My dad recently decided to remind me of what he wanted on his gravestone when he died. He said, "A gardener, a wife, and a father."
"Huh? A wife?" I asked, bemused.
"No! I meant a husband!" (Forgetting his gender, perhaps? Or just not paying enough attention to what he's saying?)

I think he is becoming old and forgetful. He nearly lost his wallet today, but luckily was able to retrieve it. I thought it had probably gotten stolen, but luckily that wasn't the case. Imagine how dangerous it would've been if credit cards, driver's license, and money had all been stolen. -_-;;

Recently I got a new camera, except this was a Canon one. I couldn't understand why the image looked fuzzy in the image window and I was pretty confused about how to use it. Then my dad told me to read an instruction manual which he had opened up on the computer. He was all pleased with himself, saying, "I never read the instructions, but I read them this time. If you had read the manual in the first place, you would've had known how to use the camera."

I'd like to remind you all how important it is to read instructions. Sometimes I slip up on test questions or homework just because I didn't pay careful attention to the instructions. (I'm usually too impatient to bother reading thoroughly, so if I'm reading the instructions for something, like a game, I often just skim through it)

I was looking at the TV screen and there was some commercial for Etrade. There were some babies talking, except with voices that were like adult voices, not baby voices (a dub, I suppose). I didn't really understand the commercial. Nowadays I really don't understand most television commercials. A lot of money is spent on advertising, so...Doesn't it go to waste if the people watching television don't even understand what the commercials are trying to say?

But I feel like money is often squandered nowadays in general. A lot of teachers at my school have document cameras. my science teacher's document camera didn't seem to be working properly last time she tried to use it. Isn't it a waste of money, then?

And earlier today, my parents and I walked to the campus a local high school, which I will probably be attending when I move up to high school. Some gates were locked, but we did find a way into the school. (Isn't it pointless to lock some parts of the school and not the others? I know they wanted to leave doors open so the people who play sports on the weekend can get in, but if they're going to do that, why not leave all the gates open? It is considered to be an "open campus", after all (so students can even leave the school to have lunch elsewhere).

My mom wanted to get a feel for the campus, so we walked around peering in the windows. The main office looked pretty nice. It seemed spacious, the chairs looked cool, and there were fancy nameplates... And yet the brick walls of the school look like they aren't in such good condition. (But the school is forty years old, so I suppose I should expect it) And the desks seemed kind of small. I wonder how the money is being spent.

The campus was pretty big, though, bigger than expected. I think my mom thought there were too many classrooms. I was looking at the names of the teachers. I thought they were pretty interesting names. I saw "Birdsong" on one classroom and "Goldenkranz" on another.

I was considering becoming a teacher. I think elementary school might be good, but not kindergarten or first grade (a little too young). Perhaps third grade or fifth grade? By then people are pretty aware of things, and still pretty innocent, untouched by the worries of the world. But if I were to teach high school or college, a lot of students would be taller than I was, which would be pretty intimidating. (I know I shouldn't let size put me off, but it is inconvenient being short. You have to be careful to make sure drivers see you or they'll run you over.)

Labels: camera, canon, commercial, condition, document camera, forgetful, gravestone, instructions, locked, money, name, office, open campus, school, short, teacher, television, wallet

I was set to thinking lately about the news on television and such because I've been reading a book called Scoop by Gene Gutteridge. It's the first book in the series called the Occupational Hazards. The second book is called Skid, which I accidentally read first, because I didn't even know it was a series. (It says The Occupational Hazards on the book, but it's partially covered by the labels the library put on the book) Scoop is a novel about a news station, Channel 7 News. (I don't think it's about the real Channel 7, but who knows) Skid, on the other hand, is about an air plane flight. I expect there will be more books in the series. Each book seems to feature one Hazard. (There is a family called the Hazards who is in each book) I think there are still several Hazards that haven't been covered yet.

It seemed to me that news was rougher business than I thought. To some reporters, it was just work, and it just mattered whether you got the news that was the most interesting to the viewers, rather than showing news that was meaningful, that could really make a difference. It seems like people want to see how many people die in a crash, not how many people survive. And news stations have to compete with each other to have the best information. It's pretty vicious business. I wonder if newspapers are like this too or if it's only the news stations.

Speaking of news, I probably haven't watched the weather much, because I was surprised to see that they seem to be using tablets now. I could tell because when they were showing the direction of wind or something, I saw a red arrow being drawn. I noticed there was a small cursor which looked like a pencil moving around. It was just like what my teachers had previously used. In 6th grade, my language arts/history teacher tried out the tablet for doing our daily grammar/spelling/etc. exercises, but it didn't work that well since most folks, including the teacher, couldn't draw that well using the tablet. Then the next year, in math class, my math teacher (who was, incidentally, the wife of my 6th grade language arts/history teacher) used the tablet to show us the lesson in math. Eventually, though, she switched to a document camera.

I remember I first was aware of them when my language arts teacher in 7th grade showed off her spiffy new document camera. Some of the teachers have them now too. My current science teacher uses it a lot...My French teacher has been using it, but it's not working out too well. I wish she'd go back to the projector. I wonder if they're wasting the donations of families on buying things that aren't even that easy to use. I wish they would spend the money on something else like replacing the chairs that are cracked and things like that.

Today, my father and I were planting tulips bulbs. We bought 50 of them once, and planted 25 last year. Most of them bloomed, but not all...We were digging up the dirt today and found some parts of tulip bulbs. I've always been wondering where the bulbs come from. Do tulips make bulbs after they die, or do two of them create bulbs and then you find them later? Or are bulbs plants which grow larger over time? It's confusing.

My dad thinks that the bulbs are dead since they look kind of dried up. I heard that seeds always have some stored food and other resources in them so they'll live long enough to find a place to settle down. I wonder if it really could last a whole year, though...Maybe not. But I hope so, because if they're still alive, there will be beautiful flowers in the springtime.

I dug up some other things. I found an acorn, which is odd, because we don't have those in my backyard. Perhaps a squirrel buried it there. I also dug up an earthworm by accident. I was really surprised by it. I put it on the sidewalk and watched it wiggle. It slowly moved its front, then seemed to start moving different parts, gradually. It sure takes a long time, though. Worms are really slow. It's like this joke... "A snail was mugged by two turtles. When asked about it, he said, "I don't know! It all happened so fast." " (I think it was a snail and turtles...I'm not exactly sure)

Labels: acorn, bulb, dehydration, document camera, earthworm, gene gutteridge, joke, money, news, scoop, tablet, teacher, television, the occupational hazards, tulips

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