Our Documentary!!!

Finally exported our documentary about Silver Chips, Blair's newspaper! I had so much fun making this with Ceci, Leila, and Vu! Hope you like it :)

Sixteen Candles

It's 10:27 on Tuesday, April 2. I am going back to school tomorrow after spring break. I should be asleep. I don't have any last minute work to finish, seeing as it is the start of a new quarter. No. The reason I am still awake is because tomorrow marks the end of my 16th year. I feel like I am 7-years-old again. Anxiously awaiting the clock, and beaming with joy that I will finally be caught up to my older classmates. The only difference now is that I am not beaming with joy. I am sitting in bed typing this post on my phone. I am taking a break from reading The Princess Bride. I am 15 years and 364 days old. And I don't feel particularly different or extra special.

What I have come to accept over the years is that each day is new, different, and special. I learn and grow from my daily experiences and not by an annual date on the calendar.

I do, however, feel very different from when I was in this place last year. Over the past year, I have faced the toughest and most life changing experiences ever. I guess you feel that way every year (or at least you do when you are a kid). With in a certain year you could learn a completely new skill, start a new hobby, or make a new friend. I have done all of these and much more.

So tomorrow I will be sixteen. I will have experienced 16 years worth of life-changing experiences, and I still have a life's worth of growing ahead of me.

#nerves

The four SMOB candidates.

I keep thinking in hashtags now. I blame Twitter. Actually, I blame my friends for saying, "Hashtag..." in person.

This post is called #nerves due to Thursday's ominous event. Just kidding. I'm looking forward to SMOB Nominating Convention. If you didn't know, NomCon is how the candidates get lowered down to the final two. Delegates from almost every middle school and high school in MCPS are in attendance to listen to speeches and ask burning questions about better cafeteria food and cell phone use.

It really does cover more serious topics than food and phones, but I couldn't resist the urge to use another cliche. You know me...

I am really looking forward to Nominating Convention. Though many are calling this year's a "bloodbath," I know that all of the candidates are trying very hard. This gives me some reassurance that--even if I don't win-- someone great will be in this position (but I really do want to win).

Please feel free to ask me any questions about my campaign. Looking forward to this very busy/stressful/exciting/fantabulous week.

116 Unashamed

Last week I participated in an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Diversity Workshop at school. I found all of the activities incredibly deep, especially because they were run by other students. I learned that our Communication Arts Program is much more diverse in ways of thinking than I would have ever guessed. This experience was very eye-opening, and it also challenged a lot of my preconceived notions of different people. However, I realized how much I can easily offend people by making a simple joke. This brought me back to James 1:19 (ESV):

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."

Many of my classmates opened up about experiences that happened 5+ years ago that still taunt them. I didn't realize until the workshop that I dwell on many of my my past experiences as well. This reminded me of another Bible verse; Isaiah 43:18 (NIV):

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."

Because...

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jeremiah 29:11).

This experience also challenged me to "'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation'" (Mark 16:15). I have not been doing this at school, and the Diversity Workshop reminded me that I should not be afraid or ashamed of my beliefs.

**Stay tuned for my media group's documentary about MBHS's Pacemaker-winning student newspaper Silver Chips!**

Living the American Dream

So I haven't posted in awhile... Very very busy with play rehearsals.

My British student, Rachel, arrived on Saturday!!!!

Here's what we've done so far...

• Watched "cool American movies"
• Eaten fried chicken
• Watched the Super Bowl (and the commercials :) )
• Had brunch (complete with chocolate chip pancakes)
• Gone to my favorite boutique
• Gone to the mall. We visited
• Forever 21
• J. Crew
• Hollister
• Abercrombie
• Vera Bradley
• Auntie Anne's 
• THE FOOD COURT
• Gone on "A YELLOW AMERICAN SCHOOL BUS!!!!!"
• School
• Dinner at Macaroni Grill with all the Brits
• Eaten "Real American Hamburgers"
• Learned new words (including "chuffed")
• Rachel met The Amazing One*
• Rachel talked to The Amazing One
• 
  

*This is what Rachel has taken to calling a certain "attractive" American boy.

Dear Rachel...

Here is my most recent independent video project! This time I tried something a little bit different: I shot and edited on my iPhone. I took Mr. Mayo's advice, I bought iMovie. It turned out to be very user friendly. It was much easier to use than WeVideo, and I suggest buying it to anyone who has an iPhone (It's $4.99).

The song I used in the video is the Modern Theme Song from iMovie. This is not one of the most professional-looking videos I've ever done, but I was just getting used to the app. I also wanted to make it less professional because this particular video is for my British student who is coming in 6 days!!! I wanted this video to be very playful and upbeat. It's very cheesy, I know. Enjoy!

The Un-Jewelry Box

The narrators of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close write in extremely specific detail. I tried to do the same. I am incredibly bad at it, but here it is:

For my birthday, she gave me a box. It was small, the kind of box you put jewelry in. The wrapping paper was thin, like newspaper, and covered in hand-drawn hearts. I tore it open carefully, not trying to save the paper, but because I did not want to show her that I wanted to tear the wrapping. I wanted to rip it away. I contained my anticipation. The box was black and velveteen. I opened it slowly, my eyes trained on the edge, where the hinge would open to disclose the beauty inside. A small piece of college-ruled paper slipped out. It was the size that someone tears out of a notebook to spit a used piece of chewing gum in before putting it with the other rubbish. On the paper, written in her round script, were three words. "I luv u!" it read. I read it over and over, slightly disappointed that the box did not contain what it was crafted for. "I love you too," I said.

Looking back on it, five years later, I have learned to appreciate my friend's gift. It wasn't jewelry. I couldn't wear a pair of sparkly earrings that would make my eyes light up. I couldn't receive complements on them as I walked through the hallways at school. But I could wear it. I could wear her "I luv u" in my face. I could wear her "I luv u" in my eyes. I could wear her "I luv u" in my smile. I could wear her "I luv u" every day in my heart. I could keep with me the the sense of love and acceptance. Somebody luved me.

They say the best things come in small packages. It's a cliché, I know. It's a cliché, which I hate. But life is full of clichés, which are actually just wisdom contained in a tiny phrase. A phrase you're likely to hear a googolplex times (notice the reference?). Repeated wisdom, that takes an instant to understand. Because that small package might have changed my life.