If anyone's still checking this, I LIVE!!!!
FINALS ARE OVER!!!! We are officially second semester seniors, and apparently that entails that we can now slack off. NEVER! I SHALL NOT SUCCUMB! Sayak maintains there is something wrong with me. I do my journals every week and I'm an editor. I never go out on Friday nights. I never miss homework. I actually feel BAD when forgetting something. And I don't plan on having senioritis.
I AM SO MAD AT MR. KNOX!! I mean, I love the man and all, but AHHH!!!! I ENDED UP WITH AN 89.0% IN THAT CLASS! I WORKED SO HARD!!!!!!! And it's the first time in my life I've ever gotten a B in math!! I WAS HOPING TO KEEP A CLEAN RECORD!! I BLEMISHED SCIENCE, BUT NOT MATH! But I think this is a prime example of how greedy man is. At the beginning of the year, my goal for the class was a solid B. Now that I've gotten a more than solid B, I am SO ANGRY because I am SO CLOSE. And what pisses me off even more is that I look back on the semester, on the grade sheet I could have done correctly and gotten four extra points on, on the time I wrote sin instead of sec accidentally on the test and thus missed the problem. These two incidents together could have pushed me up to an 89.5%, an A!!!! GRAH! So moral of the story: Never blow anything off. Every little point counts. Apply it to life. EVERY THING COUNTS! EVERY DECISION! EVERY MISTAKE!
Right. SHUTTING UP NOW. The other moral of the story--be grateful for what you have. I think I got an A in everything else, though I haven't checked Spanish to make sure. I had a 94% before the final though and I thought I did pretty well, so *shrugs*. *fingers crossed*

I was at dinner last night with a bunch of people from China, business friends of my parents that I've known since I was a wee little one, and my dad was telling them about the experiences when they first immigrated here. Fruit such as strawberries and cherries did not exist in China back then, and they're still really expensive nowadays, and eating a piece of bread with strawberry jam was the happiest thing a person could get. I know my grandma once took me to this really fancy, famous Western restaurant in Beijing when I was little and was so proud to order me bread and jelly and I felt so terrible because I had that every day for lunch. My dad said that when he first came to America and lived in NYC, this guy that he worked with in the restaurant said that when he first came to America, the first thing he did was to save up enough money to buy a jar of strawberry jam and he would just sit there and eat out of the jar with a spoon. That was when he knew he was really in America, that you could eat something so absolutely delicious any time you wanted. That was why he loved America. When I heard that story, I was filled with a sudden rush of pity, sadness, and this inexplicable desire to cry. It wasn't really sadness, or any other adjective that I can really use. I felt sorry for people who couldn't ever eat strawberries, but more so than that, it was this immense sorrow that while he felt he had reached the pinnacle of happiness eating that jam, he could never feel that happy again. That he would become accustomed to America, that strawberry jam you can buy for $2 in the store would become nothing, commonplace and even distasteful. That people can never be frozen in that moment of utter happiness, that they'll always want more. I don't think it's in our nature to ever be satisfied, but satisfaction is what drives happiness. I hate the thought that he'd become disillusioned, that he couldn't just stay happy always eating that jam. It reminds me of what Fitzgerald once said, "Riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again."

Moving on to a happier note, if you haven't already seen it, our ridiculous Spanish video:


My favourite bit is the mouse walking in the beginning. PRECIOUS! I love you Yogin! JUST NOT THE IMPLIED SEDUCTION SCENE.
It was Kathleen's birthday last week! We went and watched "The Magic Flute" with all the other seniors in AP English. Haha got Kathleen an extra ticket. It was awesome, though I think the story of "La Boheme" is a lot better, and I'm undecided which music I like more. "Musetta's Waltz" is absolutely beautiful, but Mozart is the greatest. The Queen of the Night's aria is ridiculously powerful and the melodies are beautiful throughout. Vicki and I made snide comments throughout the first half, and then I watched Kathleen freak out next to me. It was hilarious. She makes the most obvious comments. "OMG DID YOU KNOW!!!!"
"Um.. yes. Like twenty minutes ago."
Tehehe. Papageno is so cute!! I think that was most people's favourite part. Papageno! Papagena! Papageno! :D Yogin's shoulder is very comfortable, btw. haha not that anyone cares.
Afterwards, Kathleen and I went to Starbucks by Troy, kind-of-racing Yogin the whole way as he headed home. Stupid boy who drives too fast and won't let me pass. We weren't trying to race. We were just next to each other on the freeway the whole time. He's such a bad driver! His hands weren't even on the steering wheel! He was rocking out to his bad rap music! By the time we actually survived to get to Starbucks, we got free grande frapps :) because it was Kathleen's birthday and because I made Jeremy feel bad. haha. He DID ruin my day.. I drove Kathleen home (I know.. scary. not the other way around for once) and she opened her beautiful present consisting of a huge bag of Cadbury chocolate straight from London, "Blades of Glory" because she'll never let me forget that I watched it without her, and the Wicked soundtrack. :D

I have lots more to write, but I'm getting really sleepy!