You'd probably associate perfume with the scent of flowers, fruit, or even perhaps vanilla. I've certainly never heard of a perfume made from a dead pig fetus.

But that's just what I'm talking about. The smell of a preserved pig is not one that I find pleasant. The first time we had a dissection day at school, I couldn't go close to the pigs for fear of nausea. Still, this past week, I have found the smell of it simply heavenly.

What's responsible for this change of heart? Well, I've been sick with a cold for the entire week (I suspect that I've caught a second one, otherwise I would've recovered by now...But then again, since I don't get much sleep, it probably takes me longer to get better). So it was really thrilling for me to actually be able to smell something. Even with my snuffy nose, the scent of pig came through clearly.

I've certainly gotten more than my fill of animals lately, and most of it's come from French class. We've been studying words about the city and the countryside, and of course, if we're talking about farms, we've got to mention the farm animals. We actually went over the French way to make animal sounds. Pigs go "groin groin", ducks go "coin coin", roosters go "cocorico", and so on. (Ah, if only our tests were on that instead of the usual stuff.)

We learned some expressions, too, and apparently there's a bit of a cow addiction in France. There's a phrase that you use to describe someone who doesn't speak French well, and that's "Il parle français comme une vache espagnole" (which means "he speaks French like a Spanish cow"). There's also the slang word "vachmement", which is used to mean very or really. (If it were literally translated, it'd be "cowly" or "like a cow") Our teacher told us not to get confused; people in France aren't necessarily talking about cows all the time, it's just that the slang's got the word cow in it. Kind of like the English expression "Holy cow".

And not long ago, I was at a pet supply store with my friend because we were volunteering. There are dogs in there up for adoption, and occasionally a dog would get the urge to "mark his territory". Then we had to scramble to get paper towels and a bottle of spray to clean it up. (At least they saved getting rid of solid waste for the outdoors. When I was out walking one of the dogs, I had my first experience with picking up dog poop. Thank goodness you can use a bag to pick it up and not your bare hands...)

All this animal business made me think of something from when I was in Australia. There were koalas at the zoos, and you could pay to hold one and get your picture taken with it. But you have to wear a jacket because the koala could pee on you. o_o;;

Labels: animals, australia, cow, dissect, dissection, expressions, fetus, french, koala, language, noise, pig, sick, smells, sound, sound effect, urine, waste

I usually wouldn't put up a teacher's first name like this, but then again, his first name is already on the Internet, and the title wouldn't work unless I did. (By the way, I've never actually watched Edward Scissorhands, all I know is that it's a Johnny Depp movie)

My teacher doesn't have scissors for hands, but he does have scissors, that's for sure. I was waiting for the lunch bell to ring, and I was standing in the shade of a building because the sun was pretty warm. (The weather can't seem to make up its mind whether to be cold or warm. Get it? Weather, whether? Sorry, lame joke.) Shirayuki no Kimi (SnK for short) is also present.

My teacher went inside his classroom and opened the blinds a bit, then he walked around inside for a while...And came out holding scissors! He held them in a dangerous fashion, too, with the sharp edges pointing away from him. That's not nice. If he tripped he could impale someone with the scissors. In fact, he even made snipping motions with the scissors, which was pretty suspicious, if you ask me.

But then he turned around and bent over the flowers in front of his classroom, and then he snipped off the dead part of a plant and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder. And once he was done with that flower bed, he went over to the one next door and did the same thing.

In the meantime, SnK and I added sound effects every time he snipped something, to make the scene more dramatic.

That reminds me, though, according to the student planner, scissors aren't allowed at school (at least, the students can't bring them). But I'm not sure if that means all scissors, or if that means you can bring the kiddie scissors (the kinds that don't have a metal part, but instead are all one material, and which are hard to cut with). Also, there are some mistakes in the planner, like how the old principal and vice principal's names were not replaced with the names of the new principal and vice principal. I think there are spelling errors as well. I suppose they don't think it's all that important to actually do a good job writing the student planner's content, even though they do think it's important to make us read from it in the beginning of the year. (In fact, we had a quiz on the content of the student planner in my science class)

Something odd happened to me on accident when I was about to type this blog post. I hit the wrong keys on the keyboard. I am using Google Chrome right now to type this (I usually use Mozilla Firefox, but I'm on a different computer so I don't want to log my dad out of his blogger account). Well, then I came up with a window that was something called "incognito" browsing. It said that with incognito browsing, you can use the Internet but nothing you do will be recorded in your history, and stuff like that. And it had a cool symbol of a sneaky guy in the corner. But I decided to get rid of the screen. (I can't figure out how to get it again, though. But that was interesting, nevertheless.)

Labels: browsing, danger, edward scissorhands, flowers, gardening, google chrome, incognito, mistakes, name, scissors, sharp, sound effect, student planner, teacher, weather, whether

Well, not really. I mean, I'm not really doing much, just lazing around doing whatever I feel like doing. But the point is that in a busy office, the phone rings a lot. And it sure does around here...I've been called by a dentist's office, my dad, and my piano teacher this afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if a telemarketer or the library or even my friend who is visiting here calls next...

Recently, Rainbow Ranger (you may have seen her on the Cbox...) came over to my house, and showed me a site called Tetris Friends. It's been so long since I played Tetris that I was enthralled by it. I even tried to introduce my mom to it, because she likes Tetris. The problem is, 1) She doesn't have an account and doesn't want to make one, so her scores won't be saved, and 2) She claims that she is too busy to spend her precious time playing Tetris. I was a little disappointed since she used to want to by the Tetris video game from the Nintendo DS (buying it on your cell phone means you have to pay every month) except that game hasn't been for sale for a long time. In fact, the Tetris video game for the DS is no longer even being made, so it costs more now to get a copy than it did when it was new. Lame.

Oftentimes various things can irk me, and even if I was in a pretty good mood before it can quickly turn my mood sour. For instance, yesterday I was playing Wii Fit, doing an activity called Free Run, which means you can run for 10, 20, or 30 minutes (put the Wii remote in your pocket or hold it so it can sense you "moving) and if you want you can change the channel and watch TV. Normally I watch anime while jogging since it makes the time go by faster and I actually run better with entertainment. However, one time I ran inside to get something and forgot to check Video 3 (I keep my Wii on Video 3, my Gamecube on Video 4, and my DVD player on Video 5...) so I didn't realize it had lost connection. So I ran for 18 minutes without realizing and then I thought I was done with the activity. But upon checking Wii Fit I realized I'd just wasted all that time. I was really mad, but luckily I am working on calming myself down.

From time to time I think about making another website which will work in partnership with my blog, but I'm not really sure. I have no idea what I would put on a personal website. Should I put up graphics? Or stories and art by me? Or should I be writing about news on a site (ex Neopets, just because there's always news there...)? But that all doesn't seem right. Because a lot of sites probably have their own news/announcements section and there are other websites like Deviantart, Photobucket, Image Shack, Tiny Pic, and so on to upload images...And then I end up not doing anything since I'm so indecisive.

At my piano class, my piano teacher now has two pianos in her home, a baby grand and a stand-up piano. The stand-up piano is her own piano, and it's pretty nice...I think it's some European brand and it's pretty shiny, since she only got it a year or two ago. And the baby grand is wooden and old-looking, but it's not hers. One of her students was moving or something and they couldn't move their piano or something like that (not sure, maybe I have the story completely wrong) so now she's moved away some of her furniture to put the piano in. It actually makes really nice sound. I really like opening the top of grand/baby grand pianos, so the sound can really move about. By the way, do baby grand pianos come in different sizes? (Not meaning stand-up, grand, and baby grand, I mean just lengths and things like that) I thought I saw a baby grand piano on an interior design show but I thought it looked smaller than ours. (Maybe it's just my imagination)

Labels: anime, baby grand, busy, connection, decision, free run, games, ideas, multitasking, music, office, phone, piano, size, sound effect, stand-up, tetris, website, wii fit

Do you ever have a situation where you have your speakers turned on...Or, headphones/earphones for the computer on your head, and then suddenly an advertisement makes noise, or some music blasts out of nowhere? This happens to me sometimes, and I always get shocked and practically jump backwards from the computer.

I wonder if my dreams have some sort of meaning. In my dream I was sitting in Mr. Brown's science class, just minding my own business. There were other students and the teacher all there. Oddly enough, I could hear the songs from my blog playlist coming from one of Mr. Brown's computers, but no one seemed to care. (When Mr. Brown does listen to music out loud, it's normally some of sort of country/rock guitar songs.) And that reminds me, the two people I never see in my dreams or childhood memories is my parents... (I have distant memories of my mom, like for example when she took me out of preschool on my last day, but I never see her face. I have to see photos to know what my parents looked like.) Yet I dream of my classmates, friends, and even my grandma. Hmm.

Most recently I was reading a book called Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. She's the author of Number the Stars, The Giver, and Gossamer, if those names ring a bell in your head. I am not particularly fond of Lowry's writing style, but the books do have some meaningful stuff in them, so if you're a contemplative philosophical person who likes to hear about different lifestyles, then you ought to check her books out.

My dad and I were looking at the travel section of our local Mercury News (a newspaper). It seems like cruise ships are still a popular way to travel despite our economy nowadays. My mom thought it was a lie, but I just said, "Cruises are so cool, they stand the test of time and all. Who doesn't like to travel by sea? ...Unless you get seasick, but..." It's been a while since the last time I've been on a cruise and I'm rarin' to go again. I hope we will go on a cruise in the summertime. (This also means less time spent at summer academic classes. Ho, ho, ho.)

I keep trying to get my dad to move the rocking chair to a place where I can more easily access it. He keeps the rocking chair in his room and uses it as storage. (Strewing clothes, newspapers, and what not on the chair) I, on the other hand, want to use the rocking chair, and have to clear away socks and TV remotes before I can even sit on it. I used to have my own rocking chair, and it is still in the living room, but it is not very comfortable because it is so small. (It was easier to use that one when I was young...Sigh.) Maybe I should get a Lazy Boy chair or something. My mom says they're like sofas but you can actually rock it back and forth.

It seems like the squirrels in our backyard have gone rabid again. We are constantly visited by squirrels and birds, and sometimes even an outdoor cat or a raccoon. Two squirrels were running around the backyard and performing athletic feats like rolling and flipping. I guess they like the rain even if my mom thinks it's a hassle and depressing.

Labels: books, cruise ship, dream, furniture, lois lowry, music, newspaper, philosophy, rocking chair, sound effect, squirrels, travel

This morning, we were getting our converter box set up in our house. So this guy in a car came. (In the back of the car was a ladder and some other stuff. I don't know if he used it or not.) He came in, wrote down notes, and talked to some unknown person (via a radio or walkie talkie or phone or something). Eventually the TV signal came back and we have to use a new remote control. We can now see what shows are at what times on all the channels we have. (Well, at least we got a few extra channels from this new box thing, even if we have to pay for it. Also we have faster Internet) My dad was looking forward to digital TV but it turns out you need to buy ANOTHER converter box and pay $7 or $8 a month. Grrr.

And then the other scary guy came. He was in an AT&T truck, and he came to fix our broken phones. Apparently we didn't do something we were supposed to do which caused us to have no phone access. (Sometimes I wish my parents knew more about these things so we wouldn't have to summons strangers in their trucks.)

Since we go to the San Jose - Calabazas and Santa Clara - Cupertino libraries every week, that was our destination when my family got into the car. I accidentally put a San Jose book in the bag meant for Santa Clara books so my mom was really mad (we went to SJ first, then Cup, so we would've had to go back to SJ). Luckily none of the SJ books are due yet so it didn't matter, and I could just return that book next week.

My favorite thing at the Cupertino library is...Well, I like a lot of things. Like that garden that has an open sky. It's basically just a courtyard in the middle of the library but it's nice since there are places to sit and Internet access and some drying-up plants. (I've seen flowers and bamboo being grown before. I wonder if it's still alive. I haven't been to the garden recently because I was busy admiring something else.)

Another thing I like about the Cup library is the machines. Like the newer returning books machines they have. You put the book/media through the slot, upsidedown with the "spine" facing to the left. You keep doing this until you're finished, then you can print a receipt. I like this machine for some strange reason.

And the best thing of all is the...slot machine sounds machine! It's actually one of those machines you use to check out books. It's upstairs on the adult level. When you go up the stairs, you'll see two machines that look alike next to the elevator. Don't be fooled. The one on the left is the one that has musicality (I don't know if that's a word or not, but my Mozilla Firefox automatic spellcheck thinks so). You should use it if the line for it isn't too long.

Labels: books, converter box, courtyard, internet, library, machinery, repairmen, sound effect, spelling, sunshine, television, truck

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