Strabismus surgery

Time to document the history of my eyeballs.

Supposedly, my eyes were straight and aligned (and I did not have strabismus) when I was born, but they were the wrong shape (astigmatism), which made things blurry. My right eye was and always has been blurrier than my left (my distance prescription is 3.50 in the left eye and 5.00 in the right). Because my left eye was better, I always chose to fixate, or see through, that eye. Naturally I Never bothered to look through the right eye, so it never developed fully and was ignored. Then, it decided to drift in. If for some reason my brain ever tried to look through both eyes at the same time, I would not see in 3-D like everyone else, but I would see double because my eyes were not aligned. My brain then decided to ignore the image from my right eye completely so as to avoid double vision.

This all happened when I was about 4 or younger I suppose. Then, I had strabismus surgery with Dr. Rosenbaum, where he would tighten certain muscles attached to my eyes and loosen others, and they would be straight again. I was probably only 7 years old when I had the surgery. Anyways, he did an excellent job and my eyes were aligned, but the results were ephemeral. After a couple years, I developed intermittent strabismus, so my right eye only crossed in sometimes. Eventually, the strabismus was constant, but varied so sometimes my eyes looked straight and other times one was obviously crossing in. Why did this happen? It is because my brain was already trained to suppress the image from my right eye. It shouldn't have ignored this image though, because after the surgery, looking with 2 eyes would mean 3-D vision, not double vision.

During high school, I became annoyed with the fact that I didn't make use of my right eye. I began fixating with my right (non dominant) eye when I read and ran. At first, reading with my non-dominant eye was very difficult. I would constantly lose my spot on the page and sometimes would get headaches. But my eye grew strong after a while, and after consistently using it for a few hours then I noticed that I could un-suppress the image from my right eye while I was fixating with my left eye! For example, I could look at a pencil in front of me and choose to see double while fixating with my left eye. Before, I could only see double by forcing myself to fixate or with my right eye, since my left/dominant eye couldn't be suppressed.

I was trying particularly hard to make sure my right eye wasn't being ignored while I looked through my left eye during the few months before my 2nd strabismus surgery with Dr. Ashish Mehta. I wanted to ensure that I kept using my right eye while I looked through the left so that when I got the surgery again, I would be using both eyes to see 3D. Turns out this worked. He only operated on my right eye and the alignment was nearly perfect (there was a slight under correction). He attached an adjustable suture, but unfortunately we were not able to use it because it would only work if there was an overcorrection. But nonetheless, my eyes were perfectly straight as far as cosmetics were concerned and I was able to see in some 3d. He held a frame of a fly and had me wear these 3D glasses and I could see the wings protruding from the frame. I was not, however, able to pass the next, more difficult 3D test which was to identify which of 4 circle was bulging out of the frame.

Anyways, after the surgery, I could no longer force myself to see double while looking through the left eye, since the image that was no longer ignored was now being combined with the left-eye image. =). However, when I looked through the right eye, I did see some double. This is supposedly because my brain never knew how to combine the images when I looked through my right eye. I have to learn how to do this first. At first I thought the double vision was due to the slight misalignment, but now I am not sure if this is entirely true. Today I have been using my new eyes for almost 4 weeks, and I am seeing much less double out of my right eye than I once did, and I hope that soon I will be able to fixate with whichever eye I'd like and never see double.

Rarely, I will see double through my left eye. It is only for a second after I first open my eyes, or quickly look at something else. I noticed that the doubled image is on the left. This means that light is hitting my right eye too far to the left, which means that the eye is turned outwards. This could be happening because both eyes are looking exactly straight ahead. They should be crossing in just a little bit so they can both be looking at the same object. (If the object is very close to your face, then they will both cross a lot, but they will still be aligned because they are looking at the same thing.) If I just concentrated for a second though, the double would go away and my eyes would behave and look at the same thing. However, when I looked through my right eye, the doubled image was still on the left, and sometimes very far to the left and even to the left and down. This would mean that my left eye is crossing inwards, but not just the right amount of inwards, but too far inwards. I was worried that even after the surgery, my left eye still crossed when I fixated with my right eye. But not to worry - this situation is improving with time.

If you are having trouble telling which way your eye is crossing and it is not visually obvious, here is how you discern: identify which eye you are fixating with. The other eye is the one giving you the doubled image. Is the doubled image (the image that is blurrier or less prominent) on the right or on the left? If it is on the left, then light is hitting the eye you are not fixating with too far to the left, which means your eye is crossing to the right. (If this eye is your right eye, it is crossing outwards. If this eye is your left eye, it is crossing inwards.) If the doubled image is on the right, the light is hitting the right side of the eye you are not fixating with, so the eye is turning to the left, which means it's crossing inwards if it's your right eye and outwards if it's your left eye.

If you want to test yourself for strabismus, this is how you do it. Look at something very specific, like the cursor on your computer screen. Then, cover up your right eye. You are now looking at the cursor with your left eye. Did you feel your eyes move? If so, you have strabismus, and just FYI, your right eye is dominant. Now, uncover your right eye and look at the cursor again. Cover up your left eye, and if you feel that your eye had to jump to find the cursor, then you have strabismus and your left eye is dominant. Before my surgery, this is how it worked for me: I look at the cursor. Cover my right eye - there is no jump because I wasn't looking at the cursor with my right eye. My left eye is dominant. Then, uncover my right eye and cover my left - whoah... where is that cursor? While my left eye was looking at the cursor, my right eye was looking out the window, and now my right eye has to find the cursor, and that is why I feel the jump.

The above test will tell you which eye is dominant if you happen to have strabismus. But if your eyes are aligned, you can cover up any eye you want and there won't be any jumping because both eyes are looking at the same thing at the same time anyways, so no eyes are going to have to go searching for what you were looking at. This test works no matter what, but it requires that you find a wiffle ball. Find a wiffle ball. Notice the holes. Look through one hole in the front, and rotate the ball so that you can see out a hole in the back. You are now looking through the wiffle ball. Once you've lined up two holes, don't move the ball. Try covering your right eye. If you can still see through the ball, then you were using your left eye to align the two holes in the ball, and your right eye is probably dominant. If you cover your left eye and you can still see through the ball, then you were using your right eye and your right eye is probably dominant. There are a thousand different ways to do this test. If you don't have a wiffle ball, try this: hold your right index finger one foot from your face and hold your left index finger two feet from your face. Now, try to hide your left index finger by holding your right index finger in front of it so that you can only see one finger. Next, close your right eye. If you see both fingers, your right eye is dominant. If you see both fingers when you close your left eye, your left eye is dominant. The test in one extended sentence is this: if your view of something does not change when you cover up an eye, that eye is not dominant and the other one is; if your view of something does change when you cover up an eye, then that eye is the dominant eye.

Dr. Mehta said he was surprised that I have any binocular vision at all. It was expected that I would be too old for my brain to learn to combine the images from both eyes since usually the best time for strabismus surgery is around 7 years old. Also, every time you have the surgery, your chances of having binocular vision decrease. So the fact that I already had the surgery was against me. Dr. Mehta said that I may have been lucky because during my infantry I did have aligned eyes, so I may have been able to develop some binocular vision then, but still I had gone a long time without aligned eyes or binocular vision. But I think I have helped sustain the results of my 2nd surgery by making use of my non-dominant eye beforehand and training my brain to not suppress any information from my eyeballs. Perhaps this is a trick others should try if they are past the age where doctors say their brains will not be able to learn to use both eyes together.

I have a reputation for not being able to catch or throw anything. I never could play baseball or football. I gave tennis a shot but wasn't any good. I discovered running have been a runner ever since. Sadly I must admit I'm not really any good at that either if you consider how long I've been doing it for, but I shall blame this on shin splints or something.

I've been playing catch with my dad every day and every day I get better. I feel like I can really see how fast the ball is coming at me, and I can see exactly where it is, even while it is falling straight out of the sky. Now it is my dream to become a professional baseball player......except maybe not.

Just because my eyes are straight though, doesn't mean I don't need glasses. I still have astigmatism/farsightedness. Dr. Mehta told me LASIKS surgery isn't good for farsightedness - the technology isn't there yet. My progressive lenses will work fine until then, but I need to get a new prescription since the surgery changes it. 6 weeks after surgery I will do this.

Alex's Applications scripts solution for TUSD computers

Yesterday, after showing my new voting program to Mrs. Boudreaux and Mr. Marzilli for class elections (a different voting program than FHS ASB Vote 2010), I returned to Mr. Beverley's computer science class (in which I am a teacher aide) and discovered pandemonium. All the computers, with a few exceptions, were dysfunctional. Many would not log on. Those that did log on showed a hidden start bar that you could only right click on. IE would not load and internet connectivity was a thing of the past. A virus has struck! Mr. Beverley left to talk to Mr. Marzilli while teachers bombarded his room with phone calls. Not only were Bev's computers infected, but the entire district network was having this problem.

On 4/21, McAfee released a virus definitions update that falsely identified an important system file (svchost.exe) as a virus. Computers with older versions of McAfee installed deleted the system file, rendering the computer virtually useless. This hurt computers worldwide. McAfee released an update (extra.dat) to the definitions file that would prevent the false positive, but left no release notes on their website. I looked up what to do with extra.dat files and followed directions, but this did not work entirely. By lunch someone had discovered that after copying extra.dat into the correct location, you must copy svchost.exe back to c:\windows\system32 from the dllcache folder. This process cannot be done remotely, so every affected computer must be touched.

Alexander Taylor, working on behalf of Alex's Applications, wrote a script that copies the extra.dat file from a CD to the McAfee engine folder and then copies svchost back to system32 from the dllcache folder, restoring the computer to its original condition. Flash drives cannot be used because if the drivers for the flash drive happened to not be installed, Windows would fail to automatically install them without svchost running. It is quite a simple script but it made me rather popular with the administration.

The IT people at the district made the same solution but weren't going to give it to Foothill until later for reasons unknown to me. After I and Mr. Beverley fixed Mr. Marzilli's computer using my script during 5th period, Mr. Beverley left to start fixing the computers of teachers who were complaining the most. He and Kevin Quinn will have to resume this task today (4/22...writing this at 5 AM before school).

UCSD Admit Day

Today dad and I attended UC San Diego's freshmen 'Admit Day'. I was accepted into Revelle College - one of UCSD's six colleges, and I was accepted into UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering. Revelle, the first of UCSD's college, focuses on getting a broad and in-depth, and thus rigorous, education so we can all be Renaissance students...woo. But allegedly it is the school to be in if you have a science major, although the composition of students for each major draws from each of the 6 colleges.

For Admit Day, each college had random tables outside where they gave away candy and got you excited about something like ... I don't even know what. After fumbling around for a bit found we waited in line for a lecture about Revelle and found Steven Buell, whom we earlier felicitously encountered upon our arrival to one of the Revelle parking lots. Steven also happened to apply to UCSD (independently of me) and also happened to choose Revelle, although his major is bioengineering whereas mine is computer science.

After being given the opportunity to ask questions to two 2nd year Revellians outside while we waited in line, we entered a theater where the Revelle College administration told us about housing, AP credits etc. Then, while parents remained seated, students went into another theater that was behind the current one. There, we were alone with other 2nd year Revelle students. Here we could ask questions that we wouldn't ask with parents and administrators around. Sounds exciting, huh? The first question was "Is there an honors program?" Yeah that was a big whammy of a question -_-, and it didn't get much better. But here, Steven and I found Lauren Waggoner. We were the three coolest people in the class by a landslide. Hah...landslide.

And then, a tour of Revelle in a group of about 7 people with a tour guide, who was also a 2nd year student. We saw where we'd eat and took note of the numerous bike racks. UCSD students are encouraged not to use cars. We get stickers that let us use San Diego's super public transportation system for free. Bikes are best for navigating around campus. As for dormitories, there are 6 separate buildings, or 'fleets', in Revelle. Each is named after a ship because of Revelle's theme that has something to do with the seas. Since Revelle is the oldest of UCSD's colleges, it is the most prestigious. But it also has the oldest buildings and dorms. I do not particularly care about the prestigiousness of our college and certainly the most exciting thing about going to college is supposed to be the humongous modern buildings, but not to worry. Next year we will be able to move into a new apartment complex that they are currently building, and WE will have the newest dorms. But for this year, I will live in one of two possible types of dorms. Three of the 6 'fleets' are the oldest buildings in UCSD. They have very thick brick walls, so wireless technology does not work well. (Don't worry! There is wired internet access.) I felt like I was in a castle when we toured these dorms. People were volunteering to let us visit their rooms so it was kind of awkward walking in and seeing others trying to study. Each room had 2 actual bedrooms, each with 2 beds. Then there was a bathroom and this small living area with a TV. You can bring a microwave into the room if you wish, but eating elsewhere is easy. Each building has a washing machine and a drier. My tour guide says he makes an effort to use the washer early in the morning to avoid conflicts with others. The second type of building/fleet is slightly newer and much larger with 4 floors, each with its own laundry area. Hopefully I will adapt to the oldness of these dorms with time, but this is unrealistic. I will find a friend in the Sixth College - the newest college - and spend all my time loitering in his room.

Then King Dabby and I (King Dabby is my father) had to sprint halfway around the world to make it to the Jacobs School of Engineering for a presentation about itself. There are 6 different majors - Computer and Information Sciences is only one of them, and Computer Engineering is another. Some of the professors talked to us in this gigantic room and discussed the kinds of problems we might solve, but then we split off into groups according to our majors. In a smaller theater we had a chance to ask questions to a panel of other students who are computer science majors. Supposedly we will be getting many job offers via email every day since companies love to recruit UCSD students for their computer science skills. At UCSD they send teams of students to work on projects for other companies to solve real problems. Companies like this because the teams are much better at solving problems independently than individuals who would otherwise be a burden. They said it would be realistic to get an internship after our second year during the summer, but I have a feeling that many of the students there didn't have much background in computer science. So for me it would be realistic to get an internship after my first year. There is a program to study abroad that they encourage everyone to do. Not many do it currently but the number of people who do grows each year. If you know another language then you can go to another country like Sweden and take general ed classes over there for credit and not fall behind. The atmosphere of the computer science classes is much more collaborative than competitive at UCSD. This is not the case at schools like Berkeley, where students are very competitive. One of the graduated students in the panel mentioned that she was originally a bioengineering major, but switched to computer science because she didn't like the competitive atmosphere of the bioengineering classes where people are fighting for a limited number of jobs. Luckily there is a plethora of jobs available for computer science majors, so it looks like I'll be working with a congenial group.

Finally we visited the building where our classrooms were. It is beautiful! I will look forward to biking down to this building every day and will sprint from the bike racks and, on the first day, I'll run right into the door. But then I'll learn, and I'll get really good at running up the staircase. It is such a large and magnificent modern building. Upstairs there were classrooms. On the main floor there was a ... well you see, we ate here before exploring so I don't know if it was a type of cafeteria or if it was just set up as a cafeteria just for us. Anyways, there was a floor beneath this which is where all the computer labs were. There are 4 or 6 labs and each has about 30 computers, all of which will boot into either Linux or Windows. They made a big point to come in an ask any of the tutors for help if we ever have trouble with our code.

King Dabby and I would have visited the track but it was rather far away. So we drove home, stopping by 7/11 to get Vitamin Waters and then by Wendys for eating purposes.

I am no longer considering the other colleges into which I was admitted. UCSD is amazing, King Dabby and I agree. UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering is ranked #9 internationally. The staff is friendly and supposedly you can walk in any time to any of their classrooms and they are happy to help you out. College Board reports that 100% of the students come from the top 10% of their graduating high school classes, and that 80% had a GPA of 3.75 and higher. The Jacobs school supposedly only accepts 10% of those who apply. The campus is huge and most of the buildings look great. I am excited to start college - more now than I was. UCSD makes high school seem like a joke. I belong at a university!

FHS ASB Vote 2010

This year Foothill's ASB decided to use my program again for the election for next year's ASB members. I started developing the program 2-3 years ago after I voted on Garret Buell's voting program which he allegedly developed in about a day. It used radio buttons on a web page, displayed in portable edition of Mozilla Firefox, for students to select the candidate they wanted to vote for. If you didn't want for vote for anyone, you could not select anyone and just hit 'next'. When I accidentally chose a candidate and I didn't want to vote for anyone, I was unable to deselect him. This flaw enraged me. Also, votes had to be manually collected from each computer which allowed for error. There also existed security vulnerabilities whose details shall remain undisclosed.

I wished to make an improved version with better graphics, security and functionality. It took me at least 40 hours to develop FHS ASB Vote 2009. I simply renamed it to 2010 for this year. Students came to Lab 401 (computer lab) during their English classes to vote on my program. First they lined up outside and were told that they could only vote if they had their ID card and were given directions. Two people had role sheets and checked off students as they went in. Inside they picked up a paper ballot and were assigned to a computer. (All the computers were numbered.) Students voted on the computer, and when they got to the confirmation page they were told to copy their answers onto the paper ballot. Then they walk out the back door and turn in their paper ballot.

There was much inefficiency in the process. First, taking role outside was unnecessary - my program ensures that nobody votes twice. Students must use their last name and ID number to log in. Also, after students voted on the computer, they often skipped past the screen that told them who they voted for and directed them to transfer their votes onto the computer. They hit 'submit', then looked down at their paper ballot and realized they didn't remember who they voted for. Moreover, the pencils provided around the room for people to fill out paper ballots were getting stolen and lost. Additionally, the process required someone in the back of the room to collect paper ballots. And not to mention the onerous chore of counting all the votes on the paper ballots.

Why do we need paper ballots? It is written in Foothill High's Constitution that voting must be done on PAPER ballots. This confirms the votes on the computer. While my program is 100% accurate and does not miscount votes, there were discrepancies about how votes were counted on the computers in the past. I do not know any more details than that. The only way we'll be able to forgo paper ballots would be for there to be an amendment to the Foothill constitution. I don't know anything about the amendment process, but it needs to happen!

So on Wednesday and Thursday this week I was excused from all my classes and spent the day in the computer lab. I had to come to school at 6:30 to set up and Mrs. Boudreaux radioed for a janitor to unlock the lab for me. It was weird being at school when it was still dark and not having to worry about cars when crossing over Newport on my bike. Biking warms me up so I'm never cold in the morning at school.

I was unfortunately not allowed to have my name or my company name written anywhere on the program. I was quite disappointed to hear this. The reason I made the program wasn't really for the money and I was actually surprised to hear I was getting paid this year. The two biggest reasons I made it were that I wanted to use my computer skills to make the voting process more efficient (I am a teenager and I want change for the better!!) and the other is that I want to be famous! How cool is it that all the freshmen, juniors and seniors are coming to vote on my program? But our principal is trying to 'protect' me from people creating rumors that I rigged the election. (Like that would ever happen.) Everyone in ASB was gushing about me anyways and saying how robust my program was and everyone I care about figured it out that I created it so I'm happy. Yeah I know I shouldn't care but I fail at modesty when it comes to computers.

FHS ASB Vote 2009 (and 2010...same thing) consists of 4 different programs. It is pretty complex but designed with a flexible architecture and is quite scalable. That's why it took so long to create it, anyways. Many people have suggested that I sell it. This year, unlike last year, I will supposedly be getting paid. I do not know how much, but the administration is going to see how much it can give me :). There are plenty of other schools that would potentially want to buy my program if I customized it for them (currently the name is "FHS ASB Vote" and all the colors are Foothill colors). I would also want to rewrite the program in C#.net instead of VB.net, and create an installer for easy deployment of the program. This would not be easy.

My Revolutionary Teaching Method

For Mr. Price's English class we are required to write blogs that he would post for us on http://fhsenglish109.wordpress.com but I decided to put mine here too.

"What am I doing right now?" Many times a day I ask myself this question while in class, and too often the answer is "nothing." Sometimes the teacher is busy getting his/her act together, and sometimes he isn't there. Sometimes he has been diligently lecturing for the past 30 minutes but nobody can pay attention anymore. One might be surprised how easy it is to spend an hour in a classroom and not learn a thing. There is much inefficiency in today's teaching techniques.

What if there were no distractions? What if every student could learn at his own pace? If every student was guided though school as if by a personal tutor who walked the student through problems step-by-step, would learning not be greatly facilitated?

Replace 10 math teachers with 1 supervisor to watch 300 schoolchildren in a computer lab. Let the teachers of the United States come together to devise and agree upon the "best" way to explain a procedure in algebra and address all possible resulting questions. An interactive computer program can then teach the procedure step by step in a series of video clips to students in a lab. The clips would be so straight forward that almost all questions would be eliminated, but answers to the other frequently asked questions would be available in the program. After each clip it would then test the student for mastery of the information before moving to the next topic. Students would learn information quickly and effectively.

Here is an overview of the advantages:

1. Computers replace teachers - this is less costly for school districts and thus taxpayers.

2. No distractions - students are isolated and learn independently from each other.

3. No waiting - the computer does not have wait for the supervisor to take role or answer phone calls during class. The computer waits for you.

4. Instead of many teachers around the world explaining a concept in their own ways, only the explanations that proved to be the most effective would be shown in the program.

5. The program can learn how the students learn best and show versions of the video clips that are most compatible with the students' respective learning styles.

6. If a student has a question, the program will likely be able to answer it using its searchable database of questions and answers from students and teachers in previous years. The student will not hold up the entire class for his question.

7. Students are tested on concepts before they move on. The computer does not waste time explaining something that student is not expected to understand.

8. The required frequent interaction prevents absentmindedness and saves time. It does not allow for students to stop paying attention as doing so would result in a tangible halt of progress.

9. Students would not be allowed to leave the lab until their day's worth of work is done. This encourages students to stay on task.

10. Students can spend more time in subjects where they need the most help. Perhaps 1.5 hours of math and 0.5 hours of science would be more helpful than 1 hour of each for some students.

11. Learning on the computer eliminates worksheets and use of paper, saving money and the environment.

This revolutionary teaching technique would be most effective in classes where the agenda is primarily lecture, such as in math and social science classes. In classes where open discussion or use of equipment is necessary, such as English or science, mortal teachers would still remain for at least part of the school year.

[the following questions were for Price's students]

How do you feel about computers teaching students? Why do you think this idea would or would not be successful? What flaws do you note - and what possible solutions do you have to these flaws?

Mr. Taylor teaches Computer Science AB

I dropped forensics 2nd period and am Bev's aide this second semester of my senior year, and suddenly my life is not without purpose and my daily happiness levels have skyrocketed. (Forensics was rather a superficial class that I was initially excited to take but in which I quickly grew bored.)

Mr. Beverley is teaching both research and tech AND computer science AP AB during 2nd period this year. Though Beverley is commonly thought of as a superhero, even he cannot teach two classes at the same time. Thus I am delegated the task of teaching computer science. Though I know my stuff, my teaching skills are horrible as I have learned last week. But my perception on my teaching ability is due in part to that I tried to explain everything verbally. Just yesterday I managed to implement the use of a projector in lab 401 which greatly facilitated the teaching process as I can now show others my screen while I type sample code. But teaching is also made difficult by a lack of previous instruction from first semester as well as talent in this year's comp sci class. FAIL.

---- Random Notes:

1. Straight A's and O's first semester. Not an A- or an A+, just 'A's, ha. I'm a loser :]

2. No more high school cross country is depressing. It is hard to stay motivated in track and field with this in mind, and between recovering from eyelid surgery, sickness and a pulled muscle in my foot, I feel that my season is already over and that my cross country and track career is done. I never have been able to achieve peak condition as my unrestrained motivation inevitably backfires and in the end I succumb to injuries. I cannot see cross country being fun in college. I don't want to think of what my new team will be like. It is also a possibility that the college I go to will not even have a cross country team.

3. I had eyelid surgery. Eventually I will have actual EYE surgery again as eyes seem to cross more and more often. But the eyelid surgery helped some, but the problem is not entirely due to the physical condition of my eyelid muscles; part of the reason my right eyelid droops is because there is no incentive for it to open since I do not use my right eye. The surgery was about 3.5 hours and I was awake the entire time. It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds but it was uncomfortable when the numbing began to wear off.

4. Recently made $700 for spending a few days making my dad a website for his company, Launch Group. Now I'm working on a second project for Targeted Mailings which supposedly will be equally lucrative. You think you want to know what the website does but you actually don't. The explanation is quite the bore.

First post

Woo. So this post is special because it's my first. For Christmas I got an electric duster and earplugs, both of which I bought for myself. But I also got a new watch - Timex Iron man again but the new version which I'm still in the process of debating whether it is better than my old one. I've been using the same watch model ever since I had a watch in 7th grade. But the electric duster is cool because it'll prevent comps from dying, which my sister's did like not long ago. Since her comp died I upgraded Mom's comp with RAM and replaced the video card on the server with Jac's video card so at least the components are going to use. Don't know what to do with her HD or CPU yet. And the earplugs (along with blackout curtains) are effective in keeping me asleep during the daytime, which I do after entire nights of programming. Oh yeah and I got a webcam, better than the one I had before that writes like 3 MB / sec to your HD when you record videos (eww gross) so that's cool.

Yesterday at Laura's house I recited 300 digits of Pi in under 60 seconds as part of my 2 minute entertainment thingybob, and then did a skit with parents/sis "I am your mother" we copied from YouTube.

Today I went on a boat ride with cousins and all. Lights. Yea. Fun :).

Haven't been running much lately. If I had time I would but after 6 or whatever years I've finally begun to question its purpose, other than health, which isn't worth 3 hours a day if you can get it for 3 hours once every three or four days.

College. Stressful. Applying to Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Stanford and some loser schools. I dislike essays and SATs. Come to think of it I loathe pretty much every aspect of applying to college.

So there is my first post. It wasn't funny or creative or anything. Just a post. Just another old post in my blog. In fact I'm already getting sick of this posting business. Maybe it'll get better. Or maybe it'll turn out that people actually read it or something. Tha'd be cool. Hah. Psh. Nah. Hahahahaha ok.

Ok cool.