Hit the Lights

"Stars should not be seen alone. That's why there are so many. Two people should stand together and look at them. One person alone will surely miss the good ones." - Augusten Burroughs, Dry

These past few days have been the purest form of torture. This past Friday was the first day of midterms. And well, the rest should be somewhat self-explanatory. On Friday, I took my World Literature and AP Chemistry exams after sleeping for a mere hour. Then the next day on Saturday I went to take my SAT IIs for chemistry. (I know it's not May or June yet so I shouldn't be taking SAT IIs really, but I don't feel like waiting that long and putting myself under more stress when AP testing comes.) On Sunday, I studied for the entire day. The. Entire. Day. And then didn't go to sleep until 5:30AM on Monday. At 6:00AM that same day, I got up to get ready for school so I could take my AP European History and physics exams. And finally, today I took my AP Calculus AB exam.

The bright side is that after exams, we're allowed to go home. So I've been getting home before lunch. :) Today I got home at 9:30AM!

But enough negativity for one post! I've been really enjoying myself today so far. I got home after taking my test and just sat in front of the computer watching more of The Big Bang Theory and then had some fun on the piano. And then I picked up my Nikon again, dusted it off, and took some pictures for this post. I went outside with a book to be greeted by the lovely 60 degree weather we have right now! I love snow, but the weather these days feels like spring and spring > winter, hands down.

Sadly, all of the pictures with the book are so, so overexposed. I wasn't aware when I was outside taking the photos, but as soon as I uploaded them onto my computer.....they didn't look as nice as I thought they did.

Does that ever happen to anyone? I always take pictures and think that they'll turn out nicely, only to hate 99% of them when they're on my computer screen. There's something so deceiving about the little LCD screen on dSLRs and point-and-shoots.

Other things that made this past weekend a little more bearable:

• My neighbor rang my doorbell with her daughter who was trying to sell Girl Scout cookies. My dad came to the door and bought four boxes of Thin Mints. So now there are four boxes of pure heaven sitting in my pantry.
• As I was studying on Sunday, my parents came back from shopping. And they bought me an Angry Birds flashdrive. An. Angry. Birds. Flashdrive. You wouldn't believe how excited I am to use it.
• My painting (that I mentioned in a few posts ago) that I submitted for that contest was recently accepted. And I got an e-mail saying that I was invited to the private reception/the opening of the showcase on February 7. I don't think I can go, but just knowing that my painting will be hanging on the wall with all of these other artists' work makes me happy for some reason.

Midterm schedule.

Anyhow, I hope all of you have been well! Can you believe that tomorrow's officially February?

The Remedy

"I just want you to know that you're very special...and the only reason I'm telling you is that I don't know if anyone else ever has." -Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

It's been awhile since I last blogged, but I'm still alive, I promise. Today was the first day I got my hands back on my Nikon and took a few pictures. I wouldn't have stopped, but it started yelling at me to charge the battery. And so this post has the few that I managed to get in.

Anyhow, remember how I've been complaining about there being no snow this winter? Imagine my excitement when I woke up this morning and saw the streets covered in white. I ran back to my room and just stared at everything for the longest time. And then the hums of the snow blowers started up, and I knew that today was going to be a good day. :)

Other than that, I've been nonstop driving lately. I'm trying to get in as many hours as I can so I can soon take my license test! I can't wait to drive on my own. Maybe then I won't have to wake up at 6:00AM to catch the bus to school.

(My father's handwriting. He's been logging my hours!)

I also find it mind-boggling that people drive on the left side of the street in places like England and Australia.

Speaking of Australia, I am immensely jealous of all the people who are at the Australian Open. I can't even begin to imagine how amazing everything must be there in Melbourne. Summer time + the heat + tennis + Roger Federer ♥ = perfection. I was going to go to the U.S. Open this past summer/fall, but I had too many assignments to do (procrastination at its finest). But my parents promised me that they'll take me this year, so I'm just sitting here hoping that Roger Federer doesn't get injured (or even retire) before that time. He's amazing.

To make this weekend even better (aside from the fact that I have tests every single day this upcoming week and midterms start on Friday), Monday is Chinese New Year which means a nice dinner on Sunday night. I feel like I'm the only one here who gets really excited for it, but I love traditions. Plus, I really enjoy watching the CCTV Chinese New Year Gala on TV. And this upcoming year being the year of the dragon, I can only imagine how enjoyable it'll be. And, I can watch it on Sunday since the time difference is so big, haha.

But before that, I should go do some homework. This week is going to be so stressful.
But have a fantastic weekend, everyone! And happy (almost) Chinese New Year -- 新年快乐!

P.S.- Do you like my new M&M pillow? Oh, the things you can get for $10. ♥

Turning Tables

"There are two versions of myself. The exuberant, alive me and the broken, reclusive me. I see flashes of the former, but always revert to my broken self, waving a bittersweet goodbye to feeling alive.” -Anonymous

I wish the flower were focused. Some guy accidentally knocked into me at this very moment, and I didn't have the time to take another.

But hello! I feel like I haven't blogged in so long even though that was only a week ago. I wasn't planning on blogging today since nothing has happened/I've taken no new photos, but I realized I won't have any time in these upcoming days. School's back and it basically sucks. This upcoming week I have a test every single day except for Thursday. I'm not even sure how this happens, but it apparently does. Quite often, too.

But enough complaining about the death of a workload that junior year brings me! On Friday, I went to another track meet! There weren't many spots in the meet for sprinters so I expected to have a chance to go home and relax, but my coach called me over and told me that I was running the 4x400. Since there was no 4x200 at the meet, my race was last. So I spent the entire time cheering other people on and avoiding my backpack and the work that was in it. I got placed as the 4th leg in the race, meaning I was to run last. We were heat 3 lane 1, meaning that we were technically the fastest team in our heat. And we were! The only problem was that because we were so far ahead the whole time, legs 2 and 3 didn't know how fast to go, and we fell a bit behind. When it got to my turn, I held first for nearly the whole way through. In the last straightaway, I saw the girl start to pass me, so I tried running harder.

Note to self: never try to run harder.

I ended up falling because I lost my balance. All I heard was "ohhhhh" from everyone watching. I didn't even really feel the scrapes on my arms and legs. Even though I wiped out, I ended up still finishing second, which was really surprising. Too bad right now I feel an immense pain every time I move the right side of the body. Though my favorite part had to be when our distance coach came over and told me that my falling down was awesome. I was and still am so confused. But now, I'm mainly just really afraid to see when I'll get put into another meet. I hope it's soon, but I highly doubt it.

Anyway, enough with the sports rambles. It's been really warm around here lately, and I wish it weren't. As much as I love and cherish the summer heat, I want snow. 60 degree weather is not appropriate for winter! This time last year, it was nonstop snowing. I still remember having a late arrival after late arrival because of the icy conditions. But yesterday, I didn't even go outside with a jacket on. I don't think I've ever been so sad because of the warmth.

(I would insert another picture here so I can change the topic, but I'm out of photos to use. Like I said, my life...not very interesting at the moment.) But nevertheless, I just followed a bunch of new blogs on Blogspot! No one here where I live really uses Blogspot so I always end up following a bunch of people from different countries. And whenever I read everyone else's posts it makes me want to go to where they live. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Anyhow, I should go start my AP European History homework. And then study for my organic and nuclear AP chem test that's tomorrow. Asdfghjkl;

Hopefully you're all having a great new year! Enjoy what's left of this weekend. :)

Happy New Year!

I'm ready for something new. I'm ready for spontaneous, glory days. I'm ready for new adventures, new explorations, new places, and new opportunities. I'm just so ready to start over. I want to leave behind unhappiness, skinny love, chilled hearts, broken souls, and mend-less nights. I want to leave behind the past and pack up for the future. It's just time for me to take a deep breath and move along to this new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last night I went to my friend's house for her New Year's party! At first it was...awkward. But in the end, I guess I can safely say that I had a pretty good time. Around 11:30PM, the atmosphere started loosening up a bit! We all sat around the TV and watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. We managed to see Lady Gaga and her...rather interesting costume. (I seriously still don't know what it was.) And finally when the countdown to 2012 was down to a mere 10 seconds, we all started chanting the numbers while watching the ball in New York City slowly drop. And when the clock hit 12:00, tons of poppers were popped, noisemakers were used, and people were exclaiming, "Happy New Year!"

Then everyone's excitement started dying down a bit and we all went to our phones. And whenever I glanced at the TV, I couldn't help but wish I were there in New York City, too. None of my friends seem to agree with me, but I think spending New Year's in NYC would be beyond wonderful.

I definitely plan on one day spending the whole week from Christmas to New Year's there lodged in NYC. I was there for Christmas last year, and I couldn't have had a better time. I wish we had stayed longer, but everything was great--even the massive snowstorm that occurred! (Over 1 foot of snow came down on us last year and we didn't cancel our trip because we had tickets to see Lion King on Broadway.)

...If you live in another country, how do you celebrate New Year's? From the blogs on here that I follow, everyone's been saying how they went to go see the fireworks and all. We don't ever have that here. ;~; New Year's in America doesn't involve fireworks, really. We mainly all just sit around and wait for the ball to drop.

Anyway, I should go do my AP euro project. I've been "working" on it all week. (And yes, by working I mean watching The Big Bang Theory.) I just wish that winter break would somehow be extended. I'm not ready to go back to school on Tuesday. (Not to mention how much work I still have to do.)

Hope you all have an amazing 2012! May your new year be filled with nothing but happiness, laughter, and love. <3

**All of these pictures were taken in October 2010.