Wow... that was very, very close. My poor, abused macintosh iBook had a near-death experience. It was incredibly frightening -- on both of our parts! Wow. But I fixed it. The microphone will never again work, and I'm a bit concerned about the display, but it's been duct taped, and will probably survive for a while longer. I don't even know what I did to kill it, and that's the perplexing part!

So I've got this gash on my nose (yes, it's stopped bleeding) and I'm wondering what the best humorous explanation for it is. Mind, it doesn't have to seem funny to normal people-- it just has to amuse me. So here are the contenders: 'glass' (no further explanation), 'my cousin tried to nail me with a brick, but I ducked', or 'I tried to perform plastic surgery on myself to get rid of the bump from my broken nose'. In reality, i broke the back window/hatch of my pap's truck and the glass exploded. Seriously, exploded. And some flew out and hit me on the nose- ergo, gash.

It LIVES!!!! IT LIVES!! I win. I win at life. I just built an mp3 player with a kit and it works!!!! IT WORKS! I feel smart. I mean, seriously. How many people can build their own mp3 player?!

I hate being bored, though it seems to be my default setting.

'M allowed to take that stupid boot thing off now. Actually, I've been given free reign to do whatever I feel like doing, as long as I don't push myself too hard. I guess I won't be playing any more ice hockey this winter, but I'll go insane if I can't at least skate... IT'S WINTER! I can't go for more than a month or so without skating!

Trying to plan out my summer. I want to take the SAT in June. And I want to go to Vermont. I also want to find a way to take good physics somewhere, whether it be CTY or Champlain College. I'll sacrifice just about anything to be able to do those three things.


Yeah... This is what happens when I get bored. I actually get serious sometimes.

I've been spending a lot of time on Cogito lately. It's pretty cool, and the people are really intriguing. We get into long and complicated discussions about all sorts of stuff. It's a welcome change from the normal meaningless chitchat of the rest of the world. I like it.

I'm bored. Very bored.

My Rubik's Cube no longer amuses me. I can solve it without the book in less than two minutes.

I've just finished reading Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, and although my mother has 3001, I want to read the other two first. Unfortunately, my local library isn't open today and won't be open tomorrow.

I don't feel like reading The House Of The Seven Gables.

I think my HD's finally gotten a virus, but I don't want to erase it and reinstall Mac.

The conflicting smells of my various candles has finally begun to annoy me.

My room is clean; I can't do anything to it.

I have no music to practice.

I need another RCX and a few motors to begin the rest of my robot.

I don't want to do anything, but I want to do everything.

I hate being bored.

This is positively hilarious. You must watch it.

http://techtv.mit.edu/file/94/

Do it. Now.

Well, SVB was cool and stuff, and the music was awesome, but by the end of the day, I just wanted to go home. 7 hours is a long time to play an instrument continuously.

Delay! 2 Hour Delay!

Solved it twice today. Mrs. Kratzer's going to bring in a 4x4 for me to try. Sounds cool.

I am not a genius. I am not a genius.

God, what do I have to do to convince people?!

Tickle's IQ test is not accurate. There is no way. My recalculation of my IQ cannot be correct. 190 is not possible. 133, maybe. 190? No.

My SAT scores are not that impressive. I mean, seriously. In my seventh grade, I should not have been able to score above Bloom U's average freshman. It's not possible. Really.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate labels? AARGH!

...
...

I am not a f*cking genius, alright!

I'M SERIOUS!





Is it denial if data is incorrect, and I refuse to believe exactly what that data tells me?

Finally. Finally, and at last. I am finally done with this year's midterms. God, am I glad.

Took Trig and German today. They were easy to the point of insulting. I mean, seriously.

Anyways, done.

Done.

Firefly! On Hulu! Happy, happy, happy!

Omfg. So we've been having lacrosse practices indoor this winter, right? And I've gone to every one of them so far. The lady who's going to be our head coach has shown up to about two. She gathered all of the second-year players together and told us about the policies she wants to instate and uphold throughout the outdoor season: 8 minute miles or consequences, consequences for missing a practice, and best of all - you get kicked off of the team if you miss 3 practices. Now, I can see that working if you've got a lot of girls and you can afford to lose a lot, but WE DON'T! Half of the girls are going to play spring sports with the school!

I'm one of her best players and she knows it. And I told her that I'm playing in the pit band, and what does she say? "Tell your band director that you're playing lacrosse." Who does she think she is? Does she really think she can afford to lose her best players?

This sucks. I want to do both. I'm gonna do both, dammit.

got an email from a staff member of the admissions from ERAU. Didn't know they monitored the LJ comm.... Odd. Talked to a ERAU student. I really think I'll end up going there. It looks like a good place.
Still waiting for the reply from the MIT Admissions. Probably take a few days, if they even reply.

Gotta go study for my Chem midterm. At least I only have 3 left. Don't have to study for them, either.

Sent an email to MIT. Checked out RIT's website. I don't think I like RIT too much. Their physics program isn't too good, or so it seems. And Olin is kind of dropping out of the running.
Also, I've come to a decision on the matter of my senior year. I'm not gonna do it. I'm going to spend a year at a PA college and then apply to ERAU or MIT. I'll probably go to PSU or a similar school. Maybe Temple or one of the schools that sent me letters. I dunno. I shall simply wait for MIT's reply. Maybe I'll send an email to ERAU, too. But now I must go, for I have midterms tomorrow, and I must study. Joy.

I'm going to get all of this off of my chest all at once. I need someone to be able to access it other than myself. I don't care if anybody reads it or not; I just need to say it. Here goes:

I'm in the midst of preparing for college. This is my sophomore year, though it could be my next-to-last in high school. It's both a frightening and exciting thought. But it also means that I've got a lot to do. I didn't take the PSAT this year. I'll have to take it AND my SATs next year. I also have to scout for colleges and take the most beneficial set of classes I can. Since I'm going to major in aerospace engineering or astrophysics, it means a lot of math. Unfortunately, there is only one true math class left: calculus. Oh, yes, I'm going to take Statistics, but I don't consider it math, really. So: the courses I'd like to take and have to take, followed by the courses I CAN take.

SHOULD TAKE:
English:
English 9
Composition and Speech
English 10
Honors English
A.P. Literature and Composition

Science:
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Environment and Ecology
Chemistry II
A.P. Biology
A.P. Chemistry
A.P. Environment and Ecology
Anatomy and Physiology

Mathematics:
Algebra
Algebra II
Geometry
Trigonometry
Advanced Math (Pre- Calculus)
Calculus
Statistics
A.P. Calculus

Social Studies:
American Government
World Cultures
American Culture
A.P. History

Other:
P.E. 9
P.E. 10
Health
Drivers' Education
P.E. 11
P.E. 12
Band 9
Band 10
Band 11
Band 12
Chorus 9
Chorus 10
Chorus 11
Chorus 12
Computer Science I
Computer Science II
Computer Science III
Computer Science IV
German I
German II
German III
German IV

CAN TAKE IN 3 YEARS:
English:
English 9
Composition and Speech
English 10
Honors English

Science:
Biology
Environment and Ecology
Chemistry
Physics
A.P. Biology
A.P. Chemistry

Mathematics:
Advanced Math
Trigonometry
Calculus
Statistics

Social Studies:
American Government
World Cultures
American Cultures

Other:
P.E. 9
P.E. 10
Health 10
Drivers' Education
P.E. 11
Band 9
Band 10
Chorus 9
Chorus 10
German I
German II
Computer Science I

There are so many A.P. classes I want to take, but I can't take all of them, so I picked the science ones. Were I to spend my senior year here, then I could make a clean sweep of the rest of them. I could continue my Computer Science courses as well, and take Distance Education to boot. But I don't think I will have time to.

On to the college search. I've been looking for predominantly engineering and physics schools. So far I've found a few good ones, but there are some difficult tradeoffs. Schools: Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Penn State, Brown University, Boston University, and more.

The three that are vying for the top slot in my mind are MIT, ERAU, and Olin.

ERAU:
It's damn expensive.
It's out of state! Florida or Arizona!
87% of applicants get in, though.
It's highly specialized. I could major in aerospace engineering or astrophysics.
30 credits a year. Most people need 5 years to complete all 120 credits.
It's a "direct pipeline to NASA."
Hello, PLANES and ROCKETS!
It's old and well-established.
It's a graduate school as well.
They accept A.P. credit.

MIT:
It's not nearly as expensive as ERAU, but it's still pretty bad.
It's out of state, but only in Massachusetts.
Few applicants get in.
It's pretty specialized; I could take aerospace engineering or astrophysics.
Most people get through in 4 years, not 5.
They accept A.P.
PRESTIGE!
Old, established, and highly respected describes MIT pretty well.
Graduates come here!
It's an Ivy League!

Olin:
This place is practically free. Full scholarship.
It's out of state. (Massachusetts)
Many apply, few get in.
All there is is engineering.
Four years I would spend.
It's crazy exclusive: 75 students are accepted per year.
It was established in 2006.
It doesn't accept A.P.

My dilemma:
I don't know what's important to me. I don't have enough data to k now. All I really know right now is what my ultimate goal is: a doctorate in a field that will allow me to work with space. Outer space. I don't know what will get me there best, though, so I don't know what's important. I don't know how to get where I want to go. I need more information.

My questions:
Will I be able to pay for college?
How far can I go from home?
Where will I go after college?
What will admissions thing about PEG?
Am I smart enough?
Can I skip my senior year?
What courses should I take?
What tradeoffs are there between schools?
What program should I apply to?
Do I care about social life?
What tests should I take: PSAT, SAT, ACT?
Should I pressure myself into becoming valedictorian?
Do I care about being valedictorian?
Do schools care about being valedictorian?
If I skip senior year, will schools care about missed credits?
What do I care about?

I think I want to go to ERAU, but it's expensive and it's far away.

But I really don't know. This is insane. I want to go to the best school I can find. I want to do the best I can do in the least amount of time. I could skip my senior year: I don't care about the social stuff. Hell, it's Middleburg. But what about the lost credits? I don't know if I can even get into any of these colleges, but I want to get into them all. I'm not going to abandon my aspirations of space, no sir. This is what I want to do. ERAU would be the place for me. But there are other schools. What about MIT? It's an Ivy League, and that's just cool. The tech Ivy League school. The catch? Only 13% of applicants are admitted, and I don't know what the critical criteria are. I guess the main thing that's stressing me out is the fact that I don't know what I need to know to be sure. I just don't know! And another thing- what about these early decision plans? Which one should I pick? Does it even matter- will I have enough time to apply early if I skip my senior year?
I don't want to go into space. Actually, that's a lie. I do want to go into space. But I think that's a long time in coming and being an astronaut isn't really appealing. I want to know about space. I want to know it intimately. Space is awesome. Really and truly.
I want to go to grad school. And that brings up a whole other element. If I pick a college for undergraduate work and that school is also a grad school, when do I go to it? Should I pick a less specialized school for college? Could I go to ERAU as a high school graduate and then MIT for graduate school? If I got into ERAU or MIT, should I just stay there? What about Olin? I mean, it's practically free, but it only offers engineering. Maybe in a few years they'll have added more things, but I doubt it. It's a school of engineering, after all. And I've forgotten about good old PSU. I could go there. My mom did, and she went to grad school. Almost got her Ph. D., too. I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO ABOUT ALL OF THIS!


AUGH!

*deflates*
I need to sit down and have a long and serious talk with Mrs. Shaffer. Really long. This constant thinking is driving me nuts. I don't have enough information. I don't know what to do, and this lack of knowledge is killing me. I can't take not knowing.

Ripped apart my calculator. It looks pretty cool inside. And the way the buttons work is awesome.

Also, I noticed that I have a quintet of markers from a company named quartet. Ironic, no?

I bought a bin. A really big! bin. 30 gallons, to be precise. It's for my wonderful duct tape creations that don't fit anywhere else (read: all of them).

'Course, the bin doesn't fit anywhere else either. So it is currently serving the dual purpose of storage and impromptu coffee table

January 7th is 'I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day.' I'm serious.

I've designed and built half of a robot that must have 5 motors. Unfortunately, four of them must be operated at random times and cannot be preprogrammed or run continuously; they must be remotely controlled. Now, that wouldn't be a problem except for the minor detail that there are only three places to plug in the motors. And I only have three. So I'm kind of screwed unless Adam can rip a couple of motors out of an old plane or something. I could do it too, but the motors I have are fucking huge!

I lost my retainers today. Guess where I found them? No, of course I'm not telling you yet! I knew I had put them on something white. And a little shiny. But there are many white, glossy surfaces in our house. All of my bedroom furniture is precisely the same color (my grandmother picked it up at an auction), not to mention the plastic tablecloth. So I'm running around the house in a desperate attempt to find them but be discreet in my search. They're not in the kitchen. And they're not on the table. And they're not on the bathroom sink. So the only place left to look is in my bedroom. But I know they're not in there! So I search again. And again. And once more. And then I look in my bedroom for the fourth time, give or take. And do you want to know where they are? Of course you do. They're sitting behind the candle that I remember looking behind. On my desk. Where I was sitting when I noticed their non-prescence.

I'm bored, if you hadn't noticed.