3/13: Topic Potpourri

Before you ask, no, this post is not about smelly stuff. As you may or may not know, I like to switch things up every once in a while. So today, I'm basically doing a super-extended rundown, in which each tidbit gets its own mini-paragraph. So don't expect an additional rundown. Really, the whole point of this is so that I don't have to actually choose anything to elaborate on. Give me a break, though. After all, I've been doing this every day for two weeks.

Habemus papam! We have a pope! Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is now officially Pope Francis, after less than two days of voting by the conclave. This choice marks many firsts, such as the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope to choose the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi. Why exactly are you reading this here? I realize that this isn't really news, but I am a Catholic myself, so obviously this is pretty big for me and the other 1 billion-plus Catholics in the world.

Today was the National French Exam, which really messed up the schedule for me today. French I took the test during our regular French period, so the French II kids, myself included, were sent to the KIVA to basically do nothing for over an hour. We took our test during geometry, so I'll have to catch up on work there, but not before I devote 3 hours of school time tomorrow to the AIME. Makeup work really stinks, but at least there will be pizza.

Another round of musical rehearsals started today, and I would just like to point out that even though I still have a cough and managed to both clog my throat even further and give myself a wicked stomach cramp by drinking Pepsi in between every single break in the action, I still managed to nail every note I sang. That, my friends, is talent. Or maybe just stupidity. Anyway, the band already sounds awesome.

Yesterday, I received three new albums to add to my collection, all of them being from my top 3 bands which I mentioned a couple days back. I simply can't wait to start listening!

Finally, I am pleased to announce that we finally got Emma to listen to "Bohemian Rhapsody!" Josh, thank you so much for getting that monkey off my back. No, this does not in any way mean I'm going to repay you by giving even the slightest thought to your random philosophical inquiries.

With that, I bid you adieu. Be fruitful, and... do long division or something. Really, I should leave the whole words of wisdom thing to someone else. Like our new pope!

3/12: Joyeux Anniversaire a Moi!

Hello, once again! In case you can't read French (or don't know how to properly operate Google Translate) for your life, today is my birthday! Yes, I'm just 3 years away from being of the legal gambling age (not that it makes much of a difference). Besides the heavy rain earlier today, so far everything's gone pretty smoothly, and I still get to enjoy some Montreal Steak. Man, I love that seasoning...

Ok, then! Since birthday privileges in no way include being exempt from blogging duties, onward we go! Due to the mishaps in the schedule caused by the National Latin Exam (which pales in comparison to the National French Contest, I'll have you know), today we had Free Form Tuesday, which is basically an extension of Free-Form Friday except shorter and far less catchy. The period's events all but solidified the the theory that we can't get anything done without Kyle present. I was always a leader back in middle school, but so was half of my classmates here, I presume. Besides, one does not simply persuade JD. For me, resistance to him only amounts to a bad case of Irish temper. Then again, I could still use that to my advantage...

Okay, I'm done ranting. Or am I? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It seems that I'm building up yet another friendship at High Tech. I'm not sure whether it's because of the frequent card playing, shared Irish heritage, mutual friends, or simply our love of the same sports, but Duffy and I seem to be getting along pretty well. Besides, we do live pretty close to each other, considering I'm the only kid from my home school to make it in this year. As for neighboring towns, so far I have friends from Hazlet, Red Bank, and Keansburg, and it feels like there are two dozen Holmdel kids in my grade alone.

In other news, it seems that I'm close to starting my sophomore research project! I only had a short conversation with Mr. Roche about it today, but any news is good news right now. With the weather thawing out, I should be ready to plan my golf-related experiments as soon as I get the green light. Hopefully I will, because this will definitely feel less like work and more like play for me, while giving me a chance to stick it to Nike and all those big-name brands.

Okay, you know the drill by now. Time for the daily rundown! It has been confirmed that no one grills better than my father, I've kept my undefeated streak alive in Durak, aka Fool, the festive hat shall be respected at all times, I allotted 4 consecutive winning serves on my way to Pickle-Ball glory (sorry Mike), archery has officially come to High Tech (huzzah!), Jessica has resumed her quest to build the ultimate ray gun (good for her, so long as I don't get caught in the crossfire!), I apparently share my birthday with two of my classmates' dogs, and I've successfully solved the riddles of the genetics of MLP:FiM. Thank you Mendel and 9th grade biology class!

Okay, I'm off to (finally) unwrap my birthday gifts. Please leave your comments about absolutely anything below, and I'll see you tomorrow!

3/11: Sickness Stinks. Plain and Simple.

Greetings, fellow hitchhikers! In case you're one of the few remaining people in a first-world nation who doesn't come into contact with Google daily, then it is my humble duty to point out the lovely interactive doodle the Google team created for the anniversary of the birth of one of the most awesome authors of all time, Douglas Adams. If only I could have been born 6 hours earlier, then I would be able to share my birthday with the genius who created A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Instead, I'm sitting here fighting off some sickness before it interferes with my birthday plans. Please, just "don't panic." Ah? Get it? Okay, enough book quoting. Let's get on with the blog!

Now, now, what to talk about? Many things, I guess, but not everything is worth a dedicated paragraph. First of all, it is the 11th, which means you've been waiting for an update on my BronyCon endeavors. And, (insert drumroll here) there is no update! (Insert rimshot here) Yes, apparently holding us out for a month was still not enough for HQ to salvage together an event schedule. Curse those nonstop incoming submissions! As of right now, EVERYBODY with a submission who isn't on the inside is going to have to wait indefinitely for new developments. Frankly, I'm a bit P.O.'ed. Time is money, and the longer I have to wait for a response, the less likely I'll be able to give HQ the reins of the event. If that doesn't happen, then no event happens. Then again, one can't be too greedy when the staff has to handle such a major event.

Now that I've let off some steam, it's back to happy-fun-good-times! (That didn't sound creepy, did it?) Actually, hold on, I have to let off a little more steam about what is possibly the most annoying fire alarm of all time! The funny thing is, Nick and I were just complaining about fire alarms yesterday. What can I say, respect the alarm, or it will get you back. Anyway, today I received more info on what will be my first ever HTHS field trip! Yes, I get that we are going to a research symposium, but there are doughnuts! Nothing beats doughnuts! As an added bonus, I'll get a look around the campus of Monmouth University, which is high up on my college choices.

Rundown time! This time, it will be even more erratic and confusing than usual! Hold on to your hardhats:
Sportscasting a pickle-ball match is quite enjoyable, Cookie wins over Cream, by the way (inside joke), I am DOMINATING at this Russian card game the guys and I took up, new summer job idea: baseball umpire, Pi Day is not the 15th, yet that's the day our celebration is, and bring on the steak!!!

Okay, that's about it. Um... yeah. Ciao.

3/10: Good Times, Corned Beef, and River Dancing

Okay, I'm going to level with you: yesterday was disappointing. I guess the fact that it's the weekend combined with my smooth ride to the 20 blog limit made me a little lazy with yesterday's post. Either that, or everybody had the same idea and were also too lazy to click my links. Whatever happened, it means I'm obviously not even close to popular on the internet. No matter, though! This challenge is not about page views, its about completing assigned homework which I actually enjoy working on!

Happy last Sunday before St. Patrick's Day, everybody! I realize that this is far from a special day for any of you, but this day is the traditional day for Jersey City's St. Patty's Day Parade, which I celebrate with a passion. It's not my fault; I'm entirely Irish Catholic, and both sides of my family lived in Jersey City. That town is practically my second home. I live and breathe JC and the Port Authority, and luckily, the city is heavily populated with Irishmen. I guess one could say that this year's parade was a bit smaller, but then again we camped out at the corner of Duncan and Kennedy instead of Highland so we could quickly hit the Astor. Sorry, am I slipping into JC jargon again? I've got to remember that I'm posting this for the entire world to see. Then again, I bet half of my classmates have never heard of Exchange Place, Journal Square, or the Jersey Journal.

Anyway, after the parade festivities we traveled to the Astor Bar. Now, if you are claustrophobic, going to the Astor on parade day is the most stupid thing you could do. However, what some may call chaos, I call atmosphere. To me, there's nothing better than being in a rowdy party-filled bar surrounded by family celebrating our heritage (and drinking stereotypes--which are actually true!) What's even more impressive was that a troupe of young river dancers was able to slip in--and fully perform--without spilling a single drink (same for some foam lost by the earthquake of tap shoes). Ah, I love being green!

Rundown time! I'm gonna make it short to get this post out: USA is moving on to the next round of the WBC, once again James expressed his irrational love for Canada instead, my birthday is now only two days away (woohoo!), and yes, the salmon was excellent, Dad. Okay, I'm bored. Thanks for suffering through the entire post (not you, cheaters!), and I will see you right here tomorrow!

3/9: Viva Beisbol!

What's up, everybody? Finally, another weekend is upon us, and lucky for me, it's the last weekend before my birthday! I'm hoping to get the albums of some of those groups I told you about in my previous post, along with some new swag for the spring season. I know I consider fall to be my favorite season, but for me, there is no month like March. Along with the obvious highlights of my birthday and St. Patrick's day, the weather is looking up, which means we can get back to barbecues and outside activities. As for sports, baseball is in the middle of spring training, NASCAR is revved up for another season, and it's time for me to get back to my golf game. Of course, I can't forget March Madness!

The college hoops conference tournaments are great and all, but the newest highlight of the month for me happens once every 4 years. That is the World Baseball Classic. This year's event is the third time for the tournament, and the first time that some of the spots have been determined by qualifiers the previous September. I love this idea, because the teams subject to qualifying don't have many MLB players to begin with, and the qualifiers allow competition from all regions without sacrificing quality in the main event (because South Africa obviously doesn't play good baseball). So far, there is one team that has really surprised me is Italy, who with the aid of incoming Italian-American players has been able to already beat the heavily favored Mexican squad, then enforce the mercy rule after 8 innings on Canada by crushing them 14-4 yesterday. Their next target? Who else but Team USA, coming off a 5-2 loss to Mexico. Considering the damage done to R.A. Dickey and the withdrawal of Mark Teixiera, the Americans might be toast without Ryan Braun, who would have played for Israel had they not lost the spot to Spain in the final qualifier.

I'm gonna keep it short today, so I can enjoy the fresh air (actually, to watch more of the WBC!). So, I leave  you with an extended run down: baseball, baseball, going golfing again soon, baseball, baseball, JC's St. Patty's Day Parade tomorrow (so excited!), baseball BASEBALL baseball, looking to dress in green all week (and then some on certain days), BASEBALL baseball baseball baseball, happy for little James as he starts another season of hockey (but in the spring? Really?!), and finally, baseball

PS: Probably gonna hear a bunch of complaints from TS Wang now that Taiwan was eliminated.
PPS: BASEBALL!

3/8: Confessions of a Grammar Nazi

Good day, fellow bloggers! How are you? Fine, thank you. Okay, the formality stops here. Wazzup?! Anyway, frequenters of this site may remember that I mentioned that TomSka finally released "asdfmovie6" on YouTube. If you don't know what asdf is, it is basically founded upon compilations of funny random video clips featuring simple stick-figure characters, with each clip usually lasting no more than 5 seconds. Think of it as a cartoon version of my rundowns, only over 9000 times more hilarious (because every internet meme is over 9000, no exceptions.)

Today was another day of Free-Form Friday, or FFF for short, which is High Tech's version of Google's "20% time." Personally, I'm not too psyched about the progress my group has made, but we'll see how things work out with our project, which was originally about building a wooden soapbox-type car but has since demoted to tricking out a glorified shopping cart. No worries, though; I've been able to find a group to join if I decide to jump ship (literally, if Kyle White has his way!) Meanwhile, during today's FFF time I also learned about an opportunity to blog for curiousYOUNGwriters over the summer. I am BEYOND excited for this! Any chance I can get to blog, I will take!

I realize no one likes a grammar Nazi (not even other grammar Nazis), but I must confess that I can't help but point out mistakes from time to time. It's just like the feeling you get when the person next to you has food stuck on their face but is completely oblivious to it. Just like chocolate stains will remain to appear on lips across America, correcting someone's grammar doesn't do much to keep it from happening again. Yet some of us persist to do it, because we simply can't stand the awkwardness. So please, mind my comments if you misprint when typing. In fact, I actually messed up on my previous post, and lo and behold I received a comment about it. Grammar Nazis may be annoying when speaking, but on blog posts that you can quickly edit, they can prove to be quite helpful.

Recently, I have been obsessed with music. Thank goodness there are apps like Pandora that let me listen to my favorite kinds of music without having to pay! So, I feel it's time for another Top 10! This time, it's the Top 10 Artists I'm Currently Crazy About! (current favorite song in parentheses)

10) The Script (Hall of Fame)
9) Florence + The Machine (Shake It Out)
8) Calvin Harris (Sweet Nothing (ft. Florence Welch!))
7) Goo Goo Dolls--they're baaaack... (Rebel Beat)
6) Coldplay--why would they not be on this list? (Charlie Brown)
5) Muse (Madness)
4) Swedish House Mafia--really gonna miss these guys! (Don't You Worry Child ft. John Martin)
3) The Black Keys (Lonely Boy)
2) Of Monsters and Men (King and Lionheart)
1) Imagine Dragons--my vote for best new artist next year! (Radioactive)

Time for a mini-rundown, as per tradition after a special segment! Today, my Prezi group dodged the bullet, meaning we get three more days to prep, I'm finally on top of EVERYTHING in school, the wait begins for word of my BronyCon event's fate, and all must hail the Pop-Tart hobo king, Rahul Rangwani!

With that, au revoir, and may the techie gods Rahul, Ray, and Jonathan bring you many plentiful harvests!

3/7: This Big Beautiful Bedazzling Author is Jared Diamond!

I see a little silhouette of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, can you do the fandango? Thunderbolts and lightning, very very fright- oh, sorry about that. That song has been stuck in my head all day, ever since I discovered that some classmates of mine who shall remain nameless *cough*Emma*cough* have never listened to "Bohemian Rhapsody." I have to say, I get how annoying it is when fanatics freak out because you haven't heard of something that the average person doesn't know about anyway, but here, it's a different story. For example, when I mentioned Bill Cosby to Blain, the name didn't even ring a bell. This isn't some Kelly Clarkson-doesn't-know-Miguel case (by the way, who is he and how did he get nominated?); we're talking about BILL-flippin'-COSBY!!! Oh, dang it. Royal Canterlot voice again. I might as well put a label on the Caps Lock button that reads that.

Meanwhile, in Humanities, the Jared Diamond virus rages on! Okay, probably none of you understood what I just said. To provide a little background, our history teacher, the honorable Mr. Johnathan Olsen, has become the god of HTHS's internet meme culture. (Except, of course, when being a god is the meme itself, as in the case of His Ultimate Awesomeness Ray Zeng. All hail!) During our lessons about civilizations' developments following the Late Middle Ages, Mr. Olsen frequently referred to Mr. Diamond's book, Gums, Germs, and Steel. I mean very,very frequently. Afterwards, he's shown various hints that he's obsessed with Jared Diamond, not to mention his excitement when word came that the author was appearing at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Needless to say, the HSPA test takers immediately exploded with laughter when they discovered that the first article was written by none other than Mr. Diamond himself. It was at that point when I finally made the connection that Jared is also a jewelry store. Go figure. I also discovered this interesting tidbit:

Has unwavering obsession with diamonds (preferably from Jared, I'd presume)

Mr Olsen

Has unwavering obsession with Jared Diamond

 However, both have a RADICALLY different reaction to the name "Tom." Huh.

Okay, time to get back in the rundown business! First off, I had an extra rehearsal to work on the musical's choreography (so mind my lateness), apparently returning a missing script is harder than it sounds, Middletown proved once again to almost have a weather shield around it (no snow, and no delays. Dang.), I'm getting back to that song I still haven't finished, Kyle White persists to have a league of haters on Facebook, letters from West Point keep pouring in for some reason, and my parents are pretty pleased with the work I'm doing here (though not so much about certain comments!)

Okay, that's it. Leave a comment, please follow the blog, and stop reading blogs at a time when you could be enjoying the nightlife! Seriously, I don't even read half the stuff I write!