Day Zero: Senior Breakfast, I Talk To Red Books

6/15/15, 10:07 PM PDT

(Note: I'm still getting used to the blog being back up again, so the first few days probably aren't gonna be too photo-dense)

So today, on my last day of compulsory, government-mandated school, we had our senior breakfast. For non-high schoolers or my readers in foreign countries, it's basically a breakfast with our entire high school class that's more or less an excuse to have the entire Class of 2015 do one last thing together before we go into the real world. The cold, cruel, frightening real world.

If it's anything like MTV portrays it to be, we're all screwed.
(via wikipedia.org)

I would say that it's surreal that today would be the last day of something I've been a part of for the past four years. I would say that it'll be strange to imagine not having to wake up at 5:45 AM every day, plow through six straight hours of school, pass out at home for a few hours, and start homework at 8 PM. And I would say that I'm gonna miss seeing a bunch of people on a regular basis.

But I skipped breakfast today and I was starving, so none of that was going through my mind. I was just thinking about the food. The delicious, delicious food. I didn't grab any pictures, but they had bacon, scrambled eggs, breakfast burrito stations, omelette-making stations, and some weird apple-cinnamon thing that looked gross but tasted delicious.

It sort of looked like this, except more syrupy and less appetizing.
(via guavarose.com)

And it was ALL YOU CAN EAT. Which meant my famished little stomach was very very happy.

They had a bunch of activities too. There was a photobooth (which of course, my friend group and I hit up).

It took me two pictures to realize that the camera wasn't
on the ceiling.

And a flipbook, which my friends also indulged in.

It's supposed to be an allegory to nature's inevitable triumph over mankind
or something.

There was also DDR, which we played, and karaoke, which we did not do because 90% of the time it was playing Nickelback and our requested song, Party in the USA, never came up. In hindsight, I think it was a good decision not to sing because if we did, we probably would have ruined the entire senior breakfast for everyone. Because everyone's eardrums would have been ruptured.

A cool thing they also had was this one dude promoting a movie called "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and it looks pretty damn good. I haven't really heard a synopsis or anything of the film, but based on the guy's mumbled spiel, the fact that it's a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury/Audience Award winner (which Whiplash was also a past winner of), and all of the free merchandise we got, I'd say I'm pretty hyped about it.

And I mean it when I say we got a lot of merchandise. We got posters...

More to decorate my room with.

Shirts...

I'll be wearing this during finals week in UCLA then.

And this dumb looking box.

Unfortunately, it does not contain embarrassing pictures of Spongebob
at the Christmas party.

But what was in this dumb looking box? A FREE SELFIE STICK! AWWW YEAH.

Or, as the kind women at the convent call it, the Vanity Pike.

Here we have the lovely, Berkely bound Kurtland Chua demonstrating its length.

A natural born Vanna White, huh?

Pretty glad I got this thing. I'm probably gonna use it as a ghetto crane for films and stuff, as soon as I find a way to either make my hands less shaky or stabilize the camera. I'll figure out a non-selfie use for it someday, promise.

Later today, the squad and I (with "squad" being defined as Angela, Kayla, Christina, Gwendolyn, Samantha, and Nick) went to the movies to go watch Insidious 3. I think the scariest part about that entire movie was the fact that I drove there. I suck so much at driving, I swear. I can't wait until robotic cars are the norm, I hate driving so much. In UCLA, as long as I have public buses, trolleys, a scooter, and my own two feet, I will be a happy, happy boy.

We also hit up the local Barnes and Noble, as is standard in our film-watching escapades. A few days ago, Christina found this ritual online that involved a red book and allowed us to communicate to ghosts or spirits or Mexican demons or something. But basically, the gist of the ritual was that you'd grab any red-colored book, ask a question, flip to a random page, and point to some text and whatever you pointed to would be the spirit's response.

So we did that at Barnes and Noble with an assortment of red books.

The first red book we tried got some pretty tepid results. The demon we contacted didn't really wake up on the right side of the bed, so it said we couldn't play and we went on our merry way. It was when we got to this cookbook where things got interesting: 

It's red. It's bound like a book. It checks out.
(via simonandschuster.com)

You know, for a cookbook, it had very feisty responses. It started with an innocent "Are you a boy or a girl?" Then, one thing led to another, and eventually I figured out what she (it was a she-demon, a shemon) was wearing, I figured out that she liked it when I pressed her covers, and I landed myself a date with a cookbook this Friday. Sorry Sam, but I've got a hot date with a hot, hot demon.

RFotD: In a ranking by U.S. News & World Report, the Paleo Diet ranked last in a list of 32 diets. The traits used to compare the diets were healthiness, weight loss, and ease of following.

Day Forty-Eight: The Great 12 Hour Story Challenge

7/31/14, 11:59 PM PDT

So yesterday, I looked up the college admission requirements for USC's School of Cinematic Arts and Caltech (my reach computer science school, even though I have little to no desire to be in computer science). Caltech's admissions were pretty straightforward, it's basically the common app but with six more short answer questions and more standardized testing requirements. But USC's film school, being an art school, has a LOT more emphasis on creativity. Specifically, they mentioned that I send in a five minute clip of a film that I had a major creative role in AND I should list all of the notable creative work that I've created (film related or otherwise).

The former will be pretty easy, I can probably get a five minute clip done during The Update this year or something. But the latter requires me to have notable creative work. Which means publications, award winners, etcetera.

So henceforth, I'll probably be entering as many writing/screenwriting/film contests as I can before that December 1 deadline rolls around. Starting with this one, whose deadline was midnight TONIGHT.

Me. Except that hour hand is pointing to noon so I didn't have to worry much.
(via appliedfinancial.net)

For a story written in less than 12 hours, I'm pretty proud of the end result, especially coming out of a three-plus month slump of not writing entire stories. Samantha offered to proofread it, fixed the mistakes that she caught, paid my 5 dollar entry fee, and sent it over to SDWI at 11:30 PM.

Here's hoping that I get published, huh?





RFotD: Freddie Wong, YouTube celebrity and creator of the webseries "Video Game High School" graduated from USC along with his friend and filmmaking collaborator, Brandon Laatsch

SGAT: Wrote a story in preparation for mu USC application.

Day Zero: Farewell Seminar, Hello Summer

6/13/14, 10:35 PM PDT

Technically, my day started on midnight since at that time, I was still editing the DJ/Seminar tribute video. I didn't finish until 3 AM, and I had to wake up at 6 AM to get ready for school, so for the very last day of summer, I was running on three hours of sleep.

But it was worth it. Dear god, was it worth it.

Okay, so not counting sleep deprivation, the first thing that happened today was a great little potluck in English. Unfortunately, I didn't really bring anything since I was too preoccupied with editing to bring in jello cups like I always do, but it was okay since a lot of people brought stuff so I wasn't too missed. Someone brought those massive sandwiches from Vons pre-sliced, so whoever that was I love you because those sandwiches are my LIFEBLOOD. Seriously, I have them pretty much all the time for lunch and I never get sick of them.

After a few more English project presentations, my video finally premiered. Take a look.

Sappy paragraph incoming. Brace yourselves.

It's basically a mixture of all the videos we've done in Seminar English since 6th grade (with Alex and Nick's Spanish project thrown in there because it's so beautiful). And even though they look like stupid little amateur videos, I got pretty emotional when I finished editing the entire thing and I watched it over for the first time. It's less about the actual content of the videos and more the fact that it shows just how long we as a class have been together. I mean I've been with this same group of people for three years (six for a few of them), and the fact that today will probably be the last time we're all guaranteed to have the same class... it's a little saddening. But at the same time I'm so glad that I got to spend all this time with such a great group of people. If you know me in person, you'll know that I absolutely LOVE talking about Seminar English and it's because honestly, Seminar English is period I look most forward to, not just this year, but ever since middle school. I think Kevin Tran said it best when he said that this class really did bond, whether it was through the in-class discussions, the potlucks, or (and especially) through the all-nighters that we pulled from doing English. And he's right. In my entire academic career, I've never felt so close to an entire class before.

So yeah, when I showed it to the class, I kinda teared up. Just a little though. Shut up.

Oh and the first minute or so was a tribute to Mrs. DJ. If you look carefully, you can see that I swapped out her husband's face with Mr. Tompkins' face. And it's not because I wanted to be random. Just take a look at the original picture and tell me that Mr. DJ doesn't look like a cop from a 1980s TV show.

She didn't really notice it when it first popped up. I think the entire class laughing tipped her off that there was something up with that picture. But you could definitely tell when she figured it out, because when she did, she gasped and immediately covered her face with both hands, it was hilarious.

Oh, and we took a few class pictures too. Check back on tomorrow's entry because I have to wait until people send their pictures to me since I didn't take any unfortunately.

Afterwards, sort of slept through psych. Nothing really happene-OH WAIT. Brandon, Limbert, Toossi, and Xerxes pelted Biggs with water balloons. Limbert missed and accidentally hit the big TV in the middle of the room, so I think that thing is dead. Then after school I hit up IHOP. Obligatory food photos because I've made it a personal goal to put more pictures in this blog.

Some sort of... giant eggroll?

Yeah, we like french toast. Do do dodo, can't wait to get a mouthful.

See that savory crêpe at the top? Yeah, it had mushrooms, chicken, onions, and spinach in it. Kayla thought it would be good, so she ordered it and split it with me since her tiny atrophied stomach couldn't possibly finish both.

That was the worst mistake of my life. That crêpe was AWFUL. I was so nauseated by the end of it.

Oh, and my friends also made my blindly eat a pancake practically covered in salt. So if I get kidney stones about 20 days into summer, you'll know why.

Then went swimming with a bunch of track people. Kayla and Christina were there, but they didn't go in the water since they didn't have spare clothes. There was some guy that was apparently in charge of safety in the pool and he called me out EVERY SINGLE TIME I broke a pool rule and went into a 15 minute lecture about why we have that rule in place, complete with California law codes and death statistics. I mean, come on, I did one side flip into the pool, that did not warrant a verbal encyclopedia with works cited.

Got home at around 5:15 PM and just passed out from exhaustion. But today was a great start to summer. Great, great start.





RFotD: Nemo 33, the world's deepest swimming pool, has a depth of 33 meters (108 feet). It is designed for divers and has numerous artificial caves for exploration. It also has numerous facilities around the pool including a restaurant where diners can see the divers up close through poolside windows. Check this video out.

SGAT: None really.

2014: Orientation and Bonus Entry

6/11/14, 4:22 PM PDT

It begins again. Oh god, it begins again.

Alright, for those of you who weren't here last year, I'll give you a bit of an orientation. It's gonna sound a bit clumsy since I'm always bad at this sort of stuff, but just bear with me. So every summer, I write these journal entries about the stuff I do during vacation so that I can share the fun fun things that I experience with you poorer, less fortunate people who don't live as entertaining a summer as I do.

HAH. Kidding. Roughly 70-75% of my entries are probably gonna be boring, but I will try my best to make this blog as interesting of a read as possible without deviating too far from the truth. This blog will be updated daily and in the six years that I've written summer journals, I have been very timely with these entries. The only times I've been late on entries is when I don't have access to the Internet (usually when I'm traveling abroad) or when I do things past midnight, which is frequent. Every update will roll out at around 11:30 PM each day.

As I've mentioned, updates will come daily, and contrary to popular belief, I am not the most interesting person in the world (I'm in third place, behind Sean Connery and one of the baggers at Albertsons that used to be a POW and has war flashbacks when someone buys kettle corn). But since it's updated daily, my blog will pretty much reflect the current mood that I had during the time. So when I'm happy, my blog entries will be happy and when I'm sad, my blog entries will be slightly less happy (I'll try to avoid a repeat of last year where I got hit by a wave of depression midway through and a ton of my entries were just melancholic bullshit).

Two things to note. If you look to the very bottom of most entries, you'll see something that says "RFotD" and "SGAT." They stand for "Random Fact of the Day" and "Summer Goals Achieved Today," respectively. The random facts will be true facts that I include purely for the sake of educating the masses. And if you look to the top of the site, you'll see a page labeled "Summer Bucket List," which is a list of stuff I want to accomplish. Even though it's labeled as a "summer" bucket list, in reality it's just a list of stuff that I want to do before I die, so you'll occasionally see me add new things in there and cross stuff off even if it's not summer. SGAT basically notes if I tried to accomplish anything in my bucket list that day, just to keep me productive.

Oh, and one important thing that I feel people didn't use enough last year: tags. If you look to the right and scroll a bit, you'll see this big ol' column that says "Tags." Yeah, use that. With every update (unless I'm on my phone, where tagging is a bitch), I will include tags that usually give a gist of what the entry is about. They'll be fairly consistent, I don't typically add new tags unless I see myself writing about that subject more times in the future, so they act as a really reliable categorizer. And if I write an entry that I'm especially proud of or think is funny enough, I mark it with the tag "Favorite Entries." I'm fairly selective when it comes to tagging entries as my favorite (quality assurance, in essence), so if you want to skip all the crap and just read interesting things, definitely check that tag out.

Alright, recap. Summer blog, updated daily, 11:30 PM, RFotD, SGAT, tags exist, yeah, I think that about covers it. Hope you guys enjoy the blog! I'll see you in two days or so. Or hell, maybe I'll start tomorrow because I'm foreseeing tomorrow as being a pretty interesting day.

Bonus entry: New York Trip, written from 6/6/14 - 6/8/14

Day Eighty-Three: The Conclusion

9/2/13, 4:44 PM PDT

WOOPWOOP! Finally finished summer homework, awwwwwww yeaaaah! Well, technically, I still have to watch the videos for APUSH, but those are a piece of cake anyway.

Anyway, what to do now... I guess I should probably work on the titles story, which I still have to start, even though the due date is in TWO DAYS and I have a metric F TON of stories to write.

Better get to it then.



Same day, 7:34 PM PDT

Wrote the outlines to most of the stories, but still have a HUGE CHUNK to go through. Eeeeeeeesh.

Anyway, let me take this time to thank you guys so much for taking the time to read my entries! Even if only read a single entry, I'm thankful for you. I had loads of fun writing about the ridiculous, boring, funny, and strange things that happened during my summer and I hope that you guys had fun reading about it. Hopefully, you guys laughed at least once reading my entries.

I'll of course be doing this next year as well, so if you have any suggestions, either write them on your knuckles with a really runny marker and with the same hand punch me on my right cheek for me to look at later in the mirror, or write them below in the comments!

Thanks again, guys! Here's to another year of school!




RFotD: One could create an amateur permanent tattoo by lightly cutting into their own skin and writing over the wound with a Sharpie.

Summer Goals Achieved: Caught up on Doctor Who, made TWO short films, restarted my Minecraft server, bought nicer clothes, shrunk my backpack size, and watched a few movies including "Death of a Superhero," "Star Trek Into Darkness," and "Pacific Rim."

Day Eighty-Two: English While Holding on to the Last Threads of Summer

9/1/13, 11:24 PM PDT

Okay. I should not have procrastinated. SHOULD NOT HAVE PROCRASTINATED. Because now, I have effing TEN ENGLISH ENTRIES TO COMPLETE AND 30 PAGES TO OUTLINE.

Well... I suppose it isn't too bad. I mean I did knock out a huge chunk of work today, which is FANTASTIC.





RFotD: Roughly 20% of people call themselves "chronic procrastinators," where they routinely do everything either at the last minute or after the deadline.

SGAT: Worked on summer homework, EFFING YEAH.

Day Seventy-Three: A Broken Stick

8/23/13, 3:02 PM PDT

Watched Broadchurch as I ate my breakfast at 11 AM. Nice plate of pancakes with syrup and strawberry jam while David Tennant yells at Andrew Buchan. And yes, I did have to look up that second guy's name, mind you.

But WOW, is it intense. And it's only the third episode. You guys should watch it, it's pretty good so far. Especially seeing David Tennant, who is FANTASTIC in the series.

Wow, I'm using A LOT of caps, aren't I? Probably should stick to italics.

Oh, Skype'd with Hellen and Rhea again while reading The Secret Life of Bees. Worthy of mention.



Same day, 8:55 PM PDT

Finished today's scheduled reading of The Secret Life of Bees, which took FOREVER. Now gonna start editing our short film.

Oh, and on a more serious note, there's a pretty bad gash in the Mikabranch Skype Group, which I feel really bad about. Some backstory first.

So Angela suggested about a month ago that we all match in our ID/yearbook pictures. We were all willing to do it and we chose a pretty simple shirt that we could all get our hands on. A plain white baseball shirt with blue shoulders.

(via http://sportheadband.com)

Then, Angela left for Mexico and the rest of us never got around to buying the shirts, much to her disappointment. Now that wouldn't have been that bad. We could've just told her that we didn't do it. She probably would've been fine.

But nope. I had to be stupid and lie, pretending that we actually did it. Now she found out that we didn't actually do it. And she's pretty mad.

I feel really, really bad and now I have to make up for it somehow. But I have no idea what to do.

I'll sleep on it, see what I come up with.



Same day, 11:46 PM PDT

Edited a bit more for our short film while chatting with Rhea about being treasurer and secretary in her bed club. It's hard to explain, lol.

Anyway, I have to say, the film's turning out pretty good so far. Still have a few ways to go before we start shooting again on the 27th, though. I have to come up with a shot list and a basic storyboard so everything runs smoothly since it'll be the last chance we get to film all summer.

Baby steps, Michael. Baby steps.





RFotD: Ever feel uncomfortable that you haven't finished a project you started? You're experiencing the Zeigarnik Effect, where your mind constantly tugs at you to finish something you've already began.

SGAT: Worked some more on my short film, which, based on the pace I'm going right now, is probably gonna take a few weeks to finish. Not counting time to compose a musical score and an introduction animation.

Day Seventy-One: Andrew Almost Kills Us

8/21/13, 3:43 PM PDT

Orientation today. Took forever to get my ID card because for some reason the booth that they took my photo in took SIXTEEN YEARS to print the card compared to the other booths.

But I look okay in this ID, so I guess that makes up for the wait.

Went to In-N-Out with Andrew and Khai, a trip which unnerved me a bit more than our usual post-school trips because ANDREW DROVE US THERE.

But we managed to make it to In-N-Out with only three crashes and six pedestrian casualties. Not too shabby.

After that, went to Sushi Hut, where I absolutely ROCKED OUT with an impromptu drum set consisting of a pair of chopsticks as my drumsticks, two overturned sauce holders and the lid of a disposable cup as drums, a sheet of paper as a cymbal, and the floor as my bass drum. Since it was after the lunchtime rush and Sushi Hut was really empty, I got a lot of weird stares from the staff. But I don't care.

Oh, and we went to Petco too. Look at this champ of a rat that we found.

Some legends are born. Others are bred.

When I grow up, I wanna be just like that rat.



Same day, 11:13 PM PDT

Oops, wasted a good chunk of the day watching Cr1TiKaL's videos on YouTube. They're more addicting than drugs, I swear to god.

Better read more Secret Life of Bees so that I can say that today wasn't completely unproductive.





RFotD: Rats are sensitive to electromagnetic fields. When bringing a pet rat home, it is recommended to keep the rat in a place with minimal electrical activity until the rat learns to trust you.

SGAT: Read. That's about it.

Day Sixty-Eight: In Memory of a Cricket

8/18/13, 9:27 PM PDT

Headed home, at last! Stopped by Applebee's to eat delicious chicken broccoli pasta alfredo, took a two hour nap, and caught up on all my blog entries today. WOW, I'm tired.

...And I still have to finish all my summer homework. And my short film. And some third thing. Probably the stirling engine, which I told my French teacher that I'd be building.

Wait, crap. I said I'd be making an RC car. Better get on that.



Same day, 11:01 PM PDT

Oh god. So apparently, Kevin's finished one book for Honors Amer Lit already and I've just barely started. Everyone else seems to be starting as well. Should I be worried?

Yeah, I should be worried.



Same day, 11:24 PM PDT

There is an OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD cricket in our house. Even with my headphones on, blasting dubstep, I could hear it chirping as if it were right next to my ear. So I look around, can't find it, but it sounds like it's coming from my parents' room. So I decide to warn them about the cricket.

Mom comes over, finds it pinned to the fibers in our potted plant. It's stuck and crying for help. Poor little guy. If you've read my blog before, you probably know that I hate spiders. But I love crickets. They're harmless. They make nice music in a group. They're high in protein. So I always let crickets live. So I stood there, thinking about how we could get this poor guy off the plant when my mom immediately takes off her slipper and KARATE CHOPS THE CRICKET IN THE FACE WITH IT. It survives and manages to wedge itself out of the potted plant, all while I'm screaming "NOOOO, DON'T DO IT!"

And I held my mom back. I HELD HER BACK. BUT SHE BURST THROUGH JUST AS THE CRICKET ENTERED MY SISTER'S ROOM.

And she killed it. My poor cricket is dead.





RFotD: Female crickets do not chirp. You can calculate the temperature based on the frequency of a cricket's chirps by using the following formula: Number of chirps in 15 seconds + 37 = Temperature in Fahrenheit.

SGAT: None really.

Day Twenty-Four: ScribbleScript

7/5/13, 9:58 AM PDT

Dropped my sister off, then played fetch with Mocha for a bit. I can tell my neighbors' dogs are jealous since every time the ball hits the fence, they whimper and whine. One of them even tackled into my fence to try and get the ball, which startled Mocha and I.

Scriptwrite time, here we go!



Same day, 11:44 AM PDT

YES. CHECKED MY APWH SCORE, GOT A 4 ON A SCALE OF 5. THAT'S FANTASTIC.

LOOK AT IT. I WANT ALL OF YOU TO LOOK AT IT. MAKING IT HUGE SO YOU CAN'T IGNORE IT.

Thank god too. Words can't even begin to describe how unprepared I was for this test, especially being in Fulks' first year of teaching. You remember that story I wrote awhile back about the APWH test? That was non-fiction, I literally BS-ed my way through the essays and roughly half of the multiple choice.

God, I'm shaking, the few minutes before my score was revealed must have been the tensest minutes of my life. So relieved I know the score now.



Same day, 3:31 PM PDT

Haven't been following my exercise schedule, unfortunately, which means I've gotten... flabby. Gotta go do exercises so I don't end up blob-like.

Actually, now that I think of it, I'm in a pretty deep mess. Sleep schedule's horrendous, I've done minimal movement since my parkour accident, and I've gotten pretty lazy. This will not do. And come to think of it, my friends do judge me a lot for looking like a mess. Also, I've gotten a pretty bad habit of cursing.

So starting today, I'm gonna fix everything I can. Scheduled a mandatory auto shutdown for my computer at 9:45 PM every day so I have no excuse to stay up until 3 now. Put sticky notes EVERYWHERE, reminding me to exercise and maintain good posture. Gonna go back to slapping myself when I curse now, either over chat or in real life, just so that I can stop doing it subconsciously. As for my fashion style... might need a bit of help with that.

Especially with my hair. I feel like 16 years of the same haircut's gotten quite stale. Send me pictures of people with awesome hairstyles so I know what to get next time I go to the barber's, please.


Same day, 7:38 PM PDT

Got really, really into writing the script for my short film. Been writing it since 11 in the morning and I think it's turning out GREAT. Really excited to get people involved in it.

Also, played a bit of Scribblenauts for inspiration. My god, the intro's the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I'm serious, look at this intro.

ISN'T IT ADORABLE?!

Same day, 8:09 PM PDT

Auuuugh, I''m exhausted. Been napping on and off this entire day. Think I'm gonna go sleep early. One more hour or so. Night all.

RFotD: The original Scribblenauts had 22,802 different usable words. Scribblenauts Remix and Scribblenauts Unlimited both added to this count substantially by introducing adjectives and Nintendo characters.

SGAT: Wrote the HELL out of my script.

Day Twenty-One: I Forgot

7/2/13, 9:42 AM PDT

Yay, sister's well enough to finally go to school, which means I'm up early again.

Unfortunately, I haven't exactly stuck to my exercise schedule since I landed on my neck at parkour. I'll probably catch up tomorrow, but today's dedicated to exclusively writing. Running on five hours of sleep, here we go!



Same day, 2:28 PM PDT

Picked up my sister. Saw Theo walking to the same school my sister goes to, so I STARED HIM DOWN UNTIL HE LOOKED AWAY TO ASSERT MY DOMINANCE. As soon as we made eye contact, he turned his head so fast, I thought his neck would've snapped. Then, he kept on sideways glancing toward me to see if I had looked away BUT I HADN'T. I STARED RIGHT AT HIM AS IF HE WERE A WEEPING ANGEL AND HE SUFFERED EVERY SECOND THAT I STARED AT HIM. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Back to writing. Really excited to release tomorrow's story, I think it's great so far.



7/3/13, 8:41 AM PDT

SHOOT. Got too into writing, forgot about finishing this entry. My bad, guys!





RFotD: The current world record for longest time gone without blinking is 20 minutes, 53 seconds.

SGAT: Finished a story.

Day Sixteen: The Angry, Angry Sun

6/27/13, 8:36 AM PDT

Woo, sister's finally better, so finally woke up early to drop her off.

...And my brain feels like it's exploding. Running on four hours of sleep, but it's a necessary pain in my quest to fix my sleeping schedule.

Gonna go finish up the last episodes of Doctor Who, then it's off to scriptwriting. Aww yeah, almost caught up!



Same day, 3:40 PM PDT

Picked up my sister a few hours ago. Short day today, which meant that I had to leave house at noon to pick her up.

Noon.

During summer.

What I'm hinting at is that it was burning when I left house.

My house is ridiculously comfortable during summer because of insulation. It's freezing cold during winter in my house, but during summer, it's nice and temperate. Like a refrigerator.

So when I went outside, the wave of boiling air hit me. Hard. The school wasn't even half a mile from my house, but it felt like I trekked through six miles of Sahara to get there. It burned, and that's no exaggeration. When I left the house, I was probably as pale as an antisocial vampire. Now?

I look like I was left in the oven for too long. No joke, in the few minutes I left my home, not only did I manage to get tanner, but steam actually started coming out of my body due to the sheer temperature difference when I stepped back home.

Oh sun, you crazy, crazy devil.

Anyway, pretty lazy day so far. Apparently, I had a lot more episodes of Doctor Who left to watch than I thought, so I've a lot of work to do.



Same day, 6:14 PM PDT

My sister's open house/faire was today. My sister and I were on our way when she complained that her stomach hurts, so we decided not to go.

Poor Megan. She's really disappointed that she couldn't go. Damn you, disease, you cause nothing but trouble.

And it looked surprisingly awesome too. I took a look at the plans and they had a scavenger hunt and a cultural exhibition planned. There were also a bunch of food stands and ice cream trailers. Dang it, this could've been an interesting entry but now it's all boring because I didn't go.

I'm gonna find that disease. And I'm gonna kick the holy loving snot out of it. With toe kicks.



Same day, 9:25 PM PDT

Scriptwriting. It's turning out to be pretty flackin' good. Still not gonna go too in-depth with the plot, but hell, if you're reading this and you're interested in a role, write in my Tumblr ask box that you'd like to help along with the best way to contact you. Gonna be needing a person to play a secret agent, a bad guy, and a helluvalot of guards that get murdered by the agent. Roles may be expanded depending on the direction I want to take the script though, so I might have more parts if you check in the future!




RFotD: Panda bears have an extra “thumb” (which is actually an extra-large wrist bone) just for holding onto bamboo stalks.

SGAT: Wrote a bit more of my script.

Day Three: The Minecraft Space Mission

6/14/13, 10:39 AM PDT

Dropped my sister off really early again. I think I'm getting used to getting up at 7 AM.

Actually, no. No I'm not. My mom practically had to drag me out of my bed to drop my sister off.

Then, went to go watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. I never knew that movie could be so ridiculously funny, I thought it would just be a stupid, vulgar film. Well, it was pretty vulgar, but still very funny. I'd recommend watching it, but it's pretty inappropriate in a lot of parts, so I can't do that.



Same day, 2:03 PM PDT

Had a pretty successful server run today. Eight entire players online at once, which made for lots of pretty awesome assassinations, especially since I modified the Assassin kit to have a HIDDEN GUN. It's pretty much an instant kill that has infinite range and takes a minute to reload, but oh my GOD, did it spice up the PVP on the server. I actually think it's kind of overpowered now. Considering either nerfing it or buffing the other kits.

Then, I picked up my sister from school and saw the MOST ADORABLE PAIR OF POMERANIAN PUPPIES AT THE PARK. Oh my GOD, they were so tiny and SO FRICKING CUTE.

LOOK AT IT. OH MY GOD, IT'S SO CUTE.

I WANT IT. NO, I NEED IT.

They remind me of the pomeranians in the story I wrote awhile back. They'll probably grow up to destroy the world. But I don't care, they're adorable.

Same day, 7:06 PM PDT

JESUS CHRIST. FIVE HOURS OF MINECRAFT STRAIGHT. MY EYES BURN WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS.

Did a LOT in Minecraft. Played the "Dropper" map on Brandon's server, which was pretty easy since I had optifine and could see infinitely. After Brandon logged out and left his server on, we decided to push the limits on his server by causing AS MUCH LAG AS WE COULD. First, Ivan spammed bats EVERYWHERE.

And I do mean EVERYWHERE. This is barely a fraction of the total bat
density in the server.

Then, Christina put out a bunch of chickens, which made me crash a few times. To which I retaliated by pulling out my autoclicker and summoning a MILLION BOTTLES OF EXPERIENCE.

Everyone was blinded by the sheer XP volume.

Then, when most of the people left, Ivan and I decided to make a player cannon made out of TNT. We started this quest at around 3:00.

WE DID NOT FINISH UNTIL 7. FOUR HOURS OF ENGINEERING, REDSTONE CIRCUITRY, PISTONS, AND DISPENSERS. At times we wanted to stop. At times, it felt like our eyes would burn out and our brains would be come cube-shaped like the blocks that filled them.

Mark 1. Spectacular failure.

Mark 2. Getting better, but failed roughly 70% of the time.

Mark 3. Launched us HIGH, but broke half of the time due to its
design.

But at long last, our efforts culminated into the GREATEST PLAYER CANNON EVER BUILT.

Mark 4. Pure perfection.

This behemoth right here could launch me 1,400 BLOCKS STRAIGHT INTO THE AIR AND IT CAN GO HIGHER. I was launched so high in the air that even with OptiFine and render distance set to max, I could NOT see the ground. I WENT SO HIGH THAT I COULD SEE THE MOON WHERE THE GROUND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. AND IT WAS DAYTIME.

I only got this screenshot from my second time in the cannon. Still
ridiculously high, no?

The cannon worked for Kayla too, but for some reason, Ivan's launch height was capped at 500 blocks. Probably because I programmed the cannon to be racist and Ivan's Mexican.

My eyes hurt and I almost completely forgot about parkour that's about to happen in about an hour, so see you until then!

Same day, 11:32 PM PDT

Aww yeah, great day of parkour. Brought my camera out to take pictures and videos, but because my camera's not exactly fantastic, I couldn't get very good shots at all. Got some pretty awesome videos, but I don't really want to upload them here since I'd like to keep this blog strictly photos and stories. But since half of my audience is from Facebook, you can check the videos out there if you'd like!

Did some pretty crazy stuff. Made a few pretty far double kongs and equally far dive kongs. Also tried my hand at precisions, wall ups and worked a bit on my wall spins.

...This terminology's just flying over your head, huh? Well, I did cool stuff.

Oh, Seth brought a few of his friends from tennis along too. One of them was in my math class, the rest of them I vaguely remember from various Facebook posts that lie in my subconscious. They didn't really do much, but they did give an honest effort, which was pretty great. Especially Andy, he was AWESOME. He did pretty much all of the vaults and managed to do a BACKFLIP into the foam pit, something that even I can't do in my three or four years of parkour.

After gym hours, had some pretty awkward conversation with one of the coaches and recycled a joke that I heard literally a few minutes before I talked to him. Recited some SpongeBob lines with my sister on the drive home. Eventually, my dad got in it too and we sang the song Sandy wrote when she was homesick for Texas.

My family's awesome.

RFotD: Vacuum cleaners in the early 20th century were large, powered by coal, and required three people to operate.

SGAT: Exercised a lot.

Day Two: Purges and Pickups

6/13/13, 9:05 AM PDT

Woke up early again to drop my sister off. You know those Safety Patrol kids in elementary school? The ones that dress in red clothes and direct the pedestrian traffic in front of the school? I think it's a helpful little school program. Makes it pretty easy for me to cross the street without getting killed.

That's why the sheer "doucheness" (for lack of a better word) of this guy is worthy of mention. This morning, Safety Patrol was going about their normal routine. Whistle person blew once, signaling the other Safety Patrol kids to lower their stop signs. As usual, safety patrol waited around five seconds to make sure no cars were coming around. The whistle person was about to blow twice, signaling that we could cross, when suddenly, some jerk, on his phone while driving, decides to turn at that same intersection, ignoring the poor, innocent Safety Patrol kids doing their job.

Of course, everyone flips out about how rude the guy is. Or, maybe it was just me, I didn't notice anyone else doing anything.

Anyway, after I dropped my sister off, I decided to go for a run around my neighborhood. I hadn't run any distance longer than half a mile in about a year, so I wanted to get back in shape. Stretched, got my music on and everything.

I only lasted ten minutes. Ten minutes.

Holy crap, am I unhealthy. I used to be able to run for half an hour straight in middle school, but now ten minutes?

I gotta get back in shape. So starting today, I'm gonna be working out a lot more. I'm sticking to a stricter exercise schedule. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I'll be jogging laps around my neighborhood. Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I'll be working on upper body. Crunches, sit ups, push ups, whatever. Friday nights are gonna be parkour sessions as usual. Weekends are rest days, with 30 crunches in the morning and 30 crunches at night.

Wish me luck, guys! Hopefully, before summer ends, I'll get a 10 pack or something.



Same Day, 2:30 PM PDT

Been tweaking my Minecraft server for a bit. Have to say, it's pretty awesome. Wanna play? Message me on Facebook and I'll probably give you the IP!



Same Day, 7:43 PM PDT

Went to go watch "The Purge" with Angela, Christina, Christina' cousin (forgot his name, so here on out, I'll call him CC), Kayla, Nick, Alex (Angela's brother), and a few of Alex's friends.

Well... technically, we watched Star Trek. We cheated the system by buying tickets to Star Trek, getting snacks, and turning to The Purge. Made me feel dirty and ugly for doing it, especially since my preferred career of choice is "screenwriter," but whatever, I'll let it slide today if only because I've really wanted to see it. Saw Brandon at the theaters too, but he didn't watch with us.

Wait, hold on, before I go on about the movie, I have to tell you the stuff that happened before the film. So we arranged to meet at Panera Bread before the movie started. I got there the earliest because my house is closest, so I waited at a table by myself for awhile.

Then, Nick came. And the awkwardness burrowed itself right between us.

It started with light conversation.

"Hey."

"Sup."

Followed by a cold 5 minutes of dead silence and phone twiddling.

He touched my foot once. AND THE AWKWARDNESS DOUBLED. Jesus, the awkwardness smelled stronger than the scent of bread at Panera. Thank god Angela came in before the restaurant imploded on itself from the sheer density of the awkwardness. Even a second longer and the awkwardness would've collapsed into a singularity.

I bought a yogurt parfait and Nick brought a breadbowl with soup. I was kind of mad that he didn't finish the bread, but whatever.

Christina, Kayla, and CC came soon after. Around 10 minutes were left before the movie started and what does Kayla decide to buy? Another goddamn breadbowl. Course her tiny stomach couldn't swallow the whole thing in less than 10 minutes, so what does she do? SHE DECIDES TO SNEAK IT INTO THE MOVIE THEATER.

Alright, now for the actual movie. It was pretty bad. The concept was amazing, but the writers were STUPID with the story. It was composed entirely of unnecessary jump scares and plot twists that were either incredibly predictable or incredibly dumb, sometimes both.

I bet I could write a better story. You know what? I think I will. Expect it probably next week.

Then, we went to Barnes and Noble. And that's where the real fun was at.

We found a book of pickup lines.

Probably my favorite book of all time.

Some of those were comedic GOLD. Who could forget classic lines such as

"Hey babe, have you ever had sex on a motorized scooter?" Or

"When they tested Viagra, I was in the control group." Or the unforgettable

"I'll pay you."

Then we walked into the kids' section and found a book specifically made to explain physical changes caused by puberty to girls. I was horrified by every page. Every. Page.

Pure and unquestionable nightmare fuel for the average
male teenager.

Oh, and if you were thinking about getting me a birthday present, that book would do. Or, wait, no, I'd actually prefer this MAKE YOUR OWN RANSOM KIT.

Perfect for weddings and parties!

We also found the Bible, illustrated with LEGO BRICKS.

They actually got really creative with this one, I'm
impressed.

Yep, all in all a pretty good day.





RFotD: President James Garfield could write Latin with one hand and Greek in the other simultaneously.

Summer Goals Accomplished Today (SGAT): Started getting back in shape.

Day One: Dancing with Disguises in Doppelgangers

6/12/13, 1:06 AM PDT

Aww yeah, made major revisions to the first weekly story of summer! The Medical Compound, partly based on Doctor Who. Give it a read, it's pretty good in my opinion.

I'm exhausted from writing for a good six hours straight. I'm gonna go sleep.



Same Day, 8:49 AM PST

Had to wake up early to drop my sister off at school. Gonna have to do this for the next month since my sister goes to a year-round school, which blows for me.

Well, this first day wasn't that bad. Actually really liked getting up earlier than 10 AM on a non-school day, the cold air felt nicer than the stupid half-broken fan in my room.

They're repaving the road near the school, so my sister and I had to take the long way to school, and by "long way," I mean five minutes longer. We were nearly late, but it was alright because they gave everyone an extra ten minutes to go to class without tardy punishment because of the construction.

After that, I went for a light morning jog, which, surprisingly, left me a lot more tired than it should have. Gotta jog more often, shooting to get my mile time under six minutes again. Damn high school PE for being counterproductive, making me somehow more unhealthy than if you had just let me go home earlier so I could practice parkour.

But it's okay, I can rebuild my physical self in two and a half months. Piece of cake. Right?



Same Day, 11:57 AM PDT

Working on starting up my Minecraft server. Editing permission nodes takes FOREVER, but hopefully it'll be worth it since my old server used to be the "hypest."

I'll post IP here when (if) I finish it!



Same Day, 6:34 PM PST

FINALLY. After a few thousand hours of work, got my server up and running! Seeing as you're probably one of my Facebook friends and not a complete stranger, message me on Facebook if you want the IP to play!

Before you guys ask for the IP, I'll let you know that it's a modified PVP server based a lot on the multiplayer mode for "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood." You disguise yourself as one of five different villager types and you get sent into a closed-off city to find and kill other players stealthily. It's actually quite intense.

Dear Jesus, my computer's fan is going crazy. Remind me to clean up the dust filters before today ends, alright?



Same Day, 9:38 PM PST

Very, very, very successful server run today. Played Assassin for a bit, then just decided to mess around with DisguiseCraft. Discovered what a godzilla slime was, much to everyone's amusement, and took some very inspiring images of boats and minecarts traveling to the moon.

Then, Brandon logged on and we decided to freak him out. We all turned into the strangest things we could imagine. A block of TNT, a giant magma cube, and a goddamn ENDER DRAGON. When all three of us chased him around the map, he described it as quote "a horrifying nightmare."

Later, that nightmare got much worse because somehow, the topic of Doppelgangers came up. Particularly, my freshman Doppelganger, a person who goes by the name "Rallen."

Rallen. Or maybe it's me, I can't remember.

THE RESEMBLANCE IS UNCANNY. Great, now I have to watch myself every time I go to school because if I ever run into him, only one of us would be walking out alive.

Finally, we started playing Tekkit, but most of us were too tired and Tekkit was ridiculously complex, so we called it a night.

Not a bad first day. Not bad at all.

And wow, I just realized how amazing this post's title is. I might make that my next story, actually.





RFotD: Four million tons of hydrogen are consumed by the sun every second, which helps to create the sun's composition of 75% hydrogen, 23% helium, and 2% heavier elements.

Summer Goals Accomplished Today: Restart my Minecraft server.

Day Zero: Around Mira Mesa in Eighty Minutes

6/11/13, 1:22 PM PDT

Woke up incredibly early so that I could get to school and drop my textbook off before everybody else and their mothers flooded the library. Barely managed to get to school right as the library door opened, so I was one of the lucky few to take less than five minutes to put away my only textbook.

The other 150+ people waiting in a line inside the library? Not so lucky.

The rest of the school day was pretty okay. Took my Biology final, which didn't really matter since I had over 100% in that class. Also managed to figure out Dr. Steinbach's wood cube puzzle thing that he gave us before the test started. I think he was pretty impressed by me because he said that it was the first time anyone's ever solved it besides him.

The Wood Block Puzzle. I know, I know. I'm a genius.

Got a package of bagels from Angela, the best present I've ever gotten from her. I was about to thank her for her generosity, but then she selfishly took them back and gave me an already-opened bag of lesser-quality bagels.

What a punk.

Then, French. The last period of the day. Gave my less-than-awesome presentation, along with three other people. Then came the mandatory after-presentation potluck. I made poutine for the class, which is basically french fries, gravy, and cheese. It was quite delicious and it disappeared in roughly 15 minutes, which was surprising.

Mmm, poutine. Thanks to Hao for the picture!

Saved a bit of poutine for Angela because she's been wanting to try some for a long, LONG time (she said that she had put it in her bucket list). But when I gave it to her when school ended, SHE EFFING THREW IT AWAY.

Remind me to never give anything food related to the ungrateful Angela.



Same Day, 3:43 PM PDT

Practically SPRINTED out of school. Well, it was more of a meander than a sprint, but you get my point. I wanted to leave. BADLY.

Went with Ivan, Khai, Seth, and Daniel to Boba, bought me a mango smoothie which was delicious. Then, went to the neighboring Target to, as you younglings call it, "stir some shit." We saw a group of middle schoolers in the toy aisle. When one of them cracked a joke, they all laughed, but one kid caught my eye in particular.

Why? Because as he laughed, he did a mini squat down and picked his wedgie in one fluid, seamless motion. It was elegant, almost with the grace of a dancer. So fast, so smooth, like a magician with incredible sleight of hand. Nobody in his little group seemed to notice.

But his back was turned to me. Which means I noticed.

But don't worry, kid. If you're reading this right now, your secret's safe with me.

Actually... come to think about it, there were a lot of middle schoolers at Target. Jesus, there were... there were hordes of them everywhere! In every aisle, outside the store, and I'm pretty sure I heard a few in the ventilation shafts. It was ridiculously middle-school dense.

After that, we walked home and talked about surprisingly deep, scientific topics. Topics such as the conscious implications of teleportation, why twins don't share the same consciousness, and how ridiculous the Xbox One is.

We also half-explored some canyons, one in particular looked extra horrifying, so we stopped, in fear of a rabid wolfman coming out of the bushes and mauling us to death. Or getting raped. But if anyone was desperate enough to try and rape us, then they would actually deserve my pity.

Oh, and Ivan modeled next to a few shopping carts too.

Swag.

We're a strange bunch, I know.



Same Day, 4:15 PM PDT

Found a GIGANTIC daddy longlegs spider in my bathroom, perched atop the roll of toilet paper attached to the holder on my wall. It's no exaggeration, it was MASSIVE. Two inches in diameter. If you connected two if its opposite legs together and stretched them out just a little, they would be the size of my thumb.

It was disgusting. Even worse was the sickening crunching sound it made when I crushed it with a paper towel. It's like taking six of the crunchiest leaves that ever existed and slowly crumpling them in your hands all together.

I swept up its corpse and flushed it down the toilet. Unused, of course, because even though they're my mortal enemies, they deserve respect in death.

The Michael-Spider Neutrality Treaty had been broken. And the Summer War starts once more.



Same Day, 7:54 PM PDT

Woke up from a two hour nap, then quickly (and unfortunately, sloppily) finished my weekly story. Pretty disappointed in how it turned out, but I'll fix it, promise.

Christina's been harassing me to get on Skype for the past few hours, so I'll end today's entry with me playing Minecraft until way, way past dark.

Not a bad first day, don't you think?



Same Day, 8:20 PM PDT

Okay, I lied, one more thing I forgot about. I got a letter from New York University advertising me to go to their school, which is pretty insane since their film school's one of the highest ranked in the world.

It's a shame their tuition's so ridiculously high. But whatever. The fact that I've impressed them enough for them to send me a letter is enough for me.





Random Fact of the Day (RFotD): Humans grow faster at night than they do during the day because a small part of the brain, the pituitary gland, releases a growth hormone at night while a person sleeps.

Summer Goals Accomplished Today: None yet.