Happy New Year's, everyone! Byebye 2004 :) It makes me feel sort of sad.. but maybe that's just because I have school on Monday XD

New Year's Survey
Stolen from HyuktaNET, which I found randomly on an fserve ad on IRC. I didn't make this an entry cut because I actually liked this survey. Plus, there's a purpose for it, being that it's January 1st! By the way, I still need to do my New Year's Resolutions :/ I'll write those later. Now onto the survey:

01. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Oh man, there was a lot of stuff... let's see, I joined track team and freaking DIED every practice (but with fond memories :D), I got semi-decent on DDR (and now I suck miserably and I need to start playing again), I ate French Toast Pop Tarts (non-toasted) which are godly, I fell -- as in on my face -- in front of portion of the school (breaking my pants.. in fact, breaking the pants I'm wearing right now!), I decided to take Running Start in lieu of HS, I got my first scholarship for an essay, I made some friends who I may never see again, I talked with a federal court judge (in a tour, my friends :P), I got my driver's license, I went shopping at the mall by myself XD;; (and drove home by myself, too!), I got a cell phone, I started paying attention to politics, I began a true love for e.e. cummings, I made a voodoo doll XDXD and lots of other crap. If you're really all that curious, check out my archives!

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No (I forgot what they were about the 2nd week of January) and Yes (I plan to write them soon :3).

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

04. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.

05. What countries did you visit?
South Korea :D aaand Canada. And Texas, for about an hour XD (yes, texas is a country)

06. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
Great SAT scores, more Bleach and Skip Beat, dancing prowess, courage, social confidence, psychic powers, aggression XD

07. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
There are a few, actually.. probably the day of the "Cammer" (XD) which was sometime in January, the days of the Cannon Beach trip, umm the day of my first track meet, the day I got my driver's license ("...Are you.. done?" "Yes!" XD), the day I first drove to Caro's Teriyaki with Kat.. and other days that are just for me :)

09. What was your biggest failure?
Ooh... I hate talking about failures... *skip question*

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Hmm, did I? I got a few colds, but I don't think I suffered anything beyond track-ifiedly sore muscles.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
AHHH!!! I knew the answer to this question before, but I forgot now! I specifically remember saying to someone, "Oh my god. That was the best $__ that I ever spent in my life." ...I'm pretty sure it was some type of food XD

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Oh man, sooo many people for all sorts of different reasons. I love all of my friends :D

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
UGH. My RL buddies know this answer.
Hint: Voodoo doll. XD

14. Where did most of your money go?
I hate to say it, but definitely clothes. (hey, my parents don't pay for my clothes! and pants are expensive) And food and presents.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
BLEACH XD And plenty of other things! Like the Stanford Trip, the first day of Knowledge Bowl (second year), going to eat Teriyaki, getting The Sims 2, going to Pep Band games, any time I get to hang out with friends :)

16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
Hmmmmm... either "Drop it like it's hot" (snoop) or "What You Waiting For" (gwen stefanie)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I'd say happier!
ii.thinner or fatter? aw crap. thinner is what I want to say, but ahhbuhh*mumbles*
iii. richer or poorer? poorer. much much poorer. T_T but that should change soon!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Studying, reading, writing, talking, exploring, exercising, cooking, dancing!! XD

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Slacking off, procrastinating, lazying, eating junk

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent Christmas at home, lazing ^^;

22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
No.

23. How many one-night stands?
...

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Don't watch TV.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
HAHAHAHAHA.

26. What was the best book you read?
Tuesdays with Morrie. ;__; An absolute must-read.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Musical discovery has to be the Nightmare Before Christmas soundrack. Musical rediscovery: Beauty and the Beast (the entire disney movie).

28. What did you want and get?
A cell phone, a digital camera, my driver's license, teriyaki XD, wonderful friends, memories, a 4.0, a scholarship, much praise for my documentary :D

29. What did you want and not get?
This one skirt at American Eagle (I went by there yesterday, and it was only 5 bucks... but I decided not to buy it. ... Hmm. I'm thinking about going back and seeing if it's still there..)

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Incredibles
(and Beauty and the Beast, when I rewatched it :D GOD I LOVE that movie!!)

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Stayed at home, played The Sims 2 ^_^;; I was 17 years old

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Sweet dancing/karaoke abilities.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Sloppy sophistication XD and sweatshirts

34. What kept you sane?
Chocolate, manga, my friends, my family, and talk radio

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Rush Limbaugh, Zell freaking Miller, Bi (the korean actor/singer :D:D)

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably Iraq

37. Who did you miss?
Um, excuse me, mr. survey writer, that should be "whom" did I miss, for the pronoun in this sentence should be in object form, not subject form. Anyhow.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Oh, lots. I'm drawing a blank right now, partly because so many of those great new people feel like I've known them for years.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
I'm not sure if I've learned these quite yet, but at least I have the concepts: Have confidence; choose your fights, but don't be afraid to fight (referring to anthropology and other stuff); it's okay not to speak your mind sometimes; it's okay not to be yourself sometimes; chocolate soy milk just tastes better

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Oh, isn't this amazing? It's my fav'rite part because, you'll see..." -- Beauty and the Beast, "Belle"

---

Yeah, I think that survey was more written for me than anyone else. Oh well. I'll be putting up my resolutions soon!

THANK YOU RAY FOR THE GMAIL ACCOUNT!!!! :DD!!
My wonderful, magnificent buddy Ray got me a Gmail account for christmas!! I meant to write this entry a loooong time earlier, but then I got all discombobulated over break -_-; Now I finally feel one with the nerds! XD

It took me forever to think of a name. Forever meaning about an hour and a half. That is a ridiculously long period of time to stare at an online form that has everything filled out except for the username, but I was completely drawing a blank that day XD I didn't want to use "nerdface pirate" again because I feel like I have that too much.. "secret agent vic" was previously used also, so it was a pretty tough decision. Eventually I settled on:

victhefearsome [at] gmail [dot] com

...That is so beyond cool. :D Ray, I LOVE YOU!! Now I need to get him an equally cool late christmas present.. and I think I might know what to get! I may need some help though... *secretive* hehe

So! The new quarter started for Running Start. After the first day of classes (on Monday) I learned that I would absolutely die if I had four college classes everyday. As in, die. Therefore, I dropped US Government and Politics and added Swing Dance in its place! I am so completely totally excited. The class only meets twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), so my first class is tomorrow. I have no idea what I should wear. Athletic gear? Normal clothes? Dance outfit? Ahh -_-; and the teacher had awful office hours (like, 5:00-7:00) so I couldn't drop in to ask. Oh well! I'll find out tomorrow I suppose :D

Overall, I'm very satisfied with my classes. History 242 is amazing, English 102 appears to be pushover, and Math 122 is alright (though not nearly as great as Mr. Willett's class). ..Even though it doesn't seem to be an A+ review, my classes this are so much better than last quarter. Why? Because I don't have anthropology. ALSO, all of my classes are over by.. 10 am! (well, except on dance days, which will end at 11) And sure, this means that I'm waking up at 5 am to get to Pierce by 6:45, and this means that I'm going to be at like, oh, 9, but 10 am is just a wonderful time of the day. In fact, 10 am might very well be my favorite time of the day. It's just a nice hour. Yes. But most important, I get to hang out a huuuge long time with KAT! Every day!! I love our ridiculous talks :D And our adventures via digital camera XD

Let's see, yesterday I finally finished my latest two articles for the newspaper. Such a huge weight off of my shoulders! They're not great, but I think they'll earn me my five cents per word. My next paycheck, then, should be at least $75. Then teaching piano lessons will bring me $30 (since she's only coming twice) and tutoring will make $40. I'm going to have money again! *tears of joy*

OH! I got my PSAT scores today. I did pretty well EXCEPT FOR MATH, but a lot of people did worse on math than they thought they would, so I guess it's normal :/ I ended up with Reading: 73 (99th percentile), Math: 65 (92th percentile T__T), and Writing: 76 (98th percentile). Overall: 214, 99th percentile.

I think that may be just high enough to become a national merit nominee (last year's cutoff being 208), but it depends on the average score of the upper 50% of the 99th percentile in Washington State, which I'll find out in April. Ugh. I freaking should have studied -_-;; All I did to prepare was cram vocab words for words beginning with A through about H or so and I reviewed a few testing techniques the night before. But don't get me wrong; in those nights of cramming, I crammed like a.. cramming machine.

..cramming machine? Lord almighty, I am tired. AND procrastinating my math reading. Considering my psat score though, I probably shouldn't be neglecting math. Ah, whatever~

Is it the weekend yet?

For this year of 2005, I resolve to...

1. STOP PROCRASTINATING EVERYTHING
2. Earn 4.0 in all classes
3. Learn Korean and US History
4. Study for the SATs regularly
5. Lose fat and tone muscles
6. Eat less junk food
7. Make more friends at Curtis and Pierce :D
8. Write and publish a short story... about chickens
9. Be more up to date with current events and politics
10. Stop being a wuss
11. Read more poetry/philosophy
12. Go to sleep at feasible bed times (no more staying up 'til 3 in the morning trying to finish a portfolio)
13. Communicate more eloquently while debating/speaking impromptu
14. Build vocabulary
15. Become closer with family
16. Learn to dance
17. Learn crap about cars (and defrosters)
18. Write decent timed essays
19. Space out less
20. Bee myself (when appropriate, of course :P)

(oh hey yeah)

Dude. This is a slow week. But that's a good thing! I need as much time as I can in order to:

-- Write out Aff/Neg Speech Rough Draft (debate team)
-- Research for math team
-- Start SAT crap (guuuu..)
-- Pioneer Article on Homeland Security at Pierce (GUUUU...)
-- Learn Chapters 12-13 for History
-- Review Math stuff
-- Review grammar for KB
-- Study Korean
-- Buy dance shoes -_-;;
-- Meg's Xmas present!!!
-- Exercise

Life has been pretty good to me! Right now, my classes are pretty managable. History is downright awesome, math is okay, and English.. well, English is borderline hellish, but pretty good compared to Anthropology. Overall, I'm surviving.

*pauses to knock on wood*

Right now, it's the clubs that are killing me! Ahhhhhhhsjdkfl. I want to make state for Knowledge Bowl and Math Team, and I want to at least place a couple times in Debate Team (though I won't be as heartbroken if I don't because it's our first year and all). As clubs aren't graded on a 4.0 scale, it's mainly a matter of pride. But still! I wanna go to staaate :X

Anyhow, life in other parts of the neighborhood are not so stellar. Lots of malfunctions.. LOTS of them o_o; is there something in the air? The water? Maybe the bone-biting cold is getting to people's brains and making them all screwed up, and, in turn, the screwed-brained-people have to make the normal-brained-people's lives miserable.. of course!

Once again, I need some sleep, folks. And a new layout (for tabu and livejournal) and new icons and... barista boys XD (damnation kat, I can't believe I didn't see him when he was right there XOO)

(btw, I think the new tabulas everything is pretty awesome :D HUGE improvement in all areas! *thumbs up*)

Oh.my.god. Today, at the knowledge bowl tournament, I learned that I had a hole on my pants. Where on my pants? Right. on. the. butt.

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

It was SO FREAKING HILARIOUS XDD I cannot reiterate enough. Alisyn was the one who told me (she was like, 'uh, victoria... you have a hole in your pants. like on your butt.') and I didn't believe her until several teammates verified, and then I just sat down for a moment until I absorbed the information... and then I started cracking upon realization of how F'ING HILARIOUS THE ENTIRE CONCEPT WAS!! XDDDDD I could hardly breathe--it was so funny XDXD OMG and then when we went to the bathroom at the end so I could finally examine it, Holly was SO DETERMINED to see it; she was all like, "Lemme see it lemme see it LEMME SEE IT OMG VICKIE TURN AROUND AND DROP YOUR PANTS!!!" XD!!!!

Seriously, it was RIGHT on the butt. As in, almost the exact middle. It's a HUGE hole, too! Even Scott said so. He was like, "Oh. Well, ah.. yeah, it's.. pretty big."

ANYHOW, that's my story of the day. Knowledge Bowl was fun, although the juniors scored terribly -_-;; I still think we have a shot at making it to state though! We're all going to study.

AND we decided a junior team name: The V-8 Hamsters! "V-8" is for "Very Vivacious Vindictive Virtuous Vibrant Valiant Victorious Vikings" (btw, when Holly said "Vivacious," I was thinking "voluptuous" and got really confused, esp. since scott was on our team XD) And then the hamsters part, well... it's because of our team shirt!

See, we didn't design a custom team shirt to be made this year, but I figured we could all buy the same shirt at the mall or something and call it our team shirt. From a previous shopping trip with Kat, I had an idea for which shirt to purchase as well:



It's perfect. Absolute perfection. And 16 bucks isn't too too bad of a price, either.

...and we could use duct tape to alter the t-shirt as school-appropriate XD

And now I've got a ton of homework to do. Byebye!

Me: I can't help but feel kinda bad... like I felt really guilty for not telling my parents, but I knew if I said anything = instantaneous death
Caro: yes
Caro: it's for your own protection

*points up* And that's all there is to say about that. If you -should- know, then you already know (or are going to know). It's actually not that big of a deal XD but I'm afraid to put it in writing online..

ANYHOW!

Since the last day I wrote, school is still school. I had a big math exam last Friday; not sure how I did :/ The time limit was brutal -_-;; Fifty minute test and I barely, barely finished.

I absolutely adore Knowledge Bowl. Holy crap, last week's KB match was arguably better than the hole-in-pants episode XD We had very small teams this time; most people were gone in attempt to finish the load of homework assigned because end of semester is next week. (Haaa~ I'm so happy to be at running start, despite the ridiculously timed tests) Still, the team of me, barbar, jinny, and michael was awesome and hilarious.

AHH! and I LOVE salsa class! :D I've made 2 friends: Jennie and Alex! Jennie is so sweet. And hilarious XD And she's so natural at salsa! I wonder what I look like when I dance -_-;; With Alex, I actually know him through Jennie (so he says hi to me and whatnot), but I want to get to know him better because he's really awesome. Yet because he's so awesome (and quite rather cute hehe) just about all the girls in the class, including the funky older ladies, completely stalk/swoon over/completely hit on him. Especially the emo girls o_o; I don't want to seem like one of those, so I'm kinda backing off. But I'm happy to have friends nonetheless :D

Bi (rain.. the korean singer) is totally completely hot. Just letting you know.

(forgot to mention, I took some pictures..)

(explanation)
Goals to Do:
1. Study Korean everyday
2. Drink at least 2 bottles of water everyday
3. Exercise everyday

Goals NOT to Do:
1. Do NOT sit for more than 2 hours at a time
2. Do NOT procrastinate homework
3. Do NOT eat any junk food

Rewards:
1. Crazy party on SATURDAY NIGHT! (or friday) (or sunday)

Consequences for Failure:
Study for SATs for four hours over the three day weekend

O-kay, this is the last time I am writing the literary criticism for our reading groups. Ever.

I'll elaborate. In my @#$@ing English 102 class, we're assigned a different reading assignment each night. Once or twice per week, we have to prepare something for our reading group as dictated by our role. My role right now is "literary criticism." See, I volunteered for the position because I assumed that my teacher deemed us pupils competant enough to create our own critique for a piece of literature. Seems I was dead wrong! Instead, we have to research what others have said about the writing; then we summarize our findings in a nice, happy paragraph.

My one-pager for Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers marks the fifth time in a row that I've done criticism. I am done. (god, these stupid assignments piss me off. I even liked this story, which is rare as I usually loathe blatantly feminist writing such as this one, but the criticism takes fooreeeveerrrr... and causes me to hate everythiiinggggg....)

Today wasn't bad. In general. Ugh, I did really horribly on my math exam, but my score was a little higher than I had reasonably suspected (though lower than I had irrationally hoped). I can still fairly easily earn a 4.0, but I should probably study more. Actually, the problem with the last test wasn't due to lack of studying per se; it was more like a misunderstanding of what would be tested -_-;; anyhow, I'll do better next time and earn that four. But right now, I'm moping >/

On a happier note, I am on track for completing my New Week's Resolution. I've made a new stipulation: the "week" only consists of weekdays. So, I only have four more days to go! :D

I have a huge load of homework and so I shouldn't be blogging, but meh.

Broke my new week's resolution. CURSES! That stupid Kudos bar was calling my name... *sigh* I'll try again next week!

So, I've been devoting a lot of time to math for the last few days. God, that 90.5 pisses me off. I should have freaking gotten, at the very least, a 97! But alas, I had a test-panic-attack and made really, really careless mistakes. -_-;;

Nevertheless! I SHALL get a 4.0 in that dastardly math class. If I get 100% on the next exam, I'll be satisfied. If I don't, well, I'm still not screwed over, but dammit, I want that 100%! Thus, I have been studying muchly. Not enoughly though. I need to review/relearn a lot over this weekend. *sigh* (dang, that's my second sigh already)

Aaaand tomorrow is dress like a whore day for History class! :O Well actually, we're just supposed to dress up formally, but I seriously don't have any formal clothes other than ghetto man pants or short, ridiculous skirts, and I'd rather be caught wearing a short, ridiculous skirt, than ghetto man pants. It's going to be extra, extra cold though -_-;;

GAH. That means I need to shave.

Is my one page response to "Hills Like White Elephants" due tomorrow? I don't think it is, but ahh. Now I'm afraid.

I need to get up at 5. I should stop going to bed at 11 XD;

Well, this entry will be sort of like an anomaly in the midst of all my school-obsessive thingers XD; BUT!! I was just hanging out with Jinny (and she gave me an AWESOME WATCH for my xmas present :D:D) and when I went home, I realized that Jinny started drawing/cging on deviant art again.

OMG. GODLINESS XD!!!! She drew a picture of Ali :D which is so freaking good, I have to worship it and post it here for ALL TO SEE!! XDD


Click for LARGER version!

No seriously, Jinny's art has really evolved within the last few months, even though she hasn't even drawn for a while. Damn. I wish that would happen to me with my crap, like my writing or my ddring even ^^; But wow. I mean, GO on her site. Just compare the swimsuit picture to this one. Damn. XD

I'm in a cursing mood today. Possibly a carryover from yesterday's awesome knowledge bowl match. Holy crap. All the matches seem to get better and better each week. Let's see, this week's match could be characterized by.... creepy buildings, skeletons trying to eat Jinny, a turtle that looks like Sephie (jinny's dog), me and Holly and Kat dancing/singing down the halls, peeing, empty bottles, face-downing, screaming, CURSING, and..... TWO HOT GUYS!!!!! dude. Hot guys. In knowledge bowl. Hell has frozen over.

*must remember to bring and employ camera at invitational and regional matches next week*

Our darling sophomores were feigning disinterest, but we knew better. Especially Abrian. We knew she was just as entranced as we were XD There were quite a few hilarious episodes that really can't be retold through words without sounding Jimmy. But nevertheless:

me: "OMG, he. ASKED. me. what. our. SCORE! was! *swoon*"

me: "OH where's the bathroom?"
abrian: "it's right here" *points to room with large letters, saying "BATHROOM"*
me: *covers eyes* "OH WOW I need a bathroom. MAYBE we should walk by this room full of TWO hot guys and see if there's a bathroom somewhere.
*hot guy walks down hall*
me and just about all the junior girls: "HOLY SHILOIILUJTLIWEut *runs away*"

me: "OMG they're leaving! I'm so sad.."
mr. keller: "if you run, you can watch them from the windows of the bus before they leave"
me: "AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! *runs to left window*"
Jinny: "NO victoria, the other window, the OTHER WINDOW"
me: "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

me: "laura, isn't he hot?"
laura (who is mormon and quiet): "ahh well umm... oh.. yeah..."
me: "OH YEAH!!! laura, who is righteous and always correct, concedes that he his hot."
everyone else: *not paying attention*

and there was SO MUCH other crap (including non-boy related incidents, such as the written notes to each other..
me (written): "I have to pee"
kat (written): "your bottle is empty; use it"
me: *takes bottle under table*
kat: *offers up her empty bottle too*
--later, while answering a question--
holly: does anyone know what the answer is?
me (to the reader): "our answer is, I have to-- nevemind.")
ack, I can't remember them all!!! but overall, yesterday was so awesome XD but poor barbar. XD

tomorrow we're going to dinner as a junior team. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!! *runs off to do hmwk -_-;; *

Today. Shirt shopping + delicious food + HONK! + more delicious food + people + cameras = today = absolutely magnificent. oh-HO.

There were so many insane, memorable moments, and I'm really glad that no one else has a camera but me (yet) because I did so many retarded things XD Like crawling under tables, pretending to be Jimmy, accidentally misinterpreting Jinny's message to follow her to the bathroom (XD!) and other such antics that I wouldn't want on camera..

But I, on the other hand, have one of the most hilarious videos of all time (holly's head thing XDXDDDD) and if I knew how to compress/upload/post video on my tabu, I totally would post it *grins* It's quite grand. (Oh, and there's also one that scott took of me attempting to shimmy, which is pretty pathetic XP)

Then there were other things that just couldn't be captured on film. Like Scott's hand-thing-in-lieu-of-laughter XD and watching sam prance on stage, and watching the SHEET dude on stage (OMG KAT XD), and vulgar children's t-shirts, and conversing with waitresses, and friends stealing my wallet, and scott's attempt at a funny face!! XDD okay, that could have and should have been cammered, but my damn cammer wouldn't take the pic in time~! >_<

AND I got a green shirt w/ Big Bird on it that says "keeping it real." I mean. Dude. It's so freaking yizzle XD I'll post a picture of it later!

Now for some boring organizational stuff for my own knowledge: Yesterday, I finished the book I was supposed to review. This morning, I finished the review and started my outline for my essay and ate lots of junk food. Tomorrow, I'll go to church w/ holly, then eat lunch, then finish my english essay from 1-4pm (-_-;; ), then read, then eat out w/ family and then finally math hmwk. Tomorrow's tomorrow: school @_@ and start new new week's resolutions!

(NOTE TO SELF:
scott's nickname: barbar the scott; voluptuous barbar(and/or 'scott')
jinny's nickname: spoonless joe jinny (I just added the 'joe' part.. I think it adds flavor XD)
my nickname: phorny)

*sigh of relief* Finished my evil English essay. BUT!

Three large damnations:
a) Midterms this week in History and English. Both include essays. One is in-class. XO
b) Approximately 4-6 hours of math hmwk needs is waiting for me tomorrow.
c) English is this week. On every day. Like every week.

And I need to decide:
a) Am I going to join track or get money?
b) If I'm going to get money, am I going to quit teaching piano and just tutor?
c) If I'm going to join track, am I going to die?

And I need to know:
a) Am I supposed to be at History early tomorrow morning?
b) Mr. Keller, can we juniors still go to state for KB as cheergirls and cheerboy(s) if we don't qualify as regionals?
c) Who'll be my VALENTINE this February 14th? XDD