| summerrains |
ACK! I have to learn how to archive the entries for May by tomorrow! Double ACK! June's already here! And I've already progressed from heel-arch-ball-toe to save-compile-link-run! (Sad, isn't it?) There are just not enough hours in the day...!
This job is not bad, but it ain't great, either. I've got to study for the SAT on Saturday, practice driving for my test on the sixteenth, and study German, and work out. Kiki called about filling in for some percussion instrument, but as to what, I'm not sure. I'll call her back tomorrow, as well as call BYU about my bogus German assignment grade (one of the questions said "no feedback, call BYU", so I thought it ought to be omitted, but instead it was counted against me), and also Jeff (the non-Cajun one) about his work schedule so we can hang out sometime. Oh, and e-mail LOTS of people.
I had a nightmare last night involving the book 666 by the same guy who wrote The Amityville Horror. But I forgot virtually every detail of it.
I also called Prashaanth today, and it turns out that his sweater happens to be his brother's sweater. And I still have it. And it still smells like him. And, WOW! I get to see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra play Final Fantasy music in less than a month!! Hooray!! :)
Laura @ 10:32 p.m.,
Saturday, May 28, 2005
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his-chest
Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go
I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his-chest
Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go
Cause I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I never...
I never...
I never...
No other news for today. Still behind in all that I do...
Laura @ 10:53 p.m.,
Friday, May 27, 2005
Yesterday morning I walked into work knowing absolutely nothing about what I was getting myself into. Today I walk out with multiple programs stored on my computer, including one that recites the first ten numbers in the Fibonacci sequence (where the next number is the sum of the two before it, starting with zero and one) and another that prints the first five verses of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Actually writing programs is fun, but reading all the crap to get there is the most mind-numbing thing I've ever done. So now I've got work, German, driving, health/exercise, and SATs to worry about. Ugh.
Since I'm not much in a writing mood again, I'd just like to say that the following code, believe it or not, is all you need to program the entire Twelve Days of Christmas carol on any Windows computer (Linux, Unix, etc. don't work; and no, I did not write it):
#include
main(t,_,a) char *a; {return!0
Laura @ 09:15 p.m.,
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Oh, my gosh. I'm way too tired to write. First day of work, I get a dizzy spell, bored and confused, busy and crammed for time.
So what's new? Like always, I am behind in my tasks. But I got a laptop, so yay. Thank God tomorrow is Friday...
Laura @ 09:27 p.m.,
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
So German is actually turning out easy compared to computer programming. The former is fun and I remember a lot. The latter is a totally different story.
And I'm still not done with The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. I opted for watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason instead. Tomorrow is Blade Runner and my first day at work. Mmm.
Laura @ 09:37 p.m.,
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
I just got back from seeing Star Wars Episode III with Mat, Prashaanth, and Ranu's family. It was definitely better than the first two episodes, but I mean, you already know what's going to happen and who's going to die and blah blah blah. I still like episode four the best. It was also cold in the theater, although the others disagreed with me, but I was freezing! Prashaanth gave me his sweater and I was still freaking cold, but it sure did help. In fact, I've still got it on right now... He told me to give it to him next time (whenever next time might be). It smells like him. I hope it stays that way.
But yeah. I'm pretty sleepy now. I've had a pretty busy day. I got up at my regular time of six o'clock when I had originally planned to sleep in, did some organizing on my computer, cleaned house a good deal, sorted clothes to donate (even though it's still in a big heap on my bed), breakfasted, worked out, showered, ate a weird smoothie I made for lunch (never again...), attempted to watch Lagaan but ended up being on the phone with about half a dozen different people for a good period of time, watched all the scenes with song and dance instead, swallowed an Arby's sandwich for dinner, got Mat, went to Thom's for about ten to fifteen minutes to see how the LAN party was doing, got Prashaanth, stood around for an hour waiting for Ranu to call and playing air hockey, then the movie. I wonder what tomorrow will be like now that all plans made for Six Flags have been cancelled... Mat wants to come over and help build my amp sometime, but I was thinking that Saturday would be better as long as we're not doing anything. Oh, well. It will all be worked out.
I got my German II materials in the mail. Who can help me if I get lost (which I definitely know I will)? Kaylon, Rett, Prashaanth, and, if the loser wasn't traveling pretty much all summer, Christian (e-mail me sometime, kid!). I need to start that, studying for the SAT, practicing my driving, and getting ready for work on Thursday. And fix the connection to Kikyou.net.
So much to do! So little time!
Laura @ 10:20 p.m.,
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
RAWR, Kikyou.net is so aggravating! It never seems to want to really do my bidding... For instance, it is now down. Why? I don't know! Grr.
Anyways, putting the stupid anger aside, I'm back from South Carolina now! I came back yesterday and then I went to the band recording (my last band event), so I didn't really have time to write. During the trip I was going so many places that I didn't write then, either. So here's pretty much a rundown of what all I did.
Before we left on Thursday, mom took me to Palmer and I got to see all my eighth grade teachers, yay! I also got to see Mr. Dietrich and Mrs. Shinall, yay! It was fun. Then we had this really crappy lunch of Velveeta macaroni and cheese, except it wasn't macaroni and it had what they claimed to be broccoli in it (but it tasted like tiny shreds of cardboard). I'll just stick to the non-broccoli shells and cheese next time.
Friday... I don't really remember. We ate sushi (more like maki, actually), it rained, played Pokemon (the original game for GameBoy, heck yes!). My one-year-old cousin Anna is so cute. She kept calling both Obaachan (my maternal, Japanese grandmother) and Ojiichan (my maternal, American grandfather) Ojiichan. And her mom, my Aunt Vicky, said she might've thought that my dad was her daddy. It was cute, nevertheless. Now she's been added into the Martin tradition of getting girl's names mixed up. My Obaachan called me Anna continuously, Ojiichan called Anna by my name, my mom called her sister Vicky by their other sister's name... It's so confusing! And it doesn't help that all the girls have names ending in the sound "uh," and my mom and her sisters' nicknames all end in the "ee" sound. Like I said, confusing!
Saturday dad took us down to the beach to eat seafood (part of the reason why I love South Carolina) and see all the bikers. It is estimated that there was over a quarter of a million bikers; when I left yesterday morning, a total of five had died. I noticed that most of the deaths occured during the wee hours of the morning... I would like to have a bike, but I am not crazy enough to actually get one. (I'm quite happy with my Honda Accord right now, and I would've been happier if dad hadn't given the F-150 back to Grandma.) But yeah, the bikes were awesome; it was leather, trailers, and petroleum-powered thunder everywhere we went. I was literally in hog heaven. The riceburners (Suzukis, Yamahas, and other Asian models) are coming in this weekend for the black biker weekend. The coolest bike I saw was one that was completely cherried out from head to toe in Jack Daniels colors, insignia, and actual whiskey bottles. Boy howdy, did that get attention! It was so much fun.
Dad also took me to the SBB shop, which happens to stand for "Suck Bang Blow." Yes, I know what it refers to, but it's also the sound a motorcycle makes. So dad got himself a shirt, my mom and Grandma laughed, and I got a beanie (because nobody will ever see me wear it, hahaha!). Then I got a massive headache and took a nap, and that's about it. On Sunday, Vicky and Anna left to back to Charleston; my Uncle Mike had come home from Maine, or wherever it was he went. I felt even worse and took a shorter nap. My parents and I met up with some friends at Applebee's, but I ended up throwing back up all my dinner later that night. I don't know why, but mom says it's because I had a migraine and didn't know it. Which still doesn't really make sense, but it's over now. I'm fine.
I also applied for this Yoda doll contest at the K-Mart, but they were so freaking annoying! They couldn't get their act together, there was no display, they told me to fill out a form for a different contest, and I know I won that thing but...gah! So stupid. But now I'm over it because I got the movie poster for Star Wars III (the one with Anakin/Darth Vader's mask) for five dollars! Yay! So, joy. And the Pop-Tarts aren't too bad, either. The fat I got from them is being burned off by my crazy workouts.
Man, oh, man. I wish I could've stayed longer and that the weather was clear on Friday and Saturday, but it was so much fun. Now I'm going to go read or something. Thursday I start work and I want to chill as much as I can until then.
Laura @ 01:33 p.m.,
Friday, May 20, 2005
I'm finally on vacation!! Hooray!! South Carolina is such a pretty state, and seeing my family is always fun, too. It's also Biker Weekend so everywhere you go the signs say things like "BIKERS WELCOME" and "BANDANAS ON SALE."
The only problem? The NAACP has filed against Conway (the small city my dad is from) for creating different traffic routes for Bikefest for African-Americans. Part of this anger I personally think stems from mayor McBride's comment from last October that black tourists "want to disregard the law and sit on the tops of their car and smoke dope and drink and do whatever they want to and disregard everything." (What an idiot.) The leader of the NAACP branch in Conway, the Reverend Kenneth E. Floyd, told the rest of the NAACP to deal with it.
This really reminds me of Malcolm X and the town he grew up in. Although this is 2005, Conway is one of the towns where, although it is possible, very few black people (and minorities in general) achieve anything better than a blue-collar job. The only person I've met who went beyond this standard is an Afro-Am. woman that lives down the street from my grandma; she is a lawyer, single, and has traveled the world. (And she's a really cool person, too.) What I'm getting at is that there really is still discrimination here, but what I can I do to help it progress? All there is here is black and white and very, very few Latinos, plus my Japanese grandmother. But in a sleepy town that still dwells in the 1940's, what can I do?
Laura @ 08:35 a.m.,
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Yesterday I went to KSU for my advisement. I met this nice girl named Maxxine, but it didn't sound like she was too serious about it. We went over a bunch of stuff and it turns out that my counselor gave me the wrong forms for the ACCEL grant program, so now I have to go back and have her fill out the correct ones. The advisors also made us figure our schedules; this really annoyed me because I wanted time to actually figure it out, not half an hour. It's not like registration is until June, anyway. Still, I had to get my sheet signed by an advisor, and this is what my class schedule now looks like for fall 2005:
Monday: English 1101/H1, 9:30AM-10:45AM
Japanese 1001/02, 12:30PM-1:45PM
Tuesday: Math 1190/07 (Calculus I), 7:30AM-9:10AM
Pols 1101/H1 (Government), 9:30AM-10:45AM
Chem 1211/07, 11:00AM-12:15PM
Wednesday: English 1101/H1, 9:30AM-10:45AM
Japanese 1001/02, 12:30PM-1:45PM
Chem 1211L/11 (lab), 2:00PM-4:45PM
Thursday: Math 1190/07 (Calculus I), 7:30AM-9:10AM
Pols 1101/H1 (Government), 9:30AM-10:45AM
Chem 1211/07, 11:00AM-12:15PM
I am actually really glad that I found such an early-morning calculus class. Classes starting at 7:30AM are practically unheard of, and I'm an early riser, and it means that I will have an easier time finding a parking space simply because I am one of the first there. Unfortunately, this is also subject to change because I get AP scores back in July, which determines whether or not I can skip Calculus I or not. I'm also happy that I managed to have no classes on Friday, YAY! That doesn't mean I get to party all weekend, though. I still have to study about 45-50 hours a week, according to that old rule (for every hour of class, two hours of study). I'll go to Kell or Walton on Fridays to see what's up and if there's anything going on that I need to know about.
Japanese is also going to be a breeze. The girl sitting next to me yesterday (not Maxxine) sounded like an anime geek who is just enrolling to take the class. I'm really scared that my Japanese class is going to full of anime geeks. I want to learn Japanese, not misinformed otaku ranting about MegaTokyo or whatever. But the reason the class will be so easy for me is because I have a pretty strong background in basic Japanese, and I am just excited about finally beginning to work on it knowing that it won't be suddenly cancelled as a minor at Georgia Tech.
Now I just wish I could sign up for more honors classes. Dad says not to because then I could fake being an actual college student, but I'd rather listen to his boss/my boss (Philip). Honors classes have about 30 students; regular classes might have up to 300. I can handle more work in a smaller environment. I know I would get lost in a larger group. I'm just hoping I can finish calculus before I go to Tech.
Must go to Kell and finish paperwork now...
Laura @ 09:01 a.m.,
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Wow. So this is my temporary weblog because my connection to the server at Kikyou.net is messed up and the only person who knows how to fix it is my dad. Who just left. Joy.
Anyways, I have decided to open this blog as a way for people to keep up with me and my cubicle this summer. If you don't already know, I am fortunate enough to have obtained a job programming computers. Forty hours. Every week. In a cubicle. Joy.
Please feel free to comment, but remember to leave your name. And also, be careful of what you say... You never know who else is reading.
Yeah. Now it is time for (drumroll, please)... my daily rambling. Exciting! [/sarcasm]
Today was my last day of high school, in a sense. I am going to Kennesaw State University next year full-time as a joint-enrollment student. So I will technically still be in high school, but I won't be taking any classes there. Which really doesn't matter much anymore because so many teachers of mine are leaving. C'est la vie, ne? I'm so sick of high school. And quite honestly, I don't expect college to be much better. The only thing that actually makes it better is not having to put so many hours into being surrounded by obnoxious people; I can go study at home by myself. It's a beautiful thing.
Kaylon took me, Ranu, and Amanda (the Cajun Amanda, for further reference, because I know more Amanda's than I can count) home after finals today. Chrysler convertible, Gobstoppers, and Queen. Heck yes. Ranu was having a good time; it was her first time in a convertible.
And I will never see Bisma again. This July she is moving back to Pakistan. I'll miss her. As for the friends that aren't going anywhere, I'll be arranging to see them over the summer. I just hope they all got those free bowling passes, and that the Six Flags fans are willing to get up bright and early to go ride the Superman. And that Prashaanth will actually come with us and that I can get a hold of Kaylon and Mary.
I can already tell that it's going to be a very long summer.
Laura @ 09:05 p.m.,
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
testing!
Laura @ 08:40 p.m.,