I feel like I have learned new ways to approach an idea. I think that I am more comfortable with analytical pieces, such a thesis papers for MR. HINDLEY! but when it came to free-thinking pieces like the ones we had to do for composition it was harder for me to find new, fresh ways of thinking about something rather than using cliches and old things we've heard about so many times before. I think that's why the public interest essay was one of my stronger pieces because it was about a certain topic that you could write like a newspaper article or something. Conferencing about the dreading conclusion also helped me to think of several tactics of ending a piece, like full circle, or bringing up other questions/relating to past experiences, bleh something relative to the piece.
I think that my voice is slightly humorous. I have a "different" train of thought that comes through when I use humor to convey it. My writing basically sounds like me talking though sometimes I wish I sounded more "intellectual" and thought-provoking, like the people that use big words and whatnot. But then I think, "no actually I don't because that wouldn't be me, that'd be me trying to sound smarter and potentially making myself look like an idiot."
I still want to work on organization because sometimes I think that my papers could be better organized, other times I've used very effective organization, and it doesn't seem like a problem at all. I need to work on becoming more consistent with finding the right organization. Maintaining consistency in basically everything is really what I should be focusing on. For example, aside from organization, I've found that on some papers I used specific details in my descriptions, but in other parts and other papers I was vague. And although mentioned previously under the improvement category, I think that I can always continue to work on finding ways to develop a new look on things. new points of view that haven't been overused.
I've discovered that my "story" is a bit mundane, but what the heck, it's my story. I think the main topic reoccuring in my papers is school and dealing with the whole belief that what you do in high school is crucial to college which is then a deciding factor in your future, discussing about whether the general idea of "sucess" is really for everybody. In sophomore year I even remember writing about "what is success" when we were posed the question what is "quality" and the whole essential questions- "what kind of world is this" and "how should I live in it?" The whole "how should I live in it" question often relates to my "story" too.
Composition was interesting because many of the topics we had to write on were something I wouldn't have ever chosen to write about, such as the nature essay. It forced me to try new topics that weren't in my writer's "comfort zone".
Friday, May 25, 2007
the hardest decision ever... well one of the hardest anyway
I remember last, last Chapel when Mr. Dyke was our speaker. Mr. Dyke is probably the most interesting man I've ever heard when he reads something he wrote. Really. There was one section in his piece that gave us a moment to pause and answer like 15 true/false questions in our heads. Obviously, because it was Mr. Dyke, they were pretty thought-provoking questions that I sometimes couldn't answer. Or at least, couldn't confidently answer.
One that I really remember was that "I'd rather give up the ability to hear music than the ability to taste food" or something like that. At first I said false, but then I wasn't sure. Music was certainly important to me, I mean I go crazy whenever I forget my iPod. As of now, my iPod is currently broken so I'm practically in a sort of "hell". I really love to eat food, however, my reasoning was that if I couldn't taste, I wouldn't be tempted to gorge on tons of delicious, unhealthy foods that really aren't good for my diet. I thought that I wasn't able to taste, I could just focus on eating healthy, bland foods that everyone has a hard time eating normally because they're just so... blah. BUT HEALTHY! Then I realized that my main motivation behind this was because of society's obsession with "thin". Yes, I realize that I am not exactly "thin" but I'm satisfied with the way I am. I love food so much that it's impossible for me to go on a diet or stay away from foods that I love, especially when we go to fancy resturants. However, if I'm not able to even enjoy the flavor of the foods, I might as well try the whole "thin" thing and eat only healthy, low, low, low calorie foods. And that's why I picked losing taste over the ability to hear. HOWEVER, then I got to thinking that my reasoning sucked. I didn't pick it for the right reasons. If I totally disregarded the consequences of eating too much, and how society feels at being fat, I would pick food over music. Pretty sure. I sound like such a pig right now, but I think it's true. Of course, now that I acknowledge I sound like such a fat lard, it sent off some doubt, causing me to think about changing my opinion just so I don't sound so gluttonous and obese. But though I love my iPod, I realized that many people are born deaf and they're perfectly fine. Not too many people lose the ability to taste, though so that's gotta mean something in some kind of selective disease/natural selection-ish way. So I was stuck. Do I lose tasting because it's probably better for me in the long run or do I lose hearing because that's my personal opinion. It was a battle between logical rationale and personal interest. And since the question was to be answered by yourself without anyone hearing, I decided I would say that I'd rather lose hearing than taste.
Good thing Mr. Dyke moved on to the next question, otherwise I'd be experiencing a continuing dispute (with myself) between caring whether I sound like a fat lard or doing what I'd actually prefer to do... or at least what I think I'd want to do.
One that I really remember was that "I'd rather give up the ability to hear music than the ability to taste food" or something like that. At first I said false, but then I wasn't sure. Music was certainly important to me, I mean I go crazy whenever I forget my iPod. As of now, my iPod is currently broken so I'm practically in a sort of "hell". I really love to eat food, however, my reasoning was that if I couldn't taste, I wouldn't be tempted to gorge on tons of delicious, unhealthy foods that really aren't good for my diet. I thought that I wasn't able to taste, I could just focus on eating healthy, bland foods that everyone has a hard time eating normally because they're just so... blah. BUT HEALTHY! Then I realized that my main motivation behind this was because of society's obsession with "thin". Yes, I realize that I am not exactly "thin" but I'm satisfied with the way I am. I love food so much that it's impossible for me to go on a diet or stay away from foods that I love, especially when we go to fancy resturants. However, if I'm not able to even enjoy the flavor of the foods, I might as well try the whole "thin" thing and eat only healthy, low, low, low calorie foods. And that's why I picked losing taste over the ability to hear. HOWEVER, then I got to thinking that my reasoning sucked. I didn't pick it for the right reasons. If I totally disregarded the consequences of eating too much, and how society feels at being fat, I would pick food over music. Pretty sure. I sound like such a pig right now, but I think it's true. Of course, now that I acknowledge I sound like such a fat lard, it sent off some doubt, causing me to think about changing my opinion just so I don't sound so gluttonous and obese. But though I love my iPod, I realized that many people are born deaf and they're perfectly fine. Not too many people lose the ability to taste, though so that's gotta mean something in some kind of selective disease/natural selection-ish way. So I was stuck. Do I lose tasting because it's probably better for me in the long run or do I lose hearing because that's my personal opinion. It was a battle between logical rationale and personal interest. And since the question was to be answered by yourself without anyone hearing, I decided I would say that I'd rather lose hearing than taste.
Good thing Mr. Dyke moved on to the next question, otherwise I'd be experiencing a continuing dispute (with myself) between caring whether I sound like a fat lard or doing what I'd actually prefer to do... or at least what I think I'd want to do.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
disgusting
And there it was, right at eye level,writhing on its back in its last death throes. Digusting.
It was a cockaroach I doused in roach spray. Whenever I encounter a roach, it's like a freakin' adventure for me. I can feel my adreneline rush because they gross me out so much. I was talking on the phone, heading downstairs because it was midnight, and time for me to go to sleep. Approaching the second set of stairs there it was. A black stain on the nice ivory carpet. Antennae frantically waving, tasting the air. Front legs rubbing together as if it were cleaning itself. Like that's what it was. Everyone knows roaches are dirty, filthy...Disgusting.
I screamed and immediately shut up because I knew the neighbors would hear. The sound carries fast and far in my neighborhood, the windows perfect exists for secrets and key for eavesdroping. My scream didn't appear to bother the roach. It was still sitting there, waving waving its antennae. "Would it please stop?!?!? Please and thank you." I thought. The whole motion of it feeling its surroundings is what creeps me out. It's probably because of a past experience where I killed a roach and when I picked it up with many layers of napkin the antennae were still going crazy and then I could feel it squirming despite the thick bundle of napkin I had in my hand. I guess I didn't kill it completely. Disgusting.
I had to run around searching for the precious bottle of roach spray. It was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile my friend was laughing at me, a huge human, for making such a big deal about a little easily squashable bug. It was a boy, of course. I hopped over the step the roach was on twice, being really careful in case it should suddenly make a run for it. Those buggers move at lightning speed. When I finally found the spray- I swear I had looked at the coffee table- I made sure the spray was pointed properly. This one time, my sister had the spray and out of panic she sprayed herself by accident because she had it faced towards her. When I hit the roach dead on, it did what normal roaches do in reaction to encountering toxic chemicals. It spazzed out and began climbing the steps. I sprayed it a good 3 more times, unnecessarily saturating the carpet with spray. It seemed to have no effect but by then the roach had made its way to the top step, staggering, but still pretty damn fast. It hid amongst the assortment and clutter of shoes, finally retreating behind the shoe cabinent. Disgusting.
I knew I had hit it square on though. There was no way that sucker would live unless it was some kind of superroach. But then again, my mind flashed back to AP biology and resistance and mutation. What if my spray was outdated? Bugs are becoming more immune to spray these days. As I picked up the phone again I started telling my friend about how I was screwed because now there was going to be a roach carcass behind the shoe cabinent and I didn't want to wake up the next morning to peek behind the cabinent and find it. I heard the roach pitterpattering as its hairy legs spastically scratched the wooden cabinent. I could imagine the roach, reaching its final moments as it flailed around pitifully... or not because I didn't pity the thing at all. I bent down to rearrange my shoes that I moved out of the pathway of the bug but out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I was eye level with the shoe cabinent and there was my besty friend, the ROACH, on its back, its spikey appendages pumping like it was bicycling with 6 legs. Oh man I felt so gross. I thought it had died already, but it had enough strength to climb the cabinent?!?! When it finally became still, I took many sheets of Kleenex and gingerly picked up the thing, holding it as far as possible from me and proceeded to flush it it in the toilet. GOODBYE forever!!!!!!!!! Oh man. DISGUSTING.
It was a cockaroach I doused in roach spray. Whenever I encounter a roach, it's like a freakin' adventure for me. I can feel my adreneline rush because they gross me out so much. I was talking on the phone, heading downstairs because it was midnight, and time for me to go to sleep. Approaching the second set of stairs there it was. A black stain on the nice ivory carpet. Antennae frantically waving, tasting the air. Front legs rubbing together as if it were cleaning itself. Like that's what it was. Everyone knows roaches are dirty, filthy...Disgusting.
I screamed and immediately shut up because I knew the neighbors would hear. The sound carries fast and far in my neighborhood, the windows perfect exists for secrets and key for eavesdroping. My scream didn't appear to bother the roach. It was still sitting there, waving waving its antennae. "Would it please stop?!?!? Please and thank you." I thought. The whole motion of it feeling its surroundings is what creeps me out. It's probably because of a past experience where I killed a roach and when I picked it up with many layers of napkin the antennae were still going crazy and then I could feel it squirming despite the thick bundle of napkin I had in my hand. I guess I didn't kill it completely. Disgusting.
I had to run around searching for the precious bottle of roach spray. It was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile my friend was laughing at me, a huge human, for making such a big deal about a little easily squashable bug. It was a boy, of course. I hopped over the step the roach was on twice, being really careful in case it should suddenly make a run for it. Those buggers move at lightning speed. When I finally found the spray- I swear I had looked at the coffee table- I made sure the spray was pointed properly. This one time, my sister had the spray and out of panic she sprayed herself by accident because she had it faced towards her. When I hit the roach dead on, it did what normal roaches do in reaction to encountering toxic chemicals. It spazzed out and began climbing the steps. I sprayed it a good 3 more times, unnecessarily saturating the carpet with spray. It seemed to have no effect but by then the roach had made its way to the top step, staggering, but still pretty damn fast. It hid amongst the assortment and clutter of shoes, finally retreating behind the shoe cabinent. Disgusting.
I knew I had hit it square on though. There was no way that sucker would live unless it was some kind of superroach. But then again, my mind flashed back to AP biology and resistance and mutation. What if my spray was outdated? Bugs are becoming more immune to spray these days. As I picked up the phone again I started telling my friend about how I was screwed because now there was going to be a roach carcass behind the shoe cabinent and I didn't want to wake up the next morning to peek behind the cabinent and find it. I heard the roach pitterpattering as its hairy legs spastically scratched the wooden cabinent. I could imagine the roach, reaching its final moments as it flailed around pitifully... or not because I didn't pity the thing at all. I bent down to rearrange my shoes that I moved out of the pathway of the bug but out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I was eye level with the shoe cabinent and there was my besty friend, the ROACH, on its back, its spikey appendages pumping like it was bicycling with 6 legs. Oh man I felt so gross. I thought it had died already, but it had enough strength to climb the cabinent?!?! When it finally became still, I took many sheets of Kleenex and gingerly picked up the thing, holding it as far as possible from me and proceeded to flush it it in the toilet. GOODBYE forever!!!!!!!!! Oh man. DISGUSTING.
dinosaurs
If someone were to ask me if I could go back to any time period, which one would I choose, I wouldn't know what to say because there are so many places I'd want to see. I'd want to see Rome and Ceaser and Vikings and Christ in Bethlehem just to see if he was really real and Emperors and Shogun in Japan and the first native Hawaiians... the list could go on and on forever, I swear. But the thing I'd like to see the most are the Dinosaurs. Cretaceous, Mesozoic, Jurassic... I'd visit them all. I'd also want to see prehistoric creatures that have evolved into the animals we know today like komodo dragons or horses or tapirs or even the common pidgeon. It'd kind of be like a Jurassic Park all over again. When I was little, I was obsessed with that movie as well as Land Before Time (maybe not all 100 billion of them, just the first one), and all sorts of Dinosaur books. Call me strange, but I even had a computer game that was all about being a photographer of Dinosaurs. You were supposed to go to a certain era and find a specific dinosaur, take their picture, and get paid according to how good the shot was. I was a dork. When Discovery Channel did the special called "Walking with Dinosaurs" I was fascinated because the computer animation was incredibly realistic. The fight between the fierce King T-Rex and a dino with the nutzest defense mechanisms like the Stegosaurs... I would pay to see those in real life as long as the T-Rex didn't go for me. I wished that I could find some way to enter the TV and become a part of Pangea, the world before it broke apart into continents.
Many people probably think I'm psycho, like a mild Timmy Treadwell... kind of. Dinosaurs are no doubt dangerous. After all, they are WILD and most have the instinct to kill or be killed. But I think dinosaurs are way cool. Though some of them have modern day ancestors like the crocodile many of them were completely unique to the age of the dinosaurs. Like the brontosaurus,
the dinosaur with the really long neck, or the triceratops, 
the dinosaurs with 3 horns and a huge, bony head. The whole design of each creature alone is unlike anything we have today. What if we had some kind of Triceratops walking around today? I think the closest thing we have is a chameleon... an interesting creature, no doubt, but it's no triceratops. My interest in dinos was strengthened even more after taking biology and learning about natural selection and evolution in-depth. I would find it SO fascinating just to go on an excursion dedicated to the study of dinosaurs... Observe their behavior and anatomy. :( Too bad that that can never happen. If only we could clone them from blood in fosilized mosquitos trapped in amber...
Many people probably think I'm psycho, like a mild Timmy Treadwell... kind of. Dinosaurs are no doubt dangerous. After all, they are WILD and most have the instinct to kill or be killed. But I think dinosaurs are way cool. Though some of them have modern day ancestors like the crocodile many of them were completely unique to the age of the dinosaurs. Like the brontosaurus,
the dinosaur with the really long neck, or the triceratops, the dinosaurs with 3 horns and a huge, bony head. The whole design of each creature alone is unlike anything we have today. What if we had some kind of Triceratops walking around today? I think the closest thing we have is a chameleon... an interesting creature, no doubt, but it's no triceratops. My interest in dinos was strengthened even more after taking biology and learning about natural selection and evolution in-depth. I would find it SO fascinating just to go on an excursion dedicated to the study of dinosaurs... Observe their behavior and anatomy. :( Too bad that that can never happen. If only we could clone them from blood in fosilized mosquitos trapped in amber...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
i fought the law and the law won... kinda
On Mother's Day, I got into my first car accident.
Okay, it was more like a pseudo-car accident because I didn't get in trouble. But it marked the middle of a Stressful Sunday. First of all, I was stressing out because it was Mother's Day and my mom was a little angry that I chose to go to one of my softball games all the way out in Kaneohe at 1045 when we had a brunch way back at Roy's in Hawaii Kai at 1215. I was also a bit grumpy because I was already missing the second game, and my coach was giving me a hard time about missing it because it was against one of our more competitive rivals. But I didn't want to miss both games, so being the diplomat I am, I made a compromise of going to the first game and then driving over to Roy;s, hopefully only missing 20 minutes or so of brunch. I am an optimist. After the first game, I was sweaty and gross but said a quick goodbye and good luck to my team mates, threw my stuff in my trunk and hightailed out of the parking lot. As I was driving on the Likelike, I could hear my mom's voice in my ear, "Drive Safely! Don't speed!" so I tried to heed her little voice in my head, and it sort of worked. Everything was going fine, I was going at a good pace without being "dangerous", and God knows that I didn't speed... that much. I ran into a little chunk of traffic but I was an uncharacteristically patient driver. When I entered Hawaii Kai it was about 1245. I thought to myself, "So I missed about a half an hour, but that's pretty good because I'm almost there. Plus, all we do is eat anyway. The main point is that I'm coming." The stoplight right before Hawaii Kai shopping center marked the beginning of the homestretch to the restaurant. It was stop and go traffic, so while we were stopped I decided to look in the mirror to check if I looked horrible (specfically looking for softball helmet hair, sweat and dirt on my face). It was an act of Narcissism that I won't even forget. I paid for this brief moment of vanity as out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the car ahead. I thought this meant that we were going so I accelerated. And boom, I saw the man in front of me's outline jolt forward as I rear ended his Camry. It turns out that the driver was an old, little Japanese man with glasses in a faded green shirt. He reminded me of my grandpa, although he's Chinese and a head or more taller. His face got my scared. It was stern, like he was going to give me an earful and yell at me, probably calling me a girl with her head in the clouds, or some dumb girl who just wasn't paying attention... true descriptions. He walked over, surveyed the damage to his car and started to approach my window. Meanwhile, I was freaking out, the air filled with "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT" and me trying to find my cell phone to call my mom. I knew that my mom would probably never let me drive for awhile and I would get an earful once we got home. The Roy's parking lot was right next to me, with Roy's in plain view. Oh, the irony. I decided that I had to just stay calm so as the man was next to my window I rolled it down and.... started apologizing profutely. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." "Why'd you do that?" demanded the little man, as if it were my choice to rear end him. I thought he meant more like, "what was I doing when this happened" so I said that I was looking for my cell phone and that I was on my way to a Mother's Day dinner. NOT entirely true, but more acceptable than "looking at myself in the mirror." He paused as if to process this info... stupid teenage girl... cellphone... but at last he responded with the beginnings of a smile and a glint in his eye. "What school do you go to?" I was not expecting this. What kind of question was this? Should I say Punahou? A lot of people would probably feel less sympathetic if I said Punahou but I decided to give it a shot. "Punahou," I meekly responded. He nodded and said, "Well, I'm alright." WHAT? No damage? I couldn't believe this. I walked outside to take a look at the damage with my own eyes. Not even a dent in both of our cars. A plastic part under the lights fell out but I easily popped it back in. "Wow," I said, in disbelief. "Yup, so just be more careful." The man walked back to his door. I couldn't stop apologizing. "Thank you thank you thank you. I'm sorry again!" He smiled at me and got back into his car, starting the ignition. "I love old people," I thought.
So I narrowly escaped what could've been really, really bad. I thought my Mom would give me a huge lecture but she was just as relieved that there was no damage done and laughed when I told her that all the man asked was what school i went to and what was i doing when i hit him. It was a lesson well-learned: don't take your eyes off the road. OBVIOUSLY!
But that night, I had a dream that I got multiple speeding tickets... try 5 on the same day. It was absurd. For some reason I had a pedal happy foot because as soon as one cop let me go, I would speed away, weaving in and out of cars. It was quite thrilling at the time... until I got pulled over not even 5 minutes later. I felt a surge of the feelings I experienced earlier that day when I was sitting in the car watching the man come out- anxiety, fear, regret, distress, panic. But thankfully, woke up right before it was time for Judgement with my parents.
I am never looking at myself in the mirror while behind the wheel again.
Okay, it was more like a pseudo-car accident because I didn't get in trouble. But it marked the middle of a Stressful Sunday. First of all, I was stressing out because it was Mother's Day and my mom was a little angry that I chose to go to one of my softball games all the way out in Kaneohe at 1045 when we had a brunch way back at Roy's in Hawaii Kai at 1215. I was also a bit grumpy because I was already missing the second game, and my coach was giving me a hard time about missing it because it was against one of our more competitive rivals. But I didn't want to miss both games, so being the diplomat I am, I made a compromise of going to the first game and then driving over to Roy;s, hopefully only missing 20 minutes or so of brunch. I am an optimist. After the first game, I was sweaty and gross but said a quick goodbye and good luck to my team mates, threw my stuff in my trunk and hightailed out of the parking lot. As I was driving on the Likelike, I could hear my mom's voice in my ear, "Drive Safely! Don't speed!" so I tried to heed her little voice in my head, and it sort of worked. Everything was going fine, I was going at a good pace without being "dangerous", and God knows that I didn't speed... that much. I ran into a little chunk of traffic but I was an uncharacteristically patient driver. When I entered Hawaii Kai it was about 1245. I thought to myself, "So I missed about a half an hour, but that's pretty good because I'm almost there. Plus, all we do is eat anyway. The main point is that I'm coming." The stoplight right before Hawaii Kai shopping center marked the beginning of the homestretch to the restaurant. It was stop and go traffic, so while we were stopped I decided to look in the mirror to check if I looked horrible (specfically looking for softball helmet hair, sweat and dirt on my face). It was an act of Narcissism that I won't even forget. I paid for this brief moment of vanity as out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the car ahead. I thought this meant that we were going so I accelerated. And boom, I saw the man in front of me's outline jolt forward as I rear ended his Camry. It turns out that the driver was an old, little Japanese man with glasses in a faded green shirt. He reminded me of my grandpa, although he's Chinese and a head or more taller. His face got my scared. It was stern, like he was going to give me an earful and yell at me, probably calling me a girl with her head in the clouds, or some dumb girl who just wasn't paying attention... true descriptions. He walked over, surveyed the damage to his car and started to approach my window. Meanwhile, I was freaking out, the air filled with "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT" and me trying to find my cell phone to call my mom. I knew that my mom would probably never let me drive for awhile and I would get an earful once we got home. The Roy's parking lot was right next to me, with Roy's in plain view. Oh, the irony. I decided that I had to just stay calm so as the man was next to my window I rolled it down and.... started apologizing profutely. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." "Why'd you do that?" demanded the little man, as if it were my choice to rear end him. I thought he meant more like, "what was I doing when this happened" so I said that I was looking for my cell phone and that I was on my way to a Mother's Day dinner. NOT entirely true, but more acceptable than "looking at myself in the mirror." He paused as if to process this info... stupid teenage girl... cellphone... but at last he responded with the beginnings of a smile and a glint in his eye. "What school do you go to?" I was not expecting this. What kind of question was this? Should I say Punahou? A lot of people would probably feel less sympathetic if I said Punahou but I decided to give it a shot. "Punahou," I meekly responded. He nodded and said, "Well, I'm alright." WHAT? No damage? I couldn't believe this. I walked outside to take a look at the damage with my own eyes. Not even a dent in both of our cars. A plastic part under the lights fell out but I easily popped it back in. "Wow," I said, in disbelief. "Yup, so just be more careful." The man walked back to his door. I couldn't stop apologizing. "Thank you thank you thank you. I'm sorry again!" He smiled at me and got back into his car, starting the ignition. "I love old people," I thought.
So I narrowly escaped what could've been really, really bad. I thought my Mom would give me a huge lecture but she was just as relieved that there was no damage done and laughed when I told her that all the man asked was what school i went to and what was i doing when i hit him. It was a lesson well-learned: don't take your eyes off the road. OBVIOUSLY!
But that night, I had a dream that I got multiple speeding tickets... try 5 on the same day. It was absurd. For some reason I had a pedal happy foot because as soon as one cop let me go, I would speed away, weaving in and out of cars. It was quite thrilling at the time... until I got pulled over not even 5 minutes later. I felt a surge of the feelings I experienced earlier that day when I was sitting in the car watching the man come out- anxiety, fear, regret, distress, panic. But thankfully, woke up right before it was time for Judgement with my parents.
I am never looking at myself in the mirror while behind the wheel again.
what's wrong with me?
Inspired by Katie's blog
This week I am going into cruise control. No, it's not an option, it's a statement. I feel like really don't have a choice. This is NOT coming from a senior. Sad, I know, but it's got truth in its foundations. With summer dangling in front of me like my favorite maguro sushi from Genki, especially rich, dark red and tender, it's too difficult to maintain my focus. If there were a Jimmy Cricket conscious hovering on my shoulder, he would be disappointed and take on the role of a drill sargent. "What are you doing, Sara? Pull yourself together, and shake off those cobwebs accumulating in your brain, amongst thoughts of the beach and fresh summer dresses. Those go on the backburner! This is crunch time, where you should be working harder than ever before! We're talking about the end of your all-important junior year!" In the back of my mind, I silently agree and tell myself to snap back into "robot student mode"... that is, If I could.
Autopilot has taken over my body. I no longer have the focus to do really much of anything. I've experienced too much second-hand senioritus and now it's killing me. That is why cruise control has somehow morphed into my body's natural mode. For instance, tomorrow is my math quarter test, which counts double for my grade. I need to do extraordinarily well since I totally bombed the last test. But am I prepared? Hardly. I was supposed to study yesterday as well as today, but I got distracted by an interesting phone call, and really, what teenage girl would rather study for math when they could be having a thunderous laugh attack, and unearthing juicy gossip! Okay, maybe the really dilligent and dedicated girls would. I should've been more like them, but sadly, I wasn't.
But why do I keep comparing myself to others? It's natural. However, comparing myself to myself through my academic career would be a bad idea also. If I think about it even more, one of the main reasons why I am so screwed is because this quarter/semester will be compared to last semester and sophomore year, where the living was easier and that showed in my grades. This is horrible, I should slap myself on the wrist for even thinking about this, but if I hadn't done so well, my grades now would seem like they were an improvement/maybe even good. So should I have done worse before to minimize the poor student image I am creating for myself now? Preposterous! This is totally the worst attitude I have ever seen myself have. I shall never speak about this again. Now I am a poor soul condemned to the confines of a textbook, thinking about my actions and regretting the apathetic mood I am exhibiting right now.
The worst thing about my whole attitude is that I am fully aware that it sucks, but I am too lazy to make much of a change. Actions speak louder than words, but right now, my words are drowing my actions tenfold. I wish I could just say that my work ethic has been leeched by Harry Potter dementors. If only that were a plausible explanation. But for now, I am going to have to suck it up and shift into overdrive because I know that if I continue my current attitude towards school, I am going to be in for a rude awakening later. Enough talk, let's get to steppin! I've got to figure a way to get out of cruise control.
This week I am going into cruise control. No, it's not an option, it's a statement. I feel like really don't have a choice. This is NOT coming from a senior. Sad, I know, but it's got truth in its foundations. With summer dangling in front of me like my favorite maguro sushi from Genki, especially rich, dark red and tender, it's too difficult to maintain my focus. If there were a Jimmy Cricket conscious hovering on my shoulder, he would be disappointed and take on the role of a drill sargent. "What are you doing, Sara? Pull yourself together, and shake off those cobwebs accumulating in your brain, amongst thoughts of the beach and fresh summer dresses. Those go on the backburner! This is crunch time, where you should be working harder than ever before! We're talking about the end of your all-important junior year!" In the back of my mind, I silently agree and tell myself to snap back into "robot student mode"... that is, If I could.
Autopilot has taken over my body. I no longer have the focus to do really much of anything. I've experienced too much second-hand senioritus and now it's killing me. That is why cruise control has somehow morphed into my body's natural mode. For instance, tomorrow is my math quarter test, which counts double for my grade. I need to do extraordinarily well since I totally bombed the last test. But am I prepared? Hardly. I was supposed to study yesterday as well as today, but I got distracted by an interesting phone call, and really, what teenage girl would rather study for math when they could be having a thunderous laugh attack, and unearthing juicy gossip! Okay, maybe the really dilligent and dedicated girls would. I should've been more like them, but sadly, I wasn't.
But why do I keep comparing myself to others? It's natural. However, comparing myself to myself through my academic career would be a bad idea also. If I think about it even more, one of the main reasons why I am so screwed is because this quarter/semester will be compared to last semester and sophomore year, where the living was easier and that showed in my grades. This is horrible, I should slap myself on the wrist for even thinking about this, but if I hadn't done so well, my grades now would seem like they were an improvement/maybe even good. So should I have done worse before to minimize the poor student image I am creating for myself now? Preposterous! This is totally the worst attitude I have ever seen myself have. I shall never speak about this again. Now I am a poor soul condemned to the confines of a textbook, thinking about my actions and regretting the apathetic mood I am exhibiting right now.
The worst thing about my whole attitude is that I am fully aware that it sucks, but I am too lazy to make much of a change. Actions speak louder than words, but right now, my words are drowing my actions tenfold. I wish I could just say that my work ethic has been leeched by Harry Potter dementors. If only that were a plausible explanation. But for now, I am going to have to suck it up and shift into overdrive because I know that if I continue my current attitude towards school, I am going to be in for a rude awakening later. Enough talk, let's get to steppin! I've got to figure a way to get out of cruise control.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
MADE
Many people have probably watched MTV's "MADE", the show where a kid that falls under one stereotype wants to become the opposite stereotype and so MTV hires them a "MADE" coach that will help them achieve their goal. Most of the time it's something like an emo kid wants to become prom king or a um, semi-socially clueless girl wants to become a cheerleader... something like that. The show's main entertainment factor comes from the selection of people they've picked out, obviously. They're either weird, dorky to the point where it's funny but you're laughing WITH them not at them, or almost pathetic, and what they want to become is so different from what they are now that it just seems impossible for them to reach it. Thus, getting the MADE audience hooked. Some people go from wearing tye-dyed shirts with unicorns on them to beauty queens and fashionistas. No offense, of course, if you like tye-dyed shirts with unicorns on them. Other transformations aren't so drastic but it's enough to think that this MADE coach must have some special superhuman power. In the end, the wonderful MADE coach miraculously manages to help the person obtain the unattainable... or at least come close, changing their life and helping them "learn valuable lessons" from the whole experience. I've always wondered what I'd want to become if I were to be on the show.
If I were on the show, I think I'd want to be made into a cheerleader/dancer or something just to say that I tried something new. I don't really know if I even fit into one stereotype as I am now. So therefore it's hard for me to think of something completely opposite from what I am. I guess dancer/cheerleader fits best. For one, I'm extremely unflexible, so being a cheerleader never really occured to me. I've seen the previous cheerleader episodes and I can't do a handspring or whatever to save my life. I'm more of an athletic type person who'd rather get sweaty and dirty and the like on the softball field. Two, I'm not THAT loud and perky and all that stuff cheerleaders need to be. I'm outgoing ENOUGH but not cheerleader like outgoing if you know what I mean. Three, I don't have the confidence the cheerleader people have. There's some stigma that comes with being a cheerleader, good and bad, yes but it's something whether it's a stereotype that fits or one that doesn't. But it's usually that cheerleaders are popular, pretty and ditzy in some cases. I can do without the last one please. And finally, well, I don't know, I guess my friends would probably think I'd be the last person to be a cheerleader/dancer. Hahaaa.
I don't think I'd make the show though, because they usually pick someone sad enough so that people watch just to see how someone can magically undergo such a drastic transformation. I like being interesting, but not to the point where I'd catch thousands of people's attentions by being on MADE...well, just because it's the show MADE. Seriously.
If I were on the show, I think I'd want to be made into a cheerleader/dancer or something just to say that I tried something new. I don't really know if I even fit into one stereotype as I am now. So therefore it's hard for me to think of something completely opposite from what I am. I guess dancer/cheerleader fits best. For one, I'm extremely unflexible, so being a cheerleader never really occured to me. I've seen the previous cheerleader episodes and I can't do a handspring or whatever to save my life. I'm more of an athletic type person who'd rather get sweaty and dirty and the like on the softball field. Two, I'm not THAT loud and perky and all that stuff cheerleaders need to be. I'm outgoing ENOUGH but not cheerleader like outgoing if you know what I mean. Three, I don't have the confidence the cheerleader people have. There's some stigma that comes with being a cheerleader, good and bad, yes but it's something whether it's a stereotype that fits or one that doesn't. But it's usually that cheerleaders are popular, pretty and ditzy in some cases. I can do without the last one please. And finally, well, I don't know, I guess my friends would probably think I'd be the last person to be a cheerleader/dancer. Hahaaa.
I don't think I'd make the show though, because they usually pick someone sad enough so that people watch just to see how someone can magically undergo such a drastic transformation. I like being interesting, but not to the point where I'd catch thousands of people's attentions by being on MADE...well, just because it's the show MADE. Seriously.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
i know who killed the electric car.
Finishing "Who Killed the Electric Car?" today in class made me realize how stupid and corrput the world is. And I got mad. Okay, so I already KNEW many people in the world were stupid and corrupt, but this only confirmed my assumptions. This is a generalized statement of course, but I think it applies to enough people to make it okay for me to say it.
It is obvious to me that most of the blame for the death of the electric car should be put on the oil companies and our most excellent government. Hello, the oil companies don't care about the environment. They care about their moolah. They care that Americans have an obsession with "bigger is better" and are overjoyed that many people are becoming "I must have a bigger car" zombies. Since the oil companies control just about everything, with our country so reliant on them and all, the automobile industry and government can't get them angry. So basically I see it as a funnel, starting with the oil company > government > automobile industry > state government like the california air resources board > consumers the end. I just can't see how the car companies could have the nerve to claim that consumers didn't want to electric car! How could they say such a thing when they have proof against them smacked right in front of their face? Talk about a bitch slap, mofo! I guess they just wanted everyone to know they are liars and idiots. Those EVs had the shortest stint ever on the market. They didn't even have a chance for consumers to even "reject" them as the industry claims. I didn't even know about these cars. The EV's seem too good to be true, which bugs me even more because the car companies are blatant liars. Rawr. And the inventor of the battery (I forgot his name) had a new battery that would increase the range- if that's what people had issues with, which I suspect wasn't really as big of a deal as the car compaines made it out to be. I couldn't believe that GM chose to manufacture Hummers instead of EVs. It just doesn't make logical sense. Maybe it's because I have a personal gripe with Hummers. Living in Hawaii, there are no need for Hummers. At all. They're hard to park, slow(ish), and gas guzzlers TO DA MAX! So what if they have bling bling? Do you really need to crush other puny cars? No. But the gangstas on TV have the 23's and chrome spinners or whatever they're called and put them on their huge escalades. BALLIN! And that's why I can't really blame the consumers themselves because its society and the automobile industry that is warping everyone's minds. We're all like little puppets.
The government might as well be sacks of rice. Domesticate oil by drilling in an Alaskan natural reserve? That controversy was around for awhile. The video reported that drilling could only sustain our oil needs for a year. Then what? Bush was so amazed by hydrogen fuel cells... well too bad that won't make its debut until at least 20 years from now. I guess that's how you can describe his thinking- don't try to solve the problem NOW but claim there there is progress making technological advances for "the future".
What I didn't get was why was this whole thing only going on in California? Why don't other states adopt the Zero Emissions Mandate? Sure it's the biggest state and all, but it's not like air pollution and CO2 emission is only a problem there. It's a huge concern everywhere? Were EV-1s only made there? Prior to this film I had never heard of an EV-1 in my life. I didn't even know that general motors was doing on this shady stuff. Am I the only one?
Well, even if I don't know what I am talking about, because I'm probably only rambling and complaining here, one thing I know for sure is that I am not going to buy a car from general motors. Japanese Hybrids oh and Ford hybrids too! (yes I know they are more expensive, but the cost is worth it!)
It is obvious to me that most of the blame for the death of the electric car should be put on the oil companies and our most excellent government. Hello, the oil companies don't care about the environment. They care about their moolah. They care that Americans have an obsession with "bigger is better" and are overjoyed that many people are becoming "I must have a bigger car" zombies. Since the oil companies control just about everything, with our country so reliant on them and all, the automobile industry and government can't get them angry. So basically I see it as a funnel, starting with the oil company > government > automobile industry > state government like the california air resources board > consumers the end. I just can't see how the car companies could have the nerve to claim that consumers didn't want to electric car! How could they say such a thing when they have proof against them smacked right in front of their face? Talk about a bitch slap, mofo! I guess they just wanted everyone to know they are liars and idiots. Those EVs had the shortest stint ever on the market. They didn't even have a chance for consumers to even "reject" them as the industry claims. I didn't even know about these cars. The EV's seem too good to be true, which bugs me even more because the car companies are blatant liars. Rawr. And the inventor of the battery (I forgot his name) had a new battery that would increase the range- if that's what people had issues with, which I suspect wasn't really as big of a deal as the car compaines made it out to be. I couldn't believe that GM chose to manufacture Hummers instead of EVs. It just doesn't make logical sense. Maybe it's because I have a personal gripe with Hummers. Living in Hawaii, there are no need for Hummers. At all. They're hard to park, slow(ish), and gas guzzlers TO DA MAX! So what if they have bling bling? Do you really need to crush other puny cars? No. But the gangstas on TV have the 23's and chrome spinners or whatever they're called and put them on their huge escalades. BALLIN! And that's why I can't really blame the consumers themselves because its society and the automobile industry that is warping everyone's minds. We're all like little puppets.
The government might as well be sacks of rice. Domesticate oil by drilling in an Alaskan natural reserve? That controversy was around for awhile. The video reported that drilling could only sustain our oil needs for a year. Then what? Bush was so amazed by hydrogen fuel cells... well too bad that won't make its debut until at least 20 years from now. I guess that's how you can describe his thinking- don't try to solve the problem NOW but claim there there is progress making technological advances for "the future".
What I didn't get was why was this whole thing only going on in California? Why don't other states adopt the Zero Emissions Mandate? Sure it's the biggest state and all, but it's not like air pollution and CO2 emission is only a problem there. It's a huge concern everywhere? Were EV-1s only made there? Prior to this film I had never heard of an EV-1 in my life. I didn't even know that general motors was doing on this shady stuff. Am I the only one?
Well, even if I don't know what I am talking about, because I'm probably only rambling and complaining here, one thing I know for sure is that I am not going to buy a car from general motors. Japanese Hybrids oh and Ford hybrids too! (yes I know they are more expensive, but the cost is worth it!)
Sunday, April 22, 2007
what is this world coming to
I meant to post this earlier, right after the VTech shootings, but I never got around to it until now.
I know the whole VTech shooting has been dragged out and overexploited by the media, and I know that it must've been unbearably hard (I probably can't even relate) for all the families who lost loved ones (my condolences to them) but I think that the media made everything worse. For 2 days, the headline of CNN and NBC either had something to do with the shooting or the shooter, Cho Seung Hui. I was deeply disturbed his images and video clips, his weapons (beloved hammer), his shaved head, and barely cohesive manuscript. When NBC recieved the package from Hui himself, they were supposed to immediately turn it in to the police. After briefly "consulting with local authorities", they aired 10% of it. It may sound like they were sparing the public of the worst, but what they did air was disturbing enough. At first, the Virginia Police Chief commended NBC for its actions, but the following day, he then said something about how the Virginia police department and the families of the victims were "disappointed" in NBC's actions. He even said that the package would be of "marginal value" to the police, saying that "they were already aware of what it contained." Many people who were supposed to be interviewed on NBC cancelled and refused to talk to anyone because of the network's irresponsible actions. What good was it to air all that stuff, especially so soon after the incident? The victims bodies weren't even buried yet. The official investigation had just begun. I'm sure the families affected were outraged seeing the crazy person who viciously killed their loved ones being made into a public celebrity (for all the wrong reasons). I don't know how many times they played the clips, flashed images, and talked about the whole thing, but it was too much. NBC, in response, claimed that they aired it in order to shed some light on the reasoning behind Hui's actions, but did it really? Were they the "serious journalists" they made themselves out to be? Even if they were, it's too bad because there've been so much other "entertainment news" that this got confused between "serious journalism" and "entertainment news". They didn't make it clear which one they were going for.
Couldn't they have waited until the police watched the video and officially figured out the events that took place? They investigation isn't even finished. The line where Hui said something about being like Jesus Christ, inspiring all those who are too weak to stand up for themselves, was particualarly disturbing. Who knows what other kinds of mentally disturbed people like Hui were watching, and actually could be inspired but his actions. The amount of attention they spent on him was enough that Hui's words would reach any other abused kid who wants attention. He got his 15 seconds plus of fame. I can imagine a kid, bullied in the past, suddenly going postal and releasing his pent up anger and rage in an act of violence like Hui, especially after seeing that it can actually happen. In fact, not too long after the incident, the media was in a frenzy, reporting a story about a 14 year old Florida native who threatened to top Hui's victim count to 100 people. It's bad enough that the VTech shooting had to happen, but what else is in store, especially after the airing of Cho Seung Hui's psychopathic behavior? I'm not singling out NBC, because I'm sure any other news network wouldv'e done the same. But that just goes to show what the media is looking for these days in their daily broadcast. The images were certainly disturbing, but that didn't prevent people from being totally engrossed while watching it. Who wouldn't want to know what the crazy guy was thinking?What is this world coming to?
I know the whole VTech shooting has been dragged out and overexploited by the media, and I know that it must've been unbearably hard (I probably can't even relate) for all the families who lost loved ones (my condolences to them) but I think that the media made everything worse. For 2 days, the headline of CNN and NBC either had something to do with the shooting or the shooter, Cho Seung Hui. I was deeply disturbed his images and video clips, his weapons (beloved hammer), his shaved head, and barely cohesive manuscript. When NBC recieved the package from Hui himself, they were supposed to immediately turn it in to the police. After briefly "consulting with local authorities", they aired 10% of it. It may sound like they were sparing the public of the worst, but what they did air was disturbing enough. At first, the Virginia Police Chief commended NBC for its actions, but the following day, he then said something about how the Virginia police department and the families of the victims were "disappointed" in NBC's actions. He even said that the package would be of "marginal value" to the police, saying that "they were already aware of what it contained." Many people who were supposed to be interviewed on NBC cancelled and refused to talk to anyone because of the network's irresponsible actions. What good was it to air all that stuff, especially so soon after the incident? The victims bodies weren't even buried yet. The official investigation had just begun. I'm sure the families affected were outraged seeing the crazy person who viciously killed their loved ones being made into a public celebrity (for all the wrong reasons). I don't know how many times they played the clips, flashed images, and talked about the whole thing, but it was too much. NBC, in response, claimed that they aired it in order to shed some light on the reasoning behind Hui's actions, but did it really? Were they the "serious journalists" they made themselves out to be? Even if they were, it's too bad because there've been so much other "entertainment news" that this got confused between "serious journalism" and "entertainment news". They didn't make it clear which one they were going for.
Couldn't they have waited until the police watched the video and officially figured out the events that took place? They investigation isn't even finished. The line where Hui said something about being like Jesus Christ, inspiring all those who are too weak to stand up for themselves, was particualarly disturbing. Who knows what other kinds of mentally disturbed people like Hui were watching, and actually could be inspired but his actions. The amount of attention they spent on him was enough that Hui's words would reach any other abused kid who wants attention. He got his 15 seconds plus of fame. I can imagine a kid, bullied in the past, suddenly going postal and releasing his pent up anger and rage in an act of violence like Hui, especially after seeing that it can actually happen. In fact, not too long after the incident, the media was in a frenzy, reporting a story about a 14 year old Florida native who threatened to top Hui's victim count to 100 people. It's bad enough that the VTech shooting had to happen, but what else is in store, especially after the airing of Cho Seung Hui's psychopathic behavior? I'm not singling out NBC, because I'm sure any other news network wouldv'e done the same. But that just goes to show what the media is looking for these days in their daily broadcast. The images were certainly disturbing, but that didn't prevent people from being totally engrossed while watching it. Who wouldn't want to know what the crazy guy was thinking?What is this world coming to?
Friday, April 20, 2007
my hangout
EXACT QUOTATIONS
While sitting at my hangout, known as "the boat" by many, I notice a lot of people hunched over textbooks with their ipods on. A lot of other people are engaged in quiet conversation, eating salad and sandwiches. This surprises me because that's not how it usually is, maybe this is a low-activity break. However, I see the normal burst of energy from a usual suspect. She and other people are laughing, with her screechy voice penetrating the air. They now begin to hug. Then start playfully punching each other. One girl asks me why I'm writing this and tells me not to put what they are doing in here. Haha. The two benches look so seperated. Abandoned bags are strewn everywhere. I sit on one of the benches. I realize that if you sit and just observe, you can see a whole bunch of other "groups" interacting thoughout the upper part of the quad. It may sound kinda creepy but it's like I'm a stealthy ninja or something. I feel like a pirate from a crow's nest. I see freshmen, one boy is playing the uke- I guess he's fairly decent but no Jake S.
I then move to the steps and observe where I just was moments ago. It looks the same, except everything is softer but I can still hear the same girl with her screechy laugh. From this view, I now see people's backs instead of their faces. Some are still eating although from here I can't see the food I just see the motion their arm makes taking the food from the plate to their mouth. A lot of people look so concentrated.
And that's all I wrote cause we had to go.
While sitting at my hangout, known as "the boat" by many, I notice a lot of people hunched over textbooks with their ipods on. A lot of other people are engaged in quiet conversation, eating salad and sandwiches. This surprises me because that's not how it usually is, maybe this is a low-activity break. However, I see the normal burst of energy from a usual suspect. She and other people are laughing, with her screechy voice penetrating the air. They now begin to hug. Then start playfully punching each other. One girl asks me why I'm writing this and tells me not to put what they are doing in here. Haha. The two benches look so seperated. Abandoned bags are strewn everywhere. I sit on one of the benches. I realize that if you sit and just observe, you can see a whole bunch of other "groups" interacting thoughout the upper part of the quad. It may sound kinda creepy but it's like I'm a stealthy ninja or something. I feel like a pirate from a crow's nest. I see freshmen, one boy is playing the uke- I guess he's fairly decent but no Jake S.
I then move to the steps and observe where I just was moments ago. It looks the same, except everything is softer but I can still hear the same girl with her screechy laugh. From this view, I now see people's backs instead of their faces. Some are still eating although from here I can't see the food I just see the motion their arm makes taking the food from the plate to their mouth. A lot of people look so concentrated.
And that's all I wrote cause we had to go.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
inventions
I have some problems that seem to plague me no matter what. Though they are small, unimportant, and stupid, they still irk me enough to dedicate an entire post about them! Whenever one of these things happen to me, I think, "wouldn't it be nice if someone invented something to save me from this hell?" So now, I will attempt to throw some ideas out there for the next new innovator.
The first issue I have is with traffic. Yeah yeah, mass transit and the whole rail system that is being dissected throughly will solve a little of the traffic problem we have here. But what I really hate is getting in the slow lane. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager. Maybe it's because I'm just impatient (probably goes hand in hand with being a teenager). But I'd like to get in the most effecient lane, thank you very much. It's supposed to be the outside lane, but does that always happen? No. So I go into the next lane that SEEMS like there are fewer cars, and that it's moving along quite nicely. But, nooooo, the traffic gods just want to see me suffer. So as soon as I change lanes the one I was formerly in miraculously becomes speedy and the cars fly by at a satisfactory rate. Meanwhile, the lane that I am currently in, the one that appeared to be effecient suddenly moves at a snail's pace. Am I bad luck?!?! This happens to me frequently. WHenever I seize the opportunity to change lanes in hopes of getting into the faster one, it always becomes slower. I guess I should just be more patient because the lanes I'm in tend to speed up eventually. But because I am a bit impatient, and I don't think that I'll change all that much in the near future, I propose to invent a device that indicates which lane is fastest. It senses the # of cars up ahead in each lane and if there are any SLOW CAUTIOUS SAFE DRIVERS THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE LIKE BUT MOST PEOPLE AREN'T and if there are any accidents and the average speed of each car in the lane. Some supercalculator that would be, huh.
The second invention I propose is a sensor that you can stick on to anything so you won't lose it. I don't know how many times this would come in handy in my life. It'll probably save my butt more times than I can count. For example, I currently do not know the location of my ID card. I need it for food. Where art thou, ID card? If I buy another one, it'll be my third of the year, meaning I would've spent a whopping $30 on something that shouldn't be lost in the first place. With my invention, a little sensor that comes with a tracking device, I'd never lose it again! It'd be like one of those dot things that the CIA secretly put on people to keep track of them. ANd then I'd have a small little screen like the size of a gameboy or something and I'd be able to find it. It would beep all crazy-like if I pushed the "seek item" button, and it'd be a little blinking dot on the screen yahhhhhhh! The screen would sense my location (using infared or some other sensor thing that I would put on myself) and I'd be able to see my position relative to the missing item. I really need this device. Desperately.
I realize, of course, that these inventions probably won't logically work, and even if they did, hardly anyone would buy them (except me). ON the other hand, technology is steadily advancing! But alas, I can dream that maybe one day my petty beefs with various events in life will vanish!
The first issue I have is with traffic. Yeah yeah, mass transit and the whole rail system that is being dissected throughly will solve a little of the traffic problem we have here. But what I really hate is getting in the slow lane. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager. Maybe it's because I'm just impatient (probably goes hand in hand with being a teenager). But I'd like to get in the most effecient lane, thank you very much. It's supposed to be the outside lane, but does that always happen? No. So I go into the next lane that SEEMS like there are fewer cars, and that it's moving along quite nicely. But, nooooo, the traffic gods just want to see me suffer. So as soon as I change lanes the one I was formerly in miraculously becomes speedy and the cars fly by at a satisfactory rate. Meanwhile, the lane that I am currently in, the one that appeared to be effecient suddenly moves at a snail's pace. Am I bad luck?!?! This happens to me frequently. WHenever I seize the opportunity to change lanes in hopes of getting into the faster one, it always becomes slower. I guess I should just be more patient because the lanes I'm in tend to speed up eventually. But because I am a bit impatient, and I don't think that I'll change all that much in the near future, I propose to invent a device that indicates which lane is fastest. It senses the # of cars up ahead in each lane and if there are any SLOW CAUTIOUS SAFE DRIVERS THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE LIKE BUT MOST PEOPLE AREN'T and if there are any accidents and the average speed of each car in the lane. Some supercalculator that would be, huh.
The second invention I propose is a sensor that you can stick on to anything so you won't lose it. I don't know how many times this would come in handy in my life. It'll probably save my butt more times than I can count. For example, I currently do not know the location of my ID card. I need it for food. Where art thou, ID card? If I buy another one, it'll be my third of the year, meaning I would've spent a whopping $30 on something that shouldn't be lost in the first place. With my invention, a little sensor that comes with a tracking device, I'd never lose it again! It'd be like one of those dot things that the CIA secretly put on people to keep track of them. ANd then I'd have a small little screen like the size of a gameboy or something and I'd be able to find it. It would beep all crazy-like if I pushed the "seek item" button, and it'd be a little blinking dot on the screen yahhhhhhh! The screen would sense my location (using infared or some other sensor thing that I would put on myself) and I'd be able to see my position relative to the missing item. I really need this device. Desperately.
I realize, of course, that these inventions probably won't logically work, and even if they did, hardly anyone would buy them (except me). ON the other hand, technology is steadily advancing! But alas, I can dream that maybe one day my petty beefs with various events in life will vanish!
Monday, April 9, 2007
reminiscent
I've realized what a different person I've become. I know that everyone changes from the time they were 10 because of the obvious changing of environment and influences, but I remember thinking that I would never change. I was so adamant about staying the same that I would forcefully shake my head "no" when my mother asked me if I would like the color pink. Of course then, I surrounded myself with green and tried to as stay far away as possible from anything showing pink. Barbies were the enemy. Of course now, I happen to love pink, though I still have a fondness for green.
I recently found one of my old notebooks that contained my drawings of animals. I was an animal junkie in my early years. My favorite animal was atypical; instead of being a dog or a cat or a dolphin like other normal kids my age, I chose to take interest in the alligator. I remember telling an estranged relative the differences between an alligator and a crocodile. The sad thing is, I can't even remember them now aside from the fact that one usually resides in freshwater and the other saltwater. It had something to do with the arrangement of the jaw and teeth. The late Steve Irwin was my inspiration and I loved watching THE CROCODILE HUNTER. Ah, this is making me sad.
I saw my pictures of the alphabet, with each letter having a corresponding animal. For "I", I had an Ibis. I had forgotten what an Ibis was until I read my old notes. I realized how distant I've become from this animal junkie I used to be. Was I a weird kid? I feel like I was smarter back then. I remember collecting the autobon society guides to a plethora of mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates. I still have them in my bookshelf. I used to love insects. Now I find them disgusting. One look at a cockaroach and I'll be in the other room, yelling at somebody to kill it before it spreads diseases. One time, in my prime (age 11), I was at my uncle's house and I happened about a spider in the corner by a plant. I yelled, "It's a microthena spider eating ladybug larva!" This was, of course, because I had seen a picture of it in my autobon society guide! I don't even know what a microthena spider is now. I think it's the one that looks like it has spines. Another particular incident of my animal-lovingness stays with another one of my uncles, and probably will forever. I had developed an attachment to a particular species of waterbird, the Jacana and in my notebook I had drawn a picture of it in its natural habitat with a lily pad. Under it, I labeled "Jacana. It's kind of a waterbird." Of course I meant "it's a kind of waterbird", but me being 10 didn't know any better. My uncle read it and joked, "if it's only kind of a waterbird, what else is it?" He'll never let me live it down. He teases me to this day. Ah, nostalgia. I miss my pre-adolecent years, pre-high school and yes even middle-school dramas. Those years held some of my finest memories and now, when I'm loaded down with stress, looking back on them gives me temporary sanity. yay. refuge in nostalgia
I recently found one of my old notebooks that contained my drawings of animals. I was an animal junkie in my early years. My favorite animal was atypical; instead of being a dog or a cat or a dolphin like other normal kids my age, I chose to take interest in the alligator. I remember telling an estranged relative the differences between an alligator and a crocodile. The sad thing is, I can't even remember them now aside from the fact that one usually resides in freshwater and the other saltwater. It had something to do with the arrangement of the jaw and teeth. The late Steve Irwin was my inspiration and I loved watching THE CROCODILE HUNTER. Ah, this is making me sad.
I saw my pictures of the alphabet, with each letter having a corresponding animal. For "I", I had an Ibis. I had forgotten what an Ibis was until I read my old notes. I realized how distant I've become from this animal junkie I used to be. Was I a weird kid? I feel like I was smarter back then. I remember collecting the autobon society guides to a plethora of mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates. I still have them in my bookshelf. I used to love insects. Now I find them disgusting. One look at a cockaroach and I'll be in the other room, yelling at somebody to kill it before it spreads diseases. One time, in my prime (age 11), I was at my uncle's house and I happened about a spider in the corner by a plant. I yelled, "It's a microthena spider eating ladybug larva!" This was, of course, because I had seen a picture of it in my autobon society guide! I don't even know what a microthena spider is now. I think it's the one that looks like it has spines. Another particular incident of my animal-lovingness stays with another one of my uncles, and probably will forever. I had developed an attachment to a particular species of waterbird, the Jacana and in my notebook I had drawn a picture of it in its natural habitat with a lily pad. Under it, I labeled "Jacana. It's kind of a waterbird." Of course I meant "it's a kind of waterbird", but me being 10 didn't know any better. My uncle read it and joked, "if it's only kind of a waterbird, what else is it?" He'll never let me live it down. He teases me to this day. Ah, nostalgia. I miss my pre-adolecent years, pre-high school and yes even middle-school dramas. Those years held some of my finest memories and now, when I'm loaded down with stress, looking back on them gives me temporary sanity. yay. refuge in nostalgia
WOW, n
n.
Let me tell you a story about that n. So I just wrote a VERY longish post about the 3 day weekend and its effects on my procrastination habits... until I was going to highlight a passage to delete when for some strange and infuriating reason, my entire blog was selected and as I reached for my mouse to un-highlight the whole thing, I accidently hit the stupid "n" key and now all I have left is an n. I have now also discovered that there is no "undo" with this blog. I can't edit, undo, or ctrl-Z if you want the shortcut. Thank you, technology. I am currently resisting the urge to scream and fervently pound the keyboard so instead I'll channel my energy to writing this blog. I think that I probably wouldn't be so angry except that I am in desperate need of writing more blogs. Finding out that tomorrow is F day, and that I have only written 1 blog for the cycle= very stressed out me. So PART OF WHAT I WAS SAYING IN MY BLOG BEFORE IT GOT ERASED was that 3 day weekends are bad for me. This particular weekend, I got absolutely nothing done. Acutally, "nothing" is all relative, but in an academical context I got nothing done. Oh my gosh, I said this much more smoothly and better in my OLD blog and now it's getting me even more pissed off. I think this was a bad idea, so I'll start writing about something else. Like this situation. Deleting a large passage without saving tends to happen to me a lot more than I think it should. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm clumsy and I hit random keys while passages are highlighted much too often. And now I shall curse my fat ponderous fingers though I have to say that they're not all that slow when I type. They aren't very accurate though. Maybe I should save every 5 words. Maybe I'm just incredibly unlucky. I remember this happening to me before in a paper and then I was going to write it from the point of view of my keyboard because it experienced some nasty abuse as I was quite enraged. But then I decided not to since it would make me look like a very bad-tempered, violent asian girl. And now it's too late. So approxmiately 25 minutes, and one NEW blog later (I could've had 2 blogs by now) I have still accomplished nothing. Except maybe releasing my anger without taking it out on the poor keyboard. Oh Em Gee.
Let me tell you a story about that n. So I just wrote a VERY longish post about the 3 day weekend and its effects on my procrastination habits... until I was going to highlight a passage to delete when for some strange and infuriating reason, my entire blog was selected and as I reached for my mouse to un-highlight the whole thing, I accidently hit the stupid "n" key and now all I have left is an n. I have now also discovered that there is no "undo" with this blog. I can't edit, undo, or ctrl-Z if you want the shortcut. Thank you, technology. I am currently resisting the urge to scream and fervently pound the keyboard so instead I'll channel my energy to writing this blog. I think that I probably wouldn't be so angry except that I am in desperate need of writing more blogs. Finding out that tomorrow is F day, and that I have only written 1 blog for the cycle= very stressed out me. So PART OF WHAT I WAS SAYING IN MY BLOG BEFORE IT GOT ERASED was that 3 day weekends are bad for me. This particular weekend, I got absolutely nothing done. Acutally, "nothing" is all relative, but in an academical context I got nothing done. Oh my gosh, I said this much more smoothly and better in my OLD blog and now it's getting me even more pissed off. I think this was a bad idea, so I'll start writing about something else. Like this situation. Deleting a large passage without saving tends to happen to me a lot more than I think it should. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm clumsy and I hit random keys while passages are highlighted much too often. And now I shall curse my fat ponderous fingers though I have to say that they're not all that slow when I type. They aren't very accurate though. Maybe I should save every 5 words. Maybe I'm just incredibly unlucky. I remember this happening to me before in a paper and then I was going to write it from the point of view of my keyboard because it experienced some nasty abuse as I was quite enraged. But then I decided not to since it would make me look like a very bad-tempered, violent asian girl. And now it's too late. So approxmiately 25 minutes, and one NEW blog later (I could've had 2 blogs by now) I have still accomplished nothing. Except maybe releasing my anger without taking it out on the poor keyboard. Oh Em Gee.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
The Booze Problem
In class with Mr. Kandell, we had a discussion about whether lowering the drinking age would actually prevent teens from abusing alcohol because they would learn to drink responsibly early. Katie mentioned that this would also support teens in a psychological way as well; when someone tells a teen to NOT do something, it makes them curious and more likely to do the very thing they were told not to do. If kids are allowed to do it, then they will learn EARLY if something bad happens to them, say a really bad hangover or they couldn't remember where they put their phone last night, rather than them finding out when they are 21 or sneaking around (as many high schoolers do now) pretending it's "so cool". They will remember what happens and learn what NOT to do for next time. I agree that lowering the drinking age to something like 17 or 18 would allow kids to experience it and find out the consequences themselves. Ideally, they would learn to be responsible and find their own limits and remember them for later verses suffering the unpleasant effects of "too much". Mr. Kandell brought up that lowering the age to something like 16 is stupid because people are just learning to drive at that time and we all know what happens when drinking and driving go hand in hand. I think that 18 is reasonable because teens are usually in senior year of high school or freshman year of college, a time where drinking can potentially dominate the social scene. Because this period in life is busy and highly important, learning how to balance alcohol in this pivotal stage would teach teens to be more responsible since they'd be forced to worry about other things as well.
I realize that my thinking is really only idealistc. The reality is that people can be pretty stupid. Giving them the responsiblity to know their own limits and to learn from their past experiences with alcohol can either start a revolution of awareness or backfire and lead to increased alcohol abuse. It's too much power to give. My thinking is this: if they like it, they'll keep doing it and as much as I would like to give people the benefit of the doubt, they'd probably binge or overdo it just cause they can. And because they love the "good times" they have when they're drunk. If they don't like it, some people (again, idealistically) might STOP because they now realize it can lead to potential chaos. However, a lot of people would also fall victim to peer pressure, and continue to do it if the other stupid people mentioned previously kept promoting its "coolness factor", even if they didn't care for it personally. An example of an already lower drinking age is Amsterdam. Amsterdam, or the "red light district" is just basically free in every way possible. There, people go crazy. There, people don't care about drinking responsibly. They don't make conscious efforts to know their limits when they're having fun. Some people go there just to do drugs and the like because... they can!
Right now, I think the drinking age is practically invalid since a lot of high schoolers party and drink. From what I've seen, most people actually LIKE it and keep doing it. And if they don't actually like it, well they at least pretend to like it because of their influential peers. If you think about it, most of the people who try drinking have a desire to have a "fun" time, thus they try alcohol because they believe it will make things fantabulous. They don't realize the consequences until they experience it personally. I don't know how much lowering the drinking age could solve the problem mainly because it has a higher risk of backfiring and leading to MORE abuse. There's too many "what ifs" to make this idea work.
I realize that my thinking is really only idealistc. The reality is that people can be pretty stupid. Giving them the responsiblity to know their own limits and to learn from their past experiences with alcohol can either start a revolution of awareness or backfire and lead to increased alcohol abuse. It's too much power to give. My thinking is this: if they like it, they'll keep doing it and as much as I would like to give people the benefit of the doubt, they'd probably binge or overdo it just cause they can. And because they love the "good times" they have when they're drunk. If they don't like it, some people (again, idealistically) might STOP because they now realize it can lead to potential chaos. However, a lot of people would also fall victim to peer pressure, and continue to do it if the other stupid people mentioned previously kept promoting its "coolness factor", even if they didn't care for it personally. An example of an already lower drinking age is Amsterdam. Amsterdam, or the "red light district" is just basically free in every way possible. There, people go crazy. There, people don't care about drinking responsibly. They don't make conscious efforts to know their limits when they're having fun. Some people go there just to do drugs and the like because... they can!
Right now, I think the drinking age is practically invalid since a lot of high schoolers party and drink. From what I've seen, most people actually LIKE it and keep doing it. And if they don't actually like it, well they at least pretend to like it because of their influential peers. If you think about it, most of the people who try drinking have a desire to have a "fun" time, thus they try alcohol because they believe it will make things fantabulous. They don't realize the consequences until they experience it personally. I don't know how much lowering the drinking age could solve the problem mainly because it has a higher risk of backfiring and leading to MORE abuse. There's too many "what ifs" to make this idea work.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
the younger generation
So because I had to endure 4 incredibly long plane rides to and from the east coast, I bought some reading material. I also read my friend's magazines since they seemed interesting (Cosmopolitan is as interesting as you think it'd be, maybe even more). Aside from the "What he does when you're not around", and other articles, one thing that really caught my interest was a statistic: "85% of 18-25 year olds say their goal is to become rich." Granted, everyone wants to be rich, but how come it wasn't, "Their goal is to become rich doing something they LIKE?" For awhile now, I've struggled with what exactly equates to success. Most people, especially at Punahou, associate success with getting into a good college so that one can get a good job that will rake in the benjamins. Those who don't have that in mind- I take that back, everybody has money in mind whether they'd like to admit it or not. It may just be an awareness, a lust, or an indifferent attitude, but at one point, everyone has thought about how much $$ their job can offer. Let me rephrase that. Those who don't openly express wanting to be rich, as in the other 15% according to that survey, probably think success is "being happy". That term bothers me just because it's so vague. Practically everything makes at least one person out there happy. Being a hobo? Hey, some people like the fact that they don't have to worry with a job, no corruption & issue that naturally follow money. They like living off the aina. Though it could only be one person who feels this way, it's still someone. THey could feel "happy"/successful being a hobo!
This may seem really farfetched, so I guess I should also support my statement with a more feasible and believable example. The most common example of something that doesn't always make people "happy" is probably all those people who dedicate their lives to "making the world a better place". This could include saving homeless people (even the hobos who like being hobos), working with children in 3rd world countries, running various organizations/charities, etc. The pay is all what I call spiritual gratification- feeling good about what you're doing. You don't make a lot of money but you love what you do and feel rewarded anyway. This is being "happy". So when the 85% of 18-25 year olds say that they want to be rich, I feel sad. They need money to feel successful or "happy", whatever you want to call it. It's not really all that surprising, however, it's kind of pitiful that our generation loves $$$ more than helping others. This is the world we live in, and that's realism for you.
This may seem really farfetched, so I guess I should also support my statement with a more feasible and believable example. The most common example of something that doesn't always make people "happy" is probably all those people who dedicate their lives to "making the world a better place". This could include saving homeless people (even the hobos who like being hobos), working with children in 3rd world countries, running various organizations/charities, etc. The pay is all what I call spiritual gratification- feeling good about what you're doing. You don't make a lot of money but you love what you do and feel rewarded anyway. This is being "happy". So when the 85% of 18-25 year olds say that they want to be rich, I feel sad. They need money to feel successful or "happy", whatever you want to call it. It's not really all that surprising, however, it's kind of pitiful that our generation loves $$$ more than helping others. This is the world we live in, and that's realism for you.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Georgetown
So, I got lost on the Georgetown campus.
Our tour guide dropped us off at the bookstore. What a relief to get out of the cold into the toasty store. I absolutely have to buy this sweater. On the front it reads, "HOYAS. Georgetown University" And on the back, in huge letters, "G-TOWN." It screams at me to buy it. Our chaperone tells us to hurry because a Hawaii student is going to show us the inside of a dorm. Our chaperone is pretty pushy, I decide. I'm the last one at the checkout line and I want to bust out my traveler's checks since all college bookstores take them. Save my cash for the food. Lauren and Jennie are waiting for me, but then our chaperone shoos them outside, telling them to join the others and that she'll wait for me. $44.42, the cashier tells me. So I use two $20 traveler's checks and then pay the difference in cash. The cashier wishes me to have a nice day. And so far, it's been nice. I walk outside with my sweater in hand to find the lobby area empty. Where is the group? I reach into my pocket for my cellphone and realize that I forgot my phone on the damn bus. What a day to forget my phone, considering that I rarely go anywhere without it. I wonder how I'll ever be rescued. I ask the girl sitting under a "Georgetown Luau" banner if she knew where the group just standing out here went. She's from Hawaii. She tells me that they just left like a minute ago. I ask her in what direction, they were going to see some dorms I think. She says the dorms are scattered all over, but she instructs me to go outside (in the cold :() and go right. If I run, I can probably catch them since they just left. I do what she says, but instead of finding the 15 other students, 3 chaperones and 1 tour guide, I see lots of unfriendly faces. Well duh, I am in D.C. not exactly the same as Hawaii. I run quite far but I still don't see anybody. I think about asking some random, albeit unfriendly person to use their cell phone but then I find out, to my horror, that I don't have anyone's # memorized. My moms? What would that do, she'd freak out. My dad's? Same thing. Boyfriend? What could he do about it? How fast is my tourgroup walking?!?!? They must be practically running. But then again, everything is fast paced on the east coast. I stay on Hawaiian time. Confused and on the verge of panicing I return to the place I came from, the bookstore, in case someone should come back looking for me. That wasn't the case. The Hawaii girl is still there typing away on her laptop. I am sorry to bother her, but I am getting a little worked up. "Sorry, but I didn't find them. What do I do? Do you know the dorm they went to?"
She looks at me with eyes that show pity. "Oh, no. I tried calling Angela (the tour guide) but she didn't answer. I'll try again." I was now getting mad. Why weren't the "responsible" chaperones looking for me. Don't they care that one of their students, one of the ones they were responsible for and could get sued if something bad happened, is missing? The poor Hawaii Georgetown girl reassures me that they wouldn't leave without me. I know it's true, but they're really starting to cut it close. She directs me to go to the admissions building, I forgot what it was called, but I know I had a hard time hearing what it was. So I go to the admissions building, a gigantic old work that I had been taking pictures in front of an hour earlier. I walk inside and ask a very pale, vampire-esq lady if anyone from the Hawaii tour group had come in. She tells me no, but if I would like to use the phone to call someone, I could, in a blunt manner. "Wonderful." I think. "JUst grand, too bad I don't know anyone's #."Still no sign of a chaperone. Students were casually parading across the field/quad, bundled up but happy. I am not. I pace and walk around in circles thinking that they had left me for sure. I decide that I really should just stay in one place, so I plop myself down on the steps of the admissions building and wait, wondering what the chaperone will say to me... if she even comes, that is.
So then out of the corner of my eye, I see her, nonchalantly talking story with some student that I assume is the tour guide who took everyone to her dorm. Were they worried? I think not. No matter, I am saved! I am slightly salty after this whole ordeal, but it doesn't matter because I learned 2 very important things. DON'T EVER FORGET YOUR CELLPHONE (I already knew that though) and DON'T PANIC cause I probably looked ridiculous, frantically wandering around like a lost little baby. After this, I always made sure I had my cellphone wherever we went. And despite this whole incident, the east coast college tour was excellent, and something I'd recommend.
Our tour guide dropped us off at the bookstore. What a relief to get out of the cold into the toasty store. I absolutely have to buy this sweater. On the front it reads, "HOYAS. Georgetown University" And on the back, in huge letters, "G-TOWN." It screams at me to buy it. Our chaperone tells us to hurry because a Hawaii student is going to show us the inside of a dorm. Our chaperone is pretty pushy, I decide. I'm the last one at the checkout line and I want to bust out my traveler's checks since all college bookstores take them. Save my cash for the food. Lauren and Jennie are waiting for me, but then our chaperone shoos them outside, telling them to join the others and that she'll wait for me. $44.42, the cashier tells me. So I use two $20 traveler's checks and then pay the difference in cash. The cashier wishes me to have a nice day. And so far, it's been nice. I walk outside with my sweater in hand to find the lobby area empty. Where is the group? I reach into my pocket for my cellphone and realize that I forgot my phone on the damn bus. What a day to forget my phone, considering that I rarely go anywhere without it. I wonder how I'll ever be rescued. I ask the girl sitting under a "Georgetown Luau" banner if she knew where the group just standing out here went. She's from Hawaii. She tells me that they just left like a minute ago. I ask her in what direction, they were going to see some dorms I think. She says the dorms are scattered all over, but she instructs me to go outside (in the cold :() and go right. If I run, I can probably catch them since they just left. I do what she says, but instead of finding the 15 other students, 3 chaperones and 1 tour guide, I see lots of unfriendly faces. Well duh, I am in D.C. not exactly the same as Hawaii. I run quite far but I still don't see anybody. I think about asking some random, albeit unfriendly person to use their cell phone but then I find out, to my horror, that I don't have anyone's # memorized. My moms? What would that do, she'd freak out. My dad's? Same thing. Boyfriend? What could he do about it? How fast is my tourgroup walking?!?!? They must be practically running. But then again, everything is fast paced on the east coast. I stay on Hawaiian time. Confused and on the verge of panicing I return to the place I came from, the bookstore, in case someone should come back looking for me. That wasn't the case. The Hawaii girl is still there typing away on her laptop. I am sorry to bother her, but I am getting a little worked up. "Sorry, but I didn't find them. What do I do? Do you know the dorm they went to?"
She looks at me with eyes that show pity. "Oh, no. I tried calling Angela (the tour guide) but she didn't answer. I'll try again." I was now getting mad. Why weren't the "responsible" chaperones looking for me. Don't they care that one of their students, one of the ones they were responsible for and could get sued if something bad happened, is missing? The poor Hawaii Georgetown girl reassures me that they wouldn't leave without me. I know it's true, but they're really starting to cut it close. She directs me to go to the admissions building, I forgot what it was called, but I know I had a hard time hearing what it was. So I go to the admissions building, a gigantic old work that I had been taking pictures in front of an hour earlier. I walk inside and ask a very pale, vampire-esq lady if anyone from the Hawaii tour group had come in. She tells me no, but if I would like to use the phone to call someone, I could, in a blunt manner. "Wonderful." I think. "JUst grand, too bad I don't know anyone's #."Still no sign of a chaperone. Students were casually parading across the field/quad, bundled up but happy. I am not. I pace and walk around in circles thinking that they had left me for sure. I decide that I really should just stay in one place, so I plop myself down on the steps of the admissions building and wait, wondering what the chaperone will say to me... if she even comes, that is.
So then out of the corner of my eye, I see her, nonchalantly talking story with some student that I assume is the tour guide who took everyone to her dorm. Were they worried? I think not. No matter, I am saved! I am slightly salty after this whole ordeal, but it doesn't matter because I learned 2 very important things. DON'T EVER FORGET YOUR CELLPHONE (I already knew that though) and DON'T PANIC cause I probably looked ridiculous, frantically wandering around like a lost little baby. After this, I always made sure I had my cellphone wherever we went. And despite this whole incident, the east coast college tour was excellent, and something I'd recommend.
changing impressions
I just returned from the east coast college tour, and it really changed my initial impressions about some of the colleges we saw. I also discovered what really appeals to ME in a college, not something influenced by what I had heard was good, or what some of my friends looked for. I was very surprised to learn that my "requirements" for a college weren't what I had initially thought.
Prior to this trip, I had my stereotypes about each school, as I'm sure almost everybody has experienced... "All the Ivy's are amazing, and I should devote my high school career to build my transcript and extra-curriculars so I could go to an Ivy. Ivy, Ivy, Ivy, blah..." Sound familiar? Or how about this one: "Rural colleges suck, there's nothing to do. Urban is the way to go." I have been surrounded by these two stereotypes in particular, and after this trip, I now can say that I totally disagree with these statements. I went to 28 east coast colleges, ranging from the prestigeous Ivys to those super small, relatively unknown, liberal art colleges, and found out how opinions are really just... opinions.
Well, first, to tackle to most common misconception, I'll start off by saying that all the Ivy's are NOT amazing. Sure, it'd be absolutely fantabulous to get in an Ivy, but I wasn't exactly impressed with all of them. I found out that my favorite college was Boston College. Not an Ivy at all. Don't get my wrong, I liked a lot of them, but they weren't my favorites. Boston College had a superb campus, friendly people, excellent location, strong academics and athletics, and well, it's not in the real "reach" category that the Ivys are.
The only Ivy I was particularly fond of was UPenn, which is funny because I had initially liked it anyway, and then I was put down by my family because they were concerned about my safety, and well, Philly probably isn't the safest place at night, yes? But when I went there, I loved the campus, the curriculum, the people, the city, and obviously, the school had lots of security and saftey measures like the blue emergency light box to protect the students. And now to break the news about the Ivys I didn't exactly care for. I'll wait for the shock to subside... Harvard didn't really impress me. I couldn't see myself going there. And of course, I felt really bad for all the hobos outside on the Cambridge sidewalks. Yale, Princeton, Darthmouth? I liked them more than Harvard, but they weren't my top picks. Columbia? Twas OKAY... I wouldn't mind it I guess. Georgetown... I have a story about Georgetown, but I'll save that for my next blog. Yes, I'm sorry to say, that I am not super excited about the Ivys. I will not gush about the exquisite campuses and tell stories about how I loved them and how I really want to go to one so now I have to join x# more clubs and boost my GPA .x etc etc etc. But then again, it's just MY opinion.
So, prior to this trip, I had sort of ruled out going to rural colleges just because I thought I wanted the hustle and bustle of the exciting city life. However, I have discovered that I really don't like urban urban colleges like NYU or Boston University. NYU was okay, but because it is in New York, I saw myself getting lost in the crowds. But, I'll admit, I wouldn't ever get bored. As we were touring these campuses, I found that I was missing the whole quad thing, or "QUADRANGLE" as we found out the full name for it. BU? It was miles of sidewalk with the campus buildings on the side. Not my idea of a college, probably because I love Punahou's atmosphere. This whole swing of opinion really surprised me because I was practically sure that I wanted to be as far away from what is deemed a "rural" or "college town" campus. When we were driving to Dartmouth, all I saw were trees, snow, and quaint little houses and I thought to myself, "Oh man, where are the buildings? Malls? Movie theaters? WHAT IS THERE TO DO HERE?". But I actually liked Dartmouth a whole lot more than Harvard. Since it is smaller, the students include everybody in their parties, and there is a plethora of clubs and student groups so noone would find themselves stuck in their room on a Saturday night. It was peaceful and I felt like I'd actually have a place there; I wouldn't get lost in the masses and fast-paced city life. Don't get me wrong, Johns Hopkins was my second favorite following BC, and that's in Baltimore, but it did have a real campus, and it made me feel like I wasn't about to get run over by a stampede of people or meet hobos while walking to class.
I also learned that a "name" is nothing. Like brand name clothing, you can probably find something almost exactly the same for half the cost from an unknown brand. Many people probably never heard of Amherst College, like me, or Wesleyan (we learned that Mr. Dyke is an alumn) but I actually really enjoyed them. Tufts? Tufts had always been one of the colleges I was more interested in, but do most people know about it? Probably not. These colleges had what I was looking for, and this also led me to find that I might actually like small, liberal arts colleges better. The community is closer and you'll frequently interact with professors, which is what I wanted... but yeah, sure, it would give me personal satisfaction to attend some prestigious college that will leave people in awe when I tell them that I am indeed a student of said college. However, it's really not as cool as everyone makes it out to be.
The most important thing I've learned from this whole trip is to find out what you want in a college. Though I heard it all before in College guide, and my college conference, it didn't really hit me until now, when I actually experienced it firsthand. After all, it is your own college experience, not your friend who couldn't stop praising Yale, or your parents who tell you that Johns Hopkins is in a semi-ghetto. Cliche as it is, I found out a lot about myself. woohoo!
Prior to this trip, I had my stereotypes about each school, as I'm sure almost everybody has experienced... "All the Ivy's are amazing, and I should devote my high school career to build my transcript and extra-curriculars so I could go to an Ivy. Ivy, Ivy, Ivy, blah..." Sound familiar? Or how about this one: "Rural colleges suck, there's nothing to do. Urban is the way to go." I have been surrounded by these two stereotypes in particular, and after this trip, I now can say that I totally disagree with these statements. I went to 28 east coast colleges, ranging from the prestigeous Ivys to those super small, relatively unknown, liberal art colleges, and found out how opinions are really just... opinions.
Well, first, to tackle to most common misconception, I'll start off by saying that all the Ivy's are NOT amazing. Sure, it'd be absolutely fantabulous to get in an Ivy, but I wasn't exactly impressed with all of them. I found out that my favorite college was Boston College. Not an Ivy at all. Don't get my wrong, I liked a lot of them, but they weren't my favorites. Boston College had a superb campus, friendly people, excellent location, strong academics and athletics, and well, it's not in the real "reach" category that the Ivys are.
The only Ivy I was particularly fond of was UPenn, which is funny because I had initially liked it anyway, and then I was put down by my family because they were concerned about my safety, and well, Philly probably isn't the safest place at night, yes? But when I went there, I loved the campus, the curriculum, the people, the city, and obviously, the school had lots of security and saftey measures like the blue emergency light box to protect the students. And now to break the news about the Ivys I didn't exactly care for. I'll wait for the shock to subside... Harvard didn't really impress me. I couldn't see myself going there. And of course, I felt really bad for all the hobos outside on the Cambridge sidewalks. Yale, Princeton, Darthmouth? I liked them more than Harvard, but they weren't my top picks. Columbia? Twas OKAY... I wouldn't mind it I guess. Georgetown... I have a story about Georgetown, but I'll save that for my next blog. Yes, I'm sorry to say, that I am not super excited about the Ivys. I will not gush about the exquisite campuses and tell stories about how I loved them and how I really want to go to one so now I have to join x# more clubs and boost my GPA .x etc etc etc. But then again, it's just MY opinion.
So, prior to this trip, I had sort of ruled out going to rural colleges just because I thought I wanted the hustle and bustle of the exciting city life. However, I have discovered that I really don't like urban urban colleges like NYU or Boston University. NYU was okay, but because it is in New York, I saw myself getting lost in the crowds. But, I'll admit, I wouldn't ever get bored. As we were touring these campuses, I found that I was missing the whole quad thing, or "QUADRANGLE" as we found out the full name for it. BU? It was miles of sidewalk with the campus buildings on the side. Not my idea of a college, probably because I love Punahou's atmosphere. This whole swing of opinion really surprised me because I was practically sure that I wanted to be as far away from what is deemed a "rural" or "college town" campus. When we were driving to Dartmouth, all I saw were trees, snow, and quaint little houses and I thought to myself, "Oh man, where are the buildings? Malls? Movie theaters? WHAT IS THERE TO DO HERE?". But I actually liked Dartmouth a whole lot more than Harvard. Since it is smaller, the students include everybody in their parties, and there is a plethora of clubs and student groups so noone would find themselves stuck in their room on a Saturday night. It was peaceful and I felt like I'd actually have a place there; I wouldn't get lost in the masses and fast-paced city life. Don't get me wrong, Johns Hopkins was my second favorite following BC, and that's in Baltimore, but it did have a real campus, and it made me feel like I wasn't about to get run over by a stampede of people or meet hobos while walking to class.
I also learned that a "name" is nothing. Like brand name clothing, you can probably find something almost exactly the same for half the cost from an unknown brand. Many people probably never heard of Amherst College, like me, or Wesleyan (we learned that Mr. Dyke is an alumn) but I actually really enjoyed them. Tufts? Tufts had always been one of the colleges I was more interested in, but do most people know about it? Probably not. These colleges had what I was looking for, and this also led me to find that I might actually like small, liberal arts colleges better. The community is closer and you'll frequently interact with professors, which is what I wanted... but yeah, sure, it would give me personal satisfaction to attend some prestigious college that will leave people in awe when I tell them that I am indeed a student of said college. However, it's really not as cool as everyone makes it out to be.
The most important thing I've learned from this whole trip is to find out what you want in a college. Though I heard it all before in College guide, and my college conference, it didn't really hit me until now, when I actually experienced it firsthand. After all, it is your own college experience, not your friend who couldn't stop praising Yale, or your parents who tell you that Johns Hopkins is in a semi-ghetto. Cliche as it is, I found out a lot about myself. woohoo!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
This is Why I'm Not Hot
I despise the song "This is why I'm Hot" by an artist who has cleverly named himself "Mims" because he wants his audience to wonder what the heck Mims means. I guess if you like shallow lyrics with pre-school wording, as many of the mainstream hip-hop songs do these days, then this song will be perfect for you. This is what I would tell Mims.
Dear Mims,
I don't like your song, "This is why I'm Hot". I'm sick of hearing it on the radio. Hearing this song makes me cringe and want to plug my ears with many wads of cotton or put on those lovely sound blocking headphones from Bose. You have truly outdone "It's Going Down" by Yung Joc, which was previously on the top of my "Most Hated Songs That Make Me Want to Bang my Head on a Wall to Get Rid of the Noise" list. Do you call this music? I'm not a hip-hop mogul or anything, but this seriously is giving hip-hop a bad name. First of all, your lyrics give me the impression that you have only completed primary schooling, maybe up to 6th grade. That's not good, my friend. Your chorus, supposedly the most "catchy" part of the song goes like "I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot." Not to mention the fact that you repeat "This is why I'm hot" for over half the song. I don't get it. Looking at the rest of the lyrics, I can only conclude that the sole reason you are "hot" is that you are "fly". Fly, being "pimping" and sleeping with many women, dressing stylishly, and basically having other fellow gangsters covet your possessions and again, women. And apparently, everyone else isn't hot cause they aren't fly. There's a lack of creativity going on here that also goes beyond poor lyrics. I noticed that you used clips of Kanye's "Jesus Walks" E40's "Tell Me When to Go" and Dr. Dre's "Like This and Like That". What happend to your OWN beat. Granted, it sounds like some weird techno beat, punctuated by high pitched, echoey "woos". But, at least it was your own, right? Although I have to say, the parts where you use the other artist's songs are the best of the entire song.
I'd like to give you an example of DECENT lyrics in the current hip-hop world. This is from Outkast's "PJ & Rooster". "Nobody wanted to dance when I had a lot of time on my hands. Now i got a lot of hands on my time and everybody want to be a friend of mine." That is clever rhyming. There's a play on words right there. I applaud Outkast for their wit, and though some of their songs have conformed, a lot of them are original and unique. "I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not" is just ridiculously bad. Wow. Thanks for pointing that out, Mims. I'm not hot cause I'm not fly. Or at least that's what I'm assuming that you're saying since you don't even specificy WHAT I ain't or WHAT I'm not. I'm not fly cause I'm not hot? WHATEVER. I'm confusing myself now. Thank your fans for supporting your "music" because if they were all like me, you might be in trouble like K. Federline. Okay well thanks for your time Mims. I hope you take what I said to heart and search deep inside that little brain of yours for some good ideas for a new song.
Sorry, I just couldn't stand this song after I heard it on the radio approximately 15 minutes ago. I immediately switched the station praying that I wouldn't be greeted by it on another station (which isn't uncommon these days). Seriously, I think a lot of the music on the radio these days (at least a lot of hip-hop songs) are terrible. Trash. Thankfully I can turn to my iPod that has the songs I DO like, but this makes me wonder who actually listens to these songs and ENJOYS them? There obviously must be a lot of fans if songs of such low quality can recieve some radio time. What is this world coming to?
Dear Mims,
I don't like your song, "This is why I'm Hot". I'm sick of hearing it on the radio. Hearing this song makes me cringe and want to plug my ears with many wads of cotton or put on those lovely sound blocking headphones from Bose. You have truly outdone "It's Going Down" by Yung Joc, which was previously on the top of my "Most Hated Songs That Make Me Want to Bang my Head on a Wall to Get Rid of the Noise" list. Do you call this music? I'm not a hip-hop mogul or anything, but this seriously is giving hip-hop a bad name. First of all, your lyrics give me the impression that you have only completed primary schooling, maybe up to 6th grade. That's not good, my friend. Your chorus, supposedly the most "catchy" part of the song goes like "I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot." Not to mention the fact that you repeat "This is why I'm hot" for over half the song. I don't get it. Looking at the rest of the lyrics, I can only conclude that the sole reason you are "hot" is that you are "fly". Fly, being "pimping" and sleeping with many women, dressing stylishly, and basically having other fellow gangsters covet your possessions and again, women. And apparently, everyone else isn't hot cause they aren't fly. There's a lack of creativity going on here that also goes beyond poor lyrics. I noticed that you used clips of Kanye's "Jesus Walks" E40's "Tell Me When to Go" and Dr. Dre's "Like This and Like That". What happend to your OWN beat. Granted, it sounds like some weird techno beat, punctuated by high pitched, echoey "woos". But, at least it was your own, right? Although I have to say, the parts where you use the other artist's songs are the best of the entire song.
I'd like to give you an example of DECENT lyrics in the current hip-hop world. This is from Outkast's "PJ & Rooster". "Nobody wanted to dance when I had a lot of time on my hands. Now i got a lot of hands on my time and everybody want to be a friend of mine." That is clever rhyming. There's a play on words right there. I applaud Outkast for their wit, and though some of their songs have conformed, a lot of them are original and unique. "I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not" is just ridiculously bad. Wow. Thanks for pointing that out, Mims. I'm not hot cause I'm not fly. Or at least that's what I'm assuming that you're saying since you don't even specificy WHAT I ain't or WHAT I'm not. I'm not fly cause I'm not hot? WHATEVER. I'm confusing myself now. Thank your fans for supporting your "music" because if they were all like me, you might be in trouble like K. Federline. Okay well thanks for your time Mims. I hope you take what I said to heart and search deep inside that little brain of yours for some good ideas for a new song.
Sorry, I just couldn't stand this song after I heard it on the radio approximately 15 minutes ago. I immediately switched the station praying that I wouldn't be greeted by it on another station (which isn't uncommon these days). Seriously, I think a lot of the music on the radio these days (at least a lot of hip-hop songs) are terrible. Trash. Thankfully I can turn to my iPod that has the songs I DO like, but this makes me wonder who actually listens to these songs and ENJOYS them? There obviously must be a lot of fans if songs of such low quality can recieve some radio time. What is this world coming to?
My Unbreakable Habit
When I think about my habit, I always ask myself, why couldn't I be like those people who are blessed with GOOD habits, like cleaning my room (not obessive compulsively though), always putting things back where I got them, etc? Sadly, I got the short end of the stick, stuck with the bad habits that just end up screwing me over. I've been plagued with my disgusting habit ever since Kindergarden. 12 years later, You would think I'd have quit biting my nails since it's such an unsightly habit, especially for girls, but much to the dismay of my parents and myself, it has oh-so kindly stuck around.
Nail-biting, also called "onychophagia" in medical speak is commonly associated with boredom, nervousness and excitement. I pretty much do it all the time, though I think it's mainly when I'm bored. When I was really young, I used to suck my blanket. When I entered Kindergarden, many of my peers were biting their nails. I also couldn't have my blanket. I'm pretty sure this is one of the earliest examples of peer pressure's horrible effects because I started biting my nails then. While everyone else did too.
My mom always yells at me, nagging to stop since it's gross and unsanitary. You think I don't know that mom? I HATE it. I've tried everything in the book, but one, by one, they have all failed. Nail polish? It keeps the nail biting at bay for about half the day before I peel the polish off and resume nibbling. My mom took action and bought me the "real stuff" that's supposed to help kids wean off nail biting. This mirachle worker is a bottle of a non-toxic chemical that has a horrible, intense bitter taste. It's supposed to discourage anyone from putting their fingers in their mouth because of the association (finger in mouth=bad taste so stop kind of natural adaptation thing we learned about in bio). Well, I guess I'm not "anyone" because it didn't work. Although it was a little more effective, all I did was wash it off, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not like after the bathroom, and it was gone. I then went back to nibbling and the tips and picking at the cuticles. Something that sort of worked was giving up my biting my nails for Lent. It was a pretty stupid thing to give up, but I knew it was really hard so it would be a REAL sacrifice. It held up until Easter, of course. After Easter came it was back to the same old same old.
My nail biting didn't always seem that bad to me. As a little kid, it's something many people thnk of as a phase, and that their child will grow out of it in no time. I have some statistics here:
About 50% of children between the ages of 10 and 18 bite their nails at one time or another.
Great. I'm not in the minority. I was amazed at this since I don't really know that many other people who bite their nails now. I've discovered that it's quite embarassing. It's certainly not 50% around here.
About 23% of young adults, ages 18 to 22 years, bite their nails.
Excellent, I have 1 year until I'm one of the 23% of young adults. I hope I stop and join the other 77%.
Boys bite their nails more often than girls after age 10.
Yes, now here comes the whole boys vs. girls issue. I remember my softball coach once told me to stop biting my nails because of the whole playing softball in a DIRT field thing. Completely unsanitary and distracting. I pointed out that he bit his nails too. He replied that he was a boy and it was okay for boys but not for girls. I was a bit insulted, but I realized he was right. It makes me want to sit on my hands forever when I see girls with long, finely manicured fingernails, sporting a french manicure or "silver palm trees". I must say, I get extremely jealous and motivated. This motivation seems like it could propel me over this large barracade that has blocked me over all these years, but, alas, it never has come close enough. Trips to the manicurist are even more embarassing. When I went to Junior Function and Senior Prom, the lady looked at my nails and demanded, "Why so short?" in her distinct Vietnamese accent. "Not good for manicure" she told me. I smiled sheepishly and replied "I know," which has developed into my typical response to a comment about how short my nails are and how I should stop biting. I've had to use it many times.
The few manicures I've had gotten (putting on acrylic nails on my stubs of course) have actually proven to be the most effective treatement for my nail biting. The fake nails usually last for a couple weeks/month and since they cover my nails, I can no longer bite them. THey are also very difficult to remove since they are firmly attached, and trying to pull/peel them off is painful. Whenever these savior nails fall off, my own ugly ones look a tad longer and for those brief moments I am proud. It seems, however, that I have bcome so accustomed to short nails that I can't imagine life with long ones. For example. the fake nials made it extremely difficult for me to put my contacts on. I felt like I was going to stab my eye. Typing took two times slower. Everything felt so foreign. It made me realize how long nail biting has been impacting my life. I have incorporated short nails into my daily activities.
Despite these difficulties, I know that I must STOP before I end up ingesting some kind of gross tapeworm, or live my life trying to cover my fingertips. So now, a final statistic that made me smile after I read it: Only a small number of other adults bite their nails. Most people stop biting their nails on their own by age 30.
This gives me hope. It might take until I am 30, but oh well. At least I'll stop. For now, I just gotta keep on trying.
Nail-biting, also called "onychophagia" in medical speak is commonly associated with boredom, nervousness and excitement. I pretty much do it all the time, though I think it's mainly when I'm bored. When I was really young, I used to suck my blanket. When I entered Kindergarden, many of my peers were biting their nails. I also couldn't have my blanket. I'm pretty sure this is one of the earliest examples of peer pressure's horrible effects because I started biting my nails then. While everyone else did too.
My mom always yells at me, nagging to stop since it's gross and unsanitary. You think I don't know that mom? I HATE it. I've tried everything in the book, but one, by one, they have all failed. Nail polish? It keeps the nail biting at bay for about half the day before I peel the polish off and resume nibbling. My mom took action and bought me the "real stuff" that's supposed to help kids wean off nail biting. This mirachle worker is a bottle of a non-toxic chemical that has a horrible, intense bitter taste. It's supposed to discourage anyone from putting their fingers in their mouth because of the association (finger in mouth=bad taste so stop kind of natural adaptation thing we learned about in bio). Well, I guess I'm not "anyone" because it didn't work. Although it was a little more effective, all I did was wash it off, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not like after the bathroom, and it was gone. I then went back to nibbling and the tips and picking at the cuticles. Something that sort of worked was giving up my biting my nails for Lent. It was a pretty stupid thing to give up, but I knew it was really hard so it would be a REAL sacrifice. It held up until Easter, of course. After Easter came it was back to the same old same old.
My nail biting didn't always seem that bad to me. As a little kid, it's something many people thnk of as a phase, and that their child will grow out of it in no time. I have some statistics here:
About 50% of children between the ages of 10 and 18 bite their nails at one time or another.
Great. I'm not in the minority. I was amazed at this since I don't really know that many other people who bite their nails now. I've discovered that it's quite embarassing. It's certainly not 50% around here.
About 23% of young adults, ages 18 to 22 years, bite their nails.
Excellent, I have 1 year until I'm one of the 23% of young adults. I hope I stop and join the other 77%.
Boys bite their nails more often than girls after age 10.
Yes, now here comes the whole boys vs. girls issue. I remember my softball coach once told me to stop biting my nails because of the whole playing softball in a DIRT field thing. Completely unsanitary and distracting. I pointed out that he bit his nails too. He replied that he was a boy and it was okay for boys but not for girls. I was a bit insulted, but I realized he was right. It makes me want to sit on my hands forever when I see girls with long, finely manicured fingernails, sporting a french manicure or "silver palm trees". I must say, I get extremely jealous and motivated. This motivation seems like it could propel me over this large barracade that has blocked me over all these years, but, alas, it never has come close enough. Trips to the manicurist are even more embarassing. When I went to Junior Function and Senior Prom, the lady looked at my nails and demanded, "Why so short?" in her distinct Vietnamese accent. "Not good for manicure" she told me. I smiled sheepishly and replied "I know," which has developed into my typical response to a comment about how short my nails are and how I should stop biting. I've had to use it many times.
The few manicures I've had gotten (putting on acrylic nails on my stubs of course) have actually proven to be the most effective treatement for my nail biting. The fake nails usually last for a couple weeks/month and since they cover my nails, I can no longer bite them. THey are also very difficult to remove since they are firmly attached, and trying to pull/peel them off is painful. Whenever these savior nails fall off, my own ugly ones look a tad longer and for those brief moments I am proud. It seems, however, that I have bcome so accustomed to short nails that I can't imagine life with long ones. For example. the fake nials made it extremely difficult for me to put my contacts on. I felt like I was going to stab my eye. Typing took two times slower. Everything felt so foreign. It made me realize how long nail biting has been impacting my life. I have incorporated short nails into my daily activities.
Despite these difficulties, I know that I must STOP before I end up ingesting some kind of gross tapeworm, or live my life trying to cover my fingertips. So now, a final statistic that made me smile after I read it: Only a small number of other adults bite their nails. Most people stop biting their nails on their own by age 30.
This gives me hope. It might take until I am 30, but oh well. At least I'll stop. For now, I just gotta keep on trying.
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Excess Accumulation of Statements
Have you ever tried to lengthen a paper because the requirement was 3-4 pages and you said what you needed to in 2? Did you use longer ways of saying a certain sentence, or did you add extra "reinforcement" sentences that basically say what you already did, creating irrelevant and repetitive nonsense? I myself haven't really had a problem with making my papers longer, however, I believe that creating a paper "length" requirement can sometimes reduce the quality of the assignment. I was taking notes for AP biology on the chapter talking about the structure of a plant. In the definition of an axillary bud, it talked about a "lateral shoot" and then added on, "commonly refered to as a branch". I thought that was funny because I could picture people calling branches "lateral shoots" in an effort to sound more intelligent, and used in a paper if there was length involved. QUANTITY DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN QUALITY, PEOPLE. I get so annoyed when people ask, "How long is your paper? Mine is about 5." I'm just like, "Okay that's great. So you wrote 2 more pages than the required. It could all be a bunch of *insert inappropriate word here*. If anything, I would focus on cutting down excess pages to see if there are more concise and clear means of saying what I have written.
Because students may feel pressured to have the paper be x length long, or x number of words, they may find themselves stretching out their sentences instead of efficiently creating sentences with concise words. They might even turn to being "Thesaurus happy" and using the thesaurus to look for a new "bigger" word in place of almost everything. For example, take the sentence "I used a pen to write my paper." In "this essay needs to be 4 pages" mode, the sentence could be "I grasped the ink spewing thin, cylindrical writing implement lightly and began to scribble the roman alphabet into organized rows on my thin wooden sheet." No no no that is bad. I know this is a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm pretty sure almost any student can relate/knows someone guilty of this. Teachers should not find that QUANTITY is what matters, quality is much better. I know a lot of teachers have already discoved this, but it should be reinforced. I would personally rather read a paper that may be a little short rather than a paper that is long and begins to sound like blah blah blah.It's falling on deaf ears.
Because students may feel pressured to have the paper be x length long, or x number of words, they may find themselves stretching out their sentences instead of efficiently creating sentences with concise words. They might even turn to being "Thesaurus happy" and using the thesaurus to look for a new "bigger" word in place of almost everything. For example, take the sentence "I used a pen to write my paper." In "this essay needs to be 4 pages" mode, the sentence could be "I grasped the ink spewing thin, cylindrical writing implement lightly and began to scribble the roman alphabet into organized rows on my thin wooden sheet." No no no that is bad. I know this is a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm pretty sure almost any student can relate/knows someone guilty of this. Teachers should not find that QUANTITY is what matters, quality is much better. I know a lot of teachers have already discoved this, but it should be reinforced. I would personally rather read a paper that may be a little short rather than a paper that is long and begins to sound like blah blah blah.It's falling on deaf ears.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
my ridiculous sweet 16
So I pretty much hate MTV's "My Super Sweet 16", or as I like to call it, "My Airtime On TV Where I Look Like a Spoiled Brat and Throw An Uneccessarily Huge Party". Or something to that effect. You may ask why I watch stuff like that if I hate it so much. I often find myself wondering the same question, but I have to admit, as much as I want to scream and slap the spoilt insanely rich featured kids, and ask their parents what is going through their minds, I watch bits and pieces just to see the extravagance. How much will this kids parent's spend on the entire thing (one.whole.night.)? What kind of car will this girl beg and plead for? Are there going to be any "bitches" who could potentially ruin the party? Why do I watch this thing? Maybe it's because stupid people interest me. Their ridiculous antiques are certainly entertaining. One thing is for sure, I definitely know I don't watch the show because I want to be like them. Their behavior appalls me. I'm dumbfounded when I see these kids complaining and acting downright hysterical when they get a mitsubishi instead of a mercedes, or they don't get the mainstream artist/band of their choice. Oh no, they're not going to be cool enough! And I'm sorry, just getting your own car isn't acceptable. It has to be one at least over $50,000 and "pretty". One particular episode really pissed me off because the girl didn't even pass her PERMIT test (we all know it's super easy), and she shook off studying because she thought she could ace it. AND to make it worse, she cried and made a show and her dad ended up getting her a car anyway. are you kidding me? It's infuriating and frustrating, especially this one time where I changed the channel because I couldn't take it and I caught the end of a commerical about some kind of save children in Africa organization. I couldn't believe the nerve of the people on the show. How can you be whining about a "party crasher" or an ugly dress when there are millions of starving, sick children whose families probably make as much as the price of your hairdo. I'm not saying I hate all riches. I mean, I like shopping and buying things as much as the next girl, and I've always dreamed about what it would be like to live in one of those huge 20 roomed mansions with 10 cars and a waterfall/pool. But, what I really hate is how every single party thrower is arrogant, lazy, and obviously spoiled. They haven't and probably won't work for their money. I'm guessing they won't ever know what it's like to experience triumph and personal satisfaction with recieving a first paycheck because they'll continue to get money from daddy's wallet... forever! They always compliment themselves and state how "hot" they are and how no one will come close to topping their party, like it's a well-known fact. Please, you're on national TV and you look like an idiot. I'll spend my time somewhere else. There are more important things in my life.
I blame our society, but I can't say that I am a perfect saint and non-conformist, as hard as I try to deviate from the "norm". I will say that our society puts luxury and extravagance on a pedestal, as if there is a gigantic neon arrow that reads "YOU WANT TO BE LIKE THIS" pointing to it. There's too much pressure to be accepted and respected, and people tend to think the process of achieving such a state must involve cha-ching and bling-bling. Don't even get me started on society's view of apperances. I'll save that for another blog. Don't get me wrong. I like shiny things and one day I hope to have a job that rakes in a substantial income, but no matter what, I'd like to keep my dignity, thank you very much.
I blame our society, but I can't say that I am a perfect saint and non-conformist, as hard as I try to deviate from the "norm". I will say that our society puts luxury and extravagance on a pedestal, as if there is a gigantic neon arrow that reads "YOU WANT TO BE LIKE THIS" pointing to it. There's too much pressure to be accepted and respected, and people tend to think the process of achieving such a state must involve cha-ching and bling-bling. Don't even get me started on society's view of apperances. I'll save that for another blog. Don't get me wrong. I like shiny things and one day I hope to have a job that rakes in a substantial income, but no matter what, I'd like to keep my dignity, thank you very much.
Monday, March 5, 2007
mustard
Okay, so I've realized that I actually have to be kind of serious on this thing. My last few posts were pretty much jokes. Although, I have come to realize that my "voice" works best in humorous pieces, or something not as structured, etc. But for the purpose of this class, I shall try to write things of substance, or actual intellect... Or ...something, not just random things that don't have any meaning and just flow out of my head.
As time whittles away, my words are
Stubbornly blocked
Damn you.
Free the words from their
Jambs.
Kicking away but
Lodged in the folds and wrinkles of my brain
; asdfjkl; asdfljk;
okay, that was a warm-up! Now time for the REAL blog.
This is messed up. I can't write anything. I'm guessing it's because I feel like I have to be "serious" now. Therefore, I actually have to THINK of a topic to write about so it'll be "appropriate". I can't write as I please. Is there such a thing as writer's block? I've heard that there is no such thing. The brain is just being lazy, and it's just an excuse. OKAY I've got a topic now. FOR REAL KINE. I remembered reading this prompt before in an example of a college essay question for U of Chicago.
"If you had to purchase a Costco size jar of mustard, what would you do with it?" or something like that, I can't remember the exact wording.
This question bewilders me. Of course, for the sake of a college admissions essay I wouldn't dare say "I have no idea." But that'd be the real truth. I always eat my hotdogs with ketchup, and only ketchup. No relish, and absolutely no mustard. There is no sign of the trademark yellow stain on my shirt, similar to the ones my father gets when he bites into his juicy dog and bun. The only condiment smears on my napkin are red or mayonaise white. I prefer my sandwiches naked and dry if need be, thank you. Grey Popon or Djon? I've never had to make the desicion.
With that being said, I don't really know what I'd do with such an excess amount of mustard. I could take the saintly route and give it to needy people or some sort of organization that supports starving, underpriviledged children, but I don't think it would do any good. It seems obvious to me that being a condiment, mustard doesn't have any nutritional value. It's nothing close to being actual sustanance, but I guess if they got some hot dogs or ham sandwiches, they could always use it as a sort of extra luxury. Ah, the luxury of adding a condiment so the sandwich will taste a little better. I won't strike that off the list. I've thought of the idea of making art with the mustard. Mustard is a root right?I'm sure cave people used dirt, roots and plants to make their paints. Cave drawings were innovative considering their time period. Why not relive the whole process? No, that wouldn't work because I can't stand the smell of mustard. It's too tangy and sharp. Inhaling just a whiff makes my eyes water. I can't imagine what a whole Costco sized jar would smell like, though I did see the Jackass episode where Steve-O snorted wasabi. You can probably picture the effects...what a pretty sight that made. ridiculous. This pretty much eliminates using the mustard for any interactive activities, such as mustard fights (in bottles.. think about the squeezing capabilities of a fully loaded mustard bottle. FUN) & mustard colored clothes (not really all that fashionable anyway& I don't care for the color it seems pukey and dull).
This question is a real stumper. What would I do with all this mustard? So far, I'd opt to donate it to the mustard-loving needy, since it's probably the most beneficial and spiritually gratifying (HA) but that's such a predictable answer. It seems like the better question is what wouldn't I do with all this mustard? That's probably easier for me to answer. If I were given a lot of something else, like a cartful of tangerines or 1000 boxes of jello, I could immediately conjure a few plans to use these items that I would actually carry out. But alas, I am stuck with mustard. I'll just find a few friends who are really fond of mustard and give it to them. I can't think of any now, but I do know people who really love ketchup. They blindly grab way too many packets from the cafeteria, but instead of saying, "Damn, I took too many packets of ketchup", they excitedly exclaim "yes! I got some extra ketchup! You can always use more." And if there's people who care that much about one condiment, I'm sure there are plenty who love the others. Mustard needs lovin too... just not from me.
As time whittles away, my words are
Stubbornly blocked
Damn you.
Free the words from their
Jambs.
Kicking away but
Lodged in the folds and wrinkles of my brain
; asdfjkl; asdfljk;
okay, that was a warm-up! Now time for the REAL blog.
This is messed up. I can't write anything. I'm guessing it's because I feel like I have to be "serious" now. Therefore, I actually have to THINK of a topic to write about so it'll be "appropriate". I can't write as I please. Is there such a thing as writer's block? I've heard that there is no such thing. The brain is just being lazy, and it's just an excuse. OKAY I've got a topic now. FOR REAL KINE. I remembered reading this prompt before in an example of a college essay question for U of Chicago.
"If you had to purchase a Costco size jar of mustard, what would you do with it?" or something like that, I can't remember the exact wording.
This question bewilders me. Of course, for the sake of a college admissions essay I wouldn't dare say "I have no idea." But that'd be the real truth. I always eat my hotdogs with ketchup, and only ketchup. No relish, and absolutely no mustard. There is no sign of the trademark yellow stain on my shirt, similar to the ones my father gets when he bites into his juicy dog and bun. The only condiment smears on my napkin are red or mayonaise white. I prefer my sandwiches naked and dry if need be, thank you. Grey Popon or Djon? I've never had to make the desicion.
With that being said, I don't really know what I'd do with such an excess amount of mustard. I could take the saintly route and give it to needy people or some sort of organization that supports starving, underpriviledged children, but I don't think it would do any good. It seems obvious to me that being a condiment, mustard doesn't have any nutritional value. It's nothing close to being actual sustanance, but I guess if they got some hot dogs or ham sandwiches, they could always use it as a sort of extra luxury. Ah, the luxury of adding a condiment so the sandwich will taste a little better. I won't strike that off the list. I've thought of the idea of making art with the mustard. Mustard is a root right?I'm sure cave people used dirt, roots and plants to make their paints. Cave drawings were innovative considering their time period. Why not relive the whole process? No, that wouldn't work because I can't stand the smell of mustard. It's too tangy and sharp. Inhaling just a whiff makes my eyes water. I can't imagine what a whole Costco sized jar would smell like, though I did see the Jackass episode where Steve-O snorted wasabi. You can probably picture the effects...what a pretty sight that made. ridiculous. This pretty much eliminates using the mustard for any interactive activities, such as mustard fights (in bottles.. think about the squeezing capabilities of a fully loaded mustard bottle. FUN) & mustard colored clothes (not really all that fashionable anyway& I don't care for the color it seems pukey and dull).
This question is a real stumper. What would I do with all this mustard? So far, I'd opt to donate it to the mustard-loving needy, since it's probably the most beneficial and spiritually gratifying (HA) but that's such a predictable answer. It seems like the better question is what wouldn't I do with all this mustard? That's probably easier for me to answer. If I were given a lot of something else, like a cartful of tangerines or 1000 boxes of jello, I could immediately conjure a few plans to use these items that I would actually carry out. But alas, I am stuck with mustard. I'll just find a few friends who are really fond of mustard and give it to them. I can't think of any now, but I do know people who really love ketchup. They blindly grab way too many packets from the cafeteria, but instead of saying, "Damn, I took too many packets of ketchup", they excitedly exclaim "yes! I got some extra ketchup! You can always use more." And if there's people who care that much about one condiment, I'm sure there are plenty who love the others. Mustard needs lovin too... just not from me.
Friday, March 2, 2007
asianess at its finest
i'm pretty sure i'm one of the best representatives of what it means to be asian. not quite an epitome, but pretty darn close. i was inspired to write something after i took a quiz on "how asian are you?" so here are 10 reasons why i'm really, really asian, using the most common stereotypes.
1. i'm under 5'4". i guess this is one my weaker asian qualities, simply because if i was an EXTREME asian, i'd probably be under 5'1" or something. thank goodness (no offense to short people), although i've heard shorter girls are more approachable and attractive. is this true?
2. my eyes are extremely squinty, and even more squinty when i take a picture. enough said. friend: hey sara, you closed your eyes. me: THEY'RE OPEN! yeah and stuff like that etc. after hearing that too much, i now try to open my eyes as wide as possible when i take a picture, but not so much that i look like a bug-eyed creep who stares all the time.
3. i'd die without rice. yeah... when i go to the mainland and they don't have rice, it's like WTF MATE? or they have this really, hard, grainy, dry stuff that i just look at with disgust. but i'm not that picky! just going into withdrawals here. pasta and potatoes don't cut it. and where is my shoyu?
4. i freak out about school. the end.
5. i have parents that freak out about school, probably even more than i do.
6. i surround myself with asian people. it's definitely influenced by punahou, hawaii, and whatnot, but yeah. and i don't have anything against non-asian people either. in fact, i LOVE non-asian people. except i kind of feel awkward on the mainland when i'm like the ONLY asian person. for example, our softball team went to south dakota for nationals and we were kind of out of place. hah... it was fun hanging out in the cornfields though... yup and chilling with one of our new local friends' pet racoon and go-karts. haha again. ANYWAY, that's not the point. the point is, i tend to have more asian friends than non-asian friends. i mean, i hang out at a place nicknamed the "boat", simply because most of its hangout-ees are asian. approximately 97%. idk this isn't a very good reason. i think i'm stretching it.
7. i dye my hair. my most recent hair color started out a redish brown but somehow turned into a light brown kind of blondeish in some places. stupid sun.
8. i play a musical instrument. and yes, i started out on piano at age 10 (that's kind of late for most asian kids :) ) and then now, i play the viola. in orchestra. woooo.
9. i love asian food, and i'm not restricted to only one kind. japanese, KOREAN, thai, indian (is that considered asian?, cambodian, and of course, chinese... but not like chicken feet, cow tongue, intestine or anything. i do like 1000 year old egg though. that's the chinese in me. and bubble teas are the most awesomest drink ever. sushi. udon. MEAT JUN. mandoo. kalbi. mandoo kook su. ooooo salivating here.
10.
1. i'm under 5'4". i guess this is one my weaker asian qualities, simply because if i was an EXTREME asian, i'd probably be under 5'1" or something. thank goodness (no offense to short people), although i've heard shorter girls are more approachable and attractive. is this true?
2. my eyes are extremely squinty, and even more squinty when i take a picture. enough said. friend: hey sara, you closed your eyes. me: THEY'RE OPEN! yeah and stuff like that etc. after hearing that too much, i now try to open my eyes as wide as possible when i take a picture, but not so much that i look like a bug-eyed creep who stares all the time.
3. i'd die without rice. yeah... when i go to the mainland and they don't have rice, it's like WTF MATE? or they have this really, hard, grainy, dry stuff that i just look at with disgust. but i'm not that picky! just going into withdrawals here. pasta and potatoes don't cut it. and where is my shoyu?
4. i freak out about school. the end.
5. i have parents that freak out about school, probably even more than i do.
6. i surround myself with asian people. it's definitely influenced by punahou, hawaii, and whatnot, but yeah. and i don't have anything against non-asian people either. in fact, i LOVE non-asian people. except i kind of feel awkward on the mainland when i'm like the ONLY asian person. for example, our softball team went to south dakota for nationals and we were kind of out of place. hah... it was fun hanging out in the cornfields though... yup and chilling with one of our new local friends' pet racoon and go-karts. haha again. ANYWAY, that's not the point. the point is, i tend to have more asian friends than non-asian friends. i mean, i hang out at a place nicknamed the "boat", simply because most of its hangout-ees are asian. approximately 97%. idk this isn't a very good reason. i think i'm stretching it.
7. i dye my hair. my most recent hair color started out a redish brown but somehow turned into a light brown kind of blondeish in some places. stupid sun.
8. i play a musical instrument. and yes, i started out on piano at age 10 (that's kind of late for most asian kids :) ) and then now, i play the viola. in orchestra. woooo.
9. i love asian food, and i'm not restricted to only one kind. japanese, KOREAN, thai, indian (is that considered asian?, cambodian, and of course, chinese... but not like chicken feet, cow tongue, intestine or anything. i do like 1000 year old egg though. that's the chinese in me. and bubble teas are the most awesomest drink ever. sushi. udon. MEAT JUN. mandoo. kalbi. mandoo kook su. ooooo salivating here.
10.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
stickler?
one of my main pet peeves is when people confuse the word "your" with "you're". i myself do not see what is so hard about getting the correct word in the right place right. "your"= possesion. what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours. "you're"= you are. you are cool. you are not. you're retarded if you say your retarded. ohmy. i'm rather mean, aren't i? am i a bitch? you can tell me if i am, i won't mind. it's something i need to work on.
i was sparked by this rampage just because i see it all the time. everywhere.on.the.world.wide.web. one person wrote an entire list of question asking about what "you're favorite" ____ was. you can imagine what a time i had reading that... i stopped after about the 4th question because i couldn't take it.
if you think i am a drama queen and that i am just getting annoyed by nothing, i'm going to type a whole paragraph with improper usage of "your" and "you're". you can decide for yourself whether i am simply an anal loser or, what i say has some truth and evidence.
dear johnny,
i used you're toothbrush today. i hope you don't mind. i'd like to mention that i'm just getting over a cold, so you might want to get a new toothbrush. your so kind! it's thoughtful of you to lend me a hand even though i know about you're little secret. yes, i know. don't try to hide it from me, johnny. but don't worry, i promise i won't tell a soul. you're secret is safe with me. well, i have to get to my dentist appointment, i've got to check on my gingivitus. it's been flaring up recently. thanks so much. your the best!
and i have no idea where this came from. it was a burst of output from my strange and perplexing brain.
when i think about this, i've concluded that i sound like a bitch. though i don't want to, i appear to be too anal and picky when it comes to these things. i suppose i'm a bit of a hypocrit, since i probably misuse other words or commit grammatical crimes. heck, i probably use way too much passive for my own good (though i'm trying not to). this issue seems really trivial and lame compared to worldly problems like poverty and homelessness, but i feel that as high school students, people should know when to use the proper "your" and "you're". in junior school, we learned all about apostrophes and how they "take the place of a letter". therefore, it seems quite simple to figure out that the apostrophe in "you're" must represent something... like, oh, THE A. ohhhhhhh well. i'll probably end up deleting this later because it really doesn't have any intellectual value to it. kind of like my borat post that i deleted.
i guess the whole "blogging" thing gives me the urge to just type whatever since it's a "blog". i go into a sort of "myspace" mode, (ohmygosh i can't believe i just admitted that) and just type random things. that's probably why i named my blog "random thoughts". i really am random. this reminds me of mr. dyke in chapel, when he reads his words of wisdom or whatever it is we are supposed to reflect about. his reading about conversations on the boys bathroom wall was certainly random... but extremely enjoyable to listen to. his monotonous voice doesn't make it boring at all, in fact, it makes his writing more pleasurable and it matches well with his papered train of thought. is papered even a word? okay.... i'm going to stop now before this gets any worse. sayoonara.
i was sparked by this rampage just because i see it all the time. everywhere.on.the.world.wide.web. one person wrote an entire list of question asking about what "you're favorite" ____ was. you can imagine what a time i had reading that... i stopped after about the 4th question because i couldn't take it.
if you think i am a drama queen and that i am just getting annoyed by nothing, i'm going to type a whole paragraph with improper usage of "your" and "you're". you can decide for yourself whether i am simply an anal loser or, what i say has some truth and evidence.
dear johnny,
i used you're toothbrush today. i hope you don't mind. i'd like to mention that i'm just getting over a cold, so you might want to get a new toothbrush. your so kind! it's thoughtful of you to lend me a hand even though i know about you're little secret. yes, i know. don't try to hide it from me, johnny. but don't worry, i promise i won't tell a soul. you're secret is safe with me. well, i have to get to my dentist appointment, i've got to check on my gingivitus. it's been flaring up recently. thanks so much. your the best!
and i have no idea where this came from. it was a burst of output from my strange and perplexing brain.
when i think about this, i've concluded that i sound like a bitch. though i don't want to, i appear to be too anal and picky when it comes to these things. i suppose i'm a bit of a hypocrit, since i probably misuse other words or commit grammatical crimes. heck, i probably use way too much passive for my own good (though i'm trying not to). this issue seems really trivial and lame compared to worldly problems like poverty and homelessness, but i feel that as high school students, people should know when to use the proper "your" and "you're". in junior school, we learned all about apostrophes and how they "take the place of a letter". therefore, it seems quite simple to figure out that the apostrophe in "you're" must represent something... like, oh, THE A. ohhhhhhh well. i'll probably end up deleting this later because it really doesn't have any intellectual value to it. kind of like my borat post that i deleted.
i guess the whole "blogging" thing gives me the urge to just type whatever since it's a "blog". i go into a sort of "myspace" mode, (ohmygosh i can't believe i just admitted that) and just type random things. that's probably why i named my blog "random thoughts". i really am random. this reminds me of mr. dyke in chapel, when he reads his words of wisdom or whatever it is we are supposed to reflect about. his reading about conversations on the boys bathroom wall was certainly random... but extremely enjoyable to listen to. his monotonous voice doesn't make it boring at all, in fact, it makes his writing more pleasurable and it matches well with his papered train of thought. is papered even a word? okay.... i'm going to stop now before this gets any worse. sayoonara.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
onamatopoeia
i love making up onamatopoetic expressions. i think that they are the most honest way of describing the noise something makes. there are the common ones that act as actual words since they are so accurate, such as "sizzle" and "beep". there are also those we've almost accepted as actual words, such as, "vrooom" (the sound a car or motorcycle makes) and "woosh" (the sound anything makes when it is going fast). but, i like to create my own. the sound a pebble thrown into the water makes a "sploosh" or a "ploop" not a splash. a cricket's song goes like "krree krrree krrree" rather than a simple "chirpping". the japanese language is chalk full of onamatopoeias. as a student of japanese, we always have to memorize some "kasanekotoba", or the onamatopoetic expressions that the fluent speakers use. take for example, "zaazaa"- the sound a heavy rain makes, or "don" the sound thunder booms. i like "pechakucha" which is the sound of chattering people. the japanese even have onamatopoeias to describe feelings and emotions. "wakuwakusuru" describes excitement, "butsubutsu" is how someone grumbles or complains and "jitto" is a state of motionless. idk about you, but i think that's interesting and it certainly shows that other people feel the same way i do about onamatopoetic expressions. haha.
sure, you could use metaphors and similies that compare the sound to another familiar one that the reader would picture hearing. but, onamatopoeias are uncensored. it's like listening to little kids describe what something does; it's unabridged. you're not really thinking if the words you are using sound "intelligent" or if they are concise enough. take the sentence, "the beads in the can rattled around, sounding like raindrops falling lightly on the wooden shingles of my roof."then take an onamatopoetic sentence, "the beads in the can rattled around, sounding like the time a passing shower pitter pattered on the wooden shingles of my roof". as a reader, i find the 2nd sentence more appealing, because "pitter pattered" creates better imagery and "soundry (?) lol (imaging the sound)" compared to "falling lightly." additionally, because i know what sound rain makes, my brain connects that sound to the onamatopoetic word, thinking, "oh yeah, it really does sound like that."
but as with anything, onamatopoetic expressions have their flaws. first of all, the biggest problem to me, is that the reader will only understand what you are talking about if they have experienced what you are describing before. for example, it will be harder for someone to think about "the large man canonballed into the water with a resounding 'blooosh'" if they had never seen that before. secondly, though i believe these words are just as accurate and concise as using similies and metaphors, more "serious" papers will probably not sound as good if you use a made up word. these kinds of papers usually call for "censoring" and trying to sound as intelligent as you can, which doesn't always include onamatopoeias.
i find onamatopoeias more engaging than the common metaphor or overused similie. they are a breath of fresh air, plus, they add a bit of humor. this could be because my voice, or the style i write, describes things (authentically of course) using humor to steer away from boredom and the same old same old. but that's not the point. the point is, that onamatopoetic expressions are just plain funny. waaaaaaaaaaaaaataaaaaaaaaaa!
sure, you could use metaphors and similies that compare the sound to another familiar one that the reader would picture hearing. but, onamatopoeias are uncensored. it's like listening to little kids describe what something does; it's unabridged. you're not really thinking if the words you are using sound "intelligent" or if they are concise enough. take the sentence, "the beads in the can rattled around, sounding like raindrops falling lightly on the wooden shingles of my roof."then take an onamatopoetic sentence, "the beads in the can rattled around, sounding like the time a passing shower pitter pattered on the wooden shingles of my roof". as a reader, i find the 2nd sentence more appealing, because "pitter pattered" creates better imagery and "soundry (?) lol (imaging the sound)" compared to "falling lightly." additionally, because i know what sound rain makes, my brain connects that sound to the onamatopoetic word, thinking, "oh yeah, it really does sound like that."
but as with anything, onamatopoetic expressions have their flaws. first of all, the biggest problem to me, is that the reader will only understand what you are talking about if they have experienced what you are describing before. for example, it will be harder for someone to think about "the large man canonballed into the water with a resounding 'blooosh'" if they had never seen that before. secondly, though i believe these words are just as accurate and concise as using similies and metaphors, more "serious" papers will probably not sound as good if you use a made up word. these kinds of papers usually call for "censoring" and trying to sound as intelligent as you can, which doesn't always include onamatopoeias.
i find onamatopoeias more engaging than the common metaphor or overused similie. they are a breath of fresh air, plus, they add a bit of humor. this could be because my voice, or the style i write, describes things (authentically of course) using humor to steer away from boredom and the same old same old. but that's not the point. the point is, that onamatopoetic expressions are just plain funny. waaaaaaaaaaaaaataaaaaaaaaaa!
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