Ah, chocolate. So delicious. I do like a lot of sweets, but out of the "candy" variety, chocolate is probably my favorite. (I say probably because there may still be more delicious foods out there, just waiting for me to try them.) Milk chocolate in particular. Dark chocolate's a bit too bitter (a lame attempt at wordplay there) and white chocolate's artificial... But milk chocolate is simply splendid. Right after winter vacation, I noticed that my parents had purchased a box of chocolate cookies, and I ate so many of them that I gained several pounds. (I still haven't been able to shed them. In fact, I gained weight again. I wouldn't care so much if it didn't mean that it makes my pants not fit so well.)

Too bad chocolate isn't really the best thing for your health. Recently we had to bring in food that we cooked to French class, as the product of a cooking project. Many of the foods were desserts, and most of those had chocolate in them. What's funny is that the very day that many of us brought in the chocolate foods, the teacher said that she'd just been to the dentist. He had not been happy with her teeth...because, apparently, she'd eaten too much chocolate.

I'm pretty sure my dentist won't be too happy either. He always tells me that I need to floss, and I realize that I really ought to...But I'm not good at it; sometimes it hurts, and it's a hassle besides. I wonder if I have cavities again? I never seem to feel any pain from them, so it always surprises me to find out that I have them when I see the dentist. Maybe it does hurt but the signals for pain haven't been reaching my brain.

I wouldn't be too surprised, because lately, I think I am somewhat of a masochist. Just the other day, in PE, I was playing soccer, and it got kind of wild. I probably could've stopped myself from falling, but instead I let myself fall to the ground. I hit the ground pretty hard, and I was asked the customary "Are you okay?" by several girls. But I actually felt better after getting bashed up, just as I enjoy feeling hungry and even having pulled muscles (if I pulled the muscle from a good run the previous day, that is, and not from being in a weird position).

Ah, but it is getting to be around time for Valentine's Day, and Singing Valentines and rose grams are going up for sale at my school. I wonder if anyone here gives chocolates for Valentine's Day? When I was in elementary school we'd give each other little Scooby Doo/Clifford/Spongebob/etc. valentine cards, with a lollipop or some other candy. But I don't recall ever seeing anyone give just chocolates for Valentine's Day, and certainly not hand-made ones in a heart-shaped container or anything like that. I guess it's either something kind of personal that you wouldn't do within sight of other people, or I've been reading too much manga and keep expecting people to behave like they're in Japan. (No White Day here, after all.)

I was reading one of the two Kaichou wa Maid-sama! side stories that comes after chapter 28, the one about Yukimura and his sister. I thought it was really a lot like a certain episode in Ouran High School Host Club, when Nekozawa isn't the princely big brother that the little sister wants. Well, Maid-sama and Ouran were both in the LaLa magazine, so I guess they would have stylistic similarities. By the way, I'm looking for good manga to read - either really funny or just something that would touch your heart, or both - preferably already finished (but not that old, at least in terms of art style, if you know what I mean). Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Labels: chocolate, cooking, day, dentist, food, gift, health, injury, kaichou wa maid-sama, maid sama, manga, masochist, ouran high school host club, pain, sweets, teeth, valentines, weight

I mentioned briefly that I visited Petsmart in my post on January 17, 2010. When I was younger, I always wondering how you should pronounce Petsmart. Is it Pets Mart, or Pet Smart? I still am not sure. (I should probably wait for a TV commercial, if there is one, so I can hear how it should be said.)

While I was there, I noticed that there was one koi in a tank full of a different kind of fish. The koi looked very stressed and was trying to swim away, but it couldn't because it was only in a small tank, and it's impossible for it to break through tank walls to get to other tanks and back to safety among its own kind.

Since I'm on the subject of fish, I recently bought two fish from Petsmart - a greyish koi with a weird yellowish splotch on him, and an algae eater (my dad wants one, probably because he hopes it'll clean the tank for him, and anyways, since we have a "Petperks" card - it's like a store membership - we get a discount). The algae eater, as is their nature, found a place to stick on the tank, and didn't move until later, while I wasn't looking. He moved to the underside of this fake rock decoration we have and I didn't see him until I took a closer look. And the grey koi seems to be doing fine. It's my original fish that were troubling.

I have two fish tanks. In the bigger tank, I have a big white koi (used to have orangey-red parts, but it faded with time...Really weird) and a red and black koi. Yesterday, I noticed the big white koi (I did name him/her - I actually still have trouble telling the genders apart - Pumpkinflash, but we don't really use the name) was acting funny. It kept swimming around frantically and it would sometimes go up to the water's surface and seemed to be making nibbling motions. The red and black fish eventually did that too, but I think it's more likely that it was just imitating its friend. I suspected that the white koi must have choked on a pebble, because koi try to glean food from pebbles. I tried to scare it by flicking my finger against the tank, thinking it would spit out the rock if it got frightened (I used this technique for a fish I used to have, to save its life, since it was really and truly seeming like it would die, except I used a net to chase it) but it didn't work. At least the fish seem better today, maybe the white one digested the rock...Wait...Then that would be really weird. o_O;;

My mother read in her Chinese newspaper that an old lady, apparently a doctor of some sort, recommended eating meat for breakfast, fish for lunch, and something light for dinner (like rice soup). Not eating much for dinner makes sense, I suppose, seeing as you shouldn't eat much before you go to bed. But I tend to eat something light or sugary for breakfast, meat for lunch, and fish for dinner. Guess I have everything reversed. I wonder whether the lady in the newspaper's suggestions would really work, though, or if it only benefits the health of some people. My mother always reads that newspaper, and probably has for a long time. She also reads books about fitness and cooking and such things. My dad says that she keeps reading cookbooks and never really cooks the foods in them. XD

I'd like to make something based on a recipe. I really haven't cooked in a long time; barely at all ever since I moved on from Cooking class in 7th grade. I wonder if I should use one of my recipes that I obtained from that very same class. We made a coffee cake once and it was pretty good (it doesn't taste like coffee at all, it's just called coffee cake). I don't know if we have the cake pans and ingredients, though. I guess I'll have to find out sometime.

Today in debate club, the topic kind of changed until it was about how unhealthy America is, what with so many obese people, while in other countries peoples are reduced to making mud pies. There were more people than usual in debate club since it's been raining hard nowadays and students just want shelter from the rain. One boy said that people keep looking for a perfect, easy way to lose weight. But he said that if you're not rich, it won't happen. (Because then you could afford to have that surgery to remove some of your fat and skin) If you run out of your Nutrisystem food your eating habits aren't going to change. He said that you must simply eat less and exercise. And other students suggested vegetarianism but then there were people who protested saying they couldn't live without their meat. (And I can't, either, sadly) Besides, meat does have its benefits, like protein. Even eating other protein foods or supplements isn't quite the same as the real thing.

That reminds me, my mom said that one of the possible reasons why my skin is sensitive and tends to get itchy or infected easily is because I don't get enough zinc. She said that peanuts might have zinc, but since I'm allergic to peanuts, I can't get much zinc. There's only a limited variety of nuts I can eat - almonds and pistachios are the only ones I've confirmed to be "safe". I wonder if I'm destined to have skin problems forever.

Labels: choke, coffee cake, cooking, debate club, eating, fish, food, koi, meal, meat, newspaper, nuts, peanuts, petsmart, protein, recipe, rocks, skin, weight, zinc

Since we've been studying the Aztecs in class, I've had to listen to a lot about sacrifices, and sometimes had to look at some unpleasant pictures. I was told that the priests would take the skin of sacrificial victims and wear it on top of their own skin, or even eat it! That sounds pretty nasty. But I heard the Donner party (a group of people traveling west over the US to try and get to California) got stuck in a pass during the middle of winter. They got so desperate for food that they ate each other. So that's today's inspiration for the blog title. I am quite disturbed by cannibalism myself, even if I used to bite people back in the day. (If you want to scare people off, tell them that you bite)

Right now my dad has the TV turned on to BBc World News. A protester threw an egg at a man (probably some politician or other famous person) and the man got really mad and tried to punch the protester. It turned into a fight and other people had to drag them apart. I've heard of people throwing eggs at houses on Halloween as a mean prank, but I've never seen it being thrown at people. o_O

I've been attempting to go to bed earlier these days. There is no major improvement, but at least this morning my headache wasn't as bad as usual, so maybe it's a good thing. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep in on Saturday. Unfortunately I suffer from insomnia which I've inherited from my dad's side of the family and always wake up around the same time each morning unless I'm really exhausted. My mom, on the other hand, can fall asleep more easily than I can. She says the back of her hair is a bit flat because she slept a lot when she was a baby. (Her parents were busy and couldn't take care of her all the time. She just slept away the hours and didn't cry much. That might be dangerous, though...What if she was hungry or sick and cried too quietly for anyone to hear?)

Lately the school's macaroni and cheese makes me feel bad. Whenever I eat it I feel a little sickened. I wonder what it's made out of. I wish they would buy ravioli instead since that is tastier than mac and cheese (at least, the ravioli tastes less sick). Or even the Pizza or Taco pockets and calzones. I like almost anything with bread in it. Noodles and granola bars (without peanuts) are tasty too since they're similar to bread.

As I continue to watch BBC World News, I get pretty freaked out. Some passengers were disembarking a cruise ship in Europe and due to high wind speeds, the ramp/staircase thing collapsed and fell into the ocean. Four people were dunked into the ocean. One suffers from a head injury and the others are being treated for hypothermia. (You know, that's the sickness you get when you're in really cold water) I've never thought of cruise ships like that before. >_<

By the way, sorry it's late, but here is the cooking schedule of the previous week.
Monday - Prepare Cherry Cheesecake
Tuesday - STAR Writing Test & Eat Cheesecake
Wednesday - Utensil Test (Kitchen tools are strewn about the classroom. Identify each one using a word bank)
Thursday - Marinara Sauce and Garlic Bread
Friday - Finish Cooking Spaghetti and Garlic Bread & Time to Chow!

Labels: aztecs, bbc, cannibal, cooking, cruise ship, donner party, egg, family, flat hair, hypothermia, macaroni, sleep

Far from it. The sky is covered by rainclouds and the dirt on the ground is still damp, so it becomes mud. There is no one at home besides me, leading to an eerie silence only disturbed by the sound of my breathing and typing. But oh well. I am still thrilled because of the recent work the teachers have handed back to me. (The papers were handed back recently, even if the work wasn't necessarily recent) Since I have low self-esteem, I have to brag at home or talk to myself just to keep it up. People mistake it for a cocky, slightly snobbish personality, but it's a facade.

Sorry about not posting my cooking schedule yesterday. I rambled on too long in the previous post and forgot to put it up. Here it is.
Monday Baguette Costrini. (I'm not exactly sure what it was called. You take a baguette - a long, thin bread - and cut it up into little slices. Bake it in the oven until it is lightly browned. Then you spread olive oil, pepper, salt, and cloves onto it, and put chopped tomatoes, green onions, and some cheese on top. Bake it again, until the cheese is melted. Then eat!)
Tuesday Chinese Chicken Salad. (It doesn't taste all that great. I mean, it's unique, I guess, but I still don't like it. I wonder if my parents have tried it before)
Wednesday Finish workbook. (We have this workbook thing which is trying to get you to improve your eating and exercise habits. At least, I think it's for Wednesday, unless it's for Thursday? But that doesn't seem right either)
Thursday Clean up. (We're having Electives Night, where the 6th grades - called pixies - come to look at the electives. Volunteers from cooking class will be baking cookies)
Friday Chocolate Lava Cake. (Suggested by a guy who used to be in my kitchen, back in days long past. It sounds tasty. I hope it doesn't have any sponge cake stuff in it, though. I don't like that)

I feel a bit sad at having to leave my kitchen seen. Not even a few weeks later, I'll be hustling out of there and to the other side of the pavilion, and at the end of the school day rather than the beginning (if the glitch in our grade/schedule online checking system is telling the truth). I will certainly miss the cooking classroom, kind of like I miss the art classroom and the orchestra/band room. Some people say woodshop is fun, but the warmth and spice smells of the kitchens are charming, as is room 1 with its vases of flowers, goldfish bowl, and walls covered by artwork. Even room 27's ragged lines of black chairs and stands and white helmet, used as a bathroom/hall pass, are something I like.

Agh, never mind. Pretty soon I'll be in a rocking chair, knitting hats for a grandchild on the way or something. Maybe I'll move to Arizona (good for old people, who have arthritis and feel the cold more than young'uns) and chat with my other retired neighbors. Being retired will give me more free time, at the very least. (Unless you're a busy grandma running a campaign for AIDS in Africa.)

Labels: atmosphere, cooking, knitting, memories, mood, nostalgia, personality, rocking chair, weather

...Or so I thought. I was busy typing up my factoring story for homework, and then I thought my eyes were flashing or something! So I looked at the lights,and one of the lightbulbs flickered and then went out. But now it's back to normal. I wonder if it was my imagination or it really did almost run out of energy a second ago.

As I am feeling very unhappy (because I am presenting my speech for my Japan project tomorrow) I don't feel that much like doing homework. So instead I figured I'd put in another blog post, and listen to my own playlist in the meantime. I just figured out that I had two of the same song (Anata ga Ita Mori, the ending theme of Fate/Stay Night anime) so I deleted one of them. Wow, I have too many songs - a total of 26 now. And that's just weird since 26 was my classroom back in fifth grade.

Here's the cooking schedule. It's pretty plain this week, much to my disappointment. But then again, next week will be winter break, and after that barely any of the trimester is left. I can't believe I'll be moving onto woodshop soon. (One of my friends is going to make me a clock, except she said she would make an easy one, to save herself effort)
Monday - Nachos Supreme (we made dip out of beef, spices, beans, cheese, etc.)
Tuesday - Chocolate Hearts (not hard to do. Just melt chocolate and pour it into molds. Then leave it in the fridge for a while)
Wednesday - Dairy Cow DVD (something like that)
Thursday - Dary Cow thing again.
Friday - Some exercise notebook or practice? (Dunno what that is but it sounds boring)

So you see, though cooking is really nice since you can look forward to it when you wake up, and it's free food, sometimes you have a dull time because we have to watch a bunch of cheesy videos and fill out worksheets.

But at least we watched something interesting recently. It's called the Meatrix and it's pretty funny. Here's the link.

Meatrix

Meatrix 2

Meatrix 2 1/2 (ignore Korean subtitles)

Labels: blog, cooking, elective, factoring, homework, japan, lightbulb, meatrix, music, speech, videos

Y'know. Just a twisted version of "Be careful what you wish for". Anyhow, did anyone hear about the peanut butter? Yes? No? Well, if you didn't, I heard recently that a lot of peanut butter was recalled because it was discovered to have salmonella bacteria on it. The old sal is supposed to be living on chickens. That's why you need to be careful about cooking your chicken carefully.

Anyhoo, back to the point. I saw on TV a kid (who looked like he might eat too much sweets. No offense to the poor guy) and he got infected. He said he was "very sick...I wanted to die." It's not a good sign when young'uns start saying that sort of stuff. (Usually you hear that from depressed teenagers)

Today we are trying out some new cooking. We have this portable cooker. We cook soup on it, then we dip meat into the soup (the oven/cooker thing still on) and eat it once that is cooked. It's pretty cool. We tried it in Japan (and they even gave us vanilla ice cream bars afterward. Too bad my dad keeps eating up our popsicles). I was surprised to find my parents had such a thing stowed here.

I was trying to concentrate on my factoring story (called the cheesy name, The Factor of the Opera) and I made some progress; I added some pictures. Still, it is a hassle doing the project. I want to give up already but I can't since I'm not finished. D: Maybe I should bribe someone to do it for me (then again, I wouldn't be able to ensure the quality). For instance, one of my friends wanted to color my cover, but knowing she is not particularly skilled at art, I refused. She got very offended by that. (Sometimes I doubt whether to call her my friend. But then, it would hurt her feelings to say I didn't like her as much as she liked me.)

My mom's been watching a lot of dramas lately. Ever since we watched Boys Over Flowers: The Movie (aka Hana Yori Dango) on an airplane, she got interested in seeing what the main story was about. So she tried watching the Korean version, Boys Before Flowers (but that series isn't finished yet) so then she's watching Meteor Garden (Taiwanese version?).

By the way, does anyone here like to do puzzles? You know, with a lot of little pieces and you put it together to make a picture? I have one at home that I can't feel motivated to do, so come over here and help me please. D:

Labels: bacteria, cliched, cooking, danger, drama, homework, ice cream, peanut butter, picky, puzzle, salmonella

At my house, we kind of have a problem. There's no way to use the home phones. Both of them (One is yellow with a cord, the other is a cordless, oldish kind) don't allow me to call anyone. It's kind of scary. (Luckily, we still have our cell phones, and all the electricity and Internet is functioning properly) My parents say some people will be coming over on Saturday to see if they can fix the problem. If it's a problem with the wires outside it's free, but if we did something wrong with what's inside, the bill's on us.

I forgot to post the cooking schedule earlier and I couldn't find the time to post...Sorry folks. I was busy working on my factoring story. It is coming along okay since I type some during school, too. The problem is, I have no pictures in the whole story except for the cover (Must find some or draw some) and I haven't gotten past the climax yet. (We have to do all the parts of the "plot line" - exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, falling action, and resolution)

Anyhow, back to the cooking. On Wednesday we were talking about factory farming. It's like a small space is used to raise many, many animals. It's a terrible life since the animals will be separated from their families practically from birth and will be fed antibiotics. Bleck! (Cows have dead, mashed up cows in their food. It's disgusting, since cows are vegetarians. Oh, and pigs have their snouts bashed in before being killed since the pain will keep them from struggling.) So we were encouraged to choose small family farms or organic farms since they are at least better than factory farms. (Even if it's says "Cage-free" on the boxes of chicken eggs, that just means there is no cage. That's all)

Thursday was roll-up sandwiches. Each little kitchen received a big tortilla. Some of the tortillas had mold on them and Mrs. Fromm had to give us a new one. Then we mixed cream cheese and ranch dressing to make a kind of spread. It not only adds flavor but will help the sandwich stay in the rolled position later on. We dropped the toppings (ham and turkey, cheese, leaves, and tomatoes) and rolled the sandwich up tightly. Then we cut it up into pieces. It was really cute. So cute that someone in my history class saw it and wanted the recipe.

Friday, today, we did two-tone smoothies. Unfortunately, when Mrs. Fromm went shopping, she couldn't find any mangos. So she had to use mango juice. That's different since it changes the way the smoothie turns out, and mangos work better since you also make a strawberry smoothie which goes on top/bottom of the mango smoothie. (I would show you a picture of the finished product but I am having trouble finding one.) So our smoothies kind of got mixed together, but oh well. The taste, not the looks, is what matters, right? (Not always. But that's a different story.)

The weather has taken a turn for the worse. It was raining on and off all day. When school ended it was really starting to pour. Luckily my dad made it home from work early and managed to pick me up. I am getting sick of basketball in PE because not only are we learning a strange new style of chucking the ball, whenever I dribble, muddy water gets all over my hands.

At the top to the left is the "icon" of the day. Ho-hum. I hope whoever owns them doesn't mind.

Labels: animals, basketball, cooking, factory farm, homework, icon, phone, roll up sandwich, story, torture, two tone smoothie, weather

One of my friends, who I shall refer to as Miyu-chan right now, told me that some people on a website didn't think too highly of me. This is due to me sending a lot of friends requests to people and not necessarily talking to them. (Though it's not easy to communicate with more than two thousand people, if you catch my drift.) Miyu-chan said some people do like me, though. I wish everyone would. It doesn't feel good to have people frowning on you, even if it is just the Internet, after all.

Here's the cooking schedule. At least, some of it. I don't remember Thursday and Friday.
Monday- Prepare Pie (You can choose lemon meringue or pumpkin. Pumpkin is simpler to make and I like it better)
Tuesday- Finish Pie
Wednesday- Sustainable Farming (Whatever that is. It could be a worksheet or a video)

On to some...weird happenings. As I was walking home, I observed several things. One being that the people living in a house have changed their window decoration. They always hang a picture of some sort in the window. For a long time they had a picture of colorful flowers. I like that one better than the new one, which is a snowman and some blue stuff.

Also, I hurt a tree. I saw the pretty white blossoms and buds and decided it would make a good addition to the ikebana arrangement I'll be doing for homework. But afterwards I felt bad because the tree might be upset and the branch will eventually die anyhow. Still, I could just say "It's for a worthy cause", even though I only half believe it.

I hope my history teacher doesn't lose his teaching credential. I heard that doing a certain activity makes it a possibility. We did the said activity today in class. It was supposed to teach us about population density. We started off with Australia. It's not a densely populated place and people usually live on the coastline. (Sydney the city is on the east side.) So Mr. Blair said you could go do nude sunbathing or whatever in Australia, and you might never get seen. (Yeah, disturbing example, but that's our class.) Then we went on to the United States. AV, who was the one Mr. Blair asked if he would nude sunbathe, settled down in the Arizona region, since he is cheering for the Cardinals. Mr. Blair said he couldn't do his sunbathing there since old ladies would come with their binoculars. (Apparently old people get arthritis and move to warm places like Arizona. So people laughed at poor AV since a lot of elderly folks live there.)

Oh yes, before I end this post...Japan was very densely populated. Mr. Blair tried to teach us this by putting one desk in the middle of the room. Then he wanted us to fit as many people as possible on the desk. (Standing on the desk or the legs. You can't have your feet touch the floor) That was dangerous since we did pretty well until a bunch of kids fell off the desk and one of them hurt her leg. We got a max of 14 people onto a desk. I heard the next class managed 16 or 17. We've been beat there.

Labels: art, cooking, flowers, friends, homework, internet, population, reputation, teacher, tree, walk, window

When I came home today, I tried to go on the Internet, but it wasn't working. The connection seemed messed up. When my mom came home, she managed to fix it by reconnecting the router. So luckily I do have Internet access.

But unfortunately, I somehow managed to get injured in PE again. I didn't have enough energy when I was doing the stretches (which for Mr. Blair's class, we do a lot of running around while stretching). This caused me to fall and twist my ankle. Since I used my knee to partially break the fall, my knee has lost some of its skin. it's very annoying indeed, as I can't run, and can only walk awkwardly. I hope it heals soon, at least before we run the mile next week. If you have any tips that I haven't heard before, please let me know.

I finished the anime I was watching, Moetan, so now I am instead engrossing myself in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. (Otherwise known as Tsubasa Chronicles or just plain Tsubasa.) The manga was developed by CLAMP (if you know the names Cardcaptor Sakura, CLAMP School Detectives, Magic Knight Rayearth, Chobits, etc. you may know what I'm talking about) and uses similar characters to some of their other series. It's a pretty long anime. I think it's roughly 52 episodes. (Which was upsetting to me as I am too lazy to watch long animes) Oh well. I already started, so I'll finish.

Oh, sorry it's late, but here's cooking schedule for this week.
Monday - Grilled Panini Sandwiches (actually pretty simple. I only put meat and cheese in mine.)
Tuseday - Haystacks (It's a kind of candy made from chow mein noodles and something similar to chocolate chips, but that tastes different)
Wednesday - Table Setting Test (And we watched something about the food pyramid)
Thursday - Mac and Cheese (I look forward to it.)
Friday - Chocolate Chip Cookies (Sweet, but unhealthy.)

I finished a book called The Star of Kazan recently (author: Eva Ibbotson). It was a pretty good book overall. I am now reading Onion John, but I don't like it much so far. But it was interesting that the guy called Onion John likes using bathtubs to store vegetables and newspapers.

Labels: anime, books, clamp, cooking, exercise, injury, internet, onion john, star of kazan

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

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

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

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

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

(Thanks to "Marine" for the heads-up about it.)

Doesn't that title sound cheesy? Like some kind of show or musical group? But no, it's not any of those. It's two girls who go to the school, both named Jessica, who stick together like glue (not for real; they're not Siamese twins or anything).

I thought of this because I was walking home, and was a little behind schedule. I saw one of the Jessicas (this one being the taller one who wears her hair in a ponytail. The other one is shorter than her and has glasses). I was surprised since I didn't see the other Jessica with her. I guess they don't live near each other, or maybe the other Jessica rides a car home. Still, it's odd, after seeing them sit together in their classes and walk around the school together, whenever they can.

Well, I got home, anyhow. I did something a little risky today. I have to press a button to cross the street once during the walk home. This time, my walking companion was a little late to press the button, and the green light came on without giving us the walking signal, so my companion didn't walk. However, I thought it was okay and just plowed on ahead. I almost didn't make it because the light changed to yellow and then red before I got to the curb on the other side...But I'm still alive. I won't do it again, I hope. I was a bit freaked out because I didn't get enough time to walk.

I was meant to be doing my math homework, but I was on the Web to find some explanations to assist me with it. Then I got distracted by chatting to my parents and I decided I might as well write today's blog entry while I'm at it.

My father is such a glutton. He is always eating stuff when it's not meant for him to eat. Like when I used to keep a bunch of Popsicles in the fridge, he would chow on them and there wouldn't be much left for me. Or chocolates - he'd eat those too. And even raisins. My mom bought them because they contain some iron but my dad already ate...one third of the container! Wow!

Anyhow, here's the cooking schedule for this week.
Tuesday - Burritos (Mine fell apart. I put too much stuff in it.)
Wednesday - Table Setting (What's that? Maybe the teacher's out again)
Thursday - Prepare Streusel Coffee Cake
Friday - Bake Cake (Sounds tasty, except I don't like coffee flavor...)

Labels: blog, chat, cooking, crossing, danger, food, jessicas, math, people, road, walk

Nowadays I've been pegging a bunch of different labels onto my posts...So much that they won't fit in the bar you type them into, and you would have to highlight from left to right if you wanted to see how many there were. Or just click your mouse there and keep hitting the left arrow on your keyboard. (If I'm confusing you, just forget it. XD)

Today has been a pretty boring day so far. I woke up, delirious, around 8 am. I was woken up by a need to go to the bathroom which is a sad way to wake up since you won't be able to get back to sleep if it's late enough in the morning. I just read National Geographic Magazine for a while before dragging myself out of bed. I decided to make french toast so I could finish one of my cooking projects. (It's a big hassle having to do homework for my elective. Luckily I only need one more HCP and I'll be done with them for the rest of my life...Unless I join Advanced Applied Arts next year.) It tastes rather eggy instead of sweet, but it's good if you put syrup and sugar on it. (If you use syrup, or even honey, it will be messy, so watch out.) I really hate getting my mouth and hands sticky. It feels like it's hard to clean.

Afterwards I played Animal Crossing on my Gamecube. I just play for some time every week instead of every day on the Gamecube since I really don't have enough leisure time for it otherwise. Lately I've been playing my newest person, Radcliff, like crazy, and since I made him in December I've already fully expanded my house (except for the basement). If you have both games you will notice it is considerably easier to pay off your debt on the Gamecube...Or maybe it feels that way because I have two memory cards and can make money by visiting both. (And I play the DS version every day so I guess it makes me feel like it takes a long time.)

Then we hopped in the car and headed to Saratoga. Sometimes I insist on going there so we can see the farmer's market. I tried some samples of salmon spread and it was pretty yummy. (But my dad says food always tastes better when it's a free sample.) I also bought some apple cider. I usually get my apple cider from a stand called Rainbow Orchards. And I get my strawberries from whatever random places there are. We always sample the strawberries first to see if they're sweet, then look at the price. If it's reasonable and the strawberries were tasty, then we buy it. And of course, since there are cage free brown eggs, we get those. They're cheaper at the farmer's market than at Whole Foods anyhow.

So right now my dad is probably napping and I can't practice piano. I figure I'll go do some Wii Fit to pass the time. I should exercise anyhow, since it's the weekend and I don't have PE. D: I suggest you all do the same, as you are reading this.

Labels: blog, cooking, egg, exercise, farmers market, food, fruit, homework, label, moaning, nap, sleep, video games, waking up

Today in cooking, we made cinnamon crisps. I didn't know for sure what they were until today. I finally found out that it was a kind of cookie. It was addicting and delicious but it was filled with unhealthy things such as: sugar, of course...salt, molasses (a byproduct of sugar), and butter, which is quite fatty but tasty.

Sorry, folks, if you were disappointed about my lack of post yesterday. I couldn't think of much to say and didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to a post, so I decided I would skip it yesterday. It's pretty hard to maintain posts every day sometimes, especially since I have some big projects coming up in school (A presentation and research on Japan, and a story about factoring...). They sound pretty tedious to me but I guess I will have to do them. At least I won't have to do it again. (But I will have other projects in the future, which isn't encouraging.)

I saw Haibao on TV. (If you read my bonus/special about him, you'll know, but just in case...He's a blue cartoony guy who is the mascot of the Shanghai world expo in 2010). It wasn't a statue or merchandise this time. There was a person wearing a suit, kind of like you might see someone dressed up as Dora the Explorer at one of the nearby amusement parks. I feel sorry for the poor guy who had to be in the suit.

I'm still having my "health problems" (It's a female thing, don't think too hard about it) but I hope it goes away soon. I don't feel hungry anymore and I can't tell the difference between digestion problems and the pains from my...extra organs. But I'm getting kind of used to the wet feeling nowadays but that doesn't keep it from being a bother.

Oh yeah, I am supposed to go to my friend Mars's house on Monday. It turns out her sister invited a bunch of friends...And we all have to go see a movie. Something about a hotel for dogs. I am okay with a movie but I really prefer to chill at someone's house, or take a walk. D: But I can't do anything about it because I can't be left at someone else's house. So I have to go if I don't want the meeting to be canceled. This is a dilemma.

Labels: blog, cooking, costume, female, friends, haibao, health, homework, movie, shanghai

I guess that applies to women too. 'Cuz I was reading So Far From the Bamboo Grove today, because it's our current book for language arts class, and the mother of the main character died. And, as dead people usually are, she was silent and pale and unmoving. (I was having trouble coming up with a post title today, that's all.)

I've been pushed around a lot at school lately and I'm getting a bit annoyed. For instance, when I was trying to get through the classroom door at lunchtime, the kids were too rowdy and I fell backward, tumbling onto my backpack. It didn't really hurt but I was very upset because I was trying not to let this happen. And also, at the lunch line I had to do a bit of shoving myself to get a good place in line because the lunch lady decided she wanted us to go in through a different door than usual. (This was because we moved to a different location today. The geography bee was going on in the ordinary place. I had forgotten about the geography bee, and unfortunately missed it. So I only glimpsed it later through a window. Mr. Blair was talking to the kids; at this point there were three boys and one girl left.)

That reminds me, once I'm in eighth grade I might be able to enter the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I have never been sure if I'm good enough to go far but I always wanted to see. But unfortunately I never get a chance due to me being in the wrong grade at the moment.

Right now my legs are pretty stiff. I've been standing in an odd position in front of the computer because my mom says you can lose weight by standing for half an hour after you eat. I don't really believe what my mom says since she gets these things from Chinese newspapers (Which I don't trust), but oh well.

Today's country in class (I usually don't talk about this but I am not sure what to talk about today) was Singapore. I was looking at it and I realized they seem to have better living standards than China (They make a few thousand more dollars average than USA! And have a much higher HDI, .922, which is basically how clean and safe it is). They have strict laws, though...Which is probably why it's clean.

Here's an example. A kid lived in Singapore and he was feeling naughty so he decided he was going to graffiti a place. He was caught and was to be publicly whipped. But a lot of humanitarian people said that was cruel so there was a big conflict over it. Eventually the guy stepped up and said he did the crime, he would accept the lashes. (Mr. Blair admires him for at least doing that.) He was whipped, certainly, but due to the people concerned about him he was only whipped a few times, in a wimpy way.

By the way, before I forget, here's this week's cooking schedule...After that I'll be "signing off". :)

Monday - Prepare Pizza! (Mrs. Fromm says that's popular with the kids.)
Tuesday - Bake Pizza
Wednesday - Utensils (Don't ask me what that is because I don't know.)
Thursday - Chicken or Tofu Nuggets
Friday - Cinnamon Crisps

Labels: books, cooking, death, future, geography, graffiti, health, rudeness, singapore, unhappy

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

Usually I only do kitchen-related work at school in cooking class... And this is my first time cutting fruit, basically. XD My mom bought some fruit, so we were able to make a smoothie. I cut the strawberries, a banana, and an apple to put in the smoothie. (I only cut one of the two apples we used because I'm not good and cutting and peeling apples.) At first I was freaked out while cutting the strawberries because there was red stuff on my hands. But then I realized it was just strawberry goo.

I basically wasted away this whole Saturday. In the morning I was really tired so I tried to sleep in and kind of succeeded. I got up at 10 am. By then my dad and his friend were gone...Probably for tourism purposes, seeing as the friend probably hasn't been to California much before. My mom says they must've gone to Stanford University and San Francisco...Typical.

After a while, I practiced piano, ate breakfast, and did my usual money-making business on my newest Animal Crossing (Gamecube) account. And then it was practically lunchtime. And soon after, my mom left for the library, shopping, and acupuncture. I was highly disapproving since I think acupuncture is like torture. (I just don't like seeing people have needles stuck in them.)

I played the Sims 2 in the meantime. I really shouldn't have. It was just a waste of time. XD Maybe I ought to have spent that time making a new avatar for myself...But too late now.

I saw something kind of disturbing today. I was planning to do one of my Home Cooking Projects this weekend, since you are required to have a total of six of them by the end of the trimester. So I wanted to do cinnamon rolls as one of my projects. I was looking for yeast at my house, and I found a small packet with yeast in it.

I checked the expiration date...It was December in 1999! Prehistoric thing! I was freaked out and my mom asked if we could use that but I said no way since it's so old.

Apparently, my mom used to have a breadmaker, but she gave it to one of my dad's friends, whose wife loves cooking. So apparently my mom hasn't used yeast ever since she came to California. That must've been before I was born. o_O

Labels: cooking, day, expire, food, fruit, homework, tour, video games

It feels strange being back after I was in another country so long...And I was so tired when I woke up. I did not sleep well due to my "mental problems". (Don't worry, I don't need to go to an asylum. Sorry if you are offended by this statement.) And I was woken up by my dad's alarm clock. He insists on keeping me company because he thinks I'd be too lonely by myself. (It is true, but he snores and moves and tries to take my Bloomingdales teddy bear.)

I ate some eggs in a nest for breakfast. (You know, bread with eggs in it.) I ate one and a half slices. (Which turned out to be too much for me. I almost threw up, so I decided not to eat anymore.) But then we made puffy pancakes in cooking class. It's sort of like pancakes but it is a little eggy-tasting...and true to the name, it is also puffy. Very puffy. And the edges of the puffy-stuff got a bit burnt in the oven.

Cooking Schedule: (I am not sure if this is the exact one, because I didn't memorize it well this time.)
Monday - Puffy Pancakes
Tuesday - Texas BBQ Flatbread
Wednesday - Measurement Test
Thursday - ??? (Muffins? I forget)
Friday - ??? (I forget again)
If you know the rest of the schedule, let me know!

My teachers and fellow classmates can be amusing sometimes...Like in Mr. Blair's history class. So there's a guy called Jeffrey who keeps complaining about how cold it is despite the heater being on in the room. He decides later to go to the bathroom. So we vote unanimously to play a prank on Jeffrey...
1. First, wait until Jeffrey is close to the room.
2. Student yells out, "It's cold in here! Can we close the door?"
3. Mr. Blair locks door just as Jeffrey attempts to get in.
4. Watch him bang on glass until Mr. Blair sends him to get a paper towel from the boys' bathroom.
5. Then Mr. Blair changes his mind and allows Jeffrey to come back in.
This was very distracting seeing as we were supposed to be doing the first round of a geography bee.

Oh, and in Mrs. Jackson's class...Mrs. Jackson started showing off her document camera. It's like a projector but you don't need a transparent paper and it can zoom in and out...And it even shows color, not just black and white. We oohed and aahed at it for a while.

In Mr. Brown's class, a kid called Anush always asks questions. For instance, he said, "Can humans tame wolves?" Mr. Brown replied, "Of course; dogs are tamed wolves." Anush went "Ohhhhh!" as it clicked in his mind.

I was going to talk about mushrooms and building construction but there's not much time for that. So see you next time!

Labels: breakfast, cooking, mischief, questions, school, sleep, time

I'm kidding, I'm kidding...But I did hear of some disturbing things recently. My Internet Explorer only works sometimes nowadays, and I was wondering why it wasn't working. I think I may know the reason (or one of the reasons) because it turns out Internet Explorer has a big hole in it! So it's easy for people to put viruses and stuff like that into your computer. I was told you should swap to a different server if you use IE, such as Mozilla Firefox (what I usually use), Opera, Safari, or Google Chrome.

Well, I'm going to talk about something else now. (I don't want to start lecturing, because you would never see daylight again otherwise. Unless you use your computer outdoors.) My blog posts tend to be relatively unorganized and you will probably get confused by my jumping from topic to topic...So I apologize if this is hard to understand at times.

Cooking class went okay today. We're making the dough for our cookies. You get to choose between sugar and gingerbread cookies. The sugar cookie dough keeps sticking to the spoon we use for mixing. It's really a hassle but I guess it'll be worth it when we get to eat it. But I think I will end up overeating. (After all, I had a lot to eat at lunch, so I threw away part of it because I was feeling nauseous.)

Though it doesn't affect me at school, I think I might be getting arthritis or something. In the evening, when I'm playing Wii Fit, my knees get stiff and painful, and my back does as well. I think that isn't supposed to happen to a young person, because my mom said she feels it, and she's so much older than me! I wonder if I should see a doctor. (My mom says it's just from "exercising but not trying to loosen your muscles afterward")

I wonder when spring will come...It's so cold my hands are numb and frozen half the time. Even during PE, when you're supposed to feel warmed up, I still feel like I'm in the refrigerator or something. I guess I should wear a jacket and gloves to PE, but that would feel kind of weird. And it's kind of sad that it's really cold but not cold enough to snow...

I hear Japan is even colder in the winter. I don't look forward to that, even though I pretend I don't believe it when my mom says so. (She checked the weather forecast or something. And she listens to her friends' gossip when they have visited a place. They said Princess cruise ships aren't as great as you would think. I wouldn't know, since I've only ridden NCL and one Carnival cruise...) We'll be flying to Japan and going around with a tour group for about a week, then we head to China and visit my relatives. My mom is taking me to see her grandma's grave. Apparently the trains leave early in the morning, though. That's not good.

Labels: blog, cooking, exercise, health, internet, travel, weather

My house and my schedule both seem kind of devoid today. Since Gran is gone now, there is no one around...Even if I play music, it seems kind of quiet around here. I really can't make much noise when I'm alone, y'know. And this afternoon I barely had any homework, so I ended up doing my piano theory homework. I have to be pretty bored to remember that.

Last night I got freaked out because my eyes were open at nighttime and the room started flashing for a bit. I thought something was wrong with our lights (but that didn't seem right). Then I heard some thunder, so I put two and two together...Well, it's a good thing it didn't storm today. My parents insisted that if the weather got bad, I have to call them on my cell phone and wait for them to drive here. It'll be way late by the time that happens. (Well, not too late, but still.)

There were two rainbows outside the school. The ends of the rainbows seemed to be in the direction of the nearby high school... I wonder why. There doesn't seem to be anything there except for some people wearing ugly purple PE clothes. I don't understand why they're called the Matadors. I thought Matadors wore black outfits and had red flags.

Since I'm leaving on vacation on Monday, I don't have much time to read all the books I checked out from the library. I have a bunch of them to read! Enough to keep me occupied for a few weeks or more. But I only have this week to read them before I have to leave, so I'm in a rush. I guess I have to return most of them. :( Unless they're due after we come back, of course.

Anyhow, one of my M friends invited me to her birthday. (Her b-day is December 19, which is Friday, but she's having the party on Thursday?!) This is inconvenient for me because I am usually busy on weekdays, but I don't want to let her down, so I guess I'm going anyhow. :p But she didn't tell me what she wants for her birthday... Guess I have to go for a "safe but lame" gift.

Here's our cooking schedule for this week.
Monday - Prep. Cinnamon Rolls
Tuesday - Bake Cinnamon Rolls
Wednesday - Prep. Cookies
Thursday - Bake Cookies
Friday - Peppermint Bark

Sounds tasty, dessert all week, yes? I don't know what peppermint bark is, but it sounds similar to those sugary logs (you know, logs from trees) so I think it's dessert. And I think the cookies are chocolate chip or sugar cookies...Either one. It's going to be a yummy time. :o

That reminds me, we changed kitchens in class today. I would've stayed at Kitchen 3 but my group members pretty much split up. So I joined Kitchen 1, but turns out they have an ant problem there and plus the arrangement of the stuff is different...So I kept getting confused.

Labels: birthday, books, cooking, moaning, school, weather

I have seen many imitations of my traits lately. For instance, I always "save the best for last". Like when I have several types of food, I eat the foods I don't like first, then eat the ones I like. Other people are thinking that way now too. (I don't know whether this is something that happens with age, but for me, I have had that way of thinking for a few years already.) And I have this solar-powered keychain with my name flashing on it. I have seen others starting to buy them too... And it may not be a coincidence.

And now my dad is trying to be like me as well! Not only does he want his own blog, but he is getting a new cell phone! (I got a new cell phone recently. It is shiny but it is a bit confusing, so I miss my old phone.) I have this black Palm Centrino thingy. My dad is getting the same phone, but the red color. (And I hate red on cell phones.)

Anyhow, the good news (at least for me) is that my burn looks no worse than before and the pain has already disappeared. Now I am feeling pain in my back and muscles, though that is to be expected...After all, I ran the mile, and due to my lack of sleep, got a rather bad time. (I don't understand why the school forces us to run so fast...Well, at least my PE teacher is nicer than last trimester's and he grades us on whether we improve, not on numbers alone.)

By the way, here's this week's cooking schedule.
Monday - Prepare Pretzels
Tuesday - Bake Pretzels
Wednesday - Measurements (worksheets. D:)
Thursday - Pancakes!
Friday - Breakfast Burritos

From now on, I will try to post what we're up to in cooking. :D

Oh yeah, and today was Open Art Studio. During lunch every week, the art classroom is open so students can come in to work and eat. I am no longer in art, but I still enjoy visiting the classroom, since I kind of miss it. One of my friends and I help out the teacher by recording scores in her grade book, and filing away the papers. For our work, we usually get rewarded. :p We get all sorts of strange things, from jewelry to lip balm to pencils...

Labels: art, blog, cooking, imitation, phone, sleep

Top ↑