It'd be more accurate to say cats, since there's many of them. Two of them I've never seen in person; I only know them from the "Lost Cat" signs that have been going up in my neighborhood.

I've seen other cats too recently, and one of the sightings was during PE class. I know that there's a cat who lives near my high school and the middle school that I went to, and I saw it from a distance when I was jogging alongside the fence. (Unfortunately, a few students were dashing towards the cat and scared it off.) The others were ones I saw while walking, in a car, or just standing outside my house - though of course all of them were scared off by cars or by my presence.

I've always wondered if I smell like dogs or something, because cats are almost always hostile toward me. The only time a cat ever kind of liked me was when I was petting one on my lap at Humane Society, and even then, in the beginning, it was trying to stick its claws into me until it finally relaxed and started to purr faintly. Actually, I can't remember whether I'd had an allergic reaction that time. Maybe I wasn't allergic to cats just yet. Or maybe there are certain kinds I'm not allergic to. I did read in an issue of Cat Fancy magazine that Siberian cats are hypoallergenic; let me know if you know other species of cats that people aren't allergic to.

The most recent cat sighting, anyhow, was at a place near where I live. I'm a member of the Photo Club at my school, and when they offered a short "field trip" to a local park (well, it's just a big amount of open land, has hiking trails and a farm and tennis courts, and people like to fly their remote-controlled helicopters), I figured I'd come along. I thought it was quite a nice outing, as I got to explore a part of the neighborhood that I haven't seen for many years (last time I saw the farm was back when I had a field trip in elementary school). Most interestingly, I saw wild birds, like California quails...and even turkeys.

The farm itself had various animals, like ducks, chickens, pigs (they were huge!), and allegedly horses (I didn't see them, but I heard something about horses being there). And there's a cat. I think she/he (still can't tell apart animal genders, haha) was a more popular attraction than the other animals, seeing as kids kept coming over to try and pet her/him. (The cat wasn't overly fond of socializing, though, and sometimes she/he got intimidated and ran into the barn, if that's what you call it) One of my friends, who was with me, wondered why the cat seemed relatively clean despite living on the farm with no apparent owner. I guess cats in the wild learn to take care of themselves pretty well. I do wonder what would happen if we did the same with children. Us humans are funny since we raise children for almost two decades; I've never heard of other animals sticking with their children for so long. Maybe we'd actually fare better if we had to grow up and learn to survive at an earlier age.

Labels: allergies, animals, birds, cat, cat fancy, cats, farm, neighborhood, people, survival, turkey

No, I did not take a trip out to somewhere, though it may look like I have not been updating much lately. This is not the case. Although my previous two posts, "Germ Factories" and "Thick as Thieves", are supposedly posted on Monday and Wednesday, I actually posted them on Wednesday and Saturday. (I wrote the posts, but posted them later, so what shows up as my posting time is actually the time I started writing them. Sorry if that sounds confusing.) I kept on forgetting to post them until I had already turned off the computer.

Recently, at my house, we had a leak in a pipe. Although I was unperturbed, my parents were not happy because leaks waste water. They've been discussing and worrying for a while, and then finally they had to go out and buy a new part for the pipe. While my dad was out buying the new piece, the water was turned off at my house. When I got up in the morning, I tried to turn on the water to brush my teeth, but nothing came out. I asked my mom, "Where is the water?" She said that it was turned off and that if I wanted to brush my teeth, she could give me some water to gurgle with (probably from a water bottle or something D: ). I declined, figuring that my dad would be back soon.

Then I thought of another dilemma. If the problem could not be fixed, I would not be able to wash my hands after I used the bathroom! I began to panic, thinking that I would also be unable to shower and so I would have to get a YMCA membership again just to use their showers and toilets. I used to have a YMCA membership, back in the day when I was still doing swimming, but no longer...It's kind of sad. I hope I still know how to swim sufficiently. I heard we have to pass a swimming test when I get to high school (treading for 15 minutes or something like that).

Luckily, my dad soon returned and I was able to brush my teeth. It was then that I realized how reliant us humans have become on our modern amenities, like electricity and running water and cars. I once read a book called A Time Apart written by Diane Stanley. In this book, the main character, Ginny, goes to a farm designed to be like one from the Iron Age, where she lives and works with other people who are participating in this project. They are going to live like people used to, using the tools and raising the animals of the people who lived back then. It was rough, not getting to wash much and all, but then when there were power outages in other parts of England, the people at the Iron Age farm were totally unaffected. I think that's pretty cool, that living without the complex things we've invented can actually be better than our modern 21st century lives.

This reminds me of something else I read about. There was an article about the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), which used to be part of the main Mormon church but split from it because they still practice polygamy (having multiple wives). The LDS, the main Mormon church, decided to abolish the old tradition of polygamy because they wanted to be more accepted in the world, since polygamy was not looked upon fondly. The FLDS still sticks to the original tradition of having several wives, however.

At first I held a rather critical view towards them, because really, I don't like the idea of polygamy. One man having multiple wives means he will have many children, and I want to prevent overpopulation if it is at all possible. That also means some men won't have wives, which reminds me of what China might turn out to be like (some folks would rather have sons than daughters, so there ends up being more boys, and thus some men will not be able to have girlfriends or wives). However, women in FLDS seem to be more valued since they can bear children, which is interesting, because in some societies women are LESS valuable even though the purpose of women is believed to be bearing children. This means that although the society of FLDS might appear to be a patriarchy, it actually is sort of like a matriarchy. I approve of having a high opinion of women because I am rather discriminatory towards males (Sorry if you are male, but it is true in some aspects).

If your husband had other wives, you'd think that it would create jealousy. One woman said, however, that "I came to realize that this is another test that God places before you - the sin of jealousy, of pride - and that to be a godly woman, I needed to overcome it." I think that's a good way to think of it. I believe you should learn to overcome your weaknesses, and it will make you a stronger and better person. And a few people don't mind, but actually help add a wife to their family. One woman was very happy to have another wife in her family. The new wife is actually her biological sister. She had an unhappy marriage, and so her sister had been thinking, "I knew my husband was a good man. I wanted my sister to have a chance at the same kind of happiness I had." That's really nice of her. I don't know if I could do such a thing, because I am not necessarily the most compassionate person, and I have never had any siblings...

I still personally would not want to have to share my husband with someone, but I think the way of life of the members of the FLDS should be respected too. The children grow up without TV or social pressure, which could be better for their growth, although they may be unprepared for the real world if they ever go out there. I think it would be nice to sing and to worship twice a day. I am an atheist myself, and I've always wondered what it would be like if I had a religion. My parents don't seem all that interested, but I am.

Labels: a time apart, children, electricity, flds, gender, hygiene, iron age, jealousy, modern, mormon, plumbing, polygamy, post, religion, survival, swimming, water, wife, women, YMCA

Sometimes I feel like that, and other times I feel like quite the opposite. There are times that I have the feeling of being on top of the world, like I can overcome anything, and that life is easy. But there are times as well where I feel as if there is so much out there and I am just one person, too insignificant to matter.

I mentioned in a previous post (unfortunately, I can't remember which one it was, so unless you're really bored, don't bother searching for it) that I live in a place where many people are fairly affluent. One time, my language arts teacher (who says she is poor, but I suppose it can't be so bad she must live off of freebies) asked how many of us think about the price of things when we buy them. I didn't mind when I was younger, but over time I started to care about it, and nowadays I don't really buy much for myself (except for a Galileo thermometer, but that's a different story). A lot of people said they just asked their parents to buy something and didn't really worry about how much it cost. I had heard that my town prides itself on having an average income that is quite high, or something along those lines. (Note: That doesn't mean everyone owns a private jet or a beach house in a foreign country, though)

I started to wonder, "Would us kids be able to survive out in the real world?" Well, my parents' friend's son was a student at both UC Berkeley and Harvard, and he said, "The experience you get at the schools is different. At UC Berkeley you're more left to your own devices, but at Harvard you'll be helped along." Basically, even the different colleges may encourage a different level of independence. I have been wondering whether people living a sheltered, privileged life will really be okay when they get out there into the rest of the world. (Well, unless they always live in the same place, or move to a similar place) I mean, there are 6.8 billion people in the world and counting, so there will definitely be a lot of competition - for example, people will fight for jobs, as jobs are not created fast enough to make up for the growing population and the bad economy.

And really, the world is filled with hardships. I don't think everyone can be so lucky to never experience them. Some of my troubles are physical, like when I catch a cold, or sprain my ankle, but most of them are mental. I've always wondered what it would be like if I had a different life. Like if I had siblings...Being an only child, I don't really learn to share or to take care of someone else. In fact, I don't really do chores besides putting my clothes away when they have been washed.

Today, I visited a bridge in my town. It's not a bridge over water, it's simply a bridge over a highway. I think it looks very nice at nighttime, though I didn't visit it at night. I walked there with my dad in the afternoon. There were several people on the bridge. No cars are allowed on it - only people on foot and people on bicycles. The bridge is practically on the border of my town and a neighboring town, so if you cross the bridge, you'll be in a different city. But you'll be in the same school district. There is a high school right next to the other end of the bridge. I would like to be able to go that high school. (The high school I will probably be going to is a very highly ranked one in academic terms, though, and the high school next to the bridge is...not so much) It would be so charming, living next to the bridge and walking across it to go to school. Quite picturesque. Some people would be bothered by the highway noise, but I don't think it would be too much of a problem for me (as long as there aren't too many police chases and ambulances at nighttime).

I wonder what I ought to do. Should I accept my fate, because destiny cannot be altered? Or should I fight against it, fight to change it, and make a life for myself? Is it better to be the blade of grass, which bends but doesn't break, or like bamboo, which prefers to break than bend? Is it better to go with the flow or to make ripples in the water? I wonder about that.

Oh, before I end this post, I would like to explain why I was thinking of fish in the beginning of the post. It was because of something I saw in the December edition of Reader's Digest. There was a complaint someone made to a travel agent. The person said, "No one told us there were fish in the ocean. The children were startled." Wow. I guess there are many different people.

Labels: bamboo, berkeley, bridge, change, college, competition, destiny, feelings, fish, grass, harvard, high school, money, only child, readers digest, spending, survival

It's good to brush your teeth at least twice a day, and even better to brush after every meal. (That's something I don't do, hehehe. I really don't floss enough either.) But what people don't necessarily remind you to do is to brush your tongue. Your tongue gets dirty too, so keep it clean! I remember when I was younger one time my tongue felt uncomfortable or something. It was because it wasn't clean. I forget what was stuck to it... Perhaps toothpaste? But nowadays I just give it a quick swipe so it won't get dirty. Be careful when you're brushing your tongue unless you want to throw up. It's pretty nauseous if you brush towards the back of your mouth.

I watched the movie 2012 over the weekend. It's not really a new movie anymore, but I had wanted to watch it. I actually didn't know much about it - I know it was about the world ending (Apocalypse, is that the word for it?) - but I expected it to be kind of like a documentary. It was actually more of a science fiction movie, I guess. It was very saddening, seeing people die and cities fall and all that, but then the movie ended on a hopeful note. For some reason it seemed very wrong for it to be like that, because the survivors all smiled and (seemingly) had forgotten their loved ones who had perished, the homes that they had lost. It was like the movie made me all panicky and then eventually said, "Oh, it'll all be okay in the end, even if we have to go live on Africa because the rest of the Earth is underwater." It would have made more sense to me for all the people to die, but of course there has to be some sort of a happy ending.

Well, anyways, I was starting to panic because of how horrible it was seeing the cities falling down and the ocean swallowing up the land. The destabilizing of the Earth's crust began in California, because we have fault lines here, thus making earthquakes more likely. So I thought, "Well, we should hurry and move elsewhere, so we can live just a little bit longer than we would here." Because that way, we'd have a little time to say goodbye.

Of course, a lot of people say the world's not going to end in 2012. I'm really not sure. I have a tendency to be paranoid, and besides, I find the thought of the world ending kind of exciting, so I tend to believe it will happen. Who knows, though? We won't be able to find out until it happens.

Oh yes, and before I forget, there was one part in the movie I found really meaningful. It was a scene in the movie showing people in Italy praying to be saved. Then they noticed that the ceiling was cracking. A crack ran along the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel...and separated Man and God! (That famous painting, you know?) You can imagine the shock it caused. It was like God had given up on the humans.

That's why the ships that people boarded so they might be able to live were called Arks. It's a reference to Noah's Ark...The ship Noah boarded along with two of each kind of animal to ride out the storm while God gave the Earth a "fresh start". (No wonder in the movie I saw elephants and giraffes being airlifted to the Arks...)

Speaking of other movies, I was thinking about going to the movie theater sometime. I still have Silver movie tickets left and I haven't used them up. I was planning to see the movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (It's a Hayao Miyazaki film, from Studio Ghibli, and I am a great fan of their work, so I have to see it!) but it's already gone from the theaters. I was really saddened. The other day my mom and I were looking at movies that are in theaters currently, like the Princess and the Frog (which I heard my history teacher took his son to see. Is it good? I might want to see it even if it is intended for a younger audience), and New Moon (which I won't be watching; usually books are better than their movie counterparts, so since I didn't like the Twilight books much, I probably won't like the movies much either).

There's a movie called Avatar that came out recently. I had no idea what it was about so I jumped to the conclusion that it was Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon about the bald guy with an arrow on his head! Wahoo!) Actually, it was about aliens, I think. I really have to stop jumping to conclusions. XD

Labels: 2012, apocalypse, avatar, california, dental hygiene, god, happy ending, hayao miyazaki, movie, new moon, noah's ark, ponyo, sistine chapel, studio ghibli, survival, the princess and the frog, tongue

It seems as if everything is hardy and won't die easily. Back when I went to Alaska on vacation quite a few years ago, I got some free rings which will turn color in the sunlight because of the ultra violet rays. It's kind of like solar energy but used as decoration and not electricity. It was from a store called Del Sol, which can be found in Hawaii as well, not just Alaska. And I think there might have been one in Las Vegas or some other place. You can get t-shirts, bags, and other things which will become colorful under the sun's rays. Anyhow, those rings still work even all those years later. I thought this was surprising. Batteries decay over time but apparently these are still top notch.

I've been reading a book called The People of Sparks. I picked it out for an activity we're going to do in language arts, actually, but that doesn't mean it's not a good book. It's the sequel to a book called The City of Ember. Though some writers have a more sophisticated style than Jeanne DuPrau, that doesn't mean her books aren't meaningful. I'm not sure which book of the series I prefer. (There are actually four books in the series but I haven't read the other two yet.)

In the books, there is something called the Disaster that happened to mankind. People kept fighting over things like religion, food, and land, and there were billions of people and dangerous weapons like bombs and guns and tanks. It got out of control and a lot of people died. Then three epidemics of diseases came and decimated the population further. Only a few were left and some of them went underground to make a city called Ember, which was powered by electric lights. Other people tried to scratch a living on the Earth's surface. One of the settlements was called Sparks. The reason why Ember was started was to make sure there would always be people on Earth. They were given instructions on how to reach the surface, but it got lost over the years until the main characters of the City of Ember found it.

The Ember people and Sparks people joined together since the Ember people had no idea what things were on the surface. (Seriously! They thought "sun" was a word for a floodlight since they'd never seen it before.) They were all weak and pale-skinned and small because they'd lived underground so long. The people of Ember and the people of Sparks didn't get along since the people of Sparks were angry about having to share their food (it's hard to feed your own population, let alone double) and the people of Ember were angry because they weren't getting enough food. Eventually other problems arose, but of course, like most books, it was resolved.

What made me think was how the humans destroyed themselves in the end. I wonder if this could happen to us. Right now we have all these amazing things - air planes, computers, cars, air conditioning, machines to do our work in factories instead of people (well, in China it's mostly people, but that's because of the necessity of providing jobs for so many human beings). But we can't forget what was here before we came while we invent new technology. As said in The People of Sparks, "People find it easier to be bad than to be good. One bad thing leads to another, and worse things happen until a Disaster arises." (Not the exact words, but that's the gist of it.) I wonder if life would go on without us if humans were exterminated, or perhaps it would make a new start again, just like it always does. But what if it didn't? Dinosaurs never showed up after they all died of cancer from the huge meteor that hit Mexico. I guess it's all yet to be determined.

I know this was an awfully long and rambling post about one basic subject. Sorry if this bored you.

Labels: alaska, choice, del sol, future, humans, sunlight, survival, the city of ember, the people of sparks, war

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