U.S. Nationals 2008

Well. I've been back for 2 days already since the end of Nationals, but I didn't really feel like blogging because I felt like crap..actually I still do. Nationals was a blast even though I played really badly and had bad food for most of the time. I played the u-1800,1900,2000,2100, and u-2200. I made a mistake by not signing up for U-18 Boys, but I just feel so intimidated because of all these kids who are so much better than me when I am already 16 years old. I really wish I started earlier, then I wouldn't be so bad right now. I didn't advance out of my 1800 and 1900 round robins, which I thought I would. I ended up losing to the C player in both of the events. They were rated around mid 1600s. I feel like I practice so hard, but my results never show my determination and will to exceed my expectations. I feel like such a letdown to myself, only mid 1800 when I am 16. Look at all these people. 11 years old and 2300. 12 years old mid 2000, 12 years old 2300, even Yuta is 1800 when he is 14. He is still ahead of me by 2 years. There is only 1 person who is like me, and that is Steven Li. That is the reason why we are such close friends, because we can relate to each other and understand our feelings. I try to keep my jealousy to a minimum, but I just cannot help it sometimes. When I always hear about Ariel and Lily and their amazing wins all the time, I get so pissed. I always say to myself, "So what if they are so good and so young?!" And everyone always praises them for how to good they are. Another thing that bothers me greatly is how Coaches can act sometimes. Some of them only respect players who have potential on becoming a great player when they are still young. For example, Dennis Davis always says how Yuta can make the Cadet/Junior team because he is only 14. He treats me a lot differently though, as if I have no hope left in the sport of Table Tennis. I am just sick of that. What happened to the "average player"? It seems like all people care about are young players who have great talent nowadays. Coaches, your attitude and actions can change a person's confidence and attitude towards themselves. After Nationals, I almost felt like quitting. Maybe I will, you never know. I am also bugged about teacher's pets. I am not going to name names but I know Dennis has his own favorites.

Oh well, other than that Nationals went pretty well. I traveled with Yuta,Dennis, and Guo Xie. (I know I spelled his name wrong). Every morning I would eat breakfast with Yuta at Paradise Cafe. :( That place was horrible. The best dinner we had was Wed. night at Benihana :) that was delicious. Other than that, I just ate in the hotel every night usually around 10-11 PM. Sigh, I wish I could go back again. It was fun.

However, one thing that really confused me was uhh...this certain girl. I just really wanted to talk to her about how everything is going and why she stopped talking to me. It just seemed like she really didn't want to talk face to face. Are you hiding something from me? Could she have just stopped wanting to talk to me? Is she scared? Did she find someone else? It is kind of hard for me to express my feelings through words right now, but I just want you to know that if you think that I don't like you anymore, I want you to know that I still do like you. Well, you know who you are if you reading this. I would really like to talk to you again. Please don't try to avoid me. :( I would also like to dedicate a song to you. Elliott Yamin - Wait for You. It's a lovely song.

"...why can't you look at me, you're still in love with me, don't leave me crying."


I know it's a little early but...
I would like to wish Natalie Sun a Happy Birthday.
Have an amazing 13th year.

One more day.

I'm so excited! Only one more day until I go to Las Vegas for the 2008 U.S. Nationals! I'm more excited than usual because I'm not going with my parents this time & this time I'm going with Yuta. Today was such a long day at school and I fear that tomorrow will be even worse. One drawback of missing three days of school is that I have to make up a couple of quizzes/tests and homework, but luckily I have no projects to do over break :). I am kind of nervous for this upcoming tournament because I am 1866 going into the u1800 and u1900, but I'm sure that there are many people who had the ratings adjusted before Nationals. Hopefully I will do my best and try hard! When I come back I will do a comprehensive write-up on my experience & results. Wish me luck! Bye!

Yeeeee

5 MORE DAYS UNTIL NATIONALS !

YEAAA.

Brrrrr.

Today is so cold. I'm guessing the entire week is going to be this cold too. What a great time to wear my new hoodies/sweatshirts :). I went to my math tutor today, asked a bunch of questions because we're having a Ch.7 Test coming up this Thursday. I can't believe tests are worth 50% of your grade in math, considering homework is 20%, quizzes are 10%(!?), and final is 20%. That's just absurd. To sum it up, I have a Spanish Test on Thursday, Math Test on Thursday, Chemistry Quiz on Friday, and Vocab Quiz on Friday. Today I spent my time after school just watching SNL Digital Shorts on tulu.com :P. They're so funny. I also played some Ferrari GT on my iTouch. It's surprisingly good. Didn't play any Guitar Hero today. Alright I gotta go study and finish up my homework. late.

Monday...

Ugh..who doesn't hate Mondays? They're just tiring and boring, especially when you have school. Currently I am very hungry. School was ok today...P.E. sucks..it was really cold today. I really want to pull up my grades. I highly recommend the book Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. It's a great book due to its well thought out plot and detailed characters. It can be funny, suspenseful, and serious throughout different parts of the story. I read a lot yesterday for the first time in quite some time. I'm currently listening to Beautiful by Akon, Jizz In My Pants by The Lonely Island, Welcome to Heartbreak by Kanye West, and Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade. I played a little bit of Guitar Hero today...mostly playing online now :P I enjoy doing 1v1 guitar/bass faceoffs, band quickplay with me as bass/guitar, and guitar co-op. I find that a lot of people like to leave during the game and it really makes me mad. Well I'm off to finish my homework. Have a nice cold day.

Wow...this was a peaceful blog today..no swearing..no hate..if only everyone was like this...

P.S. Julius Caeser is actually a pretty good story.

Table Tennis Woes..

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Update: Fuck School & you all.

hey. school has been a fucking disaster. you know what? i have the "potential", but it seems like i can never pull it off, whether it is a test or project. why? why am i like this? i dont understand. I have a question for you. is a tall person immediately better than a short person? answer me you fucking shit. HUH DOES THAT MAKE ALL TALL PEOPLE BETTER THAN SHORT PEOPLE? A TALL ASIAN IS SO COOL HUH? JUST BECAUSE HE'S GOOD AT SPORTS AND CAN IMPRESS THE WHITE KIDS. WELL, NEWS FLASH! IT'S NOT SO HOW ABOUT YOU START TREATING PEOPLE ALL THE SAME NO MATTER THE RACE OR HEIGHT. YOU PEOPLE ARE SO FUCKING GOOD AT JUDGING PEOPLE. alright sorry for caps, but i cant help it. we're doing football now in p.e. ...yesterday we played ultimate football (AKA Ultimate frisbee except with a football) what the fuck? that is such a stupid idea, there's too many people on a team and it's just so unorganized and retarded. ok so we finally played flag football today and guess what THE TALL FUCKING ASIAN GOT ALL THE PASSES!! NO WAY! fuck stereotypes. alright im done with that.

on a slightly different note...

i got guitar hero world tour for my b-day. it's pretty awesome, but my one major complaint is that it doesn't support tvs that are 4:3. only widescreen! What the hell? there's not even an option to change it. Apparently RedOctane thinks that everyone owns a widescreen tv nowadays...alright time for some guitar hero news.

GH:WT
Recently beat the game on hard (guitar)
Trying to 5-star every song on hard on guitar, then i will move on to expert.
Assassin is hard and annoying.
The set-list is slightly sub-par
Open Notes on Bass!! AMAZING!
Drums at first were horrible due to hardware issues, but i got my usb-midi cable yesterday and tuned it! now it's a blast. since this is my first time playing drums, i plan on beating medium first, then work my way up the difficulties.
Vocals are hard. it's impossible to FC.
If you haven't got the free DLC, get it now! Electro Rock is amazing and should've been on the setlist. if you want to know how it is, just watch my vid of it here. i apologize in advance for the quality and sound.
The new guitar is absolutely amazing, EXCEPT for the slide bar, which you can turn off in the options.

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I haven't been playing that much DoTA lately. Sick of pubbies.
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Music!

Kanye West's new album 808s & Heartbreak is pretty good. I can feel his emotions about his mother passing away and his girlfriend breaking up with him. He's an amazing songwriter and is very creative. I'm sick of hearing people whine about him using Auto-Tune. First of all, let him experiment a new style! i'm sure he can tell if his music doesn't sound very good. Second, he doesn't even use it in all his songs.

A couple of worthwhile songs to listen to are: (I suggest you to buy the whole album though. It's worth it)

• Welcome to Heartbreak
• Paranoid
• Heartless
• RoboCop
• Amazing
• See You In My Nightmares

Alright this long post should make up for my absence :)

Late.