Somewhere Only We Know

"I am not sad, he would repeat to himself over and over, I am not sad. As if he might one day convince himself. Or fool himself. Or convince others -- The only thing worse than being sad is for others to know that you are sad." - Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

Some of my favorite books.

Hello, hello! It's been a few weeks since I last posted. And for once, a lot has happened.

First off, prom was on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th), and it was a mixture of awkward and fun. Prom only happens twice in your lifetime, so I'm glad I went, in a sense.

Anyway, because this week is spring break (it's about time!), last week I was suffocated with tests, quizzes, and papers. I don't know how, but I made it through all of the stress. And now there's officially only one more quarter left of the school year! It's crazy, but this year has really gone by so quickly. September feels like it wasn't that long ago, and here we are now, in April. But as nostalgic as this might seem, I'm wholeheartedly glad this year is almost over. I'm so done with the stress and sleep deprivation of junior year.

The perks of being chemists' daughter.

I'm just really glad it's spring break right now. Even though I plan on spending the majority of this week curled up with my AP books and working on my author project for English class, there are definitely perks to this week. I visited two colleges on Saturday and plan on visiting two more on Friday. (A post on that will be made as soon as I overcome laziness.) And last night, I went to my friend's house with a few other friends to just hang out and relax.--I just feel pretty content with life right now, and it's a good feeling to have.

Also, I forgot to mention that I got my driver's license about a week ago! I feel so much closer to freedom already, and I love driving by myself so much. I've been driving to school, and not having to rush when the bell rings at the end of the day is so, so nice. And I love being able to get to places now without having to ask my parents to drive me. ...Everything about having my license is better than I originally imagined.

Anyhow, I should get going! I need to go study and do some work before the NCAA finals today (go Kentucky!). Plus, I have a few pieces of artwork I want to finish while I still have the time. And I need to catch up on my daily reads here on Blogspot! I've been gone for so long that I'm behind with being updated on everyone else's lives.

Hope you all have a wonderful April!

Formulae

"There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't." - Gail Carson Levine

I've been inactive solely for the reason that I haven't had the effort or inspiration to take pictures. Those in this post are all scraps. I'm sorry if they're bad, but I have this need to blog since it's been two weeks now.

In these past few weeks, I've mainly just taken a bunch of tests--from the national French exam to the SATs (oh, the dreaded SATs). However, after the SATs on Saturday, I spent my night with a few of my friends. We first went to IHOP to eat dinner (something I completely detested since breakfast food is already bad in my mind, but breakfast food for dinner is just unfathomable). Our waiter had such an attitude, haha. When he was asking us what we wanted to drink and we all said water, he replied, "Are you really going to do this? Really? All water? You're making my sales go down." We ended up giving him a decent tip, but in all honesty, he didn't deserve it.

After dinner, we walked over to Regal to watch "The Lorax." We figured since it was a 9:00PM showing, there would be no little kids. Wrong. The theatre was essentially us, little kids, their parents, and their grandparents. In all honesty, I found the movie to be extremely strange. The message and the cartoons were cute, but other than that, I was deeply creeped out by some of the scenes. Musical numbers included.

I've also found that poems are so satisfying. My writing is not of any worth or quality, but I still highly enjoy the process. But as my love for writing increases, my love towards English class is becoming nonexistent. My teacher has been giving us all pop quizzes that no one can do well on. And it bothers me because normally I enjoy the pop quizzes because they test my ability to memorize details. But her questions are just so vague that it makes it nearly impossible for my detail-oriented mind to pick out just what she wants.

On another note, it's early-mid March. And the weather is beautiful. It hits 70 degrees everyday now--something that doesn't happen until April/May. I hope it stays like this because it just reminds me of how summer is just that much closer.

A Thousand Years

"Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it." -Mitch Albom

I feel so guilty when I log onto Blogspot and see everyone else's new posts. And so, with the extra time given to me by the early dismissal from school today, I decided to pull out the dSLR and take some photos so I could make a blog post.

The only real significant thing that's happened to me since the last post is February turned into March. March will be so bittersweet, and I'm bracing myself for what's to come. There'll be the French National Exam, SATs, science fair, junior prom, March Madness, St. Patrick's Day, Spring break, and (hopefully) a little pleasant surprise towards the end of March. Every weekend seems to be stocked full of activities, which I can't decide is a good or a bad thing.

Regardless, life these days has been pretty much the same. In order to cope with the stress and sleep deprivation that junior year brings, I've been trying to find more music to listen to. I'm really into alternative/indie rock, but it's hard to find something that'll fit my music taste just right. However, if you're curious, I'm currently listening to "Drive" by Incubus. :)

My friends have been calling me "hipster" lately, but honestly, I find my music to be fairly well-known compared to some of the indie bands out there. I listen to Coldplay, Bon Iver, The Script, The Maine, Blink-182, Mumford & Sons, Angels & Airwaves, Phoenix, etc! What music do you listen to?

On another note, today in World Literature class, we had to come in with a "mini essay" discussing what we'd miss about home if we were to leave for twenty years. She told the people who thought their essay was good to raise their hands, and I did the little so-so gesture as everyone else raised their hands high. And she looked around, and then told me to go up to the front of the room to present it. It was fairly awkward and slightly annoying that she called on me of all people, but at least I got through it. Ugh, public speaking.

But I should really go do some SAT work now.
Hopefully all of you have an amazing March!

(And if any of you have an Instagram, add me! Mine's "ambuhr.")

Four Corners

"Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others." - Virginia Woolf

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA.

I've decided to dig out some old pictures back from August 2011 and sneak them into some of my upcoming and current posts. I realized I never did blog about my trip to the western half of America which is quite tragic seeing as it was absolutely beautiful there. I went to six national parks, each just as gorgeous as the last. And I also went to Las Vegas. (Pictures of Las Vegas were already posted.) This post only has a few of the pictures from the various national parks I visited, but I'm positive there will be more uploaded in the future. All of the text in blue will be about my trip while all of the text in gray will be an update on my life.

The Delicate Arch was one of my favorite spots that we visited. We gathered around the arch waiting for the sunset, only to realize that we wouldn't be able to see it after all, resulting in our mad dash to a spot where we could see it. I got a picture under the arch, and I'm so tiny that it's hilarious. And what I loved the most about all of the places we visited were definitely the colors. There were all of these reds, browns, and other warm hues that contrasted so nicely against the bright blue sky.

Anyhow, in an attempt to blog about my life, I guess some things have happened since I last wrote on here. As of this past Wednesday, I am officially going to junior prom. I'm not actually sure I want to go, to be completely honest here, but there's nothing I can really do about it anymore. A lot of drama, heartbreak, and excitement has gone on these past few weeks because of junior prom, and I'm glad to say that it's finally all over.

Grand Canyon National Park, Tusayan, Arizona, USA.

Grand Canyon, the most famous out of the national parks I visited, was the biggest letdown. It was the only day of our trip that got rained on, but it also wasn't as spectacular as everyone seemed to make it. I feel like people have praised it so much that this image of something absolutely breathtaking developed in my mind, only to feel disappointment when I actually got there. The other national parks, however, were all pleasantly surprising, and I fell in love particularly with Bryce Canyon National Park.

Okay, I guess I'm done with the prom talk for awhile now. Thursday after school, I ran to French club after a chemistry lab with my friend. And then we, along with two other friends, embarked on a scavenger hunt throughout the school. It was so crazy and so much fun at the same time, I just wish we had come in first. Hahaha. We did get king-sized Hershey bars for coming in second, however, so I guess it wasn't too bad in the end.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, Utah, USA.

We visited Bryce second on our trip. None of my family had expected to see so much amazing scenery or to have so many difficult yet enjoyable hiking trips that all of us adored Bryce by the end of our stay there. Every little trail brought a new perspective of the rocks to life, and I felt as if my camera couldn't even capture all of the beauty it offered.

And today happened to be science fair! I do science fair every year, and this year had to be the worst preparation-wise. I literally made my slides last night. I got to my room which was in the ecology field and went 3rd because I needed to get to talent search (basically an interview juniors in high school can take to hopefully get letters of recommendations to colleges). The two people who went before me both went over the time limit, while I didn't even make it to 8 minutes. After every person, the judges would spent 5-10 minutes questioning them and another 5 minutes tallying up scores. So by the time I finished, one hour had passed already. The good news is that they barely questioned my experiment, and overlooked my poor sample size. (Haha.) I then got to the waiting room to see a bunch of my friends standing there. And so I signed my name up for talent search. I ended up waiting over an hour to get called up to get my interview (and it was actually snowing so heavily in that hour). I finally got there and spent roughly 5 minutes doing my interview which wasn't horrible, but I'm not sure how well it went, and then I got to go home. I had some pho for the very first time, and I'm not exactly sure why I've waited so long to have it. It's amazing. After I got home from eating and shopping at around 3PM, I found out that I got a first at science fair today and will be going to states again. :)


(I'm really sorry for that huge block of text.) And now I think I'll go do some homework along with possibly baking cupcakes if I'm up for the challenge.


Hopefully all of you have an amazing remainder of the weekend!


Love, Amber

Skinny Love

"I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt this into humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away." - Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Isn't it funny how I said I'd blog more frequently...

So Valentine's Day just passed! Hopefully everyone had a lovely day! (Judging by everyone's post, everyone had a much more enjoyable time than I did.) My day was nothing special, really. I passed out my Valentine's Day gifts to all of my friends, and that was that.

Other than that, junior prom is being a huge, huge pain. I've never felt so confused and unsure in my entire life.

Last night, I went over to my friend's house to help another friend ask someone to prom. It was actually adorable as "Lights" by Ellie Goulding blasted in the background. We then spent the rest of the night talking, despite our many attempts to try to do something fun. The whole thing left me in a state of uneasiness. The only thing I think about when I hear the word "prom" now is "drama." (Or "prom-a" as my friend likes to so hilariously call it.)

But enough about that. I recently signed up for my driver's license test and am so nervous already. I can't even begin to imagine the possibilities when I have that official document of freedom in my wallet...Heh. Hahaha, just kidding. I'll probably only use it really to get to/from school and to give people rides. ...That's really all my life is about these days--school and after school activities. Is that sad?

In other news, I got this Tumblr ask the other day asking me about the U.S. school system. And another one about study tips/back-to-school essentials, so I plan on pairing the two and making a post soon!

But yes, if you have a Tumblr, Twitter, Formspring, or Flickr, we should talk. :)
(Click on each of the words for my accounts!)

But I should go get some homework done now. Happy (early) Presidents' Day! Enjoy your long weekend. :)

Chasing Cars

"I believe in colors. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles." - Audrey Hepburn

It's seriously been a little while since I last blogged. I've been meaning to come on more frequently, but the amount of work I get in school takes away every last bit of free time that I have. But since winter track officially ended last night, I had time today to come home and take a few pictures. Many of my personal favorites from the random snapshots I took are not in this post, giving me a good reason to blog maybe during the week or on more of a weekly basis.

I'd like to say that a lot has gone on since last time, but honestly, nothing really has. I'm still slowly being killed by the work load junior year brings. I've honestly never been so stressed out in my entire life before. It's gotten to the point where four hours of sleep on a school night feels beyond refreshing when I wake up in the morning. And where the spearmint flavor of 5 gum has gotten to be my best friend in keeping me awake during school.

Other than that, since I am a junior in high school, we have junior prom coming up extremely soon. Ticket sales actually start on Monday meaning the next two weeks should be fairly...interesting. Everyone's going to be asking everyone while I just sit there and watch from the corner /foreveralone. Nah, jokes. But still, all of the girls are stressing out about it, whilst all the boys seem so calm. I would say how envious I am of the boys to be able to ask whatever girl they want to, but it turns out we also have a Sadie Hawkins dance (girl-ask-guy) this Thursday for the entire school. And I realized that maybe guys don't have it so easy after all...

On a different note, I think I'm about to sign up for my license test. Is it bad that I'm already nervous?

Also just bought this book (along with a few other things that will not be posted because of a laziness inside of me). But I've heard so many good things about it that I'm excited to read it! I had first picked up the copy with the motion picture as the cover, then decided I don't like movies to begin with and searched for the normal-cover copy.

But I should go now. I think I need to sign up for the SATs, too. Excellent.
However, I hope all of you have an amazing weekend! And Happy (early) Valentine's Day!! ♥

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.