Stop Motion Art

I absolute LOVE stop motion videos.
It's like photography--only better, in my opinion. It's almost like rifling through an old photo album or scrapbook.

But this video absolutely blows my mind:

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie



Thanks to QuarterPastWonderful for the video.

Midterms and Finals

Whoever thought of giving midterms and final exams after Winter Break was not the sharpest tool in the toolbox.

But on a bright note, the new semester's almost started, and we're only two quarters away from vacation! Which sounds pretty great, since it's about as cold as it gets down South here. I wish it would snow.

Laminin

A camp I once attended showed me this video.
I thought of it again around CHRISTmas.

Watch it.

It's mind-blowing.


Thanks to Tsunkatsemaster.

Happy Holidays? (Part 1: NOT)

As we all know, the holidays are almost here.

The students at my school are already literally buzzing with excitement.
Well, half of that excitement just died today.

I go to a school named Myers Park High. On November the 8th, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education voted to move the IB (International Baccalaureate) program feeder schools to East Mecklenburg and Harding High schools, which both also have IB programs.

For those of you who don't know what IB is, it's an international program that "is motivated by a mission to create a better world through education." It's divided into three programs-- the Primary Years Program (from ages 3-12), the Middle Years Program (from ages 13-15) and the IB Diploma Program (from ages 16-19). Myers Park had the first Middle Years Program in North America, and the first IB Program in North Carolina.

Our school's IB program helps run the school--we organize fundraisers, events, community service, and most, if not all, students participate on some kind of extracurricular team or club: for example, athletics, musical groups, etc. The IB program attracts hardworking students from all over the school district. Fortunately, I'm in the Myers Park zone, so I don't have as long a commute as many of the others.

Well, today, the CMS Board of Education voted to take the IB program away from those who don't live in the Myers Park zone. Which is most of the IB students--around 500 kids. With a little under 200 (I think around 160), Myers Park is left with a mostly highly endangered IB, which will probably be phased out for inefficiency in the future. To have an IB program of only 160 kids is not a very good idea.

They said that they voted to do so because Myers Park was overcrowded, and because East Meck was under populated. (Myers Park is actually not overcrowded-- it has over 63 acres of land and 13 buildings, which supports our population of around 3,000 students well)

So, while a lot of my friends get moved back to their home schools, or opt to go to East Mecklenburg or Harding IB (I haven't heard of many who are planning to), I get to look forward to the upcoming holidays.

Happy holidays?

Is YOUR Life Average?

My friends told me about this website, and honestly, it is probably one of the most entertaining websites I have every seen. And one of the most time-killing. Which is why I'm going to try to never go on it again--I'll never stop reading it. Ever.

MLIA.
http://mylifeisaverage.com/

Here's one of my favorites:

"Today, I realised that my bus driver takes us the long way to school when he finds rubbish on the bus the night before. But Mr. bus driver, what you dont know is that kids on the bus leave rubbish intentionally just so we can be late to school on Mondays. MLIA."

Oh, and here's one more:

"Today, my phone beeped that I had a new text. When I opened my inbox, there was no new text. I emptied the inbox and that pesky envelope was still on my screen. I switched my inbox setting from conversational view to standard and finally found it. The sender was Unknown and the message blank. The date? 11/23/2057. Not only that, I found a second message hidden apparently from 08/18/2057. I am convinced someone from the future is trying to contact me. MLIA."

Here's one from me-- "Today I fell UP the stairs. MLIA."

Racist Jokes, Faulty Calculators, & Bellyflops

Well, we all know that today is Thanksgiving Day.

Where we give thanks. Today.

I have a huge list of things to be thankful for, but there are a couple that surprised even me:

Racist jokes.

When I was younger, I used to think racist jokes were the worst things imaginable. Even worse than 'shut up' or 'stupid'. They irked me, until the 4th grade. In the 4th grade, I met a boy who made racist jokes, things like, "What did you eat for dinner? OH WAIT, you're Asian. Of course, rice and eggrolls." At that time, I thought those were horrible, and I'd come home feeling rotten. But now that I think about it, these racist jokes helped me become a lot more insensitive to words that people use to try and hurt me. And now, this boy is one of my best friends. So I have two things to be thankful for in this category, racist jokes, and one of my best friends.

Faulty Calculators.

I had one of those days. The ones where I want to stay at home and sleep. I woke up at 6:50, and had to get to school by 7:10. I thought it was an A day, when in fact it was a B day. (On A days, I had gym, on B days, I had math.) I forgot about the math test we had, and my Physics teacher gave us a pop quiz. So, while I was taking my math test, I was calculating an integral on my TI-89, when I realized the calculator was giving me the wrong answers. So I had to work out all of my problems by hand. At the time, of course, I felt like running away and never doing math again, but then I realized that I was becoming too dependent on my calculator, and that not using it was a good measure of my knowledge. I'm pretty thankful for that. (By the way, the TI-89 is a HUGE reason why college and high school students are failing math.)

Bellyflops.

Bellyflops hurt. I found that out during my diving practice. I tried to do a forward dive pike for the first time, and I couldn't get out of it fast enough. BAM. It hurt. A lot. But that's okay, because then I felt like getting it right, and got back on the board. I didn't end up doing a forward dive pike, but I did end up doing an inward for the first time. I'm thankful for bellyflops too.

This time of year makes me think of being thankful, when I should really be thankful all year. Unless you're a turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Becoming A Better Person

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what I can do to be better.

I get a lot of stuff from people about what I'm doing wrong, but they never tell me what to do to make myself better. And it doesn't help me at all.

This past Sunday, I rededicated myself to God at my church. I just feel like God pulled me to rededicate myself to Him--I mean, lately I feel like schoolwork or extracurricular activities are becoming more important to me. And that's never good. So, I'm working on becoming a more dedicated Christian.

Honestly, I think I've become a kind of happier person than I was in middle school. Maybe I was going through a phase or something... Because I felt that the world hated me for some reason? But I've also become a little more sarcastic. Like this kid I didn't know was being mean to one of my younger friends. I immediately started being mean. I don't really regret being mean to this kid because he was picking on my little buddy, but I regret that I couldn't resolve it in a nicer way. And, instead of making things better, I ruined MY day by being mean, and that kid's day too. So it's kind of a lose-lose situation now that I think about it.

This song really hits home for some reason. Don't ask why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Rgn5W
Russian Roulette, by Rihanna

"As my life flashes before my eyes
I'm wondering will I ever see another sunrise?
So many won't get the chance to say goodbye
But it's too late to think of the value of my life"