Recently, we finished the required class reading, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I thought that this book was well thought out, especially considering the plot line parallels to international history. I also like how Kingsolver was able to distinct the different character voices so well. My personal favorite character is Adah because of the interesting ways she put sentences backwards and how she can see things in ways I sometimes wish I could see as.

I also like Adah's last words in the chapter of the "Song of Three Children". She says, "Illusions mistake for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization" (532). After reading this, I agreed with Adah's observation. So many stereotypes are based on misunderstandings between cultures and different people. Also, beliefs are based on opinions, which do not always reconcile with the facts.

When Ruth May dies, I was surprised at first. But when I thought about it, there were reading patterns that hinted at her death fairly obviously. One such is how she makes references to reptiles and how she doesn't picture herself in her father's Christian heaven. Another is how her entries were filtered out as the book made more progress to Bel and the Serpent. As I looked back at her entries, I noticed that her character voice wasn't really maturing or changing. So that could also have been a pattern that hinted at her death.

I personally didn't like Rachel. After a while, her entries got extremely annoying, to the point where I entirely skipped her entries and just read her sisters' entries. But I did eventually go back and read her entries. I thought that she reminded me of one of my second grade classmates. When I tried to give her constructive criticism, she wouldn't take it and like Rachel's attitude, shut the door and ignore the things coming for her attention. (I haven't seen this classmate since then, but that's how I remember her—a younger version of Rachel.)

Leah, I have mixed feelings. I can identify with her—wanting to be independent, wanting to be just like her father, open minded— which puts me in favor of her. But when Ruth May died, and Leah could have saved her, I got mad at Leah. But when I reread that section, I thought that I was really mad at myself. I remember being in a situation in which I could have improved, but did nothing about it. Although I can't recall the details, I didn't do anything and the situation turned even worse. I think that anyone can identify with Leah's shock in a situation such as that. I think that I would be shocked numb if I witnessed my baby sister dying.

I really liked this book overall, even if I procrastinated at reading some of the sections. I think that the aspect of reading for class dimmed the light on it's 'reading glory'. But otherwise, I think that this would be in my top twenty of the my recently read list.

A Surprising Diary

I was organizing my desk today and found one of the many notebooks I had tried to start a diary in. I looked at the first page, expecting to read one of my rants. Instead, I found a diary introduction. Strangely, it addressed one of the themes in my English class ("What kind of world is this?"). This is what I wrote.

This is my first diary entry in about thee years, so this entry may have a lot to talk about. But let me get this general idea a basic walk through. Life is never simple. Personally, I think that Life is fabricated of layers and layers that vary in degree of goodness, badness, mourning, and celebration. Life is generally viewed in two ways: the good and the bad. But it is never really one way or the other; It's never simple.
People throughout time have wondered 'Why are we here?' People have looked up to a higher being or persons or a god or multiple gods to explain why people exist. I remember in seventh grade, I was required to take a course in religion. One of the lessons the teacher taught was that God (the Christian God) put us down here because he loves us, the people. There has been so many ties since that lesson when I've wondered, 'Is there really some higher being out there?' My heritage, the Filipinos, is one of the two countries in Asia who has Christianity as their national religion, so my family is naturally Christian-Catholic. At least, to a certain point. I guess that there is a higher being out there, watching us. At Escrima, or the martial arts of the Filipinos, there is a command pronounced 'pamajé', which means 'pray'. Our head guru tells us that we should pray to whichever higher being it is we pray to. He says, "To whomever you pray to, whatever your religion is, just pray." He just says to pray; it doesn't have to be a good long prayer asking for something. It could just be a short thank you. But if yo listen to what I hear, and interpret his words the way I do, Guru implies that a person should pray to someone of a spiritual high being to at least thank him or her or them for life.

This long introduction brings me back to my initial statement and reason of these following entries. Life is never simple. As one reads along, though my experiences and thought, Life is never simple. There are always things that will make people wonder about things that are obvious and not obvious. Life is never simple because of the many views and options and possibilities that it could be viewed or experienced. I guess that is the general purpose in Life: to go through choices and feelings and thoughts, and to reflect and learn about what Life is meant to be.

When I read what I wrote, I was actually surprised that I thought about this sort of topic. I was even more surprised that I even wrote my thoughts down. At the beginning of the second semester, when the questions "What kind of life is this? How should we live in it?", were presented to the class, I thought That is something that people don't normally thing about. But I think that this entry actually contradicted my assumption. Now, I think that the question theme isn't such an ambiguous theme.

Myspace vs. Facebook

I had some time on my hands so I decided to create a Facebook account.

I know, it's another internet craze like Zanga or Myspace. But really, what is the difference?

I didn't have a Zanga account, but I did have a Myspace. I thought that it was a pretty good site. I reconnected with some old gymnastics friends I hadn't seen in years. I was able to personalize my page and put music on and all these other features. When I told my parents, they first became parentally concerned and made me do monthly check ups on my page. (This was when there was myspace 'horror stories' on the news.) After a while, they stopped... and so did the myspace craze.

Now the Facebook craze has begun and I just joined it. I think it's interesting and has its pros and cons as anything does. Instead of the myspace comments, Facebook has 'writings on (your friends)'s wall'. It also keeps record of what changes that were made to your account and what others did to your account (i.e. write on your wall, 'poke' you, add a new friend, etc.) I haven't got many facebook friends yet, but I'll see how it turns out compared to the myspace world.

Gymnastics

When I was younger, I grew up in club gymnastics for Aloha Gymnastics World (commonly known as Aloha/AGW). Around sixth grade, I stopped gym and I declared that I wasn't going to do anymore gymnastics. Well, I proved myself wrong around eighth grade. I was at a new school and wasn't very outgoing. My mom suggested for me to do ILH gymnastics for the school. At first, I didn't want to. But I remembered that a lot of my friends from Aloha did it. So if I did it, I would be able to keep in touch with them better. So I went and 'represented' my school and did ILH.

Since then, I've been in ILH gymnastics, not quite willing to renounce all of my gymnastics abilities. Now, I'm a varsity member, although it's not a very big deal. A lot of my friends are in this group, so it almost feels like old times. I think that a person can never truly leave their roots. I've experienced it through gymnastics. Many of my favorite skills are still with me and help me along in my primary sport, diving.

Show Finale

Wow, I haven't made a post in a while. I think that this was a personal discipline problem and lack of ideas of what to write. Anyways, I'm back and I'll be making more posts now.

This past Thursday was the finale of the Korean show Pure in Heart. It had such a happy ending. MH approves of Gukhwa, at first due to publicity pressure. But after Gukhwa and Yunhu get married, MH approves of Gukhwa due to unasked favors Gukhwa performs for MH. DK and MH make up and act more like a couple. (They fought a lot over petty things...)
Ugyeong (a college buddy of Yunhu's and older-brother-like figure to Gukhwa) and Yunjeong (Yunhu's younger sister) are married and have twin boys. Ugyeong also takes over his grandfather's tailor shop.
The show officially ends when the creators show the families one year later. Gukhwa is seven months pregnant and Yunhu is really happy. Gukhwa also becomes a college student. (She is ten years younger than Yunhu, and didn't have enough money to go to college immediately after high school.) Ugyeong and Yunjeong are proud parents of twins who are 100 days old. Ugyeong's tailor shop is flourishing and his younger sister is dating a good guy. (Earlier in the show, Ugyeong's sister was having a lot of boy problems.) MH also gives her cooking class company to her son-in-law (who loves to cook).
All in all, a happy ending. Here's the link to epilogue part of the show if anyone wants to watch:

Pure 19 Ep167_Final Ep_2 of 2
Uploaded by ConstableOdo

I think that every story can have a happy ending, only some turn out better than others. Change in every character is imminent and maybe obligatory in every story. And depending on how the characters change, the ending changes also.