The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yeah, I haven't posted in awhile. This is the part of my year that gets insane. First there's studying for midterms, then there is taking the actual midterms, then there's attending therapy for my reaction to bombing the midterms (Just kidding. I didn't go to therapy), then I realize that I've done no Christmas shopping, then Christmas is here. Throw in my birthday and the midnight premiere of The Hobbit, and you've got yourself one roller coaster ride of a season.

Well, I just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive, or in zombie form and still blogging. Actually any IB Full Diploma student automatically becomes a zombie, so that's a bit redundant. Made it through my first semester of IB and on a glorious winter break. Of course it wouldn't be winter break without having an annotated bibliography due when I get back, but I'll probably find time to cram in some hard-core research somewhere.

2012 and the world didn't end. Next year brings my first IB exams and writing my Extended Essay, my IOP on White Noise, and many more surprises. So happy new year to all you out there on the internets and beyond. And so (to the tune of "Old Acquaintance Be Forgot"): to old assignments we forgot to do, and many more to come...

Adventures in Doodling

So this semester I started doodling. It started with just a storm of lines in an abstract cloud, but then I started drawing other things, and discovered I can draw vaguely recognizable things. Then I couldn't resist drawing this on a Biology test:

I know it's Glycocidic, but I can't spell to save my life

Sadly, my teacher didn't think it merited extra credit. Then in history when we were talking about Manifest Destiny and all that lovely jazz, I was reminded of a famous line from the book that basically is the jazz era, The Great Gatsby:

Gadsden Purchase of 1853

We had a substitute in TOK, and we had to do this reason packet, which included a logic puzzle. Unable to answer any of the questions on the page, I just filled in the only one I knew:

My biology teacher decided to change the arrangements of the desks into this bizarre formation. It was quite disturbing to walk in and see previously logically aligned desks in this strange, slanted triangle thing. I immediately turned to a friend in horror and said:

IB Oregon Trail

Studying Manifest Destiny in IB history. Oh, side note: best named treaty EVER is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which settled the Mexican War. Obviously it's time to play some Oregon Trail (My characters are Batman, Ryan Gosling, RuPaul, Karl Marx, and Catherine the Great. I couldn't think of any good names).

I have always been a rather unpopular nerd, so of course at my first elementary school the popular kids had a monopoly on the Oregon Trail Game. The one time I got to play it they gave me bad directions to get me off faster. Yeah... true story.

But the Oregon Trail is fantastic. For a while there I thought I had somehow been lucky enough to have no mishaps, but then everything went wrong. Catherine the Great died of Cholera (not, as rumor has it, having sex with a horse. Weird AP Euro facts are always relevant). RuPaul did, too. Karl Marx was killed in a random buffalo stampede. Batman died from typhoid, but showed later covered in mud. Apparently he wasn't dead yet in true Monty Python Style. But he died in an unfortunate buffalo stampede (just the darndest thing). Of course thieves kept stealing my oxen and stuff, but I was a banker so I could buy more supplies. Somehow my party suffered from a multitude of diseases, some of which make me wonder what my characters were doing to get so sick...

BUT RYAN GOSLING MADE IT TO OREGON!!!!! 

A Game of Thrones

There is one thing you should know about me: I AM A HARD-CORE FANTASY/ SCI-FI FANATIC. Harry Potter is my holy text and Lord of the Rings is my life. Reading His Dark Materials changed my life forever. Tamora Pierce's books were what got me through the rash of terrible Young Adult books ripped off that even worse book Twilight. Terry Pratchett is my inspiration and Neil Gaiman rules my world. Ender's Game and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gladly hold prime positions on my book shelves, and if I talk about The Old Kingdom Trilogy  or The Hunger Games I'll die from excitement. Now that I've given you my credentials, I will move on to the subject of this post.

I finally cracked open A Game of Thrones. What can I begin to say about it? Mind = Blown! It was brilliant. Not only was the plot and world intricately created, the characters themselves were incredible. Each character is fascinating in their own way. And what was best with the characters was that the story was told from so many different viewpoints. At the beginning it kind've felt like Starks were Gryffindors and Lannisters were Slytherins, but the line between good and evil is blurred. The only way that could've been so successfully executed was from the multiple viewpoints.

Another thing I absolutely loved was the politics that governed the game of thrones. The politics were intricate and complex, which I found gratifying. Many times in fantasy books with revolutions and wars the politics that caused them are too simple. Remember, I'm a history nerd. I need something like the causes of WWI: MANIA (Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism, Assassination). A Game of Thrones created a realistic web that the characters could become ensnared in.

Now I'm dying to see the tv show, except I have a have a feeling the story will be overshadowed by the rampant adult material. Whatever. I can spend that time reading the rest of the books in the series. Goodness knows that I'll need the time to work my way through the next couple of books, each of which is about a bazillion pages long. Looking back I'm amazed that I found enough time to read this one while in IB mode.

Do you like Game of Thrones, too? Have you read a good book recently? Feel free to share in the comments.

IB Hogwarts

There are three very good reasons that the International Baccalaureate program is comparable to a Hogwarts education:

1. There are First Years and Second Years
2. Color is spelled Colour
3. The teachers expect us to do magic

1. I am a First Year. I found this incredibly amusing the first time anyone referred to my group as thus. I felt like I had somehow become a Hogwarts student.

2. All the words in my textbooks have the British spelling. "Colour" and "Analyse" and the like. That's because all our textbooks are written in England, because our books are International. I'm sure the textbooks at Hogwarts are spelling with an extra "U" in some words. Well, not extra for them. From their perspective, American textbooks lack a "U" in some words.

3. The teachers expect us to do magic. Really, I watch my math teacher working a problem and one moment she doesn't know the 50th term in an infinite series and the next, she has the answer. It's like she's waved a wand and Poof! It's 542. And they expect us to be able to have multiple tests in the same week, and CAS, and piles of homework, and have a life. They expect us to become world citizens and well-rounded individual at the same time. Also, I am in desperate need of a Time-Turner. I would take a leaf out of my heroine's book and use one, but I don't know what IB's policy is, and if I'm going to translate the Aeneid at 7 a.m. for this diploma, I'm not going to take any chances.

IB Memes: 1st Edition

I am starting a new series of memes inspired by the International Baccalaureate program! This series will explore the world and mind of the IB student and be presented with such familiar faces as Awkward Penguin and Y U No Guy. Here is the first of what I am sure will be many, supremely awesome memes hand-crafted by moi. 

How's that Diploma Working Out for You?

So we had to make a Jeopardy review game for IB Biology. I was doing Carbohydrates as my category, and I was on 50 points and I couldn't really think of a good question, so I just did this:

Obviously this is IB Diploma material.

Something tells me this should count for CAS. This is like interpretive dance level awesome. If this isn't Creativity, then I don't know what is.

This is kind've what I feel like right now...

Bro With the Flow

So we began The Great Gatsby in English a little while ago. I finished it ahead of time, because as soon as I opened it, I couldn't put it down. It was beautiful literature in a way I had never before experienced, and the way the story and characters are grounded in reality makes the story all the more intriguing.

Anywho, we were discussing the cultural and social themes in the book, and the relationship between characters of the same gender. This is how the "Bro Code" came about:

The Bro Code is the unspoken rules that the men follow in The Great Gatsby.

1. No one tells Daisy about Tom's mistress even though he flaunts her in public (she does know, but that's not the point).

2. Class stratifications are adhered to strictly.

3. The men control the wealth and resources.

4. The men just go with it, and try not to speculate on bad things that disturb their lives of meaningless pleasure.

5. The men treat the women as their objects and less than men. Personally I thought bros before hoes would be better, but we had to keep it school appropriate (Pssh. School appropriate is overrated).

Meanwhile, in present day English class:

I believe this is a "Bro with the Flow" appropriate situation.

Obviously we're being incredibly productive students.

Friday!!!!

IT'S FRIDAY!!! Congratulate yourself for making it through another week, because I know I am. Math test? Check. Latin test? Check. English paper? Check. IB Showcase? Check. 

But those weren't the main events that held my attention this week (well, they did, but they weren't important). This week saw the re-election of President Obama. This Friday, I am continuing my Friday series of celebrating things that make life worth living, and today, it's Democracy. It is amazing to see people motivated and moved by ideas and truly involved in creating a future worth living in. Of course I could go into Super PACs, attack ads, apathetic voters, divided government, and all that jazz, but I'm not going to. At the risk of sounding idealistic, I am incredibly lucky to be a citizen of a country where decisions are made by the people and for the people. I can vote (not yet, but I will next time), criticize my government, and express my thoughts freely. It's astounding that in the chaotic, violent history of humanity, there is a system of government like democracy, that has established rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

So in conclusion: 'MURICA!

Why So Serious? I'm in IB.

The Extended Essay. Duhn. Duhn. Duhn. It's like my high school thesis, and all IB diploma candidates have to write one to get their diploma. It's supposed to be somewhere around 4,000 words, and you can write it on anything you want. For the longest time I struggled with what to write my essay on, because I am interested in SO many things. It's like I went from "Oh, fashion and feminism might hold some possibilities" to "what can I write about with the Arab Spring and The Hunger Games?" It was like a stream of consciousness piece of writing, flowing from one idea to the next, with a thin thread connecting the concepts. Finally, I was eating dinner at a local pizza place when the idea struck me. I gasped aloud and yelled really quickly "TERRORISM IN THE DARK KNIGHT!!!!"

Since then I've been on a wild roller coaster ride. My Process Paper was due on November 1, and I had to title it using a 6 word memoir. Not to brag, but mine was brilliant. Why So Serious? I'm in IB. Yeah, that just says it all. The title of the actual paper will be even awesomer. Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn: An Analysis of the Role of Terrorism in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Boom!

So I went to the library to do some research. When I found the terrorism section I was greeted with this:

I had to stand there in shock for about 5 minutes. Inside I was like, "Whaaaa?" THERE WERE SO MANY BOOKS!!!! Eventually I found a starting place and claimed a study station. I sat there, scribbling notes and listening to the soundtrack of The Dark Knight (never underestimate the power of good background music while studying). I had finished off my white chocolate mocha frappuccino from the good people at le Star Bucks, and naturally I had to pee. Fearing for the safety of my stack o' books while I was gone, I left this warning to any overeager librarians on a mission to re-shelve every book in sight:

There are added benefits to writing about Batman, after all. It did give me a pretty good excuse to buy a Batman mask at ye olde Party City. After I had selected a suitable mask and had begun to walk away, an employee called after me and said, "Do you need a grappling hook?" Very tempting, but I declined. The mask was super awesome until my dog ate it (first time a canine of mine has eaten my homework). I have developed a decent Batman voice -

Just like that.