Saturday was not such a relaxing day as I had expected. My mom wanted me to come with her to attend a seminar, which would have been okay, except that it was in another city, so it took about fifteen to twenty minutes to get to the seminar location.

Before he started talking, the man speaking in the seminar asked who would be fine with hearing it in Mandarin, and many of the people in the room raised their hands. Then he asked who can only hear it in English, and I was the only person to raise my hand. (Sadly, my grasp of Mandarin is still rather lacking, what with us mainly speaking the Shanghai dialect at home. English, being my main language, is much easier for me to comprehend) I hope that I didn't inconvenience the others there by totally changing the tide. If I hadn't raised my hand then, the seminar would've been conducted in Mandarin, which might be easier for the other people to understand.

After the seminar, since we were in the area, we had ramen for lunch, and then we went to a library. I haven't been to this library for a long time. I used to go when I was younger, when I went with my mom to her workplace. I feel that the town is a peaceful place. It has these buildings (which I believe are probably a school) with murals on them, and I would like to live in one of the townhouses facing the library. The only setback is the odd smell. My parents told me that there is a landfill nearby and that you can smell the trash from the library. Although I don't like such smells, I suppose I could get used to it, if I were to move to that town.

While we were driving, I noticed that there was a large cloud of grey smoke in the sky. Something had probably exploded or a fire had been started. It seems that I see these sorts of things a lot. There was one time years back when I saw orangish smoke coming from the mountains near my home. And when I was in Australia last summer, I saw smoke coming from someplace as well.

Fire is a fearsome thing. I have been burned several times in the past, although it was not from a fire exactly...The first time was when I was in fifth grade, I believe. We were having one of those themed days - probably Colonial Day that time. We were doing some woodburning. But I was holding the little pen-like device the wrong way, so I burned myself immediately. Not a pleasant experience, but I can't remember whether it hurt a lot anymore.

Then, when I took cooking back in seventh grade, I was burned when I accidentally touched a cookie sheet that was still hot. I always seem to get injured doing something ridiculous. Like how I pulled my leg muscles while rolling around in bed. And how I banged my knee when escaping from the door (the doorbell had just been rung, and I usually flee when someone is there, unless I've been expecting a person). I wonder if someday I'll really get in serious trouble through my careless actions.

Labels: burn, careless, chinese, cloud, danger, door, english, foul smell, injury, library, living, mandarin, memories, seminar, smoke, town, trash

Well, maybe middle-aged, and not quite old. But the actresses in the movie Mamma Mia don't seem too young, except for the person who plays the part of the main character's daughter (the main character is played by Meryl Streep. Sounds like a married sheep to me, no offense intended) who is probably pretty young. Her eyes look kind of buggish in a way. But anyhow, back to the old ladies. There's Meryl Streep who has wavy blonde hair. Then there's another lady with glasses, and then a lady with brown hair who just scares me. They all do, really. Here's a link to a picture. Kind of scary. Click here

The movie itself is just wacky...I saw the three old ladies sliding down the banister of a staircase. Then there was this guy swinging his guitar back and forth like he was trying to hit someone. And then three old guys and a young girl leaped off of a cliff. They're all beach bums, no doubt about it. o_O;;

Today, by the way, is the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival in my town. Apparently, the city I live in is part of some sister city thing with a city somewhere in Japan (that's how come we have some cherry blossom trees around). The lame thing is, probably most of the cherry blossom trees are no longer in bloom. Due to our climate changing, spring starts a bit earlier than usual. But I guess it's still nice to see the festival is still going on. Last year I bought a necklace. It had a cherry blossom pattern, since cherry blossoms are one of my favorite trees (besides ginkgos, Japanese maples, and something else I already forgot). Actually, it was made of rice paper (the necklace pendant, not the trees XD) so that was interesting.

It seems like the Louvre museum in Paris, France is very popular. Louvre is an art museum and has things like paintings and statues. The statues are kind of creepy since they are often nude. -_-;; The Mona Lisa was on display at Louvre last time I went. (There was a story about how it got to be at Louvre, but as always, it's flown out of my mind. I think it used to belong to Italy.) Apparently 8.5 million people visited Louvre...Or so San Jose Mercury News says. Apparently the British Museum in London, England is also quite popular. I hope I get to see it. Even though I've been to London, we've just seen things like the Tower Bridge and a castle (there was a sign saying some queen got beheaded there. It was probably Anne Bolelyn or Catherine of Aragon or someone like that) and also Big Ben. We never got to see the museum. I want to go to the museums in London and see the Egyptian artifacts and stuff.

Whenever I walk by the hallway bathroom in the mornings, I always get hit by a waft of some foul, sourish sweet-smelling substance. My mom says it's my dad's shampoo. Maybe later, when the smell has worn off a little, I should go in and find out what it is. I don't think it's his mouthwash since he always used mouthwash (but who knows, maybe he changed brands or something, you can never be too sure). Anyhow, we have to get rid of that smell. It makes me grimace.

Labels: abba, beach bums, cherry blossom festival, foul smell, france, louvre, mamma mia, mona lisa, movie, necklace, paris

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