Awkward Hand Flails

Hey there kids, I haven't written in like 8,013 years give or take a few exaggerations, but I'm back. AP Chem is preventing me from doing anything else like posting on my blog or matching my clothes or sleeping. But, I decided to take a free day and Stumble and catch up on blogging. And what did I find on my favorite blog today? Well, if you're not going to guess, I'll tell you: Free to Dance listed me as a favorite blog. Pssh, she only did that cause we know each other.

But any who, she also had this pretty cool doodad (Should that have a hyphen?) that I could answer if I so felt like it. And I do feel like it. So I will answer it. Right now.

The rules are:

1. List three things that you love about yourself.
2. Post a picture that you love.
3. List five bloggers that you are passing this along to. to whom you are passing this along. [Come on.] (I mean really.)

1. My mannerisms: I am a pretty sarcastic person (Really? No...), and when I talk, I use my hands. And I might add in a discouraging facial expression or an eyebrow smirk (Did that last one even make sense?). So, do you get the title now; it's totes witty.

2. My Vocabulary: I have a pretty witty vocabulary. I can pop out SAT words like its my job, but in a split second, I can totes magotes talk like this, homegirl. I don't know why, but I will slip into that from time to time. And, I can always pop in a good allusion. I have an arsenal of song lyrics and movie references that I can use in a split second.

3. My Relationship with My Sister: I couldn't think of a good third fact at first, so I stole this idea from her. My sister is 23, but everyone thinks that we are twins. We look and act exactly alike, and she is as funny or funnier than me. When we get together, I sometimes literally can't stop laughing. Like for real.

I love this picture so much. I hate actually taking pictures, and this was great because someone creeped on me and took this picture for me. Second, I am leaning against a palm tree next to the ocean... IN HAWAII. Also, I am reading Franny and Zooey, and I felt like such a hipster carrying that around.

Umm, I don't even know five bloggers... I'm kind of a recluse. So, I will list the three I know of: The Librarian's Bookshelf, Does This Make Me Look Hipster, and of course, Free To Dance.

So, there you have it, kids. Even though I don't really know what "it" is... 

New Reading List

So, I haven't had time to really read a book since Christmas. My schedule is calcitrating my glutimus maximus. For realsies.

But I did recently pick up a book I started a while ago, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I got it at Dollar Tree (They surprisingly have really good books.). Their book section is filled with Southern Christians trying to save you or really witty books with dry humor that the masses didn't like (Diverse, no?). Well, this is one of the most intelligent books that I have ever read. It is about a genius with a genius daughter, and she is ready to break free. It sounds cliche, but it is the most constricted breaking free ever, and it is so well written.

Well, the point to this ramble is that the author, Marisha Pessl, named all of her chapters after books that you need to know. Usually, these lists are normally too pretentious or too mainstream, but this list seems to be a good mix. There is a little theory, a few classics, and there is always room for Shakespeare. So, I will take Blue van Meer's, the protagonist, advice and try to complete her required reading:

1. Othello- Shakespeare (Completed)
2. A Portrait of The Artist As a Young Man- Joyce
3. Wuthering Heights- Bronte
4. The House of the Seven Gables- Hawthorne
5. The Woman in White- Collins
6. Brave New World- Huxley (In Progress)
7. Les Liasions Dangereuses- de Laclos
8. Madame Bovary- Flaubert
9. Pygmalion- Shaw
10. The Mysterious Affair at Styles- Christie
11. Moby Dick- Melville
12. A Moveable Feast- Hemingway
13. Women In Love- Lawrence
14. The Housebreaker of Shady Hill- Cheever
15. Sweet Bird of Youth- Williams
16. Laughter in The Dark- Nabakov
17. The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales- Quiller-Couch
18. A Room With a View- Forster
19. Howl and Other Poems- Ginsberg
20. The Taming of The Shrew- Shakespeare
21. Deliverance- Dickey
22. Heart of Darkness- Conrad (Completed)
23. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest- Kesey (Completed)
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude- Marquez
25. Bleak House- Dickens
26. The Big Sleep- Chandler
27. Justine- Sade
28. Quer Pisticciaccio Brutto de Via Merulanu- Gadda
29. Things Fall Apart- Achebe
30.  The Nocturnal Conspiracy- Harvey
31. Che Guevera Talks To Young People- Serna
32. Good Country People- O'Conner (Completed)
33. The Trial- Kafka
34. Paradise Lost- Milton
35. The Secret Garden- Burnett (Completed)
36. Metamorphoses- Ovid

Let's see how this goes...

Georgia Tech

So, hello there. I feel like I haven't been here in forever, but I have a good reason: AP Chem. It is killing me (slowly and violently), but it should be worth it next year. I'm majoring in Chem, and I keep telling myself that I can actually do it, but we will see.

Today, I went on a tour of campus. But it was not just any tour; it was the most wicked sweet tour ever. My tour was not led by some random student; it was led by the Executive Director of Institutional Research. She was so nice, and there was only one problem with her. She looked like my former band director. And since she worked at Tech as well, I actually do think that they might be sisters, but I didn't bring that up because she probably hates her as well.

So,  we walked around campus, and I got to talk to a Chem professor who was astounding. She was so helpful and nice, and students kept popping in to talk to her and ask questions, and it was such a nice atmosphere. A college atmosphere. So, after that, we continued walking, and we ended up in the Bio Quad. These are the four most swank buildings ever created by man. Ever.

After that, we walked over to Junior's (yes, that legendary one) and had lunch. She brought friends to: the Director of Student Success Programs and the Co-Op Program Coordinator. I was in awe. They were all so normal and helpful, and they even brought swag. I now have brochures, a planner, a bookbag, and the book that they read in Freshman seminar.

I am still in awe of this day. I was so lucky, and I have to thank my cousin for setting it up. I can very easily see myself here next year. Very easily...

P.S. Their campus bookstore is actually a Barnes & Noble. You get your textbooks at a Barnes & Noble. Swank.

Ginny/Savannah

So, S and I are going swimmingly. And I also am confused as why I previously hid her name under an initial. I guess I didn't want to put it all out there if nothing would happen, but something has happened.

Savannah asked me to Sadie Hawkins, and all is well.

This morning, one of my good friends, Caitlyn, and I were talking about everything. Her boyfriend has red hair just like Savannah. Also, the Savannah, Caitlyn, and I really like Harry Potter. So, we were bored and compared ourselves to characters. And it started to get freakily acurate.

Caitlyn had taken a Harry Potter Boyfriend Quiz before, and she got Ron. The red-head. Ethan, her boyfriend, and Ron are both loyal, funny, and devoted to their best friend turned girlfriend. Since she also has red hair, Savannah was compared to Ginny making me Harry Potter. Ginny and Savannah are both nice, smart, and beautiful. Also, they are younger than their future boyfriends and met through mutual friends.

And, me? I am totally the Chosen One...

Happiness.

So... today has been the best day in a while. Everything went right today.

I think I got a perfect score on the AP Stat test; I actually got what was going on in AP Chem today, and in AP Econ, all of my jokes were funny. I was just in a great mood all day. Then, I went to the band room after school, and I was excited to see S. And then, she made my day even better.

She asked me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance.

I feel so cliche, but I was overjoyed. I tried to act nonchalant, but inside, I was going berserk. When I talked to Deborah about it, I literally jumped up and down (It was embarrassing). It was ridiculously high school. We talked for a while before she went home. Caitlyn was having a vicariously good mood because of it as well.

I love life; it's the best...

I ♥ ♥ Twins

Ok, I have a problem. I really like this girl, and the feeling is mutual. Unfortunately, there are also other feelings floating around, and they are coming from her sister. Twin sister.

I am pretty not sure if she likes me, but I  know think she does.

Let me start with the back story. The twins are freshman (I know; seniors dating freshman is weird. But there is nothing like that going on; it is much more like an advanced friendship. It's not awkward; I promise.). So, they joined band this year, and the twin I like is in my trumpet section. Let's call her S; S and I hit it off immediately. We would chat, and we started texting a lot. Me and one of my female friends quickly became her "favorite seniors." (Her words, not mine.) We got pretty close, and let's call her twin L, L might have felt left out.

Now, there is nothing wrong with L. She was just in a different section and band class which meant I didn't see her as much. So, when S was talking to all of her senior friends, L might have felt lonely with only her freshman friends. That is not the case; she is completely ok and fun; she is really shy. So, now she is in my Wind Ensemble while S is in the Symphonic Band. Now, L talks with me all the time and gestures in the hallway. I really do like her as a friend; I just hope that she doesn't think any more than that.

I am glad to have that rant off my chest. It might not be coherent, but I just used this as an outlet to vent. Now, I have to get back to AP Chem, and none of that likes me...

Courage.

Well, as I unfortunately guessed, school had been canceled yesterday. It's now the weekend, and next Monday, is MLK Jr. Day. So, when I go back to school on Tuesday, I will have been out ten straight days. That is longer than Spring Break. While I have vehemently cursed the ice, some good has come out of this sudden vacation.

First, there was obviously no school. I did get my Chem homework texted to me, but I love Chemistry. And I am still on that successful lab high. Second, I have had had time to fully appreciate AVPM (my new obsession). I have fanboyed over Tumblr pages and YouTube videos pretty much the entire break. This prompted me to ride the growing social media wave (tsunami?) and get a Tumblr:

My Tumblr Page: Tales of a High School Nothing

Check it out; it's pretty nifty. Through Tumblr, I found another small obsession. Dalton.

Dalton is a fanfiction web series about Kurt and Blaine at Dalton Academy. It is super addicting and well written. I know that it is aimed at fangirls, but the plot is really good. It is good to immerse yourself in another world. Also, it is nice to read something for a change. Many people don't read, so this is a good obsession for most who survive off the word sparse internet.

Well, I do need to get off this computer. It is 4:00 in the morning, and I am still wide awake...

Cabin Fever... Day 5

Like I said Monday, it snowed wicked hard last Sunday. This snowpocalypse (witty huh?) is now on its fourth day. After getting out of school on Friday, I have not left my house for five straight days. School is also canceled again tomorrow.

I will never leave my house again. Insert dramatic wail here...

AVPM/Glee Mash-Up

This is the best video ever. This is a mixture of two of my favorite things: AVPM and Glee. In AVPM, I love all of the witty allusions that they make, and in both productions, the kids have such a great bond between each other, and you can tell that they are having fun. Also, both shows have really kick-butt songs. I love (and I mean love) songs with a lot of people singing really powerfully in harmony. It blows my mind a thousand times over.

Sorry, for the random post, but this is my fifth day in a row stuck in my house because of the snow...

I Am Not an Addict... I Am Just Not a Quitter

So, my extremely talented friend at Free to Dance has the most amazing blog posts. She also has some pretty awesome links, and one of them was a link to this site. So, here we go, let me tell you my two worst (favorite?) addictions:

1. Lists

I am addicted to lists. They are so useful; let me show you how:

• They easily organize your thoughts.
• They appeal to my inner OCD. 
• They look so clean in a blog post. 
• I like the little circles to the left.
• Hmm... Even if you have nothing really important to say, bulleted lists make it seem more important.

I have lists for everything. I make to-do lists just to have a clean list in front of me. When I was a kid, I used to make these little profiles of myself which listed my favorite movie or book or Lego color. I was a weird kid.

2. Harry Potter

I really don't know if this is an addiction or just a part of my genetic make-up. I have loved this series ever since I got the first three books as a Christmas present in the second grade. I have read them all around five times, and I have all of the movies. I had coloring books, board games, and action figures out the wazoo (and yes, all of those words were plural). I still love the hype and feeling you get from being a part of this phenomenon. Also, I just discovered A Very Potter Musical, and I am obsessed. The songs are so catchy, and I even got sentimental at the last song about Hogwarts never leaving you. Yeah, here I am, a seventeen year old getting sentimental in front of his computer screen. What a lame-o.

So, there are my wonderful addictions.

"Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!"

It is hardcore snowing... in Georgia.

It has snowed (like actual snow, not just flurries) twice this winter. It actually snowed Christmas morning; it was our first white Christmas in like one hundred years. Then, it snowed last night. And then there was freezing rain. Now, our yard is frozen. It is not covered in just snow; there is a layer of snow then a hard layer of ice. When we went outside, you had to crack the ice to stand, or you would have slipped everywhere.

School was obviously canceled today; the roads were covered in ice. School is also canceled tomorrow, and I bet school will be cancelled Wednesday as well because it didn't even get above freezing today. This sucks except for the fact that I have extra time for AP Chem.

Now, this post wasn't just to lament about the snow; there is some significance here. It hasn't snowed this much since the Blizzard of '93. That year, we had a gigantic blizzard (in March, no less). That was also the year I was born. I was born March 5, and the Blizzard hit exactly one week later. I am part of the blizzard club at school; I have about five other friends that were born in that same two week span.

So, let me finish this post up for now, the solid dihydrogen monoxide outside is calling my name...

Did You Notice Me?

I have no idea why, but the phrase "Did you notice me?" popped into my head during church, and then I randomly thought: acrostic poem.

I just sat down and spilled out this poem. This is (really) off the wall for me since I can't ever write a poem for school, but this poem is actually kind of working for me.

Did You Notice Me?

Did you notice me?
I was simply standing there
dying on the inside.

You walked by me without a word.
Old memories floated
up into my head.

Names of old flames flash by but
only yours stays.
Times have changed and
I and you are different.
Cautious dates after school had led to
elusive rendezvous.

Months passed before
everything changed.

I never got to say that I was sorry.

A moment, only one, passed before
my life ended.

So much needed to be said but
only that gun said anything.
Reasons... there are no reasons.
Running away was easier than seeing
you hurt.

Did you notice me?
My memory waited there, longed to feel you.

I am sorry.


Hmm...

"The Oppurtunity Cost of AP Chem Is Simply Giving Up Sleep"

It has been a week since I started my last semester of high school... ever. I am in Wind Ensemble, AP Stat, AP Macro, and AP Chem. The first three are not bad, but the last one is atrocious. I have lost sleep, patience, and just few tears in one week, and it only gets worse.

Yet, you might ask why I am taking it if it is so difficult? Well, there is only one problem with Chemistry; I love it. When I am slaving away at homework, I secretly adore it. When a problem clicks, you just get a great feeling. And when you boil an aqueous solution of ZnCl2, and the excess ZN is left as a residue; it just feels so fulfilling. (That was the lab that took 2 1/2 days to complete. We were the first group done; we're pretty boss.)

That behavior is like the typical AP Student. AP classes are basically a catch-22: To take the class, you have to be smart; but you have to be dumb enough to sign up for the AP classes.

Oh well, we will see how this semester goes...

New Year's Reso(crap)lutions

Ok, kids. We have a new year before us. It could be a time for great success, or it could just be a giant fall in the lunchroom spilling your lunch tray everywhere (The lunch tray is a metaphor for life, man). I am going to try for the former and leave the latter to that one (There has to be at least one kid nerdier than me. Right?) kid nerdier than me.

I have a five step plan called... My New Year's Resolutions!

Here they are:

1. I am going to get more organized. Like really organized. My room is going to stay clean, and I am keeping up with all of my papers which leads me to...
2. I am staying up with all of my homework and schoolwork. AP Chem, I am talking to you.
3. I want to eat better and exercise as well. This is my least important one, but I still want to make a stab at it. You want to be the big man on campus but not like that.
4. Also, I am staying with all of my clubs and activities. I was the crappiest club member last semester, and that will not happen again. Also, I have to add ROV onto the plate of numerous activities.
5. Lastly, I am going to be a better person. This is kind of a blanket statement, but I just want to be a better friend. I want to spend time with people. I blatantly want people to like me.

So, there we go, my five step plan to become legendary. I kind of feel like Buddha with my step plan... or Woodrow Wilson...