This week has been good so far. Because it is Christmas and it is short. That is pretty cool. Now I don't have to do much until I get back on January 5th. Our English report went pretty well today. Ashlee was on Skype to be part of the project. I'm not quite done with Christmas shopping yet, but it won't be too much longer yet. Mainly because I don't have much longer to shop. I guess I should start wrapping my presents soon too. Christmas!!!

It looks like I might get the chance to do my Christmas shopping today instead of the 24th. Then tonight and tomorrow morning I am singing at a couple different places with choir groups, and tomorrow night I will probably watch the Titans - Steelers game. They are the two best teams in the AFC this year, so it should be a good game. It might even be a preview of the AFC Championship Game. That would be cool. Whoever wins basically gets homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, which is nice. Both teams already have a first round bye. Then on Monday we have school and musical tryouts, and hopefully the results will be posted on Tuesday at school before our break begins on Wednesday. I can't wait for Christmas break. It will be nice to be able to relax for a while. The musical starts and the end of the year will come quickly. At which point I will need to have a college decision made. I might work on that some today with my mom. There are a couple schools that have both of the majors that I want, but two of them are in Southern California. Not that I'm complaining, I just don't think my parents want me quite that far away. It would be awesome though. This is the awesomest time of the year.

So way back at the beginning of the school year I was sure what school I wanted to go to and what I wanted to major in. Now I'm not so sure. And I don't know what to do about. I guess I still have a little time to decide. But I was absolutely sure about what I wanted to do. Why am I second guessing? I don't even know how to go about deciding what to do. What do I want to do with my life after I'm through with college? Don't know. Maybe I'll just go to a college with a lot of majors so I can switch a couple times and have choices. Who knows? It'll work out.

Snow is pretty cool. I don't want a cancelation tomorrow, but I would be completely alright with a two hour delay. I wish life would just stop and let me catch my breath. I feel like I'm always running, and sometimes I just need the chance to simply be. Not doing anything, just being. That would be awesome. Since that isn't realistic in today's on the go society, I am trying to make time to just be. All after school activities were cancelled, so now I am going to have a bunch of time. I don't really know what I'm going to do yet, but maybe thiis is the time I can use to just be.

Musical auditions are this week. Today was the singing part, and it went okay, but it definitely was not even close to the best i could sing it. Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday are the reading auditions. That should go better I think. And then we wait until she makes her decision. Regardless of the outcome, I think it should be a really fun show. With Christmas break coming soon, classes are starting to get ready for that last test that can get slipped in before the holidays. I'm not really a big fan of those pre-break tests. I don't think we should do anything for about five days before break. Just a thought.

The Last Slice

As dinner comes to a close, the dessert option is brought out. The main course is taken away and the pie or cake is served. The dish goes around the table and each member of the family takes a piece. The last two people are brothers. How is one supposed to divide this final slice? Who makes the rules of engagement in this test of brotherly love? A solution needs to be decided upon ahead of time so that there is no advantage to either person during the encounter. The older sibling getting the bigger piece is not cutting it anymore.
The most obvious solution is to cut two completely even slices. However, this method has some very large flaws. First, who makes the cut? If either of the brothers do it, bias is likely to be involved. This is easily solved by allowing a non-biased third party to enter the scene, such as a parent. Now there is the obstacle of who gets first pick. Regardless of how evenly cut the slices are, there are going to be differences that make one slice better than the other. Take a slice of cake, for example. One of the slices is bound to have better icing, making the slices uneven. The same is true for any other dessert dish. The disproportionate pieces make it difficult to see this as a fair way to divide the slices.
To solve the uneven slice problem, the brothers can use a random method of picking their piece. One random method could be having the third party pick a number and allow the brothers to guess it. Whoever guesses closest gets to pick first. Another easy randomization technique is rock-paper-scissors. Randomness can be unfair, and it is possible to stack the results in favor of one person. These randomization techniques are the second best solution, but there is still room for improvement.
The ultimate solution to the dilemma of the last slice is, ‘I cut, you choose.’ One of the brothers takes the knife, and carefully considers the most equal way to divide the piece into two slices. He makes the cut, and the second brother is free to choose the slice of his choice. This provides significant incentive for brother number one to make the slices even, because otherwise brother number two will get the bigger half. The next time this situation arises the roles are reversed, and brother number two makes the cut while brother number one picks his piece first. This eliminates bias and also provides a way around one brother getting lucky a significant amount of the time. In addition, neither one will be able to complain about the end result because he was in the process. The first brother has the opportunity to make the slices completely even, and the second brother has the chance to pick the bigger or better slice if it exists.
The most effective way to solve the issue of the last slice is to create a system that forces the brothers to make the slices even on their own. The ‘I cut, you choose’ method does just that. No longer will the younger brother eternally get the raw end of the deal. With this innovative solution the brothers will divide the slices as evenly as is physically possible.

The chorus concert is tonight. That should be interesting. I'm not sure that it is going to be perfect, but really, who cares? And next week is musical auditions, which people care a considerable bit more about. Saturday the LEF church choir is singing at Christmas Candylane. That should be fun. We sound pretty good. Calvin and Hobbes is so good!

Why do I do things that I regret time and time again? I say something dumb, and say to myself 'self, never do that again.' Three days later in the same situation I do the same dumb thing. It applies to other things too. Actually just sin in general. Romans 6-8 kind of covers how I'm feeling right now. Shaun Groves put it pretty well in his song, Twilight. We become stuck in this area in between the night and the day, the wrong and the right. We know what the right thing to do is, but we have trouble doing it and slip back into our darkness. It feels like there should be a way to stop myself from doing dumb things repetetively. But I just can't. Sure I usually learn from my mistakes, but I sometimes end up doing it anyway, just because that's the way I have done it. For example, I'm trying to cut down on saying things that might hurt people even if that wasn't the way I intended it. But again and again I say something that makes someone upset. Why? I don't know. Every time I say, 'self, that was the last time you're ever going to do something dumb like that.' But the next time the opportunity is there to say a sarcastic or mean comment to someone I don't necessarily like, I will probably do it. It's like a really bad habit that just won't go away no matter how hard I try to get rid of it. I can understand why it's is hard for people to quit smoking. Even if it isn't something you like or want in your life, the addiction is there because you have done it for so long that it is engrained in your system. How can we get around this obstacle of the twilight area? I don't know, yet, but I'm going to do a study on Romans and see if Paul has more to say about what I'm going through.

So I just saw a brief summary of a recent Boston Celtics game, and Kevin Garnett just completely chewed out Glen 'Big Baby' Davis after the bench players almost blew a 25 point lead. And yes that is his real nickname. Davis then proceeded to get upset, walk over to the bench, put a towel over his head, and come very close to tears. I don't know what Garnett said, but was it really bad enough to come that close to crying in front of the whole world? I don't understand. It must have been pretty bad to get that upset about it. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that in professional sports before.

So apparantly my blog is under review as a spam blog or something? Don't really know what that is but if this gets shut down I'm pretty sure it won't be good for my English grade.

How to Write Proper
Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Always avoid alliteration.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
Avoid clichés like the plague – they’re old hat.
Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place, do’nt put it in the wrong place, and omit it where its not needed.
Don’t use two words where one is sufficient enough.
DON’T use too much emphasis at once.
If you’re writing web pages, never underline anything that’s not a link.
Long sentences without any punctuation are hard to read so break them up into shorter sentences and punctuate where appropriate so that everyone can read them and understand what they say.
Also, don’t write run-on sentences, break them up just the same.
As I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate.
Eliminate quotations, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
Don’t make generalisations – they’re bound to be false.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Watch out for the many irregular verbs that have creeped into our language.
That a clause can be the subject of another is wrong.
And finally, never begin or end a sentence with and.

Somebody in the UK had way too much time on his hands.

So last night we had our madrigal feast, and we have another one tonight. I just woke up at 1230. And I have to be back over there around 4. This day is just flying by. And I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow too. This weekend is just going to fly by. That isn't really cool. I'm not okay with that. At least it's soon Christmas vacation. That is a major plus. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol is a pretty good song, plus it is really easy on piano. :) I am trying to learn the Fray How to Save a Life, but I don't know the chorus yet. Maybe I'll do that today. Or maybe I'll just be lazy since tonight is going to be a long night. Yeah, that sounds like the best idea.

Christmas is soon here! That's pretty cool. Because that means snow, Christmas songs, seeing college friends, no school, and all that good stuff. I can't wait. I guess I should go Christmas shopping sometime before then. Maybe I'll just skip the days right before Christmas and go then. Since we don't do anything in school those days anyway. Not sure that my mom will agree with me, but maybe if I get her something really nice. Really really really nice. Manchester United are the greatest! Young Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez struck four times in their win today. How about that for one outing. I'm not sure if Argentinian is the correct way to say that. Argentininite. Argentinoan. I don't know. I don't even know how to say that I'm from Lebanon. Lebanonian. Lebanese. Lebanonite. I kind of like that last one, but I'm pretty certain it isn't correct. Good stuff. I feel like learning a really cool song on piano right now, but I can't think of a really cool song that I want to learn. So I am just sitting here. I'll find one eventually.

I really don't feel like going to school tomorrow. I don't really feel like doing much of anything, actually. Not that I have a choice, but if I did I wouldn't choose school. The Steelers won last night. It was nice to see the Patriots taught a lesson in humility as they got smashed. James Harrison forced two fumbles on the day, so that was pretty cool.