Ancient Memories (2006)

It's hard to think that exactly 3 months ago, I was dreading the very idea of being at college — absolutely loathing the fact that I would have to use my brain again, use non-human alarm clocks*, and leave behind my beloved bedroom, mummy's cooking, my messy corner of the study room, friends, family, and everything else. (* okay, so I kind of still have human alarm clocks... =X)

I remember being horribly reluctant to pack. After all, what could I leave behind? But time ticked on relentlessly, and before I knew it, my dad was announcing, "Chicago... Dempster... Evanston... Northwestern." I could no longer deny that I was going to college.

And so, I resignedly plunged myself into the world of college life, where a blank slate was promptly thrust in each new student's face with the accompanying statement, "You can be a different you! If you were quiet back in high school, you can be the craziest, loudest kid here! If you were the loudest kid in your class, [hm, I forget what they said for this...] etc. Start afresh! It's college!! Wooooo!!!"

Did I want to be a different me? No idea. Did I want to start afresh? Not really. I was never one who accepted change easily, and this was quite a drastic one. But I guess since I'm still alive, it means I've managed to survive the change and the first quarter of (brutal beating from) Northwestern.

There have been times when life was happy and cheerful, surrounded by friends and mentors; there have been times when it was frustrating and stressful, swamped by midterms and reports; but, overall, it was college, it was different, and the change was for the best — to force me to grow as a person and learn to rely on myself.

It's presented a window to reality, allowed me to observe and experience different things: the clash between faith and worldly views; the distinction between true friendship and general acquaintance, pride and humility, self-centeredness and selflessness, etc. Accidentally (and a few times — but I promise no more than 3 times — purposely) missing/skipping class, observing stars and nebulae through a telescope (which was awesome, considering that I've always loved astronomy), walking along the beach at night with the sand swirling about (and feeling very 'Great Gatsby'-ish), seeing several dead squirrels along the paths (well, they are a bit too fat for their own good — oops =X)...

So, in all, I'd say college is pretty cool (even though it's completely killing me in the academic world). I've been able to see how people change within a mere three months, where it's due to the environment, group of friends, or some other factor. I've been able to discover/clarify some things about myself — a few being that I'm still quite the procrastinator, the observer, and a student who really doesn't know whether engineering is/was the right major to pick.

It's interesting to come back every once in awhile to see how things have changed. And sometimes, it brings back fleeting moments of nostalgia. But then, shouldn't one be looking forward in life, not backward?

This layout is getting a bit old. Or at least, I used to do a holiday layout. Except.. I don't any of my photoshop stuff, including my Maukû & Friends calendar =\.

Finals are totally eating me. But I <3 music.

The End.

It's nice to be back. Happy Thanksgiving =).

I remember when I used to stay up into the wee hours of the morning frantically thinking and writing papers; and then I would hear the birds start up their tunes (Refer to entry [04/18/05]. I've come to realise that I don't really remember the sound of little birds chirping.

Today after dinner, I meandered along the (south) beach with Charlotte. We trod through the pretty ripples caused by the water while gusts of wind caused the sand to swirl and dance about. 'Twas very peaceful, dark, quiet, and lovely. Looking out across the water made me think of Great Gatsby and how he stood looking out at the green light across the .. some-kind-of-body-of-water. Unfortunately, I don't remember the significance of the green light or anything. But nevertheless, it was nice.

Pachelbel! I'm in another one of those I-miss-music moods. ><

It's rather strange how I can never seem to start (let alone write and/or finish) a paper before past midnight. There just seems to be something with the fact that, after midnight -- or more like 2 or 3 here -- peace and quiet reign. There's only you, your laptop before you, and the night swathing everything else in dark, (mostly) silent shadows.

So basically... thus far, my EDC paper (to be 3-4 pages long, double-spaced) is 3-inches long, and I have about 2.5 more pages to go. And, by the by, this is the latest time that I've started a paper -- at 2:20 am. The previous record was around 1 am or so.

But, unfortunately, this is college. where there are such things as evening quizzes for classes that had class on quiz days, the opportunity to do hw / work on the computer in bed (yes, I did not have that luxury at home), the opportunity to "randomly" sample people (ok, it wasn't random at all. more like, "who's still up at 2 in the morning?")

... I completely lost my train of thought. Oh, our lovely room of 406 in Shepard is literally freezing. Because, apparently, our heater does not work. Thus, even the hallway is warmer than our room. C'est muy ridiculo.

Back to paper because yours truly is definitely spacing out / dozing off.

[Edit:] Oh oh! And I don't know if this is supposed to be so, but I can scroll up and down using the very right side of the Thinkpad mousepad... so cool. o.O![/edit]

=( Freewebs got rid of my previous entry.
It had stuff about my tolerance for chocolate.
And maybe something about getting paid to take notes in Math.

~~Which reminds me. I seriously cannot find my math homework anywhere. So now I don't know what section I'm supposed to be on, since I don't remember what section I stopped at X(.~~ [Just kidding, I left them at the SSD office. They actually emailed me about it, but called them notes instead of .. homework problems. =X]

Walks up north (ok ok, shuttling up north and walking back) @ 2.30 in the morning are nice.
Well, actually it made my eyeballs cold.

I like how our room has become the ultimate study room.
We had 7 people -- 2 writing essays, and the others .. studying?.
It was interesting.

It's actually kind of weird now walking around the room and not seeing people all over the place... =P

Btw, USB cables work really nicely as curtain holders. The things you discover at college XD.

Also, today was a glorious day. Charlotte and I went to Norris to eat Udon noodles (really yummy stuff compared to dining hall food..). And then we walked around the Lakefill for ~an hour before coming back for church.

Mmm, bedtime.

I watched Finding Nemo today. O.o

I really miss talking to some people. I don't know if it's just because it's college now and things are different, or because of (lack of) time, distance, etc. but sometimes I feel as though some old friendships are quietly but quickly slipping away =\. So before it's too late, I just want to say -- I love each & every one of you dearly and consider myself beyond blessed to have met you all. I never liked moving on, but I suppose life does. I still sometimes find myself reflecting upon those pre-college days when everything was close(r)-knit and ...happy(?); but then, I have to remind myself that college is a time to look forward and ... seize the day! ..? >< bleh.

First chance, second chance. What about third, fourth and beyond?

I just accidentally hit the back button. Good thing there's a forward button as well. My laptop amuses me.

I really need to go to bed earlier these days. But before I do that..

Fotos update (unfortunately not many captions yet):
2006.09.09 YG Picnic: at Swaim Park where the lake didn't exist anymore, but a big mud/dirthole did.
2006.09.10 Pinya's Surprise / Church: and I guess the farewell lunch even though it kinda wasn't.
2006.09 NU NSW: "New Student Week" / first week of school / NU scenery =P

Every night when I close my eyes
I see the ways that you've touched my life
And I want you to know that I'll
Always be right here

I've discovered that my completely-bewildered-random guessing isn't too bad. We played mafia today at MEIV; i got to be the doctor(!), and i managed to somehow save two (out of three) people from being killed O.o ...

I've also discovered that ... NU is actually pretty religious - what with the list of 20 or so churchs, and lots of different fellowship groups. Even my residential college has a bible study group - rather whoa-y but nice at the same time.

Eeps, classes.

Several mosquitoes have taken 2 bites out of me since my arrival in Illinois. *frowns*

I really don't like the superficial feeling of trying to meet the entire population of northwestern minus a couple many. I quite miss having deeper conversations than just "state your name, hometown, major, ...; and you?" And I particularly miss talking to old friends, be they far or near, on AIM, phone, etc. ...

Before saturday, I'd never seen anyone be able to poke a bird with their finger and not have the bird fly away; nor have I ever seen anyone kick-poke a bird to make it move. 'Twas rather crazy.

Estoy un poco X(-ed a todas las preguntas de ¿cómo está la universidad, su compañero de habitación, la vida? I should have foreseen it though, oops.

I'm getting somewhat tired of trying to keep track of all the stuff I should / would like to be going to. Time turners would seem like a nice solution — except they don't exist.

I've discovered that it takes around 13 minutes to get to the Tech building; actually, I somehow managed to do 12 today -- even when stopped by a stranger. [This random person, btw, asked if he could just ask me 'a quick question.' That question turned out to be something along the lines of 'how much would you pay to get a haircut?' (*blinks* Why would you be asking that question...?) Basically, it's better not to talk to strangers; at least it would save you time.]

Apparently Shepard (the dorm where yours truly lives) has some kind of tradition for playing ultimate frisbee at midnight...

Hoi, anyhow, I'm rather tired so off to bed with me.

Ok ok... I guess I can no longer pretend I'm going to college since I'm already there.

I wish... you could hire professional non-procrastinating packers to stuff all your belongings into nicely organised bins & boxes (you know, kind of like in Harry Potter where - with just a flick of their wand - everything flies into the trunk, etc.).

And then i've got this to go through *yanks out enormouse pile of NU mail.*

By the way, guess who's not packed yet (i'd say 80-85% completed as of right now)... X(

Hm, I usually don't mind packing for trips. But when they're really-extended trips (a.k.a. more than a month, or two, or ten) ... hm, not so fun anymore.

My laptop = fun. Played with it a bit today and finally decided to try out the 'integrated fingerprint reader' thing. I must say it's kinda fun, hehe. And then I went over to kt's house where we set off her fire alarm several times by making cupcakes, which we brought to the picnic.

Mmm, packing go i again.

I'm visiting school today! ...

"Les Choristes" = sweet movie.

Who gets papercuts on the inside (palm-side? whatever) middle joint of their fourth finger? It's virtually impossible to do (especially since it's.. || to the finger), yet I still managed to do it.

I like watching sunsets. Unfortunately, the best place to watch them (or rather, the sunset sky) from within my house involves climbing over the jacuzzi tub and sitting/kneeling on the ledge. Actually, the kitchen bay windows aren't that bad either, except I think my mum would probably tell me to find something more useful to do / close the blinds so the neighbors won't see in. After all, I guess it does seem like quite an idle activity, but *shrug* the sky's a cool thing to watch. That reminds me... I really want to see several of these atmospheric effects. I've seen some of the more common ones, but likeee.. the green flash and those high atmosphere clouds? hmm, those would be so wickedly awesome to see w/mine own eyes. Same with auroras. ... Waaah anyway. ... *moves onto more tangible things*

2006.09.04 Kenwood Mall / SnS - interesting experience, I suppose.

Whoops, so i commented this entry so it never appeared; was going to post it.. ah, two days ago or so. oops.. anyhow, it went: '*is most amused* I was quickly glancing through my previous journal entries -- more precisely, looking to see whether I'd ever mentioned that tcci *still* states that my ethnicity is. white. -- when my eyes ran across the phrase, "some guys can be law-abiding drivers" (05/03/27) and my mind went, "wow. that must be from so long ago..." '

Mmm, yeah that was quite a long time ago. But then I guess senior year and everything seems like ages ago too.. *sigh*. No me gusta el tiempo. Está muy evasivo hoy día, hmph.

Wow. I was just listening to my music and such when I heard these faint notes that really didn't fit into the music. So I ripped off the earphones, heard that toy-music kind of sound and went to look out the window. Goodness, an icecream truck passing by. On a day like this.. when it's all cloud-y and fairly cool. Hmm, bad timing?

Actually, these past (at first, I typed 'pass,' but it looked horribly wrong until i realised -- about 10 seconds after staring at it -- that there was the alternative of 'past.' What's happened to my brain? ><) two days have really reminded me of England. Or October. For some reason, i attribute blankets-of-clouds days with those two things. Dunno why though. *wanders off*

Mmm, have I ever mentioned how much I love playing with the "Web Developer" toolbar for Firefox? because it = tres awesome, especially with the "edit html" stuff and all =D.

I kind of want to retract my statement about liking thunderstorms (made approx. a month earlier). They're horribly annoying when you're on a nonlaptop computer doings things and the electricity is suddenly zapped to death, or when you're snuggled in bed happily sleeping (or napping) and a particularly splendid crashbangpop! wakes you up.

I've been wondering: Is it weird to yelp, "ah, sorry!" to a stuffed animal when you accidentally squash its foot or something? Because I still do that =X. I think it's kind of a habit that I developed as a kid and retained throughout the years. Same with saying, "bless you" when someone merely coughs; that usually brings about puzzled looks and the comment, "uh, I only coughed." ... oops.

Oh, a nice big pop from the thunder, mmhmm.

i feel like such a lazy bum, what with people starting school and me spending my day stuffing photos into albums and ... listening to music while working on a website? (Let's not mention those math placement tests I still have to take; and that summer reading book...) =X

Btw, did I ever mention? Me encanta la música mucho. <3 ... =P.

2006.08.22 Arloi Dee - byebye dinner for Alice J
2006.05.10 CMU Graduation - oops =X

Ah, getting your own laptop is beyond sweet, heheh. Though the presence of several "this program failed to execute correctly at *insert some numbers*" made me kinda go o.O ...

The screen res is expectionally high as well, which is beyond awesome. But then, the stuff appears kinda small to my untrained eyes (my dad was also like, "wow, the font's so small. bad bad!"). Hm, unfortunately, I don't want to exchange it because that would mean more waiting. And setting up all the stuff again ><.

Whee, this highly amuses me that it has a little light at the top / above the screen that illuminates the keyboard, and an "integrated fingerprint reader." ... *nods* wow...

~Lydia Grace Wu: 08/06/96 - 08/21/06~

Yipee. I do believe this is the first time Stacy has been sick during this time of year since.. forever(!)? I don't know whether to attribute it to my going out too much (after all, i did go out every day of this week X( -- a bit too much for my liking) or from my going to bed too late for too long (that doesn't make as much sense..) or to the mysterious illness of some other person with whom i had contact during this week (probable). But, other than that, I would say the website is going rather nicely. As is the other one. Annnnd, on the topic of stuff I still hafta do for NU -- we'll skip that. I seem to be in denial of college these days as my friends start to wander off to their respective colleges X(.

On a happier note, at least I know where my brother is now; and my daddy. The former's in Seattle; the latter's at home. =) [And that muffin was yummy].

My fingers are actually tired for once -- the fingers of my RH more than my LH, odd -- from so much typing. (But that's a strange idea b/c I usually type a lot anyway.. o.O).

Anyhow, I actually did some work today on the website I'm being paid to make -- which involved lots of coding / typing up stuff and such. It's rather nice in that I can do it at home; but then, it's not so nice in that people, events, and other things can interrupt me at any time, and yank me away from it temporarily. (Eh, what was my point?) And then, tonight, I switched to playing around with other stuff for a i-don't-get-html friend. So now i'm all html-ed out and somewhat tired. Off to bed I go. ... I hope my muffin's in the fridge. =X

[edit] 2006.08.16 Mimi's Cafe - byebye dinner for Mikey [/edit]

After an influx of... many pictures (*422 online to be exact -- i think) within the last 3 weeks, here's to *6 more photo albums:
2006.07 Beauty & the Beast: HS summer musical
2006.08.04 Kyoto (the Restaurant): sushi adventures before YG
2006.08.05 Canoeing: rather wet YG outing at Mad River
2006.08.09 Zoo Trip: for the college-bound seniors... hm, yeah.
2006.08.14 Bible Study: chaotic, but yummy dinner included.
2006.08.15 Alice's Pool Party: guess who didn't get wet =D.

I love walking through (soft) grass barefoot. And, in general, going around barefoot. I still do not, however, like getting my feet dirty.

So at about 11pm, just as I reached for a mini-cereal bowl with a cup of milk in my other hand, the power went out. (For a second, I wondered if it was God telling me to not eat a snack so late / not to eat so many mini-meals XP...). And then, my mum & I started wondering whether we had matches in our house since there were so many pretty candles waiting to be lit, but no working lighter. Unfortunately, just as we had gotten about 4 little candles lit, the electricity came back on. "Ah," went mum. "And it would have been so nice and romantic to go about in candlelight."

In other news, I didn't quite kill myself while cleaning, but my clumsiness still managed to manifest itself when I skillfully tripped over a blowdryer cord twice -- well, it was in the middle of the bathroom doorway (and who looks down while walking+reading?) -- and slammed my left elbow (not even the 'funny bone') onto a bookshelf. Actually, now that I think about it, it may have been a combination of both clumsiness and sheer lack of brains [i totally forgot what i was just going to say, but the last word wasn't supposed to be-- wait, it was to be 'attention,' i think].

Just today, I was looking through my emails and feeling rather sorry for the recipients of those occasionally extremely, horrifyingly long emails. I felt even guiltier when my dear former essay buddy/butcherer stated that the one i'd sent her (being exactly 150 words) was already considered "rather long-ish." After all, my definition of long emails = at least twice as long as 150; and at times, some of my emails would reach ~3-4 times that length. Hmm, =X.

Funny to say, but I do believe my toes may be the darkest parts of my body, mmhmm. Now how often does that happen (at least to me)? Not very. [Whoops, what a random paragraph; but random p's stay when I decide to make 'whatever-happens' entries.. It makes life more interesting.]

I tend to go through these phases when I don't particularly like words (or like particular words?). Not the words themselves, but the connotation they evoke; because they could imply a million different things. The speaker would understand the full meaning, of course (..hopefully); but as for the receiver? they're left to wonder on speculations. Or maybe, it's just the ambiguity, the equivocality that sometimes plagues us these days. They hint, and they insinuate. But they never give you the elusive forthrightness(?) [That sounds like such an awkward word]. But what would happen if they did?

//Btw, m'friends, this is not even considered to be one of those "at times" email lengths. This, in fact, would have been considered one of the ok-long types. And I like how not many read this, because I don't think many could stand it XD. Here's a real taste of Stacy's unstructured thoughts.//

I really don't understand: Our house is set at 77?F for AC; but whenever I go downstairs (for meals & snacks), I literally freeze my tailbone off. Even upstairs, I still wear two layers (albeit cami + t-shirt) + sweatpants and almost freeze. So today, I finally remedied that by turning the temperature up one more degree =X...

Hopefully, I'll be less of a human ice cube now.

Well, I must say it's been quite a while since I've spent a Saturday morning/afternoon like that. It was, ah, nice and different from the monotony of .. summer? =).

Sigh, my poor dignity is going byebye with the presence of a rather o.O-y character on my/alice j's (poor her =P) facebook X(. but whatever, the things we do for friends... this one's to exhibit mikekim's horribly strange sense of humor & amusement at photoshop XD.

Presenting... a random collection of thoughts: First and foremost, happy one-and-twenty to my dear brother =). And happy birthdays to Eric Chang, JKRowling, & Harry Potter as well =P. I shall miss the Kumon kids (but not the packets), and the fact that i was employed nicely for 3 years & 2 months XP. Rubberbands do stretch after being on the wrist and hence, being exposed to different elements; I've noticed only b/c the newly acquired one fit exactly on Saturday, and now it fits nicely [, and eventually it'll fit loosely X(...]. I like thunderstorms, or at least ... I dunno, never mind. My bed is in a horribly messy state; in fact, it's been particularly messy since i cleaned my room on friday. I don't understand how I can sleep in long pants w/a light quilt + a wool (from scotland sheep!) scarf-but-bigger blanket & not fry; but not in shorts w/ the quilt + a cotton blanket. Finding & opening my calculus binder today felt really weird [I never got past the general formulas page]. I've got a collection of 12 paperclips hanging from my printer. Annnd, i'm not satisfied with this paragraph, but *frowns* this is not an English paper or anything so =X ..X(. Eeps, it's August.

Today/yesterday, (among other things), I... didn't drop anything on myself while cleaning.. =D; realised that i paid for nine, not eight people for the musical [somehow 3 + 6 = 8 in my head], and that i can still count money [and am two people & 19 cents short, but *waves away details*]; got yellow flowers, in trouble [kind of], and a rubberband; and realised that i wasn't the only one bothered by discordance caused by the brass section of the pit XP.

I'm still kinda bummed that we'll never play the really cool part in Wolf Chase #2 that, for some reason, really reminds me of pirates.

Beyond adorable *dies from cuteness*

I miss having a rubber band around my wrist to use if i'm not in the mood for hairbands =\. Anyone care to hand me one sometime so i can tack on some random meaning & deem it as my next wrist/hair-rubberband? (for not just *any* rubberband can make it onto the wrist of stacy; that would be too easy =P).

Ah dear, it is getting a bit late. I need to establish some kind of realistic sleeping cycle. For the past few weeks, my cellphone alarm's been going off at 7 or 8 (used to be 8, but now 7 because I've been too lazy to change it back); unfortunately, i wait for about another hour or two before i actually get up. Too bad that's probably not going to work at college X(.

Once upon a time, a dear friend complained about the gloominess of the waterfowl, so Stacy went about looking for a happier theme. The end result = *points at website* [5.0: SomethingThere / ForeverFriends], featuring a foreverfriends bear, a flower, a butterfly, and grass. "Something There" = from 'Beauty & the Beast,' "Forever Friends' = from said friend =P. The End. =)

Sweetness. I still have my Case email & everything, hehehe. =D

"My hair is not dry yet." what a strange excuse for not being in bed yet. Yet, it works in our house.

Have I ever mentioned that i love music? =D (I retract my statement about Beauty & the Beast being all random + dissonant -- or rather, I forgive it for being so at times.) Unfortunately, anything w/ an organ sound in it currently reminds me of octupus-head from pirates2 playing his beloved organ with his slimy tentacles ><.

I have been tricked by note values & tempo markings. x(

I will never understand AP's style of grading. Mum: "Your AP's have come. *hands envelope & walks away*" *stacy jumps* "Where's the letter opener? the exacto knife? Oh, I know I've completely failed; my doom is near ... *peeks at letter* What?!" I now owe two dear friends some things. Either I've grossly underestimated AP curves or my aptitute at bs-ing prettily though incompletely.

Kumon has changed. a lot. since I started 4 years ago. since when ruchi left, mike kim left,, meetra left, kim left. since kt left. since i (temporarily) left. And now? Apparently the Sycamore center is to close at the end of the month (of July). =(!? I won't get to spend my last month here helping / being silly with kids like Sri or Sky [now in I at the end of 3rd grade -- that's insane, btw] as they giggle over their packets & silly mistakes ='(.

One misses so much when a month goes by.

For the past 3 days, I've been one day behind but one date ahead. It's rather confusing, not to mention slightly disorienting.

Annnnd, i'm home. But i'm not one for recaps so... pics?

Today, i got in the (e-)mail:

Dear Stacy, Congratulations: your senior year is under way! It's the most exciting year of high school, in part because it brings college applications, admissions and decisions. There's a lot to wade through and a lot of choices you need to make [...]

Does that mean... i've gone back a year?

Today, we went to see Taipei101. fun stuff, i suppose =P. at least it was nice getting out of the apartment and walking around (never mind the fact that we were slightly frying in the sun & developing headaches from the excellent Taiwan air X6). the building itself was all nice & shiny, though the stores inside were all only window-shoppable =P.

taipei! i actually slightly remember this apartment & the piano (but my mum says not to bother w/ it since it's bound to be out of tune & dusty) from 12 years earlier [aided by pictures mostly] =P. and it's the first time i've seen yahoo weather say "thunder in the vicinity," but it is rumbles-of-thunder-ing.

O.o the humidity in tainan is amazing. as is the combination of heat & humidity. you literally always feel sticky, paper gets all soft & noncrispy, and, in general, life is fairly miserable especially when the house doesn't have AC X(. *shrug* life's about adaptation, isn't it? XP

trash trucks have such annoying, repetitive songs (i wonder how the driver stands it). 100 / 15. 15ish more days! =D

Aw, 'tis our last day at Dongshih; tomorrow, we depart for Tainan, & then Taipei on Monday -- which should be the last stop.

The bugs have not been forgiving & have bequeathed another 40 bites during the last 5 days. Just 17 (so my brother says?) days! X(

Mmm, I think my brother and I are becoming experts at solitaire. And I've been so bored as to take up my brother's Gameboy & start playing it. XP

It was perfectly sunny today, which made Stacy happy pre-12 o'clock. Post-12 o'clock, however, made both Stacy and her brother really annoyed at how hot it was ><. But, now, it's rather nice minus the bugs.

I am, btw, at *40 for bug bites over 8 days. At this rate, I may make it way over 100 by the end of my stay. X(

I love all these "LIVE and WORK in the USA / Congratulations!!! You've got 1 free year!! / Click here and apply online for your green card [&tc]" ads on the internet. Thank you very much, but.. no thanks. I've lived all 18 years in the US, and I've worked for ~4 years already. Hm, the one free year though? Sure, i'll look into that.. o.O

Oh. Em. Gee. I'm being eaten alive by the mosquitos in the mountains! *runs off screaming*

=P Not really. But honestly, of all the family members present, I've been the target of all insects. ><

Other than that, life is pretty slow.. sigh. Meanwhile, my brother continues to play his gameboy...

You know, I always used to try to avoid anything that would result in lectures and the like. Now, it's more like... hmm, I know there's the possibilities of consequences, but *shrug* I'll take the chance & accept them if they result. Just because.

In other news, I shall be halfway 'cross the world in the land known as Taiwan from June 7th until July **10th (third time's the charm, right? ><). Until then, adieu & I shall miss you all very muchly.

Mmm, I have taken ~518 pictures organised into 7 folders w/i the past two weeks. o.O

I dislike how I start something, do half of it [writing an entry], and then run off to do other things [organising pictures & finish the NU housing app] ...

But... yay, happy graduation! I do believe we're all graduated (cylinders, jk) now? =)

Week(end) in pictures:
2006.06.02 Senior Night (CCC)
2006.06.03 Alvin's Party
2006.06.04 Sycamore Graduation

So much of me is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

I think our "ultra-fast" battery recharger is more like a battery fryer because everytime I recharge the poor batteries, they get ultra hot & you can faintly smell that metallic-ish smell.

Oy, and my family is ... hm. Different people, different outlook. Go figure.

Ten papercuts & 20 lbs of to-be recycled paper later, stacy is still not done cleaning the study. It's amazing the amount of stuff a corner of the room can hold.

(kind of) Week in pictures:
Last Day(s) (in school)
2006.05.27 Wedding (Uncle Sunny & Abby's mom)
2006.05.27 Grad Parties (Sailee; Stella, Christy, Jen, Meetra)
2006.05.28 Mason Graduation / Norman's Picnic

Aw, I suppose I'm gonna miss zhe class of 2006. The last few days have been byebye *tear* days. Today went like: serious talk with light / amusing bits in b/t in physics (man, what mr. g shared was really quite =(-ing); getting class pic in the gym; riding on the buses (last time?); getting to the park; wandering around; being grumpy; running around to avoid saba's water balloon; watching others lunch (i honestly forgot / didn't realise that i hadn't eaten lunch until we were leaving); writing in ruch's book; getting water poured on my head while writing; getting saba back v. nicely (i = only a bit wet; she = drenched); being not grumpy anymore; wandering some more; being happy that other ppl were happy; watching the rather gross slip+slide; writing in kat's book; watching david morton + tazzy pose (they honestly could be models XD); more writing; going home.

And then there was the horrible thunderstorm tonight, accompanied by hail + lotsa lightning, especailly while i was driving to Alice J's house. Actually, I got to hear the little hail drumming on my car roof (fyi, Stacy went, "NO!!" when she heard the first drops), hear/see lightning in the form of a Pop! *yellow sparks* right across the street, and discover all the glories of driving when one can't see a thing. Oh, and after that was the choir concert, which was quite amusing + cool + ahh, heee! =) -ing.

Pics will come soon.

I have this excellent tendency of getting sick of practising piano everytime I really start to practise. (I suppose it's a good thing that I quit then?) And to top the weirdness, I'm practising piano for... english class.

What zhe heck.

Wahoo! Brother = graduated. CMU = byebye? 2/3-hr long commencement + 3/4-hr long diploma ceremony = gone! & Stacy now = sleepy + despising econ, as usual?

Currently, Stacy = really bored. b/c brother's place= being packed and really messy. hm.

Alright. one of these days. i WILL stay awake for the entire bell of Econ. X( ...

Ahh, I <3 <3 <3 Pachelbel('s Canon). *happy sigh*

I am DONE with APs! I don't know whether to jump around and dance or be sad that I won't be filling in any more bubbles and skipping school. I also did like my AP number quite a bit since it was just so cool. I've also memorised it by now, accidentally (which Saba found 'roll-eyes'-able). [i still have my AP packet from last year, too.]

But, oy, July will find me hiding from my scores under my blankies.

Oops, i seriously meant to go to bed earlier tonight, but that obviously isn't going to happen.

For some reason, I now despise:
1. Food, 2. Words / Letters, 3. Numbers / Symbols, & 4. APs / Thinking

[edit] And my brain has most definitely reached its carrying capacity, b/c nothing makes sense in my head now. [/edit]

Mmm, there's nothing better than checking Blackboard at midnight and discovering that you had physics hw.

Calc was coolbeans; but EngLit was ouch x 100, especially the essays b/c i pretty much spent the entire time ransacking my brain for words...

[and the little grey pop-up thing is so flipping annoying. oy]

[edit] for some reason, i'm not really tired, or sleepy; but just lazy, which is just 'or-ree-ble porque los APs are .. here. eeps!

I guess I will not be donning Blue as my spiritwear for the next couple of years (unless I do something drastic), but rather Purple...

I should go find skissors to cut this afterprom wristband off..[/edit]

(pre)-Prom 2006. Serena has more.

Kay, so first, I had to refill the black ink cartridge on Saturday, which resulted in me accidentally dousing my left pinky in a dripping stream of black, black ink & which i scrubbed at for a good 10 minutes or so. (I ended up going to the musical w/ only a bit of black left, thank goodness though). Then, today, my mum noticed that the red wasn't coming, so I checked + discovered that the magenta seems to have soaked up some black. But it happened to have mysteriously soaked up so much that i finally decided to just go & give the ink tank a bath. Well, oops. I forgot that ink sometimes is a bit more permanent than, say, water. Now i've got purple splotches that look like bruises on my left hand (it's always my left hand, sheesh), and pink on my index finger which I had to use as a plug as I waited for the hot glue gun to heat up. Fun stuff. ><

I should use that as the excuse for why I haven't got my physics hw done. "Sorry, Mr. G. I didn't have time to do my physics hw b/c i was giving my printer cartridge a bath..."

Ah, Kt absentmindedly semi-singing, "Where have all the red pens gone..." to herself @ Kumon = XD!

For some reason, I seem to have run out of steam *image of toy train starting to slide backwards down a hill (due to lack of force opposing gravity)* Or else, my brain has reached its carrying capacity. And now, the capacitance must be decreasing *shrugs*. Eh, no more physics right now.

.. Having more SEE1 after the concert = ick. Especailly when it includes an assembly (along w/TC & Jazz band) @ the JH this friday fr. 7.30 - 11.30 am. Which means I will be missing all my beloved brain-worthy (a.k.a. AP) classes. I'm wondering whether I should get my permission form signed; although, i guess mr. smar would go *glare glare* if I didn't.

Filling out the pre-AP test stuff today was rather amusing (minus-ing the feeling of "i should be eeks-ing out, except I'm not . yet =X"). The whole "I really want to stick one of these [AP] labels on myself, go to a store make them to scan me... you know, to see how much I cost" thing, along with finding the most obscure colleges to send scores to, having people fill their sheets out in pen, & seeing Jen B. in her cool beret-y hat totally made my 3rd bell.

Oh, I found a place called "Truth or Consequences" on the North America map at Kumon. 'twas strange. I wouldn't like to live in that town...

Hehe. <-- Cool beans.

Oh look, it's been over a month & the english (poetry) essay is still not done. Actually, what's even better is that I've no idea where I've put my poetry stuff. whoops.

Oh, and i forgot to mention. Footloose = done, yay. I now have a life. No wait, I've got to go back to the other commitments like.. Kumon, .. SEE1 (>< x lots), ... schoolwork ( =\ ), ... and AP reviewing ( X( ). I think i would have preferred to stay in a deep, dark dungeon & bang away at the keys than do any of the above, pooh.

Hehehe. So the best day in physics, by far, would be yesterday: when one could find Mr. G, halfway through his lectures / calculations on Ampere's Law, happily shooting away (& wasting) his staples at a horseshoe magnet 3 ft away. The joys of having Jon Plona & Josh Lee in your class. =P

Wheee. the musical = cool! I have now seen about 4% of it (got to see 'Holding out for a Hero' during the 8th-grade preview stuff; can see bits of 'Dancing is not a Crime' & stuff such as the gym class & pre-'Mama Says'; ahh, but i really wanna see 'I can't stand still'). It makes it all the more interesting when Marisol says that David Morton's like a monkey with all his crazy dancing & what not. The photos of the cast & crew, btw, are also really cool, although it makes some look emo-y. XP

Musical (actual) performances begin tomorrow. hmm.

The right-hand rule for physics is so aggravating. The methods vary. Mr. G: thumb stands for I, fingers B, palm F; Textbook: fingers for I or v, bent fingers (palm) for B, thumb for F; ... WHAT?! it's more like an exercise for the fingers, wrist, and arm. And flexibility.

this is basically how my 3 day weekend happened (starting from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday morning): ~16 hrs spent on driving to/from Duke, ~8 hrs on Duke campus; ~11 hrs spent on driving to/from NW; ~9 hrs on NW campus; ~18 hrs of sleep; ~5 hrs of musical; = ~67 hrs, i believe. no surprise that i wasn't able to get much hw done at all? but now i'm really quite sleepy; my body's rebelling; i've got lots of hw & such; and the musical's this week, so come! =D?

Virginia has really pretty scenery (couple that w/a pinkful sunset & you get amaaazing picture-perfect scenery). O chem is so confusing especially when the instructor rattles off a bunch of "now, I believe Prof (so-and-so) started talking about peptide synthesis; there are two ways, one. solution based... *walks to chalkboard & draws some scary-looking diagrams (which, btw, spanned ~3 blackboards) while still talking*, blah blah blah, [... later...] Oh wait, *walks back to the first diagrams* that should have been this instead; the way i first drew it, it should've be a Gly instead of a Gla.. [etc. - trails off into more confusingness]." [Oh yeah, the other way is solid-based]. Happily, though, I actually understood his whole spiel about protein structure & such, esp. the alpha-helix & the beta-pleated sheets, hehe. (yay for AP Bio!) I also got to have a dose of AP Physics with demonstration labs on torque and frequency. Oh man, and the excellent thunderstorm / lightning show. My poor daddy had to drive through for about 4 hours b/c it pretty much stormed all the way from West Virginia to Ohio (So, Mr. I-hope-Duke-is-rioting-and-thunderstorming-..., I guess half of a half of your wish came true -- just not at the right time). Some of the lightning flashes were so blinding & frequent that i was quite convinced the sky'd gone loopy & become one giant strobe light.

Did that make any sense? Anyway, that was Duke, now for NW on monday.

Oh goodness, and musical rehearsal today = blech like no other b/c none but one of the 'core' instruments / ppl (keyboards, guitars, bass) were there. And that one = me. So that resulted in a very unhappy, already sleepy Stacy who attempted to play the others' parts in addition to her own. But she finally just snapped on the Finale piece & lost the counting completely. Which resulted in a red-faced Mr. Frank shouting "1, 2, 3, 4! 1, 2... You're off again!!" amid his crazy drumming.

You know, i never ever played gliss(ando)s during my entire piano-ing career of .. 12-13 years. And then this year, after I join SEE1 & the musical pit, i've been playing them all over the place. weirdness. & gliss-ing on keyboards = so much better than on a real piano. ouch. I still misaim occasionally & bang my hand into the edge of the key instead, resulting in a series of little bruises on the edge of my right hand. XP (i actually can't do the whole thumnail/fingernail. i've tried it numerous times before, but it just doesn't work w/me. oy)

Goodness, life is just so... so... I don't know... mysterious, irritating and frustrating. I honestly wish it would just leave me alone. X( *shooes the world away*

Ahh, so cute! =P

oh, but eeps! i managed to get through the entire day w/o having anyone sing. and then ruchi ruined it by telling mr. whap during the rehearsal, although she swears she didn't say anything.. (unfortunately i did see the lips moving so.. nice try, hehe) ... well, at least it was much better than any version the physics, calc or orch classes could do.

i guess surprises don't really work on me. whoops =\. planned surprises, i mean. but otherwise, the yg = awesome / XP-ing; quoteth alice, "I wish I'd known these ppl longer." =P

ooh dear. but hw calls, & i'm very eep-ed for school & footloose tomorrow since i still won't be able to finish the hw + i can't play about 3-5 songs still.

Sleepiness, oh dear. And I still haven't finished that English essay from... before spring break.

I got to look at my report card ... hm, i've had an exponential growth of B's this year compared to my entire hs career (9-11th); well, at least the growth is slowly becoming decay again. But really, what happened to my poor grades? ><

Oy! And the musical rehearsals are going to go *chomp chomp* on my time. I dearly hope that Monday's rehearsal won't be a 'full run' since... I despise syncopation, lots of big chords, and glissandos. And I hafta miss Kumon's 'award ceremony' thing which is always accompanied by food (passive voice, whoops).

That didn't really make much sense. But really, the month of April is not a happy month. G'night.

I seem destined to be the army of 89.something's best friend. as it's happened to me again, except in Physics this time. which is about the only class where I really work & fried my behind & brains off. and in which I dearly wish~~(ed)~~ to get that elusive A. ~~*cries*~~

and most of the colleges require 'end of the year' grades! =( !!

[edit - 4/4/06] but wait! Mr. g = a grade saver, thank goodness. What an awesome teacher. I went to him after-6th bell today to borrow a textbook and, while i was at it, asked him if I could do anything about the 89. He basically said, yeah he saw lots of borderline ppl so he gave everyone 5 extra points for the _heck_ of it. Ahh! We need more teachers like that. *is happy* [/edit]

I honestly thought Mother's Day was last sunday (3/26) [b/c it was in the UK] ... until Stacy Duh told me that it was in May.

England pics here. Rather boring just to warn =P.

[edit]Ooh, and my Mechanics Review 4 is printed on A4. which = slightly narrower but taller than Letter. once again, the joys of hopping around US + UK. [/edit]

I rather miss my dad's apartment smell. Mmm, and i literally feel like i'm moving still even though i'm not. o.O 's what you get from 18 hours of being in airports/airplanes. o.O?

[edit] I don't get my letters til monday.! X(!

England. was lovely. I really do like it there. Nevermind the fact that I was sometimes bored there; but, it really was worth my spring break, I think. My dad's apartment = cool beans! If i ever get an apartment, I would totally go look for one like his. And his car.. wow, maybe i'm just easily amused, but I had so much fun w/the instantaneous mpg (rather inaccurate, though, insisted daddy), the random traffic alerts (from BBC Cleveland, i liked the accent - seemed like a mix b/t Scottish/English), and the automatic windshield wipers.

Oh, and yesterday night, we went out to the 'City Centre' to eat (chinese food) & then my dad decided to show us the "night life" for newcastle ppl -- which was basically the streets teeming with young people. who dressed a bit crazily... mostly girls running around in mini-skirts & tank tops (in 40-50 F weather, I might add). And apparently, they were all heading to the pubs, for which Newcastle is famous. There were also two rather loopy girls who ran up giggling like mad while yelling, "Chinese people! [something] Yeah! Yeah! Yeah??" to my dad/mom/I as we were walking through a backstreet of chinatown. it rather weirded me out. I dearly hope college won't be like that. though it probably will be...

Now, to lose an hour after gaining six. Time is strange. [/edit]

Hehehe, they've got Street Sweepers here, which basically go through and water/clean the streets. I've never really seen those in the US...

Mmm, the sky = so blue (mostly), the weather = so warm & sunny (Yahoo reports 12 C, though my dad's thermometer says 20.4 C in the sun), the atmosphere = so peaceful (only sounds = the laptop, some construction ppl voices [at least no more machinery sounds ><], and occasional car passing by). What a nice day... *blissful sigh* man, i would totally go and sit on my dad's balcony if it weren't for this blasted english paper. >< Aaah! but the weather's so nice!

[that was really random. =X XP]

Today, i did absolutely nothing. well ok. nothing productive hw-wise. =X

I did go to ASDA later with the parents... and wondered why the stores [we went to 2 b/c the first didn't have soymilk in stock.. ><] had smilies just like Walmart... until my daddy told me ASDA was a part of Walmart. ><

and now i get to freak out over college decisions, x of which i will not be able to see until i return home -- and probably not until monday at that rate. X(

On a separate note, i do like England and (to me) its little eccentricities. <3 <3 . sigh. And i'm starting to realise just how... not quite spoiled but 'gimme more!'/'more space!' America is. *shrug* The houses here are literally crammed one against the other. and at the apartments you can literally see into other people's rooms. o.O But, nevertheless, I always tried to lead with looooove ... jk, 'nuff footloose. I meant to say, England's an awesome place to visit/short stay. It's cool living in another country (where you can mostly understand the people). Even the weather can be forgiven sometimes, I suppose.

Eeps! I'm not going to get into college! *hides*

Today, my dad decided that we should go to Whitby ? a rather small 'summer resort,' he says. During the 1.5 hr trip, according to his driving (2.25 according to Google), we got to listen to the 'Top x on Classic FM' as well as the 'Lunchtime Requests' so I got to listen to an excellent selection of ... classical music, including Mozart's 'A Musical Joke' (my brother & I used to love that =P), something from Tchaikovsky's (hope I spelled that correctly?) Nutcracker, some Beethoven sonate, etc. etc. and!! the St. Paul's Suite that we're currently trying to play in orchestra.

Once we got there, we got to eat the famed 'fish & chips' w/ tiny 2-in-long plastic forks (the tines were like.. half a cm long ><) wrapped in paper wrapping &.. paper. *shrug* the fish was mainly tasteless, so? eh. And then we basically walked ... a lot, saw lots of dogs, climbed lots of stairs, and took lots of pictures of random things =P. After that, my dad didn't feel like getting stuck in the Newcastle traffic (which happened anyway) so we wandered our way over to West Cliff. At first we were just going to see if there was a place to take pictures of the (really pretty) coast, but it quickly switched to hopping around on (literally) the beach / around the sea water while looking for pretty rocks/pebbles. And sadly, in the end, the North Sea managed to drench both my dad and my foot (my mother, btw, wisely stayed on the car & napped) & threaten to many more times before we ended up leaving b/c of the rising tide.

Oh! One more thing! As we were going home (on B1266 to A171 - yay, I remember the road names =X), there were sheep? SHEEP! wandering on the road with cars zipping by at 50-60 mph. o.O hehe, it was kinda funny watching them lolloping off the road while tending to their oh-so-appetising looking dinner.

Ok, I think English hw calls. ><

I'm starting to discover that overnight flights are just not for me because I somehow can never completely/happily fall asleep on an airplane. (On a slightly happier note, I have also discovered that i can still happily squish/curl myself into the space of an airplane seat, heh). And that bodes (very) ill for theTaiwan flight which is probably 3932845 times longer than the England flight. Ah dear.

But! It's always nice to visit my dad / Newcastle once in a while. 'Tis quite a different-kind-of peaceful setting with its lack of mosquitos (honestly, the windows don't even have screens) & massive highways (the roads are usually only 2/4 lanes wide, no 8-lane-wide I-71s or anything), and abundance of roundabouts and left-side driving. Ah, the absence of that constant highway / honking sound is particularly nice; or else, these apartments just have really nice sound-proof walls.

Some things I found rather amusing: 1) My dad sometimes doesn't even bother to close his 'front door' (if you can call it that for an apartment) leading to the main hallway b/c he figures no one goes to this corner of the apartment building anyway. So basically, my dear daddy just leaves the door wide open to the whole world. He claims it's to let food smell dissipate quicker XP. 2) Europe's already on Daylight Savings Time. *nods* That really confused me in Amsterdam b/c i could've sworn that Paris which is around the same time zone, has always been 6 hours ahead. Lucky for me, my dad happened to mention it while I was trying to figure out the time difference b/t here & cincy, heh. Thus, i've already lost my one hour. o.O The joys of traipsing across the Atlantic around April Fool's Day.

"SYCAMORE SCHOOLS IS CLOSED FOR
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2006."

Must have been the combined efforts of Mr. G & co. w/the hot chocolate @ 10 pm, Mrs. Ulland's "not-a-bribery! but i did say i had cookies waiting" [to the superintendent], & the long overdue you-owe-us-anyway snow day. yipeee. =D

coolios. stacy duh, it's done & now you haven't got to bother (me) about it anymore. =)

and is it bad that i'm almost happy even though i'll be heading off to bed with 5% of english done? [& btw, the chances of the 5% going to even a 50% is about .1%. use your stats brains to figure out how not cool that is. =P ]

So, planbook back. yay! ? Actually, I spotted a planbook sitting forlornly behind the front desk while perched atop the counter after the SEE1 concert (good thing no one seemed to mind). And then Alice J told me that the front desk actually kept the planbooks behind the counter, even though i'd seen them laid out in front before. So the next day, I went to the office and asked if they'd gotten any planbooks; and, lo & behold, the planbook i'd seen just 12 hours before was mine.

so i guess life is cool now b/c all the problems from 11 days ago are now all fixed. =)?

Unfortunately, I've gotten into an unbelievably big mess for the financial aid stuff -- which is drastically chopping my list of possible college into bits.

And I've got some rather unhappy-ing things coming up very soon. And then, after that, hopefully things'll be snazz(ier).

Mmm, the SEE1 concert wasn't that bad, though everything seemed really random/off/hey-let's-improvise-y. But something(s) completely random & .. erm? wow?-y: 1) Little kids were asking us for our autographs. yay, i feel famous. not. haha, but it was cute. =P; 2) Alex DePue, the guest performer, somehow knew that I'd performed w/the Clermont Philharmonic before. and he basically said something like, "you could go to nationals and get your own gig.!" O.o but before all that, he got upset when I told him i'd just quit piano recently. =X

hmm, overall good experience, i suppose. =)

I know how to solve squareroots by hand. yay! XP

and sweet 16 for the name-stealer, stacy duh. =)

"you should be a broker.." So says my econ teacher. o.O just because i pick cool stocks that seem to all be going in the positive direction mostly. Nevermind the fact that... well, i don't like econ.

Ah, and my watch -- i managed to pop off the watch back and take out the battery, so mummy went and got a new one. Sooo... my watch works again, yipee. Trying to put the screws back on was like.. ><-ing though. Oh, and my alarm clock works again. My computer isn't being as randomly jerky now. But all that remains to be right-ed is my elusive planbook. =(

and the horrible senioritis. X(