While I was in Australia, in one of the earliest days of the trip, we visited a place called the Twelve Apostles. I checked the dictionary for the meaning of apostle and it has a lot to do with Christianity...You wouldn't expect the Twelve Apostles to actually be huge rocks in the ocean, but they are. There were 12 of them in the beginning but now there are only seven. In fact, one of them collapsed only four years ago because the erosion had become too much. I wonder what they will do once there are only one or two of them left. I mean, it's already nowhere near being twelve of them anymore.

Here is a photo of six of them (this was taken before the one on the very left, closest to you, disintegrated. There are two more on the other side of the viewing walkway). Click here.

Anyhow, if any of you ever decide you want to take a trip Down Under, whether you visit the Twelve Apostles should depend on how far from them you're staying. The Twelve Apostles can be found in the state of Victoria. You will have to drive for quite some time to get there from Melbourne (which is where Andrew's - my dad's friend - house is). Besides the nice photos of it you can take there's not much else to do over there. So it's up to you whether you want to go see it. (But if you're nearby it, you really ought to.)

All of that aside, just the other day I had a very close encounter with one of my allergies, peanuts. One of my friends was over at my house along with her sister and mother. Her mother bought us sandwiches for lunch and I had a choice between two. I picked one, but I picked the wrong one, because that was the one that had peanuts in it! So we ended up dumping out the rest of the sandwich and I ate some of the bread instead. This time I didn't react strongly but I did feel a little funny in places, which is to be expected since my body thinks of peanuts as not food but invaders. I can never understand why people like peanut butter but I suppose they have their reasons. (And apparently there's two different kinds of peanut butter, chunky and smooth. Have you tried it? Which do you prefer?)

My mom is trying to feed me seeds these days because she believes I don't have enough zinc. She read somewhere or other - probably one of her Chinese books or the Chinese newspaper - that the reason why my skin is so easily affected is because I don't have enough zinc or something. It's not my fault I'm allergic to peanuts, which I think have zinc or at least other vitamins in them... Anyhow, since I can eat seeds, my mom wants me to eat pumpkin seeds and pistachios and things like that. I am dubious of my mother's sources of information about health but I guess there's no harm in eating seeds. (Right? Because seeds won't grow in your stomach, right? XD)

It seems like the small gift bags we have at our house have disappeared. Sometimes we use them to give, say, a birthday present or something, by wrapping an item in tissue paper (not always) and putting it in the bag, then giving someone the bag. But it seems like our bags have mostly disappeared by this point. I figure we probably used them up last year when I gave my teachers Christmas/New Year's gifts. That reminds me, it seems like unless we have a Teachers' Appreciation Week or something, the teachers don't really get that many gifts. I kind of feel bad for them since teachers have to deal with people - not an easy task - and don't get paid much besides that. (Though not all teachers are very nice about it, and I do want that summer vacation...Hehe...)

Labels: allergies, appreciation, australia, collapse, gift bags, health, number, nutrition, peanut butter, peanuts, rocks, sandwich, seeds, teacher, twelve apostles, zinc

Y'know. Just a twisted version of "Be careful what you wish for". Anyhow, did anyone hear about the peanut butter? Yes? No? Well, if you didn't, I heard recently that a lot of peanut butter was recalled because it was discovered to have salmonella bacteria on it. The old sal is supposed to be living on chickens. That's why you need to be careful about cooking your chicken carefully.

Anyhoo, back to the point. I saw on TV a kid (who looked like he might eat too much sweets. No offense to the poor guy) and he got infected. He said he was "very sick...I wanted to die." It's not a good sign when young'uns start saying that sort of stuff. (Usually you hear that from depressed teenagers)

Today we are trying out some new cooking. We have this portable cooker. We cook soup on it, then we dip meat into the soup (the oven/cooker thing still on) and eat it once that is cooked. It's pretty cool. We tried it in Japan (and they even gave us vanilla ice cream bars afterward. Too bad my dad keeps eating up our popsicles). I was surprised to find my parents had such a thing stowed here.

I was trying to concentrate on my factoring story (called the cheesy name, The Factor of the Opera) and I made some progress; I added some pictures. Still, it is a hassle doing the project. I want to give up already but I can't since I'm not finished. D: Maybe I should bribe someone to do it for me (then again, I wouldn't be able to ensure the quality). For instance, one of my friends wanted to color my cover, but knowing she is not particularly skilled at art, I refused. She got very offended by that. (Sometimes I doubt whether to call her my friend. But then, it would hurt her feelings to say I didn't like her as much as she liked me.)

My mom's been watching a lot of dramas lately. Ever since we watched Boys Over Flowers: The Movie (aka Hana Yori Dango) on an airplane, she got interested in seeing what the main story was about. So she tried watching the Korean version, Boys Before Flowers (but that series isn't finished yet) so then she's watching Meteor Garden (Taiwanese version?).

By the way, does anyone here like to do puzzles? You know, with a lot of little pieces and you put it together to make a picture? I have one at home that I can't feel motivated to do, so come over here and help me please. D:

Labels: bacteria, cliched, cooking, danger, drama, homework, ice cream, peanut butter, picky, puzzle, salmonella

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