Blood crosses. They happen when siblings, or cousins, or some other kind of relatives have children together. It's something that disturbs me a bit. I suppose you could fall in love with a relative, but it's a bit frightening what things could happen as a result of such a relationship.

I heard mention of it in the book called The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski. The Sawtelles, the family upon which the book focuses, keep careful records of every dog they have bred so that no dog will have a blood cross. Blood crosses have sometimes resulted in physical defects, both in animals and in people.

I was reading National Geographic not that long ago (it is one of my favorite magazines, after all, and I renew my subscription every time it runs out) and apparently it seems that King Tut may have been the result of crossed blood...And that could be why he is pictured with a cane (had some sort of foot problem from the blood cross, perhaps? And maybe he had a weak immune system, too, which would have contributed to his death at such a young age). Among royalty it isn't uncommon to have blood crosses. Sometimes it's to preserve political power (which confuses me a little, because if you wanted to be more powerful, wouldn't it be better to marry someone out of your family so you would have more connections? But oh well) and other times people do fall in love with their family members.

There was also a guy who was French royalty who had crossed blood flowing in him and he developed slowly (I think he couldn't walk until 7? Or something freaky like that) and he didn't live that long. Isn't that painful? The odds are against you from birth. If you're the child of two relatives, then there's a possibility that both of them have a recessive gene that could cause problems, and if you happened to be unlucky enough, you might be born with those two recessive genes put together, and you would suffer from whatever problem the gene causes. And you'd be doomed to get cancer over and over again or die early, and so on. (Hmm, I suppose you could end up with such genes even if you didn't have crossed blood, but in that case you'd have to have two people meet who had some sort of similarities in genes, and I guess considering the amount of people out there it would happen, but then again there are a lot of combinations of genes that are possible, too...Well, never mind me, just talking to myself. Really. No one reads this besides my future self anyways.) I guess in that case you might not be able to change your fate. But I've heard this quote that "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years", so even if you know you don't have long to live, search for happiness. You're alive, so go and live as much as you can! That's still something I need to do.

I've been concerned about bloodlines because of my grandparents on my mother's side. People in China don't necessarily change their last names when they get married. In the case of my grandma, she already had the same last name as my grandpa, so there was no need to change last names. True, there are a lot of people in China, and you'll certainly meet people with the same last name, but it made me think that there's probably a blood cross, even if it's somewhere way back. A bit freaky to think about. One time I said to my mom, "So that's why you're so twisted!" (referring to her personality) which made her become indignant. XD But anyways, don't be like me, don't joke about it. "Do as I say, not as I do."

My science teacher showed us a website that contains a world clock. You can see births, deaths, illness, crimes, and whatnot. A bit morbid, I guess, watching as the number of deaths go up (there are really a lot of people who die of respiratory infections!) but it's kind of fascinating too. Here's the url:

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/

Labels: blood, book, clock, cross, death, family, genetics, health, life, national geographic, personality, problems, relatives, sickness, the story of edgar sawtelle, what if, world

Today, a very strange thing happened. My mother put out the trash, recycling, and yard waste containers so the trash could be taken away. When she came back, the trash and recycling containers were still there, but the yard waste one was gone! I think that probably when the truck coming around to get the trash, maybe it lifted up the yard waste can to dump it out (since it's done using the truck, people don't get out of the truck to dump the trash in) and it accidentally dropped the whole container in! My mom suggested that someone could have stolen the yard waste bin, but that is pretty unlikely seeing as it's not really a valuable object. I mean, unless you want tree branches, or you collect trash cans, there's no point.

Well, anyways, this is an entirely different subject, but my history teacher told my class a story about gambling. It started out with him explaining how there is gambling in his bloodline. One time I think his parents and grandmother went somewhere, and after gambling his parents went to sleep in their hotel room. Then they woke up and realized that the grandmother wasn't in her bed. So my teacher's father went searching for the grandma. They found her in the casino, still playing blackjack.

Afterwards, my teacher proceeded to the actual story. During his college years, when he was still back in San Diego (I don't know where in California he is actually from. It could be the town I live in because I saw some 1993, 1994 panoramic pictures from his 7th and 8th grade year, picturing his whole grade, and it said my school's name underneath), one time he took a trip to Las Vegas with his father, brother, and two friends of his. I think they didn't all travel together, so my teacher needed to get to the hotel.

His father said, "California Hotel. Old Vegas," and hung up. (Old Vegas refers to the area not on the Strip - the Strip is the current main street of Las Vegas where all the nice hotels/casinos are, like Bellagio and The Venetian and the Mirage and Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay... and so on) My teacher tried to tell that to a taxi driver, but the taxi driver didn't know where that was. In fact, several taxi drivers didn't know where that was. He called his father again but was told "California Hotel. Old Vegas," which didn't help. So at last he found a taxi driver who knew what he was talking about.

Later on, his father wanted to make a deal with him. My teacher had brought $250 or so with him for gambling. He took my teacher's money and gave him $400, and later on all of them would split the profits they made.

They all went gambling. I mean, what else do you do in Las Vegas? Besides watching the shows and checking out the free tourist attractions... (Once you've seen them all, then you'll be bored, like I was because I've been to Las Vegas quite a few times) I recommend Bellagio's fountains. You should also see the garden inside Bellagio...Oh, and the shop that sells sweets, too. They have a chocolate waterfall if I remember correctly.

After a while, my teacher and his father were getting into the groove and had won lots of money. I think my teacher gained $900 or something. He found out that two other friends were in Las Vegas, at Mandalay Bay, so he went to meet them. My teacher talked about how he was on a roll, so one of his friends said, "Take my $20 and get me a $100." But my teacher wanted to do $25 rounds so he said he couldn't with just $20. But his friend insisted, so eventually he took $5 of his own so he would have enough. He earned $100 using the $25, and his friend said, "Do it again." My teacher reminded her that his luck/karma/skill/whatever you want to call it might run out, but she said it was okay. So he won $100 again, and again, and eventually she had $400. I wish it was always that easy to gamble; then I could retire like I want to.

My teacher's friend said she would definitely buy him McDonald's next time. My teacher had said earlier that in college he had a job in YMCA, which didn't pay so well, so he was "surviving off the McDonald's Dollar Menu". Imagine this scenario. (J means my teacher, since his first name starts with a J, and C means cashier)

J: I'd like 3 fries, please.
C: That'll be $11. (Dunno if it's really that price, but oh well)
J: No, no, I mean 3 fries. Oh, I think I'll have those over there on the ground.
C: Then that'll be $.25.

I hope he really didn't live like that. I'm sure he's kidding. I mean, it's not sanitary to eat off the floor anyways.

Labels: bellagio, blackjack, california hotel, french fries, gambling, garbage can, genetics, las vegas, mcdonald's, middle school, money, teacher, trash, yard waste

I know, probably there are a lot of blog posts of mine by now which are somehow or other related to death. Sorry, but it seems like it's following me. Or maybe I'm following it. I am probably superstitious now since I spend my time counting crows.

I had better get to the point. I always keep a flashing keychain on my backpack. The keychain has my name on it, and so I don't need to bother introducing myself, or if people forget my name, they can just glance down there (theoretically...). It is solar powered and one side says Hearst Castle since that's where I got it from. Hearst Castle is a mansion on a mountainside in California. Pretty nice place, wish I had swimming pools and a view of the ocean like Hearst had when he was alive.

Well, the keychain has served me faithfully for more than a year, not far from two years. But age has taken its toll on the keychain. The little part that keeps the keychain attached to its ring has been eroding. I jerked on my keychain too hard (I am too lazy to properly zip my backpack, so I just pull the keychain, since it is attached to the zipper) and a tiny part broke off. It was basically the last straw that broke the camel's back since the keychain fell off. I managed to get ahold of it so I wouldn't lose it but it seems that it is the end for the keychain unless my mom comes up with a way to fix it. (She is the person in my family who is best with little things like sewing and origami and whatnot so we leave it to her. I mean, I have trouble buttoning my shirts and tying my shoelaces...Ironic considering I am a fast typer. You would think my hands would be nimbler.)

I had convinced myself that I was going to make changes in my life this year, so I have been trying to become a more open and charismatic person, but that is not going too well. I won't give up, though! Just like I don't give up on trying to convince my mom that I should have a cat or dog. I think it makes me an admirable person if I keep trying. :p Or maybe it just means I'm too stubborn like my grandma. Well, as a result of these changes, at lunchtime I went into my old teacher's classroom so I could see what happens during Debate Club. I had never really joined clubs much (I tried MathCounts because my mom wanted me to, back in sixth grade, but it was too hard for me to understand. It was funny when someone tried to show the area of a grape, though. And then there was the time I tried to join the Go Green Club last year but I got intimidated since there weren't enough chairs and I didn't know anyone) but now I was curious and I got up the nerve to go in. It was very loud, that's for sure. Two of the students, who were supposedly in charge today, kept banging the weird hammer the teacher has to keep order. We were supposed to be debating whether swine flu is overblown. It wasn't really a formal debate like what I did in the summer once, but oh well. I suppose it was interesting in its own way, even if all I did was listen and not talk. I guess I might go again unless French Week committee meetings get in the way.

When I was walking home not long ago, I saw a blimp in the sky. It said "23andme.com", "Personal Genetics", and "Join the research revolution" or something like that. I guess advertising things on blimps works on people like me, since today I actually went on the website out of curiosity. The Human Prehistory: Prologue video in the Genetics 101 section is not bad. It would have been nice if I learned about humans by watching videos like that back in sixth grade...

Labels: 23andme, broken, club, death, debate, debate club, discord, genetics, hands, hearst castle, history, humans, keychain, stubborn, swine flu, video

I'm so glad it rained today! It's been so long since the last time it rained (February? March? Maybe somewhere around there?) that my skin has been dry for a long time. I've always suffered from skin problems, even in my baby pictures. When I was still really young, I smiled, but when I got a little older I had a terrible rash on my forehead and I cried in all the pictures. XD

We went to the flea market this morning, and I bought an orchid. I like to spend my money, even if whatever I bought wasn't particularly useful. D: Then it started to rain, and my mom and grandma got really scared by it. I guess my grandma is scared of the sun, the rain, dogs, cats, ants... Maybe it's partially genetic.

Labels: crying, dry, family, fear, genetics, orchid, picture, rain, rash, skin, spending money, the treasures of weatherby

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