It's past midnight. I should be asleep, or doing something entertaining on a Saturday night. But alas, I have just set down my handy-dandy Princeton Review AP U.S. History study book-thing and decided to call it a night on the APUSH studying. It's the first AP exam I've ever taken (that and the AP Spanish Language exam I will also be taking this year as well) and, as you can probably tell, I am stressed out. By nature, I am a tense, constantly stressed-out person, and this is by no means an exception. Not only do I have to focus on course studies, but I still have to find time within now and two weeks to properly study (I know, I should have started sooner - but don't criticize me so soon, as I have been faithfully attending my AP teachers' AP exam tutorials). My study-buddies and I already had an AP exam study session at B&N (didn't turn out so well, coincidentally - we happened to be sitting by the humor section and the boys were obsessing over the zombie apocalypse book, and the coffee + cookie run we made to Starbucks in the bookstore didn't help, either. Although, in my defense, I spent my two hours going over AP Spanish reading comprehension practices and did half of an APUSH multiple-choice test). Next time, we'll just stick to the good-old school library. Also, in my defense, I have started studying sooner than most people who are taking the AP exams.
It certainly doesn't help that my AP Spanish teacher tends not to give us any practice whatsoever on the oral parts of the AP exam. Sure, we've done listening exercises, reading comprehensions, and long & short essays, but we haven't done any Spanish speaking practice (except once, in January.) This, is a problem. While, luckily, I will not be taking my exam with the rest of the sophomore AP Spanish class, the hardest part of all for me is the speaking. Listening is difficult too, as the narrator usually speaks incredibly fast. Speaking-wise, my grammar isn't that exceptional, and it's kind of a big deal considering I don't have much time to come up with a decent essay to deliver in two minutes-time. I am somewhat more confident for the Spanish exam than the APUSH one. The DBQ and FRQs are going to KILL me. It kills me that I don't know what exactly to be prepared for. There's so much information! It's overwhelming!
I am lucky that I have better information-retaining skills than most people. My class hasn't done entirely too many DBQs and FRQs, which not-so-secretly stresses me out. It would be nice if we had more DBQ/FRQ exercises in class, but my APUSH teacher is frantically trying to get all the information properly taught to us.
I don't know how my friend Olivia can juggle her AP exam studying (she's taking AP Stats + AP Spanish and APUSH) and volunteer as crazily as she does. I'd die! I volunteer a lot, as I'm in the Spanish Honor Society and the National Honor Society and the Rotary Interact Club at my school, but she takes the volunteering to a whole new level. I mean, when is she going to have enough time to REALLY study?
Anyway, I'm going to desperately try not to scream my head off due to frustration and stress. I am making a vow to myself that I will stay off Blogger until AP exams are over. I'll let you all know after May 11 how everything went.
Coincidentally, I will deactivate my Facebook account until AP exams are over. Starting tomorrow. God, give me the strength to stay off Facebook for two whole weeks. Trust me, I need all the strength and patience in the history of, well, my whole life up until this point.
Wish me luck you guys!!!
Once again, long time no post! As usual, I've been crazy busy, what with loads of homework and AP exams coming up and scrambling to get all of my hours for NHS done and turned in. I can't believe I did 56 hours of volunteer service this year. We only had to do 15. I certainly overworked myself this year. :)
I haven't gotten much reading done (at least, for fun) - my class did finish To Kill A Mockingbird...although it wasn't my favorite book in the world, I did enjoy reading it (more than reading Ender's Game, at least - science fiction is so not my genre, I discovered). My class watched the film and it was good, although it didn't compare to the novel, in my opinion. It was certainly a good adaptation of it, though. Peck made a wonderful Atticus Finch.
I still haven't read The Help (shame on me) but I definitely plan to read it this summer, when I go to Spain, as I will probably not have much to do in the semi-abandoned town I visit there. I also plan on looking at scholarships for college there. My dad says I should teach English to the kids there...hah, PLEASE! I don't know how to teach anything. I'm a very impatient person.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
ANYWAY...away from the blah blah blah about my dull, typical high-school life (I am SO ready to be done with high school, even though I'm only finishing the 10th grade, unfortunately). I did get some time today, after state testing, to read Girlfriend Material by Melissa Kantor. It's about this girl, Kate Draper, who has to ditch all of her "marvelous" summer plans - she had been taking a summer writing class and was planning on playing tennis with her best friend, Laura - to go to Cape Cod for the summer with her mom, who is only trying to get Kate's distant father's attention. Kate and her mother were bunking in at Kate's mom's college best friends' - Tina & Henry - house for the summer. Initially, Kate is thrilled to be seeing Tina & Henry's daughter, Sarah, a childhood idol and friend, again, but gets a cold and rather unfriendly welcome from Sarah once she arrives, discovering that Sarah wants absolutely nothing to do with her. Out of her comfort zone, (even her best friend, Laura, has found something to do in her absence - surprise! She has her first real boyfriend) Kate has no choice but to spend her time either in the library or at the country club, where she teaches tennis to a 8th grade brat, Natasha (who obviously doesn't even like tennis), and where she meets Sarah's friends - Jenna, Lawrence and Adam. Slowly, but surely, the four of them start becoming friends, Sarah included, and she becomes friends with Adam more so than with anybody else, if you know what I mean. Adam is irresistible - funny, smart AND attractive! - and he seems to be interested in Kate, too. As the two of them hang out more, the pull between them grows stronger, until neither can hold back any longer. After kissing on the Fourth of July, Adam and Kate hang out a bit more, until Adam has to go on a fishing trip with Lawrence. While he's on the fishing trip, Kate discovers something shocking - Adam already has a girlfriend, Molly. Unbeknownst to her, Adam and Molly are on a "break" for just the summer, which Adam explains to her when he comes back, and that he believed she wasn't interested in any kind of serious relationship, either. However, even though Kate tries to shake it off like it doesn't matter to her that she's just a summer fling, it does bother her, and at last, she tells Adam that she doesn't want to "hang out" anymore. Eventually, she realizes that she does miss him, and goes to tell him how much she likes him, but blurts out her feelings to Adam's twin brother, David! How embarrassing, right? David informs her that Adam had left to New Hampshire, where Molly is, and she comes to the sickening conclusion that Adam had gone to N.H. to get back with Molly after all. NOT THE CASE. Adam comes back and tells her that he had only gone to N.H. to break up with Molly, realizing how much he liked Kate and wanted to be with her.
AWW - so cute, I know. And although I sympathized with Kate, knowing what it's like to be stuck with someone who obviously doesn't like you and being a fish out of water with someone else's friends, I don't understand how Kate could be so nonchalant about being just a fling, even if was just to Adam's face. I mean, her feelings change so much. When she's with Adam, she's all like "oh, who cares if it's just a fling? I'll probably never even see him again" and then when she's alone, she's like "but I don't want to be just a fling, I want to be dancing in the happily-ever-after with him". It's like she doesn't know what she wants. I mean, sure, I can cut her some slack as it's her first boyfriend, but I've never had a boyfriend either and I know I wouldn't be okay with being someone's fling.
All in all, I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
I'll post again when I read a new book or something - if you've been keeping up with my posts, you'll know I've been hooked on a Fanfiction Naruto story by AngeLHearteD. It's fantastic, and I get so frustrated that she's been so busy with her life that she hasn't uploaded any new chapters! Fortunately, she keeps me hooked with her amazing characters and her sneak-peeks, but I do understand how busy she must be. It's just like reading a good book! You can't get done with it fast enough!
Check it out. Seriously, I'm not kidding. It's amazing. And Sasuke makes me drool because he's hot, even if he IS a jerk. I'm NOT giving any spoilers to her story, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. And if you do read, please leave her a review! She DOES appreciate them and actually DOES go through them!
Here's the link:
Quietus by AngeLHearteD
She also has a Deviantart group for her story, too, in case you guys like her story a lot. You'd be surprised how many drawings and pictures she gets for her story. It's incredible. She's a very talented writer and people do see that, as they draw pictures for her story :) I think the link to her group on Deviantart is on her Fanfiction page.
Later, gators! :)
I haven't gotten on here in some time, I know, but I've just been so busy with school and stuff. Things are hectic right now with AP exams coming up and finals and state exams and the like. Scrambling to get all my volunteer hours for the various clubs I'm involved in, things like that.
But tomorrow's a holiday, and for the first time EVER, I HAVE NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEKEND!!!
I am beyond thrilled, as you can see by the shouty, ecstatic Caps Lock.
I have not read any new books, but I did go see the Hunger Games the weekend it came out. I read the book the summer before freshman year, so before any movie announcements were made. The books didn't really get popular until the movie was announced, which disappoints me somehow, because HG is a really good series, much more so than the Twilight Saga.
All in all, I have to say that the movie did the book justice. Of course, it's not on the same place on the scale as HP, but close. Much higher on the scale than Twilight and its sequels.
Jennifer Lawrence was a good choice for Katniss. I didn't know much about her when she was first announced - I still haven't seen her other movie, Winter's Bone, the one she was Oscar nominated for. Of course, I had my initial doubts about Josh Hutcherson for Peeta, mainly because he reminds me of Disney, which I know is not fair, but still. And Liam Hemsworth...I am ashamed to say that I had my doubts about him because he's Miley Cyrus' boyfriend. They did pretty decent portrayals of Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne, respectively. Although Jennifer L's acting stood out the most.
I could list the differences between the book and the movie, but if you still haven't read the book and seen the movie, I won't spoil anything for you.
SPOILER ALERT!
Although E.L. James is no literary genius, for some reason I was unable to put down her trilogy. The similarity between the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga is uncanny. For example, both novels are set in Washington. Christian Grey, while not paranormal (although he might as well be, for all the power that he has) is ridiculously rich like Edward Cullen. Both are supposedly Greek gods of youth in terms of attractiveness. Anastasia Steele, like Bella Swan, is romantically inept, never having been in a real relationship before meeting their romantic (and in Ana's case, sexual) partner. Ana, like Bella, is rather ordinary and for them, their beauty goes unnoticed by most (in Ana's case, many boys find her attractive, although she doesn't see it that way). Christian Grey and his siblings Mia and Elliot Grey, are adopted, like the Cullen/Hale siblings. Grace Trevelyan, Christian's adoptive mother, is a doctor, like Carlisle Cullen in Twilight. Anastasia, like Bella, is in constant danger (for example, when Christian's ex-submissive Leila Williams tries to attack Bella, and later on, when Jack Hyde tries to molest Ana and harm her after Christian has him fired from SIP). Christian, like Edward, is determined to keep Ana safe and protect her, making her sacrifice going out and spending time with friends (Ana isn't allowed to have a drink with her best friend Kate, like Bella wasn't allowed to go see Jacob at the reservation.) The list is endless.
Although this novel, in my opinion, is better than Twilight, it is definitely more for adults rather than for teens. Sex occurs quite often in this trilogy between Christian and Ana. They are quite dirty, if you know what I mean. If you don't fancy reading a BDSM novel, then it might not be the book for you, but it's not just about the bondage and the flogging and spanking. Their relationship goes beyond that. I thought the BDSM would turn me off too, but it didn't. It wasn't as bad as it seemed, except in the end of the first novel, where Christian whips her with a belt. That sounded painful, and most probably was, too, if Ana left Christian after the incident.
If 50 Shades of Grey is ever made into a movie, I am quite curious as to how the producers will include the constant sex scenes. The book is like Twilight, only with sex. It's like Twilight for moms.
However, while Christian was sweet and romantic, via emails and texts and vacations, etc., he was quite controlling of her and very possessive. For example, when Ana had to go to New York with her boss Jack for business, Christian, while correct in his theory of Jack's desire to have sex with Ana, refused to let Ana go and, because he had purchased the company (becoming its' boss), he made up a rule on the spot that said that traveling costs had to be permitted by the head, namely, Christian, meaning Ana wasn't even allowed to go anyway by company rules. He gets very jealous easily and doesn't like when Ana hangs out with other guys, like her friend Jose.
I could continue with my thoughts and opinions about the trilogy, I'll just let you guys read it and judge it for yourselves. Just be prepared for lots and lots of sex!
I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I'm back! It is spring break here where I live, and that means relaxing & spending time with my amigos! I am saddened by the fact that spring break is practically over, but besides Sunday (which is the designated homework day) there is still more fun to be had!
And the topic of fun is my point in this post. I introduced my best friend tonight to, in my opinion, a fabulous television show that aired on the Starz channel July of 2010, and it is called The Pillars of the Earth, based on the book by Ken Follett, which I have not read (I own it, though, but if you see the size of that thing, you'll know what I mean.) Usually I'm not deterred by the size of books, but these days, I've just had no time for enjoyable reading. And yes, she's hooked onto the show, too, just like Game of Thrones. I am praying to God that Season 2 will meet my high expectations, or even exceed them. I will be sorely disappointed if Season Two doesn't meet the standard that Season 1 did. April 1st cannot get here fast enough, it seems!
The show, however is quite entertaining, no matter how slow it may be at times. The subplots and all the little schemes going on never cease to amaze me. The church is corrupt, the kingdom is corrupt, is there anything that's pure and good in 12th century England?
Actually, there is, and they are Jack and his mother, Ellen, Tom Builder, Prior Philip, and Aliena of Shiring. Philip is a prior in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. Ellen is a supposed witch wanted by the church, and Jack is her shy but talented son. His talent comes in the form of sculpture. Tom Builder is a master builder desperately in need of work to support his pregnant wife and two children, Alfred & Martha. Ellen, Jack & Tom's family meet in the woods when Martha is attacked by a thief and is injured. Ellen offers to cure her, and the family stays with them briefly, before Alfred convinces his parents that Ellen is a witch. The family leaves, but Agnes, Tom's wife, gives birth during the winter night. Coincidentally, Princess Maud, the King's daughter, also gives birth to a son that same night. Agnes dies that night, but the family cannot support the newborn, so they abandon him next to Agnes' grave. The thief who had previously attacked Martha takes the baby from the grave to the priory to raise him. Tom, realizing he cannot leave his son to die in the forest, runs back to fetch, but it is too late. The baby is gone. The King is poisoned that night at a feast, leaving his legitimate heir, Maud, the crown. However, her cousin, Stephen, has usurped the throne, and Maud is determined to win the crown back, not for herself, but for her son.
The series spans 8 episodes, 1 hour long each, but it is totally worth it, so go watch!
Another novel I want to read is Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James. It's a BDSM novel, of a graphic nature, but I'm a sucker for any type of romance. This novel appears to be a bit similar to Twilight, except it's rated X. The protagonist, Anastasia Steele, is an innocent college girl from Washington, and the romantic interest is a wealthy, dark, mysterious man by the name of Christian Grey. It comes out in paperback on April 3, and I very much want to read it.
I still haven't read The Help, or Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, nor have I finished Pretty Little Secrets, so it looks like I have a lot of reading to do this summer!
My school is an IB Diploma Programme school. It's a 6-12 grade school and I've been there since I was in sixth grade (I'm in 10th grade now.) Next year I will embark on my IB Diploma journey. CAS, Extended Essay, TOK - sounds like fun! Not. Personally, I'm dreading IB and am starting to regret choosing all IB classes + physics and AP Government. I should've taken all AP classes, except my school is more renowned and stronger in IB than in AP, so I'd probably have to transfer schools if I want to take all AP.
Now, for anybody who does know or take IB, you'll know that IB classes are categorized into Standard Level and Higher Level, and students must choose a specific # of HL classes (I'm not sure if it's 3 or 4 HL classes). Two of my HL classes will be IB European History and English, as SL in those classes are not offered at my school. The other one would probably be HL Biology, and if I HAVE to take 4 HL classes than I'll probably choose HL Spanish. No freaking way am I taking HL Math. I don't want to take HL Music either because you actually have to compose music in that class and I would probably fail at that.
For those who don't know what CAS or TOK or the Extended Essay is, I'll explain. CAS stands for Creativity, Action and Service. Basically, you need to earn 150 hours during the time of junior and senior year (the years one typically takes IB), whether it be community service, sports, etc. TOK is Theory of Knowledge. It's sort of like a Humanities class, but it dives in deeper into the subject. In this class, an external assessment is a 1,200-1,600 word essay based on a topic you get to choose out of a choice of ten topics to choose from, as well as an internal assessment presentation on the student's chosen topic. The Extended Essay is a 4,000 word essay that can come from any of the six areas of study (English, Foreign Language, Math, Science, the Arts, or History) - I think there is a list of approved subjects for the EE, though. I'm not sure on this one.
In IB, there are Internal Assessments and External Assessments.
External Assessments - which typically count for much of one's grade in the class - include:
- Essays
- Structured Problems
- Short-Response Questions
- Data-Response Questions
- Text-Response Questions
- Case-Study Questions
- Multiple Choice Questions (limited use of these)
Internal Assessments include:
- Oral work in languages
- Fieldwork in geography
- Laboratory work in the sciences
- Investigations in math
- Artistic performances
If you take IB, you must prioritize between three things, known as the three S's - social life, sleep, or study. For me, I think it'd be study first, then sleep, then social life. IB Diploma requires 24 minimum points on the exams, the EE and TOK in order to get the diploma. 45 is the maximum # of points one can earn. Also, at the end of 10th grade, if you plan on taking the IB Diploma journey, you must be willing to say goodbye to multiple choice, because IB work consists of short answers and in math, you have to show the work to get the answer, which you fill in a blank.
Scary, much? If I take IB, I'll be taking risks. I've heard that for IB Certificates (which is when you take SOME IB classes but not all, and for the Certificates you don't take TOK, do CAS, or write the EE), you have to receive a 6 or a 7 (the highest scores) on an exam in order to get college credit. I've heard the standard is lower for the diploma candidates. I'm still very much freaking out about IB.
And at the end, it's like "Congratulations! You killed yourself in high school!"
So, this is the perfect time to talk about my obsessiveness about Harry Potter. Why is that, you may ask? Well, all you Americans out there reading this (and perhaps abroad, too - who knows?) most likely know that the Academy Awards were last night. And if you saw the awards show, you'll know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two did not take home any awards that night - The Academy of whatever apparently doesn't like HP, which is a totally wrong move on their part, because the Harry Potter movies do a fantastic job of creating the magic of the books, which cannot be said for Twilight or for most movie series based on books.
I could go on and on about why I love Harry Potter so much that it's my favorite series of all time (so far). I read this series in about a week. I didn't get into the Harry Potter club until pretty late on, but a couple of years or so by now. My favorite book was the last one. It had the most action (all books were amazing and very interesting, but the last was the best in my opinion). These books made me truly imagine that wizards and magic were real and that Hogwarts actually existed - and I would definitely go to Hogwarts if I were a witch. I would love it there. I would probably be a Ravenclaw, I believe, which I'm happy with, but Gryffindor or Slytherin would be cool, too. I'm a Ravenclaw on Pottermore. I loved several characters, I could not name which one was my favorite.
My favorite characters are (in no particular order)
1. Severus Snape
2. Hermione Granger
3. Luna Lovegood
4. Ginny Weasley
5. Fred & George Weasley
6. Harry Potter (of course)
7. Sirius Black
8. Remus Lupin
9. Nymphadora Tonks
10. Minerva McGonagall
11. Ron Weasley
Of course, I love ALMOST all of the Harry Potter characters - I don't particularly like Wormtail or Draco or Umbridge, or Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge or any of the Death Eaters - although Bellatrix portrays a psychotic, obsessed-with-Voldemort Death Eater, and I applaud her for that, but she killed Sirius and Tonks so I can't love her. Voldemort, although I admit he's a genius in all the wrong ways, killed Lily and James, Harry's parents, and a bunch of other cool people.
It's past midnight. I should be asleep, or doing something entertaining on a Saturday night. But alas, I have just set down my handy-dandy Princeton Review AP U.S. History study book-thing and decided to call it a night on the APUSH studying. It's the first AP exam I've ever taken (that and the AP Spanish Language exam I will also be taking this year as well) and, as you can probably tell, I am stressed out. By nature, I am a tense, constantly stressed-out person, and this is by no means an exception. Not only do I have to focus on course studies, but I still have to find time within now and two weeks to properly study (I know, I should have started sooner - but don't criticize me so soon, as I have been faithfully attending my AP teachers' AP exam tutorials). My study-buddies and I already had an AP exam study session at B&N (didn't turn out so well, coincidentally - we happened to be sitting by the humor section and the boys were obsessing over the zombie apocalypse book, and the coffee + cookie run we made to Starbucks in the bookstore didn't help, either. Although, in my defense, I spent my two hours going over AP Spanish reading comprehension practices and did half of an APUSH multiple-choice test). Next time, we'll just stick to the good-old school library. Also, in my defense, I have started studying sooner than most people who are taking the AP exams. 
