To the Teens

Recently I've been seeing a lot of kids stressing about their classes, grades, school in general, and basically just life. A lot of people don't seem to understand that in this point in our lives, we don't even have much responsibilities. For most of us, we're just counted on doing chores and homework. We don't have to deal with taxes, full time jobs, paying the bills, etc. and yet, a lot of people are just freaking out. I understand that high school is important and all, but sometimes people just need to take it easy for a while and relax. Just stop and live life a little. Go for a walk along the beach, hang out at the park with your friends, or look at the clouds. Look around you. Life is beautiful and you should enjoy it instead of going along with the rest of society all the time. Universities and colleges in general nowadays are more competitive than ever to get into, and because of the economy finding a job can be a hassle also.
I think basically anyone could just go straight home everyday from school, study and do homework, and get straight A's. I don't see that as much of an accomplishment. I have a lot of respect for kids who go out at night to hangout with their friends, or go to parties on the weekends. I'm not saying go get wasted and high and I'll respect you or something, it's just the fact that they show that school isn't their only concern.
So the next time you feel stressed out or concerned, just take a breather. A small break from life and spoil yourself. It's a healthy thing to do. Do what you enjoy, and stick with it because when we're older and grow up all this stuff is going to seem like a walk in the park.

I Do, I Have, I Am. (Quickwrite #1)- [WBP]

     Steinberg's Untitled drawing shows three major things in the picture. The first thing seems to be a piece of the earth having the words 'I Am' carved out of it. In the middle of the picture it shows what seems to be clothes or rags hanging from a line, forming the words 'I Have'. Lastly, in the sky it shows the radient, glowing rainbow colors making the words 'I Do'.
      First of all what I think Steinburg is trying to get across in the picture are the essential things in life. The 'I Am' on the bottom symbolizes what the person is. Their identity, the foundation for which everything else is based upon. Who you are means everything in life.
     In the middle of the picture, it displays the words 'I Have' which I think symbolizes the possessions that you gain during your life. This is for both materialistic and non-materialistic things. However, If you look closely you notice that 3 of the words on I Have are stained or dirty. I believe that these are the material goods. We as a people are too focused on materialistic goods nowadays. We're too dependent on these things and they aren't necessarily essential. While the pure, or clean clothes are those things that you cannot buy such as love, having a family, and friends. These things show that you should appreciate what you have, even if you may take it for granted sometimes. Whatever it is that you have, it's based upon who you are as a person. Hence the I Have is resting on top of the I Am.
     Finally, on the top of the picture it shows the words 'I Do'. I think this is the part of the picture that really stands out from the rest. Your actions are who others will view you as, and remember you by. Your actions are also very important and influential to others, sort of like religion which is why I also think it is made to be glowing and in the clouds.

*revised on the spot due to rushing. cut short due to the lack of time. it sounds pretty choppy.

Google Analytics is pretty cool.

Do you remeber that time?- [WBP]

I know Weekly Blog Posts aren't required this week, but I'm marking it as one anyways. This was written on my Tumblr, but it may not be posted yet:

Fuuuu. So its 3:17AM right now on officially the early morning of 11/25/09. A lot of things have been going on in my life man. I just feel like I need to type this out somewhere. This is probably going to end up as a queued post so don’t trip if it doesn’t really make sense or anything. It’s just my thoughts on the moment.

What am I doing with my life? We all only go through this ‘life’ thing once. At least that’s what I believe in. We only have one moment to live it, one chance to make it turn out like that of our dreams. All this drama that’s ever occurred, the countless unnecessary arguments I’ve gotten into, the people I’ve hurt, what is the point of all of that? Doing it I mean. Sure, we learn from our mistakes and grow from it, but this kind of stuff seems to always happen either one way or another. It seems like nothing can ever stay the way you want it to for that long of a time. Something ALWAYS happens, no matter what. And when it does, I struggle. I struggle to fight it off, to balance it out, to make everything just like how it was that one moment ago. That moment that will always be stuck in my head. That was my moment of peace, serenity. At that point it didn’t matter what else was going on in the world, I was a happy person. I mean truly happy too, there was not one thought in the back of my mind about anything else, but living in that moment. And now when for whatever reason something happens, I always try to get everything back into that one moment in my life. Or at least I’m trying to create a new moment.

Society dwells on the past so much. Everything that happens, we compare to the past. EVERYTHING. My parents are always telling me “Oh Alvin, you used to be such a good child.” As friends we constantly reminiscence about the past. “Oh remember that one time we were doing this…” As a society we’re even focused on the past. Our economy used to be so good. Our government used to be less corrupt. Constantly we compare everything from the present and link it back to the past. So why does the past keep coming up? Is that past moment, just like mine? That moment that everyone always thinks back to? From my parents point of view, are they just hoping one day that I’m just going to become a ‘good’ little kid again? Comparing every bad thing that I do now with all the good stuff I did back then? From society’s point of view, we as a people are trying to stabilize our economy again right? To get it back it what it was like?

So, I just wonder, does everyone have that one defining moment in their life that they will compare it to everything else? That no matter what circumstance, they just wish and hope that everything was just like that exact moment in the past?

I don't even know if I make sense anymore. At times like this, I just ramble.
http://alvinxlee.tumblr.com/
http://www.formspring.com/forms/?739849-1FhAyvH1hv
(Answers to formspring questions are posted on my tumblr)

Technology- [WBP]

The world today is constantly coming up with new technologies. Better ways to do this, faster ways to do that. If this continues you can look at it from two points of views. A. It betters mankind because we are finding a more ideal way of doing things, or B. Soon technology would be so good we will eventually get super lazy and potentially the technology will take over us.

Now I know there's a bunch of jokes about robots taking over mankind and it is often played out in television shows or movies, but this is a thing that could actually happen. Technology is crazy these days, for example, Over 1 million books are published worldwide every single year, yet a Google Book Search scanner can digitalize 1,000 pages every hour. Soon there will be no need for books. Everything can just be done digitally. Now there's always those die hard fans that will always think it's better to actually hold a newspaper or a book, and I agree with them, but apparently society is not. Everywhere you go all you see is automatic this or faster that. I mean change in technology is good, but I feel as if there is a limit or at least a boundary line that shouldn't be crossed when it comes to technology.

Predictions say that by 2049, a $1000 computer will exceed the computational capacities of the entire human species. If this obsessive need for better, cheaper technology continues, there's not much hope for mankind. I mean I enjoy the tech that we have now compared to even 20 years ago, but I mean at some point I say we need to go back to our roots. Kids these days are addicted to the internet whether it is for games, social networking, or whatever. I mean I say kids should be outside playing football or something on a field. Getting hurt and messy. That's life. Life isn't just about being ranked #1 in some game or having this many number of friends on some website. The littlest things in life can make you happy and you should really appreciate just the things it gives you. There's no need to put in billions of dollars of research or anything over it. Simple pleasures in life are just given to you. Be grateful for it. Perhaps do it for Thanksgiving. Count your blessings. Hahaha. I kinda steered off course, but I have a valid point right?

Only by going backwards, can we truly move forward.

Assumptions.- [WBP]

Last week in PE we had to run a mile for a physical activity test. While the class was waiting for the teacher to give out further instructions a friend of mine asked out loud if anybody wanted to race him. I told him I would gladly race him and to my answer he replied "No way, you're in track."

People should never make assumptions about anything because most of the time they're generally wrong. In this case, my friend didn't want to race me just because I joined the track team last year. Just because I joined a sport that involves running does not automatically make me fast. Practicing everyday for 2 hours along with drills and conditioning has made me "fast". I had to work for it, it's not like the ability to run fast just came to me. Personally, I don't even consider myself fast, I mean there are plenty of people who are faster than me and I don't even enjoy running that much.

The point of this is to say that you shouldn't just assume things of people. It's not a very smart decision and you should have solid facts before coming to a conclusion.

On another note, this blogging this is getting less exciting for me. Before I felt like I really wanted to just write about these various topics that relate to me, but as of late I feel this whole thing as more of a forced task to complete for a grade. I guess I'm just feeling uninspired right now, there's not much going on in my life and so I guess the topics on my blog get a little more dull each time. I really do hope that my readers enjoy some of my posts though. I'm just saying, sorry if my posts aren't that interesting. As Mr. Sutherland said today in class "life feels like it's on autopilot"

Formspring!

Get saucy…really?! XDD

Yeupp. Just wait, it’s going to be a new trend.

plans for winter?

As in winter break? I’m not really sure yet. Just relax I guess. Hang out with some friends. If you mean by overall winter, I plan to get more clothes to stay warm. haha.

I love you.

Aww. Love you more.(:

do you like pie? becus i do. :D

I LOVE pie. hahaa. Sadly I haven’t has any in a really long time. PUMPKIN PIE FOR THANKSGIVING MAYBE?? =).

I have a growing respect for you.

Thank youu! I feel like respect is harder to earn these days. <3. how’s your life been lately?

Lately it’s had more downs than ups, but I try to make the best out of it. It’s looking better though!

i like pineapples<3

I’m not a huge fan, but I do like it. haha. Random much..?

GET AT IT:

http://www.formspring.com/forms/?739849-1FhAyvH1hv

Formspring Explaination.

Dang. Hahaha. Maybe you guys aren't getting this?
It's kind of like an anonymous thing where you can like ask me anything you want, if you were too scared to ask me in person or something. Or like to just to have something to use to rant on when you're having a bad day.

Some responses I've gotten:

;o; -o; o
I see you like faces. (: Maybe try words next time?

huh? -michael freddricks
Idk, this is a new thing I'm sort of testing.

What's this for, Alvin? -Charlie Sutherland
I saw this on Tumblr, and I thought it would seem like a cool way to interact with the readers of the blog. This can be used anonymously so I think it would provide a wider range of things that can be said. It's just a test. If this sort of thing shouldn't go on a school blog then I can take it off. Just tell me.

rawrr -Ieat flowers
rawr right back at chaa. :O

A Revised Statement of Purpose -[WBP]

So I was asked to revise my statement of purpose after the 1st quarter ended.
This shall be my statement of purpose of this blog for the second quarter then I guess.

What impressions do you get of the writing you've done so far?
I feel that my writing has improved, however it still needs some work. I think the content that I write about is relevant to the topic, but sometimes I ramble a little too much, or I get repetitive. Although we have done redundancy practice in class I feel that it is harder to evaluate yourself compared to someone else's writing.

How did your original writing goals work out?
Well unlike many other students, I've actually already revised my statement of purpose. So my original plan didn't work out that well. My revised goals have worked out pretty well. I mean, I wanted to write about topics that I felt were important to me, so it's pretty hard to not accomplish that. The second part of my original statement was to improve my writing. Part of this goal was accomplished, but it still needs work.

How have your goals changed for the second quarter?
They pretty much have stayed the same. For the most part, I'm still going to be blogging about topics that I feel are important. As for my writing, I think I should just continue on and see where it leads me. Maybe if I get enough practice at this thing, it'll actually improve. If not, then maybe I'll decide to actually take my writing improvement goal more seriously.

A new change that is actually happening on this blog is that I've actually decided that I might post some random posts in here that are unrelated to the weekly blog post. And so, I've labeled all my past posts with the tag [WBP] for Mr. Sutherland, and others that are only interested in reading about that. The one's without that label can be considered just off-topic posts.

Try It Out

http://www.formspring.com/forms/?739849-1FhAyvH1hv


Just testing a little something. If you ask me something, answers will be posted when I get more questions/responses. Just a little test.
Write me a note guys. (:

The Teenage Life -[WBP]

I don't know what this post will count for, but I guess I'll still write it anyways.
I kinda fell asleep before doing this and that's why it's being published on the borderline. Excuse me if my thoughts are a little scrambled around.

So due to a lack of inspiration this week with a few mixed feelings I came up with this idea just spontaneously. The teenager's life. As I've said before in previous posts, this is the time to identify yourself for who you really are. The experimental phase you might call it.

During this time everything becomes more relevant to you. You realize that you are involved or related to a lot more stuff than you imagined. For example, you might start paying closer attention to the news because in one way or another, it does affect you. In better words, you become more aware. You start to question things also. Why should you believe what the TV says? Why are you doing so many math problems in one night? Why doesn't he like me? The list goes on and on. This stage in life is a crucial part of becoming more mature and entering society as an adult.

A lot of new factors are introduced as you hit this age. Besides the physical and mental changes occurring on the body, there's also the introduction of money, relationships, planning ahead, drugs, freedom, etc. A lot of things just suddenly pop up into our lives that it takes getting used to. To just get an idea of what goes on, I'll just go into some detail about a few of these things.

Money. Whether you have a lot of it or not, everybody needs it. Society is run this way. If you break it down simplistically, money is basically a substitute for a trade good. In the past people would trade items with items. Like a potato for a tomato. Society has evolved in such a way that instead of this tomato, we use a certain amount of "money" to pay for this potato. Now this idea of money is fake, somebody essentially just turned some pieces of paper/metal into this universal method of trading. Now a teenager's life involves money in a great deal. Due to this newly gained freedom, there are chances to explore new places, try new experiences and to do that, money is required. Money is used for food, hobbies, clothes, transportation, etc. Now an adult might view a teenager's spending methods as utterly ridiculous and irresponsible, but this sudden change of using money wisely takes some getting used to. Adjustment. Through trial and error we learn what to spend on for our essential needs and what to splurge on occasionally.

Relationships. During this time, friendships are created and broken. Due to this freedom, kids are able to meet other kids on a regular basis. Now friendship is a thing that needs to be valued highly. They're basically your second family. The people you go to when your family just doesn't understand you at this point in life. The people you depend on, trust and share memories with. Just like with money, through trial and error we learn who we try and stay close with. Now it is a completely different story when the topic of love comes into the picture, but I'll save that for another post. (If I remember). Through these relationships that a teenager has throughout the course of these years, they learn a lot. I mean, this is basically how a teenager learns everything they know outside of the set education system. This is real life knowledge, not some out-of-the-textbook, filling in the blank bs. This develops our communication skills, our knowledge on various subjects that the school system doesn't have to offer as well as many other little skills. Friends are a great thing to have and should never be taken for granted. Learn from your mistakes.

So, this post was pretty long, but hopefully I didn't bore you that much. And just maybe, you can relate a little bit of your life to what I'm talking about. I'm basically saying, learn how to be responsible, because whether you like it or not, you're growing up. Learn from your mistakes and hopefully you won't repeat them again. Cherish the time you have and appreciate the little things. Well, maybe I didn't mean to say that much in the post, but you get the idea.

*The thoughts above are those based off my own life and opinions. If you do not agree with these thoughts or they are completely unrelated to you, I'm sorry. Write your own post. Everyone's lives are different, it just depends on how you choose to live yours.

With love
-Alvin

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? -[WBP]

Recently a friend of mine (hi Annie) asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life when I grew up. When I asked her the same question she responded in detail of how she wanted to work to help developing third world countries and her main goal would be to someday work for the United Nations. This is great, she wants to help others who are not as fortunate as some of us and she would really be making a difference in the world. Me, I'm not really into the public service thing. I mean, I like to help people out, but it just doesn't appeal to me to do that for the rest of my life.

I don't really understand how people can know exactly what they do when they grow up. I mean, most of them don't even have any experience in the field anyways, and if so it's pretty minor. If they haven't experienced the job, how can they just know they'll want to do it? This idea baffles me. Of course there are always a few exceptions to this, but I'm sure this applies to most people.

Deciding on what to do in your life while you're still a kid makes no sense. In this adolescent stage in life your mind is constantly changing, new ideas influence you and this is the stage in life where a person pretty much figures out who they are. Identity. A person's mind is pretty unstable during this time, and yet society expects kids to decide on their occupation that will impact most, if not all their lives.

The point I'm trying to make is that kids should be enjoying what they're doing right now, instead of preparing to be the next doctors and lawyers of the world. I mean, by the time you're grown you'll look back and see that childhood is a time of carelessness. A time for fun, acting social, and a time to learn. Just enjoy life more and stop stressing.

Thoughts From an Unmotivated Me. -[WBP]

I don't know what I find myself doing these days. For the past week life pretty much seemed like a motion. Something that I just did, without any thought. For school I would just mindlessly obey what the teacher's instructions were, and if I was too lazy, I'd just sit there. Doing nothing. Now I'm sure that this isn't a brand new habit that has come across students, but it's pretty new for me. I used to try and get the most out of my education while in the classroom. Participate in class discussions, ask questions, take notes, etc., but recently I felt a sudden surge in carelessness.

One day in chemistry class, my teacher told the class, "What's your reason for wanting to do good in school? Just because your parents want you to go to a good college and earn a degree? What's the point?" So I've been sort of thinking, what is the point for me to do well in school? I get plenty of pressure from my parents and I used to try and do well in school just because they said I should, but now that reasoning is pretty much dying out. I feel that I need to do good in school for me. The reason why? I have no clue. I can't really think of a legit reason for me to do well in school other than to make my parents proud. I guess this week was just a result of me trying to sort things out.
What's your reason to do good in school? Your motivation to keep you going?

“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.

(1.) […] In almost every audience I address, there is someone who will suggest that racism is a thing of the past. There is always someone who hasn’t noticed the stereotypical images of people of color in the media, who hasn’t observed the housing discrimination in their community, who hasn’t read the newspaper articles about racial bias in lending practices[1] among well-known banks, who isn’t aware of the racial tracking[2] pattern at the local school, who hasn’t seen the reports of rising incidents of racially motivated hate crimes in America—in short, someone who hasn’t been paying attention to issues of race. But if you are paying attention, the legacy of racism is not hard to see, and we are all affected by it.

The stereotypical images, housing discrimination, racial bias in lending practices, racial tracking pattern, and racially motivated hate crimes are examples that the author gives on racism now. Racial bias in lending practices means that banks and other companies that give out loans give out loans based on racial discrimination. Examples of stereotypical images of people of color in the media are given in paragraph 4.

This paragraph is significant because it sets the book up on what it's going to be about. It identifies the main concept of the book, as well as give some subtle hints to what it the author plans on going into detail with. He also relates to the reader saying that everyone is affected by racism in one way or another.

Influence & Originality. -[WBP]

Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc.

What starts it all? Your interests, hobbies, actions. Whatever it is, chances are that you were influence by someone, or something. Influence is a heavy power that people take for granted. People can start taking drugs, listen to new genres of music, find new hobbies, etc., all through the power of influence. So what influences people? The media, friends, the environment? Anything can influence somebody.

Influence is the power that basically determines a persons' life. So, I wonder, if a person is influenced by everything around them, where does originality come from? How does it start if everything you do is based off another thing? What actions are really yours without any sort of influence? Where does originality begin in a world filled with influence?

This all leads to the main question, what is originality? Does it really exist? Honestly, I'm not so sure anymore. I think that everything you do is based off some sort of influence, whether it is obvious or not. I mean I suppose, for example, you write an essay on a certain topic for school. Your writing is yours right? Original. Well, is it really? I mean you could have been influenced by an author of a book you read to write the way you do. This type of influence is not so direct, but it's still not 100% your own writing.

I guess this only means that the only originality came from the first people on earth. The people who had nothing to influence them, their thoughts were their own, their actions, their likes and dislikes were all based off their own true feelings. Nobody else's. I guess this was true originality, this was real freedom. The power to think on your own, and act on your own.

I don't know. These are all just thoughts. Maybe I'm over-looking something really obvious.

Leave a comment on your thoughts of this?

Also, what are some of your major influences in life?

-Alvin

Inspiration. Teachers? -[WBP]

I'm feeling kind of depressed right now. Sad? I don't know. Either way, I'm in no mood to write, but this blog must go on. Determination is key.

So I came up with this topic earlier in the week and saved it as a draft to write later on in the week so I could get some more thoughts about it.

The key to success is education. It's how we get anywhere in life. I think the United States as a country takes education for granted. In other countries education is a privilege, not a right. One of the big key issues in government is education. Anyway you look at it, education is a big deal. I mean, we go to school from when we're a young child until we are fully grown adults. School is where we learn everything. It's so much more than standard education. It's where we make our friends to last our whole life, where we learn about life, trends, culture, etc. We learn so much more from just being at school compared to being in a classroom. School sets us up for life. Recently a friend told me he was having such a great time at school. In response I asked how that was possible because I can't really associate being at school with genuine fun. Then he gave me probably the most simple answer ever. School is only fun if you make it fun. It seems like a pretty obvious thing to say, but it's so true. If you are actually into it, it really does become fun and I know because I've tried it for myself. It's a totally different experience.


Anyways, the main point of this post isn't even to talk about schooling. The point is about the people who are responsible for preparing us for the world. Teachers. Yeah, that's right. Underpaid, grumpy and annoying teachers. They are core that make up schools. The supplier of knowledge. Now, from personal experience most have my teachers have been pretty standard throughout middle school and high school. Lecture, notes, bookwork, homework, and tests. The classic schedule for most teachers. What I want to talk about are those select number of teachers that have actually gone over and above their job of simply teaching me the subject that they are oh so wise in. They've made me actually think, given me inspiration and so much more.

It probably began in 8th grade. For Core class (consisting of English and History) I had the ever so amazing Peter Hill. This was probably the first teacher that I've ever had that actually challenged me. Not by being such a harsh grader or assigning massive amounts of homework. No. While I wrote constant essays to turn in to him, he would always give me back feedback. 'Where did you get this idea from?' 'How did this event lead to this?' I mean, these were actually good points, its not some bs reason like 'Didn't use proper format'. He actually cared about writing. In the beginning of the year I was getting around C-'s- C+'s for my writing assignments. Being inspired to improve my writing, by the end of the year I was reaching B-A range on my essays. This was the first time I was actually passionate about writing. I wanted to improve and get better to prove to myself that I could do this. And for that Mr. Hill, I'm forever grateful.

When I entered freshman year I was put into standard English class. The main thought in my head after the first week was 'WHAT KIND OF ENGLISH IS THIS?!' It felt like I was honestly in the 3rd grade. The teacher had me doing worksheets consisting of correcting sentences missing commas and common punctuation. I don't blame the teacher for this either because I talked to my other friends in regular English and we could all agree that this course was just ridiculous. By the end of the year I felt like I lost all the progress that I've made during 8th grade.

And so this year, I'm lucky enough to have Mr. Sutherland as my English teacher. (No, I'm not sucking up).
This guy is pretty amazing. He's not your average English teacher. I mean he does things so differently. He's showing us videos about new information about the world, having us blog weekly, etc. He's constantly trying new things to teach us in different ways and sometimes it doesn't work out as planned, but that fine. At least he's trying something new. It's refreshing and for that I have respect for him. He's a pretty laid back guy, and his class rules are a little unstable, and it's amazing, but in my opinion he doesn't get the respect and attention he deserves. I feel like I'm learning updated standards that actually applies to the world of today, instead of some California State Standards written 10 years ago. I believe after a few years of trial and error experiments on what appeals to the students and what gets through to them, he'll be the best teacher you could have. I'm excited to see what else he has in store for the class, and what I will learn throughout this school year.(http://sites.google.com/site/sutherlandu/)

Now this last person I want to talk about is pretty surprising to me. Yong Joo, my mid-30 year old, horrible public speaking honors chemistry teacher. I've heard throughout my freshman year that he was the best teacher ever, and all the best compliments you could possibly give to a teacher. My first impression of him, he's a boring guy. I mean, I'm sure he's a cool person, but when he teaches chemistry, it's pretty dull. He didn't live up to the hype that I expected. Now that I've learned a little more about him, he seems like a genuinely amazing guy. Today he told us his life story about how he was a nerd in high school and got into MIT. Then he didn't really understand the reason for why he wanted to do well academically in school, so he started slacking. He got on academic probation twice and finally graduated with a chemistry major after switching in his mid-junior year. After finishing college he struggled to find what he really wanted to do and hopped around doing a variety of different jobs. Through this he picked up some skills and finally took a shot at being a teacher. I'm almost as glad as he is that he's made the right decision. From the exterior he looks like some dorky, awkward guy, but that's not him at all. He goes on crazy motorcycle trips throughout the United States with his buddies as well as random strangers, he's a pyromaniac, and probably most significant of all, he can relate to us (the students). He didn't know what he wanted to do when he was growing up, he didn't even know when he was out of college. He's struggled through this and has succeeded and for this I admire him. It gives me comfort knowing that I'm not the only one uneasy about my future career and my purpose in life. I can't wait to get to know him better. In case you want to learn a little more about him here's some blog posts or e-mails he's written a while ago. http://yongjoo.fastmail.fm/

These people are not just your standard teachers, these people have given me so much to look forward to in learning as well as motivation to do good. I'm grateful to have/had these people as my teachers, giving me so much more than just a 
standard education.

If you've read this far, leave a comment on which teachers have inspired/motivated you and why.(=
 P.S Sutherland, I'm sorry this post was 1200+words. Have it in your heart to forgive me. Haha. I'll slim it down next time.

A Change of Course -[WBP]

So, I've had a week to think about this since my last blog post. My statement of purpose. In class Mr. Sutherland mentioned that the class should blog about something that they want to talk about. Not just some random thing because he required a topic. During the time when the class was writing the rough draft to the purpose of their blogs, I felt pretty uninspired. Looking around seeing everybody write I felt pressured to start as well. So on the spot, I made up something. Culture. Fact is, I'm not that fascinated by culture. I mean I find it interesting, but after a week of thought, I don't want to write about this every week. I've read around on some of my peer's blogs and they seem pretty inspired by what they want to write about. Also it's pretty personal. So, I want to make my blog personal as well. It is my blog after all.

I've decided that I want to write about me. This may be a pretty trendy topic to write about amongst the vast number of students blogging, but this topic is different. This topic has variety. Each blog is about the author. A little piece of the person goes into writing about the blog. So I'm going to be writing about things that matter to me as they happen. Now, it's not going to be 3 posts a day or anything, it's basically a summary of my week.

And this won't just be some blog about how "I went to school today. It was boring. I had a test." No. There's no point in blogging about that. I'm going to use this blog to voice my opinions on a variety a subjects. I hope this goes well because when I usually blog, I don't have much of an audience. Well this time, at least I have some people that I know are reading often instead of those lurkers that never say anything. I hope this blog won't bore you. (much...)

Statement of Purpose. -[WBP]

For my blog, I would like to write about foreign culture. I want to learn about other countries' lifestyle. The food, clothing, music, art, etc. I'm interested in traveling to different places such as Asian and Europe. I have already visited China 3 times and from my experience, it was simply amazing.


I was still at a pretty young age the last time I've been there, but I had no idea the culture would be so different compared to ours. Ever since then, I've been fascinated by other cultures. Their lifestyles are so unique. I believe we could incorporate some of these things into our own lives to benefit us. Some other things may go on this blog as time progresses.



Another purpose for this blog is that I want to improve my writing by expanding my vocabulary as well as work on the way my paragraphs flow, such as transitions and organizing sentences. Wehn I usually write, I just write and write. I rarely ever think of 'Oh, how am I going to transition from this topic to the next?' This often makes my writing appear choppy and not flow. By expanding my vocabulary I can make my writing go in depth and make it more detailed. I can expand my vocabulary by reading more to get a better understanding of where to place words in a sentence to help it flow better. Reading can also help me on transition with paragraphs and maybe I will get some inspiration too. The reason why I want to improve on my writing is to help me in school as well as the SATs. Writing is an essential aspect of school and if I improve on that I belive my grades will also improve.