Elementary School Lane

Something I always enjoy doing at home is looking through my old stuff - usually high school. Today, however, I felt extra inspired (maybe because I worked extra hard during the day) to go a bit further back. A few snap shots, obviously, are in order:

2nd Grade

I really liked animals. Especially horses.

3rd Grade

If I had 3 wishes, when I was 8, I would wish for a dog with puppies, a computer, and a holy bible for kids. Clearly not much has changed.

4th Grade

Introducing.. the Cola Pop! But that's not all; invention, just as Innosight states, is a process. What's a great invention like the Cola Pop without an invention log to go along with it? Before the cola pop I had also proposed: something to make opening water bottles even easier to open, a spinning lollipop, a dartboard of a picture of someone you hated, a soccer ball that told people they sucked when kicked (my teacher wasn't so fond of this one).

Oh, and yes, the mint chocolate chip ice cream was pretty weird inside a coca cola popsicle. What were you thinking 10 year old Kat. Should have pilot tested along the way.

An old bag of jewelry. For some reason it holds much sentimental value.

5th grade

Why, yes, I used to watch baseball (Rli, this one's for you) and football.

Even wrote commentary on the games (AJT, this one's for you, thought you'd get a kick out of seeing how I USED to know something about football).

Also, pretty sure I'm allergic to dust. All of that digging around has got me feeling somewhat sick. But before I head off... A and I made sushi yesterday. Check it out.

Totoro, sushi, and green tea. Can't be beat.

Japanese what?

Today dinner was to be at a Japanese izakaya (aka Japanese bar/tapas). After convincing my begrudging father that, yes, dinner was necessary, we drove over and found parking right away. See, parking at Mission Hills in San Diego isn't impossible!

Once our table was set up we were brought into a smaller side-room which sat one large party, us (party of 5), a party of 3, and a party of 2. And it. was. loud. The large party was celebrating someone's birthday and within 2 minutes my brother asked ".. are they drunk?" (I think the answer was no... didn't see any indication of alcohol except a giant unopened bottle of belvedere which looked like a gift... and no one was glowing... too rare for a table of 10 asians) and my dad turned to me and ask "are you ever like this??"

Was I ever that loud and obnoxious in a large group while totally disrespecting other patrons of the restaurant? Not that I could remember... but the perpetrators usually don't notice.

When the large party left, toward the end of our meal, the other tables (the party of 3 and 2) and my dad all burst into applause. Literally. The waitress, who was cleaning up after them (nope, no signs of alcohol) looked confused.

"Good thing to know we weren't the only ones who were bothered by them"

"So rude eh, so loud"

"Finally, they're gone"

Now I'm wondering if I was ever in a group of people so loud and obnoxious that the entire room applauded when my group left. Other than the times in high school when we all thought it was hilarious to spike each other's food and drinks with salt and taste nasty concoctions of left-over-everything, I can't think of any. I hope.

Kat and the Mystery of the Disappearing Glasses

At 2pm, in broad daylight (though it was a bit overcast), Fiona T. took off her glasses at the San Diego Zoo and attempted to put on a tiger mask. Her mother took pictures of her brother, Alex, and sister, Kat, who had also donned masks of different animals. Fiona unfortunately did not get her mask on in time to be in the photograph and her mother, noticing Fiona's unhappiness, decided to create another photo opportunity for her with stuffed animals. Fiona happily made it into this one and all was right with the world... until she realized her glasses were missing.

Within the 7 minutes that this scenario played out, where could her glasses have gone? Fiona had no recollection. We checked pockets, bags, the mask stand, the cashiers, everything. Nothing.

Then a thought entered Kat's mind. What mattered most in a case: evidence. Where did we have evidence: the camera. Excited, she flipped through the camera to look at the pictures of herself and Alex. There was Fiona in the background, glasses still on looking at a mask. Then a picture with her glasses off somewhere off to the left, getting ready to get into the shot (but not quite making it). But in between those two images... a picture of Fiona off to the very side on the right. Why would she need to go to the right - the mask stand wasn't there, nor was that where she wanted to enter the image... it could only be to...

Kat ran over to the bracelet stand which was to the far left of the masks and there, hidden under the stand were Fiona's glasses.

Evidence win.

Detective'd.

Being at home is...

Almost more work than being at school; I end each day exhausted (and under my covers trying to catch up with my Pokemon Soul Silver - so woefully behind!).

For the first time ever my family has decided (with a lot of pushing from me) to have a real festive Christmas. We've bought a huge tree that makes our living room look like a doll's house and I managed to spend over a hundred dollars on ornaments to do some ornament decorating! Somehow I didn't consider that orb ornaments all look kind of similar though.... A and R came over to help out with some decorating and we made orb bunches, orb aliens, orb wreaths.... running out of ideas.

What did we used to make as kids?

- Candy Cane Reindeer

- Popsicle stick frames

- Cotton ball snowmen?

They were always haphazardly made with glue trails running all over the place and paint outside the lines, but somehow wonderful, magical, and fun all at the same time.

Anyway, it's a good holiday season thus far. Pictures of tree/ornaments to come!