A bit clumsy and a bit crazy (actually, not sure about 'a bit' part), I'm your average Environmental Engineer working in US, looking for better opportunities while enjoying the east Asian culture.
If you are planning to visit Korea, be prepared for HOT weather.
Anyways,
This week we prepared a book for beginners and intermediate learners especially who prepares to take TOPIK test.
Book Info.
2000 Essential Korean Words for Beginners
Author : Ahn Seol-hee, Min Jin-young, Kim Min-sung Book page : 504 pages Supplement : MP3 CD
ISBN: 9788959957811(895995781X) Size: 128×210 mm
About This Book
This book covers a total of approximately 2,000 words according to the following criteria. Selected the vocabulary words appeared more than 3 textbooks from the language institutes of nine universities and two private institutes on the basic first and second level Korean.
• The words organized into fourteen topics. The provided example sentences are related to each topic focused on the example sentences used in textbooks and practical sentences frequently…
Alright, time to complete the task which I have been procrastinating from long time (one week, that is). Yup, it’s been week since I travelled to this faraway land and I’m not able to forget the serenity and beauty of this place (not that I haven’t travelled to any seaside place before but this has been a particularly memorable one). And, this post is gonna be a long one!
Ko-Chang (meaning Elephants Island) is a district in Trat province located around 310 km from Bangkok and second largest island of the country (Source – Wikipedia……. Who goes on a fun trip and asks for geographical data?………Well, at least, I don’t)
Since, I’m living in Saraburi, I’ll describe my journey from here only. We went to Bangkok from our company taxi (which, obviously, cost me nothing). Reached Bangkok, roamed around, visited some malls and blah, blah, blah……..
Random Roaming and Clicking in Bangkok
Bus time! We took 11:30 p.m. VIP bus from Ekamai bus station to Trat. Awesome and comfortable journey. Good condition seats and AC. Best part, you have got toilets on board!!! (For Indians, it is a new thing). Four and a half hours and we reached Trat bus station (must have been the closest district to Ko Chang island but I forgot to see the name……. anyway, it will drop you at the right place, if you are in right bus, so don’t worry). Our ferry to Ko Chang was around 6 in the morning, so we decided to wait at the bus station itself, but the driver who was supposed to take us to ferrypoint kept pestering us to hurry up, hence, we had to leave the place earlier. It took us about half hour and we made a stop at the ferry ticket counter (which was about 15min away from actual pier). This lady, who was booking tickets, was very helpful (and real business-minded, I must warn). She not only booked ferry but convinced us to book ‘open’ tickets for returning bus from Trat to Bangkok, since 12th, Monday (the day we were supposed to return home) was holiday all over Thailand in honor of The Honorable Queen’s Birthday and many people would be going back. Since the ferry and bus tickets were both open, we weighed our options and decided to go with it. We just needed to inform the lady when we would board the ferry while coming back so that she would confirm our bus tickets. Not bad. Now, no tension and no hassle of buying tickets to our way back.
We were taken to the pier and we were lucky enough to see the sunrise (bumper bonus!). See for yourself. Although it was cloudy, sun came out for enough time to get clicked by us.
The sun is also a fan of being photographed!
Ferry took around half an hour to reach the actual island! Although slow, it was a fun ride, giving us a chance to feast our eyes on beautiful sceneries, never seen before.
Oh finally
Oh, prices…. I’ll make sure to ask coz till now everything was paid by one of my friends and I just received the cumulative bill in the end (Oops! that reminded me, i still haven’t paid her). From now on, I can tell you. After climbing down the ferry, we took a taxi who’s driver was charging 100 Baht per person from foreigners till our hotel (which was quite far, I must admit).
And trust me, that was one hell of a ride. Why, you ask? If you want a roller coaster ride without an amusement park, this is the place. The roads are so steep, so steep, that at some places, you are literally at a perpendicular plane to that of the sea you can see from there (Sorry if you are bad at maths, but this is the only way I can say that). Since we were moving, we couldn’t click the exact thing but I hope that these give you some idea.
The downward slanted road as can be seen from side wall
The angle !
The dangerous turn
Is it same as second one?
So, somehow we arrived at the hotel “Bai Lan Beach Resort” at 8 in the morning but our check in was at 11. And while my friends were talking to the receptionist, asking for information, I had a look over the place and it was really breathtaking scene.
Ok, so the resort was good. We had already booked the rooms since we were afraid of holiday season. We relaxed a little bit and rented motorbikes (scooties actually) and tried to find veg food. Now, it’s not like we were not getting veg food in the resort but it was a little expensive for people like me. Again, the roads are really up and down, so until and unless you have confidence to drive on such roads (where you can barely control the speed of the vehicle while going down), I would suggest you sit behind some expert. Keeping this in mind, I opted to be the passenger rather than driver. There are a lot of marts out there where you can buy various kinds of bread (without egg too) and frozen food. Meanwhile, we stopped in between to have a look on other small waterfalls and beaches (our resort’s was a rocky one). Here-
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A little more masti, some more clicks and we went to the resort again. Oops! 11a.m. was check out time for previous customer and check in time was 12 noon. One more hour we waited.
Rooms were good, clean bathrooms, mini fridge (equipped with beer which is NOT included in your room rent), TV, AC etc. Our room was with garden view and a double bed, so the price was around 1000 Baht for one night and it included one time breakfast and all the service taxes. Time to freshen up and leave all the tiredness of the whole night journey behind, to enjoy the day’s endeavours. And then we went for kayaking, since it was free and available at that time. Other sports were far away and their time was in morning. We had nothing to do so we went kayaking. And the whole team – amateurs! (Since there were no trainers or anyone like that….. you were free to go by yourself, which we did). It’s easy to see someone and analyze how they do the things they do but very difficult to do it by self, which was the case here too. We turned the kayak upside down a hundred times (a little exaggeration) but still had loads of fun. Then we went to a beautiful whitesand and clear beach called ‘The Lonely Beach’ (and it was exact opposite to it’s name). The tides are a little high in the afternoon. There are massage parlors too (genuine ones please, not those kinds). So while having a good view, you can have a good massage too. Lunch at 5 and then we took our motorbikes to explore more. A little unfortunate accident stopped our little expedition then and there, but you can still find lagoons, small streams and waterfalls to visit by the road itself. Many people were taking a bath too, in these fresh water streams. Went back and had dinner at some peaceful place. The place was a little empty, so it was nicer atmosphere. The prices were reasonable too, not very expensive but not very cheap either. Came back and relaxed on lounge chairs by the seaside till midnight. Had some drinks and the day finished. The accident did upset us a lot and how we wished, we could go further up ahead but, oh well.
Now, my dear vegetarian friends, if you are worried about your food, I suggest you don’t. When we were planning our trip, many people told me, I won’t get anything since I’m a person who doesn’t take egg even in cake. But, I did get fantastic food there, that too pure veg. Thai people call “no egg, no meat” food as “che”. All you have to do is, use this word, if they don’t understand, while ordering food and they will prepare it for you or tell you what are the dishes suitable for you on the menu.
Next part – Elephant Jungle trekking….. Coming soon
One of the best webtoons I have ever read is “The Friendly Winter”.
A heart touching story by Mr. Lee Jun, it is about a girl who is 19 years old but has a body of and a 17 year old boy who has a mind of that of small children. The basic plot is about how their fateful meeting totally changes their lives.
Han Da Jeong is a 19 year old girl with a rare body growth disorder. Her mother left her and her father; and married someone else. Her father is a worker who finds it difficult to make two ends meet. Then, in her neighbourhood lives a guy of same age as Da Jeong whom she is in love with, but has to pose as 9 year old girl in front of him because of her body. In a mall, she meets a panicked Min Seong who is lost and helps him find his mother. Thus a new friendship forms and they start running into each other often. They feel comfortable and share their own worries and problems with each other. More characters are introduced as the webtoon progresses including Da Jeong’s mother and her beloved oppa’s girlfriend who happens to be her step sister from her mother’s second marriage.
This webtoon not only shows the difficulties in such people’s lives and their immediate family but also others’ attitude towards them. They are misunderstood quite often and have to face consequences for the things they have never done. This one is especially full of emotions and may make you cry too, sometimes. The best part is, you can actually feel their helplessness and are able to fully sympathize with the main characters.
Highly recommended, even if you are just starting with webtoons. Awesome artwork and just 64 and some extra chapters. (Extra chapters are especially fun…… coz of Lee Jun’s avatar and the way he tells you things with just three or four apt expressions in the whole chapter) Here is the link – Mangahere (This won’t be in long strip format)
SCS Scantalations (From original scantalators, though this one doesn’t need scanning, but oh well….. and you can find raw too, if interested. And I haven’t seen how it looks, so can’t comment about format)
Yesterday, someone asked me, which country shares Independence Day with ours. Oh! I so forgot, it’s none other than South Korea. Also, I came across this article somewhere, asking people for the reason of celebrating such a day after long 67 years. Is it to remember that we were once under colonial rule of Britain? Why do we need to remember such thing? Why don’t we forget it and try to do some real work towards real independence of our country from evils in the society or pressing issues in the country (Yup, I think that was it. Not sure, if I read something else…… coz you know, more than half of the times I’m spaced out, just like now).
That made me wonder, what this “real independence” means? If you think of freedom, does that only mean freedom from other people’s rule or freedom to do anything on your own? Is that even possible? Aren’t we the ones, who are driven not by our desires or needs but what people around us think of us and want from us? And it’s not like, we can live without that. It is what is driving our lives. There are so many vicious circles in every walk of our life tying us to one thing or other.
Oxford dictionary defines freedom as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants”. Can we really do that given the nature of society and human beings? Right from the beginning of our lives till the end, we are not free and never can be. It may as well be a relative term. Someone may have more strictness around him/her regarding some things than his/her best friend. That means he/she has less freedom. That’s it! But it won’t be like the best friend doesn’t have any restrictions on him/her.
Not only outside, inside ourselves too. But that goes more on spiritual and deep philosophical note which is not my cup of tea. I’m only good at pondering on such things. It is difficult to express, so I’ll leave that part to you.
On the last note, Happy Independence Day to citizens of India, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo, though my question still remains unanswered and I’m still not sure about what have I written above. Also, just to clarify, I’m not hating anything or anybody here, just saying. It applies for human beings in general and I’m included too!
Sitting on the beach lounge chair by the seaside, I can see the vast ocean before me. There are three, rather four islands in the sea. People are playing in cold water on the beach. The sounds of waves are shadowing their joyful screams. It is drizzling; small droplets going through my hair and falling on the ground. There are big mountains in the background afar, covered with lush green trees, looking so fresh after heavy rains last night. Clouds are touching the top of the hills making them look like a factory where they are being manufactured, defying all laws of science. It is peaceful, it is relaxing. I have left all the worries of the world behind.
But why does it make me so sad? Is it because, it is almost time to leave this place? Just one day trip is not enough to grab all the gifts this place has to offer. I regret not taking more leaves now, as the time draws near. At this serene place, I can spend days sitting and doing nothing.
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Then, is it due to jealousy, I’m feeling against people arriving here and checking in to the resort now, because they can start enjoying and for me, it is the end? Or, is this vastness of the ocean making me feel so? Because, I can’t see myself anywhere. This does make me seem insignificant similar to those four islands which are looking like small dots from here, or the speed boats going to and fro, even smaller.
What is this feeling? I have never had any attachment to any place before, not even my college or school. But, why here? Why does it feel like my last trip I’ll ever have? Is it some bad omen? Female’s intuition?
It’s time to go on the last adventure for this trip – elephant jungle trekking. As I gather my thoughts and my emotions and my belongings, the sun is coming from behind the clouds, shining its hopeful rays on me, inspiring me to start anew and do something for myself and the world.
PS – I wrote this, when we were just going to leave Ko Chang as you can make out from above. I did not have any internet though, that’s why I’m posting it today. The review of the place is coming soon with lots of photographs. For now, enjoy these sceneries from where I sat and wrote.
Oh! And about my intuition, something bad did happen but that I will tell in other parts.
I love it when people answer me as soon as possible. Right now I’m facing both the extremes. I have been waiting for an answer to one of my queries for quite sometime now and I don’t want to call the people. I check my mail several times everyday, if they have sent some reply, but in vain. For the first mail, they responded so fast that I thought, may be, we might be able to establish good relations with this company. And if that happens, it would be a great achievement for me as an intern. I’m seeing the whole matter after all. I even sent a reminder email but I don’t know if I am doing something wrong.
On the other hand, after I talked to 케쓰 yesterday, I finally sent the mail to PEGASUS society for my lessons. And I got the reply within hours! And yesterday night, I was added to the group, received all the files and now I have started doing my homework too! (And it indeed is interesting, I must add. I’m lovin’ it.)
Ah! That reminds me, I don’t have much time to complete my homework. I have got a big heap of work at the company. On the top of that, I have got a two days trip planned for the coming holiday on 12th August in Thailand. So much to do!!! And a lots of catching up! So less time!!
But truly, I’m very thankful that I could join the group of Korean Enthusiasts like me and I’m looking forward to learning a lot. Oh! And thank you 케쓰 for advising me, otherwise I would have remained in dilemma for the whole time 🙂
On the side note, I have been slacking in posting reviews and all since I’m finding myself really busy with work and dramas. And on holidays, we generally go out because I have received my insurance. Now I have to compensate for all those weekends when I couldn’t go out for sightseeing 😛
Although, I’m at elementary level, but I desperately need hardcopy of a book with Hangeul written in it so that I can actually practice reading. I’ll try my luck with this 🙂
My active blog – https://thejoysandworriesofaneastasianlover.wordpress.com/
This new Sogang Korean series is an updated version of its predecessor with the following changes:
– new Grammar textbook
– Information on social and cultural context updated and modernized
– New illustrations and more effective layout
– Complete guide for Korean language learning, covering grammar, reading, speaking, listening and writing
The objective of this book is to assist readers to improve their communication skills in the Korean language. The format of the textbook and the workbook allows the learner to select and focus…
So, recently I have been coming across a lot about the pair Lee Jong Suk and Kim Woo Bin, their old friendship, their “Bromance” and what not, so I decided to watch School 2013 casting both of them and all the previous shows (anime included) which I have watched till now which focus on students’ problems ran through my mind. This time I’m not here to do a review of School 2013 or any of the dramas I’ve tagged here, as a matter of fact. But will just do my usual rambling on the issues these dramas raise. So if you are here to know more about the dramas, I’m warning you, you won’t find any specific information.
First let me list out the dramas and anime I’m going to talk about – School 2013, Dream High, God of Study, Great Teacher Onizuka (also called GTO is j-drama, a movie as well as anime) Gokusen and I My Me Strawberry Eggs. I may have watched more too but right now these are the only names I remember. My first drama related to this genre was GTO, a J-drama in which the teacher is an ex-delinquent. At that time I thought, “Yeah. Alright. They made something good. At least someone thinks about students.” The God of Study totally blew me away. It basically teaches you how to deal with stress and is great for learning techniques in the rote learning environment of South Korea. The way they used to do their study sessions was amazing. It inspired me a lot too. (I kept it for almost one year in my laptop but due to space problems I had to delete it). Dream High shows a different aspect. It basically goes around an art school called Kirin High where they not only focus on studies but is especially for students who want to go out of the way to become artists, more in the field of entertainment. Gokusen has waaay too much similarities with GTO and the plot of School 2013 has been spun around the same theme but includes teachers’ problems also (and the teachers are not former delinquents, at least one of them). I my me is a cute anime with basic story of love between a student and a teacher but it focuses on interclass fightings and stress related to it also.
So basically they talk about the following problems:
Children have a lot of stress due to competition they have to face in near future and the course structures followed in the respective countries.
On the top of that, parents don’t back off without giving them more stress and keep involving in their matters unnecessarily.
Rich parents not only put extra pressure and force their choices over their children, just to maintain their reputation in society, they even interfere in school administration and try to manipulate the policies according to their wishes.
Children want to share their pain with someone but don’t have enough courage.
Ultimately, kids give in to stress and this leads to them attempting suicide and such extreme measures or bad habits and generally they belong to what you call ‘the cream layer’ (and that is a fact)
There may be more points (add them in comments if you want) but these are the major problems I find. First two points are valid for most of the cases in India as well and I assume in other countries too. About third point I don’t know much because neither I have seen such associations involving such parents in my school, nor my parents are rich to do such things. Though, may be, the so called “rich” parents do such things since society has been divided ike that and powerful people do tend to misuse their powers but I don’t have any recollection of such incidents in my time (my memory is short lived, you see). Again, who has gone to school and not gone through the period in fourth point? We have heard a lot about fact in fifth point but in India, more suicides occur due to other reasons other than related to studies, at least in school.
Now coming to the points, it’s true, we have a lot of competition. Everybody is working hard, so much, that you feel depressed if you are left behind in your friends’ circle (You don’t? Don’t kid me. I know it happens, just takes time to realize). I used to cry over this thing. When I joined my coaching (like prep school) for engineering entrance exams, I couldn’t catch up because there were children from other schools also and they were really talented and hardworking. I, on the other hand, had first time stepped out in the world like this (I never took any extra tuition before my 11th grade). I wasn’t good till the end but I did it in real exams though. So, I used to literally cry over my marks in weekly tests because I didn’t stand anywhere in handful of students, how could I compete against lacs of students sitting for the exam every year? But I kept working and did alright, actually better than some of the people who were sure shot successes in coaching institutes. I’m not trying to brag, this time seriously, just that it all comes to how you perform in real life situation. The major thing I came to realize was that after you have learnt whatever you could and applied to problems, in the end, your patience and ability to concentrate in tense atmospheres come into play. Every one learns the same things and everybody has got the same brain (with exceptions, no offence though). Hardwork does matter and so do a lot of other factors.
Parents will never stop worrying and you can’t do anything about it. True, it’s bad when parents try to impose their opinions. I have seen many cases before my eyes, where parents forced their children to take engineering or medical studies, their kids failed and had to ultimately migrate to other streams. First they should see their child’s mind and will to study. just to keep their head high in society, they shouldn’t make their child suffer. And it’s not like other professions are bad. You can earn more than an engineer by being a good professor in some very common subject too (I’m going to be an engineer soon too, so don’t take it other wise if you already are or are studying engineering). But you know what? Parents act based on what they hear. It’s basically the lack of knowledge. They come across only popular things. So if you try to calmly tell your wishes with good examples, may be they will try to understand. In my case, even I didn’t have any knowledge about things so I blindly followed what others were doing. Now, I think otherwise but I can’t do anything about that. But, perhaps, my parents will be more understanding in my sibling’s case and I’m going to fully support her.
Now, talking about sharing problems, my opinion is, competition does change people. In India, till now, there wasn’t any trend of counselling and all in schools. Nor there are things like homerooms or self study sessions (Exceptions are always there. As a matter of fact, many schools are adopting these things but even so, school hours are not that long). So the relationship between students and teachers is more formal here. All we had were our peers and they too, sometimes cut off themselves from you. Then, you have to live alone. All you can do is either endure and make the emotions your driving force to reach your goal or just cry silently in one corner of your room when you know no one is coming. But if you have someone to talk to, sure do. It will help release a lot of things which can adversely affect you and help you calm down. That person is not necessary to be your teacher, your siblings, parents, cousins (and tell you what, even your pet, a non living sculpture and if you believe, then God too) will do. Just vent it out.
As for suicide, I would just say, it’s cowardice. Running away from problems and throwing away your life for no reason is bad, real bad. I mean, at most what will happen? People will insult you, will call you names and you will be embarrassed. What I feel is, more people commit suicide because of the fear of society’s thinking towards them. They are not who make your life, you are……… Ah! What am I doing preaching here? Anyways, it’s hard for everyone. And this is what these dramas show.
Ahhhh!! My eyes are hurting now after sitting for whole day on my laptop. I think I’ll stop here for today.
Here are the links if you want to try any of the above mentioned series –
I hear your voice finally finished yesterday with 18 episodes. A successful series indeed!
Oh, you’ll be sooo missed! Right now this song has risen to the top position in my playlist (Actually this is the only song in my playlist right now)……
So yesterday, I didn’t have much work at the company, so I took out time to search about internships. What other resource better than wordpress? Alright, I just wanted to see what other’s experiences are and if possible, some opportunities, may be? That’s because, I had been discovering a lot of things here recently (like lucky draws and online free classes). So I thought, may be, may be, I’ll get to see some posts with internship opportunities?
That aside, I did get a lot of posts about people’s recent intern experiences and it was, seriously, fun to read them. A lot of them also told about things like what you can gain, how it helps your resume, and that today’s trend is shifting to hiring interns in the same company from doing job interviews to hire freshers. As I was reading various stories, only one thought was coming to my mind – “what am I doing?” I know I’m doing my training too (which actually can’t be called internship) and I do get a lot of time after and before that. But time is flying so fast. Almost a month has been finished and I haven’t been able to start what I had in my mind.
I have a lot of things I want to learn and do in my life, and I’m sure everybody has. But I keep realizing every now and then, that I’m not doing enough for it. Sure there are circumstances sometimes (in my case most of the times, but that may, as well, be an excuse) but one has to work hard. Every morning, I wake up with the thought, that I have to do something, something substantial so that when I go to bed and analyse my day, I can have that satisfaction, that yes, I achieved something today. But no. All I keep doing is watching K-Dramas whenever I get unrestricted net (i.e. out of the company). Sigh!
Oh! That reminds me, I was watching ‘We Got Married’ Khuntoria Couple. That couple has been the only one till now, which felt real real. I just love their chemistry. I know, it’s a thing of past. To tell you the truth, I have been against this show and even though, I watch it, I still am. I started this show with TeukSo couple. I know I am gonna cry I reach on the end for this couple. Now-a-days, it totally looks acting. But it still is cruel.
You make a pair and have them act as husband-wife for, don’t know, how much time. Isn’t it obvious, people can develop real feeling? Alright, they are professionals. I understand. But what I see is, the idols are, generally, not allowed to date (not that they don’t but still). And suddenly, they (some of them) get opportunity to share their life with another person (don’t tell me they share their life with their fans too, I know that but realize, it’s much more with that person). They do events for each other, even during concerts; preparing food, one house (though it’s only one day per week), going on vacations, meeting each other’s family and friends and even wedding photoshoots. And, after a year or so, they are asked to break up just like that. It’s so heart breaking for people like me, how would it be for them?
Khuntoria Couple
For those, who don’t know what “We Got Married” is, it is a South Korean reality show, where they make a guy from entertainment industry marry (not literally) a girl from the industry. They take interviews of idols and then based on their answers, choose the partners. The couple is not told about their partners and the first meeting is to know who that person is. The starting is always heart racing (I mean for the couples for whom I have seen the show). How will they react, what will they do, everything makes, at least, my heart, flutter. Then they start their new life, meeting each other once every week for filming weekly episode. For first few episodes, they get to know each other. Then they get a home for themselves (now they have something called WGM village where the pair gets home right away). There are members’ episodes too in between, if any one of them is in some group. They do activities and complete missions given by WGM team. it’s a lot fun, really. If you start once, you can’t stop, especially if the whole series has been aired. And you know what? The episodes are available with english subs with respective couples only in them. That means, if there are three couples at a time and you are interested in one only, you’ll get the episodes for them separately. The last part is their divorce, where they are just told to dissolve the marriage (which is why I dread starting it whenever I find that someone from my favorite group has been there). That’s all there is, to it.
What? You are saying I’m crazy, ranting for no reason? Oh really? Then tell me, people make such big deal out of actors and actresses who film a drama together, which is generally 4-6 months? And, they have to be a different character. Here, they have to act as themselves (the irony!) and that too, for around a year or more than that (leave the exceptions). From a normal human being’s perspective (I’m not saying I’m normal but yes, I’m talking about me), I find it too painful. If I keep myself in their situation, I don’t think I would be able to bear it. So, people out there, who are working hard to entertain us, please don’t play with their hearts, even if it is for entertainment of some people. Ah! I again come to the point where I say, they are human beings also. No such post of mine goes without this line.
Huff! I’m tired after so much jabbering. So, I’ll take my leave for now and focus on my problem stated above. I’ll try to ‘try hard’ :P.
On the side note, I have been given the name of Japanese here in Thailand too. I just can’t escape the status can I?
Right now, I’m listening to f(x) (you can tell by mention of ‘khuntoria’ above), so, I’ll post this song today –
Graduate from high school. Enroll into a four year program at an accredited college. Graduate College. Get a job offer. Find and marry a significant other. Make babies. Retire. Die. Our lives have become so structured. Society tells us if we don’t graduate from high school, we’re failures. Society tells us that if we don’t go to college, we’re failures. Society tells us if we don’t have a well-paying job and a successful career, we’re again failures. If we don’t follow our societal norms, we’re looked down upon. Why? Just because we’re not doing what everyone is doing? That’s some bullshit, if you ask me.
We go to high school. Take all the AP and honors classes possible. Participate in every single extra-curricular activity possible. Volunteer whenever we have a free weekend. Study our asses off for an exam (the ACT!) that apparently determines our level of intelligence and whether…