DONE

DONE

DONE
DONE
DONE

Almost. I still have to send in my application fees.
But seriously, all those essays.

I am pumped. To be done. Even if it means I still have a paper and a lab to write. Even if it means I need three artworks by Tuesday.

WHOOOO.

I can finally start talking about the application process in the past tense. Things I'll need to include in reflections: finding colleges that match, standardized tests (& the student search service), writing essays, formatting, the common application, the waiting period (including how to destress and such), recommendations, supplements ... that's all I can think of for now.

I think I will celebrate by watching a movie and reentering my life. And being productive and actually starting my painting.

Oh, yes. It's New Year's Eve! A momentary reflection of the past year--passable, even pleasant. Memorable incidents:
Chicago
US History
Testing testing testing
Italy!
New York!
Anytown!
52 people at the first Environmental Club meeting of the year
40 people at the first Spectrum meeting
Homecoming Queen!
Relations with other people (a mixed bit of nice and confusing)

Things I look forward to doing in 2009:
Caring for my health! (exercising and bothering to pack healthy lunches)
SEEING AMMI AHHHHHHH
Doing the things I regretted not doing this year
Getting into college, gahgahgalg;lagjald
Graduation
Summer! Summer! Summer! Job!
Goodbyes
COLLEEEGGGGGEEEEE


I apologize for all the caps. They are kind of unexcusable in normal circumstances, but I am feeling like the vanilla ice cream on a root beer float.

a morning winter walk and a finished art supplement(!).

At least I think I'm finished. I may do a painting or two in the next few days, and if I like one of them enough I'll add it to my collection.

Since I'm no award-winning artist or anything, my artistic endeavors are more a haphazard collection of photography, traditional art, and the designs I've done for my extracurriculars. My art supplies consist of a cheap point-and-shoot camera, lots of acrylics and colored pencils, and sharpies.

That is, my CD portfolio will be divided in those categories.
I haven't posted any art yet, so here's a selection of each of them:

Photography:

<----The background image, and these:





Traditional art:







Designs:






____________________________

I took a rather soothing walk today. I nearly froze off my face taking pictures and listening to the new albums I acquired over the weekend.

I think I will take a walk without my portable audio player sometime soon. I spent half a summer without one and found myself noticing the subtle nuances of my neighborhood much more. Something in the air was crisper. The sky was bluer. It's strange how much one discovers by simply paying attention.










______________________

Andrew and I got into a debate (as always) over the usefulness of the religious studies major (which I am considering). My main motive for possibly pursuing the major is this: to gain a deeper understanding of different peoples through the societal regulators of religion, economic conditions, and historical norms, each of which are not necessarily independent from the others.

Religion, although declining in its influence in certain circles, remains a chief aspect of many cultures. Through analyzing them, I would realize a perspective of their respective cultures unattainable through sociology or psychology.

Although some parts of old religious texts may seem dogmatic, I find the ideas that they present utterly fascinating, especially in their explanations on how the universe was created (a personal question of mine that will never be answered but always pursued). I believe it is possible to find some commonality in all religions and perhaps use this knowledge to unite diverse peoples.

Furthermore, it is possible that I will pursue religious studies in an interdisciplinary major more suitable to my goals, such as a History/Economics/Religious Studies fusion of awesomeness.




Hm. The one thing I dislike about being awake after 10:30 is my constant late-night hunger I refuse to nourish.

A slow withdrawal from an unrequited love.

The first two days of re-entering the application process were glazed with the lingering self-doubt and disappointment of my December 15th verdict. Anything I wrote was contrived, unoriginal, and ... bleh. It was frustrating.

I finished my Stanford application at 1 AM yesterday and watched Pan's Labyrinth until 4 AM. I woke up and decided to make a few loaves of challah.

I made lazanki for lunch as the loaves rose, did some therapeutic dough-braiding, and did a little more research on how to paint with oils and acrylics. I read 66 pages of Brave New World and sketched the lamp next to me with charcoal and pastels.

I downloaded Man on Wire. Before I went to bed, I wrote an opening to an essay.

Yesterday was brilliant. The one paragraph I wrote has inspired a complete rewrite of my Stanford essays, which I never would have forgiven myself for submitting. I think I'll revamp my main Common app essay. I also made some more challah today. I feel both sorry and happy for my future roommate. I don't know how baking and cooking are so linked with a certain level of happiness for me. I'm thinking about bagels or baguettes next.

I'm letting myself fall in love with my second choice schools. I want to experience that relief and excitement of getting into college. But there's no rush. All the things in the world are nice.

a fantastic day and some thoughts on physics

I find it highly amusing that my first attempt at music composition sounds like a cross between Explosions in the Sky and Stars. I really like it, though. I have the intro and the beginning of a verse done thus far. We'll see how it turns out.

After having studied for a day and a half, I went into my calculus final this morning and there is a chance that I may have gotten an A on it. Which means I have scraped through the first semester of Calculus BC, my first semester with any AP classes ever, with an A.

UMYESYOUHEARDCORRECTLY.

If only I could say the same for Physics. The grading in that class is pretty shot. Half of our class is struggling and the other half is excelling, and it's supposed to be graded on a curve. I'm actually in the middle, which means my grade is in the most jeopardy (oh gosh, this is starting to sound like the effects of recession on socioeconomic class).

The class curriculum is fairly disorganized. At the beginning of the year, he gave us a syllabus with a list of the labs we were going to do, and so far we've been jumping around from one to the other in no particular order. Our weekly web assignments come from the textbook, we practice on questions he's saved on his computer, and we are mostly graded on pop AP question quizzes.

My hypothesis was that I was simply unable to adapt to the purposeful unpredictability of the class, but it seems as though there is no clear purpose behind that at all.

At the start of the semester, he admitted that it was more up to us to study the material. However, since we students are doing more or less independent study, we have no way to assess if our understanding of the material is adequate until we are tested.

I took the initiative to buy a Barron's AP Physics C guide over the summer, but I still feel as though this testing practice disadvantages my other peers who may not know to or are not able to afford twenty dollar testing monstrosities.

Perhaps I will try and address the issue with my teacher soon.

One part inspirational speech and one part music video. The second video blog I made for friends (and me) stressing over college admissions. Surprisingly took me less than two hours to shoot the video and edit the audio and clips. Playing the lovely song "El Reloj" by Jóvenes y Sexys during the first part.

But seriously, to all of you who aren't feeling the love from your first choice or any other college, don't doubt yourself too quickly. You'll end up happy no matter what.