Journal 36

     Writing a story is totally different form writing an essay. People can freely express their feelings, ideas, and imagination to stories. However, we might need to follow the rules for academic writings, such as five paragraphs per essay, topic sentences, and concluding sentences. To me, I have more pressures when I write an essay than a story. I worry that do I make an attractive attention getter or create an interesting story. What can make a story good? The answer is definitely the words which chosen by the authors. For example, “She is very angry because her sister ate her cake” or “She seems angry that she shouts her sister’s name at the first floor in order to call her out.” Which one is better? Of course the second one because it provides more details and is more vividly. I like to read science fictions with supernatural imagination because each description from the story bring me a clue that lead me to involve into the story, I usually can’t predict the ending of the stories, so I am curious about what will happen next then keep reading it. Although I like to read science fictions, I tend to write comedic story. It makes me feel lively and entertaining.

 

Journal 35

     OMG……how’s my weekend? I was quite busy because midterm is coming soon. I have five midterm- two on Tuesday, two one Wednesday, and one on Friday. I finished the British Lit’s poster on Saturday, and I spent a lot of time on it because I really wanted to make it perfect. I also asked the student who took this class last year, and she gave me some comment about my idea. I did read the textbook and researched some information on the Internet in order to have enough details. I planned to study the midterm next week because I wanted to get the first draft of common app’s short essay done by the end of this week. This is the fourth time that I changed topic for this essay. The essay question asks us to elaborate an extracurricular activity which we participate. I should choose one which I enjoy a lot in it, and show my passion to the readers. I keep changing topic because I can’t get the feeling I want when I write the essay. Finally, I find that yoga is the best one. I spent 4 hours to finish it although it only requires 1000 characters. I hope that this idea would be approved soon.

Journal 34

     What day is today? Today is Halloween. Many people dressed up their special costumes. In fact, I don’t want to prepare for this Halloween because I am too busy this year. Until this Tuesday, Maxine said that we could dress up like a hamburger. I thought it was a perfect idea, so I replied her immediately. There were six people on our group: Maxine Lin, Sharon Wu, Vincent Yang, Marian Wu, Tiffany Tseng, and me. We only had classes in the morning, and the whole afternoon was for Halloween. After we finished lunch, we hided in Marian’s dorm, and dressed up our costumes. Some people could understand our costumes, but some were not really sure. The student counsel prepared some games in the cafeteria. First, I played music chair. Melissa played music, and all the people should walk around the chairs. Irene pulled out one of the chair while we were walking, so there would be one person who couldn’t have a chair. When the music was stopped, everyone should find a chair and seat. For the first round, I won the second place. For the second round, I also won the second place. The hunting house was so scared that made me screamed loudly.

 

Journal 33

     Why do people create fiction novel or the world we don’t know? According to quotation, why do people create fiction novel or the world we don’t know? The reason is very simple- they are not satisfied about their current lives. People can show their creativity and imagination to bring more entertainment in their lives. Something can happen in real lives, but some can only happen in dreams. For example, Harry Porter and Twilight are two famous fiction novels. Although I am not a fan of them, I can feel how the author’s passion about writing the stories. I am a realistic person, but I do accept fiction novels. To me, I would enjoy the whole story because those stories might bring me a lively life. I think that majority of children like this kind of stories. They are not mature enough to understand the difference between real and imaginative life. “World we don’t know” means that the author creates a world which is not realistic. The setting, people, and events might not be real, but the whole story is full of creativity. Fiction novels can be positive that bring fresh idea to people; however, this type of stories might affect people negatively.

 

Journal 32

     Two days after……Halloween is coming! Originally I didn’t want to participate this year. In fact, I didn’t have time to think about my costumes because I had to much work on college application. There is a short essay for common app. Although it is short, doesn’t mean that it is easy to write. I changed my topic three times in order to write a perfect one. I hope that this one would be the last one. After finished this essay, I needed to work on the UC and Rutgers ones. Their application deadlines are earlier than other schools. I should finish their essays before mid November, and submit them before November 25th. That is my goal, so I would try my best the reach it. Let’s share about our Halloween costumes. Costume for our group is “Hamburger.” Vincent Yang and I are bread, Maxine is beef, Marian is salad, Sharon Wu is egg, and Tiffany Tseng is cheese. How a wonderful costume huh! We stayed at school till 19:30. We finished almost everything, but not the details. I was too tired today, so I took a bath right after I went home. Next Saturday is the day for SAT subject math level II. I keep telling myself that I can get 750!

Journal 31

     According the poet named Alexander Pope’s quote, “Know then thyself.” I think that I am the only person who knows myself well. Everyone does have a best friend to share things, but no one can know you well except yourself. For example, once I didn’t get a good grade on a test. My friend told me that I can eat a big meal, and then I would feel better. However, I couldn’t fit into this way. To me, I can’t eat “A big meal” to solve my problems. I think that I have multiple personalities that my behaviors are depending on different situation. A person can know himself or herself better by chatting more with friends or family. Spending more time to talk with other people can learn yourself more because you can hear how different people think about you. What is different or special about me? I think that I am a good listener that I am willing to listen anyone’s things if he or she wants to share to me. Everyone should learn how to learn yourself because I believe that yourself is the only person who can totally know yourself. As I grow up, I think that I know more about myself.

 

Journal 30

     I went to Taoyuan to take TOEFL test. I woke up early in the morning and my mother and I took train to Taoyuan. My mother went back to Hsinchu after I arrived the test center. I didn’t feel very nervous this time. I thought that I couldn’t get a good grade this time because I didn’t well prepare. I was too busy to prepare in the past two months. I spent much time on SAT test. I was very surprise when I saw my grade of October test. There are four sections on TOEFL test-reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Honestly, I felt that I didn’t do well on each section. After the test, I took train back to Hsinchu by myself. I waited for an hour. The first thing I did after I went home was to register for the next test because the test center might be full if I register late. My goal for TOEFL test was at least 95, but I felt that it was hard for me. I wasn’t good at listening and sometimes reading, so it was not that easy to get over 95. No matter how I felt this time, I will try my best to prepare for the next one.

 

Journal 29

     I didn’t know how to describe my mood today. Today……yes today the SAT score was available. All senior check login their accounts and waited for the scores. Before knowing my score, I was very nervous. At two o’clock at the afternoon, our basketball team had a game with CKSH. Many PAS students went to sixth floor to watch the game. It was a brilliant that I have ever seen in our school because both teams’ scores were very close. At the beginning of the game, we lag behind CKSH eleven points, but we gained points immediately. Finally, we won this game. I heard many students discussed about SAT scores, and my heart rate pumped quickly that I could even hear that. I went home right after the basketball was finished. The SAT score was available around five o’clock. I wanted to finish my homework before I ate dinner, so I didn’t check my score when it was available. My brother told me that Ms. Pamela was very happy because many people got good grades on the test. My pressure was getting heavier when I heard my brother said that. Okay……it was time for facing the truth. I login my account, and saw my grade. OMG!!!!! My grade was higher than I thought. I finally reached my goal.

 

Journal 28

     For eight or ninety-year-old people, they might find that they can’t find any people who are like them through images in their heads. In old people’s memories, they have already looked through many types of people and things. In their memories, some might make them happy, but some might make them sad. Anyway, every single experience in people’s life is unique and significant. To my father, he has experience on both live in city and country. When my father was young, he lived in the country and already had some business experience because my grandfather owned a grocery store at that time. Sometimes my father had to help my grandfather if he was busy, so my father was very independent when he was young. He did everything by himself and managed his own stuffs very well. My father and his family moved to city when he was eighteen years old. To me, I don’t think that a person should be old to be unique because people are unique when they were born. In my childhood, my parents didn’t force me to focus on academic area, instead they let my join many types of activities. That really makes me different from other people.

 

Journal 27

     I saw a sentence in CREW class. According to American writer Ursula K. LeGuin wrote, “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next,” I think that she wants to tell people that we should only care and focus on the things happen now indeed of anticipating what will happen in the future. As she said permanent and intolerable uncertainty, people should try their best to do the things well because always thinking about the future is not necessary. On the other word, I think she also wants to keep remaining us that cherish the present moment is more important. To me, I won’t say that people should cherish present time or know about what comes next because it depends on the situation. For example, when you want to move to the U.S. from Taiwan, you should know what kind of life you are going to have, what kind of job you want to do, and what kind of city you want o live. Those things relate to your life in the future, so you must know what comes next. However, you don’t need to know about what will happen while you are taking a test because managing your time to get this test done is more important.

 

Journal 26

     Although I didn’t have much homework today, I had to work on my college application. I planned to finish the common application short essay tonight and did some research for academic interest one. I tried my best to finish my school works by the end of 21:00, so I could have more time to do my essays. For common app short essay, the maximum words count was 150, but it was hard to express my feeling in only these few words. My common app short essay was finalized by teacher one month ago, but I thought that my idea was too common. During study hall, I looked through some pictures in the past, and finally got an idea. I joined cooking class two years ago and that was a specially experience, so I decided to use this idea as my short essay. To me, academic essays were very hard to write because I needed to do a lot of research and then match my main idea. I thought that I could sleep early this week. There were only two months left for the deadline of college application, so I have to speed up and focus on it till the mid December.

 

Journal 25

     I went to Melissa’s house on Friday because we needed to do a project together. I went home first and grab the things I wanted and meet her at school. Her mother picked us up at around 18:00. After we ate dinner, Melissa and I started our project immediately after we went home. We found some short video and information about the tap dance, which was our topic. This project was due two weeks after, but we want to finish early because we would become busier. After we finished our project, we started to work on our college application essays. I roughly had ten essays to write. There were three main categories for our essays: significant, academic interest, and diversity. I already finished the significant one and now is working the academic interest one. I wanted to at least get my academic interest essay’s idea by the end of today. I finished homework on Saturday and worked on my college stuffs on Sunday. All senior had a meeting with Ms. Pamela on Sunday afternoon. She was very disappointed that only 15 students finalized their first long essay. She thought that our attitudes were bad and kept talking that we won’t survive in college in the future.

 

Journal 24

     She is like a girl, but doesn't behave like a girl. Her male friends are more than her female friends. Everytime I talk to her, our conversations are about sports instead of girl’s stuff. She has a pair of big eyes, long hair, and big nose. I like to make jokes about her nose, but in fact she is pretty. To boys, she is definitely a tom boy. Actually, she is very popular because she not only plays sports with boys but also shops with girls. The person who always knows what I’m thinking and makes life livelier is my junior high school;s best friend-Belle. Before I met her, I was pessimistic person. Each time when she knew that I was unhappy, she would always said “The situation won’t become better because of your depress.” This sentence really influenced me a lot. Of course, complaint and hopelessness do not help me at all, and then I would think more in positive way. Now as a senior, my pressure of college application is getting more and more. I have many works to do everyday, but I still remember “The situation won’t become better because of your depress”, so I don’t complain even I;m submerged by essays, tests, and pressures.

 

Journal 23

      I was very tired today because I went to bed late last night. I wrote an essay in College Research Essay Writing. I wrote about my father. In my life, my father is one of the most influenced people. By writing about my father, I thought deeper about his personality, actions, and behaviors. I also looked at some pictures helping me to recall memories. I thought that I understood more about him after writing this essay. I found that when I used different angle of views to think about him, I could see him in many ways. People don’t define relationship in the same way. To me, relationship is an abstract connection between a person and me. Sometimes I feel that I have more than one type of relationship to a person who is closer to me. For example, my father is a teacher when I ask him homework, he is a friend when I share things with him, and he is just a father when I receive warmth from him. He, my lovely father, is not just a father. Actually he is a superman that he acts as different characters. To this essay, I think the easiest part is to elaborate the details; however, brainstorm is the hardest part. Next time when I write this type of essay, I will think more about the impact on me instead of focusing on the person I choose.

 

Journal 22

     I felt so tired today because I went to bed late last night. I wanted to sleep early today, but I had lot of things to do. I didn't majority homework which was due tomorrow on the last weekend. Although teacher didn't assign homework, I always had homework-college application. I only finalized one long essay and one short was in progress. I hoped that I could finalize the shorter one by the end of this week. I went to bed last night because I needed to prepare a debate which was for AP Human Geography class. All students in the class were divided into six groups. Each team had to support its own statement and argue others’ statements. I thought some situations from different points of view. That was why I spent a lot of time to do this homework. I have Skype with a friend almost everyday since last week. We talked on Skype because it was free. Our conversations were all about college stuffs and homework not about chatting. For example, we searched our essay topics individual first, and then we exchanged each other’s file and double checked whether we found the right topics or not. It is time for sleep now!

Journal 21

     I finally Skype with Jack Sung today. This was the first time we met on Skype. I wanted to go to bed at 24:00. I went to Taipei on Sunday and came back at around 21:30, so I want to go to bed early. I logged out when I finished my homework, but Jack said that he wanted to Skype with me. We Skype from 24:00 to 1:30. I thought that we hadn’t seen each other for a long time, so I spoke loudly and excitedly. My mother and father were disturbed by my voice. I turned off my computer right after my mother came to my room. In the morning, I continued the homework which I hadn’t finished. I spent majority of time searching my admission essay topics for each school. For some schools, I had to create account first and then was available to see the essay topic. I had to write around 10 essays, but I only finalized 2 of them. I had a weird homework for AP Human Geography that each group needed to prepare a debate which was about immigration. I thought that my topic was not difficult to prepare, but I was afraid how to debate with other groups tomorrow.

Journal 20

     Wow lovely weekend. Next Monday is Taiwanese holiday, so that day is day off. We don’t need to go to school. I had a busy weekend. Originally, I had an appointment with Ms. Pamela on Friday after school, but someone’s parents came first. Some students and my schedule would be delay. Melissa and I waited until 18:30. Finally, Ms. Pamela’s office door was open. It was time for our appointment, but Ms. Pamela said that she had an appointment at 19:00. We couldn't talk to her on Friday. She told us that she would stay at school on Saturday for whole day, so I went to school at 10:00. Unfortunately, another student’s parents came too. I waited for two hours and finally was my turn. I really wanted to finish the appointment because it was too late if I still didn't get my school list. I want to apply UC’s schools. On my school list, there were five UC schools and others were at east coast such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan, and Texas. I needed to retake TOEFL in Oct, 22th. I hoped that I could get at least 95 on the test. I will make it.

 

Journal 19

     OMG! I just checked my veracross and I found I failed the History of American Music class. I’m a senior now, so GPA is extremely important to me. It shouldn't be any score below A- on my score report. Each week we had a small quiz about what we learned in a week. There were only four to five questions for each test, so it was totally hurt my grade even I only got one wrong. The teacher for this class also didn't assign any homework. Our grades were all coming from weekly quizzes. I couldn't believe that I got this kind of low score in my life. I wanted to ask teacher about what could I do to improve my grade. I am willing to do any kind of extra assignment. Beside this course, I did okay on other courses. My mood was low now because of this low grade. I worried that if there was no way to fix my grade. In fact, I didn't really want to take this class when I filled the schedule, but there were no classes I could take. All senior only could have two study hall classes. That was why I had to take this course.

 

Journal 18

     I started to prepare for math 2 after taking SAT on last Saturday. I hadn't study for math 2 since 3 months ago. I was afraid that I forgot almost every formula and tip. When Ms. Liu said that we had a one hour test during the class, I was nervous because I thought that I might not get a good score. I calculated fast and skipped the questions which were more complex and did them later. I found that I had around 15 minutes after I went through all the questions. I went back to those questions which I just skipped. I left 5 blanks and got 9 wrong. My raw score was 34 which equaled 700. I was surprised that I got at least 700. Although it was not a bad grade, I thought that I should get at least 750. I figured out the questions I got wrong after the test and I found that this test was not that hard. I did some practices everyday. Actually, my goal for math 2 was at least 750. I went home at around 5:30 p.m. My father and brother didn't eat dinner at home, so my mom and I could start our dinner early.

 

Journal 17

      “All seniors please come to the office.” I heard this announcement right after the bell rang. Ms. Pamela was very upset that we didn't meet the deadline which she set. She said that we should follow what she said. After I went home, I did my homework first and then sent an e-mail to Ms. Pamela. I told her about my current situation that I list some important things and gave her some brief description. My job was to get a good grade on my TOEFL test. I needed to take SAT math level II in November and TOEFL test two weeks later. Actually, TOEFL’s reading should be easier than SAT’s, so I hoped that I could get a high score on TOEFL’s reading part because my SAT’s reading was weak. My listening was weak too. Sometime I couldn't catch the main point what did the professor mentioned. The most important time during these two months was to manage my time. I started to do homework right after I went home. If I could, I would try to finish my homework before dinner time, and then I could have more time to do college stuffs. I hoped that I could reach my goal.

Journal 16

    I thought that shouldn't be too emotional. You couldn't decide whether to do things or not depending on your emotion. It was totally not fair to other people. The basic attitude was that you shouldn't treat people well because you were in good mood, and treat people badly because you were in bad mood. After the test on last Saturday, I started my new plan. I focused more on TOEFL within the next three weeks. My goals was to get at least 95, but I needed to work extremely hard. In November 5^th, I needed to take SAT math level II test. I kind of regretted a little bit that I didn't take math test in May because I was very familiar about all the tips at that time. However, someone told me that I could have more time to prepare the test if I took it in November. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I will become busier in the next two coming months. After some many things happened during this summer, I realized that I should decide my own “DECISION”, instead of let other to decide for me. I should be brave to show my opinion. No matter how everything is going on now, I hope that I can do everything well.

 

Journal 15

     The SAT test in October was finally over! I knew that everyone wanted to ask me “How did you do on that test?” I would say that math sections were not very hard. I did all the questions except one question I left it blank and I hoped that this section was experimental one. For reading sections, I couldn’t say that I did a great job on this part, but at least I felt that I could understand majority passages except one or two which I didn’t really know. There were two writing sections. I thought that one of them was hard and the other one was easy. During the test, I did super fast on the last section which was the writing one. I could spot the error quickly. If I didn’t make any careless mistakes, I would probably gain at least 12 points. I was totally exhausted right after I took the test because I was headache. I didn’t sleep well at the night before the test. It was the third time that I couldn’t have a good sleep before taking SAT test. Although I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t be too nervous because I did prepare and worked so hard before the test, I was still very nervous. I hoped that I could get a better score this time.