Final Exam!

It final exam week, but its also the last week of school! I have English final today and physics final tomorrow. I think I was prepared for the English test. I read the things we had to and studied the vocabulary. However, I am not ready for then physics test. I still have one more chapter to look over and a lot more questions to do. After the physics final, I would be spending the rest of the week working on the musical. The show is this Saturday!  I only have a very small role, but still, I’ll be on stage, which I am not especially comfortable with. For this musical, Guys and Dolls, all the girls have to put on a lot of make up, especially on the eyes. Sometimes even I get scared when I look in the mirror and see my face piled with makeup. I look like I am a ghost with really think eyebrows and excessively red lips. Hopefully, it doesn’t look as bad from the audience seat. Well, I have four whole days of musical rehearsal and a very small role, so I’m planning on reading a book to spend my time. I think I’ll be reading Gathering Blue, which is the companion novel of The Giver. I’ve wanted to read it for a while, but with all the AP test and SATs I haven’t found time. But now that I’m done with all that (for now) I have plenty of time to read it.

Group Work

I personally like to do group work more than individual work. I think group work provides us with more learning experience than does individual work. Not only do we learn through sharing ideas with our group members, we also learn to cooperate. Cooperation can sometimes be the hardest part of a group work, especially if you are with people you don’t know very well. It is actually not easy to divide jobs up fairly, but sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, you get people in your group that fit each task perfectly. Take my last group for example: I thought I had a pretty nice group because we each got to do the job we wanted to. Even though group work can be nice, I often lower my standards when I word with other people. Through experience, I learned that my standards for individual work is sometimes too high for other people, so I have learned to adjust my standards to better work with the other members of the group. When doing a group project, I think it is usually best that each member have his or her say. There doesn’t necessarily have to be a leader. However, when there really is a need, I would be willing to take on that role. 

Language Use

Have you ever, like, watched a 70’s or 80’s film, and see like random words like phony (overbearing and deceitful person) or boogie (to dance) and you go like, oh wow these words are like so old! And sometimes you try to search those words up in like a dictionary, but like you can never find it? Well, yeah. Those words are slangs that use to be popular during the 70’s and 80’s but have obviously faded out. However, not all slangs from the 70s or 80s fade out. Today, we still use words from the 70’s, like chill (to relax), and from the 80’s, for example a wannabe (someone who tries to act like someone else). New words are also continuously being added to our everyday speech (or type). Words like LOL and BRB have become very popular for people who chat online, partly because it saves time. Some of the words we use now may fade out in the future, but some of them might stay. Words are constantly changing as society changed. This is the reason why dictionaries are being updated. Sometimes, slangs are being used so much that they get added into dictionaries as actual words. 

Independent Reading Project Reflection

I’ll admit it. I procrastinated. It was probably because I really didn’t like my book that much. But that could be just another excuse. However, I can’t say that I’ve learned nothing from the experience. I saw the world through a person that is very different from me. I cannot imagine myself thinking or doing the things that Holden does, and I often find myself annoyed at his attitude towards the world. One thing I really wonder about this book is why it is classified as a classic. I do not mean to criticize it in any way, but it just very far from my expectation of what a classic American Literature would be. When I asked this to a friend, she said it was probably because it was “the first book of its kind”. This might also be the reason why it was banned for so long. There are so many swear words and the author is very straightforward with things like sex. The tone and voice of the book was very realistic and unique. Overall,  I would say that I did put effort in my project, but I could have done better by doing a more detailed poster/patient card. 

Archetypes

Archetypes (n.) – the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based

We live in a world full of archetypes. From the Disney princess series or Superman than young boys and girls love to watch, to the most recent movie, Beastly, archetypes prevail. Seeing the “same” characters or plots again and again sound like a bore, so why does movie goers and book readers never seem to get tired when they spot the villain and hero, or when they go watch a typical love story where “the boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy looses girl and boy wins girl back”? This is probably because these archetypes are deeply rooted in our thinking. People like to classify things. We learn by doing so. So when we see the familiar brave prince and damsel in distress, things just click into place and we smile knowingly at what is to come. A famous analytical physiologist, Carl Jung, puts this into his theory. He proposes that people’s minds consist of the ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is universal and inherited. He continues by stating that the collective unconscious is composed of archetypes. We think by dividing people in the world to the shadow, the anima, the animus and the self. This explains people’s tendency to sort things.

Contemporary

The American history is divided into time periods, each with a defining way of thinking and expression. Major events in history are usually the causes of such shift in people’s thoughts. When the colonists first settled in the new world, their Protestant religion had a strong impact on the literature of the time. This time period was later called the Rationalism, where people believed that everything could be explained by the intension of God. Literature and artwork of the time put a strong emphasis on religion. After the American Revolution, people in the United States wanted to create voice of their own. People looked up to idealized Romantic heroes that were bigger than life. The Americans yearned to achieve the American Dream of freedom and prosperity. However, the Civil War, brought Americans back to reality. During the Realist movement, people stopped dreaming of the ideal and looked at the present. The subjects of this time period focused on real-life people, like the John Smith and worked in a factory and living in poor conditions. Then came the First World War. The shock of casualties and secret conspiracies between countries was reflected on the art movement of the time. Modernism sought to look at things in many different points of view. Finally, there was World War II, which brought the same intensity of disturbance on the world and caused people to re-think everything they had believed in. The contemporary, or post-modern, movement threw away all traditions and questioned what people use to believe in. There was a drastic change in expression that caused some to question whether contemporary art is a real form of art.  

Reflect on Your Project

I think each person in my group had a pretty fair share of the work. We did not have much time to get together, but I still think the poster worked out pretty well. Each of us did two posters: one on the connection with the group and the other one about the book itself. Christine did the connection with other literature. I thought her poster was really detailed. She made connections to several books she have read and wrote a thorough description on each of them. Daniel’s poster was more towards the artistic side. His poster was on the connection to the self and he drew two people that seemed to be in pain. I thought he did a great job as well. My poster was on the connection to the world. I wrote about how the women in The Handmaids Tale are in a similar situation as those in Muslim countries.

I do not think we really had a leader in our group. It was just three people that cooperated quite well. We discussed the format and paper color in class and then did most of the other work at home. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job. 

A Horror Story?

In the beginning, “A Rose for Emily” looked nothing like a horror story, but by the end of the story, you will feel a sense of uneasiness. You would also realize the little hints that the author drops in the story build up to an appalling end. Its not the usual type of horror story (the type in which you are constantly expecting a ghost to jump out). The setting is pretty normal. However, the ending is indeed horrific. The components of a good horror story would be the hints and suspense and the dreadful ending. I think Faulkner really did a great job in dong that in “A Rose for Emily”. The hints he gives are all really subtle. When reading the story, I had an uneasy feeling, but never really give my thoughts to it. It was only until the very end that I understood that he was dropping hints all along. It took me a while after I read the story to actually comprehend the ending. I had to fish some of the missing pieces of the puzzle back and put them together. “A Rose for Emily” might be the best horror story I’ve ever read. It’s not extremely scary, but the ending certainly creeped me out. Miss Emily’s action showed that she is more than eccentric. She probably turned crazy after her father died. 

Homer's End

Yes, the ending of “A Rose for Emily” was pretty surprising and a little disturbing, especially the part about the strand of gray hair. However, I thought the ending was really well written. It is like the last piece of evidence that pieced a mystery together. My take on the ending was that Miss Emily Grierson had killed Homer Baron on the night he went back to her house. He probably didn’t even plan on marrying her (he said himself that was wasn’t the “marrying type”), but only came back to say good-bye and spend one last night with her. However, Miss Emily could not bear to loose him, because of reputation and love, so she had planned to kill him, so he would stay with her forever, even if he was dead. So Miss Emily had prepared the room like a newly wed’s so she could spend one last night with him. She somehow got him to drink the poison and lay on the bed with her. She might have put the poison in some sort of drink and offered him he drink before they laid down. I think the most disturbing part might be the stand of gray hair. When Homer Baron was still alive, Miss Grierson’s hair is still black, but the strand of hair on the pillow was iron-grey. It hinted that Miss Grierson would still go back and lay in that bed with the dead Homer Baron. 

Nobel Speech

“Love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” A lot of stories can come out of these “universal truths”. Think of any decent story and you can usually find some kind of universal truth in it. The most common one I have seen would be love. There are many types of love, but the recurrent one in stories or in movies would be romance. Somehow romance seems to have the capability of really capturing the audience.

I can see many of the universal truth themes in Faulkner’s own short story, “A Rose for Emily”. There was the father and daughter love that wasn’t very apparent, but is still there. This love is mixed with some pride because the father thinks that no man is good enough to court his daughter. His love and pride actually hurts Miss Emily Grierson because he stopped her from getting married until a pretty old age. The whole Grierson family is very prideful. They are from a higher social class than the rest of the villagers, so they think they are better than the others. Even after Miss Emily’s father died, and she is left without much money, she still kept her heads up. The last theme that I want to discuss is pity. After Miss Emily’s father died. The villagers secretly felt sorry for her. However, their pity is also mixed with a little bit of joy and pride. They feel good that they can look down on Miss Emily. This is probably because she is from a higher social class, and commoners usually look up to them, so it felt good for the villagers to pity Miss Emily.

Eccentric or Crazy?

I do not believe that eccentricity and craziness is defined by the economical situation of a person. They have pretty different meanings.

An eccentric person might e slightly odd or are socially awkward, but they don’t make too much of a racket and are usually tolerable. Someone that’s crazy, however, would be mentally ill and out of control. I rich person can be crazy as much as a poor person could be eccentric. I don’t know where Miss Emily fit into the oddness scale, but I feel like she is disconnected from the world she lives in. She seems to be still living in the past. Her actions are understandable. By the social norms at the time period, Miss Emily’s father pretty much ended her future by not letting anyone court her when she was still available. Her last chance of living a normal life also ended when Homer Barron, the northern day worker, left her. After that, the only way she could find to continue her life is to shut herself from the world and life in the past, when she could still bear to live. I truly feel sorry for her, but for the townspeople, she’s an aristocrat, so she doesn’t deserve to be pitied upon. They don’t like her for acting with that arrogant air, but if they can put themselves in her shoes, they would understand that her situation is pretty pitiful.

The N-Word

I swear word is only a swear word if we say it is one. Sometimes I feel like if we don’t put so much emphasis on words being bad, people will loose interest in using them. When offensive languages are used in literature for the purpose of informing rather than to offend anyone, they should be acceptable. The authors were just trying to portray what real life was back then. They did not intend to offend anyone. Take Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn for example, the n-words are only used in dialogues, as a portrayal of the way people talked back then. Changing the n-word into ‘slave’ takes away from the ideas of the story. If the intensions are not to offend, I do not see the purposed of banning the books. Even if those words were words that insult me, I think I would still be able to accept it. However, some literature may really attack a certain group of people. If the author had the intension of offending anyone, those works may be more controversial. Those works, I believe should be banned because the author’s intension for using offensive language is not to inform, but to attack and hurt people.

Retreat

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, retreat is defined as “the act of moving back or withdrawing”. This word is most often used in battles, where one side looses and has to retreat. However, for the purpose of this blog, retreat is seen as a withdrawal from society. Just as we have studied before, Emily Dickenson is a great example of a person that withdrew from society. A retreat is not always a bad thing. Just look at Emily Dickenson: incredible literature was the product of her seclusion from society. Because she had not other outlet, poetry was the only way to express her feelings. However, the seclusion might not have been too beneficial for her as a person. She seemed like a pretty depressed person. Yet, retreat from society for a short period of time could be beneficial to a person. There are always times in our life, when we would just want to hide under our blankets and not come out. We may be faced with so much problems that you feel like you can’t handle them. At these times, it might be good to just withdraw and give ourselves some time to think and reflect on what to do next. But we cannot hide forever. If we don’t come out from our sanctuaries, and face the challenge, we would not be able to solve the problem.

Free Write

Hmm… this has been the only blog without a topic. I’ve always wanted to do one of these but now that I got the chance, I really don’t know what to write about. I guess I’ll just talk about my life right now or anything that’s on my mind right now.

APs are over! I am extremely overjoyed. The past few weeks had been so tiresome and busy. I feels don’t have time to just stop and have time for myself. The pressure was probably the worst part. I was pretty much constantly having a stomachache, which I always get when I’m nervous. But now that it’s all over, I feel just a tiny bit of emptiness. Life went back to normal. Probably too normal after all the chaos and I feel kind of disconnected. I don’ even know why. There’s just the usual homework that I have to do, but it just feels like something is missing.

But, enough with the APs, there’s got to be something more interesting for me to write about! I’ve been spending a lot of time on youtube recently, just watching random music videos and shows. A few days ago, someone told me about this website where I can convert music on youtube to mp3 files so I can listen to it on my iTunes. I love it! It is so useful! So far I’ve only converted three songs, but a plan on usesing it a lot more.

Oh and yes, I have to look for a new background for my blog. I wonder where I can get those….

I Hate Poetry

… not. I can’t say I hate it because I sometimes enjoy it but I can’t say I love it either, because I don’t like all poems. I guess it depends on the type of poetry I’m reading. I like poems that provoke a certain emotion or tell a touching story. When reading poems, I like to read them out loud, so I prefer poems that rhyme and have a good rhythm to it. But I don’t like poems that

Start off new lines at weird

Places and has

Very awkward,

Punctuations.

I just can’t read them correctly when poems are written that way. However, there is a type of poetry (I think its called picture poetry) that takes the shape of its subject. I once read a poem about an apple in the shape and color of an apple. It was pretty interesting.

“Poetry” by Marianne Moore is a poem about poetry. It was pretty interesting o read. However, the structure of the poem made it hard to read. It is another one of those poems with weird line structure and punctuation. Yes, I is a creative way of writing poetry, but I think sometimes, it distracts me from getting to the main topic of the poem.

Horror

I personally have very little experience with horror films because I am usually too scared to watch them, so I do not much to say about the different types of horror films, whether certain kinds are better than the others. However, on the rare occasions that I did, the buildup of the tension was much more unnerving than being scared itself. The suspense might be the key success in a horror. Of course, the ending cannot be too bad, but the tension is what gets the audience excited and addicted. The buildup takes much longer than the actual horror, but being scared of being scared might be scarier than being scared itself. When watching a horror film people would want to know: When will it come? You get a feeling of your organs being twisted and tied up because of all the suspense. (This is one of the reasons why I do not like to watch horror films. What’s the sense of putting yourself into such a vulnerable and uncomforting situation? Of course, I’m not the type of person that finds getting scared very amusing either.) I think the best type of tension build up would be very subtle, but gets the audiences thinking about what the small hints mean. 

A Journey

I did not think the journey had an actual destination. The journey that Prufrock referred to was not a physical journey, but more of a tour of his inner thoughts. He lets the reader in on his inner thoughts and troubles.

The poem does not follow the model of a usual storyline. The narrator started off unhappy and ended unhappy. The problem was there from the beginning but did not get solved in the end. There was no loss, but no gain either. The narrator broods over the same issue, but cannot find a way to solve it. The journey did not take the reader anywhere but gets the reader involved with the narrator’s way of thought. The way the poem was written is similar to a stream of thought. The subject jumps from one topic to another between stanzas. Prufrock talks about his inner thought and feelings in the first stanza and then in the second, makes a observation about his surroundings (“In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo”) then back to his own thoughts. In the very last line, “Till human voices wake us, and we drown”, can be thought of as a pull back to reality. At could be interpreted as human voices distracts Prufrock from his deep thoughts and drags him back to reality. 

Prufrock Revisited

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, written during World War II reflected the life and ideas of the time. People were depressed and spiritually empty. Life did not seem to have a goal. In line 25 of the poem, “And indeed there will be time / For the yellow smoke the slides along the street / Rubbing back upon the window pane;” and all throughout the stanza, the repetition of “there will be time” gives a feeling of hopelessness. It is like things are dragging on, and the narrator is always putting things away to be done later. The repetition gives an impression of an endless misery and life without a goal.

In line 84, Prufrock discusses death, saying “I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, / And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / and in short, I was afraid,” In this part of the poem, the Prufrock talks about his fear of death, but then asks “And would it be worth if after all”. Through the whole poem, he simply presents problems, but never finds a way to solve them. We can sense the fear in the first few lines, but he does try to conquer it. 

Anti-Hero

Modern society, with its fast-paced lifestyles and high technologies, has received criticisms from many including Joseph Campbell who described the current situation as a “stagnation of inauthentic lives and living . . . that evokes nothing of our spiritual life, our potentialities, or even our physical courage.” According to Campbell, modern society has made us all into listless people who only think and complain but never take action. People in modern society can’t be heroes, because they don’t take action. Instead, we can only be described as antiheros. The protagonist in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” seems to be just that. The whole poem is something that went on in one man’s mind. The poem presented the reader with J. Alfred’s Prufrock’s “journey” of unresolved issues with self-confidence and ways to present himself. The narrator never takes any action, but just sits at the side and worries about his life. From the beginning of the poem till the very end, nothing changes. The narrator did even make up his mind to change the way he thinks, or try to experience something new. He just hints at his problems and let it hang there, never solving it. 

What's His Problem?

“And indeed there will be time/ To wonder, “Do I dare?” and “Do I dare?”” This is one of my favorite lines in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. This line also summarizes the basic ideas of the poem. J. Alfred Prufrock, the narrator of the poem, seemed to be thinking of something throughout the whole poem. He has something he want to do, but is hesitant about. He never tells the reader what exactly he is so worried about. He mentions the problem here and there in the poem, but whenever it seems as though he is going to tell, he changes the subject, as though he is too embarrassed to admit what he thinks. His problems might have something to do about the women in the room that “come and go/ Talking of Michelangelo”, because he seems to be very self-conscious, always wondering what the women think of him. “(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!)” This can be pretty understandable, as Prufrock is being described as a relatively old man, probably without much experience with women. He keeps asking himself  “How should I presume?” He does not know how to act  get his goal.

Poetry's Social Function

I have always appreciated poetry, but thought of it as more of an entertainment than a necessity. To me, poetry is an art in the form of language, a byproduct of literature, a beautiful decoration. It was something that was knowledgeable and appealing, but not essential. However, on seeing T.S. Elliot’s assertion, the realization hit me. I had never thought deep enough to realize the importance of the poetry. Poetry, with its rhythms and rhymes, plays a crucial role in the preservation of language and culture. Poetry can be seen as the more sophisticated level of literature. It is also a representation of the culture. Therefore, without advancements in poetry, literature would slowly be drowned out. Without innovative poets, literature from a certain culture can eventually be lost in the midst of more dominant societies.

Poetry also has an impact on history. Poetry transforms and advances with time. From Shakespeare’s fourteen-line sonnet to Whalt Whitman’s free verse and to Ezra Pound’s Imagism, rules and subject matters of poetry has changed greatly. These changes in poetry reflect the ideas of the period. Poetry is more than literature. It is a mix of styles, ideas, history and culture presented in the form of art.

War and Economics

The start of the 20^th century was marked by the first of the greatest wars in human history, World War I. Then it was promptly followed by the Great Depression that left many Americans and others around the world without a home. Now, at the turn of a new century, the 21^st century, we are again faced with economic downfalls, and the revolts and revolutions of many African nations for Democracy. Although the economic and political crisis in current years is of a much smaller magnitude, it cannot be denied that we are facing similar problems as what we did one hundred years ago. Do these things happen in a cycle? The answer to this problem is fairly evident. It is not possible to have positive progress all the time. After a period of growth, there will always be a time of downfall. Humans get lazy when life becomes too easy for them. New views towards the world emerge, so there will be conflicts between the old and the new, and this causes disagreements. Disputes, or even wars, are not necessarily a bad thing. After the controversy ends, and it always does, there will be new solutions. New solutions signifies progress.

No Ideas but in Things

 There should not be any limitations on the subjects of poetry. Poetry is an expression of thought and feelings. We think about all kinds of things and have varied feelings; consequently poetry should not be confined to any type of topics. I do not believe that there is any topic that is more “poetic” than the other. A good writer can create a fabulous poem out of something that seems ordinary, just like a good painter can draw a painting of a dilapidated house and make it look incredible.

The imagists were a group of poets that presented poems in a clear, sharp and concise fashion. Poets of this movement, which first emerged in the beginning of the 20^th century strive towards clarity by using simple, but exact words. Every word they choose to use is functional in creating the image the poets’ desired to showcase. These imagists avoid flowery and decorative words, because they are deemed as “useless”. Another characteristic of Imagism is the choice of subject matters. They focus on simple things that did not seem “poem-worthy” to the other poets at the time. However, by describing these subjects through lucid imagery, Imagists believes they have pinpointed on the essence of poetry.

Historical Influences

I am familiar with most of the major events in this timeline. One event that was new to me was the Spanish Civil War. This is probably because I have never learned much about Spanish history.  Other than that, I knew briefly about the other political events. The most influential event during the time period was undoubtedly World War One and World War Two because it affected the whole world. Country borders were changed as a result of the wars and countries took sides and had allied countries and enemy countries. One other important event was the Great Depression. During this time, the stock market crashed and banks closed down, leaving a large population of Americans jobless and homeless.

Several of the literary events were new to me. I have heard of Ezra Pound before, but did not know what he did. After looking at the timeline, and did a bit of research, I learned that he developed a writing style called imagism, that I see pretty often in writings today. One of the books that I am interested in reading is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is said to be a representational book about the Jazz age.

Social Influences – Entertainment

Entertainments from the past and entertainments now have changed. This is largely due to the advancements in technology.  Back before radios were invented, entertainment might consist of reading a book or playing card games. Then, in the 1920 when the radios were invented, crowds rushed to buy this new machine that could broadcast sound. Families would gather around a radio and listen to shows, news or songs. Then came the movies. The very first movies were black and white motion pictures without any sound. Music was performed while the movie played.  As technology improved, color and sound was added to the movie to get the movies we watch nowadays. Then there was the television and the video games. With the television, news and shows were sent right to each family. Another groundbreaking advancement is the computer and the Internet. Now, with everyone in the world connected to the Internet, there is an explosion of entertainment created ranging from video games to video sharing to social networking websites. Some people today can just by a computer for hours. With so much entertainment available to us, people seem to lack focus. They sometimes put too much time entertainment and forget about work. 

Modernism

Modernism has a bold emphasis on bold and new experimentation of form and style. It is like a revolution of the tradition. Looking at the past literary periods, there seem to be a pattern of rejections and revolutions. Romanticism resulted from rejection towards the industrial revolution, and so the focused on nature. Realism that came after the Civil War was he rejection of the ideal. Finally in Modernism, which began in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, there was the rejection of the rigid rules in Realism. It also rebelled against things that have always thought to be correct. To me, modernism is like a burst of creativity. I often find modern art to be very abstract, and very deep at the same time. Mostly I would not understand the meaning of the work unless it was explained. Modern artist like to show what is in their minds, which can be confusing and a little disturbing at times. In the textbook it says that modern artwork and literature work takes an “interest in the inner workings of the human mid, sometimes expressed though new techniques, such as stream of consciousness” I fully agree with this statement because this is also what I perceive from modern art.

The American Dream

The American dream was the ideal goal for Americans since the birth of the country. They see the country as full of possibilities and promises. They see a perfect life in front of them. This ideal was not held by one person or a few Americans, but a dream for the majority. They believed that if they work hard, they could get wherever they want, regardless of their family backgrounds. They also dreamed that America would be a perfect country where everyone is equal and would continuously improve. But how practical is this dream? Its pretty impractical, I’ll have to say. It is impossible that everyone would get into politics or become the richest man in the country. There are only a handful and successful politicians and only one richest man in the country. With so many people dreaming of such a dream, it is evident that this is not plausible. This ideal finally came to an end in the twentieth century. People finally realized that the American dream is too idealistic. In the twentieth century, the modern age emerged. It rebelled against long-held beliefs and created new ones of their own. It not only took a turn in tradition, but also in art and literature.

Better things?

I believe the dilemma of the modern age is broader than that of the quote. Yes, the matter of speed may be a part of it, but I think the bigger question is whether the changes of modern society beneficial to people. This would include everything like the new technology to the growing population. Are all these new and fast ways of communication and documentation good for people? People are living faster and more convenient lives than the people did in the past. Is using chemicals on the environment good? What about eating or using manufactured goods? Chemically made things now play a huge role in peoples’ lives.

There are always two sides to al these questions. To me, I would like to believe that the progress that we are making is one that is going forward rather than backwards. Some of the developments we have may be detrimental to the Earth and for these things. I would like these to be changed. As for Willa Cather’s concern, I believe that yes we are doing better things. Our societies are definitely making progress. In the past, people could only communicate with those living near them. Travel is also something really hard. One of the best improvements we have made is to connect the people of the globe together. 

On Impulse

The impulse I get the most often is to stand up and jump around in the middle of the class when the class gets too boring. Usually, I would control myself, or else my classmates and teachers would think that I am either weird or should be diagnosed with ADHD and get some medications. I am usually pretty successful in controlling this kind of urge, probably because I have lived with it for so long, but sometimes I’ll just follow my impulse. The immediate reaction I get is the class staring at me like I have gone coo coo. I’ll just smile back at them and then sit down like nothing happened, but then I would burst out laughing at what I just did and people would look at me like I’m going crazy again. Those are the reason why I usually do not follow my impulses.

Other than that, I generally can contain myself and control most of my other impulses (Okay, maybe other than eating ice cream because its too addicting and I can’t stop eating it once I start.) I believe I’m the type of person that would think before I speak. My actions may be spontaneous at times, but I am more careful about speaking. I would not want to hurt anymore by my impulsive criticism or thought.

Romantics v Realists

Romanticism and Realism are two drastically different literary forms. Romanticism focuses on the ideal and the natural. It creates what is known as the Romantic hero and makes the hero larger than life. These heroes are like role models of the society. There are real life romantic heroes as well as fictional ones. In the romantic literary and artistic style, one important character is chosen and glorified. Also, in romantic writing emotions and originality are valued and expressed. Aside from the Dark Romanticism, Romantic literature is very bright and creative.

After the Civil War, the Americans were pulled back to reality, and so the name of the new literary style: Realism. It focuses on the hardship of the average American. He subjects of realist literatures are the poor Americans workers living in the cities. It is a much darker style. The attitudes of realist writers are more negative than those of the Romantics. They no longer want to look the ideal and unrealistic. They seek to be more down to earth and often times, pessimistic. Writers also tried to use everyday language when writing their work. This makes their work even closer to the people of the time.

(**Disclaimer: Because of the similarity between this topic and the previous ones, I may have some repetition in my blog posts) 

Think About...

American writer and poets responded to the Civil War by writing novels and poems on the war and its effects after the war ended. This continued for several decades. Even though the war ended in 1865, the most representative novel about the war,The Red Badge of Courage, was written in 1895 by an author that have never lived through the Civil War. However, the new literary style emerged after the war: Realism. The Civil War had brought the once ideal Americans back to the ground. Instead of depicting perfect and bigger than life heros, artists focused on ordinary characters, especially the lower class that were living in the cities. Novels were written in everyday speech pattern to show what “real” people were like. Some writing emphasized ethical struggles and social issues. 

A movement called naturalism came out of realistic style. It differs from realism because it is more of a philosophical position. While a realistic writing would portray a situation, naturalism shows a person’s fate. Naturalism has a pretty pessimistic point of view and shows the belief that humans’ fates are determined not by themselves, but decided early on by nature. A common characteristic of naturalism is detachment, which means the author writes in a way that makes the characters seem distant. These stories focus more on the plot than on the characters. 

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

Women during the time of Chopin’s story, A Pair of Silk Stockings and the women in The Handmaid’s Tale were suppressed and taken away of their rights. In the past, after a women got married, they were supposed to stay home and take care of the family. In A Pair of Silk Stockings, Mrs. Sommers felt a feeling of importance after she found fifteen dollars. The first things she thought about after the found the money was what she wanted to get for her children. However, in the end, rebelled and descided to do something for herself for once. When she went shopping, she said she hadn’t have the happing feeling of buying things for a long time. 

I feel like the women in The Handmaid’s Tale have even less rights. They have set rules for each of their roles and are prohibited from reading or writing. Men dominate society and women are seen almost as properties of men. Each commander gets a wife, a handmaid and two Marthas. 

I am very thankful to be living in the 21st century in a country where women an men have equal rights. Females get to have the same education and voting rights as the males. 

A Reprieve

As a student, what makes life boring is all the endless homework and extra work piled onto you waiting be done. Everything seems like rush sometimes and the workload just increases. The pressure we have on is also increasing, especially for the juniors. They say we that we will have ten months. Ten months of hard work and then we will get our rewards. But it will not end there. Life will continue and we will have to continue to work. However, there are still times in life when we couldn’t help but smile. It may be talking to a friend, a sunny day or even just watching a little kid eating a lollipop and craving one yourself. Traveling also takes you out of your normal context and puts you to a new place where you can relax and just have fun for a while. This is probably why I like to travel so much. It is not only about visiting new things, but also about taking a break from my usual life and doing something different. Even when I don’t get to travel, I can sometimes be happy in school, where I can socialize with my friends. I tend to laugh a lot in school. I think it releases my pressure and recharges my energy.

A Change of Heart

The romantic period is marked by idealistic and romantic. It is about the nature-loving brave, and undaunted heroes. It was probably the time when literature and arts is the most colorful and imaginative. However, the American Civil War brought people back to reality. Influenced by the war, literature and arts during that time was gloomy. The color they used in the painting was drastically different. Romantic painting is colorful and imaginative. It usually portrays heroes and makes them great and wonderful. Realist painting, however, has a much darker color tone. There is usually a lot of brown in the paintings. The subject of the artwork is also different. Realistic art focuses on the average people, which are usually pretty poor. It portrays city life and how gloomy and dirty things are in the city. An example of a realist subject would be a group of factory workers coming back from work. They would all seem very tired from long hours of work. The damage of the war on people’s minds and hearts are portrayed in these works. It worked o showing the real world, which people of the time thought was always negative. Compared to romanticism, realism is a lot more negative.

I Exist

One hundred years after the United States became in independent nation, it was growing fast and had become a pretty influential nation. During that period, the people of United States felt confidence in their nation and its development. The artistic era of the time was Romanticism. It was a pretty ideal form of art with adventure stories and romantic heroes. However, after almost one hundred years of war, a conflict between the north and the south broke out. This resulted in the American Civil War that started in 1861. The Civil War was like a shove back to reality. People again experienced the horrific era of war. After the war, a new form of art emerged: surrealism. The ideas of surrealism were evident in Stephan Crane’s poem, War is Kind. It portrayed man as overconfident over their existence. In the poem, the man proudly told he universe that he exists, but the universe just replied that the fact does create any sense of obligation over this existence. The existence of mankind on the tiny planet, Earth, in the solar system is just a small part of the universe. This poem is telling the reader that we have been too confidence in ourselves, but now we have to realize the fact that our existence doesn’t make that much of a difference.

Power

In the Handmaid’s Tale, there is a system of roles in different social and power levels. At first glance, the social status and power seem to be simple: the commander has the most power, then the wife, then comes the Marthas and the male helpers like Nick, and at the lowest lever, the handmaids. However, when looking deeper into the story, the wives always seem to be jealous and hateful towards the handmaids. Why is that? This is probably because the wives are nothing but a shell. They have no actual worth in the society. The whole point of the society is to suppress women, however, still find a way to reproduce. In this sense, the handmaids are actually more important in the society than the wives. Yes, the wives get more freedom to see each other and gossip, but they have nothing to do most of the time. All they can do is tend the garden do pretty useless things around the house. In the birth ceremony, the wife pretends to give birth to the baby, when the handmaid is actually giving birth. After the baby is born, the wife replaces the handmaid on the bed to take the role of the mother of the baby. I think the reason why this society works this way is because it doesn’t want connections to be formed. The handmaid gives birth, but the wife takes over from then on.

Slanted Truth

I think to “tell all the truth but tell is slant” means to tell everything truthfully, but do so in a more subtle way so that it doesn’t hurt anyone. I think this applies to harsh facts. When we know the truth will hurt someone, we should still tell them the whole thing, but do so moderately so that it doesn’t hit the person hard. This is especially crucial when talking to kids. As in the poem “As Lightening to the Children eased/ With explanation kind”. If we tell kids the plain harsh facts, they might not be able to take it. 

I strongly agree with the last two lines of the poem: “The Truth must dazzle gradually/ Or every man be blind”. If the truth is overwhelming, it must be told gradually, or else everyone would be “blinded” by it. I think the choice of the word “dazzle” here is very smart. Dazzle means to blind temporarily by bright lights. The truth can be analogous to light here because, both things are positive, but too much of it at once can hurt somebody. 

My favorite line in the poem is “The Truth’s superb surprise”. This line is really fun to read because of the alliteration of s and p in superb and surprise. The meaning of the line is also quite interesting. I liked how Dickinson described truth as a splendid surprise.

Pessimism

Many of Emily Dickenson’s poems focused on pessimistic topics: of death, loneliness, isolation, etc. Given her life story and personality of a recluse, we can probably guess why she wrote the types of poems she did. Emily Dickenson was probably a very pessimistic person and sought to express her sorrow in her poems. She didn’t have much to do being alone in her house, so she had much time to dwell on her situation and other important life lessons.

The author of the book The Handmaid’s Tale is the opposite of Emily Dickenson. Margaret Atwood was a feminist. She wrote the book as an exaggeration of the oppression of females to show her point of view. The author’s point of view is actually the opposite of the point of view of the government in The Handmaid’s Tale. The narrator in the story, however, is in a more similar situation as Emily Dickenson. Both women live in a society where men and women are not equal and women are not supposed to express too much emotion. Their situations differ in that Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale was forced to stay indoors most of the time while Emily Dickenson had chosen to hide from the public.

Speculation of Sci-Fi?

To me, speculative fiction and science fiction can be very similar. Both types of fiction deal with the future. The difference is that science fiction focuses on science and technology while speculative fictions deals with future societies. I think the two books that we read in class last year, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, can be classified as a mix of both speculative and sci-fi. Both books have societal and technological aspects in the stories. The Handmaiden’s Tale, on the other hand, mainly focuses on society. I agree with the author, Margaret Atwood, that The Handmaiden’s Tale is a speculative fiction. Personally, I do not like reading either sci-fi or speculative fiction, especially ones about distorted utopia. They are mostly about oppressive governments, strict monitor systems and secret spies. I do not believe that our society would become that way in the future. I doubt that we, as human, would choose to go the backwards direction as to burn books like in Fahrenheit 451 or oppress women all over again like in The Handmaiden’s Tale. However, there is one speculative fiction I have read that I really liked. The book is called The Giver. In the story, there was no oppressive government, but a community in which all the history is remembered by one person, the receiver. It is a very touching story, but at the same time, kind of sad.

The Soul

In Emily Dickenson’s poem, “The Souls Selects her own Society”, she writes about how our soul has certain preferences towards people and once we have chosen, the soul shuts out everyone else. I do not agree with her depiction of making friends, at least not exactly. I do believe that we have preferences, but these preferences are sometimes not explainable. Mostly, we would think that we are attracted to people with common interests but this is not always the case. In some cases, we are attracted to those that are opposite of us. I believe friendship is a combination between of mind, feelings, and circumstances. We would like to talk to people that we are able to share a topic with. This can be affected by intelligence or family background. Feelings are pretty obvious. Sometimes there isn’t a reason to why we like a certain person, we just do. As for circumstances, I believe this is a very important factor to any type of relationship. In a circumstance, for example war, two people that might have been friends could end up being enemies. In a different circumstances two people who starts out hating each other can end up to be best friends. 

Real or Romantic?

I think Whitman is idealizing the situation of the workers. In the past, workers had to work for long hours with low pay. There weren’t any two-day weekends, so the workers had to work everyday. Whitman described all the workers as if they are enjoying their job, but this is most likely not the case. Many of the work he described are labor work.

One question I would like to ask Whitman is that is he had ever been in a place of a worker. Does he know what it is like? Even though he says he likes to look at things in other people’s perspective, he doesn’t seem to be doing so in this poem. Or maybe, the purpose of the poem isn’t to describe things as real as they are. I think, for the poem, Walt Whitman is trying to paint a picture rather than describing the facts and conditions. He makes an idealistic painting of life and work in America of being cheerful and happy. This poem might not be intended to portray the truth. It might be a song, as the title say, to make people in America feel happy about their life and their country. 

Work Songs

“I Hear America Singing” is a poem by Walt Whitman that celebrated the American occupations during his time. I believe that Whitman focused on occupation as a representation of America because it requires workers of each occupation to do their best to create a strong and successful country. By describing the work as different types of songs, Whitman gave the poem a more merry and lighthearted tone. It also makes it sound like all of their workers are satisfied with their jobs. One part I liked about the poem was the inclusion of domestic jobs for women. Whitman acknowledged the female’s role in society and not just the men’s. He wrote, “The delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl sewing or washing”. Another part I liked about the poem was how he described the singing of each type of occupation to be unique, which is quite true.

This poem that Whiteman wrote was of occupations during his time. If he were to be writing in the present day, the occupations would be drastically different. There are more jobs related to high-technology and electronics, which the people didn’t have back then. 

Ode

I want to write an ode about post-it notes. I am still unsure about the exact details and I’m not sure if it will work out, but I want to give it a try. I came put with this topic because I wanted to write about something I use in my everyday life. I use post-it notes a lot because I am a very forgetful person and I think they make good reminders. I have post-it notes all over my table of to-do lists and all sorts or reminders. I also like them because they come in all kinds of bright colors and sometimes shapes. They are like tiny decorative reminders on my desk and they make me happy when I see them. I am also vey thankful of them because they have saved my live several times. However, I am not sure if I will be able to write a complete ode about post-it notes, so I am still brainstorming about other topics. So far, I want to work with he post-it note idea.

I did Google “ode for post-it note” today, but only to find a video on it. The video is actually quite interesting and cute. It is a short story on post-it notes and their founder. Although it didn’t help me much on the poem, I thought it was quite entertaining.

Oppression

Women have fought for equal right and opportunity for many years in the past. Today, women in the United States and in many other countries are treated equally as men. However, in several Muslim countries, women are still much inferior to men. They are often treated as objects and properties and are thought of as evil creatures that corrupt men into giving in to their desires. Women in Muslim countries have to cover up their bodies to prevent men from having sexual desires. Women also had to walk a few steps behind their husbands. I once read somewhere that a person surprisingly observed a Muslim man letting his wife walk in front of him. When asked why, the man said that there were explosives on the ground. He risked his wife’s life so that he can be safe. This act is extremely selfish and demeaning.

In The Handmaid’s Tale women who once had equal right as men were striped of all of their rights and were used only as tools for reproduction. The condition of the women in the story was unbelievable. Why would these women allow men to once again take away all their rights after they had worked so hard for it in the past? 

Holiday Reality

My Chinese New Year holiday went pretty much as planned. I went to Okinawa for four days and then stayed in Ping Dong for two more days. Okinawa wasn’t as interesting as I had hoped. Even though the island is famous for its tourism, I didn’t feel like it was a very special island. The most interesting thing that we did was probably a halfway submarine in a lake. We saw corals and fish, but the corals weren’t very colorful, so it didn’t seem as exciting. I found out that Okinawa had a lot of water activities so most tourists go during the summer. However, I did find out something really interesting. When I was on the plane ride to Okinawa, I saw a map that showed the depth ocean and noticed that if the water level got lower Taiwan is actually connected to Okinawa and to Japan! I thought this was pretty interesting. The most disappointing part about the trip was probably the food. We ate the same ting almost every meal except for the very first meal and the very last meal. Most of the food the island had was imported so meals were expensive. We couldn’t do much except eat instant noodles at night, which was fine by me.

Holiday Plans

This year’s Chinese New Year holiday will be an exciting one for me. Right now, my cousins and grandparents are already at my house and they are all playing Wii with my sister. The room is filled chatters of the holiday and catching up on things they happened in the last year. Tomorrow, we will all fly to Okinawa, where we will stay for around 4 days. I’m not sure what we will be doing there, but I heard the food would be good.  For me, what we do on this trip wouldn’t be that important to me. I am happy as long as I get to spend some time with my grandparents and cousins and not have to stay home alone like I did for Christmas break! After we get back from Okinawa, we’re going down south to my grandparent’s place. Although I’ve only lived in Ping-Dong when I was one, I always felt much at home over there. I use to visit my grandparents a lot when I was younger, so the house has a lot of my childhood memories. I look forward to spending another Chinese New Year there, even thought it might be just like any other.

Justice?

People of all gender, races and ethnicity seek for justice. This is why judicial courts exist. When people or organizations feel like they have been treated unfairly, they go to the court to get the issue resolved. In theory, courts are places that will give people the justice or the punishment they deserve, but theories are ideal. Even in courts, there is may be injustice, sometimes, sue to mistaken judgments, but other times because of a biased jury. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Tom Robinson did not get the justice he deserved. Atticus had provided convincing proof that Tom did not rape Miss Ewell, but because of the long history of racial difference, Tom was still trialed as guilty. During the time period of the story, African Americans were commonly treated as inferiors. To the white people, the African Americans could not be trusted and are usually hated. In Tim’s case, he wasn’t only fighting for his justice, but also the dignity of his race. Even though he lost the case and was later killed because he tried to escape, his case taught Jem, Scout and Dill an important lesson. Even though is seemed as though nothing has changed in the minds of the white people in the community, it is one tiny step towards justice. 

Film v Print

In my opinion, book and movies offer different types of pleasure. For me, the pleasure in watching movies is that I can do it with many people, and afterwards, we can all discuss about it. Reading books is more of a personal thing that I do in a quiet place. However, if we compare the actual contents and of movies and books, I would usually prefer books. I feel like when reading books, I have more freedom to imagine people and places than when I watch a movie. Oftem times, if I watch a movie after I read a book, I get disappointed because the movie is different from what I expected. This is part of the reason why I would prefer reading books before I watch the movie. This way I get to imagine my own characters ad events before I watch a visual representation of it. If I watch the movie first, I images from the movie would pop into my brain when I read the books, which to me, makes it less interesting. Another reason why I would prefer books is that movie sometimes cut off scenes that the book contains. This takes away some of the small but important parts of the story.

American Poetry Today

Poetry seemed to be a lot more poplar in the past.  Before there was free verse, poetry was also a lot harder to write. There were a lot more rules like rhymes and rhythms to poems.  I feel like it’s the rules that create the challenge to writing poetry and also makes it much more interesting to read. Compared to other types of poems, free verse seems to be the most common type of poem nowadays. Although they are also interesting pieces to read, I feel like free verse doesn’t possess as much rhythm to it, which I think is what makes reading poems more entertaining. In American life today, the most popular type of “poem” would be song lyrics. Even in pop songs, there are rhymes and certainly rhythm and beats to them. Song lyrics often strive to be catchy so the lyrics are often written with similar techniques as poems. In the past, people would recite poems for plain pleasure. Today, we would more often hear people singing to all kinds of songs. I think people started to prefer songs to poems because there is a tune to it. It offers the same pleasure of reading a poem, but is even better because there is music that makes it all the more colorful.

Letter to the world

Emily Dickenson, another really great American poet, wrote in one of her poems, “This is the letter my letter to the World/ That never wrote to me.” By looking at these words, she seems to be a pretty pessimistic and lonely person. To me, she feels as though she is trying to reach out to the world by communicating to it through letter, but the world is too big and too busy that the letter just got lost somehow and no letter is returned to her. She feels overshadowed by all the other things going on in the world. Because Emily Dickenson is a recluse, she is not very connected to the rest of the world. She doesn’t have much interaction with people. To me an analogy to this line of the poem is like a person yelling at a valley. There is no response but the echo of your own voice coming back to haunt you and remind you of your loneliness. I feel like Whitman and Dickenson are two very different types of people. While Whitman tries to go out and experience the world through everyone’s perspective, Dickenson stays home and wrote sorrowful poems about life and nature.

Boot Soles

Walt Whitman, one of the greatest American poets, once wrote “If you want me again look for me under you boot soles.”  This is a pretty strange and abstract quote. Why would someone be under somebody else’s boot soles? Is he trying to say that he is so insignificant that we just walk above him and not notice him? That is quite impossible because he is, nonetheless, the one of greatest American poets. I think an idiom that might explain his quote is “don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his boots”. The meaning of this quote is that we shouldn’t judge a person until we think through things in their perspective and fully understand their situation. Here, Whitman is trying to say that he has tried to walk in everyone boots and to understand their points of views behind each person’s stories. Maybe this is what made him one the best poets. If he can write things in many different people’s point of view, the readers would be able to experience new perspectives when they read his poems. By looking at things in other different people’s eyes, we can learn things that we never knew of before. 

Sound Effects in "The Raven"

One reason that Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven” became so popular because it was pleasing to read and listen to. The sound effects and he rhythm of the poem make it very much like a song. The sound effect that stood out the most is the repeating use of the word “Nevermore”. It is the last word of many of the stanzas. The repetition really gets into the reader’s head like an echo. The word gives a feeling of sorrow and hopelessness. Another important sound effect is the rhyme of the poem. Throughout the whole poem, Poe used the same rhyme -ore. This brings an overall connection with all of the stanzas. He also had a few examples of rhymes within the lines like “But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping/ And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door”. Poe also used alliteration which” is very evident in the first stanza in phrases like “while I pondered, weak and weary” and “while I nodded, nearly napping”. Another interesting sound effect that made the poem even more life-like is the use of onomatopoeia. He used words like “rap” and “tap” to describe faint sound of knocking the door. He describes the “rusting” sounds of curtains, and “flutter” of the raven, the narrator’s “mutter”.

Symbol of the Raven

In Western culture and in Christianity the raven is a symbol for complex and contradictory things.  Because of its black color, ravens are connected with negative things like death, destruction, impurity and solitude. It also represents darkness and evil. However, it is also a symbol of some positive things. Because it can learn to talk, the raven is a symbol of wisdom. In Christianity, ravens are also the protectors of prophets. I think Edgar Allen Poe choice of the bird as the symbol matches the ideas of the poem very well. The bird in the poem is also signifies something quite controversial. It has connections with the narrator’s solitude, Lenore’s death, and the narrator’s sadness over her death. The events also happen to be at night, which gives the feeling that the raven just came out from the dark. Another important characteristic that the raven has is that it can talk. In our textbook, it mentions about Poe’s writing process and how he was choosing the bird he wanted use. He was deciding between a parrot and a raven because both birds can talk. I think that the raven is a much suitable bird to use. Because of its color and some of the stories and symbols behind it. It gives the more sorrowful and dark tone the poem is aiming at.

Ugly Reality

In to Kill a Mocking Bird, Scout, Jem and Dill sneaks in the court to watch the Tom Robinson case. Atticus didn’t want to children to be at the trial because he did not want the children see the ugly reality. Atticus had known in the very beginning that the chances of Tom Robinson winning the case would be very low. He did not want his children to get their hopes up and then get hammered down by the results. Atticus as a parent believed in telling the truth to children. He would explain with patience the questions his children have about the world. However, he does not want young people to witness the harsh reality of discrimination and race inequality. I think that it is not a great idea for young children to witness criminal trials. I think presenting them harsh realities at such a young age would shatter a lot of their dreams. On the other hand, it would also be impractical if we let children believe in a perfect world for too long. I think whether a person is appropriate enough to witness a criminal trial depends on their mental age and knowledge. Although Scout is young, she is very knowledgeable and mature for her age. For her, even though it may hurt to know the truth at an early age, I think she should be allowed to witness the trial with her choice.

Licked

When talking about defending Tom Robinson, Atticus said, "we were licked s hundred years before we started." He means that Black people have been treated as inferiors for years before and to defend a black man would be a very hard job. Even thought the trial has not begun, they are unready behind at the starting line. Black men were not seen as descent men. According to Atticus, there have not been trials where the black had won a court case. Although this is true, Atticus is still firm in his decision to defend Tom Robinson. He said that there are times in a man’s career where he just had to do things that would impact his life and this is one of these cases for him. He feels the obligation to defend Tom. He even said to Scout that if he did not take the case, he would no have the right to make his children’s listen to him anymore. I believe that he reasons for his strong feelings on the subject are caused by his objection to inequality among white and black people. Even though he knows that people in the county would be mad at his decision and that his children might have to go through a hard time, he still decided to help Tom because of his strong belief in equality.

I Dare You

“I dare you to drink this.” “No, I double-dare you.” This is a game that my sister and me use to play when we were young. When we were bored after a meal at a restaurant, we would mix a disgusting drink. It usually starts off with the usual things: tea, orange juice, soup. Then we would start adding things like soy sauce, pieces of vegetable, rice and even tissue. Although we would try and make each other drink it, neither of us ever did. We never felt the pressure to have to respond to the dare. However, one day, we were eating lunch with a friend when we started this game again. We dared him to drink the drink we made and he actually took a sip! Both of us stared at him with huge eyes, but he just smiled and said it didn’t taste that bad. Then all of us started laughing.

I have heard people do crazy things because of dare, but I never understood why. I get that people don’t want to be called chickens or cowards but the taunting can’t last too long. Maybe they want to prove themselves to their friends. However, I do admit sometimes dares are fun to watch. It might not be something big, but its fun when a whole group of people starts screaming or laughing after the dare is done.

Welcome Back!

This year’s winter break had not been a very interesting one at all. For the whole first week, I had to stay home and do math while my sister got to go on a tour to an Indonesian island (I think). I realized how annoying it gets to stay home pretty much alone (my dad comes home at night). I didn’t have anyone to talk to except my dog, which is not that great of a listener. Though one good thing that I did get out of all this was that I got to sleep. A lot. I woke up at around noon everyday and it felt good to not have to wake up at seven in the morning.

In the second week, my mom, my sister and cousins came back. What a relief! The house is finally noisy again. I got to go shopping in Taipei on Monday. I was so happy to be out of the house! Monday was pretty nice. I got some new clothes and a very warm scarf. The rest of the week was pretty much the same until Thursday night. That night, I ate dinner with a friend that came back from the states and then we went to her house to chat and relax. Then on Friday, I woke up early to go to Taipei again. I went to paintball with a huge group of people and then went another friend’s house to count down. It is 2011 now and might be the busiest year for me, so I hope that this year will go well.