The Japanese is coming well; I'm starting to really appreciate kanji, and I'm slowly learning hiragana. I'll be good at that before you even know it. Katakana is still a mystery to me, but I'll get there. Words are starting to take their place, and although Rosetta has taught me very little conversational vocabulary, I'll leave that to you to fill in later. I'm enjoying myself for sure (although I've noticed that there are like, 800000 different ways to express plurality or singularity.)

Here's an article from the H-W Paper that I ripped out for you: (typos galore, ignore them)

Josh Oreman '09 fiddles with a pen in his fingers, glancing at his digital watch every so often. Shaking his auburn hair and squinting to block the sun, he disagrees adamantly with the misconception that he is all about math and science, instead describing himself as "complex." It was in fourth grade when Oreman realized taht he was too advanced for his elementry school, Chandler, and began taking online courses, allowing him to get through Precalculs but the seventh grade.
He would watch lectures, do homework, take tests and mail them in, enjoying hte self-paced online classes. He continued taking the online courses through ninth grade, though he prefers the experience of a real class, "provided that the teacher is competent and engaging."
"moving at such a fast pace, the material does lose some of the fun of the applications," he added, now pacing back and forth, again checking his watch.
He sips his soda between sentences, renewing the sentiment that he is just like anyone else who develops alternative software for the iPod Linux program, plans on taking 10 to 11 AP courses and is the only sophmore this year to take Advanced Seminar.
While most other students are running around the track or tossing aorund a ball, Oreman practices Jujitsu because "it has a more intrinsic point compared to toher sports because there are so many levels. It's not just a mindless sport. Needless to say, it does wonders for yours elf-confdience."
When asked about his work on alternative software for the iPod, Oreman launches into an explination rife with technical terms and details. Mostly volunteering and working on the weekends since 2005, Oreman found this latest project perusing the Internet.
"I always worried about the other programmers knowing that I was a teen, but it actually didn't matter much since most of our work is conducted over the internet," he said.
In addition to his programming persuit, Oreman particularly enjoys science, intent on taking both PHysics C courses in his junior year and AP chemistry as a senior. As an only child, Oreman laughs describing how different he is from his parents: his mother works for KIIS-FM and his father is a wine broker.
"When my parents ask me how school was, I start telling them about what I learned and they just don't really understand most of the stuff I get into."
Entering Harvard-Westlake in 9th grade, Oreman's motehr was worried because of the schools "rich snob reputation." However, Oreman remarks at how surprised he was about how accepting everyone was: "It's just great to be at a school where the kids appreciate the fact that I can do somarth stuff," he said. "I don't really think I'm seen as esoteric or 'scary smart' because I don't really think I am."
Although he plans on attending a technical university like Cal Tech or MIT and persuing a career in computer science, Oreman confesses that "not everything can be described through logic and cold hard facts. A mathematician can't tell you everything."
With that, Oreman casually walks out of his AP comptuer science class, finishing his test in about 20 minutes.