This Halloween we still had a lot of leftover candy from last year - both from my trick-or-treating and also from just candy we bought but never ate. I thought we should've given it to the trick-or-treaters, but my mom said it wasn't healthy to give people stale candy, so she dumped the candy! D: What a waste. I mean, my mom even left the lights off in the house so no one would ring the doorbell.

It was fun going trick-or-treating, though. I went over to my friend's place around 6:10 or 6:15. Her other friend was there since she'd slept over at her house (I didn't attend the sleepover because I really, really can't fall asleep at other people's houses). We tried to get pictures of the three of us, but we would blink, or someone would get cut off, even if we had her sister take the photo. Anyways, I saw my friend's dog there. Her dog's name is Lucky, and he's really cute! I think he's a mixture of a German Shepherd and some other species of dog which I'm not sure of.

Later my friend's sister's friend, plus her brother and older cousin, came over. We trick-or-treated with them for most of the time, but then they had to go home. The cousin was just there to watch them, I believe. It's great going trick-or-treating in a group. The young people sure are energetic, though. My friend's sister and her friend often ran ahead, and I had to try and keep up since I didn't want to get separated from them. It must be nice to be young... *looks off into the distance*

I didn't get that much candy this year because I didn't go to as many houses, as we kept skipping houses here and there. We couldn't go in some directions because my friend's sister's friend and her brother only knew how to find their way home from certain locations. Something to do with their father's jogging course or something. o_O;; But anyways, the three of them (since their cousin is included) left a bit earlier than us since their parents said they had to be home at a certain time or something.

There weren't that many people out there, actually. It was disappointing. We did see a few people. One of them had a costume that looked sort of familiar to me. The others I was trick-or-treating with didn't know what it was, even when he pulled out an orange mask...Then I realized it was a character from Naruto. (Didn't know the name because I've only watched the show once D: ) Anyhow, the reason why there were less people was apparently because of the swine flu scare, people think they'll get sick from meeting someone who has the swine flu. Ugh! Just get a vaccination and don't worry! (Even if no one knows for sure whether the vaccine works, I'm sure it must, because they test it beforehand, and it's not like swine flu is AIDS or cancer or something)

Looks like the holiday is over for this year. But Thanksgiving and Christmas are yet to come, and then the New Year after that. (Oh, did you know, Halloween used to mark the New Year for the people who built Stonehenge in England? They considered the new year to be the end of the harvest or something) I don't really do much for holidays, but if you do, then it's good for you to be able to look forward to something. (: Brightens up your life, and all that. It'd be boring if the only difference in the days was the seasons.

Labels: candy, costume, dog, energy, group, halloween, holidays, leftovers, lucky, naruto, new year, photography, stale, swine flu, trick-or-treating, waste

I had the strangest sense that there was some heavenly being watching over me. (I am more superstitious over time, though I still consider myself to be an atheist) As I was walking along, minding my own business, I noticed a feather floating down from the sky. It was pretty close to me, so I grabbed it and held on to it (or it would've been blown away, as it has been quite windy nowadays). It was actually a lot like this, from the manga Pita Ten. And it made me wonder if there might me some sort of guardian angel watching over me. (Not that I would ever know, but it's nice in theory, at least)

More news about my math teacher...Apparently not only does he have scissorhands, but he also has a bringer of happiness. Last year, we received some red pens (the pen itself, I don't mean the ink) which have smiley bobbling heads on the top, and the heads have some hair, with a mix of red and white. Some folks had a lot of red on their heads, but I had a lot of white on mine! That means I really must be old if I was given one of the few pens with a lot of white hair. D:

Anyways, my teacher has kept his pen. He said that the pen will make anyone happy if they look at it. One of the students was dubious and said that the teacher should try it on him; he would resist laughing. At first the student didn't laugh, but then my teacher shook it, and the student couldn't help himself. So it seems that the pen really does do that. Whoa. o_O;; Everyone should keep theirs with them, then.

Oh yeah, and you know what a stoic expression is? Not showing your emotion and all that? It just occurred to me that the term poker face is a synonym for that. In French class, we had an oral test today. This is the first time that we ever had an oral test, and it was really nervewracking. The teacher said she would try to keep a poker face on.

After it was done, though, she said, "It's interesting, that the ages of people range from 6 to 40." (Let me explain...The teacher would ask random questions in French from a list that she has. We studied these questions the day before. One of the questions asked you what your age was.) We were allowed to make up things as long as they were grammatically correct, but it was pretty funny, since one student said "J'ai six ans" (which means I have six years - in French, you "own" or "have" your age) and another said "J'ai quarante ans" which is I have forty years. The teacher asked the students, "If you're 6 years old and 40 years old, what are you doing in eighth grade?" to which they replied, "I skipped grades!" and "I'm a teacher!" (Which isn't true...Or so I think.)

I had planned to post earlier, but I didn't have time this week. There's been so many tests in a row, plus a project, and Halloween is coming up. Speaking of which, I'm keeping my costume a secret until Halloween comes around. Ha! But I will say that a mask was supposed to be part of it. The only problem is, the vice principal said we could wear our costumes to school, but then she said we can't wear masks, and that ruins my costume because it will make it hard to tell what I am. (Same with some other person in my class who said he planned not to wear his classroom because he wasn't allowed to wear a mask) I guess they need to know who you are so they'll be sure that some random stranger isn't lurking around the campus, but that's still annoying. For once I'm something different than a witch or a Hawaiian tourist for Halloween and now I can't wear the whole costume at school (though I suppose I could still wear it on the actual holiday itself).

Labels: age, angel, bobblehead, costume, feather, french, guardian, halloween, happiness, mask, oral, pen, pita-ten, poker face, range, stoic, test

Yup, a backscratcher. Very useful things, they are. You could use them as pointers (like during a presentation; I would've liked to do that, but I don't know if I can bring a backscratcher to school since it might look like a weapon, we aren't even allowed to bring scissors according to the planner, so I'm already breaking rules) or you can use them as canes (if you have a very long one?) or you can use them to save someone's life. Like if someone is hanging onto a cliff and you can't reach them with just your hand, you could use your backscratcher as an extension to your arm. ...Or, of course, you could simply scratch your back with it.

I do realize that starting off a post with backscratchers is really something kind of weird. But I had trouble getting my creative juices flowing. Now it's coming easier to write since I'm managed to start off.

I have not talked about what anime I was watching for a pretty long time, so I will now. I have been watching Aria the Natural. It is the second season of the Aria anime series (the first season is Aria the Animation and the third season is Aria the Origination). What interested me about this anime is that it's set in a world called Aqua. People had actually filled the world with water. And a famous city in Aqua is Neo-Venezia, a city that was made to be like Venice, Italy. I have wanted to go to Venice someday and I find the idea of navigating a city by water charming. Maybe I'll even try to dress up as a gondolier for Halloween. (Ha! For me, that would just be wearing a red and white shirt, and black pants, and a hat, like the "gondoliers" in the Venetian Las Vegas hotel)

Recently my history teacher was talking about Push and Pull factors. These are reasons that make someone want to leave their country. Push factors are things that the person doesn't like about the place they live. (It could be the government, or having religious persecution, or maybe not enough food like the potato famines in Ireland) Pull factors are things that draw a person to a country. (It could be job opportunities, or family already living there...Or something else. Take for example a family living in Iran. They aren't being persecuted for their religion but they didn't really have a choice what religion to have either. So they moved to the USA so their children could make the decision for themselves)

That makes me want to ask you (just as I was asked to do for homework, to talk about this with my parents), why did you, or your family, or even ancestors a long time ago, move to where you live? Was it because of push factors? Or pull factors? Or both?

Labels: anime, aria, backscratcher, choice, costume, halloween, immigration, italy, pointer, pull factors, push factors, savior, useful, venice, weapons

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

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