17

You know what, today I feel like going on a rant about the mediocre-ness of American household electronic appliances compared to their far FAR superior Japanese counterparts.
Now, just a disclaimer, I have not done any research whatsoever, and all of this is based purely on my experiences.

Let's start with, hmmm..... How about washing machines?
You know, in North America, there are front-loading washing machines, front-loading dryers, top-loading washing machines, and top-loading dryers. Well, in Japan, there is the not-exactly-front-loading-but-not-top-loading washer/dryer. This design places the chamber thing at 20-40 degree angle, which makes reaching in and out WAY easier. Plus, there aren't any dials, everything is done from the control panel which consists of buttons and displays. There are also many functions, but which I've forgotten. However, Hitachi's flagship model, the BeatWash(or whatever its called) is top-loading but still a two-in-one. I remember it was either Toshiba or Sanyo (probably the former) who first introduced this appliance way back in 2002, and now, almost every major company has introduced a second generation.

It really honestly is wonderful, if I knew Japanese, I would be able to tell you much more about it.

Okay, now lets move on to refrigerators.
I remember in Japan, when I was walking around Akihabara, the world famous electric street (or so I've been told, I've never heard of it before I went there 5 years ago), I walked into one of those electronics stores geared for foreign visitors. In there was a section of fancy new refrigerators. At the very very far end, tucked away in the corner, under the sign "Overseas Models", was a GE refrigerator. Nobody ever ventured there, and when you could just compare the GE model and the Japanese models, it was clear who was the winner.
Japanese houses are significantly smaller than ours, so they had to make much use of their space. Their refrigerators reflect that. They have so many innovative compartments in which you could put probably 2x the stuff inside the same amount of space. Certain models have these ionizers, or plasma ion, and other stuff which is supposed to be good for your food, keeping them fresh, but I never understood them because I don't know Japanese. Usually, the freezer is at the bottom, with 1-3 drawers above it for fruits, vegetables, meat, etc., then on the top is a general compartment with one-touch open doors (yes, you don't have to pull the handles) and ample space. Look, even opening the doors uses significantly less space than our American ones. By the way, all the higher end ones have electronic displays, automatic ice dmaker, stuff like that. However, I have yet to see a single refrigerator with an external ice/cold water dispenser.
Oh, and they're for sure much more energy efficient than American ones, that's a given.

I think I should go now, so I'll just leave it at that.

16

Apparently the Iranian president is not very popular in New York. He's speaking at Columbia University, which I personally think is a good thing. Even though I completely abhorr his policies, I do believe in free speech, debate, and think it is a good thing he can express his opinions, and for us to try to understand why he says the things he says. Then, we hope that he does the same, and then we can all have a fair debate, and then leave hand in hand, shower everybody with flowers, and bring peace to the world.

In a perfect world.
Well, we're just going to have to live with it.

15

Okay, next time I won't borrow a book until I'm sure I don't have any homework for the next while, and will set to read it all in a couple of days and then return it. Otherwise I will just spend my days reading bits and pieces, never reading enough to finish the book, and always spending to much time on it rather than on my work which I should be doing.

14

I didn't manage to write a blog yesterday, because I was really tired and very very busy with Chinese, plus a lot of other activities, etc.

Well, yesterday I went to grassroots. I was washing the recycling bins, and it was at the same time much worse and much easier than I remembered. We managed to finish everything so much quicker, and it wasn't as hot as I remembered. However, I was definetly a lot wetter and icky.

I was listening to a lot of music on the internet, and discovered a lot of hidden gems (okay, maybe they weren't hidden to other people, but they were to me) which were much much better than mainstream music. Even though, to be honest, the ones that I were listening to are mainstream music. I'm not that much of a indie listener, for some reason.

13

Oh dear. Our group still has a science lab plan due tomorrow, and we really haven't started. At all.
And, if HC hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten all together. Then, our group could just freak out tomorrow. Possibly complete it during Applied Skills.

By the way, I have just figured out another big time waster. It's sort of a big 'duh, of course', but for me its the radio. I just sit there, do nothing, and listen to it. Its relaxing sometimes, however, sometimes I just get headaches.

12

I have done absolutely nothing related to homework/piano today, so I plan to sleep early.
My legs hurt quite a bit, I'm guessing its because of running so much after a generally dormant summer. Oh well, its better now after I used some of that analgesic, whatever that meant. However, I do have to run the 6 laps tomorrow...

11

Really tired right now actually. Really want to sleep. Better go do that now.

10

Well, I guess I can't really stall not doing much homework for any longer, cause I just got quite a bit of assignments today. Hm. Maybe it'll take something like this to give me a push to really get back into the regular routine. Which means I need to make a daily timetable, something that I've only done once this school year, plus an organization period to get everything straight.

At the very least, I'm sleeping relatively early...
But not for long, at least, if I don't get everything straight, and soon.

Oh yeah...
By the way, during the summer, I was contemplating whether or not to continue piano or not. I thought that if I got a low mark on my Grade 8 Pratical, I wouldn't continue, and vice versa. Well, it actually wasn't that important to me, as I wasn't eagerly waiting for the test results. I just remembered and checked on the spur of the moment. Anyways, I did fine, getting 82. Like always, the teacher took pity on me. And also gave me the benefit of the doubt. (I made a couple of false starts, and sort of pretended that I played the wrong song and didn't hear her correctly, and so on and so forth).
My teacher just told me to start on Grade 10, because she wants me to finish it before I reach Grade 12 in regular school. Well, that means I have 2 years to complete several theory courses.

Oh, by the way, I missed the Emmys.

9

Okay. I think I should be going to sleep now. Just a brief overview of what happened today.
Regular routinue, homework, piano, etc.
However, participated in a project as an interviewee for somebody. It was about a "kids view" of the world, or more accurately, their school-related habits.

8

The common cold's been making its rounds at school lately, and I'm one of the victims.
Oh well, I think I should be sleeping now.