A Good Car Wreck and an Interview

So, this morning, I woke up and spent a substantial amount of time completing an essay for my Naval ROTC application, which I had to have finished by the time of my interview (which was afterschool). I printed off my application and resume, made a mental note to finish my calculus homework during my first period choir mentor, and walked out of the door.

I had a ton on my mind. I was sleep deprived, thinking about limits, and extremely nervous about my interview. But those aren't legitimate excuses.

As I was getting ready to make a right and turn of my neighborhood, I noticed how the cars in front of my weren't making "full and complete" stops at the stop sign, and I made a point of doing so.

But I forgot to look left.

And so, I ran into an SUV. I didn't notice it was there until I ran into it and knocked my bumper clean off. I pulled to the side of the road, got out, and blurted to the driver (which happened to be a fellow student), "That was completely my fault. I am so sorry."

The boy retorted in a harsh tone, "Yeah. It was."

As he walked toward my car, he cussed, and then simmered down. I gave him my contact information and proceeded to start sobbing. I had an interview after school, and I needed the car. My next concern was about my parents' reaction.

Within a minute or two, my neighbor (who happens to be a big-wig in the Houston Police Department) came to the rescue and helped us figure out what to do until the police from my city arrived.

Eventually, three or four police cars arrived. They were extremely helpful--I was expecting a fine or a ticket, but they were empathetic and didn't give me a citation. One of the officers said it was a "good car wreck" because no one was hurt and the damage wasn't that substantial.

And so, my Dad came and took me to school, and I was flustered all day. I probably failed my Wuthering Heights test, despite reading the book twice and reading a large amount of criticism.

My father also took me to my ROTC interview, which I think went surprisingly well. Probably because it was more of a Q&A session than an interview.




In other news, it's officially high school football season. Go 'stangs.

My leg feels weird.

Jeez Louise, I can't wait for friday. It's the first week of school, and the work is already keeping me up until (or past) midnight. But I guess I prefer it. I like to feel productive.

I had a charlie horse a couple days ago. My left leg still feels weird. Bleh.

My Naval ROTC application is very near finished. I have to type up a second optional essay, get my recruiter to approve it, and then, tigercats are go! I have to get a ton of transcript requests, though--for Tulane, Baylor, AFROTC, NROTC, and the recruiter. iA, Dios Mio!

Interact and StuCo had our first joint social yesterday, "Fish Floats". It had a much better turnout than we expected, but it was quite unorganized.

That's about it. I've been pretty boring over the past two days.

First Day

Today was the first day of my senior year. As you may have deduced from the title. Here are my thoughts on my classes:

1. Senior Mentor - I ended up being a Senior Mentor for one of our women choirs--which makes me happy because I can help the Altos bang out notes, practice, or take my private lesson during that period.
   
2. AP Calculus BC - The teacher, Cap'n Crotteau is way more awesome than I remembered. The man is incredibly intelligent, has like eight degrees, toured as a professional golfer, and was a captain on a nuclear submarine. I don't understand why he would choose to put up with a bunch of high-schoolers every day, but I sure am glad he does, because he's stinkin' hilarious! However, instead of having us sit in rows like a normal math teacher, we sit in table clumps, like in first grade. I named my table "The Table of Champions". I pleased (and slightly intimidated) with the people at my table.
   
3. Campus Singers- There are 73 people in that choir. That is way too many. I was going to audition for Alto section leader, but one of our vocal virtuosos (and choir president) that I thought was a Soprano II (but used to be an alto) moved back, and I think she is more cut out for the job.
   
4. AP English IV- This class is WAY TOO LARGE. There are 38 people in a class with 36 desks. It makes me feel claustrophobic and socially awkward. We also have a gigantoid project called Poet Museum. My teacher, Ms. Simons, told us that we can work alone or in pairs. I am very independent--I am an introverted, finicky, obsessive perfectionist. I like to hog projects, and given the opportunity, I will do them by myself. However, my dear friend (who I ADORE) gave me "the do-you-want-to-be-partners?" look. I'm in a pickle.
   
5. AP Physics- I am so excited for another year of my Physics teacher's obliviousness--it's quite entertaining.
   
6. Lunch
7. AP Macroeconomics- I think I am going to love this class. There are only 16 people, and they are some of my favorite people in the world. Yesssssss.
8. Pre-AP Spanish IV- I am pleasantly surprised with this one. I expected to feel awkward being a senior in a class full of sophomores, but I really don't. There are about 12 people, so I think we'll really get to know each other. However, all but two or three of us are girls, which is weird because Spanish is usually the language that the guys take.

After school, I got a call from a representative for Naval ROTC. I have a meeting with him this Friday at Starbucks. Which makes me super nervous because I heard that a guy at my school had a scarring experience with an Air Force Academy rep. The man sounded nice on the phone...

I also met my (potential) organ teacher today. He was nice. Kinda smelled weird. But he was nice. My dad had mixed feelings about taking organ lessons because he wants to teach me lessons about budgeting and whatnot. But I'm going to try my hardest to go through with this.

So far, I haven't screwed up my fast from solid food and facebook. However, I've been playing massive amounts of piano to avoid thinking about it. I really think I should try to pursue the spiritual aspect of the fast, but I'm so afraid about confronting my beliefs.

Senior Year Bucket List (ongoing)

School officially starts tomorrow, and I figured I should make my "Bucket List". I'm so Morgan Freeman. Completed items are in red.

1. Go to the Renaissance Festival. 10 bonus points if it's on my birthday.
2. Walk into the Band Hall one last time (I quit after my sophomore year, and have been afraid to re-enter)
3. Pull a Senior prank... I have one in mind, but I can't tell you.
4. Watch the Bucket List. With a large amount of high schoolers.
5. Convince someone else to take part in Bucket Listing.
6. Get a tacky bumper sticker
7. Eat at McDonalds before prom
8. Grow a Chia Pet
   
9. Go to Comedy Caberet. Act like it's an opera.
10. Photocopy my butt
    
11. Fly a kite. While "Let's Go Fly a Kite" plays in the background.
    
12. Make a quilt from all of the t-shirts that I'll never wear after high school.
    
13. Give a freshman (other than my brother) a ride
14. Ride the Kemah "Boardwalk Beast"
    
15. Read a book for fun. Does not count if it's required or for a scholarship.
    
16. Get a picture that I personally took in the yearbook
17. Eat ice cream for breakfast
18. Paddle-boat in a creek
    
19. Go to Homecoming
20. Run with scissors in a school hallway
    
21. Learn how to play a piece by Bach on the organ
22. Find the "maximum capacity" of a practice room
    
23. Tailgate at an AP Test. People did it last year. I'm unoriginal.
24. Eat breakfast at IHOP.
    
25. End the feud between Interact and StuCo
26. Host a Star Wars marathon
27. Organize a service project
28. Catch Senioritis
    

Fasting and Applications

Beginning tomorrow, I'll be fasting for 21 days. Which means that I'm abstaining from facebook and solid food (except on Sundays) in attempt to get my spiritual life straightened out. Because frankly, I'm a mess. So I'll be blogging a bit more frequently over the course of the next three weeks or so--partially as an alternative to facebook, but also to keep track of what's going on in my life, for myself and for the "public".

As you may have figured out, I'm a lister. I list things. Here's a list of applications that I have completed or intend to complete (complete application, but no transcript sent marked in purple; applications that are partially complete are marked in green; applications that I have yet to start are marked in orange):

• Naval ROTC Scholarship
• Air Force ROTC Scholarship
• Army ROTC Scholarship
• Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest
• Tulane University: Early Action
• Tulane Dean's Honor Scholarship
• Tulane Community Service Scholarship
  
• Baylor University: Early Action
  
• Baylor BIC/Honor's College
  
• Georgia Institute of Technology: Early Action
• University of California - Berkeley
• Emory University
• Georgetown University
• Boston University
• Harvard University
• Columbia University

*Note that this list is growing exponentially

Registration Tomfoolery

School officially starts on Monday, and yet, I feel like I've been in school for two weeks. Seriously--here's a schedule of what I did today:

• Woke up at 6:30 am; left for dermatologist at 7:30
• Dermatologist appointment at 8:00 am (Received two additional medications for acne. Gross.)
• Got a mango smoothie from Jamba Juice
• Worked the Interact booth from 9:00 to 9:55 am
• Set up risers and had a Choir officer meeting from 10:00 am to a little before noon
• Worked the Interact booth from noon to 2:00 pm
• Took and printed ID pictures for StuCo from 2:00 pm to about 4:45 pm
• Went home, attempted to read Atlas Shrugged, and uploaded a bunch of junk to my computer

By the way, the ID picture taking area is SUPER FUN. Here's the result:

This is a picture of a poster that's in the cafeteria. Something about eating healthy.

So, uh... we ate too much free candy.

Another picture of the cardboard cutout that my dear friend brought.

Wall mural?

Yessssss.

And here's a productive use of the ink ribbon:

Registration and Rivalries

Today and yesterday, I worked at the Interact booth during high school registration. For those that live under a rock, Interact is the Rotary-funded community service organization for high-schoolers that organizes crazy-cool events such as the annual "Battle of the Bands". Other organizations that had a booth at registration include StuCo (Student Council) and TSA (Technology Students Association?)

Historically, Interact and StuCo have a little unofficial "rivalry" that really has no ground and is quite petty. It's probably based on the fact that Interact has attracted mainly band people, and StuCo appeals to mainly choir/theater people. I still have yet to figure out why it's so segregated. Anyway, this year, one of my goals or "bucket list items" is to bridge the gap between the two organizations. And thus, we are having an event the first Wednesday of school called Fish Floats, in which freshmen and upperclassmen that bring freshmen receive free floats of assorted flavors, and listen to a schpiel about Interact and StuCo. Product placement, yeah!

Anyway, sitting behind a table for more than four hours gets boring. So we shot pencils at some balloons that StuCo had with a pencils launched from one of TSA's toys. Here's a video:

And here's a picture of me with the Frankenstein cut-out that my dear friend brought to spice up the Interact and TSA booths:

Schedule

It's official--I'm a senior. I can prove it, too: I have a schedule. It's on paper and everything!

1. Senior Mentor - Basically, I'm supposed sit in a basic math class (i.e. Algebra or Geometry), and help out freshmen or sophomores that aren't really latching onto the concepts. However, the teacher that I'm mentoring for has an AP Calculus AB class first period. A student that was in the same situation last year wrote on facebook, "She'll either make you basically a teacher aid or will ask you to find an algebra class going on the same period to mentor. I had a friend who became an aid and she asked me to find another class. (Took the off-period because my assistance was not needed)."
   
2. AP Calculus BC - Theoretically, this class is right next to the class I'm "mentoring" for. Which would've been convenient. Pfft. On another note, I had the same teacher for Pre-Cal my sophomore year as I'll have this year for calculus. He was a captain on a nuclear submarine. And he got mad at a kid my sophomore year for calling him "Cap'n Crunch".
3. Campus Singers- This is the top choir at my high school. No big deal or anything.
4. AP English IV- I had to read Wuthering Heights this summer. I heard the quiz was brutal. I'll let you know the result later.
5. AP Physics- The instructor of this class also taught my Physics class last year. He is a goon. See video below.
6. Lunch
7. AP Macroeconomics/AP Government- I heard that the government teacher is quite liberal. But I'm okay with that.
8. Pre-AP Spanish IV- I couldn't fit the actual class in my schedule, so I'll be doing the curriculum in a Spanish III class. Hooray for sophomores...