Diary of an Asian Kid

13 Jan 2011

13 January 2011, Thursday

I was pretty ticked off at Victor this fine, rainy morning. When I asked him if he was going to school with Dad and me or on his own, he kept saying, "I don't know! Don't ask me!" angrily. Who should I ask, then? He ended up going on his bike, which was what infuriated me the most. I wasted at least five minutes waiting for him.

I discovered that today morning's test was Earth Science. I'd thought it was Geography. And there were two papers. I finished them both in half an hour and got out Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games series. It looks promising as well, though there's even more angst.

We were allowed to keep writing until the first period because it just happened to be Science. I ended up getting 80 on the first test (Damn! Most of the mistakes were because I didn't read the questions properly) and 88 on the second. Still, considering my studying situation, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

After English, in which I got a good amount of reading time because there was a test too, I went downstairs, as always, to find Alice. She told me that she might not be going overseas after all; she would still be taking the BCs to see if she can get into the National Taipei College of Business (you spend five years in there instead of the usual three, and Ariel thinks that it is more suitable for her than to go to a normal high school). So she is studying for the BCs and for TOEFL at the same time, for more choices. Personally, I think there's a much greater chance of her getting into the NTCB than to go abroad. THANK GOD. Now I just have to make sure she gets into that school.

Later, because the rain has temporarily stopped for the first time in a fortnight, we went to sit outside in the historical area (our school got built around a really old Chinese-style building. It's technically a historical site, I think). It's pretty nice there, with less noise, a pond, greenery, and a well-kept old single-story old building made of red bricks. I had clam chowder pasta with cheese today, which was wonderful. I love pasta and/or cheese. Alice and I had a good time singing for a bit while Jenny rolled her eyes at us and motioned that we were crazy.

The first two periods in the afternoon were the 'Integrative Activities' periods, which include Domestic Science, outdoor skills, psychology, and whatnot. We were doing food additives today; the teacher prepared a lot of artificial flavorings for us to smell. Most of them smelled sickly sweet. A bit disgusting.

We also watched a few clips on how black-hearted entrepreneurs in China made fake eggs with zero nutrients that could be harmful to your health and how they turned disposable chopsticks into 'edible' pickled bamboo shoots (the chopsticks are made from bamboo as well, but this is ridiculous. There are loads of harmful chemicals in the stuff!)! You have to say this: they're amazing in their quest to make fake, harmful versions of everything, including food. Our teacher says that they even have a college there across the strait which teaches you how to fake things. Unbelievable.

During the break between the two periods, I went upstairs to find Yvonne (the classroom is on the fourth floor). After asking about Alice's present condition, she got out her cell phone and started playing a game in which you get to live a life as a person in a small town, including going to work, dating, and the like. It was once popular in my class a while back, so I've seen it before. Rather funny.

7th period was PE. At least we only had to do one lap along the B1 corridor in place of the usual two. Because there is a written PE test during finals, the teacher passed out our worksheets to review. I was quite stunned to see that I only got 77; I did write a lot! But, apparently, you have to get all the points right for a better score. What's funny was that Martin got an even lower score than mine (I saw because a few of the people sitting next to me on the floor had copied his), and his PE is much better than mine.

We were refereeing for groups 1 and 4 today, so, happily, I didn't have to exercise at all today.

Since there was still one match to go, the two groups will have to do it during tomorrow's nap time. Ben said that he couldn't go because he had to go find the Head of Discipline, so our teacher said that she'd accompany him to go get him excused. Apparently, Ben had had to go see the HOD for a few days now.

David, who's in my group, seemed to know why (he was muttering something to himself), so curious little me decided to ask him if he knew anything.

"He stole something, and was caught," said David. I was flabbergasted. I'd never thought that Ben was that kind of person. Am I such a bad judge of character?

Of course, I pressed on. "Just what did he steal?"

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards," David replied. This is ridiculous.

"Whose?" I asked faintly.

"Mine," he said. Strangely, he didn't look at all upset.

Once we were dismissed, I ran to find Alice. She knows Ben too. I told her right away, knowing there's probably no one else to tell it to. It's not common knowledge in our class (that I've heard of), and I'm not about to be the one who spills it. Maybe I could tell Christopher? He knows Ben as well. I'll have to see if I can find out what circumstances Ben stole those cards under.

Of course, Alice was quite surprised when I told her.

When the bell rung, I raced back to Geography class. We've still got a bit left to teach before the topical test, so while the teacher (she happens to be Victor's form teacher, and knows that I'm his sister) was wrapping it up, I tried to cram in as much as I could about South America.

It worked! I got 97 on this one! I've noticed that cramming only works with Geography. Is it because I already know most of it?

After that was a Biology test. Did okay; no comment.

I got a great dinner today! Mom brought me a subway sandwich with soup and a cookie. All delicious. Of course, I spent dinner at night study with Tiffany and Jenny. Jenny said she isn't going to go to night study anymore next semester, but at least Tiffany is still going. I'd still have some company.

Because I think that I'm not working nearly hard enough, I've had to add Monday to the nights I'll be going. I dropped Erhu for that! Well, I do need the extra study time. I can't concentrate at all at home. There are too many distractions. At least I'm still hanging on to piano, which I won't drop. I've always loved music, and probably always will. It helps me to have something relaxing to do besides reading.

For some reason, there was an unnatural amount of work for me to tackle today. I finished two math papers, most of this time's Earth Science chapter in the workbook, a chapter in the Chinese exercise book Mom bought me, and I still haven't finished reviewing for the History test tomorrow. I haven't had so much to do for weeks.

Funnily, Ben showed up during the second break for gummy bears from me again. As I was looking at Tiffany's geography homework with her, I didn't see him until the bell rung and I made my way back to my seat.

I managed to walk home with Christopher again. For some reason, we go from talking about finals to extra-terrestrials/wormholes/the fourth dimension/time-traveling/ experiments with black holes. He is absolutely convinced that aliens exist. He said that there is evidence that aliens have visited us, but NASA is keeping it secret because they fear mass panic. I didn't really believe him, but he manages to list a couple of things (that I have heard of) that is not humanly possible, and some that I've never heard of regarding aliens contacting us.

He managed to make me feel rather uneasy and a bit like my head was tying itself up in knots, which happens whenever I think about wormholes, the 4th dimension, of rifts in space-time continuum (what is that, anyway?). I'm not sure if he noticed, though.

Isn't it ironic that, right as I'm writing this, I'm listening to 'E.T.' by Katy Perry?