HOLY FUCK UCL JUST CALLED ME and basically they had to do that because i'm under 18 and that's why all my apps are taking so godly long compared to others (cough Jenny XD) but HOLYYYYYYY

Yeah.
Um.

I hope I get a nice offer.

Lawl I was so nervous for some reason!!!

Basically the lady (Dr. Rodd) was just like oh, we'll treat you like an adult bla bla, remember you're still under 18 so certain legal restrictions apply, etc, etc. HOLY CRAP UCL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not my dream school but it's pretty damn close!

And then my student (Room to Read, tutoring program in school) chose THAT moment to call. WTF MATE? lol

Let it be said that I really, really hate it when people aim low, and pass it off with an excuse such as "I can never do any better anyway, what's the point in trying?" Or "I don't want to aim too high." Overhearing people talk about your backup university as 'aiming too high'. Stuff like that. People I know, very good friends of mine even, not trying for something I know they can do.

Or do I?

I've always had relative academic success come to me. I've never tried very hard in school. The closest I've come to trying hard was reading my entire Chemistry textbook over 2 days in preparation for my AS-level exams. Oh, and blitzing Math past papers. Of course, I promptly forgot all the knowledge I amassed after I took the exam, but that's a little off-topic. I see people going to tuition and wonder what the hell they're doing in there. I see people working hard and feel a little guilty that I'm so damn lazy, but not enough to actually start working. (I'm probably spiralling academically down right now, since I haven't done any homework for weeks - and worse, I can't bring myself to CARE.) I go into exam halls feeling absolutely fucked and come out okay (although, of course, there have been times when I really was fucked lol).

I think exam technique is a big part of it. I suppose I should be thankful that I'm lucky enough to not have been in that frustrating situation where I know I know the answer, but just can't seem to remember it, and I'm panicking because time's running out, and oh shit it's coming to me, better write it dow- oh it's lost again, what the fuck man, not cool, not cool at all. If I don't know something, it's just blank white. Yeeeap. Don't know it. Damn. Haha. I guess I should also be thankful that so far, I've got through life without many problems. For all my talk of 'omg i'm dying', 'worked harder than i ever did in my life', well... I haven't worked very hard at all. I'm very lucky that whatever's sucking up my time hasn't impacted my grades more than the paltry bit it has. I don't know why. I don't know why I can't seem to get back into the mood either.

At any rate, I don't know whether to thank whoever is responsible, if there is anyone at all, for my seeming lack of academic problems, or to just be frustrated, because I starting to feel like I've never worked for anything in my life and this is starting to sound like the ranting of some spoiled upper echelon brat isn't it ahaha

I saw a guy who looked a lot like Mizushima Hiro on TVB (local channel) today. He was in the 7:00 RTHK show, the title was something about renting rooms. (Room for Hire?)

 I lost my USB. I also decided not to ED Pomona any more, mostly because I want to apply to other schools and not be restricted. Also, I forgot to apply for financial aid.

I just felt like ranting, because with my USB stick went my updated versions of my essays -_-

 I need some advice, guys.

I've been intending to brush up my music transcribing skills for quite some time now and I've decided to do Muse, if I can. Should I do a full blown transcription of the entire orchestration (part by part, obviously) on Guitar Pro 5 first or should I do the piano arrangement on Finale?

I COULD do the piano on GP5, but frankly the interface annoys me because bass clef and treble clef are in two different windows. It's understandable because it's a mainly guitar based program and piano is the only instrument with two clefs, pretty much, but it just annoys me a bit. Should I live with that to make my life easier?

But back to the question. Which should I do first? The more complicated GP5 band score transcribe (lawl, i'll have a murderous time with the drum alone) or the simpler piano on Finale? I'm having reservations about doing Finale first because I don't feel that I'll understand the song fully if I do that lol.

Also, I went to Italy for a school trip over the past week. It was pretty damn amazing.

We played Island and lost, but I felt team spirit. That was good.

I sprained my ankle in netball training yesterday. Not so good. I haven't had a sprain this bad in a while...

UCL sent me a set a questions to complete in two weeks. THANKS FOR LEAVING IT UNTIL THE DAY I LEAVE FOR ITALY, UCL.

Oh yeah, I'm going to Italy on a school trip from today to the 25th :]~~~!!!

And Whose Line is HILARIOUS.

 So. SAT IIs. Went okay, I guess. I have a feeling I bombed Lit. XD

More importantly, we had our first HKSSF (local HK league) basketball match today. IT was terrible. We sucked, the other school sucked, we should have sucked a lot less and won, but we didn't. We lost 3-11. (The score was 3-4 at the end of the first half. So uh...) The ref was biased against international schools, nothing new, move along, we have no teamwork, we never pass, we lose the ball after two passes, we never maintain possession, etc etc.

And then I watched the match between Island School and Rosaryhill School, since they were in our group and scoping opponents, bla bla bla. Pui Kiu did that too (the school we played against) (side note: They have purple uniforms. WTF. Ours are limegreen. Purple is actually a lot cooler, but then again the grass is always greener on the other side. I think Island has the best uniforms, though. They are red.). ANYWAY. Before I go any further I'd like to take this opportunity to say that Island School has always been our Holy Grail of schools when it comes to sports, among international schools at least. Nobody beats Island. Except maybe St. Stephen's or I don't know, really good local  schools <_< Which we aren't >_> Our entire group (bar 1 school I haven't seen play yet) kind of sucks. We lost to Island last year like 44-13 or something, it was very sad.

But Island lost. Ref was biased (EXTREMELY so, I mean we were sitting at the edge of the court behind the basket and the Rosaryhill girl very obviously knocked it out, but they gave the ball to Rosaryhill) (Island is an international school, Rosaryhill is not). I actually got more pissed in the Island v Rosaryhill game than I did for my own game! WTF! Ummm... they still played better than us. >_> But I want to beat them >_> The end.

Oh yeah, I knocked my knee pretty badly (Pui Kiu girl pretty much bowled into me, I dodged and sort of whirled into another Pui Kiu girl who was shooting... yes, I am a very erratic defender... I GET THE JOB DONE MOST OF THE TIME). Pui Kiu is actually really aggressive. I swear, they almost stepped on me. I was rolling out and whatever. >_>

Time to watch Glee~
 

 So I finally started my US University applications.

I really want to get into Pomona T_T The more I read about it, the more I research.... THE MORE APPEALING IT LOOKS D:

I FEEL SHITTY! (-ly bored)

I don't want to watch dramas except Glee, but that's not out until next Thursday.
I don't want to go on Gaia.

I don't really want to do anything online, because my computer is too hot -.- (My temperature is like 38.something right now???) And slow. WWWWWWTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF rant rant complaining >_>

I guess the only thing I can do is study. So I did. It's only 11! That's what time I normally wake up~!!!!! But I've 'studied' (more like went over >>) 4 chapters of SAT II Chem already and maybe i'll go over all of Math II today >_> Hopefully there isn't too much stuff I don't know.

I recently discovered wizard rock. Basically, small bands singing songs inspired by Harry Potter. I like Draco and the Malfoys (actually, only one song, 'Potions Day' or something like that >_>) and the Moaning Myrtles. Their (latter) voices are quite nice :]

boredddddddddddddddddddddd

I don't even want to play DS -.- Maybe I'll play some piano..

 

Oh so even though it feels like forever since I was last sick, apparently I was last sick in March. 2009. So uh. Whatever...

The Hong Kong way of curing a fever:

Go out and immerse yourself in 18-20 degrees Celsius air-conditioning for about an hour. Your body temperature will fall about 0.5 degrees C. Repeat.

I still can't believe that you said that catalysts LOWER THE ACTIVATION ENERGY OF A REACTION. WTF MUCH? Barron's!!!!!! I'm so disappointed! Is that what I'm supposed to think it does for SAT II? .-. i CAN'T DO IT!

I was taught that catalysts provide an alternate pathway which requires a lower activation energy, not that it directly lowers the activation energy D<

[/nerd] 

 Today, we had a basketball game against South Island School. IT WENT TERRIBLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not gonna lie, I may be a little less than unbiased right now, but damn it we have people playing who don't even turn up to practice! Who hog the ball, take terrible shots with like 10% success rate, turn their backs to me (haha personal one there XD), ignore passing to the left (my side) for like half the game, etc. etc. I mean I sucked too but seriously. When one person commits like, 5-6 fouls (thank goodness this is an unofficial league... or maybe they were counting...) and has interceptions from half their passes which turn into 2 points against us each time, seriously, WUT.

#@%!@

We're going to have to win the next game grumble grumble

Also, while fighting for the ball I got spun around by a mountain of a girl (with the same name as me XD) and I fell on my left butt :( BUTT BRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I talked a bit to two of our opponents after the game though. They're really nice~ Off court~ obviously XD I don't think anyone is ever nice on court. >.> That's netball.

http://www.bruceongames.com/2009/07/15/more-about-evony/
 
http://www.bruceongames.com/2009/08/25/evony-want-to-sue-me-for-telling-the-truth/
 
http://www.bruceongames.com/2009/09/14/evony-libel-me/
 
http://www.bruceongames.com/2009/09/14/evony-press-release/
 
Online game drama~
 
It's even on Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS116076+14-Sep-2009+BW20090914
 
One big summary: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/jul/15/games-evony-spam-internet (Guardian received a legal threat from the company after that)

This is just... sad.

I played the game yesterday because I was curious and it isn't a bad game, just kind of boring. Reminded me of FarmVille XD

But I don't think I'll be playing it anymore.

Thanks for almost ruining all my books. Thankfully I had the foresight to move them out of the danger zone before you got too bad. I guess I forgot how destructive typhoons could be, and how my window has a small crack in the wall where water can get in if blown in that direction hard enough (and you know typhoon winds ALWAYS come in from sea to land, so I really should have known better). As it is I'm really surprised that enough water got in to seep onto my bed, but then my parents did warn me and so it's my fault. I'm lucky that more of my stuff didn't get ruined XD I moved all my stuff from my windowsill (it's a huge windowsill >_> I don't know what else to call it. It's around 0.5m x 1.5m) to the floor. When I woke up at 6am, I still failed to notice the damage (fail...) (not really much damage actually...) Just a few things got wet so my room was on dehumidifier for like the whole day XD

Much needed dehumidifier actually BUT STILL.

So, no school yesterday. I spent the whole day playing and reading about The World Ends With You. Getting the soundtrack has made me re-addicted to the game, and actually wanting to beat the damn thing now. About time XD When I booted it, I found out that I hadn't played it for like a year XD

And.....

I GOT COOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOR ECA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(cooking is notoriously hard to get into. It's available only for year 13s and there are like 60 of us and only 8 spots. Although probably only like 20-30 actually apply for cooking. Or 16. WHATEVER. LET ME LIVE IN MY HAPPY BUBBLE!!)

I took a 1.5 hour nap today. I swear I've taken more naps in Year 13 so far than I had in the whole of my Year 12. WTF SELF???!

Off to homework now.

 TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Signal 8 till tomorrow morning? No signal 8? Bets? No bets? Does it even matter? 

When I was younger, I'd give my right arm for days like this where I get to miss school. In Year 12 and 13, the feeling I get when these days occur is mostly "Oh, damn. One less day of guidance. (It's debatable if we actually get any from most of our teachers, but that's beside the point) One less day of seeing my friends."

Hmmm...

Finished personal statement, I don't like it as much as my previous drafts, yay time to finish filling out my 7 page Cambridge Overseas App form!

UCAS, WHY ARE YOU SUDDENLY REFUSING TO WORD COUNT MY PERSONAL STATEMENT????!

Lawl I'm so tired, and I had a nap today. My Year 13 so far has been characterised by lots of sleeping XD And 4-hour nights scattered throughout the weeks.

I DOWNLOADED THE TWEWY REMIX SOUNDTRACK, HELL YEAH! It's so amazing, my heart cries just listening to it.

Yesterday I went on a huge translating spree after having ignored translation for hm... at least a few months. I'd say. So I finished a chapter that was due a month ago XD and I started to work on REAL, thank god I'm almost done translating from that terrible unclear grey raw D:

But yeah, I read it again, surprised at how much I could actually understand (IT'S A NO FURIGANA MANGA!!!!!) and I fell in love with REAL again. It doesn't help that Takahashi is turning less douchebaggy and more cute by the minute. I peeked at chapter 53 and there's something really cute about him getting some sort of lucky charm and all of his other therapy mates have the same charm too, or something like that. Not much Togawa, though :( But I guess he got the spotlight in volume 7. Literally. Oh, and 8. Translating has become fun again :)

UK Uni apps due Tuesday. Derp.

Hmmm... I found some people talking about how Area no Kishi should be released faster, and generally being really douchebaggy about it. Gee. Thanks guys. I feel so motivated to work on it now that you called me a lamer. *sarcasm* If you have so much time in your life to complain about the lack of mine, why don't you go help us or occupy your time constructively?

Manchester City beat Arsenal, 4-2 :D I really didn't expect that. And MAN U beat Tottenham ^^ I was worried for a while that the Spurs would win, because of their huge record.

Hmmm... I guess City vs United will be the biggest match next week, since City has been undefeated I think? And any match with United will have like 99999999999999 viewers lol.

( more manga musings - shibatora, area no kishi )

Did I mention that i'm a total sucker for Pokemon looking all epic and powerful like they're supposed to be? *icon icon icon*

 I FELL ASLEEP REALLY EARLY AGAIN

URRRRRRRGH WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN

So I fell asleep (ON THE FLOOR NO LESS IT IS SURPRISINGLY COMFY) at like, 10:something tonight and woke up at a bit past midnight. ASFASFDILJAK I was going to go back to bed when it hit me. Congratulations, you've done nothing at all!!! What about your two assignments due tomorrow? What about your Cambridge/other university applications, due next Tuesday? You still have to do the form bla bla bla endless work assignments rushing through my head.

So, er.

I should probably get off LJ. I just felt like PROCLAIMING THAT TO THE WORLD! *le pose*

 I just want some approval. It feels like I'm not getting any at all!

And do I really interrupt people as often as people interrupt me?

WOO HOO!
When I feel heavy metal 
WOO HOO!
And I'm pins and I'm needles
WOO HOO!
Well I lie and Im easy
All of the time but Im never sure when I need you
Pleased to meet you

Fuck yeah! I love this song!!

In other words, I'm still in holiday mode. THAT'S NOT GOOD. I have so much work. Well. I don't. It sure feels like I do though!

Mmmm... Netball tomorrow. Went to the HK Polytechnic U on Tuesday. Apparently they've researched a semi-cure for cancer. The drug is currently in clinical trials. My feelings are complicated with just a tad of scientific curiosity.

And now, back to Chemistry worksheet and Art essay.