New Friends

Well, it's been quite a while since I've been posting on here, like always, it seems. At least I'm keeping it kind of updated. I don't see how people can post a blog everyday, there's only so much you can talk about before you start running dry of ideas. Recently, I've been requesting pen-pals and the requests i got were overwhelming! People from South Africa, France, and Japan e-mailed me! I am so excited to start corresponding with these individuals! I've been starting to realize that the world is not as small as I think, no matter what I'm going through, there are probably millions of people who have it a lot worse than I do, and I need to start being more aware of my surroundings!

School's been okay, but I totally failed my Calculus quiz yesterday because of my failure to study.. hopefully, I'll be able to make it up tomorrow. Hopefully. Ahh.. I don't really like the fact that I'll be having a B or even a B+ in Calculus.. I must get an A! It must be the asian side of me shining through. I feel that if I don't get the good grades my parents expect, I won't be loved by them.. I know it sounds pathetic, but it's how I've been raised, so I cannot change this part of my personality.. I think this was a section in my psychology book.. something about authoritative or authoritarian parenting.. Argh, I hate how I always seek approval from others, I wish that I were able to just be happy about who I am instead of who I want to be and constantly chasing after an invisible goal..

In other news, I've started filling out my scholarship application to YFU and I hope that I'll be accepted into the program because I know that it will be a life changing experience. It will be the experience that changes my attitude about others and how I think about others also. Everything I start thinking of my experience in Japan and what it would be like, I start thinking about what would happen if I won't get accepted.. How would I be able to cope with that? I really want it so bad, I've never had the desire to have anything stronger than my desire to win the scholarship to Japan. I hope that won't be the case, and that I will be accepted because I must admit that I myself am a very well rounded person. So far, I have a 4.0 GPA (not counting Calculus of course...), I play an instrument in our school orchestra, I do community service that shows a position of leadership, I am officers of several clubs at my school, and I also do sports but.. still.. there's a nagging feeling that I can't seem to shake off. What if I'm not good enough? I'll always be feeling this insecurity until the results are announced, and hopefully, by then, I'll know if I AM good enough for the scholarship.. it frightens me quite a lot..

Well, my social life has been.. inactive. School literally stole my social life, due to the fact that I must concentrate most of my efforts towards completing school work and also studying for tests, etc. I hope that once my Junior year of high school is over, I'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief telling myself that all that hard work was worth it because it might've given me a 4.0.. Hopefully..

My best friend Julie has recently been infatuated with a boy.. I haven't blogged at all yet about this, so I guess I'll spill my feelings on this subject. My best friend really likes this guy.. We'll call him "Susie." It all started one day when we had a sub in English 3Ap and we were watching the movie The Scarlet Letter. Everyone in the back of the classroom and the right side of the class were passing notes, and it happened to pass through the both of them, and they were flirting through notes. I was excluded from this though because I saw no need in passing notes to people who I rarely talk to.. Lets just say, I don't really "fit in" with others.. Not to say that I don't have any friends, I have a ton, it's just that none of them make me feel like I can be myself around them, all except my friend Julie..

Well. It all started that day. She told me she liked him and at that time I was like.. okay, that's cool with me. But she's so.. I don't know. For me, it seems like she obsesses over him, and I know that "obsess" might be exaggerating it, but that's how it seems like. She notices all the little things, and I think that Susie might not even like her. Even SHE things that he might not like her. She told me that he likes someone else in our English class, but she still tries.. I guess that must mean she likes him a lot, but I think it's just ridiculous.. partly to due to the fact that all the relationships I've been in haven't really worked out that well, so I'm kind of pessimistic about these kind of things..

She's been giving him space recently, but she thinks that he's avoiding her.. I pointed out the fact that it might seem like that only because she's been forcing conversation with him so much that without that casual and normal interaction, it feels like he's ignoring her when in reality, he just really never starts the conversation in the first place. Lately, she's also been dressing better and becoming more "involved" with the school. I fear that someday I may be left behind to wallow in my loneliness and selfishness.. Surely that day will come a long ways from now, but it just feels like she's drifting away from me, and liking Susie is not helping the situation any better.. more like its accelerating it.. Augh, well I'll stop wallowing in my misery and try to end on a happier note.

I've recently started to find more reference pictures for my costumes that I'll be making for Fanime, and I just can't wait to start buying fabrics, etc. Me and Julie were supposed to buy fabrics on Sunday.. but apparently.. something came up.. It just kind of hurts me to think that something is more important to her than me, even though we share many things.. I have to start thinking about it! Alright then. I'll see you guys later some other time.

Procrastination

Ah, we've all been through this before. Putting off our work till the very last minute, and then rushing to get it done as soon as possible because the assignment/project was due the next day. Last Sunday, I've been putting off The Scarlet Letter Study Guide and Dialectical Journals for the book and well.. lets just say.. that day, I only got thirty minutes of sleep, and I didn't even finish. I know the power of procrastination has struck a lot of people, but why do we do it?

We might do it simply because we are lazy. It's natural that we are lazy, and we would also rather have more fun than stay home sitting in front of a desk doing paper work. I for one, am a person who would rather live in the "now" than think ahead 10 years into my life. I think that the future will come and no matter what, I'll just go with the flow. Now, some people may think that it's very irresponsible of me to think this, because if I don't plan ahead, a lot of things may not "fall into place" like I might want it to, but for me, I think I have the skills to maneuver my way through it.

I should actually get started to apply for a chance to win a scholarship to Japan this summer.. I believe my friend told me the deadline was December.. Ahh, so much to do, and so little time to do it.. As a Junior, I find myself having so much more work than I'm used to, and it doesn't help that I'm confused in a lot of my classes. I find myself taking on a lot of responsibilities, it's no wonder that I just want to wind down and relax once I get home from water polo practice..

In other news, today, our team played against Mount Pleasant and we won! It was a really close game, and by the last quarter we were somehow tied, but we managed to break it and keep the lead till the end. It was a really nerve-wracking game! I'll write more on this later, but for now, I'm going to head to bed and get some much needed sleep.

Spirit of Japantown

Hah, so today, I went to downtown San Jose to do some community service because there was going to be like.. a festival? I guess in Japantown. It's more of a thing to promote the area though.. I woke up around eight o'clock and then I got my mom to drive me there at nine. It was cool, because the roads around the area were blockaded.. I met up with my friend Jimmy, and then we went to go sign in. First, we were at a beverage booth, but in the end, we were helping out a Japanese Market called Nijiya Market. The manager, Kazu, was really nice, and let us have a free obento during our break!

So, me and Jimmy were working a table with Edomae and Akiake Sunori, and there were also obento boxes on display outside, with drinks. I.. smiled a lot at people passing by, and I think that's what got people to go into the store! I would like.. smile at someone from across the street and they would just start walking towards the market..

Amazingly enough.. remember that guy I talked about a couple blogs back? The one who came up to me and asked if I was Simca from Air Gear? Well, as he was walking by with his friends, I smiled like normal, but like.. It was hilarious because for some reason, he still kind of remembered me, but he didn't know from where. He thought I was smiling because I knew him like personally or something. I didn't say anything because I wasn't quite sure, so like, I just let him go, but when he came back a second time with his friends, I was brave enough to ask if he had seen a Simca at a Great Mall.

He remembered me then! It was like a lightbulb had flashed and all of a sudden we just hit it off. It was really cool to meet him again.

Oh, also, I was sitting at the table, and it was around lunch time because Jimmy went to go pick out his obento, but I was watching the table, and these guys walk into the store. One stops to comment and say, "Hi, how are you?" to which I reply, "Good." After that, he told me, "You have a beautiful smile!" I laughed and said thanks. It was really refreshing to know someone actually thought I looked pretty smiling! I smiled for the WHOLE day while I was at the table.. It was fun though, and my cheeks don't hurt.

It was around five o'clock, Misako, a transfer student staying with Jimmy, came with Jimmy's dad and so did Willy, my friend from History. We chatted and Willy stayed till we had to clock out to save our community service hours.

I called home so my mom could pick me and Willy up because he didn't have a ride. It didn't help that she was already bitching at me for the past week, but I totally forgot where she dropped me off in the morning, and she waited for me while I waited for her for like an hour, and then when she found me, she started yelling at me. Calling me stuff like.. "Stupid" and stuff.. It was embarrassing to say the least, and I really just wanted to say, "Fuck you." Now, don't get me wrong, I don't swear at all, but that's just how mad I felt. She was totally unreasonable, and degrading me on the street.. I understand she's my mother and all, but she really needs to give me some more respect. I'm not just some little kid who has to rely on her all the time anymore.

If I could I would run away from home or something, I know I could get a job easy with my smarts, but she just really pisses me off these days.. Whatever, as soon as I go to college I'm never coming home. I'll be living the college life, and she can't say a damn thing. Not one.

All right, well, I'm sure you don't want to here me go on and on ranting, so I guess I'll end on a happy note. I did learn some more Japanese phrases, and I picked up some from Kazu, the store manager.

I had fun, and I really want to buy a yukata and go to a real Japanese festival next year. Perhaps I'll go to the Obon festival, which happens in July.. Till next time! I can't wait for my birthday by the way, it's next week!

Nature

Wow, so it's been exactly a month since I last updated.. which means it's been amonth since school started.. It feels like it's been much longer. There's so much homework to do now that I hardly find time for myself. Although, now I've gotten into the swing of things, hopefully, I'll be able to glide on through this year like butter, which will.. be kind of difficult.. Haha, if only I really WAS smart..

I really enjoy my classes. Psychology and English especially, because we discuss a lot of things in depth, and it just really interests me how the human mind works, and periods in history where there were a lot of movements like the enlightmentment or romanticism.. So many interesting things to talk about, and the class time restricts us to about fifty minutes...

There was a really interesting topic in English today. We were talking about imagining the world without buildings, without sidewalks, asphalt, streetlights, houses, schools. What would your neighborhood look like, unflattened and full of grass and trees? I have tried to imagine it before, but the image escapes me.. Sometimes I get the image of the Redwood forest in Saratoga.. and other times, I get the mental image of a green hilly area, with sparse trees and the sun rising in the horizon, with a beautiful blue sky just.. hugging the earth. It's so hard to imagine it, but the people of the New World probably knew a lot about nature when they started living here.. Hmm.. I honestly wish I could see land untouched by humans..

Psychology is quite interesting too. The way a human mind works.. just brilliant. I've also been watching lots of science-y shows and investigation discovery, and most of the shows on investigation discovery analyzes how a criminal's mind works, it's quite fascinating! I was learning about cognitive development today, and it makes me want to try some of these things on little children.. Because I live close to an elementary school, I could ask one of the teachers if I could film myself asking the children questions and stuff.. Their replies, I'm sure, will shock me, but it's all part of the learning process.

Well, on that note, I'll end and tell you that someone who lies constantly is much smarter than someone telling the truth. Don't believe me? Someone who lies must block out their prior memory and give a lie while someone who tells the truth doesn't need to block out that memory. Alright, perhaps next week I'll add another entry, if I'm not busy, of course.

Wrong Class!

So this morning started like every other morning. Except for the fact that I had school. That totally ruined my morning because my brother came into the room yelling at me to wake up, when in truth, I didn't need to wake up until 9 o'clock! Geez. My dad told my brother, my sister, and I that he wouldn't drive us to school at 9, so we all left the house at 7:30 AM to drive to Piedmont Middle School to drop my brother off. Then, it was off to Independence High School for me and my sister.

We got there around 7:50, and my sister had this Freshmen orientation thing to go to, but I was going to Denny's, so I walked to my friend's (Carolyn) house, (which took FOREVER) and it turns out, Vicky and Katherine from the Polo team were already there. We chilled till about 9, and then Carolyn's mom drove us to Denny's. I ate.. a TON of food, I was so full that I could barely finish the rest of my food.. (I got two pancakes, two sausage links, 2 bacon strips, and some hash browns). And then at about.. 10 o'clock we left for school.

First period- Aiyah. Seeing Mr. Ponticelli again was like.. what I needed to really tell me that I was in school. He talked about being late to Orchestra and how it would affect our grade yadayadayada. Normal stuff. He passed out his.. green sheet? And then proceeded to go over stuff concerning people who had cubbies in the room. Mainly, people aren't allowed to put food in there.. and stuff. Yeah okay.

Second period- I finally have Mr. Warren! I had him my Freshman year and he was.. absolutely the BEST english teacher I have ever had, so I walked in and sat with my friend Yun-Yun, and he just talked most of the period. It was really quiet probably because he was really tall.. and I guess he intimidated everyone. Yeah, we went over the course and how the grades are, etc. And then I was off to my Psychology class!

Third and Fourth are basically the same thing, we ran down the green sheet and proceeded to talk about the course and expectations. It's standard first day of school thing..

Fifth period, I walked into the wrong class. I thought I had French 2, but turns out that I had it sixth period! My friend signals me and is like.. "Aren't you in French 2 Anna? This is French 1! What are you doing here?" I hurriedly rushed out the class and like.. RAN to math. XD Aiyah, what an embarrasing situation! That was.. the most exciting and adventurous part of my day..

After school I went to water polo practice, and then after that, I came home and did my French homework. I did a part of my English homework, and now I'm typing up a blog about my day. I just read something that really inspired me to write, so I'm just writing everything I can so that I can get it all down.

School is here.

It's been quite a while since I've updated I guess.. I've been going to Water Polo conditioning, and I must say, it never ceases to leave me sore and tired after practice.. Today we went from 3-5, because it's the last day before school starts, but last week was terrible! from 8-10 and then 3-5.. well, actually, I skipped some practices because those were the boys practices..

Ahh, school's starting tomorrow and it doesn't even feel like it.. it's so strange how the summer passed by so fast.. it's been the same amount of time as all my other summers, but for some reason.. this year it just feels like it's been zooming by.. I wish I could slow time down or something.. I'm becoming a Junior.. it's probably going to be the hardest year I have ever experienced, and somehow I'm not looking forward to it. Probably the only reason I go to school is because I see my friends.. My parents aren't one to let me go places often, so it's the only place to hang out with friends and chill I guess.

I haven't even started on the writing portion of my AP homework.. It's due Sept. 2nd but.. I feel that I really should start now before it all piles up on me.. I haven't even started packing my backpack either.. Hmm.. Well. I guess that's it for now, I'll get back to typing blogs when I feel like I have some free time, but now that school's back, I hardly think I'll have time.

School, School, School

So, yesterday, I went to school to get my schedule and I.D. taken, I.D. first. I waited in line with my friend Julie, (who I will call Yun-Yun from now on...) for about an hour because her dad was busy. So we were at school at 12 and the actual time it started was 1, so we were bored standing in line and just kind of.. waited. We flagged a couple people down and then lots of other people started coming, and all of a sudden, there was a huge blob.. which was really weird.. and stuffy and crowded.. Our friend Tiffany came about a half hour later and we didn't get into the small gym until about 1:30 despite being one of the first people in line.

After taking my picture I.D. I went to C-Villa(my villa) to pick up my school schedule. I went up to the lady and didn't notice how TRUONG, ROGER was printed right across the top of my card.. God, how embarrassing. So, the lady told me to go back to the small gym to ask them to reprint it. I asked the lady if I could see my schedule anyways and she wouldn't let me.. So I had to walk ALL the way across campus back to the small gym. On the way there Yun-Yun and Tiffany were getting the schedule and it turns out they both have one of the teachers I wanted, and in the same period.. I was only hoping that that teacher would be on my schedule too, when I got it..

The three of us headed back to the small gym to get my card reprinted with the right name. The photographer and lady was really nice about it, and in about.. 2 minutes my card was reprinted with the right name, and picture, and we headed back to C-Villa. The walk made me really anxious... We arrived at the C-Villa office and I came to the window to pick up my schedule and so I got it, and didn't look at it at all.. and showed it to Yun-Yun first.. and from the look on her face, it didn't seem like I got the teacher I wanted so I flipped the paper around and looked at it.. To my disappointment I got another teacher instead.. On Friday my mom will surely go to the office to complain for me, and vouch that I get into this class for English 3 AP.

After that, me and Yun-Yun went to the mall. We got there around.. 3 o'clock maybe? I went to the restroom to change into my Simca costume to walk around the mall. I had that and my hat, at least I didn't go overboard with a pink wig too.. I remember walking into the bathroom and it was totally packed, but after I was done changing I came out (it felt kind of weird..) and no one was around except for Yun-Yun and this other lady drying her hand.. and then these two Mexican ladies come in and call me "Loca" or something. And Yun-Yun told me what they said. I didn't want to cause a scene so instead she and I just left the bathroom.

I'm pretty sure yesterday I got a lot of stares from people because of how I was dressed, but I wanted to go out in cosplay like.. in public at least once to see how it would be like. We walked around the mall till around.. 5 or so and then we were back at the food court. As I was heading towards the bathroom with Yun-Yun, this guy comes up to me and like.. he's all like.. "Hey, excuse me? Are you.. Simca?" And it just felt SO good that someone was brave enough to come up to me and talk to me.. Props to the guy. I nodded my head and smiled and then me and Yun-Yun headed to the bathroom to change. I changed out of the costume and went out and then we went to McDonalds. I got an ice-cream and Yun-Yun got three cookies. While we were in line, I saw the guy again and he was walking out of the food court and I heard him saying something about cosplay.. I wish he and I got to talk some more.. That was the highlight of my mall experience that day, totally eclipsing, AND making me feel better about that lady calling me crazy.

After that, I took the lightrail home with Yun-Yun because she lives really close to one of the stops. So we walked all the way out to the lightrail station and then bought our ticket and then waited for the lightrail to come. We waited about 5 minutes and then in about 2, we were at her stop. Walking to her house took about.. 5 minutes or so and then she had to go eat dinner. I thought it would be awkward to eat dinner with her family, so I opted to stay back in her room and make stars to put into the jar. My mom picked me up at about.. 7 or 8 o'clock and then we went to my mom's old friend's house.

The kids there were amazingly sweet. They complimented me a lot, telling me I was pretty and stuff, and they were just so adorable! I braided their hair and tied it for them 'cause they asked me too.. And then I ate dinner at that house. It was like.. rice with fried fish with soup. It was really yummy. We went home at about.. 11 and the kids were drinking their milking before going to bed, so I hugged them good-bye and went into the car.

In the car I asked my mom about my dad's stories about being in a boat escaping to America, it was really interesting, she told me something about pirates and stuff.. I only mentioned it because earlier in the day, Yun-Yun wanted water and her dad was all like.. "Oh there's a bottle in the back." And then after she drank it, he told her it might've been two months old.. That made me giggle a little bit. And then her dad told her not to complain because when he was escaping to Malaysia (he lived in Vietnam even though he was Chinese) he'd drink pond water every three days because there was no fresh water.. which prompted me to ask about MY parent's stories.

I'll leave my dad's story for another day as this blog is already getting really long. Actually, it took him pretty long to tell it.. about maybe an.. hour? Yeah. Really long.

Olympic Season

So, let me start this blog off with the fact that I am 1. At home. 2. Not at the mall. and 3. Still at home. Alright, I think you get the point.

So, the Olympics! Isn't it exciting? I especially enjoyed the Women's and Men's Gymnastics both in the team competition and the all-arounds. And, boy, Michael Phelps sure is heating up the water cube with his amazing record of eight gold medals.

This past week I've been watching the olympics and I've also been going to Water Polo conditioning. It's fun, I guess, but I am extremely sore, and it sucks to be sore all over, especially when you have sore thighs and you can't really walk. Other than water polo practice I haven't done much of anything. I still need to get started on AP homework or I risk failing the first semester of English 3 AP and Calculus AB.

Yesterday I went to Great America. It was fun, I went with Julie because her brother's company had family appreciation day, so we got in for free, and got a wristband where we could get a free regular sized soda anywhere. We ate lunch at the picnic pavillion and as we were walking out, we saw Avatar Aang, and snagged a picture with him. Julie was especially excited because of how awesome it was to see her favorite cartoon come to life. Seeing the Avatar walking around Great America really inspired me to get started on my Fire Nation Katara cosplay, but seeing how there's less than a week of summer vacation left.. I won't be getting started on it anytime soon.

Great America with Julie was pretty fun. Most of the time we hung out at Boomerang Bay, and we actually went on only one ride, because she couldn't stomach the others. And Invertigo was closed for the day so that kind of sucked too. It was pretty hot yesterday, but it turned out alright. By the end of the day, it was freezing! I couldn't help but shiver while we were waiting for Julie's dad to come pick us up.

That was kind of all the exciting things that happened. Oh. I also finished my Simca of the Swallows cosplay, so all I need now is the black fingerless gloves and pink wig to finish my cosplay off. Hopefully by Halloween I'll have the whole cosplay outfit ready to go. It's pretty warm, so I don't think I'll be cold wearing it..

Alright, well, that's about it. All I have to say now is: Go Team USA.

School's about to start..

Ah.. I just found a cut on my thumb.. and I don't even know how I got it..

Okay, so as I have suspected, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. However, you, the reader, are not missing out on much. It's been such a dull week except for the last day of work, which was held at Dave and Busters at the Great Mall. After work, which was around.. 12-ish, I walked around the mall with a couple friends and then they ditched me to go watch The Mummy.

I didn't mind, I don't care much for scary movies like that. I called up my best friend Julie and we hung out till around 6-ish and then we went home. That day, I bought stuff that totalled up to about.. Eh, I'd say about fifty bucks. Which is.. not a lot.. but still quite a sum.

That was Friday.

Saturday, I went to the mall again with Julie to watch The Dark Knight. I thought it was good, but everytime Bruce was in his Batman costume his voice would get all husky and really deep it was weird. The Joker gave me quite a scare. After the movie we went around the mall shopping and then we waited for my dad to come pick us up near the theater.

I didn't really do anything on Sunday.. Nothing to mention.

Yesterday, I actually started on my Simca cosplay because my friend Julie came over so we took the fabric I cut and sewed it together, and added a zipper.. and one sleeve. I'm waiting till she comes over again so that we can sew on the other sleeve and the collar. Hopefully, it'll be done by Halloween and I have the wig by then.

That's about it.. Nothing else to say, so I guess I'm done.

The Start

So, I haven't really figured out how I'm going to do this, but hopefully, it'll get easier as I start moving along.

I'm not a person who sticks to consistency, so updates will be few and far apart.
I think this blog thing might be fun, given that I've already tried to make one and failed because of how I never updated.. I just kind of gave up.. Hopefully, this won't be the case here.

-
This might get a bit long so buckle up:

So maybe I should start with a little about my day, and a little about myself first, shall we? Well, if you didn't know already, my name's Anna, and I live in San Jose, in the "state that's always sunny." Lovely. I'm an incoming Junior at Independence High School and STILL have not done any of my AP homework except read The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Which, by the way, is the most hardest book to comprehend in the history of mankind; maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, or not. My interest span across a lot of things, but mainly in the field of art, but seeing how I'm an asian-american, my parents think of me to be a super genius and expect me to go to college at Stanford and get a Ph.D and become a doctor who earns like ten billion dollars a year. Yeah.. not happening.

Actually, on the note of future jobs and such, I'd love to be a freelance artist, but seeing as how I'm not very good at that, I'd love to be a kindergarten teacher or a musician. If all else fails, I could become a math teacher because, as everyone knows, all asians are good at math; well, the majority. But, my parents don't agree with me becoming an artist anyways, they're so strict when it comes to studies I feel like the only path I have is the path to becoming a doctor. Sometimes it feels like all the pressure is on me, the oldest child. The one who's almost always the "trophy" child.

My hobbies include drawing, playing the violin and piano, watching anime, and recently I've begun to take up sewing. They're all fun, and let me get in touch with the more creative side of myself. I'm currently learning how to play guitar and have.. one chord memorized. Which is not much I must admit, but alas, I do not own my own guitar, so it will have to do. I'm also learning Japanese. I've gotten probably about.. 60 characters memorized and about 86 left to go. Not bad I guess.

Okay, so that was mostly the complicated part of me. Lets get down to the simple facts that make up who I am. I was born at the Regional Medical Center of San Jose at around.. 4 pm on October 9, 1992. I was born prematurely and was a very sick little baby. I must say, that is a chockful of info right there. I am the oldest of three children and I have a younger sister and a younger brother, both respectively one and two years apart from me. I'm a happy-go-lucky person--when I want to be. I could be moody and dark all the time, but I choose not to, because the world already has enough people moping around as it is. It's time to change it for the better. I guess. I'm a "glass-half-empty" person though. That part of my perspective will never change.

Oh well. Before I start writing a whole novel or autobiography or whatver, I think I'll cut it short and call it a day. And hopefully, this will not be the last you've heard of me.