Summer--way too short.



August 27th, 2013

If only summer was twice as long. I feel like this summer, I basically haven't relaxed at all--it was all just worrying for school, testing for precalc, etc. etc. The one vacation I went on wasn't relaxing at all. I had to teach kids in Beijing English, and I have to say, I have a new respect for teachers. Coming up with lesson plans and powerpoints isn't easy (it's also ten times harder when the hotel you're staying in has no wifi). It takes a lot of work to calm down a rowdy class, too.

But, teaching those kids was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I got to learn about my students and about the Chinese school system. (My students were actually a lot better at English than I expected them to be. Their grammar is even better than the grammar of some of the people who post on twitter or Facebook.) However, some words of advice: when in Beijing, make sure to avoid the poop on the ground. It's literally everywhere. Well, maybe it was just the place I stayed...

Basically, my vacation to China was not really a vacation. I think during all vacations, we have to plan, to work, to stress out in some way. I've never gone on a stress free vacation.

I wish summer would just last a little bit longer--and I'm sure I'm echoing the thoughts of about a million kids right now. Once back in school, it's all about looking forward to a two day weekend again. Last year was a disaster. Hurricane Sandy, WHY!? Just because of that one storm with the really bad attitude, we had no holiday breaks from school the entire second half of the year. Sleeping was the single activity most of the people in my class looked forward too. (other than eating, of course :D)

For those of you who follow this blog, sorry I haven't been posting regularly. I'll post again as soon as possible. Adios for now :)

What's the best kind of pet?

July 17th, 2013

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I've been really busy.

Well.

Even though I can't get a pet (well, I have goldfish but they don't really count), I think a lot about the kind of pet I would get if I was allowed to have something other than goldfish. A dog? Cat? Ilama? Unicorn?

When I was little, I used to bug my parents all the time about getting me a dog. They seemed so cute, with their fuzzy coats and yippy barks. I read a bunch of kid stories where a girl would want a puppy, and for Christmas, lo and behold, THERE WAS A PUPPY UNDER THE TREE. I didn't realize until late primary school that the girl was just really spoiled, and in real life parents just make up reasons about how pets are "not allowed in this house!"

Then, recently, I started seeing that dogs aren't all that great. I mean sure, they're smart, they can learn tricks, and they're "man's best friend". But I've seen many dogs that bark incessantly, jump all over you, slobber way too much, claw at your legs, etc. Essentially, dogs are really time consuming creatures. You have to train them, placate them, take them outside to walk, etc... Every day I see my neighbor (with bedhead hair and dark bags under her eyes and a big mug of coffee) take her dog for a walk at 7:00 in the morning. In the winter. I know for a fact I would die of exhaustion.

So I thought, cats are great. It doesn't matter how fat they are...actually, the fatter/fluffier, the cuter. They don't have to be walked. They let you pet them. They don't bark their heads off. They purr, rub against your legs, and are generally not a nuisance. (Generally.) So now, if I do get a pet, I'll most likely get a cat. (If any of you have something against cats, please reply to this post. Please.)

I've also considered turtles (so tiny!) until I realized that most turtles aren't tiny. The ones under 4 inches are banned due to salmonella concerns, and the larger ones are frankly not very appealing.

Hamsters, chinchillas, gerbils--basically, you take care of them, and what do you get in return? A stinky cage, an animal sleeping ALL THE TIME, and almost no interaction with the pet. It may just be my misconception, but this is what I think...correct me if I'm wrong. Besides, if Fluffy escapes the cage you'll have a dandy, horrifying time looking for him. Fun!

So tell me--if anyone has experience with pets, what's the best kind of pet to get?

Blue Dragon (Glaucus atlanticus) AS A PET? No.

 

June 14th, 2013


Recently, while browsing the web, I came across numerous images of Glaucus atlanticus both on scientific forums and photo sharing sites. This animal is more commonly known as the Blue Dragon. Blue Dragons are rare, and are a type of sea slug (which is a mollusk). They float on top of water using the water's surface tension, and utilize an air sac on their ventral (otherwise known as the belly) side, so it floats upside down. Their pattered blue coloration provides protection from all sides.

 

Personally, I thought the Blue Dragon was absolutely gorgeous. I mean, look at this little guy. It looks like he has teeny blue wings!

So, the first thing I did was research some more. Sadly, I was disappointed.

Apparently, the Blue Dragon eats Portuguese Man o' Wars, a species of Cnidaria (the phylum that includes jellyfish) that look like jellyfish but are actually a colony of specialized organisms that really can't survive with each other. Anyways, the Man o' War is really, really poisonous. The Blue Dragon can eat the Man o' War because it has stronger poison. Where does it get the poison from? When it eats Man o' War, it separates out all the strongest poisons and stores them in special sacs in their body. So.

My ultimate conclusion: Blue Dragons should not be pets...sadly. Unless if you want to go find Man o' Wars every day to feed your little tiny cute deadly evil Blue Dragon.
I really don't think it's worth being stung by a Blue Dragon just so you can keep one as a pet.
I really don't know how the guy in the picture has the courage to hold the animal with his bare hands.

Poor Fish :'(

May 22nd, 2013

Hi everyone, so I haven't posted in a while...sorry. But:

About three years ago, my sister went to this little kids' swim meet where the winner of each heat would get a fish. My sister was really fast back then...so she got 4 fish. Well actually, she got three, but for the last one she got second place and cried, so the fish-hander-outter gave her another fish xD

These were all feeder fish, and two were of a different kind (smaller). At the time, I thought they were just some cheap, ugly fish which would die in a couple days. Needless to say, I was proven wrong...they're probably some of the prettiest fish I've seen. Much prettier than those fish that cost forty dollars. The two bigger fish in particular are gorgeous. They've grown to the size of maybe...five inches? They were an inch when I first saw them. But now, they have these long streaming translucent tails and fins, and they have splashes of golden orange along the ridge of their back and sides. They're so pretty :')

But, today I was doing my homework, and the door to my bedroom was closed because the AC was on and I didn't really want the cold air to escape from my room. My room's on the second floor, and it's always really hot in the summer since all the heat rises...ugh. But I was homeworking, when I vaguely heard someone screaming my name. I thought I was hallucinating, because no one screams my name unless if they want to yell at me, and I hadn't done anything that bad that I couldremember...so I kept working. After about five seconds, distinctly clearer: "VIVIANNNNNN!!! VIVIANNNNN!?!?!?!? COME DOWN RIGHT NOW!!!" So I thought, "Okay, fine. I must be in trouble for some random thing that I forgot about." I trudged downstairs.

When I get there, I find my mom simultaneously screaming my name while shouting into a phone to my dad (who was at NYC working) about something with a fish. Then, I made out, "IT JUST LEAPED OUT!" Connecting the dots, I realized that there were only 3 fish in the tank. One of the bigger fish was gone. So, our conversation from then on:

Me: "MOM DID YOU SERIOUSLY THROW THE FISH AWAY!?"

Mom: "NOnonoooo it jumped out!"

Me: "I know it jumped out...WHERE IS IT?"

Mom: "Look under the table."

I looked under the table and saw the poor fish lying on its side, barely moving and covered in dust. I grabbed it and plopped it in the fish tank. For a second, I thought it was dead, but it started swimming again. Last I saw of it, it was fine. Well, it's swimming on its side. At least it's alive. xD But after:

Me: "How long was it there?"

Mom: "Ten minutes!"

Me: ". . . ."

Mom: "What?"

Me: "So you didn't pick it up?"

Mom: *evades question* "What do you want to have for dinner tonight?"

And I thought I was easily grossed out... xD

The Freshmen Picnic

May 2nd, 2013

Wow, May already. This year went fast.
Anyways, today was the freshmen picnic. It was really fun, getting to know all the incoming freshmen. There's actually going to be a lot of girls next year. Excited!
Needless to say, we played lots of boring games (which the current freshmen council hastily claimed they did not come up with xD). When asked to say something special about themselves, one kid said, "I'm Asian and my name is [I forgot his name lets just say it was Bob]." Well, I think we could see he was Asian. His nametag had his name on it.
So...things to look forward to next year! Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately...lots of work to do. :(

Columbia SHP entrance exam

April 27, 2013

I woke up at 7:30 with a very, very sore throat (probably from allergies/chewing gum) and very blurry eyesight (because I hadn't worn contact lenses the night before). Then, a couple of family friends and I carpooled to drive to Columbia, to take the entrance exam for SHP.

To be honest, I thought the first math section was going to be a lot harder, but it was all basic stuff. Algebra, some easy Geometry, etc. For those of you online freaking out about conic sections and matrices: it's not that complicated...

Then, they handed out the science portion. Andddd.....my day went slightly downhill. I had never learned half the things on the test (which was designed for upperclassmen) and I left a couple blank just because I had no idea what they were  talking about and wrong answers resulted in lost points.

I didn't like the math competition part. My forte isn't math competitions, and I guess I could figure out most of the questions, but for the rest I was stuck. I ended up leaving some blank on this section, too. Whoever told me this was like the AMC, it's not. It's kind of harder.

And by the way, NYC is really crowded and noisy--I haven't visited for about two years, and I totally forgot about the chaos on the streets. Not that it's bad. :) We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant across from the building where I took the test.

Columbia is also really pretty--I really like the way the campus was designed.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Sorry I haven't posted for more than a week--I was drowning under homework.

Anyways, last month, I finished reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple. It was stunningly amazing. It was, in fact, one of the few books I have read recently that I actually enjoyed. The whole novel is basically a compilation of emails, letters, conversations, and narratives by the main character (Bee). Bee's mother is Bernadette, commonly known by their section of Seattle as "the crazy lady". When one reads an email from her archenemy/neighbor, Audrey Griffin, one would think she was mentally insane. According to Audrey, Bernadette ran over her foot at school for no apparent reason. The humor in this is that Bernadette never actually ran over Audrey's foot. Also, even if she did, she would have been provoked; Audrey was running towards their car and tapping on the windows while making strange faces. Needless to say, Bernadette is not very fond of her neighbor/people in general. She starts calling her neighbors "the gnats".

Later, we find out that Bernadette was actually a genius, and had received a MacArthur grant early in her career as an architect. She had designed the "20 Mile House", which was basically a pioneering "green" house. Not a greenhouse. A house that was designed to minimally impact the environment. The bad news: she had a really cranky neighbor/moviestar that decided to buy her house under an alias and destroy it. Bernadette literally went a little crazy with depression after 3 years of her work was destroyed. She moved to Seattle, far away from where the house once stood.

Bee, her daughter, is also really smart. She gets admitted into a private school, Chaote, reserved for really smart kids. However, Bernadette unexpectedly goes missing. Bee becomes angry at basically everyone in her life. She basically gets kicked out of Chaote. Chaos ensues as everyone trys to find Bernadette. Once elusive, Bernadette now seems to have just fallen off the earth. I'm trying not to spoil any of the later parts...read it for yourself and you'll see what I mean by "stunningly amazing." :)