Insomnia would be a lame excuse

Winter break = SLEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP

Right?

Maybe?

Kind of?

I thought it did. It has been.... Kind of. Just because it means sleep it doesn't mean at a decent hour, right?

I hope it doesn't because let's just say that I've been a night owl this whole break. My usual sleep time has been about 2 AM (shhh don't tell my mom). Last night was just an all time low. I went to sleep around 5 AM. And then I basically slept for half of the day; I ended up waking up at 1 in the afternoon. At least I've been getting 8ish hours a night, which is the only positive about this situation.

My sleep schedule is so messed up. I am screwed when school starts again.

BANG!

Yesterday was my first real time playing Bang!, which is an Italian card game (don't worry, there's an English version). I had kind of played it before, and by kind of I mean, I 'played' on my friend's team (read: I watched her hand while they played). So basically, I was a complete amateur. It was embarrassing how little I knew about the game since my sister and all of my Asian friends are obsessed with it.

The first game I played, I was that guy. You know. The one that tries to learn a game as he/she goes, which basically makes the game boring and difficult to play for everyone since it goes slow and the person is clueless and asks too many questions. Everyone tried to kill me off first because I was so slow and bad at the game.

After a few hours and many games, guess who turned pro?! THIS GUY (girl)! I only killed four people in one turn. And if you're familiar with the game, you know how spectacular that is. So, no big deal.

You probably have no idea what in the world this game is, but just know that it is the best and most fun card game to play with a small group of people. It will keep you occupied for hours. It's great.

It's Risky Stuff

When I think of "risk," I think of stepping outside of my comfort zone. The bubble that protects my sanity, self esteem, and feeling of security gets rubbed by something from the outside. Its fragile membrane could be broken by any sudden movement. My precious bubble gives a little with the exterior friction. There's a chance of it popping, and all hell could possibly break lose.

If taking a risk stirs up so much commotion, then why do people still choose to take them? It could be because they think that the outcome will be good. Or because they want attention. Or they just want change.

But when I take a "risk," it's an impulsive decision that I don't really think through. And I usually end up regretting it, even if it turns out to be OK. The uncertainty of not knowing how things are going to turn out is scary, and I'm not a fan of it. When I take a risk, the stability of everything in my bubble is at stake. The bubble is slightly nudged, which sends its content into temporary chaos until everything can settle. It's that nauseous twisting that you get in your stomach when you don't know what's going to happen.  If the consequence of my risk is a positive one, then the bubble comes to a standstill and all is right in the world. If the consequence of my risk is a negative one, then everything in the bubble is shaken up with no sign of calming down.

Haha

Spotify - The Next Best Thing

If you haven't heard of Spotify, you are seriously missing out. It's the best music library type program after iTunes. Seriously. You can listen to your favorite songs or discover some new ones without buying them. This program has saved me some cash and is very friendly to my wallet. You can get this lovely program for five easy payments of $0. It's great.

This program has a huge library of music to choose from. It even has music iTunes doesn't sell. The creators of Spotify also provide a Top 100 chart that doesn't consist of only every overplayed song on KDWB but also other awesome songs that don't play not the radio. You can even see the Top 100 charts of other countries and listen to the songs on them. That's something that iTunes doesn't offer. In iTunes, you can't buy songs from a different country unless you have a mailing address in that country. I assume that it's because of copyright issues, but it's still lame.

It is also extremely easy to create a playlist of all of your favorite songs. There's a "Starred" playlist that can have songs easily added to by clicking the star icon next to the song you're listening to. Unfortunately for other playlists, you have to click and drag. But doesn't that sound so much more appealing than click-and-dragging-and-maybe-some-scrolling for adding songs to a playlist in iTunes?

Spotify also makes it very easy to keep up with (creep on) your friends' latest fav songs by connecting to your Facebook account. It syncs with your friends list and allows you to look at playlists made by friends who have their Facebook accounts connected also. So, instead of having your friends burn you CDs, which is technically illegal, they can just go listen to your playlist on Spotify. You don't have to spend time to burn a CD (who uses CDs anymore?), and you won't arrested. Your friend also doesn't have to buy the songs. It's a win-win situation.

There are only a few negatives about Spotify, but they're tolerable. The first is the occasional commercials that play in-between songs, but the good news is that they're only 15-30 seconds long. It's the same as Pandora, except you can actually hand pick the songs you wish to listen to and there's also a radio for those who just want to listen to a certain genre/mixture of genres of music. The second negative is that you can't put the songs that you listen to from Spotify onto your iPod or other MP3 player you own. You can only listen to music from Spotify on a computer with internet connection. This is not a major dilemma though in modern times because in this era most people use their laptops more than their iPod or MP3 player and internet is easy to find.

The program is overall very easy to use. All you need to do to get started is make an account on the site spotify.com then download the program, which all takes a total of about 10 minutes. And then you're free to play all the music you want, with the exception of occasional commercials.

Now don't worry, I'm not getting paid by Spotify to gush about it. If I was, I'd probably have a lot of obnoxious emoticons and too many exclamation points. But sadly I am not. I just love it that much.

"F" for Effort?

A woman went up to the cash register to pay with her two rowdy boys in tow. She had her purse hanging from the crook of her arm. Her other arm was occupied with shoo-ing away her boys each time they presented to her a candy or snack while rattling off in a foreign language. The cashier gave an unenthused greeting then proceeded to scan the woman's items. Realizing that their mother would not give into their pleas, the young boys started to punch each other back and forth. The mother spun around and grabbed both boys by their arms. I watched her give her boys stern eye contact as she spoke in hurried, hushed Spanish. She let go of the boys, and they silently marched to stand by the bags of groceries.

The cashier told the woman her total; the woman opened her purse to rummage around for her checkbook. There was a lot of rustling coming from the woman's purse as she dug through. As she pulled out her checkbook and quickly closed her purse, I caught a glimpse of some small clear packages. My suspicion was confirmed when the cashier's was-dull face turned to alarm. "Where did you get those?" He demanded.

The woman replied in a thick accent with incoherent broken English. All I could make out was, "I.... not... her.... gave me..." The rest was incomprehensible mush.

Flustered, the cashier called over his boss who was a small Asian lady. After the cashier explained the situation, the small Asian lady screeched in a shrill voice, "WHAT?" In the same shrill voice, the boss started yelling at the woman about how she was stealing and that she was going to call the police.

The cashier positioned the family against a wall; the boss took a picture of them. The mother was smiling for the camera.

This irked me, and it still does. I witnessed this several years ago, but the memory always randomly comes up. The woman seemed to be a struggling single mom who was foreign to America. She definitely was stealing, and the check she was going to write probably would have bounced. As any mother would, she was giving her children what they wanted - even though it was through illegal means. However, I don't know if she was unashamed of her act or if she just didn't understand the situation. She could have just thought the picture was for fun, but I don't know of any sane person who would think so if they were in her place, foreign or not.

But the mother should get some credit (I guess not some. A little. Very little.). It's in a mother's nature to try to give their children the best life possible. I guess that was her attempt. "A" for effort? Maybe not since it was illegal... More of an "F".

On a broader scale, the situation served as an eye-opener to the sad reality that there are people who less fortunate and struggle daily. People do whatever they can to survive, even if it means committing crime.

Were you right?

1. Example
2. Definition
3. Classification/division
4. Compare/contrast
5. Narration
6. Description

I am in misery

1.) Maroon 5 knows the feeling of misery well since they have a song all about it. In the song, Adam Levine is miserable because a girl emotionally hurt him. He describes the unpleasantness of the feeling with the line, "There ain't nobody who can comfort me." The hurt he is feeling is so deep that it can't be alleviated by anyone, not even a good friend which usually does the trick.

2.) Misery is the feeling of extreme unhappiness and emotional distress. It can be temporary or permanent depending on the context of the situation. Temporary misery can come from small loses in life that can be gained again or moved on from. Permanent misery can come from the lose of something important to a person; the lose can't be moved on from, only coped with. A person who is in misery isn't just unhappy, he/she is extremely unhappy, he/she is in misery. There's quite a difference, especially since the person took the time to think of another word to perfectly describe how awful he/she is feeling. 

3.) The feeling of misery can be felt in two different ways, emotionally and physically. Emotional misery is the feeling a person gets when a personal situation has a negative outcome for him/her. The person is emotionally hurt by it, and they can become sad. Physical misery is experiencing physical pain from an injury. The hurt part of the body sends a signal to the brain to feel pain. Both, emotional and physical misery, make people unhappy since they negatively affect them.

4.) Despair is listed as a synonym for misery on Dictionary.com, but I feel like they share more differences than similarities. Misery can be used to describe how a person feels when in emotional pain or physical pain. Despair can only be used when talking about emotional pain. It is a feeling felt from hopelessness. Compared to misery, despair is a more extreme feeling felt from an unfortunate situation. It can only be indirectly connected to physical pain. If someone has incurable cancer, then the person could be in despair because there is no hope in the situation. 

5.) If you go through a bad break up, you may experience misery. The guy was the love of your life. He was your everything. You guys had already talked about the wedding as if it already happened. You planned what your kids' names would be. He was the peanut butter to your jelly, the straw to your juice box, the light to your darkness. Everyone thought you two were the perfect couple. Until he decided he liked some other girl more than he "loved" you. In this decision he broke you, sending you into a world of misery.

6.) Misery is that pessimistic weight on your shoulders. It makes your shoulders feel heavy and your body lethargic. There's an emptiness inside your stomach even though the licked-clean bowls of ice cream stacked next to you tell you otherwise. You feel too bad about yourself to go out and do something. Nothing more than curling up into a blanket bundle on your bed with the romance section of Netflix and a box of tissues would please you.

I Think Winter's Here.

Sweet-smelling candle burning in the corner.
Computer softly singing calm music to my room.
Warm fuzzy socks with grippies on the bottom to keep me from slipping.
Glasses continually needing to be pushed up to their proper position.
The pond still, powerless to the weather's ice cold grip.
Wind whistling with every blow behind the music.
Little specks of white whizzing past my window.
This is winter.


I love the start of a new season. This is when there's the most beautiful weather that showcases the best of it. I find that almost all Kodak moments of the season are found at the beginning. When it gets further, the beauty has faded. Leaves have disintegrated, snow is no longer white. At the beginning, I appreciate the season the most. For the rest of the season, I'm just bitter and wishing for a change of scenery and weather.

The start of winter is my favorite time of the year. There's something about the jolly atmosphere and being able to wear mittens that make me happy. Snow is always a plus too. The first real snowfall of the year marks the day that it is finally socially acceptable to wear Uggs without getting looks of disapproval/disgust since there is snow on the ground to justify wearing the hated-by-some/loved-by-some boots (although I've been shamelessly wearing mine since the end of September). The only downfall of the winter and the snow is that I hate driving in snow. The accident prone conditions make me nervous to drive during this time of year. But this is a small price to pay for a winter wonderland!

Abbrevs r totes sew adorbs! (X^2 pg 133)

Every generation keeps getting dumber and dumber, and the language of each generation exemplifies this. When you listen to conversations between people of this generation, you'll probably hear them using abbrevs (abbreviations, ex: presh, supes, totes, adorbs), texting talk (ex: lol, btw, omg, wuts up?, u r kewl, <3) or words without the true meaning to express their thoughts. It's ridiculous, isn't it? My auto-correct in Safari is going crazy with all of these crazy ways to spell things. If someone older who was not well-versed in texting language heard people of this generation talking to each other, they would probably not understand much. Abbrevs are sweeping the nay-sh (nation), as someone I know would say. And this is, sadly, true.

Text messaging seems to be the culprit. People have become too lazy to type out the whole word, so abbrevs and txt talk were born. They make life simpler for those who aren't tech-savvy. For example, my mom is a frequent user of this kind of language when texting me, but I understand that typing out the whole word for her is too time-consuming because she struggles finding the letters for the word in a timely fashion (even though the keyboard is the same as a regular computer keyboard but smaller...). Try not to hate on me too much since I may seem like a hypocrite in saying this, but I have also conformed to using this kind of language. But, most of the time I use it when I'm joking around with my friends. Or when I abbreviate what I say in text messages, I do so because I don't have time or two free hands to type out whole words.

I would NEVER talk/text like this in normal situations. That wud just be totes ridic! Kidding.

To add to the madness, our generation has twisted words to have new meanings, such as sick, tight, ill, and beast, to name a few. These words are often used as synonyms to words like: cool, amazing, or awesome. But in reality, those words are not even close in meaning to cool, amazing, or awesome. When people say something like, "That movie was so sick!",  I cringe. The movie does not have an illness. And what about the word "beast"? Every time someone says "That was totally beast!", I just shudder. "Beast" is typically used when describing a monster... So no, that was not totally beast because it's not going to cause you harm or eat your innards.

Silent Halloween

This Monday was my second annual Silent Halloween. It was silent because my doorbell was, thankfully, broken, and it was the second year that my doorbell didn't work. You may think I'm cruel for not wanting to give out candy to little kids in cute costumes, but I am perfectly fine not doing so. I was quite content with having no distractions from homework and not spending money to buy candy that one kid will end up taking about half of. 

In my opinion, Halloween is a pointless holiday. Sure, it's fun for the social aspect, but other than that there's no real purpose for it. It's a holiday devoted to scaring the snot out of people. And unless you're a thrill seeker, getting scared is not something that you go looking for. The only benefit of Halloween is that it puts some money into the economy. People spend large amounts of money every year on decorating  their home and buying Halloween themed clothing and/or costume. It provides business for some stores and the Halloween shops that pop up around town every year. However, other than that the holiday is just 'there'. It lacks the meaning or significance behind it that bigger holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, have. 

I may sound pessimistic, but Halloween is just really not my favorite. At least we'll start to hear Christmas music soon!

I am the epitome of procrastination.

The title just says it all. It's the awful truth. I am the most unproductive person ever. Procrastination is a nasty habit of mine that I can't seem to kick, especially if I have to write a paper or anything that involves writing. But somehow I still manage to get it done (even if it is during the early hours of the morning).

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that writing is not a strength for me. I ALWAYS leave homework that involves any kind of writing for last because I know that it will take me forever. It usually takes me a long time because I get distracted so easily. Here's a rundown of how my writing process goes:

1. The first thing I do after I sit down at my desk is put my hair up into a bun or a pony tail. I will not be able to work if i have to get my hair out of my face all of the time.
2. Next, I change into comfortable clothes. It is impossible for me to sit down and try to write in jeans and a short sleeved shirt. It just will not work because jeans are uncomfortable to sit down in for long periods of time and my house gets cold easily. I need to be in sweatpants and a sweatshirt or long sleeved shirt.
3. Depending on the season, I have a hot or cold drink by my side. During fall and spring, I usually have orange juice, water, or a can of pop (true Minnesotan right here). In the winter, I have hot chocolate, tea, or warm water.
4. My last step of preparation is to lay out all of the materials I'll need to write, like the assignment sheet or information on what I'm writing about.
5. Finally, I start to write. 
6. Eventually, I get distracted by anything and everything. This includes, but is not excluded to: food, Tumblr, Facebook, Youtube, and painting my nails.
7. Then I get back to writing.
8. After I finish my first draft, I print it out and edit it. If I try to edit it on the computer, I not only get distracted but I fall asleep. It sounds really bad, but there's just so much white on the screen that my eyes can't take it! And I start to doze off. After I finish editing, I go back to the draft on my computer and change what needs to be changed.
9. Once I've fixed everything, I look over one last time, then print it out.

In reality, my writing process rarely (never) looks like this. Sometimes, I would get to step 4, skip to step 6, go back to step 5, try to continue through, repeat steps 7 and 8 several times, and then I would frequently go back to step 6. By the time I would finish the paper, I realize that it took me a lot longer than it should have to complete it because I got distracted too many times. 

My writing process REALLY did not look like this when I was writing the first draft of my rhetorical analysis. Some of the writing took place on a plane in seat 32A with my laptop in front of me, papers piled in my lap and under my computer, and the elbow of a strange guy jabbing into my side. Of course, I didn't get much done (which may or may not have been because I started to play Rail Maze) so I left most of the writing for when I got home so I could go through my writing process. And alas! My rhetorical analysis was born.

I Need Sleep

According to Wikipedia, "Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles."

I realize that you probably just gasped and are staring wide-eyed with a look of horror at me right now. Wikipedia is NOT a source, and I've been taught this for years. Shame me once.

But I really could care less about proper, credible citations at this moment because I am tired. Hashtag first world problems would be added after that if I were tweeting. 

This past long weekend was meant (in students' eyes) to be a weekend of catching up on sleep and homework. But for me, neither of those two happened. Instead I went to Orlando, FL with the marching band. However I got progressively less sleep as the weekend went on and homework didn't really get done. Rather, I spent 10+ hours walking around amusement parks for five days in a row. Again, hashtag first world problems. So I guess the long weekend had pros that made it fun, but the cons prevented the weekend from reaching maximum fun potential.

Pro #1: Going to a different amusement park every day for five days. I love rides. So much.

Pro #2: Hanging out with friends. There's nothing better than spending five days with friends at amusement parks in a different state.

Pro #3: Marching towards the castle at Magic Kingdom. It was by far the best parade I have ever marched in. The castle looked so pretty because lit up with purple lights; I can't complain about having to stare at a purple castle for 20 minutes.

Pro #4: My section, drumline, has a new found respect for my line, the cymbals. Our cymbal visuals were successful and apparently looked really cool! Which is something we don't ever hear about our normal cymbal line.

Pro #5: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This might have been the happiest day of my 16 years of existence. We waited a hour to get on the ride in the castle, but it was so worth it. I was acting like an excited little child in a candy shop when we stepped into the castle and saw the moving paintings. I actually got to be an excited little child when we went to Honeydukes. Experiencing capitalism at its finest, I spent almost 40 dollars on two chocolate frogs and a jar of sherbet lemons, and I am pretty darn proud of it. And for the record, Butterbeer is not that bad.

Con #1: I. Am. So. Tired. Six to seven hours of sleep is not enough, especially when you're walking around the whole day as well as starting the trip on four hours of sleep. I also got two hours of sleep last night because I was staying up to finish homework. So much fun....

Con #2: Getting sick. I don't know if it was the screaming or lack of sleep, but I have resorted to cough drops and tea.

Con #3: More stress. Because I didn't have much time to work on homework over the weekend, I'm feeling a little underprepared.

Con #4: Being Grey's Anatomy deprived for five days. It was a struggle because it is my all time favorite show. Also didn't help that I heard the credits song playing while we were walking through Disney Movie Studios.

Despite the unfortunate drawbacks of the weekend, it was the best weekend and trip that I have ever been on.

I'm Peeved.

Things I really cannot stand...

1.) People who can't drive/people who drive REALLY slow/people who can't park. If you go 20 under the speed limit, then it clearly means that you aren't comfortable with driving, which probably means you shouldn't be driving at all. Also, if you can't get your car between two white lines that have a fairly large amount of space in between them, then go back to behind-the-wheel.

2.) When people point and laugh at the group of Asian kids. I don't point and giggle obnoxiously when I see a group of caucasian kids. It's just rude, so stop it.

3.) The abbreviation "supes" (for super) and the word "moist". "Supes" sounds like "soups" and "soups" is not a word because the plural form of soup is already "soup". "Moist".... Bad combination of letters. It just sounds gross.

4.) When people use Facebook as their diary or Twitter. The statuses about your ex-boyfriend or ex-best friend that don't mention names but are clearly about someone aren't necessary. Save that drama for your personal diary. I also don't need to or want to know that you're eating a sandwich, then eating ice cream, then going to lifetime, then going to a friend's house, then doing your homework. Just get a Twitter, please.

5.) Trying to carry a conversation via text. I can understand asking someone for homework or just simple questions that don't require much dialogue, but if you're trying to carry a conversation about real stuff then call me or just wait to talk to me the next day. It will be much a more meaningful conversation where either party won't be filled with uncertainty because you'd actually be able to tell when someone is kidding or being serious. Technology is ruining the way people communicate with each other.

6.) When people start a text conversation with me, but don't even try to keep it going or interesting. OK seriously. You went through the trouble to text me first so at least make an effort to talk to me or don't text me at all. I'm even taking time out of my life to respond to you. I cannot be the only one trying to carry the conversation.

7.) Fake people. Enough said.

8.) Too much mascara. It looks awful when girls have mascara piled onto their lashes. I don't know what is so appealing about eyelashes that that look like huge black caterpillars on top of your eyelids. It's not even healthy for your lashes, so spare your eyelashes and go easy on the mascara.



This is a very short list of a lot of things that bug me. I could go on forever, but I won't!

Machiavelli Knows Best

American Student: "Oh, a C-. No big deal."

Asian Student: "A C-? I'm going to get whipped by my parents!"

That's what seems to go down in the minds of American and Asian students. But the outcomes of those responses are extremely different.

The Asian student fears the wrath of their parents and works harder, eventually getting better grades. On the other hand, the American student deems the bad grade acceptable and continues to accept bad grades in the future. This difference in attitude towards schoolwork is the sole reason that the China and India are surpassing America, which "For Once Blame the Student" by Patrick Welsh and "Two Million Minutes" are arguing.

But is it entirely the American students' fault for being so comfortable with not-so-great grades? I don't think it is. The parents have a role in this too; they allow their kids to be OK with mediocre grades.

Welsh thinks that American students just lack the "motivation, self-discipline, or work ethic of the foreign-born kids." However, I feel that these fundamentals of succeeding were not engrained in the brains of most American kids by their parents like they were in the Chinese and Indian students'. Many Asian students are taught by their parents to work hard and get good grades at a young age. Their kids listen to them because they fear what could happen if they don't get a good grade. The parents took the advice of Machiavelli and instilled fear within the kids (in the form of physical pain) so that the kids would respect their parents wishes for them. Maybe American parents should take a hint from the Asian parents and give their kids some motivation to do well. I'm not saying that American parents should beat their kids, but some other type of motivation like money or more freedom may suffice.

After watching the documentary "Two Million Minutes", you might think that my opening scenario is a load of crap. But really, the documentary was a load of crap because it was biased. The creators of the documentary purposefully misrepresented the U.S.. The "normal" American students they followed were actually top students in their class. The American girl had a 3.94 GPA, and the boy was Senior Class President and a National Merit Scholar. First of all, not every American student sounds that good. Second, the American student population was poorly represented by these two. It seemed like they were always with friends and having fun; it appeared as if they never studied or did homework. I would like to think that most American students study for the most part. Unless I or the people I surround myself with are a part of a minority. Also, it seemed like the Chinese and Indian students were always shown studying or practicing. The gap in the number of academic settings between the three countries in the film was kind of big, with China and India having more academic setting scenes, whereas, U.S. having very little actual academic setting scenes. This bothered me because the documentary was just over dramatizing every difference in study habits, but in really, there were separate situations that impacted the students to act a certain way with their studies. Americans are surrounded with options and opportunities with their futures that they take for granted, which I am guilty of. The Chinese and Indians don't have necessarily this luxury. Sometimes they could even be facing starvation and poverty, which motivates them to do well and allows them to succeed. This might not always be the case, but there are always different circumstances of the students in Asia compared to students in America that make their situations not quite compatible for juxtaposing.

"I Just Wanna Be Average." That is a thought that I frequently have when I'm frustrated with the world. As a ABC (American born Chinese), I sit in a no man's land between American culture and Chinese culture. And might I add, it's pretty rough. My parents are always putting pressure on me to do well in school and succeed. Almost every dinner conversation topic is about college preparation or something that pertains to my future. On the other side, I'm American. I hang out with friends and care about petty high school drama. I play a sport and am involved in extracurricular activities. It's a complicated and demanding lifestyle that usually has some kind of conflict. In some ways, I think that Rose really did not miss out on much with being in Vocational Education for two years. I would not mind having no expectations of me (sometimes), but I understand how the digression of intellect would be the "price" (paragraph 17) when confronted with reality.

This weekend I became... a woman!

So as the title of this blog post says, this weekend I became a woman. It sounds a little silly because most of the time the phrase is usually,"[Insert time here] I became a man!" But since I'm not a guy and I lack creativity, I'm saying,"This weekend I became a woman!"

Now onto the part where I actually tell how I became a woman.

After 16 and a half years of convincing my parents (read: my mother), I finally got my ears pierced on Saturday. This is quite the achievement for me because my mom (who said I could get them pierced when I turned 16)  had been putting it off since my birthday with various excuses ranging from "You're going to be gone for two weeks; I don't want you to have to deal with them while traveling" to "But you're starting lacrosse soon!" (I really wasn't... the season was a good 2 months away). When she finally said that I could last week I was excited, but as Saturday came and I reminded her that she said I could get them pierced, she tried the new excuse, "You're going to Orlando in two weeks. It's not a good idea." but grudgingly took me to Claire's anyways.

My mom's never-ending excuses for me not to get my ears pierced are somewhat justified since her ears got infected when she got them pierced as a kid, and infections with piercings can be a hereditary thing. But, my older sister got her ears pierced when she was my age and didn't run into any problems with her's. So in my mind, I was not worried at all about them, but my mom was a nervous wreck in disguise as a cold, asian woman.

When the lady piercing my ears drew the dots where my earrings would be, my mom spent a good 20 minutes examining them in silence to make sure they were even. My mom stood in front of me with her knees bent slightly, slowly leaning from side to side. She had an intense look of concentration as she eyed my ears back and forth. She even made the lady wipe off some of the dot on my right ear because my mom thought it was a little larger than the dot on my left ear. After what seemed like an hour but really wasn't, my mom was content with the drawn on dots. I was finally going to get my ears pierced! I was finally experiencing the rite of passage that I missed out on in elementary school. I was finally graduating to womanhood (but not really). But as the lady pierced my first ear, that excitement drained from me. I realized that it had hurt a lot more than I had expected it to. Everyone who I have talked to about the pain have told me that it felt like a little pinch on your ear. Well... It was definitely more than a little pinch for me. After the piercings were done, I basically almost passed out. I felt light headed and nauseous. Unfortunately, the blue lollipop they gave me was not helping. The lady who pierced my ears had to go next door to Caribou to get me some water. And the worst part about the whole ordeal was that the seven year old girl who was getting her ears pierced after me was probably thinking, "Wow this girl is such a wimp," as she watched me sit in the chair with my lollipop sticking out of my mouth waiting for my water.

Now that I look back on the experience a day later, I give myself a mental forehead slap. I realize that I felt sick because I hadn't eaten anything before going to Claire's. Way to go, Teresa.


Sidenote:
While I was waiting for my mom to approve the drawn on dots, there was some Ellie Goulding playing at Claire's. Pump up music! (Strange music video, good song)

Ellie Goulding - Lights

President Obama Speech Analysis

President Obama gave a speech this past Wednesday at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School to encourage students to work hard in school.

He represented his title well with professional attire and good posture (straight back, not slouching). The President had a good-natured demeanor with friendly smiles and natural gestures. At the beginning of his speech, President Obama seems like a warm person because he greets the crowd with a big smile and waves to the crowd. This feeling of genuineness that he gives off makes others feel like they can trust him.

There were several examples of logos in the speech. President Obama uses some facts like how the U.S. is 16th in the world. Other examples of logos are the several students with ground-breaking projects whom he mentions as evidence that succeeding is possible. He also uses the appeal of ethos when he thanks the principle of Banneker, mayor of D.C., and secretary of education. In addition to ethos, he uses pathos when he references the economic troubles that some families might be facing. This provokes emotion from the kids listening who might be affected by the rough economy; it makes them feel like the President understands, so they'll want to listen.

Since it is the back-to-school speech, it is clearly aimed at students in school. However, he acknowledges the audience by using diction that isn't too advance and relates to the age group. He does this by referencing possible obstacles that students face (changing circles of friends & drama, babysitting, and chores around the house) and Facebook and Twitter. In another attempt to 'win them over', he says, "I don't want to be another adult who stands up to lecture you like you're just kids." President Obama wants to make students feel like they're a vital part of the nation. His main purpose of the speech is to encourage students to succeed and to get an advanced education.

Syntax is very evident in the speech; he uses mostly smaller sentences to keep the audiences interested. After some longer sentences, he uses shorter sentences to emphasize his point. This is shown when he said: "If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll let you in on a little secret: I wasn't always the very best student. I didn't love every class I took."

The cadence of the speech goes up and down to give the sound of the speech variation. President Obama also uses a higher pitch to establish a friendly, encouraging tone. The higher pitch gives off a positive feeling, whereas, a lower pitch would be more suited for a somber speech that might be addressing war.

He sounds honest, but although it might have been to others, his speech did not seem that effective to me. But my standards of an effective speech is probably different since I have a Chinese dad who gives my sister and me the same arousing lecture about how he came to America and succeeded every time he comes back home from business trips.

The Jim Crow Laws overflowed the "Douchebag Jar"

Minstrel show - comedic show that had skits, musical numbers, along with dance performances performed by white people who acted 'black' by putting on dark make-up for American entertainment.
^This is absolutely awful. At first when I read "minstrel show", I had no idea what it meant so I turned to Wikipedia to enlighten me. But the term extremely racist, which is terrible.

While reading through the list of the Jim Crow Laws provided, I was just disgusted. The laws just seem so ridiculous and not logical. I'm surprised that they were even allowed through. They violated freedom, which is promised to citizens of the U.S.. White and colored people were allowed very little interaction.

I don't even know if there was an actual, valid reason for segregating people with different skin colors. It just sounds weird because we're all human beings who deserve equal rights. A modern day equivalent to the Jim Crow Laws would be me talking or associating myself with anyone who doesn't like what I do or doesn't dress like I do. Teresa's example: Wow I really hate celery. Ohh... You like celery? (cue disgusted face) I can't be friends with you then...

If I was the person getting the hate about liking celery, I would feel so lonely and small. I could imagine that this is how African-American people felt, especially interracial couples. The Jim Crow Laws implied that interracial couples were committing the highest crime. The Laws didn't even want white people to look at an African-American, so it's easy to picture the difficulties faced by interracial couples. But to be honest, interracial couples are really neat to me. It's amazing to me how people can step outside of their culture and mingle and maybe date people of other ethnicities. It also helps that I love mixed babies. They're so beautiful! Every physical feature is so interesting and different compared the normal single race child.

So, it's been over a decade, but has America learned its lesson about racism? Not at all. There is still evident racism in America, especially towards non-white nationalities. As a minority, I hear it everywhere. It's OK if it's for comedic purposes; however when it gets out of hand and people actually mean to cut me down, that's where I draw the line and (mentally) tell them to add a dollar to the "Douchebag Jar" (New Girl reference).

Banal "Eggs", Jer-ry-mire, & Fictional Incest

I don't really know what compels a person to write a bland short story about a guy ordering eggs, but I guess William Kennedy felt this way. Throughout the first page of the short story, I was extremely confused. Of all things Collier's Magazine could publish, they decided to publish an uninteresting and mediocre story that has almost no plot. However, I was relieved to read that it didn't get published. I don't intend to be mean towards the author but the way he described the story wasn't in a way that anyone would be like, "Wow! I dying to know what happens next!"
On a more positive note, it was really helpful to see how Kennedy went through the revision process for "Eggs" because it showed how it's OK if your first piece isn't amazing and getting all sorts of recognition. Kennedy took valid advice from Eudora Welty; mystery is an element to include in pieces that can make what you write a little more interesting. It was kind of sad how he got sentimental at the end when he was saying how he was sorry that his parents (mostly mom) didn't get to see him progress and develop as a writer. But ending on a funny note by mentioning his dad brought the short essay full circle since he had previously mentioned how his dad hated "Eggs".


Jer-ry-mire. I laughed so hard at this. I thought there was something wrong with it when I first saw it, but after reading it out loud several times I realized that the intended name was 'Jeremiah.' Besides the funny names of his mother's relatives, this essay was really dark.
There was definite shock factor when the "seven children, six miscarriages" was mentioned. It was definitely shocking to me. Who in the world could handle seven children, almost the same amount of miscarriages, and a rough marriage? It's just exhausting and mentally draining to even think about. I felt sad for the children because I could just tell that they had an awful home life just by the mention of one of the children saying that the miscarriages were the lucky ones. They were somewhat compensated (but not really) by being able to become a successful poet and writer.


The thing that really struck me about Maurice Sendak's essay was the weirdness of him and his brother Jack's story that they wrote when they were seven and twelve (respectively). I think that it's really neat that they were able to be so creative at a young age, but I was just deeply disturbed by the 'incest' in the story. How did they not find it strange that they were writing about being in love with their sister? What made it even worse was that their parents were proud of this story. I can understand that it's an achievement of their kids', but as a parent I would still think it's unusual for my two sons to write a story about them being in love with their sister. It's even more disturbing that they would even think of having their sister commit suicide because the brother is dying. Starting young for writers is a good thing, but Sendak's start was just concerning.

Why I Write

So... why do I write...?

I can honestly say that I don't have a clue. I don't really write much on my own time so most of the time it's because I have to for class.

In general, I don't really like writing. But the idea of writing as an imaginary world where anything can happen is fresh compared to reality. There's freedom to make the characters do whatever I want them to or make the story go where I want it to go. It's a relieving feeling that makes me sometimes enjoy writing. However, I only get this 'freedom' when I can write about anything I want to.

I think I don't like writing because I associate it too much with standardized testing and the stress that comes with it all. The prompts from the standardized tests are so vague and I'm not given much time to write the essay. It's so stressful that it makes me dread writing.

Since writing isn't something that I particularly enjoy, I think that I'll stick to reading what other people write because I know I'll enjoy that far more than trying compose my own work.

FIRST!

Here's my first post on my first official blog where I'll blog about stuff I guess.
I feel like a rebel because Blogger is the type of site that I thought would be blocked at school. But I'm on it at school!!!! I could have even of been on my personal Tumblr wasting class time, but that'd be bad. Haha.

Bye for now...?