I can't believe the world cup is LESS THAN 24 HOURS AWAY.


I was watching this documentary of the 2006 World Cup on ESPN yesterday. I've spent much of this summer reading about the World Cup and the history and 2006 and so on and so on, but as I watched that, I realized that in 2006, that summer, I never watched a single world cup game. In fact, the only thing I knew about, like most of America, was Zidane's headbutt, and even that I knew about a week or so after the fact. I couldn't have cared less about soccer in 2006.

I don't remember much from that summer, but certainly nothing soccer related. Though I do remember, my sister was in Chicago that day and when she came back from her conference thingy she said the atmosphere was absolutely electric. She said she saw some French guys painted in red, white and blue chanting "VIVE LA FRANCE! VIVE LA FRANCE!".

But now in 2010, the world cup is THE HIGHLIGHT of my summer! Its been really, the highlight of my year hahaha I can't believe i've changed so much. I really only started getting into soccer during the Euro2008, thanks to a Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo ;), and into US national team stuff during last summer, thanks to a gorgeous team and a surprisingly exciting performance. So I suppose most diehard soccer fans who have been following it for their whole lives can sniff and sneer at me...but that's okay. I know i don't know everything about soccer, but that's why I love it so much.

When school and dance and piano and everything just sort of seemed to close in on me like cement, soccer was something completely outside my realm. Its like learning a new skill, following this sport. I'm amazed that parallel to my small little world is this HUGE BIG WORLD of soccer that the world is crazed over. The game is beautiful (in more ways than one, of course haha) but so is the passion and the breadth of knowledge and opinions and oh i love just everything about it. There's the not so bright sides: intrigue, violence, over-the-top rivalries, but the beautiful moments outshine those, in my opinion. This world is like my escape...

Myself from 2006 would think I'm absolutely crazy now for following soccer. I used to think it was so boring...

sometimes i'm surprised at how much i haven't changed...but sometimes i'm surprised at how much I have. I like that I've changed my stance on sports...they really are a wonderful thing (most of the time anyway!)

          Hello! Thank goodness it’s spring break! Now, schools usually give students spring break as a chance to relax and unwind from the stresses of daily classes. And yet, I know that most of you are still at that same stress level, if not above it, because of standardized tests, spring break homework, and of course, that big looming scary thunderstorm cloud called ‘college applications’.

            I know I was freaking out about college spring break last year (and to tell you the truth, I still am haha). I’m writing all this with the hopes that you won’t have to learn the college process the hard way, so that you can enjoy your last year of high school. I don’t know everything about the process, but I want to at least share with you what I do know of it.

           

            The first thing I’d like to share with you is not necessarily an action or a step in the process—it’s a mindset. Well…it’s my personal opinion, but one that I feel very strongly about and one that I hope will make you feel better about the process.

 

            You are not a Pokemon trading card.

 

            Pokemon, digimon, ----mon cards—whatever floats your boat. Admittedly, I don’t know much about any of these, but I remember that the trading cards had 1) a picture of the creature and 2) straight up stats about the creature’s powers and weaknesses. Kids on my junior high bus used to fight over trading cards with higher stats.

           

            And I’ve noticed that this is what many parents and students think is the college process. Get a perfect 2400. Become a National Merit Scholar. Ace your ACT. Weed out all the ways you can get your GPA as close as humanly possible to a 5.0. And that is your trading card, your golden ticket into “Insert-Selective-School-Here”.

 

            In reality, there is no golden ticket to the most selective schools. Think about it: if Harvard accepted every National Merit Scholar, why don’t more people from our school get in?

 

            I’ve heard so many juniors obsess about test scores. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try hard or study for them. Colleges use them for a reason: however imperfect they are, standardized tests are the only, well, standardized measure for colleges to compare applicants.

 

            So, okay, disclaimer: a good score doesn’t hurt, but a bad score might. At the same time however, you don’t need a perfect score. Colleges use ALL parts of the application to get as close to a true picture of you as they can. Compared to a cold number on a transcript, your essays say a lot more about you as a learner, community participator, and most importantly, a person with a unique set of abilities.

 

            Speaking of abilities, many parents and students believe that the number of activities one participates in equates acceptance letters. Sorry to burst your bubble, but being chair of NHS, member of the badminton team, Sci Oly member, math team participant, cello player etc. isn’t necessarily what colleges are looking for.

 

For one thing, in at least one of your essays you’re going to have to explain the significance of one of your activities. If you are in 50 different things, chances are that you haven’t spent much time on any of them, and there isn’t much meaning to them other than that you think they will get you into college.

 

            Secondly, colleges don’t have a specific type of person they look for. They like well-rounded kids, they like band kids, they like kids who love science and hate writing for the life of them. Hopefully in high school, you have found an activity or club that you absolutely love. Maybe you’ve found that you love all sorts of subjects. That’s what colleges really want to know about you. Not just the names of every club or every award, but what you’ve done with them, what you really like about them, why you do what you do.

 

            So you have what you have on your trading card. Focus on the things you are proud of—and having known you guys for a while, I know you have a lot to be proud of. Pikachu might not have had the best stats on its trading card. But at least on the TV show, Ash Ketchum loved and treasured Pikachu not for its stats, but for its friendship and loyalty. And I promise you, you’ll find a college that will accept you not because of your ACT, but because of you as a whole, complete, and absolutely wonderful person.

 

congratulations to all of the seniors who graduated! =D
even though none of them use this...but that's okay. I'm gonna miss them all =(
well...yes i got a facebook. i know. i'm a conformist =(. But its pretty useful. that's why i got it...
last week went by soo slow. It was weird going in the middle of the week to six flags, which was awesome, andt hen back to school on thursday. ugh.

but today was the last dayof normal school. that went by fast. hm.
now its time for finals! D= eeeek
good luck everybody!

by the way, please come to the
MAKE NOISE
NOT WAR
concert, hosted by HRC at the NCHS garage
donations will go to ugandan children =)

there's gonna be some great bands playing, so you should come!

that's it for today everybody
g'night =)