In which we start to wrap things up

Konbanwa, minna-san.

When you have a bad day....feast on chocolate! Or any other comfort food. For me, it's usually cookies, but I practically ate an entire bag already so I'm resorting to chocolate. And somewhat toned down Vocaloid music. I love the BLAZE music video. At first I was only going to download the song, but then I saw how...*ahem* cool Kaito and Len looked and decided to take the video. I mean, who can resist Len with a shuriken? *fangirls*

Err...yes. Well, today Mr. Arkin taught us how to print and laminate a PDF (or, well, any document, really) at Staples. I don't think my group will have to do that, since Tasfia's father owns a printing company...or something like that.

Speaking of Culminating, we're almost done! I'm finishing the Answer Keys up tonight and will add them in along with the references. The link will be up before everyone gets to class tomorrow. I also have to recreate certain screenshots. Phew! Luckily, I have no other homework.

Which brings me to my next topic. I completely failed my French and Science presentations today! *cries* I messed up some timing in French and in Science, I completely forgot what lines I was supposed to say. I want to apologize, but my friend told me not to apologize so frequently. *wince*

Exams are quickly approaching, and everyone - including I - is scrambling to review everything for each subject they have to write an exam for. I'm almost done my French notes, but I doubt I need to spend so much time on them. I'm most worried about Science and ICS. I will go on an extensive training (studying) regimen once this final Culminating project is handed in.

Wish me luck!

---

Current Music: Child's Garden - Len Kagamine, KAITO Shion, Gakupo Kamui
I'm actually listening to an entire playlist. My favourite Vocaloid songs are (in order):

1. Meltdown - Len Kagamine, KAITO Shion (Originally sung by Rin Kagamine)
2. Paradichlorobenzene - Len Kagamine
3. Romeo and Cinderella - Nodoame (Originally sung by Miku Hatsune)
4. Uninstall - KAITO Shion (Originally sung by Chiaki Ishikawa for the anime Bokurano; the lyrics were rewritten for a yandere KAITO)
5. Magnet - any couple (Originally sung by Luka Megurine and Miku Hatsune)

In which Pearl works hard to finish the CA!

Konbanwa, minna-san!

I'm pretty tired today, but that's alright. It's Friday, so I'll have time to catch up on my sleep over the weekend. Hopefully.

Today Mr. Arkin was away because he wasn't feeling well. Zarin-dono and I were chosen to be the Student Hosts - what fun! Actually, I was pretty nervous at first because I wasn't exactly sure how I should take on the task. Nevertheless, Zarin-dono was very brave and took the lead. Ha.

I feel like class is getting shorter and shorter. I was working on the Glossary today, and soon enough, it was time to back up and get ready for the next class. I'm almost done - I just have a few more definitions to write out. I need to finish by tonight, so Tasfia can put everything together over the weekend. Then, Lisa and I will proofread and edit the entire manual by Wednesday. That's the plan.

Things are coming together quite nicely. There's only a few more sections that need to be finished.

As for other CAs, I've gotten my English one over with. The only thing that's left to do is write an in-class reflection, and that will be done on Monday. In French, we're making presentations about environmental issues. My group is talking about deforestation in British Columbia. There's no Science culminating, but Mr. Pourkhatai is giving us a big project related to Astronomy. Sigh.

I feel like there's no time to study. If I have spare time, I plan on finally getting to typing up my French and English notes and hopefully start on either Science or ICS.

Below is a video (courtesy of YouTube) of a new song from JASMINE. She's a Japanese singer. I really like her style. Ever since I heard the radio rip a couple of weeks ago on the rotation site I use, I've been wanting to get the song. The official release date is February 2nd. I can't wait!

ONE - JASMINE

In which Pearl questions her sanity

(Or, in which Pearl's brain becomes so fried that she can't act sane.)

Konbanwa, minna-san!

Well, I'm certainly quite a bit more upbeat than I was the week before Winter Break. I feel like I shouldn't be, considering Culminating Activity deadlines and the ever-terrifying exams are quickly approaching. Then again, this might just be my way of keeping myself sane. Yes...acting crazy to keep myself sane...what a reasonable explanation.

I wonder why people stare at me strangely when I say "This is so interesting!" about a crime fiction/mystery novel. Or a show where something - doesn't matter what: vehicles, trains, airplanes, houses, barren fields, etc. - blows up. Or a chase scene. Or a gunfight scene. Is it strange to like that?
Meh. Castle always says (and yes, this is part of the introduction to each episode) "There are two kinds of people who spend their lives thinking of ways to murder people. Psychopaths...and mystery writers."
I relish in that kind of stuff.

Anyways, before I completely forget what we did in ICS this morning, let me write it down here.

Today was basically another work period for the Culminating Activity. (Why do I capitalize that? Is it simply an example of how much it towers over me; an example of how much of our mark this is weighted on?) Yes, er, well. I made some necessary edits to the About the Authors page, since Shreya joined our group. Lisa had asked for it to flow better (see, before I had tried to follow the model of a short About the Author[s] blurb in the back of a fiction book), so I had to change a few things.

Last night, Shreya sent me the glossary terms she wrote. I put those up on the Wiki. Looking over them, I feel like we'll have to do some editing. The language is not exactly professional, but that's okay. At least she has the basic idea. Don't get me wrong - I'm very glad she's so eager to contribute to our project. But...the grammar Nazi I am, I just...I'm picky about these things.

Which reminds me, as soon as exams are over, I need to reply to my pen pal (sort of) on FF. I still remember the days when we sent several messages back and forth on the same day.

So, for tonight I have to finish the flow chart about Tutoring Turing and the edits to the AtA page. Lisa will (hopefully) send me the rest of the introduction so I can put the two parts together.

I can't feel the pressure. Is that a bad thing?
Nevertheless, we're making good progress. Hm. That's probably why.

I'm feeling wistful now. Mm.
I think I'll go talk to my friend on MSN for a bit. He's always fun to talk to.

Mata ashita!

---

Current Music: Victory Korea - Super Junior
[Zarin-dono, you'll be happy to know I've gotten somewhat addicted to their songs. And Amy, too, if you're still reading my blog.]

In which our CA group gets a new member!

Konichiwa, minna-san!

Even as I type this, I'm creating flow charts for our ICS Culminating. Oh, the month of January is so busy! With exams coming up in two weeks, and Culminating Activities to finish, I'm as busy as a bee. Some people are stressing out, but not me! No, my mind has already blown up! I just get really hyper and then sporadically change energy levels and get depressed. Then I get hyper again. Yes...if you see me acting drunk, you know what happened.

"Mi-mi-mikuru, mi-mikurun-run!"
You might hear me singing that. Three cheers for Mikuru and all the people who act like her in real life (a.k.a. me)!

Yup. That's how far I've gone.

Well, today we got a new addition to our ICS Culminating group! I'd like to extend a welcome to Shreya, from Class A. She will be taking care of the glossary - not exactly an easy feat.

As for my tasks, all I have to do is edit the About the Authors page and the first part of the Introduction. Then I'm going to help Zarin-dono with the Case Statements lesson, and I have offered to help Shreya with the Glossary. Then, I will get to work thinking up test questions.

Ah, but before that, I have to finish creating the flow charts that were requested. It's pretty easy, and everyone else is doing so much; so I want to contribute as much as I can in any way possible.

Then I must memorize my lines for English CA; and do research for French CA, which is more about science (environmental problems). If I may, I'd like to voice my anger at Naeem for basically forcing our group to do Climate Change - something he's been obsessed with for the past two years (at least).
It's shameful.

Ah, well, there's no time to blow up at anyone. Besides, my brain is already fried.
"Koi no magiku, mi-mi-ku-run-run!"

Mata ashita, minna-san!

---

Current Music: Koi no Mikuru Densetsu - Yuko Gotou (Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

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 Pearl regains her pep

Konbanwa, minna-sama!
Hm. "Pep" is a bit outdated, isn't it? Oh well. Anyways, as the titles suggests, I was actually alive today! It's strange, though, because I only got four hours of sleep last night/this morning. (But hey! I got the last hour of sleep after I finished my French test second period!)

Today I got my "Follow the Bounce" code fixed (thanks to Nicole), and completed my "Window Edge-Tracer" code. I need to fix a small glitch on the latter, but otherwise I'm done!

That....is all I have to say. I'm in the middle of editing a friend's essay right now, so I'm keeping this short.

Tomorrow is the last day of school before winter break! Ha...I can finally catch up on my sleep...

In which Pearl is in a bad mood

Konbanwa, minna-sama.
I'm really not in a good mood today. I think...school has made me very irritable, impatient and short-tempered. I mean, today I blew up at Zarin-dono for no good reason (and I felt really bad after, even if I didn't show it). Mr. Arkin even thought I said the F-word, when I was just saying "function", and I'm not afraid to admit that I felt annoyed at that (which put a damper in my mood, and that was just second period!). For Goodness' sakes, if it wasn't clear before, I will never swear at anyone - especially my good friends! But I must also admit that I felt bad after raising my voice, specifically because I didn't even argue something correct.

Anyways, we did our Test Review today, and we got back our tests. I am extremely disappointed with my mark - it dropped dramatically from what I got on the last test. I think the problem was that I only covered very basic, simple ideas (even though I made sure I knew and understood everything on the Skills Inventory), and the questions on the test went a bit further than what I bothered to study. However, I will not say that it was unfair, because I believe that Mr. Arkin actually gave me more marks than I deserve (and I won't argue with him on that)! And so... Thank you very much, Mr. Arkin!

After he handed us our tests back (and yes, we had to get them signed), he showed us some simple animations. The program we have to write tonight is actually really fun to watch. I'm not sure how to describe it, but when I manage to figure out how to write the code, I will create an executable for it so I can show my friends on their computers. (Ha, yes, it would be something I'm proud of; and yes, I love watching those kinds of animations.) Oh, yes! Mr. Arkin taught us how to create executeables today as well. It's actually very simple: all you have to do is click on "Generate Stand-Alone Program" under "Run" on the menu.

I started on said program in class, but it's not done yet and I still need to fix a certain glitch. I actually got home at around 5:30 PM, and have been editing a friend's essay since then. Yes, I take editing very seriously and I make special care not to explicitly say "You must do this!" Hopefully he takes the time to read the comments I made - I explained all of my edits - and took them into consideration.

Right. Until tomorrow, everyone~

In which we achieve our goal!

Konbanwa, minna-san~
I think I was still "drunk" from International Night this morning. Heh, not even. I was "drunk" the entire day. I'm going to sneak in a fangirl moment here and say "Oh my God, the Korean groups were so awesome!!!" (Y'know, I'd replace "awesome" with another word [that starts with "h" *wink*] but it's probably not a good idea to say that here.) Ha, now I have renewed respect for Asian boy bands. *cue fangirl squeal* The song's still stuck in my head: Again and again and again and again...

On the other hand, I'm exhausted. After I got home and ate dinner (yes, I get home almost right before dinnertime) I went to sleep. I woke up at 9:30 PM, mentally kicking myself for not writing my blog first. Then again, the minute I go on the computer I won't be able to get off of it for a while. So, yep, that's why I'm doing it now.

*cough cough* Anyways!
Today was the last day we had to review programming in our groups. As I mentioned in the blog title, I think we achieved our goal. My group went over all the Programming Concepts noted on the handout Mr. Arkin gave us quite a while ago. I made sure I understood everything there, and if there was anyone who needed something to be explained to them, I tried to help. (Hopefully they understood after my efforts!)

I love helping others. *smile* I want to be an elementary school teacher, so it's actually helping me prepare for the "challenge" as well.

On another note, I need to start preparing for exams and culminating. Over the break, I plan on taking all my binders home and creating study guides for each one of my subjects, especially Science. Hah... That's what made me "sober". Mr. Pourkhatai returned out Ecology tests today after school, and I got a...horrible mark that will undoubtedly bring down my average.

Dakedo...oyasumi, minna-san!

---

Translation: So...good night, everyone!

P.S. For anyone that's interested, there's a Japanese boy band called NewS (also, NEWS, News) that's actually good. Sorry, I used to hate boy bands in general because they sang about...fickle concepts. Like love. (Dear God, I must sound morbid now.) But yeah, they sang for the seventh One Piece movie. It's called "Sayaendo". The translation's cute.

In which we learn about procedures

Konbanwa, minna-san!
I...get obsessed with different series very easily. Sometimes my love for a certain series dies out. (For example, I used to adore Hot Gimmick, but now it's...meh. It's not like I don't love it anymore (I mean - who can resist Ryoki-sama? *wink/fangirl squeal*), but it's just not as important to me.) But at other times, I will continue to love that series forever and ever... Like Inuyasha. I started watching it, what, six...years ago? I still adore it. And FullMetal Alchemist, which I started watching at around the same time. Of course, I absolutely cannot forget Detective Conan/Case Closed~! I'm a huge mystery/detective fan, so I love this one. Right now, I love Durarara!! It has a really unique/amazing/epic/addictive storyline and even more unique/amazing/epic/addictive characters. I don't want to stop loving it...



From left: Izaya Orihara, Anri Sonohara, Mikado Ryuugamine, Masomi Kida, Shinra Kishitani, Shizuo Heiwajima. The figure in the moon is Celty Sturlson, a dullhan.
Durarara!! (c) Ryohgo Narita

 Ah, but these are simply the ramblings of a crazy fangirl/writer. To get back on topic...

According to my Programming Glossary, a procedure is a subprogram that performs a defined task. It is very similar to a function. However, a procedure does not have a result (because it's not returning a value) and it can have zero or more arguments. An example of a procedure with zero arguments looks like this:

procedure sayHello
     put "Hello!"
end sayHello

sayHello

This code outputs "Hello!"
However, you can "upgrade" it, using an argument. This code will output "Hello, Shizu-chan!"

procedure greetUser (greeting : string, userName : string)
     put greeting + ", " + userName + "!"
end greetUser

greetUser ("Hello", "Shizu-chan")

Simple, ne? *smile*
Of course, if this was Izaya-kun speaking, Shizu-chan would say: "Get out of Ikebukuro!!!"
D'awws, we love you, Shizu-chan~

You can also ask the user to give you the greeting and name. However, then you must make greeting and userName variables (within the procedure, if that makes sense).

procedure greetUser (var greeting : string, var userName : string)
     put greeting + ", " + userName + "!"
end greetUser

var greeting : string
var userName : string

put "Greeting? " ..
get greeting : *

put "Name? " ..
get userName

greetUser (greeting, userName)

Got it? *smiles again*

Well, I hope that explanation was plausible. I'm generally horrible at explanations (and you wonder how I'll ever become a teacher).

Anyways, after we were taught how to create a procedure, we evaluated ourselves on our understanding of programming. Then we got into groups based on our evaluation. By Friday, Mr. Arkin wants us to fully understand all the concepts of programming! With a bit of work, I'm sure we can do it~!

Ganbatte, minna-san~!