Outside Reading Post 8

For the past week or so I've been actively reading the book, Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer. This book is basically about a young lady named Bella, who becomes married to this vampire, Edward, and she get's pregant with a half human/half vampire baby. I haven't got very far into the reading but so far it's pretty interesting. Right now I'm at the part where Jacob, a werewolf, is protecting Bella and Edward from the rest of his pack, who wish to eliminate Bella. What I really enjoy most about the book is that it is fiction, but takes place in a real place, Forks, Washington. I also enjoy how the characters within the book are depicted, especially the vampires. For example, "He had rock hard skin and golden eyes, his hair was a crisp brown with a touch of dark black mixed in." Within the book there is a struggle between the werewolves and the vampires, and then there is another struggle between the vampires, and the higher powered vampires. To sum, the book seems like it will be very confusing because of all that's going on within the plot, but with the use of imagery and great description, it won't be so bad to read and follow.

Outside Reading Post 7

For today's outside reading, I'm going to write about what I read for AP World History. Today I read chapter 14, which is on the foundations of Christian Society in Western Europe. Well basically I read like 4 pages, and they were mainly about King Charlemagne, the ruler of the the western European Empire. What I thought of the reading was that King Charlemagne was a very powerful ruler that extended his power to all areas of his empire. In addition to this, he decided to spread the idea of monotheism to all parts of his empire, Christianity. I thought it was a very intriguing idea of how he did this, especially because it was through conquest and through the help of the Pope, priests, and monks. Also, I enjoyed the depiction of the Muslim armies that King Charlemagne fought in Syria around 732 C.E. Due to the information provided and the excitement that I had during the reading, I can only remember so much from what I read, but because of this blog I'm sure if I had to test on King Charlemagne's rule and influence, I'd stand a better chance at passing.

Outside Reading Post 6

This weekend I've been doing a lot of homework, especially math. So for my blog today, I will write about EFST - Enriched Functions Statistics and Trig. Well for this weekend, I had a take home quiz for homework. Basically, I had to read most of chapter 2 in my stat book and then I had to do some problems on the quiz. I really had to read the book before I could answer any of the questions right anyways, so I read the chapter. I thought it was somewhat confusing when I read the chapter, it was very annoying, especially since I was reading math. I found it somewhat easier when I read through the examples within the book. Well basically, because I read the book, I think I did a good job on the take home quiz.

Hero in a box - " Heroes in Our Society "

Raw Material on : " Heroes in Our Society "

1. Poem - by Nathan Kraft
My Hero is Many,
My Hero is One.
My Hero Proudly Holds a Gun.
My Hero Fights,
My Hero Kills,
My Hero Falls Out in the Field.
My Hero Laughs,
My Hero Cries,
My Hero Tries and Tries and Dies.
My Hero is Dirty,
My Hero is Smart,
My Hero Charges Towards the Front.
My Hero's a Soldier,
My Hero's a Marine,
My Hero's A Sailor Riding Across the Seas.
My Hero's an Airman,
My Hero Sacrifices,
My Hero Loves.
My Hero is Mine, Yours and Anyone Who Cares.

2. Poem - by Nicola Burkett
A hero thinks of others before they think of themselves
A hero will die to protect
A hero can be of any age, any colour
A hero can be man, woman or child
A hero is courageous, loving and brave
A hero will never complain
A hero can be made in one act of compassion
Or years of tender loving care
Some hero's are remembered, whilst many are left forgotten
Hero's are angels in disguise, saving precious innocent lives

3. Picture - From Google - http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/images/2007/08/08/hero_2.jpg
(Kid with cape. Picture above)

4. Kid Hero Story - "Kid Hero Saves Teacher" - From - http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=453

Brendon quickly came to Kenser’s rescue.

“I just ran over when she passed out,” said Brendon. He got to her purse and grabbed her inhaler, gave it to his groggy teacher and saved her life. He says he knew what to do from a scene in the movie “Are We There Yet.”

“If I didn’t see that movie, I wouldn’t know what to do,” said Brendon.

“After the event he said ”You know Mrs. Kenser, TV’s not so badhuh?’” said Kenser.

5. Kid Hero Video - "Kid Hero Uses Sat-Nav to Save Dad" - from LiveLeak.com

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73f_1199309050

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Categorized Themes for : "Heroes in Our Society"

Theme #1 - Rescue - The raw materials that are placed in this category refer to some sort of rescue being done, implying that a hero is someone who "rescues", or saves someone, any help being given to another by this person or these people are heroes.
Raw Materials for this category - "Kid Hero Uses Sat-Nav to Save Dad", "Kid Hero Saves Teacher".

Theme #2 - Providing Support - The raw materials that are placed in this category refer to the idea that a hero is someone who lends support to someone in need of it.
Raw Materials for this category - "Kid with Cape", Hero poem by Nicola Burkett.

Theme #3 - Acting better than normal/average - The raw material that is placed in this category refers to the idea that a hero is a normal person, who has characteristics that are above that of an average person.
Raw Materials for this category - Poem by Nathan Kraft

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Paragraphs describing relation of "Themes" to "Raw Materials" for "Heroes in Our Society"

Paragraph 1 - Theme 1 :

To start off, the theme relating to the idea of "rescue", is meant to inform the audience that a hero, is someone who provides or lends help to those in need, or in other words, "rescue" someone who needs it. The first example that was chosen to describe this was the "Kid Hero Uses Sat-Nav to Save Dad" video. This example shows us the meaning of "rescue"; the boy's father collapses on the road and the boy dials 9-1-1 to save his father. It's a simple story to show a broad concept such as "rescue". In addition, the second example that was used to describe this theme was the "Kid Hero Saves Teacher" story. Again, a common situation where a child saves his teacher from an asthma attack. To tie it all together, the idea of "rescue" is not only simply the idea or act of "rescuing" someone literally like in the examples used, but can also be showed through other examples of helping or giving help to someone in need.

Paragraph 2 - Theme 2 :
Next, the theme, "Providing Support", is refering to the idea that a hero is defined as someone who lends a helping hand, so to speak. The instances where this was seen or showed, was first shown in the picture of "Kid with Cape". This is just a picture of a child wearing a simple cape, but if you look further into the picture for it's meaning, you can come up with several reasons for why he is wearing that cape. In my opinion, I believe he is wearing that cape to signify that he wants to be helpful, or needed, by those who require help. Also, another example that showed this theme was the poem created by Nicola Burkett. This poem is a powerful piece of literature that shows the authors feelings on what makes a hero. His reasoning ties into the theme of "providing support" because in his work, an ideal hero is one that can indeed provide a person with help. From his poem, "A hero thinks of others before they think of themselves
A hero will die to protect", from this passage readers can see how he personally feels a hero should be able to act upon, and it definately ties in with the theme, "providing support".

Paragraph 3 - Theme 3
Lastly, the theme of "Acting above average", is commonly thought of as someone who wants to be superior to others, or a perfectionist point of view. Although it has other implications, the idea of acting above average applies to being a hero. The piece of raw material that best suited this theme was the poem done by Nathan Kraft. For example, from his poem, "My Hero Proudly Holds a Gun.My Hero Fights,My Hero Kills,..." From this quote alone, readers can infer that Nathan believes a hero can solve problems and rescue people through justice. Also, readers can infer that Nathan believes that heroes have to be above average to be who they are. Normal people alone don't go randomly fighting crime, shooting guns and killing the bad; it takes someone special to accomplish such tasks, in this case, heroes.

Conclusion for "Heroes in Our Society" -
To conclude, from the evidence that was found on what makes a hero, we see there are 3 main defining characteristics that make up a "hero". 1. A hero is one that can rescue others. 2. A hero is someone who can provide the support that many people need. 3. A hero is someone who is above the normal, above the rest, one that can do things no normal people can do alone. Based on these themes, I've learned that heroes can be distinguished in a variety of ways, and also that they come in all shapes and sizes. The 3 themes or characteristics that define a hero aren't the only ones, but they support the evidence that was found.

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By : Shane Jones - for " Heroes in Our Society "

Outside Reading Post 5

For today's blog assignment, I plan to write about a movie I watched about 2 weeks ago. The movie was titled, "Eagle Eye". Basically, this movie is about a man who gets framed by a military computer that is designed to help enforce the law. What goes wrong is that the computer loses control and forces people to complete her mission to destroy the line of succession for president. While the people are forced to complete this task, the main character, Jerry, works together with Rachel, another victim, to try to destroy this super computer. I basically thought that this was a typical machine vs man themed movie. The movie is based off the fact that you have to fight against machine to solve the main conflict. I've seen this theme in movies such as, "I Robot", "Transformers", and "Bionic Women". So I've contemplated that movies that include themes such as man vs. anything but man, is extremely exciting because of the fact that we humans never really have those kinds of interactions in every day life. To conclude, I thought that the plot, use of characters, use of scenery, and use of lighting was very key in the construction of this film. I give it 2 thumbs up. Watch it !
>>>> Link to the preview of this movie >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrSFoHWKM8

Outside Reading Post 4

For M.E.A., I was assigned to read, "The Unspeakable Odyssey of the Motionless Boy," and comment on how I thought it was. In my opinion, I really enjoyed it; it was depicted with tons of imagery and it was very real. The only real reason that made me enjoy this reading was one, Mr. Cheng, my english teacher, read most of it to us; and second, it was interesting and more of a teenage reading. One part that I particularly found interesting was on page 217, where Kennedy, a pioneer in the field of brain-computer interface research, explains to Erick, the one who has locked-in syndrome, how the computer chip that Kennedy has placed into Erick's brain, works and functions. From the text, "Imagine, Kennedy suggests, a 'personal digital assistant in the brain.' Or a digital surrogate memory that remembers everything. Or the entire contents of Google a single thought away." To me this was interesting how he compared the brain's power to locate memorys like google locates things you search for, such a vast amount of things the brain has the power to do is compared to the biggest search engines in the world today. I thought that was amazingly cool. Overall, it was a great and fascinating reading.

Siddhartha Blog Assignment #4

Hello again, it's me Zhou Yun; I'm here to re cap on the total sum of Siddhartha's life journey. Just to remind you all, I'm one of Siddhartha's closest friends, not as close as Govinda though. Anyways, after following Siddhartha on his journey to self enlightenment, I think that he learned the suffering in life is never ending, and I think I saw him learn this lesson best when he witnessed the death of his beloved and abandonment of his only son.
Well to begin, I first saw Siddhartha learn that suffering is an endless cycle when I followed his wife and son to the fishermans hut. I witnessed Kamala get bitten, and then taken to Siddhartha who happened to be with Vasudeva, the fisherman. When Kamala finally died, Siddhartha went to the river, and listened. From my point of view, I believe that when Siddhartha listened to the river, he knew more than he did before he began to listen; and this is where I believe he learned that life is an endless cycle of turmoil. Although the death of his beloved was devastating and heart breaking, Siddhartha wouldn't have learned the lesson he did without the event taking place.
To continue, I also witnessed Siddhartha learning that suffering is a vital part of all human life when I saw his only son abandoned him and the fisherman, for good. It was early in the morning when I saw young Siddhartha take a basket of gold coins with him, and take his fathers boat accross the river. Young Siddhartha wanted to leave his father and did not want to be followed, this kind of abandonment truly hurt Siddhartha, but without it, Siddhartha wouldn't have learned.
In conclusion, I believe that Siddhartha's life journey was a success. It was indeed hard for him to succeed, but he succeeded in finding inner peace. I finally knew all pain, all knowledge, and understood why we suffer. Siddhartha is truly an amazing man and he is to be remembered for all time.

Outside Reading Post 3

Well for the past couple days, I've continued reading the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. So far I'm at the point of the story where Jonas, the main character, gets the job, Receiver, assigned to him. Not only is this job a job of high standard, but it is most honored. I basically thought it was very descriptive, the way the author portrays all the scenes and ceremonies, he does a great job. I also thought that it was kind of ironic that Jonas would get a very honorable job, considering he is the most diverse of all in the society, so that was kind of a give away. I also noticed foreshadow when in the beginning of the book, it said that Jonas would soon learn that his differences would soon suprise him. Overall it was a good reading, I enjoyed it.

Outside Reading Post 2

Well for the past day or two, I've been reading this book called, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. This book is about a somewhat utopian society that is only like that because they can somewhat control what happens around the citizens. The main character, Jonas, is different, he can notice these changes around him that makes him stand out from all the others. Basically I only got to the part were there is a ceremony about which kids get what jobs, for the rest of their lives.

I really enjoy this book, not because it's becaus their main goal is to strive for a utopia, but because of how they intend to reach that goal. I find it awesome that you can have weather control within your society, I find it great that you can alter peoples minds and control their hormones with daily medicine. This book is really fascinating and totally not what I expected when I picked it up. I definately recommend it, even though I haven't finished the book yet.

Siddhartha Blog Assignment #3 - Advice

Dear Ann Landers, it's me Zhou Yun. I need some advice, for a very good friend of mine. My friends name is Siddhartha, a man who has strayed away from his goal in life; and because of this, he has fallen into the temptations of life. From the text, "They were no longer a game and a toy; they had become a chain and a burden. Siddhartha wandered along a strange, twisted path of this last and most base declivity through the game of dice." From the text, he is obviously sad, and mis led, and he has to get back on track to reach self enlightenment.
Based on how he is feeling because of his"off-track" behavior, I think it's very wise if he would just leave all the temptation. Well look, I came to you for advice, what do you think I should do to help my friend. I don't want to see him not reach his goal that he has strived for most of his life. What should I do ? Please help.

-Zhou Yun

Dear Zhou Yun, I can totally see how you must feel for your best friend. In my opinion, you should try to let Siddhartha find out for himself that he is "off track". If he can't find out for himself, then he might not be able to get back on track by himself. His goal requires him to be without temptation, so once he realizes that he needs to leave the temptation, he will be able to get back on track and reach his goal. Goodluck Zhou Yun, and goodluck to your friend Siddhartha.

Outside Reading Post 1

Well, tonight I read an article on the internet about how to survive bear attacks. It was very informal and interesting to read about. Basically, it showed you how to survive a bear attack. I won't go into details. I thought that this article was well written, and was made similar to an essay, someone expressing their own thoughts about bear attacks. I actually think that if I were even in a situation where a bear would attack me, I would follow their instructions. The article was called, "Bear Tactics", by Shandra Linguist, a writer for the msn journal entries. One quote that I really enjoyed was, "Bears can run as fast as 60 miles per hour, much faster than any human. You'd be dead meat in a second if you ran." I thought it was a very interesting quote because that's true, you would die pretty quick. I just really enjoyed the reading because of how it was portrayed to the reader. Overall, it was great.

Siddhartha Blog Assignment #2

In chapter 3, Siddhartha says goodbye to Govinda. Govinda feels lost in his words, he is both sad and confused for several reasons. This was our conversation over text when it happened.

Govinda - "Hey Zhou ! I need ur help !"
Me - "What's the matter ?!"
Govinda - "Sidd is leaving me, 4 good."
Me - "Idk what ur talking about bro."
Govinda - "Sidd didnt join Gotoma, and now he wants to leave me here alone."
Me - "Bro, Sid said told me all about it. He said that, 'Now, you are a man and have chosen your own path. May you go along it to the end, my friend. May you find salvation!' See, you decided this upon urself.
Govinda - "I thought Sidd would c things the way I saw them, what happened?"
Me - "Dude, you've finally grown out of following Sidd for a change, this is good. Sidd said himself, 'Often I have thought: will Govinda ever take a step without me, from his own conviction ?' And you did it, you should be proud of urself man."
Govinda - "You know what Zhou, I think u r right, I should follow my own path and reach my own salvation. Thx bro, txt you soon."


Hello again, it's me Zhou Yun. Basically, I really hope that Govinda is going to get through the separation of him and Siddhartha. They are best friends, they always have been, and it must be difficult to be seperated from his one and only true friend. I knew Siddhartha was going to be different, that he'd someday choose a path that Govinda could not. Siddhartha search for self is something that Govinda tried to escape, therefore I can understand Siddhartha's mind set in the seperation. I know that Govinda will get over this and someday be reunited with Siddhartha later in life; them both reaching salvation.

Siddhartha - Chapter 1 - 4

Hello again, I'm here to discuss with you what has just happened in chapters 1 through 4 of Siddhartha. For starters, in the beginning of the novel, Siddhartha and his friend Govinda have become Samanas, and they both have left their families to go on a quest through the forest to escape self. On their journey, they hear of a rumer of Gotama, the Buddha, who has obtained freedom from suffering, and preaches his teachings to all who would like to listen. Siddhartha and Govinda leave the Samanas and go on a quest to find this Gotama, as they find him later within chapter 3, they are able to hear his wonderful teachings. Soon, Siddhartha leaves Govinda becaus Govinda has decided to join Gotama. After, Siddhartha learns that he shouldn't be looking for an escape from self, but he learns that he has to find inner peace within himself. Thus he quits being a Samana, and becomes just Siddhartha, no family, no Brahmin's son, just Siddhartha.

Siddhartha / Avatar

Hello, my name is Zhou Yun. I'm a good friend of Siddhartha's. Basically I'll be a foil to Siddhartha, and inform you of how the events in the story affect him, and how he reacts to each of them. I'm also a Brahmin, just like Siddhartha. I'm about the same age as him as well. I also live near all the other Brahmins.