The most recent edition of Reader's Digest, February 2011's issue, has made me depressed about what I eat. People who eat 5 or more cups of white rice per week are 17% more likely to develop diabetes, compared to those who eat less than 1 serving per month. Also, most people have to stay under 20 grams of net carbs per day (meaning the grams of carbs minus the grams of fiber in a food). Two slices of bread contain about 24 grams of net carbs, and pasta has 40 grams per cup. I eat bread, rice, and/or pasta pretty much all week. So I can either choose to pursue my goal of weight loss and suffer, or I can become a glutton and enjoy myself but have pangs of guilt all the time...

...And stomachaches, too. These days I tend to eat when I see something tasty, instead of because I'm hungry, so I have to stay away from the kitchen, bakeries, grocery stores, even my own school during lunchtime. I guess it's like this quote I saw on the Internet; it said that you never really stop being addicted to things, you just get addicted to something else. If only I could stay addicted to something that wouldn't sap my energy and time, the way various websites and video games have done to me. I figure I ought to do something more useful at least, since those things that I think I'm doing for fun don't really make me happy anymore. What I'd really like to do is just live a slacker lifestyle - get up late, eat when I feel like it, work on my character designs, read a lot of books, go on walks to take photographs, practice drawing, go to bed when I'm tired. But considering how many years of school and a career that I have ahead of me, I wonder when, if ever, it'll become a reality.

Oh, but today, January 23 (the publishing time shown for this post is actually the time I first saved this post, not always the real time that I posted it!), I did get to eat some delicious food, so I am pleased. I had spaghetti with beef as dinner (my dad makes some nice spaghetti, I haven't tasted one like it in restaurants, though I like almost all pasta in general), and then I had a little taste of chocolate crumble. It's a cakish, soft brownie kind of thing. One of my classmates from French class and I made it for our cooking project. Too bad I have to bring it to school and give away the pieces. I'd rather just eat the whole thing myself, it's so sweet and chocolatey. (It was kind of a hassle to make, though, I suppose it'll be a long time before I eat it again.) Ahh, it makes me miss being on a cruise ship. I love how there's a buffet and you've already paid for it so you can eat what you like, when you like. It was so nice getting to eat cheesecake and chocolate cake. But gosh, I should stop talking about it, it's just going to make me hungry again.

I really haven't had much to write about lately, so I guess I'll just end with saying that I am currently watching Durarara! and I'm reading Kaichou wa Maid-Sama. Both were fairly popular series, so I thought I ought to check them out. At first I was dubious, since sometimes popular things turn out pretty disappointing (like the Twilight series, Edward bores me) but so far both Durarara! and Kaichou wa Maid-Sama are fair enough. I watched Toradora! not long ago and I suggest that you watch it if you haven't. I don't know if I had abnormal levels of hormones or something, but I actually cried a little when I watched it. I figure if something can actually make me show some emotion, it must be pretty good.

Labels: addiction, buffet, carbohydrates, carbs, chocolate, control, cruise ship, crumble, desire, durarara, eating, food, gluttony, health, magazine, maid sama, readers digest, spaghetti, toradora

I've heard the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I'm not sure if the man here refers to humans in general or just men, but I have certainly been quite fond of food lately.

Ever since we got home from the cruise ship, I seem to be hungry at the oddest times of day. I would wake up, at, say, 1 or 2 in the morning, and would feel the urge to eat something. Last night it took me a while to get to sleep (in fact, I'm not quite certain that I slept), and woke up at around 5 in the morning. I was rather drowsy at first, but I actually don't feel that tired from waking up early. Perhaps I should make this a habit. (It's funny how after taking a nap you often feel more tired than you did before napping, for instance.)

Once it was around 11, I paid a visit to the library I usually visit before going to another town to visit the San Jose Library, West Valley branch. I've only been here once before (at least in my memory) but I liked it a lot, although I have trouble navigating it. It seems to be quite the bustling place. There were a bunch of kids, and I noticed that they had Nintendo DS. (What's the plural form for DS? Is it just DS or is it DSes, or is it DSs?) I discovered that there's this room called the Teen Space, and on the wall there's a poster of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as some drawings from people who are apparently part of a manga and anime club. I thought to myself, "Hey, it might be interesting to join, and I can get my drawings put up on the wall..."

But anyways, since there were apparently ramen shops nearby, we went searching for one which an acquaintance of my dad had mentioned. We found that it was inside a Japanese supermarket. That ramen shop is part of a chain of stores, so we've actually eaten there before (in Japan). But instead of being a restaurant, here you place your order and wait for your number to be called so you can pick up trays with your food on them and find a seat amongst the various tables.

It was the supermarket which interested me in particular. There was an Andersen Bakery inside the supermarket. My mom used to buy me this bread that has custard on it. It's quite delicious. When I was looking around, I saw that there was melon-pan (melon bread) being sold! (It's a bit different from usual, it doesn't look like the usual melon bread. Instead it apparently has cookie dough on the top. But it's quite delicious nevertheless.

I was very excited getting to hear people speaking Japanese. (I should get used to it already, but I can't seem to help it.) I could hear people saying "Irrashaimase!", which means "Welcome", and "Okage desu ka?" (I think that's what I heard, but I don't remember clearly. I forget what it means.) And there was a girl sitting at a table eating her lunch, and she kept saying, "Okashi daiyo" which I believe means something like, "It's strange." But I have no idea what exactly was strange.

I sampled some dango and looked at the sushi and rice balls. It's really quite thrilling to see the foods that you've seen in anime or manga in real life. It's like confirmation that fiction really is based off actual things and happenings. I was on the cruise ship watching a comedy juggler perform and he pulled the tablecloth off a table in one swift motion. The plates and utensils on the table didn't fall off of it. I saw this same thing executed in the anime Kuroshitsuji. I'd like to try it too (although I don't want to risk breaking my plates).

Labels: andersen bakery, anime, bread, cruise ship, food, japanese, kuroshitsuji, library, manga, melon, pan, ramen, show, sleep, supermarket, trick

This summer, for vacation, my parents and I flew to Barcelona, Spain. We spent a few days there to see the sights in the city before boarding a cruise ship, Celebrity Century, to visit various towns by the Mediterranean Sea.

I didn't know much about Barcelona before I went there. My mom seemed to know more about it than me - perhaps she did some research on the Internet or something of that sort. I didn't really know what to expect, besides a big city where people speak Spanish.

I had hoped that, having taken French in school, I might be able to understand what was being said, but it turns out that there are two languages commonly used in Barcelona - Spanish and Catalan, the language of Catalonia, the region of Spain in the far east. I have to pay more attention to Spanish so I'll actually be able to tell the two apart. I feel rather pathetic not knowing which is which even though the languages are different enough to be distinguishable.

There was some rather interesting architecture in Barcelona. I visited this church called the Sagrada Familia. It was rather different than the other churches I have seen. It was...a bit more modern and more nature-themed rather than being Gothic and medieval-looking like the norm. Inside the church, the columns are made to look like trees. Too bad the church is still being built. How many years is it going to take? The church, designed by Antoni Gaudi, has been under construction since 1882.

We also visited Parc Guell, a park of sorts. Both of these places had been swarming with tourists. I was rather irritated at first when we got to Parc Guell. I dislike going up stairs, and then when I had gotten up to a higher level, it turned out to be a vast area of sand, which irritated my senses...Eventually I went with my parents up to a home which had been turned into a museum. There was some interesting nature-inspired furniture. It was pleasant standing in one of the rooms in front of an open window and feeling a cool breeze. The countries along the Mediterranean Sea all seem to have hot, humid weather during the summer.

It was just my luck that I happened to come to Barcelona on the day of the World Cup match between Spain and Germany. After Spain scored a goal, it started to get noisier outside. There was the sound of horns and chatter. And once the game had ended and Spain was declared winner of that match, people started to show up, walking down the street. Some even sang. We had chosen the hotel Rivoli Ramblas, which is on a fairly busy street, La Rambla. The racket continued long into the night. (Do people even sleep? My parents say that they probably wake up late, take a nap after lunch, and stay up late every night) I was kind of annoyed at not being able to sleep, but I also felt like joining the people outside and celebrating.

Oh, and if you were to walk for a ways from the hotel, you would arrive at Placa de Catalunya. I was charmed by it immediately, for when I walked there, the sun was setting. The fountains and pigeons looked so beautiful to me. (There are so many pigeons there, I was astonished.)

I later came back to the square, and saw something rather amusing. There were some boys and a man (the father?). They dropped some food and the pigeons swarmed to eat it. Then one of the boys, amazingly, grabbed hold of a pigeon. (He released it, though) He was able to catch multiple birds, although he let them all go. It was pretty cool. But my dad says it might be rather unpleasant for the bird, and so we didn't make any attempt to try and get one.

I like Barcelona as a city on the whole, both in the urban parts and on the outskirts. I had the chance to stay in a hotel for one night on the edge of Barcelona. But I'll be telling that story another time.

Labels: barcelona, catalan, city, cruise ship, language, mediterranean sea, parc guell, pigeons, placa de catalunya, sagrada familia, spain, spanish, tourism, weather, world cup

Recently, my household had two visitors. One of them was a guy who lives in Shanghai who is here in California on a business trip, and he was a university classmate of my mother. And the other one was my grandma's friend's son, who is currently studying in San Francisco for his master's degree. Both of them came at the same time.

The younger guy, the one who resides in San Francisco, always insists on using an honorific to address my mother. (I guess you would call it an honorific, but I'm not sure what it should really be called) He previously used the title that means older sister, but that seems nonsensical seeing as my mom is the same age as his mom. So he changed to saying a word that means aunt after her name instead. My mom says that he can just call her by her name, forget the honorifics, but he still went with the aunt word.

I remember when I was younger, still in elementary school, my aunt, uncle, and cousins came over to stay at our house during the summer. I was really annoyed by having them around at that time. For one thing, they kept calling me by my name followed by the word that means older sister. I never understood it because I'm not their sister, so I insisted they just use my name, nothing else, but it was pretty hard for them to manage that. I guess in Mandarin and the Shanghai dialect there isn't a way to address your cousin. Or maybe cousins are considered to be like siblings.

Also, there was the time that my cousin was threatening to turn off my Gamecube. I was afraid he would really do it. I sat on him so he wouldn't be able to touch the button. However, this was very traumatizing to him (maybe I was really heavy and cut off his circulation?) and he ran to his mother saying I had hit him. I denied it, but I wasn't able to explain myself since I wasn't fluent enough in Chinese (and at the time, I couldn't speak French; my aunt's family lives in Paris).

My mom said my cousins would grow more mature with time, but they haven't improved all that much. A few years ago, I went on vacation to Europe and visited my aunt's family in Paris. The cousins were irrepressible as always and insisted on sitting next to me in the car and playing my Nintendo DS. (I think they have their own DS now, though) One time my cousin sneezed on it, which was really disgusting. Anyhow, if I didn't sit next to them in the car they would throw a fit. (I didn't want to put up with their antics so I sat in the back next to my grandma and mom, meaning to take a nap, but not managing it)

My family has been considering another vacation to Europe, except we want to see different places there, like perhaps Barcelona, Spain, or Italy (though people say Barcelona is better...Hmm. If you've been there, let me know what you think). We'll probably be taking a cruise since we haven't been on one since I was still in elementary school. It'll be in the summertime, which is best for me, as I won't be stressed from school. Unfortunately, if I go to Europe I will have to visit my cousins. My mom got annoyed and said that I could just go home early and not stop by Paris, while she visited her sister, but then I can't really fall asleep if my mom isn't there. I guess I have a mother complex.

On to other matters. Today, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so both my dad and I had the day off. (Most people are still working today, because they usually get Presidents' Day off, but my dad's company is an exception.) We went to various places, like REI, Any Mountain, Jamba Juice, Whole Foods, Petco, and Petsmart. I was looking for a hat to buy for Yosemite because apparently it's going to be cold and the one place you can lose heat the most easily is through your head. I was meaning to get one of those with earflaps because I thought it'd be better for keeping my ears warm. (They have to be fairly warm. When my ears get cold, I get headaches.) I picked one hat from REI and one from Any Mountain and decided I would let my mom make the decision since I have no idea which one I like better.

I haven't been to Petco for a long time because there used to be one in my town but it closed down years back. I noticed that there was a section with animals to be adopted. (Petsmart also has one, but they only have cats...At least usually.) There were two rabbits, some hamsters/mice (I didn't pay that much attention, I'll just call them rodents) and I think probably a cat or two. I was watching a particularly energetic rodent (I'm guessing it's a dwarf hamster?) named Boggle. He was behaving rather curiously. Sometimes he would get onto his wheel and start running, then he'd get off, and get back on and change direction, and sometimes he would run like crazy, but other times he looked kind of bored. Very interesting. I read on his description that he likes to take food, piece by piece, to his plastic castle, and stash it there for later.

Labels: adoption, behavior, boggle, chinese, cruise ship, dwarf, europe, family, friends, gamecube, hamster, hat, honorifics, interesting, martin luther king, name, petco, relatives, shopping, vacation

Recently I attended the birthday party of one of my friends. It wasn't actually her birthday, but I think she decided to have it early since her birthday is during the winter break. I was looking at the light fixtures in her house and thought, "Hmm, they look kind of Japanese."

The pattern is like the one in the above picture (which is a "shoji lamp", apparently) except the light was kind of a flat rectangle, and it was on the ceiling. I did see some pictures sort of like the lamp I'm trying to describe but nothing quite right.

And then there were other lights that looked sort of like what I saw when I was in Japan. I couldn't find the right picture for that either. But I saw those kinds of lamps in my hotel rooms when I was in Japan. Perhaps there are such lamps in people's homes too. I'm curious about it, but I doubt I will get the chance to return to Japan soon. (I wanted to go again so I can see Hokkaido, and the Sapporo Snow Festival, but it's in January and I have school. Ugh, school. A lot of good cruise ship routes are only during the months when I'm in school so I can never go)

Well, my friend does not have Japanese lineage, as far as I know of, but I believe her father had been in Japan for a while, so maybe he was fond of Japanese-style things and decided to buy a house that had such features in California. That's why my friend knows that if a few letters were taken out of her name, then her name would be the Japanese word for flower. Speaking of which, I didn't think my name really had a meaning (besides famous cities being named after me - though the truth is that I'm named after the city), but then I looked it up and apparently my name is from Old English and means "wide meadow". Hmm, not bad.

While I am on the topic of Japan...Sometimes I take a look at the bonus features on anime DVDs. I've watched an interview with Yui Makino and a day in the work on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (that one featured Aya Hirano, who was Haruhi's voice and sang the opening and ending songs - note I am talking about the original anime and not the re-release). I thought that their singing sounded different from their normal speaking voices. Do people always sound different when they sing than when they are just talking? I've been curious about it ever since.

Speaking of music, I started watching an anime called Da Capo, and now I'm on the second season. (I think the name Da Capo is cool since it is a musical term) When I was watching the opening sequence I listened to the song and realized that it was strangely familiar to me. In fact, I discovered it was a song on my playlist. ("Sakurairo no Kisetsu", sung by Yozuca*, #37 on the playlist at the bottom of this page)

Also, Abba must be after me for some reason. My playlist is on shuffle and autostart so it automatically picks a random song on my playlist. Two times in a row, when seeing my playlist, I was given an Abba song. (Yes, I know, Abba is old and isn't even singing anymore nowadays, but I thought they were sort of catchy. I guess I really am an old person after all.)

I learned something about Harrison Ford recently. Harrison Ford played Han Solo in Star Wars and was Indiana in Indiana Jones. I had never known for all this time that he was an actor in Star Wars until my dad told me...I guess I'm not that knowledgeable about actors. (Refer to my post in June 2009, "definitely hunting season for drivers", there's a part about my lack of knowledge about Angelina Jolie there)

Labels: abba, cruise ship, da capo, harrison ford, haruhi suzumiya, hokkaido, indiana jones, japan, japanese, lamp, meaning, music, name, round, sapporo snow festival, shoji, star wars, sydney

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

Do you ever have a situation where you have your speakers turned on...Or, headphones/earphones for the computer on your head, and then suddenly an advertisement makes noise, or some music blasts out of nowhere? This happens to me sometimes, and I always get shocked and practically jump backwards from the computer.

I wonder if my dreams have some sort of meaning. In my dream I was sitting in Mr. Brown's science class, just minding my own business. There were other students and the teacher all there. Oddly enough, I could hear the songs from my blog playlist coming from one of Mr. Brown's computers, but no one seemed to care. (When Mr. Brown does listen to music out loud, it's normally some of sort of country/rock guitar songs.) And that reminds me, the two people I never see in my dreams or childhood memories is my parents... (I have distant memories of my mom, like for example when she took me out of preschool on my last day, but I never see her face. I have to see photos to know what my parents looked like.) Yet I dream of my classmates, friends, and even my grandma. Hmm.

Most recently I was reading a book called Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. She's the author of Number the Stars, The Giver, and Gossamer, if those names ring a bell in your head. I am not particularly fond of Lowry's writing style, but the books do have some meaningful stuff in them, so if you're a contemplative philosophical person who likes to hear about different lifestyles, then you ought to check her books out.

My dad and I were looking at the travel section of our local Mercury News (a newspaper). It seems like cruise ships are still a popular way to travel despite our economy nowadays. My mom thought it was a lie, but I just said, "Cruises are so cool, they stand the test of time and all. Who doesn't like to travel by sea? ...Unless you get seasick, but..." It's been a while since the last time I've been on a cruise and I'm rarin' to go again. I hope we will go on a cruise in the summertime. (This also means less time spent at summer academic classes. Ho, ho, ho.)

I keep trying to get my dad to move the rocking chair to a place where I can more easily access it. He keeps the rocking chair in his room and uses it as storage. (Strewing clothes, newspapers, and what not on the chair) I, on the other hand, want to use the rocking chair, and have to clear away socks and TV remotes before I can even sit on it. I used to have my own rocking chair, and it is still in the living room, but it is not very comfortable because it is so small. (It was easier to use that one when I was young...Sigh.) Maybe I should get a Lazy Boy chair or something. My mom says they're like sofas but you can actually rock it back and forth.

It seems like the squirrels in our backyard have gone rabid again. We are constantly visited by squirrels and birds, and sometimes even an outdoor cat or a raccoon. Two squirrels were running around the backyard and performing athletic feats like rolling and flipping. I guess they like the rain even if my mom thinks it's a hassle and depressing.

Labels: books, cruise ship, dream, furniture, lois lowry, music, newspaper, philosophy, rocking chair, sound effect, squirrels, travel

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