I seriously have no idea what to name this post, so of course I had to take a stab at a lame pun. :p

I never had much interest in VY1 or VY2 (Yamaha's Vocaloids) up until recently. I'd only ever heard maybe a couple of VY1 songs and they hadn't really impressed me...That's probably why I didn't like Vocaloid music when I first listened to it two years ago. First impressions really make a difference.

Recently, though, I was bored and looking for more songs to listen to, so I was lurking in VocaloidOtaku's forums (yes, I do have an account, but nowadays I'm too lazy to log in o_o;; ) and decided to look at VY1 and VY2's forums. I listened to a couple of songs and was pleasantly surprised. Now I think that the Yamaha Vocaloids are high quality, and of course I still like Internet Co's Vocaloids (such as GUMI, Gakupo, and Lily). I always wonder how come Miku is used for the vast majority of songs out there when there are so many other Vocaloids. Maybe the producers bought their Vocaloids earlier on when there weren't as many Japanese Vocaloids available. Or maybe it's just because Miku happens to be the most famous. (She even appears in a car commercial. Though I can't say I liked the Toyota Corolla commercial with Miku in it much.)

I've found that I like VY2's voice a lot, better than Kaito's, though I'm not sure yet whether I prefer him over Gakupo (and I know thefalse-tto will skin me alive if I say so). True, I don't think that his "symbol", the sword, is particularly creative since it reminds me a lot of Gakupo (since Gakupo is designed to look like a samurai), but I guess it's supposed to go along with VY1's symbol, which is a fan.



Here's VY2's cover of the song Iroha Uta.


A fairly recent song by VY2. (You can probably tell I greatly prefer his voice when it's low; I generally dislike high-pitched Vocaloid voices)


And here's a duet of the song Cendrillon, by VY1 and VY2.


Besides just their Vocaloids, though, I must say I also like their pianos. My piano's a Yamaha one and I have always liked its sound. (:

Labels: commercial, crypton, forum, hatsune, internet co, japan, miku, miku hatsune, piano, toyota corolla, vocaloid, vocaloidotaku, vocaloids, voice, vy1, vy2, yamaha

I would have named this "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku", except it isn't a Vocaloid disappearing. It's an actual person - to be more precise, my own piano teacher.

Last night, my mother received a call from the mother of a girl who has the same piano teacher as I do. She was wondering if we knew anything about where my piano teacher was and whether she was okay (at her age, it was not completely unreasonable to suspect that perhaps she'd had a stroke, or a heart attack, or some other terrible affliction). The woman's daughter was supposed to have a piano lesson, but she'd been unable to find the piano teacher.

My mother came over to me, rather unsettled, asking if my piano teacher had mentioned anything about there being no piano classes next week or anything along those lines. I was not particularly concerned. I'd wracked my brains and recalled that she'd said something about going to Shanghai, though I couldn't remember whether she was telling me or the student who had his piano lesson right before mine. I'd assumed it wasn't anything important. My teacher, in the past, had always made it clear when she would be gone. She would write that there was no class on such-and-such dates on the little notepad I keep for recording info from the piano classes, and she would say, directly to me, that she would be taking a trip. But not so this time.

I think that she probably thought that she had told the students when she really hadn't. According to my mother, who spoke with someone who is connected to the piano teacher, my teacher has been planning the trip to Shanghai for quite some time now. It wasn't just some spur-of-the-moment decision, a sudden desire to chase an until-now-forgotten childhood dream. But why hadn't she told her students that she wouldn't be here?

It was strange. Very strange. I don't think that my piano teacher is in any danger for her life, at least for the time being. But it seems that her age is starting to show. She is already more than middle-aged, if not quite an old lady. I wonder if maybe she can't remember what she's done and hasn't done anymore. That she's getting her thoughts and what has really happened mixed up. She's becoming like me.

I hope that this is just one incident, that this won't be happening again. I don't want to see someone losing his or herself. It's just too terrible to be alive in body, but to lose your mind, little by little.

Labels: classes, deteriorating, forgetful, losing, mind, missing, past, piano, shanghai, teacher, the disappearance of hatsune miku, trip

Since the beginning of this school year, I've taken to studying while playing piano so that I can save time. One of my teachers has said time and time again that students shouldn't multitask, but I feel like playing piano and reading information at the same time helps me to think better. Sometimes I come up with good ideas while I'm practicing piano, so I like to keep my binders propped up on the stand that you're supposed to put the piano sheet music on. Problem is, when I put pencils on there too, they have a tendency to roll off or get knocked off.

The pencils fall into this crevice between the cover for the piano keys and the main structure of the piano. I can never get them out after they've fallen in, so I had no idea for a long time what had become of my pencils. (I assumed that at least they hadn't broken the piano, since it still seems to work fine.) It was only recently, when I happened to drop another pencil in there, that I made a bigger effort to try and get into it. I saw where the pencils had fallen, but I can't reach it because my hand is not small enough anymore (ironic, since my hand is quite small, it hasn't grown for several years, and I had thought I would be able to fit it). And we don't have anything that is both thin, flexible, and hard that we can grab the pencils with and pull them out. I wonder if they'll stay in the piano forever. Perhaps someday someone else will come to own this piano, and they'll open it up and see those pencils inside. Something that was once of not much importance could become artifacts for future generations to find.

But there are more treasures than just objects to be found in the piano. Learning to play piano is frustrating in the beginning, and it can be painful in the end too (if your hands were somehow made unable to play piano in the future). I really think, though, that there's a lot to be said for playing a musical instrument. You will have to practice a lot. You can't give up as soon as you think "I can't do this, I'm just not good at it." I think that it's good to have something to strive for, to work towards perfection. Perfection may not exist, but you can keep improving yourself and get as close to it as possible. And your goal when you're playing an instrument may not be the same as mine or someone else's. What I hope to do is play beautifully, and to show my emotions through the music. I don't know if I've reached that stage or if I ever will. But I'll keep trying. I don't want to let go of the piano. Not the way I did with the flute and cello. I can't play either of them anymore.

I don't think you ought to keep playing an instrument if you really don't enjoy it, though. There is no way to be certain that you won't eventually come to like it, but if you want to quit, go ahead. Even if you come to regret it later, it ought to be your own choice. I remember meeting a girl who said she didn't really like to play piano, but her mom made her do it. Why? Because the mother think her daughter will be embarrassed later when she's the only one amongst her friends who can't play the piano. It's fine to be proud of your musical skills as long as that isn't the reason you're playing... I really don't think you ought to play an instrument for the sake of pride. Play because you enjoy, play because other people enjoy it, play to relieve stress, play because you want to get better at it...But please, don't play just to save yourself embarrassment.

Labels: artifacts, bad habit, choice, enjoy, fall, future, giving up, ideas, learning, lost, motives, multitasking, music, pencil, piano, pride, struggle, studying, treasure

This past Sunday, I changed the time of my piano class, because my mother wanted me to come with her to attend a seminar being held locally. The seminar was about getting into one of those great Ivy League colleges, which is what most of the seminars I have heard of seem to be about. I was not impressed by similar seminars I had attended in the past (though my experience in this is certainly not vast; I have only been to a few "How to get into college!" seminars) and so I was very reluctant to go...I thought it would be a hassle to have to change the time of my piano lesson. I don't like to have my piano class later in the day because I think that my teacher in general feels more benevolent in the morning. (But my dad argued that she should be talkative in the evening because she would get lonely in the nighttime. Hmm, personally, I think by the end of the day she would be tired of teaching and would not be in the mood for side conversation.)

The lesson was changed to the evening, 7:45 pm. At the end of the class, I exited my teacher's apartment and noticed that there were some bugs trying to get close to the light next to her door. It seems that insects, particularly moths, are always eager to get as close as possible to any light source, even if they end up burning up in the process.

I feel that everyone is, in the end, attracted to light. Some of us may be nocturnal, but that dose not mean that we live without light, for even at nighttime, there is a little light, whether it be from the moon and stars or from something we have created here on this Earth. And as damaging as the light may be, particularly the sunlight, which can destroy our eyes and skin, we still need it. It's kind of a strange relationship.

I remember during my Yosemite trip in March that the nighttime had frightened me. The flashlights of the students kept blinding me and sometimes it was quite difficult to identify figures in the dark. I felt keenly aware of the dangers of tumbling into a ditch or tripping on a tree branch and spraining my ankle, for in the daylight it was quite easy to see this things, but in the darkness everything had an ominous aura to it that had not been present during the daylight hours. One time I woke up during the night because I drank too much water earlier and unfortunately needed to use the bathroom, and looking outside, I saw that there was not a soul to be seen, the lights appearing rather eerie as they shined upon the ground. It was peaceful, but in a way it was also scary, reminding me of a ghost town.

I wonder what it would be like to be nocturnal. Those beings who are surrounded by so much darkness see a very different world. Our world of daylight is bright, filled with color and vibrancy, in some ways comforting and in other ways overwhelming. But without the sun lighting your surroundings, colors fade, and your world seems to be in greyscale. You notice shapes and movement more than you do the fine details. It is harder to rely on your eyes when their capabilities seem to have been simplified. Every sound seems that much louder to your ears, even if you are not listening intently on purpose. You feel your way around to try and diminish the dangers.

Being unable to see the great spectrum of colors seen in light, I wonder if perhaps it is a harsh existence. Color makes things alive, beautiful...And you develop your preferences for colors, perhaps preferring the bold, passionate red, or the more soothing blues and greens, or perhaps you like the neon versions of colors. Or perhaps you like black, that one color said to complement every other. At the same time, without the light and color, you focus on other things, what you hear and touch and feel within yourself. With all these visual distractions during the daytime, I wonder if perhaps it is us being of the daytime that are missing out.

Labels: change, class, college, colors, danger, darkness, ghost town, light, night, piano, preference, seminar, senses, sight, sound, time, touch, trip, variety, yosemite

The title of this post may confuse you. What I'm trying to do here is play on the phrase, "Like father, like son" or "Like mother, like daughter".

On Saturday, I had two piano recitals to attend. My piano teacher has a lot of students, so she has two recitals. Most students only perform in one recital, except for a few exceptions. In the afternoon, I was number 18 in the lineup and played the song Nocturne in F Minor, Op 55 No 1. I left for home after my performance so I could relax a bit and eat dinner before returning for the second recital. When I arrived back at the church (we always have our recitals at a certain church, I suppose you can rent it for performances, seeing as it has a piano), I saw some people coming out of the church and standing in the parking lot.

I saw two girls, and I think they were probably sisters. They were both wearing a jacket sort of thing and dresses. Also, both of them seemed to like swinging their legs around. One girl swung one of her legs back and forth, while the other girl did some movements that looked like kicks. o_o;; I suppose sisters behave alike. I think my mom and aunt are similar in ways too.

Sometimes I wonder what my sibling(s) would be like if I had any. Would my sibling, like me, favor my father's genes, or my mother's? Would my sibling be a mix of my parents? Or would he/she look like neither? What kind of interests and personality would he/she have? Would we get along? Would we fight all the time? Would we barely talk to each other?

As an only child, I think of how things could have different if I hadn't been an only child. People who do have siblings oftentimes think that it must be nice to be an only child. You don't have to share your toys, or if you're a younger child, you won't have to deal with getting hand-me-downs (well, unless they're from other relatives or something). And your parents' attention is focused on you, you, you. You are, however, your parents' only posterity, and their expectations rest on you solely (though I hear sometimes oldest siblings still feel the burden of being expected to do great things, at least in the case of someone I know). I'm just fortunate that my parents are not as driven as some parents. One of my classmates said her father threatened to disown her if she didn't get an A in math.

But sometimes, even if you're an only child, you might still feel like you're being compared to someone. And in that case it's even harder than being compared to a sibling. If you're compared to your siblings, at least you know what you're up against, but if you're being compared to an imaginary, perfect child, or to all other successful people in general, it's a lot harder.

I used to feel like I was being forced to be someone, to be "smart" and earn a lot of money, but after a while I began to realize the pressure mostly didn't come from my parents. Some of the pressure came from seeing other students and their ambitions, but in fact, I believe I have created some of the stress upon myself, too. I often seem to have an angel and demon on my shoulders - the angel says that I must stop getting distracted, and focus very seriously on my work - while the demon says, "Oh, just a few more minutes won't hurt. You have to have some fun." And then I end up in anguish for having cheated myself by not listening to the angel and not achieving my potential. When I am upset over a test score, it's not exactly the grade that really bothers me, but the feeling of having failed, and not done as much as I could have and should have.

Well, back to the topic of being an only child...This may vary from person to person, depending on personality and a person's experiences, but I think only children are probably more likely to get lonely. I personally feel like I might be closer to or more reliant on my parents, as they are the only real family I have (I do have grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, but I don't see them much), and so I feel the absence of their presence more deeply. (Sometimes I even thought I wanted to die at the same time as my parents or before them so that I wouldn't need to feel the pain from their deaths.) I wonder if this is just one of life's many hurdles. After all, no one ever said life was easy (or did someone?).

Labels: absence, ambition, comparison, failure, family, life, like father like son, only child, perfection, piano, pressure, problem, recital, relatives, siblings, similar, sister, stress, theory

This is a phrase that I learned from orchestra, which I used to take back in 6th grade. I think it was on a wall hanging that my teacher had.

Music didn't used to be a big part of my life. Sure, I'd always heard classical music and the sort of music my dad listened to (John Denver, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, and so on). And I started taking piano around the age 5 or 6. But at first it wasn't a big deal for me. It grew in importance only after time passed.

We would take music just maybe once or twice a week in elementary school. Mostly we sang, but occasionally we got to play the drums or xylophones, and I always loved that. I thought it was fun - it was something I didn't get to do often, unlike piano, which I had to practice everyday, and I was frustrated by playing piano. I had already accomplished my original reason for starting, which was playing the song Fur Elise (it's really not that hard a song, but it's pretty famous). I was not too good at controlling my temper (and I'm still having trouble in that regard...) so sometimes I would get violent and try to punch the piano or scratch it. Usually resulted in me getting hurt. One time I got mad at Bach (sorry, Bach, but I can't say I'm the biggest fan of your music) and tore part of my book. Not a good idea. Now I can't really put it back together.

I wasn't really a prominent singer either. I suppose I wasn't the worst (no matter what you think, there are always people better than you and always people worse than you, simply because we're all different, and anyways, how good your life is also depends on how you perceive it) but I wasn't the best, either. I mean, I couldn't hit certain pitches and I just really hate it when I'm trying to sing something and it sounds off tune and messed up. I suppose maybe if I practiced very seriously I could improve it, but I'm a lazy person, and anyways I wasn't really considering a career as a singer.

But in seventh grade, I started to listen to music. If you've watched anime, you've probably noticed that there are opening and ending songs, and there's also insert music you might hear during episodes. After a while I started a playlist, and that's when my exploration of music really accelerated. I didn't even listen to English songs much before, but then I started listening to music in Japanese, and even a little in English and Korean. (No French yet, I'm afraid, but maybe someday I'll try it out)

I didn't used to enjoy playing the piano so much, but now I do. I feel like it's a way to unwind at the end of the day by hearing something nice that you yourself worked hard to create (by practicing all these years). And it's a good way to relieve stress, at least for me. I think music is how people who can't necessarily put their thoughts into words express themselves.

I feel guilty because I used to be so mean to my piano. I was often frustrated by not being able to get a certain part right or not being able to play loudly enough (my hands were small - and they still are - and I didn't have much muscle strength). It seems funny now, because I hear the younger students of my piano teacher have trouble making a loud sound on one of her pianos, but I thought it was fairly easy. I suppose they'll be able to handle it when they're older.

My piano has always been there for me, ever since I first obtained it so many years ago. It's always been sitting in the same spot, patiently waiting for me to play it. If I were to tell my problems to it, there is no risk of the piano telling anyone else or being repulsed by what I say. (Though it might look a bit funny, if I were talking to an inanimate object. There are psychologists near my house, after all.) That does make me concerned, though; if I go to college and I can't live at home since it's far away, what can I do about the piano? Should I have it moved? (But if I lived in an apartment or dorm, it'd probably take up too much space.) Or do I have to give up playing the piano? The latter choice seems painful. (I don't want to have to buy a stand-up piano just for when I'm away from home, however, so I don't see what I can do about it.)

Not long ago, I read a bout called A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. It's not a difficult book to understand, but I thought it was pretty nice. What piqued my interest was that the main character plays the organ. I've never played the organ and have always thought of it as an antiquated instrument seeing as I've only really seen it in old churches and other historical, touristy buildings. Apparently, the organ needs to be turned on and various rhythm styles (this leads me to think it is actually kind of like a keyboard...). I've never met anyone who has played the organ, so I'm really curious about it.

Labels: a crooked kind of perfect, anger management, anime, bach, best friend, book, challenge, college, expression, fur elise, instrument, moving, music, organ, piano, school, self, singing, strength, stress

Well, I wasn't really under house arrest. But I thought it kind of made sense considering the kind of dream I had last night.

In the dream, I was not in my home. It was in someone else's home, though my dad's friend and his son were also there. However, my father seemed to be missing. Perhaps we had been staying at the house. I was told that I had to go stay in the prison. There were two signs in the house, both of which had an apple symbol on them for some reason, and the signs led to two different jail cells, I guess. I wailed, "Do I really have to go?" My mom said that yes, I had to, it was for the best. The people at the house recommended one of the jail cells. I wasn't sure how to get into it since it seemed like just a vent. Then I pulled up and realized underneath the floor was a big room! It was filled with guitars and CDs. There was a bed (and maybe a computer, but I can't remember). I hopped down, deciding being imprisoned wouldn't be so bad after all. But then I wondered how I would get up to go to the bathroom at night...

I had another dream before that, where I was going to go to my mom's friend's house. I thought we were in Yosemite. My dad and I were walking in a place with those barbed wire fences and plants. There was a big gap in the fence where you could see a splendid view. A tree stood on top of a very tall and thin hill, and there was a lot of space around it. And surrounding the big chasm was rocky mountainous walls. I was going to take a photo, but my dad pulled me away before we had the chance. Then we went to my mom's friend's house. I don't know why, but my mom's friend introduced herself to me. I just kind of shrugged and went to explore the house. In one room, there were some kids, like a girl maybe around my age and a younger boy and someone else, and they were playing a game. (I'm guessing a card game but my memory is failing.) I joined in, but they were cheating and playing by ridiculous rules. I got angry and through down my cards and stalked off. The kids just laughed. I wanted to go back to the place with the great view. (Apparently in my dream Yosemite National Park is not somewhere you have to drive to get to but it is actually partially in the town that my mom's friend lived in) I walked down the street. It was nighttime now and some signs were starting to get lit up. I think I saw a Circus Circus sign. I think I must've been in a gambling town or something. (But it was nothing like Reno or Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.) I can't remember much else.

The earliest dream of the three that I had recently was a dream about my JubJub. I have this plushie of a kind of pet that looks like a head with little feet on it. I thought it was cute when I got it (from McDonalds with my Happy Meal in...2nd grade?). It looks like this.

My mother said to me, "We are selling JubJub." I was very upset and started to cry. My mother wouldn't budge. Apparently she really needed the money. I woke up feeling just awful, but then I figured out it was a dream and was greatly relieved.

Today I participated in a piano recital. It was at a local church, which is rented by various music teachers for their recitals. As a kind of promotion, or maybe a bonus, there was a recital with all the teachers renting the place in the first half of the year showing off their best students. I didn't want to go, but I figured it might make my piano teacher upset if I refused, so I went. I think I messed up very obviously one time. And I was scared to death before; my legs were shaking, my hands were cold, and my heartbeat was amazingly high. (Sadly, even exercise can't make my heartbeat that high. Only public performing can. Oddly enough, one time when I had my heartbeat taken at the doctor's office, it was really slow. I think it was about 44 or 46 beats per minute. That's scary. Only athletes are supposed to have such slow heartrates. In fact, children 6-15 should have a heartbeat of 70-100. My dad insulted me by saying I wasn't active enough) Still, I feel like I was able to put my emotions into my music, and that's good enough for me.

I stayed a while to listen to other students. I also listened to the students that came before me. (My teacher's students perform towards the middle of the recital) There were quite a few violinists there. I suppose this is the "cream of the crop" as they all played with vibrato. However, the high notes sounded kind of nasty. (But I guess it might always be like that for violin. That's one of the reasons I picked cello. And I think my old orchestra teacher once said that people who use that high-pitched E string on their violins should be shot.) But they were talented students, I can say that much. There was one cello player. My mom says he didn't have a good attitude since he wore casual clothing, and when he was walking up the aisle he didn't lift the cello high enough so the part on the bottom of the cello hit the ground. But the song he played was good. It felt very sad and I was getting really emotional at first. The song sounded pretty cool, like it should be in a touching movie or something.

I actually really liked the part where a young boy and a woman (was it a relative of his? Was it his teacher? I forget) played together on the piano. It was a simple song, I think Liszt was the composer...Unfortunately, I don't remember the song name, and it wasn't on the program paper (each performer tells the audience their name and what they're performing). But they played in unison and that simple song sounded beautiful. I was inspired to play it. (But I don't have anyone at my house who could play a duet with me...Unless I were to teach my parents to play the piano...)

Labels: casino, church, dream, duet, family, friends, games, heart rate, house, instrument, jubjub, neopets, photography, piano, plushie, prison, recital, room, song, yosemite

I have a different PE teacher now because of the trimester change. I had him last year, in the third trimester, so I am familiar with him. I thought I would be fine again, but last year, when I first started off, I was really tired from his class, and the same thing is happening this year. I'm started to get used to it, but it'll probably take a while before I'm completely accustomed to the hard work again (this teacher isn't mean or anything, it's just that we do more extreme stuff in his class than the teacher I had the trimester before).

When we run a regular, four-lap mile around the track, it's called a Smile Mile in his class. Since we do regular exercises before running the mile, I'm always tired out when it's time to run the mile. So my times have become slow again - I got 8:28, when my recent times last trimester were nearly 30 seconds faster. So I am not too pleased with that, because even when I try to run fast it still isn't enough, what with shoulder and gut cramps...

But then there are times when I am angry at myself for having a weak-minded attitude. I should definitely try my best. You can never say you're already good enough, you have to keep trying. I have to continue to do my best until I run this whole mile smiling. It's not like I dislike running. This year I have discovered that I like to run, as long as there is not a huge amount of pressure on me.

After all, I was able to help someone else just a little bit last trimester. If you want to improve your time or keep a steady pace, then look for someone who runs faster than you, but not too much faster. You could just follow them the whole time, and it might make your time better. One of the students in my class last trimester ran with me to improve her time (with my permission :p ). My strategy for running is to start out with a slow pace, then speed up gradually or maintain the pace, and in the last lap, I try to spend all my energy and sprint to the finish. It's just what works for me. Some folks prefer to sprint on the first lap instead.

My classmate said her time got a bit better this trimester, and it's kind of nice to feel like you've done something. "A good deed is a reward in itself" or whatever the saying was...Not that I built a house for low income people or something. (My dad did, but then he got sick, probably because he was sweating and he wasn't dressed for the cold, or something, and then my whole family got sick.)

Speaking of the cold weather, the squirrels are making their preparations. I think squirrels are hibernating animals, so they have been eating like crazy to prepare for sleeping until springtime. They robbed my backyard of fruits, like the figs and the persimmons. And now the squirrels that live near me are chubby as can be.

I wonder if that added weight means they can't run as fast. Some time ago, I saw a squirrel on the road. It was pretty gruesome, as the squirrel was actually sort of flattened, it smelled a bit funny, and there was some blood. The squirrel must've been hit by a car. Ouch, what a painful way to die.

It seems squirrels elsewhere don't have as much to eat. The squirrels at my piano teacher's apartment were more normal-looking. Probably they have to work hard for their food, instead of having fruit practically at their doorstep, waiting to be picked.

Oh yes, and I just heard recently that my cousins will both be taking piano class. Originally my younger cousin wanted to learn piano, but then her brother decided he wanted to learn too. So now they have a piano and will be taking lessons. They're already having lessons that are an hour long...My mom said to my aunt that it's not good to do that, as young folks have a short attention span. I mean, when I started out piano, I only had half-hour lessons with the teacher, and my lessons are still only forty-five minutes long.

Labels: car accident, cousins, death, exercise, fruit, hibernation, house, improvement, low income, overweight, PE class, piano, running, smile mile, squirrels

"Homemade" movies have been coming together around me. My piano teacher and my parents want me to record my piano playing. My teacher says that I can share it with my children when I'm older (since when you get older, you can't play some songs anymore. Lack of strength? Lack of skill? I dunno). My parents just want to send my music to my relatives in China so they can ooh and ah over it. So my family has been using our new (sort of) camera to record the songs that I'm playing currently. I keep laughing or getting nervous, though, and so I don't think any of the recordings were really as good as I can play if I'm feeling good. Oh well.

And then my piano teacher actually arranged for her top students to have their songs all recorded and put together in a DVD. We would dress up - like dresses, or perhaps a suit if you're a guy - and then we'd go to her apartment, and one of her students recorded us, and then he made it into a DVD. I just got the DVD. The cover picture is nice-looking. But all the piano players and the teacher have their picture in black and white, so it made me feel like I'd already died and it was a memorial DVD. D:

One time I was reading Fruits Basket, and in one of the novels, I was looking at the fan art section in the back. (I don't know if the original Japanese manga has a fan art section, but I know the English manga does.) Actually, I think there was someone from the town where I live. It was amazing. I guess it's a small world after all.

It was the Moon Festival recently. I had forgotten until my mom told me. (But really, it's late this year. I thought it was normally in September) Some of my parents' friends came over to our house because of it. Apparently, one of the families (there were two, though one person was missing because he was sick) had another friend who owned a cat and a dog. They went over to the friend's house, and then their son (who was also at my house, but didn't do much besides play his DS) was bitten by the dog. The dog wasn't even vaccinated since their owners thought it "wasn't necessary since the dog never left the house". And the cat was crazy too, trying to attack people. I guess that's why my parents' friends are against dogs going unleashed in our town. If they already can cause trouble when they are leashed, then having them unleashed would make it worse. But I think it would be cool if there were places dogs could run free, and maybe "touch upon their wolf heritage" or whatever. I mean, I heard there are places where there are beaches for dogs to run free. It would be cool if someday I could have a dog and go there.

I was taking some photos at home and one of them came out kind of weird. I spilled some soup at dinnertime once so I decided to take pictures while I had the chance. When I had the flash on, the photo turned out kind of interesting. (Click to enlarge photo. It's really big!)


This blog has already been running for a whole year. In fact, the anniversary was only a few days ago, on September 30th. Let's toast to the future of the blog! (Unless you want it to go down. If so, I don't even know what you're doing here. o_O;; )

Labels: anniversary, black and white, blog, cat, Dogs, dvd, fanart, fruits basket, homemade, manga, moon festival, movie, music, photography, piano, record, songs, vaccination

Well, not really. I mean, I'm not really doing much, just lazing around doing whatever I feel like doing. But the point is that in a busy office, the phone rings a lot. And it sure does around here...I've been called by a dentist's office, my dad, and my piano teacher this afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if a telemarketer or the library or even my friend who is visiting here calls next...

Recently, Rainbow Ranger (you may have seen her on the Cbox...) came over to my house, and showed me a site called Tetris Friends. It's been so long since I played Tetris that I was enthralled by it. I even tried to introduce my mom to it, because she likes Tetris. The problem is, 1) She doesn't have an account and doesn't want to make one, so her scores won't be saved, and 2) She claims that she is too busy to spend her precious time playing Tetris. I was a little disappointed since she used to want to by the Tetris video game from the Nintendo DS (buying it on your cell phone means you have to pay every month) except that game hasn't been for sale for a long time. In fact, the Tetris video game for the DS is no longer even being made, so it costs more now to get a copy than it did when it was new. Lame.

Oftentimes various things can irk me, and even if I was in a pretty good mood before it can quickly turn my mood sour. For instance, yesterday I was playing Wii Fit, doing an activity called Free Run, which means you can run for 10, 20, or 30 minutes (put the Wii remote in your pocket or hold it so it can sense you "moving) and if you want you can change the channel and watch TV. Normally I watch anime while jogging since it makes the time go by faster and I actually run better with entertainment. However, one time I ran inside to get something and forgot to check Video 3 (I keep my Wii on Video 3, my Gamecube on Video 4, and my DVD player on Video 5...) so I didn't realize it had lost connection. So I ran for 18 minutes without realizing and then I thought I was done with the activity. But upon checking Wii Fit I realized I'd just wasted all that time. I was really mad, but luckily I am working on calming myself down.

From time to time I think about making another website which will work in partnership with my blog, but I'm not really sure. I have no idea what I would put on a personal website. Should I put up graphics? Or stories and art by me? Or should I be writing about news on a site (ex Neopets, just because there's always news there...)? But that all doesn't seem right. Because a lot of sites probably have their own news/announcements section and there are other websites like Deviantart, Photobucket, Image Shack, Tiny Pic, and so on to upload images...And then I end up not doing anything since I'm so indecisive.

At my piano class, my piano teacher now has two pianos in her home, a baby grand and a stand-up piano. The stand-up piano is her own piano, and it's pretty nice...I think it's some European brand and it's pretty shiny, since she only got it a year or two ago. And the baby grand is wooden and old-looking, but it's not hers. One of her students was moving or something and they couldn't move their piano or something like that (not sure, maybe I have the story completely wrong) so now she's moved away some of her furniture to put the piano in. It actually makes really nice sound. I really like opening the top of grand/baby grand pianos, so the sound can really move about. By the way, do baby grand pianos come in different sizes? (Not meaning stand-up, grand, and baby grand, I mean just lengths and things like that) I thought I saw a baby grand piano on an interior design show but I thought it looked smaller than ours. (Maybe it's just my imagination)

Labels: anime, baby grand, busy, connection, decision, free run, games, ideas, multitasking, music, office, phone, piano, size, sound effect, stand-up, tetris, website, wii fit

It's certainly something I am not capable of. Have you ever heard of Michael Jackson's "Moonwalk"? It's really cool. He seems to be sliding backwards while making walking motions with his feet. My dad says that you can probably do it with lots and lots of practice, but I've been attempting it and it looks awkward. I end up getting my socks dirty. XD I guess I am not cut out to be a moonwalker.

Currently I am working on a new avatar for Crunchyroll. I think it will turn out very shiny, so look forward to seeing it (or you can dread it, it's your choice). I'll probably upload it to my Photobucket and Deviantart and also Crunchyroll so once I'm done it'll be there. I guess I could post it on my blog but then it would make you have to do even more scrolling to read the posts. So I figure it's best that way. (There are links to the places at the right side of my blog for your convenience)

Right now the anime I am watching is La Corda d'Oro Primo Passo. If you know classical music then this anime may catch your interest. For instance, songs such as Fantasie-Impromptu and Ave Maria can be heard in the anime. The anime is okay but later on it gets annoying especially since the main character, Kahoko Hino, gets depressed and panicky and things like that since she doesn't want to expose the fact that her violin is magical (therefore, even being a complete beginner at playing the instrument, she is good at it). Anyways, I'm probably confusing you if you haven't seen the anime (or read the manga?) so you should investigate if you want to watch it.

My family entertained guests for two days in a row. On Friday, July 3, my dad's friend's family (they come over quite often since they don't live in Canada like they used to) and also an acquaintance of my dad's came over. They ate dinner and talked a lot while my dad's friend's son went off by himself, either watching the Star Wars movie on television or just doing who-knows-what. My dad's acquaintance (I call him that since I'm not sure how well he knows my dad and anyhow he is quite a bit younger) is addicted to the piano and keyboard. At first he just tried to play the keyboard but someone must've opened up the piano for him to use. He was attempting to play my songs. He told my mom that he used to learn piano but he stopped after elementary school and now I have overpassed him in level. He said he regretted not learning for a longer time. I guess a lot of people resent having piano lessons, and I did sometimes - when I was younger I'd rip my music or hit the piano if I was frustrated - but it's something you don't miss until it's gone. You know what I mean?

The other time was on Saturday, July 4, when my family went to a buffet for lunch with their friends. It's called Villa 08 and I think it's in Mountain View. It's kind of a freaky place. The ceiling is high and is painted a rather odd color (it's blue, I think, which is rare to see). It's the food that really disturbs me. There are things like shark fin soup and frog legs! My dad got some shark fin soup. He showed me what the shark's fin looks like in the soup. It's like transparent goop. I just drank some ox tail soup since I'd been told that was tasty.

Labels: anime, buffet, classical, frog legs, guests, la corda d'oro, lunch, michael jackson, moonwalk, music, ox tail soup, piano, regret, restaurant, shark fin soup, villa 08

Well, that would sure be useful. For one thing, it would extend my summer vacation (I think the summer vacation is 10 weeks, something like that) and it would give me more time to get things done. But probably having more hours in a day - but not needing more sleep - would be more helpful. Even if it's the summer I don't really feel laid-back. True, I am watching a lot more TV lately but the main purpose of that is to have sound in the house. It's way too quiet if you're here by yourself.

Just the other day I went to my piano teacher's apartment for a recording session. It was my bad luck that I woke up around 9 pm only on Thursday (usually I wake up around 8 pm. I guess I'm either too used to school or the sun wakes me up). My piano teacher's apartment is a pretty nice place. I like the way the apartments look, the top ones being painted a lighter color than the bottom ones (they're only two stories high) even if the wood siding usually bothers me. But in this case it looks just find. (Mostly I prefer stucco on the walls) There's a pretty good pool and one jacuzzi/spa, and there's flowers planted around the sign with the name of the apartments. Also, there's a lot of grass and big trees.

It may or may not surprise you that I want to live in an apartment someday. My parents thought I was crazy - I mean, a lot of people wish they could own a house but they don't have enough savings or the bank won't let them have a mortgage, and such. But I think it would be kind of cool. I mean, you have neighbors so close to you - I barely talk to mine except for that one time I got locked out of my house (let's not get into that, at least not right now). And if you have a nice apartment you'll have access to a pool and you can easily get help if you set your apartment on fire or something. I know this since one time my dad accidentally set his home on fire, back in Shanghai, his hometown, but a neighbor dumped a bucket of water on it and put it out.

I especially have my eye on property near the local library. There are townhouses and condos there, some are pink and the others are kind of yellowish creamish. I would like to have one of those, especially if it has a nice, glass door. I just love doors with glass in them. It's a convenient location, too. You have access to restaurants like Curry House (a Japanese restaurant with curry and spaghetti and weird things like tofu cheesecake), Amici's Pizzeria (nice pizza, and nice restaurant too), and Red Mango (a great frozen yogurt shop). Not only that, but the library is very near by, which is very useful for people who go to the library a lot.

I've recently had inspiration to write a story, and I had better write it down before I lose the idea and never remember it ever again. Should I type it up, by using something like Microsoft Word (or even this blog could be a place to write), or should I use a notebook? I have plenty of notebooks and it is easy to get more of them, so that won't be a problem. And it's a lot easier to carry around a notebook than having to lug around a laptop. But my hand always hurts if I write too much. I wonder which would be better.

Labels: apartment, condo, convenient, laptop, library, notebook, piano, record, restaurant, story, swimming pool, television, time, townhouse, vacation

That's what I felt like - something being cooked for breakfast. I mean, the weather where I live is just crazy. Before it was okay. It was warm, but that was normal seeing as it IS spring. But then today it was really, really hot. Even Sunday had higher temperatures than normal. Though we did PE indoors, I still worked up quite a sweat and didn't completely dry off until about the end of lunch. Walking home made me feel horrid all over again so I had to take a shower and change to shorts. (I usually don't wear shorts but I should buy more, so I'll have something to wear on hot days besides long black, brown, blue, and tan colored pants.)

Sunday was pretty eventful for me. Piano class went as normal, except I was really drowsy from lack of sleep over the spring break, and the teacher started bragging about me. This always makes me uncomfortable because it feels like I have more and more expectations to live up to. Just recently my mom has mentioned a few more Harvard/Stanford/UCLA/UC Berkeley/NYU/etc. type people. For some reason a lot of her friends' children who are old enough to have gone to college go to Ivy League schools and other bragging-rights places. I am very intimidated by it since only "smart" people even try to apply and yet only a small percentage get in. If I do insist I will be going to Stanford I may just be bluffing to try and convince myself. (Note I may have said something similar in a previous blog post, or even in person to friends. Not sure if I did.)

Oh yeah, we had some roses from my piano teacher one time. She had a lot of bouquets left over from the piano recital (reminder: That was back on March 28) so she insisted we take one of them home, as she was running out of vases. So we brought back some red roses. My mom thinks the bouquet we bought for my piano teacher was prettier. I still like the roses (they're already dead, so too bad) even if there are flowers I prefer. Say for instance - lilies, daffodils, tulips, morning glories, and so on. (By the way, since my dad always claims to be a gardener, he has bought a honeysuckle plant. It has orange, small, tropical-looking flowers. I heard it is edible somehow?)

Back to the real news I was going to talk about. My mom made me go with her to her acupuncture clinic. I was scared to death, as I expected I would be poked with needles and forced to drink ginseng medicines. Luckily it was only an "examination" of sorts to see how my bones and such were doing. I was very ticklish, so having my shoulders poked and my arm swung around and around really made me squirm. I have an assorted array of problems, such as a curved spine, stiff shoulders (from typing and playing piano XD After all, playing piano requires similar motions. My parents have the problem too since they are computer engineers), and ONE LEG IS LONGER THAN THE OTHER!!! AAAAAH!!! Actually, not really. It's just one hip is higher so the left leg is a little shorter. This makes my back tight to compensate. My mom suggests that I kick out my left leg to make it longer. I wonder if it really works. -_-;; She has the leg-length problem too. Must be genetic.

Also, my mother mentioned that one of my dad's best friends is looking for a cat. Originally he said he would wait until he bought a house, but he has changed his mind and wants a cat now. (He looked at an animal shelter, though he didn't find the breed he wanted.) I felt both happy and unhappy at this announcement.

Happy - Because if I wanted I could go to my dad's friend's house to play with the cat. (I don't know cats that well so it would be a good opportunity to see if I am fit to get a cat)

Unhappy - Because I myself won't get to have a dog or cat until I have a job and have graduated from college. My mom doesn't like animals (she won't admit it, but I can tell since she is scared of big dogs...) and so gets mad whenever I mention it to her.

It wouldn't be so big a deal, except I am an only child. Lack of siblings and pets, and always being taken care of by my grandmother or a day care center, made me lonely inside (I may have friends and people to talk to, but when I am by myself it hurts a lot. Over time I got used to being a loner so then I had trouble talking to people again, but I'm adjusting back a little). Even my mom made such a comment. Recently some of my dad's friends came over to our house, and gossiped while eating dinner. The only two "children" - one is a boy in high school, and the other is a younger boy who is in elementary school - were both only children. Neither talked much. The older boy was polite and just watched basketball, but the younger one was a little angsty. I noticed how his face was scrunched up in irritation and how he made snide, biting comments. He eventually went off to play his DS. (Haha, that reminds me of myself.)

Labels: acupuncture, bouquet, cat, college, confidence, doctor, gardening, health, heat, lonely, only child, PE class, people, piano, temperature

Actually, that's a folk song or something, but oh well. I decided to use this because I've always heard of life being filled with "hills and valleys". The valleys are the hard parts and hills are the good parts (though that doesn't make much sense since it's hard to walk uphill, but whatever). So, since I'd just gotten around one of the bumps in the road, I thought this blog title might be suitable.

This bump in particularly would be the piano recital. It comes every year, and all the students must perform once if they can make it (if you don't show up, you'll be wasting your money since you need to pay a recital fee, and you'll be wasting your time practicing the song the teacher picked for you for all those months). If you're high level enough, the teacher will want you to perform in both recitals (there are two of them because the teacher has so many students!). Unfortunately ever since last year I have to perform twice. I didn't do so well on the first recital this year and even ended the song on an obviously wrong note. I was very much embarrassed so I just put on a grim poker face of sorts. The second recital was better since I got to read my book in the meantime (the higher level your song is, the later you play) and reading always calms my nerves, though it is rude to the people playing before me.

I'm watching an anime called Kaze no Stigma. It was good at first but now it's getting weird and kind of scary. Especially since the main character went insane and started attacking people and his eyes turned red. (This always creeps me out, since albinos have red eyes and white skin) I thought he was way better when he had blue eyes. Since I'm almost done with the anime, I guess I'll just bear with it to the end.

My history teacher told us about a Renaissance book called The Decameron. It is about a group of young adults who escape to the mountains with food and such to avoid the deadly plague which was taking over Europe at the time. Every night they tell ten stories and they take turns being a "leader". (But one guy tells a story about whatever he wants, since he asked especially, and my teacher says he's got some pretty crazy stories) Anyhow, my teacher says he'll raise our grades by 1% if we read it, and he'll talk to us to see if we're really reading it or not. I wonder if it's available in my local library. Still, it seems like a mighty feat to read more than 1000 pages.

I was very pleased today with what we did in PE. My PE teacher, let's just say he's Robin, decided we would do three different state fitness testings in one day - Pushups, curlups (situps), and trunk raise (lie down on the ground facedown, hands and feet not leaving ground. Then try to lift your head up as high as you can without using your arms or lifting your legs). I was horrible at trunk raise, and managed to do all of the curlups. It was pushups that was the high point of the day (weird because I like curlups better). I got 31 pushups, which is not much really, but at least it was better than most people. So I'm glad of that at least.

Labels: anime, books, bumps in the road, freaky, kaze no stigma, life, PE class, performance, piano, pushups, recital, renaissance, state testing, the decameron

That's my name for a male singer, but his real name is Michael Bublé. My dad thinks he's cool, though I find him kind of annoying, particularly because of the way the women scream like fangirls when he comes near them. I can't tell whether they like his singing (because he sings love songs a lot) or if they think he looks good. It's beyond me, either way.

I am now in the possession of two red cow/bull stuffed animals. One of them is supposed to be something that you stick to a car window and the other one is sort of like a beanie baby. I have no idea where the beanie came from, but I do know that the car decoration came from China, since this is now the year of the ox (on the Zodiac calendar). Right now, if someone came to my house, they would see the beanie on the computer speaker and the car decoration on the lamp. For some reason it actually sticks on the lamp. (By the way, the lamp is the kind that will light up depending on how many times you touch it with your hand. It's too bad yanking on the stuffed cow doesn't turn it on.)

I was woken up early this morning by the most annoying sound ever - the smoke alarm. It wasn't beeping like crazy like in a real fire but every minute it would let out one shrill beep. I can tell from experience that my mom must've turned on the heater again. She insists she turned it on because she thought I was cold, but I would've slept longer into the morning if she hadn't. I tried to get back to sleep, but the beeping doesn't go away for a long time, so I eventually gave up and read a book. Typical thing for me to do when I'm bored.

On the shelves above my television, there is a clock, a strange porcelain statue (probably the Buddha?), my Ancient Civ 3D model from last year (this being a clay figure of Hatshepsut), a plastic container with dinosaurs in it, a flower pot, and some trophies. I have not added anything new to my trophy collection for such a long time. Probably the only chance I'll get will be the upcoming piano recital, which is around the end of March. I'm always quite nervous due to my fear of performing in front of people but I guess I can't get out of it unless I somehow get in an accident. (And that would have much, much worse consequences.)

I probably need to get more pencil cases or another rack for my pens. I have so many of them by now, that if I disturb my desk (mostly for storage rather than use, hehe) the pile of them will topple and I'll have to spend five minutes meticulously reorganizing the pencils. The only salvation I could find was a wooden container which could serve as a pencil holder if necessary. My parents just insist it's because I'm such a hoarder and a packrat...That may be so.

Labels: cow, heater, lamp, michael buble, packrat, pencil, pens, piano, reading, recital, shelves, singing, smoke alarm, stuffed animal, trophy, year of the ox

When I went to blogger this morning I noticed it said I had 100 posts now. That's quite the milestone. It took longer than I thought because I don't post everyday anymore, but I'm glad to have gotten there anyhow. Though some people always say "Quality, not quantity" I'll try my best to achieve both.

Anyhow, I think I've already hit rock bottom. Maybe things can get better from now on. I stapled the map page from my history test in the front instead of the back, so I lost 5 points off my test, which otherwise would've been perfect. Also, I missed a bonus run in PE (if you run/jog the whole time, you can get credit for it or something) because I still hadn't recovered completely. Oh well. My foot should be better by the time we run our next mile. I hope I won't be too tired by then. (It seems like I have bad luck with both of the "Blairs" at the moment.)

Well, at least we watched an interesting Youtube video in class. Two criminals ran away from the court. They were handcuffed together and got peppersprayed so they couldn't see all that well. They weren't so bright, and ran on the opposite sides of a lamppost, causing them to crash together and get caught by the police again. Apparently a year has been added to their sentence. (I don't know what the original offense was, so please find out yourself.)

My neck is really itchy. That's strange since usually that only happens in the summer, because it is hot and dry. But I guess it happens in the winter because it's cold and dry. It makes it worse that I'm wearing a sweater, which my mom wanted me to try. I always wear jackets or no outerwear at all. (Of course I wear clothes. But that doesn't really count as outerwear.) It's lavender with white stripes. It's a pretty color but I already saw someone walking to school who had a similar sweater and I don't want to have an identity crisis.

I've been wondering about what to do for my Japan project. The subject is ikebana, otherwise known as flower-arranging. I am trying to decide what kind of ikebana I should do. Should I do an upright kind in a tall thin vase? (I have a vase like that except it's a Chinese vase and I would have to remove the bamboo already growing in there.) Or should I do a dog food dish for the vase? Or even this thing that looks like a very flat lampshade? Hmm.

This morning a lot of memories about when I was young came flooding back. When I was little, I wanted to play piano so I could play the song Fur Elise. Not a good goal since I soon reached that and became bored of piano. I would get upset if I couldn't play good, and cry and bang on the piano, or try to rip up my books. (This is why my belongings are so shabby.) Nowadays I realize I need to be more patient. I guess that means I'm maturing mentally.

Labels: 100, bad news, blog, childhood, homework, japan, neck, piano, running away, sweater, vase, youtube

Nowadays I've been dreaming a lot and mostly I forget it all in the morning but I do remember last night's dream involved me speaking Japanese to people. Sometimes it's real people, in Japan, and sometimes it's fictional characters. It's really strange. I wonder if I've been listening to people in anime speak Japanese too much if it's started to invade my mind.

At least I'm still speaking English to the people around me. That's a comfort. I would be in quite a pickle because most of the people near me don't know Japanese and go "Whaa? What in the world?" Though I would like to learn to effectively speak and read Japanese someday. (But I guess it would be more useful to learn Chinese because there are more people in the world who know Chinese, and Chinese is similar to Japanese anyhow)

I need to spend more time reading books and less time on the computer nowadays, I suppose. I mean, I have three stacks of books to read (They aren't very tall stacks but still stacks nevertheless) and maybe not much time to read them. But it's easier just watching anime because I can multitask and do stuff on the Internet at the same time.

I have piano class at 11:15 today, so I figure I should try to wrap up this post and do something else on the computer while I have the chance. Then in the afternoon I can try to relax. (Or work on my factoring project. Sigh...It's still there even if I try to pretend it's not there.)

I know my posts on the weekend are pretty drab, unless I went somewhere. Sorry about that. It's just I don't see a lot of people or do much interesting on weekends. (Except for yesterday I went to see two new Japanese places that opened. One was a store selling a variety of cheap/useful things. The other was a supermarket that was a little on the expensive side, even though it sells the same products as a different supermarket.)

Labels: anime, books, dream, english, homework, japan, language, piano, shopping

The time got moved today. Usually I have piano in the late morning but this time class starts at 3:30 pm. That probably means someone has a birthday party to attend, or some soccer game, or something. Since I'm almost always free on Sundays, it's usually me who has my class moved. -_-;; Not that it's a really bad thing. But I like having piano class earlier. My teacher is in a better mood in the morning, since she's getting old and feels like napping in the afternoon.

I haven't really done much today either, but at least a little more than yesterday. Like I actually started working on the cinnamon rolls today. At first I was having trouble because the butter wasn't dissolving; then I realized you were supposed to add the flour, regardless of whether the butter was still chunky. So I wasted a lot of time...Whoops.

But it's all well so far now, and the dough looks beautiful. Even better than the time we did it at school. So I will pray that it turns out great once we actually do the rest of the recipe. My mom insisted we let the dough sit for a while since on the recipe it says "At home: Let rise". The dough isn't rising very much but I guess it isn't really supposed to be double in size or something.

After cooking I ate lunch. The soup today was hot and it looked strange. It was orange with little brown things in it. (I think the brown stuff was little meat bits but I dunno.) I ate it without any problems but it looked awfully suspicious. You never know what kind of things my parents might think of to put in soup if they think it's "healthy".

My mom told me once she was eating at a restaurant and ordered a special type of grape juice. It didn't have any alcohol but it was supposed to have the same health benefits of wine. o_O;; And then my mom's friend went to another restaurant and tried to order "grape juice" but it was just regular grape juice, not the special sort my mom drank. (Apparently it's only served in some places. And my mom said it was really tasty and nutritious.)

Labels: classes, cooking, juice, leisure, lunch, piano

My dad dragged me awake at noon to try and make me adjust back to Pacific time. It's not really working since waking up made me have a headache. But I guess I have to start somewhere so I can't really blame my dad.

I just ate a sandwich for lunch. Yesterday my dad bought two sandwiches, one for my dinner yesterday and one for my lunch today. They're from a bakery-ish place called Panera Bread. If you live near me, you may know what that is. There are other Panera Bread stores in the USA, I think, but I've only been to the one near my house.

Afterward, we went to the grocery store because my dad needs to make some soup. Usually I have some soup with my dinner every night so it is sort of necessary. He got some tomatoes and bok choy (a vegetable. My history teacher likes it, but I don't. But now I'm kind of used to eating it, after all these years). He also got some pears and bananas as snacks. The pears all look kind of bruised and they have a weird shape. (The kind I like are greenish and they're called D'anjou pears or something like that) Still, they taste good. At least to me. (Some people like different pears. Suggest some kinds to me if you like.)

Then we went to the library. I already renewed some of my books except for the ones that I already finished and should return. We waited in line to return our books since the Santa Clara Library uses electronic returning now. The guy in front of us was kind of slow. I guess he wasn't very good at it. (He got confused and put his hand near the place you put your books to return them, so it kept saying "barcode not identified!" but finally he managed to press the right buttons and get his receipt) We were a lot faster. But I guess we're used to it.

Once we got home I was starting to get drowsy again but I had to go practice piano. So I did. Then my dad needed to leave again (he didn't bring me with him this time). He said he needed to buy bones. At first I thought he was crazy but he reminded me that the meat on the bones is for cooking the soup. So never mind, hehe.

Labels: bone, fruit, library, lunch, piano, shopping, sleep, vegetables

When I was looking at the Blogger home page, I noticed that this blog now has 50 posts. That's pretty cool. I hope someday it will reach 100 posts (and not through spamming this blog on the weekend or something like that).

I'm writing this post in between bouts of Wii Fit. The most recent exercise I was doing was Lunges - 20 repetitions. I really hate doing lunges when I'm using the Balance Board. Not only is it monotonous but it makes my legs hurt and I start wobbling and losing my balance. But since I am competing with my dad for first place on the records, I have no choice but to keep doing it.

Since today is Sunday, I went to my piano class a bit before noon. I think my piano teacher is a bit lonely since her son is grown up and she is divorced, and she talks a lot. She said that a lot of people are sick, and how she has low blood pressure and gets dizzy, and how it's a problem that shows up when you're older. By the end of class she was telling us about an expensive mattress she bought which made her back pain go away. I don't say anything most of the time.

My dad took photos of my mom and I for our visas. Apparently you need a picture of yourself, against a white background, for your visa picture. (Sounds pretty lame to me, but I guess I have to, since I'm being forced to go to China later this year. At least I'll be able to see Japan while I'm at it.) I always have to visit my relatives in person once in a while. I wish they'd move nearer to me, but I think they probably wouldn't want to, even if they could.

Labels: blog, camera, exercise, piano

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