Journals106
Newest
Post-post-Spring Break lethargy.
6 min read
So April 10-19 was really crazy for me. I went to the state science fair and I-SWEEEP, and even though it was two weeks ago, I wish to share it with you, being the fatally long-winded person that I am.
State was awesome. Same hotel as last year, and even the same activities (Riverwalk and this one random pizza/arcade/go-kart/mini-golf place). But it was a lot cooler this year because, as a high schooler, there's a lot less supervision. You don't need a parent/teacher with you while you're at the mall or whatever, you just have to meet back at a certain place. So that was pretty cool. Also, my roommates were really great people who are epically amazingly smart.
The nice thing about state is that it's like 30% competition and 70% hanging out with people, and that was great because I got to meet not only people from my school, but some kids I met last year there as well as a couple kids from Brownsville who were really awesome. I went go-karting for the first time, and it was really fun except I epic failed at it and came in last because I had like a five-second delayed reaction to the guy who gave instructions and said go all in the same breath. We also shopped a little, ate awesome food, I blew $40 on arcade games, killed people in bumper cars, did the virtual rollercoaster thingy, etc.
I came in 3rd place at state, which really surprised me because the projects there were pretty amazing. I had only four interviews--two special judges who barely let me get three sentences out of my mouth (and who hated pretty much everyone they approached) and then two regular judges who didn't seem that thrilled. But I won anyway, and it was awesome because it's on this stage with really bright lighting in front of something like 3,000 people. It was sort of a disorienting experience because you had to head backstage, pick through various dangerous nails/wooden boards/metal poles, then come out through this epic archway in the middle of the stage. We also had photos in front of an Exxon-Mobile backdrop (they and the University of San Antonio are the primary sponsors). Sometime during the summer I plan on uploading pictures from state and I-SWEEEP to Facebook.
I-SWEEEP was officially the coolest science fair I have and ever will do in my life. Seriously, it was frickin' huge. Seventy different countries, forty US states. The opening ceremony was really amazing--big stage even bigger than the one at state, with dancing/music from tons of cultures. There was this one really cool dance from a Turkish dance troupe (from Dallas of all places) who danced to, like, Turkish folk music gone techno. Which was weirdly awesome. I'm still hoping footage of that shows up on the Internet. Then they had a flag ceremony a la Olympic Games with representatives of countries coming up, which was really awesome. Also, the sound system was awesome and they brought in a live band.
Public viewing was really interesting and it's something I've never done before. Basically they bring in parents and local school kids to come see your project and you talk to them about it. The school kids actually had an assignment made out of it and had specific questions to ask, and it was kind of cute. I gave seventeen interviews that day. But it was awesome even if I did destroy my voice.
We also had a couple "field trips" to the museum of natural science, the zoo and a NASA museum. All three were awesome, and I got to hang out with people from my school. Everyone there was so nice and you get to make a lot of friends there and at the social they have. I met people from Albaina, Kyrgyzstan, Canada (who was also doing a radon project), Oklahoma, Minnesota, Florida, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, etc. It was seriously amazing. We also had a gift exchange thingy where we swapped souvenirs from our respective countries/states. So I got travel brochures from Slovenia and Turkey, jewelry and postcards from Malaysia, keychains from Kosovo and Macedonia, badges from South Korea, pen from Bosnia-Herzegovnia, a bracelet from Colombia, etc.
The award ceremony was full of awesome. It was broadcasted live online and on a local station (yet I still can't find it, unfortunately) and it was SO FREAKING COOL to go up there when I won third place. Granted, that wasn't huge because they have 80% of kids win something (10% gold, 20% silver, 30% bronze, 20% honorable mention) but I still got $400 which was pretty cool. And I still got to go up there, which was awesome.
The other projects were, like...oh my God. I don't even know where to begin. They were SO FREAKISHLY AMAZINGLY EPICALLY GOOD, HOLY FREAKING CRAP YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOLY CRAP. Like, seriously. Those projects were SO GOOD. A lot of kids were handing out brochures and I actually happened to get one from one of the grand prize winners' ones (the 3 grand prize projects were from South Korea, Florida and Macedonia) and it was amazing. They came up with something like a new biodegradable plastic based off textiles (like cotton) and it decomposes twice as fast, which is a huge deal. There were these other kids from Kosovo who discovered that human hair (which is obviously in abundance) is a good absorber of mercury, which Kosovo has an excess of. So now the government of Kosovo is actually using these guys' idea of using human hair to get rid of their mercury problem.
And these projects were beautiful visually, too. Some kids had custom-made fabric banners in the background, brochures, autobiographies, flags of their country, etc. I felt really stupid because I printed my project out and glued it onto a solid-colored board. My board is like 2 months old and by that point it was falling apart disgustingly anyway. They all had the text printed directly on the board (which costs like a bajillion dollars) with custom-designed backgrounds on it (washed-out pictures related to the project, etc.) as well as laptops cycling through pictures/procedures. They gave me some really good ideas for next year and I am absolutely psyched to start next year's project this summer.
Okay, rant over. I have a ton of homework left to get back to. Have a good almost-summer.
State was awesome. Same hotel as last year, and even the same activities (Riverwalk and this one random pizza/arcade/go-kart/mini-golf place). But it was a lot cooler this year because, as a high schooler, there's a lot less supervision. You don't need a parent/teacher with you while you're at the mall or whatever, you just have to meet back at a certain place. So that was pretty cool. Also, my roommates were really great people who are epically amazingly smart.
The nice thing about state is that it's like 30% competition and 70% hanging out with people, and that was great because I got to meet not only people from my school, but some kids I met last year there as well as a couple kids from Brownsville who were really awesome. I went go-karting for the first time, and it was really fun except I epic failed at it and came in last because I had like a five-second delayed reaction to the guy who gave instructions and said go all in the same breath. We also shopped a little, ate awesome food, I blew $40 on arcade games, killed people in bumper cars, did the virtual rollercoaster thingy, etc.I came in 3rd place at state, which really surprised me because the projects there were pretty amazing. I had only four interviews--two special judges who barely let me get three sentences out of my mouth (and who hated pretty much everyone they approached) and then two regular judges who didn't seem that thrilled. But I won anyway, and it was awesome because it's on this stage with really bright lighting in front of something like 3,000 people. It was sort of a disorienting experience because you had to head backstage, pick through various dangerous nails/wooden boards/metal poles, then come out through this epic archway in the middle of the stage. We also had photos in front of an Exxon-Mobile backdrop (they and the University of San Antonio are the primary sponsors). Sometime during the summer I plan on uploading pictures from state and I-SWEEEP to Facebook.
I-SWEEEP was officially the coolest science fair I have and ever will do in my life. Seriously, it was frickin' huge. Seventy different countries, forty US states. The opening ceremony was really amazing--big stage even bigger than the one at state, with dancing/music from tons of cultures. There was this one really cool dance from a Turkish dance troupe (from Dallas of all places) who danced to, like, Turkish folk music gone techno. Which was weirdly awesome. I'm still hoping footage of that shows up on the Internet. Then they had a flag ceremony a la Olympic Games with representatives of countries coming up, which was really awesome. Also, the sound system was awesome and they brought in a live band.
Public viewing was really interesting and it's something I've never done before. Basically they bring in parents and local school kids to come see your project and you talk to them about it. The school kids actually had an assignment made out of it and had specific questions to ask, and it was kind of cute. I gave seventeen interviews that day. But it was awesome even if I did destroy my voice.
We also had a couple "field trips" to the museum of natural science, the zoo and a NASA museum. All three were awesome, and I got to hang out with people from my school.
Everyone there was so nice and you get to make a lot of friends there and at the social they have. I met people from Albaina, Kyrgyzstan, Canada (who was also doing a radon project), Oklahoma, Minnesota, Florida, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, etc. It was seriously amazing. We also had a gift exchange thingy where we swapped souvenirs from our respective countries/states. So I got travel brochures from Slovenia and Turkey, jewelry and postcards from Malaysia, keychains from Kosovo and Macedonia, badges from South Korea, pen from Bosnia-Herzegovnia, a bracelet from Colombia, etc.The award ceremony was full of awesome. It was broadcasted live online and on a local station (yet I still can't find it, unfortunately) and it was SO FREAKING COOL to go up there when I won third place. Granted, that wasn't huge because they have 80% of kids win something (10% gold, 20% silver, 30% bronze, 20% honorable mention) but I still got $400 which was pretty cool. And I still got to go up there, which was awesome.
The other projects were, like...oh my God. I don't even know where to begin. They were SO FREAKISHLY AMAZINGLY EPICALLY GOOD, HOLY FREAKING CRAP YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOLY CRAP. Like, seriously. Those projects were SO GOOD. A lot of kids were handing out brochures and I actually happened to get one from one of the grand prize winners' ones (the 3 grand prize projects were from South Korea, Florida and Macedonia) and it was amazing. They came up with something like a new biodegradable plastic based off textiles (like cotton) and it decomposes twice as fast, which is a huge deal. There were these other kids from Kosovo who discovered that human hair (which is obviously in abundance) is a good absorber of mercury, which Kosovo has an excess of. So now the government of Kosovo is actually using these guys' idea of using human hair to get rid of their mercury problem.
And these projects were beautiful visually, too. Some kids had custom-made fabric banners in the background, brochures, autobiographies, flags of their country, etc. I felt really stupid because I printed my project out and glued it onto a solid-colored board. My board is like 2 months old and by that point it was falling apart disgustingly anyway. They all had the text printed directly on the board (which costs like a bajillion dollars) with custom-designed backgrounds on it (washed-out pictures related to the project, etc.) as well as laptops cycling through pictures/procedures. They gave me some really good ideas for next year and I am absolutely psyched to start next year's project this summer.
Okay, rant over. I have a ton of homework left to get back to. Have a good almost-summer.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Post-Spring Break lethargy.
6 min read
Well, it's been exactly a week since I got dumped back into life after Spring Break vacation. It was really good, though. Not super exciting, but really good and it really helped me get my energy back (although I failed to get any sun. That's hard to do when it's cold enough for long sleeves almost the whole time). But I got to sit around, read a lot, listen to a lot of music, and learn all sorts of awesome useless historical facts about Savannah, Georgia. Although, granted, that place does have a lot of history with regards to the American Revolution and a fair amount on the Civil War. Also, they filmed a lot of movies there (Forrest Gump, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, etc.) which was cool.
But now I'm back in the game (which you just lost) and things are rolling along nicely. I went to the regional science fair awards banquet on Wednesday. I got to miss a good portion of school, which is fun, at least until you get the makeup work thrown down in front of you. But I really enjoyed it, and maybe even a little more than last year. The speeches are always pretty interesting, and especially good this year. Any science fair award ceremony is designed to be motivational for both the winners and the losers, and is meant to make you feel so psyched up to be involved in science that immediately after the fair's conclusion, you want to sprint out into the world, enroll in Harvard and slave away as a lab tech for the good of mankind for the remainder of your existence.
But yeah, I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was actually going up on stage, being the conceited person that I am. Like, seriously, I try not to have an inflated ego, but it felt really awesome to stand up there and have them list all of my awards. When the fair president shook my hand and handed me my awards, he actually told me I got the most awards out of everybody in the fair. Out of like 800 projects and 1,000 kids, I had the most. That was awesome. All in all, I recieved two checks for $300 each from Beal Bank and the American Industrial Hygiene Association, a really nice personalized plaque from the American Industrial Hygiene Assocation's local division, a $1,000 scholarship from Texas Tech, a manila envelope full of Texas Tech propaganda, and certificates from the EPA, I-SWEEEP, and American Industrial Hygiene Association again (I officially love those guys). However, my award and everyone else's awards from the US Army mysteriously vanished and were not listed at all. Oh well.
Photography at the end was cool too. They had it last year too, but since I had to leave early last year I didn't get to do it. We all stood on the steps of the building and there was a professional photographer but every parent was also there with a camera--it's bizarre with 60-80 cameras pointed at you and going off all at once, even if they're not pointed at you specifically. Also, I had a few random strangers recognize/come up to me to congratulate me and stuff. It felt really weird, but awesome at the same time. But yeah, it felt really good to sort of be able to reap my rewards a month after the fact, and hopefully go into state and I-SWEEEP riding a good self-esteem high.
The only problem is that I have no idea how I'm going to be able to top this next year. I mean, I'll probably suck at state (I-SWEEEP too, but I'm probably not going next year because they pick so few projects) so there'll be plenty of room to improve there. But regionals...the only thing left to do is replicate that feat AND win grand prize. Every year. For the next three years. That's a pretty ridiculous thing to ask someone to accomplish because despite what people will tell you, a good portion of the science fair comes down to sheer dumb luck. Dumb luck that I got judges who liked me (everyone percieves things differently; when I was giving interviews to groups of four or six the reactions varied enormously within the group). Dumb luck that the special awards judges just HAPPENED to pass by my table (they obviously can't judge every project in the fair or even catergory or sometimes can't even walk by every project). Dumb luck that my project was at the end of the row (about 15-20 projects long) a lot of people pass through, making it easy to spot and decide to judge on impulse.
A lot of kids from my school who have done amazingly every single year and kept up the performance this year didn't win, even though they really, really deserved it just as much as I did, if not more. I do feel pretty bad about it sometimes. I mean, even if they weren't in my catergory and therefore I didn't steal their award directly or anything, I just wish the judging process gave everyone equal opportunities to be able to prove themselves so that everyone gets the awards they deserve. And these kids don't get to go to state even though they deserve it. It sucks. I'm glad that I won and I don't regret it, but still.
I don't want to end this entry on a depressing note, so have a random book update: I have just discovered the awesomeness that it Stephen King, specifically his novel called It (the one about the clown Pennywise that turns into stuff and kills children). It's scary but more subtle than you expect, and he keeps it real so that you always feel like this could happen to anyone in real life. The best part of his novels are the characters. They have really unique personalities and he really develops their relationships better than any author I've ever seen. I highly recommend it, although it does have every single bad/vulgar thing you can imagine: cussing on every page, many sex scenes (of age and underage), even more spousal abuse scenes, child abuse, animal abuse, physical violence of the ordinary and supernatural variety, blood and gore, drug use (legal and illegal, of age and underage), alcoholics/druggies, every single racial slur relevant to the 20th century, disgusting sexual imagery, homophobia, sexism, racism...you get the picture. But Stephen King doesn't overdo it at the same time, you know? You never feel like he's trying to be dirty or vulgar; he just doesn't censor it. It's just life, and that's just how it goes. That's what's so awesome about his writing.
Okay, very long conceited rant over. Enjoy your weekend.
But now I'm back in the game (which you just lost) and things are rolling along nicely. I went to the regional science fair awards banquet on Wednesday. I got to miss a good portion of school, which is fun, at least until you get the makeup work thrown down in front of you. But I really enjoyed it, and maybe even a little more than last year. The speeches are always pretty interesting, and especially good this year. Any science fair award ceremony is designed to be motivational for both the winners and the losers, and is meant to make you feel so psyched up to be involved in science that immediately after the fair's conclusion, you want to sprint out into the world, enroll in Harvard and slave away as a lab tech for the good of mankind for the remainder of your existence.
But yeah, I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was actually going up on stage, being the conceited person that I am. Like, seriously, I try not to have an inflated ego, but it felt really awesome to stand up there and have them list all of my awards. When the fair president shook my hand and handed me my awards, he actually told me I got the most awards out of everybody in the fair. Out of like 800 projects and 1,000 kids, I had the most. That was awesome. All in all, I recieved two checks for $300 each from Beal Bank and the American Industrial Hygiene Association, a really nice personalized plaque from the American Industrial Hygiene Assocation's local division, a $1,000 scholarship from Texas Tech, a manila envelope full of Texas Tech propaganda, and certificates from the EPA, I-SWEEEP, and American Industrial Hygiene Association again (I officially love those guys). However, my award and everyone else's awards from the US Army mysteriously vanished and were not listed at all. Oh well.
Photography at the end was cool too. They had it last year too, but since I had to leave early last year I didn't get to do it. We all stood on the steps of the building and there was a professional photographer but every parent was also there with a camera--it's bizarre with 60-80 cameras pointed at you and going off all at once, even if they're not pointed at you specifically. Also, I had a few random strangers recognize/come up to me to congratulate me and stuff. It felt really weird, but awesome at the same time. But yeah, it felt really good to sort of be able to reap my rewards a month after the fact, and hopefully go into state and I-SWEEEP riding a good self-esteem high.
The only problem is that I have no idea how I'm going to be able to top this next year. I mean, I'll probably suck at state (I-SWEEEP too, but I'm probably not going next year because they pick so few projects) so there'll be plenty of room to improve there. But regionals...the only thing left to do is replicate that feat AND win grand prize. Every year. For the next three years. That's a pretty ridiculous thing to ask someone to accomplish because despite what people will tell you, a good portion of the science fair comes down to sheer dumb luck. Dumb luck that I got judges who liked me (everyone percieves things differently; when I was giving interviews to groups of four or six the reactions varied enormously within the group). Dumb luck that the special awards judges just HAPPENED to pass by my table (they obviously can't judge every project in the fair or even catergory or sometimes can't even walk by every project). Dumb luck that my project was at the end of the row (about 15-20 projects long) a lot of people pass through, making it easy to spot and decide to judge on impulse.
A lot of kids from my school who have done amazingly every single year and kept up the performance this year didn't win, even though they really, really deserved it just as much as I did, if not more. I do feel pretty bad about it sometimes. I mean, even if they weren't in my catergory and therefore I didn't steal their award directly or anything, I just wish the judging process gave everyone equal opportunities to be able to prove themselves so that everyone gets the awards they deserve. And these kids don't get to go to state even though they deserve it. It sucks. I'm glad that I won and I don't regret it, but still.
I don't want to end this entry on a depressing note, so have a random book update: I have just discovered the awesomeness that it Stephen King, specifically his novel called It (the one about the clown Pennywise that turns into stuff and kills children). It's scary but more subtle than you expect, and he keeps it real so that you always feel like this could happen to anyone in real life. The best part of his novels are the characters. They have really unique personalities and he really develops their relationships better than any author I've ever seen. I highly recommend it, although it does have every single bad/vulgar thing you can imagine: cussing on every page, many sex scenes (of age and underage), even more spousal abuse scenes, child abuse, animal abuse, physical violence of the ordinary and supernatural variety, blood and gore, drug use (legal and illegal, of age and underage), alcoholics/druggies, every single racial slur relevant to the 20th century, disgusting sexual imagery, homophobia, sexism, racism...you get the picture. But Stephen King doesn't overdo it at the same time, you know? You never feel like he's trying to be dirty or vulgar; he just doesn't censor it. It's just life, and that's just how it goes. That's what's so awesome about his writing.
Okay, very long conceited rant over. Enjoy your weekend.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Tons and tons and tons of stuff.
4 min read
I wanted to do one last journal entry before I leave for Spring Break vacation tomorrow. It's been almost two months since the last one, so yeah.
First of all:
IT'S FINALLY SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be headed to South Carolina this time around, a little island just off its coast. I can't believe tomorrow I'll get to finally get out of here. I haven't traveled since Mexico last summer. And I'm so psyched to see the ocean again, even though it'll be way too cold to swim. This'll be my first time to see the Atlantic, assuming you don't count the Gulf of Mexico which is the only sea/ocean I've been at up to this point.
I'm really hoping this vacation is just nice and relaxing. I really, really need to get away from all this stuff for a while. Like, time flies so fast during the school week because you're living from deadline to deadline, and weekends aren't much of a reprieve. But for the next week I'll be able to just hang out and not have to worry about grades. Actually, I am bringing a little work with me--science fair report for some general revision and stuff for Confirmation which I am very, very behind on. But still. And hopefully it'll help my health a little, because it always massively declines in winter--no exercise, no sun, and no time to actually eat anything healthy. So that'll be really good.
I haven't talked about the regional science fair yet on here. It was basically one of the greatest days of my life. First place and six special awards, twelve interviews with like twenty-five different people, plus an interview by the Dallas Morning News (although they ended up not using me, it was still awesome), getting to experience grand prize judging (which was crazy intense) and being the only one in my school and one out of six in the fair to qualify for I-SWEEEP. Basically, I-SWEEEP is an international competition but by sheer dumb luck, it's a five-hour drive away. There's about 450 kids going, from freaking EVERYWHERE--North America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia. I don't want this to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but it's almost an honor to get to represent my school, state and COUNTRY at this thing. If you want to know more about it, there's a blue sign advertising it which is posted outside my honors biology teacher's room next to the science fair billboard. There's a great video about it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IrpVW… If you want to skip the save-the-environment propaganda at the beginning, skip to 1:28.
My favorite part of the regional fair was the public viewing. This takes place in the evening, when all the awards except grand prize have been handed out and the ribbons are lying on the table for everyone to see. I spent most of my time looking at other peoples' projects, but occasionally I came back to my project and every time I did for the hour and a half, there were four or five or six people looking just at mine. It was ridiculous because I was just hoping for honorable mention. I'm not trying to be humble. I seriously expected to walk away with nothing and just wanted to do my best and make it a good experience. I had no idea something like this could ever happen to me. It was just so awesome. I'm really psyched for the awards banquet at the end of the month, when I get to find out what special awards I won (I know company names but not what they're actually giving me yet. It's sometimes just a certificate/formal recognition, but it can be money, and sometimes even internships and scholarships. I also know for sure that I get $300 for first place by the science fair itself).
Okay, massive sentimental rant over. I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk about the regional science fair yet, so I'm really glad I did before I have to leave for a week. See you all next Monday, have fun, and be good.
It's been almost two months since the last one, so yeah.First of all:
IT'S FINALLY SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be headed to South Carolina this time around, a little island just off its coast. I can't believe tomorrow I'll get to finally get out of here. I haven't traveled since Mexico last summer. And I'm so psyched to see the ocean again, even though it'll be way too cold to swim. This'll be my first time to see the Atlantic, assuming you don't count the Gulf of Mexico which is the only sea/ocean I've been at up to this point.
I'm really hoping this vacation is just nice and relaxing. I really, really need to get away from all this stuff for a while. Like, time flies so fast during the school week because you're living from deadline to deadline, and weekends aren't much of a reprieve. But for the next week I'll be able to just hang out and not have to worry about grades. Actually, I am bringing a little work with me--science fair report for some general revision and stuff for Confirmation which I am very, very behind on. But still. And hopefully it'll help my health a little, because it always massively declines in winter--no exercise, no sun, and no time to actually eat anything healthy. So that'll be really good.
I haven't talked about the regional science fair yet on here. It was basically one of the greatest days of my life. First place and six special awards, twelve interviews with like twenty-five different people, plus an interview by the Dallas Morning News (although they ended up not using me, it was still awesome), getting to experience grand prize judging (which was crazy intense) and being the only one in my school and one out of six in the fair to qualify for I-SWEEEP. Basically, I-SWEEEP is an international competition but by sheer dumb luck, it's a five-hour drive away. There's about 450 kids going, from freaking EVERYWHERE--North America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia. I don't want this to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but it's almost an honor to get to represent my school, state and COUNTRY at this thing. If you want to know more about it, there's a blue sign advertising it which is posted outside my honors biology teacher's room next to the science fair billboard. There's a great video about it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IrpVW… If you want to skip the save-the-environment propaganda at the beginning, skip to 1:28.
My favorite part of the regional fair was the public viewing. This takes place in the evening, when all the awards except grand prize have been handed out and the ribbons are lying on the table for everyone to see. I spent most of my time looking at other peoples' projects, but occasionally I came back to my project and every time I did for the hour and a half, there were four or five or six people looking just at mine. It was ridiculous because I was just hoping for honorable mention. I'm not trying to be humble. I seriously expected to walk away with nothing and just wanted to do my best and make it a good experience. I had no idea something like this could ever happen to me. It was just so awesome. I'm really psyched for the awards banquet at the end of the month, when I get to find out what special awards I won (I know company names but not what they're actually giving me yet. It's sometimes just a certificate/formal recognition, but it can be money, and sometimes even internships and scholarships. I also know for sure that I get $300 for first place by the science fair itself).
Okay, massive sentimental rant over. I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk about the regional science fair yet, so I'm really glad I did before I have to leave for a week. See you all next Monday, have fun, and be good.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
So much work to do, so little energy.
5 min read
Today, sedentary has totally been my middle name. I haven't done much lately toward science fair and whatnot, despite it being like 2 weeks away. I probably won't get everything done I planned to (I'm mostly stuck adding diagrams, editing photos and revising paragraphs right now) and will probably have to save additional research and paragraph expansion for the time period between district and regional.
Also, solo contest is coming up, and I'm already nervous. The piece I'm doing isn't the hardest thing in the world, but it requires a lot of endurance and skill in the high range--something you can't cram overnight or over the course of a month. There's no way I'll be getting a 1 this year, although I'll be able to get over that. I'm absolutely willing to sacrifice solo contest for my science fair project. At least I finally have an accompanist. She's not my first choice, but my first one never even bothered to reply and it's been a week now, which was sort of annoying because I wish she'd at least have told me her schedule was full or something so that I didn't waste time waiting before I moved on to other choices.
So I've spent about two weeks now in the three new classes for this semester--different period biology (but same curriculum and thankfully same teacher), band (different curriculum and same director) and that buisness class. Biology isn't as good as last semester, since last semester had a smaller class (which is much more peaceful) and I made some really good friends there. Hopefully I'll find someone to hang out with in that class eventually.
Band is significantly tougher for me. Last semester I was always first chair or really close to it, and this semester I'm second to last. Then again, this really isn't much different from how I started out in Wind Ensemble in middle school last year--nearly on the bottom (at one point second to last). The music is pretty much the same difficulty as last year's music as well, but I'm not as good at it because the easy pieces last semester didn't challenge me enough and I sort of went down in skill level because I was bored with the playing (at least marching, which was and is very difficult for me, kept me occupied).
Buisness class is really, really, depressing. I actually was considering dropping out and moving into a different course which meant one year less of summer school, but my parents would have been really mad. There's only seventeen kids in there. The teacher is extraordinarily boring. He's got the monotone thing down perfectly. Also, the class is so painfully easy that I can tell even the kids who are borderline dropouts aren't being challenged. Plus no one in there knows each other (literally. The teacher asked who had a specific partner in mind to work with on a project and no one raised their hand). I actually come really close to falling asleep there every day, since there's hardly any handouts (since there's hardly anything to study anyway) and you can get by on common sense anyway (What is a nonrenewable resource? What are ethics? What does the EPA stand for?). It's also sort of funny because everyone else is so bored no one even works on other stuff or texts or whatever. It's like as soon as you step into that room your blood pressure automatically drops thirty points and you can't think straight any more. If I'm lucky, eventually I'll find something to entertain myself.
I have to admit I'm already pretty tired and the new semester has barely begun. I'm really hoping that this three-day weekend will recharge me enough to hang in there for Spring break. This time last year was sort of difficult too (stress from science fair + solo contest) but this time I've got tons of normal school stuff to deal with anyway. I've become a lot lazier this time around with the science fair. In November in the weeks leading up to the school fair, I was literally shutting myself in my room for three or four hours at a time working on nothing but science fair, but it's harder to do now because it was enough of a miracle that I placed in school, but I have slightly less incentive because I have even less of a chance at district this year. Last year all three fairs for me were 7th and 8th grade kids, and I was at the top of the age group. This year, the school fair had 9th and 10th grade kids, but district and regional will also have 11th and 12th grade kids who have, like, taken AP science and stuff. It's hard enough to beat people a year older than you already (experience is incredibly vital) but three years older = no chance in the history of forever.
I shall attempt to get back to work now. Wish me luck.
Also, solo contest is coming up, and I'm already nervous. The piece I'm doing isn't the hardest thing in the world, but it requires a lot of endurance and skill in the high range--something you can't cram overnight or over the course of a month. There's no way I'll be getting a 1 this year, although I'll be able to get over that. I'm absolutely willing to sacrifice solo contest for my science fair project. At least I finally have an accompanist. She's not my first choice, but my first one never even bothered to reply and it's been a week now, which was sort of annoying because I wish she'd at least have told me her schedule was full or something so that I didn't waste time waiting before I moved on to other choices.
So I've spent about two weeks now in the three new classes for this semester--different period biology (but same curriculum and thankfully same teacher), band (different curriculum and same director) and that buisness class. Biology isn't as good as last semester, since last semester had a smaller class (which is much more peaceful) and I made some really good friends there. Hopefully I'll find someone to hang out with in that class eventually.
Band is significantly tougher for me. Last semester I was always first chair or really close to it, and this semester I'm second to last. Then again, this really isn't much different from how I started out in Wind Ensemble in middle school last year--nearly on the bottom (at one point second to last). The music is pretty much the same difficulty as last year's music as well, but I'm not as good at it because the easy pieces last semester didn't challenge me enough and I sort of went down in skill level because I was bored with the playing (at least marching, which was and is very difficult for me, kept me occupied).
Buisness class is really, really, depressing. I actually was considering dropping out and moving into a different course which meant one year less of summer school, but my parents would have been really mad. There's only seventeen kids in there. The teacher is extraordinarily boring. He's got the monotone thing down perfectly. Also, the class is so painfully easy that I can tell even the kids who are borderline dropouts aren't being challenged. Plus no one in there knows each other (literally. The teacher asked who had a specific partner in mind to work with on a project and no one raised their hand). I actually come really close to falling asleep there every day, since there's hardly any handouts (since there's hardly anything to study anyway) and you can get by on common sense anyway (What is a nonrenewable resource? What are ethics? What does the EPA stand for?). It's also sort of funny because everyone else is so bored no one even works on other stuff or texts or whatever. It's like as soon as you step into that room your blood pressure automatically drops thirty points and you can't think straight any more. If I'm lucky, eventually I'll find something to entertain myself.
I have to admit I'm already pretty tired and the new semester has barely begun. I'm really hoping that this three-day weekend will recharge me enough to hang in there for Spring break. This time last year was sort of difficult too (stress from science fair + solo contest) but this time I've got tons of normal school stuff to deal with anyway. I've become a lot lazier this time around with the science fair. In November in the weeks leading up to the school fair, I was literally shutting myself in my room for three or four hours at a time working on nothing but science fair, but it's harder to do now because it was enough of a miracle that I placed in school, but I have slightly less incentive because I have even less of a chance at district this year. Last year all three fairs for me were 7th and 8th grade kids, and I was at the top of the age group. This year, the school fair had 9th and 10th grade kids, but district and regional will also have 11th and 12th grade kids who have, like, taken AP science and stuff. It's hard enough to beat people a year older than you already (experience is incredibly vital) but three years older = no chance in the history of forever.
I shall attempt to get back to work now. Wish me luck.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
This year in review. And stuff.
4 min read
Well, this year has been really really really interesting. It was probably the best one I've had in a while, as years go. In any case, it's definitely had the most stuff happen for me personally. Have a very abbreviated version of the full list:
-Various science fair things: 1st in school (the first time to have it 2 years in a row), 3rd in regional, and going to state for the first time (which was lots of fun).
-Mock Trial and all the stuff that came with it. Also fun.
-Discovering the joys and not-joys of marching band; almost didn't make it through pass-offs.
-Went to Las Vegas, Cancun, and summer camp for the 4th time.
-Started high school/graduated from middle school and turned fifteen.
-Health class in summer school; was then inspired to lose 7 lb in six months.
-Rediscovered Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury as awesome, awesome writers.
-Met a bajillion new people in high school.
-Made Concert I band; re-auditioned in winter and moved up to Symphonic II.
-Witnessed the very exciting yet very depressing 5th season of Lost (yes, this counts).
-Saw various awesome movies, including 2012, Harry Potter 6, Transformers 2, Angels & Demons, Wall-E and Astro Boy.
[sentimetal mush]
I don't typically do any real New Year's resolutions anymore these days. I used to, but of course, like most people, I forgot about it a week later. At the start of this year, my only goal was to work harder. Oh, man, I feel like I've really accomplished that (though I wasn't usually willing). I can't believe how much I've gone through, especially in just these past few months when high school started and I had to put in a crapload of effort just to stay afloat, and more than that to maintain the grades I had in eighth grade. I think my resolution will be the same this year: work harder. As long as I do that, all the other good things I want will follow. Almost all of them did this year; if you had told me last year what I would have managed to get done, I never would have believed I was capable of it. Things are gonna keep getting harder, but hopefully I'll be able to put off rock bottom for a little longer.
[/sentimental mush]
It's also interesting because this isn't just the end of a year, it's the end of the DECADE. Obviously I'm not gonna try to summarize the whole decade for me, because that would involve 2/3 of my life, and there's not even much I remember from before I was eight or so. I do vaguely remember the turn of the millenium, though. My family went to Disney World on what was probably Spring break of 2000, and I remember the Millenium Village they had set up, and it was pretty extraordinary, but I didn't realize how big a deal it really was. It's pretty hard to summarize it from even a global standpoint.
I would predict that this decade's probably gonna be known for the rise of the Internet (yes, I know it was invented slightly before 2000) and everything that came with it--live video streaming, video and music sharing, and the mass Internet culture (memes, etc.) we all know and love. I can't believe in an hour and a half we start a new decade. Kids in school a few dozen years from now are gonna have to do history reports on this decade and what characterized it, and read about it in their textbooks. I have to admit I am extremely interested in how people will summarize this era, especially in music. In terms of my favorite genre: 50s = the start of rock music + Elvis, 60s = hippies, 70s = punk rock, 80s = hair metal + Michael Jackson, 90s = grunge + boy bands. Hopefully this decade isn't known for crappy Disney stars and rap music.
Okay, big rant over. Happy New Year!
-Various science fair things: 1st in school (the first time to have it 2 years in a row), 3rd in regional, and going to state for the first time (which was lots of fun).
-Mock Trial and all the stuff that came with it. Also fun.
-Discovering the joys and not-joys of marching band; almost didn't make it through pass-offs.
-Went to Las Vegas, Cancun, and summer camp for the 4th time.
-Started high school/graduated from middle school and turned fifteen.
-Health class in summer school; was then inspired to lose 7 lb in six months.
-Rediscovered Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury as awesome, awesome writers.
-Met a bajillion new people in high school.
-Made Concert I band; re-auditioned in winter and moved up to Symphonic II.
-Witnessed the very exciting yet very depressing 5th season of Lost (yes, this counts).
-Saw various awesome movies, including 2012, Harry Potter 6, Transformers 2, Angels & Demons, Wall-E and Astro Boy.
[sentimetal mush]
I don't typically do any real New Year's resolutions anymore these days. I used to, but of course, like most people, I forgot about it a week later. At the start of this year, my only goal was to work harder. Oh, man, I feel like I've really accomplished that (though I wasn't usually willing). I can't believe how much I've gone through, especially in just these past few months when high school started and I had to put in a crapload of effort just to stay afloat, and more than that to maintain the grades I had in eighth grade. I think my resolution will be the same this year: work harder. As long as I do that, all the other good things I want will follow. Almost all of them did this year; if you had told me last year what I would have managed to get done, I never would have believed I was capable of it. Things are gonna keep getting harder, but hopefully I'll be able to put off rock bottom for a little longer.
[/sentimental mush]
It's also interesting because this isn't just the end of a year, it's the end of the DECADE. Obviously I'm not gonna try to summarize the whole decade for me, because that would involve 2/3 of my life, and there's not even much I remember from before I was eight or so. I do vaguely remember the turn of the millenium, though. My family went to Disney World on what was probably Spring break of 2000, and I remember the Millenium Village they had set up, and it was pretty extraordinary, but I didn't realize how big a deal it really was. It's pretty hard to summarize it from even a global standpoint.
I would predict that this decade's probably gonna be known for the rise of the Internet (yes, I know it was invented slightly before 2000) and everything that came with it--live video streaming, video and music sharing, and the mass Internet culture (memes, etc.) we all know and love. I can't believe in an hour and a half we start a new decade. Kids in school a few dozen years from now are gonna have to do history reports on this decade and what characterized it, and read about it in their textbooks. I have to admit I am extremely interested in how people will summarize this era, especially in music. In terms of my favorite genre: 50s = the start of rock music + Elvis, 60s = hippies, 70s = punk rock, 80s = hair metal + Michael Jackson, 90s = grunge + boy bands. Hopefully this decade isn't known for crappy Disney stars and rap music.
Okay, big rant over. Happy New Year!
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In