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

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

No, I have not suddenly skipped multiple grades and gotten myself accepted to a college. But one of the French words for middle school is collège, so you see, I am in college if you interpret it that way.

I've heard several mentions of college recently. The first one was in debate club, which I went to as usual on Wednesday. It's kind of a regular activity of mine now. I still don't really say anything, but I listen to other people's opinions. This week it didn't go that well. People didn't seem particularly interested in any topic, so the topic kept changing. At first it as whether health care should be free for everyone, and then folks starting talking about alcohol and how it's more socially acceptable than smoking even though alcohol is still bad for your health. Someone brought up the point that smoking affects the people around you, but if you're drunk it's not going to damage someone else's liver (at least, I hope not). I think it's because people think alcohol is good for your health, at least, people say red wine has benefits. But I still don't approve of wine. When I ask my dad what it's like, he says it's like grape juice except with alcohol, but then, couldn't you just drink grape juice? (And I hear that liquor has a bitter taste. I don't understand why you would want it.)

Then my old teacher, whose classroom the debate club is held in, noticed a girl. She is a regular to the debate club, and that day, she happened to be wearing a college sweatshirt. (I believe it was a UC Berkeley shirt, but I can't be sure) The teacher asked her, "What are you doing wearing a Berkeley sweatshirt? Look at her, the girl who has been saying she's going to go to Harvard." Apparently it was a sibling's sweatshirt. "So you're supporting a sibling? Clearly an inferior sibling..." (Berkeley isn't a bad college, but I suppose Harvard is still considered harder to get into) "I've gotta get a picture of this." The teacher whipped out his cell phone and was trying to take a picture of the girl wearing a Berkeley sweatshirt, but she kept hiding it. My teacher called for back-up, which happened to be one of my friends. She ran over and kind of half-tackled the girl, and the teacher managed to snap a picture. "Not very good, but I think you can tell it was her," he remarked.

Later that week, my history teacher (let's refer to him as JB, it's tiresome having to say "my teacher" every time) told us about his college times. He said that there were three floors on his dorm building. The first floor was filled with guys and the second and third floor were filled with girls (which was pretty nice for a freshman, so he said). JB says that when you go to college, you fill out a form with who you want to be with as a roommate. Either you can name a specific name (if you have someone in mind already) or you can describe what kind of person you're looking for or what kind of person you DON'T want. JB was pretty much fine with anything but he did say he wanted a non-smoker. But most of the people in his dorm building are smokers, so he ended up with a guy called Doros from the island of Cyprus who is 24 years old because he had to serve in the Greek military.

There are a variety of people in JB's dorm, but he says they all kind of got along, despite their differences. He had a friend by the name Sid (or is it Syd? I have no idea, but I'm guessing). One day Sid asked him for a favor. He wouldn't tell JB what it was, but he told JB to take a nap, and then be awake at a certain time. So JB did as he was told and took a nap. Then Sid barged in and said, "Are you ready? ...Could you put on some nice clothes, like slacks and dress shoes?" JB replied, "No, I don't have anything like that." Sid sighed. "Fine, that'll do." Sid had gathered a total of 12 people for this favor. Sid knew someone who was a valet, and his friend had called him, saying that they needed 12 more valets for a party at the W hotel in Los Angeles because some valets had just canceled. So the college students went to Los Angeles to be valets for the night.

Out of a total of 40 or so valets, only 6 of them, including JB, knew how to drive stick shift. JB had been arguing with the others earlier over whether the tips should be split evenly or if everyone should keep their own tips. Now JB's decision to keep his own tips was coming in handy. He had more opportunities to make money since 34 people could drive with automatic only. The first car that came up was taken by him. It was a Jaguar (I forget what kind exactly), which had been JB's dream car. He said that he didn't have pictures of girls in his room - he had pictures of cars like that Jaguar. The old gentleman who owned the car said to JB, "If you crash this car, I'll kill you." JB responded, "Oh, don't worry, if I crash this car, I'll kill myself." Unfortunately, the story ended there because the bell rang.

Labels: alcohol, berkeley, car, college, cyprus, debate club, driving, french, harvard, jaguar, middle school, party, siblings, smoking, stick shift, sweatshirt, teacher, tips, valet, w hotel

Just the other day, my mother's company was having a party. I'm not sure of the purpose exactly, but it was probably just for the entertainment of the employees, so that they wouldn't lose satisfaction and go to another company. (I mean, I actually heard another company, Juniper, was going to start hiring again or something.) The party was held at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I went to the Tech Museum multiple times when I was in elementary school - in fact, I used to have museum membership. But I stopped going there...I think it was because they didn't really have anything new back then. But when I visited, a few things were different, although most are still the same as always.

I was a bit surprised by the choice of location for the company party. I've heard of hotels being reserved for parties, but never museums. My mom said it was a common thing, though. Museums are apparently better than hotels because there is more to do at a museum. Not only can you eat (there was bread, cheese, meat, pizza, chicken salad, shrimp...Oh, and there was dessert. Too bad some of it tasted like coffee, and I'm not fond of that taste in cake) but you can also explore the museum. My mom's company came up with a "scavenger hunt" for the employees to do. It's actually not that easy but some people were really doing the scavenger hunt. (If you fill out the whole sheet then you can get a raffle ticket) I tried to do it too but it would take a lot of running around the museum. While I was in the IMAX movie theater I noticed one guy who had a paper totally filled out. But then he folded it. I guess he figured out I was peering over his shoulder snooping at his answers. XD

Speaking of which, part of the party was the opportunity to see an IMAX movie. It's called Under the Sea, and as the name suggests, it was about the ocean and the creatures living in it. The animals were pretty violent. For one thing, there were the cuttlefish. They hunt by slowly sticking out a tentacle and then suddenly lashing it towards their target. Here's a picture.

The movie was a bit dizzying, but it was nice watching it. I have been swimming in reefs but I could only see some kinds of animals because there's no way I see the deep-sea animals unless I dive. In particular, one part of the movie was really troubling. A turtle started eating a jellyfish! It was sad watching that jellyfish having parts of itself being bitten off by the turtle. I think I've changed my opinion of turtles.

The sea snakes in the movie were cool, though. Sea snakes are pretty rare nowadays because their skin has been turned into wallets and handbags and such accessories. The sea snakes swim instead of slithering and I like the sea snakes even if they are very venomous. I also liked the eels. There's a kind of eel that submerges part of itself in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it sticks up and the eels wait for small organisms to float along, carried by the ocean current, so they can eat them. It looked like a forest or a group of dancers.

Oh yes, and I did briefly mention a raffle earlier but didn't go into depth. There were two raffles at the party. One was after the vice president made an opening statement. (At first I was impressed that the vice president was there but my mom said there are many, many vice presidents so it's not that...significant after all) That raffle was for anyone who had been invited and responded saying that they were coming to the party. (Basically, all the company's workers that attended the party were eligible for that raffle. My dad and I are not really "eligible" to win anything since we are guests brought by my mom) My mom says I should have come to see the vice president's speech and the raffle firsthand; then she would have won something. Her friend once won something from a raffle because her daughter attended a company party with her. But ever since her daughter didn't go to another of the company's parties and so my mom's friend hasn't won anything.

While the vice president was talking and picking raffle winners, I was busy playing the Second Life demo they have at the Tech Museum. Second Life is actually an online social game where you have a humanoid avatar and you interact, I believe. (I'm not exactly sure because the demo is kind of...limited, and the demo has been here since 2004, so it's not exactly recent. I haven't ever played the actual Second Life, which you can learn more about on secondlife.com) When I was young I always loved to play the Second Life demo. You can fly around and walk around and ride a jet ski and throw watermelons and make catapults work...And not that much else. (Personally, I just like to try and sit on weird places like the chimney of a house or a volcano or a waterfall or the top of a mountain) It brings back a lot of memories, playing that game again.

Labels: animals, aquatic, company, computer, cuttlefish, eel, games, imax, jellyfish, movie, museum, party, raffle, scavenger hunt, sea snake, second life, tech museum of innovation, turtle, under the sea

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