We're going to Japan!

  Hiiiii! I'm sorry, I know we said we were going to have a short story theme but I just really wanted to post a normal blog post today (and also I have a major case of writer's block. If you want to read something I wrote, though, you can check out my Wattpad! I'll put the account at the end of this post. Shameless plugging, anyone?), so sorry for that!
     Anyway, as you might have guessed from the obvious title of this post, WE ARE GOING TO JAPAN! We've been there before but this time we're going by ourselves. As a family. With no tour to guide us. We could very possibly DIE! Sorry, was that a little melodramatic? Anyway, I'm leaving TONIGHT at 11 PM, and I don't know about you but I love travelling by airplane, and I LOVE the airport atmosphere, and I feel like the the later the departure time, the better. I don't know why. People are going to think I'm so weird. ANYWAY! I don't think we're going to have WiFi there, but we might be getting pocket WiFi, which I don't know how strong the signal is going to be. I will try to update this blog with stories from Japan if I can (it's not like anyone reads this anyway lol). I don't know what our travel plan is but I DO know that we are going to UNIVERSAL JAPAN!! I PLAN ON BUYING BUTTLOADS OF HARRY POTTER MERCH! I'm going to get a Ravenclaw shirt, too, if I have enough money, 'cause Ravenclaw Pride! I have to go and pack now; SO EXCITED! Please comment! Oh, yeah, by the way, my Wattpad account is called bahmpie. Check it out! See you in five days!

New Theme!

  For those of you who read The Weekly Twins, you're probably familiar with rants, random blog posts, and how-to articles. But this year we have a new theme: Short Stories! We'll be posting fun and original short stories weekly on this blog, and we might even post one of yours! So look forward to this week's short story, and remember to leave a comment! 'Til next time!

Studying Tips!

  Yes, The Weekly Twins (who aren't weekly at all) are back with more tips to help you study! Whether it's for an exam, a quiz, or just to bring up your grades, these tips will help you on your way!

1. Setting the mood

 You won't be able to study well if you're forcing yourself to. First of all, turn off the TV, turn off your iPod/iPhone/iPad/whatever gadget you're playing on, and put that book you want to read away. Then, get out your textbook, notebook, and studying equipment and lay them out neatly on your table. You should use a lot of different-colored pens to keep yourself interested. If you don't feel like studying at all, try thinking of all the benefits of studying. What works for me is reading or looking at something about studying. That gets me in the mood to study. All right, now make sure that it's quiet and peaceful, and you're not too hot or cold. Now it's time to study!

2. Studying

 If you're preparing for a test, the best thing to do is first check what's going to be on the test. Then, plan which topic you're going to cover first, and how you're going to do it. I'd recommend starting with reading about the topic in your textbook (but not all of it at once), then closing it and making notes in your notebook to check if you remember the information. Then you can open up the textbook again to check if you forgot anything or left anything out. Then just keep reading and adding notes using that process. Then, when you've finished the topic. Turn to a fresh page and start writing down a summary of everything you've read. It might take some time. When you're done, check to make sure you didn't leave anything out. Now you can take a ten-minute break. Set a timer so that you don't procrastinate. Don't use this break to do anything you'll get addicted to, like reading or watching TV. Instead, just close your eyes and relax, or have a snack to refresh yourself! After the break, it's time to get back to work. Read through your summary again to review, then start on your new topic using the same process as before. 

3. Wrapping up for later

When you've finished all your studying (and reviewed it), it's time for the fun part! Use all the information you've learned to make a mind map and/or flash cards, whichever one works better for you when studying. Make it as colorful and fun as possible, so you can remember stuff when you're reviewing later!

HIFTBK: Things That Bother Us

First of all: Yes, I realize that we haven't been blogging for a very long time, but in my defense, we don't even have any readers. 

  All right, straight to the point :). We kids probably don't seem like we have too much to complain about in front of adults. Like, maybe homework..having to do chores (parents controlling you)...maybe some friend problems..and that's it, right? But the truth is: we have WAY more problems than you grown-ups could ever possibly imagine. First of all: Yes, we don't like homework. But that's not because we hate responsibility. It's only because we're already forced to go to school for a whole day five days a week, and we do enough work for the teachers there. Do we HAVE to do more at home? We just really don't like the idea of having one more chore to do or one more adult to boss us around and yell at us whenever we show a sign of being imperfect. Another thing we don't tell you about is this: YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NO BETTER THAN US. You keep telling us to do this and do that and don't do this and don't do that, but you don't even make an effort to be a good example for us! You do all the things you tell us not to do, and WE can't reprimand YOU for that (even though you get to do it the other way around) because in your words: 'You're an adult and you know what you're doing. You're more mature than us and are wise and responsible enough to make your own decisions blabablabla.' Have you ever CONSIDERED the fact that we might be responsible enough to make our own decisions, too? You make wrong decisions all the time, and nobody stands there yelling in your ear and punishing you for it, right? For example: if a kid lies to his/her parents and they find out...well then, it's punishment without a doubt. But when a parent lies to his/her kid(s) and the kid finds out, their parent just says a quick apology and forgets about it the very next second. They don't even really feel guilty about it! This is very unfair  to kids and we hate it. Also, stop being so irresponsible! You teach us all this great stuff that's really useful because we're going to be the next generation! Your hopes and dreams depend on us! But let me tell you this: IT'S NOT THE NEXT GENERATION YET. It's still YOUR generation; we're still too young to make much of a difference in the world! You can't make a big mess and then expect us to clean it up for you, okay? Take responsibility for your own actions! And I know you're just going to give me the same old excuses. 'But you're the next generation!' 'But I'm too old and you're young!' 'Sorry that my generation messed up the world, but it's your job as the next generation to make it better.' Just STOP. Did YOU make the world better when YOU were a kid? Did YOU make a positive impact on global warming when YOU were a kid? NO! So why expect US to? Believe me, I'd LOVE to stop global warming. I'm doing the  best I can, but that's very little because I have no authority! But there's so much that YOU can do. You just DON'T DO IT!!

(Also, 44 is NOT old. It's definitely not too old for WALKING TO THE TRASH CAN AND THROWING AWAY A PLASTIC BOTTLE BY YOURSELF.) All the problems in the world weren't caused by us. They were caused by YOU. YOUR generation started global warming and corruption and racism. And what's with all these contradictory statements about your age? When it's time to think about staying at home and relaxing, you're too young to quit working just yet. But when it's time to think about actually making a helpful contribution to the world, suddenly you're too old to do that! Well, you know what that makes you? A lying, lazy-ass couch potato who brushes responsibility off your shoulders and onto the shoulders of your kids. So stop it. If you don't make an effort to clean up your own mess, don't expect us to help you in any way. Okay, now for the last thing...this is MY personal pet peeve, but it might be true for other kids, too. If YOU ask US what WE want to be when we grow up, do NOT shoot us down when we give you an honest answer. Why do you ask us if you don't want us to follow our dreams? For example, this is how every single one of my conversations with grownups go:

Adult: Hello, what's your name?

Me: Palm.

Adult: How old are you?

Me: 13 this year. 

Adult: REALLY?! But you're so SHORT!

Me: *Awkward laugh* (age is not the same as height, and neither is intelligence)

Adult: So what do you want to be when you grow up? *expects answer like doctor or architect*

Me: 😃 Oh, I wanna be a writer!

Adult: A WRITER?! *shock* But how are you going to make any MONEY?

Me: Um..writing?

Adult: But ALL WRITERS ARE POOR!

Me: ..not all of them..

Adult: That's not a logical career choice at all. Why do you want to be a WRITER?

Me: I like writing! It's what I want to do.

Adult: No,no,no, this won't do at all. You should be a DOCTOR. Now THAT'S a practical choice.

Me: But I don't WANT to be a doctor!

Adult: Are you SURE? A doctor makes LOTS of money! A WRITER doesn't! Believe me, it's much better to be a doctor!

  

   Like, SERIOUSLY. If everyone followed grown-ups' advices on careers, the world's population would be consisted of doctors, teachers, and architects. CAN'T A GIRL HAVE A DREAM? Don't you produce all these movies and autobiographies about following your dream and doing what your heart wants? Anyway, that's all for today. There's way more stuff, but this blog is getting really long, so I'll sign off here. Bye! 😀

   

Christmas And New Year's

Hi, Fern here. I realized that I haven't blogged in a while, so I decided to take advantage of the New Year's celebrations and write about what New Year's is like here. First of all, a nice breeze has finally made it's way to Thailand, and we're wearing sweaters outside for the first time in forever. It's only going to last for a week, though. So most people try to enjoy it while they still can. I've recently gone on vacation, but I won't talk about that, since it would probably bore you. New year's passed a few days ago, since we live in a time zone that's 24 hours faster than America. And unless you're like me, you probably got some really nice presents ( seriously, what's the big deal about "ugly Christmas sweaters"? ), like a new bike or an Air Wheel or a dog. I got a robot dog with a broken paw, a necklace and a green bracelet. Anyway, what really irks me is the stereotypical "White Christmas" idea people have. You know, with snowball fighting and snowman building and real Christmas trees and eggnog and Santa coming down a chimney. We don't get snow here in Thailand, we don't cut down trees just to hang orbs on them and throw them out day later ( we use the same plastic tree every year and it works just fine, thank you very much ), and we have no use for a chimney. Santa Claus comes in through the door. The crackling fireplace people snuggle by in Christmas videos only exists on TV, and nobody has the slightest idea what eggnog is. We don't get Christmas sweaters because there's no logical reason to wear thick sweaters made of fleece in the world's fifth hottest city, and Christmas dinner is just normal dinner, except on Christmas. But still, we manage to have a happy holiday. On New Year's Eve, we count down to midnight and watch spectacular fireworks. See? PERFECTLY FINE. Anyway, I just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Sorry this blog post was late. Thanks for reading our blog. You have no idea how much we appreciate it! And if you could just comment and tell others about our blog, that would be the best present ever! Sorry, had to put that in. And please check out Palm's stories on Wattpad! Just search ZeMobip.Again, thanks for reading!

                                                                                                                               
       
                                                                                                                                          -Fern

Vacation: Yay! (?)

  All right, so it's been about three weeks into summer break now, for Thai kids who go to Thai schools like me. But I haven't gone on a single vacation yet! It's so boring being stuck at home all day with nothing new to do! I was soooo FRUSTRATED!! And then, out of the blue, my parents said, "You know what? We need to go on vacation somewhere before summer break ends." And they'd gone to some holiday-promotion-festival-thingy before summer break and got some brochures, so they looked over the flyers and finally booked a nice room at the Cheraton hotel (not sure I spelt that right) and bought tickets to Santorini Waterpark! My sister and I were so excited to go on the slides again (we'd been there before). Anyway, this was about a week ago, on Sunday or something, so we had to wait until this Saturday to go! We're gonna spend four days and three nights in Hua Hin. You might think I'm boasting, but I'm not. My family doesn't do this very often. At all. PSYCH!!! But don't worry, this post isn't going to be all about me. I have some exciting news to deliver. My sister  and her best friend Jenny had this great idea. Now, before I tell you about it, I have to refresh your memory. Our math teacher, Mr. Jordi Bartes, is leads a secret life. He is math teacher by day, and a DJ for his Barcelonian reggae company, Kalymisticsound, by night. He even performed in Thailand once! Anyway, it appears that he has quite a number of (anonymous) fans, too, even though no one really knows him in Bangkok. So Fern and Jenny came up with this great idea: They would wrote a pocketbook about him called, 'The Secret Life of Jordi Bartes' , featuring all the juicy details about his 'career' as a teacher/DJ. Including photos as evidence, of course. They planned to get it done by Christmas and distribute anonymous samples to the other teachers. If they liked it, they could actually buy it, maybe even along with a Kalymisticsound CD, if they liked Barcelonian reggae or wanted to blackmail Mr. Bartes. I loved this idea, so I asked them if I could get in on it, too. They said yes, and we started researching. Now the pocketbook is starting to begin to almost form. If you want to read a sample, put your e-mail address below. If you want to order a Kalymisticsound CD....well, sorry, we don't have that. You'll have to do a YouTube search for it. Just type in barteskalymistic,Kalymisticsound , or DJ Jordi Bartes.And that's all for this week! Please comment! Bye!
Contacts:

E-mail: sirinpalm@gmail.com, ferny.2545@gmail.com
Phone: 081-342-0101, IDK
Address: Ha-ha, not telling.

SUMMER BREAK!!!! A Pitch Perfect Cover Included

  Hi, everyone. I'm sorry that we haven't updated our blog in a while. Our dad messed with the computer so that we could only sign in to Google with a BCC account. BCC is the name of his school, Bangkok Christian College. Anyway, back to the point, I apologize. In Thailand, it's currently SUMMER BREAK OR VACATION OR SOMETHING!!!!! Well, for kids who go to normal schools, of course. For international schools, it's reversed. If you don't live in Thailand, you're probably still in school, in which case, AWKWARD. Anyway, I felt that something so great and delightful as no school for a month deserved some celebratory..post..thingy..
   So sit back, relax, and enjoy the following video:

Yep, that's it. I know it's lame and not much of a celebration...or current, for that matter, since this video was taken a long time ago...but it's different! And different means good! Right? Don't worry, I'm not going to cheat you out of a blog post. Please check the new page, "Ask Palm: Summer Vacation" for a new column. And don't forget to comment!!