If it's Christmastime, how come I don't feel so Merry?

(I'll try and keep this short. I'm on my DSi.)

It's the night before the eve, and I'm lying lazily on the couch. As I lay here, something at the back of my head is irking me, stressing me out. My tension's doing well however.

The Yuletide Log, the festive tree, the decorated house. My house has none of it. Christmas becomes just another holiday. I was just talking to a friend about this too. About how Christmas used to be the biggest time of the year, and you couldn't care less for it. It's a bit sad really. But maybe we've just become sad people.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most is the fact that I'm obliged to get gifts for people, so they won't think bad about me. But wait, are you not supposed to care what other people think of you? The only thoughts about you that matter, are those who matter to you. Unfortunately, I run into errors of the process. 1. I can't drive anywhere, so I go on my parent's schedule, which clashes with my 'feelin' lazy' moments. I also do not want to go leave my house and go outside where it's colder-ish. And 2. I'm short on money. Many factors go into this: I have no job and/or I usually blow my cash on stuff for me, and I don't know how to budget. So I guess the main culprit is gifts. I would love to give, but I usually can't. I'm the kind of person who would just add their name to the tag. Bah-humbug.

But I want to change. New Years and my birthday are coming, so it's time for some resolutions, and I've started a list:

1. Be a better person.
2. Get fit and exercise more.
3. Save up some money.
4. Be more positive.
5. Be less lazy and don't procrastinare as much.

I'll leave it as that. I know that I might have to add more, so this is just kind of a rough draft. Guess I ran out of things to say, so Happy Christmas, and Happy Holidays.

I lied, I have a few more words to say but they can wait after Christmas. I'm just too lazy , but I'm working on it.

The last day before winter break.

The room is filled with sounds, mainly voices overlapping each other. The projector screen is down, showing Up. The tinny voice places over all the chatter. People drink their drinks and munch on their snacks. Music plays from a phone behind me.

It's the last day before winter break, and the people in my Math/Chem classroom are hanging out. In my Humanities room, people who work on their work are present. I just remembered how good a movie Up was.

It's finally time for Christmas, almost. One of my friends got me a foam sword, while my other friend got me This Is Not a Book by Kari Smith. It's awesome, and I still have to do all of them. I did the endurance test, and lasted for 10 minutes since I was fixing my jacket and forgot to hold it over my head. I bookmarked the "conundrum" page, which is always interesting to watch people read it and try and find out what's "wrong" with it.

Finals were a bit of a nervous wreck, but I managed to pull through. Perfect score in Humanities, and I think I missed a few problems in my Math II exam and the Chemistry exam. But that's good enough.

On another note, I think I'm involved in a plagiarism incident. Details when they come about. I know that I was the one copied off of, and I didn't know that person copied. Just when you know a person.

A post in Humanities

I’m in Humanities. With a computer out, I’m too lazy to get out my journal and write in it. Brooke’s talking about what she heard on the radio right now. Something about finals. Blah. Tests are so annoying.
So much pressure is put on these questions, but there is some leverage. I did all my work, or at least most of it, in Math/Chem, and the finals is only about 5% of my grade anyway. I’ll be fine. I’m not sure about the Humanities final though. In an outsider’s perspective though, I think it won’t seem as a lot. All we have to do is write 3 paragraphs about what we learned. We have all our resources, or I know I do. But, again, the pressure that’s put on us and the want for us to do well on these tests, it’s a bit nerve-racking.

My DP won’t work. Great. Apparently, it was working yesterday when Brooke was on it, and it was kind of working last night when I was editing it. Well, I was only editing the Globalization part on the Google sites part. But it was still acting a bit wonky then. Hmm… Computers are stupid. It’s a bit of a paradox if you think about it. We use and invent new technology to reach new heights. But sometimes, that is not enough, and so our creativity, or whatever else is in us, is stumped. So we have to keep inventing new things, while the old “new” things fall into the obsolete abyss. And the cycle keeps going. It just creates more and more waste and trash. Not to mention, we have global warming going on. It can’t be helped. I just hope they make something good out of Copenhagen.

Late Post: December 12th

The following post was written on my dad's laptop up in Julian, CA. Details later maybe?

I just felt the need type something. The thing I hate about coming up here during winter is that it's too cold and too much of a hassle to actually go out and walk someplace. It takes too much effort to dress up appropriately, make sure you're warm, and have the right shoes. If I'm already wearing the right clothes, then maybe I could go. I still might need to ask my parents.

Sitting up here on the second floor is really interesting, compared to the lower floor. For instance, you're closer to the ceiling and right now as I'm typing this, I can hear the pitter-patters of the raindrops above me. It actually got so severe last night, I though I heard thunder. Another reason is the height limitation. The roof is just about 5 feet up from the floor, so we all have to stoop down. A bit of a bother really, but I don't mind that much. I'm still not that tall.

Speaking of height, I noticed recently that when at school, I'm now considered as part of the shorter sophomores. It's a bit annoying, but it can't be helped. I am only 14 after all. Everyone else in my grade is way older than that. I had two classmates turn 16 this week. So they can drive now, so what? I'm pretty sure being young has it's perks too. I'd write some down, but I can't think of any. Crap.

I think I've simply run out of things to say. Anything else I'd like to spill would be very personal, and we can't have that now can we? Who knows who would read this? Secrets aren't secrets if everyone knows them. It's intriguing to have a secret about someone, though. Especially if you see that person every day, [post ends here]

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving next week. I'm sick. That's basically the basic story developments of my life thus far. I'm working on Shin Kurone's cover of "HELLO!" from 876 Productions. I plan to do a duet, so it'll be interesting to hear my voice overlapped with my voice. Speaking of which, I have to update the other blog. I said I was doing Saihate, but I got distracted.

Speaking of music pieces, our music group in my music class is working on a Kokoro cover. I'm singing. :D But I'm sick, so it'll be a bit tough. I hope I get better by the end of the month. I'll ask my dad for acupuncture and all that other stuff. D:

The most recent song that I've been hooked to is Just Be Friends by Luka Megurine. But I listen to the Halyosy version more, because his voice is sexy like that. :D I'm trying to port it into English the way I did with Kokoro, but my lack of Japanese language skills cause me to be stumped. Was that bad grammar? I dunno. :p

The Global Owl Event is also going on in Mabinogi. I get to take care of one of Nao's owls. I have to feed it four times, for something to happen. But I only get food every irl hour. So I have to be on for four consecutive hours. The only problem is my brother. He wants to play too. I really want my own computer now. All for now.

5 Minute Post

Math/Chem is almost out. Thought I'd drop by and update for a little before I'm off to Table Tennis. All is well. I got unlimited texting a few weeks ago and am very content. The word texting is underlined in red in the text editor. How old school.

This morning I forgot some papers and burnt my leg on my bathroom heater. I had a dream where me and 3 of my friends got expelled. And I also had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go get some water. Now it's time to go. But it's alright. There's a meteor shower tonight! Keep your eye on the sky for any falling rocks.

7 Minute Post

I'm sitting here in Math/Chemistry. I finished my Myspace Project a little while ago and after a very unsuccessful browse though of the Project iM@S forums (most of the threads are blocked for some reason), I decided to write in here. Did I tell you? Look after the jump.

Ever heard of the Vocaloids? If you've read my past posts, you'd know what they are. But if not, they're singing synthesizer software where the user inputs notes nad lyrics, enabling it to sing. Now, UTAUs are the free, ghetto version. I, in fact, made one of my own. He sounds like a drunk retarded person, but he's a part of me, so I love him. One of my good friends Kelsey is finishing up his concept art in a couple days, and I've already made him sing some songs, though not very well. ^^;; Songs include: Go My Way!!, Melt, and Romeo and Cinderella. Now it's time to go. I will see you all later.

Fake Skydiving FTW

Finally, some internetz. Gah, I'm probably going to be staying in here for another hour or so. Here being the front desk at the hotel I'm staying at. Right across from Disneyland. Well, what's happened so far? More after the jump.

First day of Universal Studios, we walk the CityWalk. Pics in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, and at GameStop. Then the big highlight: iFLY. Skydiving inside an air tunnel. After a brief intro, we donned our suits, goggles, and helmets and went into the chamber with our instructor. It was super fun; we got a dvd at the end. (: After hitting a few more shops, we go in. We take the Studio Tour. It was differenet from last time I remembered. They added stuff, took things out, and it was a pain to to pictures of. D:

Next, The Simpsons Ride. So much funner than the old Back to the Future one. The clips in line were pretty funny, and it made me appriciate Simpsons a little bit more (: Then back to the motel. Oh, the crappy motel. But hey, it's not a hotel so :p

The next day, I don't really remember now that it feels like it's been awhile. I know we watched the Terminator 3-D thing. We rode the Mummy and the Jurassic Park. I played DDR in the arcade and I did well, except for the last song, which I failed :p This guy gave me some pointers, which I took, but never really tried since whe went up next. He was really good too! Afterwards we went back to the motel to go pack.

Next was Medieval Times. We were supposed to go to Disneyland, but my aunt couldn't get us in since she was getting some of our relatives in. Anyway, on the way there, we actually got a flat tire, which took about 15 to 30 minutes to fix. We got inside, got paper crowns and assigned table numbers, and went inside the castle. After listening to the chancellor for a little bit, we went into the store section and looked at the horses. After a little while, the chancellor began calling out crown colors and letting people into the dining area/sand pit. Red, our color, was called last, but we went in enthusiastically.

We got in, got seated and waited. We sat in the second to last row, which meant that it took a little longer for our food to get to us but it was alright. What was cool about the food was that we got to use our hands, and there was no silverware, and everyone else was doing the same. There were 6 color teams: red, blue, yellow, green, yellow-and-red, and black-and-white. There was a small story of the prince going to go do a treaty thing with the next kingdom or something. So the knights were all introduced, all 6. Then some sort of tournament began. Everyone was all cheering and after some little skit, there was the jousts. When one knight was knocked off, the other would get off and would spar with swords or maces, and the like. There were sparks, so it was really exciting. In the end, the red knight came out victorious and got to fight with the prince against the main antagonist. They won, and then everyone went crazy.

(This post is really old, and I don't think I can finish it, so I'll just post it now.)

One new post.

Hey all, its been awhile. So much has gone on this summer, I just have no time to update. And then there are times when I'm too lazy to update it. But cooling off in my room, I challenged myself to a post from my DSi. So here it is x]

So a couple highlights of my summer... Well there was Filipino Day at Soak City. It was fun, but not uberly fun like last year. Lots of cute girls and guys though. x] The wave pool was crammed as ever, and the ground burned our feet. I saw one of my friends there, and apparently my other friend was there too, but I never got to see him. So a few days later, me and my friend, Murse, went to go visit him. It was good to see him again. He got a hair cut and shaved off his mustache. It was a bit surprising, but I quickly got used to it.

A couple weeks later came Summer Bridge Training. I couldn't go on Tuesday because it was my bro's 5th grade graduation. (They sang 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus. LOL) We even learned how to do Thriller! :D But the last day was the funnest, we played a bunch of these games and I even got to climb one of those fake rock walls. x] Apparently, I was really fast because I got to the top in like less than 3ish minutes maybe? I don't know, I wasn't timed :p The next week, the real thing went pretty well. The mini-lesson was okay, buy we had to do a bit of of our groups posters because we were behind a bit. But they presented well. Me and Denise weren't supposed to do anything, just supervise.

Then on Sunday, I met up with Anja and we went to Comic-con. While we waited for the trolley, Anja couldn't find her school ID (which she needed to trade in for a pass). So we got on, and thought about what we were going to do. We got off, and we decided to call Patrick, my former advisor, who was head of the comic club. He gave us a couple passes, mine had Justin Martinez, while Anja's read Marisol Franco, co-head of the comic club. Marisol had her own pass so it was alright. Once we got inside we checked some of the booths out, went upstairs to the cosplayers, and did this repeatedly. Me and Anja did Do-Dai and some random stranger took a picture of us. There were a lot of cool booths there, some with figurines, some with clothes. I bought a Domo shirt from the J-List booth for my brother. I wanted the hoodie for myself, but it was too expensive. Right by that booth was the Rockin Android booth, a group that distributes Japanese doujin games. Me and Anja got to play "Acceleration of Suguri" and it was really fun. One of the guys there offered us Suguri, Acceleration of Suguri, and 2 soundtracks for just $15! Automatically we said yes. Then more walking, and then we went to go watch a screening for Lucky Star. I wanna watch it again. x] I met some of Anja's friends who were cosplaying as Vocaloids. It was cool. I got a picture with a Haruhi cosplayer, and everyone kept taking pics of Anja. ("Oh! You're Rena from Higurashi! Can I take your picture?!") It was cool to watch all of it happen. I wanna cosplay next year, but costumes are expensive, and I'm practically broke :P I saw this one girl from my middle school and another guy from my middle school. I didn't get to say hi though; I was on the phone. When I got to the trolley station, the one that Anja and I got off of, I saw yet another guy from middle school that was there. I got on, and I struck up a small conversation with a girl and a small group of guys. It was fun, I like riding the trolley. (:

Well that's a lot of tryping, both on comp and DSi. I'll leave it at that for now.

Hello Again

I am currently making a mix CD for the hell of it. Just though I'd let you know.

It's been summer vacation for awhile now. It's been good, but I've had those boring, hard-to-live-through spots. Anyways, on to recent events. A couple weeks ago, I went up to Escondido, to my aunt's house for a big cousin get-together/sleepover. It was fun, but I found out I had a stye in my right eye. :P We went up to a resort that we always go to and we took a dive in the pool. But we had to go to a smaller, not as fun pool because my cousin's membership wasn't high enough. :P One of the highlights of the day was when we left our cousin at 7-11. xD Details after the jump.

So we left my Auntie Dina's house and made a stop at Kathy's house for a sec. Then, what had happened was, we stopped by a local 7-11 to buy some stuff. We went in two vehicles: me, my mom, Julian (my brother), Kevin, and Kathy (both cousins) in my mom's car. The other car had Uncle Romy, Uncle Mon, Auntie Daisy, Christine, Sean, Michelle, and Ervin (all cousins). Me and Kathy got off and bought some Arizona (tea). My mom and brother got off too to get some snacks. While we were at the drinks and looking over them, Sean came over and passed up. We said hi, and he said hi. We got our drinks, paid, and left, thinking nothing about Sean. So we left unknowingly leaving Sean behind. We drove off for about 10 minutes, it seemed like before Kevin got a call from Sean. After Kevin told us that they left Sean, we started laughing hysterically, even though we knew it was kinda bad. But he was a big guy! I don't know how they could've not noticed him not in the car! So we all spent 5 minutes trying to call anyone in the other car, but no one would pick up. Eventually one of them got the news, and we drove on. We reached the resort and we caught up with the other car. They turned around, while we went up to the good pool. But we ended up going to a sucky pool. After some swimming, me, Kathy, Michelle, and Kevin walked a loooong way to go get tennis rackets. Kevin wanted to go get fishing rods because wouldn't have to walk farther, but there were no more rods left when we got there. So tennis courts and mini work out. Louis (Kathy's brother) and some of his friends came over and we all just played whatever. Then volleyball, and then we got home. I was texting Kathy's ex ever since after volleyball.

We set up tents in the backyard and we slept in them. I went to sleep at maybe 2-ish cuz I was talking to Kathy an Michelle. Kevin slept in the same tent as us, too. It got hot all of a sudden, and we all woke up. It was the next day, and my stye got worse, making my eyelid all icky-looking and puffy. Some of us went to church, while me, my mom, and Julian ended up going home. :p But we got some more Arizona on the way back! :D

All for now.

Finally a sophomore.

Today started out all grey and drizzly. Was it an omen? Now that I think about it, I think so? So what's so special about today? Shouldn't you've seen the title a week ago. The answer is no, not really. My school is different, remember? Check the last post, and you'll see what I have to do to be a sophomore.

Read it? Well, if you're too lazy, it's my Transitional Interview of Learning. It's where we have to prep for it 3 weeks before, and then do it. Explanation after the jump.

A TIoL is basically just having an interview with one of your teachers about how you grew this year in the Habits of Heart and Mind. Well, that's what they said it was. It's different for every student, and the teacher. I got my Humanities teacher, and it was alright. I went in, prepped, waited with a tutor and friend for my teacher to come back from the bathroom. And then we got started. I gave my speech, the questions flew, mostly about me becoming a better leader, and then I waited for a few minutes outside. The result?

I passed. But barely. Only because I was nervous and I stumbled over my words a bit. She told me that I was a great student, and she liked the fact that I only wanted to be a leader so I can help people. She told me to be more myself and be more confident. It was great, I passed, and I got to play Mario Party on the computer x] So cool that our IT was okay with the idea of putting Project64 on the external hard drive.

Over the summer, I also get to become a Summer Bridge leader for incoming freshman. It's going to be in July, and it got bumped down a week or so, so it conflicts with Comic-con. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna go yet or not. :p

All for now.
(post started via school computer on Tues, the 16th, finished via DSi on Thur, the 18th.)

Almost done...

School is almost over, only 2 more weeks left. I'm sitting in advisory right now, not really doing anything. Since my stupid Mini Mac says that it can't connect to Blogger, probably due to Parental Controls, I'll use this time to write something small.

School elections just came. Some people wanted to vote for "Rock" as a prank. I wanted to, but couldn't bring myself into it. Sorry ): But I really don't care who becomes president or whatever.

Since it's the end of the year, you'd expect me to have finals right? No, I have something to take that place. Transitional Interviews of Learning, or TIoL's for short. I have to give a 2 to 3 minute presentation about what I did over the year, then I get asked question about stuff I learned from this whole year. The interview takes about 10 to 20 minutes-ish. I barely remember what I learned, ugh..

That's all on my plate for now. Other than that, I might go to Comic-Con with a VIP pass. I'm sure yet though, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's gonna be my first one that I've ever been to. I was actually thinking about cosplaying as Kagamine Ren, but I decided not to. Why? Costume might cost too much, I don't want to wear a wig, or dye my hair, details, details.

The video game(s) of the moment right of now are Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Both fro DS, both borrowed from my friend Anja. Haven't played Trauma Center in awhile other than now, and I'm stuck in a temple in Hourglass right now. I'm gonna check for walkthroughs later maybe.

Last night was Exploratory Exhibition, where Multimedia/Art and Spanish classes showed off their work. It was for incoming freshman, and I saw a lot of people. It was kinda cool, seeing who's gonna be my kouhai x]

All for now.

Anyways,...

So, for my memorial day weekend, I went up to Julian to go camping. Or rather, stay at an RV Resort. Now don't get me wrong, I love that place. In fact, I wish I was there right now. The atmosphere is just great, especially when you can talk with other people your age. Let me start from the beginning.

We left home about 15 minutes after my mom came home with my cousin. He came along too. Anyways, we left, and after some time of driving, we got at the ranch at around 10-ish. We checked in, and "moved" in to the trailer. We had a snack, and went to bed at midnight.

The next day, we just kinda got the feel of things. I walked around, saw a couple people. I wrote in my journal a bit, and read back at what I wrote, so long ago. I went swimming with my brother and cousin after lunch for an hour or two. I dried off, grabbed my DSi and went into the clubhouse for the Wi-Fi. I sat on the sofa, and soon after, another dude, about my age, came in and sat at the other sofa. We didn't say anything, just minding our business. Then other people came in. Turns out there was a Lakers game going on. So I decided I would watch it. The dude, left for 15 mins, grabbing something to eat, at which even more people started coming in. Then he came back and sat on the same sofa as me. We were all watching the game, and another dude, that seemed a few years older than me came in. Other people in the room included, a few Denver fans, one of which was very expressive, some middle-aged ladies, and some dads and young sons. Anyways, I was really into it, and I wanted the Lakers to win. So whenever the Nuggets shot I would always be like "miss!" under my breath. I guess the dude heard me and was smiling, when he was looking at me. x] Anyways, the dude got up and left, and my dad came in and sat next to me. I think he was for the Nuggets :p I left, took a shower and had dinner. Walked around a bit, hung around the playground, then went back in. I came in at the end of the 3rd quarter I think. I had to sit on the floor next to one of the ladies from earlier. I was muttering again, 'cept I was saying "shoot" or "hit," and the lady next to me smiled. So Lakers won. It was kind of like a weak "yay!" When they won. It was much more active when the Lakers actually scored. x] The room was full of "yes!" and clapping and arm thrusts. It was fun. I headed back to the cabin for a small break, then went out for more walking. We (me, my bro, and my cousin) walked places. First to the basketball courts for this astronomy thing. Then more places. Passed by a Shrek screening a couple times. Then back to the trailer and bed.

I think I bored you enough with all those details. I'll post about the next day later. All for now.

Here I am!

I think I should stop writing blocks of text, and start writing little babbles. I mean, a babble is short, right?.

Anyways, this post is really just a break time in between my catching up on homework. I'm supposed to do two interviews for class, for an article. And it's due tomorrow. xp

In other news, Adam Lambert lost. I know I'm like a week overdue, but w/e. He's gonna go far. Like Clay Aiken almost, but bigger.

Check Twitter for my updates: http://twitter.com/tokome

Time to get back to work. More later maybe..

The Diary of a Young Girl

"I don't want to be cross, love cannot be forced."
-Edith Frank, Anne's Mother

If Anne's mother hadn't been so stuffy, would she'd been loved by Anne then? Even during the camps, she saved food for her children. Would Anne love her then? Is someone obliged to love their child, even if the child does not love them back?

Out of all of what I have read so far, (which is up to Tuesday, 27 April, 1943), this quote sticks out to me because, it feels as if everyone deals with this. I myself have had my bout with my dad, preferring my mom. But of course, I still love my dad. And when I hear other people that go, "My mom's a b----!" or "My dad is such a -------" I feel a little sad. For the child, for the parent. Isn't is supposed to ban act of love, that they do the things they do? "We do it for your safety, because we care about you," you would hear the parents say. What they really mean is "Stop doing what your doing so I don't have to deal with it anymore." But if the person has a good heart, there is no under meaning. I understand that can get very annoying real fast though.

It's odd, how restriction is an act of love. You always hear, "if you love them you would let them go." Well the problem is, if you let them go, they're going to get into some kind of trouble. But too much restriction is a bad thing, don't you think?

Life now....and a few days ago.

I'm sorry. I truly am. I think I got carried away with Twitter. (If you look, I've been twittering nonstop for the past week or so.)

So what's new about me? Well, nothing much. Except for I have a new phone now. A new LG CF360 in blue. Which matches my new DSi! xD I've been taking a lot of pictures with both, mainly my phone, and it's been real fun. For my DS, I got Rhythm Heaven, which is uber fun! Since it's my only DS game, it's all I play. I've gotten 30 medals, and finished all stages, but not perfects. And I even got it after my friend, Anja, who had it for a good 3 or 4 weeks before me. x]

Couple nights ago, I went to Seaport Village with my friend Denise, to take pictures for our photography SIG. It was really fun. When we were in the van, we would be on Pictochat, IM'ing each other. Apparently, there was an air show going on and there were a lot of people. And the airplanes that were flying were really loud too. Every 5 minutes, you would hear a loud "EEEERRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!" We walked one side, which lead us out of Seaport Village, and in front of the Convention Center. We walked a little more then we started walking through this place with blocks of text on the ground. I took pictures of them with my phone. It turns out, we were in the Martin Luther King Jk. place. There was a playground, and hand busts that spelled out dream, and these 2 large statues too. I had to change film cans for it. x] Actually, I had my dad's old Nikon D90 (I think?). We headed back to Seaport Village, and we hit the shops. There was Knock Knock stuff all over the place, it was awesome! (If you haven't been to the website, go now! KnockKnockStuff.com) We went out to the large pier. I took a picture of a dog in the water, and I saw a message in a bottle too. Kinda makes me want to follow through with the message tied to a balloon thing. Then we went to a number of different places. A camera store, a windchime etc. store, the book store (with interesting and obscene things x]), and a few other places too. Then we went to Oggi's down in Chula Vista, and I got home around ehh 10-ish.

The night before that, I went to the mall with Murse and did some Mom Day shopping. We spent some time in Borders. I wanted to read the second and final volume of Suzunari! I also wanted to read Otomen Vol. 2, but we decided to go elsewhere. Murse found some items in a corner, next to one of those sofa chairs. xp So we walked around, looked at the carious going out of business sales. We met up with 3 girls, that knew Murse, and I knew one of them too, just not right away. We walked a little big, following them to get a new employee form, then we went to the food court. We hung around for a few minutes, then we went to Bath & Body Works. The girls had to leave, so we stayed behind. I got my mom a lotion/shampoo/perfume + scrubber package. Japanese Cherry Blossom flavored, it smelled more "pretty" than the other ones. I looked around the shop more and found a tester for some perfume. I tried it on my wrist, but the bottle was to close, so my wrist got all wet. I then proceeded to wipe the "pretty" smelly stuff onto Murse's jacket sleeve. x] We walked around a bit, looked into Hot Topic (where they didn't have cat ears ;p) and GameStop (where they didn't have any good DS games either). Then back to Borders for a bit. We spent some time in the Humor section, reading Chinglish and comics. I bought my mom a rotating picture frame that could hold up to 36 pictures. Murse wanted it but, I still bought it for myself. After buying all that stuff, I was broke, 'cept for a few coins change. xp.

I think I spilled my all of my recent events. All for now. Oh, btw, Happy Mother's Day!

Rhinoceros (Act 2) QQC

Quote: "All you get at the universities are effete intellectuals with no practical knowledge of life."
-Botard, Rhinoceros, Act 2 Scene 1.

Question!: What base does this statement act upon? Does Ionesco himself think that people who go to college are just characterless-sticks who don't know anything about the real world? I mean, I'm pretty sure in that time, there were people that graduated from universities who were well aware surroundings. [Note: the characters in this scene are arguing whether or not the rhinoceros from Act 1 really was real. Botard, the man who denies the existence of the rhinoceros is a former schoolteacher, who is a "See it to believe it" kind of man.]

Comments: I think Botard hasn't the right to say whether or not people who graduated from universities are dead people or not. The man is nearly 60, and things can change in a matter of decades. I wonder when he had to graduate from a university, his fellow classmates were people who only dug their noses into large, rather heavy, books and only knew about the real world from them. Kind of like in science fiction movies, where people live underground. You know, the ones who are always like "Oh I've heard stories about the surface. It seems interesting, but i like it better down here."

QQC: Rhinoceros by Ionesco

”Justice is one more aspect of Logic.". -Old Gentleman, Rhinoceros

With this said, does this mean that Justice is merely an aspect of morality? If you think about it, Justice is deciding what is wrong and what is right, and doing something about it. Judges, court marshals, bailiffs, the courthouse. That's where justice is to be served. Now a syllogism: Justice is deciding and action. Justice is a step up of logic. So, Logic would be deciding and action. Does this mean, anyone can commit to justice, like judges? What is it that makes judges so high and mighty?

And now my comment. I guess if you look at every decision we have to make in our lives, there's always some form of login, then maybe planning. Take this, you see a carrot on the ground and a starving bunny in a cage with rabies in the corner. Do you give the carrot to the bunny? Or do you just leave it alone? On one hand, you do a good deed by helping something in need, point example Justice. On the other hand, you leave it alone in fear of getting rabies. Which would kind of count as logic.

Make-Ups

Sorry for the lack of posts. Me life is really busy (yeah, right) but still. I have presents! 2 "posts" after the jump. Click "Read More..."
Post 1, Page 1.

Post 1, Page 2

Post 2, Page 3


By the way, CST testing is back. Ugh, hopefully I can blog about that D:

Festival del Sol and the Mall

So this post is two days late. I was tired, okay? OK, OK, its more than a couple days late. So sue me for enjoying my break.

Anyways, we still had to build some of our roller coaster the day of the Festival, but we had like 4 hours, and we kinda finished. When we were presenting, the ball derailed when it started at the top of the hill, so we had to start from halfway down the hill. Then there was that drop before the loop, which we had to hold down because we forgot to attach it into our base. :p But it was cool, since I had like one other person there with me. :D (Thanks Yaz!)

Then there was the back stage where we had to inform people about the physics, marketing, and the process of this whole project. The only people I ever talked to were my parents, and some other people. Our tent was homely. :/ But that's because we couldn't make out banners since it was low-priority after all. Our commercial was icky after all, you couldn't hear much.

Then I had to stand in front of my graphic design piece and explain to people what it was about. I found out later that my dad took a picture of the other classes' collage but not ours. blehh... :p

Then my free shift. I waled around and saw some of the stuff the sophomores did, and what all the screaming was about. It was pretty cool. One class was doing some sort of poetry cafe. And one particular was going to be there. I wanted to watch, but I just moved on. I did my audience assessment, since my mom went to go get dinner during my GD shift. I hung out with some of my friends, then clean up.

Oh, gee. Bringing in all those tables and chairs. And cleaning up too. We still had to do some the next day too! Anyways, on Friday, I went to the mall after school. Here's how it went down.

Anja couldn't make it since it was too short notice for her mom to let her go. So it was just me and Denise. Michael went off to wait for us at Panda. Me and Denise walked over to Lhyka's house to get picked up by Denise's mom, so that Denise could drop off some of her stuff. Her mom's nice. She entrusted me, the youngest one, to keep Lhyka and Denise safe. lol. We met up with Michael then went to B&N, I think. It's been a few days, so I don't remember. We spent awhile in there, then I ran into Mikey. He joined our party, and we started walking around. I remember hitting Gepettos, and getting denied access to the chalk in the food court. We played a cat-and-mouse game with Mikey when we went into Macy's. He had my phone, so we decided to prank call him. We went up and down the elevator/escalators. We met up outside, then walked to Best Buy. I played a round of Mario Kart, then Rock Band 2. Then some more walking. We added another person to our party, a guy from Michael's and Mikey's class. We hit B&N, and me and the guys hit the relationship section. IDK why, but it was half-fun, half-weird. I started reading the first Haruhi novel, and I almost bought it too! But, I decided not to. Then I went home eventually. Michael's dad took me home. He's kinda hyper, but he's really cool. All for now.

Trains of thought

A weak smile. Tired and sad eyes, with a dull glint of happiness. Clothes are worn, tattered. Shoes, falling apart. My hands balled into bloody fists, as I beat the crud out of my irritations. My お父さん, my current project, the less-than-happy state that has burdened my shoulders, not to mention the piano. This is a mental image of me. Look at it quick, because I hope that this picture will be gone, erased, forgotten.

Time is a funny thing. It speeds up and slows down randomly, sometimes during the most fun parts and the most boring parts, respectively. But nonetheless, randomly. For instance, I have a week to go before my exhibition, where my roller coaster is due. Seems like a long time, and that there's nothing to worry about, only that we're a bit behind schedule. But then, i;ve been reading this book called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which has been the most gripping read I've laid my eyes upon in awhile. Anyways, I borrowed it a week ago, and I'm already on the, I think, last part. Life and time conspire to give you the most longest and shortest time on Earth. You just have to figure out how long it is.

My body is tired, legs and shins sore. I guess my body isn't used to physical fitness in awhile. My neck and shoulders ache daily from lugging around a backpack with nothing useful in it. Considering the amount of things in it, which isn;t that much, it surprises me, comparing that my friend seems to have more things in her backpack than me, and it feels lighter. That's probably due to the giant log that I carry with me. Huh.

This Mac frustrates me. Parental controls suck and should die in a fiery pit of spikes, while being mauled by bears. I've probably said that before, but I just want to reiterate. I want a laptop, and I may be on my way into getting one. But then the always-confusing question pops up. Mac or PC? I miss playing mabinogi, and I'm tired of trying to find a PC game that's been ported to Mac. If only I had our Windows OS disk. Anyone want to lend me theirs?

つくられた。。。

もうう。。。僕の体は本当にいたいだろう！でもさ、このテストはおわりだよ！だから、私わとってもうれしいな。The first even was a mile. 9:55. I was about to run another lap, but I forgot that I finished all 3 of my laps ^^;;. The first group had to start over though; they had to run 3 instead of 2 laps. Ray's bad. Then we went inside for the smaller stuffs. Basic rundown:

5'6"
112 lbs.
21 push-ups (one just to beat my partner by a little bit)
50 curl ups (partner did 60 so that explains the above...)
9" trunk lift
and I can reach my arms behind my back on both sides.

I'm pretty satisfied with the results. All for now, I'm tired.

Just a dew more days left...

Last Monday was an off day for me. Both "off" as in "no school" and "not right day." Lemme explain.

You know how we got a new Mac mini right? Well, I'm only allowed to use it for 3 hours. Add along no games to play, and almost NOTHING to do, it was pretty boring. Not to mention I'm already behind one and maybe another reading journal. Anyways, my time had come, as do all time limits within all bounds of humanity. The usual gray box popped up, showing me how much time I had left, and the option to give me more time. Well, in order to add more time, I needed an admin's (dad's) password. And I had it. So I took the chance. Couple hours later, I get busted, and yelled disappointment after another, I get banned off the computer for a week. There you have it. I wish I could talk about last night since it was the bomb, but I might not have enough time here. maybe some other time. Here being the Apple Store in the mall near my school.

So, after all that, I have a present for you. Click for more...

I tried my hand at a cover of a song. I think it turned out okay. Listen to it...

Mini Sports Festival!

Today was advisory olympics, and they were hella fun. We had a 3 win, 1 lose, 1 tie record. Anyways, there were 5 games, and I guess I'll fill you in on them.

First Game: Dodgeball
Vs: Tator's Tots
What Happened: It was the average game. I got hit in the arm eventually. James was one of our targets. We won, taking down either Jon or Gary at the end, I can't remember. We played a second game, just for fun, since we had time. I got hit in the face/shoulder. It stung for about 5 minutes, before I was fine again.Then I got hit in the arm again. :/ But it was still fun.
Result: Win!

Second Game: Project "Funway"
Vs: Rod Squad
What Happened: We had to create a new spring fashion out of the materials they gave us. These "materials" were: toilet paper, small paper cups, pipe cleaners, paper plates, duct tape, tin foil, some other kind of tape (the tan one, I forget what's it called", and I think thats it. Ours wasn't as great as theirs, but we still won anyway ^.^ The reason why was because they put makeup on Rod, which was illegal, since they weren't given makeup. but it was funny though. Rod, in a tin foil bikini. We basically dressed up Cassandra with a toilet paper top, an earring with 2 cups, a duct tape belt with cups on it, and tin foil wrapped shoes. When they told us that we won, there was a moment of silence, expecting the "Just Kidding" part. Then things got loud. But we marched out of the room happy.
Result: Another Win!

Third Game: Balloon Popping
Vs. Ted Titans
What Happened: In this game, we were supposed to pop the other team's balloons before they could ours. Whoever was left standing wins. At first, we thought that we had to pop our teammates' balloons, according to Ted, but he was wrong. It was fun. I didn't pop anyone's though. I got popped by this tall dude, which made me not so happy. I liked watching though. Monica even got cornered by 4 people! And she escaped! Go Monica! But then, because of her knee, we had to do a head count. It was 5 (or 4 excluding Monica because of her knee) against 5. We still called it a draw though.
Result: Draw...

Fourth Game: Volleyball
Vs. The Fishermen
What Happened: It took place in a room, with the wall collapsed. In it's place, there were 3 tables, separating us from them. We had to sit on the ground, staying in our spots, hitting a large beach ball back and forth. If it hit the ground or any wall, except the dividing wall, it was out and the other team gets a point. Best two out of three. WE won all games. :D We switched sides for the second game, though. It was fun hitting the ball back and forth, sounds more fun than it seems. I remember when I served the ball. I hit it over, then they hit it. It hit a corner on the ceiling, since there are pipes and lights above us, and it plummeted straight down onto the ground. Point for us! Toriaezu, it was close the 3rd round though. A point vs. two points left. And we still won x]
Result: 3rd Win!

Last Game: Pictionary
Vs. [Wagner's Advisory]
What Happened: WEll, the last event. Pity. It was so fun too! Except for the part where we lost. And they called us out for using a symbol, when they clearly used arrows and even talked when drawing. Then there was the time when Rey had to draw out "Mad cow disease." WTF?! How the hell are you supposed to draw that out?! We ended up losing by 2 points. And another thing. That guy must be deaf! I mean, when Marco was up drawing the detective-dud, I clearly said "DETECTIVE!" out loud. Ehh.
Result: Lose >.>

And there we have it. My first ever advisory olympics. Shame we didn't go against someone who made my hiccups go away x]

"Meatballs or Chicken Dumplings?"

It's been awhile.
Did I mention that I got a new Mac Mini?
Don't squabble. Macs and PCs are both awesome,
both in their own little way.
This isn't a poem,
by the way.
Just in case you were wondering.
I just wanted to press the return key more.
Is that title weird?
My mom was asking hat over and over for like 5 mins.
I meant to post yesterday.
But I got distracted.
Yesterday was Creative Expressions.
We're doing a new project for
Festival del Sol.
Ceram wrap figures.
I was the model.
Fun.
My leg and chest were both wrapped
in various layers of ceram wrap
and packaging tape.
"I'm flat chested!"
That was fun.
People were staring.
I took it in, smiling.
We even got a picture for the yearbook.
:D

Today, was a work day.
We got things done.
Then I stayed after school.
For about half an hour.
Waiting for my mom
so we can do SLCs.
They were alright.
Patrick and Marisol were staring at me
when I was talking in Tagalog.
Being stared at is fun.
Unless you're in a box
called a "classroom"
and random people
called "visitors"
are watching you,
hands cupped around their eyes
monitoring us like prey.

And thus ends my rant.
Till next time.

Oh by the way.
I'm currently obsessing
over Portal right now.
Even if it is old.

"And when your dying
I'll be still alive."

Reading Journal: Goblet of Fire

"A wizard had just Apparated at their fireside, and he could not have made more of a contrast with Ludo Bagman, sprawled on the grass in his old Wasp robes. Barty Crouch was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short gray hair was almost unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush mustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule. His shoes were very highly polished. Harry could see at once why Percy idolized him. Percy was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule about Muggle dressing so throughly that he could have passed for a bank manager; Harry doubted even Uncle Vernon would have spotted him for what he really was."

Well, I guess this is a good example of "Don't judge a book by it's cover" shtick. I could totally imagine someone appearing in front of 10 people in robes, sticking out with his fancy "normalness". And then of course, the movie adaptation of this book is currently airing on TV as I type this, and I watched the flashback Harry saw that had Crouch in it. He looked odd. In a way, it's hard to explain. But then again, movies are never as good as the books.

I wonder who J.K. Rowling based this character off of, if any at all? It'd be a bit hard for me, because I rarely interact with old men in suits and ties, pretending to be ordinary, when they're really one of those people who are say, more gifted than us "normal" humans. But then again, I'm not that "normal". Take the fact that I would rather spend my lunch hour out in the rain, enjoying the cold, wetness of Mother Nature, rather than being cooped up in a small, warm room, with loud people. So anyways, does this particular person influence Rowling in anyway? I guess, I'll never know...

Grades came today...

Today was a fairly good day. School was the usual mix of frustration and boredom caused by our classes, while my friends kept me preoccupied with other things. x] Today in Philosophies, we discussed about being ourselves, in a way. First we made a spider chart thing, where we put down our most important traits. Then watched a thought experiment. It went kinda like this: What would happen if an exact same clone was made of you, with the exact same atoms. Which one would you wake up as, the original or the copy? And what would you choose? Your favorite thing shown before you were copied? Or a new item shown to "you" went you awoke? It was a bit confusing, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

I came home today. Well, obviously. xp Nothing special really happened. I'm playing Ocarina of Time right now, and I'm stuck under the well. Not stuck, stuck, but not knowing what to do stuck. But I've been reading about THE iDOLM@STER gameplay in an English guide. :O Seems interesting. I want the game to America more than ever now. Anyways, I was watering the plants today, when one of the plants got caught on my pants, but I didn't notice. I kept walking and it got knocked over. What's worse, my dad just came from picking up my brother. He didn't mind, but he did ask why I was using my mom's earphones, instead of mine. Seemed like he cared about that more :/ He complained about how the earbuds he bought me last summer were too new. Pfft. And so my grades came today. At first, I thought they weren't the straight A's I usually got. And to add to that worry, my dad teased me about getting a C on my report card. I checked, and everything was fine though. x]

Now for a classic. Kinda. x]

"They headed down to breakfast, where Mr. Weasley as reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly."

-Chapter 3, The Dementor from The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Now my question is this. What's so giggly about making a love potion? Is it the idea of making someone fall in love with you? Or is it the person who you're giving the love potion to? I wonder what it would be like to be under a love potion? I've read other things about love potions. Like how there this one guy who wanted this one teacher to fall in love with him. So he got either one of her students or son, forgot which, and asked them to bring a lock of the teacher's hair to him. The child went and asked for it and, suspecting what the man was up to, she gave a lock of cow's hair instead. The man took the hair, drank the potion, then had a cow chase him throughout the town. The end (:

And for my comment. I don't believe in love potions, because love wouldn't be real if it was "made" like that. If you really loved them, you would want them to be happy, and go love whoever they would want and accept that. That's what I usually tell other people who like someone, but isn't interested. But then again, it'd be nice to have the love of your dreams suddenly fall in love with you ;D

Start of a weekend. A boring one at that.

Lo and behold, Saturday has finally come. But the thing is, it's actually pretty boring. I mean I love weekends. No school, no lessons, no crap. Well maybe at home. I get up at like 9-ish today to play some OoT for a few. The Water Temple bugs me. Like a lot. Then all of a sudden my dad's like, "Go vacuum the car!" And so me and my brother go clean the car, while my dad just watches like he's the big man in charge. In charge of doing nothing! xp So anyways, then brunch. Then some laundry. Then some piano-playing to get to my mom's laptop. Which I am currently using. Unfortunately there is a time limit, which sucks.

Why can't I have my own laptop? Oh, that's right. It's because I'm broke-ish and my parents blame me for breaking computers so they won't let me have one. Well I'm saving up. In fact, I may have about close to $200, somewhere in my wallet, room, or in the house. Maybe if I do that change jar thing that other people do. They end up having a lot more money than expected. Now for choosing. Mac or PC? Oy I hate choosing. I love Macs for their indestructible-ness, but PCs have everything I want to do. Should I do BootCamp on Mac, or just play it safe on my PC? Argh. I'll think about it later.

In other news, I may have told you about Toradora!, a new anime that came out late last year, and is now nearing completion. Watch it! I recommend it. Slice of life, drama, romance, hilarity. All in the works. It's gotten sooooooooooooo GOOOOOOOOOD. Synopsis of the first light novel volume can be found on my school DP, here. I used it as a subject for my book review. :p

Yesterday, I had to stay after school with one of my friends. It was fun. We were supposed to be working on our light boxes for certification in our Math/Physics class, but all the teachers were out at a meeting. So we just walked around and talked. We argued how much the tool booth for the exit near here was. It was $3! Even Mike, the guy I carpool with, said it. We also talked about lying to people. We kept walking past this one classroom because someone was there. I ended up saying hi to him when he was leaving. I felt proud of myself. He did a double-take back at us then kept walking. He came back for something then passed us again, and I think he was trying to avoid eye contact. x] Anyways, I feel good (:

How to Sleep in Class

Reading Journal time!!! Joy, I know x| Anyways, this is actually a sub-section under "How to Survive a Boring Class" from the same book I did it on last time, "The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook" by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht. Why, I did it on this book, is because I don't have anything else to read, and this book it thiiiick. x] Anyways, the selected guote from my reading is:

"Assume the Napping Position
-Place your thumb under your chin, supporting your jaw.
-Rest your four fingers on the side of your face.
-balance your head on your hand, keeping it upright.
-Place your notebook open and in front of you; hold a pen in your hand, to look as if you are ready to take notes."

Now my comment is:

I remember doing this, actually. It was during a tour in New York. Looking back on it now, I probably missed out on a great experience, but at the time, it seemed like it wasn't. During the tour, we were supposed to take notes. Well I already had enough notes and the tour didn't feel half-over yet. What added to the sleepyness was it was a rainy day. And I was wearing my hat AND my hoodie sooo... I Pulled my hoodie over my hat, cradled my head on my hand, balanced my binder on my lap with a pen in my hand, and looked down. Voila! Off to sleep. And I didn't even get caught. *smug face*

But, wait! here's a question!

What happens if you get caught? And worse, what if you get called on? I guess I have kind of a solution. Check the board real quick and scan over what's the general topic, or what the recent topic was. Then ask "What was the question again?" After the question, mumble something that sounds something like the answer to buy yourself some time. Look at the notes of people around you, which indicate that you shouldn't sit next to someone who doesn't take notes. Now after this time, you have two options. If the question isn't that heavy on your grade, it would be okay to say I don't know. Now if it is heavy, say..."I don't know." I know it's the same thing, but if it's a rare occasion that you're caught then I figure it's okay. But if this is a repeat offense, then it's down on yourself >:) Have a nice day.

Once in awhile...

...I'm going to stop posting up blogs, then unexpectedly post one of these up to notify you, my readers, that I, in fact, am not dead. And then ramble on about what has happend over the past few days, then come in the small trickle of posts. Wait a few weeks, then it repeats. You might be getting tired of this, but I have no choice. My life, especially my school life, has got me too worked up to barely even post up a reading journal. I know you guys probably don't like them, but I also havet odo them for, you guessed it, school. It's been running my life more and more, and eventually, I won't be able to post up any more entries. Sad faceeeeee. ): But, I promise, I will try my best to find some time in my busy life to pop in and tell you guys what's going on in my life. ;)

So anyways, the day before I left Palm Springs, we went up a mountain on a tramcar, which was super uber wicked fun! There were five towers and everytime we would pass one, the car would sway and every one would go "Wooooooahhhh!" I have a vid of the ride up and some of the ride down since my camera ate my batteries. I'll put it up on YouTube, hopefully, soon I guess. We had to wait an hour for our tramcar though, there were so many people. And couple of them were pretty cute too. x]

When we got up top, we walked down a wide winding path, which was covered in snow and ice! But my snow gear kinda looked dorky :p They were my dad's, as always, but I had a good time. But we kept taking pictures on the way down, which took forever. But we eventually got down to the ground, and then it was play time! My aim is pretty bad...^.^;; I made a wall, but it kinda died. I kicked some chunks of ice that my dad got pics of, but the camera was slow so it only took like a few pics. We then played a bit more then came down.

And for today, we were supposed to have advisory olympics today, but our school couldn't rent the nearby park for today so we just had an ice cream social where me and my friend were gazing at someone. x] Which reminds me, that same friend got a Wreck This Journal like mine, from my other friend and there was this one page where we had to lost it. Well, my other friend took it and gave it to that someone. She was totally red, but it was hilarious. I was kinda jealous, how come I don't have confidence like that? >.< I sent that person a message awhile ago, but they still haven't replied yet. -_- I thought they did though, but it was just my other friend. :p All for now.

What to do in case of...

For this reading journal post, I chose to do it on The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Handbook by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht. Why? Well, it was the only thick book that I brought up with me in Palm Springs, so I figured, What the hey? ONe of the more interesting scenarios, not that they're ALL interesting, is How to Jump from a Building to a Dumpster. One of the warnings say:

"The Dumpster may be filled with bricks or other unfriendly materials. It is entirely possible to survive a high fall (five stories or more) into a Dunpster, provided it is filled with the right type of trash (cardboard boxes are best) and you land correctly."

Well this is interesting. I mean, I feel much safer that I now know how to jump from a tall building into a dumpster. Just think of all the times that I can use it. Hmm, but I guess i need to live in a high-rise apartment building. If I get married, I can jump into a dumpster when my mother-in-law comes to visit. Or if the building is on fire, or would the dumpster catch on fire? Well what else could be safe to land on? I know for sure not rocks or glass, feathers are okay. What about styrofoam? Its hard but it's not dense and might break under impact and sudden pressure. Old carpets? Newspapers? I wonder... The MythBusters should try this out x]]]

In the desert. I think

Well here I am in Palm Springs for the weekend. I'm staying in a cabin with my family till Monday at this place that was supposedly the same as this one campground that we usually stay up in Julian. Turns out we were kinda wrong. This lot of trailers and RVs looks like a trailer park. And the buildings are so ugly :pp Our cabin is just across the road from wither the office, the clubhouse, or maybe both. Our cabin is also near a playground and pool. I don't expect to go swimming, since it was raining on the way here. Oh, and instead of being 5 miles from the closest city-town thing, its actually 45. I hate typos. And for my first hour here, I am less than impressed. I am far from it. I expected more trees. Ugh. I mean our GPS itself got lost, partially because there was a road closure to get here. The upstairs has a little more standing room, but the railing is waaaaay too low. Someone could trip and end up falling onto the first floor. There are two small mattresses upstairs, but there are stains on it.I'm afraid of what they are. Thankfully, my mom brought some covers. There are some cobwebs in a corner, and the bathroom has barely enough wiggle room. I have to stay here until Monday. At least I have internets. :D

I had to leave school early today to get here. But we ended up getting a little side-tracked. We went to the library nd borrowed a couple books. Then we picked up my brother, had lunch, packed up the truck, and waited. We left at around 4-ish. My friends called. Full of squeals, they were giggling over this one guy that I've been meaning to talk to for awhile. They think he's really hot. x] I sent him a YouTube message the other night, and he still hasn't responded. Oh well, I can wait. Well, all for now. Nothing else to rant on about.

Just a small update...

My first blog post in a while. Well just wanted to say that whoever has internet is a lucky bas-I mean-person. And for those who have a laptop, you guys are also under that banner. Anyways, due to the lack of internet and the rise in frustration torwards technology at my house, I have been forced to create a podcast. I'm not saying that podcasting is bad or anything. I'm the problem. Lots of ums and pauses. I'll work on it though. So that means more podcasts coming. I'll post it up when I have a chance too, since I'm at my cousin's house, and the podcast episode is at home on my external hard drive. :p Hope you guys are enjoying my Gaia journal posts (found on my 100th post).

Reading Jouranl for Ender's Game

For today's reading journal, I've chosen to do it on a book I just finished a few hours ago called Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. The following post has a few spoilers in it so if you would like to read this book, I recommend for you to not read ahead. And the quote I choose to share with you is:

"If we had kissed, it would have been the miracle to make us human in each other's lives. Instead we killed each other. But still we welcome you now as guest friends. Come into our home, daughters of Earth; dwell in our tunnels, harvest our fields; what we cannot do, you are now our hands to do for us."

These are the words thought, yes thought, to Ender when he discovered the pupa of the unborn Bugger queen. This was after the climax ofthe story and very well near the end. Ender was the one who wiped out the Buggers, and for the Bugger queen to forgive them was just unbelieveable. I mean, the third war in which the buggers and the humans fought, led by an 11-year-pld is pretty amazing. Does this mean that when she hatches that the buggers and humans won't be fighting each other? What will they do now that the humans have inhabited their old worlds? The book was kind of long, but it kept me reading. I look forward to reading the other 6 books in the series. If I have time of course (:

Screwy internetz and old friends.

I am annoyed. At my computer. For those who talk to me, you probably know why. If you don't then here is my issue with my computer: the internet does not work properly. Other the past few days, my internet had started to shut off and on randomly. It drives me insane. Well, my dad bought a new router so I'm trying it out now. Well when I try to go on either meebo, Myspace, or YouTube, Firefox crashes. My mood becomes ()!*&$)(!*&)Q(*#$&!!!!!!!! Another computer frustration is how buggy it just is. Like how I just tried to open iTunes because it didn't come up when I plugged in my iPod, the window didn't even come up yet and it's telling me that it had to close because of some kind of error. WTF? And now Windows Explorer just crashed on me. Twice in 5 minutes. I really hate this computer. I wish I had a new one. Maybe i'll just get my own laptop instead of a DS or a PSP. But which to choose? Mac or PC?

Well, enough ranting. How was my day you may or may not ask?It was fun really. I got to see some of my friends again from elementary school. It was fun. I got to meet up with not only one of my old classmates, but two of my old friends too. And it turns out one of them is bi. Which brings up the total up to 3. We played Brawl, talked a bit, ran around the lock a few times and then came in to play Mario Kart. Then I went home around 6:30ish.

This post was actually made for yesterday, but my computer was of course being buggy and restarting itself. Can't see why they don't just buy me a new computer...:p

[reserved for 100th post :p]

i forgot about this. in fact i wasn't even expecting it. it's already been 100 posts since i started this blog, and maybe it's already been a year. i'll reflect more later. i have school right now ;)

Time flies by so fast. It's so hard to realize that it's already been 100 posts, no a YEAR since I made this small little blog back in 8th grade. I remember I would just post up little random babblings of my life, nothing special. I look back at the past year in thought, "Oh yeah, I remember this." With so many things going on in our lives, it's always important to look back at your life and relive your life's plot up to the current moment. Blogging has taught me a lot of things. What you write goes on the internet, which means anyone can read it. I wasn't really expecting someone in Japan or the Philippines, or even somewhere in Europe to read my blog. My friends both old and new, I won't forget, and I'm really forgetful, thanks to this blog. But of course with the friends I've had/have, you can't really forget them. Still can't believe it's been a year. 365 days. 52 weeks. 12 months. A YEAR. I contemplate the last year with a smile. A lot of good things happened. And I'll be glad to say that I will be able to report more happy moments in my life. But I also want you to feel sadness from this blog, as any should, to keep it real. My grandma passed away last week, but I still see her in dreams. She does well. Some of my friends left my school, which is tragic, but I see them again every once in a while. No matter how sad it gets, there's always a silver lining to find somewhere in the midst of the depression. Nothing can really sadden me for an extended period of time.

As a gift from me to you, I'll give you text files of my blog from my early middle school days, when I used to use Gaia Online. It's on private, but I'll make them available soon. My old Gaia blog is now available for those who want to read it. The posts are from late 7th grade to early 8th grade I think. Read it here.

Happy 101th Post! now a reading journal...

Well, Happy 100th post! Too bad it's a reading journal. Oh, well. I'll make it up somehow. So the book I'm reading right now is The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket. The sixth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. One of the pieces of the reading that I enjoyed was:

"Waiting rooms, as I'm sure you know, are small rooms with plenty of chairs fo waiting, as well as odd, dull magazines to read and some vapid paintings-the word "vapid" here means "usually containing horses in a field or puppies in a basket"-while you endure the boredom that doctors and dentists inflict on their patients before bringing them in to poke them and prod them and do all the miserable things that such people are paid to do." More...Now this of course has nothing to do with what was going on other than the fact that the Baudelaire siblings wanted a waiting room to sit in so that they wouldn't have to endure waiting through the blazing heat for their tongs to finished heating up to white-hot. Well my question is this. What if there was a painting of a beach? Or the chairs were all armchairs with cup holders? And the magazines are all new, and exciting? Would it be some sort of alternate universe for a waiting room? Well, whatever. I like Snicket's little random rants in the middle of the reading, just to explain something with a faulty explanation. I think that it influences my writing style a bit, because when I write, it ends up being a tangent like this.

Reading Journal Again

What I read out of this whole weekend, was what we were assigned. It counts though, right? So what I read was The Peek-a-Boo World, from Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. I was too lazy to write out the whole title. So in this chapter, Postman talks about the history of media, from the invention of the telegraph to the TV, how it make everything all random and such. One quote for this theory would be, "The abundant flow of information had very little or nothing to do with those to whom it was addressed; that is, with any social or intellectual context in which their lives are embedded." This is how it is now, actually. The conflict in Gaza, has little to do with us. (If I offended anyone, I didn't mean it.) But sometimes it does. Like President Obama and the bailout plan. One thing i like about this author is his writing style. He asks, "You may get a sense of what this means by asking yourself another series of questions...I shall take the liberty of answering for you: You plan to do nothing about them." The author is witty, and when you feel like you're drifting off to sleep, he unexpectedly says something witty. He mentions how photographs gives us even more random facts about life and that gave birth to crosswords, radio quiz shows, and TV game shows. He calls the "electric conversation" a "peek-a-boo world" where we don't have to do anything, and yet we're entertained. Radio, film, TV, the works. One of my favorite quotes from this text was, "As some psychiatrist said once put it, we all build castles in the air. The problems come when we try to live in them." Which reminds me of this one Studio Ghibli movie, Laputa: Catsle in Sky, no durr. I wonder if the author had any castles in the sky when he was younger. Was part of the castle to make this book? I don't recommend it only because it drones on, but for how long I don't know. In fact, I may be wrong about it. But, I thought this chapter was okay.

Passerby. Another ranting poem.

First day, new faces
Fresh start, strangers
Weird, interesting places
A passing thought, for a passing peer
Who is this person?

Midday, time to eat
Sat with new friends
Then I saw you with yours
Wanting to meet you.

Everyday, I would see you
Wondering who you were.
After a month or two
I finally got your attention

"Hey, I have that same shirt!"
You looked at me, I looked at you
I stared, but I didn't speak
Too shy to relay my thoughts

College trip, that one day.
There were spots on one bus,
but I said it was full
Just so I could be on the same one with you.
Then of course my friends were on that one too.

Before we drove on, chatting with my friends.
I stared at you. And you stared back.
I didn't realize it, but I came to my senses.
I turned away, face red on the inside.
Flustered, embarrassed.

I kept sneaking looks at you,
All during the whole trip.
Wondered if you had any interest in me
As much as I had in you.

Then the time of midday.
When I got the chance to talk to you.
A simple sentence, a joke.
You smiled but kept silent.
It felt like half an hour,
when you finally walked up and left.

Did I bore you?
Do I look too geeky?
What did I do?

The day went on
With a tour of the campus
I stayed with my friends,
While you stayed with yours

I started walking fast, an instinct I had
And then I heard your voice
I kept my head down, staring at my shoes
You were talking with someone,
I couldn't help but smile at how funny you were.

I walked on, trying to act natural.
The tour ended, we walked back to the bus.
I talked with my friends, had fun.
The real fun was the trip back home.

Truth or dare for a few hours.
Even the teachers were enjoying it.
You were dared something outrageous
And you refused, another funny moment.
I learned your name, and kept it in my heart.

Now, months later
I still think of you, and so does my friend.
I'm fighting for you.

「ホントにキミがスキなんだ」
「やっぱりキミがスキなんだ」
「神様」
「勇気のカケラはどこにあるの？」

本当だよ

ついに土曜日！やった～！

I did plan on having this post in Japanese, but I was too lazy to look up all the things I didn't know about, so it would make sense. Well it's finally Saturday, after a not-so-long, not-so-short week. Yesterday, I signed up for 2 elctives instead of an elective and sport or two sports. I feel fat... Anyways, I wanted to do both Music and Creative Expressions, which is like art, but they were on the same day. There wasn't anything interesting for our other choice-class day. I chose Games, games, games, where you just play card or board games all period. Not much but I might switch to Robotics since a couple of my friends are there. Nothing really major happened this week. Turns out two of my friends are like me. x) Actually, when I was telling one of my friends, and she told me, another one overheard and started talking about it to my other friend and was being dumb about it. Uhm, I guess I've been going on AIM more than ever now, but not a lot of people are on. And I've been checking my Myspace more and more. It's odd, I used to not be like this. I guess people change.

imogenheap is love

「Media」は何ですか？

Media. It means so many things! Like "McDonalds" or "Imogen Heap" or "Harry Potter" or even "Chowder." Media is advertisements to articles, books to magazines, you get the idea. To me, media is something we process, something that influences us. It tells us what to eat, what to do, what not to do. If the news say we can't eat chips anymore because they lie and say it'll kill us (which eventually they will, if you only eat that for the rest of your life) then we won't eat chips anymore. Media is bigger than us, even if it is just a picture or sound. As humans, we tend to think and reason with ourselves, using media as evidence to fight for one thing or the other thing that we want to do. It manipulates us. What we wear is media, what we eat is media, what we live in is media. All of it. Pictures after the jump.

Stupid filters

Now that my POLs are done, I can finally kick back and relax; do whatever I want, right? Not completely true. The only option, since our Director wants us to look productive, we can only go on computers as of now, instead of play cards or board games. And since my computer use consists of watching videos and listening to music, and maybe even the occasional blog reading, I can't do ANYTHING! I want to sock the guy in the stomach that came up with the Internet filter. GAWD, there's nothing to do. I was going to read AppleMilk1988's Japanese blog, but I'm not sure of the exact URL. "To Google, and away!" said by my friend Anja. Well when I search up "applemilk", it's blocked. WTF?! What's so wrong about it? Do these people have like nasty minds or something? So now I can't read it. These filters are too strict! I am sick and tired of coming to school and using the internet only to have the dreaded gray and red screen come up and stop whatever I was doing. It's annoying! /annoyedrant

Lets start again

You might've noticed that the last two posts aren't really my style. A poem and some other thing that I can't remember; some New Year's celebration. So lemme tell you whats going on in my life so far: I'm 14 now, which means I'm the same age as some of my classmates, for now at least. I was watching Eagle Eye when the new year came. We watched the ball go down of course, but it kinda felt odd watching it, the ball being in New York and all, being 3 hours ahead of us. And I'm guessing the West Coast is probably the last people to celebrate New Years, but I'm not sure. But hey, I'm alive aren't I.

Anyways, school started again. POLs were stress factors. They're just a presentation in front of a few people and my teachers about how we "grew" in the habits of the Heart and Mind. I passed, yay! Other people didn't though, for dumb reasons like not sounding like themselves or not having enough evidence. So yeah, that's past.

The reason behind my poem last time, was because my friends transferring to a different high school. His mom's pissed because our school doesn't have proper P.E. which is like total bull. He's a great guy, even if he is a little on the dark side. The story kind of tells our story. Just yesterday, we went to watch Bedtime Stories, and stayed at the mall for like 5 hours. We played Egyptian Ratscrew in the manga section of Borders. The cards are from Hot Topic and have Domo on them, awesome! He keeps saying he's going to leave, but he's at school the next day. So now he tells us that he's going at the end of the semester, which is next Wednesday. Sigh.

I don't think I have anything else to talk about now. But I did find a new, well new to me, webcomic. http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.html. Go to the first strip by mashing at the left arrow until it stops. All for now.

Gone. A ranting poem.

We started out silent
Never speaking to each other
Having only our iPods to listen to

Then he left us alone.
20 minutes. Then it happened.
We became friends, just like that.

Another person to have random babbling with
Another person to have inside jokes with
Another person to have a laugh with

Weeks passed then months.
We seemed to get closer and closer
My views changed

A new person, you became
I wanted to be with you
But I had others

Now you're gone
A gaping hole in my body
It's your fault

You left us
I don't hate you
I hate that you left us

Feelings cloud my mind
I like you
That way or in that way?

But I can't
You aren't like that
But I kind of am

We were so close
It seemed like it
But were we really just friends?

Who's going to ride the car with us 2?
Who's going to fill the void that you created?
Who's going to be you?

Now you're gone
One less smile in our trio
An empty seat

"I feel a weakness coming on"
"I don't want to feel like this
So it's all your fault."

But I don't blame you.

Journal post of readingness of the weekend.

For my reading journal this weekend, I chose to read a short story retold by Eric Carle called the Wild Swans, originally by Hans Christian Anderson. I like this story in particular because it has those basic fantasy elements, but Carle tells it in a way that isn't too fictional, and it shows off his writing style. The story goes like this......There was a king with a queen with 11 sons and a daughter, which is kind of disturbing, once you think about it. They were very happy, but the queen died. So he remarried a year later. But that queen was a witch who wanted the king for herself. I don't know but it sounds like she didn't get enough love and/or attention when she was young, and now she's acting like a spoiled brat. When the king was away, hunting with his friends, the queen turned the sons into swans and told them never to return. The daughter, Elisa, became depressed. So then her father sent her off to another country, so she can learn about them and get over her depression. But the evil supposedly attention-deprived witch of a queen told the man driving the carriage to dump her in the forest and leave her there. Which was what he did. Naturally, she started crying. But then, she must've been a good girl or something, nature came to her aid.

After gobbling up an apple and a nut and finding a cave to sleep in, and a river, she stayed there for years. One night, in her dreams, a fairy told her to follow the river downstream. She went and waited till sundown. Then you'll never guess what happened. 11 swans came and turned into the same 11 brothers that she lost that one day. They were very happy, and they decided to take Elisa to the main land again. They made a net and put her in, and flew out to sea. It turns out that they only stay as swans when the sun is up, and it takes 2 days for them to reach the mainland. Shouldn't their wings be stronger? I mean it has been several years since she was dropped off at the forest. But a swan can only fly so far. They reach a rock then stay the night. Then they go again. They reach the mainland and stay in a cave where the brothers have been staying. Again, the fairy appeared. She told her to make shirts out of nettles for her brothers, so that they can become whole again. But she couldn't tell anyone about it or the deal will break. Kind of reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, a movie by Studio Ghibli. A young girl was turned into an old woman by a witch, but she couldn't say anything since there was a spell on her. It hurt, but she persevered. (Oh geez, the habits are really catching up with me...)

Unfortunately for her, she was taken, or rather kidnapped, from the cave by a hunter/prince. She still made the shirts but she still didn't tell anyone. She runs out of nettles and goes to the graveyard, a place with monsters, to get more, but she is followed by the prince and minister. They think she's a witch just because she's going to a mysterious place and gathering nettles, which backs up my "People are stupid" theory. She has a trial and all they say is "You are a witch, you die now." (Another point for my theory) She can't say anything still so she goes to jail to await her fate. She completes 10 of the shirts and another one with out sleeves. Then she goes to the stake. But before she is burned, she throws her brothers their shirts. The youngest one takes the sleeveless shirt, which makes him still have his wings. She confesses about the evil queen and her brothers. The people believe her and the wood from the stake pile became a rosebush. She and her brothers go into the castle.

I like this version of the story, half because I like the art that Eric Carle does, half because I like the way I told it. Another half for the story itself. It's wierd how people are programmed to judge people based on their actions and even color! I really want a shirt that says "My opinion? People are stupid. Have a nice day (:"