oh whoops
oh. I meant to update this a couple of weeks ago, but didn't click the post button and now it's not relevant anyway.
sooo things are pretty decent these days. I have satisfied pretty much all of my material desires, between Christmas presents and Hanukkah money from my grandparents, and this makes me pretty happy. I got the Tokidoki and Hawaiian Hello Kitty plushes I'd been wanting since the early summer, got new athletic shoes to replace the utterly dead 7 year old pair, got enough sweatpants and underwear to be content with that, and got the new tambourine I'd been wanting. These were all things that I had been wanting for a long time, or felt that I needed for a long time and went without, and now I have them. This is partly because Mom got a new part-time job, which is boring for her, but she appreciates the considerable amount of extra money she gets for doing it. She spends two days a week reviewing claims for an HMO. She doesn't like it, because it's like working for "the enemy," but she hopes that her experience from the other side will help to influence the choices the HMO makes and hopefully get more deserving patients the things that they need. In any case, it means we're not so horribly poor these days.
I'm still working on getting my driver's license, but the campaign will hopefully be over next Friday. cross your fingers! Mom had the car fixed up for me so now it's not such a beast to tame. I don't have to maintain a death grip on the steering wheel anymore, now that the alignment's fixed, and it doesn't shake like a movie villain's death machine anymore. It's just generally a more cooperative car now, and so driving is kind of fun.
Things at home are so much more peaceful these days, and since we made such a big effort to get the house clean, I think that Mom and Ben and I have been doing a good job to never let things get too bad again. It's actually really nice in the house, and we want people to come visit, when before we felt ashamed to let anyone see all the horrible mess. We also don't have anything to fight about. It's almost boring without Dad. =/ but we're trying to be positive, I guess.
I got to see some people and have some really good times over this winter break, even though I couldn't do it as often as I would have liked. That happens every year though, not having a car. The New Year's Eve party was really fun though! I got so drunk, hahaha. first time ever. A new friend from school, Andrew, came over a few times, and we went bowling, went to Philadelphia and saw the orchestra, and played some video games. He also lent me No More Heroes, which was way way way too much fun considering how repetitive it is. I really should not have loved that game so much. But it was an easy way to waste a week. I also got to see Rachel for the first time since the summer. I hope that this coming semester I'll be able to make more opportunities to go and visit her in New York; we had so much fun when she was here!
I need to keep these paragraphs short to make sure people won't just give up on reading this. lolol
Boys are lame. At least that annoying school crush is so over. In a conversation that went much better than I imagined, I found out that he is intimidated by me too. haha. I was really surprised. But at least we can relate to each other as friends, which is just fine.
Now that I have shoes that I can run in, and now that I am not taking 9 classes anymore, I will definitely go to the gym this semester! definitely.
Speaking of classes, I actually did quite well last semester. 6 A's, two B+'s and my not-yet-finished independent study. I was so impressed with myself for getting an A in Japanese Painting. I really worked my butt off for that one, even though at the time I thought she would never give an A to anybody. I guess she was really impressed with me too. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked about the B+'s...I completely forgot to turn in a chunk of homework assignments for conducting, and had a lot of trouble writing the final paper for Japanese Society and Culture. I was really proud of myself for getting through the conducting final though. I conducted the Sinfonia orchestra all by myself, and really didn't do a bad job at all. It was a huge achievement, considering I was really scared to even lead my 12 classmates in September.
all good things, really. Now I just have to write that paper. =\
sooo things are pretty decent these days. I have satisfied pretty much all of my material desires, between Christmas presents and Hanukkah money from my grandparents, and this makes me pretty happy. I got the Tokidoki and Hawaiian Hello Kitty plushes I'd been wanting since the early summer, got new athletic shoes to replace the utterly dead 7 year old pair, got enough sweatpants and underwear to be content with that, and got the new tambourine I'd been wanting. These were all things that I had been wanting for a long time, or felt that I needed for a long time and went without, and now I have them. This is partly because Mom got a new part-time job, which is boring for her, but she appreciates the considerable amount of extra money she gets for doing it. She spends two days a week reviewing claims for an HMO. She doesn't like it, because it's like working for "the enemy," but she hopes that her experience from the other side will help to influence the choices the HMO makes and hopefully get more deserving patients the things that they need. In any case, it means we're not so horribly poor these days.
I'm still working on getting my driver's license, but the campaign will hopefully be over next Friday. cross your fingers! Mom had the car fixed up for me so now it's not such a beast to tame. I don't have to maintain a death grip on the steering wheel anymore, now that the alignment's fixed, and it doesn't shake like a movie villain's death machine anymore. It's just generally a more cooperative car now, and so driving is kind of fun.
Things at home are so much more peaceful these days, and since we made such a big effort to get the house clean, I think that Mom and Ben and I have been doing a good job to never let things get too bad again. It's actually really nice in the house, and we want people to come visit, when before we felt ashamed to let anyone see all the horrible mess. We also don't have anything to fight about. It's almost boring without Dad. =/ but we're trying to be positive, I guess.
I got to see some people and have some really good times over this winter break, even though I couldn't do it as often as I would have liked. That happens every year though, not having a car. The New Year's Eve party was really fun though! I got so drunk, hahaha. first time ever. A new friend from school, Andrew, came over a few times, and we went bowling, went to Philadelphia and saw the orchestra, and played some video games. He also lent me No More Heroes, which was way way way too much fun considering how repetitive it is. I really should not have loved that game so much. But it was an easy way to waste a week. I also got to see Rachel for the first time since the summer. I hope that this coming semester I'll be able to make more opportunities to go and visit her in New York; we had so much fun when she was here!
I need to keep these paragraphs short to make sure people won't just give up on reading this. lolol
Boys are lame. At least that annoying school crush is so over. In a conversation that went much better than I imagined, I found out that he is intimidated by me too. haha. I was really surprised. But at least we can relate to each other as friends, which is just fine.
Now that I have shoes that I can run in, and now that I am not taking 9 classes anymore, I will definitely go to the gym this semester! definitely.
Speaking of classes, I actually did quite well last semester. 6 A's, two B+'s and my not-yet-finished independent study. I was so impressed with myself for getting an A in Japanese Painting. I really worked my butt off for that one, even though at the time I thought she would never give an A to anybody. I guess she was really impressed with me too. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked about the B+'s...I completely forgot to turn in a chunk of homework assignments for conducting, and had a lot of trouble writing the final paper for Japanese Society and Culture. I was really proud of myself for getting through the conducting final though. I conducted the Sinfonia orchestra all by myself, and really didn't do a bad job at all. It was a huge achievement, considering I was really scared to even lead my 12 classmates in September.
all good things, really. Now I just have to write that paper. =\