Greetings from Saginaw
(This first paragraph I wrote a few days ago, which is why it doesn't really fit with the rest of this entry. And yes, it is 6:35 am.)
I decided to do a home energy comparison on the Consumers Energy website because our heating bill has been really high and I don't think our house is energy efficient. It turns out we have below average energy cost, average electricity cost, and off the chart below average natural gas cost. The most efficient home is listed as $589. My house is $548. The website even says there might be an error because it's so low, but I'm pretty certain it's not an error. The reason why it's so low is because my mom tries to use as little heat as possible. During the night and when nobody's home, she turns the thermostat down to 62. When we're home, she turns it up to a balmy 65. They say you should keep it at 68 instead of 72 to save money. As you can see, my mom does even better. I'm so used to it now that 72, the so-called room temperature, would be oppressive heat.
In other news, I'm home! I was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but I didn't get back until Friday, and I landed in Lansing instead of Saginaw. But that story deserves its own separate entry. Perhaps I'll do that entry on Christmas Day.
Immediately when I came back, I decided to go to Heritage because I told Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Tiderington that I would be there. When I entered the school, the new black lady security guard (not exactly new; she was from last year) asked me if I had a pass to visit teachers. I didn't, so she told me to go to the main office to get one. I went there and asked for one, but they said that I wouldn't be able to visit until after school. I left, and when the security guard asked me if they said it was okay, I said yes and walked right on by. I COULD HAVE BEEN AN AL-QAIDA OPERATIVE INFILTRATING A NATIONAL SECURITY TARGET!!!!!!!!!! I COULD HAVE BLOWN UP THE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUR NATION COULD HAVE BEEN THROWN INTO CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I did my visiting (I also visited Mrs. Bixby) and then went home.
On Wednesday, I came back to visit more fully. Mrs. Richardson's sixth hour class had a free day that day, where I saw Allie Barlow, Eric Joyce, and Selcuk. Here's a very funny thing: Mrs. Richardson asked Daniel (Xu) if he wanted some Doritos, and then handed the bag over to him. She turned around, and as she was heading back to her chair, Daniel said "I don't want this" and threw the bag of chips at her! The bag hit her back and chips fell all over the floor. He said he was aiming for the desk next to her, but I knew right away when he threw it that it was going to hit her. Mrs. Richardson was quite angry (her usual smoldering anger), of course, but shocked too I think. Daniel said "Oh!" and covered his mouth in his typical Daniel fashion, and then apologized. However, he didn't move from his seat to pick up the chips -- that had to be done by Courtney Kim. As she was picking up the chips, and after several people told him to pick up the chips, Daniel belatedly made the effort to get up from his seat.
Obviously you don't throw things, let alone food, and let alone at the teacher! He should have realized that you don't throw things when a teacher is in the vicinity. Or perhaps he could have realized that the desk was not even two yards away from his desk. It would have taken almost no effort to just get up and put -- not throw -- the chips on the desk. And besides, the way he was throwing the bag, he threw it so high it would have slid off the desk and fallen onto the floor.
I admit that what I just wrote was a bit harsh, but I think it was justified. That kid has no common sense whatsoever. It's also probably a reaction from his constant requests for help on his college essays, after which I give help, he then goes and ignores my advice, and then asks for help again. The kid may be smart, but let me say again: He has no common sense. He is only book smart, which unfortunately won't help him too much in surviving in the real world. (He's gotten better,tthough... I think.)
I also have a few issues with him regarding his college applications. He applied to Michigan extremely early, I believe September, and I thought he would quite savvy with the whole college application process. For those of you who don't know, he applied to Harvard early, and their program requires that you apply to only Harvard early. At the same time, he applied to Duke and Princeton regular decision (due date: January 1) in October or so, thinking that they would look at your application when they received it, but that's only rolling admissions. Wtih regular admissions, they won't look at apps until late January. While I could understand why he applied to Harvard in October when the app is due in November, why did he apply to Duke and Princeton so early? Had he perfected his essays (which would be the expected thing from him)? Alas (a word he used in one of his essays), his essays are terrible! I mean it too. The Harvard ones were extremely boring drivel, insipid essays resembling research abstracts. The Duke essays were just as bad. The Princeton ones were a little bit better, a little bit more revealing of who Daniel truly is, but unfortunately, they are not enough to save him. He told me that had spent maybe half an hour or an hour on his essays. Contrast that to me, where I spent probably five or six hours on each one, and I had four or five to write, and I did my apps only days before the due date. I remember spending several days of my winter break doing (literally) nothing but writing and revising my essays.
I told him that he had a very small chance of getting in to Harvard to begin with, and with these essays, he would have no chance. He told me he had a 60% chance, the 40% against him being his essays. He, of course, was deferred, along with 3,000 other people. He should be lucky he was not part of the 140 people who were rejected outright!
Kamo got into MIT. I'm really happy for him. I've told him, of course, to apply to Yale, which I hope he will do. It would be so cool if he got in and decided to go to Yale. I would be super excited. Let's see what happens on April 1.
In the meantime, hold onto your bags of chips.
I decided to do a home energy comparison on the Consumers Energy website because our heating bill has been really high and I don't think our house is energy efficient. It turns out we have below average energy cost, average electricity cost, and off the chart below average natural gas cost. The most efficient home is listed as $589. My house is $548. The website even says there might be an error because it's so low, but I'm pretty certain it's not an error. The reason why it's so low is because my mom tries to use as little heat as possible. During the night and when nobody's home, she turns the thermostat down to 62. When we're home, she turns it up to a balmy 65. They say you should keep it at 68 instead of 72 to save money. As you can see, my mom does even better. I'm so used to it now that 72, the so-called room temperature, would be oppressive heat.
In other news, I'm home! I was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but I didn't get back until Friday, and I landed in Lansing instead of Saginaw. But that story deserves its own separate entry. Perhaps I'll do that entry on Christmas Day.
Immediately when I came back, I decided to go to Heritage because I told Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Tiderington that I would be there. When I entered the school, the new black lady security guard (not exactly new; she was from last year) asked me if I had a pass to visit teachers. I didn't, so she told me to go to the main office to get one. I went there and asked for one, but they said that I wouldn't be able to visit until after school. I left, and when the security guard asked me if they said it was okay, I said yes and walked right on by. I COULD HAVE BEEN AN AL-QAIDA OPERATIVE INFILTRATING A NATIONAL SECURITY TARGET!!!!!!!!!! I COULD HAVE BLOWN UP THE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUR NATION COULD HAVE BEEN THROWN INTO CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I did my visiting (I also visited Mrs. Bixby) and then went home.
On Wednesday, I came back to visit more fully. Mrs. Richardson's sixth hour class had a free day that day, where I saw Allie Barlow, Eric Joyce, and Selcuk. Here's a very funny thing: Mrs. Richardson asked Daniel (Xu) if he wanted some Doritos, and then handed the bag over to him. She turned around, and as she was heading back to her chair, Daniel said "I don't want this" and threw the bag of chips at her! The bag hit her back and chips fell all over the floor. He said he was aiming for the desk next to her, but I knew right away when he threw it that it was going to hit her. Mrs. Richardson was quite angry (her usual smoldering anger), of course, but shocked too I think. Daniel said "Oh!" and covered his mouth in his typical Daniel fashion, and then apologized. However, he didn't move from his seat to pick up the chips -- that had to be done by Courtney Kim. As she was picking up the chips, and after several people told him to pick up the chips, Daniel belatedly made the effort to get up from his seat.
Obviously you don't throw things, let alone food, and let alone at the teacher! He should have realized that you don't throw things when a teacher is in the vicinity. Or perhaps he could have realized that the desk was not even two yards away from his desk. It would have taken almost no effort to just get up and put -- not throw -- the chips on the desk. And besides, the way he was throwing the bag, he threw it so high it would have slid off the desk and fallen onto the floor.
I admit that what I just wrote was a bit harsh, but I think it was justified. That kid has no common sense whatsoever. It's also probably a reaction from his constant requests for help on his college essays, after which I give help, he then goes and ignores my advice, and then asks for help again. The kid may be smart, but let me say again: He has no common sense. He is only book smart, which unfortunately won't help him too much in surviving in the real world. (He's gotten better,tthough... I think.)
I also have a few issues with him regarding his college applications. He applied to Michigan extremely early, I believe September, and I thought he would quite savvy with the whole college application process. For those of you who don't know, he applied to Harvard early, and their program requires that you apply to only Harvard early. At the same time, he applied to Duke and Princeton regular decision (due date: January 1) in October or so, thinking that they would look at your application when they received it, but that's only rolling admissions. Wtih regular admissions, they won't look at apps until late January. While I could understand why he applied to Harvard in October when the app is due in November, why did he apply to Duke and Princeton so early? Had he perfected his essays (which would be the expected thing from him)? Alas (a word he used in one of his essays), his essays are terrible! I mean it too. The Harvard ones were extremely boring drivel, insipid essays resembling research abstracts. The Duke essays were just as bad. The Princeton ones were a little bit better, a little bit more revealing of who Daniel truly is, but unfortunately, they are not enough to save him. He told me that had spent maybe half an hour or an hour on his essays. Contrast that to me, where I spent probably five or six hours on each one, and I had four or five to write, and I did my apps only days before the due date. I remember spending several days of my winter break doing (literally) nothing but writing and revising my essays.
I told him that he had a very small chance of getting in to Harvard to begin with, and with these essays, he would have no chance. He told me he had a 60% chance, the 40% against him being his essays. He, of course, was deferred, along with 3,000 other people. He should be lucky he was not part of the 140 people who were rejected outright!
Kamo got into MIT. I'm really happy for him. I've told him, of course, to apply to Yale, which I hope he will do. It would be so cool if he got in and decided to go to Yale. I would be super excited. Let's see what happens on April 1.
In the meantime, hold onto your bags of chips.