In the words of my psychology teacher, "People are lining up at 3am in the morning to buy stuff when they don't even have a job!"
How true that is. It's been really unbelievable these past couple of years with these ads for Black Friday. Two decades ago, if you mentioned to someone Black Friday, they would have been like, "What?"
Nowadays, people are just crazy for sales, especially with this economy.
Black Friday, for the few remaining who don't know, is the day after Thanksgiving which boasts the biggest sales of the year. While this is true, my tennis coach also remembers telling his wife, "We can't afford to save anymore!" after she comes home telling him how much she saved on all of the things she bought.
I can't totally rule myself out of this craze though because I'm ordering a laptop, however it does stand on a little bit on the border to say that someone would camp outside a store just to buy things that most of the time, they don't even need. And don't even get me started about the people who died from being trampled to death from the Black Friday mobs.
Needs vs. Wants people. Needs vs. Wants...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Sledding
A couple of days ago, my friends and I went sledding. It was my first time ever doing it and let me tell you, it was incredibly fun and exhilarating.
The day started off with a late arrival at SCCC which meant that I had one class. Upon arrival to my 10am class though, I found out that the teacher wasn't going to be there :[. Luckily, I found my friend and we chatted it up for a while. In the end, we decided to go over to his house to pick up some games and then visit another friend's house to hang out.
Fast forwarding to the house that we went to, it was pretty funny. The little sister was in the house with her friend making brownies and doing something with candy and strawberries so it was fun to tease them. However, I have to admit, those brownies she made were goood.
After an hour or two of video gaming, we four guys (another friend came) all went sledding. My goodness it was fun. Having never done it before, the sense of experiencing something new gave me a slight case of butterflies, but it was amazing nonetheless. We found a decent hill and the sledding began.
Feeling the rush of the wind on your face and the speed of the sled has got to be the best part about it. Feeling daring too, I also went down backwards and on my belly. I proposed to my friends doing it standing too, but that's just idiocy.
So in the end, I had another brownie at that friend's house and it was the end of the day. Two new games in my backpack, a warm stomach filled with brownies, and a cool memory of my first time sledding. What an awesome day.
The day started off with a late arrival at SCCC which meant that I had one class. Upon arrival to my 10am class though, I found out that the teacher wasn't going to be there :[. Luckily, I found my friend and we chatted it up for a while. In the end, we decided to go over to his house to pick up some games and then visit another friend's house to hang out.
Fast forwarding to the house that we went to, it was pretty funny. The little sister was in the house with her friend making brownies and doing something with candy and strawberries so it was fun to tease them. However, I have to admit, those brownies she made were goood.
After an hour or two of video gaming, we four guys (another friend came) all went sledding. My goodness it was fun. Having never done it before, the sense of experiencing something new gave me a slight case of butterflies, but it was amazing nonetheless. We found a decent hill and the sledding began.
Feeling the rush of the wind on your face and the speed of the sled has got to be the best part about it. Feeling daring too, I also went down backwards and on my belly. I proposed to my friends doing it standing too, but that's just idiocy.
So in the end, I had another brownie at that friend's house and it was the end of the day. Two new games in my backpack, a warm stomach filled with brownies, and a cool memory of my first time sledding. What an awesome day.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Risk
I remember a long while back about a game of Risk that I played. For those who don't know what it is, basically you start out with units and attempt to dominate the world through territorial acquisition by dice roll. In particular, a few certain dice rolls stuck out to me the most.
It was my history teacher's turn. Being relatively close to my age, my teacher joined in on the fun but soon I found that he was attacking me for my Australian territories. What happened during the dice rolls however was the best part.
I had merely 2 pieces on one territory, meaning I could roll two dice to defend, while on the other hand my teacher had around 6 pieces on another territory, attempting to take my territory with 3 attack dice rolls per turn.
Every turn I won. Every single turn. Even when I had one piece due to a tie.
He attacked me four times. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. He never won a single one.
At one point it was like 4-1 but he still couldn't take my territory.
It was hilarious. In between the dice roll was the obviously apparent trash talk too. I was taunting him to keep on attacking and he was completely baffled by the fact that he couldn't take the territory.
In the end I took Australia, hahah.
Classic.
It was my history teacher's turn. Being relatively close to my age, my teacher joined in on the fun but soon I found that he was attacking me for my Australian territories. What happened during the dice rolls however was the best part.
I had merely 2 pieces on one territory, meaning I could roll two dice to defend, while on the other hand my teacher had around 6 pieces on another territory, attempting to take my territory with 3 attack dice rolls per turn.
Every turn I won. Every single turn. Even when I had one piece due to a tie.
He attacked me four times. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. He never won a single one.
At one point it was like 4-1 but he still couldn't take my territory.
It was hilarious. In between the dice roll was the obviously apparent trash talk too. I was taunting him to keep on attacking and he was completely baffled by the fact that he couldn't take the territory.
In the end I took Australia, hahah.
Classic.
Genealogy
Genealogy is the most confusing thing ever. I have no doubts when I say that, for me, it's incredibly confusing. Calculus, English syntax, and Violin playing have nothing on it.
A couple of hours ago, I got off the phone with one of my cousins. Her name is Blanda and from a young age, I thought she was my first cousin. When I was little, I always thought I was visiting her house and that the two adults there were her uncle and aunt. I was wrong.
After a couple minutes into the conversation, my dad peeked his head in and I asked him how Blanda was related to me to make sure. He told me that the man at the house we visit is actually my great uncle. After that, I assumed that she was my 2nd cousin and so we chatted it up for a few hours because we hadn't seen each other in years.
The thing is during the conversation, the question kept popping up.
"Are you sure we're related that way?"
And so for about a half hour of the conversation, here's how it went:
"Oh, I think I got it. Yeah, I got it, I got it."
"Awesome."
"Wait, wait... I don't got it."
(Rinse and Repeat)
So eventually we got so mind-boggled we kind of just left it at, "We're 2nd cousins. Done."
But another question soon arose. Blanda asked me about this possible great uncle that was at her house and how the family called him only uncle. So once again there rose another search.
After a myriad of attempts to figure it out in my head however, I decided to draw it out (Ingenious, I know.)
And then after a couple of failed attempts, I finally figured it out. With the help of the internet and her background info, I found that he was her mom's uncle. This apparently makes him her 1st cousin once removed. And there you have it, a massive cyclone of pronouns and in the end, he wasn't even Blanda's uncle...
P.S. After the end of the conversation, I asked my dad again, twice, to be 100% sure. Apparently, I found out that my grandma and her grandpa are actually cousins, making us 3rd cousins. Great...
A couple of hours ago, I got off the phone with one of my cousins. Her name is Blanda and from a young age, I thought she was my first cousin. When I was little, I always thought I was visiting her house and that the two adults there were her uncle and aunt. I was wrong.
After a couple minutes into the conversation, my dad peeked his head in and I asked him how Blanda was related to me to make sure. He told me that the man at the house we visit is actually my great uncle. After that, I assumed that she was my 2nd cousin and so we chatted it up for a few hours because we hadn't seen each other in years.
The thing is during the conversation, the question kept popping up.
"Are you sure we're related that way?"
And so for about a half hour of the conversation, here's how it went:
"Oh, I think I got it. Yeah, I got it, I got it."
"Awesome."
"Wait, wait... I don't got it."
(Rinse and Repeat)
So eventually we got so mind-boggled we kind of just left it at, "We're 2nd cousins. Done."
But another question soon arose. Blanda asked me about this possible great uncle that was at her house and how the family called him only uncle. So once again there rose another search.
After a myriad of attempts to figure it out in my head however, I decided to draw it out (Ingenious, I know.)
And then after a couple of failed attempts, I finally figured it out. With the help of the internet and her background info, I found that he was her mom's uncle. This apparently makes him her 1st cousin once removed. And there you have it, a massive cyclone of pronouns and in the end, he wasn't even Blanda's uncle...
P.S. After the end of the conversation, I asked my dad again, twice, to be 100% sure. Apparently, I found out that my grandma and her grandpa are actually cousins, making us 3rd cousins. Great...
 |
| If only it were this simple. |
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Languages
A couple days ago, my Spanish teacher mentioned something interesting to me. He said that English is really interesting because it can be really broken but still be understood. Coming from my teacher who speaks Spanish. French, and English fluently, I'm sure he had knowledge of this, but I also realized the same thing. If you make even little mistakes in other languages, it totally destroys what you're trying to say.
A couple minutes ago, my mom nagged at me that I made such a mess of my bed. I misheard the key word in Vietnamese, "bày" as "bay" and it drastically changed it, for a comedic effect in this case. Instead of saying, "What are you doing, making such a mess?" I thought my mom had said, "What are you doing, flying?"
Even though I knew I just misheard it, it was still pretty funny to me :D.
The whole scene also reminds me of how tricky some Southeast Asian languages are. Despite English being incredibly hard to master at times because of the various nuances you have to contend with, Asian languages are hard to merely speak. There are 6 diacritics, or tone markings, in Vietnamese that change your inflection and create totally different words. It's amusing to me sometimes. I've always had a fun time teaching Vietnamese words to foreign tongues and it's interesting how you really have to have the "tongue" for it.
I wonder if a native English speaker would have a harder time learning Vietnamese than a native Vietnamese speaker learning English? Hmm...
A couple minutes ago, my mom nagged at me that I made such a mess of my bed. I misheard the key word in Vietnamese, "bày" as "bay" and it drastically changed it, for a comedic effect in this case. Instead of saying, "What are you doing, making such a mess?" I thought my mom had said, "What are you doing, flying?"
Even though I knew I just misheard it, it was still pretty funny to me :D.
The whole scene also reminds me of how tricky some Southeast Asian languages are. Despite English being incredibly hard to master at times because of the various nuances you have to contend with, Asian languages are hard to merely speak. There are 6 diacritics, or tone markings, in Vietnamese that change your inflection and create totally different words. It's amusing to me sometimes. I've always had a fun time teaching Vietnamese words to foreign tongues and it's interesting how you really have to have the "tongue" for it.
I wonder if a native English speaker would have a harder time learning Vietnamese than a native Vietnamese speaker learning English? Hmm...
 |
| Vietnamese Tones |
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Last Outing
Wow, I can't believe I even played tennis at 7:30am this morning. It's been over 16 hours. Unbelievable.
So this morning, our tennis team planned to head back up to MCTC to hit for an hour and a half. We have awesome connections with the owner up there and they were super generous enough to open up their club 1.5 hours early to let out team come and use them. (Thank You!)
5:00am, however. That's how early I had to wake up to get there on time. It's a 45 minute drive from South Seattle and if I include all of the time to pick-up the other tennis team members who wanted to go, it's just a long commute. (Thanks to my JV coach too :]!) We also invited a tennis player from Franklin; he knows who he is.
Despite the long commute however, I always love riding in the van. It's just a really comfortable and open atmosphere, and it's just a memorable and familiar place to me. We listened to music and chatted about tennis the whole way there. It was awesome.
After getting there, we found out how horribly cold it was when we opened the sliding door. Let's just say we did a little jog to the front entrance of the club once it opened :D.
After that, things went pretty smoothly. We ran some drills and I was glad that I got to help out some of the JV members on our team. We're going to be much better this year!
One thing that bothered me was that some hypocrisy got me riled up a little bit on the court but I just left it. There's no point in sacrificing anything for something dumb like that.
Overall, the day was awesome. I was surprised I didn't fall asleep in the van. I was wide awake. Funny, really. It kind of reminds me of the first post I put up :P.
So this morning, our tennis team planned to head back up to MCTC to hit for an hour and a half. We have awesome connections with the owner up there and they were super generous enough to open up their club 1.5 hours early to let out team come and use them. (Thank You!)
5:00am, however. That's how early I had to wake up to get there on time. It's a 45 minute drive from South Seattle and if I include all of the time to pick-up the other tennis team members who wanted to go, it's just a long commute. (Thanks to my JV coach too :]!) We also invited a tennis player from Franklin; he knows who he is.
Despite the long commute however, I always love riding in the van. It's just a really comfortable and open atmosphere, and it's just a memorable and familiar place to me. We listened to music and chatted about tennis the whole way there. It was awesome.
After getting there, we found out how horribly cold it was when we opened the sliding door. Let's just say we did a little jog to the front entrance of the club once it opened :D.
After that, things went pretty smoothly. We ran some drills and I was glad that I got to help out some of the JV members on our team. We're going to be much better this year!
One thing that bothered me was that some hypocrisy got me riled up a little bit on the court but I just left it. There's no point in sacrificing anything for something dumb like that.
Overall, the day was awesome. I was surprised I didn't fall asleep in the van. I was wide awake. Funny, really. It kind of reminds me of the first post I put up :P.
P.S. It also snowed today!!! I can't wait, for the snow that is, not the cold :D.
 |
| Snow in Seattle! |
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The 2nd Party
Well there I was up in Mill Creek Tennis Club. It was one party right after the other. I gotta admit that had its ups and downs.
The awesome part was that obviously, two parties in one day is just sweet by itself. The second party's food added on to the first party's food. There were smoked ribs, sushi, rice, curry chicken, jello, yakisoba, mashed potatoes, caesar salad, brownies, and many others I'm forgetting because all I remember were the ribs on my plate. It was amazing to dine on so much good food in one day. I'm definitely thankful for it.
So the reason I was up there was because I was part of a group that tracked the record and data of a 3.5 Adult Men's Tennis Team that went to the national championships. The 3.0 team was also there and they too headed to the National Championships.. They were named Homer Domer and Red Thunder, respectively. Celebrating the success of the two teams, a couple of other fellow data loggers were specially invited to the party.
The word fantastic would downplay it all. It combined some of my favorite things in the world together and put them all in one room. Tennis, food, friends, and music (because it was blasting through the speakers while we were playing). I got to play against these 3.5 men and I gotta say it was a challenge. But it was just pure fun at the same time. Also, the food was fantastic, but now I'm just repeating myself.
In that 4-5 hours, I really only had two "lows." One was that I had a ridiculous amount of food to eat, and my stomach didn't handle it well. Let's just say I had a really upset stomach. Second, I was annoyed by some talk, but I'm going to leave that vague. The only real disappointment I had was that I couldn't play with my coach :[. Oh well, it's not like I don't hit with him enough already haha :].
Now, I'm going to be waking up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow to get ready to play tennis. Game On.
The awesome part was that obviously, two parties in one day is just sweet by itself. The second party's food added on to the first party's food. There were smoked ribs, sushi, rice, curry chicken, jello, yakisoba, mashed potatoes, caesar salad, brownies, and many others I'm forgetting because all I remember were the ribs on my plate. It was amazing to dine on so much good food in one day. I'm definitely thankful for it.
So the reason I was up there was because I was part of a group that tracked the record and data of a 3.5 Adult Men's Tennis Team that went to the national championships. The 3.0 team was also there and they too headed to the National Championships.. They were named Homer Domer and Red Thunder, respectively. Celebrating the success of the two teams, a couple of other fellow data loggers were specially invited to the party.
The word fantastic would downplay it all. It combined some of my favorite things in the world together and put them all in one room. Tennis, food, friends, and music (because it was blasting through the speakers while we were playing). I got to play against these 3.5 men and I gotta say it was a challenge. But it was just pure fun at the same time. Also, the food was fantastic, but now I'm just repeating myself.
In that 4-5 hours, I really only had two "lows." One was that I had a ridiculous amount of food to eat, and my stomach didn't handle it well. Let's just say I had a really upset stomach. Second, I was annoyed by some talk, but I'm going to leave that vague. The only real disappointment I had was that I couldn't play with my coach :[. Oh well, it's not like I don't hit with him enough already haha :].
Now, I'm going to be waking up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow to get ready to play tennis. Game On.
 |
| Tennis |
The Party
Saturday, oh Saturday, what an terrific day. Two major things happened to me today. The first was Cindy's (from the previous post) birthday party and second was another awesome tennis party which I got invited to to celebrate an adult tennis team reaching the national championships.
The first occasion was awesome. It's probably one of the birthday parties I've gone too. The food was great. There was chow mein, fried rice, sweet desserts, egg rolls, spring rolls, bread, curry, rice, you name it. There was so. much. asian. food. :D. Besides the food, it was awesome going to a party where the air was filled with Vietnamese, Chinese, and English, all from the same people! It's strange to say, but a trilingual party is pretty, and pretty fun to be at.
In the beginning, Cindy broke out her photo album burned onto a DVD which was really cool. We got to see her from a wee baby until the present day in her dress. It was pretty awesome. The only out of place part in the day was after that.
Going through the food line, there was this incessant Chinese voice behind me. It was so familiar, yet I completely ignored it because of the fantastic delights in front of me. After turning around though, I spotted my Chinese teacher at my high school! Wow it was awkward. Seeing your teacher in a grocery store is one thing. At a birthday party is another. Interestingly, she was invited by Cindy so she wasn't actually related to her. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay long. Despite the awkwardness, she's actually one of my favorite teachers, so I was disappointed when she had to leave.
After that interesting episode, we settled down and ate. After we started up the Wii. It was pretty fun to watch the others play. At least 5-6 of the other kids there played tennis, so we of course started playing Wii Tennis. Being the captain, one of my teammates even challenged me because she thought she would beat me in virtual reality when she couldn't in real life. It was a fun idea hahah. Unfortunately, it didn't play out as well. On the side of being a tennis player, I also have played video games for most of my life Wii included. So you can imagine how that turned out. :D.
After that, my varsity coach (different from my JV coach who I watched movies with), took me to head to Mill Creek Tennis Center for more awesomeness.
The first occasion was awesome. It's probably one of the birthday parties I've gone too. The food was great. There was chow mein, fried rice, sweet desserts, egg rolls, spring rolls, bread, curry, rice, you name it. There was so. much. asian. food. :D. Besides the food, it was awesome going to a party where the air was filled with Vietnamese, Chinese, and English, all from the same people! It's strange to say, but a trilingual party is pretty, and pretty fun to be at.
In the beginning, Cindy broke out her photo album burned onto a DVD which was really cool. We got to see her from a wee baby until the present day in her dress. It was pretty awesome. The only out of place part in the day was after that.
Going through the food line, there was this incessant Chinese voice behind me. It was so familiar, yet I completely ignored it because of the fantastic delights in front of me. After turning around though, I spotted my Chinese teacher at my high school! Wow it was awkward. Seeing your teacher in a grocery store is one thing. At a birthday party is another. Interestingly, she was invited by Cindy so she wasn't actually related to her. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay long. Despite the awkwardness, she's actually one of my favorite teachers, so I was disappointed when she had to leave.
After that interesting episode, we settled down and ate. After we started up the Wii. It was pretty fun to watch the others play. At least 5-6 of the other kids there played tennis, so we of course started playing Wii Tennis. Being the captain, one of my teammates even challenged me because she thought she would beat me in virtual reality when she couldn't in real life. It was a fun idea hahah. Unfortunately, it didn't play out as well. On the side of being a tennis player, I also have played video games for most of my life Wii included. So you can imagine how that turned out. :D.
After that, my varsity coach (different from my JV coach who I watched movies with), took me to head to Mill Creek Tennis Center for more awesomeness.
 |
| Sweet Sixteen |
Friday, November 19, 2010
Harry Potter 7
Well, I finally got out to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. Having read the series a couple years ago, it was pretty cool to get a refresher and a movie-version of the book at the same time. Overall, I thought it was a great time because of the experience and of the memory, (you know what I mean if you're in Hist&136)
A couple days ago, I headed out with my friend Winnie and while we sipped bubble tea and ate calamari at Oasis, we pre-ordered the tickets to watch the movie at Southcenter Mall. The same day, we also went out gift-searching in downtown Seattle but were disappointed that we couldn't find anything worthwhile for our friend's birthday party coming up. Luckily, a few days ago, another friend of mine showed me an promotional ad that was selling a diamond key necklace for $20 when it was only $80 and the ad popped into my head at the last minute. So we decided to buy it on the day of the movie.
It was well worth it.
Having paid for my tickets, I owed Winnie about $10, so I bought the entire necklace and we both hoped that it would be an awesome gift. I'm crossing my fingers.
Having gone totally on a tangent, I'll refocus myself on the movie now. It was pretty cool. I especially liked the scene where a bunch of the main characters had to use polyjuice potion to morph into Harry and an epic flight ensued to the Burrow. The saddest part was when Dobby died however. A couple of the girls I went with cried a bit. However, the best part was the very beginning. There's this build up of music and then the screen flashes to eyes, and predicting the obviousness of it, I scared my friend sitting next to me. Classic.
A couple days ago, I headed out with my friend Winnie and while we sipped bubble tea and ate calamari at Oasis, we pre-ordered the tickets to watch the movie at Southcenter Mall. The same day, we also went out gift-searching in downtown Seattle but were disappointed that we couldn't find anything worthwhile for our friend's birthday party coming up. Luckily, a few days ago, another friend of mine showed me an promotional ad that was selling a diamond key necklace for $20 when it was only $80 and the ad popped into my head at the last minute. So we decided to buy it on the day of the movie.
It was well worth it.
Having paid for my tickets, I owed Winnie about $10, so I bought the entire necklace and we both hoped that it would be an awesome gift. I'm crossing my fingers.
Having gone totally on a tangent, I'll refocus myself on the movie now. It was pretty cool. I especially liked the scene where a bunch of the main characters had to use polyjuice potion to morph into Harry and an epic flight ensued to the Burrow. The saddest part was when Dobby died however. A couple of the girls I went with cried a bit. However, the best part was the very beginning. There's this build up of music and then the screen flashes to eyes, and predicting the obviousness of it, I scared my friend sitting next to me. Classic.
 |
| The Deathly Hallows |
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Hearth
Technology is an amazing thing. It allows mankind to achieve marvelous heights. It creates change, happiness, ingenuity, convenience, shortcuts. But amongst all of these wonders, you find that it also has the power to create separation.
A couple days ago, my house experienced a blackout that also hit Chinatown and parts of First Hill.
It hit me during a car ride home from tennis. At first I dismissed it as just being dark, but after hitting two dysfunctional streetlights in a row, fear crept under my skin. It was the fear that I would be helpless at home, stuck without electricity.
Arriving home, however; it was a different story. My mom and dad waited at the front door for me, expecting me to come home, a rarity in these days for just one of them, a near impossibility for two. As I had expected, my mom and dad had broken out the candles and flashlights. My mom gave me a flashlight on my way through the door.
It was the flashlight that wound up and while laborious, it provided a strange feeling of content when I wound that flashlight to make it work. It was something strangely out of place in a world of technology. In a world where windows rolled down at the push of a button, cranking out light by using sheer physical effort was something refreshingly new and almost... fun.
It was something completely different that inspired me to think back on that day though. It was the feeling of family; the feeling of closeness which could only be found during a blackout.
After walking through the doors and taking off my shoes, I started my "just-got-home" rituals to settle down. This time though, it was different .It was almost a strange feeling when my mom and dad started striking up conversations with me, with a worried tone but with a casual inflection. I rarely get to talk to my parents, and it's ironic that it was during this time of complete darkness and cold that I felt a warm feeling inside. It was nice being able to talk to my parents. Find out the who's and what's of each others lives. I felt like I could almost live in the darkness forever if I could just hold on to these feelings forever.
But with time came reality. The lights came back on within the hour and the T.V. turned on, the computer woke up, and the stove started humming. Technology was back, and so followed my feelings of conformed, expected loneliness.
To this day, I still think it's strange that even though I had no direction, I loved the journey I was going on.
And that even though the blind can't lead the blind, they can still hold each others' hands and inevitably
smile,
at the warmth.
A couple days ago, my house experienced a blackout that also hit Chinatown and parts of First Hill.
It hit me during a car ride home from tennis. At first I dismissed it as just being dark, but after hitting two dysfunctional streetlights in a row, fear crept under my skin. It was the fear that I would be helpless at home, stuck without electricity.
Arriving home, however; it was a different story. My mom and dad waited at the front door for me, expecting me to come home, a rarity in these days for just one of them, a near impossibility for two. As I had expected, my mom and dad had broken out the candles and flashlights. My mom gave me a flashlight on my way through the door.
It was the flashlight that wound up and while laborious, it provided a strange feeling of content when I wound that flashlight to make it work. It was something strangely out of place in a world of technology. In a world where windows rolled down at the push of a button, cranking out light by using sheer physical effort was something refreshingly new and almost... fun.
It was something completely different that inspired me to think back on that day though. It was the feeling of family; the feeling of closeness which could only be found during a blackout.
After walking through the doors and taking off my shoes, I started my "just-got-home" rituals to settle down. This time though, it was different .It was almost a strange feeling when my mom and dad started striking up conversations with me, with a worried tone but with a casual inflection. I rarely get to talk to my parents, and it's ironic that it was during this time of complete darkness and cold that I felt a warm feeling inside. It was nice being able to talk to my parents. Find out the who's and what's of each others lives. I felt like I could almost live in the darkness forever if I could just hold on to these feelings forever.
But with time came reality. The lights came back on within the hour and the T.V. turned on, the computer woke up, and the stove started humming. Technology was back, and so followed my feelings of conformed, expected loneliness.
To this day, I still think it's strange that even though I had no direction, I loved the journey I was going on.
And that even though the blind can't lead the blind, they can still hold each others' hands and inevitably
smile,
at the warmth.
 |
| Warmth |
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Learning Through Song
你好吗？我很好。谢谢。再见。
Translation = How are you? I'm fine. Thank You. Bye.
Time it took to learn that? About 3 minutes. Method through which I learned it? By song in my Chinese class.
How long it'll last?
Probably forever.
It's amazing what you can learn through music. It's an incredible mnemonic device. A couple hits of the play button and you've got an entire song memorized. The cool thing is, for years after, the melody of the song can be recalled at any moment after hearing even just the first 3 notes of the song. It's amazing how our brain works.
Not only is it an awesome way to memorize things, it provides a effective and fun way to teach. I'll be honest, I look forward to Chinese 9 days out of 10, more than I can say for other classes, and a large part of it is not only because I get to learn a new language, but it's because I get to learn it in a active and fun way. To be honest, kids in high school are really just that, kids, and I don't think that that should be forgotten and tossed aside like another obstacle to learning. We need to embrace it; we need to use it.
How else would we get students to sing outside their showers?
Translation = How are you? I'm fine. Thank You. Bye.
Time it took to learn that? About 3 minutes. Method through which I learned it? By song in my Chinese class.
How long it'll last?
Probably forever.
It's amazing what you can learn through music. It's an incredible mnemonic device. A couple hits of the play button and you've got an entire song memorized. The cool thing is, for years after, the melody of the song can be recalled at any moment after hearing even just the first 3 notes of the song. It's amazing how our brain works.
Not only is it an awesome way to memorize things, it provides a effective and fun way to teach. I'll be honest, I look forward to Chinese 9 days out of 10, more than I can say for other classes, and a large part of it is not only because I get to learn a new language, but it's because I get to learn it in a active and fun way. To be honest, kids in high school are really just that, kids, and I don't think that that should be forgotten and tossed aside like another obstacle to learning. We need to embrace it; we need to use it.
How else would we get students to sing outside their showers?
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| "I Love to Sing-a" |
Telephone
So in Psychology class, we learned about this little tidbit about memory. It's called the forgetting curve, introduced by Ebbing Haus. It states that 80% of anything learned is forgotten after 1 day. After a week, 90% of it is forgotten. Crazy? I don't think so.
After learning about this little theory, our class decided to test it. We played the classic game of telephone.
We started out with 5 people outside the classroom and our teacher reading out this line to a person who was supposed to memorize it:
"All special forces recruits must be proficient with a rifle before they're assigned."
One right after the other, the 5 people outside came back in, each attempting to tell the person behind them what they had heard.
It ended up with "Uhm, something, something, and a gun."
After, our class had a couple laughs and our lesson kept going. Makes you realize things doesn't it?
Something like... Oh,
I should probably start going through those flashcards again shouldn't I...
After learning about this little theory, our class decided to test it. We played the classic game of telephone.
We started out with 5 people outside the classroom and our teacher reading out this line to a person who was supposed to memorize it:
"All special forces recruits must be proficient with a rifle before they're assigned."
One right after the other, the 5 people outside came back in, each attempting to tell the person behind them what they had heard.
It ended up with "Uhm, something, something, and a gun."
After, our class had a couple laughs and our lesson kept going. Makes you realize things doesn't it?
Something like... Oh,
I should probably start going through those flashcards again shouldn't I...
 |
| "Forget" (ASL) |
Flavor Craze
It seems these days that there are flavors for everything. If you ever wander into the junk food row in convenience stores, you'll notice more flavors of chips, soda, and ice cream than colors in the art section. It's kind of getting ridiculous. I mean what are they going to come up with next, bacon flavored soda?
Oh, too late. Looks like the idea was taken. A few weeks ago, bacon flavored soda was announced by the J&D Foods company, a company renowned for making bacon flavored food items.
Ridiculous? Awesome? Disgusting? I guess that's for you to determine.
In the time that you go out buying bacon flavored soda, I think I'll be trying out that relatively new hamburger flavored chip, or was it taco flavored...?
Oh, too late. Looks like the idea was taken. A few weeks ago, bacon flavored soda was announced by the J&D Foods company, a company renowned for making bacon flavored food items.
Ridiculous? Awesome? Disgusting? I guess that's for you to determine.
In the time that you go out buying bacon flavored soda, I think I'll be trying out that relatively new hamburger flavored chip, or was it taco flavored...?
 |
| Decisions, Decisions... |
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