Journal Entry 36: F451

            Yesterday we saw pats of Fahrenheit 451 the movie in class. At first everyone was excited because we can finally watch a movie. But after the movie is played for some time, everyone started to criticize the movie. Everyone thought that the movie was the weirdest and worst movie on Earth because no one really understood what was going on. Since we didn't read the book, I guess it is normal to not understand. This book of the movie, which we are gonna read during christmas break, is a book written sixty years ago talking about "the future" that has already passed for us. In the book, the author tries to picture what will it be like in the future and also made a lot of theories in it. In my opinion some of the technology is more advanced than the technology we have now. For example, the television for the family served as many purposes. And the television can also communicate with the audience and ask the audience questions. But other technology in the movie was less advanced then the technology we have now. Some differences in the movie from reality is that we don't burn books now, but on the other hand, we burn people's creativity and intelligence now. And like I said before, we don't have the talking television.

Journal Entry 35: Being Pushed

            Parents are known as the people that push their children to do a lot of things. And those parents who push really hard for children to work harder or learn more things are mostly Asian parents. As I am an Asian and raise in a Asian family, my parents often push me to work harder on many different kinds of things. One of the main things that they push me to work harder is school work and academic. My mother and father expects me to get straight As for my report cards. They expect me to be a top student in our class. And they expect me to be a smart kid. So they push really hard on my academic if I ever don't meet their expectations. Another one is that they push me to sleep earlier. They push me to sleep earlier in many kinds of ways that I hate about. They also push me to be athletic, talented, and many others. Most of the time I listen to what they want me to do and I try my best to accomplish their expectations. When they push me to do something, I accept it. I try to please them other then reject. But when I think the expectation is beyond my reach, I will rebel. Or when I think their exceptions are things I don't like to do, I will rebel and resist. When they push me to do something, like every other kid, I feel annoyed at first. But I understand that they do all of the things for me so I will try my best. People's high expectation usually will make me want to work harder because I am the kind of person who likes to ake challenges and won't give up that easily.

Journal Entry 34: Negative

            People meet obstacles along their way of life. No one has a perfect life of always winning and being lucky, and everything works out for them. There must be a time when you don't be that lucky an meet obstacles and negative experiences rather than the positive experiences. I strongly believes that a negative experience can be a good thing because someone can learn from the experience and never do the wrong thing again, they can learn from mistakes. And also, there must be negative experiences in order to have positive ones, if you don't have a negative experience, how can you define a positive experience? Such an experience can influence who we are in many ways. The negative experiences can make us learn, and next time, we won't do it again. And also, people see negative experiences, then we know who we want to be and who we don't want to be. My sister has a positive influence on me. She studies hard and talks in a very polite manner. And that is what I have to learn from her or already learned from. Some of my friends, on the other hand, is a negative experiences for me. They don't do their homework, speak too much bad words, and don't respect other people. And by looking at them, I promise myself I will never do that. So they let me see what not to be in life. I think my sister, which is the positive experience, has a bigger impact because I am more like my sister than my bad friends.

Journal Entry 33: Universal Expersience

            Wars have been going on in this world for billion and billion of years, since people has been alive. These wars include the ones that are very serious and big and the ones that are small and nobody knows about. There are those ones where a lot of people die and the ones that only a little people die. Since there are so many wars in this world, there has been lots and lots of movies, stories, and books written about or during the war. Some are about how people suffer, some are about the military plans, and some are about the post mental disease of war. Some war experiences are American Revolution War, American Civil War, The Cold War, French and Indian War, China civil war, Korea War, and also Vietnam War. Some universal war experience that also happened to the story "Where have you gone, Charming Billy?" are people die, people gets hurt, homesick, fight over powers and lands, and also post disease of war. But Vietnam War was different from others war in many ways. One way is that it was once a civil war until America and Russia gets involve and became a part of the cold war between them. The war became more of a political war, democracy against communism. Another different thing about Vietnam war is that they have their own way of fighting that most of the people don't get used to it, which made the war even harder for them.

Journal Entry 32: Far From Home

            These young men has to go through a lonely journey. It doesn't feel good to be send to a hostile and unfamiliar environment. You will always feel lonely and miss your friends back at home. You will also sometimes feel left out and want to cry. And the most important one is that you will feel homesick. But on the other hand, sometimes people feel that they can have anew life with new people and new environment. They are happy to be sent to this kind of environment. How one would get along depends on the person's personality. If a person is outgoing and nice, they will make friends and be happy to be in that situation. While on the other hand, if someone is outgoing and shy, they will be more lonely and sad and without any friends, and will also feel homesick.
            I actually have a lot of this kind of experience. Every summer I will go to America and go to summer school. I will usually have to stay in dorms and live with complete strangers that I don't know. The first year I stayed in a dorm, I cried a lot. I wasn't use to the environment and all that. Although I had some friends, I just couldn't take it. But after a week, I got used to it and had more fun and had more friends. And after that I get along pretty good. Every time, the first day I will feel lonely and homesick, but since I am a very outgoing person, I usually get a lot of friends and have a lot of fun afterwards.

Journal Entry 31: Author's Background

            Yes, I do find a story or article's message more credible if the author has firsthand experience with the topic. I feel this way because then the author will know exactly how it felt like to be in that position. Sometimes people will say they understand, but they won't understand completely unless they are the one who is actually in the situation. So authors that have firsthand experience with the topic will make the story and article's message more credible. I believe that it is very hard for authors who have to use their imaginations to fictionalize real-life experiences for the readers. It is more difficult for them to imagine then just know it because it has happened before. But some authors like to do that, they like it more to use their imaginations to write stories. Some like to do that because they don't want to think about real life and want to create a new one in his or her head. Writers, producers, and directors like to fictionalize and dramatize true stories to make them more creative and interesting for the readers and audience. So that people will like their work. I think people would rather be entertained than informed. You can see that from the movies people love the watch. I think I like dramatic stories, I like to be entertained then informed.

Journal Entry 30: Symbols of Heritage

            I don't really have a lot of things that symbols heritage in my house. Because my family doesn't have any religion, so we don't have religious figures in my house. Not like other people, who has Buddhas in their home, we don't have those kind of things in my home. My mother has a ring and necklace that her mother, who is my grandmother, gave it to her. And she loves it. My father has a painting painted by his business friend gave it to him. On the painting, it has chinese writings on it. It is a very very big painting that my father treasures and puts in my parents' room. But I believe that the heritage of my house is in our mind, in our culture. What my parents teach me are all my heritage. I learn my heritage by looking at my parents, listen to them, and learn form them. When I asked my father what is the most important thing given from his parents to him, he pointed to his brain. Yes, my father is very smart and has a really good brain. And he thanks his parents for giving that to him. So he believes the item of heritage is his brain. I believe the item of heritage is the photos. My mother said whenever she looks at the photos of his dad, she thinks about what he taught her and what he expects from her. My mother's dad, which is my grandfather, died when I was one or two, so I don't really know him. But I know that he is a great man who raised my mother to be a great person too. My mother misses him a lot I know, although she doesn't say it very often. So I believe that the most important thing and the sybol of heritage is the photos in my house.

Journal Entry 29: Your Family Traditions

            In the story Everyday Use, there is a conflict between two visions of what heritage is and purpose it serves. Just like the story, I think there is also a conflict in my own family regarding the heritage and tradition. And the conflict is between American traditions or Taiwanese traditions. Since I am in PAS, which is an international school, I am expected to act and be an American. Because I am going to the US for university and maybe for jobs. But on the same time, I also have to keep my own traditions, which is Taiwanese traditions, and I can't forget them. I believe both culture is in my life now and they take up half half proportions. I want to be American and learn and get what is good for being an American and American education. But on the same time I can't forget my traditions and heritages and get what is good from it and take away what is bad about my culture. My family gathers at Chinese New Years, Mother's Day, or birthdays. Or sometimes just when everyone is in Taiwan because many of my aunts and uncles are in USA. My family also gather on christmas because that is when my cousins from USA come back to Taiwan. The foods are mostly chinese, Taiwanese, or Japanese. Every adult or older teenager talk when we gather. All of the younger members act in an American way, wear American clothes and sometimes speak English because we have American education.

Journal Entry 28: Thanksgiving

            11/24/11. Yes, today is the day to be thankful, because it is thanksgiving! This is the day when we eat a lot and a lot of things, when we sit down and watch football games and yell and shout, and this is the time to have fun. We had a thanksgiving lunch today and had a lot of food then  e also had a dodgeball tournament. It was fun.

            First of all, I would like to thank my parents like everyone else does. They are the reason for me to be here right now typing this journal entry. They are who supports me everyday and built me a home for me to rely on and depend on. They are the reason for me to live a happy and unworried life. Everyday I wake up, I don't have to worry that I won't have food to eat, won't have place to study, or place to live. Second I am thankful of my friends. They are my charger, they give me energy. Whenever I am sad or angry, they comfort me and make me feel better. They are the most important ingredient in my recipe of life. If it wasn't them, I wouldn't be me, I wouldn't be happy and I wouldn't be Amanda Lin. I am thankful of my school, my home, and my friends. They are the elements that build up me. The people that make me want to live and smile and laugh everyday. The people that I want to spend  the rest of my life with. 

Journal Entry 27: Doing the Right Thing

            I believe that most of the people in this world now is the first kind of people. They follow the majority, go with the rules, no matter if it is written or not written. They are afraid to stand out, afraid to be different from others, and afraid to get what they want. They follow the rules no matter what cost they will have to pay, no matter what they will have to sacrifice, they just follow the rules. On the other hand , the second kind of people is minority. This kind of people are those who are not afraid to stand out, who are not afraid to be different from other people, and who are not afraid to chase and work hard for what they want. They ignore the rules and the customs when the rules are being obstacles to what they want. They are the minority of this world that will often succeed in his or her life. I believe in Asian culture, parents and other people want you to follow the group and do what other people do and follow the rules. So the people in Taiwan are often the first kind of people. But because PAS is an international school, people in our school tend to be the second kind of people, to try to get what they want and be themselves no matter what rules go in their way. In my family, some people such as my father is the first kind of people who will want me to follow the group while my mother, who has a western kind of mind, will want me to stand out and be different and chase my dreams. I am the second kind of people, I believe that anyone can do anything for their dreams. I believe the ones who are different and stand out are the ones who will succeed so I am the second kind of people. I am an opportunist who pursues what I want at any cost. I don't live in a principle-driven life.

Journal Entry 26: Conflict Avoidance

            Conflict is something required in a story. If you don't have a conflict then your story won't be interesting and no one will like it. Conflicts are in real life too. We have conflicts everyday and anytime. I think half of the people in real life try to avoid conflicts, and the other half of the people welcome or accept it. Everyone treats conflicts in different ways and with different emotions. And there are situations where conflicts should be avoid or situations when conflicts should be welcome or is good for you. In some situation, when conflicts can't help anything or if they make things more complicated in a bad way, conflicts should be avoided. And people who usually try to avoid conflicts are the people who thinks ahead but are easily afraid and don't want to get in to any troubles. But on the other hand, conflicts can sometimes be a good thing. Conflicts can be a good thing when it is a competition to make things better or when you are having a boring life. If we don't have any conflicts in our life, then we will be all lazy and doesn't do anything. And we will have a very boring life. I think I would rather welcome a conflict because I believe that life without any conflicts will be boring. I am also kind of a trouble maker so I often face all kinds on conflicts that I will have to solve everyday. But I like it this way. An example of conflict will be when we went to ThiMUN, Ms. Pamela wanted us to stay in our hotel rooms and study, while we wanted to go out and go shopping and play. So as the result, we finished our homework early so Ms. Pamela agreed to let us go out.

Journal Entry 25: Heritage Revisited

            When I think of how heritage benefits my life, I think of many different things and elements. I think one of the heritage that benefits me is the beliefs of life. I believe that one should never give up. This benefits when I deal with hard obstacles that will often make me feel sad and angry. Another heritage that benefits me is that one should always give in order to get something in return. In other words, you can't climb a ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. Another one is to respect the elder. When I see someone's grandfather or grandmother trying to find their grandchild at school, or when their grandchild treats them badly, I will want to cry and punch that kid. I show my respect with the elder people including my grandparent. But on the other hand, some heritages often get in my way. The most commonly heritage that gets in my way is my height. My mother is not very tall. So I got the heritage and so I am very short. I often get laugh at because of my size. My height also makes things very inconvenient. For example, sometimes I am too short to reach for a lot of things, or I can't play some sports or roller coasters because I am too short.

Journal Entry 24: Crossing the Rubicon

The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" means to pass a point of no return. It means when you make a choice or an action that you cannot take back. I believe when you talk to people, you can't take the words back. Fore example, when you just speak whatever is in your mind, and it offended other people, you will never be able to take the words back. Although you can always say sorry, it will never change how he or she feels about you, or how sad and angry they were. And also, if some serious, sad, and angry thing happens in your childhood or life, then it will change your life. That event an't be taken back just like the quote. Sometimes when you take decisions, you can't go back either. For example, once you chose your majors and your jobs, it is really hard to go back. When you take difficult and hard decisions, sometimes you won't be able to go back, just like the quote.

Journal Entry 23: Influence of Children

            There are many books and stories and movies in this world, with many many different kinds of story plot and events and conflicts.The plot in stories, books, and movies can be effected in many ways. And an author's writing skills and technique and the things he or she writes about. I believe that the writer might be influenced by the childhood of his or her life. The writer can be influenced by their childhood in many ways. One of the most common one is to write about it, to write about the author's own life story. Sometimes they will picture them as the main character in the story or movie. Another influence is that they might set the setting of the story as the place where they grew up or lived. Another important influence is that an author's childhood might effect the author's points of view on many things, such as beliefs and religion. I think some parts of my life can be written in a book or movie, but others can't. Those parts that can be written in a book or movie is the interesting part of my life. But I have a pretty ordinary life. I think the book called "The Year My Sister Got Lucky" is a book that is similar to my life. In the book, the sister of the main character is good at everything, just like my sister. My sister has been good at everything, grades, teachers, parents, SATs, MUN and many others. Just like the mother in the book, my mother likes and treats my sister better than me. Another similarity is that I am very close to my sister just like the sisters in the book. So I think this book is really similar to my life.

Journal Entry 22: Your Character

           Everyone has their own character or multiple characters. And many elements make up this character. Some of the examples of the elements that make up someone's character is personalities and appearances. People reveal their character through many kinds of ways such as their actions, thinkings, sayings, reactions, behaviors, and interactions with other people. The evaluate their own characters through asking others or looking at themselves. I believe it is sometimes easy and sometimes hard to be honest to one's self about one's own character. It is easy when it is obvious and everyone says it. And it is also easy when that character is a good caracteristic. But on the other hand, it is hard to be honest with one's character to one's self when it is something that is not that obvious or when the characteristic is a bad one. I have many own characteristics. For example, I am always really happy, that is one of my own characteristics. And also, I am very out going and hyper at times. I like to help people and interact with them. I am also the kind of people who needs friends all the time, 24/7. Many of my friends think that I am a brat and that I am spoiled. They will often tell me that I am a spoiled brat and wants me to don't act that way. But my character is not all the same in different situations. For example, I am the helper in my family. My mom, dad, and sister loves to tell me help them with this or that. I let my family lean on me and depend on me when they need to. And when I am with my friends, I act like a child and I depend on them. I am always very out going and happy in school and with my friends. And often shy and quiet when I am with my family. I know about my character by noticing them myself or was told by my friends or family members.

Journal Entry 21: Bullies

            The issue of bullies is a really serious issue and is very popular right now. Almost everyone has been bullied, bullied people, or seeing others being bullied. Bullying doesn't always means violence and fighting, it can sometimes be verbal or isolation, which happens al lot between girls with all the girl dramas. I think bullies pick on other people because they are afraid that if they don't, they will pick on. They bully people to show others that they are cool and make others be afraid of him or her. They want to feel superior from others. I think bullies are the people who lacks self confidence. Victims don't stand up for themselves when they are bullied for many reasons. One of the reason is that they are too afraid, and they are afraid that nothing will happen after they tell any adult or teacher. When they believe that nothing will happen, hen they don't see the reason for telling. And they are also scared that they will get more bullied because they tell on the bullies. They also don't want other people to think that they are the ones who goes and tell on people.
            I have been bullied before, not by violence, but by isolation and also verbally. I hated that time and I regret why didn't I tell anyone about it. But I believe that getting bullied is a part of a kid's life. We have to learn from being bullied to know how to stand up for themselves. It is something that every child will come across. And because I know the feeling of getting bullied, whenever I witness someone getting bullied, I will always go help no matter if I like that person or not. Sometimes victims don't understand that they are getting bullied, like me. I didn't know at first that I was getting bullied, I thought everyone just didn't like me. And I always thought that it was my problem. I hate bullying and I will do anything to stop it.

Journal Entry 20: Character Questions

            Rukmani is the character I picked for this journal entry. She is the main character of the book, and also the narrater and the protagonist of the book. The whole book is written in her perspectives. Being spoiled because of her family economic status, Rukmani expected herself to have a rich husband and a big wedding. But then it turns out that she doesn't get one and was married to a poor farmer because her family economic and social status later dropped. So the book is written by her talking about her poor life and all the bad things that happened to her. This character is a believable character in many ways. One of the reasons why this character is believable is because you can actually picture her as a real human and a real story. First of all, things didn't turned out as she expected. This happens to every single one of us when something happens and we didn't expect it to be. Second, she overcomes many challenges throughout the whole story. People always have to overcome challenges in life, no matter if it is the small ones, or the big ones. It is also very believable that women in India at that time may have many hardships going through their life.
            The character traits of Rukmani is that she is arrogant, spoiled, strong, smart, and can easily adapt to the environment. One direct characteristic will be that although she has always been living in a rich and comfortable family, she quickly adapted to the life with her poor husband. An indirect characteristic will be when she talked about how big her sisters's weddings were and she expected hers to be like that too, that is arrogant. The motivation of her life is to raise her children and also want to have a rich life like she did before she was married. She faced many conflicts throughout the story including being too poor, being sick or being sexual harassed.

Journal Entry 19: Nectar in a Sieve

            The quote, "Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve. And hope without an object cannot live", is in our novel Nectar in a Sieve. This quote is an epigraph of his book. This epigraph helps the reader by predicting the the theme and what will happen throughout the story. It mentions the title of the book inside and shows the keywords of the book. This quote has very deep meanings. My paraphrase of this quote will be like if you work without an object or wish or hope, then you work will have no results or your work is nothing. You also won't feel happy when you are working. It is like working without a goal in life. When you have no goals in life, you live without a meaning or purpose. You won't have a happy life and also a productive life. And you have to first have a hope or a wish, so if you work hard enough, your goal will achieve, and you will have a productive life. A nectar in a sieve means that although you are trying really hard to get something, its passes right through and you don't get it just like when you try really hard to use a sieve to get nectar. And also the quote means that if you don't have the motivation, then you don't have the reasons to do things and work.
           I think it applies to life because everyone has a hope or wish to move on. For example, students have to have their goal of grades in school in order to work really hard. Or adults have to have a goal of raising salaries to work hard on their work too. This quote totally applies to my life because I always need a goal or else I think my life is miserable and useless.

Journal Entry 18: Character In Painting

            By observing the painting in my textbook pg. 104-105, I can identify many things from the painting. First of all, the subjects of the painting are the people in it. They are the biggest of all the things in the painting and also closest to the audience in the painting. One of them is a woman and one of them is a man. They are both focusing on different things. The woman has her eyes set on the man, so she is focusing on the man. It seems lime she is trying to communicate, comfort, or accompany him. While the man's eyes are set on his hands which is doing nothing. It seems like the man is thinking something very serious or he is sad or annoyed or frustrated. The foreground of the picture is the people in it and especially the man and his clothes and hands. While on the other hand, the background is the wall and the lights. The details are mostly on the man, especially on his jeans and his hands. We can even see the crease on his jeans and the traces on his hands. The meaning associate with the color is that it is a bright day. But the man is sad. The color of this painting sets the mood of it, which is happy and bright like the girl. The relationship between the man and the woman is boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. I think the painter use light and bright colors to show that the girl is like sunshine, really happy and bright and cheerful, and lighten up the man's life.

Journal Entry 17: My Favorite Stories

            I liked a lot of stories and books especially fairy tales. Some of my favorites stories or books were Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sesame Street, and Dr. Seuss. They captured my interest for many reasons. For example, for Little Red Riding Hood, I liked how the little girl learns something in the end and  I picture being that girl myself. For Cinderella, I loved her life from being a poor girl to a princess and lived happy ever after. I loved Sesame Street because I could sing with it and I loved the character in the the stories. And for Dr. Seuss's stories, I used to ask my mom read it to me every day. I loved the stories that I could memorized it and know exactly what words go next. I think I loved Dr. Seuss because I can use my imagination and go completely crazy. And I also liked how all the words rhythm and sound so perfectly fit together so make a poem or story. I think it was the plot and also the characters in the stories that captured my interest the most. I used to get so involve to the story that I picture myself as the characters. Or when they didn't draw the character on the book, I will imagine how it looks like.

Journal Entry 16: The Influence of Others

            Throughout my life, my sister has always been my role model. She is one of the most important people in my life. My sister is two years older than me, a senior in PAS. My sister is a perfect daughter, perfect student anyone could ever had. She has really good grades in school, and seems to always listen to what my parents tell her to do. Her SAT scores are high and she works really hard. I always have to learn from her for everything. I learn from her things including schoolwork, SATs, MUN, and organization. She likes being a big sister and control what I do and tells my mom what I have to do. I sometimes work with her whenever I can't concentrate because she can make me concentrate on my schoolwork. She is like my second teacher, or a second mom. She is really a big positive influence for me.
            On the other hand, some of my friends are bad influences. Because some of them like to say that studying is not the whole thing about life, which will sometimes make me believe. I believe that life is not only studying, and thats not all I do too, I live my life. But y life is just different from the people who said that. So the positive influence has a bigger impact than the negative one because my sister lives with me and influenced me from when I was still a kid, while I just met my friends for a few years.

Journal Entry 15: Characters

            Some of my favorite characters from TV shows, movies, and books are cookie monster, harry potter, sponge bob, mickey, stitch and many other ones. Maybe it is because I am like a kid, I often picture myself like the characters, no matter if they are in cartoons, movies or even in books. Some traits of these characters are that they are all brave. Another trait is that thy never give p and they are mostly happy characters. And also they are similar to human. Maybe not appearance but the mind and their situation. Most of them are heroic too. And another trait is that they often have a strong feeling for something or someone and that they are very different characteristics. Some common patterns are that they always have a characteristic that is well shown and that also they are really closely related to us. And they don't give up easily. 

            Some similarities are that they are all fictional characters, they can all talk and are all similar to some group of people, and re closely related to people and me. For example, I love cookies just like cookie monster. I am mostly happy like sponge bob. And I don't easily give up like harry potter. Some differences are some characters are always in a happy cartoon and some are in scary and intense movies. The things that they like or their motives are also very different. They also look very different too. Some generalizations are that they never give up, are mostly happy. 

Journal Entry 14: How Does Heritage Contribute to Character?

            Heritage means something that passed down from the proceeding generations; a tradition in a dictionary. To me, heritage just means something or some traits or some traditions that is passed down by your ancestors. Some elements of heritage are personalities, beliefs, traditions, appearances. I think the most important ones are personalities and beliefs. Because I believe these two are the things that will affect you throughout your life. You can change your traditions or appearances when you grow up. 

            One of my heritage from my mom is my size. I am really short and small. And my mom is also pretty short. My height has always played an important part in my life. I sometimes get laugh at because of my height, I sometimes get bullied because of my height. And height problem has been my major problem throughout my whole life. My mom find all kinds of doctors, make me eat all kinds of medicines just to make me taller. By this time of my life, I come to overcome this obstacle. I understand that although I am short I still have to learn to stand up for myself and let other people know that I am not that easy to bully and get tease at. I also have to show confidence in myself. So this is what I learned from my heritage of height. 

Journal Entry 13: Unpredictable

            One experience I had that I acted unpredictably myself happened this summer. My family and I went to Hwa-lian during the summer and we went to our friends to the river to climb up the river. Climbing up the river was fun since we are able to stop and play with the water or water fall along the way. I had always been a girl that is scared of everything, such as scary roller-coasters, or haunted house. I had always been the kind of girl that stands there and watch my sister experiences all the scary things and all the cool events. But this time I had decided that I will not be watching again, I will actually do it. So we went to climb up the river, and along the way we go through a lot of water falls. And the people that brought us up the river told us that we can jump down the water fall and also make some tricks. My parents expected my sister to do it all alone until I said I wanted to do it too. My parents were both shocked, and even I was shocked too. The water fall was really really high. And most of the people that went with us were scared and didn't go, even my sister was kind of scared. But I did it. And I found out that I actually liked it. So I did it many many times.
            From this unpredictable experience, I learned that you will never know if you really liked something or you don't. And it never hurts to try. This unpredictable experience affects my real life that after this time, I will try many new things and not be afraid and just stand there without doing anything. It can affect the plot by changing the plot completely and make the story fun to read because it is not the reader has expected.

Journal Entry 12: Animal vs. Human

            I believe that humans and animals are not that different from each other. After all, humans are animals too. I believe that some animals are like humans while others are not. I believe this because we are all living things on earth, we are not that different from them. Some humans like chimpanzees and monkeys tend to be and act like humans in many ways. But there are also animals like elephants or cheetahs like are completely different from us. Some animal behaviors that are similar to humans are making tools, knowing relaxation and playing and some other ones. People are often classified as animals that know how to make tools, but we recently found out that a lot of animals actually knows how to make tools and use them too. And for knowing hot to relax and play, we saw a video showing how a panda was playing with a stick like kung-fu, that is knowing how to play.
            I loved to go to the zoo when I was a kid. I would always stare at the animals and observe what are they doing. Even now, I love any kinds of animals. I sometimes even consider majoring zoology when I go to college. There are a lot of street dogs and cats in Taiwan, so I can often see them when I am walking down the street. I see all kinds of animals in the zoo including monkeys, pandas, bears, birds, and tigers. I also see a lot of birds flying in the blue sky and watch them standing on a pole during night. I see them sleeping, eating, playing, and often searching for food. And I also have a dog in my house so I see her everyday. Some qualities are they also reproduce and help each other. They also love human's food like my dog.

Journal Entry 11: Conflicts

            One internal conflict in the "By the Water's of Babylon" is when John have to decide whether he should cross the river to the Places of Gods or go back to his village. If he crosses the river, then he will find out what is over there and see if the book is right. But if he goes back to his village he ma be safe but he will never know what is across the river. An example of an external conflict in the "By the Water's of Babylon" is when the dogs chased him and he had to run away from them because they wanted to kill him.
            One external conflict in my life is the pressure of the outside force. Since my sister has good grades and does well on SAT tests, my parents expect the same thing from me, and often compares me to my sister. I know my mom has tried her best to not to compare us, and I know it is kind of hard to not to. But she still does a lot of times. And also, my father thinks that I am the bottom in my class. He thinks that I am stupid and that I can't go to a good university. I conquer this conflict by trying my best on everything and be really hardworking and also try my best to tell them that me and my sister is different. My internal conflict in my life is that I don't know what i want to do for the future and what I am going to major in. Most of my friends know what are they going to do for the future, and also my sister knew what she is going to major in when she was in 8th grade. I didn't conquer this conflict yet.

Journal Entry 10: Taboos

            In my culture, which is an asian culture, there are many taboos. These taboos are often practiced by the more elder people rather than the teenagers. One example is that when someone gives you a gift, you cannot take it at once. You have to first refuse for at least two times, no matter how much you want that gift, but if the giver insist, that is when you can take the gift with all the thanks. And also, another taboo is that when we eat with our families or friends, we are all suppose to fight for paying for the meal. It will usually cause a big confusion, but that is our taboo. I remember when one of my father's friends didn't fight for paying the meal, my parents and all the other friends immediately assumes that he is disrespectful and also that he is poor and living in poverty even though he may not be. Another one is that you can't write your name in red. The elder people always say that we can't write our names in red, it is bad for out luck. Other people sometime try to know and understand you by if you follow these taboos or not. So taboos in asian culture is a very important thing, that is the thing other people use to judge you.
            I think these taboos are created to show respect to others and show discipline and that you came from a family that teaches you. I think some of the taboos are necessary while others aren't. For example, refusing gifts are sometimes respectful, but you don't have to do it so many times or do it every time. But some taboos are not necessary or helpful at all. For example, writing your name in red. That doesn't make sense at all, because no matter what color you are using, your luck doesn't matter. You won't be in a serious injury just because you wrote your name in red.

Journal Entry 9: Analyze a Folk Tale

            In the "Coyote Kills the Giant", the coyote was eaten by the giant but he didn't know. He saw other people starving and they told him that they are all in the giant's stomach. The people told him to give up and just wait until they all die because there are no food in the giant's stomach. But the coyote didn't give up and cut the giant's stomach for food and soon killed the giant. The phenomenon of this story is to never give up and be confident with yourself. The coyote didn't give up when all the other animals were starving and told him to give up. He came up the way to find food and also eventually killed the giant.
            I choose the story of the three little pigs. The three little pigs went out and build their won house. One with straws, one with sticks and one with bricks. Straws and sticks were easier and faster than bricks. The wolf comes over and started to blow at the first house, it fell over and the pig ran to the second house. The wolf then came over and blew at the second house, it also fell over so both of the pigs ran to the third house. The wolf care over again and tried to blow the house but it wouldn't work. So the three little pigs were safe. The phenomenon of this story is that you get what you get depends on how much effort you put on the thing or the task. Although bricks were hard and slow to build, the third pig still used that one so that he can have a safer home.

Journal Entry 8: Buddhist Doctrine

            Both my mom and dad are Buddhist, but they are not devout Buddhist. They believe in the Buddha and a lot of the sayings, but they also have their own opinions in life. So I was taught from when i was young to have my own opinions and don't believe in everything one says. I don't have a religion now because I think I am too young to know what to believe in. Most of the kids that have religion is because of their parents, but I believe people have different opinions. I believe in some sayings and beliefs in Buddhism but not everything. I don't believe that life is suffering. Although life has suffers, and it seems like we are constantly suffering, I don't believe that life is only suffering. Some people only think of the sufferings and how bad their life is but never really look into their life and learn to treasure their life. People like me who is very optimistic will know that life is way more than just suffering. You have to think of your families, your friends, your success and also your good memories. I do believe in Buddhism that ignorant and attachment cause sufferings. People often feel sad or angry when they are wanting too much things while they should slow down and treasure what they already have. Happiness isn't getting what you want, but wanting what you got. But I don't believe that overcoming these causes with stop suffering. Because we are all people, and it is human nature to want things. And if you take away the sufferings in our life, then what is the point of our life? You have bad days because you have good days. If life has absolute no suffering, then it will be a really boring life.
            I believe that some of the Buddhism beliefs can be used in my life. For example, I need to learn to stop wanting so many things but look at the things I already have and treasure them. I live in a happy family where I don't have to go out and work or get worried about the money. I have a good education in this american school and learn a lot. I also have lots of friends who care about me and understand me. Of course I will have bad days or days that all I want to do is cry. But that does not mean that my whole life is suffering.

Journal Entry 7: Taking Risks

People are willing to make sacrifices or to take any risks for the people they love and care about. Some of the examples of sacrifices are time, energy, money or even life. Parents sacrifice their freedom to be with their children. Rich people sacrifice money for the poor. Friends sacrifice their time to comfort or to accompany their friends.

            Many people have given up something or taken a risk for me. For example, my mom sacrifices her sleeping time to make sure that I don’t fall asleep when I am finishing my homework in the midnight. My best friend sacrifices time just to comfort me or make me happy by talking and chatting with me.

            I am lucky that so many people are willing to sacrifice for me but I also sacrifice for them too. I sacrifice my energy and time to comfort my friends. The most important sacrifice to me is when I sacrifice my time and energy to kids that I teach. I teach these kids who have parents that don’t have time for them or don’t know how to answer their question. I have to check their homework and teach them whatever they don’t know. After teaching them their homework, I have to play with them patiently. By watching them being happy and laughing, I believe that my sacrifice is worth it. I believe that my sacrifice is nothing compare to their smile and their happiness. When I watch them smile or laugh, I don’t feel pressured or annoyed anymore. 

Journal Entry 6: New Place

I chose the place – school.  As everyone knows, this school is a really new one. This has only been the fifth year of the school. I was here from the start of this school when I was in sixth grade. So I knew exactly how it felt like standing in the middle of the construction and all the new things they built. I remember the first time I came into the school with my mom. I felt that the school was new, small, and lonely. It has white walls and brown doors. All I saw was the boring classrooms that look exactly the same to me. I could smell the paint on the wall and saw dust on the new arrived desks. It was boring and meaning less to me at that time. But after being a student at PAS for five years, I can now look at our school in a completely different way. Now wherever I go, I see paintings on the wall, friends walking down the hallway. I can hear the laughers and voices of my friends. Wherever I go, I always remember the memories that happened at that special corner. This school no longer seems lonely anymore, it seems warm and welcoming, as if it is saying welcome back to school to me. It feels like home to me and to all of the students in our school.

Entry 5: The Journey

This book that I most recently read about is called The Year My Sister Got Lucky. The main character in the story was best friends with her sister before. They had absolutely no secrets between each other. And they seem to be happy. But after they moved to country side, the main character couldn't adapt to the new environment while her sister can, and was also really popular. The main character is not used to her sister being always busy and no time for her, and also keeping secrets from her. The journey she took was an emotional one. Where on that journey she went through a lot of things such as discovering secrets from her sister, being alone, and getting laughed at at school. But she eventually learned that she and her sister will always be good sisters but she have will have to know that they can never be together since they are all growing up, no one can stay in one's life forever. I have also had a journey before. It was also an emotional one. It was when I first time went to residential camp. I was crying and missing my mom and my friends. But I learned to be independent and stand up for myself. I learned to be happy and miss my friends and my family the same time. I learned that miss can sometimes in a good way, not just crying and being sad, but think of them from time to time and know what will they say if they were here. I learned a lot from that journey.

Entry 4: Time

In the Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket, Jack Finney makes time seem slower by adding all the feelings and all the details of Tom. He will write about what he thought and saw in details and in may many sentences that it will feel like the time has passed by slowly. Time pass by really slow when someone is nervous or the event is really boring. In this case, Tom is undergoing a nerve racking event, so he felt that the time has passed by really slowly, but really, it is not. I believe that this kind of thing happen to real life too. When you are nervous and focus on something, time will usually pass by really slowly. And also if you are undergoing an event that you don't like to do and you want the time to pass really quickly, the time will usually pass by really slowly too. Time seems to speed up when you are doing something you like to do while time pass by slowly when you are doing something you don't like to do. In my life, the time seems to slow down or speed up a lot. Time slows down when I am in class or tutor. While time speeds up with I am hanging out with my friends or when I am on a vacation. Sleeping hours also seem to speed up way too fast.

Entry 2 : Describe Setting

From the picture on p. 7 in our picture, we can know that the focal point, or focus point, is the girl practicing kung-fu in the bamboo forest. She is using a really long bamboo stick to practice. We can know that she is the focal point because she is in the middle of the photo and also we can see her most clearly in the photo. The photo takes place in China because of the bamboo forest and the people in the photo are all Chinese. It is in the early morning because we can see from the lighting that the sun hasn't come out entirely yet, and also from the fog. The season is early fall. And it took place in ancient years, not modern, because their clothes are not modern. The four people in the back that are climbing the bamboos are trying to kill the girl that is practicing kung-fu. The four people are climbing upside down. The fog makes the mood more mysterious, the bamboos and leaves on the ground make a lonely and quite mood, the serious face on the girl makes an serious mood. The perspective is looking up, making the bamboo forest bigger.

The scene is I sitting alone in an airplane with all other strangers flying back to Taiwan. The focal point is me. I am in an airplane flying back to Taiwan. The time is is 2011 summer, in noon about 6 o'clock. I am looking outside the window, my head rested on the side thinking about things. Other people are sleeping and watching movies from the screens in front of them. The dim light in the airplane makes a quiet and calm mood. My worried face makes the mood lonely and sad. The perspective is pretty far away from me and looking down, which makes me even more lonely.

Entry 1 : Common Experiments 9/14/11

"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before."Willa Cather, a famous American writer once said. I don't agree with her that there are only two or three human stories, I believe there are more than that. But I believe that human stories repeat themselves with different people. I believe this because many life stories tend to be similar to each other. And also some stories that writers wrote, often have the same kind of plot. Only the details in every individual's life is different. These human stories are life stages or important event that happened to a person. Some examples of human stories are been born, death, falling in love. Some common human experiments are undergoing a big accident, graduation or going to a new school, new environment, marriage, growing up, or losing the one you love, and death. My own experiment is undergoing a big accident when my foot got caught up in a bicycle wheel when I was in third grade. I had five stitches, which isn't a lot, but I know how it feels to lie down on the bed in a hospital, how it feels to be all nervous about will it hurt a lot. Also the scary moment when the teacher announce that I have to have five stitches on my foot. And at last suffering because I couldn't walk, or play any kind of sport. I believe that many people have also went through a big accident just like mine.