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I now have school work to do. To put my work into perspective, heres what I have to accomplish before the end of this school year. By May 16th I have to have an English Portfolio. It has to have eleven pieces of writing. The pieces vary from poems, extended journals, essays and even a 7 page research paper. Most of the portfolio is not finished, and it will be my primary goal to make it the best it can be by the due date. I also have to read To Kill a Mocking Bird (again) and answer questions on it by next Tuesday. I have a huge presentation-like project for my AP US history final. I recently took that AP exam, and I’m expecting a decent score. It’s mainly the AP classes that are time consuming.

I was supposed to take the SAT on May 3rd. Unfortunately, I had a memory lapse and thought it was the following weekend. This caused me to waste about $45. But I plan to take it ASAP in the fall. I’ll be updating about my college search and visits. I have recently visited Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Butler University. I’ll be posting about these later.

It has been sometime since I’ve updated, so I think I’ll do that now. Last night I went to Prom. I went with a sophomore girl. I would’ve like to have gone with my boyfriend, but he was too young to go. It is surprising that they would’ve let him go if he was a year older. I go to a Catholic school. And think, they would allow a same sex couple to go together (with some stipulations which probably wouldn’t have been followed). The theme was Italy. Being part of the prom committee, I had to find Italian dinner music - no easy task. While there I had a blast. One of the most fun experiences I’ve had so far. I can’t wait until next year.

After the prom, there was an after prom party. That was fun as well. We all hung out until about 6AM in the morning and then headed home. Of course there were some intoxicating substances, but I didn’t partake in them. It was fun to see others wasted though.

My whole junior year I have been bogged down with homework and testing, which puts a cramp on my social life. Throughout all of that, I find myself having ambitions in a variety of subjects. One of my most prominent ambitions is to create the next great website. I’m not the most idealistic person, but I have the skills to make something as such. I’m just having trouble thinking about what will be the next Web 2.0 revolution.

In the computer science field, the one thing I have the most passion in is web development. I won’t be surprised if in 10 years I have a job as a web developer for a big company or my own company. But I won’t know until then. I can only hope that my perseverance and education serves me well in the future.

I’ve recently wanted to start a YouTube channel and get more involved with that community. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to do so. Or the money for that matter. I’ve been looking for ways to earn money. It seems my best option is self employment. I’m planning on creating an online portfolio, putting myself out there for the world to see. It would allow them to see my computer and web development talents. Whether I use this site or create a new one is still unknown. It will happen nonetheless. (And if you know me, you’d know I don’t usually reach out for opportunities.)

One thing that was recently exciting to participate in was the The Google Highly Open Participation Contest. The contest allowed high school students to get better involved with Open Source projects such as Drupal or GNOME. For every 3 tasks that were completed by the student they received $100. I participated and completed a total of 3 tasks within the time period and I received the money within a month. It not only allowed me to have some pocket change, but I was able to experience Open Source program development. I thank Google for that opportunity.

Other underlying ambitions exist, such as Photography, Journalism and Broadcasting, and Psychology. I hope in the future, I can tap into all of these and maybe tie them all together.

I’ve recently started my college search. This past Saturday I had the chance to attend an open house at the University of Evansville. Overall, I was impressed. There are many things I like about it and there are a few things that set me off. The visit started off with a joint session in which the Vice President and a professor spoke. It was basically talking about its top status within the US and its many prestigous departments.

The rest of the day was filled with information sessions and a campus tour. At first, I had no idea what to look for or what I was doing. As time went on, I was able to come up with many questions and have them answered.

My first stop was the Engineering and Computer Science Department. There was a presentation then a tour of the facility. I was impressed for what the Computer Science professor had to say and what the facilities were like. The had some nice labs for the classes and would fulfill my needs for the future. One thing that set me off though was the class sizes. I like small class sizes–around 15-20 people. But the current computer science classes had students of 7-9. It seemed too small for me. Though, I can’t be too sure, for I haven’t experienced that small of a college class. I have experienced a small class of 2 in High school, however.

The next thing planned was the full campus tour. We went to a residence hall, walked around campus while all the buildings were explain and visited the athletic center. The dorm room was nice; I found it small but that may be standard for college.

We then attended a financial aid meeting. And off we were. the experience was nice and Evansville is still on the list. I plan to visit Ball State, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Butler University within the next few months. There are other schools out of my state I’d like to visit and go to, such as MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie-Mellon. We’ll see what happens, and I’ll keep you posted.