Nice is good

Me: “I’m really sleepy.  I think I’ll just go to bed, since I have nothing else to do.”

Mom: “Geez, what’s happened to your life?”

Me: “What’s happened to my life is that it suddenly got really, really nice.”

Mom: “Okay.  Well, nice is good.”

It is true that since about Monday, my life has become extraordinarily chill.  For instance, today during Calculus I went to the library and did physics homework, and I wasn’t even particularly happy about that because we really shouldn’t be having physics homework at this point in the year.  The most work we’ve done in US History this week was this super-long survey (which we did after the Tripod survey… what impeccable timing) where we basically had to critique every single thing we did this year.

Actually, in German we had the first test of the year (!), but it was just kind of random and ridiculous and I really couldn’t care less about that class in general.  Plus if we fail, we’ll probably just take it again.

What all this means is that I think the class I’ve had to do the most work for this week is seminar– which is truly bizarre.  Because we never work in seminar; we only think*.

My presentation (on knots and hyperbolic space; you probably don’t need to hear any more about it) went surprisingly decently, probably because the bulk of it was the derivation of a (very cool) formula that was described in great detail in a book.  So I basically just had to replicate that derivation fairly coherently, without mixing up my chis and my lambdas, and we were good to go.

Unfortunately, all the afore-mentioned niceness of my life has been tempered with all the crises going on in the lives of people I know.  I can think of about six of them just off the top of my head.  I am certainly not about to discuss any of it here, but suffice it to say that it pretty much sucks, and I wish all of them the best.

* Are they really different?  In a sense, not so much.  In another sense, absolutely.

Photographic intermission

Exams ‘08, day… wait a second

I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE AP EXAMS.

(And seniors, I don’t even want to hear about your whole “I only have one AP left ever, I’m graduating in a month, yadda yadda yadda” thing.  I just don’t wanna hear it.)

So anyway, instead you get the honor and privilege of hearing me talk about all the funny things that happened today.  Like when I walked into Latin class, and upon seeing Maddie in her lovely red and white checkered dress, immediately exclaimed, “You look like a picnic!”  Because she did!  A picnic blanket, that is.

Or when Jingpeng and Sana dragged me off to Mr. T’s room after school, which confused me because he’s an APUSH teacher (not even mine) and that AP was Friday!  Why do we still care?

Jingpeng: “We need to get the homework.”

Me: “You have homework?!“

Unheard of!  We’re going to be doing projects too, but later.  Right now we’re just watching Forrest Gump!  Well, Mr. T’s classes have always been ahead of ours.  Because we have more fun (I bet).

In Calculus, Silviana had cupcakes with element symbols on them, left over from Chemistry because their AP was today, so everyone in our group got one.  I had strontium; it was very good.  Also we had Steve as our sub!  I’m sure it was a tough job for him, sitting there on his laptop while we watched a movie.

And we went outside during German because Mary’s room was freezing, and I totally need to prepare for my seminar project, and the sky was very blue today.

I need to start writing more focused blog entries, because these are getting very rambly.

Exams ‘08, day four

2006: one | two | three
2007: one | two | three | four | five
2008: one | two | three

Hey! Look at my day!

1. Physics.
2. More physics.
3. Studied physics during free period.
4. Skipped German (with permission), went to lunch to panic about physics.
5-8. Physics AP exam.
8+. No more physics!!!

This is why I am happy I do not take 9 periods of classes like many of my fellow juniors. You are all silly. My life is better.

Also, Ms. L baked us cookies to eat before the test. I still don’t fully forgive her for thinking √2/2 ≠ 1/√2, but it was still totally sweet in more ways than one.

Then I was pretty proud of myself for having remembered to bring my calculator, unlike two of my friends. And for saving the day by reminding the proctors to give us straight edges.

However, I am not at all proud of myself for being utterly unable to press calculator buttons correctly. Seriously! I’d have the formulas and numbers and everything written down right, but then I wouldn’t enter it into my calculator correctly and would thus get the wrong answer. This occurred multiple times. And since I didn’t have (nearly) enough time to check everything, I really really hope I didn’t miss it anywhere else. That would be a stupid place to lose points. (Are there smart places to lose points? Yes, I say. Anyplace I lose points is by definition a smart place to lose points.)

As for the multiple choice: blah, mental arithmetic.  There were also a few questions that nearly made me burst out laughing because we had NEVER talked about how to solve them and I had NO CLUE how to do so. Good stuff.

But probably the highlight of my day was putting my calculator in Jenny’s pants.

And then! FREEDOM!!!!!!

Three-fifths of my classes are (effectively) OVER, the concerto competition is OVER, in a week (!) Ping’s recital will be OVER, in a month and a half school and all the rest of my recitals will be OVER, OVER, OVER…

Time, dude. It has this funny way of passing that I can just never wrap my mind around.

To-do list: Physics

1. Sleep more. Starting right about now would be good.

2. Memorize lots and lots of formulas.

3. Lots and lots and lots. But! Don’t forget about the conceptual stuff too.

4. Be intelligent when it comes to estimating answers without a calculator on the multiple choice section. If you carefully logic your way to the conclusion that your estimate is too high, do not then proceed to choose the answer that is higher than your estimate. That’s just dumb. Don’t do it.

5. Don’t let questions on fluids and optics throw you so out of whack that you can’t do the problems on forces and kinematics.

6. Same for questions on electromagnetism.

7. And, um, basically everything except forces and kinematics.

8. There will probably be questions on this exam that fewer than 10% of people will get correct. Don’t worry if you are not a part of that percentage.

9. Explain your answers in part II coherently and concisely. Eloquence will not earn you points. Precision will. Use formulas and– where necessary– actual numbers to develop a solid argument.

10. Be happy! THIS IS YOUR LAST AP EXAM.

For this year, at least.

When singing is fun

Not gonna lie.  I love singing and everything, but the real reason I applied for the Hartwick Choral Festival was because there was no way I was passing up an opportunity to go to Prague.  No freaking way.

But now that I’ve been to a rehearsal (half of one, at least), I can now honestly say that there are more reasons for me to look forward to July than merely a chance to set foot in the beautiful city of Prague.

For instance.  You know how lots of IHS people say things like “Oh yeah, I like singing… but I hate having to deal with Loomis”?  So they don’t join choir?  And understandably so?

Well that excuse vanished at Hartwick, because Loomis was replaced with Jirka, a highly amusing and infinitely more talented Czech man who had us spend the first 15 minutes of rehearsal stretching and giving back rubs (to complete strangers, needless to say), and who says things like, “Don’t worry, there will be lots of drinks and napkins and pizza and grease at dinner!”  He also got songs arranged for him by Moses Hogan, which I’m quite sure never has and never will happen with Loomis.

Also.  You know all those high schoolers who take choir just to get that pesky fine arts credit?  They’re gone at Hartwick too.  Instead there are high schoolers, choral directors, and– most numerously of all– college students, who don’t need to be told again and again to sing with open vowel space and low breath.  So the rehearsals needn’t focus solely on the basics of singing and can move up a level to this little often-neglected thing called musicality.

And it makes singing so much more enjoyable.  Not to mention better-sounding.

Exams ‘08, day three

2006: one | two | three
2007: one | two | three | four | five
2008: one | two

I will still write about APUSH even though it was a day ago.  Because like any good mathematician, incompleteness and inconsistency make me oh so uncomfortable.

Unlike many, I was very relaxed before the exam began because I got to hang out with “The Crew” (these fools) for the first time in ages and ages.  It’s the only AP we’ll all be taking.  It was really nice…

Talia: “There were words that I was going to say…”

Me: “Well, there were pictures that I was going to say… And mine are worth 1000 of yours!”

Ashely: “Oh!  Burned!”

Talia: “Yeah, I think I just got the third degree.”

… Until we actually had to go in and take the damn thing.

You know how the exam is supposed to be scaled from easy to hard?  Well I took one look at the very first question, and only then did I fully grasp just how screwed I was.

And the essays were just buckets and buckets of fun fish.

There’s not much more I can say, but here is one short and delightful test-taking story that will not get me in trouble with the Office of Testing Integrity!  I was frantically scribbling away at my essays, adding incoherent introductions and irrelevant conclusions, for the sign said there were 5 minutes left!  Five minutes!  And since I didn’t notice the sign until probably two minutes after the proctors had put it up, I probably only had three minutes left!  Ahh!  Ahhhh!!!!

I saw the proctor walk towards the microphone to make the fateful announcement.  I vehemently punctuated the final sentence of my final essay and suddenly felt a wave of relief– and maybe the tiniest bit of pride as well.  I had just finished the US History AP exam.  It was over.  Done.  Maybe I had only gotten a 3 thanks to my shitty essays and general befuddlement over most of the multiple choice questions– but hey, it was more than some students would get.  And at least I had done it.  And it was over.

“You should now be moving on to part C.  You will have 35 minutes to finish part C of the exam.”

…

…

…

There do not exist words in the English language that can express my feelings at that point.

As a totally unrelated aside!  Did you know I am capable of writing three essays in 80 minutes?  Essential life skill, I’m tellin’ ya.

Afterwards I went to take part of a physics final, and then translate lots of Horace.  But THEN!  TWO PERIODS (US and Calc) of stuffing my face with food and watching movies.  And THEN!  Stopping at the Cornell Dairy Bar with Ping and stuffing my face with ice cream.  Then an hour of rehearsal, THEN 10 hours of sweet sweet slumber.

It was actually supposed to be a half hour nap and then a couple hours of practicing my concerto, except then I, er, never woke up.

But who cares?

The judges at tomorrow’s competition, that’s who.  Not me.

To-do list: US History

1. Sleep.  Again.  Hopefully this will be easier than usual, since you walked to church this evening (ca. 45 minutes) and therefore have some physical exhaustion to lead the way to sleepy land.

2. Get up and get to school on time.  Do the doors open or close at 8 AM?  No one seems to be sure.  And they are two very different things. Nonetheless, get there on time anyway.

3. Bring pencils and pens.

4. Note the plural.  Pens.  Put another pen in your pencil case, pronto!

5. You are smarter than a bunch of monkeys in a room.  Plus, Mr. J wrote “Yowsa!” on your last test.  You can do this.

6. Don’t forget to think when you move on to the essays.  Plan them out.  Write a decent thesis.  Be thorough.  And the guy’s surname is Mahan, not Thayer.

7. Don’t kill yourself if your essays aren’t perfect though, because god and the scorers all know they won’t be.

8. If there is a question about clothing styles, it is not your fault for not knowing the answer.  It’s their fault for asking about such trivialities.

9. Don’t panic.  There are more important things in life than AP exams, regardless of what 90% of all your Facebook friends’ statuses have to say about it.

10. Or to put it another way, don’t worry about your fertility rates.  They won’t be affected.

Exams ‘08, day two

2006: one | two | three
2007: one | two | three | four | five
2008: one

7:30 is too freakin’ early in the morning.

So, the Calc AP– the real deal this time.  No comics on the question booklets, no answer keys posted on the door.  The tedious bubbling in of answer sheets.  The alphabetical seating.  Our pre-test chant was actually almost destroyed by the alphabetical seating, but we pulled it off beautifully, to the utter surprise of all the Calc AB students.  Go BC!!!

I’m totally not allowed to talk about the test itself.  I will however note that I never want to do another signs analysis again, and they really need to provide more space on the part IIs if they want us to explain ourselves that much.  And I didn’t have enough time.  And there were no moose.

I only had three classes afterwards, all cool ones too: Latin, where we shared general impressions of the test before jumping into poems about blue mothers and such; US, where we got lots of thick and intimidating review packets and were reminded ONCE AGAIN that our grades on the AP will have no effect on our fertility rates (a great relief, as always); and Calculus (hah), where we got a thorough description on how fairly the APs are graded, played tic-tac-toe on a Klein bottle, and made giant icosahedrons.

Silviana and I stayed 20 minutes after class to finish one, despite the general negativity of those around us.  (”There’s no way you’re going to finish that.” “Well, a little perseverance goes a long way– and I think Silviana has more than a little perseverance.”)  I told Rayleigh to fetch me a late bus pass, since I definitely missed the normal bus, but he never did, probably because he’s not my personal slave.  But I think I should be able to make my way home nonetheless.

We also had an awesome conversation with Mr. D about the psychology of color.  Because I mean, the AP is over!  What else do we have to talk about?

To-do list: Calculus

1. Sleep.  Just because today you miraculously stayed awake the whole day despite having less than five hours of sleep does not mean you can do it again.  Sleepy people are not renowned for their mental acuity, and in times like these, mental acuity is a good thing.

2. Get up and get to school on time.  Which means setting your alarm half an hour before you need to get up, and preparing to leave ten minutes before you actually need to leave.

3. Don’t forget your spare calculator batteries.

4. Or your calculator.

5. Or your name.

6. The AP exam is not like the review book, so don’t go snooping around for typos when the answer you get is not among the choices.  The College Board is not wrong.  YOU ARE WRONG.  Go make yourself right.

7. Do not be psyched out by the inevitable questions on the Lagrange error bound, slope fields, or the Mean Value Theorem.  You’ve done them before.  You can do them again.

8. Bring a sweatshirt lest you freeze to death in York. “Died during AP exam” does not look good to colleges.

9. You will have enough time.  Take it.

10. And for god’s (or at least Mr. D’s) sake, RTFQ.