Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the school category.
Of Course I Kicked You
I mean, honestly, what other reaction did you think I would have?! (Nevermind that you don’t read this blog and I probably won’t link you to it.)
What am I talking about? Basicamente, a classmate of mine, P.M. so as to give him some sort of privacy, was being ridiculous. I was working on art during my Study Hall period, during which he has art… so we were in the same classroom. As I’m washing clean the pallete and brushes, he comes around and pulls slightly at my apron’s strings (I wanted to protect my clothes from the paint, duh), and he starts talking about how he liked pulling the bikini straps on girls, and how he had once pulled a 14-year old girl’s straps… and she wasn’t able to catch the top in time. Now, unfortunately, I was still grinning like an idiot because this dude is so ridiculous, I feel like laughing all the time.
But as he goes away, I step forwards and kick him, decently hard too (I hope I don’t leave a bruise…). And he’s all “You kicked me!” several times and by now I was REALLY honestly grinning happily. Well, no shit Sherlock. You just told me about how you apparently liked contributing in sexual harassment (why yes, exposing the breasts of bikini-wearing teenager girls against their will is sexual harassment!), and implied something when you pulled the back of my apron strings! Of course I hit you! You’ve probably seen me punch my friends (well… the guy friends) for saying something stupid, and that is soft!
I mean, geeze. At least it wasn’t like when my friend nicknamed me “Boobs”.
… I mean… seriously…
Ok, end rant.
Something Good This Way Comes
Things are looking up a lot since my last post – and for a while now. I just couldn’t bring myself to write about it, since I needed to let the wave of happiness take its course without redirecting it by writing the blog post.
I probably just confused everybody there.
But a number of good things have been going on since, and quite a few are college related. Life is becoming happier and I feel much better, not as much stress. I feel I can actually tackle my school work and come out winning now that the family issue is not so threatening.
First off, I had two college interviews by phone. Well, one wasn’t so much an interview, but rather sounded more like they were trying to convince me to go to Mt Holyoke. That was rather nice and flattering actually, especially when the trustee said that the office of admissions had called me “Hot Property”. While I think that “property” is a very wonky term (I’m person! Not an object! I am not owned!) I’m just going to go ahead and take that as a compliment and a good sign for the future.
The second interview was Bennington, and I really enjoyed talking to the woman, even if we kept getting some Skype glitches. I learned some very interesting things about Bennington, especially its Environmentally friendly policies (YAY!) and other details. Suffice to say, I was really happy, I think the woman was happy, and I think that it gave a good impression.
Oh… additionally, talking about Bennington… yesterday I received an email notification that I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED! MY FIRST ACCEPTANCE TO A COLLEGE! =’ ) I feel very, very happy, and it’s like I reached my first milestone. The two college interviews themselves were enough to get me into a “music high” when I had them (I think I scared a few friends over MSN because I was typing really fast, in capslock at times, and very, very hyper as I blasted music and ocassionally dissapeared to dance to my music.)
I think there was more I wanted to say, but I am extremely happy right now, and I’ll just go do my homework. (My family situation, btw, is better, but still has its problems. I’m hoping it won’t explode again and we’ll be able to fix this.)
PS: To those who were here for the Avatar Casting Fracas, I’ll start updating again – I’m sorry I zoned out of it, but I had a lot to deal with : ( But I shall! *determination*
Sending Off My Hopes + Steph’s Bday + Insun and Her Prom Dreams
I know I haven’t been blogging a lot about my personal life (like Steph complained), and I decided that today’s achievement is enough to write a post about.
First though, I’m going to recount the last two friend-things I did.
First, I went out with my friend Insun a few days ago to one of the malls near where I live. We were originally going to watch a movie, but we ended just walking around and catching up, before she brought up the Prom up, when we saw some dresses. That led to a discussion of what type of dress would fit our respective bodies, why, what colours, etc… etc… To be honest, she got me kind of excited about choosing a dress, even if I’m not exactly the “Dress! Make up! GET READY FOR TEH PROM!” type of girl. (Actually, I’m pretty sure you can’t really give me a “type” or label, so that works just fine for me.) Unfortunately, then she went on to talk about dates and the rest, which didn’t make me too happy. At least we figured out we could manage to make a gals-only table, since the boyfriend for my friend Mabe won’t be here at the time, and we could perhaps organize it with our mutual friends. I’d rather not start worrying about the whole issue, oh… I don’t know, four months early? It became a pretty funny conversation though. After buying ourselves an ice cream, we walked to my place, where we played Wii DDR, and had loads of fun with that thing. Honestly, I’m using it to workout in the mornings now! XD Oh Nusni…
Second, I went out yesterday for Steph’s birthday with her, (obviously), Mari, Kate, and a new girl whose name I have no idea how to spell, at Jockey. Eating, talking, and following Mari take photos was pretty damn fun, and I think it’s rather interesting how we ended up seating when we ate. See, to my left was B-day gal and Kate, to my right was Mari and… the girl. The two on my right were the randomer, rather perverse people of the group, to the left were the more sensible and withdrawn (that doesn’t make them less awesome) gals, and I was in the middle. > D I guess I was living up to being a Libra or something similar. The only sad thing is that when I arrived home I couldn’t find my wallet, and I called TGI Friday’s in case they had found it, but nope. I don’t believe I lost it, for once, and my mom agrees that it was probably stolen. I’m glad they didn’t get my cellphone… I JUST got it.
Finally, my supposedly real reason for this blog post (It kind of is)… I finished submitting ALL my college stuff. Finally! Today, I sent off all the last forms needed for my Financial Aid Applications at all my colleges, so I don’t have to worry anymore! I just have to wait for the letters, and trust me, I will NOT do a countdown. At least not until there is like a month left. Next on my list of things to worry about: Homework and IB Exams! Oh, and driving!
So yes…
I’M FREE OF THE FRIKKIN COLLEGE APPS! SIII FINALMENTE, LIBRE!
*dances a small jig*
Bringing In Our Year With Grand Style, and Lists
First, I want you to listen to this song:
Has the video loaded? Will it play while you read this? Good. We’re starting this blog post with cheerful, dynamic energy.
My new years was a very pleasant day. Finished editing my art portfolio site for college, which is now added to my links list on this blog. Look to the left! I also added a “new” theme – “new” because I have used it before. When I get back from my trip home to Bolivia, I’ll edit the headers and perhaps use a different theme, but I wanted a fresher and paler theme than my last one, which felt too formal.
Returning to my last day in lil’ ole ’08, after the last edits in the portfolio, I underwent a massive cleaning/organizing spree. My desk is now nearly empty (I have a few things that will vacate this space once I regain my room), which feels a bit odd. I don’t want clutter, but I definitely feel like something is missing, so I added a few sketches and arts-in-progress so that my desk feels more productive. I am pelased to say that most of my stuff is a lot more organized, and that I plan on keeping it that way!
Because I was busy organizing until around 10 pm yesterday, my mom was left alone in the kitchen (usually my dad loves helping and ordering and taking over there… but he was rebooting my brother’s computer, as he lost all of his files), but she still put out a delicious dinner for the whole family – which this time, included my uncle, his wife, and my five year old cousin. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my yellow underwear (Yes, I am talking about my underwear. See, Latin America has a tradition where if you wear underwear of a particular colour, the next year will be better in a particular way. Yellow can be money, luck, love, depending on the country. Green is sometimes for money, red for love… it really varies from place to place to place. You get the idea. I wear yellow for overall Good Fortune In All And Everything.) We had delicious soft salmon, some odd pasta which tasted much better than I expected and still want, asparagus, camote puree, and a dessert of apple crumble and ice cream. My uncle and aunt (I’m still getting used to her as an aunt) helped her in the making, mostly in the slicing of the food.
Then, of course, it was midnight, where my brother opened a bottle of the champagne, and we all had a glass (well, some of us had two), as we went to our little balcony to watch the fireworks. Soon, we ended up putting our music set, and placed The Red Army Choir to play grandly as we talked and enjoyed ourselves. All in all, a very nice and peaceful end of the year.
I don’t know how to tell how psyched I am right now, as I feel a lot more free and energetic. 2008 was definitely a quite good year, despite college and school stress; I managed. I’d like to thank 2008 for not inflicting me with crushes or infatuations in school, excessive friend drama, no sudden dips in my grades, and a relatively accident-free time. 2008 is also the year that Obama was elected President, so I’ll take that as a good sign of what is to come. As it is, 2008 had its share of dissapointments, the biggest of which is in myself… so!
New Years Resolutions!
Blog wise:
- Change my theme and personalize it a lot more
- Finish adding and editing my Blogroll and Links
- Catch up on on those overdue posts (Creamfields, Tambopata, Analysis ala Sociological Images, etc..)
- Edit my categories, and categorize each post
- Add a page of the webcomics I read
Additionally, I want to thank everybody who takes their time to read this blog, and including those who came with the influx of the Avatar Cast Movie posts – I hope you found those useful, and I thank you for taking the time to get informed and writing to make a difference!
More Ok Go goodness, but their songs make me really happy!
School and work wise:
- Make notes for all my IB classes so I am ready for the IB exams that are looming nearer. Two year’s material!
- Not allow stress to get to me
- Organize my assignments, my materials, my locker, to avoid the mess that 2008 has had
- Do all my financial aid forms and required materials AHEAD of time.
- Finish the big ITGS project
Health and Habits wise:
- Organize my room once it is vacated, and keep it that way throughout the year (Includes closet and clothes, art’s drawer, hygiene drawer, jewelry drawer)
- Enter a workout schedule weekly or daily so I get in shape (10 minutes exercise in the morning, every other day 30 minute jog with dog)
- Stop eating cheese and cracker snacks each afternoon! Eat fruit and drink water instead!
- Fix my sleeping habits and schedule, it is insane.
- Fix my work habits.
Personal:
- Draw more! I feel I have been leaving my art to the side to finish my schoolwork, and I want to develop it and improve!
- Work on my personal graphic novel story… actually set the story in paper and design my characters.
- Stay in contact with everybody I love (work got in the way…)
- Stay as happy as I have been, despite everything.
I hope everybody else has a wonderful year too, and I hope we get past any troubles we run into. I also want to stop right now and thank for my parnets (though they are unaware of the existance of this blog). Mom, thank you for helping and understanding me all this year, for your invaluable advice. Dad, thank you for your input, and for learning a bit more how to hold your temper in check… though part of it is because my brother and I are getting better at dismissing you when you get out of hand. (Seriously dad..). Juanga, dear brother… thank you for… the sweet moments, when they come up. It’s really odd to think it’s my last year of high school, that 2009… that it really is the time for S09. Wow.
To Steph: thanks for reading my rants, joining my rants, and telling me when I am messing up with your subtle tactics… Thank you for being there for me, and for confiding in me, and for helping me in my messy chaos. You are and admirable appear-everywhere-do-everything-friend, and honestly, this year would not have been the same without you. We need to get out more together, grab some Starbucks, and then get you at my house so we can play some lovely wii and laugh at… well, everything.
To Patrick: I know I haven’t been online on msn lately, so we won’t get to talk until I get back from Bolivia, probably. Sorry about that, so hopefully you’ll remember this blog exists and read this little message. Thanks for staying despite the huge workload you have (Btw, Mr. 7-in-chem-and-physics, how the hell do you do it?!), and despite the difficulty in communication with you (lets face it, talking is sometimes confusing and hard, and you love making me so frustrated I can’t articulate anything in debates, but then, you ARE in the debate team), and for being my friend. You need to come again so you can beat me at Brawl some more.
To Insun: I know you won’t be reading this, because I haven’t linked you here, but the sentiment remains. I know sometimes you are volatile and irritable (… all the time), but I love being the other half of the Dynamic Duo! with you, and we share a great many times and fun. (Just, please stop with the idea of “let’s tell the guys who ask us to dance at clubs we are lesbians so they leave us alone” because it seems to me they get turned on…) It’s like we are meant to be balancing each other, and I’m glad that you want me to stay in your life. I hope you always know I’ll be there for you! Let’s walk together in the Graduation and remember all the sparking good times : D
To Mabel: Mabeeee, I love talking to you, and sharing with you. It seems to me each of my friend receives a particular facet of me more than others, and with you my geekyness just leaps bounds and bounds. Your attitude in life is refreshing, and sometimes I feel like you are the oldest of all my friends – lighthearted, but ready to face life. In a sense, you remind me of my cousin, in that maturity and humour go hand in hand. I’m just going to end this part with one word: ORUUGAAAS!
To Izzy: I don’t know if you have the time to read my blog, Isa, but hopefully you do and though we don’t talk a lot lately it is a form of communication. I jsut want to let you know that I miss you dearly, and hope that we talk again soon. Please answer my email queries, becasue since I’ll be going to college in the US (very likely, at least), I want to know if we can meet! Dear soul sister, I hope you have a wonderful time with Charles and your family, and please remember how much I love you.
To Paul: Dude, it’s been forever. I am sorry I’ve been so lacking in the contact department, apart from occasional Gmail comments and some tweets, but I miss you hun. I’m glad that so far from what I see, you seem a more confident person (nearly wrote seme there… but maybe that’s my subconscious saying something ; D) It’s kind of weird because you’ve gotten more serious regarding school, and what I remember of our afternoons at your place involves squabbling over who’s fault it was that your Fable character was being chased with a bounty, or something, you Franco! Regardless, I miss you, and all the awesome moments. Let’s recap red bar.
That’s it for now. There are more people I want to talk to, but I have to pack my bags now. 18 days in Bolivia and seeing family! Wish me the best, I’ll be wishing it for you guys ❤
On that note, I leave you with Vampire Weekend and their cheerful music:
EXTASIS With The SATs
In what is like, one of my few bright points this Senior Semester, I got my SAT I Scores today. : D : D : D
Let’s start with the worst!
In my math score, I actually decreased by 10 points, from 610 to 600. The funny thing? This time I actually had a math SAT tutour and everything. Oh well. It’s in the 600s, so I guess it’s ok.
In my writing score, I improved by 40 points. Thats decent. I wanted to get to the 700s in this one, but I’ll be ok with this one. From 620 to 660.
Finally… my critical reading score?
I IMPROVED BY 100.
FROM 680 TO 780
AWESOME.
TOTAL? 2040. I PASSED MY GOAL OF GETTING TO A 2000 OVERALL. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY?
7-FUCKING HUNDRED-80 OUT OF FUCKING 800.
*collapses in a screaming fit of hilarity, joy, tears and relief*
I Gave Up – Basketball And My Time
I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’m extremely busy. I shouldn’t be here even, right now, but I guess I can take some time from my Genetics questions.
Basically, the past few weeks have been straight from IB Hell, with me ending so sick from exhaustion that on Friday I couldn’t even lift my head off my pillow without feeling a great wave of nausea. I literally couldn’t get out of bed. Missed school too. = /
And between all that mayhem that is the first semester of IB Senior year, what with the Internal Assessments, College Applications and Essays, the Extended Essay, Activities (CAS is such a prick; prickslap!), and just the average (average, for whom?) IB schoolwork load… let’s just say I am overloaded.
And Basketball season just started.
I’m going to be very honest. I love Basketball. I love playing. I’ve been playing since my eight grade, and always managed to make it to the team. Unfortunately, last year, because of the Glass Shard Incident, I wasn’t able to travel with the team. Well, I should have, because I healed in time to join quite a few practices, but the coach told me straight off when I went to see her that since I hadn’t gone to the practices, I couldn’t go. Uh. Yeah. Person with crutches at practice. Great. Such a good management of my time right? Nevermind my homework… I got nuttin better to do than hang around there uselessly.
But I can’t join Basketball this year.
It frustrates me so much, but I was close to breaking down yesterday, and ended up sobbing some time to my mother later in the day, and I know I can’t afford it. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the energy. Nevermind that this is my last year, or that my last year got messed up, or that its the one sport I really want to do. I can’t.
And I feel really bad about it myself, because in things like these, I never give up. Ever. It feels… like I’m letting myself down. My team down. My body down. I’ve been slugging it these past few years to be able to do Basketball apart from my studies. I’d have done Pilates or Yoga otherwise, and avoided a lot of injury (broken fingers, stretched tendons, strained wrists, scratches, bruises, scrapes…) like that. But I had dedicated myself to it, and if there is one thing I have ever prided myself in, it is my dedication, to the point that I would not sleep just to make a project as perfect as I could (Well, that was also partly because of procrastination, but you know my mindset).
And now I gave up.
It goes against my grain.
It’s not like Basketball is a very big part of my identity. It’s just that the dedication and determination that I put into it, is something that I have always seen as important to my identity.
I know I’m doing the right thing, but another part of me is screaming that I’m a sucky idiot and have to play, because I had promised to myself I would.
I’m going back to Genetics.
Overloading (Recap)
The last two weeks were almost like a new version of slow torture of the brain.
But let me talk first about my happy moments at Kim’s bday! We went to eat Chifa, after which we went to Barranco (a huge group of us piled into two taxis), wandered around trying to find a good club, wandered around some more, wandered AGAIN, entered a place, had a drink, danced (It is sad to say that Kim and I were the best dancers), met Marite, who took us to ANOTHER place, more dancing. Then, suddenly, some dude with a microphone pulls me over with four other girls, and puts us in a dance contest.
Thank Goodness I lost. Those who moved on to the next round had to POLE DANCE.
Anyways, other than that, hilarious. Just keep in mind that if you ever get pulled like that in Lima, especially in Rustica at Barranco at night, DON’T!
Hm… the week started, and so much work work work work gah stress stress stress no sleep what am I doing, omg-I-haven’t-done-my-college-searches-and-I-need-to-study-for-the-SAT.
Then, I survived and we had PGC Activity day, but that deserves a whole post on its own.
And ICC week, which also deserves a post of its own.
On the other hand, tomorrow is my birthday! I turn 17!!! YAAAAAY
Obligatory update finished. I have to go do homework now. Chao.
Coca Cola To Ease My Ills
Ah, the sharp smell of a glass when you are sick and need to stay awake.
I have a pounding headache, and after finishing the paragraph about female talent in Marvel in my Extended Essay I just felt so bad I could have toppled. I hate being sick. I’m tried to being physically run through the mill. First the damn surgery, then losing sleep and time to PGC and the leadership retreats… and I had to go and catch my brother’s cold. Oh well. I can’t afford to not go tommorrow – I have to hand in that thrice damnéd (yes, I accented the -e on purpose to be like Shakespeare) commentary on which I am still stuck on, and it will be my first PGC meeting. Perhaps I will collapse after that meeting, and I only halfway jest. On top of that, I have my Biology Photosynthesis lab (I need to review the Light-Independent Reaction, but otherwise I’m perfect to go), but otherwise, the day will not hold any more responsabilities.
Hmm, I have 2,495 words so far in my essay, (counting the headings, which probably shouldn’t be counted), and I have to write a total of about 3,000. The bad part is that my next post is on Marvel Comic’s history, and I don’t really know it. Perhaps I should skip it and go on to the visual analysis. I’m not sure, but I’ll go see if I can make anything out of the book “Our Gods Wear Spandex” that my dad bought for me. From what I’ve read, it all seems to say that comic superheroes are expressions of religious beliefs or contain elements, including some paganism and some occult cults. I stopped reading a while after he bought it for me (it was boring).
After this I still going to have to write a minimum of 700 words for my English Commentary. But first, I will get off the computer and do my outline.
Graaah my throat hurts. *Drinks coca cola to stay awake* Well, today was also pretty interesting in that I ended going to the Club Fair and representing Eco Club with Minghee. Well, she had to switch often because she is the President of KCC, but it was fine. As it is, Ethan and Mikael approached me. Ethan just because he wants to join Eco Club (A really pleasant surprise! YAY! Especially since he doesn’t believe in Global Warming, but at least he still cares about the environment.), and Mikael more of “I-need-hours”. I’m shocked; he hasn’t done any action hours at all so far! They could stop him from graduating if he doesn’t finish his hours! (Which reminds me I need to fill in my proposals.) Well, I told him he could get service from the Eco Garden, and when he asked how it worked I nearly panicked, as we are still developing it. But I told him the basic “it’s still under work but…” starting line and came up with the idea of shifts after school or in weekends working on the garden to gain service. So it went pretty well.
I’m going back to my extended essay. Perhaps three paragraphs are enough to reach the lofty goal of 3000 words my supervisor wants right now. For tomorrow.
Partially Freed
SO!
I have had a nice weekend so far, gotten free from the great majority of my homeworks, hence, the partial freedom. Let us see what I have left.
1- Art
- Presentation report (FORGOT TO DO THIS OMFG)
2- English
- Read/log 3.3 in Othello for Monday
3- ITGS
- Read Gift of Fire Chap. 3, and write responses
- Vocabulary Quiz on-D Terms
- Read Chapter 9 Computer Confluence
- PROJECT THINGY OMIGASH THINKTHINK (This one is stressing me out…)
4- Fit for Life
- Get a journal
5- Spanish
- Read till page 208 in Un Mundo para Julius
- Read the comparison packet and make the outline
6- Math
- Exercises 15F (I LOST THEM AND HAVE TO REDO THEM GRAAAAAAARGH)
- Exercises 15G (MSN help for these…)
7- Biology
- Lab report due Thursday 28
- Photosynthesis Exam
So, a lot less then before.
I’ve had an overall nice weekend, actually. I went to Marite’s birthday thing this Friday, which was nice. The unfortunate part was when Insun and I got accosted by two creepy guys. I got better at saying “no” but I still need to work on it. I had to go back and get Insun though, she had this -_- face all the time and it was like “I shouldn’t leave her…” so I was fine in the end. Grgggg creepy guys. At some point, as we were dancing, the guy started grunting. That was when I stepped away and decided that enough was enough. Greh. Anyways.
Yesterday I slept till one, then spent the rest of the time reading Eldest by Christopher Paolini. Rereading, since I want the third book to come out. It was my relaxation day. The book is not the best, but I like fantasy fiction, so get on with the next book Paolini! (I also admire him… this story is from when he was 15 years old, and that is like.. and unfulfilled dream of mine, to publish one of MY stories, a fantasy magic one on top of it.) Then, at around 6, I sat down to start my homework, only to get invited by Chris M to go out with him and some friends around Barranco. I did go, and I had fun. Getting out after so much hell is nice =w= We ended going to this bar concert for free. It wasn’t very good though, but it was nice to get in. XD I also played Guitar Hero for the first time. It actually is pretty fun, jajaja.
Ahhh, I’m home now, and I need to start doing my homework. Also, my parents are going to have a college talk with me today, and I am NOT looking forwards to it. They were nice and di a college search for me of good Bio colleges… but… they viewed art as secondary…
I don’t know. I never doubted myself in studying art, viewed really only as a matter of what I felt like, until my mom told me she doubted me doing well in art. That was a really big blow.
Now… it’s almost like I’m just doing Bio because my parents expect me to do it. They are wonderful, they make amazing choices, and I love them, but…
I feel depressed about the direction this is going…
And I feel depressed because my parents don’t believe I should do art…
I’m just going to do English now…
Lemon Water 
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Two Decades And We’re In The Same Place
I was asking my mother for some feedback on my Internal Assessment, one of the Written Tasks for my Spanish class. I’m writing an article about how advertising in Peru is sexist by using the male gaze and depicting women as sexual objects to get their products bought, and how this just reinforces stereotypes and the negative traditional views of women.
Turns out my mom had written nearly exactly the same article, about 20 years ago.
On the one hand, since after I read and compared both and found they are pretty damn similar (except that my mom writes much better in Spanish than I do), it’s probably going to be easier to get a good grade on my paper.
On the other, it just depresses me that we still have the SAME issue, 20 years later, affecting women in the same magnitude. That it is an issue that has passed down to the next generation, my generation, and that I am picking up exactly where my mom left off, since she told me that she is “tired” of the same thing over and over again, of reading the same thing.
20 years, and we are still slogging through these infuriating and stupid, commonly toted, repeated, rephrased, remade, recycled, harmful views of women? You’d think that this would be a thing of the past now.
Gods, the way feminism or womanism is needed is so obvious for me, it is hard to stay quiet when people dismiss the movements as unnecessary. Or when a friend tells me we already have the rights, so we are just being bitchy*.
(Note: Bitch in and of itself is pretty mysoginistic language. You might want to check on that)