I know, my previous post, "Blood is Thicker than Water", also mentions thickness, but really, this title is fitting, so I am using it nevertheless.

Not that long ago, one of my pencils disappeared. I had only started using it recently. It wasn't really a great pencil - in fact, it was a Disney Princess pencil featuring Belle from Beauty and the Best - but I hate to lose pencils since they go to waste. I was giving up on finding it when I noticed a pencil on top of a supermarket flyer. It was the very pencil I thought I had lost. And my dad doesn't go around circling what he wants to buy on supermarket flyers, so that left one culprit - my mother.

This isn't the first time she took a pencil when she saw it lying around. I found two pencils of mine which I also thought I had lost in the room of our house that is her home office. I just wish she would ask me before she uses them. It's annoying, thinking that I've lost pencils when in reality they're hanging around the house, all because my mom wanted to borrow them for some reason or another. I guess she thought I would be annoyed if she had to keep asking me to lend her pencils, but still, having my writing utensils disappear mysteriously is really not convenient.

What really bothers me the most, though, is when people borrow things from me and don't return them. It happened in elementary school - I lent a girl my scissors and I asked for them back, but she didn't even remember having borrowed them. I eventually found them in the classroom. Then I went on a trip to a bowling alley with my class and a classmate wanted to buy a drink, so he borrowed some money for it. He never repaid the money (I don't know whether he would remember after all these years anyways).

And I had a repeat of the incident I mentioned about the scissors. In French class, we were making sachets in December. Sachets are basically little pouches with something scented in them (like potpourri). These can be left someplace, like in your clothes drawers, to make things smell better. A classmate borrowed my scissors to cut string, but she didn't return them. The next day, I asked her if she had my scissors, but she didn't seem to remember that (just like that girl a few years back). So I had to go into the classroom scissors box to find mine.

I wonder if I should just stop lending things to people. It's kind of a lose-lose situation. If you lend something and it gets returned, that's the one good outcome. But if you lend it and it gets lost, that's bad for you, and you'll lose trust in other people. And if you don't lend something, then people will think of you as stingy, since you have things but don't want to share them. (Sharing is caring, so goes the saying) Maybe I should require people to give me a compensation for lending which will be returned to them when they return what they borrowed. (Like how my science teacher will lend you a pen if you give her one of your shoes. That way you won't forget to return it, unless you want to hop around all day on one foot.)

I guess there's really no perfect solution to anything, though. You can choose to make yourself happy or you can choose to make other people happy...(You're lucky if it's the same thing)

That reminds me of something Thomas Jefferson apparently said. Because of Jay's Treaty (look it up, like on Wikipedia or something) France felt like the USA was taking Britain's side, so the US needed to repair its relationship with France. John Adams, the president at that time, asked his vice president, Thomas Jefferson, to go to France and work things out. Jefferson would have been a good choice because he was a Republican (Republicans at that time were supporters of France, whereas the Federalist Party supported England), and Jefferson was a respected man. However, he refused. Adams got upset, saying, "Aren't we supposed to be friends?" and "But you're the vice president!" and probably also said something about how he should go because he is vice president and not let the fact that he is the Republic party leader be an influence. But Jefferson said, regarding the role of vice president and the role of head of Republicans, "They are one and the same."

George Washington had said that political parties were bad, that they would cause unnecessary divisions and disagreements. Politics in general seems to be quite a mess sometimes. (No wonder my mom doesn't really like politics...) I mean, it got so bad one time that Aaron Burr, who was supposed to be Thomas Jefferson's vice president, actually shot Alexander Hamilton. (Hamilton had kind of convinced people to turn against Burr, thus making Jefferson president instead of Burr) And the US presidents end up with grey hair and wrinkles from their stressful job. I wonder what their true motive for getting into politics is, then. Do they hope to make a difference? Do they want prestige?

Labels: aaron burr, borrow, france, jay treaty, john adams, lost and found, money, motives, party, pencil, politics, president, republican, scissors, shoes, stress, supermarket, thief, thomas jefferson

When my mom's friend and her family came over to my house, she brought a present for my mother. It was a Coach handbag, a black one. I have no idea if she herself is a fan of Coach, but Coach does have quite a bit of fame.

A lot of people in Japan were excited over brand name bags. I saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the Gucci store, it was that popular. (I guess they only let a certain amount of people inside at a time. I mean, that way the people working there can pay more attention to you.) And women in the area where I live also like brand names, such as Louis Vuitton. I see them toting such bags.

My mother says that a lot of the people just like to show off, thinking it will make them look rich or trendy. That's really not the right reason to buy a brand name. If you really like it because of the looks (I, for instance, like anything that is shiny!) or usefulness or some reason like that, then all is as it should be. But it's dreadful that people would think it would make you look affluent to have a brand name handbag. If you saved up money for a long enough time, you'd be able to afford one. Besides, if many people have it, then many people appear rich, which means they aren't rich after all, because it's impossible for everyone to have a lot of money. (Otherwise, our economy is more socialist than capitalist?!)

But teenagers are also caught up in the brand name fashion craze. I overheard some classmates talking because we were having a fire drill and had to go outside and line up, then sit down and wait for the drill to be over. One of the girls had Coach shoes. (I don't really think it's worthwhile to have shoes from a brand that is famous for its bags, since I'm not that fond of the Coach logo thing, but whatever) Another girl noticed and said, "Oh, you're so lucky!" (Or something like that.) But the girl with the shoes said, "Eh, my mom bought them on sale anyways." (Apparently, it was actually her mom's idea to buy them...Or was she just saying that? Who knows?)

Even one of my friends got Coach shoes, as a gift from someone she knew. She was pretty pleased over them. They look okay, I suppose, I'm not interested in getting them, though. Well, whatever floats your boat, right? (That's the kind of attitude I take a lot. I probably shouldn't do that. D: )

It's not always good to accept everything that comes your way, though. One time, in 2009, I was in my old art teacher's classroom. I took Applied Arts in 7th grade, which is Art, Cooking, and Woodshop over the course of the year. I visit her classroom occasionally (though not as much as I did in 7th grade). She told my friend and I (we go together) that she was divorced. She said that she married at a young age. And she told us that when you're in love with someone, pay attention to what kind of things about them you don't like. If you think "Ugh, I really don't like that, it bothers me," then you should probably rethink your future with them. The teacher said that you can't change someone, even if you think you can. Their bad qualities will only get worse. Though it's impossible to find perfect people, you should still pay attention. "Love is blind", so goes the saying, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

I've always wondered who I will eventually married. I plan on marrying - I'm not going to be an old maid (not that it's necessarily bad; a husband can be quite the hassle). And I want to be married while I'm still young, like in my 20s, because if you marry late, then you'll have children late (I guess I might have a child of my own. Perhaps I will adopt one, and have one related to me by blood). And that's not good. Then your children don't have as long a time to spend with you, to make memories and share the joys and sorrows of a family. Anyways, though I'm getting sidetracked again. I've been wondering about what kind of person I will look for. (I'm already looking, in fact, inspecting the possible people in my area. However, it seems many of them are undesirable.) I've decided some of the traits I'm looking for.
- Taller than me (but not too much taller! That's intimidating)
- Good family background (I'm not talking about being nobility or living in a rich neighborhood or anything like that. I mean, no one goes insane in their old age, the bloodline is not susceptible to dangerous diseases, and such)
- An intellectual (Someone who I can talk to about the mysteries of life, and books, and perhaps video games if they play them. It is always nice, but not required, that the person had a good record in school or won awards, too)
- Musical (Optional. But it would be nice to have someone who could play accompaniment to my piano. Or teach me to play harp. I would like to learn the harp.)
- DOESN'T SNORE (Seriously. Snoring is really annoying. I can't sleep if someone snores.)
- Likes animals (I plan to have a cat and a dog, so this is pretty important too.)
- Isn't lazy (to balance me out, because I'm lazy.)
- Independent, yet interdependent (What I mean is that the person can think for himself and isn't influenced too much by other people's opinion of him. But I also think the person should be someone who is friendly and who I won't feel is drifting apart from me. It's important for a family to be connected, after all.)
- Won't let me give up (on some things, like exercise. I mean, I need someone who will be concerned with my welfare. But hopefully not too bossy. The point is, the person should try hard and keep going till the end)

Maybe I'm too picky. Who knows? XD

Labels: bag, bragging, brand name, coach, desirable, divorce, dream, future, handbag, husband, love, marriage, money, qualities, shoes, snoring, teacher, trend

All folks living in the USA should set their clocks an hour forward, as in 9 am would become 10 am. You could set it tonight, or tomorrow, whatever you prefer to do. I wouldn't have remembered, except I read a forum post about it...Apparently people in other parts of the world don't really know the reasons for Daylight Savings. D: I'd heard it was something to do with energy saving, or whatever. I don't really care too much, hehe, though it would be easier not to have it.

This morning I woke up really early, so I tried to go back to sleep again. I don't actually know if I did sleep, since I'm constantly thinking when I'm conscious. Well, oh well. By the time I truly got up it was around 9 am.

I finally got to go to the Valley Fair mall again. It was quite a while since I was last there. It turns out they opened a new Ann Taylor Loft where the Sharper Image (an electronic store place) used to be. It seems like a lot of clothing isn't cheap even though it's supposed to be a bad time for the economy what with lay-offs. I guess the stores still charge a lot since people still want to shop, judging by how crowded the reduced price racks at Nordstrom are. xD

Anyhow, my mom and I were planning to buy a pair of shoes (or, more like just my mom, since her feet are smaller so the shoes are better for her) but then it turns out my mom's feet are different in size, so one shoe was tight and the other fit?! I guess that must be true, as my mom's legs are different lengths, even. o_O;;

I just heard that my grandparents have been reading the blog yet again...I guess they always do because they have time. This time they said my playlist was too loud. Perhaps I should change Morning Grace back to the first song because that was quieter, at least in the beginning of the song.

If you have a Wii, and the game Wii Fit, you'll eventually unlock Plank, Push-up, and Jackknife Challenges. (All strength exercises you may have done in PE class. Jackknife is similar to a sit-up, except when you come up, you make what's supposed to look like a V shape) What's really funny is how the Wii Fit trainer always gets beaten (that is, if you can keep doing more exercises every time) and how she collapses, then mutters about underestimating your strength or whatever. I am endlessly entertained as every time I do one of the Challenges again, she insists she'll "try her very best this time".

For dinner, we did some shabu-shabu again. It's basically you have some soup being cooked on a burner, at a high heat. So you can practically cook while you eat. You dip various items such as meet, noodles, or even flavorless mochi into the soup until it's cooked all the way through. I first tried this in a Japanese restaurant. (By the way, they gave us vanilla-flavored popsicles for desert. They're small but tasty.)

Labels: blog, daylight savings, food, nordstrom, playlist, relatives, shabu shabu, shoes, sleep, song, trainer, valley fair, wii fit

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