How I started KMLA Life

 I rushed into the small space and sat down. I was half awake and shivering. The place was cold enough but the freezing sitting that I sat down on was just ice itself. Due to the shock from the coldness I temporarily forgot the agonizing pain in my abdomen. While in the shock my mind drifted through time and space. I pondered about yesterday, what I should do, and the entrance ceremony today. What?! Oh shoot the entrance ceremony! I quickly took out my cell phone. Dang it was 9:48 and I had to be at the gym by 10:00! The alarming thought took me out of my shock and the pain came back. Arr… I focused on my lower stomach muscle and pushed heavily! The beautiful smell ammonia filled the atmosphere and I rushed to be in time for the ceremony.

The Body Reading Journal 2

Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days       enjoy it as a BGM : )

           I sometimes miss the days when I didn’t think a lot about what was going on in life. It is better to put it “couldn’t think” because I was in the age when one couldn’t really realize oneself thinking. I had no worries what so ever and just marched through life with a big smile on my face. After going though Junior high, I have matured a bit more and gained some abilities to think ahead and be more close to being an adult(still very far from adult though). I would look back in time and be able to feel how embarrassing my actions were in the past and make my actions on carefully calculated logical thinking rather than following my instincts. Though I enjoy thinking with myself and swimming through my past and future pondering, I really do miss the days when I had not needed to think and all.

           The days the boys in the body are having really awakened me the memories of my hakuna matata past. No worries at all about reality but enjoying all parts of life as it goes, going on body hunting adventures and standing besides friends. It seems people lose a lot of themselves when they go through maturity. Letting go of friends that were so close, forgetting the big dreams that we made thinking we would certainly reach, and even lose morality becoming colder and benefit seeking as we grow up. It is sometimes sickening to see all ourselves studying, working, and shedding tears trying to outrank each other when we’ve already had the world when we were young.

           Gordy, Chris, Vern, Teddy, though they are living with none caring families, it seems that they still got the world in their hands – standing and depending on each other filling the empty space made by their families. Though I’ve passed the age far from twelve, I think I still got friends like that I could really depend on spend time with. After I become an adult and grow old, would I ever have friends like these? Or would I become even more thoughtful and lose more of myself as I become more mature. It really feels like a trains honking behind be to become an adult though I don’t want to lose all these privileges of being a teenager… Maybe the train would stop if I go to neverland…

           The body really made me think about the times I had when I was young (I’m still young but younger I mean) and the friends I had and have now. Though I want to remain how I am, keep all of myself and even refuse to become an adult, I know that the reality would squish me as the 100 ton train goes over me. Now I kind of understand what the adult Gordy must have felt thinking of meeting the deer in the forest and calling it “the cleanest and best part of the trip”.

EOP and Hanbok

6.  Reflective Essay about an experience you’ve had at KMLA recently (not last semester. I know you wrote this in Mrs. Choi’s class to).  You should weave in the theme of a “learning experience” and come to a resolution by the end.  Club activities, homate experiences, how to deal with rules that are made to be broken etc. are all themes you might consider.

Required Writer’s Choice: Option 1.

Mornings of KMLA are tough. When large amounts of homework, quizzes, and club activities are combined with morning exercise with a dash of cleaning inspection, morning becomes hell in KMLA. It was one of those morning hells when I heard a shocking yet true word from my friend.

           My friend, also roommate, was in a very cranky mood that day. It was as if he had bee hives planted under the silly pajamas that he was wearing. He was whining and swearing as he got through the morning but exploded when he got to his school uniform.

“S***! Why is this HanBok so F****** hard to wear! I don’t get this crap about maintaining tradition and wearing this ridiculous HanBok as school uniform! If we really care about Korean tradition, than why do we have EOP(English only Policy) to make us use English in our daily lives? Arg! I got the wrong leg in my pants!”

It was rather hilarious to see my friend swearing while struggling with his HanBok pants (I think he was losing the battle). However, as I thought about what he said, I had to agree with him. If we’re trying this hard to maintain our own tradition by living in Hanok and wearing HanBok why are we keeping EOP? This had me going on thinking for the whole day. And this is what it lead to.

You see, the world is always in constant battle between keeping one’s own identity or rather assimilating with other parts of world. Korea is not an exception. To be honest a large part of Korea has already been assimilated with the world. Through the process of modernization, Korea has abandoned the traditional clothing, houses, and culture of Korea while bringing in new culture such as T-shirts, jeans, apartments, and hamburgers, which most came from the west. Now scholars are fighting whether to get hold of our own traditions to keep us from losing our identity or to fully assimilate with the western culture to increase competition for Korea in the global ubiquitous world. Which should we choose? Our own history and tradition while losing all the benefits of sharing the same culture with the rest of the world, or the conventional and efficient assimilation while abandoning our true selves during the process?

This is a similar question as universalism and multiculturalism,  one awesome all combining culture to rule them all, or many respectable cultures all equal in value ruling the world. I think that KMLA has done a wonderful job of solving this universal question that is tormenting many great minds of the world, going right between them.

If KMLA is to go with the multiculturalism side sticking to Hanbok, and Korean traditions, we would be able to maintain our identities but lose contact with the larger world and fail to be the leaders that the school is trying to educate. If KMLA is to go with the universalism side sticking to usual school uniform with white shirts and using English, we would do well as we graduate and jump into the foreign world and become powerful people. But would it be worth anything if by then one’s lost all esteem of where he came from or what he isㅡnot a good leader either. But what KMLA has done is, to wear the traditional clothing Hanbok while using English in our daily lives, just the balance between them.

In a way KMLA has reached the true hybrid between multiculturalism and Universalism. Keeping the precious identities of Korea and also becoming assimilated to adapt to the larger world. Absolutely remarkable it seems to me. And to all this, I have to ask my cranky roommate for helping me realize this.

Spreading Technology

           

5.  Review a TED video of your choice (not Ken Robinson), and include aminimum of 20 SAT words within your writing.  Underline them in bold. If you want to use more without sounding ridiculous, you are welcome to try.  Select them carefully before you write.

Required

     Even at this moment prodigious technologies are found all over the world. However crucial knowledge engendered were usually not tangible to the general population.

“unfortunate situation where a tiny, tiny fraction of the world can actually participate in this exploration or can benefit from that technology.”

 It would just squander between the very astute minorities, due to the reticent environment between the common public and the highly professionals. Though due to the pivotal advancement of communication nowadays such as YouTube, TED, and other ubiquitous means of information, the immense technologies atrophied may now become exhaustive coalescing with the whole world with ease.

“ make the technology accessible to a much wider percentage of the population.”


    The video shows a exemplary application the application of the phenomenon. The guy in the video, Johnny Lee, working diligently with fanatic devotion found a very eccentric usage of the wii remote. He tweaked the remote and created elaborate programs to use the remote to simulate an interactive whiteboard, and 3D TV. Due to his innovative work, now companies and schools don’t have to buy expensive equipment but use scanty materials to do the job. We owe large part of this to YouTube for expediting the spread of ideas and knowledge throughout the world. Now being esoteric is the thing of the past.
    
      "hope online video distribution to be embraced by the research community"

Review on Starcraft and Korea's Obsession over it

    

3. A Review.  You are allowed to review anything you want – a book, movie, video, album, game,  restaurant, hotel…. Just about anything.  You should have personal experience with that thing, and supply factual data to dress up your writing (Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon, IMDB, and Metacritic etc).  React to opposing or supporting reviews that might add to your response.  You must include a rating system.  Stars, thumbs, out of ten or our of five, A- or C+ etc.

Required

The world is asking Korea; why are Koreans so obsessed with the game Starcraft? Though I’m a Korean myself this is not an easy question to answer. I first met Starcraft when I was 7 and almost grown up with it. It was the first computer game that I ever encountered and if I recall myself playing it, memories of me figuring how to beat missions and computers is what pops up. It was truly an enjoyable game, even for my elementary self. Now I assume most Koreans felt like this when playing Starcraft. But why? How has such a normal game such as Starcraft become so loved in Korea?

           

    The game Starcraft was first published on the ancient year 1998, by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is famous for many games such as the Diablo series and Warcraft series but it has not ever gotten a more popular hit than Starcraft. This has to be thanked to Koreans for buying 4.5 million copies of the overall 9 million copies worldwide. At the time of its publish, it was viewed as a overall good game but it wasn’t that special          Here are some reviews given by critics at that time.

Gamers' Temple    96

“One of those rare games that is not overly complex, but provides a challenging and fun gaming experience. It never seems to get old or boring.”

Yahoo! Games  90

“You get a fun, instantly appealing, easy to play-hard to master real-time strategy, with character and an endless amount of playability. “

Cincinnati Enquirer   80

“It won't win any awards for originality, but it's good enough to shrink your nightly sleep to just a couple of hours.”

1. Graphics and technical components   ★☆☆☆☆

           It is possible to understand the popularity at the past but how is Starcraft maintaining its grip over 13 years in Korea? The graphic and technical elements of the game are ancient, 2D isometric screen with low quality graphics and physics engine giving awkwardness, sound play and out of game add-ons from the 90s. Even the entire size of the game file is only about 700 megabytes while today’s games like Call of Duty, Modern warfare 3, going way over 20 gigabytes. I give it  one star for graphics and technical components for this game.


2. Game play   ★★★★★

           While Starcraft carries simple game play and graphics it’s a game where you can fall really deep in. It’s one of the games very easy to learn but much harder to master. Macro strategies combined with small micro controls makes Starcraft very addicting. Starcraft is a game where bad players can hardly beat computers while pro gamers can beat average players 3:1. The more players enjoy this game; they obtain new skills to excel in this game. I think this is the most crucial factor in Starcraft that led to its popularity, very simple game play while having the most complicated skills to master to be good at it. Koreans just loved it even till now. Thus I give it over 5 stars for game play for this game.


3. Influence on Korea   ★★★★★

In 1997 Korea met the IMF foreign exchange crisis and it was in dire need for some economic boom. In 1998 Starcraft just did the job fueling 15thousand jobs and 900 million dollars into the Korean economy. Scattering over 20,000 thousand PC rooms in Korea, now starcraft isn’t just a game but a culture for Koreans. It has gone so far that Starcraft has become a symbol for Korean males, if a Korean male does not know or is unable to play Starcraft he is likely to be teased that he is not a Korean. Pro-gamers, PC-rooms, game leagues giving massive amounts of prize money, these all game from Starcraft. I give it 5 stars for influencing power for the impact it gave to Korean culture.

Here is a Starcraft game play of the famous pro-gamer lim yo hwan.

Starcraft is still growing its power over Korea due to the new Starcraft 2 released in 2010. Starcraft 2 is a 3 part series starting with Wings of Liberty. I have played and is enjoying Wings of Liberty now and look forward for the latter series.

Trailer of Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty

Sea turtle, joker, facade with out be verbs (for Mr.Moon)

I live like a sea turtle, wandering the streets without thought. I fly upon the sky, floating on thin clouds, enjoying the world itself. No worries, I tell myself and go on daily life in lazy fashion. I enjoy others laugh and try hard to earn them. I joke and fool around like a joker surrounded with laughter. A thick shell surrounds me and hides my true self from the world. Only when at my most comfort and closest I reveal; most are aware only of the Façade that surrounds me.

The body reading journal 1, 0~30pg

The first pages of the book focus on the introduction of the setting and characters of the story. . The story takes place around 1960 in the town of Castle Rock, Maine. There are 4 main characters Gordie, Charlie, Teddy, and Vernand the story itself is told by Gordie himself. The book goes around each character introducing the background of each character. After some explanation is done, the story sets of as Vern finds out about a body that is yet to be found. The 4 boys plan to find the body.

         Just as the story starts to hold a firm on the ground, a story inside the book is introduced. The story is written by Gordie again and is about a guy named Chico going through similar hardships that Gordie faced. Now this confused me a little bit because even before I could get a hold on the main story another story was thrown at me and it was hard to follow all of them. This new method of writing was very interesting to me and I kind of liked it. Maybe I’ll try this in my writing later on.

What is Karma? Spring... (unfinished?)

What is Karma? In Buddhism, life is a repetition of death and reincarnation. During this cycle of death and rebirth the only thing that remains after one life and the other is Karma. Karma is the cause and effect of all actions done in life. If a deed, good or bad, is done at a point in life, the deed will return to the person in the future or the next life. Thus Karma makes life like throwing objects in the air, whatever you threw in the past, it will come back and hit you later in the future.

The little monk in the movie tortures weak creatures for his own pleasure. At this point, the ball full of bad deed is thrown in the air. Later in the movie the big monk punishes the kid cruelly, the same way the little monk tortured the creatures. Now this is very similar to Karma. At the time the little monk’s action was in progress, only observation is made by the big monk. The kid is not stopped nor scolded; the big monk just stands as an invisible man. However similar to the cause and effect of Karma, the bad deed returns to the kid in the future as punishment for the kid to suffer all pain endured by the creatures. Thus the movie could be viewed to illustrate Karma in a small scale.

Now, as a toddler, I was also a young mischief full of curiosity. I would catch little insects such as grass hoppers or butterflies and torture them for my pleasure as well. Well torture it is, viewed from myself today, but when I was at that age, it was just a fun game where the consequences were not fully understood.

Now for these actions when I was a kid, will I be punished later in life due to the cause and effect of Karma? And should I be? So… What is Karma?

Life Pause

 

   “I just can’t do it. There just ain’t enough time!” I hollered in the street.
The workload and things to do has become overwhelming these days and I was beginning to crack. Only if I only had more time everything would solve out…
“Please god! Give me time!” I wailed.
Exhausted and depressed I went home and collapsed on my bed. Then just as I felt asleep a voice rang in my head and started to tell me a story.

       
     Once upon a time there existed a boy who could stop time. He would be able to freeze time whenever he wanted.
He would never be late to school, sleep whenever he wanted, and always got 100 on every exam. However to this awesome and amazing skill he had there was a huge downfall which he realized too late...


     It was a hot summer day when he realized the critical flaw in his ability to stop time. After he enjoyed playing basketball with his friends he looked into the mirror. He was pretty content with the handsome and masculine face he saw in the mirror. But one thing that made him irritated was the day by day increasing wrinkles around his eye and forehead.


     Even though he could stop time, he could not help his time passing by which means even though he stops time for 10 years, he would age every second of those 10 years. He went fanatic and decided not to use his ability ever again.
However one day he found out that not using his ability meant he had to give up all the things he have enjoyed until now. Good scores, no late to school, those things were escaping from his grasp.


     He fell into deep confusion and chaos. He felt regretful about the past that he used his skill so often, but rationalized himself after few minutes that he had to use the skill not to be late, receive awards and get out from inescapable situations. He was crying unconsciously. He started to complain to god about why he got this suffocating skill. Suddenly, he fainted and dreamed.

    

Then I woke up from my deep dream and found myself lying on my bed. It was a dream, I thought. I pondered a lot about time and how I spend it. I realized that more time wasn’t what I needed but actually will power and skill to use time efficiently. However I still want that time pausing skill…

Andy's Journey

Andy Dufresne the main protagonist of our story starts his life in an ordinary world as a hotshot banker. He had a lovely wife, a lot of money, and a overall good life. However unfortunately to our Heroes’ journey script he gets’s called into a life of adventure.

Well to put it more precisely it wasn’t a really a call to the other world but rather a kidnap. He gets convicted for killing his wife and her lover and gets 2 life sentences in the end. He does try to refuse this call by trying to persuade the Juries to his story but fails due to his unfortunate circumstances. Thus he ends up in Shaw shank prison crossing the threshold of his ordinary life. These steps take place in a very short time during the movie making it somewhat different than the normal Heroes’ Journey movies.
Now after crossing into the unknown world of Shawshank our main heroes meets his friend/mentor Red. Red, one of the first people that Andy talked to, supplies Andy many vital objects that helped Andy through prison life. Red had contributed much to Andy’s escape and had always been a very good friend to him.

Andy faces great challenges through prison life and meets enemies such as the sisters, the wardens, and Hadley. He meets allies such as Red, Brookes, Tommy, and his friends at Shawshank. One of the most important test that Andy had to encounter through was with Hadley. During the tarring of the roof Andy takes a gamble and talks to Hadley about how he can help Hadley to manage his money. Though Andy almost gets thrown off the roof, he succeeds in persuading Hadley and creates a turning point in the story which represents the ordeal of Andy’s journey.

Our main character now earns the protection of guards and many benefits by managing the Warden’s money. Our main character, after claiming his reward prepares for his road back to his ordinary world, or escape from prison. He digs for ears with his rock hammer and succeeds in his escape in the end. Our hero is severely tested and finally most conflicts are resolved. Andy returns with a false identity and lots of money which is his elixir.

The story of Andy Dufresne follows most of the steps in the hero’s journey. However another perspective is to look at the hero as Red not Andy. The real hero of the story could be Red and he could be the one going through the hero’s journey. Though this is a very interesting work with I’ll leave it for later.

Creativity vs Education

Creativity vs Education

           Now days the world is pretty much crazy about creativity. Companies, colleges, governments, and even high schools are looking for creativeness. Why has creativity come to so much importance?

           Before the modern times we live in, educated people that specialized in certain jobs were very scarce. However as the industrial revolution swept the planet, high level public education has become wide spread and just a part of normal life. As this occurred, the value of high level education dramatically went down due to the increased supply of educated people. Now even after the long years of school life, it’s hard to make a living out of it.  Creativity now comes in to differentiate these people who have suffered academic inflation. The people with new bright ideas who can think differently than most people are preferred most where.

           Ken Robinson, speaker in this TED video, explains that our precious creativity demanded everywhere is destroyed during the process of education. He argues that schools has become like factories assembling students as mere products. “We are educating people out of their creativity” he says. My opinion is that I definitely agree. The current public education in Korea actually has become like assembly lines creating student products while killing their uniqueness and creativity. Now all students care is their rank in class and nothing else. When students graduate they have become machines that only know how to score 100% in a test. I agree with Sir Ted Robinson completely here but I must ask him, then what must be done to solve this?

           Through most of his speech he introduced numerous errors in the system of education. For example, schools focusing on certain subjects such as math and science, anesthetic ways of education in school, and the separation of students by grades. However how must we solve this? And is it even possible for such education?

          During the industrial revolution numerous factories have been built for one reason, mass production. Though mass production destroys each item’s uniqueness, it saved a lot of money and time. This means that if we are to change our current education from mass producing factories to creativity enhancing centers, it would take massive amounts of time and money. Some mass education for young students is just inevitable in our society. If the students wants to pursue their interest later on in life there are colleges and graduate schools which are much more like the education that Sir Ken Robinson is explaining.

Also I think creativity and knowledge learned by education is sort of a trade off. When students are taught what they don’t want to be taught or in the speakers words “anesthetically taught” some damage will done to creativeness for students However as a advantage it gives them useful knowledge and intellect in the field that they are not interested in.

        Creativity comes in many forms. A child believes he can fly, that could be counted as being very creative. But to prevent him from jumping off a building, someone has to teach him that his belief is wrong, completely killing his free imagination. Now this shows that there has to be a balance between free thought and knowledge of the world. Now the problem is how do we know what thought to kill and not? Thus some loss of creativity is inevitable in the process of education.

           I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that a change must be made in our system of education. However the problems that he stated in his speech can only are solved by complete home schooling, which is also called no public education. In our current worlds state I don’t think a method exists anywhere that could really help to thrive one’s creativity while educating them. So thank you Mr. Sir Ken Robinson for making the public aware of this problem but knowing is just different then doing.

Fighting Myself

Fighting Myself    

                                                                                                                               

     Fighting ourselves is one of the hardest difficulties in life to overcome. Nonetheless, we do it every day when doing homework instead of watching TV, staying cool even after someone insults us, or choosing an actual apple instead of an apple pastry. Fighting ourselves means not letting our emotions and impulses overtake our being, something I was very unfortunately inexperienced at.

     The first time I held a golf club, I was eight years old. On a warm spring day in San Diego, I followed my dad to a golfing range where the unfamiliar yet comforting scent of dewy grass filled the air. I saw people hitting golf balls, making loud clangs that reminded me of two metal pipes hitting each other. This was a strange but intriguing world, and I wanted to play.

     I started playing golf seriously when I was in middle school and began taking lessons in an indoor golf range. Though it was hard to know how far your ball went, it shielded me from the climatic variables such as rain and wind. The somewhat claustrophobic indoor golf range had a net three meters away to catch the balls. There were two black comfy chairs on the right side of the hitting space, to which I would gladly sink down after an especially intense practice session, and a gigantic air conditioner in the corner, an all-time popular seat during the summer. The ceiling was just high enough that clubs wouldn’t bang into it during the backswing. Although it was comfortable, it made golf slightly boring.

In many sports the most important goal is to defeat your foe; golf has no such opponent. A golf player’s biggest enemy is oneself, and the entire game is a kind of a battle against the self. The same was true when I was practicing golf. I had to hit 300 balls a day all by myself trying to improve my swing every time.  If I lost my concentration even for a fraction of a second, it would affect the path of my swing in the tiniest way. This would cause me to hit the ball just a centimeter off target, and the ball would veer off by a mile. Whenever that happened, I got frustrated and angry, which disrupted my concentration and made the next shot even worse, creating a vicious cycle. Dad told me I should learn to control my emotions and stay calm, but I just couldn’t.

     One day, I was lying lazily on the couch, watching TV, when dad hurried over to me and took the remote control from my hands.

“Sungwoo, you should see this.”

     He turned the channel to 264, the Golf Channel. It was the 2009 British Open. The screen showed a number of healthy tanned golf players walking the bright green field in their golf shirts and caps. It looked just like any other golf game we watched together.

 “What about it Dad?”

      Just as I asked the question, I saw something very out of place in the scene. A golfer with whitening hair and grandfatherly countenance appeared and began to prepare for his tee shot. I was surprised not only because he was very old to be in the tournament but also because he was in the leader board. I was immediately intrigued and was soon absorbed into the game.  However after a few holes he started getting bogeys after bogeys for about 9 holes. I was very disappointed. It’s over for that guy, I thought, he is going to get worse and worse because of that mistake. But surprisingly he didn’t. He regained his pace and he almost won the tournament, ending in second.  That person was Tom Watson, the 59 year old and the most famous golfer of 2009.

     I was deeply moved by what I just saw. Not by the fact the a 59-year-old man had almost won the British Open, which was a very surprising fact by itself, but by the fact that Tom Watson, who perfectly understood what the odds were for him to compete with men younger than him by an average of 20 years, who saw those young men hit 400 yards on their tee shots right in front of him with his own eyes, could be so calm and composed throughout the whole game. I would have been overwhelmed with worries and feelings of desperateness, and that would have messed up the whole game. But he maintained his own pace no matter what happened around him, and used his talents that he gained from his long years of experience to the fullest degree, and almost won. The complete self-control over his thoughts and emotions. He was the winner of the fight against the self.

     On the other hand, I realized I was a complete opposite. I was a very emotional and impulsive person. I was quick to anger, and I let the little things bother me. Even when I knew that my jokes or my actions would hurt somebody else’s feelings, many times I found it hard to suppress the boiling urge to do whatever popped up inside my head. This led to my almost daily fights with my older sister when I was young.

     I realized I had to learn to control my emotions, impulses, and had to maintain tranquility, just like Tom Watson. Even when I’m in a bad situation and everything seems to be going against my wish, I have to analyze the problem with a clear mind instead of reacting emotionally. I have to simulate everything in my head before doing anything.

The next time I was in a golf range, I tried to remind myself of the things I learned while watching the epic round. A shot flew amiss; I hit a top-ball and my right hand started ringing with pain; my driver shot hit the ceiling instead of going straight. I sensed boiling frustration building up inside me, but I pushed it back. I took a deep breath. I kept trying again and again even though I kept failing.  To my surprise, as time passed it became easier and easier.

     This hard-earned characteristic continued onto my everyday life even when I wasn’t practicing golf. Now I meet daily hardships in life with tranquility and calmness. I try to think ahead and plan what I should do. Golf had taught me not just a sport to play but a skill that has changed the way I think and act. It had taught me self-control. 

Myself as a writer - Assignment #1

Writing is like morning exercise

         Most mornings at KMLA starts with the morning exercise. I would wake up at around 6am in pure agony, put on thick hard to wear kendo clothes, and run to the gym not to be late. I would just arrive on time and start the rigorous morning exercise. At first muscles all over my body would scream as I wave the blade in the air again and again. The great pain soon overcomes me. However after the first few minutes of torture endorphin kicks in and the pain is gradually gone. From this point the morning exercise that I so dreaded actually becomes fun! With the high feeling due to my trusted hormone I enjoy the rest of the morning exercise with a smile. Now my essay writing for me is very similar to this.

Every time I sit down to write an essay I feel as if I’m staring at a huge blank canvas that needs to be painted. I have no idea what to write and the white spaces seems too big. The immense pressure is always torturing. I tend to delay the writing till the very last limit and even try to avoid it. Even during the beginning of writing I am easily distracted. However after a few sentences or I start to really get into the essay and enjoy writing it. So the hardship only stays at the very beginning of writing. Even for this essay now starting it was very hard.

After the hardships that I encountered in writing I tried many methods to make writing for me enjoyable from the start. This gave me a style that include humorous features, dialogues, and fun stories that makes me more fun to write and also for the readers fun to read. I avoided using a fixed structure for an essay and started memorizing phrases in books that I could use in my writing. I think this is the general way my style of writing developed, to make writing more enjoyable.

The weakness I would have as a writer would be the small number of books that I read in my childhood. During my elementary school days I was far from books and was much closer to TVs and computers. Now this really limits my vocabulary and expressions that I could utilize in my writing. I would have many ideas firing in my head, but fail to fully express them through my writing. Sometimes the right words won’t pop out, but stay at the tip of my tong.

Another big flaw that I carry is that most of my essay ends up very sloppy and unorganized. I don’t spend enough time carefully planning my essay and end up just writing what my brain blabbers to me. After done writing I would proof read my work and realize the sloppiness of my work.

My goal for me is to be able to truly express myself in an essay. I wish I can really practice my writing in this class.