I was considering just leaving it as "clones", like it's supposed to be, but I figured that since the enemies looked different (and even had different names), it would be better not to.

Recently, I had the opportunity to play the game Wii Sports Resort. It has quite a few more games than the original Wii Sports (which comes with the Wii when you buy a Wii) but it does require the Wii MotionPlus accessories (apparently it makes the Wii remote's motion more accurate, or something along those lines). I thought the Archery and Swordplay was fun. The Cycling was amusing, but it wasn't very much like actually riding a bike since you just move the Nunchuck (also an accessory for the Wii, you attach it to your Wii Remote) and Wii remote in tandem.

If you unlock it, there is a Swordplay activity where you go around fighting off everyone else. You can only take three hits - if you get hit three times, then you lose. The enemies are pretty easy since most of them only need one hit to keel over. It really looks like Star Wars since your Mii uses a blue sword that looks like a lightsaber, and the enemies all use red swords which resemble lightsabers. But at the same time, the game has an oriental feel since everyone wears a kind of armor (which looks kind of like samurai armor) and because of the background music.

After watching Shirayuki no Kimi play the computer game Starcraft, my interest in it was rekindled. Several years ago, when I was in elementary school, I would watch people play that game, and eventually I got ahold of it myself (I can't remember who bought it for me) and played it at home. I'm not good at fast-paced games, so I'm used to cheating my way through. (This applies to other similar games, like Age of Empires, which has the same concept as Starcraft but isn't so...science fiction-ish.) I looked Starcraft up on Wikipedia, because that's what I always do. It turns out Starcraft was released for Windows in 1998. Whoa! That's even older than I thought. I am always surprised by the ages of things. (I can't really judge people's ages, either.)

On television, I saw some mention of more coffee = less diabetes, or something. Wow, that is so weird. People keep changing their mind about what's good for your health. And there are all sorts of strange diets for people who want to lose weight. It's hard to tell what's really good for your health and what's just bogus. I don't even drink fruit juice much anymore because it has a lot of sugar (but then, various fruits have a lot of sugar because they're, well, sweet). Well, I guess I'll keep eating fruits and vegetables and drinking water, I'm pretty sure that's safe and there isn't going to be a health specialist saying, "Oops! It turns out an apple a day makes the doctor come more often".

I used to have a teacher who really liked coffee. He said he wanted to try to drink less coffee, but it wasn't easy. This year I have a teacher who likes coffee, too. She even keeps it on a shelf in her room, behind the whiteboard. The classroom smells funny sometimes because of the coffee. I wonder if a lot of teachers drink coffee or if it's just a myth.

At my house, no one really drinks coffee. I heard my grandma likes it, but I'm not sure whether or not that's true. My dad drinks a lot of tea. Apparently, it stains his teeth, because my dad said his dentist was complaining. "Ugh! Drink less tea! Your teeth get so dirty." My dad replied, "Yeah, but I give you business." It all works out in the end, I suppose.

I don't think my mother drinks much tea. In fact, I don't really see her drink much in general. I think she's lactose intolerant or just has bad digestion, because she doesn't drink regular milk. But she says it's okay for her to eat a little ice cream now and then (although she complains about it being cold; it's ice cream! What do you expect?).

Labels: age, age of empires, coffee, computer, games, health, ice cream, lactose intolerant, milk, nunchuck, samurai, shirayuki no kimi, star wars, starcraft, tea, wii, wii motionplus, wii sports resort

Lately my teachers have changed their tune (no, I don't mean that they have a theme song) - in other words, they've started talking about the importance of making yourself appear different from other people.

Both my history and math teachers told us that just doing the same thing everyone is doing will not get the colleges interested in us. My history teacher described 85% of the high school I'll probably be going to as "Brown eyes, brown or black hair, between 5'3" and 5'8", 4.0 GPA, not doing any sports - oh, and playing an instrument" (in other words, a lot of Asians D: ) and he said that the colleges don't care if you are identical to everyone else. You'd have to display your uniqueness or they wouldn't want to have you in their school. And my math teacher said that colleges want people who will do great things after they go to college, because then the colleges will become famous. (So I think probably in your application essay, you ought to tell the colleges what you are planning to do in your life, not just what you've already done)

In fact, even my language arts teacher seemed to be aware of this "Don't be like everyone else" movement, because of the quote of the day she picked. The quote was, "The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is." This quote was said by Charles M. Schwab, apparently. Well, I'm pretty sure the teachers must be in cahoots. I mean, I've sometimes seen all three seventh grade math teachers in the same room together, doing who knows what (planning the math? The 7th grade math teachers all teach at the same rate, and give the exact same homework).

Well, anyway, I've been studying the holiday spirit lately since it is almost Christmastime. It seems to me that people start setting up their decorations after Thanksgiving, sometimes even earlier. I saw that the classrooms of my history teacher and language arts teacher from last year are already starting to be decorated by Christmas lights. However, some people have rather...strange holiday spirit. My history teacher is a prime example.

Some students (certainly not all) give their teachers presents before winter break starts, as I don't know if we have an official week or day for giving teachers gifts. It's supposedly a way of showing appreciation, or it's out of "obligation", or maybe people think they can bribe the teachers into giving them good grades... But my history teacher says he doesn't want anything. He says that whatever he wants is not something that us students could give him anyway. So he'd rather have us work hard in his class or show him our "charming smiles". He told us to tell that to our parents, even if they don't believe us - and then he said we should say, "So you think my smile isn't charming?!" and the parents will say, "No, no, that's not what I meant at all, dear."

It's the thought that counts, but he said that it doesn't show thought at all if you give him a Starbucks giftcard because he doesn't usually drink coffee (he does eat the breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks, though). I think that my math teacher last year also didn't want Starbucks coffee, but it was a completely different reason - she had some kind of problem with caffeine, maybe an allergy (dunno how to describe it), and she couldn't eat chocolate, otherwise she'd get a migraine headache.

I still have to think about what I should get for the other teachers, though. I think it might be nice to give them something, but I'm not exactly sure what I should buy. Getting them a Target giftcard would be way too typical. But I don't want to get them something that they don't like. And it would be too obvious just to ask them...

Labels: asian, caffeine, charles schwab, charming smiles, chocolate, christmas, christmas lights, coffee, college, different, gift, giftcard, plotting, quote, starbucks, teacher, unique

I don't drink coffee, so I'm not talking about coffee beans. But this reminds me of something from Ouran High School Host Club. The people who go to Ouran Academy are all wealthy, privileged people. Haruhi Fujioka, being a "commoner" and a scholarship student, was to work for the host club to pay back a debt, so she bought instant coffee. The Ouran students had never tried it and said, "Oh my! So it is true that commoners are so busy they can't grind their own beans!" I doubt that everyone is necessarily that busy. Sure, overall most people do have a lot of things on their schedules but if my dad has time to watch movies in the evening then he certainly has time to grind coffee beans. (No offense to my father. But he knows that I think he doesn't do much at work. XD)

Before I start rambling too much all over again, I might as well clarify what I'm talking about. During this summer it was kind of a daze for me, since I was sleeping better and had a lot of free time, so on and so forth. But now I've gone back to school and I have to adjust back to the tediousness of the regular year. And eventually, when I'm working, unless I'm a teacher, I will probably have to get used to it almost forever. It's a rather melancholy thought so I will try not to dwell on it. Already we have homework again, however, and sooner or later I will have to come back "down to Earth".

Today, in fact, was the first day of the 2009 - 2010 school year for me. The first class was history, with, ironically, a teacher called Mr. Brown. This is weird seeing as I have had both Kampps, Browns, and Blairs. (The Kampps are married, the Browns are just...unrelated, and the Blairs are brothers.) It seems like if there's 2+ teachers with the same last name I end up being one of their students.

Overall I think the teachers this year are okay. The impression I got from them...
History - Kind of intimidating, but he is funny. I'm still wary, though, because he said he likes to yell.
Science - I don't mean this to be rude or anything, but she certainly looks old. I wonder if she's about retiring age yet. I know Mr. Brown (last year, not this year) said that the 8th grade teachers are...well...they've got a lot of years under their belts. (Not that they necessarily wear belts.)
Language Arts - She seems pretty cool. I noticed that she is a big fan of the Chargers football team. This reminded me of Mrs. Jackson in the way that Mrs. Jackson is a big fan of the Red Socks baseball team. (She even has a sign that says Red Sox Fan Parking Only on her wall) Anyhow, I have noticed my LA teacher is the most lax when it comes to late work because she accepts it two out of three trimesters whereas the others won't even take it unless there are "unusual and extreme circumstances" (in the words of the science teacher who once had a student with leukemia).
Geometry - I like him even if I did think his voice was just a touch odd at first. He has some sense of humor which is a relief. I heard two of his kids go to my school. Oh yeah, and for some reason the Geometry class is nearly full this year. I wonder why?
PE - This is Mr. Blair. I had him for a trimester last year so I kind of know him already. He always reminds me of Luigi from the Mario video games for some reason. My PE period is 6th period. Strangely, I had 6th period PE for the first trimester all three years of middle school.
French - I can't pronounce her name at all but I'm going to work on it. Though I pale at the thought of learning hundreds, maybe thousands, of French words, I suppose I signed up for it, so I have to deal with it. What was funny was that she bought an hourglass from the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, France, but then it turned out to be "made in China". I bet nowadays almost everything is.

Labels: beans, boredom, busy, coffee, coincidence, daily, everyday, first day, future, grind, high school, impression, instant coffee, luigi, made in china, ouran high school host club, summer, teacher

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