Polls

I reopened three of the polls. They shall remain opened until arbitrary times during the 23rd hour of the last day of the year.

DON'T VOTE IF YOU ALREADY HAVE!!!

See Poll-ution

JEANSPAKCMO

I do not know anyone by the name of Jean Spackmo.

Highlights recently travelled to Kansas City, Missouri for the NSPA/JEA Fall Convention.

I really don't feel like going into a whole spiel about the trip; quite frankly, I'm surprised that I could even drag myself to type this paltry amount of words out.

So, bullets for now, perhaps some explorations later. Perhaps.

• We didn't place for Best in Show, but it doesn't really matter because Highlights is the bloody best it's ever been since I've been going to this school, thanks to the redesign by our EICs.
• I now see why Whamboozal is considered epic, even though its spelling goes against all instincts.
• 2010 roommates > 2009 roommates, for a variety of reasons. Nothing personal.
• Kansas City is a really pretty place, with nice people [here's NOT looking at you, Gates BBQ lady, though]. I liked the structure, with the different districts. I wish we had horse carriages.
• The Best Western exceeded all expectations, but the absence of the fabled Chuck left us all heartbroken.
• HOW MAY I HELP YOU?
• Word of advice: don't order soda pop if you notice there's only one size. Two people will not be able to finish one drink.
• Meat≠happiness
• ^^^ I'm okay with not eating any meat ('cept some chicken)- or barbeque for that matter- for a long, looong, loooooooooong time.
• Wtf is up with all the other high schools giving us snobby looks?
• Word of advice: There is such a thing as too much chili pepper in you Mongolian barbeque. Which, incidentally, was probably the best Mongolian barbeque I've ever had.
• Did you know that you actually spell barbeque 'barbecue.' I googled it to make sure my Dashboard dictionary wasn't lying to me.
• Click click? No.
• Cinnamon rolls? Yes.
• Coffee? Not unless you want to have a weird meltdown just before the afternoon awards show.
• Fran's knows it's food. And hot chocolate.

The competition itself was interesting. There were four categories of competition in one room, so it was quite packed; I competed in Editorial Writing.

Everyone else seemed to possess an air of confidence that was in no way exuded by myself. I have no idea if that sentence was grammatically correct. They were all armed with dictionaries and thesauruses [thesauri?]- even bloody tape recorders.

The panel time and subsequent writing period vanished quickly. Some-in the same competition- finished literally ten minutes after the end of questions. There was still a significant amount left, though, when I finished, ten minutes before the time limit.

I felt extremely drained after finishing. I blanched when I first saw the topic, but I felt a bit better after roughly outlining it.

I still didn't feel completely confident, though. The lead was wonky and I wondered if the concluding paragraph wa

s a bit abrupt. Most of all, I was concerned that I hadn't made a clear proposition.

Anyway, everything worked out. I was one of four to win Superior for the category, and I got lovely feedback from t

he judges-the lead was a bit off, but they liked the conclusion.

I was...shocked. And happy- VERY happy, although I guess it took a while to sink in.

In all, there were five winners from our school.

Now we want to place for Best of Show. Watch out, SM Southnortheastnorthwestwestsouth High.

:o

http://dannylicht.com/phlog/photos/12634962

^^Courtesy of

Check out Danny's website too.

"Happy" Guy Fawkes Day, Pt. II

So my friends, it seems as if we have come full circle.

Normally, people tend to reflect on the past year of their life at holidays that are by consensus viewed as significant, like New Year's or a birthday. I, however, choose Guy Fawkes day.

I shall now attempt to remember my life, month by month, in the past year. I do not care if this is profoundly boring for you.

November: Washington, D.C. At the risk of sounding melodramatic [Me? Melodramatic? haha!], a general loss of trust occurred during this month.

December: Did you know that Egg Nog+Pepsi=golden?

January: All I can remember at this point is that I got full marks on my French final. How sad is that? The memory part, not the grade, mind you.

February: The month sans meat. You can read about it. Somewhere. I'm thinking about repeating this. Albeit, when it's not Chinese New Year, so I don't have to go another year without the Firecracker Chicken of Panda Express. Priorities, man.

March: I cannot recall anything specific, but that was the era of "In the Spirit of Full Disclosure," hyperlinked for your convenience.

April: The Friday of empty classes, due to Coachella and Portland JEA. Euro review sessions.

May: AP test! And then God knows what. I discovered "Pan's Labyrinth" was actually brilliant, "The Graduate" ensured that Simon and Garfunkel trotted around my head the whole day, and most appropriately for this date and post, I finally got to see the entirety of "V for Vendetta."

June: A pretty good month. World cup! World cup! World cup! The last week was intensely stressful and very, very bittersweet. Closed out this month in Bombay.

July:Calcutta. In all sincerity, I've realized that a post on my time in Calcutta is ridiculously long overdue. This is one aspect of myself that irritates me to no end.

August: Calcutta, Dehra Dun, Delhi. Family reunions, full houses,c cold coffee, short tempers, psychopathic dogs, there's-never-such-a-thing-as-too-much-Chinese-food, and nail polish.

September: At this point, I hadn't talked to anyone my age, forget people in LA, in two months. I remember brimming with excitement to go to school and get my schedule, which actually ended up being the most glorious 1-6 schedule imaginable. School has a different vibe this year, methinks. But I think it's for the better. I have classes with people I haven't had classes with in years, whilst I have no classes with people who have been in at least one since fifth grade.

October: The busiest month of the year.

November: It's five days old. As for expectations, I can't sense anything about Kansas City next week, which is making me really impatient.

Looking back, I'm disappointed. I turned 16 one month and a day ago. It all happened so fast. There were things, some superficial, some...not, that I wanted to accomplish before I hit that mark. I need to get cracking. I turn 17 in 11 months [holy shit], and as everyone knows that means I can do magic outside of school and am therefore a legal adult.

Poll-ution

I cannot, in good conscience, call the title of the post clever, without going into elaborate tangents and stretching this post, a field that those of you who read my blog would know I'm very proficient in, but currently do not feel like getting into, as I am quite eager to get to the point, as is apparent through this brief sentence.

Let us take a look at the results of the two-month-old polls:

Do you like the changes to the blog? Comment on the post either way.

Seven of you oh-so-kind people voted on the poll. And all for the same option: "Maybe so nah nah nah." Now, I can see why I shouldn't complain about that, as I was the one who allowed it to be an option. However, my beef with you seven [or five, as you shall see] exists because of your failure to read the second part. Yeah! There were only two comments [meaning from two people] on the post about the changes, and only one of them was constructive.

However, if I perhaps quit insulting my readers, they'd do what I told them to do. That sounds sort of evil.

As for How did you find this blog?, I'd just like to know the story behind the "confusion/accident." I know of a couple people who were confused when they found it, but that was because they thought it was someone else's. Which is also an option. So, please tell me!

Choose your favourite[s]:

I have a feeling that one person chose all of them, another just chose darling Cacofonix, and another only chose the Shieldbearers, while a clueless [that is sincerely meant with no offense] fourth was honest enough to admit that they had no idea what I was talking about. Only four people voted on this, while nine voted on another, so I feel as if some of you could have been more honest. And the Shieldbearers were the scrappy underdogs [Not that I'd call Vitalstatix a dog-that's Dogmatix. Get it?!], coming behind from seriously nowhere. Seriously. I'd actually be quite interested in hearing why.

And now for the question that I saved last for a reason...

Due to bit.ly statistics that show clicks from random places...do I know you personally?

I have no friends. Well, two.

That's all I have to say. Oh, and I forgot a family option. Whoops.

I have no bloody friends. Except for two. Hmph.

Seesaw

...is infinitely preferable to teeter-totter.

A teeter-totter sounds like a teetotaler; the latter must keeps his or her balance as to not fall off the wagon.

Yikes, I am weakening!

This reminds me of the matrimonial ads I perused in India. This charmer of a man sought a "tall, fair, slim, beautiful, vegetarian" girl, while he expertly described himself as "tall, very fair, Rajasthani, 40-something, vegetarian, a teetotaler, and morbidly obese."

Points for honesty.

"Teeter-totter" also sounds like "tater-tot," my least favourite form of potato, after waffle fries. I once had the best plate of fish and chips in Sedona, but it was served with waffle fries! So, I resorted to stealing my parents'. That place had very good hot chocolate, as well.

I once got two massive bruises, in the shapes of my fists, from a seesaw. I guess my overgrown thirteen-year-old self kind of deserved that.

It's funny, though. Seesaws start to lose their appeal once you hit a certain height, as they cease to offer thrills. Yet, seesaws begin to strengthen their appeal once you hit a certain age, as you're reminded of the thrills you once got from them, when you were as tall as your bathroom sink, and not now, when the bathroom sink is as tall as your knees.

That is why I favour swings and tires. You can fly high or get really dizzy, take your pick. And then crash into the seesaw.

So, Thoughts?

As you may be able to tell, I changed the template/scheme of this blog. A lot.

I am torn between the old way and the new. Damn it. I should've taken a screenshot before I changed it!

Anyway.

I liked the simple, BLACK-ness of the old format. Images also seemed sharp against it. And it complemented my preferred Courier font.

But, I decided to change it since Blogger came out with a new way to design blogs.

It seems a bit crowded to me. I like the colours, but they're also a drawback. There are a lot, and some have trouble showing up against the various backgrounds. I tried to remedy it to the best of my ability, but I couldn't fix the 'days left to vote/how many votes' underneath the polls without changing the text colours of the whole page.

I might change it back or find a nice compromise. I miss the stark blackness. Either way, however I need to spend a lot more time with the design feature.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments, criticisms, ideas, pro/con lists are demanded! On any aspect of the blog.

And you don't have to be clever, and please please please don't post any comments here that talk about another post. Just do it there. Please, just talk to me about the layout. And vote on the polls. But do both! There's no 'or' option here.

ix

No, not nine.

I changed my display name!

No one, except Blessy ever calls me Mally, so 'twas kind of ridiculous to keep it. And it wasn't aesthetically right.

So, I have changed it. To Mallix.

See, I don't really have a nickname back home. Meaning LA. Meaning given by friends. You see, on the first day of every school year, I completely eagerly anticipate roll call, so I can hear my name mangled and then incorrectly correct the teacher. I tell 'em :"Mallika," the first syllable pronounced like a shopping mall. But in reality, the first syllable is pronounced "mull" like "I mulled it over and decided not to pronounce your name as Malleeeka." Ahem.

I don't bother giving that form of my name [Yes, I've now come to regard my true name as having two forms], as it's really hard for non-at-least-semi-Hindi speakers. People tend to overcompensate and it comes out like "Mule-ika." I'm not an ass, though you may be. I get too happy when I think of insults. Kinda ruins the effect.

The worst is when people correct subs for me, with such a disdainful attitude and like they know me so well. Yeah, it's my own fault that they use this Ikea form of my name [Digression: You know why I said Ikea even though it's not really a mall? Well, in sixth grade we had a sub called Mr. Morrisey. The first thing that greeted us when we walked in was 'The More I See, The More I Like' inscribed on the board. Uh. And then he wasted 20 minutes getting us to write 'clever' phrases to preserve our names in the collective consciousness instead of handing us the thing on Imhotep and Zsosor and the step pyramid that we were supposed to read. And I came up with something horrible like 'The Senator gave a speech next to the mall, Ikea.' But he was right. We never did forget his name]. And I don't mind it, actually, because I'm so used to it and it was of my own choosing. So please! Keep calling me that. My problem is I'm usually annoyed with whoever corrects my name and I usually mumble "I can speak for myself!" Kinda pointless. But you can correct it for me if you know I never get annoyed with you. Just not on the first day. Actually, just disregard this whole roll call business. I sound like a Mule-ika.

ANYWAY, back to the point seventy thousand paragraphs ago. There's not much you can do in terms of nicknames with the Fox Hills/Westfield Culver City version. Mally sounds like Molly. Mall sounds like, well, a mall.

So, that's why I'm broadcasting the version-that-my-parents-named-me form so you can see where my various family-given nicknames are derived from. But I'm not going to list them. But Mallix is one of them.

Pronounce it "Mull-iks."

AND the best part is that it ends in -ix. Like Goscinny and Uderzo's Gauls. I'm an Indomitable Gaul. Like Asterix and Getafix and lil Dogmatix. And let's not forget Cacofonix. 'cept only the men had -ixs, but all the women in the comics were insufferable, so I can be sufferable and thus earn the -ix.

Ironically, the Gaulish women all had names ending in -a.