You'd probably associate perfume with the scent of flowers, fruit, or even perhaps vanilla. I've certainly never heard of a perfume made from a dead pig fetus.

But that's just what I'm talking about. The smell of a preserved pig is not one that I find pleasant. The first time we had a dissection day at school, I couldn't go close to the pigs for fear of nausea. Still, this past week, I have found the smell of it simply heavenly.

What's responsible for this change of heart? Well, I've been sick with a cold for the entire week (I suspect that I've caught a second one, otherwise I would've recovered by now...But then again, since I don't get much sleep, it probably takes me longer to get better). So it was really thrilling for me to actually be able to smell something. Even with my snuffy nose, the scent of pig came through clearly.

I've certainly gotten more than my fill of animals lately, and most of it's come from French class. We've been studying words about the city and the countryside, and of course, if we're talking about farms, we've got to mention the farm animals. We actually went over the French way to make animal sounds. Pigs go "groin groin", ducks go "coin coin", roosters go "cocorico", and so on. (Ah, if only our tests were on that instead of the usual stuff.)

We learned some expressions, too, and apparently there's a bit of a cow addiction in France. There's a phrase that you use to describe someone who doesn't speak French well, and that's "Il parle français comme une vache espagnole" (which means "he speaks French like a Spanish cow"). There's also the slang word "vachmement", which is used to mean very or really. (If it were literally translated, it'd be "cowly" or "like a cow") Our teacher told us not to get confused; people in France aren't necessarily talking about cows all the time, it's just that the slang's got the word cow in it. Kind of like the English expression "Holy cow".

And not long ago, I was at a pet supply store with my friend because we were volunteering. There are dogs in there up for adoption, and occasionally a dog would get the urge to "mark his territory". Then we had to scramble to get paper towels and a bottle of spray to clean it up. (At least they saved getting rid of solid waste for the outdoors. When I was out walking one of the dogs, I had my first experience with picking up dog poop. Thank goodness you can use a bag to pick it up and not your bare hands...)

All this animal business made me think of something from when I was in Australia. There were koalas at the zoos, and you could pay to hold one and get your picture taken with it. But you have to wear a jacket because the koala could pee on you. o_o;;

Labels: animals, australia, cow, dissect, dissection, expressions, fetus, french, koala, language, noise, pig, sick, smells, sound, sound effect, urine, waste

That's my name for a male singer, but his real name is Michael Bublé. My dad thinks he's cool, though I find him kind of annoying, particularly because of the way the women scream like fangirls when he comes near them. I can't tell whether they like his singing (because he sings love songs a lot) or if they think he looks good. It's beyond me, either way.

I am now in the possession of two red cow/bull stuffed animals. One of them is supposed to be something that you stick to a car window and the other one is sort of like a beanie baby. I have no idea where the beanie came from, but I do know that the car decoration came from China, since this is now the year of the ox (on the Zodiac calendar). Right now, if someone came to my house, they would see the beanie on the computer speaker and the car decoration on the lamp. For some reason it actually sticks on the lamp. (By the way, the lamp is the kind that will light up depending on how many times you touch it with your hand. It's too bad yanking on the stuffed cow doesn't turn it on.)

I was woken up early this morning by the most annoying sound ever - the smoke alarm. It wasn't beeping like crazy like in a real fire but every minute it would let out one shrill beep. I can tell from experience that my mom must've turned on the heater again. She insists she turned it on because she thought I was cold, but I would've slept longer into the morning if she hadn't. I tried to get back to sleep, but the beeping doesn't go away for a long time, so I eventually gave up and read a book. Typical thing for me to do when I'm bored.

On the shelves above my television, there is a clock, a strange porcelain statue (probably the Buddha?), my Ancient Civ 3D model from last year (this being a clay figure of Hatshepsut), a plastic container with dinosaurs in it, a flower pot, and some trophies. I have not added anything new to my trophy collection for such a long time. Probably the only chance I'll get will be the upcoming piano recital, which is around the end of March. I'm always quite nervous due to my fear of performing in front of people but I guess I can't get out of it unless I somehow get in an accident. (And that would have much, much worse consequences.)

I probably need to get more pencil cases or another rack for my pens. I have so many of them by now, that if I disturb my desk (mostly for storage rather than use, hehe) the pile of them will topple and I'll have to spend five minutes meticulously reorganizing the pencils. The only salvation I could find was a wooden container which could serve as a pencil holder if necessary. My parents just insist it's because I'm such a hoarder and a packrat...That may be so.

Labels: cow, heater, lamp, michael buble, packrat, pencil, pens, piano, reading, recital, shelves, singing, smoke alarm, stuffed animal, trophy, year of the ox

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