I am very picky when it comes to writing.
Lately I've been staying up late in order to write my assignments for composition. I try to do all of my other homework when I get home, then I focus all of my energy on composition, so it would around 9:00pm when I actually start. I always do my homework in the living room because I cannot and refuse to do my homework in my room. If I do my homework in my room, I automatically go to sleep. It's just too comfortable! So here I am, sitting in my living room couch, staring at my computer, school papers, folders, and texts from every subject sprawled all over the table like a child's play room, getting ready to write.
Before I write, I make sure my electronic tea kettle is plugged in so that I get hot water through out the whole night. Then, I look into the cupboard to see what kind of tea I want to drink. For late nights, green tea; relaxation, chai tea; for a more earthy feel, oolong. Once the water is up to the temperature I want, I put a tea bag into a FANCY tea cup (I mean, when you have fancy tea cups, why not use it!), pour in the hot water, and watch as the color of the tea disperses throughout the cup. I shake the teabag a few times to make the tea as dark as the water in a lake, I generously add in honey and create a mini whirlpool in my fancy teacup. Some days I'm too inpatient for the electric tea kettle to heat the water, so instead I put water into a normal mug and put it in the microwave for about three minutes. I love it when the water in the mug over boils like a witches cauldron and makes a huge puddle in the microwave, and my mom hates it because it messes up the microwave...Hehehee.... But I need it to be that hot!
The next essential thing I do when I write is to pick out the right mix of music. Bringing my tea over, I set it on the table and log onto youtube. When I feel like a change of songs, I think of the songs I feel like listening to and put it into my watch later category. As of right now, I'm listening to a mix of Coldplay, Final Fantasy piano scores, Enur, Hastune Miku, Hall and Oates, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, and Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
I quickly look outside and see that it's dark. The moon shines brightly with the stars crazily spread out through the sky. I wrap myself up like a lettuce head with my favorite Animaniacs blanket to keep myself warm and comfy, strategically place the pillows to support my back, undo my hair to get the blood flowing through my brain, and take a few deep breaths. Writing time. I clear my mind of any distractions and try to think about what I'm writing about. I then put the laptop on my lap and begin typing. I write whatever pops up in my head, disregard any of the mistakes that I'm writing. Like holding my breath under water, I have to take breathers in order to get overwhelmed. Sometimes I zone out and stare at the computer screen like a zombie, or go on youtube and watch random videos like this!
Many times, my mom would come around and berate me about staying up late and tell me to hurry up and go to sleep. Hurry up? How can I do that when I need to spend time and create quality work with my papers! But I understand her concern and am grateful that someone is watching over me. I keep typing until I'm satisfied with my paper.Once I'm satisfied, I pass out and fall asleep. But sometimes when I stay up really late, I take periodical naps that last about thirty minutes and continue writing. That's it, that's what I normally do when I write.
This long weekend was a perfect chance for me to get some rest and some sleep. Well it first started off with me being sick for two day or so. Yeah that was awesome..... At least during this time I was able to catch up on some episodes of The Office. I love that show, and no matter how long it goes I will never get tired of watching it. The latest episode, called the Garden Party, was a great way to reestablish the hate relationship between Jim and Dwight. My favorite part was at the end when Dwight had to keep announcing Jim's name out of formality, classic! Dwight's face at the end is just priceless.
It looked something like this!
Along with doing homework and catching up on shows, I had some time bake! I was able to make cream puffs and macaroons! It was delicious! Since it's my first time making the macaroons, I baked them for too long so they were a little dry, but the idea was there, and I'll do better next time!
Luckily I was able to spend a little bit of time with my family. We were able to watch The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly featuring Clint Eastwood. What a badass movie! I just love the plot and how everything built up toward the end of the movie. I don't want to talk too much about it if none of you guys have seen it, but it's a must watch movie. Along with watching a movie, I talked to my mom to catch up on current events. So apparently there are protests near the New York Stock Exchange, all around the world, and especially in Twin Cities. How are these places related? Well people are protesting about the economy.
To sum up, people in the U.S. are angry that banks are able to make profits after the bailout in 2008 while there is a 9% unemployment rate and recession. So a bank bailout is supposed to give money to banks so that they can slow down the payments they are collecting from their customers. But instead, there have been many foreclosures and banks gaining profits while the people are suffering. Dude I'm pretty pissed off too! I know a lot of people who are going through hardships right now. Knowing that there's money floating somewhere in the big businesses is totally messed up and unethical. I know in terms of business that business owners want to make as much profit as possible, but how is that possible if the people in the U.S. can't support themselves and there fore how can they purchase products. It's like in seventh grade, the vicious circle. If there is no money, no one is going to buy products, if no one buys products, then businesses will lose money, if businesses lose money, they have to lay off people, if they lay off people, then there's less money to spend, and so on! I don't know anymore. Politics and business is so sketchy, scary, and stupid that I don't know what to say anymore. I remember last year when I brought up the question, " Why is the U.S. donating money to Japan (Tsunami) when our economy is going through a recession and there are many other financial problems within the U.S." My teacher couldn't answer that question. Why is U.S. donating to Japan? (Not like I'm against it, but how are they doing it?) Are they doing it so that Japan will be able to help the U.S. when we're in trouble? Are they doing it to look good? I just feel like there's a specific reason why we're investing in something like this. Where's the money? Where??? Makes me feel uneasy.
Where?!?! Where's the money!
Learning about the actions of the U.S. through the cold war made everything else more sketchy, like doing undercover assignments, spying on other countries, getting involved with every country in the world, getting involved in wars, etc. Even though some facts may be controversial, I wish that U.S. government can release more information about what they are doing and why so there will be less doubts and questions. Just accept the news and move on.
(Keep in mind that I'm not trying to persuade you guys on what views to take, I'm just talking about what I've been hearing lately in the news and what I think about it. I'm also not against different types of people in general.) I'm also very interested in what my future is going to look like for my generation. While these protests were going on in NYSE, many homeless and gay people gathered around to protest too. All I can say is wow. What a great opportunity for gays to come in and start protesting for their rights, and all of the homeless people came mainly because they ate the food the protesters provided. This just shows the need of the people and how they are going to fight for their right. Very interesting. I feel as if there's going to be a new version of "beatniks" or "hippies" soon in the future. They're probably going to be called hipsters because believe it or not, it's already a very popular term. (But I think it's used more for the style of clothing rather than the norms of a hipster.) Seriously though, groups like these start usually by some kind of disagreement within the norms of society or in politics. This occurred in the sixties when hippies arose because there was a lot of war (Cold war); people gathered to protest against hatred and war, held similar morals and ethics, participated in group activities (drugs, rock concerts, laying around (protesting)), then it became a huge movement. Just waiting to see what happens.
The world is changing really fast everyday, and if we aren't able to adapt quickly enough, we'll fall behind, and that's the truth. But in some ways, old school techniques will always work in some situations.
Well on another note, here are some things that I found over the weekend:
THIS IS AWESOME! I wonder what I would've put down...
Nicki Minaj is fantastic. Her songs are great and she's been through a lot of crap in her life. I just admire how strongly she projects herself and how confident she is. In this video she is talking about how women are looked at within society compared to men. Beware there may be some swear words. Well enough blogging for now, time to do some more homework! TA-TA!!
Ok. So here are listed a few of my pet peeves. But from what I've learned in life, just get over it. There's no use of getting angry and wasting your time berating the person or the thing that is being annoying. Also, there may be some things you do that may annoy the other person. Just accept it and move on.
No need to freak. Number 9.
People who ride freakishly loud Harley Davidsons and think it's okay to drive around the neighborhood around one o'clock in the morning....really....
Buying jeans...WHY CAN'T I FIND JEANS THAT FIT MY WASTE AND MY THIGHS!
I really get annoyed when people talk over me or others. Seriously? I mean let's all talk like adults, take turns, and for once let's finish a story. This will also prevent people to REPETITIVELY come back into the conversation and ask "huh? What happened?".
Overly competitive people. They just need to chill out. Peeing in the bathroom the fastest does not have to be a competition
People who are actually smart but describe things in an arrogant way. First of all, you don't need to explain everything and try to gain credit knowing everything. Second of all, we know that you are smart, so you don't need to prove it to anyone. Third of all, don't think that you are always right and that no one else's opinion matters.
Closed minded people. It's too hard to talk to them and they are ALWAYS right...
Girls who wear leggings as pants. Sorry, it's just too skin tight. Don't like it. Don't want to see your but hanging out...please...
People who freak out when they don't get an A. They literally cry their eyes out!
People who think it's the end of the world when something small happens. Just brush it off and move on. Time isn't going to wait for you.
People who talk during movies. BE QUIET! I wanna know what's going on!! (This really bothers me because my parents do this all the time, and I have to rewind the dvd multiple times.... Oh parents, how much I love them. )
Babies who cry at every single thing. What do you have to do to make them happy?!
HAHAHA!! Omg too funny... I can see why he got hurt. This helps explain number 4 on my list.
Yeah, I guess Americans are stupid, at certain things though. We shouldn't generalize what subjects are considered "better", "smarter", or more "successful". Sure math and science are very important topics that everyone should learn, or get a general idea of, but each person can only go so far into these subjects. I feel that in some ways, international countries usually excel in these subjects mainly because of culture. I think it's true that within the Asian culture, children are expected to study hard in these subjects in order to obtain solid careers, such as being a doctor, engineer, lab technician, etc. These careers have a nice pay and are usually more stable since less people are interested in this type of laborious field, at least within the U.S. But not all mathematicians or scientists can model, not all of them can sing, dance, create art, etc.
I think within the U.S., we are better at business and marketing. Our country always sets the trends for others to follow. Even though Justin Bieber isn't American, we were able to highly promote his good looks and singing skills that everyone around the world either loves him, hates him, or plainly just knows who he is. Other artists; Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Usher, T Pain, and so on. Just think about it, there are rarely any other POPULAR artists that come from other countries. At the moment, I can think of Coldplay, but their songs aren't played on the mainstream radios such as 101.3 and 96.3. Also, I've seen videos of how crazy people around the world can be once they are around a celebrity. They try to tackle them down, rip of a piece of their hair, clothing, something to have as a memorabilia.
Another interesting thing is that people around the world, I think, are more obsessed about trying to become celebrities themselves or adapt to the American pop culture market. The only reason why they can't do it is because, truthfully, international looks and trends aren't trendy. Stereotypically and sadly enough, no one takes bollywood, chinese, korean, etc, music seriously. It's either too funny or just not cool enough. I'm not trying to be biased, for I have a collection of Asian music that I listen to. Plus, I've seen some pretty interesting and abstract Asian music videos that are really...unique...in a good way? No, not really. For example:
After watching this video for the first time, I could not stop laughing. First of all, ring ring ring ring? Fantastic? Elastic? Also, who shoots out wings at the end of the video? It didn't make sense?! About ten guys dancing at different scenes then randomly pop out wings at the end! I just looked up the lyrics, and it's about a guys loving a girl and going crazy for her. I don't really see the connection with the choreography, lyrics, scenery, or the wings. I think they were just going for the cool factor and tried to appeal to the global pop culture market. But I do give them props for having a catchy beat. I actually like the song, I just don't understand the wings! Just to further support my argument, the response from one of my classes truly stated that this video was pretty much a joke. They thought it was weird and definitely not cool. The thing is that people need to understand the Asian pop culture. They LOVE cute things, are really into intricate choreography (they are well known for dancing, especially break dancing), love to exaggerate, and tend to be really abstract with their ideas. (Just watch some animes, and you'll understand.)
To emphasize our marketing capabilities, celebrities in the U.S. are really good at creating their own products (clothes, perfume, recording studios, etc) and at promoting other high end styles of clothing such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, etc. That's why the red carpet and our media is so important. It gives a chance for people to see what is popular and to criticize what is disgusting.
Sorry got a little off topic for a while, but in conclusion, other countries are looked upon being smarter because of the subjects and careers they specialize in compared to what U.S. specializes in are more strenuous to the mind. (Finding complex formulas and solutions to problems is much more copmlex than modeling, not saying that modeling isn't hard) But everyone is different, it's just that for some reason, majority of people in U.S. are good in marketing and business while other countries are good in science, engineering, whatever it may be.
I feel the opportunities that we have in the U.S. causes the great difference between education in foreign countries compared to the U.S. I think that the U.S. has so many jobs and opportunities to start ANYTHING that people usually don't try as hard as they should in school because they know that they can always start something any day. But in other countries, government, along with culture, restricts some of the opportunities for people to pursue the career that they like. I think that people in the U.S. can pursue what they like while people in other countries need to pursue a career that they need to survive. That's why so many people in other countries study hard to try to get a career with good pay (ooo also keep in mind that they have to compete with thousands of people for the same career path), while some people in the U.S. are able to just drop out of high school and college and can start a multimillion business! There have been many companies in the U.S. that were started by risky entrepreneurs.
I don't know. I feel like I'm just going in circles with this discussion. I just feel that people have the freedom to do whatever they want whenever they please. Countries aren't smarter than others, they just specialize in certain things, they are just different because people and cultures are different. Sometimes that's the reason why the stereotypes of races occur. What matters in the end is being able to support yourself and being happy. If not, then what's life worth living for?
Personally for me and my intended career path, I have to try extremely hard to reach my goal, so I must study extra hours to get to where I want to go. If I don't, my credibility will be shot and I won't be able to become a doctor. I love Science, just learning how the world works interests me! Also being able to work with really sick people excites me, so I would never be bored of my job. (If I get it)
And you never know, the slacker kid sitting right next to you could be the next Donald Trump. They just have to put a little effort, then BAM! They are a millionaire. Sure the facts in 2 million minutes may be true, but for me, it shouldn't be about which country has the best students. Realistically I think it's more of which country is doing better in improving business and the future. Sure some students in the U.S. are slacking off, but when they start working, they are actually really good. Some students may need the extra help, like Rose in "I Wanna Be Average" in order to succeed in life. Everyone is different.
I'm pretty excited for Paramore to come out with a new album around early 2012. In the meantime, I'm just listening to their song demos, Monster, Renegade, and In the Mourning. The lyrics for In the Mourning are just aweeeeeeeeeeesome. I love all of their lyrics anyway. I've been listening to this video over and over again, I'm so excited for their new album!! Especially because Josh Farro and Zac Farro left the band (personally for me, it was for illogical reasons), so this will be their first album with just Hayley Williams, Taylor York, and Jeremy Davis. You guys rock!
For the past couple of nights, I've been staying up late and waking up (suuuuper) early to do homework. Fantastic! What's a senior slide?? Anyways, what I wanted to comment on was the EXTREME brightness of the moon and how circular and full it was! Sometimes when I take homework breaks, I would just stare at the moon. Or when I'm sleeping, I would abruptly wake up in the middle of the night because the light emitted from the moon would just shoot me right in the face! It's seriously really bright! I'm the kind of person who likes to sleep in pure darkness and no noise. I wish I could just sleep in space... :D (FYI, my room's window allows the moon to shine through my room.) Since it's fall, I think it's close to harvest moon time, but I haven't seen any huge orange moons yet! I wonder what causes that to happen...
So pretty! I've only seen a moon like this once in my life so far.
So pretty! I've only seen a moon like this once in my life so far.
The next two pictures pretty much represents what I've been seeing in the past few nights, literally.
Well since this is an open topic, I would just like to address some of the things that I'm really unsatisfied with in my generation of people. I will probably sound like an old lady in this post, talking about how I "hate" everything in the world and how the "young people" are unrighteous or something like that.
Well I guess I should first start off by saying how disappointed I am in everyone's lack of creativity in dancing. Dancing should be fun! This is a time where people can express themselves through bodily movement and show others something different. If people don't know how to dance, then simply just jump up and down or side to side. But noooooooooooohohohohoooooooo! People nowadays like to "grind" and rub each others butts and crotches together, and it's sooooooooo boring and just plain wrong!! I mean, why would you want someone to dry hump you?? It's the closest thing to sex. Really. I'm not being totally biased here. Freshman year, I tried it, and it bored the heck out of me. I was just moving back and forth and felt really uncomfortable. After that, I never did it again, no matter how "in" it was.
It would be awesome if my generation could go back in time to learn how to really dance, like legit swing dancing or have a dance similar to the one in Grease. I mean look at the picture, now isn't that just exhilarating?? Hahaha well we don't have to be extreme like that, but you can see that they are having fun! I guess the only actual dance that we know is the cha cha slide..... At least we know a dance, but we should learn more! I get pretty tired doing the Cha Cha slide every single dance. But the point is that, everyone knows the dance, everyone knows how to dance it, and everyone enjoys dancing to it! But it's the only one we know.... :(
And I've got to say, I FREAKIN LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE FRED AND GINGER!! Their dance sequences are just mesmerizing and I would not get tired of watching it! When I get enough money, I plan to take swing dancing or tap dancing classes and dance everywhere I go.
Fashion nowadays are okay, nothing to complain about there. It's funny how in the past, movies projected people in our current time to be wearing silver suits of some sort and driving, oh wait, flying cars. Well I guess the most abstract thing today is Lady Gaga, and I love her!
Music. Music, music, music, music.... Well I would say as of right now popular music is getting a little bit better. Better than it was two or three years ago. I feel like music nowadays are usually about sex, partying, and getting with girls. Technically, good dance music for people to grind to. I like music that has more substance, more meaning, good lyrics, and especially a singer that can sing in the studio or live. Lady Gaga is awesome, Yann Tiersen has some great songs, Mae, Katy Perry, Coldplay, The Black Keys, Vanessa Carlton, Carolina liar, The Fray, Frank Sinatra, Death Cab for Cutie, Nicki Minaj, Journey, Jack's Mannequin, THE LIST CAN GO ON AND ON!! I like all different types of genres. Some make me wanna dance and have fun, some are good to listen to on a quiet day, some are good to listen to during road trips, etc. My favorite band of all time Paramore! THEY ARE AWESOME! Their songs helped me get through certain periods of my life, and their lyrics are just awesome. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! Kind of a crazy fan, but I actually follow Hayley William's, the lead singer, blog, for I enjoy looking into the random stuff she puts up in terms of music, fashion, and paramore updates. Here's an awesome picture of her head banging.
Her head is on fire!!
I love love love headbanging too. It just gets a lot of stuff out of my system, it's fun, and it works out the neck! I would have to say that rock is my favorite genre. It's just an epic explosion of emotion flowing through the music, and allows people to let go of whatever is holding them back. I also like to incorporate rock "stereotypes" into humor. For instance, Betty White during snl, when they were singing the theme song of Golden Girls to her. Just random stuff like that makes me laugh. A funny and memorable moment for me this past homecoming was that
my friend and I were singing the screamo version of T.G.I.F by Katy Perry and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Oh good times.
I guess a topic that I would like to end with is how crappy the 2000's or 10's (is this how we abbreviate not?) is. I was talking to my parents about the creativity and the huge advancements in technology that occurred within the 80's. People nowadays may look at it and say how stupid it was and how ridiculous people looked, but at least they were able to take a risk and doing something different. The 80's had color, imagination, interesting music (verrrrrrrrrrrry, below is a flock of seagulls singing I ran, a good taste of the 80's),
weird FASHION, and VERY memorable movies! Some movies from the 80's that I really enjoyed watching were The Breakfast Club, Beuller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Back to the Future, E.T., STARWARS!! The list can go on and on! The movies made today are based off of books or are just remakes of movies in the past. When i was discussing this with my parents, we thought that my generation has to go through a time of hardship, suffering, and learning before we can experience creativity once again. And this can all relate to the economy, blah-di-blah blah....
I guess I'm just waiting for the better times in life. I want more, more, MOREEEEEEEEEEE!!! muahahahahhaha!! By the way, this video made me cry just a little bit. (Got it from Hayley William's blog)
I watched Obama's speech, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. Right now in our country of the U.S.A., there are stories of young adults not finishing high school or not attended college because they don't feel the need to. Personally, I think everyone should attend college in pursuit of a better job. For instance, in the 50's-80's, our country was trying its best to compete with others in terms of science and business. For example we created NASA and were able to land on the moon first, in the 80's we were able to generate computers, and new inventions were just spurring up. Recently, I've talked to a friend about NASA because she is interested in that field of work. But now she says that it's hard to get in because there is a low employment rate since the government isn't funding the advancement in space technology and education. The deduction from NASA's funding sets a standard to reduce all of science funding, therefore causing the youth to become less motivated to pursue this field of work. Personally, I rarely hear anything about scientific breakthroughs, all I hear about are the celebrities, movies/music, and controversial political stories. I feel like since we aren't progressing as fast as we want to, or that we can't compete with other countries, our economy is going down and people are becoming unmotivated and lazy to work hard for themselves. Therefore our country isn't doing great. Well enough about our current world, let's move onto Obama's speech.
His main audience were the students in Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, but more importantly the speech was meant for the youth in the U.S.A. Obama's use of personal stories helps him connect with his audience. He talks about his life in school and how he wasn't the best student in class. This really puts students into perspective about how everyone isn't perfect, even the president, and that they can try hard to get to successful places. Other useful tactics Obama used to connect with the audience is first by thanking everyone for being present, listing off some of the responsibilities of the students (taking care of the family, doing homework, having a job, school issues, etc), and especially specifying that he doesn't want to talk to the students like an ordinary adult during a boring lecture. This helps set the tone of a serious, hopeful, and motivational speech. Also this present that Obama is a very understanding and reasonable person, he knows what hardships people are going through (great use of pathos and ethos).
the argument made in this speech is that the education in the U.S. is falling behind globally and economically and we need to motivate our students somehow to do better in order to have a brighter future. Obama uses a lot of pathos to connect with his audience in terms of the hardships of a high school student. He further connects with his audience with personal stories and presenting little easy steps that they can take to become successful in the future, giving the students more incentives to try harder. The lax and casual diction of Obama's speech puts the students at ease and builds the relationship between him and the students. All of these ways to connect with the audience is to bring the audience to an understanding of what President Obama is arguing. This argument really relates to our current world because if we are able to achieve a higher education, better jobs will be pursued, technology and businesses will progress, and therefore the economy of the U.S.A. will improve.
Obama's great use of personal stories, ordinary people's stories, and motivational phrases are appealing to the audience. He said something about how people can make the Ipad seem like a stone tablet, becoming the next great American novelist, stated how U.S. is 16th in the world in getting a college degree, etc. These statistics and stories help bring people to realization that they can and should do something, to make their lives and country better.
I would like to end this post by talking about Obama's appearance in his speech. His somewhat stern but relaxed face made the speech serious, but not too serious, enough for high school students and older to listen. It's not like he was going to discipline people to doing bad things, it was more of like he's stating a problem that should be fixed and can be fixed. His tie was stripped gray, I don't really know if that means anything besides the fact that he's trying to be neutral with the audience and isn't setting some sort of superiority. His voice was very casual and it just seemed like he was talking to me face to face on a normal day. This makes him seem very presentable to any type of audience. The speed of his speech was moderate, not too fast or too slow. I think this shows that he has the patience to spend time with an issue that needs to be faced, besides politics. His smile and friendliness was very well moderated.
His motivational speeches about schools are always great. Students should really listen to them because they really pertain to our world right now.
