Thankful for CIM

Thanksgiving is next week!!
Yay for another break! :D Thank goodness. I need itttttt.

First of all, I'm thankful for the way my floor lamp matches my bedspread.

And I'm thankful for the fact that the cranes and pictures I put on my wall haven't fallen off yet.

I'm thankful that the computers in the computer lab have Finale on them.

And how the weather has been beautiful...in my opinion at least.

I'm grateful for how fancy and nice the dorm bathrooms are.

I'm really thankful that I haven't permanently lost anything yet.

And how everyone at CIM is so friendly!

And that laundry is free.

And for the good times spent in the dorm kitchen baking and making noodles.

I'm grateful for Updegraff, and our post-studio class Coffee House trips.

And I'm really grateful for CaseCash, because it makes me feel a lot less guilty for buying iced mochas from the Coffee House everyday.

Speaking of which, I'm grateful for Paula!

I'm grateful that I haven't gotten food poisoning from Leutner...yet.

And most of all, I'm grateful for how I am perfectly content here at CIM. I feel like all the things I've wanted and wondered if I'd ever have or deserve were dropped in my lap when I came to CIM.

So there are days when I want to kick my violin. And myself. And maybe others. But all in all, I've had pretty much the best 1st semester of college anyone could ask for. Happiness is such a significant and wonderful thing and I'm grateful for my happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving!
What are you thankful for this year?

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Old Couples

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Sergei Rachmaninoff

I LOVE THIS PIECE.

Oh my goodness.

I'd never heard it in its entirety until last night at the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra concert. I'll spare the details of my flailing with joy through the whole piece, but I really liked it. And to hear it performed by such an amazing orchestra/soloist...!!

After a few upbeat, minor variations, everything calmed down into a very sweet variation that was so romantic...I was sitting at the very edge of the balcony, and when they started playing this one, I noticed a subtle ripple of movement below me in the orchestra level audience. So I looked down, and I saw all of these old couples slowly reaching for each other's hands or laying their heads down on each other's shoulders.

I just about died.

Oh music, the places you take us.

I thought I'd also mention that we followed up that concert with laser tag. I sucked and we smelled but it was SO FUN.

This weekend has been the most beautiful weekend I've ever seen. It's the perfect temperature and the sun is blinding. And the leaves on the trees are changing!

I'm loving it. We'll miss you, sun...

I hope everyone is doing well!

An Ode to a Challenged Refridgerator

To our fridge that barely works:
You owe me two perfectly good milks.
You should aspire to be less than 70 degrees.
I don't really know what the format of an ode is.
Anyways, I'm really thirsty.
WISH I HAD MILK.
Stop sucking.
Thanks,
Room 416 resident, Alice Hong

Dobby!! 2

Dobby rides bikes.

Kulas!

Dobby meets David!

Case Western campus!

Dobby!!

Dobby is a pool master.

Dobby chills around the Cleve.

Dobby is fearless.

Can you find Dobby?

Food!

Dobby Likes CIM

Dobby playing orientation games.












Dobby in my room on my desk.

Dobby practicing in a practice room.

If you don't know what Dobby is, it's this. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

RIP Morrie Yohai

My dad walked by my cousin and me with a bag of Cheez Doodles.
"Dad, the guy who invented Cheez Doodles died recently!"
He stuck out the bag to us and said, "Well, in that case, we need to celebrate his life by eating more CHEEZ DOODLES!"

Celebrating the life of Cheez Doodle's creator Morrie Yohai!

Little Things with Big Moments

So there's this one three year old kid that is part of the Kids With Strings program, a program that teaches young children to play violin, and he always needs a lecture once a day about paying attention. He'll act indifferent and pretend to play dumb while we're trying to teach him, but when one of us takes his hand and goes, "Okay. You're done. Let's go," he starts bawling and crying, "Nooo!!!" He'll stamp his feet, pull himself back, and get so desperate. So then he's taken out into the hall and is given a lecture, and finally he comes back after he promises to do better, with a horribly sad frown on his face.

And I always feel bad for him when we take him out to the hall because I can imagine what he's feeling like.

So today I went to the rink to practice, and as soon as I walked into the rink, I saw all of these little kids with their white figure skates that I wanted so so much, or their thick hockey skates. They were really great skaters, and I couldn't see a single normal teenager like me out there with rental skates on.

I tried to imagine going out there and trying to practice without being totally embarrassed and awkward, and finally I just left. Without touching the ice at all.

It's fine. I'll come back at least once or twice before I leave for college. It's alright. It's not like I'm training to be a professional ice skater or something. It's just a hobby, and today was just one day.

But I couldn't think of these things. I was so upset with myself that I hadn't even tried to get on the ice and chickened out. I'd spent all year forcing myself through silly situations like that in terms of violin, and I let it beat me out today so easily. I was so upset that I even dropped a few tears. It was just disappointing.

And I thought of the kid at KWS, being dragged out of the class thinking he messed up his chance and has to miss out on the entire class because of it. I feel you, kid.

And then I told myself what Mr. Pu would've told me; failure is never a bad thing, no matter how difficult it may be to realize that. This is just a lesson and a reminder...so that things like this don't have to happen again.

Ordinary things

Yesterday I went to Target with Shejuti and Katy, while we were reminiscing about our 8th grade glory days. It felt surreal, to be with them in the present, rather than be with them in our 8th grade bodies acting up in Ms. Davis's class.

We ended up in the notebook section, and Katy spotted a planner with bicycles all over it. We spent a lot of time around it, admiring the different bikes on it and debating on whether to get it. 

By the time we left, Shejuti bought it. Katy was almost convinced that she would buy it.
She dropped me off at home and I entered my house, feeling full and peaceful.

The next day, I returned to Target to complete my dorm shopping list when I passed by the planner again. Before I could thing twice, I took it down and put it in my basket.

Back at home, I began sifting through my stuff and debating with myself whether they were worth taking to college with me. The whole time, I was reminded of Andy from Toy Story 3, deciding whether to bring his toys to college with him or not. And thinking of Toy Story 3, I pictured Daniella and her little brother, and Shejuti, sitting next to me, relishing the whole movie and thinking of our childhood memories watching the first two Toy Story's.

I decided to pack the dress I bought in New York even though it didn't fit me that well. When I saw it, I thought of going to my Juilliard audition and finally seeing the other side of my mountain. I remembered the relief I felt when I was walking through SoHo with nothing to worry about but finding a souvenir article of clothing. And then I would remember going out in that dress to Cheesecake Factory with Daniella, Edna, and Shejuti this summer. Our last get-together of the fabulous 8th grade four that survived so well all through high school.

I packed my headband, even though it was a silly looking one, because I wore it for my first and last ASYO concert.

A Sailor Moon fan because my brother gave it to me.

While I was packing, I thought of all of the things going into my suitcase and wondered if they would become coveted items like those, with the power to bring back feelings along with the memories. The most ordinary things become so special, so personal, so unpredictably.

And I put the planner into my bookbag, because it reminded me of Shejuti and Katy at Target, showing me that things were changing, but they were still here and tangible. Because it made me think that I didn't have to leave everything behind, and nobody was leaving me either. Because it encompassed the meaning of my summer before college, and my senior year at home...and then all the way back to the beginning of middle school, when I wore my house key around my neck and couldn't play Twinkle on the violin. Sealing it all for me so a new chapter can start and this chapter wouldn't be lost.

Tweenbot Day 5

We totally amped up its wheels BUT IT STILL WON'T MOVE.

We even ripped off his head to make it lighter. DIDN'T MOVE.

We're going to take its headless self to Radioshack one more time and ask the manager to help us (he helped us a couple times before), but I'm pretty sure Tweenbot is dead.

I didn't want to put a picture of its headless body. It was just too sad.
Let us pray for Tweenbot.

Spirals

So, this summer I actually learned a bit of ice skating!
I had my first lesson from Laura Sims awhile back, and I decided to go to one of the ice rink sessions and practice.
On my own. DUN DUN DUN.

I couldn't tell you how awkward I felt. When I stepped on the ice, I could barely pick up my foot. I kind of just pushed off with one foot and pretended something was wrong with my boot. Then I skated around in circles, around the people practicing scratch spins and backwards crossovers. I got faster and steadier as I went on, but for two hours, all I had the courage to do was skate in a circle and do occasional front crossovers.

Thursday I got to have another lesson from both Laura Sims and Star Ye.
I got there earlier than them, and I sat on the bleachers trying to work up my courage to go on the ice by myself.

"You can do it. It won't be awkward. Nobody cares about you. Nobody's watching. But it's okay if they are because you can do it. You can do it..."

45 minutes later Laura and Star came in while I was still pep talking myself, staring at the rink with determination. Their presence finally got me to go on the ice by myself while they laced up their skates.
I was waddling around when I saw Laura and Star burst onto the ice and basically take over. They showed me all sorts of spirals, their teamed waltz jumps, their spunky footwork...I don't understand why they're not on TV competing at US Nationals or something.

They went over waltz jumps (I was too scared to jump, so it was more like a waltz...step), backwards crossovers and pumps, lunges (again), spins, bunny hops, three point turns, and my favorite: SPIRALS!

Obviously this is exactly what I looked like.

Spirals are when skaters glide on one foot with their leg extended back behind them, as high up as possible. Before Thursday, I had attempted to lift my leg more than 2 inches off the ice and couldn't balance for more than 2 seconds. Star told me to lean forward while my leg went up, so I tried it and -

Wind was blowing against my face. My leg was up for miles. My head was practically on the ground. I stayed like that for a whole 30 seconds.

I watched the video Star took later and actually I was going about 1 mile per hour and my leg was pretty much level with my head. I lasted about 7 seconds.

But I loved the feeling. I felt like I really had control and that I was really skating like the people I look up to!
It was such a thrill and I HAD HOPE.

I practiced a bit more and got a bit better. And I'm going to keep practicing more BY MY SELF and get EVEN BETTER. I'm going to stop being scared of inevitably sucking and step onto the ice, flailing if I have to. FEAR IS IRRELEVANT. There are only 10 days left until college; who knows when I'll have time to do this again?

Thank you Laura Sims and Star Ye for helping and teaching me!!! I was smiling the whole time!

Heartbreak

I feel like musicians are always in danger of heartbreak. We put so much of ourselves into our performances and take risks, being open to so many people with our private things. When we walk onstage, we begin a relationship with the audience. No matter how many people there are in the audience, there is an intimacy between the performers and the audience that can be so strong, it's intimidating. When we fail to come through in the music, when the audience is left feeling the same way they did before you began playing, we break our own hearts. To give so much and have nobody receive it...to fail to give because of fears, self doubt, or lack of effort...these are the greatest disappointments, in my opinion.

The performer and the audience. It's a relationship. Relationships take honesty...therefore, they also take risks. And courage. And sacrifice. Relationships require love, passion, sometimes gentleness, sometimes fire... It's a relationship.

Tweenbot Day 4

Tweenbot is wired up. Everything works.
The problem is...
TWEENBOT IS TOO FAT T-T
As soon as I put the Tweenbot on the ground it would stop rolling.

My dad saw that I was upset, and while I was out of the house, he tried to make another, smaller body:

I found it on the table next to actual Tweenbot, which is standing on its head right now. It clearly doesn't work, since it has a hole in its stomach, but at its the thought that counts right? My dad is awesome.

Dobby Photo Project

So I guess I'm adding another photo project to my list of things I want to do next year.

--This is Danbo. He's from a manga called Yotsuba, which I've never read, but he's very small and he's become kind of a sensation on flickr. Many more can be found here.

I don't own a Danbo...apparently you have to buy a legit one.
But I do have this thing:

Instead of Danbo, I named it Dobby. So I'll be taking pictures of him doing random things as well, possibly daily, possibly once a week. Eh, we'll see.

As for my crane project, I've decided to take a different crane every day and tie it up wherever I take a picture of it and actually leave it there. I hope people to get mad at me for littering or something.

5 foot 2 and 1/4

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My measuring thing is off by an inch.
I consulted 3 different rulers to make sure...

I grew an eighth of an inch in the past year.
I'd like to thank junk food, lack of exercise and sleep, and my parents for taping the measuring thing ONE INCH TOO LOWGVAWIOSGHA--

ANGER.

5 foot 3...and 1/4

I am now 5 foot 3 and 1/4 inches tall.
That's 1 1/8 inches taller than I was a year ago.
I'd like to thank my parents, for nagging me to grow taller.
And I'd like to thank Publix cookies for motivating me to drink milk.
Also, I'd like to thank the weird chicken that supposedly has hormones in it to make you grow taller.
I'd like to thank God for having mercy on my 5 ft 2 - ness.
I'd like to thank cheese.
And last of all, I'd like to thank all of those who believed in me that I could grow taller if I tried. (There's not too many of you out there.)


I GREW!

Tweenbot Day 3

Tweenbot is painted.
My dad did most of the painting because he thought something awful would happen if I did it instead.
That's it.
BUT ISN'T IT ADORABLE??
I love tweenbot.
It needs a name...any suggestions?

Tweenbot Day 2

I made the body of the tweenbot.
Let me tell you, do not underestimate how complicated it is to shape/cut/tape/glue cardboard.

The shape is there but I'm going to have to paint it all white to make it look more acceptable. And draw a smiley face of course. :D

Anyways, that's all that has happened with tweenbot. As soon as we stick the parts in and figure out how to make the wheels run smoothly, it will be ready to take Centennial Park/Atlantic Station by storm!
 
On another note, I switched my Facebook language to Leet Speak and I am fascinated.

H@v3 g00d d@yz ftw

The Crane Photo Project

I was looking up photo projects like the 365 project, but I couldn't really find one I really wanted to do.
So I came up with one of my own.
If anyone wants to do it or something similar, feel free and please tell me how it goes! In fact, I'd be really happy if somebody joined in this project with me.

I've decided I'm going to make one paper crane, and each day I will take a picture of that same crane in different places around my campus. I'll - try to - do this for every day of the school year. I wanted to do it so that I'd have to take a picture of the crane with different people each day, but I don't have the guts/don't want to be a creeper. But people are welcome in the shots :D

Anyways, I hope this inspired a few of you. Does anyone want to join me?

HELP ME EAT FOOD

The food-related remnants of last night:

- A tub full of Kettle's Honey Dijon chips, Lay's Sour Cream and Onion chips, and Lay's Wavy Original chips.
- Lay's French onion dip.
- An unopened bag of mint Oreos I forgot to take out.
- An unopened bag of Chip's Ahoy white chocolate/milk chocolate chip cookies
- Watermelon. Lots of watermelon.
- A box of fruit popsicles
- As well as Mayfield snow cream popsicles
- A box worth of Papa John's leftover pizza with the works
- Halves of two different kinds of cake, one homemade and one from Mozart bakery
- A liter of Coke.
- A gallon of Minute Maid fruit punch.
- Half a bag of Jetpuff star-shaped marshmellows
- A tub of mini mint candies.
- A bag of red, white, and blue gummy rings.

Help. Help me.

Tweenbot Day 1

Project Tweenbot is officially being put into motion!

This is a tweenbot.

Long story short, the original Tweenbot was a 10-inch, cardboard, low-tech (and adorable) robot that could only move in one direction. It had a flag attached to it saying where the Tweenbot wanted to end up. It was set loose in NYC, and instead of ignoring it, damaging it, or suspecting the little thing of containing a bomb or something dangerous, the citizens of NYC actually helped the little robot get to its destination, pulling it out of ditches or turning it in the right direction. Against expectations, the Tweenbot ended up unharmed at its goal!

It's an experiment testing the humanity in people, even when they are as busy as New Yorkers, and the results were very inspiring and heartwarming :D

I love this kind of stuff.

Ryan took me to Radioshack, where I was basically 99% useless. So while I was practicing my ice skating lunges in the middle of the store, Ryan, with a call to Henry, figured out what to buy: a motor, battery pack, switch.

We're going to order wheels online and buy a potentiometer, and I'm going to try to make the cardboard body. It looks kind of complicated to me haha...I'm pathetic.

The goal is to finish it before summer ends and let it roam in either Atlantic Station or Centennial Park.

Scenes from Home

So. Here is the Hong family. Look at how happy we children look. And how spiffy my mom's hair cut is. And look how dapper my dad looks in his aviator glasses and suit!

This is how we decorate our house. We're just very creative.

It's  an opera my dad bought from Goodwill. He hasn't watched it, but he's very proud to have it.

This has been on my door for 5 years. I remember when I made it back in 7th grade, on the first night of SSMF. Soooo many good memories followed :D

My previous violin teacher, Mr. Ludwig, gave me these right before I went off to SSMF for another summer. I actually used them in the 4th of July parade. Nobody believed my violin teacher gave me that. BUT HE DID.

One of my old dance costumes that I found particular cringe-worthy.

...but this one takes the cake. We even had hats to match but I lost it.

This is part of a poster of DBSK I got from my friend in 8th grade. I used to be obsessed with them in very unhealthy ways. Micky was my favorite!! Too bad they're all wearing outfits too fruity for words.

I was a Girl Scout for 6 months and sold cookies in front of Walmart and everything. My vest was so heavy because of all the badges I got *sarcasm*.

My stand friend! He used to have eyes but they fell off.

So I put them on my bulletin board.

I made this in 5th grade and was SO proud of it because a fellow 5th grader said if I sold it, I would get $10.

I hate how blogspot doesn't allow you to turn your pictures. Anyways this is Mark Ross's 8th grade award...and for some reason I found it under my bed. I think he was trying to make me feel better about being a loser who wasn't an excellent writer.

So in 8th grade, I spent an entire semester writing a story that turned out to be 120 or so pages. Deanna actually took the time to print it out and made a cover for it and everything and I was soooo happy. It was an awesome present.

To show how riveting the story was.
"Epilouge." ....
"Derrick lived a life of suckyness."

Dear Dad,

I like the way you always tell me to watch out for duck poop every single time when we're at your campus.
I like how you always say no when I offer you food, but look so happy when I tell you I can't finish it and you eat it instead.
I like how you whistle the concerto I'm learning when you do the dishes.
I like your fobby outfits.
I like how you do push-ups and kungfu while you wait for the food to microwave or cook.
I like how you give in to buying junk food and hide it behind the bag of uncooked rice in the pantry so Mom won't find out.
I like how much you enjoy jokes that make fun of George W. Bush.
I like how you are always on my side without questioning me.
I like how you let me follow my dreams and never imposed on me your own dreams.
I like (but sometimes hate) how opinionated and outspoken you are.
I like how you don't yell at me for something I did wrong but already feel awful about.
I like how you like to talk to me about your mom and dad and how much you loved them.
I like how excited you get one somebody tells you that they like math.
I like how you're always shouting precautions to my mom and me as we back out the driveway to go somewhere, and stand there watching us until we've driven off.
I like how even though I must've been the most evil, unbearable daughter to raise, you still woke up every morning and fixed breakfast for me even though I just wanted to eat cereal and could get it myself. And that you always gave me a ride to school even if I spent the whole morning yelling at you for no reason. And how you always wake up at 3 am and check on me (I know this because most of the time I'm only feigning sleep). And sometimes you'll get mad at me and things get broken, but then later, before I apologize, I'll catch you trying to fix it with glue or tape. Or later you buy another one to replace it, and say nothing to me about it. And how you take me to all of my lessons even if that means you have to cancel or reschedule your tutoring appointments. And how you took care of me at home for an entire homeschooling school year and didn't go crazy.
I am going to miss you.
Love, Alice

No words, just look