鷹揚空

    Recently, I spent my money on many necessary and unnecessary things. This causes my purse became thinner and thinner.  

    It's not my fault... I need a new handbag to put my textbooks and notes, so I ordered one from the "buytogether" column at the BBS.  The mother's day is coming, so I bought a cute necklace and some masks of a famous brand as Mother's Day presents for her. Anything else? Of course, I bought some writing tools and other sundry goods from the e-shopping website in the public of Koera, some necklaces I like for myself, and something cute to handle on the cell phone. Thanks to my cash-book, I know that I have spent about $1000 on them-almost one third of my living cost.

    To balance the cost, I try to find some part-time job from the BBS. Umm...seems I don't have a motorcycle to drive to the downtown street, so the job of private teacher does not suit me. So the job I can take is the temporary work-like typing word files or moving things, or being a volunteer to the experiments by the science institute of cognitive neuroscinence. Unfortunately, the red numbers are still on my cash-book now.

    Gaining money is not easy; compare to it, finding a part-time job is even harder especially in school. However, I will keep trying to balance it--not because the shortage of my living cost, but the responsibility of spend money. "Do not spend your money if you can not find a job to afford it." Mommy, I wish you will know your daughter is complying with your words.  

         What are your toys in your childhood? Are they just computer games? To be honest, computer game indeed plays an important role in most of our childhood in recent years. Can you imagine what children played fifty years ago when there were no computers? Looking back at the early years of Taiwan, children had the sharp observation power and simple but sincere creativity. They were well adapted to search their environment to find some discarded rubbish to design their toys. All these toys combined their vast imaginative power. For example, Foot Shuttlecock is an interesting traditional game. It is considered that Foot Shuttlecock was derived from an ancient Chinese soccer game called “Chu Ju”. People often bought live chicken from the market and killed it in the kitchen on traditional festivals during rural agrarian times. Children would not give up this opportunity to get some long feathers from the tail end to make a Foot Shuttlecock. It is not difficult to make a Foot Shuttlecock. However, if you think that it is troublesome to make the toy, you can spend only ten dollars to buy a Foot Shuttlecock. Foot shuttlecocks are played by kicking them up and down. It is an excellent device to train your body balance and eye-limb coordination. Does it sound interesting? Just give it a try!

Every time I read J.K.Rowling’s novel, I always wonder why Harry Potter books always go to number one in the best-seller list. I think that it is because that Harry Potter is a good fantasy book containing the usual elements such as magic, adventure, and wizardly creatures. In particular, it mixes the school with magic. Even though J.K.Rowling claims that she does not write the novels in view of children’s idea, it’s indeed that Harry Potter books appeal to children all over the world. Not just that though, but the books also contain issues that adults would face in real life such as death, problems with friends, troubles at school, rivalry and much more. As a result, it’s no wonder that the books have ended up appealing to a much wider audience.

In addition, J.K.Rowling uses lots of red herrings in the Harry Potter books. The red herring in the books always distracts readers from the original objective. However, I think it is also the reason why  Harry Potter books are so charming, for you can not guess the whole story in the beginning, and the ending is always interesting for a wonder.

To sum up, these special writing skills that fascinate the readers in those popular books might be good for your English writing. Perhaps it will make you become a famous writer!!

This video was in ANTM show, which was a reality in the U.S.. I always thought that Europeans were the the closest to Americans because they were all inthe western world. However, I think there are still differences between these two general cultures, just like the ones between Taiwan and Japan. I don't know what the conflicts they encounter in their daily life, but at least I think it's easier for Europeans to fit in American culture than other ethnic groups. And this somehow frightened me since I wanted to go abroad for further studying. If those Europeans who seemingly look like Americans to me are also teased at school, what would I gonna do when I'm there? It is said that the racial discrimination in America is severe and prevalent even though many people are just faking it. Perhaps "Manifest Destiny" is unconsciously deeply rooted in Americans' minds, I don't know. Yes, it's a situation that you just suck it up or that you just leave it.  It's the reality, I understand. But when you try to say something or ask, would you please be careful for the words you use? It's about sympathy. What if it's you who are in the situation like this, I think you are gonna respond the same way. It is fun to watch girls arguing as an outsider by the way. Ha~ 

     This is an interesting website which held by grain food foundation. You can upload your picture to the website, and they will be toasted on the bread. http://www.breadartproject.com/#/workshops

     The work desk is like this: 

     It  is very simple to use. First, you can choose the kind of bread you want to draw on from the purple circle. Different kinds of bread will have various colors and shapes of the background. However, how can you draw on it? Let's see the right sight-toast and untoast.

     Notice the green circle. It decides the uility of the brushes. "Toast" means that you can use the brushes to make black lines or prints on the white bread, just like the first row in the below picture. "Untoast" means that you can clear the black area with it.

Actually, now I'm supposed to write my argumentative composition, which is my plan tonight. But you know somehow you're not in the mood for the things that you've planned to do. So here I am. Still typing in English might soothe my guilt more or less.

That was a Sunday. Not extremely hot, but quite hot. And I thought I got my face sunburned...... I didn't know for sure how long I was standing that day, maybe at least 6 hours. Every fan was quite calm and followed the order. I was happy to see that because it was more comfortable. I took the card of No. 169 so I got my ticket signed by 3 o'clock. In fact, I was thinking about leaving. On a second thought, I thought "I've already been here and why not stay till the last minute?" When I thought that way, this reminded me of what Forest Gump said, "I figured since I’ve gone this far, might as well turn around and keep on running." Though the situations were different, I'm glad I sticked to it then.

Despite the fact that I was far from a frenetic fan, I was quite dumb when I recalled the whole process...... I won't forget what I said to you when I stepped onto the stage for the second time and of course your reaction. Ha..... I wrote you a letter (a card). Hope you didn't miss it.:)

Well, it was a strange feeling. Perhaps it was like a dream (I'm afraid I have to say so). But not a fancy one, you know. Uh, it was beyond description... Now from time to time, I would think that maybe it is the moment when I can do this and do that. When it comes to that, I'm very grateful for you because it is you who motivates me to do this kind of things. Maybe this was the last time for me to meet you in person and maybe this was my first time and the last time to go to such a personal concert. I don't know what to say, but I'm happy and satisfied (at least before entering the seemingly flavorless graduate school:)).

Looking forward to the concert!

There is an argumentative topic which has drawn my attention for several days. Should the medical students who studied in Poland take scholastic assessment tests before they becomes a doctor in Taiwan? It is said that these medical students in Poland got less disciplines to be doctors in comparison with the medical students in Taiwan. They spent only four years without any intern class to get the bachelor’s degree in Medicine. In addition, these medical students almost can not successfully admit to medical school in Taiwan, so they went abroad to study medical science in Poland, where they can admit to medical school more easily.

It is reported that most of these medical students are doctors’ children. One of these parents said that the courses that the medical students study in Poland are very difficult and this education can always enlighten their children. As a result, the government should not discriminate against their children and force them to take the scholastic assessment tests. However, some people said that what the parent said was not true. They found one of medical student’s articles from the internet and showed that it is impossible for these medical students to fail in any class because the examination paper is always the same every year. On the other hand, if what the parent said was true, they would not need to argue with the government for their children must have the capability of passing the scholastic assessment tests.

What a terrible thing it is! If these medical students became our doctors, patients would suffer from  not only the pain of the illness but also the these doctors’ wrong diagnosis. Maybe we will need to ask our doctors what their graduated school is in the future!!

Last week I watched an impressive movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This film is a 2008 American fantasy drama film, based on the short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. F. Scott Fitzgerald states at the beginning of this story that it was inspired by a statement made by Mark Twain, that the best things in life happen at the beginning and the worst at the end.

In the film, the main character, Benjamin who looks like an old man when he is born. To his own amazement and delight, he grows progressively younger until he reaches the prime of his life and enjoys great happiness with marriage, children and a successful business. In the end of the film, he turns into a boy and lose all his memories. With his valentine’s accompany, he dies when his appearance is a baby.

In my opinion, I don’t think what Mark Twain said is totally right. From the film, Benjamin indeed has lots of happiness when he grows younger gradually, but he can not get along with his family. He can not take care of his daughter and lover because he will turn into a child, even a baby later. Although he leaves lots of money to his family, what his family need is not only the fortune but also his true love. I think that Benjamin would prefer to a normal life if he had the capability to change his destiny. As a result, it is indeed a film that can put me in a thoughtful mood. I recommend you to watch the film. You can learn to cherish the things which you might never emphasize on.

    Recently, it is very common to see the collecting-exchanging activity held by the businessmen. By collecting the points, customers can exchange some useful and beautiful items, or have some discount on the merchandise they sold.

    Obviously, this is a way that businessmen cheers the customers to buy more things. However, what kind of items will attract people's attention and make them to join the activity? It depends on how they look, and their utility.

    Like the advertisement: http://www.hilife.com.tw/08playin/hilife.html

    These are very useful--alright, I admitted that I am trying to get one from the e-bay...

    Even if the products are not useful, they do excite people to give out money to get them. Businessmen are old foxes...