Let's celebrate!

If you've been following my posts, you would have read my earlier post on my depressing number of visitors.

Well, the number of visitors to my blog is still not very impressive, it has improved!

I've been checking my cluster map nearly every time I visit my own blog, you see.

AND........

I just realized that the red dot on Korea got upgraded!

It used to be a really small dot, whic

h meant that 10-99 people came to your

blog, but

now,

it's a much bigger dot, which means that 100-999 people has visited your blog!

SEE????

Haha, I know that 110 visits from Korea is not much to be proud of, especially because 50 of them are probably me. LOL Also, many of my classmates have far more visits than me. However, I really feel like I've accomplished something. I kind of feel proud! There are actually people out there in the world who read and take interest in what I do, feel, eat, think........

The next dot in the cluster map is much bigger and therefore better! But...... It requires 1000+ visitors, and honestly, I don't think that will be possible for my blog as the cluster map renews itself at times. (Well, if I visit my own blog about 30 times a day, it may be possible... LOL)

Yeah, so although that bigger red dot seems very desirable, I won't get my hopes up.

I'm pretty satisfied with what I have right now. That medium size dot I have is pretty nice as well. :)

Bagels & Cream Cheese

I really love eating.

I'm picky sometimes, but I really do enjoy eating the food I love.

Recently, I've become addicted to bagels. Bagels with cream cheese to be more specific.

You see, about two weeks ago, I spotted a blueberry bagel in the freezer.

It seemed pretty old, but I had a sudden urge to eat that bagel........

So I threw open the refrigerator door and looked for some cream cheese.

I didn't find any. SAD:(

BUT, I immediately went to my mom in the living room and literally demanded "I want cream cheese." LOL

My mom, being the kind and caring mother, got the cream cheese the very next day.

She got the garlic one from Philadelphia. My favorite!

This is quite nice; it tastes similar to the original, but has more of a flavor. A garlicky flavor, I guess? It's better than the original, trust me. You know how garlic bread tastes better than regular bread, because it has more flavor and regular bread is just so plain? Well, it's kind of like that!

Philadelphia also has strawberry and pineapple flavored cream cheese. I've yet to try those, though I'd imagine that they taste a little queer. Cream cheese with sweet? I'm not so sure. I'll just stick with the garlic:)

Anyways, back to bagels.

Gosh, where can I start?

Bagels are awesome - especially when you have it fresh with a glass of milk with cream cheese bombarded on the top. These days, I have it for breakfast, lunch, AND sometimes for dinner. (Well, I had french toast for breakfast today because my mom had made it for me, but I have had it every other day, and I had it for lunch today!)

Some people, including my sister, don't like bagels, which I find very surprising. She says it's too hard and stiff.....

Well, I'm going to give you ten reasons why bagels are awesome and why everyone should love them.

10 reasons why bagels are so awesome

1. They come in so many types and flavors; you never get bored. Flavors include...

plain, onion, blueberry, cinnamon raisin, poppy, sesame, garlic, pumpernickel, salt, and many more! My personal favorites are onion, blueberry, and cinnamon raisin.

2. They have a whole in the middle, so you can put your eye next to them and see through them You also won't have to worry about losing them because you can keep them on your finger like a ring. LOL

3. They're small and lightweight, so you can have them anywhere.

4. They're not fried or smothered in sauce, so they're healthier than other types of bread or pastries.

5. Just one of them can fill you up quite nicely.

6. They taste SOOOO good with everything: cream cheese, peanut butter, regular butter, honey, strawberry jam.......

7. They're really shiny on the surface, which makes them look very appetizing. (and they are!)

8. They're kind of chewy, so you can have fun while you are eating them!

9. THEY TASTE GOOD, GOOD, GOOD, GOOD, GOOD!

10. They just are awesome. Okay? No objections right? Yep, no objections. Good.

Beautiful...... Just beautiful.... That's all I can say....

I'm going to go grab a bagel now! Which one should I eat? Onion or blueberry or plain?

Hmmmm... I think I'll go with blueberry! :D

Cream cheese. Digital image. Dongsuh Foods. Dogsuh Foods. Web. 13 May 2010. .

Bagel with Cream Cheese. Digital image. Dongsuh Foods. Dogsuh Foods. Web. 13 May 2010. .

When is school over?

Yea, exactly.

WHEN IS SCHOOL OVER?

Hmm...

But come to think of it, the year has sure gone pretty quickly.

Time does fly:D

But it scares me too.

Freshman year has gone by in what seems like 3 months.

Do this three more times, and I'll be off to college.......

Scary thought........

I feel like I haven't accomplished much my freshman year.

I hope I do more things next year.......

I've taken a stab at almost everything, but I know that I'll have to settle with something soon.

But with WHAT???

Hmm..........

Ahhhhh..... I'll just think over it during the summer.

Thinking Positively!:D

Yes, I know I've already written a long post on this before, but I just wanted to dedicate another post to the topic because I've experienced the effect of thinking positively these past few weeks:)

SMILE:D
Haha I just wanted to write that. It made me smile while I was writing it, and I hope you smiled when you read this.

Ahhh these past few weeks have been very chaotic!!!!!
Even during spring break, I've had to go to hagwons and the following weeks have been full of tests, projects, and quizzes.........

Of course, there was a time when I felt so overwhelmed, but I've managed to survive by repeating the phrase "Smile!" and "You can do it!"

There seems to be an unknown magic behind these words. No matter how depressed I am, when I repeat those phrases inside my head, I always feel lightened up!

So I had a World History Test yesterday. Yes, THE world history test that is feared by everyone. Unlike when I am studying for other tests, when I'm studying for world history, I feel this stone deep down in my heart and feel sleepier than usual.
So this time, I chose to study with a friend!
Then, with my friends we gave each other words of encouragement and also had little study breaks in the middle to refresh our minds.....

Also, on the day of the test, my friend and I told ourselves "We can't wait for the test! I think it's going to be SOOO easy!" and we hypnotized ourselves.

Guess what?
It actually worked!

The test went by pretty smoothly, and I felt grateful for my thoughts!

Yesterday, I had a long conversation with a man on this particular topic. He was 29 years old, more experienced in life than I am. Basically our conversation consisted of talks about our experiences with thinking positively and why we thought was good. He told me that the trait was a good one and told me to keep it for my whole life!

I plan on doing so:D

Sam Tsui, a Youtube Sensation

One of my favorite ways to pass time is watching Youtube videos, especially those related to music.

Covers, music videos, videos of orchestras and brands - I watch them all.:)

One day as I was embarking on my usual search for phenomenal musicians, I came across an AMAZING singer named Sam Tsui. I'm serious. He has the voice of an angel. A male angel I mean.

This is the first video I've seen him in.

It seems like there are seven different singers and one beatboxer in this video, but it's actually seven Sam Tsuis put together and his friend/producer Kurt Hugo Schneider! It's just unbelievable how one person was able to create such amazing harmony. (And the barely discernible "I want to have your baby!" in the beginning totally cracked me up LOL)

This is another one of my favorite covers by him.

I had already loved the song Fireflies, but this cover made me love it even more! I was also struck by his CRAZY voice range! He may even be able to hit higher notes than me. LOL

Not only does he make awesome a cappella covers, he also makes just regular covers with his friend Kurt.

I simply LOVE his voice in this cover!

I hope he makes more amazing covers AND original songs in the future!:D

Yayyy:D

Something good happened this week!

The results for the National Mu Alpha Theta Log 1 competition (http://log1.wamath.net/index.php) came out!

I was on the after-school bus yesterday after cheerleading practice when my friend J, told me that she got an e-mail from Ms. Osborne that said the results for the competition was out. (Speaking of cheerleading, the pep rally went really well! All the stunts that I had to help out with went up:D) Hearing that, we immediately checked her e-mail with her i-phone and clicked on the results link Ms. Osborne provided us. We held our fingers crossed as we desperately wished that the page would load. FINALLY! The page loaded, and the results were right in front of us!

The first thing we saw were the school results. Our school had places second right after Thomas Jefferson High School (Funny, because I actually would have gone to that school if I hadn't come to KIS...)

We had a brief celebration on our school's second place accomplishment, but we immediately scrolled down to where the individual results were. We skipped the Mu division, Alpha division, and went down to the Theta division, which was the one we participated in.

Frankly, I hadn't expected to place. The tests were rather challenging, and I had given up in the middle of taking them because I had lost hope (I should NOT have done this, I should have tried my best!:D) But then as I scrolled down the list of names, I saw mine!

Yep, I placed 11th! I know that 11th place is not that big of an accomplishment, but I was still happy that I made it in the top 25 scorers:)

Even better, my friend J placed 15th, so we were both squealing on the bus. LOL

Though I was happy yesterday when I found out that I had placed, now I feel that I could have done better. The score difference between me and the person who placed 10th was very small, and I also remembered how I had literally given up in the middle of the test... If I had tried my best for the whole test, I might have scored higher and made it into the top 10... But, that's all happened in the past, and there's nothing I can do about it. There's always next year, and next year, I hope to place in the top 10!:D

11:43

It's 11:43, just 17 minutes before midnight.

I'm up writing my journal entry for English though I was told that it would be best if I did that by 7:00.

Typical Christine, procrastinating again.

I just felt like writing a blog entry right now.

I've been thinking these days.

From what I've heard from other people, apparently I appear very cold and distant to some people especially when I have my no-expression face on.

I never knew that, but I can sort of guess what I look like when I have my expressionless face on. My mom does the same thing, and she looks very cold though she is not trying to.

I guess I'll have to smile even more to get rid of that cold expression.

Also, there are times when I meet eyes with someone or look at someone and don't know how to react. Smile, look away, don't smile, nod, open my mouth and smile, close my mouth and smile? I feel very awkward in those situations, so I usually try to avoid people's eyes to not experience that moment of awkwardness. I know I shouldn't be doing that, so I asked my mom what I should do in those situations. She said that I should smile gently with my mouth closed. Easy to say, hard to do. But I'll try it out next time.

I've also had this wish that I had on my mind these couple of weeks - I wish I had a twin who was exactly like me. If she thought the way I did, if she understood how I feel, if she knew about what is going on in my life, then I would feel so much relieved knowing that there is someone out there I can completely relate to. I know that's not possible, and I also know that friends are the closest things that I have to twins. But I find it hard to reveal my complete self to friends. I don't know why, I just am a little afraid to show myself... None of my friends know what is really going on in my mind with the exception of one. Most people have the notion that I'm always happy enjoying life, because I smile a lot. Even yesterday, my hagwon teacher told me, "You must be very happy, you're always smiling!" and the upperclassmen at cheer practice also commented that my smile is frozen to my face. Yes, I do try to enjoy life, try to make everyday better by smiling because smiles bring more smiles, and am happy and grateful for the little things I encounter in life. Nonetheless, I feel like there's a little hole in my happiness, my smile, my heart. I feel like there's something missing, though I'm not sure of what it is. I feel like there's something I have to do, something I have to find. I can't really explain it, but thinking about that little hole makes me sad sometimes, and again, I'm not sure why. This is what I've told my friend who knows a little bit more about me than others, and now the readers of my blog will get to know me a little bit more. I ended up breaking down in front of her while telling her this, and I still don't know why I did. I wish I find that little missing piece of my happiness soon and smile without feeling that hole in the back of my heart.

I have to finish my journal now.

It's 12:09, which means that I've spent 26 minutes on this blog post.