That's how I've been feeling, at least up until about now. Having no 1st period did give me a little more time to sleep, though unfortunately the last few days my insomnia has returned and I've been tired all over again. Now that I have a presentation coming up for history class, various tests next week, and a small (but still annoying) project for literature, things are starting to go downhill. But at least I've been finding tiny things to entertain me lately.

I bumped into one of my friends after school the other day and we went over to her house for a while. I figured I'd do some homework, but when she suggested that we play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl, well, the paper and pencils went away and the Wii controls came out. It's been ages since I played it, and for some reason I find it as pleasurable as ever to kick, punch, slash, and blow up other people (or creatures, depending on the character). Guess I didn't have as many temper tantrums when I was younger because I satisfied all my violent urges while playing video games. It eventually got pretty chaotic while we were playing Brawl, though, because we set up a special game in it where all the players were:

- Clear (in other words, transparent, so we were pretty much invisible on stage)
- Flame-breathing
- Flowers on our heads (these flowers continuously make us suffer "damage")
- Super huge It was all I could do just to stay alive. I didn't even know where I was half the time and I died about every five seconds. My friend was quite good at the Special Brawl and survived to the very end.

While I was returning home from her house, I saw an interesting bumper sticker on someone's car. It read:

"Sarah Palin 2012 The world's going to end anyways"
...Well, if it wasn't going to end before, it certainly will now.

And then today something pretty funny happened at lunchtime. A girl was sitting on a bench, just minding her own business, and then two guys ran over. One of them showed her his school photos and said, "This is a scientific survey. We need your response. Are these stupid or sexy? She didn't say anything and went back to doing her homework. The guy holding the pictures said to the other guy, "See? Did you hear that? Sexy!" as they walked away.

There's one thing that really has NOT amused me recently, though, and that's the clubs at my school. Almost all of them have club meetings on Thursday at lunchtime. Since one of my friends already managed to convince me to join the business club she's in, and it meets on Thursday, I am now severely limited when it comes to the clubs I can join. Of course, I could still join the guitar club, gay/straight alliance, and French honor society like I wanted to, but how in the world could I go to all those meetings? Just attend one club meeting per month so I can go to every club? I think that's too much trouble. Thank goodness the photo club meets at brunch and the art club has meetings on Tuesdays, so at least I might be able to participate in those.

Anyways, I feel like sharing some of the music I've heard lately, so here's a recent VY1 song that I've liked a lot.

 

 Oh, and a singer on Nico Nico Douga recently covered the song. I can't decide whether I like the song better when it's sung by a Vocaloid or by a real person.

 

 Also, here's some songs from the band Supercell. I didn't find about "Perfect Day" until recently even though apparently the video was already out as early as March...Then again, I was never really actively following Supercell and only really listened to some of their older songs, such as the Miku songs Ryo composed years ago ("World is Mine", "Black Rock Shooter", and "Love is War") and "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" (ending theme to Bakemonogatari. Has anyone seen that anime? What did you think of it? I've been meaning to watch).

 

 Ryo used Miku again recently to make the song "Sekiranun Graffiti". I have no idea what Miku's doing flying around the sky and what's up with that Niagara Falls type thing, but here, enjoy the video anyways.

 

 By the way, I read somewhere that Nagi, Supercell's vocalist, was actually the Nico Nico Douga singer called "Gazelle". Is that true?

Labels: clubs, gazelle, music, nagi, nico nico douga, perfect day, sarah palin, sekiranun graffiti, super smash bros brawl, supercell, video games, vocaloid

Interpret the meaning of that however you want. I love having titles with multiple layers of meaning. I guess my Writing for Publication class really is seeping into the rest of my life.

Well, one of my friends, thefalse-tto, seems to enjoy being written about, so I suppose I'll inflate her ego a bit more (no offense intended, if she is reading this). She was telling me about how before she'd made a "persona" on the Internet, which means that she basically made a whole identity for herself.

She managed to convince people that she was a 17-year-old boy living in Korea, and she explained that she knew English because you have to learn in there (which is true) and that she knew Chinese because you had to learn another language besides English and Korean (apparently also true; first time I've heard it, but it doesn't surprise me). I think it'd be pretty fun to try doing that myself. All I've done so far is stop showing my gender one or two of my accounts...but then again, I bet they already saw that I was female before I hid it. Or they can tell from the way I speak and the kind of pictures I have on my profiles/blogs/etc.

But then again, maybe not. It might not take much to convince people I'm the opposite gender or that I'm a different age or anything I feel like. I've done it before by accident; when I was in 7th grade, people on a forum I used to visit said they thought I was in high school or college because I apparently sounded mature (well, most people speak with tons of smilies and chatspeak, so I guess I seem really old in comparison. I don't know about you, but I estimate people's ages based on what they type). And there was a really funny incident many years ago on Club Penguin: Some girl thought I was a guy, so she kept having her penguin make those emoticons that look like a heart is breaking. Concerned, I asked her what was wrong, and then somehow or other we ended up going to my penguin's igloo. Well, eventually I said I was a girl and she said "You lied" and left. I was really flabbergasted at the time, and even angry, because I never said that I was male. But now I just find it hilarious. Isn't it funny how people are trying to flirt using a kids site where everyone is a bird?

Anyways, I don't really like to lie about my information, because I try to live by what I believe in, and also because I've seen lots of people on the Internet say they hate fakers and liars. I am overly concerned about whether people dislike me because I believe that they attack me with switchblades in some dark, obscure alley, or take pictures of me while I'm changing clothes and put it all over the Internet, and other things like that. (Not that it's ever happened, but hey, you never know.) Still, I am very curious about what people would think I'm like if I didn't have much information up. So maybe from now on I'll reveal as little as possible and see what happens.

This is a pretty big change of topic, but it's still got to do with this post's title. Very literally. Because there's a series of video games called Persona, and another friend of mine started telling me about the plot of Persona 4 yesterday. I've certainly seen Persona around before; one time I was on the air plane, and I noticed that the guy in the seat in front of me was playing a video game. Being the creepy, eavesdropping, people-watching sort of person that I am, I stared at it through the gap in the seats to see what game it was. I saw a character that looked very familiar, and then after a while I was certain that it had to be Minato Arisato, the protagonist of Persona 3. (And I was right; I later confirmed it by looking at pictures of Minato on the Internet. Couldn't find out from watching the guy play because his game was in Japanese, I think. I really have to learn Japanese this summer.) My friend says that she convinced her mom to get her Persona 4, which she says was pretty awkward, because Persona 4 is rated Teen in Japan but is rated Mature in America. (Tells you something about Japanese standards for what's age appropriate, game-wise at least, doesn't it?)

What I'm really in the mood for playing, though, is Pokemon. Sure, I have the older games, and I could go back to those, but there's nothing to do except slaughter wild Pokemon (which is like animal abuse, seeing as I don't even need to attack them except to make my own Pokemon level up), since I've already beat the main storyline. I'd like to try playing Pokemon Black or Pokemon White. But I haven't decided which one I want yet...I like Reshiram, the legendary Pokemon of Pokemon Black, but I think it'd be more useful to have Zekrom, and possibly Thundurus, if I ever get that far in the game. It seems, from what I've Googled, that it's easier to level up your Pokemon in Black...? (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I guess Black might be more useful to me because I don't really need those Pokemon that you can get in White but not in Black. (I mean, I checked the Pokemon that are in the White Forest, which is only in Pokemon White, and I have those Pokemon on my older Pokemon games.) If you have either game, please do tell me which you think is better.

Labels: club penguin, first impression, friends, honesty, identity, internet, japan, minato, paranoia, persona, pokemon, pokemon black, pokemon white, pretend, video games

I always seem to be addicted to one thing or another...Such has been the pattern since I was a young girl. Most of the addictions I had were having to do with video games and other electronics.

Anime (which led to japanese pop and rock)
If you count Pokemon and/or Sailor Moon, then I first watched it before I was in kindergarten (I remember watching Pokemon with a preschool friend of mine). I think I was the most aggressive about watching anime during 6th and 7th grade; I kept watching in 8th grade, though not nearly as much. And after going into high school I haven't had as much time for it. But I still managed to get some in here and there.

Pokemon games (which led to other video games)
Started when a friend introduced me to them around 2nd grade or so. I was obsessed up until about 8th grade, where I lost interest for a while, but had a few phases of readdiction to an older Pokemon game, LeafGreen. (Unfortunately, I have since fallen off the bandwagon and I am no longer actively keeping up with Pokemon. All I know is that Black and White are supposed to come out soon, and that there's some dude called N with green hair who seems to be popular.)

Neopets
First played it in 1st grade, made account but never got rich and kept forgetting the password. Finally stuck to one account and worked very hard on it. I did accomplish a lot, but now I don't think it was worth the time because I no longer do much on Neopets (got too busy in high school and didn't finish the most recent plot). Probably not going to pick it up seriously again, but who knows?

Nutrinopets (which led to role-playing and graphics)
Actually was bored by the site at first, but returned some months later and decided to become more active. I was invited to a club, and that's how I discovered the forums of the site. It used to be quite active, but I saw people leave and move on with their lives as time went on. The site went down when I was in 8th grade and it's not here anymore. It's through Nutrinopets that I discovered role-playing, graphics, and my obsession with big numbers, particularly when it comes to forum posts (I had well over 20,000 forum posts, though sadly it's all gone to waste, but I'm glad that I no longer have the obligation to visit the site).

Gaia Online
Another forum; I think I was addicted to this before I got into Nutrinopets, actually, but I didn't stay on Gaia nearly as long. I think that's how my childhood innocence got spoiled. Got my first taste of seeing lots of swearing and more inappropriate stuff. -_-;; Mostly I just liked to make money and get items for my avatar. My account got deactivated because I was too young, and I had trouble getting it back once I did turn 13. I still go to Gaia sometimes, but it's really not that interesting to me. :\

The Sims 2 and 3
I really enjoy things that I can customize and control at my will, so making virtual people achieve things was pleasing to me... (If only it were that easy in real life to become a master chef, buy a huge house, or be friends with with 30 people... Though the third one's already too much work in video games XD)

Crunchyroll
Originally joined the site because they had an anime episode that I was having trouble finding elsewhere on the Internet. Abandoned my account for a long time before a friend of mine encouraged me to become active on the site. I don't have a very positive view of the site anymore (though I haven't completely quit because I'm too attached to it D: ). There's really a lot of people there, though, as well as many talented graphics-makers.

DeviantArt (which led to PHOTOGRAPHY!)
Another site that I was inactive on at first, but later became a frequent visitor. I started out only posting graphics, but then I decided to put up a few of my old vacation photos, and eventually photography became the main focus of my gallery. I'm grateful to DeviantArt because I probably wouldn't have been inspired to get into photography without it.

Youtube/Vocaloids/Nico Nico singers
A friend of mine suggested some Vocaloid songs to listen to (I believe Magnet was one of them; I forget the rest. But Magnet was the one that stood out to me; although it's not my favorite song, I know more of its lyrics than any other Vocaloid song). I knew about Vocaloids from seeing the artwork (particularly on Zerochan.net) and I'd listened to one or two songs of the Vocaloids before, but I guess those songs weren't very good since I hadn't liked Vocaloids back then. I'd thought they were too robotic-sounding and that I preferred "real" Japanese singers. Then I was made aware that there are actually members of the site Nico Nico Douga who make covers of the Vocaloid songs: basically, they sing the Vocaloid songs themselves and put it up on the Internet. They're quite talented and some have actually become professional singers. (Just see Pico, he's even got his own Vocaloid based off of himself now!) Well, you already saw my Valshe spam. I'll probably post more videos of the Nico Nico singers' music in the future.

I've had a bunch of other mini-addictions as well, to series such as Angelic Layer, Sola, Ouran High School Host Club, Pretear, Skip Beat, Durarara!!...and to video game franchises like Harvest Moon, Super Smash Bros...I wonder, will I ever break free from this cycle?

I can already feel myself being sucked into it again. I've seen two websites for the Dollars. It's a fictional group from the series Durarara!! but people have taken it upon themselves to make an actual site. There's a Dollars forum and a Dollars BBS. (If you don't know the password to get in, just ask me or whoever else you know that's a Durarara!! fan) You may realize that many of the sites I frequented in the past were sites with active forums. I've always preferred forums to chatting (chatting is too fast-paced, a bit harder to multitask), and I can't help but be attracted when I see a forum that might suit an otaku like myself.

I probably won't join the Dollars, at least not yet, because of the amount of users (not quite enough...it seems like the size is like Nutrinopets was when it was waning in activity, and I don't really want a repeat of the past). There is another prospective that looks very good to me, Vocaloid Otaku. It's a forum focused on Vocaloids and it's more active than the Dollars forum...If I join, though, I'm bound to get addicted and waste even more time on the Internet, which really is not in my best interests. It's so tempting, though! It would give me an excuse to make graphics (I could make myself an avatar with a matching signature banner). And making new accounts is always interesting for me. I'll hold back for now.

Labels: addiction, anime, crunchyroll, deviantart, dollars, durarara, forum, gaia online, internet, music, neopets, nutrinopets, otaku, pokemon, the sims, video games, vocaloid, vocaloids

Well, I mentioned the butterfly effect in my previous post. In a nutshell, it's where one small thing happens, which leads to another thing, and another thing, and another thing, until a really big thing happens.

Shirayuki no Kimi called me a young grasshopper. I was rather offended and retorted, "I'm not young!" (After all, young can be associated with foolish. Like how in French, it's better to be called Madame than Mademoiselle because of such associated meanings)

SnK: Fine, then, old grasshopper.
Me: Dead Grasshopper.
SnK: Decomposing grasshopper.
Me: Hm...Worm food grasshopper.
SnK: Bird poop grasshopper.
Me: Mom's head grasshopper.
It kept going for a little while until it got to "Juppie's photo grasshopper", "Internet grasshopper", and then "famous grasshopper".

I remember that when I was at Yosemite, there was a pretty entertaining riddle that was shared amongst us. It goes like this: There is another world behind a green glass door. But not everything can go through the door. Here's some examples:

Daddies can go through, but fathers can't.
Kittens can go through, but cats can't.
Veggies can go through, but vegetables can't.
Scissors can go through, but shears can't.
Wheels can go through, but tires can't.

If you've already heard this riddle before, I suppose it'd be pretty easy for you to come up with some examples of what can go through and what can't. But see if you can figure it out if you haven't heard this riddle.

I'm pretty bad at riddles otherwise, though. I usually have to have someone tell me the answers. D: Either that, or the riddles really are that difficult. (But then again, if you know the answer to the riddle it must seem pretty obvious.)

Anyhow, though, I have a lot of things I want to do this summer vacation. Since we're going on vacation in July, it's not a good idea to go to summer classes because I might have to miss some of it to go on the trip (and so it wouldn't really be worth the money paid, eh?).
- Do some painting (I never get around to it during the school year :( )
- Practice on the tablet (Haha, I used it to color one drawing, but that is pretty much the extent of what I've done.)
- Drawing by hand (need to learn to do side views. And work on an eye style, as well as hair.)
- Make an OC - Original Character. Already have two but I want to change their looks a bit. And decide on the last name for one of them.
- Take photographs
- Do a 30-day challenge on EA Sports Active (Ugh. My dad bought another video game on a whim. But this one really makes you sweat...Not like Wii Fit.)

Unfortunately, my mom thinks I should get studying for next year, since there'll be SATs to take and whatnot. But maybe I can evade it, somehow or other. ;)

Labels: 30 day, butterfly effect, challenge, dead, drawing, EA Sports Active, grasshopper, green glass door, OC, painting, plans, riddle, summer, summer school, tablet, vacation, video games, yosemite

Lately, in my science class, we've been dealing with explosives. We learned how to make uranium bombs in class. The process starts with getting ahold of uranium, which can be obtained by digging up ore from the ground, separating the uranium from the...other stuff, and making it into a powder called yellowcake. (Oddly enough, yellowcake was something I saw in the movie Get Smart.) Then the uranium is exposed to fluorine and is heated up to 56 degrees Celsius, where it becomes a gas called uranium hexafluoride. The gas is pumped into a centrifuge, which works like a merry-go-round/carousel... The heavier uranium atoms move to the outside and the lighter ones are gathered more around the inside/center. The lighter ones are the ones that are wanted for blowing things up. They are unstable and more fissionable than your regular old uranium atoms.

The uranium gets put into a bunch of centrifuges (in fact, about 1500 of them) so that it eventually reaches 90% purity (meaning the lighter and heavier atoms separated well and the uranium is easier to blow up), which is considered "weapons grade". The uranium is molded into a sphere which can be put into a weapon...As for actually setting off a bomb, that's not something I know or am allowed to be taught. o_o;; Otherwise we might not have a school anymore if some student was curious or vengeful. I mean, I think I heard someone suggest burning textbooks in the past.

I heard that you can't mention bombs at the airport, or some other place with security. I'm kind of curious what will happen if I do but at the same time I don't want to get in trouble when I have no intention of being a terrorist.

Anyways, we also watched some of a film called Kaboom! made by Nova. It talked about how explosives were discovered and developed over the ages. I hadn't known before that Alfred Nobel had bought a company that made guns or something like that. People thought he was being a hypocrite since he called himself a pacifist but made explosives, which served to kill people. Actually, he was hoping he could make a perfect weapon that would make war meaningless, but that didn't happen. And Alfred Nobel was haunted by the negative feelings coming from other people.

This kind of reminds me of the situation with Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, but he wrote against slavery. This led to people considering him a hypocrite. But if he hadn't owned slaves, and had been an abolitionist, people would say, "You don't get it because you haven't had slaves." So it was either people didn't listen to him or they thought of him as a hypocrite. Not the greatest choices.

I haven't done much exploding in my life. Probably the most has been the typical experiment with vinegar and baking soda. Explosions are somehow captivating but are at the same time so devastating. They spread out so quickly.

Actually, I always think the adventure in the video game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is called "The Subspace Emissary". You'll see a lot of blowing up of areas there. It was pretty fun playing that, actually. I remember I got stuck on a part where you have to figure out where to move and jump or you'll die. I ended up having to look up how to do it on the Internet...Ugh. I try to figure things out on my own at first, but at the first sign of trouble I turn for help (I cheat like crazy in some games, like Starcraft and the Sims). I used to be so proud because I learned how to find my way around web sites and other things all by myself. I wonder if I'm becoming more dependent as I age, not less.

Labels: alfred nobel, atomic, bomb, cheat, dependent, explosive, get smart, guilt, hypocrite, movie, school, science, super smash bros brawl, the subspace emissary, thomas jefferson, uranium, video games

For several years now, I've felt like I have obligations to things that I have started (and later regretted doing so). Mostly it has been websites. I would join a website, perhaps out of curiosity or because of a friend's recommendation, and for a while I might be enjoying myself on the site, but after some time I would grow bored. In some cases the site was not important to me, so it was easy for me to quit going on it. But in other cases, I had spent a long time building up things on my account that I had become proud of, and I didn't want to leave because I was afraid all that hard work would go to waste. And I ended up weaving a kind of spiderweb around myself, trapping me in an endless routine of visiting websites, making it feel like a chore and not something done for fun.

It happened to me with video games as well. I used to brush my dogs in the game Nintendogs every day. I kept them in good condition - they were always in the hygiene state of Beautiful, they were always fed and given water, I took them on walks every few days (to go to the discounted shop to buy dog food, water, and collars), and I trained them until they could easily win the Agility contests (which allowed me to make lots of money). In fact, I earned enough money to be able to remodel my house all the way to the most expensive kind, which gives you a view from Outer Space.

I really didn't want to abandon my dogs because I feared they would run away (they run away if you neglect them too long, and I prided myself on never having a dog run away) and because I thought all the work I had done, every day, for years, would become meaningless. It was only when I had to prioritize my activities (and Nintendogs was one of the ones I decided to sacrifice) that I stopped playing the game. (And anyways, my DS screen was ruined from all the brushing.)

Indeed, I am still playing Animal Crossing: Wild World to this day because of my annoying sense of obligation. I turn on the game once a day in order to water my plants. I have cultivated a vast garden of flowers. I also used to spend much time in making money, which really did pay off, because I was able to expand my house to its utmost capacity. (It has three floors - there is one big room and three smaller rooms on the first floor, one small room on the second floor, and the third is a basement type of thing where my "people" sleep) Always, always, always, I feel like I can't possibly part with these things, however material and shallow they may be, because of all the time and energy I devoted to them.

But I know, with a sinking feeling, that these things must eventually be put aside... The older you get, the less time you seem to have (or at least, you have to spend your time on other matters). And I fear eventually I will not have the time to even water those flowers, that they will all turn brown, and wither up and die, and weeds will take over my town. I am sure this has already happened for other gamers, who have grown bored or simply cannot find the opportunity to play anymore. And I am unwilling to buy Animal Crossing: City Folk, the newest of the Animal Crossing games, because I don't want to become interested and motivated, and then have to give it up - it would sit, collecting dust, like many of my Gamecube and some of my Wii games. I feel terrible now for having wanted video games, when I really don't use them much and they do cost a big chunk of cash. That money could have gone to worthy causes, or even to my retirement, which I moan and sigh over so much.

Eventually, I know I must disentangle myself from the trap I have laid around me. I need to learn the lesson of being able to give up certain things, without worrying so much over them the way I am wont to do. I wonder if it's just a part of my nature and I won't ever be able to overcome it. I really hope that is not the case. It unsettles me to think that things are impossible and that the sky really is the limit.

Labels: accomplishments, age, animal crossing, fun, future, hard work, human nature, letting go, money, nintendo ds, nintendogs, obligation, problem, sacrifice, time, trapped, video games, waste, website

Recently, part of my science homework was to find where the real direction of North was and to mark it on a map of the sky. The North I had originally labeled was not "true North" because I had kind of guessed where North was. (I didn't really know, since I lost my magnetic compass, and my parents only gave me a vague idea of where North was.) So I searched for the constellation of the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major, whatever you like to call it, because you can use it to find the North Star, which is always North or at least very close to it. To find it, look for the shorter side of the Big Dipper and go up (and diagonally?) five times the length of the shorter side, and you should find the North Star. (To confirm it is the North Star, look for the constellation the Little Dipper, or Ursa Minor. The North Star is part of the Little Dipper)

I was unable to find the Big Dipper, since I haven't really gone stargazing for a long time and I've never actually located a constellation before. (Sad, but true. According to the Everybody Votes channel on my Wii, the majority of voters could locate more than one constellation) I had my dad give me a hand finding the constellation. He saw something which he thought might be Big Dipper and showed me. I couldn't figure it out at first, but eventually I realized it was indeed the Big Dipper. And there, shining quite brightly, was the North Star, Polaris.

I think I have underestimated my dad for a long time. He has his uses, even if they're not exactly...the most useful or obvious things. For instance, he sometimes says the phrase, "It's not over until the fat lady sings." (This is not meant to be an insult to overweight people. It's a reference to opera, since there is a woman singing at the end, and supposedly bigger people have stronger voices?) I heard this quote at school, on the announcements. One of the girls' sports teams was not faring too well. I think they lost 7-0 in a game or something. The announcer was saying that they shouldn't give up, and then said the very quote I had heard from my dad not long ago.

Recently I obtained a video game from the library. My library has Nintendo Wii games. I came up with a scheme...I can check out all the games I want and play them on the Wii, and so I won't ever have to buy them, I can just keep requesting them from the library, over and over again. It'll save a lot of money and that will benefit me, as well as the environment (though it means less profit for the game makers, sorry!). The video game was Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. Actually, it was my mom's idea to get that, so kudos to her. Or brownie points. Or whatever you want.

If you haven't played the Harvest Moon games, I'll explain a little bit... Here you can play a boy (or a girl, depends on what game; some let you be both and others only have one). You're a farmer, but you can do other things like fish and mine. And there are other characters you can interact with...You can get married and have a child eventually, too. o_o;; Some of the games sort of have a story, which usually has something or other to do with the Harvest Goddess.

I noticed that there were a lot of similarities when I compared Harvest Moon to Animal Crossing games, such as...
- Being able to befriend villagers and give them gifts
- Fishing
- Receiving mail (you can get mail in Tree of Tranquility, not sure about other games)
- Putting furniture in your house, and remodeling your house
- Using an axe
- The triangle thing (when you're talking to someone, there's a little triangle sometime which shows they have more to say)
- Saving at your house (but in Animal Crossing: Wild World and Harvest Moon handheld games you can save anywhere, not just the house)
- Having a phone (you can't call anyone in Animal Crossing, though. It's just for changing your settings. And it's Wild World only, I'm not sure about City Folk)
- Seasonal changes (the difference is that Animal Crossing follows "real world time", so it's based on what the time of your console is set to)

Unfortunately, I kind of spent too much time playing Harvest Moon and wasted a lot of my weekend. This is one of my problems. You see, I'm afraid to make accounts on websites or buy new video games because I know what will happen...I will probably be addicted at first because I want to explore the whole thing, and then I'll reach a difficult part or I'll lose interest, and then it'll go to waste. D:

Labels: animal crossing, big dipper, constellation, fat lady, father, harvest moon, library, north star, opera, polaris, quote, sky map, stars, tree of tranquility, true north, ursa major, video games, wii

It seems to me that handheld electronics still hold their popularity. A lot of people would like to have a DSi, the newest version of the Nintendo DS. The DSi comes with a camera, and you can edit people's pictures (like distorting them or drawing on them). It also has a shorter charging time. However, I think I heard that it doesn't have a Game Boy Advance game slot. So that automatically crossed it off the list for me. I have a Game Boy Advance, but the screen is very dim and hard to see because it is not the Game Boy Advance SP kind (those ones have brighter screens). I use my DS to play Game Boy Advance games. That is more convenient since you can carry a DS game and a Game Boy Advance game with you just by having your DS, and you can play either depending on what you're in the mood for. Besides, you can take photos with a camera or a cell phone and you could play around with the pictures on the computer.

However, not everyone has the luxury of using the Internet, so a handheld console such as the DSi could provide great entertainment. In fact, even an electronic dictionary would be a novelty. I realized this when my mom mentioned her coworker. Her coworker has a daughter, who has an electronic dictionary. (Actually, it used to be mine, but I never used it anyways, so it has passed hands) Apparently it was a great help to her. I just look up things on the Internet if I need them, but my mom's coworker's daughter isn't allowed to go on the Internet, so she can't just look up things the way I do.

And of course, there are plenty of people who aren't simply forbidden from going on the Internet, but really don't have access. For instance, in Africa, only a small amount of people has access to the Internet. I wonder what it would be like not to use the Internet. I have been using it for years, so I am reliant on it, and it would probably seem slow and inconvenient having to research using actual books (le gasp!), plus I would probably have to actually go outside to entertain myself (another gasp! I am largely an indoor person). The Internet has some good parts, but it also has a dark side - people can get scammed, have their identities stolen, and they can addicted, ruining their eyes and probably making them overweight.

It reminds me of this funny quote I saw on the wall of my math classroom. "Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." I'm not sure exactly who said the quote, but when I searched it up, apparently Oprah Winfrey did... o_O;;

I was, and kind of still am, a video gamer in my youth. My DS has been my "best friend", and my camera is currently, but especially for me, stuffed animals were my best friends. (I mean inanimate objects, I'm not counting people here) I liked stuffed animals better than dolls - dolls are so hard and stiff and pointy, but stuffed animals are squishy and soft and don't have creepy eyes - and I used to bring them to school quite often, back when I was in elementary school. I could play with them after school in the YMCA daycare on the school campus. Those were good times, even if the stuffed animals were dropped on the ground, and thus became rather dirty. I don't think I could bring them to school anymore, because my backpack is so crowded (it's pretty heavy, so I'm lucky that I use a roller backpack in this case), and I don't know what I would do with them anymore... It's always more fun to play with your stuffed animals if you're playing with other people, but I doubt I could easily find someone who didn't think it was silly, and if the stuffed animal was too "distracting", it would probably be confiscated.

The reason why I brought up stuffed animals was because we had an opportunity to win them in science class. We were reviewing our vocabulary words and my teacher decided to have us play Bingo (except we call it Newton). She would say the definition of a word and players would look for the word on their game board. (It's important to know your definitions well so you won't be confused about where to put your bingo markers) The prize for getting 5 in a row was a stuffed animal. She had a few out at a time to choose from. I got a polar bear, though it wasn't my ideal choice of animal, since I didn't really like the other animals at the time. (Sorry! No offense intended) Apparently, the stuffed animals used to belong to the teacher's daughter. I think it's sad to give away your stuffed animals, but maybe my opinion would change when I'm older...I mean, if you don't use your stuffed animals, they're not getting the love I deserve...I really don't know.

Labels: africa, best friend, bingo, camera, convenient, dictionary, duct tape, electronics, game boy advance, handheld, internet, newton, nintendo dsi, polar bear, prizes, quote, stuffed animal, video games

My school's principal is going to become the principal of some elementary school I've never heard of next year. I feel very strange since back in elementary school, our principal also moved to another job in the school district, so then we had to have a new principal. The new principal was not well-liked since she made us wait at the lunch tables to be dismissed. It was pretty annoying, and also, she didn't really solve the problem with trash we have at our elementary school. (Trash isn't everywhere, but there is quite a lot of plastic wrappers and bent forks and stuff like that. Same thing at my current school) Anyhow, I was sort of relieved when I moved to middle school but pretty intimidated too. I had the misconception that several hundred kids where in one big room, with the teacher at the front talking, and she/he had to have a microphone otherwise we couldn't hear. So boy was I surprised to see we had regular classrooms. ^-^;;

Anyhow, back to the principal. In my first class my teacher said there was going to be an important announcement. I thought he meant my other teacher getting married, but nope, turned out the principal was saying that after 7 years of being at Kennedy, he would be moving out. So he played rock paper scissors with everyone and he picked scissors, so I beat him with rock (so did many other kids). Then the principal said how all the Kennedy students rock. How corny. (Note that I usually say cheesy or cliched but I wanted to say something different for once.) Still, I do feel kind of sad. He wasn't a mean principal or anything. Even though where I sit at lunch, we usually block the aisle and when he comes by he tells us to move to the sides, I've never seen him throw a fit.

Right now I am eating a bagel. I used to eat them a lot when I was young, either with regular cream cheese or strawberry cream cheese (I don't know for sure but probably the flavor was artificial). This bagel is oddly sour but still tasty. My school sells them too; however, I usually don't trust the school food. Nowadays at the place I get lunch, they have small pretzels (no, not the crunchy kind that is like chips). I tried them but they taste disgusting unless you dip it in sauce or eat it with seaweed. (Someday I will patent my new invention, seaweed pretzels!)

I feel like playing Dance Dance Revolution nowadays. I only have the Mario Mix kind at my house, which is not that good since all the songs are, well, Mario game songs. Still, playing DDR is fun. I just have trouble stepping back. (You know, the arrow that points downward.) If you don't know what DDR are is, here's a quick rundown. It's a game that is basically stepping on parts of a mat to the beat of music. When a moving arrow is overlapping exactly with the nonmoving arrows near the top of the screen, you step on the mat. (There are arrows on the mat, too, to help you out.) Hard to explain so you should just try it yourself in an arcade or at someone's house.

My parents' companies are major cheapskates now that the economy is tough and less people are buying their products (Broadcom, my mom's workplace, had a major customer before, but that company has shut down, so people at Broadcom are worried). But I don't think the situation is really bad since at Broadcom, when they finish a project, sometimes they go play lawn bowling. I've only played a simulation on the Internet so someday I might want to move to San Francisco and go to the Golden Gate Park to try it. (There's a wikipedia article about lawn bowling, so go ahead and search it up.) Also, I heard one of Apple's products will use Broadcom chips, and you know how popular all that iTouch, iPod, blah blah blah stuff is. And I even heard that the Wii Remote uses a Broadcom chip.

Anyhow, though, the reason why I say they are cheapos is because they no longer provide water bottles. They used to always have those but now they only have soda! So you have to get water from a fountain or something. This is annoying since I like being able to carry around water bottles, not one of those weird plastic cups. They should encourage people to drink water, not sugar and caffeine (my definition of soda). Otherwise the workers will get all hyper and not be able to concentrate. I heard if someone gets distracted at work it could take them maybe 15 minutes to get back on task completely.

Still, though, my dad thinks my mom's company is the best company in the world (I bet he's the only one who thinks so! Broadcom is so unknown most people have never heard of it, whereas a lot of people in my area know what Cisco is). I mean, right now, my mom came in with a slice of cheesecake. Apparently someone had some leftovers. I guess that's why she works here and not some other job.

Labels: bagel, broadcom, cafeteria, career, cisco systems, DDR, disposition, food, lawn bowling, principal, rock paper scissors, school, seaweed pretzels, surprise, video games, water bottles

That's what I thought when I peered inside the science classroom yesterday. It was almost the end of lunch, so I wanted to see if the classroom was open yet. Surprisingly, it was unlocked, and I saw not only my own teacher in there, but also the next-door teacher. Both had their laptops and the TV was on. They were watching SOCCER of all things! I didn't know you were allowed to do that at school. (But who knows. Mr. Brown has his own Internet server just in his room, apparently. And he makes food in his beakers.) I backed out quickly and hoped they hadn't noticed.

Mr. Brown shut off the TV once class was getting under way, but later he said he would turn it back on so we could watch the game if we did our work. The game was between Manchester United and Portugal. (Note: Manchester is in England.) There were some guys in the background announcing what was going on. I don't remember their names exactly but their voices are familiar. I know that because of my dad.

My father always used to play this Fifa Soccer 2002 game on the Gamecube until he got a newer version. He always has a Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 game. It's been a long time since he's played them, though, because now he has a Wii and can play Wii Sports or Wii Fit instead. I guess he thinks it will help him exercise. And he can't play a lot of games because he gets motion sickness easily. (I don't, which is weird, but maybe it's because I first played a video game at my parent's friend's house back when I was in kindergarten, so...)

Nowadays my insomnia is getting worse. I usually turn off the lights between 10 and 11 pm, which is pretty late, I know. It wouldn't be a problem if I didn't keep waking up early in the morning. Even though today is late start and I have enough time to sleep in, I still woke up at 7:45 and had to use the bathroom. I couldn't get back to sleep since it was sunny outside. So I wish it was winter again so I could actually get enough sleep. (The problem is, it would be really cold and miserable weather.)

My PE teacher was absent today yet again, so we got a substitute, an intimidating-looking guy who barked at us. He didn't even say what his name was. We had to do this skittles thing (You run to one end of the blacktop, then gallop sideways to the other end, then do karaokes to the opposite end, then skip back to the other end, then run to your PE number). Then we ran a mile, which was no fun because it was kind of raining. But at least it wasn't extremely hot like the weather has been a lot lately. Afterwards we had free time so I joined up with my friends in Mr. Blair's PE class and we played paddle ball, which is like tennis, but we just lower the nets on the volleyball courts to play. One of my friends used her PE notebook to hit the ball, which actually worked somewhat. Anyhow, the substitute turned out not to be scary. He complained about having wet clothes and socks because of standing outside all day in the rain. One of my friends suggested we get him some dry clothes from the Lost and Found, but he said it would be hard to find something his size. And no offense to him, that's true.

My most recent anime is Kamichama Karin. It was depressing in the beginning and I didn't like the theme song that much so I was considering quitting. But after a while it got to be more amusing, especially because the main character is always calling another guy "Something Glasses Guy"! For instance, she's called him "Shopping Glasses Guy", "Crossdressing Glasses Guy", and so on. He always got mad and yelled that he was Karasuma Kirio.

Labels: anime, classroom, glasses guy, kamichama karin, manchester united, motion sickness, paddle ball, portugal, science, sleep, soccer, television, video games

It seems like I can never find the "perfect temperature" today. If I put on a coat, I start sweating, but if I take it off, my allergies/cold seem to get worse. I wonder what to do. (I don't want to use the medical nasal spray my mom keeps in the office since it hurts. It's made of seawater or some other weird substance. o_O)

Right now it's my Staff Learning Day, but it seems like some colleges are having their week of spring break now. I guess they don't have February Break (otherwise known as Midyear Recess) like my school dose. I guess that makes sense, seeing as the purpose of our week off in February is so that kids won't miss a week of school just because they want to be skiing in Lake Tahoe or something.

Earlier today, a man (presumably one of my mom's coworkers) tapped the side of the cubicle (since there is no door to cubicles). I thought he had something serious about work to discuss but it turns out he was bringing my mom an advertisement for a good deal on a vacation to Hawaii! First there was pizza the last time I came here, and now a vacation ad from a newspaper?! Does anyone work at my parents' offices?! (My mom sometimes goes shopping during her lunch break, and my dad checks his email and writes on his own blog...Apparently he has some friends who "look forward" to reading his blog)

Anyhow, I've noticed that my mom keeps two of the apples that I brought her from school on top of her computer. One has wrinkly skin because it's probably rotting inside and the other one looks okay but doesn't feel very hard when you touch it. I compared this to my grandma and my mom. My grandma is old, and has wrinkles and a hunched back, so you can tell, kind of like the first apple. My mom looks younger but she's aging, if you look at the grey hairs beneath her dyed head. My mom was miffed when I made such a comment to her. D:

Now, I'm not sure if y'all are familiar with KK Slider or not, but he's a well-known in the Animal Crossing games (now available for Game Cube, DS, and even Wii). He started out as a poor street musician named Totakeke, but now he's famous. In the Game Cube he sits on a crate next to the train station (pretty miserable when it rains, if you ask me) and in the DS he gets to use the stage in the museum cafe. As for the Wii (the game for that is called Animal Crossing: City Folk) I haven't tried that yet, so who knows. (I want it, and one of my friends who lives in Taiwan said she would get it if I got it and liked it, but I don't know...I mean, I might not have time to pick weeds and go fishing every single day.)

Back to my mom's office. Looks like her plant isn't dead yet. I was surprised seeing as my dad has the "greenest thumb" in the family (which reminds me of an inside joke I had with my friend in Taiwan. She used to live in CA. One day she was bored and decided to water the plants herself instead of turning on the sprinklers. Then the plants died. So I say she has a "dead thumb"). I was reading my planner a few years back, and it said in one of the corners, "Never go to a doctor's office that has dead office plants." I wonder if that advice is sound.

Labels: animal crossing, apple, blog, break, decay, free time, health, kk slider, memories, nasal spray, pizza, sick, simile, ski, staff learning day, vacation, video games

Sometimes I change the background multiple times a day if I'm not pleased with it, and other times I last several weeks or even months until I feel the urge to change it. For some reason I just really like to change the background... But it's really hard to find one that fits my screen resolution, which, by the way, is pretty hard. (My resolution is 1440 x 900)

For some reason I am so thirsty today... Even if I drink water, my mouth and throat feel rather dry. Maybe I'm dehydrated because of the medicine ball mile we ran in class. It's an activity unique to Mr. Robinson's PE class. You have to run part of the lap around the track while holding either one heavy ball or two slightly lighter ones. Then for another part of the lap, you walk (or run, if you like) while holding the ball up above your head, using both hands. You're not supposed to let the ball touch your head, and you can't just hold it with only one hand (unless you have two balls). Then for the rest of the lap, you "side-shuffle". Since you have a partner, you either jumprope or hop up and down the stairs while they run a lap, then you run another lap. So it goes on for 8 laps, making a mile for each.

The ball looks like it is light, but it weighs more in reality. Since I have a lack of arm muscles, I can't really hold it up well, so then I sweated like crazy, kind of like bacon sizzling in the hot sun. Minus the meat part. Since people are very pushy, I didn't get to write down my time on the clipboard until the lunch bell was about to ring, because of it, and had to make a run for the lunch line to see if there was anything left. D: I kind of miss Blair and Nakamura with their lax standards.

Right now I'm reading a book called A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond. It's alright as books go, though it does seem to take an awfully long time (at least to me, because I'm not patient). I don't like to read very long books or watch long animes. Same thing with my mom, but instead regarding Asian dramas. I guess we both like to see different plots and characters rather than have to stick to one for a long time.

I've heard rumors that Pokemon Platinum is going to come out soon...Is that so? I am not sure of the exact date since I forgot about it for several months until I heard about it on the Internet. I have multiple Pokemon games, but I'm afraid if I buy more, I won't have time to play them. XD I mean, usually I'm addicted to a game at first, and then I become bored of it or I'm busy. So I'm afraid I'm not making the most of my video games, hehe.

Labels: background, books, dehydration, desktop, impatient, medicine ball mile, pokemon platinum, resolution, sweat, video games

Nowadays I've been pegging a bunch of different labels onto my posts...So much that they won't fit in the bar you type them into, and you would have to highlight from left to right if you wanted to see how many there were. Or just click your mouse there and keep hitting the left arrow on your keyboard. (If I'm confusing you, just forget it. XD)

Today has been a pretty boring day so far. I woke up, delirious, around 8 am. I was woken up by a need to go to the bathroom which is a sad way to wake up since you won't be able to get back to sleep if it's late enough in the morning. I just read National Geographic Magazine for a while before dragging myself out of bed. I decided to make french toast so I could finish one of my cooking projects. (It's a big hassle having to do homework for my elective. Luckily I only need one more HCP and I'll be done with them for the rest of my life...Unless I join Advanced Applied Arts next year.) It tastes rather eggy instead of sweet, but it's good if you put syrup and sugar on it. (If you use syrup, or even honey, it will be messy, so watch out.) I really hate getting my mouth and hands sticky. It feels like it's hard to clean.

Afterwards I played Animal Crossing on my Gamecube. I just play for some time every week instead of every day on the Gamecube since I really don't have enough leisure time for it otherwise. Lately I've been playing my newest person, Radcliff, like crazy, and since I made him in December I've already fully expanded my house (except for the basement). If you have both games you will notice it is considerably easier to pay off your debt on the Gamecube...Or maybe it feels that way because I have two memory cards and can make money by visiting both. (And I play the DS version every day so I guess it makes me feel like it takes a long time.)

Then we hopped in the car and headed to Saratoga. Sometimes I insist on going there so we can see the farmer's market. I tried some samples of salmon spread and it was pretty yummy. (But my dad says food always tastes better when it's a free sample.) I also bought some apple cider. I usually get my apple cider from a stand called Rainbow Orchards. And I get my strawberries from whatever random places there are. We always sample the strawberries first to see if they're sweet, then look at the price. If it's reasonable and the strawberries were tasty, then we buy it. And of course, since there are cage free brown eggs, we get those. They're cheaper at the farmer's market than at Whole Foods anyhow.

So right now my dad is probably napping and I can't practice piano. I figure I'll go do some Wii Fit to pass the time. I should exercise anyhow, since it's the weekend and I don't have PE. D: I suggest you all do the same, as you are reading this.

Labels: blog, cooking, egg, exercise, farmers market, food, fruit, homework, label, moaning, nap, sleep, video games, waking up

Usually I only do kitchen-related work at school in cooking class... And this is my first time cutting fruit, basically. XD My mom bought some fruit, so we were able to make a smoothie. I cut the strawberries, a banana, and an apple to put in the smoothie. (I only cut one of the two apples we used because I'm not good and cutting and peeling apples.) At first I was freaked out while cutting the strawberries because there was red stuff on my hands. But then I realized it was just strawberry goo.

I basically wasted away this whole Saturday. In the morning I was really tired so I tried to sleep in and kind of succeeded. I got up at 10 am. By then my dad and his friend were gone...Probably for tourism purposes, seeing as the friend probably hasn't been to California much before. My mom says they must've gone to Stanford University and San Francisco...Typical.

After a while, I practiced piano, ate breakfast, and did my usual money-making business on my newest Animal Crossing (Gamecube) account. And then it was practically lunchtime. And soon after, my mom left for the library, shopping, and acupuncture. I was highly disapproving since I think acupuncture is like torture. (I just don't like seeing people have needles stuck in them.)

I played the Sims 2 in the meantime. I really shouldn't have. It was just a waste of time. XD Maybe I ought to have spent that time making a new avatar for myself...But too late now.

I saw something kind of disturbing today. I was planning to do one of my Home Cooking Projects this weekend, since you are required to have a total of six of them by the end of the trimester. So I wanted to do cinnamon rolls as one of my projects. I was looking for yeast at my house, and I found a small packet with yeast in it.

I checked the expiration date...It was December in 1999! Prehistoric thing! I was freaked out and my mom asked if we could use that but I said no way since it's so old.

Apparently, my mom used to have a breadmaker, but she gave it to one of my dad's friends, whose wife loves cooking. So apparently my mom hasn't used yeast ever since she came to California. That must've been before I was born. o_O

Labels: cooking, day, expire, food, fruit, homework, tour, video games

I couldn't sleep all night. I don't really understand what my problem is. I mean, I shouldn't be that stressed. It was New Years yesterday, after all. (And I haven't opened the last two Christmas presents. One is from my mom's friend and the other is from my friend.) But I've decided to save them for a while. Maybe I'll open them tomorrow or Sunday.

Anyhow, I fell asleep in the early morning and slept until about 3 in the afternoon. So I'm still wearing my pajamas even now. I feel better now that I'm awake but still kind of drowsy. I guess I still haven't adjusted back to Pacific time. I only hope I will before school starts, otherwise I'm doomed. (We have two projects coming up now that January is here.) I really need to pay attention because I already forgot most of what I learned.

My dad thinks he is really the nicest person but I don't agree because he's been eating peanuts. Not only do I dislike the smell of peanuts but I'm probably allergic to them. So I shooed him away to avoid danger.

I decided to practice piano this morning since I didn't yesterday (I was just too tired and then it was nighttime so I wasn't allowed to make noise). While I was playing I saw this guy doing karaokes sideways across my lawn. I'm not sure how to explain karaokes but it's like you move your feet in a pattern and your arms swing back and forth. It looks sort of creepy. (But my dad thinks that guy is a professional athlete.)

I finally got to see and talk to my mom. I was planning to complain a lot but now I feel like I'm out of words. Which is bad because this is a rare time I have her to myself. (Usually she's off visiting friends or sleeping because of the 16 hour time difference) It's morning where she is.

Though this is kind of irrelevant, it turns out my grandparents bought me a pencil case...Seems they managed to finally find one that didn't have Mickey Mouse on it. (My mom will bring it back home when she comes.) I'm not that excited but it would be nice to have a new pencil case.

I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team lately. It's not a very new game, I've had it for a long time now, but I hadn't played it recently. I'm not that good at it. XD I went into Fiery Field and died since I didn't bring any Reviver Seeds (they "revive" you). So I lost my stuff, including some berries, glasses, apples, and rocks. And a Friend Bow. (A special item which helps you...make friends. Hard to explain.)

Labels: family, food, people, school, sleep, time, video games

Or so I hope. It was doing better yesterday after my dad figured out what we had done wrong. (It took a while seeing as my dad isn't the handiest at these sort of things. Sorry if you're reading this, dad. But the truth is the truth.) Today it seems a bit messed up. Sometimes the Internet gets stuck. This happened while I was trying to go on Nutrinopets and look for images for RPing (in other words, role-playing. If you don't know what this is feel free to ask on the Cbox.). Eventually I got sick of the Internet's failing to load so I closed it and decided to play the Sims 2. Once I get home I need to install my other expansion packs on my mom's laptop. (I'm going to play it there even though I'd rather have my desktop computer back home.)

Yesterday we did some shopping. We bought two sets of pajamas at a store. They were pretty cheap compared to the USA. (Just who knows if it's good quality or not. My mom says you can't really tell if it's in Shanghai.) We tried to get a new pencil box for me since my old "Hu Hu Cat" one, which despite it's originality, is getting ready to retire. (My grandma insulted it since it's so dirty nowadays.) But most of the stores have ridiculous prices for them. And the selection is bad. I could get a plain ugly one or a Mickey Mouse one. But I don't really want a Mickey Mouse. (They were cuter in Japan. Now my family agrees we would rather buy one there since they are higher quality anyhow.) Maybe I need to try and find one in the USA.

We browsed for clothes in the afternoon. I visited a place called Metersbonwe. (Never seen it in the USA, so I was curious.) It was mostly jackets and what my parents called "young people clothes". I didn't like anything there except for a shirt. The top of it was white and the bottom would be either grey or black. But it wasn't on sale and my mom didn't like the bottom part so we didn't buy it. I debated whether to buy some boots (are they called Ugg boots?) but my dad discouraged me from it since they would be too warm for California.

Later on I saw the same Metersbonwe shop and outside was an ambulance and a police motorcycle. On the ground was a guy who had some orange stuff on him. (I couldn't take a close look because my mom kept trying to drag me away.) I thought he had thrown up and passed out, but my mom says he was actually run over by a car...Ouch. But I guess this is Shanghai so you can't avoid it forever...

...Unless you're me! Hehehehe. In Japan there's some myths about your life. If you go to the hot springs once, you live a year longer. (Two times is ten years, three times is immortality?!) And if you eat an egg with a black eggshell, apparently you add seven years to your life. (I ate two. So I gain fourteen years.) By the way, these black eggs are sold in a shop around Mount Fuji. They're called "Kuro Tamago".

Anyhow, yesterday I visited my dad's hotel. It's called 24K International Hotel...Not that good. If it were me I'd want to stay in Four Seasons, or Marriott. But it looked okay outside. The lobby looked fair enough too. However, the inside was not so good. The hallways are a drab beige/white color and they constantly play this Christmas music in them. The room would've been better if they'd put more stuff on one of the walls, cleaned up the walls, and changed the chair.

We eventually went to a nearby restaurant to eat dinner with my dad's relatives. We ate there last time I went to China. (Actually, since my dad's dad used to do calligraphy for a living...I heard he did the calligraphy for the restaurant's name. So that's probably why he keeps visiting the restaurant.) I didn't eat much because I don't like Chinese food. Mainly I just played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team to pass the time. That reminds me, I should get one of the newer PMD games. And also there is Pokemon Platinum coming out sometime in 2009.

Of course, since my mom's dad smokes, my dad's dad joined him, and the two of them smoked. You could see the smoke rising through the room we were eating in. I was freaked out and tried to run off. Then I threatened them by saying I wouldn't be their friends or visit them if they kept smoking.

Oh, I should say who was at the dinner... My direct family meaning mom, dad, and I; My grandparents on both sides of the family; my dad's siblings which are one older sister and two older brothers; and one of the brothers' wife. My dad's sister keeps calling me an entertaining person. (I am, but it's annoying anyhow.) But she's a nice enough person, I suppose. She talks sometimes, and she said kids are scared of her because she acts stern towards them. And she says my dad is entertaining. (Probably has to do with me being like my dad.)

My relatives gave me a bag with some Adidas clothing in it. (Some relative I don't remember works at Adidas.) I pretended to be really happy but in truth I was just bored and tired. (The shirt is too short for me and the shorts are the kind that some guys at my school might wear. Those guys are talkative and sometimes play basketball. One time they were doing it with a rock and it bounced off the backboard and hit me. They just laughed.)

Ah, well, that's my dad's family for you. Or so I tell my mom, since she doesn't like 'em that much. (Haha, she doesn't like her own parents too much because they're so stubborn. But maybe that happens if you're old and live in Shanghai!)

Labels: clothes, family, gift, hotel, internet, myths, people, restaurant, shopping, video games

Indeed, time is ticking. Christmas will pass in a flash, and then we'll have New Year's next. And it'll be 2009! Which means a long time until the next summer Olympics. (Hmm, and I'll be in high school a few years from now.)

My head was hurting when I woke up, so I just stayed in bed for a while, being lazy. Finally my mom got me out of bed because she wants me to choose clothes for our vacation, and also to cook breakfast (I am doing one of my Home Cooking Projects now since they are due in January). I made some pancakes but left the mess for my mom to clean up. But it's okay because she liked the pancakes. It's the first time we ever made them in this house.

This morning, I saw my dad ironing some of his shirts. I was shocked because I never really see him wearing any of those shirts. All he does is wear suspicious shirts with holes or jackets from Broadcom (which is my mom's company, but the jacket is too big for my mom). And I remember recently I saw my dad using a thread and needle to repair buttons on his shirts. This was shocking too because I have not much knowledge of sewing/crocheting/stuff like that, but HE CAN DO IT AND I CAN'T?! (Dad says he decided when he was young that he would become a person who could function independently.)

Since we're leaving home tomorrow, I decided to open one of my Christmas presents and leave the other two for after I come home. (It's pretty pitiful, but I only have three presents this year. :( ) It's the Sims 2 expansion called Apartment Life. I was happy since I'm collecting the expansions. (So far I have University, Nightlife, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, and my new one.) I've just installed it today and I plan to play it a lot while I have the chance.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World (I have had this game for years and years now, but I still play it to keep my flower gardens alive), I've been trying to build snowmen, since I like getting "payment" for it. But I always either make a snowman with a too-big head, or I can't find enough snowballs, or something. It's such a pain.

It's about time to eat lunch now. I usually eat lunch earlier than this, but I was occupied on the computer. (I had been planning to find an icon for my Blogger profile but I spent too long and I ended up saving a bunch of images to my computer. Hehehehe.) So now I find it's already an hour past noon and my lunch may be getting cold. Better get going.

Labels: computer, family, food, holidays, sleep, video games

One of my friends sent me an email inviting some other people and me to her ice skating show. She would be skating last night, at the ice rink near Vallco/Cupertino Square. Well, my parents took me shopping at JC Penney that time because they wanted to spend this $10 coupon (we are going on vacation so this is a good opportunity) and after I got home I realized I had completely missed her performance! I felt so terrible after that I almost started banging my head on the wall (My friend who moved away, which I shall call E for privacy's sake, does that when she's frustrated). I can't do that since I need to preserve my brain cells. Once you're older your body will start losing its ability to make new cells.

My mom told me about a girl who is my friend/classmate at school, who I will call MC (I have another friend with the same initials, but I don't really know what to do about it...). Apparently, MC used to go to Stevens Creek, my elementary school, but then moved to Portal-Murdock (that was E's elementary school for a few years). So my mother thinks E's friend MC and my friend MC are the same person...Maybe that's why MC and E are a little similar. (Young people are influence a lot by the people around them and stuff.) I haven't found an appropriate time to ask, though. D: It seems like a weird thing to say.

I was playing Animal Crossing on my Gamecube again. It's kind of funny how video games will warn you in the game or in the instruction manual to be careful if you have motion sickness or can't stand bright lights. Some games will totally give you seizures if you stare at it too long. Kind of like Mr. Blair's classroom. (He has his winter holiday lights up...Did I tell that story yet? Yes? No? I'll tell it again. Look at next paragraph.)

One year, a student brought in some Christmas lights. Mr. Blair put them in up in his room. More kids brought lights. The principal heard of it and demanded to know why Mr. Blair had Christmas lights. (The principal at the time was one of those people who believes Christmas is a religious holiday and should not be celebrated at school) So Mr. Blair insists they are winter holiday lights. The principal decides he will visit Room 21 every class period to see if this is true. Every time he picks on a random student and asks him/her what the lights are. One time he picked the wrong person. This girl said "These are winter holiday lights" in a very sarcastic voice. I hear the principal got really mad at that. But he stopped bothering Mr. Blair about it. XD

So Mr. Blair told us we need to remember that just in case. Even if Mr. Ottey happens not to care much. (A guy says he swore when the principal was nearby but Mr. Ottey didn't seem to notice, or just didn't say anything)

If I've already told the winter holiday lights story, I'm sorry! I have memory problems.

Labels: amnesia, classes, health, small world, video games

Usually I write my blog posts in the evenings, but seeing as it is the weekend, it is okay for me to write it in the morning. This way, I won't forget what I was going to say during the day, and then hopefully once people get on the Internet they will already have a new post to read. :o

On my Animal Crossing on the Gamecube, I added a new person to one of my towns. I decided to play as a boy since I already have two girl characters on the Gamecube... I named the little guy "Radcliff". I was going to add an e to the name for flair, but it seems there is a limit to how many letters you can use in a name...Hmph! Anyhow, Radcliff looks kind of odd, because he wears a strange hat that has horns. I wonder where his ears went...Don't tell me those horns are his ears?!

This morning, I made my own breakfast before starting to play video games. Eggs in a Nest is the only thing I can remember how to make (besides Orange Julius smoothie of course) so that's probably the only thing I can cook. Unfortunately it seems the bread got cooked more than the egg part did and the yolk was undercooked. But it still tastes decent and my mom says it's not dangerous to eat undercooked eggs. So I guess I am safe...for now.

My grandma and mom are around, as usual, but my dad was gone. I kept wondering where he had gotten off to. I was shocked to hear that he actually went to an ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC! Those places freak me out because these old man doctors will stick needles into your skin and say it's good for your health. (I heard this couple that couldn't have a kid managed to get a kid after doing lots of acupuncture, but still...)

Gran will be going on a flight back to China later today. I was debating whether to go send her off at the airport and wave at her while she disappears into the abyss. Then I decided not to. If I do go with her she will think I love her a whole lot more than I actually do (especially since last night, when the guests came. The older guest asked me if I thought of my grandma when she isn't around. I said yes, but the truth is I try not to think of my relatives because I have disturbing memories of them. But I have to say something nice otherwise people will think "What kind of kid do they have?!") and she'll get a swelled head and brag to her friends and family and then I'll be expected to be so great all the time. D: And since the San Francisco Airport isn't exactly "close by", I will surely get carsick and bored and then I won't have any appetite.

Labels: blog, family, food, health, video games

Since I have two friends with names starting with M, I have decided to call her "MN". The other M friend will now be "MC".

Anyhow, today was MN's birthday. She was complaining a bit because she is 13 now. Not only is it supposedly an unlucky number, but also this means she is getting old. Not always something you look forward to. I'm just glad my age is a number I like very much. By the way, my two favorite numbers are 12 and 18. They happen to be my class numbers. (What I mean is, in 2nd grade I was #12, then in 3rd grade I was #18, then #12 again, and finally #18 again.)

I went MN's house at 10 am and stayed until 4 pm. It was just A (MN's friend) and me at her party, a very small party indeed. But still good fun. MN showed us around the house and then we played Rock Band on her Xbox 360. I like playing drums but it makes my leg very tired from standing up and having to press the pedal-thing. I am very bad at singing. I didn't get to try the guitar, but I want to if I ever get the chance to play Rock Band again. Anyhow, we also looked at MN's photo albums. A tried to tell MN's three brothers apart. MN says she hates the strawberry cappuchinos from Starbucks because that drink was in one of the photos.

I am currently watching the anime Ouran High School Host Club. (It always takes a long time to type that name...) I already finished watching my most recent anime, H20: Footprints in the Sand. (As expected from me, this anime included both the ocean and the sky, which are two of my favorite things to have in an anime)

Labels: anime, birthday, tour, video games

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