147. Avenged
30 Day Challenge: No. 13 - Favorite group project
Facher’s Catcher in the Rye Song Project. It was probably the most creative project I ever participated in, mostly because I got to play the violin during our presentation! We worked on a violin/viola/guitar/piano arrangement of Coldplay’s Fix You and performed it for the class, while another one of our members worked on the analysis and comparisons between the song and the book. We got a perfect score on that project in the end (: It felt really good to play the violin outside of the natural orchestra environment!
But admittedly, all of Facher’s group projects were pretty damn amazing! For all you incoming AP Lang students, I must once again reiterate that YOU ARE ALL MISSING OUT by not doing Honors English instead!
———
Day 2 of the 4-day weekend was AWESOME!!! Alan, Anthony, and I went to go see the Avengers (2nd time for them, 1st time for me) at the mall! The movie is full of badass-ery and swag (I know “swag” is a very overrated phrase, but seriously… This movie really HAS swag)! We got Dog Haus afterwards. I’m slowly crossing off items on my “things to try” list for Dog Haus. I love that place so much… :X
Got home, changed into choir concert attire, and went over to Talavera’s house to warm-up with the other performers. We all went over to PCC for the Circle K Banquet afterwards, which was really long and tiring but kind of fun! Free pasta and other stuff! We performed a couple of selections from our Hunchback Medley, the Star-Spangled Banner… and yeah o.o Took some interesting group pics as well :P
Overall, it was a fun-filled day! I haven’t had this much fun for a weekend in a long time! Liberty feels good… I think this weekend’s definitely making up for the hell I’ve been through in the past couple of weeks!
6 Days…
May 26th, 2012.
146. Ju-on
30 Day Challenge: No. 12 - Hardest you ever legitimately studied
Probably for my AP Calculus AB 2nd Semester Final. I had an 83% in the class and the curve for an A in the class was set at an 88%… I didn’t know if I could pull my grade up THAT much or not, but I was willing to take my chances and study my ass off for the final. Turns out I had one of the highest scores on the final and I ultimately ended up with the A :D
———
I had a pretty awesome start to the 4-day weekend! Went to Smith Park to rehearse with the choir boys. About an hour later we moved the rehearsal to Chrys’s house where we became less productive X__X. Started working on choreography and I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re winging the spring concert on Tuesday :P
Drove a bunch of people to Jacob’s house for a movie night! Watched an episode of the cartoon version of the Avengers, ordered pizza from Little Caesar’s (While seeing some really shady-looking cars on the way), and watched a Japanese Horror Movie that Casey recommended. She didn’t want to watch it. None of us did… But it was really amusing yet creepy LOL. We pretty much laughed more than we screamed. We watched “Not Another Teen Movie” or whatever, and ended the night with Dance Central on the Xbox! It was a really fun day well spent! haha
*The title was the name of the Japanese Horror film we watched today. It means “Curse Grudge”.. Bahahahaha
7 Days…
May 26th, 2012.
145. Surrealism
30 Day Challenge: No. 11 - How you spent your most memorable lunch hangout.
Huh… I honestly can’t remember what my MOST memorable lunch hangout was… I wasn’t really a big fan of lunchtime, despite the nice 40 minutes of relief I got from the daily perils of schoolwork. However, I will say that I used to have a lot of fun hanging out with the choir sophomores in a very randomly secluded area in the past couple of months or so.
But of course, things come and go.
——-
It’s finally the 4-day weekend and it’s been a LONG time since I’ve felt this liberated… I’m about 95% stress free and it honestly feels funny. I’ve been so used to being under pressure that it all just feels surreal right now.
But it’s not over yet! Choir concert, Interact Awards Ceremony, JMS Orchestra Concert, Senior Awards Night, and possibly the Last Chance Dance? Meh. We’ll see…
8 Days…
May 25th, 2012.
144. A Twist in my Story
30 Day Challenge: No. 10 - Something you never expected you’d do and ended up loving
I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I remember back in 5th grade when someone told me that I couldn’t sing (I wasn’t able to adjust my pitch for some reason. I basically sang “monotone”). Tryouts for 6th grade choir? Err… I’ll pass on that. I was pretty much an orchestra boy until sophomore year when I become a speech boy… then I doubled up on orchestra and speech the following year, ultimately ending up in Show Choir O__O
Believe it or not, puberty and musical training through the violin works wonders. haha
——-
I pretty much had my last OI practice today (considering that next Wednesday is the Interact Awards Ceremony)… I wouldn’t necessarily say it was good closure, but it was pretty decent fun. We all ended up doing abridged versions of each others’ speeches and that turned out quite swell.. heh.
9 Days…
March 23rd, 2012.
143. Burning Up
30 Day Challenge: No. 9 - Most Fun Class
Hmm… I’ve had a lot of fun classes in my time at high school… I’ll break it down by subject:
English - Honors English III with Facher! (For those incoming juniors taking AP Lang next year… You’re missing out!)
Mathematics - AP Calculus AB with Mr. D! I guess I just really liked the people in the class… Plus, Mr. D’s a cool teacher anyway :P
Science - Honors Physics with McClure! As painful and torturous the class was, the concepts were really interesting to learn about. McClure’s just one of those badass teachers with interesting stories to tell, so I suppose that sort of made the pain a bit less intense :P
History - World History with Budde! Despite the fact that I was surrounded by a bunch of idiots in a regular history class, Budde was an awesome teacher that made World History quite engaging and interesting (and I HATE history too, so bonus points to you, Budde!)
But of course, the most fun class I’ve ever had at GHS is Show Choir with Talavera! I think my previous posts from a couple months back are explanatory enough :P
———————-
Orchestra concert was mehh as usual. I had fun performing with Alston as my stand partner though! The theater needs better ventilation… It was hot as hell in there tonight! X____X. I gotta say though, the highlight of my night would have to be the super long random chat that I had with Alan, Kristy, and Jasmine. I never had the opportunity to bond with Kristy and Jasmine, so it was pretty nice getting to know them (:
Very last OI practice/potluck tomorrow! English speech presentation… and yeah o_o Big day tomorrow…
Just thinking about the end gives me chills…
10 Days…
May 22nd, 2012.
142. FML
30 Day Challenge: No. 8 - Favorite book you actually read for English class
Hmm… It’d have to be a tie between To Kill A Mockingbird or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
I dunno. I really learned a lot about myself when I indulged in those two books during my Freshman and Junior years. I remember spending incredible amounts of time in class and at home analyzing those two books; reading in between the lines of spoken dialogue and inferred thoughts. I wasn’t bored of reading those books at all compared to all the other Shakespeare and Hawthorne crap we had to study -_-“
—————
I just wanna say one thing. I really hate tonight #seniorfinalprojects #fml
11 Days…
May 21st, 2012.
141. Things just come and go.
30 Day Challenge: No. 7 - A time you cried (or felt like crying) at school
Senior Checkout Day 2011. I was honestly dreading that day simply because I didn’t want to let go of the c/o 2011. I barely got to meet new seniors from the 2010-2011 Interact Officer Team, and I was pretty much saying good bye to the seniors that I loved and hung out with during Orchestra (Sally, Crystal, Andy^2, Randy, Lucinda, Chrisel, PYiu, Jacky, etc.)… Yeah, back when orchestra was somewhat fun… There were just so many memories that I had with the seniors. We went as far back as 7th grade too!
And I completely broke down during lunchtime after the balloons were released. Thank you Michael Kong for spreading your contagious tears to me X__X
In the aftermath during the final week of school, it felt so weird with no seniors around… It was at that moment when I realized that high school just wasn’t going to be the same anymore - no one to necessarily look up to, a bunch of amazing talents gone…
Things just come and go.
In other news, I really hate these projects… Stupid Econ… Stupid APES… Stupid English -_-
12 Days…
May 20th, 2012.
140. New Beginnings
30 Day Challenge: No. 6 - The best dance you ever attended
Probably Freshman year homecoming. Back when everything was drama free and whatnot.
Yeah, I was never big on high school dances to begin with :P
———-
Novice Champs 2012
Whoa! I felt that this was pretty excellent closure for OI this year! We had 5 finalists (Angelica, Marissa, William, Carmela, and Sharon), which is… pretty awesome considering that in past years we only had 2-3 finalists. The OI Novice Championship title has finally been restored to Gabrielino, thanks to Angelica :D Nonetheless, all the OIers have made me extremely proud today! It was certainly an honor to have worked with most of them since Day 1 of Summer Speech.
These novices are pretty much the future of OI! If they can keep this up… I think OI’s in order for an upcoming legacy (:
I’m gonna miss you guys so much…
13 Days…
May 19th, 2012.
139. Catalyst
30 Day Challenge: No. 5 - Your favorite teacher and how he/she has impacted you
I can’t settle on just one teacher, but these are the top 3 teachers that I’ve had at GHS.
Mrs. Schneider - There comes a time in everyone’s life when they encounter some sort of catalyst that enables an internal transformation of thoughts and emotions. Having Mrs. Schneider as my Freshman Honors English teacher may have been gruesome and dreadful, but I think it definitely paid off in the end. After putting up with being humiliated so many times in that class (i.e stating the obvious, inability to come up with responses on the spot, feeling absolutely inferior to the majority of the class), I realized that I had to fight this embarrassment and do something about it. Schneider was the main reason why I joined speech during my sophomore year. After the absolutely nerve-wrecking end of the year speech, I was able to find some potential in speech. As a result of going through speech, I gained the confidence to tackle officer interviews for Interact, Tri-M, and even a special group interview for Boy’s State. Yes, I may be slightly timid in class still… but I’ve certainly come a long way. I couldn’t think of a better English teacher to have for my senior year than Mrs. Schneider. I’m back where I started, but things are definitely different!
Mr. Facher - He re-instilled a certain passion for literature after I had gone through a terribly boring and ridiculous year in Chang’s class. Every day was something new… He was always at the top of his game and he is hands down, the most passionate teacher I have ever seen. Plus, he integrated music with English! Music makes everything better, and it certainly helped with making my Junior year memorable.
Mrs. Talavera - After a loss of hope in the orchestra program, I turned to the Show Choir to tackle a new opportunity. People like Julie Vo and Nancy Luu encouraged me to try out for choir, and so I figured why the hell not? I really love Talavera’s dedication to the choir. For once in the GHS music department, I’m learning other music fundamentals which have helped expand my overall musicianship. Having miscellaneous opportunities such as conducting the choir, playing the violin, and singing a couple of solos really ignited the fire in my heart for music. It was strong enough to inspire me to major in music, in aspiration of one day becoming a music teacher just like Talavera. Whether I want to teach in the instrumental or choral field… I guess I’ll have to find out. I couldn’t thank Talavera enough for setting me on the right path towards my future!
——————————-
Obviously, I’m not at Prom. I’ll admit though, today was a really fun day! After school at JMS was full of… really random stuff o___O”. From stuffing 8 people in my car, to playing endless rounds of Jenga, being stupid while playing cards, and playing Mafia… I haven’t had this much fun in a while! I’m glad I got to spend my afternoon with the choir peeps :D
14 Days…
May 18th, 2012.
138. C’est La Vie
30 Day Challenge: No. 4 - The most trouble you’ve ever gotten into
Ohohohoho. This is a kicker. I never really got into SERIOUS trouble, but here are two of the closest moments:
FRESHMAN YEAR: Yes, yes. I was the one that microwaved the bag of Flamin’ Hot Lays and nearly set the entire Band Room on fire. Stupid, right? Edo was just standing there laughing while everyone else seemed like they wanted to throw me against the wall and destroy me LOL. Let’s just say I never touched that microwave again, nor did I ever microwave anything obscure ever again for that matter.
SOPHOMORE YEAR: Muchos Gracias, Steele. When Steele was preparing the prospective Spanish 4/AP students, the phone rang. Since I just happened to be the one closest to the phone, OF COURSE Steele would make me personally responsible for answering the phone. I picked up the phone, and told them to hold on because Steele was all of a sudden shouting at me to go sit down again (Seriously, what the hell? -__-). She went to the phone, and she said “Hello, hello?” Then all of a sudden she got super mad and she started saying shit to me like “HAVEN’T YOU EVER ANSWERED THE PHONE BEFORE!?” -________-“
Technically I never really got into trouble for any of those moments. Not gonna lie though, it seemed like I was in for some pretty rough shit -_-” Whatever. C’est la vie.
———————————-
Took a day off. Wasn’t feeling well, needed rest, etc etc. Went to choir practice after school and worked on the medley. It’s all coming together I suppose, but a lot of of us are still pitchy… I fear for what may potentially happen if we take the whole thing acapella for the concert >_<
Went to Party City & Smart and Final with Ann afterwards. Shopped for some stuff and then we ate at Dog Haus! I really like the Alhambra location! The condiment bar is larger and the place isn’t as cramped as the Pasadena location is :O
I’ve also been re-watching Pixar Movies lately! I watched A Bug’s Life last night, and before I went to choir practice I was watching Monster’s Inc… It feels nice to revisit childhood memories after a while.
15 Days…
May 17th, 2012.
137. Acquainted With the Night
30 Day Challenge: No. 3 - Homecoming- what it meant to you and your memories of it
Homecoming….
Pivotal moments of my first semesters of high school. Let’s just say… Things sort of took a turn for the worst. I’ll leave it at that. Those October memories aren’t exactly thoughts that I’m very fond of.
—————————————————————————————-
For some reason, I particularly enjoyed English today… I felt relaxed and obligated to somewhat participate freely o.o” Hmm… Let’s see if that obligation can remain consistent for the rest of the year.
I still don’t understand why we have to get a paid choreographer to help us with our dance routines in choir when we can just get Jeffrey Tan to choreograph the entire show for us… All that money could have been saved for something else!
I stopped giving a flying f*** in AP Calc and APES… probably because we’re not even doing anything anymore. I’m sorry Velekei, but you pretty much lost our attention after May 7th :X
OI Practice was a joy (: I had fun watching/critiquing/judging that round of novices! I got a tad bit sentimental on the inside, realizing that each and every single one of those novices came so far since day 1 of speech… Definitely looking forward to Novice Champs!
Shakeys Interact Fundraiser afterwards! I managed to freeload a meal off of some friends who couldn’t finish their pizza :D Hey, I still paid for my drink at least!
16 Days…
May 16th, 2012.
136. Back to the Beginning
30 Day Challenge: No. 2 - First Memory of High School
6 A.M. waking up in the morning; gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs~~~
I’m just kidding. I don’t even have a “downstairs” in my apartment. Okay, well technically there ARE stairs in the apartment building and given that I live on the 2nd floor… Okay you know what? Never mind.
My very first high school class was Algebra 2 with Mr. Mikasa! I remember walking into that class and seeing familiar faces alongside a diverse range of other people… from freshmen to seniors! Ahh yes… Back in the day when I wasn’t so tired waking up in the morning for 0 period.
1st period Honors Bio with Dr. Jang… Seemed intriguing at first but boy oh boy… I was in for a surprise zzzzZZZzZz.
2nd period Honors English with Schneider. First thoughts? Holy shit, she looks way older than I remembered when I saw “her” at the honors english try outs at JMS (But I eventually realized that was some other counselor/teacher). She looks intimidating as fuck and I feel that I’m in for one hell of a ride :X
3rd period Freshman Seminar… Shima was perhaps one of the most friendliest teachers I have ever encountered my life! It was heartwarming to know that I would have some sort of relief with Shima as my teacher after a grueling period of Schneider LOL
4th period Orchestra… God, everyone looks like they hate me LOL. It was a very unusual environment… not exactly something I was used to back in the JMS orchestra days. I remember seeing Johnny Ho sitting atop a ladder in the middle of the room shouting out “HAHA FRESHMEN!!!” Thanks for that. haha
LUNCH! I was so fucking lost at lunch… HAHA. I looked for the nearest group of friends and eventually I ended up sticking to the tables outside the library as my main hangout spot at lunch (but of course, that changed a lot as time went on)
5th period P.E… Brummett seemed pretty nice and chill. The other people in my class? Ehhh not so much.. but whatever. That’s life and I knew I was in for some interesting times throughout the year.
6th period Spanish 2… Steele honestly looked like the nicest teacher ever :D
Lesson learned: First impressions can be deceiving -__-“
But yeah! That was my first day of high school in a wrap! I eventually went on to hate my freshman year, but going through all those experiences was worth it. It was a major catalyst for some huge changes and risks that I took in later years!
——-
I died on the AP Gov exam today. On the brighter side of things, I AM DONE WITH AP TESTING FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
17 Days…
May 15th, 2012.
135. Hopes and Dreams Forevermore
30 Day Challenge: No. 1 - First thoughts on going to college
I have basically been looking forward to college since Day 1 of Senior Year! The excitement only increased after I decided on attending UCSD for the next 4 years of my life :O Honestly, I’m just really anxious for the transition between high school and college. Being on my own, away from parents and old, beloved (not really) friends isn’t something I’m very used to. I’m always open for new things though! From what I’ve heard, it shouldn’t be too difficult to adapt to college life. I’ve always imagined UCSD as a mix of Hogwarts and PCA (Pacific Coast Academy from Zoey 101, if anyone’s ever watched that). You get that Hogwarts feel with the 6 different colleges, and well… the school’s practically right next to a beach! It can’t get any better than that, honestly! :P
Bottom line: I’m looking forward to moving on with my life and taking bigger steps toward my life’s dreams and ambitions.
——
*Yes, I nabbed the title from a line in GHS’s Alma Mater.
All in all, today was a very chill day! Got to spend more time with the new Interact officer team! They’re a loud bunch but you gotta love their enthusiasm! It makes me slightly wish I was a super senior for next year so I could spend more time with them… HAHAjk. Wouldn’t wanna deal with all the other fucking shit again.
18 Days…
May 14th, 2012.
134. Hourglass
It’s been far too long since I’ve had a weekend that felt so relaxing and smooth.
Summer. We’re already so close to summer and it’s hard to grasp the reality that time truly has gone by fast.
I haven’t felt a year go by this fast since 2nd grade.
A lot of things are on my mind, and I’m just making do with the time I have left here at Gabrielino.
Makes me wonder how things are going to end once June 1st & June 7th are around the corner.
The Hourglass has almost dwindled down to its last grain of sand.
19 Days…
May 13th, 2012.
133. Burned
While I had a great time at the Interact Car Wash this morning/afternoon, I only had fun at the cost of being sunburned quite badly… I have a sick farmers & sandal tan… and my neck and arms are burned like FUUUHHHHH
But it was worth it! (: Got to bond a bit with miscellaneous officers and members!
Wish I could say the same for my cousin’s birthday party tonight.
Not one single word from my cousin other than “Hi.” Okay, that’s cool. Just go off and spend time with your own friends. Alright, I’ll just talk to my other cousins- Oh wait. They have their friends with them too… Maybe I’ll just talk to my aunt and uncle-Damn they look pretty occupied with talking to their friends and family from the other side of their family. I’ll just sit here and chat with my parents…
Gah, even my parents felt the same way… The highlight of tonight was when the Lakers won the 7th game against the Nuggets I suppose.
Things aren’t quite exciting for the family anymore. We’re all moving apart from one another and eventually… there’s not gonna be too much of us left.
My youth really is coming to an end, huh? Oh well.
Just accept it and move on.
20 Days…
May 12th, 2012.
