Shopping

Well, the other day I lost my calculator, the one that I bought three years ago. It's a hundred dollar graphing TI-83 calculator.

So today I bought a new one. It's the exact same model, but it's pink!! Isn't that cool? Yes, it is.

Grammy and I also went shopping at the mall....

She bought some pretty linen shirts and a cashmere dress.

I bought a little polk-a-dot shirt, two pairs of heels, and some shorts. Summer clothes. I spent $130.

Then we went to Dean's Cafe. I had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Isn't that interesting? Didn't that make your day? haha.

Funny cats

Ouch!

Hi,

I'm back from my second full Saturday at the zoo....

Once again, I am exhausted.....

So.... I will write like I am panting.....

.....Alan was back today. I saw Jarrod in the morning and said hi, but he didn't really respond. Then I saw him again at lunch and he asked me how I was. At first I thought he had forgotten who I was.....

.......

......Today Alan said he wished he "had four volunteers just like you two," referring to me and Elaina. Thanks Alan!!

He said that that paid apprentice Eugenia, the one with serious control issues, quit. He actually celebrated. He said "YAY!" Hahaha. Poor Alan. He has to suffer some not so pleasant or hard working people.....

.....And...... the lemurs are doing good. But guess what? Three of them are going bye-bye. They're going to another zoo. How sad... maybe we'll get more lemurs.

Chester's family is staying. I love Chester and Yeagar. They are my favorite lemurs.

Elaina and I fed them today. All the spectators ooed and awed at us.

Now is the time of year when teens become Teen Wild Guides, known as Twigs. The twigs that I see just watch the goat barn. That's all they do. Two of them offered to help Elaina and me clean out the last two stalls. We could only let them do that without Alan's approval. Those kids think they real volunteers, but they're not. They are too young to be. But they like to feel special.

So.... that's all. I am going to do nothing. I asked Elaina what she does when she gets home from the zoo... she said she sits on the couch and watches TV. I said, Hey, that's what I do!

Oh yeah.... Paulie the pig bit me today. She bit me right on the leg.

New classes

Hi!

Ok, I received my class catalog for next semester.....

I made up an ideal schedule for myself. I of course can't expect to get everything I want.

So....

I want to take Math 1 (Calculus 1) on Monday, Wednesday, and (unfortunately) Friday for an hour. The only calc classes available were three days a week. It's from 9:30 to 10:55.

Then, I will take History 25 (History of American Indians) on Monday afternoons. I will be done for the day at 1:45.

Next, I will take English 7 on Tuesday mornings, the only Tuesday class.

Wednesday will be Calc and History 25 again.

On Thursday will be English 7 and History 8 (second half of American history) from 4:00 to 6:50, just like the history class I'm in now. One day a week for three hours. It will be in the 2400 building, which has amazingly nice classrooms, with really comfortable chairs.

So.... that's what I really want. I'll just take whatever I can get, and fill in the rest with some classes that I can find that don't mess up the schedule. I figure that if I can't find any more transferable classes, maybe I won't take any extra filler classes and just take the ones I get into.

Yay! I am excited. I am slowly filling in the required transfer classes.

I think the American Indian history class would be pretty cool. I am already doing two papers on Indians. I guess that means I like them.

If for some reason I need to fiddle with the schedule, maybe I can take History 28 (History of the American West.) I have a huge library book called "The History of the American West." If I read that over the summer, I'll already know what we'll be doing in the class. Heh.

..... For some reason, I always love the prospect of new classes.

But, I will miss terribly some of my teachers from this semester. I will miss my English and History teachers. I love them. Ms. Korber and Ms. Klask. They love me too. I will try to keep in touch with them after class is over. I am sad.

Hopefully I will love my new teachers just as much!!!

Hi from Pleasanton

Yes, Joellymo, I imagine it was a very, very crazy week!!!

How is Maki-san doing? Is she exhausted? Probably. But she is probably ecstatic as well!!!

Well, mom is leaving for Greece on Friday. Grammy is coming over to stay with us for the week that mom is gone. Aren't they going to visit you in the summer?? I am jealous. But I am going to Arizona this year. Grandma's like, "so when are you coming this summer?" She didn't really ask me if I wanted to come.... but I can't say no to them.

So..... I have a very long break between first and second semesters at school. I will be off for over a month between Christmas and the end of January. Maybe I can come then??? I dunno. Is that a nice time of year there? I think so. We could go to the snow.

Anyway, I hope you are taking some time off to be with Paul. Your students will understand.

-----

Also, Deepika got a 56 on her math test. Poor thing.

And... I actually managed to read half of Life of Pi yesterday. I will finish it on Friday and begin my analysis. Yes.

I have to sign up for classes for next semester on May 1. The class schedule is online. For higher priority students, registration begins on April 28. That's three days before me. Who knows what will be left over.

I want to take History 8 (the second half of U.S. history), Calculus 1, and English 7. I have no chance of getting Biology 31.

So, if I manage to get those classes, I don't know which class will be my fourth.

And.... I originally thought that it would take me four semesters to get all my transfer credits. Realistically, it looks like it will take six semesters. I would have to take five classes a semester otherwise, or fifteen units. I would rather take four classes, for about twelve units. Although, calculus would count as five units. So that would be fourteen.

Oh, well. I can't over tax myself.

Bye!

FINAL THING

LOST is coming back this Thursday. Yay! I totally forgot what happened in the last episode! Yay!

One more thing....

I realized I left out some things from my post about Saturday. Things you absolutely MUST know... haha.

I have this enormous blister between my middle and ring fingers on my right hand. It hurts a lot. It always acts up when I go to the zoo, and I could never figure out why. Then I realized it comes from the way I hold the rake. I need to hold it in a different way.

I can't wash my hair because the water from the shower burns my fingers.

Also, when I was cleaning out the last two stalls, removing all the hay and bedding, Jarrod came up to ask me how I was doing. I wiped my forehead to emphasize that I was working hard, and he said, "good times." Haha. I thought that was really funny.

Jarrod said he likes the show Pushing Daisies. I know mom likes that show, but I never saw it.

Elaina, the other Saturday volunteer, goes to Berkeley City College. This is her first year. She started at the zoo a couple of months ago. I asked her if she was annoyed that I would be working with her, but she said no. I just asked because as you remember I was annoyed when Sarah started working with me. But Elaina is much more compatible with me. Her personality is very similar to mine. I like her a lot. I also don't know if I am spelling her name right.

Then I saw some teenagers attempting to dump something into the large compost bin at the back of the goat barn. They were just making a big mess. They weren't wearing any volunteer shirts, so I assume they were part of some teenage zoo camp thing. Like the one I did over the summer. But when I did it, we didn't do any work or labor. So I don't know why they were there. They were actually really annoying. They filled the compost bins so high that I barely had room to dump my mess. They just didn't know what they were doing. It's not their fault.

Jarrod carried his little radio with him. I was amazed at how many times someone called to say that a visitor had dropped a shoe in an enclosure or something. It happens a lot apparently. Haha.

Jarrod was able to identify all the lemurs by name. I have no idea how he does that. They all look the same to me. I know Chester because of his chest, and I know Yeagar (pronounced EE-YAY-GAHR) beause he is missing a thumb. Jarrod said the boys sit in a different way than the girls. I guess after spending time with them every day, you get to learn them. Although, Jarrod said he had just started working at the zoo in December. That's when I started. Funny.

He said he had cut the tip of his finger off when preparing lemur food. He had a bandage around it. I showed him the scar I have from when I sliced my own finger cutting lemur food. He went on to tell stories of kids he knew in high school that cut themselves in wood shop classes.

Anyway.... I think that's all I wanted to say. So much happened Saturday that I forget some of it. Jarrod said he might be working String 7 again next week. I really like him.

So... thank you Joellymo for sending us pics of Paul on your Flickr site.... much appreciated.

I went in for a lab today at school, but there was absolutely no parking. It's always that way at ten o'clock. But when I go in for my class at two, there is plenty of parking available. I have to park on the far side of the parking lot, though. When my 2:30 class is over, I move my car closer to my classroom, cuz there is always closer parking available at four. My two Tuesday classes are literally right next to each other.

And.... I wrote down all the due dates for my current school projects. I noticed that I have to have read half of my "book report" book by Thursday. I think I have read ten pages so far.... heh. I just keep forgetting how little time we have for that particular project, because I am working so hard on my papers.

I went to the public library on Sunday and brought home two new thick books to read. One is on the Trail of Tears, and one is a huge biography of Andrew Jackson, the president that started the Indian Removal Act. Fun.

Now, I am also reading a novel by Tony Hillerman for my Navajo report. I'm still on chapter one.

Sheesh. I went from reading nothing to reading about six books at one time.

I am going to meet with my book group, Fernando and Miranda, today. They didn't have the book the last time we met. So I don't know how much they've read. Fernando's probably read nothing.

We were given five different elements to include in our report. These include "plot" and "theme." I gave the easy one, plot, to Fernando. I gave Miranda one to do, and I took on two. I just trust myself more than I trust them. How mean and arrogant is that? Haha. And I haven't even done any significant reading....We're all working on "theme" together.

...... And finally, Deepika will be at math today. Last time she got a 54 on her test. The teacher said the average improved from last time. My score went down by four points, though. Hopefully Deepika will get a better grade.

Now I will shut up.

Ok, Mom is leaving on Friday, not Saturday.. so Grammy will be coming sooner. Got that? Ok.

Ok, last thing.... I mentioned earlier that I have one math test left. I actually have two tests left.

Purr, click

Ok.... today was my first day working on Saturday... all day.

I have never been this tired in my life. I am exhausted. Working all day is hard. Really hard.

Alan was on vacation, so this guy Jarrod took over. He's a really nice, cute guy. But he worked the crap out of me....

In the morning I did my usual. I raked the front and back of the goat barn. This takes me two hours on my own. So now it's ten, and I take a break at the main zoo breakroom. Then I cleaned the bird cages. This takes another half an hour.

Then, Jarrod had me completely clear out the last two stalls of the barn. I had to completely clear all the hay and bedding. This was really hard on my back. That took me to lunch.

Jarrod and I had lunch together at the Children's Zoo breakroom. He worked on some Sudoku puzzles and had a turkey sandwich. I brought a peanut butter sandwich, some Sunchips, and an apple juice that I had stored at the fridge. Aren't you glad you know that now??

Anyway....haha.... Now it is the afternoon, 12:30. The girl that works Saturday afternoons came. Her name is Elaina, and she is very nice. Much nicer than the other girl I worked with on Friday.

So... we put new bedding and hay in the last two stalls. Then we went and scrubbed the lemur nighthouse. Then we made diets for the birds, pig (s), lemurs, and rabbits. This took a while. We fed the birds, pig, and rabbits. One of the pigs, Joanne, died. She had undergone a surgical procedure, and when she came out of anaesthesia, she just stopped breathing.

Then we fed the lemurs. Chester's family was outside, so we hand fed them some grapes and bananas. I missed them. They are still doing good.

I did not get a break between lunch and 4:30, the time I left. So I was on my feet for 4 hours.

Now.... I am watching the Yankees play the Orioles.

OMG, I am so tired. But I will continue to go all day to see my lemur friends.

Congratulations

Congratulations, Joellymo, on the birth of your new baby Paul!! I can't wait to meet him. However, I don't know when that will be. :(

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Well, yesterday was a good day for me, too.

I got the highest score on the math test that I thought I had gotten a horrible score on. Haha. I don't know how that happened. The very first question on the test I had no idea how to do, but I guessed and got it right.

Then........ I think some guys sort of flirted with me. I wore this short skirt and heels yesterday. I walked past this group of guys after coming out of the ILC. But I forgot to log out at the ILC, so I had to walk back. One of the guys asked if he "could buy a cigarette" off me. I told him I don't have any, then he said "I like your shoes."

??????

I rarely get attention from guys. Except for this one kid, Greg Cashmark, when I was in the tenth grade. He would sit next to me on the bus and give me compliments. Then one day he followed me home and asked me to give him my phone number. He called me three times but I never answered the phone. I felt bad for ignoring him, but I didn't want him to get any ideas, you know?

Anyway, so I am really shocked about the math test. Deepika wasn't there, so she will call me for the homework.

So............... send us pictures of little Paul, please!

Papers

That girl that threatened to beat me up in English said that her brother was "seriously injured in Iraq last week." Does this change my opinion of her? No. Yes, maybe I am heartless.

Well..... as I may or may not have mentioned I am working on a huge research paper for English. My topic is on the historical and modern struggles of the Navajo Indians living in Arizona and New Mexico. I chose this because... it seemed interesting. I don't really know why.

I have read five books on the subject and about ten newspaper articles. I have also read an extensive report from the database called CQ Researcher. I haven't found any good Internet sources. But only one third of your sources can be from the Internet anyway. That is due at the end of May.

Yesterday in history I was assigned two more research papers, due in the first couple weeks of May.

My assigned topics are 1) the Trail of Tears, and 2) the Second Great Awakening and how it "promoted free labor and industrialism."

So.... these papers will be shorter than the one for English, cuz there are two of them.

And.... we are working on another group project in English. We got to choose a book to report on. My group (actually, just me) decided to do Life of Pi, which I have read twice before. I have abandoned those guys from my last group, and now it's just me, Miranda, and Fernando.

Also... I have two more tests left in history, both one part of a final exam. If they go as well as the last one, I will be fine. I got 197 out of 200 last time. It was the biggest test I have ever taken, covering eight chapters from a thick, dense U.S. history book.

I have one test left in math, the final. I don't have to do any more homework for the class, but I will do it anyway so I make sure I get an A on this thing.

That's a lot to get done in one month....

Yesterday I got my hair done. Veronica used a new straight iron, and all the girls there were shocked at how well it worked. I have never had my hair this straight before. I wanna get one. Heh. But it costs like two hundred dollars. The one I have now cost one hundred dollars.

I haven't straightened my hair myself for a very, very long time. I just wash it every two or three days and let it dry on it's own.

Anyway...... that is all. Today I will get my math test back, and I will report what my score was. If I don't, then assume it was bad. Haha.

So, bye!

Gah!

Grammy, relax!!!! It's ok.

I have left no contact info. Anyone in the world can read this blog. I read other people's blogs too. (I don't leave comments.)

I don't exactly know what you're afraid of, but no one is trying to hunt me down. No one is cyber-stalking me. I'm not gonna shut this down.

Anyway..................

That presentation for English that I mentioned went well, so I thought. Miranda and I read our parts and the guys read, literally, their parts. But that was the problem. They read. Miranda and I wrote a script and gave it to everyone. We had to write it word for word so they would say what we wanted them to say. They didn't bother to think of anything on their own to say.

Miranda and I wrote intelligent things. On that basis we had the best presentation out of all of them. But because it was presented poorly we got an 83.

So... this other group that did a presentation on the Testicle Festival in Montana got an A. And this group that did a presentation on people who get their lips enhanced with injections got an A. They didn't analyze the book at all. They just did research on the incredibly vulgar, intensely offensive Testicle Festival. With a lovely video of the event. That had to be 50% censored. (I'm not a big fan of watching public sex acts.) And those lip girls. All they did was talk about how much it costs to get your lips done.

WTF??? Apparently it doesn't matter what you say, it's just how you say it. Thanks for the heads up.

---------

Also, I had a math test today. I am definitely NOT gonna get the highest grade this time. It was on three chapters, and I totally skipped the homework for one of them. Just didn't do it. Why? I don't know.

The test didn't actually go as bad as I anticipated. I figured I probably got a B. That's better than a C. "Well, duh," you're saying.

If for some perverse reason you want to know more about the Testicle Festival, info can be easily found on the web.....

I do have conservative views on sex. I don't think it's ok to do a very private thing in front of hundreds of people like that. Just saying. I also don't think teens should be having sex, either. Just wait til you're an adult. I don't mean wait til you're married or anything. I don't care about that.

----

I don't know who wrote that previous comment. It sounded like they didn't speak English very well. If you (commentor) are reading now, please leave another comment so I know it's you. Thanks!

New hours

Well, today I asked Alan if I could switch my volunteer hours to Saturday instead of Friday so I could have a day off between my evening classes and the early hour I have to get up at to go the zoo. Also I wanted to work in the afternoon so I could be with the lemurs more. Alan said he still needed help in the morning, so I will be working all day.

So... I am watching the Giants game right now. They won their last two games with walk-off hits.

Game

So we went to the A's game on Sunday. The Indians won 2-1. Yay! But it was actually a very boring game. It got a little cold after a while, too. Grady Sizemore is number 24.

Baseball

Ok, this girl got attacked by a hawk that had nested at Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox play. Her name is Alexa Rodriguez. Alex Rodriguez is the star player for the Yankees, which are the Red Sox's hated rival.

Alexa is thirteen yeras old, and Alex's number is thirteen. Haha.

So the obvious conclusion is that that hawk was a Red Sox fan.

Also the Giants are off to a horrible start. Big surprise.

But the Mets are doing really well and the Yankees are doing okay. I have no idea what's going on with the Indians.

Mom and I are going to a game on Sunday. It will be in Oakland. The Indians will be playing the A's.

Haha

Here is a lighter post.

Horrible day

Ok, there will be some foul language in this post, but that's what happened yesterday. Sorry.

You know I'm not a confrontational person. But when someone makes me angry, I let them know. I try not to let people trample on me, which is something I've been working on.

In English we are working on a project. It involves the book Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk. It's not my favorite book, but it's an interesting collection of anecdotes and stories of Palahniuk's.

We are working in groups. I guess we just happened to choose people in close proximity, because I would not have personally chosen to work with any of the people I am working with. Except for Miranda, a really nice Asian girl who sits next to me. The others are all guys: Fernando, Alex, Patrick, and Derek. Fernando is nice too, but he has been absent lately.

The teacher was at a conference yesterday, but she asked the groups to get together and work on their projects. So everyone in my group showed up except for Fernando. This was a good sign. Only one other group came.

I had worked on the project at home, but no one else had. So all we had to work with that day was my stuff. Miranda brought her MacBook laptop (that she had paid $1300 for all on her own.) We decided to make a powerpoint.

Well, we downloaded a picture of the author and put it in our powerpoint. Then Alex said, "He looks like such a fag." I asked him to not say that word. Then he said, "sorry, I meant dork." Then the other guys in my group started saying fag just to tick me off. So I told them to shutup.

This girl, who had nothing to do with the conversation and who was on the other side of the room, said, "This is America! You can say anything you want. You wouldn't say that in a Communist country!" Um, what? This made me so angry and confused that I called her a "bitch", which I really, really should NOT have done, and I'm sorry. Then she said, "I'm going to slap you upside the fucking head!" and "I'm gonna beat the fucking shit out of you!!" I'm not exaggerating. I thought in my head, I am not afraid of you, but I didn't say it because I actually was afraid of her. Heh.

Ok, look. If someone asks you to stop saying an offensive word, you should probably stop saying it out of respect for that person. It doesn't matter what country you're in, even the fabulous, most amazingest country in the world, America. So, no, you can't say anything you want.

Alex told me that I'm "in a public place and you should stop imposing your views on us." It's not about imposing my views. It's about educating you. It's about educating you that what you said is wrong and that it has serious consequences. It's about making sure you're no longer ignorant of the world around you. You're obviously not hearing it from anyone else, not your parents or your friends, and it might as well come from me. Sorry to take a holier-than-thou approach, but that's just what you need to hear.

Poor Miranda was just trying to work on our powerpoint while this was happening. I feel really bad for her that she has to be in the same group as those idiot guys who don't participate and then me, who might just be an insane lunatic. I don't know.

I don't think I overreacted. Those guys asked for it when they started teasing me. I don't tolerate that. I don't think anyone should have to. And I don't care if the entire class hates me now; I hate them too. I am proud of my position and education. I am proud that I am not ignorant. And heck, I am proud that I am liberal.

And hey Alex, you have horrible spelling.

The end.

(Sorry for the heated posts I have posted lately. I will try to be more reasonable in the future.)