Epitome of Insanity

.

"You can only standby and watch whilst your good times fade into the obscured pieces you call memory."

I know, I know.... I've let this blog fall into an irreversible decay. But I can't help it, really. Since moving here, school---- and life in general ---- has kept me busy as fuck. Homework, etc. Not to mention my family: they want me to wash dishes, clean my room every three days or so, observe the kitchen every time someone cooks dinner and watch Drey whenever they coop themselves up in their room to play CABAL.


But the home chores aren't what's sapping me of sanity. They're fine (afterall, I'm a person who's unconsciously dedicated to habitual laziness), but it's because I constantly have a 'cultural barrier' between me and the rest of the people in school. Quite frankly, it's like having to erase and rewrite everything you thought you knew abut human behavior, belief systems, personalities and interaction. It's CRAZY, I tell you! Suddenly, I find myself unable to relate to any living soul within 5 meters of me. My voice would fade from the strain if silence by the end of the week unless I sing myself hoarse every few days or so. Sometimes I can't help but really miss my friends and I tear-up at night cause' of homesickness. But I think its just the estrogen. But life won't change just because I'm moping around and quietly whining, so that's enough of my emoness, a'right? (^__^)


This post is to make up all that snapping backlog I've been wanting to blog about concerning school. Eh, but where to start? The school system, I guess. (o__o) Ok, so as I've passively mentioned on a previous post, the school system isn't the same (but then again, so are alot of things... so it's pretty much expected (>__>)) as when I was back in the Philippines. Instead of the usual 'Block System' where everybody is stuck with the same set of classmates who're more or less the same age and year as you, I get to experience the 'Period System'. I know what it sounds like, but do NOT make me go there. (o-o); Basically, it's all based on a 'schedule'. Everyday, you go through seven classes: those seven classes are an hour long and then each hour is called a 'period'. Your schedule is based on your grades, so you can (as in my case) have a Chemistry class for Juniors while still remaining in an Algebra class for Sophomores. The school has a sort of outdoorsy setting, with islands of grass and trees separated by cemented walkways that weave it's way around the school. There are buildings with large numbers on them, and each section of clustered buildings are under a specific subject. For example, building 5 is solely for Spanish classes, while building 13 is for English classes. Well ,you get the point. I'm not sure what the other buildings are for, though. I don't attend a class in very building, seeing as there are only seven periods in a day and that there are about seventeen buildings all-in-all...



These are my classes by schedule and my overall opinions of them:


Algebra - Pretty good. Mr. Hicks (my teacher) is the emotionless, crazy sort of teacher. He can be strict when foul language is in use and concocts light humor out of a class's stupidity. Miraculously, I've started to like Math. That, and I get good grades. 8D He keeps the class interested in what he has to say most of the time and makes these weird noises/slash/expressions like 'Bee-woop' and 'Holyequationsbatman'. XD

English - Bittersweet. It tends to get pretty bad when I'm not in the mood to write and/or have these series of inconvenient writer's block. In cases like these, I tend to forget my Literature Letters (which is really not a good thing) and/or remain totally lost as what to write on occasional Journal Days. Though Miss Swenson can be a strict old bat, she keeps good books on her shelves and talks in a way that really makes you think about the assigned topics. All-in-all, still one of my aspiring subjects. ;D

Gym - I'm not too fond of this one. (x__x) I don't exactly suck at it (despite the fact I'm not a sporty person), but doing jumping jacks in near-freezing temperatures doesn't sound very nice, AM I RIGHT?! (O__o) *twitch* As expected of a highschool coach, Coach Mills has personified the idea of an intense drill sergeant. He treats students like adults --- with respect and whatnot --- which makes him cool on my book.

Lunch - It's lunch... what can I say? XD My routine involves coming out from gym, walking to the cafeteria, buying a Hot Pocket and washing it all down with apple juice.

World History - World History is probably the subject I'm least likely to struggle in. The difficult level is placed into moderation and it's all just based on memorization and understanding. You know, the usual. We use computers instead of notebooks to take notes and we do research off the internet (and if you must know, you can't use school computers to freely browse the web due to this restriction program installed in the computer systems, so... uh, yeah. (T^T)). Sometimes we'd do slides on Microsoft PowerPoint. Mr. Eliades is a pretty cool teacher. I mean, he's traveled around the world... and the way he talks just captures your attention. (^.^);

Spanish - GAH. Just when I though I'd gotten rid of Filipino, I suddenly find myself taking-up Spanish?! (X__X) I have to take two years of it in order to get a good qualification for college. WTF. D< Though the teacher is pretty nice, she had to remain absent throughout half the first semester cause she was gonna give birth. (o.o); So that's mostly the reason why I can't give a full review on it. End of comment. (^__^)

Chemistry - It's hard. Period. (-__-) It's the only class where I'm with a bunch of Juniors, so this is where I go through the least amount of interaction unless it involves group experiments and such. I suppose there's this sort of silent rule where the higher years usually look down on the lower ones. *shrug* I save my voice for questions regarding the lessons at hand. Speaking of experiments, our last one involved chemicals that had burst into different sorts of colors when we dipped a nichrome wire in a sample dish and hovered it above a Bunsen burner. There was also this one time, on my first day at Chem class, that Miss Finzel (the teacher, obviously) held this huge bubble stick and torch. She dipped the bubble stick into a large vat full of foamy stuff and held it against an electric fan: it created this huge bubble that burst into flames while still floating upwards... screeching desks resonated throughout the room when the students attempted to get away in fear of the ceiling catching on fire. XD I pretty much like the teacher, Miss Finzel, well enough. She gives these lectures that are sometimes REALLY hard to follow, especially when I'm being hammered by my migraines. Not my best subject. But, hey, at least I'm trying... right? (e__e)



Aside from that, let us discuss my state of mentality, shall we? Well, I have one word for you: emo. No, seriously. In my gloomy moods, I barely talk to anyone unless I'm being directly addressed to. This place has it's ups and downs. For one thing, I never get hungry. But to be honest, I really, REALLY miss Iloilo. We all had our unique brand of craziness. (T__T) But, unfortunately, I won't be coming back till my parents make plans to visit, which will be around heaven-knows-when. D:


This is certainly the beginning of my American life....
I just wish I'd know what that'll mean for me on the long run.

Halloween Pics

Pics of Halloween 2009
(courtesy of Dad's camera)

Buhay Amerika

If I had a legal choice, I'd ship myself back to the Philippines.

Right. Now. (>__<)

Daily Issues

" When I die, I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather... not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. "


So, hey there! I'm back, still disappointingly alive. (>__<) Another week goes by in the land of America and not a day passes without me wishing I wasn't here. Well, it's not all that bad to be honest. The food is awesome (as expected, I've gained 10 pounds in less than 3 months >__>), the house is generally clean, I have a TV in my room, I have my whole family with me and I get to have hot showers whenever I want without having to go through the trouble of manually heating it over the stove with an oversized teapot. Life's good, but as personal rule of being a typical teenager, my list of complaints are just as long.



Here they are.... 8D

Since it's fall, it'd be natural for everything to freeze up a bit.
But apparently, I underestimated the cold BIG TIME. Every morning, my fingers would grow numb and swell slightly from the cold. Not only that, but I can see my breath each time I exhale. (O__O) I'd buy one of those nice fur-lined jackets, but my mom's still waiting for her Social Security stuff to be given the 'OK' signal so she can help my dad earn some cash. Basically, we're poor. Well, not really. XD But we're having issues concerning our cash income. Ironic how the economy works, doesn't it? We'd be considered 'rich' in the Philippines what with all the dollars we're being sent, only to be considered ordinary and middle-class here because we're earning AND spending dollars (not pesos). So until then (or when tita Suzette sends clothes from Massachusetts), I'll be freezing my butt off every morning.... I can only pray Mr. Eliades, my awesome History teacher, would continue to let me take shelter in his classroom to do work.


P.E. EVERY SINGLE [censored]!@#$%^&[censored] DAY. Yes, you heard me! (#__#)
My first few weeks were the most torturous. We run 8 laps around this HUGE track-n-field ring around the football field. Till now, I'm still amazed I hadn't fainted or succumbed to any sort of pulmonary dysfunction when I first attempted to run the first two laps. I practically didn't posses a single coordinated muscle in my body. None. If you must know, I've pretty much been a thin stick coated in soft fat for most of my life. That's all thanks to the fatless food and P.E. system in the Philippines, where we only had a single day of P.E. in a week for the majority of our four years in highschool. Psch... and I thought THAT was bad. (-__-) Lol. I've tried to imagine Kai running eight times everyday in that tiny body of her's. (o__O) She'd either die or trip after each lap from exhaustion. XDD
But, gradually, I got better. Of coarse, I can never beat those beastly long-legged white people who've been doing this kind of running since elementary. But, then again, I'm only trying not to be the last person on the track. XD Hmm... I wonder if I can beat everyone back in Iloilo for track n' field now? (^__^);


Raining homework. (x__x) Every fudging night. DX
Naturally, if I show any signs of laziness, my parents would wip out their authority personae. Which partially explains why I'm almost never online --- my dad would stab me if he found out I'm still 'wasting' my time updating my blog. It's virtually impossible for me to blow-off my homework... unless I forget about it. Which, honestly, happens quite often. (>__>)
My blog actually helps boost my sanity; it gives me an outlet to express the personality I have to hold back whenever I'm with the people in my school. I just can't be myself here. (T__T)


Retarded people. Seriously, some of them are just plain immature about a lot of stuff.
And no, I don't mean physical or sexual maturity. (-.-); I can never fully relate to anyone... ever. Almost everyone acts like the stereotypical teenager who never thinks about anything that doesn't affect their personal life. But I guess everyone here is like that: always restricting their world to what they only choose to know. Well, I guess that's America for you. But for those who are susceptible to feelings of depression and loneliness, it's not a very healthy environment. No wonder they have so many crazy people here who kidnap children and whatnot. I mean, I'm not the constantly-depressed type, yet I'm STILL suffocating from the lack of intelligent conversations. (-.-);
Have I also mentioned that the girls here wear makeup every single day? DD:


So this is my list of the crappy stuff I have to face whilst living here. Next time, I'll talk about each of my classes. By the way, it's important to note that the classes are based individually (per student), not the year they're in. To put it simply, everyone has different schedules. And just to save myself from talking about my schedule later, I have Algebra, English, Gym, World History, Spanish and Chemistry.
Bah. Just when I thought I'd gotten rid of Filipino, I suddenly have to study Spanish. (o.o); But it's okay, since it's not actually that hard~.


PS: This post has lots of errors in it. Bear with me... I have to sneak out with the laptop at 12PM midnight just to post here.


Till next time~. Hasta luego!(^__^)