Why Did You Choose Your Major (Final)

   I used to major in Electrical Engineering (EE) when I was a high school student at the Ming-Chi University of Technology. However, now I am a computer science major at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). The change I made and the major I chose are based on practical reasons: my interests, my character, and love for freedom.

   First, during my five years at Ming-Chi, I found that I was better at computer-related courses than electrical or electronic-related courses. If I spent the same amount of time at different courses, the outcomes of computer ones were always more satisfying. Besides, I won an award in a nationwide game and two awards in two collage-wide games; when I was in my internship at Formosa, I even volunteered to develop a database application which drew a lot of admiration from my supervisors. Those rewards tremendously enhanced my confidence in computer. I thought I should put myself in a right spot to make my talent be well developed. Also, according to the rate of return on investment, I thought I might have a gift for computer.

   Secondly, I was interested in computer science more than others, and I felt computer was friendlier than oscilloscope; if I had to choose something for company for eight hours per day, I’d rather choose computer. Moreover, abstractions and symbols were more charming to me. I loved to use logic and concept to construct a program or understand a system. To derive equations and to use mathematics to analyze a system also interested me. Most of all, there is no physics in computer science, which gave me much comfort.

   Furthermore, computer major would give me more freedom. I knew there were some SOHOs and LOHAs working at coffee shops, at their houses, or even traveling around the world for their jobs. It could prevent me from being imprisoned in an office or a laboratory because it gave me more choices of life styles.

   Considering the efforts that I put and what I gained from them, my interests, and the life styles I could choose, I chose to be computer science major.

My Moment of Self-Realization

Elementary schools are where people spend 6 naive years. People in my age were studying in order to avoid physical punishment, in the belief that education would a bring good future to us, for the sake of amusing parents, for the desire for being concerned, etc. at elementary schools. And arithmetic was one of the most stressed subjects. Multiplication was the onethat confused me most.

I am one good example. I was educated with a pre-education-reform education, and studied multiplication in the third grade. When I was in the third grade, I had homework almost everyday, and I just could not do the calculation. Every time when I was doing the arithmetic homework, I guessed an answer and wrote the number down. Inevitably, I always got my exercise book full of red crosses. One morning, my teacher, a sweet woman who was the head-teacher of my third-grade-class, thought up an idea to help the students, like me, who did not understand how to do multiplication. She named some intellectual students as tutors, and assigned each of them with one less smart peer. Luckily, my tutor was a bright, cute, and patient girl. At beginning, she taught me how to multiply two multi-digit numbers step by step. She demonstrated some examples, and asked me to do one by myself. And after I did, I made a correct answer, and I thought I really understood how to do multiplication. However, latter the same day, when I was doing my arithmetic at home, I was totally lost. I could not recall how to do it, and I therefore left them blank. The next morning, she lent me her exercise book for checking my answers. But I just replicated her works. The next morning, I did it again. I directly copied her works again and again since then. Until one day morning, one of her friends noticed that I was taking a shortcut, then her friend asked her “Won’t you teach him?”, and she replied “It’s not worth my time to teach such person.”

It was hurt, truly, but I did not cry, nor stop copying, because I would rather be able to in my exercise book unashamedly. That day, I replayed the words she said many times, and I could not help feeling like I betrayed her. Latter, when I was doing my arithmetic homework at home, I still did not know how to do multiplication. I reviewed those exercises. I mimic the processes which I copied before. I felt like I gradually understood how to do it. I finished the homework assigned that day, and I also redid the homework assigned before by myself. I felt I really knew the methodology of multiplication well. The next morning, I borrowed her exercise book for checking my answers and processes, and I found all of them were correct. I should have her to thank for making me be able to study much more difficult and complicated mathematics today.

Why Did You Choose Your Major (2)

My choice of my major is base on practical reasons, my interests, and my character. I used to major in electrical engineering of the junior-collage department at the Ming-Chi University of Science and Technology and now I am computer science major at the NTUST. First, in the 5 years at Ming-Chi, I found that I was better at computer related courses than electrical or electronic related courses; if I spent the same amount of time at different courses, the outcomes of computer ones were always more satisfied. I thought I should put myself in a right spot to make my talent be well developed, and according to the rate of return on investment, I thought I might have a gift for computer. Second, I was interested in computer field more than others, and I felt computer was friendlier than oscilloscope; if I had to choose one of them for company for ten hours per day, I’d rather choose computer. Moreover, abstractions and symbols were more charming to me. I loved to use logic and concept to construct a program or understand a system. Furthermore, computer major would give me more freedom, I knew some SOHOs and LOHAS who were working at coffee shops, at their house in the country, or traveling around the world. It could release me from being imprisoned in an office or a laboratory, it gave me more choices of life style. Considering my efforts and what I gained, my interests, and the life styles I could choose, I chose computer science major.

Motto

Share a motto or a quote that you like and try to abide by. Please explain what the words mean to you (and translate into English). Cite your source.


“What does not destroy me, makes me stronger”, Twilight of the Idols (1888), Friedrich Nietzsche.
When I am in trouble, or when some accidents happen on me, I always recall these words. These words make me willing to accept unavoidable difficulties or challenges. These words help me to laugh at the unwished situations that I fall in when I’m chasing my dream or finding my own way and my own existence. When I encounter something disappointing, frustrating, and nothing can do with, theses words give me the ability to give up struggle, and I diagnose and enjoy these scars instead, because I know that they will never destroy me, the scars will always heal over as time elapses, and they will leave experiences which make me stronger.

Favorite Animal

describe your favorite animal (one of them) without letting us know what it is by name.

They are birds but they cannot fly in the sky, instead, they fly in the water, astonishingly agilely. They wear tuxedo suits no matter gentlemen or ladies. The males of them may attract modern women very much; the male stays with the egg and keep it warm while female goes to sea to find food for their baby. They are super stars; they’ve been on the screen, act the quintessential tap dancers on the ice. Their figures are used as the symbol which scares the software giant, Microsoft, very much; it’s the symbol of one of most famous free software project, Linux. They once stirred a huge tornado in Taiwan when they first arrived, kids were eager to see them, to see those poor prisoners in the zoo.

Share A Dream Of Yours

Share a dream of yours.

One of my dreams I am able to recall now is a weird dream which often staged in my childhood. When I was a child, I sometimes dreamed I am chased by a crowd of zombies who jump so fast and extend their arms towards me; some of them are my family members. I am so scared, and I’m running as soon as possible. After the imaging marathon, I feel very tired in the dream, and I find a place to hide myself. I shrink in the tiny nook and feel my heart palpitate pretty fast, trying to cease my breath as long as possible. Finally, they discover me, and I’m trying to move again, and I’ll be woken up by a sudden twitch of arm or leg.

A Good And A Bad Feeling

Describe both a good and a bad feeling using similes and metaphors.

A good feeling:
Simile: It’s like a sweet shower, refresh my mood and thought.
Metaphor: I’m sitting in a balloon with happiness as fuel, it’s inflated, rising, and closing to heaven.

A bad feeling:
Simile: It is like virus, lurks, waits, and occupies my heart.
Metaphor: I’m a prisoner, try to escape from the jail, try to snatch the key to freedom; and the bad feeling is the supervisor, uses the negative thought as a baton, to emphasize how unassisted I am.

Reflect On Places That Have Affected You

I've often said, I'm more inspired by new locations than by any other type of stimulus. Today's exercise asks you to reflect on places that have affected you.
Exercise:
Spend a few minutes thinking about a place that has moved you immensely. It must be a place that once made a strong impact on you: whether that be a negative or positive impact is your choice. Perhaps you are thinking about a childhood memory, a holiday or an everyday place that strikes a particular chord with you. Describe this place.


Last year spring, I had a part-time job in Warnervillage at Xin-Yi, the most famous and most expensive cinema in Taipei. I was very nervous when I was standing in the ticket bar, candy bar, and coffee bar facing to customers at the first few times. When the stuffs were responsible for selling tickets in ticket bar, they had to promote the food, the suit, and be prepared for the week-promotion activity, and the managers would watch the business achievement and call for more at back. Sometimes there were some special events or annoying customers, some of the customers would strongly criticize the stuffs, and sometimes the stuffs would be punished or criticized by the managers. Some of the stuffs would apologize to the customers again and again, arguing with customers is not a rational and proper choice; some of the customer would criticize and complain again and again, some of the stuffs could not bear it, and lose their control of their lachrymals, but the tears are not the best defense or buffer to the customers who ate a gunpowder for breakfast. I would not know how much of complaints I could bear and how calm I could be if I hadn’t been there.

However, there were also a lot of funs. I might be nervous or listless when I began a usual day, but as many customers who left the bar or entered a cinema with satisfied and smelling faces, and as the coworkers’ perky voices echoed in the hall, I would become cheerful and wired. Maybe this is an example of the diffusion of happy moods.

Why Did You Choose Your Major (1)

My choice of my major is base on practical reasons, my interests, and my character. I used to major in electrical engineering of the junior-collage department at the Ming-Chi University of Science and Technology and now I am computer science major at the NTUST. First, in the 5 years at Ming-Chi, I found that I was better at computer related courses than electrical or electronic related courses; if I spent the same amount of time at different courses, the outcomes of computer ones were always more satisfied. I thought I should put myself in a right spot to make my talent be well developed, and according to the rate of return on investment, I thought I might have a gift for computer. Second, I was interested in computer field more than others, and I felt computer was friendlier than oscilloscope; if I had to choose one of them for company for ten hours per day, I’d rather choose computer. Moreover, abstractions and symbols were more charming to me. I loved to use logic and concept to construct a program or understand a system. Moreover, computer major would give me more freedom. It released me from being imprisoned in an office or a laboratory, it gave me more choices of life style. Considering my efforts and what I gained, my interests, and the life styles I could choose, I chose computer science major.

A Single Flaw In The Body

Choose a single flaw you have noticed in the body of someone close to you. Write about this flaw from the point of view of someone who finds it beautiful.


One of my friends has a snaggletooth, not very serious, just a little bit ragged. He is my classmate of junior-collage, all of us like him very much, he is one of the most popular guys at school. We all think he’s cute, and his teeth make him much cuter, his girlfriend must think in this way, too. He likes smiling and laughing, and we all love to see his teeth greeting us when he’s giggling. If he wants to go to an orthopedic surgery, we may stop him; we like his outgoing teeth so much, we cannot tolerate losing a friend who lives in his mouth and who we’ve already known for more than 6 years!

Activity 4-11

Topic Sentence: All foreign students have the same difficulty – the English barrier. Sometimes, to make an American understand and to be able to understand Americans is not easy for a foreigner.

A. The words of English.
A.1. Once, I happened to user an old word which people nowadays don’t use anymore and my teacher and friends couldn’t understand what I said.
A.2. English words also cause problems because there are a lot of words that combine to make different meanings.
A.3. E.g. “to work out”

B. Pronunciation.
B.1. English has some words that appear to be the same but have different pronunciations for different meanings.
B.2. E.g. “conduct”
B.3. To understand an American also depends on his or her accent.
B.4. Northerners have a different accent from southerners. If a foreigner learns English in the northern part of the country, he or she might have trouble communicating with southerners.

C. Technical terms and phrases which may be about new technology that doesn’t exist in their country.

Conclusion: Many foreign students find that learning English is the hardest part of college life.

A Lie You Told

Write about a lie you told, and how it made you feel. Why did you do it? Have you ever been found out (for lying)? If so, how did the other person know you were lying, and how did it feel to be confronted about your lie?


I told a lie when I was in elementary school. That time I was washing my hands with soap, and the soap slipped from my hands, straight shot into the stool, in my uncle’s house. And I was afraid to pull it out since there was something…dirty. Thus I flushed the stool instead. And, of course, the stool was stuck. I was afraid to confess that was made by me, and that made my uncle very angry and upset, he knew what I did, but he wouldn’t say. I felt ashamed very much, I was flushed faced to my uncle as if my blood vessel was stuck as the stool, and my blood couldn’t flow down as well as the soap. I hoped that I had the courage to confess and recognize it, and that’s one of my unnumbered lies I wasn’t courageous enough to confronted.

Favorite Writers and Things to Read

Who is your favorite writer? What is it about their writing style that you like? What kind of things do you most like to read (novels, non-fiction, short stories, poetry, articles) and why?


My favorite Czech writer is Bohumi Hrabul. Milan Kundera, who is also my favorite writer, praises him as the greatest writer in our era. Hrabul writes about the insignificant, low-level class people, and the people who are abandoned to the rubbish dump of the times. Hrabul uses words to mine the precious stone in their deeper soul. He’s a spectacular symbol wizard; he uses scenes, things, actions to symbolize thoughts, situations and life. His master-pieces spread a light isolating, lonely, and secluded scent.

My favorite Russian writer is Leo Tolstoy, who is classified as realism and existentialism writer. His works shows his advanced thought in his era, and he the writer sometimes appears in his words, to talk to reader directly. His novels concretely describe the characters’ thoughts and actions, and how their thoughts, feels, emotions affect their motions, actions, and behaviors.

My favorite Chinese writer is Xian-Yong Bai, who is an incredible writer still live in our era, I mean he is physically alive; the writers above are also still alive, spiritually. He is also a marvelous symbol genius. His works like the stars that are sprinkled over the sky, shining and puzzling. There are always some young birds stagger into his garden, and stunned by the azalea of red as blood, blooming so wildly, so violently. When we starts wanting to know more about his stories, when we are stirred up with his characters, they have been dimming already.

Well, I like reading them all. However, I most like reading novels, especially the ones have prose style and poetry style. Novels are interesting, and the style of prose and poetry makes them more beautiful, more imaginative, and more vivid. If fine feathers make fine birds, then fine style of prose and poetry makes the novels.