Bunny and a Pancake::
This totally made my day.
I got there from
here (and clicking on "See also: More detail here." at the bottom of the paragraph of text).
I actually wanted the more detail but I guess the bunny with a pancake is good enough. : )
NOTE EDIT [4.27.06 1:03PM]: I sent this out to a bunch of random relatives and friends and a couple of people responded saying that it made them grin and laugh. I personally thought this error message was a whole lot nicer (and funnier) than the regular stark white page with the FILE NOT FOUND 404 message. And at the same time, this kind of humor isn't about sex, it's not degrading to ANYONE (except people who don't like pancakes or bunnies?), it isn't about race or religion or current events. It's just FUNNY. I figured that it would make some people laugh and smile and I didn't feel annoyed at all that I couldn't get to the web page I had initially wanted to get to.
[i totally just screwed myself over at 11:12PM on wed. april 26th 2006]
Music::
I'm listening to some music on my laptop right now and I have headphones. Having headphones (don't need to be actually listening to anything) on is sometimes a really weird feeling. It's like you're listening to music (or maybe not) and all you can hear is THAT. I can look out at the world but in a way be in my own little world at the same time. I can see everything and everyone but I'm not really IN that world. That's why I sometimes really hate headphones or just listening to music in general. However, other times, that's why I love headphones and music; it helps me separate myself from
that world, the world that maybe I don't want to be in at the moment.
But I don't understand how people can go around listening to their mp3 players or CD players ALL the freaking time! It's like don't you want to hear the world outside of your own head?!? I enjoy hearing birds, planes, people talking, and hearing my own footsteps as I walk wherever. But yeah, sometimes I do want to separate myself; but not all the time. So yeah, I keep repeating myself and I should just go back to working on this PSA (Public Service Annoucement) that I need to edit for my digital video class.
.byee
It's not procrastinating when you're doing something that needs to get done as well::
I was just thinking about the Tech Challenge since it's almost over and how I really get into it. One of my top priorities for a job is that I need to be solving problems. I can't just be doing something that's the same every single day (I know that not many jobs are the same every day but you know..). But solving problems isn't just solving the global problems of the world or trying to figure out how to make a better device to fill sand bags -- actually, I'm not too sure about having a job where I need to make a better device to fill sand bags -- this problem solving criteria includes teaching since education solves the problems of the world. Or it can include writing. But I just don't see how something like making movies could do that. Now, I think that making documentaries or PSA's and doing something along with making these videos could solve problems and change the world but I don't see how creating, directing, or filmming a narrative (fiction) movie could change the world. I want to change the world. And I don't mean to say that what I don't want to do doesn't work work for ANYONE else in the world; that's stupid. Different things turn different people on. I'm just trying to find what turns me on and makes me want to do it ALL the time. I know it sounds corny, but I really do want to change the world. Now I'm debating whether to post this. Hmm.. whatever. I will. Now, I need to read history and see how people changed the world in the past. If only I wanted to read it... maybe if I do something fun afterwards... like uhhh eat ice cream? Eating ice creams fun... ha. Okay, after I finish reading this million page thing I get to eat ice cream. Eh, doesn't sound very appealing. Maybe I get to read a good book after I finish reading this. Yes, that's a good prize for finishing. Okay. This is dorky. Whatever.
Why do I not want to do it?
I want to know French, I want to edit videos, and I want to know more about history. So why do I not want to
learn French,
learn editing videos, and
learn more about history? Why do I not want to take the time to sit down and learn about all of this stuff and practice my French and practice editing everything I can get my hands on? I don't understand. I guess I just want to
know how to speak French, edit videos, and know everything about history. But is there one thing that I love learning about and doing so much that I would could just do it all the time? That could be my career? I want something that makes my heart and head ache when I can't do it. I
want to want to do it all the time. I thought it could be something with technology but now I feel like I don't have anything to blog about or to look at on the web. But I do know that I over think these kinds of things all the time and just because I'm not into blogging for a couple days doesn't mean I won't get right back into it when I start up again (as I am right now). And just because I'm not into learning French at the moment doesn't mean I don't want to study languages and cultures when I "grow up" (that's such an odd phrase... I mean when I'm older and have a major in a 4 year college and am thinking about jobs or grad schools... that's what when I grow up means). I know I shouldn't think everything has to be FUN all the time and I want to have fun doing things all the time but the thing I choose to do for a job or career (meaning I think I would do it for awhile, but that totally doesn't mean I have to do it for the REST OF MY LIFE or anything) has to be something like energizes me and gives me new ideas and is a creative outlet. Hmm I was just going strong but now I'm dead. I think I need sleep. Sleep is good. Especially right now when I can't even remember what I wanted to say in this post. I think it flows well enough.
All good stuff but too little time::
I don't know what to blog about. I'm stuck. I don't want to tell you about my day AGAIN (BTW, it was pretty good). But I just can't think of anything to blog about. Actually, I can but all my ideas take too long to type up and I need to get in bed um.. now. So is there some kind of blogging in your sleep I should do? I could blog while I walk or blog while I do yoga tomorrow morning but I think I might have a hard time typing while doing downward dog. I
could potentially blog tomorrow after yoga but I need to do my geometry homework. Then, my geometry tutor is picking me up at school and then we do geometry for an hour.
Then, I have to work on French homework for an hour because at 3:30 my dad's picking me up so we can go to a PARC talk that looks really interesting. And then I have French class. And finally I get home at 8PM. I could actually do some stuff then however I have a French quiz next Tuesday, a digital video first project due next Wednesday, oh and the Tech Challenge is next Saturday (April 29th). And we don't have a working device now... meaning we're working this Friday all day, Saturday most of the day probably and Sunday a good portion of the day. And there's a trial next Tuesday (oh yeah and I need to go to the OBD club meeting thing next Tuesday as well meaning I have NO time to study for my French quiz that night meaning that I need to do everything before... meaning that I should be doing it on the weekend but oh wait, I have the Tech Challenge! So uhhhh yeah, that's my schedule for these next two weeks and this will be my only post for these two weeks as well I'm guessing. Now, I need to go to bed so I can wake up and start doing all this shit (not that any of this stuff is bad or yucky, I love it, it's just too much)!
So I'm guessing I'll be reading history tomorrow night since I have to do that before Monday.
Mondays are always better than Sundays::
I offically hate Sundays. Okay. Since I'm acknowledging that I hate Sundays I can not and should not care what I accomplish on Sundays! Everything I accomplish yesterday probably would have taken me 4 hours on a regular day but it took me the whole day, from 11AM to midnight. I got dressed, at a whole lot of food throughout the whole day, read two readings for my History seminar, made a new blog for the seminar, wrote up my comments and thoughts about the three readings (I had read the first one a couple days before), and sent like two emails. That's about it. Eh, well since I KNOW that I can't really do anything productive on Sundays I'm going to just give into it and have Sundays be my blah days. It's good to have a blah day to just not do anything.
But today has been very good. I started my PSA (Public Service Annoucement) project for VART 85 (Digital Video Editing 2) class and I was thinking I would start that on Wednesday, so I'm ahead of the schedule I came up with for this week! Wow! If anyone even reads my blog, you're probably about to stop reading or have stopped already. This is boring stuff, this is what goes in my paper journal that nobody sees (and I don't want them to). Now to stuff that I want people to know about me....
I checked out
Barbara Tuchman's
The Guns of August and
The Zimmerman Telegram. I'm planning on reading them. Dr. Pierce (my History seminar professor) had us read three of her essays for this Monday (the class I just got out of). I love Tuchman's tone in her essays, very conversational and readable. But sometimes it's hard to sum up and summarize conversational readings because it's like everything was great! I liked everything! But what's nice is that I don't think I have to do that for this seminar since we talk about the readings/articles on Mondays for 50 minutes and then at the end we compile all of our notes together into a paper about our observations of history and the readings; sounds pretty easy (and I'm not saying easy is bad). I think it'll be a good seminar with some nice interaction with the other students and Pierce and I figure I'll know a whole lot more about history by the end of the quarter! AND I'm fulfilling a Honors Scholar requirement. So, this seminar is good. I'm glad I'm taking it.
Since I didn't read any digital video (VART 85) stuff yesterday I should do that now because I don't want to get super behind like I did last quarter. But I do know that I got an A from that class so I didn't get so behind that I didn't know what I needed to know for the projects and quizzes.
Hmm I need to think of some better posts than just blabbing about myself and what happens during each day. Well, maybe I'll have some great insight when I read my digial video book,
The Technique of Film and Video Editing written by Ken Dancyger.
Random/bloppy day::
I'm in the History 34 Honors seminar this quarter (spring) and we're supposed to read different articles and essays each week. Every Monday (when we meet) we discuss the readings we read the previous week and at the end of the quarter, we write a paper about all of the readings. I've decided to create another blog for this seminar so if I want to show it to anyone I can just tell them that blog and then they won't need to see all of this blog (if I posted my history posts on this blog). I really want to be able to just 'tag' or categorize my posts and then just say this post is about whatever but blogger doesn't have that! This coming summer my family is going to redo our servers and we're going to get maybe Movable Type and put it on so we can have more features on our blogs. For now, I'll just keep creating as many blogs as I want!! Okay, I have a whole lot more reading I need to do for this history seminar and I also have reading for my digital video class so I should probably get back to it. My team and I did Tech Challenge stuff all Friday (literally all Friday, from 11AM, when I woke up, to 11:30ishPM) and Saturday from 11AM to 7PM and then I was a blob all last night because I was so tired and it was hard to make my brain think of anything other than the Tech Challenge... and now I'm getting to homework!
I wanted to go to the Los Altos Library today but nooo it's closed for Easter... and it's closed tomorrow because it's always closed on Mondays! Come on rich people (I know there are a whole lot of you who use the library and live in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills), give some money to the library!! Actually, I shouldn't complain because someone with the last name of Whipple who recently died gave a whole bunch of money to the library to build a new wing!!! I'm excited!!! I have no idea if I posted about this previously, if I did, I'm still excited!!! I think it said it's going to be done in fall 2007.. or I may have forgotten and I'm making that up.. but soonish! Hopefully I won't have gone off to college (four year college) by the time it's built. The one thing I'm wondering is where exactly this wing will go; the library is surrounded by apricot trees on two sides and the parking lot on the other two sides.. hmm or maybe it's another level, that'd be pretty cool. : )
Please feel free to read
my blog about the History seminar! Okay, back to reading.
Passover!
Happy Passover!! I really need to go to sleep since I have my second yoga class tomorrow at 10AM, but I just wanted to say that I'm so totally not religious (ha, those couple words definitely made me sound like a 16 year old girl, which yeah, I know, I am) but I love most of the Jewish holidays my family and I celebrate. I treat these holidays as times to get together with friends and relatives and eat good food and sing songs and light candles. I have never treated these gatherings as religious things... I don't WANT to treat them as this since I'm yes, so totally not religious. I think I'd say I'm agnostic with Jewish and Christian background... hmmm I don't know about what I'd say. I don't really like reading and singing/talking about God with any religion but I think of many of these songs as just part of my tradition. But I don't know. I really don't want to go through the motions and think that's okay. Because I don't think that IS okay. I want to actually think about what I'm doing and saying and singing and I want to believe in what I'm saying and doing and thinking because it doesn't really feel like lying necessarily but it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right to me somehow. But I really do love all of these family gatherings and I think that's what I've always thought of when I think of what I do with my religion. Also, going off on another topic, I. ugh. wait, I totally forgot what I was going to say... hmmm well then. I hope this post is readable and makes some sense. I think I should go to sleep! This is my first week of my second spring quarter at Foothill. It was weird, yesterday in my French 3 class I noticed that there are three people from my French 1 class that I took last fall quarter and I sort of got a jolt of memories of fall quarter and how yeah, I know it wasn't THAT long ago, but I feel like I've changed and grown a whole lot. Not just in French, but in my whole life. I definitely FEEL more grown up and like I have some more knowledge of things.. maybe not necessarily everything from all my classes, but real life knowledge. It was a weird time to reflect, in my first French 3 class, but it did make sense that I would be thinking about it since it's the beginning of the quarter and I was sitting in class with these people I hadn't been with since fall. It's interesting to see when I reflect. I can't just SIT down and okay, think to myself I have to reflect on my year. I don't really reflect on December 31st about the previous year... it happens at weird times. No, wait I take that back. I do reflect when a new year is coming but I intentionally think about it. But it's weird and interesting to see when I just maybe see a face I haven't seen in awhile or think about a thought I haven't thought about in a long time and I'll suddenly remember how I felt however long ago and how I feel right in the moment, and how sometimes those feelings are very similar or sometimes extremely different. I guess this goes with when sometimes NOTHING is going right and it feels like I can't do anything correctly or I'm not understanding anything a teacher's saying.. I need to remember that "this too shall pass" or something like that and that yeah, I really did somehow get through that hard part.. since yeah.. I'm still here today and I'm in the next math class or whatever. But I definitely know that it's hard to think like that (logically) when I'm thinking the sky's falling and EVERYTHING possible is going wrong and I can't do anything about it. I need to remember about everything else I've done and gotten through.
Yes, okay. Now I need to sleep, I'll think more tomorrow. I hope my yoga class is nice and relaxing...
Daily Thoughts::
I just read
this New York Times article about companies wanting to have consumers make their ads. I guess it's all "hip and cool" for companies to do that... I don't know if I'd want to make something and then have it taken for a company I may not even like. I think I'd only do that for some company or product that I really like and I don't know how many companies I really like! Well, I have a couple stores that I shop at so okay...
I'm in Drew's apartment in Santa Barbara now. We got in super late last night after leaving home at 7PM. There was a fatal accident on 101. It's so hard when it's something fatal. but yeah, it's harder for the family and friends of the person who died.... hmmm going to stop writing about this.
--
I wish I could clean my room virtually, that'd be pretty cool. Because now that I'm not at home, I finally have the energy for cleaning and organizing my room!! But I'm not there!! So, I think I should create a tool where you can either just have a 3D picture of your room on your computer and just use the mouse to pick up things and clean it. Or you could even have like a virtual space room where you could actually like "move" the things but it looks like you're just picking up air. I don't know how that would work. Or you could just hire someone to go to your room and have a webcam set up of your room and just point or say the things you want to be moved! It could work!
Okay, I'm going to get dressed and maybe walk to the coffee house that's near Drew's apartment.
What do I do all day??
I found
this blog and I decided to do something similar as he has done in his most recent
post. Let's see how it goes::
11:00AM: got out of bed, went into family room and turned on laptop then went into kitchen and warmed up oatmeal in the microwave (does a microwave count?)
11:30AM: logged into laptop, opened Mail and Firefox. waited. One new email, read email. clicked on my bookmark tabs: my backpack homepage, blogger home page, went to my blog to see if anyone else in the world had viewed my blog (
Clustr Maps), logged into
mybloglog account to see again if anyone had viewed my blog, checked the blogs I frequently check (look at 'read what I read' in right column, over there -->), checked email again... at the same time of all of this, i read
a new york times article, checked my email again, found that i got my 'daily insight' from
the yoga journal and read it.
12:00PM: read some of the
Los Altos Town Crier. my dad and I played with
my digital camera.
12:30PM: blogging...
we'll see how the rest of the day goes! You would think that I wouldn't use my laptop anymore today considering that my parents and I are hopefully driving down to Santa Barbara soonish but I'm known for watching movies and looking for wireless during a long drive.
Puzzling Ed Plan::
I've been working for a looong time on my education plan (ed. plan) for the two years I have left at Foothill. It's so hard trying to figure out where to put in the classes. Not only do I want to only take three classes per quarter because I know that I realistically can't take four or more classes and do well in all of them, but I need to make sure I fulfill the IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) requirements, Associates Degree General Education requirements, and some sort of high school requirements to just say "yeah, I took high school classes." Also, I want a Video Arts Skills Certificate and I want to get an Honors Scholar Award. So, with all of these things I want to and need to do, it's extremely hard to figure out how to fit every class in. Fortunately, I'm good at solving problems. Unfortunately, I tend not to be as good at solving my own problems. But the thing is that I really had and wanted to figure this out because I wanted to see if I could start Calculus next fall instead of this spring like I had originally planned. And I needed to figure that out NOW because I needed to figure out what my plan for my classes this coming quarter! I finally dug into it and moved around and added and took out numerous classes and seminars and I did it! I even have two different paths I could take, physics or computer science and discrete math. Both of these groups of classes are for my Associates Degree in math. I also have room to switch around classes depending on when they're offered.
But... another bump! I just got an email from the math dean saying that my geometry class that I'm planning on taking this quarter is cancelled!! Aaah! But I've planned for this. I sent her an email asking if there's any way to have some kind of seminar since I think there are seven people wanting to take the class. I'm waiting for her response... if she says no then I have another just as good alternative plan: get a tutor. The good thing about having a tutor is that we can both figure out what I've learned and what I need to focus on more since I learned tons of geometry in 7th and 8th grade at Keys and I've gotten all A's in my math classes at Foothill, some of which have required me to know some geometry. Both a minus to a tutor is that I'll be alone with the person and then have no interaction with peers which I know I really need to create a good learning atmosphere for myself. I'll wait and see what the math dean at Foothill says about a proposed seminar kind of class. I know something will work out.
I feel a lot better now that I've updated my Ed Plan and I can now see that I'll be able to do all of the requirements!!
I'm excited, I like the classes that I'm going to take! : )
Now, shower and clean my room (I didn't do either of those yesterday).
while looking at others' blogs: my tuesday::
I've been looking at other people's blogs and I'm making some changes to my own blog, as you can tell. I don't even know if anyone is looking at my blog but if you are looking and you think something looks weird or cool, just email me. I'm getting lots of ideas from other people's blogs but some of the things I just don't know how to do. But I really like messing around with my template (as long as everything keeps working) so that's okay that I don't know everything!
I did many of the changes in my sidebar last night, well, actually this morning from around 11PM to 4AM. ew. I went to sleep around 4:30AM and woke up at 1:30PM today. HA, I thought I would be going to bed EARLIER since I was in Illinois.. and was two hours ahead. and with Daylight Savings Time too. But I guess not! And I'm still in my pjs, yes, I do realize it's 4:30PM now... but it's rainy and I'm on break so it's okay. Hopefully, I'll have some lunch soon, hop in the shower, and clean my room! Last night, well this morning, I had to move some things off my bed and I had NO where to move the stuff. My chair was full. My desk was full. My nightstand was full. My bookshelf area was full. There was stuff in front of my closet already. And I couldn't block the path to the door. I finally found a place UNDER my desk next to the keyboard for my desktop computer that I set up two weeks ago when I had to get some files off it for my Honors seminar ePortfolio. hmmm, time to clean? Yes. any helpers? Guess not.
What sucks about having to clean my room is it's usually a two day job and it doesn't get me outside, meaning I spend two days inside and get all grouchy. I don't like that.
My Monday::
My mom and I just got back from our second German class at Fremont High School (through the Adult Education thing) and I'm starting to learn more!! We don't have class for the rest of April but my mom and I have decided to keep up and do the handouts that our teacher gave us and do the exercises in the book! If I want to be able to know eight languages then I guess I have to learn them! I wish I could just KNOW every language... when I have kids, I'm going to teach them many languages when they're young, maybe that'll work!
Before our German class, I went to Foothill to see my grade for my precalculus class last quarter (Winter quarter). I drove to Foothill from home and it went pretty well. When I got there I was really nervous to see my grade because I wasn't too sure if I had gotten an A or a B (yeah, yeah, I'm too nervous about my GPA.. I'm working on not being as obsessed). I walked over to my teacher's door and saw my grade... 95%... an A! wooohooo! Walked back to the car, drove to my yoga class in Palo Alto (there was only one time when I was a little nervous when I got a little too close to some parked car's on Alma) and got to yoga only 10 minutes late (better than the usual 20 minutes late... hahah). Catherine, my yoga teacher, wasn't there yet... another student who was waiting said she, Catherine, had called her to say that she was going to be late. When Catherine got there she asked me and the other student if we'd like to go on a little field trip to a spa/hair store nearby... so we went but it was closed! For no apparent reason!! But Catherine also wanted to go to this cafe nearby to get some hot chocolate... she treated the other student and me to hot chocolate and apricot scones, which was very nice of her! We talked awhile and it was as relaxing as yoga would have been! And I found this great (new to me) cafe on Ramona in downtown Palo Alto, yay!
Slideshow from S. Africa trip, September 2005::
I'm testing this slideshow thing out. I sent an email to the guy who has
this blog to find out how he creates the links for his flickr slideshows. So, we'll see how it works! Here's
the slideshow.
Back from Woodridge, Illinois::
I just got back from Illinois last night around 10ish. I had a great trip and I loved spending time with Rebecca and it was interesting seeing a kind of place that I've never been to in the US. Yes, it was
interesting if you know what I mean... I figured since I forgot to get a mircophone until around 20 minutes before my parents and I had to leave for the airport last Wednesday that it was a sign and I really did want to spend my whole time filming for my documentary (my Girl Scout Gold Award project) and not actually DOING anything with Rebecca or anyone else. So, I didn't take a microphone and on the drive to the airport I took out the tripod b/c I figured I wouldn't be doing any interviews... hahah it was sort of freeing b/c I had so much STUFF. I still took my (well, my dad's) video camera and my nice NEW digital camera. I took lots of pictures with my camera, I can't exactly use most of them for my documentary b/c I would need premission slips from everyone, which I'm sort of sick of getting... but I know that they're needed because yeah, I do need permission from people if I can film them and show pictures and video of them to others. I'm going to put my pictures up on flickr and make a slideshow.
[NOTE: I am continuing this on 3/4/06 at 3:14pm] To recap and because I don't really want to reread what I wrote above, I had a great time seeing Rebecca and staying in a midwestern suburb for a couple days, but a couple of days was enough. That is, a couple of days staying in a midwestern suburb... a couple of days with Rebecca was so not enough. Fortunately, we're seeing each other in July in California!!! woohooo. Yes, I'm happy! My goal for July is to be able to have a whole conversation with Rebecca in German, who knows how long this conversation will be but it'll make sense! If you want to read a log of my trip to Woodridge, IL you'll have to find my journal in my room. Good luck.
