Fuck Yeah!!!

Because of the recent snow storm school's closed all week, meaning Winter Break is now officially two weeks long :D

wooo! and to all my readers, have a very happy and safe Christmas Holiday and a prosperous New Year! (don't get too carried away y'hear)

JP

Let it Snow, Let is Snow, Let it Snow

Mother nature has really outdone herself this winter as the region is expected to get quite a hefty amount of snow! With snow reaching an unprecedented 12-24 inches by the time this storm is all done, this could turn out to be one of the greatest snowfalls ever received this early in December! See as i will likely be stuck at home all day tomorrow I'll take the time to work on finishing up college essays and applications (boo!) but also take time to appreciate the beauty of the falling snow.

My ideal winter snow day would involve me, a cute guy, a crackling fireplace and lots of snuggling, but then again this is still during the school year so unfortunately this will have to be postponed to a later date.

I'm contemplating going out on Sunday and see if people will be willing to pay me to shovel their walkways. I don't know what to charge, but my coach recommended this to us as a way to get some good exercise and also make some cash in the mean time.

Overall this week has been a good, albeit exhausting one. I haven't gone to bed before 2:30AM this week which means I've been getting 4 or less hours of sleep each night (I know, shame on me) but teachers are really piling on the last minute tests and grades before winter break begins next week. Today for example i had a physics lab due, a physics test, Calc test and a 2k test. Last night i didn't end up going to sleep until about 3 (homework, studying, procrastination skills) and I was worried about both my tests today because I didn't feel like I understood anything, especially in calc where we essentially got notes and terribly vague instruction. Surprisingly, I found the physics test pretty easy and I was able to answer all the questions on the calc test. Hopefully I did everything correctly in the end. So after all the school tests were all said in done, all that was left was the 2k.

Now today was "Carnivore Day" in journalism which made my prospects of a successful 2k seem limited at best. Carnivore Day is pretty much a day where everyone brings in some food for a meat-based extravaganza - chili, hot dogs, chips, soda and baked goods galore. Not a vegetable in sight. It is usually recommended that you eat well before a 2k so you don't get bogged down because your body is trying to digest heavy and unhealthy food, but I find it terribly hard to resist a good, delicious artery clogging lunch when it is set up buffet style before me. So I enjoyed and immediately felt in trouble when I was sleepy soon after. Since it has been about two weeks since our last 2k, I hoped to cut ten seconds off my time, whether that was possible was questionable in my mind but I went in with high hopes and Lady Gaga blasting from my headphones. So, the result of all my worrying, poor food choices and fantastic music? 15 seconds chopped off from my last 2k time bitches! I'm only 10 seconds off my PR time so I really hope I can keep this track of progress for the rest of conditioning.

Have a nice weekend!

JP

Georgetown Interview: Postgame Analysis

So I think the interview went pretty well. It took place at a Starbucks in the area so it was pretty casual. My interviewer asked stuff about my family, my course load, extracurriculars and the like and I didn't freeze up on any of the questions! I did notice she had a notepad where she wrote my name down but never actually took any notes in the end, lol. She was a really nice person and just recently graduated from Georgetown so it was nice talking to someone who was only so much older than I was. So overall it was a really comfortable and fun experience, hopefully this will bode well for me in the end :)

Just one more step towards college land

All the best,

JP

Georgetown Interview

Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Tomorrow is my Georgetown Univeristy admissions interview and I'm so nervous! All undergraduate applicants have to go through an interview with an alumnus of the University so I really hope I'll make a good first impression. I'm meeting my interviewer at a local Starbucks at 5 tomorrow and the interview itself should about 30 to 45 minutes. They're supposed ot be generally casual in atmosphere but like most people have, i'm dressing up a little (khakis, button down and the like) to make myself a little more professional and appear more dedicated and interested. One of my friends has already done her interview and gave me a few tips and said the interviewers are really nice and you should just be comfortable and yourself around them.

Recently, a lot of my friends have been getting their first college acceptance letters. I know one of my friends got accepted to UPenn, another person I know got into Cornell and one is getting recruited to Stanford for crew. It's so annoying realizing that I will have ot wait until April to hear back from any of my colleges >.<. I really hope I haven't overreached in the schools I'm applying to but I'm really nervous about this whole process and the stress it's adding to the already busy senior year.

Well, I'm going to try and get another one of my application essays done before I go to bed. I'm also trying to calm myself for tomorrow, hopefully I won't be too nervous and everything will go well.

je peux le faire.

-JP

Houston's First Openly Gay Mayor

***Annise Parker, Houston's First openly gay mayor***

This just recently came out on the news wires but Houston, Texas elected its first openly gay mayor! Annise Parker won with about 54% of the votes, defeating her opponent, Gene Locke.

After Locke conceded defeat, Parker told reporters -

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about,"

During her campaign, her opponent received support from anti-gay groups who sent out pamphlets to voters which condemned Parker for being a lesbian. Fortunately, her opponent distanced himself from these groups though I have a feeling the link unfortunately remained in the eyes of many.

Parker is now the mayor of the United States's fourth largest city. I'm really happy for Parker's win in this election. While Houston is predominately democratic, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will ultimately have on a larger scale. Hopefully this foreshadows steps forward for the gay community, especially in lieu of recent national and international events like Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill.

Read more! **or else ;)**

Houstons First Gay Mayor

Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

In speaking about politicians, does anyone else think Representative Aaron Schock of Illinois is smokin? We just began a Congress project in government and he was my group's choice for "freshman member"

All the best,

JP