Tackling Exams!

I am almost done with the school year!

*Let's out a huge sigh*

I really do need a break. These past few week have been constant work, study, and crave for sleep. I've been studying extremely hard for my AP Government and Politics test (which I took on the 13th) and for my Driver's Education class. Even though I got that heavy AP test done with, it doesn't mean that I'm done with school yet. I still have a lot of  projects to do and take even more exams.

Of course, I can't complain about exams, but I am lacking so much sleep. It's so unhealthy. It's just constantly stress and sleep. Hopefully, I can get back to my normal schedule once school is out for the summer, because right now, my schedule is so messed up... And so is my health (I've been trying to do yoga to destress, but sometimes I just don't have the time/energy).

I'll be posting tons soon. Just wait! Once I tackled these last 12 school days, then I'll be able to write more and excite you with my life (or not excite.) I am just ready for summer.

♥Your very tired and stressed out, Petpet

Going to Make the Best of my Sophomore Year

Boy, does time fly by fast?! I can't believe that my sophomore year is almost over!

Well, I survived another term of school! To be honest, it went by way faster than I expected. (I guess we did have a lot of long weekends... maybe that's why.) The only problem is, I don't think I really socialized that much this school term. Sure, I still have friends but I haven't socialized as much. I didn't really go to any of dances. Hardly went to any events (except for the Robotics competition last week.) It was kind of an easy quarter, but I still had a ton of homework. I don't hate school. I just hate the people, schoolwork, and stress of school.

What it feels like my crush is doing constantly

Now that 3rd term has ended, it means that the year will be over in just less than 3 months! I want to try and make the best out of my school year. By doing that I'm going to try and socialize with my friends as much as possible. Spring Fling is coming up and it is girl's choice. So, if my friends are planning to go as a group, I want to try and ask someone and actually go to the dance. (I haven't been to a school dance since Halloween.) I'm going to try and ask my friend who I went to homecoming with. I've like him for awhile, but I've been trying to hide it-- which I know is a really bad idea. Hopefully I find the courage the ask him and actually get to go to Spring Fling.

Time to finish off my sophomore year strong and try to survive all my finals!

♥Petpet
*All images belong to rightful owner

To my Fellow Follwers...

I apologize to all my fellow friends and followers for not posting recently.

The amount of work I've been doing this past month
(Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration.)

As you probably guessed, I've been extremely busy with school and life. I've been wanting to post a lot of stuff but I haven't had the time with the amount of things going on in life! Not only have I had to study for many classes, write essays, do projects, and keep up my social life, I also had to get ready for the holidays coming up!

I've just been completely swamped with things to do  that I don't have time to write. So, as an apology for not posting for almost a month, I'm going to make a commitment and post something everyday next week! Yup. I have never posted more than 2-3 days in a row so this will be a first for me! (I'm doing this because I need to post more and my winter break from school starts next week.) So look forward to the 7 day post from me! It will start on December 22 or 23.

Also, here's a little piece of artwork as an apology for my inactiveness. I did not too long ago for a contest. I didn't win but it was fun to draw.

I hope you all stay happy and warm... if you are in the northern hemisphere.
♥A busy and freezing Petpet

My Awesome Still-Life

I have drawn (or at least attempted to draw) a still-life before this year. The result? Let's just say... it looked nothing like a still-life. In fact, it just looked like a black and white charcoal outline of random objects.

So this year, I had to draw another still-life for Drawing 1 class. We could either bring a picture of the still life to class or choose from our teacher's collection of photos. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do so I chose something random from my teacher's collection. (None of them were easy.) My instinct was 'I'm going to fail.' Of course, I didn't want to fail so I spent about 9-10 hours total on my still-life.

It could have improved much more but that's all I wanted to do since I spent so much time on it already. I turned my project in and received a 98%, which I was proud of.

Earlier this month, the school announced that they were displaying student artwork at the front of the school in front of the auditorium. MY STILL LIFE GOT DISPLAYED! All the other artworks displayed were original still-lifes and only my friend's and mine was from the teacher's collection.

I'm usually proud of my artwork but this is one of the best ones I've had yet.
❤Petpet

Want Better Memory?

Being a student, it's hard to remember everything that you learned from class. Why is it that no matter how long you look at your textbook, you just can't seem to memorize the material! You are so confident to ace the big exam and then BAM, you forgot half of the things you studied for hours.

There could be many factors in why you failed that exam. Maybe it was your study skill? Or maybe it was because you weren't studying the right materials? Whatever it may be, it is not your memory's fault. Your brain is very capable of memorizing many things. The only problem is that you don't do things to remember better.

So here's 3 tips on how you could improve your memory. (Memory skills and study skills are different.):

1. You didn't pay attention in the first place or wasn't interested.
Sometimes, you think you paid close attention when you didn't. You can catch onto little details sometimes but there are other times when you just forget. Or maybe it's because the subject wasn't that interesting for you. If it's something you don't think you need to know, then you're going to forget it. If you have a boring class, you are going to have to try harder to keep yourself interested in order to memorize everything.

2. You didn't have enough repetition.
Your brain loves repetition. You tend to remember things if you repeat it over and over again. That's why it's good repeat what you write so you can memorize things. When you repeat things over and over again, you are telling your brain that it's important to keep in your brain. If you stop repeating what you've just learned, then you forget it right away. So if you've ever broken up with someone, it's a lot harder to forget them if you keep remembering them because you are making your brain remember it.

3.Other things interfere with your memory.
When you take a test, there are usually tricky questions that can mess with your memory. For example, there's those questions with "All of the above," "Both A&B," etc. Just the thought that it could be more than one of those answers interferes with your memory. That's why questions like those are always harder to answer (unless you know exactly what you're doing.) This is hard to avoid but you just have take all outside information away from your memory in order to improve it.

Well, I hope some of these tips help to improve your memory. Hopefully you can ace the next test with these memory skills.

♥Petpet
(P.S. I learned these skills from Psychology class.)

I do not own the picture. Picture belongs to rightful owner!

Homecoming 2013

So if you read my post last week asking whether I should go to homecoming or not... This is a continue of it.(Click here to read it if you missed it.)

As you probably figured, I went to homecoming yesterday! (Thank you RedWing for your feedback. I took your advice and the advice of all my other friends.) It was different from my middle school dances for sure. I mean, at my old school, the dances had about 60-70% middle school going and it was only from 5-7PM. Homecoming was similar but there was only about 20% of the school that went and the dance was from 7-10PM. Plus, there was a formal dress-code which I NEVER had with my other dances.

I went to homecoming with a group of friends. We had "dates" but some of them were unofficial and we mainly stayed as a big group. It ended up being uneven however because one of the girls couldn't go last minute. (So we had one "bachelor" in our group.) It was really fun going as a group. We just messed around, danced awkwardly, and had crazy fun. Even on some of the slow songs, we tried to have some fun.

When we weren't in a group, we were dancing with our dates... but that only happen a couple of times. My "date" was my guy friend G. He never asked me to go with him. It was just a pairing my friends did for us... But none of us opposed so I guess it was okay.

Last night was the first dance I've ever had with a guy. (Dances where I was forced to be paired up don't count.) I know it's really really late for me to have my first "couples" dance but I was never popular in middle school. Plus, none of the guys had the guts to ask me to dance with them. :P Either way, I would never imagine that my first dance would be with a guy like G. He's not the type of person, appearance wise, that I would dance with when two years ago but that doesn't matter because he's so sweet. ^_^ 

Homecoming was truely an amazing experience. My feet hurt like crap from dancing in heels but it was worth it. I got to have a fun time, meet some new people, get some more exercise, and dance with my friends.

It's been a month of high school and I'm already getting a group of friends... I guess I owe it to my social friend though.

Until next time,

♥Petpet who's surviving high school

Homecoming or Not?

It's been almost a month since my first day of high school! I can't freakin' believe it.

So as most of you know, most high schools have a "Homecoming" after a month or so of school. Well, my school has a homecoming dance next week and I'm not sure if I should go. It's a "guys' choice" dance which means the guys get to choose their dates. Being a girl from outside the district boundaries, I know very few people and hardly any boys would actually ask me to the dance. I mean, I have a few guy friends but I highly doubt any of them are going to ask me to be their date. (They've had 2 weeks and so farnothing.)

My friend G. said that we (that means he, a whole bunch of his other guy friends, my friend Abhi, my gal friend M, and I) should go to the homecoming dance as a group. It doesn't sound bad, but that means I'd have ONE WEEK to find an outfit for the dance... and I'd have to spend $10, since tickets are $20 a couple.

I'm still debating whether or not to actually go. It would be fun but I honestly don't know if I want to go... Since there's going to be couples everywhere and I'm going to be surrounded by guys with only one gal friend in my group.... (I know some of you girls are thinking I'm crazy to not go right now.) Still, it's a decision I need to make and I need to make the decision FAST.

I feel horrible that I actually have to think about whether I should go or not. Am I really that shy and unsocial that I can't just say "yes" to a school dance with a bunch of friends?! ...Looks like it but I really hope not. My choices for next Friday night is to spend my night on the Internet or go socialize... I feel so stupid right now.

I'm still uncertain if I should go though. >.< Suggestions on what I should do?
♥The Socially Deprived Petpet

Pictures belong to rightful owners!

My First Week of High School

I really wanted to talk about my first day but I was busy so I'm just going to talk about my week.

If you want a quick summary of my week, it involves an AP Government teacher who doesn't have the "cleanest" mouth; a land of flatness; public display of affections everywhere; a Taylor Swift look-alike; speed dating; and an ecstatic school assembly.

Interested on some of the details? Alright...

For first period, I have AP Government/Politics. To be honest, the teacher has to be one of my favorites. Not only does he remind me of my 7th/8th grade science teacher but I love his humor. It's cruel humor but not in a hurtful way. He is so honest that you can never expect a "sweet sugar coated" answer. Plus, he tends to swear a bit (which is new since I rarely hear teachers swear during my middle school years) but I just choose to ignore it. Other than that, he's super fun.

For English, I have to read a book called "Flatland." It is such a short book but the complicated sentences and story can make it a hard read. The concept of the land of 2-Dimensional world made my mind blow. It's just amazing yet strange. I've only read the first few chapters but so far, it's very interesting.

Being in high school, you are bound to see couples around the school. For me, I see it every hallway. PDA everywhere. Some couples just hold hands during passing time but some just go all out. I mean, come on. We are in school and there are thousands of people. Everyone knows you are a couple if you hold hands. You don't have to do all "that" in front of everyone, okay? I really don't need to see it when I'm trying to get to class.

One of the highlights of my week was meeting a girl who looks like Taylor Swift. She's in a few of my classes and I'm doing a project with her and another girl named Stephenie. The way Valerie did her hair and makeup on Friday made her look so much like Taylor Swift. One day, Valerie might try to dress up like Taylor Swift just to see how many people would think she was actually Taylor.

My favorite class right now is Psychology. I took the class because I thought it would be fascinating to learn how the brain functions. It became my favorite once I met the teacher. He is so fun and makes you feel relaxed and "at home." Mr. F. told our class that in order for this class to work, we must become a "family." So, on the second day of class, we were to meet every single person in the class and remember their names. What better way to do it than speed date? I was familiar with what speed dating was and I never expected to "speed date" during my 10th grade year! I spoke with 34 people that day. You have no idea how fried my brain was once I spoke with everyone and tried to remember their names. My friend Abhi (he went to previous school with me) asked me what my "method" was during the speed date. (By "method" he meant getting an actual date.) I had no method because I wasn't taking this class activity that serious.

On Friday, I had my first school assembly. It was interesting. At my old school, the assemblies were really boring. We just sat there and listened to people talk most of the time. My high school assembly had live music, dancing, cheer, and more. Sure, it's a high school but the assembly was fun. It wasn't really about the school but the clubs, school spirit, and talents. I would rather sit through performances than sit through a boring lecture.

Well, that was long... but a lot happened on my first week! I already have quite a bit of homework and it's most likely going to get worse as the year goes by. Here's to high school!
♥Petpet

*All pictures belong to rightful owner!! I own none of these!

Back to School 2013!

Ack. I can't believe my summer is over already!
Good things always have to come to an end, right? Well, I guess it's time for me to go back to constant learning, homework, stress, and drama! (Hooray... not really...)

I'm actually kinda excited to get back to school but that just means I have less time to watch animes and TV shows (I didn't get to watch as many I wanted to this summer.) I've done a lot of back-to-school shopping but it's difficult to know all the supplies I need since it's a new school and new teachers.

I finally "found" a locker partner though! I'm going to be sharing a locker with my guy friend from my old school. We got our locker number on Thursday... but we had (and still have) no idea where it's located. It's supposed to be upstairs in hallway "E." When we looked at our map, there was no hallway "E" at all. That means MY LOCKER IS IN A HIDDEN HALLWAY. Not spooky or confusing about that, right? I'll just have to find it tomorrow morning...

On Thursday August 15th, I went to my school for orientation. Aside from getting my locker number, I also got to go to all my classes and meet my teacher. I had a schedule change so my class schedule's like this now:

A Day-

• American Government/Politics AP
• Mandarin Chinese 1
• English LA 10H Advanced
• Drawing 1

B Day-

• Secondary Math 2 Honors
• Chemistry Honors
• Psychology 1
• Lifetime Fitness

So far, the teachers are really nice and it looks like I'd be able to make friends easily. I will miss my old friends though.

The only problem with my schedule is the location of the classes. At my old school, I was used to going around 2-3 hallways. At this school there are 2 stories with about 10 hallways each and a separate building. I have to run up and down the stairs while going to the other side of the school for almost all of my classes. I don't know where my locker is too so... I think I'll have to carry my books and supplies with me for the first week or so of school.

This will probably happen to me tomorrow:

All I could say is that I play piano and speak Cantonese. If I say anything else (like I'm an Otaku, a Disney fanatic, or writes a blog), I'm probably going to get weird looks...

So, no more sleeping in and late nights for me! School's tomorrow so the best of luck for me. I really need it... 

♥The kind of terrified but excited, Petpet

10th Grade Registration

School is almost here... Which means I have to prepare for the year.

Yesterday, I went to my high school for registration (I thought I was going another day but my parents decided that the earlier, the better.) There were a lot of people so it was really hot and stuffy around.

We had to do the Online Registration (since we didn't have our passcode yet) and that took about 20 minutes. Next was school fees and information with parking and lockers. Since our school has a lot of students and not enough lockers, we have to find partners for lockers.

You know how hard that is for me? I only know one student in the whole school and that's because he went to my previous school (he's a friend.) I mean, we probably will end up sharing lockers since we both agreed it would be better to share a locker with someone you know than a random s
tranger. I just don't know if my parents like the idea of a guy and girl sharing a locker. I honestly don't mind since I know he won't snoop around my stuff...

I dunno if I should just share with him for the whole year or should I find a random stranger I don't even know to share. I really need some advice here. >.<

Despite my locker problem, I still went through registration smoothly. We had to take school pictures that day (so it was pretty much picture day for me) and receive our student ID card. It's much more efficient to do it like this than my old school.

After pictures, it was time for me to pick up my schedule! I was pretty satisfied with my classes except for a few changes needed to be made.

A Day-

• Drawing I
• Mandarin Chinese I
• Chemistry H
• Psychology I

B Day-

• Secondary Math 2 H
• European History AP
• Consumer Health
• English LA 10H

*Highlighted are the classes I want to change.

Since my school does International Baccalaureate (IB for short), they have certain class courses that you should take in order to take IB. I need to change my history/social studies course to "American Government and Politics AP." It's an 11th and 12th grade course but I'm allowed to take it if I plan to take IB. Then I also have to change my English to "English LA 10H Advanced" for IB as well. 'B'-days will certainly be a challenge with all my tougher courses in one day but that might change depending on how they change my schedule.

I'm kinda excited for school... but I know I won't have as much free time once it starts. Might as well enjoy my last few weeks until then!

♥Petpet

9th Grade Graduation

Tuesday, June 4th was my 9th grade graduation.

To be honest the graduation was fun. I just regret that I didn't wear heels and that I didn't wear my pretty dress (I thought I would overdress but apparently not.) We took pictures of the guys and girls in our pretty dresses.

Then we went on with the ceremony. The first speech was from an administrator and it was nice. Then my friends sang a duet of "Hallelujah." It gave me the goosebumps and it still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I'm jealous of their voices!

The speech from our student body president was great. He did a great way of talking about the good times at our school while making it a little comedic. His speech really loosened the tiring atmosphere. I'm really going to miss him.

Our last speech was from our principal was... very long. She talked about how this school first opened and the 3-4 years we've had. She managed to make us feel proud though. What she did was say an accomplishment and then have all those that did it at their years at our school stand up. Everyone stood up at least once... whether it was for being here 3-4 years, joining different clubs, being on the school teams, or academics. I stood up so much that it was crazy. Here's what I can remember standing up for:

• Being at the school for 6-9
• Being at the school for 7-9
• Getting Honor Roll
• Getting High Honor Roll
• Getting High Honor Roll all of this year (9th grade)
• Joining Journalism
• Joining Yearbook
• Joining Peer Leadership
• Joining a Music Program
• Going to the Spanish Language Fair
• Help win the trophy at the Spanish Language Fair this year

There was probably a few more... but that's all I remember. I felt great because I knew I didn't spend my middle school years doing nothing.

We then had a slideshow of the proceeding students. They had pictures of us when we were in 7th grade and then this year's yearbook teacher. It's amazing to see the 2 year difference in everyone. Even I looked so different...

We went through our little ceremony after the slideshow. It wasn't much. We got to shake hands with the school board (who I'm not very fond of because they are the ones why we can't get anything fun) and get a snazzy little "diploma." Then we got to take a picture with our principal. Pretty fun stuff. (NOT.) I guess that's one way to prepare us for graduation in high school and college. 

I took tons of pictures with my friends... and felt shorter still. What is up with parents and picture taking? Either way, it was still a fun night. I have "officially" graduated from the school!

♥Petpet

My School...Ridiculous Much?

I have about 4 more weeks of school left.

At this time, you are either piled with homework, overwhelmed by tests, or just doing nothing. Well, in some classes, we usually do nothing super productive. When there's no work to do, sometimes teachers like to put a movie up for us to watch.

Well, now they aren't allowed to do that unless we watch a movie that's G and has a purpose to the lesson. I don't understand why it has to be G-rated for middle school. I mean, for elementary... that's pretty reasonable but for middle school. We aren't allowed to watch movies that are PG without permission.

For example, we watched Ice Age today for Spanish but before we could, we had to get permission from our parents. It's a PG movie with mild peril. Has the school board/principal seen the movies teenagers watch these days?! They watch movies with gory death and constant swearing... sure, this doesn't apply to all teenagers but a PG movie should not need permission for.

And the movie was animated for goodness sakes! Most PG animated movies are safe for 7-year-olds to watch. We are not 7-year-olds. We are 13-16 year olds. Please know the difference.

PG-13 movies, I can understand with the permission slips because it's a little bit more mature and parents should know what their teen is watching but PG is different. I would like my parents to know when I watch PG-13 but they don't care what my sister and I watch that's PG.

So, I just find that ridiculous. It's a new policy but we only have a few weeks of school left. We are all going to work hard to finish the school year but there are times when we want to relax a bit after the constant pressure of grades, tests, and assignments. Can't we watch a movie for one class period that's PG without our parent's consent? Like I said, we aren't 7.

Sometimes, I'm glad to leave the school for reasons like this but there's always a part of me that tells me that I love this school... despite for a few teachers, the stupid school board, and the 'officials.' I know I love them deep inside but they just do not understand sometimes which is frustrating... especially for the middle school. I just hope things will change by the end of the year... because I really don't want to do a lot of work on the last week of school.
♥Petpet

Honor, Elections, Business, and Fairies

Friday was an interesting day for me.

Let's just say a lot happened... First, I came to school late and I was to go help out at the assembly. So, I practically had to ran to my first period just to let know I'm here and then run downstairs to the gymnasium. Everyone knew it would be a long assembly. I mean, we had high honor roll and honor roll recognition, IB recognition, and then the elections.

I got high honor roll of course and so did the rest of us. (When I mean "us," I mean all the other people who's got high honor roll all the other years.) We went through the normal procedure. This time, I got a coupon for In-And-Out Burger and another coupon for my favorite skating/fun center.

Then they announced honor roll people. My hands were red and sore from all the clapping I had to do. Same with the IB recognitions... Then came the "teacher of the month" award. After 2 years my favorite teacher of all time got nominated. That was worth celebrating.

Next came the elections. This year, we had 3 people running for President and 3 people running for Vice President. I swear, these elections are always a popularity contest. Unless you were liked and popular, you don't have much of a chance to win UNLESS you could catch the crowd's attention. For president, I saw it coming. One of the most popular kids (Chito) went for it and got it. He's a cool kid and a great role model but he hardly did any campaigning and his speech wasn't brilliant. The other girls did well too but they had no chance against him since he's so popular. Then came the VP speeches. There were mainly 2 people that stood out... One of them ran for president last year but didn't stand a chance and the other was a friend from Peer Leadership. Again, popularity contest.

Secretary and Treasurer were very creative but there was always a few people that stood out. What I found funny was that there were a few people that were running but... they are friends and they HELPED each other with their campaign/skits! I mean, there was a girl who called up her friends and one of them was running against her. I find that a little weird but if they want it, do it. The only thing I can really remember is Treasurer with my little cousin. I had no idea he was going to try to for the position but he got it. I knew he was popular in 6th grade but he totally won the crowd with his comedic skills. He tends to mumble A LOT so it's hard to understand him sometimes but you love his jokes once you can understand. I even remember people asking "Who was that Asian kid going for treasurer?" ...That kid. It's too bad 9th graders weren't allowed to vote.

How a few of our bracelets looked like...

That's mainly what happened in an hour and a half long assembly... By the time we went back to class, I had to get ready for the Bracelet Activity. It was our second and last day to sell bracelets. Our group didn't do too well on the first day so we just tried to sell as many bracelets as possible. We got about half of them out because of our ninth grade friends but by the end of the day, we only had 423 dollars. We knew we had no chance in winning so, we just counted 100 dollars and gave the rest randomly to the other groups. We went with a stack of money in each group and just threw it onto the table... then we took whatever we wanted from their tables. That went with all the groups. It just made everyone else feel good and we didn't care for winning either way.

I was late for my high honor roll luncheon because of that but by the time I ate, I was so tired. My morning was just long and tiring. Spanish didn't help. I had to perform "Ceniciento" (Cinder "Fellow" in Spanish). Being a fairy godmother wasn't hard but... that just made me run around even more.

I'm glad to be back in school after a week of break... but it seems like 4th quarter is starting it hard.
♥Petpet

Spring Break, Yay!

I am finally out for Spring Break! You have no idea how excited I was to get out of school on Thursday.

Sure, it wasn't an early out day but it was still a 'fun day.' First off, it was Dress-Down day which means NO UNIFORMS! We could wear whatever we desired because we had less than 3 tardies during 3rd quarter.  Since it was the last day of the quarter, the teachers were all very considerate and decided that we could just have a free day. So in math, we had a short lesson then just chatted with each other until class ended. Then in Geography, the watched Rise of the Guardians (I found out that I would be Sandman if I was one of the characters.) Then in Biology we watched Mythbusters and in Peer Leadership... We just did whatever. I
also had ice cream because 7th grade was doing the ice cream parlor. So, it was a really non-productive day... Aside from the fact that I helped out with Yearbook during two classes. (I shall explain another day.)

"Hard work, pays off in the end."

I am so glad to have a week of relaxation and no school! The students and teachers all needed a break. I mean, we (the ninth grade honors) had so much going on the past 3 weeks with school work. First was the Geography 50+ page outline. Then we had study guides and essays to write for English class. We had a bit of math homework and tests to study for. Last Friday, we had 3 tests out of the four classes. I mean, I didn't
study a lot but it's hard to remember everything. We never have them spaced out enough... Then I had projects for English and Art which were a little stressing. So, we really needed a break from all the work.

So after such a gruesome month, we finally got a break. We have Friday the 29th off until Sunday, April 7th. I only had one homework assignment (super simple) and it's just a week for me to sleep in, go on the Internet and do what I'd like. I already spent Friday night playing night games with a few friends and Saturday playing RPG's... But I did some cleaning around the house too so I'm not wasting all my time.

What do I have in store for the rest of my break? Probably more Internet, finish reading some Mangas, finish a few books (especially Sister's Grimm), finish an anime series, watch a few Disney movies, organize my room, make 20+ bracelets for my bracelet activity group, draw something nice, and get plenty of exercise.

It's kinda a lot for 1 week but I believe I can do it!.... As long as I stay away from the RPG games.

Well, if you are on spring break as well, what plans do you have? Or if you already had your break, what did you love the most about it? Comment to tell me!
❤Petpet

This is unrelated but since my quarter ended, I wanted to post my grades up. To be honest, 3rd quarter was by far the hardest to keep my honor roll streak. There were so many classes that I was afraid that I wouldn't get high honor roll in... Now that I look back, I really AM an overachiever. That's not bad though, right? (This English term, I wanted to be sure that I wouldn't get lower than an A... so why not make it over 100%, eh?)

...Yeah... I am a huge overachiever.

*All pictures (except for the grade report) belong to rightful owner.... The grade report belongs to me (Petpet) and I don't think you'd want to steal it in the first place...

My Proudest Work

Writing Argument of Fact wasn't this easy...

In December 2012, I learned about different argument papers, such as argument of fact, argument of judgement, and argument of policy. This was completely new for us and we struggled a bit. (Some more than others.) When I first learned argument of fact, it was really hard to understand because you had to justify the facts to why they were evidence. I guess it was the use of having to restate what would be common sense. Not many of us did well on our first paper (I struggled a lot with the warrant or "as a rule" statement) and the subject, is justice blind, was hard for me to write about.

Then we learned about argument of judgement. For me, this argument is much easier because it's more opinionated and has much easier guidelines. If you haven't studied or heard of argument of judgement before, it's basically creating a criteria, finding specific evidence, and proving whether your subject fits into your criteria for those reasons. I guess this argument was a lot easier because the paper we had to write was about whom we thought would be the best teacher and it was something we could all relate. (I got a perfect score for ideas.)

The last paper we had to write on argument was argument of policy.
This was probably the most gruesome paper I have ever written. With argument of policy, it is usually used to write a policy but for our class, we had to write an argument on a policy that already exists. An argument of policy paper uses argument of fact and judgement in the paper because for an argument of policy, you are analyzing the policy and deciding if it should stay the same, be changed, or abolished.

Our subject was cross curricular which meant that it would be on something that we were currently learning about. Since it was on policies, my science teacher and my English teacher decided our topic. For Biology, we had to write an argument on the U.S. policy on stem cell research. I never really knew what stem cells were until a lot of research. In the process of research, I also learned what potential embryonic stem cells have in the future along with what advances in medical use it has helped us today.

Anyways, we spent a few weeks to research and then write the paper. It was hard for me to write the paper at first because I was sick the week we went over the information. Of course, I caught up quickly and understood what to do and before I knew it, the first deadline was near. I finished the rough draft and later found out that I received a 94%. Shows that I was on the right track!

Next, was for the final draft. Some people only had to make a few correction over the 2 days while others needed to make more than a few...

After many weeks of waiting, we were given back our papers. What score did I get? A 96%. The highest score in the entire class and possibly all of 9th grade... I was utterly shocked because I thought my paper was going to get a lower grade than my rough draft (especially with my grammar and conventions.) It was such an honor for me to be consider a "good writer" though. Even after that positive news though, there was more.

Wait, what?! The Senators?

Our principal, Student Body President, Vice President, and Peer Leadership representative went up to our state capital to talk to some senators about our school. I wasn't notified of this until a few days after but they showed my paper to the senators. These are important people who represent my state and America... and they read my paper! Utterly shocking and even now, I can't believe it to be true.

So... some of you might be interested in reading this paper of mine, right? Well, if you are interested, here's the link for you to read: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8rTNthsVskRbTJkSlNvV0haWWM/edit?usp=sharing

Am I really that good of a writer? I mean, when I blog, I just ramble whatever and make constant mistakes. I'm proud of my work but is it all cut out to be? I really don't know... but hopefully when I look back on this paper, I'll remember all the work I put into it and how much this paper really means to me. I don't like essays but this is something that I worked hard on and I deserve to share it, right?
♥Petpet

*All pictures belong to rightful owners

I no longer like Geography...

Guess what I was assigned this weekend for homework?!

A 50+ page outline on North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia. I really don't mind about learning the region but I just hate outlining. I hate it with a passion now. When I was first learning about outlines, I didn't mind them at all because they were easy. After outlining chapters for so long now, I should be a pro at it but I hate it more than ever. So far through my year in Geography, we've had to outline at least 30-40 sections. It's a pain to do because you have to get most details (you never know when you'll be tested on it and be able to use notes.)

I am just done with Geography this year... At least with outlining and taking notes. It's too much for me! I have almost 100 pages of notes and outlines from Geography! From this year, about 75% of the time, we are outlining the sections from our Geography book or taking notes. It gets so repetitive that I no longer want to do it.... But I know I must do it for a good grade.

Must do it...

(It kind of reminds me of my friends who go to Seminary every morning. Everyone from other schools are excited and love seminary while everyone at my school DREAD it. Their teacher does nothing interactive or even teach them their scriptures. He just assumes that they read and memorize them and during class, he lectures them and tells personal stories that most don't even want to know. He also grades unfairly. He's giving students who don't participate in class good scores while those who are in class and not paying attention get a bad grade. Sure, the students are on their phones when they aren't supposed to but he needs to listen to them and make the class entertaining and engaging! Of course, this is the perspective from all 9th grade students who go to Seminary...)

Anyways, I don't mind learning about the history and geography of the world. I just hate the methods of learning we are doing in Geography. I highly doubt my teacher is going to change her methods because it's hard to control 30+ students in a classroom already... I just really dread going to Geography now because I don't want to take notes or outline! It's too bad we can't just read and go over what we all learned in class because we have peers that cannot learn to be quiet or do their work...

I know that in the future I'll look back at these notes and might be glad to have these notes but would really like a change from constant work. I guess that's how it's going to be when I'm older anyways. Geography class is just a way for me to prepare for my future and the reality that I might have to do something repeatedly for the rest of my life. :/

Of course, I'm not going to quit doing outlines, I'm just DONE with them and no longer feel like doing them. I hope that high school won't have so much outlining.

♥Petpet, who loves learning about the world... just not writing about it

*All pictures in this post belong to rightful owner

Frog Legs, Anyone?

WARNING: The following post contains pictures of frog organs. If you are uncomfortable with body parts or frogs in general, I suggest not reading this post.

*Picture/Comic belongs to rightful owner

I've never been a big fan of frogs.

I read about frogs when I was a kid and I even touched frogs as a little kid... but the frog I touched on Tuesday, was not small. No, dear reader. It was a HUGE defenseless frog.

Bracelet Activity, Mission:Start!

I'm really excited for the month of March... It involves making friendship bracelets.

In ninth grade, our state requires students to learn how to manage a business with your classmates. So what we did was split into 5 groups (with 6-7 people in each) and created our own "friendship bracelets business."

We get to learn about everything in a business such as stocks, income, expenses, management, debt, etc. Along with learning business itself, we will also be discovering ourselves. "What skills do you have an a business person? What are you good at? What do you need to improve on?" This is one school activity I'm looking forward to.

I'm actually really proud of my group. All the members are people I know well and it seems like we won't have a lot of drama. I have Aub, Alex, M, Bai, and C in my group. They are all amazing people and most of us cooperate with everyone. As a group, we had to assign members different roles, such as president, finance, design, etc. When we first heard that the groups need a president, everyone in my group said, "I nominate [insert my name here]!" I saw that coming and of course, I took the role. I was glad to be the president but that doesn't mean I'd be in charge of everything because all group members have to do something. So, for the rest of the roles, everyone just chose what they'd like and we didn't have any troubles. Here were the roles:

• President: Me
• VP of Finance: Aub
• VP of Sales: Alex
• VP of Design: M
• VP of Marketing: C
• VP of Manufacturing: Bai

Each of our roles pretty much fits our personalities which is great.

Next, was coming up with a name and slogan. That took us awhile to figure out...  We came up with the randomest ideas such as "SWWAGG," "YOBO," and we almost went with "YWYCPON Bracelets (You wish you could pronounce our name)" but in the end, we decided to go with "Threadz." Our slogan? These my/our threads. It's a little weird but it's easy to remember, which is what's great in a business! We're hoping to do all different types of trendy themed bracelets. (Superheros, Dr. Who, popular shows, music bands, etc.)

So, this post title had "Mission:Start!" on it. My mission? Have tons of fun, make awesome bracelets with awesome designs, and beat all the other teams. (It's tough competition for sure.) So far, our start has been good but it all depends in the long run. Hopefully my bracelet making skills will come in handy.

Still, I can't wait to get started!

♥Petpet

*Picture belongs to rightful owner

Attack of the Chicken Wing!!

I didn't think this day would come... In a lab full of scientists in training, I hear a shriek... a look of disgust... Discovery. My gloves were slipping. It was getting tougher. There wasn't much time left...

And then all of the sudden...
IT attacked.
----------------------

Okay, maybe it didn't happen like that but it was my highlight of the day. Today, in Biology, I dissected something for the first time.

To be honest, it was cool but weird. We were learning about skins in Biology and what it does. Well, to really understand the layers and parts of the skin, we "dissected" a raw chicken wing. We first cut tear a hole into the chicken wing (the skin's tough and the scissors are small). Then we had to take the skin off. It was torture!

Usually, a cooked piece of chicken skin is easy to peel off but raw ones, they are almost impossible. Why? The fat cells are really attached to the muscles (we could barely get the fatty part of the skin off.) Another thing that makes it worst is that we couldn't cut up the muscle and tendon because we are going to use the chicken again for another dissection. It was kinda frustrating but at the same time, it was really fun. It's kinda cool to see everything in the skin... even though it's a little weird.

"That is a nice blood vessel."

Now about the attack... It didn't really attack me or my lab partner but it almost dropped onto the floor and table a few times. So in a way, it was trying to "attack" the floor, right? (Whoops!)

Anyways, that was my wonderful time in Biology. Pretty soon, we are going to be dissecting frogs... Chicken wings, I can do. Frogs... I'm not sure. O_O

I should probably get working on my final draft of my policy paper that's due tomorrow. (Guess who will be staying up late tonight?!)
♥Petpet, your grossed out, tired teenage girl

Pictures belong to rightful owner!

I did it!

I survived another semester of school!

And, I manged to get high honor roll, once again. It was a close one.

I'm just glad it's done with Fitness for Life! No more push-ups, PACER Tests, and all that those worksheets.

My second semester schedule:

• Art 2
• Computer Tech
• Language Arts 9 Honors
• Spanish 2
• Secondary Math 1 Honors
• Geography
• Biology
• Peer Leadership/Student Govnerment

My schedule basically stayed the same. The only thing that really changed was 1st and 2nd period. (Although I still have the same exact teacher for 1st period.)

For all of our hard work, we get a 5 day weekend!

So far, all I've done was go on Pinterest, Blog, PSF, Club Penguin, and play Kingdom of Hearts: Recoded for about 6-7 hours. (I swear, I haven't played my Nintendo D.S. this much forever.) 

Anyways, I probably should start working on my homework. (Yes, I have homework over break... but it is my fault for procrastinating.) Until next time!

♥Petpet

Tangled gif found on tumblr

Nagi from Hayte No Gotoku gif belongs to mfcs on Photobucket