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?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
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
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
Sunday, August 5, 2012
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
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
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