Today's post was inspired by a movie I saw my father watching on the weekend. Naturally, as I am distracted by the things around me, I end up watching some of the movies he watches as well. The movie he was watching was a Japanese movie called Premonition. It's a freaky sort of story about a man and his family. The man was outside of his car and saw a newspaper that said his daughter would die in a car accident because of a jammed seat belt. His wife got out of the car to ask him for help freeing the seat belt. Then a truck came and hit the car, killing their daughter. Some time passed after the event, and the man had more premonitions. Eventually he has the opportunity to change the fate of his daughter. Someone MUST die in the accident. He could let his daughter die, or his wife die, or everyone could die, or he himself could die.

I'm not a fan of horror and things like that, but this movie was quite interesting. It really does show you that there are things in life you do have control over. There are many crossroads that you will reach over the course of your life and you must make the decision which path to take. Sometimes no path is perfect, but you can always try to do what's right, even if you don't necessarily succeed. And sometimes the path is a sad one. For instance, you might fall into a swamp of alligators and be killed, but then other people could step on your body and use it as a human bridge to get safely away from the alligators. (I know that's a gruesome example, but I had to think of something) Sometimes the right choice could be something that harms you, sometimes the right choice harms other people, and sometimes there is really no right choice.

Sometimes, other people and beings are in control instead of you. After watching the movie, I heard a story being read on the radio. It was about Adam and Eve, and the time when they were still in the Garden of Eden. Adam was shown to be a very stupid individual. One time he showed Eve some giraffe feces he found, and he was quite excited over it. Eve was pretty disgusted by it. On the radio, the reader said, "Adam had the IQ of a coconut husk." Eve complained to God, but he stayed silent, so she had to put up with him.

There was a snake who lived in the Garden, and he was watching Eve. He thought if they met, there would instantly be sparks flying between them and they would get along quite well. Actually, Eve saw the Snake and thought he was one of the most repulsive animals she had ever seen. But, as she didn't run away, then the Snake started to talk to her. Eve was very interested in the Tree of Knowledge, which was the only tree that she and Adam were not allowed to eat from. So the Snake gradually persuaded her to eat some, saying things like, "It's not a paradise at all if there's a way you can get kicked out" and "Just a little nibble wouldn't hurt" and "God wants you to have knowledge because then he won't be lonely anymore". Finally, Eve did eat some fruit, and then all the problems started...She realized that she was naked, which she had never really minded before (that was when my dad and I stopped listening, because we thought it would be pretty inappropriate to hear about).

Well, what I meant to show with talking about that was that someone else could be directing what you do, even if you don't realize it.

Speaking of not knowing what is happening to you, we were talking about that in French class. The conversation started because one of the students had his birthday presents stolen from his party. That is really rotten, because it must've been a so-called "friend" who stole his gifts. The teacher says that he ought to lock up his presents right away from now on. You can never be too careful.

Anyhow, the teacher was almost robbed once. She was on an escalator or something, and there were two people standing on either side of her, talking over her head. She was pretty annoyed but couldn't move. Then one of them started trying to steal her bag or the stuff in it. She didn't feel a thing...Luckily, her husband was behind and noticed, and shouted at the pickpocket, who then made his getaway. And there was also a tourist who had his credit cards stolen from his pockets and didn't feel anything either. (It was the front pockets, so that's something) Looks like thieves have some crazy skills nowadays.

Labels: adam, birthday, control, death, decision, escalator, eve, garden of eden, god, life, movie, premonition, presents, radio, robbery, skills, snake, tree of knowledge

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

I know, libraries aren't like radios or something like that. But I was kind of suspicious. This year I joined the Summer Reading Celebration for two libraries, the Santa Clara County Library and the San Jose Library. I just wanted prizes and a chance to suggest books to people (because apparently you have to write a review if you signed up for the teen one). I don't remember whether I did it last year; maybe not, since I don't remember doing it. So I was surprised to see that it's online nowadays and not on a weird map in which you color in pawprints or something like that. I wonder if I should've put 8th grade or 7th grade. Not like it really matters, but I'm confusing since in the summer you are kind of in-between. Also, Mr. Robinson says when you start the school year you are still the previous grade, like if you start 8th grade he says, "You're still a 7th grader for a few weeks, until you kind of grow into it." Oh, and Mr. Robinson doesn't like 8th graders since he thinks they are more cocky, because they rule the school pretty much. (Not that all 8th graders are all like that. But I suppose the ones he knows are.)

Oops, I shouldn't stray too far off topic. What I realized was that both libraries I signed up for had pretty much the same system. The login information you need to give was very similar and the review system is, too. You write a review, rate the boo, and put the book title and author's name. Then you can read other reviews by other people and say Yes or No depending on whether you thought their review was helpful. It's just that at one of the libraries you can add a book to your reading list or something...So I suppose the libraries use pretty much the same system. I wonder if they knew that or if they copied each other by accident. (I mean, sometimes I see the exact same books with the exact same reviews written on both, so I guess I'm not the only one who participates in both summer reading celebrations. Except I write slightly different reviews for each library.)

Anyways. Summer is pretty slow for me so far. All I've really been doing is going on the computer to make graphics and post in forums, or I've been playing Wii Fit or practicing piano, or trying to remember things I have forgotten (like buying someone a birthday present! I was going to get her a book she wanted! I just reminded myself to go look up the price and where to get it). I haven't been sleeping much this summer. I just feel kind of restless and tired. But at least I have been able to find old stuffed animals I thought I lost. Like this red and black snake stuffed animal. He's too fake-looking to be freaky. (Too bad, then I could've startled my dad. I don't think he likes reptiles particularly much.)

Just a reminder to everyone! Father's Day is this weekend. Have you gotten presents for your father? A card at least? If you think your dad deserves a little something, you'd better get moving. Time is ticking. And TIME IS MONEY! (I'm only partially kidding.)

Labels: birthday, books, boredom, family, father's day, gift, growing, library, online, plushie, review, snake, summer reading celebration

Top ↑