Not men, sorry, and I haven't watched that show, but that's nothing new. I hear about many things, wonder if I ought to find out what they're about, and promptly forget about them. I've recently tried to get back into watching anime (which was a lot easier once I finished the second season of Kuroshitsuji...It was disappointed, I recommend you only watch the first season) and have been adding to my list of animes to watch. Hope I can actually get around to all of them. Considering that more animes keep coming out, though, that's hard to say. (By the way, is the plural of anime "animes" or just "anime"?)

Well, anyways, it's been an easy week back at school, even though I expected it would be difficult - particularly because my real language teacher has arrived. She was gone for the whole first semester taking care of her twin babies, and I had no idea what to expect. But she seems nice enough, so I think it'll be a good semester, as long as I pay attention in class and participate more. XD And in order to facilitate the adjustment back to school, there's been some little destress activities going on during lunchtime - which includes free food, much to my delight - and one of the things to do was paint your nails.

This is an activity I have not done since I was in elementary school, probably around third grade or so. I do like the sensation of painting, and how shiny nail polish is, but I always seemed to get bored of painting them. (Not to mention we only had one or two colors of nail polish, and I don't know if we even have those bottles anymore.) But I didn't really feel like working on homework, so I thought, "Why not?" Two friends of mine painting a nail each, and I started painting a third one after trying to fix the other two, but ran out of time. So I ended up with a reddish-pink thumb, a dark blue index finger, and a half-painted aqua middle finger (which I have scraped the nail polish off of, because it was gathering in a strange blob). It looks rather lumpy now that it's dried. Still, painting it was fun. And I don't mind the smell of it, even if it's rather artificial.

I've been thinking that I should use the New Year as an opportunity for change. It always seems like people make New Year's resolutions, try to follow them for about a week or two, and give up (kind of like what often happens if a child gets the dog she was begging for). But I have been wishing that I could change certain things about myself - how I treat other people, how I manage my time, perhaps also how I look - and I want to make 2011 a great year (and after that, 2012, 2013, 2014...the rest of my life). Easier said than done, and maybe I will be like most people, giving up after only a week or two. But it shall not be from never trying.

Labels: 2011, anime, attempt, behavior, change, colors, forget, forgetful, incomplete, kuroshitsuji, nail polish, nails, new year, resolution, school, teacher

I would have named this "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku", except it isn't a Vocaloid disappearing. It's an actual person - to be more precise, my own piano teacher.

Last night, my mother received a call from the mother of a girl who has the same piano teacher as I do. She was wondering if we knew anything about where my piano teacher was and whether she was okay (at her age, it was not completely unreasonable to suspect that perhaps she'd had a stroke, or a heart attack, or some other terrible affliction). The woman's daughter was supposed to have a piano lesson, but she'd been unable to find the piano teacher.

My mother came over to me, rather unsettled, asking if my piano teacher had mentioned anything about there being no piano classes next week or anything along those lines. I was not particularly concerned. I'd wracked my brains and recalled that she'd said something about going to Shanghai, though I couldn't remember whether she was telling me or the student who had his piano lesson right before mine. I'd assumed it wasn't anything important. My teacher, in the past, had always made it clear when she would be gone. She would write that there was no class on such-and-such dates on the little notepad I keep for recording info from the piano classes, and she would say, directly to me, that she would be taking a trip. But not so this time.

I think that she probably thought that she had told the students when she really hadn't. According to my mother, who spoke with someone who is connected to the piano teacher, my teacher has been planning the trip to Shanghai for quite some time now. It wasn't just some spur-of-the-moment decision, a sudden desire to chase an until-now-forgotten childhood dream. But why hadn't she told her students that she wouldn't be here?

It was strange. Very strange. I don't think that my piano teacher is in any danger for her life, at least for the time being. But it seems that her age is starting to show. She is already more than middle-aged, if not quite an old lady. I wonder if maybe she can't remember what she's done and hasn't done anymore. That she's getting her thoughts and what has really happened mixed up. She's becoming like me.

I hope that this is just one incident, that this won't be happening again. I don't want to see someone losing his or herself. It's just too terrible to be alive in body, but to lose your mind, little by little.

Labels: classes, deteriorating, forgetful, losing, mind, missing, past, piano, shanghai, teacher, the disappearance of hatsune miku, trip

Due to an astronomy lab we've been doing in my science class, I go outside at night to look at the moon and record the phase and location. In the beginning, the skies were clear, and it was easy to see the moon. But then clouds moved in and I couldn't see it for a while. When the sky cleared up again, I still couldn't find the moon. It was a strange experience. The stars were still there, but the moon was nowhere to be seen. I thought perhaps it was blocked by a building or a tree, but no matter where I walked I couldn't see it.

In the morning, though, I saw the moon. It's just so strange, seeing it up there in that vast expanse of blue sky, instead of in the mist of a black blanket dotted with stars, the way it is at nighttime. I was rather annoyed at the moon, because I am only supposed to record when I see it at a certain time (the teacher wants us to try to view the moon at the same time each night that we go out). It showed up in the morning but refused to come out at nighttime.

In class today, one of my fellow students told the teacher that she had gone out at night and was also unable to see the moon. My teacher then got the attention of the class to explain this phenomenon.

My teacher said, "I have told the moon to go away for a while. Us science teachers are very powerful, so I have made it disappear. Look carefully every night and eventually I might let it come back out again." Another one of my classmates remarked, "I looked in the morning and I saw the moon." My teacher's reply was, "Ah! You cheated! Well, the moon is naughty and it tries to come out before it's supposed to."

So there you have it. A highly scientific explanation for why the moon is not visible sometimes, even without any clouds covering it. (If you want to know the real reason, you had better look it up since I only have a theory about it and it would be unwise to take that as fact.)

I was just looking at a picture of an exploding alarm clock on a magazine cover (Discover magazine March 2010 issue, if you want to know) and I was reminded of what of my "experiences" at Yosemite. It was difficult to get to sleep on the first night. Some kids had not gone to bed and were making a racket outside, or were giggling in their cabins. The heater in our cabin kept making some sort of rattling and banging noises. I kept sweating from the heater since I wasn't used to having it that warm. And then there were the two alarm clocks I had brought. They kept on ticking...My clock at home ticks too, but I never really noticed it. At Yosemite it seemed they were quite loud. One of my cabinmates said she wasn't used to it since she has a digital clock, which doesn't tick. After the first night, though, we become more accustomed to the loud nights and were able to get to sleep more easily. (And anyways, we were tired out from the strenuous daily hikes, or something.)

I have been rather concerned about my ability to remember to do my homework recently, especially the French homework. I forgot to do my French homework and remembered it during the night once, so I got up earlier in the morning to do it. And then today I was supposed to bring sunglasses because we were discussing summer/seaside activities in French class, but I forgot to bring those as well. (Then again, I'm not exactly sure where the sunglasses are, I will have to find them. I don't like to wear sunglasses. Although I like the cool way that they look, they always seem to slip down my face or otherwise get in my way. And I don't like how everything seems so dark or is tinted a weird color.) I wonder if my memory is getting bad or if I'm getting too careless. Both options are rather unpleasant.

Labels: astronomy, careless, clock, digital, distraction, forgetful, french, homework, magazine, magic, moon, powers, science, sky, sleep, sounds, teacher, ticking, trip, yosemite

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is meant to be a play on the song "Leave the Kids Alone" by Pink Floyd. In this case it applies to a fly instead, as la mouche is French for "the fly". I know I talk too much about French class nowadays, but the class has been having problems with mouches.

We usually have at least one fly in our class. The students, including myself, become distracted when the fly is near us. The teacher eventually said that we should leave it alone and not be distracted by it, and she brought out her mouche assassin (apparently one of the words for killer is the same in French as in English, scary!), in other words, a fly swatter. I think she has a total of three fly swatters. We once used two of them to play a game in class to use our vocab. The teacher wrote some French words on the board and two people would stand up there at a time, facing away from the board. The teacher would then call out a word or phrase in English. The two contenders would then try to swat the correct word first. I actually played a similar game in Japanese class in the summertime. I guess this is a universal way to learn languages or something.

Sometimes I have some panic when I forget something in a certain language. It seems like it is important to me and so I get stressed even though it's not a big deal. For instance, I was going over Japanese in my head because I am worried I am losing it. I can't speak it at home since no one understands, I can't write or read it so I can't practice by reading manga, and I haven't been watching much anime lately (except for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I already watched - and this is the original season, not the new Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu) and so I have started to forget here and there. I was trying to remember the word for "You're welcome" and I couldn't get it and I was getting mad because I kept thinking of the wrong thing. Eventually I remembered by accident. I was really relieved.

Learning a language such as French, which has relations to English, is easy but at the same time confusing, because sometimes words that mean one thing in English mean something else in French. Examples:
1) In French, collège is high school.
2) Crayon is pencil. (So "crayons de golf" is golf pencils. It's weird since we used golf pencils in cooking last year.)
3) Chat is the word for cat.
4) Singe is the word for monkey. (And singe is an English word that means burn... o_O;; Maybe...it's because monkeys are troublemakers! And they can be found in train stations in India? So I hear)
5) This I found out using Google Translate (I know, not reliable, but oh well)... Apparently "chic type" could be used to describe a prince. XD Though chic type really means more "nice guy" than prince necessarily, as not all princes are nice.

But anyways, the point is, I am wondering, does anyone have those times when they forget the specific word they were trying to think of? This could be in your native tongue (which is English, for me at least). It happens to me often and it's really annoying. I suppose I ought to be glad that I even have enough brains to think, though. My dad said he once heard, "You complain about wanting new shoes? Some people don't even have feet!" It's the kind of phrase that sounds like the reason for Thanksgiving.

Something has been bothering me lately about Blogger. Earlier you could only put ten labels on your posts, I think, instead of the previous twenty? And not only that, but when I start typing a label in, it doesn't automatically come up with a small...window? (dunno what to call it) that shows some possible options based on what you have already used as labels. It's really bugging me and I hope Blogger will return to what it used to be. I am not fond of change in general.

Labels: blogger, chic type, crayons, english, flyswatter, forgetful, french, games, grateful, haruhi suzumiya, insects, japanese, la mouche, label, language, monkeys, prince, quote, school

That's actually part of some song lyrics. That's only because I really couldn't think of a title today. While I was at school I had plenty of ideas for what to write in my blog post but once I went home, the ideas just flew right out of my head. I don't know, maybe it's just change of atmosphere or short term memory, like Dory from Finding Nemo, if you've seen that animated movie.

I should talk about something from the post title, so I will. We used to read a book called Weighty Words in language arts class. (We haven't gotten to read it for a very long time, though; only just today did my teacher resume) Each letter of the alphabet has an interesting word. A story is written about it and is not obvious until the end of the story. I find this is a good way to teach people instead of memorizing vocabulary lists, which tends to make the students' minds degenerate. Or something. (My father used to teach, many, many, years ago. It was math, but I think he might still get what I'm saying.)

Much earlier in the year, we read a story about the letter E. An ant used to be famous for his speed. He ran a lot to get food. But later he discovered a more convenient food source, so he got lazy and stopped running around all the time. They called him an ex-speedy ant (like ex-husband, if you have been divorced), which led to the word, expedient. There's even a website called expedia.com, I think. Anyhow, expedient doesn't necessarily mean you are lazy, it just means if you have a harder way and an easy way, you'd take the easy way. So I'd like you all to call me expedient instead of lazy. XD

On to actual news. I have received my school yearbook for this year. They are not cheap, so I hope it is worth it this year. I'm glad the cover looks better. Some people thought the fake stain type things looked disgusting but I would say it's a big improvement from last year. The cover then was just blank white with some words. Not exactly something you want to look at, like the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Oh yeah, have you heard this rumor? I heard that if you stare at the Mona Lisa long enough, it seems like she blinks, winks, smiles, or looks at you. I heard this effect was achieved by da Vinci himself painting many layers on top of each other with oil paint, causing it to look like the painting can move when it really can't. That's really cool. I wonder if I could try it sometime. Maybe this summer...

...Since this summer I am signing up for summer classes, as always. My mom believes summer must be occupied with something since she doesn't believe in resting on your laurels. Oh, I should explain what that phrase means. In the past, laurels were an honor since you got them for an achievement, Roman senators used to wear crowns of laurels. Someone who is resting on their laurels is satisfied with what they have achieved. Which is kind of true for me, I suppose. I think I've come a long way personally. Nowadays someone who rests on their laurels is considered lazy. (I'd call myself expedient, but it's not suitable for this occasion.)

This year I have signed up for Japanese class and painting studio. I have decided not to take any real academic classes, since I think the purpose of summer vacation is to be what the name is - a vacation from the stress of homework and tests, and social mores of school. (Sometimes I confuse myself.) I really like artsy things, though I have to say I don't like how art teachers are so picky and critique every little thing. But I guess that's their job, so I should zip my mouth closed. Japanese is just a language that I find pretty to say. I would learn something else but they only offer so many languages there... I wanted some of my friends to come too, but they have different circumstances. Some of them are going somewhere (well, I am going to Australia, but one of my friends is going to Taiwan and Europe) and others have family matters (I believe there is resent about the Japanese invasion of Korea in the past century) and yet others don't even take classes during the summer. I have heard it is boring to stay at home during the summer but I seriously want to try it for once! I haven't done that since I was younger, I always was shuffled off to day camps and academic daycares/summer school like a toy nobody wanted.

Labels: ant, art, books, brain, expedient, forgetful, japanese, language arts, laurels, lazy, learn, leonardo da vinci, lyrics, mona lisa, painting, phrase, summer, unwanted, weighty words, yearbook

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