Not that long ago, I learned that there was a Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, and that there was no tickets needed to get in - it's free! I decided that I had to pay it a visit, and so on Memorial Day, after visiting my mom's friends, we drove on over to the garden.

This garden must've been around for quite a while. There are little signs on the ground that tell you when a certain kind of rose was planted. There are roses that have been around since 1980, for instance. And there are also new ones planted in this very year, 2010.

The way the garden is designed is like a circle, with a fountain in the middle of the garden. There are roses of all sorts, small ones that don't look that much like roses, and a kind of rose where many red ones grow together. And there's a funny kind - I think it was called Oranges and Lemons? - Click here for a picture.

After we left the garden, I felt rather sleepy. Somehow the fragrance of the roses made me feel tired. Or maybe it's something else. I've been sleeping oddly lately. We got some blinds installed to help keep the room dark in the mornings so that my brain would not realize that it was daytime and that would help me sleep in on the weekends. Over the weekend I would stay awake thinking during the night, then eventually fall asleep, only to wake up early in the morning, and then fall asleep again for a while. I don't think I was getting very much sleep. Or I was just sleeping fitfully. I really have no idea.

Speaking of sleep, I recently watched a movie called Paprika. It's about dreams and how someone has stolen a DC Mini, a device which allows you to see people's dreams and even enter them. It was a rather disturbing movie, but the ideas of it are interesting. I wonder what it would be like to see into people's dreams. I think such things are under development already.

My dad says that you can see roses several times a year because they "get confused and end up blooming in the winter". But I don't think that the roses are confused. I believe that it is their gift to us. To give us a little beauty in a world that is often ugly.

Labels: age, beauty, blinds, confusing, dreams, flowers, free, garden, memorial day, mistakes, movie, oranges and lemons, paprika, rose, san jose municipal rose garden, sleep, variety

My mother has abandoned me again. It's only for two days, but I kept wailing and trying to grab her arm and things like that. She managed to evade me, saying that I should turn on my cell phone and she would call me later. I would've gone to the airport and seen her off but she is with a friend/classmate/other kind of acquaintance. The lady kept smiling strangely at me, and she asked me if I remembered her and things like that. (Probably not. I didn't retain any memories until preschool, and I usually forget who my parents' friends are unless they are people I see frequently) If I had gone with my mom, my mom would've been pretty distracted and I wouldn't be able to talk to her one last time before she flew off to Las Vegas. (She's going there to meet up with some other friends she hasn't seen in a long time.) Also, I would've had to act smiley and nice for the lady-that-I-don't-remember-anymore, because they sometimes saying things like "You've grown so much" or "How old are you" or something. So maybe it was better not to go. But still, it's really quiet here. All you can hear is the sounds of birds outside.

I don't really understand what is up with teachers. They seem very laid-back, particularly the PE teachers and my science teacher. For instance, Mr. Brown, my science teacher, was sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the counter, answering questions about Human Growth and Development. Since there is a door or something connecting our classroom to the neighboring classroom, another teacher, Mr. Aochi, came over and started talking to Mr. Brown. They said things like, "You want a refresher?" (while holding up a bag of coffee beans) and "Twist my arm" (which I assume means "Yeah, thanks, go on ahead") Then Mr. Aochi tried to describe a flower, and Mr. Brown said, "Oh, you mean gardenia." In the meanwhile the students were talking amongst themselves. I wondered, WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO CLASS?! It must be hard to get teachers fired unless they really do something wrong, like handing out permission slips and taking students to 7-11. (A teacher once did that. Mr. Blair, my history teacher, admires that teacher.)

As for the PE teachers, they get paid as much as regular teachers, but they have way less assignments to grade - only tests and projects and possibly notebooks, if they even assign them at all. Oftentimes teachers talk to each other. Mr. Robinson usually talks to Mr. Murray, while Mr. Nakamura usually talks to Mr. Blair (and sometimes the female teachers, Mrs. Jennings and Ms. Rawson). We used to have another teacher (though I am not sure if she gossiped during class as well) called Ms. Hanohano, except she moved away to Arizona or someplace like that.

I heard some strange news. Apparently not only is there a new principal next year, but another PE teacher may be on her way. I am not sure of her name's spelling exactly. Besides the fact she is female I don't know anything about her. I guess it's a good thing to have another PE teacher at the school because otherwise we have practically 40 students to a class (using up ALL the painted white numbers on the ground). Still, I am anxious to know who is this teacher and whether she is nice, or if this is really just a weird rumor.

Labels: chat, confusing, friends, gossip, mom, new, noise, old folks, parents, PE class, phone, pretend, questions, quiet, school, talking, teacher

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