On the 4th of July, my dad and I left our house and walked over to a nearby building, where we had watched fireworks in the past many years ago. My dad said we would be able to see the fireworks from there, although I was dubious (the fireworks were being shot from a high school off in the distance. I don't even know what that high school looks like, even though it was named after the town I live in). It turned out that we could see them, although the fireworks were partially blocked by such obstacles as trees...But it was still nice to see fireworks. (The benefit of being far from them was that the sound of them wasn't so loud. My childhood fear was the sound of fireworks. They were too loud for me to stand. Even now I still dislike them.)

I later realized that there were fireworks coming from three different places. One was, of course, my town's fireworks. Then there were the fireworks from an amusement park, Great America. And lastly were ones in some other park in the county. All of them were not very close by, but they were still visible. One of the people at the building watching fireworks said, "This must be the best spot in the valley."

There's a lot of different sorts of lights you can see at nighttime.
- City lights
- Stars
- Airplanes
- The Moon (although its light is really from the Sun)
- Fireflies

The last one, fireflies, is something I can't remember whether I've seen. Maybe I haven't gone out at night enough, or I need to go somewhere with water, like the creek near my town.

And as for meteors and comets, I can't remember whether I've seen those either. I probably haven't. August is a season with quite a few meteors, so I'll have to keep my eyes open then to see them. I wonder if there have always been meteors in the sky and I've simply never noticed them. I've always been indoors, distracted by the artificial (but still dazzling) light of a computer screen.

It's good that I'm leaving for my vacation today, then. It'll keep me away from the Internet for a while so I can spend time actually living instead of wasting away slowly. I'll be gone for the next two weeks or so before returning home again.

Labels: 3, artificial, away, comet, computer, fireworks, independence day, lights, meteor, missed, neighborhood, night, spot, vacation

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

Just the other day, my mother's company was having a party. I'm not sure of the purpose exactly, but it was probably just for the entertainment of the employees, so that they wouldn't lose satisfaction and go to another company. (I mean, I actually heard another company, Juniper, was going to start hiring again or something.) The party was held at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I went to the Tech Museum multiple times when I was in elementary school - in fact, I used to have museum membership. But I stopped going there...I think it was because they didn't really have anything new back then. But when I visited, a few things were different, although most are still the same as always.

I was a bit surprised by the choice of location for the company party. I've heard of hotels being reserved for parties, but never museums. My mom said it was a common thing, though. Museums are apparently better than hotels because there is more to do at a museum. Not only can you eat (there was bread, cheese, meat, pizza, chicken salad, shrimp...Oh, and there was dessert. Too bad some of it tasted like coffee, and I'm not fond of that taste in cake) but you can also explore the museum. My mom's company came up with a "scavenger hunt" for the employees to do. It's actually not that easy but some people were really doing the scavenger hunt. (If you fill out the whole sheet then you can get a raffle ticket) I tried to do it too but it would take a lot of running around the museum. While I was in the IMAX movie theater I noticed one guy who had a paper totally filled out. But then he folded it. I guess he figured out I was peering over his shoulder snooping at his answers. XD

Speaking of which, part of the party was the opportunity to see an IMAX movie. It's called Under the Sea, and as the name suggests, it was about the ocean and the creatures living in it. The animals were pretty violent. For one thing, there were the cuttlefish. They hunt by slowly sticking out a tentacle and then suddenly lashing it towards their target. Here's a picture.

The movie was a bit dizzying, but it was nice watching it. I have been swimming in reefs but I could only see some kinds of animals because there's no way I see the deep-sea animals unless I dive. In particular, one part of the movie was really troubling. A turtle started eating a jellyfish! It was sad watching that jellyfish having parts of itself being bitten off by the turtle. I think I've changed my opinion of turtles.

The sea snakes in the movie were cool, though. Sea snakes are pretty rare nowadays because their skin has been turned into wallets and handbags and such accessories. The sea snakes swim instead of slithering and I like the sea snakes even if they are very venomous. I also liked the eels. There's a kind of eel that submerges part of itself in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it sticks up and the eels wait for small organisms to float along, carried by the ocean current, so they can eat them. It looked like a forest or a group of dancers.

Oh yes, and I did briefly mention a raffle earlier but didn't go into depth. There were two raffles at the party. One was after the vice president made an opening statement. (At first I was impressed that the vice president was there but my mom said there are many, many vice presidents so it's not that...significant after all) That raffle was for anyone who had been invited and responded saying that they were coming to the party. (Basically, all the company's workers that attended the party were eligible for that raffle. My dad and I are not really "eligible" to win anything since we are guests brought by my mom) My mom says I should have come to see the vice president's speech and the raffle firsthand; then she would have won something. Her friend once won something from a raffle because her daughter attended a company party with her. But ever since her daughter didn't go to another of the company's parties and so my mom's friend hasn't won anything.

While the vice president was talking and picking raffle winners, I was busy playing the Second Life demo they have at the Tech Museum. Second Life is actually an online social game where you have a humanoid avatar and you interact, I believe. (I'm not exactly sure because the demo is kind of...limited, and the demo has been here since 2004, so it's not exactly recent. I haven't ever played the actual Second Life, which you can learn more about on secondlife.com) When I was young I always loved to play the Second Life demo. You can fly around and walk around and ride a jet ski and throw watermelons and make catapults work...And not that much else. (Personally, I just like to try and sit on weird places like the chimney of a house or a volcano or a waterfall or the top of a mountain) It brings back a lot of memories, playing that game again.

Labels: animals, aquatic, company, computer, cuttlefish, eel, games, imax, jellyfish, movie, museum, party, raffle, scavenger hunt, sea snake, second life, tech museum of innovation, turtle, under the sea

TODAY'S ICON BROUGHT TO YOU BY: mermaidsss.blog.cz

It's not quite the middle of November currently, but it isn't the middle of autumn anymore, and it's certainly not the middle of the summer. So I had to put November in, to make this title feasible.

On Tuesday night, I had a dream. I hadn't been remembering my dreams for a while, so it certainly did catch my attention. The dream's beginning, unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten. However, after a certain point, I do remember the dream... Earlier, I had seen a very nice dog, and I wanted to keep it, but my dad had said I couldn't. Then, I remember I was at my school, or at least a place that looked like my school. I noticed an automobile, a bit like an ice cream truck or something (though I have never actually seen an ice cream truck) coming. In the car were two people, and one of them appeared Asian. For some reason I thought it was one of my favorite musicians, Yuuki Aira, but it wasn't, much to my disappointment. The two women got out of the car and started running down the sidewalk in my school, pushing strollers. Then the one who I mistook for Yuuki Aira bent down to do something, tie her shoelace or whatever, and then I noticed the dog I had seen earlier. It was on the other side of the sidewalk (I was standing on the grass field at the time). The dog was near some bushes. (Which is weird, there are no bushes in that part of the school) So I went over and hugged the dog. My parents were not around to spoil it. But then the two women were getting away. For some reason I felt like I had to chase them. My dad popped out from some place or another (I know he was there but I never saw his face) and we both got onto bikes. I had to hold the dog too since I was taking it with me. We started peddling to follow the women. We went onto a highway. For some reason our bikes went 100 miles an hour. I recall being worried about getting in trouble for speeding. We went pretty far and I think for some reason I was in Palo Alto, pretty close to Stanford University. (Then I woke up.)

It was a very random dream. I don't really know if there was any meaning to it. But I do suspect my brain could be reminding me of my desire to have a dog. I have been asking to have one for years and years. My mother once said (jokingly perhaps?) that if I quit using the computer except for school research, then I could have a dog, assuming I would feed it and walk it and things like that. Back then I was very reluctant to actually go through with a deal like that, so I decided I would have to survive without a dog for a while longer. Now that the things that previously interested me are either nonexistent or I don't have time for them, I'm started to consider it again. I wonder if I would really be able to have a dog, though. What if it's just a ploy to get me off the computer?

My father just told me about someone else he knows who had a daughter who kept asking for a dog. The father finally said, "Look, if you raise a hamster for a year, and you clean its cage and take care of it, then we will let you have a dog." They got her a hamster...She cleaned the cage once, and never again. So her father said, "Then you can't have a dog, unless you prove yourself responsible enough." The girl said in response, "If it were a dog, then I would take care of it!" Some folks like their hamsters, but a hamster is nothing like a dog. (For one thing, hamsters, unfortunately, can only live a year or two, whereas dogs can live to the double digits depending on their size) Still, I know, a dog is a living being, and if you can't take of him/her, that's going to be a problem.

I've been thinking lately if I should write some other stories. I had started to write a story because I had some ideas of things I wanted to write about, but since those ideas would take place a lot later in the story (imagining that the story is a hundred pages or more! Very long. I intend to write a book someday), my interest kind of tapered off. Maybe I should write about myself. I can write about myself on my blog, but everyone has their secrets, and you know, you can't be exposing things on the Internet. You never know who's out there. It's like a commercial I saw once, "The Internet is like the ocean. Sometimes it can be safe and other times it can be very dangerous," or something like that.

Labels: a midsummer night's dream, bike, chase, computer, dog, dream, hamster, highway, internet, november, palo alto, responsibility, sacrifice, stanford, story, stroller, trial, truck, wish, yuuki aira

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

I was thinking about this since I often see people walking dogs. You may notice some dogs walk in sync with their owners, and both seem to be in a good mood. On the other hand, sometimes a dog is not compliant and is not walking fast enough; they keep stopping to sniff something, or "take care of business". And some dogs go too quickly, so they end up basically dragging their owners along. I think from now on I will observe every person(s) I see taking a walk with their dog, and decide whether the person is leading, the dog is leading, or they are equals (like friends should be. There is a poem, "Walk behind me and I may not lead. Walk in front of me and I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.").

I have come up with a theory that men in their forties are interested in kiddie games. My evidence comes from my history teacher (Mr. Blair) and my father (just call him Tiger). Mr. Blair sometimes becomes interested in online games. He has played a game called Totem Destroyer (where you click on blocks beneath a "totem" to blow them up...You are trying not to let the "totem" get to the ground/bottom of game window). Also, I saw him looking at something called Yummy Drinks Factory. I am guessing it is one of those cheesy games for girls where you go around clicking things and playing lame minigames. I found it hilarious that he would play that. And last but not least, he started playing Rocky Path. Apparently it's like making a path to the other side or something. (I don't know the details about Rocky Path because I have not watched it enough to know) What I do know is that there are bird chirping sounds playing, to make it feel like a rainforest in South America. It gets annoying to hear after a while.

My father also plays such games, just not quite the same as Mr. Blair's. For instance, he spends time playing games for me on Neopets. I have told him that he doesn't need to but he insists that I want money. (Which is true, but he doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to) This must mean he himself may have become fond of the games. For instance, Destruct-O-Match (where you click on blocks...There must be at least 2 blocks of the same color next to each other to destroy them), Mop n' Bop (where you play an angry janitor who swings his mop at dirty animals), and Imperial Exam (you are an ancient Asian scholar-ish dude who shakes or nods his head to let people in depending on how well they spell. You can play in various languages. I wonder if the scholar you play as gets dizzy from all that head movement), to name a few. He also enjoys this strange thing which I think is like a Chinese Facebook (as it is one of those Internet community places). Sometimes he does virtual gardening, or arranges his virtual house which has dogs in it. Or he can click options to make this virtual lady dance or eat. I find it highly amusing.

Labels: childish, computer, dog, friends, funny, games, leash, men, virtual, walk

The term "eye candy" is usually meant to express that something is attractive or otherwise pleasant to look at. I guess if you are like me and are fond of anything shiny, you would think the new computer is eye candy. My dad recently bought a new desktop computer and monitor. The monitor is a Samsung 1920x1080 screen (it is so huge, it's bigger than the other desktop, which is only 1440x900 screen resolution), the keyboard is a black Dell one with raised keys (exactly the same as my other one, i have learned), a black computer mouse (also from Dell and it has a cord. My old computer mouse is a wireless one from Logitech, the webcam company XD), and the "computer" itself, which is a long, thin black Vostro/Dell thing. It is all very pretty because it is new, but I am not accustomed to Windows Vista. (We used to use Windows 2000 but many of our computers are Windows XP) When I was downloading Google Chrome, since we only had Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox on this new computer so far, I couldn't find it because apparently it was in the Downloads folder, not in the Desktop like I'm accustomed to. It will take time to get used to the new computer.

Anyhow, you might be wondering why we even bothered buying a new computer. My mom has two computers in her home-office-room, one is a big white Windows 2000 which she uses to play her Korean dramas sometimes, and the other one is a slightly more modern Windows XP (back in the day, I used to use that). Then there is the laptop that my dad got from his work. And then there's the silverish Dell laptop I used to use, before it got too slow from age and too much stuff on it. And then there's my usual desktop, which I have grown oddly attached to (since I don't have a dog or cat *hint hint*, I instead like other objects). And now there is the new computer. My dad is always hogging my desktop, because he insists he is making neopoints for my Neopets account (I know I am a multi-millionaire, but I am "pretending" that I have a retirement fund) but he is sometimes checking how his golfers are doing in his PGA Tour Fantasy Golf.

It's called Fantasy Golf because the people who "play" Fantasy Golf don't actually golf. (Though my dad has mentioned he would like to learn sometime) They just watch the Golf Channel on television, and research golfers, and then if they pay (or not, depends on which site you use and whether you want to get real $$$ IF you win) they can choose golfers and see how they do. The better your golfers score, the more points you get. If you're first place, then you can actually roll in the moo-lah. (I mean money, sorry if that's confusing.) But of course, only one person can be first, anyways. And I'm sure most of the time, it isn't my dad. (So I don't really approve of his playing PGA Tour Fantasy Golf because it is like gambling. Oh well. It runs in the family. His mother has been gambling and playing mah-jong since a loooong time ago. Except she usually wins money.)

Labels: computer, eye candy, fantasy golf, golf, keyboard, monitor, mouse, new, share, shiny, windows vista

Yesterday morning, I managed to drag my mother away from her laptop. It's actually not hers, but it's one that my dad got from his office, intended for work, except my mom uses it to watch Asian movies. Normally she gets glued to the screen, so that she doesn't pay much attention to me (which can be good or bad, depending) but I managed to force her into trying some Wii Fit. She doesn't get enough exercise despite insisting that she takes walks with her engineer friends after lunch.

We started off with a bit of jogging. I ran as fast as I could (or more just shuffled my feet very quickly) which made my mom accuse me of cheating. I just shrugged it off and finished in record time. For a few minutes I watched my mom. She jogs really, really slow so it took a while. Then we tried some strength training, since both my mom and I need some toning on our triceps (upper arm). She wants to use the 2 lb weights instead of the 3 lb weights but the 2 lb's are somewhere else. Probably lost, like the majority of my possessions. Then we did some yoga. Kind of like my dad, she can't do the Spinal Twist. Whenever I mention this to my parents they insist it's because of my much younger age.

I spent this morning and afternoon at my mom's office. I was planning to make my blog post there but I got distracted by playing my DS (The game? Harvest Moon DS). I am trying to rescue 60 sprites (little elfish dudes who were sent to another world by magic) so that my game can go on but it's slow work, especially since it's winter. (Funny, since it's winter over here, too.) I can't grow any vegetables or fruits in this lame weather.

Road signs nowadays look very pitiful. One of them was a green rectangular kind sticking over the highway. But the sign was twisted sideways so that it was leaning against tree branches, and a large amount of the hard green part was missing, so that it seemed like someone had mangled it. And then there was this blue sign (kind of like a triangle shape, but not quite) and it said Highway 280 on it. The sign was upside down, though, so it looked like 08Z (a warped z, because it was a 2).

I recently heard from my mom that my grandparents have been reading my blog. I thought this was hard to believe since they don't know that much English, but my mother reminded me that they have a Chinese-English dictionary, and retired people have too much free time (most of them, anyhow). Then my grandparents send me emails, but they're written in Chinese so I just stick them in a folder and forget about them. (Sorry, Gran & Gramps. But I can't read Chinese.)

Labels: blah, blog, computer, exercise, family, harvest moon, nintendo ds, office, road, sign, wii fit

Right now I am typing this at my friend Mars/Miyu-chan's house. She didn't want me to use her own computer, so I am currently using her sister's computer. She keeps pressuring me to write in the blog she just made. (Unfortunately I am not yet a part of the blog team, so I decided I would rather just write in my own friendly Kaisoumizu for now). That reminds me...Recently I was wandering about on the Internet and I saw someone called "kai_mizu" or something like that. I was a bit worried because that sounds quite similar to Kaisoumizu. I hope whoever it is doesn't mind.

It's already 4 pm. Time sure flies. I was scheduled to be at my pal's house from 2 pm to 6 pm. We decided not to go to the movies, so we are here rotting our brains out on the computers. Miyu-chan warned me not to use Mozilla Firefox because it makes her computers crash but I eventually got sick of the slowness of Internet Explorer and went for Foxy. And it is working much more effectively, actually, so I'm glad. (By the way, her sister's computer is a Windows Vista, Toshiba brand. So the screens look a little different from what I'm used to since I have always used Windows XP.)

Which reminds me, Miyu-chan's sister's cursor (you know, the pointy arrow thing you use to move around the screen and click on things). It's a peeling banana which is quite amusing to watch. I used to have a cursor back in the day, when my laptop was still young and restless, but my dad removed the program that lets me choose different cursors because my computer had been running out of space. I kind of miss having a custom cursor, but I don't want to install it on my computer and end up with viruses and spyware. So I guess I have to do without.

Let me talk about something else before I bore you to tears. I am celebrating my mom's successful download. She finally managed to install her Skype, so I can chat with her when she has free time at work. Twice she used only a smilie/emoticon for her message and I was creeped out, so I asked her why. She said it was too tiresome to type out a message. I called her lazy, but she annoyed me by saying she wasn't the lazy one, I was...! Hmph, what a rude thing to say, even if it is...true. Somewhat.

I ate a bunch of grapes earlier. I hope Miyu-chan's mom doesn't mind. I know she probably put it out for my sake, but I'm not sure if I was supposed to eat that much, you know? Then I'd look like a glutton, she'd give me too much food next time, I wouldn't finish it, and she might be offended (though she wouldn't say so). Must be very careful with other people's parents. (That's a word of advice! Remember it!)

Labels: blah, computer, cursor, custom, danger, download, family, friends, fruit, house, impression, internet, lazy, name, skype, time

While I was in Japan, we went downstairs to visit Hilton Narita's convenience store. They've got Pocky there, ¥165 for a box. It's not too expensive, so I bought a box. It looks like the kind you can get where I live, except for it has some Japanese on it and a cherry blossom pattern. (That's to be expected. After all, the Japanese are proud of their cherry blossoms and their Mt. Fuji, I hear.)

Yesterday (At least, it was yesterday on this side of the globe) was my last day in Japan. We went to the airport and took a plane to Shanghai, China. I was pretty disapointed since this flight was not as good as the one across the ocean. We had a strong headwind so we were a few minutes late, and the lunch they gave us was really weird-looking. The tomato sauce was pale orange! I decided not to eat it. The rice is a putrid yellow color, too. So I just ate the noodles since it looks normal.

My grandpa was there to pick us up. We waited for a minibus to take us away from the airport. Unfortunately, minibuses are not common, unlike taxis, so we had to wait a long time. Finally we got one. We headed to Dad's hotel first (he wanted to stay in a hotel. But he has to stay in a lame, cheap one because Cisco Systems won't pay for it. Otherwise he would stay in Four Seasons) and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment. I was really tired by this point and couldn't recognize it until I went inside. It hasn't really changed except for there being a new computer (which we bought. Apparently laptops are very expensive in China compared to America).

Since there are only two bedrooms in the apartment, Mom and I shared one. I brought my Yoshi stuffed toy with me. (We bought it in Japan. It is small but cute. Mom says it's good quality because it has "beans" inside of it. ...No, I don't mean the gas kind of beans.)

This morning looks quite depressing so far. Everytime I try to visit certain websites I get this message in Chinese and I can't understand it. I guess this computer is designed to block certain websites. But it is really annoying since I can't go where I want to. I'm just lucky that blogger.com isn't one of the blocked websites.

Not only is the Internet depressing (especially since it's mostly in Chinese) but the weather outside is so dreary! It rained overnight and the heater makes noises so I couldn't sleep that well. Also, there are street noises caused by the trees. So I am quite tired. And I'm wearing Grandma's pajamas since mine are in the washing machine. (They are hanging out to dry over the balcony right now.)

The TV is often turned on in this house. Right now it's playing a black and white TV show which is probably an old American one. The problem is, it has a Chinese dub which sounds really ridiculous. I can't tell for sure but this could be The Twilight Zone?! (The show that Mrs. Jackson, my language arts teacher, lets us watch in class sometimes.)

Well, anyhow, I'll try to say something less depressing. Dad is coming over soon and he might be able to fix the Internet a bit. (I tried to download Mozilla Firefox but it's in Chinese, I think, so it's confusing.) He is at least better at computers than the Sun family, which is my mom's side of the family. My mom is still not good with them. She makes weird beeping sounds when she's working.

Adieu for now!

Labels: computer, family, food, internet, television, travel, weather

Indeed, time is ticking. Christmas will pass in a flash, and then we'll have New Year's next. And it'll be 2009! Which means a long time until the next summer Olympics. (Hmm, and I'll be in high school a few years from now.)

My head was hurting when I woke up, so I just stayed in bed for a while, being lazy. Finally my mom got me out of bed because she wants me to choose clothes for our vacation, and also to cook breakfast (I am doing one of my Home Cooking Projects now since they are due in January). I made some pancakes but left the mess for my mom to clean up. But it's okay because she liked the pancakes. It's the first time we ever made them in this house.

This morning, I saw my dad ironing some of his shirts. I was shocked because I never really see him wearing any of those shirts. All he does is wear suspicious shirts with holes or jackets from Broadcom (which is my mom's company, but the jacket is too big for my mom). And I remember recently I saw my dad using a thread and needle to repair buttons on his shirts. This was shocking too because I have not much knowledge of sewing/crocheting/stuff like that, but HE CAN DO IT AND I CAN'T?! (Dad says he decided when he was young that he would become a person who could function independently.)

Since we're leaving home tomorrow, I decided to open one of my Christmas presents and leave the other two for after I come home. (It's pretty pitiful, but I only have three presents this year. :( ) It's the Sims 2 expansion called Apartment Life. I was happy since I'm collecting the expansions. (So far I have University, Nightlife, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, and my new one.) I've just installed it today and I plan to play it a lot while I have the chance.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World (I have had this game for years and years now, but I still play it to keep my flower gardens alive), I've been trying to build snowmen, since I like getting "payment" for it. But I always either make a snowman with a too-big head, or I can't find enough snowballs, or something. It's such a pain.

It's about time to eat lunch now. I usually eat lunch earlier than this, but I was occupied on the computer. (I had been planning to find an icon for my Blogger profile but I spent too long and I ended up saving a bunch of images to my computer. Hehehehe.) So now I find it's already an hour past noon and my lunch may be getting cold. Better get going.

Labels: computer, family, food, holidays, sleep, 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

Today was a nice day. Especially in PE. I ran one lap very fast - in 1:22. It's nearly ten seconds better than my previous time. It only gets me 95% for a grade, but at least that would be an A, technically. So I guess it isn't the worst it could be. I was really sore afterward, though. I am not that strong due to my weak muscles. I didn't even know how to use my abs until this school year. XD

Whoops! I forgot to finish my math homework and went on the computer after dinner. Guess I had better get back to it so I don't have to do it on the weekend. It's just a rumor, but my parents said we are going to my mom's friend's house tomorrow. Apparently, my mom wants me to "socialize" with her daughter again. I wouldn't mind except for it seems like my parents want to force me to talk to people again. I'm kind of reclusive nowadays and I wish my mom would stop trying to make me uncomfortable. But I guess she doesn't seem bothered by it.

Labels: computer, exercise, people

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