Drawing to a close

Man, this is the most I've written for this blog in like a year! Sorry about that =/ 

This week is drawing to a close, which means it's almost Friday! I'm so happy. There's a movie event tonight, so today is gonna be a long day. But it will all be worth it when the weekend comes!

There's no real reason for this post. I suppose I am focusing on quantity rather than quality. This is what happens when you feel pressured to actually use your blog!!! But I digress.

So yeah. Just wanted to say "hey."

National Pecan Pie Day

I don't even like pie, but I will celebrate National Pecan Pie Day regardless.

Anyway...

Summer is almost half way over, which means that I am that much closer to starting college. And I am absolutely terrified. I mean, this next semester will determine my future. It it's too much and I can't maintain my grades, I lose my scholarship and my GPA will be forever ruined. And I know that it's a bit extreme, but I can't help that my mind thinks of worst case scenarios. I know that people believe in me and in my abilities, but the fact doesn't comfort me. It just means that I have more people that I might disappoint.  But hey, it's still summer. I have another month and a half before I start the rest of my life. I suppose it won't be too bad if I postpone my nervous breakdown.

The middle school camps have started, so that's cool. The girls are really excited, and the general air of the room is positive. There's some work drama, but what job doesn't come with drama? I mostly ignore it, but it can be difficult. Other than that, nothing much is going on here. I want to code a Steven Universe bag, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

In other news, I got very good scores on my AP tests, so I'm basically starting college as a sophomore, which is pretty fantastic. It means that I can focus more on the classes that I really need for my potential major(s.) I'm still not sure if I want to major or minor in psychology. I need to figure out how dedicated I can be to the subject. Regardless, I will be majoring in computer science.

I keep on getting asked what I want to do with my CS degree. I feel bad that I don't have a specific answer, even though I have no reason to. I mean, there's soooooo much that I can do with CS. I don't want to limit myself or my interests. But at the same time, people don't have a positive view of those who appear to have no direction, and I've experience it first hand. Maybe I'm just projection my own feelings of inadequacy onto others. Oh well. Anyway, that's it for now.

I Got That Summertime Madness

Hehehe. I think my title is clever. ANYWAY....

It's been such a busy summer this year. I've been prepping for college, working at YWiC camps, and I just got back from volunteering for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Youth Leadership Institute at UC Irvine. Whew, that was a mouthful! But it's an important event, focusing on giving Hispanic juniors in high school the knowledge and skills necessary to apply to college. My role wasn't as involved with the students as I would have liked, but it was still an important role.

I was a member of the Alumni Team, or A-Team. The A-Team was responsible for setting up and tearing down the rooms that the students were in. For instance, every morning we would have to set up an auditorium with banners and whatever would be needed that day, be it packets or business cards. It was a lot of work and even more walking. My days started promptly at 5:45 A.M. and ended at around 12:00 A.M. It was supposed to end at 11:30, but the A-Team was responsible for doing rounds in the dorms to make sure that the students were in bed and had their lights off.

A-Team!!!! (Minus one guy who was in the restroom...)

YLI was a lot of work, but for me it was very rewarding. I grew very close to the rest of the A-Team; I think I made some life-long friends. They became my familia for 5 days. I also gained experience in working with new people in a new environment. So all in all, it was fantastic and wonderful and a whole bunch of other positive adjectives, even if I missed most of the high school YWiC camps. Oh well. At least I'll be there for the entirety of the middle school camps.

I feel lost. I know, total subject change here. But it's true. I've just spent one of the best weeks of my life in California, and coming back has been hard. I never wanted my time there to end, but now it seems like it never happened. At the same time, being home feels foreign. They act like I've been here all along, but I have no clue what's going on. I don't know the campers as well as they do, and I don't feel like I belong in the room with the YWiC staff. I have no place - home is awkward and I don't have the option of going back to California any time soon. So I guess I can drift for a bit, just until things settle down. Who knows how long that will take though.

Ok, enough depressing thoughts. June is almost over, it went by so fast! I can't believe it. Has it really been a month since I graduated? It was funny - I came home thinking that I had to return to school. Then I realized that 1) school didn't start for another two months and 2) I wouldn't be going back to high school when it did start up. It thrilled me and terrified me in equal measures. But hey, this is what growing up is. You have to leave the familiar and tread into the unknown in order to learn and grow. I wish it wasn't as scary as it is, but I know that fear is a part of life. It's just a matter of how you react to that fear that determines what kind of person you will become.

So this post got a little derailed...oh well. I just needed to word vomit here, and I know hardly anyone actually reads this. For those who will read this, have a good weekend!

An Update Long Overdue

Dang, I kinda forgot that I even had this blog. No matter, I haven't completely forgotten! Now, let's see, what's happened since the summer....

Oh, well, senior year has been absolutely chaotic right from the get-go. But it was sneaky; I didn't realize how chaotic it really was until the end of the first nine weeks. I mean, I had to apply to schools, apply for scholarships, and then I had to fill out the application for this thing called Questbridge. THAT was super intense. And then it was a waiting game. In the meantime I didn't do much. My life revolved around school and food. But, as the name of this blog indicates, I didn't go without programming. Yeah, I'm in the AP Computer Science class at my school. But, I also got to participate in this cool after school programming thing hosted by YWiC. It was once a week and I got to see all my wonderful friends from YWiC and the YWiC staff. So that was the metaphorical "light" in my "dark" life of college applications.

So that takes us to winter break ish. Maybe. I'm not really sure, I tend to live in the moment, so I don't actually know when things took place... All I know is that I didn't get to hang out with my friends that much last semester and school sucked. But during winter break I got to recharge. We went to Phoenix to spend Christmas with my brother Rene and his daughter Amiyah. It was fun. My family, especially my mom, had been under a lot of stress before because her dad got sick, so being in Phoenix was good for her. We got to have fun and laugh and just enjoy being with each other. On the way home though, there was a ton of snow on the highway. We were going pretty slow, but Rene(who was driving ahead of us with my mom and Amiyah) spun out into the median. Luckily they weren't hurt, but we decided to spend the night in Deming to avoid dying. We got home, we relaxed, and then all of a sudden it was New Year's Day.


Update: Sorry, this post was supposed to be published after winter break. I guess I never hit publish. Sorry

I'm a Ravenclaw!

First off, let me just say how sorry I am that it's been a year since my last post. I don't know who reads this thing, but if you do, this past year has been too hectic to write blog posts. So, I'm sorry.

ANYWHO what is this blog if not about my life as a coder? For the first time in forever (heh, Frozen, sorry) I will not be a camper for the YWiC summer camps. *pauses for dramatic effect* BUT I will be a camp assistant for the entirety of June and possible 2 weeks in July. That part is still up in the air. But I'm excited. Thus far it's been good, with a few hiccups, but hey, it's only the third day. I'm not gonna stress about it.

So, in order to make things fun and interesting for us camp assistants, we made today Harry Potter day! Only, Analyssa and I were the only ones to go all out. That was sad, but we looked nice!

Look how adorable we look!

And, to top it all off, I actually wore a SKIRT. I absolutely hate skirts, so the fact that I wore one today was a pretty big deal. I don't know what else to put here, so I shall finish this post early. If I get inspiration later today, I may update, but it's very unlikely.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Hello, people of the world wide web! My apologies for my lack of posts, Life has kept me quite busy, what with a trip to LA, another camp, and only 3 days of vacation. Anywho, Analyssa and I have been asked to write 5 things about our wonderful instructors! I've decided that I'm going to write 5 awesome things that I like about them instead, as well as include some little tidbits about myself. On we go!

Jen:

• Awesome Thing #1 - Jen is always willing to help or give advice, even if it's silly or if I can figure it out myself. I love that she will almost literally drop things to help me. It makes me feel like I matter, and has helped me realize that it's ok to ask for help.
• Awesome Thing #2 - Jen has an awesome sense of humor. She may sound cocky or arrogant to those who don't know her, but she just always tries to make people laugh. I certainly appreciate it, and it helps me relax if I'm stressed.
• Awesome Thing #3 - I love how Jen can tease me. I secretly like having people mess with me, because it means on some level that they know me enough to know what I can take and what ticks me off. 
• Awesome Thing #4 - Another thing I love is how comfortable I am with Jen. I never feel awkward around her, and conversation can flow easily between us. 
• Awesome Thing #5 - I enjoy having debates with Jen, because she always has interesting points of view. 

Noor:

•  Awesome Thing #1 - Noor may be quiet, but she always knows what to say to make me feel comfortable with her. I never feel awkward around her (and I'm ALWAYS awkward.)
• Awesome Thing #2 - Noor is always  sweet to everyone she meets. I love how she tries to not be mean to anybody. 
• Awesome Thing #3 - If ever I need to calm down, talking to Noor really helps. Her calm energy and disposition puts me at ease, and stops me from feeling like I have to fight everything. 
• Awesome Thing #4 - I love how much Noor loves Harry Potter. It means that there's one more thing we have in common, and it's nice to know someone else who wants to get a Hogwarts letter. 
• Awesome Thing #5 - one thing that I love about Noor is that she's super modest. She doesn't like bragging, and that's a quality I find endearing, especially when she has a ton to brag about. 

SP:

• Awesome Thing #1 - This directly isn't about how I interact with her, but SP is one of the few people that Analyssa is completely comfortable with. I love it because I've seen Analyssa struggle with making friends and opening herself up to others. It makes me happy. 
• Awesome Thing #2 - I love that SP doesn't hide her feelings. If she feels a certain way about something, she'll let you know. It's refreshing, seeing as how I recently became distant with my friend (Ana's girlfriend) due to their breakup. It was all because she didn't talk to Ana. So having someone tell me how they feel and what th think about something is awesome. 
• Awesome Thing #3 - SP is always so peppy, even if she's had a bad day. Similar to Noor, she manages to make me laugh even if I'm too tired to sleep. 
• Awesome Thing #4 - I love how SP says "bag." It's hilarious. She says it like "beg" and I laugh so hard because it sounds so funny. 
• Awesome Thing #5 - I love that SP can tease and be teased. This is related to awesome thing #4 because I can laugh at her pronunciation and she doesn't get upset because she can tease me right back. 

Susi:

• Awesome Thing #1 - I love that Susi can be so smart and yet sometimes clueless at times. It's really adorable, especially when it's something really obvious. One less obvious instance was when we helped put together the NXT Lego robotics kits. Ana was playing music on her iPod, and Chandelier by Sia came on. Susi heard it and confidently said "I love Rihanna!" 
• Awesome Thing #2 - Susi is a through-and-through Latina. That being said, I love seeing her dance. It's really awesome, because she gets so into it. 
• Awesome Thing #3 - Susi is really funny. She has this sense if humor that seems mean but really isn't. It's ironic and sarcastic, and I love it. 

So, I don't really know Susi well enough to have 2 more things, but I can say that she's an awesome person who is happy go lucky. 

And now some things about me!!!

• One thing that I think is really important to know about me is that I am a twin. That may not seem like a big deal, or even noteworthy for that matter, but I mention it because being a twin is essential to my being. I am most comfortable with my sister, and if I had to choose between my sister and my best friend I'll choose my sister. Often people try to tell us to split up and be our own people, but I AM my own person. I'm just my own person with her. Some things are hers, some are mine, but we still share a lot.
•   Another thing that you should know about me is that I love to learn. I love looking at something and working through until I have my light bulb moment. It's like a game to me, and learning and mastering a skill makes me feel accomplished.
• I LOVE TO PROGRAM!!!! I've always loved math, and programming is like math. It's all about logic, and trial and error. I love testing my project to see it work. It may be frustrating at times, but finally figuring it out makes it all worth it.
• So, I'm not sure if I should put this. But I figure I might as well seeing as how this is a somewhat important part of me. Plus, Jen said I had to tell a secret. So here it goes. I have not started dating yet, but I've always known that I am attracted to girls. I have known for a while, but I only recently told my close friends and immediate family. I've found acceptance in most of those I told, which has really encouraged me to be comfortable in myself. I don't know who knows, but I figured I might as well put it here. 
• Moving on from such serious facts, my favorite book series if the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth, with Divergent being my favorite book overall. Going in the opposite direction, my second favorite book is The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Crazy right? But I love reading about the metaphorical struggle within a person being personified.
• I love most types of music, save rap. I hate rap, mainly because most rap songs degrade women and are just crude in general. My favorite type of music is.... hmmmmm.... I'd have to say Alternative Rock. I love bands like Green Day, Nickleback, All American Rejects, etc. At the moment though, my favorite artist is actually a cover solo violinist named Taylor Davis. She does awesome covers and cool music videos for those songs.
• Throughout the school year, I'm involved in Key Club, National Honor Society, Science Olympiad, and the Supercomputing Challenge. I'm also in 4-H, and have been in 4-H for 9 years, about. I love the community service aspect of 4-H, and I hope to continue being active in my community. 
• My favorite stop motion film is The Corpse Bride. It's been my favorite stop motion film since I first watched it. Of live action movies, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland takes the cake. 
• So. This is my pet peeves point. I absolutely HATE the sound of people chewing food. It just grosses me out to the point of being nauseated just from hearing it. I also hate it when people refer to me as "Twin" and not even bother to learn my name or who I am. I'm always upset because my dad can't tell us apart. He just guesses, or even just says "girls" when he talks to us, and even if its just me he's talking to. That's probably why I hate the twin thing so much. Anywho. I also hate it when people say things about Analyssa. I only recently grew a pair and found my courage and confidence, and with it I began to stand up for my sister. I was always the weaker one who hid behind her, but now I can hold my own and defend her if I see something. I also hate having people tell me what to do in the "I'm smarter/better than you" tone. I am not a slave, I am helping because I want to, so don't order me around. Sorry. Rant time is mixing with pet peeves here. I also hate it when people watch me when I do something. I'm a big people pleaser, so I try to do things the way I think they would do it, which just makes me mess up in front if them. I also hate it when they watch me because I tend to mess up more under observation, and I don't like messing up in front of people. 

I think that's all that I'll put here. I don't really like to end on a low note, so I shall say one more thing. YWiC has by far changed my life, and, regardless of what happens in my life, I will always look back on my experience with fondness and happiness. I have been shaped permanently by those who have taught the camps, and I will forever be grateful for the direction they gave me. 

Needles and Thread

I'm so sad. Today is the second to last day of the YWiC camps =(  It's kinda a depressing thought. I love the YWiC atmosphere, and it's my home away from home...

Ok, enough depresssing thoughts! I will make the best of it! So, silver lining....hmmmmm....Oh! I know! I got to make an awesome bag that plays the theme from The Big Bang Theory; I got to know Elena and Elisa Davidson more (which was pretty awesome. I've know of them since I started 4-H, and I always wanted to talk to them...) Anwho, silver linings are pretty good at combating my sadness. I'm glad I got to participate.

So, today we started with the morning activity, which was this game where we each got a card and had to keep it on our forehead. Then we had to go around and ask people yes or no questions to figure out who we were. It was very funny, because some people would drop big hints and some of the girls still didn't get it. Then we went inside and jumped right into Python. It was kinda boring, but I think that's because I romanticized the notion of programming in Python since I went to the 2012 summer camp.

After Python, we got started on Greenfoot. As much as I hate to admit it, I actually really enjoyed programming in it. I love the fact that you can just copy and paste and make it work. And then it was lunch!

I'm running out of time to blog, so I shall do the prompt. If I were locked in a store, I would want it to be Barnes and Noble, so that I could read and drink smoothies. That would be amazing.