Midyear Report

So I'm supposed to be filling out an official Midyear Report for UChicago, but I'm shirking my admitted student duty. On the other hand, I did submit an original prompt to possibly torture next year's UChicago applicants with. (zomgGrammarAlert: split infinitive AND ending sentence with preposition.) The essay that's supposed to result from that prompt will probably be sacrificed for Spectrum/Idiosync/Acadec writing instead. Pathetic times.

Notice how none of the above work is school-related. And guess why? Second semester senior. I'm excited for second semester even though first semester sucked in pretty much every single way possible. Honestly, junior year -- that proverbial year from hell -- has been infinitely better than senior year so far. Second semester has a lot of work to do for senior to catch up to junior. (This is possibly because senior has a mass, and thus inertia, far greater than that of junior, making acceleration difficult. Once it gets rolling however, senior can beat out any puny low-inertia junior -- hopefully.)

I've noticed how rarely I write about events in my life here. Partly, it's because I have no idea who reads, and I've realized people are ridiculously sensitive to what or how other people write. And then there is psychoanalysis bit: I'm loathe to record negative events (embarrassingly frequent), and I don't think I can write about events authentically. "Words, words, words"--such artifices of human thinking. This echoes something said in English today. So how has senior year been?

A Midyear Report:

Academics: Grade-wise, neither great nor terrible. Probably won't help my regular action apps, but I don't think they will really make a difference either. Class/teacher-wise, best ofmy high school experience. The quality and enthusiasm on the part of teachers are pretty consistent, though unfortunately I can't say the same about my own enthusiasm. Green is a flippin' exciting and understanding teacher, but I just don't find myself engrossed in the subject. Physics is made awesome by lab and McClung's cutesy-dutesy labs. Leavitt invests so much in her class I feel guilty everyday for my own slackoff-ness in French. Noeth's jokes can get tiresome but his occasional cluelessness is endearing so calc is bearable. English is actually rather inconsistent, dependent largely on Crick's mood.

ECs: This is starting to feel like a college app. For some reason, Idiosync and Spectrum aren't as fun as last year. I feel like my dedication to everything have somewhat deteriorated, which probably just speaks to my own laziness. Acadec is gearing up now, and I do want a free (not in economic terms though) trip to Hawaii, so I will muster my last defenses against laziness. Tutoring is fairly blah, and I think neither of us are too excited about bonding over math.

Movieland: What an abysmal showing this year. I really haven't seen or written anything except for a college-related essay about Brazil. The basement is currently too cold for prolonged periods of inhabitation, but come spring/summer, Netflix and projection will be more frequent companions. A couple more trips to the theater are also in order. I also haven't followed the Oscars at all this year. But...I found a recording of "Rescue Me" sung by Gael Garcia Bernal from the soundtrack of The Science of Sleep that has me incredibly excited. What's more exciting is that it's a rewrite of The Velvet Underground song "After Hours." I listened to it way too many times yesterday. "If you rescue me...I'll be your friend forever...."

Driving: Aren't I supposed to have a license by now? I haven't driven in 1.5 months and I think I drive worse than I did in the summer. iSuck.

RIP Spam 1.0. unRIP college apps.