What is your motivation

You do a lot of things, but do you ever wonder why you do the things you do? Or are you just chugging along, tackling tasks at they come and never stopping to think, "What am I doing? What is influencing me to do this?"

It's an unsettling thought. Especially if you realize you have no idea what the driving force is behind a lot of your actions.

Of course, there's the generic, "I do what I do because it makes me happy." But that really doesn't work for everything. If I only did the things that make me happy, I'd spend my days napping and watching Arrested Development and napping.

So maybe I do what I do in order to better my future? Well, that doesn't work for a lot of things too. Do I eat tons of ice cream every night in order to better my future? Nope.

So I settled on the answer, "I do what I do because it's what feels right."

I do the things I do to make myself happy, but I also try to better my future. But then I also want to please my parents, as well as the people around me. All while keeping consistent with my character and morals.

Because, after all, your every choice is influenced by who you are, while simultaneously shaping you into who you will be.

"No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone. They are as much a part of you as every breath you will take, every moment of your life.”

Inspirational Quote

"Finish each day and be done with it. You've done what you could. Each day is a new day, start with high a spirit so not be bothered with your old nonsense". - Troy Sealvey

Remember this if you have a bad day! :)

Old Dogs

Saturday I volunteer with this shelter at Petco. They are the people that you see with the adoptable dogs in cages waiting to find a loving home. This weekend, I was handling a dog named Tracey. She is an older pitbull mix who is so sweet. To begin with, there is already a stereotype against pitbulls which greatly reduces her hope of being adopted. I held her on a leash, petted her, and fed her treats for three hours and not once did she bite me. I understand why a lot of people are afraid of this breed because of their history, my mom is too, but I believe that it really does depend on the owner and the dog.

Also at the event, were three adorable puppies, all of which had a little bit of pitbull in them. Because they are still small, cute, and adorable, everbody wanted to play with them and many people inquired about adopting them. Don't get me wrong, of course I want all the dogs in the shelters to find loving homes, I just feel bad for older dogs like Tracey who have a harder time getting adopted because they are not as young and adorable as the puppies.

Apple of my eye.

Get it? Apple? Eye? Hah...

Special thanks to: Ashley Brown for donating her eye; Photoshop for making this possible.

Ausie Open

Ohkay so many of you may know of my obsession with a certain Serbian tennis player, if not well know you know I'm a huge fan of Novak Djokovic. I've been a fan of Nole for four years now, I'm not one of those bandwagoners. I've enjoyed watching him play from the very beginning and to see how much he has improved and changed the game is just so amazing.
So yesterday was the mens final at the Ausie Open. Number one player Novak Djokovic against the former number one, currently ranked number two Rafael Nadal. This was the 30th time these two would play each other and Nadal was up 16-13, with Djokovic winning the last 6 times. This was such an exciting match. If Rafa won he would be on his way to an 11th major and if Nole won he would have his 5th.
So because the match was in Australia it began at 12:30 am on Sunday Morning. I usually wouldn't have stayed up to watch it but I didn't care, it was the final and I wasn't going to miss this match. So in the first set Rafa started out strong and Nole wasn't in his rhythm. Nadal took first set 7-5. I was getting nervous, because in the past grand slam finals the person who wins the first set usually takes the entire match. As the second set started Nole seemed to get into his rhythm and ended up winning that along with the thrid set. As the fourth set prgressed it looked like Nadal was going to lose, but then he came back and won that set in the tie break. Nole should have won this set. The crowd was going crazy! This was the first time these two have ever gone into the fifth set. At this point I was getting worried... I'm not gonna lie I almost cried. If Nadal won I don't know if I could handle it, I would get so much s*** from the Nadal fans at school. So it was the fifth set and it looked like Nadal was going to win, the score was 4-2. Nole looked like he was in so much pain, you could see the soreness in his entire lower body as he struggled to walk to his bags at the changeover. If Nole didn't win this set it was basically over. Then something happened, Novak came back and won the third game, then the fourth and it was tied. Then Rafa came back and won the fifth game! The crowd was going crazy, Rafa only needed one more game to win the title. Then Nole won the next game and it was 5 all. Then he won the sixth and he was able to pull through and win the 7th. HE WON!!! After he won he ripped off his shirt and went over to his family and coaches and screamed with them. Some people call this cocky, but I didn't think so.
Anyways, this was the best match I had ever watched. It was a record of almost 6 hours, crashing the previous record of under 5. It was definitely worth watching. Hopefully Nole will continue to have a successful year. He only needs one more major at the French Open to have a career grand slam. I predict that Djokovic and Nadal will come face to face at the final there.

The Visual Book (Movies)

I am fascinated by film and everything about it(hints why I made a movie club at RHS), when I watch movies I always love how they can make you feel crazy emotions.

It's truly incredible how you can have a completley bland day and come home, get comfy, and then in a few hours go on a journey.

You can fall in love, scream with terror, cry all because of the mindstakingly awesome combo of film, acting, and a visually provoking story. That is all you need to make a diverse audience all feel a certain way.

It's like a visual book, except with a book wide interpretations are allowed. Where as movies the picture is set for you, for better or for worse(books turned into movies, not everyone sees what they visualized when they read the book).

Movies just fascinate me, and I love writing, so I'm almost thinking, writing...films?
Who knows?
It could be amazing fun and meaningful well paid work.

Procrastination and Being Lazy

Haha. I seriously am spending my weekend sitting here and thinking about things I could be doing. Lately, as I've written, I've been very stressed out. February is going to be hell month for me, so I'm trying to stock up on relaxation now and not do anything except for what needs to be done....Except....

I really could be doing something right now.

I have six speeches I should be practicing.

But then I'd have to get up....

Pointless meandering thoughts over getting up and doing something, and how that would benefit me, but then how that would probably stress me out and how I don't need to do it right now......

Definitely a lazy day. I guess I'm not going to get up. Screw speeches.

Yeah....

So in about 19 hours I will be taking the SAT for the second time. This is not a fun position to be in. I've studied quite a bit, and I think I'll do well, but I'm still slightly worried. I'm also not looking forward to the exam itself. 4 hours of testing is pretty strenous. Ah well...hopefully this is the last time I take it.

Sick of Slackers

One of the most aggravating things to deal with is people who don't try at all in team efforts. Or who are not polite, or are just flat out hard to work with or undependable. I try so hard to be a team player, be respectful, and hold out my side of the work. Usually, I have people who do the same, but latley, I have gotten complteley flooded with people who slack and slack. It is okay to slack in things that only affect yourself and your own grade. It is not okay however, to not try as hard when others are affected!

I am stressed and have a lot on my plate, and latley I have had very little RHS pride. I miss the Seniors who used to go here who made me proud to be following in their footsteps, now I feel alone. I took a bath and played relaxing music to fall asleep last night, I NEVER DO THAT. I want Febuary to be over.


I need a break from people, everyone, I'm serious.



Sick



of




Slackers.

Songs in My Head

Argh, Marc said the word "aid." Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but now I got a song stuck in my head from it. You're probably wondering how the heck I get a song from the word "aid," but it's possible. The song comes from Team America, a racist movie, yet still hilarious. And yes, how rude of me to laugh at such stereotypes they portray. Blah, blah, blah, it's still funny. So, the song isn't their theme song or the one that Kim Jong Il sings either about being lonely. It's the one about AIDS. If you're wondering, it's not like a full-out song with a chorus really. It's more of the actors (or puppets in the movie) singing that "Everybody has AIDS!" and they continue to just sing that. Oh yea, that's honestly the only lines to the song, and it's in my head. Can you sense my frustration from this, yet still funny because I remember parts of the movie and it makes my day brighter because I get to laugh, but still..."America. F YEA. Comin' again to save the [something something] day yeah!"

Girl Scout Cookies

Sooooooo for some reason the price of girl scout cookies has gone up from three to four dollars which really pisses me off. With the economy getting worse day by day everyone is jacking their damn prices up! As a teenager i can't afford to shell out that type of money! What is this? Do they think money grows on trees? C'mon! Four dollars? Really? Thats like charging 20 for a dozen doughnuts.....honestly what have things come to these days?





Just Playing ;)

Getting Sick

One of the "perks" that comes along with being on the Boys Basketball team is your involvement in the Little Thunder program. Not that running around and coaching a bunch of 6-12 year olds isn't fun, but the difficult part is the 5 hours shifts and the fact that, every year, just like teachers at school, the little tikes get us all sick. Practice last night was miserable, 3 people sat out sick and another 3 guys practiced barely able to function. For all intensive purposes it was the Red Cross National Basketball Team. That's the difficult part about running around coaching those tiny little balls of energy, they have more than us, and they're immune too basically everything we're not.

The name's Bond. James Bond.

I really like watching movies. I'm not sure if I made that clear in my earlier post about classic movies but I thought I should just make make an official statement anyways. The fictional worlds that exist on the big screen really fascinate me. It is interesting to see what began as a figment of someone's imagination become projected on such a large scale that people everywhere can experience it.
I usually have conflicting views on books being made into movies (they really should be kept in their own separate realms) but the double-oh-seven chronicles are one of the very few exceptions. The adventures of smooth-talking, British agent James Bond are a few that I have grown to like. He is depicted to have impeccable style and seems to always have the most amazingly cool cars. I don't claim to be much of a car wiz, but I cant help but admire the unique cars that star alongside the special agent.
Recently, yahoo posted a collection of pictures that showcased the 50 years of James Bond cars. My favorite picks had to be the silver Aston Martin DB5 (both the older and newer styles) and the quirky, orange Thunderbird. I did a bit of side research and found that Aston Martin used in the more recent Bond movies cost about $235k each and there were a total of 6 identical Aston Martins used in the movies! And look at how casually they treated the cars!

Fire Drill and a Taco Box

So, plus period to lunch today was interesting. It was middle of plus, almost lunch when the beeping occurred. At first I thought it was some sort of test that the sound system was going through- "maybe they were finally fixing the intercom system- it sounds like charlie brown's adults at times". But no, it was a fire drill that caught every student off guard, unsure of where they should head off to. Even after the drill stopped and we were allowed to go back to lunch, I still didn't know what had caused this- and yes, I am still curious as to know if it was as simple as something burning in the kitchen to who knows what. But it was after everything calmed down that became weird; a student had gone into the middle of the amphitheater and put the "Taco 12 Box" on the grass. Everyone in the amphitheater stared at it as though it was going to explode. At last someone got brave enough to go out and get the box, which of course had let their hopes down because it was empty. That is what I call and interesting lunch period. (Not that any other lunch wasn't as interesting, but this one was not as much as entertaining as it was bizarre).

Phones on Campus

I understand why we cannot use our phones in class, but I can also see the pros and cons of using our phones during lunch.

Sometimes, if I cannot find my friends, all I want is to just ask them where they are. Or, if I need something from home, I can text my mom or something. Or even just to take pictures.

Although, if we were allowed to have our phones out, I have a feeling we wouldn't do much socializing, because everyone would be texting instead of having a real conversation.

It might be useful at times, but I do like talking to my friends haha :)

Homework...

The homework, for me at least, has been getting out of control. I've been up until 11, trying to finish, and even then I don't finish. School is pretty miserable right now, and I'm living for summer!!!!

It's been so crazy, and I haven't seen my friends in what feels like weeks. I have two tests this week that I haven't studied for at all yet, and I don't know ANYTHING! Tomorrow's going to be so stressful.

Oh well, guess I better get back to it.

Distance

Today is my cousin's birthday. Though, because he lives in India, he actually turned 17 yesterday. And I didn't remember to call him yesterday to wish him a happy birthday. I tried to call him this morning but I was too late, he had already fallen asleep. This detachment has actually caused me to not really know my own immediate family. I hate how this distance keeps me from spending time with them. I dont know what their favorite food is, what their favorite subject in school is, what they like to do in their spare time. I really wish my family lived closer to me. I am always listening to kids around me talking about how they spent the holidays with their relatives or they went to the movies with their cousins. I get jealous at times how easily people get to have memories with family. Facebook and Skype are marvellous things but like a phone conversation you need to catch the person at the right time. People say that the internet has made the world a smaller place but I think I have to disagree. It'll take more than computer technology to bring people together.

9 Reasons I Am On the Verge of Death

1. I have had a fever for the past 3 days.
2. I'm not speaking to my mom...AGAIN.
3. I have practice 4 out of the 5 evenings in the week.
4. These practices kill my brain.
5. I have SIX (!!!) PIECES I HAVE TO HAVE MEMORIZED BY NEXT WEEK.
6. "Teddy (Roosevelt) Has Ships" has been stuck in my head for a couple days. Why does my teacher play these sort of things in class? Oh well. It's catchy.
7. My print issue is behind.
8. I have a 4 speech competitions, 4 mock trial competitions, and 1 essay competition next month....and...
9. I'M LOSING MY VOICE.

Someone just put me out of my misery already. Just kidding. Not really.

I just hope that this will all be worth it. I plan to win at everything, but sometimes I wonder...Is winning all it's built up to be? I've sacrificed a lot of relationships and a lot of my health to achieve everything I've gotten this year. I worry that someday I'm going to regret all this.

What happened to life being simple?

Walking To School

So, last week my family car broke down. We only have one car, so when my mom finally got home and told me about what happened, she said "Yeah, you're going to have to walk to school in the mornings." Do you know how much walking in the morning sucks? Like, I live near Safeway and it freaking sucks walking. It's hella freaking cold. JESUS CHRIST! Seriously, I really miss being able to just get in a car and get here within five minutes. But now I have to wake up at 5 AM, 5! But since I'm not used to waking up this early AT ALL, I sleep through my alarms, which means that when I DO wake up, then I'm scrambling to get all my crap together and get out of the house as fast as possible. Since its especially cold outside with the rain and fog and crappy weather, I dress in double-layers, with the exception of pants. The first day, I wore two sweaters and two pants, but that just sucked because I was like trudging to school saying "Holy crap, this SUCKS." Then, I started wearing two pairs of socks because I figured if it's raining, then it'll only go through one sock. NO. IT DOESN'T WORK. MY FEET WERE SO FREAKING COLD AND they even hurt so badly since my socks were wet. Now, I wear two jackets daily, however, it doesn't do much because I still find myself really cold. But then if I wear a better jacket, chances are that it'll wear me down and I'll walk even slower. My boyfriend told me to listen to upbeat music on my iPod, but I DON'T HAVE ANY!D: ARGH, DAMN YOU PEOPLE WITH YOUR WARM, WORKING, NOT SO OUTDATED CARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bad girls club

Bad Girls Club has been on Oxygen non stop lately, so I decided to take a peek at it. Why any girl would ever want to be on that show is beside me, they're crazy! All they do is fight and do horrible, mean things to eachother, it's like they're still in high school.
The show did put a rule that you're not allowed to hit anyone, and if you do you get sent home. So basically all the girl's are trying to do is push the person they dislike the most to the point where they throw the first punch so that they can get sent home.
These are like 20 something year old women acting like they're still in high school. I would be seriously worried if anyone I know had a dream of being on this show. It is, however, incredibly entertaining!

Clown Zombies

So on Saturday evening, while I was babysitting, I bruised my hand. The girls, Abi and Sarah, were doing makeovers which turned into making themselves look like clowns. They insisted we go scare the boys, Nick and Issac, with the "scary"clown makeup. Of course I couldn't say no, they're adorable, so we proceeded upstairs to "scare" the boys.
Nick and Issac played along and acted to be scared, but then it turned into a game of "clown zombies" and we started running around the house and shooting nerf guns everywhere. It was all fun and games, until I made a sharp turn and my hand smacked Issac's gun. I heard a pop and a pain in my hand, followed immediately by a large blue bump on my hand.
I was freaking out. I had no idea what was going on.
So I called my mom, saying, "I have no idea what it is! My hand is exploding. Is it cancer?!"
My mom thought I was being a complete idiot. Which I was. But I'm such a hypochondriac. Good news, it was just a hematoma, which means I just accidently popped a blood vessel.
So now my hand is bruised. The bump has gone away and its no longer blue. But guys, that was super freaky.
That's the last time I play "clown zombies".

Deactivating Facebook

Feel like leaving Facebook? Good luck. It takes all of 30 seconds to become part of what would be the third largest country in the world if it declared independance. Leaving is a much more complex task.
As an experiment, a friend and I decided to leave Facebook for a week. So I went through the deactivation process, which is actually somewhat difficult. First of all, you have to search a little bit for the deactivate button - for some reason, its under the account security settings. Before you can see the deactivation instructions, you have to look at pictures of you and your friends, all captioned "so-and-so will miss you. Then you have to explain why you're leaving Facebook. The site doesn't let you move on until you've written something in the explanation box. A request for reentering your password and a ReCaptcha finish off the proceedings.
Even then you're not really gone from facebook, as the word "deactivate" implies. Re-activating Facebook just means typing in your email and password into the site, and your account is back to normal.
This is not a good setting to stay off of Facebook for a week. My friend once by sheer force of habit logged into facebook before remembering the experiment. Then he had to go through the deactivation process all over again. I had a similar experience when my phone automatically logged me in.
Looks like Facebook does not want you to ever leave.

Pods!

So, I have officially decided that the people who are in my pod have made my life. Why? Because we have decided to dedicate a whole period of class in which we have already finished our work in, to play and discuss TEMPLE RUN!!! So yeah, they are my Temple Run buddies now. And now I must practice for our competition on Tuesday!

Registration Problems

Winter semester classes at Sierra College start on Monday and I am still unable to register. I am only in five classes at Rocklin High so I have to take a class at Sierra. I have been unable to sign up for classes and now they are all full, so I am going to have to show up to all the classes I want to be in and see which ones will allow me to add, which is much more difficult than just enrolling in the class online. In addition, I am unsure which class I want to take. The two colleges I am deciding between for next year have different general education requirements so I am having a difficult time finding a class that would be accepted by both universities. My first choice, Seattle University, has really obscure and random required classes that don’t correspond to the classes offered at Sierra, so I have had to check with the admissions office at SU to see if a class will count. Yesterday I figured out that I want to take Art Appreciation so I can be done with my Fine Arts requirements and while that class is accepted at my second choice, University of San Francisco, I am not sure if SU will take it. To make matters worse they have been closed the last three days because of snow and can not respond to my emails. All in all it is not looking good, and I have no idea what I am going to do come Monday.

Kings Not Living To Expectation

I was hoping something better than a 5-10 record. I guess its just going to be like any other year for the Kings. When will the day come when they start racking up some wins? Personally, I think its the King's lack of ball movement. If they were overall better offensively, the Kings could possibly capture 8th seed in the playoffs. No matter how the Sacramento Kings stand though, I will always be a fan. I think the Kings can still be the team they were in 2002-2003 one day.

Doggie Antics

Early this morning I went to let my dog, Panther (a black lab), out and to feed him his breakfast. When I first came downstairs, I saw Panther laying on his bed curled up in a cute little ball. I paused for a moment to think of how adorable he looked when he was asleep. As I got closer to him, I began to notice that he was very still, a bit too still. I called out his name but he didnt move. Now I began to get a tight beeling in my chest. I moved in closer to feel if he was breathing but I couldnt detect his usually prominent heartbeat. I started to freak out a bit more on the inside. I frantically called my mom over, fearing the worst. She calmly looked at Panther and shook him awake. He slowly raised his head and looked at us with sleepy but accusing eyes. My mom explained that he was just being stubborn because he didnt want to go outside in the cold. Panther's silly antic scared my socks off!

I Wish it Would Snow in Rocklin

Although I would never want to live somewhere that snows all winter long, I do wish that it would snow in Rocklin just a little. It would be really cool just to have a couple of snow days a year and be able to go out your front door and do some sledding or just have a snowball fight. While it has snowed here before, it’s never anything that sticks to the ground, and most definitely does not close school (which I think would be the best part of snow day). I’m not saying that I want to live in a place where it snows a lot and you have to shovel your driveway just to be able to leave your house, that’s way to much snow for me, but just a little would be nice every once in a while. For this reason, I want to live in Seattle. In Seattle it doesn’t snow all winter or snow a lot, it just snows enough to make driving dangerous so they close all their schools. The snow doesn’t last very long and then it melts and life can go on as usual, without any shoveling, but everyone still gets to have a snow day.

People

I just dont understand why people are so mean. Everyday I have to deal with someone just being rude, I dont know why half the time. It might be because theyre in a "bad mood," or they're having a bad day, or whatever. Either way I think those are all excuses, there is no reason to take out your problems on other people for no apparent reason. I understand what it's like to have a bad day, everyone does, but I always try my best to still be kind to other people because its not their fault I'm having a bad day.

Sometimes I think its something else deep down going on that makes people act the way they do, constanly just being mean to people. There has to be something else going on with them to make them always be short with others, always talk bad about others, and just have a bad attitude. It also drives me crazy when people dont mind their own business and are always talking about other peoples business that they werent even supposed to know in the first place. It just makes them seem like they have nothing better to do than always gossip about other people. Using Devins quote which I love,(*Warning dont read if you get offended by swearing*) "Mind your own damn business, and shut the hell up before I slap a hoe" I just think Devin knows exactly whats he's talking about haha. Anyway people just try to be nice and mind your own business and the world will be a much nicer place!

Break and Grades

Well, I just realized we have another full week off during February. I guess now that winter break is over we can except another nice break very soon. I am really glad RHS has that random week off. My old school did not have this, so I think it defintely pays off for me. For now, I am just going to try my best to stay on top of my grades this new semester. Its a clean slate for everyone and I am going to do my best to take advantage of it.

SOPA/PIPA

I can't believe how little people know about SOPA/PIPA and how few even know what they are. These two bills are attempts made by congress to censor the interent, a place where revolutions started, corprations began, and connections were created. If SOPA/PIPA were passed, all of the possiblities created by the interent would be tarnished and the internet would become a very unfriendly place. These Bills are worded in such a way so that they can be abused easily and the main focus, internet pirates, wouldn't even be scathed by it. The torrenting website, the Pirate Bay has even pubicly announced that SOPA/PIPA wouldn't stop them. The only thing these Bills are hurting are our american freedoms and the internet as a whole. Websites such as youtube, google, reddit, facebook, tumblr, twitter, would all be affected negitivly by this bill. I plan when i get home today to write to our senators, who support these bills, and try to change their minds on such a corrupted bill.

Origin

So, I only have two more shifts left, and then the quarter is over at Origin, and I have to switch shifts. I'm changing from Saturday afternoon shifts to Fridays nights. It will be interesting having to come home at midnight, and closing up the shop, but it will be nicer in the way that I can go to friends houses and stuff on Saturdays. Also, during my current shift, when I get home I am always starving. Hopefully on Fridays nights, I can just have a hot chocolate or something to hold me over until the morning. Also, it will be nice getting to know new coworkers. I love the two people I work with right now. I know I'll come in to see them on their shifts. The barista is a sophmore like me at Whitney. This is nice because we're in a lot of the same classes, so we do homework when it's slow. The cashier is so amazingly nice, and she is so interesting to talk to. She is a kindergarten teacher in Roseville, so she tells the funniest stories about her students. I know I'll miss them. Plus, I've become close to the people who work the shift before and after me. I love them! The girls after me are so sweet and two are in high school too, and in the shift before me, they always stay and talk to us for about 45 minutes after our shift starts. It's going to be sad when shifts change, especially when I know some of them won't be coming back. Oh well, we'll visit, and I get to make new friends! I'm excited to see who I work with next!

Funny Videos

So, today in Health we were watching hilarious falling videos on youtube.com. I was laughing so hard, all of the kids being pushed over, people performing, and falling, etc. I love Health... so much that I am now watching funny videos on my laptop right now haha :) Wags is awesome.

Speaking Gibberish

So this morning a couple friends of mine were debating each other what color nailpolish a friend of mine had used. Out of nowhere, one of them said, "Are you Deaf? Can't you tell that that color is blah blah?? You must be colorblind!"

It took less than 30 seconds for the whole group to realize what the friend had said what they said and we burst out laughing. But being early in the morning, we excused the absence of using the brain and let it go.

But then around lunch time, we had another discussion on how a friend of mine always writes in cursive and it is hard to tell what they write. One of my friends said, "man, I can't even hear what your writing!" This just goes to show that no matter what time of day it is, we must never underestimate the idea of our brains never waking up in the first place!

Sorry if you didn't find any of this amusing, it was one of those, "you had to be there" moments and I thought I would just share with you the small part of my day that made me happy I was back at school.

Election 2012

Political elections are something that I really like, I enjoy watching the news and seeing everything that is going on in the political world. Being that 2012 is an election year, I am really looking forward to what will happen this year. With the republican primaries going on right now, one will come out victorious by, if not before, the beginning of summer. Their goal, then will be to defeat President Obama. And on November 6th/7th someone will be elected (or re-elected). The debates are really interesting to watch to see what each of their views are. Anyhow, I am really looking forward to what will happen this year and follow all of the things that are going on in the race for President.

Ants

Ok Mr. Nichols, I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I'll give you an overview of the situation. THERE ARE ANTS...PRETTY MUCH EVERYDAY AND BASICALLY ONLY IN MY POD. Every morning I just walk in this room to see ants flooding around my computer and all over the keyboards, and it's disgusting. I can't bring any food (I tried bringing grammys (a.k.a. graham crackers) in here, but ants are showing up nonstop, and the only way I have to kill those little b****es are to take a book and try to smash them, but no matter what I do, the end never comes. And also, people that come in here for lunch need to pick up their crap because I have to deal with it in the morning! Argh, please Nichols, kill these ants! Because they're killing me! Not literally, but you know what I mean. And if you have noticed as well, COMMENT, HELP STOP THE ANTS SO THAT I DON'T HAVE TO DEFEND MY GRAHAM CRACKERS FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF.

Blogging...

I always have so much trouble thinking of stuff to blog about. I dont know if the reason for this is just lack of excitment in my life, or me ruling out certain things to write about because I dont want to be judged.

I think I'm going to start writing down interesting things that happen or that would be good to blog about so I have ideas. It's just right when I sit down to blog, I feel like I can't think of anything. But to go back to the judging thing, there are always a couple blogging ideas I have in mind but I never blog about them because I worry that people will judge them or disagree with them or whatever, I just wish we all could blog openly, which pretty much is the point of blogging, without the fear of judgement. I might just start posting what I feel and if people don't like that's ok, everyone has their own opinions. Anyway my new goal is to try to start blogging more fearlessly and remembering the things that happen during my week so I can blog about them!

Healing Evan

For the past week now, a friend on facebook has been posting about, 'Healing Evan' [ https://www.facebook.com/healingevan ] and about a fundraising for a little boy who fell off the play structure at Breen park in Rocklin and fell into a coma. Today, she shared a post from the page, that informed us that he had "grew his angel wings and flew up to heaven." After reading all the posts from day one, my heart goes out the Boungnasiri family. The family has basically lived at the hospital since the accident and has had to deal with bad news and heartbreak. After high hopes that Evan would recover, today, his time on Earth ceased. Tonight my prayers go out to the family and everyone affected by this tragic accident. God Bless them all.

Grounded

Being grounded under normal conditions is a bad thing, being grounded over a 2 week break is even worse. My days consisted of watching TV, eating, and running. I haven't watched TV in months and it was the strangest thing to get back into. I would go to the channels i rembered watching months ago hoping for something entertaining but I was plauged by shows that couldn't hold my attention longer than a few seconds. I ended up watching the foodnetwork and its marathon (it seemed) of Chopped and Iron Chef. i guess you could say that the only thing I got out of this break was how to cook better.

Prom

It's creeping up on us....the night that almost every Junior girl has been waiting for their entire high school career so far. Junior Prom. If you think the madness and stress for Homecoming is bad, I guarantee that this will be ten times worse! All over Twitter and Facebook girls are already talking about which dresses they are going to get and who they are going to go with. Slowly, I feel the panic starting to set in. I am not good at handling these types of things.

Luckily, I already know which dress I want. I found it online so I knew that no other girl would have it. It's relieving know I already have that part out of the way, now I just need to convince my mom to buy it for me :( It's pretty pricey. Being $300, she said she might pay for half of it but she would have to think about it. If she decides not to, I might just have to pay for the entire thing myself. That's how much I love it!

Even once I solve the dress dillema, it's not over. There is still the flowers, the shoes, the jewelry, the limo, the restaurant , and the most stressful part of all....the date. Oh geez, I don't even want to think about not getting a date. Just the thought of it makes me want to cry. If worse comes to worse, I guess I can always bring my cousin.

Rules of the Road

On Monday I finally got my liscense! I was so excited! I was shaking with nervous energy before the test and even in the car I felt like hyperventalating, I tend to over-analyze situations. Anyways I passed however I found out that it is not even legal to drive your siblings around. I knew it was not aloud to bring friends but I mean family? Come on now.

While it is a fact that most teenagers do not follow this rule, I still find it ridiculous. It makes sense for maybe 6 months for driving others to be illegal, but an entire year? If you are at such a high risk of crashing that the DMV wants you to go a year without risking anybody's life, you probably should not have gotten your liscense in the first place.

Rain

So I am usually the one who is never looking forward to the rainy months. Trust me I am definitely a sunny kind of person. However when it is January 11 and there has been around one day sprinkling, it worries me.

I love summer because of the lakes, there is no water in them! How will I be able to enjoy 3 months of sunny bliss if the lakes are empty and dry? Yes, when it does rain I will most likely be in a grumpy, depressed mood, but it will surely pass once I am inside and dry.

Every year I go on vacation to Lake Shasta. Two years ago the lake was so low that you had to hike down to get to the water. It was more of a canyon than a lake. I do NOT want to repeat that!

Plus what if our seasons are starting to turn? Think about it, it rained all through June (a usually hot month) and now it is January and there is ZERO rain. What if it then rains all through July or even August? That will most definitely not be pleasant.

Or, maybe the world really is ending and we are slowly entering a drought that will kill off all life on Earth...

Dear Rain, please come soon so I can stop imagining crazy reasons as to why it is so dry.
Love,
Sabrina

APUSH Stress

This blog entry is sincerely dedicated to my beloved friend who is stressing out to the max! Miss Christy Sharkey... oh Christy, Christy, Christy.

So we have this APUSH test next period and we are stressing stressing stressing. You could feel Christy's tension from a mile away! The study guide we are given is quite informative BUT it takes a load of time to do! Yesterday I stayed up till one just finishing it. And I'm not even done yet. All these definitions and essays and fill in blanks! So much work and so little time! We become consumed by the study guide and worry about finishing it and lose sight of how we actually have to TAKE A TEST today...

Am I ready? No, not really. Am I freaking out? Yes, just slightly.

To Christy, I say, girl, you will do fine. You just need to take ... deep breaths! In and out... in and out... STAY CALM! or at least try :)

Missing Break

Oh, I already miss the days over break where you get to sleep in until 10 or even later because you remember, "Why get up? You have no school!".

But, sadly, this morning, I couldn't say that to my subconcious because, oh yeah, we do happen to have school at 745 in the early morning. Why, oh why!!

It's not healthy I tell you! And yes, some may tell me to stop complaining or tell me it's for your own benefit but honestly, I just want to sleep in. Sleep in until I feel like getting up. If society worked like that we would all be happy dandy people living in a not so fast-paced world and getting to actually smell the roses, persay. Our stress levels would be lowered, significantly. Our happiness would increase. And we would all hold hands and sing kum by yah! Yeah yeah, I know. A quite naive mindset. Whatever...

Ball Drop... whoop

You know, I really don't understand the concept of this whole watch the ball drop tradition. They have so much hubba ba loo about it but really when it actually happens, nothing special happens! You watch a ball go down a pole and then bam. It's over. Maybe it's different with people from the West Coast and people from the East Coast. Maybe you have to be there to feel the hype I guess you are supposedly suppose to feel after you see it drop. I don't know. I just never understood. Do you need a ball to help tell you, "Hey, it's the New Year. Watch this ball for a minute and understand that, oh yeah, it's the New Year." To me, pointless! Just do this. Watch your dang clock! When the big hand hits the 12. Honestly, to me, it's just a moneymaker.

Girl Scouts!

So Franchesca and I were reminiscing about the good ole' times we had back in elementary years. We were in Girl Scout troop 1152. Girl Scouts was the thing back then. I remember we would go on horseback riding trips in the great outdoors! Ohh adventures is nothing short of what we did in Girl Scouts! I remember all of the fun memories we had! One year we had a garage sale and raised like 400 dollars for the Cancer society and another year we made blankets for the premature babies in the NICU. We also went on fun trips to rock climbing and other little events with the other girl scouts.

My favorite part about Girl Scouts was cookie sales. I remember going out there the first day eager to reach my goal and get that little plush stuffed animal. I was such a little Girl Scout what I was 7. Speaking of cookies, it's kinda making me hungry for them. My favorite cookies are thin mints and peanut butter patties.

Anyways I did enjoy my time in Girl Scouts looking back on it. I'm not one anymore, but I will always remember being one.

Republican Canidates and polictical stuff

So today I was watching the news this morning, rare occasion, because normally I hardly watch the news, and it was talking about the republican candiates before their big debate to come and yadda yadda yadda, but something I noticed is that they are all such drama queens. I mean I understand you have to point out your competitors flaws to make yourself look better, but at times it's like aren't you all grown men not little 13 year old girls? Honestly, theres one ad that they're planning to realease or I think they did that strikes down Mitt Romney thats 30 minutes long. Yeah 30 freaking minutes. I understand if you want to do those little 30 second ads that come on like every other commercial on TV but 30 minutes long? Jeez grow up. I often question each one of them because they're all so pissy it's like calm down, say what you're going to do and how you're gonna fix our country, and prove that you're a leader not a bratty immature little girl. Thank you.

Tebow Time

Let me just get this out there right now, I am not a bandwagon fan of Tebow after his win against the Steelers last night. I have been supporting Tim since the very beginning of the season when Kyle Orton was still the starting quarterback for the Broncos. Ever since I met him last summer at the Tahoe Celebrity Golf Tournament, he has been my favorite. His kindness and sincerity that you see with him and the press is not an act; he was exactly the same way in person. I knew after talking with him for about ten minutes that I was gonna marry this man ;-)

So here is the part where I brag in all of the haters' faces. I have been getting SO much crap the past weeks about thinking Tebow was a good quarterback. "He sucks", "Tebow can't throw for sh*t", "He doesn't deserve to be in the NFL", blah blah blah. I have heard it all. Are they all crazy? This guy has had more come from behind wins than probably any quarterback in the league right now. Tebow can win games, and even though sometimes it doesn't look pretty, who cares?? Teams play to win, and that is what Tim Tebow does. Everyone would try to convince me that he did not know how to throw a football. And what did I say? The Broncos offensive coordinator did not give him a chance! They would run every single play, get behind in the score and when there was only a few minutes left in the game they would let Tebow throw. What did this do? Force Tim to makes passes in situations that were risky, that eventually caused turnovers. Finally last night, in the playoff game againsst the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger , the coach got his head out of his butt and let Tebow throw. In the end, Tim made several AMAZING throws, one of which was an 80 yard touchdown pass to win the game in overtime.

So to everyone who doubted me and Tebow, I told you so :-)

Thank god there's a gradin extension

For once I can actually be happy that there was a network failure. Thanks to that, grades don't go in til like thursday and I actually really need that to get crap done for all my teachers to bring my grades up. Not too bad of a start for coming back to school if you ask me.

Wisconsin vs. Oregon

Football brings a certain culture in American society. Traditions, like tailgating, foam fingers, beer, and more beer, are practiced in normalcy.

These past weeks, college football fans were glad to continue these traditions in the coveted "BOWL WEEK". Bowl game after bowl game after bowl game! Too many bowl games to count.

Having brothers and cousins, you sometimes get caught up in it all and so, I decided to try these "football fanatic" traditions out. Minus the beer.

The first bowl game we watched was WIsconsin vs. Oregon. I go for the underdogs, and so, respectively, I was rooting for the Badgers. In the first half, Oregon seemed to have taken control of the game. They seemed so fast yet they were so tiny! The runningbacks were moving through these massive linebackers as if it was a day in the park.

But, I still had hope for Wisconsin. QB Russel Montgomery seemed to have finally found some type of rhythm later in the first half which was quite promising.

It was 3rd quarter, and Wisconsin only down by a touchdown! It was getting a little tense in our household as most my brothers and 2 cousins were for Oregon while me and 2 cousins were Wisconsin. Both teams made mistakes ending in interceptions but Oregon was the only one that truly capitalized.

It ended in disappointment as Oregon won the Rose Bowl. But no worries! Always next year.

Temple Run

Temple Run will be the death of me. Once i start playing this App on my ipod, i can't stop! I could spend hours on end trying to beat my high score (over a million), which makes me play even longer. In the game, you go through an obstacle course trying to run away from monkey's. You collect coins and buy new characters, power-ups, etc. If you've never played this game, i suggest you try it.

1st day back from break

Well it was an interesting break, somehow I'm not walking like a zombie because my sleep hours consisted of staying up til 3 am and waking up at 9 but hey I'm ok :D. For some reason though I'm actually ok with coming back to school, not sure if it's because I was bored out of my mind during break, the fact that I'm for once motivated, or just to see my buddies and everybody again. But whatever, let's just get through this semester so it can be summer and I can be a freaking senior

I Want More Break

I hate being here. I just want to go home and watch Nicholas Spark films and eat my pita and humus. Later I would sleep and play the piano and go hit for tennis. Yep that sounds like the life. It's not that I don't want to be here, I mean I do miss my friends and all, but I'm just NOT READY to come back. I'm so tired and I just want to sleep. I really just want to go home. I just want to hang out with my friends and have movie marathons and yah. So sorry I'm ranting, I really try not to completely rant but I don't care. I should be motivated for school, but I'm just having a hard time finding motivation. So I hope I will find some inspiration soon, becasue I will definitely need it this semester.

Blogging

Late blogging sucks because you feel retarded because you didnt do it and other people did and its not even worth points wth? Blame it on bad memory but here i am.....late blogging........

No Offseason

The NBA is looking interesting....some of the teams look down right horrible...check out our home town hereoes the Kings....(its looking ugly). Obviously some of this is post lockout  issues such as not enough time for team chemistry and understanding philosiphy, but though most players swear they staid in shape (and 95% likely did) their is an obvious amount of players struggling to keep up with this hectic schedule based on their questionable conditioning. Either way i kind of like it, it shows me which players really love the game like i do and want to work hard like their is no offseason.

Senioritis

This is really bad. I really don't want to be here. My break has made me realize how much I don't miss school or seeing all these people... I don't know. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but all I can say is that I hope this last semester flies by. I want it so badly to be June...

New Year Resolutions

At the beginning of the new year most people set new goals and new aspirations for themselves. The idea of a new beginning is appealing to all and it makes us want to improve. As humans we are constantly trying to make ourselves better for ourselves and others. With this new year, I am ready to take it by storm and make 2012 my year.

My Resolutions:
1. Get straight A's ( Spanish!!!)
2. Varsity Cross Country
3. Be a kinder, more understanding person
4. Attend Church every Sunday
5. Go Green

I like to keep my goals basic and attainable. Hopefully I will be able to reach and maintain all of these goals. Bring it on 2012!

Gotta love the Classics

I love watching classic movies. Singin' in the Rain, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Wizard of Oz, Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Shop Around the Corner, Little Women, and The Major and the Minor are a few of my many favorites. Based on my list it is pretty obvious to see that I am drawn to romcoms. The cheesier and sappier they are, the more I like them. This is why I am able to sit through 3 hour long (on average) Bollywood movies (that are really musicals) that sometimes are to the very scene and dialogue copies of some of Hollywood best movies. To some this may seem like a nightmare but for me it was a fun way to pass time during break. I enjoyed some of my favorites like Sholay, a sort of curry western (as IMDb called it) movie that was so popular that it lasted for several years in India's movie theaters, Guddi, a movie about how a starstruck girl is shown the realities of what happens behind the scenes of movie sets and thus grows to be a mature young adult, and Uphaar, a movie about a girl who is married into a wealthy family and is disliked because of her lack of knowledge in household chores. I find myself drawn to classic movies because I like how meaningful they are. Under the layers of cheesy dialogue and sappy romance there are some stories that just jump out at me and earn my liking and for me that is a classic.

Antiquities.

So I've spent the last day of break watching Pawn Stars on the History Channel. It's so impressive how much the pawn shop owners know about the history of basically everything that comes into their shop. The coolest thing was probably the book that was owned by Isaac Newton. There was also muskets and diaries from the Civil War and a heat seeker from a missile. I love anything old so I hope that maybe someday I can start a collection. I currently have a Collins French-English Dictionary from 1962. Old books are the most fun; I always check the copyright date of every book I get a hold of. There's just something exciting about an item with some history to it.

Hidden Camera Prank

My good friend and former staff member Keely O'Brien showed me this video over break and I just thought I would share. I thought it was hilarious and showed it to pretty much everyone who stepped foot into my household within the past two weeks. There are a bunch of other hidden camera videos with other celebrities like David Beckham, Paris Hilton, and Sofia Vergara that are also really funny. So watch and hopefully you will get a laugh out of it like I did.

Just Dancin'

For Christmas I got a Kinect for Xbox 360 and two games to go with it. One of which happens to be Just Dance 3. It is so much fun. All I want to do is play it. I honestly invite people over just for an excuse to play it. My brother says it's weird to play by yourself and I haven't decided yet if I agree with him or not. I had played it on the Wii before but the Kinect makes it even better because you don't have to have a stupid controller in your hand and make sure that you are holding it the right way or anything like that. You just dance. It's just really really fun. You all should play it. Yeah, so that is really all I have to say.

Kittens

Yesterday my cousin and her husband wanted to look for kittens, since there were only dogs at petco, we went to petsmart, where they found two calico-white kittens. They are so funny! When they took them home, they were chasing each other up and down the stairs, fighting/playing, and playing with toys. I always feel bad for the older cats at animal shelters though. Since most people want kittens, it takes longer for them to get out of the shelter and into a stable home. When I got my cat, she wasn't that old, but she wasn't a kitten either. Those ASPCA commercials are also the worst, they torture you for a whole minute or more, with devastating images and stories of cats and dogs that are struggling to survive. If only they could find a safe home to live in.

Board Games

I really enjoy playing board games. Scrabble, Clue, Monopoly, Life, Pictionary, they're all so fun. I think that they were originally designed to provide some casual family fun, but the premise of board games has morphed into a cutthroat battle for Saturday night supremacy. Playing Pictionary and Scrabble with some friends the other day involved arguments of rules, spirited celebrations, and oodles of shenanigans. It was interesting to see how such a trivial game could inspire so much emotion. It seems to be ingrained in human nature to strive to smash the competition no matter the arena.

Procrastination.

You could definitely say I'm a major procrastinator. I've been sitting here for 4 hours desperately trying to finish all of my homework from break, mostly all for my AP classes. This is stressing me out, and I definitely should NOT have waited to do it until the last weekend before school. I really don't know how I'll be able to finish all of this work, on top of a project due during the week....

I'll just finish it later.

The Last Semester

So this Monday will mark the beginning of the end for me—the last semester of high school. I think it will be a bittersweet experience, I have really enjoyed the last four years and but am excited to be moving on. It’s really scary to think that in just a few months I will have decided where I’m going to spend the next four years of my life. It will be a busy semester with dances, senior activities, AP tests, and scholarship applications. I think the worst part will be having to say goodbye to my friends. But for right now the fact that I still have a semester left is of consolation to me, and I am determined to make it a good one.

Giving Blood

Giving blood is really not as bad as everyone thinks it is. In fact I think it’s kind of fun, and you can save lives. Before break I gave blood at the Starbuck's blood drive because I was sick during the blood drive at school. This was my second time giving blood and it wasn’t that bad at all. I just came in signed a few papers and then they started. The needle is larger than the needles they use for shots but it hurts a lot less. It took me about 20 minutes to give a pint of blood and then I just had to sit there for about 10 minutes to make sure I wasn’t light-headed or dizzy. And then because it was a Starbuck's blood drive I got a free drink and pastry of my choice. All in all it was a good experience and I will definitely continue to give blood.

Kiosk

So today my ASB committee painted the kiosk for Runaway week! I love it when we paint the kiosk! I had a difficult time getting up this morning to paint it though, because I've been sleeping in until at least 10 these past weeks. We worked on it from 7-1, which meant I had to set my alarm up at six. I didn't mind waking up too much tho, because I missed seeing my committee and I needed to get adjusted for school on Monday. Anyways, we worked on it for 6 hours and were able to finish it all in one day! Usually we need to take two days to finish it, but we were lucky we were able to finish it all today. I really like all the panels this time! My favorite side is the juniors theme "Under the Radar". We drew a sketch of James Bond and it looks pretty good. I also really like the borders, on the senior side, we had thermometers because their theme is "Under the weather". On the sophomore side since it's jungle themed, we decided to paint a multicolored feather design that turned out really nicely. My favorite borders is the front panel for the overall theme of "Under the Sea", because we painted seaweed with little fish swimming through them. It looks really cute! I really liked the way this paint job turned out! I'm getting excited for Runaway week!

Robbery in Rocklin

If there is one thing that I haven't experienced in the past 11 years that I have lived in Rocklin, its a robbery. Although, I know that it happens in Rocklin, as it does anywhere else, I have never known anyone that has fallen victim to the crime. That all changed when my cousin's never-before lived in Whitney Ranch home was broken into and robbed before her and her husband were able to move in. On Christmas Day, we went over to see my cousins house and took a tour, then left. The next morning when they went over to start moving stuff in, they realized that someone had broken in an stole the cook-top. It quickly became a major deal with everyone and basically ruined the experience of moving to Rocklin for them. What they think happened was that one of the construction workers knew that the home had closed, and that no one was living there yet, so they decided that they would be able to break in by use of the sliding glass door and steal the cook-top. The project manager had informed them that they had installed 'blocks' in the door so that it could not be easily lifted out of the track. Apparently that was not the case. Because my cousin's husband was able to just lift the door right out of the track. It was all very strange. The police came by and just said that it happens all the time and that they would look into it. Later in the day, another homeowner that just started moving in, came over and said that their cook-top had been stolen too. He was very angry and getting mad at the project manager, and complaining how it was probably some 'inside job.' In the end.. everyone complained and got mad at the company, that they finally decided to give in and replace the cook-top at no cost. However, they are still afraid that someone will come back, even after they have installed a bunch of locks, and the 'blocks' in the door, as well as purchasing one of those fancy security systems. I still think that Rocklin is extremely safe, and that it won't happen to them again, but they are still paranoid. I guess, its understandable. Robbery can happen anywhere, whether you want to believe it or not.

Permit Issues

Today is the day that I was supposed to get my liscense. It was set up perfectly, yesterday I was supposed to have my last Allstars driving lessong and today (my 16th birthday!) I was going to go to the DMV at one to take the test. Well, this all went downhill yesterday at 8 o'clock when my driver instructor showed up.

It started off like a normal lesson, I handed him my permit and I was walking out the door when Jeff (the instructor) said, "this isn't your permit". What do you mean it's not my permit? I've been driving with it for the past 2 weeks, of course it's my permit. Well, as it turns out it definitely was not my permit. No, actually for the past couple weeks I had been carrying around the car registration, thinking it was my permit. In my defense, the two papers look extremely similiar! They are both two pages, the same size, and have t he DMV symbol on them... oops.

So, I spent the next 15 min. frantically searching for my actual permit. I knew that the last time I for sure had it was when I drove to San Francisco... in the car that my dad had decided to take to work that day. After we had looked everywhere we could think of, Jeff left and Mom and I drove over to my dad's work. The permit was right on the center console.

I am now 30 min. late for my lesson and Allstars said I will have to reschedule and pay a cancellation fee. Their next available appointment was not until Saturday therefore my DMV appointment to get my liscense is on Monday, the day we get back from winter break. Oh joy.

Problem- Can You Figure It Out?

I have a problem. It's a major one. It effects my lifestyle because if I can't work through it and overcome it, (like I have been trying to do for several days now) then I might never be able to do what I love for a while..... It's not something as serious as one might think it is, but for someone like me, it is part of your life; not a day goes by without having to use this skill. And if I can't use this skill, than I won't know what to do with myself.

This problem I have, it contains a simple way of removing it from me, yet at the same time, this way of removing it just might make the problem worse. It neither gratify's my health, nor destroys it; but at times, when I come across something brilliant in my head by using this skill, I feel joy and happiness. Yet, when I am unable to use this skill of mine, in days like these, my energy level rises because I am not using that extra energy to think about this skill and use it. *But if using this skill requires energy, then why use it??* Because I love to; using this skill in the way that I do unleashes a feeling of pure happiness because I am inventing something new with every second I use it.

This problem I have, though it may seem like a small problem to many, keeps me from doing what I love. Keeps me from inventing new images, new ideas, new ways in which something in my head can come alive and go into someone else's mind and tell them about it.

This problem is something that I do not get very often, yet, it is something that every person of this love (or profession) goes through every once in a while.

Can you guess what this problem is??

Another New Year coming up soon!

Winter break is almost over, meaning Christmas and New Year had pass and in a few days we will be back to school and bring home a ton of homework. But, I’m actually really excited for another New Year celebration coming up this month on January 23th. It’s Chinese New Year! It is the holiday for some reunion, meet relatives and for a family to have at least dinner together, and according to the lunisolar calendar, this year would be the year of the water dragon.

Goodbye 2011

So it's already Monday January 2 2012. Gosh that feels so weird to say, or write I suppose. Anyway, I can't believe 2011 is behind us. 2011 is a year I will never forget.

The year was filled with so many great memories. I will never forget the lifelong friends I made this summer at Sacramento State at the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project. I was so fortunate to have been accepted into the program and I am forever grateful for the friends and opportunities I was able to make there. Also another highlight from last year was making Varsity tennis. I had practiced at least 4 times a week during the off season, and I was at the gym cross training. My work had paid off, because I was able to pass a few people and I even earned "most improved" award which was very rewarding. This has made me even more determined to further improve my game for senior year.

Although I had many blessings in 2011, I did encounter some difficulties. This fall my older sister Amanda went to college at UC Davis. It's not too far away from home, but we only really saw her on holidays and on an occasional weekend. I was now the oldest sister at home, and I was given much more responcibility. Because both of my parents work full time downtown, they don't come home until 6 at the soonest, so I became the "mother" for my younger siblings. I made sure they completed their chores, helped them with their homework and with their musical instruments. Also I made dinner every night while still trying to do my chores and schoolwork, and having tennis practice every day until mid November. It became so important that I try to manage my time well.

Despite these challenges that occurred last year, I remain optimistic about 2012. Yes it was a difficult year, but I was blessed with many things. I am excited to see what 2012 has in store!

After the New Year's party

So I went to my parent's new years party and of course had a blast. Friends were there, we chilled out, had some kickass home made food and had a blast. Normally everyday of break I've been staying up well into 3 in the morning and waking up at like 9 or 10 and being just fine. However, I've never felt so off and sleepy today, I swear half my brain is just asleep and i went to bed at 1. Ugh just can't wait for this day to be over...