Archery

Have you seen the movie Brave? The one with Princess Merida?

My favorite part of that movie is seeing her shoot arrows. I mean, it's SOOO cool. Imagine being able to ride horseback and shoot targets backwards. Or vault over a log while releasing a volley of arrows at your attackers.

OK. I have weird ideas. But still.



Doesn't she look independent and brave and sporty and smart and GAHHH.

Archery is also a very different sport. You aren't part of a team (like baseball or basketball or football). You aren't directly fighting somebody else (like fencing, which I do). It's you against yourself. In a way, it reminds me a lot of swimming. While other people might be beside you, they aren't directly involved in your performance.

Archery is also a very old sport. It traces back to the Romans, and the bow and arrow have been the weapon of choice for many civilizations- including the Mongols.



Sorry. That's kind of a BASIS World History joke (my class has problems).

If you live in Arizona and you want to try archery, visit http://archeryhq.com.

It can be dangerous and tiring and frustrating, but then again, so can every other sport.

Archery is an exciting sport that I really want to try before I die.

Learn A New Language (or 5)

I'm assuming that most of my readers are American, and as Americans, your primary language is English. It may not be your mother tongue, and it may not be the language your father speaks, but for you, it's the most comfortable. Your first words were probably in English.

And sometimes, you want more. Don't you want to be able to travel to China and speak fluent Mandarin with everybody there? Or French in Paris? Maybe Hindi in India?
I myself barely know like 2 languages. English and 1/3 Latin and 2/3 Hindi.
I know, I know. I'm a failure when it comes to multilingualism.
But you don't have to be.

First of all, the facts:
Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Hindi are the top four most spoken languages in the world.
French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese are the most romantic languages (in polls).
Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are the hardest languages for English-speakers to learn.

Now my rant:
You know those spy movies or books? Or City of Bones? Where the guy and/or girl knows like a BILLION languages and wherever they go, they're able to talk to everybody. And you're sitting there with the other main character in the novel/movie (i.e., Clary) wondering what is going on and trying to use your limited knowledge of Latin and Spanish and French to decipher what's going on. And it's so hot that the guy (i.e., Jace) knows every language known to man and alien. And then one day he's having a picnic with the girl and he says something romantic in Italian and AHHHHHH.




Yup. That's basically my life.

If there were three languages I could master rigt now, they would be Hindi, Italian, and Russian.

Russian also reminds me of spies. And Nikita. And secret princesses.

Anyways, I wish you luck in learning a language. The top program to learn a language is Rosetta Stone. I used one for Hindi for like a month and I guess it was OK.

Travel. Meet. Eat. Love.

Wow. It's been nearly a month since i last posted.

That's why I'm going to do something special today.

So one of my close friends recently had her Bat Mitzvah, and although I'm not Jewish, I enjoyed it a lot.

So I say to you, my friends, go find another culture and take part in one of its activities. Expose yourself to this great big world and all the different people living in it. 

Travel to China, or India, or France, or Indonesia. Participate in a festival. Learn the language. Eat the food. Get to know the people. 

India: Holi

China: Festival of Lights

France: Cuisine

Indonesia: Bali Arts Festival

Go out. Enjoy it. Cross it off your bucket list.

Feed a Giraffe

Just one of those quirky things that need to be done.



Look at it. :) I used to love giraffes when I was younger (idk why). They just fascinated me. With hooves the size of dinner plates, they are some of the only animals who can scare off lions.

You can feed giraffes in a lot of zoos. The PHX Zoo, which is 10 minutes away from my house, has a giraffe-feeding activity where you can give them carrots.

I gave one a carrot and it had a purple tongue and it was all long and tonguey and giraffes

So the next time you go to a zoo, see if they allow you to feed the giraffes.

It's fun. I promise.

Go on A Thousand Dollar Shopping Spree

I've always wanted to blow a ton of money in one shopping trip.

Just one trip though. Cuz a thousand dollars is a lot.

But I really want to go out, probably when I'm older, and buy cute things with my friends.

Top five things to buy include:

1) Shoes. I really like ankle boots right now.

2) Dresses. I want a lot of floral prints, mostly cause they are so changeable-if you pair it with a leather jacket, it can become much edgier.

3) Leather jackets :P. I have a white one, but I want a red one.

4) Jewelry from my favorite books.

The Fault in Our Stars

The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices

Divergent

5) And finally, I have to buy a vintage watch.

That would probably be the most expensive item.

This is actually something I really want to do because I won't have monetary limits and that's exciting.

Anyways, Black Friday was two days ago and I got red Converse yayyyy

Pie-Eating Contest

Winning is everything, guys.

If you do not beat everybody else, you are not Asian.

[Quick Asian grading system cause it seems approprate here:

A-Asian

B-Below Average (no bed)

C-Crap

D-Death

F-You are effed]

Now you know.

Anyways, pie is delicious and why would you pass up FREE pie? (I'm talking to the Asians again.)

(Children gorging on pie)

Basically, fairs and carnivals sometimes have pie-eating contests where people compete to eat the most in the shortest amount of time (or something like that).

It looks really fun and delicious and messy and gooey.

Which makes it awesome.

I don't really know why I would put this on my bucket list, but I would.

Anyways, this post also kind of fits in with Thanksgiving, which is coming up soon.

Except I don't bake pies on Thanksgiving.

I don't bake...

Yeah, so have a good break, guys :)

Plant a Garden

I decided to do a more tame activity this time. Planting (and caring for) a garden is really relaxing,a nd when you get to eat your delicious vegetables, you'll be super happy.

Even though it's hard to maintain (and weeds are infuriating), it really is nice. 

Two years ago, my parents decided to plant a garden in our backyard. They put a little brick wall around a little patch of land and we planted the seeds. For months, everything grew, including weeds. It was horrible to go out in the sun and pull, pull, pull. Once I saw a spider, and that was the end of going anywhere near the garden. Once all our veggies were ripe, we harvested them. It turns out we planted WAYYY too many squash seeds, so my mom just gave the squashes to people who came to our house.

But still. They were yummy.

So first off, you should choose a section of your yard for gardening. Maybe put some bricks around it or something. Then, start a compost pile right by it (for those who hate spiders like I do, you may want to skip that step). 

Go out and buy a few packets of seeds (not too many), and split your dirt into rows. There should be mounds and dips to the water can spread evenly. Poke little holes in the dirt and plant the seeds (not too far down). 

You can also make little signs for the veggies.

Make sure to water your plants weekly or install a drip system. In a couple months, you will have deliciously fresh vegetables. :)

If you don't want to have a food garden, you can always plant flowers instead.

Anyways, have fun planting your food/flowers and I wish you the best in your efforts.