➠ 031 •

This is a few days late but
I'm going to the University at Buffalo.
It was really tough choosing between colleges.  I won't lie.  But...I think I'll be happy with my decision.


(Even though not everyone is).

➠ 030 •

Well, it looks like I'll almost be done with choosing a college.  Financial aid has been released, I eliminated some schools from my list, and now I'm down to two choices, one of which is looking more likely than the other.
That's really all I have to say.  Other than that, though, my school grades are pretty terrible right now.  Not THAT bad...but still not as good as I would normally like them to be.  Oh well, it's 4th quarter.

➠ 029 • The End

Oh, no.  Not the end of this blog!  Though I may start anew once I go off to college.


But it's the end.  The end of my college admissions journey.  Months and months of waiting for this day...it almost seems unreal that it's finally over.
But the final standing is:


Accepted:
Northeastern University
Union College
University of Rochester
Wesleyan University
University at Buffalo - SUNY
Tufts University


Waitlisted:
Cornell University
Columbia University
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis


Rejections:
None.


Well.  I'm a bit down because I had no Ivy League acceptances, but I'm going to college, and that's all that matters.

➠ 028 • Whatever Happened to the Case of Senioritis?

So, some good news!  I won my school's concerto competition :).  I'm excited to (hopefully) perform the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with my fellow Chamber String friends.  I hope they like the piece almost as much as I do.


But then, on a more negative note...I lost my AP Government review book!  Wahhhh.  I hope my AP teacher isn't mad at me.  Luckily I found the same exact book on Amazon, so it should be okay.


On an even MORE negative note...I have so many tests this week.  Spanish, AP Gov, AP Calc...and AP Chem next week.  Go figure.  I have a strange feeling that the tests were planned to be on the same week.  Thanks a lot, teachers.
I'm going to NOT worry so much about these tests though, because I am a second semester senior.  I'm just going to relax a bit!  Spanish will be easy, AP Gov won't be too bad (as long as I don't make stupid mistakes), AP Calc will take some studying, and AP Chem will take the most studying.  Good thing that one's next week.


On one last note...senior ball!  I have myself a nice date, I found a pretty dress, I planned the perfect hairstyle...
...Just kidding.  I don't have a nice date, I haven't bothered with a pretty dress, and I haven't researched perfect hairstyles.  In fact, I'm not bothering with senior ball at all.  It seems pretty pricey and stuff.  I'll spend the money I save on my dress for my Shosti performance and my (hopefully) NYC trip with Elias.

➠ 027 •

As March approaches, many things happen.
In past years, I associated March with St. Patrick's Day. You know, green clovers, Irish people, et ta ka.  But now, things are taking a turn.  A pretty wide turn, to be very frank.
Many of my Facebook friends have been celebrating their college acceptances a la status update.  I should be proud of these people, but honestly, it's been getting on my nerves.  I'm tired of seeing status updates on how this person got into this college or how this person got rejected or how this person CAN'T WAIT TO ATTEND THIS COLLEGE.
Seriously...college isn't the most important part of your life!  Get over yourselves, people!
I really can't wait for college, and I would be ecstatic beyond belief if I got into my dream college, but who else would really care besides my family and really close friends?  No one!  Seriously.  No one cares.


-Rant over-


I just can't wait to get out of high school.

➠ 026 • picnik abuse

When it's almost 3AM in the morning and you can't sleep....there's nothing quite like "picniking"!


It's currently February break, and my teachers have given me NO HOMEWORK!
Except for an English project but that's due on March 17, so it doesn't count.
It's nice, having no homework, but it does get boring after a while.
What can I do to pass the time?

My laptop has something called "LifeFrame", and it's basically a webcam that lets you take pictures.  It has some cool features, like this foreground.  I could use this foreground to make something really creative...

Dear, dear old Picnik...it's like a free PhotoShop.  It's unfortunately closing down this April,  and as a "farewell gift (I'm not sure how else you'd put it), all its premium features are now FREE.  So this cool thing was one once-premium feature, and I took advantage of it.  It looks pretty freaking sweet if you ask me.

Okay, this was just silly.

The coloring on this is nice, I suppose, but the "duck face" that I'm making is a bit silly, for lack of better words.  Haha.  Maybe I'll make this my next Facebook profile picture or something.  Or Twitter picture.  Or Blogger picture.


UPDATE: It just occurred to me that the 1st and 4th picture are the same pose (but different face), and the 2nd and 3rd are too (almost).  Interesting.

➠ 025 • I've had a good day?

Okay, first off.  Before I start my blog post, let me just say that I am immensely proud of Jeremy Lin.  He is...(pun coming up) BalLIN~!  But anyway, I feel so honored to be of the same race, and even more so because we share the same last name!  Ah, great moments.
~~~
But yes!  Back to my post.  As we all know, today was Saint Valentine's Day - the day of love, cupcakes, chocolate, stuffed bears....et ta ka.  I did not have a Valentine this year (which isn't new lolol), but it was nice nonetheless.  I got a pretty rose from one of my friends,  some Starburst candies in English class, loads of chocolate from my parents, Fun Dip from another friend of mine, and loads of Doritos and heart-shaped cakes during a club meeting for my school's newspaper.  All in all, it was a pretty good day, even though I didn't have a Valentine.  Now that I think about it though, who needs Valentine's when you can get CHOCOLATE?! :D
~~~
Have I been successful at being a "second semester senior"?  Well, not really.  I'm still working hard on my school work, but I guess that's just a characteristic of mine.  Unfortunately, though, I didn't do so well on one of my AP Public Policy assignments.  I was in shock for a few minutes, because I did put some effort (more than probably half the class) into that assignment.  I'll find out my errors tomorrow, so I'm a bit anxious on that.  Good thing there's so many reading quizzes in that class that I can easily ace.  That bad grade's impact will HOPEFULLY lessen a bit.
~~~
A couple of my friends have started talking about Senior Ball.  Isn't it a bit early to discuss things like that that will happen in June?
Okay, I'll admit...I've been part of these discussions.  Sometimes I even prompt people about Ball.
It would be nice if I could go to Ball.  Prom was fun last year, so it'd be nice to repeat that experience.  I'm hoping that, if I do end up going, I'll get a nice, short teal dress with cute shoes and a shiny necklace!
However, I also *very loosely* planned a trip to NYC with Elias that same weekend, so if I do end up going to ball, I'll have to fix those plans.
~~~
Speaking of Elias, his dad is hosting something called a "Cellobration," where cellists will unite and play some cello music.  Seeing as I am a cellist, I would really like to go to this.  It's this weekend, so I'll have to see whether I have plans or not.
Well, actually, I'm kind of "forced" to go now, since I agreed to report it for my school newspaper.
~~~


Welllllll, that was quite a long post.  It's always nice to talk about my days with people though.  This post was definitely more positive than the last one (except for the slight AP PubPol mishap, but hopefully that will be remedied!).  I hope I have more positive posts in the future!


(And on one last note, I got another college acceptance!  This time, to the U of Rochester. I'm really happy because I love that school.  Hopefully more acceptances will come!)

➠ 024 • You've had a bad day?

Lately, life hasn't been the greatest for me.  Let me give you a short rundown:

• I have no idea when my Concerto Competition is.  The competition is basically where kids from my school compete - the winner gets to perform his/her piece.  Some say it's after Feb break, some say it's before.  I'm already really frustrated with the cello piece I'm playing (Shostakovich Cello Concerto I) because of the stinkin' chords.  I guess I don't practice as much as some of my competitors (they practice 3 hours I hear! Me?  Probably 45 minutes at most HAHA), but I just hate practicing. :\  I want the competition to be before February break so I can just get it out of my system.   I'm not sure I even care about winning the competition anyway - I only pray that the winner is someone that actually deserves it.  Oh well, I should practice THOSE CHORDS a bit more.  Interestingly enough, the CHORDS are what's bothering me, not the fast passages!  Hmm.
• Valentine's Day is fast approaching.  I feel really moody, because I've never had a Valentine in my entire life.  Sometimes, I feel really bad for myself.  Sometimes, I feel like my friends (at least, the ones from school) are just drifting away from me.  Forever alone. :'(
• There are some people I know that are so obsessed with the college that they enrolled at, and I want to punch them in the face.  You haven't even spent one day there, calm down.
• My diet plan hasn't been working so well.  Freaking Goldfish and their deliciousness.
• I can tell that my Public Policy teacher dislikes me.  But that may not be so bad, seeing as she rarely likes anyone in the first place.
• All this college spam is annoying me.  Can you believe it?  I'm still getting emails from schools begging me to apply.  No thanks, I was done with college applications over a month ago.
• I took a practice Multiple Choice exam for AP Lit, and...it was a lot harder than I remember the AP Lang exam to be.  Like, it wasn't as hard as it could be, but it was still pretty darn hard.  I really don't want to take another English AP, but I guess I must...

I know, I know, life could get worse - so actually, I'm not as bothered as I thought I would be.  Now that I got this post written down, I feel slightly better about myself.  I should be happy that life is going the way it is, because there are people that feel more upset than I do.  I got into a college, I have a family that loves me and gives me meals, I do have friends that will be "Forever Alone" with me (haha), and one of my good friends (Elias) and I are *hopefully* planning a trip to NYC!  He has an apartment there because he takes cello lessons down in the city.  I'm trying to find people to join us (because sleeping in an apartment with a boy that you're not dating is really strange...my parents would never approve!), but I'm excited nonetheless.  My mom was saying that I should go down to the city instead of attending Senior Ball (because ball really is not worth the RIDICULOUS PRICE). :D

➠ 023 •

Ughhhh.  I was once on a diet, around 1/2 a year ago...and it was working (I was halfway towards my goal), but recently, I decided to quit it so I could have more energy to study and stuff.


And now all I do is eat, eat, eat.  It's really depressing.  I've been checking my weight and it hasn't really changed since I dropped the diet, but I still feel like I need to continue dieting.  I just don't feel healthy sometimes. :(  I'm not sure if I'm at a healthy weight either, so I must continue my diet, even at all costs!


Why am I so lazy and unmotivated?  I should find some more low calorie snacks to eat during the day....fruits and veggies would be good!  I should probably also take walks every day after school...gotta keep myself at a healthy weight!


--


On another note, I'm really pleased with my chemistry midterm grade.  I expected to pass, but I didn't expect to do well!  I'm happy.  I hope my calculus midterm turns out the same way.


And, yes, with midterms being done, I'm close to being a second semester senior!  A bit scary, but exciting as well.  I might end up being a little lazy when it comes to academic work..."senioritis" will finally be kicking in.  This is also the time that I'll start finding out results from colleges, so I'm a bit nervous and anxious.  I really hope I get enough money to go to a school I like!

➠ 022 • Second Semester Awaits

Phew!  Done with all my midterms and college applications.


Best feeling?  Almost.


Close enough.


My chemistry midterm was quite tricky (but I think I passed!) and my BC Calculus midterm was not too bad.  I'm hoping the grades I got for both of these classes will reflect how I felt about their midterms!


---


I haven't updated in a while, so I'm going to give a rundown of what happened since my last post.


Hah.  Nothing really.


Except for ONE BIG THING.


I met up with my friends Hannah and Caroline in Boston! :)  It was the first time since back in summer 09 (I think) that we were reunited.  I must say, it was a really great experience, since I missed both of my best friends terribly (and believe me, I still do now!  I'm really hoping that we can meet again during their spring break).  I also got to meet Adam, one of Caroline's friends, and a handful of Hannah's friends over at Dartmouth College.  Sometimes I wish I applied to Dartmouth, because it seems like such a great place and such a close-knit community, but...well, I like so many schools that it was really hard for me to choose only a few to apply to!


Our group of seven people traveled around the city.  It was great!  We went to a cupcake store called "Sweet," and Hannah and I shared a Snickerdoodle cupcake.  It was delightfully delectable!

The cupcakes in which my friends bought are above.  The red velvet one looks so good!

From left to right: me, Hannah, and Caroline.  I feel like my gloves look a tad bit ridiculous.

And lastly, this.  (Well I have more but these three are some of my favorites).  The blue dress ended up looking terrible on me, but oh well.


---


Well, after that excitement, I eventually had to go home and study for my midterms.  I can't seem to believe that it's been a week since my Boston reunion happened!  Time went by really slow for me.  It felt like so long ago :'(.


I still have to study for a Spanish test tomorrow (could it be considered a "midterm"?  I mean, it's on a book we're reading, and we're currently halfway...), and I must finish a reading assignment for English.  Gotta go, but see you guys around~!

➠ 021 • DONE?

Hahaha, I was just browsing some Tumblr posts about applying to college.


It's slightly amusing how so many people were cramming to finish applying to all the schools on their list.


Me?  I'm done!  I sent my last college a few days ago.


Actually.


That's a lie.  I'm not done.  I still have one more to go.


Good thing that's a January 15th due date. :)  (But it'll be haunting me, just right next to me, whispering "FINISH ME, FINISH ME, FINISH ME.....")