Yet again, I'm doing things in a roundabout way. Or at least, planning to do things. At several points over my life I have gotten the notion that I ought to start learning some Chinese characters so I can at least read the signs if I somehow get shanghai'd (Ha! Get it?) and am stranded in China. Well at least if somehow I ended up in Shanghai, I'd be okay because I can sort of speak the dialect...But anywhere else, it'd be hopeless.)

I do remember that back when I was about 6 or 7 years old, I went to a sort of day care place (it was called Little Genius Learning Center, if I remember correctly. Pretty arrogant-sounding name, if you ask me), and there was a nice lady who would go over a beginner's Chinese book with me. She'd point to a line and I was supposed to recite it to her, and at the end of the day she'd give me an apple as a present. Actually, I didn't really know what the words said, I'd just memorize what she'd said when she read it earlier, and then I'd just repeat what I remembered. But it sure looked like I was learning Chinese. Now that I think of it, I was good at fooling people when I was a kid. My grandma made me take a nap every afternoon, so if I didn't fall asleep I'd just fake it when she came in to check on me. Eventually, when enough time had passed, I would get up and she'd give me some ice cream. So actually I never got anything near as much sleep as my parents thought I had, especially in preschool, when I never slept during naptime. (But then again, they know that I'm an insomniac, because when I was a baby it took a really, really long time for me to fall asleep. It's still pretty bad now.)

Now that I'm interested in learning Japanese now, though, I'm starting to regret the fact that I never went to Chinese school or at least made my parents teach me. In fact, I was just the opposite for most of my life - I was adamant that I'd focus on English. I really believed that if I tried to learn Chinese, I'd forget English, because I actually learned to speak Chinese before I learned to speak English. Soon as I went to school and was forced to learn English, though, I pretty much forgot all the Chinese I'd learned and now I almost always speak English at home. And on another note, I actually look a weird, irrational pride in the fact that I was Chinese but did not learn my own language. I guess that was an early sign that I would later try to go against the tide in most aspects of my life, if only just to be different from "everyone else", whom I would refer to with slight contempt. I used to want to just blend into the background, but now I kind of think that fitting in means being boring. (That's not necessarily true, though; I probably just don't get to know people well enough to make an accurate judgment.)

Well, although I tried to memorize Katakana and Hiragana with the help of Quizlet, I am still a very long way from reading Japanese because I don't know enough kanji. Guess what kanji is? Yup, it's Chinese characters. The one thing I insisted on not learning turns out to be really important. So I have to start from scratch now if I ever hope to learn Japanese. I was actually planning to work on that this summer, but now that I have the homework from my classes to do...Well, I let myself get too stressed again and now I'm really not in the mood for the things I was doing earlier this summer. Looks like it's going to be a wasted summer and I'll probably be cursing myself for the rest of high school because I won't get to relax again.

Still, I probably should talk to my parents about it sometime. I know that they're going to be busy, what with work, remodeling, and health problems on both sides of the family (grandma on mother's side had back issues and had to go the hospital; dad and his mother were both very ill not long ago. And I should not neglect to mention that my mom is still limping around, although her toe is recovering considerably). But I guess if I'm going to learn a new language, starting late's better than never. I've gotta get crackin'.

Labels: china, chinese, dialect, different, english, family, foreign language, health, japanese, kanji, languages, late, mandarin, nap, pretend, problems, quizlet, sleep

I saw something on a book cover that I found very strange. The book is The Treasures of Weatherby, written by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Near the author's name there were the words, "Loathed by LEMONY SNICKET*". (Don't ask what the asterisk is for since I really have no idea. It doesn't have any small text anywhere explaining it, like on promotional offers) I wonder if anyone has an idea about how come you'd put your enemy's name on your book's cover. I mean, it's kind of like when people say, "That book is really horrible!" or "That website is really boring!" Then it makes you curious about it. Maybe in truth, Zilpha Keatley Snyder and Lemony Snicket are friends, or it's a plot to get more money for one another?

Sometimes the strangest things happen in anime. I was watching one and then a chicken started fighting a guy. The chicken flew all over the place, pecking and squawking, and then started doing things that looked like magic or something. Seriously, I've always thought of chicken as something to eat that can sometimes give you sickness from salmonella. (No offense intended if you are a vegetarian, or raise chickens yourself.)

I took a nap yesterday for the first time in a long while. Usually I can't nap at all. I must've been really exhausted or something. I'd just walked to Whole Foods since my parents wanted to buy two things. For some reason we usually only buy a few items at a time when we go to the grocery store. I figure it would save gas and all to buy a lot of things at the time (but then again, there are reasons for not buying many things at a time. For instance, food expires, and you may not be able to eat or drink it all). Anyhow, I ate a sample of some vintage cheese. It had a strong flavor. My mom wrinkled her nose and said cheese was stinky. I didn't smell anything but I suppose it's because my breathing is not too good.

Once I walked home I was feeling very sluggish, though my mom and dad always think I'm being dramatic. Well, it is true that being an actress is one of my "back-up jobs" but I really felt kind of tired. Maybe it was just lack of sleep every night building up. I slept for an hour, maybe more. I don't understand why taking naps makes you tired all over again. My dad insists that taking naps will make you refreshed and happy. It took a few hours of being awake for me to stop feeling dizzy and dehydrated. (But I suppose overall it was worthwhile.)

Speaking of back-up jobs, I haven't quite decided what my actual career goal is. I've wanted to be a fiction novelist, but ever heard of "starving artists"? I heard, for instance, J.K. Rowling was very poor before Harry Potter made a big splash. And many authors will never be so famous they can sit down to dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and the Obamas. So I keep wondering what I should do for a living. Of course there are some years to go before I even need to work but it's good to plan ahead. I want to do something I like to do (which hopefully shouldn't be hard to pull off, I have many interests) but which also has many jobs available or at least a steady income. Otherwise I will have to fall on the suggestion to marry a rich guy. That would be very shallow and also there isn't a huge supply of "rich guys".

Labels: books, career, cheese, enemy, groceries, interests, job, lemony snicket, marry, mysterious, nap, novelist, rich, shopping, sleep, the treasures of weatherby, writer, zilpha keatley snyder

Nowadays I've been pegging a bunch of different labels onto my posts...So much that they won't fit in the bar you type them into, and you would have to highlight from left to right if you wanted to see how many there were. Or just click your mouse there and keep hitting the left arrow on your keyboard. (If I'm confusing you, just forget it. XD)

Today has been a pretty boring day so far. I woke up, delirious, around 8 am. I was woken up by a need to go to the bathroom which is a sad way to wake up since you won't be able to get back to sleep if it's late enough in the morning. I just read National Geographic Magazine for a while before dragging myself out of bed. I decided to make french toast so I could finish one of my cooking projects. (It's a big hassle having to do homework for my elective. Luckily I only need one more HCP and I'll be done with them for the rest of my life...Unless I join Advanced Applied Arts next year.) It tastes rather eggy instead of sweet, but it's good if you put syrup and sugar on it. (If you use syrup, or even honey, it will be messy, so watch out.) I really hate getting my mouth and hands sticky. It feels like it's hard to clean.

Afterwards I played Animal Crossing on my Gamecube. I just play for some time every week instead of every day on the Gamecube since I really don't have enough leisure time for it otherwise. Lately I've been playing my newest person, Radcliff, like crazy, and since I made him in December I've already fully expanded my house (except for the basement). If you have both games you will notice it is considerably easier to pay off your debt on the Gamecube...Or maybe it feels that way because I have two memory cards and can make money by visiting both. (And I play the DS version every day so I guess it makes me feel like it takes a long time.)

Then we hopped in the car and headed to Saratoga. Sometimes I insist on going there so we can see the farmer's market. I tried some samples of salmon spread and it was pretty yummy. (But my dad says food always tastes better when it's a free sample.) I also bought some apple cider. I usually get my apple cider from a stand called Rainbow Orchards. And I get my strawberries from whatever random places there are. We always sample the strawberries first to see if they're sweet, then look at the price. If it's reasonable and the strawberries were tasty, then we buy it. And of course, since there are cage free brown eggs, we get those. They're cheaper at the farmer's market than at Whole Foods anyhow.

So right now my dad is probably napping and I can't practice piano. I figure I'll go do some Wii Fit to pass the time. I should exercise anyhow, since it's the weekend and I don't have PE. D: I suggest you all do the same, as you are reading this.

Labels: blog, cooking, egg, exercise, farmers market, food, fruit, homework, label, moaning, nap, sleep, video games, waking up

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