The post is way too long, so I have split into two parts. :p The more interesting stuff will be in Part 2.

I hardly wrote anything in my blog during the summer, nor did I really use my brain much, except for imagining what kind of schemes the people/creatures/organizations around me have been putting into action. Certainly not the most useful way to use my time and energy, but it sure is fun coming up with conspiracies. I'll start out with the scariest and most true one...

Someone is Trying to Hack Into my Email
I haven't been using my Gmail lately, and for a good reason...After I came back from a short trip, I tried to log into my Google account, but I was told that my account had been temporarily closed due to suspicious activity. I had to have the Google automated service call my phone so I could get a verification number which would allow me to reclaim my account. I found out that somehow, a spam email had been sent to pretty much all of my contacts without me knowing about it. (Luckily, it seems that the emails probably didn't get through to the recipients.) I don't know how this could've happened. Is there some sort of virus? Or maybe someone really does want to ruin my life, one part at a time?

The rest of them are pretty much coincidences. In other words, mostly nonsense. :p

Surprise Parties and Birthdays-that-are-all-around-the-same-time are the "In" Thing
Everyone seems to be throwing them these days. One of my friends said she just threw a surprise party for her friend; actually, though, it's mostly the middle-aged folks who seem to love surprise parties. In just one week, two of my mom's friends threw surprise birthday parties. My mom even asked me if we should do that for my dad. :\

Oh, and it turns out many of the Vocaloids have birthdays (or anniversaries of their releases, whatever you'd rather call it) around the same time of year. Lily just had one a few days ago, today is Miku's birthday, and tomorrow is VY1's birthday! Is this just a lucky time of year for companies of Vocaloids or something?

Not to mention one of my friends just presented me with a birthday gift, so I guess people have really gotten into the birthday spirit...

Doctors Are Out to Get Me
I have the feeling that my doctor may not be as mellow as he has previously seemed to be. For one thing, he charges me lots of different things - my mother says we have to pay for the visit to his clinic, the shots I've been receiving, and some third thing that I'm not sure about. (Our insurance is supposed to pay for most of the costs, but apparently it hasn't come through yet.) Then there's the fact that the doctor now leaves the door to his clinic open. I thought it was because he wanted the germs of his patients to spread all over the place so that more people would get sick and would have to come to see him - and ka-ching goes the money...But actually, my mom insists that the doctor just wants to avoid turning on the air conditioning.

I think dentists are pretty evil too, though, or at least orthodontists are. My dentist/orthodontist (he does both) tried to convince me to get braces every time I went to see him. I asked him if I would suffer any health problems if I didn't get braces, but he said I wouldn't; however, getting the braces is supposed to make me look better. Ha! I said no thanks. (He still says that I might regret it someday, though, and that it's not going to be fun to get braces when I'm an adult. But I don't plan on doing so. Maybe my teeth are imperfect, but hey, I can bite just fine with them.)

Kpop's Hidden Motives
My friend bashiri came over during the summer and showed me a Music Mondays Youtube video, a show created by the couple Simon and Martina which expresses opinions on k-pop songs. I watched their episode for the song "Hot Summer" by f(x). They mentioned a street sign that said Flaxton Street. Since I'm not all that familiar with k-pop, I can't confirm this, but apparently this Flaxton Street makes an appearance in several other k-pop music videos. Besides that, the Music Mondays hosts pointed out that everyone in the "Hot Summer" music video is Korean, so apparently, people in Korea are able to dance in the blazing hot summer while wearing leather clothing and don't even break a sweat. Even the song lyrics and title are supposed to be really catchy, I guess, because after first hearing the song, whenever anyone mention the words "hot" and "summer", I immediately wanted to start singing, "Hot summer, ah hot hot summer."

Labels: air conditioning, birthday, braces, conspiracy, dentist, doctor, email, f(x), hot summer, kpop, money, party, surprise, theory, vocaloids

Yes, you've guessed right, this post has to do with yearbooks. Or rather, my lack of one.

Before this year I had always purchased the yearbook each year. I have the whole collection from my life as a student from kindergarten up through middle school. But this time, for once, I didn't buy one.

The only way to buy a yearbook at my school, or at least the easiest way, is to buy a certain membership card. This card grants you access to the dances at this school, and it comes with a yearbook as well. However, at the beginning of the year, since I decided I had no interest in attending dances, I didn't buy the card. I'd been hoping there'd be some way for me to just waltz up and purchase a yearbook, but I'd heard rumors that if you wanted a yearbook now, you would have to buy the card to get one. The card isn't exactly cheap, either, and I eventually made up my mind not to buy it.

I am a bit regretful now, as the yearbook looks quite nice (and heavy too! Lots of pages, certainly more than my middle and elementary school yearbooks). Though I did get creeped out at one point...I was flipping through someone else's yearbook and saw the page for the boy's swim team. They were all naked except for their Speedos. Not really what I want to look at.

I do wish, too, that I had brought along something for my friends and teachers to sign. One of my friends makes her own tiny books just for signatures. It's quite cute, and even has a few of her drawings on some of the pages (she's really good at drawing...too bad her scanner is broken D: ). She offered to make one for me next year, so I'm looking forward to that.

The yearbook that I'm really impressed by the most, though, is the one that another friend of mine has. She brought her old yearbook from when she lived in Korea. It's very fancy - there are very nice photos, such as of the school and of the places the students went on field trips. Even the students have their own individual photos, not like the ones we have in yearbooks around here. The students get to pose, and the photo shows not just their head but also their torso, so you can actually see what clothes they're wearing. They also have a nice background full of green bokeh. Looks like the students actually got to have their yearbook pictures taken outdoors. Not like the photos that have been taken of me each year: me sitting stiffly and tilting my head, pasting on a fake smile, with a lame bluish-greyish backdrop behind me.

I mean, really. Take a look at the yearbooks from the schools I've been to. We just get a headshot, and the photo is small. All the students pictures are lined up side by side in neat rows. Our names are in a column at the side of the pictures, so it takes a moment to match up each name and face. As for my friend's yearbook from her school in Korea, the pictures are bigger, and the name of each person is just beneath his/her picture. It's easier to get a feel for each person's individuality. I wish the yearbooks of the schools around where I live weren't so...impersonal. It makes me feel like I'm just one of many clones. Only identifiable by the 7-digit ID number assigned to me by the school.

Well, to end, I have some videos to share (though they're totally unrelated to yearbooks). This is a Matryoshka/Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica crossover. For some reason I found it highly amusing.


Here, I just like the mustaches. XD

Labels: card, comparison, contrast, dance, drawing, friends, korea, membership, money, personal, photos, school, sign, speedo, swim team, uniformity, yearbook

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

This is a post that really deviates from the original topic, just so you know.

I suppose if you watched Ed, Edd n Eddy a lot as a child, you might've thought at first that I was talking about the good ol' Plank in that show. I don't know why I still remember that. Ed, Edd n Eddy was never one of my favorite cartoons. Guess it's always those odd little things that stick with you after all these years. Sometimes I'll just be sitting there, and it'll hit me all of a sudden...I remember things that I'd forgotten for many years. It hadn't seemed like much to me before, having enough time to read books and play Pokemon games and draw on my hands with washable markers. Back then I'd taken it all for granted. I always hated being told how lucky I am and how I should be grateful. I never understood it back then. But now I think I'm starting to.

This year's French class seems to have a focus on boards. We were able to use a SmartBoard one day. It's pretty cool that you can move stuff around with your hands and "write" on the screen (I suppose it's kind of like a giant tablet). But after that we haven't gotten to use it again. I wonder if there are other classes using the SmartBoard. Or maybe it's stored away somewhere, collecting dust. I often get the feeling that the decision-makers in my area don't make such wise decisions. The library has got some new check-out machines, which save time because you can check out multiple items. All you have to do is stack your items on the machine and it'll check 'em out for you. It is very cool, but did we really need to toss away all those older machines? They worked just fine (well, most of the time).

Well, anyways, back to the subject of boards - quite recently, my teacher passed out white boards for us to use. It sure is nostalgic having them again. I think the last time I got to use them was in 6th grade, and even then it was only rarely. In elementary school, I thought it was really fun to write or draw on a whiteboard, and I wanted to get one myself. When I finally did get a whiteboard for at-home use, I ended up hardly using it. I don't really spend much money anymore because this syndrome is so common for me. I seem to lose interest in things once I have them. But when I've lost what I used to have, then it hits me that I should've appreciated it.

The past seems so beautiful now, even with all its pitfalls...And the future often looks so bleak. I've been wondering for a while now what I'm really doing. It's required by law to go to school, so I can't really worm out of it (my parents can't homeschool me; they have to work, and they're not really good enough at English. And they don't really know any history or cell biology), and I have no idea if private school would be more fulfilling (not to mention the hefty price!).

I love to learn. But going to school is so exhausting. Each day I have to squeeze all the juice out of my brain, have to pay attention when people are talking to me, have to smile even when I don't feel like it... (And even then, one of my friends told me that I should smile more, which was very surprising to me. Several years ago, I was told by someone else that I looked like I was always happy, even when I was angry. I guess things have really changed since my childhood.)

There are lots of things I want to do, and yet here I am, glued to the spot for the next four years. Some days I'm feeling cheerful, I have energy and optimism flowing through my veins. But other days I'm in despair, because it seems like such a waste. Four years when I'm still young...I could be pursuing all those dreams of mine. It's such a waste. Such a terrible waste.

It's especially painful because a lot of things are my own fault. I didn't hang on to my old friends. Maybe it's inevitable that people will grow apart. But there are times when I could've made more of an effort, been more considerate. Sometimes I've been cruel or unsociable on purpose, just to keep people away from me. I've been very selfish, and I still am. I discover sides of people that I really don't like, to the point that I want to detach myself. Or I'm too cowardly to get close to someone because I expect that I am only going to lose that person. It has happened many, many times, and it will surely happen again. But the choice is mine: Will I take the risk? Or will I throw away the chance to befriend someone who might turn out to be a soul mate?

Labels: cartoon, choice, class, ed edd n eddy, french, friends, future, money, myself, past, people, school, smartboard, tired, waste

I can assure you that the President Abraham Lincoln and his story was much more melancholy than Haruhi Suzumiya could ever be. (Anyone recognize the name of that series? I think the anime was pretty known at one point.)

I didn't know much about Abraham Lincoln before I watched a film created by the History Channel in my history class at school. I could recognize him when I saw a picture, and I knew his nickname was Honest Abe, but besides that I had no idea at all...About what kind of life he had lived.

Abraham Lincoln lost many of the people dear to him when he was still young. I believe he lost two sisters (one of them to childbirth) and his mother. His father didn't treat him too well, seeing as he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a man who used his strength to work, but Lincoln wanted to go and get educated and live the city life.

Abraham Lincoln also fell in love with a woman, but she may have already been engaged to someone else, probably making him feel guilty about the relationship. And then she died during a wave of sickness that swept through the town they were in. Lincoln was very depressed, thinking thoughts of suicide, and his friends tried to keep watch on him to make sure he wouldn't really kill himself.

What was especially unusual was that in the movie, it was mentioned that Lincoln could have had a happy life with a family if the woman he loved hadn't died, and thus might never have become the President. It's pretty bad for him seeing as if he hadn't been unhappy he wouldn't have been a great President there.

I thought it was awfully rude since they said he was ugly (my mom said that too). At least he's recognizable. I probably couldn't tell apart most of the Presidents. I can only recognize the more recent ones and George Washington. I don't have much idea about how the rest of them looked...

And what was also strange was that Abraham Lincoln dreamed of seeing his dead body before he was assassinated. Talk about a creepy premonition.

Whenever I feel down, I think about Lincoln's life and then I can say to myself, "I don't have it that bad." (Sorry, Lincoln, to be using your misfortune, but it does help to have something worse to compare myself to sometimes. I try to avoid it for the most part. I used to care more about my grades in comparison to other people but I don't want to be someone who is always asking others "What did you get?" or someone who keeps on panicking when a test comes. I don't even check my grades online anymore, so when people ask me what my score was, I can only say I don't know. XD)

I've kind of been thinking that I really don't know much about most famous people. I can't say I think about them much except for if I'm studying them in school. (For instance, I don't think I know who most of the musicians I listen to look like.) I've never been someone with celebrity crushes since I feel like they live in too different a world. Little to no hope of meeting them. Being as distant and far from my mind as they usually are (except for maybe voice actors/actresses for animes, but that's a different story), I know very little about their personalities, and so it is hard to picture them as people like who I see in my daily life. And I suppose perhaps as a celebrity it might be hard to really get to know people. How do you know that someone doesn't want to get close to you for your fame or money? (Unless, of course, it was someone you had been friends with before you climbed to the top of the pyramid.)

Labels: abraham lincoln, care, change, comparison, depression, dream, fame, famous, friendship, glory, grades, guilt, haruhi suzumiya, money, people, personality, president, recognize, score, suicide

For several years now, I've felt like I have obligations to things that I have started (and later regretted doing so). Mostly it has been websites. I would join a website, perhaps out of curiosity or because of a friend's recommendation, and for a while I might be enjoying myself on the site, but after some time I would grow bored. In some cases the site was not important to me, so it was easy for me to quit going on it. But in other cases, I had spent a long time building up things on my account that I had become proud of, and I didn't want to leave because I was afraid all that hard work would go to waste. And I ended up weaving a kind of spiderweb around myself, trapping me in an endless routine of visiting websites, making it feel like a chore and not something done for fun.

It happened to me with video games as well. I used to brush my dogs in the game Nintendogs every day. I kept them in good condition - they were always in the hygiene state of Beautiful, they were always fed and given water, I took them on walks every few days (to go to the discounted shop to buy dog food, water, and collars), and I trained them until they could easily win the Agility contests (which allowed me to make lots of money). In fact, I earned enough money to be able to remodel my house all the way to the most expensive kind, which gives you a view from Outer Space.

I really didn't want to abandon my dogs because I feared they would run away (they run away if you neglect them too long, and I prided myself on never having a dog run away) and because I thought all the work I had done, every day, for years, would become meaningless. It was only when I had to prioritize my activities (and Nintendogs was one of the ones I decided to sacrifice) that I stopped playing the game. (And anyways, my DS screen was ruined from all the brushing.)

Indeed, I am still playing Animal Crossing: Wild World to this day because of my annoying sense of obligation. I turn on the game once a day in order to water my plants. I have cultivated a vast garden of flowers. I also used to spend much time in making money, which really did pay off, because I was able to expand my house to its utmost capacity. (It has three floors - there is one big room and three smaller rooms on the first floor, one small room on the second floor, and the third is a basement type of thing where my "people" sleep) Always, always, always, I feel like I can't possibly part with these things, however material and shallow they may be, because of all the time and energy I devoted to them.

But I know, with a sinking feeling, that these things must eventually be put aside... The older you get, the less time you seem to have (or at least, you have to spend your time on other matters). And I fear eventually I will not have the time to even water those flowers, that they will all turn brown, and wither up and die, and weeds will take over my town. I am sure this has already happened for other gamers, who have grown bored or simply cannot find the opportunity to play anymore. And I am unwilling to buy Animal Crossing: City Folk, the newest of the Animal Crossing games, because I don't want to become interested and motivated, and then have to give it up - it would sit, collecting dust, like many of my Gamecube and some of my Wii games. I feel terrible now for having wanted video games, when I really don't use them much and they do cost a big chunk of cash. That money could have gone to worthy causes, or even to my retirement, which I moan and sigh over so much.

Eventually, I know I must disentangle myself from the trap I have laid around me. I need to learn the lesson of being able to give up certain things, without worrying so much over them the way I am wont to do. I wonder if it's just a part of my nature and I won't ever be able to overcome it. I really hope that is not the case. It unsettles me to think that things are impossible and that the sky really is the limit.

Labels: accomplishments, age, animal crossing, fun, future, hard work, human nature, letting go, money, nintendo ds, nintendogs, obligation, problem, sacrifice, time, trapped, video games, waste, website

When I was on my school trip to Yosemite National Park, I spent quite a bit of time with a classmate from 7th grade. We had been friendly then, but not particularly close - we don't eat lunch together or have any of the same classes, so the most we really did during this school year was wave when we saw each other. However, on the Yosemite trip, I was in the same hiking group as her, and since that made her in the same rotation as me, I stuck with her whenever I could. (After all, I couldn't really stay with my cabinmates what with them being in a different rotation.)

Well, one day, she asked me a question out of the blue, which she had thought up spontaneously, "Do you know what the difference between a main friend and a best friend is?" It was one of the oddest questions I'd ever been asked. I'd never heard the term "main friend" before.

The girl considered main friends to be people who you spend time with on a regular basis - your usual group of friends - while she thought of best friends to be people who you were with practically all the time. She said that she hadn't really ever had a best friend. She asked another girl the same question that she'd asked me and got pretty much the same interpretation.

I, however, had a different opinion. I agreed with what "main friends" are, but I thought "best friends" were not necessarily the people always by your side. I thought best friends were people who you could really trust, who you really felt in tune with. People who you feel you can always be yourself around and they'll still like you for it. (Which begs the question: If you put on a mask when you're around your friends, are they really your friends at all?) The girl who asked me the question says she thinks that the two people who were my cabinmates were my best friends. Are they? I hold them in high esteem and I am with them every day (well, besides the weekend). In her definition of a best friend, they are my best friends. I would like to call them my best friends in my definition too, but I'm still considering which of the friends I have had are really, really best friends.

Anyhow, something interesting went on at school the other day. There were assemblies during the day because the son of one of the teachers was visiting California for a performance. He is part of a group of musicians called the 5th House Ensemble. There are a total of 10 musicians, but we only saw 3 of them since 7 were not available to come to our school. The teacher's son plays the piano, while the two other people who came played the cello and flute. They talked about how music is connected to imagery, and they played us some pieces. Then they asked us to pick the picture that we thought best suited the music out of four options.

The options were:
- A picture of nighttime and two people dancing
- A picture of a dog wearing a little costume
- A picture of a cafe at nighttime (it was a painting by Vincent Van Gogh)
- A picture of...Well...It was rather abstract.

Unfortunately, many students thought it would be funny to pick the picture of the dog, even though it really had little relation to the music (the music was dark and brooding and intense, and perhaps the fourth option would have suited it best). But I suppose the kids should have their fun while they're young and have more chances to.

The last piece played by the 5th House Ensemble was a song that is supposed to make you feel like you're underwater. (Sadly, I don't remember the name of the composer, though I believe the part of the music we heard was called The Sea Nocturne or something along those lines) Performers of this set of music put on black masks, shine blue light on themselves (today's performers just showed an animated image of the ocean), and use their instruments in odd ways. The cello can produce a sound that is somewhat like the sound seagulls make. Glass can be placed inside of a piano and a chisel can be used to hit it, but we didn't get to see the fancy stuff with the piano because it only works with a grand piano and the school only has a stand-up kind. I'd like to try it at home, but the piano player said it wasn't a good idea, and you'd have to do it a special way anyhow to avoid damaging your piano.

Their profession is great. They can do what they love and make money off it. While I was at Yosemite, the chaperone and hiking group leader encouraged us to follow our dreams, and not take on a job that we feel like we have to, such as for money's sake. And they said that if you can get a job that you love and that pays you a lot, then that's great. (But of course there's a lot of cases in which you can't have both.)

Labels: 5th house ensemble, best friend, career, dog, dreams, friends, friendship, imagery, instrument, job, main friend, money, music, ocean, people, picture, question, school, van gogh, yosemite

Today, my parents and I went to the library. Instead of checking out books, I decided to go on a photography spree. There's a courtyard in the library which I've only visited a couple of times.

I noticed something on the ground - a snail. It was moving along slowly, leaving a wet trail behind it. I decided to take a photo of it. Slow-moving animals are a lot easier to photograph, if you ask me. Then I wandered off and started taking pictures of the flowers. I realized there was something funny on a flower...It was a tiny slug. I took some pictures of that one too.

Then I walked around some more and stumbled upon a few more snails. I was getting a bit disturbed by this point. There seem to be a lot of snails and slugs around. I saw some things that looked a lot like dead worms or slugs, which was even freakier. I was both fascinated by the snails and creeped out by them. Some of the snails were pretty big, almost as big as my thumb (imagine a small person's thumb with a snail shell on it). I took lots of pictures before I got tired of staying outside (the sun had come out and it was getting too warm).

I have a theory for why the snails are there. (True, it rained the day before, but that is too boring and logical.) The library needs money to buy books and keep their system up and running. They have decided to profit through exporting goods. Seeing as they already have plants in their courtyard, the people at the library thought it'd be a good idea to make use of this courtyard by raising something there. They decided to get the business of French restaurants by selling them snails to use for escargots. And thus the library worked on a plan to mass-produce snails. The money from the snails would be used to buy new books (hence the Measure A funds or whatever it was).

After going to the library, my family and I went to a local Chinese supermarket. It's always quite the popular place. My mom likes to buy things there because if you buy a certain amount of stuff, I think you can get a coupon for food. (I'm not talking about groceries. You can buy food and it will be cooked for you. The line for it was really long) It was a good day to go because there were quite a few samples. There was some carrot/apple juice (interesting, it wasn't that bad, actually), noodles, and even a bunch of snacks. Apparently the snacks part is pretty uncommon.

I saw all sorts of foods, some of which reminded me of my childhood. There were those Yan Yan snacks, which are like sticks which you dip in chocolate (or strawberry?). I also saw Pocky and a Pocky imitation (there are a lot of Pocky ripoffs, so I've seen...) and there was Hello Panda.

Hello Panda is little cookie type things which contain chocolate in their centers. My dad says they used to be much harder, but apparently kids were choking on it, so the Hello Panda snacks are now quite a bit softer.

I went around eating lots of things, and got to try Meltyblend, from the company Meiji. Even my mother thought Meltyblend was good. (But then, she seems to like chocolate. She really likes Kit Kat especially.)

I just love free samples. I don't get much chance to have them anymore. Whole Foods doesn't seem to have many cheese samples any longer, which saddens me. I hear Costco has samples, but I haven't been to Costco for a long time either. I remember we had to have our receipts signed or something before we left the building, and I always wanted the people to draw smiley faces...Those days seem so far off now. When I was younger, I had more free time, less worries...The world used to seem so fresh and fun. I'm still making good memories, but now I'm not seeing things through "rose-colored glasses", which is really a shame.

Labels: animals, costco, courtyard, escargots, flowers, food, free, hello panda, library, meltyblend, money, photography, plan, pocky, receipt, rose colored glasses, sample, snacks, snail, whole foods

My dad recently decided to remind me of what he wanted on his gravestone when he died. He said, "A gardener, a wife, and a father."
"Huh? A wife?" I asked, bemused.
"No! I meant a husband!" (Forgetting his gender, perhaps? Or just not paying enough attention to what he's saying?)

I think he is becoming old and forgetful. He nearly lost his wallet today, but luckily was able to retrieve it. I thought it had probably gotten stolen, but luckily that wasn't the case. Imagine how dangerous it would've been if credit cards, driver's license, and money had all been stolen. -_-;;

Recently I got a new camera, except this was a Canon one. I couldn't understand why the image looked fuzzy in the image window and I was pretty confused about how to use it. Then my dad told me to read an instruction manual which he had opened up on the computer. He was all pleased with himself, saying, "I never read the instructions, but I read them this time. If you had read the manual in the first place, you would've had known how to use the camera."

I'd like to remind you all how important it is to read instructions. Sometimes I slip up on test questions or homework just because I didn't pay careful attention to the instructions. (I'm usually too impatient to bother reading thoroughly, so if I'm reading the instructions for something, like a game, I often just skim through it)

I was looking at the TV screen and there was some commercial for Etrade. There were some babies talking, except with voices that were like adult voices, not baby voices (a dub, I suppose). I didn't really understand the commercial. Nowadays I really don't understand most television commercials. A lot of money is spent on advertising, so...Doesn't it go to waste if the people watching television don't even understand what the commercials are trying to say?

But I feel like money is often squandered nowadays in general. A lot of teachers at my school have document cameras. my science teacher's document camera didn't seem to be working properly last time she tried to use it. Isn't it a waste of money, then?

And earlier today, my parents and I walked to the campus a local high school, which I will probably be attending when I move up to high school. Some gates were locked, but we did find a way into the school. (Isn't it pointless to lock some parts of the school and not the others? I know they wanted to leave doors open so the people who play sports on the weekend can get in, but if they're going to do that, why not leave all the gates open? It is considered to be an "open campus", after all (so students can even leave the school to have lunch elsewhere).

My mom wanted to get a feel for the campus, so we walked around peering in the windows. The main office looked pretty nice. It seemed spacious, the chairs looked cool, and there were fancy nameplates... And yet the brick walls of the school look like they aren't in such good condition. (But the school is forty years old, so I suppose I should expect it) And the desks seemed kind of small. I wonder how the money is being spent.

The campus was pretty big, though, bigger than expected. I think my mom thought there were too many classrooms. I was looking at the names of the teachers. I thought they were pretty interesting names. I saw "Birdsong" on one classroom and "Goldenkranz" on another.

I was considering becoming a teacher. I think elementary school might be good, but not kindergarten or first grade (a little too young). Perhaps third grade or fifth grade? By then people are pretty aware of things, and still pretty innocent, untouched by the worries of the world. But if I were to teach high school or college, a lot of students would be taller than I was, which would be pretty intimidating. (I know I shouldn't let size put me off, but it is inconvenient being short. You have to be careful to make sure drivers see you or they'll run you over.)

Labels: camera, canon, commercial, condition, document camera, forgetful, gravestone, instructions, locked, money, name, office, open campus, school, short, teacher, television, wallet

I know, my previous post, "Blood is Thicker than Water", also mentions thickness, but really, this title is fitting, so I am using it nevertheless.

Not that long ago, one of my pencils disappeared. I had only started using it recently. It wasn't really a great pencil - in fact, it was a Disney Princess pencil featuring Belle from Beauty and the Best - but I hate to lose pencils since they go to waste. I was giving up on finding it when I noticed a pencil on top of a supermarket flyer. It was the very pencil I thought I had lost. And my dad doesn't go around circling what he wants to buy on supermarket flyers, so that left one culprit - my mother.

This isn't the first time she took a pencil when she saw it lying around. I found two pencils of mine which I also thought I had lost in the room of our house that is her home office. I just wish she would ask me before she uses them. It's annoying, thinking that I've lost pencils when in reality they're hanging around the house, all because my mom wanted to borrow them for some reason or another. I guess she thought I would be annoyed if she had to keep asking me to lend her pencils, but still, having my writing utensils disappear mysteriously is really not convenient.

What really bothers me the most, though, is when people borrow things from me and don't return them. It happened in elementary school - I lent a girl my scissors and I asked for them back, but she didn't even remember having borrowed them. I eventually found them in the classroom. Then I went on a trip to a bowling alley with my class and a classmate wanted to buy a drink, so he borrowed some money for it. He never repaid the money (I don't know whether he would remember after all these years anyways).

And I had a repeat of the incident I mentioned about the scissors. In French class, we were making sachets in December. Sachets are basically little pouches with something scented in them (like potpourri). These can be left someplace, like in your clothes drawers, to make things smell better. A classmate borrowed my scissors to cut string, but she didn't return them. The next day, I asked her if she had my scissors, but she didn't seem to remember that (just like that girl a few years back). So I had to go into the classroom scissors box to find mine.

I wonder if I should just stop lending things to people. It's kind of a lose-lose situation. If you lend something and it gets returned, that's the one good outcome. But if you lend it and it gets lost, that's bad for you, and you'll lose trust in other people. And if you don't lend something, then people will think of you as stingy, since you have things but don't want to share them. (Sharing is caring, so goes the saying) Maybe I should require people to give me a compensation for lending which will be returned to them when they return what they borrowed. (Like how my science teacher will lend you a pen if you give her one of your shoes. That way you won't forget to return it, unless you want to hop around all day on one foot.)

I guess there's really no perfect solution to anything, though. You can choose to make yourself happy or you can choose to make other people happy...(You're lucky if it's the same thing)

That reminds me of something Thomas Jefferson apparently said. Because of Jay's Treaty (look it up, like on Wikipedia or something) France felt like the USA was taking Britain's side, so the US needed to repair its relationship with France. John Adams, the president at that time, asked his vice president, Thomas Jefferson, to go to France and work things out. Jefferson would have been a good choice because he was a Republican (Republicans at that time were supporters of France, whereas the Federalist Party supported England), and Jefferson was a respected man. However, he refused. Adams got upset, saying, "Aren't we supposed to be friends?" and "But you're the vice president!" and probably also said something about how he should go because he is vice president and not let the fact that he is the Republic party leader be an influence. But Jefferson said, regarding the role of vice president and the role of head of Republicans, "They are one and the same."

George Washington had said that political parties were bad, that they would cause unnecessary divisions and disagreements. Politics in general seems to be quite a mess sometimes. (No wonder my mom doesn't really like politics...) I mean, it got so bad one time that Aaron Burr, who was supposed to be Thomas Jefferson's vice president, actually shot Alexander Hamilton. (Hamilton had kind of convinced people to turn against Burr, thus making Jefferson president instead of Burr) And the US presidents end up with grey hair and wrinkles from their stressful job. I wonder what their true motive for getting into politics is, then. Do they hope to make a difference? Do they want prestige?

Labels: aaron burr, borrow, france, jay treaty, john adams, lost and found, money, motives, party, pencil, politics, president, republican, scissors, shoes, stress, supermarket, thief, thomas jefferson

I just finished a book called Sisters of the Sword: Chasing the Secret recently. (It's the sequel to a book, simply named Sisters of the Sword). It would take a long time to explain what was happening in the book, so I'll just give you info based on a need-to-know basis. Basically, a girl called Kimi, her sister Hana, and their friend Tatsuya are running away from their training school because Kimi's murderous uncle is there and chaos has ensued. Tatsuya spotted something that he thought was a ninja behind a rock. Here's a part from the book.

"He's not moving," Hana whispered. Her gaze was fixed no the flat rock, where the shadow warrior's head was just visible.
"Perhaps he realizes we've seen him?" Tatsuya suggested. "He knows there's no point trying to hide."
...(skipping a paragraph)
We inched closer, and I saw the shadow take shape. His clothes were bumpy, almost a green color. One more step and I laughed out loud. The shape behind the rock was non ninja. It was a bush, small and round, rooted into the rock!
"Kimi!" Tatsuya motioned for me to be quiet, but it only made me laugh harder.
Tatsuya shot me a furious look. "This is no time for laughing, Kimi," he whispered. "You don't understand how ruthless ninja are."
I grinned back at him. "Well, if that's true, it will be the first time I have met a ruthless thorn bush."

It's easy for a book to grow dear to me if it has some comedy in it. Another book that had an interesting part in it was the book Vive la Paris (unfortunately, it doesn't take place in Paris, but the main character is named Paris). Paris's piano teacher, an old lady, said that they could go to Paris, France, by just walking a few blocks. She took some glasses and scribbled over them with a marker, and had Paris put them on. (Hence the saying about "rose-colored glasses/spectacles", meaning someone sees things in an optimistic light or sees things as better than they really are)

Paris asked if she would need a toothbrush since they would be going to Paris. The old lady replied that they could just buy one later, it was better to travel unencumbered. Paris probably didn't know what that word was, because she thought to herself, "Why would you need a cucumber to travel anyways?"

At the moment, I can't really think of other books I would like to mention for their humor, so instead I'll point out the weather. It's still January, but it seems to be warming up (though it can be cold one moment and warm the next, depending on whether the sun comes out from behind the clouds). I've seen flowers blooming and I noticed some of the squirrels are looking pretty plump (then again, it never gets REALLY cold around here, and besides it would be easy to find things things to bury for when they're hungry in my backyard). I wonder if it's already springtime this year? It seems early to me, but maybe I'm not the best judge of these things.

In French class, we read about flea markets in our textbook, so the teacher talked a bit about markets and she asked us what experiences we had. Several students agreed that speaking English means you'll get ripped off...Their parents tell them not to speak, otherwise they'll be asked to pay a higher price than someone who seemed to be a local. Although I don't like the idea that people are being cheated out of their money because of their ignorance, I guess the shopkeepers have to make a living, and it's easier to fool a tourist. I mean, even if the tourist knew it was a bad deal, they might buy it anyway, because one of the general mindsets is, "I'm on vacation. Since I'm here, I shouldn't waste it. I shouldn't let money stop me from doing things since I won't get that opportunity again soon." (Unless you go to a place pretty often.)

Labels: books, bush, chasing the secret, cucumber, market, maya snow, money, ninja, paris, rip off, rose colored glasses, sisters of the sword, spring, tourists, travel, unencumbered, vive la paris, weather

This is a valuable lesson that I learned today from my teacher. It ought to be the new Golden Rule. (Well, not really. I'm not all that fond of cars because I get carsick. But that's besides the point.)

More than ten years ago, a young man (my teacher) was going to a place called Jake's to meet up with his friends. He was sitting on the roof of his car when a Ferrari came into the parking lot. Back then, a Ferrari was quite expensive (and still is), $150,000 or something. My teacher and his friends stared at the car, drooling. It was red and sleek, and was shiny, like it was polished often (which is quite a feat, since it's harder for things to look shiny in the nighttime than in the daytime). They couldn't decide whether to go inside Jake's or not. They were hungry, but if they went inside, they wouldn't be able to see the Ferrari anymore. After a few minutes, an old lady stepped out of the car.

"Hello, boys," said the lady.
"........Uh, hello," said my teacher and his friends.
"My husband died recently. I'm getting ready to sell it," remarked the old lady (regarding the Ferrari).
"Oh, what, really?!" At this point, my teacher is rummaging in his pockets for money (though he wouldn't be able to afford the Ferrari anyways).

Later, the old lady gets back into the car. She accelerates a little.
"Awww..." go the boys/young men/whatever you call them. (Just like a kitten's purr, so says my teacher)
Accelerated again. "Ohhhh...."
Went in reverse. "Ooohhh..."
My teacher offers, "Will you be alright? I'll drive you home." (Doesn't matter to him that he'd have to walk home after all, he just wants to be in a Ferrari, something he probably never got to do before)
"Nah, I'll be fine." The old lady drove off...Out of my teacher's life forever.

My teacher then said to us, "Don't let widows wreck nice cars. And treat your car nicely."

Anyways, speaking of cars, I was given some advice about how to skimp on car insurance. You have to pay more for car insurance if you get into lots of accidents. I was told that you should get your license when you're sixteen, and then wait two years or something until you actually get a car. Then when you get car insurance it'll look like you're a safe driver because you didn't get into any accidents for two years. (Obviously, if the folks who work for insurance companies figure this out, they might get suspicious, but oh well. Thought I'd let you know.)

I've always complained about not having life insurance to my parents, but in reality, it's probably better that I don't have it. For one thing, I'm young, so the chances of my dying are lower than those for an older person. And also, some people can't use money that results of a death. (Though there are quite a few people who say, "Well, money is money!" and there are even those who kill people on purpose to get ahold of inheritance money) I wonder if my parents would be willing to spend money they received if I was insured and I died. Would it pain them too much to use money which my life had been the price for? And if you had a dog, for instance, and it died, and you got money as compensation, would you be too pained by the loss of your dog to touch the money? Or would you move on, and put the money to good use?

While I'm on the topic of cash, my school district often doesn't have enough money. One of my teachers complained, "They want us to teach differently, in the 21st century, but they don't give us the money to do it. In fact, they take away money." I know it can't really be helped, because California is a state in debt (as is the whole US of A), but it's annoying. Most of the people who make decisions are not students anymore themselves, so it doesn't really matter to them if they take away the money for schools, even if children are the future. (Yeah, I know, school is mostly based on memorization anyways, but still. It's worthwhile to go to school.) If only, if only, there was something that could be done about it. Money is what makes the world go round but it is also what stops it from going round. D:

Labels: california, car, death, debt, ferrari, future, inheritance, insurance, jake's, life, money, problem, school, story, united states of america, world

When my mom's friend and her family came over to my house, she brought a present for my mother. It was a Coach handbag, a black one. I have no idea if she herself is a fan of Coach, but Coach does have quite a bit of fame.

A lot of people in Japan were excited over brand name bags. I saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the Gucci store, it was that popular. (I guess they only let a certain amount of people inside at a time. I mean, that way the people working there can pay more attention to you.) And women in the area where I live also like brand names, such as Louis Vuitton. I see them toting such bags.

My mother says that a lot of the people just like to show off, thinking it will make them look rich or trendy. That's really not the right reason to buy a brand name. If you really like it because of the looks (I, for instance, like anything that is shiny!) or usefulness or some reason like that, then all is as it should be. But it's dreadful that people would think it would make you look affluent to have a brand name handbag. If you saved up money for a long enough time, you'd be able to afford one. Besides, if many people have it, then many people appear rich, which means they aren't rich after all, because it's impossible for everyone to have a lot of money. (Otherwise, our economy is more socialist than capitalist?!)

But teenagers are also caught up in the brand name fashion craze. I overheard some classmates talking because we were having a fire drill and had to go outside and line up, then sit down and wait for the drill to be over. One of the girls had Coach shoes. (I don't really think it's worthwhile to have shoes from a brand that is famous for its bags, since I'm not that fond of the Coach logo thing, but whatever) Another girl noticed and said, "Oh, you're so lucky!" (Or something like that.) But the girl with the shoes said, "Eh, my mom bought them on sale anyways." (Apparently, it was actually her mom's idea to buy them...Or was she just saying that? Who knows?)

Even one of my friends got Coach shoes, as a gift from someone she knew. She was pretty pleased over them. They look okay, I suppose, I'm not interested in getting them, though. Well, whatever floats your boat, right? (That's the kind of attitude I take a lot. I probably shouldn't do that. D: )

It's not always good to accept everything that comes your way, though. One time, in 2009, I was in my old art teacher's classroom. I took Applied Arts in 7th grade, which is Art, Cooking, and Woodshop over the course of the year. I visit her classroom occasionally (though not as much as I did in 7th grade). She told my friend and I (we go together) that she was divorced. She said that she married at a young age. And she told us that when you're in love with someone, pay attention to what kind of things about them you don't like. If you think "Ugh, I really don't like that, it bothers me," then you should probably rethink your future with them. The teacher said that you can't change someone, even if you think you can. Their bad qualities will only get worse. Though it's impossible to find perfect people, you should still pay attention. "Love is blind", so goes the saying, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

I've always wondered who I will eventually married. I plan on marrying - I'm not going to be an old maid (not that it's necessarily bad; a husband can be quite the hassle). And I want to be married while I'm still young, like in my 20s, because if you marry late, then you'll have children late (I guess I might have a child of my own. Perhaps I will adopt one, and have one related to me by blood). And that's not good. Then your children don't have as long a time to spend with you, to make memories and share the joys and sorrows of a family. Anyways, though I'm getting sidetracked again. I've been wondering about what kind of person I will look for. (I'm already looking, in fact, inspecting the possible people in my area. However, it seems many of them are undesirable.) I've decided some of the traits I'm looking for.
- Taller than me (but not too much taller! That's intimidating)
- Good family background (I'm not talking about being nobility or living in a rich neighborhood or anything like that. I mean, no one goes insane in their old age, the bloodline is not susceptible to dangerous diseases, and such)
- An intellectual (Someone who I can talk to about the mysteries of life, and books, and perhaps video games if they play them. It is always nice, but not required, that the person had a good record in school or won awards, too)
- Musical (Optional. But it would be nice to have someone who could play accompaniment to my piano. Or teach me to play harp. I would like to learn the harp.)
- DOESN'T SNORE (Seriously. Snoring is really annoying. I can't sleep if someone snores.)
- Likes animals (I plan to have a cat and a dog, so this is pretty important too.)
- Isn't lazy (to balance me out, because I'm lazy.)
- Independent, yet interdependent (What I mean is that the person can think for himself and isn't influenced too much by other people's opinion of him. But I also think the person should be someone who is friendly and who I won't feel is drifting apart from me. It's important for a family to be connected, after all.)
- Won't let me give up (on some things, like exercise. I mean, I need someone who will be concerned with my welfare. But hopefully not too bossy. The point is, the person should try hard and keep going till the end)

Maybe I'm too picky. Who knows? XD

Labels: bag, bragging, brand name, coach, desirable, divorce, dream, future, handbag, husband, love, marriage, money, qualities, shoes, snoring, teacher, trend

Sometimes I feel like that, and other times I feel like quite the opposite. There are times that I have the feeling of being on top of the world, like I can overcome anything, and that life is easy. But there are times as well where I feel as if there is so much out there and I am just one person, too insignificant to matter.

I mentioned in a previous post (unfortunately, I can't remember which one it was, so unless you're really bored, don't bother searching for it) that I live in a place where many people are fairly affluent. One time, my language arts teacher (who says she is poor, but I suppose it can't be so bad she must live off of freebies) asked how many of us think about the price of things when we buy them. I didn't mind when I was younger, but over time I started to care about it, and nowadays I don't really buy much for myself (except for a Galileo thermometer, but that's a different story). A lot of people said they just asked their parents to buy something and didn't really worry about how much it cost. I had heard that my town prides itself on having an average income that is quite high, or something along those lines. (Note: That doesn't mean everyone owns a private jet or a beach house in a foreign country, though)

I started to wonder, "Would us kids be able to survive out in the real world?" Well, my parents' friend's son was a student at both UC Berkeley and Harvard, and he said, "The experience you get at the schools is different. At UC Berkeley you're more left to your own devices, but at Harvard you'll be helped along." Basically, even the different colleges may encourage a different level of independence. I have been wondering whether people living a sheltered, privileged life will really be okay when they get out there into the rest of the world. (Well, unless they always live in the same place, or move to a similar place) I mean, there are 6.8 billion people in the world and counting, so there will definitely be a lot of competition - for example, people will fight for jobs, as jobs are not created fast enough to make up for the growing population and the bad economy.

And really, the world is filled with hardships. I don't think everyone can be so lucky to never experience them. Some of my troubles are physical, like when I catch a cold, or sprain my ankle, but most of them are mental. I've always wondered what it would be like if I had a different life. Like if I had siblings...Being an only child, I don't really learn to share or to take care of someone else. In fact, I don't really do chores besides putting my clothes away when they have been washed.

Today, I visited a bridge in my town. It's not a bridge over water, it's simply a bridge over a highway. I think it looks very nice at nighttime, though I didn't visit it at night. I walked there with my dad in the afternoon. There were several people on the bridge. No cars are allowed on it - only people on foot and people on bicycles. The bridge is practically on the border of my town and a neighboring town, so if you cross the bridge, you'll be in a different city. But you'll be in the same school district. There is a high school right next to the other end of the bridge. I would like to be able to go that high school. (The high school I will probably be going to is a very highly ranked one in academic terms, though, and the high school next to the bridge is...not so much) It would be so charming, living next to the bridge and walking across it to go to school. Quite picturesque. Some people would be bothered by the highway noise, but I don't think it would be too much of a problem for me (as long as there aren't too many police chases and ambulances at nighttime).

I wonder what I ought to do. Should I accept my fate, because destiny cannot be altered? Or should I fight against it, fight to change it, and make a life for myself? Is it better to be the blade of grass, which bends but doesn't break, or like bamboo, which prefers to break than bend? Is it better to go with the flow or to make ripples in the water? I wonder about that.

Oh, before I end this post, I would like to explain why I was thinking of fish in the beginning of the post. It was because of something I saw in the December edition of Reader's Digest. There was a complaint someone made to a travel agent. The person said, "No one told us there were fish in the ocean. The children were startled." Wow. I guess there are many different people.

Labels: bamboo, berkeley, bridge, change, college, competition, destiny, feelings, fish, grass, harvard, high school, money, only child, readers digest, spending, survival

Well, kind of in the literal sense, and kind of not. On Christmas Day, I was spacing out and I noticed something unusual on the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a crack...In fact, a pretty long one. I am not sure how long the crack has been there. It could be new, it might've been forming over the course of several years. But what I do know is that it's a bad sign.

Our house is not new, that is for sure. My mother says it was built in 1945. It was remodeled once, but that wasn't recent, and it wasn't us who remodeled it anyway. My dad says the insides of the house are getting ruined and sometime we're going to have to either move out or redo our house from scratch. I hope that won't happen, but you can't prevent the inevitable; fate works in strange ways. When I mentioned the crack to my parents, my dad said it would probably be okay (at least for now) while my mother said, "Okay, let's remodel the house now." I don't want to move away (unless it would be to some far, exotic place like Australia, or France, or Italy, or the Hawaiian islands) and I don't want to tear down my house...But now that I think of it, that would give me a good opportunity to try apartment living. I've been wanting to live in apartment because I figure it would be interesting, and it would be good to have neighbors close by and a swimming pool that can easily be accessed. I really don't understand why people always want to buy a house so badly. Is it wanting to call something your own? Or do you just want some privacy?

Recently, my dad told me about the difference between the way houses are built. There are slab houses and houses with crawl space. If your house is a slab house, then it is built directly on top of a concrete foundation. The pipes and other things are in the concrete. If your house has crawl space, then there is some space between a foundation and the house. The space is called "crawl space" because if your pipes break or something, you can crawl under the house to fix them. If you have a slab house, then there is no crawl space, so you're in big trouble if your pipes break - you'll have to blow up the concrete. But if you do have crawl space, then you run the risk of termites. My house, in fact, probably has termites.

My mom and dad both watched a Chinese drama. In the drama, a couple wanted to buy a house. They don't have much money, so the wife asked her husband to borrow money from his parents. But the husband didn't want to do that since his parents are poor and he would feel guilty. His wife grew angry, saying she was tired of him making excuses about his family. They already had to take out a loan for a large amount of money that had a high interest rate, and the down payments took the help of neighbors and friends. My mom complained, "Why do they want to buy a house when they really can't afford it?" Why indeed.

On Christmas Day, I visited my parents' friends' house. My parents' friends' son is visiting (he lives in Seattle) and he brought his dog along with him. His dog is a Shetland sheepdog, I believe (at least partially, maybe he is mixed with some other breeds). The dog looks quite different from the last time I saw him. He seems to be bigger and has a lot of hair, even though my parents' friends insist he was already like that. This time the dog was a lot friendlier to me than last time. (Or maybe I'm better at dealing with dogs now. When I was in Australia, I got to interact with my mom's friend's dog...) He watched me whenever I tried to eat something (of course, animals find human food to be MUCH tastier) and let me pet him and even tried to lick me. (I really don't understand why a dog would want to lick you, not that I really mind or anything, but it's not like I taste good....DO I?!)

My mom was reading the newspaper (in Chinese) and there were some pictures of some objects. I guess it was some recommendations of things to buy. There was lipstick that has seven colors you can use...Isn't that like one of those pens with many colors? Wow. The most interesting thing, though, was the key hider. It was supposed to look like a sprinkler on your lawn or one of those outdoor lights. Actually, you can put your keys in them, so if you forgot your keys, you could have a spare key outside. But I think that's dangerous. Any ill-minded person who reads that newspaper article will know where to look for someone's keys and would be able to break into your house...

Labels: apartment, chinese, crack, crawl space, disguise, dog, drama, food, house, key hider, lick, lipstick, money, moving, newspaper, old, risk, shetland sheepdog, slab house, termites

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 was set to thinking lately about the news on television and such because I've been reading a book called Scoop by Gene Gutteridge. It's the first book in the series called the Occupational Hazards. The second book is called Skid, which I accidentally read first, because I didn't even know it was a series. (It says The Occupational Hazards on the book, but it's partially covered by the labels the library put on the book) Scoop is a novel about a news station, Channel 7 News. (I don't think it's about the real Channel 7, but who knows) Skid, on the other hand, is about an air plane flight. I expect there will be more books in the series. Each book seems to feature one Hazard. (There is a family called the Hazards who is in each book) I think there are still several Hazards that haven't been covered yet.

It seemed to me that news was rougher business than I thought. To some reporters, it was just work, and it just mattered whether you got the news that was the most interesting to the viewers, rather than showing news that was meaningful, that could really make a difference. It seems like people want to see how many people die in a crash, not how many people survive. And news stations have to compete with each other to have the best information. It's pretty vicious business. I wonder if newspapers are like this too or if it's only the news stations.

Speaking of news, I probably haven't watched the weather much, because I was surprised to see that they seem to be using tablets now. I could tell because when they were showing the direction of wind or something, I saw a red arrow being drawn. I noticed there was a small cursor which looked like a pencil moving around. It was just like what my teachers had previously used. In 6th grade, my language arts/history teacher tried out the tablet for doing our daily grammar/spelling/etc. exercises, but it didn't work that well since most folks, including the teacher, couldn't draw that well using the tablet. Then the next year, in math class, my math teacher (who was, incidentally, the wife of my 6th grade language arts/history teacher) used the tablet to show us the lesson in math. Eventually, though, she switched to a document camera.

I remember I first was aware of them when my language arts teacher in 7th grade showed off her spiffy new document camera. Some of the teachers have them now too. My current science teacher uses it a lot...My French teacher has been using it, but it's not working out too well. I wish she'd go back to the projector. I wonder if they're wasting the donations of families on buying things that aren't even that easy to use. I wish they would spend the money on something else like replacing the chairs that are cracked and things like that.

Today, my father and I were planting tulips bulbs. We bought 50 of them once, and planted 25 last year. Most of them bloomed, but not all...We were digging up the dirt today and found some parts of tulip bulbs. I've always been wondering where the bulbs come from. Do tulips make bulbs after they die, or do two of them create bulbs and then you find them later? Or are bulbs plants which grow larger over time? It's confusing.

My dad thinks that the bulbs are dead since they look kind of dried up. I heard that seeds always have some stored food and other resources in them so they'll live long enough to find a place to settle down. I wonder if it really could last a whole year, though...Maybe not. But I hope so, because if they're still alive, there will be beautiful flowers in the springtime.

I dug up some other things. I found an acorn, which is odd, because we don't have those in my backyard. Perhaps a squirrel buried it there. I also dug up an earthworm by accident. I was really surprised by it. I put it on the sidewalk and watched it wiggle. It slowly moved its front, then seemed to start moving different parts, gradually. It sure takes a long time, though. Worms are really slow. It's like this joke... "A snail was mugged by two turtles. When asked about it, he said, "I don't know! It all happened so fast." " (I think it was a snail and turtles...I'm not exactly sure)

Labels: acorn, bulb, dehydration, document camera, earthworm, gene gutteridge, joke, money, news, scoop, tablet, teacher, television, the occupational hazards, tulips

Just today, I was doing my vocabulary homework for language arts. We all have workbooks which we purchase at the beginning of the year. Each week, sometimes every other week or every third week, etc. (depending on what the teacher has in mind, sometimes we do vocabulary from stories we read instead) we'll complete some homework about the words and then take a simple test to prove we know them. I sort of did this in sixth grade. If I recall correctly, the cover was an interesting picture (artist's name I've forgotten, unfortunately) of birds and fish in black and white. Slowly the birds turn into fish. It's fascinating.

Yikes, I'm getting sidetracked (but that's just me, I suppose). Well, I was reading some paragraphs for the Reading Comprehension section of the workbook, and it said in the last paragraph this: "Of course, there are plenty of people who spend their lives focused on infantile, selfish concerns. Fortunately, for all of us, there are also remarkable people who find their pleasure in helping others." I am going to take this is a a personal insult. What if the author of the vocab book is referring to me? Eh?! I thought textbooks were supposed to be objective, not subjective, but I guess since vocabulary books aren't like history textbooks (history books really, really shouldn't be biased, as one side could have a totally different opinion from the other).

Well, I'm having second thoughts about the braces again, and stuff like that. My mom said I can decide not to if I want, but... For one thing, the orthodontists all seem eager for money or something. I sympathize with them - I'd like to be able to spend more time with my family and retire, too. But you know, being a doctor is more than fixing people's teeth (which, by the way, doesn't always work; I saw pictures of Before and After of a boy who had braces, and the thing that I found funny was that his previously normal-looking cheeks had become puffed out, like he had gained some weight, so maybe having braces can have some...unforseen side effects. No offense to that guy intended), I think it's also tending to people's minds, making them feel at ease and happy to be at the office, instead of being afraid (ever seen a children's story about a child who was scared of the dentist? But I did hear there are a few, rare people who actually enjoy having braces). Hehe, that was something deep. Write it down so you won't forget.

One of my friends has also become one of the Scissorhands bunch lately. I was eating lunch and she made scissor motions with her hands. First my math teacher, now her...Looks like something's catching on.

I have noticed that I behave a bit unusually at times. For instance, I eat the foods I don't like first and the foods I like last. (Some other people do that too nowadays) My parents find that annoying, just like they find it annoying that I can't use things I haven't learned yet in my proofs. (In my math class, once you learn a proof or something, then you can use it in problems, but my dad thinks you should be able to use anything as long as you know that it is CORRECT, regardless if you learned it from the teacher or somewhere else)

Also, I get really annoyed by water bottles that are steamed up. Sometimes, on hot days, my plastic water bottles get steamed up. (Sorry, plastic water bottles are really bad for the environment, I know, but they're more convenient...) Whenever I see it, I have to dump the water bottle upside down - cap on so the water won't get out - so that way the steam gets cleared up.

By the way, this is really random, but I think I might've lost one of my erasers. I've been carrying around this eraser for a while now, since sometime last school year, actually. I found it on the ground in the computer lab and there was a name written on it. It said "Ria". I met someone called Ria before so I've been looking for her so I can ask if it's hers, but I haven't seen her since maybe sixth grade, which is a loooooong time ago. I thought she would still be in the school, but seriously, I have not seen her. Maybe she's moved and it's too late now to return the eraser...

Labels: biase, braces, dentist, eraser, favorite, fear, homework, illusion, money, objective, opinion, order, ria, scissorhands, selfish, steam, subjective, vocabulary, water bottles, weight

Recently, my father was telling me about a lady. He has never met her, but she is famous. The lady was pretty much an unknown person, up until she got plastic surgery. (She said she only got a nose job, but people seemed to think she'd had more surgery than that done to her face, when comparing before and after pictures) Then she started getting noticed and she was even able to become the host of the show Big Brother. So, it seems to me that if you have enough money, then you can go places. (Of course, there are things that can't always be obtained with money, but that's a different story.)

There's always the flip side, though. Do you recall the post ◆ from riches to rags? (It's in the August 2009 archive, if you don't remember it) About how Peter Pan was rich but then because of business problems he quickly lost his money? As the saying goes, "Money comes and goes."

Even in history class, we talked about money. England had colonies because land = power, and also you can tax the people in the colonies. So the king of England, back during the times when the USA was still colonies and not a country, let the colonies do what they liked (to an extent) as long as he got his taxes. My teacher says the king had dollar signs in his eyes. Click for a "visual representation"

Anyhow, as I am writing this, I am not feeling too comfortable. Once my language arts teacher said that us kids were germ factories! I was kind of offended since I wasn't sick at that time. But then apparently one of the people who really is a "germ factory" tried to expand its business, because I somehow or other caught a cold. I have been suffering from a sore throat and either a runny nose or sneezing (depends on where I am and what time of day). I hope it will be over soon (today is the second day of symptoms). Luckily I don't think it is swine flu since if it was, I would have trouble breathing and also have a fever.

The weather nowadays is annoying. In the morning it's foggy and cold, and it's kind like San Francisco (since the fog moves in and out of San Francisco all the time). But then the fog goes away and it gets really hot outside. I wish the weather would either decide to be hot or cold. Seems to me the weather is "wishy-washy".

I remember that one year (I think it was in seventh grade, in the first trimester?) the weather suddenly changed. It became cold when previously it had been warm. I felt kind of woozy in second period, and had trouble concentrating on my math test. The discomfort grew in third and fourth period and eventually I felt so terrible I went to the nurse's office during lunchtime, so I could call a parent to pick me up and take me home. I hope it doesn't happen again this year. I guess I am too sensitive to my surroundings. (Like all those allergies I have)

Labels: allergies, america, big brother, cold, colonies, dizzy, dollar signs, england, eyes, germ factory, headache, king, land, money, plastic surgery, quote, sickness, swine flu, taxes, weather

(NOTE: DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY. I HAVE CHANGED THE NAMES FOR THE SAKE OF THEIR PRIVACY)

Once upon a time, in a far away land called Australia, lived a man named Peter Pan, and a lady named...uh...Untitled. (Because I don't know her name) They lived in a grand house called Versailles. (Okay, so I haven't been there and I wouldn't know what it looks like. But bear with me.) It was glorious, with statues of angels, a maze made entirely out of rectangular green shrubs, many balconies, and even the occasional rubber chicken.

But Peter Pan had a dastardly, devilish, selfish, wicked, oh-so-horrible secret: He had more than one wife. In fact, in another faraway land called China (otherwise known as "Cathay") he had other wives. (Well, he's either divorced from them or was not "officially" married) And he had children that contained genes from the other wives. Untitled had no idea about this, so she skipping along, making daisy chains and singing American Idol karaoke.

And then a most dreadful event happened to Peter Pan and Untitled. Peter Pan did business for a living, and when he had profited he had made enough cash to purchase a house such as Versailles. Now, though, his business had failed and he had lost so much money he was forced to sell his precious Versailles. Untitled still stuck with Peter Pan despite the fact that they would now be moving to a more ordinary apartment.

I believe Peter Pan to be a weak-minded sort of person. Because of this misfortune, Peter Pan was sinking into depression, and he had thoughts of committing suicide. If he had done so, what would have happened to his wives and his children? Terribly unthoughtful of him to just think of himself and not his family. (Well, maybe he did think of his family but I don't know how to read minds, so...) And thus ends the tale of Peter Pan, Untitled, and the house called Versailles.

Actually, there is someone who lived in a neighborhood called Doublebay in Sydney, Australia, but I really shouldn't say any more than that for privacy's sake. I mean I've already probably destroyed people's relationships just by putting this up. So just consider my story of Peter Pan and Untitled as fiction, like it's meant to be. Hehehehe.

I was meaning to post this a lot earlier but recently my Internet is not reliable. It might last for, say, fifteen minutes before it gets ruined and then I have to unplug my router and wait a few minutes, then plug it back in and hopefully it'll work then. It's a real hassle so we might have to get a new router...We took out of one of our old routers so now it's working smoothly, and I was able to post this.

Labels: australia, bad news, business, children, china, depression, house, internet, money, peter pan, polygamy, problem, responsibility, rich, secret, story, suicide, untitled, versailles, wife

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