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

Recently I went to my dad's friend's apartment to go swimming. When I arrived, there were young boys running around and voices of people. The apartment had a miniature play structure. It seems to me that an apartment complex is like a little community. Since I don't talk to my neighbors much, it makes me wonder all the time what it's like to live in an apartment. But my mom says you don't want to live on the bottom floor since you can hear the people who live directly above you when they walk around in their apartment.

The apartment pool is not as big as my piano teacher's apartment's pool, nor does it have a shower and a little bathroom next to the pool (besides the bathroom in the gym, which is different) but at least it had a spa and I finally had the chance to go swimming. However, I had a bad feeling about it and kept complaining. It turns out I was right, because it was a windy, slightly cold evening compared to the rest of the nights recently, and also the spa jets weren't working. My dad kept hitting the button but it just wouldn't turn on.

That's when I stepped in. Even if the water was certainly warm enough, my mom wanted the bubbles. So I tried to twist the weird white things in the spa. (I wasn't successful, maybe those things aren't for turning) Then I got up and hit the button. A few minutes later, the spa turned on! The skeptics insist that the spa jets just had a very, very late reaction time, but I would much rather believe that I am a "special chosen one".

Speaking of pools...I've been thinking, and I've decided that if I could have a pool, it'd be like this... The pool would be a huge, huge circle, and in the middle there'd be a metal bar running along a small kind of round platform. (If you wanted to, you could hang on to the bar to rest or climb up over it and stand "in the center of the world") The ceiling would be made of glass so you can see the sky. It would be beautiful with the sun shining through and reflecting on the water. Perhaps the ceiling looks like this...


Too bad there is certainly no room to have a pool like that in my house. And maybe my backyard could contain a small swimming pool, but it would be no where near as big as I want it, and besides bugs would drown in the pool. It brings back some not-so-pleasant memories of the time I went to Saratoga Springs. There were dead bees and flies in the water. *shudders*

So, you may have heard that I am currently part of the Summer Reading Celebration for both San Jose Library and Santa Clara County Library. I saw something unexpected when checking my account for the San Jose Library's summer reading. They'd denied one of the reviews I'd sent in! How rude! I couldn't even edit it to send it in again (Santa Clara lets you edit already sent reviews, I think, but I'm not sure about San Jose). But at least it still counts as a book read.

Last week, I was working on doing some test prep problems that came from a book from the library. I came across some rather...interesting answers to questions. (These were multiple choice questions, so these answers are all incorrect ones)

Q: Why did the Aztecs sacrifice so many people?
A: They loved to watch people die.

Q: According to the code of chivalry, what did knights need to do?
A: Knights chased the servants around the castle.

Q: What happened when King Henry VIII demanded a divorce but the pope refused to let him?
A: The king published a pamphlet called "Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants".

Q: Which of these are Italian city-states?
A: Paris and Genoa. (Paris is in France, of course)

Q: What is the Counter Reformation?
A: People attempted to remodel a counter.

Q: Why were heretics discriminated against?
A: They had long hair.

Labels: anger, answer, apartment, button, ceiling, circle, funny, glass, indoor, jets, outdoor, questions, review, round, spa, summer reading celebration, swimming pool, test prep

Recently we had an event at my school called Kennedy's Best Dance Crew. This is like the actual TV show - people choreograph moves and then dance in front of the school to the beat of music. (I haven't actually watched America's Best Dance Crew, but oh well.) Our school day had a wacky schedule on Friday because of the show. There were many dance crews.
No Parking Here Males wearing caps and shirts that have a P in a circle with a slash on it. (like those no U turn or no smoking signs) I guess they were okay, but I didn't find them very interesting.
Epic Phail Females wearing a white shirt with a vest and a skirt. They were kind of blah. Hence the name (though I don't think they intended it to be a literal description). I don't want to put them down, though, should they be unhappy about it.
Purple Pixies Females wearing a pinkish purplish (I wouldn't call it purple, but it's not exactly pink. Maybe fushcia? Violet? Magenta? Aubergine? etc.) shirts and either skirts or pants (I think it was pants, but I don't remember any longer). They weren't that interesting either. I guess they're just so-so. Though a few of them were able to do cartwheels and stuff.
J-Walkers If you don't know, Jay walking is a crime, apparently. It's when you don't cross the street using the crosswalks. Anyhow, this was an all girl group. They all have white shirts with a colored J on it, and pants that were also colored. They were energetic, so I liked them.
Medical Tape Males wearing aqua blue jackets and jeans, I think. They had some cool moves. They were very popular since after the show a lot of people talked about voting for them. (I heard someone called them Duct Tape, though...)

Oh yeah, and we had three judges.
Joseph I think that was his name. He was a guy who said nice things. That's about it.
Shannon She said nice things, mostly about the clothing the people wore. I thought they were judging the dancing, not the outfits. (I mean, yeah, it does matter, but not very much.)
Paula Abdul I think you might know who she is if you watch American Idol. Not the real Paula - an imposter! Judging by the voice I suspect it is a certain PE teacher at my school. Wow, they let him crossdress. How miserable for him. He said nice things, too. (I guess they all have to.

Here are the hosts, security, and joke acts.
Hungarian Ballet Troupe Not a real ballet troupe, it's probably two counselors or teachers dressed up. I think one of them is probably Ms. Crowe, but no guarantees. They were dancing at first until a teacher burst on stage and told them they were supposed to be hosting, not actually dancing. They are pretty amusing. One of the two always says things like, "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, it looks like you want to throw up," or "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, you look like a chicken," or "I don't know about that. When you do this thing, you look like a robot, and I had a scary dream about robots last night." The other person always says, "IT GOOD!" or "YOU'RE GOOD!" in an odd accent.
Security This consists of Mr. Moustakas, the woodshop teacher, and Mr. Robinson, a PE teacher. (They look alike, actually, since they both wear basketball shorts and a white shirt, and neither has that much hair on their heads) When summoned, they run onto the stage and take away any offending people.
Two Boys I forget their names. I think one was Akitas. He bribed the hosts to let him perform. The first act they did was that the two ran around the stage with pretty streamers. One of the boys was wearing a strange rainbowy lit up thing. The second time only one boy performed. He wore a banana suit and kept shaking something (sticks? batons? maracas? something like that) to a song that goes "Peanut Butter Jelly Time!". He fainted and was dragged away by his partner. The last time was when one of them dressed up as Chico, the cougar school mascot, and wore a red dress on top of it. They played "Lady in Red" on the speakers. The two boys were dancing (one boy was pretending that he thought it was Chico, not someone inside) but then Chico's head came off, and the boy jumped away in disgust. Anyhow, it was pretty amusing.

I would say it was all pretty cool except for one thing - THE MUSIC IS WAY TOO LOUD. It's a good thing I wasn't sitting in the front of the room or I would be deaf. You can feel the ground pulsing just slightly. One of my friends had her hands over her ears because it was so loud. I would've done that too but I thought it might be rude.

Labels: crews, dance, deaf, funny, host, humor, joke, judge, kennedy's best dance crew, loud, music, security, show, stage

I was thinking about this since I often see people walking dogs. You may notice some dogs walk in sync with their owners, and both seem to be in a good mood. On the other hand, sometimes a dog is not compliant and is not walking fast enough; they keep stopping to sniff something, or "take care of business". And some dogs go too quickly, so they end up basically dragging their owners along. I think from now on I will observe every person(s) I see taking a walk with their dog, and decide whether the person is leading, the dog is leading, or they are equals (like friends should be. There is a poem, "Walk behind me and I may not lead. Walk in front of me and I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.").

I have come up with a theory that men in their forties are interested in kiddie games. My evidence comes from my history teacher (Mr. Blair) and my father (just call him Tiger). Mr. Blair sometimes becomes interested in online games. He has played a game called Totem Destroyer (where you click on blocks beneath a "totem" to blow them up...You are trying not to let the "totem" get to the ground/bottom of game window). Also, I saw him looking at something called Yummy Drinks Factory. I am guessing it is one of those cheesy games for girls where you go around clicking things and playing lame minigames. I found it hilarious that he would play that. And last but not least, he started playing Rocky Path. Apparently it's like making a path to the other side or something. (I don't know the details about Rocky Path because I have not watched it enough to know) What I do know is that there are bird chirping sounds playing, to make it feel like a rainforest in South America. It gets annoying to hear after a while.

My father also plays such games, just not quite the same as Mr. Blair's. For instance, he spends time playing games for me on Neopets. I have told him that he doesn't need to but he insists that I want money. (Which is true, but he doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to) This must mean he himself may have become fond of the games. For instance, Destruct-O-Match (where you click on blocks...There must be at least 2 blocks of the same color next to each other to destroy them), Mop n' Bop (where you play an angry janitor who swings his mop at dirty animals), and Imperial Exam (you are an ancient Asian scholar-ish dude who shakes or nods his head to let people in depending on how well they spell. You can play in various languages. I wonder if the scholar you play as gets dizzy from all that head movement), to name a few. He also enjoys this strange thing which I think is like a Chinese Facebook (as it is one of those Internet community places). Sometimes he does virtual gardening, or arranges his virtual house which has dogs in it. Or he can click options to make this virtual lady dance or eat. I find it highly amusing.

Labels: childish, computer, dog, friends, funny, games, leash, men, virtual, walk

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