Journal 24: Compare/Contrast Cats

     Both Doraemon and Hello Kitty are from Japan. They are famous cartoons in Taiwan. I still remembered that I watched Doraemon’s cartoon on television almost everyday during dinner time. Each time after I watched the cartoon, I always told my mother that wanted to have a Doraemon in my life too. Doraemon and Hello Kitty share some similarities. For example, they lose some parts of their appearances. Doraemon misses his ears on his head; Hello Kitty misses her mouth on her face. Both of them don’t have fingers and toes. On the other hand, they do have some differences between each other. Doraemon only has one sibling-his younger sister; Hello Kitty has a group of family members. In cartoons, Doraemon’s mission is to help and take care of his owner. Hello Kitty doesn’t have any mission in the cartoon. I think that Doraemon’s and Hello Kitty’s personalities are totally different. To me, Doraemon symbolizes a critical thinker; Hello Kitty symbolizes a naive person. Both of them play important roles in children’s memories. Compare the audience of these two characters, most fans of Hello Kitty are girls because it is pink and romantic. However, the audience of Doraemon can be both children and adults.

 

Journal 23: Pearl Harbor Day

     The day Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor was after the start of Second World War. At the beginning, the United States’ government stayed neutral that it didn’t want to join the war. Japanese planned to attack Pearl Harbor because they didn’t want the United States to gain resources from the territories of United Kingdom, and Netherlands. That was why Japanese decided to attack the harbor. Personally, I thought that Japanese shouldn’t make this decision because this action directly led Americans into the war. According to the result, Japanese didn’t get a good consequence. President Franklin D. Roosevelt claimed that December 7 was “a day which will live in infamy.” Japanese’s attack also was the cause of the United States to enter World War II. The effect of Pearl Harbor of Taiwan was that the United States and Taiwan signed the “Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty” on December 2, 1954. The treaty consisted of ten main articles that included the provision that if one country came under attack, the other would aid and provide military support. During this time, Taiwan was protected by the United States. I thought that this attack was very significant to Japanese even until now. If the attack was not happened, Taiwan might not have chance to sign the treaty with the United States though it didn’t exist anymore.

 

Journal 22: Telling Your Story

     I am willing to share my story to other people, but I also worry whether I make each plot clearly enough or not. I think that I am not a good writer because I don’t know how to elaborate the story more vividly. Therefore, I am afraid to tell my own story in front of public. I do have experience to tell story to other people before. The audience was my younger cousins. They usually pick a storybook and ask me to tell the story for them when we met. I am able to use different voices and tones because I feel no pressure to tell story to my cousins. Sometimes, I can even act vividly in order to let them understand the story. However, the situation is different when classmates are my audience. I might feel pressure coming toward me. On the other words, I don’t feel confident about my story because there might be some mistakes or unclear parts. The story is made by me, so I definitely know the whole story. Not all people understand the details of story as I do. Everyone has different point of view. I think that it is a god way to share my story to other people in order to find the mistakes.

 

Journal 21: Your Audience

     Why people are crazy about someone or something? The reason might because the person or thing is attractive that is also similar to stories. Some people like romantic story, but some prefer tragedy story. The supporters or fans of a story depend on its type. My story is simple and straight ford, so children who below the age of 10 might be my major audience. The whole characters in my story are children and some activities which are only for them. Teenagers might think that my story is not mature and childish because teenagers tend to read more romantic or deeper level stories than those of children. My audience can be both boys and girls. I do focus on children’s lives. Moreover, I think that teachers probably are parts of my major audience. It is easier for children to learn lessons through stories than to teach lessons from text books. For example, the lesson from “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Seven Little Sheep” is talking about that we can’t let strangers into our horses without parents’ permission. Children can understand the situation quickly and clearly by learning a lesson from a story. Therefore, I think that both children and teachers are the main audience of my story.

 

Journal 20: Putting it All Together

     I like to write a story and create settings, characters, plot elements, and dialogs for my own story. I always enjoy about the story which I made because I put all my creativities and imaginations to the story. However, I am not good at narrowing down a general idea to small details. I think that I haven’t prepared enough to write my story. My setting, characters, and plot elements are good, but I am not sure how to write vivid conversations for my characters. Sometimes when I put conversations into the story, I probably talk too many small details and make the audience feel bored. For example, I would focus on some tiny conversations which are not very important, but I worry that readers might not understand well if I don’t provide enough information. Therefore, I haven’t ready to share my story to other people yet. I create five parts of a plot-exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. I also make some details for each part of the plot. I think that I have idea for every plot, but I don’t know how to connect all of them into a story. The connection should be very clear or readers might get confused.

 

Journal 19: POV

     Everyone has different perspectives and point of views even to the same event. People tend to support the side which they believe and oppose the side which they disagree with. I don’t like to make any comment or judgment on anyone because that is just my own thought. I only share my point of view if it is necessary. Sometimes I don’t want to hurt any side’s view, so I usually stay neutral. It is clear to see my personality that I don’t like conflict. However, I also face some problems with this kind of attitude. For example, I don’t really know what I should do when two of my friends have a conflict. The most memorable one was happened two years ago. (A represent one of my friends and B represents the other one.) They had a conflict because A thought that B should share all her personal things to her because they were close friend. No one should keep any secret from each other. On the other hand, B felt that some personal stuff was able to share with friends but some were not. Both of them complained about each other to me, but I didn’t know I should believe in which side of point. That is why I only provide my point of view if needed.

 

Journal 18: Let's Talk

     Some people say directly what they want to say. On the other hand, some people choose to talk around the subject. The way how I talk to others depends on the subject and people. I can directly talk to the people who I am familiar with. Sometimes I can only talk around the subject to the people who I am not really familiar with because I feel uncomfortable to talk to them. For example, I can share almost everything with my close friends. Our conversations include personal thoughts and some private things. However, the conversations between the people who I am not familiar with are very limited, such as homework stuffs or something which is not personal. There is a short conversation between one of my close friends and me just few days ago. (“A” would represent my friend and “B” would represent I in the following conversation. ) B: “I just skype with a senior, my best friend, from last senior.” A: “Are you still good friend now?” B: “Of course. We have sent messages to each other since she went to the States.” A: “Oh……okay……I just think that an eternal friendship is impossible.” B: “Why? Don’t you have any best friend?” A: “No. I don’t really share my personal stuffs to my friends ever.” I was so surprised when I heard this from him, but I could feel that he said this to me because we have known each other for over three years. If we were not “friend”, he might not share his perspective to me.

 

Journal 17: My Mini-Saga

     Lily was not popular when she moved to Heaven, a village with no school work pressures for children. Unlike majority children playing after school, Lily created artworks alone at her house. Lily's life started to change and became better than before until she saved a little girl in the forest.

Journal 16: What's the Story?

     For the exposition: The beginning of a story where the characters are introduced and the setting is revealed. I briefly describe of the setting that where, what, who, and when happen at the beginning of the story. I also mention the main character’s personality in this part. Rising Action: This is where a problem arises and tension builds in the story. According to my story, all children who live in Heaven are carefree and play together after school. On the other hand, Lily is excluded by other children, but she doesn’t care about those bad words. She continues to create her artworks. Climax: The most interesting point and turning point of the story. The reader wants to know what happens next. Additionally, one day, a five-year-old girl falls into a pound. No one notices except Lily. She runs swiftly toward the pound and finds a long stick in order to pull the little girl out off the pound. Falling Action: The action that follows directly after the climax. This is where the problem begins unwinding. Until everyone knows that Lily saves a little girl in Heaven, Lily is treated differently. People change their views on how they think about Lily. Resolution: This is the end of the story where the problem us worked out. Finally, the little girl’s parents give Lily a big gift that they decide to let Lily live at their house and treat her as their daughter. Since then none of the people in Heaven excludes Lily any more.

Journal 15: What's Your Problem?

     Although all the people in Heaven think that Lily’s drawings and paintings are ugly, Lily doesn’t care about those negative comments. Traveling is Lily’s biggest interest. That is how her inspirations of creating artworks come from. She can stay at the same place for more than a week because she will leave until her painting is finished. Looking from her appearance, Lily seems like a quiet and confidence girl. However, she is very lonely and depress due to her breaking family. Beside these unfortunates, Lily enjoys the time creating her artworks. Most children play after school, but Lily doesn’t because she is afraid to talk to others. Some kids play jumping rope, some play soccer, some lie on the ground, and some chat with each other. Each time people see Lily, they don’t treat her nicely instead they speak some dirty words to her and tell their children not to play with her. Lily has no choice. She can only do her paintings or drawings alone. As an artist, Lily doesn’t look clean because she spends almost her free time creating artworks. That is why her shirt and face are usually stained with pigments. Her works look special and colorful, but people in Heaven don’t appreciate them.

Journal 14: Who?

     The big garden is located in a village which called “Heaven.” People in this place are all energetic and lively except for Lily, who is tall, fat, and quiet. No one has ever known how she is here and where does she come from. Lily lives in a wooden made house which is a little bit far away from the garden. When every child plays in the garden, Lily seats on the ground and starts drawing or painting. Children throw little stones toward Lily just because she doesn’t have a good appearance. However, she never complained about how other people treat her badly. “Hey girl! How is your artwork? Oh my god! It looks like you draw all the garbage together.” Many children say some bad words and make fun to Lily’s artworks. Lily has no parents, siblings, and friends. She lives alone. Everyday she walks an hour to a town outside the Heaven and sells her artworks. That is the only way how she earns her money. She puts all the money in a box and calculates it almost everyday. Actually, she is a good kid, who behaves well, knows how to live by herself, and is more independent than other children.

Journal 13: Where Am I?

     Wind softly blows in the air. It is clear to hear the twitter from a group of birds right in front of the garden. Not many trees are planted here, but a tallest one is a wonderful place for children. After school, majority of children put their bags under the tree, and start any kind of games which they want. Laughing, screaming, and shouting are around the garden. By the way, it is a big garden that it too big to see the edge of it. That is why there are many people inside the garden. Flowers on the ground are small but colorful-red, pink, yellow, and white. Those flowers are little girls’ favorite because they are beautiful and attractive. The garden is not a piece of grassland; however it is a wooden floor. During the summer, all flowers look vividly with great smell that also brings people good moods. It is very reasonable why children like to play in this garden. Without the school pressures, children play happily and carelessly. During the winter, we can see nothing in the garden but snow. No children, no flowers, no lively laughing, and no bags under the tree because the only time that children can’t play here.

 

Journal 12: Telling A Story

     Writing a story is totally different form writing an essay. People can freely express their feelings, ideas, and imagination to stories. However, we might need to follow the rules for academic writings, such as five paragraphs per essay, topic sentences, and concluding sentences. To me, I have more pressures when I write an essay than a story. I worry that do I make an attractive attention getter or create an interesting story. What can make a story good? The answer is definitely the words which chosen by the authors. For example, “She is very angry because her sister ate her cake” or “She seems angry that she shouts her sister’s name at the first floor in order to call her out.” Which one is better? Of course the second one because it provides more details and is more vividly. I like to read science fictions with supernatural imagination because each description from the story bring me a clue that lead me to involve into the story, I usually can’t predict the ending of the stories, so I am curious about what will happen next then keep reading it. Although I like to read science fictions, I tend to write comedic story. It makes me feel lively and entertaining.

 

Journal 11: Worlds of Fiction

    Why do people create fiction novel or the world we don’t know? According to quotation, why do people create fiction novel or the world we don’t know? The reason is very simple- they are not satisfied about their current lives. People can show their creativity and imagination to bring more entertainment in their lives. Something can happen in real lives, but some can only happen in dreams. For example, Harry Porter and Twilight are two famous fiction novels. Although I am not a fan of them, I can feel how the author’s passion about writing the stories. I am a realistic person, but I do accept fiction novels. To me, I would enjoy the whole story because those stories might bring me a lively life. I think that majority of children like this kind of stories. They are not mature enough to understand the difference between real and imaginative life. “World we don’t know” means that the author creates a world which is not realistic. The setting, people, and events might not be real, but the whole story is full of creativity. Fiction novels can be positive that bring fresh idea to people; however, this type of stories might affect people negatively.

 

Journal 10: Know Thyself

     According the poet named Alexander Pope’s quote, “Know then thyself.” I think that I am the only person who knows myself well. Everyone does have a best friend to share things, but no one can know you well except yourself. For example, once I didn’t get a good grade on a test. My friend told me that I can eat a big meal, and then I would feel better. However, I couldn’t fit into this way. To me, I can’t eat “A big meal” to solve my problems. I think that I have multiple personalities that my behaviors are depending on different situation. A person can know himself or herself better by chatting more with friends or family. Spending more time to talk with other people can learn yourself more because you can hear how different people think about you. What is different or special about me? I think that I am a good listener that I am willing to listen anyone’s things if he or she wants to share to me. Everyone should learn how to learn yourself because I believe that yourself is the only person who can totally know yourself. As I grow up, I think that I know more about myself.

 

Journal 9: Nobody Like You

     According to the quotation, there will be nobody like me again because people on the earth are totally different, even though twins. For eight or ninety-year-old people, they might find that they can’t find any people who are like them through images in their heads. In old people’s memories, they have already looked through many types of people and things. In their memories, some might make them happy, but some might make them sad. Anyway, every single experience in people’s life is unique and significant. To my father, he has experience on both live in city and country. When my father was young, he lived in the country and already had some business experience because my grandfather owned a grocery store at that time. Sometimes my father had to help my grandfather if he was busy, so my father was very independent when he was young. He did everything by himself and managed his own stuffs very well. My father and his family moved to city when he was eighteen years old. To me, I don’t think that a person should be old to be unique because people are unique when they were born. In my childhood, my parents didn’t force me to focus on academic area, instead they let my join many types of activities. That really makes me different from other people.

 

Journal 8: What Comes Next

     According to American writer Ursula K. LeGuin wrote, “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next,” I think that she wants to tell people that we should only care and focus on the things happen now indeed of anticipating what will happen in the future. As she said permanent and intolerable uncertainty, people should try their best to do the things well because always thinking about the future is not necessary. On the other word, I think she also wants to keep remaining us that cherish the present moment is more important. To me, I won’t say that people should cherish present time or know about what comes next because it depends on the situation. For example, when you want to move to the U.S. from Taiwan, you should know what kind of life you are going to have, what kind of job you want to do, and what kind of city you want o live. Those things relate to your life in the future, so you must know what comes next. However, you don’t need to know about what will happen while you are taking a test because managing your time to get this test done is more important.

 

Journal 7: What I Learned from Writing a Reflective Essay

     When I wrote the reflective essay, I chose my father as the subject because I had a strong feeling about him. In my life, he is one of the most influenced people. By writing about my father, I thought deeper about his personality, actions, and behaviors. I also looked at some pictures helping me to recall memories. I thought that I understood more about him after writing this essay. I found that when I used different angle of views to think about him, I could see him in many ways. People don’t define relationship in the same way. To me, relationship is an abstract connection between a person and me. Sometimes I feel that I have more than one type of relationship to a person who is closer to me. For example, my father is a teacher when I ask him homework, he is a friend when I share tings with him, and he is just a father when I receive warmth from him. He, my lovely father, is not just a father. Actually he is a superman that he acts as different characters. To this essay, I think the easiest part is to elaborate the details; however, brainstorm is the hardest part. Next time when I write this type of essay, I will think more about the impact on me instead of focusing on the person I choose.

 

Journal 6: Helping the Reader

      It is important to evaluate one’s own personal narrative from the reader’s point of view because sometime other people might find things which the person doesn't notice. Others talk about yourself might definitely different from your point of view. For example, you think that your EQ is very high that you can control your emotions well. However, some people might think that you usually change your moods rapidly. The relationship between the writer and the material in a personal narrative is closer than that of between the reader and the material. Writer must know things better than reader because the story is writer’s and the event and emotion are all created by the writer. Readers are “Listener” who knows the story which is shared by the writer. For example, I share a significant essay to my friend. This story is all about me that I create and act it. I turn this story in to words in order to share to my friend. My friend probably can imagine some pictures of my story and feel my emotion, but she might not hundred percent knows what I really want to express. She knows all the details about the story, but she is still not as close to the story as me.

 

Journal 5:Paradox

    I think the meaning of the statement “The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time.” is that a man, who uses his time to write about himself, is one who writes about all people about all the time. I disagree with this statement because it doesn't make sense. If he only spends his own time to write about his stuffs, he shouldn't be the person who writes other people’s stuffs simultaneously. Therefore, a paradox shouldn't be true. In other words, two opposing things can’t be true at the same time. I found an example on my SAT test. There are two statements: Lonnie sometimes goes to comedy movies. Greta never goes to mystery movies. The question is asking about if these two statements are true, which following statements also are true. The answer is Lonnie and Greta never go to mystery movies together. The wrong answer is a paradox- Lonnie sometimes goes to mystery movies with Greta. According to the original statement, Greta never goes to mystery movies, so both of them are impossible to go to mystery movies together. The wrong answer contains two opposing ideas.

 

Journal 4: How A Story Is Told

    The biggest missing part of a summary is detail. Details are very important to a story. They are like a frame of the story, so a story can’t form without it. Summary is to conclude the main point and grab the big idea from a story. On the other hand, details are descriptions or examples of the story. People tend to hear the details of a story, and not just a synopsis or summary because it is hard to completely understand and involve to it. For example, the story of “Three Little Pigs” is about how they build different houses to protect themselves and prevent the big bad wolf’s coming. We can’t feel anything by hearing this brief description of the story. However, we might have more pictures in our heads if there are more details, such as how these pigs build their houses, how their personalities different from others, and how their actions when face with the wolf. Those details provide more information about the story, so we can quickly understand what the story is talking about. Storyteller and writer can use some exaggerated words to attract readers. Therefore, to make a story interesting is to add more details.

 

Journal 3: Writing as Self Discovery

     Life and writing do not look similar, but we might find that they are alike if we look deeper of them. Actually we can define writing from many different angles. People can use reflective writing as a vehicle of self-discovery by taking journal and writing diary. These two are common ways that people reflect themselves. To me, self-discovery can be defined from many angles. For instance, sometimes an author’s article makes me think about myself and recalls my memories. Those actions help me to think more about myself, so things from other people probably inspire me a lot. I have taken both Chinese and English journals everyday since two years ago. I did take journals when I was young, but they was not continuous. I strongly believe that I can learn more about myself through take journals because they force me to think deeper, like brainstorm and critical thinking. My journals are very simple that each of them is less than 20 words, but they still help me to reflect myself. My mother encourages me to write Chinese journal because she wants me to keep writing it to practice my Chinese. Writing Chinese journals does help me not to forget those words in Chinese. I will keep writing journals because they also help me release my emotions.

Journal 2: Person in Place

     Classrooms in my junior high school are bigger than those of PAS and the average of students in each classroom is 33 people. There is a podium, wood made, in front of the classroom and it is about 20 centimeters high. A cupboard is at the back of left corner. My job is to arrange the brooms and dustpans inside the cupboard during the cleaning time. Four facets of walls are white, but the bottom parts are blue. The ground is dark gray that you can’t see any hair on it. My seat is close to window, so I can open the window when I feet hot and it is almost closed during the winters. Belle sits in front of me. She always comes to school earlier than me. She is so passionately to sports that she even wakes up early in the morning and watches the live broadcasts on TV. How a crazy person she is. Everyday when I walk into the classroom, Belle would talk about the sport games she watched last night or just in the early morning no matter I understand or not. Because Belle is an extrovert person, I can always hear her laughter fill the whole classroom. Memories, which were created in the classroom, were significant to Belle and me.

Journal 1: Important Person

    

     She is like a girl, but she doesn't behave like a girl. Her male friends are more than her female friends. Everytime I talk to her, our conversations are about sports instead of girl's stuff. She has a pair of big eyes, long hair, and big nose. I like to make jokes about her nose, but in fact she is pretty. To boys, she is definitely a tom boy. Actually, she is very popular because she not only plays sports with boys but also shops with girls. The person who always knows what I’m thinking and makes my life livelier is my junior high school’s best friend-Belle. Before I met her, I was a pessimistic person. Each time when she knew that I was unhappy, she would always said “The situation won’t become better because of your depress.” This sentence really influenced me a lot. Of course, complaint and hopelessness do not help me at all, and then I would think more in positive way. Belle is a significant person in my life. She does change my attitude when I face problems. Now as a senior, my pressure of college application is getting more and more. I have many works to do everyday, but I still remember “The situation won’t become better because of your depress”, so I don’t complain even I’m submerged by essays, tests, and pressures.