I am posting to tell you guys that I will be inactive for the next two weeks. I will be leaving this Saturday for P.I. for my grandmother's funeral. Lots of stress. And it's right in the middle of IB exams.

So, I will have excuse as to why I'm not posting.

See you guys later.
Don't worry, you guys won't even know I'll be gone!... I'll be back sooner or later.


I'll be fine.

I was bored. I did, however, find where it all began.

Prom. Wish me luck! Wish you guys could be there...

Your posture is blue, madame.
Your hands are limp;
Your back is slouched;
Your flowing hair falls to the side a bit.

But all that makes
Your posture purple.
Your posture is blue because of your smile.
The red goes straight to your smile.
~MCP

I wrote that lesson in color theory while reading The Great Gatsby. If you've read it, you'll know it really calls to mind the despondency that abounds in the novel. A very bad case of appearance vs. reality.

But enough of that. Here's an update in my life: School goes well, only two more months ahead. My senior friends will all have graduated by mid-May. That means I'll have 4 study halls because my senior classes will be out! I took the SAT March 1, but I'll take it again just for kicks. (Preferably the kind of kick that will get me into Yale. More on that later.) In the meantime, 6 APs coming up and 3 SAT IIs. Egad. I know.
Last night I saw Michael Ludwig perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at Chrysler Hall. We had a mock regatta that morning because we were afraid the weather would be bad up in Mathews, but that still meant I missed part of NAMUNC. NAMUNC, or Norfolk Academy Model UN Conference, happened this weekend and I co-chaired the Colombian Cabinet as Alvaro Uribe. For the first time, we hosted students from an outside school--Cox HS. If any of you remember Oliver B. or Morgan B. from KLMS, they both were there.
My spring break was awesome--we took a college road trip up the eastern seaboard, and we took a look at 12 colleges. Here's a snapshot, in the order of visitation:
Princeton: great architecture (although the interiors did not match the neo collegiate gothic exteriors), great music program, fairly well-kept grounds, and a very nice location. My third choice.
Tufts: Great program (Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy is the biggest attraction for me) nice music program and great facilities, grounds...not-so-well-kept. Perhaps my fourth choice.
MIT: Great location in downtown Boston, nice facilities, but forgive me for calling it a bit to brainy for my tastes. Almost no music program to speak of, unfortunately.
Harvard: Incredible in every way, except the music program does not include performance. Ah well, you can't have anything. Probably won't be applying.
New England Conservatory: Amazing. But a meeting with the head of the vocal dept. led me to decide that I don't want to go the conservatory route. Just not enough options.Yale: Top choice. 'Nuf said.
Fordham: A total change of atmosphere. Much more laid back, concentrated in one city block, just not my style. Very good school, though.
Columbia: possibly 2nd choice--great location, amazing grounds and facilities, top-notch academics, and a strong foreign studies program. Music is there too.
An input on colleges from you guys? I'm going to look at Northwestern and perhaps a few others in the midwest and CA this summer.

Oh, and before I finish, I must congratulate Krista on the 1st anniversary (tomorrow) of her game in the bloober. Stimulating and fun! And if you play The Game, I just lost it. =]

I have written too much, methinks, so it's 'til we meet again!

Just making this post to let you guys know that things on the site are back to normal.

Something happened on Friday/Saturday, and I couldn't manage to fix it until tech support generously realized my problem and fixed it for me while I was at school today. Mega-props to (mt) media temple, best host ever.


Hope I didn't lose any of you guys with these unexpected technical glitches.

I didn't update all weekend cause I was working on some Flash (look down to see) and car shopping. And, good news. I got an '07 Honda Civic for $14,200. The retail is $18,600. Why so cheap? We bought it from this Vietnamese fellow who buys his cars from the repo man. He buys them real beat up and fixes them. Mine was formerly owned by drug dealers and had a not-so-slight accident. However, this guy fixes it up very well and the car looks beautiful and drives like a dream. I should be getting it on Thursday. I probably won't want to drive it though, for fear of wrecking it. Oh dear.

And on other things, I've been working on another flash game. Since I'm totally done with Thinkquest, I can do things in my free time that I want to experiment with and explore. I'd write music, but I'm pretty music-outed after bombing a competition on Saturday. So, I game up with the following game. Its only in its very rudimentary stages; only eight or so levels on easy work and only one on insane works. I also realize there are a lot of bugs like not being able to shoot randomly or it going to "Game Over" randomly. If you guys like this idea, I'll make more levels and work out the bugs and release a better version of it later. If not, tell me another kind of concept game I could do. I like making these things.

• GOING TO THE MOON, BRB - I made you a cookie... but I eated it.


• Gotta tighten up the graphics a little bit - Level three! Yesssss!!


• 1812 Overture a cappella - This cuts out maybe about 1/3 of the whole song, but still pretty entertaining.

Christian Science Book Store.
Oxymoron? You tell me.
I saw a couple of "Christian Science" bookstores and whatnots in Toronto. The first thing that came into my mind was that "Isn't that an oxymoron?"


Whatever happened to bands like Relient K and The Ataris? I mean, those bands used to be all popular with the ladies and whatnot, and now they both have totally new albums that just kind of came out without anyone spazzing about it? The only reason I knew about it was because my sister and her friend got the Relient K CD and then I saw the Ataris on a stroll through Wal-Mart. Crazy. I didn't hear ANYTHING about this beforehand. I mean, didn't Relient K get really huge last year or something? I guess everyone's into that Boys like Girls nonsense.


Chemistry is usually pretty boring. That's why I either sleep, draw, or fiddle around with stuff in class. However, now, Parth and I have developed a fun compeitition. She finally let us sit where we want, and the stupid students with little IQ knowledge or understanding of chemistry interstingly all sit together. So what Parth and I are trying to figure out is, which table is the dumbest does the silliest things. So far Team Jenny+Sloan is winning. We decide the victors with the use of a fancy professionally made chart. We then tally a point for each table when someone at the table says/does something stupid. O yeah, we also included Mrs. Meyer on our chart.


wtf
SNL is like Old Yeller. A great companion you have grown to know and love, but it is getting old. It is becoming lame [as in weak of course] and is getting rather old and decrepit. I think it's time to put it down. For everyone's sake, especially the dog's own sake. Don't be like Candy, be more like Carlson, whip out the luger and just get it over with quicklike.
R.I.P. Lennie :'(

...well either that or the writers should be the ones axed.


Man, I hate people.
Especially the stupid ones.
I guess all the smart people in the world are smart enough to stay out of things like the media and creating the MYP program, stuff like that.


Did you know James was 100% Filipino!? [not beale, the hispanic looking one]

In light of the recent events at Virginia Tech, I've made some appropiate changes to the theme of the site. It might take a while to get used to, but so is death, loss, and tragedy. Eventually people gain acceptance and things return to normal.

• "I am not the shooter" - Not the killer - This man was the man I mentioned in yesterday's post who everyone and their mothers on the internet were harassing and even making death threats to. This links to his LiveJournal. Just because this man is Asian, likes weapons, and goes to Virginia Tech does not mean that he is a killer. This young man deserves no comments like "fuck you." He even had noble intentions after attracting attention. He was going to set up ads on his site and then donate all the money to charity. However, things soon spiraled out of hand and he nixed the plan; coming out clean.


• "Loner" - The real killer - However, Seung-Hui Cho is the real killer. A young secluded "loner," as everybody and their mothers in the press has been calling him, this is the man that shot 32 people and eventually himself yesterday. Make judgements for yourselves about this character, but it is my sad obligation to inform you guys that in this case, everything he did up to the shootings were completely legal. Should he have been stopped for writing disturbing plays? Should people have been worried or even taken action on account of him being a secluded "loner?" I don't know, Joey used to write some pretty crazy things. And it seems that James is pretty secluded. Lock them up? Question them? Is there even an answer?


• Hero - Professor Liviu Librescu has taught at Virginia Tech for 20 years, and his life was suddenly and tragically ended yesterday. However, his tale is the tale of a true hero. This article links to the original article without the confirmation of his death that I read last night which was just so moving that I have to post it. It includes testimonies from students in his class. As Cho began shooting in the class next door, everyone in the class immediately hit the floor. However, as the gunshots grew closer and closer, Librescu ran to the classroom door and blocked it so that the shooter could not come in and that his students would have the chance to escape. The windows on the second story classroom were easily knocked out by kicks and hits, and each of the students were able to safely jump down to the floor below. One student looked back and saw his teacher struggling to keep the door shut. He jumped out as well. Librescu was later gunned down through the door.
  
  This, my friends, is a true hero. Yes, this is a tragic event and yes it was shocking for me to hear, read, and watch about. However, no story in this tragedy has struck me like this man's heroism. This man risked his life - no, ended his life to save his students. I don't think that there is anything else out there that can constitute "heroism" as much as this man. I don't know how to conclude this Daily. "Let the memory of this hero live on forever?" "May he rest in peace wherever he is?" I don't know. Heros should just never die.

Did you guys ever watch that show Monster House? With the host that used way too much Crisco on his face? That was a pretty awesome show, along with Monster Garage. On Monster House, they used to have a "Done" stamp that everytime a task was accomplished, a large "DONE" would come over the screen. I just did that to my life, I think.

And now, to get caught up on Dailies. I haven't been onto digg in a bit, so forgive me if these are a few days old.

• Oh, America - You make me chuckle.


• Prank the garbage man - Lol.


• Official death count up to 33; 50+ effected in all - Okay. How was I not to mention the biggest news? The official death count at Virginia Tech is now at 33, and, get this: 15 people were injured, some of whom had jumped from the fourth floor of the classroom building. This is the worst mass shooting in US history. There is going to be no way that one could ever think of a mass murderer or a psychotic gunman without ever thinking of Virginia Tech. There is no way that when thinking about Virginia Tech, one does not think about mass murderers and psychotic gunmen. Of course, the internet has been exploding with news and baseless accusations. There is cameraphone footage of the shooting with sound (wait til the end, and you'll hear screams... chilling) and the internets is rumbling that it is an Asian male that did the kills, and in some cases, specifically this guy. Circumstantial evidence, anyone?
  
  What a tragedy. Do I still want to go to Tech? Who knows.

Looks like comment spam is afoot.

Nothing real big about that, but it annoys me. I like to click the little comments thing on the little bar of links on the bottom of the browser and see what's new, but now I can't cuz it is full of spam :'(

Well, at least I know where I can find robots and cheap "airilne" tickets.

This is pretty funny. I will go through the whole story some other day, but these college students that live at my dad's friend's house [they pay rent and live downstairs] got mugged by some people on the way back home. Got in a little tussle since I guess they resisted. Well the police were at the house and my dad's friend and my family were out eating, so on the way back we drove by and saw the cops were still there, so we dodged and went like 2 houses down to my dad's friend's sister's house. Well it was funny because we were talking about it and they were like "Ah it's those three or so black kids that hang out all the time back there at [name of place]." Then my dad's friend's sister's husband was like "They were the ones who attacked the last people who lived at your house. People always pick on Chinese people, they are easy to pick on. We should round up a bunch of other Chinese people and go over there and teach them a lesson. No cops or anything, we can get them ourselves. Then they won't come back again and do that kind of stuff." Something like that. We were all talking in Chinese and sometimes some things in Chinese are harder to translate back into English for me. It was pretty funny stuff.

Didn't do much today. Except, oh, wait, go to Steven's house. Pretty typical Steven house experience. There is one thing I want to talk about though. We went to the 7-11 and there was this Filipino cashier; looked Chinese to me. It was us three Sinos and she said that Jeff and Steven looked pretty Chinese but I looked... Filipino? What? The hair? I don't think so. I just found this pretty odd. She also said that we were the "new generation." Kinda makes me feel like we're infiltrating the West and we're the generation thats going to start the attack. After all, this is all apart of the master plan.

In an update about my car situation, I think I've pretty much decided on the '03. I could get an '05 for the same price but with a warrenty. But no spoiler, VTEC engine, or sunroom. I'll see what happens.

• Insanely cool beat doll - Play a tune, and this thing bobs to it. I would seriously pay like up to $40 for this. What is it about this thing thats so cool? No idea, but I'm oddly attracted to it. It also responds to other physical stimuli as well. Coolest video you'll probably see all day.


• Things computers can only do in movies - People typing in movies never use the spacebar. They also never make typoies. And they all have extremely easy and intuitive GUI that all have some resemblance to a version of Windows or MacOS.


• YOU CAN'T PULL 10 POKEMON (nsfw) - Do you have one of those videos that make your day once you see it? This is mine. There is extensive swearing, but this video is so. Damn. Funny. "WTF. TWO PIKACHUS?" "No, the left one is Pikachu." "BULLSHIT, THEY'RE BOTH PIKACHUS." "THAT'S NOT A POKEMON. THAT'S A CHINESE MYTH DRAGON." Oh God. Oh God. Can't stop laughing. Just watch. Snorlax ftw, man.

I came up with "You Jealous" song a while back while I was bowling with some people. I was owning them and yeah, the lyrics go something a long the lines of "You jealous. You jealous. You jealooooouuuussss." I know. Masterful. You should hear the tune and stuff, it is a masterpiece. The dance is like it was choreographed by the gods themselves. It involves something along the lines of poking someone alternating between your right and left hands and jumping up and down. Something like that.

But, you know what's awesome? I know famous people. Well the lady we know is a pretty famous singer in Taiwan, but mainly among the older crowd, cuz she is kinda old now. Kinda like Buddy Holly for your grandpappy and all them swingin' cats. Well not really that old. She still as CD's come out and stuff, and it's pretty cool. She is still pretty well known. She lives in the US now though. We went to go eat lunch with her in DC and stuff. Man, I am just so giddy that I know super-rich people. Well her husband also used to own a huge tech company or something. I think he sold the company already but is still uber-rich. Anyways. You. [Are.] Jealous.

I just had to share that.

Canada is awesome. It's like a blend of all the cool things in the US + Taiwan and stuff. O yeah, with some French thrown in. It is also a huge cultural blend here. Especially if you go to like Pacific Mall on weekends. Man, Indians, middle eastern people, Frenchies, white people, all kinds of Asians, etc. speaking their own languages and stuff in just one building. However, if you go to like Vaughan [sp?] Mills, it is full of white people and "white-washed" asians, that are all rich. It's crazy.

I know I've said this before about diff countries and people being skinnier, but man I have only seen 3 fat people here so far. Also, I didn't know that clothing stores like American Eagle even had clothes in a size x-small. You will probably never see that in stores in America, for obvious reasons.

-DC was aight
-Going off the Pennsylvania turnpike was regretful. It was Hell.
-Our Garmin GPS system is so wonderful, it can lead you through the depths of Hell itself. (see above).
-It snowed a lot on the way. It was real bad driving up here.
-Around Niagara Falls, it was cold. Very very cold.
-Not as cold up here in Toronto.
-Toronto is awesome.
-Compared to here, America = :\
-There are a lot less fat people here.
-My eyes hurt less here. (see previous).
-I want to throw up less here. (see previous).
-Houses in Canada are awesome.
-Some rich people are assholes.
-If the store is a Lacoste outlet, the stuff is cheaper, but not cheap. I am pretty sure $300 for a shirt = pretty average outlet prices for Lacoste.
-Wendy's in Canada has a maple leaf for an apostrophe. Subtle and unique.
-There are a lot of Cantonese people in (Eastern/Western?) Toronto.
-There are a lot of Indians/Middle Easterns in (Eastern/Western?) Toronto.

So we've been car shopping for me the past two days; I think I have a choice between a '03 Civic coupe (with sunroof and spoiler!) or a '06 Civic sedan. Both are good choices, but the '03 rides a bit better. The '06 is practically brand new and will last a whole lot longer though, plus the dash looks cool. Any suggestions, guys?

Besides that, I've been doing practically nothing all break. Besides Thinkquest. Save me.

How would you guys like to see this site improved? New sections? Give me suggestions. Along with the car suggestions.

• Mmm bacon... - But only if you press the button. Funny graffiti.


• Joshua Bell... ignored - Bell, the famous violinist played in a busy Washington Metro station in January as a street musician. He played grand classical repertoire on his famous 3 million dollar violin. No one noticed him. This gigantic artile dissect how and why some people ignore "genius," blaming it on factors such as technology and our work ethic. (wait, work ethic?) Do we still have time to appreciate beauty and the classics? This article is a good read; if you have the time. If anything, watch the videos scattered throughout the article to see genius in action.


• Cadbury eggs getting smaller? - No. You're getting bigger. Not really a coporate scandal, but still, what? They deny that their eggs are smaller... yet clearly they are. Watch the video in the second half of the post for some damning evidence.

LOCAL POSTS!


• PA security guard charged with murder - You've seen him, Albritton. He's the large black fellow thats a security guy walking around PA. He also works part time at Lynnhaven mall. And now he's been charged with murder of his girlfriend. Shocking news, eh? Never expect that out of the guy.


• The Woz at the Beach - I actually saw this on an ad on TV. Steve Wozniak is coming to speak in Virginia Beach at PA about the "next New World." Should be interesting. But at $40, would I go? Hope there's a student discount. That or I'll just hang around school til its time for him to speak. Cause he's got one kick ass business card.

Some day we will miss this place. Years on from now, we will miss being young. We will miss the adventure, we will miss the fun, we will miss our carefree lives. We'll be stuck in a cubicle or behind a desk somewhere, thinking about what we are doing right now. And I hope that if you are in that position, that you remember this post, that you will leap out from your desk, that jump out of your cubicle, and that you will have some fun again.

I will.

--

Just some conjectures. I had a big fat rant about Bill O'Reilly, but I didn't finish cause we went car buying today.

Scouted the landscape a bit today; didn't settle on anything. I did meet this one pretty cool Filipino salesman though. He just graduated from Landstown last year and now is a salesman at Priority Mazda. Goes to TCC and stuff but skipped a semester because, in his words, "you can't make money getting up for school at 7 in the morning." Cool cat, I'd say.

I also saw 300 today. It wasn't really as terrific of a movie as everyone says it is, and there really isn't that much nudity. But besides not being as good as everyone claims it to be, there is something about the movie that makes it awesome. Probably the way it pumps you up and makes you enjoy watching the characters. That and the gory effects. I really can't name what I like about it. I just do. Despite not having a plot or character development, I would still highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Score: 9/10

• 74 bands in one picture - Yes! Finally a uniting!


• Whos Line is it Anyway uncensored - Just last night there were a full 10 minutes of gag reel footage, but tonight they took it down. This uncensored skit is still pretty funny though.


• O'Reilly and Geraldo go at it - In a yelling match concering our Virginia Beach and our mayor, O'Reilly loses it and starts yelling at Geraldo. This truly shows the balls O'Reilly has. He is trying to turn a drunk driving accident into political ammunition against illegal immigration. Two Virginia Beach teenagers our age were killed and O'Reilly wants to make it logs for the anti-immigration fire. He says that he feels sorry for the parents and calls Oberndorf a villain. This is insane. I had a giant rant about this that I might finish tomorrow. But let me say this. If the driver was not Hispanic, Mr. O'Reilly would not give a damn about these two kids.

Just bought a Cadallick
The epitome of stereotypical rap lyrics. The beat is pretty sweet, except for the "throw some d's on that bitch" part. Maybe if they got rappers that were actually good and had better lyrics, then the song would be good maybe. Except for some parts of the video. The video kind of sucks. In addition to how rap sucks nowadays, check out We Fly High (Ballin'), that song sucks ass. Seriously. Now str8 ballin' and and still ballin' were good. and didn't make people think ballin' had anything to do with basketball... Fucking white people ruin all the cool slang. Tupac ftw. Other good hip-hop and rap imo would be Jurassic 5.

Wow!

DC then Canada tomorrow. Going to Toronto. You guys should know where that is. The best part about Canada, smoked meats, syrup, and ice wine.

Can I control these feelings?

Or can I let it out?

Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost tenere. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there.

A dollar to anyone who can find the typo.

• Desktop Tower Defense - I'm going to waste so much time playing this when I could be productive. Whats your best score? Mine's like 5000 something. I'll write it down next time I play.


• Politics. What It'll do to you - Oh dear. Politics and acting. Oh dear.


• How to write a fugue - Pure genius. Writing a fugue from "Oops! I did it again." This guy is a genius. Its starting out in a extremely low register... cause it's funnier that way. Best video. EVER.

Did I get you? I really don't like hip-hop. And I'd much rather play football than "football."

And seeing that it's only 11:10, and April 1st isn't over, I've made some appropiate canges to the website.

Have fun with this.