Journal Entry 59: Choices

           J. K. Rowling is a very famous British novelist. She is most known for her Harry Potter fantasy series. Almost everyone knows about Harry Potter, and if you don't, theres something wrong with you. She said before that, "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." I completely agree with her. I believe that it is our choice to weather go for a dream or not. It is our choice to give up or not. It is our choice to do what we want. Our abilities only show people how much and what we can do. But our choices can show people what we want to be, and what we want other people to think of us. Your future, your life depends on every single choice you make everyday. No one can make you do things or stop doing things except yourself. So if you want to go chase you dream, then go. If you want to live a different life, then change. Our choices in life determines our future. Weather you want to be a teacher or a doctor. Weather you want to be a trust worthy person or not. The choice is yours. I decided to go to the states every summer to go to summer camps and tour. I made this choice because I want to learn. This choice shows people that I am a person that like to experience things and that I will take the risk to go to the other side of the world just to learn.

Journal Entry 58: Free Write

            Wow. We can write whatever we want today! What a special day! A lot of stuff happened today especially dramas. I hate dramas, and the people who created it period. When we were in 8th grade, a girl caused so many drams and cause us to hate each other. And that happened again this weekend. But no, our friendship is more than that. Our friendship is way more stronger than that. And we agreed that no matter what happens, nothing can get into our friendship, no boys, no dramas, or even achedemic. We understand that we are a very competitive class, so that is why we have to promise each other that. And because we are going to have a lot of pressure, we have to stand together and fight.
            My sister asked me today how does it feel to be confident. Being the more confident sister, I started to worry. My sister has always been a little bit shy and a little bit not confident enough, well, thats according to her. My mother started lecturing her how, if she doesn't have standards so high, she will feel confident. And that confidence is when you know what you can handle things. But I don't believe so. Being a friend with Eileen, Jingmin, and Jean has taught me a lot. They taught me that when you found something that you are bad at, remember there are always things you can do good. And that I have to keep in mind that everyone has something they are good at and something they are bad at. Everyone is different in their own way. I believe that confidence has a big association with optimism. I am a very optimistic and happy person, I always think naively that everything is going to work out. And if it is, then it is not the end. I believe that whenever I have any problems, i don't need to be afraid, because I am not standing alone, I have my friends and family, and I know that when I need a shoulder to cry on, they will be one. So dear sister, don't be afraid, because in this scary world, there are still your family and your friends. And also, you already have confident in yourself, you just don't know. So smile, and be happy, because life is too short to be worried everyday!

Journal Entry 57: Sea Fever

            After reading the poem Sea Fever, I really do feel the urge to go to the sea. The poem is about how the author really wants to go back to the sea and sail and be a sailor. He talked and described the situation on the sea, the surroundings and the environment. He described and talked about what he wants to see and hear from the ocean. After reading the poem I do understand the appeal of sailing the seas as the speaker describes the experience in the poem. Many things and activities in real life gives me a "fever". One big example is One Direction. One Direction is a British boy band that is very very famous right now. But I became a fan before they were that famous. Basically, I really love them. I add them on facebook, reblog and make posts on tumblr about them. I listen to their music every single day and watch their videos too. I also buy all their albums, singles and also some posters and bracelets. But in general, I have a fever in music. I have to listen to music when I go to sleep or else I can't sleep. I have to listen to music when I wake up or else I will be come very grumpy. I have to listen to music when I'm doing my homework, or else I can't concentrate. I also have a fever for sweets or candies. If I am having a bad day, and someone offer me some candies, my mood immediately gets better. I also really like to eat them while I am reading or doing my school work.

Journal Entry 56: Public Speaking

            Public speaking hasn't been a really big issue in my life. I have been on stages a lot of times throughout my life. So I am pretty confident on stage or when I do public speaking. Of course, I sometimes get nervous before I go on the stage, but not too nervous that I think I am going to cry or anything. Also, my voice is very very loud, both normal life and on stage, so it let people think that I am good at public speaking. I enjoy public speaking. I think it is something that can make your life more interesting. I get nervous and excited before I need to do a public speaking. I believe that making a prose speech and reciting a poem is at the same difficulty level.  This means that I don't think either one of them is harder than the other one. I believe that there is a big difference between a speaker shouting out the crowd and the kind that speaker stands in front of the crowd. I believe that by standing within and beside the crowd makes the crowd more involve and more interesting. While speaking in front of the crowd makes it more powerful and formal and educational, more in a demanding way. I believe people like to shout from the crowd because then he or she won't be able to see all the eyes locked on him or her, so they won't feel pressured. When you stand on the crowd, you can literally feel the eyes on their faces, and thats what makes public speaking so hard, other people's eyes.

Journal Entry 55: The Inspiration of Sound

            Sounds and music plays the most important part of my life. Whenever I am sad, I listen to music to make me happier. When I don't have confidence, I listen to music to make me feel better. When I am too energetic, I listen to music to calm me down. And whenever I can't sleep, I listen to music to make me fall asleep. Basically, music is everything in my life. I listen it during car rides, when I am walking, when I am doing my homework, even when I am in class or taking a test. And also, sounds also inspire me. I move with the beats or hum with the tune when I hear sounds. If we don't have any sounds in life, our lives will be very miserable. I hear sounds every second in my life. In the morning I listen to the sound my mom wakes me up me, I listen to the sound of her making our breakfast and lunch in the kitchen, and I listen to my music to cheer myself up. And then in school I hear sounds of closing lockers, sounds of footsteps and also sounds of noisy friends. And right now I am listening to the sound that my keyboard makes when I type things down in my computer. I would classify sounds into, the ones we purposely listen to and the normal life sounds that we like, or the normal sound that we don't like. Sounds like music or beats or sounds that make you think of something good is pleasant. And the sounds like teachers yelling at you or screeching tables and chairs are very painful. Some sounds make you feel happy because of the picture you see in your mind when you listen to the sound. For example, when I listen to the sound my mother makes while she is cooking makes me picture delicious food, so it is a pleasant sound. Or the sound made my the birds make you picture their cute appearances, that is pleasant too. Some sounds are more pleasant because of the images they give us.

Journal 54: Travel

            Traveling has been a big part of my life since both my parents love to travel around the world on vacations. I went to many countries, and whenever it is time for break they will plan something, maybe not always outside the country, but always outside the house. The first transportation that I am going to talk about is airplane. I was born in America, and then I came back from the states one month after, which means that I was already on the plane when I was only one month old. And since I go to America almost every summer, I always travel on planes. And also when I go to other countries for vacations, for example, Thailand, Japan, China, Malaysia etc, I always have to go on plane. The advantage of it is that it is very comfortable and fast, but the disadvantage for it is that it is very expensive and also very stuffy in the plane. Next is the boat. I don't go on boats that often since our whole family gets boat sick very very easily. One time we had to take a boat trip for 4 hours to an island for vacations, we all got extremely sick. The advantage of ship is that it is cheaper than planes, and can go on water. But the disadvantage is that you can get boat sick like me and you smell really badly afterwards. And then there is the train. I used to go on trains to go back to my grandparents' house when I was young. But then my parents didn't like it so we ended up driving. The advantage is that it is faster than cars but less convenient than cars. I believe the best transportation is the car. It is fast, convenient, and easy to afford. But the disadvantage is that it is not as fast as any of the transportation I said above.

Journal Entry 53: Write A Sonnet

htbfrveds

Journal Entry 52: Respond to Shakespeare

           In the poem, "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's day?", the author, which is Shakespeare, is writing about how much he loves a woman. It is a love poem and a very formal and old one. If I was the speaker's beloved, if I was the one that the author is talking about, I think I will have many feelings together, and in a very complicated form. At first, I will feel shocked because someone just wrote a poem for me, and then I will feel confused because it won't be easy to understand for me. But then I will feel flattered and happy that someone actually wrote a poem to prove how much he loves me. At last, I will feel confused and kind of angry because of the language he used. So I will have a lot of feelings together. And this is my response:

Dear my love,
          Thank you so much for spending your time to write this poem to me. I am very flattered about it. Although I understand your hard work and your true heart and feelings for me, I am not very happy about it. It is very confusing and hard for me to understand the language you used. And also, I wouldn't want to be like a summer day. I don't want to shine on people until they are annoyed by me. I am also a little bit irritated by your language.

Sincerely,

Your love.

Journal Entry 51: Heart!

            In the poem, "Heart! We will forget him!", the author is talking to her heart about how they should forget about the guy she loves. It is a lyric poem, so it is free verse and doesn't have a format. It is a poem that the famous female poet, Emily Dickinson wrote. In the poem, she used personification. Personification is when you make an object or animal like a person. And the heart is personified, because she is talking to her heart, and heart is not a person, it can't listen to hat you are saying nor can it understand what you mean. I think Emily Dickinson wrote this poem like this, she separated the heart from rest of herself and her mind, is because she is emphasizing how her mind know what she is suppose to do, but her heart won't obey because her heart feels something different. It is like when you can't control your feelings for someone or just emotional feelings, it is like it is separated from the rest of your body. I always tried to separate the heart and the mind and the thoughts. Because to me, the heart symbolizes what you want to do no matter it is right or wrong. And the mind and the thoughts symbolizes what you should do instead, and the right thing. This might be helpful when you don't know what to do next, whether to do what yo want or do what you are suppose to do. But sometimes it can be destructive.

Journal Entry 50: Tanka Poem

1. The Happy Moment

Everyone gathered

around the happy mother

beside the white bed

feeling the warmth inside them

as they watched the baby smile

2. Moonlit Grass Field

Millions of white stars

the bright moon lit up the night

the wind blows lightly

a field of green grass dancing

the insects singing softly

3. Pretending

She dropped a fake smile

she stares into the mirror

as the tears slide down

body sick of pretending

thinking which is the real her