I thought of this while I was reading a book called The Outsiders for school. The book is about the 60's, and it takes place in Oklahoma, I think, or somewhere around there. The main character is a boy named Ponyboy, who is part of a gang made up his two brothers and his friends. Well, I'd never really read this kind of book before, so I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but it turned out to be better than I expected. Ponyboy and his brothers are fond of chocolate, and Ponyboy's brother said that if there was a such thing as a chocolate cigarettes, Ponyboy would've had one made. (By the way, Ponyboy is an avid smoker. One time he went to the countryside and a man told him, "You shouldn't be smoking." Ponyboy looked around for a No Smoking sign and didn't seen one. "Why not?" asked the confuzzled Ponyboy. "Well, uh...You're too young," said the man. Ponyboy was surprised - Ponyboy is only 14, by the way.)

Whenever I see people with lollipops in their mouths, I think that they're smoking at first. I saw a book full of pictures of flashy outfits people in Japan were wearing. (There were some things that looked fairly normal, but some of the outfits were pretty strange.) I saw lollipops in their mouths and assumed they were cigarettes at first but it turned out that they were lollipops...Whew.

I remember when I was young I used to just stick a carrot in my mouth and pretend I was smoking since I never want to try it for real. It's way too easy to get addicted to smoking so it's just better not to ever do it. Good people get ruined by smoking.

I overheard two of my classmates talking. One of them said, "A man walks into a bar." (He's telling a joke.) So the other guy said, "So?" And the one telling the joke said, exasperated, "Don't you get it? You're so slow!" Basically, in this joke, a man doesn't walk into the kind of bar where you drink alcohol. He walks into an actual bar. Now that would hurt. (I only understood the joke because I had heard someone else tell it before)

Anyways, back to The Outsiders...There was something in the book that I found interesting. Ponyboy, as he narrates the story, mentioned that he liked Two-Bit's mom because she was humorous, but not lazy like Two-Bit. (Two-Bit is a joking guy who likes school for some weird reason and is in Ponyboy's gang) Then Ponyboy said Two-Bit's mother let Two-Bit get away with murder. Ponyboy was making Two-Bit's mother sound like a good person, so this was a bit of a shock. That's a very interesting parent there.

I've been wondering about something for a pretty long time now. One time I was at school, because I heard there was free ice cream (but the line was too long. Just earlier there had been a dance so many students were at the school). A woman asked me, "Are you J?" (J stands for the name of the person, I didn't want to reveal her name) I said, "No," and moved on. I bet that person didn't know how J looked or something - I mean, I don't wear glasses. Anyhow, J is of Korean decent. And people sometimes think either that I look Korean or my dad does. (Then again, maybe it's because some people aren't good at telling, people occasionally ask me if I'm Japanese) Plus, both my mom and dad's last names are Korean last names. It's sort of uncanny. I keep wondering if I could be Korean instead of Chinese but all my relatives live in China. Then again, Koreans once came from China. I mean, even the language has some similarities, and names for nobility used to be taken from Chinese. I'm always been curious about where I really come from. (Well, Africa originally, it can be traced back there, even if people insist they aren't from there, like my dad said the aboriginals in Australia said they were from Australia, not Africa, even when DNA tests were taken) I wonder if there is a way to find out. It would probably take a long time trying to trace it all the way back. I mean, for one thing, China has a huge population, so would there even be any documents? And it would be written in Chinese (Mandarin) so I wouldn't be able to read it...

Labels: africa, bar, chinese, chocolate, cigarette, heritage, joke, korean, lollipop, name, parents, ponyboy, smoking, the outsiders, two-bit

It seems to me that handheld electronics still hold their popularity. A lot of people would like to have a DSi, the newest version of the Nintendo DS. The DSi comes with a camera, and you can edit people's pictures (like distorting them or drawing on them). It also has a shorter charging time. However, I think I heard that it doesn't have a Game Boy Advance game slot. So that automatically crossed it off the list for me. I have a Game Boy Advance, but the screen is very dim and hard to see because it is not the Game Boy Advance SP kind (those ones have brighter screens). I use my DS to play Game Boy Advance games. That is more convenient since you can carry a DS game and a Game Boy Advance game with you just by having your DS, and you can play either depending on what you're in the mood for. Besides, you can take photos with a camera or a cell phone and you could play around with the pictures on the computer.

However, not everyone has the luxury of using the Internet, so a handheld console such as the DSi could provide great entertainment. In fact, even an electronic dictionary would be a novelty. I realized this when my mom mentioned her coworker. Her coworker has a daughter, who has an electronic dictionary. (Actually, it used to be mine, but I never used it anyways, so it has passed hands) Apparently it was a great help to her. I just look up things on the Internet if I need them, but my mom's coworker's daughter isn't allowed to go on the Internet, so she can't just look up things the way I do.

And of course, there are plenty of people who aren't simply forbidden from going on the Internet, but really don't have access. For instance, in Africa, only a small amount of people has access to the Internet. I wonder what it would be like not to use the Internet. I have been using it for years, so I am reliant on it, and it would probably seem slow and inconvenient having to research using actual books (le gasp!), plus I would probably have to actually go outside to entertain myself (another gasp! I am largely an indoor person). The Internet has some good parts, but it also has a dark side - people can get scammed, have their identities stolen, and they can addicted, ruining their eyes and probably making them overweight.

It reminds me of this funny quote I saw on the wall of my math classroom. "Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." I'm not sure exactly who said the quote, but when I searched it up, apparently Oprah Winfrey did... o_O;;

I was, and kind of still am, a video gamer in my youth. My DS has been my "best friend", and my camera is currently, but especially for me, stuffed animals were my best friends. (I mean inanimate objects, I'm not counting people here) I liked stuffed animals better than dolls - dolls are so hard and stiff and pointy, but stuffed animals are squishy and soft and don't have creepy eyes - and I used to bring them to school quite often, back when I was in elementary school. I could play with them after school in the YMCA daycare on the school campus. Those were good times, even if the stuffed animals were dropped on the ground, and thus became rather dirty. I don't think I could bring them to school anymore, because my backpack is so crowded (it's pretty heavy, so I'm lucky that I use a roller backpack in this case), and I don't know what I would do with them anymore... It's always more fun to play with your stuffed animals if you're playing with other people, but I doubt I could easily find someone who didn't think it was silly, and if the stuffed animal was too "distracting", it would probably be confiscated.

The reason why I brought up stuffed animals was because we had an opportunity to win them in science class. We were reviewing our vocabulary words and my teacher decided to have us play Bingo (except we call it Newton). She would say the definition of a word and players would look for the word on their game board. (It's important to know your definitions well so you won't be confused about where to put your bingo markers) The prize for getting 5 in a row was a stuffed animal. She had a few out at a time to choose from. I got a polar bear, though it wasn't my ideal choice of animal, since I didn't really like the other animals at the time. (Sorry! No offense intended) Apparently, the stuffed animals used to belong to the teacher's daughter. I think it's sad to give away your stuffed animals, but maybe my opinion would change when I'm older...I mean, if you don't use your stuffed animals, they're not getting the love I deserve...I really don't know.

Labels: africa, best friend, bingo, camera, convenient, dictionary, duct tape, electronics, game boy advance, handheld, internet, newton, nintendo dsi, polar bear, prizes, quote, stuffed animal, video games

I'm wondering about this since I am always saying odd things to my friends, and then they stare at me, make a comment, or laugh. And sometimes they are scared of me. Such a thing happened today.
Me: *says something disturbing while trying to coach people on push-ups*
NC(initials for her name): Whoa. I can imagine you with a chainsaw.
Me: Well, yeah! I have one in my backyard. (It's true. I have one in the shed or garage. At least, it's a saw of some sort. I actually have no idea what kind. I only know crosscut, back, and hack saws from Woodshop class)
NC: *eyes widen and backs away*
...Don't worry, I don't bite anymore like I used to do in fourth grade, and I couldn't kill someone, I'm not aggressive enough for that kind of behavior. (But who knows. People can turn out...different when they're older).

It is truly almost the end of the school year. School seems the same, yet different. We're on the last study guide in history class (we do a "study guide", which is a worksheet with questions and you have to write down vocabulary definitions, every chapter of the book. There is a total of 35). I feel like we're finishing too quickly. Then again, my teacher says it is because the superintendent thinks all kids are the same, like cookie cutters, so he expects us all to lower our book standards to match the rest of California. I am upset since we are not learning about the south African kingdoms, like the Congo kingdoms. (I mean, I have to say I don't particularly like Africa because it seems like people are dying and starving there right now from lack of food and medical treatment and clean water, but still, I'm curious.) So my history teacher and the district superintendent don't get along too well. Whenever the superintendent comes to our school and goes by Mr. Blair's classroom, then Mr. Blair talks about something scary to drive away the superintendent.

Also, in math we are on the last chapter out of 12 book chapters. I am both happy and unhappy. I look forward to being finished but that means we'll be doing projects instead of regular homework, I think. I don't like projects since you have to work in a group (and as Shiroi Hime says, if your group won't get along well, then you're in a trouble). You might have to give a speech. Even though my mom signed me up for debate class last summer it just made me lose my self confidence even more. And that means that Geometry in eighth grade is looming not so far ahead. I don't feel prepared. I mean, I don't remember what I learned in Algebra that well.

In science, it is THAT TIME OF YEAR. Nope, not Christmas. Not my birthday. Not Friday the 13th. It's "Human Growth and Development". They don't talk about how babies learn to walk or anything. It's about people going through puberty. Mr. Brown didn't say this out loud but the speech he gave before we really started implied that some families and cultures wouldn't like what we would talk about in class. I read on a sheet of paper sent to our parents that they'll be talking about homosexual people this year. o_O;; Well, I'm pretty sure that's what he meant, because my mom said she knows a person who came from China and then had a child in the USA. The son became a gay when he grew older so his parents were embarrassed of him. I know it must seem unnatural and shameful to the parents since they grew up with different values, but apparently in the USA we are all wild animals in a democracy and it is accepted. I heard there was a fun parade for gay people in San Francisco or something. And you may have heard of someone called Harvey Milk, who was gay but was killed by some spiteful person. (This happens to everyone...John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and some other people.)

Labels: africa, algebra, chainsaw, conversation, culture, gay, geometry, hgad, history, homosexual, projects, saw, school, shame, south, study guide, superintendent, textbook

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