Just got back

Just came back today at about 9:30 am. I am never going to ride the airplane again, at least not in a while. It's not like I'm afraid, but it's so uncomfortable! I think I got sick from someone else in the plane, and the person in front of me kept on farting -_-. Smelled like rotten eggs every so often. Then there comes the ears, and the dryness. It was so dry on the plane, that my ears didn't seem to have any ear wax anymore. That was really uncomfortable, along with the stuffiness. My nose is stuffed right now.

I couldn't blog the past few days because we were packing and checking for things and doing last minute shopping trips, and I was on the plane yesterday. And now I am really hungry. My uncle and my two cousins came to pick us up today. Then my uncle helped us carry everything up, and we went to eat mcdonalds. We went to one with a play place, and the bigger cousin (9 years old) "helped" the little one (three years old) to play on the apparatus (well he just shoved her into the tunnels. Not really helping to me). Then we played the tiny shooting basketball game. It gives you 50 seconds to shoot as many hoops as you like. I shot 20 times and got 20 in! :D It counts the time it takes for the ball to roll back to you too. Sometimes it takes forever... or else I could have gotten more!

I am so tired right now. But if I sleep right now, I am going to be awake in the middle of the night!

Amusement Park

My aunt took my mom and I along with her daughter, to a small amusement park today. Her daughter is 5 years old, and very naughty. Today is Tuesday, so we were almost the only ones there. No line ups at all! It was funny how just when we were about to start our first ride, when my cousin wanted to go to pee -_-. The second ride we went on was made for little children. My cousin wanted me to go with her because apparently she was scared. It was only a ride in a swan around and around in a circle -_-. Well I went on, and we were going around and around, and I was getting so bored. They were also playing "We wish you a merry Christmas, and I was about to fall a sleep. But apparently she was having fun.

The only rides that were actually fun, was the pirate ship (the one where you sit in this ship and you rock back and forth until you're vertical), and the half roller coaster thing. It's like a roller coaster, only half as scary, and 1/4 as long lasting. I was only scared that we may be thrown off when we were making sharp turns. But other than those rides, and some... too scary ones, it's all for kids seven and under. Another ride that my cousin told me to ride with her, was so small, that I can barely fit my knees in! I felt really stupid while she had a good time.

rush

Couldn't blog yesterday, and forgot to blog the day before that. I have realized I have just the time the other people had to do their homework, even though I got off early, and have all break. We're always out! I finished science the day before yesterday, found out I'm missing a few pages of socials notes, and started to study for English today. I have to hurry up with my violin and theory too. I'm so tired...
Other things that happened these days:
I bit myself so hard when I was eating, that I'm left with two giant bumps that represents bite marks
got three stuffies: one from a two dollar store, one from another store, and one from those toy machines where you control this claw and try to grab this toy.
Just found out I left my socials notes in my friend's binder -_-^.

Poor bird

My grandpa brought a chicken home today, and it's so cute! It's for us to eat, but he wanted to bring it home for me to see before being sent to be slaughtered. The person that sells these stuff is so cruel! They removed the bird's bottom beak, so I can't feed it anything. It just jabs the rice with its top beak. Poor bird. According to my grandpa, it's a male.

My parents and grandma are out. They left me to do homework :( I guess it's also a good thing, considering I have so much more to get done. We went to buy some small keychains and other things to give to my friends. That's something else off of my to-do list. I also got some stuff for myself :D

for yesterday

I couldn't blog yesterday because we went to a neighboring city to visit some friends. It takes more than one hour to get there, because we took a bus, then a train, and then a subway. It was pretty fun. My fish died after I got back late last night. Oh well. We ate at a restaurant yesterday, and its floors were just mopped and cleaned before we arrived, so it was a slippery journey from the front door to our booked room. It was like skating! When we were waiting for the food to arrive, me and my mom's friend's daughter were spinning on the spot.

Fishy :D

I got a fishy yesterday! It's a tinsy tiny gold fish. My aunt in China bought it for me. She also bought one for her own daughter. Yesterday, she took me and my parents to a park to play, and we ate at Pizza Hut at night. You wouldn't believe the size of that Pizza Hut! It's like an elegant and spacey western restaurant, not like those little rooms in Canada where you just order and leave. At first, when my aunt said we were going to Pizza Hut, I thought she was kidding. In Canada, we only eat pizza when we have no time or my mom doesn't want to cook. But in China, Pizza Hut is considered a very elegant and higher class dining! We stayed pretty late, that's why I couldn't blog yesterday.

Back to the goldfish. Mine won't eat anything :(. We had some fish feed at home, and it just wouldn't look or swim up to the surface to get any! And when the food settles, the fish just ignores it. Oh well. I guess it isn't hungry. I feel really sorry for my cousin's fish. She was swinging it around and kind of put soap in the water. But they have a fish tank in their house so it should be okay. My mom said these fish won't live long, and it's just for fun. I hope mine lives until I leave!

New Phone :D

Yay! I got a new cell phone today! It's pretty cheap. It's exactly like an iphone but much less quality, and smaller. It's just like a fake copy of an iphone, but it still works for me! And the price for this cell phone is 1/10 of the price of a real one. Mine is pink. They only have white, black, and pink. We made sure that this cell phone could be used out of China, or else that would be really stupid. My dad wanted to buy one at first too, but my mom suggested him get the real one, which is much cheaper in Canada than in China.

I'm just going with the days here in China to blog, so it isn't that weird if I blog twice in the same day, or don't blog for one day. I don't want to get too complicated.

Fun

I get what an honor role is now. I am figuring out how I can get a book done before the start of school, because I forgot to bring some English books.

My grandma just gave me a bunch of pictures titled something that translates: "Today, being a dog isn't easy". Those pictures were pretty funny. There was a picture of a dog dressed as superman, a bunch of dogs hanging on a clothesline looking like they're dancing, and many more. But the funniest one to me, is two dogs, each packed in a hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard on them. I said to my grandma, "This is what you call a REAL hot dog.

I went to visit my dad's parents today, and we took the taxi. The taxi driver... here's one way to describe his driving: After riding in his car, I would rather ride the roller coaster. The driver was cutting in to every space he has, and speeding to pass all the cars that were slower than he was. I could only grip the seat and try not to think about what may happen if he made a small mistake...

School ends

It's awkward sometimes, walking on these streets on school days. Almost all the people we talk to look very curious to why I am not in school. Some of them asked me, " Are you going to be at school tomorrow?" and I would always reply, " Uhh... I don't go to school here..."

I'm guessing school is over in Canada too. Here they get a break only before the Chinese new year, which is in February. Every lunch time, I see these students going home with their parents to eat. They were all wearing their school uniforms. I feel pretty weird. Good thing today is Saturday, so I won't look so different. They don't wear school uniforms on the weekends do they?

My mom keeps on lecturing me about learning Chinese. She thinks all of my friends go to Chinese schools, which is sort of true, but I do NOT want to go! I used to be taught Chinese by my mom, but I just can't remember those characters. I tell my mom how some of my friends all speak English to their parents, and she says they are wrong. Oh well.

second blog in china

I got a hair cut yesterday, and now, I look so different! That hair stylist gave me layers and even straightened my hair o.O ! But that only lasts until I wash it. Tomorrow should be the last day of school for all you folks in Canada (amazing how I can still keep track of the day of the week here), and I wonder when I can get my report card...

Mr. Olson has to get used to recieving mail at 1 in the morning, cuz that's my afternoon! I really wanted to be a part of the Christmas parties, the movies and the gift exchange! But I missed all that. My friend said something about an honor role. It takes at least 4 As and 4 Bs, which I am pretty sure I have. What exactly is an honor role? Is is just a simple certificate or card?

Hope I am not toooo behind on my blogs!!

YYEEEEESS!!

I am finally able to go on this website! the reason being, that I am using the network of my uncle, in Canada. The good side of this, is I won't be missing so many blogs, but the bad side is, that my cousin may be reading this right now :(. Everyday, my grandma takes us shopping or exploring our area. Since they don't have a car, we bus everywhere. Walking is quite scary because their traffic system is messed up. Almost no one follows the rules. There's always alot of honking. You know the white lines on the street that is meant for people to cross? In Canada, people have the right of way. The cars have to wait for you to cross. Here, it's a different story. The cars have the right of way. If you were walking along and a car came, it won't slow down, causing you to run, and it will honk at you. Well now that I can blog, do I still have to do a picture blog? Well I could post some pictures in the end...

Packing

Phew! All of the tests out of the way. Now all that's left is the packing. I can sleep as late as I want today, since I have 11 hours to sleep on the plane tomorrow. We're leaving at around 12 noon, so we need to be at the airport at around 10. I hate going on the plane, especially the feeling of a clogged ear. It feels like my ears are going to explode. Getting off of the plane is always a relief, also because I am always utterly bored sitting there, with no room to stretch my legs. Right now behind me, my parents are arguing about what to pack. Oops... Apparently I left my cell phone in a pocket of a clothing they were packing.

I seem to have more homework on holiday than off. Interesting.

And about the song Stand By Me. I think it tells people, that even if you are suffering from tremendous hardship, that people still have each other to help and support. It tells people that we are stronger as one than as individuals, and that as long as we have each other, we shouldn't be afraid.

One test down, two to go

I didn't have time to listen to the song today. I spent all of my time studying French, and finishing off my composition. I also spent 45 minutes after school to do my science test. It was okay, but I didn't get one question, and I'm pretty sure I got a few others wrong. You wouldn't believe how hard my heart pounded at first. It even scared me. But after a while, I settled into the test and it was all okay.

Thankfully, I have a guitar at home, so I could finish my composition. I have to finish it four days earlier than everyone else. I also have projects and tests due after break too. Right after break. I'm going to take some of my homework on to the plane to do. Yawn... the bed looks so welcoming...

BUSY

Oh I am going to faint. So here are my test schedules:

Wednesday: Science test after school
Thursday: French test during lunch
Math test after school
To add to that, all of us are having a science quiz in class, and a french quiz in class. And I am not ready for any of these! Plus I going to have to do my music performance four days earlier than anyone else. I know I probably repeatedly wrote about it for like ten times already, but I'd rather not go on this little vacation. I am going to be behind on everything. Sigh. My friend just took the H1N1 shot, but my mom doesn't look like she's planning on taking it, so I am not either. And my friend finally picked up her umbrella which she left almost a month ago.

Break? Not really

I listened to that song, but it doesn't somehow seem to match the lyrics Mr. Olson sent me... Well it was pretty good, and now the chorus is stuck in my head.

I can do my science test now, but I have to stay after school on Wednesday to do it, while everybody else gets to do it next week. Not very pleasant. Oh well, at least I know I won't do so bad after all. I'm going to bring a book on the holidays, and go on the socials website so I won't be behind. Also what is funny is that, my drawing teacher and my violin teacher is giving me more homework on my holiday than they usually do. I have to draw 12 sketches for my drawing teacher, memorize an 8 paged violin song, and memorize a whole bunch of Italian music words for my violin teacher. Wow. Do they know the definition of a break?

Oh yeah, and today in socials class, we watched Gladiator. I didn't really like it because it was way too violent. Too much war and people's heads getting cut off. Plus I don't like the concept of watching people in the huge Roman Colosseum trying to kill each other. I mean like, one person has got to die in the fight, so if you were in the situation right now, you wouldn't be feeling very pleasant.
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LESSON 11:Mission

HANDOUT

Michelangelo created his artistic masterpieces in his mind before creating them on a wall, ceiling, canvas, or stone. Henry Ford envisioned the design for the first automobile before he built it. Both of these men stepped back from life and took time to visualize what they wanted to create.Think deeply about your life and purpose. Write a response for each of the following questions:

What are your greatest strengths?

Um... maybe my strengths are at building things, art, and music.

do you deeply enjoy doing?

I enjoy learning about new concepts, and doing experiments

things are most important to you?

friendship, family, and school marks are most important to me

Stress

I finally finished my English. I have a feeling I'm going to have to study every subject starting tomorrow in case I'm going to have to take a test for every subject early. I am so burnt! How am I supposed to study for all of these tests! Fine. If I do really horrible, it's not my fault, and hopefully I don't get lower than a C+.

I have to go and study socials and french right now. I'm writing so less these days.

Good things and bad things

Finally, the weekends. But, it's also the week we pack for our vacation, that just HAD to cut in to my school time. I'm really dreading my marks for term two. Even my P.E teacher said that I won't be able to get an A in square dancing. I'll have to study my French too, because if I want my marks, I would probably have to do a test earlier than everyone else. I wish I could do it after winter break, but I doubt my teachers would let me. And what about my report card? Can I get it early? I told my dad that he would have to reward me if I get one A next term.

My friends came over today to check out my new apartment. They were messing around with my tiny guitar/six-stringed over grown ukulele, and my violin, and made such a racket I wouldn't be surprised if one of my neighbours came and told us to shup up. We had fun though, and one of my friends helped me with theory.

Missing so much stuff

I came back from my friend's house two hours ago. We were mostly laughing and snacking. After one of my louder and crazier friends left, it was suddenly so much quieter. Then we snacked some more, and since the house I am at was Korean, we grabbed some random Korean for beginners workbooks, and started to guess what the pictures said, and let our friend translate it. More than often, it was far from the real thing. For example, there was a picture of a worm and a dog looking at each other, and my friend said, "The dog wants to eat the worm obviously!", and I said,"No! Isn't it obvious the worm wants to eat the dog?" And then it turned out that it was talking about the weather...

Then I had to go back home to do my homework... I went to give some teachers my note to sign for my absence starting Dec.11, and it turns out that in science, everything I miss during that time is going to be a zero, and that there was going to be a test while I'm gone. I couldn't believe it! I've never got zero for anything in my life! I'm going to fail term two...(wahhh!) But then again, I should be able to catch up, right? I mean, it's only for one week...

Marks

My fine arts mark was expected. A, and the highest percentage in our class, but one thing I NEVER could have expected was an A in P.E! The only times I've ever gotten A in P.E was in the first term of grade four, and the first term in grade seven. It's hard to get an A in that subject, and since highschool was supposedly harder, I have expected a low B or C+.

Our science flu pandemic project group met this morning to record our news report. We had to cross out about half of our script, because it was way over 4 minutes long. In the end, we were successful, and we managed to cut our report down to 3 minutes and 21 seconds. Now to study for the English quiz...

Why did I have to leave so soon?

Just my luck again. I just found out that I'll be missing two Christmas parties because of my absence starting Dec. 11. I wonder if I can get my report card five days earlier?

Well my socials project secured my mark as a B. Shame. I wouldn't feel so bad if it wasn't so close. Same for English. I also found out that for English, we are starting another project, that is due on the 11th, so I can help my group do it, but I won't be there to hand it in. For fine arts, we are doing a composition project. The music is only 16 bars, and we have to play it on the guitar. I won't be there to hand mine in either, and I probably have to present mine very soon. I still only wrote only one single note on a rough draft. Right now, I am trying to think of some crazy names for my piece. My friend came up with some like "The Chocolate river/moat", or "The Case of the Giant Purple Fungi".

My mom is working on the letter to the... vice principal or principal? I have a feeling it was the vice principal. She says it has to be a formal letter with the address of the school and our address on it. I argued against that. I mean, it has to be pretty formal, but it isn't like I'm mailing it or something.

Worry worry

I spent time figuring out how to do the self evaluation today. Now I just need to add up the total.
I am so worried for no reason! Well I guess for some reason. I'm worried about the homework I am going to miss when I go back to china, I am worried about a composition assignment for music class that I probably have to hand in earlier than everyone else because it's due after I leave, and I'm worried about my science fair. So much to think about!

In P.E , we're doing square dancing. I'd rather do another term of field hockey than this. I only wish basketball could have gone on longer. All the other peoples' hands were so sweaty and sticky! In the girls' changing room afterwards, most of the people were lining up to wash their hands.

the end (of one third of the year at least)

End of term. When am I supposed to tell my teachers that I'm going to leave for China one week before the winter vacation? And what am I supposed to do with all the homework I am going to miss? And what am I going to do with my science fair? I'm finished the experiment, but I don't know what to do about my data (but I don't have many data anyways). I hope I get at least five or six A's. I was so surprised when I found my percentage for English. I have a percentage so close to an A, that if I could bribe Mrs. Greskiw to give me 0.1 percent more, I would have one. I thought I would have a very low B.

My socials mark is very close too. I guess the fate of the grade lies with my group project, which I am not very proud of.

Skating competition

I had to miss my friend's birthday party today because of a skating competition. But it was worth it! I got 1st place! I looked at the result list from bottom to top as usual, although I did pretty well this time. My friend that used to be from my skating club was trying to find her results too (we were competing against each other). When I saw my name at the top, I let out a "Whoa", and my friend thought I placed really low. At first, I couldn't really believe it. When I first looked at the results, I was half expecting someone to come and say," Oops, sorry. We got it all wrong. The list is flipped."

My friend and I both agreed that it's been a while since we skated this well at competition before. I actually landed my hardest jump! Everything was okay in the competition, except that I would complain that my "gold" medal looked a dirty brownish-yellow colour.

Couldn't Blog

I couldn't blog the last few days because we just finished moving and didn't have Internet connection until today. I like the new place we live. The only problem is that the rooms are so big, it cannot be lighted up with only one light. That is why it may seem a bit darker. My friend came over today to work on an English project. We only have one more day to work on it, but we are barely even half way through! I hope we have enough time tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the day we do an indoor track meet! I signed up for two events. This is just like sports day, except you don't do all the relays. The good thing is, we get to skip two periods. The bad thing is that I skip two of my favourite periods (P.E and fine arts)!

The last two periods of Applied Skills was really fun! Me and my friend finished our plane, and it flew the best! Unlike the other planes, where the planes turn and dive, ours go straight so my friend has no problem catching it at the other end at all! You just stick your hand out and close it when the plane body slides through your fingers. Everybody was watching us with envy (or jealousy). We just had to alter the wings. At first, we didn't know that we put the wing on backwards, and it flew perfectly. Then we realized, and put it the right way. It ended up dipping, so we put it on backwards again. That's one thing we could correct on the instructions, but except our trick worked on no one else's plane. Weird.

Wet day yesterday

I couldn't blog yesterday, because my parents pulled down all the plugs, getting ready for the big moving day: today. But I can say one thing about yesterday: It was MISERABLE! I stepped out of my front door to go to skating class yesterday, and as soon as the doors closed, I turned around and found myself face to face with a rain storm. I didn't have the keys to go back inside, because my parents are going to drive me back. I though, oh well, grabbed my umbrella and stepped into the pouring rain. Not only were there huge puddles to avoid, the roads were obstacles as well. They were only just shallower than a flowing river, and I have to find the shallowest place to cross. Before I got to the skytrain (just at the intersection), I found that the biggest intersection I had to cross, had two metres wide of a river I had to jump over. Obviously I couldn't do that with a heavy trunk, and I landed right in the middle. My right shoe was completely soaked, and I could feel the water squishing in between my toes. When I got to the skytrain, my hair was a little wet due to a tiny leak in my umbrella, my backpack and skating trunk were all wet, and everything from my knee down was completely soaked (also due to having to dodge the water the passing cars produce). I asked a police woman if I could borrow a phone. I phoned my dad, and he decided that he could take me to skating, although I'll have to miss a session. I went back home and waited for my mom to come home to open the doors for me.

Weird

Today, I searched the computer for the Harry Potter website on the internet, because it used to contain stuff like buy your own wand, sorting hat, and all that, but all there is now is advertisements of the sixth movie. It's so sad! Everytime I finish reading a Harry Potter book, I just really want to be one of them. I know this seems weird, but J.K. Rowling's books are so realistic, that one can actually imagine it being real, and they're just like us except we're "Muggles".

I'm quite happy with my science mark. I went up by 1% because of my science test. I am also amazingly, satisfied with the mark of my English assignment this time. I guess I was lucky.

Hmm...

Extensions Lesson 5:

Person: My cousin
Scale: 3

Withdrawl: he doesn't listen to me, and I start having a shouting match with him
Deposit: I play with him

Person: Sharon

Scale: 5
Withdrawl: push her to school because she doesn't walk fast enough.
Deposit: I help her with homework.

Person: My mom
Scale: 8
Withdrawl: Mess up my room
Deposit: Help with the dishes
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Okay. So term ends next week. My skating competition is next week too, though :( My dad brought home some motor oil from a gas station today, and I'm planning to add it to my plants. Maybe I don't have anymore time today though, come to think of it. Since my plants are in my room right now, I'll have to move them out before I add the oil. I don't want to be smelling them in my sleep. And I have to take time to measure the oil, and record that information... right now, half the information that I recorded may be not needed.

Term ends... Next week??

Lesson 4 Extensions:

HANDOUT

PART A

1) What feelings do you have, or think you might have, after reading Part A?

I would be very upset and confused. Why would they just randomly throw rocks at me, when I haven't done anything to them? I would be furious, seeing that they would be responsible for me if I fell off at that moment and had an injury.

2) What would you say and do in this situation?

I would shout at them, and demand to know why they just randomly attacked me. I would yell at them about how dangerous that was, and how I am going to get them into trouble and tell their parents.

1) What feelings do you have, or think you might have, after reading Part B?

I would comment on how they were really smart to think of getting help, but still think how would have been better, and I could have stopped if they just shouted at me instead of throwing the rock.

2) What would you say in this situation?

I would tell them they could have just shouted at me from the side of the road, and get help as soon as possible for them, by either contacting someone with my cell phone, or help them get the kid out.
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I'm confused. Last week, it dawned on me that the term ends this Friday, but somehow, Mrs. Greskiw said something that made me think it was next Friday. When I asked other people, they didn't have a very clear answer either. I'm still taking the book test on Thursday though. I finished the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire today, and I'm all ready for it (i hope).

Day ones... it means a new pile of homework pouring in. Finishing day two homework is a breeze. It's always only French homework. 99% of all my homework is from day one. Day two means not much homework, but spending the whole day trying to finish the work from day one. Well... I'm not looking forward to any of these days now. Sigh.

Oops. forgot

I practically spent the whole day reading yesterday, and only forgot that I still had a blog to write after my head hit the pillow and then didn't bother getting back up and turning the computer on again.

It's unbelievable! My bean plants grew so fast, that they grew to more than twice their size in one night. I'm worried about my fourth bean plant though. I planned to add the most oil to that one when the time is right and they all look strong enough, but the fourth one is the shortest of them all... That will be a hard one to compare. Maybe I'll just lie and say that it was the oil that made it tiny? :)

I've finished reading the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets yesterday, and is aiming to finish the Goblet of Fire today, in order to take the test on Thursday (I know it's a long way, but I just want to finish it anyway). I don't know why I like the series so much. Even though I probably read each one of them about five times already, I still find myself disappearing behind one for hours after I just simply flipped open the cover.

Birthday Party

I went to my mom's friend's house to celebrate my birthday today. Their son is one year younger than me, and has the same birthday, so we celebrated together. We bought him a board game, and they bought me a series of painting books. We had fruit cake. I had suggested icecream cake, but my mom yelled at me about how no one else likes icecream cakes but me. But it turned out he had wanted icecream cake too. We played a bit of computer (well he did, and I watched, because I didn't have a maplestory account), and I cut one slice of cake, and sadly, I cut my name in half. I feel really sleepy right now, so I just be going to bed...

make up post

Nothing really bad happened today (that is, for the 13th). My friend gave me a watch for my birthday. She suggested I need a watch, and normal socks (mine were colourful, though I don't see what's wrong with that). She also gave me a really thin pencil, and I used it to do theory afterwards, and a notepad. I read some of Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire as well. I gave up on reading the challenging book after the first two pages. Apparently in the first paragraph, someone enters the room and jabbers about inconvenience, and in the next, someone says, "Lord, help us!"... I shut the book immediately after that. I know I'm never going to pass the book test like this. I'd rather read two more harry potters.

Birthday Tomorrow

I just got home from the school cafeteria. I was working on the social studies poster board with someone else from the group. I just realized there was one person that didn't do anything. The other person took home the poster board, and it's a good thing I don't have to worry about it right now. After all, I was the one that did all the work during the last two days. I deserve to rest. The cafeteria closes lights at exactly six o'clock. The guy warned us, and then, poof, the room went dark and I practically jumped while I was drawing a line.

We had our French test today. I thought it was okay. At least I didn't get stumped on anything. I just hope my spelling is all correct. But I know I spelled something wrong. I checked my binder afterwards because I had hesitated on one of my words. It turned out, that the way I spelled the word the first time was correct! And then for some reason I decided to drop out the letter u. Well this doesn't really surprise me. This kind of stuff ALWAYS happens to me. And I am not kidding. The last time we had an English quiz that was multiple choice, first, I checked C, then for some reason, I changed it to a B. We had to exchange papers to mark, and as soon as the paper left my hand, I regreted it. Sure enough, my first answer is correct.

Tomorrow's my birthday!

The day to do homework

I didn't have time to relax today (I didn't expect to). I spent all day doing homework. My dad helped me a little with the socials map, and I finished my science and French. We have a French test tomorrow, and I've been pretty worried. In the other tests, I keep on making stupid mistakes, such as forgetting the last letter S or something. So today, I focused on studying the words with S endings and every word with an accent. I also tried remembering every feminine word. I always get those mixed up. I am still worried about my ss project though. It still needs to be coloured, a compass, a legend, all the landforms, an escape route... I can go on forever. And we only have one day to do it!!

Two more days until my birthday. Why am I not excited? I used to not be able to sleep the day before my birthday. Maybe because so many homework is due that day, or maybe I won't be having a birthday party. That doesn't mean I'm not expecting presents though :D !

Arg! So frustrating!

Oh my goodness this is so frustrating! There is a social studies map due on Friday, and my group is not even 1/4 of the way done! And plus I have so much other homework to do. For the map, I don't really get some of the parts. If I did, I would be much less worried. My friend said that they took ten hours in total to do it, and they're not even done yet! What am I supposed to do? And I have a French test on Thursday. I can't even remember half of the words! And we have a science cheat sheet, and English worksheets and... I can go on forever.

It's not even the middle of the year yet. How am I going to survive this? I have to say I enjoyed socials up to this point. I still enjoy sciece however. Partly because of the teacher, but mostly I enjoy this subject. English however, is my worst enemy.

Birthday

Arg! Another French test on Thursday. I really have trouble remembering those nouns. I am really excited to start building the model plane again. I don't know why, but I really like building stuff. At least I like building stuff way better than writing English essays...

This Friday is my birthday, but I don't think I'll be having a birthday party since I only just noticed a few days ago and don't think I have time to prepare. The really weird thing about my birthday this time, is that I'm turning 13 on Friday the 13th. How wonderful. I don't really believe in stuff like you will get seven years bad luck if you look into a cracked mirror or something, but it's good to be extra careful just in case... I guess I will be celebrating my birthday at my aunt's house with my parents, cousins, aunt and uncle though. Their house is big enough, and my cousin phoned a few hours ago to ask what I want as a present. Honestly, I don't really care. When I was small, I used to do a birthday countdown as soon as I figure out thing I want really bad. I usually start three months away. But now, I don't even really care if I get anything (although something would be nice).

Finally Relaxed (a little)

Finally! I started on my science fair today. My dad and I went to check all the stores that we could think of that sold bean seeds, but apparently it was past the season of planting so none of them had it. Then, we got pointed to a place called Art Knapp by a clerk in one of the stores, and told us that they should still have some. Sure enough, there were plenty. Bean seeds, pea seeds, squash seeds, oregano seeds, an assortment of flower seeds, and almost anything else you can think of. I planted two seeds in each pot (I had four pots), just in case one of them wouldn't sprout. I can settle a little more now that I've taken the first step.

I finished my French homework, and that's all the homework for day two. But there's still loads of day 1 homework to finish. Right now behind me, my mom and dad are packing up all the books in this tiny apartment in to those cardboard boxes they brought home yesterday.

Really Less Time Left

Today, we went to Superstore to look for the things I need for the science fair. I only found pots and soil in the gardening section, but not bean plant seeds. I asked two employees, and both pointed me to two places in the store very far apart from each other but still no seed. I guess I'll just have to look elsewhere. My parents brought home a large quantity of cardboard boxes to get ready for moving to Langara Gardens.

I still have only two more weeks to pass on the socials forum. I currently around thirty to forty marks out of ninety. There were only four people that passed the last time Mr. Sale told us our marks.

For yesterday

No time to write blogs these days. Yesterday, my parents' friends came over with their child to play. We copied manga from books, but that only entertained her for about twenty minutes. Then she was trying to make my stuffed animals "skydive" from my top bunk. The top bunk is really dusty since no one sleeps on it anymore (it was for me when my grand-parents came over), and I really feel sorry for the stuffies.

In science class yesterday, we finished the experiment on what would happen if we soaked a gummy bear in water for more than two days. Well, I was very surprised to see the results. I predicted that the gummy bear would grow just a little, but I was mighty shocked that the gummy bears grew to almost more than four times their original size! It was all jello-like and transparent, and very breakable. I tried to take the bear out of the cup, and tore off one of its legs. It was fun, but I still have no idea of how to graph the percent changes of the bear in a bar graph!
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Extensions lesson 3

3) If you prepare, quality will be better

Some one is doing their science fair, and he/she has only got tw0 weeks to do it. He/she has been sleeping late and waking up very early. It's finally done the day before the fair. He/she looks at other people's projects and realized that theirs was way more neat and well written. He/she asks the other people how they ended up doing such a good job. They all said they started three months ago.

Rush rush rush

I'm actually starting to like basketball! But I still think it's a dangerous sport. I jammed five fingers last year because I joined the basketball team. Infact, I jammed another one of my fingers today! As I was putting the basketball back into the trolly, I guess the ball was too bouncy or something, and it backfired at my finger. I got the slightest pain from a jammed finger this time, but it's usually a lot worse.

I broke two of the sticks needed for the plane today! What do I do? I hope there are exras! My jacket fell on top of it in my locker. Sigh. I'm always so unlucky. I read alot of the book I was reading for my Independent Reading program today. I am able to take that book test on Tuesday, but I only have less than two weeks to read a challenging book in order to get ten points. I can do this!

Worry worry

I'm really worried about science fair. I haven't started it yet, and it's only one month left until I go back to China. I can't do it in one month! The plants won't be ready yet! Oh well. For the socials project, I have no idea what to do because the boys took the paper home, and I'm kind of worried about their drawing skills. I'm done what they told me to do; the climagraph.

Now, when I head to ballet or skating class by taking the skytrain or the bus, it's starting to get kind of scary. It's getting really dark, and any time someone is walking behind me, I get the feeling that they are following me. It's creepy.

Make up blog

Another make up blog. I didn't have time to write this yesterday. I spent all of my time finishing the homework that needs to be done for today.

For P.E, we started basketball. The first thing our teacher told us, was that we will be having a skills test after about two weeks. What a great way to start off. Well it was only on shooting, which I am okay at, since I joined the basketball team last year in my elementary school. We were playing games three on three in the end, and I actually scored a lot of goals for my team!

In fine arts, we are going to learn the Taylor Swift song called Love Story on the guitar next class (aka tomorrow). We also had a song test. I played the verse and the chorus of the song, "I will remember you". I learned that song in grade six, and it's really nice.

The Bad Things About Halloween Candy

I had skating again today and as usual, I don't want to move a muscle as soon as I got home. I managed to finish my cell analogy homework though, which is due on Wednesday.

My mom gave me an article in the newspaper to read, and it was about the dangers of Halloween candy. Some people in Ontario, after they or their parents inspected the candy they got from Halloween, discovered some very weird stuff. One discovered a very long needle stuck through a Tootsie roll, and some others discovered a hidden razor blade in goody bags, and one discovered a razor blade stuck in to an apple. That really surprised me. Why would anyone want to hurt a random person they don't even know? I went trick-or-treating with my cousin. I should really take time to check and inspect my candy to make sure they are all edible!

Homework day

Today was mostly homework day. I was either at a lesson, or doing homework. In the morning, I had to go to a ballet rehearsal, and then straight to drawing. After drawing class, I waited for a long time for my dad to pick me up because he went to sharpen my skates. As soon as I arrived home, I started digging into my homework. I tackled English first. I finished searching out all of the words, and I wrote three long paragraphs to answer three long questions. For science, since we didn't finish our lab, we can't finish our lab write-up, so I just finished whatever I can. I still have to practice my violin after this. *Sigh*. How am I going to survive four and a half more years in school? *Cry cry cry*

Halloween!

This is a make-up blog for yesterday. I didn't have time because I went to my aunt's house to celebrate her birthday. Her birthday is right on Halloween! My cousin was trick-or-treating, so I went along. I was a witch( I've been a witch the fifth time in a row. I like the witches in Harry Potter!). My cousin's little sister is so cute (I've always thought she was)! Since we were shouting "trick-or-treat" everytime, she decided to join along. At one house, after all of the people yelled trick-or-treat, she half shouted something like, "cheekorchee!" The person giving out the candy was so surprised and was laughing so hard. She said, "I'll give you three candy just because you're so cute!"

We had dinner and cake at a restaurant. The person who own's the restaurant is my aunt's friend, so he cut the cake for us. After that, we went home. I finished some homework, set the time an hour back, and went to sleep.

Trip to Watermania

Watermania was pretty fun. I only stayed in the playing area( the place where they have waves every fifteen minutes), because it was the only pool that has a quite warm temperature. I liked riding on the waves on a board in the deep area( and on a board only, because I would choke on water everytime a new wave comes if I am not buoyant), and how I go up and down and up and down... I kept on falling off my board though, and get a taste of the salty water every few minutes( the water is salty for some reason).

I also went on to the slides. Well, I only went on to the red one because that's the only one my friend wants to go on. I went on both many times before, so it doesn't really matter to me. The red one was more twistier. I remember when I was in grade five, I went here with my other friend just for fun. I slid down before her, and after I fell into the warm pool at the bottom, I heard some sort of squeal. I looked back and saw this shadow within the slide moving downwards, the scream getting louder and louder. Then my friend burst through the mouth of the slide. I was laughing so hard!

Tomorrow is our field trip to Watermania! I hope my cold isn't going to get worse. The only way my mom let me go was after I told her that if I got cold, I'll just wash up and change and watch the other people for the rest of the time (or I can warm up in the hot tubs). I do think that my cold got a little better today.

I didn't go to the Halloween Dance today. I don't know why, but I just didn't feel like dressing up. Lots of people went, so my friend didn't get guilty of not going. Tomorrow is the day we dress up in school I think. We're not here, hooray!

This has got to be my shortest post ever, but I need to sleep earlier in order to not be late for school tomorrow!

Still not used to this "train"

This week just HAS to be named "Test week". We finished our fifth test of the week today, and I just remembered that we have ANOTHER science test tomorrow! It's on the parts of cells. Sigh. This is never going to end.

I'm planning to start on my science fair this weekend. Hopefully we have time to go and buy some bean plants at Superstore or somewhere. I'm probably going to use motor oil to represent the oil from oil spills, so I'll have to ask my dad for that. I'm scared to do anything on it though. I'm afraid that I might forget to record some valuable observation details, forget to water the plants, or mess up on some measurements. If I do mess up or end up missing a piece of information, maybe I can just make it up? :)

We presented our French dialogue today, and my friend and I both got 14/15 which was, okay. We were supposed to be introducing ourselves to each other at a party. We had to make some last minute changes because everybody else's dialogue was way shorter than ours. We crosses two parts out.

H1N1

Well it was a huge relief to finish all the tests today. We only had three. In English, we had to write another draft of an essay, which took up all the class except for the last ten minutes, when we had a fire drill.

My cold got worse today. I was glad to here on the announcement the difference between symptoms of a cold, and symptoms of swine flu, since it confirmed that I wasn't infected. For example, my enemy, the stuffy nose, was only found in colds. That was also sort of a bad news too. According to this, it won't be likely I'd get a cold without having this awful plug in my nose. I really hope my cold doesn't get worse after I go to watermania on Friday! I also read on the CBC website that a thirteen year old boy with no health problems, died of H1N1 within 48 hours. It first started out as minor cold symtoms, and even the doctor told his parents it was okay. That was lightning fast! From a cold to death in just two days. That is really scary.

So tired...

I spent all this time studying for all the tests tomorrow. And as predicted, we have another test: French. I'm starting to get really tired of this. I guess I'm not into the rhythm yet. I think I am losing a lot of sleep. I always feel very sleepy during math, and right now, my eyes could close any second. I can't sleep well these days anyways. I'm sick and I have a stuffy nose. What I hate most about getting sick is a stuffy nose. I get so annoyed, and I can't relax. I'm always trying to unplug it. If it weren't for nose problems, I'd be perfectly okay with getting a cold.

In P.E, we did different versions of dodge ball with a substitude. One version was, not really dodge ball, but we half to get our whole team on to the bench on the other team's side. In order to do that, we had to throw the ball to the person that is already on the bench, and if that person catches it, the person who threw the ball gets to go on the bench. If one person on the bench falls off, then everybody on the bench has to get off except the first person. I really liked this one. The other version is the old docter dodge ball.

Birthday Party

I went to Jennifer's birthday party! I almost wasn't allowed to go because I had a minor cold.

I arrived there late because of drawing class, and I got there just in time to eat. I had three pieces of cheese pizza, and some cheese bread( I love cheese!). Then we had a scavenger hunt. I got chosen as one of the team leaders, and Janet and Sharon were on my team. We had to find different things that Jennifer and Moon Young hid. My team was second place for the first round, and then Sharon had to leave for drawing class before the second round. Moon Young helped us by giving hints since my team was down by one person, and we won. I got a white out! Now I can stop borrowing from my friends.

The other people played truth-or-dare, while I sat out along with another friend. I do not like this game. We watched them play it, and one person got dared to wear a mickey mouse hat while running down the block waving a handkerchief, and someone else was dared to wear a princess crown and run down the block singing "I'm a little princess". The others were videotaping it on their cell phones.

After that, we mostly talked and played Wii. We were playing Super-Smash Brawl or something, and I am really bad at these games. I'm usually the second last person or the one who loses.

Today was fun. At least I got to go!
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Lesson 2 Family Reflections

What are your family goals? Is there anything you would like to accomplish together?

One goal is to keep the space where we live clean and tidy, and to be healthy. We can accomplish being healthy together, by reminding each other to exercise everyday.

Unlucky day...

I arrived early at the skating competition to watch other people from my club skate. I was pretty confident because of how I skated yesterday, but still very nervous. When it was my group's turn, I stepped on to the ice with everybody else, and did warm-up. Things actually went pretty well. I landed all of my jumps excepted double lutz, and did good spins. I was fourth to skate in the group so after warm-up, my coach and I waited .

Then it was my turn to perform. I started, did a good spin at the beginning, but that was all. I fell on every single jump except an axle and a double toe at the end (I know I probably sound like I'm talking jibber-jabber, but these are all jump names). I just couldn't stay standing! Of all the times I could of messed up, I did it at competition. My coach told me that it looked like I skated with someone else's legs. I've never skated like this for a long time. My mom told me it was the first time she's seen me smile, and even though I fell so many times. I didn't even notice. My coach told me that she didn't see anything wrong, but my muscles just didn't do what I told them to do.

I felt really bad afterwards. We had to wait until the results came out. When they did, I checked the list from bottom up. I actually didn't come last. I came fifth out of nine people. Exactly in the middle. Oh wow. That was WAY better than I expected.

Confusions...sigh

I've got another mix-up today. I think that I already said somewhere in here that this always happens to me.

I thought we had a skating simulation today. Simulations are almost competition like except there's no competition (it's like a dress rehearsal for a real competition). I left extra early, and when I got there, no one else is there except for the people who were supposed to be skating at that time. My coach wondered why I was here so early, and I found out that the simulation was supposed to be NEXT week. I ended up having to wait for an hour and a half, which was a waste of time, but I got to watch the seniors skate (the seniors are higher leveled skaters, and it doesn't necessarily mean older).

I do have a skating competition tomorrow though. I did the best solo I have ever done for a long time today at practice, up until the last fifteen seconds of music. I completely collapsed and kind of flopped like jelly on my last jump and spin because I was so exhausted. I hope I'll be okay tomorrow!

Tests, tests, tests...

Next week on Tuesday, there will be four tests in total for Synergy! For Social Studies, we have to memorize where each country is in Europe, and for science, the parts of a microscope. We may have a vocabulary quiz for English, and I'll have to live through the drawing test for Applied Skills (though I'm not that concerned for that). How can this be even possible?

I'm glad that tomorrow is a Pro-D day, because I get more time to study. My guess is that we will have a French test next week as well though. What luck. There really is no break to highschool is there? You get homework every single day that is impossible to finish, and tests to study for every other week. Or maybe it's just because we're in Synergy.
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Lesson 2 extensions:

Smart is an acronym for specific, measurable, action oriented, reasonable, timely.

My Goals:

Ace science and socials,
Don't have any late assignments,
Don't fail science fair,
Make new friends at school.

My Smart goal:

Be chosen to take part in the next level of science fair after the science fair in Feburary.

Handball is fun

Today was the last day we play handball for P.E, which is sad because handball is just starting to get fun. I actually scored a goal today. The bad part is, I had to be goalie. I don't mind if I'm good or okay at it, but I really suck at defending the goal (I like being defence though). I've known that since I started playing sports, and tried to avoid it as much as possible. Today, I got taken down with one shot. There were only four people on our team, and I got passed to quite a lot. I liked catching the ball. It makes me feel useful on the team, and not just dead weight.

I'm starting to get worried about the science fair. I'm going back to China during winer vacation, and I'm doing an experiment with plants. Who will take care of the plants and observe them while I'm gone? Maybe I'll do the experiment before or after that time, because I'm using bean plants, and according to my dad, they grow really fast.

Writer's Festival

We went to the Writer's Festival today, and it was really fun! We went with some other classes too, and so some of our friends came along as well.

I really liked listening to the two writers talk. I only remember one author's name (Matthew Skelton), because the other woman writer had a really complicated Japanese sounding name. This event got me interested in these two books:
Endymion Spring, and Cirrus Flux.

I liked how Matthew Skelton described his "evil" big sister. He told us about a time when he was five and his sister was eight. In the middle of the night, his sister woke him up and told him that burglers were in the house. She made him hide downstairs while she was going to "check" on their mom and dad. He hid there all night before he realized in the morning that his sister had gone to bed.

I also liked the part when someone asked the writers what their least favourite books were, and they both said Twilight! Everybody was laughing. I personally don't mind Twilight that much, but I just read the first and fourth book, and didn't bother reading the rest.
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Lesson 1 Family reflections:
If someone would describe our family character they would probably say hardworking, and maybe stubborn. The character qualities high on our family list is honesty.

Newspapers

Today was pretty good. I finished all my homework for French, and that was pretty much all I had. One homework I didn't get was science. Somehow, one of the graphs just didn't make any sense. Apparently, the more the object weighed, the less it was in litres. Oh well.

Since the skytrain opened, my mom has been taking it to work. Everyday, some people would give out The Province and The Vancouver Sun newspapers to her. Right now, we've got a ton. Every night she would tell me of an interesting topic, and make me read it. I've realized that there were a lot of news on assaults on women and young girls. The news pretty much goes the same way: a guy beats someone up, and then they give a description of the person. It's kind of freaky, especially when most of the incidents are so close by. Don't those people have better things to do with their lives?

Go-Extensions

Extensions lesson 1:

1) Be proactive----D, c
2) Begin with end in mind----G, b
3) Put first things first----C, g
4) Think win-win----B, e
5) Seek first to understand, then to be understood----F, f
6) Synergize----A, d
7) Sharpen the saw----E, a
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Finally, I know how to do the extensions for the Go Program.

For some reason, my mom decided to make dinner real early today, and we ate at around 6:30. We usually eat at 8:45.

I stayed home for the whole day except to go to drawing class, and wished that today would be more exciting. I wish we could of went out to eat, or stayed at friends' houses to play. The good thing is that my dad bought chips at Costco, which we rarely ever do. The bad thing is, my parents already finished up a good chunk of it.

A Street View

My mom just showed me something on the web. It was a street view from Google. It takes pictures of houses and the neighbourhood from the street. Apparently there was a Google vehicle that comes around once in awhile and takes pictures. It's really cool. When you find the place you want, you drag this tiny human icon to the exact place you want to see (but you have to drag the icon on to a street). You can see people that were around when they took the pictures, but their eyes were covered with black. I could see everything almost like I was there. You can zoom in and see in almost perfect detail (if you zoom in too close, things become blurry).

My mom showed me the area that we're going to move to, but since Langara Gardens is a huge place, we can't go inside and see the middle of the block since there is no street in there. My mom can't wait to move, and I really want to live closer to the school and get there faster so I can do my homework sooner. I tried to convince my friend to live there too. She thought it would be a good idea because she won't have to pick up her sister from school anymore. It's so close she can just walk home by herself. I hope someone would go there with me.

Blogging in late night/ early morning

I'm writing so late these days, because I had a skating class, and my mom used the computer right afterwards. I have no homework due on Monday since it's a day two, so it is quite relaxing.

I don't have violin class this week, because my teacher is on some kind of vacation. Thankfully, because I didn't really have time to practice. My only class tomorrow... or should I say today, is ballet, which is at 5:00 pm. I get to sleep in!

My mom is busy reading a terms-of-agreement sheet for the place we are going to move to close to my birthday. It's right beside our school. It is still an apartment though, but way bigger than the one we have now. I'm really excited to move, but I can't walk home with my friends anymore.

I really want to go to sleep now...

Homework Finito!

Finally! I finished my science fair proposal and my English good copy. We didn't have any homework today.

I'm starting to really like handball. People are actually passing to me, and our team is always the strongest! Now I like day 2's way better, because the only class that gives homework is French. For applied skills, I can't find the extensions button on the CD for Go, so I don't know what the questions were. I saw the button on the teacher's version, but it isn't on mine. It only has Learning Outcome, Video, Family Reflections, and Main Menu.

I didn't go to the Mixer and Dance because most of my friends aren't going. In the middle of walking home, my friend said she felt guilty for not going because probably not many grade 8s are going to show up (at least when we left, all the people in the cafeteria were grade 12s). We decided to go home in the end. We flipped a coin and it told us to go, but we were too lazy to walk back.

Homework

I've got a list of science fair project topics that I can choose from. It doesn't matter to me which one I do, but the problem is that our science teacher doesn't want us to do projects that she has seen a million times before, and I don't know which ones she is talking about! I currently have one that I think might be okay.

For the English essay, I finished the draft today so I can start on the good copy tomorrow. No worries (I hope)!

I'm starting to get used to highschool. I can remember where all my classes are, and can pretty much keep up with the homework and the schedules. I'm quite happy! At the beginning of the year, I thought I would take the whole year just to not get lost trying to find my classrooms. I guess highschool is actually okay!

Singing in the Rain

My mom is taking a bath right now, but since I finished most of my homework, I can watch the movie "Singing in the Rain" with her today! It is such a good movie. Every year in elementary at the end of the year, our music teacher would watch it with us. I remember laughing so hard each time because it's so funny. I don't know why, but I want to watch it again this year, so I made my dad download it. I got my mom excited for watching it too, and I can't wait to show it to her.

Unfortunately, my dad can't make it for the movie, because he is working overtime today. Their company always do that for some reason now.

I still can't come up with a science fair project. This is so frustrating.

Books books books...

Today is Thanksgiving, but we didn't do anything special, like eating turkey or even invite any friends over. The only times we had turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, is when someone invites us to their house. The only thing I did today however, was homework.

I'm starting to read books for the Independent Reading Program, and almost finished a book today. It was called the Pretties. I didn't read the first book in the series, Uglies, because I couldn't find it in the library the other day. It was a pretty good book. I haven't read books that interested me for a long time, and it felt good to be in to a book again. In summer vacation, my parents never took me to the library, and I was stuck with reading a bunch of Chinese books and old English books such as "David Copperfield". Since "David Copperfield" was a classic, it should be very good, but I can just fall asleep reading it.

I'm starting to love books all over again!

So much homework

I forgot to watch the We Day show! I had to go to ballet lesson at that time.

My cousin came over today, and they're still here, watching a Transformers movie. Well I have to admit, I am kind of interested in it as well. I still have so much homework, including my science fair proposal. I still have no idea what I'm going to do! Our teacher said to do something that interests us. I am interested in animals, but I don't have any animals to experiment with. Maybe something on plants, but that doesn't interest me that much. Well, I've got until friday to think about it.

For once, we have no homework for English. I'll work on the map tomorrow for socials, and as for the Spongebob drawing, I blame Spongebob for this homework!

Yay long weekend!

I didn't have time yesterday to write, since I came home so late from skating and had to get ready for the violin lesson next day.

I just came home from the Langara Gardens. My mom and dad were taking a look at the rooms they had to rent. They've pretty much given up trying to look for a decent and low priced house around these places. They kept on telling me that if it weren't for me wanting to go to this school, they would have gone to Whiterock.

I thought the rooms that Langara provides was pretty good. They have four swimming pools (one indoor and three outdoor), and a small library. Well you couldn't exactly call that a library, because you don't sign out the books. You just take whatever you want to read and return it as soon as possible. You can also donate books of your own to that library. They also have a fitness room.

My parents thought it was pretty decent too, so we might move there during the next few months. We're going back to China this Christmas, so if we want to move, we have to do so before then.

The long run

We ran the Langara Golf Course today, and it was actually okay (towards the end anyway). I was so tired my legs worked machanically. I didn't need to tell them anything and they just put one foot in front of the other all by themselves. I couldn't feel anything anymore. My time was 15:37, which was okay. I ran all the way and was the first girl. Well I sort of ran all the way. Since no body was in sight towards the end, I stoped occationally to look at the "You are here" signs to make sure I didn't go on the wrong path. Someone told me that a grade eight guy from another class got around 11-12 minutes! What did they eat?

Thank goodness I don't have any skating classes today, or my legs would be like jelly right now!

So much to do

Finally! My friend showed me how to put the grid on here. It deals with the html stuff on gadgets.

I'm getting worried. Tomorrow, I have to run the Langara Golf Course. Apparently, it is around seven and a half laps around the track (one round is 400 metres). What if i do really bad? My friends all say it is better than running the six laps because it is not so repetitive. I'm getting ready for a really painful day.

Why does the Synergy class give so much homework? I know it's supposed to be harder than regular classes, but I barely have any time for doing things that I want to do. I don't even have time to take breaks or relax. It's always homework after homework, I finished this, now I have to start that. It is starting to get really tiresome. The only subject I like, which is fun and gives no homework, is fine arts. We're learning guitar!

Losing is the Key to Winning!

Hooray! Tomorrow, I can wake up at 8:30 am because it is collaborative planning for the teachers, so school starts at 10:00 am.

I finished my homework quickly today, so I could play Stratego with my dad (of course I knew I would never win). There were two teams, and I would always pick the ice one (the other one is fire). I was so scared to move my pieces, as I know he always had a strategy up his sleeves since he's played similar games many times before. I did have some tricks too, but he outsmarted all of them. He kept on getting me cornered, and by the time I knew it was hopeless, I just gave up my pieces to him. I know I will be losing for a long time, but I am going to learned a lot of new strategies each time I play. By the time I challenge my mom or my cousin, they won't stand a chance!

The Walk Home

Today was a normal day, except my friends sister apparently isn't normal. According to her, she is normal when she wants to walk home, but not normal when she doesn't.

I was waiting for my friend to get her sister, and I stayed there for about five minutes. I ran inside to see what was taking her so long. Well, her sister wouldn't go home unless we trade her something. We dragged her by the arms, telling her that if she walk home, she will get extra T.V time and other things to convince her, but it just didn't work.

Somehow, we started talking about imaginary friends. She wanted us to guess the name of her imaginary friend. My fried told her that if we guess it right, she will go home and she agreed. We took about half the way home trying to guess it, and in the end we did (it was Lizzy). Because of that, I was home ten minutes later than usual. What ever I said about her sister being better, I take it back!

This always happens...

What a confusing day! At least at the start it was. We had a ballet rehearsal this morning, preparing for the performance tonignt. Our teacher told us to meet at Micheal J. Fox Theatre at 4:00 pm to rehearse on the stage.

I went straight to drawing class afterwards, and left kind of late to go and get ready for the performance, so we rushed so much, and I thought I would completely miss the rehearsal and the teacher would be so mad at me. It was almost five when we got there and I ran inside, but neither the teacher or the other students were to be seen. It turned out our teacher told us the wrong time, and the ones who arrived early, were inside the theatre watching others perform! So I rushed for nothing! I was also kind of relieved. All went well afterwards.

Moon Festival

Well I forgot to write yesterday. I still have got no idea how to do the chart!

I ran six laps yesterday around the track for P.E and got so tired! Well my time was okay. I got around 12:40 minutes without stopping. I forgot the exact time because by brain couldn't work properly afterwards.

My uncle came over today along with my cousins. One cousin was a nine-year-old boy, and the other is a two-year-old little girl. They came hear to celebrate Moon Festival. My cousin brought the Stratego game, and we played. First, I set up the game on my side, and as soon as we started playing, I noticed something wrong; I trapped my second best piece by surrounding it with traps! I demanded to start over. The second time I trapped another of my piece again, but that piece wasn't worth that much, so it was okay. I managed to win this round.

I have a ballet performance tomorrow, and my parents told me we might buy the game too!

So stressed...

Mr.Olson told us to do a Go Program workbook. It was about how to set goals, describe character, etc. He also told us to add a checklist to our blog. I have got no idea how to do that. My mom and dad both tried dealing with this HTML thing (they're both computer engineers), but nothing really worked out. I only did the two online quizzes, since I don’t really get the workbook. I have so much homework today! I even have a French test tomorrow! I can’t even spell all of the numbers!

I am in fact, actually looking forward to a ballet performance on Sunday, I don’t know why. I usually hate ballet.

China National Day

Today, my mom and dad were watching a show live from China on the Internet. It was about the sixtieth anniversary of a Chinese holiday, similar to Canada Day, celebrating the creation of the People's Republic of China. It was a huge gathering of hundreds of thousands of people. Most of it was parades.

Half of the parading was of the latest war technology. The tanks, trucks, planes, and many other vehicles, made their way past the cheering people. Those I was not interested in. What was impressive, was the way the soldiers walked. They were lined up in perfectly straight lines, and moved in perfect synchronization. They raised their hands and feet at the exact same time, and raised them to the exact same height. From above, they look like a mat moving across the Tianmen Square. I wonder how many years of training it took to reach this perfection?

The dancers that paraded a little afterwards were just as awesome. For example, there was a group of marching women, each holding a blue and a red pompom. They raised the pompoms in different patterns all at the same time, so that in a birds eye view, it looked like the "mat" of people, not only moved without falling apart, but changed colour every so often.

The coolest was at the end, where the group of children walked out in a formation while holding balloons. At the very end of the song that was sung, they all released the balloons all at the same time, and thousands of balloons floated towards the sky. The view was so majestic! The Chinese sure knew how to put up a good show!

Memories of Elementary

I know that switching from elementary to highschool is a hard thing. Most people, including me, hasn't gotten quite used to it yet. I sometimes think I still go to elementary school. Well this is an example of what I mean. I just remembered it today, had a pretty good laugh about it.

It was about a week ago when we went to the Bard on the Beach (to see the Shakespeare play). We just finished lunch and were waiting for our teacher to show up and give us the tickets. There were also other schools there too. One of the teachers from the other schools, probably just out of curiosity, asked us which school we came from. Me and my friend were both going to say Laurier, just when another guy blurted out, "Jamieson". Then we just realized and all was silent. Then the guy corrected himself and everybody started laughing.

I really miss elementary school days. It was way less complicated, we only have one teacher for the whole year (which makes it eazier when trying to impress them :D), it was a lot smaller, and WE were the big kids!

Clubs at the School

It was Clubs Day at our school, and it was for people who wanted to join certain clubs. It was held on a grass field. The band was playing, but barely anyone could hear the music over the chattering of hundreds of people. It was so crowded, that I could barely most of the club signs.

I only joined the Anime Club, but I only like learning to draw anime, and not watch it (since I take a long time just trying to figure out what the anime movie was about. There's always a twist to it). My friends also joined the anime club, and one friend joined the Secret Gardent Club, where they make fake flowers and plants out of cloth and other materials. I really wanted to join that too, but in order to pay for the supply fees, each person that joins has to give ten dollars. I know that I am really forgetful, so I didn't bother joining since I know I am going to forget the money.

I'm also feeling alot better today then Friday, because I skated much better than last time (the time I fell and scraped my knee).

A Delicious Dinner

My aunt invited my family to dinner at her work place today. She works at a senior residence place, and they have luxurious dinners every night. We were invited just because she was going to give us some fruits after, and just thought since we would come, that we should just stay and eat anyways.

When it was time to eat, the seniors all sat down in the tables. Most of them look like they're about 80-90 years old, and some of them were sitting in wheelchairs. My aunt put us in a private dinning room. I ordered a steamed meat with potatoes and vegies for the main course.

The food was quite good. I especially liked the sause that the vegies and meat were in. My aunt and mom ordered a fish and rice plate, and it didn't look half as good as mine or my dad's (we ordered the same thing)! But good as it is, there was too much in the plate for me to finish.

Stratego

Today was my cousin's birthday, and he turned nine. I was at my uncle's house along with my mom and dad.

One of the presents he got was a Stratego game board. He opened it, and we read the instructions. It was a war game. The objective is to get the oponent's flag. We didn't get to finish the game because my mom was getting really tired.

I really started to like the game when my dad started telling me about the strategies on the way home, like how I should pay attention to which ones he never moved, and those would either be the traps or the flag. Hopefully my parents will buy that game for me tomorrow if we find it in the shops, because I can't wait to design my own battle plan!

Ouch...

I went just as usual to skating class today, and the first class was strength and conditioning, and our coach made us run 30 times back and forth a small parking lot, and boy it was tiring. I thought my skating session would be the same as any other day.

I stepped on to the ice and did my stroking. Then, when I got to the jumps, they were just never right. I ended up falling way more than I did in a very long time. By the time I got to my lesson, my coach told me that I was going into jumps slower than usual, and that I was holding back. How could I not? After all those falls, who wouldn't be the least timid going into another element with the chance of falling again!

What was worse, was that after this session, we had enrichment ( a group lesson on edges, speed, etc.). We did double three turns (turns on one leg from forwards to backwards in the same direction). On the leg that I am not good at, I turned once, then on the second turn, my blade (the blade on the skate) got stuck in the ice and I fell twisted. That fall ended up giving me a bleeding knee. I sure hope my skating gets better nearing the competition in October.

Meet the Teacher/ Creature Night

The "Meet the Creature Night" was today, and my parents went. I didn't go, and my friend came over because her mom went too. We did some homework and played a little.

At about one hour and a half later, she went to go pick up her sister at a scout place, which was just beside my apartment. Apparently, her sister just joined today, and they made this thing that tells you which way the wind blows (I forgot the name). They will also start selling popcorn, and the more you sell, the better prizes you get. They took home a little magazine that advertizes the kinds of popcorn they have. There were choclate covered ones, plain ones, buttery ones, and many more. The most expensive one was $55! I wonder who will buy those!

My friend went home after my parents came back from my school. They were telling me how I was supposed to read the long list of books for the Independent Reading Program, and why I haven't started. Well obviously the grade eights can't check out books in the school library when we don't have a library card yet.

First Skytrain Ride and the Writer's Festival

Today was the first time I took the skytrain to my ballet class, and it went pretty smoothly. I got on the right train, and got off at the right stop. I wasn't nervous at all, probably because of all my experience taking the bus at least twice every week. I actually got there twenty minutes early, so I'm deciding to go a bit later next time.

Also today, we had to write a piece of writing to submit to the Writer's festival in English class. There were six words that we had to use in our pieces, and the writing could be anything; poems, short stories, news articles, anything as long as it contains the six words in them. The words were, Facebook, labyrinth, skytrain, sob, what if, and compost. I thought I did okay. I'm really anxious to know which five pieces of writing our English teacher will pick to submit to the contest!

A good change

My friend always walks to and from school with me. But the only problem is, that she has to pick up her little sister on Mondays to Thursdays. The reason that's a problem is because her sister was never eager to go home. A few times, we even had to take turns dragging her.

But these days, my friend's sister is actually being okay! Today, she asked me for candy, and I told her that, if I gave her candy, she would walk home. She told me that she wasn't stupid, and of course she would walk home even if I didn't give her candy. She said that she is normal right now. According to her, when she didn't want to go home, she wasn't normal. She even explained to me how she talks when she isn't normal compared to when she was, which was pretty funny. Sure enough, she walked home without a problem. It was even fun, since we played games with her along the way.

Now we can get home way faster than we used to!

People at a Bus Stop

Today, I was waiting at the bus stop at the Canada Line station for the bus that would take me to skating, and I observed the others around me to kill the time.

The people there were all waiting for buses, and most of them just came out from the sky train. Some of them were carrying suitcases, like they just left the airport. I was carrying a suitcase too, though it contained my skates, not my clothes. A woman behind me was constantly checking her watch with an annoyed expression, like she was going to be late for something.

Buses came and went. Most people boarded the bus to UBC, and also a lot for the airport station. The woman that was constantly checking her watch went on to the one to downtown. It was sort of interesting how I saw a mixture of irritation and relief on her face. Finally, my bus came and off I went to skating.

New Phone!

Finally, I got my very own cell phone!

Every time my dad goes into Rogers, Fido, or any other phone and electronics company to take a look around, I would always survey the different cell phones that they display. I would then sometimes get in to arguments weather I needed a cell phone or not. My parents repeatedly explain how I had no use for one, and buying one for me would be a waste of money.

But these days, they realized I might have use for one after all, now that I'm in high school, so my dad searched for plans on the Internet and decided to get me one with 30 minutes per month, and no texting included. The cell phone also had no camera. I know that I'm not satisfied completely, but I guess it was good enough that they actually decided to get me one. I'm really excited to use it!

Also, I've been spending some time decorating my blog, and I'm quite happy with the result!

The Pursuit of Happiness

I didn't write yesterday because we spent our evening watching a movie called, "The Pursuit of Happiness". It was a fairly good movie, and it was based on a true story. The movie was about a family living in San Francisco.

They had a five year old son named Christopher, who spends weekday at a daycare because his parents are way to busy. His dad, Chris, is always busy trying to sell scanners, and his mother, Linda, works at a factory. Chris tries hard to make money, but barely anyone is willing to buy the scanners. No matter how hard they worked, they still don't have enough money to even pay their rent.

One day Linda gets angry at Chis and decides to leave, saying that he cannot give her happiness. Chris couldn't stop her, so all he demands is to leave Christopher with him. Chris is usually the one that takes care of Christopher, so he is closer to his dad than to his mom. So his mom leaves.

Chris is very smart. The time all this happens, was the time when people were introduced to Rubik's cubes. He solved one in one try, and it was because of his talent, he was then introduced to a stockbroker company. He was interviewed, and accepted to take the learning course, but only one person out of twenty will be chosen in the end to work at this company.

All went well for him and his son until the day the tax bill arrived in a mail. He needed to pay $600.00. He was devastated, as this was all he had. The government took the money out of his bank account, and he was broke. He continued to sell scanners, take the stockbroker course, and at night, with his son, line up at the shelter for places to sleep.

A lot more happens. Too much for me to explain. But in the end, after all the twenty people took the stockbroker test, he was chosen. He cried with happiness as he took his son and hugged him tight.

According to the movie, Chris got a stable job, and eventually became a millionaire. It was almost like a miracle.

First school field trip

Our Synergy 8 class got to go on a field trip today to the Bard on the Beach, along with some other grade nine classes. We were going there to watch a Shakespeare play entitled, "All's Well that End's Well". The play took place in a tent on Jericho Beach. We got there in two private school buses.

I'll just describe the play. I understood most of the talking the actors did, and what was going on, but there were little parts I didn't catch. It was about Helena, who was a poor physician's daughter, trying to win the heart of a young Lord Bertram.

Bertram didn't like Helena, but he had to marry her because Helena cured the King of France, and the King let her choose a husband in his court so she chose Bertram. The main reason he felt hatred for Helena was because he didn't want to be called the "husband of a poor physician's daughter".

He ran away to fight in a war in Italy just to be away from Helena, and sent her a letter, challenging her to get the ring from his finger and bear his child, before he could ever be her true husband. In the end, Helena managed to meet these conditions and Bertram fell in love with her.

It was a pretty good play, and there were some really funny parts. The actors really knew what they were doing. If I could, I would want to watch it again!

Fairs and contests

Only once in my whole life, have I ever done a contest of some sort for school before, and it was a nightmare.

For the Heritage Fair that our class did in grade six, we had to research and make a poster board on a famous Canadian. During that time we worked on it, there was so much pressure. There wasn't a day we that we could relax and enjoy. It was always writing paragraphs after paragraphs, or endless research on the computer and flipping through books. The reason I'm bringing this up, is because now our English teacher and science teacher introduced us to a writing contest, and a science fair! It's putting so much pressure on me just thinking about it.

The way I look at it, there's no way I'm qualifying for the next level (provincials or city championships) because I am in a classroom of people the same level as me and/or higher. There's no doubt that there will be way more competition in these events then there was back in elementary school. I just hope I won't be the worst!

Bubble Tea

Coming out from my ballet class today, I had a sudden craving for bubble tea. My mom was with me, and she gave me the money. There was a bubble tea shop downstairs from the studio, but I wasn't sure where it was, so my mom told me to look for it myself. I went down, and spotted it right away. I ordered a cookies-and-cream flavoured one which was, in my opinion, the most delectable one. I waited for the employee (there was only one lady working there), and then took the cup and sprinted upstairs, when I discovered that my dad already arrived to pick us up.

On the way home, I drank about half way when my stomach started to feel uncomfortable. But I didn't want to disappoint my mom by saying that I don't want to drink the bubble tea anymore, because I didn't want her to get upset and say I wasted money. I kept taking little sips.

When we got to the apartment, I felt like I couldn't drink anymore, and if I did,then I would barf. Right now, I don't even feel like looking at it! I wonder, why will eating or drinking too much of one particular beverage or food, make someone feel too grossed out to have anything to do with it?

Thoughts About Shakespeare

In English class, we are learning about Shakespeare and his plays. We are going on a field trip this Friday to watch one of his plays, called "All's Well that End's Well".

Today, we watched half a movie about Shakespeare's life, entitled, "Shakespeare in Love". Some of it may not be true. It was about how a women named Violet, who loved the theatre, fell in love with Shakespeare and he fell in love with her. That inspired him to write a play on a love story. Queen Elizabeth didn't think that love could be shown in a theatre, and that it was all about comedy and making people laugh, so he wants to prove that he can.

That movie had many sexual content in it, that made it very uncomfortable for me to watch, but I guess it was okay. We also had to fill in some blanks on a work sheet while we watched. I didn't fill in every single one, since I found it hard to understand all of what the people were saying, because they talked in an old fashioned way, and they had sort of an accent that you would here from people from England. I can't wait until the field trip!

Crazy

It was such a confusing day! Well, the last half of the day at least. On our way home, my friend asked me where my keys were, just out of curiosity. That was when I realized that I forgot them! I could just go to my manager and ask for a key to my room, but this happened at least five times before, and it's kind of embarrassing to ask again. Instead, I decided to stay at my friends house to do homework until my mom comes home, which is, like about 6:00 pm. I thought it would be okay since I remembered my skating class was at 7:00 pm. So I told my mom and stayed.

At 6:00 pm I phoned home to make sure my mom was home before I left. She picked up and told me that my skating class actually started at 6:00! Since the sessions that I take are 6:00 to 7:00, then 7:15 to 7:30, and 7:30 to 7:45, I didn't have time to go to the first one anymore (I take the bus to skating). So I rushed home, got my stuff, and left. I got there with just enough time for the last two sessions.

Finally, when I was done skating, and was taking off my skates with everybody else, another high school girl, who also skates, came, but it seemed weird that she would come after we finished skating, since we were the same level. Someone asked her if she was skating in the senior session (we were intermediates).
She paused for a second, took off the earphones she was wearing and said, "Did I just miss my session?"

Obviously, she did, and we were all laughing. She laughed too, and then ran outside yelling,"I hope my dad is still here!"

So I guess I wasn't the worst! This just wasn't my day.

Busy day

All because of preparing for the different classes for high school, my family and I went shopping for binders and stationary the first thing today.

We went to Staples to buy my binders, and Richmond Centre to buy magnets for my locker (which was optional but I noticed a little white board and a pencil holder, both with magnets on their backs at the dollar store), and a French-English dictionary. That took about five hours.

Then I had to rush to ballet class. An hour and a half later, I came out of the studio sweating buckets. At home, I not only had to put everything in place, clean everything up, but also had violin to practice and theory to finish. I rushed my bath in the end to try and have time to watch a show on the computer... Anyways, I just have enough time so I won't waste any more!

Skating class

I went to skating class today. I skate in a figure skating club. I usually have to skate four times a week, but due to other busy schedules, I could only make it two times.

Today, it started with an off-ice strength and conditioning class. Our instructor made us do forty burpies and run two laps around a large field in less than five minutes. My lungs were on fire. He worked us for about an hour. It probably will be more tiring than P.E classes in high school, so if I can survive that, I probably would be okay.

Then would be the skating part. We do jumps and spins and some other things for an hour and a lesson with a private couch for about twenty minutes. Finally, the last lesson was fifteen minutes of tiring pushing and power skating with a couch in a group lesson, which made my lungs burn once more.

Physical Education is the only subject in school that I lack in. I am usually better in the running and track and field part, but usually worse in the ball and racket sports, such as volley ball and tennis. If only that would improve, then I probably would get one more A in my report card!

My classes

Well, today is the second full day at high school, and day two on the schedual. I didn't get to travel with my friends today because we all had mostly different classes, unlike yesterday, which was all Middle Years (I like this name better than Synergy) with the same people.

In Physical Education class, our teacher told us that we have to run around the school one to three times every time we have the class, and long runs every once in a while. The long runs were either six times around the track or running in the Langara Golf Course.

In fine arts, we got work sheets and our teacher told us that we were starting with guitar, which I am excited to learn!

In math and french, we didn't get any homework, but in math, we got work sheets to work on in class. We also played math games. In french, almost 3/4 of the class was from my old school, so it was pretty comfortable, and we used french to get to know each other. It was pretty fun, but I still need a map to get around!

First full day at high school

Today was the first full day at high school, and it was very confusing. I probably got lost more than five times in that HUGE building. At the start of the day, I had to find my home room. I forgot where it was as soon as we left it yesterday to find our lockers. After I found that, I relaxed a little.

Then during break, my friend was going to go with me to my locker. On the way, we walked into a large crowd of huge high schoolers and lost my friend, I couldn't find her anymore so I went by myself. I circled the school at least twice before I realized where my locker was.
It was a crazy day. I sure hope it will get better tomorrow!