Here's What I've Been Up To

it has been a long time since i blogged! i guess its because i've been so busy...here's what i've been up to:

graduation! it's true, i graduated. i could have done without the long boring ceremony but it was worth it for ruth's chris afterward! i've been waiting to go there since i was in middle school and finally got to for graduation. best. food. ever.

here we are!

Mt. Whitney! The weekend after graduation, my dad and i climbed mt. whitney. this was no easy task, but it was so amazing! mt. whitney is the tallest mountain in the continuous united states at 14497 feet. this was probably the hardest thing i've ever done in my life...i was sore for a week afterward! we woke up early on friday and drove the lone pine, ate lunch at carl's jr, and drove the the start of the trail. after putting on my pack, i realized 17 pounds was going to be a tough burden to carry (i won't even tell you what my dad's weighed...). we hiked 3.5 miles to camp and i thought i was going to die! woke up early the next morning, purified our water and went up to the top, pole pole. eating lunch at the summit was so beautiful, i was on top of the world! after hiking back down to camp, we decided to go all the way that night. we got the bottom just in time for the light to disappear from the sky and were on our way to eat some pizza! i don't know if i'll ever attempt this climb again, but it was definitely worth it the first time! that mountain kicked my butt.

the journey begins

this is what we slept in...

yummy!

we made it!

skydiving! the next week, i went skydiving! it was amazing! i was so scared in that airplane getting ready to jump out. i'd definitely have to say the worst part was when i was have way out of the airplane, not allowed to hold onto anything and the only reason i hadn't fallen already was because i was attached to a complete stranger...! after the jump though, it was the coolest free fall ever! and then when i, well he, pulled the chute, it was so peaceful. we stopped at wingstop after of course.

the gang.

this is me, skydiving.

things to think about.

have you ever really seen yourself? i mean, yeah, i guess i see myself all the time, but its usually in a mirror, or a picture, or an upside down version of me seen by simply looking down...but my face, that i have never really seen. again, I've seen pictures and a reflection of my face in mirrors...but its not the same.

I hope I'm never "between a rock and a hard place." it sounds like a really uncomfortable and possibly painful place to be. my econ teacher seems to say that phrase almost everyday. i didn't really notice it until a few weeks ago when she said it about seven times in three minutes. at that point i had stopped thinking about aggregate demand and Keynesian theory and started focusing on all the weird things she says. "skulking around" is another one--how that came up in econ, I'll never know.

cop a squat. i always thought it was pop a squat...not sure why, but it makes more sense to me. what exactly does "cop" mean? the closest definition on dictionary.com was to steal. but are you stealing the squat? is a squat something that can be taken away? please, if you can, shed some light on the matter for me.

really is an adverb. i was thinking about the game, in the manner of the adverb, and was trying to think of really hard adverbs--to make the game a little more exciting. i searched my brain for all words ending in -ly and came up with really. after looking it up in my spanish-english translater, it was confirmed. really is an adverb. this gave new depth to the word for me. its not necessarily just a degree of something anymore. it means to do something real-ly. this is amazing to me...sorry if you don't share the same enthusiasm.

love is worth forgiving for--this was my favorite line in Jekyll & Hyde. thought this would be a good place for it.

um...that's it i guess...what have you been thinking about?

ap tests are over!

ap tests are a funny thing. this year i took the government test and the macroeconomics test. they were not so fun. the gov test took three and a half hours...and my chair had one short leg, which means i was wobbling back and forth for three and a half hours! annoying much? but that was last week. today, i took my econ test. it was only three hours (still long). that was a funny test. it took us like 45 minutes before the test to fill out our name, which was annoying. i was a little jealous of james bonner when he showed up 25 minutes late, because i realized that i could have shown up 25 minutes late and been better off. anyway, as i was taking the test, i was a little worried about how many question i was skipping. i worried until i looked to my left and saw Nish sleeping. i decided that if Nish was sending in a blank test, the few questions i skipped wouldn't affect my score too bad. (Nish later woke up and proceeded to fill in all the answers...without looking at the questions) i finished that section of the test and pulled out Siddartha to read. I found myself wishing that i could have pulled the Worldly Philosophers out of purse for a quick refresher on Keynesian Theory, but alas, i am not that much of nerd...no, i do not carry the Worldly Philosophers around with me.
Section 2 began later. i broke the seal to the essay writing portion and started reading the prompts. i'm a little mad at the people who made up the test, because they used seven pages when they could have used two...paper wasters! anyway, i'm pretty sure i was not prepared for prompt 1, and as a result, was forced to skip it. prompt 2 was a little better, but i probably would have done better if i had a photographic memory and had memorized my text book. prompt 3 i could answer! it was a good question, that we had talked about in class extensively (at the time i thought a little too extensively since it wasn't even a difficult subject). i was finished with my test a little early and started looking around the classroom. here are some things i noticed: there was a really annoying cricket, edward hopper is one of my favorite artists, you do not need five pencils to take a scan tron test...one will suffice, you shouldn't wear a Davy Crockett hat while taking a scan tron test...people will think you're strange.

Jekyll & Hyde

so, the musical is over, which means i have a life again! it means i don't have to be at rehearsal every day at three o'clcok (which cuts right into my nap time)! but, somehow ms. b has found reasons for me to be at school every day at three anyway...how does that work? for those of you that weren't able to catch the show, i played a poor woman, a rich woman, a prostitute, and a homeless woman. that's really all i have to say about that.

the cast! (i'm between garrett and holland...dressed as a prostitute)

ms. tang 2

so, eric asked ms. tang to prom via secret spongebob decoder pen. it was basically the best idea ever! plus, i was involved...which always makes things better!

she said no...

ms. tang

eric and i are in tutorial and would like to dedicate this post to our favorite english teacher! in honor of her, we wrote a few haikus. here it goes!

my chinese teacher
always wear cute sho-es
will be my prom date.

hair as black as coal
where is the decoder pen?
why not check your purse?

you make english fun
stop staring at my pictures
tell your "husband" hi!

what is your last name?
is it tang or is it ku?
you cannot have both.

dirty mouth?

i thought i would devote an entire post to a dear and long-time, orbit sugarfree gum. reasons why i love orbit: they are always coming out with new flavors (so i never get bored), is softer than trident, has long lasting flavor, each and every package reminds us to throw away our trash (diagram included), tells you where to open package (this is very important), it's fabulous and it's made in canada. ok, the last one was a stretch...but you get the picture.

out of orbits eleven flavors, my favorites are spearmint and mint mojito (exotic new flavor). so tell me, how do you do the sugarfree gum?

tomorrow: Walpurgisnacht