I didn't get into MITES.
Sucks =/
Showing posts with label summer programs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer programs. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
ANXIETY!
This week has been intense. More work in every class that I could've ever imagined. What an interesting way to start off the semester. Some of the huge loads:
AP Lang: Essays daily, multiple weekly tests, 2 books to read at home, 1 in class, hundred of vocabulary words...ALL AT THE SAME TIME
AP US History: There's no way possible that our class can finish the book. I guarantee most of the students in my class won't pass the exam. Yay for my PR prep book instead! Nonetheless, the workload as still increased like x2 in the past week.
Robotics Research VI: Finally a robotics class that encompasses the 'research' title. We have to pick an Advanced Research Project, with our topic due today and then for the rest of the semester we're doing smaller research projects and other projecty things that will lead up to our ARP. I also have to somehow chronicle my experiences in the tech program for the past 3 years into a newsletter for my final portfolio by the end of school today...
The county's AP Review is this Saturday, so hopefully I'll gain some confidence as to how I'll do in May...or I'll become extremely depressed. Regardless, I'll continue to work my ass off for the next month.
FIRST Championships are next week! Next week this time I'll be in ATL, hopefully sleeping, prepping for the first day of qualifying matches. Divisions came out two days ago also and we're in Curie again. It doesn't look scary like Galileo does, but there is still a share of pretty competitive teams. We leave in 5 days!
But what I'm really most excited about is MITES decisions! According to people on CC that have called or been accepted and what not, decisions were mailed two days ago, which means they should be here REALLY soon! Hopefully I can find out by phone today? I'm flipping out now...
AP Lang: Essays daily, multiple weekly tests, 2 books to read at home, 1 in class, hundred of vocabulary words...ALL AT THE SAME TIME
AP US History: There's no way possible that our class can finish the book. I guarantee most of the students in my class won't pass the exam. Yay for my PR prep book instead! Nonetheless, the workload as still increased like x2 in the past week.
Robotics Research VI: Finally a robotics class that encompasses the 'research' title. We have to pick an Advanced Research Project, with our topic due today and then for the rest of the semester we're doing smaller research projects and other projecty things that will lead up to our ARP. I also have to somehow chronicle my experiences in the tech program for the past 3 years into a newsletter for my final portfolio by the end of school today...
The county's AP Review is this Saturday, so hopefully I'll gain some confidence as to how I'll do in May...or I'll become extremely depressed. Regardless, I'll continue to work my ass off for the next month.
FIRST Championships are next week! Next week this time I'll be in ATL, hopefully sleeping, prepping for the first day of qualifying matches. Divisions came out two days ago also and we're in Curie again. It doesn't look scary like Galileo does, but there is still a share of pretty competitive teams. We leave in 5 days!
But what I'm really most excited about is MITES decisions! According to people on CC that have called or been accepted and what not, decisions were mailed two days ago, which means they should be here REALLY soon! Hopefully I can find out by phone today? I'm flipping out now...
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Update
There's been so much going on this week that I just realized that I haven't blogged in about a week. Oh no, no documentation of my life! No fear, I'll recap (caution, this will be a long, media-enhanced post):
Friday - 17th Birthday
I expected this to be a horrible day. I had a ridiculous amount of of work to turn in, I had to design something for robotics at the last minute that ended up not being used, and most importantly, the MITES application was due. I'm one hell of a procrastinator, so this involved me pulling an all-nighter to get it done, but I was satisfied with my work by the time I had to leave for school at 5:40am. I spread out all of my stuff across the living room floor, and this is what it looked like at some point during the night.
I always get this weird high/rush after staying up for almost 24 hours. Around noon I got extremely tired, and then I suddenly bounced back energetically, as if I just woke up from a 10-hour night sleep. It's really weird how sleep deprivation can lead such a surplus in energy. My mom made me cupcakes around 1am, so that was my first celebration of the day. I really didn't expect anything at all, btw. When I got to school, it was the same as usual, I even forgot that it was my birthday on occasion...that's how much I cared about turning 17, nothing significant. For lunch, Dominique brought cupcakes! I was really surprised, I didn't expect anyone to even remember. We had a little celebration in Mr. Euler's class:
So I had about 2 dozen cupcakes...these in additions to the ones that my mother baked for me! Interestingly enough, I learned to share :o ! DJ and Dom went outside under the garage door to air out the crumbs from the table cloth, little did I know they had a surprise for me when they got back inside. Sure, it looks like they're trying to fold it...
Friday - 17th Birthday
I expected this to be a horrible day. I had a ridiculous amount of of work to turn in, I had to design something for robotics at the last minute that ended up not being used, and most importantly, the MITES application was due. I'm one hell of a procrastinator, so this involved me pulling an all-nighter to get it done, but I was satisfied with my work by the time I had to leave for school at 5:40am. I spread out all of my stuff across the living room floor, and this is what it looked like at some point during the night.
I always get this weird high/rush after staying up for almost 24 hours. Around noon I got extremely tired, and then I suddenly bounced back energetically, as if I just woke up from a 10-hour night sleep. It's really weird how sleep deprivation can lead such a surplus in energy. My mom made me cupcakes around 1am, so that was my first celebration of the day. I really didn't expect anything at all, btw. When I got to school, it was the same as usual, I even forgot that it was my birthday on occasion...that's how much I cared about turning 17, nothing significant. For lunch, Dominique brought cupcakes! I was really surprised, I didn't expect anyone to even remember. We had a little celebration in Mr. Euler's class:
So I had about 2 dozen cupcakes...these in additions to the ones that my mother baked for me! Interestingly enough, I learned to share :o ! DJ and Dom went outside under the garage door to air out the crumbs from the table cloth, little did I know they had a surprise for me when they got back inside. Sure, it looks like they're trying to fold it...One thing about birthdays that I really happen to dislike is the "Happy Birthday" song. I really, honestly, hate it, and everyone knows that. Did it stop them from singing it? Of course not...
I don't know what it is about that song that just ticks me. It's extremely awkward, with the second verse requiring the "Birthday Boy/Girl" to respond and everyone else to point and stare. Whatever, it's just me. That's the most eventful stuff that happened at school, except for the bus ride back, involving some serious Om-Nom-Noming of the rest of the cupcakes and fun with frosting and sprinkles.
My grandparents always take me out to dinner for my birthday, this year was no different. I decided to go to Benihana, since I've wanted to go for since like forever. I took a short nap in the car and was carrying on like a zombie when we got inside. Not even our flamboyant waiter that served us drinks could wake me up. When we finally got to our table, it was absolutely freezing, though we figured out why once they turned on the grill. The whole dinner was amazing, except for the shrimp, which I don't eat because I don't eat seafood. I definitely woke up when the cheft started tossing and flipping food around on the grill. That was the most amazing fried rice that I've ever had in my entire life, and the teriyaki steak was definitely awesome. Being a restaurant and it being my birthday, there was ice cream and that song again. We also shared a table with another family that was celebrating a birthday, though like 30 or so years older, but it took some of the attention off me. My candle wouldn't stay lit, it was hilarious....
My grandparents always take me out to dinner for my birthday, this year was no different. I decided to go to Benihana, since I've wanted to go for since like forever. I took a short nap in the car and was carrying on like a zombie when we got inside. Not even our flamboyant waiter that served us drinks could wake me up. When we finally got to our table, it was absolutely freezing, though we figured out why once they turned on the grill. The whole dinner was amazing, except for the shrimp, which I don't eat because I don't eat seafood. I definitely woke up when the cheft started tossing and flipping food around on the grill. That was the most amazing fried rice that I've ever had in my entire life, and the teriyaki steak was definitely awesome. Being a restaurant and it being my birthday, there was ice cream and that song again. We also shared a table with another family that was celebrating a birthday, though like 30 or so years older, but it took some of the attention off me. My candle wouldn't stay lit, it was hilarious....
It ended up being not as horrible of a day as I expected it to be, but I was dead tired when I got home and absolutely exhausted on Saturday.
Saturday - Robotics
This weekend signified the end of week 4 and the beginning of week 5, aka crunch time, in no reference to Team 79, Krunch, at all lol. This is where everything starts coming together, almost magically. Perfect proof is when we were working on the base for a few hours, finally got it done for the most part and moved on to the arm. It went up in less than 5 minutes with the turn of only four bolts. When all of the software guys walked back in the shop, they exclaimed "WOW you guys sure got a lot done". I couldn't help but to chuckle. If you look at it now, as a bystander, it looks like we have an almost complete robot, HA!
There is still a ton of work to be done. Hopefully some more magic will occur this week. Saturday was one of the most productive build days that I've ever experienced since I've been on this team. I even learned how to use the mill and modify a section on our side panels! It was a long day, I was there for almost 12 hours. We have this theory that there are no windows or clocks in there for a reason! It's amazing how you walk outside going "woah, it's dark!" not even keeping track of time until someone mutters that they're hungry or has to leave. When the majority of the work was done for the day, we managed to squeeze a little fun in before we left. I mean, how can you not play with a huge-mongous blue ball? Introducing, EXTREME hacky sac...
Saturday - Robotics
This weekend signified the end of week 4 and the beginning of week 5, aka crunch time, in no reference to Team 79, Krunch, at all lol. This is where everything starts coming together, almost magically. Perfect proof is when we were working on the base for a few hours, finally got it done for the most part and moved on to the arm. It went up in less than 5 minutes with the turn of only four bolts. When all of the software guys walked back in the shop, they exclaimed "WOW you guys sure got a lot done". I couldn't help but to chuckle. If you look at it now, as a bystander, it looks like we have an almost complete robot, HA!
what does this look like?
There is still a ton of work to be done. Hopefully some more magic will occur this week. Saturday was one of the most productive build days that I've ever experienced since I've been on this team. I even learned how to use the mill and modify a section on our side panels! It was a long day, I was there for almost 12 hours. We have this theory that there are no windows or clocks in there for a reason! It's amazing how you walk outside going "woah, it's dark!" not even keeping track of time until someone mutters that they're hungry or has to leave. When the majority of the work was done for the day, we managed to squeeze a little fun in before we left. I mean, how can you not play with a huge-mongous blue ball? Introducing, EXTREME hacky sac...
NOW - Everything Else
This week has been overloaded with school stuff. We're working on ROVs in Research V for a little competition at FAU in May, which I'll talk some more about later. I can't believe how I've adjusted so quickly to having 2 work-intensive AP classes in addition to build season going on, but I feel as if I can possibly handle a little more load...not that I'll try to juggle anything else. FLVS is having a little science fair. I usually don't enjoy required science fairs, even though I've won numerous, but I actually want to do something for this since it's optional. I'm thinking of building a Van De Graaff Generator and conducting (lol conduction) a few experiments. Even if I don't get to do it in time for the fair, I still want to make once since they're really cool.
This week has been overloaded with school stuff. We're working on ROVs in Research V for a little competition at FAU in May, which I'll talk some more about later. I can't believe how I've adjusted so quickly to having 2 work-intensive AP classes in addition to build season going on, but I feel as if I can possibly handle a little more load...not that I'll try to juggle anything else. FLVS is having a little science fair. I usually don't enjoy required science fairs, even though I've won numerous, but I actually want to do something for this since it's optional. I'm thinking of building a Van De Graaff Generator and conducting (lol conduction) a few experiments. Even if I don't get to do it in time for the fair, I still want to make once since they're really cool.
Monday, December 31, 2007
"Get Serious" Week
As much as I have enjoyed playing Guitar Hero III hours on end, it's time to get back in the swing of things academically, which is why I have deemed this week "Get Serious Week". I have a bunch of stuff to do, and I think only organization will help me finish all of these tasks. So far, I have:
On Thursday night my family went out to Grand Lux Cafe. For those of you that don't know, Grand Lux is The Cheesecake Factory's more sophisticated cousin. We have been several times in the past, and there has never been a single thing about that restaurant that I have disliked. I wasn't that hungry when we arrived, but even getting something as light as a salad was a huge meal.
ARGGH! feed me!
absolutely delicious
- AP Psych Packets
- Interactive Design Project
- Study for Calc Final
- Study for AP Psych final
- Prepare for robotics kickoff
- MITES application
- WTP application
- CMU AP/EA application
On Thursday night my family went out to Grand Lux Cafe. For those of you that don't know, Grand Lux is The Cheesecake Factory's more sophisticated cousin. We have been several times in the past, and there has never been a single thing about that restaurant that I have disliked. I wasn't that hungry when we arrived, but even getting something as light as a salad was a huge meal.
ARGGH! feed me!Their Caesar salad consisted of an ENTIRE head of romaine lettuce with grilled chicken and thinly sliced and toasted pieces of bread tossed with a generous load of creamy dressing. It was delicious, but too awkward to eat in a restaurant. I barely finished 1/4 of it, and I took the rest home to enjoy barbarically with my fingers. If we're going for a special occasion, we usually order their delicious Rustic Apple Pie, but this time we ordered to go from their dessert bar. They have these huge mini (quite the oxymoron, eh?) lemon meringue pie/tarts that are amazingly delicious. They have to tape two boxes together in order to delicately fit it in. The meringue is 6 inches high!
absolutely deliciousI suppose tomorrow marks the unofficial end of my Winter Break. It was fun while it lasted! See everyone in 2008; Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Decisions
MIT Early Admissions decisions were posted today. Yes, I am a junior, why should I care? Today signifies the beginning of my own journey. There is exactly (almost) one year until I will be in the same boat that the 3,900 other seniors that applied EA are in now. Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky 500 that were accepted early. Now that they're out of the way, it's my turn! I have one year to get all of my ducks in a row. It seems like it's so close, yet so far away...scary, eh?
Also along the category of decisions, I have decided to apply to MIT's WTP (Women's Technology Program). Applying only to MITES for this summer would be a huge risk, as I would be left with nothing productive to do for my last summer of high school if I was rejected. I planned on enrolling in AP Calculus AB with FLVS in the fall, but if I don't have anything to do this summer, I'll start in the summer instead. I'm not sure if I'll go to SAMS again if I'm invited back. There seemed to be just too much free time in the senior curriculum, and the courseload just seemed too easy to be a 'rigorous summer experience'. Perhaps I'll apply to AP/EA for CMU Pre-College and take Calculus and Physics. WTP is four weeks and you are selected for 1 of two tracks, EECS or MechE. The purpose of the program is to introduce girls to technology and stuff -- girls with no experience, which probably makes me over-qualified. I was going through the application and its almost clear that I'll be over-qualified, but it's worth a try. It's also $3000, but I'm sure if i do get accepted, I'll get at least partial tuition covered...cuz' we ain't rich! It won't hurt to apply to all of these, it'll only cost me postage of 3 small packages to Boston and Pittsburgh. MITES is definitely my first choice, but if I'm not accepted, hopefully I'll have four other options to consider when all of these decisions come out in the early April. Just trying to be realistic...
There is only one week of school left. I am SO ready for winter break. I have a little agenda planned out of things that I'd like to accomplish, but I'm sure that half of the stuff won't get done. Christmas is only 10 days away, though it still feels as if it could be September. Florida does a horrible job of getting me into the holiday spirit. The lowest temperature this season was a measly 60 degrees. Is it really December? Wow.
Also along the category of decisions, I have decided to apply to MIT's WTP (Women's Technology Program). Applying only to MITES for this summer would be a huge risk, as I would be left with nothing productive to do for my last summer of high school if I was rejected. I planned on enrolling in AP Calculus AB with FLVS in the fall, but if I don't have anything to do this summer, I'll start in the summer instead. I'm not sure if I'll go to SAMS again if I'm invited back. There seemed to be just too much free time in the senior curriculum, and the courseload just seemed too easy to be a 'rigorous summer experience'. Perhaps I'll apply to AP/EA for CMU Pre-College and take Calculus and Physics. WTP is four weeks and you are selected for 1 of two tracks, EECS or MechE. The purpose of the program is to introduce girls to technology and stuff -- girls with no experience, which probably makes me over-qualified. I was going through the application and its almost clear that I'll be over-qualified, but it's worth a try. It's also $3000, but I'm sure if i do get accepted, I'll get at least partial tuition covered...cuz' we ain't rich! It won't hurt to apply to all of these, it'll only cost me postage of 3 small packages to Boston and Pittsburgh. MITES is definitely my first choice, but if I'm not accepted, hopefully I'll have four other options to consider when all of these decisions come out in the early April. Just trying to be realistic...
There is only one week of school left. I am SO ready for winter break. I have a little agenda planned out of things that I'd like to accomplish, but I'm sure that half of the stuff won't get done. Christmas is only 10 days away, though it still feels as if it could be September. Florida does a horrible job of getting me into the holiday spirit. The lowest temperature this season was a measly 60 degrees. Is it really December? Wow.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Is it late October yet?
I'm anxiously waiting for the MITES 2008 application to be released. Their site has had the same message since June/July.
I haven't blogged in a while. I've been thinking of things to post, but for some odd reason I just haven't felt like writing anything, sorry. So I'll give a quick recap of what might have happened:
2008 Program Dates: June 18, 2008 - August 2, 2008Midterms are this week, blegh. I've calculated that I should have a 3.625 unweighted GPA and 4.325 weighted GPA at the end of this semester. At least Calculus (and everything else) is halfway over! I'm not stressing.
Applications will be available in late October.
I haven't blogged in a while. I've been thinking of things to post, but for some odd reason I just haven't felt like writing anything, sorry. So I'll give a quick recap of what might have happened:
- I can now 'Crank Dat Soulja Boy'. Not really, but I got $10 for a horrible attempt.
- I went to my first (and possibly last) football game. It was homecoming and Dillard won. Yay, I guess?
- I finally figured out an independent project to do for the rest of Interactive Design.
- Carnegie Mellon came to visit Dillard on Friday. Nothing special, except I "coincidentally" wore my SAMS shirt and the admissions officer pointed it out. I was shocked that she actually knew all about DARPA Grand/Urban Challenge and FIRST Robotics
- I narrowed down my college list a bit. 5 schools confirmed (MIT, WPI, UF, Tufts, Olin), 3 pending (Boston, Northeastern, CMU).
- Registered for the Dec. 8 ACT+Writing
- I still have a C+ in Calc :(
- Robotics Parent Meeting and regional registration and stuffs (Chicago --> Orlando --> ATL). Taught Autodesk Inventor to the noobs in mech.
- Previous Week: Rock Star Day and Superhero Day @ Dillard for a barely spirited Spirit Week
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Thursday, July..uh, um - I don't even know what day it is anymore
The days are slowly beginning to merge together. I don't know what is day or what is night. It is so weird. I pulled an all-nighter last night to finish the Cog requirement. 30 hours awake so far (-2 hours of sleeping/inactivity). I stayed in the Baker cluster last night until I absolutely HAD to go back, but I made little progress. I was only on 7-5 by the time I left. It wasn't until late when the gold bars began to move and the lesson numbers when up. Talk about tedious and ridiculous, check out this screen that I got when I pressed "Hint" on the first of a new kind of problem (click to see a larger image):
I don't know how many times I've wanted to slam my head on the desk, or throw something at the screen, in addition to the many expletives muttered over the past 24 hours. I went to one of the clusters every free set of 20 minutes (it takes so long to get over there that it's not worth going if I can't stay at least 20 minutes) that I had. I went to "sleep" at 5am when I finally reached Unit 12, and figured that I could get to Unit 12 by 10:30am if I got there early and worked diligently through the class. I barely made it. 12-2 is a bitch, especially with 12-3 as the last one before the deadline. It was easy, but nitpicky in unnecessary areas. I finished at 10:05 with 10 minutes to spare!
Next Deadline: Unit 18 - Tuesday, 9:00am
I just came back from Si Senor for lunch. Cheese fries! Just like the ones from West Deli or New York Deli West, or whatever it was called...that little place in the fashion mall food court that had the good bagels and delicious cheesy fries or whatever you wanted. I hadn't had fries like that, with a perfect mixture of melted cheese and ketchup-dippage, in a while.
So it turns out that I'm not the only complete dork already thinking about next summer. I thought that I was a trader or something for considering applying to MITES as a priority over SAMS or AP/EA next year, but some other people just discovered it a few minutes ago. They're applying next year too. Grrr competition!
In electronics we get to finally solder together our dice games after a pathetic attempt to put them together on the protoboards. It's going to be fun going back to the airport with that in my luggage, whether carry-on or checked. I can imagine the whole situation playing out.
[At the airport on 8-11-07]
TSA screener: Who's bag is this!
Me (again, nervous): um...mine
TSA: well something looks funny in here, we need to run it back
[2 rescans later]
TSA: excuse me, ma'am, we'll need to search your bag
[pulls out a bag of wires, books, electronic dice game, etc.]
Me: um, that's nothing to be suspicious about, it's a dice game..see, just press the red button!
TSA: DO NOT touch that!
Me: No, it's okay, I swear it's not a..uhm..uh, it's safe, okay
TSA: we're going to have to confiscate and further investigate this
Me: but...but...
[walks away sadly because there is nothing left I can say]
I doubt that will happen, but it'll probably cause some suspicious looks. It doesn't even have a red button! My button is blue, so there. The flashy red lights do not signal the preparation of explosives.
Off to Junior Assembly, toodles!
I don't know how many times I've wanted to slam my head on the desk, or throw something at the screen, in addition to the many expletives muttered over the past 24 hours. I went to one of the clusters every free set of 20 minutes (it takes so long to get over there that it's not worth going if I can't stay at least 20 minutes) that I had. I went to "sleep" at 5am when I finally reached Unit 12, and figured that I could get to Unit 12 by 10:30am if I got there early and worked diligently through the class. I barely made it. 12-2 is a bitch, especially with 12-3 as the last one before the deadline. It was easy, but nitpicky in unnecessary areas. I finished at 10:05 with 10 minutes to spare!Next Deadline: Unit 18 - Tuesday, 9:00am
I just came back from Si Senor for lunch. Cheese fries! Just like the ones from West Deli or New York Deli West, or whatever it was called...that little place in the fashion mall food court that had the good bagels and delicious cheesy fries or whatever you wanted. I hadn't had fries like that, with a perfect mixture of melted cheese and ketchup-dippage, in a while.
So it turns out that I'm not the only complete dork already thinking about next summer. I thought that I was a trader or something for considering applying to MITES as a priority over SAMS or AP/EA next year, but some other people just discovered it a few minutes ago. They're applying next year too. Grrr competition!
In electronics we get to finally solder together our dice games after a pathetic attempt to put them together on the protoboards. It's going to be fun going back to the airport with that in my luggage, whether carry-on or checked. I can imagine the whole situation playing out.
[At the airport on 8-11-07]
TSA screener: Who's bag is this!
Me (again, nervous): um...mine
TSA: well something looks funny in here, we need to run it back
[2 rescans later]
TSA: excuse me, ma'am, we'll need to search your bag
[pulls out a bag of wires, books, electronic dice game, etc.]
Me: um, that's nothing to be suspicious about, it's a dice game..see, just press the red button!
TSA: DO NOT touch that!
Me: No, it's okay, I swear it's not a..uhm..uh, it's safe, okay
TSA: we're going to have to confiscate and further investigate this
Me: but...but...
[walks away sadly because there is nothing left I can say]
I doubt that will happen, but it'll probably cause some suspicious looks. It doesn't even have a red button! My button is blue, so there. The flashy red lights do not signal the preparation of explosives.
Off to Junior Assembly, toodles!
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