Journal 50: Speech Next Week

     One of people’s greatest fears is speaking in public, and most people fear it more than death. I think that speaking in public, in front of an audience, is scared if I am not well prepared. To me, the most fearful thing when I speak in public is the moment that I have nothing to say. It seems embarrassed if there are lots of pairs of eyes looking at me and I am speechless. It is easy for me to feel nervous, so I would try my best to practice my speech if I can before going on the stage. In addition, audience is another reason that makes me feel nervous. I believe that majority people would feel more comfortable and relaxed to speak to the people who they are familiar with. Of course, it is totally different to give a presentation than have to put forth a persuasive argument. I definitely need to prepare myself both mentally and emotionally before speaking in front of people because it would make different feelings to the audience. They might not have strong feeling if I just give an argument speech with normal tone. However, they would be impressed by my speech if I use my tone appropriately.

 

Journal 49: Reflection on Your Essay

        My essay is talking about that it is better for people to study abroad. I provide three reasons to support my idea. I use logical, emotional, and ethical appeals to persuade my audience. In the first paragraph, I make a short description of my general idea of why studying abroad is good for us, and what benefits we can get from it. In second paragraph, I provide details by using logical appeal. There are some facts and research which can make audience feel more convincible and tend to agree my idea. In addition, I use emotion appeal here that I choose some strong words in order to create strong feelings to the audience, such as the example I give in my essay. To the third paragraph, I use ethical appeal to try to persuade my audience. I mention about the importance about being a global citizen and how it would affect people in this generation in the future. I hope that these appeals are able to make audience to agree with my idea. However, there are also some disadvantages about studying abroad. I didn’t really discuss about it in my essay. I am not sure that whether it is better to mention it or not.

Journal 48: Your Opposition

     My persuasive argument is that not all people broaden their views or get benefits though they have experiences of studying abroad. Some people might get trouble because there are challenges that must be understood before taking the plunge. There are two reasons why of studying abroad is not only contains advantage. One of the big disadvantages of studying abroad is the costs and safety. You might not be familiar with the new environment and the new lifestyle, so it is easy to face trouble. Moreover, as you are far away from your family and friends, you might feel lonely or sad. Not all students’ families are able to pay the fee for their children to study abroad because it will cost a lot of money. For example, you have to rent a house in order to settle down first. The tuition must be expensive than the one you pay in your local country. At this time, you might question yourself: Can I afford to study abroad? In addition, you have less time to see your family or friends because the best way to communicate is by using Facebook, Skype, or other online chatting systems. Sometimes, you even can’t find anyone to help you when needed.

Journal 47: Writing or Speaking

     I think that writing is more effective than speaking because you have to think more when you are writing. I write short diary everyday. Although it is not very long, containing only fifteen words or less, at least I review some important things happen on that day. I have started to write my diary around three years ago. I don’t want to write too many words because it shouldn’t make any pressure for me. After I take showers, I start my journal time. I won’t record down everything happens on that day. I would choose only one or two important things. Sometimes, you might think that writing is not that hard, but you can speak doesn’t mean that you are able to write it down in words. For example, it is easy to talk to your friends, but you might feel it is more difficult to write an essay about the same topic. Therefore, writing is more effective and critical than speaking. Moreover, you are unable to review if you just say the words. On the other hand, you can go back and look what you have already written on your essay. Writing also help me to memorize and know things more deeply.

 

Journal 46: Your Argument

     According to my argument last time, I think that I provide more logical appeals of my subject. I list some similarities and differences of both ipnone 4s and HTC Incredible S. For example, I compare their sizes of screen, their weights, the sizes of the phone, shortage, and camera. As I providing many details of these two types of phones, it would make audience easier to compare both of them and think which one is suited for them. Those details are logical appeals which are easily to convince people. On the other hand, I also have a emotional appeal, but it doesn’t weight as much as logical appeals. I mention that most of people around me, especially my friends, are using smart phones. Although smart phone is not necessary for me, I just want it in order to have a convenient life after I study abroad along. In addition, my friends who are already in the United States tell me that it is better to have a smart than a normal phone because at least you can use Internet. That is why I pick these two phone and want to buy one of them. To this argument, I provide more logical appeals because those data and information about the smart phones seem to have stronger feeling to persuade people.

Journal 45: Persuade Me

    I want to buy a new cell phone now! I have used the current one around four years. Most people around me use smart phone now. Although smart phone is not necessary for me, my friends in the US told me that it is more convenient to have you when you are abroad. Therefore, I decide to buy a new one, but I am torn between choosing iphone 4s and HTC Incredible S. My parents encourage me to buy iphone because I don’t need to worry about whether the system would fit the telecom in the United States. I just research some information about these two types of phones. To iphone 4s, the size of screen is 3.5-inch LDC, 640 x 960 pixels, and it is heavier than HTC. On the other hand to HTC, the size of screen is 4.0-inch LDC, 480 x 800 pixels, and it is a little bigger than iphone. Both of them don’t have keyboard, have shortage up to 32GB, and front camera. As I have these information and data, I believe that I am able to convince my audience. The type of this appeal is logical appeal because the information I provided are real and reasonable.

 

Journal 44: Reason Sits Firm

     According to the first sentence from the quotation, Reason sits firm and holds the reins, it means that no matter what are the reasons or evidences of a truth are, the reality stays the same and it won’t be changed ever. For example, the cake is eaten by my sister, but she keeps saying that it is eaten by her friend. Although she tells everyone that she doesn’t eat the cake, the reality stays that the person who eats the cake is my sister. “She will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms”, this sentence means that the speaker would choose to believe the truth, and try her best not to be affected by other things or people. “The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are, and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things”, at this time your feelings or passions of the truth seem to be the heathens who are excluded. Moreover, the speaker’s instinct would turn to be vain thing. “But judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the castings vote in every decision”, the speaker might not satisfy the reality or the result. That is the reason why the argument still exist.

 

Journal 43: Unconvincing Argument

    If a person is trying to persuade me to buy a thing, I would probably buy it if it is really necessary for me. I might think about to buy a thing which is useful, reasonable price, and needed. I definitely won’t buy I thing which is not necessary for me or I even don’t like it. No one is able to persuade me to eat anything after I brush my teeth because I don’t want my teeth to be dirty again. For example, sometimes my father would buy night snack when I have already brush my teeth. I can hundred percent sure that I won’t eat it though he buys my favorite food. I have another example that someone successfully persuades me to do something. I went to graduation trip with senior last year, so I planned not to go this year. However, my friends really want me to go with them. They try to say something make me feel that I will regret if I don’t go with them. I am really torn between going to family trip or graduation trip. After a long discussion with my parents, I decide to go to graduation trip, and I think I make the right choice.

 

Journal 42: Evaluating an Argument

     I do not believe everything I read or I hear because it might not be true. I would only believe the one which I hundred percent sure. In current generation, there are lots of advertisements around us, so I choose not to easily believe the things I read or hear. For example, we can receive some advertisements from e-mail, but many of them are just created or made by someone that they are not accurate or true. Sometimes, it is hard to know what is believable and what is not. If I face this situation, I would believe the thing based on my instinct. To me, the people I trust the most are my family. I feel no pressure to think about whether they are trustable or not. Although I made lots of friends in my life, there are only two of them who I really trust. One us my middle high school classmate; the other one is my high school classmate. The thing they are in common is that they wouldn’t react unhappy when if they don’t know everything from me. Everyone has his or her private things which don’t want to let others know. I hope that they can be my best friends forever.

 

Journal 41: Opinion v Thought

     “The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion”, this quotation is from Elizabeth Drew. It contains a deep meaning that I am not sure that I totally understand it. Everyone has his or her opinion, so he or she might use different angel to see the same thing or person. For example, some people think that we have dinner with family is very important because it is the only time that everyone can really spend time with family on week days. On the other hand, someone might think that individual time is more important, so people should spend more time to do what they want to do. To me, I think family is very important, so I would like to spend time with them. I know that everyone has different thought and opinion, so I won’t force others to stand on my side or agree my opinion. I don’t like someone force me to agree his or her opinion. Therefore, I won’t do that to anyone too. If I really need to persuade someone that my opinions are better, I would provide enough information or detail in order to let that person know what I am thinking.

 

Journal 40: Get What You Want

    I remembered that I really wanted to go to graduation trip with current seniors, but my mother didn’t allow me to go when I told her. She thought that I went with my friends last year, so she didn’t want me to go this year. Last year I thought that I won’t go with current seniors this year because I didn’t know them very well. However, I made lots of friends and built friendship with them. Sometimes I would think that I might regret if didn’t go with them. Therefore, I told my mother that I wanted to go this year because I wanted to spend time with my friends not because I wanted to go to Bali Club Med. At the beginning, she wanted me to use my own money if I really wanted to go. She changed her mind that I could decide how much I wanted to pay by myself. The total fee for graduation trip was almost NT50000. I pay NT15000 by myself. My family didn’t want me to go because they wanted to have a family trip during spring break. For this situation, I used both logic and emotion appeals. I told her that this year was my real high school graduation trip and I really wanted to cherish the rest of time to spend with my friends. On the other hand, I reacted sad and unhappy when my mother said that she didn’t want me to go.

 

Free Write

     OMG!!! I can’t believe what I see. Do you know what happen? It can be the most important moment in my life. I get into UC Irvine. It is definitely big news for me because UC Irvine has been my dream school since last year. One year ago, I really want to go to this school though I didn’t have a strong reason. I get more information about this school this year. I heard that UC Irvine is not too big, but the lifestyle is simple. That is the college life I want. I don’t care about whether this school provides enough party for me. To me, I prefer a simple place to study. Actually, I felt sad and even depressed yesterday because I was denied by UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. In addition, I was in waitlist for UC Davis. I only applied four UC schools. These three results totally affected me a lot. I even felt that I didn’t have chance to get into any UC schools. I told my mother that I might not get into my dream school, and I couldn’t go to California. OMG!!! It is so unbelievable. I got into UC Irvine. Finally!!! My dream school.

 

Journal 38: What Next?

     I was admitted by three schools. At the beginning, my dream school was University of California Irvine. I don’t know why I want to go to this school, I just feel like this probably is a school which can fit me. I don’t like to go to big school because it makes me feel not safety. However, I heard more than two people told me that it is better to go to east coast. Their first reason is that you can feel the “real” United States in east coast. There are too money immigrants at west coast that is not a real United States. Their second reason is that UC’s government is poor now, so I might not have chance to take as many classes as I want. UC schools are unable to provide enough courses. It is the time for me to think about where I should go. If I choose to go to east coast, I might choose to go to Pennsylvania. I applied two schools at this state. One is University of Pittsburgh and the other one is Penn State University Park. I already got into University of Pittsburgh, but I haven’t received the admission from the other one. The only thing which makes me fear is my admission. I really don’t know which school I will go.

 

Journal 37: Almost There

      I am almost finished 3/4 with my senior year of high school. I can’t wait for the date of our graduation because I supposed to graduate last year. After my middle school graduation, I transferred from a Taiwanese local school to Pacific American School. Because I came to Pacific American School with limited English, I stayed in ESL classes for both my sophomore and junior years. I finally had a chance to access mainstream classes during my senior year, and I worked extremely hard to earn a good GPA. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t get higher scores on standardized tests. With all of the anxiety, I still had to make this critical decision. I was torn between these two options-continuing my college application or staying in high school for one more year. I locked myself in my room and imagined different possibilities. After a long discussion with my parents, I chose to stay in high school for one more year. I have no regret for my decision because I did improve a lot during this year. The most important is that I make lots of friends who I didn’t know a year ago. However, I also worry about my future. I don’t know what challenges I will face in the future. No matter will happen, I would still try my best to face those challenges.

Journal 36: What's a Book?

     I was unable to get the meaning when I first saw this quotation. After I heard the explanation of it, I suddenly realized the deeper meaning of it. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quotation, he means that a book is everything for you if you know what is in it; a book is nothing for you if you don’t know anything from it. As the example we discussed during the class, a Korean book might not mean anything to anyone in our class because no one in this class understand Korean. Although it is a good book, it does mean nothing to people who don’t understand Korean. To me, there is another explanation to explain this quotation. There is a book written in English and you understand English very well, but you won’t get anything if you are not interested in it. For example, I have a book which teaches us how to make Italian food, but I am not interested in cooking at all. Therefore, this book is nothing though I am able to read each word of it. There are many things in our lives, some are meant a lot to us but some are not, figuring our which is your “real book” is very important.

 

Journal 35: By Writing We Think

     According to Henri Frederic Amiel’s quotation, we can notice that looking, writing, and thinking relate to each other. “It is by teaching that we teach ourselves”, this quotation means that we learn experience from ourselves. For example, you finally have an experience to live without your parents, and you have to take care of yourself. At this point, you might suddenly realize that how time management and self-control are important. This is a chance for you to learn from yourself. “By relating that we observe”, this means that the way you behave relates to what you believe and observe. For example, compare to lover and friends, you think that family is the most important to you. Your life is definitely focusing on your family. “By writing that we think”, I think that this part of the quotation has the deepest meaning. Many people would think that they already have ideas in their heads, so they think that it is not necessary to write down what they think. However, it is possible to find that the things you write down might be different from what you think. “By pumping that we draw water into the well”, it is the process how you get water, and also using as a metaphor.

Journal 34: What I Think

     According to the famous English novelist’s quotation “How do I know what I think until I see what I say”, I think that I agree with it. For example, you might think that you know the definition of a particular word, but you probably can’t say its definition out when someone ask you to say it. I did have this kind of experience before. Last summer vacation, I took SAT class in August. One of our major homework is to memorize around 100 vocabularies per class. It is a heavy work because we have to write down the exact same definitions which are on the vocabulary list. I spent almost more than five hours to memorize them. I would think that I already memorized them, but when I covered those definitions I was unable to write the correct definitions. Therefore, I agree that writing can help me clarify and understand my thoughts. The other example is very common to everyone. Many people do use skype, a type of online chat system, and they can talk to others though they are at different places. I prefer to use face-to-face contact because it makes me feel more realistic. Writing things down also can help me to think deeper.

 

Journal 33: Writing and Thinking

     It can be true that writing can help me think more clearly. It is better to put words down on paper or on a computer in order to think more deeply. I write my own journals everyday. They are not as long as essays, but I write what is the most important thing happens on that day. The notebook for writing my journals is very small, so I can’t write too much for each day, probably one or two sentences per day. Although these journals seem nothing, they do mean a lot to me. Every time I write, I not only write down what happen to me, but also review the old ones. Writing journal is a good way to reflect myself. That is why I keep writing no matter how busy I am. Sometimes, I might miss one journal, but I will find another day to fill it. If I don’t write journals, I won’t find out something that is important to me. However, as I start thinking and refreshing myself, I will think more and deep. You might think that you know what happen today, but you might not answer if someone asks you. Therefore, writing helps us to come up with our own thoughts and emotions.

Journal 31: Presence of Mind

     According to Henry James’s statement, I believe that “perfect presence of mind” means differently to everyone. It is the ability to think and act calmly and efficiently, especially in an emergency. To me, writing college application essays is how I experienced “perfect presence of mind.” There were some rules that I had to follow when I wrote essays, such as words limit, direction, and idea. This type of essay was totally different from those I did for homework. First, I needed to brainstorm. It was a very hard process because there were only few things could really fit your topic. It is possible for me to brainstorm a topic for almost one month. I must on the right track before I started to write my essay. During the college application, I was suffered by those essays. I had to hind in a silent place and concentrated on writing my essay. Achieving this presence of mind might be particularly important for writing a compare and contrast essay because you need to think about the subjects which you want to compare deeply. Moreover, when you think in this way also avoid showing a bias when comparing and contrasting. To a writer, it is better not to stand on any side of the subjects.

 

Journal 30: What is "News" to you?

     As we can see that there are some types of different news sources, such as print, digital, and broadcast, different stories appeal to different audiences and are emphasized in different media. To print sources, writers have additional time gather more information and add more details about the particular news. Moreover, you can read news at any time because it won’t disappear as video television and broadcast do. Readers can review any news they want by reading print sources. On the other hand, the way how digital and broadcast sources show news is totally different from print sources. To digital and broadcast, audiences can’t see the news which they want at any time. They must follow the showing time. For example, digital and broadcast usually show the news which is just happened, so the news might be very fresh. If there is a confrontation just happened in a forest, people might see this big news on television or hear from broadcast immediately. Besides talking the differences between these three types of news sources, the news that relate to school attract me the most. Probably because I am a student, I might care about anything that happens to the people who have the same age or around the same age as me.

 

Journal 29: Shaping the Message

     There are numerous media that surround us and fill our lives with information and entertainment. Each medium represents reality a bit differently. We are not looking at the real thing, but rather a produced and “packaged” version of reality. For example, there must be viewers see what happen to a car accident. The viewers can be the people who get involved the accident or the people who just see the event as observers. Each person has his/her own opinion, so everyone might have different interpret of the whole accident. “The truth is disappeared while the event is happened.” Therefore, it is hard to find the correct answer to who is right or wrong for this car accident. To me, I think that the news we get from media source might not be hundred percent exactly the same as the reality because the truth has already twisted. Sometimes, media exaggerates the truth in order to show how serious the news is. However, sometimes it is twisted by someone’s opinion. Therefore, I won’t really trust or believe when I hear or see news that makes me feel shocked or amazed because I know that it might not be the same as the original one.

 

Journal 28: Which News Source Do You Prefer?

     We can get news and information from many different ways, such as television, radio, newspaper, or Internet. Each of them has its own advantage and disadvantage. To me, I like the Internet the most because I can do my own research on the Internet. For newspaper, I can choose to read the parts which I want and can decide to read fast or slowly. Sometimes if I don’t have time to read it, I can get the general idea of news by reading the head news. For television, the biggest advantage of it is that it can show me short videos of particular news that make the news sound more vividly. The sounds or background music makes the news more interesting. For radio, there is no image to see, but it provides me an opportunity to arouse my imagination and creativity. Without seeing imagines, I can only create them by myself. Moreover, I can really focus on listening because there is no image can distract me. Finally, the Internet is my favorite media source because I can get any information that I want. I also can get different information which connects to the news. It is more convenient to use Internet.

 

Journal 27: PerfectTrifles

     According to Michelangelo Buonarroti said, “Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle,” I totally agree with this statement. To me, it means that lots of trifles can form perfection, but there are no trifles of perfection. It is impossible to form perfection without any details. At this point, trifles are like details. For example, you have to practice basketball at least eight hours a day in order to become a successful basketball player. On the other hand, if you don’t do any practice, it is impossible for you to succeed. I do have something in my life in which I strive for perfection. The most significant one in my life till now is college application. Actually, I am a freshman in college, but now I am a senior in high school. Last year, I didn’t get good grades on standardize test, such as TOEFL and SAT tests. If I used my last year’s scores to apply college, I won’t have chance to get into the school I want. Therefore, I decided to stay at PAS for one more year. In my second senior year, I could say that I worked extremely hard and finally improve almost 300 points on the SAT reasoning test. To me, the practices and works which I did everyday during the college application process represented trifles. The result of the exam represented perfection.

 

Journal 25: Winter Holiday

     During my Christmas break, I went to Hong Kong for three days. My parents asked me about whether I could go with them or nor two months ago. I really wanted to go with them because I knew that I might have less time to stay with my family after I go to college. Therefore, I tried my best to finish my college applications before the winter break. I did want to cherish the time I had to stay with my family. I thought that I ate too much during the break. My mother told me that I looked fatter. It was hard to stop eating in winters. When weather was getting cold, people would eat more in order to keep their bodies warm. The things I wanted to do during the break were spending time with family, hanging out with my friends, and reviewing final stuff. I did do these three things, but I thought that I didn’t spend much time on final because I chose to spend time with family and friends and entertainments. I watched movies with my friends, who were from last year’s seniors, and my family. A person, who knew me very well, was the one I met two years ago. We haven’t talked to each other for a long time until this winter break.