1/2 a 100!- T1B50

Here's a riddle from one of the Harry Potter books. Everyone should know it, since most people read this novel:

First think of the person who lives in disguise
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies
next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend
The middle of the middle and the end of the end
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search of a hard to find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss.

I dug up this riddle from the book last night. It's unusual and really clever.

BTW, if you haven't guessed out the answer yet, it's "spider".
string "spy" and "uh" together, and say it fast.

Truly Cheesy - T1B49

Cheese is a very important part of meal in France. Today in French class, we watched a video that showed us cheese was not just a diary product mice love, but also an important delicacy and desert. French cheese stores are amazing. They're kind of old fashioned, but they store over 300 different types of rich, delicious, creamy cheese. One manager interviewed in the movie said that French cheese is unique because it uses a secret formula, which is raw milk. American cheese uses pasterized milk - in French, it is considered as "dead" milk. After hearing food described in this way, I'm not so sure I'll be eating much more of milk or cheese for a while. Anyway, raw milk makes the cheese "alive". It shows the true "essence" of cheese. Maybe that's true.  Pretty cool, eh? If you ever go to northern France, be sure to check it out. It will be the cheesiest once-in-a-lifetime story.

Just Another Idea - T1B48

Hey, I was thinking, since most of us Synergy kids are academically above average, all of us are probably really good readers, and really love reading. Personally, I, myself loved the Drop Everything and Read idea. Maybe we could continure this school-wide, or class-wide weekly. It encourages kids to hit the books literally.

Anyway, one thing I don't get about high school is the "colouring" part.  Joanna, Kathy, Jason, Mimi, Tony, Leslie, and I take Arts 9. We do a lot of pretty random and wacky kind of art, but we were never asked to colour in anything in particular. Right now, I'm colouring my French and Applied skills homework. It's kind of weird though, since we have colouring in nearly all my subjects except for art. Why?

Where to buy? ... - T1B47

Yesterday I went shopping around Canadian Tire, PJ's petstore, and Superstore to look for pH paper and all the other material I need for my science fair experiment. Guess my luck. If you guessed 0, ding-ding-ding, unfortunately, you're correct. I can't find it, and I need if for my project. Help? If you know where I can buy a small vile of pH paper, please tell me. I'm trying to avoid ordering online packaging. Really, is it too hard to walk/drive to a store? Just saying...

Get Go Confusion - T1B46

I'm still a little wonky with the Get-Go program. I mean, I'm good with the workbook and stuff, but all the online applications and programs and stuff, I'm still confused. Sorry, It's not that I'm bad with computer, it's just that learning a new computer software/program takes a bit of time for me. I'll catch on fast in about a week. The workbook's a piece of cake though... Also, sorry Mr. Olsen, I might have to bother you at lunch, or some other time this week to get caught up on this stuff.

Peace and love,
Judy Zhu

My 1st IRP test - T1B45

Today, I lunch, I took my first Independent Reading Program book test. I was kind of nervous at first. These book tests count for 10% of my English mark, and I'm not too sure what it'll turn out like. I didn't freak though - I started off with an easy book to see what the tests were gonna be like. I was actually really glad we had the provincial Drop Everything and Read thing. It gave me about 20 minutes to flip through the novel again before lunch. Turns out, that was entirely pointless. The book tests were easy, people finished fast, and the process was simple. Now that I did one of the tests, I really enjoyed it. It's not complicated, it's easy marks, and it's like a simple comprehension test. I love it.... Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sign up for the book test on the 29th, this coming Friday.

Yellow and Orange Side of the World - T1B44

Until this week, or today, Vancouver was still running high in summer mode. There was lots of sun and the weather was warm. Suddenly today when I went to French class, outside it was damp and cold. The sky was cloudy and a blast of icy cold wind hit me hard. It's mid-Autumn now. I'm sitting here in my room looking out the window at a tall tree infront of our house. For the past nine months I've lived in this house, it had alway been emerald green. Now's another scene. Leaves are drifting off the branches, and there are flakes of yellow-orange leaves every here and there. Somehow, that reminds me of an old person getting grey hair. The green and emerald season is truly gone now. Helloooooooo winter!

Judy's Randomness Questionnaires #3 - T1B43

Question: Why is "E" at the top of most eye charts today? (guess before looking at the answer. It actually has a very logical explanation.)

Answer:
Professor Hermann Snellen - dutch professor of ophthalmology. He placed the "E" at the top of the eye chart in 1862. However, the "E" wasn't his first choice. Snellen began with the "A", but quickly changed his option. Of all the letters in the alphabet, "E" was chosen based on mathematical calculations. The 3 horizontal limbs of the fifth letter are separated by equal amounts of white space. There was a one-to-one ratio between the height and width of the letter.

Also, as Louanne Gould, of Cambridge Instruments, says that the "E" if different from more open letters like "L" or "U". "E" forces the observer to distinguish the intenseness between the black and white. That is an important consitituent of good vision.

This piece of information is not exactly useful in many situations, but it's fun to know.

Independent Reading Program Addition - T1B42

After visiting the Writer's festival on Wednesday, I noticed a lot of people buying those books by the three authors and getting them signed. I was just wondering, since the descriptions of those books were so tempting and many people seemed interested, maybe we should request for a book test to be written for them. Just a thought, since last time I checked, they weren't on the Independent reading list.

Mouth and Foot Paintings (the 46th edition) - T1B41

I was flipping through some old files, papers, and documents when I came across a small purse-sized art calendar of 2010. It is reproduced from originals painted by the Mouth and Foot Painting artists. This means that they have malfunctions in their arms or hands that disables them from painting by holding the brush with their fingers. These artists aren't famous, but their masterpieces are really "wowing". I love art and painting myself, which creates another connection with this calendar. Just to let you guys know, if you're about to throw out some old calendars that have interesting monthly pictures, I'd like to collect them. Anything extraordinary would be fine - pictures, captions, paintings(especially) would be fine. Thanx.

Such precision!

Magic Castle - T1B40

Help people! When is the magic castle due, and do we have to color it? Oh, and we don't have to draw the inside, so we? I put a lot of emphasis in the surroundings of the castle! Just wondering... I want to confirm the due date, since the Synergy class pages are student updated...

xoxo to all you happy people( basically everyone)

Bye-bye Term 1 - T1B39

Today is the middle of the 1st term. Gosh, it felt like only a week ago, we all just met and stepped into Churchill for the first time, knowing that it'll be our homes for the next 5 years. My first blog was about moving in. Now we've done that, the moving van's driven off, and we're all settled in. At least I am. I have great friends, great teachers, and the best learning environment I could possibly hope for. I ensure that I will never find another school like Churchil. It's one of a kind. Anyway, I can't believe that the term's almost over! OMG! If time continues to fly like this, I'll be 80 before I know it, with grey hair (or not hair at all), no teeth (like grandpa), and alone... WAHHHH!

On a happier note, thank you to all my friends who've helped to make September and October so awesome. :)

The Writer's Festival - T1B38

It's the beginning of the school year, still barely pass mid-october, and our synergy class is already off to a rocking start.  As a part of English 8, our class had been to two field trips: The Vancouver Playhouse, and Granville Island. The trip to the Vancouver Playhouse was a blast. We went to see "The Fantasticks", but that's another story. Recently, our synergy class bused to Granville Island to attend the Writer's festival. We left at around 8:45 in the morning, and missed class for the entire day. But hey, it was so good that it was worth it. We listened to three authors briefly summarize their latest books and inspirations.

The first person was Richard Newsome. He's from Sydney, Australia, and wrote "The Billionaire's Curse". It is his focus and greatest accomplishment of the past 10 years. Newsome isn't incredibly famous, but his book has an exciting plot and an interesting trailer. The book is a mystery novel - it's about a boy inheriting about a billion dollars from his great-grandmother. The feeling of being a billionaire is exciting and overwhelming for about five minutes until he realizes that there's a murderer after him. I haven't read it yet, but I'm tempted to. Lifelong mystery quests are adventurous to read about.

The second author is probably amoung the most famous of Canadian authors. He wrote best-selling Airborn, the Silverwing Saga, and has just popped out a new novel: "My Halfbrother".  We gave a warm welcome and a chunk of our time to Kenneth Oppell. He's won the Gigi awards, and about 20 other awards. After getting to know him abit, he's really young for his accomplishments. He also writes almost a whole novel every year. Impressive! ( and experienced...)

The third and last author of the day was Sharon E. McKay. She is also now my new heroine. Sharon is a
war artist. She spent a year in Afghanistan dressed like a soldier to study the situations Afghan children face. Her accomplishment is brought out to the world with her latest book: Thunder over Kandahar. After two weeks of wearing a 30-pound protective vest, and carrying all her own food, you could tell she put a lot of her life into her books. Sharon's had adventures in Uganda as well. Her life is an example of loving devotion to strong kids in war. After listening to a very long long long interview with her, I had only three thoughts in mind. 1. She has so many great stories, and loves to tell them. 2. She lived such a meaningful life. Such energy! Such emotion! and Such journeys! 3. Sharon is one heck of an amazing woman full of love and life. I wish she was my grandmother, or one of them. "Boring" isn't in her vocabulary.

I know, I'm getting carried away here. And I've used too many of the same words.

T1B37

This image another view of  Chicken Little, based on my last blog. You'll have to read that and Judy's Randomness Questionnair #2 to understand what I'm babbling about now. 

1 image = 1000 000 words :)

RQ #2 - Falling Clouds - T1B36

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Hmmm, Chicken little is not completely crazy. He knows half of what he's talking about. Today is Judy's Randomness Questionnaire Column #2: Do Clouds fall from the sky?

Well, here's another way of phrasing this question: If water is heavier than air, how do clouds stay up in the sky? They don't. Who ever said that clouds don't fall. They are constantly dropping. They are downright sluggards. Cloud drops drop at around 0.3 centimeters per second. And since they are so tiny, they're only 0.01 centimeters in diameter, usually not noticable to the naked eye.

So Chicken little isn't so wacko after all. No need to run, duck, or panic. It's just the sky falling all the time. Thank god they don't have the same effect and velocity of a water balloon. Although that would be a lot of fun! You don't say. LOL

Action-packed Sunday - T1B35

Currently, only 3 members of my family live in this house. Today, our family, minus me, had a fascinating journey to Albertsford. My mom and my brother went to see the returning of the salmons, the apple orchard, and the bee farm. I stayed home to enjoy the peace, the quiet, and the freezing cold. The end.

hmmm, my day's going pretty good so far. No screaming 4-year-old for over eight hours. If ya didn't know we were related, you'd think his dad's Godzilla.

But I love him anyway, because we're family. It's not like we get to choose our family. Oh, that would be so cool! International family: mom, dad, me, and selena gomez, and rest of synergy class for family. :)

RQ #1 - Demanding Rooster: How & Why -T1B34

Ladies and Gentlepeople, welcome to Judy's Randomness Questionnaire Column #1:

A lot of people know about my endless urge of curiosity and totally random conversations. (Those of you who know me well.) So starting today, I will begin a Randomness Questionnaire Column. This might take some energy away from me during the day. I'll be all ears, sometime in the future. Hopefully in the very distant future. anyway........ Introducing....... WHY ROOSTERS CROW IN THE MORNING?

Well, it's actually a fairly simple concept. Roosters are demanding in the morning, kinda like the dialogue from Calvin & Hobbes in my last blog. The break of dawn it the time of day when the rooster is most energetic. They are actually very fluent in their possible bird language, which, btw, in English, would be translated into:" This my property, my land. I've got my mark/stain signature down here. Hey, prettyboy, she's my mate. Back off, birdy. "

Sorry, even in writing, I sound like all this is coming out in one breath. I went a bit high on the sugar today.

Funny Morning - T1B33

You know how many people are groggy and grumpy first thing in the morning? Well, this is a typical morning before-breakfast-dialogue:

"MOM! Where's my breakfast!"

"Coming dear..."

"What about lunch?"

"Baloney Sandwich!"

"oh, WELL THEN NO CRUSTS!"

"OK dear"

"DIAGONAL CUTS!"

"HMMM!"

"WITH A HINT OF CHEESE AND KETCHUP! BUT JUST A HINT! NOT A PINCH! AND PUT IT IN A PAPER BAG, NOT LUNCH BOX! DID YOU GET ALL THAT?"

"Honey, what do you think?"

"I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE NOTEST NEXT TIME. MIGHT HELP!"

"Here you go, your highness..." she gives you baloney sandwich cut into four squares, with no cheese, thick crusts, a lot of ketchup and in a spiderman lunchbox. You're all set for the day. :)

*Sorry, I got this from Calvin and Hobbes 2 years ago. Still funny now. Rude, totally missing reality by a mile, disrespectful, but funny. LOL

T1B32 - Still Fuming

I'm still cracking my nutters over Saturday. The police were no help. That was half a thousand dollars I'll never see again, or at least not the same half. Man, why do people have to be like this.. WAHHHH! Ya know, if nearly everything most people desired couldn't be bought by money, we wouldn't have this problem. Robberies happen so often that they aren't even on the news regularly anymore. *sigh*

Today evening= girl mood swings + generally bad mood + tradegy.  I can feel the love in this house. It's probably why I woke up with a cold blast of wind.

Hey, I just thought of a lie detector: if everyone in Churchill, or more specifically, Synergy, were all trustworthy like family, I should be able to leave a 20 dollar bill on a desk in the morning, and still find it there afterschool.  Of course, I don't have that kind of money to waste. But hey, a girl can dream... right?

*for a weird sort of reason, I feel much better/calmer after writing this blog. I guess letting your feelings or thoughts out to someone, or something does help...

Money Escapes Fast - T1B31

Today, I realized one portion of society that could definitely use some improving. That part is not, though vitally important, the horrible things we're doing to our environment, but trust, truth, and honesty. Seriously, think about it. Every species of life on Earth work together to survive. Members of a wild herd all trust each other and play an important role. Some warn others about danger, some hunt, and when facing enemies, each animals works hard to protect the younger members as priority. Sure, their minds function much more simply, but they are also less stressed, greedy, and more straightforward.

To illustrate my point, I was robbed on Saturday. Man, these days, Superstore is a heck of a dangerous place. Ya take your eye for your purse for two minutes, and all your credit cards and five hundred bucks dissappear. Tip #1, go to the bank right afterwards, and delete your credit card accounts. Tip #2: It was a good lesson. Too bad I had to learn in the hard way.

This is sad - humans are the dominating animal species of the world, but there can be very little trust built between people. I lost 3 pairs of roller blades, a bunch of elbow pads, a helmet, and a pair of socks the same way a year ago. People are so desperate these days. You can't play tag without dragging around a hockey bag. :(

Locking Locker Locks - T1B30

You know how every student was given two locks on the first day of school? One was meant to be for your school locker, and the other was for a gym locker. Well, I only used one before. I opened the other one, my gym lock, for the first time today. To be honest, I wish I never did.  Two locks that look exactly alike with very similiar combinations just means trouble. I wasn't exactly too swift with my one lock. I ended up trying to bang my locker door open. It was 10 minutes before I  figured things out. Then, I'd hold both locks in my hand, and forgot which lock has which combo, meaning I'm back to the beginning of the cycle.  In the future, these two puppies are staying far, far, far away from each other.

frustration....

Man, saying the above paragraph all in one breath.... I'm outta breath...

Funny Interview - T1B29

Remember that Paris Hilton was imprisoned about a month or so ago? Well, I found this really funny interview from that week. It was basically David Letterman insulting her. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liJbE71DK20

I felt sorry for Hilton, but her lame excuse - when the police found her in her car with drugs, she claimed that she mistakened them for gum - was ridiculous.


Quick Question: is perfume poisonous to drink? Letterman better be careful with what he puts in his mouth.

Sorry, and no offense to any Paris Hilton fans...

Old & New Thanksgiving - T1B28

In elementary school, every year, our teachers did a project or a celebration for all the holidays. Each person would make some kind of commitment to Thanksgiving, Mothers Day, Valentine... etc. How come in High School, these kinds of celebrations are ignored. I used to sometimes learn more about the origin of an international holiday. During the long weekend, I thanked a few people, just to participate. I'll be doing more thanking in the coming week. Peace out people! Thanx, and have a great weekend. :)

I'm all Thanksgiving today.

Thanksgiving - T1B27

Hey, it's Thanksgiving. I just remembered. Isn't Thanksgiving a We Day? Wasn't there supposed to be an event, ex: vow of silence, no shoe... etc? It's either that or the annual We Day ceremony at GM Place with the Keilburgers, I think. Anyway, when are you guys going? I heard only 30 people were picked to go on the trip. Did anyone in Synergy make it in? I went to last year's We Day. There were so many famous charitable people like Jane Goodall, Jason Mraz, and Hedley. Those of you who went to last year's We Day probably remember the big Beach Ball passing. If you're going to We Day, plz tell us all about it afterwards.

signed: eager listener.:)

T1B26

I'm freaking out! Science fair proposal is due soon! Hey, quick question for now: When is the views for the folded paper toys due? Will we get time on October 12th? I left mine at school over the 4-day weekend. Mr. Olsen, you said we'd get classtime to finish working on it, right? Plz say yes and back me up on this one. :) BTW, I'm still not too sure about whether to continue on with the science fair. Who started to work on it again after the proposal?

A Reunion - T1B25

The past weekend was a kind of reunion for the Chinese camp I was talking about over the summer. Peaks are, you get a possibly last chance to see some people you travelled with. The bad side? Well, ya have to perform. At the reunion, people were nervous at first, then since so many people didn't prepare or want to perform, it became more of a game. Some sang the alphabet or ring-around-the-rose, others sand "heads and shoulders knees and toes, knees, and toes, knees, and toes...blah blah blah. I randomly rapped a song I wrote for a talent show that little Kevin and I performed last year. People and the reunion loved it, but it was kinda embarassing since I lost my breath and choked somewhere in the middle. hahahahhaha. :)

China-Sick - T1B24

I don't know why, but I kinda miss it there. Life seemed a lot simpler. Then again, it was probably because there was no homework but anyway...Over the summer for around two weeks, I went back to China with a few friends from chinese school. It was somewhat a tour of parts of China: Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin - a camp. Together as a team and a family, we went to see the world expo, and I have a one-word description of the temperatures there: H-O-T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm serious, it's like the heavens are trying to fry us to stew. Some of the necessities required were: water, ice, umbrella, ice, coke, ice, ice cream, and more ice. You never get enough of frozen stuff in China. I gulped down a bottle of water in 15 seconds after climbing parts of the Great wall. I also bought a few bottles of water just to pour over my head afterwards. Although I have to admit, that was a terrible idea, since there wasn't an available bathroom for the next hour and a half.

I want to go to China again. It's part of who I am and where I'm from. I can't believe I have to pay to go home. Actually, I can... :(

Google Sites! - T1B23

Wow! Google Sites is awesome! It's like creating your own very professional looking website without all the complicated HTML codes and stuff... I finally got this program kind of figured out. :) Before this year I didn't know all the different services Google provided. All I explored before were: Web, Images, Video, Maps, and News. The best part of all this is that it's for FREE! As well as no downloading or having to worry about viruses. It's amazing how one gmail account connects you with all different sorts of softwares. No doubt this is a tech class! I've learned more about the Internet this school year than I have in the past 2 years. Hey, I'm not exactly a wiz at technology, but I'm so glad I'm learning something. Thanx, Mr. Olsen, Joanna Li, and Kevin Dhir, for helping me with my many questions.

Waking Up On Cloudy Days... - T1B22

For the past week, the hardest part of the day was waking up and dragging my self out of bed. It was always so darn cloudy outside, as if even the sun wouldn't wake up and share his warmth and light. On sunny days, the rays of light coming through the window BAM! flash you awake. Plus, it's not freezing cold, and the streets don't look like it's still 3:00 in the morning... Today, when my mom woke me up at around 7:30, I fell asleep four times after that. Shame on me! lol

BTW: Who's already thought of an idea for the science fair yet? I'm cracking the old noodle here, and the noodle ain't responding... Drats!