Thursday, April 3, 2003 - 06:51 p.m.

I'm beginning to think that this is turning into a weekly thing =P

Ah, I didn't have to go to school today. *G* Today was Foreign Language Day at SIU, so the usual group of us went with the various language teachers. Daniel, Brian, Samantha, and I were on the ScholarBowl team this year. In our first match, we won 160 to 10. ^_^V After the match, we had some time before we were scheduled to play again, so we decided to raid the vending machines. Daniel was suffering for a caffeine deficiency (so he said ^^), so he got two (yes, two) cups of espresso. So we stood around, Daniel drinking his coffee; he was holding one and sat the other one down next to the escalator. While we were standing there, some girl got on the escalator; she had her purse hanging over the side, so when she went by, she knocked Daniel's coffee over. That was not good. It made a large mess on the floor, and doused me with the still hot liquid =P After that little incident, we went to our second match. We didn't do as well that time; we lost 80 to 120...It was GlobalFest all over again! *j/k*

After we finished our matches, we went and watched a demonstration put on by the SIU Aikido Club. It was pretty neat. ^_^

After that, we located the rest of the group from our school and went to eat lunch. They parked our bus in a parking lot and let us out to roam the surrounding area. Daniel, Brian, Samantha, James, and I went to a really nice Chinese restaurant. I had sweet and sour chicken, which I tried to eat with chopsticks ^^;; Now, I've never used chopsticks before, so I must have been quite an amusing sight. I joked that I would probably end up wearing as much of it as I ate ^^ Despite my difficulties with the chopsticks, I really enjoyed it. The food was really good, and we even ran into the Aikido team that did the presentation at SIU ^^ What are the odds?

After lunch, we headed back to school, but got back just in time for 8th hour. Daniel tried to get Señora to let us go home, but she said no. ^^;;

So, I had a rather amusing day ^^ And, tomorrow's Friday, so I'm happy about the weekend. Although, on Saturday, I have to go to SIU to register for my classes...That should be interesting ^^;;

Friday, March 28, 2003 - 10:50 p.m.

It's...finally...done...! *Collapses in relief* I finished my rough draft of my term paper...Now I can rest...*Falls asleep*

Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 07:44 p.m.

*Slowly climbs out of the hole she's been hiding in* Aiya...What a day...

I went to a local community college on a field trip with my Electronics class. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. The trip itself wasn't terribly interesting (it focused on more hands-on type professions; manufacturing, heating/air, automotive, etc), we had to walk/stand a ridiculous amount (my back and feet had an unpleasant morning =P ), and it was rather hot. But besides that, I had to deal with the human factor. I'd planned to hang around with Daniel, if he went (which he did). I was surprised to find out that Jason was also going along. So, I ran around with both of them...Now, in itself, this wouldn't be so bad...but Jason was in one of his moods today (ie, touchy and depressed). I wasn't in a wonderful mood (my feet and back hurt, and I was tired), so I was in no mood to be tolerant of this. Top it all off with the fact that lately he's been overly affectionate physically (always trying to hug me, or some such thing), when I'm to the point that kissing him would feel like kissing my brother (Thank God he didn't try to kiss me...I'd have decked him =P)....It didn't make for a pleasant day.

*Sigh* The rough draft for my term paper is due on Monday...I've only barely started, and what little I have written will most likely be rewritten later ('cause it's really bad =P). I'm emotionally tired and in no mood to deal with it, but I don't really have a choice....Yet, I'm sitting here blogging, rather than working on writing it. *Grins and nods* I'm a good procrastinator.

The main thing that's distracting me is this whole mess with Jason. As I said in an earlier post, I still care about him, but just not romantically...Ever since I realized that I could never, under any circumstances, see myself marrying him, I just can't look at him that way...Granted, that probably means that I wasn't that much in love with him in the first place =P I realize that I have to break up with him...It's not fair to either of us to go on like this, but I just don't know how to do it...I don't want to upset him too much (he's not really emotionally stable, as it is), and I'd like to keep him as a friend.

*Sweatdrops slightly* If anyone actually reads this silly blog of mine, can someone give me some advice? I'd be very grateful. *Is somewhat pathetic, but she doesn't care* I can't go on like this much longer...

*Sighs* Well, I guess I'd better go get started on my paper...

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 09:00 p.m.

Wow, I've really been neglecting my little blog lately, haven't I? ^^;; Gomen, but there's not been all that much to write about, anyway. Apparently, there's a teacher's institute tomorrow, so we don't have school *BG* I just learned this today; I was quite pleased.

Given what happened last night, we spent 1st hour watching the news coverage. Because I'm such an opinionated person, I have to give my two cents about this issue. I fully support President Bush and military action in Iraq. Granted, I'd rather that we could have worked it out diplomatically; I hate for people to have to die like this. But, since diplomacy failed (and YES, it DID fail. Miserably. Thanks a bunch to our 'allies'. *Munches her "freedom" fries*), we're left with no choice but to use force.

And for all the anti-war people out there, I don't deny your right to protest; it's your right as an American citizen to believe what you want. But I have one thing to say: Anyone remember WWII? Adolf Hitler began gathering weapons (against a treaty from WWI), and soon began attacking other countries; his neighbors. Other, non-neighboring countries, tried to pacify him, thinking that maybe if we left him alone, he'd just stop and not bother them. You all know how well that particular strategy worked. Hitler's power grew, unchecked, until he finally began to conquer the very countries who had tried pacificism before.

Now, granted, Saddam isn't Hitler...yet. But anyone with eyes can see that he's headed that way. He already butchers and tortures his own people He's gathering weapons that could be used to attack other countries who oppose his brutal dictatorship. He already attempted to conquer Kuwait once. If left unchecked, we likely will end up with a serious case of deja-vu. A power-mad, bloodthirsty dictator who is perfectly willing to kill anyone to get what he wants, no matter how deranged that want may be. If you like the idea of being ruled by such a man, then please, by all means side with Iraq and Saddam.

Another thing that always bothered me about these anti-war protests is that that's all they do; protest. You don't want to resort to war, you say. Well, I don't like the idea all that much, either, but I see it as necessary. So I ask you, how do you propose we fix this? And "Let the UN handle it" is NOT an acceptable response; we've all seen how miserably they've failed in that task. So, other than military force, how can we solve this? I can't think of any other way, myself.

*Takes a deep breath* Okay...I'm sorry, but I had to get that out my system ^^;; And, for the record, I'm just stating my opinion on this war. I do not hate Iraqis, or Arabs, or Muslims for that matter. We're all human. Like my friend Daniel said, "Society will be a lot better off when people realize that, if you cut them, Americans and Iraqis both bleed red." I don't like the way that Saddam and his regime are acting; they're the ones I have a problem with. Just as I feel outrage and shame at the acts of America's past (slavery, discrimination...), I am disgusted that any human being, no matter what nationality, could act that way. I don't want innocent Iraqis to die any more than I'd want innocent Americans to die. I truly wish there was another way to remove Saddam, but there is not. My thoughts are with the people engaged in the conflict, and I pray that the loss of life is kept to a minimum (Well, not counting Saddam and his cohorts. They deserve to die slowly and painfully for what they've done to their own people.)

*Shakes her head slightly* Okay...This time, I promise, I'm done ^^ I'll talk about something else, now. Let's see...In 2nd hour, today, Señora brought a Japanese foreign exchange student to visit our class for a little while. It was pretty neat ^^ He told us a little about their writing system. He was only 15 (I think), but his English was pretty good ^^ I can't help but be impressed by someone who, at age 15, knows enough of a foreign language to actually go to that country and live for a length of time, without anyone else who speaks his native tongue. ^_^

And I finally got around to clearing out this page. As per usual, all previous entries can be found on the Archive page, which is linked above the first entry on the page. Well, I guess that's about it for today. ^_^V