Placement Tests, oh my!

I have a rather large pile of laundry currently staring me in the face, but I'm going to 'do more important things' and ignore it. AKA, blog.

Recently I got a letter from my college telling me that since I expressed interest in the Asian Studies department, specifically the Chinese department, I would have to take the placement test. Normally, that doesn't faze me, because really. It's a placement test.

But this... Oh, man. I am so on edge about it, for multiple reasons. One, I have to write an essay in Chinese, 200-300 characters in two hours or less. I don't KNOW 200 characters! This will be the most repetitive essay they have ever read.

So that's rather daunting. I wrote about 80 characters last night, just to see how many I remember. I don't remember a whole lot. I needed a reminder on how to write my own name in Chinese, for crying out loud!

Oh, summer. You ridiculous thing you.

Anyway, that's not even the worst of it. I also have to do an oral test during Orientation week. Yikes. I get nervous speaking to new people at the best of times, speaking English. But this? Knowing that the future of my Chinese speaking career rests on how well I'll be able to do tones correctly, with the head of the Chinese department is pretty terrifying.

So, I practice. And practice. And practice. I picked up an old textbook yesterday that'll help with reading/writing, so I'm going to review for a bit before I sit down and write the whole thing in one sitting.

I am so going to upload it, along with an English translation after I'm done. Wish me luck!

Camp NaNoWriMo Shall be Conquered! Twice!

Soon, so very soon, hundreds of wannabe writers will be plodding away at their dream novel - myself included - during the upcoming months of June, August, and September. Days spent in front of the computer screen (not like that's not reality for me already) and praying that, in the end, it will all make sense.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Check the link!

Tones and Pinyin - Chinese Lesson 1

Learning Chinese might seem totally out of your ability, but truly, it's not. Once you get the hang of the basics and practice a little everyday, speaking Chinese comfortably can be in your grasp. So, I've decided to start uploading basic Chinese lessons here for anyone who wants to learn! This will probably be the longest one, as others will be 'How to Say' types of posts.

I'm Back!

Wow. So much for trying to write a blog post everyday. Or was it week? Eh. Doesn't matter now! What does matter is that I am done with high school, and in three months - off to college! I am so glad to be done with high school. It wasn't the classes that I minded, it was some people I had to take those classes with. But I'm done with them forever, until our high school reunions!

Could that be... Inspiration?!

I think it might be! The cause is very simple to discover, my dear Watsons. I finished my senior paper on Tuesday, decorated the manilla folder Wednesday (now I insanely regret not taking a picture of it... it was a work of art, that) and handed it in Friday. It's like a giant burden was slowly released from my shoulders during the course of this week, and after the paper forced me to write on a deadline, inspiration has finally struck again!

Review: "The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters

Overview


In the small town, a local doctor, Dr. Faraday, happens to go out to old Hundreds Hall one day to treat the one and only servant there. Hundreds is the home of the once-noble and well off family the Ayres. However, since the war began, their luck seems to have run out - now it's only mother, daughter, son, and the one servant in the lonely setting.

The son, Roderick, had been in the war himself and now has a nasty limp and a scruffy temperament. The daughter Caroline is becoming an eccentric spinster, while the aging Mrs. Ayres has to move on from the luxurious past into the dismal future.

Dr. Faraday soon becomes a regular visitor to the decomposing hall and its sad occupants. However, something more threatening seems to be at work in the dark and silent rooms...

Busy Weekend!

For something completely opposite of last weekend's bite-sized vacation, I stayed indoors, in my pajamas, and did not leave the computer's side pretty much the entire weekend. Wanna know why?

Bite Sized Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL

Getting pulled out of school to catch a flight made me feel like a busy movie star, even though I only missed the last 25 minutes of class, and our plane was so small my head brushed the ceiling, and we were flying to Memphis.

Nothing wrong with Memphis, mind. We flew in at night, and the city looked SO pretty from the sky, all lit up and spread out like that. I really wish I had nabbed a picture, but I'm actually very paranoid when it comes to 'all electronic devices must be turned off.'

Lovecraft, Gold Award, and the Beach

Has anyone out there read any Lovecraft?

I just started a few days ago, and I still can't decide if I enjoy his short stories because of the 'weird' factor (coincidentally also the name of Lovecraft's type of fiction) or because his style is just so unique. They're scary, or at least I think they're scary. I get scared easily, so that might not be a good case to judge by.

Circles Of Writing

I seem to have hit a rut with writing. The timing really couldn't be any more ironic, after I just posted about how writing can be fun and exciting! That much really hasn't changed. It's the fact that I've been struck down with a bad case of WRITER'S BLOCK that is annoying me.

The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna. The most dreaded part of senior year, both high school and college levels: it has to be none other than the research paper / thesis. And guess who gets to start that process on Monday?

Mee!

THE ASSIGNMENT

• Pick two books, plays, short stories, long poems, authors, subgenres (etc.) and compare them, as a literary analysis.
• MLA Format, seven to ten pages in length.
• Ten source notecards, fifty note note cards.

For my thesis, I am going to compare the styles of Edgar Allen Poe and his predecessor, H.P. Lovecraft.

Nice or Just Quiet?

I recently came across a very old diary, from when I was maybe six or seven, one of the diaries that came with prompts and sparkly gel pens to encourage kids to write in them. And one of the prompts happened to be the question:

What is one thing that no one knows about you?

And the partner:

What is one thing everyone knows about you?

(N) Years From Now

I've been thinking a lot about that lovely, heartwarming, timeless, age old question asked by thousands of employers to their fidgeting interviewees:

Where do you see yourself in (n) years?

n=number

Happy 2012!

That's pretty crazy, the fact that 2011 ran by us so fast. As other are doing at this very moment, I am going to introduce myself with a list of my NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS, which is so fancy that it deserved boldface!