End of the year~

Now that the time has come to an end of ninth grade, its also time to remember some old blogs that I did from way back at the beginning of the year. For the most part, I can tell that most of my blogs mention about romance. That is typical because I am considered as a romantic, I love to read and watch bout romance related things. Throughout the whole year, I learned from the blog assignment that everyone has their own thoughts about one subject and you shouldn't expect that the responses that are posted aren't similar or same as your own thoughts. But, most of all I thought that having a blog assignment every week meant that we had to remember things to do in the back of our heads or else we would be sacrificing our grade. From the blogs that I have written, I feel that I have evolve quiet a bit. For example, I would usually ramble on about things and my essay grades from class aren't so good. But, after reading my classmates blogs and the way that they worded their responses, I would get ideas on how to word my thoughts much more clearly out of my head. Having blogs have definitely benefited me, my essay grades have improved over the year and I have accumulated skills of writing I don't even notice.

   At the beginning of the year we worked on To Kill a Mocking Bird and Animal Farm. I found that we focused on symbols and themes a lot more than I am used to. Which helped me to understand that there are many types of themes and symbols in a novel. Then, there's Great Expectations, the novel by Charles Dickens had many foreshadowing that was kind of hard to catch. But, with the class time that we took to discuss about the book helped me to understand the book better than if I was just reading it by myself and not discussing it. Also, The Importance of Being Earnest had a pretty big part in my understand of literary techniques too. The play consisted many puns and humor that I did not get but was eventually deciphered during class. Last but not least, Romeo and Juliet was constantly of characters in the play using metaphors and allusions to express their thoughts. We also had a couple blog entries that were about poems. I don't think that there was anything that was really important that was in the poetry related blogs. But, I think that it was mainly on reading in between the lines of what the poet is saying. Also, the many devices that are used to construct the poem and not just random things or words that are just randomly put together without much thoughts.

"Great things are not done by impulse,

but by a series of small things brought together."

~Vincent van Gogh~

I totally agree with this saying. Every human being has to work hard for something that they want or need. To do that we must do little things that will build up to bigger things in the future . Every step or task may be hard, but if we think about the reward that we will get, we keep on going until we reach that goal or reward that we were running towards. This quote is like my blogs, each of them are little contributions to the improvement of my English knowledge.

Memorable Project

  Hm...something memorable of the year. I think probably the thing that I remember the most about is the one blog that we get to relate a novel we are reading in class to something that we have read or watched in the past. That's because I watched a lot of Asian Romance Dramas and I really wanted to share the dramas or novels that I read that was really good. Sharing my thoughts about the novel or drama that I watched with my cousins is good. But I wished that I could share with other people who are out of my normal social range and have them watch the drama or read the novel that was really good that I think should deserve more attention. Also, there doesn't seem to anyone that can relate to how  I feel about the drama. For example, sometimes when I talk to my cousin about a movie that I really liked, they would say "okay..." but I could see that they don't really have an interest in what I am talking about.

   For instance, there was a blog assignment that the students was supposed to relate something that was similar to the story line of Romeo and Juliet. The tragic play of Romeo and Juliet was filled with romance, but the romance in the play was too corny. I like to watch dramas and read novels that contain romance and Romeo and Juliet was one of them. But then when I read the play, there was many uses of literary techniques used in the characters speech that sometimes I don't get what the characters are saying. Reading Romeo and Juliet was probably the one novel that increased my knowledge on how much a author and use to compose a story that can be confusing.

A Good Experience with Poetry

   Well, telling the truth, I don't really read poetry or recite poetry with my parents. At first when I was forced to watch T.V. with my dad, which contained many historical sayings. I didn't know what they meant, but then later in life when I got older, I tend to want to know more about wise or so called old sayings. When I listen to the adults talk, especially the women, they often add a saying here and there when they speak, and I would ask what it meant. I feel that I don't really like poetry at all, but then when I hear a verse in chinese that I don't know and sounds interesting, I would want to search what it means. I don't read poems at all in my reading, but now that a assignment about poems is assigned, I went to find that one book that had multiple poems in it. There was one that I liked but couldn't fully understand.

人生一世，草生一春。
黑发不知勤学早，
转眼便是白头翁。

   It it saying that lifetime is only once and grass can only grow one spring day. Black hair as in saying when you are young and don't learn as much as you can or earlier, when you turn your head you already passed your lifetime. There was also, a story about the past but I don't want to translate the story.

   The positive impact that this poem had in my life was that, I keep talling myself that as long as one works hard,they will be awarded.Also, my parents would always tell me to learn as much as I can and that learning more won't harm you. In my mind, poetry is like a phrase that contains more wisdom than one can imagine. Poetry is like a paragraph that is shortened to about one to two sentences that contains more than what the original paragraph is about. So because of the shortened sayings, the meaning behind the words are harder to decifer.

Conflict in Romeo and Juliet

   So far in the play, Romeo and Juliet I have cleared that the conflict is a person vs. person. For example,Capulets Vs. Montagues because of the feud between the two families their next generation and people are affected by this feud. The feud between has already affected their next generation, which includes their sons and daughters. Because of the feud that is still going on between the two families, Romeo and Juliet have fallen in love but if it is found out, then they would be in grave danger. Then, the another conflict that is because of the feud that arises. The conflict of Tybalt and Romeo, the hatred that was from the Capulets side seem to rub off quite a bit onto Tybalt, causing Romeo to be put into a difficult position when he doesn't even want to fight Tybalt. On top of that there seems to be problems that has arise in each family because of the family's feud. For example, Juliet and her parents, especially her father. Falling in love with Romeo has cause Juliet to rebel against her father because Capulet doesn't agree with the decision that Juliet made to be married to Romeo.

   I don't really have any problem or conflict with my family or the people care about. But it seems that in society, when there is a conflict between something, there is another conflict that is started because of the big conflict that started. Like when a group of friends say that something is gross or bad, one would go along and agree with them. But, really inside you don't think that way yourself. Then again because of the way how other people react, we don't want to be different from how the group of people act.In my eyes, from a normal small conflict, it restricts humans to do things that they want to do because they think of how other people will see them. So it's basically because of one conflict arises more and more conflict that we can't take it anymore and breakdown.

The Coward and the Weaver Girl

   From the dramas that I watched, I that this was the one drama that held the strongest resemblance to Romeo and Juliet. The storyline of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is basically the same, except how they met. Also, the character's background isn't the same. Where Juliet is Si Yin a fairy, a princess of one of the kings up in heaven. Romeo is Niu Lang, a poor and honesty boy from earth that is unloved by his family. They both met when Si Yin was 7 if i remembered correctly and that's when they fell in love. Despite the happiness that both of them experienced when they were young, when they grew up, things became more difficult. Si Yin was to be engaged to the water prince （Paris) and the crisis down on earth became more and more devastating. According to the law, humans and fairies are forbidden to fall in love. If they do fall in love then their punishment would be death. But in Si Yin and Niu Lang's case, they were separated to the two ends of the world where they can never meet. So according to Legend, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, magpies would form a bridge where Si Yin and Niu Lang can meet. This couple could be called the star crossed lovers, which is also how Romeo and Juliet is like. Except Juliet poisoned herself and both of them went into suicide where, Si Yin and Niu Lang was just separated. Not to mention, Si Yin and Niu Lang gave birth to a girl and a boy. I thought that this was a story that was also exactly like Romeo and Juliet, but this is one of the four most famous Chinese folk tales.

   At first I didn't know that such a folk tale existed until I saw the commercial that advertised this drama. I didn't watch the whole thing but I saw the important parts and I asked my mom about the story of the cowherd and the weaver girl. The Chinese name of this drama and folk-tale is called "Niu Lang Zhi Nu" ( 牛郎织女）. Although I got to say, the actors of the drama wasn't really good looking~ I think that's why I didn't watch the whole thing. What I call good looking actors is from “Romantic Princess”( 公主小妹）。

Connecting Romeo and Juliet

1. From what I have read of Romeo and Juliet, I think that there isn't really anything that I can connect with the story. But maybe the part how Montague doesn't really force Romeo to this and that at the beginning of the play. That's because my parents are the same, they let me do what ever I like most of the time. Just not when I'm lazing around and not doing my chores or homework, they would start telling to do my chores or homework. Also, when I think back, I didn't really have my parents by my side when I was younger. I was with my relatives most of the time that my parents were working at a restaurant that they owned. If I was at the city attending school, I would remember how my Dad came to pick me up from school no matter what weather, rain, sun, or storm. From what we read in class, I was thinking that most of the experience that I've had in my younger years and now is quite the opposite of what happened in the play. But, I would like some of the things that happened in the play to happen to me in real life...lie romance.

2. When I'm reading at home, I would understand most of it, maybe just the connotations of the words are a little harder. When I read at home, I wouldn't notice as much puns or humor as when I'm reading at school. I think that reading at class aloud helps me understand more of the play because of the meanings that are conveyed by another person. So, far I haven't used any resources to help my reading but I think I will use some later on when the play gets to more of the complex scenes. But one thing that I don't like about the play is that when the acts or out of nowhere they change the scene without telling. For example, in act 1.4 it started with Romeo and Benvolio talking, I thought they were at Romeo's house. But, I found out later that they were on their way to the mask party.

Wrapping up of Great Expectations

   So,every book that we read always have a lesson that is taught or a message being conveyed. In Great Expectations ,Charles Dickens use characters that are innocent and haven't seen much of the outside world. But, then when they actually come in contact with the outside world, it completely changes their views on things. Like for example, Pip comes in contact with someone who is his age for the first time and from the outside world, Estella. With the influence of Estella's point of view on Pip's outward appearance, she makes fun of pip how he is so much like a commoner and that if he liked Estella, then he would never be able to stand on the same line as she is without becoming a so called " gentleman". Now, this shows that human nature is to want more, what we don't have is what we admire or want. But, when we do get out hands on the thing that we wanted or is forbidden, we lose what is originally ours.Also, the thing that we have achieved isn't what we thought it really was. Meaning that we have to sacrifice something to get something else that we wanted. Take this, Pip becomes a gentleman throughout the years with the help of his mysterious benefactor, sure he doesn't get the girl he loves, Estella. But, he finds that Estella isn't really what he thought she was, he was trying all this time to match up to her status of a lady, but really she is the daughter of two criminals. Also, in the process, Pip loses the comfort of having Joe as a best friend and talk about what ever they want.Adding to what I also, say, I think that we should be happy with what we've got and not be greedy wanting for more than what we already have with us.