Bonsai Blog

It seems that Google sneakily updated GMail without informing many people at all. In fact, many people I have spoken with don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ll elaborate since it seems this isn’t a huge phenomenon yet, and the larger tech blogs haven’t started buzzing about it yet. They might not though, it’s pretty minor changes and nothing that you’ll even notice immediately. The GMail blog has also remained oddly silent about the change too. So how do I know I’m using a ‘new’ version? Because it said so! My GMail inbox now has a link to use the ‘Older Version’, which is right next to settings. Here, although you may not notice much, are the screenshots (new first, old second):

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So on Saturday I took my ACTs.  That is huge for me, because I have fairly big dreams and college is an important step.  Overall the test was long and fairly difficult.  Not because of the work involved exactly, but more because of the time limits.  They.  Were.  Hell.  I may be gifted academically, but I like to work things out and not just do speed runs.  This, regrettably, is what the ACT wants though.  The only part I felt very confident on was the essay we had to write at the very end.  It probably doesn’t show on my casual blog, but I can bring my diction up pretty high.  Especially in AP COMP.  With MR FOGARTY.

Today, Sunday, I worked on my CAR.  I thought if I put it in capitals it would be better since it’s the ACTs and not the acts.  So now it is my CAR and not car.  But I digress.  It took an hour to get out of the shed, but that was actually ahead of schedule.  Then my dad put in new airbags while I did a lot of cleaning out of the interior.  It cleaned up surprisingly (a) well and (b) fast. My dad offered me this other car that he just got that needed a lot less cleaning up and stuff, but…I chose my Pontiac Sunfire ‘97 over whatever it was.  Saturn ‘95.  I’m not a big fan of Saturns in general I guess.  My car is fairly blue-ish with a little green, but not as greenish-blue as I remembered.  I also like the color more than I remembered, which I suppose is LUCKY.

Yep.  Tomorrow starts the last week of the quarter, and the last week before I leave for MEXICO.  I need to still get some sick work in for classes.  It’s so annoying to be out for so long, but I haven’t been missing days since like early October.  Seems I’m much better now.  And if I were athletically inclined, I could be joining sports again!  But I’m not going to!  Yay for the freedom to say “no”.  I am, however, in Debate, which in my opinion is much more useful.  And fun.

I’m planning on making a movie this week around my town.  How exciting.  I bet you all are like “OH MY GOODNESS I CAN’T WAIT”.  But SORRY, you’re going to have to.  I’ll post it before I leave on Saturday though.  Promise (kinda)!

I am currently looking for: A talented graphic artist or artists to help me with my various web projects.  I can do the coding if someone else wants to work as a team to get layouts, buttons, or other misc stuff ready.  I want to do a few free sites (ie: this is not a paying job, it’s volunteer work for ad-free sites) so if you don’t have love in your heart for a free internet, don’t apply.  Any coders who know their salt in PHP/MySQL and XHTML are also invited!  You can use the ‘Email’ link on the side there.  Hope to hear from some people!  Thanks!

PS- Hmm, I had something to add here… now I can’t recall what it was.  I must think.  OH YES.  I want a new hairstyle.  You can also email me with suggestions.  Bonus points for suggestions that accent their idea with a picture.

Ok, so I’ve got a new vid up now on Youtube.  It’s pretty lame, so I titled it ‘LAME VIDEO - vBlog 12′.  Why?  Because I did a really rough 1 shot vid and the lighting is horrible.  I should’ve made it better, I know.  LUCKILY though, this is the first video with an actual camcorder!  and I’d say the actual film quality is looks better.  I want to go on to doing short skits and such, because I like writing and performing.  So it’s kind of exciting to have the ability to post better stuff on the internet.  If you want to see it, you can click here.

In other news, well, I honestly don’t know.  I’ve been pretty mellow this MEA weekend, doing homework and other necessary yet dull things.  Enriching your mind always helps though.  I’ve been reading Stork Naked by Piers Anthony, and it is amazing, as are all his other Xanth books.  Most under appreciated series ever.

Tomorrow I am going to VALLEY FAIR with my family.  Yes, it is exciting, because I haven’t been there in forever and I’m actually excited to go.  But that also signals the end of my four day break, and I really don’t feel like going to school.  I’d rather just be apathetic and rest in bed.  All day.  And stay in my house.  I might possibly grow up to be a hermit because I enjoy the solitude of my own company, and of course my keyboard.

I would also like to start working on a novel.  I usually get about a page or two into them before I get bored and stop.  I can finish short stories though.  So let’s try to push my limits.  Encourage me!

Oh and yes, for all the times I mention traipsing around with friends and such, I’m also looking ahead to my future and working on things that need to be done.  I don’t feel like pushing myself too fast and too much about my future.  Wherever I go will be fine, whatever college I attend will do, and no matter what, I will succeed.  That is all.

G’night folks!  (Oh, and expect a huge photo album update very soon.  With lots of photo-delicious-ness)

PS- I’m still loving Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer.  WordPress now supports tagging through it!  AMAZING! (I’m a total geek, forever)

I updated my sidebars finally so that it looks nice. You’ll find my normal menu on the left and the tags on the right. Tags basically divide what my posts are about. So my site looks better now in my opinion. Plus I updated the logo and saved it in an image format so it matched the rest of the banner. Aaaaand I’m going to make a new page because I’m bored, and I’m sure someone on the internet needs something to read.

As for my forums, I gave them a makeover too! So now they have a green theme that doesn’t really match the site…but it’s green! And how much more can you ask for?

*Slight interruption as I go watch my show* Ok, that was pretttty good.

This weekend I have a few plans, but they’re with family.  A little break from going out to movies with friends.  I’ve gone to the cinemas so much it seems.  The Invasion, The Brave One, Across the Universe, Harry Potter, etc.  But tomorrow I’m going to the Burnsville mall.  My sister wants a suit so she looks nice for the BPA competition.  I’ll just hang out by myself and look at tech shops and music.  Maybe new sunglasses, yeaaaaah.  I felt like not hanging out with friends because I’ve been so busy lately.  Plus I was just at the Mall with Jess, Evan, and Kent.  So I think having some time by myself will be enjoyable.  I want to do something with Mark though, haven’t hung out with him since like Homecoming and I don’t think he has so many other close friends to really hang with yet.  His English is still improving though.

Still working on that new YouTube vid, little late sorry.  225 subscribers though.  Later~

Tonight I get to sleep in a BED.  Yes, my room is finally done enough so that we could put in my bed.  That means that the carpet is all done!  It looks fantastic, and I love how my room looks!  It looks so professional, and I’m pretty proud that my dad pulled it off so nicely.  And I’m still in love with the color green I picked out for my room.  Anyways, that will definitely be nice.

On Friday night I went to Across the Universe which was FANTASTIC.  Best movie I have seen in a LONG LONG TIME.  I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but I went to see The Brave One like two weeks ago, and that was disappointing.  AtU I went to only because Cal and Ash were going…and it just blew me away.  Especially for a musical, I loved it.  I mean, I watched Rent and didn’t find it interesting at all.  Yudai loves that movie but I don’t think he understands everything about it.  I don’t know.  My Japanese friends were crazy for musicals.  ESS Club loved High School Musical.  Anyways, go see Across the Universe.  It’s amazing.

Yesterday I go my senior pictures done!!  My aunt Laura took the pictures, she’s a fantastic photographer.  I took them at the Normandale College’s Japanese Garden.  So they have an oriental theme, but I’m not wearing anything Japanese.  I will definitely put some up.  I will be putting some time updating my Photos post-Japan very very soon, ’cause I have some good pics to put up.  And I’m going to try doing a video blog with the new camcorder we bought.

And as a last note, I’m feeling fat right now.  For some reason on Sundays I always eat too much and I hate it.  Oh well.  I have 6 days in which to eat healthy so I can afford next Sunday.  Hmm, better start on that.

Ok, so the site was down on my actual birthday.  But I had a really good time.  What did I get?  Lessee… a harddrive from my parents, two cds* from one of my sisters, a shower clock thing from one of my sisters, and a Sidekick case from my last sister.  And also a lot of great gifts from my relatives.  It was a really fun birthday.  At night both sets of grandparents came over and I had a mini-party.  We had rigatoni for dinner (my favorite) and a cake after.  The cake was not vanilla frosting with white cake because the store did not have them in stock.  Actually, they did, but they were all pink.  So my dad improvised and got me chocolate frosting, which turned out to be pretty good anyways. *Boys Like Girls and Santi by The Academy Is…

Today I went to the COLLEGE FAIR.  Which means I got to get out of school for the day and drive up to Minneapolis with my friends.  Actually Kent drove and Jess, Evan, and I all rode with him.  We stayed at the college fair for like an hour before we finished, then we went out to lunch.  Mark was with us, so it was really fun.  But he had to take the bus home, so we brought him back to the convention center and went back to Mall of America.  We had used that parking lot and went up using the Light Rail, which worked out really well.  So we went shopping at MoA for awhile.  Hot Topic was having a really really good sale because it was going out of business or something so I bought two tshirts for only $10, regularly $20 each.  And my FallOutBoy hoodie came in the mail yesterday, so that was good too.

We went to the Apple store at MoA today and all I could think about was getting the Zune80.  I can’t wait until November 13th…  I might get to go to an early preview show that they’re doing in Minneapolis though!  That’d be so cool…

…the new Zune 2 Microsoft is releasing.  I’ve been looking for a huge-capacity storage MP3/PMP (that’s Portable Media Player, not pimp) and this exactly fits the ticket.  Whether it’s the new design, DRM-free store, slick interface, or the amazing Zune pad…I just love it.  So I’ll be buying the 80GB edition when it launches on November 13th.  Unfortunately, it only comes in black.  That’s just about the only thing I’m going to fault it with.

Sorry I haven’t been updating.  Been really busy with school stuff, homework, etc.  I’m feeling much better and didn’t stay home at all this week, so that bodes very well.  Now I can finish my makeup work and get back in to the NORMAL school schedule!  Tomorrow is also homecoming.  It may be fun, depending on which friends I hang out with.

And uh, yeah, that’s about it.  I had to just put my feedback on the Zune 2 out there, just so Microsoft knows there’s a fairly positive buzz on it.  Some kids were talking about it at school today, so it’s bigger news than I thought.

Oh yeah, and two important dates: October 8th: Driver’s license test!!  I’m so scared!!  October 9th: Birthday!!