College: Level 3

Photo by Brad Stallcup

I'm exhausted. I knew my schedule was going to be pretty busy this semester, but I didn't expect it to be tiring this early on in the year. But at the same time, I prefer this over doing nothing all day.

Classes:
ENGL 5885 - Adolescent Literature
It's a fun class, but a lot of hard work because you're divided into groups and assigned a book, and then your group has to teach the class said book. My group got The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and we are in the middle of teaching it right now. It's not bad this time around because it's mainly discussion based. And surprisingly, not surprising, it's a lot easier teaching college students than seventh and eighth graders, which is what I had to do last semester. Plus, it helps that the teacher is hilarious, and always has a creative excuse as to why he's late to class.

ECON 2010 - Principle Of Microeconomics
As with all of my business classes that I've taken so far, it's been pretty intuitive. The teacher is interesting, occasionally funny, but he needs to speak louder. It's also pretty nice because he also lets us out early a lot, giving me more free time than I expected. Plus, the TA who holds review sessions on Fridays is also pretty funny. I like how she admits that she's a screw-up sometimes and then proceeds with a funny, awkward story, making Fridays easier to bear.

ENGL 5930 - Theory Race/Ethnicity/Nationality: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
It's a gut-wrenching class as I learn more about the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and how that plays into the racism that still exists today in America. The teacher is sweet and amazing, and I thoroughly enjoy all the discussions we have in that class. It requires a lot of work though because of the multimedia project and a Wikipedia page that I either have to come up with or modify.
Plus, it's unlike anything I've taken before because this time one of my required texts includes Beyonce's latest album Lemonade. It's a good album to listen to as I'm doing all of my readings for this class.

GNDR 3380 - Social Inequality
It's a useful class that is also helping me in my Theory of Race class a bit. I like how it talks about social class because that is one of the top inequalities that isn't talked about as often. It's also interesting to learn a bit more about racism, sexism, and other isms, even though I already know quite a bit about it. Honestly, the best part about this class is mainly the videos that I get to watch because they give you a lot of insight that is sometimes hard to capture in words.

Extracurricular activities:
I'm the treasurer for the Asian American Student Association (AASA) and the secretary for the Vietnamese American Student Association (VASA) this year. It's a lot of work but a lot of fun. And I admit it is frustrating at times, but that's always going to happen in any situation that I end up in.
One of my professors once said that I have a quiet kind of leadership that isn't loud and steeped in masculinity, and I never really thought about it till I got into these positions. I'm endlessly grateful too that I get to further develop my skills and take up a lot of opportunities that I wouldn't have imagined otherwise.
I'm also involved with the Canticle, my college's undergrad literary magazine, again. And it's going great so far, still just trying to get it a little bit bigger than last year. My other extracurricular activities include napping, but even I'm having trouble napping nowadays.

Work:
It sucks, but I'm tolerating it.

And now the weather:
I Dreamed A Dream Les Misérables cover by Darren Criss

~ Stacy N.

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Valor lies just halfway between rashness and cowardice.

Photo by Janko Ferlic

Thoughts:
It's been a few weeks since classes started and it's actually not that bad this semester because it seems like I have a lot more time. And that is because I have a more or less similar schedule Mondays through Thursdays. On those days, I have a 9:10 AM class and another class starting around 12 PM, with an hour and a half-ish break in between those classes. And that break usually includes eating lunch from one of the food trucks (which isn't that great on my budget), doing homework, napping, driving back to the campus, or trying to get through my online anthropology class. After classes are over, it's either more homework (aka actually trying to get through anthropology), work, going to some sort of club meeting, napping, or procrastinating. And then I make it back home, sweet home, somehow surviving Utah's kind of weird winter (it's very snowy this year yet still warm in some aspects, complete with lots of bad air >-<.) Fridays, as usual, are my day off but I always somehow end up on campus again because of more club meetings and some kind of socializing event with my friends afterwards, which mainly includes getting boba.

Classes:
ANTH 1020: Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity: An interesting class so far. I've been thinking about anthropology in new ways that I didn't think of before because frankly, I wasn't interested in the subject. But this class is forcing me to think of all the different variances of anthropology, especially in physical anthropology. And honestly, the only reason why I'm taking this class is because I need it for one of my general education requirements. Also, since the class is online, it's interesting to see the lectures in a video format instead of a PDF format that I'm used to by now.

BUS 1050: Foundations of Business: This is an important class that I need for my business minor, but it's also a slightly uncomfortable class to be in because the teacher continually emphasizes his white male privilege. An example would be, "He or she gets too long, let's just assume that it has a male identity and just call him a he" (or something along those lines.) (Funny thing is, he always goes back to saying he or she the next day). But, I'm not dropping out because it's too late for that, and in order to grow I need to be around others who have a different mindset from mine, so... It is interesting to see how he incorporates the fine arts into business, in the hopes of making us a more well rounded person who sees the humanity in others, and hopefully avoid the route of corporate scandal.

ENGL 5810: Writers in the Schools: By now it has become obvious that I like volunteering with people younger than me because they're fun to be around. It's also a good trial as to who I might become whenever or if I decide to become a parent. This time I'm teaching and in a way help cultivate a love of creative writing to seventh and eighth graders at a nearby middle school (or at least try to do that). It' also a bit weird because I'm only with four specific students all semester, so I'm really taking on the role of mentor. And honestly, it's a bit relieving because I don't have to focus on ten students at a time and worry about whether or not I'm displaying favoritism.

ENGL 5830: Studies in Asian American Literature: This is one of my favorite classes this semester because it's actually taught by an Asian American professor with a bit of a social justice lens (it's also an Ethnic studies course). It's nice to know that I'm not alone in feeling like other, like a [explicit word that I decide to censor this time] token minority. Though it's hard because it looks like most of the class is white (that's Utah for you), so trying to get them to see how white culture is dominant and how trying to fit in and in a way pretend to be white is continually tiring, gets well tiring. It's also nice to read more books about Asian Americans that doesn't focus predominately on the immigrant experience. Instead, I think it's trying to focus on the diversity among Asian Americans and how race continually defines our experience in life.

VIET 2020: Intermediate Vietnamese II: Ahh! I'm so close to finishing the language part of my B.A. (Bachelor of Arts). This semester is a bit weird though because the original teacher who taught my other three Vietnamese courses decided to only teach the 1020 students this semester (I think because of his other work schedule getting in the way). So, his wife is now teaching my class. She was supposed to also have taught my class last semester too but she didn't because who knows. It's interesting because she doesn't speak Vietnamese the proper way like her husband does, instead she says it in a Northern accent. And for me coming from a family who's predominately Southern, it's a bit hard to understand her accent. However, I'm trying and that's all that matters.

Other events that has happened this semester:

• Ta-Nehisi Coates came to talk at my college for our annual MLK Jr. week. Unfortunately, I was unable to see him live because I forgot to grab myself a ticket. Fortunately enough, my university always live stream big talks like this one, so I was able to still see him talk. In this particular keynote, he points out the fact that the United States was built on the violence of black people and how it still enacts that violence, albeit in different ways, today. And how systemic racism is. He doesn't offer a solution as to how to stop it, but I think he's already offering a solution. Education. Just educate people about it and then hopefully they're inspired enough to help stop it within the systems. Which will take a while, but it's a worthy cause to fight against, in my opinion.  Also, educate people because you actually want to, not because you're forced to.
• Women's March, Salt Lake City version. An interesting event that I'm glad that I got to attend, more of my thoughts on it later in a different blog post.
• Getting free tickets to go see a Sundance film from one of the lovely college advisers who's also into social justice all because I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The film was God's Own Country, and the very basic gist of it is  two gay farmers who don't die in the end. It's a sweet film and kind of sad in some parts but you should definitely watch it, if you get the chance (just be aware that there are a few sex scenes and a lot of moaning.)

Note: The quote in today's title is from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
And now the weather:
I Don't Know My Name by Grace VanderWaal

Oh I don't know my name because I'm really, really tired from staying up at four in the morning trying to finish this essay. (Even though I haven't gotten any essays assigned just yet.)

~ Stacy N.

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College so far

source

ACCTG 2600: Survey of Accounting
It's not a bad class, it made me realize that there is a lot more to accounting than ledgers, debits, and credits.

ENGL 370: 1 Introduction to Literary History 1 (works before 1800)
I like the readings because most of them are translated into Modern English. However, the online class is a bit disorganized.

ENGL 5550: Young Adult Novel
It's a fun class, taught by the lovely young adult author, Sara Zarr. Also, it's the only creative writing class that really made me write more often, plus it made me think about novel writing in a different (more manageable) way.

FCS 3370: Parenting &; Cultures
This is a pretty cool class because it made me think about parenting differently, and how we shouldn't make the white, middle-class American model the right way to parent. Also, I found myself doing another volunteer project for this class. This time I'm helping tutor refugee teenagers from Africa. I'm trying to not develop white savior complex and really learn about them because they're fun people.

VIET 2010: Intermediate Vietnamese 1
The class tripled in size in both the intermediate and the beginning courses. Which is amazing because it means that more people want to connect to their roots. It's also a fun class , we have interesting conversations and try to help each other survive. Reading Vietnamese is still hard but writing it is a bit easier now.

I've also found myself involved in several clubs this year: Vietnamese American Student Association (VASA), Asian American Student Association (AASA), Students for Choice (a pro-choice, intersectional feminist group), the Canticle (the undergraduate literary magazine), and Write Club (which I need to go to more meetings). The first two, I ended up joining again is because I want to connect to my Asian side more, and to learn a bit more about the Vietnamese culture (I've realized that I'm pretty whitewashed after living in Utah for my whole life). I'm also on the Canticle staff, and it's fun because we host workshops to try to get other writers to edit their piece to send to the magazine. The Write Club, as far as I know, is mainly about workshopping creative writing pieces. And Students for Choice has helped me realize more about reproductive health than any health class that I took in the past (oh, Utah and its abstinence-only teaching, though I do have to applaud my eleventh-grade health teacher for actually bringing in someone to talk about contraceptions.)

I could talk more about how productive I was in the beginning before slightly procrastinating again. And how I'm actually enjoying myself more. Or I could also talk about how my favorite moment so far was when I was in a dress, wearing my big coat and it was pouring out. It was cold, and it was around nine at night. My car was all the way across campus at one of the engineering buildings, and I was at the library. Thankfully, I had an umbrella and not wearing heels. It was pretty exciting walking across campus in the rain (though, kind of scary considering the dangers out there). And it was the first time in a while when I truly felt happy and free and light. I miss that part of me, the one not bogged down by college, adult responsibilities, work, and depression.

And now the weather:
Secrets by OneRepublic cover by Bryson Andres

~ Stacy N.

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Another semester full of stress

From almost crying in my Writing Fiction class to surviving an oral test in Vietnamese 1020. From watching interesting videos for my English 3600 class to reading Mia McKenzie’s Black Girl Dangerous book for my Gender 3500 class. From spending almost a hundred dollars on books that, for some, will turn into a dusty rock while for others, I’ll most likely read again. To finding a new study spot in the library that has a few missing tiles in the ceiling. I have a feeling that this semester is going to be a tough one.

Courses:
English 3510: Writing Fiction. A class to learn how to write fiction, particularly short stories.
Viet 1020: Beginning Vietnamese 2. Part two of the Beginning Vietnamese class, where we will continue to learn how to speak it and write it.
English 3600: Introduction to Critical Theory. Another required class for English majors, where it’s full of confusing yet interesting questions, such as, what is literature? What is reality and its relationship to literature? And how to see literature in a variety of lenses like Marxism, feminism, postcolonialism, etc.
Gender 3500: Where We Stand: Part two of Gender 2500: Where I Stand. This time, it’s going to look at various feminist topics on a broader level, such as institutional and state violence, sex and gender, what it means to be an ally, etc.

And now the weather:
Latch by Disclosure feat Sam Smith

~ Stacy N.

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I'm back, again

Darn it, I did it again. Leave for two months and then come back, breaking my new year’s resolution that I can never seem to keep. However, this time I intend to keep it. But the likelihood of that actually happening is a bit low because of college and the busyness and stress that come with it. So expect posts occurring at least once a month or once every two months.
Also, start expecting posts that are just giant lists of what I’ve been doing during the time I was gone from this blog. An example would be the giant list that I’m about to give you, filling in the details of what’s been happening between the last time I published a blog post and now.
P.S. The list is not in chronological order.

Graduating and senior pictures.

• Graduate high school.
• Deal with family problems.
• Move back in with my parents.
• Senior pictures.
• Participate in a graduating high school blog post over at Nevillegirl's blog, Musings From Neville's Navel.
• Be my awkward self.
• Help "clean" up a messy senior prank. 

From left to right: A blurry photo of the senior sunset; a dark photo
of ducks taken at the school president's house; part one of the senior prank; and
the yearbook stomp.

• Enjoy the last week of school by going to a senior dinner dance, a senior sunset, a senior breakfast, and a yearbook stomp.
• Go to a party at the school president’s house.
• Apply to a million jobs.
• Finally land a job interview at a movie theater.
• Get a job at said movie theater.
• Work, and experience the joys (and annoyances) of customer service.
• Procrastinate.

The senior dinner dance

• Get into another reading slump.
• Watch a lot of youtube videos.
• Shop for various things like pens and books.
• Watch a lot of movies like Jurassic World, Pitch Perfect 2, Inside Out, and various others.
• Watch a lot of television shows like Orange is the New Black and America’s Got Talent.
• Meet new people.
• Go to an orientation at the University of Utah, which was pretty fun (except for a few parts).

One of my last senior selfies. 

• Driving and the joys of it.
• Get a haircut.
• Get sick for a week and miss the simple little pleasure of not coughing every day.
• Have various projects done to my house, like installing insulation and having the garage cleaned.
• Play Pokémon Diamond on my phone and slowly become a Pokémon master.
• Get another eye exam and find out that my vision slightly improved.
• Family time.
• Think a lot about the Asian culture.

Pictures that I took earlier this summer. 

• Eat yummy Vietnamese food.
• Help my little brother with school stuff.
• Deal with an abnormally working laptop.
• Buy/check out books.
• Listen to music from the Pitch Perfect 2 soundtrack.
• Sleep.
• Try to be an adult.

And now the weather:
Starships by Nicki Minaj cover performed by Mike Tompkins, the Pitch Perfect Cast and You

~ Stacy N.

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One step away from graduating

Left: my school's navy blue cap and gown; white, yellow, and blue tassel; and yellow and white cords that I'm going to wear on June 5.

Bottom right: Trader Joe's cookie butter cheesecake bites and Private Selection''s chocolate hazelnut mascarpone ice cream

Top right: My school's literary magazine that just came out. It includes a few pieces by yours truly. And  all it took was a few months of hard work from my Satorian team.

After two months of lots of schoolwork, late school nights, tests of various sorts including those awful, soul-sucking, three-hour AP exam, an,d of course, procrastination, I’m back. (More or less).  And I know I should be a bit sorry that I was gone again, with no explanation, but I honestly don’t feel that. Because, I feel like I have an obligation to post all that often. Other than the bare minimum of posting at least once a month, which I set out to do as a New Year’s Resolution.

However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t thought about this blog at all. No, in fact, I’ve been thinking about this blog a lot. Mainly, when I’m listening to music or watching youtube videos or watching Fresh Off the Boat (the TV show that's based off of Eddie Huang's memoir) or read articles about various topics. That leads to an idea that I want to blog about. So I then would go to my blogger posts, and write down a few quick points of what I should say in that post. But that mostly consists of links to other websites, which past me would expect future me to click on, so I could remember what I was going to write about. Or if it was a youtube video, I would save that video to my blog playlist, so future me would have to look at eventually. So I could remember what I was going to blog about or what to post for “and now the weather”.

But life happens, and it isn’t until weeks later that I finally decide to post something. And it usually happens to be something that I wasn’t originally planning on blogging about. Like this post for example. 

And now the weather:
Rather Be by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne

"[The song] is quite romantic, but the video is about a Japanese fan of the band that becomes delirious and has hallucinations of band members and our logo appearing unexpectedly in her daily life as a chef." - Jack Patterson from Clean Bandit

~ Stacy N.

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A month full of puns.

What have I been doing lately (note this is not in chronological order):

As you can tell, I'm a very organized student. 

- Read The Awakening by Kate Chopin for school.
- Make ice cream in science class, and wish that it had some chocolate in it.
- Say aww as I watch the cute, little, white, fluffy kitty charm everyone in calculus class yesterday. And groan and smile a bit at the names my friend came up for it, like Catniss or Major Furball.
- Be amused at some of the carols the American Sign Language students have signed so far.

- Decorate the Christmas tree
- Go onto a shopping trip after school one day to get some Christmas lights.
- Go Christmas shopping and get some treats for myself along the way.
- Listen to Christmas music, only to get them stuck in my head the next morning.

Taken with my lovely phone.

- Go to the Festival of Trees and eat at a pub afterwards. (No, I did not get any alcohol).
- Get some ice cream and then see Monster’s University on a school night with my two beautiful sisters.
- Go shopping for new coats and scarves and boots on Black Friday.
- Sleep, and disrupt my sleeping cycle.

Books featured above: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, Emma by Jane Austen, and You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down by Alice Walker

- Go ice skating with a friend of mine one day.
- Get bored and feel bad about the fact that he kept on falling down a lot. So I suggested we explore the downtown area of the city.
- End up at the bookstore across the street. And explore nearly the whole expanse of it, feeling a bit creeped out about the dark, wet, and very still basement.
- End up walking towards a nearby mall afterwards, stopping by an Apple store before getting a bite to eat.
- Go to the winter formal with said friend, and have an incredible time. Even though, I felt sore and a bit sick the next day.

Music:

Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey

Counting Stars by OneRepublic 

Story of my Life by One Direction

~ Stacy N.

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What I want in life

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.”

― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

The world to understand that women and minorities and people in general are just, well people.

Someone to say, I’m glad you’re alive and actually mean it.

A deep self-love for myself.

To be a “Doctor’s” companion or to have a companion so the Doctor in me won't be lonely.

Equal rights for everyone.

Someone who I can easily talk to without a worry that they’re going to judge me.

People to admit to me that I’m an idiot sometimes.

The United States school system to change and allow students to learn when they’re ready.

A [romantic] relationship with someone who likes Doctor Who and books and is also generally open-minded and is willing to learn.

To get my driver’s license without fear of failing my driver’s test.

A dog to be there for me when I’m down (and who’s also a good snuggling partner).

People to understand that rape, sexual assault, and abuse don’t just apply to women.

People to understand that feminism is about equality and breaking down the patriarchy.

People to be more open-minded in general.

People to understand that being an ally for the lgbtqa community means more than supporting gay marriage.

Women have a right to do with whatever they want to their bodies without feeling ashamed.

People should do what they think what’s right for themselves without being ashamed in general.

Racism, sexism, and intolerance of any sort should stop in general.

People to be supportive.

People to be kind.

Me to starting writing more often.

Me to read more books.

Eventually to learn some languages again, such as Vietnamese, French, and a little bit of sign language.

Me to be a better friend.

Me to try to become a better person.

To be successful in terms of happiness and contentedness, not in terms of money.

My kids to live freely, yet still knowing the dangers and injustices of this world.

Education to be accessible to everyone.

Higher education to be cheaper.

Schools to start later, like around nine am, because humans function better at that time.

And to live a life that I’m in control of, influenced by many kinds of events, people, ideas, etc.

~ Stacy N.

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hello again.

School: My current classes include AP US History, chemistry HN, AP calculus, and accounting, which only occur on A-days. As for the B-days, the rest of the classes are painting, AP calculus again, math Lab (aka study hall), and English HN.

Some clubs I joined so far are FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), and Think in Ink (a creative writing club).

How I’m faring so far: I’m pretty fine, a little disorganized when it comes to school work. The school I’m going to is not that bad but it has a small library, which I don’t like at all.

My current cravings: French fries, always French fries. It seemed to have developed when I moved to the city to live with my older sister, and it won’t leave.

Anyone special: I did have a crush but like most of my crushes in the last few years, it flew away on a breeze towards the land called, You’re Not My Type.

Last book I’ve read: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen. It’s a pretty good book but I would have to give it three out of five stars because the main character’s romance with the tourist seemed too fast, but of course it was a summer romance. And the tourist took a cheese grater and started grating my nerves throughout the whole book, I was glad when he didn't get what he wanted and disappeared.  

Life in general: I miss home. Home as in the house I grew up in, in the town that I've known for much of my life. I miss my cat. I miss my dad and mom and my little brother. I miss physically talking to my friends, and just having friends in general (my shyness seems to have grown since going to my new school). And I miss the library there (both my old school library and the public one).

What I hate: my older sister’s narrow-mindedness. The fact that school starts to early. The fact that my self-motivation broke in my sixteen years and eleven months. The fact that the libraries are too far away. And the fact that I was in a reading slump* for a while.

What I like: I like how my school is pretty diverse and how there are more clubs. I like how I’m starting to get out of my reading slump. I like how it’s finally autumn and the trees are barely changing colors. I like the characters from the anime Free! (but I don’t like how I have to wait till next summer for the new season). I like that I’m getting a phone soon. And I like that I’m blogging again.

What I hope for: College, being on my own, more books, more money, and probably a boyfriend.

Music:

Somebody Loves You by Betty Who

Sunday Morning Stasis by Joseph Fink

This too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt 

Killing Me Softly by Chad Sugg

Back Then by B Story

*reading slump: a period of time when you don't feel like reading.

P.S. Thanks for sticking with me or technically blog.

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Goodbye sophomore year

Good job to Teddy Westside for helping to design the yearbook.
It is pretty awesome. And I have to go with Smarties on this one, that
the arrow does look like a house. 

This week has been the best week out of the whole school year because it’s the last week of school. It has been filled with skipping a few classes, because the teachers aren’t concerned with taking roll; hanging out with my friends; playing a lot of card games (specifically garbage); playing Life (Pirates of the Caribbean style), an intense game of Jenga, and Uno; eating candy; signing yearbooks; walking from here to there and back again before settling in a teacher’s classroom (the same classroom that my friends and I go to every morning); watching youtube videos such as Julian Smith, Studio C, and one or two nigahiga ones; and a few movies here and there. And it was fun because I wasn’t expected to work or turn in anything, the only exception to this was English class, of course. 

It was also a little sad because this year might be the last year at my high school. Meaning that by the time my junior year starts, I’ll be at a new school trying to work harder than ever before as well as trying to belong in a place that I don’t know by making friends with strangers people. So in order to lessen the sadness I decided to ask my friends the question what was a random memory from this year?

Some of them are funny, others a bit nostalgic, and the rest, well, really random. And hey, you might recognize a few of the people who also made a random quote from two years back, that is if you can figure out who’s who first. Well, here it goes.

-          The homecoming football game. ~ SeaBass

-          There was this day that I was more clutzy than ever before. I fell down the stairs 7 times, fell up the stairs 5 times, ran into lockers on a constant basis, ran into people all throughout the hallways, and just about every doorway I went through I ran into the bar between the two doors… that was a very interesting day. ~ Rebelious Smarties

-           BRIAN IS AMAZING ~ The Doctor

-          At Matheson half of the 7^th graders knew me before I was an assistant director in the play, Aladdin. I felt pretty awesome because of that. ~ Alice

-          When ‘Smarties’ ran up and down a dark hallway screaming ~ Hermione

-          Throwing a granola bar across the classroom ~ Bad Wolf

-          The conspiracy is real. One day you’ll be sorry you didn’t listen. Maybe it isn’t too late to go to the computer lab and rip the A+ poster down. ~ Alyssa

-          In my ASL (American Sign Language) class, our teacher was asking about our favorite activity. I signed “signing” and she called me a brown noser and made fun of me for the rest of the class. It was hilarious! ~ Teddy Westside

-          So I was trying to talk to this guy who I thought was cute. He asked some person, “Hey have you seen How animals eat their food.” His friend replied, “Yeah I have.” So I jump in and say, “Oh my gosh I love that video.” The guy looks at me then starts working again not saying a word. MOTED! Oh it was so sad! ~TayMay

-          Caylin and I were sitting in the hall & an apple exploded and went EVERYWHERE! We didn’t do anything and when Carson came out of the closet! LOL!! :) ~ Nicole

-          When we practice fire drills!!! xD and I run out of school screaming. ~ Caylin

-          During lunch, my friends and I played a game of truth or dare using a truth or dare app on my friend’s nook. It was a bit wimpy because the truth questions weren’t that great and most of the dares we couldn’t do because we were at school, but it was still fun. ~ nocturnal_owlette

My thoughts can’t really think up of a response to some of the memories that were mentioned, but for the moment I’ll go with [suppressed] laughter. And if you guys were able to figure out the people mentioned above, congrats, because I either know you outside of the internet, or you’re a very good online stalker, or you know them in real life as well.

Also, if I do know you in real life, just remember that I’m not entirely gone yet.

And as for those of you who I don’t know outside of the internet, well, I hope that you have a wonderful day/night.

And for the students who are near the end of their school year, good luck! And I know that you can make it till then, also have fun and just know that I believe you can do it.

Love,

 

P.S.
Dear followers, readers, viewers, etc,

Can you name a random memory from the past year?

Music:
Some Nights by Fun

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The official pros and cons list of my school, created by moi

This isn't the complete list considering that it has only been three weeks of school, however it's just some of the 'small' things that I like and don't like about my school. 

Cons:

• The inside school temperature is messed up. When it’s hot outside, it’s hot inside, when it’s cold outside it is cold inside. Thankfully, the school isn’t as hot as it was at the beginning of the school year, for three days straight the SBOs (Student Body Officers) gave nearly everyone free, cold, refreshing, bottled water. There were fans blowing loudly in the hallways as well as water cups around the school. In fact, my school was mentioned in a newspaper because it was so hot and it probably had affected some students somehow. Thankfully, the school is finally getting an air conditioner that will be available in four to eight weeks. However, by then the outside temp. would be cold and it would be kind of useless to have the air conditioning on when it's already cold outside. 
• It starts too early in the day (around 7:30 AM), meaning that I have to wake up really early (roughly between 5:30 – 5:40 AM) just to get ready and catch the bus that arrives around 6:40 something.
• There’s too much homework. Math, History, Biology, Graphics, and just about nearly every other class I have.
• Studying, there’s going to be a lot of it if I’m expected to pass this year.
• The cafeteria food isn’t that good, and there’s no more juice, just milk and I don’t like drinking school milk.
• The hallways are slightly confusing. The second and third floors is literally a square with classrooms everywhere and it doesn’t help that the classroom numbers don’t have a pattern themselves other than big numbers are on one side of the square and little numbers are on the other side.
• My locker is still stuck despite asking the school to fix it for me a couple of times.
• I feel lonely in some of my classes despite having some friends in that class but not in this class. 
• Too many textbooks to carry to class, (I would have put them in my locker but it’s going to take a long while before a custodian will actually fix my locker.) 

Pros:

• My locker (despite being stuck) is near the library.
• I get out of school early (around 2:10 PM).
• On Mondays, the school day officially starts at around 8:30 AM. However, it will be kind of useless to me, considering that I still have to take the bus - especially during the wintertime - at around 6:40 (5?) ish. But, I guess I have more free time to do some homework and possibly sleep at a table in the back of the school library, or just go on the computer and try to get onto blogger. 
• I feel a bit smarter than some people do in my class. (Sorry, for feeling so braggy but it’s true.)
• I get to make t-shirts, stickers, and other stuff this semester.
• I have the option of going to any of the restaurants/ fast food joints in my town for lunch. However, I have only half an hour or so to do that and I don’t have a car to go anywhere, though my friend is getting her driver’s license this month...
• I’m only a ten minutes or so walk from the public library which has real air conditioning. Meaning that I won’t be late at returning my books there again, (that is if I will remember them in the future).

 (Inspirational Monday posts will be posted on Monday, if I don't forget.)

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Classes and such

Hello everyone, and welcome to Sweets Galore; if you’re following me thank you, if you’re just browsing then continue on, but if you want, you can stay.

School starts in one week from now and I’m absolutely terrified. I’m also really excited for school to start as well; it’s just that I’m not excited right now. I finally have my class schedule, which I will post in a minute. As well as new clothes and school supplies. I know that should be enough to get me through the ten-ish months of school. However, I feel like I should have something more, such as more locker decorations and/or a paying job [specifically at the library]. The locker decorations are easy to get but the job hunt is hard or will be hard if I started on it. I also want to drive to school instead of walk or take the bus but I’m scared of crashing or getting into an accident, especially if my loved ones are with me.

You know, the more I think about it, the more it’s true. Fear seems to be the only thing holding me back from achieving some of my goals such as getting a job and learn how to drive. And that’s bad because it means I’ll never achieve those goals if I continue to let fear get in the way.

It’s also a brave thing for me to walk to school, if I didn’t do that I’ll probably be stuck on the computer forever. And that is both good and bad; good because I’ll never have to leave the house and I’ll probably learn faster, bad because I don’t leave the house and I’ll probably procrastinate more often. So it’s a good thing I have school, homework, dances, any other school activities, libraries, and etc to take me away from the computer or else I would have became a  mindless robot by now.

Speaking of school, I promised to show you my classes, did I? Well here it is.

A day classes	B day classes
World Civilizations Honors	Graphic Communications
Biology Honors	College Prep class
Computer Technology	College Math
English Honors	French 4

I find it odd that my school is still keeping the A day classes and the B day classes when they’re going to do the regular eight day schedule (or so I have heard.) Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone to say first period, second period, third period, etc? Instead of saying, "Go to your fourth period class." 
"Which fourth period class?" Oh well, in my opinion it’s easier to write down 1A, 1B, etc, on a piece of paper and not the whole 1st or first period.

I need inspiration for the whole school year as well. So starting every Monday all the way to whenever the school year ends (or I might just continue it, who knows?) I’ll post an inspiring picture or two or five or so and I’ll try to look up to it and listen to it for the entire week or year. It will certainly help when I’m feeling down because of life.

And there will probably be a subject for the inspiring pictures, or not, depending on my mood. So it will begin today and today’s subject will be… fear because of my fear for completing some of my goals.

And here’s the first picture:

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Have an amazing day/night.

Love,

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High School

I'm scared because the first day of high school starts in exactly three weeks from now. This means goodbye gradeless (or in between grades) and hello sophomore year. Where, there's going to be more responsibility that involves college math, a college preparatory class, lots of homework, and maybe a club or two. Mix in NaNoWriMo in November and I'm going to need help sleeping properly.

Another reason why I’m scared is because it’s the final three years that I don’t have to worry much about anything. It is the final time that I have to worry about food; the final time to worry about having a roof over my head; and the last time to have plenty of free time to really go on the computer.

Soon three years will be over in no time, and I’ll find myself in a college or university somewhere in the world, studying. Only what will I study? How can I apply that to my writing? And how will I get the money to pay for my studies? Writing a book and publishing it takes years, and I doubt that I have years to pay it off then. There are scholarships, SATS, and possibly ACTS to worry about…

See, it’s still summer and school is already worrying me.

However, I’m slightly excited about going back to school. I’ll get to see friends that I’ve “promised” to see during the summer and meet some new ones (goodbyes to old ones are over by now.) There are interesting things to learn about like the Civil War or how to dissect a pig (interesting to learn but I don’t want to actually do it.) There are fun and nice teachers that can help me get into a good college (my older sister’s talks about college are starting to rub off onto me.) There are activities to do such as Spirit Week and Homecoming. Dances to go to that will either result in an awkward but fun time or a nice and still fun time. Clubs to join that can help extend my social circle and my resume/college application. Plus it lets me stay away from the computer most of the day, which is both good and bad. Also school will help me get my sleeping schedule back on track… hopefully.

So what about you, fellow viewers, readers, and people that have happened to chance onto my blog; are you excited and/or scared for school? Why? And when does school start for you? Comment below and if you happened to be the 175th commenter or somewhere close to it (because the 175th commenter might be me) then you get an award. I don’t know what the award is but hopefully it will be awesome.

Have an amazing day/night~

Love,

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A school made for writers ~

How to torture/kill in the saddest ways your favourite characters - with Suzanne Collins.
How to be a complete troll about your plot - with Rick Riordan.
How to be the most cruel, harsh, sadist and violent writer on Earth - with Michael Grant.
How to give your characters the most revolting and traumatic past - with J. K. Rowling.
How to ascend from a funcking fanfiction writer to a fucking best-seller writer - with Cassandra Clare.
How to have the most crazy, deep and lush metaphors (which don't need exactly to have meaning or sense) - with Tahereh Mafi.
How to have the mad and non-sense ideas to books, but make them best-sellers - with Scott Westerfeld.
How to be a boss - with Neil Gaiman.
How to be C. S. Lewis - with C. S. Lewis.
How to make the funcking reader cry a fucking ocean in three words - with Nicholas Sparks.
How to have the best and most creative narrative of the books - with Markus Zusak.
How to imagine a whole new universe, creatures and even a new language - with J. R. R. Tolkien.
How to write teenage stories without being disgusting - with Meg Cabot.
How to write p... never mind. - with E. L. James.
How to have the weirdest ass plots with the most psycho characters and still win hundreds of awards and have a continuous flow of revenue from said books like a boss. - with Stephen King.
How to write a fictional novel while still using real life facts - with Kathy Reichs
How to create characters so human that you believe they are real - with John Green.
How to break everyone's hearts with your first book and then put the pieces back together with the second - with Gayle Forman.
How to ruin the love life of your reader giving fake hopes - with Becca FitzPatrick.
How to write a series and have it become a hit TV show with millions of fans worldwide a decade later - with L. J. Smith.
How to make a perfect character relationship and fuck it up in six chapters - with Estevan Vega.
How to kill everyone and still keep your readers interested - George R.R. Martin.
How to be shit and pretend you are good - with Stephenie Meyer.
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My schedule = Lots of homework considering that I want nearly every one of them as my teacher. Thankfully no math will be involved. 

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A bittersweet two days.

Yay, you're alive! 

[Insert random message for the random person]

♥ Stacy N.

That's primarily what I wrote in people's yearbooks for the past two days. And it was a bit bittersweet considering that I'll never see most of these people again. For two reasons

1.     They’re going to a different high school from me.

2.     They’re still going to the same school not yet ready to move onto high school.

So it was goodbye I’m glad you’re my friend/ you were amazing, [insert other nice adjectives]/have a great life/ etc for most of them. And a see ya later to those that I know will see again. There was always facebook and life having an uncanny way of making me meet people that I thought will never see again, though, so at least I won’t be that out of touch. Still, I won’t meet them again, so if you go to my school and is reading this right now. Just know that I said goodbye/see ya later depending who you are and which high school you’re going to next year.

Now let’s move onto other stuff of no important matter, if you can call this unimportant.  

What do you get for working your butt off for most of the year to create something that everyone will enjoy? A yearbook.

A yearbook that’s thankfully better than last year’s but has slightly less pictures and a whole lot of mistakes. And I’m almost tempted to go through the whole yearbook with a red pen to correct them all. Thankfully the very last page didn’t have any mistakes, because it was written by yours truly.

In fact I should have done that, discreetly edit the whole yearbook at home. And the yearbook teacher wouldn’t care because I’m on the yearbook team.

This reminds me…

And yes that is a hole cut into a shape of a puzzle piece on the front cover. My yearbook teacher haggled very hard for a lot of stuff to be added in the yearbook this year, and surprisingly it worked. Also have fun connecting to the power of knowledge, which actually helped me this year if I think about it. 

Salut!

 

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Only two more weeks

Till the last day of school comes, and I’m already sad thinking about it. Sure, I’m a bit happy, considering that it is the last day of school. And then three months of no schoolwork and you get bored. But you can stay up, sleep in late, and have fun.

Not unless you’re taking online schooling for the summer (like me -_-), then you’re not completely out of the ballpark for schoolwork. At least you won’t lose any of the information you learned in school, if you do take online schooling over the summer. It’s also the reason why the first part of school is just reviews, because teachers are trying to make you remember what you’ve lost during summer.

Now, I shall stop rambling about summer break, and just tell you guys why I’m sad that school is ending. It’s simply because it’s my last year at school. It’s the last time I’ll go walk the halls, have a half locker, and eat the lunch food. It’s also the last time that I’ll see the teachers that I’ve known since seventh grade. Practically much, it’s the last year of everything that I’m going to do there.

And that’s what makes me sad, knowing that it’s last year. It also scares me, knowing that I’m going to the actual high school next year. My just-barely-turned-into-a-sophomore head is probably going to explode from most of the work that I’ll receive. But I’m glad that I’m only going to be a sophomore next year, because they don’t receive really, really hard homework and have college pressures (yet).

However that eventually passes. So does college, and life, and everything else in between.

That includes being sad because it’s near my end at Jr. High. And I’ll probably be sadder when I’m finished with high school and college.

But enough with being sad, here’s something happy. 

I can't wait till Friday, because I'm going on a field trip to the amusement park. ^.^
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 It reminds me of the disney movie, Bugs Life

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