another world

Andrew’s comment on one of my previous posts sort of made me think.

“and you sound the same in your real and your blog lol”

So do I really? I guess it’s a good thing, I just never really thought about it before. Some people have such a hard time writing in their blogs, pondering for hours on what would be a good “topic” to write about. They worry that writing down every-day, normal thoughts isn’t “school-y” enough, but actually, writing in a more casual way is great practice for every writing process, such as brainstorming, sequencing, and adding details.  Plus, it’s a good way to escape from the strict five-paragraph essays that are often written at school.  In blogging, yes, we can use I think instead of one thinks; we are allowed to express our own opinions. I think it’s great that people actually spend time and thought into writing their blogs, but honestly, I don’t think that much is necessary. Writing a blog entry shouldn’t be hard. It should almost come naturally. We naturally tend to think, don’t we? So just translate those thoughts into writing, that’s all.

I think that at first, I had a hard time with blogging, especially since it was my first time posting anything that could possibly be meaningful on the internet. I was always worried that what I wrote would sound stupid or something, but now that I’ve gotten used to it, I just write. I write about the most random things sometimes, but I don’t have any regrets.

How many times have I used the words I, me, or my in this one entry?  Sixteen times, I counted.  If I took away those sixteen words and replaced them with one, what would this blog be missing?  Me.

I’m glad I sound like me in my blogs.

Photo from Flickr

three day weekends

only having TWO days of school this week

FIVE DAY WEEKENDS<3

not having to take any AP tests this year

that chem is officially over for us! (minus finals week and random fun labs…)

that I only have final WRITTEN tests in four of my seven classes

that summer is almost here! (just a little bit more suffering!)

The craziness of it all brought a lot of stress upon us, but now we can finally say it’s over! All of us worked really hard; some, during the weekly dance club meetings, and others, during our free time outside of school. For the past week or so, we’ve been breaking our backs [really...] and stretching our muscles to try and make this performance the best possible. Of course, we all made mistakes (forgetting our steps, having bad timing, etc.) and it probably didn’t look like a Radio City Music Hall show, but we tried our hardest, so we’re proud

Kelsey definitely worked her head off, trying to fit the rehearsals into everyone else’s schedules.

Thanks to all who came!<3

May, already?  What happened?  Where has the time gone?  Why do I remember so distinctly every little thing that happened during the first few weeks of the school year?  Why does it feel like August 10th was just yesterday?  Why is everything moving so fast?

August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, MAY.

Wow, we’ve been in school for almost nine months now … and we only have about a month left until summer break!  It’s incredible how quickly this school year has gone by … I feel like I’m saying the same thing over and over again, but it’s really just so shocking.

I’m so excited for summer, but I’m so frustrated at the fact that we have to go through exams and projects GALORE before that glorious time comes.  I keep on imagining the worst scenarios; procrastinating so much with my studying, completely bombing the finals, ending the school year on a bad note… but let’s just hope for the best   This last month is going to be hectic, so I really need to STAY FOCUSED.

… I should probably go do my Asian Studies homework now

loud.funny.strange.

unpredictable.

tan.honest.very honest.
maybe a little too honest.
random.spaz.

from yearbook pages to English discussions to baking to crushing lifesavers with stilettos to getting super annoyed at each other to editing each others papers to acing Spanish but failing chem to veintifives vikings to planned but never done slumber parties to missing the States to freaky películas en Español to SPILLING MY ROYAL MILK TEA to looking forward to more fun, frustration, and work our junior year

This isYura Jung

my partner in crime.

I found a website called Free Rice that does not only one, but TWO great things!

* Click on the answer that best defines the word.
* If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
* For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Learning new vocabulary has tremendous benefits. It can help you:

* Speak more precisely and persuasively
* Comprehend more of what you read
* Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
* Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT

When I first heard about it, I thought it would just be another one of those waste-of-time websites, where they quiz you on words such as “dog” and “cat,” but when I tried it, the words were actually pretty challenging, and the game became addicting. It was fun watching the number of grains of rice go up, and I found myself playing past 1000. It makes it even better knowing that it benefits not only you, but also people in third world countries. The layout is relaxing to look at, and the words load really fast, so it’s not a frustrating game. The choices are all in synonyms, not full definitions, so it’s easy to move fast and memorize words.

Photo from Zoomie Station

I’m sure everyone’s heard of the mouse head in shrimp cracker bag incident by now. Well, just incase you haven’t, I’ll make the long story short: someone found a mouse head in the noraebang size (Korean karaoke- jumbo size) shrimp cracker bag on March 17, reported it, and now Nongshim is in some deep trouble.

I do find it very disgusting and am a little more cautious now of snack foods, but this incident shouldn’t be made into the world’s biggest problem. It’s not like every singe one of those bags from now on will each have a little mouse head in it. It’s good that people are being more careful now, but I think some are taking it way too seriously.

Just the other day, I went grocery shopping with my family, and I was standing in the snack food aisle when a dad pushed a cart with his young daughter in it towards the shelves. He asked her what she wanted and almost immediately, she grabbed the Nongshim Shrimp Cracker bag. He gently took it out of her hand, said, “You like shrimp crackers? Sorry, but let’s get something else this time …” and put it back on the shelf. She started whining for it so he had to explain to her why she couldn’t have it. He said in a slow little baby voice, “They found a mouse head in one of them, so now we can’t buy them anymore.” She was still whining and kicking and throwing a tantrum about it and I totally understand, I mean,  how would a two-year old comprehend that kind of a story?

I feel bad for the company that produces this snack, because one incident is completely causing its downfall. If everyone made this big of a deal out of every food incident in the world, there would be nothing left to eat.

Photo from Amazon

Wow, so … our PE swimming unit is finally over. Thank goodness; I mean, it was fun, and I like swimming, but not swim team style. I think we all worked too hard this unit just to reach the expectations of our PE teacher. Well, he says he “doesn’t have any expectations of us,” but if he hands us the rubric that says in order to get an A, we “must be able to swim close to 30 laps under 20 minutes,” what are we supposed to think? It may not sound like too many, and that’s what I thought before I actually had to do it; but once you get into the water and start swimming, it’s pretty hard. During our daily warm up 20 minute swim, we all get tired after about 5 minutes, and once we hear Mr. Martin yell “15 more minutes!,” we feel like drowning. By the time we have about five minutes left, we are really just using our leftover energy and breathing both in the water and outside of it, because we are completely confused about our surroundings and ready to die. It’s not a pleasant feeling; having to swim when ready to collapse.

Our final test was today; swimming 25 laps under 20 minutes. I really thought I wouldn’t make it, but luckily, I swam it in 17 and a half minutes. Most people finished at around that time, but some people didn’t even make it in 20 minutes, and others were so tired that they had to stop in the middle. Mr. Martin really needs to realize that we’re not all Olympic athletes, and that we have our limits. I know he wants a lot from us, and he wants us to be fit and healthy, but is drowning and fainting really fit and healthy? I thought not.

Photo from flickr

I can’t believe how easy it is to get around in Korea. There are taxis at every corner, subway stations all around, and bus stops that run practically everywhere. Oh, and it’s also not such a bad place to walk around in.

I remember how in America, without a car, I couldn’t get anywhere. And it wasn’t just the car I needed; I needed my mom to drive the car. I lived in a very suburban, almost rural area (Princeton,) so it wasn’t very easy to walk around and get far. There were no subway stations, no buses, and no taxis, unless called, which then, would take about half an hour to get to my house.

I feel so lucky that I’m provided with easier transportation here and that it’s lead to more freedom and more comfort. Of course, I do miss the simpler and quieter roads in Princeton, and I do wish I was taking driver’s ed in school right now (which my friends are taking right now as I speak!) … but I do realize that it’s a lot safer here. Less teenagers are on the road, because the driving age is higher than in America, so there are less careless accidents. I remember that in my high school in America, the seniors were allowed to take their cars and go out for lunch, and many of them got into accidents and were injured, and a few even died.

I guess there are pros and cons to all transportation situations, but I feel pretty comfortable with the way things are right now. I can get where I want to when I want to, so that’s enough for me.

Photo from flickr

I love talking with friends. I love endless conversations with endless bursts of laughter in the most random places. I love forgetting about where I am because I’m so into our little chit-chats. I love not caring who’s listening to me because I’m having so much fun talking about everything. I love not being able to stop laughing after starting over a silly little thing.

Spending Friday evenings with friends can really boost up my energy level. After a hard week of school, especially right after spring break, a fun Friday girls’ night out can recharge me.

All of my stress and worries disappear just for that one night, so it’s possible to enjoy a few hours of fun.

I love not having the thought of homework in the back of my head. I love knowing that I won’t have to wake up before the sun does the next morning. I love being able to get some fresh air. I love eating good food with good people. I love spending time with friends.