I actually don't remember whether I've eaten that brand of bread. But pretty much any kind of bread is wonderful to me, because I simply love bread.

There's something in the French language that I find hilarious. Part of the final exam for French included reading a pamphlet about Harry Potter, and in it were the words "baguette magique". I didn't think much of it at first, but then I read over it again and wondered if there had been any magical bread in Harry Potter, because I certainly couldn't recall any.

Turns out that a "baguette magique" is a magic wand. A drumstick is a "baguette de tambour", a "baguette d'encens" is an incense stick, a "baguette de chef d'orchestre" is a conductor's baton... And baguette can even refer to a chopstick, if you're eating. I suppose baguette doesn't just refer to food. It's just a stick or rod-shaped object in general.

But really, though, words aside, I've been living off of bread for the last two weeks or so. The #1 thing about my trip to China was bread, no doubt about it. I stopped at every bakery I saw. Would be heaven if I could spend all day visiting bakeries. Bread's cheap and tasty. Everything looked like a great deal compared to USA - got "pineapple buns" (they don't have pineapples in them, I think it's just named that because it looks like pineapples? I have no idea. They're also called polo buns). One itime I found them, fresh out of the oven, for ¥3.5 per bun. One US dollar is about ¥7, so it's like $0.50 for a bun. Better deal than any pineapple bun I've found yet in the USA. ...Then again, the average pay of people in China is far less, so it only looks like a great deal to a foreigner such as myself. But I also found melon bread at a 7-11 in Shanghai! It was only ¥5! And it's just so hard to find melon bread where I live, even if there are many Asian food stores. When I do find it, although it's delicious, it's kind of pricey.

Still, I guess it's not so bad to be back home, because I discovered a place to get pineapple buns. There's a bakery in a nearby grocery store which sells them 3 for $1.95! I can almost die happy.

Labels: baguette, bakery, bread, china, deal, delicious, eating, food, french, harry potter, magic wand, meaning, money, pineapple bun, polo bun, price

Here's a quick run-through of what each term means. Diurnal means active during the day, nocturnal is active during the night, and crepuscular means active at dawn and dusk. So which one would you be? For myself, I'm not really sure. I used to wake up early, and I still can't sleep in much, but I am more awake in the late afternoon and evening. Maybe I would be crepuscular? But that's weird, considering it's mostly animals which are crepuscular. XD Like deer and cougars or something.

Today marked the official end of my classes. I didn't finish my painting of a bird in my class and so I figure I'll have to work on it at home using oil paints (because I don't have acrylic paints). This is a problem since the bird itself has some black areas and I don't have the color black (I've got other oil colors, but not that...Weird, isn't it? That it doesn't come with a set). I guess I'll have to figure out something. If you have an idea, please offer it up. :D

I'd been wondering before why sometimes if you look at a clothing label, it says that the clothes is such-and-such % acrylic. (My mom often looks at those labels when she's considering buying something. She thinks cotton is a good material, and I suppose "Mom knows best"...) I was told by my painting teacher that it was basically plastic, so if acrylic paint dries up, you can peel it off. So I guess that explains why it can be used in both making clothing and paint. o_O;;

Anyhow, it's a little sad that my classes are over. Of course I'm glad to have more free time now, but I will miss the relaxing atmosphere of the classes, and I hope I'll be able to see some of the people who were in my classes next year in school (if they go to the same school, that is).

Yesterday I went to see the animated movie called Up in the movie theater. It has been talked about a lot, probably more so than the average animated movie. Here's the story in short...

A boy called Carl is a big fan of exploration. He wants to be like his hero, Charles F. Muntz, who was a man who claimed to have discovered a rare bird in Paradise Falls, a place in South America. However, it was discovered that he'd put together the skeleton of a bird with existing bones, and so in order to clear his name, he vowed to go to Paradise Falls and not return until he caught the rare bird. Anyhow, the main character, Carl, meets a girl who also is a big fan of Charles F. Muntz, named Ellie. He gets to see her "My Adventure Book", which is a book she put together about adventuring. Eventually Carl and Ellie are married, but in their old age, Ellie dies, and Carl is left on his own. His house is going to be taken away, so Carl blows up a lot of balloons, ties them to his house, and sets off for Paradise Falls. Along the way he meets a boy who tagged along called Russell, a bird which happens to be the rare species that Charles F. Muntz had been looking for, and a dog called Dug. They meet Charles F. Muntz himself at Paradise Falls, but it turns out he is quite evil and so owns many dogs for the purpose of finding the rare bird. He attempts to get rid of Russell and Carl and to take the bird for himself. But there was a good ending, as is necessary for a children's movie.

This was a surprisingly good movie. It was funny, but it was also a little sad as well, and I think you ought to go see it if you want to see a movie. ...Or you could go see Harry Potter, the newest movie...It was so crowded when I left the theater after watching Up because everyone was there to watch Harry Potter. Wow.

Labels: acrylic, animated film, crepuscular, diurnal, end, harry potter, movie, nocturnal, painting, summer school, theater, up

It seems uncanny that they play the music my dad knows and sometimes even likes. In PE class, I have heard Cold Play's music and Abba's music being played through the speakers that can be moved around. (I like them both, I suppose, but Abba was popular before I was even born, so they're not even together anymore) And my science teacher, as he has his own stereo and a guitar, was once imitating Johnny Cash, who was a singer/actor/musician who died in 2003. My dad put on Johnny Cash's music at my house once. I hope this doesn't mean we will be hearing John Denver songs like "Sunshine on my Shoulders", "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and "You Fill Up My Senses", or strange Chinese songs which my dad likes. But maybe some mysterious forces are at work here, and it can't be helped.

In PE, we have tried a variety of odd activities - for instance, scrugby, which is a soccer, rugby, football, basketball, combination or something like that. We've also played bocceball (not sure about the spelling, Mr. Robinson wrote something different on his whiteboard), which is basically bowling but not in a bowling alley. There is a small ball called the pallino which someone throws out. Then several players take turns throwing bigger balls, I think it's called bocce balls (hence the name of the sport/game/whatever you call it). They can only throw underhand so the ball will roll instead of bouncing or something. You try to get your ball as close as possible to the pallino. Other people can knock your ball out of the way or hit the pallino with their bocce ball(s) if they so desire.

Another thing we have done in PE is Quidditch. I just looked up more information on Google and it seems there is really an activity meant for PE teachers to use. If you have read the Harry Potter books you may have an idea of what I mean. Quidditch is basically a nonexistent sport in which two teams of wizards riding brooms face off. There are several balls like the bludgers (you don't want to get hit by them), quaffles (just regular balls you try to score with) and a Golden Snitch (if you can grab it, you get points). The players are Seekers (only one per team, these people concentrate on getting the Golden Snitch), Chasers (just run about trying to score with the Quaffle. I didn't do much), and Beaters (they have bats to hit people and they can throw Bludgers at people. Luckily Mr. Robinson didn't give anyone bats x_x). Anyhow, that's about it. We don't get any brooms, which is a big disappointment to me. I guess such a thing as "flying brooms" will not be invented for some time yet, though.

I had to take two tests in school today (a math test about quadratic equations and stuff like that, and a history test about vocab words). They were both in the beginning of the day, two in a row. My brain almost turned to mush from it, but I think I did well (at least on the history test, because Mr. Blair read out the scores to the people who said they wanted to hear. I got a 50 out of 50, so that's a relief). I'm not so sure on the math test. I tend to make silly mistakes on them, so all I can do is hope for the best. I wonder if I should check my scores online or just wait until the end of this year to see how my final grades are. (Long as they are A's, I am in good shape, I think.)

Lesson of the day! It's a random fact I found. "Apples are more effective at keeping people awake in the morning than caffeine." That's funny. But then again, maybe that's why my mom likes apples. (I think she likes them because they are cute, though, and not because they taste good...)

Labels: apple, bocceball, coincidence, fact, games, grades, harry potter, music, mysterious, PE class, quidditch, random, school, sports, test

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