During the French quiz, room 16 mysteriously started smelling really bad.  (As the teacher said, RM's rotting!)  The scent came and went periodically, but it was unbearable enough as it diffused through the room that Mr Giblin brought us outside for the nouvelles (informal weekly orals) and we sat on the auditorium steps in the bright warm afternoon, watching the clouds and relaxedly listening to current events in a language I can barely understand.  That was doubtless one of the best classes ever, though notably not as good as Mr Hines's lecture to the 1812 Overture; how can you possibly beat a musical lecture?

I think I might switch away from mainly blogging on my Pitas page, primarily because Haloscan deletes even relatively recent comments and LiveJournal saves everything, as far as I know.  I'll probably keep this page for something, but not daily or weekly entries about dull events (my 'life').  I don't plan to use the same username, though.  (I don't think anyone will have strong views either way on this, but if you do, let me know.)

RM did pretty well in the high school programming contest at UMD today.  I was mainly paying attention to the building (the swively chairs are so cool!!) and the purpose of the contest (this girl tried to pitch UMCP to me during the lunch break, but she also told me to check out Carnegie Mellon instead, so I'm not sure how seriously to take her).  Umm, there was also a contest going on... TJ won, predictably getting all eight questions (including the eighth one involving Gandalf gambling, which I thought was incredibly confusing and really difficult to do, especially in a time limit), but Blair came in second.  Blair and TJ's teams annoyingly talked to each other and conspicuously played cards while the problem writers explained how to do the problems.  (I guess if they got all of them right during the contest itself, they wouldn't need to listen to an explaination... but they still struck me as far too hyperactive and distracting.)

The Reader's Digest version: RM placed 10th of twenty something or thirty teams, but actually completed one of the problems much faster than recorded and may have placed higher if there weren't so many technical difficulties in testing the programs.  (I thought we actually took 9th, but the final board in the lobby showed 10th, so I just trust the last set of statistics I saw.)  And to be fair, the credit really goes to Ben for virtually everything the team did right (and very little of what we did wrong).

Maybe I should go write questions for the impending It's Ac tournament.  We wouldn't want the entire seven packets to be written by just two people, would we?

After MD/DC states, I stopped home then went to Julia's SHF (French Honor Society) party, where we fortunately did not speak French.  We did watch Amélie, which was really random and a bit slow moving, but it had its moments.  There was also food (quiches?), but the day as a whole had far too little food; those stupid tournament directors included pizza in the price of our attendance and I ended up with only one small slice.  Driving to Subway is far more satisfying.

There's no time left to stop to think.  All I want to do on Sundays is sleep, which means not doing what I have to do, which starts the hectic cycle of falling behind in everything anew each Monday.  And so, the newly traditional cry: I hate Sundays.

Some Star Wars movie is on television and looks sort of cheesy and outdated.  But I don't really like watching television.

I can't stop thinking about the tournament.  If you were part of a great event, wouldn't it still be on your mind hours and days later?  RM B narrowly beat Walter Johnson... Walter Johnson!!

I thought I'd firmly decided on my schedule for next year but I'm still undecided... I wish the deadline weren't two days away.  I also wish I weren't ditching It's Ac for Math Team this Wednesday, but at least the regular math season's ending and I won't have to think of such things anymore.

This past Saturday, RM sent one team to UVA and two to Howard.  While the team at UVA performed phenomenally and have proved that they can hold their own against national level teams, the teams at Howard suffered a few misfortunes.  Let's just revel in the fear that the name 'RM A' strikes in the hearts of our opponents.  I relish the feeling more than any other.  Unfortunately, without our usual team spirit leader, we forgot to do that game time chant and lost the golden opportunity to spread our infamous geekiness even more.  Seriously, Ride of the Valkyries through the halls before playoffs is total genius the first time but still phenomenally good at successive tourneys.  As for our classic B team, which has morphed a bit since the beginning of the year, we were seeded 2nd out of 30 teams and broke the first round of playoffs for the first time all year... not too bad.  (Really, what I remember most clearly right now is eating lunch at Subway.  I'm starting to like Subway more and more, and I must check whether we have one within driving distance of our swiftly approaching tournament.
[source]

I played DDR later that day and though I didn't score very well by objective standards, I totally 0wnz0r3d soundly defeated my friends in the few watered down rounds we played.  I didn't play as much as I intended to because I spent a good deal of time watching the first half of Down With Love.  I don't want to go into specifics, but I lost a lot of brain cells sitting through that drivel.  There's always something I like, of course, and I appreciated the attempt at a sixties feel.  That, and David Hyde Pierce is decent no matter the rest of the movie.

RM B will be slaughtered at MD/DC this weekend, regardless of who's on the team.

If this were a school day, I'd have been unable to get out of bed and would have (unwillingly) stayed home sick for yet another Valentine's Day.  As it's Saturday, I reluctantly dragged myself to the television and woke myself up yelling wrong answers at lousy It's Academic teams.  It's marginally less annoying than Jeopardy.

I realized that a much better EE topic would be a study of Poe's influences on Nabokov, but it's far too late to start over.  I also recently learned that nothing makes you stop reading one of your favorite authors like trying to do scholarly research on his short stories.  I'm currently absorbed in analysis of Fitzgerald's short stories, which is really as counterproductive as it sounds.

I read over some rants I wrote to myself from months and years ago and I found most of them really entertaining; not as examples of good writing, but because I'm constantly surprised at how some of my thoughts change and how many stay the same.

I still need to get rid of those silly baby images in the current layout and replace them with photographs without people, but I can't decide what to use; I don't want to use the typical online image databases but I'm reluctant to use copyrighted images.  I'll probably search my old photo boxes again and try to find at least six images without people.  Dare I try to edit out the people?  No, that'd turn out pretty badly.

I don't believe in any sentient force holding the universe together, but I'm tempted to say anyway that something's smiling on me because I think I have a disproportionate amount of luck; as often as I screw things up, everything works out a lot of the time.  Now if only I could channel some of that luck into not making idiotic math team mistakes like getting everything right except for omitting every negative sign.  I suppose then it wouldn't count as right but in this case I did figure out that the three numbers should have been negative.. but, whatever.  I bet Thomas a chocolate bar (because I didn't want to bet real money, not for lack of confidence but for lack of money), those ubiquitous sweets that chorus is selling for a fundraiser, that RM A would beat Gaithersburg A, because for some reason, he thought we would lose.  HA.. no way.  I mean, look at our t-shirts!  They may both use the "divide and conquer" pun, but ours are far more stylish.  I didn't wear mine around during school like most people did, though.  I tried to covertly change into it a bit after school ended but people saw me anyway.  (Alex actually went out of his way to step inside the math room to mock us...)

We made mobiles in Physics (my group used Teenie Beanies, which makes it obviously superlative) and we're performing scenes from a play in English class and I really wish we would stop with all the hands-on assignments, because I have enough difficulty not tripping over my own feet and not walking into walls when I have to walk to get from class to class; I don't need more danger during classes.  I'm not always that clumsy, but you know, I'm not exaggerating by very much.

I typed more but I deleted it.  The previous entry was only so long because I usually type more than I actually post.  That's probably why it sounded so unedited.

P.S. Teen Jeopardy (or was it Jeopardy in general?) really needs to end this multiple choice nonsense.

I was nearly late to today's last show of The Fantasticks because I was desperately trying to make up for a weekend full of slacking by finding sources for my EE bibliography, first at the community college library then at the local public library.  I thought the play was marvelously good, though, and not nearly long enough.  Will going to school plays always be better than going to the movies?  At the movies the actors aren't standing ten feet away, the actors aren't people you know and interact with.  I made use of my brief stay at RM, though, and sneaked to my locker (the English hallway is a bit frightening when it's so empty, totally dark) to get my EE materials.  The only real problem with school cancellations is that I never bring home everything I need the night before the biggest snowfalls (or in this case, absolutely no snow), so I'm left guessing at whether I should bother to do anything about it.

I'm told that Blair doesn't have a winter play, so I'll have to consider going to Magnet Arts Night instead.  I'm not sure what to expect, though; I hope it isn't only classical music by a bunch of prodigies who all look infinitely younger (and shorter) than I do and will make me feel those twinges of incompetence and insufficiency, if those are the right words.

I have to figure out if the Medea assignment for English is serious because if so, I'd really better look over my lines before we march out in front of the class and make collective fools of ourselves.  My last minute transfer into a later group was for naught, as with the school cancellations we'll have to delay the schedule a bit and the AMC (unfortunately) doesn't directly interfere, though now that I think about it, it may mess with practice days.  I don't think myself fit to read my part, because Medea is not one of my favorite reading list heroines.  I'd rather not think I'm quite that moody.

I'm still reading Tender is the Night because I can't seem to read during the school year.  I still don't see why we should do homework if we can do the tests, though maybe if I can't do the tests, I shouldn't suggest such crazy notions.  I'm also reading a nice children's book on some OCD kid whose life sounds far too familiar.  I watch Monk on USA all the time, but I didn't think novels were written around this topic.

I found my hands blackened several times recently, and I think my precious copy of Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia may be to blame.  I wrapped it in brown paper like a textbook but I still do think it was the work of those wrathful quiz bowl deities who frown on me for "studying" from Benét's.  Despite my best efforts, I haven't written any questions for the tournament because I haven't been able to convince myself that it's more important than the IB SL CS portfolio (is that cryptic enough?).

I gave it another two days of class, but I've tentatively made up my mind, and I most certainly hate history.  You can't argue this unless you can explain to me why my memory does not work anymore.

I tried to write the three essays required for my application but after discussions on voice in English class, I paid far too much attention to every word I chose and why I chose it, and it's not really my voice if I calculate the merits while I write and not while I edit.  Maybe it's because I've no experience in writing outside of class (and, of course, this page, though I doubt you'd count that) and because I was more than a bit anxious as to whether I'd finish 900 words before the post office closed.  (If you wanted to know: no, I stopped around 800 combined; no, the post office was closed, but the nice man picking up the mail agreed to take my envelope anyway, which is only good if I'm correct that he's the nice man who picks up all the letters.)

I don't find Medea very appealing.  I don't mean Jeffers's play, I mean the character, though the play did frighten me more than it should have.  Speaking of fear (no, I promise this isn't about history too), I saw Butterfly Effect with Alina and Jillian over the weekend, and I learned that I'm not as desensitized to movies as I thought I was.  I'm still human, as Laura said.  What else would I be?

RM taped the first round of the It's Academic TV tournament today!  I went there and watched and was reduced to sentence fragments and gibberish in excitement.  If you have any interest in the show, you must watch them on Saturday, March 6 at 10 am on NBC 4.  Watch for our classic 'groupie' signs!  A number of ER parents and cheerleaders watched RM's game, possibly by mistake.  I was pleased that the parent of one of their alternates made a "GO RM!" sign with "GO ROOSEVELT!" on the back.  I was tempted to stay to watch ER's game but I decided against it and can't recall why.  I'm not going to go into specifics about the scores, but if you want to know, ask, because it's great fun to tell.

I have an acceptable second semester schedule.  I miss semester break though, more than I expected to.  I enjoyed Humza's RPG party and Sheila's sleepover; I even enjoyed playing video games with my younger brother and his friend.  (Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is better than Mario Kart 64, no matter what IGN claims.)  Maybe it's just mid-year burnout, but right now I'd rather sleep than go to school.  I tried writing about the feeling introspectively but failed.  Which reminds me, I need to find a writing sample that exemplifies either effective voice or ineffective voice, and it's too hard to choose between so many perfect examples.  Wouldn't it be nice to write an example instead of quoting one?

Happy new year!  I know the holiday requires the lovely little red packets (I'm a wuss and I can't spell it correctly in pinyin, so I'm not going to try), but does it involve good desserts, like moon cakes and the moon festival?  Also, I wonder if my brother's playing Dynasty Warriors 3: Extreme Legends counts as celebrating.

This is not a rhetorical question: if you were asked to name the main character of The Old Man and the Sea but you had no idea who it is, would you more likely say "the old man" or "the sea"?

The other day I was trying to carry some snacks upstairs to my room and my mom handed me a tray.  She asked me, "Are you sure you've got it?  Are you sure you can carry it upstairs?"  I scoffed and said, Of course I can.  I took one step and realized too late that I'd tried to walk backwards up the stairs.  I'm glad I was at the top of the stairs at the time.  I'm also very thankful for handrails, else I'd have fallen down the school stairwells many times.

If you've got uncultured taste buds like mine, there's nothing better than Honey Nut Cheerios for lunch.

Tell a secret over the radio, publish it in a tabloid, but never tell it to a man who drinks more than three or four a day.
The quotation means nothing except that I'm considerably enjoying Tender is the Night, probably more than I should -- I can't place what's good about this book, except that it's easy to put down and pick up again, which makes it perfect for in-school reading.

Barring my Friday morning history exam, which was (without exaggeration) the worst test taking experience I've ever had in my entire life, I'm feeling optimistic.  Sure, I read the online forums and feel outdone because we haven't gone on overnights, but I shouldn't expect so much on a public school budget.  I told myself that I'd study for my French exam (I know, I know, I was a bit too optimistic when I promised that) but I ended up sleeping instead.  I slept a lot.  Speaking of not studying, I also enjoyed yesterday's study group, which was only fun because I take care not to attend study groups that can't degenerate into non-academic chatter.

Where are all these organizations getting my name from?

My mom assured me that I can go to as many Saturday tournaments as I want to as long as they don't interfere with my schoolwork, and I've been wondering whether it would be ironic if quiz bowl study lowered my grades (though obviously it wouldn't).

I made the mistake of saying recently that I've never had any adventures (what did I mean by 'adventures', anyway?) that I would write about, by which I meant that I've never had any adventures.  But maybe I should... it's not like I have anything to look back fondly on when I recall elementary school and very little from middle school; what am I going to remember from these four years?  (Nothing, naturally; I'll develop Alzheimer's from overuse of the.. uh, whatever part of the brain that struggles with memory.)

Isn't it nice cheering for teams that win?

Contrary to what the article claims, RM A defeated Centennial A by 120 points.

And so that I have something besides a link: I remember a time when I read everything, every book and label and scribble.  These days, I avoid my textbooks like the plague.  History is entirely to blame, of course, not burnout, not junioritis nor laziness.

P.S. - Due to recent events (i.e. grades), since I don't want to hate myself, I'm just going to deflect the blame and say that I hate history.

New Year's Eve is infinitely more fun when spent with other people.  After last year's party, which ended at 9, I spent the last few minutes of the year changing this site's code from table based to CSS based, and I couldn't very well shout the 10 second countdown by myself.  I'd feel silly.  Thankfully, this year's party was a lot closer and the host's parents let us stay later.  I must confess that I understood neither Monty Python's Flying Circus nor A Mighty Wind, our entertainment for the night.  Between the plethora of DVDs and Dick Clark's countdown, we were glued to the beautiful widescreen television when we weren't stuffing our faces with enough food to feed a small army.

I won't formally list my resolutions because I make and break several resolutions almost every day, and New Year's is an arbitrary starting point for a period of time, anyway.  The new school year, the first day back after a break, or my birthday; there are many better days to pretend that I'm starting anew.

Today, we celebrate the birth of an important man, whose life affects people today all over the world.

Happy birthday, Isaac Newton!

Today's also Christmas Day.  As such, I spent the day in an age-old tradition: at the movies.  I watched Peter Pan, which is decidedly a children's film.  I rediscovered my irrational, unexplained fear of middle aged female strangers with small children (and my tendency to inadvertently step on them) at the local theater, swamped with other people eager to spend their day doing something meaningful.

I recently dreamt that my lavishly bound copy of Poe's poems and stories was incomplete.  Someone told me that it was actually an abridged version and that it was useless.  I wonder why I didn't throw the book at him.  I wonder why my nightmares are such wimps.

What I forgot to mention about Monday: in the midst of writing my remarkably poor paper on religious imagery in Hamlet, I had to verify the circumstances of a certain allusion that I wanted to discuss, so I asked my mom about it and she couldn't recall it in enough detail offhand.  I looked it up in an online copy of the Bible (KJV) instead.  Instead of being efficient and returning immediately to my paper, I kept reading.  I can honestly say, when I hear certain stories, that I know it because I recently read it in the Bible.  (Don't try to verify any of this; I'll probably forget a great deal of it very soon.)

There are reasons for not driving directly next to other cars on the highway besides the aesthetic value for the birds overhead.

I have no words to describe the present.  'Nice' is bland and so is 'I liked it', but I liked the RM winter choral concert and life is nice.  (The lumberjack song was an especially nice touch, courtesy of the not-quite-world famous Testostertones.)  On the other hand, I'm going to role play a major historical figure of the Enlightenment tomorrow and I'm utterly unprepared regarding arguments for and against any question that the audience might ask.  I want to claim that arguing political ideology is that much more difficult because people expect the debate to be more intelligently constructed and logical, as opposed to religious debates, which are based on nearly nothing and so a bit easier to invent at the last minute, but I'm woefully unskilled at both types.

Winter Break is coming up in two very short days, but I've got enough unread reading material in my room to last me several months.  I just finished Cat's Cradle and even culled a few favorite passages from it (saved for posterity in a .txt file, naturally).

Can your identity and achievements really be summarized in 300 words or less?  Maybe if you've really done nothing at all.

Quality singing voices are all well and good, but I don't think people with really appealing speaking voices get enough recognition.

I'll take the SATs after exams, I think.  I'm not sure when the subject tests fit in so I'll probably realize far too late that I missed several registration deadlines and I'm going to end up taking all my standardized tests and meeting life's requirements at the last minute.

Also, recently, I misplaced my pencil pouch.  This is a national tragedy.  Contact me if you find a dark blue canvas pencil pouch with a picture of a cartoon character on it.  I can describe its contents in detail.

Richest fictional characters:

Name	Net Worth	Source
Santa Claus	Infinite	Toys
Richie Rich	24.7 billion	Inheritance
"Daddy" Warbucks	10 billion	Defense
Scrooge McDuck	8.2 billion	Mining
Willie Wonka	8 billion	Candy
J.R. Ewing	2.8 billion	Oil
Charles Foster Kane	1 billion	Media
Jay Gatsby	600 million	Racketeering

source: Reader's Digest, December 2003, pg94