Ski adventure #1

I woke up with my arms in pain, my nose congested, and my throat burning--typical I would say...
I slept for a good 12 hours today, because I can. I'm surprised that my legs are perfectly fine,while my arms are sore. I think I caught a cold, but it seems to be minor so far. Overall, the ski trip turned out to be okay with few setbacks. Even though I was apathetic the whole day due to the lack of sleep, I now have a better appreciation and liking for "snow sports". I wondered why I couldn't have grown up with these sports. I imagined myself attending college in the North and recreate weekly, while hanging out with a gang of hobo snowboarders to throw fits about tourists. (Oh the influence of media)

So, here's a review of how I spent 2005 Christmas Day.

7:45- My mom woke me up from my 4 hours of slumber. I dragged myself out of bed and wondered why I have to go through this. My parents didn't tell me much about the trip except for "we're going skiing...in Michigan. It's 3 hours away". I found out in the morning that we're not spending the night as originally planned, and instead of it being a "family vacation", it was an "azn mob skiing day"(ie. our neighbors consisting of 25 Asians ) I was too tired to argue or complain, so I got into the car and slept.

11:15-We arrived at Swiss Alley in Jones, Michigan. The sky has been gloomy since morning, and it started to snow once we got there.. It wasn't very cold thankfully, so I only wore a Tshirt under my jacket as I changed into my ski gear. The mob congested inside the lodge and waited for our instructor to show up. Once he arrived, he lead us to the ski rental building where he explained to us the proper way to put on the bulky shoes. Those shoes actually gave me bruises after the trip, but part of it was probably that I got the wrong size and was too lazy to exchange.

We walked outside to the "Ski School" area where the lesson began. We started getting use to moving ,turning, sliding with one ski, then two. After an hour or so, the mob populated the beginner's area to practice on the hill with "the rope". I've never seem the towing system before, so it appeared to be pretty neat. It took awhile before we actually got to try out the rope. Because, well, we were the Asian mob. The adults were pretty ADD and weren't all listening to what the instructor was saying. They were randomly falling, sliding, and laughing like idiots. I could tell that all the "kids" were getting impatient and annoyed;so was the instructor.
Finally after spending an hour listening to him, we were free to roam by ourselves. I took the tow to the very top of the hill and was ready to attempt my very first ski-down-the-hill. I was nervous at the speed I was going as I stepped off, and I haven't really learned how to stop either. But the feeling was enjoyably refreshing, and I made it down without crash into anything/anyone or hurting myself.

2:30-As I skied down the hill more and more, the speed seemed to have gotten slower and slower. (marginal utility I guess) I was getting bored already, and I wondered if this was all that we're doing for the rest of the day. The adults decided to take a break and eat in the cafeteria. I ate a little bit of what my parents brought and laid my head down to rest for awhile.

3:30- My dad and I headed out to the intermediate hill by the rental building along with some others who were also looking for more adventure. The hill was definitely a lot steeper and longer. We got to use poles now(I really don't know why they don't allow them on the beginner's hill),but they were pretty useless. Oddly, I wasn't very nervous about going down, perhaps I had confidence in my so called skiing skills even though I still sucked at stopping. I stepped off with my dad, and he wiped out 5 seconds later. I laughed and went around him, stopping safely at the base.
Score.

It took a long time to get back to the top with the lift going slow and the occasional stops because people keep--- it made things less fun and the process tedious. I spent a lot of time taking pictures and observing others: there were a lot of snowboarders present, some pretty good and others just lame. I really wanted to try out snowboarding, and probably would have if we had stayed for another day. =
After 3 runs of the hill, I got bored again.
So I think I'm reasonably good at skiing now, why not advance? The next step was the 2nd intermediate hill next to the first one. It looked steeper by comparison but smoother. I took the lonely ride up the hill, staring at the back of some guy and his 2 sons in front of me.(to this point, my dad hasn't succeeded in going down the first hill without falling, so he gave up and went back to the beginner's hill). The top offered a nice view of the entire area. To the left I could see the "terrain park", which offered man-made hills/obstacles for tricks and other things. I actually thought about trying them out, but that would probably be pushing my luck too far. For the time being, I stuck with intermediate.
I crept up to the edge of the hill and looked down. This should be fun...

to be continued.
(because I'm really too lazy to finish this in one sitting)

Xmas Cheers

I'm not really sure how to describe this week. A lot of things had happened, yet I'm too lazy/don't care enough to elaborate on everything.

Finals went reasonably well. I probably could have studied more on some and less on others, but overall I came out feeling good about them. (Actually that's what I said last time, but they didn't turn out very well...) Thursday was theoretically the last day of school for the year, but I wasn't feeling the christmas cheers at all. I didn't want to feel miserable and bored on the first day of break (even though I should be worrying about my colleges applications that are due in a week), so I went to see King Kong:
Kong was a lot different than I imagined it to be. It was a decently good film, though Peter Jackson has his ways of making things overly dramatic and long...

On Friday, I reluctantly woke up at 10:30 for an appointment to the dermatologist. His name was Dr. Kuwahara, and the first thing he did was ask me about my "future"; I said I wasn't sure. He then went on assuming that I was going to be an engineer major at Purdue. I tried to say I haven't decided but gave in after awhile as he wasn't really listening. He then went on at showing me 2 magic tricks: one involving a quarter and the other a dollar bill; But I do say that kept me entertained.
"I like showing these tricks to engineers because they're logical thinkers."
I sort of just nodded and followed along.
When he finally checked up on the mole on my right arm, he said it had to go. So I plopped onto the surgery bed and watched him work his magic. The needle was the most painful part of the procedure.I couldn't get a very good view of my arm as I laid there, but I did catch a glimpse of the inch deep pink flesh being pulled out of my arm..fun.
The doc stitched me up afterwards. I felt really uneasy because..well, I couldn't feel anything at all. The last time I had stitches was when I was around 5: I busted my forehead on the edge of the bed headboard when I was jumping on the bed and slipped; I was rushed to the hospital to get stitches. They didn't use anesthetics, and I recall crying from the pain. Good times...

After my arm was taking care of, the doc proceeded to examine the birthmark on my back. The problem with it was the size: it's about 3 inches long. The doc said I have to get it removed by a surgeon. He ended up cutting out a spot of it for testing purposes; more needle fun on my back. The pain from the "surgery" kicked in after an hour or so. Both areas felt sore , and I ended up not doing anything productive for the afternoon.
I have to wait 2 weeks before getting the stitches removed. Theoretically, I'm not suppose to get the area wet before then, but I don't think not showering for 2 weeks is a good option.
----

Friday nights have been the same for the past few weeks. I wonder if I should be afraid that it might be becoming a norm. I pondered through many things over the course of the night: People's actions and decisions. It also triggered thoughts concerning my own actions and decisions I did/made in the past, and how it affected others. There were 2 things that really bothered me as I thought more and more about them, which probably deducted most of the fun from the night, but then again I can't say there were much fun to deduce from...


So today is Christmas eve, but I honestly thought that was yesterday...(Just to show how much Christmas love is around here). I guess my family is getting lazier about the whole christmas tradition. We sort of stopped buying trees a year ago. (A plus for me, since I'm the one who has to decorate) It doesn't bother me that much, because Christmas doesn't mean as much to me as it does for other people.
I'm spending christmas eve in my room working on blog entry and hopefully applications later.(Maybe colleges will pity and accept me because I spend my christmas eve doing apps?) Some of our neighbors came over for dinner; I got some chocolate and money from them, so it's all good.


I'm thinking back about my past Christmas eves. Last year was normal,and I refreshed my memory about 2 years ago through my past entries. (Amazing how I've forgotten everything that has happened).It was definately a lot more eventful then, and I wish I was reliving those moments now. I'm going skiing tomorrow, if that can constitute as "fun". I would be my first time, but I'm not looking forward to it extremely much.

As a closing note, Merry Christmas..oh wait, I meant Happy Holidays everyone! But you're pretty lame for reading my blog on Christmas eve.

Pre-exam night:

Mood: bleh
What's on: "Romantic Rights(the phone lovers remix)"-Death from Above 1979


I just took a nap out of reluctance to study. I laid down beside the computer on my bed; closed my eyes and dozed off. I had a series of short dreams, but I always seem to forget them 5 seconds after I wake up. Sadly, some of them would have been very story worthy. The part I vaguely remember from today went something like this: (I've omitted some details to make the story less creepy...)

Isaac Jones(and I have no idea how he showed up in my dream) was heading out of the apt. building where I supposedly lived too. I was on my way back in when I saw him talking to a random person coming out. Isaac was carrying two fishing poles and asking the guy for money; he got denied.I went up to him and said "Why are you so poor?" Then he went about explaining his alcohol/drug history or the lack of. (I couldn't hear very well, he was talking rather inaudible in the dream). Then I made a comment about the fishing poles by saying "Finding yourself dinner?" He then again started explaining in a long monologue...I woke up, or rather chose to.

I woke up with my stomach not feeling too well again. (It seems to be a trend lately). I'm still feeling it, but it's not as painful as other times where I wouldn't be able to focus on anything else other than curling up in a fetal position and trying to fall asleep.

----
Today has been a considerably good day. I was really happy to have received a gift from my Secret Santa. Subconsciously, I feared I was going to be the only one with out a gift since that's sort of the luck I usually get. But Lisa came up to me at the end of lunch and handed me an American Eagle bag. I got a beanie, which I had explicitly stated to Lisa that it was something I wanted.I also got a box of Ferrero Rocher, something I didn't ask for but nontheless a favorite chocolate of mine; so that made me smile. (I haven't actually figured out who my SS is, but Lisa seems to be the likely candidate)
As for exam cramming, I had study hall in 5 out of my 7 classes. I started looking over calc, but didn't get much done. I got a decent grade on friday's quiz but somehow not feeling very satisfied; probably because of the way Klumpe graded it. I really don't feel like studying for the French exam tomorrow, but I should to make me feel less guilty about doing poorly on it. (Though if that actually happens, I would cry)

Week in review

Mood: content
What's on: "Everything's exploding"-The Flaming Lips


I think I'm becoming lazy about blogging again. I've had things I wanted to write about many times during the week, but I didn't feel the least bit inclined to take the time to blog. In my defense, this week has been very hectic as I've predicted, and I didn't want to spend 2 or so hours on entries like I did on Monday's.

But, now that I somewhat found the time to write (time used instead of studying), I thought I would give a review of the week.

Tuesday
Nothing bad happened on this day, so a decent follow up to monday I suppose. John K. gave me a ride home; It was abit awkward when I saw his parents in the car, but still , it was better than taking the bus. I ended up not doing much when I got home and during the entire night mainly because of the band concert. We had to be at school at 5:30 to rehearse, which I thought was really lame. It surprised me that Christine didn't show up. She wasn't present during band class either earlier in the day, so I thought she might have been skipping, which would be rather bold of her. Mr. C then told us that she was not going to make it because she was "very sick"; that surprised me even more.
After we finished rehearsing at 6:15, we got free time to converse and change into our concert attires. At that time, I called Christine's brother, Kevin, to check up on her. To my surprise again, he did not know that she was "sick". He also has been out of his house since the morning for exams. When I asked if anything had happened recently between them, he said they had a fight and was reluctant to explain in details.(As I later found out through Christine, they did have a fight..literally. She had a bad headache, thus the "being very sick" part). But, whatever. The concert went great, Godzilla got a standing ovation which was awesome.

Wednesday
I was looking forward to the economist debate in econ., but it turned out to be really crappy, as in it was more of an interrogation from Mira then a debate. Robotics was enjoyable solely for the fact that no one bothered me to work on things.(Well, Mohit did, but whoever listens to him?) I spent most of my time playing with Alex T.'s camera. I'm actually pretty fond of it now, as opposed to my lack of interest from before.

Thursday
The fruit of my week's procrastination has paid off: I stayed up till 4 getting my college applications ready for teachers/guidance. I thought it would have been just as easy as giving them a few pieces of paper, but turns out, it wasn't just that easy. I know I was asking for it by procrastinating, and I got really stressed out over the course of the night. I didn't intend to apply to any school with the Jan 1st deadline, but I ended up filling out forms for 3. I'm not even sure I can get everything ready by than. I doubt I will work on any during finals week.

Friday
The day went slow, and I was dreading going to the French Club dinner. It would be okay if I just paid and ate, but the club is making the dinner for 90 people, mainly families of the members. We started cooking right after school; I was on the main entree committee and ended up preparing the Salmon dish.
I was surprised to find that barely anyone knew how to cook, even the general female population. It's rather sad in my opinion, or maybe I'm just not normal for knowing how. But does it take more than common sense to figure out how to dice eggplants and peppers? These poor souls needed guidance, and I took the role of leading. I did a lot of chopping, my least favorite being the shallots. After overcoming some problems, we succeeded in finishing up the cooking around 6:30. The dinner started at 7 and consisted of 5 courses: soup,salad,quich/salmon,beet salad,bread/cheese,and dessert. Overall, the feedbacks were great, which made me feel accomplished that I didn't screw up. In actuality, I've thought about becoming a chief at some point during high school. I do enjoy cooking, and I think it ties in a lot of my other interests. Though it seems like a rewarding job, probably not too realistic for me.

I skipped cleaning duties when we finished around 9.I originally planned to go home, but the night only began and made a twisted turn in duration. In all, it was decent minus the minor offsets.

Saturday
Saturday started out as one of those lazy days where I wake up at 2 in the afternoon. I pretty much just sat around the house: food, computer, tv. At 5, I went to a dinner party with my parents at my neighbor's; It was their kid's birthday apparently. (flash back of bad nights with annoying asian kids...) The food was good though, so that alleviated the situation by a good amount.
I left at 7:30 and walked around the pond in my subdivision for awhile. It was frozen, not to my surprise, but I chickened out at the idea of walking on top of it. After all, drowning in a frozen lake on a saturday night is not the best way to die.
Theoretically, I wasn't suppose to go out for the night as stated by my parents. But it's okay as long as they don't know? I probably would've gotten into a lot of trouble if they found out I was left and came back at 1:30, but I'm used to taking risks. (I'm just asking for it one of these days...)
I hung out with Clif at the union before crashing X's house for awhile. We watched SWAT until it got boring.(which didn't take too long) The rest of the night was spent playing ping-pong (or rather watching X and Navid play "entertaining" matches) and talking about random things.

Today
I woke up around 12:15 thinking it's already around the 1 O clock area. I originally planned to use my robotics time and do some christmas shopping, since my parents would not likely have let me out other wise. I was still feeling tired though and had serious considered not getting up (note laziness), but I made myself because I really needed to buy things, especially for monday's Secret Santa deadline.
My trip started out at Wal-Mart: "good values" and less time consuming than the mall. I ended up only buying 10 dollar worth of chocolate in the duration of an hour. Oh well, the main goal was to scout anyways, I'll probably go back sometimes next week since I still have a lot to buy. I headed to Borders next, because I had a general idea of what I'm getting for SS. I spent about an hour there too and ended with a gift card. =\ Oh well?
Afterwards, I decided to stop by JL Records to browse CDs. I use to enjoy doing this often before I moved (about 2-3 years ago). I was with usually with friends, and there was no where else to go in town than hanging out at Haisting's to look through used cds. (Of course, piracy has changed everything since then...)
At JL, there were cds I was very much tempted to buy, but paying $10 for used, $15 for new, or $25 for dvds did not justify the mean. I mean sure, they're probably not selling a lot because of people pirating, but selling at high prices would make people less inclined to buy. (And I would buy at borders just to piss off JL because of their sign that read "Buying from corporate stores, shame on you" or something like that). I also wanted to sell off my stack of cds, but the trade-in is only worth $2-3 a pop. So, no. I'm not that desperate for money, and I still enjoy my cds enough to not sell when I bought them for $10-20 each =
Overall
-I wouldn't give myself a high rating on productivity for the week. I told myself every night that I would work on homework/applications, study, and other things, but I ended up not doing any until the last minute.
- I did not eat in the cafeteria at all during the week. (It's not a big deal, but I don't think it's ever happened before)
-I parked on Meridian for the whole week.
-I'm looking forward to the after-christmas sale. For one I'm going to stock up on chocolate since I'm ashamed that I forgot to shop after Halloween.
-word count: 1483
-I should study.