It seems to me that handheld electronics still hold their popularity. A lot of people would like to have a DSi, the newest version of the Nintendo DS. The DSi comes with a camera, and you can edit people's pictures (like distorting them or drawing on them). It also has a shorter charging time. However, I think I heard that it doesn't have a Game Boy Advance game slot. So that automatically crossed it off the list for me. I have a Game Boy Advance, but the screen is very dim and hard to see because it is not the Game Boy Advance SP kind (those ones have brighter screens). I use my DS to play Game Boy Advance games. That is more convenient since you can carry a DS game and a Game Boy Advance game with you just by having your DS, and you can play either depending on what you're in the mood for. Besides, you can take photos with a camera or a cell phone and you could play around with the pictures on the computer.

However, not everyone has the luxury of using the Internet, so a handheld console such as the DSi could provide great entertainment. In fact, even an electronic dictionary would be a novelty. I realized this when my mom mentioned her coworker. Her coworker has a daughter, who has an electronic dictionary. (Actually, it used to be mine, but I never used it anyways, so it has passed hands) Apparently it was a great help to her. I just look up things on the Internet if I need them, but my mom's coworker's daughter isn't allowed to go on the Internet, so she can't just look up things the way I do.

And of course, there are plenty of people who aren't simply forbidden from going on the Internet, but really don't have access. For instance, in Africa, only a small amount of people has access to the Internet. I wonder what it would be like not to use the Internet. I have been using it for years, so I am reliant on it, and it would probably seem slow and inconvenient having to research using actual books (le gasp!), plus I would probably have to actually go outside to entertain myself (another gasp! I am largely an indoor person). The Internet has some good parts, but it also has a dark side - people can get scammed, have their identities stolen, and they can addicted, ruining their eyes and probably making them overweight.

It reminds me of this funny quote I saw on the wall of my math classroom. "Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." I'm not sure exactly who said the quote, but when I searched it up, apparently Oprah Winfrey did... o_O;;

I was, and kind of still am, a video gamer in my youth. My DS has been my "best friend", and my camera is currently, but especially for me, stuffed animals were my best friends. (I mean inanimate objects, I'm not counting people here) I liked stuffed animals better than dolls - dolls are so hard and stiff and pointy, but stuffed animals are squishy and soft and don't have creepy eyes - and I used to bring them to school quite often, back when I was in elementary school. I could play with them after school in the YMCA daycare on the school campus. Those were good times, even if the stuffed animals were dropped on the ground, and thus became rather dirty. I don't think I could bring them to school anymore, because my backpack is so crowded (it's pretty heavy, so I'm lucky that I use a roller backpack in this case), and I don't know what I would do with them anymore... It's always more fun to play with your stuffed animals if you're playing with other people, but I doubt I could easily find someone who didn't think it was silly, and if the stuffed animal was too "distracting", it would probably be confiscated.

The reason why I brought up stuffed animals was because we had an opportunity to win them in science class. We were reviewing our vocabulary words and my teacher decided to have us play Bingo (except we call it Newton). She would say the definition of a word and players would look for the word on their game board. (It's important to know your definitions well so you won't be confused about where to put your bingo markers) The prize for getting 5 in a row was a stuffed animal. She had a few out at a time to choose from. I got a polar bear, though it wasn't my ideal choice of animal, since I didn't really like the other animals at the time. (Sorry! No offense intended) Apparently, the stuffed animals used to belong to the teacher's daughter. I think it's sad to give away your stuffed animals, but maybe my opinion would change when I'm older...I mean, if you don't use your stuffed animals, they're not getting the love I deserve...I really don't know.

Labels: africa, best friend, bingo, camera, convenient, dictionary, duct tape, electronics, game boy advance, handheld, internet, newton, nintendo dsi, polar bear, prizes, quote, stuffed animal, video games

I'm talking about the magazine drive. Every year we have it to raise money for our school. The students try to sell lots of magazines (or they can donate money differently instead, $20 counts as one "magazine subscription").

You can earn prizes like Jamba Juice smoothies, Weepuls (little furry collectible things, the sixth grade girls this year thought they were so cute because they went "Awwww!"), even an iPod Touch if you sell enough magazines...But it's really hard to do that unless you have lots of relatives who like to read magazines, you're a superior salesman (and how would that work? You're not allowed to go sell door-to-door. That's lame considering you were allowed to do that for the Walkathon in elementary school. So they're saying older kids are more likely to get kidnapped?!), or you just have lots of money to spend.

This year there was a dog that rolls over. When it senses movement in front of its face, it rolls over. It's a pretty hard prize to get, though. And the class that sells the most magazines will get a 10-foot long snake. Maybe I should win one for my dad. It can be his birthday present or whatever.

Speaking of snakes, I had a dream about a snake. I was in some sort of observatory place in a rainforest, I think. My family and some other people were in it, sitting on wooden benches, peering out at the wilderness. The previous president, George W. Bush, was also there, but he didn't say anything. He had a very small snake. It was short and skinny with a wider head. I forget the exact color but I think it was a dull brownish sort. George W. Bush left and dropped his snake on the floor. I was freaked out since I wasn't sure whether the snake was fond of biting or not.

More recently, I had another dream about an animal. This time it was about dolphins. I don't know much of the specifics of the dream but I was in a room, with my mom, and maybe more people, but I don't remember if there were. There were dolphins there and I tried to get on the back of one to ride it. The dolphin flopped around in a panicked fashion until I let go of it. My mom left the room and I was leaving too but the dolphin, which had been resting on the ground, jumped up and made a really ugly face, like it was going to bite. I was frightened out of my wits and ran out of the room. I hope that doesn't mean I'm going to have a negative run-in with dolphins in the future.

My French teacher told us something amusing recently. She took her class last year to a restaurant called Crepe Daniel. The students were excited since they thought they would be able to practice their French skills...No dice. The restaurant had been owned by a French person a long time ago. Now it was a Chinese owner. The French teacher said, "I don't know, maybe you could practice your CHINESE at the restaurant."

My new camera arrived. It's a dark blue Panasonic Lumix. There is a really funny feature to it. It's called Transform and it says in the manual, "Changes the subject to a slim-looking or glamorous appearance." It's like how before cameras were invented, people would paint portraits of people instead, and they would try to make the people look better than they actually looked.

Labels: camera, chinese, crepe daniel, Dogs, dolphin, door to door, dream, french, funny, george w. bush, magazine drive, mandarin, president, prizes, restaurant, rollover, sales, snake, transform, vicious

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