As told by...Ray Hou?!?!

Hey guys! So I'm in college now and it's a blast! It's also lots of stressful days and sleepless nights but overall I'd say I'm lovin' it <3 Anyhow, this post isn't about me. It's about Ray Hou who sent me a lovely email I never saw because I stopped checking my old email address after getting my college one (sorry to everyone who's emails I ignored!) Even though this is really delayed (sorry Ray!), I'm going to post it now. Enjoy!

September 15, 2011

Hi everyone! Anna said that if I wrote something she’d put it up on her blog. I’m a bit too lazy to actually blog for myself—in fact, I told Anna I’d write something sometime in June. Oops.

So who am I? I’m Ray! I’m still stuck in high school, though since Anna hasn’t really posted since she’s gone to college I suppose this blog is technically still a senior blog. I’m a huge science geek, though I suppose anyone who finds calculus entertaining is probably a bit of a math geek too.

Over the last summer, I participated in a volunteer teaching program in Taiwan called AID Summer. Out of all the summer programs I had wanted to attend, it was actually lower down on my list; I had unsuccessfully applied for several science-oriented programs. That’s not to say it wasn’t completely and utterly awesome.

…Maybe not completely awesome. The first week was rather boring. It was essentially an orientation week for the teachers-to-be, except they insisted on teaching us in English…when none of our teachers could actually speak English. Quite frankly they could’ve taught it in Chinese and it would’ve been more efficient. Then again, all the useful material they taught us could’ve been condensed into 30 minutes. Anyhow, it was a good opportunity to make friends and just chill.

The two weeks teaching were pretty intense. Each day we’d have to prepare lesson plans and material for class—not as easy as it sounds. Realize that we were trying to teach English literally from ABC’s, except they were already in at least 3^rd grade. Singing your ABC’s might be fun for kindergarteners, but these kids are a bit too old for that. On the other hand, they don’t have the patience to straight up learn it lecture style either, and that’s boring anyways. The kids were predictably rowdy—summer is still summer in Taiwan—but they grow on you. I had 20 in my class, which took the ones who knew the most English, so we were able to read some Dr. Seuss and stuff. The teachers at the school had all the students mob us on our last day; cute, but they nearly buried me. I had a good time messing around with my group whenever we had off-time; mostly spent playing Contact.

One of the things that bothered me was the reporters though. I always got picked because I was one of two people who had fluent speaking Chinese, but you feel like a tool doing it; you can’t really bash on the program, even though its management could use some improvement. Oh well, part of the job.

Anyhow it was exhausting, but pretty fun. Met a lot of Asians in the program (as if I didn’t know enough already) who I’ll be keeping in touch with; they’re all really funny, and there are plenty of sketchy/hilarious stories to go around.

Oh, and school (still) sucks >.<

Media: the Great Equalizer

Graduation is almost here. It's strange thinking that by this time tomorrow, I will have had my diploma in hand and will no longer be lying on all those job applications I filled out saying I'm a high school graduate (I'm banking on the fact that by the time they process my applications, I will already have graduated. shh) I feel as though I know what I should be feeling, but it honestly hasn't sunk in yet. It's kind of like when I turned 18. You know it marks a significant turn in your life, but you can't quite grasp the full implications.

So, what is this nearly graduated 18 year old doing with herself these days? Why roommate hunting of course! Georgetown offers this program known as CHARMS wherein you get to eharmony style online date for a freshman roomie. Sounds great right? Well, only mostly.

The pro is the obvious: you get to choose your own roommate. You get a say in who you have to brave the upcoming transition with. At the very least, you know you'll be rooming with someone who will be giving you a chance. You both chose each other, so you know they at a minimum would like to be friends with you (unless you both previously reached an agreement to not be friends...to each their own?).

The con: you get to choose your own roommate. It's an exhausting process and at the end of the day, you know that if this doesn't work out, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

In the meantime, I'm having a great time meeting new people and it's been great getting to know everyone even if they won't all be my roommate. It's reassuring knowing that these people who up until now were just a far off sentiment are now becoming real before me. I know that they're having just as awkward a time of this as I am, and that we're all starting on some sort of common ground. See, it's interesting that although we come from all parts of the country - from places where ShopRite doesn't mean anything and New Jersey is just that little state below New York - we all have things in common. For one, everyone watches the same television shows, listens to the same music, and reads the same books. Alright, so we don't all watch and listen to the same stuff, but we could. We all have that in common, that if we so choose, we can tune in to watch Bones on Thursday night.

Who would've thought,

Media: the Great Equalizer

First blog in nearly a month

There's this sign by the high school, near St. Mary's Cemetary that never fails to humor me.

I always find it funny that they have signs labeled "Hidden Driveway." Why have a hidden driveway if you're going to put a sign in front of it? Okay, I understand that there are probably some practical reasons for its presence, but nonetheless, I think it's mighty ironic.

As for the one by the high school, I've never seen the hidden driveway. Either it references the really obvious driveway it's next to, or the driveway is, as the sign would suggest, really well hidden.

On a different note, I've heard a lot of talk these days about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the IMF who was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment. That's bad news for this French Socialist who was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Yea, he messed up. At this point, it doesn't even really matter whether or not he gets convicted - the damage has already been made to his political career. Even if he is cleared, he will have lost months of valuable campaigning time, etc. Imagine the field day his campaign managers must be having...

No, there was no real train of thought to my blog today, but either way, it's my

First blog in nearly a month.

Collegeboard sucks!

Recall that post from just yesterday when I severed all ties with Collegeboard? Well, I lied because apparently, I am going to sue that son of a gun! Mere hours after I unsubscribed from the site, I receive an email informing me of the following:

What?! How is this ok?!?! I am actually going to sue if I get spammed because of them. In fact, it would be a great way to finance my next four years of life.

Collegeboard sucks!

Food for thought:
Anyone else get this email?
Do you really believe that no personal information has been leaked?
Is there actually some legal basis we can sue on?

Kevin loves me :)

As some of you may know, I am Kevin Sun's biggest fan!

I take great pride and effort in my stalking of this sophomore. In fact, I think that everyone deserves to discover the joys of stalking Kevin Sun, so I've decided to share with ya'll my findings to date.

A seemingly ordinary music folder, the inside flap of mine hosts my beloved "Kevin Log." Recognizing that you are seeing it backwards, I will include its text below:

2-7-2011 10:21 am
   Kevin initiates conversation
   - evidence of progress
10:35 am
   Kevin's address of residence acquired
   - commence stalking
10:36 am
   Kevin called me mean
   - take 3 steps back
2-14-2011
   Kevin admitted to feeling lonely during my 2 day absence
   - phase A complete
   Wished Kevin a happy Valentine's Day
   - ignored
   New information acquired
   - one 10 years old brother
   - birthday in January
   - 16 years old
3-28-2011 10:20 pm
   Friendship Facebook official
   - phase B complete

With each passing day, new progress is made. (For the record: Kevin friend requested me!)

Remember this, my fellow Kevin Sun stalkers, regardless of how unresponsive he may seem, do not grow disheartened because my experience has shown me that perseverance is key. Though he may ignore me most days and almost daily directs an exasperated sigh my way, I know in my heart that

Kevin loves me :)

"Romcomdom"

I bet you didn't know this, but in my spare time, I also freelance as a word creator.

Evidence A:

it was a good movie

just didn't meet my expectations

and I was getting kind of tired of this generic

romcom fare

idk...

says I who watch

kdramas

the most generic romcoms of romcomdom

"Romcomdom." Use it!

I'm done with college applications!

I remember joking back in December how Hofstra University had sent me an email everyday reminding me of their application deadline, and then on the date of the deadline when I rejoiced at never again receiving an email from them, they sent me notification that they'd extend the deadline by 4 days for me. Four days later when I still had not applied to this school, I assumed that that would be the last I'd see of that college. And how wrong I was because four months past their "application deadline" I received an email:

"Hofstra deadline extension granted"

Most of you are probably wondering why I haven't just unsubscribed to their emails. It's because I foolishly kept believing that their deadline was actually going to be over and that at that time, naturally I'd stop receiving emails from them. Little did I think that over four months after their supposed deadline I'd still be receiving spam from them. Well, no more because I have officially unsubscribed from Hofstra University!

Yet another demon in my life that needs to get the message is Collegeboard. Yesterday, they had the audacity to send me an email reminding me to apply for the next SAT testing date. Uhm, I don't think so!

"Anna, whatever you want to be, college can help!"

After years of having been tormented by this website and their "Questions of the Day" which I had redirected to a separate email address, I have at last unsubscribed from Collegeboard, and good riddance! Few moments in my life have been more satisfying. Through seemingly small measures such as these and regaining my identity on Facebook, I feel as though I am reclaiming my life. At long last,

I'm done with college applications!