Did I ever talk about the time I picked golf as my sport for PE? No? Well, I guess I'll tell you about it now.

Golf had never been particularly interesting to me as a sport - if it had been, I certainly would've pestered my parents to let me have golf lessons at one of the local courses. (There is, in fact, a golf course within easy walking distance of my house.) My dad, on the other hand, was itching to play golf after watching it for so many years and would occasionally ask me to please consider taking golf classes so that he could accompany me and learn to play. (I always thought it was ridiculous; go learn yourself! Are you embarrassed that you're so old and are a total newbie? Why can't you leave me out of it?)

It just seemed like the most boring thing ever. Some guy wearing a cap and polo shirt (though sometimes there are some pretty scary looking outfits, like a bright orange shirt and pants... *shudder* ) stands there shuffling his feet and pretending to swing. It probably takes longer for them to get ready for the shot than to actually do it. I always thought it was pretty simple and didn't understand why they needed to take so long. Maybe they wanted to make extra sure that they swung perfectly and ended up in this position. The sport is so slow, in fact, that oftentimes the cameramen will film ducks, blimps, or frogs instead of golf players. Of course, I like to see the animals, but this is not Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel...

Still, I figured it was more appealing than the other options for sports that time. There was street hockey, but I intended to save that for last, and I certainly wasn't going to swim (too much hassle) or join any sport that involved throwing things (believe me, I am terrible at football, and frisbee is the stuff of nightmares). So off to golf I went.

I ended up with my usual PE teacher for golf, and he began the first class by naming some golfers and asking how many of us had heard of them. Of course everyone knew Tigers, and a handful of people were familiar with Michelle Wie, but I was pretty much the only one who recognized the name of a rather old golfer. (Hey! Not my fault I've been looking at my dad's Fantasy PGA Tour picks for nearly half my childhood.) I realize later I probably shouldn't have raised my hand because I bet the teacher expected me to be some golf pro. He would soon find out the opposite.

I must say now that I greatly underestimated what it takes to hit a golf ball, not only in the right direction but also with the right amount of power...I'd say, though, the hardest part was actually figuring out how to hit the ball. Us students were taught to hold the club a certain way and do some wimpy half-swings to get used to hitting the balls. I missed the ball a lot or ended up taking out chunks of grass in the process. Eventually I kind of got the hang of it, but even then it was rather up-and-down at times. Some days I was practically a pro and had been asked if I'd played golf before; other times I was messing up even on easy holes. And of course, when we were playing golf in teams, there was much shock and dismay when I missed the putt that they were all counting on me to do. So it is indeed a tricky game - even your choice of golf club can make a big difference in your golf skills, as I learned the hard way. In some ways it's a mind game too; when my concentration was off, my golf suffered as well. At the end of the golf unit I was still not much good at golf, but at least now I understood why people came out in hordes to watch funnily-dressed men swing sticks. It is indeed a sport to be admired.

Labels: ability, animals, boring, clothes, clothing, fantasy golf, game, golf, lessons, PE class, revelation, school, skills, sports

Lately my father has been watching baseball instead of golf. He usually watches golf, but since it's almost winter, the golf season is over (I mean, you can't really play in the snow, and besides it's harder to get a cold golf ball to go far than it is to get a warm golf ball, if those Comcast Sports Science videos were worth anything) and the only places they could play would be, like, Hawaii or something. So now, since it's currently still baseball season, my father has turned his attention to that sport.

This means that there are even more similarities between my father and my history teacher than ever before! D: Now both of them are baseball fans who are/were teachers (after all, my dad used to teach, and he might be better at that than being an engineer, seeing as he likes to talk =_=;; ) and both of them often get distracted by their computers. (When my dad is on the computer, if I try to talk to him, he probably won't hear me...) In fact, just the other day I saw my dad going on this website he likes. He was doing some virtual gardening, pulling up weeds with his mouse cursor and stuff. And then he put some food in this place where he keeps his animals. He has weird animals like peacocks. Looks like my dad is a zookeeper now.

The other day, in science class, we watched an interesting video from the History Channel. It was about great engineering disasters, and we got to watch planes blow up and dams break. What I thought was the funniest (I know, it's not funny if people get injured or whatever, but in this one no one died, except there was a car on the bridge) was this bridge in Washington. When it was windy, the bridge would roll about. Search for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on Youtube if you want to see what it's like. Anyhow, the bridge collapsed in a wind storm, unfortunately.

My mom and I like a kind of bread sold at some Chinese bakeries called a "polo bun" (it's pronounced differently than that, though). It's sweet tasting and sort of bumpy. It looks kind of like a melon bun, which is something I saw in the anime Shakugan no Shana. I've always wondered if they are the same thing or not. I've been wondering a long time, so if anyone's eating a melon bun, let me know. D:

Weather is something I mention occasionally in this blog, and so I'm talking about it today, too. Not long ago, it was really hot outside, but now it's cold and my hands are freezing while I type this. I really hate it when the weather keeps changing. I heard that it was hot right now in Shanghai from my grandparents. Is this one of the natural weather cycles of the Earth, or is this caused by global warming, I wonder? There are still people who say that global warming doesn't exist, or that it's being offset by the natural ice ages of the Earth anyway. (But then again, we haven't had an Ice Age for a while...It's suspicious.)

Sigh...I had to switch cell phones. We're changing from Sprint to AT&T because my mom's friend was laid off. Because of him, we were able to get a discount on the phone service, but since he's not working there anymore, we won't have the discount any longer. My mom decided to swap to AT&T since it is cheaper and she says that people who used AT&T say it works fine. Still, I do miss my old cell phone. This would be my third one now and I hardly know how to use it... Plus, I feel like it's bad for the environment, getting new cell phones. I mean, it takes energy and resources to make a cell phone, after all.

Labels: animals, baseball, bun, cell phone, gardening, golf, season, similar, sports, tacoma narrows, teacher, virtual, weather

Usually the term is spring cleaning. But it's not spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, and so I have changed the term to suit my needs. My mom suddenly got it in her head to sort through old, unworn clothes and decide whether to give it away or keep it. Because of sentimental reasons (and because I "don't have a charitable bone in my body" D: ) I still insist on keeping clothes, but my mom eventually persuaded me to give away some of it to my relatives or donate it. I know no one in my family can wear the clothes since there is no one young in this house, but it's still kind of sad.

I remember one time I was suddenly interested in the bathroom sink. I grabbed a rag and started cleaning it, as well as the two knobs for the temperature and the spout. I have been planning for a while to do some interior decorating in my house but I never got around to it. I wonder if this is yet another plan that is going to be put off again and again?

Apparently there is one person in my class at school who has a job, but it's not really an official one. Since he plays golf, he cleans up the ranges by picking up the golf balls. It takes maybe forty-five minutes according to him. And then he gets free golf that week. It actually saves his parents hundreds of dollars. I think he gets free drinks too. Sounds pretty nice to me, having a job like that.

Another good job to have (I am talking about when you are young, and don't have a college degree, and can only work part-time) would be the movie theater. My teacher's son used to work at the theater and I think he got to see movies for free... But I heard he wouldn't eat the popcorn there ever again after he saw how it was made. My teacher says it is very unhealthy since they dump a lot of butter on the movie popcorn. Are you allowed to bring your own popcorn? Carb free popcorn helps you to relax, according to a book I glanced at back in cooking class last year, so that would be a good idea.

I had been thinking of taking on a job at Jamba Juice when I am old enough, because you can get a free smoothie every shift or something like that. But I am a little worried about how loud it would be, what with several blenders going at once. Still, the smoothies are a real temptation. I will still consider it for possible part-time jobs (like during the summer, I am too lazy or too busy to work during the school year).

In French class (yup, yet again) we were given the assignment of making posters that said J'aime le Français, and I wasn't sure how to go about it, so I decided to use my trusty GIMP and the computer. I'm so glad that GIMP works. Too bad it doesn't have anywhere near the brushes it used to. (I keep them backed up on my hard drive so if I want to use a brush in GIMP I can simply copy it from my hard drive to the GIMP's folders. That way my computer doesn't get too slowed down) But I found out something cool - that you can use the Photoshop brushes in GIMP. Just download and move the abr file into GIMP's brushes folder and voila! I wouldn't have been able to use the Eiffel Tower brush I found otherwise. You can see the poster that I made if you CLICK HERE. Click on the image to expand it to the full view. By the way, J'aime le Français means "I like the French" or "I love the French".

Labels: autumn, brushes, cleaning, clothes, french, gimp, golf, interior design, j'aime le français, jamba juice, job, movie, photoshop, popcorn, sink, smoothie, theater

A few days ago, when my mom was driving me to my summer classes, we saw a yellow school bus parked by the side of the road. I wondered if it was a field trip that a summer camp was doing (because school ought to be out unless you take "year-long" school) but then I saw that the people getting off the bus had golf clubs. So it must've been a group of kids who were taking golf classes. (The bus was not far from the Blackberry Farms Golf Course) Then, of course, my mom had to remind me that she wanted me to learn golf, and especially so since my dad wants me to take the classes so he can learn too.

Recently, I went to Petsmart. I usually go there to pass the time if my mom is going to the grocery store or something. (My dad accompanies me) We wanted to get another pet koi for our fish tank, but it's not a good time to seeing as I will be leaving for vacation soon. I mean, I heard there was a family that had a lot of fish in a big koi pond and they don't even go on long vacations because they don't want to leave the fish alone. So maybe we'll be getting a new fish after I return, in August. My dad wanted to get a greyish-colored koi. What do you think?

While I'm at Petsmart, I often look at the other animals, especially the cats. They take a few cats in and you can adopt them. There were two cats that looked very alike (I guess they were siblings) who were quite energetic and if you put your finger on the glass, then they'd seem to be trying to bite you. o_O;; And there was a Siamese cat. I really like Siamese cats because of their blue eyes and how their paws and ears are dark while the rest of their bodies are light. But seeing as my mom is unwilling to adopt a cat or dog, I'm stuck only looking.

My parents say the main reason why I can't be entrusted with such a pet is because children will often beg and beg for a pet until their parents give it to them, and they will promise to take care of the animal. But after a few weeks they won't take care of the pet, just play with it when they feel like it. And the parents are stuck taking care of the animal since you can't just "get rid of it" - It's a living being (this is sort of like the debate over whether abortion is humane). So my parents don't want that to happen if they do get me a dog or cat.

Still, I can't help wanting one because I'd rather find out for myself than just hear what other people already have to say about it. It's kind of like how everyone believed Aristotle's writings even though he assumed a lot of them since he didn't have time to discover everything himself. It wasn't until later that scientists proved him wrong, finding out the Earth was not the center of the universe, and things like that. My dad says it'd be nice if there was a "Rent-a-Pet" kind of business so I could have a trial run and if I'm responsible enough, then I could adopt a dog or cat. (That sure would be nice, but as far as I know there is no such business...)

I recently discovered how hard it is to draw umbrellas. I was doodling and decided to make the person hold an umbrella. However, it would turn out lopsided or it would be too high or too small or something. I had to keep adjusting it and finally I gave up and decided I would just leave it as is. Maybe I should get out one of my umbrellas and look at it to draw one. (It's easier for me to draw things I can see with my own two eyes.)

Labels: animals, broken promise, bus, cat, difficult, drawing, golf, koi, pet, petsmart, responsibility, siamese, umbrella

The term "eye candy" is usually meant to express that something is attractive or otherwise pleasant to look at. I guess if you are like me and are fond of anything shiny, you would think the new computer is eye candy. My dad recently bought a new desktop computer and monitor. The monitor is a Samsung 1920x1080 screen (it is so huge, it's bigger than the other desktop, which is only 1440x900 screen resolution), the keyboard is a black Dell one with raised keys (exactly the same as my other one, i have learned), a black computer mouse (also from Dell and it has a cord. My old computer mouse is a wireless one from Logitech, the webcam company XD), and the "computer" itself, which is a long, thin black Vostro/Dell thing. It is all very pretty because it is new, but I am not accustomed to Windows Vista. (We used to use Windows 2000 but many of our computers are Windows XP) When I was downloading Google Chrome, since we only had Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox on this new computer so far, I couldn't find it because apparently it was in the Downloads folder, not in the Desktop like I'm accustomed to. It will take time to get used to the new computer.

Anyhow, you might be wondering why we even bothered buying a new computer. My mom has two computers in her home-office-room, one is a big white Windows 2000 which she uses to play her Korean dramas sometimes, and the other one is a slightly more modern Windows XP (back in the day, I used to use that). Then there is the laptop that my dad got from his work. And then there's the silverish Dell laptop I used to use, before it got too slow from age and too much stuff on it. And then there's my usual desktop, which I have grown oddly attached to (since I don't have a dog or cat *hint hint*, I instead like other objects). And now there is the new computer. My dad is always hogging my desktop, because he insists he is making neopoints for my Neopets account (I know I am a multi-millionaire, but I am "pretending" that I have a retirement fund) but he is sometimes checking how his golfers are doing in his PGA Tour Fantasy Golf.

It's called Fantasy Golf because the people who "play" Fantasy Golf don't actually golf. (Though my dad has mentioned he would like to learn sometime) They just watch the Golf Channel on television, and research golfers, and then if they pay (or not, depends on which site you use and whether you want to get real $$$ IF you win) they can choose golfers and see how they do. The better your golfers score, the more points you get. If you're first place, then you can actually roll in the moo-lah. (I mean money, sorry if that's confusing.) But of course, only one person can be first, anyways. And I'm sure most of the time, it isn't my dad. (So I don't really approve of his playing PGA Tour Fantasy Golf because it is like gambling. Oh well. It runs in the family. His mother has been gambling and playing mah-jong since a loooong time ago. Except she usually wins money.)

Labels: computer, eye candy, fantasy golf, golf, keyboard, monitor, mouse, new, share, shiny, windows vista

There is a book that goes by that title, and the author is Margaret Peterson Haddix, but I'm not talking about that. I mean that there is always someone similar to yourself. Sometimes people say they know someone who looks like me. And in an anime (Sister Princess if you wanted to know), one of the people often sayings things like, "You know there is such-and-such-number of people in the world who look exactly like you." I was reminded of it when my mom talked about how she was in line at a store once and the person in front of her looked like me, but taller and older. The person was wearing a UCSF Medical School Class of 2010 sweater or shirt or something like that. I was a bit disturbed since I don't want to be a doctor. (No offense if you do. I think it is a fine career. Just not one I have particular interest in.) So I hope it's just a coincidence if someone looks like me. After all, a lot of times I might be walking somewhere and see someone who looked familiar from the back but when they turn around I realize it's not the same person.

Nowadays I've been writing something for history class. Our assignment is to write a letter and pretend we are in Florence touring the places. You can write to your mother or your pet goldfish or whatever. (But don't put your real address! I don't know about you, but the town where I live was only founded in the 1900's, so it couldn't have existed centuries ago) We have to explain what the Renaissance is, what humanism/individualism/realism is, how the Greeks and Romans influenced it, and so on. Then you have to describe the five senses (olfactory, visual, audio, tactile, and taste). Just make up a bunch of stuff, for example, you bit into a watermelon and thought it was juicy and sweet. (Note that I don't like watermelons. Especially the seeds. And I remember when I was young my class went to the nearby park, and we had a watermelon, and one of the teachers pretended it was a dinosaur egg)

As I keep on rambling I am reminded of the book I was reading just the other day. It's called Pillage and the author is Obert Skye. (According to the book cover, he is the author of Leven Thumps, some fantasy series or something of that sort. I saw a poster of it at the school library.) It's not really one of my favorites, but it's okay as books go. Kind of an adventure/fantasy/sarcastic book. Later on in the book you'll hear something about dragon eggs. So, not that far off from dinosaur eggs.

My dad is continuously watching the Masters Cup in golf. (The Cup stands for the weird glass goblet you get for winning golf tournaments.) A lot of males wearing polo shirts and either visors or caps are walking around, swinging golf clubs. I think golf is too slow-paced and boring because sometimes the game is so lacking that the cameramen film ducks flying overhead instead of the golfers. I saw Tiger Woods so apparently he's back to playing golf. He had an unhappy expression. My dad says it's because he's not playing well.

I think my science teacher is getting married sometime around now. He is going to marry one of the school counselors, apparently. My mom doesn't know how old his wife-to-be is, so she thinks my teacher is way older (I doubt that, he just has prematurely grey hair and a rather "weathered" look, like a sea captain, I think his fiancée isn't a spring chicken herself. No offense intended). One of my classmates was offended that we weren't invited to the wedding (after all, sometimes you do get to go to your teachers' weddings, one of my friends did just a year or two ago). The classmate insisted that we were more important than his nieces and deserved to go. (That's too hard, I think. There is at least a hundred kids in our "village", and besides that it would be unfair to the teacher's previous classes since they wouldn't get to go just because they were born in the wrong year.)

Labels: age, books, egg, florence, golf, identity, invitation, italy, letter, marriage, masters cup, people, pillage, renaissance, teacher

...Actually, now that I think of it, that isn't true. But oh well. Some of the tulip bulbs we planted back in late 2008 have started shooting up through the dirt. It's like magic. I think we planted 25 of them, though I don't know if all 25 of them will live to have those beautiful flowers. (One of the places we planted a bulb is just a hole now. Maybe a squirrel or bird dug it up, somehow. I didn't think they ate tulip bulbs, but who knows.)

I was attempting to learn the numbers and a few characters in Chinese. Mostly it all looks like random dashes and lines to me, but I guess that's just the way the language is. I always got confused between the characters for 5 and 9. I'll figure it out eventually, I suppose. I use my whiteboard to practice. (It's hard if you use a bad quality marker, though...Make sure to use new whiteboard markers if possible. Not too dry and not too watery.)

Today, I want to spend some money, for some reason. It's probably bad, especially considering these economic times, but I haven't bought anything for myself (besides food) for a few months. Since I have free time this weekend, maybe I should ask my parents if I can go to Nordstrom or some other place I like.

I tried some strawberry milk this morning. It tastes okay, though the flavor is not familiar to me. I prefer smoothies or yogurt to strawberry milk, personally.

My dad seems to have a lot of free time. He's always watching movies or lurking on a Chinese forum. He doesn't even have an account on that site, yet he's still able to view the forums. I thought that was weird, that he always just reads posts and looks at celebrity pictures but never posts...He's a talkative guy, so I thought he would be like that on the Internet, too.

Anyhow, right now, the TV is on (even though no one is watching it) and the channel is the Golf Channel. We have an inside joke at my house where I say "The Golf Channel would be the best channel if it didn't have golf on it." Golf is such a slow-paced sport, sometimes they film ducks flying overhead instead of filming the players.

My parents sometimes worry about being laid off. I guess my mom's company would rather lay off workers than cut activities. My mom's "group" at work played lawn bowling to celebrate when they finished a "project"...Guess they still have enough money for that, and for eating at restaurants that are at least much better than the school's reheatable food. My mom says she's busy at work, too, since she has to type a weird code, and is constantly visited by people, but it's actually not true. One of her group members visited my mom's cubicle just to tell her that there was free pizza. Then the two of them were gone in a flash. (I always knew my mom likes the crusts on pizza, but...)

Labels: career, golf, leisure, lurk, mandarin, milk, money, nordstrom, pizza, reading, thief, time, tulips, whiteboard

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