So I just came back from Camp Calumet, a.k.a., The Greatest Place On Earth. I'm making lunch for my dad and my brother, who were playing out side with the new Frisbee. I ran out of bread for 3 PB+J sandwiches, so I decided to make myself a hot dog instead. I grab one from the fridge, cut some slits into it, put it on a plate, and a stuck it in the microwave with a glass lid on it. I typed in 1 minute and 30 seconds- that should be good enough. I had a bad feeling about the hot dog for some reason, like I didn't do it right. So I checked with my dad. He said it would be fine. I wasn't quite sure of it being so fine, so I hid behind the fridge until I heard it was finished. I had a strange feeling that the microwave would explode, because it's so old. It's in bad shape, ever since the coffee explosion about 3 years ago. (Long story short: My mom put in a Dunkin' Donuts coffee in the microwave for too long, it exploded, sticky coffee everywhere, not pretty.) From behind the fridge, everything sounded fine, but I knew any second it would explode. BLEEEEEP!! I heard the microwave. I carefully crawled out from behind the fridge, and went over to the microwave. It didn't explode. But when I opened the door, and lifted up the glass lid, there, lying on the plate, was a demented, exploded, screwed up hot dog. At first, I thought I should throw it out and just put in another one. But then the same thing would happen!! So I ate it. It was kind of gross.
Note for future reference: Never put a hot dog with slits into a microwave with a glass cover on it for 1 minute and 30 seconds, because it will explode.
I found this really cool video on www.youtube.com that shows the entire process of making hot dogs. It's pretty neat!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Our New Subaru
My parents love the color red. Our house is red, our tree house is red, their room is red, our old Toyota is bright red, and my mom's cell phone is even red. Which means the new Subaru that we are getting has to be red. We got this car for a couple of reasons: 1. To have a nice, simple, easy car to learn how to drive in for my oldest brother. 2. Our Toyota (No offense to Toyota) was getting old, and the seats in the back were really low, which makes me feel not-so-good. The first reason was the main reason, though. We want an easy learning car for my brother, Sam. When I first heard about this, I thought we were getting one of thoseSubaru Outbacks. I did not like the sound of getting that car, no offense to Subaru. 1. Sam's head would hit the car ceiling easy. 2. It seamed too small for a 5 person family. Sure, it has 5 seats, but whenever we go on a trip as a family all together, it wouldn't be very comfortable. This is a picture of the 2009 Subaru Outback:
See what I mean? It just seems too small.
This new car isn't just the perfect size for my brother's height, it also has a moon roof! You know, one of those big openings on the ceiling of your car? Some people call it a sun roof, but I call it a moon roof. It has really comfortable seats, especially in the back. Speaking of the back seats, they have a couple cool gadgets back there, too. Say there is only 2 people sitting in the back- no one sitting in the middle. You can pull out the cup holder in the middle seat, and on the back rest of the middle seat, you can pull down a little arm rest / table. I know it's supposed to be an armrest, but you could also use it for playing cards or something while you're on a long trip. I never really understood the handles right above the door thing. Why do you need to hold on right there?? I do not know. So in my old car, the one we are keeping, (Not the Toyota), my brothers and I would have a contest to see who could hold on the longest. I don't understand why that would be hard to hold on for a long while, and it's not much of a contest. I think contests are supposed to have people yelling, 'GOO! GO GO GO!! YOU CAN DO IT!!' But that doesn't really make sense when your just sitting there, holding on to this handle on your car. Anyway, it also has in the front seat, a little glasses case right there on the ceiling. How convenient. The rest of the things up front are pretty simple: Cup holders in the middle, arm rests, little pockets on all the doors, pull down mirrors, glove compartment. This car is pretty high-tech.
The only thing I really don't understand about this car, is why it's the 2010 model, but they are selling it in 2009. Huh???
If you look at SUBARU backwards, it spells U R A BUS. Ha! You're a bus.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Maximum Ride: MAX
James Patterson is now my #1 favorite author, now that I've read the entire Maximum Ride
series. Read about the first book here.You know how I said in the last Maximum Ride post, I ordered the next 3 books? Tough luck for me, the second and third book got back ordered until like, 2 weeks later. So all I got was the 4th book. Okay, yes. It felt so weird to all of a sudden not have a book you want to always read. You want to wake up in the middle of the night, grab your iPod for some light, and flip open the book. It just felt there was something missing. I didn't have anything to read on the bus, or during silent reading time in school, or just read at home. Well, technically I did have something to read, just not as addicting as the Maximum Ride books.
My favorite thing about these books, is the humor and language in it. I love the voice of Max, when she's just describing the situation and exaggerating to make it sound really awful- which most of the time it actually is pretty dang awful. I find myself laughing out loud, and sometimes my friends would just stare at me.
Out of the many characters in this book, my favorite is most likely Max. Why? Hmmmm.... I guess I love how she describes the situation like I said earlier, I love her sarcasm, and her personality. Like, whenever a doctor of some sort or a scientist of some sort is trying to help them out, like giving them food and shelter, but having to do _______ and ______ for them. Usually the price she has to pay isn't a great deal. Max always gives the guys (especially Jeb, trying to help out always) this bad attidude and she's all, 'Why should I?' and 'How come?' and 'Listen up. We're freaking bird kids, and you want us to do ____ for you? Not happening.' and then they argue even more, and Max is all, 'The deal's off. Now leave me alone.' She handles a lot of conversations with the scientists and doctors like that, with the attitude. Oh, Max. You crack me up.
Things get crazy in this book. We're talking about mutant bird kids going underwater, trying to save Max's mom in a submerine, while at the same time trying to beat up these weird sea monsters that keep attacking, in the waters right next to Hawaii. Pretty insane. First they fly up in the air, as free as a bird. Technically, they are already 2% bird. So there you go. Next thing you know, they're going the opposite: underwater. Believe it or not, one of them can actually breathe underwater. Finally that skill comes in handy.
That previous paragraph pretty much describes the entire 5th book, minus Max + Fang's relationship. Long story short (because I'd rather not go into the gushy details): Max has fallen deeply in love with Fang. Fang loves Max back, and they can't get enough of each other. Get the picture?!
This book is in the 9-12 range of reading age groups, but I don't think you should read it until you're 11 or 12, because of the violence, and the romance gets a little weird for the younger ones.
I've done my research on the movie: The Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment movie comes out sometime next year in 2010. That's all that they have told us on the internet. I've heard things about a 6th book coming out. Some places I've heard it's called 'Water Wings' and some places I've heard it's called 'Space Wings' I'm not even sure if there's going to be a sixth book, but I definetly hope there will be one coming out soon, because without the Maximum Ride books to read, I'm stuck with nothing to read.
Fugakyu Japanese Cuisine
I love trying new food. Not just always having American hamburgers, smoothies, and we can never forget those Boston Kreme (That's how Dunkin' Donuts spells it, I believe.) donuts. I love tasting how different countries eat, what they're used to eating, and how they prepare their food. I love experiencing the different taste. It's such a nice change after a long time eating 'American' food. You know, brownies, cakes with extra extra frosting, and chocolate chip cookies. I know that other countries don't have those things, which is fine with me. I love tasting how they do things. Dipping in a special sauce, preparing the food on interesting plates, all about the difference in food. Several weeks ago, my family went to Fugakyu, a Japanese Cuisine. My parents often come here, but this was the first time for me and my 2 brothers. We also went just 2 days ago in celebration of my brothers birthday- not just any birthday, but his 13th. Let me tell you a little bit about this interesting restaurant.
It's very fascinating restaurant- you have chopsticks, a little thing to hold your chopsticks in, and even a little dish for this special sauce that you dip sushi in. It's all about the spice. If you don't like spicey food, I wouldn't recommend this restaurant. The sushi itself is spicy. Then you dip it into the spicy stuff, and you can even put this horse radish stuff in the sauce dish so it's even more spicy. It's spishy-licious!! Okay, me: I like spicy stuff, sure! But when it gets over loaded, like that extra hot 'n' spicy salsa that my brothers love, it's just too much for me. Surprisingly, with the horse radish in the sauce, it wasn't insanely spicy. Ok, maybe it was. But I felt like I could take it. It tasted very interesting, with the salmon, rice, avocado, and spiciness mixed in with that. Very different to American food, definitely.
The people there are very kind. Even the scenery in the restaurant is different, mostly. You have the poles with rope wrapped around them, the sliding wooden doors, and the green plants right over the windows, making a nice fresh earth look mixed in with the wooden furniture inside. Like I said earlier, I love tasting different foods and trying different things. My family has also had Indian food and Ethiopian food as well. There's a world of food out there. Try some.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Vacation At Virginia 2006
My website has only been around since December 21st 2007, and everyone who reads this blog should know that. Just because my website has only been around since then, that doesn't mean I haven't been blogging longer. Doesn't mean nothing interesting has ever happened to me earlier! So I'll write about it now. You're about to read a fascinating story about my summer vacation to Virginia beach.
Virginia I must say is gorgeous place. Especially right by the beach. Clearly, as you can see in the title, we went to Virginia Beach in 2006, the summer of the year I got my 5-year dance award. (That is another story waiting for 2011.) It was a bit strange, because there was a pool, like, 10 yards from the beach. This was the first time that we have all swam in an ocean together. There was a couple things about this trip that really made it unforgettable.
So me and my family were taking a dip in the ocean, cruising around, swimming in the waves, having a great time. I felt like the weakest thing when I was in the ocean, because when ever I tried to go against a wave (and get drenched while I'm at it), it always pushes me head to toe of the ground and back first into the rocky bottom. It's like we're wrestling, and I can never tackle it down. I feel like the shortest thing in the water, because even when I'm just standing there, not bothering to wrestle with water, the waves splash like two feet over my head. Note: Always keep your goggles on while you're in the ocean. Otherwise, you will get unexpected waves leaping at you and getting salt water in your eyes, which believe me, is NOT pleasant. So I decided to go with the waves, rather than against them, because I was tired of getting knocked down all the time like I was a helpless little shrimp.
Then I started to feel this weird stinging sensation around my left arm/shoulder/armpit. I ignored it. It was probably some sand or something. I kept on going with the waves, which was awesome. But whatever the stinging was, it didn't stop. It kept on going, all around my left arm, shoulder, and a bit of the armpit, which began to get very painful. It felt like those places where completely numb, only I could still feel the pain. I let out a small cry of pain, and raced for land. But that felt impossible. The waves were not helping at all, for I was stumbling all over them and tripping all over them as the pain increased. This was the part where I really felt helpless. Tripping over the waves and the rocks, I finally managed to drag myself to land. The pain didn't go away, but the constant increase of the stinging did. I just stood there, staring at my arm, not blinking at all. Large clumps of bright red sat all over my left arm, shoulder, and a little bit of the armpit, too. It looked like a volcano had erupted, and my left arm (and other friends) were the only part of my body that got to see it explode. It felt like a million needles were stabbed in my arm, and just left there. It felt like a wolf had just ripped open my left arm. Clearly, I was in serious pain, but I had to hold my tears until we got into the hotel room. Otherwise, that would have been just plain embarrassing. My parents came out from the ocean, and *gasp* there was no large, noticeable blotchy red spots sitting all over their left arm. We went up to a lifeguard, asking what might have caused it, but I thought I already new, and I was right. I had been stung by a jellyfish.
My left arm, shoulder, and a bit of my armpit KILLED. It was like jellyfish were still crawling all over me and stinging me. All of it was throbbing, and I thought I was going to cry forever. Turned out I only cried for about half a minute. It wasn't a very pretty sight, but it wasn't that ugly either. I tried to ignore the pain as much as possible, but that wasn't to easy. It felt like my whole left arm/armpit/shoulder had been electrocuted, and was still burning from the shock. Yeah, that's probably the best description of how it felt. I had to sit in my bed in the hotel for a couple of hours, letting my arm rest on a tower of pillows. The only kid thing on TV was Dora The Explorer. I guess it was better than watching some boring adult thing. Meanwhile, my mom called the main office and asked what to do. They said you had to put some strange sort of meat on the red parts. I overheard my mom on the phone saying, 'Meat?! Uh, are you sure?' and some more mumbling from the other end. 'Oh, you don't have it? Oh. Well thanks anyway..' I was SO relieved. I was NOT going to let someone put MEAT on my arm. I just wanted to have one of those sling things so no one would touch it and I wouldn't have to look at it or anything, even though a sling was not necessary.
The large blobs of red on my arm started to go away after several hours, but I didn't want to go back in the ocean again. A couple days after the jellyfish incident, my brothers, my dad and I went for a walk on the beach after dinner. There, on the shore, were tons and tons of jellyfish, sitting in the sand. My oldest brother took a stick and jabbed the little bubbly part on the top, and flipped it over as if it was hamburger meat. To me, that's just gross. We were all shocked to see that there were no tentacles attached to the top of the jellyfish. There was just the blob parts sitting there.. but what I don't understand is how the tentacles got removed. Farther down on the beach, we saw a crab, struggling in the sand. Poor guy. We all tried to get him back in the water, but he kept trying to scurry back into the sand, as if there was something scary about the ocean. We made a little sand castle for him, and plucked a couple of sticks in it in honer of the crab. Even though he didn't make it into the ocean. (The sand castle was hardly a castle at all- more like a large clump of sand on the beach with a couple of sticks jabbed into it.)
The last thing about this trip that made it unforgettable is parasailing over the ocean. Some people have no idea what parasailing is. Parasailing is similar to a hot air balloon, only with parasailing, you're strapped into these seats attached to a large parachute, and there is a cord that is attaching the whole parasail to the boat, so you don't float away to North Carolina or something.
Our parasail had three seats. We went out on a wicked cool boat with this guy who was helping us. The first three people who went up: My dad, my oldest brother, and starring ME! We went up 800 feet!! That was the LOWEST option. Good thing none of us are afraid of heights!!
Being up 800 feet, sailing over the ocean and getting a nice view of the beach and the city is most likely the closest thing I'll ever get to flying. Just flying. With wings. That's my dream that I KNOW will not come true. But I've had several dreams where I was flying. One was inside and I was strapped to all this stuff and there was squishy pillows on the floor in case I fell. That is NOT flying. That's called someone pulling you into the air because you're attached to a pulley. Another time was when I was running super fast, and my feet weren't even touching the ground. Okay, sure. That's flying. Like half an inch off the ground. Let me clarify: my dream is to be able to fly really high with wings. Not half an inch off the ground. Then I've actually had a dream were I DID have wings- and they were bright white!! I was flying through the night, feeling absolutely amazing. I flew all the way to Paris, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Now that's a good view of Paris. Until of course the French security people came.
We came back down from the 800 feet high flight, which was quite pleasant. The next group to go was My mom, my other brother, and starring ME! (again!!) There was two people left who hadn't gone, but someone had to go twice from the first group. So I just stayed strapped in while the others got in. Time to go flying! Again! This was amazing. One thing that I think was very interesting was that you had absolutely no way of contacting the dude on the boat. Unless of course you knew sign language, and the other guy did. But then again, the chances of that are very slim.
After a little while of being up 800 feet, for the second time in a row, you would probably guess that I wasn't feeling to good. Congratulations- you're correct. You win absolutely nothing. My stomach started to feel weird, and of course, that nice lump in my throught came back. Thanks for stopping by, lump! Listen, now isn't really the best time, because I'm kind of parasailing 800 feet in the air. Then I really didn't feel good. I figured this is what it was like to be sea sick. Finally, the dude started pulling us back to the boat, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Which I did. On the boat. I know, gross.. but I had to get it out. Okay, so I got to (sort of) live the dream of flying, but didn't feel too good after wards.
Virginia I must say is gorgeous place. Especially right by the beach. Clearly, as you can see in the title, we went to Virginia Beach in 2006, the summer of the year I got my 5-year dance award. (That is another story waiting for 2011.) It was a bit strange, because there was a pool, like, 10 yards from the beach. This was the first time that we have all swam in an ocean together. There was a couple things about this trip that really made it unforgettable.
So me and my family were taking a dip in the ocean, cruising around, swimming in the waves, having a great time. I felt like the weakest thing when I was in the ocean, because when ever I tried to go against a wave (and get drenched while I'm at it), it always pushes me head to toe of the ground and back first into the rocky bottom. It's like we're wrestling, and I can never tackle it down. I feel like the shortest thing in the water, because even when I'm just standing there, not bothering to wrestle with water, the waves splash like two feet over my head. Note: Always keep your goggles on while you're in the ocean. Otherwise, you will get unexpected waves leaping at you and getting salt water in your eyes, which believe me, is NOT pleasant. So I decided to go with the waves, rather than against them, because I was tired of getting knocked down all the time like I was a helpless little shrimp.
Then I started to feel this weird stinging sensation around my left arm/shoulder/armpit. I ignored it. It was probably some sand or something. I kept on going with the waves, which was awesome. But whatever the stinging was, it didn't stop. It kept on going, all around my left arm, shoulder, and a bit of the armpit, which began to get very painful. It felt like those places where completely numb, only I could still feel the pain. I let out a small cry of pain, and raced for land. But that felt impossible. The waves were not helping at all, for I was stumbling all over them and tripping all over them as the pain increased. This was the part where I really felt helpless. Tripping over the waves and the rocks, I finally managed to drag myself to land. The pain didn't go away, but the constant increase of the stinging did. I just stood there, staring at my arm, not blinking at all. Large clumps of bright red sat all over my left arm, shoulder, and a little bit of the armpit, too. It looked like a volcano had erupted, and my left arm (and other friends) were the only part of my body that got to see it explode. It felt like a million needles were stabbed in my arm, and just left there. It felt like a wolf had just ripped open my left arm. Clearly, I was in serious pain, but I had to hold my tears until we got into the hotel room. Otherwise, that would have been just plain embarrassing. My parents came out from the ocean, and *gasp* there was no large, noticeable blotchy red spots sitting all over their left arm. We went up to a lifeguard, asking what might have caused it, but I thought I already new, and I was right. I had been stung by a jellyfish.
My left arm, shoulder, and a bit of my armpit KILLED. It was like jellyfish were still crawling all over me and stinging me. All of it was throbbing, and I thought I was going to cry forever. Turned out I only cried for about half a minute. It wasn't a very pretty sight, but it wasn't that ugly either. I tried to ignore the pain as much as possible, but that wasn't to easy. It felt like my whole left arm/armpit/shoulder had been electrocuted, and was still burning from the shock. Yeah, that's probably the best description of how it felt. I had to sit in my bed in the hotel for a couple of hours, letting my arm rest on a tower of pillows. The only kid thing on TV was Dora The Explorer. I guess it was better than watching some boring adult thing. Meanwhile, my mom called the main office and asked what to do. They said you had to put some strange sort of meat on the red parts. I overheard my mom on the phone saying, 'Meat?! Uh, are you sure?' and some more mumbling from the other end. 'Oh, you don't have it? Oh. Well thanks anyway..' I was SO relieved. I was NOT going to let someone put MEAT on my arm. I just wanted to have one of those sling things so no one would touch it and I wouldn't have to look at it or anything, even though a sling was not necessary.
The large blobs of red on my arm started to go away after several hours, but I didn't want to go back in the ocean again. A couple days after the jellyfish incident, my brothers, my dad and I went for a walk on the beach after dinner. There, on the shore, were tons and tons of jellyfish, sitting in the sand. My oldest brother took a stick and jabbed the little bubbly part on the top, and flipped it over as if it was hamburger meat. To me, that's just gross. We were all shocked to see that there were no tentacles attached to the top of the jellyfish. There was just the blob parts sitting there.. but what I don't understand is how the tentacles got removed. Farther down on the beach, we saw a crab, struggling in the sand. Poor guy. We all tried to get him back in the water, but he kept trying to scurry back into the sand, as if there was something scary about the ocean. We made a little sand castle for him, and plucked a couple of sticks in it in honer of the crab. Even though he didn't make it into the ocean. (The sand castle was hardly a castle at all- more like a large clump of sand on the beach with a couple of sticks jabbed into it.)
The last thing about this trip that made it unforgettable is parasailing over the ocean. Some people have no idea what parasailing is. Parasailing is similar to a hot air balloon, only with parasailing, you're strapped into these seats attached to a large parachute, and there is a cord that is attaching the whole parasail to the boat, so you don't float away to North Carolina or something.
Our parasail had three seats. We went out on a wicked cool boat with this guy who was helping us. The first three people who went up: My dad, my oldest brother, and starring ME! We went up 800 feet!! That was the LOWEST option. Good thing none of us are afraid of heights!!
Being up 800 feet, sailing over the ocean and getting a nice view of the beach and the city is most likely the closest thing I'll ever get to flying. Just flying. With wings. That's my dream that I KNOW will not come true. But I've had several dreams where I was flying. One was inside and I was strapped to all this stuff and there was squishy pillows on the floor in case I fell. That is NOT flying. That's called someone pulling you into the air because you're attached to a pulley. Another time was when I was running super fast, and my feet weren't even touching the ground. Okay, sure. That's flying. Like half an inch off the ground. Let me clarify: my dream is to be able to fly really high with wings. Not half an inch off the ground. Then I've actually had a dream were I DID have wings- and they were bright white!! I was flying through the night, feeling absolutely amazing. I flew all the way to Paris, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Now that's a good view of Paris. Until of course the French security people came.
We came back down from the 800 feet high flight, which was quite pleasant. The next group to go was My mom, my other brother, and starring ME! (again!!) There was two people left who hadn't gone, but someone had to go twice from the first group. So I just stayed strapped in while the others got in. Time to go flying! Again! This was amazing. One thing that I think was very interesting was that you had absolutely no way of contacting the dude on the boat. Unless of course you knew sign language, and the other guy did. But then again, the chances of that are very slim.
After a little while of being up 800 feet, for the second time in a row, you would probably guess that I wasn't feeling to good. Congratulations- you're correct. You win absolutely nothing. My stomach started to feel weird, and of course, that nice lump in my throught came back. Thanks for stopping by, lump! Listen, now isn't really the best time, because I'm kind of parasailing 800 feet in the air. Then I really didn't feel good. I figured this is what it was like to be sea sick. Finally, the dude started pulling us back to the boat, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Which I did. On the boat. I know, gross.. but I had to get it out. Okay, so I got to (sort of) live the dream of flying, but didn't feel too good after wards.
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