One day, at lunchtime, I noticed that a few of my friends seemed to be writing on something. It was a piece of binder paper, and a girl was writing on it in cursive. Upon listening and watching, I realized that she was practicing signatures over and over again.

She was not just practicing her own signature. She also imitated the signature of one of her friends, and I think she got pretty good at it, because the person whose signature she was practicing writing said, "Now you write my signature better than I do."

It kind of made me think of how risky it can be to let someone get a good look at your signature. With practice, a person could probably replicate your signature pretty well. You either have to have a really wacky one or you have to keep it hidden from other people in case they feel the urge to forge it. Imagine all the things they could sign without your permission! And even if the person was caught trying to use your signature, it'd still be a big hassle.

Speaking of other kinds of signatures, I recently started submitting some of mine to some groups on DeviantArt. They're all pretty old by now seeing as I don't make graphics that often anymore (and when I do I am reluctant to post them on DeviantArt, because something I read suggested that perhaps it could be interpreted as art thievery if the artists making images used in graphics did not wish to have their art used in graphics). Well, I know that I have a long way to go (I've seen some people who make amazing graphics, and I applaud them) but it does tick me off a bit to be given criticism about older graphics, but I suppose it is better that I just swallow my pride. After all, I am sure no one is purposely trying to bring down my self-confidence, they only am trying to offer tips, so I figure it's just another challenge that I have to overcome. I would like to get back to making graphics more actively. Perhaps I should take a look at some tutorials. (The only thing is, I feel bad if I rely on a tutorial heavily since I feel like I'm doing nothing more than imitating someone else's graphics. But then again, imitation is one way of learning...After all, once you've improved you can then focus on developing your own unique style.)

Well, I guess it all goes back to that whole "small fish in a big pond" kind of feeling. At times I can be quite overwhelmed by how many amazing people there are in the world - or, on the other side of the coin, how many really harsh people there are (and I'm not talking about what I mentioned in the previous paragraph in this case). But seeing a lot of talent can inspire me to try harder too, so it doesn't always have to be something harmful. And perhaps by having to deal with unpleasant people will help me to harden myself and get "thick skin". I only hope that things can turn out well in the end.

Labels: art, challenge, criticism, danger, deviantart, feelings, graphics, harsh, old, people, problem, pros and cons, safety, signature, style, thick skin, tutorial, unexpected, world, writing

Secret might not be the right word in this case, seeing as I see bees in public places like near the post office and at schools.

I just felt like using this title. I once read a book called The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. (Unfortunately, I can't quite remember how the ending went because it was a few years ago. I guess if you read a lot of books and if you get distracted by daily life, it's easy to forget the specifics of books you've read.) Apparently there's a movie now, too.

Some time back, I was at the place I usually spend my brunch break at school, when it seemed that a few people were looking at something. I heard someone say, "Oh no! You've killed it!" so I went over to investigate. It was a very weak-looking bee on the ground. It was still alive, but it was unable to fly and grew more and more pitiful until it couldn't even bother to twitch a leg. One of my friends and I tried to bring it back to life, and transported it using a stick to a leaf. It seemed like the bee was unable to hold on to the leaf - it slipped downward little by little, and we became fearful that it would tumble in to the bushes, never to be seen again. But it seemed to regain some semblance of life and started to move a little.

We tried to put it on a flowering tree, but the bee was not interested and fell onto the ground. Then another girl came along, seemingly out of nowhere, and picked up the bee with her hands. The bee seemed to be much more energetic upon being touched by a human and began to move actively. The girl started to walk off, so we followed her to the grass field, where she set the bee down on the grass.

Today I came across another bee, though it was not so close to death as the one I had seen previously. It was still moving along, though it seemed to also be unable to fly. My friends and I tried to get it interested in a flower, but the bee was not interested. It would turn and change directions every time we shoved the flowers in its face. We also tried leaves and sticks but the bee would fall off every time we tried to move it from one place to another. One time it seemed as though we had been successful, as the bee was finally displaying interest in the flowers, but then the bee fell off again. My friend insisted on handing whatever stick or leaf the bee was climbing on to me because she feared the bee would sting her. I think it's fine as long as the bee is unable to move quickly and if you avoid the rear end of the bee. After seeing the girl from before handle a bee, and as they seemed to get along quite well, I am less fearful of bees (at least, bees that are walking on the ground, not the very active bees flying about at the speed of light).

I am hoping to use such logic to convince my mother to let me have a dog. If you are not familiar with something, it is not unusual to be fearful of it. In fact, I was intimidated by dogs, but I've met several of them and realized there is nothing to worry about (except for perhaps abused dogs and dogs with rabies). I've petted dogs and been licked by them and they have not bitten me. Be sure to pay attention to body language of animals, though...If a dog is growling at you, it's best to keep away from it.

My mother hasn't really been around dogs, and she dislikes them. I think it also has to do with my grandma getting bitten by a dog. I wish my mother would give dogs a chance and spend some time with them. She might feel more kindly towards them if she'd only interact with them a little. (If she still dislikes dogs after that, then I can't hold it against her.) My mom continues to say that I can have a dog...When I'm a responsible adult. That will still be quite a few years away. And I'm not patient. Especially when I could die anytime and lose my chance forever.

Labels: bees, bite, book, chance, danger, death, dog, family, fear, ground, humans, insects, interact, life, safety, sting, stubborn, the secret life of bees, transportation, wish

I am not saying that the magazines themselves are really lacking or something, but it is just...Well... A lot of magazines and newspapers and other sources of information seem to be filled with bad news. The only magazine I have that is decidedly optimistic is Ode, which we subscribed to with our mileage. (If you fly a lot with an airline, say for example, United, then you might be able to rack up "mileage", a kind of points, and if you get enough you can use it for things, like getting a free flight somewhere) We had to use the mileage or else it would disappear, so my mom wanted me to pick magazines to subscribe to, since magazines don't use much mileage. Back to Ode, though; apparently they call themselves a magazine for "intelligent optimists".

Currently I am subscribing to the magazines Newsweek, Reader's Digest, National Geographic, and Nintendo Power. I don't mean to offend the folks working for Newsweek, but I am not too fond of it. It seems to have a lot of news about politics. The only things I find interesting are the comics (which are politically-themed), the Indignity Index (which features some rather not-so-good things public figures have done), and the occasional article, like this article I read about how Microsoft is losing out to other companies ever since Bill Gates stepped down from CEO or whatever.

My mom and I would prefer to have Time magazine, but my dad wanted Newsweek, so we got it. I have discovered that although my dad means well, he doesn't have the greatest judgment. When I was younger, we were looking for a Game Boy to buy and my dad said we should get the Game Boy Advance. That turned out to be a bad move because the Game Boy Advance doesn't have good lighting, unlike the Game Boy Advance SP (and DS, which hadn't come out yet at that time), so it was always hard for me to see what was on the screen. (By the way, the Game Boy is not well-named since it is kind of suggesting that boys are the only gamers, which is not true)

The reason why I mention Time here is because I just checked out an issue of Time from the library. I was looking for an article for Current Events (where we present an article we found in the news in front of our class - all science-related because we do it in science class) and I noticed an issue of Time magazine, the November 30, 2009 issue. There was an article about how parents are overprotective of their kids and how maybe it's time we loosened up a bit, so kids can learn to do things themselves. So I checked out the issue. I really like that article. It has some funny parts, like when it mentioned how suddenly strollers needed the label REMOVE CHILD BEFORE FOLDING (that's because parents got really paranoid).

There was also another article in Time (same issue) that I liked, and that was an article about Zynga. Zynga is a company, started in 2007, which makes games for social-networking sites. Some of the games include Mafia Wars, Cafe World, Zynga Poker, YoVille!, and Fishville. What amused me was the mention of Farmville, which was apparently similar to a popular Chinese farming game called Happy Farm. Hmm...My dad plays an online game where he waters his plants, steals other people's plants (gasp!) and keeps all sorts of fauna like squirrels and peacocks. I can't help but think it's really funny that my dad plays Happy Farm.

I also checked out the December copy of Cat Fancy magazine, since I don't have a subscription to it. Even this magazine has some gruesome aspects. There was a section about holiday safety for cats, and in it said, "When I diagnose cats with kidney failure from lilies, people tell me they've never heard that before." Lilies? You know, the flowers? Well, apparently they are dangerous to cats. And chocolate is also bad for them. So are nuts, splintery bones, and onions and garlic...Apparently, onions and garlic are bad for the red blood cells of a cat. The article may be helpful, but it seems to frighten you into keeping your cat safe. I mean, your cat being electrocuted by chewing on the Christmas tree lights doesn't sound too nice.

Well, the real disappointment in the magazine wasn't the fault of the magazine. It was all because I got it from the library. I wanted to rip out the poster of a kind of cat called a ragdoll. It has blue eyes, which I really like, and also, it kind of resembles my dad's friend's cat. Then I realized that it was a library copy so I couldn't rip it out. I was really crestfallen. (P.S.: Today's icon is NOT a ragdoll.)

Labels: 2009, cat fancy, christmas lights, game boy advance, garlic, happy farm, indignity index, lilies, newsweek, november 30, ode, onions, overprotective, parents, poster, ragdoll, safety, time, zynga

Yikes, I completely forgot about making an entry yesterday! Whoopsy-daisy. But I guess it's not a big loss because I doubt anyone reads this anyhow. XD

It was so hot today! Summer is already over but this autumn has been fairly warm so far. This afternoon, I practically got fried walking home. I really wish my parents could home to pick me up, but since they are too worried about the safety of riding a bike, and I'm not old enough to drive, I have to walk.

I started reading a book called The Boys of San Joaquin. I think I've heard of the place San Joaquin before. I think it's somewhere in California? Near/in the Central valley or something? I don't know if I've been there but the name really does ring a bell. But then maybe it's because I live in California.

Labels: autumn, bike, blog, california, danger, post, safety, the boys of san joaquin, walk

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