A trip to Indianapolis

This weekend was quite eventful. On Friday, I went with my fellow Neenah High School seniors to Six Flags Great America for the 2005 Senior Class Trip. I took my first ride on a real rollercoaster on the theme park's "Ultimate Flight of Superman" ride, which is somewhat of an upside-down rollercoaster. Riders sit in the seats , which is beneath the rail. When everyone is strapped in, the seats rotate backward so that everyone is facing the ground. Along with the Superman Rollercoaster, I rode with The Raging Bull Rollercoaster, which is more conventional, the Viper, which is a wooden rollercoaster, the Iron Wolf, where all subjects are standing up, and the Demon twice.

A bus arrived to pick up all band students that were heading to Indianapolis to play in the Indianapolis 500 parades. The bus arrived late, so we had to catch supper on the way to our hotel. We arrived and went to our hotel rooms. My roommates were Brendon Otto, Eric Proces, and Steve Yazicioglu and we watched various movies on TV and made various criticism.

In the morning, we readied ourselves to participate in the Flagstar 500 Festival Parade, which went through the heart of Indianapolis. At the end of the parade, we were all drenched with sweat and very tired. We then headed back to the hotel, where I showered and ate the provided buffet lunch. Afterward, we headed back downtown to look at the mall and eat dinner there. The mall was fairly boring, so it was a relief to leave and head to an IMAX film about Dolphins that was fairly interesting. Then we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next day was Racing Day and we had to wake up before 5:00 am to make it to the Racing Track to play along with 24 other bands on the 2.5 mile track. Afterward we changed into normal clothing and watched the race until about the 170th lap. We then came back to Neenah. However, our marching wasn't over. Today, we marched in the annual Neenah-Menasha Memorial Day parade.

Gold Tassel Night

Tonight was the presentation of the gold tassel to all seniors with gpa's above 3.0. It has been traditionally sceduled to coincide with the last choir concert of the year, so the choir sang before the tassels were presented.

Senior Awards

Last night's Senior Awards Ceremony was extremely long and boring. However, I did manage to win a few awards. Eric Heywood and I were jointly chosen as the Outstanding Senior Math Student and I was recognized along with Brett Schilke for being a National Merit Scholar Finalist. I also won a scholarship that I didn't see coming, the Nora Mayor Scholarship, which is given out to a student who shows ability in math and physics.

As well, none of the Science Teachers were able to attend because of the Regional Track Meet, which Neenah hosted. I was also chosen as the Outstanding Senior Science Student, and I recieved my plaque today as well as the 13th Edition Merck Index, which has just about every compound imaginable listed and described within its approximately two thousand pages.

Another Weekend come and gone

This weekend, I slept in. On Saturday, I slept until noon, and today I slept until 1 pm. However, the difference is that I did much more today than yesterday. I attended a soccer game that we lost (again) with an embarrassing 5-0 score. Afterward, I headed to NHS to practice marching for the Indianapolis 500 parade. Afterward, I worked on a European Union powerpoint for History.

My Final High School Concert

The last of my high school concerts was a orchestra concert and it went off quite well, in my opinion. The pieces that I played for were a flute concerto by Mozart, a horn concerto by Strauss, and two of The Planets (Mars and Saturn) by Holst. As with past orchestra concerts, there were definite mistakes, but this one was much more exciting and I felt better in tune with the music.

My Final High School Band Concert

Tonight was the last band concert of my high school career. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but the threat of a school shooting put a wrench in that plan. However, with the author of the threat in custody with a confession, school was back in progress and so was the concert. I thought it went off quite well, but there wasn't anything particularly special about it.

The Freshmen played first with a march, a folk tune medly, a piece that used a variety of percussion intruments centered around dinosaurs, and a piece called Awakening of the Hills. The Concert band played a march followed by a piece call Choral and Shaker Dance, which was not suprisingly very similar to a piece I played in Freshman Band called Choral and Shaker Dance II. They finished off with a piece that the FVA South Honors Band played in March called Bayou Breakdown. The difference was that they had over a month to prepare, whereas we had three days. The Symphonic Band started with the Overture to Leonard Bernstein's "Candide". We then played a lyrical piece called "Irish Tune from County Derry.", which was followed by a fast, woodwind-heavy piece called, "Shepard's Hey English Morris Tune". We finished the night off with a piece called the Ascension, which I liked quite a bit. During various breaks between pieces, awards were announced for all the bands. I, of course, did not receive one; mainly because I didn't really put much effort into band this year.

An eventful stretch of days

On Saturday, I recieved a letter from Grinnell College saying that I had been accepted. This means that I will probably end up going to Grinnell over Lawrence. I am waiting for one more college letter, which I expect to arrive in Early June from The University of Chicago. That letter will be pivotal as that is my current top choice of college. However, it appears that I will have to enroll at Grinnell as I did at Lawrence, to ensure that I have a spot there for next year, should the UC decide against accepting me, which is quite possible.

On Sunday, I played horn for the Neenah-Menasha Congregational United Church of Christ's musical service with a group of brass players. The music ranged from good to painfully out of tune. It was most out of tune with the barbershop quartet that sang a few times, though the children's choir was not much better. I would say that the brass band's performance was mediocre and that some of the vocals from the adult choir and soloists were pretty good. Unfortunately, the service ran until noon, which constricted the time available to me to do my homework.

Afterward, I had a soccer game at 3:30. Our team was outnumbered and we lost 8-0. I was badly out of shape and was quite indifferent by the end of the first half. During the second half, I was goalie, and not much happened beyond a few more scores from the other team.

Shortly afterward, I attended the Senior Music Banquet, which recognized the seniors who are in music at Neenah High School for staying with music. It was a nice banquet, with a Jazz group from Lawrence University coming as entertainment. All the students recieved plaques and little bags symbolic items.

Monday was another normal day of school, though there was quite a bit of homework due yesterday. However, I did do something a bit bold: I decided to make Monday my last day on the Online Debate Network. The site has degenerated to a degree and there hasn't been much worth debating. I feel that with my eagle scout project and my trip to Minnesota in June to be with my grandfather while he recovers from a bone marrow transplant and some chemotherapy, I don't have time to participate there. I am no longer growing in my views or my outlook and there has been quite a bit of unrest there. I feel that it is best to move on and to seek other ways to expand my horizons.

Today was rather interesting. I woke up somewhat late and as I walked out of my bedroom, fully expecting to grab whatever stuff I needed for school and to run out the door in order to catch the bus, when I was instead told by my little brother that school was cancelled because of a bomb threat, so I could go back to bed. I gladly obliged and slept until about noon. I found out that the reason for school cancellation was not a bomb threat but a written threat on a bathroom stall that there would be a school shooting today (May 17). So, I guess that I will spend my extra time doing homework.

The ACS Banquet

Tonight, I attended the American Chemical Society awards banquet at Lawrence University for the Chemistry Olympiad test that I took earlier this year.

The Final AP test

Yesterday was my final AP test, and I thought I did moderately well on it. However, in conjunction with my cold, I was very tired yesterday and I slept through the afternoon and the night, with a break to get a drink. I look forward to better times.

Three down, one to go...

Today I took the Biology AP test. Though I ran into some difficulty with plants, I have a feeling that my score will be 5. After the test, I went to Pizza Hut with some of the other test-takers and had a pizza buffet. Today, my focus is Chemistry, because I have the Chemistry AP test tomorrow and so the only classes that I will have tomorrow at full legnth are Band and Advanced Chemistry. Seeing as my lab journal is due in Chem class and I need to do some final touch-ups on my lab report from the last lab (the CSI lab in which my group failed to find a match). To Chemistry!

My Trip to Chicago and Mother's Day

On Saturday, I took a trip to Chicago with Human Biology students from both last trimester and this trimester. We left the high school at around 6:30 am in coach bus. On the way to Chicago, I napped a bit and reread half of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We arrived at the Shedd Aquarium at around 10:oo am and left around noon. I had been there a few times before, so much of the sights were deja vu for me.

In the afternoon, we saw what we had come to Chicago to see: Gunther von Hagan's Body Worlds Exihibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. In the exibit we many plastinates, which are cadavers or parts of cadavers that have been treated with reactive plastics to become hard and preserved. To say the exihibit was awesome would be an understatement. There were over ten full body plastinates as well as numerous organs, sections, and slices of bodies. Parts of every bodily system were displayed there. It was truly amazing how much was there and it gave me a real appreciation of the human body. After leaving the exhibit, I bought a copy of the Body Worlds book, which has pictures of all the plastinates in the exihibit, a few more not shown in the exhibit and explanations for all.

Though there was a mix-up with tickets, we were able to attend the omnimax show about the human body at the Museum of Science and Industry as well. However, the time for the show was 5:00, an our after the rest of the museum closed, meaning that we did pretty much nothing for a good portion of an hour. However, the show was excellent and created even more respect in me for the functioning of the human body. It showed some of the systems of the body in action, which helped compliment the display of body structure at the Body Worlds exhibit. Many of the kids were grossed out, especially by the digestive system, but I just found it fascinating.

During the trip back, the sore throat that I had developed on Wednesday turned to laryngitis.


Today, Mother's Day, was fairly uneventful. I slept in and then went with my family to Sheboygan to see my grandfather for the last time before he heads to Mayo Clinic as well as to visit the niche for my grandmother's ashes.

AP European History and the Diversity Fair

Today, there were two major events at Neenah High School. It was the day of the Fourth Annual Diversity Fair and the day that the European History AP test was held. The Diversity Fair is an event that started my freshman year and originated from a school organization known as STAND (Students and Teachers Advocating Neenah's Diversity). I was technically a member, but I don't think that I did much. All I remember was that the diversity fair seemed like a good idea to me at the time. Now I just see it as almost a complete waste of time. Very little focus is put on Neenah's miniscule amount of diversity. Now, the Diversity Fair serves as a fundraising opportunity for other school clubs with very few diveristy oriented stands. There was also an assembly fourth hour, but I didn't go because of the European History AP test.

The test was fairly easy, and I think I did well enough to get a score of 5. It ran from about 1 pm to 4:30. At about 4:20, a tornado warning was announced, but that didn't impact me because I was already done with my exam and the room we were in was considered a "safe room" for tornadoes. The warning was over at about 4:45, but many of the students left anyway. I had to stay because I didn't have a ride and the sophomores were split into a second room and they took longer to go through procedure, meaning that they ended up finishing at about 4:00. I caught a ride with a neighbor.

The First Eye of the AP Storm

Today was a break from AP tests. However, tomorrow, I have my second AP test, European History. I feel much better about this exam than I did about the Spanish Language exam for two reasons. First, I am better and understanding history than I am at learning Spanish. Second, I know what's coming on the test. I took the US History Exam last year and got a 4. The European History Exam has a much similar set up: multiple choice, two free response essays, and a document based question. I feel confident that I can earn a 5 on this exam because the material is much fresher in my head than the material for the US History exam.

The "second eye of the storm" will be this weekend, because I will have the Chemistry exam on Monday and the Biology exam on Tuesday. After that, I will be done.

In other news, I will be heading to Chicago with a group of Ms. Pacolt's Human Biology students on Saturday to go the the Shedd Aquarium, which I have already visited in the past, but it is still fun to come back. In the afternoon, we will be seeing the Body Worlds exhibit at the Museum of Science and industry, which is the actual reason for travelling to Chicago. The exhibit consists of many human bodies partially dissected in various poses to show the various systems of the body. The exhibit was set up by Dr. Gunther von Hagens. The bodies are treated so that they don't smell or rot, and I anticipate it being a fun experience.

The Spanish AP Test

I took the AP test today, and my apprehension was justified. The test consisted of four parts: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Of the four, I would say I did the worst by far on the reading section, in which I left a third to a half of the questions blank. I do not have much of an idea about what I will earn on this test, though I doubt that I will earn a 5 (the highest score).

As well, today we had a lab in Chemistry relating to colorimetric analysis of solution concentration. The scenario was that a dead man was found drowned with water with a significant concentration of phosphate in the water. The three suspects are the man's two sons and his daughter. One son owns a pool; the other owns a farm pond; the daughter owns a mine pond. In the lab, measured amounts of "water samples" from each of the bodies of water are combined with heavily acidic ammonium molybdate and tin chloride to produce "molybdinum blue", which is put through a colorimeter, which sends light through the sample and tells how much is absorbed. The frustrating thing was that my group found the water from the man's lungs to have a phosphate concentration that was in between that from the pool and from the mine. The other two groups found it to be from the pool; so our group made some silly mistake along the way.

First AP test tommorrow

I have my Spanish Language AP test tommorrow; the first of my senior year. It also happens to be the one about which I feel most aprehensive. I feel that my Spanish speaking skill is sub-par even after 5 years of Spanish. Oh well.

Cadaver Lab

I have been busy as of late, which is the main reason for the enormous time gaps in this blog. Today, I went with my Human Biology Class to Marquette University in Milwaukee to their Gross Anatomy Lab, where we were shown three partially dissected cadavers and some brains and a spinal cord. Though the formaldehyde smell was not pleasant, the experience was fun. It was interesting feeling the textures of the various organs, despite the fact that they had been treated with formaldehyde and were drying out, which made them more leathery and tough than they normally would have been. I did get to hold both two of the brains and look at them closely as well as a spinal cord. Recently, I have found myself more and more interested in neuroscience, and I have a feeling that I may pursue it in college.

I have enrolled at Lawrence University in order to keep my spot, but I am still keeping my options open to the two schools that waitlisted me. The school that I really want to go to is the University of Chicago, and I actually feel that I have a decent chance of being accepted. I have sent in a letter that I wrote as well as a letter of recommendation from a teacher I have known for quite a while and some grade transcripts. As well, I have been able to find a student that was accepted at UC who would be willing to write a letter of recommendation.

I am sensing the beginning of the end of my time on the Online Debate Network. Though it has been fun and I have been able to open my eyes to new opinions, I feel that I have learned all that I can from the site. Now, with college approaching and other events coming into play, I feel that I can better broaden my viewpoint through other means and I also feel that I will soon be too occupied to participate anyway. I hope that I've done a good job as moderator and even more, I hope that the site continues, as I think it is a jewel among forums to those seeking a better understanding of others' opinions.

My future as of now is up in the air. I recently placed well enough in the ACS's National Chemistry Olympiad preliminary test that I made it to the second level (and won $100). If I did well enough there, I should find out soon whether I will be able to participate as a member of the National Chemistry Olypiad Team in the International Chemistry Olympiad competition. Though I think that I may not have made it, as only 20 members of the team will be chosen, I need to keep my schedule open just in case.

As well, I will be staying with my grandfather at a transplant house while he undergoes some bone marrow transplants and chemotherapy for his myelomma. This will take place during the summer and I will be helping him with cooking as well as providing companionship. My Grandpa is great to talk to and I hope it goes well for him. I think he will do well as he has always been active and fit.