Well, it was back to the old routine today (except for the two-hour delay).  Get up, eat breakfast, go to school, work work work, and then go back home.  Oh, it's not really that boring, but well...Just the eclat that is my everyday life doesn't give me enough time to reflect on certain things.  How to write the scene I need for my fanfic, for instance.  I really hate it whe I have it playing out in my head perfectly, but the flow of words just won't come.  The paper or computer screen stares back at my frustration mockingly as I sit with the minutes ticking by.  Time is one thing I'm rather short on.

At least my teachers were nice today and cancelled the tests and quizzes we had.  As Dr. Kobrin so nicely put it, what kind of teacher would give a quiz on the first day back from a five-day weekend?  (I actually think he's the nicer of my HUM teachers...at first he looks kind of mean, but he's really nice when he has to be.)  And fortunately Dr. Acio took moved the chem test to Thursday, which is good because they take up the entire hour-and-a-half.  Then I got to finish the last problem of my physics test because Mr. Bagden figured that I must have run out of time (everything was in the calculator, but the sub that day wouldn't give me even a minute to scribble it down).  I think we all needed that break, even the teachers.  They seem more...mellow might be the word, I guess.

Winter sports banquet was canceled - well, postponed.  Grr.  I really want to find out who the captains for next year's swim team are, especially since I ran for it too.

Anyone that I know who is visiting colleges over spring break can leave a comment here...I just don't want to be visiting by myself (well, with my family...but it's not the same as with friends).

So much for writing in this as often as possible...I wrote in another diary that I'd have an entry every day.  Guess I don't have the time anymore.  What else is new?  Junior year is such a stress (of course everyone complains about it), I have too many things to do for homework...Why did I ever choose to go to this school?  Well, perhaps it was because I was fed up with the Catholic school system and TJ was the only public school my parents would let me go to...

We all took freshman and sophomore year for granted.  No, really.  Even if you had Cammer for freshman bio or McCarthy/Richardson HUM last year, what is that compared to this year?  Now it's crunch time.  College looms over the horizon, and I don't know if I'm ready for it.  But it's not a question of me wondering if I'm ready, because I have to be ready, whether I want to be or not.  Now's the time when I detest being the oldest in my family.  I'm the guinea pig for everything.  I don't have anyone to really advise me about my decision about college (not including my counselor), especially since both my parents grew up in the Philippines.

Ah, yes.  The Asian parents.  I read the xangas of my Asian classmates and friends and see what they're going through.  It's too difficult for me to describe...I feel like they don't understand me at all.  Not truly.  They think that just because they were chemical engineers that I have to like physics also.  They don't understand my fascination with biology, since they both hated it.  I ask for help in physics and they just repeat the question, phrasing it differently, probably because they have no clue what the heck I'm asking.  Or what the topic is, for that matter.  And just today they hinted that they might not pay any more than what UVA or Virignia Tech costs.  Right.  What was my dad asking when he asked if I wanted to go to Harvard?  Indeed.  I don't want to strain the family's budget - especially because I have two younger siblings - but I want to follow my dream too.  I want to go somewhere I can enjoy...So what if it's not a big-name school?  I want to be happy.

SATs are in two weeks...a little less, in fact.  I'm not doing any sort of review program other than looking through the review book...I figure that since my PSAT score was as high as it was with only a little review the night before (OK, so I learned a few vocab words and took the entire practice test), I might come off with a fair score.  Seems a bit arrogant of me to assume, but well...I just don't think I need a review program.  I didn't need some stupid class to get into this school, though other people think that it helps.  (Actually, some mom who was insisting that my sister take a ridiculously expensive review course just for TJ had a kid who took it and....didn't get in).

I sound really bitter, don't I?  This is what happens when one buries one's emotions.  It's mostly just school and my parents, though, that make me like this.  I'm glad I have friends.

My little fanfiction is progressing nicely...See the link below if you want to view it.  I also wrote another one...just look at my profile on the fanfic site and click "stories" and it'll be there.  And there's another one I'm doing...I'm putting the final touches on the first chapter.  That's my outlet for everything...fanfic.  I really ought to put my writing skills into creating my own characters, but I have neither the time nor the creative will.  So for now I'm stuck spinning out a tale involving characters from two fandoms.

Five days off from school takes its toll.  Right now I'm feeling very apathetic.

Ah, well.  C'est la vie.

So...updates to this xanga are going to come few and far between...I really don't have the TIME.  Homework sucks.  And right now I ought to be writing a report for DNA Science (book report, thank God, not a lab report...thos are nightmares because they're so looong...), but I need a break.

And what has happened between now and the time I posted last?  Well, I have been writing a fanfiction that's a crossover between Harry Potter and LOTR.  Yes, it's a product of my own (somewhat twisted) imagination, and yes, I am obsessed with LOTR.  Basically Harry and his buddies get sent to Middle Earth through one of Voldemort's plots.  Here's the link, so far it's gotten favorable reviews: http://www.scribeoz.com/fanfic/story.php?no=1425.

Other than that...well, Neel is going to be leaving on Monday for India, won't see him over break at all .  C'est la vie.  Wonder what my family's doing over Christmas break, other than watching LOTR ROTK EE (that's Lord of the Rings Return of the King Extended Edition...much too long to type).  Heehee...the drinking scene with Gimli and Legolas is hilarious, the look on the drunk Gimli's face is absolutely priceless.  And the Houses of Healing scene with Eowyn and Faramir...so sweet!!!  Such a great movie, everyone should see it.  (Saruman's demise is a bit disgusting...though that's a tribute to what great sound editing they had...)

So here's a list of movies I want to see: Series of Unfortunate Events, Phantom of the Opera, LOTR ROTK EE (Haven't seen it entirely, just bits and pieces), umm...well, Star Wars, whenever that comes out, for completion if mothing else (though I hope it will be good).  If there's a lightsaber fight that's anything like the Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul on in Phantom Menace, that'll be enough to make me happy.  That's pretty much my all-time favorite movie duel to watch...it's so fluid, like a dance almost.  Following it closely is the one from Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack and Will) and the one from Princess Bride (Inigo and Wesley).  Here I go rambling again...well, now it's back to that book report.

~Ceci

My sister's having her birthday party right now (well, she and her friends are all upstairs eating dinner), and I (sort of) have some down time (in actuality I have a veritable mountain of homework...reading stupid Thoreau, writing a report for history, reading chapter 12 for chemistry, physics problem set, precalc homework whatever it may be, find a DNA science article, and lots of French)...So I decided to update my xanga fir the first time in a long while. 

This past week was what we call Hellweek for Shakespeare Troupe.  Basically we rehearsed until 9:00 Monday to Thursday, and Friday was the show.   OMG OMG OMG it was AWESOME!!!!!!!  That's pretty much all I have to say about it.  Much thanks to everyone who came to see us (especially Neel ...hehe). 

So later I'm going to see The Polar Express with my sister and her friends...Have to go now, time for cake )

My poor neglected xanga....it could use updating more often, though I really don't have the time...

School was intersting this week.  OK, so maybe you won't think so.  In HUM my hostory teacher was away in South Africa (am I alone in having a slight hope that he wouldn't come back so soon?) so we actually got to learn actual history...no, not about historians, about actual historical facts.  Englih just took a turn for he worse though...We got handed copies of Walden last week, it's honestly one of the most boring books around.  A bit more interesting than the book of Leviticus (a good read if you want to fall asleep), but honestly, Thoreau must have been on drugs or something while he was writing.

And now I finally understand quatum numbers!!!  Dr. Acio had such a great explanation of them, undoubtedly hes the best chem teaacher at the school (he also happens to be half Filipino...very cool!)...And today in physics we did a really neat little lab that involved predicting the trajectory of a ball bearing rolling off atable.  Now that may not sound so great, but when your calculations turn out to be exact...As in the ball falls in the dead center of the cup on the floor...it's really amazing.

So, well, tomorrow's going to be ever so fun (yeah, right...) Precalc test, DNA Science lab, French test (I think).  And I still have homework to do.  I think I may just do DNA now and save the precalc and French for tomorrow on the bus.  Hooray for hour-long rides.

I really can't wait until the weekend.  Or even until Friday...homecoming game (which will be fun to watch, seeing as TJ's at the top of the division now...OK, so it's like the lowest division, but still, that's something considering the deplorable football records of years past.)...That's going to be intersting.  Then there's the whole search for dinner before the game...my friends and I are thinking of making it a yearly tradition to hang out at the playground of the elementary school after we get back from dinner.  We did it last year, that was a lot of fun.  It was so...liberating is the word I guess, we just felt completely free of any responsibilities at that time.  Like little kids again.

And then SATURDAY....HOMECOMING DANCE!!!  I'm really looking forward to that, see former entry for why.

<Sigh> Stress.  Hate it.