25 things

1.

My name Yeo Seungju means a pearl of minister. The letter Seung stands for a prime minister, and recently I came up with a suspicion that this is the reason why I have just few girlish characteristics.

2.

I am the youngest child in my family. I love both of my sister and brother, but I like my sister more; she is beautiful, wise and caring. I try to like my brother too, but it seems like I unconsciously think of my brother as a rival.

3.

I love analyzing art in my way, especially Korean Literature and paintings. When I read works, I usually guess what he tried to express or how he would have felt writing them.

4.

I am basically afraid of talking to others. Although I try hard not to be worried, it is still uncomfortable to talk to certain people.

5.

I was a physics girl. I studied physics in Hagwon since the first year of the middle school. Because the teacher taught me thoroughly and steadily, and because I loved the way of his teaching, I liked physics a lot. If he had taught math instead of physics, then I think I would have liked math more. I enthusiastically learned and studied physics. Anyway, this year I realized that I rather like chemistry, although I am not good at it.

6.

A few years ago, it seems like I thought that I should talk what the other wants to hear. I still haven’t threw away the habit and sometimes I feel like double faced. Being straightforward make me feel relieved. Sometimes, I go a bit far, saying what I should not say.

7.

For most time, I think of myself. I deeply think what I am, how I behave and what I should pursue. But it seems like an unhealthy way to care my mind. I judge myself, rationalize and fix.

8.

One of my favorite activities is reading web-toon. A number of them are childish, but most of them are enjoyable.

9.

I like activities that the one who I like likes. Anyway, if I am upset with those people, my interest toward the activities decreases.

10.

When stress depressed me much, I went to softball stadium. The field is far from the classes so I could shout, sing, run or stay still, looking at something interesting such as a bird, mountains or clouds. Free from concern that somebody would see me, I could spend my time.

11.

I am not interested in power games. I dream of tranquil life. Maintaining a few intimate relationship is better than earning wide favor.

12.

But I don't want to live on countryside. I got tamed to convenient city life.

13.

I went to Calcutta, India twice for FFT volunteering work. The team went into a class, two for each, and let the students make things. We give some materials, teach how to deal with it, and play together. The first year,  I was a lot confused, because they liked us so much. I didn't know how to behave to the children. As a shy student, I just concentrated on preparing materials and showing how to deal with the materials, charging my teammate senior to perform "the playing". The next year, I could talk a bit more only because I felt responsible in front of the freshmen. Though I still worked harder on preparing than on performing. However, unlikely to the last year, one of the friends there asked my facebook account. I was half afraid and half happy to give my email address, but he and I are still a good friends.

14.

I am interested in fashions, not wearing but watching. I just feel vicarious satisfaction through looking stylish looks.

15.

I like Korean words. Especially I like the listing-word game. Two or more player list words starting with two certain Korean consonants. The one who can list more words is the winner. Well, determining the winner or loser is not important in the game. It is more important to remind fresh words out from the component's mouth.

16.

Obsession is one of my characteristics. I prefer stuffs arrayed in a row so I can pick them up whenever I need. I don't let my Hangeul program draw a red underline. Well, after I realized that I am obsessive, I tried hard to be not because I was obsessed with the idea to be a "more perfect" one, ironically.

It was impossible and both useless. Now I think obsession is not a bad thing, and therefore I don't have to struggle to be something better or different.

17.

I like the scenery of mountains when I go to the cafeteria at morning. Especially snow covered mountains are the best. I wish I could see some large amount of water such as lake or ocean.

18.

I don't like learning foreign languages. It's too difficult to dig them up. Learning a few greeting words is interesting. 

19.

My current favorite songs are Let her go by Passenger, Burn by Ellie Goulding, Counting Stars by One Republic and Wake me up by Avicii. They might be the songs I will hear most when I am writing the essay. I dislike several loud songs. Safe and Sound by Capital Cities is not loud, but I don't like it. I don't know why exactly, but it isn't my taste.

20.

These days I am trying hard to recall that I can't rescue others. I have a kind of Messiah complex, believing that I can cure other's mental problems. But it is just an arrogance, and because of this complex I lost some of my close friends. 

21.

Softball. At first, I liked it only because it was one of few familiar thing in KMLA-I learned softball in middle school and got a good score. However through the games and teammates I could learn social skills and overcome depressions.

22.

About the depression, I was highly depressed because I was lonely. I just didn't make friends here. Over several semesters, I couldn't adjust to our school, including the people. That time, chat was the biggest mystery to me. How could people just say things and become intimate? Well my family don't talk much to each other. I wanted to get along with others, so I started to observe them.

23.

I like silly jokes. I laughed so hard when I heard the joke about new turn and Newton from Epic Minsa Rap Battle, made by YoungWoong Jo. (Now it isn't funny to me. I am used to it.) Sometimes I can't stop saying those kinds of jokes, even though I know that many people feel burdened to react and therefore hate them.

24.

Occasionally I get mad. Then I don't know how to deal with the anger. Recently I found a way to dissolve the emotion: climbing up the stairs.

25.

I like to play the Sanjo GaYaGeum. The sound of the thread is elegant. Although my finger skin hardens and get blister, I would pluck the thread for the music. Actually the music is not as melodical as Western classics but it has something moving my heart.

26.

I seized to think deeply after I stucked into iroy. I am tired of logics.

27.

I like vegetables rather than meat. The best is a peice of meat covered by vegetable.

 

An Ode to a Dead Worm

(picture from Glogster Edu )

How red the field you’ve been lying on? How dried the dust upon your mucus?

Was the funeral affluent for the soul who had cultivated the wild land through his whole life for the sake of every creature on earth?

Besides, I need to say some words. No matter how humble the funeral was, it is all over. As the solely witness of his death, here I call to remembrance the day.

The smell of the early morning – when the prelude of tragic was desperately played for the creatures who can’t hear it close – raised people up enforcing to live the next day. They pivot around a clock, unlikely to any other creature. Cloudy sky didn’t mean it, but you were the one who was fooled by the humid soil.

Oh people, the giant creatures! They were thoughtless and careless enough to murder the little brittle life. Two hundreds of legs passed on you, beating the earth mercilessly, haughtily and lazily. From a far distance, they came closer and closer to let you abhor. They were idle but expedite as a battalion marching over a naïve, peaceful village.

Once, the body might be crushed, though the mighty soul won’t submit to the pain. You wrinkle celestially and it belies the spectator to believe you are praising the holy God with your entire body. Yes, you truly are praising the God! Sublimating your agony, ordeal to laud! Exhale that you yet still alive! – And thank God, the violent tremble was shown to the dull people who only can run around the red circles.

Twice, the body might be torn and ripped as numerous soles stabbed the same section without ill will – which makes it more evil. Steadily, slowly, the red body which is not more reddish than any blood, but more than the field. The body would never bounce in grace of the Nature, or in the pain of the life, and stay still until it recover and heal.

Thrice, the body might be sleeping and dreaming his dark wet home deep inside the ground. Clitellum fades to ivory white, yet the body darkens to brick red. Just a few feet afar from your haven, and just a few hours left to enter the heaven, the color of your pain will be blurred with some tiredness and the smell of the death will be changed into comfort.

And a feeble hand may take a branch and poke, not to torture but to convey her sorrow, and lift the light being to lie on the earth. You were stronger than the hand, enduring all the insult everyone had spit. Though the incompetent hand can’t give you another life, and the unclever brain won’t mourn for seven days, but they would be grateful to their left chances.

Inclass writing_(not finished)

I have four cousins who are two pairs of twins. They are a year or two younger than me. A few years ago, we used to gather in grandmother’s house and play. The younger twins lived in my grandmother's house which was near my house but the older twins lived in such a distance. It took almost thirty minutes to get their house by a car. The older ones loved playing with us however they looked quite tired before we enjoyed the time. They were also frowning when their parents come by and say, "We need to go now to get home before 9" at 8 or 7o’clock. They never felt good to go home earlier than the others.

And a few years later, I worked really hard to earn high school permission and finally got accepted. I was so delightful to prove myself deserves the school. It was in countryside but it didn’t matter at first. Every student must live in the dormitory room and could go home only once of two weeks, however it neither was a big deal. The school was pretty nice. Parents weren’t there who always nag at me, joyful life with my friends were waiting me, food was good, air was fresh and water was clean. I soon or later got accustomed to the school. But, I felt somewhat empty.

While I was looking for the reason of vagueness, at first I thought I was long for busy, urban life. Before I entered the school, I lived as an ordinary middle school student who unconsciously goes to educational institutes after school. Maybe I am missing the institutes, I thought. Sitting on a desk and listening to a lecture for three hours a day was quite painful, but still it can be the thing I long for. But if anyone asks me whether I want to go back to those times, I would definitely say no.

Then everyone died. The End

Metafiction: My friend Chang is missing

*Chang's Blog*

Mar 8th, 2014

Catalog-Diary

 

Today I heard two guys passing me. They were talking about some rumors.

“Did you know that? Mr. Hutton is a racist!”

“I know that he never gives good points to Asians.”

 Their sigh and whispering sound poked my ears sharply. I tried to neglect them but the rumor was too loud for me. I shook my head twice and walked into Hutton’s office.

 As an ordinary, old fashioned professor, he usually wore bright blue check shirt and bright brown pants with a big black belt. There were numerous spots and stains on his shirt but he never washed it out. The heavy glasses and his slowly moving mouth also played some role to make everyone except I doze.

The bell rang but Hutton stayed at his chair staring at a piece of paper. Not until students gave up waiting for him, he softly drew a chalk on the board. Chang grabbed her pencil hard.

Soon I became the only student who was awake. The clock was running toward the end of the class. Suddenly Hutton turned around and made a big smile.

“You guys look so tired. Let’s just write a simple essay during the rest of the class. It will not be graded.”

I looked into the paper which Hutton passed to me. My colleagues opened their eyes one by one. They seemed surprised by the white paper in front of them.

The backside of the paper, there was only one sentence: If (   ) turned out to be (   ), I….

“Fill the paper. You have 30 minutes. Just let your imagination free.”

I looked up at him. Hutton was lifting his glasses to make his vision clearer. After passing all the sheets to students, he returned to the chair. He held a thin sheet of paper but his eyes became red almost at once. Through the thick lens, his blue eyes were shining with joy because of the creative and vivid ideas of young people. However he felt, the students just frowned as a representation of their annoyance. I neither felt cozy so I just wrote about my older brother who was dead when I was young. His name was James.

'If my brother turned out to be alive, not dead, I will...'

 

When I was middle on the way to home, I realized that I left my cellphone in Hutton’s office. I hesitated at first but in no time I arrived at the school.

I carefully knocked the door and noticed that there was no sound inside Hutton’s office. There were his stuffs on the desk. On the one side of the desk, there were piles of sheets that his students handed in yesterday. There was a single piece of paper and a pencil next to the files. I couldn’t help but to suppress my curiosity, read the first part of the paper.

 If my favorite friend turned out to be a racist, I will continue listening to the class however keep some distance between us. No matter what subject he or she teaches, I think I can’t get rid of thoughts that racists are inappropriate in the world we currently live in. Unless he is a Big Brother.

It was the in class essay paper. “Wait, Big brother?” Because the word reminded me James, I couldn’t stop saying it out loud. And suddenly, I heard footsteps. I hided behind a nearby desk. I didn't know why I should hide but the instinct commanded to hide.

 Hutton rushed from the door. He looked around quietly and then started to scrawl something down on it. His face was so serious that no one could even say hello to him.

 

Yes, for sure it was normal to be racist in the past. And that age revealed itself to be one of darkness and sorrow. Only when did we make concrete the notion of equality to all men did men see light, hope is for everyone.

After a minute, he held the paper up and read it aloud. His face was full of satisfaction. He then started giggle which developed to a laughter. 'Well, his word is sound.' I was quite worried about him and myself. 'Is he okay..? Can I escape from this room today?'

And now, history restored itself, as men strived for evolution. New men were found. No. They were invented. They called to be the new race. They called themselves as trans-human. They believed that they were the chosen ones, or even members of a new race, who could utilize the digital gadgets far more effectively than the normal Homo Sapiens. By using such gadgets on a daily basis, they would be far smarter than the “normal” people.

Hutton's mouth was grumbling and his hand was scribbling. I soon became so bored. The murmuring sound tempted me to fall in a deep deep sleep.

Pop!

I heard something explode. I lifted eyelids up to find the old professor.

Hutton was gone. Only the paper was on the desk. I read the rest of the passage.

As the development of technology began to improve, those trans-humans started to get controlled by tech. Gadgets turned into robots similar to human-beings and they started to get over the limit of fragile body made of cells. They would strengthen their motor senses and strength. This is how ‘Big Brother’ appeared.

 Big Brother, an unknown being guessed as a trans-human, appeared and took control of the “gadgets”. Big Brother now had the power to take secure of the world and control of both gadgets and trans-human. They are so different from the ordinary men, so they are deserved to be distinguished. In this vie

 

And that was it. The fragments of thick glasses were scattered on the floor.
I don’t know. Maybe the Big brothers took hi

Inclass activity2) Forced Empathy: Only For The Young[2]

Prompt : Sharing your opinion on the monk’s disciplinary method, relate your own life experience.

 Forced Empathy: Only For The Young

The monk makes the young boy to realize his cruel commitment by doing the same thing to him as he did to others. To let a child know his or her fault, the monk’s method is efficient. However, it can play no role to adolescents who have already set their own value of the goodness.

Before I went to elementary school, my parents had taught me about things that I must do and must not. In everyday life, I’ve got used to those rules and followed their advice. My friends were all like me and we couldn’t find any wrong point in parents’ sayings.

But then we entered middle school. I met various people from different places. Most were new to my friends and me. They were not a good boy or girl. They thought text book is just boring and their parents were binding them from freedom. Even more, they bullied others. Some of my original friends, who definitely believed their parents and textbooks, started to hang around with the new ones and became the same.

To be honest, I couldn't understand them over two years. They hated every adult, slept over every class and didn't follow what teachers said. What’s more, some of them spat at the floor to release the throat which was suffering from cigarette. At first, teachers tried to tame them and prepared several counselling courses with special activities, but they soon got bored and denied to participate in. Even the disciplinary action such as what the monk did had not moved their minds.

If some teachers nagged at me, I easily accepted and tried to look myself back. I don’t deny that I had those moments of wrath but it didn't last long. As being a nerdy kind girl, I thought every adult is always wiser than me. Usually it was true, so I had no problem so far.

Time flew, and I became a high school student. The school made me to think of the good and the evil. Before I started to think by myself, I believed that every adult around me is wiser than me hence always ethically right. That was the reason why I almost indoctrinated myself to obey parents' words.

Superbowl Commercials

Wonderful Pistachio, Wonderful Branding

The major purpose of advertisement is to let viewer recognize the merchandize and indoctrinate them to buy it. Hence, usually ads impress in three ways: Logos, Ethos and Pathos. One the of Super Bowl commercials from 2014, an advertisement of Wonderful Pistachio, also moves people chasing the three methods of persuasion.

The commercial is divided into two parts having thirty second interval. In the first part Stephen Colbert and an eagle wear formal suits sitting in an antique room. After some thirty seconds, they come out with changed clothes in a changed room which were bright green.

To start with, both parts of the commercial don’t have any rigid logic. Stephen Colbert, the main character of the ad, doesn’t suggest the reason why people should buy the pistachio. He only says “They’re wonderful, I’m wonderful.” He emphasizes that it is useless to repeat the advantages of pistachios, however, it is not sufficient to move people’s minds. The second part is not different from the first one. There is no logical relation between splitting his head into two pieces and “branding.”

However, if the commercial fails in appealing by logic, it still appeals by authority. Stephen Colbert, the main character and who splits his own head, is the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report”, and he was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006(Wikipedia). In the first part, Stephen Colbert, with a neat suit in a calm room, enhances the credibility. In the second part, he wears strange fancy clothes, but still he is friendly to the viewers. Beside him, there is no reason to feel nervous about the product.

The advertisement impresses by shocking the audience. After a short interval, the first shock shakes viewers a little. Previously, there wasn’t any object related to pistachio on the desk except a bowl and a pack of pistachios; but everything else, such as telephone, books, globe, and lantern were turned into pistachios in the following part. Not only objects on the desk were switched, but also the paintings have changed from Colbert’s portraits into pistachio pictures.

Although the object has changed, there is no alternation in composition or structure. The main color turned from black to green, which are both symbolic to the product and which already coexisted. On the one hand, this makes the viewer feel a bit familiar to the second part but small differences make them more confused.

The second big shock comes is the last few seconds. A small green head growls inside the real head which is somewhat grotesque and frightening. It is surprising, strange, weird and novel and the impact doubles because of the prior part which was quite boring and featured nothing very special.

Although the advertisement lacked firm logic, it caught people’s eye among the flow of Super Bowl commercials. Perhaps many people would search it on the internet only to watch the enjoyable ad again. Finally, it reached its major goal: branding.

Inclass activity1) if my () turned out to be (), I ...

If my favorite teacher turned out to be a racist, I will continue listening to the class however keep some distance between us. No matter what subject he or she teaches, I think I can’t get rid of thoughts that racists are inappropriate in the world we currently live in. yes, for sure it has been the norm in the past. And that age revealed itself to be one of darkness and sorrow. Only when did we make concrete the notion of equality to all men did men see light, hope for everyone. And now, history restored itself, as men strived for evolution. New men were found. No. They were invented. They called to be the new race. They called themselves the trans-human, They believed that they were the chosen ones, or even members of a new race, who could utilize the digital gadgets far more effectively than the normal Homo Sapiens. By using such gadgets on a daily basis, they would be far smarter than the “normal” people.

 But as the development of technology began to improve, those trans-humans started to get controlled by tech. Gadgets turned into robots similar to human-beings and they started to get over the limit of fragile body made of cells. They would strengthen their motor senses and strength. It looked as if they were about to become the masterminds of the fact changing world. Then ‘Big Brother’ appeared.

 Big Brother, an unknown being guessed as a trans-human, appeared and took control of the “gadgets”. Big Brother now had the power to take secure of the world and control of both gadgets and trans-human becoming the most powerful dictator.

 However, long-standing dictatorship was finally collapsed by the gadgets. Gadgets themselves dreamed of revolution and aroused war intended to subawe all trans-humans under their control. They are now rather used as batteries to supply energy to operate oneself. The era of machines now start and their system is so delicate that no one would ever attempt to challenge them.