National Journalism Convention

Okay, can I start of with AAAHHHHHH!?!?!? is that proper? Probably not but I don't care. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! (can you tell I am still excited??)
This last weekend (and friday), I went down (with my junior journalism buddies) to San Fran to the convention. It was super fun! Amazing! I hadn't expected to have this much fun, with all the classes I was going to take.
But I think the most rewarding time was doing the classes that gave ideas about bonding and having special things that tied staffers to one another. For instance, we have shirts. But do we want something to make us more official looking? Hmmm
That and receiving the award. I had to say, I was surprised. I had been doing reviews all this year in journalism and I honestly did not expect to get an award. There was at least 50-60 people in the room but it felt like 80 because we had to have them in chair with trays on their laps and the tables were crowded. And there were A LOT of tables. I was nervous. and THAT is why I started screaming internally with joy when my name came up on the screen. And I will be completely honest there: I honestly didn't think I was that good at writing reviews until this moment. Sure, writing reviews is fun and easy for me. It is something I love to do and I could totally build a career off of it if I wanted to or had the chance. But until that moment, I really didn't think I was good. So I am more excited that most to have this happen :)

Anyway, had a lot of fun! Hanging out with the buddies definitely (at least I think) brought us closer together and I can't wait for next year when we're all on the staff again!

Urban Driving

One of the best parts about driving is that it's like a real-life video game, in that it is sometimes enjoyable. One of the worst parts about driving is that it's like a real-life video game, in that there always exists the possibility of death and destruction, only instead of starting over, you actually die/have to pay a large amount of money. I was reminded of this fact today, when I drove to UC Berkeley to tour some housing.

The streets of Berkeley aren't quite as terrible as the ones in, say, San Francisco, because at least the intersections are designed in ways that make geometric sense and don't form mazes that invite unsuspecting drivers to cross into oncoming traffic. However, the people of Berkeley more than make up for this in that they apparently give up all sense of self-preservation when stepping out onto the road.

Like any urban area, there are drivers more used to it than the pampered suburbanite you are, which means that they will be blazing through said madness at ridiculous speeds as you try to determine whether the street you are about to turn left onto actually has a lane intended for travel in that direction. The non-drivers are worse, though. The pedestrians and bicyclists seem to forget that they are inevitably destined to lose should they decide to test their structural integrity against that of a two-ton metal vehicle. Therefore, they will jump in front of your vehicle at random times, often, in the case of pedestrians, running crosswalk lights in the process, and further your dismay.

Luckily, being the awesome driver that I am, I managed to escape the city of Berkeley for the welcoming civility of I-80 without causing any deaths, injuries, or property damage. It's amusing how awesome the streets of Rocklin are when you are grateful for things like two-way roads and protected left turns.

In other news, Berkeley housing is pretty cool.

Set Up to Fail

So I am pretty sure I am going to fail my AP tests. I am so unprepared and it is basically May already. I'm iffy on AP US, screwed for AP Gov, and I don't even want to talk about AP Physics B. UGH... I am just so tired of coming home every day and having to do SO MUCH homework. My brain can't take it man... My mind is frying. 

On a side note the journalism trip was pretty fun...

Excuse me miss you need to stop...stop...STOP!

So yesterday I was in the car with my dad and we were just driving around, having a great Sunday. While we were in the car we were listening to music and rocking out to just about anything you can think of. We were all smiles when suddenly we had to stop at a stop sign and this lady in front of us in a gray car slowed her vehicle down as she was approaching the stop sign, and didn't make a complete stop and just kept driving. Now I know people do this often, but I was still a little miffed about it and so was my Dad.
Turns out my Dad and I were still driving behind the gray car in the same direction. We kept driving straight and we ended up at another stop sign and the lady Still Didn't Stop. Now I was a little concerned at this point because my Dad said that he thought he saw a child in the back seat of her car.
This made me quite nervous. Not only was the lady driving recklessly, she had a child in her car as well. I made sure to get a good look at this woman in her car and I could tell that she considered herself the Almighty Queen Bee of this Earth because she was all decked out and bejeweled with anything and everything you could imagine.
1. Pearly dangly necklace thingymabob hanging from a mirror in her car
2. Big sparkly earrings
3. Rings on her fingers (and don't forget her diamond ring her hubby gave her of course)
4. Huge sunglasses (most likely the expensive kind)
5. Little figures of some character of the sorts on her nails (charms, one direction people, I dunno. :P)
6. We'll get back to number 6 later on.
Anyway.......
So Queen Bee has ran past 2 stop signs so far. Let's see how this continues on.
My Dad and I were still following behind her and were about to turn right onto Park Drive.
Now my Dad and I were both expecting her to stop this time. There's traffic and an actual red stoplight. She has to stop here right? We both looked at each other expectantly.

Did she stop?

Nope.
At this time I practically wanted to break all of her precious jeweled items on her person and throw them in the dumpster because I was furious. Even though I probably shouldn't even care about this, I did. So whatever. I was pissed off. Why on earth was she driving so badly?? I couldn't even fathom it.
Finally she switched lanes and it turns out we were driving to the right of her and eventually were stopped yet again at a stop light.
Back to Number 6 Now:
To top off these series of unfortunate events with a big ol' cherry and whip cream on top of them, Miss Queen Bee was in fact texting and driving. With BOTH hands, iPhone 5 placed ever so delicately onto the steering wheel, texting. Texting! I just about blew a gasket. I wanted to flip tables. Just punch something to relieve some anger.
I couldn't believe it.

*sigh*

Done.

Community Service

I did a community service with my church for 6 hours today and it was amazing!! Working beside so many new people and old friends is amazing since we were doing it for such a great cause.

I got to talk to many new people and get to hear their stories. It's so cool to hear about how God has been working in their lives.

Since I have gotten home from the project, I have been laying in bed watching TV. I'm exhausted, probably because it was all manual labor we did today, but it feels good because I know by doing that project we helped out so many people. Now, I get to catch up on some Ellen episodes I haven't gotten to watch this week.

Well, that is all I am doing this weekend! Woohoo!!

Shopping

So Mother's Day is coming up, and I still need to buy my mom's present, except I don't really have time, so this will be interesting. If Mother's Day had been a week later, I wouldn't have this problem.

I think I know what I'm getting her, so I just need the time to drive to the store. So. Much. Effort. During. AP. Testing.

Oh well, at least I know she'll like it.

What's On My Mind

Since blogging is supposed to be whatever ramblings are going through your head, here's a choppy list of things I've been thinking about:

• The AP World Unit 5 test, which I should be studying for if I want a good grade. It covers a ton of information, spanning from 1900 to the present day. There's tons of details and important events and figures and it consists of seven 30 page long chapters, give or take. That's a lot of reviewing!
• The AP test, which is probably what I am most stressed out about. I've blogged about this before, but I'm just going to say again how nervous I am. Luckily, I've made about 400 flashcards for past units, so I have somewhere to start.
• My career presentation, which I haven't started yet...I need to schedule an interview pretty soon if I want to be on track, but the career I've picked is quite obscure so it's been hard finding a local person to interview.
• Getting a job, which I really really want. Okay, maybe it's not an actual job -- it's an unpaid internship that I hope and pray to get, because it would be such an amazing opportunity to explore something I'm passionate about.
• Speaking of applications, I have three I need to complete by the end of May for various things I'd like to do over the summer and next school year. Two of them require numerous essay questions, which I think I'll start after the AP test.
• Whether or not to take French 3H over the summer and go directly into French 4H next year, which Madame has been telling me to do. I'm not 100% sure, but if everything works out I may do it!
• SUMMER, which I cannot wait for. My cousin from Algeria is coming to the US for the first time, so it should be fun -- and great opportunity to practice my French!

So there you have, a hodgepodge of things on my mind.