An unusual Ending

Today, I finally finished the book "Cat's Cradle". This is a book I've been reading for over 2~3 months. Let me first briefly talk about this book. This book is full of satire. It is exaggerating today's society, religious and our life style. This book talk about the selfness of scientists, poverty and lies in religious for the most part. The main character, John is in a island, a third world country with ridicules rules and religion. He is with a bunch of other characters and they are experiencing a major change in that country. The president of the country is very sick, and he is about to die. However, the man he chose to rule the country doesn't want to take the job. He is called frank, a scientist who caries the most powerful weapon in the world, ice-nine. Eventually, John got the job because he wanted power and a woman which he love. After taking the job, he become more arrogant. After taking the job, the old president took a little drip of ice-nine and killed himself. The effect of this deadly weapon shocked him and made him nervous. This is when the author tried to explain what science is doing to our world and how easily an individual could change his/her personality from power.
Eventually, an accident happened, and the ice-nine got into the ocean and freezed the world. Storm started occurring all around the world. Fortunately, John and her beautiful wife survived by hiding in a underground shelter until the storm dies off. During those time, he and his wife had a lot of furious sexual orgy. I believe the author is trying to predict how the judgment day would be like, sexual orgy.
Afterward, John found out what have he done making this world into this huge disaster, and started regretting. He started learning from the natural. While he is trying to survive, he met another major character in the book, Bokonon. He was the creator of the country's religion. The religion is based on one thing and one thing only, LIE. Bokonon figured that the world is full of lies and there will never be an utopia. And when John met him, Bokonon was writing the last sentence for his book, his religious book. It was "If I were a younger man, I would write a history human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of th blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who"
This is very power sentence. It described the main theme of the story, human stupidity. It says if someone is able to record all the stupid things that human did, the pages will pile all the way up and be as tall as mountains. However, I don't quite get the "grinning horribly" part. It could mean the regret from human or the curse to God. What ever it is, it is always going to be an enigma, and there will never be a real answer for that rhetorical question.

Wx5

Who-What-When-Where-Why These are common questions that NEWS reporters ask themselves. And, after reading this article on "Fearing Floods, Chinese Order Evacuations in Quake Area". This is an article on Sichuan earthquake. Basically, its about the possible threats from the aftershocks which might cause serious floodings.

Who: I believe its the citizens, especially the refugees and the armies. It mentioned the refugees because they are the ones that might suffer from the after shock. It also mentioned the technical difficulties for the soldiers who are trying to appease the situation.

What: The earthquake reshaped the geography of Sichuan and some mudslides from the mountains blocked rivers. These rivers normally have villages around it. If there is another aftershock, it is possible for the mudslide block to collapse which allows all the water to rush down into those small villages. So, the authorities are trying to evacuate as many citizens as they can. Right now, they are targeting on 150 thousand peoples. But due to the mudslides in other places which locked the roads for refugees, this operation is getting harder.

When: This is a post on May 28, 2008. It didn't say when the authorities stated evacuating the refugees, so I could give a date.

Where: It is mainly talking about the villages near southwest Sichuan. The main river which is causing a lot of problems, Tangjiashan, is also located there.

Why: I'm not so sure about this one. It is similar to What, but this might be asking for more specific details. So, why? It is because of the threat of the river to flood and kill more refugees. The mudslide is not going to hold the river forever, and once the river gets to a level, its is going to start washing away the mudslide. Eventually, flood. So, the authorities are trying to evacuate as many refugees are possible.

Above is m first attempt of being an news reporter. If you are a real reporter, please correct me.

I Know how you feel

I'm dead. Totally.
When I heard I have to present my ideas in front of the school, I nearly had a mental breakdown. I never enjoy the feeling of standing in front of everyone else, especially to talk about my ideas. Last night, I practiced the presentation but it went out bad. I totally forget what I'm suppose to say, and I mumble nearly all of the words. I'm dead.

After 7 hours of nightmare, I woke up to face my deepest fear. I ate my breakfast and asked my mom for advise. A fruitless attempt. She started talking about her childhood memories and, I'm not so sure, but she started talking about how she and dad met.

About 20 minutes later, we arrived. She gave me a kiss on the forehead and wished me luck. That was unusually encouraging. I nearly cried. But I must hold my together, I must be strong.

It's assembly time now. Every students in our school sat in a huge circle. The circle of death.

My palms and my forehead is sweaty. I have sweats rolling down my cheek into my shirt. I hold tight to my index cards as if they are my life line.

The seniors just finished telling their weekend story to the school. How did they do that?! They are so calm. How come they are so brave? John just finished telling how he helped an old lady to cross the road. He was the oldest student in our school, also the funniest. Everyone was laughing, except me. I can't let anything come into me, I can't. If I blow this one, I might turn into the biggest joke in our school.

Its principle's time now. He is talking about our new school rule, the dress code. But I didn't hear a thing. I was lost in my nervousness. What I do notice was, he totally brought the atmosphere down. His deep voice always indicates that he is serious.

Great, the happy atmosphere which the seniors built is gone. The circle looks like a disease infested swamp due to everyone's angry faces.

About 3 or 4 minutes later, my adviser started speaking. He introduced Jessica and me to the whole school. We are going to be the joker for today. He explained our presentation, and the hard times we are going through now. Yes, finally someone know how I feel. But after taking a quick glance at the crowd, I found out that no one really cares. A bunch of ignorance peoples! This will definitely lead to serious criticisms.

First up is Jessica, yes! Her english is worse then me, I hope she mess her speech up, so that I would look better than her. She told me she didn't even practice the speech, or make any index cards.

Her speech was poorly done. She didn't clearly get her ideas across, but the crowds loved it. She made the crowd laugh. The way she did her speech was terrible, but its was funny, and plus, shes more popular. After accepting the warm cheers and claps, Jessica left the stage. It's me, all by myself, fighting against the whole world with my 3 pages index cards.

A sudden silent came, everyone is staring at me. I totally lost my speech. But looking at my index cards, I realized I had the wrong index card. This is the one I had for my english class's presentation. Damn!

Suddenly, my adviser stood up. He asked everyone to give me a round of applause. So they did, but it made me more nervous. I just want to hind in the corner forever.

After another minute of silence, I decided to just give it a try. I started my presentation. I was mumbling in the beginning. I don't even understand myself, but about 5 minutes later, I started enjoying the presentation. I remember everything I have to say, and I made the audiences laugh a few time. After my presentation, I received lots of compliments. The teachers shacked my hand with a warm smile. The seniors were saying how brave I was. Jessica was mad, I'm more popular now, but I don't care how she feels. All i care is, I made it. I'm a winner.

Cell phone?

Cell phone usage is a HUGE problem in many schools. It annoys the teacher in class and distract the students. But is it really bad?

In HIS (Hsinchu International School), phones are forbidden. It students get distracted easily, and we can not denial it. BUT, we never think of the possible good it could bring to us. Phones are first, one of the fastest way to get to another person. For example, in a huge school, there is no way you can contact another person within a few minutes. You always have to run around asking other peoples. But, if phones are allowed, these kind of things would never happen. Also, using phone is just a good habit in this technology century. We must get use to it, and not be outcast in this world of technology. Messages for example. We must get use to the concept of messaging other peoples, especially when its cheaper. It is going to help greatly even when you enter the business world.

So, I think we should allow phones in school.

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.

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.

Voice~Pretty fun

Try to guess who is speaking and what is he speaking about.
btw...Try to pronounce the words because thats how it should sound like~

Ay bolo, come! Look what I ave, lap top. Cool aye~. And…Sole, chu don’t know how to use a cumputar? Solei, let me taught chu. Step one, you need to open the lid. Yea, the lid. Not the case bolo, the lid. Dan chu need to turn it on. Bress the turn on button. It looks like a circle with a stick goin up. Yea, horizontal! Up! Dan it is very complicated. Chu see, theres a button that looks like a broken donut. NO! Not a real donut! Dan chu look for the internet icon. Err…it should look like a lowercase e. Lowercase e!! Bolo! Do chu know chur alphabets? Don’t worry man…I give up…

Answer: Samoan

Number

What do numbers mean to you? Is it math? Cash? Or, it could be lottery numbers. Numbers have different meaning to everyone and I’m going to share a very interesting story about “Numbers”. Yet, instead of reviewing this story, I want to point out interesting voice that’s projected by its author.

This story is obviously about numbers, but interestingly, this story doesn’t make numbers equal to cash, math or lottery numbers. The story is about a fatalist called Frederick Ronald Fulton. Freddie had a misery life when he reached adolescent from anticipating his own death. He knew that his life will end on a certain date and as he grew older, he become more nervous about the arrival of this day. The anxiousness made him scan all kind of papers for clues.

In the past, Freddie had a few attempt suicides, yet all of them failed. He tried to hang himself on a loose rope and leaped in front of a train which he is later rescued from beneath the mighty train engine. The hope of resting for eternity never came.

Until one day, he is brought into the police station because two constables found him saying the same word over and over again, “Today”. The police must have thought Freddie is going to suicide again, so they brought him back. The constables later found out that Freddie is holding onto something, tightly. They took the paper and found out that it’s a lottery ticket which was 251987. After checking the newsletter, they found out that Freddie was the luckiest winner. The police ran and told their sergeant the wonderful truth. However, the sergeant immediately realized that the numbers were same as the date, the 2^nd of May, 1987. With the shocking discovery, they ran back and found Freddie sitting there with both eyes open. Yet, not breathing.

I think from reading this story, I can see the voice this author might sound like. The story is obviously about black humors. Its rich use of adjective made this story more gripping and I think this project the author’s personality. The way this story is planned also showed me that the author must be a very organized and funny in the same time. Obviously, he is very creative and coherent. He is definitely someone that I want to meet with.

Reading and Questioning

I think after reading the title of this blog, anyone can tell that this is another blog on reading techniques. This technique is analogous to reading and prediction. This technique also requires spending more times because it requires a lot of thinking. Basically, you read and ask yourself what is the author’s intend. This is very helpful when you are reading very complicated books because it allows you to think in a different view, which is very helpful in many cases.

Another reason why I suggest everyone to use this technique is because it helps you to remember the texts more clearly. If you understand what the author’s intend is, the main idea for that chapter would stay in your mind for a longtime.

For me, this technique really helped me to understand difficult books. It not only helps me understand it, it also left a very strong impression after over a month. This means a lot for a student whose first language is mandarin.

Reading and Summarizing

I mentioned in my previous blog that while reading, you could help to understand more by predicting the story. However, not every strategy works the same for all peoples. So I want to present another new technique to you. It’s called Reading and Summarizing.

This is very useful for peoples whose first language isn’t english. It is really normal for peoples like us to accidentally scan through pages while thinking about the previous chapters. This is quite critical to your understanding of a book. This happened to me many times. Luckily, I learned this awesome technique, and here I’m going to share it with you.

Every book (well...most books) have chapters. These chapters all contain its own topic and they are always the main stepping stone to the next chapter. Understand each chapter is essential. Yet, not many people can remember everything they read. It would be hard to refer to earlier chapter if you haven't make any notes.

So the new strategy is to take notes. This is very useful when you are reading a big and confusing book. When you are reading a chapter, even if you understand it pretty well and you think the main idea will always stay in your mind, Still Write Notes. It is very normal for ideas to fadeout in times. So always write notes on the chapters you've read. The best advantage of writing notes down is that, you can improve your skill on taking notes down. For a student like me which is going to college in 2 years, developing the habit of writing note is very helpful.

Reading and Prediction

There are millions of ways to read a book. And I personally think that the outcome will varies with the different ways you read. Reading fairytale while listening to eminem will not give you a feeling of happy ending. Reading Shakespeare while chatting on the phone will give you a result of not knowing what you just read. There are definitely more creative ways to read, but right now, I want to share a new technique which I found interesting.

First, reading is never about speed. I personally think that reading a text without knowing what you are reading is just ridiculous. So if you are one of the hasting readers that are simply trying to build up a list of books, STOP. If you want to remember the texts and gain more excitement, read slower. When I read, I slowly digest the words and this help me to remember the text more easily. Most importantly, I predict what might happen next. This not only help to create the mood for the reader, it also make the book more exciting.

But of cause, everything has it's downside. I find this technique extremely slow. I don't suggest you to use this technique when you are taking exams or when you are given a limit amount of time to finish a book. It will only delay the progress.

All you have to remember is, when you are reading for fun, use this technique. Don't rush anything because reading should be FUN!!

The Different From "Teaching" and "Preaching"

After reading a blog entry from Nicole Kim on The different between "teaching" and "Preaching", I really want to share some afterthought about it. Nicole thinks the education system is turning into preaching based education. Teachers and professors spent more time lecturing instead of pushing the students to learn for their desire. She thinks school should be a self-directing place.

Teachers should be around the students not ahead of them all the time. Educators are spending too much time teaching their students lessons that will not benefit their future. For example, not everyone wants to read Shakespeare's work, but it is one of the most commonly read books in english lesson. If the student is not interested in Shakespeare, he/she will lose the enthusiasm on that particular class. This is the last thing we want our students to feel.

Another good point Nicole mentioned is the benefit from self-direct education. This not only make them more mature, but also it will increase their desire to learn. If they have the authority to chose what they want and need to learn, they will be more willing to learn it. I also believe that this will increase the chances of these students finding their interest.

The old educational system is putting too much pressure on the students and it is stopping them from finding their interest in the future. It is very critical because this might result in choosing the wrong college or even choosing the wrong career. Students therefor should have the right to discover their own interest and push themselves to go deeper into that major.

A good educational system should definitely include subjects like math and literature. But I think the most important part of education should be the discovering of an individual's interest and to create the habit of reaching for their own future.