Lost in Life

"Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again." - Willa Cather, My Antonia

Hey guys. So awkward moment when I've been inactive for a month. (A MONTH. How?!) I can't believe how much has changed in four weeks, and I completely blame myself for not blogging earlier because this time it was just laziness.

But nonetheless, I AM ALIVE. I'm praying that I start to blog more in 2013 because it's kind of sad how I have essentially no posts for the second half of 2012. Senior year is intense, I'll say that much. But I'm on winter break right now until Wednesday when I go back to another 3 months of school before spring break (how bad is it that I feel like counting down the days already?). It's been such a relaxing week for me, but I've spent it mostly alone since my brother never came home for the holidays and my parents evidently have more of a social life than I do. I just want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas! (Eek I totally meant to blog, but I was caught up with playing Trivia Pursuit and a Chinese card game.) Anyhow, I hope you all had a wonderful wonderful holiday with your family and friends! I ended up visiting this BEAUTIFUL house with Christmas lights (seen above) on December 23rd and even though I went last year, I couldn't stop taking pictures. It was super cold, but it was totally worth it for the lights.

The second thing is............I GOT INTO MY DREAM COLLEGE!! All day on December 14th, I had been freaking out because I knew I was going to hear back at 6PM. And I honestly can't describe to you how amazing it felt. It was like I finally made it to the finish line--all of the work I've done over the past 17 years paid off and everything was even more wonderful than it already was. I don't want to disclose the college on here (I'll tell you if you ask me privately!) just for paranoia reasons, but I am so overwhelmed still that I don't think I'll ever be able to write properly about it.

I went to go visit (for the 3rd time) this past Friday just to, in a sense, confirm it. And it was even more beautiful than I remembered. I know it's winter and everything looks kind of lifeless and bare, but I couldn't stop smiling while I was there walking around on the campus. I kept thinking, "This is it. This is where I'll be next year." And everything just felt so right.

I also had a Secret Santa with some of my friends two Fridays ago to kick off winter break! It was so much fun to hang out with them again. I'm not even sure what we did really other than talk, play a few board games, and laugh, but I don't know how to explain how good it felt to talk to them again. We've all been so boggled down with school that it's hard to find the time to meet up anymore.

Other events of winter break include:

• Starting Friends and finishing season 1 in a matter of 2-3 days
• Watching The Avengers (FINALLY) and Pitch Perfect
• Putting Michael Buble's Christmas album on repeat
• Meeting up with a friend to eat pho and froyo (ugh, heaven)
• Writing a peer evaluation for a friend
• Editing a college essay for a friend
• (Spending more time on college-related things than anything else...)
• Researching my school for next year :)

Anyhow, I should go start my biology project that's due in 3 days. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with a post to reflect upon 2012. If not tomorrow then definitely on 1/1/13! Have an amazing remainder of winter break and 2012. <3

Perfection

"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

Ithaca, New York.

One of the emptiest and most peaceful hikes I've ever been on--a re-connection with nature.

Today was one of those days that tops all other days. I can't begin to explain it very well as I feel like words don't do it justice. I've realized I'm becoming less and less oriented around writing about small details in my blog which makes me kind of sad. (But at the same time, with the amount of work I have and the number of college apps I still need to do, I understand the change.)

Regardless, as I said, today was amazing. I haven't had such a good time since summer, and it was just so nice to do something to take away from the dreary coldness that's coming into the U.S. Winter's almost here, and I'm not looking forward to it. Snow is beautiful, yes, but the cold makes it all not worth it.

It's hard to describe how much I valued today. Perhaps it's because I finally got to go out (thank you, early dismissal!) or maybe it's because everything was utter perfection. I laughed until I got weird stares from nearby people, I tried new things, I showed my quirks and habits, I drove until the hum of my tires combined with the static on the radio. I loved every last second of it.

It's funny, really. How much things can change over a matter of time. As I scroll through old blog posts, I reminisce about everything that's passed me by. I have changed so much year after year, but I have yet to regret the person I've become as the days fly by. I am just so happy right now that it's hard to write.

I can't believe how fast this year is going though. It's crazy how today's the last day of November, how December is merely a few hours away, how in 15 days I will know the truth. I am too excited for the holidays, the atmosphere, the long nights, and well, everything. December should be spectacular.

I am terribly busy this weekend with school work and more college apps (I'm pretty sure every post I've made this school year has had those words in it), but as I said, I am happy. And that's all that really matters.

Almost There

"For lonely people, rain is a chance to be touched." - Simon Van Booy, The Secret Lives of People in Love

Old picture for old memories.

To sum up this month in regards to this blog: Wow, I suck.

This past month, in reality, has been pretty amazing and stressful at the same time. First quarter ended a few weeks ago so it was crazy trying to keep up with all my tests and papers. But at the same time, I've had my fair share of fun times so I shouldn't be complaining about anything.

• Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast. I didn't get hit as hard as others did, but I was still without power for 40 hours and without school for 3 days. Even Halloween got moved to that Saturday!!
• "Halloween" was spent having dinner, trick-or-treating, hanging out, and making s'mores with my friends. All in all it was a beautiful night. That I meant to blog about but we only took 1 picture which is on my friend's phone so one day...maybe...haha.
• I sent in my first few college apps in October/the beginning of November and I already heard back from 2 of them! :) Say hello to a girl with 2 college acceptance letters! It was honestly such a wonderful feeling to get those in the mail.
• Thanksgiving was on Thursday! We had our annual Thanksgiving party, and there was, of course, lots of food involved!
• BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING WAS AMAZING haha. I went shopping in the premium outlets from 6AM-11AM and then continued at Target and other random stores from 1PM-3PM. I got so much stuff, and I'm so happy about how it turned out. :)

But speaking of college apps, I have tons more to finish before the deadline hits on New Year's Day! I finished one last night, but I have around 14 more essays to write. I PROMISE I'll try blogging more with December coming up and all! I am a huge fan of December and the holidays so expect posts!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of November! And to any high school seniors out there, we're almost there. ♥

Homecoming

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

HI EVERYONE! This past week/this weekend have both been extremely eventful (and hectic). I sit here with 300+ new pictures in my hands and a terribly sore throat from all of the excitement.

So Monday through Friday was spirit week! It's an incredibly wonderful time of year, and each day had its own theme. Monday was college apparel/hat day, Tuesday was spirit day (where you wear my school's logo), Wednesday was dress-up day, Thursday was pajama day (so many onesies everywhere! haha), and Friday was class color day! (Seniors are black, juniors are white, sophomores are blue, and freshmen are red!) This year, the themes were: seniors-Harry Potter, juniors-Stormtroopers (from Star Wars), sophomores-superheroes, freshmen-CandyLand!

As a senior, I couldn't wait for Friday to come because of everything that goes on. Each grade decorates their own alcoves and all four looked amazing this year!

My grade's alcove!

It was so much fun working on the alcove this year! And I'm glad it turned out so nicely. :)

The juniors' alcove!

The sophomores' alcove!

The freshmen's alcove!

The rest of the day was really nice even though a bunch of my teachers tried to teach.

Me and Emily!

Me, Andrea, and Emily!

Tae and me!

Berenice :)

Calc BC class! Familim <3

Me and John!

ASIA! <3 Eddy, Nick, Emily, John, Me, Andrea, and Michael!

At the end of the day on Friday, we have this huge pep rally which was TONS of fun this year especially! I love being a senior. :') Hahaha. There was cheerleading, male cheerleading, step team, free throw shooting, and lots and lots of screaming! As seniors, we got rally towels and sunglasses, too, which made everything that much better. Every time we (the seniors) lost, we'd turn around and put up a triangle symbol to represent the deathly hallows.

^Credit goes to Casey Lee

And then the results came in............and we finished first!! :)

But later that night, we had the homecoming football game! I was there with Tae, Emily, and Nick. But then after a while, I just hung out with Eddy and Tae because Emily and Nick left.

A few of my friends were on homecoming court so at halftime, they got to ride in these fancy convertibles. :) The game itself was horrible though haha. I left with 5 minutes left in the entire game, and it was 14-42 which was pretty disappointing, but the touchdowns we scored were really exciting!

And FINALLY, last night (Saturday) was coronation! Coronation is our homecoming dance, and it was a lot more fun than I thought it'd be!

Carol, Sam, Christina, me, Andrea, and Emily. ♥

After the dance, Alan, Andrea, Eddy, Emily, Iris, Jason, Michael, Nick, and Shawn came over my house for a little after party, haha. I was exhausted (and still am), but it was fun!

But now that everything's over, I need to work on college applications and get some homework done! I'm so happy with how everything turned out especially because it's my last year in high school.

Have an amazing remainder of October! Halloween's only a few days away!

These Days Are Dwindling Down

"The easiest lies to tell are the ones you want to be true." - Holly Black, White Cat

I have become a terrible, terrible blogger.

Please forgive me for these hiatuses! If any of you live in the States, you surely understand how I feel right now with all of this work. Senior year is driving me crazy. College apps are really stressful. Not to mention, I officially applied to my first college the other day!

HOWEVER! I have tons and tons of fun things coming up in this next week so please be on the lookout for some (hopefully) amazing posts. Spirit week starts tomorrow!

Spirit week has to be one of the best times, and I'm so excited for it this year. It's my last time ever in high school participating in all of this so I'm giving it my all. I honestly can't contain my excitement for the pep rally on Friday and our skit for our alcove decorating.

(Since most of you already had homecoming, I'd love to know how it was!! And if you don't have it at all, do you wish you did?)

One of my favorite new things is rings. I don't actually wear them that often since basically none of them fit my fingers, but I still love looking at/fawning over them in stores. This one was $1.50 and so when I saw the price tag, I pretty much had to get it.

Okay wow this was an extremely disoriented post. But be on the lookout for a post on spirit week/homecoming and of course...Halloween!

Hope you're all having a lovely October. :)

Community Day

"So much of her time spent like this: dreaming up things to say and never quite saying them." - Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

*All credit goes to Julie B. :)

Yesterday was community day! I was debating on whether or not I should blog about it right now because of how much work/studying I have to do, but I realized if I didn't do it now, I probably wouldn't ever. Regardless, community day was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went!

I had to volunteer/run booths so I didn't have much time to enjoy everything that our community put out for us, but it was mainly little kids doing the fun things like hayrides, the moon bounce, rockclimbing, decorating pumpkins, etc. Because our high school just got rebuilt, I was indoors helping people tour around the school. And afterwards, I went out to help French club, only to find out they JUST shut down the booth. So I spent the remainder of the time hanging out at Latin club and chem club because that's where some of my friends were. :)

Community day was beautifully planned out though. As I said, there were things like hayrides, etc., but there was also a concert in our brand new auditorium, outdoor music, balloon making (little kids were everywhere with these fancy balloon hats!), acrobats/people on stilts, booths for essentially every club in my high school, community booths, tons of food, and more!

At around 7, I met up with Iris and Nick and we drove over to Chipotle for dinner! It reminded me of all the times I went to Chipotle in Pittsburgh and summer memories started boggling me down. I didn't even come close to finishing my food because of how much they give you, but after that we went back to the high school to get ready for the dedication fireworks!

We met up with Eddy and Michael for the fireworks (unfortunately no pictures of those...my camera wasn't cooperating with me so), but the fireworks themselves were beautiful. SO much better than the ones I saw on the 4th of July. :)

So after that, Eddy, Iris, Nick, and I went to AC Moore/Michael's to buy senior class picture day shirts. Basically, on Thursday, the whole senior class sits in the gym and gets the class picture taken. But lots of people coordinate colors to show friend groups and etc. so we wanted to buy the shirts! Except both stores were closed so we headed to Walmart. And then there weren't any smalls so. But we'll get them eventually!

Overall, it was an extremely fun day, and I wish every weekend were like this! Haha. But now I have to catch up on all of my work so until next time! :)

P.S.- Instagram anyone? @ambzhang

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! :)