There's nothing wrong with a little harmless fun

This is a response to something I found today in my Facebook newsfeed. What I found was this.

It's someone on the interwebs having an opinion about a page that I find pretty cool. They make some valid points, but they're way too general about it. They say that anyone who likes that page doesn't actually like science. That is DEFINITELY not true. I like it, and I DEFINTELY fucking love science. Also, I found out about the page through a radio astronomer (WHICH IS A TYPE OF SCIENTIST, BTW). The page does post stupid shit sometimes, but they also post funny things, and really cool things. The person basically says that if you like that, you obviously don't like science. Contrary to popular belief, scientists do have a sense of humor. In fact, they have the best senses of humor, because they are INTELLIGENT about it. This page isn't a page for pure science, it's to have FUN, something that person doesn't seem to understand. While it is true that probably not EVERYONE who likes the page actually loves science, that doesn't mean that NO ONE does. That's just wrong. Whenever the page does post stupid shit, I just ignore it. But, more often than not, it posts either really funny, really cool, or really interesting things. They also say that since you like the page, you don't actually like science, you like photography. SINCE WHEN ARE THOSE TWO THINGS MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!?!?!?! I fucking love science, and I fucking love scientific photography. LOOK AT MY BACKGROUND FOR THE NONEXISTENT GOD'S SAKE! It's a GODSDAMN NEBULA! A PHOTO (short for photograph, which is also part of photography) that I took. Photography is also really useful in science. Without photos, we wouldn't know ANYTHING about the universe. There are many things that the human eye can't see. And many things that you can't see visually in a telescope. You NEED to collect the light, and then compile it into a PHOTOGRAPH. I know that after I did that, I had this strong urge to share what I had just done with everyone. That's what that page is doing when they post photos. They are sharing something incredible (or something funny, but still).

I really don't understand what that dude who made that thing has against IFLS. It's a great page that posts many awesome things. The fact that you like it doesn't automatically make you NOT like science. That just angers me that that person thinks that.

WT, you rock!

Yay! No school! Thank you Ms. Hurricane Sandy for destroying Pittsburgh and canceling school! Yay! NO SCHOOL FTW!!!!!!


And since I felt obnoxious about posting two short entries in one day, I deleted the other one. Here is le text from it though:

Hello internet! Guess what? There's a mothafucking hurricane in my city!! Yay! So many schools in Pittsburgh are cancelled...EXCEPT MINE!!! WT doesn't like to cancel. The only way they'd cancel is if the school like fell over or something, and even then, they probably wouldn't. I just want no school, is that too much to ask? MERJAKHDLKAJ<H:FH:ALFHHFPEOW:QGH{"WGH{PFNGEWOFNDA{OBGwP[0NG[NPOBPFOBFPB:K}NSD:LFB

In which I apologize for my last post and stuff

Hello everyone. I'm in nowhere near as shitty of a mood as I was in for my last two posts. That is probably because it is the weekend and my sister is coming in (YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!), and I was just reassured by a friend that she is, in fact, actually friends with me because she thinks I'm an awesome person. I know it's only one, but it was kind of all I needed. I have never had any really good friends in my life. Having friends like the ones who I have now is a new experience for me, but it is one I'm so glad I'm having. I think I felt like that because the people who I was friends with in middle school (except Sarah and Aki, who are still awesome!) all ended up being douchebags or just not good people. For some reason, when I got to WT, I expected everyone to be the same type of people. I was thankfully wrong about that. I have made amazing friends, and I'm incredibly grateful to all of them. I thank all of you guys for being here. You are all wondrous.

In truth, I don't think that fear that my friends are only there because of pity will ever truly go away. I haven't felt it the same amount from everyone. I only really felt it in the beginning from Erika, but later I started feeling more secure about that friendship. In all honesty, Noah is the friend who I've felt it the most from. I still feel it from him sometimes even today. I'm not really sure what that means, but I don't think I'll ever really know.

In which I wonder if I have actual friends

Hi everyone on the internet. I'm still here. Still feel pretty shitty. It would be incredibly nice if I knew WHY I felt this shitty. Bare in mind, it's not like a physical shitty feeling, it's a mental shitty feeling. I feel mentally shitty, basically. Recently, as I've been talking to my friends, I feel like I'm just being annoying them and they just want me to go away. I don't know whether or not this is true, but it's how I feel. I would go away...if I had somewhere else to go. But, sadly, I have very few friends. I basically talk to the same people. They talk to others as well as me so I guess, if they are annoyed, it's probably because I keep talking to them and they don't want to keep talking to me...I don't know. I hate having this fear that my friends are only friends with me out of pity, and not because they actually like me. I actually like them, if that makes a difference. The only friend who I honestly have never felt is only being friends with me out of pity is Aki. I don't know why it's only her, but I really hope that she isn't my only friend who actually likes me. Fuck emotions! Why must we have them? They're great sometimes, but when they're bad, they can be really bad. I also wish my brain didn't just jump to these conclusions of feelings, if that makes sense.

Well, I hope my friends are actual friends. Merakjhakldjhalkdhal emotions.


TO MY FRIENDS WHO READ THIS: No offense to you guys, you guys are awesome. In my intelligent mind, I don't really think you guys are the kind of people who would just be friends with me out of pity, but it's my subconscious that gives me these ideas, and then they somehow become rational ideas and then my brain becomes scared that my friends aren't real...I hope you guys aren't mad that I think this!!!!!!

PLEASE DON'T THINK I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!!

RAKJDHKAL DON'T EVEN KNOW

Well for one, I didn't post yesterday. This is because I was just too tired to and frankly didn't have much to say. But, fear not, I am posting today!

But, to be honest, I don't know what I'm posting today. I had kind of a shitty day. Not for any particular reason, in fact I didn't even have to have speech class. But, I just kind of felt shitty and unsure about what the hell is going on. (DISCLAIMER: THIS IS MY BLOG I CAN SAY WHAT THE FUCK I WANT!) Noah and Erika are on this roller coaster of 2 parts:
1. Who wants to break up with whom today? IT FUCKING CHANGES ALL THE TIME
2. Noah alternates every fucking day between a total asshat and a good person. Example of asshatery, he makes suicide jokes all the time. Both Erika and I specifically hate those jokes, and us and many others have told him to stop, but he doesn't seem to get it. Erika and I attempted to talk to him about his asshatness but he took it the wrong way, thought we were just ganging up on him and started telling us all the problems he was with us. ERMAHGERDBLERRHEJAH
I hate to say this, but I wish someone would just break up with the other, AND SOON!
Other things too are just annoying. Like Minecraft, that's annoying. EVERYONE PLAYS IT!! Last year, our frees were always so fun, as we all talked and had good times. But now they consist of Noah, Mathieu, Rohun, and Griffin all playing Minecraft while Erika and I are just like "wtf stahp." I understand it's for their English project, but they have been crafting far before that. I'm really glad I'm not in their English class. If I was, I'm SURE Noah would not have picked me as a partner. I would have been awkwardly alone while they all crafted their fucking brains out.

Anyway, I still feel pretty shitty. It's not fun. I wish everything would be all happy and full of puppies and shit, but alas, it is not.

P.S. I see people who speak Russian have been using Google Translate to read my Astronomy entries. That's actually AWESOME! Keep reading my blog! You're the first real people who I don't know who are actually trying to read. Hope you're enjoying!

Wait what?

So, today happened. It was kind of annoying and weird and evil. Those three adjectives were meant to represent 3 separate events.

Annoying: Noah. I don't want to explain this to the internet because they'll think I'm being stupid and unreasonable. Basically Noah decided to partner with someone who he hates over me and leave me awkwardly alone. I wasn't too happy with him.

Evil: REDDIT WAS DOWN (and still is down)!!!!! I had a free last period and nothing to do, so my brain shouted "REDDIT!!!" I went to reddit to find this:

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?!?!?!?!?!??!!?

Weird: So I hung out with Erika after school today. Normally when we hang out we end up going to Forbes or something, but today since she didn't have any money we just stayed here. We started to talk about the history of our group. We began asking ourselves questions like "How does Jacob have friends?" "How is Jacob still friends with Noah after all the douchebaggy things he's done?" "How exactly did Noah and Erika get together?" and many others. We even ended up skyping Noah to try and figure these things out. He kinda took it the wrong way, but still. It was an incredibly weird conversation that lasted for like 2.5 hours. Interesting though...

ERMAHGERD PENGUANDACORN AGAIN!!!!

2 days without posting...

First off, Erika's friend Alex just made this picture of a PENGUANDACORN (!!!!!) in Photoshop:

I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN HANDLE THAT MUCH EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!

Now to the main entry:

I think the world might be ending, this is the LONGEST I've ever gone without posting. Anyway, this weekend was rather busy. It was awesome because I had a social life, but weird because I had a social life.

To start off, on friday I hung out with Amy, my mom's best friend and my old drum teacher who was the person watching me this weekend while both my parents were out of town. We left the house around 2ish after Amy had finished writing her book (Yay!!), which she has been trying to finish for the past year and a half or so. We then went to Klavon's, which is a vintage ice cream parlor in the strip district. It was SO COOL (no pun intended). I got "Martha's All Chocolate Sundae" which was chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, chocolate whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and hot fudge. It was the awesomest sundae I've ever had. Then, we did some errands and went back to her studio, where she taught for two hours and I hung out with my computer. For dinner we went to Dee's,  and then we went back to her print out her book so she could proofread it before sending it to her publisher. Then we went home and I finished my chem lab with Noah and Erika. So that was my friday, it was full of stuff.
Then came Saturday, the day in which I was barely at home. To start the day, I had PSATs at 8, and had to be at school around like 7:45ish. So I did those and they were annoying. They ended around 11:30ish or something and then Noah, Erika, Rohun, and I went to Walnut St. to get Rohun food, and then we went back to Noah's. We stayed at Noah's for a long time. We played Wii, and made brownies (which ended up being more like warm brownie soup than actual brownies, but they were still yummy). Noah's brother Ellis was being a real douchebag most of the time. I understand that he was bored and wanted to be with us, but even after we hung out with him for a bit and we wanted some friend time to ourselves, he wouldn't leave us alone and when we all got mad at him he called Noah's parents and said we were being really mean to him. So now, as far as I understand it, Noah isn't allowed to have friends over unless we can get along with Ellis. Around 6:45ish we went to fright night! We got in around 7:15ish and then we went straight to the phantom. It was Noah's first ride on the Phantom he was very scared. He ended up hurting his neck on it and not going on any more rides. Then Erika remembered why she had never come to fright night after the last time she was there: she hates being scared. After we got food (which was right after the phantom) her and Noah decided that they would stay by the fountain all night. Rohun and I went off to go ride some other things, even though we only ended up riding the sky rocket. We also got dip'n'dots, so that was good. Then we went back to them and they hadn't really moved all that much. Then we tried to go on the exterminator but the line was moving SUPER slow (as in we were there for like 40 minutes and we moved like 2 feet with a lot left to go), so we got out. We went back to Noah and Erika, I got something to drink, and then we left. So, all in all, fright night kinda failed, though I did get Noah on the phantom. We're all going to go back to Kennywood next summer and have a time where no one is scared (except maybe Noah) and we all just have fun.
Lastly was today, in which I woke up at 12 and left around 1:30. I went to Jon's to build a new rocket. It was pretty fun. We ended up actually launching some "rockets." When I say rockets, I mean motors. We actually cut tiny fins, made a tiny nose cone, and actually launched the motor. Two motors actually. An A-level motor, and a C-level motor. Jon got in trouble for the C-level one because it was a bit too powerful to be launching in his yard. But it was really fun, so it was worth it (at least for me since I was not the one getting in trouble :P). We also made progress on the real rockets, too. So that was good.

Anyway, that was my busy weekend. It was full of social lives and stuff, so it was cool. Oh, and here's a picture of the mini-rocket Jon and I made:

This is the A-level one. I didn't really get any good pictures of the C-level one, but it looked pretty much the same, only bigger.

Ermahgerd Mercle

Hellooooooo everyone! Guess what? I'm super duper fuper luper nuper happy right now! Wanna know why? FRIGHT NIGHT IS BACK ON!!!!! Thanks to the magicalness of Rohun and his mother, we now have a ride that is not Mathieu. SO GODSDAMN EXCITED! Yay! My entire weekend is NOT ruined now! I'm legitimately so happy right now. And you know what else is awesome? I don't have to be bored tomorrow either! Tomorrow, after I wake up and have a leisurely breakfast and hang out for a bit, Amy and I are going to a vintage ice cream place in the strip district, which sounds like the coolest (hehehe no pun intended) place ever. So that will be awesome. Then she goes to teach for like 2 hours and I hang out, and then we go out to dinner at Dee's and then we come back and watch some Adam's Family, and then I go to bed. Sounds like a fun day! Then, Saturday, I sadly have to go to PSATs, but then we go to Noah's to hang out and then to FRIGHT NIGHT!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! So glad this weekend won't suck!

Also, I was at the One Acts tonight, which are a series of one act plays that my school puts on. They were great! They were funny, and very very well acted. I also went with mah bestest frandz, so that was fun too! We had fun and watched good plays, so all is well.


YAYAYAYA HAPPINESS!

P.S. I feel like I should explain the title: First, the ermahgerd meme. If you've never heard of it, go look it up, it will explain the first part. Second, there is this kid named Jacob in my PE class, but since my name is already Jacob and I'm the older one, Katie and Wanyan decided to invent a new name for him, Michael. Jacob/Michael was in the One Acts tonight, and when he came I turned to Erika (yes I'm mentioning you again, Ms. Majestic Lion) and said "ERMAHGERD MERCLE!!!" Mercle is Michael in Ermahgerd speak. So that's the origin of the title.

Concussions

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Compulsive need to make another friends post

If you happen to be Aki, you should remember this. But if you don't happen to be Aki, then you wouldn't remember it. So, I'm going to make another post about le friends and how awesome they are, here goes:

So, as you may or may not know, I am socially awkward. I think this comes from some self-esteem problems I have and a fear of rejection that I probably have. At the beginning of 9th grade, which also happened to be the beginning of my time at WT, I didn't have any friends. I was afraid of EVERYONE. Something else that didn't help was Noah. He told me at one point in the summer that "I'm not going to be hanging out with you that much. I have my own friends at school, you're going to have to make your own friends." This is what I said in my mind: "FUCKETY FUCK FUCK THAT!!!" and this is what I said out loud: "Okay..." I had reason to say this, as Noah was my ONLY friend at the time. I didn't want to be like "Fuck you!" and like loose my only friend, so I just went along with it. So, I started out the school year with no friends. It was horrible. I stayed this way until like later first trimester, where I started talking to some people, but not very many. I spent most of my frees and all lunches in the library alone without other people. Around second trimester, I became better friends with Nick and Jon, and temporarily joined their group, but only as kind of like a drifter. But then around the end of second trimester, my current group of close friends started to materialize. Originally it consisted of me, Noah, Erika, and Mathieu. Then, later, Abi and Emma joined. Then, Emma left. Then this year Abi left (or at least as far as I can tell she did, I mean she's not in the like official group, but she is still friends with most of us) and Rohun joined. But this isn't really the point of this entry, the point is to thank my friends for being there, but I thought a little backstory about my awkwardness may help. Now on to the main part:

Anyone who has been in the same room as me can tell I am an INCREDIBLY awkward person. The fact that I have any friends at all is still astounding to me. But, I do, and they are the best people ever. At the beginning of last year, even though I didn't talk to anyone, I saw them and judged them (which isn't good, and I know that now). One of my current friends happens to be a person who I judged at the beginning of last year to be someone who I would never want to talk to. Erika, to be specific. She was part of the really annoying people, which included Katie H, Heather G, and others. But, later in the year, I got to know her (obviously) and she turned out to be an awesome person, and a GREAT friend. How I got such good friends, I'll never know. But, I'm so glad to have all you guys. Even people who aren't officially in my "group." E.g. Aki, Sarah, Nick, Jon, etc. You guys are all incredibly amazing! I know when you first meet me, I'm incredibly awkward and hard to get along with (though this doesn't really apply to Aki, Sarah, Nick, or Jon since they all met me before I became this awkward), but once I get to know you better I start to be more fun to be around. Thank you guys so so much for staying friends with me through that awkward stage. It really means A LOT to me. You guys are my favorite people ever, and I'm so lucky to have you all. You guys are really the best!








P.S. I made another blog today, but deleted it. I posted it on my DA if you want to read it. Basically that means if Aki wants to read it.

That awesome moment when you did your homework before it was assigned

Hello again everyone! Guess what? We get to do a non-academic essay for English! By that I mean one that doesn't have to do with a book or something we read, it's about why we love what we love. Remember my "Why I love Astronomy" series (if not and you want to read it: Pt. 1, Pt. 2, and Pt. 3)? Well with a few changes to make it flow better that could actually be my essay. I don't think it will be though. There are probably too many tweaks, repositionings, and rewordings that it would just be simpler to write a new essay. I also wanted to make my English one a bit more broad, like "Why do I love science?" instead of "Why do I love Astronomy?" Now, don't get me wrong, astronomy will be a BIG part of the essay, but I want to touch on why I love other aspects of science as well. I think this essay will quite possibly be the best essay I ever write. I am SO excited to write it. This is the kind of writing I like to do. It's not analytical, I don't need to back it up with quoted evidence, or evidence of any kind for that matter, it will just be me writing about something I'm incredibly passionate about. All I'll have to worry about is organization. But even then, not nearly as much as I have to do in an analytical essay. On top of that, we get to do an independent reading project too. We get to pick a book of any kind, from any period of any literature, and just read it. I have to admit, I was really sad I didn't get Ms. McDermott this year, but now I'm glad I didn't. Dr. Sanders is doing things with our class that I've always wanted to do for English. It's great. I'm so happy!
In other news, I may not have speech class this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHH YAY! One acts are this week, so the willis room will be in use all week. YAY NO SPEECH! Happiness all around!
Actually, not happiness all around. My friends have a crap ton of feels. I don't want to get into details, merrrr.

Why

Why am I so tired? I got an adequate amount of sleep, and have had a lot of caffeine today. I should be like bouncing around everywhere. But, alas, I am not. I am quite tired and have no explanation for this. I wish I weren't so tired. This is my sister's last night in town for a while and I want to be able to like not fall asleep when she wants to watch Doctor Who and stuff. WHY IS CAFFEINE FAILING ME? I was at a football game today, and had like a giant pepsi, which should have made me hyper, but didn't. Then, at dinner, I had like 3 cokes, which should have also made me hyper, but haven't. MERRRRRR! This is unfair. I should be like all bouncy and stuff, but instead I'm like a zombie. I don't understand how like sleep and stuff works sometimes. Someone should explain this to me. In other news, I have plans tomorrow. yay. It's me, Erika, and Mathieu. We are having a day without feels.  NO FEELS. As Erika's life has had a lot of feels recently we're going to have a day without feels tomorrow so we can all be happy. Hopefully it works out well.

Anyway, someone should tell me why I'm so tired.

bye

Playing hookey

Hey all! As my post yesterday night said, I didn't got to school today. This was for two main reasons. One was that I had no way of getting there because my dad had to be somewhere at 6:45, and my mom didn't have a car. I could have taken the bus, but I didn't want to. The other reason was that my sister, Jessie, is in town, and we wanted to hang out. So, I did not go to school today! Yay! Fun times. So, I woke up around 10:30. That was nice to be able to sleep in. I ate a quick breakfast and then came upstairs to watch some Doc Martin, as my sister was not awake yet. I watched some Doc Martin, Facebook chatted with Erika whilst she was in history. Then, later, Jessie woke up and we watched some Doctor Who. Then, we went to our neighbor's house to make cookies, which was fun times. Then she went to visit WT and I stayed home and had a bagel and watched some more Doc Martin. So that was my hookey day. It was wondrous. I got to miss an event schedule, and a chem quiz! I didn't get to see friends, but that's okay. I'm hanging with Matheiu and Erika on sunday for a FEEL FREE DAY! Recently, Erika's life has had far too many feels, so Mathieu and I have decided to help this by giving her a nice day with no feels whatsoever. Other than happiness, of course. It will be EPIC! We'll play some Mario Kart, eat some food, and just plain have a good time with no confusing feels! YAY FOR FRIENDS!

Herherher ner scherrl termererer

Yay! No school tomorrow! Well, I mean school is technically in session, but I won't be there. The main reason for this is I have no real way of getting there other than the bus, but I don't want to do that. Also, my sister is in town, so we're going to hang out for some of the day tomorrow. But for the times we are not, I get to not be in school and be just awesome. Yay! FUN TIMES!!!!

So, I was told to make a planet

So, this one told me I should make a planet. I told her that that is quite the task for someone like me, who is not always that creative, and is rather focused on scientific accuracy's. But, for who knows why, I'm going to attempt to do it. It could either be incredibly detailed to the point of obnoxiousness, or like incredibly under detailed. Shall we begin? We shalst:

So, I would call my planet Gallifrey, because I'm a boss like that. Now that we have that out of the way, let's go through its formation!
It would be formed around a G-type star, almost a solar twin, but a bit smaller so it would have a longer life. There would be a Jupiter-sized object in the outer stellar system to clean up any rogue comets that threaten to destroy this fledgling world. It would form in the habitable zone of the star, as it has to if it wants to have life on it. After the initial bombardment of comets and asteroids to deliver the water, everything is all happy until BAM! A Mars sized body hits this forming protoplanet and knocks off a significant portion of its mass, but then out of this mass forms a satellite body, which is necessary to stabilize its axis and make the climate more livable. After this impact, however, the entire surface of the planet is molten. This is important so that the heavier things (iron) settle in the core, and the dynamo forms so the planet can have a magnetic field for protection against stellar storms, and the lighter things stay closer to the top to make the crust. After the planet cools and everything settles, the atmosphere has formed and the water condenses, and the oceans, and all other bodies of water, form. In one of these bodies of water, after many millions of years, life emerges. This life is useful, in the fact that it feeds on carbon dioxide, which is the majority of the atmosphere at this stage in the planets evolution, and releases oxygen, which transforms the atmosphere from a carbon dioxide-nitrogen atmosphere, to a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, which then sets the ground for more complex life to form. It does, it's all happy until BAM! *SCIENCE ENDS HERE* Another giant body hits the planet, but only enough to wipe out the complex life forms, the plants and stuff that makes oxygen is still there and it's all pretty and stuff.
Then there's le me. I'm in my amazing starship built by The Ninjandacornomorph, and I come across this star system. I say "WHOA OMNG HABITABLE PLANET!!!" and I go and investigate it for signs of intelligent life. *SCIENCE BEGINS AGAIN HERE* There is none, and I'm confused because a planet of this age, and this stage of evolution should have complex life, but doesn't. I say "WHOA THIS PLANET IS PRETTY I SHOULD GO SETTLE IT!" and I then proceed to settle this planet. The satellite body that I mentioned earlier is still there, stabilizing the planets axis and rotation, but it's different from our moon because it's *SCIENCE TAKES A BREAK HERE* covered in this black material that absorbs all of the light from the star and doesn't reflect any, but doesn't heat up because it's full of magic pony dust, or whatnot, and also makes this satellite body transparent because the magical elves of spacetime told it to be transparent.*SCIENCE IS BACK BITCHES* I then land on this planet, and make a makeshift shelter for the night. I don't have to worry about bugs or anything because all the complex life was destroyed, except for the plants which make oxygen because science was texting its girlfriend at that time and couldn't make everything accurate because it was too busy. When I look up at night, I see the most gorgeous night sky in the universe. *Science is on a potential hiatus, as I'm not sure if this next part is possible or not* This star system happened to have migrated into a new star-forming region, so the sky is filled with bright, young, blue stars, and beautiful glowing gas from the nebula. And you can see the galactic arm through this nebula, and it's just amazing. *SCIENCE IS BACK* My first night there, one of the stars in this nebula goes supernova, but since it's far enough away it doesn't shoot radiation at the planet, which is always a plus. What it does do though is make an incredibly bright supernova which I can use my handy-dandy megatelescope to observe in various wavelengths and study supernovae. Anyway, I continue to remain on this planet for the rest of my life, after inviting various friends over to my planet for parties and fun times. And then we all live happily ever after. The end.

Well that was weird. Why did I do that? Tell me what you all think in the comments. And by you all I mean basically Aki.


Also, this is the best panel ever: Our Future In Space panel from TAM Las Vegas 2011

SCIENTISTS ARE AMAZING ERMAHGERD

My feelings on math put into one simple sentence

"I take no pleasure in math for the sake of math, I like doing physics, and astronomy where physical realities are tangled in with the numbers and letters."
- Pamela Gay

That quote is my feelings on math class and learning math put into words by Dr. Pamela L. Gay. This is why I never do as well in math as I should, but always do well in science classes. When the math I'm doing has a real, practical application, it's one of the most useful, if not the most useful, tools out there, but when I'm just doing math because the teacher told me to, I, for one, understand it less, and for two, have no motivation for doing it, and therefore put less effort in. If calculus were taught alongside physics, it would be incredible. There needs to be like a calcu-physics class. That would be awesome. Anyway, that's why I'm not doing so well in math right now. I'm not motivated enough to learn this stuff. MERHAJDHA WHY AREN'T CALCULUS AND PHYSICS TAUGHT ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER? MERRRR

Anyway, those are my feelings on learning math. I hope I start doing better in precalculus!

So tired

Hey all you persons on the interwebs. I'm really tired right now. There is absolutely no reason for this, as I went to bed at a reasonable time yesterday. I don't know. ERMAHGERD GUESS WHAT? THE INTERNET LIKES ME! I put some of my astrophotos on Reddit, and they got upvotes! YAY I'M LIKED ON THE INTERWEBS! Ahhh I don't know what else to say!! I have four frees tomorrow! Yay! And le chem quiz got moved to a different day, so that's nice. AND WE GET TO DO AN INDEPENDENT READING PROJECT FOR ENGLISH!! I AM SO EXCITED I FINALLY HAVE AN EXCUSE FOR MYSELF TO ACTUALLY READ CONTACT! HEIUHRIAK YAY! Anyway, meh. Why am I so tired? I got sleep last night! Why is it that I'm really tired when I get enough sleep and only slightly tired when I don't get enough sleep? CONFUSION

Fright night!

Hey interwebees! One, I didn't post yesterday!!!!! HADIHASKJFGHAKJDHASF OMNG NOOOO! I was about to, because I started this post yesterday, but then I started talking to friends on le interwebs, so I never finished. Anyway, last night, I was at fright night!

What is fright night, you ask? It's when Kennywood opens at night and there is a lot of smoke and people dressed up as dead people. Basically, all rides except the water rides are open. I went last night with two friends, Rohun and Mathieu. It was originally supposed to be Rohun, Mathieu, Erika, Noah, and me, but Erika is sick, so she couldn't go, and Noah thought he couldn't go because he had to teach the next morning, even though he was awake for over an hour after I got back. But, to tell the truth, it was kind of good to do something without him. I mean, it's not as though I don't like him, that's the farthest thing from the truth, but he is always the friend who I do things with, and I don't think I've actually done anything with friends and had him not be there (other than Aki and Sarah times) for a long time. I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to be with friends if he wasn't there. But, last night reassured me that I could have friends even if he wasn't there.
I was initially worried that I would be like left out or something, as Rohun and Mathieu like to do a bunch of things that I don't, but it was actually a really fun day and night (we hung out at Mathieu's during the day and then went to fright night at night). We played Wii (I really only played Mario Kart, but they played a bunch of other games. They still interacted with me while they were doing that, so I still wasn't feeling left out). Twas quite fun. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner, which was fun times too. Then, after dinner, we went to fright night. We got there right as the gates were opening, so the line was pretty long to get in, but after we got in we went straight to the Phantom, and since the gates had just opened the line wasn't very long at all. For the time that we did have to wait, though, we had an argument about momentum vs. inertia and Rohun thinks that he won, but he really didn't. Then, next up, we went on the bumper cars. There were flashing lights, and since Mathieu is epileptic, I went with him in case anything happened. Thankfully nothing really happened, other than our car kept losing power, which was incredibly annoying, but not a medical problem. Then we went on the thunderbolt. Since we had 3 people, and the thunderbolt requires you to have a partner, one of us was going to have to either not go, or ride with stranger. Rohun and I both wanted to go, and Mathieu was okay with not going, but once we got to the front of the line one of the operators asked if any of us were going alone because he had a single rider who needed a partner. We kinda made Mathieu do it, but he was fine. Then next up was the Sky Rocket. I was told by multiple people that that ride sucked, but it was probably one of the coolest (not best, coolest) rides there. Since we're all such nerds, we figured out that the ride was powered by magnetic acceleration before they told us at the front of the line. Nerds on a roller coaster, as Erika said when I told her that story. Then we went on the Jackrabbit, which I had never been on before, and it was fun because there was a part that you fly out of your seat, and I was not expecting that and it was fun. Then, for our last ride, we went on the Racer. That one was fun. The staff was singing Gangnam Style while we were getting on, and then after the checked we were all safely buckled in, they started doing the Gangnam Style dance, which was hilarious. We were going to go on the phantom again after that, but the line was too long and we needed to be outside by 10:45 so Mathieu's mom could pick us up, so we ended up getting funnel cakes and leaving.

Last night was really fun. Many inside jokes were made, and I had a good time with friends. Next time we go to fright night though, we're bringing EVERYONE! 'Twill be fun times!

One giant incestuous orgy of awkward and facepalming #2

Hello internets! As I said, when I don't have a good title I'll use that one because it's awesome.

Anyway, my life is incredibly bleh. Boring, full of school, and no social life. Also, I fucked up my math quiz so now my mid-trimester grade will suck...my mom shall eat me alive. And, you know what has sucked recently? Spanish. Señor's a bad teacher who I don't think likes me because I hate talking in class. He called on me today and I just kind of froze. I don't know why, I mean I knew the answer, but now I'm fucked because he just always assumes I'm not paying attention. He's going to murder me with the comments for the mid-trimester grade, so my mom will just be like "ASKJFHDKSAJFHKJ I'M ANGRY WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GETTING 100% IN EVERY CLASS!!!" I don't think I'm going to take Spanish next year. Now all I have to do is find a class to replace it with. Maybe AP Stats or something. In happier news, I did NOT fail my history test! YEEEEEEAAAHHH BITCHES! I got an 82% I think, which is FAR better than I thought I'd do. You have NO IDEA how relieved I was when I saw that. Also, I don't have math until next wednesday! Yay! We drop monday and he won't be in school on tuesday, so I have 2 double frees on tuesday now! Yay! Also, chem quiz on tuesday! You may think that's weird that I'm putting this in the "good news" portion of the entry, but I actually REALLY like chemistry. I like it for different reasons than I loved physics. I want to learn about chemistry because it's fun, not because I know I'm gonna need to know this shit later. Chemistry is actually a great class. So far, I have not had any period of it which I hated. Mr. Marx is a wonderful teacher and I like what we're learning. That's the best combination! In other "good" (this could actually go either way) news, Noah and I have decided that we're going to talk to Dr. Andy about his teaching (or lack thereof). We're gonna try and get Alberto to join us in our speaking escapades, so we'll see how this goes. If we can get him to write on the board more and give us an outline of what he's going to teach (he has one anyway, so it's not as though he'd have to make one) at the beginning of class, it would legitimately be amazing. In non-school related new, I've recently realized that I'm apparently a helpful person. I've helped Erika with a bunch of problems, including getting her back together with her boyfriend. When I told Rohun that I was in-part responsible for their getting back togetherness he responded with "You actually help people?" Which I found entertaining. But, today he asked me for help with something that happened, and I helped him, and he told me that "It's nice to have someone like you, back in Portland I had to deal with these problems by myself." Which was AMAZINGLY nice. I don't think he realized how nice that was, but I thought it was awesome. Yay! People like me!

Anyway, that's my life right now. It has its good and its bad moments. But, all things considered, I guess it could be worse.

Social lives, Doctor Who, and boredom

Hello all you internets. I have absolutely no idea what to post about right now. My life is really boring right now. School is just tedious and boring. Life is far less exciting now that my friend's problems are fixed (or at least as fixed as I can make them now). My social life is still non-existent. I attempted to do something with Noah today, as he said he just wanted to do something crazy because he had so much energy or whatnot, but nope. He had plans with BRITT BOVBJERG. I feel this is becoming a common theme of my life. Want to do something with/for Noah, but he has plans with Britt Bovbjerg. It's actually really annoying. I mean I understand if you had plans with Erika or something, but you don't even try and make plans with me! And we're supposedly best friends. I also don't have a life, so any effort to make plans with me would be appreciated. Meh. I have somewhat of a social life this weekend, I guess. I am going to a sick Erika's house to watch movies and stuff. Mathieu and Rohun will be there too. I recently (as in like 2 minutes ago) learned (from Facebook) that Mathieu likes Doctor Who! WHY DID HE NOT TELL ME THIS!? I should have probably picked up on the fact when he made a Doctor Who reference today, but people can make references to things without liking them. Maybe Rohun, him, and I can attempt to get Erika to watch it...hehe yay. I already got her to agree to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is like the most amazing book EVER. Anyway, I'm really really bored right now. I'm just kind of listening to the album Still Got Legs and derping around on the interwebs. MERGHHADHSAD why can't I have more of a life?

Yay for technology!

So, at my mom's house, there is legitimately HORRIBLE cell phone signal. My mom drops calls all the time, and I have to call myself to be able to receive texts most of the time. It's a big inconvenience for everyone. So, apparently, the technology exists to be able to get better signal by putting something in your window and waiting for a bit. So, we got it, and now in places where I got 1 bar, I get either full bars or just one below full. Tis incredible. I don't get texted that often so I can't confirm that I don't have to call myself to receive them now. But, when/if someone texts me (not iPhone users because that's iMessage not texts, but my friends with iPhones can still text me because I'm 99% going to bored when you read this!) I will hopefully not have to keep calling myself to continue the conversation. YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY AND FULL CELL PHONE SIGNAL!

4 days! That's all!

OHMYNONEXISTEDGODS INTERNET GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!? MAH BESTEST FRIENDS ARE BACK TOGETHER!!! YAYAYAY!! Shhhh! Don't tell anyone in my class, internet! IT'S A SECRET!!! God forbid the class knowing that Noah and Erika are dating after only 4 days of them not dating. But I respect their decisions and won't tell anyone except the entire internet, Aki, and my sister. When I say the entire internet I mean my lovely readers, so basically Aki. And I'll probably tell her before she reads this, so there is no point in this blog other than me expressing my wonderful happiness at this situation! YAY!!! I feel like the best person ever right now! ENJOY YOUR RELATIONSHIP ONCE MORE NOAH AND ERIKA!!!

The conceited entry

Hello everyone! Feel free to skip over this entry, though you don't have to because you can see how nice I am! This is me telling myself how good of a person I feel like I am right now.

So, as you all know, Erika broke up with Noah last thursday. Ever since then, I've been in "friend help mode" for the both of them. More so for Erika, as Noah has his own way of dealing with his life. Those ways apparently don't always involve me, they involve Britt Bovbjerg (yes Noah I'm still a bit pissed off about that). Anyway, I have consoled Erika a lot over the past few days. Last night though, I was a consoling pro. What began as a hangout for studying history ended up having Noah in it and stuff, then he and Mathieu left because they had to go to bed and stuff. So Erika and I ended up moving to Facebook, where we began a conversation about the complicatedness of her life right now. There is a lot of stuff going on. For one, she's regretting her decision of breaking up with Noah, which was wonderful news to me. I talked to Noah about that today (which she told me to), and there is now a chance they may get back together! Apparently Aki's feeling was right. Yay! I hope it goes well! The two of them are like my favorite people and definitely my favorite couple like ever. Anyway, we then moved back to google plus, in which we talked about some of her other issues, ones in which I should not post publicly on the interwebs. Anyway, my main point was I stayed up until 12:45ish helping her with these issues. While that means I am really tired right now, it's worth it because I feel like an awesome friend! Her life is really confusing right now, and I feel like an amazing person for trying my damnedest to help her through it. I hope everything works out for the best in the end!


Main point of the entry: I am an amazing friend!

What makes a good teacher?

This entry is the separate entry that I talked about in the entry I just posted 30 seconds ago. It's about what, in my opinion, makes a good teacher. Wish me luck.

So, as promised, I shall now talk about the specific incident that happened today in Spanish class. Señor Cañuelas, my teacher, he is a weird one. He's hilarious, and has his moments of niceness. But, the problem is, he isn't really a good teacher, in my opinion. I qualify a teacher as "good" if they are nice, they get their students to understand the material that they are learning, they grade fairly, and, most of all, do not punish students for not understanding. Today, in Spanish class, we were reviewing some verb tenses and stuff. Most of the class was doing not too well on it, including myself and my one friend in the class. So, naturally, Señor decided that, because we all didn't understand it, he should give us a pop quiz. Thankfully that didn't end up happening, but the mere fact that he was thinking about it is a problem to me. Any teacher who thinks "Well, my students don't seem to understand the material that I'm trying to teach them. Since it obviously can't be my fault, it must be that they just don't care. I should give them a quiz to make them care." No, that's just wrong. While that MAY be true if only a small fraction of the class isn't doing too well, if the whole class is lost, it's time to start considering that "Hey, I may not be teaching this in the best way, let's try something else." Instead of just assuming they all don't care enough and then proceeding to lower their grades in your class by giving them a quiz on something they don't fully understand yet. I used to really like Señor last year (at least at the beginning), but by the end of last year, I started to realize that he doesn't teach very well and expects far too much in return. For example, for part of the final last year we had to read a story and answer very detailed questions about it. We had NEVER practiced reading a story like that, or anything even close to that, so that was incredibly hard for many people. Another part was us having to write a real essay in Spanish, another thing that he had never given us any practice with. Then, he was angry when everyone didn't do as well as he wanted them to do. If you never give us practice with what you expect us to be able to do, we obviously won't do as well.

Another teacher I have this year that doesn't qualify as a "good teacher" is my history teacher, Dr. Andy. He's not as bad as Señor, but he still isn't a very good teacher. He just basically talks at you for the whole class, and doesn't really write much on the board, so I am stuck wondering what's important to write down or not. Some days my notes are incredibly detailed to the point of ridiculousness, and some days they are barely even there. I'm really worried about this, because I don't know what's going to be on the tests and stuff. I had a GREAT history teacher last year (and the year before, though they were different people). Last year, I had a teacher named Mr. Bouchard. He was probably the best history teacher, if not the best teacher, I've ever had. We always knew what to write down and what not to. He used powerpoints to give us notes, and unless he said not to, you would just write down the basics of what's in the powerpoint. He was also an incredibly interesting person to listen to. He loved what he was teaching, and knew how to get us to be interested too. There were some great discussions, and we all learned A LOT, and had fun learning it! We barely got work, there was only one quiz per trimester, the two finals, and the (very) rare essay. Even though we barely had to do work, I still learned more in that class than I have in any other history class I've ever been in. This year, it's very hard to adjust to this new teacher. He's very different from Mr. Bouchard. He is not very enthusiastic or passionate about what he's teaching, and he the notes are very chaotic. He jumps around through history. He will mention this one guy, say he's very important, then go to talk about someone completely different, and then later come back to that guy and start giving a bunch of details and not writing them down. He'll also mention random people, write them on the board and tell us a bunch about them, then say "you don't really need to know that." I just can't really handle the way he teaches. It's chaotic, messy, unsure, and very unfocused. Another thing I can't really handle about him, and many other teachers do this too and it's stupid, is that part of your grade is based on how much you participate in class. I mean I kind of understand why they do that, but I also find it incredibly unfair. Some people just don't talk as much, and I'm one of those people, but it doesn't mean they aren't paying attention, it means they're quiet people. You shouldn't lower their grade because of their personality, because that does not reflect their understanding of the material, and then defeats the whole purpose of grades in the first place.

Now to conclude I'll talk a bit about some good teachers I have this year. Well, how about I just talk about one. Mr. Marx, my chemistry teacher, is a great teacher. He teaches the way I think teaching should be done. He doesn't give homework, he gives practice problems, and says if you understand it you don't have to do it, but if you don't, he suggests you do them, and then come and talk to him if you're still stuck. He doesn't grade based on how much you talk in class, which is great. He basically just makes you have to work to earn the best grade you can get, and if you don't he just says it's because you don't care, which is true. I wish all teachers taught like him, school would be a better place if that were true.

Happy October!

Hello everyone! It's october! You know what that means? Nothing! Yay! Anyway, today we had the first monday A week of the year. It sucked. It's the only day that I don't drop any classes, and I drop the half free that I have with Noah and Erika, so my day was rather boring. Tomorrow I drop Speech! Yay! I also have PE, which sucks lots. As I've said before we're doing volleyball and he's just plain teaching it to us wrong. I'm incredibly bored right now. Yay! I wish I didn't have school tomorrow, that would be awesome. Maybe someone will make a bomb threat! The weird thing is, that's happened before, so one can't really say it's "impossible." It may be highly unlikely, but that won't stop me from hoping! I have a history test wednesday. It's not that big of a deal apparently, it's 25 questions, all multiple choice. I have a weird feeling that Dr. Andy just doesn't like grading tests. I'm still probably going to do badly on it, since I suck at history. Also, let's talk about Spanish class for a second. Nevermind, that is going to be a separate entry that I shall write now. SEE YOU SOON!