ACK! My face is breaking out. =( Yet I've been getting more sleep this past week than I ever do. I guess this disproves my mom's theory about the relationship between pimples and sleep deprivation (, which I've said was false all along). A bittersweet victory over my mother, at best... =/

Oh yea, I found out today that I'm a National Merit semifinalist... I guess that just means I gotta fill out even more forms... uggghhh... I've been slacking on the stuff for my college apps. I'm such a lazy-butt, hahaha.

I got offline at like 10:00 last night because I was having trouble concentrating on the statistics stuff I was supposed to be studying. I studied for like 10 minutes and I fell asleep, haha. I woke up around 2:00AM, did my calculus hw, then tried to study that stats stuff again. I fell asleep again within like 15 minutes. Haha, I guess that's why I stopped trying to study (in general) some time ago- it puts me to sleep. Well, the stats test wasn't so bad I guess.

Now I think I'm sick. When I woke up at 2:00 this morning, my throat was really itchy, so I thought it was probably allergies. Now I've got like mucus seeping into the back of my throat, making it feel like slimy/numb. I've got a slight headache, and I've had to pee a lot (even more so than usual, haha) too. Hmmm... all signs of being sick.

I just ate some really funky cottage cheese... eccchhh, I mean, I know cottage cheese always tastes kinda weird, but this stuff was like.... [eeeewww]!!!!

I had a student congress meeting tonight, and after that a martial arts club meeting. Man, I've been skipping real kung fu class to go to the club meetings... uggghhhh, maybe I'll just go every other week. We did pak sau and sparring (with hands only) tonight. It was alright I guess, nothing special. But man, I had so much more fun last year, when I didn't have to like police the class and make sure they didn't do anything crazy- I'd actually get to participate. Now I see why Jordan used to complain about how he always had to teach.

I took a tour of the (Dallas) Southside Waste Water Treatment plant this morning, for science fair purposes. It was pretty interesting stuff- We (my science fair partner and I) got to see what happens to stuff that gets flushed and how it gets turned back into "normal" water. We also got to see the raw sewage processing systems; man, it smelled like CRAP... literally, hahaha. Then we collected some soils that had been treated with the processed sewage sludge. I realized afterwards that I had brown stuff all over my pants- I reeeeaaaallly hope it was just soil and not... well, you know. Yea, so I was like all paranoid about how I smelled for the rest of the day. Hahah, actually, I'm always worried about how I smell; like any time I smell something funky, I just automatically assume it's coming from me, haha. You'd think with this kinda constant worrying, I woulda invested in some cologne by now.

I just got back from the first day of chinese school. Well, it turns out I technically wasn't demoted, they just moved everyone back a grade (or two). I'm re-learning material that I studied 2 years ago. Man, it's amazing how many people drop. I mean, it's not like chinese school takes a whole lot of time... or at least not for me. That's probably why I can never seem to remember anything, hahaha!

I went to Putt-Putt tonight for like 2 hours with some friends. Man, putt-putt has really gone downhill. It all started going bad once they putt that laser tag thing in. It's like all gun games now; and I guess that's cool for a little while, but then you get bored. I mean, where's the Street Fighter? Where's the Golden Axe/Gauntlet Legends? They didn't have Crazy Taxi either. And it's like platform shooters don't even exist any more, geez...

Well, I amused myself playing that Police 911 game for awhile. It's that gun game where you like have to actually duck and stuff to reload/dodge bullets. Haha, I worked up quite a sweat. Oh yea, and I suck pretty bad at air hockey, hahaha.

I was just thinking about how I like practice kung fu moves when my mind wanders. Then it occurred to me that I used to "practice" even before I started taking kung fu. People just assume you know what you're doing if you have formal martial arts experience. haha (We really don't.)

And today, I like caught a plate of asparagus in mid air when it fell out of the refridgerator. If you haven't done martial arts before, people say that it's just amazing luck. After training, people think it's finely honed martial arts skill, and expect you to be able to pull that kinda thing off all the time. haha, if only they knew...

My brother left for college today, and along with him went his computer. =( haha. Well, I'm sitting in his room now, using our old(er) computer. It's kinda lonely I guess. hmmm, I didn't think I'd miss him... I think I was wrong... =/

You know like when your shirt's like sweaty/wet and it sticks to you when you try to take it off? Well, I think I just hurt my shoulder trying to get my shirt off after kung fu, geez...

My Chinese school teacher called today saying that class was gonna start this Sunday. However, she also said that I had been demoted one class- that's HILARIOUS!!! ...yet ...terribly depressing at the same time... =(

We had another Martial Arts Club meeting tonight. We did shuai jiao- pretty cool stuff. I got tossed around a lot, haha. Well, it was fun, but I think I bruised my elbow, ouch.

Blade (, one of my favorite movies ever,) is on tv right now, but I gotta do hw.... blehhh

I was just walking along today, and my leg like suddenly started hurting really bad. It was like extreme soreness setting in instantly. Weird... I was just like walking along casually, mid-stride, when it happened.

I took my first tests in AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C today... man, it was a rather... [humbling] experience. I went in there (to both) thinking I was all bad, haha. Well, I guess I'm not so cool any more. haha, that is, if "cool" = knowing math & physics! Of course it does, right? haha.

Oh yea, and I slept at 11:00 last night. That's like the earliest I've slept on a school night since like 10th grade. I felt really energetic today, though... perhaps I should try that more often...

man, do you ever like forget where you are or what you're doing while you're in the shower? That seems to happen to me quite frequently; I guess that would explain why it always takes me forever to shower, haha. Like today, I found myself practicing backfists and knifehand... oblivious to the fact that I was standing in the shower. Then I snapped back to reality, but I'd forgotten what parts of my body I'd already washed, so I ended up washing my entire body again... I guess that also explains why I get dry skin. Man, but seriously, I think I daydream too much. =/

Man... daggone it! I fell asleep last night while doing my physics hw. When I woke up, like the first 2 pages were soaked with drool! haha... that sucked. So I had to do it in like all my other classes and at lunch, but I still didn't finish the last problem and a half or so. Bummer... physics and calculus tests tomorrow, uggghhh...

whew... very busy day today... After school, I went to A&M-Dallas to do detail work on the procedure of my science fair project. Then I had a Student Congress meeting, an NHS meeting, then a Martial Arts Club Meeting. I just now got home. It was the first meeting for the Martial Arts Club, of which I am president! =) We did knife fighting (my favorite activity) and we had a blast... or at least I did, hahaha. Man, I hope the less experienced people didn't feel left out though... I was too nervous/busy to make sure everything was going smoothly for them. =( *sigh* I hope I made a pretty good impression over all, though. I really have high hopes for this club.

I like always only do a certain percentage of my homework (about 50%) at home. Therefore, the less hw I get, the less I do. I can never get to sleep when I don't have anything to avoid doing, haha, it's weird, but true.

arrrggg... netscape has crashed 3 times in the last 15 minutes. What the heck is KERNEL32.DLL ???

Oh, and I signed up for a new spam e-mail address: pandazx3@mail.com
Don't send anything there that you actually expect me to read for at least a couple months.

I went to Todai (@ Willow Bend) for lunch today. It's the coolest!!! It's like Osaka Sushi but 10 times cooler! The dance/techno background music and quasi-futuristic deco give it like a space club feel. I thought the atmosphere was the coolest part about the place; the only place that comes close (, in my opinion,) is Mango's (Thai restaurant). My mom said she hated the place though, haha- she said the music is too noisy. It's not a place for old folk, I suppose. I guess I'll hafta go back (to Todai) on my own sometime.

I was reading the list of ingredients for the new moisturizing lotion that I started using. (I get curious sometimes.) And I noticed that one of the ingredients was urea... hmmm... isn't that the chemical in urine that gives it its smell? Weird... what's that doing in moisturizer?

I went to a kung fu competition this morning, it was alright I guess. I had to drive all the way down to Arlington for it though... pain in the butt. I chose not to spar this year- partially because I was out of practice, but also because I didn't wanna hafta drive all the way back down there tomorrow too. But man, I wanna spar so bad- it's been like 3+ months since I've "tasted combat."

Oh yea, I HATE the tollway! My aim is terrible, so I can never manage to get all my coins into the dang basket. Then I dig through the rest of my coins and eventually end up tossing like twice the required amount before getting enough into the basket. And I hate it even more when the light doesn't turn green when you've tossed in enough change. It's like, what if there was a hole in the basket, or if those were Canadian quarters or something? Man, I feel like such a criminal when I go through while the light's still red... =(

GRRRRAAAAAAGGHHH... I just got back from this speech/presentation thing about applying to colleges. And I was feeling pretty good about stuff, and ready to take the challenges head on and everything. Then I get on the car, and my mom starts telling me that she doesn't think I'd make it at a good school. Then she realized what she said, and went back trying to like correct herself, saying that she'd rather I be a big fish in a small pond than expose myself in more challenging waters. That pissed me off SOOOO bad! It's like, daggone it mom! You're telling me to sell myself short and be an underachiever for the rest of my life. Why did you have me come listen to this thing if you only want me to apply to a school that I can get into in my SLEEP!?!?!? geez... I mean, it's not like UT's a bad school or anything, it's not, but if my parents are set on sending me there, why do they toy with me by letting me flip through these Ivy League applications?

I came really close to doing something really stupid just now. Ever watched that commercial where that guy has a cup of coffee in his hand and tries to check the time on his watch? Well... yea, that almost happened to me, haha. I was climbing the stairs in my house with a cup of ramen noodles in my hand, and I dropped a chopstick and was bending over to pick it up. I was holding the cup of noodles kinda funny, and I would have splashed boiling water all over myself, but I stopped when I realized what was about to happen. whew... close one...

You know, I just realized that I start just about every other entry with one of the following phrases:
"ARRRGGG"
"Man, ..."
"I just got back from..."

...hmmm, weird, huh? I wonder if I do that in real life...

ACCHHH!!! There was a bone in my canned tuna! That's not supposed to happen!!!

ARRRGGG... these Go-gurt things are like falsely advertised or something. I always make a mess when I eat 'em... errr, at least every 2 out of 3 times. It's like when you're trying to get the last little bit out of the tube, you gotta be careful otherwise it'll squirt everywhere. Yea... yogurt on the go my... [butt]. grrr.... now I have to clean up the yogurt that's all over the floor.

Man, theglobe.com is shutting down. That means I have to find another e-mail service to direct all my junk mail to. =/

Oh yea, I held the informational meeting for the PWSH Martial Arts Club today. Man, I had no idea what to say... Oh well, I guess it'll be like the training sessions- just figuring stuff out as I go. I can't wait to get some sparring action... it's been months now.

=) ... =/ ... =( ... =*(
*sigh* I'm having one of those moments where you feel like crying, but don't know why...

I had a doctor's appointment today. I woulda arrived early, so I decided to run to Braum's and get some ice cream before I went. I ended up getting a banana split... mmmm.... sooooo good! =) I was feeling so laid back afterwards that I almost forgot to go to the appointment, hahaha. Well, anyway, then I had my blood pressure taken at the doctor's place... 150/80... ugghh, man, it's back on the rise. =(

And, the most important event of my day: I tested for my brown sash at kung fu tonight. I dunno, I seriously don't think they would have failed me... there's so much politics involved in like everything nowadays. Anyways, I've come to the conclusion that what color sash we wear really means nothing- it's a measure of achievement, not of actual talent. I've got a pretty good idea of how good I am, and I can get a rough idea of others' abilities just by watching them. I've also come to realize that the more skill you acquire, the less you feel like showing off.

Well, anyways, during the test, I started getting really exhausted. All the blood rushed to my head, and I felt like I was going to collapse... maybe it's the blood pressure... grrr... The instructors noticed how red my face was, and said that maybe I need to start watching my diet. And here I am now at home pigging out, hahahaha. Man, I've eaten a ton since I've gotten home: a bowl of oatmeal, a can of tuna, a cup of ramen noodles, a glass of milk, and a mountain dew.

ugghhh... I was so close to puking just now. My parents like forced me to eat dinner despite the fact that I ate like 2 days worth of food this afternoon (at the bbq).

The Chin Woo Anniversary BBQ was today. I ate a ton. I love barbecued chicken... and potato salad. Everyone forgot to bring stuff to do though. Then we found a VCR and watched the video of the tournament from a couple months ago (Taiji Legacy). We laughed at the other performers (even though we're not supposed to) and at ourselves- it was pretty amusing. Oh, and I finally got a copy of the Robert Miles CD... thanks Winnie! =)

ARRRGGG!!! My haircut SUCKS!!! I went to the same place I always go (Mimi Salon), but there was this new lady working there... just my luck, I got her. I gave the same instructions I always give, "trim the sides with a 1, take a little off the top, and leave the front long." Well, she did use a 1, but she wasn't holding the clipper to my head, so she didn't cut very much hair off. I decided not to say anything, and wait until later to tell her to fix it. Then she whips out the scissors and lops like an inch off the front before I can start screaming, "NO! NO! NO! NO!" She stops and gives me a half smirk, then asks me in Chinese how I wanted my hair cut! It was like, daggone it! why didn't you tell me you didn't freaking understand my directions in English!?!? geez.. she didn't even check to see if I spoke Chinese first. So it was just like, [grrrrrrrr]. But I ended up giving her a tip anyway... I like can't not tip, even when they really screw up- it's just a habit I guess.

So I came home rather upset and took a shower. When I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror, I nearly cried (, seriously). =*( I could have done a better job myself... blindfolded! *sigh* So I had to bust out some scissors and fix the many, many problems. It's like 75% back to normal now...

I went and saw Osmosis Jones with Mike, Jason, and Ken. It was really good... at least what I saw of it. Man, it started at 10:00, but Jason told me it started at 10:15, so by the time I got my ticket it was already 10:20 something. He was all like, "oh, I was accounting for the previews time,"... And he wouldn't buy tickets for me and Mike in advance cuz he says he's "too poor." jerk! he's always making excuses... man, I've got like a zillion more derogatory terms in mind, but "FAG!" is all that I'll allow to escape me right now... Note to self: never watch a movie with Jason again... ever.

Anyways, yea, I really liked the movie. It's like one of those stereotypical cop stories, but animated and with a bunch of tie-ins regarding the human body. It's got quite a bit of subtle humor that makes you hafta think back to biology class to get. But yea, it's pretty educational- it should be made a part of the curriculum for health and biology classes, haha. That'd be sweet!

I had dinner with my parents at jumbo super buffet tonight. Yea, yea, I know... eeewwww! It's cuz they're trying to capitalize on this deal they have on lobsters these days (1 lobster per 2 people): mom + dad + grandpa + me = 4 people = 2 lobsters. Well, we got shafted... the lobsters were like really unfresh; so my mom asked the waitress to bring us new ones- they were bad again. My mom wanted to like yell at the waitress (she likes fussing at restaurant staff when stuff isn't up to her expectations, which happens to be 99% of the time- that's probably why we don't eat out very often). But yea, anyways, my dad was like screw it, so we just finished up our meal and left.

Oh yea, halfway through the meal, my dad kept offering me some of his flounder. I ate a small piece and said that was enough, but he kept insisting. Later, my mom said that that's how Chinese men show their affection; they don't give hugs & kisses, or say, "I love you." Instead, they offer to share their food with you and tell you to eat more. In a strange kinda way, I guess that makes sense... well, at least that would explain why my dad has never seemed to show any love for me or my brother... =/

we had pizza in physics today... sounds cool, right? not really...

man, I feel... [empty] inside... *sigh*

Well, I decided to take zero-hour (honors) English to get out of AP. uggghhhh... this is SO gonna suck. I'm gonna have to wake up around 6:15AM. That means if I wanted to get my "full 8-hours," I'd hafta go to bed around 10:00! hahaha, yea, that's gonna happen. But man, I'm gonna be like sleep deprived for the whole year... NOOOOOO, may the gods have MERCY upon my soul!!!

AHHHH!!!! I was walking through the hallway to my room in the dark (just a sec ago), and I felt like someone suddenly placed their hand on my shoulder!!! OMG! I whipped around and struck a kung fu pose... I was so FREAKED OUT! no one there. gaaaahh.... supernatural experience (?)

DAGGONE IT!!! I've had 3 mountain dews tonight already. How can I still be so tired???

Wow! Ray Park (Darth Maul) is a Chin Woo practitioner (my style). I always knew he did wushu, but I didn't know he did (Chin Woo) Northern shaolin also. It says he's competed at the International Chin Woo championships before. We're hosting that tournament here in Dallas next summer. Maybe he'd come =) ...maybe... That would be sooooo cool!!!

It was a pretty crappy day of school. English homework... bleeeccchhh! I had to skip my lunch and go to the library to do it. Man, I was so hungry the whole day; we had pizza tonight for dinner, and I ate a ton. Now I feel all bloated and everything. Oh yea, and I went to talk with the counselors today- there aren't any openings for honors english, at least not any that'll fit into my schedule, that is, unless I wanna take zero-hour. uggghhh... So tonight, I hafta do (the rest of) the hw that was technically due today. =(

There was a bug in the bathtub today when I was gonna take a shower. eeeewwww... Man, that always creeps me out, cuz it's like, what if I wash it down the drain, and then, when I'm not looking, it comes crawling back out? Or like, what if I kill it, and then its friends come to avenge him.... that would be soooo freaky. And somehow, the icky-ness factor of bugs goes up like 10 times when you're not wearing anything (or at least for me) - I can't explain why.

I took a wushu pole workshop this morning. Man, it was $20 instead of $10 (like John said yesterday)- arggg... I got ripped off. Oh, and my skin is like really sensitive now that I'm taking acne medication, and the pole was chafing like crazy. Now I've got like 2 huge chunks of skin missing from my right hand... hurts to touch anything now. =(

Went and saw Planet of the Apes tonight. Not bad I guess- better than I expected, seeing as how everyone told me it was terrible. But it's true, the ending was really weird.

Oh yea, and since it was laundry day, I didn't have any more pairs of street pants. So I had to wear my khakis. And since khakis don't go with tennis shoes or a t-shirt, I ended up getting like pretty dressed up. It was kinda weird, considering I WASN'T ON A DATE!!!

Well, we were supposed to see it at 8:00, but once again, the movie was sold out! So we argued for like 15 minutes straight about what we were gonna do. We cruised the town for like the next hour or so looking for another showing, but then we ended up back at the same theater watching it at 9:55. I ate a lot of food during the movie too... now my stomach feels kinda funny, uh oh...

I just got back from watching Rush Hour 2. It thought it was about as good as the first one, so I guess that means it was pretty good. Zhang Ziyi doesn't do a whole lot in the movie other than beat up Chris Tucker... several times, haha.

But man, a lot of stuff went wrong tonight. People were cancelling on us left and right. Then when we got to the theater (Keystone - which was like really, really far away) we found out that it was sold out for like the next 2 hours. So we drove around town (2 towns actually) hunting for tickets. We finally found some tickets for a showing 2 hours later at Tinseltown. So we waited around inside the theater for a really long time. I had an order of mozarrella sticks- man, I'm gonna have a heart attack some day, I'm so sure of it.

But anyways, yea, the movie was good- I liked it. The best part of Jackie Chan movies are still the out takes though!

We were discussing hexadecimal counting today in computer science, and I remembered learning about number systems other than base-10 in elementary school. I thought it was rather pointless at the time; the teacher said that the reason that the whole world uses base-10 is because when you're counting, there aren't any single-digit numbers after you get to 9. That made sense to me back then, and I didn't dwell on it- I just resolved that base-10 was awesome and everything else was stupid. Now that I think about it, the teacher's reasoning makes no sense at all: there's only 0-9 because that's all we would need for base-10. Man... I'm confusing myself... what is the advantage of base-10 over something like hexadecimal? If there's no advantage, who decided that we should all use base-10? arg... head hurts...

Is it wrong to dream? Does there come a point when you need to just let go of your fantasy world(s) and start living in reality? I 've gotta get my head out of the clouds, but *sigh* the real world is such a depressing place...

i'm on a semi-diet to get back in shape... but i broke it and had a banana split today cuz i felt so depressed from school...

uggghhh... school starts in just a sec. It's a bad hair day, and I'm soooo freakin' tired right now. I'm not used to running on 5 hours (or less) of sleep any more. I've gotta restart my sleep deprivation training for the school year

hahahaha, I just went and got my pictures from Walgreen's. Oh MAN, they're atrocious! Half of 'em, are pictures of the backs of people's heads. Lots of closed eyes, too dark, and half cut off people too. geez... I think I need to go take a course in photography or something... =/