I often feel that I am in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some may dispute it, and remind me that I live in the Silicon Valley, the epicenter of the electronic world, not to mention that my neighborhood is one renowned for its school district (and according to my father, who has been to Taiwan, even the people there know that our town is home to excellent schools) and my town is the headquarters of a very famous company. But for me, those are not the things that make a place the place to be.

Only a half-hour's drive away is the city by the bay, the place that Tony Bennett, according to his song's lyrics, left his heart: San Francisco.
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Labels: beach, california, city, confusion, de young, islands, lost, memories, museum, ocean, pier 39, places, san francisco, seashells, silicon valley, surprise, travel, treasure island, tulips

A terribly cliched phrase, but it's true. There has been that kind of weather, last night, and sometime a few weeks earlier. Actually, I was never really afraid of thunder or lightning when I was younger, but this school year, when there was a storm with very loud thunder, I was frightened out of my wits. I don't even know why. It's not like a blackout is really something to be feared. I feel like Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club. Or Nagi from Nyan Koi.

This morning there wasn't a storm, though it was certainly raining. I was woken up at 5 am, which is really way too early for me, even if I don't sleep well on a daily basis. It is kind of exciting, though, driving along a nearly abandoned highway and seeing the water spurting from the cars. I ought to have taken photos of the street lights or a certain bridge in my town that I am quite fond of. But I guess I was half-asleep and too lazy to bother.

Right now I'm at SFO Airport for the bajillionth time (I never started counting, but it's been many times, that's for sure). We're going to Vancouver first, and then we'll change flights to go to Shanghai. It would've been nice just to stay in Canada. But as my grandparents are aging, it becomes more important to visit them, and unfortunately they aren't going to move close to California. It might be easier if my family, instead, moved somewhere closer to China, like Australia...well, that's still rather far, but it's at least closer than California. And Australia's got some of my dad's friends. So we'd be in good company.

It's been two years since I last went to China, and I wonder how much has changed. I'm still wearing the same jacket and I've brought at least one of the same shirts. I haven't grown taller, either. I think that the things that have changed about me are mostly bad things. When I get angry, I swear in my head a lot more often than I did in middle school, and I find that I say "like" too much when I'm talking. I've seen on Tumblr that people turn into what they said they'd never be, and it's true.

While I still have the opportunity, if anyone is still reading this, allow me to announce my 2nd Tumblr! Yeah, one should be more than enough, but I have now made a division - my original tumblr, Serendipity-solstice, is for photography, quotes, and other such things (though not my own photos, that's still on my DeviantArt). The new one, click here for it, is for artwork, mostly anime-style, and it's named after this blog. Just a little tribute to Blogger for sticking with me all this time. (I mean, it has a lot less errors than Tumblr. I'm thankful for that, at least.)

I have no idea if Tumblr, DeviantArt, or Blogger will work in China, so perhaps this is the last time I write until about New Year's time. So, happy holidays to you all, and may the force be with you.

Labels: change, china, haruhi fujioka, highway, internet, morning, nagi ichinose, nyan koi, ouran high school host club, rain, relatives, same, time, travel, tumblr, weather

In the past, I've always found that having to go the airport, check in your bags, go through security, have your passport checked multiple times, wait for the boarding to start, wait for the plane to take off, get a headache or become uncomfortable from sitting too long on the flight, and be unable to sleep...It was such a hassle. I still wanted to travel, that's for sure. But besides getting to see picturesque bird's-eye views (good photo opportunities!), I thought flying was rather troublesome.

It was especially difficult this time, when I was trying to get home from Barcelona after I had finished cruising. We were supposed to fly to London, and then from London to San Francisco, because there is no direct flight from Barcelona to San Francisco. Apparently air control people in France were on strike, so our flight to London was delayed. (I mean, if there aren't enough people working to make sure the planes don't crash into each other up above, then everything gets backed up) This meant that we would miss the flight from London to SFO. We were told to go to Iberia's ticket sales (Iberia is another airline) so that we could find a way back home. (I believe that Iberia and British Airways are part of some alliance of airlines or something like that.) However, we didn't see Iberia's place right away, so we lined up at the wrong place. Then eventually we left that line to go join the line for Iberia. When we got up there, we were told to go to American Airlines and try to check in our bags and get onto one of their flights instead. However, we were told it was too late and they couldn't accept more passengers. I was very annoyed at the time because I believed that if my parents had listened to me and spent more time searching for Iberia's ticket sales, we might've made it in time to catch a flight home that very day. But after a while my anger dissipated. (I still have to work on anger management.)

The lady who was searching for a flight home for us came up with a solution, although it was a complicated one.

Bsrcelona to Madrid, Spain
Madrid to Miami, Florida
Stay overnight at Miami in a hotel
Miami to San Francisco

I thought we might as well take it since I wanted to see Madrid's airport and Miami's airport. But my mom thought it was too much hassle, and plus we would have to stay in Miami, so my parents asked the lady to find another way to get us back to California. Eventually she discovered something that everyone in my family could accept.

Barcelona to Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich to San Francisco

The only catch is that we would be flying the next day. But we took the opportunity nevertheless and looked for a hotel not far from the airport where we could stay that night.

When the time came to fly home, I was filled with trepidation, thinking that some other catastrophe would befall us and force us to be stranded in Barcelona for a longer time, but we did manage to get on the planes without mishaps. I have decided that I like Swiss International Airlines a lot. They gave us some lovely food, like croissants and milk chocolate, and even ice cream on the long flight from Zurich to SFO. I would have been content to stay on the plane forever. I didn't feel particularly airsick, and it was very enjoyable photographing what we saw (like the snowy mountains in Switzerland - I think those were the Alps). Since we were flying west, it was like going back in time. It was as if night would never fall and the daylight would last forever. I haven't felt so peaceable and content when traveling in a very long time. For the first time, I didn't want to go home.

Labels: airport, anger management, barcelona, daytime, flight, food, happiness, hassle, home, iberia, london, missed, options, photography, san francisco, strike, swiss air, travel, trouble, zurich

It's a book by Katherine Paterson, which I read a long time ago, sometime back in elementary school. I don't think I fully understood what I was reading. But I doubt I'll be rereading the book to get another look at it (there are so many good books in the world out there that I haven't read, and I'd like to get to those first).

Well, I am not a fan of Jacob Black from Twilight (or, more specifically, the actor for him in the movies, Taylor Lautner) but I ended up with him on April Fool's Day. On DeviantArt, every user's avatar was replaced with a joke avatar. The possibilities were Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Team Seeker, or Lady Gaga...It was so hard to tell who was who. It goes to show how I rely on pictures to recognize things. It's hard for me to remember so many names.

This week is my spring break. I'll be staying home for the break. Seeing as I had a trip to the Grand Canyon/Las Vegas in February, and a Yosemite trip in March, I think I've had enough of the excitement of traveling. (And it is costly, so I was hoping to save up more money for my retirement by not spending it on travel costs now.) Also, I do have some homework which I need to work on. I'm rather reluctant to do research for an upcoming project because this is supposed to be my time off, but I guess it can't be helped. Work must be done, and someone's gotta do it.

Unfortunately, I had the misfortune of catching a cold, presumably from a student at my school (due to frequent changes in weather, some students have fallen ill). I really hate having to spend my time off sick. Still, it's better than being sick during the school days, since then you either have to miss school and make it up, or you have to go to school and be miserable all day long. Indeed, my history teacher has gotten sick several times this school year and he was always having to spit in the trash can. (Not pleasant to watch. But he said it was either that or he "literally stopped breathing". Actually, I think a few students didn't think it was such a bad idea.)

I was meaning to write more, but it seems like all of a sudden my ideas have dried up, like an old well. I only hope that if I keep typing, my ideas will return to me, and this will not be a waste of your time. (Time is money, and time is what we want most but use worst. So of course you must understand its value.)

Recently, I finished watching an anime called R.O.D. the TV. The ROD part stands for Read or Die (sounds rather disturbing at first, and it is related to the storyline, but it's not horror). I had been reluctant to watch it at first, it being a fairly old anime from 2003-2004. However, I started watching it one time when my mom's friends were over (they had two children) and found it to be more enjoyable than I expected. Sometimes I don't think an anime will be good, but I decide to give it a chance and watch it, and then it turns out to be better than I expected. So you should always try something out before you dismiss it completely since you could later regret not doing it.

Just to give you a bit of an idea, R.O.D. the TV is about three sisters who are paper masters that can control paper. The sisters are supposed to be "bodyguards" for an author, and end up involved in the plans of Mr. Joker and many others, who are trying to revive a great man named Mr. Gentlemen. When I was younger (and I still do this sometimes) I'd often imagine myself with some kind of special power. It's too bad that it never does happen in real life that way. What we think of as magical is often Mother Nature at work. But at the same time we can never let go of any fanciful dreams. (Just look at all the science fiction and fantasy books that are published to this day. In fact, fantasy is a pretty popular genre of books.)

Labels: anime, april fool's day, book, break, deviantart, expectations, fantasy, homework, jacob black, read or die, rod the tv, sick, spit, surprise, teacher, time, travel, trip, twilight, value

I just finished a book called Sisters of the Sword: Chasing the Secret recently. (It's the sequel to a book, simply named Sisters of the Sword). It would take a long time to explain what was happening in the book, so I'll just give you info based on a need-to-know basis. Basically, a girl called Kimi, her sister Hana, and their friend Tatsuya are running away from their training school because Kimi's murderous uncle is there and chaos has ensued. Tatsuya spotted something that he thought was a ninja behind a rock. Here's a part from the book.

"He's not moving," Hana whispered. Her gaze was fixed no the flat rock, where the shadow warrior's head was just visible.
"Perhaps he realizes we've seen him?" Tatsuya suggested. "He knows there's no point trying to hide."
...(skipping a paragraph)
We inched closer, and I saw the shadow take shape. His clothes were bumpy, almost a green color. One more step and I laughed out loud. The shape behind the rock was non ninja. It was a bush, small and round, rooted into the rock!
"Kimi!" Tatsuya motioned for me to be quiet, but it only made me laugh harder.
Tatsuya shot me a furious look. "This is no time for laughing, Kimi," he whispered. "You don't understand how ruthless ninja are."
I grinned back at him. "Well, if that's true, it will be the first time I have met a ruthless thorn bush."

It's easy for a book to grow dear to me if it has some comedy in it. Another book that had an interesting part in it was the book Vive la Paris (unfortunately, it doesn't take place in Paris, but the main character is named Paris). Paris's piano teacher, an old lady, said that they could go to Paris, France, by just walking a few blocks. She took some glasses and scribbled over them with a marker, and had Paris put them on. (Hence the saying about "rose-colored glasses/spectacles", meaning someone sees things in an optimistic light or sees things as better than they really are)

Paris asked if she would need a toothbrush since they would be going to Paris. The old lady replied that they could just buy one later, it was better to travel unencumbered. Paris probably didn't know what that word was, because she thought to herself, "Why would you need a cucumber to travel anyways?"

At the moment, I can't really think of other books I would like to mention for their humor, so instead I'll point out the weather. It's still January, but it seems to be warming up (though it can be cold one moment and warm the next, depending on whether the sun comes out from behind the clouds). I've seen flowers blooming and I noticed some of the squirrels are looking pretty plump (then again, it never gets REALLY cold around here, and besides it would be easy to find things things to bury for when they're hungry in my backyard). I wonder if it's already springtime this year? It seems early to me, but maybe I'm not the best judge of these things.

In French class, we read about flea markets in our textbook, so the teacher talked a bit about markets and she asked us what experiences we had. Several students agreed that speaking English means you'll get ripped off...Their parents tell them not to speak, otherwise they'll be asked to pay a higher price than someone who seemed to be a local. Although I don't like the idea that people are being cheated out of their money because of their ignorance, I guess the shopkeepers have to make a living, and it's easier to fool a tourist. I mean, even if the tourist knew it was a bad deal, they might buy it anyway, because one of the general mindsets is, "I'm on vacation. Since I'm here, I shouldn't waste it. I shouldn't let money stop me from doing things since I won't get that opportunity again soon." (Unless you go to a place pretty often.)

Labels: books, bush, chasing the secret, cucumber, market, maya snow, money, ninja, paris, rip off, rose colored glasses, sisters of the sword, spring, tourists, travel, unencumbered, vive la paris, weather

Executive toys are basically things that people who work in corporations might keep on their desk. These items are nice to look at, or can be used for amusement, or something along those lines. (Note: This is my own definition of it, so I'm sorry if it is rather awkward) The typical executive toy would be Newton's cradle. A basic one is pictured below.

Though I don't have one myself, I think that basically, you pull back a ball at the end (either side should work) and it will hit the other balls, causing the one at the other end to move. I'm not sure how this works but I'm going to guess it's transfer of force. (You should look it up for an explanation, I'm afraid I only have the vaguest ideas)

The executive toy I have in mind, though, is a Galileo thermometer. I had one delivered to my house just recently. It comes with not only a thermometer but also a barometric ball. (Barometers are used to measure pressure in the atmosphere) Basically, it looks like the picture below.

I really like the Galileo thermometer because it is shiny and has nice colors. I am fond of glass and such things in general, since they are shiny objects. Of course, it's more accurate to use a regular thermometer than a Galileo thermometer, but a Galileo thermometer is fun... I guess.

Yesterday, my parents' friends came over to our house. It seems like practically anytime there is a holiday, we'll go to someone else's house or someone else will come to our house. I guess it's because only holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year actually mean the adults get a day off. It's more convenient that way (especially since my mom's friend lives in Pleasanton, California, which is not that close to where I live). My mom's friend would like to go to Yellowstone National Park, and she wanted my mom to come along, but it would be a problem because I get motion sickness from driving so easily. There is no way to fly directly to Yellowstone, so it would definitely mean a road trip. Hearing my mom's friend say it would be hard to manage because of my carsickness made me feel kind of guilty (and also a little exasperated, because it's not like I can help getting carsick!) so I said to my parents, "Well, you can just go without me," after all the guests had left. But my parents said they didn't need to, because they had already been there.

I always get annoyed because my parents have been to places that I haven't. I want to travel all four corners of the globe (not that there are corners on a sphere), but there's still many places I have yet to go. Well, my parents have been to many states in the USA that I have NOT been to, like Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota (and they got their Master's Degrees in North Dakota), Minnesota, Indiana, Utah, Arizona, and Texas. They traveled to those states when I was not yet alive. I feel like I've missed out on a lot.

There is something that has always troubled me, and that is my childhood memories. I am talking about the ones that go pretty far back, as in my toddler years. I don't seem to have any memories of my parents. This is surprising, considered that I was not an adopted child (I'm too similar to my dad for that to be true D: ), and so I must've spent at least some hours of every day with my parents (even if they were both working so I had to spend time being babysat or at preschool). I mean, family is important, so shouldn't I remember them? The only relative I remembered, oddly enough, was my grandma. For some reason I have this memory of her holding me, on a beach in Hawaii, with the sun setting. But although I have photos of my parents and I, I can't remember it at all... The human mind is a mysterious thing.

Labels: adoption, barometer, brain, carsick, executive toy, family, friends, galileo thermometer, grandmother, hawaii, memories, newton's cradle, parents, travel, united states of america, yellowstone

My mother seems to think all the gifts that I pick out are pretty much useless. I missed some of my friends' birthdays, so I figured I should just go get Christmas gifts for them. I went shopping today and picked out a few things. I think the items were somewhat useful but my mom thinks they are impractical, especially because of the cost (though we had coupons, so it wasn't so bad). When we got home, my mother started digging through our old stuff...The main reason for that was my dad's work - they were having a "White Elephant" event. That's where the workers bring in a gift and the gifts are mixed up and handed out to people. Last year my dad brought in a singing bird (not a real bird!). It was a nice thing that we got from my dad's friend's daughters, but we never really used it, so it was better off in someone else's hands.

Anyhow, while my mom was looking through our old stuff she discovered various things we never even touched again, like goodie bags from parties. She deemed it all useless things that money is spent on. I think it's necessary, though, because for one thing, it's good for the economy (especially in these not-so-stable times), and for another thing, it would be really sad if no one got gifts, right? Even if the gifts weren't particularly helpful, or cost too much to be "worth" it, it's still good that people can give gifts to each other. I mean, a gift isn't only something material, it can also make you feel like people do care about you (unless it's a gift that was insulting or showed no thought).

I really am a packrat, though. Sometimes my family tries to clean things - especially the dining table, which gets heaped with newspapers, random scratch paper with math diagrams, food dishes, and the objects that are always there, like the napkin holder. My dad complained about how he wants to throw things out, but I always insist on keeping them, so he ends up having to stash it all elsewhere. Then when we're actually trying to find something we have trouble finding it. But throwing it away seems like a waste to me. It's better we keep our trash out of the Pacific Gyre. (That's a trash heap in the Pacific Ocean, I believe. I heard it was the size of Texas...Talk about scary.) And did you know what I heard once? The two things on Earth that are visible from Outer Space are the Great Wall of China and a garbage dump in New Jersey. Wow.

On to some other news. Today, since I was at a local mall, I stopped by at Coldstone Creamery. It is still, and will remain, my favorite ice cream store. I heard some noise, so I found the source of it...A band from an elementary school was playing Christmas music on a lower level of the mall. I realized that it could even be my elementary school because my band teacher in elementary school was there. I could recognize the music because I had played it myself, several years back. It's so weird not to be playing band anymore. I know I wouldn't be good at a wind instrument because I can't breathe that well (though I don't have asthma), but still. Sure does bring back memories of the old times.

Lately, the weather has been funny. It's quite cold - in fact, my mother said it was ten degrees colder than it usually is (well, at this time of year, in this area, I would assume). It even snowed on the nearby mountains, which was really pretty. It's been either foggy or cloudy these days and so it rains often. The fog makes me confused about the time of day since it covers up the sun. I end up getting up late some mornings because of it (not schooldays, I have to get up as normal then). I also get shocked at how dark it is early in the evening. I suppose I have to get used to it. The winter hasn't even "officially" started yet, I think. So there are still a few more months to go. I figure the summer will also be extreme to balance out the unusually cold winter. Probably it'll be roasting and no one except for those cyclists in matching suits will even try to go outside.

Maybe I should go travel somewhere in the summer, to get away from the extreme weather. What kind of place would have mild weather? I would like to go to Europe - like Barcelona, Spain, or Venice, Italy - and a cruise ship would be preferred, but we still haven't made up our minds. You always need to book these kinds of things way ahead of time so I suppose I have to make a decision so we can go somewhere in the summer. I decided to stay home this winter break, which is rare for me. But I don't want to spend money on traveling anymore because I end up getting airsick, carsick, or seasick from it. XD

Labels: band, christmas, coldstone creamery, elementary school, europe, gift, junk, mall, music, outer space, snow, summer, time, trash, travel, vacation, weather, white elephant, winter

That's what I'll be doing this evening. I was unhappy by the fact that we are flying United Airlines (I like to try different airlines, especially since ANA, the Japanese airline, was cool) and also that the flight is at 11 pm at night or something. That means I have to stay awake all day and then during the night too. (I'm supposed to sleep on the plane flight but I usually have trouble doing that so when I get off I'm dizzy and jetlagged) But at least we get some good seats. It's the kind of seats which are at the front of a section so you can kick the wall. (But you're not supposed to, even though you'd be sorely tempted) Qantas has cheaper tickets right now but I heard one of the Qantas planes had a problem recently and my mom's friend or acquaintance is paranoid, as she told my mom, "It's a good thing you're not flying Qantas! It's not safe!" I guess my personality is constantly changing little by little since some time back I would be paranoid too but now I just care about the money. Maybe I'm getting more selfish. XD And yet at the same time I'm more generous too. Weird.

Last night I had a dream. Somehow, I was back at Kennedy Middle School. My PE teacher was Mr. Robinson again, and I was wearing a Kennedy PE shirt, but my regular pants. It seemed like no one noticed. Mr. Robinson had us line up in two lines depending on our number (which is, in turn, based on our last name, I think) so I lined up in the first line. Most of the students were lazy and tried to line up in the first line even though they were supposed to be in the second line. Then Shiroi Hime (in place of her name) ran by, gave someone a high five, and ran off again. o_O;; Later on, I went to a shop that sold food. I think it was pastries or desserts or something like that. A lot of people were waiting for it, while me, a girl I didn't recognize, and someone who I'm guessing is probably my friend visiting, were at the front of the line. We argued over who should order first and finally the one I didn't know ordered. You could type in your name so then the clerk would give you a small circular badge with something handwritten on it (I bet this is influence from me watching the movie Up...) and I accidentally entered Sydney Grunge Ji. Everyone gasped. I started panicking since I hadn't meant to write that. Then the clerk said something about not knowing anyone who was emo. I was just very confused at the end of the dream. XD To me, when I hear the word grunge, I think of a style of brushes to be used on computer graphics.

I had my hair cut not that long ago. I didn't think anyone would notice because 1) It was during the summer when I don't see that many people I know, and 2) only some small changes were done to my hair. My dad cut it this time, instead of me going to a barber like I usually do. He just cut it an inch or two shorter, and thinned it out, and that was about it. So you can't really tell the difference since I normally put up my hair in a ponytail...Besides the fact that the ponytail is less thick and less short, and that's something that requires studying me a lot to know.

Anyhow, back to the fact that I'll be gone. I'm leaving this evening for the airport and will not return until around...August 3rd? So there probably won't be any new posts from this blog for a while (unless I manage to get on my dad's friend's computer while his kids are at work - it'd be unfair to use the computer when normally they're not allowed to). I bet probably there will be little to no comments because of that, too. XD Well, I hope you all have a good rest-of-July, and I will see you later!

Labels: air plane, ana, badge, blog, computer, danger, dream, grunge, haircut, line, name, PE class, personality, ponytail, qantas, store, travel, united airlines, vacation

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

It is hard to believe I am at home and it is now 2009. It might take a while for me to get used to the passage of time all over again.

I feel really exhausted from riding airplanes so long. This time we rode with ANA (Air Japan) again since they have vanilla ice cream. :p It's Häagen-Dazs and it comes in a little carton. (It's really expensive if you buy it at Shanghai's Pudong Airport, though. Don't buy it there, it's a rip-off. Better deal just to buy some ice cream from Coldstone's.)

We had to go to Tokyo Narita Airport first, though, because ANA only flies to and from Japan. We waited for a few hours for the plane from Tokyo to California. Actually, I got a free upgrade to business class on the Shanghai-Tokyo flight. (That was pretty lucky since it's rare to get a free upgrade. But it turns out they must've run out of seats in the Economy class or something.)

Since we had a lot of free time at the Tokyo airport, we looked at the shops. My dad wanted to buy some mochi for his friend so we went to this place called FaSoLa. (It was all over the airport o_O) Then I bought some Pocky and caramel candy. I got upset when my dad bought the red bean flavored candies. I don't like those but my dad says he needs to give something to his friends and coworkers anyhow.

I was watching Shugo Chara Doki! moments ago since I needed to catch up on missed episodes. I realized that I'd heard the ending song (Lotta Love Lotta Love, I think it was called) multiple times while in Japan. (At least, I say Buono, the group who sang it, performing it on TV) And once I saw the end of a Shugo Chara Doki episode, but it doesn't really matter because I can't understand enough Japanese to not need subtitles yet. XD

My dad went out to buy a few things. We are very low on groceries since we were gone so long. He bought milk...and a battery. But I don't know what the battery is for. D:

It's way too quiet around here, even though there is the sound of my typing and the sound of the anime I'm watching (Asatte no Houkou). I miss seeing my mom, even though she's usually mean to me. (Though she probably has good intentions. Or not.) At the airport I kept looking for her, thinking she was just taking a bathroom break, but it's not true, after all, since she's not here.

Oh yeah, though this is not in chronological order, I fell asleep soon after I came home. I was really tired since I was watching a movie on the plane. (It's a Japanese movie called Dear My Cosmo. It's mostly about a girl and her horse, whose vision is failing.) I woke up around five...By then the sun was pretty far down. I tried to get back to sleep but I gave up and got back up again.

Labels: anime, blah, family, ice cream, movie, shopping, sleep, time, travel

I'm so glad. I think I am going to either go mentally insane or get sick from staying here. (I've starting sneezing and coughing a bit. This is bad. I could've caught a cold from one of the many people in Shanghai. If you've ever seen the railway stations during rush hour...)

Yesterday was an interesting yet boring day. I went to Wuxi, which is a city in China. It is much smaller than Shanghai but still would be a big city if it were in America. There I had to play the good girl for my relatives (I am far from delighted to see them. It means I have to crack jokes, smile, and behave well in general) since my grand-aunt and some others were present. Two of the guys were smokers, and my mom called them a Chinese term for fat.

We ate at a restaurant, I think it was called Skyline Harbor... Or something along those lines. I ordered some noodles, thinking it would be kind of like ramen, but it turned out to be much different. These were dry, big/short noodles. They were still okay but I was much disappointed.

Then we went to visit my great grandma's grave. I have never met her since she died before I was born. My mom had actually lived with her for quite a while rather than with her parents. So my mom was particularly close to my great grandma. (Mom says great grandma is much nicer than my grandma. Maybe that is true XD) We had to hike through some "wilderness" (I was surprised to see it after being in Shanghai so many times) to get to the grave which is just a rectangular stone with a name on it. Plants and dirt were collecting on it. (We just ignored the other graves and went to my great grandma's.) We put out some food and flowers and burned candles and incense. Then we burned fake money (It's a tradition. But a weird one. I couldn't stand the smoke and had to walk off a little ways.) I tried to talk to my great grandma's grave...But I don't know if she can hear me. In China, at that time, the law had been changed so you could no longer be buried, but just burned. So the grave is merely symbolic.

Today I was expecting a relaxing day since the only official plan was to eat dinner with my relatives one last time. But it turned out not to be. In the morning we went to visit my dad at his hotel. My mom and dad talked a lot about strange topics like my grandpa (Dad's dad) being stubborn and not wanting to move to a new house. (Dad and his relatives want to buy him a new place since he is getting old but he might refuse to move to it.)

My parents deciding they wanted to visit Pudong which is a section on Shanghai on the other side of the river. So first we went to look at the river. From a distance it's really shiny and pretty. My dad thinks it's really cool because there are many tall buildings around it. (He likes the city skyline.) But the water in the river is really dirty. It looks like nobody tries to clean it up much. (And the sky was blue today, surprisingly, because it didn't rain...But it was kind of a faint blue, not as blue as California.) And then there was this guy trying to sell us stuff. Even when my dad shooed him off he came back. I guess people can't stop trying if they want to make a living.

We walked for a while (Almost got lost because we're not that familiar with this part of Shanghai) and eventually reached Pudong. I wanted to go into this shopping mall place. It's called Cloud Nine Shopping Mall. (This is really odd because my mom says the Chinese characters written above it mean "Dragon Dream" or something like that, nothing like Cloud Nine.) It had a lot of different shops since it has many floors. Some of the shops are Chinese brands but a couple are ones we know, American/European brands. And there are some restaurants. My parents took a long time just to choose one. They couldn't eat all the noodles. I wasn't hungry because I'd eaten some buns earlier.

I shopped around with my mom since my dad isn't that much interested (Because we are looking for female clothing, not anything he could wear. And he wouldn't let us buy a shirt for him in the first place) and we bought a few things. My mom is kind of worried about the prices of things so I can't buy anything too expensive. Oh well.

Finally it was dinner time. My grandma (on my mom's side) invited my other grandparents to dinner. This turned out not to be a good idea. Not only was I upset at having to be a museum exhibit again but the service in the restaurant wasn't so good. The table hadn't been wiped so we had to wait for a lady to clean it. Then I ordered some sandwiches and they looked nice but they had peanut butter in them (Bummer! I thought it was just ham and egg). My parents bought me a strawberry milkshake but it was lame because it didn't look or taste that much like a strawberry milkshake. (If you want one, I suggest you go to Iceason, the gelato shop, instead.) And my parents say that even if it has nice lights on the ceiling the food wasn't particularly good. (So they don't understand why the restaurant was so crowded.)

Labels: beverages, clothes, family, food, people, restaurant, shopping, travel

While I was in Japan, we went downstairs to visit Hilton Narita's convenience store. They've got Pocky there, ¥165 for a box. It's not too expensive, so I bought a box. It looks like the kind you can get where I live, except for it has some Japanese on it and a cherry blossom pattern. (That's to be expected. After all, the Japanese are proud of their cherry blossoms and their Mt. Fuji, I hear.)

Yesterday (At least, it was yesterday on this side of the globe) was my last day in Japan. We went to the airport and took a plane to Shanghai, China. I was pretty disapointed since this flight was not as good as the one across the ocean. We had a strong headwind so we were a few minutes late, and the lunch they gave us was really weird-looking. The tomato sauce was pale orange! I decided not to eat it. The rice is a putrid yellow color, too. So I just ate the noodles since it looks normal.

My grandpa was there to pick us up. We waited for a minibus to take us away from the airport. Unfortunately, minibuses are not common, unlike taxis, so we had to wait a long time. Finally we got one. We headed to Dad's hotel first (he wanted to stay in a hotel. But he has to stay in a lame, cheap one because Cisco Systems won't pay for it. Otherwise he would stay in Four Seasons) and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment. I was really tired by this point and couldn't recognize it until I went inside. It hasn't really changed except for there being a new computer (which we bought. Apparently laptops are very expensive in China compared to America).

Since there are only two bedrooms in the apartment, Mom and I shared one. I brought my Yoshi stuffed toy with me. (We bought it in Japan. It is small but cute. Mom says it's good quality because it has "beans" inside of it. ...No, I don't mean the gas kind of beans.)

This morning looks quite depressing so far. Everytime I try to visit certain websites I get this message in Chinese and I can't understand it. I guess this computer is designed to block certain websites. But it is really annoying since I can't go where I want to. I'm just lucky that blogger.com isn't one of the blocked websites.

Not only is the Internet depressing (especially since it's mostly in Chinese) but the weather outside is so dreary! It rained overnight and the heater makes noises so I couldn't sleep that well. Also, there are street noises caused by the trees. So I am quite tired. And I'm wearing Grandma's pajamas since mine are in the washing machine. (They are hanging out to dry over the balcony right now.)

The TV is often turned on in this house. Right now it's playing a black and white TV show which is probably an old American one. The problem is, it has a Chinese dub which sounds really ridiculous. I can't tell for sure but this could be The Twilight Zone?! (The show that Mrs. Jackson, my language arts teacher, lets us watch in class sometimes.)

Well, anyhow, I'll try to say something less depressing. Dad is coming over soon and he might be able to fix the Internet a bit. (I tried to download Mozilla Firefox but it's in Chinese, I think, so it's confusing.) He is at least better at computers than the Sun family, which is my mom's side of the family. My mom is still not good with them. She makes weird beeping sounds when she's working.

Adieu for now!

Labels: computer, family, food, internet, television, travel, weather

All those Ss must make me sound like a snake. Or the Sidney guy in the Neopets Deserted Fairground. Think of it whichever way you like.

I am relieved to be able to get on the Internet. I have been attempting to the get the Winter Site Theme on Neopets, which means I need to get on the Internet everyday. But I have apparently missed yesterday's, which makes me sad. :( So I guess I am probably not going to get it this year after all. Oh well. I suppose life does not revolve around the Advent Calendar.

I must talk a bit about Japan. It is interesting since everyone speaks Japanese (but they can understand a little English because they have to learn it in school). It is actually quite dry and cold at this time of year. My skin is so terrible looking. Earlier it was all reddish and my mom was panicking since it seemed like I had allergies. It's better now, but my skin is still extremely dry.

The toilets are the scariest thing here in Japan. They have two types of creepy toilets. 1) The ground toilets. 2) The complicated toilets. The ground ones are scarier since you have to squat to use them. So basically you never "sit down" when you're using them. And then the complicated toilets... They have buttons next to them. Apparently you can do things like "spray" and "bidet". And some toilets even have a button for playing "flushing sounds". Really, really weird. The toilet seats are warm, too. Must be a waste of energy.

At first, the highways also freaked me out. That's because in Japan, you have to drive on the left side of the rode, not the right. And since we're going with a tour a group (called Signet Tours), we have to ride in a tour shuttle, so it feels like you're going to fall off the road or hit the walls.

That reminds me, I should mention my tour guide. Her name is Namiki Mariko (so we call her Mariko). She actually was born in Taiwan, but moved to Japan when she was older. So she knows both Chinese and Japanese. Her voice is scratchy. Actually, I hear she caught a cold, that's why. (She is a chatterbox, so she has to drink green tea to soothe her throat.) She said she hates it when people call her "Monica" instead of Mariko. She gives us all sorts of strange papers, such as maps and instructions and information, about Japan.

So far during our tour we've visited several temples. Before you go in the temple, you have to put water on your hands using these things that look like a cross between a stick and a measuring cup. (That reminds me, beware of Japanese restrooms because sometimes they don't have paper towels, dryers, or hand soap) Then you can go inside the temple. A lot of people throw money into this vent/box thing and make a wish. Apparently this is how temples get enough money. (Besides vending machines, of course.)

Which leads me to say, there are few water fountains to be found in Japan. Since there are plenty of vending machines, if you want a drink, just use those. I suggest getting hot cocoa if the machine has it. (But I guess I just like hot cocoa, because I don't drink coffee or tea.)

Anyhow, back to the tour...We've also been to this big Buddha statue. The statue's eyes are closed and he seems very weathered. (Kind of like the Statue of Liberty.) If you look at him from the side he seems to have a bent back, like an old man. And he has a strange expression (Although I think he is meant to be praying?). I think that's because people keep burning incense near him and taking pictures of him, so he is tired of it after all these years.

We've also been to Mount Fuji. We didn't actually get to go on the mountain but we had some opportunities to snap photos of it. Basically it is a big mountain with snow dumped on the top. It's hard to believe it's a volcano (unless you look at the weird steamy stuff on a nearby mountain). There is a lake next to Mount Fuji and it is very beautiful. We rode a river cruise on it. Two people, dressed up as Santa Claus and a pirate, took pictures with people if they paid.

Since I'm such a glutton, I shall mention food. So far I have eaten at various hotel restaurants, plus a "soba house". For today's lunch we ate at Hakone Hotel's buffet...
- Two white rolls (You are supposed to put sauce, vegetables, etc. inside it but I eat it plain.)
- Noodles (I guess you would consider it spaghetti)
- Fried potatoes (These are salty and rather filling so don't get too much)
- Croissants
- Strawberries (They are really cute!)
- Strawberry Mousse (This counts as dessert. Comes in long thin cup or shorter fatter cup)
- Fruit sherbet and vanilla ice cream combined (It's like strawberry ice cream! It is very good, you should try it.)

Oh, and I shall talk about the hotels we have visited so far. Hehehehe.
- Hilton Narita (Near the airport. Looks fancy although it is actually pretty old, but has been remodeled. Does not have scary toilet.)
- Hotel New Akao (Not actually new, it is 35 years old. XD Has hot springs and view of ocean. You can wear their sandals and kimonos, and sleep on tatami mat. Has a scary toilet. Small rooms.)
- Hakone Hotel (We didn't get to stay the night here, just ate. Very pretty. Has nice shiny bathroom for visitors. Apparently has hot springs too. You can get married here.)
- Keio Plaza Hotel (Fancy place. I hear it is expensive. Has scary toilet. But not bad anyhow.)

Maybe I had better stop writing...Well, hope everyone has a good Christmas and New Year's. :) Over here we have a 17 hour time difference so it's the evening of December 25.

Labels: blah, food, toilets, tour, travel, vacation, weather

I'm kidding, I'm kidding...But I did hear of some disturbing things recently. My Internet Explorer only works sometimes nowadays, and I was wondering why it wasn't working. I think I may know the reason (or one of the reasons) because it turns out Internet Explorer has a big hole in it! So it's easy for people to put viruses and stuff like that into your computer. I was told you should swap to a different server if you use IE, such as Mozilla Firefox (what I usually use), Opera, Safari, or Google Chrome.

Well, I'm going to talk about something else now. (I don't want to start lecturing, because you would never see daylight again otherwise. Unless you use your computer outdoors.) My blog posts tend to be relatively unorganized and you will probably get confused by my jumping from topic to topic...So I apologize if this is hard to understand at times.

Cooking class went okay today. We're making the dough for our cookies. You get to choose between sugar and gingerbread cookies. The sugar cookie dough keeps sticking to the spoon we use for mixing. It's really a hassle but I guess it'll be worth it when we get to eat it. But I think I will end up overeating. (After all, I had a lot to eat at lunch, so I threw away part of it because I was feeling nauseous.)

Though it doesn't affect me at school, I think I might be getting arthritis or something. In the evening, when I'm playing Wii Fit, my knees get stiff and painful, and my back does as well. I think that isn't supposed to happen to a young person, because my mom said she feels it, and she's so much older than me! I wonder if I should see a doctor. (My mom says it's just from "exercising but not trying to loosen your muscles afterward")

I wonder when spring will come...It's so cold my hands are numb and frozen half the time. Even during PE, when you're supposed to feel warmed up, I still feel like I'm in the refrigerator or something. I guess I should wear a jacket and gloves to PE, but that would feel kind of weird. And it's kind of sad that it's really cold but not cold enough to snow...

I hear Japan is even colder in the winter. I don't look forward to that, even though I pretend I don't believe it when my mom says so. (She checked the weather forecast or something. And she listens to her friends' gossip when they have visited a place. They said Princess cruise ships aren't as great as you would think. I wouldn't know, since I've only ridden NCL and one Carnival cruise...) We'll be flying to Japan and going around with a tour group for about a week, then we head to China and visit my relatives. My mom is taking me to see her grandma's grave. Apparently the trains leave early in the morning, though. That's not good.

Labels: blog, cooking, exercise, health, internet, travel, weather

I drank my whole water bottle before the end of my classes in school. Maybe I have to bring two from now on. But it seems like a big hassle since my backpack only has one "pocket" for a water bottle. I suppose I'll have to change to having a regular (not a roller) backpack since my other backpack does have the two pockets I need. Either that, or I can put one water bottle in my backpack (maybe the PE clothes section? There's more room there) and that way I can just take it out when I get thirsty.

It's my grandpa's birthday around now, so my grandma was trying to send an e-card to him. Unfortunately, the website was in Chinese and I couldn't understand a word (I have no knowledge of written Chinese) so I had to ask my grandma about stuff. I figured out the gist of what to do, but that website had a weird system of selecting contacts (you had to click on the person you wanted to send it to from a list of contacts, which I assume my grandma added to the list beforehand) and I couldn't find my grandpa's email on it. I am very frustrated and it would be much easier just to send an e-card in English. I know plenty of places to get birthday e-cards. Even Neopets has them, seriously.

My parents brought home a turkey dinner for my meal tonight. I wonder what made them think of buying that since Thanksgiving doesn't come for more than a week. I guess it's because we'll probably be out of town, at Las Vegas, so we won't have the chance to eat a turkey dinner then. (It feels like I hardly celebrate holidays nowadays. I'm going to be dragged off to China for Christmas, and probably New Year's as well.) Just warning anyone who reads this in advance that I won't be around during vacations, probably. Except for summer, and that's a long way off.

Labels: beverages, birthday, travel

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