LuxCaeli

World Cup Predictions

2006-07-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

I am shocked. France beat BRAZIL.

The same France that scored exactly zero goals in the last world cup defeated the Brazilian team with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka all alive and healthy.

I thought Brazil would certainly be one of the finalists, and it would be impossible for France to win, but I guess Adidas is right - impossible is nothing. And one game can change everything.

England also lost to Portugal. Rooney should have kept his cool and refrained himself from stomping on anyone. England played very well though and fought to keep the score 0-0 all the way into penalties. I would've liked to see them play France or Brazil.

I thought Germany, Italy, England, and Brazil would definately advance to semi-finals, but I only predicated 2 out of the 4 correctly! I didn't expect Rooney and Beckham to be out, or the Brazilian stars to play so poorly.

PREDICTIONS
Semifinals:
Germany vs. Italy

Italy didn't even manage to beat the US. If they want to get past a determined Germany they will have to pull off something amazing. And try not to score into their own goals anymore. Germany will get through easily and probably won't have to go into overtime.

Portugal vs. France

Portugal got very lucky with England, with Beckham out with a leg injury (poor guy) and Rooney given a red card. England is horrible with penalties, and basically didn't have much of a chance without two of their best players. So France will win. I mean they did defeat the mighty Brazil, so Portugal should be no problem.

Finals:
Germany vs. France

This should be an intense game. Germany has home-field advantage and the determination to win. France... will hopefully play pathetically and get crushed by Germany. What can I say? I really want Germany to win!

Germany wins!

2006-06-30T18:12:00.000-04:00

YES!!! Germany wins! Maradona and his Argentineans are going home. When I checked the score just after half-time Argentina was up by one and I was worried out of my mind. But I knew Germany would come through! They have all the wonderful players, including the two best goalies in the world. Oh how I love Miroslav Klose right now!! He is amazing and tied up the score in the 80th minute, which forced the game into overtime and penalties. Luckily, Germany dominates at penalties and won 4-2!!! Goals were scored by Ballack, Borowski, Podolski, and Neuville. Lehmann even managed to save two penalties!! Now I can't complain about Oliver Kahn sitting out anymore...

It's terrific how the German team has proved so many people wrong by defeating Argentina. In the game, they showed once again that they have got what it takes to become the 2006 World Cup Champions. It's onto the semi-finals. Italy shouldn't be too much of a challenge - I mean they didn't even win against the United States! Then after that, it's the finals in Berlin. Germany really deserves to win the World Cup. It has brought the whole country closer and spread a wave of unusual patriotism in Germany. German flags are beautiful...its a good thing they are finally being proudly waved.

:( iPod Mini

2006-06-20T14:43:00.000-04:00

When I was about to go running with my iPod Mini today, I noticed that there was an apple logo on the screen. I tried to reset it by pressing down the menu and select buttons, but instead of being fixed, a sad face appeared! I remembered accidentally dropping it onto the sidewalk yesterday, but it worked fine when I inspected it at the time. I immediately started panicking because a friend of mine said a sad face showed up on his iPod's screen when it broke just a few days after he had gotten it.

I went to the apple support site, but none of their instructions worked, and the only thing I discovered was that the sad face was extremely bad and showed there was a hardware problem. Since my warranty expired a month ago, I'd have to pay about $250 to get it fixed, which is how much the iPod cost originally.

I did a Google search on 'fix iPod sad face' and was directed to the forums at ipodlounge.com. Someone had posted that a few slaps were all it took to get rid of the dreaded sad face, and many others had replied and said that it had worked for them, so I decided to give it a try. I slapped the iPod a few times at first, but that only got rid of the sad face for a few minutes. When I tried turning it on, there was a whirling sound and the apple logo came back up, only to be quickly replaced by the sad face again. I became very distraught because the method seemed to have worked for everyone else. I wasn't about to give up though, since my iPod currently holds 600 something songs, and I can't bear the thought of running without it. I slapped it a bit more on all sides, dropped it from 5ft onto the carpet, and let it fall from a few inches on a hard surface to no avail. By this time, I was considering taking the iPod apart and shaking the hard drive like someone had suggested on the forum.

I really did not want to pry open the iPod and risk breaking it in the process, so I desperately slammed the side of it against the table a few more times more, and voilà!, the menu came up!! I reset the iPod right away and plugged it into the charger. Hopefully my iPod will never give me another scare like that...

I am ecstatic at the moment! The joy of owning a working iPod Mini again is wonderful. I feel as if I could hug every person in the world!

die deutsche Toilette

2006-06-18T18:20:00.000-04:00

The German toilet will always be a mystery to me. They are so strange. I mean, why would you want a shelf in your toilet?

The shelf is way too high and close to the seat for my liking. Germans obviously like to inspect their crap before they flush their toilets, but why would you really want to do that?

If you er...had more crap than usual, it would be particularly hard to flush the toilet. I would imagine that it would take at least four or five tries to get it all down.

And don't you feel sorry for the people who have to clean them? They have to clean above and below the shelf. Cleaning a normal toilet is bad enough.

Germany is a really really awesome country, but I will never be able to understand why they are crazy enough to have those toilets. Maybe when I become dictator of the world I'll make them get rid of them.

Why I Love Germany

2006-06-18T18:13:00.000-04:00

Germany is one of my favorite countries. It has a complex history, tasty food, speedy Autobahns, wonderful people, cool music, and a lovely culture. I really need to learn German because that is the language in which my favorite book, All Quiet on the Western Front, is written.

In history class last year, we did a Model UN project in which we were able to pick a country and study its history, economy, international relations, and opinions on current events. I picked Germany and had an actual excuse to learn all about it. For the presentation, I made little German flags to wave around, and my partner brought in gummy bears, which were invented in Germany. It was definitely my favorite assignment of the year.

International Day at my school really helped me appreciate German culture. German music was played over the announcements in the morning. I also got a taste of German food during lunch that day, which was extremely tasty. The ham and potato salad was amazing! Most people say German food isn't that good because it is almost all meat, but that suits me since I'm basically a carnivore.

I would love to go cruising down the Autobahn at 150mph. Autobahns are like regular highways, except for the fact that some sections have no speed limits! Think about how exhilarating it would be to drive as fast as you can on one.

Since the World Cup is going on in Germany right now, I should mention that Germans also kick ass at soccer, unlike the United States. I hope they win!! I even have a Germany soccer theme on my internet browser.

Report Card

2006-06-18T16:02:00.000-04:00

My report card came in the mail yesterday. I was pleased with it, except for the B on my physical science exam. It's quite embarrassing since science was one of the easiest subjects. I probably received a B because I did the entire first page of the exam wrong, but it seriously wasn't my fault. The directions said to list the things from smallest to largest, and I listed them from largest to smallest. The teacher should NOT have docked off all the points because it was obvious I knew what I was doing. She should've made the directions bigger or clearer by bolding them. Someone else made the same mistake as me, so it was definitely her responsibility to make the directions more noticeable. She should know that most students don't read directions. Personally, I think I'm too good for them.

So without further ado, here is my 2005-2006 Report Card:

I really dislike B's. A's are fine because they are the highest grade possible, and people think you are smart if you get them. A-'s are close enough to A's. They show that you are pretty much damn near perfect. C's and below are okay too. They show that you either really didn't care and somewhat tried to fail the class, or the teacher absolutely hated you - which wouldn't make it your fault. B's are extremely annoying. Whenever I get a B, it usually means that I tried to do well, but failed miserably, or, in the case of my science exam, was too stupid to do it correctly. Luckily, I don't have to worry about getting B's for another three months. God, I love summer break.

Insects

2006-06-18T09:13:00.000-04:00

There's a huge bump on my arm. And it itches. I have no idea how it got there, but it was probably from an insect bite. The bump makes me look like I have two elbows. It's really disturbing.

All insects need to be removed from the world. They are disgusting and do not do anything useful. I don't mind worms though - they haven't got those nasty little insect legs and wings, and I used to keep one as a pet when I was around six. I nearly threw a fit when my dad put it back outside.

I hate how insects have exoskeletons and how half of them either sting or bite. I hate how spiders scuttle across the floor, and how their annoying little cobwebs get everywhere. It's quite unfortunate that I dislike insects because they seem to love me.

Mosquitoes always choose bite me even if there's ten other people around. I've had around 100 mosquito bites at one time while I was on vacation. Bees and wasps are terrible too. They build a hive in my basketball hoop every summer. Whenever my basketball hits the backboard they all come swarming out. Once, I even found a dead wasp on my bed. I have no idea how it got there, but it really creeped me out.

The only redeeming factor for insects is that they seem to provide other animals with food, like anteaters and birds. But insects should be exterminated anyway. I'm sure the animals who feed on them can adapt. They probably don't even taste good.

Ceramic Vases

2006-06-17T19:29:00.000-04:00

My mother loves artsy stuff. She wanted to become an architect, but somehow ended up working with computers, but she hates it so she just sits at home now. She never passes up a chance to go to exhibits, museums, model homes, etc., and I always get dragged along.

Recently she's been looking at imported ceramic vases from China. The exhibit is only in Columbus for a few months. She's been to it about three times already and bought five vases. At least she wasn't insane enough to buy the ones that cost thousands of dollars. Here are some pictures:


We have two copies of this vase. They are from our most recent purchase. I don't know why we have two of the exact same vase, but my mother said they matched, so we bought both of them.


I don't particularly like this one. It is short, stubby, and too red. My mother says the color was added in a special way or something.


This is the first vase we bought. It is really light and seems a lot cheaper than the other ones, but I liked the picture and the words on it. It's basically special because I picked it out.


This one is my favorite, probably because it is very blue. I quite like how simple it looks and how the blue lines look like clouds and mountains.

Oscar Wilde

2006-06-16T15:55:00.000-04:00

I am currently reading a book of plays by Oscar Wilde. That man is absolutely brilliant!! It is a real shame that he was imprisoned for being gay. Prison caused his health to deteriorate, and he died shortly after being released, which prevented him from writing many more wondrously clever plays! Talented people like him should not be allowed to be arrested - especially for their sexual preferences.

So far, I have read the Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermere's Fan, and the Importance of Being Earnest. Dorian Gray was quite good, but I think Wilde's plays are his best works. Lady Windermere's Fan was extremely entertaining and is my current favorite. Now I should go read the rest of those plays....