My Journal

The Wacky Cake is one of my family's all time favorite chocolate cake recipes. This is a relatively simple recipe. Plus, it's moist, rich, and extremely delectable. All you would want in a scrumptious chocolate cake.I'm not sure where the Wacky Cake recipe originated, but whoever invented it is a genius. Some of you may wonder how Wacky Cake got it's name and I am more than pleased to tell you. The Wacky Cake has some "wacky" ingredients. The first strange ingredient is oil. However, many of you may not perceive this ingredient as strange, as it is a "common" substitute for butter. The second strange ingredient is vinegar. Before you say anything, I want to say that no, it does not make the cake taste like vinegar. I'm not exactly sure why vinegar is an ingredient, but I know it must have some importance. Without further ado, here is the recipe for Wacky Cake.



Formula to this mouth-watering delectable:


I measure off all the dry ingredients leveling each ingredient with a butter knife. I start stirring my dry ingredient together being careful not to make the powder go everywhere. I strongly suggest wearing an apron if your kind of a klutz like I am. While leveling out the cocoa (that tastes horrible by itself that I know from experience), it somehow exploded back at me in a sweet brown cloud and got all over my clean blue shirt. By the way, I put an apron on after this tying the back string with both my hands into a sloppy bow.
 After gently stirring my powdered goodness up, I made it into a making a well shape, by packing the sides of the bowl with my wooden spoon , forming an almost a flower shape to the bowl. I then proceeded to add all my wet ingredients into the very center of the "well" I made, and stir my all my art up together. I would like to note that making a well for your wet ingredients is completely unnecessary, I just enjoy doing it because it makes baking a little more fun. If your on a time limit, you can add the ingredient in whatever order you with. It should turn out the exact same.
 By this time, my gooey mix is done, so I set it to the left side of my counter. Now for the preparing the pan. I take a nice round metal pan and pour a quarter-sized drop in the middle of my pan. I spread the oil all over the bottom and sides with my hand. If there is not enough oil to coat the sides, I will add a little more. Then, I quickly go to the sink and turn the faucet on cold water hearing the pshhh of water pouring at and wash my hands. After that is finished, put a small spoon of flour in the middle of my pan and hold it over the sink. Next, I start moving my pan from side to side banging my hand light on the side, much like panning for gold. Thus, coating every side with flour. I, then, throw out the excess flour.



 Then, I pour all the batter into my flour coated pan, scraping the sides with my spatula along the bowl so I get all of it. I set my timer for 20 minutes hearing 20 beeps simultaneously as I press the minute button. I open the oven feeling the warm air around my hands, and put my pan into the oven, trying my best not to burn my hands on the side of the scalding hot oven sides.

After my cake has cooled for a good 40 minutes, I mix up some peanut butter icing to go on top, and finish with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. I didn't use a recipe for the icing, but the ingredients are milk, peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar. I'm sure there are plenty of different icing recipes out there on the internet, or perhaps you have you own favorite. Some say it's even good without any toppings, but personally I like it much better with.
 

To be honest, when I found out that I was going to have to write a blog post everyday for 25 days, I felt a little discouraged. I had read other people's bogs, but I had never created a blog of my own. Creating the blog was pretty easy, however, I will admit that finding a name that I liked took me a few days to do.

 The hardest part of the Fluency Blog posts for me was thinking of ideas to write about. I not only wanted good ideas, but also ideas that interested me. Ideas that I could easily write about and enjoy at the same time. Another thing I struggled with in these posts was being lazy. Most days I put my blog posts off to the end of the day when I was tired, and then just threw a bunch of words together to make a post. From reading my blog posts, it is probably very relevant that I didn't work very hard some days. However, not all days were like this. Sometimes, I would get up feeling refreshed and ready to write my daily blog post, but this feeling would quickly subside throughout the days to come. Having to write everyday was also very hard for me. I have never written so often and so much in my life. I know it was good for me, but I still didn't enjoy it sometimes.

I had some challenges, but I feel I also had success along with them. A big success for me is writing faster. When I first started out my blog posts, it took me around a couple of hours to finish a post. I know, that's ridiculous. Now, if I have a set subject, I can usually complete it within thirty minutes. I have also learned that good writing does not have to be limited to a certain subject. I enjoyed having the freedom to write about virtually anything I wanted to. Before taking this class, almost everything I wrote was not supposed to include any personal opinions whatsoever, which is really hard for me to not do.

Rereading my posts, I have discovered a great deal of things about my writing process. Things that I can both correct and grow from. Some of them include: I tend to use the same words more than necessary, I like to write as if I'm talking to someone, and I can write much more about something I show a great interest in.

As I have mentioned numerous times, writing is not my strong suit. Though, same goes for some people in the subject of math, but somehow many of them pull through. This gives me hope, that if I work hard enough, I can pass this class. From this assignment, I have gained more experience. I have learned new tips and things to avoid. Like I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I won't stop writing here. I want to keep expanding my knowledge and learn to become a effective writer.

Today is the last day I have an assigned blog post, excluding my final reflection, to write. However this does not mean that I will stop here. I'm not going to go too much into detail, or I might just end up writing my reflection right here. Instead, I want to write about life outside of earth.

In almost every media, such as movies, television, and books, there's mention of "aliens". I use aliens in quotation because I have been thinking we would be aliens to them, as they would be to us. The word can be used interchangeably. Aliens are known as completely fictional to some people and real to others. I'm not sure where my place is in that. I believe that there could or could not be other life forms, life forms that could possible be more intelligent than ourselves, or the opposite.

Some people argue that we would have seen evidence by now if aliens were real. I don't agree with that. If aliens were real, they could be so far away from earth that there is no possibility of every reaching us. If you have seen videos on how huge the universe is, you would understand what I'm talking about. Perhaps, in the future we may be able to reach.

I believe that God created the world, and it would not a bit surprise me if he made other planets other with other life forms on them. I mean think about it, if you were God, would you make more than one planet with life forms. I really big question I have that always confuses me is: Why did God make the universe so big if there's not something else out there, even if it isn't other life forms? I think it would be very cool to know about them if they were actually out there, but I'm also fine not knowing. If we are ever supposed to be in contact with aliens, I believe God would somehow make it happen. I also beieve that there are things that we couldn't possible understand, at least of right now. I just know that this world is an amazing place, and I'm very thankful He created it.

Before I end this blog, I would like to note that I am not some crazy person who goes out looking for other signs of life (not that I think those people are crazy), rather I am just a human with a brain and a large amount of curiosity.

It's Friday, Friday, Fri-day... -Rebecca Black

Today is has been a great day. Nothing big has happened, but we still appreciate all the little things, don't we? I'm finally almost done with all my assignments. I will have new assignments tommorow but I'm trying my best not to think if that.  I will be able to spend the rest of my remaining time can spend resting and doing whatever else. Not only am I happy because of being almost finished with school, but also because I just sold my keyboard piano. I put it up on an Indian version of Craigslist called OXL. It was on that website for about a month, until it finally got bought. I had people who asked for a price to low than I wanted, people who were just plain old creeps, and people who decided not to but it. I was worried that my keyboard was not going to get bought because the advertisement expiration date was close.

This morning I got a message from someone saying that they would like to buy it (for a reasonable price) and too call this certain number. Giving the guy directions was kind of confusing since my house tends to be hard to find, but eventually he got to my house. Don't worry both my parents and siblings were home. I turned it on for him and he had his daughter check out to see if it was good, and she approved of it. Although their race was Indian, I found out that they were from Australia and moved to India because of the guy's work. That was pretty interesting to find out. All in all, it was win win for both of us today. Now as I'm sitting here drinking frozen juice from a spoon, I feel as everything is imperfectly perfect in the world right now.

I really enjoy making lists. I like having a visual to look at. I make lists of my due school assignments, things I want to buy, and various other things. Since I still have a long future ahead me, I would like to dedicate this blog to making a list of things I'm looking forward to in the future.

1. Making friends

Right now I don't have many friends. I really hope to make some new friends when I move back to America. Since I'm going to be going to college it will make making friends easier. I hope that I will be wise in making friends, and not friend anyone that could be a bad influence on me. I hope that me and my possible new friend will be able to create memories together and just enjoy life.

 2. Completing my Bachelor's degree

I'm really looking forward to completing my degree. I hope to come out of college with a very good knowledge of computers and programming. I also hope to get good grades in all my classes by working hard.

3. Getting a Good Job

After getting out of college, I want to get a good steady job. I want to be able to get my place, and live independently. I would really like to get an office job, as opposed to getting a job were I have to react with customers. Many people I know, including my parents, have worked at a fast food restaurant or store, such as Walmart, and I really hope I don't have to get a job like that.

 4. Having My Own Family

I know I'm young now, but eventually, in the future, I hope to meet the right man and get married to and have a family. I have no ideal number of children as of right now.  I'm not sure if I would settle down or continue my job after having kids or not.

Every breath I took was agonizing. It felt like amounted to a week's worth of breaths. I knew it would be only in a matter of minutes until I would bleed out. I sat against a old tree taking in cool breaths and releasing warm breaths that were probably the only warmness within thousands of miles. I couldn't tell what type of tree I was leaning up against, it must have only grown in foreign countries. In between breaths, I would apply pressure to my wound with a piece of cloth. All I could think of was that help was hundreds of miles away, I didn't know what to do, I was alone.

I kept telling myself that I didn't want to die leaning up against a tree. What a stupid way to die, just sitting with my back up against a tree waiting to die. That's not how I wanted my life to end. I only wanted to die if I physically could not put anymore effort into it. I only wanted to die going forward. I wanted to use those last minutes of my life doing something, anything, besides sitting around. That was not how my parents raised me.  I willed my self to get up and start going until I couldn't go any further. Until my body gives out and I lose all consciousness.

For the first few minutes, I crawled across the dirt ridden ground, while my abdomen increasingly released sharp pains. Every movement came more and more pain. At the moment I wished I could turn off all the pain. Whatever part in my brain that causes me to feel pain, I wanted it off. Despite my feelings, I kept going.

With my face covered in sweaty dirt, I spotted a clearing a few feet away. I didn't recognize it from walking around earlier. As I for forced my myself to crawl closer and closer, I spotted a large object. From what I could tell it was wooden. "Is that what I think it is?"I thought to myself. With my newly found curiosity, I crawled faster, eager to find out what the object was. As I got closer, my guess was confirmed. It was a piano.

I didn't question what a piano was doing in the middle of nowhere. I honestly didn't care. I stopped crawling when I next to the piano, leaning on it just as I was on the tree. Some part of me wanted to see if the piano worked. After the struggle of puling myself up to the piano, I started pressing a key. That one key's sound was magnified throughout the whole meadow. I might have been imagining it, but it sounded beautiful. I started playing a song that I remembered from my childhood. Somehow the more I played the stronger I felt, the stronger I could stand up. So naturally, I played more and more. I don't know how to describe the feeling I had, but I didn't dare question it. Memories started flowing back in: My teacher and I sitting in my living room smacking my hand with a ruler every time I got a note wrong, my parents with huge smile on their faces while I played a new song I learned, and finally, the exhilaration I felt taking my bow on stage to a crowd of people clapping and praising my piano skills.

I felt something that I hadn't felt in a long time, happiness. I could feel a tear escaping my left eye and roiling down my cheek. All of the sudden, my vision went black. I fell to the ground gasping for air. I couldn't breathe. Unbearable pain was overtaking me. Death was here. I stopped holding back and gave up. I decided that I had enough. It was finally time to let everything go. So I did. The blackness cleared up and there I was, standing on a stage getting ready to perform my first song. A massive smile on my face, not knowing what was to be held in my future. I like to think that the same smile I had on that day was also on my face during death, during the time the light finally enveloped me.

Stereotypes can sometimes be mean and offensive. However, often they can be true or are an exaggerated form of the truth. I decided that I would like to make a list and explain some different stereotypes of my race, Asian, more specifically Chinese, that apply to me. The ones that are to an extent "true". Even though I was adopted as a baby by an American couple, I still have the Chinese culture ingrained in me, because of living in China for more than half my life after being adopted. I do realize that not all of these stereotypes apply to every Asian. These are just a few stereotypes that apply towards me personally.

Chinese are bad drivers. This is the first stereotype that comes to mind. I always thought that this was a ridiculous stereotype and could not possible be true. After taking my test to get my permit, I started test driving in the country with my parents. A couple of weeks after I got my permit I made a huge mistake of pressing the gas pedal instead of the brake. I was right in front of the wooden entryway to my Uncle's old house. Luckily, I didn't hit anything. I have to say that scared the living daylights out of me. I kept thinking to myself, what if I had done that in the city? From then on, I was scared of driving. I have feeling when I move back to America I will get over it, at least I hope so.

Chinese are good at math. This stereotype is very common. I do have to admit that I am substantially good at math, well at least I used to be. It's been a few months since I took a math class. Though I am far from being a genius, math has always been one of my favorite subjects. However, I have living proof that not all Chinese are good at math, take my sister for example. Math has never been her strong suit, but hey, she still manged to pass her classes.

Chinese have small eyes. This stereotype for the most part is true. Most Chinese I know have thinner eyes. My eyes are a little rounder than your average Chinese, but they are still small compared to your average Caucasian person.