Babylon of Writing Class

Fashion Matters

2008-01-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

I saw a movie “The devil wears prada” in a two-hour class on Friday afternoon. This was a very interesting and fascinating movie for me, although I didn’t understand the famous brand names in it. Teacher explained it is an ironic movie which teaches us how fashion industry goes and people worship the iconology formed by the fashion empire and people who care about too much about their appearance. Is it true that fashion is an art that everyone wears in their daily life? I agree with dresing suitably because untidy outlook certainly give others a bad impression, but not to the extend of obsession. Everything does.

Some girls in the movie force themselves to eat tiny portion of food to be looked slender-waist, fragile and very beautiful, other squeeze their feet into high-heels instead of comfortable shoes. Hurt but they are really into it. It reminds of footbinding, a custom ended in the early 20th century- Chinese women wrapped their feet in tight bandages so that they couldn’t grow and develop normally. The definition of beauty changes all the time. Now women would laugh what an ancient idea women in Qing Dynasty, which is only about two centuries ago, have to torture themselves; or, tortured by their parents. Who knows how people regard fashion as after one hundred years?

Fashion does matter. At the first sight people might guess immediately what your identity is by how you wear. However, what about ten minutes later after others talk to you and observe something wrong?

Yes, fashion matters, but not much.

Language Testing Systems

2007-12-31T05:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since language testing systems went on their ways, private language institutions have increased, cram schools have a great growth, and the money they've made have accumulated to an amazing sum. The time has changed; the certificates of various language testing systems are shortest accesses to higher education for students, to better jobs for staffs in businesses, and to a remark of linguist for people look for fame. At any cost, you have to live with them in Taiwan.

The failure of English teaching in Taiwan tells us a truth: don't equal abilities with the scores shown on your certificate. It means nothing to prove your fluency in freely expressing in English. Totally different.

Many friends have asked me how to prepare for such tests like TOEIC. My answer is always like that- "Sorry, I didn't prepare for that kind of tests. I assume that I can finished them with good grades, however, very soon after my English is good enough." Maybe I have never thought about taking these tests serious because I used to prove my ability for myself. Not a sheet of paper.

A night snack

2007-12-31T04:16:00.000-08:00

Counting the time to the next year is not a tradition in Taiwan. No, it wasn't before my senior high school. How that event has become an annual celebration is still a mystery for me; at least I may wonder if I could attend tomorrow's class in second period in time if I hang out until 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m.. I just can't.

Now my neighbors have been having barbecue to celebrate the coming of the new year; apparently, the smoke coming from their house is charming and also cruel for a person like me who just finished sending emails to my friends sitting before computer desk for over one hour. I strongly felt cold and hungry that I want to fetch someone to have a night snack because of a series of complicated reasons: a) I've sat too long. b) No plan in this SPECIAL NIGHT. C) It's too cold. To get rid of this miserable situation, I called my senior Harris asking if later he wanted to grab a bite to eat. Thanks God! we will have a night snack at 10:00 p.m.. So I am going to have a snap and get ready to escape from this smoking barbecue house.

Child Prodigy

2007-12-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day worthed celebration. My dad suggested that we rented a series of National Geographic documentary films, Brilliant Mind, from a Blockbuster; he is rarely generous when it comes to expenses on entrainment. However, this time, he claimed that was education through entertainment; so the payment was worthwhile. I had no argument as long as I can see the movies.

The documentaries were about savant and genius: whether their ability are similar in some cases. Savants, or usually called idiot savant, are people who show atypical mastery of specific skills. You could even take them as genius except for the fact that they have lower intelligence reflecting physically or mentally. Like most of savants may suffer from autism or perform badly on social skills.

How extraordinary they are? Some may reproduce everything, dynamic or static, in a drawing like they had taken a photo after they peer at the scene once. Their amazing abilities suggest scientists that each of us would probably be capable of much more than we think. Once science is advanced enough to free the murky parts of brain, according to those avid scholars and scientists in the documentaries, human can decide when they want to turn to the mode of genius if needed.

I think the hypotheses ignoring the psychological problems prodigies, the young genius, may face; such as pressure from peers or expectations from people who assume you can change from a prodigy to a creative inventor. Peers are likely to isolate prodigies because they don't have same topic to communicate. Therefore, there's a saying "when a prodigy succeed, another prodigy collapse." "No pain, no gain" doesn't fit child prodigy, but they indeed take a lot of pains than normal people.

Sleep early and get up early

2007-12-24T21:41:00.000-08:00

Sleeping late, as you may have heard, is one of the most harmful murder of health. If you're a morning person, congratulations, it's a good habit you should keep on it, a key to having a healthy life. Before I decide to stay up late, I should know what it can and can't do and what the downside might be. In fact, I'm very regretful that sleeping late result in big problems, including strong headache and having a bleeding nose.

I'm forced by those annoying symptoms to establish a new daily schedule, so I will be conscious that I should complete all the works and go to bed before PM 11:30, or even PM 10:30. Imagine a life without sickness is not my purpose; the only thing I wish is studying more efficiently in order to be healthier and do a few things for my entertainment, such as drawing pictures or having a outdoor picnic.

Depending on the effect of sleeping earlier, I would adjust the extension of hours later. After all, health, entertainment, and well-time management- all of those element are essential to creating a colorful life.

Da Vinci

2007-12-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have been very interested in Da Vinci, a talented genius with immense curiosity in everything in the universe born in Renaissance. He excels in many fields; he's an architect, a physician, a scientist, an artist, and anatomist.

Not familiar with Da Vinci, I knew about this master very late, with a desire to know how to be a accompanied person. I firstly noticed him in the notorious novel by Dan Brown, from the view of many Christians who could hardly find any evidence in that novel. Yet for me, not much information in this novel indicated Da Vinci excelled in a lot of ranges but only a brilliant inventor

Again my interest was aroused when I saw a mindmap entitled Seven Brains of Da Vinci summarizing the essence of a book. Being inquisitive, I searched that name in school library and borrowed it back, trying to hide the name of the book until I sat on my bike; people might think I was a geek who loved studying the brain of Da Vinci. Actually, I was.

The author Michael Gelb describe the life styles and habits of Da Vinci like he was tape-wiring this unusual old man. For example, Da Vinci scribbled ideas down or drew inspiration from ordinary things on his notebook. Da Vinci even suggested people eat wisely and do aerobics. That was what he said “nothing is harmful than eating unnaturally.”

Furthermore, I want to see Da Vinci's paintings if there's a chance, like a exhibition in Kaohsiung. Seeing the real works are definitely more helpful to help me know Da Vinci better.

Purchases that nurture my mind

2007-12-21T05:30:00.000-08:00

My mindmap notebook had only few pages left. In the afternoon I rode my bike to the book store near my dad's restaurant to buy some new notebook and a diary for this year. There were still lots of beautiful Christmas cards piling behind the window. Although they were very beautiful, I turned to the sections where I can get the color pens to grab the colors I needed.

On my way home, I went to a second-hand book store that looked clean to dig some treasure. I called it HAUNTING: it was always fun to discover some fabulous old books in those bookstores. I bought a Edith Hamilton's Mythology in Chinese version which wasn't miserable at all. It cost me 80 dollars; much more cheaper that I can have one more food box next weekend.

Self-confidence

2007-12-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

I bought a book called Use Your Memory written by Tony Buzan, a talented educator who invents mindmap and skills in teaching people how to release infinite memory and thinking ability. Mindmap is a tool which is known for its three characteristics: non-linear lines, plenty of pictures, and start in the center. It looks messy and childish; but according to Buzan, that's the secret of waking up the right side of your brain, to which color, space, art are subject.

Buzan says in his book that confidence is the foundation of doing great things. I guess it's true because I've seen many people fail to realize their potential and take advantage of the opportunities that come knocking at their doors due to lack of confidence. For instance, a friend of mine Mark resigned the part-time job he had already stayed for one more year when the boss asked him to work on a project. Having no confidence got Mark nowhere because no one could success if he was really timid.

I think self-confidence comes only when I know myself throughly and discover my potential and strengths I may have but I don't know yet.

Pimple

2007-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

I've stayed up late for a whole week preparing reading class's presentation in tomorrow with the rest three members. We cooperated very well and ideas were pouring out. Although we were very happy in the process, the discussion took over a lot of time. I had to pay for my sleep debt for that.

I'm not brave enough to look in the mirror because I get several pimples on my nose and cheeks. What am I going to do to mend it? Come on. I can't stay home all day and not go out until all the pimples are all gone. That's impossible.

Drinking more water might be helpful, according to the scientists' study in the research paper last month that drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day protects kidneys from getting sick because that clears up the waste in the body. I would try that to combat with my pimples.

Shower

2007-12-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

I usually get up late on weekends because I've got such lazy bones. However, I'm going to get up earlier on tomorrow morning since I have to work on a lot of homework. For preparing my reading class presentation, hardly could I review or preview other classes' required readings. Instead of drinking coffee, taking a shower in the morning energize me in the same way. The only difference is that coffee is addictive.

I don't dress up after I take a shower. Comfortable pajama is realated by opn, even in daytime I would wear it simply for keeping me warm.

Now I rarely take a shower on the morning except I need to go for a date.

Mosquito

2007-12-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

As many mosquitoes appeared in bedroom, I burned a mosquito coil to keep them away. I've been wondering why some like to hang up a mosquito net. First, if mosquitoes come in and they can suck their blood until you get up in the morning. Second, it's an uncomfortable thing that you may feel pressured, like someone stand behind you. Third, once I had pounded my head with the top of mosquito net.

My father said it was more pleasant to see mosquito net sway softly by the breeze rather than breathing the horrible smell of mosquito coil. The past few weeks when I stayed up late, I even found that the smell turned me on. It explains that coil is good for me, but not for my dad or others.

Eating out

2007-12-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Mom had to look after grandma through today because grandma had a small surgery on her foot; so she couldn't cook for dinner. After classes, I decided to go to eat noodles at a sidewalk stand, where many old men waiting in line.

Although it was a small stand, it took me some time before I was served, twenty more minutes I think. I also ordered pieces of soy-bean curd. The soup was great and the noodles suck. However, it was a fresh experience for me to randomly find a place to eat out.

I usually go straight home after class and have dinner prepared by mom. I admit it's not exciting as dropping in at a food stand, but very fascinating.

Habit

2007-12-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

It's said that it takes 90 days to make one thing become a habit. I've failed many times acquiring a habit in the past 20 years. It needs lots of passion and persistence to keep going on one thing when one is trying to learn new skill, or simply cultivate new talent. I am usually be determined in the beginning that nothing can stop me. By myself, I found that I can't sustain more than a weekend.

I need to learn the quality of persistent, what makes some unique and stimulating, from the successful people. "No pain, big gain." is not always ridiculous; after all, I can continue doing what I enjoy for a long time. If I enjoy more, I do more. I think this is the big secret no matter what role we play-- students, athletes, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc.

Chill wind and invisible gloves

2007-11-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

My mom threw me a pair of feather gloves the day before yesterday because I drove bike to school very early. They were warm and lighter than my old ones, and were absolutely great help.

When I was aware of the chill wind blowing on my fingers, I had already been far away from my home. How come I forgot wearing them on! It lately contributed to my frozen fingers that I couldn't even pull the key out when I parked my motorcycle.

I no longer want to wear invisible gloves again. That freezing feeling still made me very uncomfortable now.

Drawing with your right brain

2007-11-26T04:49:00.000-08:00

I've just ordered a book translated from " Drawing on the right side of your brain" on a online bookstore(http://www.books.com.tw). I closed that purchase page very quickly lest I would buy too many related books published by the same author in the condition that I couldn't ensure the value of those books.

The author is Betty Edwards, a retired professor who is specializing in art and brain functions. She founded the Center for the Educational Applications of Brain Hemisphere Research and devoted herself to creating the exercises to bring out the ability of brain, especially in effective drawing learning.

In fact, I started looking for methods of learning drawing because I want to master mindmap, one of the note-taking and memory skills, which emphasizes a lot on the importance of drawing, symbols, and creative thinking. I first came into Betty's website (http://www.drawright.com/) and saw many great works in the gallery; after I google the name of her book, I found that it has already been translated into Chinese. This research result in my purchase of her book due to the dream that I may draw figures well after reading and following the instructions in her book. I want to pass that happiness along so here comes this post.

Without TV

2007-11-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

I used to watch TV while I'm having my meals. Things turn out to be different because I've bought a Samsung K5 MP3 player. Now I listen to English while I'm having breakfast and dinner. A good thing I didn't anticipate before is that I eat less and easy to feel full. It's difficult to aware of how much we eat when we use our mind, especially watching TV. Because K5 has a built-in stereo so I don't have to be worried that I would strip the earphone line.

Besides, it does my ear good because I spend less time wearing my earphones. I believe this changing is good for both my English and health.

Watching DVDs at home

2007-11-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

I prefer watching movies on DVD at home more than going to cinemas.

Yes, if you watch a movie on DVD at home, family members may interrupt you(your Mom nags you to do the dishes). I would be very angry if my Mom disturb me for calling me to see her new accquirsition in the middle of the movie; when the telephone rings, you may really want to smash it(even it's your boyfriend/girlfriend) when the end is coming. You just can't focus on the movie at home for so many reasons. Besides, the screen and sound effect may never meet the demands of many movie snobs. Things are worse if you only have a old TV.

However, there are also some disvantage of watching movie in a cinema.

If you go to a theater, the people at the side of you usually have a popcorn or hot dog or whatever snacks. The crounching noises annoy you very much that sometimes you find it hard to stay there. Moreover, you can't lie down on a chair and yawn, which makes you very embarrased. Whereas at home, I can only wear underwear and sit or lie down at any posture on my comfortable sofa while I am watching a movie; I love this the most.

The only situation I would go to a cinema watching movies is when someone pays for that; otherwise, I am more likely to enjoy movies alone at home.

TRPG

2007-11-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

In an effort to kill swarms of vector mosquitoes, a group of exterminators came to my house spraying insecticide--dengue fever has become more sever near my house. I had to pack my stuff up and fled to another basement of a clinic, where my mom works.

While I disclosed a carton, some heavy hard cover books and piles of folders dropping on the floor. I stepped forward to see clearly out of curiosity. Wow, it's a box I used to put my kit of TRPG. TRPG is the acronym of Table Role Play Game, which is the origin of all the computer Role Play Game. A few people sit together, casting dices and writing down figures to adventure-- out of imagination. So how does it go? A game keeper and a player is the minimum requirement for playing TRPG; if you have a experienced game keeper, he can manage probably 3 to 5 players. It's very similar to story-telling-- the game keeper narrate his settings and interact with players. A typical statement is like that, “Now you are in a hotel. A witch is sleeping on the chair behind you. .....Ok, what do you want to do?” Player cast dice to see if he succeed in taking actions. Also, game keeper follow the guidelines and roles in very expensive reference books to balance freedom and logic.

A great diversity of game systems are available, including horror-oriented CoC(Call of the Culthulu), battle-oriented D&D(Dougen and Dragons), sci-fi oriented GURP(Generic Universal Role-playing system) and many other systems. Among all, D&D is the most famous and oldest system. The plot is usually associated with medieval events, or in a strange world that are full of monsters and witches.

The significant difference between TRPG and computer RPG is player of TRPG can enjoy freedom throuhly. For instance, you can break into a door or dig a tunnel to get into monster's house instead of using key to open the door. You just can't do so many interesting things like lying to a NPC(Non Player Character) or hit his ass in computer games.

Though it's so fascinating to me, it wastes too much time playing TRPG for whole day. I quit.
As I saw this box, the memories with my pals were still vivid. Maybe I can play again after I am at middle age, when time is no longer my concern.

MP3 player

2007-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

I had spare money to buy a new MP3 player because a buyer said he wanted to buy my tarot deck, which costs him NT900, at Ruten online store. Luckily, my current MP3 player was asked by another buyer at another forum. The price range of my new gadget is between NT 2,000 to 2,500; I couldn't afford more than that.

After I did some research, I finally had two targets in mind- one had good quality and the other had a microphone and flexible USB. Therefore, I have been thinking which one should I choose. It was hard to make a decision, especially their prices are so close.

I seldom record voices; still, it's really convenient if I were in a situation that the content of the speakers is very important. Uh, I've seen all kinds contradictory comments and opponents of each brand. But the right of choice comes back to me again.

Cousin

2007-11-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Louis, who is the same age as me and with the talent of speaking five languages, has visited Tainan for three days since Saturday. I've never known him for my 21 years of life because he was a distant branch of family on my mother's side. He came from Switzerland to Taiwan for learning Chinese in NTNU, where the language center is quite popular for foreigners who intend to improve their Chinese.

I was assigned to be his interpretor and guide of this stay; our first step in Saturday's afternoon was Amping, that he didn't like much. For one thing, Louis didn't eat seafood. And the old forests and temples didn't attract him. Fine. I suggested another cousin Jerry living near my home to go clubbing with us; also, Jerry could give us a ride.

We drank a lot-- besides beer, each of us had at least two more cocktails. I forgot the exact numbers of bottles; but all I can recall is that while I was walking to the toilet, the world was rotating with me. It shouldn't have been so much, but for we talked very delightful. Then we went to the beach in Amping around AM 3:00, walking along the beach line and having a few conversations in terms of on our family tree, the situation between Taiwan and China, and movies. It was extremely cold, but we could breath fresh air.

He left yesterday. Everything was perfect, except for a small pity: I forgot keeping his email down. Having such experience of seeing relative(friend?) come and go was sentimental; still, I hope I can visit Taipei in this winter vacation. Next time, no drunk but a better long trip.

The most distant course-- strangers?

2007-10-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I have had strong headache since last week. Staying up late takes its toll on me. So please forgive me for not telling the method I have mentioned to talk about today. Actually, if you want to take a sneak look, just google "TPRS". I am not in the mood in typing something long today, sorry.

A new Taiwan film named "The most distant course"will have its premiere today. I knew from our school's bulletin that the director and performers coming to our school to promote their film on Tuesday. One of my highly-respect actress, Guey Lun-mei, would appear in that talk show hosted in our school. Her performance is very impressive and wins her great reputations in only two year: she just graduated from a France university and showed her talent in a few soup operas and movies.

I rushed out of my fourth class on Tuesday and ran to T building. On the way there, I saw many posters printed with the close shot of Miss Guey. My heart beats harder and harder as I stepped on the floor of T building. In five minutes, I arrived at T0111. Luckily, I had a seat in second raw. If possible, the actors and actress might sit just behind me. Gee, I never think of that.

Butterflies in my stomach, I never attend such activity like this. I started chatting with a girl sitting next to me-- I always do so when I will be meeting famous writers or celebrity. For that girl, I was a stranger; however, she and I had the same topic of that movie and also the fancy both us took to Miss Guey. She admired that Miss. Guey was very charming-- this was my first time to hear a female praised a female.

Later we felt lost since Miss. Guey couldn't show up for the busy schedule in Taipei. But fine, I had one new "friend" to share my disappointment. During the Q&A section, she urged me to raise my hand asking questions to get posters with Miss. Guey's signature. Still, I didn't like that kind of present for lacking the element of fulfillment. The presents meant nothing to me but papers with ink.

When the event dismissed, I said goodbye to her and she said she felt we were old friends who haven't met each for a long while. I nodded and left, waving to this stranger: At the beginning I found there was a long distance to talk to a stranger. In the end, we said good bye with different feeling. Wasn't that the most distant course of human communication?

I wish I knew.

The disaster of Babel

2007-10-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

When it comes to grammar, especially verb tenses, most students are dropping like flies from various language programs, including me. The dropping rate of studying the linguistic part of learning English is very high. Through standerdized teaching strategies, students usually end up with failure. Audio-lingual and grammar analysis are popular; nevertheless, students have a less than satisfactory proficientcy in communication. Students don't appreciate the foreign language and culture; instead, they try to avoid them at all costs. That, is undoubted the aftermath of the disaster of Babel.

For long I've been trying to discover efficient language learning for the sake of obtaining independent language learning-- for all the languages. Not just English, Japanese, or European languages, but a universial rule for effortless language acquisition. I have such a dream as landing on the moon, being fluent to talk to foreigners and using languages to accquire knowledge I want to know.

I will be writing a post about an excellent method I am going to practice to free me from struggling with language. More next time.

Walking

2007-10-26T05:14:00.000-07:00

I had been conscious that I had too much calories today-- a spicy fried chickens burgers COMBO of Kentucky. Besides, I haven't been doing enough exercises for about a month. Terrible. I knew I got to do some sports tonight; otherwise, I will become a balloon.

There's a quiet park with a beautiful view surrounded by high-class houses which is eight minutes away from my home. The light and trees in the park present a relax atmosphere for dating, walking, or jogging. I also love that place because I can see luxurious buildings alongside.

Jogging is too stressful for my knees because of injury, so all I could do tonight was walk a bit fast instead of running. Another 30 minutes were taken for this reason; as a result, I walked longer than usual. Sweating but satisfied, I went back home taking a hot shower and typed this blog.

Heroes

2007-10-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's only recently that I have become fascinated with a popular TV shows called "Heroes". As the information on the Internet indicates that it's a very popular series in America, many young man watch Heroes on time after they come back from school. However, I am not into Heroes just because it's hot.

The plot is not very innovative-- several people in different areas of the world realize their incredible ability, such as re-generating, memorizing things quickly, flying, listening what others are thinking about, and gradually understand their roles of preventing from a catastrophe falling in mankind soon. The main reason I like Heroes is that the outstanding storyboard used in it. Several flashbacks are inserted precisely at the right place-- you don't know immediately about the scenario because the the whole story are fragmented into pieces on time line, which surprises me quite often.

My speech contest ended up today. What a release. I hope I can enjoy Heroes at the rest of this week.

Classical Music

2007-10-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

As I listen much more music, I have become fascinated with classical music. I like the masterpieces in Baroque era the most, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven-- those leading musicians in the so called "golden age of music" devoted themselves to writing beautiful melodies.

I have been changing my playlists very often in foobar, one of the most powerful audio players on computer, for the past 3 years. I listened Jazz, lounge, country, hip-hop, rock and many other types of music. At first they were good; but after a few times of repetition, I deleted them all. I had found no way to fix on one type because I easily got tired of their rhythms. I wasn't obsessed with the sublime songs gently pouring out until I luckily got the access to classical music by buying a collection in music store. Without hesitation, I brought that CD to the cashier; even now, I still don't have any idea of what I was thinking about. However, it is worth one hundred and ninety- nine NT dollars. Great bargain.

I can listen to the same classical music in different moods. When I am sad, it heals me. When I am weak, it energize me. And I rejoice in the climax of it when I am happy. This is the magic of it.

Friendship is like refined wine, the older the better

2007-10-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

I have some news friends in college, and I also lose some old friends; that is truly a pity. I know people even have different gangs from first year to second year, not to mention how many friends we may lose going from senior high school to university.

Friendship needs continuous contact, especially a old one. Take one of my best friends in senior high, Tom, for instance. We almost did anything together. He taught me to draw, to listen to rock music, to do silly things and laugh at each other. We were ever so close, now we have neither phone calls, emails, or talk on msn. I should have been nice and show my care when I found we were in separate ways. No, no, no, nothing big happened between us, we just became busy after entering colleges. He went to Taichung to study and came back a few times at the first year--at that time I still went out having hot pots with him and his neighbor, which was another good friend I lost. All three of us danced a lot during the happy days.

I wondered if real friendship requires that friends contact with each other very often, that friends start to contact each other when they find something wrong, and that friends take actions first although sometimes it might be embarrassing. I didn't think I should have wondered like that, because I already prove that I was wrong. People say that good friends stay long with each other, but I say friendship if precious-- if you don't want to lose anyone you care, you'd better meet them very often, even if sometimes you find noting to talk about.

That is what I say: friendship is like refined wine, the older the better. New friends are good, but old friends we had when we were young are worth meeting since we had more unforgettable childlike memories together.

Wiki

2007-10-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I volunteered to help reading class's teacher find some meanings of idioms on the Internet after he conducted for a 10 minutes research. I regretted for hesitating for a long time, which worth his clear explanation of articles in Time magazines. I should have came forward more fast.

After that, he suggested that I could email these links I had to the whole class. The first thing came to my mind was set up a blog. No, it wasn't sufficient. It will be terrible only me post on a broadcast bulletin.

I finally launched a wiki hosted by pbwiki. The link is http://engthesauros.pbwiki.com/.
It's free, easy-to-use, easy to manage. Everyone can edit frontage with ease, as well as wiki pages subject to frontage.

All of the classmates are going to collaborate to run this project together. Take wikipedia for example, it's the most famous encyclopedia written in the form of wiki. Everyday there are hundreds of thousand of people editing wikipedia. Although now there's just a plain dictionary wiki page in our class's wiki, I anticipate more comments and new content from others. Of course, only my classmates who have the password are authorized to edit this wiki. We have access by possessing the same set of password. It's more secure to prevent bad people from destroying our efforts.

Facing Difficulties

2007-10-15T04:29:00.000-07:00

I should have found a better way to overcome difficulties instead of trying to escape from the pressure when I faced difficulties. I used to worry too much and refused to face the reality. In fact, it's no use wasting time and being regretful at the end, such as being given a speech that needs me to introduce Taiwan local food in English. Now that I had this challenging task, I shouldn't have been stunned and thought I had to split so much time to do researches. And I was going to ruin my studies and spoil my speech.

After I try to list every event and task I have to take care of, the pressure has been released a lot. It's the reason that I know the total numbers of works I have to deal with, not infinite numbers. Then I easily tick them out in priority. I am pleased I change my attitude, that gives me confidence to face difficulties but not be afraid of the changes in my future.

An expert is a well-trained dog

2007-10-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

I had my breakfast in a Starbucks on last Saturday morning. About three men and women sat behind me, and I could tell they were businessmen from their clothing-neckties, shirts, and pants. Prison uniform, I prefer this description. However, they seemed to be proud of the symbols they wore.

They talked a lot and aloud. They used big words from the latest economy magazines or self-helping books. I didn't appreciate they way they behaved since they definitely couldn't give explanations to these fancy words if I asked them. They didn't use their heads before they selected some expression they were not familiar with yet.

Understanding the way of expression is the basic principle for communication. If the words we choose can't deliver our thinking clearly, then we just imitate without using our mind. Even experts would have these kinds of mistakes. If experts are not conscious of this problem, they would become a well-trained dog which lakes of creativity. And if it turns even worse- old dogs can't play new tricks.

Arirang

2007-10-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

It happened that I met one of my Korean friends on msn at night on last Friday. His name is Gijun. I had this friend at a international culture camp which I attended during the summer vacation. With the good habit of constantly reading news, I found it's easy to start a discussion. Otherwise, I could have been painfully thinking of good openers. Very embarrassing.

It is recently that North Korea have had about one hundred thousand children practice a traditional dancing adapted by the most popular and well-kown Korean folk song "Arirang." These kids will perform this teamwork together at the next summit meeting between North and South Korea.

Gijun told me that the North Korean government had done nothing but strict training on those very young students when the North Korean government treat them like soilders, which surprised me at first. Then he gave more facts which were far from the news.

The North Korean trainers who had faith in military education were cruel. They prohibited children from drinking water as well as going to toilets. Many children couldn't stand that and pea in underwear. Moreover, those poor kids had to practice under midday-sun or even though they got bubbles filled with their foot.

Soon, both of us were angry because the North Korea cared so less about human rights. Though I had got used to appreciate Arirang very much, I was sick of what I knew about this performance. For instance, it's just like you hate stinky tofu after you've seen the way how selfish businessman produce in all the terrible places, even if you used to love stinky tofu more than others.

Scrubs

2007-10-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

I am interested in one kind of clothing called "scrubs" after I've seen a blog introducing it. Later, I referred to Wikipedia, a well-known free on-line encyclopedia edited by volunteers from all over the world, because I had no idea what this may be like. A scrub includes shirts and trousers and very often worn by doctors, nurses, or patients when they are in hospital. At the beginning, only people who take part in the surgery wear scrubs. What I am so impressed is so called "modern scrubs", which are customized due to the fashion matter. Customers have more color and design choices.

Scrubs have several advantages. It must be well-ventilated, that is, to admit air flow in and out smoothly. Because when people in hospital work or lie on the bed for a very long time, comfort is the top policy. Another point is it's easy to wash away the stains and bacteria. And you don't have to iron scrubs since it's hard to find wrinkles on them. Moreover, the price is cheap-- each suit(both shirts and trousers) costs NT$ 590.

It would be possible people in Taipei feel no so weired about scrubs. Like if you wear strangely in Tokyo, no one would look down to you. But the same thing cannot be said about Tainan. I guess if I dare wear scrubs to dump the trash, others would think what on earth are you wearing.

Different people have different philosophies of clothing. Who knows whether scrubs become the predominant house dress or not?

Get a grip

2007-10-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

I am easily overwhelmed by emotion. For example, when I've known that the electronic fan my mom had bought was a rip-off, I was just frowning almost 20 more times as I wiped my sweat. Holly hell, it failed several times and the fee for repairing was enough for a new one.

Even though my mom told me to get a grip, I was still upset that the seller ripped us off. Still, I don't express my feelings too much. I have got used to hiding my emotion, and others would think I really get a grip.

Fussy things appear through our life, and sometimes we have to pretend nothing happen.

That's how I have been taught. I doubt-- it is absolutely unhealthy to suppress my emotion. As I notice this problem, I have to get rid of this obsessive behavior.

Simplicity

2007-10-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have no intention to use neither big words nor complicated sentence structure, but I still do. That's not because I like to show off or pretend to be superior than my peers. I keep doing this for I have no idea how a native speaker say this or that in their language. It's easy to understand-- if you never hear a native speaker use such expressions, how can you expect yourself to conjure up these usages?

I have trouble finding the good examples to learn because many are either too easy or too difficult. To reach the goal of simplicity, I plan to record Bill's posts into audio files. But for listening, the progress will be slow. I must try it earlier to skill in this standard of English to prepare for the upcoming impromptu speech contest.

Podcast

2007-09-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

Finally I removed itunes from my laptop. Primarily, I use itunes for downloading podcast, but it really consumes too much memory.

Podcast is the combination of ipod and broadcast. Generally, it is a digital media file that most of the time is in mp3 file type. You can have podcasts to learn language, enjoy music and dramma, get information from cooking to traveling, etc. It also has kind of syndication function like RSS. Therefore, we use "subscribe" before podcast-- if you have a receiving software, you don't have to check for new episode after you subscribe to the podcast.

This time I install "Juice" in my laptop, an ideal substitute for itunes because my laptop is quite old. It is necessary to run a small and efficient podcast receiving software. The speed is faster than itunes; plus, itunes would have problems anytime I add too much tasks in podcast downloading queue at the same time.

I subscribe podcast in order to listen to English episodes that I like when I am down with English due to being forced to input or output for a period of time. It is extremely convenient that you import podcasts to mp3 player and listen wherever and whenever you like. No lose if you bring a digital library with you.

Lecturer

2007-09-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a hard task called "simplifying my English." In order to be a good lecturer, one cannot use the same language as used in speaking in public. When it comes to writing, you can write as beautiful and deluxe as you like. Nevertheless, if you want to be a successful speaker, clear and general words are more appropriate since you definitely wants to make your audience understand by just hearing to you. If it's difficult to let the listeners comprehend for only one of your words, the whole speech is far from perfect.

Frankly speaking, my task should not be called what I have mentioned above because the point is that I do not know the difference between speaking and writing English well. Quite often do I just use the terms or expression from my recent input. That is quite risky since I cannot assure if that the usage is correct by myself.

A little learning is a dangerous thing. I prefer to prove the usages by myself after I frequently meet the old friends in different places rather than referring to the books and jump into conclusion. Well, I have to be serious about managing my time. Time management is what a successful lecturer needs to fulfill at first priority for the sake of having enough input to be well-informed.

Mobile phone

2007-09-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Last night when I was reading news on many English-news websites, I just stopped fumbling my mobile phone. I am used to heave it in a cute mobile phone cushion in cow's shape on my table and no exception yesterday.

The safer you think things on your table, the more terrible the catastrophe is.

My mobile phone hop out like a frog, and flipped back downward like a parachute. Not knowing there is a narrow gap between my table and window, I didn't stretch my hand to catch it. It fell down with a big thud, which sounded more like a death knell.

From this morning, everyone called me without getting my answer on the account of not hearing what they said. Thanks to the vacant classes in the rest of the morning, I brought it back to be repaired at a small shop. The ringing haunted me closely and frequently. No one knew my cell phone had a big trouble, and I felt so sorry for their calls in vain.

Input

2007-09-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

It is a pity that I could not find enough time to read and listen English materials on the Internet in the first week. I doubt sleep is needed more than my thirst toward English-input. Though I use strong espresso to fresh myself up, my mp3 player had been lying in its soft bag for a long while.

In my view, input is like dig a well deeply to ensure that either the quality or quantity of output is good, unless you want your English power to drain out. From good to great needs more constant input. NPR, VOA, BBC Learning English, ELLLO, I miss you all so much. I struggle to balance my two kinds of desire: sleep and input of English.

Never Put off Anything You Can Do Today Till Tomorrow

2007-09-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

This week is near the end. Now I have a bottle of icy bear with me in a little and heated wood room. I feel totally exhausted. But why? There must be something to do with pressure.

Duties are derived from what I haven't done yet; obviously, I put off some work I have to do till tomorrow. My self-anticipation turns into pressure.

I realize persistent work and strong willpower are essential for anyone who wants to achieve. If you are only aggressive for three minutes, and make no effort in the rest, there will definitely be no results. You may never want to put off what you can do till tomorrow; otherwise, the duties you have to complete accumulate silently. And finally, it become the last straw breaks the camel's back.

Sister

2007-09-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

I will go to celebrate the Moon Festival with my older sister in tomorrow morning. Actually I have no class in the morning by chance only this week, and my sister kindly invited me via phone message. I said no problem immediately.

Don't bother, I am really a only child in my family. Many friends of mine know that quite well. Then what's happening?

In fact, that person is my international mentor, who's studying for a master degree in MBA in STUT for two years. She comes form Vietnam.

A number of international students are going to take part in this activity with their mentors, so does my mentor. She is used to calling me brother since I am very alike to her brother-in-law, and I call her sister in return.

It is a reunion after a long summer vacation which I have had no contact with her. I would bring pomelo and moon cake to meet her. After all, the Moon Festival is a wonderful day to get together with family members.

Language Acquisition

2007-09-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had a new class called Linguistics in T building. I was familiar with the instructor --he was my grammar teacher in the very first semester in Freshman year.

The orientation didn't arouse my interest simply because I am a faithful follower of effortless language acquisition. Doing drills to discover the rules of language helps to master language as little as we all know; though, it is still popular in a lot of nations and cultures. Except for linguistic skills, teachers tell students to work harder on recognizing word's root, analyzing sentence structure, and building up huge big-word database. Many believe this is the most efficient method to acquire a language in a rather short time. Learners would develop well unless they don't have enough motivation.

It figures that this kind of language learning method fail from how prosperous international language learning businesses growing faster than ever.

Language acquisition is the matter of "link" between language and our brain. It should be efficient and interesting to strengthen the links, so that we learn effortlessly instead of painfully wasting our time to studying linguistic parts that we have been devoting ourselves to.

●Advanced Reading
http://tetsu-2006.blogspot.com/2006/11/interview-with-linguist.html
http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/
http://www.effortlessacquisition.blogspot.com/
http://www.lingq.com/

Encounter With a Blogger

2007-09-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

As far as I am concerned, it had always been a disaster when teachers used the Internet as their classes' equipment. Some are compatible; however, some are not. I cannot but admit that most teachers are not good enough in demonstrating activities on the Internet because it was as if the Internet or even computer were not parts of their lives; as a result, I would feel asleep and bored as soon as teachers switching our screens. I had difficulty understanding their complicated and unnecessary steps, not to mention someday a teacher would share blog's experiences.

In today's writing class, Bill, our new writing teacher and also the first native-speaking teacher we have met, made me both feel amazed and be interested in either his descriptions of setting up a blog in Blogger or subscribing RSS feeds. Only when I saw Bill's performance, I was sure to say that age can never be an excuse to refuse learning advanced usages of the Internet.

I am so glad to encounter with such a experienced blogger, who combines blog with this class. I know this is also a new type of Bill's teaching styles. If students are used to writing blog everyday, certainly we will make more progress than those who do only for one to two assignments a week reluctantly. Instead of sticking to fixed topics, we really have higher possibilities to write simple, clear, and to the point by writing what are relative to us.