… Mylinda Antoinette is heading to Seoul, South Korea!

Remember that post I made ages ago talking about the World Scholar’s Cup?  Well, I’ve been in Tucson, Arizona for the past couple of days competing.  Tonight was the last night of competition (I’m flying back tomorrow) and we had the awards ceremonies tonight.  One of my friends, Megan, earned two medals, one for the highest individual score in literature and one for having the highest score on our team.  After the awards were handed out, the director announced the teams that were to be invited to international competition in Seoul, and my school’s name was called out!  I’m so excited! XD  *jumps up and down for joy!*

Anyway, it’s getting a little late and we’re back in the hotel room… Megan’s waiting on me so we can watch Enchanted before bed.  See you all later!

Yeah, I know it’s been nearly a month since my last update. Sue me. My life got even crazier all of a sudden over the last couple of weeks.

So I had my interview last Wednesday, March 19. I really hope it went well – I want to teach SO much, and this program is EXACTLY what I have been looking for. Anna Hamilton, one of the directors at Summerbridge Fort Worth, the site I want to teach at, said they have a high demand for math teachers right now because there’s such a shortage- and lo and behold, I applied to be a math teacher! Go figure, eh? XD She said that she and Joe, the other director, will be making their final decisions soon, so I should hear back from them within a couple of weeks if I’m lucky!

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In other, much sadder news, my parents called my two sisters and me into the living room this past week. They only do this when they have big/serious news. And boy, was it a whopper…

Here’s the basic gist of their announcement:

“You girls know that your grandma (mom’s mom) has been very sick for a long time and she’s been experiencing a lot of pain lately. Well, we’ve just spent the last hour and a half talking to your grandmother, and she has decided that she’s tired of fighting off all the problems related to her illness. She told us that what she wants is for us to just get her comfortable and ease the pain she’s feeling and to just let her go.”

Oy.

My grandma has been living with my family for nine years now, since we moved to Texas from our home in Washington State. Her husband – my grandpa – divorced her years ago, when I was little. I haven’t been in touch with him in years. He reentered my life this past summer when he came for a visit. He had been remarried by then, but his wife didn’t come with him because she didn’t want to intrude. His wife died a few months later, on Thanksgiving Day. He came down for another visit then, but I still haven’t quite forgiven him for just disappearing from our lives, especially since he and I used to be really close. And my dad’s parents… well, let’s just say we’re not close. So my grandma is basically my only grandparent. It’s just really hard, even though I’ve expected this for a while now.

I’ve also had a lot on my mind with midterms this past week, and the World Scholar’s Cup competition is in 3 weeks, so I’ve got to study for that.

It’s getting late, so I think I’ll wrap this up for now. I’ll update again tomorrow.

~ Mylinda Antoinette

Sorry it’s been so long, guys!  Life has been crazy!

Well, the Academic Decathlon did NOT make it to state.  Our team this year was amazing though.  We achieved our school’s highest team total (36,644 points or something like that out of a (im)possible 60,000) and I gained the highest point total ever for a varsity team member (just over 6,000).  If each of us had improved our individual score by about 300 points (which is approximately two more questions right per test- not impossible) we would have made state.  Ah well.  Something to shoot for next year!  XD

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So, after AD was over I thought I’d finally have a chance to relax, get caught up on a bit of schoolwork (sadly my grades dropped from the excess studying for AD and not for that darn chemistry exam), and return to my hobbies.  Boy, was I in for a surprise.  Two or three weeks after we get back from competition, my teacher and the AD coach for my school, Mrs. Barnes, pulls me aside and shows me a poster on her wall for the World Scholar’s Cup.

Now, let me assure you that I had actually been eyeing that poster for a while.  The finals for this year will be in Seoul, South Korea and our meals will be provided and everything, assuming we make it to World Finals.  And the pictures looked gorgeous.  The topics for this year weren’t half bad, either.

But when my teacher asked me if I’d be interested, my heart was torn in two.  I couldn’t make a decision.  Half of me wanted to shout, “HECK YES, OF COURSE I’LL DO IT!”  The other half wanted to shout, “HECK NO, I THOUGHT I WAS DONE BEING YOUR SLAVE FOR THE YEAR!”

So, of course, being the kind-hearted person I am and not wanting to hurt her feelings by saying the latter, I told her I’d think about it.

As the next 48 hours passed until I reentered her classroom, I thought it over long and hard.  Yes, I was ready for a break, but didn’t I think the other two who already had their spots on the team guaranteed were ALSO ready for one?  And it was a great honor to be asked to participate on this team as a junior when the other two participants were seniors.  By the time I got back in her classroom, I had decided I really wanted to do it, and she saw more enthusiasm about it from me than from the other two candidates vying for the remaining position.  So with my parents’ consent, my teacher added me to the list.

So now I have to study space exploration and the exploration of new lands including the new world and worlds never found (Atlantis, Shangrila, El Dorado, and one other that I can’t think of at the moment), and I also have to study math, economics, literature, art, astronomy, and debate.  Great.  Just the way I wanted to spend the next two months.  Oh well, it’s a new competition, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard to do well!

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On top of all of this, I have started applying for a summer position as a teacher for a group called the Breakthrough Collaborative.  Their whole theme is “Students teaching students.”  So for the last couple of months, I’ve been completing my written application.  I submitted that a week ago and heard back almost immediately from my two site choices that I wanted to work with.  Both have graciously granted me interviews, so I’ll keep you guys posted on that.

Wednesday, I have my first exit level state test.  I have to pass it.  If I don’t pass the test this year, I WILL NOT GRADUATE next year, which would totally suck, of course.  So I’m getting really nervous.  And the test will be the English/Language Arts/Writing test, which is traditionally my worst one.  I mean, I’ve never really had a problem with any of the tests, but the ELA is the worst of them and the one I’m most worried about.  The really worrisome thing is that we have to take this test almost two months before the other ones so the graders have time to read the millions of essays and short answer questions from students across the state.  The other 3 state exams won’t be until the end of April, and those I know I can handle.

Also, AP tests are coming up.  (Yeah, I know, my life’s getting crazy.  This isn’t even the end of it all.)  I’m getting really nervous because I’m supposed to take two of these stupid tests.  Yeah right.  One of them at least.  I gotta take the AP Chemistry exam, but I doubt I’ll be taking the AP English Language test.  (Yes, there are two AP English exams, the English Language test and the English Literature exam.)  So we’ll see, it depends on if my parents can afford to pay for both exams.  I can’t even pay for one of them due to my lack of personal funds.  I have about $20 and those stupid tests cost $54 each.  *waits for the gasps to subside*

Well, in good news, if you guys remember that SAT I took back at the beginning of December, I got the results back the day after my last post.  It was… Drumroll please… 2320!  I got a 2320 out of 2400!  WOOT!  I’m SO excited!  XD  What with my 223 PSAT score, my email inbox and my parents’ mailbox have been FLOODED with mail from various colleges across the country.

Oy, this is getting long.  I suppose it’s time to wrap this up… it’s almost my bedtime anyway.  See y’all later!

~Mylinda

Just a quick update, I don’t have much time, so…

The good news… I made the Academic Decathlon team!  ^^ I’m so excited!  The teacher said I had the highest total score of anyone on the C team!  ^^

In other good news, I got my PSAT results back!  223!  I got a 223 out of 240!  ^^  That almost definitely qualifies me as a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist!  I won’t know for sure until next September, but still!  ^^

Also, I recently scored very well on a chemistry test, despite the fact that I haven’t completed most of the homework for that unit.  Since my teacher knows me (I had her for first-year chem, and now I have her for AP Chem) and she knows that I am a hard worker and that I’m capable of doing the work, she has made a deal with me.  As long as I continue to turn in labs and I consistently make an 85+ on every test, she won’t hold missing homework assignments against me!  ^^  This only applies to bookwork, however… the electronic Chemskills homework I still have to do, but the bookwork is 80% of our homework grade!  I’m so excited about this! ^^

Additionally, (I know, this has been an AMAZINGLY great week! ^^)  my parents had their anniversary this past Sunday, December 16.  On their anniversary, it’s our family anniversary, and this year, my parents bought us new mp3 players.  Except these ones don’t just play music.  They hold photos and videos too!

Anyway, it’s getting late and I have tons of stuff to do… I have a friend coming over on Sunday… so I’ll see y’all later!

~Mylinda

Life is truly crazy.  One minute you think one thing and the next you find out that what you originally thought is totally wrong.  That happened to me yesterday.  With my weight.  I found out that I weigh 30 pounds more than I thought I did, which puts me over the recommended weight bracket for my height.  With my height and weight at my age, my BMI is calculated at 26.9.

Yikes.

A couple of years ago my BMI was a 20 something.  My BMI used to be the only thing I would pass on my physical fitness tests at school.  I’m 5′4″ tall now, 17 years old, and I weigh 158 pounds.  That’s too much.  So I’m making my New Year’s resolution early.  I wanna lose 20-30 pounds this year.  I gotta pay more attention to what I eat and how much of it, and I gotta exercise more.  I don’t wanna be stick thin.  I don’t care if I weigh 130 pounds, as long as I’m healthy.  I don’t care about what my body looks like.  I was fine with what I looked like when I thought I weighed 130.  All I’m concerned about is getting healthier, so don’t think I’m gonna go anorexic or anything.  I’m not that desperate, and I’m not that stupid either.

In other news, my boyfriend and I are progressing in our relationship, and we’re still as happy as we’ve ever been.  In fact, on Wednesday we’ll be celebrating our four month anniversary as a couple!  ^^  I never thought I’d be able to say this, but I don’t love him nearly as much as I did when I first met him.  Nope.  I love him 10,000 times more than I did when we got together in August.

We’re still not finished with testing in AcaDec yet.  One of the teachers for it had a student teacher whose last day was Friday, so we decided to push the last test till the next day of class so we could have a party.  The good news – even with a test grade missing from my junior conference, I’m still at the top of the list for the Varsity team, which means that I will almost DEFINITELY be on the team that will go to Regionals in January!  I might not be able to update this blog during that time unless someone brings along a laptop.  And the hotel we’re in had better have internet access.  x.x  Or maybe I could find a library with computers and I could get on there for a half an hour or so.  We’ll be going a couple of hours south of where I live, so I won’t be very close to home.

Anyway, it’s about time for me to wrap this up.  Chris had a concert today and I’m just trying to kill time until he gets back in an hour.  I promised him I’d help him with a project for his English class.  See y’all!

~Mylinda

For those of you that are interested, that would like to read it…

My prompt was:
“‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ ( http://extend.unb.ca/wss/1145demo/owl2.htm ) has been a popular short story for more than a century.  It has been translated into other languages and made into several films.

“In a well-organized essay, analyze the features that have made this short story translate so well into other time periods and cultures.  You may wish to discuss the choice of language, the manipulation of time, the nature of dreams, or any other relevant features.”

So here’s the essay: (Keep in mind as you read it, it had to be a very formal paper.  Oh, and I… kinda forgot the main character’s name… that’s why his name, Peyton Fahrquhar, is never mentioned in my paper.) 

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“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a strong tale about courage and about standing up for what one believes.  Each person in every culture has an individual belief system that dictates his or her actions.  The constant reminders of home and family left behind are common in wartime stories, and these reminders are what make such tales strike close to the heart and remain there, causing the reader to feel an outpouring of sympathy for the character in danger of losing his life.  The tale of the protagonist in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” invokes a deep sense of injustice in the reader, who cannot help but feel outraged at the trickery of the opposing army which so cruelly lures the Southern gentleman into a trap.

Time is an essential element in the telling of the story.  The great fluctuations in time show the reader that the protagonist is a man of family, that he is willing to do whatever must be done fot eh sake of that which he loves.  This concept is easily identified with by any person who has even once found something to love or care for.  The vivid descriptions paint a terrifying image in the mind of the reader as the protagonist dreams of escaping and returning home to his family.  The terror of the escape as he swims through the swirling water, bullets whizzing past him and so narrowly missing him, strike a fear in the reader, causing the reader to hope, even if only for a moment, that the man will succeed in his escape and make it back home to his family.

The author of the selection made this tale even closer to the heart of its reader by focusing on a common citizen, a young gentleman of the southern aristocracy, instead of focusing on a soldier, as many wartime authors are wont to do.  The fact that many people have lived through a war, not as a soldier but merely as a citizen of a warring country, helps people to sympathize with the young man and his plight, and makes the tale not only popular, but memorable as well.

Hi, y’all!  I hope you guys are all having a great day as you’re reading this!

As many of you all know, I’ve been working very hard for the last five months getting ready for this last week of testing in Academic Decathlon.  It all comes down to this week.  If I don’t do well this week, I don’t make the team.  Since my overall GPA (at least, my GPA the way they figure it for AcaDec) is a C, I would have to be on the C or Varsity Team.  I got back three of the four scores I already have today.  370 on the math test (out of 1000 points, that’s pretty good for an AcaDec math test…), 872 on the essay, and 420 on the Economics test!  ^^  Chris is gonna kill me, though… I think I royally slaughtered the music section, and you all know what a band nerd he is…  *runs for her life*

On Wednesday and Friday, I have the remaining four tests, two each day, but it seems I have my junior conference on Wednesday DURING AcaDec, so I’ll have to stay after school one day to make up the test.  But anyway, the AcaDec coach says that so far I seem to be the top Varsity team member, and that with the scores I have now, I have a 95% chance of being on the team!  ^^

In other news, I had an SAT this last Saturday, the day I set up this blog.  I won’t know my scores on the SAT until December 27, so y’all please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Anyway, that’s all for now!  I’ll keep y’all posted!

~Mylinda

Hello, everyone!  My name is Mylinda Antoinette, and this is my blog!  I’m 17 years old (well, almost! ), I have brown hair and hazel eyes, and I have the most incredible boyfriend named Chris.  He means the world to me and I am so lucky to have him!  I’m taking Academic Decathlon and a huge number of AP and Pre-AP courses in high school as a junior, I’m finally getting ready to get my permit so I can take driver’s ed and get a job, and I’m getting ready to start the process of applying to colleges!  Talk about a crazy life, eh?

This journal will be the means by which I share with my friends and my family all the crazy details of my life.  Even when I can’t get on IM programs or email, I’ll make sure to keep this blog updated so my friends and family can keep up with me and my happenings.  Welcome to Virtual Reality 2.0!

~Mylinda Aaralyn Alaina Antoinette