And that should be Just Fine.

As you may have already concluded from blogs such as those of runiteking1's Blogger or paces_place's Xanga, we certainly learned a bunch in California. The thing is, almost none of it was actually about math.
My surprise? The three awards ceremony played good music as the award winners were announced on PowerPoint slides. Ryan had many moments of shock when he immediately realized that many of these songs were commonly played on his iPod.
Today, I woke up about two hours later than the usual weekday morning of the 2008 summer. Coming back around 4am didn't exactly help us get over the jet lag. I feel mildly proud of completing the day's work of Spanish, but then you sort of realize all I did was write a nine-sentence long letter to my grandmother about my cousin getting into college in China. This is more Spanish than I have done in one sitting for two months.
I met a someone who had graduated from her high school this year one afternoon, after someone taught someone else to say to me, "you have beautiful eyes" in Chinese. Anyway, she and the guy who said it had both taken AP Spanish Language. The guy got a 3, but he claimed not to speak any Spanish. The girl was practically fluent, and had gone to Spain. She got a 5, and was pretty much amazing. She and her friend explained that many of their good friends were Hispanic, so they could often practice and learn the language. Fascinated as I was, you have probably heard enough of it, though you may unfortunately believe that Latin is better.
These people were only two or three years older than me, but they had completed high school and could now look towards the future at their Ivy League universities. I thought they were very nice people.
Ryan, if that man had been a terrorist, then I would have strangled him from behind. Just sayin'.
When this summer ends, I think I'll be ready.

Let's Stretch the Time in our Favourite Places

12 more hours until we travel sluggishly through the night into the Pacific Time Zone, I think. It's hard to believe we're meeting at the flag post at school in less than that. Yesterday, I realized that I hadn't eaten in 21 hours. No, I wasn't feeling fat. Goodness gracious, I am thankful for being generally psychologically stable. This trip could not come at a better time. I need to get away, be around some of my best friends, and think about math for a while. Make sure my mind isn't focused too much on the frustration that my father could think of me in such a terrible way. Laugh endlessly with my favorite sibling and various substantially tennis-obsessive logarithm lovers.
There are so many things next year that I don't look forward to, such as standardized testing and ridiculous homework loads. Really, I can't wait for junior year to end [successfully, I hope], and probably wouldn't mind June of 2009 dragging out forever.
Time for some food, probably. (Okay, or cut raw meat for dinner.)

	Everybody Else - In Memoriam
	Found at skreemr.com

Took a sip from a bottle of orange soda
Suddenly you were back
On my bike years ago
While sharing the camera
You passed by, so quickly

I remember you
So remember me
As I was back then
In my ripped blue jeans
Moments ago
It seems to me
That we were just kids
In a memory

I still see the blue, sunken barge
Down by the shore and I
Can taste the blackberry juice on our fingers
But there’s an echo of careless, callow footsteps
That run by so quickly

I remember you
So remember me
As I was back then
In my ripped blue jeans
Moments ago
It seems to me
That we were just kids in a memory
In a memory

It feels good to forget how wonderful it was
In the noise of a crowd
But sometimes cars in the night
Sound like the ocean and
Then I swear
I'm back there
Seems so real
It disappears

I remember you
So remember me
As I was back then
In my ripped blue jeans
Moments ago
It seems to me that we were just kids in a memory
Moments ago
It seems to me
That we were just kids
In a memory
Moments ago
It seems to me
That we were just kids in a memory
In a memory
In a memory

me: wow i'm slow its raining intensely
runiteking1: no its
not
its not raining......
me: yes it is
runiteking1: ?
me: its definitely raining heavily right now
runiteking1: outside?
me: yes
runiteking1: no
me: no, in the office. = =
yes it is
runiteking1: no its not....
its nice and sunny out my backyeard
me: its raining

I was right. I'm not imagining things.

Is it really a computer problem?

System Restore is a component of Microsoft's Windows Me, Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems that allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of malfunctioning or failure. -Wikipedia
It must be really nerdy to relate life to the need for a system restore. My favorite sibling used it a few times for his laptop to counter the effects of various trojans and viruses. I can't turn my back, no matter how malfunctioned or failing things get. It's natural to check back, look thoroughly to find a solution, and overcome harmful effects on Windows XP.

Help, someone out there?

It just so happens that every so often, Jack and I have a discussion over religion, science, and his stance on the whole thing. So, the all-famous Big Bang. How was it initiated? What was the energy that sent out this spark of life? Umm... Well, for now, God is the only answer that can even mildly be within reach by humans. My fantasy? That Jack and I somehow figure this out before we die. Because we really want to know. But of course, that's what everyone who has ever lived has wondered. How are we going to do this? Well darn it, we can't figure out God.
me: we should like, walk over to pasadena and just sit there
Jack: because pasadena makes us smarter?
me: sure
And then, reality strikes us again.
Jack: yeah
bill's wanting to show me a manstripper video
help
Another deep conversation has ended, as we would much rather enjoy our lives, having fun not watching certain YouTube videos, and refraining from pondering a question with no discernible answer.

Improvement

Yesterday night, I walked down the small hill to the fireworks. My mother found me, and greeted runiteking1's father. So I realized that I had not only said "hi" to Eric, but I had also seen runiteking1's brother and said "shu1 shu1 hao3" to his father, who sped past us to catch up with Eric, who is practically my neighbor. Runiteking1's father said "da4 de zai4 hou4 mian4" to my mother after their short greeting. Was my tallest cousin behind us? I'll never know until he tells me.
My brother's fish died a couple of days ago. It was his second red beta fish from Wal*mart. The first one was a birthday gift from a Chinese girl, but one night, it jumped out of its bowl and shriveled up until my mother discovered it the next morning. This one was probably underfed because my "gifted" brother kept forgetting to feed it. I have to admit, it's kind of relieving to know we don't have any more pets.
Before that, I received yet another instant message on Facebook. How? Because I forgot to either remove or place the person on my limited profile list. Smart, epsieanniihsct... Thankfully, this one was much better than the first.

Versatility at Its Nerdiest?

me: haha okay awesome
Jack: yeah
me: cuz youre a guy and my mom says guys are good at math and physics
Jack: we are
me: convenient.
Jack: yes
we are also convenient
Today, my interesting mother brought that up because she had questioned me, yet again, and this time said something along the lines of "What are his accomplishments in school?" Thanks, mom. Not a weird thing to ask at all. No, not at all. Because parents who aren't Asian ask things like that all the time. But yes, it was kind of funny.

This afternoon, as I was having a nice chat with Walter, Jack successfully ran to the house, Lisa came soon after that, and then I got a little shock. Look at this:

Jack quickly memorized this person's birthday. He's 23 until November. Creepy, much?

For the Better

I have successfully managed to convince myself that I don't.

Taking Advantage of the Situation

Here's how. (I gave up italicizing quotes because it's just caused a bunch of HTML problems.)
me: i dont want to go that far
liucthrn: :<
me: not today
liucthrn: okay.... I'll steal from the clutches of Jrod
me: hes not in town
liucthrn: :3
me: heehee
liucthrn: :D Perfect
me: ;)
liucthrn: love love love

For about half an hour, I finally assigned album art to a few artists, and of course, all of my Killers songs. There's probably more than a couple hundred that still don't have artwork... Well, that's for the rest of the day. Not really.
I took two walks. One in the late morning, and one with my brother not very long ago. He found a dollar bill on the sidewalk because he was walking slightly ahead of me. Lucky boy. Speaking of luck, the Year of the Rabbit is generally considered to be lucky. Even better for him.
Today, the stalker received yet another number to be matched with an identity. The stalker decided to just try it out today. The number didn't work.

Later...
me: i have a question
is won my second or third husband?
Ryan: we are not on speaking terms anymore
Even later...
Ryan: if you see kejing tell her i am her second husband
not her third

Why does the man get the lawn?

Ryan: men have a connection with their lawns though
when i get a house the lawn will be mine
I was biking around the neighborhood, when something stood out yet again. The signs that people use to encourage voting for certain people... well, they're never placed in the middle of any property. They're always either on the outskirts or in between two pieces of real estate. In Wisconsin, people would place these election signs in front of their homes. Here, it looks like they were placed by other people.
As for Ryan, he thinks he will be ordering his future wife around, beating her if she tells him that there are no houses without inclines honey, and that they shall live in a brown and white house. It will have 19 rooms and four stories. Everyone must wear shoes inside the house after mowing the lawn that only he can mow because he is the man of the house because shoes are great. In fact, he will hit me if I don't agree with him. The minibar will be open to everyone over 14 years of age. No one can mess up the yard, where there will be a Subway/Taco Bell-like gas station.
Yesterday, I watched Mean Girls on ABC Family. My mother walked by and said, "You're watching TV?" in a surprised way. Well, I was surprised too. I realized that Rachel McAdams, the main character in The Notebook, was in it. I had seen the movie (Mean Girls) with Katie back in Wisconsin. Weird connection.
Today, the real B (meaning better than the one from Gossip Girl), my protective friend (My mother asked if this friend was a boy or girl after said her name. Me: Giiirrrlll...) came over and we watched Memoirs of a Geisha. Her eighth movie in less than three days, and the other seven she had never seen.
Before that, it was sunny outside. Finally. I went biking, and realized that the handlebar was rotated too far counterclockwise. If my hands were the same distance in front of me, then the bike would be turning right. Not the least disappointing bike ride. Then, as I biked up the hill to my house because I finally switched gears so I could, I realized that I wanted to be outside a bit longer, so I put the bike back and walked the daily walk around the street, and back up the same hill. The shower felt great, of course.
I wonder where our math teacher lives.

I <3 LW

I get this little feeling of excitement every time I open the mailbox to find some sort of mail from Caltech. It's only happened twice so far, but they are so cool. It's obvious that some very intelligent people designed it because they make Jack and me want to walk right over to Pasadena.

My mother never ceases to surprise me when she speaks to me.
"There was a girl who liked your father but he didn't like her back because she was too ugly." [Ryan now thinks my father thinks my mother is hot. And while we're on this subject, William thinks my father is hot.]
"Well... and there's not just the emotional but the physical stuff...[Me thinking: what the heck does she expect us to do? I would be bursting out in paroxysms of laughter if we weren't having such a serious conversation.]... like in that magazine article...[One of the perks of getting TIME delivered to the house: my mother gets to learn about teenage pregnancy pacts.]"

I love my favorite sophomore. She's amazing.