PE was a real misery today. First we had to run, which is the usual, but I needed to go to the bathroom (Except I couldn't, since the teacher might think I'm making an excuse to get out of PE) so it got harder and harder to run. And then we had a choice between watching a movie in the boys' locker room (I decided not to. We'd seen the movie already - it was one about how sports and science are related or something - and the boys' locker room smells funny. At least to me). I chose basketball, which turned out to be not so nice...The basketball didn't bounce well when it hit puddles, and every time I dribbled, mud splattered onto my legs. If I try to shoot baskets, I usually have to stand in a puddle, which is very unpleasant. My shoes didn't stand up well to the water and I ended up with soaked socks.

At the very least, cooking was delicious today. We finally finished making the streusel coffee cake. (Streusel meaning crumb, I think). We made some mulled apple cider to go with it (Apple juice with some cloves and cinnamon, simmered in a pot). Sounds delicious, but unlike the cake, it wasn't. It was slightly bitter and had a strange aftertaste. I would rather have plain apple juice, personally.

I keep putting off getting a new layout for the blog. I really want to have a change since it's fun to customize things. (At least for me. On video games or websites I like being able to change stuff as I see fit.) Maybe I'll do it this weekend if I have time. I'm not sure if I will. I need to do my last cooking project, plus start research for my Japan project, and maybe do a little brainstorming for my factoring story.

Science class was a bit different than usual. We were watching "The Eyes of Nye" which is apparently similar to Bill Nye the Science Guy, except the old Bill Nye is meant for elementary school kids, and The Eyes of Nye is meant for high school kids? (Nothing for us "in-betweener" middle schoolers, I guess.) It was sort of funny, but sort of disgusting and confusing and sad sometimes. Like for the sad kind: The mating call of crickets also attracts a kind of fly. The fly latches onto the cricket and burrows into its body. Flies grow inside the cricket until they burst out and the cricket dies. What a sad life...But sickening too, if you get eaten from your insides out. Bleck.

Labels: basketball, beverages, bill nye, blog, choice, cooking, custom, dessert, exercise, homework, insects, layout, life, movie, mud, panic, school, socks, weather, weekend

Ugh, how mean. After my parents practically dismissed me from eavesdropping on their "serious conversation", I went to the garage to mope. (We keep our washing machine and dryer in there instead of in a laundry move) I heard the sound of the washing machine, so I opened it and took a look inside. However, it just went and stopped whooshing when I opened it. But it started again once I put down the lid. So I guess it was telling me to go away. I've got ruffled feathers now, if you know what I mean.

I was pretty chipper today since my mom is finally back. I hadn't seen her since New Year's Eve. Literally. So it was a pleasure to see her again. I almost got offended because when I told her that I got 50/50 on a math test, she mentioned the previous test, and remarked I hadn't done well then, like she was disappointed in me. Me, I just want to be appreciated, is all. The one person who has never praised me willingly is my own mother. So that's probably why we aren't truly friends. (Even if I missed her I don't even know if she missed me. But I'm not about to ask in case she pretends)

My mom was really huffy after her extended stay in Shanghai. Her clothes and other things in her suitcase smell like cigarette smoke. It's really kind of disgusting. She is washing her close to try and get rid of the smell. (It's even worse because her own father is an avid smoker. Luckily, her mother doesn't smoke.)

After a while my dad came home from work. He had gone to Costco, a big store with ugly tall ceilings, to buy things. It seems like they didn't have any Blueberry B Monster. (It's a drink from the company Odwalla which I often drink.) I hope they didn't stop selling it. Then I would have to go somewhere else to get it. I wonder if Whole Foods (Supposedly a store that sells healthy food and other organic products) has it.

My dad is kind of an immature person. (If you read this, Dad, I am sorry, but my true feelings are meant to be displayed on this blog) He wants people to like him and praise him, rather than give him criticism. And even if he is an adult, in his mind, it seems life is rather simple. (This does not mean that life is easy. Just that he has a straight-forward mind, similarly to my mom. They are both rather stubborn.) But maybe that isn't true, and I have been deceived for years.

While I was practicing piano this evening, I could hear a loud voice, so I thought my parents were arguing. I stopped playing and went over to take a look. It turns out my mom was giving some sort of speech. Her eyes were wild, her mouth open and flapping, and one arm was pumping up and down. I was shocked. That looked kind of like my dad when he's lecturing.

And now, I think they really are arguing. They keep talking about trying to move my grandpa (on my dad's side) to a new apartment. The stairs to the apartment are frail and steep so it's dangerous for an old man like him. (Particularly since he slipped and fell once, and injured himself. He is fine now...Or so he says. His relatives don't believe so.) And also he still didn't get indoor plumbing because it costs money. (Being retired is bad especially when you're old and weak. You have to rely on your relatives and the government for money.) So my dad and his siblings are desperately attempting to convince my grandpa to move to a new apartment. Then they will pitch in all their funds to try and buy one.

But my dad seems to have come to a disagreement with my mom, as his voice was raised and he looked really steamed. When my mom breaks in to make a comment he gets more heated up. I am afraid he will blow his top like a volcano and start throwing our dishware. D: I really hope not. It is scary, and it also means I have trouble hearing other noises since his voice is so loud and violent.

Labels: appliances, beverages, cigars, emotions, family, inanimate objects, mental, shanghai, smoking, washing machine

I'm so glad. I think I am going to either go mentally insane or get sick from staying here. (I've starting sneezing and coughing a bit. This is bad. I could've caught a cold from one of the many people in Shanghai. If you've ever seen the railway stations during rush hour...)

Yesterday was an interesting yet boring day. I went to Wuxi, which is a city in China. It is much smaller than Shanghai but still would be a big city if it were in America. There I had to play the good girl for my relatives (I am far from delighted to see them. It means I have to crack jokes, smile, and behave well in general) since my grand-aunt and some others were present. Two of the guys were smokers, and my mom called them a Chinese term for fat.

We ate at a restaurant, I think it was called Skyline Harbor... Or something along those lines. I ordered some noodles, thinking it would be kind of like ramen, but it turned out to be much different. These were dry, big/short noodles. They were still okay but I was much disappointed.

Then we went to visit my great grandma's grave. I have never met her since she died before I was born. My mom had actually lived with her for quite a while rather than with her parents. So my mom was particularly close to my great grandma. (Mom says great grandma is much nicer than my grandma. Maybe that is true XD) We had to hike through some "wilderness" (I was surprised to see it after being in Shanghai so many times) to get to the grave which is just a rectangular stone with a name on it. Plants and dirt were collecting on it. (We just ignored the other graves and went to my great grandma's.) We put out some food and flowers and burned candles and incense. Then we burned fake money (It's a tradition. But a weird one. I couldn't stand the smoke and had to walk off a little ways.) I tried to talk to my great grandma's grave...But I don't know if she can hear me. In China, at that time, the law had been changed so you could no longer be buried, but just burned. So the grave is merely symbolic.

Today I was expecting a relaxing day since the only official plan was to eat dinner with my relatives one last time. But it turned out not to be. In the morning we went to visit my dad at his hotel. My mom and dad talked a lot about strange topics like my grandpa (Dad's dad) being stubborn and not wanting to move to a new house. (Dad and his relatives want to buy him a new place since he is getting old but he might refuse to move to it.)

My parents deciding they wanted to visit Pudong which is a section on Shanghai on the other side of the river. So first we went to look at the river. From a distance it's really shiny and pretty. My dad thinks it's really cool because there are many tall buildings around it. (He likes the city skyline.) But the water in the river is really dirty. It looks like nobody tries to clean it up much. (And the sky was blue today, surprisingly, because it didn't rain...But it was kind of a faint blue, not as blue as California.) And then there was this guy trying to sell us stuff. Even when my dad shooed him off he came back. I guess people can't stop trying if they want to make a living.

We walked for a while (Almost got lost because we're not that familiar with this part of Shanghai) and eventually reached Pudong. I wanted to go into this shopping mall place. It's called Cloud Nine Shopping Mall. (This is really odd because my mom says the Chinese characters written above it mean "Dragon Dream" or something like that, nothing like Cloud Nine.) It had a lot of different shops since it has many floors. Some of the shops are Chinese brands but a couple are ones we know, American/European brands. And there are some restaurants. My parents took a long time just to choose one. They couldn't eat all the noodles. I wasn't hungry because I'd eaten some buns earlier.

I shopped around with my mom since my dad isn't that much interested (Because we are looking for female clothing, not anything he could wear. And he wouldn't let us buy a shirt for him in the first place) and we bought a few things. My mom is kind of worried about the prices of things so I can't buy anything too expensive. Oh well.

Finally it was dinner time. My grandma (on my mom's side) invited my other grandparents to dinner. This turned out not to be a good idea. Not only was I upset at having to be a museum exhibit again but the service in the restaurant wasn't so good. The table hadn't been wiped so we had to wait for a lady to clean it. Then I ordered some sandwiches and they looked nice but they had peanut butter in them (Bummer! I thought it was just ham and egg). My parents bought me a strawberry milkshake but it was lame because it didn't look or taste that much like a strawberry milkshake. (If you want one, I suggest you go to Iceason, the gelato shop, instead.) And my parents say that even if it has nice lights on the ceiling the food wasn't particularly good. (So they don't understand why the restaurant was so crowded.)

Labels: beverages, clothes, family, food, people, restaurant, shopping, travel

I drank my whole water bottle before the end of my classes in school. Maybe I have to bring two from now on. But it seems like a big hassle since my backpack only has one "pocket" for a water bottle. I suppose I'll have to change to having a regular (not a roller) backpack since my other backpack does have the two pockets I need. Either that, or I can put one water bottle in my backpack (maybe the PE clothes section? There's more room there) and that way I can just take it out when I get thirsty.

It's my grandpa's birthday around now, so my grandma was trying to send an e-card to him. Unfortunately, the website was in Chinese and I couldn't understand a word (I have no knowledge of written Chinese) so I had to ask my grandma about stuff. I figured out the gist of what to do, but that website had a weird system of selecting contacts (you had to click on the person you wanted to send it to from a list of contacts, which I assume my grandma added to the list beforehand) and I couldn't find my grandpa's email on it. I am very frustrated and it would be much easier just to send an e-card in English. I know plenty of places to get birthday e-cards. Even Neopets has them, seriously.

My parents brought home a turkey dinner for my meal tonight. I wonder what made them think of buying that since Thanksgiving doesn't come for more than a week. I guess it's because we'll probably be out of town, at Las Vegas, so we won't have the chance to eat a turkey dinner then. (It feels like I hardly celebrate holidays nowadays. I'm going to be dragged off to China for Christmas, and probably New Year's as well.) Just warning anyone who reads this in advance that I won't be around during vacations, probably. Except for summer, and that's a long way off.

Labels: beverages, birthday, travel

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