First of all, happy birthday to everyone who was born on this day, you'd better enjoy this birthday because it won't come for another four years! *chuckle*

Speaking of birthdays, I don't know why, but I don't seem to get excited anymore. When I was a little kid, I would always used to be like "wow! I'll be turning (insert number less than 10), but now my opinion has changed to something along the lines of: "wait, it's my birthday? Damn, another year wasted." But even though I don’t appreciate my birthday that much anymore, presents will always be welcomed. :P

I’m going to turn 16 this year, and I’m debating whether I should have a party or not. Sweet sixteen parties are expected common here; a month ago, this girl I know rented like, half a restaurant to have a party, and it was very formal too, I mean like formal dresses and tuxes for guys. The dresses are for the girls, not the guys, in case it wasn’t clear.

But the thing is, I don’t see a point in celebrating turning 16, what’s so good about it? You get your driver’s license so that you have more freedom (and can cause more accidents on the roads)? You get to screw up hang out more with your friends now that you have more “freedom”? That’s pretty much it; what else happens when you’re 16?

Even though I don’t feel it’s that exciting, I’m still considering maybe a small dinner with a few close friends or something, but definitely not some place too formal; I’ll save that ‘til when I’m like 25.

I think everyone’s in too much of a rush to grow up, and so they think that a formal party will make them seem more mature. But me, I’d just like to stay this age; where the most important thing you’re worried about is that pimple that just won’t go away. Rent, bills, and houses… don’t want to think about those, ever.

Maybe I’m too idealist and am living inside this bubble, but for me, this bubble’s enough. I know I’m going to encounter more serious problems and am going to have to grow up eventually, but don’t you wish life could just stay as simple as it was when you were a child?

Science lab reports will actually be the death of me. They're the bane of my existence, and the bad thing is, I'll be doin' em for the rest of my high school life.
Human shallowness will never cease to amaze a simpleton like me. Maybe I'm just too innocent and always only see the good in people.
Today, I distributed 3 copies of my science lab reports to people that wanted to "compare" answers. Well, they'll probably check to see if they got the same answers, but seriously, I don't talk to two of those people EVER except in science. I hate being used, but at the same time I can't NOT help people. It's just - not in my character!
I did find some mistakes in my labs after I gave them to those people... if they DO copy everything, well, sucks to be them.

My site douteux.net has a new layout! Finally, I kind of like this one, but I find the colour combination kind of weird. I'm sort of disappointed in some of my hostees who haven't set up their site yet even though they've gotten about a month already to do so. I'm probably going to email them about it soon, one month is definitely enough time to make a layout, and if you don't have time, then you shouldn't own a site in the first place.

School's interesting right now; still can't figure out who my friends are though. Sometimes they ignore me, and other times it's like everything's okay, and we don't have to worry. I just wish everyday could be like that, where we don't have to worry about anything at all, we can just laugh at jokes and talk all day long. But life's not like that is it?

Balance. That’s what I need in my life right now, to balance my homework, my job, piano, and my other extracurricular activities. I’m so glad this week’s finally over, I’ve got good news, for once. Our Senior Wind Ensemble went to the Golden Horseshoe Competition on Thursday, it was actually a lot of fun. I won’t say much about the bus ride other than the fact that it sort of involved fire, someone’s jeans, and someone else’s Uggs getting thrown out the bus window. I had a nice chat with my old music teacher, who was the MC at our competition; it was nice to talk to her again. Even though we didn’t practice much at all and screwed up 1/3 of our performance, we still managed to get a Silver medal with an invitation to the nationals in May! Hooray for talented piccolo and clarinet players!
Speaking of balance, in science we are currently practicing how to balance equations for chemistry; I think I’m actually getting the hang of it, chemistry’s pretty easy for me. But I have one question though, when you combine NaHCO3 with HCl in a beaker and produce NaCl + CO2 + H2O, does the CO2 (carbon dioxide) escape from the beaker, or does it stay inside because it’s heavier than air? I’m slightly confused because the activity is called “finding the missing mass”, but it doesn’t make sense to me because I would think that since the carbon dioxide is heavier than air it wouldn’t rise and escape from the beaker anyway.

I did the Cayley math contest (by Waterloo) today during first period. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, but that's because I remembered how to do specific questions from last year. I was actually surprised when one of my friends, Sam, forgot how to find the circumference of a circle... weren't we taught that every single goddamn year in math since grade 5? I say goddamn because we always seem to be learning the same thing, and I wish the teachers would just MOVE ON. I know that I made three stupid mistakes, and then I left the last question blank, so I should be able to calculate my mark. Waterloo actually gives you 2 marks for not putting down any answer! Anyway, so my test result is
150
-20
+02
___
132

Well, that's terrible, but since it doesn't count for anything, I'm not worried. My excuse for a music teacher marked me absent today; my mom received a call from the school saying that I "skipped" first period, when I had SPECIFICALLY told her I was at the math contest... *shakes head*

Anyway, I need to study for a science nomenclature quiz and an English short stories quiz.

I wish everyday could be Family Day.

Anyone technical here who help me pass my Grade 10 piano technical requirements section? You’ll be loved forever if you can :P
So I went online to check out my mark for my Grade 10 piano exam: 73. DAMN! I looked at the mark printout, and saw that I needed one more mark to be able to go onto ARCT.
One measly percent… which the examiner did not want to give me. I guess I should have told her that I had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius that day.
Well, the good news is, I don’t have to redo my entire exam. The bad news is, I have to redo my technical stuff, and for some reason, my fingers just CAN’T play all those formulas and scales and arpeggios. Stupid fingers.
Family Day’s tomorrow, which means I get a day off from school. It should be nice to sleep in for a change ;)

February is quite the busy month. Here’s a list of dates and stuff that I have to do the following week:

Feb.14 - Valentine’s Day, okay, I don’t really do much on that day and it IS my least favourite holiday. But still, all sorts of PDIs will be around in the hallways and near lockers…how will I survive? *drops onto knees and looks up at the sky while raising my hands to my head*

Feb.15 - Flag Day! It’s time to celebrate the birth of Canada’s flag, you know, the one with the cute maple leaf on it.

Feb.18 - Family Day. I love this new holiday since we don’t have to go to school on Monday.

Feb.19 - Waterloo mathematics contest. Yes, I’m a nerd, movin’ on…

Feb.21 - The Golden Horseshoe school band competition. I hate my life.

Also, course selection deadlines are next week, and I haven’t picked my courses yet. I have six that I am definitely taking: English, math, biology, chemistry, physics, French, but I need two more courses. I want to take world history as well, but I need an easy course so that my brain doesn’t explode next year.