Week 12 December 2, 2011

I've actually been doing really well in Computer Science. I'm ahead in learning about iterators. Arraylist is down in my mind. My scores on regular tests are going over 120. I'm actually starting to believe that I'm going to make it in Comptuer Science this year. This is very exciting. Science, on the other hand, is bugging me a lot! I don't know. I think I just need to find a tutor for physics because I am not learning anything, and if I continue down this path, I'm not going to reach my goal and that is going to suck. I have the knowledge in biology, but my chemistry and physics scores are not even close to good enough to make it to state. Need to start getting my head in the game there!

Week 12 November 29,2011

Soo...I came to realize some things some things over the past break. Let me start at the beginning. On November 19, right before Thanksgiving break, there was a UIL meet. I competed in the three events that I wanted to continue with through this year: Number Sense, Science, and Computer Science. I actually did pretty well overall. I got 2nd place in both Computer Science and Science, and I got the best in biology for Science. My one problem was Number Sense. I got 10th place in that. Right before I got the results for anything, Mr. Galvan, our UIL director, walked up to me and asked me if I thought I was spreading myself too thin. I agreed with him, but I was a little hesitant on dropping anything. I realized after I received my results what I needed to do. I'm dropping Number Sense. I joined it really late in my high school career and I just think it would be a bad idea to pursue it any farther. It was a fun thing to study, so I might just continue to study it for fun, but now for UIL, I'm going to focus on just Science and Computer Science. I made it to regionals in both of these events, and I was very close to advancing in both. I made the second highest chemistry score in Science, which almost allowed me to progress to state, and I got 7th place in Computer Science, with answering just 2 more questions right instead of wrong bumping me into the top 3. I just think that if I focused on these two rather than "spreading myself too thin", I'll be able to achieve my goal of making it to state in UIL.

Week 11 Thursday November 17, 2011

I finally did it. I broke 100 on a number sense test. I mean it was just an SAC, and those are easier, but I don't care. This is progress. My two test scores today were 112 and 53. I usually make a really good score and a bad score, but is 53 is considered my bad score, I'm not that saddened. I've been continuously working on number sense for a while, so I'm glad to see when there's progress. Computer Science hasn't been going that badly either. I'm starting to get it, and that makes me feel happy. Science, on the other hand, is right now my worst at progression. I've been trying, but I just can't seem to stay focused with it. Biology has been very interesting, and I've been doing well in that. Chemistry is taking a little bit of a downturn, so I need to fix that. My main problem lies in physics. I just can't seem to remember formulas, and it's sort of bringing down my attitude all together. I've just been really bummed out with how I've been doing, and it's really frustrating me. I'll bring it up though. Mr. Viray said that he might try doing some one on one tutoring with me, and I think I need that, so we'll see how that goes. All in all, I'm seeing improvement, which is a good thing.

Week 11 Wednesday November 16, 2011

My blogging has been more on the not happening side. I'm sorry about that. I've been very stressed out with everything, especially last week, which was the end of the 2nd Six Weeks. Here is a summary of how my progress is going in my UIL Subjects. My science score is really sucking right now. I actually made lower on the district test than I did last year. I feel that I've been really slacking in that department, so I need to start working on that. I'm going to be working a lot more on just studying for that. My number sense scores have been in the 40-90 range, so I need to get that higher. Recently I've just been working on learning the tricks and having them down. It's been working pretty well so far, but we'll see how it goes. My computer science score actually surprised me. I jumped around 60 points higher on a test that I took, and I'm starting to feel confident about that. I feel that I'm the closest to actually making it to state in computer science compared to the other two at this moment in time. There's a meet this weekend in Lubbock that I'm going to. This will be my first test to see how I do against other people besides Andrews kids. It'll be a good test.

Week 10 Tuesday November 8, 2011

JEEZ!!!! I haven't blogged in a long time. I've mainly been working on my college essays in this class for a while, but on Wednesday day of last week I started on Science UIL again, but I completely forgot to blog all of last week. Well here goes everything I have. Mr. Fleming has been freaking riding my butt constantly in Computer Science. It's like the moment I'm finally caught up and everything is fine and dandy, he puts on 20 new worksheets, 12 new labs, and he tells us (Andy and me), that I'm freaking 2 weeks behind!!! Then he gives me a speech about how I'm distracted and I don't get my work done. It's freaking retarded. Not to mention that Andy got suspended from the next UIL meet for "cheating" on a Computer Science test, so goodbye first place pumpkin,=[. Science doesn't really feel that great either. I feel like I'm not learning physics, which is really frustrating me! I also feel very insecure about how I'm doing. Joe is catching up to me and that SHOULD NOT be happening. I need to start getting on the ball in there. In Number Sense, all the freshman are kicking butt and taking names. They've been working on Number Sense since 5th grade, so they know a bunch more than I do, but I'm not backing down! Pretty sure with how I'm growing in that that by around....January I'll be beating them all. Just watch me. That's pretty much how UIL is going up to this point. There's a UIL Meet Saturday November 19 at Tech, so gonna be preparing for that.

Week 8 October 24-28, 2011

I have been working on my college application essay.Here is a copy of what I accomplished over the time period.

“I pledge allegiance… one nation UNDER JESUS…,” the blond Southerner directed at me. I looked at her, shocked. How could anybody be so rude just because I’m Hindu? I was so angered by her judgment that I forgot the rest of the pledge. My blood bubbled a little at the thought that she tried to offend me in front of the class, but I was not going to allow this girl to slither under my skin. I just sat down and continued with my day.

            This was not the first or last time someone had done this, but eighth grade seems to magnify everything, so it is the most vivid in my memory. I live in a small town in Texas, so being Hindu in a sea of Southern Baptists, I have had some jabs about my beliefs, but I have come to learn that fussing over the small things in life will never take me anywhere. My goal since I was little is to make a positive impact on the world. I always wanted to help anyone around me in any way possible. I slowly realized, however, that my goal to help the world was a little more challenging than I first thought. I was just one person in a world of 6 billion, was it even possible to cause a change? My mom helped me understand what I needed to do. She told me that “Before you can be Gandhi, you have to be somebody.” My impact had to start in my hometown, if I were to show the people around me that building people up goes much farther than tearing people down.

            I love a team – team spirit, team tears and defeat, team success and joy. The best way to build people up is to build community through bonds of work and friendship. I believe that in order to be a team player, I have to be the best I can be.  I show my dedication to learning, I help people with any problems they have, I play on sports teams, and I try to use criticism to better myself. I have accomplished a good deal in high school, but I have realized that going up in life is never much fun without bringing people with me. Leadership roles like UIL Science Team Captain and Tennis Team Captain, have given me the opportunity to try to be my very best and to help and motivate everyone around me so we can all enjoy our achievements together.

            Because of this, people react to my actions in a positive manner. They tend to see me as a person they can rely on, and I have a wide circle of friends, many from the Baptist Church. What I can bring to a college because of my unique background is the ability to contribute, to build community, and to bring a spirit of unity and accomplishment to my school and fellow students. The Gandhi thing will come later.

            

Week 7 October 20-21, 2011

Well I took a test yesterday in Science, and it made me realize something, I need to stop trying to go so fast on those tests. I was really dumb while taking that test and forgot to put some answers on the answer sheet, so instead of making a 124-130, I made a 102, and that was just saddening, especially when one of the other members of the Science team made a 104 and got first place. That was really dumb of me, so from now on I'm going to take my time on the Science test. I've been working on Mnemosyne a lot recently, and I'm pretty sure that I have my cubes down really well now! I'm pretty happy about my accomplishments there. In Computer Science I've been doing pretty well. Parameters are the new thing I'm working on at the moment, and I'm keeping up pretty well on those. These two days have been pretty good so far, so we'll just have to see how things go. October 29th is the first meet for Science, Number Sense, and Math..e..matics....OH CRAP!!!!! I haven't been working on Mathematics at all!!!!! Golly gee wilakers I gotta get that done! I'll take some Mathematics tests over this next week, and then I'll take some Science and Number Sense tests on the side. Sounds like a plan to me...kinda...

Week 7 Wednesday October 19, 2011

Now to put on this blog. I'm actually having a pretty awful day. I'm having trouble catching up with things, and getting home at 11:00 P.M. from tennis isn't really helping much with my trying to get more sleep initiative I'm trying to start. I feel that if I have a lesson today, I will more more than likely not learn anything due to the fact that my brain will not be able to soak in the information because of my lack of sleep problem. I guess we'll just have to see how things will go today.

Week 6 Friday October 14, 2011

I freaking love mnemosyne! It is the one of the best inventions I have ever seen in my life!!! It's this flashcard system that shows you the information on the flashcards in a particular order so that the information will be transferred from short term memory to long term memory, and it's pretty amazing. I'm not going to be using this to learn all different kinds of information for UIL Prep, like Biology terms, Number Sense, and much much more! This is getting me pretty excited.


I actually wrote this on Friday, October 14, but I think I just forgot to post it onto my blog.

Week 7 Tuesday October 18, 2011

I forgot to post on this yesterday. I think I took the wrong approach to this blogging ordeal. Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal until I think of another way to approach this that will fit my time schedule. I actually had a good day yesterday. I spent the entire period covering my cubes for number sense, so now I have them memorized from 1-25, and that makes me pretty happy. Mostly didn't really work on anything other than putting in data for mnemosyne, so besides that, I don't really have anything to talk about for yesterday.

Week 7 Monday October 17, 2011

I'm so pissed off!!! I'm tried, angry at freakin everything, and nothing is allowing me to feel any better! I feel like I can't freakin catch up with life! It's just leaving me behind in a heaping hot mess while I try to crawl back to a caught up state with broken legs and a tumor! Can things get better?!? Ugh, life sucks at this moment in time, but I guess I gotta bare it. Sorry I didn't put a blog for Friday, I was very busy and time and I haven't been on the best of terms. Science practice today, so I gotta go do this, even though I'm pissed off. Gonna start reading Beyond Einstein, OMG!!! That's another thing I have to do! I just freakin remembered that!!!!!!! That makes me even more angry!!! How am I so angry?!?!? Mrs. Tochterman needs a punching bag in her room so I can relieve some of this anger!!! Maybe I'll ask her to get one. Hmmm, idea, I could just have a nap time, but I think if I nap I won't get ANYTHING done, UGH!!!!!!!! Gotta get my life in check.

Week 6 Thursday October 13, 2011

So I found this new program that could help out with learning Number Sense tricks. It's not really that new, but it's still really really cool. The program is called Mnemosyne, based on the Greek goddess of memory, just a fun fact, and it uses an algorithm that allows information to be transferred from short term memory to long term memory. It's actually pretty cool, so I'm going to put in Number Sense tricks and try to learn them that way. I guess we'll see how it goes. =]

Week 6 Wednesday October 12, 2011

Today will probably be spent working on Number Sense once again. This is actually pretty fun, my test scores are still in the 70s, but that's because I don't really know some of the tricks. The only questions I've been missing are because of lacking tricks in my mind. I'll get these tricks learned though, so no worries here. =]

Week 6 Tuesday October 11,2011

I didn't really get a chance to blog on Thursday because...well I just got really busy. This weekend was pretty fun, with going to Memphis, but it didn't really correlate to anything I need to accomplish for my goal, so I won't write about that. "Well you're fully allowed to brag on yourself if your awesome."-Elizabeth Leese, I just had to throw this in there because it made me laugh today, I'm starting to get ahead in UIL, and Lizzie said I should quote her in my blog, so it has been done! I'm mainly going to just work on Number Sense today, so today will be test day.

Week 5 Wednesday October 5, 2011

Well I took my first Number Sense test since...well a while, and it didn't turn out as badly as I expected. It was a 79, not the best score, but not the worst score. I actually beat all the Andrews kids, which is actually pretty good since it was my first in a while and they have been practicing a whole bunch. This actually excites me for Number Sense, so maybe I will add that to my list of UIL tests along with Science, Math, and Computer Science. I found out yesterday that we actually have a meet October 29th, so I'll have to see if I can go to that, hopefully I can.

Week 5 Tuesday October 4, 2011

Well, now I'm finally caught up on blogging. Today I'm very busy, but I don't think it will be with UIL. I have a bunch of homework to accomplish, so I'm going to ask Mrs. Tochterman if I can spend today catching up on things. First actual Science meeting is today, so I get to put plans into action! Now I have to make plans...I'm also going to be spending lunch today with Mr. Fleming, so that'll be good for me as well.

Week 5 Monday October 3, 2011

...I realized I'm actually two blogs behind...someone shoot me please? Well yesterday I wasn't in GTIS because I had my first FPS competition, but I don't think anyone wants to hear how that went...After school, the Director of UIL in our school, Mr. Galvan, decided to have a UIL meeting for anyone who just wanted to know more about UIL. This meeting went very successfully, especially for me, >:]. 23 students. Yes that's right, you heard it correctly from me, there are 23 students who want to do UIL Science this year, and 13 of those 23 are freshman! This is just gonna be more work for me, but I'm ready to kick butt and take names this year! Also, and this might cause people to be happy or mad at me, but Mrs. Jaekal has persuaded me to try Number Sense....well, I guess we'll see how that goes, since that will be my 4th UIL test to study for. You want to see me at the end of this year? XP----<, I'm dead.

Week 4 September 26-30, 2011

I'm soo sorry for not blogging for all of last week! I feel very bad for not keeping you informed on my UIL escapades! Last week was pretty stressful, so most of the time I went straight to Mr. Fleming's room to work on labs. All of last week I worked with Mr. Fleming on matrices. Most of the time I had trouble with those, with most of my exasperations being UGH MATRICES!!!! and Mr. Fleming saying that I'm over thinking things...sigh...I've been trying my best to understand that stuff, but some puzzles just really bug me. Luckily, I have Andy to help me through Programming Competition. Sadly, it's Andy...oh well. In Science news. I got my Feyman Lectures on Physics!!! There almost 100 chapters worth of stuff in there...so I might just let Mr. Viray or Ms. McNew help me out with those. This is going to be very challenging. I tried my best to understand the information, but UGH! During last week, since I'm the team captain of the Science team, I was trying to see who all would like to join the UIL Science team, see I know the results of that adventure, but I want to have something to write about in my next blog! (Which will come out in what of about a few minutes...) ....It's hard to remember EVERYTHING that happened last week. I spent most of my lunch periods last week working with Mr. Fleming on matrices, mainly so I could catch up on what I needed to learn. I feel so behind on EVERYTHING!!! There's so much to learn and so little time. =[. This next week ( this week), I'm going to be working on Mathematics, so maybe I'll be able to handle that better.

Week 3 Friday September 23, 2011

I don't really have GTIS today because the homecoming pep rally is taking over that part of the day, so no extra Computer Science...bittersweet. I still have Computer Science class today though, so I can work on my labs in there. I just really need to get caught up.

Week 3 Thursday September 22, 2011

I need to learn matrices!!! There are some points of this that I just don't understand. WHY DO I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH INSTANTIATION!!!! I SHOUD'VE HAD THIS DOWN A LONG TIME AGO!!!!!! sigh. Well, I'm gonna just work on my matrices labs today and get FancyWord FINISHED!!

Week 3 Wednesday September 21, 2011

Yesterday, I learned about matrices. I feel like an idiot for not realizing that Blue Pelican, the computer science "textbook", is actually there to help me. I've had it for 3 years....man I feel stupid. Matrices are a big part of the Computer Science Programming Section of the test, so I hreally neeed tooo foocus oon dees infor ma cion. Now time to go do dees mess.

Week 3 Tuesday September 20, 2011

This week is my Computer Science week, so I'm going to be working with Mr. Fleming over the Computer Science test. I feel that more than likely I'll be working on programming today more than the actually test. I actually need to go across the campus to the computer science room, so I'll be leaving this as it is now.

Week 3 Monday September 19, 2011

I went to the UIL SAC this past Saturday. I learned what I needed to study for the Science and Mathematics test. The Computer Science lecture, on the other hand, was a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME!!!! sigh. Back to happy thoughts, I learned that the Science test is completely based on certain textbooks and that each part of the test goes chapter by chapter on each of these textbooks. The Physics section goes completely on the book Beyond Einstein, the Biology section goes completely by one of the biology books by Campbell, and the Chemistry section....well yeah... The Mathematics Section is mainly going to work on patterns, so I might need to work on those. I'm probably going to spend these next 2 weeks working with Mr. Fleming on Computer Science. By the way, Mrs. Tochterman got me Beyond Science AND the Feynman Lectures. I'm going to have to do a LOT of studying to get to where I need to be. soo much work....so little time...I like the challenge.=]

Week 2 Friday September 16, 2011

Well I can finally continue with reading A Short History of Nearly Everything. I'm excited, so this blog is going to be short. I just wanted to add in quickly that I'm going to Lubbock tomorrow for a UIL workshop. This will probably be very helpful because it's going to let me know what I need to study for the Science and Computer Science UIL tests(had to sacrifice math time sadly,=[, but Sarai is probably going to fill me in for that.) Time to go dive into awesomeness.

Week 2 Thursday September 15, 2011

I learned about someone yesterday. I realized how amazing Bill Bryson is at making science interesting. He is a very quirky, funny, and random human being. Now, to someone who doesn't know who Bill Bryson is, he is the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything. Now I might be getting ahead of myself because I've only read the introduction, but I feel that this book will probably be one of the best books that I have ever read in the 17 years, 8 months, 15 days, 11 hours, 7 minutes, and 5 seconds that I have been on Earth, and it will probably be one of the best books continuing from the moment I put it down on the desk in front of me and say in a very calm manner with a smile on my face, I kinda enjoyed that book with the entirety of my being. Besides this, I've been having trouble with keeping priorities straight in my mind. I ended up staying up until 1 in the morning working on homework that I still haven't been able to complete. I am now at a state of panic, so I might spend this day trying to catch up on some homework. I'm sorry A Short History of Nearly Everything, I know that you're going to have an amzing impact on my life in the near future, but sadly that day isn't today,=[.

Week 2 Wednesday September 14, 2011

I'm so TIRED!!!!! I don't think I've felt this tired this entire year, and that includes the time I passed out during tennis! UGH!!!! Well yesterday I got A Short History of Nearly Everything from Mrs. Tochterman, so I need to start reading that. I realized during Ms. Thomas' class what I need to do in order to keep myself awake. Here are the steps:

1.Stand up.
2.Place book in one hand in a comfortable position.
3. Start reading out loud with emotion and physical movement.
4. This is the most important rule. Make sure you don't feel embarrassed when everyone is staring at you awkwardly and laughing...

Now it's time to get some stuff done and be one step closer to pwning the UIL Science Test!!!

Week 2 Tuesday September 13, 2011

This past Sunday I took a Science UIL test and made a 102. It's not one of my best scores, and I still have a long way to go to make it to state. =/. I worked with Mr. Viray over Chemistry last week, and it went pretty well, except for the fact that I sometimes had trouble with staying awake, but I realized that I know most of the information, I just need a recap. I ended up taking I'm now working with Mrs. Tochterman over Biology. She has started helping me with classifications and plants. Time to get this Biology stuff started once again.


P.S. I LOVE MADER!!! =]

Progress so far..

I know this is on the same day as the one that just said I was started, but that post was a little late... I'm actually a week into my progress. I decided to separate my studying to 2 weeks per subject I'm doing. The 2 weeks I'm in right now are my science weeks. This past week I've been working with my chemistry teacher, Mr. Viray, on the chemistry section of the test. I should probably explain a little about the science test before going further. The Science UIL Test is a 2 hour test that is 60 questions long. The first 20 questions are biology, followed by chemistry, and finally physics. Now back to my progress. This upcoming week I'm planning on working with my biology teacher, Mrs. Tochterman, on the biology section of the test, but before next week comes, I'm going to take a full Science test before Monday.

Well, I decided to do my GTIS project over UIL Academic Preparation. I joined UIL Academics my sophomore year to try my best at making it to state. So far, that goal has not been accomplished, =/. I decided this year that I'm going to make it one of my top priorities, and what better way to make it a top priority than to make it a class! How smart I feel right now,=]. The three subjects that I do for UIL are mathematics, computer science, and science. My goal is to make it to state in all three of these. Let's see how this year goes.