So Much for Everyday...

Okay, okay, so I know when I started this I was doing it like every day. That's what she said. But it's been really busy recently. I'll try to update you for now... Let's see. School's almost over! I'm so excited.

Today is Milk's 79 birthday. Or would be, had Dan White not killed him. I wrote on our white board lots of his famous words, put up a few pictures, and wrote "rest in hopeful peace" to pay homage. 

Ugh. I'm going to stop. I can't blog right now, sorry. Maybe later. 

Vegetarian-ness

So, I've been thinking about it for a little while. What would it like to be a vegetarian? Sure, I have meat in my diet fairly regularly, but I have been much more mindful about it recently.

It's not like I hate meat. I have two amazing cooks as parents, so there's no complaining. I just feel kinda self-conscious about killing all these lives just to eat. I've been trying to not eat meat when I can, but we eat as a family so I can't really do that for when we're eating all together. I've thought about telling my mom and dad about it, but I don't want to have to explain myself, since I don't want them to take it personally, that I don't like their cooking. Though if I do want to try being a vegetarian, it would help to tell them, since there's lots of vegetarian food you can get, and living on just what's around is a little harder. Well, mom, if you're reading this, here's your tip-off. Geez, I feel like such a bad person, having to say it through a blog. X(

But anyway, I had been thinking about it for a while, then Jess and Lisa got me thinking about it more, since they're both vegetarians. Jess is a kinda vegan, but I wouldn't be able to do that. Too much of a hassle and you'd have to sacrifice so much...

I don't think being a vegetarian would be that hard, I've already kinda prepared myself in my mind. Like, I try to eat like a vegetarian as often as I can, and I feel bad whenever I'm not, so psychologically, I'm set. It's just the parents and everyone else that I would have to work on. Which, I think, is better than the other way around. I don't know, I really want to try it, but I don't know how to get the ball rolling....

Thoughts? If anyone is even reading this? 

Backpacking

We got back a few hours ago from Point Reyes from my first backpacking trip! We left Thursday, hiked to our site, did a day-trip on Friday, then hiked in today. It wasn't full fledged backpacking, but it did include much of the experience. I don't have all that much to write down about it, but I just thought I'd take a minute. Pictures up later, maybe.

Let me just say, it was not as hard as I was anticipating. The packs are built to carry more weight, and you pack the right kind of stuff, but even so I had been thinking I would need to rest every other step. Nah, it was lighter than my school backpack! Or around the same anyway.

The one thing was, it would have been good to have had longer to break in my boots. I got a few bad blisters, which made the hike back a little less pleasant. I guess that makes it good that it wasn't like, hard-core backpacking. 

I would also like to note how delicious the food was. Yum. Of course, my mom is an amazing cook so it was no surprise. And when you're on Trail, everything tastes fantastic. But still, we had some remarkable meals. I'm drooling, just remembering about it. 

We were at Point Reyes, at the Glen campsites. They were not as spectacular as Wildcat, which we hiked to and was by the beach (our day trip on Friday), but it was still nice, considering we weren't even expecting to be able to get a site at all at Point Reyes. It would have been nice to be a little farther apart though... 

I don't really know where I'm going with this, so I think I'll just end. :D

EOANLSAA

That's right. 

I'm making.

A listing.

Of all.

The amazing acronyms.

I have witnessed and taken part in.

HOW EPIC IS THAT?!?!?!

And it is titled.

EOANLSAA. An acronym itself. Standing for. 

Encyclopedia of Awesome-No, Like Super Awesome-Acronyms 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming soon. 

Leadership

So, it's been a few days. And I still have much to go over that's happening, but I haven't gotten to write about. One major topic is my involvement in leadership stuff.

Back in November, after Prop 8 passed, I organized something like a silent protest regarding Prop 8. In short, I got 100+ students and a few teachers to wear black to commemorate equality's death by Prop 8 passing. Link that hopefully works.

Then, sometime, not exactly sure when, I started a group on Facebook combating homophobia and the little slurs that seem harmless but can be very hurtful. Here's where I try to put the link to that. 

I also tried/did start a GSA (gay-straight alliance) at my middle school. I had been wanting to do one for some time, but I never got around to it or got up the courage to start one. It's not exactly a full-fledged GSA since it isn't classified as a club (apparently Graham is a no-club school, even though I know that we do have clubs such as manga club, Twilight club, rocket club and more), but I'll just settle for now. Sigh. 

So all of this led to my getting a leadership award from Outlet! (Outlet=LGBTQQ support and empowerment group, part of CHAC) Well, I haven't gotten it yet. I'm getting it at their annual fundraiser, Out to Eat. But yay!! So that's great.

I'm really trying to make a difference in the community and over all the world. I think some people don't know that about me, or they don't take me seriously when I say it. But it's true. I really do. And sometimes I get so frustrated because I see all the stuff others are doing and I compare myself to that, and I don't measure up, and I feel like I'm doing nothing. And then people at school or whatever tell me I'm too serious and need to lighten up. It's just so frustrating, like I feel I need to please different people and parts of me. And I know what they're saying has some validity, because I'm all for having fun and being light and just enjoying life, but I just get so caught up with all the crap in the world and how I want to change it that I have so little time to enjoy things, you know? 

And then I feel so unworthy of getting a leadership award, or being looked up to, because I feel like I have no backbone. Like, it's can be really hard for me to speak up or contribute to a discussion or something to a big group, especially when I don't know them very well. I just feel so inadequate sometimes. Sigh. 

So anyway, I'm trying to really get involved in all this activism and leadership stuff so I can achieve that goal. But I just feel like I do so little and I'm making no progress in just voicing my opinion and stuff... Why do I have to be like that! It's not like I care what others think about me, I really don't. I have no clue what makes me just freeze up like that. Which makes it very irritating. It would be so much easier if I had some psychological disorder or something of the like to blame it on.... 

Whee Procrastination!

Okay, sorry it's been a few days.

I've been really busy and stressed recently, and haven't gotten around to it. Which is ironic, considering right now I have a lot of things to be doing, including studying, homework, and sleeping. But I wanted to update (someone semi-reminded me), even if it's just short. This might be the extent of it. But then I feel bad (my day and week have been too long to go over them). I know I rarely have time to write this, as well as my actual journal, but I think they can be very theraputic and I want to get into it. So it may not be every week, but I'll try to update often. 

In case you don't know me, we'll do some intros. I'm half Taiwanese, quarter Irish, eighth French, sixteenth Scotish, sixteenth English. I'm gay. I'm a committed individual who wants to change the world and gets very frustrated because I'm not doing enough. I would keep writing this, but it feels awkward. So I'm gonna stop. And go do one of those things I have to do. XD

Police Confrontation XD

So I completely forgot in my earlier post what happened on Tuesday-and so I shall tell you! I could just go back and add it in, but it's epic enough and long enough to get a whole post to itself. This happened a while ago, March 24, but I've busy so it's just now that I'm getting a chance to write about it. 

So, it all started with a minimum day. Open house was unusually early this year, but it was, so we had a minimum day, as usual, but in March instead of the traditional April. We originally were all going to go get pizza, us in our little group, but it ended up breaking up because we had no plans, so instead Lauren, Olivia, Angie, Katia, and I went to get falafel. Well Angie didn't get anything and Katia went to get a bagel. But the point is, we were all together. And, although I was a little hesitant in trying falafel, it was quite good. So we still had a lot of time on our hands and decided to go to the Long's Parking Structure, since Olivia and Angie had never gone, and it's so awesome. Katia went to the library to work on a project, since she had to go back to school at 3 for play practice. And she's boring. But anyway.

So we get to the Parking Structure. And then we just kinda fool around. We were looking at this roof right next to one of the sides, and thinking about how you could probably jump over to it, but we wouldn't do it, since if you fell, there's this really narrow deep alleyway that would be very painful to fall down. And we were thinking how it would be a good place to hide a dead body, because so few people go up there at all, much less look down that chasm. It also involved seeing money and wanting to grab it, seeing blood-like stains on the concrete in the Chasm, and dropping pennies into the Chasm. Anyway, we were thinking about murder mysteries and the Da Vinci Code, and wanted to write a letter to a random person. Kinda like a time capsule, you know? Where you write a letter, then someone somewhere will find it one day and it's so awesome, and you just make their day? Yeah. So we were writing this letter, and we had Lauren's pencil pouch out, and all these highlighters and stuff were out, and we were like in our own little world. Then this car, a truck to be exact, comes and drives up, and we notice it and are wondering what's up, because no one really comes to the Structure, much less the top. And Olivia wanted to run because she thought they were creepy people. Not exactly in the way she thought... they were the police.

It should be noted (sorry the flow of this is going to be mentioned, but I believe it is important to the plot), that before, in between the Chasm stuff/wanting to write a letter and the actual writing of the letter, we decided to drop pennies off a side we could actually stand on, and see if they would bounce. We wouldn't be able to see in the Chasm, where the idea originated (and from the Lemon Launcher. Long story). So we were dropping pennies, Olivia and Angie on top, Lauren and I down below watching. And we see this huge carrier storage truck about to come by, and tell Angie to drop a penny on it. We weren't totally serious, but she did it, and it was really loud. like really loud. (hehe bold!) And the driver glared at us via his mirror. It was funny and really awkward at the same time. 

So, zoom back. The people get out of the car, unbeknownst to us they are police (they are plainclothes cops at the moment, in suits/shirt and tie). And they take out their badges and stuff, extremely legit. Apparently they were having some tagging (grafitti) problems up there. And they see us. With pens and pencils out. Luckily, the stereotype of shy girls came to our aid. So we said we weren't doing anything, just writing this letter (which I don't know is like, all that legal either. Not illegal, just not very... not something you tell a cop, you know?) and they asked us some questions and stuff. It didn't help that it was during the time where we would be in school. But it was a minimum day. Yeah. At the time it was very awkward and nerve-racking, and I was thinking they were going to ask us about the penny/car thing. But no. I guess this was better since we weren't guilty, but a more serious offense and we probably looked kinda guilty in the circumstances.

 So they left, and we were all *sigh of relief*-ey, and then finished our letter, dropped it in the Chasm (very dramatic falling, by the way) and left. Olivia and Angie went to get gelato. Lauren and our were talking about the book we should write. And all of us were saying how awesome it was, even though it was not at all at the time. 

And that's my police confrontation! I think there's some more details but I don't really remember and it's late. So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Thanks for listening. How awesome. 

TGIF

At long last, the week is over. I can finally sleep more than 7 1/2 hours. 

The week has been very long, but has flown by at the same time. It's just been very busy. With finding out about this award on Monday, working on my project all week, GSA meeting on Wednesday, Youth in Government Day... It's been packed. I'm probably gonna crash after writing this, take a nap or read. But I want to talk about my week and maybe some other stuff since I was just complaining yesterday... XD

So... Monday. I had Outlet group. And before we started, Eileen told me I was going to be receiving one of the Youth Leadership Awards! I'm so so so so excited and thankful and surprised and humbled... Just all these emotions running around like crazy. It helps me think that maybe I can make a difference after all. It's a good feeling. And then heaped on with that, was Troy from OutNow Magazine, who is doing an article on Out to Eat (when I'll be presented with the award) and is mentioning me! It's such a great opportunity and such, it's just so exciting! My head has been kinda reeling about that all week. 

Then Tuesday I thought something happened, but I can't remember. I talked with Troy, so that's what I mentioned before. I don't think there's much other than that. 

Wednesday we had what I think was kind like our first GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) meeting. It went pretty well, but everyone burst out into some kind of conversation at every little word. It was a little irritating, but I think they'll get better. We have to work out some kinks, like hot lunch, leaving the lunch area, etc, but I'm hoping it will become more like an actual GSA. I have to organize some things to see what people want from it, VP, etc and also talk with Eileen and Ms. Jacobs about a few things, but I have hope. 

Then yesterday was Youth in Government Day! Overall, it was a fun, good experience. We had a mock city council meeting, which was interesting, but it would have been nice if I knew what I was meant to do for longer than about a minute. No one had told me, so I didn't know... But it was all good. No one really knew what we were supposed to do so I didn't stick out as bad or anything. I hope. haha. Then there was this tour of Mountain View around the area, like to the library, Center for the Performing Arts, Pioneer Park, etc. It was interesting and short enough at each place to not be dull. I was in the group without Lauren or Olivia, so I didn't know anyone very well, but it was still fun. Then there's this thing called YAC, or Youth Advisory Council, which I'm thinking of applying for. It's like the youth voice in the Mountain View government. Sounds like a good experience to be part of, and right up my alley. I hope I make it. 

Then today I had my presentation. It wasn't too bad, I didn't check the clock at the beginning, so I don't know how long it went, but hopefully it worked out. I don't know, it's hard to, since on one hand, Ms. Dorocak didn't really say anything other than good job (while she said Hayley's was one of the best she's seen, even though it wasn't that spectacular), but people also said I did well. I don't know. But whatever, I don't have to worry about it anymore! Yay!!!!!

So now, I'm getting excited for tomorrow's 3 am party, thinking about Smart & Final and animal crackers, watching some YouTube videos and thinking of reading or sleeping. And what else I'm going to write here.

Over and out for now. 

Geez....

So I don't really know how often I'm going to write in this blog. It relates to what it will be about.

 I'm going to try to write every day, with a few exceptions, but it might not happen. We'll see. 

Today has to be short, since I still have a project to work on, two people to email (one being the principal, but I might just talk to her tomorrow), classwork to review, a vocab quiz to study for, a review I should do, and probably more. I'll talk more about today tomorrow, since there was some interesting things. Right I'm just gonna gripe about how much homework I had. (I was gonna use a different word, but I'll keep it PG. Or PG-13. Though I suppose if you're going by modern rules, this is already R since the main character/person is gay. Stupid society.)

I had a long TBQ to do, Math homework, a weird worksheet about symbols and in which I had to write a summary via poem, and a weird note/worksheet page. It doesn't sound like much but it took a while... and all that stuff I mentioned in previous paragraph. I also gotta organize some GSA stuff for next meeting, talk about it with Andrea and the others. I don't really know what they want to make of it, and they don't want mission statements, or plans of action or something (claim it will make them take it less serious-irony!) so maybe next week I'll do a poll. Gotta get to that.

I am also distracted, or whatever by my excitement for Saturday night. Lisa, Jess, and I are going to have our 3 am movie party, in which we will watch RENT and Monty Python. It's going to be awesome. I would elaborate on another awesome aspect, but it's a surprise. :D I really enjoy talking to both of them, but since they're sophmores at Mountain View High, I don't see them that much... so hopefully these 3 am movie nights will happen more than once! Not to mention that I have a huge crush on Jess, so I look forward to spending time with her... I won't say much more in case she's reading this. XD

Yeah, so it took me a really long time to fall asleep last night because I was excited, and thinking about today, and just thinking about things in general. The crazy stuff that goes on in my brain. So I was really really tired this afternoon in particular. The morning was okay, but I wanted to fall asleep during my clarinet lesson (and therefore was very unfocused for that last bit), and then when I was doing all that homework, and now. I just want to sleep for a long amount of time. Sigh. 

Okay, I think that's it for now. I gotta go find more pictures related to rats, crosses, knights, and maps. XD

First Blog!

Hey everyone! 

I don't even know who is going to read this.

Probably no one. XD

Anyway, I just felt like making a blog, as a good way to vent things I don't feel like necessarily talking about.

Also spreading the word on stuff.

Of course, first, I have to decide what this blog is going to be centralized around. Is it a talk about my personal life thing? Is it talk about LGBTQQPDI (from now on going to be called queer or LGBTQ because that acronym is just insane) stuff? Is it going to be about the GSA? What? Yeah, so that's the question facing me now. Hopefully I'll decide at some point. Probably soon. It will most likely be a mixture of a lot of things. I could always make another blog if it feels like I'm talking about too much or something. 

Cheers,

Liv 

or

Anna Livia

or

Al

or 

AL

whatever you prefer :D