An accident trip to the beach

It happened when I was thirteen years old, just hit puberty. I can still remember that day, Sunday. It was the hottest Summer I’ve ever felt. Everything would have been the same is Frank didn’t accidentally broke the air condition. He was playing indoor baseball. With our only air condition broken, all the children went into the car and uses the car’s air condition. Just when Angela was about to get into another fight with Frank for breaking the air condition, Dad came in the car. Without saying a word, he started the car and drove down the street. No one knew where he is going, and no one asked. We knew he won’t apply, he never does. Dad seems calm, driving without haste. Then, we saw a huge open sea. It was then we know where he is heading. The road leads only to the beach, nowhere else. Angela and I started smiling at each other; we know there is joy ahead of us. Yet, Frank started to react in an anxious way. He nearly drowned when he was in elementary. From that day on, he never went near ponds, lakes, rivers and of cause, seas.

After a few minutes, dad found a parking lot which is covered by a huge palm tree’s shadow. He parked there, and walked straight out onto the beach. Then I jumped outside. It was still pretty hot, especially on pavement. The road was a little sticky, and I didn’t know why until my 11^th grade teacher, Mr. Pavekin told me that pavement melts in extreme heat. Anyway, just when I’m about to go onto the beach, I heard my sister scream. She dragged my unconscious brother outside the car and under the shade. He must have faint from the heat and the water. Angela was trying to wake Frank up by spraying her water bottle’s water on his face, but nothing works. I’m very sure dad wasn’t around during that time, because I didn’t remember seeing him when Frank fainted. Angela was very nervous, she asked me to go get dad, but I don’t even know where he went. He never tell us where he is going and when he is going to be back. So I have to choose a direction, right or left. One thing I didn’t mention before was, that beach wasn’t really crowded. It wasn’t a famous beach and I guess that’s why dad went there. However, there is still a large crowd on my right. A street performer was playing violin there. This tells me, dad definitely went left. He doesn’t like crowded place. So I started walking toward left.

For some reason, I wasn’t in haste, or worried about my brother. I was actually enjoying my way to find dad. I closed my eyes to enjoy the gentle brush of the cool wind. It was a peaceful moment. About 10 minutes later, I found dad. He was sitting on a rock under another palm tree’s shadow. I slowly walk up to him and told he what happened to Frank. I said it in a very calm tone. Yet, dad didn’t do anything. He sat perfectly still looking toward the sea. I guess he didn’t hear me, so I said it again. This time, I mentioned that Angela was very anxious. He reacted this time. Without saying a word, he slowly walked toward to sea. I was very confused. What kind of father walks toward the sea when his son fainted? But I didn’t stop him; I sat on the rock he was sitting on 1 minute ago looking at him. About half way to the sea, dad started running. He ran so fast, it only took him a few second till he reached the water. He ran straight into the sea until the water is up to his waist. Then he stopped. During that short 1 and a half minutes, I saw a totally different person. I’ve never seen my dad running, never. And running into the sea with his cloth on was also unbelievable. He stayed there for a very long time.

Then, I saw my sister in a distance running toward this direction. When she reached me, she slapped me as hard as she could. It was clear that she was crying a few minutes ago, her eyes were still watery. Then, before she even ask me anything, she saw dad.
“Dad!” Screamed Angela. “What are you doing out there?!”
Then dad replied, “Enjoying the outdoor.”
For some reason, I don’t think he is enjoying the outdoor. He didn’t reply with any expression. It looks like he said that without moving any of his facial muscles. Then he walked out of the water and started walking toward the car. Angela and I were totally shocked by his responds. I know dad never play any games, but I never knew he enjoy standing halfway in the water.

It’s still burning hot. The sun is still heartlessly cooking our body. I’m pretty sure I’ll faint from dehydration if I stay there any longer, so I started following. And so did Angela. When we get back, dad is already in the car, with Frank. Somehow dad waked Frank up. I’m not so sure what he did, but I’m pretty sure Frank was wetter then I left to find dad. Dad is also wet, very wet. Yet, he doesn’t mind sitting on the driver seat with totally wet paints. So everyone went into the car. I immediately turn the air condition to the strongest. That cooled everyone down.

The way back home was very quiet. No one said a word, not even Frank. It was one of the strangest outings I’ve ever been with dad. Till now, I can still picture dad standing half way in the water when I go to the beach.

The First Step Toward My Dream

Being an architect was a dream for me. I love to design buildings, both exterior and interior. It's been my dream since grade 7 or 8. I was first inspired my my father. He was an architect, a pretty successful architect. I'm very proud to say that he brought many new ideas into Taiwan's building industry. He is one of the first few architects in Taiwan to build green buildings. Also, he amazed me with the ability of turning a building into a piece of art. When I saw a waste land turn into an artful townhouse with beautiful gardens and fancy buildings, I said to myself, "One day, I'm going to be an architect. And I'm not going to be a normal architect, no. I'm going to be an architect like my dad which other peoples look up to."

I was very lucky to be studying in Hsinchu International School. Our school allows me to design the student lounge. This was the first time I thought I could temporarily be an architect, which was was my dream. So I started designing. Although I don't have any experiences and don't really know where to start, I worked really hard and came up with this design in approximately a whole month.

It was made by a program called "Google SketchUp". It is a program that makes the 3D buildings in Google Earth. When I'm making this design, I was actually pretty depressed. I wish I could do this design in Auto CAD, but I'm still an amateur architect. Well...I guess I couldn't even call myself amateur architect yet, I'm no where at that level.

So, back to my design. I was actually very proud at how I designed my roof for the lounge. I made a huge 26 that sticks right into the roof. It represents how old the school was when the lounge is built. Also, all the darker curves are made with precise measurements. I didn't randomly draw circles.

(I made all the unnecessary parts of the building transparent. )

Lastly, I must talk about the table looking block thats sitting in the middle of the lounge. It's actually movable. The extra part of the block should be able to fit right into the slot. Having it fit into different slots will have different results. It could be for the purpose of fitting more students, or to make it more comfortable for lesser students.

However, this design is too costly. After the carpenter checked my design out, he gave a cost thats way over our school's budget. That's when I nearly collapsed. I thought the school is going to use other student's design because mine is too expansive. But after meeting with the teachers and the school board, they agreed to use my design, but only if I can get the extra moneys. So right now, I'm calling big companies and organizations to ask for their support. Even though this process is very difficult, and my pocket is still empty, I believe that I can make this student lounge come to live. I will do everything to fulfill my dream!

Cat's Cradle (1~31)

In our english class, we started reading a fiction novel, "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut. This novel was around 300 pages, not too thick. The formate of this novel was very interesting. Some of it's chapters are very short, or, extremely short, while other chapters might be 3~4 pages. After reading the first 31 pages, 14 chapters of this novel, I'm pretty sure what the writer's writing style is like. Mr. Vonnegut uses a lot of conversations on this book. It made it easier to read because the conversations are pretty straightforward. Yet, the overall of this novel is pretty hard to understand. I believe he purposely digress in some chapters. I know they all lead to some kind of conflict later, but it is very ambiguous for the readers in the beginning. This novel is also full of black humors. Not dark enough to be depressing, but definitely not a bright book.

In this book, theres a very interesting character which I must bring up, Dr. Felix Hoenikker. He was the inventor of the nuclear bomb that ended World War II. Dr. Hoenikker was an apathetic. I think he doesn't even have feelings. Or, theres another possibility. He could be a misanthropist. The character was still ambiguous to the readers, but it already caught my attention. I'm looking forward to read more about Dr. Felix Hoenikker and find out what is the reason for his apathy.

Tibet and Olimpic

I'm pretty confidence that everyone is already familiar with the topic on Tibet. The riot is spreading so fast and violently, it becomes threatening to everyone. I read a blog entry on Tibetan attacking Chinese Olimpic torch carriers in Paris. The attacker dressed as an Chinese supporter in the first place. But when the torch carrier arrived, he attacked her. The carrier was a woman on a wheelchair. For some, this might be nothing at all. Well, at least it is still "calm". The attacker didn't brutely attack the flame carrier and no one really got injured. Yet, this is just the tip of an iceberg. We can already see protests around the global. While the Tibetans are trying to gain their right, the Chinese authorities are trying to convince the world that the Tibetan protesters are just "terrorists". With this kind of tension building up every single day, there's no guarantee when the riot will become deadly. It is already clear that the Tibetan will not end their protest until they get what they want. After all, it is their families that are being abused, violated and eventually, tortured. If this situation doesn't appease, more violent attacks will happen. This not only threatens the Chinese immigrants in foreign countries, this also threats other races. This must END!

Individual's Power

For many peoples, changing is very fearful. They never know what the result will be after they changed and they don't know how to change anything. These peoples live under other peoples' hand. They react and think the same way the society would think. Yet, that isn't what our Global Ethics class promote. We are learning how to change the world! This sounds crazy, I know. But we know everyone have the potential and is capable of changing the world. Know, I'm going to share with you how I think I can change the world.

When I heard the topic, I immediately think of architecture. Being an architect is my dream, and I believe if I want to be interested in what I'm doing, I should include my interest in it. So, how can architecture change the world? Well, after researching on it, I found out that architects can design green building with out using technologies. They study the movements of air flows and materials that can help trap heats. They design houses that can automatically cool down in summer and heat up in winter. These kind of green buildings doesn't need a lot of moneys but it could be as effective as other green buildings.

So, I'm going to be studying these kind of architectures when I grow up. I know there are still millions of ways to design green houses with little cost, so I'll research on it when I grow up. Also, I want to promote it widely. There are still many families that uses a lot of air conditions and heater when it is unnecessary. So..that's how I'm going to change the world.