aqua, cawcawcaw, veganosity, milkshakehoney, hadaloo, fasting4u, myvademecum have access to my protected post in which i disclosed my new xanga name. to view the protected post, please log onto your name and then go back to this site. thanks =)

i would have told you about it anyway...it's just a little hard to keep in touch with some of you.

if others are interested in knowing, my AIM is chicagomaroonist . thanks for all the support.

HI everyone- i have a new xanga. happy searching!

...lol

(that's if you care)

before i write out my life story, let me see first if xanga will let me post this time. i typed something really long yesterday but it got erased just when i clicked submit.

i was gonna write an entry earlier but the site wouldn't load. i got 12 hours of sleep last night and then i was so tired that when i laid down, i fell asleep for another 2-3 hours. i haven't written something in a while, and i have a feeling this entry wouldn't sound coherent, but i will try anyway. after all, this journal is supposed to record all experiences, good or bad.

i'd have to say this was the best nhd year yet because i actually had the courage to approach kids from other states, got to meet people from the nhd forum, and took the most comprehensive tour of DC that i've ever taken. i don't even think i've toured chicago as comprehensively. we walked EVERYWHERE under the blazing sun. because i didn't put suntan lotion the first day, my arms and nose got sunburned. my right arm is still discolored and my nose skin is somewhat peeling off.

for those who care to know, i won an outstanding entry award, which means that among the Illinois entries that didn't make finals, i was ranked the highest. in first round judging, projects are assigned to 7 groups of 12 or 13 projects each. from each group, 2 advance to finals regardless of how competitive the group is. my group of 13 had CA, PA, NY, OH and MO in it (some of the more competitive states in exhibits). on the nhd website (where the awards are sorted by state), it says i was ranked third in my judging group, which means i beat out PA, NY, and MO (since CA and OH advanced). for someone who had no teacher guidance or school support, i did pretty well. thankfully, my city coordinator was willing to help.

of the 14 finalists, i predicted 5 of them without even seeing the boards, and i was right about 1 other state but not the project. when i got there, i predicted an IA board would make finals, and she placed first.

i'm here updating from College Park...apparently, the McKeldin Library allows non-UM students to access the internet. I've had a long day, and it's extremely hot here. my flight arrived on time but it took me two hours to get to campus. today, i met a nun, oregon nhd kids, and the person sitting next to me on the plane who kept spitting on my face every time he talked (and he talked incessantly). i'll tell the story in the order it happened. i happened to get a middle seat on the flight to baltimore, but i didn't really care much except the person sitting next to me talked non-stop. i was actually planning to get sleep on the plane because i couldn't sleep the night before for being too excited. he blabbed on and on about internships and random things like that. i wasn't annoyed at what he was saying, and it would have been fine to have a conversation every now and then, but this guy was extremely talkative. i mean there was no quiet moment throughout the flight. next, when the plane landed,  i wanted to get to college park and someone referred me to a bus. the problem was i didn't have 3 singles (the machine didn't give change). so i missed that bus and went back to the airport to ask people to break down a $20 bill. someone broke it down 10 and 10. with the 10, someone broke it down to a 5 and 5. with a 5, i asked a nun if she had five singles. she said no at first, but 15 mins later i found out she was actually following all throughout the airport looking for change. i was frugal and didn't want to buy anything. anyway, i was taken aback when she followed me just to give me 5 singles. that was so nice of her. and then on the way back to the bus, i met a group of oregon kids. their exhibit, made of glass, broke on the way here so i feel really bad for them. they said it was irreplaceable because they did it at the other parent's workshop or something. i told them not to stress and just to rebuild it using foam or wood to be bought at home depot. i also got an Oregon pin, my first nhd 05 out-of-state pin. i then met up with a teacher with south dakota and we talked about her students' projects. we ate brunch/dinner and then rode the shuttle to our respective dorms. there are a lot more details, but i will stop here. bye!