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aconiti
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Name: ann
Interests: when i have the time and the motivation (and sometimes, the money); snowboarding, movie theaters, science fiction/fantasy books, music, roller coasters, running, swimming, volleyball, weight-training, food, coffee, dancing.....
Expertise: sleeping, eating, procrastination
Message: message me
Member Since:
2/26/2002
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| since the weather yesterday was eighty degrees and sunny, i decided to be a tourist. it was good to get out of the house and away from my depression. i know people aren't perfect, but knowing that fact doesn't make it hurt any less when they let you down.
this past week we helped the kids make trick-or-treat bags, and i made a costume. i finally decided on peacock, and i think it actually didn't turn out too badly. but! to anyone else thinking of being a peacock for halloweens yet to come --> i made my tail out of cardboard and paper, and thankfully the wind wasn't crazy, and the morning drizzle disappeared by the time we went outside. but so many things could have gone wrong weather wise, haha. so i dunno if i'd recommend it to anyone else, unless you use maybe felt or laminating film. but i had fun, nonetheless. took me a couple nites to complete my project, but it was cheap, easy, and best of all people definitely knew what i was supposed to be. and i'm kind of proud of the fact that i wasn't part of the witch gang or the generic throw-on-a-black-cape-and-an-ugly-mask group. although i admit the latter was my plan B, in case my idea failed me. maybe in a millennia or two i'll get around to posting pictures.
but enough about me! the kids were sooooooo adorable! i spent the morning just taking pictures of them, haha. almost ALL the girls were some sort of butterfly/fairy/angel/princess combination. they all had those wings that you strap on, but also wands and tiaras and tulle skirts. thanks to "project runway", i know what tulle is, haha. and then we had one snow white and one cowgirl. oh wait, one princess didn't have wings. but just one. most of the boys, of course, were superheroes. we had two spidermen, one member of the incredibles (but his mom bought a batman mask plus cape get-up to go with it), and one chinese power ranger-esque superhero that has a dragon insignia whose name i keep forgetting. the one who stood out came as a green dinosaur. sooooooo cute 
we took them on a walk around the neighborhood to collect candy from participating businesses nearby. all the elderly people walking on the streets stopped and smiled at the kids.
oh yeah and i had to teach them the trick-or-treat song. you know, trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! except i learned that part two goes: ghost and witch and goblin too are waiting in the dark for you! probably better than the version i learned rejecting apples and pears, and something about a piece of underwear  ah, good memories 
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| i took a four hour nap this afternoon without meaning to. i woke up cuz my dad was coming back for dinner, and my first thought was, why is he waking me up in the middle of the nite? xP
so now i'm awake with thoughts swirling through my mind.
went on a field trip with the kids to this fire and earthquake safety museum place on thursday. it was pretty fun, actually. on average our guide said there are two HUNDRED earthquakes per year here!!  maybe if i was from cali i'd react differently. but no, i'm just a humble nutmegger. so it was good for me to learn a few things too. number one: you have to open the door, otherwise you could get trapped inside. number two, turn off the power/electricity/gas. then proceed to protect your head and crouch next to a column or pillar of the building, or hide in a corner of the room. but not next to any glass (like windows) or bookshelves (it could fall over on you). they even had an earthquake simulation room so that we could practice.
then they talked about fire. or rather, they showed us a cartoon that taught about the dangers of fire and how you should call 1-1-9 for the firemen (nope, i didn't have a dyslexic moment, that number's correct =P). i also learned that for burglars, you should call 1-1-0. then we went through a room filled with fake smoke to practice finding your way out by touching the wall and covering your nose and mouth.
it was a pretty cool place. we didn't have time to go through it all. plus there's apparently a five step checklist if you accidentally burn yourself, but he went through it really quickly, so all i got was that you "rinse" your hand with cold water. i think that was step one. if i heard him correctly, haha.
i was told this week that i have to wear a costume next friday with the kids. since my co-teacher's going to be a witch, i thought i'd be something different. i'm going to try to finagle a peacock getup. but we'll see how that goes.
okay, now i'm getting tired, finally. so glad it's the weekend. or maybe "relieved" better describes what i'm feeling.
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| .life.
it's been about a week since i found out.
we went to the same high school. she was one year ahead of me. we met because we were on the soccer team together my freshman year. it was a fun team, but in the following years i stopped playing soccer to continue playing volleyball when they changed it from a winter to a fall sport.
she was the goalie. since i played defense, we had to communicate a lot. i have this one specific memory of us walking somewhere on campus together. we didn't just talk about school and soccer. she asked me real getting-to-know-you questions. she imparted some of her sophomore wisdom upon me. maybe not a huge impression, but i figure i remember specific instances for a reason, however trivial they may seem to anyone else.
i found out last week she went missing in june.
i had no idea......
the next day i tried to look for updates in the local newspapers. apparently i was receiving information at a delayed rate. that same weekend that i found out, they had just found her body..............
my heart really goes out to her loved ones.
i've written about ten different things that i've deleted in the past half hour. too many thoughts......................................nothing else really seems to matter in moments like these.
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| .just a little patience.
today was a good day with the kids. two days ago i made boy number one cry =/ but today, i actually had fun with the class. i was dancing around, they were answering all the questions correctly, and when i got out, there was nothing but blue skies shining on me i can tell i'm in a good mood if i feel like dancing, haha.
my faithful follower in france, whoever you are, might be amused to know that i received a postcard showing the view of the eiffel tower from the fountains of trocadero this week
more radio dj busting --> the guy that says rihanna with the "h" sound also says wyclef jean's "jean" like when we say "amy jean". or the singular form of the article of clothing we wear, for those unfamiliar with who amy jean is and how we say her name. i always said it like.....err, it kinda sounds like "john", but imagine if i were trying to speak french, haha. AND, two songs later he said mariah carey as "maria carey"  i am POSITIVE about that one!
i heard will smith's song on the radio, and then i was immediately transported back to the days when we all knew the moves to the MiB dance. and the words too, haha. hrm, having a lot of nostalgic flashbacks recently.
i busted out my EMS vest this week. and i also wore pants during me and my dad's nightly walk after dinner last nite, as opposed to shorts. it's nice cracking open the windows instead of cranking up the a/c.
EDIT: oh yeah!! how could i leave you all hanging?? so i DID go to domino's on sunday. and oh man, it tasted SOOOO good kinda dangerous cuz now i have their phone number and a menu, and they're close enough that they deliver for free......AND their wings are REAL buffalo wings!  dad and i went to this other place and we decided to try the "buffalo" wings - which just ended up being chicken wings with no sauce, and i was like
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| past the three-month mark. it's october already. one month of school has passed. some days i'm miserable. other days i make it through okay.
this morning was nice and peaceful after a nite of fireworks and other 'party poppers'. the air smells clear of any remnants of incense or paper money burning away. then again, there are two typhoons in this area of the world, so i'm not surprised the air has cleared pretty quickly. spent yesterday morning with the relatives. grandma had something on her mind, so she wasn't very talkative, or so says my dad. i thought she was in a mood. but it was nice eating with my aunt and uncle. no hostilities, no unpleasant talk. and we had canto-style mooncakes (of course!!). dad brought home a big canto-style lotus seed paste mooncake for me from work but i found out my dad actually likes the suzhou style ones the best, with date paste. but even the suzhou style ones i've seen here are still "taiwanese". oh well. our plan is to raid carrefour and buy the leftover mooncakes that are on sale. haha, okay it's my plan here's to that general that had the ingenious plan to revolt against the yuan in china!
it was cloudy last nite tho, so we didn't see any trace of the moon. oh well. now that i think of it, i do remember waking up in the middle of the nite during a minor earthquake. first time i think i experienced one. consciously, that is. i remember i was thinking i should move under the door frame, or at least so that i'm not directly under the ceiling light. and then, either it stopped, or i fell back asleep, or both. you can't experience that kind of thing in dreams, can you?
i spotted a domino's not too far from where we live i may venture over there tonite.
it's so weird hearing chris brown songs on the radio over here. the stations i listened to back home boycotted his stuff even when his attack on rihanna was just a rumor. and speaking of rihanna, there's a dj here that pronounces her name with the "h" sound, and it REALLY annoys me. i haven't heard how she says her own name, so i might have been the one pronouncing it incorrectly all this time, but it still bugs me.
i could have sworn that i learned about artemis in latin class and that diana was the greek name. but everything i look up says the exact opposite. i miss being proficient in latin and roman mythology  one day maybe i'll pick up the old latin textbook. i still want to see Caecilius' house in person!
and lastly, a memory.
i bit into a peach this morning. it brought me back to my one memory of peach picking. somehow we had split up, and i remember the only person i was near was uncle peter. i spotted a bright red peach not too far from me, but just beyond a tangled web of branches and leaves. i tried to go around and pick the peach from the opposite side, but i just couldn't see it whenever i walked behind it. i went back and around twice. finally i decided that i was gonna roll up my sleeves and head straight for it, over and under the branch obstacles. it paid off, cuz i managed to reach that peach! i barely touched it before it dropped right into my hand. i think i almost dropped it too cuz it was kinda high up. and it was the brightest red i had seen all day in that orchard. i brought it to my uncle and he whipped out his knife. but he didn't even need the knife because you could have peeled it with your fingers. it was so ripe and juicy and sweet!
it's a good memory.
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