Nick Hwang

So I think it rained a lot harder here for Hurricane Rita than it did for Katrina. I lost power for about 24 hours. My fridge was defrosting with about $70 worth of food that I bought the day before.

Classes are canceled until Tuesday.

Last night I went to the local coffee shop and trying to do some work. It was surprisingly busy. My apartment as well as the four local bars in my area lost power. The only upside to that was I knew I would be able to find a parking spot when I came later.

This morning I left early and tried to find some gas and ice for my fridge- I didn’t want my roast beef to go to waste. It was pouring. As I was pulling out of my apartment, a transformer along the side of the road exploded. I went to Albertsons and bought a lot of ice, a cooler, and some gatorade. I was completely soaked walking to my car. The rain was going sideways.

Here’s a clip of the rain and a tent set up in one the bar’s parking lots that knocked over some power lines. http://nickhwang.com/images/MVI_3551.AVI

I got more wet than when I got swimming. As I was pulling my groceries from my car, I noticed the rims on my neighbor’s car rims still spinning. Some things never change. I spent the rest of the day folding clothes and organizing my bedroom/living room.

The power came on this afternoon. In time for the Gator game. The internet is still down. After a couple episodes of Law and Order, I figured it was time to hunt for gas since the winds had died down a lot. I’m back at Highland Coffee checking emails and getting a new flyer for my dance night. link.

There are always really cute girls here. There are so many brunettes here, it’s a huge breathe of fresh air from the suffocatingly blonde-nation in Gainesville. My brother thinks he has a system, but I don’t it has the same points.
+2 mac user
+2 brunette/dark hair
+1 high contrast eyes from hair
-1 flip flops
-1 studded belt
-1 jeans
This one sitting across from me was extremely cute, on her laptop, calf length peasant skirt, curly brown hair tied-back, clear eyes, constantly biting her thumb as she made a gun pointed at the bridge of her nose.

I’ve been met with some nice hospitality here for the most part. The last 5 times I’ve been out, 3 of the times, people have bought me drinks and I honestly don’t know why. But what I’ve failed to do after hanging out with whomever is get their numbers. So I’ve said bye to a Sarah, Margaret, Christy without a way to contact them again. Maybe I’m a jerk or something. Each have been interesting in their own way, but - I don’t know.

I only drink coffee in the evenings. I just finished my usual soy mocha and I had a flashback of a dream I had probably 6 months ago. A deserty area with lot of coal-cart railing. But I can’t remember anything else. I think the hurricanes have put a lot of stress on me. I’m having to deal with missing class and catching up with work and no power and gas and food. I’m not going to Regionals in Orlando because I can’t afford it. I’m really disappointed.

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I’ve moved back home for about 3 weeks now. I started a temp job with pinellas county schools. My sister, Grace, worked with the same program last year.

Pinellas Country School has an awful ratio-correcting scheme under the guise of a “choice” plan. In the registration period, students are able to pick their top 4 choices of schools. With seat availibility and color ratio-allowance, children are put into a lottery, with 95% (this past year) getting their number 1 choice. Elementary schools and Middle schools are broken into 4 and 3 attendance areas, and all 16 high schools are in a single area. So, any high schooler has the potentional to be bussed completely across the county.

The students who do not get their number 1 choice in the lottery are then placed into a second lottery, where promixity, race, siblings, grandfather and random numbers play a factor. If kids, after the second lottery, are not placed in the school of their “choice”, they can be placed on the waiting list of the school of their “choice”. Anyone registering after the lottery will be mostly placed on a waiting list.

There are so much cross wait listing, it’s ridiculous. People are waiting to get off one list while occupying a spot that someone else is waiting for. Any one who has moved out of the county or have decided to private/home school, have not notified the county, so I’m sure there are thousands of students that are occupying seats in the schools that will be not realized until the first couple days of school. And that’s how many kids who will not find out if they will be removed from their respective wait list.

There are so many complications with siblings, extended grandfathering, human error, angry parents, careless parents, being out of town, moving, custody issues, late registration, etc.

There are so many students on waiting lists. For Palm Harbor High, there are over 300 students on the waiting list for the ninth grade. And realistically, a lot of the students will not be called off their wait list until after school starts, when the county finds who are actually in the county. But until then, they will have to attend the school they are currently attending. There is no use fighting it either- if you say you’re going to wait until your kid gets into their wait list school and not attend their assigned school, they lose all their seats (on their wait list as well as their assgined school), because they will no be considered in the country for not showing to class the first days of school.

This system is crazy and I totally understand the parents’ frustration. And I can’t imagine being the student, having to prepare for one school, going to orientation, buying supplies, possibly uniforms, making friends, and then getting into the school of their choice after school starts and redoing everything.

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