I was just reading the February 2010 edition of Reader's Digest magazine. (Apparently we only received this issue recently, which is odd. I mean, it's long past February now. I guess they forgot to send it to us before.) This time the magazine had a focus on ways to lose weight and the attitudes of people in various countries about being fat.

Regarding France, many families eat together every night, much more than the percentage in the USA out of people surveyed. And the meals in France are quite long. My French teacher told us that the lunchtime at French schools is about two hours long, so school ends late, like 5:00 pm or so. It's such a long lunch that you might even be able to go home and take a nap (just as long as you got up in time to return to school).

Actually, the longer the meal, the less you eat, given that you talk to someone while eating. If you're holding a conversation while eating, then you don't eat as quickly, compared to when you're focused on eating (as I tend to be). That pretty much explains why eating lunch or dinner seems to take so much longer when my parents are eating with their friends.

In this way, you end up not eating as much even though you supposedly would be spending more time talking. By talking, you have to slow down your eating (unless you eat and talk at the same time, which is disgusting and can also result in choking or food coming out). It's a good strategy, but it does take up time, which is a valuable resource that is impossible to replace.

But the opposite - that less is more - is also true, when it comes to swimming pools. Blackberry Farm, a place of recreation in my town, has its pool open during the warmer months. There's a discount on Sunday evenings (after 5:00 pm), I believe, so my mother and I went to the pool.

My mom had thought it wouldn't be crowded because she figured not many people would know about the pool, but she turned out to be wrong. It was quite crowded. Still, we figured that since we bothered to come we should go and swim. I suppose that less money needed to go swimming means more people flock to the pool.

The deepest section, 6 feet deep, was the one with the least amount of people. (This is an instance of "more is less" - the deeper the water, the smaller the amount of people in it.) The shallower sections were mostly occupied by parents teaching their children to swim.

It brought back my memories of the time when I was still struggling with swimming. My mom and I would go to the YMCA pool because we used to have a membership there. My mom would tell me to do four paces of Freestyle or something like that. It had been difficult for me then. Sometimes I choked on water and became very upset. I used to resent swimming. I feared water. Even showering was something I disliked because I might get water in my eyes. Now I don't fear the pool anymore. I guess the toils and trouble turned out to be worth it.

Labels: conversation, deep, fear, fight, france, lunch, magazine, meal, pool, readers digest, shower, struggle, swimming, time, trick, water, weight, YMCA

Earlier this month, there were flag football tournaments going on at lunchtime. Some of the students had been participating at the games. Apparently one of the PE teachers made the students stay late to clean up after the games (at least, they claim that, I wasn't there).

Well, I was sitting in my math classroom and the bell rang. A few students ended up being late. The first said, "Flag football," the second said the same, and so on...Until there was only one person left to come to class. As he was approaching the classroom, our teacher said, "Let's see what his excuse is."

To our surprise, when the boy came in, he said, quite simply, "I was late." My teacher was impressed by this, saying that the boy had taken responsibility instead of shifting the blame to the flag football games and PE teacher.

And then, during another math class, we were reading out the answers. It's usually like this: The first person in a row reads an answer from their homework, and then the person behind them reads the next answer, and so on. Well, it got to one boy and he couldn't read the answer because he didn't have his homework. "Do you have your homework?" asked the teacher. The boy fumbled for a response, but finally he had to say no.

My dad asked me later on if students ever claim that their dog ate their homework when they don't have it. I guess it's not really an excuse that's used nowadays. I mean, it wouldn't be a credible excuse unless someone had a dog in the first place.

Well, anyhow, I was reading a book called When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden. It's about a girl living in Vietnam, named Binh. Her aunt moved to America when she was very young because it was rough in Vietnam at the time. Now that she is 35, she has rediscovered her family and traveled to Vietnam to visit them. But there's a lot of culture shock on both sides. The relatives living in Vietnam expect Di Thao, the aunt who lives in America, to be rich because she is American. And Di Thao has trouble getting used to the lifestyle in Vietnam.

For one thing, a relative asked Di Thao what her age was. Di Thao had said that in America, women didn't reveal their ages, before finally saying she was 35. Binh didn't understand why her aunt was uncomfortable because apparently, it's important to know someone's age so you know how to address them in Vietnamese.

And then the relatives asked Di Thao what she did for a living. She said she was a teacher. "What do you teach? Mathematics? Economics?" asked the relatives. Di Thao replied that she taught art. The relatives were confused about this. "People go to school to learn art? Why?"

The relatives also thought it was shocking that Di Thao was 35 but had no husband or children. As for Di Thao, she was surprised by the toilet, which you have to squat to use (Bleh! Horrible! I saw those kinds of toilets in China. I wouldn't go to the bathroom when there weren't the kinds of toilets that you can sit on).

I've been thinking that I really am very used to the American lifestyle myself. I love spaghetti (but when Binh ate it, she thought it was strange, especially the cheese taste). Our house isn't big, but it isn't so small that we all sleep side by side on the floor. (I think houses are pretty big in the USA compared to other countries. In Europe, things are more petite too) And we are accustomed to not wearing uniforms to school. When Binh saw a photo of an American school, and saw that the students wore plain clothing, she wondered if they were too poor to afford uniforms...In the USA it's usually just the private school kids who wear uniforms. I would like to be able to live in another country - not just visit it - because simply seeing a place for a week or two is not enough to really get a feel for what life is like there.

Labels: america, book, class, culture, different, dog, excuse, flag football, geometry, late, lunch, math, scapegoat, school, shock, sports, teacher, uniform, vietnam, when heaven fell

It's certainly something I am not capable of. Have you ever heard of Michael Jackson's "Moonwalk"? It's really cool. He seems to be sliding backwards while making walking motions with his feet. My dad says that you can probably do it with lots and lots of practice, but I've been attempting it and it looks awkward. I end up getting my socks dirty. XD I guess I am not cut out to be a moonwalker.

Currently I am working on a new avatar for Crunchyroll. I think it will turn out very shiny, so look forward to seeing it (or you can dread it, it's your choice). I'll probably upload it to my Photobucket and Deviantart and also Crunchyroll so once I'm done it'll be there. I guess I could post it on my blog but then it would make you have to do even more scrolling to read the posts. So I figure it's best that way. (There are links to the places at the right side of my blog for your convenience)

Right now the anime I am watching is La Corda d'Oro Primo Passo. If you know classical music then this anime may catch your interest. For instance, songs such as Fantasie-Impromptu and Ave Maria can be heard in the anime. The anime is okay but later on it gets annoying especially since the main character, Kahoko Hino, gets depressed and panicky and things like that since she doesn't want to expose the fact that her violin is magical (therefore, even being a complete beginner at playing the instrument, she is good at it). Anyways, I'm probably confusing you if you haven't seen the anime (or read the manga?) so you should investigate if you want to watch it.

My family entertained guests for two days in a row. On Friday, July 3, my dad's friend's family (they come over quite often since they don't live in Canada like they used to) and also an acquaintance of my dad's came over. They ate dinner and talked a lot while my dad's friend's son went off by himself, either watching the Star Wars movie on television or just doing who-knows-what. My dad's acquaintance (I call him that since I'm not sure how well he knows my dad and anyhow he is quite a bit younger) is addicted to the piano and keyboard. At first he just tried to play the keyboard but someone must've opened up the piano for him to use. He was attempting to play my songs. He told my mom that he used to learn piano but he stopped after elementary school and now I have overpassed him in level. He said he regretted not learning for a longer time. I guess a lot of people resent having piano lessons, and I did sometimes - when I was younger I'd rip my music or hit the piano if I was frustrated - but it's something you don't miss until it's gone. You know what I mean?

The other time was on Saturday, July 4, when my family went to a buffet for lunch with their friends. It's called Villa 08 and I think it's in Mountain View. It's kind of a freaky place. The ceiling is high and is painted a rather odd color (it's blue, I think, which is rare to see). It's the food that really disturbs me. There are things like shark fin soup and frog legs! My dad got some shark fin soup. He showed me what the shark's fin looks like in the soup. It's like transparent goop. I just drank some ox tail soup since I'd been told that was tasty.

Labels: anime, buffet, classical, frog legs, guests, la corda d'oro, lunch, michael jackson, moonwalk, music, ox tail soup, piano, regret, restaurant, shark fin soup, villa 08

I can't speak French. But I saw this on some of the De Young Museum's souvenir merchandise. (Like t-shirts and bags) Apparently it was the old motto of Yves Saint Laurent. It means "Fashion passes, style remains". I don't really get it, so good luck to you figuring it out.

...Maybe I'd better clarify, before everyone gets confused. My family has membership to museums in San Francisco, and we heard there were some new exhibits, so we went to see the De Young and Legion of Honor (both art museums). At De Young, the special exhibits right now are 1) Yves Saint Laurent, and 2) Andy Warhol...While at Legion of Honor, the special exhibit is Artistic Luxury - Fabergé - Tiffany - Lalique.

Yves Saint Laurent is a French, high-end clothing brand. Apparently the guy who started it and owned it (until he died of brain cancer o_O ) was called Saint Laurent. The clothing in the museum wasn't all that old, I mean, my parents were alive then (1960's was around the oldest of the clothes displayed) but still, flash photography seems to damage clothing and art for some reason, so this guy in a black suit leaped out to stop a woman who was taking pictures with her camera. (That must be what those security guards do...I always thought it was weird since they usually just stand there, or walk around looking at you)

Anyhow, the YSL clothing is kind of odd. Some of it is really freaky, like this black, tall hat, and a "wedding dress" which covers you and makes you look like a little dressed-up doll. Here's some pictures of various types. (The third one is really disturbing, but apparently it is also a wedding dress)







And about Andy Warhol...He was an artist, who painted portraits of people, designed record album covers, acted as producer for some band called Velvet Underground (no idea what that is, even my dad doesn't know), and made short movies. My dad wanted to see a picture of Chairman Mao which Andy Warhol created, but apparently that picture isn't featured, so he was quite disappointed. I was pretty freaked out since when I walked in there was a little sign to the side that said there was nudity in the exhibit. Still, people bring their kids in!!

Finally, about the exhibit at the Legion of Honor...Carl Fabergé, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and René Lalique were all male jewelry/decorative art designers. Just so you know, the Tiffany's products we see today are from the same Tiffany's company in the exhibit. I thought Louis's name was weird, since Comfort is an actual word, and Tiffany usually seems like a girl's first name, not a last name.

If you like shiny things, you should look at that exhibit. It had a lot of things, like Easter eggs (made of rare stones, and they were bigger than usual eggs; sometimes there were other decorative items put inside the eggs) and combs (like a comb made from the shape of two swallows, carved out of wood; looks pretty, but would you want to use it?) and even dog collars (whoa, they look so expensive, people would probably steal your dog just to get the collar).

My feet got really tired from tromping around all day. My mother thinks that I need to exercise more, but...that's a different story. If you want to go to San Francisco's museums, and need a bite to eat, go to the cafe on top of De Young Museum. It has tasty food. :D

Labels: andy warhol, clothes, de young, dog collar, exhibit, france, jewelry, legion of honor, lunch, motto, museum, oddity

One of the sites which I visit, Nutrinopets, seems to have a problem. Whenever I go there it says there is a problem with the database. I've gone away and come back, refreshed the page, etc. But all in vain. I guess I will wait until tomorrow to try again. Or maybe my IP address was banned? (Because someone was kicked off the website recently. If they got IP banned, if my IP is similar, I could've accidentally been banned? I have no idea at all.)

Anyhow...Today was a gloomy day. I woke up early in the morning (I don't know what time) and tried to get to sleep, but my thoughts and headache kept me awake, until at last I dragged myself out of bed around 9 am. I'm still tired even now.

At least I had a good lunch. We went to the Maru Ichi Ramen in Mountain View. I, as usual, ordered shoyu ramen, whereas my dad and mom ordered kuro ramen. (Kuro meaning black, so the soup is a color that leans towards black) And then I got some vanilla ice cream in a little paper cup, since my parents ordered the kids meal. (Which is fine, I guess, seeing as the ramen is still the same, just a smaller portion.) There was a room where a guy who worked there was supervising a machine which was churning out the noodle stuff. (It didn't look like noodles. Just a big sheet of...like dough?)

Later on my mom insisted on bringing me to a seminar. It was one of those that is meant to help you get into an Ivy League college. (I've been to two of these before, and they were kind of boring.) The guy who was talking is the Founder/CEO of something called the Ivy Review. (Is that what the suspicious building I saw in Cupertino was? It had an Ivy Review banner on it, but I thought it was just an advertisement.) Sometimes he spoke in Korean because some of the audience didn't know English.

Mr. Hull often asked people to raise their hands. For instance, he'd ask if you were in such-and-such grade, or if you took Algebra in 7th grade and Geometry in 8th grade, and so on. And he would tell some disturbing things. (Like he said it matters whether you sound optimistic or pessimistic in your application. If you sound too pessimistic they believe you are a "risk kid", one who might pour gasoline on themselves and light it up, or start a school shooting, if they get depressed by poor grades. I laughed, but he said to take him seriously, because it does happen.)

And he also said not to procrastinate on your personal statement (I'm not quite sure what that is. Is that the essay for your college app?). He said to start when you're a freshman, not four days away from the deadline. For instance, he was skiing over the vacation, and he got called by a frantic mother who said her son was having trouble with his personal statement. So Mr. Hull had to stop his vacation and try and improve the kid's college app. Mr. Hull says that kid had good grades, SAT score, # A-G lineup, and so forth (If you don't understand what I'm talking about...It's confusing) but he could've ruined it all by not starting his personal statement earlier.

By the way, you're supposed to write something compelling in your personal statement. Except nothing particularly extraordinary ever happened in my life...yet.

Labels: bad news, college, danger, error, lecture, lunch, personal statement, ramen, sleep

The time got moved today. Usually I have piano in the late morning but this time class starts at 3:30 pm. That probably means someone has a birthday party to attend, or some soccer game, or something. Since I'm almost always free on Sundays, it's usually me who has my class moved. -_-;; Not that it's a really bad thing. But I like having piano class earlier. My teacher is in a better mood in the morning, since she's getting old and feels like napping in the afternoon.

I haven't really done much today either, but at least a little more than yesterday. Like I actually started working on the cinnamon rolls today. At first I was having trouble because the butter wasn't dissolving; then I realized you were supposed to add the flour, regardless of whether the butter was still chunky. So I wasted a lot of time...Whoops.

But it's all well so far now, and the dough looks beautiful. Even better than the time we did it at school. So I will pray that it turns out great once we actually do the rest of the recipe. My mom insisted we let the dough sit for a while since on the recipe it says "At home: Let rise". The dough isn't rising very much but I guess it isn't really supposed to be double in size or something.

After cooking I ate lunch. The soup today was hot and it looked strange. It was orange with little brown things in it. (I think the brown stuff was little meat bits but I dunno.) I ate it without any problems but it looked awfully suspicious. You never know what kind of things my parents might think of to put in soup if they think it's "healthy".

My mom told me once she was eating at a restaurant and ordered a special type of grape juice. It didn't have any alcohol but it was supposed to have the same health benefits of wine. o_O;; And then my mom's friend went to another restaurant and tried to order "grape juice" but it was just regular grape juice, not the special sort my mom drank. (Apparently it's only served in some places. And my mom said it was really tasty and nutritious.)

Labels: classes, cooking, juice, leisure, lunch, piano

My dad dragged me awake at noon to try and make me adjust back to Pacific time. It's not really working since waking up made me have a headache. But I guess I have to start somewhere so I can't really blame my dad.

I just ate a sandwich for lunch. Yesterday my dad bought two sandwiches, one for my dinner yesterday and one for my lunch today. They're from a bakery-ish place called Panera Bread. If you live near me, you may know what that is. There are other Panera Bread stores in the USA, I think, but I've only been to the one near my house.

Afterward, we went to the grocery store because my dad needs to make some soup. Usually I have some soup with my dinner every night so it is sort of necessary. He got some tomatoes and bok choy (a vegetable. My history teacher likes it, but I don't. But now I'm kind of used to eating it, after all these years). He also got some pears and bananas as snacks. The pears all look kind of bruised and they have a weird shape. (The kind I like are greenish and they're called D'anjou pears or something like that) Still, they taste good. At least to me. (Some people like different pears. Suggest some kinds to me if you like.)

Then we went to the library. I already renewed some of my books except for the ones that I already finished and should return. We waited in line to return our books since the Santa Clara Library uses electronic returning now. The guy in front of us was kind of slow. I guess he wasn't very good at it. (He got confused and put his hand near the place you put your books to return them, so it kept saying "barcode not identified!" but finally he managed to press the right buttons and get his receipt) We were a lot faster. But I guess we're used to it.

Once we got home I was starting to get drowsy again but I had to go practice piano. So I did. Then my dad needed to leave again (he didn't bring me with him this time). He said he needed to buy bones. At first I thought he was crazy but he reminded me that the meat on the bones is for cooking the soup. So never mind, hehe.

Labels: bone, fruit, library, lunch, piano, shopping, sleep, vegetables

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