Happy Thanksgiving!

AHHHH I'M NOT GETTING INTO COLLEGE!!!

Amazing.

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Lyrics:
The great hero Kikkoman!
Soy sauce makes the difference
Pour it, taste it, be amazed!
Restaurants are no mach to him
Take his blow the "Kikko-punch"!
(Eat sunny-side up with soysauce!)
Show me Show you Kikkoman Kikkoman
Show me Show you Kikkoman!
The Star of Soy has send him here
The cool guy called Kikkoman!
Try soy sauce and be healthy
Did you know that it kills germs!
Sauce? Ketchup? Nonsense!
Vanish them with "Kikko Beam"!
I said eat eggs with soysauce, idiot!
Show me Show you Kikkoman Kikkoman
Show me Show you Kikkoman!
Alright!

Hey everyone, I'm redecorating my room and I'm trying to get rid of chairs and high stuff. Instead of the big long table that I have for a desk, I want a shorter, wide, flat coffeetable-ish surface. So i've been looking for coffee tables (round ones would be cool). If any of ya'll have one you're trying to get rid of, or if you know of anyone else in the city who is, or if you hear about any garage sales, please let me know!!! thanks a bunch <3

NO I GOT DEFERRED! *pulls out the shotgun* someone's gonna get hurt! (not me, of course.)

So, today I went Xmas shopping, and I got so much stuff! It made me really happy. I got box sets of truffles/cookies for all my teachers + Dr. Gracki + Ms. Williams + Ms. Taylor + Mr. Smith, and everyone who wrote me recs, etc. I think I got something for Richard too, but I'm not sure...(if I did, it sure as hell ain't PAN-da licorice.)

Afterwards my Mom drove us to get a new phone for David, and I think the Razor/Razr is SO much better than the Samsung slider he got (plus, it was $60 for two Razrs, one free! cmon David, it doesn't take a genius to see the better deal). The slider's like a long rectangle, I thought the edges were gonna hurt me when i held it. But of course, he had to go against the tide, as usual. Oh no, mainstream's not good enough for him.
After that long wait at the understaffed Alltel shop, we ate at Little Tokyo, and I was SOOO full! Lots of unagi don, seaweed salad, sushi boxes, tempura, udon, yellowtail neck...yum! (i <3 unagi, I'll probably become an eel farmer just so I can have it whenever I want).

Next stop was Lakeside! Yes, I know, the lameness of it all, but sometimes one just has to succumb to the weaknesses of human character. Since Xmas no longer is a surprise event, Mom bought me the Ralph Lauren Romance perfume, which I've wanted since 7th grade! (and never stopped wanting). It's heavenly. (Some painter comes to Lakeside and paints the perfume bottles, so mine had this beautiful rose on it.) Someday, RL Romance will become synonymous (or do i mean eponymous) with Linda Zhang. I promise.

When you smell the light, fragrant, essence wafting down to you, you know it's Linda...

i.e. A scene of the future

Person Q: Uh-oh. Do you smell what I smell?
Person A: Yep. Let's jet.
Linda: Wait, don't run away! NO!!! *sob*

my brain has never shut off during a test before. and the first time it happens has to be during the exam, doesn't it? i'm SO ready to jump off a cliff right now.

UHHHHHH Dec 15th needs to come NOW! twelve more days...just twelve more...

John Williams is God.

Alicia, I need to write a short essay on why I want to go to Emory. It's due tomorrow!!! HELP!

Angry. wasted my time today. Didn't go to Homecoming. Thought it ended at 12. Turned out it ended at 1. Somehow my dad convinced me that it was worthless to go before I found out. Was going to go but changed mind b/c of that. Thought there would be no one else b/c of Voodoo. Am very upset. Not joking.

i fucking hate senior seminar!

Stanford
Yale
Duke
Harvard
Princeton
Rice
BU
Emory
Wash U
Tulane
Wellesley

too many!!!

Screwed for Senior Seminar paper - due tomorrow, and I'm still finishing the research. 5 pgs shouldn't be too hard, right???

Therefore I am wasting time on LJ. I don't plan on sleeping tonight *sigh* I'm also one of the very few who didn't care about the Saints game.

Show stopping* sho sho sto-ppin. all my girls in the rainbow cadillacs yeahhhhh*

Lesson 11 Translation
Linda Zhang
7/26/06

China has two New Year's: one is New Year's Day on the first day of the first month on the Gregorian calendar; the other is the Spring Festival on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Most of the time when the Chinese speak of New Year's, they refer to the New Year's of the lunar calendar.

The custom of passing the year is said to have been around for a long time. According to historians' research, three thousand years ago there was the character "Nian (year)" on the oracle-bone scripts, and above "Nian" was the character "He (standing grain)," below was the character "Ren (person)," the meaning of this was of people carrying grain back home. Passing the year was the activity of everybody happily holding a celebration of a good harvest of grain.

(We) don't know what time it started, (but) "Nian" was again used for the meaning of a monster; it was said that at the time of every passing year (new year's) it comes out and harms people. People heard that monsters were afraid of loud noises, and were also afraid of the color red, therefore during the night of New Year's, everybody not only put out firecrackers at their door, but also on the two sides of the door pasted bright red Spring Festival couplets.

The day before New Year's is called "Da Nian San Shi (30th of the lunar calendar?)," the night of this day is called "Chu Xi (New Year's Eve." On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, everyone (in a family) has to eat "Nian Fan" together. "Nian Fan" is that year's best meal; not only does it have wine and meat, but it also must have a fish. This fish cannot be completely eaten; a little has to be saved for the next day, which is also the next year; this is called "Nian nian you yu (every year has a fish/surplus)," which means every year's income has a surplus.

The first day of the new year is "Da Nian Chu Yi (first day of lunar year)," on the morning of the first day some families eat dumplings, other families eat tang yuan/yuan xiao (sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour), dumplings and tang yuan represent the meaning of a reunion of a whole family. Almost all families eat nian gao (sweet rice cake) on this day; Nian gao represents people's standard of living rising higher by each year.

The happiest during New Year's are the children; when they give new year's greetings to their grandparents, they can receive a lot of "Ya Sui Qian (money to bring good luck and ward off evil)" Ya Sui means crushing a years worth of bad things. Giving this money to children is to let them spend the new year safely.

A very long time ago, the money given to children on New Year's wasn't real; rather it was a kind of money called "Ya Sheng qian" that was fake. This money's shape was the same as real money's; on it was drawn a dragon and a phoenix, written on it was "Chang Ming Fu Gui (live long and be successful)." People say that wearing them on your body can ward off evil and prevent calamities. Later, to make children happy, grandparents replaced the money that couldn't buy anything with real money - and so this money's name changed to "Ya Sui Qian."

L101 Translation
Linda Zhang
7/25/05

"Yi Zi Duo Yi" refers to a word having two of more meanings. For example, "kuai" in "yu kuai (happy)", "Kuai le (happy" means happy. In "kuai chi (eat fast)," "kuai pao (run fast)," it takes on the meaning of high speed. "Man" in "ao man (arrogant)" "dai man (neglect)" expresses a cold attitude; in "man zuo (walk slow)," "man pao (run slow)," it expresses the meaning of slow speed.

Some people say that these words are not words with more than one meaning; they say that these words are entirely two (at least) different words, only their pronunciation and characters are the same. Despite whatever they are, these words with the same characters and different meanings give/bring scholars many annoying troubles. Because people when people read books, if they happen to not be careful and make a mistake, they will misunderstand the word's meaning. Now peope always make mistakes, people in ancient times also made these mistakes. Ancient books (legend?) speak of a story like this.

During the era of Yu Shun, Shun (the monarch) believed that music could educate the people, that it could change society's common practices. Therefore he wanted everyone to help him find someone who understood music to organize and compose music. Some people recommended to Shun a name of a person, "Kui." This person, Kui, was very capable, he not only very quickly organized the music, but he also composed a lot of beautiful music. Once this music was exposed to the public, society's common practices very quickly changed for the better.


Later when some people recommended again other people to Shun, Shun said, "Kui yi zu ye (Kui is enough)." Shun's meaning is: "With such a man as capable as Kui, just one is enough." At that time people who wrote books recorded this matter down.

Many years later, there was a person who, when he read this book, didn't carefully read the context, with the result of him understanding "Kui yi zu" as "Kui zhi you yi zhi jiao (Kui only has one foot)." He felt that he was very smart, finding out something that other people didn't discover. Therefore, then he very proudly told other people. Everyone turned into ten, ten turned into a hundred, as for later, everybdy thought that Kui only had one foot.

Why did he get it wrong? Just because this word, "zu" has two meanings: one is "Zu gou (enough)," the other is "jiao (foot)."

L82 Translation
Linda Zhang
7/18/06

"Wang zi cheg long (hope one's child will have a bright future)" is the hope of parents for their children to have good futures when they grow up. Most of the Chinese, right when their child is born, some even before their child is born, begin begin to plan how in the future to teach the child, how to foster them into a person with good opportunity.

A while ago, China had a custom called "Zhua Zhou." "Zhua Zhou," when a child is one full year, is a custom of putting in a plate a bow and arror, paper and pen (brush), toys, candy, needle and thread, etc., these kinds of different things. They let the child grab something and watch what the child grabs first. All parents hope that their child will grab the paper and the brush, because grabbing the paper and the brush indicates that the child (will) like reading books. Chinese traditional thought believes that only scholars can have good opportunities.

So that their children's future will have good opportunity, Chinese parents are very strict when it comes to disciplining their children. Especially in the current families with only children, parents put all their hopes on their one child (burden). They make their child learn this and that; if the child doesn't learn/do well, the parents will scold them and (some) even beat and scold their child.

On January 17, 2000, in China there was a high school boy in his second year who didn't do well on his mid-term exam; his grades went from the 10th place to the 18th place. His mother was very angry, and not only beat him, but also insisted that he test on the end-semester exam back to the 10th place. In that case, that child was made to feel extremely hurt; He, momentarily confused, grabbed a hammer and hit his mother to death.

A child killing his own parents is a crime, but some people say that Chinese parents' methods of disciplining their children are flawed. Parents should not be allowed to beat and scold their children, should not be allowed to require too much of their children. This is just because the Chinese's hope for their children's future is too strong, therefore tragedies like this occur.

There are also people who say that a few thousand years ago the Chinese all disciplined their children this way. So we cannot say just because of this incident that the Chinese hope for their children's future is wrong, neither can we say that the Chinese way of disciplining their children is completely wrong. If children do not behave, apart from beating and scolded, what other way is there that works better?

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