Every afternoon, when school has let out for the day, I walk home, and along the way I try to pay attention to my surroundings. I became somewhat of an expert on the neighborhood - I could tell which house had been for sale (but you could see the house by appointment only), I knew which house had a dog and put up decorations for the holidays, I knew where one of my classmates lived because of I'd seen her go up to a house.

I also recognize some of the people who walk and bike home via the same route that I do. There was one person who caught my attention, a boy who seemed to have an interest in trees. Particularly ones that had parts of them severed off. Once I saw him standing with one foot on a tree stump. At first I thought he was going to tie his shoelaces, but he didn't. He just stood there without saying anything.

And then I saw him again, a few days ago, standing by the fence bordering a house. He had one hand on a round orange shape which I realized was what remained of a tree limb. I somehow got the feeling that it had been painful for the tree. It must have spent a long time growing a nice strong limb and then had it all cut off... It seemed there were traces of some liquid on the place where the limb once was. The blood and tears of the tree.

Friday was the first rally of the school year. It's a gathering of the students of all four grades (or "classes", as they call them. Class of 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) where we basically make a lot of noise and show our school spirit. The freshman class was unfortunately quite lacking. I must say, I couldn't even tell what the juniors were shouting, on the other side of the gym. (They really made a racket, though. They were really good. Not like us freshmen, though I hear that it's always like this the first time.)

It was really uncomfortable to have to keep standing for so long, in a cramped space, and on a hot day. I was feeling really stifled. It didn't help that it sometimes got so loud that one of my ears would get those rustling, crackling sounds (I start hearing things funny in my ears whenever it's loud...But I thought it would be rude if I covered my ears). I was relieved to get out of there. The sunlight and fresh air were more refreshing than they had been for a long time.

I've realized that I don't really like to be pent up inside. I do like to go to class and learn, but it gets tiring being indoors for too long. (At least in Writing for Publication, a class that I'm taking this year, we got to go outside twice, which was a refreshing change.) I was stressed and unhappy for a while when I was at Yosemite, but now I realize that I at least ought to have better appreciated the fact that I got to go to school outdoors, breathing in fresh air, being able to hold snow in my hands, seeing more stars than I could ever count. I think it'd be nice if I could just move to the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of books, and study by myself in the wilderness. So many "what ifs". They never seem to come true.

Labels: boy, fresh air, freshmen, high school, indoors, nature, observation, outdoors, painful, rally, stifling, tree, uncomfortable, walk, yosemite

...For my poor Christmas tree, which perished on Thursday, July 2, 2009. The tree had probably already been dead a long time ago, since it isn't one of those "live Christmas trees" (you know, a small one in a pot which you have to take care of during the year and hopefully it'll grow big enough to be ready for Christmas next time since it's too small to really hang decorations on) but I still feel like it was a funeral. Even though I didn't look at the tree much besides when I'm practicing piano and my eyes are wandering, it still became something familiar in my house. Now that it is gone, there is a lame, regular plant in its place.

The reason why my father dragged the tree outside, rid it of its branches and leaves, and cut it to pieces to put in the Yard Waste bin, was apparently because it was a fire hazard. The tree has been there ever since Christmas, more than half a year ago. It is now very dry and so my parents worried that if we leave the home it could catch on fire and burn the house down. (Our insurance doesn't cover the whole house's cost, so it wouldn't be worth it) And yet even though I never gave the tree a name it was in a strange way dear to me.

I have turned to a bundle of yarn for consolation. Yes, yarn. After reading a book I developed a minor interest in sewing and figured someday I might try it. Maybe in the summer, seeing as there isn't much for me to do during this hot, boring season. I have purchased a bundle of light blue yarn. (We have some other yarn at home but I think all we have is some pink yarn) It is quite soft and I am almost reluctant to use it, but then, it would be nice to learn how to sew. My mom knows how, or at least so she says.

Other things I did today were visit the San Jose library, and also buy a bike at Target. We normally go to the library on Saturday, but seeing as tomorrow is the 4th of July, the library will be closed. As for going to Target, I already have a bicycle, but since I have taken my mom's one, we had to get another one. I used to have a smaller bicycle but I find that the one I usually use now is easier (at first it was hard to use because I was too short but now it's about right). Luckily we have a coupon and besides it's on sale this week. My mom wanted the purple color but they were sold out already (apparently it's a new color and very popular) so we had to get a pink bicycle instead. My mom thought it would be okay to use a male bike but I figured it would be a little weird. Have you noticed the difference between male and female bikes? (Besides how they usually have different colors. Take a look at two bikes or find pictures and you'll see what I mean. That bar thing that runs from under your handlebars to under your bike seat has a different shape.)

Recently I have taken a renewed interest in Ouran High School Host Club. Apparently it has come on DVD to North America and so my mom was lucky enough to find Part 1 in the library (part 1 contains episodes 1-13) so I've been watching it while I exercise, read books, or just when I'm bored. I've been wondering if I should just try harder to find a good Ouran theme for my blog, and then always have Ouran icons. It would be pretty cool and once I did find a nice Ouran theme. The only problem is, with that layout, you can't see the name of the blog title. It's really a shame.

Labels: anime, bike, blog, christmas, danger, death, fire, holidays, independence day, july 3, layout, library, ouran high school host club, sewing, tree, yarn

I can tell, because the poor little guy had keeled over in front of the local high school. I am not sure how he died, but I have a few guesses... 1) He was run over by a car, but someone picked him up and moved him to the side. This might not be true because picking up a squirrel with your bare hands could result in you catching diseases from it. (Animals may not look sick, but that doesn't mean they don't carry bacteria or viruses) 2) Some mean gangsters from the high school somehow managed to catch the squirrel and torture it. 3) The squirrel was in some way electrocuted while running along the sky highways. (My nickname for electrical lines. Squirrels and birds may be seen using them for travel or rest.) Don't ask me the specifics since I am not an eyewitness, and besides I don't remember anything from fourth grade, the year when we learned about electricity. XD

Recently I have been reading a book called Alanna: The First Adventure. It is the first book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, written by Tamora Pierce, who tends to write books that are "medieval fantasies" (or so I call them, as they have things like knights and fiefs and pirates, but they also have magic and creatures) I already read a bunch of Tamora Pierce's other books, like her The Immortals Quartet, Circle of Magic Quartet, The Circle Opens Quartet, and Protector of the Small Quartet. Notice she is a big fan of writing quartets. Also, the books tend to have more heroines than heroes, if you ask me. The lead character in three of her series is female. The other two series, three of the four main characters are female. :o I wonder if it is a coincidence or not.

I felt rather foolish in my history class yesterday. My teacher, Mr. Blair, handed us out an 11 point quiz, which I was very surprised by, and began to panic because I had not studied the paper he handed us yesterday well enough to actually take a quiz. I couldn't remember what the names of the popes who fathered children were, nor could I remember if all indulgences were signed by the pope... So I landed myself a beautiful score of 5 out of 11. Mr. Blair said he would offer us a special deal. Since his candy supply was running low (Apparently, the "card club" kept using it up) he said we could buy points to apply to our grade, if we payed him 25 cents per point. So of course, we all bought some except for a few kids who didn't buy any at all (maybe they figured it out, or they just didn't want to spend money). I bought 6 of them, myself, to fix my most recent grade, but some students bought so many...One bought 20, another bought 47, then one bought 48, and a boy actually bought 88 of them.

What happened at the end of the class was that Mr. Blair yelled at us, "You don't owe any money! You're not getting any points for your grade! If you did the quiz, you get 5 points automatically, it won't hurt you! The point of this activity was to show you that you can't buy your salvation. What I did is just like indulgences sold by the Catholic Church." Then all the realization hit me...I'd seriously thought Mr. Blair was really going to let us boost our grades. D: But then again, one of my friends say he might be fired if he was caught doing that, so I suppose not.

My school has a place called the Nature Center. It is kind of like a garden in a way, except it's more like you're in the wild seeing as the paths sometimes have plants blocking the way. Even though one of the ponds is broken and doesn't have any water, I still think it's a pretty cool place. Why, my science teacher even said one of the reasons he works at my school is because of the nature center! There's many trees, so we got to identify conifers, firs, Douglas firs, ginkgo trees, and various oaks. I had no idea what those wormlike, hard things were before. Now I know those are the so-called "male cones". o_O;; Also, Mr. Brown says that due to a mutation, we not only have purple irises (Iris is a flower) but also white ones. Both are quite pretty even if the white ones may look rather plain in comparison. There's a pair of ducks in the nature center right now, and the teachers are hoping that they'll stay and have ducklings here. If I were them, I would find some other place. Schools are filled with rowdy people, and this is no exception. XD

Labels: books, candy, coincidence, death, ducks, electricity, flowers, indulgence, money, nature center, points, quiz, squirrels, tamora pierce, tree

One of my friends, who I shall refer to as Miyu-chan right now, told me that some people on a website didn't think too highly of me. This is due to me sending a lot of friends requests to people and not necessarily talking to them. (Though it's not easy to communicate with more than two thousand people, if you catch my drift.) Miyu-chan said some people do like me, though. I wish everyone would. It doesn't feel good to have people frowning on you, even if it is just the Internet, after all.

Here's the cooking schedule. At least, some of it. I don't remember Thursday and Friday.
Monday- Prepare Pie (You can choose lemon meringue or pumpkin. Pumpkin is simpler to make and I like it better)
Tuesday- Finish Pie
Wednesday- Sustainable Farming (Whatever that is. It could be a worksheet or a video)

On to some...weird happenings. As I was walking home, I observed several things. One being that the people living in a house have changed their window decoration. They always hang a picture of some sort in the window. For a long time they had a picture of colorful flowers. I like that one better than the new one, which is a snowman and some blue stuff.

Also, I hurt a tree. I saw the pretty white blossoms and buds and decided it would make a good addition to the ikebana arrangement I'll be doing for homework. But afterwards I felt bad because the tree might be upset and the branch will eventually die anyhow. Still, I could just say "It's for a worthy cause", even though I only half believe it.

I hope my history teacher doesn't lose his teaching credential. I heard that doing a certain activity makes it a possibility. We did the said activity today in class. It was supposed to teach us about population density. We started off with Australia. It's not a densely populated place and people usually live on the coastline. (Sydney the city is on the east side.) So Mr. Blair said you could go do nude sunbathing or whatever in Australia, and you might never get seen. (Yeah, disturbing example, but that's our class.) Then we went on to the United States. AV, who was the one Mr. Blair asked if he would nude sunbathe, settled down in the Arizona region, since he is cheering for the Cardinals. Mr. Blair said he couldn't do his sunbathing there since old ladies would come with their binoculars. (Apparently old people get arthritis and move to warm places like Arizona. So people laughed at poor AV since a lot of elderly folks live there.)

Oh yes, before I end this post...Japan was very densely populated. Mr. Blair tried to teach us this by putting one desk in the middle of the room. Then he wanted us to fit as many people as possible on the desk. (Standing on the desk or the legs. You can't have your feet touch the floor) That was dangerous since we did pretty well until a bunch of kids fell off the desk and one of them hurt her leg. We got a max of 14 people onto a desk. I heard the next class managed 16 or 17. We've been beat there.

Labels: art, cooking, flowers, friends, homework, internet, population, reputation, teacher, tree, walk, window

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