Oh busy week

There are two camps that the school students fall into: Going on vacation or doing lots of work. And by going on vacation they mean actually up-and leaving by car or plane: one more day in Washington and they're on the work train. Seeing that I'm still in Washington,one can conclude this break doesn't feel like a vacation. Internship and summer program apps, job apps, vague homework assignments, you name it.

Mon- Orthodontist (braces off- yeah!), Nat'l Geographic- special film on Terra Cotta Soldiers (tix for exhibit sold out), Orthodontist for retainer.
Tues- Jog, movie @ Nat'l geographic on shipwreck research, Church rehersal @715p.
Wed- Supreme Court Marshal's list invitation to court hearing, CPR renewal@ 5p.
Thu- Do money moving with savings act. b/c interest rate is so low, Lifeguard Backboarding review, CPR Class part 2.
At least I've been getting enough sleep this week!

Kairos, Open and Shut

I have been up for the past 38 hours, save a 3-hour and 1-hour nap. This is what you do when you're at one of these certain events shrouded in secrecy. Actually, we had the opportunity to get a 'sleep', an offer I did not take. I'd say more, but I don't want to ruin any surprises for future generations of Kairoseers.That said, I strongly encourage all sophomores to come. In fact, depending on my level of conviction, I will zealously recruit you all to go!
LTF man!!!
This page has been censored beyond belief.

Snowpocalypse

The snowplowing trucks boomed along the thoroughfare at all times of day today.

I asked the snow king for 14 inches, not quite 40. He must have misheard me.
This time, Montgomery County was the epicenter of this storm, dubbed "Snowpocalypse". Power outages, downed trees, and stores running low on supplies are widespread throughout the area. It has been 2 weeks since I have been to MoCo on account of recent weather activities. Reports are coming to the newsroom from secondhand sources who say that it looks like doomsday- or winter wonderland. Choose your pick. Don't expect another storm in the area of this magnitude for 6-7 years.

As for me, I did make it to mass this morning ; the congregation was reduced to 10% its usual size. I cooped myself up at home in the afternoon with the final work on an essay and laboratory report as well as a mock SAT exam. Fun? Choose your pick. Most institutions in the area are closed tomorrow, including the Fed. However, the DC Gov't plans to open with 1 hour delay. When there is a will, there is a way.

Rush

Where have I been? What have I been doing? This stretch from Sept. 1 may have been my longest unexcused hiatus of speech on this blog since July 2007. What have I been doing? School lots of it. Don't remind me of Wednesday- first full day of school. Start with the school day, add a soccer practice, a scrapped knee and a violin lesson across town and the initiation rite of homework from a lot of new teachers. Tuesday? I was in an aggressive homework mode. The English? Well, I had one night to make sure it was reader perfect. Good time investment, got a solid A on the stack of papers. And as I heard from a senior- annotations in the margins! (Your teacher) loves it!
So after a partly leisure day at the library, I'm being called back home. It was no rush. No clear objective. I took at least an hour cruising the web, scouring satellite photos to ID an abandoned railroad, wondered at the marvel of the forward-thinking (and now old-looking) Penna. Turnpike, read about the Nissan Pavilion and Kingman Island, spend an hour munching on a bagel and reading the college paper (Blue and Gray, to give a hint where I was), and blogging as I wait to catch a bus, and doing homework assignments.

Time

I've been thinking: three days off and I haven't done much useful. I try to monitor my time, but it disappears. I don't want to blame soccer practice, which has me out at 4pm and in at 9:30pm.

So...
I'm usually ready to go at 9:30am

Monday- achieved close to nothing. Ok, it's my first nothing day.

Tuesday- get saran wrap and aluminum foil. Chase a hothead three blocks to make him apologize to me for the inappropriate thing he said to me

Wednesday- go to Capitol Visitor Center, get school supplies. Waste time on internet.

Day In and Out

I didn't forget- post 497 will be about the sans-culottes

but it's only 475. So away I went from the three-story palace of Bucknell engineering. But first, the Soccer camp kids came on Saturday night- 400 of them. Lots of them. And as a going-away present, a thunderstorm. Off goes the steam whistle, but it goes ignored. Comes the rain, and we run in. Then yearbooks, and now, the eternal quest to find those folks on facebook.

I'm thinking that I can get rid of pool tile algae with the abundant supply of AJAX oxygen bleach powder. I feel like the groundskeeper from CaddyShack. 8 hours from arrival at home to work duty, let's say.

People in the Last Day

I forgot that not all local food is health food, especially in Penna. dairy country. Parkhurst does a fine job of providing delicious meals. Fine in that I got into eating 5000 calories in one day- twice than what's healthy. And I'm off to dinner. I also found it interesting that some people have seen the insides of a tractor, some who live on a farm, some have never seen the insides of a computer before, and some Republicans whose parents do not make .25 million dollars a year. I'll write more insightful thinks when there aren't 3 people looking over my shoulder

Found It

What is in your bed? Mosquitoes, not bedbugs, two pillows, two sheets, a bathrobe, a heavy blanket that hasn't been used in two weeks except on cold mornings. And what about a digital camera? By four mornings of early waking and two other wake-ups, I did not see it up there. Last Sunday, May 31, was the last time I had it. I professed the wonders of ready-baked chicken and its lusciousness on a bed of lettuce between two pieces of whole grain bread, with some mayo. Then, after not bringing my camera on the bike ride, it went missing for a week.
I missed filming more JangooVision, and a shot of summer rolls with shrimp and cellophane noodles (no, it's not plastic). Other than that, I held up pretty well.
So as I was searching for my Lifeguard shirt on Saturday, I came across it. I found the shirt at the bottom of a hamper, and the camera, in bed, as well as my Smartrip card, in the bottom of my backpack, along with a bottle of water and muffin, date, May 29.

My Life

I got into typing a biography. I was inspired by Zak's writeup of the inspirational buildup of BFFK (refer to jangoonow.googlepages.com and click on affiliates). I started it back a while ago, but I only started to get comprehensive
I even put words to describe this decade: A trying time that shows the whole range of humanity. Yes, I give a cheery view for the next decade. But year by year, I recall events good and bad.

Summer Early

4:45 am. That's when I'm getting up to go to work with the Park Department as a entry-level Lifeguard tomorrow. This is going to be a great, exciting adventure. So to insure I get my 8 hours of sleep, I should go to bed at... 8:45pm. But I always function on 6-7, so, not a big deal. Now this harkens back to last August when we left on vacation. I got a 3:30am phone call- from Little Brother's alarm clock. A thunderstorm was rolling by. I dozed off. I got up at 4:30 when my alarm clock went. We left at 6am to go up I-83 to I-81. What a memory.

Per Se

I know of only one person who has patronized this ultra-high-end mini restaurant in New York at Columbus Circle, and it was a business expense. Now here is a 15/16 year young from the Philly Area who made the reservation precisely at 10am from the bathroom, and paid for the trip on his own cash, thrice.

To put this in perspective, my most expensive plate was somewhere around $40, on a business card. For me, Per Se would be an experience at the $298,000 income bracket (even so, that's 1/1000th of your yearly budget), possibly at $149,000, it's so tantalizing.

"Why would I spend half of my yearly income on a restaurant? Well this is no ordinary restaurant. I would not even degrade my time at this restaurant to the title of a "meal." Experience is much more appropriate." (f@15)

So, here is his site:
http://foodieatfifteen.blogspot.com/2008/12/per-se-2.html

Jiayue and Her Friends

Over the creek and winding through the woods
to the Church of LDS we go
The signs point the way until we pass under the beltway
Then follow the pinnacles to the gate and find a parking spot
and read the book of Mormon through

before watching this concert sponsored by the munificent Sid Foulger, local real estate developer from the 1960's and beyond.
Beautiful songs in Chinese, arias in Italian, and songs from The Phantom...and Over the Rainbow. Great singing. Midway through, Sid, who looked about 75 or so was introduced, and on went a film of his exploits at the age of 83. Climbing through the rugged terrain of China. He sponsored a school and road, and stimulated the villager's well-being. Amazing. His age today: 89. And, on short noticed, he played some song on the piano "This is really not on the program", announced the MC.

Cinco de Mayo

Back about 20 years ago, Canada had a $2 bill. You may have gone there multiple times and never come across one. That's because it was replaced (not just 'phased out')by the bimetallic tooney. That won't fly in America regarding $1 coins. For some reason, Americans love the Washington greenbacks, even though they aren't very pristine after a few transactions. Green with Envy? Or is it just that coins are all heavy and everything in the pocket.

Think of this: 5 dollar coins versus 20 quarters. That's what DC Metro farecard machines gave out as maximum change. Half a roll of quarters. Positive change?
And anyway, it makes one feel more international. Few countries have bills for 1 unit of currency anymore.

At least $1 coins make it through the wash pretty well.

Now is that $1000 Mexico coin worth $10 or a cash cow at $100?
Now about those half dollar coins and two dollar bills...

Now onto more serious and pertinent business:

Let's Find Atticus Sawatzki's 1 GB USB Plug-in flash drive.
It's a classic. And there's a $5 cash reward fund to find it and compensate the returner, thief or not.

Taken from a computer in the early afternoon hours of 5/4/09, and being handled like stolen property- no geribund piece of technology deserves to be treated that way!
So, let's find it!

Course Selection

We only got the packets Tuesday night. Then, on Thursday, we turn them in. Juggling four semesters in a few hours of work. Well. Get as many requirements out of the way, make it so that there isn't too much AP in 12th grade. So I'll see how it comes back in a few weeks.

Italian ducks- they look sort of different than our American variety. More slender. I have to ask Little Brother more about those ducks. Were they mean like Australian squirrels or what? And the sound they make. So I'll ask him sometime.

Holy Saturday

I almost forgot what a rain shower was. Anyway, one came today as part of the ritual to of wiping away the Cherry Blossom flowers. Despite this rain, there were sill busloads of tourists in and around the mall. After seeing some of the Smithsonian art galleries- Asian and African collections (I tell you some art has meaning, and some does not at all), I saw Daddy's sprucy office with a key- can't believe plants live better in there than at home. And since it was 2pm, it was lunchtime. Chinatown Wok was the first choice; however, on weekends, the entrees are double the weekday price. $13.95 for an Americanized Chinese dish worth $7.? No way. Seeing the better deal at authentic Full Kee, there was a long wait to get in. So the only way to go is...hop on an 80 bus creeping up behind you and go grocery shopping. You can really get a lot of delicious grocery food for $40. So, then the day falls back into doldrum. Not too bad for a 3rd day of vacation, especially one that's wet and wet.

As the idiom goes:
April showers bring May flowers.
Except I don't like high pollen count days in May and June.
But I like summer vacation.

Not quite warm

A Beautiful Mind, a great movie. Since I haven't finished watching it (I see tomorrow as a feasible day to do so), I won't write a whole review. But It got me thinking: Commies putting codes in American magazines like Life and Vanity Fair? I doubt it- only Newsweek. And the radium diode- it may have perplexed some, but it makes total sense. The implant reads the decay of the radioactive element, and when that number, visible only under blacklight, is typed into the keypad- the simple computer verifies that number. Neat security tool. Just wondering if those tiny 7-bar displays existed back then.

So- I'm just waiting for Easter- the final divider to the end of the school year. Amazing. Yet I can't believe it's April on account of that brisk air...

WAMUNC XI: II

Saturday. After staying up past midnight, it was sort of hard to get up at 8am to go to the conference. Anyway, to my surprise, just about everyone from school who was supposed to be there was. Again, the OPEC got a room at nearby Government Hall, and got to work. So I supposed that it was time for me to be a sponsor. So I swng my weight and called out how Australia was the USA's BFF (fyi at this point in simulation, had increased oil production) and that we'd have to justify why I was subsidizing OPEC purchases by Australians. So I was sponsor. Now, if I just had voting powers

Meiwah's at 22nd and M. Never had considered eating there. I don't really know why I never have. So as we were waiting on the food,some really tall guy in a hoodie walked past our table. I instinctively pulled my belongings within arm-reach of me. Soon came an entourage and a coach. It was Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons, another high profile diner in this restaurant. Yes, the food was good (otherwise how would you get every politician to visit and have a picture taken?). And the price tag lived up to a comrade's stereotype of $15 Chinese food. There is also a Meiwah's in Chevy Chase. I guess that's how everyone knew about it.

So we were about 2 blocks from campus and 6 blocks from where I wanted to be. I got back in time, though. The OPEC resolution clearly passed, the non-OPEC clearly failed. Finally, we got onto the topic of renewable energy. Why was I so harried? The NGO NRDC was asking me about kangaroos. That went through well. Because I wasn't getting much attention, I decided to change my persona and talk about the rouge funding by oil money. The talk was interrupted as news of a revolutionist takeover in Saudi Arabia came in. "Should've listened to me". Then they took over the UAE. "Let's get them!". For this day, it was 6pm, and the conference, in all desires, was done for.

The Delegatefest. A highly guarded event with blaring music. As loud sounds disrupt homeostasis, I got thirsty. No snacks and drinks as promised. Not in the ballroom or in the geeklab, or in the adjacent battle of the bands. It was alright to socialize with people, but the music really started to hurt my ears, so I tried to leave. According to Physics class, that's 120 decibels. So I got parental permission to leave. Well, maybe not with the hounds. Three guards at each staircase, and a person watching each elevator. I positioned myself near the least guarded one, so that I'd be able to mix in with the crowd from the Battle. But no. More student guards came. So I remembered that there was an unobstructed exit from the roof. After crossing some groups of smoking children smoking cigarettes and who knows what, I gracefully opened the door, and twirled down the steps. And the stairway put me- outside on the alley halfway to the Metro. I had made it out. It turns out that others had done the same.

WAMUNC XI: I

WAMUNC is the great apex of the year. Unlike CUMUNC, this event is in the supposedly nice days of spring, with the smell of flowers and bustle of tourists and feeling of the end of the school year. That's a particularly April feeling. And that was last year, after the mental barrier of Easter break.

Nevertheless, I have been so tied up in school, schoolwork, and school peripherals that I forgot that there were only a few weeks left before the egg drop (Apr. 14) and exams (May)!

After school Thursday, we did the familiar drill of shuttling to Fort Totten, ride the red in a semi-private car, and have our leaders hide at the other end of the car. Quick to supper at Chipotle's- a whopping $9 for dish and drink, after the decent intro at Lisner (Obama would speak there tomorrow...). Comittee Session 1 at Gov't Hall. Plenty of competent OPEC players who knew their thing... not that easy to take all. But form your position, get up and at it, and do well.

"National Weather Service has issued a Dense Fog Advisory for the District of Columbia and surrounding Area until 9AM. Visibilities may be reduced to a quarter mile. Area of Fog is expected to develop overnight into the early morning."
That was today, just like yesterday. But cloudy skies don't dampen me.

After 3 classes (excluding gym), we were back down at GW. Now I (like that as I was the sole Panther at the OPEC party) had the opportunity to have an indoctrination session at the API's 12th floor HQ at 1220 L st.

If the event was placed the week after Easter, well, that would get in the way of my pending DMV adventure (My right birthday is April 17, a Friday, and I expect to use the time after school and before the place closes to take care of business). But saving the world is more important than self satisfaction.

MD the Song

And yet another state song is coming under fire.

I don't know how it happens, but some of these songs are goofy, hateful, inciteful, and downright archaic. The year is 1939, and somebody or some group in the Maryland government decides to approve the Secessionist Civil War Song, with the tune of "O Tannenbaum"- an easy-to-sing job that frequents taverns and the like. Well. The legislators in Annapolis are looking at this.

But for now,

"The despot's heel is on thy shore" (aka Abe Lincoln)

"With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
With Watson's blood at Monterey" (who are these people?)

"Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
Maryland, My Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain!" (outright obvious)

Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum! (wishful thinking)


The whole text is available at http://www.50states.com/songs/maryland.htm

Luckily, I think that the whole concern is about several lines, not the whole job. Virginia removed "Old Virginny", and yet has not replaced it. What a terrible fate- to not have a state song- only NJ and DC have never had one.

Top 100 Blog?!

On the website "temporary attorney", the one that infamously rants about the miseries and deceptions of law school and the law profession, was a little enblem about it being a top 100 blawg. It turns out that blawg is a pun. b-law-g. Sorry if I killed the flow. Then people make these lists about the Top 100 blogs? Based on what? I guess readership or revenue. Now there are news blogs, specialty blogs, neighborhood blogs, journal blogs, and rant blogs, and lots of other types of blogs. Some get higher readership than the others, by ad placement, real-world connections, and KEYWORD PLACEMENT- that's how a lot of readers found this blog. Other than these, I suppose that blogmasters register with an index. Nevertheless,I read a stat that 25% of all college students have a blog- now that's a lot of blogs. Some are well-written, some creative, but the point is- bookmark the ones you like, and the ones that people you affiliate with edit.

And 25% is just a statistic- most blogs are dead---the owners never had a real passion for it, and luckily, they don't show up on top of a web search.