A lesson learned

This is an essay that my cousin helped me to brainstorm about.

Another test was passed back and a round of groans went up from many my classmates. I hadn’t done very well on this test either, barely getting a B on it. This was the third test this year and still no one had been able to get higher than a 90% on them. This was the average life of a student taking Calculus I at Mountain Vista Governor’s School. Although we were supposed to be the brightest students out of all of our schools, we were still getting average grades. Something needed to be done.
Many of the students thought that it wasn’t enough to simply go to class and listen to the teacher. I, at first as a joke, suggested that we all meet up at my house to attempt to teach ourselves. Many of the students actually agreed, completely seriously, so my address was distributed among the students and that weekend, I was surprised to see a large group of my peers outside my front door. I hadn’t expected so many people to show up, but I assumed that everyone wanted a good grade and was going to do everything in their power to achieve that.
We started slowly, reviewing the basic things like the definition of a derivative and the power rule, but as the weeks continued, we were able to learn much more in the same amount of time. Some of us learned better by hearing exactly how each concept went, other people learned better by reading the material out loud to themselves, so we tried putting those people together. Other people learned the material better by writing it out, so we provided much paper for them. By taking advantage of the learning strengths of each of the students, we were able to really understand Calculus better.
In the weeks that followed, the people who had come to the study groups weren’t groaning at their grades, but were looking happy. Even I saw many tests coming back with high A’s! Many weeks passed and the AP tests approached. The students in the class who had not come to the study sessions were beginning to panic and were doing last minute studying, but those who were in the study group felt confident in their abilities to pass the exam.
Towards the end of July, when AP scores came out, the Governor’s School students shared their scores with each other and there was a large difference between the scores of those who had gone to the study group and those who hadn’t. Most of the students who had gone to the study group had managed to get at least a 4 on the exam, while many of those who hadn’t participated in the study group had barely pulled off 3’s. From that experience, I realized that sometimes, going alone wasn’t always the way to go. Sometimes collaboration could be much better than being independent. Even a challenging class like Calculus was overcome through collaboration, and that experience made this lesson clear to me. The following year of Governor’s School, we were already planning to meet again at my house for the study group.

I'm sure it's not that good because I'm not the best writer, so I would love constructive criticism.

-Sam Rho

Autodidacticism

That's probably not the right word, but I figured I would write about how I feel right now in AP Chemistry. Considering how long it's been since I last wrote, I probably should have some sort of update as well on life.

It's been about a month since school started and I have barely learned anything in AP Chemistry class. My teacher... Really the only thing that she's almost taught me is a couple anions. That's only because we had a test on it everyday, so we had to quickly learn all the names and the elements that made up the compounds. Instead of learning from the teacher, I've ha to teach myself. It almost feels like I'm back in AP Calculus with Hess, except it's worse because I don't really know Chemistry and it's actually challenging. I hope this AP book actually helps, otherwise, I'm screwed. Also, I get the fun of taking the Chemistry SOL this year. Remember those? I didn't know they still existed, but apparently I have to take the test for Chemistry. That'll be fun. Also, AP Economics is a similar situation, but there's the excuse that the teacher is kinda in Texas, so whatever. All of us in the class have to teach ourselves.

Oh, small update on everything. I get to do some more applications. My mom said I should apply to more schools, so I have a Stanford application, University of Illinois application, Caltech application, and I think I may have to do some UC schools as well. That'll be fun.

My attempt at writing something

I don't really know what this is. I attempted to write something for a college app, but I can't even use this. I can probably use some of this, but I have to reword it a bunch. Anyway, I think I've figured out what I should probably do in order to get better at writing these essays. I'm going to have to write like a Simon. Basically show off and make myself seem really awesome, but not to the point where I am Simon. I want to still be somewhat humble. Finding the perfect balance of these things... is probably going to be very challenging, especially with my extreme lack of writings skills. Oh well, I hope I can figure out the best way for me to write soon. If you decide to read what's below, you're awesome!

            I have never really understood myself. My parents told me I was born with a heart defect, the kind where you lack an entire third of your heart. That was the story I knew and I had never questioned it. To people that my parents told the story of my birth to, I was the miracle child. I guess that made sense, most people don’t live with a third of a heart, at least not for long. Still, I had only heard about how I lived, never really asking a doctor about how I was living. It wasn’t until recently that my parents had actually told me I had gotten the Fontan procedure. Sure, I had heard them talk about it to my cardiologist, and I had figured out that the procedure had been what had allowed me to live, but my own parents had never told me about my own life until that day.

As a young child, I seemed to enjoy games very much. From the moment I laid eyes on the Nintendo 64, I knew I had to get one. Again, though, that’s just from what my parents told me. I know I did enjoy being able to play with the game system, but I don’t exactly know when or even how I managed to learn about it. The only sources I have from those years are other people, my parents, perhaps other relatives, but not me. This excitement that I got from playing games led to me getting even more game systems and more games! I was just amazed at how quickly new devices and games were coming out. My parents always seem to forget to mention how much money each of those systems cost and how much they had to work in order to get that money. Of course, as a child, I had never really thought about that, I just wanted to play the new Gamecube or Gameboy. Perhaps I might have been more grateful that I was at the time if I had learned about those things.

            My childhood, what did I do back then? I wouldn’t remember things like that; most of the exciting things my parents mention are things that I can only find in pictures. Sure, they show me the pictures and I attempt to remember, but the memories just don’t seem to exist anymore. I don’t remember eating a watermelon papaya or even remotely remember how I used to wash myself with spaghetti. The pictures show my past, but that past is one that I just can’t seem to find in my own mind. These days, there are things I see that make me feel nostalgic, as if I had actually watched Doraemon or Zzangu on television, but that can’t be true. I’ve been in the United States and things like that are only in Asian countries. I really confuse myself sometimes.

-Sam Rho

Correges

I've calmed down a bit from my last blog post, thankfully. The other people at school who are already done... I'm going to consider them as being too smart for me. Some have already finished all their essays. Some are getting close to finishing their entire applications. It's safe to say, though, that I think I'm fine for now. I'll just keep on continually working on everything.

Small list of colleges I'm applying to so far:
Georgia Tech
UVA
Virginia Tech
MIT
GMU
Washington University in St. Louis

Small list of colleges I'm considering applying to:
Cal Tech
UC Berkley
Johns Hopkins

I shall see how things go from here... Perhaps I'll update a bit more often too.

-Sam Rho

I am a lazy idiot

College application... All these essays... I should have done these at the beginning of the month. Why did I not do that? I knew that I would have to do them at some point. All the other smart people have already written their essays, but maybe they want to submit for early action... I hope so. I feel so late... I don't like this feeling. MAKE IT STOP! Gotta think.. Gotta write... Gotta get recommendations... Transcript request? What's that? I should have done that earlier? Oh... That's bad... I'M LATE... I don't like it...

First day of school and I had already seen people talking about getting transcripts and everything... I felt so behind... I'm so confused right now... What do I need? What do I write about? What's my counselor's phone number? Who should I ask for recommendations? OHMAHGAWSH... I'm late...

Could someone help me... please?

Korean Style

As the new school year approaches, I have realized something. My parents have slowly, but surely, been changing things in my life so that it is very similar to that of a normal, studying child in South Korea. You may be wondering, what is this life? Well, to be honest, I have only heard about this life from either my parents or other people, so I haven't really experienced it myself, but from what I've heard it's a tough life. Basically, what happens is, as they enter into either middle school or high school, their parents start to lose a bunch of money sending the kids into a bunch of different things. These range from academies, where the kids learn things that they should be learning in school, but the teachers don't teach because they assume the kids have already learned from the academies, to music, and some taekwondo in between. The parents have to make a whole ton of money so that the kid at least be at the same level as the other students in the same grade. Now, I haven't been sent to academies, but my parents don't make the amount that those people in Korea have to in order to get their kids into the academy.

I probably am just thinking this, while it's not true at all, but it just feels like it might end up with a similar lifestyle, with a bunch more sleep, of course. The kids in Korea... they usually get around 3-4 hours of sleep a night, if they're lucky. This is due to the many hours that they are in academies and things. Usually the latest of academies is over around 2am, so they have to head home, do all their homework and they can finally go to sleep, only to wake up in a few hours to start the process over again. My parents, luckily for me, have allowed me to stay at home and study at my own pace. Nothings horrible, just SAT practice. I enjoy it because I can goof off occasionally, while still making a bit of progress on my studies. What's new is that my parents have entered me into a piano class in order to increase my knowledge in the area of piano, in case I fail at studying engineering and I end up having to make money by teaching children how to play piano instead. I'm glad that they care. So, my schedule... at least to me, seems a bit busier than it was before. The basic layout of my schedule now consists of school, piano, and taekwondo. Piano and Taekwondo probably will be changing every day, so that will be fun. Hopefully, all this will pay off in the end.

I think I lost concentration in the middle of this, so I apologize if this ends up not making sense. I figured I would just write something.

-Sam Rho

Korean

Today I began a challenge for both myself and my sister. We were only able to use Korean at home when we were talking to our parents. You might think that, since we're Korean and that was our first language, it would be simple, but that was untrue. We totally failed.

First of all, because of my lack of vocabulary, and i say my because I'm not sure about my sister, I was unsure what to talk to them about without completely botching up the entire time during the conversation. Along with that, my parents don't usually talk to me much because I usually speak in English and they have a hard time understanding, so striking up a conversation was challenging.

Now, usually, during the day, my parents both work so I end up having to only talk to my sister or I have to use Kakaotalk to converse with my mom. My vocabulary is tiny and my spelling in Korean is horrible. My mom had to correct my words left and right, it wasn't a pretty sight.

Finally, at the end of the day, I asked my parents for a graded evaluation, in Korean of course. My dad said, " you need to talk more, C." So, I knew I wasn't going to do well for the first few days, this was pretty good for the first day. My mom, on the other hand, immediately said, "44." I was surprised at this, so I asked why and she replied that it was a result of my lack of usage and lack of spelling ability. At that point, I was content with my scores, and now I'm writing about my failure in bed.

One might wonder, "Why is Sam so intent on learning to speak Korean well all of a sudden?" Well, it's a result of a mixture of things. As I have gone to taekwondo, I have met people, such as Jun and Jee, that I want to converse with, but they usually speak socially in Korean. I'm not a very social person so I don't really fit in with the white community of taekwondo either. Church is a very awkward place to be as well, because of my lack of skill. Since I've reached the point where the college kids are trying to talk to me because I'm finally around their age, I've had difficulty replying to them. It has just been very frustrating. In the end, I realized that if I don't learn korean well, I'm going to be screwed because I won't be able to fit in with the English speaking people or the Korean speaking people because of my lack of skill in both and since I don't really get out of the house often, improving my Korean skills seemed like the way to go.

-Sam Rho

Learning Lyrics...

Well, this brings back memories. I haven't been on here in a while. How's it going, blogger? How have you been? I'm sure you didn't miss me, I mean, I almost forgot that you existed. Hmmm.... What have you been doing while I've been gone? I've literally spent the entirety of the last two weeks reading, studying, going to taekwondo, going to church, and playing Minecraft... It's been relaxing...

I got these pieces of tape on my belt at taekwondo that represent something... I think it's that I did well on a certain aspect of things needed to get to the next belt. For example, I got a red stripe for properly displaying the kicking combination of my belt, which was front, front, axe. It was simple to do and I think I got it down by the third class, but other things are a little more complicated, such as learning combinations.. at least for my belt, I'm sure it's much harder to get stripes and things a time goes on. Oh, and I've met Jee, Jun, and this other Korean college girl who just came to America for the summer and helps out with teaching. I believe she's supposed to be really good at the sport. It's been really fun to learn new techniques, but recently it's just been review of the technique, which makes sense because building a good foundation is key, I guess. Hopefully, we learn new things again soon...

My SAT math has been consistent, with practice tests I've been getting at least high 700's if not perfects, so I'm glad. I was worried all this calculus and linear algebra had thrown off my geometry and algebra skills. My Critical reading scores... still stink, haha. I mean, I've been getting 600's, but I need to work on understanding things from the passage more. Writing... I've been consistently getting over 600, sometimes 700's so I'm not too worried. I'm hoping the essay isn't too challenging so I can pull off an 8 like I usually do or maybe even higher. Vocab studying has not let up, it's been frightening, actually. My parents have been drilling me on words, so I've had more incentive to study. Usually, if I get words wrong then it's a small punishment, perhaps a speech about how this is the final summer I have before I go to college and the final chance to get a good SAT score... the usual. It's reasonable, I guess, nothing violent, thankfully. Hopefully this will work out for me.


I had to read 3 books for AP English this summer, Beowulf and Macbeth were mandatory, and the final book that I chose was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I have, so far, finished reading and writing logs for Macbeth and the yankee book, but have yet to write an entry for Beowulf. I had a bet with my sister that I would finish all my summer work before August... I lost. Well, there goes $5... darn it. I have enjoyed reading the books, actually. I thought I would hate it because I don't usually enjoy reading and writing, but these weren't bad. Macbeth was a little... creepy? I'm not really sure how to phrase it. It was just a weird/scary book to read. I just read the plot summary at the beginning and thought about how sad it was... all those deaths... The other book, about the yankee, was fun to read as I learned about Hank Morgan, a man from Connecticut, who was somehow transported to the time of King Arthur and went through many adventures while also creating technology to help the kingdom. I heard Beowulf was really violent and awesome, but really boring to read, so I'm sort of excited for that.


I'm listening to this song right now, it's called Miracle Generation by 천권웅. I have to sing that next week for the offering song. In fact, the other youth group people wanted me to rap in the middle of it... I'M NOT A RAPPING PERSON! D: What to do... I hope it was a joke, it seemed like a joke... I'm going to prepare something just in case, but I'm hoping it was a joke. I'm really hoping it was a joke. Anyway, before I can rap, I need to learn the lyrics to the actual song, so I figure that I'll just learn it in an auditory fashion. I figure if I listen to it enough, the words will stick in my head. Hopefully this works.


Minecraft got a bit of an update this past week, going into the newest version known as version 1.3. It took about 4 months for this update to come out, during that time, many little snapshots, or mini-updates to show off what's going to be added, were released and I people got to experience small aspects of the new update in that way. I was unable to do this because I have yet to purchase a Minecraft account, I may actually do that, considering that I've accumulated enough allowance to do that. Anyway, I've been playing around with the new update and it's been really exciting. I really should stop writing about this game... I'm getting more and more addicted... This is bad. My productivity level, after learning of the existence of this game from a friend at Governor's School (Gage), has decreased quite a bit. I hope this doesn't affect my life too much... but knowing me, it'll be like Maplestory, Starcraft 2, and Pokemon. I'll spend multiple years addicted to the game... Sigh.


Well, I think I've written enough. I think I'll attempt to put essays that I wrote on practice tests for the SAT here... Maybe not. They all suck... Whatever.


-Sam Rho

Fixing my Posture

If you read this blog a few posts back, you know that I have horrible posture, especially to the chiropractor. Well, the man gave me some exercises to do, as I probably already wrote as well, so I have been attempting to fix my posture, but it's not an easy or painless process. I seem to have basically held my shoulders in a position that was too forward, making me all slumped, which is useful when I play games because I'm used to the pose, but it's not helpful or appealing to the eye, so my parents, my chiropractor, and I have all been trying to fix the posture! Holding my shoulders back is rather challenging, though, and can actually get painful at times. Hopefully, it won't take too long to fix this posture problem. Wish me luck!

-Sam Rho

Practicing tests will begin soon

I've been studying quite a bit for the SAT's and I feel a little more prepared for a test, so I think I'll be testing myself. I have some practice tests at home, so hopefully I'll do well. I feel like one of the more challenging parts will be using the new vocabulary I've learned in sentences. Along with that, this new vocabulary is a little more challenging to remember, but with continued use, I hope it will become easier to remember them.

Oh, and I found out that I was able to pull off a 3 on both AP bio and AP gov tests and get 5's in calculus BC and physics E&M! I was kinda disappointed about US history though, I only got a 4. Still, I guess history is sort of one of my weaker subjects so I'm not too upset. Overall, not too bad.

-Sam Rho

Back from Beach!

I haven't really done much that was worthy of being written about lately. So I decided to write a little summary thing of what happened this past week.

I started out by going to the chiropractor to check if I had anything wrong from the car accident. Luckily, nothing was injured too badly from the accident. On the other hand, already known to me, my lack of good posture had caused some bone misalignment, no biggie. The doctor suggested going at least 2-3 times a week for check-ups and whatnot. I was very close to laughing when I heard this. The chiropractor works in an area near Fairfax... I live about an hour away... I wasn't about to attempt that trip so often. Along with that, the lack of proper transportation that often during the week also prevented me from going there that often. After learning about this, the doctor instead made a list of exercises that I am now supposed to do everyday that range from reverse sit-ups to pulling on my neck with a towel. All these stretches are supposed to help with that changed that the chiropractor does whenever I go to visit.

Also this week, my family went to some meeting for senior pastors that the pastor of my own church apparently was attend. So, he allowed for the 전도사님's, which are sort of like pastors, I don't really know how that would translate, to go in his stead. It was a fun 3 days that we got to stay in Ocean City, although the majority of the first and third days were spent driving to and back home. Going to the beach and building things with sand, nothing fancy because I lack skills for building with that sort of material, and playing in the ocean was fun! I did spend some time in one of the youth group meetings, but I felt that this was more of a family bonding time, and I was also very tired in the evenings due to the usage of much energy from playing in the ocean. That doesn't really sound good. Perhaps fighting the unending waves of the ocean to get the a deeper section to achieve new levels of difficulty sounds better. I'm not sure. I have been working on my vocabulary and reading skills much more after hearing from my own dad, who previously had not said much about studying, that I should work on my skills over the summer. Also, I should be starting summer reading at this time. Gotta order some books tomorrow!

-Sam Rho

Traffic!

Today was fun, as we were headed to church in the morning, there was some random accident near Harper's Ferry which caused a very long line of cars that weren't moving. After about an hour, the car managed to get passed all the craziness and finally the car was accelerating at a higher speed than before. During this entire event, I had almost no idea what was going on because I had been listening to this podcast known as the "YogPod" and also playing Pokemon Black 2 at the same time. Sure, my parents were frustrated, but I was thoroughly enjoying my time in the car. It probably would not have been the same if I had been driving, of course, I would have probably felt very frustrated like my parents. I probably should pay more attention to things happening around me.

-Sam Rho

SLACKER!

Yes, I know, I haven't been writing, but there hasn't been much to write about. In the period of time between then and now, I have been learning new things in taekwondo from different student teachers everyday. I've learned from a variety of skill levels going from black to purple belts. They're all skilled enough to teach me, a white belt, so I get different teachers each time. It's fun to learn from different people. My very limited moves at this point are the down block, high block, middle punch, high punch, knife hands, middle block, and chop. Nothing fancy at all, but I have been excited to properly learn all these new skills. I hope to master them soon.

-Sam Rho

Getting Back on the Road

If you read this blog about a week ago, you know that I was involved in a car accident that caused my car to flip over on its side. Well, I think I've started to get over the shock of that occurrence. I've been driving a little bit recently, but only for short periods of time. Today, I managed to get myself to my mother's workplace, which is only 10 or 15 minutes away, so I didn't have to feel afraid for too long. Yes, it's true, I am actually afraid to drive right now. Even the smallest things, such as accidentally going closer to the curb or seeing a bird on the side of the rode cause my heart to pound. I'm hoping that this will go away soon, being afraid isn't really helping me drive, it's just causing me to freak out a whole lot.

-Sam Rho

Tiredness

Yesterday was really exciting! After church, where there was a celebration for the reverend's 70th birthday, there was another party at my mom's friend's house. There, I got to swim in their pool and hang out with the friend who is going to be going to Korea soon. I'll miss them, but hopefully they'll be back soon.

-Sam Rho

Taekwondo!

Today was fun! I woke up right and early to go and help my mom with her work as well as go to my taekwondo lesson. Of course, this is my third class, so I'm not exactly black belt material yet, but it's fun to go to class and just follow what everyone else has done for months!

I got to learn the low/down block, the high block, the middle punch, and the high punch today as well as put some of those together. I had a wise, old black belt woman teaching me some of the simplest things, I guess, in taekwondo. I felt a little silly, but then I realized that everyone else had already done this before, so I didn't feel as bad knowing everyone there knew how I felt. It was actually fun! Of course, I am the type of person that sweats a whole bunch, so I was basically drenched by the end of the 40 minute class, but I had fun and I felt like that was really all that was necessary to keep me going.

Helping my mom today consisted of stapling, watching Gintama, and playing Pokemon! I got past the first gym! I haven't played a Pokemon game Ina while, so I'm having fun!

-San Rho

Job

Whenever everything in life seems to go wrong, I think of old man Job. Sure, he seemed like any ordinary rich guy, but he also had a deep faith in God. Today, I learned about a real life situation happening to a church friend of mine that just seems terrible. Hopefully what happened to Job occurs to them.

The father of my friend has a doctorate in biochemistry, so he's a freakin' boss. He was working in a lab and doing all these things that I probably wouldn't understand. Anyway, the boss of the father decides that there is no need for more researchers and the budget, I guess, was running low so the father, and probably other people, was fired. The next thing you knew, the family had lost their main income. Then, the family learned that their visa to America had expired. I don't really know how those work because I'm made in America, but they have to leave the country in a week. So basically, this is just a really bad situation for them.

Job, who lost his family, wealth, and health, still managed not to disrespect God, though his friends didn't really help with that. This family, on the other hand, was freaking out. Of course, who wouldn't? They had just experienced a giant income loss and were being kicked out of America within a week. I hope, though, that they can persevere and allow God to lead them to whatever path they are meant to go. Hopefully it will lead them back to our church, because I like to keep my friends.

Oh, and I learned this all because I woke up early today to help my mom go and run the cleaners place. That was fun, I got to staple the tags onto the clothes and watch Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King! I was happy. I need to get my mom a phone for her birthday, but I don't know how this will work... Perhaps I'll have to change phone companies with her, because she needs unlimited data for Kakaotalk... I'll figure it out later.

On a final note, I tried out Pokemon White 2 today, the girl's protagonist's hair causes her head to be REALLY wide! Haha. I didn't really get far, but it was fun to guess what they were saying in Japanese!

-San Rho

Today was nice

With the exception of an angry old lady who just wouldn't let go of the accelerator, today was rather nice peaceful. I'm happy. I just went to the oral surgery center, got some antibacterial fluid, and quickly went back home. After lunch, I went to my mom's work and just stayed and helped her until 7 at which point we went home. Nothing too exciting... I am glad.

-Sam Rho

I'm Alive

I love God. I just survived a T-bone collision car crash. I'm barely injured. Thank God.

I was leaving home today to go to the oral surgery place for my checkup. I had my list of questions, it was like any other day, nothing extraordinary. Then, as I was making the first turn from the intersection between my home street and the other road, a car hit me. I was scared for my life. I hoped that I was a good Christian. A few seconds later, I realized that the car was sideways, so I unhooked my belt and climbed out of the car. I was barely hurt at all. In fact, I was almost fine. The driver of the other car was fine as well, just a passenger who got injured. Thank God that no one was killed.

-Sam Rho

Being sick sucks

This morning I woke up feeling both hot and cold at the same time. It was a terrible feeling and I never want to feel that way again. I woke up and tried to cool myself off by splashing water on my face, but it didn't really help because I was cold anyway. I was just so confused.

I attempted to go back to sleep, but after many failed attempts, I got out of bed and prepared to face the day. That really didn't happen, though, because when I woke up I was freezing. The outside weather seemed to be mimicking my state because it was pouring down rain. I realized, after about an hour of laying down, that I was actually sick.

I was really annoyed because I didn't enjoy being sick at any point. I thought that this might have been caused by my extraction of wisdom teeth, but I quickly pushed aside the thought because this felt like an all out flu. I was aching and just feeling terrible. I attempted not to think about it by watching videos on YouTube and going on Facebook, but I was starting to feel worse, so I just went ahead and decided to watch some tv. After that, I decided just to take a nap and woke up about an hour or two later.

I feel a bit better than I did this morning right now, but I still feel awful. I've been watching Gintama for a while now... I feel rather helpless... My stomach aches, my face is hot, and I'm having trouble thinking correctly. Not happy right now. Hopefully I'll recover by tomorrow for my follow up check up at the surgical center that took out my teeth.

-Sam Rho

Generations

Nothing long, just like to say that my aunt, cousin, and niece came over last night and left right after church today. That was fun. My niece is actually older than I am, so I really only conversed with her. It was kind of funny to see the resemblance between the three of them. It was like looking through time. One generation at a time.

Nothing really special today, just making sure that I write something.

-Sam Rho

Chewing

You know, I never really realized it, but chewing food is really important when it comes to digestion of food. It also really sucks when you can't chew. It's been a few days since these wisdom teeth of mine have come out and I was really hoping that I would be able to chew at this point, but because the areas where my teeth once were seem to touch whenever I attempt to chew, it hasn't been the best experience attempting the feat. I started with yogurt and liquids, when it came to food, right after having the teeth pulled. I then moved on to rice and smaller foods of that nature. I could easily swallow all of those, so there was no problem. Yesterday and today, I attempted to eat apples, which was a stupid decision. I would get about halfway through the slice of apple and then I would get tired of attempting to suck the juice and then swallowing the piece and just throw the slice away. It was ridiculous. This was all a result of a lack of an ability to chew.

On the positive side, I've been getting better at eating slower, which is good because I don't want to choke when I finally get the ability to chew back. This slowing of my eating process, along with a lack of a large amount of food, has also allowed me to lose about 4-5 pounds, which is always a plus. I hope that I can get back to Taekwondo soon, though. I feel like I've forgotten some of the things, mostly because I only learned them for one day. Perhaps the internet can help me.

OH and tomorrow is Father's Day! Hooray! I... I think I should really start on that card that I told myself to make... Haha... woops...

-Sam Rho

Olding a little

I forgot to write here yesterday. I have no excuse. On the happy side, though, I managed to finally install Windows XP on the desktop! Everything worked as it did before and I'm really excited about that. Just to test out that everything was working, I decided to watch a few videos on Youtube. It was a nice experience to watch the videos from a TV screen connected to a desktop rather than just from my laptop. It wasn't really that different, but it just felt nicer because I was watching from that screen.

Anyway, I'll REALLY try and write here err'day, but I'll probably forget sometimes because I'm not the type of person that can remember things really well.

-Sam Rho

Writing Something

Just making sure that I have something on this blog that shows I was here on this day. I wouldn't want to mess up a rather long streak of successfully writing days. I've actually been studying pretty successfully with regards to SAT Reading Comprehension. I managed to finish the part of the SAT book from Kaplan about it and I have another few books that I can read, but I'm just glad to have at least finished one book. It feels satisfying. I've learned a bit, but I have much more to learn  before I can do much better than before.

Also, I had a successful installation of Windows XP over Windows 8 on the desktop at home today. I was glad to have that over with. Windows 8 was unable to work with a few of the programs that I have wanted and also my father seemed a little more comfortable with using XP, which is good because he's the one that uses the desktop the most often.

-Sam Rho

A lack of teeth that mimic the skill of Solomon

I dunno if that title made sense, but I got my wisdom teeth pulled out today. I can't really remember anything about it, which is probably a good thing, but I wish I could have seen my teeth leave my mouth. According to my dad, the surgeons usually crack or break the teeth after opening the gums and pull out the pieces, or something to that extent, so I guess I wouldn't have been able to see them anyway. The numbness from this surgery is still here, the bottom half of my face just feels like dead weight to me right now. I have been drinking a few liquids... some smoothies, some milk, but not much. I don't feel hungry right now, but I feel like if I don't eat something soon I'll be waking in the middle of the night to drink some milk.

I'm having trouble concentrating right now, although most of the laughing gas and the other medications seem to have worn off, with the exception of the numbness. I've literally just been watching Gintama and playing Minecraft all day. According to my parents, I look better because I haven't eaten anything... I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Anyway, I hope that I can concentrate soon and continue studying SAT vocab as well as other skills necessary to do well on the SAT. I'M GOING TO AIM FOR THAT 2400, although I've heard that getting into really good schools like MIT, Cornell, Harvard, etc. seem to decrease your health because of the extreme studying conditions. Perhaps I'll reconsider attempting to get into MIT, I think I'll be fine with University of California: Berkley, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, or Georgia Tech. As long as I can hab duh goot education while still habing duh decent health.

I've been skipping around because I don't have all the episodes yet, but this is fun to watch, I have to say.

In Minecraft, survival and adventure maps have been what I've concentrated more on currently

I apologize if something here didn't make sense, as I said before, I'm not very concentrated right now.

-Sam Rho

Wise teeth

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day... I start off by waking up, only to be put to sleep again by surgeons(?) or some people like that maybe they're just dentists. Anyway, I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled out tomorrow. That's going to be fun. All 4 at once, no less. Awesome.

In other, not so unhappy, news, taekwondo is really fun! I'm enjoying it and I hope to continue taking it for a while, although I will have to work on my abs... Meaning I'm going to have to practice doing situps. And I'll also have to memorize a series of punches and kicks. I'm excited!

-Sam Rho

Windows 8

I recently changed the OS of a computer in my home from Ubuntu to Windows 8. Originally, the computer had Windows XP, but that just had a terrible virus on it, so it was replaced by Ubuntu. For a while, things went smooth, but I was uncomfortable because I was unable to use it properly. So, i decided to change the operating system to Windows 8.

At first, it seemed fun, sort of like having the Windows phone, but then I realized something was wrong. As I went to shut down the computer, a series of alert boxes showed up saying that disks were missing from areas that didn't necessarily need to have disks, such as disk f, g, h, i, and j. These are parts of the computer that were designed for either CF cards, SD cards, usb ports, or things of that nature that, at least I thought, were allowed to be empty. Perhaps this is just the virus that never left the computer coming back to haunt me... or maybe I just installed the OS wrong. Whatever it may be, it doesn't make me happy to have to keep on clicking continue just to shut down a computer.

-Sam Rho

Arguments

I just finished arguing with an acquaintance over who should be the president of the youth group. It's not exactly a very important position, but it looks good for college. Anyway, I was trying to convince this girl that she should become the president. Of course, I'm not very good at arguing, but I tried to use the example of her being the most important part of any praise song the youth group does because she played the drums. It is, in my humble opinion, true that the drum can play a very large part, especially when it is only one in 3 instruments. It is necessary to have it be correct at all times. It seemed like a pretty legitimate reason that she was important and should take over the seat of president.

The other options for this position are myself and this other friend of mine that is a very good athlete. I really don't want to become the president because I don't enjoy having to converse with my pastor. He's a great guy and all, but sometimes it seems like he doesn't have a clue about the bible...

Anyway, my acquaintance/friend was trying to convince me that I should e the president, but I argued that the president should live near the church so that they can easily go and meet up with the pastor... At which point the argument sort of stopped abruptly as another member of the youth group lessened the tensions by joking around about my acquaintance/friend's inability to be the president because of a lack of mental skills.

There was a little more to the argument, this is only my side, but I feel like it was pretty even in the end when it came to use of evidence and information. I wonder who will end up being the president?...

-Sam Rho

I'm not creative with titles

Today... is a happy day. That's right. The end of many years of school for one of my friends... and the end of 4 years of prison in an Intermediate school for my sister. Haha, not really the prison part. I think she's rather enjoyed her four years of middle school, actually.

Yes, today is the last day of school for the school system that I attend. First, my sister had her farewell ceremony today. She's just finished her 8th grade year and she will be moving to the high school next year as a freshman. I'm not sure if I can think correctly right now. My mind is just somewhere else. I think I'm worrying about all of the things I'll have to do in the coming school year. That's not going to be exciting.

Anyway, what's also happening today is the final year of high school for my senior friends at Handley. They're all going to leave soon and go on with their lives in college. It will be sad to see them go, but today is a day of happiness. They get to graduate and be excited to be finished with all of High school. A few of my friends even managed to get into the positions of Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Congratulations to those people! You managed to fit enough AP classes into your schedules to get the highest GPA's in the entire school! That's way more work than most people would probably be willing to do, but you persevered! I look up to those people and I'm sure that they will all be very successful in the future!

Well, time to get ready for Handley graduation. Congrats to the JHHS class of 2012!

-Sam Rho

Advice to Juniors?

As I was looking through documents on my computer, I stumbled upon this one... I remember that Carolyn sent this to us after some sort of Mr.Hess seminar... just something to read:

Advice for juniors

1. take a free fourth block/ set up your senior year schedule so that you have the least amount of work possible
2. don’t worry about little things on your college applications- the sats don’t matter as much as I thought they did
3. go to the zoo
4. get a stumbleupon account
5. if you have incriminating things in your room, make sure you actually hide them instead of leaving them in your backpack or purse
6. make friends with teachers- you might need to eat lunch in their room second semester
7. buy urban decay primer
8. go to tufts
9. be nice to everyone
10. don’t get your eyebrows waxed if you’ve been using acne medication
11. revenge won’t necessarily make you feel better, but sometimes it does
12.  when you go to panera, order the bbq chopped chicken salad sometime
13.  if someone says that you’re singing the national anthem at 3:45, make sure you’re there by 3:40 at the latest
14.  only cut your own bangs when it’s absolutely necessary
15.  buy things on ebay
16. only paint your nails when you know you’ll just be sitting around for a while (like in government class)
17.  say what you actually mean
18.  have a bonding experience with your fellow classmates, preferably after the dance in someone’s basement
19.  when red things are spilled, clean them up now, not tomorrow morning
20.  don’t do things you know you’ll regret later just because you feel like it at the moment
21.  sometimes, being cute is more important that being smart
22.  schools don’t care if you take physics/calc 2. Even schools that are well known for their math and science. It’s okay if you want to take the copout route. See advice #1
23.  wear your retainer
24.  you can’t always assume that people are telling you the truth and/or the whole truth. Sometimes they’re lying, and you don’t even suspect it, so just be on the lookout. Even though it sucks.
25.  Time heals everything, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time. It doesn’t feel like it at the time because time hasn’t passed yet duhh

Part Two

1. Drink at some point before you go to college. Otherwise your first time you won’t know what you’re doing and you won’t be with people you know that well and you’ll have a higher chance of having a bad experience
2. If you’re going to make a piece out of a plastic bottle, buy a drill bit- breathing in aluminum foil is bad for your brain. Being an mvgs student, I assume you value your brain.
3. If you feel like you want to puke, just puke. Holding it in will make you feel worse
4. Don’t have sex unless you know for 100% certain that you won’t regret it later. And by later, I mean ever in your life.
5. Don’t do it in a car.
6. Get a macbook
7. Don’t drink and drive. But really
8. Don’t smoke out of the window in your basement. No matter what you think, it will end up smelling
9. Figure out how you’re getting home before you leave your house
10.  Dedicate the shots you take to things and write them down in list form

Multitasking

This school year ends on Tuesday for me. That's really nice, with summer and no school and all, but I'm going to miss it. I had great teachers this year, with the exception of Biology, and I had an amazing time, both at my base school and at MVGS. I'm really going to miss Governor's School... I liked hanging out with all the smart people, it made me feel a little less smart, but that was expected. Anyway, the last graded assignment I have this year is an art project. I'm not taking any art classes, instead this is final assignment is for AP Biology. I really hate that class because the teacher didn't teach me much at all. Most of the things I learned were right before the AP test from a review book. Anyway, I had to create a pictorial depiction of any sort of histology related thing. I chose blood, and that was the most exciting thing ever... really... I enjoyed it so much... drawing a bunch of circles... so fun.

Meanwhile, I was also watching videos on Youtube, thank goodness for that. I was getting really bored of drawing all those circles, so I would just watch random videos. Beatboxing, Minecraft, Smosh, and a bunch of other things. They really helped to pass the time, which actually wasn't good, but it was fun.

AND, while doing all that, I was also playing Minecraft, searching for more diamonds and things of that sort. Hopefully I'll be more productive in the future...

I just realized that I can turn off my phone alarm now... I CAN SLEEP PAST 6AM... THIS IS.... probably not going to change anything... I'll still probably only get about 7 hours of sleep because of my strange sleep cycle. Whatever. It's just nice to have the option.

OH, and I have to study SAT Vocab over this summer, YAY! I'm actually kind of excited because this will be a fun challenge. My mom is taking a pack of about... I think it's like 120 words? Anyway, she's just asking me to define them at random and also making me use them in sentences.

Hopefully as this all goes on, I'll be practicing my writing skills on here for colleges, hopefully.

-Sam Rho

Frienemies

Did I spell that right? I think I messed up, oh well. Anyway, I recently learned that I am about 1.5 AP classes away from surpassing the person who is at the top of the class, GPA-wise. I was glad to hear this, but I wanted more. I wanted to surpass the top of the class. That person who was, and still is, at the top is my friend Simone.

He's smart, like myself, and he also has done the Governor's school program, so it makes it more difficult for me to beat him for the position of valedictorian. I really wish to surpass Simone, but my lack of a strong base on my language classes has hindered my surpassing if the guy. As much as I find him a friend, I also see him as an enemy in my quest to be the top of the class.

I think that's the definition of frienemy, a person who I am friendly with also happens to be my enemy. Simone fits that perfectly. Perhaps I'll be able to tie Simone, at the very least, for valedictorian like they did with my other 5 acquaintances this year. That would be fine. I hope to keep Simone as a friend, because, although he is annoying, I feel like he is at about the same level of intelligence as me and allows me to be able to address him as an equal, which is nice. Most people I seem to be friends with are usually older and more intelligent than me*AHEM*Tomy, and so I usually talk up to them, or look up to them rather than seeing them as equals.

Hopefully I don't end up having to do something drastic to beat Simone, I highly doubt that. I also hope to stay friends with people like Simone, even though I compete with them.

-Sam Rho

Forgetfulness

Sigh, sometimes I wish that I was one of those people who was gifted with a special learning skill, like remembering things after hearing it once or seeing it once. Then again, many people probably do. Today I felt really bad because I forgot to do the laundry. It sounds silly, but it really annoyed me for some reason. It was as if I had absorbed the anger that my parents would feel if they learned of my forgetting to do the laundry.

Forgetting things, at least to me, is very annoying because I can usually retain information for about a month or so, usually longer if it's something necessary in the future like math skills. When I forget, it doesn't feel happy because I like to remember things, like ft. Sumter for the civil war beginning battle and things of that sort.

Keys, binders, papers, forms, duties. I've forgotten all of them at some point. In fact, I've forgotten many more things than that. I'm sure other people have forgotten stuff, I know I'm not special. I just feel unhappy that I forgot to do the laundry today.

-Sam Rho

Yup, I'm lazy

I haven't posted here in a while, I have no excuse. I am just a lazy bum who really doesn't want to write.

Now that I've admitted that, I'll go ahead and write more about random things. I just turned another year older yesterday, and it doesn't really feel different. I guess I've been playing too many games, but I feel like I should suddenly gain some sort of knowledge/wisdom/strength or something like that when I grow a year older, but that's probably just me. I don't really think I've gained much except maybe some presents. It was also really fun to have friends over to celebrate my birthday (Yes, I do actually consider them friends) because they are the craziest, funniest, most exciting people I know. I'm really glad I have them.

On my actual birthday, I ended up going to church for a Memorial day newcomers' welcome sort of event, which was fun, although it was really hot that day. That heat caused me to be uncomfortable, but all of the kids were actually playing outside, so I ended up staying outside. I guess it was fine, but whatever. It was fun to hang out with people at church as well.

Today was supposed to be a school day, but I ended up staying home and working on an AP Biology project. It has been rather uneventful. I'm enjoying it so far.

-Sam Rho

Welp, I lost!

It's true! Though it was a, uh... long and... hard-fought battle, my campaign for Sam Rho SGA VP 2013 failed. I am, once again, just going to be an ordinary kid. Nothing special, with the exception of the high GPA. I feel like my results would have been MUCH better if I had actually given my own speech. I was up against a very vicious foe, because Alison is actually a master of public speaking and things of that nature, so i was at quite a disadvantage. Oh well, at least it was fun while it lasted. I'm sure Alison will be a much better Vice President that I would have ever been anyway. I'll go ahead and try for a position at something like philosophy club or NHS... something smart like that.

-Sam Rho

Junior Year is almost over.

Well, it seems that after what seems like ages, my Junior year of High school is finally coming to a close. In that time, I was able to learn much, like how online classes are not fun and how AP tests are not fun to study for when you don't know the material. Nothing really changes for me. A little extra studying and exercising this summer will basically be it, in order to prepare for both the SAT and life after high school. Still, it will be sad to see people I knew go, mostly the people from MVGS, but also others, like the seniors at Handley.

Although I only got to really get acquainted with about 3 or 4 people from Handley, it was really nice to get to know them. I just realized that my thinking process is already beginning to deteriorate. At this rate, I'm not going to be able to get a perfect on the SAT because I'll only know vocabulary and nothing else. Did I just get sidetracked?... darn. Well, MVGS was a great experience. I really enjoyed it, through both the bad and good times. Some teachers could teach very well, and others... prepared me for the teachers of college, whether they be good or bad. I was introduced to a load of new computer games, such as Halo and Trickster, and also many people from different schools. I knew of a few of them, such as Tomy and possibly Schuster, through after school activities (i.e. Academic Team), but I never actually got to know them personally. Now, I haven't really gotten to know them personally much more, but I have befriended them, at least, and many others as well! Yes, although Govy school could be a challenge at times, the friends that I made allowed the challenge to be much less painful. They all understood the challenges, so they could sympathize with you.

As this year comes to a close, I hope to write in this much more, and care a lot more. I believe that I have to do something like this in AP English anyway, so I'll just be practicing. I hope that I can remember, perhaps I'll just set up an alarm on my phone or something. Well, anyway, I hope that all those who are leaving high school forever as this year comes to a close have fun in college. The rest of those underclassmen, well, see you next year.

-Sam Rho

The test of skills

Alright!
Today is the AP government test! The day where all the knowledge I gained from classes all the way back to even 8th grade are combined to create a test full of BS.
Usually, I would say that all the studying last night pulled off and I'm going to do well, but I think I'll stick to expecting a 1 and being fine with a 2. Perhaps I'll try to remember some court cases, or some kind of random fact about government, like how Madison didn't support federalists or how there isn't much controversy over social security pay increases. Whatever happens, I'll still be guessing for multiple choice and BSing everything for the free response, yay!
Hopefully anyone else with more AP exams is having a better time than me, and Good Luck if you are having any more AP tests!

-Sam Rho

Running for office

Getting a position on student government doesn't really seem to be about choosing a president that will lead the school in a better direction, not about helping the school become the best it can be, but rather more of a popularity contest. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but it just seemed really obvious in the pass two years with the election of two very popular, and possibly unqualified, people into student government positions. The first occurred last year with the election of a very popular, Asian girl into the position of SGA vice president. That year was a very disappointing one with regards to events and things of that sort. The next occurred this year with the election of a rather popular, unqualified girl into the office of president. I say that she's unqualified because there was another candidate that was much better at being a leader who would have done a much better job.

Sigh, I guess I'm just complaining because I'm running against a really popular girl for SGA vice president. Well, I'm tired now, hopefully what I types up there made some sort of sense. Wish me luck with this campaign!

-Sam Rho

Loss of hope

Well hello there, I haven't been here in a while.
I'll be truthful, I really haven't put much thought into this, but I'm sure at some point it will click and I will enjoy writing these... hopefully. If not, then I'm sure they're a good place to rant or something.

Anyway, today was the AP Biology exam. Today being May 14, 2012. I have to say, it was a very complicated test, but I feel like it could have been much worse. Considering most, if not all, of the information that I knew from that class were from either freshman Biology or 7th grade life science, I think I did a pretty decent job. I'm going to go ahead and expect a 1 on the exam, just in case I did really badly though, that way I feel much better getting a 2 or 3. As I was taking that exam, I had this sense of dread because I knew that I was going to do badly, I hadn't studied except for the morning of the test for a few minutes, and I hadn't really cared about the class for a while, meaning, since the third week of the class. The teacher had attempted to teach us, and I had attempted to listen, but occasionally, it seemed that even she didn't know what she was teaching, so I lost faith in her teaching and decided to rely on an AP Bio review book, which I borrowed from my older niece who is also taking the class, but I had to give the book back before the test. So, as I approached this final week before the test, I had other tests to worry about as well, such as AP Physics, AP Calculus, and even AP US History. It was just a very test-filled week. In the end, I realized that this test didn't really matter because it wouldn't help me, so I went ahead and didn't bother studying much for it and spent my time studying Physics and US History.

Tomorrow is the AP Government test. This is the test that I feel the least prepared for because EVERYTHING that I know for this test will be from my own studying and not from a teacher. Although I really enjoyed Dr. Felts' class, mostly because I was able to play many games in it, I feel like it would have been much better if I had gone to my base school for the AP Government class. Well, I'm going to finish studying for Government then hit the sack.

-Sam Rho

P.S. to anybody who reads this, What should I ask for on my birthday?

Kmart has Red Vines.

I was really excited today because I noticed something as I went into Kmart to buy shoes with my mom and sister. They actually sold Red Vines! I was really excited and got myself some. I feel like tomorrow will be one of those days where I go, "Would you like a delicious... RED VINE?" and be serious about it. RED VINES... WHAT THE HECK CAN'T THEY DO?

(Don't get it? Watch "A Very Potter Musical" and "A Very Potter Sequel"!)

(I'll get you started)

-Sam Rho

Health

As AP test week begins, I have to keep up my health in order to boost my intelligence... or something like that. My mom is constantly reminding me of how exercise and good health allow for good thinking. I agree with that, but I just really seem to lack the motivation to exercise. I'm going to try and do that more often, though. I'm sure I'll have a much easier time doing some activity after actually starting it and keeping up a sort of habit.

What exercise to do, though? Swim? Jog/Run? Go the the Wellness Center place? Taekwondo? I'm not sure. My mom thinks that Taekwondo would be good, but I feel like doing that class would put me as one of the largest in the class... but they did offer an extra session every week and had it at a lower price. Perhaps I should take advantage of that. Swimming is fun, but I lack the stamina to keep swimming for long. I guess the point of swimming would be to increase that stamina. Running... seems a little boring, but I'm sure I would learn to enjoy it more as a continued doing the exercise.

Anyway, I should be studying up for the AP Calculus exam on Wednesday, and I should also finish my AP Calculus Exam... I'll do it tomorrow. I think that phrase will come back to haunt me one day. I'll be like, "I'll do it tomorrow" and the assignment will end up being due that day, and I'll be screwed. Whatever, procrastinate this year, get it out of my system and then increase productivity to max next year, that's my plan, probably not a good one.

-Sam

Thoughts

I really should finish my calculus homework. I should also be doing physics homework as well... Oh, darn I have to present that research tomorrow... I wonder how Simon got accepted? Maybe I should have changed my stats test... I made a fake research presentation today. It was on EV training Pokemon. Too bad that was just to stall Jone so I wouldn't have to present today. Come to think of it, it probably would have actually helped if I had presented today. Darn, I should have gone. Tomorrow is Wednesday. Do I have any Bio homework?... Probably, but I don't want to do it... How far am I in this book? 201... Not too bad... I don't mind the book so far, but people say it's really annoying/bad? I guess it just has a bad reputation... Whatever. I should finish now.

-Sam Rho

Accomplishment

Sigh, it was nice to finish the shed today. Don't mind the very cold temperatures, or the lack of a good jacket, it's nice to have finished the shed. Perhaps I'll take a picture later...

Also, a friend of mine showed me this AWESOME Medley to pokemon. I like it a lot.

That's all... Good Night

-Sam Rho

Writing more often

Many of the people that I am acquainted with suggested that I post more often on this blog. I apologize for not doing so earlier, especially to those who keep nagging me about it. I just can't seem to find motivation to write here much, but I guess I'll just listen to you and keep posting as much as I can on this blog. After all, not only does it help me with my essay writing skills for next year in AP English, but it also helps me prepare for the SAT. That's just awesome, in my opinion.

Thanks guys,

Sam Rho

I can't think of a good title

Yesterday, and this morning, my father and I decided that the shed my father had purchased needed to be assembled, so we worked on that. Yesterday, we were almost finished setting up the shed, but the roof of it wouldn't attach for some reason, so we decided to eat and put off the work until the next day. This morning, my mother had spoken with my father and they realized that the ground on which the shed had been placed was very nonuniform. In fact, it was actually more of a hill, than flat ground. I, of course, hadn't really noticed this and had just followed my father's instructions and helped to set up the shed. This morning, we had to move the shed into more level ground and dig up the place that the shed was to be put, to make it more level. We just about finished the digging of the first layer of dirt and we were adding bricks when my dad remembered I had a dentist appointment that day, so we quickly put all of the tools inside, got ready, and left. My father had warned about rain coming later in the day, so I figured there would be a little bit of rain during the drive home. That ended up being completely wrong. The rain was ridiculous, at first, like somebody was taking buckets of water and hurling them from the sky. My sister, who also had to get her teeth cleaned, was frightened as we drove home in the pouring rain.

As we approached home, the rain began to subside and it had dropped to a sprinkle by the time I came home. Although I was wet and cold, I didn't really mind, though, because I really didn't want to work on the shed again today anyway.

Anyway, off to read The Handmaid's Tale for Humanities.

-Sam Rho

Decision, decision, decisions...

If you're like me, you don't usually talk, even in discussions, because you either don't feel that your opinion is important enough or you just don't have an opinion on a subject. Well, that's how I usually am, anyway. That's why today was like a nightmare. I had to not only give my opinion on a subject, but also discuss why I came to my decision.

Today, I volunteered to be on the grant distribution panel for the United Way. It sounded pretty simple, because I figured I could do enough math in my head to figure out a reasonable distribution for most of the people, but these companies and groups that really wanted money from the United Way. In fact, a ratio of amount asked to amount available was like almost 3:1. That, to me, just seems ridiculous. Why are there so many people asking for so much money, and why isn't there more money in the funds of the United Way to give away?! I guess I haven't really experience the real world, yet. Since I am stuck in the mindset that even if there is a lack of money, that it can easily be dealt with, I didn't expect this sort of event to occur. Still, I guess it's a good experience to learn about the distribution of money in a nonprofit.

Well, I'm tired and I have a lot of homework to do now. I'll just end this post here...

-Sam Rho

And then I realized...

AP Calculus BC MW is an online VHS course... I am one of a very few people at my high school taking an AP class online... I'm taking 2 more online AP classes next year... I'M SETTING MYSELF UP FOR SUICIDE!

Random video

-Sam Rho

Generic Post Title

Once, in the land of Sam, there was a person. His name was Sam and he always did any work that he had on time. This person named Sam then traveled to a land, known as the land of Vistas, which was located in the mountains, to study. When he arrived there, he learned many wonderful new things, such as calculus and physics, but he also gained a new, dark, evil trait. This was the trait known as "PROCRASTINATION"! This trait caused Sam to be lazier than usual and lack the motivation to do any work. Soon after he realized he had acquired this trait, he attempted to get rid of it, but the influence from the land of Vistas had stuck to him, he could no longer find the motivation to do many things early.
Then, Sam stumbled upon another land known as Minecraft! This was a very creative land where Sam could spend time building things such as houses and mines, but he soon realized that this would help his trait of procrastination even more by distracting him from the actual work he needed to do. Again, Sam tried to escape the grasp of the world of Minecraft, but it held fast and Sam was trapped. No matter what he did, his mind managed to wander back to the world and he would be there soon after the thought.
Soon, Sam found it rather challenging to force himself to work. His advisers, also known as his parents, attempted to force him to do work as well, but he was still unable to do much work. He even tried to eschew the things distracting him, such as the interwebs and Minecraft, but he was still unable to escape for long. After doing a bit of work, he would attempt to reward himself by going on the internet for a short period of time, or entering the world of Minecraft, but he could never stop himself from browsing or creating.
He soon realized that he had wasted so much time that the year of studying was quickly approaching its end. There would be AP tests, SAT tests, and even final exams coming up soon and he would have to overcome them all. Yet, when he attempted to study, his mind would wander and wouldn't allow him to concentrate. He knew he had to get back in the game, leave this Procrastination trait behind, and prepare for his tests, but he just couldn't get rid of the trait. Soon, he learned to cope with the trait, though. He managed to study and do work while also goofing off, but it caused him to stay up longer and his health actually began to deteriorate. Sam realized that he would have to change something soon, or he would have quite a bit of trouble in the near future dealing with health.

Sam, in this rather lengthy story/text/thing is actually me. I have had trouble doing work on time and finding the motivation to do things early ever since I entered governor's school last year. In fact, I feel so strongly that this procrastination trait is from governor's school that I actually bet my own younger sister $50 that I would do all of my summer work for all of my classes early for the coming year. She gladly took on the bet and said that the only money flow would be from me to her if I lost, no money the other way. I didn't really mind too much, because I felt confident that I would succeed. I guess I'll just have to see how this summer goes.

-Sam Rho

Wow... I almost forgot about this

It's been a while, and I have no excuses. I really have basically almost completely forgotten about this. Thanks to a friend of mine, I feel as if I can just write here like once a week, then I'll feel fine.

Well, over the course of the Spring Break that just passed, I didn't do much. I finished my homework and projects, then I basically just spent the rest of the time either at a church lock-in or playing games... Nothing really that exciting.

Hopefully I'll remember to post.

-Sam Rho

Haha! (success)

I remembered to post! I'm so proud of myself! I can't believe it! Although, I should be asleep now. Biology is keeping me up... I probably should have done this earlier, like when I got home today. Oh well.
Today has been nice, just church and then studying. a little Dragon Ball Z in between. I hope I will sleep by 10 if this lab isn't too long.

-Sam Rho

No Excuses...

I would say that I was busy or that I had other things to do, but that would be lying. I have neglected to write here for a while. This is really disappointing because I even have the app for this on my iPod, so I can write something almost anywhere! Sigh, at least I did it today. I hope I continue to remember to write here so that I can read this to myself later.
Since the last time I wrote, I've been doing much homework and have also been studying it up! Here's a summary of what happened in school:

I actually got an F for the first time on a test in an actual class. I mean, I've gotten pretty low grades in online calculus, but I don't really count those because I end up getting an A in the end. Anyway, I got an F on a Physics test, which I did actually study for! It was ridiculous because I got a 49%, but it was still actually a decent grade on the test because others in the class had gotten 41%'s and 65%'s. The highest grade in the class was a 93%, but the guy who got it was the only person to get an A, the next highest grade was a 70%. It was ridiculous. Since then, my mother and father have tried to make me change my ways in order to avoid that happening again. I've been restricted in game-play time and my study time has increased. It's been a rather depressing time.

Next, I've also recently begun the Nuzlocke Challenge in its purest form. Sure, there are alternate forms out there, but the rules that I'm playing by are straight from the comic, which I read all the way through. I just finished playing Pokemon Red version in about 30 something hours, according to the game, but it's probably been a little less than that, considering I've been playing on VisualBoy Advanced and have been playing at 300% speed for the entire game. Anyway, I finished with Charizard, Snorlax, and Kadabra left. All the other good Pokemon I had trained had died during the Elite Four and the others had died from fighting Mewtwo. The highest level I had was a level 55, which was my Kadabra, (nicknamed Genius) so it's expected that I might lose some Pokemon to the Elite Four. Well, Hopefully, I'll have just as much success playing Pokemon Crystal version as I did playing Pokemon Red.
Well, tomorrow is church followed by  studying for AP Biology and AP Physics, wish me luck!

-Sam Rho

Working Hard

I've slowly begun to work a little harder, trying to get more work done earlier than usual, but this requires a bit of motivation. For example, I worked through my physics homework diligently, then, after finishing the homework, rewarded myself with a little bit of browsing through Facebook. After a few minutes of that, I began to do my Humanities homework. I just finished that and am rewarding myself by goofing off a little and writing some things here. I think I might have missed a few days, but I don't have any actual readers, with the exception of myself, so it matters not. Anyway, I got my motivation from a 14 year old Asian kid who already graduated college and has been writing a book about how you don't need to be a genius to be smart, you just have to work hard and have lots of motivation. The kid apparently only watched 4 hours of T.V. a week, which amazed me. I usually watch about 10 hours a week, and that's mostly because I watch Jeopardy and Saturday morning cartoons. Yes, even a high school-er still watches those. Anyway, off to goof off, maybe study a little for biology later.

-Sam Rho

Excitement

     Programming... is really exciting. I mean, all I can do right now is sort of make an array and kind of make text show up and a little bit of replacing %something symbols with characters, strings, and integers, but I really like it. I just had a discussion with Dylan Garvis about whether I should continue to take C and then move on to C++ and finally get to Java or just go straight to Java. After some research, I found that many people found C to be more in depth, which, I liked the sound of, so I told him. Then, after some more discussion, I found that he said that I might as well learn C and C++ because they're both relatively easy. Therefore, I'm going to continue to learn through WiBit.net and go from C to C++ and then all the way to Java. I'm so excited!

-Sam Rho

It's been a while

Well, I have neglected to write here for a while, but I have an explanation:

• I've been playing Minecraft pretty hardcore lately. Yesterday, I was playing for a few hours straight, it was ridiculous.

Basically stuff like this, just taking hours to do it.

• Along with that, I've had less motivation since the SATs ended. I don't usually write blogs or in a day book, so the entirety of this writing daily thing is a new habit I will have to adjust to. I apologize for that, myself, if I read this later.

I don't really like writing in general

• Another thing is that I'be recently been getting much more homework from my teachers at Governor's school, so I've been staying up past 11PM doing all the homework. 

This is my face when I see my Physics homework.

• Finally, yesterday, I began learning how to program using this website called WiBit.net. It's pretty exciting because I've always wanted to program, but I had lacked the teacher and motivation to read a book on programming because they're gigantic. I really didn't want to read books that were huge. So, through this website, I can just watch videos on programming whenever I want! Much easier than reading. I've been taking notes and everything. So far, I've only been learning C, but hopefully I'll finish this and be able to quickly learn c++ and java before next year because I'm hoping to take AP computer science, which is basically learning how to program and be slightly ahead of the class. Of course, I can only hope, so I may fail and end up quitting this website, but I really like programming, so I will really try and stay with the program and keep learning how to program!

WiBit.net mascot

      Speaking of programming, today at church, I told my friends that I was learning how to program and showed them one of the programs I had made and they immediately assumed I could now hack their emails, Facebooks, etc., which I am, as of yet, unable to. Hopefully, though, I will be able to learn how to do that and have that as a resource to blackmail and threaten people, which I don't see any reason why I would have to, but it will just be nice to know that it is possible. This computer programming thing, hopefully, will be like the time I learned how to make programs on my calculator back in 7th and 8th grade, those were fun times. Well, this is all for this post, hopefully I will remind myself to write here everyday.

-Sam Rho

Happiness

After a long day of hard work, some devastation at my grade, and fun making proteins, I am happy. I haven't really been unhappy since a few days ago, but I'm really happy today. Sleep will be so nice today. I guess I won't really write much today. Except this, "NAIL 'EM UP!"

-Sam Rho

Procrastination

Recently, I was reminded of how to go to governor's school. Ever since the new year began, I have had a hard time readjusting to waking up at 5:30-6:00am every weekday morning. Now, I've gotten used to that, but I've yet to adjust to the late sleeping schedule that the demanding governor's school work causes.

It was Sunday night, a project was due the next day in class, so at about 7pm, I get online to see how the project was going. This was a partner project, so I hoped that my partner had at least done some work. To my dismay, my partner had research the country we were supposed to take over and concluded that it was simply impossible to do so. I was horrified and quickly began searching for a new country. About 2 hours later, the partner suggests another good country that seems much easier to take over. After about another hour of research, we found that it was great for the project, so we began furiously working. I looked at the clock and I had been working for over 2 hours straight and the project was only about half done, so we decided to split the work. I make a powerpoint presentation and my partner continued to work on the paper. Finally, after another pair of hours of work, we finally finish the project. It's rather crude, but it got the job done. I looked at the clock, it was 2:00AM. I was drop dead tired and ready to sleep, but I realized I also have to do work for another class as well, so I quickly found that work and sped through it in about half an hour and went to bed at 2:30am. This, of course, meant that I only got about 3 hours of sleep and had to give the presentation on the energy I had remaining from the 3 hours of sleep that hadn't already been used to wake up and prepare for school. It was a very choppy presentation that both me and my partner were unprepared for, so we could only hope that it would suffice to get us an A or B. We have yet to see our grades.

Governor's School is not for those with health conditions and a lack of work ethic, I believe. I have a heart condition myself, but I've managed to get over that and adjust pretty well. As for the work ethic, as you can see, I've been procrastinating quite a bit, even on this blog. Truly, though, I need to stop procrastinating because I only have a few months and the summer until I begin my final year of high school, where I will have to get my act straight and prepare for college. Wish me luck as I go from point A to point B!

-Sam Rho

SATs

Wow, what a tiring day. After waking up at 6:30am this morning and spending about 4-5 hours taking a test, I got lost on the way home. After a few sketchy streets and lucky turns, I finally made it home, only to remember that I had to finish my calculus homework. Sigh, I just finished a few minutes ago. Then, I realized I had a project due on Monday! I am currently wondering how tomorrow will work itself out. Hopefully, of I'm lucky, I'll finish my project and have nothing to worry about, but that probably won't be the case. Although God is always on my side, time usually is not. Maybe I'll learn not to procrastinate all my work after this incident.... But more likely than not I won't learn anything at all except that school is annoying.

-Sam Rho

Late again...

Sigh, it seems that I, once again, have neglected to post here. I apologize for that. Anyway, tomorrow is the big day! Taking the SATs for the 4th time! Hopefully, I'll do well and get at least 2100, but that all depends on the questions this year. Well, I should go to sleep now. Wish me luck!

-Sam Rho

Decisions

Recently, I came upon a situation where I had to make a decision. Being a rather unsocial person, I rarely leave the house, but recently, a friend of mine invited me to go to his house. I had previously denied these offers because I had some excuse like studying or being busy with chores, but I had no excuse not to go this time. Therefore, I accepted his offer, but then realized that I lacked a ride. He suggested I ask a friend of mine, who quickly suggested ANOTHER friend to give me a ride. At that point, I highly doubted I would get a ride at all, but to my surprise, the friend accepted and said he would give me a ride. I realized that I may actually have to leave the house, so I asked my parents if we had any plans on that day, hoping there would be some miraculous event that we would have to go to, but to my dismay, they said there was nothing to do that day and allowed me to go to my friend's house. Within an hour, I had plans on how I would get to my friend's house and back. I guess I had to leave the house sometime, and at least by doing this, I get to hang out with friends as well. I should stop being lazy, considering I have an SAT on Saturday. Oh well, I'll end here.

-Sam Rho

Posterity

Recently, I learned that my little sister's grades were a little lower than one might hope they would be. Therefore, being the kind brother that I am, I offered to help her bring her grades back up. She accepted, but I looked at the classwork and I was not about to reteach myself Spanish 2, so I instead turned to her the other class that she was struggling with, Geometry. I actually did have some trouble in that class, but because I had a good teacher, I was able to overcome these challenges and be successful in the class. The problem, though, with that class is that it's rather challenging to explain to others... Oh well, I hope that she passes all her classes this year with A's, but passing on knowledge to the next generation can be rather challenging at times... Her lack of understanding of the subject really conflicts with my ability to teacher her much. Thankfully, I at least have a little bit of experience teaching children Geometry, thanks to my like 5 week job tutoring my friend in that class. Well I'll try to keep writing here to keep my skills up. Hopefully, I'll be better prepared for the SAT by writing a little more on this blog.

-Sam Rho

Contentment

Today I don't have to go to school until 12:10-ish. That's really nice, considering I didn't go to sleep last night until around 3am... which was technically this morning. Anyway, apparently there was freezing rain or something, but I'm not complaining. I'm so happy that the school I go to in the morning decided to close today. I don't mind driving to school in the afternoon that much.

No School!

I had a Physics test today, but I'm glad that that's postponed for a while. Now, to do some studying for my afternoon classes... or play MineCraft!

-Sam Rho

Some Exciting Title

I decided to post another one to make up for the day I forgot. Anyway, you know that feeling of accomplishment that you get when you finally finish studying?And the feeling of preparedness that follows?

Feeling of excitedness and accomplishment!

I just felt both of them. I was about to go to sleep, then my friends pop up and ask about those study questions I just finished. I go over them and feel a little most intelligent as I go over each, but then I get tired. I tell them I'm off to bed, but I get this feeling that they might ask me not to sleep yet... Sigh. I hope that this helps me in the process, anyway. Oh, and guess what? I get about 5 days to study for this SAT coming up on Saturday! I'm... kinda excited and sorta not so much. I'm excited to take this test, but this studying is going to be gruesome... like a whole ton of vocab in just a week. I hope that this writing a blog thing helps me with my essay, but it's hard to tell, considering that my limited vocabulary disallows me from writing new exciting phrases, like "in a fashion similar to that of a boss." Well, hopefully I can remember to do this everyday until the SAT and even after... Good Luck, me!

Hopefully me until SATurday

-Sam Rho

P.S. I wonder if anyone even reads this... Probably not, my life isn't THAT exciting.

Oops

Whoops, I guess I missed a day to post here, but I have an excuse. I usually write these at the end of the day, but I went to my aunt's house and by the time I came back I was dead tired. Anyway, life so far is rather tiring. Studying for my Physics test is probably going to keep me up until around midnight. I'm sure that this is old news by now, but Joe Paterno, the guy who was out of a job from Penn State after some scandal died. It's sad that he did die, but at least he got to live to be 85. My grandma died before then, she was only 70. Anyway, I should get back to studying now. Hopefully, I'll remember to post here from now on, haha.

-Sam Rho

Snowy Weekend

Well, today is Friday, but rather than singing that annoying song, I decided to write a post. Today was rather long and boring, as expected from the beginning of a new semester of school, but I enjoyed it as much as I felt was necessary. Oh, and as the title of this post suggests, it is actually snowing right now! I wish it had done so earlier,though, then I wouldn't have had to go to school. That would have been nice.

The forecast for today.

Still, it's nice to be getting snow for the second time this winter. At the same time, my online calculus homework is getting in the way of my enjoyment time. I probably should not have procrastinated. Well, that's really all for this post. Hopefully, I'll remember to keep posting everyday.