Ninja Turtles and Brittle Seahorsies

Sorry about my inactivity- I simply have too much on my plate right now (literally too). I make more posts when violin work cools down for me.

There is something awfully peculiar about my tortoise, Wamu. Well it's repeatedly somehow surmounted that double fence as shown in the photo above. I've always checked the obstruction for loopholes, but apparently my tortoise can divide by zero and fly/climb/jetpack around it. There's nothing special beyond that gate either- it's just a dilapidated shed containing a ladder, lawn mower, some Christmas decorations, and the air conditioner generator thinger. It's fenced off because it's easy for a tortoise to get lost/stuck in a jumble of misc crap. (Perhaps Wamu is dating that lovely rusting green ladder off to the side, but I'd rather not speculate.) I'm thinking that Turdy here must be some sort of Japanese espionage agent; don't you agree? (Actually there is a loophole if Wamu uses brute force and pushes through the slightly bendable white fence, but then it'd be Super-turtle.)


Another revelation that I've had, is that boiled seahorse soup is absolutely putrid. As I've been telling an awesome person a moment ago, my parents have been feeding me remedies that will "surely" make me grow, in a new fit of panic over my height. As if metallic-tasting, peach-flavored Asian calcium tablets weren't enough.
Today, they cooked me a fat bowl of the "delicious" soup. One sniff and sip was enough to provoke a queasy stomach for the remnant of the day, but no- I had to eventually "drink" the entire portion. It consisted of a bitter, beige watery liquid and some chicken, but it all tasted like what fingernails would taste like if you made soup out of that. I came up with a decent strategy to ingest the delightful stuff: cram a handful of peanuts and anything else w/ a pungent flavor into my mouth, and slurp as many gulps of the soup I can through a straw. My record is 3! Unfortunately, I have to go through this chronically until I grow two inches. Hopefully I'll get used to it and not have to nom a pound of chocolate afterwards to mask the aftertaste.
(Poor seahorses. >:)

Why you shouldn't bother with online prize sites.

I was invited to Prize Rebel, Rewards 1 or something like that, and Lockerz, each when they first started by, various friends, but I guess I'll focus on Lockerz because it'll be fun to write about a variation of those survey sites. You know those sites, they're the ones where you fill out a billion questions on a billion different pages to get a free iPod after ten billion surveys, quizzes and questionnaires.

But Lockerz isn't like that, it's a different beast. It's a kat in banana's clothing.

One of the first things you notice about it, is that it's pretty well made. Shit load of AJAX? Check. Snazzy new boots? Check. False sense of security? Check, check, and check.

The first bad thing you notice, though, is how self consciously awkward the site feels. It's like when your third cousin who lives in Hong Kong wants to buy you a birthday present, and all she knows is that you're male, 14, and you live in America. So she gets you a football, because that's what all 14 year old males who live in America like, right? Well, Lockerz does the exact same thing. They've latched onto the whole generation Z thing, and gone wild with the letter Z. Lockerz, PTZ, whatever. Even the videos they post of themselves are terrible. Calling themselves the Lockerz "crew", wearing a scruffy top, a backwards cap and taking a dog to work? Who are they kidding?

Whatever. You probably know all that by now.

Why you shouldn't go there. You remember the questionnaire sites, things like Prize Rebel? They work by gathering a lot of data on everything about you, and stuffing it into their databases, then selling it to clients who want to target their crap at you. These databases swell to crazy sizes, and contain everything you ever said about yourself, and then some. They probably know your favourite social media sites, toothpaste, and what food your cat likes.

The end result is that if a company wants to sell more of their cat food they find out what age groups are buying it most and where, then they can target specific stores. Then they use that information to target even more groups, thus completing the stalker circle of life. If most have high incomes, then it's not worth putting a lot of adverts on public transport. If most prefer MySpace over Facebook, then it's not worth spending as much on Facebook adverts. It's either that or they do the opposite, and mass target the people who aren't buying it yet.

Sites like Prize Rebel have a big flaw, in that nobody wants to give them real information. Most people who use them on a regular basis probably fill in bogus information, and for the database of media companies, this is a nightmare. Who could tell that John Doe has several thousand birthdays, and likes everything from extreme canoeing to self help books? Lockerz solves this problem, by hooking them in with small questions, one day at a time, using reverse psychology. This or that? Yes or no? Small comment, please? Oh, and don't forget your address and age bracket? What about this demographic form? Can you just check off the races and income brackets you aren't? Then to keep people from buggering off, they add videos and other such nonsense.

I don't want to live in a world where people are constantly selling me things, things I don't want and probably don't like. So please, tell Lockerz you like hot sauce in your banana cream pie, and your cats deep fried, and that your real name is John Shazzlehazzle.

In-Orchestra Review

Vertical Concert, our songs are very boring. I just realized Mr. Morton wasn't a bad conductor, just a terrible teacher. Foothills rushed on their first and last song. First Ave. is the new Foothills in terms of suck, of which oozed out of their f-holes (technical term, I swear). Some junior threw a stink bomb at Chris Lin's feet and he "wisely" decided to run over to where Orchestra 1 was sitting, next to every single AHS person in the audience. People six rows from us were covering their noses.

Orchestra 1's songs are very boring, did I mention that? Being a first violin didn't alleviate the boredom at all, Kathleen, you LIED to me. First Ave played Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, they didn't do a good job of covering up the random silences that come up every two measures, because their song was passive and quiet to begin with. Also, they were out of tune. Mr. England and Mr. Forbes really get into conducting when their Orchestras actually know what they're doing (Mr England conducting Orch III looked like he was doing some rave 70's disco dance from the audience's perspective)

All in all, I'm bored and typing this instead of finishing my history homework.

Un-Orchestra Review

So my day totally crashed today when I texted DEBAN at 8pm to ask how far it was into the Vertical Concert because I wanted to go, even if it was for an hour!
And Deban said that they were "finished".
Disappointed, I moped around for a bit.
Then he was like "FMS is playing now lol"
and I was RAGEEEE
because he meant that ORCH 1 was finished in the first place.
And I could've watched for an hour.
And I could've watched FMS and Orch 3 perform.
But now it is too late.
/crycry

.

Ah, so
I just got a performance off my shoulders.
Phew.
EXCEPT I STILL HAVE A COMPETITION IN 3 WEEKSASDFASDKFH

Anyways, I'm looking into more extra-curricular classes. I know that I'll be taking ballet for sure- my teacher and mum urged me to, so I agreed. I bet I can pick up quickly, if I can remember past lessons from 4th grade. :V
I also want to try jazz- it looks so elegant and graceful- something that I an in dire need of (I spill, knock over, or break something at LEAST once a day).

I also want to sample competitive sports for once. The only catch is that I cannot strain, overuse, or risk breaking my hands/wrists/arms. My right hand is an exception. (Tendonitis usually occurs in a violinist's left wrist/lower arm.) I've considered soccer, swimming, and fencing, but I am not aware of any more.

So the question that I have for you guys, is:
What sports (however uncommon) would be healthy for a kat? (That means no risk whatsoever on limbs that are used in violining.)

Promoting Boatcrime

Update

Ah, finally some time to create a decent blogpost.
Well not really, because I'm 40 mins behind my schedule but I really need to sort out what has happened to me in the last few weeks because it's been one heckofa rollercoaster.

Let's start with my chamber music program auditions. I prepared Sarasate's Romanza Andaluza and Bach's Presto from Son. No. 1 that I've been working on for forever, for JCM and YMF.
JCM went fine, and I played decently.
The YMF auditions were quite a fiasco, however.
Last Katurday, I planned to arrive at the venue of the auditions (UCLA) at around 2- almost 1.5 hrs before my turn with the judges. Traffic delays and difficulty finding the music building resulted in me getting there half an hour later than what I expected. But no worries- I still have an hour to warm-up and chill. I extricated a stack of sheet music from my bag and- how funny- I FORGOT MY PIANO MUSIC FFFFFUUU-
So my mum was srsly freeaaaking out and I was like ohsnap and my pianist was like geeyou'redoingitwrong. I ran all over campus in my babby heels in search of libraries so I can print out the music from the public domain but THEY WERE CLOSED (due to AIDS).
Thus, I had to suck it up and play unaccompanied.
And it rather went well. According to my mum, the Bach was the most intune that I have ever played. :3
I have yet to recieve notice of acceptance or phail from either programs, but I'm crossing my fingers and stalking the program coordinators to pressure them (lolno).

Despite all this, my lovey dovey parents decided to put another slab of nice, fat, pressure on me.
Apparently, they thought that my ratio of school:time spent on practicing was ftl. My dear mummy and daddy really wanted me homeschooled so that I can bid my social life farewell and practice 8 hours a day.
Er, not going to happen.
I tried to find a compromise, and came up with an idea that was not likely to work, but still had some meager resemblances of hope. I arranged an app. w/ the principal, and requested a shorter school day. That meant that I would get out of school at lunch, which allotted 2-3 hours of extra violining. My parents consented, but only if I could get home at noon.
And you know what?
THE PRINCIPAL AGREED WEEEEEOOOOOO !
Hallelujah, my prayers were answered.
Invariably, my mum still wants me to get homeschooled, but HAHAHAno.
Lol, so I cut P.E. and orch (my elective), and switched English from P6 to 3 w/ Schultz.

Unfortunately...
I have to make up about 100 terms and 10 stories for Eng.
I'm not playing in the school orchestra anymore, nor will I be part of orch. trips.*
I'll have something reminiscent of a social life, but nothing more (I won't be staying for lunch most of the time).**
I am losing friends in the process.**

but you know what?
I'm cool with all that, because I know that with homeschooling, I'll be off worse.

As of now, I am mulling over my schedule for the following month, and that includes another competition in early November, which means that I'll have to pick up the Mendelssohn again.
Crash course, initiated.
Wish me luck guises.


*(Please help me in dispelling any rumors that I quit orchestra because I'm not concertmaster, or that I do not like the director. Or anything that contradicts what I've written. This article should be enough proof. Report to Vannasdall if you need more.)

**I might be getting a Facebook (because I'm so lonely), but it'll have to be in a few months, because the only comment people are going to be posting on my wall now would be like "zomg wry r u outta school erly" and I'd rather them forget about it (or me) and say "ohai kat you're still aliev watsup" instead.