On Wednesday morning, a problem presented itself when I was about to leave for school. Every weekday, I go to school by carpooling with one or both of my parents. I was ready to leave, but my mother told me that she couldn't find the car keys! She said that perhaps my father had taken them with him. I tried to help her look for the keys, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, my mom said, "You'll have to walk." I balked at the idea. "What?! It takes at least twenty minutes to get there! I'll never make it in time!" "Oh, yes you will." I suggested using the bike, but that was an impractical idea considering that I would probably need to register my bike at the school office or something along those lines, and anyways, the roller backpack is rather heavy.

So eventually I set off for school, in a panicked state of mind, breaking into a run out of paranoia. I tried to run as much of the way as I could, but I tired after awhile, and I saw some other students walking. I wasn't sure whether they were Kennedy students until I walked a bit faster and caught up (and quickly overpassed - I walk faster than the average person, or maybe I was just in a rush) and saw two people that I recognized. At this point I decided I didn't have to run anymore. And when I got closer to the school I realized Zero Period PE was still going on, so I wasn't late at all. I had arrived in good time.

I heard from my mother that my dad had driven home so he could take my mom to work. (Without the keys, you can't unlock the car or even get it moving. There is another car in the garage, but my mom doesn't know how to drive it - my dad was the only one who drove that car, and we haven't used it recently - and anyways there was no way we could get it out of the driveway without crashing into the car that we were supposed to use.) It turned out my dad really had taken the car keys with him. My mom said she wants to have a copy of the keys made (and I bet I'll be the one keeping the spares. I am quite scatterbrained, but it would still be safer with me in the future).

It mildly annoyed me that when I went to school, no one seemed to notice the minor trauma that I had just experienced that morning. My mom insists it wasn't that big of a deal, or at least I wasn't showing that much outward instability. I mean, I could have easily been late for school because of my need to improvise on transportation. (There wasn't really someone else who could take me to school...I know a few people on my street go to my middle school, but I believe they probably bike or walk) But I suppose it's just as well, because it didn't happen, and so I should let the past (even if it is only the very recent past) be the past.

In my history class, we had been working on a group project, where we were to present people and parts of the lifestyle (like farming, food, architecture, laws, entertainment, and so on). My group wanted to get more practice in, so we were going to meet up at the library. I was very worried about this because I really don't have any way to get there. My parents are both working, so I don't have a ride, and I'm not allowed to walk or bike all the way there by myself. One of the other people in my group offered to stop by and pick me up, so I ended up riding in her car.

At the library, I was surprised to see so many people there. There were quite a few young children. Many of them were captivated by the big fish tank near the children's section. They would peer into the tank and say, "Oh! Nemo!" and things like that. And their mothers would eventually try to pull them away. I think perhaps I did that, too, when I was younger and the library was very new. It's kind of nice to see that the fish tank is still there. I'm not too fond of change; I like familiarity, and having things in my life that I can always depend on.

I saw a lot of teenagers at the library. Some of them, like my group, were there to work on homework (I saw a few girls with a big poster), but others seemed not to be doing anything in particular. I saw some people outside climbing on the statues. Do people really have nothing to do? I guess they're still young, after all. It must be nice to be so blithe and carefree.

Labels: car keys, carefree, children, driving, finding nemo, forgetful, library, lost and found, normal, nothing to do, panic, people, project, running, tank, teenagers, transportation, walking to school

No, I have not suddenly skipped multiple grades and gotten myself accepted to a college. But one of the French words for middle school is collège, so you see, I am in college if you interpret it that way.

I've heard several mentions of college recently. The first one was in debate club, which I went to as usual on Wednesday. It's kind of a regular activity of mine now. I still don't really say anything, but I listen to other people's opinions. This week it didn't go that well. People didn't seem particularly interested in any topic, so the topic kept changing. At first it as whether health care should be free for everyone, and then folks starting talking about alcohol and how it's more socially acceptable than smoking even though alcohol is still bad for your health. Someone brought up the point that smoking affects the people around you, but if you're drunk it's not going to damage someone else's liver (at least, I hope not). I think it's because people think alcohol is good for your health, at least, people say red wine has benefits. But I still don't approve of wine. When I ask my dad what it's like, he says it's like grape juice except with alcohol, but then, couldn't you just drink grape juice? (And I hear that liquor has a bitter taste. I don't understand why you would want it.)

Then my old teacher, whose classroom the debate club is held in, noticed a girl. She is a regular to the debate club, and that day, she happened to be wearing a college sweatshirt. (I believe it was a UC Berkeley shirt, but I can't be sure) The teacher asked her, "What are you doing wearing a Berkeley sweatshirt? Look at her, the girl who has been saying she's going to go to Harvard." Apparently it was a sibling's sweatshirt. "So you're supporting a sibling? Clearly an inferior sibling..." (Berkeley isn't a bad college, but I suppose Harvard is still considered harder to get into) "I've gotta get a picture of this." The teacher whipped out his cell phone and was trying to take a picture of the girl wearing a Berkeley sweatshirt, but she kept hiding it. My teacher called for back-up, which happened to be one of my friends. She ran over and kind of half-tackled the girl, and the teacher managed to snap a picture. "Not very good, but I think you can tell it was her," he remarked.

Later that week, my history teacher (let's refer to him as JB, it's tiresome having to say "my teacher" every time) told us about his college times. He said that there were three floors on his dorm building. The first floor was filled with guys and the second and third floor were filled with girls (which was pretty nice for a freshman, so he said). JB says that when you go to college, you fill out a form with who you want to be with as a roommate. Either you can name a specific name (if you have someone in mind already) or you can describe what kind of person you're looking for or what kind of person you DON'T want. JB was pretty much fine with anything but he did say he wanted a non-smoker. But most of the people in his dorm building are smokers, so he ended up with a guy called Doros from the island of Cyprus who is 24 years old because he had to serve in the Greek military.

There are a variety of people in JB's dorm, but he says they all kind of got along, despite their differences. He had a friend by the name Sid (or is it Syd? I have no idea, but I'm guessing). One day Sid asked him for a favor. He wouldn't tell JB what it was, but he told JB to take a nap, and then be awake at a certain time. So JB did as he was told and took a nap. Then Sid barged in and said, "Are you ready? ...Could you put on some nice clothes, like slacks and dress shoes?" JB replied, "No, I don't have anything like that." Sid sighed. "Fine, that'll do." Sid had gathered a total of 12 people for this favor. Sid knew someone who was a valet, and his friend had called him, saying that they needed 12 more valets for a party at the W hotel in Los Angeles because some valets had just canceled. So the college students went to Los Angeles to be valets for the night.

Out of a total of 40 or so valets, only 6 of them, including JB, knew how to drive stick shift. JB had been arguing with the others earlier over whether the tips should be split evenly or if everyone should keep their own tips. Now JB's decision to keep his own tips was coming in handy. He had more opportunities to make money since 34 people could drive with automatic only. The first car that came up was taken by him. It was a Jaguar (I forget what kind exactly), which had been JB's dream car. He said that he didn't have pictures of girls in his room - he had pictures of cars like that Jaguar. The old gentleman who owned the car said to JB, "If you crash this car, I'll kill you." JB responded, "Oh, don't worry, if I crash this car, I'll kill myself." Unfortunately, the story ended there because the bell rang.

Labels: alcohol, berkeley, car, college, cyprus, debate club, driving, french, harvard, jaguar, middle school, party, siblings, smoking, stick shift, sweatshirt, teacher, tips, valet, w hotel

Step aside, Blue Man Group, and the old four Teletubbies (Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po. I couldn't remember Laa-Laa's name so I had to look it up). Because all the tourists going to the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver (no, not the clothes brand) have replaced you. You can rent a blue suit for a cheap price which will help keep you warm when you're diving. It makes you look a little like a teletubby.

I traveled on a Quicksilver ship to get to the Great Barrier Reef. The ride was a traumatic one for me. I couldn't enjoy the free cookies (they are popular! There was a guy who only took a certain kind of cookie and he took a lot of them. They are supposed to be chocolate-flavored I think) or the complimentary coffee or anything since I was seasick. When I was on a cruise to Hawaii one time several years ago I also got seasick (threw up, fell asleep, and after that day and night, I was all well). My dad insists he has a "strong mind" because he didn't seasick. But my mom and Meggie (my dad's friend's wife) didn't get seasick. However, my dad's friend, David, and his son, Michael, did get sick. They had to go vomit a few times. I did not vomit since I am practicing my self control and ability to resist pain, but I was really dizzy and I was almost dead by the time we got to the floating dock.

It's weird that they have a floating dock in the Great Barrier Reef. It's kind of spoiling nature to have such a strange thing, if you ask me. I suppose they built it especially for tourism purposes. There was lunch included but I only ate some bread since I was not feeling too good yet. My mom ate with an appetite seeing as she is not seasick. She's so lucky not to be. Even my dad says he can get carsick unless he's the driver (I don't know why, but drivers don't get carsick, apparently)

Everyone once in a while a little submarine will be there and you can board it to see the Great Barrier Reef closer up. (If you simply just go snorkeling you can see some but not much in comparison) I didn't expect much because in Hawaii we rode a submarine, and paid for it (instead of it being an optional feature of something we already purchased, like in Australia) but that time, it had been disappointing. But the Great Barrier Reef is much better. Sure it's not really as colorful as the photos, but I think that's just because light has to penetrate the depths of the ocean. There were some cool fish down there. We saw schools of them and occasionally a really huge fish.

I have heard rumors that global warming is killing the reef. When the temperature rises, the organisms that live inside the coral (because coral is actually more animal than plant) die off, so the coral dies, fish lose their homes, and basically the whole habitat will suffer. Already I have heard the reefs along with the glaciers (though those are on the other side of the Earth) are vanishing. I hope people will try to protect the reef.

Oh! You can do your part if you come to the Great Barrier Reef someday. Here's some tips that I got from the brochure you can get on the boat.

- Don't throw anything overboard. There's trash cans to be found. Or, shall I say, RUBBISH BINS.
- Don't stand on the coral. It can break off easily. (There are two groups of coral, the more common hard coral, which is like rocks because it has limestone in it, and the soft coral, which actually sways because of the water current. And there are many more varieties within the groups, like staghorn coral, a hard type like antlers. That breaks off easily)
- Don't urinate in the water. I find this to be the most amusing. Anyhow, they have toilets on the ship, but not on the floating dock. They are kind of cramped and you have to use the air dryer to dry your hands, which is a little too warm but you can't help that unless you would rather use the toilet paper. o_O;; This rule is disturbing since somebody must have tried to urinate in the water or else they wouldn't need such a rule.

Labels: australia, bathroom, blue, boat, carsick, coral, danger, dizzy, driving, fish, great barrier reef, hawaii, quicksilver, reef, rubbish, seasick, submarine, teletubbies, tips, vomit

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