On a cloudy day

Thought this might be interesting (= I remember reading in Time magazine that the color of 2008 was this certain kind of Purple, because it was everywhere in fashion shows, popular on cars, even Michelle Obama wore it a lot. I love those useless info articles!

Enough gloom and doom: There's a prediction from a leading color source that cheerful and sunny yellow will be the influential color of 2009. Pantone, which provides color standards to design industries, specifically cites "mimosa," a vibrant shade of yellow illustrated by the flowers of some mimosa trees as well as the brunch-favorite cocktail, as its top shade of the new year. In general, Pantone expects the public to embrace many tones of optimistic yellow. "I think it's just the most wonderful symbolic color of the future," says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "It's invariably connected to warmth, sunshine and cheer — all the good things we're in dire need of right now."

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081203/ap_on_re_us/color_of_the_year

Calcium

Guess what I had for dinner? These claws are deadly!

Oh yeah, and daily battle with my brother cause he won't eat anything! Just rice and soup, that little asian boy. It always ends the same. Mom yells, brother cries, I feel bad. Afterwards, he was in the silly mood so I took some cute pictures.

Decemburrrrr. The weather wasn't that bad today actually. Quite sunny, not the best day to wear my new white peacoat (Thanks Hong for telling me what that means haha). But practice is always cold and we did sharks and minnows and banana boat relays today, which did not help at all. When it is cold, it is best advised to keep on swimming lap after lap and doing some hard sets. But since it was Coach Alex's birthday, we let him call the shots. Bought him a Snickers bar from the vending machine when I found out today. Also, I learned that the Vu brothers, Brandon, and Vincent might not return for December. That is a huge chunk of the Senior group right there. Lane 1 will be quite empty. I probably won't see them until after swim season either, shoot.

I like how my teeth are turning out. My doctor shaved off a part of my right canine cause it was too wide and there was a gap. But a day later (today), my teeth is like instantly beautiful! A lot better aligned. Unfortunately, I won't get my braces off until after my birthday. That man lied to me... what a booger. But the hope is by the first day of MHS swim practice, I will be finally braceless! (Which today I found out is January 26. Can't wait!)

What is power?

"Pride is not power." That shall be my lesson of the day. Or rather, the lesson of the last few days that I have forgotten. But it a very good lesson for me especially. It will become my mantra until I eventually remember it. There is a difference between showing off and being proud of your achievements. Quite a few times, I need to learn the difference between self-confidence and being overly self-confident.

This quote is actually from the movie Australia, which the momma dragged me to on Sunday (Snuck into Twilight again! Watched about 20 minutes of it hehe). I actually ended up liking Australia, such a beautiful movie in terms of the landscape. The acting was not very beautiful cause there were some cheesy facial expressions going on. Hugh Jackman is fiiiiiine, I gotta say. 'Sexiest Man Alive' for a reason baby! But I believe the best actor in the film was the boy who played Nullah, Brandon Walters. He is so convincing as tragic, yet optimistic young Aboriginal. Totally outshone those Hollywood veterans (and main actors) Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. (A bit of trivia, did you know that no fewer than 15 babies were born to cast and crew, one being Kidman's daughter, during the course of the very long filming? Taken from the IMDB website.) There was also a stereotypical Chinese man names Sing Song in the movie. There is always a stereotypical Chinese man and it always seems to bother me, even though I did laugh at this man's stupid Cantonese accent.

Meet Nullah (Brandon Walters), the star of Australia.
Today is World AIDS Day. I brought my mom, brother, and cousin to Starbucks and made them order coffees. Along the way, they kept complaining about how their coffee tastes the same as the ones they can make at work. But 5 cents of every cup goes to the Global Fund so it seemed like a good deal to me. Hopefully a little bit goes a long way.

Today is also Cyber Monday! I'm not gonna take advantage of it cause I have already taken full advantage of Black Friday, eugh. Today is also the first day of December, le premier decembre (= I love December, which is only like the best month ever! Haha. & What a month it's gonna be. Just a preview: No school, Christmas!, Winter Festival (Chinese), Lots of birthdays, MY BIRTHDAY!!, New Year's, the list goes on. I'm so excited for this time of year!

First Science Olympiad meeting today. I do not feel like I am much help to the team, even though I am co-captain. I feel very useless and un-smart. But as I have learned over my very short lifetime, when I constantly doubt myself, I only push myself to go that much farther. Maybe (hopefully!) I will surprise myself this time. I have until March 14, 2009 to prove myself.

My dad is always telling me to be a leader. It's hard, gotta admit. I wish I had more my dad's leadership abilities. (If I do have some of his abilities, I wish it would show itself.) In the business world, my dad is my role model. Quite some time ago, he told me this memorable quote (which I think is his lesson of his lifetime, haha) that I still remember and that he still emphasizes day in and day out. He said something like this: "Caroline, you gotta learn the difference between how Chinese and Americans do business. Americans, they are straight up. To the point, take it or leave it, accept no bullshit. Chinese, you gotta talk them in circles. Make them do what you want them to do but without you actually saying it. Never, ever be to the point. Confuse them, because they don't want to seem dumb by saying that they do not understand. That way, you have a higher chance of making them say yes. Your goal is to make them say yes." My dad is a master at the Chinese way. He has the freaky ability to make me do things I don't want to do and I don't realize it until later. (I don't know how, it's kinda hard to describe exactly what I mean though.) & Sometimes I get all angry at him for fooling me like that but I end up learning a lesson from it. I remember one time when I was little, one of my replies was, "But Dad, If you keep fooling me, how am I supposed to trust you? And if I can't trust my dad, how am I supposed to trust anyone?" His answer is one of my clearest memories: "Do not trust anyone. Not your closest friends, not your family, not even your dad."

I don't take bullshit from anyone. & In that way, I am proud to have inherited that trait from my wise old man.