Camp Erdman: My Misery and the Stars (Part 5 of 6)

It has been a while since I made another camp post. Sorry for taking so long! I'm sure nobody cares by now, but I will finishing up since the next camp post will be the last part.

Note: Looking back, this affair was extremely embarassing for me so I wasn't sure if I should post it. But I have decided to be honest with all the events that happened during camp, even of the things that I am not proud of. This was the only one time I felt unhappy during camp, but it helped me to grow stronger. I think that if this happened again, I would have acted differently.

Continued from the previous post...


A class picture behind the campfire.
After doing the skit, late night snack (this time it was pizza) and "discussion," we made our own campfire. It took us a long time to get a fire going. It is silly how people get fires started unintentionally and here we are trying our best to start a fire! It was really difficult. Once we successfully made fire, people took turns to say a speech. We took some group pictures behind the fire and then went star gazing.

I was looking forward to star gazing until the teachers told us to lie on the sand. As prissy as this sounds, I don't like the idea of getting my clothes dirty, but I reluctantly laid down on the gritty sand. We were bunched up like a pack of sardines, touching shoulder to shoulder. The night sky was magnificent. I think this was the first time in my life that I saw so many stars in the sky. I only recognized the Orion belt. It was nice for a little while, but in time I wanted to get back up. The teachers wanted everyone to stay down. Suddenly, I felt someone on top of me. It was Juri! I realized that she was making her way across the sand, just rolling on top of us. That crazy girl. I thought she was the only one until another person tried it. And another. And another. Finally, even Ms. Nakamura rolled on top of us! Sam grew excited and decided to try it, but she rolled off course. It was hilarious. I don't know how long I laid down there, but it felt like forever. I think we must have laid there for an hour. Michelle showed me her watch and it blinked 10:40pm! We laid there long after that, me waiting patiently for us to go back to our cabins.

I loved the night sky, but I was freezing. I wasn't wearing my jacket in an attempt to keep it clean but with insane people rolling on top of me, my efforts were wasted. I tried to concentrate on the stars, but my vision grew blurry, even with my glasses on. People started singing random kiddy songs and Disney songs. It went on and on. I wanted to go, but I stayed because everyone else was having such a great time. I wasn't sure if they wanted to leave yet. Some even suggested lying in the sand until morning. I panicked and hoped they weren't serious. I tried waiting some more until I was absolutely stiff from the cold. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable and I felt my muscles tense up. I tried telling myself to stop being such a spoil-sport. As Janelle would say, I should "chillax." Loosen up. Try to enjoy myself. But I couldn't. I tried to rest my legs, but it was hard. I felt like Jack and Rose near the ending of the Titanic movie. Stiff and cold in the middle of the ocean. When I couldn't take it anymore, I forced myself to sit up.

Eventually, everyone got up and slowly walked back. It was hard for me to move in the sand. I felt drunk. When we went back to the camp, I couldn't hold back my tears. I really wanted to shower first, but I was scared of being selfish because I wasn't the only one who was dirty. Ha insisted on going first so I went second in a different bathroom. I finally got to relax when I got in the shower. My arms finally loosened up but my hands were still shaking and I dropped the showerhead I was holding. I then realized that my entire body was shaking. Not only that, I usually take baths so I wasn't used to the showers. I tried to calm myself down. Now I feel embarrassed for acting the way I did. I don't know what went wrong. Why did I have to be like that? I guess I can handle only so much after one day. Jenni was very understanding and asked if I were okay since I broke down crying in front of her earlier. I wanted to stay up a little later to write, but it was past midnight. The girls planned to have a "Project Runaway Show," but we were so tired and exhausted from the day's events that it wasn't held. Some immediately went to sleep. I lingered around longer, talking to Jenni and eating. I don't know when I finally went to sleep, but it must have been morning. That was a first since I have never been able to do this at home.

They're Not Fat, They're Muscular!

Today, I went to the 2007 Grand Sumo Tournament with Sarah and Jenny. I had won three tickets through Shirokiya's 2007 Grand Sumo Tournament Coloring Contest. Let me first say that I had no interest in sumo, really. It was the $50 Shirokiya Gift Certificate that caught my eye (think of all the free food!) I entered the contest even though I did not expect to win. It was just for fun. But I won, so I'm very happy. =)

At first, I did not know what to do with the tickets I received. At the time, I knew nothing of sumo except that they have many crazy fans in Japan. Yes, apparently they do have their share of fangirls (think fangirls with their favorite popstars). I did not understand their obsession because wrestling wasn't my thing. My reasoning was that I should give the tickets away to someone who truly loves sumo and who deserves them...alas, I found no such person. Now I can honestly say I'm very glad I did not give them away. =)


Spotted two!

Before the tournament began, Jenny, Sarah, and I were scavengering outside the Blaisdell Center, looking for something to eat and drink. The food and drinks were way overpriced ($2.50 for a water bottle!)...but we were hungry. Jenny had a chili hotdog for $4.50 and I had three small pieces of inari sushi for $2. While we were waiting for Sarah as she stood in line to get a drink, we spotted two sumos! They were putting mustard and ketchup on their hotdogs. Sumos eating hotdogs instead of chanko-nabe! How exciting! Of course I had to bust out my camera before they could get away!


We're finally here!

Uwahhh...I was so excited. The sumos came out to do a few warm-up stretches before starting.


Betcha can't do this.

Whoa...dude...everyone started clapping right away. =D


Introducing all the sumos...

They're all coming out. I don't know who's who, but whatever. The robes are pretty.

After introducing all the sumos, the host announced that it was time for some, "comic sumo" - things that the sumo wrestlers cannot do. I am sorry I couldn't catch any pictures during this event, but it was very entertaining to see. There were two sumos (a really skinny one and a really big one) that demonstrated what went against the rules. They did all sorts of funny things to make the audience laugh.


Push, push, push...!

After the comic sumo, a bunch of young'uns came out to strut their stuff. =3 Everyone seemed baffled but delighted by these little guys. The host announced over the speaker that they were the keiki (children) of Hawaii...so they're locals, not sumos-in-training like I originally thought. xD When they first put up the smallest little guy up on stage, he tripped backward. He was obviously scared. It was funny to see them all go up one by one, trying to challenge the bigger guys. There was one particular boy that was really aggressive and he pushed and pushed, struggling to get one win. The sumo was eventually "pushed" out of the ring so the little guy won. The above picture shows one kid who pushed and pushed, but failed to make the sumo budge. Many of them were also twirled in the air by the sumo. xD It looked fun but scary at the same time.


Charging all at once.

After all going up one by one (some with repeated tries), they were allowed to charge at the rikishi (big guys) all at once. What a sight to see!

The preliminary round and the first round began after a short intermission.The preliminary round consisted of six matches and the first round sixteen matches. I fell in love with sumo after watching a few matches. The experience was not what I expected.

I thought that sumo was just a bunch of fat guys goin' at each other...it is so much more than that. In fact, the matches hardly seems to last more than a few seconds. Sumo is a very old and unique sport that managed to maintain its formal rituals and etiquette from the past. It was all these rituals that took longer than the actual matches! They would crouch in the dohyo (the ring), clap to dispel the evil, and of course, wave a sea of salt across the dohyo. Not to mention, I find it funny how they sometimes seem to be throwing the salt in the gyoji (referee's) face. Then sometimes they'd glare at each other some more (thus, exciting the crowd) and grab some more salt to throw at each other purify the dohyo. And then the match would begin. It took a long time. xD


Takamisakari.
A sumo that I can remember in particular was Takamisakari because he was the crazy, riled up one. Before a match would begin, he would always go crazy, shaking his head and his body angrily, glaring at his opponent, and throwing salt aggressively across the dohyo. Takamisakari was remembered because he always made a scene. Frankly, I didn't know what his problem was. Perhaps he just wanted to excite the crowd (he did this succesfully). He seemed very boastful and cocky so I was glad when Ryuo, my second favorite sumo, defeated him in the second round.

Another formidable sumo wrestler was Kotooshu from Bulgaria. By far, he was the tallest (at 203 cm!!!) and one of the strongest sumos that went on stage that night. To sum it up in one word, this guy was scary.

Wakanosato was remembered for being the sumo wrestler with his own group of cheerleaders. Whenever he came up, they would start chanting his name and clapping in rhythm.

During the first round, the match that impressed me the most (aka the most memorable one) was the fourth match, between Ama (peaceful horse) and Chiyotaikai. Ama was smaller, but he managed to outwit his opponent, snatching victory before anyone could blink. As the tournament went on, I found myself cheering for this guy. He had technique and he was agile. Despite his obvious talent and skill, I felt a little scared for him because his opponents were always bigger than him. But he would come through every time. I loved watching his matches the most because he always made the most impressive wins. One of the more exciting matches was when he went against Kotooshu, the biggest sumo in the tournament. Ama managed to defeat him, proving technique over power. Ama slowly passed through the second round, third round, the semi-finals...and finally onto the final round to compete against the yokozuna, the highest title holder!

The current yokozuna (highest sumo rank) was Hakuho and get this: He's my sister's age (22)!!! I had no idea sumo wrestlers could be so young. XD Throughout the entire tournament, I've been watching him. For some reason, I get the feeling that he is the most clear headed one. He never seems overly aggressive nor boastful. He remains calm. The matches with Hakuho were also suspenseful because he never wins right away. During his matches, he always wins at last minute. Whenever he'd seem to lose, he would turn things around. For example, there was one time when he was pushed to the edge of the ring. It seemed like the end for him until we saw him lift his opponent off the floor and slam him down on the floor. Not only is Hakuho intelligent, he is also very strong.

I had always liked watching Ama. I was very proud and happy to see that he was able to make it to the final round. During the finals, the two sumos left were Hakuho and Ama. Both of these rikishis were very admirable. You can just feel the tension rising. Who would win???


Ama vs. Hakuho.

Hakuho won. I liked them both so I was happy whatever the outcome may be. =)

After watching the rikishis for five long hours, my whole perspective changed. They didn't even look fat to me anymore. The amazing strength and power they demonstrated throughout this event just proved to me that it was all muscles and nothing else. I am a step closer to understanding those crazy fangirls who think of their favorite sumo wrestler as the most eligible bachelor in Japan. I can understand why people love sumo. =D I came as a clueless spectator, but now I truly appreciate sumo. This amazing experience really opened my eyes to the beauty of this 1,500 year-old traditional Japanese sport.

Last Day of School!

Whoo hoo! I have said this many times, but I want to say it again: I still, still, still can't believe it is summer already! For the first time in a long time, I won't be taking summer school. I regret this a little (but only a little) since the majority of my friends are taking summer classes, but I really don't want to bother with it this time. xD Jenny makes a good point - there is no rush to go to college. Why don't you just enjoy your high school days while it lasts? I just experienced how fast the years go by. Two more years is nothing. Gosh, the very thought of graduating so soon is a bit scary. I plan to quit the Engineering Academy in my senior year because I find that being an engineer is not me after all. The electives I signed up for the next school year are "Graphic Technology" and "Travel Industry & Management." I feel like I'm going in all directions, but I like that I have a chance to explore my options. ^_^

This whole week went by slowly. There were more parties than classes actually being held in school. On Tuesday, my special history class planned a surprise party for Ms. Naks. We had two other teachers help us with the plan, but I think Ms. Naks knew that something was up. How can it not be obvious with twenty-something people in on it? During lunch recess, we had Ms. Asato pretend to ask Ms. Naks to watch her class while she goes on an errand. That gave us some time to prepare.


People went absolutely crazy.

Again, my pictures do no justice. The class was a mess as we flew streamers around and over the lights. The resulting clash of green, blue, yellow, pink, red, and lavendar looked like a gigantic spiderweb...a colorful one. Then we blew up balloons and hung some of them on the streamers. Hoang made four big banners...crazy girl.


THE head.

People who watched our play might recognize this. This was the mannequin-styrofoam head that Rachel, Juri, and I bought at Party City from all the way over in Waikele. We used it in our last scene in the Witch Hunts. Rachel's "head" was chopped off by the guillotine but curtains close before the audience sees. Then the "head" was thrown out onto the stage from behind the curtains. In the first two performances, the head got stuck in between the thick, heavy curtains. I wanted to get it right for the third performance so a precaution was taken. I took the initiative to throw the head out myself. However, I went a little overboard because the head flew right off the stage. -____-; Ah, well. The head is special to us all because of all the memories it holds. We decided to sign the head with a little message from each of us to Ms. Naks.


Uh-oh, somebody better help her.

Haha, I told Angie to smile for the camera but she looks like she is getting strangled by the big spider web. XD

When the bell rang for class to start, we told Ms. Nags (Nagareda) to blindfold Ms. Naks. We closed the lights and the whole class crouched down, ready. When she entered the class, the lights flipped on and everyone jumped up to yell, "Surprise!" while balloons were thrown at her. We gave her leis and then I gave her the doll I made. Then we had what seemed like a photoshoot session because thousands of cameras were flipped out and started flashing away for about ten minutes.

I said, "Don't you feel like a celebrity? XD"

Earlier, we had arranged our desks in a circle around our classroom. After the picture-taking session was over, we each stood up to say a little speech. Mine was crap because I can't say anything right at the right moment. Half of the girls in class started crying because that day was our last class together. Although I'm an emotional person, I wasn't one of them because I was not in the mood to shed tears.

We then grabbed some food while we watched a slideshow that Sam and Julia had prepared.


Going clockwise: Ally's chicken katsu, Hoang's mom's fried rice, my pasta salad, and Jenny's mom's mochiko chicken.

Note that the above picture only shows my first plate. ^^; Don't worry, I won't bombard you with any more pictures because the dessert pictures came out ugly (there were TWO cakes, toaster strudels, and cinnamon rolls). All of the food was deeeelicious and my favorite was Hoang's mom's fried rice. I think it may be the best fried rice I've eaten...no kidding (I've eaten fried rice at many places). At first, I was skeptical because I could see that there was pepper sprinkled all over it, but I found it the spiciness of the dish to be perfect. It complemented the rest of the flavors. The ingredients looked ordinary (like all other fried rice) - spam, egg, and cabbage...so it must be how the dish was prepared that made it taste so good. I want to ask Hoang more about it next time so I can learn to make it for myself. ^.~

Ms. Naks Doll

I spent all of yesterday making a doll of Ms. Naks for Ms. Naks. I tried to make it resemble her, but how much can a chibi figure resemble a real person?


Her full name is Ms. Nakamura, but everyone calls her Ms. Naks instead and I'm glad of it.

Ayn Rand

I originally posted this in a forum, but I also feel like posting it here. ^.~

Just two months ago, I never would have guessed I would start a topic on Ayn Rand. I've been assigned to read two of her books, Anthem and The Fountainhead for English class before the start of spring break. I didn't find this assignment to be enjoyable in the beginning. Truthfully, I found it to be quite a drag. I've never heard of Ayn Rand before reading her books, but all of her books are considered modern classics and they all contain her philosophy, Objectivism.

I finished Anthem in two days. I finished The Fountainhead today, after two long months.

I wasn't sure whether I liked the books until the very last minute, when I finished them. Two things are for sure: Anthem is the strangest book I've ever read and The Fountainhead is the longest book I've ever read (the edition I have with me consists of 704 pages). I think I'll write mostly about The Fountainhead since it was the more recent one that I finished…

It's funny how my thoughts changed from, "I hate this book. I hate this book," throughout the two months to, "Hmm. This is a good book," after today.

Reading The Fountainhead was a lot of work for me because it was so long, I thought it was boring and that the author's abstract ideals were too much for me to understand. I didn't start to understand until the ending. There are many great quotes in the book! I didn't quite fully understand anything I read in the book until I came upon this:

"You said yesterday: What architect isn't interested in housing? I hate the whole blasted idea of it. I think it's a worthy undertaking - to provide a decent apartment for a man who earns fifteen dollars a week. But not at the expense of other men. Not if it raises the taxes, raises all the other rents and makes the man who earns forty live in a rat hole. That's what's happening in New York. Nobody can afford a modern apartment-except the very rich and the paupers. Have you seen the converted brownstones in which the average self-supporting couple has to live? Have you seen their closet kitchens and their plumbing? They're forced to live like that - because they're not incompetent enough. They make forty dollars a week and wouldn't be allowed into a housing project. But they're the ones who provide the money for the damn project. They pay the taxes. And the taxes raise their own rent..."

I smiled. I couldn't believe this was written in the book. This was something my sister had said to me in the past, only in different words. And it's true, especially in Hawaii. The average firefighter-teacher couple can barely afford to buy their own house while the people living on welfare drives a Mercedes and posesses a dozen Rolex watches. The people living on welfare can even afford to go on extravagent trips every summer. What is up with that?

The following excerpt basically wraps up the Rand's philosophy and beliefs:


"In all proper relationships there is no sacrifice of anyone to anyone. An architect needs clients, but he does not subordinate his work to their wishes. They need him, but they do not order a house just to give him a commission. Men exchange their work by free, mutual consent to mutual advantage when their personal interests agree and they both desire the exchange. If the do not desire it, they are not forced to deal with each other. They seek further. This is the only possible form of relationship between equals. Anything else is a relation of slave to master, or victim to executioner.

"No work is ever done collectively, by a majority decision. Every creative job is achieved under the guidance of a single individual thought. An architect requires a great many men to erect his building. But he does not ask them to vote on his design. They work together by free agreement and each is free to his proper function. An architect uses steel, glass, concrete, produced by others. But the materials remain just so much steel, glass and concrete until he touches them. What he does with them is his individual product and his individual property." - Howard Roark

Rand believes in individualism over collectivism. She doesn't believe in suffering or sacrifice. "Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn't done for others." I find her philosophy to be quite interesting because it brings me to a whole different perspective. I've never thought about things this way before. She challenges all that men have been made to believe for centuries. All in all, she believes men should be absolutely selfish (but not in the way most people think) and that they should not live for others, but only for themselves. Rand explains that this is answer to why we humans keep seeking for "happiness," but never find it.


"If any man stopped and asked himself whether he's ever held a truly personal desire, he'd find the answer. He'd see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He's not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own."

After reading it, I kept thinking how true it was. I never realized it, but she made me understand. I think she is a great writer because she can explain her philosophy through novels...putting her thoughts into words...she simply writes so well.

Brave Girl at Heart

I am bursting with happiness today. I get sick often and easily. I am depressed when I'm sick. Therefore, I'm usually depressed. でも今日は元気だ!

There is nothing that happened in particular to make me feel this way, but I guess I'm happy because there's nothing that's going wrong. =) I'll start by telling you all about our play last Friday.

I guess I consider the play on Friday a success. *smiles* On that day, I woke up at 5:12AM. My dad was still home and he ended up driving me to school (so I didn't need to wake up so early after all, but oh well). I was the fourth to arrive, after Vincent, Janelle, and Tammy. Dang, these people get up early. I thought I'd be first. xD;

Anyway, we made a first run-through before school started and it was horrible. Disgusted with our performance on stage, Ms. Naks said, "What is that? This looks like the practice we had...two weeks ago. What is going on? What's up?"

Sam replied, "Um, um, I think it's morning sickness!"

Ms. Naks replied incredulously, "Do you even know what morning sickness is?"

"No."

"Good. I don't want you to know. Okay, moving on~"

I thought that was a funny conversation. Anyway, we didn't even have time to do much before our first performance started. Someone asked me if I was nervous. It is strange. I didn't feel anything.

We barely got any practice at all so I think everyone really panicked during the first performance. Many, including myself, messed up on our lines. We couldn't find certain props. I forgot to change my costume between acts. Halfway through the show, I felt that everything was wrong, wrong, wrong. The audience didn't help either. Not only did we mess up, we had a horrible audience.

If we think way back, we remember that this is a history class putting on a play. None of us were a part of the McKinley Theatre Group and some of us has never done acting on stage before (I haven't). It didn't make much sense for a history class to do a play, but it made sense for us to do a historical play. The class was divided into five groups with four persons in each group. We covered different parts of the world: Hawaii (because we live here), America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The theme was "Women in World History: Triumph & Tragedy". We wrote our own scripts, came up with our own props and costumes...everything was up to us. My group chose to do Europe and we focused on the European witch hunts and Florence Nightingale. Our first act was meant to be tragic, but we made it comedic so that we'd have something light to offer the audience. In this act, I was the mother of a child who accused said child's teacher to be a witch. This is followed with a hilarious chase scene (closely resembling Scooby-Doo) and then the execution. Kenneth and his dad created this amazing guillotine and we closed curtains before the "head" would roll out. (We had bought a styrofoam head from Party City). XD; Although our scenes were funny, there were some other acts in our play that were more dark and serious.

Misaki and Julia was in the Africa group and chose to bring some attention to what the women in Africa were going through (domestic violence and abuse). There was a scene where the husband physically abuses his wife and a raping scene (don't worry, the stage was dark). The audience proved to be very immature and laughed at parts of the play that shouldn't have been laughed at. They were disrespectful.

It was okay in the end, though. When we asked Ms. Naks for some feedback after the show, she bobbed her head and waved her fingers. She recieved mixed responses from the audience. One comment stuck to me like glue. "One person said, 'You know what? They were just talking so fast and I couldn't hear or understand them at all.'"

People only remember the bad, not the good. That was the only thing I remembered.

Our second performance started soon after. I did almost throw up the fattening pastries I had for breakfast but I swallowed it back in. It didn't help that I've had a sore throat for an entire week. I thought we did way better on the second performance (maybe it's just that I didn't mess up) but Hoang and Erica both thought the first performance was better (maybe because they messed up). But Ms. Naks response was good this time. The audience loved us. (And they were better this time too!) Sometimes I feel a sort of connection to Ms. Naks because everything she says is what I've been feeling inside. We have the same thoughts and opinions. I don't need to say anything because she understands.

Writing a script and creating a play, not to mention acting, is harder than it looks. The reason we went to camp was so that we could feel more comfortable around each other. Teamwork was essential then, and it was definitely needed to make the play work. Working together with twenty people is pretty difficult and it took us a long time to make things run smoothly. The acting was no problem. But there was so many things going behind the scene, things the audience have no idea we're going through unless they've been in a play themselves. However, Ms. Naks said that things ran quite smoothly the second time around and I'm glad of that. ^__^ We joked to Ms. Naks that she should tell the audience that we only practiced on stage twice, so that we'd sound more impressive and so if we messed up, it's not our fault. xD Ms. Naks simply rolled her eyes. Because of the good feedback, some started asking for more.

"Oh! And tell them donations are welcome."

"And standing ovations!"

Ms. Naks replied, "Okay, and pretty soon they're going to ask for your autographs!" XP

It's funny. I wasn't scared to go up on the Odyssey III and I wasn't nervous on stage at all. I would think it, but I didn't actually feel that way.

Our last performance was the best. Coincidentally, our period 6 audience was the best. I peeked through the curtains and saw that the majority of my friends came during the last period (Tracy, Erica, Victoria, Janet, Chunnie, Yang, Joyce, etc.) After the show, I rushed out to greet some friends but only Janet waved and gave me thumbs up. "You guys were awesome!"

Yes, we were. =)

Busier than a Bee

Today was another exhausting day. I've never felt so drained and worn-out as I have been these past few days. I've never been so busy before in my life! I know I've said this before many times, but you can see that it is the truth this time considering that my last post was in April. It's almost 9:00pm and I haven't even touched my homework! Of course, I should be going over Section 15.1 because I have an early morning presentation in Chemistry EA tomorrow, but I don't feel like doing any studying at the moment. I wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway, so I'm not going to push myself over the edge like I did this past year.

It's been so long. What's new? Tsuda sensei, the student teacher for Japanese, is going to graduate so he will be leaving our class. I don't feel happiness or sadness by his absence (I know many are happy to see that he is gone) but I'd still like to wish him luck in the future. He is a strange guy, but he does seem to have a lot of passion and love for teaching about the Japanese language and culture. I respect him for that. Anyway, I should be happy because I have so much more than the required points (meaning I'm getting an A++)!

In the last week of April, I also met Dr. Randall Roth and Judge Samuel King, the authors of Broken Trust. It is a truly impressive book and I recommend it to everyone, whether they live in Hawaii or not. Although the book concerns itself with the Bishop Estate and the troubling political issues in Hawaii, the book is not only about the shameless abuse of a charitable trust. It speaks of corruption and what people did to stand up to what was wrong, even when all of the odds are against them. The authors are also very humble people (even with their high titles and accomplishments). I felt a bit intimidated but also very inspired. It makes me feel happy that people like them actually exist in this world. They've inspired me to want to go out there and make a difference in the world as well.

I also went to a Judo tournament on the last Saturday of April. The people there scared me, even the people yelling cheering from the bleachers. Who was I kidding when I said I wanted to join the judo team? One flip and I'm a goner.

Last weekend was hardly a break, either. I went to another doctor's appointment, went shopping and eating out with my sister, and attended the Spring Concert. Sunday was Mother's Day so I woke up extra early (even though I stayed up late the previous night) to bake my mommy a cake. I baked her favorite type of cake with plenty of eggs. It was my first time making Chinese sponge cake, but she liked it so I'm happy. =) I also finally bought myself a new digital camera!!! *throws confetti* Nothing went as planned, but I should stop being so spoiled and get over the fact that life never goes exactly the way you wanted it to (I'd be married to Junsu by now). I finally spent the money I've been saving since I was five years old. I only hope it won't break my heart like the last one. I still haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet and my sister's graduation is tomorrow. Dear god.

I had a huge math test on Monday. I was supposed to have studied over the weekend, but who had the time? I certainly didn't. I barely got any sleep the previous night so I was in no condition to take a stupid test. I don't know why, but I had a hard time falling asleep. It was horrible because I was so exhausted and tired, but my head wouldn't allow me the pleasure to take a break and rest! I think I only slept for four hours...I know there are some people who do that, and stay up until morning, but I'm not one of them. A girl needs her beauty sleep! You can imagine that I didn't do well on that test. I did the best I could, but my brain simply wasn't functioning well. If the test was on another day, I'm pretty sure I would pass with a higher score. I don't look forward to seeing what my percentage is in class tomorrow.

This week has been nothing but drama practice. I had the longest rehearsal today, from 12:00pm to 5:30pm~ish. I haven't really mentioned the play too much in this blog. This proves just how busy I was since it is THE play that has taken over my life these past few weeks. It is the only thing I have on my mind right now. After this Friday, everything will be over and I'll be back to having no life, but right now, the play is everything.

We finally did rehearsals in the auditorium today and it was really bad.

I'm not saying that we're the source of this horrible-ness, but we're simply not ready and the performance is on Friday. What we have so far is such...rough work. We definitely underestimated the amount of time we had and everything is rush, rush, rush. We barely got to use the stage for practice. Everything is last minute and I kept wishing we had more time.

...But I know these guys. Any other class wouldn't be able to pull it off, but I'm proud to say that this particular class is special, as cheesy as it sounds. *dodges rotten tomatoes* As crazy and busy and hectic and unorganized and screwy as we are now, I can honestly believe that we can do it. It's a critical time for everyone and yeah, of course, there are people biting each other's heads off but I know we all secretly love each other (right?!)

After camp, I can't help but think that everyone is capable of pulling miracles.