Stuff I think about

just shut up.

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 11:02:33 -0800

First, a story.

So, my first semester of my freshman year of college, I took this Intro to Women’s Studies class. The class met for five hours a week, one two hour session and one three hour session, and the breakdown of students was what I eventually discovered to be the typical sampling in any Women’s Studies class with no pre-recs at my mid-sized, southern Ohio state school. There were a number of girls who would become, or were already part of, the feminist advocacy groups on campus; there were a number of girls who would prove themselves to be opposed to feminism in both concept and practice, one of whom I distinctly recall giving a presentation on the merits of the “Mrs. Degree,” while my professor’s eye twitched in muted horror; there were a handful of girls and at least one guy I’d come to know later through assorted campus queer groups; and there were, of course, the three to six dudebros, self-admittedly there to “meet chicks,” all but one or two of whom would drop the class after the first midterm. At eighteen, I was myself a feminist in name but not in practice—I believed in the idea behind feminism (which is, for the record, that people should be on equal footing regardless of gender, not that we should CRUSH ALL MEN BENEATH THE VICIOUS HEELS OF OUR DOC MARTENS GLORY HALLELUJAH), but I didn’t actually know anything about it. I could not identify the waves of feminism. Intersectionality and how the movement is crap at it were not things of which I was aware. Never had I ever encountered the writings of bell hooks. In a lucky break, you do not need to know about the waves of feminism, or know what intersectionality is, or have read bell hooks to read this essay! (But you should read bell hooks. Everyone should read bell hooks. bell hooks is FUCKING AWESOME.)

The first couple of weeks of this class were about what you’d expect. The professor was fun and engaging, but she was not exactly pulling out the eye-opening stops on our wide-eyed freshman asses. There were handouts. There were selections of the textbook for reading. There was a very depressing class about domestic violence, abuse, and rape that was the typical rattling off of terms and horrific statistics that everyone winced at, but that nobody really internalized. The dudebros snickered in the back corner, grouped together like they would be infested by cooties if they spread out, occasionally chiming in with helpful comments like, “Dude, the lady on the back of this book is smoking,” and getting turned down by each girl in the class, on whom they were hitting in what I can only assume was a pre-determined descending order of hotness. The queer kids, myself included, huddled in the other corner making pithy comments. The up-and-coming active feminists glared at the bros, who leered back, and the Mrs. Degree-friendly crowd mostly texted under their desks and made it very clear that they were only there for humanities credit. Again, it was a fairly typical southern Ohio state school class full of fairly typical southern Ohio state school freshmen. Nobody was super engaged, is what I am saying here. Nobody, myself included, was really eating it up with a spoon.

And then one day, my professor opened the class with, “So, who here has seen Beauty and the Beast?”

Read More

Photo

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:34:57 -0700

What do you do?

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:12:55 -0700

This is kind of a cool question, but its usual implication is a little offensive. When people ask, “What do you do?” they usually mean, “What is your job?”

Luckily for me, “I’m a student” is an acceptable answer, otherwise I would be stuck with “Nothing” or “I wash dishes.” This is nowhere near representative of what I do.

Right now, to be honest, I play sudoku and kakuro a lot, as well as occasionally doing math or chemistry. I talk to people. I eat. I smashed about fifty fruit flies yesterday. But I’m getting into college life, and I’m starting to be more productive. I write. I play piano. I sing when I listen to music. I read. I knit while watching TV. I shoot people with nerf guns. I climb trees. Oh, and once a week I wash dishes for 3 1/2 hours.

My point is, my job says nothing about who I am or what I do with my life. This is important because so many people seem to think that their job defines them, but it doesn’t. Everything you do and think and dream defines you. A job can be a dream, a mission, a hobby, or simply a way to make money so you can do what you want with the rest of your life. Whatever your job is, it’s hardly ever a satisfactory answer to “What do you do?”

Forks are unnecessary.

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:31:00 -0700

I have long thought that forks are essentially useless. Yes, you need to use forks in order to be part of a well-mannered society, but when the only goal is to eat efficiently without making a mess, you don’t need a fork. The main functions of a fork are to scoop, stab, and cut (sometimes). Spoons are better at scooping than forks, since they’re solid. Knives are better at cutting, since they’re sharp, but a spoon will work just as well as a fork if you’re too lazy to get a knife. Stabbing is the real problem. Spoons can’t stab, and unless you have a steak knife (which would be so much easier), your eating knife probably has a blunt end. However, the vast majority of the time scooping works just as well as stabbing, and picking things up with chopsticks is a perfectly viable substitute.

To prove my theory, I eschewed forks for the month of September. I also managed to eat everything I wanted without difficulty. Most things are scoopable, and it doesn’t make a difference whether you use a fork or spoon. However, there were a few things that forks are useful for:

1. Long pasta

Short pasta is easy to eat with a spoon, but linguine is pretty much impossible. That said, eating spaghetti has always been a challenge for me, even with a fork. I had two solutions for this.

One, use chopsticks. I’ve grown up knowing how to use chopsticks, so it’s a practical option for me. By picking up the noodles with the chopsticks, I was able to eat pasta easier than with a fork, though there was an intermediate step of having pasta hang from my mouth before folding them in with the chopsticks. This happens with a fork for me anyway, so not much lost.

The second option is to cut the noodles with the side of your spoon, then eat it like short pasta. More prep work, but much easier.

2. Meat like steak

I don’t actually like eating meat like this, but I did imagine the difficulties. I’m pretty sure it would be possible to hold down the meat with another knife and cut it, but a fork is your best option here. Or you could just bite off the meat like a hamburger.

Though I didn’t have steak, I did have ham and lots of fish, all of which I was easily able to cut with my spoon.

The conclusion of my month-long study is this: unless you’re eating steak, forks are unnecessary for eating.

Another note: nobody asked me why I wasn’t using a fork the entire time. It doesn’t look that weird to eat everything with a spoon, so even the social aspect isn’t too major.

I hate phones

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 22:46:00 -0700

I know what a zombie feels like when it is brought back from the dead, or at least halfway. After flying to California in the morning and being exhausted, I took a nap in my grandparents’ guest room. Then the phone rang. It was loud, shrill, annoying, and entirely unexpected. I sat bolt upright and gasped like a fish, feeling like I was having a heart attack.

This is my worst experience with phones, but I also hate them for other reasons:

1. They interrupt you. I can’t function with interruptions, so I tend to get upset at things like phones, facebook messages, and my mom. Even if you aren’t being interrupted, there is the potential of interruptions to make you nervous. If you’re expecting a call, just give up. You’re not going to have any peace until the person calls. This is called “phone anxiety,” and I read an article about it yesterday. I realize the article talks about slightly different issues, but the premise is still the same.

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2012/07/age_of_distraction_the_brain_u.html

2. They are either too quiet to hear or irritatingly loud.

3. I have a clock radio in my room which makes funny beeping sounds when it picks up signals from my phone. Sometimes it means I have a text, sometimes not. Regardless, I have to endure periodic beeping unless I turn my phone off.

4. They are addictive. My mom won’t let me leave the house without my cell phone, I have to call her when I get to work, am leaving work, and if I’m leaving work late. If I go to the neighbor’s at night, I have to call to verify I wasn’t mauled by coyotes. I’m serious. She actually makes me do that.

justsaysomethingperfect: Sixteen Things Calvin and Hobbes Said...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:21:57 -0700

justsaysomethingperfect:

Sixteen Things Calvin and Hobbes Said Better Than Anyone Else

To paraphrase E.B. White, the perfect sentence is one from which nothing can be added or removed. Every word plays its part. In my more giddy moments I think that a simple comic strip featuring Calvin, a preternaturally bright six year-old, and Hobbes, his imaginary tiger friend, features some of the most lucid sentences committed to print. And when I sober up, I usually think exactly the same.

Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes ran between 1985 and 1995. His comic strip managed to infuse wondering (and wandering) on a cosmic scale into an ageless world of lazy Sunday afternoons, snow goons, and harassed babysitters. I’m not saying that you should take moral and philosophical guidance from the inventor of Calvinball (a game that runs on chaos theory), but you could do much worse.

So here, in no particular order, is a selection of quotes that nail everything from the meaning of life to special underwear. Enjoy.

On life’s constant little limitations

Calvin: You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.

On expectations

Calvin: Everybody seeks happiness! Not me, though! That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world. Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

On why we are scared of the dark

Calvin: I think night time is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction.

On the unspoken truth behind the education system

Calvin: As you can see, I have memorized this utterly useless piece of information long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.

On the cruel reality of commercial art

Hobbes: Van Gogh would’ve sold more than one painting if he’d put tigers in them.

On the tragedy of hipsters

Calvin: The world bores you when you’re cool.

On the tears of a clown

Calvin: Isn’t it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humour? When you think about it, it’s weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it’s funny. Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?

Hobbes: I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.

Calvin: (after a long pause) I can’t tell if that’s funny or really scary.

On the falling of sparrows (or providence’s lack of a timetable)

Calvin: Life is full of surprises, but never when you need one.

On why winter is the cruellest of seasons

Calvin: Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.

On the gaping hole in contemporary art’s soul

Calvin: People always make the mistake of thinking art is created for them. But really, art is a private language for sophisticates to congratulate themselves on their superiority to the rest of the world. As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.

On playing Frankenstein with words

Calvin: Verbing weirds language.

On realising God is more Woody Allen than Michael Bay

Calvin: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.

Hobbes: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.

Calvin: We need more special effects and dance numbers.

On why ET is real

Calvin: Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

On looking yourself in the mirror

Hobbes: So the secret to good self-esteem is to lower your expectations to the point where they’re already met?

On the future

Calvin: Trick or treat!

Adult: Where’s your costume? What are you supposed to be?

Calvin: I’m yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you’re old and weak. Am I scary, or what?

On the truth

Calvin: It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…Let’s go exploring!

Post cheating +Deutsch

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:09:00 -0700

I realized I’m not posting much, but I have some pretty cool writing I’ve done over the years for school (namely, German stories). Since I am now done with high school, I’ve decided to start posting some of my works. It’s also kind of cheating. However, I do have to translate stuff from German, so don’t bash me too hard.

This is a fairy tale I wrote for German class last year, incorporating many of the themes of the original Grimm’s fairy tales. If you haven’t read those, you really should, although be warned: they are much more graphic.

The Goldenstone

There was once a princess who liked to sit in trees. One day, she heard ravens.

One raven said, “Have you heard that the Goldenstone has been found?”
“No,” another raven answered. “Where is it?”

“What’s the Goldenstone?” a third raven asked.

“It’s the biggest fruit in the world!” the second raven said.

“It tastes like heaven and is gold like the sun,” the first raven said.

“And where its seed is planted grows a beautiful tree with golden leaves and a silver trunk,” the second raven said.

“We should get this Goldenstone!” the third raven said.

“No, we cannot,” the first raven said sadly. “It can only be picked by a human.”

“A pity,” said the other two ravens.

“I could do it,” the princess said. “I would like this tree in my garden.”

“No, you could not,” the first raven said. “It would be too dangerous for you!”

“Yes, there are obstacles. Fire and Earth, Water and Air, Light and Dark,” the second raven said.

“You would die!” said the first raven.

The princess was determined. “I am going.”

The third raven flew to the princess. “I shall go with you,” he said.

The two went west. They came to a river. It was wide and deep, but it looked clean.

“Oh!” the princess said. “What a beautiful river!” She went nearer, and the river turned into lava.

“How do I go across the river?” the princess asked.

“There is no way over,” the raven said. “You must jump.”

“I cannot, it is too far.”

“You must prove your strength.”

The princess jumped to the other side.

“Good! You are strong enough,” the raven said. “Come further!”

They walked onto a field. A geyser erupted near the princess.

“You must prove your agility,” the raven said.

The princess ran over the field. She dodged the geysers as they erupted. She came to the other side.

It became dark. “I cannot see!” the princess cried.

“Go forwards,” the raven said. “Follow my voice.”

The princess followed the raven’s voice. Then a light appeared on the right. “Oh! A light!” said the princess. She went to the light.

“No, princess!” said the raven. “Follow me!”

“But the light is so beautiful!”

Another light appeared further on, and another further. The princess followed the lights. More appeared, and the princess became lost. “Follow me, princess!” said the raven. “You must prove your trust!” The princess trusted him and followed him to the tree. The Goldenstone glinted at the crown of the tree.

“I cannot take it, and you are too heavy to lift,” the raven said. “You must climb.”

The princess climbed the tree. The bark was rough, and the princess’s hands became torn and bloody. She came to the Goldenstone and picked it. She climbed down and went home.

The princess ate the Goldenstone and planted the seed. It became a beautiful tree, and the princess looked at the golden leaves and the silver trunk every day. The three ravens lived in the tree, and were happy.

And they lived happily ever after.

The last line is the english equivalent of “Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, leben sie noch heute.” This concludes many of the original Grimm’s fairy tales, and literally means, “And if they have not died, they still live today.”

Here is the original fairy tale, in German:

Der Goldenstein

Es gab einmal eine Königstochter, die in Bäumen gerne saß. Eines Tages hörte sie Raben.

Ein Rabe sagte, „Habt ihr gehört, dass der Goldenstein gefunden worden ist?“

„Nein,“ antwortete ein anderer Rabe. „Wo ist er?“

„Was ist der Goldenstein?“ fragte ein dritter Rabe.

„Er ist das größte Obst in der Welt!“ sagte der zweite Rabe.

„Er schmeckt wie der Himmel und ist Gold wie die Sonne,“ sagte der erste Rabe.

„Und wenn sein Kern gepflanzt wird, wächst ein schöner Baum mit goldenen Blättern und einem silbernen Baumstamm,“ sagte der zweite Rabe.

„Wir sollen diesen Goldenstein bekommen!“ sagte der dritte Rabe.

„Nein, wir können nicht,“ sagte der erste Rabe traurig. „Er kann nur von einem Mensch gepflückt werden.“

„Schade,“ sagte die zwei andere Raben.

„Ich könnte das machen,“ sagte die Königstochter. „Ich möchte dieser Baum in meinem Hof.“

„Nein, Sie könnten nicht,“ sagte der erste Rabe. „Es wäre zu gefährlich für Sie!“

„Ja, es gibt Behinderungen. Feuer und Erde, Wasser und Luft, Licht und Dunkel,“ sagte der zweite Rabe.

„Sie würden sterben!“ sagte der erste Rabe.

Die Königstochter war entschlossen. „Ich gehe.“

Der dritte Rabe flog zur Königstochter. „Ich komme mit,“ sagte er.

Die zwei gingen nach Westen. Sie kamen zu einem Fluss. Er war weit und tief, aber er sah rein aus.

„Oh!“ sagte die Königstochter. „Was für einen schönen Fluss!“ Sie ging näher, und der Fluss wurde Lava.

„Wie gehe ich über den Fluss?“ fragte die Königstochter.

„Es gibt kein weg gegenüber,“ sagte der Rabe. „Sie müssen springen.“

„Ich kann nicht, er ist zu weit.“

„Sie müssen Ihre Kraft nachweisen.“

Die Königstochter sprang zur anderen Seite.

„Gut! Sie sind Kräftig genüg,“ sagte der Rabe. „Weiter, weiter!“

Sie gingen auf einem Feld. Ein Geiser tauchte neben der Königstochter auf.

„Sie müssen Ihre Wendigkeit nachweisen,“ sagte der Rabe.

Die Königstochter rannte übers Feld. Sie wich den Geisern aus, als sie auftauchten. Sie kam zur anderen Seite.

Es wurde dunkel. „Ich kann nicht sehen!“ schrie die Königstochter.

„Gehen Sie vorwärts,“ sagte der Rabe. „Folgen Sie meiner Stimme.“

Die Königstochter folgte der Stimme des Rabes. Dann erschien ein Licht von der rechte Seite. „Oh! Ein Licht!“ sagte die Königstochter. Sie ging zum Licht.

„Nein, Königstochter!“ sagte der Rabe. „Folgen Sie mir!“

„Aber das Licht ist so schön!“

Ein anderes Licht erschien weiter, und ein anderes weiter. Die Königstochter folgte den Lichtern. Mehr erschienen, und die Königstochter wurde verwirrt. „Folgen Sie mir, Königstochter!“ sagte der Rabe. „Sie müssen Ihr Vertrauen nachweisen!“ Die Königstochter vertraute ihm und folgte ihm zum Baum. Der Goldenstein glänzte zum Höhepunkt des Baumes.

„Ich kann er nicht holen, und Sie sind zu heftig zu heben,“ sagte der Rabe. „Sie müssen klettern.“

Die Königstochter kletterte auf den Baum. Die Baumrinde war rau, und die Hände der Königstochter wurden gerissen und blutig. Sie kam zum Goldenstein und pflückte ihn. Sie kletterte herunter und ging nach Hause.

Die Königstochter aß den Goldenstein und pflanzte den Kern. Er wurde ein schöner Baum, und die Königstochter schaute auf die goldene Blätter und den silbernen Baumstamm jeden Tag. Die drei Raben wohnten in dem Baum, und waren glücklich.

Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, leben sie noch heute.

Rolly Chairs

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:32:00 -0700

“Rolly” seems spelled wrong.

That would be because it isn’t officially a word. However, a google search of “rolly chairs” returns results, so I’m keeping it.

I love rolly chairs, especially the ones that swivel. I pretty much need to be moving all the time, so it helps if the chair I’m sitting in facilitates movement, such as bouncing, turning side to side, and sliding back and forth. Also, the filing box I’m using for scholarship stuff is out of reach where I’m sitting. With a rolly chair, I can just move over (also why I like long headphone cords). Rolly chairs also lend mobility in math class so I can be part of two tables, sort of. In a non-work setting, rolly chairs provide great rides, providing moving backwards at high speeds is considered fun.

College? Yes, college. YAY!

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:06:29 -0700

So, I’m officially going to Grinnell now!

You’ve probably never heard of it.

It’s in Iowa, among the cornfields. It’s hot in the summer, snowy in the winter, and full of awesome people. Its unofficial mascot is a SQUIRREL, which should be enough for anyone.

Maybe I should write something

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:04:00 -0700

Such as how much I hate busywork.

My mom is currently forcing me to do a “10 day” scholarship program, which takes way longer than 10 days. I already know how to write essays. See, this post is like an essay! It has a title, a hook, an introduction, a body, and a conclusion (coming soon). Wasting my time with worksheets will only make me run out of time to apply to more scholarships.

In conclusion, I don’t need formulas to write essays, since they produce horrible phrases like “in conclusion.”

So now there's a shark lying on the floor of the elevator...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:05:00 -0700

I’m a TA for Biology, and I often have to deliver items between the biology room on the second floor and the biology room (where I’m a TA) on the first floor. If it’s a lot of items, or they’re heavy, I use a cart in conjunction with an elevator.

The week before spring break, I had to find a bunch of creepy animals in jars and take them down to biology. I had done this classification lab last year, so I remembered some of the animals, most notably a small shark in a jar with its tail bent. I always felt sorry for and a little intimidated by the shark.

All the animals were on one side of the cart, and as I was about to enter the elevator, I was on the other side. I thought it would be better if I was on the side with the animals, but I also wanted to be on that side on the way out, so I kept the cart the way it was. As I went in, the cart bumped on the elevator door, and two of the jars fell off. One was the shark. The jar crashed onto the elevator floor, and liquid spilled everywhere, with the little shark lying sadly in the middle.

The other jar was fine, so I picked it up and replaced it on the cart. The shark was a problem. The jar was broken, and wouldn’t be able to hold the shark anymore. Even if it could, there was no liquid to preserve the shark. The worst part was, everything had spilled in the elevator, which was going to go down. So I pulled the cart in the rest of the way and went downstairs, then closed the elevator with the shark inside and took the cart to biology. The elevator hadn’t stayed in place when I was upstairs, meaning someone else was using it. I prayed no one would shortly encounter an unexpected shark.

I entered the biology room and told the teacher, “Uh, when I was going into the elevator, the cart bumped on the doorway and a jar fell off and broke. So now there’s a shark lying on the floor of the elevator.”

The whole class freaked out. “What? Where is it?”

“It’s a small, dead one,” I told them. My teacher calmly told me to get some gloves and clean up the mess with paper towels, once she had ascertained there would be no problems with broken glass. I returned to the elevator (which thankfully no one had used) and spent some time mopping up formaldehyde. I picked up the poor shark, which I hadn’t thought I would ever need to touch, and replaced it in the broken jar.

When I returned to the classroom, the elevator dry, students backed away from the eight-inch shark, which I found rather funny. It’s dead, guys.

After I had finished everything I was supposed to do, I was on the teacher’s computer. While students were working, she approached me and asked, “Christine, could you google formaldehyde substitute?”

That, for me, was the end of the shark incident. The best part was being able to say, “So now there’s a shark lying on the floor of the elevator.” How many times do you hear that in a lifetime?

Negative Energy

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:37:12 -0700

Why are some people so centered on things they can’t do? Or even worse, things you can’t do. Everyone knows that positive thinking can do wonders. The most limiting factor in most peoples lives are their own and others’ perceived limits.

Two references:

King George VI

Darl

Water falling from the sky

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:33:00 -0700

If you live in Portland, maybe you’ve noticed that it rains a lot. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about the fact that it is water falling from the sky. Why does water, of all things, fall from the sky? When you think about it, it’s really weird. It also makes me grumpy when I have to walk through water that is for some reason appearing out of the air to drop onto my head. Go away, rain and clouds, and please come back at night when I’m asleep and don’t care what the weather is like.

That’s actually how I feel about rain when I have to walk through it and it’s grey outside. But really, I like rain itself, especially seeing drops falling into puddles or water droplets on the plants. It’s just the getting wet and cold part and the fact that the world turns grey that annoys me.

Donate! Lend! For FREE!

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:32:15 -0700

Wait, what day is it? March 13^th, almost halfway through March which means I FAIL at coming up with new 30-day challenges.

However, I do have some ongoing challenges (or things I am determined to do consistently whether they’re challenging or not), one of which is to accomplish one thing every day. By this I mean something meaningful that either takes a really long time (cleaning up my room) or makes the day worthwhile and significant.

Today, I have definitely succeeded because I watched this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lisqjq0-YE&feature=g-u-u&context=G2c8cbc6FUAAAAAAAAAA

I signed up on Kiva to give a free loan of $25. Kiva essentially does microloans, small loans to people who are too poor to get the money they need to start or further their business. Big banks won’t lend to them because

1. Since they have never borrowed, they have a bad credit rating.

2. Banks like big loans

Microloans, as the name suggests, are small loans, hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. This makes it so much easier for people to help with the loans!

That’s how Kiva works, so you should click on the link above to register to give a free loan of $25. You get to pick who you help, too. Or you can click on the link below for more information:

http://www.kiva.org/about/microfinance

This is why I should have no homework more often.

Printer

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:47:16 -0800

It stopped at Chapter Seven.

I looked to see if it was out of paper - it wasn’t. I told it to go, there was nothing wrong.

The printer started spitting out blank sheets of paper. I told it to stop. It stopped with a blank sheet halfway out. After repeating this several times, I looked inside again. It had begun to swallow the entire stack of paper destined for printing.

I pulled out the stack, pulled out the stuck sheet of paper, and told it to go again. The printer spat out one last, sad, crumpled sheet, and sat there.

I rebooted the printer and tried to print out my selection again.

The printer did not respond.

I tried again.

The printer did not respond.

Now it’s staring at me, refusing to do the thing I ask.

I would print this out to have a copy, but unfortunately I can’t.

DONE.

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:06:49 -0800

I went and edited every single chapter in my novel. All 32 of them. But some still need more work, so I’m not really done. But still.

February! = more work

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:24:00 -0800

^ I had a math final today and a physics final yesterday, so please don’t call me nerdy.

Finals were the reason why I put this off a couple days, but now finals are over. That means I’m a 2nd semester senior! So now I have less work, right?

Right?

No?

Well, I still have to apply for scholarships I guess. And I’m somewhat masochistic, so I’m going to start a new 30 DAY CHALLENGE! These are fun, and I need to seriously edit my book, so I’m combining them. My challenge is to edit 5 chapters or write 5 pages per day for 30 days (I don’t have enough chapters to edit 5 per day).

This is a bit much, and therefore I’m totally going to do it. Because I like doing things like that.

EDIT (2/17/12):

Sorry, but this 30 day challenge died a violent death. A giant monster called Publishing came and ate it after I finished editing my book. I’ll have a new one next month, though!

Do I have ADHD?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:18:00 -0800

I have suspected I might have ADHD for a while now. I know someone who actually does have ADHD, and he’s way more extreme than me, but I’m more like him than most everyone else.

In my room, I realized I actually might have ADHD because most of my furniture is mobile in some way. I have a trampoline, a punching bag, a bed that I jump on, a rocking chair, and a swopper. A swopper is the most awesome thing to sit on in the world - it’s like a stool, but it bounces, spins, and leans. The only pieces of furniture in my room that I can’t somehow use to move are my table, desk, and dresser.

I’m also pretty spontaneous sometimes. Yesterday, I was supposed to write tea and tamales on the grocery list. I had the notepad in my hand, and I don’t know what happened but for some reason I went off and did something else, and never wrote down tea and tamales. Now I’m trying to drink tea that’s loaded with cinnamon (not by me) instead of mint.

I was reading the blog Hyperbole and a Half (which is very funny, although sometimes inappropriate) when she talked about taking an ADHD test. So I thought I would take an ADHD test too. This was the result:

Results of your
Attention Deficit Disorder Quiz

You scored a total of 71

It is highly likely that you are presently suffering from adult attention deficit disorder, according to your responses on this self-report questionnaire. You should not take this as a diagnosis of any sort, or a recommendation for treatment. However, it would be advisable and likely beneficial for you to seek further diagnosis from a trained mental health professional immediately.

Really? I honestly answered those questions and I get THIS?

I retook the test twice, deliberately trying to lower my score. I was unable to get below “Mild ADHD.”

I looked up more on ADHD, and apparently it shares many symptoms with bipolar disorder. I don’t think I’m bipolar, but if you’ve ever played Fire Emblem, my biorhythm would be like Edward’s. Hm. So, ADHD?

This is why you don't make me write college essays

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:38:25 -0800

Right now I’m chained to my computer, and I’m supposed to be writing a college essay for Cornell. Unfortunately, I’m at a dead spot right now, and chaining me to a computer doesn’t help. My mom doesn’t understand that, so I’m stuck here.

This is what happens when you try to make me write a college essay:

1. I open the document and the internet.

2. I ignore the document and get on facebook, youtube, and backgammon.

3. I look at facebook, play songs on youtube, and play online backgammon for several hours.

4. Whenever my parents come in, I go back to the document and pretend to be writing.

5. I get on tumblr and write this post.

This kills productivity, although I think I will work on my book now, and maybe get something done.

Tea

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:58:00 -0800

I started drinking tea on Saturday. The night before, I had a dream about being really thirsty, and massive amounts of tea were the only solution. So I decided to test out the English theory that tea solves everything.

I drank a cup of tea Saturday night. Acai berry; it gave me a headache.

Then I drank 3 cups of mint and 1 cup of raspberry tea on Sunday.

I drank another two cups of mint tea last night, and two tonight.

I thought I should mark this milestone somehow: I am now hooked on tea. And yes, tea does help calm me down when I’m feeling stressed out. I am currently under a lot of stress:

Extended Essay

Math project

TOK paper

Physics lab

History test

Oh, and of course, I find out whether I got into Yale in two days.

I realized a couple days ago (Sunday, the day I drank 4 cups of tea) that my entire future could depend on that decision. Key point in time? Maybe?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, I drink tea. And I get to play lasertag on Friday with a bunch of other people who are applying early so we can celebrate/commiserate together.