When I was younger, I would always sleep without socks on. It felt too uncomfortable to me, wearing socks to bed. On hot days, I even stuck my bare feet out of the side of the blanket just to keep them feeling cool. This went on for many years, even in the winter, when my feet became all cold and numb. I didn't like the alien feeling I got from wearing socks.

But that has changed this past winter. My blood circulation has not been good. (At least, that is the theory that my mom and I have; if you have a better idea, you should let me know.) My body temperature isn't always as it should be. When the weather is cold I cannot seem to keep my body heat unless I am wearing a thick jacket (and even then sometimes it's not enough). My hands would be icy cold while my parents' hands would be quite warm. One of my classmates was surprised that I was wearing a jacket since she thought it was pretty warm. I myself am shocked to see students wearing t-shirts and shorts even on chilly days. (In fact, in elementary school, we would joke that one kid never wore anything besides t-shirts and shorts, winter or summer.)

My feet were really feeling too cold, so I decided it was better that I wear socks to bed. At first it felt all wrong, but after a while I got used to the feeling, and so it became a habit of mine. In fact, it feels a little odd not wearing socks. But since the weather is really warm, I figure it's better to sleep with socks off again for the time being.

I kept realizing right after I turned off the lights that I had forgotten to put on socks before bed. But it's such a hassle turning the lights on again and getting up to get socks. My mom says that I should just keep socks under my pillow. She said that she did that when she was young. I've been thinking to myself that maybe she didn't have teeth to give the tooth fairy, so she left socks instead. That makes it the Sock Fairy instead.

Recently I've been feeling some discomfort in my feet. The bottom of my left foot (specifically, the area known as the "ball" of the foot) pained me slightly during the day. I was still able to walk and run, but it sure made things uncomfortable. I looked at it at night and saw there was something like a blister on it. A dry, hard part of skin...Yikes. And then my other foot, the right foot is a bit odd around the ankle area (the side that is facing inward, facing to the left). It hurt me to bend it in a certain position, but only sometimes. At other times it is just fine. I keep wondering if perhaps I have injured myself without knowing it. Maybe I was sleeping in a really weird position. (I recall waking up some days with a stiff back or with pulled muscles from sleeping in a bad position.) Or maybe it's just one of those unexplainable aches that goes away after a while.

I've been stressed lately as well, due to a group project we have to do for language arts class (it's just so hard to meet up with my group members, so it's really bothering me). And I've also had to take quite a few tests. The STAR tests aren't really that big of a concern to me. But I have been taking awards tests. Since eighth grade is the last year of middle school, if you can show your excellence in a subject (essay writing, speech, poetry, mathematics, science, social studies, or art) you will be given an award. I was a bit reluctant to take a test for some of the subjects since I felt there was no way I would get the award (unless by some stroke of luck I managed to bubble in all the right answers, and it would be unfair for me to win the award when I didn't know what I was doing), but my mom urged me to, saying it would be a good experience and I might as well give it a try.

Well, the history was okay (though I didn't remember a lot, or didn't even know if I'd learned it), the science was tolerable, the essay writing was not too bad (just a bit of a time constraint)... But the geometry was something else. I could only understand how to do a few problems. Many of the things were either forgotten (like the formula for the volume of a cone or something along those lines) or I hadn't ever seen such a problem. These problems were beyond my abilities, so I ended up having to bubble in randomly at the end of class. (I should have taken Mr. Kulla's advice to just skip what I didn't understand immediately. I actually heard the problems at the end of the test were a bit easier...) Anyways, I am a little upset because I feel I had wasted a perfectly good hour of my time on taking a test that just ended up confusing me, but I suppose there's no use crying over spilled milk.

Labels: academic, awards, blood, circulation, discomfort, eighth grade, feet, geometry, health, luck, pain, pillow, problem, school, sleep, socks, STAR testing, temperature, test, tooth fairy

I got the inspiration for the name from "Wii Came, Wii Conquered" which was on the cover of an issue of the Nintendo Power magazine (it's an old edition, from a year or two ago).

I'm not talking about the Wii this time, though. The "we" I'm referring to is the eighth graders this year - in particular, my village. (Just in case you weren't aware, each grade at my school is divided into villages. Each village has teachers for the four core subjects - history, language arts, math, and science - for PE or your elective, your village doesn't matter.) We were having a fundraiser in the Week of Giving. The money would go to research for Duchenne Muscular Distrophy, a muscular problem that can be inherited (particularly in the X chromosome). 1 in every 3500 boys is affected by it. Females are less likely to get Duchenne because they have two X chromosomes, whereas males only have one (and of course, X is superior to Y. Hahahaha!).

I first heard of Duchenne when my school played a trailer for a movie called Darius Goes West. The trailer didn't really show how serious it was because it was busy saying things like "Buy a DVD - $17 goes to Duchenne research, $3 to making more movies" and "This is not a trailer, this is a vehicle". The movie was pretty funny too, but it was also deep. Darius is a boy (15 at the time of the movie, I'm not sure exactly how old he is now but he has graduated from high school) who has Duchenne. He was going to travel from his hometown of Athens, Georgia to Los Angeles (a.k.a. Hollywood), California to ask the show Pimp My Ride to make improvements to his wheelchair. Since many people watch MTV, he and his friends figured it would be a good chance to raise awareness of Duchenne and also get his wheelchair brought up to speed (it actually broke on the trip).

Duchenne makes your muscles degenerate, and it eventually affects your heart. Duchenne is fatal every time; you're lucky if you can even live to 25. Darius's brother, who also had Duchenne, died at the age of 19. Darius's brother had always tried to be strong and smiling, and Darius found his brother to be an inspiration, so he does his best to be optimistic himself. I was talking to an old teacher of mine and she said she was surprised by how Darius can laugh and enjoy himself and seemingly not be upset by the fact that he will probably die within a few years. I agree; I think I'd be devastated if I knew I would die young and there was no hope of saving me. But maybe different people deal with things differently.

I was kind of surprised that I didn't even know about Duchenne, despite the fact that so many people have it (in fact, who knows, I might carry the gene for it and not even know it. It wouldn't affect me as long as I have one good X chromosome). It makes me think that I really live a sheltered life. I live in a community where most people are middle class (and some make quite a lot of $$$; my mom has a friend who is already retired even though she is about the same age as my mother, and she and her husband are currently building a new house in Palo Alto), or at least you don't see many people living out on the streets, which is pretty good. One time at school we were being shown a video to promote our sense of charity, and there were pictures of people sleeping in cardboard boxes. Some of the students - I think they were boys - laughed. My teacher said, "I don't know if you think it was staged or something, but people really do live in cardboard boxes. They live in places like San Francisco, which are COLD in the winter. When my son is cold, I can have him put on more layers of clothing and turn on the heater and he won't be cold anymore. But a lot of people don't have that luxury." So I guess I am doing pretty well if I don't have to live off of Whole Foods cheese samples (and there aren't much of those nowadays anyhow).

I've never even met anyone who was disabled. I mean, I've seen people in wheelchairs but I've never really talked to someone who lacks the fine motor skills many of us have... The closed thing to that is my science teacher. She was injured in the 1989 earthquake (gives you an idea of how old she is! XD) and for a while she couldn't walk. She can walk now, but I think there isn't cartilage in her knees anymore or something like that. So when she goes hiking, she has to have someone stand in front of her, because she can't walk downhill without falling over.

Oh, my, I've gotten awfully sidetracked. Back to the fundraiser. My language arts teacher came up with an ingenious plan to best the 6th graders, who usually win the fundraisers since they are young and restless. She stashed bills in a box and didn't turn in much money so it would seem like us 8th graders were being lazy as usual. Then, on the last day, she donated all the money, and we won! In fact, by a big chunk, like $500 or so. It was amazing. This is the first time I have ever seen the 8th graders actually come out on top. I feel proud for having donated (even if it was only some dirty coins I dug out of my robot bank) and having been a part of this landmark achievement.

Labels: cardboard box, charity, cold, darius goes west, death, disability, duchenne muscular distrophy, earthquake, eighth grade, fundraiser, homeless, optimism, pimp my ride, trailer, village, x chromosome

"French Laugh

A laugh that comes deep within and sounds like "ah hoh hoh hoh." Contrary to Santa's laugh, this is more to make fun of others with.
From the Simpsons
Lisa: Oh no, I'm at the wrong school! (at a french school)
Students: hahhaha
Teacher: En Francais!
Students: A hoh hoh hoh hoh! (French Laugh)"

This is what was on Urban Dictionary. People tend to think of a "Aw haw haw" or "Oh hoh hoh" kind of laugh when it comes to French people. (Whether they actually laugh like that, I am not sure, though nasal sounds are common in French, I think)

I thought of the French laugh because of what a student brought up during a meeting. Some of us French students have been meeting up once in a while at lunchtime to discuss ideas and organize the French Week we have planned for later in October. One of the students said we should all go up to people and laugh "Oh hoh hoh!" at them. The teacher shrugged and said, "Well, I guess this is what we do in eighth grade, we go up to sixth graders and laugh, and they'll think, 'Who is this person?' " It would be really funny if we did go up to people and laugh at them, though.

Oh yes, and I noticed something about the Urban Dictionary definition for a French laugh. The definition that I included in the post mentioned Santa Claus style laughing. I used to be renowned as Santa Claus in disguise. In fact, when I did my evil laughter during basketball practice earlier this year, someone said it sounded like an evil Santa Claus. And so I thought I'd mention what my DeviantArt signature is right now...

"There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.
- Bob Phillips"

However, my role has changed recently. I am no longer Santa Claus, but instead I am the Queen. Apparently, the Queen of Pwnage. D: In my language arts class, people take turns deciding which students do what roles (jobs could be taking out and putting away our journals, or keeping the table quiet, or getting the textbooks). Today my job was to be Queen and "pwn everyone". At lunchtime I stood up and announced that I was the Queen of Pwnage. The reaction was blank stares and the "..." kind of silence, before the people in my vicinity returned to eating and talking and doing homework and such. (Y'know, I never use the words "own" or "pwn" in that way, so pretty soon I might forget about this, and I'll go back to being regular old me, I suppose)

Labels: claus, deviantart, eighth grade, français, french, french week, identity, laugh, laughter, nasal, pwn, queen, queen of pwnage, random, role, santa, santa claus, simpsons, sounds, stages of man

I haven't posted in a while on this blog. I guess I've been busier this school year than I ever expected it to be. I was told eighth grade was a harder year by far but seeing as seventh grade was such a lax year for me, this is really a change. I have to get used to it again or I will lose all semblance of free time except for on weekends.

I'm already beginning to worry because I had some pretty unfortunate luck in science class. I was assigned the very first of the presentation days for my Current Events this trimester. Basically, Current Events is where you pick a newspaper article or something, and then you write about it and give a speech. Except in this case it has to be science related. I have a pretty good idea what article I'm going to use, but seeing as I have only until September 8th to get everything together, it's stressful. Also, I'm not very good at public speaking so I'm afraid my lack of charisma will result in a worse grade. I mean, in the past I have rocked on my feet from nervousness or missed some crucial part of the presentation or something along those lines.

As for the blog title, what I mean is that if you don't touch something for a while, dust collects on it. Like corners of my piano. The little parts at the very left and right sides of your piano keys, well, you never really put your hand there so there's dust on it. I had better make sure mold and dust and such doesn't grow on my blog.

I'd appreciate if you all let me know if the blog's layout is working out right for you. Sometimes the header and background image don't show up so the layout looks all weird and you can't see things like the navigation. And when you view certain pages, since I wrote too much, the scrollbar looks like it's cutting off the text. I'm going to try and fix it if I get the chance. Anyhow, if you can't see the navigation, try highlighting the page with your cursor (the arrow or whatever thing you have on the computer screen that you use to click on things) until you can see the stars. (I will see about changing them to text, maybe it'll be easier to navigate that way as well.)

Today my language arts teacher and class were supposed to sing the birthday song to me and another classmate of mine. Our birthdays are in August (more specifically the 5th) but since we have summer birthdays we have to celebrate during the school year instead. However, we didn't have enough time in class and so I didn't receive my head of the line pass or get sung to. I don't really care about that but I worry that maybe the teacher has trouble managing time or something. (Or perhaps it's just because it's Wednesday, a short day.) It's a good thing I have brunch right after language arts class.

Labels: birthday, busy, current events, dust, eighth grade, language arts, layout, middle school, navigation, problem, public speaking, science, speech, summer, time management

Sorry, Martin Luther King Jr., if you don't want me using part of your speech in this fashion. But it is true. At last the students have been released from the scholarly prison known as...KENNEDY MIDDLE SCHOOL!

Even though it must've been a long year, it feels like it all just flew by. Maybe I was having a good time or something, because I heard that time flies when you're having fun. I suppose next time will be just a pain, then. I have often heard that eighth grade is a difficult, busy year. I hope it is not true. This year was a blast, so next year will be a big crushing disappointment, especially if I turn out to have old geezers as my teachers (seriously, even Mr. Brown, my science teacher, is not fond of them, he says they always complain if his students walk by their classrooms talking too loudly).

That also makes me wonder about the new principal and vice principal next year. The new principal is Ms. Johnston, someone that I have never met. I heard that she had a baby not long ago so she will have to carry it around at work. My mom doesn't believe this; she says it's not allowed, and anyways Mr. Kampp and Mrs. Kampp (both teachers I have had, sixth grade and seventh grade respectively. They are married, if you didn't guess it) make their daughter go to daycare even though she is so little. Well, it is all yet to be seen. Either that or I have confused the principal and the vice principal, and the vice principal is the one with the baby?! The vice principal is a 7th grade science teacher, Ms. Stokes, I think, but not one of mine. Maybe if any of you have been in her village, you can tell me a bit more about whether any of this is true or if Mr. Blair has gotten ahold of the wrong rumors/information. (He told my history class about it)

Lately I have been trying my hand at taking photos and playing around with them. I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me some pointers about them. Sometimes I have trouble taking photos because my camera will try to light up what I'm taking a photo of if the place is not bright enough. But that kind of ruins the photo quality sometimes. So here is the "original" version of a photo I have edited using GIMP, since I had to make it bigger for DeviantArt (it looks just terrible there...). Click on it to see the real size (Blogger can't show something so big) Oh, and before I end this post, I would like to ask you all something. Do you know how to make it so when you take photos, there won't be orange numbers telling you what day you took the picture? It really annoys me since I have to cut that part out of the pictures. Thanks if you know.

Labels: baby, editing, eighth grade, gimp, martin luther king, middle school, orange numbers, photography, principal, seventh grade, teacher, vice principal

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