Appreciation

Yesterday, the internet went down for approximately 2 hours.  I never thought i would be so greatly impacted by such a small occurrence, but I was.  It completely restricted what I could do. I had to e-mail a social studies project to one of my teachers and research for a essay in science.  Without the internet, I couldn't do any of this, not to mention chatting with my friends.

I never really thought about how important the internet was until yesterday.  Until then, I always took it for granted and thought it was a given to have.  I never gave a thought about how hard life would be without any internet.  Now I finally appreciate the luxury of having a personal internet connection in my house.  

Now you may be wondering why I talk about such a minor event.  Well, this led me to realize that I take many things for granted without a thought about what life would be without it.  I'm going to use my iPod as another example.  At a first thought, it may seem like an unneeded luxury to have an iPod touch.  It is somewhat unneeded; I survived perfectly well without it in fifth grade.  But naturally, I slowly began to take advantage of it. I now use it for many daily activities like planning, communications, and much more.  Without my iPod, I wouldn't know what time to go outside to meet my friend and walk to school, I might forget the dates of major events, I couldn't listen to music without opening my laptop.  

My theory, which I am naming the expansion theory of humans, says that we don't need many things that we think are important to life, but after we get a luxury, we slowly incorporate it into our daily life so much that we can't live without it.

Pointless fun

When I think about it, there are many things that I do in my life that are, when you think about it, very pointless, yet somehow entertaining.

Let's take the easy button for example.  It is Staples' signature item, but all it is is a huge red button that says "that was easy" when pressed.  Yet, this button is something many people want, or already have. Pointless? Definitely. Fun? Well, it isn't really "fun", but it is something that can be used over and over again.  Without fail, it can bring some laughs, some witty remarks, and some groans every time it is pressed.

The world is filled with these little items or habits that are a simple waste of time. At the time of doing these pointlessly fun things, it seems perfectly logical.  But after doing so, when you look back on it, it seems like a waste of time.

So the question is; should we continue doing this or not?  I suppose it really depends on the situation you are in at the moment.  If you are pressed for time, and will fail a class just because if you procrastinate a bit, then, by pure logic and common sense, you should not waste time with this pointless fun.  But if you are sitting on a couch with nothing to do, then go ahead! Nothing bad will come out of it, and you will be instantly entertained.

Facebook

Facebook, the almighty website that everyone who is someone uses.  What makes it so addicting? 

To know the answer to that question, we have to back up a little.  Mark Zuckerburg created Facebook as a social networking website to basically follow your friends around.  Facebook's users use it to update their every action, from baking a cake, to getting a girlfriend.  

My theory of why Facebook is addicting is that everyone wants to know what their friends are doing, follow around the person they like.  No one wants to be left behind on this informations and be clueless about present events.  Another possible reason Facebook is addicting is that people always want to respond to their messages, or a notifications on time so that people don't see them as a slow person.

The reason I check Facebook every 10 minutes is to see what people are doing, and respond to messages and/or notifications.  I also comment on a few statuses.

Facebook is such a simple site that would seem very boring, but is actually extremely addicting.

Rain

Today was one of the few rainy days in Southern California, and it sure was strange.  The day started with a constant drizzle, not enough to soak your clothes, but quite enough to make shoes squeak on the tiled floor of the classrooms.  The downfall of water was refreshing on my skin as I looked up and pondered the possibilities of a strong downpour.

The rain continued like this until about 12:00.  At this time, I was in science listening to the teacher talk about suspensions and colloids.  There was a boom and everyone shook with a start.  It felt like the sky ripped in half with earthquakes shaking the floor.  The teacher stood in awe of the power in that boom of thunder.  The classroom burst into chatter about the thunder.  After the class calmed down, the teacher stared teaching.  After a minute, the sky cried from the shock of the lightning, and let loose millions of its hard earned tears.  They hit the ground, splashing everywhere without a care for anything but reaching the ground.  The sound was like what would happen if the whole class started clicking their pens, only more thunderous.  The people of my class watched in awe, then realized that they needed to bring their backpacks in.  With permission from the teacher, waves of people from my class swarmed to save their backpacks from the wetting assault of rain.  Another few minutes after we brought our backpacks in, the rain stopped.  The clouds have recovered from the shock of lightning, all was well in the sky again.

The day went on, with intervals of sudden, violent downpours and sunny skies.  When the day ended and i finally reached home, the sky was sunny.  I finished my homework, and went downstairs to eat.  It was still sunny.  A few minutes after we started eating, a flash from outside lit up our dinner table, and then came the thunderous boom.  The cloud's life was yet again disturbed.  I thought the downpour was going to last thirty minutes at the most, but it lasted through dinner, and even more.  Our meal was disrupted by flashes and booms.  I finished my dinner, and went upstairs to carefully study the rain.  I looked outside, and saw our drainpipes over flooding, pouring excess water onto our roof and down into the sewers.  The droplets moved at an angle, because of the minor wind outside.  When a droplet hit the roof, it created a miniature splash, a dot to the human eye.  Together, it seemed as though our roof was decorated by a constantly changing polka dot pattern.

The sound of the rain is a natural phenomenon.  Each impact to the ground creates a tapping sound, muffled by the walls of my house.  Each drop that hits the roof sends out a louder sound, with the occasional big droplet of water that creates a click.  As a harmony, it creates music without tone, like the biggest orchestra in the world consisted only of percussion.

Listening, watching the rain is true bliss.  There is so much to see, so much to hear.  It is an induplicable experience.

Food

Food is a very basic necessity in peoples life, and not only to keep them alive.  


One way that food really benefits people of all shapes and sizes is that it it a classic part of quotidian culture.  Many people can identify where someone lives just by the types of foods he or she eats.  For example, if you eat dumplings daily, you are most likely chinese.  A person's personality can also be determined by his cooking, to some extent.  If someone cooks macaroni and cheese for important guests, you can infer that that person is lazy and disrespectful.  But if someone cooks some roast turkey for a neighbor, it is easy to tell that this person is hardworking and kind.  


Another BIG reason that food is extremely important to an average person's life is that food provides a lot of variety, and puts some new purpose into life.  It's really interesting to try all different kinds of foods, and see how they taste.  I can say that I like Japanese food, and then I can try all the different kinds, and I would find enjoyment in eating and trying all those different foods.  Imagine life with no food, a life that you never could eat. How boring would that be? There would be no excitement in choosing what to eat, less variety in life, less excuses to go to the mall with you friends.  Life without food would be like hot chocolate without sugar.

My fellow Asians love food.  It's almost customary for us to walk around, asking for extra food.  Some of my friends even say they can't live without rice.  Even today, on a weekend at home, one of my friends almost dedicated the entire day to watching the food channel.  At a world-wide scale, Chinese people made a whole new way of eating, using chopsticks, when they could have simply used a spoon and moved on with life.  What makes Asians love food so much? The world may never know.

Food is an amazing part of everyday life. No one could live without it. (literally and figuratively)

Happy Box?

One major hole of the happy box's legitimacy is how it makes you happy.

The way to make me happy is to fill my life with friends, family, love, reached goals, unanswered questions, and money.  Apparently, the happy box provides none of those, but it still makes me happy, somehow.  How does happiness get artificially produced?  I know that it is just a unreal thing that I should imagine, but I can not fathom how this provides quotidian happiness.  I can not imagine being happy any other way besides the way I become happy right now.  Just imagine sitting on a chair in a box grinning like a madman and feeling like you just won twenty gold medals in the Olympics.  Strange much?  I really can't understand how it works, so I can't begin to answer the question of whether or not I should go into a happy box.

Happy Box, with an even better understanding of what it is

So apparently the happy box actually gives you a lot more happiness than I thought it would.  That made me reconsider my thoughts.

So if I were asked to go into a happy box, I would definitely ponder it for a while.  At the moment, I really can't decide whether or not to go into the happy box.

It really wouldn't matter.  If you stayed out of the box and just lived your life, it would be fun, with downtimes and really fun times too.  There would be a lot of variety too, which makes life more interesting.  It would be your daily life.  Getting into the happy box would just be a monotone happiness, not much variety, but still really fun.

I didn't have much to write about this, so I'm going to write another post questioning the happy box.

Happy Box, different thoughts...

Okay, a bit of misunderstanding between me and Hans there, so here is the actual article he was asking for.

So, if someone asked me to step into a "happy box", I would not.

I am getting a little ahead of myself there.  A happy box is apparently a boxlike enclosure that you can go into, and it immediately makes you happy.  But being happy means only sitting there, having an artificial happiness overtake you.

I wouldn't step in the happy box because of a few reasons.  First of all, an artificial happiness never makes you as happy as happiness that is earned through hard work.  If you get a really good score on your math test because you studied really hard for it, you get a amount of happiness like no other.  If you get artificially happy inside a box, then you will be happy, staring at a wall.  Think about it, it is really strange and unsatisfying.  Another reason that I wouldn't step in to the happy box is that it would be really boring.  Boring and happy contradict each other, but if you think about it, it really does make sense.  If you are happy because you are forever dropping from the sky with the excitement like that of when you ride a roller coaster, then you will eventually get bored because it would feel normal falling from the sky, and you would yearn for hard ground under your feet.  It is the same for the happy box.  Eventually, you are going to get very bored sitting in a box,and will yearn for pain and suffering.  That brings me to yet another point.  There would be no pain an suffering inside the happy box.  That may sound strange, to actually want to be hurt and suffer, but it is true.  For example, when I was a small child, I always took leisure time and fun for granted.  But as I grew up and had more homework and less time to idle, I began to appreciate rest and playtime.  I wouldn't have that happiness if it wasn't for all the countless hours of working.

The happy box does have some benefits at first, but as you stay in there longer and longer, you will realize that it isn't as good as living life how it normally is.

Happy Box

If someone randomly came up to me and asked if I wanted to make my life happy and perfect, I would actually choose to go in.

Why?  Well what's bad about being not happy?  To me, being happy is being showered with love, money, yoyos and some friends.  What is really bad about that?  Being happy means having good friends, some love and support, and everything you ever wanted.  What can be better than that?  I can't find anything bad about walking into a "happy box".

Sorry for not blogging the last few days and making this post so short... life was pretty hectic.

If everyone in the world was the same

I think that some version of the book's world is not present in today's world.  Anyways, here's today's post.

While I was reading "Brave new world", I was thinking what would happen if everyone in the world was the same.

There would be many good parts of everyone being the same.  One is that everyone will understand each other and there will be no disputes about anything.  It would be a peaceful world with no one killing other people, and no hate.  Also, everything you make can be the same, because whatever you like, everyone else likes, so you don't have to make so many different kinds sell only sell a few.  Another great part about this is that everyone will be as smart as one another and everyone will earn the same salary, therefore no country will have economical problems and everyone will treat each other as equals.  

There will obviously be many problems with this too.  One of the most prominent problems of everyone being the same is that it is extremely difficult to identify people from one another.  People will be looking at people and identifying them by their name tags.  It will be pretty chaotic.  Also, since they all have the same interests, they will all be arguing about who should be what.  For example, everyone would want to be the CEO of a certain company, but no one will want to be part of any other company.  Everyone would be arguing using the same logic, then the world will get nowhere.  It would also really get boring because you already know what everyone's reply is going to be, and there is no variety in anything.

In the end, it probably won't be a good idea to make everyone in the world the same.

Stuff I've been writing for school.

I've been a bit busy lately, so I couldn't blog as often... I am reading "Brave New World" right now. Anyways, here are the things I have been writing for english ( Parts of it are left out because I had to handwrite it in school).

I was born at 12:36 pm, in the Swedish hospital in Seattle, Washington , on October 23,1997.  When I was born, I weighed in at 7 pounds, and 15 ounces.  I was 21 inches tall at the time.  My name, Andy is made after Andrew Grove, person of the year in 1997, who invented the transistor.  I was born in the same hospital as Bill Gates, and only five days ahead (not counting the years).

I have changed a lot over the years.  One major change in personality is that I’m a lot less shy than I was before.  I used to be scared of every new person I came across, but now I say hi, or just walk past.  Also, I have a better attitude to everything.  When I was smaller, I used to never want to try anything new.  Now, I try everything that my common sense allows me to.  I also changed a lot in terms of looks.  I obviously grew taller, and I also grew skinnier.  There  is a distinct difference when I compare my 6 th grade id-card photo to myself today.  I changed a whole lot since 5 th grade.

My days are filled with doing what I like and what I don’t.  One thing I really like to do is play with yoyos.  In fact, my main hobby is collecting yoyos and playing with them.  I really like to yoyo because it doesn’t require much, which allows you to yoyo whenever you want, and it makes me feel really accomplished whenever I land a new trick.  It is also really fun to collect yoyos because I get to see and try out all the different kinds.  My favorite pastime is surfing the web.  I often like to go on Facebook to see what my friends are doing, or check what new yoyos came out.  My favorite subject at school is definitely math.  Math is a really great subject because there are no ambiguous answers, and because it doesn’t require much memorization.  As long as you get a concept, you can solve almost any problem that relies on the concept.  I also like to swim and play tennis, but those are more secondary.  I really don’t like to learn Chinese at Chinese school.  Chinese is a very non- modern language.  It takes a long time to type out.  It just isn’t very well adapted to the modern world.  Also, it is harder to learn Chinese.  Every word in Chinese has to be memorized to read or write it.  It isn’t like English where you can just sound out a word and immediately be able to read and write it.  There isn’t much more that I actually dislike a lot.

Well, these are three of the eight paragraphs I wrote for school.

Math Not First Person

Math is an amazing subject, both the class and math itself (for this post, I'm only going to write about math itself).

Math is an awesome subject for several reasons.  First of all, an answer to a math problem is either right or wrong and there are no "ifs".  For other subjects like English or social studies, there can be more than one right answer.  For example, if a teacher asks a student why Julius Caesar wanted to be in control, the student could either say, "because he liked to be in control", or the student can say, "because he thought that his ways of looking at how to control the government were better than other rulers' ways".  There are many more things the student could say in response, but the teacher is obviously only looking for one.  If the student said that Julius Caesar simply felt like it, it would have to be counted right, either though it is not what the question was asking for.  Meanwhile in math, an answer is either right or wrong, and there are no loopholes.  Another reason math is great is because of its simplicity.  As long as one knows a concept, then they can solve any other problem that uses that concept.  For other subjects, a student would have to memorize everything bit by bit.

Math is really a lot more interesting than any other subject.  The learning process for math can actually be counted as fun.

Math...

I really like math, both the class and math itself (for this post, I'm only going to write about math itself).

Math is an awesome subject for several reasons.  First of all, an answer to a math problem is either right or wrong and there are no "ifs".  For other subjects like English or social studies, there can be more than one right answer.  For example, if a teacher asks a student why Julius Caesar wanted to be in control, the student could either say, "because he liked to be in control", or the student can say, "because he thought that his ways of looking at how to control the government were better than other rulers' ways".  There are many more things the student could say in response, but the teacher is obviously only looking for one.  If the student said that Julius Caesar simply felt like it, it would have to be counted right, either though it is not what the question was asking for.  Meanwhile in math, an answer is either right or wrong, and there are no loopholes.  Another reason I like math is because of its simplicity.  As long as you know a concept, then you can solve any other problem that uses that concept.  For other subjects, you have to memorize everything bit by bit.

Math is a really amazing subject, and it is extremely easy to learn.  that makes math one of my favorite subjects.

Why I dislike Chinese School

First of all, I dislike the language of Chinese and the process of learning  it.  I am now going to write about why I dislike Chinese school.

I go to Chinese school every Saturday, and I absolutely hate it.  Chinese school takes place at Newbury park high school every Saturday, and there we learn the horrid language of Chinese.  In Chinese school, we sit in a classroom that we aren't allowed to change - we buy it off TO high school and are not allowed to change anything- and we learn Chinese.  That doesn't sound too bad, but if you actually consider it, it is horrible.  We students have to sit in chairs that are entirely too small, and the chairs are attached to a desk that is also extremely small.  I can't fit my books and work on the desk without one of them drooping off the edge.  It's almost like the classroom was designed for first graders.  So during class, we have to sit in extremely uncomfortable chairs while listening to a Chinese teacher drone on about her life.  

Yeah... I'm just going to end this post here to go to sleep... :p

I HATE Chinese

The title explains all.  I am dedicating this post to express my hatred of the Chinese language.  Tomorrow's post will be of my hatred of Chinese school, unless something else pops up.


So... why do I hate the language?  Well, to start out, it is extremely complicated.  Unlike English, you can't read a word that you never learned.  For English, all you have to do is to sound out the word according to the arrangement of letters.  Chinese words are just a bunch of strokes that make up an artistic blob.  It is impossible to know what the word is without taking a minute to memorize it and keep it in your head.  It is the same with writing words.  If you know what the word sounds like, you have to memorize the artistic blob before you can write it.  In English, all you have to do is think what the sounds spell out.  Another reason I despise the Chinese language is that it takes extremely long to write out a word.  "Hello" would be 你好in Chinese.  it just take so very long to write out something.  The final reason I dislike the Chinese language is that it takes a long time to type out.  To type out a character in Chinese, you first have to type out the pronunciation, then click on the word.  There are a lot of words for each pronunciation, so it also takes a while to find the word you are looking for.  In the technological age where many things are done on the computer, Chinese just doesn't fit in.

Why oh Why

Why do the animals in the world have to be like what they are right now?  Why don't caterpillars and other bugs have five-toed-feet?  Why don't our feet slither instead of walk?  Why do we have thumbs, but other animals do not, either though it is obviously a very important feature that allows us to survive?  What's the point in making our brains bigger and smarter than other animals? If our brain obviously served its purpose in keeping our species alive, then why don't the other animals also have huge brains so that all creatures in the world are equal? Is it a god?  I really don't believe in god, but it seems to be the only explanation.  Unless it is just chance... But if it was all chance and natural selection and whatnot, then every animal should have big brains and long legs and everything good in an animal.  Is it our big brain that caused  us to start creating and building or is it the way our body is built?  either way, the primates should be able to create their own very primitive civilization by now.  So maybe its just by chance that we made all the discoveries to make our civilizations what they are right now.  It was by chance that Edison figured out how to harness electricity and put it in a light, chance that someone figured out how to make a piece of silicone and some metal be able to make complex calculations.  How does a computer chip do that anyways?  It doesn't even make sense to me.  I will eventually have to know how in order to be a good electric engineer and whatnot.  Wow... I got really off topic... Back to the beginning.  What made animals have different noises?  Why can't everything talk like us humans can?  Dogs shouldn't have to bark, they should be able to talk and communicate with us.  That would make them literally man's best friend.


Yep... this was what was going on in my mind.

The convenience of Mini Plots

When I was in sixth grade learning seventh grade math, I found that the most annoying thing on earth was to graph plots on paper.  Then in seventh grade, I discovered the miniplot.

If you don't know what a miniplot is, it is a extremely useful graph in sticky note form.  Basically, it is a sticky note with a xy graph that goes from one to ten.  It is perfect for homework in which you have to graph.  you just stick a miniplot onto your notebook and graph.

When I first discovered the miniplot, I was shocked.  I spent endless hours of my life drawing graphs when all I really needed was a one dollar set of 50 miniplots.  Without any thought, I bought two sets.  When I got home and started graphing with the miniplots for homework, I realized just how useful these plots can be.  I saved almost 15 minutes by not having to graph, and the graphs were also a LOT more legible.  From that point on, I was hooked.

Miniplots were the answer for my need for speed and neatness.

Edited Conclusion

Before this essay, I never gave much thought about why manholes are round.  It just seemed like it wasn’t very important.  But now that I actually think about it, there is a lot of thinking behind the circular shape of the manhole.

San Diego

I’m in San Diego for this Labor Day weekend, and I find it to be very different compared to Newbury Park.

First of all, the scenery is a lot more natural looking.  In Newbury Park, everywhere in a neighborhood looks like an artificial green.  Everywhere where there are not plants planted by man, there is just brown and dark green bushes.  But in San Diego, there is natural grass and beaches.  It actually reminds me a lot of Hawaii.  Because it is close to the ocean, the air is a bit more humid than Newbury Park.  Also, the buildings here are older looking.  They look like one of the old building you would see in an American history book.  One thing I noticed about San Diego is that there are many seafood restaurants.  This is probably due to its nearness to the coast. 

Due to all these differences, I don’t really like San Diego much.

Why Manhole Covers are Round

Manhole covers are everywhere these days, and many people wonder why they are round instead of any other shape.

There are several reasons that a manhole cover is round.  The main reason is that if it is round, the cover can’t fall through the hole regardless of what direction it is put in.  If the manhole cover is a rectangular shape and the cover is turned so that one side is aligned to the diagonal of the hole in the ground, then the cover will fall into the sewer.  Another reason a manhole cover is round is that the tunnel leading down to the sewer is a round tube.  A round tube is the most material efficient and strongest way to protect itself against the compression of the dirt and soil around them.  Because the tube is round, then the cover has to be round too.  Also, manhole covers are round so that they are easier to machine.  Round objects can be made using a lathe, which assures precision manufacturing.  If a manhole cover is not precise, it is easily lifted up by passing cars.  Basically, round manhole covers can be made more perfect than any other shape, which prevents it from coming out of the ground easily.  A smaller, but still important reason that manhole covers are round is that they can be rotated in any direction, and it will still fit perfectly in the hole.  This saves a countless number of minutes for the workers that take care of the sewers.  Circular manhole covers are also easier to move around.  Because of the circular shape, a worker can simply roll the manhole cover to its rightful spot in the world.  An extremely minor reason is that humans are somewhat round, so it is a better fit.  Finally, it is easier to dig a circular hole.  Rectangles and triangles are difficult to dig because of the angles.  

            Manhole covers are circular for many reasons, so for the people that wonder, now they know why.




 P.S. I wrote this as an essay for math

School is starting tomorrow

It's that time of the year again when kids whine and teachers rush. School is starting tomorrow, and I don't want to go.

I will miss the endless hours of sleeping without worry of being late.  The lazy days are behind me, and so are the hours sitting in front of my computer.  I won't be able to read for hours on end anymore, and I will be restlessly working.  When school starts, I will have to wake up at seven thirty in the morning, from Monday to Friday and it won't be fun.  Another aspect of school that makes school all the more hated is the homework.  In fact, homework and waking up early are the only two reasons I really don't like school. 

But school could also offer some relief from some parts of summer that don't live up to the summer hype.  During summer, I don't get to see many people because I just stay at home, doing nothing but work and rest.  During school, I get to see more friends and life won't be as lonely and monotonic as it is during summer.  I will also get to meet many new teachers.  One thing I'm really looking forward to is my geometry class.  My math is one grade ahead of everyone else's, so I get to take geometry while still in middle school.  It takes place at first period, and there are only nine people in my class.  This will create a better leaning environment and well also allow for many more activities.  One of those activities is eating breakfast every Friday morning.We rotate and take turns providing breakfast.

Summer is good at times, but bad at others.

Why I should be able to get a Smart Phone

I am choosing a cell phone to get as an award for my STAR tests, but of course, my dad won't let me get anything but a average cell phone. Those are the ones that can't text, browse the web etc. and they are almost useless.  In my parent's time, the best they could get a humongous thick cell phone that barely had a display at all.  They have no idea how much a smart phone/ texting phone helps in an average person's life today.  

First of all, it will help the family greatly.  Often, we are driving somewhere and we want to find the nearest sushi restaurant (for example).  Normally, we would have to keep driving and looking for something that looks vaguely Japanese.  A normal cell phone wouldn't help in this situation.  But if I had a smart phone, I could quickly get a FREE app and search up "nearby sushi shops".  The cell phone will pinpoint the exact locations of sushi shops nearby.  It will work for many other things too, such as camping sites and clothes stores.

Another thing that could my family is IF my family got lost somewhere, I could use Google maps to find the way home.  There are also many other ways a smart phone could help the family.  I can search up random information quickly whenever needed.  Then we wouldn't need to go upstairs and get a laptop.  Or if we're going to a movie, I can reserve tickets while driving to the theater.  A smart phone would make our lifes so much easier.

It also makes my life better in many ways.  With a normal cell phone, I can only call friends and my pockets will be filled with something very close to useless.  These days, the common way of communication is texting. With a average phone, texting is almost as slow and tedious as throwing letters at the receiver.  A normal cell phone is therefore pretty useless and a waste of money.  Smart phones and texting phones all have either a physical keyboard or a on screen keyboard, which allows for easy, quick texting.

It may seem that a smart phone's service costs too much, but all the money that a smart phone saves makes up for that cost.  If I get a smart phone, I won't need a camera.  That saves about $50 already.  There are also many other things that a smart phone can serve as, such as a deck of cards, a GPS and much more. 

If my parents get a smart phone for me, it would help my family, me, and it would help save money.

A Day at the Park

Yesterday, I went to the park to play tennis with my friend, James.

My dad drove first drove me to the local tennis court so I could reserve a spot.  After he drove me there, he left to pick up James.  I stood at the court, bouncing a tennis ball on my racket.  I looked at the court to my right and noticed that a little kid was staring at me.  It felt like the world turned it eyes on me.  Very Perturbed, I went back to bouncing my ball on my racket.  It felt like ages past before my dad finally arrived with James.  We exchanged a few pleasantries, and I told him about my new racket, then we started playing tennis.  I thought of little else as the ball went back and forth between us.  Not long after, two of my other friends, Jeremy and Jimmy, came into our court with tennis rackets and asked to play doubles.  At that moment, I knew that we couldn't play anymore serious tennis, as Jeremy and Jimmy were both terrible at this game.  We played for a while, then decided to walk around for a bit.  With no where else to put the tennis rackets, we leaned them against my dad's car.

When we got to the play structure, we found that many of our other friends were there too.  At that moment, Sabrina, Amy, Sarah, and Natalie were all there.  We joined them for a game of "Lava Monster", which is basically tag, but the "monsters" can't come onto the play structure.  Being my lazy self, I just sat on the highest point of the play structure, where no one could reach me.  Of course, the "monsters" cancelled the use of that part of the play structure, so I had to resort to sitting on a bar and continuously moving.

In the middle of our epic game of Lava Monster, two other friends, Eric Lou and Amy's brother (I'm not sure... it might be Sabrina's brother) joined us.  Eric, being his usual creative self, decided to change the game into "grounders".  It is also like tag, except whenever the person that's "it" gets on the play structure, he/ she has to close their eyes.  Whenever someone gets touched by the person that's it, they swap roles.  We all played that game for a while, then Natalie left, so everyone started to leave too, including me.

Overall, this was a very fun and interesting day at the park.

Counterargument to Hans's Counterargument

"But a person talking in rhythm to his footsteps doesn't get stuck in one's head, so what makes music so special?"  But a person's words that coordinate with a rhythm don't get stuck in one's head, so what make music so special?  Okay... so the day before yesterday, I wrote about why we should not build the Cordoba house.  Hans responded with some counterarguments, and here are my counterarguments to his counterarguments.

Hans Gao's, "Response to Andy's Post" says that we should build the Cordoba house at the area near ground zero.  I strongly disagree with this statement.

Gao says that "Wang is saying that “You can build a church here, but not a mosque. Freedom of worship should be upheld – except when I don’t like the religion.”.  I don't oppose the mosque because of the religion it supports, Muslim, I oppose the mosque because the religion it supports happens to be the terrorist's religion and that may attract the terrorists to come to America and become a resident.  That itself is fine, but if terrorists make America their permanent residence, it would make it a lot easier for them to attack us.  


Gao also says, "That is the true spirit of America – Tolerance. To rise above differences and respect people as part of a greater whole – humanity".  In this context, that is saying that we should just put the deaths of a few thousand people behind us and respect the terrorists for being human.  How can we respect someone even after he killed a few thousand innocent, helpless people for no reason except that they live in a country that the killer hates?  Terrorists? Human? I don't think so.  They may be physically human, but mentally, they aren't even close to that level.


No normal person would randomly kill thousands of people and blow up a famous building for no reason.  It would be somewhat understandable if that person killed the person or group of people that he hates. But killing many people just because they happen to live in the country that the terrorist hates is not human at all.  


"Wang’s primary fallacy is equating Muslims with terrorists", Gao said.  As I said in my article, I know that not every Muslim is a terrorist.  But it is very hard to tell who is a terrorist and who isn't.  They all wear the same kinds of clothes and look very similar too.


"This is blatant nonsense, and a clear abuse of extreme, isolated incidents", says Hans counterarguing my statement that "In Europe there is much Muslim car burnings and violence, Belgian police are not advised to drink coffee on some Muslim holidays, women have begun to wear veil to pretend to be Muslims just for protection, and in a few parts of Britain, polygamy and sharia are the laws of the land".  All those other countries thought that it wouldn't happen to them either, but it happened anyways.  We are just like those countries, being gullible and thinking that disaster will never happen anywhere or anytime.


Gao also says, "By discriminating against Muslims, we are saying that they are the enemy. We are strengthening the terrorists and inspiring more hatred against the U.S.; we are fighting violence with something equally as dangerous and ignorant – intolerance".  We are saying that we are the enemy, but haven't the terrorists done that already?  They were the ones that made us their enemy by attacking us time after time.  Also, by keeping the terrorists out of our country, we protect ourselves by making it harder to access places that they can attack.


I think that we should definitely NOT build the Cordoba house in an area overlooking ground zero.

Why People like Music

Almost everyone on earth listens to music once in their life time.  Usually at least one of the songs get stuck in their head.  What makes music sound so good?

Music is actually just a bunch of sounds put together in a way that sounds rhythmically correct and / or sounds pleasing to the ear.  But a person talking in rhythm to his footsteps doesn't get stuck in one's head, so what makes music so special?

I think that music is so special because of it has a continuously changing tone, there are notes that coordinate with each other, there are usually lyrics that can relate to people all over the world, and there is a continuous background rhythm.  Continuously changing tone really makes music sound good.  When someone talks, it is very monotone and it doesn't really have a sound to it.  Music, on the other hand, has a tone that continuously changes, which makes it sound more pleasing to the ear than blah blah blah.  Also, in music, notes usually coordinate with each other well.  When writing music, people think for a while about what note to use next instead of simply throwing out a random note at a completely random time.  This way, the music sounds cleaner with less imperfections than a person talking.  Another reason music probably sounds good to a human ear is because of the lyrics.  The lyrics go in rhythm to the song, which allows more flow, and the lyrics usually talk about overcoming something that average people all over the world have to overcome.  People like to be understood, and if something as important as a song that everyone listens to tells about the people's daily life, then the people feel understood.  A background rhythm is what music listeners snap their fingers to.  It makes people want to jump along and it makes the ground vibrate.  It is one more thing to remember the music by.

Music is a wonderful part of our culture today.  It is so special because of its continuously changing tone, its notes that coordinate with each other, its lyrics, and its background rhythm.

Persuasive on Mosque

This will be a 1000 word plus persuasive about whether or not we should build a mosque at an area next to ground zero.

On September 11th 2001, Muslim terrorists destroyed the twin towers.  Today people are thinking about building the Cordoba House, or the Cordoba House, a place they can worship, over looking ground zero, the place they attacked.  Is that really logical?  I strongly oppose building the Cordoba House next to ground zero for a few reasons.  The reasons are; because it will make people upset, it will strengthen the terrorists, and it will give Muslims more control over our country and lose much of our hard earned freedom.

It will make people upset. More than three thousand people died in the terrorist attack of September eleventh.  Their friends and family would be very upset if we supported those terrorists by building the Cordoba House over looking ground zero.  Many other people would be upset too.  The friends and family of those who were the victims of the September eleventh disaster will post their thoughts on twitter or face book, then it will spread.  eventually, a lot of people would be upset about the Cordoba House and they might exclude Muslims from everyday society.  That's an extreme case.  A more likely outcome would be that most people don't think it's a good idea to help the terrorist's religion, and those people will segregate Muslims.  Either way, it will come out bad.  Building the Cordoba House in America is just like building a mega church in Islam.

Also, building the Cordoba House over looking ground zero will mentally strengthen the terrorists.  They will be sure that they can pass the Muslim religion to America.  Building the Cordoba House leads them to think that just by killing thousands of people, destroying the world trade center (the twin towers), and inciting terror into the lives of average people, that anyone they ask will bend to their every need.  That will give them a better reason to attack America.  It will also give them greater will to terrorize many other countries around the world.  The Muslim terrorists will be cheering and jeering.  Who and what's to blame?  It will be us Americans and our idiocy.  Everyone will be thinking, "Why the heck did we agree to build a mega mosque in our country, especially if it is overlooking the worst terrorist attack ever?"  And once the terrorist know of this conflict with in our nation, they will know that more terror, more bombs, and more death means more control.  And of course, that leads to even more terror, bombs, and death.  All this trouble can be averted by just simply not building the Cordoba House.  We can even save some money.

We will lose much of our freedom to the Muslims if we build the Cordoba House.  When we build the Cordoba House, many more Muslims will come to our country because they know that they will have a place to worship.  That may just sound like me being racist to Muslims, but think about it slowly and carefully.  In many parts of Europe, there is much Muslim car burnings and violence, Belgian police are not advised to drink coffee on some Muslim holidays, women have begun to wear veil to pretend to be Muslims just for protection, and in a few parts of Britain, polygamy and sharia are the laws of the land.  That doesn't sound like the kind of thing that can happen here in America, but that is exactly what the countries of Europe were thinking before the Muslims invaded the land.  The same thing will most likely happen to us if we continue with the plan to build the Cordoba House.  The Cordoba House obviously would not be the only reason that our freedom is lost, the Cordoba House will just kick start the chaos to come.  All this can be avoided if we just stop our not well thought out plans and do not build the Cordoba House.

After all this horror, there must be a valid reason to build the Cordoba House.  There in fact is.  The main reason to build the Cordoba House is to let Muslims be able to practice their religion in America.  But of course, when they are finally able to practice their religion within our borders, they will attract to the US like ants to food.  Then we lose our freedom and become a non free country whose only religion is Muslim.  Another reason to build the Cordoba House is to provide a recreational area for anyone.  There would be an auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, food court, September 11th memorial, and prayer space.  The prayer space is, obviously, the largest.  At this moment, all this may seem like a wonderful addition to New York, but later, when the Muslims come in and enforce their own rules and laws upon us, we might not even be allowed to use all these wonderful luxuries anymore.  Even if we are allowed to use them, it would be a very small earning relative to the freedom we lose.  It is just like getting paid a dollar to die.  Some people may be looking at this article and thinking, "This Andy Wang person is really paranoid.  Not all Muslims are bad".  That is completely true, besides the paranoid part, and I don't have any objection to the fact that not all Muslims are bad.  But the Muslims that are terrorists are "bad".  That may not be many people, but you can't tell who is a terrorist and who isn't.  You will never know when they will strike.  The terrorists can also persuade a bunch of other people to cooperate due to terror, and the mass of terrorists will get bigger and bigger.  So really, it is not such a good idea to build the Cordoba house anyways.


Right now the Cordoba house may seem like a wonderful building, but it will eventually turn out to be the cause of our loss of freedom and the strengthening of terrorists.  All the good parts of the Cordoba house will eventually seem close to use less.  The building of the Cordoba house is going to be the start of the end for America.

So...

I'm taking two days to write a persuasive about whether or not we should build a mega mosque overlooking ground zero.  Cheers!

Tennis

I have been playing tennis since I was 5, with some occasional gaps of not playing in between, and I realized that I have never written anything about it. (this is not part of the essay)

Tennis is a somewhat primitive sport, but it really never gets old.  If you think about it, all it is is using various kinds of objects to hit an inflated ball over a net and trying to keep the ball in the court.  So what really makes so many people play tennis?

I play tennis for a few reasons.  The first reason is because my family and friends play tennis.  Playing tennis is one more thing to relate to them by.  Also, my dad always drags me out to play tennis, so there's no avoiding it even if I wanted to.  Another reason I play tennis is because of the feel of it.  There is nothing like hitting a really good and clean hit.  Right when my racket touches the ball for a good whack, I know that this is the thing that will defeat my opponent.  It gives me a great sense of achievement.  Also, there are always moments of great suspense.  Whenever I  hit a really high ball that looks like it's going to go one inch out of bounds, I hold my breath and hope for the best.  When it gets in, I am very exhilarated and feel like I am at the top of the world.

I don't really like tennis though.  Tennis is just another form of exercise.  It is even more primitive than other sports.  It has less rules and guidelines than most others.  That makes tennis a very boring and mundane experience.  You barely have to think about anything except, "run, swing, oh that ball is moving to my left, run, backhand".  It might be more fun for beginners, because they still have to think a lot about how to do the stroke.  For more experienced players though, It is just the same few strokes over and over again.  There really isn't much variety in tennis.  Apparently many professionals including Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf agree with me too.

Tennis can be a very amazing sport if you want it to be, but to me, it is a very boring and mundane sport.

Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address

I am going to write at least 1000 words about "Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address".

The 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address is a graduation speech.  It was spoken very differently from a normal speech.  Instead of following tradition and going with what everyone else did in the past years, The writer of this commencement apparently wanted to relate to the college students and tell them what life will be like as adults.

To relate to college students, he starts by saying the first part of the traditional normal style of a graduation speech, then the speaker explains that it was a requirement of commencement speeches  to say this first part with the moral story.  Then the speaker's version starts.

All the moral stories in this commencement show how people think.  The first one about the fish shows that the fish are so used to the water that they don't even know that they are in water.  The writer is trying to show an example of a prison so intricate that the prisoner thinks that it isn't a prison.  The point of the fish story is to show that "important realities are often the hardest to see and talk about".  Another example is the story about the atheist and the religious person.  The atheist said he didn't believe in god because once, he called on god to save him from a blizzard, but all that came to save him was a few Eskimos.  This is a mental prison in which the atheist won't even think about the other side of the argument, he only thought his way instead of thinking, "oh maybe god sent those Eskimos."  The speaker told us to stop being so arrogant and to see life through other people's shoes too.

The speaker also uses a real time situation to show people HOW to think.  The speaker talks about getting stuck in traffic.  The speaker says not to get mad at the person that drives past you and blocks your way.  Instead, you should think, "Maybe I'm the one blocking their way.  Maybe they have to get to the hospital and I'm blocking their way".  This is a good way to think because then, no one hates another person and the world is a happier place.  Of course, its not very likely that more that half of the world's population is going to follow this.  Being angry at another person for blocking your is your "default" instinct.  Subconsciously, you are always going to think that way.

It is extremely hard to think about other people every day and night because if you think about it, the world is really centered around you.  You see this happen, you get hit by a bowling ball, you eat the pie and get sick.  Its all centered around you.  It seems very selfish, but it is true. Because it seems that everything is centered around you,  it's very hard to focus on others when you are the most important thing.  Even tearing your mind from the little thoughts and arguments inside your head is extremely difficult and required lots of willpower.  Now you have to think about your thoughts and other people's thoughts while you are worrying about getting home late and your resume and your paperwork that you forgot to file?  That's just plain difficult.

The speaker then tells you that he is not going to "lecture you on compassion".  He said it is very difficult to adjust yourself to think about other people, and that only "well adjusted people" can do this.  The speaker says this so that you won't be pressured into thinking this way, but you will still try, as it is a very good virtue to have.

I think that this is a very important virtue to have.  If everyone in the world had it, the world would be a lot more peaceful.  First of all, everyone in the world would actually like every one and there would be a lot less hate in the world.  Second of all, it would be a nearly Perfect world with less taxes, absolutely no terrorism, and a more caring government that listens to the citizens and lets them vote for everything.  almost everything in the world would be perfect.  But of course, as I said before, not everyone in the world can have this virtue.

I sometimes have this wonderful virtue.  For example, once I didn't let my sister eat my snacks that I for got the name of, then I thought about it in her way, if I were her.  I realized that I would be begging for the snacks with an unknown name too.  Then I gave her one.  It made me feel like I was a wonderful person with a very giving attitude.  I knew that I did a  great thing.  That's a little over dramatic, but it really does make you feel good when you look at something from another person's point of view, and then you realize why that person is acting the way he or she is.

Closer to the end of the commencement, The speaker says that there is no such thing as atheism, and everyone worships something, whether it be yo yos or Jesus.  The speaker says one thing not to worship is your beauty.  If you do, you will never think that you are beautiful and you will never be happy.  The speaker says not to worship your power, or intellect either, because you will feel weak and/ or stupid.

Then, the speaker talks about freedom.  "That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing."  


Then the quote that will stay with me forever, "I wish you way more than luck".  I really like this quote because it stays away from the normal "I wish you luck".  This sentence shows that the speaker put a lot of effort into this commencement speech and that this commencement speech strives to be different from the rest.  


I said this a few times already, but I will say it again.  If everyone in the world followed what the speaker said to do, the the world would be nearly perfect.

Well...

(Sarah said "cool" and "dude" uncountable numbers of times today.  At least she made an attempt not to.) Anyways, I am going to write 1000 words about http://web.archive.org/web/20080213082423/http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html over a span of two days, so you can expect the 1000 words to be up tomorrow.

Hmmm...

I'm not sure what you mean by "Analyse a specific part of a book", and it's getting late, so my mom told me not to blog today :-/

ME

I'm going to write about myself. (^-^)

There is a lot that builds up my personality.  Like everyone, my personality is very unique and almost no one in the world can understand my every action.

The first aspect I want to point out about myself is that my activeness is very variable.  At certain times, I am very hyper, like I am full of sugar and caffeine.  At other times, I am very lazy and I don't want to move at all.  When energetic,  I move in random directions and wave my limbs randomly.  That's where my "floppy fish" gesture came from.  At times when I am lazy,  I just want to sit in the folds of a couch and fall asleep.  Usually, the temperature determines my activeness.  If it is hot, I'm lazy, and if it is cold, I want to run around randomly while flailing my arms.

Also, I am a somewhat generous and humble person.  I dislike complimenting myself.  Just writing this paragraph makes me feel kind of uncomfortable.  I suppose it really depends on the person I'm talking to.  If it is a complete stranger, and he asks me for a throw on my yoyo, I will probably say yes.  But if its one of my friends, I quickly jam the yoyo into my pocket and say no.

One major part of my personality is how unfocused I am for activities like writing this blog, until the end when it's almost due or almost time to sleep.  I push it all towards the last few minutes, then my brain suddenly focuses on the more important activity and runs full speed at that.  I could cause this procrastinating, but it is caused by my lack of attention.  For example, I might get distracted by my book, my yoyo, the neighbors across the street, or a bug.  Then I think about that for a while until I realize that my time is limited for the main activity, so I do that for a while.  After some time, I get distracted by something else.  That cycle goes on until the last minutes of the time I get to do the main activity assigned.  But no matter what, I always get the assignment done on time.

Now I have a bunch of pet peeves, like most people in the world.  My first one is that I HATE being late to anything.  I'm usually way too early, but that is fine as long as I'm not late.  I hate being late because whenever I'm late, I always have to worry about being late the whole way to the destination.  After I get there, people get annoyed at me and I miss a lot of stuff.  Another one of my pet peeves is that I hate fingerprints and those little blobs of dried spit on all screens besides touch screens.  Dust doesn't matter either.  Those little blobs and fingerprints just ruin the new look to the screen.  This is the reason that every time I open my computer, I always let the sun reflect off of the screen to see whether or not there are any fingerprints or blobs of saliva.  If there is, I wipe it with a cloth until it is gone.

Those are the main parts of my personality.

People that Influenced Me the Most

I didn't have a specific thing or person that influenced me the most, so I made three groups of things.  Also, I finished "Mortal Coils", and I am starting "The Truth" by Terry Pratchett.

There are three groups of people/things that influenced me the most.  They are my friends and family, teachers and tutors, and books.

Friends and family are very influential to my personality.  They are around me so much, I can't help but to pick up some of their habits and sayings.  For example, I picked up my habit of sometimes playing with my hair from my good friend, Jeremy.  He always did it in fifth grade, and it's really distracting to look at, so it sticks to my mind.  Also, grades in school are greatly influenced by friends and family.  If friends have straight A's, but you only have B's, you think, "Everyone else can get straight A's, why can't I?"  and then you work hard to get to their level.  But if friends get C's, then you think that you're at the top of the world in terms of grades, and you stop studying as hard and stoop to your friends' level.  Also, if your parents set high expectations and push you hard to reach them, then you slowly reach their expectations.  Those are the ways parents and friends influence me.

Teachers and tutors are obviously very influential to everyone.  They are the cause of most of my book smarts. I will thank them when I am graduating from college.  Tutors give people some habits because they are with them usually one every week, but they don't really influence peoples' personality.  Teachers and Tutors really help me learn.

Books are amazing.  Each one is a little world that a reader can immerse themselves in, while learning.  I can learn from books without even trying.  A good sentence in a book or a good style of story writing just sticks in my head, whether I want it to or not.  That way, I get the author's flow and I also write better sentences.  With books, I can entertain myself and learn at the same time.  Books are an extremely influential aspect in my life.

Friends and family, teachers and tutors, and books all are very influential to me and helped make me the person I am today.

Things to do for the Next 365 Days

I finished "Little Brother" and "Replay".  I am now reading "Mortal Coils".  Anyways... I will be writing about four of my main goals for the next 365 days.

I have four main goals for the next three hundred sixty five days of my life.  They are to continue reading a book per week on school days, reach 60 words per minute at typing, maintain straight A's, and to be in the top four places on my school's math counts team.

I think that reading books really improve vocabulary and sentence flow.  Books usually have more complex vocabulary than normal people's writing, and they are a lot more fun to learn from than dictionaries or vocabulary expanders.  Also, people who write books have to have good sentence flow, or the book would not sell well.  Books are a very good learning resource for learning to write better, which is why I put reading books as one of my top goals.

Typing is used for many things in life, so I have to get good at that.  More typing speed means more assignments finished in less time.  To improve my typing, I will continue taking typing lessons on a typing software and also find more opportunities to type.  I have already almost tripled my original typing speed using the typing program and I plan to improve more.

Maintaining straight A's is obviously a very important part of being successful.  It gives others a good impression, which in turn, leads to getting into a good college.  Eventually, it leads to getting a decent job.  To maintain straight A's, I will have to work hard in the years to come.  There will be many obstacles, but if I work hard, I can easily overcome them.

Getting in the top four places of the school math counts team isn't that important, but its still pretty high on my mental list of importance.  In seventh grade, I was in 6th place, and only the top four people get to go to any contest above county, so I didn't get to go to the southern California contest that our team won together.  I really want to go to that contest to get free stuff and to be able to say "I'm good at math" with out hesitation.

Those are my four most important goals and my plan to achieve them.

Patrick Rothfuss

I'm comparing this original letter,

Pat,

I know from your comments on facebook and your postings on the blog that you’re busy revising. What’s more, that you’ve been doing it for months. What I’m wondering is what, exactly, you do when you’re revising that it takes you so long to do it? Please don’t get me wrong. This isn’t another bitchy mewling e-mails from people complaining about waiting for WMF. I’m genuinely curious. You see, I’m not a writer or anything. The most I’ve ever written is papers for classes, and those I pretty much write, spellcheck, print, and then hand them in.

Consequently, this whole revision process is a big mystery to me. I know writers do it. And I know some writers (like you) seem to spend a lot more time on it than others. Back when I was a kid, I read about Piers Anthony’s revision process in his author’s notes. Where he would write the first draft of his books longhand, then revise them as he typed them into the computer. Then he was pretty much done. I know your books are much more complex than his, and a buttload longer. But still, I’m curious. Is there anything you can do to explain to us non-writers out here what exactly happens in the revision process? Can you show us how it’s done?

A big fan,

James

to this revised letter revised by Patrick Rothfuss,

Pat,

I know from facebook and your blog that you’re in the midst of revisions. I’m curious. What do you do when you revise, and why does it take so long?

Please don’t get me wrong. This isn’t another bitchy, mewling e-mail complaining about the wait for WMF. I’m genuinely curious. The only things I’ve ever written are papers for school. I just write, spellcheck, print, and hand them in.

Consequently, the revision process is a big mystery to me. Back when I was a kid, I read about Piers Anthony’s revision process in his author’s notes. He writes the first draft of his books longhand, then revises them while typing them into the computer.

I’m guessing your process is more involved than that. Your books are more complex than his, and a buttload longer. Is there anything you can do to explain the revision process to us non-writers? Can you show us how it’s done?

A big fan,

James

First things first, you can find these in Patrick's blog, http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2010/08/fanmail-qa-revision/#comments.

The first revision Patrick made was in the first sentence.  He got rid of "comments on your face book and postings on your blog", and turned it into "Facebook and blog".  He also changed "busy revising" into in the "midst of revising".  These two changes made the first sentence sound more flowing and it was easier to understand.  Patrick then completely removed "What’s more, that you've been doing it for months" because that sentence is actually pretty useless.  He then formed another paragraph instead of one huge paragraph because he was making a whole other point.  He then erased another whole sentence, "You see, I’m not a writer or anything."  That sentence is redundant because it is pretty much implied by the next sentence.  He changed the next sentence by replacing "most" with "only" and adding a period in the middle of the sentence to prevent it from becoming a run-on sentence.

In the first sentence of the second paragraph,(third for the revised version) he changed "this" to "the".  Patrick then removed "I know writers do it. And I know some writers (like you) seem to spend a lot more time on it than others." and made a new paragraph instead of having a run-on paragraph.  The next sentence is the same.  The sentence after that is changed to present tense and changes "Where he would write" to "he writes".  Patrick then splits it into ANOTHER paragraph.  The only thing he changed in that paragraph is changing this sentence, " Is there anything you can do to explain to us non-writers out here what exactly happens in the revision process?" to this "Is there anything you can do to explain the revision process to us non-writers?", which makes it flow better.

An Experience With My Sister, Sarah

I couldn't think of an experience with my sister, Sarah, off the top of my head, so I decided to create one.  I went downstairs while thinking about what to do,  then I got the best idea ever.

I started poking her.  She looked at me with her deep brown eyes like I was some kind of mad man and was very bewildered of the strangeness.  She asked, "why are you poking me?!?!"  I told her that I was creating an event for my blog.  She was bewildered.  Complaining is one of her specialties, so she used it here.  "MAMA, Andy's poking me."  My mom was already used to this, so she just nodded it off.  Then, my sister took off, running.  I decided to pretend to be a ninja, just for the fun of it.  I jumped out of a wall while yelling as my sister rounded the corner, so she screamed and ran the other way, her black hair flying behind her.  I ran the opposite direction, the cold ground under my feet and jumped out again, a little too early.  But she was still frightened of my poking skills.  This time, I ran after her.  She thought I would just stop and turn back again, so she stopped and turned around.  On her face was a look of pure terror.  With a yelp, she ran again.  I knew I was out of options.  All my tricks and ploys were used.  I decided to go upstairs and watch her run.  She ran one extra lap, and quickly became suspicious.  Just then, My mom called her to go upstairs to sleep.  Relieved, she gave an OK and followed my mom up.  I jumped to cover and laid down, flat as a pancake, planning my next move.  I decided to stay there.  My plan was to lay there and let her jump in surprise when she noticed me.  Of course, life isn't fair and my plan didn't go as I planned.  When she saw me, She started laughing, almost like it was an inside joke.  OH. It was an inside joke.  A while ago, I hid in the exact same place and she couldn't find me for decades.  When she came upstairs, she nearly stepped on me.  Her laugh was the same as it was a few years ago, like crystal clear water in a stream.  It was a trickle, not a thunderous roar.  I decided my work here was done, and I started this blog.

Dog: Man's best friend or Worst enemy

People always say that dogs are man's best friend, but is that really true?  Dogs are cuddly, cute animals that everyone likes to play with, and they save some lives, but are they really worth taking care of?

First of all, they excrete everywhere.  You first have to train them to go outside to do their business, which takes a LOT of work over an extensive amount of time.  Even after you get them to go outside to go,  you still have to pick up their excrements.  When you pick up the feces, you feel the soft, squishy warmness under your fingers, which doesn't feel good at all.

Another reason that dogs aren't man's best friend is because they always want to play.  This may seem like a good thing at first.  After a while though, you realize that it is very annoying.  Every time you come home from an agonizing day at work, your dog encircles or jumps onto you and forces you to play either though you only want to lay down and go to sleep.  And you still have to clean up after your dog.

A smaller, but still annoying reason is that dogs shed everywhere.  You have to use a lint roller or a vacuum and clean the house at least every week.  Even after a hard day at work.

Once in a while, you have to pay lots of money for the dog going to the vet when it is sick.  You also always have to pay for its food, toys and other daily equipment.  All that stuff to pay for is almost as expensive as taking care of a child.

One think people often overlook when adopting a dog, or any pet, is their capability to break valuable belongings.  They can knock over vases and lamps, they can drool all over your computer with the family photos, they can eat your beloved iPod.  They can even tear out pages from your library books or use your money as a bedspread.

Taking care of a dog is as annoying, or even more annoying, than taking care of a child.  So next time you want to adopt that cute little animal sitting in a glass cage at the mall, think about it some more.  Are dogs man's best friend or worst enemy?

Cheese

Cheese is the god of all foods.  It is used for so many things including salad, pasta, hot dogs, pizza, cheese platters, sandwiches, various kinds of bread, and those little cheese wheels that everyone likes to have as a daily snack.  It can be flavorful, bland, stretchy, hard, soft, squishy, liquidly, colorful, or uncolored because of the hundreds of different kinds.  Just saying that cheese is the god of food is a major understatement.

Let's start from the beginning.  Cheese was said to have been created by a Greek one-eyed creature.  Thats obviously not true, but no one knows the real origin, so they left it at that.  Cheese started in Greece and Rome and stayed there for quite a while.  Some centuries later, Romans realized that it wasn't fair for the rest of Europe not being able to eat these wonderful foods, so the Romans spread cheese making techniques all across Europe. Cheese was unheard of in oriental areas and scarcely available in places like Africa.  The first factory opened in Switzerland in 1815, but it wasn't very successful.  America was the first place cheeses were first popular.  That factory was opened in 1851 by a farmer.

Making cheese is a very complicated process.  It starts with getting the milk.  Cheese varies a little depending on  what the animal eats,  so cheese makers have to get milk from the same animals with the same diets.  After cheese makers obtain the milk, they have to separate it into curds and whey.  To do this, They acidify the milk and add rennet, which separates the curds and whey, and some starter bacteria.  The curd is then separated from the whey and cut into cubes.  This allows more whey to drain out.  Then, salt is added to drain out more whey, to preserve the cheese better, and to add a bit of flavor.  After that, the cheese is pressured to get out more whey, and left to age.

The aging process is also complicated.  For some cheeses, you can just leave it in a cold place for the bacteria to take effect and give it more flavor and texture and those familiar holes which are actually just carbon dioxide emitted from the bacteria.  But for most, mold is added.  Mold does many different things to the cheese.  For some cheeses, the mold forms a outer layer to protect the cheese.  For others, it digs deeper and creates colorful "veins".  All cheeses with mold change texture and flavor.  Mold plays a major part in the aging process of cheese.  After the aging process, the cheese is ready to eat.

When someone goes into a cheese market, he is immediately struck by the vast variety of cheeses.  There are hundreds and hundreds, and it is often very difficult to choose which one to get.  My personal favorite is one you can buy at many grocery stores, The Laughing Cow's Mini Babybel Original cheese.  At a first glance, one can tell that it is going to be a very tasty and hight quality cheese.  Each little circle of cheese is coated with luxurious red reshapeable wax to preserve it.  The wax itself looks edible, but self preservation instincts prevent you from taking a bite out of it.  You will then stare for a while, wondering how to open it.  You begin to grow frantic with the prospect of not getting to eat your precious cheese.  Then you see it.  There are two little strips of paper at one end of the wax coating that invite you to pull on them.  When you eventually do pull on them, you are greeted with the wonderful aroma of cheese which is unlike any you have smelled before.  You also get a first glimpse of what will be the best snack in your career of snack testing.  There are a few familiar holes from the release of carbon dioxide from the bacteria.  You then take the top half of the wax off and admire the beauty of the cheese.  Its yellowish white and has lots of indents which are bubbles.  You can resist no longer and you take your first bite.  The first thought you have is, "Wow its pretty soft, must be a creamy cheese".  Then you chew for a while and realize that it feels a lot like cream cheese.  The only difference in feeling is the springy feeling that is common in soft and creamy cheeses.  Then the taste finally gets through your taste buds.  It has a slight acidic flavor that most cheeses have.  It is also very buttery and greasy in a good way.  When you finally swallow the cheese,  You realize the amazing after taste which is a lot like less acidic cream cheese.  By then, you are converted to a cheese lover.  You can't wait to take another bite.  You get the same experience with every bite to the last drop.  Then, you realize it is gone and go back to the refrigerator for another one.

For the many cheese haters who only have tried processed cheese, you have to try Babybel Original cheese.  Why?  Well, in my opinion, processed cheese is the bane of cheese's existence.  It goes great with sandwiches and other stuff like that, but by itself it just doesn't have cheese magic.  Its texture is horrible.  It doesn't stay together at all, and it just simply turns into a liquid in your mouth.  The flavor is too intense.  The manufacturers do this to make it stand out more in sandwiches, but by itself, it is disgusting.  There are so many complaints I could make about processed cheese, but that would just take up half of my whole article.

I will say this again.  If you are in fact a cheese hater who's only tried processed cheese, then you have to try some quality cheese.  There are so many different flavors and textures, so if you don't like one, you can always try another until you find one that's just right.  Cheese is truly the God of all foods.

(Btw, this is my 1010 word post)