Over the Rainbow - - - {{ version: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star }}

Wow...I haven’t blogged in a long time. I’ve been busy. School’s going to start soon… and I’m overwhelmed. Here’s some snapshots of my life in these past couple of weeks:

I’ve begun my internship at the university. I work with fish DNA. So far, I’ve been doing PCRs (polymerase chain reactions). I still don’t understand everything completely yet, but I’m learning. My work is getting a little repetitious. Every day I do a PCR and load a gel to detect certain genes. Now that I’m getting used to it, I’m a *little* bored. I hope I learn something new soon. ^^’’

Recently my brother and I have been going out to the park and sports field almost every day. We play Frisbee, run around the track, and play basketball. My brother has been acting strange lately. He keeps calling me his “buddy” and is acting almost nice. He even lets me win at basketball. (I’m not an athletic person.) I can’t help but wonder if he has some ulterior motive. But, for the time being, I’ll enjoy his good behavior. Who knows? Tomorrow, things may be back to normal.

The other day my friends invited me to go miniature-golfing with them to celebrate “Ashlyn’s” birthday. I had to decline the offer because my distantly related cousin “Lisa” was coming to visit. Lisa arrived 5 hours late. When she did arrive, she suggested that we go miniature-golfing together. Oh, the irony of it all. But we did have a good time, and I was glad to see Lisa, whom I hadn’t seen in many years.

I spent today stuffing back-to-school packets. I have a ton of paper cuts. 0o I’m going to go comment on all of your blogs now. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to do so earlier.

Plugs: Kokoro Sherrie

Driver’s ed is finally over. Well, almost. The class itself is finished, but I have three more behind-the-wheels lessons to do. After we took the in-class final, we were allowed to leave. One student threw all the papers he had accumulated during the class in the trash the minute he got out of class. You can tell how he felt about the class. ^_~

I drove downtown for my third drive. My instructor is really nitpicky. He can find almost any reason to criticize your driving. I stopped at an intersection before I made a left-hand turn. My instructor immediately told me that I shouldn’t stop because I had a protected turn. But I pointed out a pedestrian crossing the street. He looked at me and said, “Well, the pedestrian has crossed two lanes, so you can turn.” However, when I had stopped, the pedestrian was still in the second lane. When my instructor does things like that, it drives me crazy. 0o

Ever find a gem hidden in the sand? Probably not. But I’ve recently found two hidden “gems.” I rented two movies, Castle in the Sky and Top Hat, last week. They’re both really good, but underrated. Castle in the Sky was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed Spirited Away. It has received very little attention in the United States. I wonder why, because the movie is beautiful. The plot balances action and adventure with thought and substance. Some of the scenes are very heart-touching. I highly recommend this film.

Top Hat is an old Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie. Like all Astaire/Rogers movies, it’s relatively plotless. You don’t watch it for the plot, though. The movie revolves around song and dance sequences, which are a real treat. They’re so much fun to watch. ^_^ Try picking it up sometime. If you can sit through the parts of the movie without music, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised. ^^;;

Plugs: Kikyou Zeph Emily

Today was a fun day in driver’s ed. (I never thought I’d be saying that.) We went out into a busy intersection and recorded all the driver errors we saw. You wouldn’t believe the number of errors drivers make! My state must have some of the worst drivers in the nation. A ridiculous number of people changed into the wrong lanes. It was fun to watch all the stares we were getting. Picture this: two high school students standing at each corner of an intersection, their pens racing across paper to keep track of all the driver errors. It was a funny sight. ^^

I just finished Crime and Punishment, by Dostoevsky. Although the Russian names were confusing at first, I actually came to like the book much better than the other books I’ve read this summer. The psychology and philosophy got pretty intense at times, but for some reason or other, I liked the book. Now if only I could like the other books I have to read. I’ve been reading about the plots of some of them, and I don’t like the sound of them. I know about not judging a book by its cover. But still, they look really unappealing to me. Who knows? I’ll find out soon enough.

I found out that my friend Sarah has an online journal! And I never even knew it. ^^;; Plug

Plugs: Kikyou Kokoro Sherrie Candy Levi

Guess what? I got the job! I went to a different professor, and he actually agreed to take me on. It’s really exciting. ^^;; I start in August. Basically, I’ll be identifying the genes of a certain fish, and comparing those genes to the genes of zebrafish and humans. There’s a lot of stuff I need to learn. My mentor handed me a huge college textbook and asked me to go through 5 chapters. It’ll be heavy-going, but worth it.

I have a love-hate relationship with my library. Yes, I know it sounds silly to say that, but it’s true. I love my local library because I can get books and movies there that I won’t be able to get anywhere else. The overwhelming majority of books I’ve read have come from the library. However, the library has an awful hold system. I always hold books there so they won’t be checked out. For some reason, though, the librarians often leave the books on the shelves without holding them. Then they allow someone to check those books out, and I have to wait four weeks before I can get those books. This has happened twice on school projects, when I needed those books most. Now it’s happened again, but at least this time it isn’t so urgent. It’s still frustrating, though.

From my experience, Mondays are not good days. Today, I was rejected. Twice. A magazine rejected my submission and a professor turned me down for an internship. Today was also the beginning of driver’s ed class. I cannot believe I have to sit in that classroom 3 hours a day, 4 days a week for 3 weeks. My teacher is giving a test tomorrow. I don’t want to study for it, especially since I spent enough time studying for my permit. I’m hoping common sense will prevail. I’ll probably end up studying anyways. I’m especially nervous for behind-the-wheel lessons. I’m going out with my dad to practice driving tonight. But, I know driver’s ed, despite how boring it is, is good for me. It’ll help me become a better driver, and I’ll just have to accept it. As for the rejections, I’m determined to keep trying. There’s got to be someplace that won’t reject me, right?

I realize my life isn’t as interesting in the summer as it is during the school year. Therefore, I’m going to share a couple of my favorite memories from school. I might post more later.
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One day during spring term, my friend “Karen” was talking to me about how she saw one of our teachers at the movie Mona Lisa Smile. Karen told me about her conversation with the teacher. Then she talked about how much she enjoyed the movie. Ten minutes later, she stopped talking and said she should probably tell me the plot of the movie, first. I stared at her for awhile, and then replied, “What movie?” After laughing so hard that we had tears in our eyes, I tried explaining. In fact, I was listening to the conversation. I just never made the connection between Mona Lisa Smile and the movie. Have you ever had a temporary mental lapse?

One of the students in my government class was a muscular football player. He sat in his desk (a metal desk) and it collapsed. The rest is self-explanatory.

P.S. AP scores came on Sunday! And, I must say, I'm happy. Sundays are much better than Mondays, don't you think? ^^;;

My friends called up at noon yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go out with them. I agreed, and we ended up having a crazy time. First we went to Borders to buy books and look at stationary. We came across a book we found extremely funny and laughed so hard that people were staring at us. Afterwards, we went to the new downtown library, which one of my friends has never been to. I could hardly believe that. I use the library so often; I don’t know what I’d do without it sometimes. We went to the children’s section and got all of the Anne of Green Gables books.

Later we looked at the shops. We found an adorable shop that sold a lot of random things, including stationary, poetry magnets, journals, and decks of playing cards. However, the items were really expensive. A nightlight was priced at 22 dollars. 0o I didn’t buy anything there. We also went through a carwash. (Did you ever think you could have fun at a carwash?) Then we drove over to Wendy’s for a frosty. My friends convinced me to try fries with ice cream. It actually wasn’t too bad. They put salt in a frosty, but I refused to try that. Eventually we ended up watching a movie. It was really bad and put me to sleep. When getting ready to go, I embarrassed myself by walking down the wrong street while everyone else headed for the car. I’m so directionally challenged. I don’t know how I’ll ever get my driver’s license.

This may seem uninteresting, but it was one of the strangest days of my life. I don’t usually do things like this. Today I have to get back to my normal schedule. Now, it just seems like everything that happened was sort of a dream.

I just dug out all my old SAT and AP books. When piled up, they must be at least a foot tall. I cannot believe I’ve used so many books. Plus, I’ll be adding to the pile with all the AP books I’ll buy for my classes this fall. I’m donating them all to my younger brother, who will start high school this upcoming school year. He’s going to have a lot of fun studying them. =D

I also found my 7th and 8th grade yearbooks. It felt strange looking through them. I could hardly believe how much time has passed, and I realized how much has changed. The people I once knew are completely different now. “Katie” and I thought we’d be friends forever in 8th grade. We were most certainly wrong. I remembered one little girl in 8th grade. She was really nice and fun to be around. Now, I can’t stand looking at her. I have no respect for her. What happened to the little girl I once knew? I could barely remember my middle school classes. 9th and 10th grade seemed to blur together while looking at later yearbooks. And I couldn’t help feeling a little sad. My brother came up to me and laughed at my 7th grade picture. I retorted with some remark about his own picture, adding “eh wot, wot?” to the end of each sentence. My brother gave me a look that said, “You’ve been saying that since 8th grade just to annoy me. Give it up already.” Of course, I couldn’t resist saying “wot, wot” again. I guess some things never change.

P.S. I finally upgraded to MSN Messenger 6.1 Add me: melodybreeze@hotmail.com

I just got a new prescription for my glasses. I’m always worried that my eyesight will keep deteriorating until I’m blind without glasses. I can’t stand the thought of contacts, though. I don’t want to put anything in my eyes, especially after hearing stories about contacts scratching the eyes… or worse. Laser surgery sounds really appealing. I wonder what it would be like to be able to see the blackboard, for instance, without glasses? However, laser surgery is really risky. My optometrist says he doesn’t recommend it for any of his patients. I can’t help but hope that maybe, in the future, the risks will lessen. Wouldn’t it be nice to see things clearly, through your own eyes?

I have a lot of books I need/want to read this summer. I recently finished The Awakening by Kate Chopin. It’s actually pretty easy to read. Here’s an interesting thought that was presented on page 69, “…One misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining.” That sentence kind of took me by surprise because it’s really true. It’s something I’ll have to add to my list of things to remember. Here’s the original list of things to remember, given to me by one of my teachers a few years ago:

1. The value of time
2. The success of perseverance
3. The pleasure of working
4. The dignity of simplicity
5. The worth of character
6. The power of kindness
7. The influence of example
8. The obligation of duty
9. The wisdom of economy
10. The virtue of patience
11. The improvement of talent
12. The joy of originality.

Oh, and before I forget, I got my driver’s permit. Mission accomplished.

Sunday, as you probably know, was Father’s Day. Every year I make my father a gift. This year, I made him a collection of origami animals. I got the idea after reading The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I really enjoyed making the “paper menagerie.” Origami is a beautiful art. Plus, it’s so simple. All you need is a piece of paper. Anyways, my family had a barbeque that night. For dessert, there was banana cream pie. I always enjoy occasions like this, when my family can be together.

Believe it or not, I’ve actually started playing piano again. After not playing for several years, I’m pretty rusty. At first, I could only practice for a half an hour before my fingers began to ache. Now I can practice for 45 minutes. I hope that, little by little, I’ll be able to play for hour and a half sessions. I’m starting from the basics and trying to relearn everything. I’ve always regretted quitting music in the first place, but my life was so busy and my classes overwhelmed me. I don’t think I have much talent for music, but I know I can always improve. There are three songs I’ve always wanted to be able to play on the piano:

1. Sunlit Garden
2. The theme from Jane Eyre (1970s)
3. An unknown piece. I don’t know its name or composer, but I hope to find out.

I hope I will eventually obtain enough skill to play these pieces. I keep reading stories about adults who regret not learning music. I’m determined not to regret that.

New layout! Courtesy of Digik. Since it's summer, I'm going to blog much more often. Anyways, here's today's entry:

I just watched Disney's Brother Bear. I thought it was a very sweet movie. In my opinion, it represents the end of a Disney era (unless you count Home on the Range, which I haven't seen and don't plan on seeing). The storyline was full of warmth and heart, although it borrowed a lot from the Lion King. Koda is adorable, especially in the "On My Way" sequence. Here's the lyrics: