Did I ever talk about the time I picked golf as my sport for PE? No? Well, I guess I'll tell you about it now.

Golf had never been particularly interesting to me as a sport - if it had been, I certainly would've pestered my parents to let me have golf lessons at one of the local courses. (There is, in fact, a golf course within easy walking distance of my house.) My dad, on the other hand, was itching to play golf after watching it for so many years and would occasionally ask me to please consider taking golf classes so that he could accompany me and learn to play. (I always thought it was ridiculous; go learn yourself! Are you embarrassed that you're so old and are a total newbie? Why can't you leave me out of it?)

It just seemed like the most boring thing ever. Some guy wearing a cap and polo shirt (though sometimes there are some pretty scary looking outfits, like a bright orange shirt and pants... *shudder* ) stands there shuffling his feet and pretending to swing. It probably takes longer for them to get ready for the shot than to actually do it. I always thought it was pretty simple and didn't understand why they needed to take so long. Maybe they wanted to make extra sure that they swung perfectly and ended up in this position. The sport is so slow, in fact, that oftentimes the cameramen will film ducks, blimps, or frogs instead of golf players. Of course, I like to see the animals, but this is not Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel...

Still, I figured it was more appealing than the other options for sports that time. There was street hockey, but I intended to save that for last, and I certainly wasn't going to swim (too much hassle) or join any sport that involved throwing things (believe me, I am terrible at football, and frisbee is the stuff of nightmares). So off to golf I went.

I ended up with my usual PE teacher for golf, and he began the first class by naming some golfers and asking how many of us had heard of them. Of course everyone knew Tigers, and a handful of people were familiar with Michelle Wie, but I was pretty much the only one who recognized the name of a rather old golfer. (Hey! Not my fault I've been looking at my dad's Fantasy PGA Tour picks for nearly half my childhood.) I realize later I probably shouldn't have raised my hand because I bet the teacher expected me to be some golf pro. He would soon find out the opposite.

I must say now that I greatly underestimated what it takes to hit a golf ball, not only in the right direction but also with the right amount of power...I'd say, though, the hardest part was actually figuring out how to hit the ball. Us students were taught to hold the club a certain way and do some wimpy half-swings to get used to hitting the balls. I missed the ball a lot or ended up taking out chunks of grass in the process. Eventually I kind of got the hang of it, but even then it was rather up-and-down at times. Some days I was practically a pro and had been asked if I'd played golf before; other times I was messing up even on easy holes. And of course, when we were playing golf in teams, there was much shock and dismay when I missed the putt that they were all counting on me to do. So it is indeed a tricky game - even your choice of golf club can make a big difference in your golf skills, as I learned the hard way. In some ways it's a mind game too; when my concentration was off, my golf suffered as well. At the end of the golf unit I was still not much good at golf, but at least now I understood why people came out in hordes to watch funnily-dressed men swing sticks. It is indeed a sport to be admired.

Labels: ability, animals, boring, clothes, clothing, fantasy golf, game, golf, lessons, PE class, revelation, school, skills, sports

I can't remember the two dreams that I had last night clearly anymore, but I can recall that in the second dream, I had run a long distance. It was either about 3 or 5 miles, which would have been fairly tiresome either way, but I felt just fine after the run. Felt good enough to eat one of the free burgers. (But it was from Subway, for some reason, so maybe it was just a new circular sandwich.)

I'd been very indecisive this year about filling out my course selection form for next school year. I found out that sophomores were not allowed to take Photography anymore (something about giving the spots to juniors and seniors who hadn't fulfilled the art requirements to graduate) and was left floundering as to what I'd do for an elective. French 3 took up one of the spots, and I felt Read more »

Labels: art, business, classes, course selection, cross country, decision, doubt, dream, electives, graphic design, law, orchestra, PE class, weight training

Today, the atmosphere at school was different from usual; it was more somber, to the point of being stifling.

A teacher has died.

He passed away on Friday of a heart attack, after a basketball game. I heard about it from my school's online news and from talk around campus - I wasn't there and I don't know the details. In one way, it's really jolting. He'd been plenty alive just a few months ago. I only remember one thing about him, and that was when we were taking a survey in the cafeteria. (Ha! The only time I get to sit in the cafeteria is during PE CLASS. I never actually eat in there. There are a few people who do, but most of us are outside, rain or shine.) He'd been barking at us, something about putting down the pens, or passing up the papers...I don't remember clearly.

I wish I had something else to remember about him. But I don't. And I never will.

It's startling in another way, too, to think that someone who was there one day would be gone, dead, so quickly. It wasn't like cancer or some slow terminal illness where you could see him weakening by the day. No, it was just like that. So fast. It takes so long for people to truly live, do more than just exist. Yet it can be taking away so quickly.

And at the same time, somehow I wasn't surprised. I almost feel as if I'd expected it to happen. I'd known since late 2010 that once my guidance counselor, who'd been on maternity leave, came back, then the lady substituting for my counselor would take over as a PE teacher (the teacher who died was only teaching for the first semester this year; I don't know why, maybe one of his students does), which was a little funny because the substitute counselor/new PE teacher is now pregnant herself. (And that was sudden too. I hadn't realized she was pregnant until she said so recently.) Not knowing why the teacher was not going to teach PE anymore, I wondered if perhaps he was planning to go away...But I didn't think that death would be his vehicle.

In fact, I HAVE seen a similar thing happen before, with my fourth grade teacher. I don't remember too much about her anymore, just that she had short blonde hair, was sometimes in a pretty bad mood, and had a jar of butterscotch candies to give out as a reward. She got injured a couple of times - one time I think a box fell onto her face and she wore sunglasses to cover up the bruise. The last time I saw her was on the day of our field trip to a museum. I thought she'd seemed fine.

After that, she was gone. And I later found out that she had died. The school never told us why exactly she died. Some students came up with all sorts of ideas. I recall that one classmate of mine said that perhaps her boyfriend had murdered her. I know nothing. Just that she is dead.

So the recent death of that teacher makes me feel queasy. I wonder a little if I might've caused in some way. A lot of things in my life have followed cycles. Is it an odd coincidence? Was it all predetermined? Have I, by speculating, actually set things in motion? Am I just reading into it too much? This isn't an anime. I'm not Haruhi Suzumiya.

Or am I?

Labels: cafeteria, cycle, death, deja vu, fate, health, heart attack, illness, memories, PE class, sick, survey, teacher, thoughts

I've been having lots of dreams over this past holiday season. Not really dreams that make me happy, though - I seem to have more and more nightmares these days. When I was younger, I was a major worrywart, though now I slack off a lot more and have a "whatever happens, happens" mentality. Can't say it's a good thing, because even if I might have a blast during the day, my sleep will be haunted by the fears that I've buried. My winter break's coming to an end, and it's rather depressing thinking that I have to go back to the tiresome daily grind again. One of the earlier dreams was about going back to school...except it was far stranger than I'd imagined it would be.

I assume that I returned to my high school, considering that in the dream I "knew" that I had 7 periods. But I had science first thing in the morning, even though it's my last class of the day, and there was a strict lady with short hair and glasses instead of my teacher. And one of my friends, who is not in my science class, was sitting near me, and her cell phone rang in class (which is impossible! She doesn't have one). I didn't have a locker, so instead I put down my backpack on the ground and was rifling through it when another friend of mine came along and told me, "I heard there's a great dessert menu!" (Since when would school lunches include such things?) I said that it sounded great, but I wasn't sure if I should eat it (I'm bound to overeat if I have too much tasty food around). She insisted, "What is food for besides eating?"

The strangest thing by far was PE. There was no locker room to change clothes, so we went into a building that looked alarmingly like a supermarket. Boys and girls all changed in that room, no privacy at all. And in the swimming pool, some guys were just fooling around, and then they must've challenged the dessert friend from earlier, because she got really fired up, saying "OH YEAH?!" and swam at a demonic speed.

I had another, shorter dream, where I was at my elementary school campus, walking with a friend I met in middle school and one who moved away when I was in 5th grade. We passed by a huge pile of brown stuff, which was apparently camel poop.

Last night's dream was weird, too, and it involved the friend who was in my dream's science class. Some of our friends had gone off during the school lunchtime to go to a nearby 7-11 and buy some food, so we decided to go too, after they'd left. But I was having difficulty getting out of the school, and could not find a way out except for trying to crawl under the barbed wire fence (luckily, there was a driveway that we walked down instead). But we didn't go to the 7-11; somehow we ended up at some other stores, one of which was a GameStop, and my friend went in and started admiring the TV screen, which was playing some Japanese commercials for video games. I don't remember what happened next, but somehow we ended up at my house, and I started to panic when I realized we were running out of time and had to get back to school. I suggested that we go out the front door and just walk back to school, but my friend, oddly enough, became very angry with me and insisted we go back the way we came. Problem is, I had no idea how we'd gotten to my house in the first place, so I followed my friend, and there were two men in the house. They went over to a wall, and one of them reached his hand into it like it wasn't solid. And he must've found a doorknob, because a door formed, and he opened it. We ended up in the outdoors, in a place full of plants (which I now suspect might've been a different version of my backyard). I don't remember anything else, as I woke up right then.

Dreaming's pretty hard work, even if it sounds like such a lazy activity... I wake up tired every time I've been having dreams. I guess it's because in a way you've been awake all night long - running around, talking to people, living an entire other life.

Labels: 7-11, camel poop, cell phone, changing clothes, dessert, dream, fantasy, friends, lazy, life, new year, night, PE class, school, slacker, sleep, strange, stress, time, worry

Do not be alarmed. The sky is not falling. Your hair is not on fire. Your family and friends are all alive and well. The world is not ending.

The running that I am referring to here is not running for survival, but as part of a chosen lifestyle.

Judging from what I am hearing and seeing at my school, being a teacher can be a really great job. Sure, you might catch colds from the kids, have to deal with rude and overly talkative children, and complain about not being paid as much as you deserve, but teaching has its perks, too. You receive pension when you're retired, and you can go to school with your kids, if you're like my math teacher (his kids are in middle school right now, so he gets to go to school and leave school with them!). You also get to watch kids grow up and have a hand in how they turn out. It must be really cool seeing your students come back many years later, mature and successful.

The PE teachers have a nice time. They can be outside in the fresh air and have less grading to do than other teachers, but they are paid the same. They can exercise if they feel like it or they can just stand and order the kids to do something. And I don't think you would normally have to work overtime. (My parents still do work at home after they get back at work. I think it's more lax if you're a PE teacher.)

I heard that one of the PE teachers injured his Achilles tendon and it was driving him crazy because he couldn't run. I'm very fearful of getting my Achilles tendon hurt because of how important it is - you could be out for a year, depending on how bad the injury is. It's pretty important in walking and running. It was already bad enough those times I sprained my ankle and kept getting left behind when I tried to run in PE.

I just really wish I could live the active lifestyle. Even the non PE teachers have the chance to pursue athletic hobbies. One time, during PE class, I saw my history teacher jogging on the track. Maybe it was his prep period and he didn't have anything to do so he decided to enjoy the nice weather. I wish I could be as lucky as him, doing a job that I like and also doing one of my hobbies at work.

I am sad about going to high school because I don't think I'll be able to take PE every year. I know I will take it for at least two years, one time in 9th grade, and the other not determined yet. I really want to take PE every year because I fear I will not exercise enough without it. But I don't know if I can. We can only take a certain amount of classes. And it really saddens me.

Labels: achilles tendon, classes, family, health, high school, hobbies, injury, jealousy, job, life, lifestyle, mature, overtime, PE class, pros and cons, running, school, teacher, time, wish

Today's homework was to write a poem about ourselves. The poem started and ended with "I am -namegoeshere-." In the poem there are eight other lines. Four of those lines are true things about ourselves and the other four are lies. I thought it was interesting that my teacher wanted us to write lies about ourselves. Was it for fun, so we could pick out which parts were right and which parts were false?

I've never been much of a poet myself, I'm afraid. When I was young I tried my hand at writing a poem. I think I still have it tucked away in a notebook. Now that I look back at it, the poem seems rather meaningless and rough. I guess that things always look different when time passes, though. Drawings that seemed good to me when I was younger just look funny when I get older. And seeing pictures of myself a few years ago, I think, "Wow, I looked really different then." (But after a while I always looked similar in the pictures. I suppose it means I'm getting old.)

Sometimes I wonder if it's better to always tell the truth or if it's okay to lie sometimes. Most of the time telling the truth is the better thing to do - it shows you have integrity, and people who lie tend to get found out anyways (unless they're good at lying. I mean, I heard all the best thieves are never caught).

But telling the truth can be a harsh thing. Sometimes this happens to me, or I see it with other people... A person asks their friends, "Do you like my ____?" or says, "My drawing is so terrible!" And their friends would just say they liked it or that their drawing was bad right away. I wonder if they really mean it or if they're like me...Sometimes, even if I don't really think as highly of something as the person asking me does, I just say "It's nice" or something like that anyways. I figure they'd be offended if I say "I'm not really that fond of it." I don't want to hurt their feelings, so I just pick the safe choice and pretend.

But how much longer can this go on? How much longer until it all unravels? I can't always live my life like this, can I? And yet speaking my mind could be costly too. I don't know what I would rather do.

There's also a different situation, one I haven't come across yet, but still a possible one. Say there is a person who actually has some health problems. In fact, they have a terminal illness, but they don't know it - but some people close to them know. The person would become depressed and listless if they found out about it, but as long as they think they're not going to die soon they are able to live their life happily and blithely. Do you think they should know because they deserve to know their own fate? Or should the truth be hidden from the person so they can enjoy what life they have left?

Anyways, on to a different topic... Today in PE class, my PE teacher spoke to us about a girl who has one of the school records for triple jump. She is still in the school (in fact, she is in my grade). The teacher said, "I've heard a few people suggesting she's been using steroids. That's not true at all. She trains really hard every day with a professional coach, and worked to make her legs and body strong. Don't say that she's been cheating and taking the easy way out by using steroids. She has really good work ethic. I think people who are saying that she uses steroids are just jealous. And yeah, it makes sense to be jealous, but you can just say, 'Wow, she's good.' You don't need to mention steroids."

There are some athletes out there, such as a few baseball players, who use steroids. Some folks think that athletes who have used steroids should be taken out of the Hall of Fame or whatever records they got into. My PE teacher had an idea for it...He said he should leave both the records of people who used steroids and those who didn't in the records, but that the people who used steroids would get a * next to their name. I think that's a pretty good idea. That way everyone will get credit, but people who decided to use steroids would have some shame. I think it's only fair. If you do something dishonorable, you have to pay the consequences. (I believe in poetic justice. But it's not always dealt like that in life.)

Labels: athlete, baseball, death, fate, friends, happiness, innocence, justice, lie, life, opinion, PE class, picture, poem, pretend, record, steroids, thief, time, truth

It's supposed to be a play on the title of a movie, No Country for Old Men. Not sure if you caught the reference, though. (I haven't seen the movie either.)

The old man in particular is my father. (No offense intended to him, but he is getting on in his age.) My math teacher sends newsletters to the parents of his students about what he's been teaching, and lets them know about upcoming tests. My dad had stopped receiving the newsletters, so I brought a piece of paper to the teacher with the information needed for him to resume sending emails.

My father's memory and concentration seems to be off, because he didn't write his email address properly (missed three letters of it) and the teacher told me, "This email doesn't work." It's kind of sad that my dad doesn't even know his own email. (It's true that I sometimes forget my passwords, but that's because I keep so many of them.)

I wonder if anyone really writes letters anymore. I mean, my parents said they used to send Christmas cards, years back, but they don't any longer. (In fact, they don't really send Christmas e-cards either, which could mean they are losing their holiday spirit or are just getting lazy.) I remember when I was younger sometimes we would have a pen pal activity - each person would write a short letter to a person in another school that they were paired up with. I remember that it was a lot of fun...But we usually only exchanged one or two letters, and that's about it. It'd be much better if we could send them actively all year long. It might help improve our letter writing skills and it would be fun.

Today, my history teacher started talking about how us students aren't taking the opportunities that are given to us to sharpen our skills. He said that many kids are members of social networking sites and use instant messengers, but often they use chatspeak and don't bother to capitalize or punctuate properly. When they do add punctuation, it's probably a bunch of exclamation points. My teacher said that he had practiced typing and gotten really fast at it. But here we have plenty of chances to practice what with the time we spend on the computer, and yet we don't take it. (Reminds of this quote: "Opportunity comes knocking more than once. You just have to ready for it." I think it was in an old school planner)

I spent time in two different history teachers' classrooms recently - my regular history teacher, and another one who I've never had before. The reason is the rain...My PE teacher decided he would teach us about the cons of smoking, alcohol, and drugs while the weather was bad. We would go to that teacher's room (let's call him Mr. T) since it was his prep period (each teacher has one period where they don't teach, but are supposed to be making preparations for class or grading tests). Mr. T seemed to eat a lot of the kind of food called Cup Noodles.

Today my PE teacher left two minutes early, leaving us in the "care" of Mr. T, because he needed to go to the classroom for the next PE class (he uses a different classroom each period since the teachers have different prep periods). Mr. T decided to ask us what we had learned during our time of having PE inside.

Student: I learned that D talks a lot. (D stands for a different student's name)
Mr. T: You didn't know that before?
You know what's really amazing? D talks so much, but none of what comes out of his mouth has any meaning. The ratio of how much he speaks to how much of it is important is staggering.

Mr. T had brought in some food today, as well, in Whole Foods bags. Someone said they had seen cake and pizza. "What happened to your diet, Mr. T?" piped up D. (I did hear that Mr. T wanted to lose weight...) Mr. T said, "Hey, I'm fairly skinny, right?" (Well, I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But he ought not to have that attitude. Otherwise, the pounds will pile up again.)

Labels: christmas card, cup noodles, diet, email, father, letter, memory, newsletter, no country for old men, opportunity, password, PE class, pen pal, practice, skills, talkative, teacher, typing, weight

I have a different PE teacher now because of the trimester change. I had him last year, in the third trimester, so I am familiar with him. I thought I would be fine again, but last year, when I first started off, I was really tired from his class, and the same thing is happening this year. I'm started to get used to it, but it'll probably take a while before I'm completely accustomed to the hard work again (this teacher isn't mean or anything, it's just that we do more extreme stuff in his class than the teacher I had the trimester before).

When we run a regular, four-lap mile around the track, it's called a Smile Mile in his class. Since we do regular exercises before running the mile, I'm always tired out when it's time to run the mile. So my times have become slow again - I got 8:28, when my recent times last trimester were nearly 30 seconds faster. So I am not too pleased with that, because even when I try to run fast it still isn't enough, what with shoulder and gut cramps...

But then there are times when I am angry at myself for having a weak-minded attitude. I should definitely try my best. You can never say you're already good enough, you have to keep trying. I have to continue to do my best until I run this whole mile smiling. It's not like I dislike running. This year I have discovered that I like to run, as long as there is not a huge amount of pressure on me.

After all, I was able to help someone else just a little bit last trimester. If you want to improve your time or keep a steady pace, then look for someone who runs faster than you, but not too much faster. You could just follow them the whole time, and it might make your time better. One of the students in my class last trimester ran with me to improve her time (with my permission :p ). My strategy for running is to start out with a slow pace, then speed up gradually or maintain the pace, and in the last lap, I try to spend all my energy and sprint to the finish. It's just what works for me. Some folks prefer to sprint on the first lap instead.

My classmate said her time got a bit better this trimester, and it's kind of nice to feel like you've done something. "A good deed is a reward in itself" or whatever the saying was...Not that I built a house for low income people or something. (My dad did, but then he got sick, probably because he was sweating and he wasn't dressed for the cold, or something, and then my whole family got sick.)

Speaking of the cold weather, the squirrels are making their preparations. I think squirrels are hibernating animals, so they have been eating like crazy to prepare for sleeping until springtime. They robbed my backyard of fruits, like the figs and the persimmons. And now the squirrels that live near me are chubby as can be.

I wonder if that added weight means they can't run as fast. Some time ago, I saw a squirrel on the road. It was pretty gruesome, as the squirrel was actually sort of flattened, it smelled a bit funny, and there was some blood. The squirrel must've been hit by a car. Ouch, what a painful way to die.

It seems squirrels elsewhere don't have as much to eat. The squirrels at my piano teacher's apartment were more normal-looking. Probably they have to work hard for their food, instead of having fruit practically at their doorstep, waiting to be picked.

Oh yes, and I just heard recently that my cousins will both be taking piano class. Originally my younger cousin wanted to learn piano, but then her brother decided he wanted to learn too. So now they have a piano and will be taking lessons. They're already having lessons that are an hour long...My mom said to my aunt that it's not good to do that, as young folks have a short attention span. I mean, when I started out piano, I only had half-hour lessons with the teacher, and my lessons are still only forty-five minutes long.

Labels: car accident, cousins, death, exercise, fruit, hibernation, house, improvement, low income, overweight, PE class, piano, running, smile mile, squirrels

For homework, I was reading the Declaration of Independence (well, I have no idea if the whole thing is in there, considering how the textbook skips various events in history). There was a phrase in the Declaration, saying that the colonies of the America were separating from Britain and so they would now have the same relationship with Britain as they did with the rest of the world - "Enemies in war, in peace friends". The grammar does sound a little odd. But then again, back then the writing was a lot different. D: I wonder, though, when you fight with someone, would be you be enemies with them automatically, and then be friends again as soon as you stopped fighting? (But I guess the relationship between two larger bodies, like countries, might be different than the relationship between two people)

I learned something curious about my history teacher just the other day. I usually arrive a bit early for class, and since it's cold outside, I go inside and sit down and start getting ready, or I read a book. My teacher was sitting, staring at the screen of his laptop. I thought all was as normal, but suddenly he started talking. "Crossyourfingerscrossyourfingers... Awww!" he said, among other things. One of the students, who was just walking in, was freaked out and backed away. A person already in the room told my teacher, "Uh, you scared ____ away." (I use underscores to keep the person's name private) The teacher seemed unperturbed, saying, "That happens." So then the other student told the one who had gotten intimidated, "It's okay, _____, he wasn't talking to you, he was talking to his computer."

The teacher explained what he was talking about. See, apparently he likes to play fantasy football (basically like fantasy golf, which is like gambling, sort of, it's not a video game or anything). He had the choice of either a very good player who was facing a good defender, or a not-so-good player who was facing a bad defender. He went with the not-so-good player, which was a mistake, since the very good player scored 4 points and threw the ball quite far but the not-so-good player didn't throw so far, had a fumble (not that I really understand football terminology, but oh well) and only scored 1 point. My teacher sighed and said, "There go my perfect rankings this week." (Wow, I guess even people of different generations - my dad, and my teacher, who is quite a bit younger than my dad - can have similar interests)

I've taken to using a whiteboard that I bought some time ago. I've had the whiteboard for a year or two already, but I didn't use it much before, besides occasionally copying Chinese characters whenever I saw them onto the board. Now I've started writing things that I need to do at the bottom of the whiteboard. This way things actually get done, and though I still procrastinate, I don't put things off as much as before. I'm glad to be able to put my whiteboard to use. (The only problem is that the markers smell kind of nasty when you use them a lot)

We've moved on from lacrosse in PE. I really liked lacrosse, so I'm sad that we're not doing it anymore. I'm scared of "missiles" flying toward me, and so I have trouble in ultimate frisbee and volleyball, which are sports where you have to react quickly to catch or hit dangerous objects. At least in lacrosse you are armed with a net/stick/whatever you call it and so it gives me a feeling of some sort of security. I keep thinking of the lacrosse net as a bug-catching net, though, so when I saw a butterfly I tried to catch it. I actually snagged it by covering it on the ground, but then it flew out of a hole in the net. Grr. Oh well. Butterflies don't live that long anyhow and it would have a miserable life if I actually caught it and took it home, unless I were to release in my backyard.

Labels: britain, bugs, butterfly, colonies, declaration of independence, enemies, england, fantasy football, fantasy golf, fear, friends, lacrosse, PE class, peace, sports, to do list, war, whiteboard

Just a little while ago, I mentioned copic markers, right? Well, just yesterday, I went into a store called Memories Live On. I was trying to find a scrapbook because I need one for my French project (we are supposed to make a family tree, and write about our grandparents and direct family, and ourselves too of course). Memories Live On is a scrapbooking store, and also has some art supplies. When I went in, I wandered around, and then I saw the Copic markers! (They are not exactly cheap. Costs four or five dollars just to get one) They are some nice markers that have two different ends. If you take off the cap on one end, you get a chisel tip. If you take off the cap on the other end, you get a fine pointy tip. And the markers are cool since I tried them out and if you color a blob, and then put a different color on top, they sort of mix a little since they're kind of watery.

Anyways, I feel like I have some magnetic pull to me or something. If something is mentioned or shown to me and I remember it, then pretty soon I will see the same thing or something similar. It's kind of freaky, but it's kind of cool, too. (Nowadays I am immersing myself into superstition, heh heh... I count crows whenever I see them, and one of my friends keeps wanting to "read my palms")

Not only that, but I always gravitate towards my number in PE. We all stand on white numbers that were painted on the blacktop so our PE teachers can count how many people are absent easily. I have this tendency to always go to my number, so usually if someone wants to talk to me they'd probably have to move over to me, not the other way around. In fact, I once joked that I was attracted by unseen forces to my number since I almost always head there.

The other day, my father was watching a movie called Nothing But the Truth. It is based off of some real events. The movie is about a journalist who publishes an article, and people are pressuring her to reveal where she got the information, but she won't reveal the source. She even went to jail for it, as it was a very delicate matter (she had discovered the name of a CIA agent, which is supposed to be top-secret, and things like that). Only in the end of the movie did we find out the true source. Skip the next paragraph if you don't want spoilers.

Surprisingly, the reporter's source of information was none other than the daughter of the CIA agent. The reporter was on a bus with her son and his classmates since I think they were going on a field trip. And a girl asked the reporter what she was doing, since the reporter had her laptop. The reporter and the girl talked, and then the girl said that her father was a writer too, but her mother didn't like what her father wrote about...And so the girl kept talking and revealed that her mother worked for the government, and that she was in Venezuela. Let me explain... Someone tried to assassinate the USA president (a made-up one, not one of our presidents) and then not long afterwards the USA bombed Venezuela, since apparently it was thought that Venezuela was responsible for the assassination attempt. But the CIA agent was in Venezuela, and so she had said that it wasn't Venezuela's fault. The little girl revealed enough to pique the reporter's interest. The CIA agent was later killed. That's freaky, since that little girl had actually caused her own mother's death.

I know that it was probably very confusing, so if you are interested, you should probably watch the movie yourself. But do note that it is a pretty serious movie, so if you want a nice happy ending, maybe you shouldn't watch it.

Oh yeah, and my teacher has apparently planned for our class to read the book Nothing But the Truth during the school year. I wonder if it's the same or if it's entirely different.

Labels: coincidence, copic, counting crows, luck, magnetic, markers, memories live on, miracle, movie, nothing but the truth, number, palm reading, PE class, scrapbook, superstition, unseen forces

That's what I'll be doing this evening. I was unhappy by the fact that we are flying United Airlines (I like to try different airlines, especially since ANA, the Japanese airline, was cool) and also that the flight is at 11 pm at night or something. That means I have to stay awake all day and then during the night too. (I'm supposed to sleep on the plane flight but I usually have trouble doing that so when I get off I'm dizzy and jetlagged) But at least we get some good seats. It's the kind of seats which are at the front of a section so you can kick the wall. (But you're not supposed to, even though you'd be sorely tempted) Qantas has cheaper tickets right now but I heard one of the Qantas planes had a problem recently and my mom's friend or acquaintance is paranoid, as she told my mom, "It's a good thing you're not flying Qantas! It's not safe!" I guess my personality is constantly changing little by little since some time back I would be paranoid too but now I just care about the money. Maybe I'm getting more selfish. XD And yet at the same time I'm more generous too. Weird.

Last night I had a dream. Somehow, I was back at Kennedy Middle School. My PE teacher was Mr. Robinson again, and I was wearing a Kennedy PE shirt, but my regular pants. It seemed like no one noticed. Mr. Robinson had us line up in two lines depending on our number (which is, in turn, based on our last name, I think) so I lined up in the first line. Most of the students were lazy and tried to line up in the first line even though they were supposed to be in the second line. Then Shiroi Hime (in place of her name) ran by, gave someone a high five, and ran off again. o_O;; Later on, I went to a shop that sold food. I think it was pastries or desserts or something like that. A lot of people were waiting for it, while me, a girl I didn't recognize, and someone who I'm guessing is probably my friend visiting, were at the front of the line. We argued over who should order first and finally the one I didn't know ordered. You could type in your name so then the clerk would give you a small circular badge with something handwritten on it (I bet this is influence from me watching the movie Up...) and I accidentally entered Sydney Grunge Ji. Everyone gasped. I started panicking since I hadn't meant to write that. Then the clerk said something about not knowing anyone who was emo. I was just very confused at the end of the dream. XD To me, when I hear the word grunge, I think of a style of brushes to be used on computer graphics.

I had my hair cut not that long ago. I didn't think anyone would notice because 1) It was during the summer when I don't see that many people I know, and 2) only some small changes were done to my hair. My dad cut it this time, instead of me going to a barber like I usually do. He just cut it an inch or two shorter, and thinned it out, and that was about it. So you can't really tell the difference since I normally put up my hair in a ponytail...Besides the fact that the ponytail is less thick and less short, and that's something that requires studying me a lot to know.

Anyhow, back to the fact that I'll be gone. I'm leaving this evening for the airport and will not return until around...August 3rd? So there probably won't be any new posts from this blog for a while (unless I manage to get on my dad's friend's computer while his kids are at work - it'd be unfair to use the computer when normally they're not allowed to). I bet probably there will be little to no comments because of that, too. XD Well, I hope you all have a good rest-of-July, and I will see you later!

Labels: air plane, ana, badge, blog, computer, danger, dream, grunge, haircut, line, name, PE class, personality, ponytail, qantas, store, travel, united airlines, vacation

My mother has abandoned me again. It's only for two days, but I kept wailing and trying to grab her arm and things like that. She managed to evade me, saying that I should turn on my cell phone and she would call me later. I would've gone to the airport and seen her off but she is with a friend/classmate/other kind of acquaintance. The lady kept smiling strangely at me, and she asked me if I remembered her and things like that. (Probably not. I didn't retain any memories until preschool, and I usually forget who my parents' friends are unless they are people I see frequently) If I had gone with my mom, my mom would've been pretty distracted and I wouldn't be able to talk to her one last time before she flew off to Las Vegas. (She's going there to meet up with some other friends she hasn't seen in a long time.) Also, I would've had to act smiley and nice for the lady-that-I-don't-remember-anymore, because they sometimes saying things like "You've grown so much" or "How old are you" or something. So maybe it was better not to go. But still, it's really quiet here. All you can hear is the sounds of birds outside.

I don't really understand what is up with teachers. They seem very laid-back, particularly the PE teachers and my science teacher. For instance, Mr. Brown, my science teacher, was sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the counter, answering questions about Human Growth and Development. Since there is a door or something connecting our classroom to the neighboring classroom, another teacher, Mr. Aochi, came over and started talking to Mr. Brown. They said things like, "You want a refresher?" (while holding up a bag of coffee beans) and "Twist my arm" (which I assume means "Yeah, thanks, go on ahead") Then Mr. Aochi tried to describe a flower, and Mr. Brown said, "Oh, you mean gardenia." In the meanwhile the students were talking amongst themselves. I wondered, WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO CLASS?! It must be hard to get teachers fired unless they really do something wrong, like handing out permission slips and taking students to 7-11. (A teacher once did that. Mr. Blair, my history teacher, admires that teacher.)

As for the PE teachers, they get paid as much as regular teachers, but they have way less assignments to grade - only tests and projects and possibly notebooks, if they even assign them at all. Oftentimes teachers talk to each other. Mr. Robinson usually talks to Mr. Murray, while Mr. Nakamura usually talks to Mr. Blair (and sometimes the female teachers, Mrs. Jennings and Ms. Rawson). We used to have another teacher (though I am not sure if she gossiped during class as well) called Ms. Hanohano, except she moved away to Arizona or someplace like that.

I heard some strange news. Apparently not only is there a new principal next year, but another PE teacher may be on her way. I am not sure of her name's spelling exactly. Besides the fact she is female I don't know anything about her. I guess it's a good thing to have another PE teacher at the school because otherwise we have practically 40 students to a class (using up ALL the painted white numbers on the ground). Still, I am anxious to know who is this teacher and whether she is nice, or if this is really just a weird rumor.

Labels: chat, confusing, friends, gossip, mom, new, noise, old folks, parents, PE class, phone, pretend, questions, quiet, school, talking, teacher

It seems uncanny that they play the music my dad knows and sometimes even likes. In PE class, I have heard Cold Play's music and Abba's music being played through the speakers that can be moved around. (I like them both, I suppose, but Abba was popular before I was even born, so they're not even together anymore) And my science teacher, as he has his own stereo and a guitar, was once imitating Johnny Cash, who was a singer/actor/musician who died in 2003. My dad put on Johnny Cash's music at my house once. I hope this doesn't mean we will be hearing John Denver songs like "Sunshine on my Shoulders", "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and "You Fill Up My Senses", or strange Chinese songs which my dad likes. But maybe some mysterious forces are at work here, and it can't be helped.

In PE, we have tried a variety of odd activities - for instance, scrugby, which is a soccer, rugby, football, basketball, combination or something like that. We've also played bocceball (not sure about the spelling, Mr. Robinson wrote something different on his whiteboard), which is basically bowling but not in a bowling alley. There is a small ball called the pallino which someone throws out. Then several players take turns throwing bigger balls, I think it's called bocce balls (hence the name of the sport/game/whatever you call it). They can only throw underhand so the ball will roll instead of bouncing or something. You try to get your ball as close as possible to the pallino. Other people can knock your ball out of the way or hit the pallino with their bocce ball(s) if they so desire.

Another thing we have done in PE is Quidditch. I just looked up more information on Google and it seems there is really an activity meant for PE teachers to use. If you have read the Harry Potter books you may have an idea of what I mean. Quidditch is basically a nonexistent sport in which two teams of wizards riding brooms face off. There are several balls like the bludgers (you don't want to get hit by them), quaffles (just regular balls you try to score with) and a Golden Snitch (if you can grab it, you get points). The players are Seekers (only one per team, these people concentrate on getting the Golden Snitch), Chasers (just run about trying to score with the Quaffle. I didn't do much), and Beaters (they have bats to hit people and they can throw Bludgers at people. Luckily Mr. Robinson didn't give anyone bats x_x). Anyhow, that's about it. We don't get any brooms, which is a big disappointment to me. I guess such a thing as "flying brooms" will not be invented for some time yet, though.

I had to take two tests in school today (a math test about quadratic equations and stuff like that, and a history test about vocab words). They were both in the beginning of the day, two in a row. My brain almost turned to mush from it, but I think I did well (at least on the history test, because Mr. Blair read out the scores to the people who said they wanted to hear. I got a 50 out of 50, so that's a relief). I'm not so sure on the math test. I tend to make silly mistakes on them, so all I can do is hope for the best. I wonder if I should check my scores online or just wait until the end of this year to see how my final grades are. (Long as they are A's, I am in good shape, I think.)

Lesson of the day! It's a random fact I found. "Apples are more effective at keeping people awake in the morning than caffeine." That's funny. But then again, maybe that's why my mom likes apples. (I think she likes them because they are cute, though, and not because they taste good...)

Labels: apple, bocceball, coincidence, fact, games, grades, harry potter, music, mysterious, PE class, quidditch, random, school, sports, test

That's what I felt like - something being cooked for breakfast. I mean, the weather where I live is just crazy. Before it was okay. It was warm, but that was normal seeing as it IS spring. But then today it was really, really hot. Even Sunday had higher temperatures than normal. Though we did PE indoors, I still worked up quite a sweat and didn't completely dry off until about the end of lunch. Walking home made me feel horrid all over again so I had to take a shower and change to shorts. (I usually don't wear shorts but I should buy more, so I'll have something to wear on hot days besides long black, brown, blue, and tan colored pants.)

Sunday was pretty eventful for me. Piano class went as normal, except I was really drowsy from lack of sleep over the spring break, and the teacher started bragging about me. This always makes me uncomfortable because it feels like I have more and more expectations to live up to. Just recently my mom has mentioned a few more Harvard/Stanford/UCLA/UC Berkeley/NYU/etc. type people. For some reason a lot of her friends' children who are old enough to have gone to college go to Ivy League schools and other bragging-rights places. I am very intimidated by it since only "smart" people even try to apply and yet only a small percentage get in. If I do insist I will be going to Stanford I may just be bluffing to try and convince myself. (Note I may have said something similar in a previous blog post, or even in person to friends. Not sure if I did.)

Oh yeah, we had some roses from my piano teacher one time. She had a lot of bouquets left over from the piano recital (reminder: That was back on March 28) so she insisted we take one of them home, as she was running out of vases. So we brought back some red roses. My mom thinks the bouquet we bought for my piano teacher was prettier. I still like the roses (they're already dead, so too bad) even if there are flowers I prefer. Say for instance - lilies, daffodils, tulips, morning glories, and so on. (By the way, since my dad always claims to be a gardener, he has bought a honeysuckle plant. It has orange, small, tropical-looking flowers. I heard it is edible somehow?)

Back to the real news I was going to talk about. My mom made me go with her to her acupuncture clinic. I was scared to death, as I expected I would be poked with needles and forced to drink ginseng medicines. Luckily it was only an "examination" of sorts to see how my bones and such were doing. I was very ticklish, so having my shoulders poked and my arm swung around and around really made me squirm. I have an assorted array of problems, such as a curved spine, stiff shoulders (from typing and playing piano XD After all, playing piano requires similar motions. My parents have the problem too since they are computer engineers), and ONE LEG IS LONGER THAN THE OTHER!!! AAAAAH!!! Actually, not really. It's just one hip is higher so the left leg is a little shorter. This makes my back tight to compensate. My mom suggests that I kick out my left leg to make it longer. I wonder if it really works. -_-;; She has the leg-length problem too. Must be genetic.

Also, my mother mentioned that one of my dad's best friends is looking for a cat. Originally he said he would wait until he bought a house, but he has changed his mind and wants a cat now. (He looked at an animal shelter, though he didn't find the breed he wanted.) I felt both happy and unhappy at this announcement.

Happy - Because if I wanted I could go to my dad's friend's house to play with the cat. (I don't know cats that well so it would be a good opportunity to see if I am fit to get a cat)

Unhappy - Because I myself won't get to have a dog or cat until I have a job and have graduated from college. My mom doesn't like animals (she won't admit it, but I can tell since she is scared of big dogs...) and so gets mad whenever I mention it to her.

It wouldn't be so big a deal, except I am an only child. Lack of siblings and pets, and always being taken care of by my grandmother or a day care center, made me lonely inside (I may have friends and people to talk to, but when I am by myself it hurts a lot. Over time I got used to being a loner so then I had trouble talking to people again, but I'm adjusting back a little). Even my mom made such a comment. Recently some of my dad's friends came over to our house, and gossiped while eating dinner. The only two "children" - one is a boy in high school, and the other is a younger boy who is in elementary school - were both only children. Neither talked much. The older boy was polite and just watched basketball, but the younger one was a little angsty. I noticed how his face was scrunched up in irritation and how he made snide, biting comments. He eventually went off to play his DS. (Haha, that reminds me of myself.)

Labels: acupuncture, bouquet, cat, college, confidence, doctor, gardening, health, heat, lonely, only child, PE class, people, piano, temperature

Actually, that's a folk song or something, but oh well. I decided to use this because I've always heard of life being filled with "hills and valleys". The valleys are the hard parts and hills are the good parts (though that doesn't make much sense since it's hard to walk uphill, but whatever). So, since I'd just gotten around one of the bumps in the road, I thought this blog title might be suitable.

This bump in particularly would be the piano recital. It comes every year, and all the students must perform once if they can make it (if you don't show up, you'll be wasting your money since you need to pay a recital fee, and you'll be wasting your time practicing the song the teacher picked for you for all those months). If you're high level enough, the teacher will want you to perform in both recitals (there are two of them because the teacher has so many students!). Unfortunately ever since last year I have to perform twice. I didn't do so well on the first recital this year and even ended the song on an obviously wrong note. I was very much embarrassed so I just put on a grim poker face of sorts. The second recital was better since I got to read my book in the meantime (the higher level your song is, the later you play) and reading always calms my nerves, though it is rude to the people playing before me.

I'm watching an anime called Kaze no Stigma. It was good at first but now it's getting weird and kind of scary. Especially since the main character went insane and started attacking people and his eyes turned red. (This always creeps me out, since albinos have red eyes and white skin) I thought he was way better when he had blue eyes. Since I'm almost done with the anime, I guess I'll just bear with it to the end.

My history teacher told us about a Renaissance book called The Decameron. It is about a group of young adults who escape to the mountains with food and such to avoid the deadly plague which was taking over Europe at the time. Every night they tell ten stories and they take turns being a "leader". (But one guy tells a story about whatever he wants, since he asked especially, and my teacher says he's got some pretty crazy stories) Anyhow, my teacher says he'll raise our grades by 1% if we read it, and he'll talk to us to see if we're really reading it or not. I wonder if it's available in my local library. Still, it seems like a mighty feat to read more than 1000 pages.

I was very pleased today with what we did in PE. My PE teacher, let's just say he's Robin, decided we would do three different state fitness testings in one day - Pushups, curlups (situps), and trunk raise (lie down on the ground facedown, hands and feet not leaving ground. Then try to lift your head up as high as you can without using your arms or lifting your legs). I was horrible at trunk raise, and managed to do all of the curlups. It was pushups that was the high point of the day (weird because I like curlups better). I got 31 pushups, which is not much really, but at least it was better than most people. So I'm glad of that at least.

Labels: anime, books, bumps in the road, freaky, kaze no stigma, life, PE class, performance, piano, pushups, recital, renaissance, state testing, the decameron

It's a relatively untested theory, but I have tried it once. I've had a sore throat lately, probably caught from school or some other place. When I was walking home, the mom of one of my friends motioned me over. Due to my bad hearing I didn't understand her at first, but soon I realized she was offering me some gum. I accepted, figuring it couldn't hurt, since school is over and I was outside the fence anyhow (apparently you'll get a "behavior report" and gum-scraping duty every time the teacher catches you). It was minty, and I'm not a big fan of mint, but the taste was refreshing, and it made my throat feel soothed temporarily, kind of like those Fruit Breezers cough drops.

PE in Robinson's has been pretty relaxing for the last two days, actually. I was pretty freaked out on Tuesday since Mr. Robinson was out for the day and the substitute put an X next to my name since I forgot my notebook at home. Then the next day Mr. Robinson looked at the list to check if everyone had their notebooks. I'm afraid he might take off points for this, which is pretty bad, since I'm not that good at PE (especially skills testing). If luck is with me, maybe it'll be okay, after all.

My parents have been planning our summer vacation lately. We're probably going to go to Australia, seeing as my dad used to live over there, and has a good friend whom we refer to as "Pluto" (he has his own minor company called Pluto International). Pluto will act as our tour guide since none of us have been to Australia for a long time (in my case, not at all). I hope he doesn't start patting me on the back. He hits pretty hard, even if he means it as a friendly gesture.

I witnessed a rather unsightly thing in science class. So, today, we were out in the nature center making "molds and casts" out of blue clay and some weird Plaster of Paris (the dust got in my eyes, bleck). You make the clay soft and crush it down so it is kind of flat but still very thick. Then press one of the plastic models (shells, birds, sharks, etc.) into the clay to make an imprint. Mix the plaster and water, and pour it into your "mold". Once it hardens, you should be able to peel back the plaster and have an imitation (I call it that since it might not turn out exact) of the original organism.

Now, during this time, my science teacher was shoveling plants out of the nature center pond, which is getting overgrown with them. As he bent over, a little something could be seen since his pants didn't cover them. (I think you can guess.) It was green with white patterns on it. I'm not sure what it is, probably clovers. Anyhow, I thought it was impolite to look, so I instead shifted my gaze to the paint cans on the ground.

In woodshop, we've been practicing an odd chant to learn all the tools that he sets out on the table. It seems like some people need a lot of help from Mr. M, but some are really fast and accurate, like a guy called Corey Bemis (I hear his nickname is Corelina Jolie, but I wouldn't know since I'm not in any other classes with him, he's in another village). I was pretty disturbed since I thought he wasn't...well...that bright.

Labels: australia, cast, clay, gum, mint, mold, notebook, PE class, plaster, pluto international, sick, slap, summer, vacation, woodshop

I just realized that I had made a mistake in the previous blog post, " ' Tis the Season to be Jolly ". Though I'd submitted the Monday cooking recipe as Baguette Costrini, it is actually Mozzarella Costrini. Pardon the error. (Did anyone notice on their own?)

Today I got distracted from my math homework and ended up browsing a few of the online catalogs of local libraries. What I found funny was that some manga books which were copyrighted back around 2001 were only just bought, in 2009. I guess the library isn't reliable when it comes to buying books as they come out. Maybe because it's cheaper to buy a book once it's old?

Then I took a look at my hold requests. I requested a lot of books online. Two of them are ready - one is Full Moon o Sagashite (a manga by Arina Tanemura) - and the other is Inkdeath, a book in the "Ink" serious written by Cornelia Funke. It turns out I requested that back in December 2008, and it is only just ready, even though there are probably many copies of the book. Whew.

I was afraid we were going to run the mile today in PE class, but it turns out it was postponed because the track is still muddy. We are instead running tomorrow. I don't know whether to be relieved or freaked out. I guess it is a mixture of the two.

I'd heard strange rumors from other people in Village I about the video we are watching in science class. Someone said that all of a sudden, in the video, a girl wearing a swim suit runs out of nowhere onto the screen. I kept my eyes open for that, since I wanted to know if it was true, but seeing as our class is behind on watching the video, we didn't see that part.

Which then reminds me, it seems like we always watch old-timey videos in class. I think we have a DVD player but don't use it all that much. Mr. Blair's videos, well, you can tell they're old since the image is just slightly fuzzy and it seems awfully cheesy. I prefer Discovery/History/National Geographic Channel documentaries since they have good imagery. And then Mr. Brown's videos also look like that, except for a few which seem slightly more modern. I guess this means they have been teaching for quite a while.

Mr. Blair has a collection of Olmec heads. Apparently he used to make his kids make a miniature one as a project. He opened his whiteboard/cabinet thing and showed us. One of them is green and is sitting on a fake toilet (I don't really understand it, but whatever) and another one is white and made out of soap. Mr. Blair thinks we ought to bury it in our backyards, and when we move out of Cupertino, one of two scenarios may happen.
1) Wake up in the morning and suddenly remember Olmec head. Drive all the way back to Cupertino, to the old house, and sneak into the backyard to dig it up.
2) New resident of house wants to do some landscaping and digs up the Olmec head. Thinks it is a rare artifact when it is actually just a kid's abandoned homework.

By the way, here is a picture of an Olmec head. (It is not the same as the Moai Statues of Easter Island) They are believed to be portraits of Mayan rulers. They can be over 8 feet tall and weigh 10 tons. If you haven't learned about the Mayans yet in 7th grade, if you have the same textbook, you may eventually read about it.

Labels: books, catalog, error, full moon o sagashite, homework, inkdeath, library, olmec head, PE class, videos

I've been reading a book called Little Women, so I feel this unexplainable urge to sound old-fashioned, even though the book is driving me insane. (I can't seem to finish it no matter how fast I read it) If you do not like my weird writing today, let me know, but if you don't mind it, I might someday type a post like this again.

My day began without any disturbance. I had quite the pleasant time in my art class, talking to my fellow students while trying to fix my yellow paint (it had turned a disgusting shade because I have used it too often to try and make a different green). Yash, one of the people sitting at my table, fell off his stool (those black-legged stools are awfully dangerous). Mrs. Masero, the art teacher, laughed at me because my response was so bland - I just looked at Yash the way I would look at an interesting-but-everyday-sort-of-thing, as if people crashing to the floor was an everyday occurrence. Math class had nothing worth mentioning today, save the fact that I am sitting with the same boy I sat across from last time. Even though we were supposed to change seats, apparently I have "lost out on the lottery", so to speak.

At brunchtime, Marina, one of my email-and-school correspondents, met up with me and bid me talk to her. She gave me one of her delicious homemade cookies, and then asked me if I had come up with a character yet. (She wants us to exchange emails and write some sort of random story, fast as possible.) Apparently we only have a little while to do it. I am not sure what possessed her to choose me as her partner for this two person email story. Perhaps she had little voices in her head, St. Margaret and St. Catherine, just like in Joan of Arc - which leads me to the next portion of the day.

After brunch came third period, in other words, history class. For one reason or another, we had a substitute teacher today, so we just watched a rather odd video about Joan of Arc. Since Joan was being burned at the stake for "witchcraft", she kept on shrieking in agony. What was amusing about it was that it wasn't the actress screaming, because the screams and the actress's mouth movements didn't match up! While the person screaming was yelling, the actress's mouth was closed, and opened to lip-sing a bit late.

Science had not much happening except for our Chapter 5 test, which I shall omit from this entry, and instead move past lunch to 5th period Language Arts. My friend and tablemate was very anxious for the cookies the teacher had promised, but these cookies did not show up until the end of class. It turns out we are going to work on summary writing right now. Even the teacher admits that summaries are just simply a bore, but she must teach us about them because summary writing is a necessary skill.

The last event of the day may be considered the most interesting - and alarming. All of us thought PE would pass in a normal manner (besides the fact we were starting our wrestling unit). But actually, a traumatic accident occurred. Somehow, a student from another PE class had collided with the volleyball net and fell onto the ground. She could not get up and so even my PE teacher, Ms. Rawson, tried to assist the poor fellow. The student's own teacher, and later even the principal, came over, and called 9-11. I was told that the student had a seizure, and was even hauled off in an ambulance! Even later, in the locker room, some of the ladies continued to discuss this recent turn in events. Almost as if life were simply a great big soap opera.

Before I conclude today's entry, I shall mention the shrieking I heard as I walked home from school this afternoon. Some person - or persons, who I believe was a girl, would occasionally give a few high-pitched squeals. Whoever it was, was obviously taking great relish in destroying my eardrums, and those of the persons around me. Were I not such a polite and well-mannered sort of girl (yes, that is exaggerating, no need to tell me that), I would have run back and socked the poor person in the face. That is quite untimely, I understand, but I still would not pity the person(s) if they ended up with a sore throat.

Labels: ambulance, art, books, classes, colors, email, injury, joan of arc, little women, paint, PE class, saint, scream, seizure, stool, summary, teacher, video, witchcraft

Today has not been such a good day. To begin with, we had a substitute for math. I never like having subs. This teacher had a heavy accent and couldn't pronounce our names when she was trying to take attendance. One kid, Aditya, received a new nickname because of it. We now call him "Adeeya". He said he likes his new nickname, though.

Since she didn't have the answer key (we did homework with a worksheet last night), she just tried to get the answers from students. That worked up until we had different answers for a problem. So, a girl was called up to explain the problem on the board, and then people were still arguing, so now the whole class was in chaos. Somehow, we managed to get through all the answers, but you could tell there was a feeling of unrest in the room. -_-;;

Later on, in PE, it turned out we were doing the mile run for fitness testing. Bad news for me, because I can't run that fast, my fasted mile time still wouldn't be able to get an A. (At least it's not possible to get a 0. That's a comfort.) I ran like a freak today and got my fastest time - around 7:50 - but then I felt like throwing up. Bleeeeeh.

Labels: algebra, answer, math, mile, name, PE class, running, substitute, teacher

Today in PE class we were told the policies regarding absences, makeups, jewelry, the PE uniform, etc. Apparently, illness isn't a good excuse because you shouldn't be in school if you're sick. (Does that apply to getting sick because you went to school, since people who are sick still attend school?) Anyhow, I was told that if I want to earn back the points I missed, I have to attend a makeup in the morning on Wednesday. I really don't want to go, but my mom says I should, to try and earn back the points. But I don't want to wake up earlier on the only day I get to sleep in...

So I've decided that if I wake up early enough, I'll go to the makeup, but if I sleep in, then I won't worry about it. My grade is an A- (But only barely!) so I could use the points, but I am pretty sure I could make some it back up with the next project, anyhow. (Haha, I'm trying to make myself feel more confident, but I don't know if it's working.)

Labels: absence, confidence, grades, mile, PE class, running, sickness, sleep

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