readingredhead | Entries tagged with chemistry

"Xylene exhibits neurological effects. High levels from exposure for acute (14 days or less) or chronic periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty in breathing and other problems with the lungs, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, and possibly adverse effects on the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants). Xylene or products containing Xylene should not be used indoors or around food." --Wikipedia

And this is the stuff euphemistically called "type wash," which we use in printing to get ink off of type. In a very definitely indoor room, and with no windows open (in fact, while the room has beautiful windows that let in much-needed light, they are cemented shut--why this would happen is anyone's guess). And now my throat hurts! And frankly I'm a little scared.

(Also -- its flashpoint is a little over 70 degrees Fahrenheit! That's something actually achievable in a non-air conditioned room during the summer! Seriously!)

EDIT: And now my astro professor has just contradicted my GSI and informed me that we have two problem sets due on Thursday, instead of just the one that the GSI said would be due.

I HATE THIS CLASS! I don't know how they're allowed to continue with such terrible communication between GSIs and the professor. The GSIs don't know what they're doing. My GSI frequently states that he disagrees with the wording of a problem on homework or a test, but has no power to change them or even to give us more points for partial credit, because all our homework is graded by a single grader, whose identity has never been made known and with whom students in the class can have no contact! I have literally gone to the GSI for help, had him tell me I had the right answer, only to get marked down on the homework.

Today, I went to the prof for homework help (back when I only thought that I had one problem set due in two days), and mentioned that I was having trouble getting a question. His response was, "Well, that's a hard one. There's no shame in leaving it blank."

This is a 10-point problem on a 30-point homework assignment!!

And what bugs me the most about this is that it's astronomy--it's fascinating! I'm learning things, but not enough of them, and only by reading the textbook. I want to like this class! And there's no possible way for me to do that.

I'd scream, but my throat would hurt.

Yesterday was my last real day of high school, and I don't know what to do.

Unlike most people, I've never taken too well to summers. I mean, I like them because they give me free time to do things I want to do rather than things I have to do. But they also make me feel undefined. I've always defined myself to a large extent by school. I'm a student, I'm a learner, I'm a pupil. I go to Del Cerro, I go to La Paz, I go to Mission. But the transitions from one to another aren't always smooth. I'm reminded of something from Beverly Cleary's book called Ramona Quimby, Age Eight. The main character didn't liked it when people asked her what grade she was in during the summer months, because she felt like she couldn't give the right answer. She wasn't in second grade -- she'd already finished with that -- but she wasn't in third grade -- it was still off in her future.

That feeling of gradelessness, of a lack of definition, is what is starting to set in already, and it's one of the things I don't like.

But back to Friday. The hardest part was without a doubt the fact that I had to leave my teachers. I'm not worried about leaving my friends. I have come to understand over the past few years that friendships that are meant to be will last. This doesn't mean that they won't require time and effort...but if you want it to happen, then you will put the time and effort into it, and it will. However, the same can't really be said of the teachers I know. Sure, I'll come back to visit them, but it will be a return as an outsider. I will never again be their student in truth, though I will always feel like it in my heart.

And it feels like there are things they could have still taught me, things that I need to learn from them, but that I never will, because now I'm gone. When I see my favorite teachers again, it will be through a new lens, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. And it's not just the teachers I've had this year, like Fukuda, Koger, and Krucli -- the realization is there when I thnk of teachers I've had in past years, like the McClures or Vargish or skinny Moore, who will never again be just a few classrooms away. In the past I've never really left the teachers I've loved. Now, I have to.

And part of me knows that I have to, part of me understands that it's a part of my personal journey, part of me knows that there really isn't anything else left for them to teach. On a basic level, I can comprehend that there is something bigger than Mission Viejo High School calling to me, and that it is a call I will need to answer. The things I have learned along the way will be used to help me through the road of trials that lies ahead. I know that by holding on to these teachers, and by feeling that there is still something they have to teach me, I am refusing the call. I know that this must stop if I am to grow up and become my own person.

But I also know that the journey will change me, and I'm worried that once I cross the return threshold and come back to see them in a few months or a year, everything will have changed and they will no longer mean to me what they once did. I'm afraid that their significance will diminish with distance, and I desperately don't want that to happen, because they have shaped my life so greatly and I don't know how I could continue to be the person that I am if I forgot them.

So I won't forget them.

I won't forget Mr. Koger's crazy stories about the time his friends backpacked through Europe, or his guitar skills, or his flattery, or the way it feels to hug him.

I won't forget Mr. Krucli's ability to let us teach ourselves and to honestly and openly discuss literature with us as though we were his equals in age and knowledge, nor will I forget his smile or his odd anecdotes or his tendency to form personal relationships with his students.

I won't forgeth Mr. Fukuda's "mkays," or the way he always hassled me about my calculator, or the way that he seemed genuinely proud of everything his students managed to do right.

I won't forget Mr. Vargish's ability to make history come alive, or his trademark sayings, or his genuine affection for me and that one hug I got from him, or the way he teared up at the end of Casablanca.

I won't forget Mrs. McClure's unwavering support for all of my English efforts, or the way she's been a part of my life since freshman year, or her uncanny ability to draw me into a conversation that will last much longer than it needs to.

I won't forget Mr. McClure's laughter, or his recitation of poetry, or his impossible style of teaching that nonetheless brought out the best in all of his students and helped them to never fear English again.

I won't forget Mr. Mark Moore, for his ridiculous school spirit, or for acting like everyone's best great-uncle, or for being genuinely excited about the math that he taught, even if others didn't see it.

I can't forget them all, because I am them all. They are as much a part of me as my friends and my family; to borrow a phrase from Julie E. Czerneda, they too are my heart-kin. Forgetting them? Why, that would be impossible.

Current Mood: loved

I think I've noted before that the night before a chemistry test, I never seem to study. Instead, I get distracted by good writing and stay up to ungodly hours of the night, needing to finish one more page, one more paragraph...

This weekened has shown me that this can get even more out of hand. I did nothing but read and write all weekend, the exception being some time I spent yesterday morning studying Chemistry. I haven't taken a single multiple choice practice test. My free response scores might be good, but there's no way my MC scores match them. And you know what I say?

Oh well.

It doesn't matter.

Because I've been spending the time doing work for Ages of Wonder instead, and even though the result is a story that's not at all one of my best, given the time it was absolutely the best that I could do, and I'm really rather proud of myself for getting it done. Also, it was good to feel like a writer again.

And now I still have a few minutes before I leave to take the AP Chemistry test. Just a few more minutes for me to not study, and worry about important things instead.

(More later about the amazing book that seduced me away from the studying. Because there was a book. There's always a book.)

Stuff I really need to get done includes:

--short story writing
--practice IB Spanish test
--study for IB Spanish
--study for AP Chemistry
--Chemistry AP problems (2006)

The short story writing is really the most important part. Really, I should do nothing but work on the short story between now and Tuesday, because it deserves that kind of attention, and also because I don't have many other things I need to do. But, as usual, the internet is a distraction.

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley
2. The Coelura by Anne McCaffrey
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
5. An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aidan
6. Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
7. These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan
8. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane
9. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
10. Cameo Diner by Matt Miller
11. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane
12. Talking in the Dark by Billy Merrill
13. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tenessee Williams
14. A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda
15. Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca
16. Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
17. Ties of Power by Julie E. Czerneda
18. The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard
19. To Trade the Stars by Julie E. Czerneda
20. The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore

Current Mood: lazy

I feel like I have accomplished more so far today than I did during the entire weekend -- and it's only 10:30. I knew I stayed home for a reason. I figured school would be a waste, what with so many people taking the IB math test, and I didn't want to be at school if I didn't have to. So, for once in my life, I followed through with something spontaneous that has led to my personal happiness!

I'm realizing I never updated about my weekend, because I was so busy. Not much to say about Sunday, but Saturday was awesome fun. In the morning, I went shopping with Katie for supplies for our birthday party, and we ended up at Goodwill where I found this awesome dress -- for $10! It's really simple black satin spaghetti strap dress that's form-fitting around the bust and stomach but past the hips, the skirt flares out really wide. So to recap: pretty much in perfect condition, gorgeous, simple but in an elegant way, and only $10. My day was made.

Then we decided to go to lunch at Chipotle because we had coupons. So I'm sitting and eating a wonderful burrito and I get a call from Rick. Turns out his grandmother wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to use her tickets to see the matinee showing of The Light in the Piazza at Orange County Performing Arts. So Rick and I went instead. Have I mentioned that these are good tickets? Orchestra, D17&18. To die for. The musical itself was really good -- not like anything I've ever seen before. Not fantastic or to die for, but still worth watching. Best part was the fact that a large portion of the singing and speaking was in Italian, and I understood most of it!

Um...yeah. That's about it. Now I'm trying to study, but I figured I'd reward myself for having worked so hard this far. I'll probably get back to chemistry before lunch...I'm making flashcards for the Paper 3 topics, so that on Thursday night when I don't want to review them, I'll have something to force me to.

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: "The Light in the Piazza"

I opened up my internet because there was something important I desperately needed to do with it. However, as soon as the screen opened, I promptly forgot. I hate it when that happens. Hopefully I'll remember it eventually? I have this vague idea that it has to do with my chem lab, but I'm not sure.

Never mind, I just remembered. Yay! (In case you're curious, I was going to look up a Star Wars: A New Hope movie poster.)

Of course, I should have been spending the last two hours studying for the hardest chemistry test of the year. Instead, I have spent them re-reading a Phantom of the Opera fanfic and creating a new userpic. Oh, and having a conversation with Rachna about college sweatshirts.

Current Music: "Amy's Song" ~ Switchfoot

Don't have too much to do...that's a first. Really, I have plenty of things to do, but they're not all going to get done.

I think my favorite thing I did today was work on a project in Art. We're supposed to draw a superhero or action figure or something, so I asked if I could draw a character from one of the books I'm writing. So I drew Holly, from Azuria, my great unfinished&unplanned novel. Her story's being changed around as I draw her, because of how capable (or rather incapable) I am of drawing things well, but it's a good exercise in character creation.

I've got a lot of chemistry stuff, which I should be doing right now. I'm not...this is possibly a bad thing? I need to finish up the homework and then read the chapter as a review for the test. I think I'm going to do that now...yeah. And print my history paper, and that's really all I have to do for tomorrow. Wow. That's a feeling I could get used to. Maybe I'll actually get the chance to (gasp) write? Or read?

On an unrelated note, I like Derek Walcott. I did not used to like him, but now I think I do (handsiness aside).

"Kneel to your load, then balance your staggering feet
and walk up that coal ladder as they do in time,
one bare foot after the next in ancestral rhyme.

Because Rhyme remains the parentheses of palms
shielding a candle's tongue, it is the langauge's
desire to enclose the loved world in its arms;

or heft a coal-basket; only by its stages
like those groaning women will you achieve that height
whose wooden planks in couplets lift your pages

higher than those hills of infernal anthracite.
There, like ants or angels, they see their native town,
unknown, raw, insignificant. They walk, you write;

keep to that narrow causeway without looking down,
climbing in their footsteps, that slow, ancestral beat
of those used to climing roads; your own work owes them

because the couplet of those multiplying feet
made your first rhymes. Look, they climb, and no one knows them;
they take their copper pittances, and your duty

from the time you watched them from your grandmother's house
as a child wounded by their power and beauty
is the chance you now have, to give those feet a voice."

-- from Omeros, Chapter XII

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: sounds outside my window

I should be doing my math homework, or my chemistry homework. I should be making headway on one of the long-term assignments littering my calendar. I should be reviewing what I read last week in Road to War so that I don't completely fail the quiz we'll have tomorrow. I should, I should, I should.

But I'm not. This seems to happen to me a lot. I sit around thinking about what I should be doing, even when doing those things won't happen (and wouldn't necessarily be helpful if it did). I know my own limits and abilities; I know how much I can get away with. Maybe I should start trusting my own self-knowledge?

I'd really like to sit back with some knitting and watch more West Wing. And I think that might actually be what I do. It's amazing how sometimes you do what you want without thinking about what you should do. That's the feeling you should have for your entire life.

Random Recollection #1: My dreams last night

I had one really consistent dream that went a lot of places. I saved Sadie from a car accident, out-ran Rob for something-or-other, and came face to face with Julie Czerneda. (I think Diane Duane might've been there too, and she and Julie might've been arguing over something?) Anyway, I was talking to my dad about why I didn't want to be published by Random House, because they would market a story of mine as a kid's book when it's obviously not. Dad mentioned something about Random House publishing Eragon (which I don't know if they did, but I wouldn't be surprised, I have an odd memory for these things). Anyway, Julie walked in on me and Dad when I was explaining this to him, and saying that I'd rather be published by DAW. For some reason when Julie heard me talking about this she felt like I was being really arrogant (which maybe I was, but only because I only thought Dad could hear me). And then I don't know what happened. Take that, Freud.

Random Recollection #2: My phone

I have a new phone as of today. He's sleek and black and in need of a good name. Corinne says he's emo and needs an emo name. For some reason I'm thinking of Tom or Carl (yes, there is a Young Wizards theme to my thoughts). I'm thinking he needs a literary name, because all of my tech toys end up with them sooner or later. But he strikes me as belonging to popular literature, not anything classical. He's pretty nifty, though. (And I've still got the same number, though nowadays no one loses their numbers when they change phones.)

Random Recollection #3: Berkeley interview?

I showed up a week early. That's a nice way of putting it. I think that's the phrase I'll use from now on.

Random Recollection #4: I'd like some politics

They should make more good political dramas -- books, movies, television, real life, I don't care. I swear it's Rick's fault, but the political scene seems so dramatic to begin with, and in a way it's enticing. I used to be afraid of the fact that I felt like I could be a politician. Slowly but surely this fear's going away.

Random Recollection #5: Global warming

Melissa Etheridge's song from An Inconvenient Truth is really cool, and you should all listen to it. When she performed it at the Oscars it was really neat because they had a screen in the background with all these facts on global warming, how to reduce your carbon emissions, etc. The last phrase on the screen was "When you pray, move your feet." I like the call to action -- don't just wish for things, make them happen. It's always been a motto of mine, and I'm glad to see it reflected.

Random Recollection #6: And the Oscar goes to...

I'd like to win an Oscar, I think. How this shall be accomplished remains to be seen, but I think it would be great fun.

...and that's kinda what my life's been like lately. Yeah. Well, I have to wake up again tomorrow. That's kind of annoying, but I know I'll handle it; I always do.

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492

Sadly, this is gonna look a lot like a "to do" list -- maybe because it is.

Spanish
--final draft of essay (due Tues.)
--Cuban Science Fiction (due next Mon.)
Chemistry
--Group IV project
00--lab write-up (Sat.)
00--experiment (Wed.)
00--powerpoint presentation (by next Mon.)
--IB lab write-up
--homework (due Thurs.)
English
--World Lit formatted (due Tues.)
--Review King Lear
History
--Internal Assessment first draft (due Fri.)
--Road to War reading (due Mon.)
Calculus
--homework (due ?)

I've started on the internal assessment for history, and the world lit papers for English. We're meeting about the Group IV project in Chem today (actually in about an hour) and I've mostly written up my individual lab. My Spanish esay and the Road to War chapter are the only long-term things on this list that I haven't started yet. But I'd better get going, especially if I want to go to the movies tonight.

Later remind me to tell the story of my Berkeley interview that's next week and not today.

Current Mood: busy

If you could have lunch with any famous person, either living or dead, whom would you choose and why? Describe your conversation at lunch.

William Shakespeare has long been considered one of the greatest playwrights and storytellers in western civilization, if not the world; his plays and sonnets have been performed, analyzed, and enjoyed by each new generation. But few of those who understood his greatness ever knew him. During his own time, while he did gain popular fame, it was not readily apparent that this one man from a small town in the British countryside would create such an astounding body of work that would continue to enthrall the world even after its creator had passed on. But beneath the fame, beneath the verse, beneath the genius, there must have been a man, and this is who I would like to meet.

In whatever limbo or netherworld where the dead and living can coexist for the short space of lunchtime, I would talk to Shakespeare about what works of his I know. I would tell him, if he didn’t already know, of his tremendous fame. And I would ask him questions. I would ask him how he managed to write so much so well in such a short period of time, but especially I would ask him how he managed to write characters who were so human. I have a feeling that he would shy from the praises, and humbly avow that he writes just like every other writer, from what he knows of the world around him. But I would continue to pressure him, because Shakespeare’s characters are the most compelling part of his plays, the things that make them come alive, and few people are able to replicate so well the interactions of mankind at his best and at his worst. If I could get him to answer that question, I think his answer would be one of the most valuable pieces of writing advice the world has ever received.

Though I would hate to have to bring this up, I would feel compelled to ask Shakespeare if he truly wrote his own work, for while I disbelieve the theories to the contrary, I would like proof, even if I was the only person who would believe in it. Despite what may be said of Shakespeare, and the “evidence” against his having written his own plays, I prefer the story that he was simply a genius among men, capable of rising from his humble background to become a man famous throughout the centuries.

But finally, and most importantly, I would like to meet him because I would like to be inspired. Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets have inspired the world since he wrote them, and they’re just his secondhand thoughts, dulled by the communicative medium. To hear such thoughts from him in person, it follows, would be even more inspirational. Lunch with Shakespeare wouldn’t just be lunch—it would be the experience of a lifetime. To be in the presence of such greatness, even for such a short time, would be immensely uplifting to the creative spirit within me. Hearing him speak, about nothing and everything, would have an immeasurable effect on my life, my dedication to art, and the awe I feel when presented with a model of the creative process done right. I don’t think I could go out on a lunch date with anyone better.

******************************

At times it sounds incoherent and insincere, but it's only a first draft. Granted, I have to polish it up by the end of today so that I can get the whole scholarship thing in the mail, but I think I'll manage.

I'm working on a lot of things this weekend, but I'm also taking a lot of time off -- probably more than I can afford, but hey, it's my weekend, and when school rears its ugly head again I'll pay attention, I swear I will.

Basically did nothing so far today. Read through all the books for my history internal assessment paper, but I severely don't want to write it. I'm postponing my chem lab write-up until tomorrow, but I have to get it done then since Thursday after school is when I'm doing the actual lab. Which reminds me, I need to get some 3% hydrogen peroxide.

I would really like to read a book that draws me in and keeps me, but I've still got a chapter of Road to War left and some more stuff to fill out for scholarships. Maybe I'll get around to some Vonnegut, or to the historical sci-fi anthology I got at the library bookstore for a buck. But the truth is, I don't really want to do anything...and since I don't have to, I probably won't.

Current Mood: blah

I have absolutely nothing to do.

Well, that's a lie. I've got a bunch of things to do. I've got a billion scholarships to fill out, homework to do, papers to write -- plenty of things to keep my buys. But all I'm doing is watching an episode of West Wing, because i don't feel like doing any of the things I need to.

--UCLA scholarship essay
--UCLA scholarship form to fill out
--voice of the future scholarship
--first draft Cuban sci-fic paper
--first draft Palestinian mandate paper
--write up chemistry lab
--chapters we need to read in Road to War

I tried to relax by reading Wuthering Heights but I just can't get through it. I'm not gonna lie. I've been trying but I'm only halfway through and it's just not doing it for me. I'm gonna try to keep on reading it but it wasn't enough to keep me occupied. I'm not going to give it up but I'm maybe gonna take a break. I need a book that will really take my by he heart and pull. Hopefully I'll find one.

I'm really not in the mood to do things.

Part of me things this is okay. I did things earlier today -- I basically finished my senior thesis; I got started on the IB Chem lab. I even did terms for MUN because we apparently have a test on Wednesday. I have a math quiz tomorrow which shouldn't be too bad, even though I haven't studied. I haven't done the English homework for Krucli yet.

Information permitting, I'm going to do my internal assessment for Spanish on Cuban science fiction. It's really crazy, actually; I just found some information on it that's very wow. And it's something I'd actually be interested in working with, almost.

However, I did manage to forget what hydrogen peroxide decomposed into. For some reason I thought it was oxygen and hydrogen, instead of oxygen and water. Heh. Wow. Not having the best of days!

My problem is that I go through periods of intense motivation followed by periods of intense malaise. I'm in one of those right now -- all I want to do is go to sleep. I can't, because there are still so many things for me to do. Well, not really "so many," but enough to keep me up.

I hate it that I have less work than I used to but I feel just as busy and even more annoyed, because when I actually had work it was enough to provide me with the motivation to do it. Now I have to find my own motivation for unexciting things, like the history paper and a chem presentation on school safety (I'm still working out how to do that one).

My life never moves at the speed I want it too. It's either too fast, so that I lose my breath trying to keep caught up, or too slow, so that I get bored and apathetic. I don't know which is worse.

I've got a piece of paper on my whiteboard that's been there since some time junior year. It's got a quote one it: "Better to burn out than to fade away." I say this...but some days I don't know. I'd like to go out with a bang...but sometimes it seems like the best anyone can do is a whimper.

Current Mood: apathetic
Current Music: "A Lack of Color"

Books have always been my tempters, my inspiration and my guilty pleasures. They spur me to things both insane and noble -- to be a writer myself, but to spend entire days immersed in reading while ignoring "real life" things like the chem final I have first thing tomorrow (and have obviously not studied for).

I mentioned a while back that I was going to try what Steph J. did and read 52 books in as many weeks. I toyed on and off with the notion, but I think I've decided in favor of it now -- of keeping an actual log of what I've read. So to the best of my knowledge, books since December 25, 2006 include:

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley
2. The Coelura by Anne McCaffrey
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
5. An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aidan
6. Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
7. These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan

Of course, the last three have been finished over the last three days -- crazy what books can do, I guess. But they're the only explanation for why I haven't spent a single moment studying for my chemistry final. I guess I'm worried that I didn't study? But not worried enough to stop reading.

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Shakespeare

Definitely getting more things done today than yesterday. Started the morning off by writing a kickass TOK paper which I adore absolutely. SO MUCH BETTER than my first attempt. Granted, considering my first attempt, that wasn't that hard.

Um...I'm tutoring more people for more money the rest of this week. I still have to study for chemistry and calculus, but I also need to help my sister with her studying. I've got a really long to-do list, but all I want to do is curl up with a good book. Oh, and I need to memorize "Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot by tomorrow. I've got the first stanza, but that's not much out of five. Oh well, I've got time. "There will be time, there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. There will be time to murder and create, and time for all the works and days of hands that lift and drop a question on your plate. Time for you and time for me, and time..."

Time that I stop the Prufrock insanity.

Now I'm really going to study for chem, after I figure out what Princeton wants from me in terms of financial aid.

Current Music: Iris ~ Goo Goo Dolls

Definitely just took a three hour nap. Have accomplished nothing today, except for the lining of my pockets with some cash through tutoring. I don't have any finals to be afraid of, but it's apparent that other people do.

Fell asleep while trying to read chem chapter. I really should remember not to read chemistry while sitting on such a comfy couch...

Yeah. That's basically my day. I'm psyched for tomorrow because one of my favorite series of books, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, is being made into a tv series on SciFi channel. Premiers at nine, and I'll be glued to the screen. If I could steal one of Jim Butcher's writerly talents, it would be his ability to characterize through narration. That man writes the most amazing first person EVER! I'll confess to not liking his third person so much (he's got another series out that attempts it), but when he's good, he's really good. It makes me very happy.

And now I'm rambling. And sorta hungry. Maybe I should get food? Maybe I should try to finish the chemistry chapter? Maybe I should do something?

...nah.

Haven't started finishing the chem homework yet -- but I've only got about 80% of it left, so I should be okay? Soon as I got home from school I started working on position papers for HBHSMUN. Got those out of the way. I actually really liked them -- it was interesting to write about different topics for once, and ones with more modern significance and importance: Torture/Treatment of Prisoners and the Trial of Human Rights Violators. Both got related to Iraq, making them seem contemporary, but really the problems are as old as man.

But to make a long story short...still have to do the Chem. I felt like I understood it today in class, but there's this niggling fear in the back of my mind that I really don't, and that when I sit down in a minute or so to do homework, it'll rear its ugly head at me and laugh. So...fingers crossed? Because if I don't get to it now, I never will.

Really don't like homework.

What I have left to do:

Chemistry
--finish homework
--study for test (flashcards)
English/Senior Thesis
--read The Stars Are Ours
--read Brave New World
--read Foundation
--write first eight pages of thesis
--start Hamlet (?)
TOK
--start "ten questions" essay
Calculus
--homework
MUN
--organize freshmen into jobs
--write HBHS position paper
--write UCSD position paper
Other
--get together short story collection for publication

I hate it that this list never gets any shorter. I'm heading off to Calculus and Chem today -- hopefully to get those done, so that I have a real weekend?

Went to Disneyland yesterday in the morning because I could, then went to lunch with Rick and his family, then Rick came home with me and we watched TV and ate dinner and watched more TV. Altogether did nothing -- and it felt good, but now I'm wishing I'd had a more productive week.

My toes are cold, and I still have to study Chemistry tonight (and probably eat dinner, too), but I just did my mock oral commentary for Krucli's class tomorrow and I must say, I'm actually rather proud of it. It didn't suck as completely as I feared it would!

We had a pretty intensive Mock Trial practice today, since we made it into the playoffs. I'm starting to learn objections so that I can feed them to the lawyers if they don't recognize them. I think I'm going to make a series of flashcards that have the different objections on them so that I can just pass them over to the lawyers when something needs to be said. Hopefully they can do this inconspicuously. My fingers are crossed.

I think my life is okay today.

Current Mood: curious

So I just finished my first draft of my World Lit 2 paper. Not completely as crappy as I thought -- I'm almost impressed with it. Hopefully I'll rewrite parts of it tonight once Dad's read it and gives me his opinion; I want Krucli to read the best version of it he possibly can.

That was a fairly time-consuming and not-so-positive part of my day, but I did go to Michaels, where I got a nice sketchbook to use for my art journal (for Humanities) and some nice forest green yarn to make Mr. Krucli a scarf (for some reason, I feel the color fits him).

The next three nights, I'm busy -- mock trial practice tomorrow, competition on Tuesday (first of the playoffs!), and chem lab Wednesday, which I conveniently have not yet written up in my lab notebook. There's another thing on my list of "stuff you should really get done."

Oh well, at least I get to cross off the world lit paper, which is really a big thing. Hope you guys all had slightly more fulfilling weekends than I did.

Current Music: oldies...

in Life's name and for Life's sake

a work in progress

Chemicals and other irritants

Leaving: or, the journey outward begins.

Is Chemistry cursed, or is it just me?

(no subject)

I want to be back in Florence...

Grrr...

She burned like a fire despite these rains...

Headache, but otherwise okay.

What I should be doing.

What I have to do this weekend...

(no subject)

I'm a lazy bum.

(no subject)

Books...

(no subject)

Sleepy...

MUN is FUN?

(no subject)

(no subject)

Freedom!

Profile

March 2013

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags