Immunizations!

Shots. I didn't think about it until last night, but I was totally calm, telling myself that I wouldn't be scared. And then this morning...We were in the computer lab, just typing out work, when the horrible announcement came on. I already knew I was going to be one of the first ones getting the shot, since my last name is pretty close on the top of the alphabet. So all the C people (Lillian, Aileen, Jenica, Kathy C) went down with me, and we were all kind of sharing our nervousness. To make it worse, right when we lined up, we somehow started talking about immunization-horror stories that just made us more scared. The actually shot wasn't that bad, it was just needle in, tiny sting, and then you couldn't even feel the needle coming out. We waited 15 minutes after that, just to make sure we didn't have serious reactions, and then we were finished. My arm wasn't sore after the shot. It was a long time afterwards that it started becoming sore. I was back at the computer lab, and it was fine for a couple minutes, and then you could feel the soreness creeping up, and all through science there was this funny feeling whenever I moved my arm. By the end of lunch, it was a lot better. We had square dancing right after, and it wasn't all that bad.
Ok, one shot down, I'm pretty sure we'll have to take another one in February, and then another in June.
I'm glad I survived today,
Dapple Grey

Ice cream in Winter!

My dad just bought 4 little boxes of ice cream cones, because supposedly they were on sale for really cheap! We just finished gobbling up our ice cream cones, and now I feel like I'm all frozen up. But it's so fun! Eating ice cream in the dead of winter/fall is perfectly normal in our family. At least it gave me a boost for the finishing of all the homework due tomorrow...Sneak peek of tomorrow? We have to do a rap in science class, as a presentation. I'll leave the rest for tomorrow...
Dapple Grey

T2 B4: Beans!

Beans...That reminds of this book we're reading for our literary circle in English. It's called "The Bean Trees", and it turns out to be a pretty good book. There's a lot of good narrative in it. I love it!
What I really wanted to say was that I planted my little beans for my science fair experiment. I really don't want them to die, but then again, if they grow really tall, I have no idea where to keep them. Maybe I'll just continue growing them after. But I'm really happy to get started on Science Fair, because I don't want to repeat the same mistake from last year, not being prepared, and not realizing how close the date for the Science Fair actually is. Now all I have to do is wait...and wait...and wait for them to grow!
One more thing, we had square dancing in P.E. today! It's actually one of my favourite units, next to gymnastics. It's pretty awesome, since we're not at the bottom of the chain, (not the little grade 8s who seem terrified at the thought of dancing with some random stranger.) Our class was dancing with another grade 9 class, and a grade 8 class, and when I look at the grade 8 class, I can't help but think of myself last year. I wonder if we were all like that, all confused, and awkward, and in a way, terrified. It's a lot better dancing this year, that's for sure.
Beans, beans, beans, beans! ... Grow!
Dapple Grey

T2 B3: Birthday Party!

Today was kind of a weird day. It started out with it being all rainy and miserable looking outside. I was scared it was going to be like that for the rest of the day. But I had skating, and that kind of cooled me down a bit. I just got my skates sharpened last week, so today was super awesome! More jumping on a circle, and then some spins. Right after that, I had piano lessons, and then I went home for a super quick lunch. At 1:30, I met up with friends for Alex's birthday party! We watched Happy Feet 2, which has got to be one of the cutest movies ever. I barely remember Happy Feet, but I know this one was better than the first one. Hmm, I'll have a fun telling Jessie all about it...
We had yummy dinner after that, and now I'm all full and wanting to go to sleep, even though it's only 8? Fortunately, I checked my agenda, and it's actually Day 2 tomorrow, instead of Day 1, which means that I have homework to do. I'll rather finish my work, and not go to bed late again.
Like the new blog design?
Dapple Grey

T2 B2: Free Day!

I changed the blog a bit, since it's Term 2, and I feel like I should have a fresh beginning. I hope you don't mind it much. Since we moved all our tutoring and stuff to yesterday, I kind of have a free day today, just to do whatever I want! I'm really enjoying this weekend, because I don't really have homework to hand in, this being the end of term and all. I'm just a little upset that I didn't get a chance to rescue some of my horrible marks, but that's one good side of not getting a report card. I discovered the magic of Simon's Cat from Mimi's blog, and spent part of the day watching the videos. It's so realistic, and definitely adorable. My brother had skating today, so when he got back, our whole family just went to this new Korean restaurant that my mom discovered. The whole corner was basically filled with all kinds of Korean shops. We stopped at this market, and got a whole bunch of groceries. The restaurant itself wasn't that bad. It was pretty good, and we were happily full. The restaurant was all the way in Coquitlam, and we just relaxed and looked around on the way back. My parents are still arguing over the arrangement of furniture in the living room, and I'm pretty excited about it being different. I love things when they're all clean and neat, so I finally cleaned every inch of my room today. Well maybe half of that.
Back to cleaning,
Dapple Grey

T2 B1: Black Friday Shopping

Yay! Another Pro-D, probably the last one in November. We don't get anymore days off before Winter Break. Ahhh, it's getting closer and closer to the day we get our shots, which is something I really don't want to think about. It's black friday today, so my family went out shopping, at all those awesome deals waiting for customers to take advantage off. I ended up not getting a lot of stuff, but having fun walking around with my family. Our parents are thinking of getting a new TV, since it's at least older than I am, but it's not too bad. They want to rearrange the whole living room, and probably get a new couch, too. Interesting, I love it when things change, it'll  be so much more neater and clean-looking. I'm fine with whatever they do, as long as they leave some room for the Christmas tree. Hey, you have to be prepared!
Dapple Grey

T1 B66: Band Recordings

My band recordings are due tomorrow, and I'm just practicing until I record. The pieces aren't actually that hard, to tell the truth, they're the same ones we did last year. But I want to see f I improve, and I want to get a better mark then what I got last year. It only took me 30 minutes to do 2 recordings, and I actually sound pretty good! I hope Mr. Hurst doesn't think it's too bad, because there are some parts, too, that aren't that great. Maybe I'm just worrying too much about this whole thing. Rejoice! No more band recordings! Until next term, of course.
Going back to relaxing...
Dapple Grey

T1 B65: Literary Circle

It's really cool how we get to do literary circles in English. It's super fun! But I have a hunch that it's not the only think we're going to do, and that he's going to add something to this assignment. This morning, he let us discuss, and then we got 40 minutes for silent reading! Oh my, silent reading is like a sacred present right now, there is no class that would let you read a book that you chose, at silent reading. I can actually think about what the characters are saying, since it's so silent! I'm starting to love Literary Circle now, It's like the best thing ever!
Dapple Grey

T1 B64: 25 Worst Countries

Mimi and I stayed up super late yesterday working on our Socials project, which was, I guess, kind of interesting. We had to find 25 countries, based on our criteria, and we came up with questions that were similar to other people's. Oh, and I finished another hat! I'm so proud of myself! I think I'm getting better and better every time, but still, I'll never be able to go as fast as Jessie can. She really IS a mass producer!
Dapple Grey

T1 B63: My Great Transit Adventure

My sister and I got out of the house late, so we ran most of the way to meet Jessie, Jenica, and Angel. First, we ran up the hill to the skytrain station closest to our house, Nanaimo.

Halfway there, we were told to meet at King Edward instead of at the school, but that was fine, since we were already almost there.

We waited for quite a long time so we took pictures to keep ourselves busy. 

My sister made me take a picture of the plain sky because she said it was so blue!

We we met up with the others, we walked up this street to take the bus. 

It was almost empty, which was good, since we were still tired from walking so fast.

...And little did we know that we were taking the wrong bus in the wrong direction. We got off at this bus stop, and looked around for the one going the other direction. Hey, it's not an adventure without some risks and dangers, right? Eventually we found the right bus...

We got off at Vancouver City Centre, ate some lunch there, and then skytrained to Metrotown. Originally we planned to go bowling, but because of our wrong bus catastrophe, we ended up only going to watch a movie in Metrotown.

And we eventually got there. I couldn't take pictures of the rest of the places, because we were in such a rush, we were practically running everywhere, trying to get to places on time!

Dapple Grey

T1 B62: Salchow attempts

So the Alvis (Lianna's brother) tried to teach my the salchow again. I got it better than last time, but somehow I'm still kind of scared of doing it. I kept thinking about the jump, and so I probably kept rushing through it. Later, we just did edges over and over, which I couldn't really do because of my annoying dull blade that are getting duller again. I did all the forward one fine and then I learned how to do the backward ones, which are just plain weird. Too bad ice skating isn't something you can practice at home, unless I got public skating or something.
Hopelessly salchow-ing,
Dapple Grey

T1 B61: Accompanist

My old violin teacher is involved in a recital, and he wants his son, and his other student to perform in the recital along with others. The problem is, Essence (the son) and Calvin (the student) both were violinists, and needed an accompanist. My violin teacher has known my mom for so long, so he asked if I could play for them. It didn't seem that hard, and I'm been their accompanist before, so I decided to give it a try. Essence's song I've played before, but it was so much faster, and I totally needed tons of practice on it. The second song was easier, except for the fact that there were two piano solos in the piece. That was the only hard part. I only have about a week to prepare the pieces and we're performing next Saturday.
I guess I better go back to practice...
Dapple Grey

T1 B60: Remembrance Day

For Remembrance Day, my family went out for dinner, and it was so yummy! My brother's friend came over after that, and we just played for the rest of the day. My sister and I were playing Raving Rabbits on Wii, and that has got to be one of the cutest games ever. At one point, the batteries of the controller died, and we spent so long trying to find new ones.
So much fun!
Dapple Grey

T1 B59: Remembrance Day Assembly

All we did for P.E. was to run 3 laps, and then we played a game until we had to go to watch the remembrance day assembly. It went by really quickly, and we heard Spencer play "the last post" in a trumpet duet with another trumpet player. They messed up a little, but it still sounded cool. The band students had to watch the assembly three times, since Mr. Hurst was busy conducting the senior band. We also got a nice piece, and I got the first flute part! At least I'll be doing something interesting, and having something new to practice this weekend. The senior band played it for us, just so we could remember what it sounds like, and they were really good! The first part is super slow, but the back part is so fast, we have to do a scale in 32nd notes at the end...It's going to take a LOT of practice.

T1 B58: Issue close to our hearts

We had time to rest after the concert, since it was a pro-d today. In socials, we discussed an issue close to our hearts, and Mr. Martin wants us all to do something to try to change it. We talked about cutting down trees on some streets, and adding crosswalks on other streets, but the one issue we all agreed on was the washrooms at Churchill. Tons of the washrooms have no locks, no toilet paper, the sinks didn't work, the walls were too low, the list goes on....I think a group of us are going to go talk to Mr. Bailey about it, and we'll see what happens after that!
A change for the better,
Dapple Grey

T1 B57: Band Concert

Today was the district band festival at Prince of Wales, which is always fun. Last year it was at our school, so we didn't have to travel much. There weren't that many bands there, but they all sounded so good! I saw my friend from Hamber, and talked for a bit. Louisa gave me a tour of the school, and it's actually a lot smaller than it looks. In their cafe, they have 6 microwaves, while we have 2, and their population is a lot smaller than ours!
Hmmm, that just doesn't make any sense. Nevertheless, we were great, though! *errr, not counting the part where someone's clarinet kept squeaking, the saxes came in a bar late, and someone dropped half of their clarinet, then laughed in the middle of the concert...* Other than that, the judicator person said that we were pretty good!
Dapple Grey

T1 B56: R.I.P. Hickstead

Today, one of the world's best horses, Hickstead, just suddenly died. He's a famous horse whose rider is Eric Lamaze, a Canadian champion. They were doing a hunter course, when all of the sudden, Hickstead just collapsed. Awww, I remember reading about how great they were in the magazines, and how they looked so magnificent when they were eventing, they were such a great pair, and the worst thing just had to happen. Here's a pictures, basking in glory, evidence of how much happiness Hickstead brought.

At least Hickstead's in horse heaven, where he can play and eat and jump however much he wants, and he'll be able to watch over his owner. And hopefully, Eric will still be able to win many competitions in honour of this great horse!

R.I.P. Hickstead,

Dapple Grey

T1 B55: No procrastinating!

I'm trying to finish all the homework I can, so if I get really sleepy after tonight, I'll already have my homework done for tomorrow! Yesterday, our family went out to a Korean Restaurant for yummy spicy food. That's kind of a treat for raking the leaves from our backyard, which took a couple of hours in the freezing cold. Now, for yesterday's homeless blog:

Nov. 5- Day 4: I don't normally open my windows when I got to bed, since I'm really sensitive to the cold, so for tonight, I opened them wide open, just to get a sense of what it felt like. Half-way through the night, after shivering even in my clothes, I got up, shut the windows and kept on sleeping on the floor. I can't imagine what the homeless have to live through. If I can't even last half a night, how do they stand it everyday? I also thought about how they don't really have a choice, and how they are actually a lot tougher and more brave than we may think. To us, they are people struggling to survive on spare change. What I see now are brave people who can take a stand against the cold, with a strong will to survive. It might not even be their fault that they are homeless. And yet, there are people who walk right by them, without a glance, as if the homeless aren't even there. We should treat them with more respect, since if it was us out there homeless, we wouldn't stand a chance, we wouldn't be able to survive.

And that marks the end of me being homeless!

Homeless no more,

Dapple Grey 

T1 B54: Homeless Blogs

Hmm, I just realized that I forgot to blog about my homeless experience, so I'll just post my thoughts right now.
Nov.2: Day 1
It's still normal, so I had a snuggly, warm time in my own bed, unsuspecting this homeless project.

Nov. 3: Day 2
So I turned off the heat, got a little mat to lay down on the floor of my bedroom.This actually reminded me a lot of camping. We didn't have heat, but we had sleeping bags, so it was almost exactly the same! I've experienced this before, so I was still fine. My back was a little sore this morning, and I was a little cold, but other than that, it was fine! The only awkward thing was sleeping in my day time clothes. It felt so weird, and uncomfortable. I keep getting this sense that I should change into pajamas or something, and it was just so bulking and uncomfortable with blankets. I'm thinking clothes are more important to homeless people, because even if they might be uncomfortable, they actually provide a lot of warmth, with or without the blanket. It's a lot colder outside, sleeping in a house without the heat is nothing compared to sleeping outside. You have to face the weather when sleeping outside, and also, there aren't any walls to block the wind. I'm starting to understand how it would feel to be homeless, and I'm feeling really sorry for them.

Nov. 4- Day 3
Sleeping with clothes AND a blanket was even more uncomfortable. It was so bulky on that mat, you just felt like shedding all those layers, and crawling back into that warm, soft bed. With the homeless, both clothes and blankets are important, and that it's all that they have to keep warm. It is a lot more colder outside, and that's all they have to shelter themselves. They don't even have a warm, soft bed to run to. They have nothing, and being uncomfortable would feel like nothing, next to feeling of loneliness and starvation. I'm feeling grateful that I have a house to provide shelter, and a nice bed to sleep in at night. I'm lucky to have parents that support me, and to provide me with education. I can already imagine the pain the homeless must have to go through every day, the worry of finding a place to stay every night.

Your half-homeless blogger,
Dapple Grey

T1 B53: Tests, tests, and more tests

Today was like the day of Tests or something. In football, we played our first actually game, which was not bad, but that could be because we had players on our team who actually got the idea of football. We went against the Ducky mo-mos, who are always fun to play against. It was just friendly competition, no upset feelings, really. In English we had intense, epic debates that were so interesting, it captured my attention for the whole class. The points made were really good, but some people, like Mimi, were debate club members. But I still think Mimi is like a natural born debater, and so is Austin. They debate like their life counted on it, and made presented their points in such a genius way. And their clash was amazing. For both debates, half of the tell, the team members were just standing up and yelling at each other. Amazing!
I'm still mind-blown!
Dapple Grey

T1 B52: Another finished hat!

In socials, we got our results, and I'm so happy with my conflict essay mark! It's the best I've got so far in Mr. Martin's class. I only hope the essay test is going to be easy as well. We finally finished the Cromwell movie, but it was horrible when they had to execute the King, because you can see the axe, and it just goes chop! And off comes the head...At least we don't get to see the head actually getting chopped off. Oh, how it freaked me out. As you can tell, I'm pretty sensitive. In Applied Skills, I finally finished a third hat! I'm starting my fourth, but it's taking a lot faster than the ones before, since I'm getting used to it. I hope I'll finish this one by next week, so I can make more hats. It's almost impossible to catch up to Jessie. She made at least 10 hats..
Loop, Hook, Press, Loop, Hook, Press.
Going back to hat-knitting,
Dapple Grey

T1 B51: Take Your Kids to Work Day

For Take Your Kid to Work Day, I went to my dad's company office to do mostly accountant duties. Mimi and Yunyi also came along to help out! My dad and I picked up Yunyi first, then we got to the company, and Mimi wasn't there yet. We had a little snack, and by that time, Mimi arrived. My dad gave us a tour around the company, though I've see it about a million times already. Then he gave us separate duties to do. Mimi couldn't really answer the phone, since she didn't speak Cantonese, so she did shelving with Yunyi. I just stayed in the office area answering phones and arranging papers for the accountant. It wasn't exactly boring, you always had something to do. We even had a coffee break! And I drank Coffee for the first time in forever! For lunch we had some sushi, and noodles, since my dad's company has so many brands of instant noodles from his customers. By 3, we were all tired, but still having fun!
Off to fill out my Work Day sheet!
Dapple Grey

T1 B50: Math Workshop

In socials, we're learning about the English Civil War, and so Mr. Martin showed us this movie on Oliver Cromwell, this influential person in the English Parliament. He led the army on the Parliament's side, and so we got to the part with battle scenes. The whole movie was somewhat cheesy, but the battle scenes were hilarious. There was this weird marching band thing, and for some reason they included this part with a drummer guy running down the hill, and then tripping and falling for no apparent reason. There were also people getting killed in weird and funny ways, and it was all just so strange!
At lunch I had a rehearsal with the full Intermediate band, and we do sound pretty good. If only the basses could quit making mistakes. Oh boy, I have a feeling that they're going to do that during the concert, or something worse. You never know. Last year, we were great during practice, but during the actually concert, someone forgot to hit the triangle at the end, which is a PRETTY IMPORTANT part. I bet some of us still remember that incident. Oh, the memories of last year's band.
Our test in math got delayed because of Mrs. Knott forgot about the math workshop today. Basically, students from this University came in and gave us these really hard math questions to do. I only knew how to do the 1st page, and I was totally stuck on the 2nd page. I have no idea how Mimi and Leslie does it.
No homework for today!
Dapple Grey

T1 B49: HALLOWEEN!

I'm so tired, I'm just going to make this quick. This morning, Bebe's owner came to pick him up. The house feels so much more quieter, but also emptier in a kind of way. After school, we did whatever homework we could finish in an hour, and then we had a quick sushi dinner. My brother's friend came over, and we all headed outside for trick-or-treating! Basically, we went around to every house, until our legs hurt like crazy, and THEN we drove home. My siblings and I have a little tradition of counting and trading our candy when we got home, so we did that, and then ate our first little Halloween candy. 

Now all I have to do is sleep,

Dapple Grey

T1 B48: Last Day

Awww, today was our last full day with the puppy. Basically all he did was lie on my bed the whole day, and sleep. He did come in the kitchen at one point because he was interested in my mom's baking. I think she was making pumpkin muffins, which smell kind of funny with other spices. I had skating this morning, and we worked on the Waltz's Jump and the Salchow. I tried so many times to do a Salchow, except it's so annoying when I have to rotate on one foot. It's always so tempting to just stick your pick into the ice...We did more three turns, like I expected. It was pouring outside while I waited for my mom, but it was so much of a difference when I stepped into the house. It's like I want to go into my house, and never come out again. Then, I spent the rest of the day working on my cell reproduction flip book, which was a lot easier then I had expected.
Still trying to make the flip book actually flip,
Dapple Grey

T1 B47: Sushi

My brother's friend came over again, but my mom was tired from housework, so our family decided to go out for some sushi. We were already kind of full from lunch, since the trip to the sushi place was kind of a surprise. We still tried to stuff everything in our mouths, since it was still so good. In the end, even after I was super full, the food still looked delicious...I took the puppy for a run in the park in the afternoon, and it's nice having him, since I get a whole lot of exercise, while taking care of him. Sorry for the short blog today, I really want to sleep earlier today, and I'm getting tired already, so...sleepy....

ZZZZzzzzzzz.

Dapple Grey

T1 B46: Rejoice! A weekend!

I had french class last block, and our class was so noisy, it was even bothering me! In the end, Ms. Davediuk kept us in for an extra 15 minutes. I hate it when I take no part in the noise, and I still have to suffer. That just upsets me, since I know that a lot of the people in my class even talking, it's just that the talkative people have extremely loud voices...It's finally the weekend, but I'll have to finish my homework early. It's Halloween on Monday, and I can't even do my homework that day, so I'll have to finish everything by today or tomorrow.
Rejoice! It's the weekend!
Dapple Grey

T1 B45: Air-plane disaster

Whoa, the debates that we saw today were so intense, they were actually quite interesting. It's fun listening to all the other debates, and we get to see the interesting side of people that we might not have been able to see before. I took Bebe( the dog's name, I guess I forgot to mention that) to the dog park today, and he met so many little dog friends! At one point he decided to freak me out, by almost jumping from the dock we were standing on, into the lake. I gave him a little pull, and he just kept going. Oh my, imagine what would happen if he did jump off, and I couldn't go rescue him. That would have been the most terrible thing to happen. He didn't, so it's all good. My mom was so late in coming home today. When she did get back, she told us there was a air-plane crash, and the highways were all stuck in traffic. I guess it'll be all over the news tomorrow. I wonder what really happened. These things don't happen very often, at least not close to Vancouver.
We're going to go out for dinner, since it's so late. I'd love to come home all full and content, and then be all sleepy...

T1 B44: Sleepy Dog

Oh no, the we got our immunization forms, and I just don't want to think about taking shots! At least I only need to take one, I've seen people who need at least 6 shots. I hope the nurses are really nice, because I've seen so many TV shows where the evil doctors just stab the needle into your arm/heart or wherever...Brr...I'm getting nervous just thinking about it. Awww, the dog got so sleepy after his walk today, he just climbed onto my bed and just fell asleep there. There's no use training him to get of my bed, he jumps back on anyway..
Good night,
Dapple Grey

T1 B43: Washroom Breaks

Brr...It's freezing outside, and I have to drag the dog outside for it's washroom break. He likes to take his time, walking around sniffing, and finally, when I can't stand it anymore, he does his business. It's all dark outside, even in the morning! It's a good thing that Daylight Savings time ended because I finally get an extra hour of sleep!
Frozen solid,
Dapple Grey

T1 B42: Morning Chaos

This morning, just as my mom, my sister, and I was leaving for school in a rush, the puppy thought it would be funny to dash out the door, and let us chase it for a block. We were about to close the door when it dashed out, ran through our backyard, into the garage, and then down the alley for a block. I only caught it because it stopped at a neighbour's tree to do his business. I got my shirt all muddy from his muddy paws, and my, what a muddy morning chaos.
When we came back, he was whining like crazy, and that softened my up a little.
I'm sorry puppy,
Dapple Grey

T1 B41: Dull Skates

Yesterday night I let the dog sleep in his little bed in my room, so he'll be all warm, and at least not alone at night. I did wake up a little early this morning for skating, but the puppy didn't seem to mind, and just stayed curled up in bed. Skating practice was horrible, because of the fact that I had really dull skates and I could barely do any balancing, let alone jumping and spinning. We'll have to get them sharpened at that skate shop, which is kind of far away...After skating I took the puppy on it's first walk in the park. (we live near a park). Well, my dad had to go for a jog, so he took the puppy with him, and I kind of followed. All through the run, he would stop at most of the trees and just sniff, though he kept up the pace. He was kind of scared of the big dogs, and would whine whenever he saw them, but he had a great time making friends with the smaller one. I went for my piano class today. Now, we're going to go out for dinner because my grandma is leaving for China tomorrow, and so we're treating her to dinner again.
I'm thinking what we're going to do for the school day tomorrow. Poor dog, he has to stay home alone for 8 hours...
Dapple Grey

T1 B40: Shopping Trip!

This morning, I woke to the sound of the puppy's scratching on my door. I guess he was kind of cold out in the hallway by himself, since he was kind of shivering. I took him to do his business outside, and it was so freezing cold! I spent so much time playing with it, but that's ok, since I didn't have that much school homework anyways. I did go shopping eventually, but my brother stayed home to keep the dog company. Sigh, it's such a good day, I think the puppy's getting used to us already. 

I think I'll go convince him to eat more food now, then he'll probably want to go for a walk...

Dapple Grey

New Puppy

So the puppy finally arrived this morning, and it was a Pro-D day, which made it even better. The owner was hugging it, and kissing it, and actually talking to it. I don't think the puppy understood her, because he started whining so loudly when she left. Aww, it left me so heart-broken, like I was stealing it away from her or something. We tried to convince him to eat, but he wouldn't even touch his food. I did take him on a walk later on, and right when he came back, he got on the couch, and fell asleep on my lap. At least that made me a little happier, and I read a book while he slept. When my mom came back,  he started jumping on her like she was his owner. I guess he's more used to older owners. Our family did go out for dinner, and we felt kind of guilty for leaving him on his own again. When we came back, though, he started wagging his tail like crazy...
Filled with puppy love, (I hope that didn't sound too cheesy...)
Dapple Grey

Marijuana Debate

We had our English debate today, and we weren't as prepared as we wanted to be, we was probably why we sounded horrible, and our points weren't that great...We were also arguing on the government side, which we were against. It would have been a lot easier arguing on the opposition side, since they have so many more points to address. For science, we made DNA strands out of candy! And we got to eat them, of course. Thankfully, no one got super hyper from all that candy. It was so fun! ...and delicious, of course. For people, we ran patterns outside again. The weather looked kind of misty this morning, so I was dreading getting my shoes soaked. But it turns out that it barely got wet, yet the grass looked so wet. Weird...
Dapple Grey

T1 B37: Knitting Field Trip

So we went to the airport on our knitting trip today. My buddy was Madeleine (or just Maddy) and she was friends with Jessie's buddy, so it was perfect. All four of us travelled in our groups. Once we got to the airport, we roamed around, and when we got tired, when found this little resting station for little kids, and sat down there. There was a little TV showing Caillou. At least, I think that's how you spell his name. Anyways, I haven't watched that show in forever, so I watched a bit of it, and then it was time to head off again. Our next stop was at the engine at Yaletown Roundhouse. I actually learned alot about history, and how it was really important before, and it was just so interesting, so many things I had never known! We got a bit hungry at that point, so we went to Lonsdale Quay, ate yummy pizza and gelato, of course, then our group travelled to the legendary playground Mimi and Jessie had been talking about ever since last year. (And I missed last year's field trip, too!) It was really funny, I finally got to see the spinny plastic steps, and had so much fun playing around on them! We made so many funny jokes on the way back, and we just had so much fun talking. Mimi and I had a hilarious conversation with Mr. Sale about his glasses, and his favourite animals, and the conversation was totally random, but always funny. It was a bit crowded, but it was nice to have a chance to bond with our new Grade 8s.
And of course, we had tons of FUN!
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T1 B36: Langara Run

"Today's a nice day." That was the first thing Mr. Lopez said to us this morning, and he had on this big goofy smile. We took one look and realized what was happening to us. Hmmm, it was a good day, and there was cool air blowing, so I would really rather do the run today, then on some rainy day, now I think of it. And the run really wasn't all that bad. It was so unexpected, so I didn't have my iPod with me. I ran with Mimi, and we were near the front, running with the faster runners for half the run. Eventually, we got a bit tired and slowed our pace, but we still kept running....and running...and running. You get the point. It's really nice having a runny buddy, someone to keep your pace, and keep you company, so you won't feel all alone with that feeling that everyone's either really far behind, or in front of you. Mr. Hauck also announced that we'll be starting our Debate unit, which I'm REALLY dreading. I'm seriously not the debating type. Some news to cheer me up after that was that my proposal was approved! I'm going to start project, since I don't want any last minute cramming disasters (eh-hem, like last year?) and besides, you can't grow plants in the dead of winter. Also tonight, one of our family friends' friend is coming over, because she's going to go one vacation soon, and she needs a family to take care of her puppy. Our family agreed to take care of it, and so the reason she came was to have a puppy interview, to make sure we know what to do, and so we could meet the dog. She came in, carry the dog in her arms (it was a small dog, a poodle/maltese mix)  and at first it was a little scared. When she put it down, he kept jumping and jumping, trying to jump back into her arms. Boy, could that puppy jump, it jumped so high! Eventually, he calmed down, and we had a fun time petting and playing with it. I'm so excited when it actually gets to stay at our house!
Filled with puppy love,
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T1 B35: Ha. Ha. Sosnia?

Oww...my back and arms are still sore from my lesson, but after halfway through the day, it got a lot better. So we finally had our socials map quiz on all of Europe, and the funniest thing of the quiz was that I got stuck since I forgot the name of a tiny country. I memorized it according to location yesterday night, so I had to know the names of the countries beside a certain country, before I knew the actual country. So the country I got stuck on was Bosnia. I forgot the name of the country, and some countries that were beside it. The country that I was stuck on was Bosnia, but somewhere in my head, I got Bosnia, and Serbia (which was beside) it mixed up in my head, all jumbled up, and so when I finally put something down, I wrote: Sosnia! I kept telling myself that it seemed kind of wrong, but then the time was up, so I handed it in. Normally, I wouldn't check my notes after a test/quiz, since it always makes me feel really bad about all the things that I got wrong, but I was really curious about this one. Turns out the answer was Bosnia, and when I thought of my silly mistake, all I could do was laugh at myself. It was that funny! Mr. Martin also gave us our textbook, Patterns of Civilization 2, a book we thought we'd never see again, after last year. Now we have book 2. Yippee? I also realized we only had one Day 1 class this whole week, since we have a field trip on Wednesday for Applied Skills. Yay! I'm also done my first 2 hats for Applied Skills. I should work hard to catch up to Jessie, who's already made a bijillion hats...
Must make more hats,
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T1 B34: Skating Lessons

Today, I dragged myself out of bed for skating lessons. I'm always so sleepy, but once I get there, all the sleepiness wears off like magic. Lianna was my skating teacher today, instead of her brother, Alvis. She taught me how to do 3-foot turn exercises today. I already knew how to do three-foot turns, but she taught me this technique, and extra strokes, making it an exercise. So I had to skate around the circle, and I would do a 3-foot turn, then I would switch feet, stroke, then point my foot. It's really annoying how I automatically point my foot downwards when I'm supposed to point facing upwards. I can do it fine against the wall, but when it comes to the actually exercise, I'm always hesitating. Another thing was straightening my back and keep my arms up high throughout the whole thing, which made them ache like crazy. Eventually, I got the proper position, and Lianna said that everything else was perfect, except for the way I point my foot...Sigh, after my lesson (15minutes) I had 45 minutes left on the rink to practice pointing and pointing to try to get the proper position.
What to do with an aching back and arms?
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T1 B33: 4-Day week, once again!

Whew! It's already Friday again! The week just sped by so fast! Anyways, I'm all relaxed again, and in my weekend mode. My brother's friend, Timothy, came over tonight for a sleepover. It's a good thing he's here, so he could keep my brother company, since my brother always seems to be so bored. He's only staying until tomorrow, but he's an pretty responsible, so it's not like we don't like him or anything. His mom and my mom are really good friends, and we always have dim sum with them. It's kind of more a respectful thing to do, a kind of way for my mom to thank them, since my parents are both at work, my brother goes to Timothy's house almost everyday, until my mom could pick him up. Anyways, it's almost bedtime. Starting today, or whenever I'm not busy, I plan to read everyday before I go to bed, so my mind is kind of relaxed, and in a happier mood. Obviously, I wouldn't choose to read horror novels before bed, just those nice, funny happy books that make you smile!
I wouldn't miss my book time for anything,
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T1 B32: Running patterns

I'm so happy, I barely have any work to do today! Yay! So I will blog...Today for football, we practiced running patterns for football. Our group was Mimi, me, Alex and Matthew. All we did was around cones and catch the ball, which somehow always manages to fly way over our heads. Of course, it was really fun, running around and trying to stay warm. Still, our hands were still just frozen stiff, and it really hurt to catch anything. I'm dreading the next P.E. class, when it's going to start raining.
Dear Rain, rain all you want this week, just not on my P.E. days. Please?
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T1 B31: Math Pattern Worksheets

Oh no. I'm up late again doing math. These annoying math pattern questions never seem to end...It's so repetitive, and even every question is only a little different from the last one, it's still really annoying. I have to do 3 pages of them, and I don't think I can last another hour if I don't finish them. Hmmm, Math sure loves to make students suffer.
Sigh, back to work...
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T1 B30: Football

So we started playing football today, and we only had time to do a little practice since we had collaborative day. It was colder, since we were so used to going inside for weight lifting. I discovered that I'm not actually that bad at throwing footballs, but that I can't catch them. Maybe part of the reason why is because my hands all frozen, and it hurts to catch anything, much less a flying football coming at you. I guess it was ok, and that I don't really hate football. Right after football, it suddenly came into my head that I forgot to bring a raw egg for science class today. Leslie was relying on me to bring it, and so I ran down to the cafeteria and just bought a raw egg from them. Who knew you could do that? Anyways, on my way to my locker, I bumped into Leslie, who was holding  raw egg. Since we had an extra one, we gave it to Celinna and Mimi, who also forgot there egg.
Sigh, what an egg-tastrophe,
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T1 B29: Socials Presentation

We had to hand in our second map today, and already, I know I'm going to get marks off because I forgot to highlight the borders. Sigh, there's borders everywhere, and countries are so tiny, why must Europe be all crowded and cramped? We're having a test soon, and hopefully, I can remember all those strange sounding names. We also did our socials presentation today, which went pretty well. The questions we had to face weren't that hard, and I think we got a pretty good mark. We worked hard on it though, and I'm glad that work paid off. We went to school early to prepare and practice, and we spent a lot of time last night editing, and putting the script together. But I'm so happy I don't have to worry about it anymore, and now I feel like a weight has been lifted of my shoulders!
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T1 B28: ME-Day

Yay, today was just totally relaxing, and since I've already finished my homework, I'm just resting. I guess my mind needs to take its own kind of vacation, so I won't be brain-dead for the coming week. Right now, I just don't want to think of school, I'm just going to relax, and enjoy today as much as possible. I did have a yummy dinner, and though it's Thanksgiving, I already had a yummy early thanksgiving dinner.
I can already smell all the yummy food...
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T1 B27: Apple Farm

Our family went apple picking today, like we do almost every year. It's always at the same farm, but it's so fun every time! At the farm, there's this huge jumping pillow, and a cute little petting zoo. This year we tried out new things, since I've already blogged about this last year. So this visit, we checked out the pumpkin patch, and there were tons of pumpkins just scattered everywhere. So we all just went off on our own quest to find the perfect pumpkin. Right next to the pumpkin patch, there was this ring for pony rides, which I would have loved if I were still small. I still want to have a ride, except I don't think I should add to the torture the poor ponies are going through, walking circle after circle while little kids bounce around and scream/cry. I did go take some pictures of the pretty ponies to add to my ever-growing horse/pony collection. I gave them some pats, and just sat there watching them for a while. My brother's friend also came along with us this year, and so his family just joined the trip. We caught up with each other after a while, and decided to try out the hay ride. It was pretty cool, there were stacks of hay on this really long truck, and we rode around the farm. We saw this little factory where they made apple cider, it was so cool! After the hay ride, we went in the corn maze. Somehow, our families got split up. We just walked around and around, and luckily the corn maze wasn't that big, so we got out eventually, and found everyone else. I also got to pet these soft fluffy bunnies, and soft fluffy llamas. The llamas were chewing so funny, I took some picture of them as well. To end the day, we got free samples of apple cider, and bought a jug to bring home. Mmmmm....
I'm never going to get sick of apples!
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T1 B26: Gloomy, Rainy Day

Aww, rainy days always remind me of the cold, dark winter that is on it's way. It looks really gloomy and depressing outside, it just affects your mood, and you don't feel like doing much when it looks gloomy outside. I did go to the library today, it was all warm and snuggly in there, so I read for a bit, and then took home a bunch of good books to curl up with during the weekend. The library's kind of like my sanctuary, so calm and quiet, and so much space to think. It's one of my favourite places! After the riding place, of course. Oh, and I finally found a science fair topic! I actually like it, and I'm actually kind of interested in it, which is a first. I'll keep it secret for now, but you'll find out sooner or later!
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T1 B25: Relaxing Pro-D!

Yay! I'm enjoying my awesome Pro-D and second 4 day week! I've spent most of the day knitting, but watching TV at the same time, which I haven't done for a while now. Who knew watching TV could be productive? Anyways, I'm going to spend the rest of the day doing Socials, just to get it over with. We just need a little more to do on our Sierra Leone project. There's also going to be a map test, but it's always easy, the map just looks so confusing and complicated, but when you study little chunks at a time, it's a whole lot easier. We have another map to do, but this one sounds a lot easier than the other one. I'm guessing he's going to give us a test on this map, too.
I'm going to get back to work, I want to make sure I get resting time and ME time after, and of course, some sleep tonight!
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T1 B24: Science Fair Proposal

Sigh, I have no idea what I'm going to do for my science fair. It always takes so long to come up with a topic, and even if you do have a topic, it takes so much time writing the actual proposal. Maybe I'll do one on plants, and how eggs affect them? But what kind of science fair would that be? Sigh, it's even hard keeping it in in the back of my head, since I forget about it anyway. Hopefully I come up with a topic soon, and it doesn't kill my brain by then. We had an early thanksgiving dinner with our family at our family restaurant (my uncles own the place). We had a nice turkey dinner with yummy potatoes and corn. Mmmmm, I feel so full. I guess we're having it early, since we'll be busy when Thanksgiving is actually here.
I'm all full and ready to sleep!
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