Journal Entry 36: F451

The technology in the Fahrenheit 451 film was a lot less advanced than the technology we have today. Some of the technology today was completely devoid from the lives of people 60 years ago. The author could only perceive for the future better versions of what he had in his lifetime, but it was impossible for him to predict what technological wonders were to come. The "parlor walls" television that Montag's wife is much smaller than many flat screen TV's we have today. The trains that Montag rode in is similar to the high speed rails that are in many countries now, and the "seashells" that people listened to are just like ipods people listen to today. Apart from those, however, we also have computers, laptops, the internet, cell phones, and many other inventions that the author could not have even dreamed of 50 years ago. Fortunately, the accuracy of his predictions did not make up an important part of the plot of the story. It just provided a background to the message he was trying to send.

Journal Entry 35: Being Pushed

My parents are always pushing me to do something, whether it is something small like keeping my room clean, or to work hard to act like her image of an ideal son. How I react to this is usually based on how I am feeling towards them at the time, and how difficult the task is. For example, if it is something like cleaning my room, it doesn't really make a difference to me, and if doing so will appease them, I will usually do it. On the other hand, if they are asking me to work hard to do achieve something that could have easily been achieved had it not been for their own actions, I will usually resist in some way. This sounds really vague, but it is kind of difficult to describe my thought process with words. When someone has a high expectation of me, that I know I cannot surpass, I will still work at it, but not be as motivated. However, if expectations of me were at a level where I may be able to achieve, I will have more motivation to try to meet, or even surpass it. For example, if you asked me to do 100 push-ups, I will do about 20 and be like, okay, I'm done. However, if I were asked to do 50, I would try harder, and I would not stop until I could not possibly do any more.

Journal Entry 34: Negative

There are many cases where a negative experiences can be a good thing. If you think about it, negative experiences are how we learn, and grow smarter and more logical, because we can learn from them. If there were only positive experiences in life, I don't think human intelligence would progress at all. There would be no point in growing, because everyone would be happy as they are. Also, negative experiences greatly influence who we become, because we get to know what those experiences feel like for ourselves, so our personalities will grow based on avoiding that undesirable experience in the future. For example, if as a child you experience the pain and devastation of war, when you grow up, you will most likely become a peace loving man, and work to prevent conflict at any cost to yourself. However, positive experiences can be a good thing as well, because they are what keeps you going. Without positive experiences, there would be no motivation to continue existing. I don't think either has a "bigger" impact, but rather that a balance of both is necessary for development of everyone.

Journal 33: Universal Experience

The Vietnam War was unique because it was a civil war, between people of the same country. Most of it took place in the forests and thick jungles rather than in cities or open land. According to the story, they also walked through some rice paddies, which were fields where rice was planted, then flooded with water up to about waist level. Instead of fighting directly, many times soldiers would face landmines as well as other types of traps set up there waiting for the soldiers. A universal experience that is described in this story is the fear. If any of us were in his position, fighting in a war in a foreign and unfamiliar country, we would all be scared. Another universal experience is when he could not stop laughing over Billy Boy's death, even though it was a messed up thing to do. The other soldier kept telling him to stop it, but he just kept laughing. I think many people have had the experience when they can't stop laughing at an inappropriate time. If I were in Berlin's situation, I think I would have done the same, because it's actually pretty funny if you imagine it, a tough guy getting wounded in the field but dying of a heart attack.

Journal 32: Far From Home

To arrive in a hostile and unfamiliar place like Vietnam would be difficult for anyone to handle. One would get along by making the best of things, and trying to make friends within the ranks, and to get used to the situation. A similar experience I have had is moving to Taiwan, and starting school at PAS. For me, it wasn't really a "hostile and unfamiliar place", but it was not what I was used to, and not where I wanted to be. At first I just tried to fit in and just get used to it, because I was most likely going to spend a lot of time here. But then I gave up on trying to be like everyone here, and on trying to be "positive", where we could frolic in some meadows and vomit rainbows. With only a few exceptions, the people were nothing like my old friends, not necessarily in a good or bad way, but just completely different. I guess I could have tried to adapt to it, but the way my old friends were has become a part of who I am and I don't think I am quite ready to relinquish that part of myself yet.

Journal 30: Symbols of Heritage

There aren't too many items in our house that is a reminder of our heritage, because it, and most of the things in it, are rented. I guess our furniture when we stayed in the US were kind of reminders of our heritage. We also had books written in Chinese, as well as some paintings, and miniature statues of the Buddha for good luck. My mom's favorite was this jade one that glowed in the dark, because her mother had given it to her. It was about eight inches tall and six inches wide, and  if you leave it in light for a while, then turn off the light, it will glow. It is significant to my mom because she is Buddhist, and the statue meant good luck to her, although it represented nothing of the sort to me. In my opinion, it was just a little statue, but my mom really liked it because it was her mothers, and her mom had died early from cancer.

Journal Entry 29: Your Family Traditions

I think there is a pretty big conflict in my family regarding heritage and tradition. Family traditions and heritage tell what is expected of me at all times, including my habits, work ethic, and moralities. My immediate family doesn't really celebrate any holidays, it is only when other family members like aunts and uncles invite us to do something that we join in. In these cases, the food served depends on the holiday. Being originally from Taiwan, my family celebrates a lot of important Taiwanese holidays. However, because much of my family is also in the US, we celebrate American ones too. During the American holidays, American food is served, and during the Taiwanese ones, Taiwanese food is served. We don't really tell stories that go too far into the past either, like when my parents were kids. The stories told are mainly what has happened since the last time we've met, and traditional stories are rare. The older members of my family are strictly traditional, with some Western influences, and the younger members are mostly Western, with some traditional influences.

Journal Entry 28: Thanksgiving

Although life is far from perfect right now, I still have a lot of things to be thankful for. I am thankful that I was born in the United States, and that out of all of the schools I could have went to, I went to mine specifically. I am thankful for my friends there, who made me who I am today, and for all of the good times we had, because they will stay with me for the rest of my life. I wish I got to stay there, but life isn't fair, and I had enough happiness then to last me a lifetime. I am also thankful that I was born into a financially stable family, and that I don't have to worry about how to get food and shelter. I am thankful for the way I am, for my unique way of thinking, for my health, and all of my talents. I am thankful for the internet, which has given me countless hours of amusement when I am bored. I am thankful for the small things in life, like sleeping in when there is no school, taking a walk in the park, or listening to music.

Journal Entry 27: Doing the Right Thing

I think most people in the world are the kind that have principles, but will throw them away when they conflict with their personal interests. A lot of people think they would do the right thing no matter what, but when really faced with a situation like that, they usually try to find a way around it, while convincing themselves that they had done the right thing. I think this is because people want to see themselves as a good person, so they will subconsciously do things like this, to convince themselves that they are. Personally, I try to follow my principles as much as possible, but sometimes its just too difficult to do the right thing. For example, sometimes I see someone who needs help, but if I go over and help them people will think I am being a poser or something or being fake so I'm just like, okay they don't even need my help that much so yeah... For the most part, this is kind of the attitude of the people in "my home country" were like, which is probably why I am that way as well.

Journal Entry 26: Conflict Avoidance

I think most people try to avoid conflict as much as possible in their own lives, and of those around them, but they enjoy watching it when it is happening to someone they don't know, or to a fictional character. I think it is always good to avoid conflict in real life situations, but it can be a good thing in the plots of stories or movies, because it makes them a lot more interesting. Personally, I would avoid conflicts about little things that do not matter much to me, but I would welcome it in situations where I am defending something that I care or feel strongly about. For example, if a teacher asks me to do extra homework, I will not make a big deal out of it, and I will avoid the conflict, but if I am given an unfair grade, I would welcome the conflict to solve the problem.One example of this is when my mom is mad at me and starts to yell at me, it does not really hurt to listen to her talk for a while, so I just stay silent and avoid the conflict of an argument.

Journal Entry 25: Heritage Revisited

As I have said in the previous journal, I have not retained much of my heritage. I guess the idea of never giving up on something, even if giving up is the best solution has rubbed off on me, and has "given me strength". Just as the Japanese preferred death to surrendering, I guess I prefer losing to giving up. One of the elements that I feel get in my way is the view that grades are the most important thing in your lives and determine who you are as a person. This has affected how my parents saw me as a person, and is kind of annoying to have to deal with. Another element that I feel gets in my way is their obsession with what other people think about them. They always do things so that others think more highly of them, and from the perspective of the third party, it can look fake, and even maddening to watch. There isn't really any part of my heritage that I can think of off the top of my head that I can feel proud about, but I rarely feel ashamed or embarrassed about my heritage. I think annoyed more accurately describes how I feel about my heritage.

Journal Entry 24: Crossing the Rubicon

"Crossing the Rubicon" is a very effective way to make stories more interesting. This choice of whether to cross the line that you cant ever come back from happens in almost all books, in one form or another. Several examples of this include when Harry first agrees to go with Hagrid to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series, and when Siddhartha leaves his father to join the Samanas. The reactions of the people "crossing the Rubicon" usually start off as apprehensive, and then differ depending on how the situation turns out. In the Harry Potter example, it is a very positive situation, so after being nervous at first, he becomes happier than he has ever been. In the Siddhartha example, he does not find what he is looking for, so he becomes unhappy, and must search even more fervently for the meaning of his life.  The obvious example of this in my life would be leaving my old school to move to Taiwan. At first I did not react very well, but it got better for a while, but I guess now I am getting worse again.

Journal Entry 23: Influence of Childhood

I think childhood experiences influence much of what authors write. Even fiction authors will take childhood experiences and just add a more interesting setting to it, to make it unique. I think that is why so many books have similar structures, because many of the things we experience in our childhood are similar. This is also why books are so enjoyable, because we can relate to them. One good example of an author who uses childhood experiences in his books is Roald Dahl. He even wrote a book about which childhood experiences he used in his stories! He had a very interesting life, which made his books very interesting as well. One book that is kind of similar to my life is The Outsiders. My friends and I were like Ponyboy, Dalley, Johnny, and the others. We were always there for each other, and although we made fun of each other,  we would never let anyone else do the same. Although my life wasn't as interesting, and there were no rumbles or shootings, the idea is kind of the same. The death of Johnny is kind of like me leaving the group to come here, and the death of Dalley was kind of like one of the seniors in our group graduating.

Journal Entry 22: Your Character

I usually show two different types of characters depending on what character you show towards me first. If you are friendly and nice towards me, I will usually be the same way back at you, and if I don't like you, I will usually just ignore you. Well, not really ignore you, but I won't try too hard to talk to you. I don't really treat others based on how they treat me, but rather on whether I like them or not, which is not necessarily based on how they treat me. I don't really know if this is how others see my character, because I've never asked people that question. Usually, the characters of other people are similar to mine, they just treat people based on how well they like the other person. However, people are usually nice to others when they first meet, and are less friendly if they don't like the other person, while I am the other way around. I am usually indifferent to the other person until I like them, then I start talking to them. Although this isn't really the best way to make friends, but yeah, it's just how I am.

Journal Entry 21:Bullies

I think there are a variety of reasons why people bully others. Some people bully to make themselves feel more powerful, and some just find it amusing. Most of the time though, I think they are just kidding around and do not mean to be hurtful. Victims of bullying do not usually stand up for themselves because it will do no good, and if they try, they will just get made fun of harder. I have witnessed bullying countless times, and I have been both the victim and the bully. In fact, at my old school, my friends and I made fun of each other for fun. We would make fun of each other for stuff we did in the past, for our appearance, and when bad things happened to us. It's kind of hard to explain, but yeah, that was our sense of humor. We would feel bad when bad things were said about us, but we know the other person is kidding, so we don't dwell on it. This is not really how the media depicts bullying. The media makes bullying look a lot worse, and tells us to report it, but in reality, we can't really report it without everyone thinking you are a snitch or something and avoiding you. Also, the media makes it seem like everyone you bully will kill themselves, which is obviously not true, its not the bullying, but how you take it that makes you kill yourself. Also, the people who commit suicide are already   loners and depressed so the bullying isn't even the reason why they do it.

Journal Entry 20: Character Questions

Rukmani, the main character of the story, is very believable. She is similar to a lot of people that I know. She is simple minded, and thinks of things only as they are in her world, and it is difficult for her to think from other perspectives. However, she is also hard working, and sacrifices a lot for the good of her family. This character is a protagonist, meaning she is the "hero" or main character, and is the one overcoming obstacles and complications. She experiences many conflicts throughout her life, starting from when she first gets married. At first, she does not even want to live with Nathan because he lived in a mud hut, but she overcomes this conflict when she finds out Nathan built the house with his own hands. Also, she must face the conflict of the storms and flood, as well as the drought. She is able to live off her saved food for the storms, but during the drought she loses everything, and even after selling everything they have, they can barely come up with enough money to satisfy their landowner to wait for the next harvest.

Journal 19: Nectar in a Sieve

"Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And hope without an object cannot live.” 
I think this was a very well made quote, and I like the analogy that is used. I think that the quote means that working without a hope, or purpose, is useless, just like drawing nectar in a sieve, and having hope without an object in life, will not last long. I think that this quote is very true, and significant in the lives of everyone. This quote applies to my life a lot, because I don't really know yet what I want to do with my life when I grow up, so sometimes I don't feel like working, because I feel like it is pointless. For the second half, it also kind of applies in my life, because it is not enough to have hopes, but you have to make it your objective in life, to try to achieve it.

Journal Entry 18: Character in Painting

In the painting, there are two people sitting next to each other, a girl and a guy. The girl is looking up and fixing her hair, and the guy is looking down at his nails. The guy is in the foreground and is mostly purple and blue, and the girl is in the background and mostly yellow. The guy stands out more, because his colors are deeper and more noticeable, and also because he is in the foreground. He looks pessimistic, and unhappy, while the girl appears to be just the opposite. The girl's upward glance and expression suggests that she is optimistic, and full of dreams for the future. The guy's downward glance at his nails and crossed legs show that he is unhappy about something, or is in a bad mood. The colors also support these moods, because they use brighter colors to show the personality of the girl, and darker colors to contrast the different personality of the guy.

Journal Entry 17: My favorite stories

As a kid, not too many stories captured my interest, because they were basically the same story with different characters and different conflicts. The ideas were all the same to me, so most stories were boring. However, there were a few that stuck with me. One example would be the movie "Inception". This is my favorite movie of all time, because it was different, and the plot was actually unexpected, and made me think. Another story I actually liked was the manga Naruto, or more specifically, the story of Itachi. He was born into war, so he detested it, and spent the rest of his life doing what he could to prevent it. He was born into the famed and honorable Uchiha clan. He rose to the top of his clan at an early age, entering the black ops at only 14 years of age. He was made into a double agent for the village to spy on his own clan, and he found that his clan was plotting a coup against the village, so he was given the mission to slaughter his entire clan. Knowing if a clan of the caliber of the Uchiha were to revolt, it may trigger a world war, he did as he was ordered, but he could not bring himself to kill his brother, Sasuke. He pleaded the village leader to protect Sasuke, and took all the responsibility and dishonor, to make Sasuke believe he was from a noble clan, devoting his entire life protecting Sasuke from the truth.

Journal Entry 16: The Influence of Others

In my life, many people have influenced me, both in good ways and bad. Some good influences came from my brothers. They were hard-working, and smart, and wanted me to be the same way. This influenced me as a kid, and I did pretty well in school, although not as well as they did. Some negative influences came from some of my friends from school. They did okay in school, and they were smart kids, but they wanted to have fun more than study. These two ideas conflicted greatly, but in the end I think my friends had more influence over me, because I didn't really get along with my brothers, and my friends' ideas were ones I had already been feeling. So now I am more like my friends than like my brothers, which is probably why they are successful and I probably won't be. However, their lives have been boring, full of hard work and being self-centered. Their future will probably hold more hard work, and even though they will have a lot of money, they won't really know what to do with it, as opposed to me, who will probably not have so much money, but will have fun, and memories of good times. It's really a matter of opinion which is better, but I think I have made the better decision, and now only time will tell which would have been the better path for me to take

Journal Entry 15: Characters

Some of my favorite characters ever are Itachi from "Naruto", Gin from "Bleach", and Snape from the Harry Potter series. All of these characters have a lot in common. They all appear to be bad guys, but in the end you find that they are actually good, and they have devoted their entire life to protecting someone they love. Also, in the end, they all die for this person, but ultimately fail in achieving what they wanted to happen. Itachi betrays his corrupt clan and assassinates them all in order to prevent war, and saves his little brother, Sasuke, and shoulders the dishonor and hate of the act, when he actually should have been honored and remembered for it. Despite his efforts however, Sasuke finds out what the village forced Itachi to do and turns against the village, and tries to destroy it.  Gin joins Aizen, the leader of the bad guys, but in the end he was just trying to get closer to him so he could kill him, so that Rangiku, his childhood friend, "would never have to cry again". However, he fails after preparing for his whole life, and dies leaving Aizen alive, and leaving Rangiku sadder than ever at his death. Snape's story is the same, except he in a way actually completed his mission. Snape loves Lily, so he does everything he can to protect her son Harry, and saves him multiple times. In the end, he finds out Harry must die anyways, and he does. But because it is a story, and the good guys must win, Harry is randomly brought back to life, so he lives happily ever after, and Snape's life is not wasted. These three characters are the only ones I have ever really attached myself to, and I had never thought about why I liked them until now. I guess I like characters that have devotion and commitment to the one person they love more than anything else, and sacrifice anything they can for them.

Journal Entry 14: Heritage

Heritage is a behavior or custom that your family and location passes down to you. Some of these may include religious beliefs, habits, or the sets of morals you have. I think the most important part of your heritage is your morals and beliefs, because it affects everything else about you, and shapes you into the person you are today. Personally, I have not retained much of my heritage. For example, I was taught at an early age to study hard as a student, because it will determine the rest of my life, and I have the rest of my life to have fun. I believed this up until like, middle school, but now the idea is ridiculous to me. When you are a kid is the only time in life to have fun, because you are free of the pressures of an adult, and you don't have to really worry about money, or food. Also, relative to what comes after, studying in high school is not really all that important. It's the classes you take in college that really matter, because those are the subjects you are good at or enjoy doing, and it will most likely define your job later. Another belief that was conveyed on me was that you must do whatever is best for yourself or your family, instead of friends. Although it is true that family stays with you forever, and friends are usually just temporary, it doesn't make sense to ditch your friends or not do nice things for them at a cost to yourself, because that would leave you with no friends at all. Also, friends are unlimited, there is a world of people to make friends from, so when you get in a fight with family, you have people to go to for support, until you are calmer. Friends help you through most of the tough times in your life, and I think that friends in general, not any one or few particular friends, are more important than family.

Journal Entry 13: Unpredictable Characters

Unpredictability is good for a story, but is sometimes annoying in real life. I think most girls are unpredictable, because you never know what they want. They will ask for one thing now, but later they will want the exact opposite. I am rarely unpredictable, because I react similarly to most things, usually by not caring. So if you are telling me a story, you can expect a sarcastic "cool story bro" from me after you finish telling it. Being a teenager however, there are inevitably some times when I will be unpredictable, like when I an especially good or bad mood, I will do something retarded. Much of this is different in a story, because you don't have to actually experience the unpredictability, you can sit back and enjoy reading about other people getting screwed over by it. The unpredictability is what makes a story interesting; if you can predict everything that happens in a story, there would be no point in it, because you wouldn't need the book- you can just tell yourself the story. Unpredictability is a vital element of literature, and when correctly used, it can make the plot of a story more interesting, and surprise the reader.

Journal Entry 12: Animal vs. Human

Animals are pretty similar to humans in many respects, such as what they are made out of, their organ systems, and needs. Actually, a human is an animal, so they have a lot in common. Animals seem capable of feeling many of the same emotions that a human does, such as sadness, loyalty, guilt, and so on. Some examples of this would be when a dog looks sad when you leave, waits for you at the door every day when you get home, or looks guilty when it has wet your carpet. However, I do not think animals have consciousness, and they are just reacting to their environment when they appear to be conscious. Much of animals' behaviors are simple, and can be predicted, which suggests that they are acting on instinct rather than consciousness, or free will. Also, animals lack the complex brain structures and reasoning ability that humans do. Although it is impossible to tell for sure whether animals are conscious, unless we find a way to communicate with them, I think it is most likely that they are not.

Journal Entry 11: Conflicts

John faces several conflicts on his journey in "By the Waters of Babylon". One internal conflict is deciding whether to go to the place of the gods and die, or stay away from it and live. This was a difficult decision to make, but he decided that if he left, his spirit would never be at peace, so he goes into the place of the gods. An external conflict he faces would be with the panther on his way to the place of the gods. He has to shoot the panther to prevent it from killing a fawn. One internal conflict I am facing is trying to decide between putting all my effort in school or not. It's what I'm expected to do, but lately I just don't feel like doing it anymore. I'm tired of working so hard, just so I can work harder later, but on the other hand, I don't want to be short of money when I grow up. I am trying to resolve this mainly by just thinking about what I should do, because there isn't really anything else I can do about it. One external conflict I have is when I get into an argument with my mom. This conflict is easier to resolve, because she usually stops talking if I ignore her for a while.

Journal Entry 10: Taboos

A taboo is something that you you know to never never do or say, such as calling a girl fat. Taboos have a wide range of magnitude, from little ones like chewing with your mouth full, to major ones, like stabbing your friend in the back. Taboos are not in place for any particular reason, they are just things you know by common sense, and experience, not to do, because they usually irritate or even anger people. Some of them are ridiculous, like not shaking your leg, because it will bring bad luck and cause you to lose all of your money when you grow up, but some of them are legit, like being disrespectful to a teacher or best friend. Most taboos are not necessary, and there are some where I don't even get where they come from. However, there are some where they are actually useful. Taboos are also kind of obsolete, because no one really follows some of them.

Journal Entry 9: Analyze a Folk Tale

"Coyote Kills the Giant" is a folk tale that attempts to explain that wood ticks are flat because they were flattened by the giants teeth as they were escaping from it. Although folk tales are amusing to read, they are never accurate, and they are predictable much of the time. Probably the most known example of a folk tale would be the tale of the tortoise and the hare. In this folk tale, a hare and a tortoise have a race, to see who is faster. During the race, the hare is so far ahead and so confident that he will win that he stops under a tree and takes a nap. While he is napping, the tortoise catches up, and passes the hare. When the hare wakes up, he sees how far ahead the tortoise is, and runs as fast as he can, but the tortoise still wins. The belief this story explains is "slow and steady wins the race". This basically means that it doesn't matter how far ahead you are in something, if you pause to take a rest, then someone who is working slowly but steadily will pass you, so you should always try as hard as you can when you are doing something.

Journal Entry 8: Buddhist Doctrine

I think the Buddhist Doctrine is right in many of its perspectives on life, but I do not agree with the ways it suggests suffering can be ended. The Buddhist Doctrine states that life is suffering, and suffering is caused by ignorance and attachment to material possessions. I agree with this part, because much of life is suffering, and one of the main causes are attachment to things such as money, houses, cars, and other possessions. However, I do not believe that following the Eightfold Path would remedy this, or that "ending suffering" is even a good thing. First of all, I do not think that attempting to get everyone to follow the Buddhist Doctrine is a rational way to end suffering, simply because there will always be people who will not follow it. Also, even if everyone actually did follow it, it would lead to peace, but it would not really be something to celebrate, because everyone would be the same, meditating all day, too busy being "at peace" to be happy. Although suffering is bad, it is necessary so that when something good happens to us, we can appreciate it and be happy.

Journal Entry 7: Taking Risks

For the people we care about most, we would sacrifice many things to see them happy. Throughout my lifetime, people who have cared about me have made many sacrifices. For example, my friends sacrifice a lot of time to do things with me even though they may not like doing them. Also, they give up time, thought, and emotion on making me feel better when I am in a bad mood. Similarly, I have made many sacrifices for the people in my life who I care about. I make simple, small sacrifices, like paying for friends when they want something but did not bring money, as well as larger ones, like giving up time, and opportunities for them. For people we truly love, we will care more about their happiness than our own, so to see them happy, we would sacrifice anything. For example a mother would go through anything, even die for her child, as would a guy for a girl he is in love with. Sacrifices are, simply put. just something we do as a way of showing others how much we care about them.

Journal Entry 6: New Place

An example of a place that was once unfamiliar to me, but is now a part of my daily life is the Pacific American School. When I first came to this school, I thought it was kind of like a prison, with all the walls made out of concrete and everything. Also, I thought all the students here would be stereotypical Asians, and that I would not get along with any of them, and I would just rot here. Because I was disappointed that I had to leave my old friends, my first impression of this new school was that it was crap, and I would never come to enjoy going here. However, now that I have become more used to the school, and gotten to know the people here, I have realized it is actually a pretty good school, and the people here are really nice and fun to be with. It isn’t really much different from my old school after all. Even though I still miss my old friends, I don’t feel as miserable here anymore. 

Journal Entry 5: Journey

A good example of a journey from a movie would be the star wars series. Not only does Luke go on a journey of great distances physically, it was a great emotional and spiritual journey as well. Luke started out as a normal farm boy and learned from Obi-Wan and became a powerful Jedi. During his journey he gains character, and Jedi skills to defeat Darth Vader, his father. On the way to him, he builds his skill and character by outsmarting Jabba the Hut and defeating Darth Maul. An example of a journey that I have had in my life was when I moved to Taiwan. I had lived in the United States for my entire life, so moving here was a big change for me. Everything was different, from the buildings to the traffic. However, I am slowly adapting to the way of doing things here. It's a good thing I can at least speak the language. This experience will definitely have a lasting impact on me, probably for the rest of my life.

Journal 4: Time

In "Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets", Jack Finney makes time pass slowly as Tom Benecke is standing on the ledge, barely able to balance himself. He does this by describing in detail every emotion and feeling he has as his life flashes before his eyes. This happens often in real life as well. In my experience, time slows down when we are feeling negative emotions and want the time to pass faster. Some examples would be when you are feeling uncomfortable, sick, tired, or bored. Time drags on, and it feels like hours when it has only been minutes. On the other hand, time passes quickly when you feel positive emotions, such as when you are having fun, or taking a break from hard work. It can also happen when you aren't feeling positive, like when you need more time. An example of this would be when you are staying up late to complete a homework assignment.

Journal Entry 3: Values

The values that I think should be most important in people's lives are love, friends, and having fun. In "Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets", at first Tom Benecke values his job and advancing in his work the most. He neglected his wife, and focused much of his time on his work, and side projects to try and get a promotion. His values change after his near death experience, and his values move towards spending time with his wife. In my life I value love and friends first, then family, then having fun, then education. Love is most important to me, but since there are few people I actually love, this category usually doesn't apply to me. Friends are next important to me, and I would literally do anything for a really close friend. Family comes next, because they are the closest to you physically, and they will always be there, while other people you meet come in and out of your life. Having fun is next important to me, because after college there won't really be any more opportunity to be happy. Education is the final value on my list, because I want to be able to support myself financially when I grow up.

Journal Entry 2

     The focal point of this picture is the person in the center, wielding a Bo, or a staff used in martial arts. The picture is probably set in the 1600s, somewhere in China, because there are ninja-looking people dangling upside-down from bamboo shoots. Also, their clothes look like those people from ancient China would wear.  In the picture, four ninjas are descending upon the girl in the middle, but she looks calm and ready to take the challenge. The contrast of color between the mist on the forest floor, and the green scenery around it emphasizes the mysterious nature of this picture. The perspective is shown from directly in front of the girl, but also angled in a way so that the ninjas on the bamboo shoots could be seen. This gives you a view of the entire situation. One setting from my own life would be my house at night. The focal point would be me, and the time would be at 1 AM. I would be struggling desperately to complete my homework and not fall asleep, and the mood would be dull and dark.

Journal Entry 1: Common Experiences

     I agree with Willa Cather when she says "There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before". In our lives, we all experience interesting events. We tend to think that what has happened to us is so incredible that few, if any other people have been through the same thing. This, however, is not the case. If you think about it, all the interesting stories we have to tell have all probably been told millions of times by the people before us who have already done it. For example, the first time we like a girl, and get our heart broken, we think that no one has ever felt as strongly as we did, and no one understands the pain we feel, when in fact almost every teenager has. Another example would be depression. At one point or another, almost every teenager will have experienced depression. Its just part of growing up, and when you think back later, you will realize how dumb you were. At the time though, you feel like you are alone in the world, and you are the only person who ever felt the way you do. These examples show how Willa Cather was correct in saying that humans have only few stories to tell, but tell them over and over to people for whom it is new.