Stars

Someday, I'll go to a countryside and look up into the night.
Let the stars wash over me.
Let my mind be dazzled.
Let me bask in my insignificance.

Crazy

We all know Gnarls Barkley's song is pretty popular, and I'd say quite catchy.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Today is a shoutout to Larry Lee, Chris Chin, and Ivan Poteryakhin for providing a craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy game of Starcraft: Broodwar. xD
We played 2v2 today, and man, that last game was down to the WIRE. Ivan/Larry attacking everywhere while Chris and I trying to hang on. We almost had Ivan early game, but not enough lings ftl. :( Then, Larry's spores stopped all my muta harass, especially with Ivan's sairs. It was onto Hydra/lurker, but my hydra tech was waaayyyyyyy late. I almost got busted if it weren't for sunkens. Then we go to Hive tech, but Ivan's sairs are still running around, chasing my overlords. I finally get defilers up, and am able to push out a bit, but Larry's Lurker's make me go Q_Q. Chris gets lurkers too and contains Ivan... but I couldn't help him finish it because of Larry. I did have a third though, and was getting my own lurkers. Too bad we had to leave. That was such an intense game, and I REALLY want to finish it.

Goal for spring break? LAN PARTY! We must have one! Larry, Chris, Ivan, Jeff, Nav, Evan, Oli and I should all get together for some matches. 4v4s on BGH ftw man. xD Maybe even 2v2v2v2. Hahaha, that'd be crazy. Spring break, can you come faster please? ^_^

Close Parallels

Six ways to make your ideas sticky that Motes has talked about:

Simple - Check

Unexpected - Check

Concrete

Credible - Check

Emotional - Check

Stories - Check

Man, Made to Stick is like MADE for comp classes. I suggest you guys read it. :)

Perfectionism

I am such a perfectionist for the dumbest little detail. For some reason, I find it very rewarding to restrict myself to 750 words on my proposal essay for AP Comp. Motes said to make it the perfect length, not to cut it until to X amount. I just happened to decide to limit myself and see what I could do. :/ Idk how it'll turn out. Hopefully, it won't be worse... But man, I really cut a out a lot of words. Like that hopefully back there? Yeah, he'd get thrown out.

The thing is, this perfectionism won't necessarily make my essay better or make me a better writer. Why do I do it? Maybe I'm just weird.

I don't want to be a perfectionist though. I'm too apathetic. Builders are perfectionists. Like Spencer or Sami. I'm not. I just slap stuff together and hope it works. So why did perfectionism suddenly come in again? Maybe I'm a perfectionist at heart, and it rescues me when I need to try and succeed. Maybe I'm really not, and actually have self motivation and self control (LOL YEAH RIGHT!). Maybe I just procrastinated correctly by using Comp corrections as an excuse to procrastinate APUSH. Yeah, that sounds the least tryhard! Let's go with that. :D

Naps

Naps feel good. I take a lot of naps. Everywhere. Calc, APUSH, Comp, and now on my couch for two hours on a Saturday. I like naps. I miss kindergarten. Why do I talk about sleep so much in my blog?

On a sadder note, I missed the first day of TSL today. :'( I love TSL. It's easily the best foreign community-run tournament EVER. TSL 2 had crazy good games in it, and Razer TSL (that's TSL 1) had epic upsets too. God, I can't believe I missed the first day. Even though it's Starcraft 2 instead of BW, I still want to watch the epic games. VODs can't come out fast enough.

A tip about eating oranges

Don't be afraid of eating sour ones. The sweet ones make it all worth while.

Declaration of Independence from APUSH

Jeff says it's too satirical to be done. He's right. Teachers won't ever listen to that. Let's face it, I'm no Jonathan Swift... yet. 

This blog isn't for teachers. I'll make my list of grievances here, although it's no way a parody of the Declaration of Independence.

1. Horrible book - There's this book called Made to Stick by the Heath brothers that examines why ideas stick in people's minds. First thing it says, simple, as in keep things compact, and stick to your point. Tindall doesn't do this. If the core of his Tindall is to teach about history, then it's buried under a mess of useless details. Do I need to know about ship building? No. Do I need the history of each and every president ever? No. Do I need the name of obscure artists or writers who will never be significant in our time? No. Then why, why, why Tindall do you include them? They add nothing to your goal! All it does is make me facepalm, wishing we had Palmer back.

Now that's a good history book.

2. Waste of class time - ________________________________________________________________

Nothing to say because we do nothing in class. That space contains all the knowledge I've ever gained from class time activities. Watching movies may be nice, but when it's about topics we've just read or will read in a day, then it's honestly pointless. Making posters about traveling west through the Oregon trail doesn't teach me anything about the Oregon trail. It's just training in artistic BS. Debates go nowhere when we don't care about the subject. It's all just a matter of points. The worst part, though, is the opportunity cost. Every second I stay in the class, be it talking to Jeff, writing Haikus, or trolling our activities, is a wasted one where I could be reading Tindall, doing calc homework, or doing comp homework. Heck, I could be preparing my next blog post. All these choices are more productive than learning nothing.

Productive use of APUSH class time

3. Stupid projects - I have multiple sections for these.

• Teaching projects - I have learned nothing from our projects outside of the one that I participate in. The rest of the teaching projects are just for food. We don't even get outlines like in Euro anymore. At least those were useful. APUSH? Please. I take notes for 10 daily points, and scribble whatever I want over the backside, then I toss them away. 
• DBQ project - The hassle of doing each step one at a time annoys me to no end. We're not fifth graders that need our hands held. If you want us to make a genuine DBQ, at least let us do it ourselves. If it's not good, oh well, grade us harshly then. But please, don't force redundant steps on us like "outside information" and "outlines." Outlines should COVER outside information, except it's organized. I organize my outside information into outline format anyway. What's the point of having two? My biggest complaint is the point of this project. What are we supposed to take away? I don't care about making DBQs. They don't help me understand them at all! I care about understanding how AP readers grade them. It would be much better if we just wrote in-class DBQs with our "library time" and graded/critiqued each others. At least we get practice that way.
• Wiki project - Let's face it, I will never use this. It's supposed to be for studying, but why would I use that source? There's a reason I have a Princeton Review AP US history book, because it's concise (unlike Tindall), it's geared toward the AP test, and it's credible. Who knows what sources people will use on the Wiki. Furthermore, it's a wiki. Why should I be forced into doing it when I KNOW I won't use it? It's supposed to be voluntary, not mandatory. Do I even get anything back from doing this project? No.

4. Tests - Tests make me go

Okay, let me kill the selfish warrant first: tests aren't hard, I get As just about every time. But once again, tests are POINTLESS. They ask about the most minute, useless details like how many electoral votes did candidate X get? What bill was passed in 1854? What was President X's home state? What food isn't native to America?

Awwww, cute charmander! Get the reference? 

Well, let me ask one back. Why do I care? These questions don't help me get a better grasp of social/political/economic conditions of the time. They also don't help me see a bigger trend in history. All they do is force me to memorize obscure facts that will be irrelevant and forgotten come May. APUSH could learn from Euro once again. It's the big patterns, the momentous events in history, that matter. It does not matter if I know that Lyndon B Johnson came from Texas.

5. Vocab quizzes - Why do we need these? We're an AP class. If you don't know a word, you should search it up. If you don't search it up, you should suffer the consequences (or lack thereof) on quizzes, tests, and FRQs. Just because a few people don't know these terms, and won't search them up, doesn't mean that the class should force us all into these quizzes. Maybe it just bothers me because it's appealing to the lowest common denominator. I hate that. It'd be better to set standards for your students and elevate them to that standard. Oh, and vocab quizzes aren't even helpful. I don't learn anything new from them. Abolish these time wasters, please. 

That's it for now. I have to read Tindall again... T_T SPARE ME THE PAIN. I can't wait until term 4. God I can't wait. I will miss McIntyre though. She was a cool teacher. :P

Just a tinge.

Sometimes, I stare into an endless sea of brown, but not hazel like most descriptions. No, rather that deep hue of amber, mixed with the romance of walnut. Add a touch of rosewood, and you probably have it. Yes, it's that color which fills the oceans that I see.
Sometimes, I stare endlessly, thoughtlessly. I'm drawn in like a grasshopper into a venus. I stay entranced, content for those brief moment. My mind leaves me, and I'm left without my shield of realism or my guard of pessimism.
Sometimes, it looks back with joy, with wonder, with excitement. Joy makes me happy, wonder makes me laugh, excitement makes me euphoric. It turns the worst moments into the best. Funny what a little color can do.
Sometimes, it seems filled with sadness, with anger, with hatred. I take on that sadness, wishing to remove every last drop. I want to jump through my desk, down into the abyss, find the root, and eradicate it. I can't be so bold with anger. Instead, I turn away, hoping it subsides. I still see it. Those furious waves crash against my wall of mental fortitude, breaking it down bit by bit. I can only eek out a whisper, "I'm sorry." Hatred is much simpler. I'm thrown into a pit of turmoil and despair. My heart recedes, and cries until the last drop of blood is drained from its ventricles. Only then does it come back, blue without hope.
Sometimes, I realize it's all just imagination. I come back to reality, aware of my surroundings. I look around. In my peripheral, I see a gleam. I turn my head back to that spot. Is it still there? Yes, relief. The trance starts again.

Blogging

I was told to blog more by Bradley Dawson.
SHOUT OUT TO BDAWS. Happy?

Okay, now for a real topic. I'mma take a little idea from Heliuchuan  and do a movie review.

So, over the weekend, I watched a fantastic movie called The Fall. If you haven't seen it, well, that's not surprising. I didn't really know about it until recently even though it was made in 2006.
The Fall is a humorously dark tale that shifts between fantasy and reality. It's about a young Hispanic girl called Alexandria and a movie actor named Roy. Roy begins to tell Alexandria stories -- first one about Alexander the great, then a made-up epic. As the movie continues, the lines between reality and fiction blur, and we can see the manifestation of the characters feelings in their epic.

First off, I loved this movie's story. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but it just blew me away. It's very emotionally wrenching. The actors carried out their roles beautifully, and really drew me into it. Alexandria was especially well-played as the little girl had all the innocence yet deviousness needed from a child. Roy was also great, being able to portray the powerful emotions needed for his role.

The best part, though, was the cinematography. My god the film was beautiful. The director apparently traveled to over 20 different countries to film it, and it shows. You know, they say a picture is worth 1000 words, and I'm running out of words. Let's let the pictures do the talking, shall we?

If you want to see more, gallery is here http://www.thefallthemovie.com/

With that, I highly recommend you see it. Personally, I'd give it an 8/10. It's not Shawshank, but it's definitely far above a regular Friday Night movie in terms of quality.