I am the epitome of procrastination.

The title just says it all. It's the awful truth. I am the most unproductive person ever. Procrastination is a nasty habit of mine that I can't seem to kick, especially if I have to write a paper or anything that involves writing. But somehow I still manage to get it done (even if it is during the early hours of the morning).

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that writing is not a strength for me. I ALWAYS leave homework that involves any kind of writing for last because I know that it will take me forever. It usually takes me a long time because I get distracted so easily. Here's a rundown of how my writing process goes:

1. The first thing I do after I sit down at my desk is put my hair up into a bun or a pony tail. I will not be able to work if i have to get my hair out of my face all of the time.
2. Next, I change into comfortable clothes. It is impossible for me to sit down and try to write in jeans and a short sleeved shirt. It just will not work because jeans are uncomfortable to sit down in for long periods of time and my house gets cold easily. I need to be in sweatpants and a sweatshirt or long sleeved shirt.
3. Depending on the season, I have a hot or cold drink by my side. During fall and spring, I usually have orange juice, water, or a can of pop (true Minnesotan right here). In the winter, I have hot chocolate, tea, or warm water.
4. My last step of preparation is to lay out all of the materials I'll need to write, like the assignment sheet or information on what I'm writing about.
5. Finally, I start to write. 
6. Eventually, I get distracted by anything and everything. This includes, but is not excluded to: food, Tumblr, Facebook, Youtube, and painting my nails.
7. Then I get back to writing.
8. After I finish my first draft, I print it out and edit it. If I try to edit it on the computer, I not only get distracted but I fall asleep. It sounds really bad, but there's just so much white on the screen that my eyes can't take it! And I start to doze off. After I finish editing, I go back to the draft on my computer and change what needs to be changed.
9. Once I've fixed everything, I look over one last time, then print it out.

In reality, my writing process rarely (never) looks like this. Sometimes, I would get to step 4, skip to step 6, go back to step 5, try to continue through, repeat steps 7 and 8 several times, and then I would frequently go back to step 6. By the time I would finish the paper, I realize that it took me a lot longer than it should have to complete it because I got distracted too many times. 

My writing process REALLY did not look like this when I was writing the first draft of my rhetorical analysis. Some of the writing took place on a plane in seat 32A with my laptop in front of me, papers piled in my lap and under my computer, and the elbow of a strange guy jabbing into my side. Of course, I didn't get much done (which may or may not have been because I started to play Rail Maze) so I left most of the writing for when I got home so I could go through my writing process. And alas! My rhetorical analysis was born.

I Need Sleep

According to Wikipedia, "Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles."

I realize that you probably just gasped and are staring wide-eyed with a look of horror at me right now. Wikipedia is NOT a source, and I've been taught this for years. Shame me once.

But I really could care less about proper, credible citations at this moment because I am tired. Hashtag first world problems would be added after that if I were tweeting. 

This past long weekend was meant (in students' eyes) to be a weekend of catching up on sleep and homework. But for me, neither of those two happened. Instead I went to Orlando, FL with the marching band. However I got progressively less sleep as the weekend went on and homework didn't really get done. Rather, I spent 10+ hours walking around amusement parks for five days in a row. Again, hashtag first world problems. So I guess the long weekend had pros that made it fun, but the cons prevented the weekend from reaching maximum fun potential.

Pro #1: Going to a different amusement park every day for five days. I love rides. So much.

Pro #2: Hanging out with friends. There's nothing better than spending five days with friends at amusement parks in a different state.

Pro #3: Marching towards the castle at Magic Kingdom. It was by far the best parade I have ever marched in. The castle looked so pretty because lit up with purple lights; I can't complain about having to stare at a purple castle for 20 minutes.

Pro #4: My section, drumline, has a new found respect for my line, the cymbals. Our cymbal visuals were successful and apparently looked really cool! Which is something we don't ever hear about our normal cymbal line.

Pro #5: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This might have been the happiest day of my 16 years of existence. We waited a hour to get on the ride in the castle, but it was so worth it. I was acting like an excited little child in a candy shop when we stepped into the castle and saw the moving paintings. I actually got to be an excited little child when we went to Honeydukes. Experiencing capitalism at its finest, I spent almost 40 dollars on two chocolate frogs and a jar of sherbet lemons, and I am pretty darn proud of it. And for the record, Butterbeer is not that bad.

Con #1: I. Am. So. Tired. Six to seven hours of sleep is not enough, especially when you're walking around the whole day as well as starting the trip on four hours of sleep. I also got two hours of sleep last night because I was staying up to finish homework. So much fun....

Con #2: Getting sick. I don't know if it was the screaming or lack of sleep, but I have resorted to cough drops and tea.

Con #3: More stress. Because I didn't have much time to work on homework over the weekend, I'm feeling a little underprepared.

Con #4: Being Grey's Anatomy deprived for five days. It was a struggle because it is my all time favorite show. Also didn't help that I heard the credits song playing while we were walking through Disney Movie Studios.

Despite the unfortunate drawbacks of the weekend, it was the best weekend and trip that I have ever been on.

I'm Peeved.

Things I really cannot stand...

1.) People who can't drive/people who drive REALLY slow/people who can't park. If you go 20 under the speed limit, then it clearly means that you aren't comfortable with driving, which probably means you shouldn't be driving at all. Also, if you can't get your car between two white lines that have a fairly large amount of space in between them, then go back to behind-the-wheel.

2.) When people point and laugh at the group of Asian kids. I don't point and giggle obnoxiously when I see a group of caucasian kids. It's just rude, so stop it.

3.) The abbreviation "supes" (for super) and the word "moist". "Supes" sounds like "soups" and "soups" is not a word because the plural form of soup is already "soup". "Moist".... Bad combination of letters. It just sounds gross.

4.) When people use Facebook as their diary or Twitter. The statuses about your ex-boyfriend or ex-best friend that don't mention names but are clearly about someone aren't necessary. Save that drama for your personal diary. I also don't need to or want to know that you're eating a sandwich, then eating ice cream, then going to lifetime, then going to a friend's house, then doing your homework. Just get a Twitter, please.

5.) Trying to carry a conversation via text. I can understand asking someone for homework or just simple questions that don't require much dialogue, but if you're trying to carry a conversation about real stuff then call me or just wait to talk to me the next day. It will be much a more meaningful conversation where either party won't be filled with uncertainty because you'd actually be able to tell when someone is kidding or being serious. Technology is ruining the way people communicate with each other.

6.) When people start a text conversation with me, but don't even try to keep it going or interesting. OK seriously. You went through the trouble to text me first so at least make an effort to talk to me or don't text me at all. I'm even taking time out of my life to respond to you. I cannot be the only one trying to carry the conversation.

7.) Fake people. Enough said.

8.) Too much mascara. It looks awful when girls have mascara piled onto their lashes. I don't know what is so appealing about eyelashes that that look like huge black caterpillars on top of your eyelids. It's not even healthy for your lashes, so spare your eyelashes and go easy on the mascara.



This is a very short list of a lot of things that bug me. I could go on forever, but I won't!

Machiavelli Knows Best

American Student: "Oh, a C-. No big deal."

Asian Student: "A C-? I'm going to get whipped by my parents!"

That's what seems to go down in the minds of American and Asian students. But the outcomes of those responses are extremely different.

The Asian student fears the wrath of their parents and works harder, eventually getting better grades. On the other hand, the American student deems the bad grade acceptable and continues to accept bad grades in the future. This difference in attitude towards schoolwork is the sole reason that the China and India are surpassing America, which "For Once Blame the Student" by Patrick Welsh and "Two Million Minutes" are arguing.

But is it entirely the American students' fault for being so comfortable with not-so-great grades? I don't think it is. The parents have a role in this too; they allow their kids to be OK with mediocre grades.

Welsh thinks that American students just lack the "motivation, self-discipline, or work ethic of the foreign-born kids." However, I feel that these fundamentals of succeeding were not engrained in the brains of most American kids by their parents like they were in the Chinese and Indian students'. Many Asian students are taught by their parents to work hard and get good grades at a young age. Their kids listen to them because they fear what could happen if they don't get a good grade. The parents took the advice of Machiavelli and instilled fear within the kids (in the form of physical pain) so that the kids would respect their parents wishes for them. Maybe American parents should take a hint from the Asian parents and give their kids some motivation to do well. I'm not saying that American parents should beat their kids, but some other type of motivation like money or more freedom may suffice.

After watching the documentary "Two Million Minutes", you might think that my opening scenario is a load of crap. But really, the documentary was a load of crap because it was biased. The creators of the documentary purposefully misrepresented the U.S.. The "normal" American students they followed were actually top students in their class. The American girl had a 3.94 GPA, and the boy was Senior Class President and a National Merit Scholar. First of all, not every American student sounds that good. Second, the American student population was poorly represented by these two. It seemed like they were always with friends and having fun; it appeared as if they never studied or did homework. I would like to think that most American students study for the most part. Unless I or the people I surround myself with are a part of a minority. Also, it seemed like the Chinese and Indian students were always shown studying or practicing. The gap in the number of academic settings between the three countries in the film was kind of big, with China and India having more academic setting scenes, whereas, U.S. having very little actual academic setting scenes. This bothered me because the documentary was just over dramatizing every difference in study habits, but in really, there were separate situations that impacted the students to act a certain way with their studies. Americans are surrounded with options and opportunities with their futures that they take for granted, which I am guilty of. The Chinese and Indians don't have necessarily this luxury. Sometimes they could even be facing starvation and poverty, which motivates them to do well and allows them to succeed. This might not always be the case, but there are always different circumstances of the students in Asia compared to students in America that make their situations not quite compatible for juxtaposing.

"I Just Wanna Be Average." That is a thought that I frequently have when I'm frustrated with the world. As a ABC (American born Chinese), I sit in a no man's land between American culture and Chinese culture. And might I add, it's pretty rough. My parents are always putting pressure on me to do well in school and succeed. Almost every dinner conversation topic is about college preparation or something that pertains to my future. On the other side, I'm American. I hang out with friends and care about petty high school drama. I play a sport and am involved in extracurricular activities. It's a complicated and demanding lifestyle that usually has some kind of conflict. In some ways, I think that Rose really did not miss out on much with being in Vocational Education for two years. I would not mind having no expectations of me (sometimes), but I understand how the digression of intellect would be the "price" (paragraph 17) when confronted with reality.

This weekend I became... a woman!

So as the title of this blog post says, this weekend I became a woman. It sounds a little silly because most of the time the phrase is usually,"[Insert time here] I became a man!" But since I'm not a guy and I lack creativity, I'm saying,"This weekend I became a woman!"

Now onto the part where I actually tell how I became a woman.

After 16 and a half years of convincing my parents (read: my mother), I finally got my ears pierced on Saturday. This is quite the achievement for me because my mom (who said I could get them pierced when I turned 16)  had been putting it off since my birthday with various excuses ranging from "You're going to be gone for two weeks; I don't want you to have to deal with them while traveling" to "But you're starting lacrosse soon!" (I really wasn't... the season was a good 2 months away). When she finally said that I could last week I was excited, but as Saturday came and I reminded her that she said I could get them pierced, she tried the new excuse, "You're going to Orlando in two weeks. It's not a good idea." but grudgingly took me to Claire's anyways.

My mom's never-ending excuses for me not to get my ears pierced are somewhat justified since her ears got infected when she got them pierced as a kid, and infections with piercings can be a hereditary thing. But, my older sister got her ears pierced when she was my age and didn't run into any problems with her's. So in my mind, I was not worried at all about them, but my mom was a nervous wreck in disguise as a cold, asian woman.

When the lady piercing my ears drew the dots where my earrings would be, my mom spent a good 20 minutes examining them in silence to make sure they were even. My mom stood in front of me with her knees bent slightly, slowly leaning from side to side. She had an intense look of concentration as she eyed my ears back and forth. She even made the lady wipe off some of the dot on my right ear because my mom thought it was a little larger than the dot on my left ear. After what seemed like an hour but really wasn't, my mom was content with the drawn on dots. I was finally going to get my ears pierced! I was finally experiencing the rite of passage that I missed out on in elementary school. I was finally graduating to womanhood (but not really). But as the lady pierced my first ear, that excitement drained from me. I realized that it had hurt a lot more than I had expected it to. Everyone who I have talked to about the pain have told me that it felt like a little pinch on your ear. Well... It was definitely more than a little pinch for me. After the piercings were done, I basically almost passed out. I felt light headed and nauseous. Unfortunately, the blue lollipop they gave me was not helping. The lady who pierced my ears had to go next door to Caribou to get me some water. And the worst part about the whole ordeal was that the seven year old girl who was getting her ears pierced after me was probably thinking, "Wow this girl is such a wimp," as she watched me sit in the chair with my lollipop sticking out of my mouth waiting for my water.

Now that I look back on the experience a day later, I give myself a mental forehead slap. I realize that I felt sick because I hadn't eaten anything before going to Claire's. Way to go, Teresa.


Sidenote:
While I was waiting for my mom to approve the drawn on dots, there was some Ellie Goulding playing at Claire's. Pump up music! (Strange music video, good song)

Ellie Goulding - Lights

President Obama Speech Analysis

President Obama gave a speech this past Wednesday at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School to encourage students to work hard in school.

He represented his title well with professional attire and good posture (straight back, not slouching). The President had a good-natured demeanor with friendly smiles and natural gestures. At the beginning of his speech, President Obama seems like a warm person because he greets the crowd with a big smile and waves to the crowd. This feeling of genuineness that he gives off makes others feel like they can trust him.

There were several examples of logos in the speech. President Obama uses some facts like how the U.S. is 16th in the world. Other examples of logos are the several students with ground-breaking projects whom he mentions as evidence that succeeding is possible. He also uses the appeal of ethos when he thanks the principle of Banneker, mayor of D.C., and secretary of education. In addition to ethos, he uses pathos when he references the economic troubles that some families might be facing. This provokes emotion from the kids listening who might be affected by the rough economy; it makes them feel like the President understands, so they'll want to listen.

Since it is the back-to-school speech, it is clearly aimed at students in school. However, he acknowledges the audience by using diction that isn't too advance and relates to the age group. He does this by referencing possible obstacles that students face (changing circles of friends & drama, babysitting, and chores around the house) and Facebook and Twitter. In another attempt to 'win them over', he says, "I don't want to be another adult who stands up to lecture you like you're just kids." President Obama wants to make students feel like they're a vital part of the nation. His main purpose of the speech is to encourage students to succeed and to get an advanced education.

Syntax is very evident in the speech; he uses mostly smaller sentences to keep the audiences interested. After some longer sentences, he uses shorter sentences to emphasize his point. This is shown when he said: "If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll let you in on a little secret: I wasn't always the very best student. I didn't love every class I took."

The cadence of the speech goes up and down to give the sound of the speech variation. President Obama also uses a higher pitch to establish a friendly, encouraging tone. The higher pitch gives off a positive feeling, whereas, a lower pitch would be more suited for a somber speech that might be addressing war.

He sounds honest, but although it might have been to others, his speech did not seem that effective to me. But my standards of an effective speech is probably different since I have a Chinese dad who gives my sister and me the same arousing lecture about how he came to America and succeeded every time he comes back home from business trips.