cons of each place and then ignore all of the careful notes and make a gut decision. And the thing is, I predict I will be happy in the end.
But until then... I will just wait and leave up all my Caltech and MIT posters (I looked at my room last night and realized I have three Caltech posters and I haven't yet put up my MIT one... is that a sign?). Gah, I'm going to die. It isn't going to be fun.
WHY can't this be easy?
Good news is I only have three and a half days of school this week. And All-Eastern at the end of the week. So it should be a good week. But I can already tell that I'm going to be completely confused for a while. And really unnecessarily so.

ACCEPTED

So I'm currently 5/5. I got into Caltech. And yes, that means I got the double-tech as well. MIT+Caltech=people apparently think I'm smart. Not sure if I am, but that's the overall impression apparently. Or at least different, which is usually good.
Well, yesterday, Christie, Kristine, and I spent 14 hours writing a 16 page paper about math. Yes, we're the cool kids. Hopefully we'll win some money out of it. But yes, it was fun. And I ate a lot. Which will only make me more squishy. Oh FML.
And today was GBYSO. And Paige and I celebrated getting into college (she was accepted to EASTMAN... holy crap) by going to Starbucks. It was yummy. And I got an espresso brownie on top of a Mocha Frap and I was a happy camper. And the brownie brought back memories of a flat tire incident with an HP. Awesomeness.
So I blogged. For the first time in a long time. And someday I will finish my Northwestern entry... someday.

Northwestern

ZOMG, I LOVE NORTHWESTERN. Except the cold. And snow. But other than that...

The campus is really pretty. The people are really nice. The atmosphere is really great. Now I just hope I got in.

But anyways, we left bright and early Thursday morning and headed to el airporto. And my dad drove really slow. And then we waited in a long line to check our one stupid bag. And then we almost missed our plane. And then we didn't. And then we got to Chicago. And then we went to the baggage carousel. And then our stupid bag wasn't there. Yeah. American lost the bag. So we reported it, we were guaranteed that it was in Boston and that it would be delivered to the hotel, and we took a shuttle to our hotel.

JHU/Peabs

Oh man. I love Peabody. And JHU. I like much. Much much much. Gah. <3

ANYWAYS... time to be rational. So we flew down on Sunday morning, took the train into Baltimore, walked 3 blocks, and were at Peabody. So easy. So nice. So cheap ($1.60 for the train... :D). We got there, wandered around some, and they let us into the hotel around noonish (we weren't supposed to check in until about 2). It was cool because they have an "Elderhostel" program, where old people can stay for a week and take classes about music and stuff. So they reserve that space for a week for auditions. So it's on campus and centrally located and you get a key to get into campus and all. I found a practice room on campus and practiced and picked out a reed; such a good use of 2 hours. I then met up with Hillary and we (her, me, my mommy, her parents) met up and ate dinner. It was a good time. And then we went back to hotel. And then we sleep.
Monday: AUDITION DAY! So yes. It was audition day. I was scared. Yet not crazy scared. It was weird and hard to quantify. So we got up and checked in, which gave me official times and places for everything I needed. I couldn't start warming up until 10:55. My mom and I went to the dining hall and got way overpriced food (hey, it's college). And then she went to a parent's meeting and I went to the hotel and tried to stay calm. I got my warmup room. I warmed up. It felt good. I went up to my audition at 11:40 like I was supposed to. Hillary came out. I went in. It was really cool because he treated it like a lesson. He let me play a lot (I had about 20-25 minutes of music) but also offered good tips. In total I was there for 35 minutes. It was supposed to take 20. I hope that's a good sign. I then took my theory test and my ear training test. I think they both went well. I hope. :D.
So then we went back to the hotel (I know, we lived there...). I crashed for a bit and tried not to think about my audition. I didn't want to freak out too much. Anyways. My mom and I walked some more through Baltimore and ate and stuff. All very good.
So the next morning, my mom and I got up, ate breakfast at the "Maestro Cafe" (yay for music schools!), and got a Peabody t-shirt and packed up and checked out of the hotel. We left our stuff and took the bus over to JHU. I really liked JHU as well. It was almost weird how much I liked it. It was this really pretty campus right in the middle of the busy city. It was like its own little pretty paradise. I liked a lot. I did the typical info session and tour thing and I really solidly liked the campus. Way more than expected. Top choice now? I dunno, maybe.
So then we took the shuttle back to Peabody, picked up our stuff, walked to the light rail station, took the train into the airport and flew home. Great trip. Really solid.

100th post!!!

So I know I said I'd finish that last post. But it's been a week and I can't seem to remember what I was going to finish it with. So I'll start a new one instead. So let's see. What's happened in the last week? Umm, I took my last AMC 12 ever. I got a 109.5. I qualified for AIME and will not go to USAMO. I'm pretty happy. And I got question #20. :D
Also, I got a lovely facebook message today (or yesterday, not sure) telling me that I'm going to die when I see my all-state music. Well, or be happy. I'm not really sure. In music they're basically the same thing (aka, lots of work needed but big solo ftw). So I think I'm happy about that. Granted I'm not sure when I'm supposed to learn a big solo... I gots auditions a plenty in the next week. So I guess that's the big exciting thing...
AUDITIONS! AKA, spend lots of money trying to get to a school just to be rejected because you get nervous. Okay, so I hope it won't happen like that (though it probably will). But yes. I got my audition time and date for Northwestern and we booked it. So next week will probably be a crazy week (with little blogging... though when I do it should be good). I leave for Peabody (Baltimore) on Sunday, audition Monday, and come back Tuesday night. I am home Wednesday (yay for homework), leave Thursday for Northwestern (Chicago), audition Friday, come home Saturday morning. It should be a fun time. Well, except the auditioning. That should be thoroughly not fun. Gah. I don't want to die.
So I have an APES test tomorrow. I want to do well. I won't. Duh.
Well I need sleep. And practicing. And doing homework would probably be a good idea. Hmm. No motivation.
Oh and this is my hundredth post. woohoo!

Rarrrr

So yesterday was weird. Sort of like it didn't happen. It all felt like one big blur. But whatever. I was tired from doing something overly late (ahh the APES poster, of course) and just wanted to crash. And I had easy classes. Yet I wasn't allowed to sleep. A really frustrating combination. Doing nothing is bad enough. Doing nothing and being forced to do nothing is just awful. So whatever. I'm going braindead. It's okay.
And then I had a math meet. It was a home meet, which is always rather weird. But Bedford did really well. I had an absolutely atrocious meet. It was sad. I got a zero on a round. And it was an easy round. It was so sad. To be continued...

Success

So as much as I whine about my own procrastination, it does allow me to do some good work. Like apparently my humanities project was good. Sheinfeld and O'Toole both want me to record for next years classes. And Ms. O'Toole really wants me to try to get my piece published. I... don't really understand it. I thought it was okay, but apparently it was better than okay. Well, it's a big portion of our third quarter grade, and I need like a 57 for the term not to take a final, so hopefully that sets me up well. And I need to average a 24 over third and fourth quarter and the final in order to graduate. I think I can handle that. YAY for graduating.
Other than that, I am just living today exhausted. I was up until 4 AM yesterday and napped today from 1 to 5. Very helpful. Especially given I still have a significant amount of APES homework left. Poo.
And other than that, life continues. Senioritis is strong. Desire to get into college again is strong. Exhaustion is strong. Confusion is very strong.

Homework

So I have been effectively buried in homework for the past two nights. I'm already exhausted. I still have a sr. project log to write. I'm going to die. Okay, no. But procrastination is taking a tighter grip than it has in the past. And senioritis isn't helping. And it's so hard to work when you know the highest grade you need this term is a 73. Yeah. No motivation. Well, pride. But AP Bio kicked that out of me thoroughly.
And Griff has been killing us in homework. And it's all busy work. And I know what an arithmetic graph is; and I have for a while. And I can color... I learned that in AP Bio. So I have all the skills necessary. So why do you keep giving us worksheets? Gah.
Humanities project is done. And surprisingly, I think I'm actually happy with what I did. I know. Insane. We'll see how it goes over in class tomorrow. *crossing fingers*.
So I must go back to work. I need to stop the procrastination. But I don't wanna...

"Mahler Wrote for Big Boys"-Mark Miller

So today was an excellent day along the GBYSO front. My parents woke me up far too early with the misconception that it would cause me to be productive. I guess I was somewhat, but not terribly. I got more of the obnoxious amount of APES homework done. I don't know what Griff was thinking this weekend. He piled it all on. Just an absolute killer. Especially for a second semester senior. Well, at least they should help grades, right?
So then it was gbyso time. It was really hectic because of various chamber concerts and a weird selection of people were there. I hung with Avery and he made fun of my wave. Is it really that weird? Alas, c'est la vie. Rehearsals were good. Fed wasn't there which was sad, but we had Mark all day, which is fun when we're at the beginning of a concert set and you don't think he's going to kill you. So many sarcastic remarks were said and all was well. I need a reed with a bigger dynamic range for Mahler. Much bigger.
And I came home and just finished homeworking. And I should be off to bed.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

Okay, so I know it's the last day of January. But for goodness sake, I couldn't think of a good resolution until now. Well I had plenty of bad ones... but in light of recent events, I have a good one. And it is (drumroll please):
ACT. No, not on stage. Just in real life. I need to act on my feelings and needs and desires. No, that doesn't mean I act on every desire... but it does mean that I approach life without fear. I've lived in fear for so long in my life, whether it's from my parents, from getting yelled at, or from losing something. Some were well founded (I insist that gymnastics is indeed a dangerous sport) and others were not. So as simple as it sounds, that's my new goal for the year. I don't care if I lose weight or gain muscle or practice one more minute on bassoon; I just want to do what I want to do because I want to do it.
In any case, today was a fabulous day. I got up really early, got my USC CD together (put it in its case and addressed the envelope), got ready, and my mom and I dropped my dad at work. We headed down to the Emerald Square Mall (mailing the package along the way) and hit H&M. I fell in love with H&M in Europe and Emerald Square and somewhere in Peabody are the only two locations nearby. Plus, my mom had guaranteed that I could go on a 100 dollar shopping spree as one of my Christmas presents. It was a lot of fun. I got a new dress and two tops. The dress is really pretty AND was only 15 dollars. Great deal. Very pleased. One top is sweater-like, but not as heavy and also 15. The last top is casual but decent looking. It was full price, but it should be good for spring and summer. Overall, I spent 50 of my hundred, leaving me with 50 left (see, senioritis hasn't killed everything). That means another shopping spree later!!! We then went and picked my dad up at work, I got an hour off for lunch before YPO. I didn't want to go to YPO. I never want to go to YPO. But it was all good. Well, no, I didn't play. And I had to carry the contra about a block around NEC. But I'll survive. And then I came home and my mom had made chicken parm. So I am currently well-fed, content, and should be doing homework. Alas, this is the good life...

4/4... :D

Okay, so it turns out that about 15 minutes after I last blogged I figured out I got into USC. I'm almost certainly not going, but it's always exciting to be accepted. And I'm still sending in the CD and seeing if it'll get me into the music school. If I get into both, I would consider it. I'm leaving options open. And enjoying being liked by colleges. So Sowmya only needs me to get into 4 more normal schools and 1 music school and she wins ice cream. That lucky duck. Of course, if not, I win... :D. No lose bet.
In other news, my dad and I have pretty much finished the CSS profile, so financial aid stuff is getting done, which is both important and awesome. It's almost like I'm close to being done filling out lots of forms... except scholarships. Gah. It never ends.
In addition, I have some actually exciting news. Kristine and I are both candidates for the Presential Scholars program. It's based on critical reading+math SAT/ACT scores (yay for not writing) and the top 20 of each gender in each state are candidates. So I have a long app to finish before February 28th, which is also SCIENCE BOWL!! I'm already getting psyched. It should be fun. Buzzzzzz.
Mmm, I think that's it. And I'm no longer feeling emo. It's all good.

yayayayayay!!

I'm officially done with recording. I would say forever, but that so is not true. After all, if I become a music major, I should be recording quite a bit. I hope. I actually think that recording is much scarier than auditions. Auditions are quick and easy and you're done. Recordings require you to think about whether you're happy with something and whether it's worth trying to rerecord it. Much more decisions when you're nervous. Way scarier.
But yes, I finished my necessary recordings for USC and for my backup tape for JHU. I actually rerecorded everything I recorded in October except one piece and most of it sounds so much better. I am in love with this one etude, so I'm definitely sending that everywhere. I'm also pretty happy with my concerto. It's just the other etude. It's really tricky and the tempo is really... iffy. So like, if I take it too fast, I am screwed. But if I take it too slow, I run out of breath and it doesn't sound terribly impressive. Poo. And I realized that nervousness seriously impacts that one. I got through it, but it was a little bit slower than I would prefer. But alas, it's only getting sent to Peabody and assuming awful things don't happen in February, they shouldn't ever listen to it, so hopefully it'll be fine.
Anyways, that was last night. Yesterday was pretty boring, so I don't need to go into too much detail. It was a day 2, which was nice because it would normally be a day 1. So me starting health was delayed another week! woohoo! Otherwise, very normal. I pretended to get my homework done. I sort of did. Success...

SNOW DAY!!!

YAY! It was the second snow day of the year this year which was awesome and lowers the amount of days we have total to 162. No longer a prime. In fact, it now has 10 factors (1,2,3,6,9,18,27,54,81,162)!!! I love pretty numbers.
So I took this day as a serious chill day. We finished the 2000 piece puzzle I got my mom for Christmas of a German castle that my parents visited in Europe. It's really gorgeous. It was expensive, but well worth it. I also practiced quite a bit and worked on reeds which is good because I'm recording again tomorrow night. I need to send a CD to USC and JHU. JHU is just as a "snow tape" in case it's so snowy that we can't fly to Baltimore in time. But anyways, reeds have been driving me nuts lately, so good work was done and all.
I got my psych homework done and am working on an APES packet at the moment that I want to submit tonight.
And then of course comes the shoveling. The only thing I hate about snow days is.. well, the snow. I do not want to ever shovel snow again. Ever. It's just awful in every way. Warm climate, here I come...
Only problem with that theory... I GOT MY MIT SWEATSHIRT today. It's fantastic. I had been wanting to get one for the past month. And hey, if I go to Caltech, I can always "modify" it. Otherwise I can just brag that I got into MIT and chose not to go. Or I could just go to MIT. Only time and CPW will tell...
So back to APES. And back to school... poo.

I'm not pleased

Okay, my posts are usually happy and hopeful. This one will not be. Maybe it's a bit inspired by Soyeon. Maybe it's just how I feel right now. (No, I'm not suicidal. These are all metaphorical. I care, but not that much)
I was talking to someone online tonight and it was sort of like getting stabbed in the back. And then kicked to the ground. And stabbed again.
The pain won't end.
I'm sick of it.
I wish I could just be honest with the world. I wish people would accept what I have to say. But it's not appropriate. It's not acceptable. It's just not right. So how can I tell you what I really think? I doubt you'll believe me, especially after tonight. I doubt you'll care. I doubt you'll want to do anything about it.
These feelings are new, unfamiliar things. Not for me, but for you. Will you ever get it? Should you?

mm, that felt good. In other words, I got first in all-state again this year. And my midyears are good so far.

Midyear week

Gah, so midyear week is always on the edge of crazy and this year was no exception. But I think I may have studied more this year. And so far it seems to be helping...
So anyways, Day 1 was psych and senior project. I knew it was my easy day, so I read through notes and made a presentation the night before and felt set. Honestly, I don't know how I did. I'm sure it wasn't bad (it's psych and sr project after all) and they're two classes I'm not terribly worried about. They should have been good. In any case, we finished our senior project presentations by 12 and it was inauguration day, so we quickly turned on the smartboard tv, saw Biden get inaugurated, saw Yo-Yo Ma play (zomg, I played with him), and finally Obama get inaugurated and speechify. It was... incredible. The idea that we're done with Bush is so bizarre. He's been president for most of my conscious life. I remember in fourth grade when I wanted Gore to be elected because Joe Lieberman knew my grandfather. Man, my values were weird back then. But my politics were solid... :D. In any case, food+easy midyear+Inauguration=awesome day. So then I had to stay after to make up for my incident last monday (see: missing school, falling down stairs) for the art part of humanities. Which meant an hour with Mr. Sheinfeld looking at slides. Great fun... naht. Though I learned a lot. So I walked home, stopping at Starbucks on the way. It was good. Very good. And started in on WEDNESDAY:
I had an essay due at my hums midterm that I hadn't started yet (ummm, procrastination much?) so I came home on Tuesday and started right in on that. Except I didn't. By 5 PM, I had my name, the date, and the assignment on the page. And a vague outline. Bad start. That coupled with the need to study for chem kept me up past 2 AM. Oh well, everything got done. Quality... ehh.
So I got up and headed off for school on Wednesday, essay in hand, ready (I hoped) for AP Chem. I went over electrochem (because I got it at the time but not at all anymore) and then took the midyear. I didn't think it was awful but not amazing. Turns out I did quite well. I'm very pleased. I just need a 73 next term and a 84 last term and I will sail by without a final. Yes, that is currently the goal. And then... humanities. I have been raving all year about how easy this class is. And it is. Except the midyear. It was absolutely awful. I stayed an extra hour or more. Just bad. I'm hoping for a scale because everyone thought it was bad. Ah, well, I walked home again and stopped at Starbucks... again. Bad habit. Unfortunately, it's in the perfect location. It's right between the school and my house. Like the walk is 2 miles and Starbucks is at mile marker 1. And just when you've been walking for 15 minutes, a hot capaccino sounds overwhelmingly good. But anyways. I made it home at the same time as the middle schoolers, which was really bizarre. I sat down and studied for APES. And then studied somemore. And then crashed and fell asleep early.
THURSDAY:
So I had no midyears Thursday. I slept in until 10:30. It was fabulous. I had to tutor at 3 and a concert at 7, but other than that, I was absolutely free. I made my word bank for APES and went over words. Very chill day. Very awesome day. And I got my AP Chem grade back: 87 for the term, 92 on the midyear. I beat Kurzman...
FRIDAY:
APESSSSSS. I admit I was scared going in. But it really wasn't bad at all. There were patterns that were pretty easy to follow and quite a few "gimme" questions. I took about an extra half hour, but that was just going over ones I had missed on the first go round. Not bad at all. And then I went and made dumplings. Well, I stuffed dumplings. Christie's mommy had already made the dough and filling so we just rolled it out and stuffed them. They were so good. I was very happy. I walked home again. Got Starbucks again. And I am going to get fat soon. I got home and crashed. I didn't fall asleep, but I curled up in a chair. Around 8:30ish, I decided to practice, realized my reed sounded awful. It was an awful feeling. So I altered a new one and prayed that it would harder and set well. It did. I woke up this morning, played with it and it sounded much better than the other. Thank goodness because today brought all-state auditions. I have some of the most bizarre stories from all-state auditions last year (like standing in the hallway for 2 hours and then getting first chair). But whatever. I had an okay audition. The sight reading was rumored to be awful, but it wasn't that awful. Well, we'll see how it went on Monday. There's no telling whether I got in or not or what seat I got. What will we will be.
And then my mom and I stopped at Price Chopper and got all sorts of goodies. And then I had YPO. We won't talk about YPO. I was told to fart. End of discussion.
So I'm a second semester senior. This is so very exciting. Slack starts... in one day!

Io non cappisco... mais j'adore

So today was BYSO performance of Marriage of Figaro. Personally, this is my favorite concert of the year (as Cosi was last year) because I love Mozart. Like a lot. It's bad when your favorite movie is Amadeus. Well, anyways, it was full of excitement. We had morning rehearsal then 2 hours off for lunch. So what'd I do? I followed people. Not in the creepy, stalkery following. But in the "wow, you know good food and I trust you following". And it worked. I ended up at Wagamama with an awesome group of people eating really good ramen. And I used chopsticks successfully. I was proud. Maybe I'm becoming a good Asian wannabe. And then we went across the street and got bubble tea. I love bubble tea. Lots. And lots. In fact I want it now. Meh, oh well. So I guess that adds to my list of requirements for college: 1. a trader joes in walking/subwaying distance, 2. bubble tea, 3. a good engineering/music program. And yes, that order matters.
So anyways, we got back and actually played the concert. I was quite pleased with how it went. The overture went very smoothly (di-ga-di-ga-da... okay, listen to it and you'll know what I'm talking about).

I will finish this in the morning. I'm currently much too tired to function which means I'm slightly too tired to blog.
Okay... so I meant to update this a lot earlier, but this past week has been more than nuts. So anyways, the opera was pretty much amazing. Except I had to pee. Starting at... umm the beginning. It's really painful to need to pee and need to play at the same time. And then by the time we got off stage all the audience had flooded the bathrooms and I so was not going to get to pee for the next two hours. So I instead chose to watch the rest of the opera. It was really good. Alas, my Mozart utopia is over. I love Mozart operas and depending on my future, it's possible that I won't ever have such amazing opportunities again. If only I were a year younger...

A lot.

I'm going to start this post off with a generic "this has been one of the craziest weeks of my life". So don't blame me for not blogging. Because if I had blogged, they would have been awful "I did this. I did that. I hate my life. I need sleep" blogs. And I don't wanna write that. And you don't wanna read that. Not that anyone reads my blog anyway. But in any case...
Let's see, I last blogged last Thursday. That was the calm before the storm. We had a math meet and won handily (we went into team round with an 18 point lead and got 12 on team). I did... meh... but Christie and Yongyi got 14s, Kristine got a 12. We decided ahead of time what problems we were doing on team and it worked pretty well so that will continue to be a strategy. Yay for not losing. Or not thinking we lost. Well, whatever.
Friday and Saturday were districts. Honestly, districts was pretty bad this year. We tried to play brass-heavy pieces without good brass players. I think you can figure out how that went. But in any case the bassoons and clarinets spent the entire time completely frozen because we lived under vents that blew cold air the entire time. But the best part was definitely seeing Shreyas so overwhelmingly unhappy. He has committed to not doing districts next year and I don't blame him. Oh, I also won a 300 dollar scholarship. That was pretty cool. MMEA is almost paying me back for all states and districts and all-east. Almost.
But Saturday just got crazier. I went straight from the concert to YPO where apparently Zander trash talked me when I wasn't there: "How can we do Mahler with an unreliable third bassoonist?". I'll answer that... IT'S EASY. LOL. But yes. And then I had gbyso (where I was also late because Zander let us out really late) and apparently Fed threw a conniption because quite a few of us were late. So Saturday I was gone from 7:30 AM to 11 PM and I played bassoon the whole time. In any case I was exhausted. I had gbyso the next day as well. In any case, I was throughly exhausted at the end of the weekend which led to my next big event of the week:
I FELL DOWN THE STAIRS. I know that sounds so anticlimactic, but it was really dramatic actually. I was up at like midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning, was putting my pillowcase in the dryer, my slipper slipped off (who knew that's why they're called slippers), and I tumbled down on my butt for about 4-6 stairs. I slammed my head pretty hard, had an awful headache for about an hour afterwards. Needless to say, it was traumatic. And I stayed home from school the next day. Between sheer exhaustion, pain, and fear, it was a good move. I used the time to study for my math test on Tuesday. Which was sorta... ehh. Mixed bag. And that's what my grade reflected. But in any case. I've been catching up on work all week. It's been not fun, but my bruises are healing up rather quickly. And then last night was amazing. (That's what she said). It was probably one of the most exciting concerts of my life. I've been poo-pooing YPO all year. Now, I'll give credit where credit's due: we gave one hell of a concert. Granted, the string sections are enormous and just about every important wind part is covered by an NEC student or an insane high school student (like have been in YPO for 5 years or so). So it's pretty much a college orchestra with some high school players. But still. We rocked it out. It was incredible. And then I got up today at 1 and did nothing all day. It was so good. I need to go to bed. I'll try to be a better blogger.

What's sleep?

So during vacation I completely screwed up my sleep schedule. And now it's not vacation. And I'm still staying up late. It's just now, I need to get up in the morning. So I come home and take a two hour nap. And then stay up late again doing homework really unefficiently. Yes, it's a bad habit. And really not much fun, even when talking to Alex that late.
So anyways, we're back in school. Well, not today, because it's a snow/weather/ice day (there's some snow but not an overwhelming amount. I think they cancelled because of the ice). So now I only have 163 days this year. I'm a bit bummed because it's now a prime number and we're missing a Day 2, but any school not attended is good.
So my real current dilemna is whether or not I have districts rehearsal today. I'm supposed to but it really depends on if they cancel it. And if not, I'm not sure how it's all going to work. It'll be a fun time... urm, not.

RAWR

Okay, so I'm officially done with college apps and life. Well not life. But motivation is now officially down the tubes. But I must keep going.
Well today was fun actually. Christie and I went to the Wellesley greenhouses for some good ole extra credit (last test=ugh). And all in all it was enjoyable. The temperature was warm (especially in the tropical area); it was almost like being in California. gah, I should not say the word California because California=Caltech=college=scary. Yes, I am on the brink of going crazy, tis true.
Well I have a lot more work to do during vacation, have completely screwed up my sleep schedule, and am currently addicted to a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I'm almost done with the sky... :D
And I'm on an emotional roller coaster; but let's talk about happy things!
Our Christmas tree has survived one more day, so I am still accompanied by lights and trees and glass balls and the like. It is a very comforting feeling...
And I'm officially back on facebook. I just wasted about an hour on it. Well, I had to... okay, that's a lie. But I had 19 messages... :-/
Well I'm blathering on. Night night.

HAPPY 2009!

So it's 2009. It's pretty crazy, but this should be an awesome year. I mean, let's see, what's coming up...
1. Graduation
2. Prom
3. College
4. Summer
5. Parties
Yeah, awesomeness is coming. And districts and all-state and all-eastern and gbyso. Okay, I'm excited.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
(yes, this post is poor).