Overacheivers Reflection

When I think of top colleges, Harvard and Yale come to mind. Coincidentally, they are the top colleges in the country. That is part if the reasons I think that they are the top colleges. These are also the colleges that my extended family went to for some school and now they are successful doctors.  Harvard and Yale are special because they are both Ivy League schools. Ivy league schools are known for how hard they are to get into and the level of intelligence of people that go to them. When most people hear that someone graduated from an Ivy League school they instantly assume that they are of high intelligence.
    My dream University would be a social campus but also have strong academics. I would also prefer a modern looking campus with updated technology and professors that enjoy teaching. I would want the college to be located close to home but far enough away so I could live in an apartment or dormitory. On the other hand, I would love to go to school near the snow so I could be a snowboarding instructor or ski patrol. My dream university would be near a good ski resort. I would want the college to have courses relating to computers and programming or cinematography. The college would have a good student center to do homework and get supplies for college life. During my four years of college, I would hope to decide want I would want my profession to be and which graduate schoo1 I would go to. I would also like to make a tight group of friends that were interested in the same line of work as me, so we could go to the same classes, study together, and maybe even look for work together. I would also like to enjoy some safe, legal, celebrations after big events in the college world.

Enders Game Post 3

The science fiction novel, Ender’s Game, is about a futuristic society where Earth fights wars with alien planets. The main character, Ender, was only permitted to be born because he has the potential to be a military genius. His older sister was too nice, and his older brother was too mean, the government expected Ender to be the perfect balance. As soon as he turns six and his monitor was removed, Ender was shipped off to battle school to become a commander. During battle school, he starts in the lowest class, launchies or people that just came to battle school, and gets drafted to a practice army. During his time at battle school, he works his way up the ranks all the way to commander of his own practice army. While reading this book, you also hear about Ender’s siblings as they command the “nets” with their ghost writings about politics.

Ender is a very interesting character because he is so different from other people is age. He is a child genius, just like his brother and sister. A post about them can be found here. Because Ender is such a genius, he gets oppressed by people that are jealous of him. For example, most other commanders are not anywhere near as skilled as Ender and he easily crushes them in completely unfair battles. Most of the commanders envy his ability to control the battle and always win and they are nice and try to learn his secrets. But some feel bad that they aren't as good as him and they try to hurt him and isolate him.

“Bonzo stopped smiling. It was the thing that he hated most about Ender, that Ender matttered to other people, and in the end, Bonzo did not. You have killed me with those words, Dink. Bonzo does not want to hear that I might save the world.”

In this quote, Ender is talking to Bonzo about how he is jealous because Ender has the potential to win the war. Ender is very good at playing mind games to make Bonzo feel inferior.

Trouble in the Water Narritive

It was a tropical day on the beautiful main island of Hawaii and I just arrived at Magic Sands beach with my family. I later learned that the beach had earned its name due to its constantly changing conditions. The sand moves where the waves break and uncovers dangerous rocks that often give swimmers cuts on their feet. The white sand reflected the blinding rays of the sun and burned the image of the beach in my head. The waves towered over any boogie boarder and smashed down with a deafening sound. As soon as my protective mom saw the treachery of the waves, she strictly said that my ten year old sister could only go in the water up to her ankle and my two year old sister couldn't put her big toe in the water. I was the oldest child in the family, so my mom had no restrictions except a weary warning to be careful. I didn't give much thought to it as I recklessly dived in to the raging ocean.

As soon as my body adjusted to the pleasantly cool water, I noticed the strong under-toe, but quickly put it in the back of my mind. Soon, my dad and I started to frolic in the water. We raced from one side of the beach to the other, constantly fighting the current but not taking much notice because of all the fun we were having. I was having an amazing time, until things turned dangerous.

With every time we crossed the water, the brutality of the waves seemed to increase. I found myself struggling to stay above the water. As soon as my dad recognized the trouble I was having, he suggested that we get out of the water soon. I knew that the surf was getting extreme when the local boogie boarders started to head to the shore due to the exceedingly rough conditions. As I glanced to the shore, I saw a frantic expression coming from my mom, at that time I felt guilty for putting myself in this situation.  

As my dad signaled me to make my way back to the beach, I started to take a couple strokes toward the shore. Before I could make it half way back to the coast, a violent set of waves assaulted me, slamming me against the rocks on the seafloor. I was flailing on in the water, when I felt the clench of my father`s hand, but with another crashing wave there was one hundred yards of water between us.

Enders Game Book Post

The science fiction novel, Ender’s Game, is about a futuristic society where Earth fights wars with alien planets. The main character, Ender, was only permitted to be born because he has the potential to be a military genius. His older sister was too nice, and his older brother was too mean, the government expected Ender to be the perfect balance. As soon as he turns six and his monitor was removed, Ender was shipped off to battle school to become a commander. During battle school, he starts in the lowest class, launchies or people that just came to battle school, and gets drafted to a practice army. During his time at battle school, he works his way up the ranks all the way to commander of his own practice army. While reading this book, you also hear about Ender’s siblings as they command the “nets” with their ghost writings about politics.

    I think the authors purpose of this book is to show how different Ender and his siblings are from the rest of people in their age group because they are child geniuses. The only way Ender’s brother and sister can express their advanced political feelings is by creating fake names and writing columns. At first they used their father’s internet access, but as they came more popular they got sponsored. The way they can afford the service of the “nets” is that the companies that hire them pay for their column with net service because they are minors and can’t buy it themselves.

“With their identities now fully supported by their income from writing columns, they used fathers access now only for the throwaway identities”

This quote shows how the kids used their money to pay for their identities and not other things other kids their age would. They spend so much time on the internet managing their alter egos that they dont get out and play, like other, non-genius kids. Ender’s siblings are very different from other kids because they think so advanced for anyone their age, so they can relate more to adults that they write for on the nets.

Ender's Game Book Post

The science fiction novel, Ender’s Game, is about a futuristic society where Earth fights wars with alien planets. The main character, Ender, was only permitted to be born because he has the potential to be a military genius. His older sister was too nice, and his older brother was too mean, the government expected Ender to be the perfect balance. As soon as he turns six and his monitor was removed, Ender was shipped off to battle school to become a commander. During battle school, he starts in the lowest class, launchies or people that just came to battle school, and gets drafted to a practice army. During his time at battle school, he works his way up the ranks all the way to commander of his own practice army.

I think the authors purpose in writing this book is to show how affective good leadership skills and smarts is for leading a group. In Ender’s Game,  Ender is given an army of very unskilled students - most of them were launchies. The principals of the school don’t even allow him to trade away players that he doesn't get along with.

“Almost thirty of his soldiers were new, straight out of their launch group, completly inexperienced in battle. Some were even underage, the ones...  were pathetically small. Ender reminded himself that that’s how he must have looked to Bonzo Madrid when he first arrived.”

Even though almost all of his army is small and young, Ender can still understand how they feel because he was in the same situation. This is a very important quality for a leader to have, especially in Ender’s situation. He strives to be different from Bonzo Madrid because he was such a tyrant of a leader.

The principals of the school make it very unfair because Ender cant perform trades to get rid of weaker players that are unable to listen. Ender can easily overcome this obstacle by getting along with everybody and using good management skills. I think this is a way of showing the principals that they cant do anything to make Ender fail.

Narritive of Meeting my New Sister

My sister and I sensed some big news as we ate spaghetti and meatballs at the kitchen table.  My dad`s fidgeting and my mom`s unusual silence signaled the coming changes. In the days before, my parents dropped subtle hints about the special surprise but my sister and I did not understand them. When my dad noticed my puzzled expression, he said, “We are having a baby!”. Screams and cheers of approval and sheer happiness erupted from the kid’s side of the table while my parents beamed at the positive reaction. When he said that, I knew a monumental transformation would enter my life. My mind raced. Would it be a boy or a girl? Would it look like me? Would we have to share a room? Would I have to change diapers!?!
     Before I knew it, my mom turned into even more of a health nut. She dragged me and any other unsuspecting family member on vigorous walks, ate strangely named vitamins that I recognized from aggressive commercials and drank lots of weird smelling herbal tea to coax the baby out.  Instead of watching television, our family past time turned into feeling my mom’s belly for kicks and movements.
    In a flash, the eve of the big day arrived, the arrangements were made and everyone was ready for the arrival of the newest Noble. We did not know if she would arrive on her due date.  We  eagerly awaited her arrival.  On the Friday before her due date, my mom walked us to school before her doctor’s appointment.  She did not come to pick us up after school as usual.  Our neighbor picked us up and told us that our mom was in the hospital having the baby.
    Early next morning my dad picked my sister and me up to go visit my mom and new sister. My dad asked us if we wanted to get balloons to make the new baby feel welcome but my sister and I quickly refused because we did not want to wait any longer. On the drive to the hospital I interrogated my dad on the labor, he said it was quick and easy (for him at least, my mom had a different story).
    When we got to the hospital room, her tinyness and fragileness confounded me;  afraid to even touch her for fear of hurting her. I could tell from the sweet innocent look on her face as I held her that we were going to be very close. At that moment I was genuinely happy to have a baby sister. Nowadays Im not so sure. ;)
   

The Kite Runner Final

The Book, The Kite Runner, By Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction novel that is a biography of Amir. The Book follows Amir from a young age to his thirties. It also shows his relationships with other characters as he moves from place to place avoiding the Russian soldiers. Amir finally escapes to America and is called back to Afganistan to rescue Hassan’s only son. It tells about Amir`s struggle to be accepted by his father and to understand why people treat people the way they do and be racist.

One of the the purposes of the book is to show how racism affected Afghanistan in his time. I think the racism can be shown by a couple of things in The Kite Runner. The first being racism towards the Hazaras by the Pashtuns as a group and the second being Amir’s relationship with Hassan.

Amir, has a servant that is a Hazara while Amir is a Pashtun. In their culture, Hazaras are lower in the class system than Pashtuns and they are treated much different than them. In this quote, Assef, the neighborhood bully, is putting down Hassan because he is a Hazara.

    “Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns... We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans,... His people pollute our homeland... They dirty our blood.”

   This quote shows the hatred and oppression that the Hazaras go through because they are seen to be the “inferior race”. Even Hassan`s play mate, Amir, doesn’t consider him a friend because the culture tells him that he isn't worth his time. I think this connects to American society, because African Americans were discriminated against for the same unreasonable reasons the Harzaras were: Just small differences in features. I think the author wanted to show that racism not only happens in America,it happens everywhere and sometimes it is even more brutal. I think the author realized how heinous the racism was and now, as an adult, he wanted to reflect on that and share his thoughts and feelings at the time.

Amir’s relationship with Hassan is very interesting because Amir treats Hassan differently in different situations. For example, during the rape, he is cowardly and he doesnt stand up for Hassan and he doesn't even associate with him after it. When Amir is an adult, he treats Hassan like they were best friends (in a sense, they were when they were kids. Amir had too much pride to admit it). I think Amir feels bad that he treated Hassan so badly as a child and even made it so he had to leave there, so he tries really hard to redeem himself. Amir feels that he has to feel the pain Hassan felt to fully feel forgiven for his crime against Hassan. Amir is so driven to feel like he has paid his debt to Hassan, that he travels to Afghanistan to save his son from a group of Taliban. The true redemption happens when Amir gets beat up almost to the death by Assef, the same person who raped Hassan. The author shows irony when Hassan’s son, Sohrab saves Amir from his close to death battle with Assef.  This is ironic because Amir is saved once again by Sohrab, which in my opinion is like a shy continuation of Hassan. I think the author is trying to say that when ever Amir is in trouble some form of Hassan will save him in a verbal conflict or even a physical conflict.

I think the authors other purpose of writing this book is to show Amir’s growth as a character. Amir shows a lot of growth throughout the book in different ways. I think the main growth he makes is that he becomes a lot more selfless. I think Amir also feels guilt because of what he let happen to Hassan.

“Made me see him my entire life, long before the winter of 1875, dating back to when that singing Hazara woman was still nursing me, had been a cycle of lies, betrayals, and secrets.

There is a way to be good again, He’d (Rahim Khan) said .

A way to end the cycle.

With a Little boy, an orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul”

    This quote shows that Amir still feels guilty for what he and his father did for Hassan’s family and is willing to be put in grave danger to feel relived from the guilt. The main reason Amir traveled to Kabul is that he wanted a weight lifted off his shoulders. He even achieves it after a very hard journey.

    ”...for the the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in the corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this moment. I remembered the day on the hill I had pelted Hassan with pomegranates and tried to provoke him.”

   Amir had this realization as he almost got murdered by Assef. He finally felt at ease because he felt the pain that Hassan had felt. After this realization, Amir ceases to feel the emotional pain of what happened to Hassan. He also stops feeling the physical pain inflicted on him by Assef, this relief from pain stopped when he wakes up groggy at the hospital.

    Amir’s growth throughout the book is somewhat fueled by Baba’s death. Amir seems to gain a lot more self confidence and determination. This is shown when he courageously travels to Afghanistan, the place that he narrowly escaped, to save his nephew that he doesn't even know. Amir felt that he needed to step up and fill the large hole that Baba left when he died. Amir needed to protect the offspring of Hassan so he valiantly went to save him, after a couple of doubtful thoughts. I think that the old Amir would not have been able to take the initiative to do anything for anyone other than himself, let alone someone he had never met.

Kite Runner Response

The Book, The Kite Runner, By Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction novel that is a biography of Amir. The Book follows Amir from a young age to his thirties. It also shows his relationships with other characters as he moves from place to place avoiding the Russian soldiers. It tells about Amir`s struggle to be accepted by his father and to understand why people treat people the way they do and be racist.

I think Khaled Hosseini`s purpose in writing this book is to show the growth of Amir as a character. Amir shows a lot of growth throughout the book in different ways. I think the main growth he makes is that he becomes a lot more selfless. I think Amir also feels guilt because of what he let happen to Hassan.

“Made me see him my entire life, long before the winter of 1875, dating back to when that singing Hazara woman was still nursing me, had been a cycle of lies, betrayals, and secrets.

There is a way to be good again, He’d said (Rahim Khan).

A way to end the cycle.

With a Little boy, an orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul”

    This quote shows that Amir still feels guilty for what he and his father did for Hassan’s family and is willing to be put in grave danger to feel relived from the guilt. The main reason Amir traveled to Kabul is that he wanted a weight lifted off his shoulders. He even achieves it after a very hard journey.
    ”...for the the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in the corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this moment. I remembered the day on the hill I had pelted Hassan with pomegranates and tried to provoke him.”
    Amir had this realization as he  got the crap beat out of him by Assef. He finally felt at ease because he felt the pain that Hassan had felt.

   The Book, The Kite Runner, By Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction novel that is a biography of Amir. The Book follows Amir from a young age to his thirties. It also shows his relationships with other characters as he moves from place to place avoiding the Russian soldiers. It tells about Amir`s struggle to be accepted by his father and to understand why people treat people the way they do and be racist. Throughout the book, Amir faces many different characters that he has different responses to.

    Amir’s relationship with Hassan is very interesting because Amir treats Hassan differently in different situations. For example, during the rape, he is cowardly and he doesnt stand up for Hassan and he doesn't even associate with him after it. When Amir is an adult, he treats Hassan like they were best friends (in a sense, they were when they were kids. Amir had too much pride to admit it). I think Amir feels bad that he treated Hassan so badly as a child and even made it so he had to leave there, so he tries really hard to redeem himself. Amir feels that he has to feel the pain Hassan felt to fully feel forgiven for his crime against Hassan. Amir is so driven to feel like he has paid his debt to Hassan, that he travels to Afghanistan to save his son from a group of Taliban. The true redemption happens when Amir gets beat up almost to the death by Assef, the same person who raped Hassan. The author shows irony when Hassan’s son, Sohrab saves Amir from his close to death battle with Assef.  This is ironic because Amir is saved once again by Sohrab, which in my opinion is like a shy continuation of Hassan. I think the author is trying to say that when ever Amir is in trouble some form of Hassan will save him in a verbal conflict or even a physical conflict.

Response to Devins Post on Facebook Usage

    On google reader, I saw a post by Devin that discussed the distraction of Facebook while doing homework. I have experienced the distraction that is Facebook many times and it has added many hours to my homework load.
   

“After spending hours on homework, anyone can get lonely. Facebook is the solution to that and soon, the victim will be doing other stuff other than chatting.

       Chatting leads to other activities. For example when someone logs on, they see a wall full of people who have commented. This drives curiosity and the next thing you know, you're checking out what your friend or friends' friends said. Sometimes there are links to quizzes and you feel like taking that quiz just to say how you rank or what you are. See how a simple chat leads to so much time wasting. This is called the snowball effect.”

    I think Devin makes a very valid point when he says the snowball effect happens when a student that should be doing homework is on Facebook. I think the site is designed to keep users occupied with enticing graphics that hook users into staying on the site longer. The snowball effect happens when a user keeps clicking profiles and pictures and eventually spends a lot of time on the site, Facebook. When a user sees something interesting on their news feed then they feel inclined to click it and participate in it such as a quiz.
    Social networking sites, like Facebook make their money when people see advertisements in the side bar or when they click them. It benefits Facebook when people click pages on the site because that means more views for their advertisers which mean more money for the site. If pages are exciting to click then Facebook gains more and more money. When people have a lot of fun on Facebook, they send invites to people that are not current Facebook users and when they join, this adds to Facebook’s revenue and entertainment value.


NOTE: While typing this post, I checked face book twice spending a total of 14 minutes on the site. This shows that Facebook is truly an epidemic. ;)