For most of the past Saturday, I was swamped in Vocaloid. I already dip my toes in it most days of the week, but that day happened to have a lot more Vocaloid in it than usual. And it's all because of Stanford Splash that I've really gotten drenched.

One of my friends told me that there were Touhou and Vocaloid classes offered at Stanford Splash, Read more »

Labels: artist, classes, dye, japanese, kat-tun, live, luka megurine, magnet, mikumikudance, mmd, neverxover, nico nico douga, nicovideo, otaku, plagiarism, splash, stanford, touhou, vocaloid, yunomi

I spend a lot of time on the Internet for two reasons in particular: To look at artwork, and to avoid thinking about important matters (namely, my homework). But, of course, it's only a temporary measure, and soon enough deadlines are bound to come calling. Many evenings I end up scrambling to do my homework, cursing myself for spending so much time on the Internet. (Seriously, though, it's so hard to keep track of time on the Internet. It really feels like no time has passed at all.)

And surprise, surprise! I was wandering around Flickr the other day when I Read more »

Labels: art, audacity, classes, coincidence, dream, flickr, french, friday, gender, internet, photography, procrastination, rebecca black, school, song, teacher

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

I would have named this "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku", except it isn't a Vocaloid disappearing. It's an actual person - to be more precise, my own piano teacher.

Last night, my mother received a call from the mother of a girl who has the same piano teacher as I do. She was wondering if we knew anything about where my piano teacher was and whether she was okay (at her age, it was not completely unreasonable to suspect that perhaps she'd had a stroke, or a heart attack, or some other terrible affliction). The woman's daughter was supposed to have a piano lesson, but she'd been unable to find the piano teacher.

My mother came over to me, rather unsettled, asking if my piano teacher had mentioned anything about there being no piano classes next week or anything along those lines. I was not particularly concerned. I'd wracked my brains and recalled that she'd said something about going to Shanghai, though I couldn't remember whether she was telling me or the student who had his piano lesson right before mine. I'd assumed it wasn't anything important. My teacher, in the past, had always made it clear when she would be gone. She would write that there was no class on such-and-such dates on the little notepad I keep for recording info from the piano classes, and she would say, directly to me, that she would be taking a trip. But not so this time.

I think that she probably thought that she had told the students when she really hadn't. According to my mother, who spoke with someone who is connected to the piano teacher, my teacher has been planning the trip to Shanghai for quite some time now. It wasn't just some spur-of-the-moment decision, a sudden desire to chase an until-now-forgotten childhood dream. But why hadn't she told her students that she wouldn't be here?

It was strange. Very strange. I don't think that my piano teacher is in any danger for her life, at least for the time being. But it seems that her age is starting to show. She is already more than middle-aged, if not quite an old lady. I wonder if maybe she can't remember what she's done and hasn't done anymore. That she's getting her thoughts and what has really happened mixed up. She's becoming like me.

I hope that this is just one incident, that this won't be happening again. I don't want to see someone losing his or herself. It's just too terrible to be alive in body, but to lose your mind, little by little.

Labels: classes, deteriorating, forgetful, losing, mind, missing, past, piano, shanghai, teacher, the disappearance of hatsune miku, trip

Is there such a phobia? Because I probably had it, not long ago.

A week from now, on Monday, I will officially make the move from middle school to high school. It's a change that I have been feeling uncertain about. It seems like the clock will really be ticking once I enter high school. My mother is now pressuring me to take classes and study for the SATs and attend seminars. And now I'm being urged to...

- Talk to my teachers (which is a bit hard for me, since I'm not that outgoing as of the past few years and I feel like it's really shallow to befriend your teachers just to get a good recommendation letter for college)

- Make a "professional" email (I don't want to have to check three different emails. I already hardly check one of them - and besides, I figure I'll get spam mail if my real name is in the email's name. And I would really be angry if people were judging me by my email. I know, in this world, first impressions can mean everything, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.)

- Attend extra classes outside of school (my mother insists that a lot of other people are taking them and I have to in order to keep up. But I don't like the idea of that either, because it feels like I'm using money in order to get ahead in school. Just because other people are doing it doesn't mean it's right. Well, I suppose I may be the only one who has such warped and illogical morals.)

- Stop wasting time on the Internet (that's something I intend to work on myself. For instance, I am planning to quit Crunchyroll. Maybe not completely. I might come back once in a while, but I will probably stop visiting on a regular basis. I've already started to think of my "farewell" message. It's painful for me to leave something behind, but not as much as I would have thought a few months ago. It's time to move on. I no longer want to be chained to it.)

And I don't really know what to expect of life in high school. Back when school was still in session, all of us 8th graders went over to the high school campus (it's pretty much across the street, so it's nearby) and listened to some people talk about various parts of the school. They encouraged us to join clubs and participate in leadership activities and whatnot. Near the beginning of the session, the students said, "Well, I bet you think from what your siblings and friends have told you that it's all about studying." Then they paused, and added, "Well, it is sort of like that..."

I certainly hope not. In this country, what with some of the best universities being located here (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, UC Berkeley, UC LA, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Pomona, Northwestern...), the competition gets too fierce. If you ask me, it's like in middle school they're preparing you for high school, and then in high school they're preparing you for college, and then in college you're being prepared for...Your job? The rest of your life? I'm not really sure. (As for when you've got yourself a steady job, I think you're just waiting for retirement. XD) I have heard that some of my fellow students have been taking classes during the summer, such as Geometry, so that perhaps they can move up a level in math and will not have to take Geometry in high school. (I don't see the need to rush. Why not take it easy? You should be able to take Calculus by your senior year if you just go the grade level route.)

Well, I'm sure there's a lot more to high school than just studying for tests all the time. (It's not like I study as much as I should anyways, since I often think to myself, "Eh, I'll probably end up studying something that isn't on the test. I'll be wasting my time.") But I have no idea what everything else is like either. I've looked at the school lunch menu and read the policy, but what does that really tell me about the people there? How can I know what I've read in novels really reflects the high school I'll be attending? Will it be similar to middle school or a whole different universe? I guess the only thing that can be done is to experience it for myself. I am no longer afraid, or at least less so than before. But I'm not completely looking forward to it, either.

Labels: change, classes, college, crunchyroll, email, expectations, fear, first impression, future, high school, internet, judge, life, moral, preparation, quit, SAT, studying, teacher, uncertain

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

The mention of Saturday school would normally bring a different sort of image to my mind. Saturday school is sometimes given as a punishment to students. Some teacher will be supervising the students attending on a Saturday and you can do homework or read a book or something like that. I have no idea what it's really like, nor do I have much knowledge of detention, but although it doesn't sound too bad, I think it would be a pain to have to go to school on a weekend, and it'd also be a blemish on your record (supposing that you had committed a offense to have gotten into Saturday class, right?).

Well, this was sort of a voluntary Saturday school. It had been mentioned briefly on the school announcements that there were flyers in the office regarding a language arts workshop. At first I had not been particularly interested, because my language arts teacher attended a workshop for teachers, but the info taught didn't really apply to her teaching because it was a little too basic (better for elementary school than the upper grades, anyhow), and this gave me some distrust in the ability of a workshop to actually be a help to me. But at urging from my mother, I dropped by the school office to look for a flyer, and found that there were none.

My mother took it upon herself to look up the workshop, presumably on the Internet, and so she registered me for the workshop. As I have said, I was rather reluctant, but I think my mom has inherited my grandmother's stubbornness, and there is no point arguing with her. She insisted that it would be a good experience, and I had decided to try new things in my life (I am not much of a risk taker, but I thought I would miss a lot of good things out there if I didn't...) so I ended up being won over.

This morning I was still groggy. Waking up around seven or eight o'clock in the morning is not unusual for me, but since I was sleeping poorly lately (due to me being sick with a cold) I would wake up and then go back to sleep until about nine. I have never been one for sleeping in that much. My brain always seems to think it is a school day so I often wake up around eight or so, since my mind must be unconsciously saying, "AHHHHH!!! We're late for school!!!" and forcibly getting me up. And sometimes I have to use the bathroom in the morning. If it is late enough in the morning I will not be able to fall asleep again. (But I can't just not drink water. I get dehydrated easily and if I don't drink water I will wake up with bad breath and an icky feeling in my throat.) I can't wait until we go on vacation this summer. Once I get home I plan to not adjust back to Pacific Time so that I can do what I did last summer after my vacation. I would wake up in the afternoon, and go to bed at midnight or some other late time. In this way I got more sleep than I could ever have gotten if my body was following Pacific Time. I hope I can do this again this summer. I have a small chance of growing taller if I can get a ton of sleep.

For the workshop, you could choose two out of three classes offered in the morning, and everyone attended the same class in the afternoon. I picked blogging and oral storytelling for my morning classes. The afternoon class featured comedy. I suppose I should not reveal too much of what I had heard or else anyone reading this right now would not have much reason to attend such a workshop.

I will, however, say that the instructor of the blogging class, who is a professional blogger himself, says that it's easier to get the attention of people with a shorter post and having the text in the beginning be related to the title of the post, whereas having a longer post is to the benefit of people who are already readers of your blog.

He also said that there are different kinds of bloggers - people who write for the sake of writing (who just have to write, it is their passion) and people who write to get read (because, let's face it, it's kind of rough if you're writing and no one ever cares. It's like shouting at a wall or something.). But there are also a few who are a mixture of the two, who write both for writing's sake and for people to read it. I guess I would be the mixture type of blogger.

The instructor seemed to be much more supportive of Wordpress as a place to blog as compared to Blogger. He said that as Blogger is part of Google, even if you asked them a question you wouldn't get a response, but if you need to know something about blogging, you can just drive over to San Francisco and ask the Wordpress folks. Although I have thought about making a Wordpress blog, I am not sure if I want to switch over because I have kept this blog for such a long time...It would be such a pain to make a change.

Labels: blog, blogger, brain, classes, dehydration, help, insomnia, language arts, plan, punishment, saturday, school, sleep, summer, time zone, vacation, water, wordpress, workshop, writing

Yes, you heard me right. Magic is based on math! So says my math teacher.

I know this is the third post in a row mentioning him, but there's always something or other happening in his class. xD Today we were having short class periods at school because we had an assembly. There's been a lot of anti-bullying activities going on at my school these days, and so we had an assembly. I believe I have been to them in the previous two years I've been at this school, too. This year the theme was Balance of Power. It was talking about how people pushed others down so they would tip the balance to their side, but in this way, the other person loses... And stuff like that.

I'd say the most meaningful part of that assembly (which was basically two woman coming and playing a premade video on a huge screen formed by three separate screens) was near the end, when a man who had no legs and arms was in the video. Even though he has no limbs, he can still do things like surf and play golf and he travels around and speaks to people. I thought it was amazing that you can do so much with yourself even with such difficulties as that. And there was something that he said...Not sure exactly, but I think it was something like this. "There's no point in being complete on the outside if you're broken on the inside." (I really wish I had clearly remembered his name so I could attribute it to him...All I remember is that it was Nick something... o_O;; )

Anyways, though, let me get back to the whole point of this post. Since the classes were so short, we didn't learn the next lesson in geometry today, but instead the teacher showed us a card trick which he was practicing for his next class. He would pick a card from his deck. Let me explain...If he got an 8, he would put two more cards on top of it. Then he'd make a second pile. Maybe if he picked a 3, he would put seven more on top. (If he picked a King, Jack, or Queen, then he'd just put it back or put it aside) He'd make, say, eight piles like that. Then he would take away five of the piles. And he would flip over the top card of two of the three remaining piles. If he got a 4 and a 9, then he would take 13 cards from the five piles that he'd take away. And then... Ack! I forget the rest! Now all I remember is that he flips over the the first card of the only pile he has not turned over the first card of, and he would get a number that he had already expected to get.

My teacher says that this works because of algebra, so if we want to figure it out, we can give it a try at home. He showed the trick twice, so it's not luck, anyhow.

Before I forget, I heard some good news on the announcements at school today. One of the counselors, Mrs. Brown, said that they had decided to make an exception and allow us to wear masks. (See previous post, about the guardian angel and such, for more info) Just so as long as I don't wear it in class - it might creep the teacher out - it's fine to bring it. Mrs. Brown also talked about some events going on tomorrow in celebration of Halloween. (In fact, the long run that was planned in PE class was moved to Monday so we can wear our costumes. They want to encourage school spirit, and all) She said to watch out for her husband, Mr. Brown, because he was good at bobbing for apples. Hmm. I've never actually bobbed for apples. I've only read about it in kids' books and stuff.

Labels: assembly, balance of power, bobbing for apples, bullying, card, classes, complete, good news, halloween, handicap, magic, mask, quote, school events, trick, useful, video, week

I think it's something the old President George W. Bush said, but I may have mistakenly attributed to him. Anyhow, I heard that he said this on his 60th birthday when he was still in office. If more people thought like that, you wouldn't be hearing a lot of them complaining about their grey hairs and back pain and how their kids are growing up too quickly or how they want to retire but they need to make more money... Blah blah blah. If only we could all be a little more positive and think, sure, this means another year of my life, and that's tiresome, but there are good things and memories to be made every year along with the bad things. Sometimes you might not realize right away, but you could be having the time of your life.

The reason why I started off my post like this is because my age just changed yesterday. Yep, it was my birthday. More specifically, the 13th one. I hope that age really is just a number since I don't want this to be an unlucky year for me. Judging from my school schedule, which I was able to see from Pinnacle Internet Viewer (thanks Shirayuki no Kimi or I wouldn't have known), it seems they plan to put me in village K. I don't really know the 8th grade teachers, so I'm kind of nervous. I've been looking on a site where you can rate teachers, and it seems my French teacher and science teacher are the ones that the students like the least...I hope it won't be a rough year, then. At least you have a chance of changing PE teachers. My intended PE periods are 6th, 3rd, and 3rd. I like 3rd period PE, so that's good to hear. But it seems like I always get 6th period PE sometime in the year. (Oh, well. I'm glad I don't have 5th period PE. Then I wouldn't even have time to digest my lunch)

Today my mom actually did Wii Fit. In fact, a lot of it. I'm sure it was at least more than half an hour. It's been so long since she did Wii Fit, she seems to have forgotten how to do some of the exercises (like Advanced Step, which is in a way a different kind of DDR) but I hope she'll make a habit out of exercising so she can build some muscle. No offense intended to her, but she's not much of an athlete. She could use it. My dad has not used Wii Fit ever since we came home from vacation a few days ago. It's hard for us to get back into the groove after being away for a while.

For this week my mom has been taking time off work and staying at home, so she can pretend she's still in Australia and get some more relaxation time before she must go back to work and get bombarded by unanswered emails and projects and things like that. It's nice to have someone around so you won't feel too lonesome. (Maybe it's just me who gets lonely. I'd actually gotten used to it in sixth grade, after a good friend of mine moved away in fifth, I think, but eventually I started wanting to socialize again.) During school it isn't so much of a matter but when you're by yourself, or/and something bad happens, you feel like this.

Labels: age, birthday, classes, corner of woe, exercise, feelings, george w. bush, lonely, luck, number, president, schedule, tamaki, teacher, thirteen, time, wii fit

The time got moved today. Usually I have piano in the late morning but this time class starts at 3:30 pm. That probably means someone has a birthday party to attend, or some soccer game, or something. Since I'm almost always free on Sundays, it's usually me who has my class moved. -_-;; Not that it's a really bad thing. But I like having piano class earlier. My teacher is in a better mood in the morning, since she's getting old and feels like napping in the afternoon.

I haven't really done much today either, but at least a little more than yesterday. Like I actually started working on the cinnamon rolls today. At first I was having trouble because the butter wasn't dissolving; then I realized you were supposed to add the flour, regardless of whether the butter was still chunky. So I wasted a lot of time...Whoops.

But it's all well so far now, and the dough looks beautiful. Even better than the time we did it at school. So I will pray that it turns out great once we actually do the rest of the recipe. My mom insisted we let the dough sit for a while since on the recipe it says "At home: Let rise". The dough isn't rising very much but I guess it isn't really supposed to be double in size or something.

After cooking I ate lunch. The soup today was hot and it looked strange. It was orange with little brown things in it. (I think the brown stuff was little meat bits but I dunno.) I ate it without any problems but it looked awfully suspicious. You never know what kind of things my parents might think of to put in soup if they think it's "healthy".

My mom told me once she was eating at a restaurant and ordered a special type of grape juice. It didn't have any alcohol but it was supposed to have the same health benefits of wine. o_O;; And then my mom's friend went to another restaurant and tried to order "grape juice" but it was just regular grape juice, not the special sort my mom drank. (Apparently it's only served in some places. And my mom said it was really tasty and nutritious.)

Labels: classes, cooking, juice, leisure, lunch, piano

It seems like my parents always like to hang up on me. For instance, I called my mom today, since she wants me to call everyday after school. But before I could really say anything (besides complain about her plan to make me do more math problems) I could hear her cell phone ring in the background. She had to pick it up, so she shooed me off and hung up. It happens pretty often, actually. Even with my dad...He has people who want to ask him things, but they sometimes come in person instead of calling.

I took a really long break in the middle of writing this since I am constantly gathering more animes to watch in the future. (My list is actually longer than the animes I've actually watched by now XD So I have to work really hard if I want to deplete the list.)

At the moment I am watching one called Allison & Lillia. (I'm pretty sure I didn't say that in any recent posts) I'm more than halfway through now. (I really hate to watch long animes so I usually don't watch any animes more than 26 episodes long...This one is 26, just pressing the limit. I have watched some long animes such as Shugo Chara and Marmalade Boy, though.) And I'm kind of picky since I usually don't watch horror, yaoi, yuri, or anything like that. Nor do I watch mecha much. XD Not that I really hate it or something.

Anyhow, I should quit talking about anime. I guess I'll swap to school and walking home. It's an easier topic, really.

At school, I always have trouble doing the labs in class...It's because the microscopes appear not to work on 400x zoom in. Either the lens are dirty, the slide itself isn't working, the light isn't very bright, etc. My tablemate/friend and I usually end up asking the teacher for help. Mr. Brown, at least, can fix it, even if it takes time. D:

And when I was walking home, I saw this building being built. (I think it's a house, with the lower level for business/shop purposes, and the second level being for living) I remember I first saw it so long ago, the first time I walked home, back in the summer vacation. Back then it was just a pit being dug, with some sticks and orange stuff in the ground. Then eventually there was framework being put together and dirt being shoveled around. Now it looks like a house shape, except it looks like wood boards right now. But they'll keep working on it, I'm sure. Eventually I'll see the whole thing.

That reminds me of why my dad likes gardening. He says he likes to be able to make things grow with his own hands. (Not like he does much besides trimming stuff and planting it and killing mushrooms and all, but whatever.)

Labels: anime, classes, construction, family, gardening, genre, house, phone, plants, time, yard

One of my friends sent me an email inviting some other people and me to her ice skating show. She would be skating last night, at the ice rink near Vallco/Cupertino Square. Well, my parents took me shopping at JC Penney that time because they wanted to spend this $10 coupon (we are going on vacation so this is a good opportunity) and after I got home I realized I had completely missed her performance! I felt so terrible after that I almost started banging my head on the wall (My friend who moved away, which I shall call E for privacy's sake, does that when she's frustrated). I can't do that since I need to preserve my brain cells. Once you're older your body will start losing its ability to make new cells.

My mom told me about a girl who is my friend/classmate at school, who I will call MC (I have another friend with the same initials, but I don't really know what to do about it...). Apparently, MC used to go to Stevens Creek, my elementary school, but then moved to Portal-Murdock (that was E's elementary school for a few years). So my mother thinks E's friend MC and my friend MC are the same person...Maybe that's why MC and E are a little similar. (Young people are influence a lot by the people around them and stuff.) I haven't found an appropriate time to ask, though. D: It seems like a weird thing to say.

I was playing Animal Crossing on my Gamecube again. It's kind of funny how video games will warn you in the game or in the instruction manual to be careful if you have motion sickness or can't stand bright lights. Some games will totally give you seizures if you stare at it too long. Kind of like Mr. Blair's classroom. (He has his winter holiday lights up...Did I tell that story yet? Yes? No? I'll tell it again. Look at next paragraph.)

One year, a student brought in some Christmas lights. Mr. Blair put them in up in his room. More kids brought lights. The principal heard of it and demanded to know why Mr. Blair had Christmas lights. (The principal at the time was one of those people who believes Christmas is a religious holiday and should not be celebrated at school) So Mr. Blair insists they are winter holiday lights. The principal decides he will visit Room 21 every class period to see if this is true. Every time he picks on a random student and asks him/her what the lights are. One time he picked the wrong person. This girl said "These are winter holiday lights" in a very sarcastic voice. I hear the principal got really mad at that. But he stopped bothering Mr. Blair about it. XD

So Mr. Blair told us we need to remember that just in case. Even if Mr. Ottey happens not to care much. (A guy says he swore when the principal was nearby but Mr. Ottey didn't seem to notice, or just didn't say anything)

If I've already told the winter holiday lights story, I'm sorry! I have memory problems.

Labels: amnesia, classes, health, small world, video games

I've got a new school schedule. I'll post my old one first.

1st - Art
2nd - Algebra (Math)
3rd - History
4th - Science
5th - Language Arts
6th - PE

And here's my new, sort of improved schedule.

1st - Cooking
2nd - Algebra (Math)
3rd - PE
4th - History
5th - Language Arts
6th - Science

You can see that the elective (cooking), math, and language arts stayed the same, but the others have swapped around. I like having 3rd period PE because it's before lunch so it's not too hot outside...Usually. But I have Mr. Blair. I hear he is a nice teacher, but he made us run a "Super Duper Pooper" today. It's really long! I was too tired to run because of the dynamic stretching he introduced (you have to move while you stretch! Ugh! Not like static stretching, where you stay still. We did that in Ms. Rawson's class last trimester). I really hope he doesn't give me a bad grade because of it. He was talking about soccer a bit, how we need to wear shin guards when we're trying to steal the ball from each other, and how a student at Hyde a long time ago broke his leg, so his parents sued the school. (Mr. Blair the PE teacher is kind of quiet and hard to hear, unlike his brother, the history teacher)

Anyhow, when I woke up this morning, I looked in the mirror and saw that the parts of my face right beneath my eyes looked different. I wonder if that means I'm developing bags under my eyes, like people who don't sleep enough (At least, it says so in most of the books I've read). It's not that I go to bed THAT late (only 10:15 to 10:45, usually) but I can't fall asleep quickly enough, and I wake up a lot during the night. It's really bad for my health. Maybe that's another reason why my whole family isn't very tall (nobody slept much when they were young).

I'm feeling a bit worried about my time management today, because I did all of today's homework plus tomorrow's history homework. That takes some time, and normally it'd be okay, but I got distracted at one point and went on the computer, and starting browsing DeviantArt for wallpapers to put on my computer. It takes a long time to find one that won't get stretched out because this computer has a 1440 x 900 screen resolution. (My dad's laptop, having the typical resolution that desktop backgrounds are formatted for, is much easier when it comes to this.) I wasted a bunch of time doing that.

Oh well, I'll just hope for a better time tomorrow. :p

Labels: classes, computer, school, sleep, time

For those at my school who have Art as their elective, or Ceramics, then tonight was Portfolio Night. You go to the classroom, eat cookies, and make your family look at your failed artwork. Then you bring back what you no longer need to use in class.

I finished Sola and I'm still waiting for Shugo Chara Doki! episodes to be released (it takes time for people to make subtitles for the episodes, especially since they do it for free, apparently). I was bored, so I decided to watch Lucky Star. Wow, it has so many views on Youtube, it's scary. It seems amusing, I guess, but rather weird so far.

I can hear my mom, grandma, and some man I probably don't know laughing somewhere. It's really kind of freaky to hear the Sun family folks laughing. Even my dad is rather disturbing at times. Especially when I hear him laughing through a phone. (I can only contact him with low-quality phones since he's all the way across the Pacific. I wish he'd come back, because I'll probably forget to feed the fish.)

I'm rather concerned about my grades. They aren't all very good. (I'm mostly concerned about my science, PE, and art grades.) They're still A's, but you never know what could happen between now and the end of the trimester. :o

Labels: anime, classes, family, grades

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

This morning, I found that my mom wanted me to eat some Halloween cookies from her office for breakfast. They tasted kind of weird. I practiced piano for a while afterward, and then went on the computer, but I was booted off because we had to go to the library and return the books that were due. I took a bunch of books, although I wasn't really that interested in some of them. When you're running out of books to read, you gotta take what's at least fairly decent.

Then I came home, ate a sandwich, and soon afterward was whisked off to Stanford University by my dad. The campus is big and rather confusing. I probably would have gotten lost without the map and a bit of common sense. My classes were Sleep and Athletic Performance Improvement from 1-2 pm, and Jewelry Making from 2-4 pm.

The first class was mainly focused on sleep - sleep debt, sleep disorders, dreams, the like. At first, we had some technical problems because the instructor was trying to find some way to make the screen for the projector come down.

On the other hand, the second class was rather hassling for me because I arrived a little bit late and there wasn't much room in the classroom. There was not much glue and scissors to go around so we had to share and wait for people to pass them around. Anyhow, I did manage to string together some beads but it doesn't look that great...

Labels: books, classes, college, cookie, halloween, jewelry, jewelry making, library, projector, sleep, sleep and athletic performance improvement, splash, stanford

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