Recently I've been seeing a lot more dead animals than usual - about 6 of them in this past week alone. Most of them were probably killed by vehicles, though it's hard to say, seeing as some of them have ended up on sidewalks and between poles and other objects. But I'm pretty certain that, at the very least, it was not a mailman who ran over the animals.

Why? Well, just the other day I received a letter from Thefalse-tto in the mail. That in itself was a pleasant surprise, since I have not been exchanging mail with anyone for a long time (though I was supposed to have a email pen pal from France but she has not replied to my last email, so I assume that she has lost interest...Or maybe it ended up in spam for some reason and I didn't see it. Hopefully nothing bad has happened to her). But I noticed the date at the bottom of her letter said June 26, and I had received the letter on July 6. In the past I usually received letters within 3 or 4 days, so I thought that did not bode well for the post office...Maybe all the mailmen were taking time off because of the Independence Day holiday...Still, I live pretty much next to the post office, so it wouldn't be that hard to deliver my mail, would it?

Oh, and speaking of Independence Day, I had a rather odd one. On the weekend right before it (July 2 and 3), I could hear fireworks from my bedroom. According to my mother, the amusement park Great America was having their fireworks over the weekend, since if they had the fireworks on Monday, July 4, all the adults would have to go to work the day after, and be all tired and grumpy from staying up late for fireworks. Or something like that. (This is based on her allegations, so I don't know if it's true...) So I kind of assumed that my town's fireworks would follow the same schedule.

Evidently not. The evening of July 4 rolled around, and while I was attempting to sing Black Rock Shooter at home (which did not work out, since I cannot hit the higher notes of the song), I realized that there were some sounds from outside. The sound of fireworks, to be precise. It was very frustrating for me; I've been planning since last year to go to the location of the fireworks so I can take better pictures of them. Wonder if I'll even get to see the local fireworks before I move out of this town. (But then again, maybe I'll live in a big city, perhaps even Sydney, Australia, and see better fireworks.)

Though I guess in China people might not even know about the 4th of July, so if I ever went there on Independence Day, nothing would happen. My grandfather talked to me on Sunday, and I tried to tell him that Monday was a holiday and my parents weren't going to work. He didn't understand. He said that since it was the first day of the week, of course they were going to work. At that point I attempted to send him the Chinese Wikipedia link for Independence Day, but he didn't notice it.

I know that the flow of this post is rather random, but I guess I'll end by talking about the odd dream I had last night. I was at some sort of concert or musical (probably a musical, since there was a vague storyline, I think), and some of the performers were members of a nonexistent Korean band. Thefalse-tto was in the audience too, and she was explaining to me something about how the audience wanted the female member of the Korean band to sing a song about little unicorns that had inappropriate lyrics. Then I remember seeing a guy from that band going on stage and singing a song. Part of the lyrics to that was "Eugene! Eugene!" I'm not sure whether it was the guy's name or if it was supposed to mean something. Maybe, though, it was because I watched Tangled twice recently and Flynn Rider's real name is Eugene...

Labels: animals, china, concert, dream, eugene, family, fireworks, friends, grandpa, great america, independence day, july 4, letter, mail, pen pal, roadkill, songs

The past few days, I've been having a lot of dreams at night; the day before yesterday, I woke up three times and each time I knew I'd been dreaming right before. Yesterday's dream, however, is the only one that I can remember clearly.

I know that in the dream I was at a school, though I can't tell whether it was middle or high school. The class was going to watch a movie (for some reason I thought it was going to be a basketball movie). My 9th grade science teacher was there, and in the main menu for the movie, she started picking various traits. She could choose from varying levels of certain traits for a male character, like how nice he is or how good-looking he is. Depending on what combo of traits you put in, you get to see a different movie.

The movie that we got was one about a boy who would sneak into a private school's library because he loved to read. One day he was in the library, and so was a class of students who actually attend the private school. Then apparently some accident had happened because the teacher was ushering all the kids out. There was a door out of the library even though the library was on the top floor of the building (which was evidently several stories tall). For some reason or other I felt like I was there too, running out of the building with them. To get down to the ground, I climbed down one of those tall, spirally playground structures. It was like this, except it was blue and a lot bigger. (Actually, I think there's a park near my old elementary school that has one more like what I'm talking about. Maybe if I stop being a homebody I'll go out and take a picture of it.)

I knew I was back at my actual school (my school in the dream, not my real one) because I saw my dad coming over to take me home. I told him I had to go get my backpack because I'd forgotten it in my classroom. On the way there I met my friend SnK/Shiroihime (I am not sure which I should refer to her by) and she said to me, "Sorry, I broke your marker." I told her it was okay and dashed off to my classroom, which was on the second floor of the school. In there was my previous Literature/Writing teacher. She was putting out food, as if she was setting up for a party, and she also had some perfume in the room. As I went to get my backpack, I suddenly remembered that I had brought some money to buy perfume, and then I woke up. I'm still wondering right now why I wanted to buy perfume. It makes me sneeze. o_o;;

Like all dreams, it didn't really make sense and it probably won't ever make sense. I thought it was interesting, though, how I wasn't sure what was real in the dream. (Yeah, I know, technically it was all fiction, but nevertheless.) In the dream, I couldn't really tell whether what was happening in the movie was real or what was happening at "my school" was real. It sort of reminds me of the movie Inception and how you can't really tell what's reality sometimes...I'd like to really have a dream within a dream sometime.

Ah, that reminds me, in my Writing for Publication class, our end-of-the-year project was to make a photo slideshow. We are the narrators, and we talk about something we believe in; we put the recording of our voice together with the photos. I remember one girl talked about how when she was young she spent time picking which pajamas to wear at night because she believed that what she dreamed about depended on which pajamas she wore. And since she had a twin sister, she thought that if they wore the same pajamas they would dream about each other or show up in each other's dreams. It'd be really cool if you could actually control dreams like that.

Labels: class, dream, dreams, escape, inception, movie, night, pajamas, playground, project, reality, school, slideshow, writing for publication

I spend a lot of time on the Internet for two reasons in particular: To look at artwork, and to avoid thinking about important matters (namely, my homework). But, of course, it's only a temporary measure, and soon enough deadlines are bound to come calling. Many evenings I end up scrambling to do my homework, cursing myself for spending so much time on the Internet. (Seriously, though, it's so hard to keep track of time on the Internet. It really feels like no time has passed at all.)

And surprise, surprise! I was wandering around Flickr the other day when I Read more »

Labels: art, audacity, classes, coincidence, dream, flickr, french, friday, gender, internet, photography, procrastination, rebecca black, school, song, teacher

I can't remember the two dreams that I had last night clearly anymore, but I can recall that in the second dream, I had run a long distance. It was either about 3 or 5 miles, which would have been fairly tiresome either way, but I felt just fine after the run. Felt good enough to eat one of the free burgers. (But it was from Subway, for some reason, so maybe it was just a new circular sandwich.)

I'd been very indecisive this year about filling out my course selection form for next school year. I found out that sophomores were not allowed to take Photography anymore (something about giving the spots to juniors and seniors who hadn't fulfilled the art requirements to graduate) and was left floundering as to what I'd do for an elective. French 3 took up one of the spots, and I felt Read more »

Labels: art, business, classes, course selection, cross country, decision, doubt, dream, electives, graphic design, law, orchestra, PE class, weight training

I've been having lots of dreams over this past holiday season. Not really dreams that make me happy, though - I seem to have more and more nightmares these days. When I was younger, I was a major worrywart, though now I slack off a lot more and have a "whatever happens, happens" mentality. Can't say it's a good thing, because even if I might have a blast during the day, my sleep will be haunted by the fears that I've buried. My winter break's coming to an end, and it's rather depressing thinking that I have to go back to the tiresome daily grind again. One of the earlier dreams was about going back to school...except it was far stranger than I'd imagined it would be.

I assume that I returned to my high school, considering that in the dream I "knew" that I had 7 periods. But I had science first thing in the morning, even though it's my last class of the day, and there was a strict lady with short hair and glasses instead of my teacher. And one of my friends, who is not in my science class, was sitting near me, and her cell phone rang in class (which is impossible! She doesn't have one). I didn't have a locker, so instead I put down my backpack on the ground and was rifling through it when another friend of mine came along and told me, "I heard there's a great dessert menu!" (Since when would school lunches include such things?) I said that it sounded great, but I wasn't sure if I should eat it (I'm bound to overeat if I have too much tasty food around). She insisted, "What is food for besides eating?"

The strangest thing by far was PE. There was no locker room to change clothes, so we went into a building that looked alarmingly like a supermarket. Boys and girls all changed in that room, no privacy at all. And in the swimming pool, some guys were just fooling around, and then they must've challenged the dessert friend from earlier, because she got really fired up, saying "OH YEAH?!" and swam at a demonic speed.

I had another, shorter dream, where I was at my elementary school campus, walking with a friend I met in middle school and one who moved away when I was in 5th grade. We passed by a huge pile of brown stuff, which was apparently camel poop.

Last night's dream was weird, too, and it involved the friend who was in my dream's science class. Some of our friends had gone off during the school lunchtime to go to a nearby 7-11 and buy some food, so we decided to go too, after they'd left. But I was having difficulty getting out of the school, and could not find a way out except for trying to crawl under the barbed wire fence (luckily, there was a driveway that we walked down instead). But we didn't go to the 7-11; somehow we ended up at some other stores, one of which was a GameStop, and my friend went in and started admiring the TV screen, which was playing some Japanese commercials for video games. I don't remember what happened next, but somehow we ended up at my house, and I started to panic when I realized we were running out of time and had to get back to school. I suggested that we go out the front door and just walk back to school, but my friend, oddly enough, became very angry with me and insisted we go back the way we came. Problem is, I had no idea how we'd gotten to my house in the first place, so I followed my friend, and there were two men in the house. They went over to a wall, and one of them reached his hand into it like it wasn't solid. And he must've found a doorknob, because a door formed, and he opened it. We ended up in the outdoors, in a place full of plants (which I now suspect might've been a different version of my backyard). I don't remember anything else, as I woke up right then.

Dreaming's pretty hard work, even if it sounds like such a lazy activity... I wake up tired every time I've been having dreams. I guess it's because in a way you've been awake all night long - running around, talking to people, living an entire other life.

Labels: 7-11, camel poop, cell phone, changing clothes, dessert, dream, fantasy, friends, lazy, life, new year, night, PE class, school, slacker, sleep, strange, stress, time, worry

Two nights ago, I found myself in the world of dreams. This hasn't happened for quite a while. In fact, I can't recall having any dreams since I got out of school.

I was at school and we were going on a field trip. We got onto a bus - but it was no ordinary bus. The interior was more spacious than your ordinary school bus, and the seats, instead of being lined up in two columns, were against the walls. We had chosen where we would sit beforehand by marking places on a chart. I had gotten the direction mixed up and sat at the right edge of a black bench at the back of the bus. I was supposed to sit on the left side, where two friends were. But since the bus was moving and I thought it would be troublesome to ask everyone to scoot over a bit so I could take my rightful place, I decided to remain where I was.

Then I noticed one of my friends was taking a picture of me using a device. I'm not sure how I knew, but I knew it was a camera. It looked very strange, with yellowish-orange and black colors.

Eventually we got off the bus and arrived at a place that seemed to be a recreational center. We all went to a room that looked very much like my language arts classroom. The teacher said to get our sleeping bags ready for later. I realized with a jolt that I had seen "sleeping bag" on the recommended items for the trip, but I had deemed it unnecessary and forgotten about it. I hadn't expected us to actually have naptime on the trip.

Then I left the classroom and began walking around. I recall walking on a grassy hill, and I think there were some fenceposts here and there. I eventually decided to go the bathroom. I saw someone I knew there. When I was exiting the bathroom, I went out the wrong door and found myself facing a swimming pool. There was a banner of some sort put up near it. The girl that I knew came out that way too. I was going to go back into the bathroom and exit through the correct door, but she said, "You can just walk around to the front." So that's what I did.

I don't remember much else of the dream. I think I had woken up from it by then. But I do recall having seen one other person in that dream - probably while I had been walking around the grassy hill. I've seen that person in another dream, too. It's been a long time since I've been able to talk to that person. I wish we could be friends again. Like we used to be.

Labels: bathroom, bus, camera, classroom, door, dream, field trip, friends, past, people, recreational center, school, sleeping bag, summer, swimming pool

Today has been a chilly day. There are clouds in the sky for the first time in a week or so. I can't remember a year when there was such cold weather at this time in June.

Maybe this year is meant to be different. There was rain later in spring than normal. The reservoir is full and beautiful and reflective. But not everything is good about such change. Different weather is bad for some fruits. I heard that cherries were more expensive this year. And my mother worries that our persimmon trees will not yield much when the time comes to harvest their fruits because of the unusual weather.

But this chill, though it is June, makes me wonder if perhaps the summer will end early this year. My dad dismissed the idea, saying something like "The summer really starts with July 4th" which I don't really understand (I mean, only the USA celebrates Independence Day). There was already a warm spell back in May.

I read the book Sisters of the Sword: Journey Through Fire. The main character, Kimi, is driven by her desire for revenge, but she is told that she should not be filled with so much hate, that it will consume her and lead to her defeat. But in the book I am Apache, revenge seems to be embraced, as warriors set out to avenge their loved ones, who were killed by Mexicans in a surprise attack. I've heard the phrase "revenge is sweet", but is it really? If you kill someone, your hands will be sullied by the blood, and you may forever live with the guilt. And it would not bring back the people that you have lost. But perhaps you must kill someone for the sake of the future and of other innocent people - if you don't kill the person, it is not far-fetched to think he or she will go on to take more lives.

I've also been watching an anime; the name is Ef: A Tale of Melodies. It is a disturbing story, but at the same time it also intrigues me. One of the characters said that he wondered why a person would be born in the first place if they would die. He said that there isn't any point in starting fights that you know you will lose.

But I think that because we are alive, there must be something out there for us to accomplish. I don't think life is meaningless just because we know it will come to an end, for some sooner than others. We still think of things that are temporary as important, like youth, passion, friendship, and dreams. It's up to us to make these things permanent. If two friends swear to be BFFs and support each other when times are rough, then the promise is not broken.

As I am now, I am weak. I don't have thick skin, so the words of people pierce me more deeply than any physical injury. But I still want to become strong. I'll fight every day, even if it's an uphill battle, even if I die and am forgotten. I am alive, so I'll do what I can. There are days when I'm lost in a sea of misery. Days when who I am and who people think I am are different; days when what I want to do and what I need to do are unbearably far apart. But I'll fight on. Even if I'll die trying.

Labels: ability, books, death, different, dream, ef a tale of melodies, fruit, I am apache, journey through fire, life, purpose, reservoir, revenge, sisters of the sword, strength, summer, temporary, weather

I can assure you that the President Abraham Lincoln and his story was much more melancholy than Haruhi Suzumiya could ever be. (Anyone recognize the name of that series? I think the anime was pretty known at one point.)

I didn't know much about Abraham Lincoln before I watched a film created by the History Channel in my history class at school. I could recognize him when I saw a picture, and I knew his nickname was Honest Abe, but besides that I had no idea at all...About what kind of life he had lived.

Abraham Lincoln lost many of the people dear to him when he was still young. I believe he lost two sisters (one of them to childbirth) and his mother. His father didn't treat him too well, seeing as he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a man who used his strength to work, but Lincoln wanted to go and get educated and live the city life.

Abraham Lincoln also fell in love with a woman, but she may have already been engaged to someone else, probably making him feel guilty about the relationship. And then she died during a wave of sickness that swept through the town they were in. Lincoln was very depressed, thinking thoughts of suicide, and his friends tried to keep watch on him to make sure he wouldn't really kill himself.

What was especially unusual was that in the movie, it was mentioned that Lincoln could have had a happy life with a family if the woman he loved hadn't died, and thus might never have become the President. It's pretty bad for him seeing as if he hadn't been unhappy he wouldn't have been a great President there.

I thought it was awfully rude since they said he was ugly (my mom said that too). At least he's recognizable. I probably couldn't tell apart most of the Presidents. I can only recognize the more recent ones and George Washington. I don't have much idea about how the rest of them looked...

And what was also strange was that Abraham Lincoln dreamed of seeing his dead body before he was assassinated. Talk about a creepy premonition.

Whenever I feel down, I think about Lincoln's life and then I can say to myself, "I don't have it that bad." (Sorry, Lincoln, to be using your misfortune, but it does help to have something worse to compare myself to sometimes. I try to avoid it for the most part. I used to care more about my grades in comparison to other people but I don't want to be someone who is always asking others "What did you get?" or someone who keeps on panicking when a test comes. I don't even check my grades online anymore, so when people ask me what my score was, I can only say I don't know. XD)

I've kind of been thinking that I really don't know much about most famous people. I can't say I think about them much except for if I'm studying them in school. (For instance, I don't think I know who most of the musicians I listen to look like.) I've never been someone with celebrity crushes since I feel like they live in too different a world. Little to no hope of meeting them. Being as distant and far from my mind as they usually are (except for maybe voice actors/actresses for animes, but that's a different story), I know very little about their personalities, and so it is hard to picture them as people like who I see in my daily life. And I suppose perhaps as a celebrity it might be hard to really get to know people. How do you know that someone doesn't want to get close to you for your fame or money? (Unless, of course, it was someone you had been friends with before you climbed to the top of the pyramid.)

Labels: abraham lincoln, care, change, comparison, depression, dream, fame, famous, friendship, glory, grades, guilt, haruhi suzumiya, money, people, personality, president, recognize, score, suicide

Well, I wasn't really under house arrest. But I thought it kind of made sense considering the kind of dream I had last night.

In the dream, I was not in my home. It was in someone else's home, though my dad's friend and his son were also there. However, my father seemed to be missing. Perhaps we had been staying at the house. I was told that I had to go stay in the prison. There were two signs in the house, both of which had an apple symbol on them for some reason, and the signs led to two different jail cells, I guess. I wailed, "Do I really have to go?" My mom said that yes, I had to, it was for the best. The people at the house recommended one of the jail cells. I wasn't sure how to get into it since it seemed like just a vent. Then I pulled up and realized underneath the floor was a big room! It was filled with guitars and CDs. There was a bed (and maybe a computer, but I can't remember). I hopped down, deciding being imprisoned wouldn't be so bad after all. But then I wondered how I would get up to go to the bathroom at night...

I had another dream before that, where I was going to go to my mom's friend's house. I thought we were in Yosemite. My dad and I were walking in a place with those barbed wire fences and plants. There was a big gap in the fence where you could see a splendid view. A tree stood on top of a very tall and thin hill, and there was a lot of space around it. And surrounding the big chasm was rocky mountainous walls. I was going to take a photo, but my dad pulled me away before we had the chance. Then we went to my mom's friend's house. I don't know why, but my mom's friend introduced herself to me. I just kind of shrugged and went to explore the house. In one room, there were some kids, like a girl maybe around my age and a younger boy and someone else, and they were playing a game. (I'm guessing a card game but my memory is failing.) I joined in, but they were cheating and playing by ridiculous rules. I got angry and through down my cards and stalked off. The kids just laughed. I wanted to go back to the place with the great view. (Apparently in my dream Yosemite National Park is not somewhere you have to drive to get to but it is actually partially in the town that my mom's friend lived in) I walked down the street. It was nighttime now and some signs were starting to get lit up. I think I saw a Circus Circus sign. I think I must've been in a gambling town or something. (But it was nothing like Reno or Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.) I can't remember much else.

The earliest dream of the three that I had recently was a dream about my JubJub. I have this plushie of a kind of pet that looks like a head with little feet on it. I thought it was cute when I got it (from McDonalds with my Happy Meal in...2nd grade?). It looks like this.

My mother said to me, "We are selling JubJub." I was very upset and started to cry. My mother wouldn't budge. Apparently she really needed the money. I woke up feeling just awful, but then I figured out it was a dream and was greatly relieved.

Today I participated in a piano recital. It was at a local church, which is rented by various music teachers for their recitals. As a kind of promotion, or maybe a bonus, there was a recital with all the teachers renting the place in the first half of the year showing off their best students. I didn't want to go, but I figured it might make my piano teacher upset if I refused, so I went. I think I messed up very obviously one time. And I was scared to death before; my legs were shaking, my hands were cold, and my heartbeat was amazingly high. (Sadly, even exercise can't make my heartbeat that high. Only public performing can. Oddly enough, one time when I had my heartbeat taken at the doctor's office, it was really slow. I think it was about 44 or 46 beats per minute. That's scary. Only athletes are supposed to have such slow heartrates. In fact, children 6-15 should have a heartbeat of 70-100. My dad insulted me by saying I wasn't active enough) Still, I feel like I was able to put my emotions into my music, and that's good enough for me.

I stayed a while to listen to other students. I also listened to the students that came before me. (My teacher's students perform towards the middle of the recital) There were quite a few violinists there. I suppose this is the "cream of the crop" as they all played with vibrato. However, the high notes sounded kind of nasty. (But I guess it might always be like that for violin. That's one of the reasons I picked cello. And I think my old orchestra teacher once said that people who use that high-pitched E string on their violins should be shot.) But they were talented students, I can say that much. There was one cello player. My mom says he didn't have a good attitude since he wore casual clothing, and when he was walking up the aisle he didn't lift the cello high enough so the part on the bottom of the cello hit the ground. But the song he played was good. It felt very sad and I was getting really emotional at first. The song sounded pretty cool, like it should be in a touching movie or something.

I actually really liked the part where a young boy and a woman (was it a relative of his? Was it his teacher? I forget) played together on the piano. It was a simple song, I think Liszt was the composer...Unfortunately, I don't remember the song name, and it wasn't on the program paper (each performer tells the audience their name and what they're performing). But they played in unison and that simple song sounded beautiful. I was inspired to play it. (But I don't have anyone at my house who could play a duet with me...Unless I were to teach my parents to play the piano...)

Labels: casino, church, dream, duet, family, friends, games, heart rate, house, instrument, jubjub, neopets, photography, piano, plushie, prison, recital, room, song, yosemite

When my mom's friend and her family came over to my house, she brought a present for my mother. It was a Coach handbag, a black one. I have no idea if she herself is a fan of Coach, but Coach does have quite a bit of fame.

A lot of people in Japan were excited over brand name bags. I saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the Gucci store, it was that popular. (I guess they only let a certain amount of people inside at a time. I mean, that way the people working there can pay more attention to you.) And women in the area where I live also like brand names, such as Louis Vuitton. I see them toting such bags.

My mother says that a lot of the people just like to show off, thinking it will make them look rich or trendy. That's really not the right reason to buy a brand name. If you really like it because of the looks (I, for instance, like anything that is shiny!) or usefulness or some reason like that, then all is as it should be. But it's dreadful that people would think it would make you look affluent to have a brand name handbag. If you saved up money for a long enough time, you'd be able to afford one. Besides, if many people have it, then many people appear rich, which means they aren't rich after all, because it's impossible for everyone to have a lot of money. (Otherwise, our economy is more socialist than capitalist?!)

But teenagers are also caught up in the brand name fashion craze. I overheard some classmates talking because we were having a fire drill and had to go outside and line up, then sit down and wait for the drill to be over. One of the girls had Coach shoes. (I don't really think it's worthwhile to have shoes from a brand that is famous for its bags, since I'm not that fond of the Coach logo thing, but whatever) Another girl noticed and said, "Oh, you're so lucky!" (Or something like that.) But the girl with the shoes said, "Eh, my mom bought them on sale anyways." (Apparently, it was actually her mom's idea to buy them...Or was she just saying that? Who knows?)

Even one of my friends got Coach shoes, as a gift from someone she knew. She was pretty pleased over them. They look okay, I suppose, I'm not interested in getting them, though. Well, whatever floats your boat, right? (That's the kind of attitude I take a lot. I probably shouldn't do that. D: )

It's not always good to accept everything that comes your way, though. One time, in 2009, I was in my old art teacher's classroom. I took Applied Arts in 7th grade, which is Art, Cooking, and Woodshop over the course of the year. I visit her classroom occasionally (though not as much as I did in 7th grade). She told my friend and I (we go together) that she was divorced. She said that she married at a young age. And she told us that when you're in love with someone, pay attention to what kind of things about them you don't like. If you think "Ugh, I really don't like that, it bothers me," then you should probably rethink your future with them. The teacher said that you can't change someone, even if you think you can. Their bad qualities will only get worse. Though it's impossible to find perfect people, you should still pay attention. "Love is blind", so goes the saying, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

I've always wondered who I will eventually married. I plan on marrying - I'm not going to be an old maid (not that it's necessarily bad; a husband can be quite the hassle). And I want to be married while I'm still young, like in my 20s, because if you marry late, then you'll have children late (I guess I might have a child of my own. Perhaps I will adopt one, and have one related to me by blood). And that's not good. Then your children don't have as long a time to spend with you, to make memories and share the joys and sorrows of a family. Anyways, though I'm getting sidetracked again. I've been wondering about what kind of person I will look for. (I'm already looking, in fact, inspecting the possible people in my area. However, it seems many of them are undesirable.) I've decided some of the traits I'm looking for.
- Taller than me (but not too much taller! That's intimidating)
- Good family background (I'm not talking about being nobility or living in a rich neighborhood or anything like that. I mean, no one goes insane in their old age, the bloodline is not susceptible to dangerous diseases, and such)
- An intellectual (Someone who I can talk to about the mysteries of life, and books, and perhaps video games if they play them. It is always nice, but not required, that the person had a good record in school or won awards, too)
- Musical (Optional. But it would be nice to have someone who could play accompaniment to my piano. Or teach me to play harp. I would like to learn the harp.)
- DOESN'T SNORE (Seriously. Snoring is really annoying. I can't sleep if someone snores.)
- Likes animals (I plan to have a cat and a dog, so this is pretty important too.)
- Isn't lazy (to balance me out, because I'm lazy.)
- Independent, yet interdependent (What I mean is that the person can think for himself and isn't influenced too much by other people's opinion of him. But I also think the person should be someone who is friendly and who I won't feel is drifting apart from me. It's important for a family to be connected, after all.)
- Won't let me give up (on some things, like exercise. I mean, I need someone who will be concerned with my welfare. But hopefully not too bossy. The point is, the person should try hard and keep going till the end)

Maybe I'm too picky. Who knows? XD

Labels: bag, bragging, brand name, coach, desirable, divorce, dream, future, handbag, husband, love, marriage, money, qualities, shoes, snoring, teacher, trend

TODAY'S ICON BROUGHT TO YOU BY: mermaidsss.blog.cz

It's not quite the middle of November currently, but it isn't the middle of autumn anymore, and it's certainly not the middle of the summer. So I had to put November in, to make this title feasible.

On Tuesday night, I had a dream. I hadn't been remembering my dreams for a while, so it certainly did catch my attention. The dream's beginning, unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten. However, after a certain point, I do remember the dream... Earlier, I had seen a very nice dog, and I wanted to keep it, but my dad had said I couldn't. Then, I remember I was at my school, or at least a place that looked like my school. I noticed an automobile, a bit like an ice cream truck or something (though I have never actually seen an ice cream truck) coming. In the car were two people, and one of them appeared Asian. For some reason I thought it was one of my favorite musicians, Yuuki Aira, but it wasn't, much to my disappointment. The two women got out of the car and started running down the sidewalk in my school, pushing strollers. Then the one who I mistook for Yuuki Aira bent down to do something, tie her shoelace or whatever, and then I noticed the dog I had seen earlier. It was on the other side of the sidewalk (I was standing on the grass field at the time). The dog was near some bushes. (Which is weird, there are no bushes in that part of the school) So I went over and hugged the dog. My parents were not around to spoil it. But then the two women were getting away. For some reason I felt like I had to chase them. My dad popped out from some place or another (I know he was there but I never saw his face) and we both got onto bikes. I had to hold the dog too since I was taking it with me. We started peddling to follow the women. We went onto a highway. For some reason our bikes went 100 miles an hour. I recall being worried about getting in trouble for speeding. We went pretty far and I think for some reason I was in Palo Alto, pretty close to Stanford University. (Then I woke up.)

It was a very random dream. I don't really know if there was any meaning to it. But I do suspect my brain could be reminding me of my desire to have a dog. I have been asking to have one for years and years. My mother once said (jokingly perhaps?) that if I quit using the computer except for school research, then I could have a dog, assuming I would feed it and walk it and things like that. Back then I was very reluctant to actually go through with a deal like that, so I decided I would have to survive without a dog for a while longer. Now that the things that previously interested me are either nonexistent or I don't have time for them, I'm started to consider it again. I wonder if I would really be able to have a dog, though. What if it's just a ploy to get me off the computer?

My father just told me about someone else he knows who had a daughter who kept asking for a dog. The father finally said, "Look, if you raise a hamster for a year, and you clean its cage and take care of it, then we will let you have a dog." They got her a hamster...She cleaned the cage once, and never again. So her father said, "Then you can't have a dog, unless you prove yourself responsible enough." The girl said in response, "If it were a dog, then I would take care of it!" Some folks like their hamsters, but a hamster is nothing like a dog. (For one thing, hamsters, unfortunately, can only live a year or two, whereas dogs can live to the double digits depending on their size) Still, I know, a dog is a living being, and if you can't take of him/her, that's going to be a problem.

I've been thinking lately if I should write some other stories. I had started to write a story because I had some ideas of things I wanted to write about, but since those ideas would take place a lot later in the story (imagining that the story is a hundred pages or more! Very long. I intend to write a book someday), my interest kind of tapered off. Maybe I should write about myself. I can write about myself on my blog, but everyone has their secrets, and you know, you can't be exposing things on the Internet. You never know who's out there. It's like a commercial I saw once, "The Internet is like the ocean. Sometimes it can be safe and other times it can be very dangerous," or something like that.

Labels: a midsummer night's dream, bike, chase, computer, dog, dream, hamster, highway, internet, november, palo alto, responsibility, sacrifice, stanford, story, stroller, trial, truck, wish, yuuki aira

In my math class, a conflict arose over the single tissue box that is open in the classroom. There are more of them, since we turned them in for extra credit (along with the measurements of the tissue box and its volume on the bottom) at the beginning of the school year. But only one was open, and it was on the left side of the room. A guy walking over there to get a tissue said he wished there was one on the other side so he wouldn't have to walk so far. The teacher suggested we simply move the tissue box over, but that wouldn't work because then the people on the left side would have to walk far for tissues. It would have been best to put it in the middle. Or even better, open more tissue boxes and place them at strategic points in the room.

Tissues have been brought up in another class, too - history class. My teacher showed us a tissue box that he kept and doesn't plan to use because he received it from a student and it said some interesting things on it, like "Please don't leave me in your pocket in the laundry" (not specifically quoted since I can't quite recall), "I'm there when you need to pick up icky things", "I'm there when you're sad", and whatnot. What a talkative tissue box. (Though other tissue boxes do have words on them. Once I turned over a tissue box and there was a poem on the bottom)

By the way, when searching for the image of the tissue box (which I still haven't found) I noticed some other cool ones, like watermelon slice-shaped tissue boxes, and cat tissue boxes, and whatnot. (Probably it's just a cover put on a tissue box, but it's still nice.) CLICK HERE for an example of one that sort of matches my blog's layout, hehe.

Anyways, back to my history teacher. He apparently had a dream where he went to school as normal, but then his tissue box tower was a lot shorter. He has a tower of tissue boxes next to his desk which he collected from the students. The teacher seemed kind of emotional, since he said he had worked so hard to get the tissue boxes and it was saddening to see many of them gone suddenly.

I kind of understand the gist of it, I suppose. I had a similar experience recently except that I wasn't sad at all, like I had expected to be. I always used to visit a website called Nutrinopets, because of the forums, but it had gone down some time ago. I expected it to come back online, but it never did. I've always wondered how I was going to quit, and it looks like the work has been done for me. I guess I'm kind of sad because I won't get to really say goodbye to it, but I'm also pleased because I have somewhat more free time now.

Do you recall me complaining about the weirdness of the labels on Blogger? Well, it seems to be fixed now! And now I can put lots of labels at my will. Plus, the drop down/up menu shows up again when I start typing a label I have already used. I'm so glad it got changed back to normal. It's like there was someone listening to me.

That reminds me of Pita-Ten, a manga I finished recently. It's not that new, so the whole series was already out. The author is Koge-Donbo. (I always thought it was a two person team, like Peach-Pit, but it turned out it was one person) Pita-Ten is about a boy who meets a clueless, hyper angel, and also a demon. The story turns out differently in the manga and the anime. I'd say the manga is more serious. (Oh yeah, and Koge-Donbo also is the author of the mangas Kamichama Karin and Digi-Charat) Basically, I was thinking it was almost like I had an angel watching me and they found a way to fix my problem.

Labels: angel, blogger, box, designs, dream, guardian, koge-donbo, label, location, manga, miracle, nutrinopets, pita-ten, problem, reliable, solution, tissues, website, words

That would be my house. (Though maybe you think it's the last house on the street if you live farther down the street. But to me, it's the first house, because when you drive to the street where I live, my house is the first one on the right side.) Some mysterious happenings have been going on here lately, and the place that once seemed safe now feels dangerous.

Last night, I had a most unusual dream. Even though it is common for "kids" to get nightmares, when I was young, I never had any. But starting from this year I have started getting them. This was the most major nightmare I ever had. In my dream, I was woken up and was told by my mom that my dad had suffered a heart attack. I don't think I properly absorbed the news since I went numb and blank. Then finally I said, "He didn't have a pulse?" And my mom said, "No." I was in shock for a while. But then, later in the day, my dad walked down the hallway. I thought I was hallucinating. He was alive and didn't look unusual at all. He asked me what was wrong. Before I woke up for real, I was thinking, "But he was dead! My mom must've misjudged! People don't come back to life."

The other creepy thing that happened also had to do with death. Do you remember reading about the dead birds and other symbols that I was noticing/my mind was making up? (If not, refer to the posts ◆ something wicked this way comes, and ◆ the keys to the kingdom. They should be at the bottom of the September 2009 archive) Well, I hadn't seen any for a while since the two birds that had died, but in my backyard on the weekend, we found another one. There was a nice-looking bird on the ground, or at least, the bird used to look nice. Now it just looked gross because it was covered with ants and a few flies. It was really disturbing. My dad and I worked together to get rid of it. I used a big shovel to pick up the bird and dump it into the plastic bag my dad was holding. My dad tied up the bag and took it out to the trash.

Strangely, the dead bird with the ants swarming over it reminds me something my language arts teacher said. We were correcting a sample of a badly written memoir about a person and their dog. One of the sentences was something along the lines of "We where over my aunts house". Never mind the fact that it's the wrong word being used. Think about being over someone's house. Would that mean you're floating over it? Or on the roof? It should be "over at my aunt's house" or "at my aunt's house". My language arts teacher said that if you say "over my aunt's house" it seems like you are a bug or a pest running about the house. The thought of bugs reminded me of that dead bird with the bugs all over it.

I shall try to speak of something positive so the post will end on a good note and won't have you shuddering. It seems that my running seems to have improved (only on the warmup run, but better than nothing!). I used to always pull my PE shorts high up, sort of onto my stomach. Now I let them down a little more, so that it still is covering me adequately (no worries, I'm not going to try and "sag" like some people) but it is more at my waist than covering my stomach. It seems to help a lot with running. I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner. XD

Labels: ant, birds, bugs, death, down, dream, family, father, flies, heart attack, house, life, mother, nightmare, over my aunt's house, reincarnation, running, shorts, strange

I'm talking about the magazine drive. Every year we have it to raise money for our school. The students try to sell lots of magazines (or they can donate money differently instead, $20 counts as one "magazine subscription").

You can earn prizes like Jamba Juice smoothies, Weepuls (little furry collectible things, the sixth grade girls this year thought they were so cute because they went "Awwww!"), even an iPod Touch if you sell enough magazines...But it's really hard to do that unless you have lots of relatives who like to read magazines, you're a superior salesman (and how would that work? You're not allowed to go sell door-to-door. That's lame considering you were allowed to do that for the Walkathon in elementary school. So they're saying older kids are more likely to get kidnapped?!), or you just have lots of money to spend.

This year there was a dog that rolls over. When it senses movement in front of its face, it rolls over. It's a pretty hard prize to get, though. And the class that sells the most magazines will get a 10-foot long snake. Maybe I should win one for my dad. It can be his birthday present or whatever.

Speaking of snakes, I had a dream about a snake. I was in some sort of observatory place in a rainforest, I think. My family and some other people were in it, sitting on wooden benches, peering out at the wilderness. The previous president, George W. Bush, was also there, but he didn't say anything. He had a very small snake. It was short and skinny with a wider head. I forget the exact color but I think it was a dull brownish sort. George W. Bush left and dropped his snake on the floor. I was freaked out since I wasn't sure whether the snake was fond of biting or not.

More recently, I had another dream about an animal. This time it was about dolphins. I don't know much of the specifics of the dream but I was in a room, with my mom, and maybe more people, but I don't remember if there were. There were dolphins there and I tried to get on the back of one to ride it. The dolphin flopped around in a panicked fashion until I let go of it. My mom left the room and I was leaving too but the dolphin, which had been resting on the ground, jumped up and made a really ugly face, like it was going to bite. I was frightened out of my wits and ran out of the room. I hope that doesn't mean I'm going to have a negative run-in with dolphins in the future.

My French teacher told us something amusing recently. She took her class last year to a restaurant called Crepe Daniel. The students were excited since they thought they would be able to practice their French skills...No dice. The restaurant had been owned by a French person a long time ago. Now it was a Chinese owner. The French teacher said, "I don't know, maybe you could practice your CHINESE at the restaurant."

My new camera arrived. It's a dark blue Panasonic Lumix. There is a really funny feature to it. It's called Transform and it says in the manual, "Changes the subject to a slim-looking or glamorous appearance." It's like how before cameras were invented, people would paint portraits of people instead, and they would try to make the people look better than they actually looked.

Labels: camera, chinese, crepe daniel, Dogs, dolphin, door to door, dream, french, funny, george w. bush, magazine drive, mandarin, president, prizes, restaurant, rollover, sales, snake, transform, vicious

I thought up this title because I've had a lot of dreams and would like to write them down before I forget them. Perhaps I should keep a diary of sorts, except of my dreams, not daily life. (But I won't make this an official dream diary, because I do want to talk about other things here, and I usually don't remember my dreams...Except for recently) Whenever I hear the name Dreamland I feel like it sounds familiar and that's because I used to play an online multiplayer game called Toontown.

I kind of miss playing Toontown. When I was younger, quite a few years back, you could get a free trial, and you could go to the other lands. You can never get very far with a free trial since it's only like 3 or 4 days but at least you could see the other neighborhoods (there are many different places you can go in the game). But then they changed it so you have to subscribe to go to the other lands. I decided to subscribe during the summertimes. I actually got quite far on one of my accounts and I'm proud of it. But I didn't subscribe this year and I feel strange not having played it. (I know I wouldn't have had much to do in the game besides maybe fight the really tough bosses, but just nostalgia, you know?)

Anyhow, on to the dreams, since they are already starting to slip from my mind. I'll go in chronological order (as in, when they happened). They did not happen in the same day, mind you.

- The first one was that I was at a pool. It's not like most swimming pools you'd ever see. It was indoor, except the walls were high and they were held up by columns. The pool was sort of like a lot of rectangles stuck together which made it look like a blocky zigzag, I guess. My mom and I were swimming in it and we were wearing wetsuits and snorkels and things like that. She and I had split up and I had swam deeper in the water to go into what I thought was probably a tunnel somewhere but it was just a dead end pretty soon. So I swam out of it and was going to go to the other side of the pool, but a shark was blocking my way. It swam back and forth in a straight line like those video game enemies you sometimes see. It noticed me and started turning around in a tight circle, watching me. I thought it was going to attack so I began back paddling furiously. The shark was going to lunge as I was pulling myself out of the water. (Luckily the dream ended because probably I would've had my legs stuck in a shark's mouth...Whoa.)

- The second one was quite short and simple. I was taking my vitamins and I was only supposed to take two of each kind but I started eating too many of them, so I overdosed on vitamins. It was freaky. At least I think it was an accident in the dream and I wasn't trying to kill myself.

- The third one was just last night, in fact. I was probably younger than I am now because I was on a trip led by my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Blaker. But the people with me were not necessarily the people who were in my class then. Just some random folks, some from the YMCA daycares, or from middle school, or something. So we were on a field trip to Los Angeles. There was a small bay there and we were on a huge white ship. (I don't know if Los Angeles actually has a bay, but in the dream someone said it was Los Angeles) All us kids got on some swim suits, life jackets, swimming goggles, that sort of thing. We went swimming in the bay. I don't know if the water was cold, but it was very clean and blue. And there were a bunch of white sailboats and fishing boats and stuff docked. You could see some tall buildings but not as much as you would expect from a big city, and the sky was quite clear. Eventually we stopped swimming and went up on the ship for a while, but then we were given the option to swim one more time if we wanted to before leaving Los Angeles. So I went down this ladder (it was quite a short one, I mean, you could jump from level to level if you wanted), and that area of the ship was really crowded what with people running about talking or going down and up the ladders. So I put on my gear again and I was going to go swim but it turned out that the only way down to the water this time was climbing! You had to climb down this tall, squishy sort of blown up thing. It sort of resembled the weird things you sometimes see at car dealers, you know, the long squishy ones that flop in the wind. I climbed down it carefully and I thought I was going to fall off because of my weight, but no, I didn't. Sometimes I had to climb onto a blown up dolphin, and I don't know what that was for... Eventually I got all the way down and swam for a while before going back up. There, a guy (whom I actually recognize as someone who goes to my school currently) showed us his bookmark collection, which had various quotes written on them. He took out a book as well, a small white one which I mistook for The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E. L. Konigsburg but it wasn't. Mr. Blaker took the book from the guy, found a page, and started reading. The story was set in the medieval times. There had been a legend, which I don't remember clearly, but it involved some important holy man who walked up some stairs and his key got tangled around his legs (maybe the key was on a chain or something). A man walked up some stairs and this happened. He had been invited to the home of two people who wanted him to marry their daughter, and he didn't want to get married but he thought he should be polite. Anyhow, the people who invited him gasped upon seeing that the key got tangled around him. I don't remember more since I had woken up by that point. (What a complicated dream! One of my longer ones.)

Labels: bay, bookmark, books, danger, dream, dreamland, field trip, key, legend, los angeles, neighborhood, online, overdose, shark, ship, summer, swim, swimming pool, toontown, vitamins

It's a relief to be back home again, actually. Being far away from home can be nice, since it's a way to drag myself away from the computer (ha, ha), but there's really no place like home, is there? Home is where the heart is. Which means home is the rib cage. (Okay, so that was a lame joke from Animal Crossing: Wild World. I spend too much time reading the bulletin board anonymous messages.)

Once, while I was on vacation, I had a dream where I was on the computer and found out Blogger had changed. It looked kind of like Freewebs (they apparently just call it Webs now?) or Photobucket for some reason. And when I tried to find my blog, I couldn't get to it. I'd get an error and it would be like everything had disappeared, all those posts... I was really frustrated and panicky in the dream, but then I accepted the truth and decided I would start fresh with a new blog. So I was going to make a new blog with Wordpress (another site you can use to make blogs, I believe). Then I woke up and realized it was only a dream.

Occasionally, I wonder if I should change the name of my blog. I've had this name, ◆ kaisoumizu, practically ever since I started the blog. I was thinking of something like True Blue or Beyond the Sea (thus explaining that thing at the top of your Internet which says ◆ K A I S O U M I Z U - somewhere beyond the sea, when you visit my blog) but it could already be taken. And anyhow, I'm really used to having this name, and you readers out there probably are too. D: So I suppose this is just another wishy washy time for me, where I will think about doing something but not do it ever, or at least not for a long time.

Seeing as I have a lot to say about my vacation to Australia, anyhow, I'm going to spread it out by talking about some in the future posts this summer. It's not like I really do anything exciting during the summer much anyhow, what with my summer classes being over and me lazing around at home. I figure if I dedicated a whole posts to Australia it would be a very long post. And y'know, my posts are already pretty lengthy on average. XD

I should give you some background information while I'm at it. Here's the places we went to.

San Francisco → Sydney
Immediately after, Sydney → Melbourne
Several days later, Melbourne → Gold Coast
Two days after, Gold Coast → Cairns
Another two days, Cairns → Sydney
And eventually, Sydney → back to San Francisco.

For the entire trip there was my family, my dad's friend and his wife and son, and another of my dad's friends. While we were in Melbourne we caroused around with more people, though... And in Sydney we met some people as well.
Here is kind of a key since I will be mentioning various people in the future posts. It's a bit confusing, so bear with me.

Dad's friend "David" (not his actual Chinese name), his son "Michael", and his wife "Meggie" (not her actual Chinese name)

Dad's other friend "Andrew", his daughter "Whitney" (he has two, but one of them was not with us the whole time), and his wife "Casey" (not sure if I spelled that right, I think so, though)

Dad's third friend "James" (and we briefly saw his wife, "Cindy")

Dad's fourth friend "Harry", his wife "Louis Vuitton bag" (because silly me has forgotten her name, or maybe I never heard it?!), his daughter "Vanessa" (I dunno if it's spelled like that, because there's a story behind it. Will tell later), and his son "Lukey" (we call him that, dunno if it's really Luke)

Dad's fifth friend "Gary"

Mom's friends "Lily" and "Dog Owner" (yet again I dunno his name in English), and their two sons, whose names I forgot, so I call 'em "College Bookworm" and "PSP Final Fantasy Dude", plus the sons' grandparents (because I forget whether it's Lily's or Dog Owner's parents) who I just call, "Old Lady Who Won't Let Dog into House" and "Quiet Old Guy Who Walks the Dog".

Besides that there was my aunt's classmate and her husband, and I don't know their names so they will be called "Guy Whose Face Appears Stressed When He's Not" and "Lady Who Had a Son but Doesn't Really Like Children" (my nicknames get longer and longer!) and their son is who I call "Friendly Megane with Tasty Chewing Gum" (megane being a person wearing glasses).

Phew, there were more people than I expected to write about.

Labels: australia, blog, disappearance, dream, home, ideas, name, nickname, people, post, return, vacation

That's what I'll be doing this evening. I was unhappy by the fact that we are flying United Airlines (I like to try different airlines, especially since ANA, the Japanese airline, was cool) and also that the flight is at 11 pm at night or something. That means I have to stay awake all day and then during the night too. (I'm supposed to sleep on the plane flight but I usually have trouble doing that so when I get off I'm dizzy and jetlagged) But at least we get some good seats. It's the kind of seats which are at the front of a section so you can kick the wall. (But you're not supposed to, even though you'd be sorely tempted) Qantas has cheaper tickets right now but I heard one of the Qantas planes had a problem recently and my mom's friend or acquaintance is paranoid, as she told my mom, "It's a good thing you're not flying Qantas! It's not safe!" I guess my personality is constantly changing little by little since some time back I would be paranoid too but now I just care about the money. Maybe I'm getting more selfish. XD And yet at the same time I'm more generous too. Weird.

Last night I had a dream. Somehow, I was back at Kennedy Middle School. My PE teacher was Mr. Robinson again, and I was wearing a Kennedy PE shirt, but my regular pants. It seemed like no one noticed. Mr. Robinson had us line up in two lines depending on our number (which is, in turn, based on our last name, I think) so I lined up in the first line. Most of the students were lazy and tried to line up in the first line even though they were supposed to be in the second line. Then Shiroi Hime (in place of her name) ran by, gave someone a high five, and ran off again. o_O;; Later on, I went to a shop that sold food. I think it was pastries or desserts or something like that. A lot of people were waiting for it, while me, a girl I didn't recognize, and someone who I'm guessing is probably my friend visiting, were at the front of the line. We argued over who should order first and finally the one I didn't know ordered. You could type in your name so then the clerk would give you a small circular badge with something handwritten on it (I bet this is influence from me watching the movie Up...) and I accidentally entered Sydney Grunge Ji. Everyone gasped. I started panicking since I hadn't meant to write that. Then the clerk said something about not knowing anyone who was emo. I was just very confused at the end of the dream. XD To me, when I hear the word grunge, I think of a style of brushes to be used on computer graphics.

I had my hair cut not that long ago. I didn't think anyone would notice because 1) It was during the summer when I don't see that many people I know, and 2) only some small changes were done to my hair. My dad cut it this time, instead of me going to a barber like I usually do. He just cut it an inch or two shorter, and thinned it out, and that was about it. So you can't really tell the difference since I normally put up my hair in a ponytail...Besides the fact that the ponytail is less thick and less short, and that's something that requires studying me a lot to know.

Anyhow, back to the fact that I'll be gone. I'm leaving this evening for the airport and will not return until around...August 3rd? So there probably won't be any new posts from this blog for a while (unless I manage to get on my dad's friend's computer while his kids are at work - it'd be unfair to use the computer when normally they're not allowed to). I bet probably there will be little to no comments because of that, too. XD Well, I hope you all have a good rest-of-July, and I will see you later!

Labels: air plane, ana, badge, blog, computer, danger, dream, grunge, haircut, line, name, PE class, personality, ponytail, qantas, store, travel, united airlines, vacation

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

Nowadays I've been dreaming a lot and mostly I forget it all in the morning but I do remember last night's dream involved me speaking Japanese to people. Sometimes it's real people, in Japan, and sometimes it's fictional characters. It's really strange. I wonder if I've been listening to people in anime speak Japanese too much if it's started to invade my mind.

At least I'm still speaking English to the people around me. That's a comfort. I would be in quite a pickle because most of the people near me don't know Japanese and go "Whaa? What in the world?" Though I would like to learn to effectively speak and read Japanese someday. (But I guess it would be more useful to learn Chinese because there are more people in the world who know Chinese, and Chinese is similar to Japanese anyhow)

I need to spend more time reading books and less time on the computer nowadays, I suppose. I mean, I have three stacks of books to read (They aren't very tall stacks but still stacks nevertheless) and maybe not much time to read them. But it's easier just watching anime because I can multitask and do stuff on the Internet at the same time.

I have piano class at 11:15 today, so I figure I should try to wrap up this post and do something else on the computer while I have the chance. Then in the afternoon I can try to relax. (Or work on my factoring project. Sigh...It's still there even if I try to pretend it's not there.)

I know my posts on the weekend are pretty drab, unless I went somewhere. Sorry about that. It's just I don't see a lot of people or do much interesting on weekends. (Except for yesterday I went to see two new Japanese places that opened. One was a store selling a variety of cheap/useful things. The other was a supermarket that was a little on the expensive side, even though it sells the same products as a different supermarket.)

Labels: anime, books, dream, english, homework, japan, language, piano, shopping

Earlier, on the weekend, I was kind of upset at seeing the state of my lawn. Apparently since my dad's friend was housesitting but didn't flush the 'shrooms out, a lot has happened to the grass during our absence. Mushrooms are over the place. Some are fat white ones, most of which my dad had removed. Others are newer. For instance, the little blackish-brownish ones. They're cute, but they're taking the nutrients that the grass needs. D: We're not trying to grow a mushroom garden. I bet Mr. Brown (crazed science teacher) would be better at dealing with it.

Which reminds me, Mr. Brown really is crazy. Like today in the class. We were supposed to be studying cell reproduction under a microscope. But then since people saw his desktop background, which is some dead scorpions on a rock, he ended up telling his scorpion story. He showed us pictures, and told us about a trip to...South America, I think it was. (Mr. Brown says teachers get more free time during the summer than other working folks so he can go on longer vacations.) First he said something about capital cities often being lame and ugly, then he showed us photos of volcanos, lakes, and the bungalows which you can rent out. Apparently they have solar-powered hot water, "outdoor bathrooms", and environmentally friendly houses. So that's cool. (The outdoor bathrooms, by the way, is really you can take a shower outside by pulling something and a veil will fall around you so you can shower outdoors. I thought that was weird.) And he also said he was reading in the evening when he saw a spider.

Mr. Brown is by no means scared of spiders, but it had fangs on it, and it was pretty big. Fangs are dangerous since they might have venom or something. So he went and smacked it with something to kill it.

Then he was about to go back to reading when he saw a scorpion. He took a picture first (which was a bit blurry/shaky because it was a close-up, and when the camera zooms in you go "Whoa!" sometimes), then killed it. He saw more scorpions, which he killed and tossed outside. Finally he killed what was supposedly all of them (his fiancée didn't like the scorpions). The next morning he gathered up some of the dead ones and took a photo of that. So that's what inspired his desktop background.

- - - - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

...That aside, I had a weird dream last night. Most of it I don't remember any longer. I do know my dad was there (a surprise, since my family usually isn't in my dreams). We were on this ship of sorts. There were several "waiting rooms" on each side of it. You were supposed to sit there while the ship sailed to wherever we were going. I think we were somewhere in California. Anyhow, the waiting room we were in was really crowded. Not much places to sit left. So I wanted to go to the one on the other side that had extra space. But the ship was shaking and it was too dangerous.

My dad went away for some reason or other. I got bored and went out of the waiting room since it was shaking less now. I went and explored the place. I know I went to the ship bathroom for some reason. (I don't remember much about that.) Then I went outside, carrying some of my stuffed animals. o_O I sat down at a place in front of these...platforms protruding from the ship. Apparently you could go onto this platforms. Maybe for a better view or if you wanted to dive off the boat.

I was sitting and relaxing in front of the platforms (there were benches along the sides of the boat) with some other passengers when the weather all of a sudden got stormy. (Despite this, the traffic lights on top of the platforms still showed a green light, which meant you were allowed to get onto the platforms) A huge whirlpool came out of nowhere and started forming, pretty close to the boat. Maybe it was a hurricane or typhoon or something. I got freaked out and made sure my stuffed animals didn't fall off the boat. The whirlpool seemed to stand up in a way, and roll to the left slowly like a wheel. Then the whirlpool broke apart and turned into regular water. The storm clouds disappeared and the California sunshine was back.

I woke up soon after and don't remember the rest of my dream except my dad, steaming mad, found me, and scolded me for wandering off. That was really the strangest dream so far. I don't understand what it means, but it could be discouraging me to go on a cruise ship in Europe...Despite how confusing dreams are, they actually have great meaning.

Labels: boat, critters, dream, family, fungus, leisure, mental, mushrooms, ocean, story, teacher, vermin, weather

Top ↑