In which the semester comes to an end

Konbanwa, minna-san!

It's over. It's finally over. Semester One has finally ended!
We made it through the semester, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Congratulations, everyone!

Since today was the last day of classes, we had a party in ICS. The funny thing was, no one brought any plates, so we had to substitute napkins for them! It's okay, though.

Mr. Arkin brought in a big, rectangular chocolate cake. It was delicious! There were also chips and chocolate, which I happily snacked on. And, of course, Zarin-dono brought in her yummy cream puffs! (What's a party in ICS without her cream puffs? *smile*)

While we socialized, everyone's Culminating Activities were up so we could walk around and take a look at them. I was acting a bit drunk, yelling out "67 pages in three weeks! We did it!" to anyone who happened to take an interest in my group's manual. Ha... That's okay, ne?

It is also Zarin-dono's birthday today! She got embarassed whenever someone wished her happy birthday - how cute~! Teehee~
I spent the period drawing something for her. I hope she likes it!

In my English and Science classes, we prepared for the exams.

After writing two practice exams in English, I think I'm well-prepared for the actual one on Monday
afternoon. I have no idea how one can study for the English exam - which is basically writing an essay. So, I plan on going over the handout Ms. Fisher gave us regarding compare/contrast essays and review what happened in each of the literary texts we read before the exam.
In Science, we did a quick review of all four units - Chemistry, Ecology, Electricity and Astronomy. Mr. Pourkhatai gave us an idea of what would be the major focus on the exam. I plan on going over all my Science notes vigourously before thursday.

On the other hand, we wrote our listening exam in French. I found it pretty easy, and I'm confident I will get over 95%. Next year, I plan on taking Latin. It'll help me a lot with my writing, plus I've been planning on learning Latin since Grade 5. (I just never got around to doing it. Ha...)

After exams are over, I plan on creating a LJ account to put my fanfics up. I already have one on FF, but the quality or those on LJ are much better; and I hope to join their ranks. I also plan on drawing a lot more! I have art next semester, so that'll be sure to happen.

I want to become a PP editor - preferably for the Literature section. I'm going to dedicate more time to my writing as well.

Anyways!
My exam schedule is as follows:

Monday
- English @ 1 PM in the Caf.

Wednesday
- French @ 9 AM in S2
- ICS @ 1 PM in 105

Thursday
- Science @ 1 PM in the Caf.

I'll be sure to study this weekend, but right now...I'm just going to take a well-earned nap!

Thanks for the great semester, everyone! Now...we just have to tackle the exams!

---

Current Music: Anti-Paradichlorobenzene - Len and Rin Kagamine
(I actually like Len's version better, but this is amazing as well.)

In which Pearl forgets...again.

Ah!! Gomen nasai, minna-sama! *bows down repeatedly*
I totally forgot about this blog entry... Please forgive me...
My excuse? Er, well, you see... After school I went to Fairview for a reunion with my classmates (it was a failure, though, because barely anyone showed up). Then I had a headache so I went home. I got home at around four-ish and went straight to bed. Now, uh, I...didn't wake up until...11:30 PM, when my mom was getting ready for bed. She told me to go to sleep, so I did. I woke up at...2 PM the next day. So you see...I didn't even go on the computer for the past three days. I guess I was suffering from sleep deprivation. The past week...I barely got a day of sleep.

So, Friday was the last day of school before Winter Break. It was a half day, so classes were only 45 minutes long. Because of this drastically shortened day (and most likely the fact that it's the last day of school), teachers decided to put away the old teaching handbook (I'm guessing here) and have a relaxed class. In my English and Science classes, we had a small party and conversed with each other. In my French class, Mr. Vretranos gave us a little talk (nothing serious) and we got the rest of the period to chat with our friends.

In ICS, Mr. Arkin gave us another work period. Zarin-dono and I worked on the "Window Edge-Tracer" program. I figured out why the rectangle wasn't going to the last row - it was because I hadn't used the dot-dot option after my put CHARACTER statement. And lo and behold! It was fixed and working perfectly!Until...

Mr. Arkin told Zarin that our if statements should be separate. However, when I did that, the rectangle did not go to the corners of the run window. I need to fix that glitch, and I'm planning to do so over the break.

---This next part does not pertain to computer science at all, so you don't have to read it---

I admit it. The pain of staying away from anime, manga and video games has finally caught up to me, and I'm facing withdrawal symptoms. The past week, because I've been working so hard on editing people's essays and doing my own; as well as the homework from other subjects, I didn't get to read one fanfic, one manga, one doujinshi... I didn't get to watch one crime show (other than Hawaii Five-O, and that was on Monday), one anime... I didn't even get to draw, for goodness' sakes! And my DS had been broken since August...August!!! So...I admit to "binging" on these things, as well as sleep for the past three days. *smile*
I believe that the aforementioned factors have also made me quite irritable and grumpy, too.

Nevertheless, I have recovered! Now I'm off to look for an old video game that will work on a PC, so I can cure that video game withdrawal! Oh, and I need to write a Christmas-themed fic as well~ I have a pretty good idea. It's fluff. Fluff for the holidays~
(And Zarin-dono, don't worry, I have a good idea for your Sebby/Ciel fic too~)

Anyways, have a great Winter Break, minna-san~!

Merri Kurisumasu! (Merry Christmas!) Happy Hannukah (though I believe that it has passed)! Happy Diwali! And Happy Holidays!




Image belongs to Owaranai Kiss.
Saber and Fate/Stay Night (c) Type-Moon

 

In which Mr. Arkin returns!

Welcome back, Mr. Arkin!

You see, our (very much missed) teacher had been absent the previous week (Yes, all five days of school!) However, we have been working hard on our Substring Assignments. With Zarin-dono's (much-appreciated) help, I had completed all of them by Friday! (Thank goodness, because I slept in on Saturday and I went to a Christmas party on Sunday.)

So, today was an extremely shortened day. There was an early dismissal: school ended at noon! Because Mr. Arkin was away last week, he wanted to show us model answers for the Substring Assignments. Besides, we were expected to complete all of them and have all the codes printed out by today. It was sort of funny, because he showed us a model answer for Assignment #1, then realized that he hadn't taught us the for keyword yet.

And so, the lesson was postponed for another lesson: the for loop. There are times in which a programmer wants to repeat a loop a certain amount of time. In the event that he or she needs to do this, the for loop is used. (I was frustrated, because I could have used this when I was writing the Substring Assignments, and it would've saved me a lot of time.)

Here is the basic structure of a for loop

for control_variable : startValue .. endValue
     put value
end for

The control_variable will increment itself by one starting from the startValue, and it will stop when the control_variable is greater than the endValue.
The control variable is not declared - the computer declares and initializes it for you.

Simple, ne? *smile*

And that was pretty much all we got to do today!

Oh, and now it's "shameless self-promotion time"!
I wrote a poem!
It's up on my Fanfiction account because it can be linked to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (Actually, it is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.)
And while you're there, please check out my other stuff, too~! (I got flamed twice in two weeks, so I've been feeling pretty down. Now, if those people had told me what I could improve on, it might not have hit me so hard. See, I'm very serious when it comes to my writing: I want to become an author when I grow up. So if there's anything you guys see that I could improve on...please tell me!)

Arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san~
Mata ashita!

---

Translation:
Thank you very much, everyone~
See you tomorrow!

In which we hold a party for Mujtaba

Ah, today was refreshing. Strangely enough, I'm less tired when I get very little sleep. Remember how I said I was apathetic and lethargic a few days ago? That was when I got eight hours of sleep. Last night, I got about four and a half hours of sleep (due to my stupid Science project), and I feel completely alert today!
I'm very...strange in this sense.

Today we presented the posters we had been working on for the past couple of classes. My group went first, which in this case...wasn't a bad thing. However, Mr. Arkin kept telling me to talk louder when my group was presenting. I got really embarrassed, because to me, it seemed like I was shouting. I...don't cope well with oral presentations. The mediums I am most comfortable with are art and writing.

Then we went outside, into the hall, to put up our posters and copy down any important points we missed during the presentations. There was a problem regarding the way we put up said posters ("Use the grid! The grid!") but in the end, it was resolved.

Our class spent the rest of our period celebrating Mujtaba's newly-obtained citizenship. Congratulations!

On Wednesday, we have our first Programming Test! I'm sort of nervous...but I think I'll do fine - I mean, I did all the homework and made sure I understood everything. But a review sheet would make me feel much, much better. Heh. Just saying.

I'm doing the Code Analysis now, since I'll be leaving at six. So until tomorrow,

Ja ne!

In which we tie up loose ends

Ah, how I love baths... So warm and comfy...
They're a welcome distraction from the large amount of homework that I have to do after. Then again, so is manga...

Anyways! Today, we continued working on the poster we started last class. (See my previous blog entry for more information on that) My group...didn't cover all the sections outlined in the Programming Guidlines...But we did our best, and hopefully that will count for something!

Then, Mr. Arkin surprised us with a pop quiz! I missed the first one our class had, since I was at a X-Country meet, so I was quite anxious and nervous in the...five-ish minutes...he gave us to clear our desks and get out a pencil and an eraser.

When we got the quiz, I was extremely surprised! It just seemed so...easy! And it was! Even after I handed it in, I had the uneasy feeling that I missed something important - I mean, it couldn't have been that simple! Or maybe I'm just overanalyzing it. I probably am...

On another note, we missed Studio 218 again! It's so sad... Nevertheless, on Monday we'll...have a great time! *wink wink nudge nudge*

Haha, well, I'm off now! Time to go procrastinate by reading fanfic~ I need to catch up on Acerbus-chan's fics! (Er, I highly doubt that anyone knows who I'm talking about, so I'm providing a link. Just a warning though - she writes shonen-ai.)

Ja ne, minna-san!

Party Over Here!

It's party time!

Today, all the Mr. Arkin's ICS2O classes had a party to celebrate the end of the HTML unit! It was awesome, because we got to relax and socialize for a whole 70 minutes!

In addition, Class C had CS last period, so we got to have the other class' leftovers - in other words, more food for us! It was great...I binged on chips and popcorn...

On Tuesday, we're going to go back to our normal routine. Good or bad, I'm not sure; but I know that I'm happy we had a party today.

Thank you, Mr. Arkin!

The "end" is the start of a new beginning...

Today was so dreamlike...I felt like I was still asleep the whole day...
It sucked, because I had cross-country after school. And I died after sprinting about 100 m.

The HTML unit is officially finished! Now we're starting the programming unit! I...have mixed feelings about this. Why? Well, my eyesight is probably going to get even worse than it already is (Darn those addictive video games! And that small, small DS screen...*wince*) and my fingers will hurt from typing so much. On the other hand, I'll get to learn how to program!

For a video game addict like me, it's...too amazing to describe in words. When I learn how to program, it'll open up so much more oppurtunities for me: I might have the chance to become a video game programmer! (Though, if I do, I'll probably be one of the only girls on my team. Girl gamers rule!)

Then again, I was planning on becoming a teacher-turned-writer. But...it's not definite. Not yet.

For homework, we have to go over the Programming Subsite on our class website. I just clicked on the link and...oh my gosh...There's so much! And I have to finish my science too...
Grahh...I'll shut up now.

On another note, we're having a party tomorrow to celebrate finishing our HTML unit! I'm so happy~! I can't bring food, but I can bring music or cards!

It's time to read all those...articles? *gasp!* Damn, I also have to finish my two PP articles. *shot* Anyways, I'm off! Wish me luck!