Oh Dear

So I said quite a while ago that I was going to be back in the blogging business. Well, judging by not-really-budging post count, I think it's safe to say that I really wasn't back. I guess there was just no inspiration for me to post...that and my life grew supremely busy. That's not to say that now it's any less busy than it was before; in fact, I still have a project waiting for me to complete (yes, Gov project, I will start and finish you soon...just let me finish doing everything else).

But life has taken a turn for the worse better now that I actually know where I'm going to college. Yep, that's right...I'm going to be a college student. Don't worry; the thought frightens me too. I'm going to be graduating in less than a month, moving away from home in less than 4 months, and missing my mother's cooking that very same week. It's amazing what happens when it finally hits you that you're going to be moving away. Of course, if moving is your thing, then maybe it's just another home for you. But for me, I haven't moved in the past 12-13 years so the idea of going away is rather scary for me. Of course, I am more than ready to leave but at the same time, I'm seriously going to miss home.

Anyway, updates...well, swim season is finally over. At first, I was kind of excited because I just wanted my life back, but once it was over...well, I was feeling very sentimental. I would love to go back to the team. Swimming those ridiculous IM sets though....those I wouldn't mind not doing. I guess the worst part is that I probably won't be able to see the swim team and coaches next year since I'm going to be so far away. Well, far away enough that I can't make frequent trips back home.

Yeah, I think that's it. Mainly because the timer on my watch is about to beep which means I need to go do laundry. At 10:30. Oh, the joy.

Freaking Outrage

So the topic for this post is... the Supreme Court ruling on the free speech/military funeral/something of another case. Yeah, not really sure how to phrase it. Here's a little background as to why I decided to post on this.

On the way home from the swim pool, I'm just sitting in my dad's car, listening to the news 'cause that's how I roll. The next thing I know, I'm being pulled in to this minute-long report that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Snyder family cannot sue this church any amount for hurtful speech. Their ruling was that if the church was required to pay money, that would mean they would have to pay for their right to free speech. Fair enough. Then it ends with a comment from some lady from the church saying (and I paraphrase), "You shouldn't be complaining about emotional distress [from the protests]. Getting your child blown to bits and pieces is emotional distress. [Blah blah blah...something about God's will...la di da]."

Right. Well, for one thing, I always hate it when people use "God's will" as an excuse. It's like a major cop-out, even if you're religious. God also gave you free will. Go deal with that.

Second, I find it incredibly rude to protest at a funeral in the first place. So one guy loses his life and you think that you can just go protest near them, saying that "God hates you" or "Thank God for Dead Soldiers"? Yeah, it's technically legal and yes, the Supreme Court ruled in your favor, but my gosh. Grow some balls, why don't you? Or at least have a little more tact. This family just lost a member and here you are saying that his death was the right thing? That's just messed up. I don't even know if you guys have common sense. You don't mess with a person/people's time of grieving.

Third...so the death of young soldiers is because God wants to punish us for being so tolerant of homosexuals? I don't think I want to believe in a God like that. By your logic, God is technically taking innocent lives. Not every young soldier who dies is homosexual. In fact, most of them are probably straight. So God is punishing his creation for others' deeds? Wow...so much for an all-loving God.

Fourth, if you feel that the US is being so sinful, go move! Move to a country that would fit your ideals. I'm positive that you will find many of them; it is a big world after all. And don't give me any of that bull on how this is a free country, that you have the choice to stay there. Well, people who are homosexual also have the choice to stay there. You can't go around saying that the US should create policies banning homosexuals from this country! How would you feel if we said that Westboro Baptists can no longer live in this country because their morals are conflicting with the general population? For once, try to step into their shoes before going around spouting all of this nonsense.

Honestly, I don't know what to say but bull. All of this is just bull. My father was right in saying that I should be angry at the church and not at Court. It's not the Supreme Court's fault that they have faith in free speech; it's the church's fault for being so disrespectful. The next time you want to go crash a funeral, try to imagine what would happen if someone did that at your funeral. Or a child's funeral. Or a husband or wife's. Yeah...be a little more considerate. Thanks.

More info/references:
Reuters
Mercury News
LA Times

Updates:
So Yahoo! News clarified some points about the whole protest thing. Still doesn't change my position but it's good to have it under my belt.

Wow...Why Didn't You Just Include This Earlier?

Heh, I forgot to mention another reason why I haven't been blogging here for a while. Alright, dum dum da dum...

Yeah, really did not need that. So what happened was I have been blogging; I've just been blogging elsewhere. You're not going to find it under my list either.

For my school, we have a web design course and one part of the course is about blogging. At first I kind of had the "Pfft" attitude, but I've actually learned quite a bit about blogging... and I may have applied some lessons I've learned from this blog to the other one. But hey, they can both look spiffy It's just that the other one looks more spiffy/cluttered.

I'm not going to post the URL here for now since I still want to work on it a lot, but I will...eventually. And then maybe it will make more sense why I haven't been so consistent here. It's a cool blog...that doesn't really relate to here. I guess I just wanted a place where I could be a critic and say what I want and blame it on being critical. It's not a crime; blogs are meant for thoughts.

But yep, my hope is I can eventually list this account as a contributor (and admin) and maybe integrate it so this is the primary (and maybe only) account? I kind of want to use Wordpress later by exporting the blog but I have no clue which has better benefits. Help would be nice? xP

A Month? Blasphemy!

But alas, it is true. It has indeed been a month since I last posted and I'm not sure if I should feel ashamed or proud of myself. Ashamed because I said I would be more regular with blogging...and failed to live up to that. Proud because it means I was actually concentrating on something other than blogging. Not that blogging is a bad thing, but there are times when it could just be a time drain.

So where have I been? At school, home, swim pool, home, and more home. Really. I've been on my laptop and have had a good number of opportunities to post again but...eh. >.>

Some updates about what has been going on? Well, I've finally decided that being a second semester senior isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I still go to bed at 1 (though most of the time it's voluntary), I still stress about everything going on, and I still have breakdowns. Lovely, eh? But it is better than say...junior year. Yeah, junior year was just horrible.

Oh, I'm also on the school swim team which isn't all that bad. Practices can sometimes be draining and I fall out of shape easily, but I still enjoy being on the team. Good experience. =) The only problem is Monday where I don't get home till at least 8:30 due to swim practice straight to piano lesson. Considering how teachers like to hand out a lot of homework on Monday, Tuesday usually becomes pure pain for me.

I am completely behind in my shows. I don't think my Hulu queue has ever felt so clogged up before...and I really need to get watching if I want to be able to watch episodes before they expire. The worst part is I think I'm the only one in my group of friends who is not caught up on shows. So sometimes they might leak spoilers and I end up being mad at them and wanting to watch the show even more. Case point: Chuck.

I got into two colleges. 8D Which means I'm at least going to college. While they're not my top choices, I'm pretty satisfied with them. Just have to wait and see if any other colleges are willing to accept me. xP

My inherited baby's finally taking a nice long break. =) That's right, the site I'm administrating is currently resting. Mainly because of personal reasons, but the reconstruction bit is true as well.

Wow...I really have nothing more to say. I feel so boring...or maybe I'm just tired.

Optimism

It sucks. There really is no other way to put it. Sure, everyone needs a little dose of happiness in their life, but being optimistic gets you nowhere. Let me give you an example:

A senior student breezes through her first week as a second semester senior, noticing how the homework load is relatively light and that she doesn't have to do much. Attempting to be optimistic, she thinks that the rest of the school year will be like that. Now the senior student still has two classes of homework to finish while on the computer writing a blog post.

Being optimistic sucks.

There really is no other way to put it. Maybe I should stay a pessimist; better for my sanity and my hopes and dreams. Wait...being a pessimist means that there are no such things as hopes and dreams. Well that just blows.

I don't think there is a happy medium, but I can't handle optimism right now. In fact, screw to the you, optimism. It's time for me to live my life in misery. (Yay for miserable old ladies?)

Just a Tad Confused

Okay, nothing light-hearted this time. The topic is...Egypt. Lovely, eh?

The only thing is I have no idea what's going on in Egypt. I'm trying to catch up on the news, but I think I need someone to sit me down and explain it to me. Really. I think this is the first time I've ever felt confused about what's going on in the world, and I don't like that feeling. I like to know what's going on, especially when it comes to politics. Which is probably why I'm so frustrated. And writing in fragments. >.>

Hopefully by next post I'll have a slight sense of what's going on, if not a comprehensive one. [Insert rage]

College Confidential

This site (College Confidential) is absolutely amazing. I originally used it to look up scholarships and the next thing I knew, I was hooked on the Ivies' forum threads. Right now, I'm stuck on the "Top 10 Reasons to go to Pomona" thread and I have to say, that school sounds amazing. Unfortunately, it's all just a matter of getting in. Of course, my hopes aren't too high, but hey, a girl can dream.

Actually, I think I just want to get into a college. So far, I haven't heard great responses (actually, I've only had one so I don't know if that counts >.>), and I'm kind of freaking out. But I'll distract myself with scholarship stuff and college confidential. Which reminds me...I should really get working on those that require writings. T.T

Facebook

So the previous post was posted today, because I had neglected to do so yesterday which is the only reason why I'm writing two posts today. Kind of. Well...never mind.

Facebook. Yes...the bane of my existence. Actually, it's not that bad except for those addicting games that require a log-in every day. It's given me a way to be in contact with friends, new and old. There's only one problem: I just realised that not everyone on my "friends" list can be considered a good friend of mine. Yikes. =/

I'm not too keen on wiping them off the list, though, which causes me to think how important Facebook really is in terms of connecting with friends. Phone always feels more personal, but could you imagine the phone bill after one long distance phone call? And emails are great but not when you're living in the rapid fire of this time and age. So we resort to Facebook.

The even sadder thing about Facebook is the fact that even if you have 1000+ friends, there's no guarantee that you're going to contact all 1000+ friends; that would just be insane. Soon, your friends no longer become friends but rather numbers. It's wonderful, isn't it, knowing that you're just a number on someone else's list? You're now a statistic to that person.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention the obvious fail of Facebook trying to keep accounts 13+ in terms of age. I can assure you that there are ten year olds running around Facebook, probably playing addicting games. I'm not saying it's bad, but the least those kids could do is learn some internet safety before they displaying their home place, expected school, 537 photos, 263 videos, and every thought that they're having.

Speaking of internet safety, how safe is your Facebook profile? I have to admit that I am insanely paranoid when it comes to internet safety, going to some great lengths to protect my identity. Don't mind the fact that IP addresses can be traced and you didn't hear that from me. Short of that, though, I think my Facebook profile is pretty well-covered. At least I'm not "searchable". xP

I'm not writing this post to dis Facebook. In fact, I'm rather attached to it. But I will admit that there are some things about Facebook that bothers me, including its ability to distract me for hours as I'm on my laptop at late night hours. Yeah, maybe it's a problem.

Hospitals

So I neglected to notice that the last post Asian Time was the 69th post. I'll let all you readers fill in the blanks.


I decided to talk about hospitals for this post due to recent events. I don't think any of you guys know what it is nor do I expect you to. Let's start off with all of the times I have had to go to the hospital (birth does not count):


o Sometime around the ages of 10-11, I had the stomach flu but the pain was so bad that I was taken to the ER. Highly unpleasant visit, as I ended up not able to drink down all the medicine and having to re-drink it. Long story short, I can't help but avoid apple juice now. The IV needle also slid out so they had poke another hole and that time actually hurt. Probably because they used the vein in the hand that time.

o Spring Freshman year: While trying to run across a crosswalk, I tripped over someone's foot (Hey! It wasn't my fault that that person was running diagonally and I just got caught by her hell). The ambulance had to come and I was subjected to the torture of not remembering what exactly happened. The ER wasn't that pleasant either; the man on the stretcher next to me was rather insane and kept thrashing around so my mother had to get someone to move me so I wouldn't be kicked in the head. Also took hours just to leave the place. End result: I left the hospital with torn sweats (had just came from a swim meet), open wounds on hands and knees, and this annoying wound on my forehead that required me putting on sunblock so it wouldn't look funny. Took about two years to completely heal. T.T

o Summer before Senior year: I was suffering from dehydration and the flu (but I didn't know that), so after passing out three times, my mother decided to send me to a hospital. In Taiwan. Three days before I was supposed to go home. Four days before school started again. It was perhaps the greatest timing I had ever had. Anyway, I had a pain in the abdomen so the first thing they said was appendicitis. Fair enough. Then the doctor said it might be some infection. Either way, they would have to keep me in the hospital for several days so I could have the surgery and heal. After my mother translated that to me, I started crying. I hate missing school; it's such a pet peeve of mine. Finally, they found out that there was nothing really wrong and that I could leave...and then I developed a fever. So I had to stay overnight for observation. It took a while but I finally was able to leave. I had also finished about 1500cc of saline throughout my time there. Condemned to drinking a 500cc bottle a day, I was bad but too tired and sick and out of it to really complain. So that was a brilliant scare.


Okay, so three visits aren't actually that much nor were they too bad. And I think I've accumulated enough knowledge to be able to muse about those visits and some of the lessons I have learned from them.

1) The difference between the two countries' ERs is huge. The nurses in Taiwan would show us what the medicine is, tell us what it does, and give us the cost. While I do appreciate knowing how expensive my treatment is going to be, sometimes it's a bit better to just hook me up and worry about everything else later. Then again, the nurses there really do seem nicer, probably because it's not a crazy rush there (or at least while I was there). They also have an observation room that has several beds, so patients don't have to be admitted but they can still stay overnight. They also move you if there's something going else in one of the two rooms.

2) Hospitals have this smell that is actually rather addicting. I don't know why but...yeah...>.>

3) While they are great at times, you need to be wary of their food. At least the dishes from the cafeteria thing has me kind of on a thin wire on whether I want to eat it or not. They're not bad; you just don't know what exactly it is you're eating.

4) The expenses. Oh. My. Freakin'. Ripred. Hospitals charge so much money, it's almost not worth going there. The bills are insane and you just want to go to them and beg to waive some of the fees. That's probably why I avoid hospitals as much as I can.

5) You can catch up on sleep at a hospital. Well maybe when you're not in a busy ER, but when you're admitted or you're moved for observation, you feel like you can take a nap whenever you want. So you do. And as a high school student who doesn't even believe in sleeping before 10, it is amazing. It's the best vacation you can ever have. Of course, you're probably at recovery stage at that point; the pain might have a problem with getting you to sleep.


I think that's it for now...So yeah, topic of the day is hospitals. Lovely, eh?

Asian Time

I haven't completely forgotten this blog...yet. I can assure you that soon enough, I'm going to forget. But I figured I might as well talk about: Asian Time.

Now for those who are not familiar with what Asian Time is, I'll provide you a definition: Asian Time is pretty much the standard of time true Asians follow by. Which means that I don't run on Asian Time. Asian Time is usually at least 30+ more minutes than the given time or if it's a small amount of time, at least double the given time.

Example: My mother tells me that she is going to pick me up at 3:30 when it's 3:00. She comes at 4:15. In this case, the estimated time was not doubled, but added by 1.5x minutes.

You don't have to be Asian to run on Asian Time and vice versa. I'm Asian and I prefer being early. Asian Time simply applies to times when your parents go "Okay, I'll be there in 5 minutes!" and come half an hour later. Or if they say, "I'm right around the corner..." and you can easily fill in "...5 blocks away."

Why am I writing a post on this? Well, I thought it would be rather amusing. And even if you don't run on Asian Time, it only takes practice before you know when you can apply it (ie. waiting after school, waiting for a ride, waiting for a friend to call back in "5" minutes).