I don't know

             “I don’t know.”

This sentence is the one that makes me at once disappointed (due to the failure of the expectation) and somewhat relieved (due to the frankness of the person). Also, this sentence is the one that my father loves. Although it seems like a plain, colorless saying, it imposes the essence of my father’s personality.

My father who seems like an artful businessman is a plain-spoken person. He never pretends to know math problems that I asked. He never bluffs about the time when he was “my age”. He never lies when he breaks wind. Instead of all those common lies, he responds, “Actually, I don’t know what it is” or “At that time, I wasn’t that smart” or “Sorry. It was me”. Astonished at his outspokenness about himself, I can soon be relieved and also be honest to him.

However, his frankness sometimes becomes a dagger when it points at me.

I often play Haegum, a Korean traditional instrument, in home. And one day, when my father heard some off-pitch, he teased me, saying that I should practice Haegum more. At first, I thought he was just joking. However, when I asked him about that later, he said, “I really mean it. Girl, you got to improve a lot!” I had to admit that I made some off-pitch, but encountering with direct criticism was, well, shocking.

His candidness didn’t stop; it continued on my performance in academic subjects. He has never scolded me for bad performances: he has just been frank about my academic ability. When I asked him whether it would be fine to study physics rather than history, he said

“Isn’t it tough to study among the so-called wiz kids? They are science-oriented while you are….humanity-oriented.”

Having hoped for the positive opinion, I was very disappointed and hurt from his comment. Although he later approved the potential I have in studying physics, at that time, it was hard to discover the reality.

But I have to admit that while living with my father, I naturally got to learn how to be honest to myself and others. Unconsciously, like my father has done, I started to say and act in a candid way. Whenever I am not sure about some complex math problems, I simply admit that I don’t know and that I would study more about them. Whenever I mess up a test, I frankly say I messed up. Whenever I have to criticize others, I anyway do some criticism-constructive criticism, I believe.

 

             And among those influences I got, the most valuable lesson that I got is the way of dealing with challenge and failure. When facing a challenge, I started to think “Well, I just have to operate what I know.” And when facing a failure, I began to think “It is natural to be ignorant about something that I don’t know. I should just learn this and never forget.” This attitude learned from my father has been a lot of help when cheering myself up, especially from academic hardships.

             Nowadays, my father is still straightforward. He openly lauds on what I did well, criticizes on what I made mistakes, and openly speaks about his lights and shades. Always the same. However, I have changed a lot: from the one who thinks mistakes to be shameful to the one who thinks mistakes to be natural. And right now, I am trying hard to make something that I don’t know into something that I know well.

A fall is not everlasting

           “Okay. You should count one, two, three and jump into the sky. If you linger, it would be harder for you to jump in.”

           After counting one, two, three, I dived into the sky. No, I didn’t commit a suicide. I had a simple rope clung to my body. Yes, I did a bungee jump!

           It was a last June. My friend and I went to Inje Bungee Jump center. Without any fear, my friend and I simply went up to the bungee jump tower. It wasn’t until later that I became afraid about the fact that I had to dive into the sky. The only thing I had was a rope clung to my body.

           When I stepped forward and saw the scenery under my feet, I became numb. I couldn’t move. But when I counted one, two, three according to the direction of the assistant, I automatically dived into the sky.

I was literally falling. The scenery-the river, the mountain, the road, etc-was approaching to me. I thought I would die, seriously. However, at a certain moment, I felt something that “saved” me from falling, the rope. I was relieved. Although I had to experience further bouncing, I rather enjoyed it, as I knew the rope would save me from constant falling. After landing on the ground, I found myself appreciating the thrill of bungee jump.

Even after doing the bungee jump, I didn’t realize that this simple challenge I did can teach me an important life lesson. After the bungee jump, I had to face a lot of zigzags in KMLA life. Sometimes I had to face a shameful score on the test sheet, a trouble with a close friend, and a tight schedule. In those situations, I was discouraged, thinking that this would never end. However, after two months, when I had a trouble with a close friend, I remembered the bungee jump experience. While thinking about it, I soon realized something evident: the “fall” is not everlasting. Everybody experiences the fall. The fall is dismal, painful, and horrible. But there’s always a rope that stops one’s constant fall. One rises as much as one falls!

After understanding the lesson from bungee jump, I have tried to think “This, too, shall pass away soon” when facing troubles. With that bit of hope, I have been able to keep my chin up; bearing most of the problems smoothly. And sure, there have been many “rises” that I experienced after “falls”: miraculous A on the subject, joyful travel with my family, etc.

          After all, bungee jump was not just a test for courage. Although it seemed like just an interesting experience at that time, after time passed, bungee jump-that simple play with a rope-thought me a valuable lesson-a “fall” would stop at some moment. And keeping that lesson in my mind, I am trying to enjoy the “bungee jumping” in my life, dreaming for the moment of appreciation for my challenge.

creative writing assignment!

6. Phone Tag. Write a fairly long, complicated phone conversation overheard by someone in the room. All three people—the listener in the room, the caller, and the person on the other end of the line—are involved with each other in some way (not necessarily romantically). Let us hear the other end of the conversation, without actually hearing it. This means you will be giving us only one side of a conversation, so you will have to work to make the side we’re hearing intriguing and capable of carrying a story. The listener in the room can guess what the person on the other end of the line is saying, but try to keep this guessing to a minimum, and make sure this guesswork is done with integrity—well after the unheard speaker has spoken. 600 words.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Diary,

Today, I had a blind date. My co-worker Brad, who is a nice guy, arranged a date, saying that the man would be perfect for me: sensitive and careful. Well, believing what Brad said, I went to the Caffe Dene for date.

On the way to café, I got to watch TV news about those who sell human flesh. According to that, in Bundang, where I live, there are several people who sell human flesh. It is said that about 2 stores were caught for that, there may be more stores selling human flesh secretly. I was shocked, but I wasn’t that concerned about the fact: I’m not related to it.

The man was fairly handsome. However, he seemed very nervous and pale for the whole date. It was uncomfortable, but well, it might have been the first date for him, I thought.

We went to Caffe Dene, had a cup of coffee, talked about everyday life stuffs. His name is Alex. He also lives in Bundang and he likes to hike, go fishing. I wanted to ask him about his job, but I decided to wait until he says about his job.

Suddenly, a phone rang-it was his. He asked, “May I?” in a pale, shivering voice. I, of course, had to agree.

“Hello?”, he answered-no, almost whispered-the phone.

“Oh yes, yes. Why?”

“Really? Umm…..that’s a pity. I wanted the thing to be fresh and alive.”

Suddenly, I remembered the news that I saw today. Linking that news with this handsome (but pale...) guy seems nonsense, but I couldn’t stop doing that. Thinking that hearing only one side is okay, I kept overhearing the phone conversation of Alex.

“Then, when can you bring that fresh meat?”

………..Meat? No, it would be a normal meat like pig or cow. Not a human flesh, I wished.

“Okay. You can bring the meat in next week. But remember, it’s not just a meat. It’s not like a normal meat like a pork or beef.”

“Oh! And what are you going to do with the bones? It’s hard to separate the bones and the flesh.”

Is the meat human flesh? Or something else? I couldn’t think of anything other than human flesh. The image of Alex separating the bones from the corpse was vivid enough for me to be absent-minded. I felt dizzy.

“If you’re busy, I should do it. You’d better learn how to do it.”

I had to get out of this date. What should I do? Just scream and run away?

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

What should I do? What do I have to do?

Alex hung up the phone, turning back to me.

“Sorry, it was just from my workplace. So….what was I saying?”

I, with a reddened face, said,

“Ha...ha....Umm....I….I have to go to the bathroom.”

“O...kay. Why not?"

“Bye!”

Right after saying that, I almost ran away, getting out of the coffee shop as soon as possible. Will I call him later? Of course not! I should be thankful to my instinct to notice a prospective killer.

-----------------------------------------**********------------------------------------------

Today, I met the strangest woman I saw in my life. As it was a blind date, it is reasonable to be the worst date. I had a major cold today first of all. But more importantly, the woman, named Jen, was not that attractive: full of wrinkles in her face and a mousy attitude. I didn’t like her much, but thinking of the effort my friend Brad put on arranging this date, I tried to be nice to her. The only excusable act that I did was doing a phone call in front of her. But, it was quite short I think. Only 4 minutes? Besides, I tried to whisper. Anyway, it was a call from my clumsy assistant. He was supposed to order the fishes for sushi, but due to his laziness, he failed to order it on time. It was a major mistake, but as I had the woman in the front, I had to be gentle. After hanging up the phone call, however, the woman just ran away from me. Going to the bathroom? Huh, I could have done better than that.

Why? Why did she do that? I don’t know. But I actually felt kind of relieved about her leaving me.

One thing for sure: I should never do blind date.

Reflection on "Fish Cheeks"

             Well, first of all, I really enjoyed this story. This story was able to express its idea effectively in one page. And what I liked most about the story is the way of writing her experience: showing.

             Definitely, this story is about confessing. It talks about the embarrassing (but after all valuable) experience of a young Chinese girl. However, in this story, only few sentences revealed her feelings explicitly (ex) “Dinner threw me deeper into despair”, “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas?”, “I wanted to disappear” are some of the few sentences that explicitly show the narrator’s feeling.) The essay consists of only one or two sentences of explanation and a bunch of sentences of depiction of the situation.

             But ironically, by simply showing what she experienced, Amy Tan was able to impress the readers far more powerfully than by explaining what she felt indirectly. By imagining the situation the narrator described, readers can share the narrator’s experience indirectly. Mere description can make readers get “persuaded” (so to speak) more naturally than explicit explanation. As this story is a story which the narrator confesses about the lesson she realized from her youth experience, it would be important for the writer to appeal her confession to the readers. In that perspective, Amy Tan was successful in writing this story.

             To sum up, I was definitely attracted to this story and I think the reason why I was fascinated is that this story used the method of “showing” rather than “telling”. I should employ this method when writing a story or a college essay as far as I can.

--------------------------------------------------------comments------------------------------------------------------

Jingyeong: I just simply organized the summary at the first part of my reflection, because I couldn’t think of much broader ideas. But reading your reflection, I guess you got several interesting points to be detailed. What I don’t understand is the goal of the author. I mean, persuading has its goal in it. Then, what is the goal of the author?

Chonghyun Ahn: I do agree that her indirect description of what she felt “showed” than “tell” about what happened. Good luck on your story and college essay.

Rhee Ji Yoon: I agree that showing is usually more important than telling. I am in the Creative writing class taught by Mr. Garrioch, and I realized that the stories that are less complicated but more descriptive are more powerful than the ones that are sophisticated. “Little Prince” is a very easy story, but you can learn a lot while reading it. (+Do you sympathize more with the Little Prince or the pilot?)

Topics that I like to write:)

This is part of the assignment for the creative writing!

Topics that I like?


6. Phone Tag. Write a fairly long, complicated phone conversation overheard by someone in the room. All three people—the listener in the room, the caller, and the person on the other end of the line—are involved with each other in some way (not necessarily romantically). Let us hear the other end of the conversation, without actually hearing it. This means you will be giving us only one side of a conversation, so you will have to work to make the side we’re hearing intriguing and capable of carrying a story. The listener in the room can guess what the person on the other end of the line is saying, but try to keep this guessing to a minimum, and make sure this guesswork is done with integrity—well after the unheard speaker has spoken. 600 words.

--> Situation that I want to make: Jen, an ordinary career woman, does a blind date with a guy named Alex. While dating, Alex gets a phone call and converses with someone. Jen, overhearing the conversation, starts to feel frightened as the conversation goes on. (ex) Alex saying "Hey, remember, I only want a fresh meat. Fresh and alive". And when hearing that, Jen remembers the recent news she saw, about the human flesh.) Jen, after Alex ends the phone conversation, makes an excuse and runs away. But actually, Alex was a sushi cook. Alex wonders why Jen runs away, thinking that Jen is freaky.

Reflection on "Sarah Cole: A type of love story"

             The story “Sarah Cole: A type of Love story” is a typical confessional story. It honestly reveals about the relationship the narrator had with the woman Sarah Cole.

             But when reading the story, I somewhat felt uncomfortable about the predisposed idea of characters, that the ugly people tend to be more substantial and more “real”. In the story, the handsome narrator thought Sarah was different from other folly women who are vapid. However, as time passes, the narrator realizes that Sarah is not that different from the others in essence: she wants to boast her handsome boyfriend to others. Disappointed at the reality, the narrator acts cruel to her, in order to kill the relationship for their benefits.

             And all of these sequences in the story show that the old idea of “good, kind ugly people” is wrong. The narrator certainly had this prejudice towards ugly people and this resulted in another scar from the relationship between him and Sarah.

             This myth would have come from the ordinary people’s envy. Of course it is often true that the ugly people tend to be kind and humane. However, considering the counterexamples, it is plausible that those who are ordinary would have created the myth because they want to complement the inferior aspect they feel from those who are handsome and pretty.

             To sum up, I felt uncomfortable about the old myth related to ugly people and thus felt interesting about how the story disapproves that myth. It can be seen that the narrator is confessing about the misunderstanding he had about the ugly people.

----------------------------------------comments--------------------------------------------------------

Jin Gyeong: I pretty don’t understand the last two paragraphs. Do people really regard ugly people good and kind? (Or, is that can be called myth?) I think there is a stereotype about ugly people that they will always grumble and would have lower self-confidence. As you can see in the animations or movies, enemies (the evils) are depicted ugly (or extremely beautiful??) What do you think about my opinion? J

Chonghyun Ahn: Although I don’t agree on the notion that your interpretation of “hot” boyfriend, I certainly find your criticism on the “old myth” on the function between ugliness and truthfulness very interesting. Why do we have such myths? Is it because that is often true in real life? Or is it because of common men’s envy?

Hyunseok Lee: Sometimes I wonder about “reverse discrimination” in appearances. Handsome or attractive people often regarded as ill-tempered ones, while lots of people expect unattractive people to be kind and cool. If we don’t like the fact that people should not be judged based on exterior appearances, reverse discrimination also should be removed.

Reflection of "Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep"

                  Reading a science fiction is at once fascinating and depressing. It’s amazing to imagine how technology would develop while it’s depressing to somehow acknowledge that even in the future, the selfishness of human will never change.

             “Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep” is the novella that is fascinating and depressing. And it portrayed an interesting model of the future: humans and machines will become similar.

             This model is deeply related to the irony presented in the novella. In the story, Androids, who are supposed to be distinct (usually in an inferior way by human’s standards), are so similar to humans (both physically and mentally) that it is hard to know whether the one is Android or not. On the other side, humans in the story are becoming alike to the machines in that they try to program their mind status like the computers adjusting their state with programming.

This interesting phenomenon, humans becoming machine-like and machines becoming human-like, can be explained with the two factors: human’s desire to replicate themselves and to be superior to others. These seemingly contradicting desires of humans are actually same in an essence; selfishness. Because humans are self-interested, they want to make another version of them while willing to be superior to their replicas. And when linking the selfishness(people have) to the outcome of that impulse, it’s easy to understand the irony in the story: people’s desire to discriminate themselves with replicas simply resulted in the opposite situation, humans and machines becoming similar.

             Overall, I thought that the story was effective in depicting a dystopian society with the irony related to human’s desire.

---------------------------------------------comments-------------------------------------------------------

Jin Gyeong: You wrote on topic which exactly points out the main idea of the novella and what Mr. Menard talked in today’s class. Your analysis about the motivation of human making Androids was interesting. And I especially liked the expression “humans becoming machine-like, machines becoming human-like”. I think this short phrase really describes what’s going on now, and what will be like in future. How about adding more comparison between the Androids and humans before mentioning the ironies?

Rhee Ji Yoon: “Ironies” that you have mentioned at the start of second (or is it third?) paragraph are not mentioned and explained fully yet, right? (lack of timeL)