Every Night

"I keep feeling as if I could cry. It's very stupid, but it'll pass off." - Leo Tolstoy

I'm so sorry for being so inactive. I really don't have any time anymore. I have HUNDREDS of pictures to post, but school is really taking up every last second of my time and making me go insane.

I'm a senior in high school now. It's not known to be a tough year, instead it's famous (or infamous...) for how laid-back it is. But I'm taking harder courses this year and receiving homework like I never have before. On top of all of this, there's college applications, and basically my friends and I are just stressed beyond belief. I find myself constantly up in the middle of the night. And in order to be more productive/ensure that I wake up to my many alarms I set from 2AM-6AM, I sleep on my bedroom floor now.

I only have to push through another few months until I can be free from this stress so I just want to give all of this a good last shot. It won't be easy, but I'm trying to keep a really positive attitude during all of this. "No regrets."

I'm definitely planning on mustering up more time to blog because I miss it so much. I have off on Wednesday for Yom Kippur so I'm hoping I can get some serious editing done. But other upcoming events include:

• September 24th- My brother comes home!
• September 25th- Last day of tennis season
• September 29th- Community Day! (Expect some pictures from this!!)
• October 5th- The Perks of Being a Wallflower is in theatres ♥
• October 6th- SAT IIs

I hope all of you are having a fantastic September, and expect to see me more often! :)

One Week

"Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what's right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in." - Andrew Zimmern

Hello, hello, hello! I'm SO sorry for not posting in a month, but I've been pretty busy (and okay, lazy) lately. I actually have tons of pictures to upload, but I'm in the process of editing them so it might be a little while.

A lot has happened since I last blogged, and I plan on making sure I hit a lot of these points in future blog posts!

• Nonstop watched the Olympics. I honestly couldn't stop watching gymnastics to the point that it was becoming a problem.
• Tennis preseason started! Because I'm a rising senior, this is my final preseason. I don't think I'll miss it much next year, but it's okay. I really like playing tennis so that overrides everything else.
• I turned seventeen on August 16th! It was one of the most wonderful birthdays I've ever had. :)
• I did a bunch of college visiting/road trips: Ithaca is gorges! and Boston is beautiful.
• One of my friends that moved to Florida a few years ago came up to visit! It was a wonderful reunion!
• I visited a really cool museum while I was in Ithaca! And it was free admission which made it that much better, haha.
• I finished all of White Collar in a matter of a few weeks. I highly recommend watching this show; I am so in love with everything about it.

I'll probably combine a few of the topics together, but I hope this at least somewhat makes up for my extremely long break from Blogspot! I'm back now! I promise. :)

It'll take me a week or so to get ready for these posts (especially because I really need to finish my summer assignments before school starts next week!), but I'm excited to blog about them! I haven't had decent pictures to use in ages. I plan on blogging right before school starts, too...kind of as an obligatory I'm-not-ready-for-school-post.

Until then! Hope all of you are doing well. :)

*Pictures taken in Ithaca, NY.

The Return

"We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright." --Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

It's truly been quite a...long time. When I left, I didn't expect to be so boggled down with work. I attempted to blog (there's been a draft sitting here for a few weeks now!), but I just couldn't. I probably should have queued some posts before I left, but I don't know what I was thinking.

Anyhow, if you've been wondering where I went...I went to a four-week-long summer program in the lovely city of Pittsburgh! The whole thing was healthcare-oriented, giving me a taste of what med school will look like and what a career in medicine will be like. The program was extremely helpful, and the people I met while I was there were beyond amazing. When the last day came, most of the camp was crying because none of us expected to grow so close to each other. It's funny how people you've known for only a short amount of time can take a large piece of your heart.

When I first heard that it was going to take place in Pittsburgh, I thought of this middle-of-nowhere place with nothing but grass and cows everywhere. But I was completely wrong. Pittsburgh is quite beautiful, if I can say so myself.

Anyhow, not much has happened besides that! My friends and I tried meeting up for a week straight before I left so I have a bunch of random pictures from that. (My one friend took my camera and took candids of everyone but didn't know how to use the manual setting so everything's a bit off.) I haven't seen any of them since I came home on Saturday, but I'm hoping to soon! I can't wait to see everyone again. It's been way too long.

(I was having tons of fun with my 50mm f/1.8 lens today! Hahaha. I kept taking pictures like these where I'd focus on different things. Man, how I've missed photography!)

In other news, I'm going to try getting a head start on summer work this year! Because I'm a rising senior, I'm going to be trapped in college apps, but I'm trying to be really positive about it! I have no idea what I'm going to write about yet, but even the mere thought of writing makes me so excited. But I'm about to start my AP Bio assignment, and tomorrow I plan on fixing my senior year schedule (along with taking a nice long run and maybe some tennis)!

Oh, and the Olympics start on Friday! I'm so so so excited for them to begin. There's something about large tournaments like the Olympics that make me beyond ecstatic, haha. But I can't wait to see what the opening ceremony is going to be like along with diving/gymnastics! Although I'm going to be away this weekend, I'm sure the hotel room will have the Olympics on. :)

I'll start posting more often though! Thank you all for being so patient with my hiatus!

Long Live

"Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing." - Sylvia Plath

Congratulations Class of 2012!

These past few weeks have been packed with events, exams, and goodbyes. I ended school this past Monday the 11th, but school officially finished today! I am so so SO glad junior year is over forever. I've had enough of the sleepless nights (although I still went to sleep at 4AM last night and woke up at 6AM...), the stress, and just the overwhelming amount of work. Here's to the end of the year and to summer 2012!

I ended up going to the seniors' graduation on Monday night. It was one of the most bittersweet moments I've ever had. On the one hand, I'm devastated that they won't be here next year because they're all so amazing. But on the other hand, I'm excited for them to get to go to college and experience new things! Plus, I'm so psyched for senior year!! I can't believe I'll be graduating next year. This is so crazy.

Anyhow, a few of my friends and I hung out today. And for once, we took pictures (okay, I took pictures). I was being really dumb and couldn't change my lens on my dSLR out of the 50mm f/1.8 so I was stuck with that the entire time. The focus was a pain to get right (light levels were actually not that bad!!), but in the end, I think I got some decent shots of my friends haha. I know I'm not the one to normally take people shots, but make this my one exception! I'll take more of my normal photography later on this week.

I actually stopped by school today to drop some things off and make some last minute changes. And at 9:15 when my friends finished their math finals, we headed over to my house. There, we played ping-pong, basketball, and darts while hanging around and talking. After a little while, we got tired so we went outside to my backyard to play some volleyball! The weather was gorgeous today--just under 80 degrees with a cool breeze. :)

At around 1:20PM, my friend and I drove over to pick up the pizza we ordered. ...Or so we thought, lol. Turns out we never actually clicked the "finish" button while ordering online so we had to wait there for 15 minutes while they made our pizzas, haha. We stopped by the Rite-Aid to buy ice, Coke, and Sprite though. After lunch, we had this "photoshoot." Haha, these are all the pictures that resulted. I got to talk to one of my friends though for an hour and a half after everyone else left which was nice. We got to catch up and such, and it was just a good feeling.

Hope you're having an amazing summer so far!

P.S.- The first picture was taken with my point-and-shoot so I apologize for the bad quality.
P.P.S.- Kevin, thanks for the song (referenced in title)! I've been listening to it more than I thought I was going to.

It's Time

"If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me." - Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Happy Memorial Day!

So school is ending. In a few more days (okay, weeks) I'll be done with the infamous junior year...forever. It's a good feeling knowing that soon I'll be surrounded by the summer sun, relaxation, friends, and carefree days. Although I will be going away for a month while for the first time, all of my friends stay home all summer, I'm excited for new experiences and new adventures.

It's kind of crazy how fast this year's gone by. But as I'm sitting here in the glorious 90 degree weather (so much love for this heat even if it's ridiculously humid), a part of me wants to hold onto this year just because I've become close to so many amazing people. The rest of me is telling me I'm crazy and I need this 2 1/2-month break.

Anyhow, this being a long weekend for Memorial Day, I hung out with a bunch of my friends last night. It was so much fun, haha. We all chilled at my friend's house, but that included the Wii, Trouble, Kemps, and my two personal favorites: Just Dance and karaoke. LOL. I had to leave in the middle of the fun though since it was nearly 11PM and that's the curfew for junior licensed drivers. :(

Other events of the past week have included:

• Getting my senior portraits taken (a very awkward experience, indeed)
• Finding a 50mm f/1.8 lens
• Getting Adobe Photoshop, In Design, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Premiere Pro, etc.
• Working nonstop on my euro project
• Finishing the last big grade in World Literature--author project...check!
• My brother coming home (and leaving, :( wah )
• Buying a new car
• Over-indulging myself at a sushi buffet

Tell me what you guys think of this 50mm f/1.8 lens. :) I'm personally so in love with the focus. The manual setting was pretty difficult to get used to, but it's slowly getting easier and easier!

Also, just realized I personally finish school in exactly 2 weeks. And around this time, too. (At 11:30AM!) This is so surreal.

But I hope you all have a lovely Memorial Day whether it's at the beach or in your backyard for a barbecue!

Cold Coffee

"The unhappiest people in the world are those who care the most about what other people think." - C. JoyBell C.

This new Blogger is really strange to my eyes. But again and again, I apologize for being so inactive. This past month has been utter torture. From AP tests to exams to the term paper, I have gotten so little sleep that it averages out to around three hours a night.

School isn't slowing down, but I feel guilty for not posting. It's been a month, I know. I feel so bad, too. :( But I mainly wasn't blogging because I didn't have the time to take any new pictures. I don't want to bore you guys with outtakes from previous "photo shoots"!

So lately, the weather's been unbelievable--70 to 80 degrees each day. It's such a great feeling inside knowing that there's a sunny, cloudless, warm day up ahead of you.

Other events of the past month have included:

• The seniors leaving for community study :(
• An overpacked, but still amazing How I Met Your Mother season finale
• State science fair competition!
• Two weeks of sleeping at 3AM every night
• The completion of my term paper
• Tons of papers written for clubs/etc.
• Surviving the toughest week of my life

I'm so glad that there are only 17 days of school left. (Fifteen for me, though!) I'm so excited for this summer just because it (hopefully) doesn't involve all of this stress and nonstop work. I know it'll be busy being the summer before senior year so I'll have to do my summer assignments AND college apps, but I'm positive it'll be better than the amount of work I have right now.

Also, trying to arrange something with him for maybe this weekend. Yesterday was utter bliss--just me and him, laughing and talking, laughing and talking. It reminded me of innocence, of a hot summer day. I love the way he cares. The way his eyes look when he's figuring something out. The way he laughs after he's made fun of me. Sigh, I'm so in over my head. Teenage infatuation never seems to last, and that's why I'm so scared.

But he said this was his favorite Coldplay song as I disagreed immediately. "The Scientist," "Yellow," "Clocks," "Fix You," and "Life in Technicolor" are my top five. Heh. But I have to admit, the lyrics to "Paradise" are beautiful. And to cut him some slack, the drums are amazing, too.

And how have all of you been!? Preparing for summer? Weighed down with exams?

I just can't believe it's almost June. This year is going by so quickly.

P.S.- Happy graduation to my brother. Congrats on finishing college!! ♥

Sweet Disposition

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved." --Ansel Adams

It's been awhile again. And I apologize. So much. When I went on my college visits during spring break a few weeks ago, I only brought my point-and-shoot. And for some reason I can't bring myself to upload the pictures onto my computer because of how the quality will turn out while sitting next to the photos taken by my dSLR. I guess while on the topic of photography, Picnik (an online photo editor) is officially closed. Forever. I used it for quick edits and placing my watermark everywhere, but now that it's gone, I had to try out something new. I went onto a new site to do edits, and I already don't like them. They made everything too bright and overexposed-looking. As for my watermark, I created one on my actual photo editing software on my computer and from now on will be using that. It's infinitely times easier, but I just fear that it'll turn out too inconsistent size-wise.

On a different note, this school year is finally winding down to the end. We've officially hit fourth quarter, and I am so glad that summer's on its way. In this past week, the weather was beautiful--hitting 90 degrees on Monday. It's finally shorts season, and I am overjoyed. I can't wait until this all becomes constant. I live for the heat.

The seniors in my school are going on their class trip to Disney World tomorrow! Every year, the seniors take a trip to Disney, and I'm so excited for next year. Just imagining being in Disney World with my closest friends makes me so happy. Roller coasters, nostalgia, childhood--all of that with no one but the people I love hanging out with. :)

Anyhow, in an attempt to make this post a little bit more interesting, I've decided that I want to list 25 facts about me. I feel like I didn't really get a chance to introduce myself properly on this blog, and I have nothing else to say about my life other than school is difficult as per usual. This is probably odd since I've had this blog for over a year now, but here goes nothing:

1. I collect key chains. I plan on getting one from all 50 states in the U.S. and at least one from each continent of the world.
2. I love painting even though I don't get to do much of it anymore.
3. Photography is something that I do on my own. My parents don't know I use the dSLR nearly every weekend.
4. I'm really into alt rock. And occasionally indie rock, too.
5. I can play the piano, violin, and clarinet.
6. I play tennis and run track.
7. I really wish I had a pen pal. Writing letters and getting mail are some of the best things in life.
8. I am a morning person. People think I'm crazy, but I can't stand sleeping in late.
9. I sleep very little. On school nights, I average 3 to 4.5 hours.
10. I don't enjoy watching movies. My friends have to drag me to the theatres. (Last year, I saw a total of two movies, haha.)
11. I love minimalist design. All of my blogs have very simple layouts.
12. Sushi, pho, and pasta are love.
13. Bubble tea, Starbucks frappuccinos, caramel steamers, chai lattes, mocha cafes, and strawberry kiwi lemonade are also amazing.
14. I plan on living in the city one day because this suburb lifestyle is too small for me.
15. I really like words like wanderlust, petrichor, and cataclysmic.
16. I'm Chinese and am (mostly) fluent.
17. I take French in school and am in love with it despite how everyone tells me it's a useless language.
18. I plan on visiting Australia, Brazil, France, and Italy as soon as possible.
19. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use "amount" instead of "number."
20. Even though I'm American, I spell "theater" like "theatre." I find British English spellings to be more fun than the ones we have here.
21. I have a habit of buying things and never using them. Examples include Wreck This Journal, clothes, and review books.
22. I plan on buying a typewriter in the near future.
23. I think I'd love to live in Australia. The more I look into it, the more beautiful everything seems there.
24. Late-night thunderstorms will always soothe me.
25. I am softly spoken.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. ♥

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.")