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.