reflection

Through the many years of learning writing, I have never seen an improvement in my writing. It feels as if my writing has been constant, never changing. I would agree with the statement Mr. Watson stated in class, "all of you're writing is like one block." I feel that all the five pieces plus the journal entries is just one block of writing as well. I never tend to notice any progression in my writing because I have been always used to my style of writing. However, once in a while I ask my mom to proof read my work for gramatical errors and confusion spots and she has occassionally told me that my grammar has gotten much better. So, even though I can't tell the difference in my own writing, my skills must be slowly improving because of the comments from other peers and family.

I enjoyed many of the essays we were assigned. I found some of the topics difficult to think of, while others came easily. I really enjoyed the secret talent essay because it was a good way to not only discover more of yourself but also hidden talents of your classmates. I found the defining moment most difficult because I couldn't think of a topic that defined me or stuck out to me. As for the public interest piece, it was also difficult to first come up with an interesting topic. I finally settled on tennis not being recognized, but that still didn't satisfy me. I enjoyed writing these five essays because they didn't follow the typical thesis structure of having an intro, three body paragraphs, and conclusion. These essays let me take a step away from the those formatted papers and bring out the creativity within me.

parking.

I haven't really realised this until today, but one of my pet peeves is trying to find parking. I went to my friends birthday party located in the heart of traffic and no parking. At ten it was super easy to find good parking, close to the actual party. But I had to leave to do some errands and two hours later there was not one stall in sight. For a good half an hour or 45 minutes I was driving aimlessly and had no luck finding any parking. I was so frustrated. I felt like finding a stall was a waste of time and I should just go back home. I became so desperate I called one of my friends to find a spot and lie down in it for me. But like any normal human being he decided not to. However, luckily I saw a mini cooper pull out of this street parking stall. I wasn't sure if that stall was legal, but I pulled into it anyway. My car, a corolla, (much bigger than a cooper) barely fit into the spot he was located. So basically, I came to the conclusion that I absolutly hate trying to find parking especially if I'm in a rush. I also hate it when I'm trying to parallel park and the guy in back of me is too close to my tail to even parallel into the stall. Driving overall has frustrated me and I hate drivers who drive way below the speed limit. I'm glad that I have my liscense, but I really like being driven around instead. I have only been driving for 13 months and already I'm sick of having to find parking everytime. I have no idea how I'll be dealing with driving in the future because I still have multiple decades of driving ahead of me. Driving is a huge responsability and I'm not sure if a sixteen year old would be able to handle such pressures. Now that I'm seventeen, I can say that the drivers liscense age should be 17. They would be one year older, one year wiser, and one more year to practice driving.

failure

I know I have had a few posts about school work and how my main focus is school work, according to my mom. I have pretty high standards for myself. I'm disappointed with anything lower than a B+ and I absolutely need the A's from those easier classes such as ICP or P.E. However, my mom's standards are even higher because she knows that I can do better. My life has always been about doing better. But how is better achieved when you are already doing your best. I'm not saying that I'm doing my best work all the time, but I have no idea when best is reached. Is best supposed to be a 4.0 GPA, winning states, and being perfect. I'm sure that's what all moms want to see in their daughters. But, I feel like I'm striving for the best not for myself, but for my mom. Is that how my highschool grades should be based on? Solely on whether a mom would be satisfied. I think not. I'm completely satisfied as long as i keep my GPA above a 3.5. I feel like I'm not doing work for myself anymore, but instead for my mom and what would please her. I'm in this competition against my older more perfect sister to achieve better grades and my mom wants me to win because I'm her blood daughter, not a step daughter. I have a week to pull all of my grades up and honestly I don't think I'll be able to achieve it. Punahou puts enough pressure on their students and with this added pressure of getting a 4.0 and the college of my choice just doesn't help me or my self-esteem. and now i'm just venting on about my mom. So I'll leave this on a happy note and say that we only have six more days of school and I have never been so stoked about anything before. Don't get me wrong though, I am blessed to have the opportunity to go to Punahou and to have a roof over my head and supporting parents. I just needed to release how I felt on paper and this has helped me.

tennis states

This past weekend I went up to Maui for the State Championship of Tennis. Even though I was in Maui for a little more than 24 hours, I still had a fantastic time. Spending time in Maui with my teammates was one of the greatest times I have ever experienced. States ended on Saturday and both the girls and boys team took home a state championship. For the boys, it was their 17th state title in a row. And as for the girls it was the 5th title in a row. Punahou won everything...the team title, boys & girls singles and doubles. We haven't accomplished that since 1969 and we did it again this saturday. Right now, I wish I could go back to Maui just so I would be able to relax and enjoy my time with my teammates.

Within the same day, baseball won the state title. They achieved something that has never been done before in Hawaii, a four-peat. Punahou sports this year excelled. WOOO! boys soccer, boys & girls tennis, baseball, girls golf, and a bunch of other sports. So good luck for track & field, which will take place in Maui this week. :)

State's was an exciting time and it calmed me down before AP exams. Today, the AP physics exam was a killer and I questioned how important this exam would be to my college life. I realized that there are a bunch of colleges that don't even except the AP credits, so I question why I would take AP's in the first place. I figured they would look good on my transcript, but wouldn't an A look better in a honors physics course then a B in an AP physics class. I have been wondering about that question for my entire highschool career. My deans that I consulted have said why not get the A in the AP course. That is what I'd like to achieve, but sometimes these classes are in subjects I can't catch onto. All of these AP exams got me to think about college and it stressed me out about wondering if I'll get into any good colleges. As for right now I am SOOOO happy that I don't have AP physics any more. PHEW.

National Honors Society

The National Honors Induction was presented tonight at 6:30. I really wasn't planning on attending this ceremony because I didn't think it was a big deal/honor. I decided to attend the ceremony and decked myself in aloha wear (as suggested in the letter). As I got closer to the chapel I noticed many people really dressed up for this and everyone looked stunning. We all sat down and the principal, president, mr. dang, peter, and Mrs. Medrano gave speeches and recognized our achievements. Our names were called, and we stood up by tens to recieve our certificates from Mr. Dang and shook hands with Dr. Scott & Kevin Conway. After thirty minutes of speeches and handing out certificates, I escaped the chapel and ran for the FREE food.

I realized how supportive parents and relatives were. Every single parent had a lei for their sons/daughters. However, I stood there lei-less. I completely didn't expect anything because I was reminded of the induction ceremony just last night.

So how important is the NHS? I'm hearing from others that it isn't really crucial to be apart of this club. Colleges don't take NHS into great consideration. But I remember at the beginning of freshman year my mom telling me to get good grades so I can be apart of NHS. So therefore, I feel pretty proud to be apart of NHS and that I held my promise to my mom that I would get into NHS. Additional to the induction, I also received a cool certificate. sweet!

PROM

This Saturday was my first senior prom and the events that took place this year made me learn the key steps I'll be taking for next year. Prom was actually really fun and the food was alright. However, like everyone else, I agree that function food is so much better. I really liked the fact that we got to travel in limos to the hotel, instead of a big, hot, sweaty bus filled with tons of people. Everyone looked fantastic. I really like it when everyone dresses up and senior prom is the one chance we have to wear stylish tuxedos and stunning dresses. It's so cute when guys are in tuxedo's :) they look like little penguins. I was pretty last minute about everything though, and I'll remember for next year to get a head start. This year for prom I bought my dress about a month before and apparently people were saying I was pretty late for not getting a dress yet. Luckily, my mom ordered the flowers in time and got a fresh maile lei filled with pikake and red roses. However, another mistake I made was that I scheduled my hair and make-up appointment too late. Originally I had hair at 2 and make-up at 3. Luckily, Dana's 1oclock appointment cancelled and I was able to get my make-up done at 1. :) This prom set the tone for next year's prom. I'm already pretty excited for my own prom next year and considering being apart of the prom committee.

Steps I'll be taking for next year:
1. Definitely buying my dress way ahead in advance. (Maybe in Europe when I go on my summer family trip)
2. Lending my dress to the guy so the colors will match perfectly. (yeah. we didn't match perfectly, but it was close and still looked nice together)
3. booking a hair and make-up appointment way ahead in advance (not to mention figure out what I'm doing with my hair)
4. i don't know the rest. but I'll definitely plan more ahead.

OOHH definitely purchase a clutch ahead of time, and not on the DAY of prom. nice yeah?... it was ten minutes before my make-up appointment. :/

All Nighters

I have always wondered how people pull all nighters. I am not able to function the next day with less than five hours of sleep, so therefore I have never pulled an all nighter. I would fall asleep in every single lecture. However, there are many people who are staying up till 3 in the morning trying to cram in last minute studying or finishing up a paper. I would not be able to function that late. Once midnight occurs I force myself to drop everything I'm doing and just go to sleep regardless if I still needed to learn one more topic. I simply say that I'll finish it up tomorrow.

There are many people I know who can pull 3 hours of sleep for three days in a row. For instance, my mom is constantly working. She gets hardly any sleep and when she wakes up she's surprisingly wide awake and ready to go for work. Of course she has a tall americano in her hand every morning as well. I could never be able to go without sleep. I think to myself maybe if I sleep more, then maybe, just maybe I'd be able to grow just a little more and become taller than my YOUNGER sister. However, that never happens, so I force myself to sleep early so I won't be half asleep at each class I attend.

This past weekend was prom and even though I attended Prom, I wasn't able to attend any of the after parties. This was due to my mom being concerned about me getting my homework done. She was afraid of me staying up all night and then the next day I wouldn't be able to get any homework done. I hate to admit it, but she's probably right. I probably would've stayed up till four in the morning, but then sleep all day because I couldn't be able to function with out sleep. As I'm talking about sleep, I feel like taking a nap right now. Punahou is part of the reason many students gets a lack of sleep. During the month of may, I have especially seen a change in my sleeping. I feel like I'm constantly doing more and more work, while not getting any sleep.