Pressure + Stress

 It's been 89 days since I last wrote a blog post. We're still in quarantine, but a vaccine has been developed and I hope that I'll be able to go back to school by the start of the school year. I remember in the past I had to write a blog post every single day in order to check everything off my to do list and count everything as done. I've been looking at my past blog posts and it's so surreal to think that my fourth grade self was so stressed and under so much pressure. I wrote multiple blogs talking about how I was stressed, and also very pressured. Then again, I also was very last minute in the past. My blog post from February 27, 2017 talked about how school reminded me of failure. Failure, because one bad grade can make your self esteem drop, then you may not ever be as motivated as you were in the past. In four years not much has changed, I'm still stressed every day thinking about the future. What if I don't succeed? What will I do? I'm so scared. I've always been told I have to work hard if I want to succeed and I really do try my best but sometimes there's absolutely no motivation. Being told to work harder or be like other people just adds onto the pressure, I'm really so scared about my future. Time flies. I'll be in college before I know it but it's just so scary to think about. In the future, there may be less jobs because of AI, it'll be so much harder to make a living. I think about the future a lot but I also know very well that I'm not trying as hard as I could be. I know that many people live paycheck to paycheck, but I know that I don't want to live like that. I don't want to be so stressed about paying my bills and taxes to the point where it's almost impossible to enjoy life. I just don't want to be a failure. It may sound unreal but I've been stressing about my future and college since second grade... I want to work harder, I want to be smarter, I want to better, but at the same time I really don't know if I actually want to put in the effort to achieve these goals. I waste too much time and I know it, I should delete all my social medias, stop watching so many videos, stop playing games, stop reading webtoons, and stop keeping up with kpop, because they're all reasons I waste time. The thing is I just can't, they're what make me happy, but at the same time it's also what's dragging me down. I wish I had enough self control to just study every second of the day, like those high achievers, but I just can't. I'm too dependent on these things that make me smile, I feel like if one day I just stopped doing all of this I wouldn't be able to be happy. Although I don't want to let go of the small things in life that make me smile, I think that if I did I would be able to focus more on school, get better grades, do more extracurriculars, and do a lot more studying which will ultimately lead to a better college and a better life. Perhaps my view of life is messed up, maybe I can be successful and happy without doing well in school, but the more I think about my future, the more I think how essential college is, and I end up getting more stressed. To get my mind off education and other things, I watch videos, play games, and do the other things that make me happy, but they're really just wastes of time, and every night when I go to sleep I think about how I wasted my day doing all of that instead of being productive. Really, I want to be successful, but I think I'll have to be 100x smarter and work 100x harder, but do I have the motivation?

Society

 Why is society so different from what it used to be? Young kids are forced to stress out about their future and are put under so much pressure. At such young ages, kids have to think about what they're going to do, how they're going to achieve it, and what they'll do after that if they are able to achieve that. If they don't reach their goal, or basically attending a good college, what will they do after that? College is the most important thing right now right after money, and one of the best or only ways to make money is to attend college. Kids in elementary school are already stressing about college because their parents have put that burden on them. Parents spend tons of money to get their children to learn ahead and force them to participate in so much all just for college. Some parents don't think about how much stress it can bring to a mere child. In the past college was not even half as important. Even education was not that important. Nowadays if you want to be able to succeed you need a simple piece of paper that proves you've spent majority of your life in school. College proves that you've spent years learning things that will rarely ever prove helpful in the future, but the thing is, if you didn't go to a good college, what are the chances that you'll be able to make enough money to pay rent, feed yourself, or to start a family? If you don't have this simple piece of paper, the chances of being successful in life, to be able to earn enough money, are so slim. Why are kids worrying about this? Why? And there are so many kids who aren't fortunate enough to have fun or even eat because of money issues. Money is simply just a concept. If you think about it there really isn't any worth in a piece of paper with a mark that proves it's authentic or a round coin that doesn't actually hold much value. Kids these days have to worry about so much but for what? This burden that's brought onto them is so painful. In today's world, the rich will only get richer, but they will rarely try to help the less fortunate who are actually in need of the money that the rich people will never spend. Society has completely changed and life is much harder for people than it was in the past. 

A Long Time

 It has been a long time since I wrote a blog post. My siblings write blog these days, but I don't know about what. School is about to start, which seems unreal since I have completely lost track of the days. Everyday I'm stuck at home, and although I try to be productive, I end up doing something else really fast. At first, the thought of staying at home all day was horrible, but now I'm okay with it. I have a lot more free time, and I actually like that. I can still contact my friends so being ta home is okay. Also, blogger had a weird update and I don't know if I like it.

Looking Back

Today, I looked back on my very old blogposts, and I smiled just reading through them. It was like when I read through my written journal. While reading them, I suddenly remembered that my parents used to want me to write a blog post every single day. I definitely did not do that, and I kind of regret it because I really want to be able to look back on what happened in the future. I'm still shocked that it's been 8 years since I started my blog. I don't have much else to say.

COVID-19 Situation

       I remember before the school closure was announced, many of my teachers were very sure that school would not be canceled and some talked to us about the pandemic, but that same day, right after lunch, at the beginning of 5th period, the school closure was announced. A few days before that Friday, many events were already being canceled, but people still were not expecting school to be closed because the school district had assured everyone that school would stay open.

       On March 13, 2020, school was confirmed to be canceled for three weeks. Just until right after spring break, school was scheduled to start again on April 6, 2020, but that changed. On March 24, 2020, and email was sent out by the school district that the school closures would be extended to May 1. This was of course very devastating, and I thought that It wouldn't get worse, but on April 1, 2020, school was confirmed to be canceled for the rest of the school year. I won't be able to see my friends in person, and I won't be able to celebrate my birthday with my friends. 

       I was super sad, and all my friends were sad about it, and one of my teachers even sent out emails to talk about the situation. The coronavirus has forced everyone to go into quarantine. My parents won't even let me leave the house, and for the first time in a very long time, I'm finally writing a blog post. Since I'm in quarantine, I wrote that shorter blog post a few minutes ago about my old journals. This pandemic is extremely severe, and there have been over one million cases.
       EDL, or emergency distance learning, has also been a very big change that I'm still not very used to. I personally think that it's harder to learn without a teacher in front of you. For me, we don't even do video calls or anything, our teachers just assign us homework, they don't really teach us. It's not a very effective way of learning, but at the same time EDL is kind of nice. I can stay at home all day, and finish my work before lunch, so I can have free time in the afternoon. I'm still very surprised that this happened, and it's like we're living in history right now. In the future, people will read about the 2020 pandemic that caused everything to stop. I just want everyone to stay healthy and safe.

Disneyland Park

On Monday morning, I woke up at 6:50 AM. I was getting ready to go to Disneyland, we had to be there by 8:00 so there wouldn't be many long lines in the beginning. I ate breakfast and got ready with my mom, brother, and sister. At around 7:20 we got onto the car and drove to Disney. We found parking spaces and then boarded a shuttle called the Woody shuttle which transports you to the park if you pay the fee. We arrived at Disneyland and went through bag checks.

This blog post was last updated on 12/31/19, and it was for Disneyland, but I don't remember which trip to Disneyland it was supposed to be since there were three days for it. I will be publishing this on 4/3/20, over a year later.

This was from day 1 on 4/2/19

Day 1

Disneyland Park

Parking spot: 18C Woody

Arrival: 8:00 AM

First ride: space mountain

Second: it’s a small world boat ride

Third: teacups 

Fourth: flying dumbos

Fifth: merry go round/carousel 

Sixth: Indiana Jones adventure 

Seventh: tiki show (birds)

Eighth: Matterhorn bobsleds (single rider)

Ninth: gadget-go coaster

Tenth: buzz light year ride

Eleventh: big thunder mountain

Twelfth: star tours

Thirteenth: splash mountain

Fourteenth: train ride (Grand Canyon, dinosaurs)

Fifteenth: haunted mansion, scary stuff and cool ride

Sixteenth: Jungle cruise 

Seventeenth: pirates of the Caribbean (boat in water, small drops)

Departure: 7:00 PM

Food:

Churros, dole float, frozen strawberry lemonade, jumbo turkey leg, barbecue chicken pizza, chicken pasta, strawberry slushy, Mickey soft pretzel

Day 2 on 4/14/19

Day 2

Disney California Adventure Park

Parking spot: 15C Woody

Arrival: 7:30 AM

First: soarin’ around the world

Second: incredicoaster, (loopity loop)

Third: swinging gondola Ferris wheel

Fourth: midway mania 

Fifth: mater’s junkyard jamboree 

Sixth: radiator spring’s racer

Seventh: grizzly river run

Eighth: grizzly river run

Ninth: goofy’s sky school

Tenth: Jr. Chef show

Eleventh: tower of terror/ guardians of the galaxy mission: breakout

Twelfth: frozen broadway show

Thirteenth: soarin’ around the world

Fourteenth: grizzly river run (no wait, very quick)

Fifteenth: grizzly river run (9 minute ride)

Departure: 8:00 PM

Food: 

cinnamon churro, Mexican food: bean, chicken, rice, taco, orange, salad, lemonade mixed with sprite, apple, jumbo turkey leg, frozen strawberry lemonade

Day 3 on 5/2/19

Disneyland 

California Adventure

5/12/19

1st: Soarin’ around the world

2nd: Soarin’ around the world 

3rd: incredicoaster (3x)

4th: swinging gondola Ferris wheel

5th: Golden zephyr

6th: midway mania

7th: lunch

8th: river rapids (2x)

9th: rock climbing

10th: Frozen

11th: guardians of the galaxy

12th: mickeys orchestra

13th: turtle talk with crush

14th: animation academy 

16th: sorcery workshop

Old Journals

A while ago, I was looking through the scattered cabinets in my house when I came across some journals. I looked through them and realized they were journals that I wrote in a long time ago. I think they were around 2012-2014, but I'm not sure. I read through the journal, and found so many cute stories and poems. I don't really have any memory of writing them, but it's so fun to go back and read them. Back then, my handwriting was really messy, and although it's hard to read, I was still able to read it. Today I suddenly thought of them, and realized that I wanted to keep those journals for memories, and I spent half an hour looking for them. I finally found the two journals, plus another journal that I had. I'm going to keep these journals, and look back on them in the future, or just when I'm bored.

2019 Winter Break Vacation

On Friday, December 20, my dad told me to pack 10 pairs of clothing. I didn't know why, but my parents said we were going to go on a trip. It was completely last minute and unplanned. I was procrastinating, so the night I was packing I didn't sleep until 11 PM. On Saturday morning we left, we were planning to just drive around aimlessly but we decided to go from California to Arizona. We stayed at Holiday Inn that night. On Sunday, we went to Saguaro National Park, we didn't stay there for long. We just looked around, and hiked a bit. We also watched a movie there. We then left the national park and drove to Phoenix. There, we met up with my cousin and uncle. We went to a mall and bought rolled ice cream. Other then that, we didn't do much. After the mall we went to our hotel, which was Springhill Suites. This hotel was very nice, with a modern feel to it. My cousin and uncle stayed in the same hotel, a room away from us. We all went to eat dinner together. We ate Thai food, it was the best meal for the entire trip. I got so full that I could barely walk. We then went back to the hotel and stayed the night. The next day we said goodbye to our cousin and uncle and they drove to California. On Monday morning, we drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We spent the whole day driving, and we stayed at Holiday Inn at night, again. On Tuesday, everyone in my family was tired. So we decided to book another night at the hotel. Everyone just used their electronics for a few hours, but my parents decided that we should try going somewhere. So we drove to a mall nearby and just stayed there for a few hours. For dinner we ate at a fancy Italian restaurant. Then we went back to Holiday Inn. The next day was Wednesday, December 25. It was Christmas! We drove to a city in Texas, and since it was Christmas most restaurants and stores were closed. We stayed in a Holiday Inn, again, and my dad and I went to look for food. We finally found an open store and bought a pizza. We were also very last minute and booked the hotel during dinner, or on the road. The next day was Thursday, and we drove to Austin, Texas. We arrived at night time and we ate at Outback Steakhouse, it was pretty good. On Friday, we stayed in Austin and drove around. Since we lived there ten years ago, we drove back to our old house, and also other houses that we had bought. That night we at County Line Steakhouse. On Saturday, we drove to San Antonio, Texas. We went into the mission and explored. After that we went to the San Antonia River Walk. We at Vietnamese Pho that night. On Sunday, we decided to head back. We drove back to New Mexico and stayed the night. Then on Monday, December 30, we drove 13 hours and made it back home. We stayed at Holiday Inn for most of the nights on vacation, and it turned out to be 9 days long and it was a fun experience. Most of the trip was driving or being on electronics, but it was still fun!

Guide Dogs of America Girl Scout Outing

Today, I woke up at 6:15 A.M. to get ready to go to my troop leader's house. From there we would drive to L.A. and go to the Guide Dogs of America center. After I woke up, I went downstairs to eat breakfast and left at 6:40 A.M. Everyone was supposed to be at our troop leader's house by 7:00 A.M. but everyone was late. I just waited out front for the other people in my troop to arrive. At 7:40 A.M., we left for a 2 hour drive to L.A. It was really boring at first, but I remembered that I brought my math homework so I worked on that. I got two out of three pages done, and then I just talked with my friends. When we got off the car (there were multiple cars) we waited for the girls in the other cars to arrive. At 10:00 we went inside the auditorium to listen to our guide. She talked about the guide dogs, and lots of stuff. It wasn't really the fun party because I just wanted to meet the dogs. We watched a video on people talking about what type of blindness they had, and how the guide dogs really helped changed their lives and made their lives much easier. After the 10 minute video, it was 10:30. The guide had brought in a two year old guide dog. It was a labrador retriever named Walter. It was so adorable and friendly. The guide said that some dogs were fit for the job because they had a good temperament. All the guide dogs were breed by them, and they have to be healthy to help the blind. Our guide let Walter meet everyone, and he was so cute. After that, we went outside and went to see other buildings. She showed us the dorm rooms for blind people that were in training to own a guide dog, they stay there for 3 weeks and for free. The dogs were also free, but each dog takes $48,000 dollars to help train and support. Even though they are so expensive, the blind person gets it free as long as they meet the requirements. Outside, we saw a little play area with volunteers playing with the puppies that were only around 7 weeks old. They were so cute, and small I just wanted to hug them. The guide said we were not allowed to touch them because we wouldn't want to spread germs to the puppies because they have to be healthy. After taking pictures and watching the adorable puppies, we went to see the dogs that were around 2 years old like Walter. They were much more hyper, and they were running around and jumping up everywhere. We weren't allowed to put our hands over our fence or else the dogs might make a habit of jumping up, and if they're going to be guide dogs they can't do that. We had to pet the dogs through the holes in the fence. After that we went back into the auditorium to talk more about the dogs. We took pictures with Walter and then we went to the gift shop. We didn't buy anything though. After the gift shop, we went to eat lunch. We ate at a place called Teriyaki Madness. It was pretty good, there were signs saying "Warning: Food extremely addictive". The food was good, but it was not so good to the point where it was addictive. I got teriyaki beef with fried rice. It was pretty good. Then, we got on the car and drove home. I finished the last page of my math homework and talked with my friends. Our car was the first one back, and we were driving with the troop leader so we played in their backyard. They had a tree house with a swing. There was also a little elevator that other people had to pull, it was a pulley sort of thing. It took 3 people just to pull up one person. It was really hard, and it hurt my hands. My mom and my sister went on the trip too, and their car got their after 15 minutes or so. Then, I drove home. Going to the Guide Dogs of America center was really interesting and fun. I learned lots of things and saw lots of cute dogs.

Comics, Manga, and Games

Today, at 5:00 P.M.  I went to listen to a lecture on comics, anime, and games. I was a little late, and I arrived when she was talking about the history of China and stuff.  She also said things about China's history and how most Chinese parents did not like their children to read comics, but her parents gave her comic books to read.  She was confused, and she didn't want to read them because she wanted to study hard. When she got into college, she met top students who read comic books and manga which really surprised her and she started to learn to like comic books. Then she talked more about the history of random other things and I kind of got bored. Near the end, we started to talk about games. It was probably the most interesting thing. She said that playing games isn't necessarily bad and that parents should let their children play a little bit. We also talked a little bit about rap for no reason. Some guy recommended a weird song called "sicko bambo". It was interesting, and I somehow felt like I had heard it somewhere before. After the lecture ended, we went out to eat dinner. It was really good, we also ate with friends and the person that gave the lecture. I had a fun experience today.

Boomers Birthday Party

On Saturday, I went to a friend’s birthday party. It was at an arcade type place called Boomers. As a guest, I got a card with five dollars worth of "Boomers money". I had to use my Boomers money to play the games that gave you tickets but there were ones that were unlimited, I didn’t have time to do those though. Outside there are cool things to do, and we also had it free for four hours starting from when we first activate the card. Outside. Here were go karts, a big track and a small track. There was also rock climbing. There was a water park, but it’s still winter so it was closed. There were five more cool rides, one was where there were a bunch of seats on a circular platform, it spins and does cool things, it was closed though. The second one was a boat ride that rocks back and forth, and it sadly was also closed. There was a merry go round that I didn’t ride because the horses were really small. There was also a teacup ride that I went on the last time I was at Boomers, but I didn’t go on it on Saturday. The last ride was a two seater that went in circles and you would swing with it. There was a part where you go upside down for a while and that was scary because my seatbelt or whatever it was that was keeping me from not falling off was too loose. When we went upside down, I was holding on really tight and gripping my legs, if I hadn’t done that I probably would have fallen head first (maybe not though). That was all just a description, now I’m going to summarize what happened. First, I arrived at the part at 4:25 P.M. and a lot of people were already there. We all waited with the birthday girl for 30 more minutes to see if more guests were going to arrive. We stayed in the arcade, but I didn’t do much because I was just watching other people. There was a connect four game and I helped many people win, but later on when I did it, I didn’t win. After all the guests arrived, we waited in line to go onto the big go kart ride. My friend was too short to drive, so we went on the two seater together. I didn’t press the brakes even once and they let us drive for a really long time, maybe 15 minutes. Many people collided with us, and I didn’t press the brakes even once, I also drove into some water on the side of the road so I got slightly wet. After we were all done, most of us went onto the circular ride that brought us upside down. Then we went to eat. We had pizza, juice, and fruits. After that we sang happy birthday and ate cake, the cake was really good but the frosting was way too sweet. After eating, we all went out to the arcade part to play. I didn’t use any of my money so I spent 2 dollars on a game where you pull down a lever that spins a circular thing and it lands on an amount of tickets, I only got 4. Then, I played connect four twice for 1.5 dollars each round, I lost both even with some help because I didn’t look at the buttons and pressed enter instead of go to the side. After that, we all went outside to ride the go karts again. Somehow the friend that rode with me before magically grew and was able to go on the go karts by herself so I went alone. I beat everyone, even the people who started before me and I only bumped someone once in the beginning. After we finished that ride we ran back into the line to go on again and we didn’t even have to wait. It was really fun and I beat everyone again. I was planning on running back into the line but my dad was there to pick me up so I left. I left at 8:30 P.M. and the friend that rode the go kart with me in the beginning didn’t leave until 10:00. I said thank you to the birthday girl and left. It was really fun, I only had 44 tickets in the end. I bought a Chinese Yo-yo for 25 tickets, I had 19 left so I used 15 tickets to buy 3 bracelets, and I used the last 4 to boy tiny candies. The experience was really fun and I hope I can go to Boomers again someday.

Sunday 12/30/18 ~ Thursday 1/3/19 - Carnival Imagination Cruise

On Sunday (12/30) I woke up in the morning, and I didn't really do anything. I just ate breakfast and did other things to pass the time. At around 2:50 P.M., my entire family, which is my dad, mom, 2 brothers, sister, and grandparents; 8 people left to board the cruise in Long Beach. My brother called it a "luxury moving hotel". We got there at around 4:40, because we got lost. I saw the ship from far away so I told my dad to go there and we arrived. They even called us to tell us that we needed to be on the ship in a while. The ship didn't leave until 6:30, but everyone had to be on board by 5:00. First we got to our rooms, we were on the 5th floor which was also called the main floor. My room number was M220, and I was supposed to share it with my mom, dad, and my brother. The other room we had was M224 for my sister, my younger brother, my grandma, and grandpa. We didn't actually sleep like that though. My parents, my sister, and my younger brother slept in M220. My brother and my grandparents slept in M224. When I first saw the room, I loved it, because it reminded me of those tiny house tours that you can find on YouTube. When you enter there are huge cabinets to store suitcases, and on the right is the compact bathroom. When you walk forward, on your left there is a small desk with information, and right in front of you is a queen bed (it was actually 2 smaller beds put together). We had a fake window, sadly. There were two beds that could go up into the walls, one on top of the bed already there, and one on the other side. After we explored the hotel room, we had to go to a meeting talking about what to do in an emergency. Then, we navigated to the dining room. The food was really good, but I don't remember what I ordered. I loved the bread, in the beginning. I watched T.V. with my sister, and I used the restroom, and it wasn't my favorite. After showering, I went to bed, and the bed was super comfortable. The next day was Monday (12/31), we arrived at Catalina Island. We at breakfast at the same place, and it was pretty good but I was so full after that. We had to be back on the boat by 2:45, so we just decided to skip lunch and eat lunch on the boat. Did I mention that all the food on the boat (not alcohol) was free because it was all included in the ticket? At around 9:30, we left the boat. We had to go on a smaller boat to get to Catalina Island. When we first arrived, we saw a cute little park near there, and some golf carts that were rentable. We played around for a bit, then we rented the a 4 person golf cart for 2 hours. My dad brought my brother and my grandparents for the first hour to drive around. My mom rented two bikes for my sister and me. For 40 minutes, we just biked around. Then my dad came back, and my grandparents went to go on a tour, they saw fish through a glass-bottomed boat. My mom drove the golf cart with my sister, my little brother, and me. It was really fun looking at the view. After the two hours were over, we returned the car. My older brother said he wasn't feeling very well, so my mom brought him and my little brother back to the boat. I wanted to buy a sweatshirt as a souvenir, so we went to a store, and I got a really soft and fluffy one. After that, my dad saw a roundish building, so we went to check it out. It was closed, but it was a movie theater. Then we went back to the boat. I didn't do much after that, but I ate lunch at the buffet. For dinner, I ate at the same place, but they had a different menu because it was New Year's Eve. I had a headache, so I wasn't in the mood for eating. There was a party where many of the waitresses and cooks were dancing. It was really fun, but I couldn't participate because of my headache. I went back to the hotel room and I ate some pain reliever and went to sleep. After I slept I was feeling much better, and I showered then I went to sleep for the night. We arrived in Ensenada, Mexico on Tuesday (1/1). I was really happy that it was finally 2019. I was just in the hotel room watching T.V. when my dad said that we needed to decide what we were going to do in Ensenada. I looked at one of the brochures and decided that I wanted to go horseback riding. We left the boat, and we saw activities for Carnival, but they were all pretty expensive. So we went outside and bought tickets for buses. My brother wasn't feeling very well so he stayed in the hotel room and slept. We got to a booth where we could buy tickets for other places. There was horseback riding, zip lining, and looking at the blowhole. My sister, my dad, and I decided to do all three. My mom did ziplining and blowhole. My grandparents only did the blowhole, and my little brother was free because he was so young. We had a really nice driver who used to work at the ziplining place. When we got there, it was so nice looking. I got my harness on, and my sister and parents did too. We took pictures then we climbed up the ladders and waited in line to go on the first line. There were 5 zip lines and 5 bridges. I went on the first zip line, it was pretty short but it was really fun. I waited for the rest of my family to finish. Then, there was a bridge, it was really simple. There were wooden planks that were full, and other planks were cut in half. Then, there was a zip line that led to a place near the place where we started. You would get off of that zip line and head back to the building where you started and go up a blue ladder. Then you would go on the third zip line to head back to an area full of more bridges. The second bridge was the hardest of all. There were two sides, each with planks that were nailed down the long way with more secure wire in the middle of each plank. My entire family did it, and it was really fun. Then we went on the third bridge with single planks and then a barrel, and it repeated. After that bridge, the fourth bridge with square-shaped planks that had four thick ropes keeping them above. That one was pretty easy. The one thing I had to have was balance. If I didn't keep my balance properly, I would have fallen off. The fifth bridge was very easy, the planks were rectangles that were nailed down the wide way. The planks were also very close so it was very easy. I got too confident so I started to go pretty quickly and I almost fell, but I saved myself. Then, after a short hike, it was time for the fourth zip line. The fourth zip line was supposed to last for a whole minute. It was really fun, but I wasn't light enough so I had to go with my mom. My sister and my dad went together. Then, we waited in line for the fifth and final zip line that led back to the building we started in. Overall, the entire experience was really fun and I hope to do it again someday. Then, we went to the blowhole and bargained with the merchants there. The blowhole didn't blow the water very high, but we still bought some food and other things. We bought these cute bracelets that had our names on them and a cute unicorn backpack. We were running late for the horse-back riding. We ended up only get 35 minutes on the horses when we should have had an hour. Then we rushed back to the cruise at 5:30, and my mom was saying that we were probably the last ones on the boat (we weren't). Then, we ate dinner at the same dining room and it was pretty good, but I ate something called mango cream. It had the tiniest mango jello and then they poured the "cream". It was so sweet, and there was a slight spicy tinge and I get queazy just thinking of it now. The next morning which was Wednesday (1/2) was a "day at sea". I forgot to mention that I watched many cool shows run by the cruise director named Melessa, they were all really fun. Wednesday was just doing random things on the ship. I went up to deck 12, which was the sports deck. There was mini golf, which was pretty fun. At 12:15, there was a hairy chest competition that was really funny and weird. After that, I went to eat lunch at the buffet. Then, I watched some ice-carving, and the outcome was so cool, it was the cat in the hat. Then, I watched a movie called Elliot the Littlest Reindeer. It was a pretty cute animated movie. Then, I watched Skyscraper which was really cool because of all the special effects. Then, it was night time and I ate with my family at the same dining room. The food was really good, and then there was a farewell party. Then I went to sleep. The next morning was Thursday (1/3). I was sad that the four-night vacation was over. The trip was definitely worth it and super fun. We were packing up everything and getting ready to leave, and then we went to breakfast. We had to be out of our room by 8:30 A.M. We left the cruise and we went back home and took our clothes out of our suitcases to wash. I've been writing this blog for a while, and now I am done. The trip was really fun.

Saturday 12/29/18

This morning, I woke up slightly tired because of the trip yesterday. The MacBook Pro that my dad had ordered had come but my mom wasn't home to sign it. I was sleeping at the beginning of the day and I even skipped breakfast. At around 9:00, my dad said that there was a little sticker telling us that we could go pick up the MacBook at a FedEx nearby. We went there and we picked up the package. I was giddy the entire ride home because I was excited to unbox the MacBook. I made sure that I would remember this. It may not seem like a big deal, but weirdly enough, for me, getting a MacBook (even if I have to share), is very cool. I asked my sister to film my dad and me opening the package, and she did. First, I opened the big box it was in. Then, I took out some bubble wrap and the majestic MacBook box was there, in front of my eyes! My dad helped me open it, and I took the MacBook Pro out of the packaging. It was so nice and aesthetically pleasing just to look at. I took off the plastic on it, and I looked around in the packaging. It was all so cool. I tested it out, and the touch bar was so cool. The keyboard was even much quieter than the other MacBooks at home. It was lunchtime, and I ate some yummy food made by my grandma. After lunch, we decided to go to that super fun park that my sister loved to talk about. We went with the whole family, excluding my grandpa because he went somewhere else already. When we got to the park, it was really fun, and I was surprised because I wasn't expecting that. We played for around an hour, and then we went home. My mom was talking about ice cream, and I said there was ice cream in the freezer, so she got all pumped up and wanted to go home. My brother got home first and he ate the first popsicle. Then I got home and waited for my sister to get home. When my sister got home, my mom was right behind her and we all got popsicles and we were happy. I used the new MacBook for a while and played typing games because I was so interested in the keyboard. It feels so satisfying just typing on it right now, it also sounds very cool compared to other loud keyboards. My dad suggested we go shopping, and we did. We went to Marshalls first to get my mom a new suitcase. We got one, and we also got popsockets for the new phones and some clothing. We then went into Albertsons for some medicine and food. It was dinner time when I got home. At 7 I went to piano class and got home at 9:30. My dad was giving my brothers haircuts, so he also got one. I helped him. Then I started writing my blog posts. I've been writing my blog posts for about an hour now. I like summarizing what happened since it was all so fun. Now I'm going to go to sleep because it's 11:08 P.M. and that is very late.

Wednesday 12/26/18 ~ Friday 12/28/18 - The Trip to Las Vegas

Wednesday (12/26). It was very crazy in the house because we were all getting ready to leave and finalizing our luggage. At around 9:00 A.M., we left the house for a long drive. It was supposed to be 5 hours, it ended up taking us 8 hours. Our cousins from Michigan had been on vacation since the beginning of winter break, they arrived at Las Vegas at around 12:00 P.M., so they were very bored waiting for us, at least that's what they said. We drove a very long time and for lunch we had Chipotle. At 5:00 P.M. we finally arrived at a hotel called Excalibur. It was a castle-shaped hotel, and it was probably based on King Arthur's sword Excalibur, and King Arthur was from Camelot and he lived in a fine castle. My uncle, who was my dad's brother, came to pick us up. He helped us get our luggage to his room. My dad had to find a parking space, so he came after us. We knocked on the door to our cousin's room, and they were so happy to see us, and we were also very happy. We talked about things, and also played on electronics. My dad found a parking space and he came up to the room. We decided to eat at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. I have two cousins, one is named JieMing and the other is named Yunjia. I called JieMing just Ming and Yunjia, well Yunjia. We ate there, and Yunjia didn't like the food, and the customer service was really bad. The food was pretty good though. I went to sleep at 11:00 and the next morning I woke up at around 7 A.M. It was Thursday (12/27). First, we went to a dim sum restaurant where they served your food really quickly, and the food was decent. After that, we explored the Las Vegas strip. We first went to Bellagio, and we saw the flower garden with cute polar bears that had Coca-Cola scarves. The polar bears were made out of flowers which were really cool. We took some pictures and explored more. It was a lot of walking, my mi-band even said that I had gotten around 20,000 steps that day. It was tiring. In Michigan, there are no YogurtLands, but my cousins had come to California in the summer and we told them about YogurtLand after we had eaten at a place with frozen yogurt. Ming accidentally called it YogurtLunch so we made a joke about eating "YogurtLunch" for land, but it's supposed to be eating YogurtLand for lunch. We actually did find a frozen yogurt store, and I was being greedy and got 20 ounces of toppings and yogurt. It was pretty expensive, but it was lunch. I played the sentence game with my brother, Benlin, and Ming. It's where someone starts a random sentence, and the last word of the sentence is used to make another sentence. It goes on and on until someone cannot think of a sentence. It was really fun and it lasted for around 30 minutes while we were walking. We also played the word game where you say a word, and the next person uses the last letter of the word before. That last letter had to be used to make a real word starting with that letter. My sister and Yunjia were also having fun talking. I wasn't feeling sick, anymore but my sister still was, sadly. We went back to the hotel so my sister could sleep. I went to my cousins' room so I could play with them. I drew some pictures with Yunjia, while Benlin played with Ming. We got bored so Yunjia brought her iPad to my room and we played together. It was time for dinner before we knew it. We couldn't find any place without super long lines, we had to look for 1 whole hour. We finally came across a place called Lee's Sandwiches, which was pretty good. My stomach hurt so I went to the restroom, and I came out just in time to order food. I just got cup noodles because I wasn't in the mood for sandwiches. My sister ordered chicken nuggets and a watermelon smoothie with boba. I tried it and it was pretty good, except for the fact that it tasted completely artificial. After dinner, we went to a hotel called The Mirage to watch a fake volcano erupt. It started at 9:00 P.M., and I was tired but I was really looking forward to it. My cousins, my siblings, and I were all sad that we almost had to leave Las Vegas. Time had passed by so quickly. Music started playing and it was really cool and intense. I filmed the entire "eruption". First, water sprayed out in large quantities with lights to make it more reddish to look like fire. Real fire was also sprayed and it looked like the fire was going to hit the trees near it. When everyone thought it was finished, more fire came and there was a lot. Then it was over, and I was so sad that my cousins were leaving immediately the next day. I went to sleep at around 11:00 again. The next morning, which was Friday (12/28), I went up to my cousins' room and they didn't even know that they would have to leave at 8:00. My dad did, and he told me so I told them. We talked a little and they went to my room to play. Then my uncle came to take my cousins, and they were heading to Antelope Canyon. I was so sad that they were leaving and we couldn't go with them. After they left, my family and I went to a place near Lee's Sandwiches to eat. I wanted to go to Lee's Sandwiches to get a sandwich, but my dad saw a place near it which was Vietnamese food. My brother still went to Lee's Sandwiches and he got a Breakfast Sandwich. My sister got a watermelon smoothie and chicken nuggets while I just got a large milk tea with boba. It tasted really good, and I went back to the Vietnamese food restaurant to order real food. I got noodles with soup and beef. I also ordered egg rolls which tasted amazing. After the food was finished, we went to a nearby 99 Ranch in Chinatown of Las Vegas. We shopped for snacks because my dad said that we would be going to a place only 20 minutes out of Las Vegas called Red Rock to hike and take pictures. I bought some snacks, we left Las Vegas, and we arrived at Red Rock. The first stop was the big rock with the words of the place we were at up front. It was so cold, I forgot to mention this but, it was super cold all the time during Las Vegas. We went to a trail which was really fun. My dad didn't have the proper shoes, but I climbed up with my brother and grandma. They didn't wait for me, so I didn't know the way up. My dad helped me and then I got up. The hiking trail included parts where you could get up onto the rocks that other people were on too. It was really fun climbing up the rocks, but it was scary at times too because I thought I would fall. After that, there was another little stopping area with a single tree. It was just cold, nothing fun. There was another stop where other people were climbing up rocks, so I did too and I took pictures. After that, there was a trail where you could just explore the beauty of the place. My sister, my dad, and I went on a hiking trail there. Then we headed home at around 2:00 We skipped lunch and just ate snacks but for dinner, we ate at this place called Oggi's with Italian food. Their food was pretty good. We arrived home at around 10:40. I helped get everything out of the car and I got my sister's things too since she was not feeling well. The trip to Las Vegas was really fun.

Monday 12/24/18 and Tuesday 12/24/18 - Christmas was fun! Or not...

On Monday (12/24), I woke up and I was feeling sick. I didn't feel like doing anything. I just went downstairs to eat breakfast and for the rest of the day, I was using electronics. I ate lunch, and then I just read some more Webtoons. I wasn't feeling for good so I went to sleep for about 50 minutes and I had a weird dream where some weird person was running at full speed with a shopping cart at me, I woke up in a start. Then I managed to go back to sleep. After that, I ate dinner with the rest of my family. The next day, which was a Tuesday (12/25), I did basically the same thing. I was feeling much better after being sick but I got my sister a little sick because we share a room. The only thing different was that after lunch, my parents, my little brother, and my sister went out to go on a walk. My older brother had gone out by himself with a bike but he came back only ten minutes after the rest of my family left. I stayed home, saying I was still feeling bad, it was kind of an excuse though. My sister came home screaming about how fun the park that they went to was. It was newly built, and I had never gone there before. It seemed fun hearing about the park. I was excited because the next day I knew I was going to Las Vegas with my dad, my brother, my sister, and my grandparents. I almost forgot to mention that it was Christmas. I got 20 dollars for Christmas (yay! <-- that was sarcasm). My dad had ordered a MacBook Pro for me to share with him, so I was excited for it to be shipped to our house.

Saturday 12/22/18 and Sunday 12/23/18 - Whole Family Trips

On Saturday (12/22), I woke up in the morning and I realized that it was my parents’ birthday. Both my mom and my dad’s. I gave them my handmade presents, but sadly I didn’t have the time to buy them something nice from the store. They both still liked their birthday presents though. We were going to take pictures like we always do each year. We were all getting ready, and we drove there and took pictures. Then we are at a nice Chinese restaurant. It was really good, and I enjoyed it but we were all too full for dessert. There were lamb kabobs, fried rice, and other assortments of meat or vegetables. There was this bok choy soup with tofu that tasted really good. Then, we left and went home. I then went to Costco with my dad, and we bought some snacks and other things. After that, we went home for dinner. After dinner, my dad said that we might be going on a road trip the next day even though we hadn’t started planning so I packed my clothes for 7 days. I slept at around 10:30 that day, and I woke up around 5:30 the next day. Sunday (12/23): At the time before lunch,  my dad found 3 old phones and he decided to give them to my sister and me. Even though I can’t really do anything on the phone it still makes me happy. Then, we all ate lunch. My mom suggested driving 1 hour to go to this place called Mission Inn where "over one million lights" light up. So we went there and I read Webtoons on the car. When we got there, there was a weird smell and I was already feeling slightly sick, I was coughing, which made my throat hurt, and I had a stuffy nose, I also had a headache. We walked to Mission Inn, but it was too early for the light show so we went to shopping malls around there and bought some food. We ate some snacks and then at around 5 P.M., the light show started. I took pictures and it was really pretty. The lights were tied around the building and there were other things like trees wrapped with lights. Then, we walked to the car and headed to another city to eat dinner. We chose an Italian restaurant, but they didn’t serve soup so my dad and I went to the store next door to buy some miso soup. Then, we went back into the Italian restaurant just in time to order. I ordered an Alfredo that was pretty good. Then we finished eating and I was coughing a lot, the soup thankfully helped my sore throat. We all got into the car and drove back home. It was a really fun trip but right now I am still coughing with a stuffy nose and headache,

Friday 12/21/18

This morning, I woke up at around 6:10 A.M. to go downstairs and play the piano. The drowsiness was getting to me, but I wanted to cross something off of my to-do-list and just get 20 minutes of piano done. Then, I ate breakfast. It wasn't much, but it was enough because I knew there was going to be snacks at the class party. My dad dropped my sister and me off at school. I walked down to the back gate with my friend. Then, I went into the classroom with my stuffed animal and I set it down. All the tables were moved out of the way. My friends had all set up their mats of blankets on the floor, but I didn't bring one so my friend let me share with her. Only 10 minutes after I got to school, our teacher told us that we were going to go caroling in the multipurpose room. Everyone in my class was really excited. We went into the multipurpose room and sang Christmas carols, it was really fun. Then, for around 2 minutes or so we stayed in the classroom. But then we had to rush out to P.E. I ran the lap and then went onto my number. We stretched for about 10 minutes then we played dodgeball for around 20 minutes. Everyone went to wash their hands in the bathroom. Then we all went back into the classroom. We were called out in number order for snacks. I got strawberries, a bagel with cream cheese, and a cookie. Then I went back into the classroom and sat down on my friend's blanket. We watched an animated movie called A Christmas Carol, it was from 2009. It was kind of creepy there were ghosts and other things chasing the main character. But of course, there was a happy ending and we were all satisfied. During the movie, we also got hot chocolate and we stayed in for recess to finish the movie. Then we had a vocabulary test, luckily it was easy. After that, there were some announcements made and we watched someone's Egypt Project. I didn't watch the first part of the Egypt Project because I was helping cut out numbers for the game White Elephant. Then everyone drew numbers and then we went straight to music class. After music class was over, we went to lunch. Everyone stayed inside to eat because we were going to be playing White Elephant during lunch recess. After eating, we started White Elephant. The person who drew number 1 would go pick one of the wrapped gifts up front and unwrap it or take it out of the bag in front of everyone. They would show everyone what they got and then the person who drew number 2 would get up and either steal what number 1 got or grab another gift. I was number 7, and I stole a gift that had already been stolen once before me. So once I stole it, it was locked. I got a Pusheen stuffed animal and a game called Werewolf. When we finished White Elephant, there were only 10 minutes until school was over. We cleaned up and everyone said goodbye to each other. For me, it was more of a bittersweet moment because I was sad that I was leaving school for 2 weeks but I wasn't at the same time. Most of the time, if I'm not on vacation, being at home is really boring. But when I'm at school it's fun, but of course, I still wanted to go on break. Then, I went home and did what I normally did.

Thursday 12/20/18

Today, I woke up and I went to school. We started the day off with a math test, and we had all the desks and tables and chairs moved to the side. After an hour, we worked on our Egypt Project. Then we went to recess. We did some normal class stuff, but we also talked about what we were going to be doing for our Christmas class party the next day. Then we did more normal class stuff. I stayed in for lunch to work on my math calendar with my friend, and we got it done! Then after lunch, we started some social studies and studied some vocabulary. Then, I went to a meeting for something called junior coaches. We talked about some things, and we talked about how capture the flag was banned. They said that they were bringing capture the flag back which made everyone excited. Finally, it was the end of the school day and I rushed into the classroom to see people taking a class photo, so I rushed up front. Then my friend and I told everyone that they were bringing capture the flag back. Everyone was super happy! Then I went through the back gate with my friends and walked to the car. We talked about what we were going to be doing for White Elephant, which is a sort of gift exchange. Then I went home and did my homework.

Summary of the Week before Winter Break

On Monday, I went to school and we practiced for caroling. We were going to go to a retirement home and sing Christmas carols for them. The rest of the day was pretty normal. On Tuesday, we did a small practice and we walked to the retirement home. We got to skip school yay! We were there for about 50 minutes in the beginning doing practically nothing, and then we went in for about 30 minutes to sing for the elderlies and to interact. Then we had juice and walked back. We got to this huge park and ate cookies and candy canes, then we walked back to school and the rest of school was pretty normal. Today was a Wednesday, and we did the normal things. Then before lunch we got to set up our tables and change into elegant clothing. We were preparing for our elegant luncheon where people bring in food, drinks, decorations, and other stuff. There were 4 teams and each team had a different table. My team’s theme was Japanese. We brought Japanese food and decorations, we also tried to wear clothes close enough to Japanese clothing. There were judges looking to see which tables were most elegant. The winning team gets prizes. Hopefully we can win. Tomorrow, we will be taking our math test, and everything else will be close to normal. On Friday we will be doing a white elephant, and watch a movie with snacks. Then it’s finally winter break, I really feel like time is passing by so fast. Oh well, merry Christmas!

My New Schedule

For Christmas, I want to get a MacBook. To do this, I have to prove myself as "responsible". So I wake up in the morning everyday to play 20 minutes of piano, and then I do what in have to do and go to school. When I come back, I do my homework and then play another 20 minutes of piano. Then I do some studying, or extra curricular homework. I forgot to put it in my schedule, but I have to write blog every single day. I also have to do 40 minutes of math everyday. There isn’t much else to say. Oh! Every day I can designate 30 minutes or less for games or YouTube. Then I have to go back to doing normal things. I obviously can’t follow my schedule with exact times, but I will be close enough.