Waking up early sucks

This is gonna be a pointless blog; basically just what I did these past few days. Nerd stuff mostly, quite eventful but not TOO exciting. For my memory purposes only.

Friday: US Open Piano competition! Ugh, I don't think I have ever been that scared in my life. I don't even know why either; I didn't expect anything cause after all, it's a national competition. And whaddya know, I didn't get anything. Apparently, I wasn't articulate enough, I completely forgot some dynamics, and even repeated a part cause I blanked out on what I was playing. But for the record, it was the most nervewracking moment of my life thus far. My dad helped me take some nerves off by trying (key word: trying) to make me laugh and saying it's not a big deal. He was pretty supportive even though he admitted, "I know piano is not your thing, so I understand." (Wow, thanks.) And my mom later said, "If you won, it wouldn't have been fair anyways cause you barely practice!" (True, but ouch!) Afterwards, THAT is when I felt like my break has started. I was kinda disappointed about my performance but I was totally relieved that the long and agonizing stress of competing in front of actual musicians (they call the judges "adjudicators," whatever that means) is OVER! Went to library for science competition meeting and met up with Kevin Nguyen (guy in sunglasses, hahaha) for AP World stuff. He is a total bully, who still owes me frozen yogurt. Anyways, studied about rogue waves, tsunamis, knots, the Mohorocivic discontinuity, and the Coreolis effect for science competition the next day. Off to Ikea an hour before it was about to close to hunt for a queen bed that my parents had promised me for my birthday. They wanted something girly with nasty flowers and said my simple choice looked like a hospital bed. Since when are hospital beds black and made of metal? Walked away with marzipans and caviar bought from the Swedish marketplace. Ikea is great.

Saturday: School at 7 (ugh). Woke up with beautifully curly hair! I wish my hair would do that everyday. Me and my mom laughed about how excited my dad was to rent a wood chipper and how disappointed he was when we told him it was gonna rain. Ride to San Francisco State University in Ms. Meyer's Prius. Free breakfast! Free lunch! (Boudin sandwicihes, DELICIOUS! Ate 2 halves and took 1 to-go. So what! I gave it to my mommy hehe.) Free t-shirts, pens, pencils, calendar, and mug! In the actual competition, I wasn't too useful in the buzzer rounds (5 states border the Pacific, not 3!) but I did do a bit of my share in the team challenge stuff. Won 1 round, lost 3 (Mission San Jose is BOSS. Wouldn't let anyone else answer, damn). Learned some coooool stuff, no lie. Like did you know: Because your body is 2/3's water, you are actually lighter when there is a full or new moon because of the gravitational pull? Science amazes me but I suck at memorization. Afterwards, went in domed planetarium (made me dizzy), observatory deck (SF sky was too cloudy to see anything), visited tadpole lab (remember: distilled water almost always counts as a lab error), and learned about stem cells (flourescent dye!). Then went to SFSU bookstore and bought a hilarious Extreme Rock, Paper, Scissors poster. I love it! My brother loves it more though haha. Also wanted an Audrey Hepburn poster (ikea had a better one, but for freakin $80!) and a "Why So Serious?" poster (which made me so sad when it was sold out at Wal-mart) but I thought I should save my money. Now I am regretting it, I will get those eventually!

See? I told you it was pointless. Anyways, the rest of this weekend involves AP World test reviews, English journals, AQWF chapters 2-5, Chinese school, laundry, and a big rain storm coming. I am not looking forward to any of the above and don't really plan to finish my homework until Sunday night. I have woken up early (against my will, of course) for 6 days out of the 9 days of my break. Let me tell you, it is a huuuuge bummer.

JFK, FDR

"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings." -- John F. Kennedy

I wish I could meet JFK, he seems like an interesting character. I like this quote too, it's reminding me not to blow things out of proportion. But I gotta say, my favorite (dead) president is FDR. I would very much like to meet the entire Roosevelt family actually, Eleanor Roosevelt especially. And since I am talking about presidents, I would also like to meet Obama. I have a higher (although still very unlikely) chance of meeting him cause after all, he isn't dead. *knock on wood!

I had to remake my break schedule; I have so many places to be at tomorrow. Being busy takes my mind off things. Worthy distractions. An empty mind can wander to unsafe places.

Mom & dad, 17 years. Keep on swimming (:

Ice, roses, and silly faces

The Harbin Ice Lantern Festival in Harbin, China is here! It's been coined “the world’s most famous ice festival” by the New York Times. But the coolest part is... Harbin city in Heilongjiang province is my dad’s hometown and he would always talk about taking me to the festival that he would visit so often in his childhood. This year, the theme is Disneyland!


So anyways, I thought I might share a picture I took of my dad and my brother when they were being especially annoying and loud today. I took a lot more (and a video too) but my dad is priceless in this one. They really are so much alike, even though my dad is the “2nd best friend” of my brother (My mom and I share the honor of being first haha, although the order changes a lot).


Oh, and the roses are from my daddy for Valentine's. A dozen each for me, my mom, and my grandma. My parent's anniversary is tomorrow! I know what they are getting each other, but I can keep a secret... (;