Shoop

My English teacher told me today that the singular of sheep is...shoop. He said, "It makes sense: Geese, goose; sheep, shoop."

Slurpee

Chicago is covered in slurpee. Or, at least, it was when I went to the mailbox this morning. I was thinking how I could write on my blog how the snow is half ice/half snow, but then I realized - it's a slurpee! It was seriously that consistancy.

This morning, I spent a very long time reading Great Expectations. I'm exactly half way through (page 245 of 490 pages). I read probably for about 2 hours all put together, and Merchant Band played even longer in my stereo. I always put music on when I'm in my room, and I turn it on when I wake up. So, Merchant Band was in and they kept playing until about one o'clock.

My sister was recently telling me about how she read Dickens first in junior high, and it was so dismal that she didn't read it again for about 18 years. He does kind of write about the icky parts of the human soul without Jesus, and, it's not very pretty. Oh well, I hope I don't get completely turned off. The book is interesting, but it's not as funny as it was at first. A little dismal. And sad.

I spent time creating my pages of notes for my Literature paper (the one about life in England during World War II). My teacher lent me this interesting book about the Home Guard. I think one of their main purposes was to defend the land in case of a German land invasion. Look at these lists (I'll pick a few interesting ones) that were given to the Home Guard soldiers as instructions:

"If the Invader Comes..."

2. Do not believe rumours and do not spread them.

4. Do not give the German anything.

Do not tell him anything

Hide your food and your bicycles.

Hide your maps.

See that the enemy gets no petrol.

5. Think before you act. BUT THINK ALWAYS OF YOUR COUNTRY BEFORE YOU THINK OF YOURSELF.

I like the "hide your food and your bicycles." It was practical and necessary then; now, it sounds kind of funny. The capital letters are in the book.

"What I must do"

a. Become proficient in, and make a companion of, my firearm

c. Regard all strangers with suspicion.

e.Check subversive or defeatist talk and discourage all rumours.

So, showing my Dad this interesting book led to an interesting happening. My dad. in the hallway. with his air gun. practicing his German soldier commands. "Halt! Wer da?" He says if he were in that time, he would learn the German commands. I said "Oh boy" or something to that effect.

What else to write about? I decided that I want to look at the Oscars dresses tonight. I was impressed by this one of Cate Blanchett a few years ago.

I'm not interested at all really in any of the movies this year, but the clothes are fun to see. Sometimes. Often not, actually. But sometimes.

Alright. Adios!

Back at School

Today, I was back at school. I coughed some very deep coughs that lasted for a quite a while,but at the end of the day, I had a lot of energy. But now, I have been to the library too, and, I'm tired, and it's late, and my head hurts, and I shouldn't be complaining. I would love to sleep right now. But I need to make an outline. And report on six Civil War battles. And start gathering information about life in England during World War II. If you know anything about Life in England During World War II, please, let me know. Or if you know where I can find out more about it.

Oh, and, Amy, I'm reading Great Expecations! (Not that that piece of info is only for Amy, she just had read it and told the story to me). It sounded like a very complicated story, but it was interesting, so, even though I hadn't personally read the book, I told the story (what I could remember and keep straight. I think it was kind of one of those I'll-remember-as-I-go-along situations) to Mr. Pan and Amy (the other one - did you know that my best friend and my sister both have the name Amy Peterson?? Ooh) Great Expecations is quite enjoyable so far. I have never read a Charles Dickens book before, but I feel like I should read more classics, so I am very glad to be reading it. It is funny! Ha!

I'm tired, and I feel like I have tons to do, but I wanted to say that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I shall finish my work!

Cutest Bugs in Rugs

Oh my goodness -- soooooo cute.

Can you believe the smile??????

These are the newest of my nieces -- the top one is Arden and the bottom one is Glorie. They are sooo cute! They're almost the same age -- around 2.5 and 3 months.

Oh, boy!

Around but Significant

And...I'm still sitting around trying to get rid of this sickness. I thought maybe I should name it something that expressed its position of enemy or something, but, nothing very creative came to mind. Maybe...um...I don't know. Can I take suggestions? One of those, I-can't-believe-anyone-would-name-their-kid-that names. The danger with those is that someone might actually know someone who had that name, or their great-grandpa had that name, because lots of the names we can't believe now were popular a few generations ago. Like Jemimah. My mom almost named my sister Jemimah I think, but now...I can't believe that name.

So I've been watching the show of the people who did good at the US Ice Skating Nationals, and, it made me wish that I had something that I did really well. Something where I could get the top. Win the gold medal or win the competition, get into Harvard, something. But the truth is, that I don't have to do any of those things to be significant. None of that is what's necessary. There's this lie that I think attacks tons of people, saying that significance comes with something you do. That Importance comes when you do something that society says is "important." But that's not what Jesus says! So why do we believe it? I do want to rest and know that Jesus is my worth, my significance. He loves me as much now as He would if I ice-skated to the gold medal, practiced for 20 hours a day and won the piano competition, if I went to Harvard, if I was perfect. He couldn't love me more than He does now. I want to do something to make someone proud of me. Well, Jesus has already given me that. Every word He speaks to me affirms that His love for me is not performance-based. I fall down sometimes. I fall down and have a hard time believing that I don't have to do anything to be loved. But He can help me believe it. He can help me believe Him.

By the way, happy Chinese New Year!

Vicky and Me

Or is it Vicky and I?

Food?

Can you call it food? All I've eaten today is Ramen noodles. And sherbet. (Alright, and a little chocolate cake) But mainly Ramen noodles. The hot broth makes the pain in my throat completely go away for a few minutes.

Still

Well, I'm still sick, so...I'll do more blogging!

I thought I might share some recent ice skating adventures I've been seeing because, well, they've been exciting/interesting.

I didn't actually see the Nationals, but I heard about who won in the women's division. When I heard that the competition had happened, I asked about Evan Lysacek, because he is my favorite (since the Olympics). Later, when I went to look it up, he had won!! It was so exciting! He won with the best program he has ever skated; he succesfully did a jump he has never done successfully in a competition before. See, even he couldn't believe it (pic at right).

His program was so amazing! It is so fun to watch.

I decided around the time of the last olympics that I really like men's figure skating. I didn't use to. I realized that the women are supposed to be so small and petite, but the men are much taller. All their movements look so elegant because their arms and legs are so long, everything they do looks amazing.

Alright, congratulations, Evan!

He's still my favorite skater!

Honey Rock

Two weeks ago, my high school went on our winter retreat. It's amazing how much can happen in 3 days. It felt so jam-packed. I got bruised up playing broomball (which is hockey without skates basically. you on the ice with your regular shoes. lots of falling down). We did horseback riding and tubing.We took tons of pictures and lots of videos.

Last year, we took a huge bus; that was too expensive to do again this year, so we drove in vans. My van was the sophomore and freshman girls, driven by Mr. Pan. Road trips are so fun if you're with the right people! We stopped at Culver's, and, since we were in Wisconsin, bought cheese. Here is a picture of the cow outside the "Cheese Chalet" we stopped at. Interestingly, we went to the exact same Culver's on the way back by accident.

We made tons of fires, which is pretty fun for city kids. I wish I had a picture of my friend Praneeth inside the big fireplace trying to build a fire, but I wasn't there -- I only heard about it.

It was really cold. That video connected to the link is a one I took of my friend Amy. (Sorry, the sound isn't correctly done in time with the video)





This is my friend Jonathan and me. Here comes a story. A bit after this picture, everyone was tubing. While going down, Jonathan fell of his tube, rolled down the hill a bit, and when he stopped rolling, another tube hit him in the face, throwing his head back. Me, my mom, Mr. Pan, and others were actually in this little nearby cabin in order to try and stay warm. There was a little window, and so we could see out to the hill. What my mom saw was somebody lying on the ground, and a Honey Rock staff going to the truck and getting a cell phone. We all went out to see who it was. They were having Jon stay really still because his neck hurt, but he could still move all his arms and legs. At first, he was laughing and joking; he talks about how he wanted somebody to take a picture of him. So, he was stuck on the ground, in the snow. We all prayed for him, and waited for the backboard to come. They turned him over, so now his face wasn't in the snow, and put his neck straight, and held his head in place. Me and some other girls brought a bunch of blankets to put on top of him. I think he was in more pain after they turned him over. They brought a backboard, and put him on it; his neck was hurting a lot. My mom went with him to the hospital. They got a CT scan, but then had to go to another hospital to get an MRI. After the MRI, he and my mom stayed at the house of a friend of my family's, because it was too late and dark to maneuver to the camp in the woods. The whole school stopped on the way back to Chicago to pick him up.

He was telling me the other day about how the saddest (and most painful) part for him was when they cut up his sweater. He begged them to save his sister's North Face jacket, and they helped him wiggle out of it; and they saved the shirt he was wearing, because it had buttons, so they could get it off. They had to cut his sweater, though, and he was sad about that. Also, they left him on the backboard the whole time, until after the MRI, and he said there were these spots on his head where it was hurting really bad. Turns out, it was just really bad whiplash, and he's fine, so that is awesome.

Um, let's see...

It was so cold there, that the lake was frozen 2 feet thick. So, like you always do on frozen lakes, we had a bonfire.

Mr. Mann got tackled!

I admit that I wanted Mr. Pan to tackle him, but instead Mr. Pan came to his rescue from the high school boys! Oh well.

We watched the Passion, and I didn't see the end, because I had to pack up my mom's stuff because she was with Jonathan. I think I know what happens, though. :) We watched it in 3 parts, and after the first part, everyone got time to themselves to be with the Lord. Jesus blessed me so amazingly with coming with joy for me. He had told me before the retreat that while we were on it He wanted to restore my joy and let me know His love more. Joy wasn't exactly what I expected after watching the Passion, but it was so sweet when He brought it.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

~Hebrews 12:2

Remember today that you are that joy that was set before Him!

I'm Sick.

My friend Vicky came over. I hadn't seen her in 2 or 3 years. It was very exciting to see her, but I got sick. Yesterday playing basketball, my breathing was really heavy and a bit hard, different than other times. Turns out that was because I have some sort of something in my lungs. It's part of a flu thing, and I have been on the couch all day. Last night, I couldn't get any restful, comfortable-position sleep. So, poor Vicky. She spent the night and then spent the whole day sitting on the couch watching tv with me. I was breathing with the purpose of not coughing, because it hurts a lot to cough. After 500 mg of tylenol I had a 103 temperature. At least we had a snow day today, so I'm not missing any school, plus, it looks like we probably won't have school tomorrow either, so I won't be missing school. My mom was looking up whether she could give me 500 mg more, but decided not to. What I had taken took a really long time to fully set in, but now I am feeling better. I hardly ever get sick, so I'm thankful that I'm not like this very often, but I was pretty miserable, and feeling very warm. Pray for me!

I'll try to post pictures of me and Vicky. Maybe I can scan one from when we were really little, so you can see how far we go back.

Jinny had this thing before I got it, but she didn't get it this bad. Now she feels better, though - it was only a one day thing for her. Maybe I'll blog for fun. :)

Jinny

So, for a while it was just me, mom, and dad at home. All my sisters and brother had moved out, and the foreign students that were living with us graduated and moved out; it was just us. Now, I am so excited because a new foreign student moved into our house, and I adore her. She is so fun. Her room is right across the hall from me, and we hang out and do homework in each other's rooms. She gives me chocolate and very, very spicy Korean noodles. I show her old American movies. I get to listen to Korean music, and she really likes tobyMac. I am actually typing this on her computer, because my mom's computer keeps freezing. She speaks so much English, so it's totally normal talking with her the same as I would with my American friends. She has already spent a year in Canada and a year in Australia; she can demonstrate the difference between the way we say "water" and the way Australians say "wata"; when she said it, she sounded like she had an Australian accent.



She is like a new sister -- it's so fun. I introduced her to 24 (actually, just having been introduced to it myself). We (Amy, Mr. Pan, and Me) took her downtown yesterday to show her downtown Chicago, and we ended up just having taking pictures in interesting places be our mission.
We took pictures at Starbucks because that's what they do in Korea when they go; Jinny said they take pictures there because they're proud to be there.

In Korea, they take pictures in the mirrors in the bathrooms for fun, so on our trip to HoneyRock in Wisconsin, all the girls took a picture in the mirror.

I am so happy she is here.

Physics Problem

I am excited. We have to make this lab report for Physics, and I decided that I wanted to try to draw the problem on the computer. So I just spent a long time doing it; here it is!!

We had to use our experiment that we did and find the coefficient of friction. Ooh.

It was a bit difficult because the text boxes in "paint" aren't the most useful things in the world. Once you click out of them, you can't change them. And, I don't even know how to put a subscript in on Word, much less on "paint". So, I had to making 2 boxes to be able to make a subscript. Did you know that you can type some of the Greek alphabet on the "Symbols" font setting? Interesting...

The Bears lost

There are these huge stone lions in downtown Chicago at the Art Museum. When the White Sox were in the World Series, they made them Sox baseball caps, and when the Bears were in the Superbowl in 1986, they made them Bears helmets; naturally when we were in the Superbowl this year they got helmets.

When they first tried to put them on this year, they didn't fit! So, I guess they fixed 'em. I didn't know that they got fixed until today, when we saw them and took pictures.

But, of course, the smiling picture didn't make very much sense, considering that WE LOST.

The two friends from the first picture left this picture because they said they didn't really care. Oh well.

Also, just because we lost doesn't mean you can't leave the Urlacher (#54) jersey on the giant dinosaur outside the Field Museum. Our town likes football.

One last thing, don't go blaming it all on Rex Grossman. The poor guy - think about what it would be like to be him. Just cheer for Robbie Gould. He didn't mess up. Maybe it'll make you feel better. :)

Cheesecake

So, I haven't blogged in a really long time, but I got a digital camera for my birthday, so I now I want to post the pictures! Here are some from when my friends Amy and Jinny and I made a cheesecake.

Jinny and I are licking the beaters. :) We were making cookies the other day, and she was surprised that we lick the beaters -- she said they don't do that in Korea! Licking the beaters is like, the best part!

So, this morning we went to go cut Mr. Pan a piece of cheesecake to take to him, and it was still not set. It had chilled for around 8 hours, and it was still a little soupy. When we got home later, though, it was more set, and it tastes like cheesecake. :)

The other thing is, we couldn't find our special pan that you use for cheesecakes (oh yeah, it's called a spring-form pan; i had forgotten). So, instead of a regular cheesecake, we have a bundt cheesecake.

By the way, could somebody let me know how to post videos on the blog? Thanks!