Jessica’s Blog!

This year’s spring break is the only spring break I can remember that I will be staying at home most of the week. It seems a bit strange, because I always travel during breaks and holidays, and now I’ll find myself staying at home for almost a whole week. On the Friday of the break, though, I will be going somewhere in Florida until the Sunday before school starts. I’m probably going to spend the week sleeping in super late and working on my calculator project and animal magazine for science. It’s going to be a quite relaxing week compared to a school week, and although I will be working on school projects, I think I will enjoy it more because at least I have something to do at home.

My favorite tradition from this unit is probably Stephanie’s spring rolls. I love vietnamese spring rolls with the noodles and shrimp and the sauce and everything. I never knew the wrap was originally a plastic-looking thing that turned soft after you stick it in water. The sauce was also really good. It was really cool learning how to make them, and even better eating them!

A tradition that I used to have with my family was to go to Taiwan every year. When I was really little and winter break was longer, I went during both winter and summer. In the winter, I celebrated the Lantern Festival and Chinese New Year, walking around at night with lanterns with candles that kept falling over and eating tons and tons of yummy rice cakes and tangyuan. In the summer, I would stay for two whole months, spending time with my relatives and eating out every other day. Everyday I would walk out in the morning and buy a sandwich or an omelette and soymilk for breakfast, then maybe shopping at amazingly huge department stores. Lunch is usually the big meal of the day. We would all get together to stuff ourselves at some really expensive buffet after starving ourselves for breakfast and dinner. At night, the streets bloom to life with the night markets. Miles of streets full of ramen stands and shops selling everything from hats to keychains light up. Many street vendors walk around selling snacks and drinks. The road is always completely crowded and blocked off by the huge amount of people walking around in the warm night. I still go to Taiwan, but not as often. However, each time I go is just as fun as the last.

I don’t really have a favorite brand of clothing, but there is a certain trend to my style. What I buy depends partly on me, partly on my mom, and partly on the price of the clothing in question. Usually I shop at Kohl’s because my mom doesn’t want to drive all the way to the mall. I don’t look at the brands when I buy clothes, but I get whatever falls in the price range that we both approves of. I also spend a lot of time looking through clothing on big sales, and I manage to get things that I like for a pretty low price. When I do get to go to the mall, I usually go to Aeropostale and sometimes Abercrombie or Macy’s. Most of my wardrobe consists of jeans of some kind and gray, blue, or green jackets and shirts. When I buy shoes, its almost always at Kohl’s or TJ Maxx. I prefer comfortable sneakers and flip flops during the summer.

Monday morning began like any other. I woke up to the voice of my mom, telling me to hurry up and get dressed, eat breakfast, and catch the bus.  At seven in the morning, I rose out of my bed, stumbling and trying to see in the bright bedroom  light. When I finally rushed out to catch the bus, nobody was there, and no bus was present. I then concluded that I had missed the bus, and proceeded to ask my dad to drive me to school. We were saved by another parent driving back that told us that there was no school that day. Unable to believe it, I rushed back inside to check the news. When it finally hit me that there was no school, I had a moment of euphoria for a few minutes. Because I had woken up so early, I had a lot of time on my hands. I started off by eating a big breakfast, something I don’t usually get to do on weekdays. Then I decided to catch up on some piano practice. For lunch, my family went out to eat at a sushi buffet, which was okay and got me really full. When we returned, I thought it would be a  good opportunity to work on my multigenre project. However, I did not get very far as I kept getting distracted. Finally I decided I needed a break, and visited my friend, where we played video games and ate stuff for several hours. When I came back home, it was late in the afternoon, so I decided to do some more on my multigenre project, but the motivation didn’t really hit me, so I just went to catch up on sleep.

I am not the kind of person who goes out and watches every other movie that comes out in theaters. No, more like the kind that waits 3 years for the DVD to go on clearance and get the package of five for three bucks or something like that. However, I did watch a few movies that came out this year, and there is one that stands out above the rest. Not to be generic, but The Dark Knight was the most amazing movie I have possibly ever seen. What’s not there to like about it? Batman himself was pretty epic, and the Joker was appropriately funny and a bit creepy at the perfect moments. The plot was fast-paced and gripping, with so many plot twists to keep me wondering what will happen next. The perspective on the good and bad sides was also really interesting, and it made me think a lot. As an added bonus, the special effects were absolutely amazing. I loved the batmobile scenes, and the part where it almost died and turned into a motorcycle. I want one now… I also loved every burning building/exploding scene, just because they were so realistic and intense, and there were a lot of them. The Dark Knight was a really cool movie