Reflection

When I first learned that we were going to be blogging I thought that it was going to be pretty tight but I was concerned with what I was going to write about, mostly because the parts of my life that I would want to talk about would be boring and the other parts too inappropriate to write about. It was initially a thing where I didn't really want to open up about some parts of my life and then eventually my posts just became pretty much random and were about whatever I wanted to talk about at that time. This sort of theme has been seen in almost of all journals I have kept in the past and also in the writing notebooks at the beginning of the year so I do not believe it is the blogging that has inspired this sort of random talking about my life.

I tried initially to stick to a marching band and Tae Kwon Do theme but those didn't fit very well with my blog, after marching band was over all I could do was reflect on it, and there wasn't enough stuff that was interesting with my Tae Kwon Do life at that point. I got bored of writing about those, so I changed my blog name and started writing about super heroes which in turn got really boring. Watching comic is a big hobby of mine but talking about them, it turns out, is not. So it very quickly evolved into a random events blog, though I did start talking about Tae Kwon Do a lot more.

I don't know that I'm really happy with any of my posts, but I am satisfied with most of them even though I think almost everything I wrote was not interesting at all and was probably read by very few people. I most content with the post that touched on my view point of gay marriage though.

I think one of the hardest things in keeping this blog running was probably remembering to do it and second to that was actually getting myself to do the posts after I remembered I needed to do them. For these two reasons I do not think that I will continue to post on my blog. Not because I'm lazy, just because I always seem to want to blog when I can't(a.k.a. I don't have a computer around) and when I can I don't want to blog. It seems like the sort of thing I would do if I didn't have a life or was extremely bored, kind of nerdy and reminds me of a creepy old guy sitting at his computer in his basement, or some whiny, anti-social teenager filled with angst who is not satisfied with just sharing his thoughts on facebook, twitter, or myspace. So basically I still think of blogging the same way, I just have had some experience of writing about stuff that no one cares about but I write about it anyways because my life is boring and blogging is now assigned for one of my classes.

=)

Tae Kwon Do Summer Camp has officially been cancelled, oh well. I also recieved notice that if I test in September I will be able to test again in 2012 for my 4th Dan Black which is really good news for me. That means I don't have to wait an extra three years to test in 2015. This of coursed makes my friend Austin mad because he tested for his 3rd decided in September of last year and because of our little rivalry he wanted me to have to test in 2015 because he would be a 4th for three years before I would become 4th. Our little competition does get annoying at times, when I am looking for a little support during training for my testings he will always say stuff like you're gonna fail and other things, but it usually just fires me up rather than make me angry. He always tells me that I'd better do all my crap right when I go out to the floor at testing or he will have to beat my ass and then rub it in my face afterwards.



The fact that my testing has been postponed until September makes me extremely happy, because I wasn't sure if I could be ready by the end of June. I had an injury back in February and was ordered by my doctor to rest my leg for two months and then slowly work back into jumping. So I basically had two months taken out of the five months I had to get prepared for testing, then getting back into Tae Kwon Do was crazy hard because I got out of shape the two months that I couldn't work out. Just yesterday I was doing a couple of jumps and I've basically gotten the jump I do for my testing break back into shape, if not better than before, because I no longer have a dull pain that spears up my leg whenever I put pressure on it. I can probably jump about six inches higher than I used to be able to, this means I have a little more room between me and the people I'm jumping over so I know I can clear them with ease.



I also have more time to get my forms into shape for testing. Forms are a series techniques that are supposed to symbolize a battle or fight type scene. I learned my new form about a month ago and haven't gotten it to the point where I want it to be, so now I have four months to get that into shape and since Austin is back in Tae Kwon Do after having to sit out because of a broken ankle I'll have his criticism and motivation that I need to get not only this new form into shape but my old form back into shape too.

Random Nights At Taco Bell

Okay last week I had one of the most random events ever happen to me. Matt and I were hanging out on Friday night like we do a lot of the time. I had promised my friend Chelsea that I would go visit her at her work, which is the taco bell over by the mall, not the one at the mall, but the one on the other side of Collins Road and First Ave. So we showed up there around 10ish, and decided to get some cheesy fiesta potatoes, which we got for free because when Chelsea was running my credit card through the thingy, my card totally cracked in half and wouldn't work anymore, it had been broken before but was still connect and was still functional. This event led to an entire week of me not being able to buy anything because I have this weird thing where I cannot carry cash for longer than I day or I have to put it in my bank account or use it, the latter of the two happens more often. Having cash during the day also makes me want to buy things from the vending machines at school a.k.a. water and pretzels, which further leads to the issue of my bathroom schedule being messed up by little things that I do during the day. So I went with out any money during the entire week which would have been an issue except had a Starbucks card with loads of $$$ on it and an Aeropostale gift card that I hadn't used yet, I know shock, but Kajsa and I got a ton of great deals the time we went last Saturday.

Okay back to my original story, Matt and I had just sat down to eat while Chelsea was "working" next to us, when one of Chelseas coworkers sat down next to us and Chelsea decided to introduce me as her brother. Chelsea's coworker, who was a very charismatic black woman, asked me if that was for real, and I proceeded to shake my hand from side to side in a sort of agreement. The black woman then asked me if I was gay and I told her that I was bisexual and then I asked her how she knew. She told me that when I shook my hand like that it meant gay. I had no clue that was what that meant, which is kind of weird. She then asked Matt if he were gay, obviously insinuating that we were a couple and he shook his head and said no. She then said these exact words, "Oh you like you some pussy then." I burst out laughing and she continued on to tell us that she was also bisexual in these words, "I like me some white woman, I've dated black girls before but only one. She wasa crazy bitch though, tried to jump on me out of a tree and cut me. But man I do like me some white woman."

After that peculiar introduction, we talked for another half hour. She told us about how she moved here from Chicago and was getting to know the city. She also asked me about how I came out and how people reacted to it, I told her that besides my parents everyone basically had already known even though I had never told anyone lol. She then told me that if anyone ever messed with me she had my back, and that if she needed to she would "cut them."

We left Taco Bell, I gave her a hug and Matt gave her an akward pound it type thingy, then we headed over the Burger King to see Kerina. Unfortunately Kerina was not there and I was forced to beat her senseless the next day, jkjk. And that ends my night of extreme randomness.

AP US Test Is Over

Today I took a test I was truly dreading. The AP US History Exam!!! The test was actually not bad at all, though I thought it was going to be dreadful. I am pretty sure I new most of the answers to the multiple choice questions, except for the ones about the labor unions in the late 1800's, I didn't pay attention during those chapters at all though. The essays were freakishly easy, I swear to god I could've answered them with out having read a single chapter of the book or even having taken a US history class.

I am very content with this test and practically wrote a book in the essay sections. Essays are really easy for me anyways so I am like ninety percent sure I did exceptionally well on the test and I am definately expecting a four or a five, if not I am going to be really pissed and complain about how I'm going to take the test over, yet I would never do that because I'm kind of lazy and will most likely have forgotten by then.

One down two to go!!! Plans for this weekend include, freak out about AP Chem test, study in between band shit and other crap that I waste my life doing, possibly have a movie night even though I should probably not be having one because I need to study lots, skip going to that dreadful place called church though I will probably be dragged by my parents, eat pizza, tell my mother happy mother's day at some point even though I forget to get her anything, go to AP Chem study group in Snook's room, freak out some more about the AP Chem test, stay up until around midnight Sunday night playing video games and doing unproductive stuff, go to bed and wish to just skip next week.

Tae Kwon Do Woes

Tonight I learned that I might not be able to test at the end of June for my third decided black belt rank. This is not because I am not ready or because I am underqualified because believe me I work my tail off once I step foot in my Dojang. Tae Kwon Do is one of the few things in my life that I do not half ass. The reason I might not be able to test is because we might not be having a testing in June this year, because of financial problems with the camp site where we usually have it at. We need a minimum of seventy-five people signed up for the week of Summer Camp at which we have a black belt only testing at the end of the week. Right now we only have fifty people signed up for the camp, of which I am not one. I cannot go to camp because I am taking Summer Government for three weeks, one week is the week of Summer Camp. It cost $350 to go to Summer Camp and I am not going to pay that to not go and then go for the Saturday and test. So I am only paying for the day that I can go so am only counting for a third of a person because he is making me pay more than just for one day. If we do not get more people to go then we will not have Summer Camp and more importantly, we will not have testing =(.

This brings me to another point, if I do not test in June this year I may not be eligible for testing in 2012 for my 4th Dan. Normally we are supposed to have three years inbetween the 3rd Dan testing and 4th Dan testing but in the past he has let about one-fifth of the people who applied to test early, go ahead and do so. So it looks like I may not be able to test in San Antonio in 2012, since the only other black belt testing this year is in Minneapolis in September. If I don't test in 2012 I will have to test in 2015 which adds three additional years onto my testing cycle, it will now take me six years in between my 3rd dan testing and my 4th dan testing whereas it normally should only take three to four depending upon the year that a person tests in.

So for now I'm just chilling, working out four nights a week and hoping for the best, and I guess some things in life all we can do is let fate take its course and decide what is best for us.

From Pool To Pond

Many of my happiest childhood memories have been in my pool. For countless Summers I spent most of my day swimming and on a less bright note, cleaning it. For the past three years my brother and I have been responsible for cleaning it, which means vacuuming the bottom every other day, every week we would have to scrub the sides down and once or twice a day, dependant on whether we were having people over or not, skim the surface for bugs and leaves. We would also have to get it ready in the late Spring after it was warm enough. We would uncover it and then would have to wash it off, and hang it in between two trees to let it dry. Then we got to work on the pool which was disguisting. It would literally be black, so we basically dump a crap load of pool shock into the water then a couple of days later would start the vacuuming and scrubbing process which took a few days of our time.

This year when we opened up the pool we found that it had almost no water in it, which is a really bad thing. During the Winter, the pool liner had come completely off and thus we were met with and ultimatum. Do we spend a thousand bucks and have to do a lot of manual labor to basically make a new pool or do we just rip it out of the ground and go from there. We saddly decided that our pool was to be made into a pond, so now we have a four foot hole in the ground, not quite deep enough to bury someone in. Now over the weekend we are planning on leveling out the shallow end with sand and then are going to buy a pond liner to place in the hole. We are lowering our deck a couple of feet and building stairs from the upper deck to the lower one. Then we are lining the edge of the deck with limestone that we got for freakishly cheap from the quarry over by my house. We will then build ledges all around the hole for plants to sit on and then we will fill it with water and hope it works. Next step is to add the fishies and plants and Hurray!!! we have a pond.

I am not sure whether to be sad or relieved by the passing of my pool. I have had so many good memories in it though i almost drown in it twice. On a happier note, I won't have to do any pool cleaning anymore and my mom is also happy because she has always wanted a pond. She said that no matter what we said, the pool was going to be taken down after we move out anyways. So all in all I guess now I just have two Summers less to spend with my pool. =(

Do Work Son

All of today I have been in a mood to clean. Some people would think that this is weird but not anyone who actually knows me. I'm actually kind of obsessed with having a clean house and I was rather embarrassed on Friday night when I had a friend over and my house was not spotless and to my point of contentment. I find that I fret to much over little things like a clean house when I should be doing other important things like homework and studying for AP tests.

I believe my little obsession with cleaning is genetic though it seems to have definitely skipped a generation. Both of my grandmothers are clean freaks. They are a lot worse about it than me though. When I was younger and went over to my grandmother's house I used to love to help her clean and she did appreciate the thought but not the actual work. I would wipe off a counter and less than ten seconds afterwards she would follow me with some disinfectant and a cloth and wipe the counter that I had just wiped. If I vacuumed for her, sure enough, about five minutes later she would re-vacuum the places I had already vacuumed.

With my family it's a little different but I am becoming almost as obsessive. The rest of my family hates to clean and I am the one they push all of their chores off on. I do a majority of the laundry, wash the cars, vacuum, dust, do the dishes, wash the floors, wash the bathrooms, wash the walls and then disinfect all of the house after I'm done. Today I have done almost all of the things on that list already. Needless to say I am becoming obsessed with cleaning and I am not quite sure if that is a good thing or not.

Whenever my family ends up cleaning something, I know what a shock, but they do actually clean sometimes, I am never content with what they have cleaned. Like my grandma, I always re-clean what they clean. For instance, my brother was forced to do the dishes the other night and I noticed that there was still quite a bit of food left on the dishes after he was done with them. I was of course appalled by this and disguisted by my brother's half hearted attempt to actually do something. I re-wash all of the dishes once again.

Now is love for cleaning a little freakish? Is it becoming an obsession? I'm actually not quite sure, but oh well at least my house is clean now.

AP TESTS!!!

Okay I have come to a sudden realization that in two days AP test week will start and I am officially freaking. Why does this come as such a shock to me? Last year all of my AP teachers had had us reviewing for like three weeks by this point and this year I have seriously done very, very little reviewing. I actually haven't quite started studying for the tests yet and I think that is a reason to freak out. Okay so this list goes from most freaked out about to least freaked out about; Chemistry, US History, and last English Language and Composition.

Okay here's the reason I am so freaked out about the chemistry exam; last year only like 55% of people who took the chemistry exam passed with a three or higher. I am pretty sure that this is one of the most failed AP tests that you can take, Physics C might beat chem though. There is a reason why so many people fail the chem exam, it is really freaking hard. I'm pretty sure that everyone who took the practice exam this week feels like they don't know anything and that they are going to fail the test. Chemistry is a really broad science and everything you learn in the class has exceptions. I once heard some one say that the more you learn the more you find out that everything you previously learned was wrong, in reference to chemistry. I find this to be quite true because everything I learned last year was basically wrong and I found out I didn't really learn anything last year.

I'm a tad freaked out about the US test too, but only because it is such a broad subject and there are so many different ways you can take it. I feel like I haven't learned anything this year, I mean seriously I think I learned more about early America from my teacher Mr. Heim in 8th grade and that's saying a lot. My APUSH teacher thinks that she knows how to structure essays that are suitable for DBQ's and she is completely wrong in the way she does them. She says stuff like, "Oh this is how you write a more complex thesis and structure a more complex essay." When in all actuality I wrote the way she is trying to tell us to write in middle school. So I basically write my own way and then she gives me bad scores on practice essay and then I just suck it up because she doesn't know what the hell is up with these essays. So that's basically how I'm feeling about the APUSH exam right about now, basically have given up.

Okay now for AP Lang. I'm least of all worried about this exam because it's just a harder version of a normal L.A. class. It's mostly all stuff I have covered before in other classes with the exception of a couple new things and terms for stuff I have already done. I'll probably just look over my review book next weekend and hope not to forget everything by Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever the test is.