DONEEEE

   Wow I feel such relief right now that I'm SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL. Okay. Bye.

Some last ideas...

   Overall, I think this WISE project has taught me a lot. I've learned a lot more about myself than I would've thought. I think it's a good thing, because knowing your faults can help with correcting these faults. In the future, maybe I'll be more strict with myself and work more on my other troubles. In terms of piano playing, I'm definitely going to continue and explore everything. Music is so amazing and I can never not be inspired by other songs (does that make sense). I've decided to start a new blog... I haven't thought of a name yet, but for my adventures during college, I definitely need some sort of journal that records everything down for me.
   This experience was fun, I got to explore with myself and with others. It's a little too late now to expand on what I've really learned here, but I can tell you that it's not a short story :)

   I did want to say, though, that if I had the chance to do this again, I definitely would not have chosen piano. As much fun as this was, I think there's just so many options that if I did something else that I was crazy about... I wouldn't have missed anything important. Although, maybe I'm just always going to want that free time to do whatever the heck I'm "into" at the moment.. haha.

A last list of some things that are different about me NOW:

1. I can read sheet music (yay)
2. I got a lot closer with my sister
3. I learned about my pushing others away
4. I realized my problems were more than just procrastination
5. I love to blog
6. I love making skeletons to work through later (backbones for what I'll write)
7. I enjoy piano
8. I get inspired with (insert selection of videos)

Dear Future WISE Student

Dear Future WISE Student,

    This is the third time I'm writing this because I lost my other two draft papers that I had before, so bear with me here if I start not making sense. Basically, when I came into WISE, I had very confused ideas about the entire thing. To the future WISE students out there, WISE isn't just your typical half year actual English and half year of randomly doing nothing. I heard a lot of rumors about this class before I got here, and honestly, I was quite scared. Since supposedly, an entire year of material is squeezed into a half year period of time, I had heard that the first half of English is incredibly difficult. However that's supposed to payoff as later, during the second half, there's practically nothing to do! NOT TRUE. Actually, I feel like the class is very well distributed, and I didn't feel overwhelmed during the first half. The second half however, I'd be lying to say that it was a breeze... What was supposed to be a half year of free periods was definitely not a breeze. It's actually kind of crazy that the notion of "the second half of WISE doesn't even matter" ever came to existence because out of all the other WISE students that I know, there isn't one that isn't actively working on their project throughout the entire period. From what I've seen, every student has passion and fervor towards their project, and it's just very pleasing to see how much everyone enjoys what they have time to do.

   So in all, dear future students... don't get a misconception. Yes WISE will be requiring work second semester, and yes it's definitely manageable. Honestly if I were given the same option again, I would definitely still choose WISE because it was one of the greatest investments I've ever made for myself.

Sincerely,

****

IHS WISE PROGRAM - Narrative Essay/Bibliography/Research Commentary

     So basically, I have decided that for my narrative, I'm going to tell the story of the lesson I learned/do some more in depth reflection. For my presentation though, that's going to be entirely demonstration of research (mostly macro?) because I know I didn't demonstrate a lot of that in my journal overall. I feel like my journal might be very similar to what I might put in my narrative, but... we'll see?

Inspiration & more - Today's Obsession: http://www.youtube.com/user/SunnyChoiMusic

    I love how every time I feel like giving up on playing something, I can just go on youtube and find my interest back into playing piano.

    Sunny Choi is an amazing piano player who plays interpretation covers of songs that are released. She plays songs like "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars and "Jar of Hearts" and even Lady Gaga. I think she covers all songs that are recent/new/played on the radio.

   This is just an example, but they're all amazing, and I love how she uses her whole entire body in her playing. It's almost as if she's flowing with the song. I wish I could achieve this magic. Haha.

Wohooo!

   Tong Hua is doneeee! I thought this song would be so much easier because of how slow it was, but some of the chords are crazy impossible. Haha... I'm so glad I got over the ending bump. Even though I can't play it perfectly, when I hear myself hitting the notes and I feel them flow together and I hear them resembling the actual song, I get really really happy. Even though it's still "broken", I can imagine myself playing it perfectly with all the notes flowing smoothly. I think it's kind of weird that I feel this way, and it's sort of an embarrassing, but oh well. I just hope I can get this song perfect in the next week.
    I don't want to reveal toooooo muchh here because I want it to be a special performance when I play it for my presentation, but since I haven't really had practice with audience in performance, I am planning on playing the song for an audience to practice either this Friday or this weekend. I'm contemplating whether or not to just go to church and play it for a bunch of strangers as like a... "test". Hahaha.

Thoughts after the sample...

   So I was Carrie's student evaluator, and I've got to say, it was amazing. I've always loved her slam poetry, and hearing everything again was just an irreplaceable experience.
   I'm kind of scared because I'm not exactly READY to present... because I don't know what I'd do. However I'm really excited to get everything done. Carrie's presentation was really well done, and you can tell she had a lot of practice too. Her voice was strong and her message was clear, and during every minute of her presentation, I was actually wondering how horrible it would be if I couldn't do any of that. What if I trip? Or fail? Or the piano won't work? There's so many 'what if's' and I kinda got overwhelmed.
   Aside from that, as Carrie's evaluator, I read her journal, and I found her style of writing really great. I wish I had done that for myself before, but it's too late now... yeahh.