Goldfish crackers. The wonderful, smiling cheesy snacks. One time I saw a package of Goldfish and the part with the ingredients even said "Made with Smiles". As crackers go, I think Goldfish are really cute.

It seems like they don't always have smiles, though, despite their claim. If I can't get enough to eat from the rest of the salad bar, which is one of the lunch lines at my school, then I add in some Goldfish. I was studying them and I realized some of them seem to be faceless! What a shame. Those Goldfish must have a rough time in life, having nothing but a blank expression.

But then again, smiles aren't always heartfelt, are they? I remember having read in books how characters would smile, but the smile wouldn't "reach their eyes". It was only a smile of the mouth. Not a true smile. It kind of reminds me of smiling for photographs. If I don't really feel like smiling, but I still have to, my face looks awkward in the picture. It would look right if a person was caught while really laughing or smiling, though. I don't really like to take pictures on purpose because of it. I think it's better to take photos of life in the moment.

Sometimes it can be hard, going through each day. I still have to be strong. Most of the time I feel like I need to keep my troubles to myself and pretend everything is okay, when really inside of me it's all turmoil. And there are times when I feel like I have to let someone know, or I'm going to explode, and I try to let it show through my emotions, body language, and such visual signs, but I don't know if anyone is able to pick up on it. Most of the time it's okay. I can still make it through each day, one after another. And I can even enjoy myself. But I wonder how long it will be before my vase, filling up with all my worries and doubts, will start to spill the water in it.

Then again, this could be just another challenge of life. Perhaps it's something I'll grow out of. Just as some people who are allergic to peanuts lose the allergy when they age, I suppose there are some problems that will cease to be problems when you experience more things, different things, significant things. I wonder if how someone acts is influenced by nature or nurture. Are you born a certain way? Can you change it? Or are things just not meant to be changed? Is it a mix of both? It's still a mystery.

Since I just mentioned allergies, I thought of something strange. I just went to my mom's friend's house yesterday. The last time I visited them was a few years ago. Back then my mom's friend's daughter hadn't gone to college yet, and their cat was in the house. Now they have a different house, and the cat is in the garage. Apparently, my mother's friend's wife and her daughter became allergic to cats. Did they change cats? Or did they develop new allergies? I think that's really strange. I thought that once you got used to something, you would be less likely to be allergic to it, not more likely.

I'm going on to some other news now. On Friday, the musical electives at my school - choir, orchestra, and band - performed. The schedule was very wacky in order to make room for the three assemblies (since there are a lot of students, it's better to have three different performances, and one third of the non-performers attend each one). I attended the first assembly, where the choir, beginning strings (orchestra), beginning band, advanced orchestra, and advanced band performed.

The advanced orchestra performed the music to the film Spirited Away, which made me really happy because I really like that music. I think two years ago I heard it performed by the advanced orchestra at that time. And I'm a fan of the Studio Ghibli films. The other music played by the advanced orchestra was Palladio, which is apparently the music to a De Beers diamond commercial. Even when I heard it, I wasn't able to think of the commercial...Was the commercial really old? Like from 1993 or something? Or do I just not watch much television? D:

Labels: allergies, cat, change, crackers, de beers, diamond, emotions, expression, goldfish, mask, music, orchestra, palladio, photography, problem, school, smile, snacks, spirited way, strength

It's really boring washing my hair, and since the TV is at just the right angle, I often watch DVDs at the same time, so it helps to pass the time while I wait for the conditioner to sink into my head and that kind of thing. I was looking for something to watch, and I spotted a Korean movie that my mom had checked out from the library, called "A Millionaire's First Love". (Look, already the name sounds corny... XD)

Well, I started watching it, and I saw the female lead. She looked oddly familiar. I kept watching and I thought, "Hey, I really do think I've seen her somewhere." She looked like the actress in another Korean drama I watched, "One Fine Day". So I looked up the One Fine Day Wikipedia article (I really overuse Wikipedia. Some people say Tvtropes is better, but I still prefer Wikipedia. I mean, Wikipedia is the most accurate encyclopedia in the world because it can get updated much faster than book encyclopedias). And it was the same actress after all!

The weird thing was that in A Millionaire's First Love, the actress, Lee Yeon Hee, played a character who had a heart problem. In One Fine Day, she was also a character with a heart problem. Was that a coincidence or not? o_O;;

And then there was the male lead. The actor, Hyun Bin, was apparently in another movie, My Lovely Sam Soon/My Name is Kim Sam Soon (it goes by two different names), and I had watched that drama as well. And in Sam Soon, Hyun Bin played a rich person. In A Millionaire's First Day, he was a millionaire. Uncanny?

My mother says that's pretty bad because it means that they run out of ideas for dramas and they have to combine ideas and use the same idea in a different way and so on.

On to some other news. I wore my costume to school the other day. The mask was very shiny and all, but it was uncomfortable to wear. It makes your face too warm, and it doesn't fit too well because my nose doesn't stick out enough to hold the mask up properly (Asian genetics are at fault, I guess?). Oh well. I'll just have to tie it around my head more tightly in the future to make sure it won't slip. But it might make me sweat and be uncomfortable.

I don't think I've ever really talked about the cross country team at my school, so I will now. They have some interesting shirts. Everyone has a white t-shirt saying the name of the school, and Cross Country (or X Country! I forget exactly) and there's that year's slogan on the back. I heard that it started out with something like "No Pain, No Gain" and it went on and on, and last year or the year before it was "Pain is a privilege". This year it's the best one yet. "Burn, bleed, and sweat" is the slogan. Since our school has a lot of good runners, usually the other schools' teams are behind us, so they end up reading what's on our shirts. So the folks coming up with slogans try to make it a little rougher every year. And the kids behind our team will be crying, "Waaah! We don't burn, bleed, and sweat! No wonder we're not winning!"

My PE teacher is eviler than he seems to be. I thought he was a mild, soft-spoken, patient sort of person. He's got a dark side. He was telling one of his students that he only will tell you once if he wants you to stop doing something (like misbehaving and not working hard) and after that he simply takes off points rather than saying anything. So your grade will suffer without you even knowing. Sneaky! D: I heard he used to be a math teacher. I wonder if that has any influence or not. I mean, my math teacher is pretty sneaky too, putting things in his tests that I haven't learned for a very long time.

Labels: a millionaire's first love, burn bleed and sweat, creativity, cross country, drama, hyun bin, ideas, korean, lee yeon hee, mask, my lovely sam soon, nose, one fine day, school sports, shirt, teacher

Yes, you heard me right. Magic is based on math! So says my math teacher.

I know this is the third post in a row mentioning him, but there's always something or other happening in his class. xD Today we were having short class periods at school because we had an assembly. There's been a lot of anti-bullying activities going on at my school these days, and so we had an assembly. I believe I have been to them in the previous two years I've been at this school, too. This year the theme was Balance of Power. It was talking about how people pushed others down so they would tip the balance to their side, but in this way, the other person loses... And stuff like that.

I'd say the most meaningful part of that assembly (which was basically two woman coming and playing a premade video on a huge screen formed by three separate screens) was near the end, when a man who had no legs and arms was in the video. Even though he has no limbs, he can still do things like surf and play golf and he travels around and speaks to people. I thought it was amazing that you can do so much with yourself even with such difficulties as that. And there was something that he said...Not sure exactly, but I think it was something like this. "There's no point in being complete on the outside if you're broken on the inside." (I really wish I had clearly remembered his name so I could attribute it to him...All I remember is that it was Nick something... o_O;; )

Anyways, though, let me get back to the whole point of this post. Since the classes were so short, we didn't learn the next lesson in geometry today, but instead the teacher showed us a card trick which he was practicing for his next class. He would pick a card from his deck. Let me explain...If he got an 8, he would put two more cards on top of it. Then he'd make a second pile. Maybe if he picked a 3, he would put seven more on top. (If he picked a King, Jack, or Queen, then he'd just put it back or put it aside) He'd make, say, eight piles like that. Then he would take away five of the piles. And he would flip over the top card of two of the three remaining piles. If he got a 4 and a 9, then he would take 13 cards from the five piles that he'd take away. And then... Ack! I forget the rest! Now all I remember is that he flips over the the first card of the only pile he has not turned over the first card of, and he would get a number that he had already expected to get.

My teacher says that this works because of algebra, so if we want to figure it out, we can give it a try at home. He showed the trick twice, so it's not luck, anyhow.

Before I forget, I heard some good news on the announcements at school today. One of the counselors, Mrs. Brown, said that they had decided to make an exception and allow us to wear masks. (See previous post, about the guardian angel and such, for more info) Just so as long as I don't wear it in class - it might creep the teacher out - it's fine to bring it. Mrs. Brown also talked about some events going on tomorrow in celebration of Halloween. (In fact, the long run that was planned in PE class was moved to Monday so we can wear our costumes. They want to encourage school spirit, and all) She said to watch out for her husband, Mr. Brown, because he was good at bobbing for apples. Hmm. I've never actually bobbed for apples. I've only read about it in kids' books and stuff.

Labels: assembly, balance of power, bobbing for apples, bullying, card, classes, complete, good news, halloween, handicap, magic, mask, quote, school events, trick, useful, video, week

I had the strangest sense that there was some heavenly being watching over me. (I am more superstitious over time, though I still consider myself to be an atheist) As I was walking along, minding my own business, I noticed a feather floating down from the sky. It was pretty close to me, so I grabbed it and held on to it (or it would've been blown away, as it has been quite windy nowadays). It was actually a lot like this, from the manga Pita Ten. And it made me wonder if there might me some sort of guardian angel watching over me. (Not that I would ever know, but it's nice in theory, at least)

More news about my math teacher...Apparently not only does he have scissorhands, but he also has a bringer of happiness. Last year, we received some red pens (the pen itself, I don't mean the ink) which have smiley bobbling heads on the top, and the heads have some hair, with a mix of red and white. Some folks had a lot of red on their heads, but I had a lot of white on mine! That means I really must be old if I was given one of the few pens with a lot of white hair. D:

Anyways, my teacher has kept his pen. He said that the pen will make anyone happy if they look at it. One of the students was dubious and said that the teacher should try it on him; he would resist laughing. At first the student didn't laugh, but then my teacher shook it, and the student couldn't help himself. So it seems that the pen really does do that. Whoa. o_O;; Everyone should keep theirs with them, then.

Oh yeah, and you know what a stoic expression is? Not showing your emotion and all that? It just occurred to me that the term poker face is a synonym for that. In French class, we had an oral test today. This is the first time that we ever had an oral test, and it was really nervewracking. The teacher said she would try to keep a poker face on.

After it was done, though, she said, "It's interesting, that the ages of people range from 6 to 40." (Let me explain...The teacher would ask random questions in French from a list that she has. We studied these questions the day before. One of the questions asked you what your age was.) We were allowed to make up things as long as they were grammatically correct, but it was pretty funny, since one student said "J'ai six ans" (which means I have six years - in French, you "own" or "have" your age) and another said "J'ai quarante ans" which is I have forty years. The teacher asked the students, "If you're 6 years old and 40 years old, what are you doing in eighth grade?" to which they replied, "I skipped grades!" and "I'm a teacher!" (Which isn't true...Or so I think.)

I had planned to post earlier, but I didn't have time this week. There's been so many tests in a row, plus a project, and Halloween is coming up. Speaking of which, I'm keeping my costume a secret until Halloween comes around. Ha! But I will say that a mask was supposed to be part of it. The only problem is, the vice principal said we could wear our costumes to school, but then she said we can't wear masks, and that ruins my costume because it will make it hard to tell what I am. (Same with some other person in my class who said he planned not to wear his classroom because he wasn't allowed to wear a mask) I guess they need to know who you are so they'll be sure that some random stranger isn't lurking around the campus, but that's still annoying. For once I'm something different than a witch or a Hawaiian tourist for Halloween and now I can't wear the whole costume at school (though I suppose I could still wear it on the actual holiday itself).

Labels: age, angel, bobblehead, costume, feather, french, guardian, halloween, happiness, mask, oral, pen, pita-ten, poker face, range, stoic, test

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