Response to Kathy

I found these awesome quotes from Kathy's blog:

“Phobias can cause anxiety disorders,they can change behavior to a point of being disruptive.
Can cause post traumatic stress disorder. A compulsion is feeling like you absolutely have to do something, and an obsession is a constant unwanted thought. “

When I see something other than the regular cats, dogs, birds, and goldfish, I totally freak out. Whenever I see a spider or scary bug within a radius of ten feet with me, my whole body jumps out of control and I get chills across my body. I may even scream out of fear if I see one too close to me. My eyes widen, and I quickly ask for help or find the easiest way to kill it. I may look for a spray bottle to poison it, or maybe just a towel, or ten, to squish it depending on its size. After destroying it, I am so scared of it that I will have to flush it down the toilet. I fear that it contains a lot of babies, and they come out inside the trash can. I fear this because I saw it happen in my house in Australia. My mom used a broom to squish a spider in the bathroom, but more than a hundred tiny spider babies ran all over the place. Luckily, there was a drain on my bathroom floor, and my mom was fast enough to dump enough water on the floors to suck them all in. Just thinking about creatures like spiders makes my skin tingle and a little bit itchy. My body also shivers as I think about them.

"Exposure pushes a person with a fear to face that fear head on. People who go into exposure therapy in the early stages of an undeveloped phobia can stop it."

I agree that being exposed a lot to an animal helps build confidence and trust towards it. For example, I played with ants ever since I was tiny since they seemed harmless and were everywhere. On the other hand, I only saw spiders staring at me in the corners of rooms or on the walls creeping towards me. I also fear spiders because of how my friends and family would react to it. My brother would always ask our parents to kill the pest for us, probably creating a image in my head that all spiders, even daddy long legs, are dangerous and should only be handled by adults.

Ender's Game 3

In the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a young boy, Ender, is always lied and cheated to do things the way the commanders that look over him want them to be done. The most devious commander out of the bunch is Colonel Graff. Colonel Graff is always playing mind games with Ender, convincing or even forcing Ender to accomplish impossible assignments, proving that he is worthy to lead the humans to battle.

“I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anybody! I'm not a killer! You didn't want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!” He was crying. He was out of control. “Of course we tricked you into it. That's the whole point, “ said Graff. “It had to be a trick or you couldn't have done it. It's the bind we were in. We had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like the buggers, understand them and anticipate them. But somebody with that much compassion could never be the killer we needed. Could never go into battle willing to win at all costs.”

This quote is the part where Ender learns that instead of beating a his teacher in a computer simulation, he destroyed the entire Bugger planet. He found out that he had wiped out the whole Bugger race, and that the whole time that he was deploying ships that had actual pilots in them into battle. He felt supremely guilty that he had sacrificed many lives just so he could win a battle. Even thought Ender thinks he is a killer and acts like Peter, he is the opposite. Peter would enjoy killing, but Ender, on the other hand, hates killing. Ender doesn't realize this, and hates himself for being such a bad person. The way that Ender is taking on the news about him killing the Bugger race is the exact opposite of what he thinks of himself. He also doesn't see that by destroying the Bugger race, he had what seemed to be eliminating the change of to Buggers to attack planet Earth.

This quote also shows how deceptive Graff is. Graff lies and cheats Ender just so he could be a strong enough commander to defeat the Buggers. Little did he know that the Buggers didn't even plan on attacking the humans after the Second Invasion. The Buggers were actually peaceful creatures, and every invasion was made by the humans. Graff and all of other commanders lied to Earth about the Buggers being violent and terrorizing, but the invasion by the Buggers was actually just them colonizing. Graff had to keep isolating and challenging Ender so he could be more independent. Even Ender admitted it worked in the book, but these near-impossible tasks destroyed and depressed Ender's life permanently.

Response to Eric Wilson

I found this meaningful quote from Eric's blog. His post talks about video games, and how it connects to life. When I read it, I instantly found things that he said that I can relate to.

“Many people think that people that play shooter games or "war" games is to kill other people and people think it creates violent impulses. I would have to disagree because even though you are "killing" other players, it is no where near realistic. If someone is dies in real life, they are gone, and they are not coming back. In video games, the person you "killed" can immediately come back to life in a matter of seconds. People are "killed" for points, not to fulfill a cereal-killer's fantasy.”

I also agree that first person shooter do not affect a person's desire to kill and hurt others. I used to spend a lot of time playing first person shooter games, but anyone who knows me will say that I am definitely not violent. I have even heard that I need to be more violent when defending myself. I find that first person shooter games have actually made me less of a violent person since it teaches players that teamwork always helps, and that arguing will only lead to more problems. Teamwork is needed in these games when there is a mission involved, or if an area of enemies need to be trapped and surrounded for easier kills. First person shooters have also taught me to endure another's insults and anger. I have faced numerous player that have typed extremely nasty insults or comments to not only me, but to every other player that he dislikes. When this happens, I act calm, if that is possible over the internet, and confront, or even insult if that person is too hardheaded, them about how much of an ***hole they are being. I, too, believe that murdering others in real life is different to doing a mission for a purpose is in first person shooters. Playing the game is supposed to allow everyone to participate in the excitement and fun of battling each other, unlike how murdering someone is selfish and can not be reversed.

“When I play video games, I like to be able to outsmart the other players, like in many other games such as chess.”

I also find that playing first person shooters train my brain to think about the possibilities and the probabilities of defeating the enemy as soon as possible. I have to think about the odds of winning and losing, and how I can increase them. This includes me strategizing and unleashing my schemes to figure out a way to achieve my goal. I find that this teaches me how to use most of my life skills like perseverance, effort, flexibility, initiative, organization, problem-solving, responsibility, patience, curiosity, and cooperation.

Ender's Game 2

In the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a young boy, Ender, is destined to save the world from an intergalactic war with an intelligent alien species called the Buggers. Ender is always pushed and forced past the limits. Even though he succeeds everything that is thrown in front of him, more challenges of the near impossible are given to him.

“Young as he is, we've never had a boy better prepared for command. Usually they go at eleven, but at nine and a half he's top flight.”(Page 154)

Ender's commanders are always making Ender do the impossible. They planned to make him go to command school one and a half years before he is supposedly allowed to go. They switch up the rules just so they can get their hands on a good commander in battle. I find this extremely selfish and unfair to Ender even though what they are doing is for the fate of the whole planet Earth.

“You have known for eight days that there is a conspiracy among some of the more vicous of these 'children' to cause the beating of Ender Wiggin... Ender Wiggin, an inestimable important international resource, will be placed in serious danger of having his brains pasted on the walls of your orbiting schoolhouse. And you, fully warned of this danger, propose to do exactly-” “Nothing” (Page 201)

This quote shows the how inhumane Colonel Graff, the person who said to send no help to Ender, is when trying to make Ender tough enough for the job of destroying the Buggers. He trusts Ender to succeed in saving himself so much, that he makes no effort in helping him. He believes that it is beneficial for Ender to face unfairness in the extreme. Colonel Graff's confidence in Ender can be viewed as thoughtful and meaningful, but it personally makes me think that he is just simply mad and not sane enough to teach children.

“I already had a battle today, I had two battles today- the bastards know what I've been through, and they're doing this to me. William Bee, Griffin Army, Talo Momoe, Tiger Army, 1900. He sat on the edge of the bed. The note trembled in his hand. I can't do this, he said silently. And then not silently. “I can't do this.”

This quote shows how extremely heartless Colonel Graff is. He is making Ender fight a battle even though Ender had fought two gruesome battles already, and had to kill Bonzo, an egotistical commander that hated Ender's success, out of self-defense. The regular battles for a regular army is one battle per week. Ender has been fighting two battles per day ever since he started leading his own army. This next battle is Ender's third battle in a single day, but what makes it worse is that he has to fight two entire armies at the same time! This is about the most monstrous thing that Ender has to face. It is so impossible that Ender breaks. He doubts himself in sadness of fear that he will finally satisfy the other armies' wishes, that Ender finally loses a battle. In the end, Ender does fight the battle, and surprisingly wins. This shows how tenacious Ender is, and how much of a fighter he really is.

Response to Vincent

I read this great quote from Vincent's blog. It talks about how his life and dreams have changed by a death of someone that was important to him.

"That was a road that I have created for myself when I was young, but as I grew older, another rode soon begin to form. My dream of becoming a DJ slowly disappeared and something much more important appeared in front of me."

 I can relate to this. I used to want to get paid as someone that works and studies bugs and other crawling critters. I loved them since I grew up with an outdoor garden that had many little creatures. My parents weren't afraid of regular, everyday bugs, influencing me to love them as well. When my mother worked in the garden, I tagged along, digging into the moist, dark brown soil for things I could play with. I used to love playing with worms, snails, ladybugs, and other insects like bees which I continued to love despite having red, swollen hands caused by them. This stopped after I learned more and more about these animals. I found out that spiders, bees, caterpillars, and some other bugs are not things that should be messed with for fun. This changed my perspective of fun little bugs that I could control into dangerous, poisonous, disgusting pests that need to stay as far away from me as possible.

"Our dreams can be shape in many ways, and there many things that can influence on the type of road that a person want to venture into. What I learned from that day was that a particular experience is able to change a person's life forever. That particular experience had already came for me, and it had forever marked me onto the rode of becoming a lawyer."

I agree with Vincent that one experience in one's life could affect them their whole lives. I don't have any one that I cared about die yet, but I did have a few pets. When one of my cats got killed by a car, I was so sad that I trembled when I thought about it too much. This also happened when my one and only dog died the same way. I didn't know until I returned to Australia to visit. I questioned about it for a long time only to be disappointed. I cried, but I felt that it made me feel stronger. After getting over my beloved pets, I felt a little bit lighter from a load of sadness and tears, and stronger since I knew that I have the power to control and contain my emotions.

Ender's Game 1

In the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a young boy, Ender, is destined to do something that his jealous brother, Peter, wanted to do. Peter is older and stronger than Ender, and uses that advantage to abuse and threaten Ender all the time, causing Ender to turn depressed and scared all the time. The only person who defends Ender from Peter is their sister Valentine. Valentine isn't as vulnerable to Peter since shes older than Ender, but still younger than Peter. She is the kind-hearted member of the family and even risks her life to defend Ender from the evil and torturous Peter.

“They only authorized you because I was so promising. But I didn't pan out. You did better. They think you're better. But I don't want a better little brother, Ender. I don't want a Third.” “I'll tell,” Valentine said from the doorway. “No one would believe you.” “They'd believe me.” “Then you're dead, too, sweet little sister.”

This quote directly shows each other's love and hate for each other. Peter hates Ender a lot, enough to want to wipe him off of the planet, and Valentine loves Ender just as much as Peter hates him. The only reason Ender is always depressed about himself is that he does not want to end up like Peter, a bully. This quote also shows how much of a selfish jerk Peter is. He only wants what is good for him, even if he has to murder his own siblings that share the same genes as him. His close-mindedness also shows in this quote. When he hates a person, he just turns to threatening to kill them. These both contribute to why Peter was not wanted for this difficult mission. The commanders probably did not want a psychotic boy that will kill whoever he does not like, and if not killing, then torture. Later on in the section, Peter continues to torture Ender mentally. This brutal torture haunts Ender when he is in military school. Ender becomes an easy target to bully and abuse. Peter's beating towards Ender makes Ender fear defending himself for that would hurt the other person.

The Kite Runner Overall Book Review

1. What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
• Hint: If your book has an introduction, it's a good place to look for direct clues about the book's intended purpose and good quotes to include in your review.
3. What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
• Hint: If you just retell the events that happen to your character, that's not "in depth." You will need to zoom in on certain critical moments that truly show your character's nature, and explain how they do.

I think Khaled Hossei’s purpose of this book was to expose the life of an unfortunate Afghan family, and how they dealt with their constant problems. He wrote about Afghan children being bullied, raped, and even killed.  Innocent people were massacred throughout the story just because they were a disliked ethnicity, Hazara.

“They called him “flat-nosed” because Ali and Hassan’s characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features” (Page 9) and “His blue eyes flicked to Hassan. “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.”” (Page 40)

Hassan, one of the main characters in the story, is a Hazara, and was made fun of it. He was always put down just because he was a different ethnicity. Hassan had no one to be his friend. Not even his only friend, Amir, backed him up. Amir just watched Hassan get raped since he was too much of a coward. Assef, the person who raped Hassan, joined the Taliban, killing hundreds and hundreds of Hazara people.This book really opened my eyes to the world of a Afghan. They would be judged by what they are instead of their actions, and would be scared to express what they felt. I can tell by how he writes about Baba, Amir, and Hassan’s problems in life.

I think that Khaled Hossei did a wonderful job int he story. It has plenty of suspense, setting, history, and emotions. It has nice ending, not too happy, since nothing stays good forever in real life, and not too sad, which would lead to a unfinished book. The reader would want to know more about what happens, so a sad cliff hanger would be a terrible ending. The Kite Runner, however, end with high hopes for a better future towards a child that was saved from the evil forces of the Taliban’s power. I think that the weakness in the book was probably the length of the setting. It took a few chapters for me to get into the book since the characters were described and discussed in detail and through specific events. For example, Assef was drawn as the antagonist in this book by the way he were portrayed as the big bad boy of the neighborhood.

“Of all the neighborhood boys who tortured Ali, Assef was by far the most relentless. He was, in fact, the originator of the Babalu jeer, Hey Babalu, who did you eat today?” (Page 38)

There were many events in the book where Assef totally abuses  Amir and Hassan like how he ambushed them when Amir and Hassan were walking to read at a tree, and the time Assef sexually raped Hassan. Personally, I dislike a lot of setting and characterization since it isn’t very catchy, but I can see how it can be good. It did allow the middle and the end to flow better, making more sense, but I didn’t really enjoy the introduction of the book.

I didn’t really get interested that much when Amir narrated about how the Talibans destroyed and terrorized the streets in Afghanistan, but I guess it might of added to the visualization of how much of a fascist Assef was. Reading descriptions really bore me out since I don’t really find suspense in the location, but more of the story. I would like a good story over a good description any day. This is why I liked the middle to end of the book. It talked a lot about actions and what physically happened.

I think that Baba’s love to Amir and Hassan was not unfair considering that they were both his sons, but in this situation I think the love shared was pretty even.

“It wasn't fair. Hassan hadn't done anything to earn Baba's affections; he'd just been born with that stupid harelip.” (Page 46)

This quote evidenced how Baba's gifts to Hassan angered Amir. His jealousy of Baba's kindaness towards Hassan felt unfair, and undeserving to him. Amir thought that Baba should love and care more about his own son, and not some servant they had. I don’t really blame him for this action since he didn’t know Hassan was Baba’s son, but I think that he should have showed a little more consideration that Hassan was not just a servant. Actually, I think that Baba’s choice of laying low on Hassan being his son was a good idea. If people knew, Amir wouldn’t of grown up any better. He would have been made fun of more, and he wouldn’t have had Baba’s greatness to guide him.

I don’t even think that Hassan would gain from having everyone know he had Baba as his father. He would have been raised by a family that is nearly ashamed to be related to him. I know that Amir would totally avoid Hassan more than he already did acknowledging how much of a coward he is, and Hassan would not only be abused and confronted all the time by Assef, more children and even adults would try to shoo him away.

“Did your father,” he began, eyeing his food, “did your father love you and my father equally?” I thought of a long ago day at the Ghargha Lake, when Baba had allowed himself to pat Hassan on the back when Hassan’s stone had outskipped mine. I pictured Baba in the hospital room, beaming as they removed the bandages from Hassan’s lips. “I think he loved us equally but  differently." (Page 322)

I agree with the road Baba chose for Hassan and Amir, but still, he should have at least tried to keep the secret with Hassan and Amir, not allowing them to spread it out. I understand how hard it might be to break such news to two young children, but I think it should of been necessary. This might of relieved some of the jealousy Amir had when he was growing up since he would know the reason why Baba acted in such a way. I agree with how Amir said he and Hassan were loved differently. Amir had all of Baba's riches while Hassan had Baba's pride. Baba would buy Amir expensive thing, but Hassan was the one Baba had faith in.

Kite Runner 3

The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is about a child, Amir, that has always been bullied by another boy, Assef, throughout his life. Assef always abused Amir and his half brother, Hassan, in stronger numbers of people like when Amir and Hassan were peacefully going to climb a tree, but Assef and his two friends, Wali and Kamal, decide to attack them. Another time in their childhood where Assef raped Hassan with Wali and Kamal holding him down. This shows how much of a bully he was when he was young, but by the time he got to adulthood and he meets Amir again, he challenges Amir to a one on one fight.

“If it’s him, you let him pass!” Assef screamed. The two men flinched but nodded again. They turned to go. One of them reached for Sohrab. “Let him stay,” Assef said. He grinned. “Let him watch. Lessons are good things for boys.” The guards left. Assef put down his prayer beads. Reached in the breast pocket of his black vest. What he fished out of that pocket didn’t surprise me one bit: stainless-steel brass knuckles.” (Page 287)

This quote shows the arrogance Assef has. He is positive that he will win just because he has the advantage of some brass knuckles over Amir’s bare and wimpy fists. He would of won if not for Sohrab’s advantage over Assef’s brass knuckles, a slingshot. Sohrab’s slingshot gave him more attacking range, allowing him to shoot Assef from afar. The brass ball shot by Sohrab would blind one of Assef’s eyes, letting Amir and Sohrab to flee. This shows how the one time Assef is fought with in an unfair advantage towards him, he loses.

This also shows how mentally disturbed Assef is. He wants Sohrab to experience a bloody fight to the death. This would damage Sohrab’s life mentally no matter if he shot Assef to save Amir or not. Assef always had a problem with killing or hurting innocent people. Assef did nothing but worsen the lives of thousands. He deserved way more than a metal ball in his eye, but I did enjoy it when it happened.

Irrational Fears

Everybody has their likes and dislikes of different foods, but my dislikes are a little bit weird. I have a few weird hates for foods, and a few popular ones. A vegetable that I have found at least a bunch of people hating on is onions.

    Onions are foul tasting ringed slices of bitterness. Their pungent smell reeks in your mouth after consuming them. It emits such a strong odor that it makes people cry. They absorb the genuine flavors of other foods in the dish and replace them with the onion's sour and bitter taste. They have a horrible crunchy texture followed by astringently rancid juices squirting out. Whenever I accidentally bite on one that is inside my food, my whole body freezes with disgust and I feel an urge to puke. I have always been told by my mother that I wouldn't even taste the onions, but now that I think about it, why use the onions in the first place if they are tasteless. When cooked, the onions look like thick strands of hard noodles that haven't been boiled enough, or like long mealworms or maggots that have been rotting in your dish so long, they have stopped wriggling. They have a dreadful taste, texture, stench, and appearance, so I don’t really know why people would eat them.
    I have one really weird food that I would try to avoid biting into, an apple. I really like the taste of apples, but I have a problem with them. Hearing people bite into juicy and crunchy apples is like listening to someone scrape their fingernails on a chalk board for half an hour, but compressed in a minute. I am not sure what is causing me for this to happen, but it has been happening ever since I was little. I would shiver, curl up in a ball, make scrunched up faces, and turn extremely paranoid. I could withstand it for some time, but when it is prolonged, I would turn crazy. Now, even if I think of apples and their sounds, I would shiver and turn cold. I could hear an apple bite from across the room, and start getting goosebumps. This irrational fear of apples has destroyed a great fruit in my life, but I have found replacements for them, like pears.
    I know that the people that read this might go to buy and eat an apple just for me, but I guess I will just try to live through it. I don’t want to feel like the only person with weird and irrational fears of things, so respond to this and tell me what you are afraid of.

Response to Tiffany

Everyone uses abbreviations on the internet, but Tiffany’s quote has got me thinking about the uses of them. I found her amazing quote from Tiffany’s blog:

Many people know me as a person who has random questions in my mind that does not even connect to the topics we discuss. During lunch, a question randomly popped up and I asked if everyone actually LOLs(Laugh out loud) when they are chatting?
Honestly, I usually use LOL incorrectly. I do not laugh out loud. I just smile or have an content face as my expression. Why must we use LOL? Is it because it's shorter than "haha" Why must we use LOL?
Not a freewrite :D so give me some answers why we use LOL

Personally, I use LOL only when I am smiling. When I am actually laughing, and I want to show my laughter, I use LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL or just a simple ROFL(rolling on the floor laughing) and LMFAO(laugh my fat ass off). I find that the longer the LOL I use, the stronger the laughing Impression i would show to the receiving person. Usually, I use a short lol when I am not laughing out loud, but smiling out loud.

On the other hand, I have seen people using LOL when the opposing person told a bad or insulting joke that the person didn't want to embarrass. The person might also send a LOL to try to drop and bypass a demeaning joke that could result in an argument. Sometimes, I use a short LOL to show that I enjoyed a joke or a funny comment, but I have to do something else like pick up a phone call that needs immediate attention. The LOL could suffice for the moment since it isn’t too boring of a feedback, but isn’t too long that there isn’t time to go and do that sudden business.

Another alternative for LOL is a simple haha. I find this more effective since I feel that LOL is too overused and childish. For some reason, I have a feeling that if the LOL is capitalized or lower cased, it would show a level of the humor for feedback. A lower cased lol would be comsidered a weak laugh, and a capitalized LOL would be a solid laugh. In the end, I think that different people have different approaches to giving feedback, but for me, LOL isn’t a very effective one.

The Kite Runner 2

The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is about a child, Amir, with a middle class father, Baba, that has a stubborn way of not accepting other people's help. He did not want help so he wouldn't show a sign of weakness.

“I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much, Mrs. Dobbins, but I don't like it free money.” and “...alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money.” (Page 130) and (Page 131)

These quotes show how Baba didn't want the free food stamps even when it could be useful. The food stamps could of saved Baba a lot of money from working so hard, but he returned it just because he was such a prideful person. He could of worked less with those food stamps, and he could use the saved time to spend it with his son, Amir. This also shows how self-conscious he is about himself and his actions with wealth. He doesn't want to be seen as a poor person, even thought he is. I think that he is too prideful and determined, and this is why he later dies of cancer.

“He hated doctors and hospitals. To my knowledge, the only time Baba had ever gone to a doctor was the time he'd caught malaria in India. Then, two weeks later, I caught him coughing a wad of bloodstained phlegm into the toilet. "How long have you been doing that?" I said. "What's for dinner?" he said.”(Page 153)

This shows how Baba does not want help, not even from a trained professional that nearly everybody goes at least once in their lives. This shows how his self-confidence in his health has ruined his own body. Even when he knows he is in trouble, he still plays dumb with Amir, trying to change to topic. This attitude shows that Baba is totally stubborn, and that his adamance is the reason he died. His death was deserving, but didn't have to happen. If only he was more open minded to different ways to show his strengths, he would have gotten treatments.

In the end, Baba's own stubbornness killed him in the long run, but if he was more submissive, then he might of lived longer and even happier.

Australia Is Not That Different

Ever since I attended school in the United States, I have gotten questions that have made me laugh, sigh, or even mad. For example I have been asked numerously, “Are there kangaroos jumping around your neighborhood like how we have squirrels?” I would laugh hysterically and in my mind wish that it was true, but sadly answer with a no. I would explain how kangaroos didn’t live in the cities and how we lacked in crazy squirrels, we had plenty of colorful, but noisy birds. Where I lived, Sydney, there were cockatoos, white parrot-like birds with yellow Mohawk-like hair, colorful parrots, black crows, kookaburras, and hundreds of other beautiful birds found nearly in every livable tree. One thing that started out fun, but is now annoying is when people walk up to me and ask me, “Speak some Australian” like Australian is another type of language. I would explain how there is no Australian language, and that it is just an accent that differs from different people. When I say this, people would disagree and say that they don’t have an accent when they obviously do, but they are just so used to this way of speaking that they do not know any different. Plus, I would tell people who ask me, “Are you Australian?” how being Australian is a nationality, and is not running through my genes. I would then compare how being Australian is like how they are American, it is not in your genes. 

Even though I enjoy laughing at how ignorant some people can be, I do get tired of the same questions repeated over and over again like they are the only things people know about Australia. Just today I was asked, “Do Australians dress weird, like do they wear really funny clothes?” and “Is Australia just plain desert?”

This made me surprised, and I answered, “You do know that Sydney is just a city like San Francisco. It is really not that much different.” These questions have made me realize that some people really think Australians have different lifestyles just because it is in a different location as the United States.

Response to Luis

Lack of Attention and Respect Towards Substitute Teacher

I found the following quotes from Luis’s blog, and I am using them because I can really agree with what he is saying:

“I hate it when people try and take advantage of substitutes like if they do not even know the rules of the school... I admit it I also used to take advantage but sometimes there is a limit. Some people take it too far. Some people try and impress their friends to think that they are hard (as in tough).”

I also agree that this past week of substitutes at Alameda Science and Technology Institute(ASTI) have been abused by the students. For example, one of the substitutes that came to help out for numerous occasions has an overly nice attitude. They wait until a student finishes mindlessly distracting them, instead of having the student listen to the teacher first. This person is constantly being ignored when talking, and has been convinced that certain devices during class were allowed when they were obviously just a distraction. I am not saying that I dislike kind-hearted substitutes, but like Luis says, there is a limit. For instance, when the classwork is supposed be done individually, students should not blankly neglect the rules and start socializing just because the current person standing in the front of the class isn’t the normal teacher. I have also seen a few students take advantage of the substitute teacher’s kindness by arguing stubbornly to the substitute when they are obviously out of line to speak in such a way.

“Another thing that I find weird is when a person is concentrated at doing their work so much that they are alone or are not talking. This is weird to me because school is also about having some fun and not work all the time.”

I think that all students are supposed to be independent and quiet when doing individual work. That is why it is called individual work, and not group or partner work. Having students doing their work intensively should be a regular thing, and not something that is irregular and uncommon. I do agree that all work and no fun is not very interesting, but school is not made for children to have fun. Children go to school to learn and grow their intelligent minds, and a bit of fun is just added to lighten up this undesirable journey of education.

The Kite Runner

The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is about a child, Amir, with a middle class father, Baba, that seems to show as much kindness to Amir as their servant, Hassan. Before Hassan gets abused by Assef, Wali, and Kamal, Amir doesn't fully realize how much Hassan means to him, and how closely bonded they were, but when it happened, Amir sees how loyal Hassan is to Amir.

“It wasn't fair. Hassan hadn't done anything to earn Baba's affections; he'd just been born with that stupid harelip.” (Page 46)

This quote evidenced how Baba's gifts to Hassan angered Amir. His jealousy of Baba's kindaness towards Hassan felt unfair, and undeserving to him. Amir thought that Baba should love and care more about his own son, and not some servant they had. In total, this shows how Amir thinks that Baba's dislike towards his behavior and preferences has made Baba favor Hassan, a nobody, more.

“Even from where I was standing, I could see the fear creeping into Hassan's eyes, but he shook his head. “Amir agha won the tournament and I ran this kite for him. I ran it fairly. This is his kite.”” (Page 72)

This shows how even when Hassan could have been safe just by giving Assef Amir's kite, Hassan didn't do it because he is that devoted to Amir. When this is happening, Amir is listening to this whole thing, but he doesn't stand up for Hassan. On the other hand, he just runs away, and admits he is a total coward. This section of the book shows how Amir takes Hassan's kindness and trust for granted.

“He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone... I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief.” (Page 105)

This quote shows just how much Hassan will do for Amir. It showed how Hassan gave more love and care than anybody that Amir knew, even Baba, his own father. Amir that Hassan is way beyond his expectations of what a servant would normally do, and how much Hassan really meant to him. He also gets the picture that Hassan will sooner or later give up on him if he kept taking advantage of him and his faithfulness. He admits to himself that he isn't treating Hassan the way he should, and how if he regrets what he did.

Reflective Essay

Reflective Essay

    Blogging on the web is one of my favorite types of homework styles since I choose my own topics to write about, but narrowing down to one subject per post might be challenging sometimes. Another problem I have come by when writing is writer’s block, or a period of time where you become stuck and can not think of new ideas. Blogging has definitely changed how I write, like how I can spill an essay out of my mind that also flows and makes sense. I love the idea of blogging for homework since I could think of the blog topics at the top of my head and just write them. Plus, I have noticed my areas of struggle, and how I could decrease the amount of times that I stop to ponder about my ideas.
    Usually, I respond to other people’s post that I can connect to and write about, but when I do a free topic, I would write about something we had a quick write on during class like my post about which superpower I wanted or a fresh new topic that I had ready in my mind to talk about like when I wrote about my all time favorite thrill ride. When I did my post about my quick write, I only took the base and idea of it since what I wrote in my composition book wasn’t a fully though out piece of writing. As for my idea for the thrill ride, I wanted to talk about something I enjoyed in my life, so what better topic to write about than roller coasters? Thinking of a new topic to write about was harder than having a brain stormed quick write or a self expressing response post, but it is definitely more fun to remember what fun I had back at that time, and how I long those days of summer days I had in Universal Studios.
    The thing that gets me to write is the clock that ticks every second, mocking me and my resemblance of a snail. My wait until the last day to do homework has been haunting me ever since I was in sixth grade for I hate the boredom of doing homework so much that my mind randomly picks out anything and everything distracting to keep me from concentrating. This constant distraction usually stops when I get my work rolling, but that takes too much time that I generally don’t have. This leads me into my problem with writer’s block.
    Stopping and Starting my work is an extremely inefficient way of working, but it sometimes happens without noticing. Normally I stop to think every time I need a stronger choice of vocabulary to choose to, so I always have a tab just for the thesaurus. I tend to dwell on this problem for a long time since it takes me a while to find my so called “perfect word” that fits marvelously inside the text. Sometimes I would go onto the thesaurus online and look up a synonym for the word, but my fastidiousness would have me traveling page to page, looking for a word that does not even exist in the English language. When this happens, I feel like a failure for I had spent at least five minutes trying to look for the word, and I ended up with the word I found in the first five seconds of the impossible search.
    Ordinarily, I get myself unstuck by zapping myself with a gun of realization, pulling me out of the never ending wild goose chase for intelligence in my preference of words, but sometime it would take me an hour or two to realize that I have totally drove off track. It would sometimes take me an hour or two mainly because of my quickness to get distracted by random things that suddenly become way more interesting than the original thing I was supposed to be doing, homework. I have figured out that my mind practically can not understand and process homework until about eight or nine o’ clock at night, with an exception of extremely important assignments that require an enormous amount of time like projects and essays. This would lead me to work until midnight or as late at three in the morning. Sleeping at three a.m. gives me only four out of the eight hours of sleep a normal human being my age requires when I wake up at seven in the morning to go to school. This procrastination leads to decreased amount of sleep which in turn leads to yawning during class all day and drowsy eyes that have troubles staying open, which in turn leads to poor attention towards class and lowered knowledge of vital information taught by the teacher.
    I love the idea of blog posting since this allows everybody in all of the classes to read, respond, and even share the piece of wordy art. Responses that other classmates post help give another point of view of the original piece like how I responded to Shiyun’s post about how people refer to each other as friends and how each friend is grouped and treated differently. I responded to her post by saying how I label people and how I, personally, treat them. These past two and a half months of weekly blogging has taught me how to go with the flow of writing, and confidently talk about any subject that is on my mind.
I have noticed how I can whip out three paragraphs of a topic easily within an hour.
    As for now, my main goal is to stop procrastinating on my homework, and I know that it will take way more effort to actually follow this rule than to simply say it. I think that without procrastination of homework in my life, everything would be easier. From waking up, to being awake and safe when biking to school, to paying attention at school, and to my own personal health, doing my homework earlier will only result in positive results.

Of Mice and Men Char. vs Fate

Of Mice and Men

The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men, Lennie and George, who always get in trouble. They are best friends that have been run out of their own town, and have moved to a ranch to work enough money to buy their dream house. Curley hates Lennie for being such a big person, and attacks him later on. In the process of beating Lennie up, Lennie reached out and crushed Curley's hand. It broke, only angering Curley more. Lennie's stupidity gets himself in trouble again with Curley's wife, but this time George can't save him. Curley's hate toward Lennie is so great, he wants to shoot him down to the ground. The central conflict in Of Mice and Men was character vs. fate because George and Lennie have always been destined to get into trouble before getting their dream house.

“Jus' wanted to feel that girl's dress-jus' wanted to pet it like it was a mouse- Well, how the hell did she know you jus' wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin' for us, and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outta the country.” (Page 11)

Since Lennie couldn't control himself, his addiction to soft thing always gets him in trouble. This leads into a problem for George since he promised he would stay with Lennie. George has to find a place to run and hide, like how they hid in the irrigation ditch, and save Lennie once again. Lennie's problems have always ruined Georges plans, and they were bound to happen again.

“Lennie's eyes moved down over her body, and though she did not seem to be looking at Lennie she bridled a little.” (Page 31) and “Lennie still stared at the doorway where she had been. “Gosh, she was purty.” He smiled admiringly.” (Page 32)

Lennie's experience in Weed, scaring the woman when grabbing onto her dress, foreshadows that Lennie will get in trouble with Curly's wife since Lennie can not resist himself from things he likes. Lennie is totally mesmerized by her, so his lack of control would convince him to do something stupid sooner or later.

“Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scaps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy.”(Page 26)

Curley hates Lennie just because he is big, and since Lennie can't help himself, he would probably get into trouble with Curley. Plus, since Curley is Lennie and George's boss's son, he could easily tell his father to kick Lennie and George out of their jobs. This would proceed into their lack of money needed for their dream house.

George and Lennie have too many problems that are working against their plans to live on their own land that it is certain they wouldn't get their house. Curley could get Lennie fired whenever he wants, and Curley's wife could get Lennie to do something stupid that would get him run out. When Lennie is run out, George is pulled with him, delaying their dreams.

Response to Andy Lau

I got these great quote from Andy Lau's blog:

I am not going to lie, I am addicted to Facebook. I do not know why, but I always find myself going on that website without a goal or a legitimate reason.

I will also admit that I have some obsession with this terrible time-sucking website. I will go on it just because it is the only thing on my computer, since I don't have games, that will keep me a little sane from my boring homework. I usually tell myself that I will just check that notification, and get straight down to homework, but this doesn't work out as planned most of the time. I end up failing myself, and looking at some conversations that don't relate to me in anyway. I don't waste as much time on Facebook, since it does get dull, as on Youtube. I would go on Youtube for the same reason as me going on Facebook, and look at a video. After laughing hard at one, I look at the related videos on the side, and remember such I laugh I had, so I click that too. This leads to hours and hours of time wasted just because I saw a video that gave me a grin. This also happens when I see a video that is extremely interesting, like animal videos. I watch hundreds and hundreds of videos lasting from three minutes to an hour long, but this does educate me about the creatures around me. These so called educational videos have absorbed so much of my time that I don't get to do the actual work that helps my current education.

I know that Facebook is probably one of the biggest reasons why my homework and projects is not top quality. I also understand that Facebook has kept me from getting perfect scores on tests. Every time I work on homework, projects, or study for tests, I find myself browsing Facebook for no apparent reason; totally distracted. Only if this distraction was not in my life, I would do a lot better in school.

 Facebook and Youtube have completely rearranged my priorities of work. They somehow convince me that that extra minute of browsing or watching won't hurt my abundance of homework time, but that extra minute collects. It collects by sixties and sixties, making hours of time cut out from my homework. I end up starting at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. when I actually sat down to work at 5 p.m. This leads me to sleep at around 12:30 p.m. when I could have slept at 10 p.m. or even earlier if I had done my work as planned. When I wake up the next morning at 7 a.m., I don't feel like waking up and yawn continuously during class.

Facebook and Youtube are such grade destroyers that give me so less that it takes, but even though it totally hurts me, I can not let them go.

Response to Tiffany

I have quotes from Tiffany's blog that I can terribly relate to, shamefully:

First of all, why do we swear? We swear to get our anger out. Usually I would swear because of things that can be ridiculous to me. I remember one time I was watching Mythbusters about something of why we swear. It said that we swear to release stress. So that answers my second questions, we swear to release stress. Some other people say, that they swear because it gives them pride. What pride is that? If I had a habit of not swearing, I would be happy.

 My bad habit of swearing has offended everybody around me, including my relatives, teachers, friends, and their parents. The swear words I use just have a way of running out of my mouth. They sometimes sneak out even without me knowing and noticing for a few seconds. I think that people like me swear because it seems like such a simple but effective type of way of speaking your mind. Most people know it, and it is so easy to say, that it becomes used everyday. Ordinarily, I swear when I am really irritated or hyper into the extreme. When in those stages, my mind tells me that I can say whatever I want, and to anyone I want. Shamefully, I used to use swear words as a way to show that I am mature, but now that I know that this is just plain childish. The habit I had has stayed with me, even after trying to abolish and commission it to leave. When out of school, my medial curse words amount to 4-10 per minute. This may seem a lot, but I could regularly fit at least two swear words in a sentence. I admit they don't make sense to normal people, but they sure make sense to me.

Instead of saying F*** you, why not just say forget you? 

 Normally, when I am with people that are easily offended or I don't know, I use words suitable to all ears, but when I get irritated at someone or something, some curse words slip out. I usually have a way of not swearing in front of most parents, children, and girls, but I have such a close relationship to these simple words that it might accidentally slip out of my mouth. I don't speak foully in front of parents for they might get offended and judge me for a rebel. I would never intentionally swear to children since I know how these are words that should never be learned , and bear that my habits are the reason a child is cussing to people, thinking it is cool. For some weird reason though, I don't use cuss words when I talk to most girls. I have noticed that I contain some kind of switch that turns my swearing off when I talk to people I first meet. I think that in my brain, I know people generally don't like others cussing, so it temporarily erases swear words out of my mind, letting me talk in a nicer tone.

Response To Billy

These great quotes came from Billy's message to Justin Bieber's haters on his blog:

I really need to talk about something VERY important. Everyone knows who Justin Bieber, but why does everyone hate him. Mr. Bieber is a regular normal teenager (just like all of us) who has an amazing voice and is very popular.

 I don't dislike Justin Bieber, and you have a good point, but I think the main reason people are hating on him because people think he is overrated. People think that too much attention is centered into this one boy, and the attention should be evened out more for other people, maybe even greater than Justin Bieber, to come forth to fame. They believe and know that there are singers way more talented than Justin Bieber, and that other singers or people with special talents need room to rise to fame too. I, personally, think this is why some other famous singers, like Soulja Boy and Lil Wayne, are being disliked.

1. He sings like a girl, because he has not cracked his voiced yet
His voice is AMAZING right now. I actually hope he doesn't hit puberty, because he will not be popular anymore. How do you think how most of his songs became popular? If he sang in a lower voice, I bet he will not be as popular as he is now.

 I think that most of the people who are complaining about Justin Bieber's high-pitched voice are actually disliking it because they are not used to that type of music. Different people have different preferences of music. Some people like rock, some like rap, and some like pop, what Justin Bieber's style is. You couldn't expect someone who liked extreme guitar solos and loud drum beats like a young pop star that is getting more popular than their favorite band. So in defense of their bands, they create hate messages degrading other people, like Justin Bieber, of their fame, thinking it would help dilute the popularity of their victim. Since teenagers nowadays like following their fellow peers, some of them copy this trend of hating on Justin Bieber, creating giant grenades of hate exploding everywhere.

Though disliking someone or something publicly is a terrible thing to do, people should have their own choice of showing what  they like and dislike for everybody to see. This is why there is both a like and dislike for things like Youtube, so people could show their inner feelings for what they watch or read.

Response To Shiyun

I got this really eye-opening quote that got me thinking from Shiyun's blog:

  Do we every classify our friends and put them in different groups? Maybe you would say no to this question, but later on you would understand what I mean. Have we thought we constantly use our friends just to make us feel better like they are tools to us. Are there some friends that are just your friends because you want to know more about them so that you can spread rumors? To notice the initial stages of a fake friendship you would notice that he/she would not care much about your feelings and they would be the one that is mostly taking control of you.

I noticed that I,personally, classify people in different groups of personalities and treat them accordingly all the time, but everybody has their own unique combination of them. Some friends are easier and more fun to talk to, and some are not. Some of them could be nice or mean, or even two-faced.. Some friends are helpful and studious, and some could just be unhelpful and lazy. Some people in your life might be easily taken advantage of and abused, but they might also be the people that are trustworthy and you could call a friend.

I have taken a few people for granted, and asked for some of their time when I didn't need it. But I only did that to them because I knew they were trustworthy and warm-hearted. They are the people that I would in turn spend my time helping since they helped me. These people are the people that I would label a true friend. Entity of trust is what helps build a helping mutual friendship.

For the people that I have around and are sometimes, but not always honest, I would still label them as a friend, just not a true and reliable one I would depend on. I believe that for one to be trusted, they need to be trustworthy in the first place. It should be a give and take thing, where the effort you put in is the effort you receive. Reliance is necessary for a true friend, so for the people who aren't repaying your efforts, they don't deserve your time and should be simply ignored. All they would do is aggravate your life, so they should be labeled as a fake friend, and ranked to the bottom of your list.

Q's lack of perspective

The Aquatic Uncle

Q's defining characteristic is that he constantly misunderstands other character. Q always jumps to conclusions, and thinks in his own angle. He thought that just because Uncle N' ba N'ga wasn't on land, he wasn't happy.

“We had made various attempts to get him on land with us, and we went on making them;” (Page 73) and “Uncle, if you only knew how sorry we feel leaving you all alone, at your age, in the midst of all the dampness...” (Page 73)

Q jumps to conclusions that uncle N’ba N’ga needs help just because he is old. Though this shows his kindness and perseverance, he doesn’t stop to notice how his great-uncle truly prefers the waters over the arid lands. Later, Uncle N’ba N’ga even convinces Q’s girlfriend Lll, a fish with fins adapted to land, to marry and live with him. Though Uncle N’ba N’ga makes it extremely clear that he wants nothing to do with the land Q lives on, Q just sticks to what he thinks, and ignores Uncle N’ba N’ga.

"But every time an opportunity occurred, I postponed it, out of embarrassment; knowing the prejudices among which she had been brough up, I hadn't yet dared tell Lll that my great-uncle was a fish." (Page 75)

This shows how self-conscious Q is, and how low of pride he has for himself. Q thinks that because Lll is different from the fish Uncle N'ga N'ba is, Lll would not tolerate his ways of life. Q fears that once Lll meets his old-fashioned great-uncle, she would think otherwise of him. Instead, When Lll meets Uncle N'ba N'ga, she is fascinated of what he has to share, and even sneaks away from Q just to meet him again.

"One of those questions you ask just to make conversation:as if she cared about those rushes!" (Page 76)

Q jumps to the conclusion that Q didn't care the least bit of what Uncle N'ba N'ga had to say just because he was different. Unlike Q, Lll looked at Uncle N'ba N'ga's point of view, and was so impressed of the sea that she left Q for it. Lll showed that she cared about what Q's great-uncle had to say by asking more and more questions, but Q just simply assumed that Lll wasn't interested what his fishy great-uncle had to say.

Qfwfq was too arrogant to see Uncle N'ba N'ga's and Lll's perspective of the sea, and lost his girlfriend because of that.

Jurassic Park: The Ride

The most exhilarating thrill ride I have ever experienced is the Jurassic Park: The Ride in Universal Studios Hollywood, CA. 

First, the boat enters the water and calming, but adventurous music plays in the background. A man narrates your ride, telling you what is happening and what you are seeing. You travel inside the jungle of the Jurassic Park, and realistic, life sized dinosaurs appear out of the bushes and water, spraying all of the passengers with water. Dinosaurs like the Ultrasaurs, Stegosaurs, and other dinosaurs appear spontaneously, surprising your senses.The calming music stops, and gets replaced by tense, sudden music. You could hear electricity sparking while the dinosaurs screech. It is interrupted by muffled radio transmissions warning the boat that danger was ahead. 

You are transported to a route where the park is torn apart, and a smashed car falls off the ledge. High-pitched shrieking from dinosaurs with frills attacks your ears while they spray liquid at your face. Extremely realistic dinosaurs stalk and break through to you while you go through a tunnel surrounded with pipes. The dinosaurs break the pipes, exploding gases that are supposedly poisonous to you, giving you an adrenaline rush. Everything becomes pitch-black when suddenly loud emergency sirens blast out of control, mixing with the ear-piercing shrills from the dinosaurs.You finally see light coming from where you are escaping to, but all of a sudden the music becomes louder and louder, rising to a climax where a lady in the background says this area will self-destruct in 15 seconds. This is when a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex appears in front of you, scaring the daylights out of you. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one says the robotic lady, and when the whole vehicle is about to be eaten by the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the passengers go straight down on a 84 foot gravity-defying plunge. Everyone inside the raft becomes completely soaked and extremely electrified from the thrilling ride. 

This is the most blood-tingling and mind-blowing water-based amusement ride anyone could ever try. This has adventure, lifelike dinosaurs, and even a heart-stopping drop. Everyone on this Earth should be perceived of this amazing ride. Consent should not be necessary to go to and enjoy this ride.  There isn't much more a person could ask for in this eye-popping five-minute experience.

Response to David Su

I was reading David Su's blog and I found some quotes I can really relate to:

Before and during a speech or a conference, I become extremely nervous and feel the need rush. I want to get the speech or my part of the conversation over with. When this happens, it tends to imply that I will shake my legs or stutter.

 I have the same bad habits as David. When I read a paper in front on the class, my leg starts moving around like it has its own mind, and my mind tells me to speed up my reading and get it over with. My whole body gets cold, and I get chills down my spine. I sometimes read the wrong words or even skip a line when I am nervous. My eyes want to get over with the text so fast that I lose focus of where I am reading, and when I look up to the audience, I see everyone staring or gossiping at me.

In my opinion, I believe that i become nervous because I know that there is something on the line; my grade. Usually when I normally talk to friends or teachers as a casual talk, I feel fine because there is nothing that could influence greatly on my future. 

I also feel that I only get nervous when I speak in front of a crowd because I don't want to screw up badly. This self-conflict leads to me worrying about reading the paper, which distracts me, making me confused of what I am supposed to read. This also happens when I write a paper that I don't proof-read. When it is time to actually read the paper, I find many mistakes that throw me off course, making me have to think on the spot of what I was actually saying, and change it before I look really unprepared and dumb. Usually, the teacher sees right through this, and instantly deducts points, leading me to learn my lesson and regret spending those few extra minutes reading what I have written over again to check for mistakes.

Ten Vocabulary Words

1. acquisition
2. commision
3. perceived
4. consent
5. reliance
6. integration
7. entity
8. liberal
9. medial
10. subsequent

My Superpower

If I had a super power it would be the ability to create an item by visualizing it in your mind. Others might want to fly or have super speed, but if you could make things with your mind, you could just visualize a jet pack to fly or a race car for speed. You could make up anything you want from guns to fight crime to food to fight poverty. Visualizing items is the best super power since you could do whatever you wanted since you controlled matter.

Another super power that would be covered by my supreme power is laser eyes. You need to have glasses to control your laser eye beams, but if you had a laser gun, it would be much simpler. You wouldn't need diamond skin to protect yourself because you could just imagine bulletproof or even grenade-proof shields and armor that would protect you when against loaded murderers. Invisibility is another superpower wanted by many. This is replaced by simply creating an invisibility cloak. Breathing underwater wouldn't be a problem for you have unlimited oxygen tanks.

This superpower is one of the handiest and most useful one there is. When going to the airport, you wouldn't ever need to bring luggage or go shopping for new clothes at the mall since you could just get a new outfit in a matter of seconds. Everything necessary for everyday living would be at the tip of your fingers. Whenever you are thirsty or hungry, food is one visualization away. You could even create your own private island where it would be customized and built without spending a penny. It could have a huge mansion and everything you could imagine. Whenever you are tired, you could just imagine the most comfortable bed that could ever exist on Earth. It could be just condensed fluffy clouds or whatever you would like. This superpower would be the one that that literally brings your dreams to life.

Response to Nawara

I found this quote from Nawara's blog:

I was in a community where we succeed in higher educational standards. As a freshman, I was scared. I felt like I was not going to succeed even though I was accepted, I did not feel like I was ready. While the year went on, I became to fully understand the requirements and expectations to succeed as an ASTI student.

 I have pretty much the exact same feelings Nawara had. I feel that I am not fully ready to take on this advanced school, and that even though the teachers would help me throughout my Alameda Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) experience, I would somehow fall behind and get lost in the work. This first month of school has been easier than I expected, thanks to our teachers who know how to slowly but steadily increase our work pace. At a pace that we are capable of following, and even surpassing. This serves as a vital factor for us to not be dangling behind our peers' tails of success. Having teacher who know how to adjust us to this early college high school makes me relieved for I am in good hands.

 Understanding that I have to start this journey frightens me and also shows that I am growing up. I fear that I will make big mistakes and will not be able to change from them. I fear I will not have as much dedication to my education and just slack off.

I also fear that I will slack off when my work becomes too unbearable and I lose motivation. This first month's work hasn't been out of the ordinary, but I know it would get multiple times harder. I know this is just the very start of this soon to be rigorous adventure of education, and that I would have so much work to do that it would be necessary to drop all of my free-time fun . In later months of school, I would probably wish it was still the first month of school, and I could relax with such low amounts of home and class work. I would wish for this first month like how I used to wish to be a carefree kindergartner. In the end, all I can do now is to do my best, and hope that it is enough.

Rebuttal for Con Abortion with Alex Noble

    In this post, we are rebutting this act of discrimination against aborting handicapped babies with Downs Syndrome.  Our opening statement can be found here and the pro sides opening statement is here.

1 in 800 babies are born with Down Syndrome, and 1 to 4000 males/1 to 8000 females are diagnosed with X syndrome; It is unfair to bring a child into the world who will face a lifetime of handicap-ability.

    In this quote, the pro side is saying that babies that are disabled shouldn't deserve a chance to live and they should be aborted. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 gives protection to people with disabilities equal rights. People with Downs Syndrome are still humans and should not be discriminated or terminated before they have the mere chance of living and enjoying the wonderful cycle of life.

    73% mothers who have abortions do so because their finances would not be able to support another human being, while 38% say that their baby would interfere greatly with their studies or pursuit of their career.  If the mother is unable of providing for her incoming infant then it should be her choice on whether or not to keep the child.

    When the pro side said this,  it seemed that they suggested that abortion should be used as a birth control. When people use abortion as birth control it is very costly to the family finances and the couple`s mental health. This idea of a backup plan to save the couple from their mistake decreases a couple’s carefulness. The couple wouldn’t think more thoughtfully upon using any protection, and would carelessly have sex.

Con Abortion Opening Statement with Alex on his Blog

Quote from Alex's Blog

I found this meaningful quote from Alex's Blog

When I was in an alliance it was very small and was composed of people that didn’t like the target or people that the target was mean to. In that situation, my options were to just walk away or to settle the conflict civilly. In that case I did neither, we had a small confrontation but then were able to talk it out peacefully.

This quote talks about how Alex chose to end the conflict of targeting people civilly. This is a perfect example of the tenth amendment in the Alameda Science and Technology Institute(ASTI) constitution, resolve conflict peacefully. Instead of continuing targeting an outnumbered classmate, Alex and his group talked out the problem with their victim. This dissolved everyone included in the dispute's negativity for each other. Fighting the opponent in a verbal or physical way would only amplify the problem itself, so it would simply be more logical and apparent to negotiate and apologize to the disputant in a pleasant way.