Rotary District 5710 ---> [Japan? Germany?] 08-09

Another Site

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:17:41 GMT

Well, I've made another 'blog'-like website. I'll still use this blog, but it'll be fore more daily things, rather than just exchange related. If you want anything specifically exchange related you can go to my new website, http://when-a-kansan-goes-abroad.piczo.com. There I'll post about things that are exchange related, and I'm going to have a video blog there, too.

I'll update here with more daily things, even after I go abroad.

スタートきっとその瞬間から世界は広がるさ～

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:19:31 GMT

Well, the title for this entry is a line from the song Shissou by Last Alliance. "Sutaato kitto sono shunkan kara sekai wa hirogaru sa~", which translates into "From that starting moment, the world must have expanded." I shall explain this at the very start of my rant. And then go into other things. I really wonder how many people read this...

Okay, to explain the title of this post... For one thing, there's the whole "OMG, I'm an EXCHANGE STUDENT." thing, in that case the 'start' would be when I got the phone call saying that I was accepted (though I'm still waiting for a letter or e-mail about my placement...). However, the 'start' could also be seen as today, since I get to go out with my Japanese teacher for dinner and have some real Japanese food. It's sort of pitiful, with how I've been learning Japanese for more than 3 years now... But, yeah. I'm going to go and try all sorts of new things.

Sure, it's not for certain that I'll be in Japan yet. But that's what I'm hoping... And my Japanese teacher has been offering to take me out to eat sometime for quite a while, so... Yeah. I hope I end up liking it. And I always have German class to try German foods, if I end up getting Germany. My German teacher is amazing. She brings in all sorts of food. Haha.

Now! Time for my school schedule for the next semester, just in case anybody is wondering. Haha. Then my comments on things that have changed.

1 -- German (still)
2 -- Web Authoring
3 -- Modern World History (still)
4 -- Biology (still)
5 -- Pre-AP English (still)
6 -- Algebra II/Trigonometry (still)
7 -- Theater 2

Web Authoring -- While I'm looking forward to this class, I'm also not looking forward to it one single bit. I already know HTML, and some CSS. I don't know whether Mrs. Spotts will let me skip ahead or not... If not, I'll be stuck 'relearning' HTML. I'm not that patient. So, hopefully she'll let me skip ahead. I suppose I'll have to prove it to her, but that won't be a problem.

Theater 2 -- The epitome of fun classes. While Theater 1 is more about learning about Shakespeare and writing styles of specific playwrites, Theater 2 is actually learning how to do a lot of fun stuff... Like stage slapping someone, or other fun things like that. You also get to write your own play, so... Yeah. Fun. Mr. Rob is amazing, too. ^^

School starts back up again next Monday, and I feel sorry for the people in some places who had to go back today. Well, I'd be fine with it, because I like school (for the most part), but it seems like many people are upset about it starting today for them, so... Yeah.

Around a month and a half until the weekend orientation is supposed to be. I can't wait. Haha. However, that's still a month and a half away... First and foremost at the moment is actually doing my homework (haha) and getting into the 9th grade play. I'm not going to get to direct the 7th or 8th grade plays, because I forgot to turn my application in (bad Shelbi...), and that sort of stinks... But maybe I can offer to do tech for them? Or props... That would be fun. Though tech is always the funnest.

I think that's all for my rant. For now.

Happy New Year!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:19:04 GMT

Happy New Year!

This year... It feels different already.

And I've been freaking out. Because... Later, THIS YEAR, I will be in Japan. In MID TO LATE JULY I will be leaving to be in Japan. FOR A YEAR. Homahgawd. Why did the realization have to hit me now?! -deep breaths-

General Update

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:37:02 GMT

Well, then. Haha. I forgot to add in my last update that I have my laptop back as well. Yaaay, laptop.

New layout that I made all by myself! Yes! I like the schnazzy colors.

Now the rant... (Which isn't under a cut because the stupid thing isn't letting me put it under a cut.)

Winter break, as always, is still boring. However, this year, it's more annoying that usual, because my little brother has one of his friends spending the night almost every freaking night. It's killing me. They stay up all night yelling and screaming and playing video games. It's not so much that they're disturbing my sleep (since I'm staying up all night most of the nights anyway), but it's really annoying when I'm trying to do whatever I happen to be doing at the time on my computer (listening to music, making layouts, chatting, etc.)

Making the new layout for this was really fun, at first I was going to have it blue and dark blue, but then I decided on red, white, and black. So now it matches my room, my school colors, the glasses that will be shipped to me in 7-10 business days, etc. I have lots of things in those colors, because I like them. How coincidental that red and white happen to be the Japanese flag colors. Though I liked these colors before I liked Japan, so... Haha.

On to the 'glasses that will be shipped to me in 7-10 business days' subject... Today I had an optometrist (I just know I spelt that wrong...) appointment... Guess what! My vision got worse in my right eye! But that means both of my eyes have the same prescription now, so I don't have to go through the trouble of having two different boxes of contacts, one for each eyes. This time I got clear contacts rather than my blue colored ones, too. But, yeah. My new glasses that will be my back up, both here and when I go to wherever I go on exchange (hopefully Japan). The frames are red, and the little caps on the ends of the things that go behind your ears are red and black and white stripes and such. Very schnazzy.

My newest manga obsession: VAMPIRE KNIGHT by Hino Matsuri. If you haven't read it yet, GO READ IT. My favorite character is Shiki, who is on this layout. And on my little icon thing. Truthfully, if he were to suddenly come to life and come to my school, I'd be drooling over him like the other girls at my school drool over the popular guys. My second favorite is Aidou. Third favorite is Ichijou. The whole series over all is amazing, though.

One of my online friends (Rase-cha~n!) is working on a layout for her (our?) website right now. She's having some troubles with it, or she was when I started typing this, now she's playing an amazing, addictive game called Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2. It eats brains, I swear it.

I'm still holding out for my e-mail/letter from Rotary for my actual placement. It's still a month and a half until the day when they said it should be here by. But quicker is better, right? Either way, it's making me a nervous wreck and I just REALLY want to know NOW. And, yes, I am impatient. I admit that. I'm proud of it. Though it is troublesome sometimes.

As it is New Years Eve right now, it's now time for the (almost) required new years resolutions post here on this blog. It wouldn't be a real blog without one. Haha. So, yeah. My resolutions this year are~:

1. Actually do my homework (for once), and I plan to keep this one.
2. Lose 10 pounds before going on exchange.
3. Improve my tennis and webcoding skills.
4. Try to be a little less sarcastic.

Ganbarimasu!

Merry Christmas!!

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:50:55 GMT

Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate!

This Cristmas's present list is:
- an iPod Touch that I'm updating this on right now,
- an I-CY, which is like an iDog, but it's a penguin,
- a sweater jacket that I'll most likely never wear,
- 6 books
- $70
- lots of candy
- tickets to a Matchbox Twenty concert!

I really like what I got, though I wish I could have gotten more money so that I could buy the cosplay costume I've been wanting... I have enough for the costume, just not for the shipping. Nyeh, stupid shipping.

On well, I can just save a bit of lunch money each week. ;D

Winter Break + No Laptop

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:33:05 GMT

I'll just jump straight into my rant this time:

Yesterday was the last day of school before winter break... And my school spent it having it's yearly Square Dance-o-Rama. Yes, we actually have one of those. It's always the last day before winter break, and (surprisingly) it's really fun. The people in 7th and 8th grade (and the 9th graders, if they happen to opt to take gym again) learn the dances in gym, and then there's the Square Dance-o-Rama.

Each school period there will be a new session of square dancing, except for 5th hour (lunches). There's 5 different songs, and even though the majority of the 9th graders haven't had gym class to re-learn the dances this year, it pops right back into our brains once the music starts. Then after they run out of square dance music, we do the fun line dances (Cha Cha Slide, Electric Slide, Macarena, "Cotton-Eye Joe", etc.).

Yesterday I went every single hour that they had it (1st - 4th, 6th - 7th). And at least one of my friends was there each hour, so the whole thing was just a bunch of hyper fun. I would always try and make sure to get whatever friend was there into the line (that the girls rotated forward in the line of squares) that the guy they liked was in. So... Yeah.

"Only in Kansas...", right? Haha.

My laptop's screen light stopped working a long time ago, but I had had it hooked up to a PC monitor for the past month or so. It wasn't too much of a trouble, but we (my family and I) decided to send it off to get fixed now that I was done using it for working on foreign exchange stuff. Supposedly, once the repair shop recieves it, it'll be around five days before they send it back. We sent it off yesterday, and due to the Christmas clog-up it'll probably take them a while to get it. Then, because it's almost Christmas, they won't be there for very long to work on it, so add another extra few days to a week... And then the time to send it back.

I'll probably get it back around the time school starts again, which, in my opinion, completely ruins the concept of winter break being fun.

My whole family lives within a 10 mile radius of us, so there's no real trips we get to take. And my family doesn't even do anything big for Christmas, or new year. That's one thing that won't be as hard for me around Christmas on exchange as some other people... Since the holiday season has never really had any real signifigance for me.

Now, more on the exchange front... Even though it's just been a few days, I'm already checking my e-mail obsessively to see if I get an e-mail telling me which country I've been accepted to. They even said that some people wouldn't know until right before the first orientation (mid-February), but for some reason... Blah. I hate being impatient.

... The end. Haha.

YAY!!! // Officially an Outbound!

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:48:31 GMT

I'm accepted to my Rotary district!

I just now got the phone call. It was weird, because we had been getting several calls before that on the phone, but I never really felt like getting up and grabing it. But then the ringing came, and I just felt compelled to get up and wait for my mom (who was picking up the phone) and she handed it to me and... AAAAH!

Oh wow, it's all... After I was done with my inteviews and my speech I felt pretty confident that I would be accpeted, even with all of the seniors applying in my district (it still was less people than there are spots, though... I think...), though they always say "Pride cometh before the fall". Even with my confidence, it's just really nice having confirmation that I am, indeed, accepted.

So far what I know is that the first orientation is in mid-February, and that knowing what country I'll be going to should come late January at the latest, though the YEO of my district said that some of the people will know by the end of this year, but that's most likely going to be the people going to European countries. (So, if I get my first choice, I'll have to wait longer. Haha.)

This is so amazing, though! Tomorrow I get to tell my Japanese teacher that I've been accepted at the district level, and then the day after, if there's not a snow day, I get to be hyper and tell everyone at my school. I mean, sure, I have to start working with the high school counselor to see what'll happen if they won't transfer my school credits back here, but it's completely worth it.

Just to think... This time next year, I'll be in a foreign country. It's so cool, so amazing... And truthfully, a bit overwhelming, though not in a... Overwhelmingly overwhelming way. Hahaha.

So, my 'To Do List' for now...

- be exceedingly hyper
- tell all my teachers and friends
- have my Quest teacher help me contact the high school councelor
- get a passport
- try and be patient waiting for where I'll be next year!

It's still so freakishly amazing. I can't wait to rant to all of my friends. Haha.

I'll probably have to explain what a foreign exchange is again, but that's okay. xD

Iyo iyo CLIMAX~...

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:18:16 GMT

Just 17 hours left now! Yes!

When my mom gets home I might be going to get a hair cut, though it sort of depends on if she decides to be bipolar-ish and say she never said that I could get my hair cut. If she doesn't change her mind, my hair will most likely end up MUCH shorter. For that I will be very glad. I've always liked my hair short.

The only reason my mom even somewhat gave in to letting me get my hair cut is so it will look nice for the interview, so... YAY INTERVIEW!

I have quite a few haircuts that I've found online that I like, I just hope one of them suits my face shape, because, y'know, I have no clue what my face shape is (it's, like, inbetween heart and oval shaped?), so I don't know if it'll look good.

Other than that...

I got my results from the P.S.A.T. back! I got, like, 92nd percentile out of every single person in the nation who took the test, which is supposed to be really high for a Freshman, since the only grade that they actually record the scores officially for is Junior year, and I think it was 75% of it that is taught in Sophomore and Junior year... So, yeah.

I got the highest score out of the Freshmen at my Junior High who took it, I don't know about the other Junior Highs in the district, but chances are I also have the highest score out of all the Freshmen in my district who took it.

Music from Fahrenheit (Fei Lun Hai in Mandarin) is really calming, for some reason... They just win over all. Not over Antic Cafe, but Antic Cafe is more for 'MAKE ME HYPER NOW!' music.

Inteview... Interview... Interview... WHY CAN'T IT BE TOMORROW ALREADY?!

I'm literally shaking with excitement/nervousness/hyperness/dread right now. It's like... All those feelings mixed in a huge pasta pot and with super spicy sause and all of the foods I that make me barf (pickles, onions, and lettuce).

16 hours and 45 minutes now...

ALSDKJASLKDJF... Let it be tomorrow.

Two Post In One Day, Amazing!

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:57:26 GMT

So, yeah. Second post. This one a bit more rant-y than the last. There are two separate rants, too! One about my day, and one that's exchange-related. I divided them up into two different cuts for you. Haha.

After my post earlier today I got to go to Drama Club during seminar/club time. It was fun, especially because it was the 'tryout demonstration' day. While our fall play starts a lot later than the other schools, the spring play has tryouts either the first or second week back from winter break. I will have only had a month and one week between the show night for the fall play and the rehersals begining of the spring one.

So, I got home around 3:05 (I like being able to walk to school, but I don't like being so close to it. Haha.) and watched TV with one of my school friends (a guy in 8th grade, his brother is my brother's friend). We watched Sheer Genius. It's surprising to most people I like those sorts of shows (Sheer Genius, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, etc.) because I'm as ungirly as they come, unless I was a transgender person. I'm not that guyish. Though when I have shorter hair I always get mistaken for a guy, which is always amusing, because I either play along with it, or make my voice higher pitched than usual and freak them out.

Ahem... Anyways:

After watching Sheer Genius he left, since he had only come over because his house was locked and his older sister doesn't come home until 4-ish. My little brother was home by now, so we fought over the TV for a bit. The usual. Around 4:50 came a knocking on the door... And who do I open the door to find but a strange old man?

Man: "... Are you Shana?" (My mom.)
Me: "... She's not home from work yet."
Man: "Oh. Well, I had an appointment with her at 5."
Me: "... O~hkay."
Man: "I'll go wait in my car until she gets back, then."

It was really creepy, and me and my brother spent the next 15 or so minutes looking out the slats in our living room's blinds. Then our grandma's car pulled up in the driveway. It was all, "Grandma to the rescue~!"

She comes in, we tell her what happened, and it's all...

Grandma: "Hi, guys!"
Me: "Grandma, there was a strange guy at the door. Now he's sitting out in that silver car across the street waiting for mom. He said he had an appointment with--"
Grandma: "Oh, the window guy~!"
Me: "Window... Guy...?"
Grandma: "Yeah, your mom wants to replace the windows."
Me: "... Oh."

So, I felt really stupid. But also really smart for not letting him in right away 'cause, you know, it could've been someone bad. And creepy.

And now I'm just sitting here typing this as the window guy chats with my mom and Grandma on the couch within around 7 feet of my general area. I'm not listening, though. Thank goodness for noise blocking headphones. Usually, I would be working on homework right now, but... NO HOMEWORK. It's a miracle. Though I guess it could be because semester finals start tomorrow.

I don't have any tomorrow (I had two tests today, not finals...), but on Monday I have a German final, a Computer Applications final (presenting a PowerPoint that I made), a Biology final, and an Algebra 2/Trig. final. It sucks. ALL ON ONE DAY. But tomorrow I don't have to make the little first hour detour up to the high school for German because their schedules are screwed up because of finals.

That is the end of my "Shelbi's life IS somewhat normal!" rant. Now for the exchange rant.

So! I already have my outfit for Saturday picked out. (T minus one day, 15 hours, and 20 minutes as of now). I'm wearing a blue sweater with a red long sleeve shirt underneath it. Then I have white and blue striped (vertically) pants. My shoes, which I went to Off Broadway Shoes for yesterday with my Grandma, are the most amazing thing in the world. They're EXACTLY like my favorite tennis shoes (which had a hole in them, so my mom made me throw them away) except the sides are shiny and have embroidered (with shiny thread) Japanese-looking fish all over. The top is also more open and has two strips of fabric across them... I think I'll take a picture for you all, 'cause they own that much.

Just... Not now.

I've been looking over all of the example questions, and at all the interview tips on Cultures-Shocked (http://cultures-shocked.org/forum), which is an amazing forum for hopeful, potential, current, and past foreign exchange students. It's been really helpful throughout all of my applying and such.

And... The end, I guess? Haha.

More time keeping...

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:18:35 GMT

One day, 18 hours, and 48 minutes left as I type this sentence.

Yes, I know I'm being obsessive over the time keeping.
But it's sort of hard not to be obsessive when you can't even share the excitement.

Me: "My interviews for the foreign exchange program are this Saturday!"
Friend: "... What's a foreign exchange program?" (I've explained this several times to this friend.)
Me: "If I get accepted I'd go live in a foreign country for a year with a host family."
Friend: "So you're going to stay in a hotel in Japan for, like, a year?!"
Me: "... Host. Family."
Friend: "..."
Me: "I'd live with host families for the year."
Friend: "Ugh, so you'll be living with some strangers?"
Me: "Yeah."
Friend: "Aren't you scared that they'll, like, rape you or something?"

Yeah... Not all of the conversations are that amusing, but just frusterating because nobody here knows what a foreign exchange program is. Gotta love Kansas.

T minus...

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:14:06 GMT

T minus 2 days and around 16 hours unil the interviews!

I can't wait.

OH EM GEE...

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:35:00 GMT

Time for a major freak out...

My... District... Interview... Is... This... WEEKEND.

Oh gosh. Oh, no... GAH!

It doesn't help that the way I was informed was by e-mail, by both my Rotary club contact, and the YEO, and I had to call the YEO, who I had never conversed with outside of e-mail before... It was nerve wracking. I really, really am glad having experience with acting and such, or else I would've been hyperventalating the whole time on the phone. That wouldn't have been a good first semi-in person impression. xD;;

So, yeah. District interviews... THIS WEEKEND.

This week is semester finals week, too. So while I'm trying to take all of my semester finals I'll be distracted in my mind by freaking out about the interviews. I guess I'll just have to thank whatever's out there that the semester finals are going to be easy. All of them. YES. Gotta love that.

But that doesn't change the fact that the district interviews are... THIS WEEKEND.

We've put my final application together last minute because we have to send it tonight. We don't have my school transcript, though. Hopefully that won't be too big of a problem. I can ask my school about how to get one (or four, since I need four copies) tomorrow. After I get from my German class at the high school.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Tuesday is four days away from... THE WEEKEND.

But we might have a snow day because of the ice storm tonight. Holey shizz biscuits. Usually I wish for snow days, but I need to get this all put together. I need to get the transcript. So we better F-ing not have a snow day. Because that would leave me even less time to get it before--

The interviews... THIS WEEKEND.

At least that means all of the big stuff will be over with. That's really good. All that's left is getting insurance, a passport, a visa, and waiting for hearing that I'm going (and where), and after that for my school and host city garuntee form. ... I guess that is a lot. Shizz biscuits. I'm going to go crazy. Though I guess it won't be nearly as bad after I figure out whether I'm going or not.

I'm so nervous for the interviews... THIS WEEKEND.
I'm so excited for the interviews... THIS WEEKEND.
I'm not mentally prepared for the interviews... THIS WEEKEND.
I really want to go to the interviews... THIS WEEKEND.

.... The end.

Final (Long) Application Done~!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:09:25 GMT

My final application is finally done!

Except for the picture page. But that's a 5-minute thing that I'm going to throw together later today. xD I already have the pictures, I just have to upload them to my computer and then print them out. No problem~!

Long Time No Update //

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:51:17 GMT

I haven't updated in a while, but it's been in the back of my mind for quite a while... I just never brought myself to it.

I don't remember if I've brought this up before, but I'm sure if I did I didn't announce all of it because I didn't have all of the information at that time. I made the school play (which is this Tuesday, a.k.a. tomorrow). I'm the understudy for the lead female role, though because my drama teacher is just so pwningly awesome he puts all of the understudies and extras in somehow.

The play is a pirate play. Because I'm the understudy for the lead pirate in the actual play, in our added in scenes at the beginning, I'm the leader of another group of pirates. Blackbeard the Beardless Pirate. Haha. I get to yell a lot, and get to sword fight (with spiffy inflatable swords, because we couldn't afford real ones for the whole cast.) DARN YOU RIDDLES~! (Though you won't get that unless you're lucky enough to be able to see our play. Haha.)

On the foreign exchange front, we couldn't find my father to sign it the required forms for a while. He had to sign them or else I couldn't have any chance of going, because signatures from both parents are required to travel outside the country with any organization. But because my mom really knows I want to do this, she went to the city where we used to live and searched around all of the bars until she found him. So I have that.

Now I just need to put together my picture page and send the long application in!

I'm all 'OMGWTFBBQ, WITHIN A MONTH OR SO I'LL HAVE MY DISTRICT INTERVIEW, THEN SOON AFTER THAT I'LL KNOW IF I'M GOING!'. So, yeah. Lots of excited-ness.

Other than those two things, life is really routine. Wake up. Computer. School. Play rehersal. Computer. Sleep. Same thing every day. I hate it. xD;;

Accepted At Club Level! ^o^

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 21:15:41 GMT

I was accepted at the club level by Rotary! And from what I've heard the district interviews are more of a formality, or to make sure you're not completely unsocial. So for the most part, I'm in!

Just have to get that long application done. >_<

General Update-ness

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:18:03 GMT

Well, now for a general update on my life. It goes from most recent to older, and then stuff that's coming up. Beware my strange organization.

Halloween sucked this year. All of my friends went trick-or-treating with other friends and I just somehow got left out. Therefore, I had to go with my little brother (Shale, 11). Let's just say, usually I'll stay out until I can't walk anymore... This year I stopped after about 10 minutes. Stupid Shale, deciding to skip all of the houses I wanted to go to.

Next up! I made my school play... Sort of.

The way our school usually picks parts is, in the order of highest to lowest points earned from the tryouts (judged by nondrama-related teachers), we pick our own parts... Not this time. Mr. Rob and the student directors (Michaela and Elizabeth, if I happen to mention their names later) decided that they'd like to place us in parts that they thought we'd fit in. Except for, of course, the lead, which always goes to the person with the highest points in whatever gender the lead is.

Our fall play this year is Captain Bree; Scourge of the Sea, a pirate play, if you can't tell already. The lead is, of course, Captain Bree.

The girl who got the most points (Kaitlin) is short and, no offence meant to her, pretty fat. It may just be me, but when I see a pirate I see a skinny, rather muscular person. Not saying that I am, but still.

I'm the understudy for the part. I get to memorize 143 lines without ever getting to practice them. Because they put the person with the highest score into the lead automatically, but they were choosing the others based on who they thought would do/look best in them, so that means they thought I would do the best/look the best as Captain Bree.

I'm extremely happy about this, but it still feels like I've been hornswaggled (vocab. from the play. Haha) out of the part. Is it fair that the person with the most points wins over the person they think would fit best in the role?

But, then comes the dilema... If I learn the lines quicker and more efficiently than Kaitlin, Mr. Rob could possibly replace her with me. Kaitlin has always been bad at memorizing lines, and only got the ones for our 8th grade play last year down a few days before the show. I'm nearly a master at memorizing lines, so the above situation is possible...

I don't want to literally kick her out of the part, though. Sure, I've never been on good terms with Kaitlin, and am best friends with her worst enemy, but I'm not generally that mean. If I don't, at best I'll get to be one of the spare pirates who randomly jumps overboard in the first scene. Both options (even though I would be gaining the lead role in one) feel like a loss to me.

Something could happen... Kaitlin could get sick naturally or break something on accident and not be able to be in the play. I wouldn't feel as bad getting the part if that were to happen, but it's not very likely... So basically, I have no clue what to do.

On an earlier note: Recently I've become rather obsessed with Antic Cafe. They rock the socks I don't wear most of the time. Haha.

Now, for the future~!

Me, Scott (8th grade friend), and Ceci (Scott's Senior older sis) are planning on cosplaying as Antic Cafe from their Tekesuta Kousen PV for one of the two anime conventions within about three hours drive from where we are. We don't have much money, though, so it'll be a bit of a stretch. Thank whoever's out there that Ceci has a job. Hopefully that'll make it a bit easier to get the materials we need.

Also, my birthday is coming up in exactly a week (November 7th)! I'll finally be 15, finally get my restricted, and be officially old enough to go on foreign exchange (except for the few who require you to be 15 1/2). Another thing on that day, the new single from Antic Cafe, Ryusei Rocket, is coming out. My grandma is going to let me preorder it! I'm really excited about this, really really really excited.

Other than that, my birthday is going to be rather boring. I already got my main present (new laptop, a la Mom, and also counts as my Christmas present) so no looking forward to gifts... My friends will most likely forget, like they have every single year for Junior High (I wasn't in the same city before that, so I don't know if my old friends remember). Last year was surprising though, because after a few of the nice guy preps (very rare here) found out that it was my birthday they gathered up all the guys in my lunch hour and began singing happy birthday to me. Needless to say, I hid under the table out of embarassment.

So, yeah... Birthday, cosplay...

Oh, I'm also working on filling out my long application for Rotary. The thing basically defines the words strenuous, troublesome, and exciting. It takes forever, and it's freakishly long, hence the strenuous and troublesome... But it just means I'm one step closer to possibly being a foreign exchange student! (Hence the exciting).

That about rounds up my rant. If you happened to read all of that.... Wow. xD

Early Birthday Present~!

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:57:46 GMT

Oh wow, I really can't believe it. I can't believe it a single bit. Haha.

My mom bought me a new laptop, since my old one will be four years old in a few weeks! I'm on it right now and let me tell you, it's really amazing, even though it was only $600 compared to my old one costing $2500 when I got it for my 11th birthday. But then again, they weren't as common back then, so obviously they cost more...

It weighs about half as much as my old laptop, even though it's about the same size (except for thickness, it's about a half inch thinner...) and has about twice as much Hard Drive and RAM memory. And, not meaning to be blonde, but it's really shiny!

On the foreign exchange front, I still haven't gotten any news from my Rotary contact. Of course, she's a teacher and was busy with preparing for the end of the quarter, so hopefully within this next week, now that that is over, I'll get a reply.

As always, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! Especially since now I have a laptop I could easily take on exchange with me.

Until next time~!

First Post! // Prelim. Application In...

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:37:00 GMT

Hey everybody! (or nobody, I don't think anybody reads this blog yet. Haha.) I decided to break in my blog since it's the one I'll be using throughout my application process and, if I do get accepted, on exchange. Here you will find random goodness and about anything that I feel like blogging about... Which is quite a bit.

But I'll still address the issue of my applying quite a bit, since that's what will definately take up most of my thoughts.

So, anyway, a few days ago I got my Gifted teacher to send my application by my district's interschool mail, since the Rotarian I've been e-mailing is also a teacher in the district. I know it's only one page, that wasn't the problem, the problem for me was that they wanted a 700 word essay about why you want to be a foreign exchange student, and referal letters.

The essay was murder. There were certain issues you were supposed to touch about wanting to be an exchange student and such, so every single time either one of two things happened... I either got 1500+ words, or 400-500 words. Eventually I got it right (exactly 700 words. Haha.) and now the thing is sent.

My Rotary contact said she'd email me once she got it, which won't be until Monday at least.

I don't know if it's just the fact that I don't really have anyone to share my nervousnes with, but it seems to have built up and is invading my brain like a hoard of ninjas. When I try to talk about it to people at school they're either, "Are you crazy?!" or "TAKE ME WITH YOU!" leaving it almost impossible to talk to them about anything. Great friends they alre. xD No, not really. They just talk more than listen.

Oh well, for a while I'll be crossing my fingers.

I think that ends this all for today. Be prepared for more rants to come within a few days. But right now I get to go to tennis lessons. Maybe mindlessly hitting a neon ball back and forth will get me to stop worrying.