Zendagi migzara.

Today was the first day of my senior year, but it didn't really feel all that special. In fact, I thought it was slightly underwhelming. Normally, I would be nervous and anxious in bed on the night before the first day of a school year. But not this time; everything has become so routine after four years that I didn't feel excited or worried about going to school. It feels like yesterday that I was a freshman walking around cluelessly with a map of the school in my hands.

I'm quite content with the classes that I have this year. The most disappointing classes for me are my quiet 1st period and 2nd period classes. For the second year in a row, I have Ms. McGrady for English 1st period, and it seems like another year of sitting in a nice, well-behaved classroom. I wish I had an exciting, dynamic class like 2nd period (It's full of stimulating conversation and fun!). But, I have Computer Science 2nd period this year. Today, I think almost ten people showed up to the class! Oh well, I think I'll keep the class because I think I could do homework and relax during that period. It grants me a nice respite from the torture I endured in my classes last year...

I'm very excited to play in Jazz Band and Symphonic Band tomorrow. I missed playing my oboe in a band, and I hope that I've gotten at least a little better over the summer. Sadly, since Connor quit, I'm the only guy in the flute section...again... But on the bright side, I'm playing bari sax in Jazz Band for the very first time tomorrow! I'm excited and nervous about how I will sound; I have to fill some very large and purple shoes. Also, hooray for the scrawniest member of the saxophone section playing the biggest saxophone in Jazz Band!

It's been a little over a week since my bike accident, but my injuries are starting to heal! My face has reformed, save for a couple of pink spots. The skin on my arm is being replaced with newer, better skin. I feel like I'm a lizard man! I still have a couple of deep wounds left though. For some reason, when I'm cold, they turn a shade of lavender, which is slightly disgusting but still very fascinating (The shade of purple is very pretty).

P.S. I always seem to wake up in the middle of the night and find my cat on my bed. Maybe it's scared of the dark or something. I know I would be.


P.P.S. "Zendagi migzara" is Farsi, I think, for "Life goes on." Time and history wait for nobody, and we must do our best to keep up. If we don't, we may find ourselves trapped in our pasts, doomed to repeat our past mistakes forever. Zendagi migzara, and we must follow it and never let go.

No more bikes for a while...

As you all probably know, I kind of had a little accident yesterday. From my epic failure, I epic learned a couple of things:

1. Cars can parallel merge into different lanes, bikes cannot parallel merge onto a sidewalk.
2. Brakes are useful for slowing yourself when you're going too fast.
3. Buy a helmet; wear said helmet.

So basically what happened: I was riding down my hill past Collins on the way to band in the morning, like I normally do. When I got to the bottom, I wanted to go onto the sidewalk. So I drifted toward the dip part of the sidewalk to get on, but I didn't go at a sharp enough angle. Both my wheels got caught in the groove of the sidewalk ramp and my bike capsized to the right. My face hit the ground first and I think I continued to travel several more feet. A lot of things went through my mind at this time including, "How much of my face is missing?" and "How am I going to get to band?". I was scared I was going to end up like this guy.


It all happened so quickly, I was kind of confused and didn't know what to do (especially since I couldn't find my glasses). I was more panicky than I was in actual pain. I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to get to band, but I knew I had to clean myself up. Luckily, there was a pregnant lady who saw me fall (and probably heard me shout several obscenities), and she offered me a ride home. Her husband was even kind enough to wheel my bike back to my house.

I can't get over how lucky I was. When you think about it, the injuries I got could have been much, much worse. I'm very fortunate that I didn't break any bones or hurt my neck or head. Luckily, my sprained left ring finger didn't keep me from playing my saxophone today! Hopefully it'll get better before I'm married and I have to put a ring on it. Sadly, I'm not sure if my right wrist fared better. I doubt I can play badminton with it, unless it gets better (No more smashing for me).

The thing that upset me most wasn't the fact that I was in so much pain. The physical pain was nothing compared to how guilty I felt for letting everyone down. I felt like I let my section down and the entire band down. My dad even had to leave work early because of me. Even the nice couple went out of their way just to help a poor boy who can't even ride a bike correctly. I'm still very much in their debt for their huge favor. Unfortunately, I highly doubt I'll ever meet them again to pay it back. Therefore, if I ever see an injured person on the side of the road, it's my obligation to help them, just as that nice couple helped me out. That way, I'll be able to Pay It Forward (I want to watch this movie someday).



Much to my surprise, I was able to get 1st place in the drill down today, despite being barely able to bend my right knee (I can't even make a fist for Parade Rest!). I hope no one was going easy on me, just because I'm handicapped!

P.S. One of my vacation pictures from Flickr was selected to be used on an online travel guide. See it here! (It's the Chinatown one, with my name):

http://www.schmap.com/boston/sights_outandabout/#p=68361&i=68361_25.jpg

Holding My Thoughts In My Heart.

After three days of marching band, I am happy to say that I am feeling much more comfortable with my section. Though, I must admit that there are times when my mind blanks and I have no idea what I should do next...especially during sectionals. But, I've started talking to my freshmen a bit more. They're already starting to laugh at me and hit me! It's great!

Doing drill downs this year is much more difficult for me because there's so much pressure on me. Everyone expects me to do well (because I'm technically "Drill Master"), when in reality, I can lose just as easily as anyone else. Whenever I do a drill down, my legs shake like crazy; sometimes I feel like I'm about to fall over. I can feel everyone's eyes on me, and I know that a lot of people are wishing for me to mess up.

I also blame my loss today on Yohanna and Denisse! They kept telling me to lose on purpose so that the freshmen wouldn't hate me! I told them that I would mess up on purpose if I made it to the final three, because I've never gotten a 3rd place ribbon before. I think that got to my head and distracted me during the drill down. Sigh...getting 4th place is like a slap to the face (so close, yet so far!!). Oh well, no one really to blame but myself. More reason to do better next week!

I went to the dentist's today, and I didn't contract bacterial endocartitis due to my muscular ventricular septal defect! Woohoo!

P.S. I like how a good piece of music can make me forget about all of my troubles, well, almost.

P.P.S. Today's title comes from the sad and dream-like song in Final Fantasy VII.

Fire is surprisingly hot and water is wet, strangely.

I'm kind of sad that no one seems to blog anymore...I feel like I'm talking to no one! It's like when Amir talks to his Baba (Well, probably not QUITE like that) in The Kite Runner. Which reminds me, I should really be doing homework right now...

Well anyway, today was a very...interesting day. It's my first day of being a section leader, and I already question my teaching credentials (More than I previous did). I think was more nervous than the freshmen that I was coaching because my mouth got very dry, very quickly. I'm not used to raising my voice around people, so this was a big learning experience for myself, as much as it was for the Marching Band rookies. Hopefully with a day of band under my belt, I can be more confident in what I am doing. My biggest fear is that I end up over-complicating things for everyone. I have a tendency to explain things in ways that seem to only make sense to only myself. Half the time, I feel like people have no idea what I'm talking about.

I barely got any sleep last night because I was so excited and nervous about the first day of band. I looked in the mirror a little while ago, and I saw dark rings returning to my eyes. I look like a raccoon, but thankfully, I have large glasses to camouflage my dark secret.

Fun fact: I like to listen to a 17 minute song, just for the minute and a half finale.

P.S. The title is just me being weird.

Am I a butterfly dreaming I'm a man? Or a bowling ball dreaming I'm a plate of sashimi?

Never assume what you see and feel is real!

Gasp! I'm actually writing something for once! And it's only been like three whole weeks since my last post! Luckily, I don't have any coffee in me today, so my writing should make a little more sense.

During the past couple of weeks, I got to play badminton at GGBC. I even got to use the Yonex bag that my aunt bought me from China. It's so cool; it even has every single one of my favorite colors on it (blue, black, gray, and white). The large bag creates the illusion that I'm a much better badminton player than I actually am. I love playing badminton a lot now, but it's a shame that I get tired so easily from playing. I really want to get a new racket, because I feel like it could make a big difference in my playing. And goodness knows that I could use anything to help out my badminton game.

Another strenuous activity that I've been occupying myself with lately is Pokémon Stadium on the N64 at Brian's house. We all like to do competitions with the mini-games, and things can get very intense. During the many days of playing it, we've experienced: foot cramps, flying controllers, sore throats, various swear words, bruises, loss of breath, non-stop yelling, lots of glistening sweat, and at one point the N64 was flipped upside-down. Yes, things may get a little competitive, but I think it's the most fun I've ever had while playing a video game.


Thanks to Schwanka, I finally have a State Alchemist's pocket watch! It's one of the few things that I've ever really, really wanted in my life. It's also one of the very few times that I've gotten something that I've really wanted. Now, I have two pocket watches, but only one real pocket to hold them in. Ah well, I've sort of found a way to keep them both with me. Though, some people might mistake me for some sort of emo child (How dare they!), since I have so many chains. But what can I say? I love clocks...and that's with an "l" (I'm no chicken lover!). I would call myself a "chronophile", but I don't because I know there's no such thing.....Well okay, never mind. I just Googled it, and apparently it IS a real word. I kind of want to start wearing a wristwatch again (For triple the time-telling fun!), but they always get in the way when I play badminton. That's one of the many reasons I like pocket watches more.

I've been getting these headaches for almost an entire week now, and I don't know what to do. I suppose I should be taking some sort of medicine, but I'm just curious as to where these pains are originating from. Also, I've kind of been able to remember some of the dreams I've been having lately. Strangely enough, I've also kind of been having recurring dreams. Though they each weren't exactly the same, they had to do with the same thing, which is odd. I've never had recurring dreams before (Not that I can remember anyway).

P.S. I want to see Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea!

P.P.S. Today's title is a quote from the game Chrono Trigger, one of my favorite games ever. The characters and locales are just so diverse/wacky/insightful/thought-provoking/plain awesome.