Somewhere along in the bitterness

For the record, this is called a digger. A DIGGER, ya hear me!? hehehe :D

I GOT A 5 ON MY AP WORLD HISTORY EXAM!!! Woot woot :D I hated that damn class, so YAAAAY!

Duuuude, driving around in Ford Explorer is the BOMB. I love it, driving is so much fun! It's like a mini-high! haha. But I'm not entirely sure if I trust myself alone in the car without my daddy yet... I get a wee bit confused behind-the-wheel now and then. Hopefully, people will back off when they see a teenage girl with a bigass SUV! I would be scared if I were you!

Now, I shall depart for the TV, where my loves (Ahem, Lochte and Phelps... duh!) are awaiting me at the 2009 USA Swimming Nationals.

Close but no cigar

The swim meet at Santa Clara International was a bit of a disappointment, but it was great nonetheless. As it turns out, we went the wrong day to get autographs/pictures cause they were signing autographs the day before! That sucked a lot, totally FML. But on the bright side, we actually got to watch Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps race each other in 2 events (Lochte won in the 100 back, which combines two of my favorite things in swimming: Ryan Lochte + backstroke!). And the place where we sat was right next to where the winners get interviewed on TV, so I was LITERALLY arms distance away from Phelps and Lochte and other swimmers that I lost track of. That really made us scream and giggle. I also got Leisel Jones' autograph and a picture with Matt Grevers, who are both Olympians and great swimmers, not to mention waaaay underappreciated as compared to Phelps and Lochte. Afterwards, the four of us had an adventure; we went hunting for them but never found them. I guess there is always next year though. MR. AN NGUYEN, I WANT THOSE PICTURES OF PHELPS AND LOCHTE!!! Please? :D

Physics at Mission is turning out to be an okay class. Not the actual topic of physics, but all the people that are in it make it that much more interesting.

MHS Graduation c/o 2009

Santa Clara International

OH MY GOSH I HAVE TICKETS TO WATCH MY LOOOOVE, RYAN LOCHTE, SWIM TOMORROW!!! And Michael Phelps! And every other swimmer that is famous! My heart is like all bubbly and jumpy, I AM SO FREAKIN' EXCITED! I really hope I get a pictures and autographs at the end... but just watching them swim is enough for me. And this time, I will be MUCH closer than I was when I watched them in Beijing ;D

MHS Class of 2009 Graduation was today. I will upload pictures as soon as other people upload them. Yeah, I forgot my camera today, how stupid of me! So now I have to hunt through people's Facebook albums or wait until they post them and tag me. It's quite a long process...

Halfway done with high school

It certainly didn't feel like the last day of school yesterday, other than the fact that I decided to skip practice for a day to hang out. Today, I spent most of the day making graduation posters with the swim team guys, then off to Sendai to fill our sushi cravings, then practice.

In general, I had an interesting sophomore year. Compared other years in my education, this year was probably the hardest year in terms of difficulty of classes and workload. It was a year when I had quite a few friendships tested, but also when I learned the most about some of my friends. I have gotten close to some seniors, which was great then, but is saddening now when graduation arrives. Looking back on this year, I also feel pride because this year was the first year I made CCS for swimming, maintained captain of Science Olympiad, and was chosen as Vice President of Key Club. I am also very much relieved that I managed to continue my unweighted 4.0 (weighted GPA is 4.5).

I am excited for this weekend, but not really looking forward to my first day of Physics on Monday. Tomorrow: MHS graduation, then HOPEFULLY I get to watch Michael Phelps & Ryan Lochte swim at Santa Clara!!! Sunday: Last day of Chinese school, Allison's BBQ


Classes & Grades-
Period 1: PE with Osbourne (A or A-)
Period 2: Honors Chemistry with Meyer (A-)
Period 3: AP World History with Harrison (A)
Period 4: Precalculus with Leggin (A+)
Period 5: English IIA with Mellera (A or A-)
Period 6: French 2 with Mollot (A-)

People you mostly talked to during -
Period 1: Vy, Steffany, Patricia, Hong
Period 2: Rowena, Dorkatron, Michelle L., Bettina, Maggie
Period 3: Tram, Eddie, Raul
Period 4: Ronald, Thi V., Vincent D.
Period 5: Ashley N., Kevin N., Jonathan P., Eddie
Period 6: Binh, Zach, Nalini, Meera, Michelle N., Hong

Random Questions.
Who was your favorite teacher?
Ms. Meyer

Who annoyed you most during 3rd period?
Eddie! Duh! hahah

Who did you sit with at lunch?
Tram, Ashley, Cecilia, Meera, Victoria, Vy, Courtney, Bettina

Which period was the most boring?
French with Mollot, UGGGGGH.

Where you were most likely to fall asleep or not pay attention?
French, no one ever pays attention.

Which class did you get the most homework?
AP World, usually. Sometimes it was Honors Chem.

Which class were you the most hyper?
Almost never.

What was your favorite class?
PE or English

Do you like going to school?
Depends on how much sleep I got the previous night.

Who sits behind you in Period 3?
Ping! Haha :) a.k.a Raul

How many kids are in your Period 2?
20-25, only 2 guys too haha

What teacher do you dislike the most ?
Madame Mollot -__-

Can you talk in your 3rd period?
Yeah, we usually yell stuff out.

Who sits next to you in 5th period?
Celine to the left, Jonathan to the right.

Who sits in front of you in 6th?
Michael F.

Summarize your year in three words?
Interesting, exhausting, challenging.

What do you hope next year is gonna be like?
More fun with 3 electives, but SATs are probably gonna make it even more stressful.

What do you hope will change next year?
Study harder for tests!

During this past school year have you…

Fallen in love?
Not in love, in like I guess.

Cried over a boy/girl?
Nope.

Gotten in a fight about something stupid?
Yep.

Ruined a friendship?
I don’t think so.

Started new friendships?
Definitely :)

Had a bangin party with just your girls/guys?
Hm, bangin? Hahaha don’t think so.

Been to a costume Party?
Nope.

Played truth or dare?
Yep, quite a few times.

Failed a test?
Yeah -_-

Been to school?
WTF of course.

Gotten yelled at by all your teachers for talking?
Haha, stupid Madame Mollot and her indirect comments.

Argued with a teacher about a grade?
Yeah! Cause my teachers messed up a few times.

Skipped class?
Yeah.

Had a birthday?
Yeah, but not during school.

Changed schools?
Nope.

Highlighted/ dyed your hair?
Nope.

F-troupe

I found the website of a pair of shoes that I have been wanting for quite a while now... but I can't find the place that sells it. I really like it, it's both unique and cute. It was even on a Teen Vogue spread twice! The first time I saw it, I let myself forget it but the second time, I told myself I had to have it. Oh well, it's for the best anyways I guess. No money anymore, swimming stuff (gifts, CCS shirt, team jacket, team suit) has really been draining my wallet.

My 3rd period teacher was a being a beezy today. He caught me in another class when I was supposedly excused from his class and said he was gonna report us to admin. What the hell! AP testing is over, calm down.

I received the candle of... enlightenment? wisdom? authority? (I have no clue, but it was a real lighted candle) during Science Olympiad. Ivy is stepping down as captain and I am supposedly gonna be her protégé (The accents make the word look cool hehe). The thought scares me out of my mind, I have a huge ass pair of shoes to fill. Another load of pressure, BAM. But... another chance to fail? or another chance to succeed? Let's be positive :)

On the brightside, physics this summer at Mission is confirmed! Now I just gotta work out the 4-way carpooling schedule (I <3 carpool lanes) and hopefully physics online at Deanza. Still undecided about SCSC though, can I really deal with all that intense practice?! MTW practice today made me sore! I'm not used to all that weight-lifting and streamline kicking. Yeah, Pagan is to blame for that. Jamie seems okay as a coach though, I am kinda relieved Alex isn't coaching us. He was too much of a pushover. She is demanding, like a real coach.

My taste in music seems to be changing very rapidly lately.

Liberation, to an extent

AP World History testing on Thursday, May 14:
- My first AP test... ever. And probably the beginning of more to come.
- World history test was easier than I thought, but I had to do some insane studying.
- Test period was boring as hell, a lot of personal information had to be bubbled in. Waste of an hour, doing basically nothing.
- 3 essays within a time period of 2 hours! Finished in time, phew.
- I had Diana's Chinese dynasties song stuck in my head the whole time! Wanna hear? I can sing it to you if you need help remembering the dynasties :D

Shang Zhou Qin Han, Shang Zhou Qin Han,
Sui Tang Song, Sui Tang Song,
Yuan Ming Qing Republic, Yuan Ming Qing Republic,
Mao Ze Dong, DENG! Mao Ze Dong, DENG!

CCS on Friday, May 15:
- My first CCS ever too. And who knows, hopefully more to come.
- Subway during 4th period with Ronald, Thi, Gideon, and Brian to get some healthy lunch into my system.
- Afterwards, the CCS kids (Me, Kevin, Kelvin, Tung, Gideon, Zach, Vincent) skipped 5th and 6th period to get to George Haines International Swim Center early. Hung out at the nearby library and played 10 fingers, then Truth or Dare. Learned some very surprising (and pretty nasty) things about those guys, but you gotta give them props for their honesty. I won't judge or love these boys any less, haha! It sucked being the only girl too, targeting people isn't fair!
- When we realized we could not avoid Pagan any longer, we went to get our deck passes (it feels so cool and official-like to flash a deck pass to the guy at the gate!) and CCS t-shirts.
- First reaction: OH MY GOSH everyone at CCS is freakin' HUGE!!! And WHITE! Barely any asians. I swear, I did not look very tall there and in terms of muscles, I had none. Even Gideon looked like he was average height compared to them, haha. Everyone had body-length fastskins too while I looked pretty dumb wearing a normal suit. I was nervous as hell and felt like I was about to throw up. I seriously contemplated hiding in the library until it was all over.
- Surprisingly, Coach was really supportive and I think that really helped me calm down a little. He was telling me all these little bits of technique I had to remember, then suddenly, "OH YEAH, and don't forget to have fun! And breathe." Afterwards, "Good job. You had a great season, most definitely." WTF who is this man?!?! He used to say, "Breathing is overrated!"
- My 100 back time was 1:06.18, the EXACT same time (even the milliseconds) as the time I got at League Finals. Kinda disappointed, but it's whatever. At least I didn't get last.
- Saw Michael Ngo, who I haven't seen in 4 years and now has CRAZY muscles and is super fast! Also saw Mr. Miyagi and his Olympic-qualifying buddies in their 400 relay. Seriously, his friends qualified for the real Olympics! Probably my last time seeing him, as he is about to graduate. How I will miss him...
- Went to dinner at Pasta Pomodoro. More exposing of secrets and discussions of how we might do SCSC this summer instead of MTW.

*Happy birthday again! Only 2 years of having almost every class period with you, and look how far we have gotten. I call you lots of things but it's all out of love and respect. You already know! So fuck you<3 Haha! When is that dinner that you did not invite me to? (;

AP Testing and CCS is over. Possibly the most stressful week of sophomore year is over. Finally time to get some real sleep in. After all of this, I kinda feel like I can take on the world.

Update

Haven't had the time or effort to blog much (hey, a preview of next year, when I will have no time to do anything whatsoever).

Speaking of next year, it's that time of year to pick classes! I looooove picking classes, more so than I like taking them. My junior year schedule, if everything works out perfectly: Honors English (Hanley), AP US History (Ducote), AP Calculus AB (Nguyen), AP Chemistry (Meyer), Journalism (Colburn), and Ceramics (Already my favorite class haha). I think I have too many AP classes and I am quite sure that I will regret it. But I usually underestimate myself and I do know that if I say that I commit to it, I will. If you aim low, you expect nothing else than failing. Aim high, try harder, get better results, right? (Kinda like my attitude towards swimming? Ehh... not really.)

Also this summer, physics at Mission. I am considering Santa Clara swimming (4 hours of BRUTAL practice a day, plus an hour of conditioning twice a week!) but I don't know if I can handle it. I WANT to get better at swimming and I know I can improve, I'm just unsure if I will be able to keep up. Rumors of Santa Clara really scare the shit out of me.

Speaking of swimming... (wow, everything just flows together!) we lost badly against Santa Clara. This was our last meet before Leagues in a month. Coach was pretty unhappy at the start of the meet, apparently Los Altos was being unfair in something. I got a PR in 500 free though (6:07) and 1st in 100 back (1:06). Even still, I am kinda disappointed about the 100 back cause I am not maintaining my CCS time! Why!? I did it once, can't I do it again? I have 5 weeks left, make it or break it (Ugh, reminds me of stupid, useless STAR testing).

Gideon took a picture of Ryan Lochte in the "steamy" boys locker room! My loves are P, R, and D (in that order, hehe). Only Wendy knows who they are (;

Guess what? I found out something that made me scream today. I still want to scream... WOOOOHOOOO! I can't believe I got it! Well actually, it is still unofficial but STILL! AHHHHHH! :D

Oh yeah, and that alliance is plain stupid. At least have the balls to do it individually, instead of taking a shortcut. It leaves everyone else in the dust and is completely unfair to them. What hypocrites.