The Dogs of Babel

The Dogs of Babel



Author: Carolyn Parkhurst
★★★


Had I known but yesterday
What I know today
I'd have taken out your two gray eyes
And put in eyes of clay,
And had I known but yesterday
That you'd be no more my own
I'd have taken out your heart of flesh
And put in one of stone.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Paul is a college professor and, by all accounts, a rational man, but the truly seems to believe he can teach his dog, Lorelei, to talk. What has led him to this turnaround in his life? Is he simply crazy with grief, or is there a way in which his off-balance actions make sense?

The death of his wife, Lexy, and the suspect changes which were made in the very day drive him to yearn to figure out the truth of Lexy’s death. Besides, it seems that some academics and underground researches have achieved part of the goal of teaching dogs to speak.


2. Paul and Lexy seem to be a perfect illustration of the phrase “opposites attract.” What has drawn them to each other? What is it about Paul that Lexy finds endearing? And why is Paul so intrigued by Lexy, even after signs of her darker side have started emerge?

Their very first meeting in a yard sale, their very second meeting in the same day that Paul visited Lexy again with square eggs that she has the tools but never made, and their very first unordinary date to Disney World with eating a week of appetizer (since they did not want their first date ended too early by having an entrée) have drawn them to each other. In other words, maybe those irregular actions, especially the crazy first date plan, which has taken place when they just knew each other.

What is so special of Paul that attracts Lexy is not mentioned a lot. It may be that Paul made the whole crazy plan of their first date for her, and he accepted her, he did not turn away or left her alone when she lost control of emotions during their first date.

Her darker side is inseparable from the opposite side. The love, happiness, talent, and fertility of her connect to her sensitivities, the way she acts something she thinks is right without fears and frustrations, and, the tendency of being driven by her emotions. He knows it and he loves her. And those characters of her intrigue him. Sometimes he is tortured by her bad emotions though, but I think most of time he is captivated by her inspirations and idea, besides, her pretty face.

3. What kind of clues does Paul find to suggest that there’s more to Lexy’s death than first appears? Do you think Lexy deliberately left him a puzzle to put together? Or is he so desperate for answers that he’s finding meaning where there isn’t any?

He found that she had rearranged a bookshelf of theirs, and a whole twenty-once steak was gone, which was supposed to be eaten by Lorelei. And the suspected points are why a person died in accident would deliberately resort a bookshelf, and treat their dog with an unexpected wealth of meat.

I think she deliberately left him a puzzle to put together, and he is truly desperate for answers, he is eager to connect any change to her death.


4. Why do you think Lexy becomes fascinated with death masks? What effect does it have on her to work on such a somber project? Do you think it’s a morbid pursuit, as Paul believes, or is it a positive way of memorializing the dead and comforting the living, as Lexy sense?

I think she becomes fascinated with death masks since her first case, the suicide girl, Jennifer. Lexy reads Jennifer’s diary, which is never read by her own parents. And Lexy found some connections between them. They both are not understood by their closest. She creates her first death mask for Jennifer, not for her folks. And those following cases do not captivate Lexy as Jennifer does. However, she is still curious about their lives when they were living, and she gains some positive feedbacks from comforting the relations of the dead.

To some people, it is a positive way of memorializing the dead. But to some people, it isn’t. The latter ones merely want to memorialize the dead with the memory and the impression they think the dead is.


5. Lexy creates a death mask for a young girl named Jennifer, who committed suicide. Why do Jennifer’s parents reject the first mask Lexy makes? What kind of significance does the mask take on for Lexy? What do you think might have been in Jennifer’s diary?

She paints the Jennifer’s really life. She paints the girl’s really features underneath a smiling face, a pleasure-look mask. And Jennifer’s parents can not stand that. They can not face their daughter appears in front of them with an appearance they do not know, or is not similar to the impression they believe their daughter is.

The mask makes Lexy indulge into Jennifer’s life very often. And she must think she’s like Jennifer, who lives underneath a lovely mask.

I think the reclamation of suicide is an option might have been in Jennifer’s diary. And the decision of leaving the best lovely impression to her closest or love might have also been in it. Moreover, the feeling of being not understood by her closest might have taken a large part.


6. Paul’s obsession with the Cerberus Society leads him and Lorelei into a dangerous situation. Why is he so fascinated with this strange group? Is he responsible for Lorelei’s abduction?

Because there are a lot of discussions about that Wendell Hollis, who belongs to Cerberus Society, has enabled Dog J speaking. The neighbors, journalists, and juries declared they have heard Dog J, a.k.a. Hero, asking for help. That convinced Paul to believe that Wendell Hollis succeeded to make dogs speak. And sure, he is responsible for Lorelei’s abduction. His curiosity has Lorelei suffer such cruel surgery performed by Cerberus Society.


7. What do you make of the incident with Blue Mary in New Orleans? Why does want so much to believe that she’s seen a ghost? Why do you think her disappointment at discovering she didn’t see Blue Mary takes the form it does?

The incident reveals a big distinct between Paul and Lexy. Paul is really a rational man and Lexy is a sensitive woman. Paul tries to use every situation he can image to persuade Lexy that she did not see a ghost at all; Lexy tries to use every detail she experienced to convince Paul that she saw Blue Mary.

Maybe Lexy just can not accept that a dead person is no longer a human in the world, and that may be the reason she desires to believe that she’s seen a ghost and disappointment at discovering the truth. And she may think one day she or Paul will die. It would comfort her a little if she knows no matter the time elapse, she can accompany him or she can have his company forever.


8. Lexy faithfully records her dreams in a dream journal. After her death, Paul hunts through this book, searching desperately for answers. What role do dreams play in the novel? Do you think they offer a window into a person’s psyche? How do Paul dreams about Lexy reflect how his own grieving process progress?

The dreams in the novel reveal the secrets of the person. They reflect the person’s concerns, thoughts, and worries that are not known by others.

I think his dreams about Lexy reflect that he gradually forgives her characters and problems and angry with her secrets, or angry with the fact that too much about Lexy that he does not know.


9. In what ways does the Tam Lin poem mirror Paul and Lexy’s relationship? Which character do you think is most like Tam Lin? Who is most like Janet? Why does Lexy call Paul her “finest knight”? Do you think he could have saved her?

The Tam Lin poem reflects that one of them looks for the other one. I think Lexy is most like Tam Lin. She’s Paul’s finest knight, she brings so much funs to him, and she gives him a wonderful life he never had. In addition, she is most like the fairy queen, too. And Paul is most like Janet. He enjoys the company of Lexy. Besides, he tries to steel her back from the captivating of death masks, from her bad moods, from the period that she’s lack of inspirations. I think she calls him her “finest knight” because he suddenly falls to her life. And he shows his compassion at the first time that she lost control of emotions during their date. Somehow, she loves him. She’s the fairy queen who loves her “finest knight”, she finally gives up him. She returns him the life that she thinks he deserves.

I think he could have saved her if he spent more time to understand her, to talk with her more, and to take her to a psychologist.


10. Do you believe Lexy when she says that “suicide is just a moment”? Do you think she would have killed herself if she hadn’t become pregnant?

For a suicide, it’s just a moment, but for his or her friends and family, it’s a pain forever.

I think she would kill herself even she hadn’t become pregnant. She loved Paul too much, but her lover didn’t understand her at all. She loved Paul so much, that she’s willing to kill herself to free him from her overreactions.


11. Why role doest the phone psychic, Lady Arabelle, play in Paul’s quest for answers? Does she shed any light on the events that led to Lexy’s death?

She’s the one who uses a mystery and irrational approach combined with a conscious and reasonable direction to comfort the caller, such as Paul and Lexy. She points out that Lexy’s most concerns: pregnancy, the relation between her and Paul, and the meaning and the courage of keeping her life going on. Lady Arabelle might shed Lexy’s will to die a little bit for a moment, but she still could not regain her courage and will to live the next day.


12. Do you like Lexy? Do you have compassion for the pain she feels, or are you annoyed by the ways she lashes out? What about Paul – is he a good husband or an oblivious one? Is there any point at which this troubled marriage could have taken a different direction?

I like Lexy, and I have compassion for her. I don’t think she means to lash out anybody. She merely thinks that to kill herself is the best solution for everybody, including the upcoming baby.

Paul may be an oblivious husband, but the truth is that they don’t communicate well. She hasn’t told him the pain she feels, the courage she loses, or the will to live she needs. Most people are not aware a terrible thing is undergoing, until it becomes a fact, and Paul is not an exception.

I think their marriage could have taken a better direction if they have communicated well and contacted with professions or psychologists.

My three Resolusions for the New Year

I wish I can...

1. At least double the amount of my reading.
The good start is, I've read a English fiction this year, and I've joined a literature online study-group and taken an American literature course...

2. Learn how to sketch.
This is a wish that I've made for many years...

3. Have fun of my upcoming grad life and the field I'll research in.
I've found a professor who's in charge of an unique laboratory to be my adviser at the NCKU...

Time

I found two interesting articles which describe about time. One of them was written by Yu-Fen, she described the fireworks in the New Year’s Eve as “The powders and pieces of papers were exploded into the fire trees and silver blooms in such a luxury way, and nothing were left behind. That was definitely a quite adequate time-ceremony could not be suitable anymore. It was like a parable, mist, and lighting. It was a dizzy and captivating emptiness. We were extremely charmed in the moment, but exceedingly regretful as we were awake…And that was time, and its elapse.” You can find the article in full text with the following URL, http://blog.chinatimes.com/yufen/archive/2008/01/06/233147.html

I think that is very thoughtful, and accurate. When I was doing something important, emergent, or meaningful, I thought I was doing something good for me. Nonetheless, I look back on my past year now, I think, what the hell I was doing? It is hard to me to recall many memorable things. And when I think about the memorable things, or the time I might be able to make something forgivable and significant, I feel regretful.

Another article talks about the relative feeling about time elapsing between childhoods and adulthoods. He says we feel every new year is shorter than the past year. The reason is, comparing to the years we lived, to the latter year in our lives, the divisor or the denominator becomes greater. Thus we feel each of the latter years becomes shorter and shorter. You can find it in
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/gradlive&article_id=7093650

Well, I think that is true. I feel the latter years are shorter than those earlier years. And I think another reason is, if we choose our rest years as the divisor, then we will have a divisor which becomes smaller and smaller as the years are passing. Thus the value of the latter years is greater than the one of the earlier years in our lives. As we think our time is more and more important and valuable as we are aging, we feel the time is elapsing faster and faster.

The Last Day and The First Day

Happy New Year, everybody. Where were you when you are counting down the last few seconds of 2007? I was in a mountain which is near Taipei 101 with my classmates. There was a very good sight, and there were so much people, and, we contributed about 25 of the sum. It was a bitterly cold night, filled with enthusiastic emotions. It was my first time to see a Taipei 101 fireworks show. I felt pretty excited thought I heard about that it was the same as 2007. Some classmates of mine said he was not as heart-beat as last time, the first time he watched the fireworks show. Well, I may have to spend the last few second of the year at something else next time.

After the show, we left the square, where we crowded in, with our junks to the lower lane where we parked our scooters. When we were riding down the mountain, a friendly foreigner was chasing me and my classmate who was on the ride. He was video-recording us and said, “Happy New Year”. We slowed down and said, “Happy New Year”, to him, too. He seemed extremely happy, and said the blessing to every passenger delightfully. That’s interesting, I don’t remember I have seen any Taiwanese except clerks and groups of Christians said “Happy New Year” to strangers.

And then we were gathered in our Lab, and planed where to go next. Nonetheless, I left earlier because I felt I got a cold and ached everywhere. Well, to say the truth, I felt uncomfortable before we went to the mountain. It seemed that I got the cold already but I still went to the mountain to see the fireworks with them. One reason was to keep my promise, another one was that I seldom attended my class activities, and I might have to attend this one at least. Finally, when I was back to my studio, I laid down in my bed, fell asleep immediately. And I spent the whole first day in 2008 at traveling in my dreams. However, in the second day, I felt much better. Cool, I never recovered from a cold so fast. Maybe it was a good sign to me.

Happy New Year!!!

What does Christmas mean to me?

Hum, I don’t quite remember what I wrote in Tuesday morning. (I should’ve written it down immediately after class.)

December 25, Christmas Day, is also a memorial day for our Constitutions. But it’s no longer a holiday since I was junior high. When I was junior high, friends of mine and I wrote Christmas cards to each other. We gave each other our wishes, and hoped each other to be happy or to fall in love with a potential lover. If we wanted to know someone in the opposite gender, we also wrote them cards, described how we felt about them; that could make us knowing each other more, and have general classmates becoming friends, or beyond friendship. And I still have a box that stores those cards I received during the three years (I miss those cards but I didn’t re-read them for many years).

However, when I graduated from junior high school, I went to a junior collage (five-year collage) that was set for boys only. And classmates of mine did not celebrate Xmas anymore. Christmas day, to me, cecame a meaniful day for lovers only. Some classmates of mine would hang out with their girlfriends, but most of the time my roommates and I might stay in the dorm and prepare for electricity or calculus quizzes, and send blessings to some friends by MSN in Xmas Eve. Some communities of my school would hold a ball, and some friends of mine would have a short-strip with girl-schools, but I only attended those activities on occasion when I was junior, and I attended them less and less as I progressed to my senior year. Christmas day seemed to be a day we met people whom we did not know, and whom we even would not contact with, to escape from our loneliness.

After all, I went to a party with my ex-coworkers last Xmas Eve when I was a part-time employee in a study-center. We started from the midnight, the time we were off work, till dawn. It had a lot of funs. We circled with a hot pot, exchanged gifts by lottery, and ate and chatted. That time I just joined the company, and after the party, I became familiar with each co-worker. We did no met each other very often, that enabled us knowing each other better though.

Maybe Christmas Day is a chance that we can know each other better, but most of time, it acts like an usual working day. I still have to go to school, do my homework, and prepare the final exam which is scheduled on the following day. Some of my friends may hang out with their girlfriends, or girls they like. Most of us stay at dorm, library, or Labs as usual, and do nothing special at all. Maybe I do usual things with unusual emotions in this day. Maybe I think I should do something special today, but I do not know what to do, and it is better to deal with those things that I need to do. Xmas may be special and memorial for Christians, lovers, maybe businessmen, but not for me, at least not this year.

A Child Cried

This week, I made a child cry. I take a one credit class which is called Disadvantaged Children Tutoring. The attendees are required to tutor children in their homework as well as playing with them until their parents take them home or out of attendees’ due time. My time is scheduled at every Wednesday, and one of the kids whom I am mainly in charge of is a boy, Jian-an, which means constructing and smooth, safe, and peace. Jian-an is a kid who is prone to whine. Sometimes he is whining for adults’ consciousness and attention. Sometimes he asks me for doing his homework since he thinks he can’t do it, and I help him drawing with my childlike sketches on occasion.

This Wednesday he asked me for drawing, and I drew two pieces of silly overlapping soda cookies, a helmet, and a constructing building and a crane for him. He was satisfied, which I thought that day would go smoothly. However, when he started doing a Chinese words practicing homework, he was tired. He was doing it reluctantly, with continuous whines, and begging for my help. He wanted me doing those stuffs for him. But I refused to satisfy his desire. I said I couldn’t do the homework for him, I could demonstrate how to do it but I couldn’t benefit him in that way, there was no benefit to him. Then he in turn began crying, complaining, and whining. He said he’s tired, he’s sick of this. I said he could relax, eat something, or go playing. But he just still sat in his chair, and cried occasionally. I told him that’s okay, I would accompany him with his homework until he finished it, took it easy. And he continued his homework, and whined occasionally. Finally, he cried again, and drew some attention from others. And the chief tutor came to take care of him. He seemed happier, and writing those characters and words faster. When he finished his homework, I said good-bye to him and left.

I told this to one of my classmates, he said I could tell him I wasn’t able to do it, or I could’ve told him I wrote first character, and he must finish the rest, that would not work like a cheat. Well, I may have to try it next time.

Who Are You

    Who are you? Do you know who you are? Are you able to speak in such a way that others will know who you are? How will you speak? What words do you use?


    Frankly, I don’t really know who I am. If I have to use words to describe who I think I am, I would say: my name is Shine and I am a Computer Science major at the NTUST.

    I am a male technically and obviously, nonetheless, sometimes I act in a way that not satisfies social desirability, for example, my eyes sometimes become moist when I see a tear-jerker. And I am an introverted, pensive, kind of pessimistic person. If silence is one way to speak, then I think I may be able to make people know who I am since usually I don’t speak at all. I think and read more often than I talk. I am a common reader, as everyone who likes reading, I have a lot of unfinished books on my bookshelf, and new books always come so fast, that I never finished those books on my bookshelf. I read, therefore I am. Furthermore, I am a judicious person most of time but nevertheless investigative sometimes. I can make decision for myself easily most of time, but sometimes I am frustrated about making decision for important issue such as my future, or something trivial such as what to buy for a drink. Moreover, I am also a logical and analytic person, most of time I speak and think in such way, but sometimes my brain and tongue malfunction, that may hint that I am a computer guy. Most of all, I am a solitude person. I enjoy being alone. I like my own company. I love the atmosphere that makes me be able to talk to myself and to understand myself. I am learning the art of enjoying solitude in this noisy world.

    The most bothering thing to me would be schoolwork. Now I worry about the up-coming final exam of Mobile Computing, which will take place at the day after X’mas day. The final presentation of that course also worries me; the presentation is scheduled at the beginning of January 2008. Students in that course are asked to present a paper, but I haven’t prepared. Mobile Computing is a grad-school course; I am the only undergrad who takes it. I hope I can obtain a satisfying grade from it. On the other hand, the up-coming project presentation of Internet Security and Cryptology, which is set in the end of this year, also bothers me profoundly. Furthermore, I have a meeting with a grad senior tomorrow, who is in charge of my undergrad project. I hope the meeting will go smoothly and the project can be finished on time. Recently, I am waiting for the results of my applications for grad schools. And unfortunately, I am in the second choice list of the NTU, NTHU, and NCKU. NTU announced their second round result last Thursday, and I need two more people give up their entrance to get into the CSIE department. Similarly, I have to wait 24 more people giving up their entrance to get into the CS department at the NTHU. Worst of all, it is almost impossible that so much people drop the NTU or NTHU. However, fortunately, I was in the best choice of the NTUST, and I was accepted by the CSIE department at the NCKU yesterday. According this situation, I will probably go to Tainan if I have no luck at the NTU or NTHU.

    Despite the love of reading, another character of mine which is different to most of my classmates would be the part-time and intern experiences. I have had a part-time job at Wanner Cinema Village, a study-center, etc. The strange thing is that I still don’t know why that people were so hesitated, no mater in the highest class cinema or in the mass studying area. They always seemed to live in hustle and bustle. Furthermore, I was in an internship at Formosa in 2004, where I was responsible for assisting office affairs and developing a database program. In the contrast, this summer, I was in an internship at Texas Instruments, where what we summer interns had to do are finishing two projects each, no trivial office stuffs at all. Now, I am a part-time programmer and administrator of servers at a small foreign business located in Neihu. In spite of the unsatisfying low salary, it is a place where I can really enjoy the benefits of teamwork so far.

    Thus far, I noticed that I am a realistic person, yet reality is what I want to escape from.

Bell Man

When I just started my Yonghe life, I was confused about why there is always a man riding a bike and ringing a bell while a garbage car is passing by. The car can play music such as “For Elise” and “The maiden's prayer” itself, then why a bell-man is still required to inform everybody the car is coming?

I figured it out recently. The reason may be the streets and lanes are too narrow for a garbage car goes through. Thus a bell man rides his bike through those narrow lanes is required.


Argument

Last Saturday, when I was reading the novel, Swam, around 3:00 a.m. Two neighbors who live in up-floor were arguing, one of them is a woman and the other is a guy. The argument was caused by a guy came home late, and the woman was heated about that.

The woman yelled “Do you know what time it is? Blah blah…”
The guy murmured “….” (Fortunately, I couldn’t hear that)
She yelled “Blah blah…Do you know what time it is?”
Silence…
She yelled “Do you know what time it is! Blah blah…” again and again.

I thought “You two both don’t know what time it is, do you?”

home-schooling

Five years ago, when I first heard about home-schooling from a man, I asked him “Doesn’t locking children at home limit their social life?” And he replied me “To prison children in school classroom does limit their social life! Some families have formed a community, and children can get to know other home-schooling children.”

As we have discussed in class, home-schooling has the advantages of fewer examination, saving time for commuting, a safer and comfortable environment, a flexible learning, an efficient and effective learning, a self-paced learning, and a specialized learning. However, the most concerned disadvantage of home-schooling would be financial issues.

Although someone may criticize that not every parent is adequate for teaching because of their busy work or poor education, they can hire some teachers, we have a considerable amount of well-educated and unemployed teachers available on street. 8 to 10 families can be united to be able to afford the cost. And the united community can also solve the social life issue. Home-schoolers are not always taught by CAI (computer-assistant instruction) software and their parents only.

In Taiwan, schools are highly competitive places. Do we have to send children to such Coliseums in their early age? A lot of students’ confidences much rely on the grade they get from exams and the schools they go. And students easily give up a subject when they get bad score on it. Students’ sights are narrowed as the result of that a lot of school teachers focus on exams and some main subjects. Value, is one of the most significant problems in our education system and our culture, home-schooling could be an accessible way that allows us not to buy it.

Why Write?

I found that search engines are good tools to learn how to use a word or a phrase. We can get a lot of demonstrations and examples from the searching result. On-line English-English dictionaries and Thesaurus are also good for learning.

From another course, a teacher told about the reasons he writes, and I think they are worth to remember, and they can keep me writing.

※ Why Write?
※ Just because I feel like it!
※ Writing can help me understand my feelings.
※ Disseminate information. An idea can spread to many people who would otherwise never know it.
※ Refine our thinking.
※ Writing is learning.
Learning is Change (the way you think)
Change is Growing
Growing is Life
Writing is Life!
※ The fun of it!

Spin

Spin



Author: Robert Charles Wilson
★★★★

   A science fiction flavored with a main-stream literature atmosphere, this novel concentrates on humans and relationships. It has won a Hugo Award for Best Novel and an endorsement from Stephen King. Besides, there were no Hollywood-type heroes could save people from the doom and that made it even more non-fictionally realistic and attractive.

   The process of human beings extinction lasted for 30 years, spanning one generation. When people underwent this kind of doom, they grabbed religions and science, badly needing a faith to keep their lives going on, even though they knew they would die in near future due to the solar expansion. Jason Lawton, who put himself into the research and study of Spin, tried to save the Earth by terraforming Mars to develop a so-called remote technology. After his plan resulted in Mars also being Spined, Jason in turn changed his mind to find out the reason, and he did; he eventually traded his life for the truth. Diane Lawton, who in turn plunged into religious fanaticism, though she’s not really convinced by the faith she tried to have. Tyler Dupree, who was the story narrator, became a doctor after Spin and the doom was definitely made known. Doctor, which was a contradictory job in the theme where future and health were nothing to people. Spin chronicles the next 30-odd years in the lives of the trio, during whose life (time) 300 billion years would pass outside the shield.

   There are a lot of ironic narrations about governments, nations, and humanities. As in the real world, governments always classified everything, every piece of information and technology. Thus, conspiracies and cynicism always spreading among people; they always could not accept anything unusual and odd human being. The crimes was on the rise when people lost the hope of the future; still, the power and welfare remained charming to people though everything were doomed to be eliminated. They had nothing to lose, so they destroyed everything they do not like and robbed everything they want, for the sake of satisfying their human-nature.

   “Don’t be upset. The world is full of surprises. We’re all born strangers to ourselves and each other, and we’re seldom formally introduced.”

   The one-way love of Tyler for Diane is narrated a lot in this novel, which tends to arouse sympathy among readers. For example, “I still found myself conducting imaginary conversations with her, usually late at night, offering asides to the starless sky.”

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.

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.

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!

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.