Due to an astronomy lab we've been doing in my science class, I go outside at night to look at the moon and record the phase and location. In the beginning, the skies were clear, and it was easy to see the moon. But then clouds moved in and I couldn't see it for a while. When the sky cleared up again, I still couldn't find the moon. It was a strange experience. The stars were still there, but the moon was nowhere to be seen. I thought perhaps it was blocked by a building or a tree, but no matter where I walked I couldn't see it.

In the morning, though, I saw the moon. It's just so strange, seeing it up there in that vast expanse of blue sky, instead of in the mist of a black blanket dotted with stars, the way it is at nighttime. I was rather annoyed at the moon, because I am only supposed to record when I see it at a certain time (the teacher wants us to try to view the moon at the same time each night that we go out). It showed up in the morning but refused to come out at nighttime.

In class today, one of my fellow students told the teacher that she had gone out at night and was also unable to see the moon. My teacher then got the attention of the class to explain this phenomenon.

My teacher said, "I have told the moon to go away for a while. Us science teachers are very powerful, so I have made it disappear. Look carefully every night and eventually I might let it come back out again." Another one of my classmates remarked, "I looked in the morning and I saw the moon." My teacher's reply was, "Ah! You cheated! Well, the moon is naughty and it tries to come out before it's supposed to."

So there you have it. A highly scientific explanation for why the moon is not visible sometimes, even without any clouds covering it. (If you want to know the real reason, you had better look it up since I only have a theory about it and it would be unwise to take that as fact.)

I was just looking at a picture of an exploding alarm clock on a magazine cover (Discover magazine March 2010 issue, if you want to know) and I was reminded of what of my "experiences" at Yosemite. It was difficult to get to sleep on the first night. Some kids had not gone to bed and were making a racket outside, or were giggling in their cabins. The heater in our cabin kept making some sort of rattling and banging noises. I kept sweating from the heater since I wasn't used to having it that warm. And then there were the two alarm clocks I had brought. They kept on ticking...My clock at home ticks too, but I never really noticed it. At Yosemite it seemed they were quite loud. One of my cabinmates said she wasn't used to it since she has a digital clock, which doesn't tick. After the first night, though, we become more accustomed to the loud nights and were able to get to sleep more easily. (And anyways, we were tired out from the strenuous daily hikes, or something.)

I have been rather concerned about my ability to remember to do my homework recently, especially the French homework. I forgot to do my French homework and remembered it during the night once, so I got up earlier in the morning to do it. And then today I was supposed to bring sunglasses because we were discussing summer/seaside activities in French class, but I forgot to bring those as well. (Then again, I'm not exactly sure where the sunglasses are, I will have to find them. I don't like to wear sunglasses. Although I like the cool way that they look, they always seem to slip down my face or otherwise get in my way. And I don't like how everything seems so dark or is tinted a weird color.) I wonder if my memory is getting bad or if I'm getting too careless. Both options are rather unpleasant.

Labels: astronomy, careless, clock, digital, distraction, forgetful, french, homework, magazine, magic, moon, powers, science, sky, sleep, sounds, teacher, ticking, trip, yosemite

That kind of rhymes, considering the way that Yosemite is pronounced.

I've been wondering for a while now why Yosemite is pronounced the way it is. It's pronounced like "Yo-seh-mi-tee". I think that's rather misleading. On the lost and found sign for the Yosemite trip, Yosemite was misspelled "Yosemity". So wouldn't it make more sense to pronounce the name "Yo-seh-mee-teh"? But I suppose what makes sense isn't necessary how things work out.

While I was at Yosemite, I led a very different lifestyle from what I live at home. I spent much more time outside moving around. I almost always wore multiple layers to keep myself warm (except for the times that I became hot from hiking and skiing). I had to get used to having a heavy backpack on my back (I know you're not supposed to pack a lot, but I brought anything I thought I might need, like extra socks, a rain poncho, and gaiters - I never even used the gaiters), since usually I use a roller backpack. I had to adjust to having little sleep and to constantly having dry skin. (But some of my skin problems weren't as bad at Yosemite. My mom says it was because I took short, cold showers, which is better for your health, not like the warm, long ones I take at home)

And all this exercise was a good thing. It helped me build more strength, and I was surprised at how long I lasted, even if I wasn't a fast hiker. It's weird, but I had a different sort of appetite at Yosemite than I have back home. At home I get hungry quite often and I end up eating too much (better keep me away from the almond crunch!), but at Yosemite I sometimes lose my appetite, while at other times I am just moderately hungry, and don't eat very much, but it's enough. And I had to eat celery, which I never ate back home (it's not too bad, I guess, I always thought it must be terrible since people eat it with PEANUT BUTTER and I'm allergic to that). All this exercise made me lose some weight and made me feel better about myself since I could eat more and know I would burn it off, so I wouldn't have to worry about rationing myself (which I've been doing unsuccessfully, I always end up with too much food in one way or another. Eating is something of comfort, after all).

When I got back home, I realized how little exercise I do in comparison. In Yosemite, we might stop once in a while, but other than that we spend a lot of time standing or walking or climbing up something. At home, I am indoors a lot, sitting down, doing some work that requires me to stare closely at something, rather than getting natural light, which is better for my retina or something like that (I can't say I know the specifics about eyes, so don't ask me). And I actually eat more at home, or at least it feels like that. I wish I could always live the kind of lifestyle I had in Yosemite, being active, and being in the outdoors. That's where we are all supposed to be, but us humans have built walls around ourselves, put roofs over our heads, surrounded ourselves with technology to make our lives easier. In some ways this is good and in others it is quite saddening.

I hope that I never forget the experiences I had at Yosemite. I think it may have been one of the only times I ever really got close to nature. One day, when we were hiking at nighttime, a chaperone told us all to turn off our flashlights, be quiet, and stand still. We looked up at the sky, and it was amazing. The sky was really dark, and it was speckled with beautiful white stars. I have never seen so many stars at one time in my life, because in the town where I live, you can't see so many of them (unless you go out late at night, which I don't; in Yosemite it was only maybe 9 pm when you could see all those stars). Humans have affected the world so much that it becomes harder to see stars, but at least now I know there are still havens, still precious places where you can see night the way it is supposed to be seen.

I'd like to get a telescope. With one, I could take a much closer look at the night skies. I have heard that there are times when you can see other planets, such as Venus, and I want to try that. And there's eclipses, too; I didn't pay all much attention to them in the past. But now I think I'd like to see one sometime.

There are so many marvelous spectacles I have yet to witness in the world. I wonder if I will ever get the chance to see them all. I once heard that there were two people who were hospitalized because of problems with their noses. One had his/her problem fixed, and left the hospital. The other had some sort of terminal illness, so he/she traveled and did things that the other person didn't do (and probably never would). Sometimes you have to realize how little time you really have left on the Earth to make full use of it.

Labels: appetite, backpack, change, eating, health, humans, indoor, life, lifestyle, nature, night, outdoor, pronunciation, shower, skin, sky, stars, time, weight, yosemite

That is French for "Circus of the Sun". It's really a lovely name. And I think the performances are lovely too.

While I was in Las Vegas, my family saw a show, the KÀ. It's a wild and exciting show, but at times also peaceful or comical. KÀ can be seen in the hotel/casino MGM Grand.

This is the second performing arts show that I've seen in Las Vegas that cost money to see. The first one I saw was Le Rêve, which is not part of the Cirque du Soleil (Cirque du Soleil has several shows, such as the O, Mystère, The Beatles Love, and I heard there's a new one, Viva Elvis). I think Le Rêve was a good show too. But it's a pretty different experience from KÀ. For one thing, Le Rêve has water, while KÀ has fire.

I don't want to spoil much of the KÀ for you, so I'll only talk about one part of it. There is this one scene where a prince and another guy are making shadows. It's pretty cool. They formed various animals with their hands. I'm talking about something like this (click here!). I'd like to try doing that sometime. I'm not really great with any kind of puppets, not to mention doing shadow puppets. (But I probably haven't tried enough to find out anyways.)

It seems performing in the shows is pretty dangerous. True, mostly people have lines attached to themselves, so they aren't going to fall and break their necks, but there are a few performers who don't have these safety lines, and they do rather risky-looking things. I've never seen someone mess up in the two shows I've seen, but you never know, accidents do happen...

...like car accidents. There seem to have been several in this area. I've never been involved in one, thank goodness, besides getting scratches on cars (and that's no big deal, since no one was hurt). But there really is death happening, even if you haven't been seeing it, people are dying all the time - and it's so hard for me to realize because none of my relatives or friends have ever died. That's why I have trouble sometimes feeling sorry for people who are starving in other countries. Since I haven't experienced it, I can't really understand it (I'm a seeing is believing sort of person). I might be starting to understand, but I don't know if I'd really get it. (There is, after all, a difference between just feeling sorry for someone and actually understanding their situation.)

I've been realizing lately how time is also passing, though subtly. I was taking pictures outside, and even though two pictures (of the same place) were only less than a minute apart in time, the background (the sky and clouds) was different. That's how fast clouds are really moving on a windy day. On some days, you don't think the clouds are moving, especially since they are far away and it is hard to see their movement, but they really are...

And I'm always stuck with mostly the same people as I move up through the grades. Sure, there are people from other elementary schools added once you're in middle school, but eventually you know those people too, and it's just the same old faces. I sometimes feel people act rather immature and really aren't any different, except maybe being taller, but really, they are changing. And the schools are different as you move up. Some middle school classrooms look like elementary school classrooms, but there are different desks (the kinds with the chair attached to the desk; at first I wasn't used to it and I tried to scoot back, but the whole desk moved). And although I wasn't too excited about having to go to high school next school year because it's only across the street and I will still be with mostly the same people (though I will see more of the older students), there are some changes there, too. We'll get to use lockers (we do have lockers at my school but most people don't get to use them nowadays), and we'll actually get to sit in chairs when we have assemblies. This is a major change. In elementary and middle school, we've had to sit on the ground for the sake of space.

And there is one change that I hadn't thought about for a long time. In elementary school, during recess, mostly the students spent their time on the playground, though some people played on the grass, walked around, or spent time in areas they weren't supposed to me (like me...hehe...I used to make mud things in plastic containers). But once you get to middle school, there's no more time on the playground. Instead, you spend time talking with your friends or studying. I guess you just get used to it. One of my friends has a younger sister who is still in elementary school. Her sister asked, "What do you do during brunch (what recess is now called)?" My friend said, "We just talk..." And her sister said, "That's boring." (Probably seems that way...I mean, back in sixth grade I just read books instead of socializing anyhow.) But I guess she'll adjust to it too when she moves up to middle school. It seems mostly everyone does sooner or later. People just accept the way things are.

Labels: car accident, change, circus, cirque du soleil, clouds, desk, different, KA, KÀ, las vegas, le rêve, people, playground, recess, school, shadow, show, sky, time, understanding

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