Well, I mentioned the butterfly effect in my previous post. In a nutshell, it's where one small thing happens, which leads to another thing, and another thing, and another thing, until a really big thing happens.

Shirayuki no Kimi called me a young grasshopper. I was rather offended and retorted, "I'm not young!" (After all, young can be associated with foolish. Like how in French, it's better to be called Madame than Mademoiselle because of such associated meanings)

SnK: Fine, then, old grasshopper.
Me: Dead Grasshopper.
SnK: Decomposing grasshopper.
Me: Hm...Worm food grasshopper.
SnK: Bird poop grasshopper.
Me: Mom's head grasshopper.
It kept going for a little while until it got to "Juppie's photo grasshopper", "Internet grasshopper", and then "famous grasshopper".

I remember that when I was at Yosemite, there was a pretty entertaining riddle that was shared amongst us. It goes like this: There is another world behind a green glass door. But not everything can go through the door. Here's some examples:

Daddies can go through, but fathers can't.
Kittens can go through, but cats can't.
Veggies can go through, but vegetables can't.
Scissors can go through, but shears can't.
Wheels can go through, but tires can't.

If you've already heard this riddle before, I suppose it'd be pretty easy for you to come up with some examples of what can go through and what can't. But see if you can figure it out if you haven't heard this riddle.

I'm pretty bad at riddles otherwise, though. I usually have to have someone tell me the answers. D: Either that, or the riddles really are that difficult. (But then again, if you know the answer to the riddle it must seem pretty obvious.)

Anyhow, though, I have a lot of things I want to do this summer vacation. Since we're going on vacation in July, it's not a good idea to go to summer classes because I might have to miss some of it to go on the trip (and so it wouldn't really be worth the money paid, eh?).
- Do some painting (I never get around to it during the school year :( )
- Practice on the tablet (Haha, I used it to color one drawing, but that is pretty much the extent of what I've done.)
- Drawing by hand (need to learn to do side views. And work on an eye style, as well as hair.)
- Make an OC - Original Character. Already have two but I want to change their looks a bit. And decide on the last name for one of them.
- Take photographs
- Do a 30-day challenge on EA Sports Active (Ugh. My dad bought another video game on a whim. But this one really makes you sweat...Not like Wii Fit.)

Unfortunately, my mom thinks I should get studying for next year, since there'll be SATs to take and whatnot. But maybe I can evade it, somehow or other. ;)

Labels: 30 day, butterfly effect, challenge, dead, drawing, EA Sports Active, grasshopper, green glass door, OC, painting, plans, riddle, summer, summer school, tablet, vacation, video games, yosemite

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For a while I've been looking for my old paintings from last year's summer class - in particular a small oil painting of the coastline. So I was bored and went upstairs (there's only one room which we basically stuff things into, everything is downstairs...) and walked around. I thought I saw some papers in a box and looked inside it. I discovered some of my old artwork...And especially that one that I really liked. I wonder if it's okay to scan paintings. (If so, I'll try and get my dad to scan the smallest one)

Also, I found the Ippon Demo Ninjin video! I talked about it in an earlier post. So here's the link to the video.
Ippon demo ninjin (いっぽんでもにんじん) The whales are especially funny. Once they finish counting the first time, watch the whale. He seems to be dancing on his tail and he turns from side to side, though the other objects/creatures always face towards you.

My playlist had been getting way too full, so I started clearing out songs a little bit and now I just have 194. Oftentimes we listen to music and talk about it in my painting class. (I suppose it's more relaxing than having to work in utter silence...) One of my classmates made a CD or two for the teacher and we listen to her CDs as well (I think she buys songs from iTunes? Using her brother's money XD). Anyhow, some of the artists include Jack Johnson, Cold Play, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, The Cars, John Lennon, and various others whose names I have forgotten.

Which reminds me, there's a guy in the Beetles called Ringo Starr. I always wonder why he took the name Ringo as his first name for his stage name (Richard Starkey is his real name, and he is still alive...). I mean, I thought "ringo" mean apple in Japanese...(But I don't blame him, because apples are very cute fruits.)

The weather around here has turned hot again and it's really bothering me. I end up sweating a lot but I don't want to turn on the air conditioning or the fan because I am wary of the environment...But I suppose eventually I'm going to be so frustrated I will turn on the fan. D: It used to be nice weather only a few days ago, too...But now it's really, really hot outside and I bet I'm going to start losing sleep again. :( And right when I was starting to feel "healthy"...What a shame.

Recently I went to Jamba Juice. I rode there on my bike with my dad and we used a coupon so we could get two smoothies for the price of one. There were some suspicious young people near the store. One of the guys seemed to be trying to show off muscles (if he actually had any XD) and also there was a girl who sometimes ran into the parking lot and was chased by a guy in glasses. Anyhow, I thought they were creepy (even if people near the 7-11 probably act like that) and I was pretty relieved when they left.

Labels: apple, discovery, ippon demo ninjin, jamba juice, japanese, lost and found, music, oddity, painting, people, playlist, ringo starr, sleep, smoothie, song, stage name, suspicious, weather, whale

That's actually part of some song lyrics. That's only because I really couldn't think of a title today. While I was at school I had plenty of ideas for what to write in my blog post but once I went home, the ideas just flew right out of my head. I don't know, maybe it's just change of atmosphere or short term memory, like Dory from Finding Nemo, if you've seen that animated movie.

I should talk about something from the post title, so I will. We used to read a book called Weighty Words in language arts class. (We haven't gotten to read it for a very long time, though; only just today did my teacher resume) Each letter of the alphabet has an interesting word. A story is written about it and is not obvious until the end of the story. I find this is a good way to teach people instead of memorizing vocabulary lists, which tends to make the students' minds degenerate. Or something. (My father used to teach, many, many, years ago. It was math, but I think he might still get what I'm saying.)

Much earlier in the year, we read a story about the letter E. An ant used to be famous for his speed. He ran a lot to get food. But later he discovered a more convenient food source, so he got lazy and stopped running around all the time. They called him an ex-speedy ant (like ex-husband, if you have been divorced), which led to the word, expedient. There's even a website called expedia.com, I think. Anyhow, expedient doesn't necessarily mean you are lazy, it just means if you have a harder way and an easy way, you'd take the easy way. So I'd like you all to call me expedient instead of lazy. XD

On to actual news. I have received my school yearbook for this year. They are not cheap, so I hope it is worth it this year. I'm glad the cover looks better. Some people thought the fake stain type things looked disgusting but I would say it's a big improvement from last year. The cover then was just blank white with some words. Not exactly something you want to look at, like the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Oh yeah, have you heard this rumor? I heard that if you stare at the Mona Lisa long enough, it seems like she blinks, winks, smiles, or looks at you. I heard this effect was achieved by da Vinci himself painting many layers on top of each other with oil paint, causing it to look like the painting can move when it really can't. That's really cool. I wonder if I could try it sometime. Maybe this summer...

...Since this summer I am signing up for summer classes, as always. My mom believes summer must be occupied with something since she doesn't believe in resting on your laurels. Oh, I should explain what that phrase means. In the past, laurels were an honor since you got them for an achievement, Roman senators used to wear crowns of laurels. Someone who is resting on their laurels is satisfied with what they have achieved. Which is kind of true for me, I suppose. I think I've come a long way personally. Nowadays someone who rests on their laurels is considered lazy. (I'd call myself expedient, but it's not suitable for this occasion.)

This year I have signed up for Japanese class and painting studio. I have decided not to take any real academic classes, since I think the purpose of summer vacation is to be what the name is - a vacation from the stress of homework and tests, and social mores of school. (Sometimes I confuse myself.) I really like artsy things, though I have to say I don't like how art teachers are so picky and critique every little thing. But I guess that's their job, so I should zip my mouth closed. Japanese is just a language that I find pretty to say. I would learn something else but they only offer so many languages there... I wanted some of my friends to come too, but they have different circumstances. Some of them are going somewhere (well, I am going to Australia, but one of my friends is going to Taiwan and Europe) and others have family matters (I believe there is resent about the Japanese invasion of Korea in the past century) and yet others don't even take classes during the summer. I have heard it is boring to stay at home during the summer but I seriously want to try it for once! I haven't done that since I was younger, I always was shuffled off to day camps and academic daycares/summer school like a toy nobody wanted.

Labels: ant, art, books, brain, expedient, forgetful, japanese, language arts, laurels, lazy, learn, leonardo da vinci, lyrics, mona lisa, painting, phrase, summer, unwanted, weighty words, yearbook

Today's homework was only math for me, much to my relief. You won't believe how lazy I can get most of the time. But I prefer to say "expedient". (Expedient is an adjective, which means "taking the easy way out", not "lazy". That word is related to Expedia.com, which my teacher says really is "expedient".) Anyhow, I'm just going to kick back and relax today, except for my parents are home. I need to get a Halloween costume thrown together FAST, and then practice some piano. *moans feebly*

The day went by pretty smooth. I am satisfied with my free choice watercolor painting except for where you can see the paint dried weirdly. (It's too late to fix it, since I already turned it in! It was due today) Oh well. But then, I was told it was almost the end of the trimester. Soon I'll moving on to the next part of Applied Arts...I actually like Art, even though a lot of kids say it's their least favorite. I want Woodshop next, and then Cooking. (I'd like to have cooking either in the early morning, or at the end of the day, so I have breakfast or a snack to eat.) I don't know what elective I'm going to take next year...Maybe I'll take a foreign language?

Anyhow, back to my day... (you may have noticed that I am back to normal, not typing weird, but never mind that) I am sure I failed the math quiz, and I am nervous because I didn't see my Illumination on the wall of my history classroom. It makes me worried, since I start thinking negatively (for instance, "WHAT IF MR. BLAIR LOST IT?!?!"). But I will just have to look for it tomorrow. In science, we are doing Animal of the Week again. This time, the animal is the bat. I learned a few things, like bats aren't really blind, and actually lick their babies, like a cat. o_O

Language arts was rather drab except for when Mrs. Jackson started reading the Weighty Words to us again. It's a book full of interesting words that may even help us on our SATs someday. But the words are taught through all sorts of odd stories. For instance, we learned the word laxity through a story about a city called Slack City. The people were very lazy there. The city sign needed to be repainted, but the guy who was supposed to paint it forgot to paint the S, so it said "Lack City", which sounds like the word laxity (meaning laziness, I believe).

Labels: applied arts, art, expedient, halloween, laxity, lazy, painting, piano, watercolor, weighty words

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