◆ bad things come in threes.

My trip to Australia was pretty good overall (because I like Australia as a place), but there was a string of bad things, as well.

– I became carsick a lot. Apparently BMW sports cars tend to be fast overall so if you’re driving on a winding road, it’s easy to feel carsick. And sometimes you end up with a reckless driver, for instance, Andrew. Sure, he drives alright, but he tends not to drive within the speed limit. I heard he got so many tickets for speeding that eventually he was told that he can either not drive for a while (three months?) or he has to stay within the speed limit. So he set this thing on his car which makes a noise whenever he drives over 60 km/h. But even then I wonder if he notices it. (No offense to him if he does notice it.)

– We went on a tour of the Sydney Opera House – my family, David, Michael, Meggie, and Andrew. My dad used to live in the suburbs of Sydney, but he never went inside the opera house (back then you needed to see one of the shows to get in…My mom muttered to me that he was a cheapskate and they never spent much money on her). My mom had already called Lily, who works for a travel agency, to book English tours for us. The English tour is longer than the Mandarin tour, and anyhow I can’t understand much Mandarin, so it would be pointless for me to take the Mandarin tour. But then Gary, my dad’s friend, called Lily. First he said he was Meggie’s friend (which confused Lily, who didn’t know who Meggie was at that point) and then Gary insisted on having Mandarin tours instead of English. Luckily, it got changed in time for us to take the English tour.

– My camera broke. Aaaaah! This is probably one of the worst, if not the worst. I have a Nikon Coolpix camera which I’ve been using for quite some time. So it’s dear to me… (I have a strange attachment to objects which I’ve had by my side) It broke while I was in Cairns, having ridden the Rainforest SkyRail (it’s like one of those lift things, which are either amusement park rides or used for skiers…) to get to a place where they have animals, like butterflies, koalas, wallabies, and reptiles. Anyhow, maybe I was swinging the camera too much, or it was just really bad luck, because when I tried to turn on the camera, it would say there was a Lens Error and you couldn’t turn it off unless you took the camera battery out… I really don’t want to buy a new camera (I don’t know how to fix it, and I heard getting someone to fix it for me would cost even more) because of the money and also because I’d miss this camera. My parents insist they could buy the same kind of camera, but that seems pointless to me. If you have camera knowledge, please give me some tips here!

– My mom’s wristwatch broke. The strap came apart and we can’t seem to put it together again (it still tells time, but now since you can’t wear it, it’s just like a clock). So now she had to switch watches. She figures she’s probably going to try and buy a new one – she wants that is durable and which doesn’t need its batteries replaced (like a watch which has a solar battery, which is what she was using, or one that you can wind up every day. Omega watches are the wind-up kind, but Omega watches are pricey… So my mom wouldn’t want to use that to wash dishes and do laundry and things like that, and people could steal it, if you know what I mean).

There’s more, but I’ll continue it in a further post… (I suppose that’s more than three bad things, huh?)

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◆ my attempts at cooking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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◆ yessss. free internet access.

All those Ss must make me sound like a snake. Or the Sidney guy in the Neopets Deserted Fairground. Think of it whichever way you like.

I am relieved to be able to get on the Internet. I have been attempting to the get the Winter Site Theme on Neopets, which means I need to get on the Internet everyday. But I have apparently missed yesterday’s, which makes me sad. 😦 So I guess I am probably not going to get it this year after all. Oh well. I suppose life does not revolve around the Advent Calendar.

I must talk a bit about Japan. It is interesting since everyone speaks Japanese (but they can understand a little English because they have to learn it in school). It is actually quite dry and cold at this time of year. My skin is so terrible looking. Earlier it was all reddish and my mom was panicking since it seemed like I had allergies. It’s better now, but my skin is still extremely dry.

The toilets are the scariest thing here in Japan. They have two types of creepy toilets. 1) The ground toilets. 2) The complicated toilets. The ground ones are scarier since you have to squat to use them. So basically you never “sit down” when you’re using them. And then the complicated toilets… They have buttons next to them. Apparently you can do things like “spray” and “bidet”. And some toilets even have a button for playing “flushing sounds”. Really, really weird. The toilet seats are warm, too. Must be a waste of energy.

At first, the highways also freaked me out. That’s because in Japan, you have to drive on the left side of the rode, not the right. And since we’re going with a tour a group (called Signet Tours), we have to ride in a tour shuttle, so it feels like you’re going to fall off the road or hit the walls.

That reminds me, I should mention my tour guide. Her name is Namiki Mariko (so we call her Mariko). She actually was born in Taiwan, but moved to Japan when she was older. So she knows both Chinese and Japanese. Her voice is scratchy. Actually, I hear she caught a cold, that’s why. (She is a chatterbox, so she has to drink green tea to soothe her throat.) She said she hates it when people call her “Monica” instead of Mariko. She gives us all sorts of strange papers, such as maps and instructions and information, about Japan.

So far during our tour we’ve visited several temples. Before you go in the temple, you have to put water on your hands using these things that look like a cross between a stick and a measuring cup. (That reminds me, beware of Japanese restrooms because sometimes they don’t have paper towels, dryers, or hand soap) Then you can go inside the temple. A lot of people throw money into this vent/box thing and make a wish. Apparently this is how temples get enough money. (Besides vending machines, of course.)

Which leads me to say, there are few water fountains to be found in Japan. Since there are plenty of vending machines, if you want a drink, just use those. I suggest getting hot cocoa if the machine has it. (But I guess I just like hot cocoa, because I don’t drink coffee or tea.)

Anyhow, back to the tour…We’ve also been to this big Buddha statue. The statue’s eyes are closed and he seems very weathered. (Kind of like the Statue of Liberty.) If you look at him from the side he seems to have a bent back, like an old man. And he has a strange expression (Although I think he is meant to be praying?). I think that’s because people keep burning incense near him and taking pictures of him, so he is tired of it after all these years.

We’ve also been to Mount Fuji. We didn’t actually get to go on the mountain but we had some opportunities to snap photos of it. Basically it is a big mountain with snow dumped on the top. It’s hard to believe it’s a volcano (unless you look at the weird steamy stuff on a nearby mountain). There is a lake next to Mount Fuji and it is very beautiful. We rode a river cruise on it. Two people, dressed up as Santa Claus and a pirate, took pictures with people if they paid.

Since I’m such a glutton, I shall mention food. So far I have eaten at various hotel restaurants, plus a “soba house”. For today’s lunch we ate at Hakone Hotel’s buffet…
– Two white rolls (You are supposed to put sauce, vegetables, etc. inside it but I eat it plain.)
– Noodles (I guess you would consider it spaghetti)
– Fried potatoes (These are salty and rather filling so don’t get too much)
– Croissants
– Strawberries (They are really cute!)
– Strawberry Mousse (This counts as dessert. Comes in long thin cup or shorter fatter cup)
– Fruit sherbet and vanilla ice cream combined (It’s like strawberry ice cream! It is very good, you should try it.)

Oh, and I shall talk about the hotels we have visited so far. Hehehehe.
– Hilton Narita (Near the airport. Looks fancy although it is actually pretty old, but has been remodeled. Does not have scary toilet.)
– Hotel New Akao (Not actually new, it is 35 years old. XD Has hot springs and view of ocean. You can wear their sandals and kimonos, and sleep on tatami mat. Has a scary toilet. Small rooms.)
– Hakone Hotel (We didn’t get to stay the night here, just ate. Very pretty. Has nice shiny bathroom for visitors. Apparently has hot springs too. You can get married here.)
– Keio Plaza Hotel (Fancy place. I hear it is expensive. Has scary toilet. But not bad anyhow.)

Maybe I had better stop writing…Well, hope everyone has a good Christmas and New Year’s. 🙂 Over here we have a 17 hour time difference so it’s the evening of December 25.

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◆ today was my friend’s birthday.

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

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

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

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

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