Frog Day!

Today is Frog Day, in honor of "leap" year. Frogs are my favorite animals on earth.


Today was also a busy day at the zoo. I stayed at the goat barn for a few minutes and fifty kids came, then fifty more, each a part of Zoo Camp. They wanted to climb up on the rocks to get to this one goat, but that is against the rules. Only goats and sheep can be up there. It's their one bit of privacy. The same kids kept going over there, even though I told them not to and their teachers told them not to.... stupid children.


Then I got myself soaking wet when I gave the pigs fresh water.


And that docent, Pat, died. She had been so lively a few weeks ago when I saw her. Funny how cancer can ruin everything in such a short amount of time...


Anyway, that was my day. Now I am going to... do something. Yes. Oh, yeah. We have a Lost tape to watch.

Don't read if you haven't seen it:

I actually already watched it last night. It's all about Desmond. It has a happy ending, though. Des goes through some strange sh*t.

Somehow, when going to and from the island, people can experience lapses in time management. Des kept going back to his life in 1996, but would return to the present sporadically.

He finally has contact with Penny. It's Christmas Eve.

I'm so glad Desmond doesn't die. (At least not yet.) But he has short hair in the flashbacks..... does that mean something?

........gr

I tried to go to English again today, but guess what, no teacher. Argh!

American Idol

I voted for...... Carly, Brooke, Ramielle, Amanda, Kady, Asia'h

American Idol

I watched American Idol last night......

My favorite is still David Archuleta, or however you spell his name.

Hmmm... who didn't I like? I don't remember.

But I voted for six: Jason C. (only cuz Mom likes him), Luke, Michael, David C., and someone else I forget.

Tonight is the girls.

LOST

I was reading TV Guide magazine, and they hinted that Desmond might die in this week's Lost episode.

They said..... "watch out Desmond! Oops, too late...." ????? Of course that probably means nothing.

I know that Sayid doesn't die, cuz of last week's episode where he became a hired killer after leaving the island.....

Desmond is my favorite character.... who's yours?

And what about Kate??? She has Claire's baby Aaron??

Gah!!!

Cats

Grr

Well, I went in to do my English lab this morning. One of the English teachers there told me that my teacher would be absent today. She is in Montana, tending to her mother who had a bad fall.

But I didn't think to ask if that meant class would be canceled.

So I went to class anyway. Two other people showed up and after fifteen minutes of class time I left. No teacher was there. But there was no sign on the door, like there usually is. So how did all the other kids know?

Anyway, I still have to go to math at five.

Oscars

Well, I watched the Oscars yesterday.

No Country for Old Men won best picture.......Javier Bardem won best supporting actor (as a psychopathic killer, no less)....... and Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor.

I only know those ones cuz those were the movies that I saw.

Also, the woman who wrote Juno won for best original screenplay. I actually have no desire to see that one. That girl is not the kind of person I would have liked in high school. I got my hair done today, and the girl who cuts it said she didn't like the idea that teen pregnancy is seen as ok in that movie. Everything turns out alright. Well, now all the girls are gonna get pregnant cuz it wins you an Oscar. Most teen pregnancies don't turn out well.... unlike in the movie. Heh. Just a thought.

Anyway, now I don't have any red roots!

Aaah!

I just got back from seeing No Country for Old Men..... very scary and bloody. But good. And weird ending.

Javier Bardem is nominated for best supporting actor, and Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated for best actor. I am rooting for them tomorrow at the Oscars!

Baah

Sarah now thinks the lemurs are "awesome." Last week she didn't know what a lemur was.

I didn't see them today. I had to watch the goats while the kids came and petted them because no one was there to do it. Oscar and Felix, the ones not allowed to see the public, were in the same stall today. Some kids saw them grooming each other and were convinced they were mating. I had to explain that they are both male, and no, they are not mating.

It was rainy when I got there, but then the sun came out and it was really bright.

Now we have a LOST tape to watch. And also a Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, too.

What is up with Sayid and Ben???

Yay!

Photo uploader is working!!!!!!

Yawn

Yesterday in history, Ms. Klask wore FIVE inch heels. She stood in front of the class for three hours in five inch heels.... why?

I talked to Katie again today. She used to live in Phoenix, AZ.

For our next essay in English, we have to write about our perceived identity. This can be how you feel about your race, age, gender, place of residence, culture, pretty much anything. But it can also be about a group you are in. I am going to write about the Oakland Zoo family. I don't have anything to say about any other part of my "identity." What would I say? Should I write some feminist crap?

Anyway.... that is all. American Idol results are at 8.

What?

That's the second time someone's commented about making money off my site..... ??

Do they know something I don't know???

Haha.

Well, this week's been pretty quiet. Nothing much going on.

I talked to Katie again yesterday. She said she was going to call me on Saturday but decided to go motorbike riding instead. Heh.

For some reason I have this strange feeling that she is just being uexpectedly and suddenly nice to me because she wants something from me.... Of course, that's really ridiculous.

I have also decided that she's not very intelligent. I helped her with her math homework yesterday (maybe that's what she wants) and it was really easy algebra stuff, but she didn't understand it. I'm not saying that you can judge someone's intelligence by how well they know math, but still. And she works at Hooters... come on. They expect you to be brainless if you work there.

But then again, there's nothing wrong with working at Hooters. I mean, maybe I'm just being way too judgemental.

And my mom still really does not want me to hang out with her.

Anyway, regardless of how smart she is, she is really nice. Our personalities are very different but nonetheless she's interested in me. The first thing she said to me yesterday was, "how was the zoo?" It's nice to talk to someone like that.

We'll see how this relationship goes. Maybe soemthing will come up one day, something that we just don't get about each other, that will make us "break up." She mentioned to me that she wants to go clubbing with me in San Francisco. I had said I like to go to the city. Clubbing? Don't you have to be 21?

Sigh..... I just have one class left today, but it's the three hour long one. I am so tired already. But then I can come home and watch American Idol.

My favorite so far is David Archuleta.

Doh

Well, there was no school today. It's President's Day. Hopefully that will be a day worth celebrating next year. Heh.

Anyway, I looked online to see if school was really closed today. It said that there would be no Saturday classes. So I thought that meant class on Monday. But I drove there and there was not a single car in the parking lot.

I did the same thing last week. School was closed until 4:30 on Valentine's day for some teacher work period. I forgot about this and went to school anyway.

I just got back from seeing There will Be Blood. OMG, terrific. Very intense. I'll be rooting for Daniel Day-Lewis on Oscar night. See it! (By the way, there is one scene with blood.)

I actually don't know why this film is rated R. There is no bad language and very little, not graphic violence.

So.... I have nothing to do today. I'll have to do my labs tomorrow.

Oh yeah...

I forgot to mention that Sarah gave me a baby redwood tree. She got it at Humboldt State University. She wants to go there.

She said she felt guilty carrying it around with her for so long.

What am I gonna do with it? Maybe I should bring it to the Earth Club.

Hungry lemurs

I got the highest score out of the entire class on that math test I took on Tuesday. Yay!

Today I must have slept through my alarm. My mom had to wake me up at 7:30. Usually I leave at 7:10. So I didn't eat breakfast.

I actually got there before Alan or Sarah, though. Heh.

Today was Alan's birthday. So he had to leave at 10:00. He left me in charge because his substitute keeper wouldn't be available until 12:00.

First Alan wanted me to show Sarah how to hose the lemur nighthouse. So we did that. Then he wanted me to feed the pigs and the rabbits while Sarah waited by the goat barn to help the kids there. The lady that usally watches the barn is going through chemotherapy and sometimes misses a day becuase of that. But Alan said that suddenly her cancer got worse and now she's pretty close to dying.

But someone else was there so Sarah came with me.

After hosing the lemur nighthouse I went and grabbed some bananas that Alan had chopped up and brought them over to the lemurs. We locked the family of five outside and let the family of three stay inside. They have a separate outdoor area they can go to.

I had to feed the lemurs outside, and when I did I became a zoo spectacle. A bunch of people were watching as I hand fed the lemurs their bananas. Chester was the most hungry. People asked me questions about them. Someone said, "I wish I could be down there with them!" Too bad for you, kid. Haha. (Sorry, that's mean.)

After that it was 11:30. Sarah decided to take her lunch break. She stays all day. I stayed for a few minutes with her.

Then she asked me if I wanted to tour the zoo with her. So we spent an hour doing this.

Sarah is very hilarious. She makes me laugh. Something about her tone of voice when she's commenting on the animals. A giraffe sprayed someone with water when he took a drink from the pond. Sarah said, "that's intense." I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, she also expressed her frustration about the public's relationship with the animals. I didn't quite understand what she was saying, but she said she couldn't fathom how "people are so out of touch with the animal world." She couldn't undertsand why they weren't "like me." I thought she meant that people that come to the zoo don't really care enough about the animals to really get to know them. I don't know, though. She said she thinks that people don't realize that we are animals, too. She doesn't understand why people don't accept poop as a part of life.

I really like Sarah. I wouldn't mind if she stays.

Sigh

Well, I've survived the first four weeks of school.

I am not afraid of school anymore. I feel like I can finally be myself. If people like me, then they'll come to me. I don't have to impress anyone.

I have so much time to do my homework that I'm actually getting my reading and labs done ahead of time. All the assignments for each class are listed on each one's syllabus, so you don't have to wait for the teacher to tell you to do something.

As far as work and tests go, college so far is a lot easier than high school. You don't have to stay up til midnight tyring to get your homework done, like I had to do last year. You have plenty of time. And the assignments aren't just busy work. They actually help you prepare for tests, etc.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm saying this now. My point is that I really like school again. It doesn't scare me. Being around the other mean, immature kids doesn't have to happen.

------

I'm also really excited about the Earth Club. I think I could make some really good friends. We're planning on hiking trips and even possibly camping trips. What better way to really get to know some people?

........ So. That's all I wanted to say.

And Bethany has strep throat. So I will probably get it too. Bummer.

Also, there's a new show on Animal Planet called Lemur Kingdom. It's sort of like Meerkat Manor, only with lemurs. It follows two groups, the Graveyards and the Tornadoes. They are rivals of course. Lemurs tend to be very cliquish. Heh. So if you want to see what lemurs are really like instead of just listening to me talk about them, then check it out.

Home

Well, I'm home early because I had a math test. It was very, very easy. I was expecting it to be hard, cuz you know it's a college math test and all. But no.

I talked with Katie for a long time today. She's doing good. She gave me her phone number.

And Gram, what do you mean by "very interesting....."?

American Idol is on tonight. Yay! Katie watches that too.

Hmmm....

The people of the Earth Club want to go on a kayaking trip possibly in Monterey Bay.

That sounds fun, but there's no way I'm going in the ocean with a bunch of white sharks.

I always see Katie between classes on Tuesday and Thursday at the cafeteria. She wants to exchange phone numbers with me today. And I forgot to mention that she works at Hooters in Dublin. Now my mom doesn't me to see Katie anymore. Heh.

And also my parking permit arrived in the mail yesterday.

"Earth" Club

Well, my meeting went very well.

There were seven kids and one faculty advisor. Everyone was very nice. Clubs are great because you know that everyone in them is nice.

The room was changed to the library conference room, but regular meetings will still be in the cafeteria.

The president, Tiffany, asked us to introduce ourselves. I said that I was secretary of the Earth Club in high school. Tiffany said that their current secretary may quit, and she asked me if I could be the new secretary. I said yes.

I also picked up a form to contest my parking violation. There is no way I am paying that.

I hate the security guard

I got a parking violation today.

I brought eight quarters to school with me today. The daily permit machine did not accept them. I didn't have time to go the opposite end of the parking lot and try another machine because I had to go to class.

I'm still waiting for the regualr permit to come in the mail.

Michael says I need to ignite my warrior energy and fight these security a**holes.

I'm going in later today to tell them why I didn't have one today and to tell them that I should be reimbursed for all the daily permits that I do have. This just adds up to way more than the thrity dollars I already paid them.

Lemur

I learned that the word lemur means cat-like. So I'm not crazy for thinking they look like my cat Bernie. I would put up pictures if the uploader was working.

New girl, part 2

Remember when that new apprentice came to work with Alan on Fridays, and then she quit?

Well, there's another new apprentice now. Her name is Sarah. We'll see how long she lasts.

Sarah is nice, but not as nice as the other girl. She told me that she used to work as a volunteer in the education department and that she really didn't like it. So now she's working in animal management. She's going to work all day on Thursdays and Fridays.

She is very talkative. She's nineteen and goes to Laney Community College in Oakland.

She said that she "used to like animals." ?? I should have asked her why she is doing this then. She also thinks zoo keeping is "mindless work."

Sarah didn't know what a lemur was. She'd also never been to the zoo before her apprentice orientation. The lemurs are my favorite animals in the zoo, and you don't even know what a lemur is, and you get to spend more time with them than me?

And this other girl, a paid apprentice named Eugenia, helped out this morning, too. She is very annoying. She said "I have no idea what you do here in the morning, Alan" but she seemed to have no problem telling Sarah and I what to do. When were raking and shoveling in the back of the goat barn, she took the rake and shovel out of my hands just as I was about to rake something up and said, "let me help you." Um, what? Why do you think I need help? I can't tell you how many people I have met that do things for me becuase they think I need "help." In other words, they do things that they think I can't do, or that I can't do the correct way. It's so irritating.

And she has some nerve telling me what to do..... Alan said that last week Eugenia was cleaning out the lemur's night house and she decided to move one set of lemurs into the next cage. Well, the door to the outside was open and all the lemurs got out. So the rival groups started fighting, and one of them got so sacred that he hid up high in some bushes. Alan called for a code yellow, which means that a nondangerous animal had escaped its enclosure. Alan had to push his way through the bushes to get it, cutting himeslf with poison oak.

So, Eugenia, what exactly gives you the idea that you can do things better than me? I've never been dumb enough to move the lemurs, especially since Alan makes it very clear that this is not to happen. B****.

Anyway....... I guess since I got off easy with the other volunteer quitting, I now have to suffer another, less motivated, vulgar one. Haha on me.

Below are my thoughts about yesterday's LOST episode.

--------------

So, can you get any more confusing? Who are these guys? Why do they want Ben? Why doesn't Sawyer kill him already? I wish he would.

And why was the plane underwater? I thought it crashed on the shore.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I'm tired

I went to this magazine launche party at Las Po and just got home. I wanted to go to see who I meet see, you know? I didn't want to regret not going. It was from 6 to 9, but since I have class at that time I could only go for an hour.

Well, it turned out to be nothing much. The flyer said to "dress to impress," so I dressed up a little. But no one at the "party" was dressed up. When I got there a band was playing live music. So I might have stayed for ten minutes.

But the point is that I don't have any regrets. Right?

Today I tried to look for the club room, which is where the Earth Club meeeting will be. It is in the cafeteria. While I was looking, I accidently walked into the student government office. A bunch of kids were having a meeting. Oops. But one of them showed me to the club room.

And that girl Katie that I told you about yesterday is a trip.

She's eighteen and has a boyfriend. She plans on marrying him when she gets her AA degree. They like to race motor bikes. In fact they're going to Florida in March to attend a bike convention.

Katie asked me to go shopping with her so she could buy some warm weather clothes for Florida. She also said she wants to buy some lingerie. ?? I guess she really is ready for marriage. Haha.

Anyway, she's really nice.

Now my mom and I are going to watch LOST. And I need to eat cuz I haven't eaten all day.

...... Huck Finn?

Yesterday I met a girl named Katie.

I was in the cafeteria and she came over and introduced herself.

She had a bunch of questions for me. She lives in Pleasanton and she's 18. She went to Amador Valley High School, which is Foothill's rival school.

I asked her if she had voted, and she said she did it by mail. I told her I voted for Clinton and she said, "Okay! That's ok!" She had voted for Huckabee. She's like, "I think I voted for ... Huckabee? Huckabee?"

And what is up with him? He won a bunch of states last night.

Anyway, she was really nice.

-------

I am going to see Michael at 2. Then I am going to my history class at 4.

Also my first Earth Club meeting is on Monday from 3 to 4. It's in the 1700 building, which is where the cafeteria is. I don't remember seeing any other rooms there.

It's actually called the Environmental Club. But I was secretary of the Earth Club in high school. So I keep saying Earth Club. I think it sounds better anyway.

And Joellymo, does Maki-san watch Lost with you?

Bye!

Feeling patriotic

Well, my picture uploader is working!

My mom and I voted this morning at 10:30. The poling place was at the senior center in the mobile home park.

It was very uneventful. My mom kept saying, "it's your first election!! And it's historical!!" I'm going to wear my "I voted" sticker to school.

Anyway, I have English and math later on today. Hopefully my homework is satisfactory this time. I checked all the answers, and they're all correct (according to the book, which has been wrong on rare occasions.)

So.... have a good day!

Ok, the picture uploader isn't working again.

Dang it, also yay!

Hi,

I just got back from my morning ASL class. I wanted to stay and do a couple labs, as I will be voting tomorrow in the morning, but I forgot to bring my pencil case. So I'll go in later.

Anyway, the Earth Club president finally e-mailed me! The first meeting will be next Monday from 3 to 4. So I will be available!

That's all I wanted to say. I am happy.

Oh, I've decided that I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Not that I don't like Obama. I guess this goes against most of my family, except my mom.

Also, the Blogger spell check is not working and neither is the photo downloader. So sorry for the misspellings. And I don't know when I can post pictures again. I've got a great one from icanhazcheeseburger.com.

Bye!

Another thing...

I thought there were more people that stayed with Jack after some of them left with Locke (like Hurely, etc.)

Didn't Juliette and Desmond stay with Jack? At the end of the episode only Jack and Kate were seen waiting for that dude to come out of the sky.

Anyway, I feel so bad for Hurley. Charlie has to come and haunt him, sending him to the institution again...

LOST - (dramatic music)

My mom and I watched the season premiere of Lost yesterday.

I won't reveal anything in case you haven't seen it yet (do you watch Lost still?)

I really missed it!!! We watched a series recap right before. I really just couldn't remember what happened at the end of last season. It was so long ago. For some reason I thought that Ben had died... but he hasn't fortunately. I really like his character, cuz he's so annoying.

But my favorite is Desmond. He is just too cool.

And Charlie is indeed dead. That's not a spoiler or anything, it happened last season.

You know how they used to show flashbacks to the characters' past? Now they are showing flash forwards to the future. Apparently they all get off the island somehow.

Anyway, I am happy that our show is back on.

Yawn

I was sitting in the school cafeteria yesterday and I overheard some people talking about the presidential candidates. Someone said he hated Obama becuase he's a "slimeball." WTF? A slimeball? What exactly makes him a slimeball? Idiot.

Anyway, I didn't go to the zoo today because I was just so tired. Between the whole parking permit debacle and my math teacher ruining my homework, I had just had a long week. But I'm going next week, don't worry.

I turned in my math homework on Tuesday and the teacher returned it on Thursday. He gives a lot of homework for the week, and I write big so I used a whole bunch of pages. We did four sections from the chapter, each one with its own set of problems. I guess I didn't do a good job separating the sections, because my teacher said I had completed only one section. Why do think I used so much paper to do one section, doofus? Anyway, I asked him to fix that. The homework is only worth ten points. He gave me five out of ten for that. So not a big deal, right? Well, I just wanted to make sure I got what I deserved anyway. If you keep conceding a couple points here and there, pretty soon you're down by quite a lot, you know?

Anyway, I think his homework policy is a little unreasonable. He gives you five points if you did all the sections and if you made and "effort." Then he picks five questions to grade and see if you got them correct. The thing is, he doesn't over the answers with the class until after you turn the homework in. So if you don't know how to do a certain question and you don't get help for it, you get marked down.

He decided that I got two questions incorrect last week. That doesn't make any sense because I always check my answers in the back of the book. And it was the first homework assignment. It's not like I forgot to check the answers. So what gives? He said he's gonna grade it again and return it to me next time. I hope he grades it fairly this time.

..... I have been doing homework nonstop for the past six days. There literally is no break. I do it between classes. I do it when I get up in the morning, and I do it before I go to bed. I guess that's how it goes in college. There's that formula that says for every one hour of lecture you have to do three hours of study. Well, I do four hours of lecture a week for math. So that's twelve hours of homework a week?? Yikes! I guess so.

Anyway, I watched a democratic presidential debate last night. Between only Clinton and Obama, since Edwards dropped out yesterday. It was very "civil," as the analysts put it.

So... I am still very tired right now. I'm going to go do some English homework.