time, please fly.

2 more projects to finish

3 more all-nighters

4 more tests to take

5 more days of school left

6 more days of packing

7 more days of Korea left

NEW JERSEY, HERE I COME!

eliminating the stress, one by one
…………………………..

After reading Yura’s blog post about lunch being a mandatory course due to the growing number of students skipping meals to do schoolwork, I’ve decided that it is something that KIS especially needs. As a student who was used to a daily one hour-long study hall, when I first came to KIS, I was surprised that there was no such thing as a study period. So why don’t we have it? It might seem like a waste of a block at school, but it’s completely worth it if you think about how late students stay up to finish projects and homework and study for tests, or how many classes barely count for students because they use it as a time to finish homework for their next class.

NOW THAT WE’RE ON THIS TOPIC … let me just rant for a little bit and SHARE WITH EVERYONE what’s on the calendar for the next two weeks (this pertains to many sophomores…)

-ASIAN STUDIES KOREAN WAR INTERVIEW
-ASIAN STUDIES 15-MINUTE FINAL PRESENTATION
-ENGLISH 10-MINUTE FINAL FILM
-SPANISH 20-SENTENCE SPEECH
-SPANISH 10-MINUTE INTERVIEW
-CHEMISTRY FINAL PART 2
-SPANISH WRITTEN FINAL
-PE FINAL !?!? (I’ve heard that this one is nearly impossible …)
-ALGEBRA 2 FINAL

Okay, I’m terribly sorry to all of the AP students and classmates taking the SAT reasoning test/subject test really soon for complaining about these upcoming assignments. Just know that I DO know how much more you have to work…

BUT LET ME JUST SAY THIS:

THIS IS TOO MUCH!
We’re not machines! (especially not iMovie machines!)

A LITTLE SIDE NOTE: We DO have a life outside of school, you know. We are involved in many extracurricular activities, because THAT’S WHAT SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS PRACTICALLY PREACH (am I right?) Just last night, I did not get a WINK of sleep because I was busy preparing for an exam and working on two projects. It didn’t help that I wasn’t able to start my work until 9 pm that night because of [again,] EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES. It’s not even like I was facebook-ing (yes, I use it as a verb now) and being extremely distracted – for once, I was pretty darn focused on my work and I was DETERMINED to get it done in time to get a couple hours of sleep.  Sadly, that did not happen – I watched as the sun rose this morning, feeling extremely cranky and not very accomplished.

Wow, it’s really starting to feel like the end of the year.

Up till now, there was no end of the tunnel.

There was just a neverending darkness … of work! of stress!

Well, there is still a lot to do before June 13th, but it feels closer!

Today, for the first time, a couple of my teachers mentioned signing the yearbook.

The simple phrase, ” … allow some time for yearbook signing ….,” made everything a million times better!

I’m actually starting to see a glimpse of SUNLIGHT, of HOPE, of AMERICA

I just hope I make it till the end! No giving up now, no going back now.

Photo from Flickr

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Okay, okay, so it says scattered t-storms.  BUT STILL, I can’t believe it’s actually going up to 81 degrees!  It’s finally going to start to feel like summer!

So, the Project Global Cooling concert. How was it? It was pretty good, actually. The bands came, the audience cheered, we all sang along and jumped to the music, we made a lot of money to donate to an environmental organization, etc. Honestly, we didn’t have anything close to this in mind just a few weeks ago. We had a few bands listed, but none of them were confirmed, we had a little bit of money from our budget, but we didn’t make any from fund raising, we had problems with the date of the concert and the time, we didn’t even have a location. But somehow, by some miracle and a lot of work, we made it happen.

There was one quite large mistake, though. DIRECTIONS. We handed out maps to everybody at school last week, hoping it would help them find the club location. It said, at Hongik University Station, go out of exit #6 and find Artbox. First of all, there was no exit #6; there were exit #’s 1-5, but no 6. Funny, huh? Secondly, there were two Artbox stores. One was right next to the station #5 exit, so everybody assumed it was that one that we had written in the map. Everything ended up being extremely chaotic, with us, members not even being able to find the location for a while. Once we found the way, a few of us had to stay behind in front of the station #5 exit, holding signs that said PGC CONCERT, so that we could guide the guests in the right direction. It wasn’t the best job in the world; strangers would come up to us and ask us what the PGC Concert is, and others would just whisper, “What do you think that’s about? What does PGC mean?” to each other. We seriously felt like we were limo drivers holding signs at the airport.

As students and teachers came out of the subway exit, we walked them up to the SPOT club door, and then ran back down to meet another group. Some of us, like Patrick and Joon, had to this several times.

Although our job was physically hard, although we encountered a drunk man laying on the ground, and although we missed the first half hour of the concert, I have to say that the experience overall was pretty fun.

HOWEVER, the one thing that we were missing was the true meaning of the concert. I admit that it was partially our fault – our club members were the ones who came up with the idea of asking the teachers to offer extra credit to the students who attend the concert. Our original intent was for the extra credit offer to encourage the students to go, which it surely did, but instead of maintaining the real message of this whole event, it created the feeling of, “Oh, I have to go because I need the extra credit” among many, if not all of the students.

If we had done something during the concert to promote the idea of saving our Earth, if we had at least put on a short Youtube clip about global warming or said a few words at the end of the night, maybe it would have been okay. The only thing that was there to remind us that the event was supposed to raise global warming awareness was the “PGC Concert 2008″ banner hung on the back wall of the stage, 95% hidden by the drum set.

BUT, that’s enough woulda-coulda-shoulda’s.

THANK YOU Mr. Burell, Lauren, Patrick, Daniel, Iljee, Shinhee, Joon, Jessica, and everybody else for all of the time and effort you put into making this a successful event!

Cameraman [photo#1] Joon Lee

Upside-down trees swingin’ free,
Busses float and buildings dangle:
Now and then it’s nice to see
The world — from a different angle.
Shel Silverstein