Fame! We're Doing It For The Fame!

I seriously hope I get more than 15 minutes of fame in life because 15 minutes is not enough! Let me explain. Way back in late February I submitted a reflective essay to an organization called One World Education. My topic? The Dominican and Haitian relationships. To be honest I submitted it with with no wish of winning the competition. To me it was a class assignment in Advanced Composition that I sort of enjoyed doing. Well a few weeks later I get an e-mail from One World Education saying I was on of 12 winners out of over 500 applicants! That's about 2 percent!

But what is One World Education you may ask? Well here's an excerpt from their website: "One World Education (OWEd) is a non-profit leader in promoting youth literacy and developing peer-to-peer curriculum that empowers teachers and engages students.  OWEd utilizes student-authored writing about culture and global issues as teaching tools for other students."

So basically the essay that I wrote will be published on their site and even more exiting is the fact that this summer a team of teachers will use my essay and build a curriculum around it! Can you imagine that?? Having children all over the nation (well mostly the DC, MD, and VA area since OWEd is still relatively new) reading my essay and learning about human rights or whatever element of my essay they decide to pull out and focus on? It's pretty exciting.

The reason I never wrote about this was because I didn't really have any proof (or pictures) that I was a One World Education Ambassador! Tonight however I went to the 3rd annual Youth, Culture and Learning Celebration.  It was in DC and I went there around 6. The real "celebration" didn't start until 7 but they wanted us all to be there so that we could mingle a little, take advantage of the hors d'oeuvres and read other people's posters. Oh that's right, I got a poster all for myself =]. We also received certificates so now I am officially a 2011 One World Student Ambassador =]

My poster board!

I really liked this picture with my parents, look at how beautiful the sky looks!

All that writing is excerpt from the essay I wrote. At the bottom it says that you can read more at www.oneworldeducation.org BUT as of 4.29.2011 at 12:32 AM the website has not been updated. Maybe by the time you click it will be refreshed but don;t sweat it, as soon as it becomes available I'll post it up again!

11 of the 12 2011 OWed Student Ambassadors...OMG I'm the 2nd tallest !!!

Before we knew it, it was 7 we mingled with the other guest for about 30 minutes and then they presented a little documentary on the 2011 One World Amabassadors which I have posted below. After that all 12 ambassadors (well, 11 since one poor girl felt very sick and had to leave =[ ) read 2-3 paragraphs from their essay to the audience which was pretty nerve-wrecking since I am not a good public speaker and was very nervous! Did I mention this was all recorded by Channel 9?? This is where my 15 minutes really kick in because I will be on Channel 9 (for those of you that have Cox...) on Friday and Saturday...not sure what time though so I will update you on that really soon.

Finally some of the board members concluded the night with speeches praising everyone from the students to the teachers to the parents for all the hard work they have put in. I proceeded to talk to Ms. Pizzazz (none of this would have happened if it wasn't for her by the way!) and was about to go when I was approached by Eric Goldstein, the founder of OWEd who told me that someone was interested in speaking to me. Confused my parents, Ms. Pizzazz and I followed Goldstein back to the stage where I was introduced to the President of the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill, Polly Binns. No I'm going to be honest here, I have never heard of Rotary Club in my life but apparently my maternal grandfather was a member of it. Its an organization who's purpose is to "provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world." M(r?). Binns said that she had noticed my essay and its topic and was interested in sponsoring it! I still have no idea what that means right now, however we swapped e-mails and she told me that she would be in touch with me. Here we are below inn an official looking photo:

Ms. Pizzazz, my parents, me, Polly Binns, Eric Goldstein and the Rotary Vice President (forgot his name!)

Apparently OWEd scored some money from Rotary Club because of my essay (well that's what I like to think, they might have donated the money anyways...)! Overall it was a good night and I really hope I see my fellow One World Ambassadors again soon but for now I'll have to do with Facebook.

UYL
(Pretty Famous) Andre

Back to the Routine

Spring break was lovely but now I'm back in school and ready to finish. I'm surprised I haven't felt any kind of fatigue today seeing as I only got about 6 hours of sleep (not enough, trust me) and have been in constant motion, no stop.

As you all know Edison HS has been under construction and wow did those construction workers move fast while we were out. I am now completely trailer-class free, thank God. My 1st and 2nd block classes are now in the building (French is on the second floor almost right above Algebra actually so I can walk as slow as I want to class now!) and it reminded me of the first day of school again. A lot of people were lost in the hallways (yours truly included), there were new classrooms, new seating arrangements, everyone was wearing shorts and tank tops because it was hot (and I'm sure it had something to do with the AC not turned on in the newest part of the building, grrr).

However somethings never change and the amount of homework I had when I got home was daunting. I actually did my Algebra homework, practiced for tomorrow's French oral tests, did some of the Supreme Court packet from Government, a Chemistry worksheet and I started writing the 2nd paper for my end-of-the-semester project in Chemistry. I have to make sure to get as much work done early this week since I'm watching Glee at a friend's house tomorrow and then on Thursday I have the One World Celebration thing which I'll write about later on this week. Now that I think about it this week will probably go by quickly, yay?
 As long as Saturday gets here soon so I can sleep in I don't mind...

UYL,
Andre

Easter Sunday 2011

As much as I'm sure you guys love my random ramblings on bathrooms and book and squirrels I think I should take some time and tell you what I physically do not just mentally think (is that redundant?)

My dear mother decided to wake me up at 8 today so that I would be sleepy tonight (which I'm not) and not have a hard time waking up for school tomorrow. So I did a load or two of laundry, finished organizing my closet (spring clothes from now on!) and got ready for the brunch my mom prepared.

After eating a delicious assortment of breads and cheeses and dessert (a berry good cake *wink wink*). The little kids (yes, Valeria was included ha ha) went out and did an Easter egg hunt pictured below. Unfortunately I was not able to go out and enjoy in the fun of watching little children search for plastic eggs since I probably would have keeled over and had an asthma attack but I would have loved to have seen it! (yes that's all sarcasm guys)

After the little egg hunt we got changed again to go to Church in DC. We went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (whew, that's a long name!) in DC and it's a very grand and beautiful church eight next to Catholic University. My mother being the "photo-crazed resident tourist" (as we secretely call her) took a freaking photo session of us all outside the church.

The three Sanabia siblings, reunited once again

I may be smiling but I secretly hate the fact that we are matching. There wasn't enough time to change, trust me.

I actually didn't know my mom shot this until I downloaded these pictures but I find it kind of cute.

We all piled into the car after the mass and after a confusing 30 minutes (I was lost and had no idea where we were going) we arrived at one of my favorite places in Virginia, Tysons Corner Mall! However we all had a shopping FAIL when we saw that all the stores and food courts were closed because, duh, it was Easter. So we once again piled into the car (ravenous this time) and came back home where once again almost everything was closed except for this little burger joint (Boardwalk and Fries for those of you that live around here) that had really good fries.

And then we finally came home and just relaxed for the rest of the evening. I did another load of laundry, downloaded a lot of pictures that I hadn't gotten the time to do and worked on my end of the semester Chemistry project. Today was probably the most relaxed day I've had this entire Spring Break since I've been out running or working or baking red velvet cake cupcakes (with frosting!) at Cappy's house (and organizing her messy closet! It looks great now though ;P ). Even though I would've liked another week of Spring Break I'm ready to go back to school, focus on my last quarter as a sophomore and then be done with sophomore year!

But before I go, what Easter isn't complete without some Peeps?? Happy Easter guys!

UYL,
Andre

The Seinfeld Haircut

No I know most of you out there probably don't watch Seinfeld (hopefully you know who they are at least!) and don't worry, I don't either. I have watched episodes with my parents though when we decide to watch TV at night. One of the episodes I remember and always comes to mind is when Jerry Seinfeld goes to get a haircut but for some reason (I don't remember why) he doesn't want his usual barber to cut his hair. So instead he goes through all this work to try and get a haircut from the barbers assistant (or son?) and the whole episode kind of centers on him trying to avoid his usual barber after he gets his hair cut. Its actually a pretty funny episode (heck, its a pretty funny TV show!) once you watch it because its true.

I myself have found myself in the most awkward position over the last 6 months. This woman named Julia used to cut my hair and she worked Mondays through Saturdays with like a Tuesday off or something. Julia cuts my dads hair and that's why when I moved back to the States my dad took my to Julia. The only problem was that Julia was left handed! Ok well I'm actually not 100% sure that that was the problem but nonetheless I didn't like the way Julia cut my hair. So I called in one day and using a fake, deeper pitched voice I asked if Sofia, the woman who cut my hair back when I was in elementary school, still worked there. To my surprise they said yes! However, she only worked on Saturdays for some reason.

So I go in the next Saturday and I swear I visibly cringe as Julia waves at me and tells me she'll be done with her current customer in 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Sofia sees me like 10 seconds later and waves me over since I sort of had an appointment with her. Looking down at the ground I walk by Julia murmuring "I need a haircut really quickly, sorry". To this day it is so awkward whenever I go get a haircut and make eye contact with her!

I truly understand Seinfeld's discomfort! I mean here I am seeing 'another woman' less than 10 feet away from Julia who probably considered me a loyal client! She knows all about my family and how I never really liked track and I know all about her son who attends Lee and how she finds the American lifestyle so free.

I got a haircut today and when she saw that I was waiting she asked me, "Is someone helping you or are you going to see Sofia?" (well she didn't really stress Sofia's name but I could tell she didn't approve!) Major awkward moment when I replied "Uh...yeah...I'm just waiting for Sofia...*look around the store wildly then pretend to get a text message*" I know how lame but it's just so uncomfortable! Wow it's almost 1 I should probably end here!

UYL,
Andre

Getting Down and Dirty

Well actually it's more like getting down and rid of the dirty because if there is one thing that sets me apart from all other stereotypical teens its that I am an OCD clean freak. Yes, I like vacuuming. Yeah, I jam out to Glee (thank God its back!) when washing dishing. And of course I love folding laundry! But if there's one thing I enjoy cleaning above everything else it's bathrooms.

Yes...bathrooms...

Well actually not just any bathroom, my bathroom specifically. I literally wake up with a smile on my face every Sunday because I know its time to get down and (get rid) of the dirtiness in my bathroom. Not that my bathroom is dirty, but it isn't squeaky clean after a week of usage. And I do listen to upbeat music while cleaning so it isn't boring.

Now I know you guys are probably thinking "ew why would you want to clean a tiolet???" Well, why wouldn't you want to clean a toilet? (that's rhetorical btw and fyi I know how to aim...sorry tmi...btw = by the way, fyi = for your information and tmi = too much information for those of you that don't know). Do you how many germs can accumulate if you don't clean your toilet? Not to be graphic but I know I wouldn't want to sit my booty on something germ-infested! And for those of you that aren't fortunate enough to have a door between your toilet and sink like moi, did you know that every time you flush germs are thrown in the air and most likely land on your sink or worse...your toothbrush! (or you could use a medicine cabinet but be careful since germs thrive in dark places and your toothbrush will probably also be damp!) So let's re-think about how important it is to make sure you have a clean toilet!

And what about your sink? Where you probably brush your hair over and all the pollen and gross air particles fall down on it (and possibly your toothbrush). And then let's not even mention all the soaps, creams, facial washes, toothpaste (I really hate toothpaste residue) residues that always fall down on the counter top. It's gross, unsanitary and needs to be washed. ASAP.

Yes I am very germaphobic but at least I'm not obsessive about it...well, I'm not that bad. And it's not like I have a special, old toothbrush that I use to scrub the plaster/calk in between the tiles on the floor...I'll just leave it at that.

So go on and clean your bathroom, meanwhile I'm going to take a shower (in my squeaky-clean-cleaned-just-two-days-ago-shower) to remove the ice cream plastered to my forearms.

UYL,
Andre

P.S.
I just found this online when I searched "Clean Bathroom" on Google. I think I'll print it out, laminate it and post it above my toilet!

Meet Death, An Excellent Storyteller

I've been reading this amazing book that I know that some of you have read already. It's called The Book Thief (by Markus Zusak) and it's amazing. I don't want to give the book away (which is impossible seeing as I haven't finished the book myself...) but one of the things that have amazed me the most about the author's style is the narrator, Death. It took me a long time to figure out who was telling the story and once I did I was like, "Oh that makes sense!" Here's just a little excerpt that I really enjoyed:

DEATH'S DIARY: 1942

It was a year for the ages, like 79, like 1346, to name just a few. Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a brrom or a mop. And I needed a vacation.

* * * A Small Piece of Truth * * * 

I do not carry a sickle or scythe.

I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.

And I don't have those skull-like

facial features you seem to enjoy

pinning on me from a distance. You

want to know what I truly look like?

I'll help you out. Find yourself

a mirror while I continue.

And then he goes on to talk about collecting the soul of slain Jews and I'm guessing that our faces become so contorted with fear that that is what Death's face look like? Regardless the book is full of Death's little words of wisdom's and the book is just great. Actually I realize I haven't said much about the book except for her the narrator is. Well, the book is set in Nazi Germany near the beginning of 1942. Even though Death is the narrator, the true protagonist of the book is Liesel Meminger who learns the magic of books and steals them whenever she can. I have no idea what goes into a good book review but that is all I'll say about the book otherwise I might end up just telling you the whole book! SO, I highly suggest you go out and read it!

UYL,

Andre

 

Andre: the Mastermind

So today in Advanced Composition we took a Jung Typology Test to see what our personality type was. We later discussed how it affects who we are as writers, tutors and people and the it was all very interesting but I want to talk about what I got.

My Jung typology is INTJ = Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking and Judging. The rational mastermind

There's a lot of places where you can read a thorough analysis but I just wanted to highlight some of the key traits that INTJ people have.

"To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature. INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. Although they are highly capable leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once they take charge, however, they are thoroughgoing pragmatists. Remember, their aim is always maximum efficiency. INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers.

Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations. This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship)"

Please make sure you read all of the above because you will see that this pretty much sums up my weird personality traits! I am a perfectionist, I am very self-confident, I do love efficiency and detest unproductive behavior and I know I can be very detached emotionally at times. And I love it. I love the way I am and think that there's nothing wrong with trying to always improve keeping perfection as a goal. Sure it will probably won't be obtained but I can try to get as close to perfection as possible right?

The line about leading particularly catches my eye because I never realized how true it is! Even though I am normally chosen to lead a group (which I don't mind because then I can do things my way and do most of the work myself) when I am not I don't complain and tell everyone that I think I should be the one taking over. I let whoever is in charge lead for a while and as soon as things start going downhill I take over and do damage control. I am the "supreme startegist" behind every group project. The only thing that I didn't necessarily agree with is that they suggest I be a scientist (I don't like science!) and that sometimes I can be soft spoken. Well it's late and there isn't much else to say except that I am amazed by how well Jung's Typology Test characterized me! So here is my first ever command to you, me readers.

I want you to go to this link and take the Jung Typology Test. It's 70 very short questions that take less than 5 minutes. Once you do that, you can read about it your results and then post your type (with the 4 letters you got) in the comments section!!! I would love to see what you guys get so don't be shy! I also want to know if you think your results are accurate so tell me what IS accurate and what IS NOT.

UYL,
Andre

Parents + My Stuff = Disaster

I officially grounded my parents from using my stuff ever again. Typically I'm the one who always loses stuff and/or breaks things but my parents have done the impossible in less than a month.

Exhibit A: For those of you who don't see me on a daily basis you probably don't know that my iPod touch contains my life. No seriously, it contains all my contacts, my calender of daily after school activities, I check my e-mail on it, write down my random thoughts to blog about, translate French words into English, listen to music, etc. If there's two things I can't leave my house with out it's my iPod and chapstick. If I forgot my cell phone it's okay because I can just text from my iPod but if I leave my iPod...I'd probably go back home and get it! Well like two weekends ago I lend my iPod to my dad because he wanted to listen to music while he cleaned the garage and less than FIVE minutes later he comes in and says "Andre...we need to talk...something happened". That's when my life came apart...well not really but he did crack my iPod!!! I actually felt really numb about it and wasn't upset about it until much later. I don't mean to sound materialistic but my iPod is so useful and makes my life incredibly organized. Here's a picture of the damage!

Exhibit B: Its actually a really long story so I'll make it short. My mom borrowed my phone to go to a walk-a-thon on the metro and on her way back she dropped it! So I don't have a picture of the damage that was done because I don't have the phone! I spent this last week without a phone and while it was inconvenient luckily I had my iPod to text from. And you know what? I'm 100% fine with my mom losing my phone because guess what? I upgraded to a blackberry! It arrived yesterday and I have been collecting numbers from people since. Btw I'll refer to blackberrys as "bbs" from now on.

Goodbye Sansung Messanger Touch, you were a good phone.

Now there's actually an interesting story about how I feel about blackberrys. When I lived in the Dominican Republic they were all the rage (they were even more popular than iPhones which blew my mind). I remember thinking, "why would all these teenagers want a phone fit for an executive?" I really didn't understand why people would want a business phone. I think it might be because of the bb chat which is free messaging from one bb to another. Regardless I made a vow to myself that I would never get a bb until I worked. And up until last Tuesday I really had no interest in having a bb. When I bought it Tuesday night I was thinking to myself, "Okay I'll buy this bb now and then in a few months when the iPhone 5 comes out I'll give my blackberry to my mom or sister". But once it arrived and I started messing around it I fell in love with it. It's faster than my old phone, I don't have to click through 5 different menus to text like I use to, I can check my e-mail on my bb, I get real internet which is 10x faster than the one on my old phone and best of all I have access to bb chat which equals access to one of my closest friends, Gaby (we talked for hours on Thursday by the way).

So to conclude, Apple you better make the iPhone 5 a beast because I'm not so sure I'll leave my bb so easily!

UYL,
Andre

They're Here!

Wow three blog post in one day? This is unprecedented! Well just to keep you avid readers that my grandma and niece have arrived safely! I unfortunately did not get to pick them up as I thought I would be doing but instead recieved them warmly when they arrived. You can clearly see Isabella's (my niece) excitement upon arriving!

She's actually sitting in my lap right now punching in a random letter and informing me that the picture above is of her. She's all tired after the pizza party I just had with my family, grandma, aunt and uncle and their children! There were WAY to many children in the house running around and yelling (even Valeria although I always knew she was a two year old deep down inside as well). Here are some pictures of the little monsters

Maybe giving them colored pencils isn't such a great idea on a whitish carpet.

Adrian, my little 14 month cousin

The ratio of children to adults is scary!

So prepare yourself in the two months to come on blog posts about the random things that not only occur in my life, but the random things Isabella does as well!

UYL,
Andre

The Andre-Filter

This post is dedicated to Madeleine and (especially) Annmarie who dutifully filter my comments every day during third period.

You know that friend who says things sometimes that might come off as rude/mean/embarrassing but they truly mean well? If I was the first one to pop into your head SHAME ON ME!!! I am prone to doing this all the time. I'll say something, see the appalled faces of my audience, and backtrack to try and be no clear. Recently though the appalled faces have disappeared though! Which leads me to the conclusion that when the my friend's appalled face disappears they have finally developed the Andre-Filter. Yes, this is a filter that after many long hours talking to me you acquire which filters out the rude/mean/embarrassing crap I say and understand what I really mean to say. I think an example is in order.

I was discussing grades with a friend and how she hadn't done so hot in the third quarter. I remember moaning about the fact that I got a B+ in Drivers Ed with a friend (I think you know who you are!) and how it sticks out like a sore thumb when I realized how absurd it was to be pointing out my straight A's (let's face it, Drivers Ed is NOT a class, it is part of your PE grade in which I got an A thank you very much) when my friend had gotten mostly Bs (but I just wanted to say that she is a great student!!). So I say something along the following line, "I mean, not that getting straight Bs isn't terrible, because it is..." and then I stop and realize that I just told her that getting the grades she got was a terrible thing which was NOT what I meant to say! What I really meant to say was something like, "I mean, I know its stupid that I'm moaning about this and I really do sympathize with your sadness towards getting those unfair grades" or something like that. Luckily my friend pointed out that she had developed an Andre-Filter (she was the one who coined the term, Andre-Filter) and that she knew what I meant to say. Which lead me to these conclusions:

1) I love the fact that she had developed something called an Andre-Filter
and
2) That my friend has grown close enough to understand what I want to say even though I don't explicitly say it. I'm so happy I'm your friend person-who-got-Bs-during-the-third-quarter! =]
and
3) Did I really say that??

Nonetheless if you've got an Andre-Filter you know we're close!

UYL,
Andre

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You!

So I'm actually in school right now in Advanced Composition (don't worry Ms. Pizzazz my classwork is done!) obsessing about this afternoon. I am so ecstatic that my grandmother and little niece are arriving this afternoon! I have been counting down the days for the past two weeks and now my grandma and Isabella are probably boarding the airplane atthis very moment from Florida to DC. I would elaborate this post more about why I love it when my grandma visits but I am about to change classes so I must leave.

T minus 3 (Hours)

UYL,
Andre

Wake Up World

Ignoring the fact that today was a depressingly damp day, where I forgot my umbrella and got rained on when shuttling from class to class, yesterday was gorgeous! It was sort of sunny out and really hot. Walking out of the house with flip-flops, cargo shorts and a t-shirt was pure bliss. And a great way to spring into my last week before Spring Break

Spring, not love, was all throughout the air. You could even smell it. And for those of you that live in monoseason (well two maybe, summer and hot as hell *wink*) countries, spring really is a scent. It brings back warm memories of hearing the grass being cut in our old Annandale home, playing outside with a water hose with Ashley P. and Maddie back in the 6^th grade or walking past all these blooming trees to the bus stop last year.

I gotta get pictures while the trees are starting to bloom!

 Without a doubt, my favorite season is Spring because everything comes back to life (including my wardrobe! Get ready for phosphorescent colors my friends). I love how the flowers start to bloom and the temperature gets warmer as the day progresses. Everyone whips out their shorts and tank tops and school just seems livelier. Even though Spring just started everyone wants the school year to hurry up and finish so that Summer can arrive.

 I also don’t mind taking Whiskey out for a walk in the Spring because I don’t have to waste 5 minutes bundling up in a coat and hat and gloves and scarf. Clearly it is also Whiskey’s favorite season. I went to go get the mail and find him soaking up some rays trying to tan his pale skinny self!

If only it weren't weird for humans to sunbath on the floor with their pets I would so join Whiskey!

 Ironically, even though Spring is my favorite season I always have to suffer through it because of my ALLERGIES. They are so annoying! Imagine yourself in a room with the Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black and Cee-lo Green all trying to compose a song called Baby, Forget Burning You Up on Friday. It would drive you insane, am I right or am I right? Currently my eyes are both burning and “leaking” at the same time. A runny nose will probably soon follow in the days to come. Hopefully my forehead and arms won’t break out in hives like they did last year…oddly though that doesn’t stop me from going outside as much as possible to enjoy the warmth! And to see squirrels coming out of their slumber =P

UYL,

Andre

PS 

I have been formulating this blog entry in my head for the past few weeks hence the pictures from the beginning of April.

Oh mon Diue, c'est un écureuil!

Translation: Oh my God, it's a squirrel!

And boy do squirrels pop up often in my life! I guess my obsession with squirrel came about on January 21st when Paige (visit her blog at: http://koolbeanzz.blogspot.com) came up to me in gym class and hugged me while proclaiming to the world, "Happy Squirrel Aprreciation Day!" Ever since then I have had a strange fixation with the Sciuridae family. They are officialy my new favorite animals (along with lynxes and wolves). Especially in French class. If I were to pull out some of my French writing there always seems to be a squirrel somewhere in there...examples:

Practicing the Future tense: Quand je serai plus, j'acheterai un écureuil. (When I grow older I will buy a squirrel.)

Environment Unit: I wrote about how it is important to protect our forest because many squirrels live in them.

Car Unit: I accidently ran over a phone and (while sobbing) I had to call an ambulence.

Career Unit: Je voudrais être vétérinaire écureuil (I would like to be a squirrel veterinarian).


and I'm sure I'vre written about them in many other minor homeworks. I actually yelled out in joy when I saw this is one of the class assignment we were (are, technically...) doing in class today. It's actually what brought about this post today. Go nuts with it:

Tammy et Bette ragardent la télé.Soudain, leur programme péféré est interrompu et un commentatuer announce: (Tammy and Better are watching television. Suddenly, their favorite program is interreupted and a commentator announces:)


"Une tornade vient de s'abattre sur Hubbard, Texas. Il y a plusiers victimes. Un tatou et un écureuil seraiend gravement blesss. Restez avec nous, nous devrions avoir plus de détails d'ici quelques secondes..." ("A tornado has just struck in Hubbard, Texas. Allegedly, there are several casualties. An armadillo and squirrel seem to be seriously wounded. Stay with us, we should have more details in a few seconds...")

They are so adorable. =]

 Not to mention how I encountered a squirrel this weekend when I was picking up a friend to go to the library (lol, how nerdy!) For some reason this squirrel wouldn't move no matter how close I inched the car! I had to back the car up and then drive around him/her! It was very funny how that squirrel was so persistent on perusing the floor for nuts! Squirrels. Are. Super. Amazing.

 Update you later, 
Andre

Pep Rally!

SOPHOMORESSS!!! Last Friday Edison had a pep rally which equals the following:

Pep Rally = Shortened Classes + No 4th Block (for me) + Adrenaline + Sore Throat

All my classes were shortened by ten minutes (which sucked for first block since I didn't get to finish the last two questions on my Algebra test, whoops!) in order for the school to handle two different pep rallies since we don't all fit in the gym. The next highlight of my day was that I got to leave third block early in order to help setup for the pep rally in the gym and as a class officer I got to skip fourth block and attend both pep rallies! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (with some captions to help!)

Brandon, James and Brian wearing their amazing Edison Sophomore Eagles class t-shirts!

Womens choir performed a cover of Katy Perry's "Fireworks"

Class Competition #1: Rip out tissues one by one using only one hand!

Er I don't remember what club this was but they danced to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"

Class Competition #2 (Girls Only): Scoot your boot to the center on top of a rug, Go Anna!

Class Competition #3 (Boys Only): Shaking their butts, contestants must get rid of all the ping pong balls in their fanny packs!

Even the teachers competed! They had to roll up an entire streamer roll on their arms.

But best of all was the teacher performance at the end. Who knew Edison teachers were so talented? It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

UYL,
Andre

List Again!

Hmm, apparently even the EWC is crazy about list! Check it out!

 That was a little list for us tutors to complete during class time yesterday. As you can see some of us got a little enthusiastic with the check marks...

Going off on a completely different tangent, have I mentioned how much I love Welch's Fruit Snacks? no? Well I do. If anyone has ever seen me eat them they'll know how...OCD...I can be when eating them.

Andre's Rules To Eating Fruit Snack's

• There MUST be an even number of fruit snacks.
• Fruit snacks are to be consumed in pairs of the same flavor.
• The order of the flavors are: strawberry, grape, peach, raspberry and orange!
• CHEW the fruit snacks not suck on the flavors.

Of course those are just the rules I follow...yeah I'm crazy like that. Imagine the dilemma I had when this appeared in one of my fruit snacks!

One was bigger than the other! I had no idea what to do but in the end I just decided to count the midget one as its one piece. Well now you have seen the inner workings of my mind during lunch time (well there's also the sandwich procedure but I'd rather not go into that lest you call a mental institution, ha!)


Well this post was random...



UYL,
Andre

Writing Center Tutors, Unite!

80+ Writing Center Tutors, 18 different session topics, 9 Colleges & High Schools present, 1 common goal. Welcome to the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association Mini Regional Meeting (MAWCAMRM! Hm let's not use that acronym.) Yesterday I, along with Ms. Pizzazz and 10 other Edison Writing Center (EWC) tutors went to the University of Maryland for the Regional Meeting for a day full of intellectual conversation, amazingly made sandwiches and bipolar weather.

UMD's Writing Center Plaque!

The University of Maryland (UMD) was less than an hour away and the EWC gang got there before 9. We got coffee (which I passed) and bagels for breakfast and a little tour of the UMD's Writing Center. As you can see theirs is just a little bit more professional than our high school one with comfy chairs and Mac computers to work on (plus I heard they even get paid!) After that all of us tutors were shepherded into a big room where the UMD's Writing Center Director talked about what a pleasure it was to have us and that the high school tutors are starting at such a young age. Then our own Writing Center Director, Ms. Pizzazz, got up and spoke a little about how the day would go. Below you can see all of us tutors from the EWCin the first two rows:

After the little introduction was over we were broken up and each tutor had three different 45 minute sessions about a certain topic. For example my first session was how to deal with (in a good way)/tutor English as a Second Language (ESL) writers. This was my favorite session out of all three because there were so many bright tutors with a lot of insightful things to say. It was more of a discussion than having the facilitators (the people who were sort of in charge that everything went smoothly and asked questions for discussion) just tell us how to tutor ESL writers. I won't bore you with the details but I learned a lot of new tips and tricks (my favorite quote said during the discussion was "fake it until you make it!") and supplied some of my own tips from my own experiences with ESL writers. The second and third were good, Enrichment Tutoring (what to do when your "tutee" already has a great paper) and Tutoring Unfamiliar Content. There were also other sessions that I would have loved to go to like: Hands on Tutoring, Uncomfortrable Topics/Language or Dealing With Students That Are Required To Come.

After that we had lunch were a fellow tutor, Sarah, kept on fawning over how great I made my sandwich (that was what we were fed). She even took pictures! When lunch was over we once again filed into a room and saw other schools social media stuff like youtube videos, slogans, blogs (btw click on the link and go watch our Billy Mays EWC infomercial!) In addition to our amazingly punny slogan (do the write thing and there's more than one write way) I also really liked "yeah, write". We then proceeded to take group pictures of us outside.

Notice all our different EWC apparel!

EWC Tutors got SWAG!!

Then came the a tour of the UMD which I was looking forward to since this would be college visit number 2 for me and in less than one month! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (along with captions!)

UMD was a little but more modern than UVA's colonial architecture yet still very pleasant

Student Union Builiding with a food-court, it was like a mini mall!

A plaza where demonstrations are sometimes held, hmm those clouds look ominous...

 They had a farm which I thought was hilarious! Anyways soon after we all "oooo"ed and "ahhh"ed about the horses it suddenly started HAILING ON US. AT first we were all like "hmm this is certainly random" and then it all fell down in torrents and we were like "AGH!!!" For those of you that have never been hailed on let me tell you on thing. It hurts! and these weren't just little pieces of ice, no, these were freaking small marble sized rocks that were pounding into our bodies!

Here we are giggling about the situation. Little did we know...

Eek! Run for cover!

After a while it turned into rain. Even wet the EWC has swag!

The UMD Terrapins! (aka their little turtle mascots)

The school lawn quadrangle, an essential part of every college campus.

Overall it was a fun day and I really learned a lot. Towards the end of it I was really tired for the bus ride but I couldn't take a nap with all our boisterous conversations and sharing about our sessions. All I could think about though was how much I love the EWC and tutoring!

UYL (Update You Later for those that need a refresher [or newcomers] on what it means)
Andre!

My To Do List Obsession

I hate writing things down by hand. If it were up to me I would be taking notes on my laptop everyday! But if there is something I like doing by hand, its To Do Lists. In my room I have a big white board and several legal pads that I have around the house that I use to write my lists down. I have academic to do lists, technological (as in things I need to do online such as uploading pictures to Facebook or blogging) to do lists, chores to do lists and future projects to do lists! There is just something extremely satisfying about listing things to do. Maybe it's because I get to visually see all the things I need to get accomplished in one day or that satisfying feeling of striking (striking) something off the list. Because I don't do little check marks, no, I scratch that task right off. And if my to do lists seems a little small I add more things to it because one of my biggest pet peeves is not being productive. I'm always thinking of things in term of how much time I waste/save doing tasks and sometimes even make decisions based on which choice is more productive. I just cant be lazy otherwise I go crazy. With the exception of video games because even though you are only sitting for hours on end you're getting things done inside the video game, but I digress...

To Do List in general are fun. For example I was looking through my iPod's notes (which I don't like because I can't strike things off) and I saw that I have lists of TV shows to watch, music to download, movies to watch and shopping list. It's a way for me to organize my life and keep the future in sharp focus. I know what my weekends are going to be like ahead of time and I allocate (such a great word) the appropriate amount of time for everything on my list. Here's a to do list for this weekend of all the categories I have combined.

Andre's 3 Day Weekend To Do List

Go to Mid-Atlantic Writing Center Conference on Saturday (stay tuned for a post tomorrow!)
E-mail EWC conference evaluation e-mails
Clean my bathroom (this will get a post one day)
Laundry
Vacuum the basement
French professions packet
Watch Up In The Air
Study for the PSATs (don't ask...)
Go to work on Sunday
Church
Learn Supreme Court Justices for Government class
Start working on a major quarter 4 Chemistry project.
Get a new Facebook profile picture
Sync iPod purchases from my iTunes on my computer
Study for Chemistry Midterm II

Not having this organized into each of its own categories is kind of annoying...Anyways, as you can see even though I probably won't get through my whole list this weekend (although I have a 3 day weekend so maybe I can finish everything) I will certainly be able to keep myself busy! I better go to bed now since I have to wake up early tomorrow for that Conference.

UYL (Update You Later)
Andre