Things I’m Going To Do

Lunar New Year vacation… YES! I suddenly feel the appreciation for Chinese who made this vacation. The week before the break… which is now… is just horrible. I’ve never had this much homework and projects. Wednesday I had 7 assignments + project due, Thursday I had relatively less work to do (but slept at 12), and now, I have 7 again for today! @!WR@FSJgq£%1TGS!!!!!!  Though I’ve been loving the teachers (especially you Ms. P.) and the school, this week I can’t love them!!! Anyway, back to my point. I find it pain-relieving to think about what I’m going to do over the break when working hard – and I had a blog posting assignment to do – so I guess I will write about it.

1. Band Practice.

Yes. Dennis playing bass! hahaah. I’ve been practicing bass for a while, and last week Jae Lee and Eric asked me  to come over to their band practice. So someday during the break, I’m going there! WOOOWOOO! We’re playing Time Is Running Out by Muse, which the vocal will definitely suffer from the high notes. Due to this event, I listened to this song over 40 times this week, and it seemed like a perfect song for me for those miserable days; I was running out of time at 11 P.M when doing my hwmk!

2. Watch Movies.

Well. Yes, I was busy, but I still talked to my friends. Last… or last last night, I was talking to Angie J. about movies and music. We started off with a conversation about the song, “Gabriel’s Oboe” that the ensemble I am in played in the cafeteria lounge to raise money for Haiti. Then we talked about the composer, Ennio Morricone, and then I told her to watch the movie, Legend of 1900, which had Morricone’s music in. (She went all crazy that I reminded her of movies that she has to watch.  haha! And I went crazy that she haven’t seen watch Avatar yet.)

(Interrupting thoughts)

I find Morricone’s music really interesting. It is not the typical New Age genre music, yet it is not a Classic music. It is in between, and I find this very good, because it is not boring like classic, or too light in depth or sad like any other New Age musics. My favorite is Playing Love from Legend of 1900. You should definitely watch the movie also!

(End of Digression! :] )

Then she said to me, “Dennis, if I lend you Cinema Paradiso DVD, would you watch it?” and since I LOVE slow and boring movies (such as River Runs Thru It), and because I was going to watch it someday, I said, YEA! Honestly, I thought Angie would forget to bring it (mainly because I always forget about those promises), but hey, she brought it the school. (Maybe this is why she gets good grades?)

HERE I HAVE IT!

As well as Cinema Paradiso, Angie suggested that I watch Invictus. I am not sure about the title, but I could always ask Angie again.

3. Sleepover

Dongmyung, Yongkyu, Jaeook and I planned to have a sleepover. Yes, we’re going to play games, watch a movie, make some prank calls at night, and all that. But I am not sure if we are actually gonna have one because last winter break, we decided on having one, but no body bothered to schedule the time.

4. Hmwk.

Unfortunately, I have hmwk to do over the break. In fact, I have 7 already stacked up in my agenda. But I am going to test a new thingt; I am going to do my hmwk on Saturday and Sunday, and be liberated from it! (of course, last Summer and Winter break I thought about doing the same thing.) I’m not sure how this plan is going to work out, but I’ll give it a try.

Oh, I think this is about it. I’m not sure how intellectual this blog posting is… but well, I actually wrote something!

One Paragraph Essay About J&H!

This is a one paragraph essay I wrote to prove how Stevenson used the concept of doppelgänger in the novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Question: In Strange Case Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, how does Rober Louis Stevenson uses the concept of the doppelgänger in order to reveal that societal repression inevitably leads to duality?

In Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses the concept of the doppelgänger in order to reveal that societal repression inevitably leads to duality.   According to the book, Dr. Jekyll was “born in the year 18—to a large fortune,” which clearly shows that he belongs to the upper class of the society he is living in (Stevenson, 10). Throughout the human history, a person with high prestige and class has been expected to be well behaved and educated. Such an expectation makes Dr. Jekyll repress his animalistic, or savage nature, to show only the socially appropriate side. As a result, he uses the drug to transform into Mr. Hyde. “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that I reached years of reflection… I stood alreday committed to a profound duplicity of life, (pg 32)” he says, which shows his desperate need for the expression of his darker side. Instead of depicting Hyde as a created monster, Stevenson uses the concept of Doppelgänger. In chapter 10 of the novella, Dr. Jekyll says says, “I’m in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day.” From this, the readers can learn that both Hyde and Jekyll were two different opposites of same person rather than otherwise.

Discussion Preparation for Jekyll and Hyde

I posted up the discussion below… If anyone wants to know which arguments and evidences I had for the discussion, check out my discussion preparation!

Questions for Discussion: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Why does Dr. Jekyll desire to become Mr. Hyde?

Your basic answer: Jekyll’s duality was too great that he couldn’t keep both within himself, so he wanted to find a way to express his evil side more actively without hurting the good side of him. Also, he suppressed himself and denied his evilness for too long.

Text: What is the page number?  _4

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

So this shows that people know Jekyll very well for his fortune and fame. He is recognizable only with simple description of his greatness.

Text: What is the page number?   32

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

Here, as you can see, he has suppressed his pleasures, which were being evil. He has aimed to meet honorable and distinguished future too much, and didn’t show his other side to public.

Text: What is the page number?  _32_

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

So as we can see here, he wanted to separate his two identities so that he can be relieved from the unbearable internal conflicts.

How do Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde perceive each other?

Your basic answer:

They both know each others’ existence for sure, and what Jekyll thinks in his righteous form is remembered by Hyde, and they both share same memory.

Text: What is the page number?  _38__

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

He can give account of what his other self did without trouble, and explains little things as dine, and also, how Hyde was fearful.

Text: What is the page number?  _38_

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

The fact that he can write in his own handwriting shows that he remembers his good self.

Text: What is the page number?  _38_

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

This shows that what Hyde sees and feels about other people is remembered by Jekyll. Also, Hyde is aware of the friendship between Jekyll and Mr. Lanyon, and was able to recall Lanyon’s home address.

Why does Dr. Jekyll involuntarily turn into Mr. Hyde?

Your basic answer:

Drug and cigarettes often don’t do its job when it is overused. People start smoking to be relaxed with a help from the cigarettes, but they realize later on that they are smoking not to feel relaxed but to feel normal. They go unstable and anxious. I think this is the same effect that came from the overuse of the potion.

Text: What is the page number?  33_

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

This line shows that the potion is not a healthy medicine, but rather closer to a drug.

Text: What is the page number?  _35__

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

As for this one, it shows the desperation he has for the drug, and how he can do anything under risky situation to get to the potion.

Text: What is the page number?  _38_

Mark the section in your text.

Explanation (How does your textual evidence answer the question?):

Same with above

Discussion Reflection for Jekyll and Hyde

We had a discussion about Jekyll and Hyde, and I wrote a reflection about it:

Discussion for Jekyll and Hyde was rather different from those we had for other books. We became more fluent when moving on to next question of the discussion, and made a smooth transition from one to another. For example, even when we moved onto out 2nd question, Suzie made a connection to Soho’s point made for first question while answering the second question. Also, when Ms. Patterson told us to move onto next question, we had no time gap or delay. Before, we did have a short pause while people were thinking about the question. I guess we were more prepared this time.

In addition, almost everyone participated, and were more eager to express themselves. For example, Grace Cho, who used to be quiet and shy, was the 5th one to participate in the debate, which was quite surprising. Not only did she express her self, but she also moved on the debate since Ms. Patterson was able to pull a question out of Grace’s point.

As for myself, I had little chance to say my point. For the first question I said,  I had more evidences to say, but I had no chance to say it since Ms. P said one is enough. I told me worse one and left two best ones, and I ended up not giving a strong evidence. Second one was the one that I was more confident and sure of, but I couldn’t participate because everyone was so passionate. (which is a good sign!)

Debate was less nervous, probably because we’ve had so much, and I gained confidence when saying my line.

Liberia..

Alright, I guess this is the 2nd article that I wrote out side of school. Somebody told me about this website called vbs, and  I got a chance to watch an episode of “The Vice Guide to Liberia.” It was interesting, but at the same time heavy and serious..

I learned that Liberia used be an American colony under the title of  “state.” And Pres. Monroe sent liberated African Americans to  Liberia and gave them the land for them to rule for themselves.  Until recently, it was okay… good sound relationship with U.S, and  was even called, “Little America.” Then during the 90’s, things went  wrong, and country started breaking down. It is explained more in  the video!

When I watched it… I couldn’t do anything else but keep watching  an episodes after another. So I advise you… if you are doing  homework or work, keep this video for later. Also, there might be  some parts inappropriate or violent. :[

And thank you, vbs for having such a great content!

If you go down in the website, you’ll see part 2~8.

http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-to-liberia-1-of-8

Enjoy!

p.s.  A friend of mine has put up “The Vice Guide to North Korea.” Go check it out. I loved it more than the Liberia one.. but she said she would put that one up so I decided to put up Liberia instead!

http://eliset12.wordpress.com/

First Semester.. HOW DID I DO?

Well, beginning and midway through the first semester, I was struggling. I understood everything and what I had to do, but my grades weren’t what I expected. But end of the semester, I feel pretty confident and satisfied with my grades. Thank God!

I’d like to start with my A block, Math.

Math is, probably the only subject I lost the grasp of it at the end. Everything else improved, while math didn’t. So when I was struggling, only thing I could guarantee an A was my math! Yet, I slowly became lazy… and… well… I guess it is not bad, but rather I am disappointed to see it go down. In the class, I was always active and talkative. Participated sooooooooo much, and I guess talking much was my only breakthrough for the 70 minutes of boredom! I tried my best in class, and I’m all happy!

B: World Geo.

World Geo was a fun class. I got to do many projects, and also, I was able to learn more about world issue. Besides the course lessons, Mr. Plouffe gave us many side infos.. such as how Korea was in 80’s (he lived here back then), and that gave me broader sense of the world. Also, Mr. P’s jokes were funny (though bit sexual and racist). Quizzes were reallyyyyyyyyy hard, and rather random. Tests were always essays, and it was difficult.

C:

Spanish… I enjoy the language itself, but class is too hard. I managed to pull it up from D to B+. Miracle yea? I loved the projects though, such as music video!

E: I just love PE

E: Chem was a easy, relaxed class. We learned the most concise material with no outside information. Also, Mr. Joo does a good job of not boring us. Fun class! Lots of social time

F: English. I LOVE ENGLISH! I LOVE MS PATTERSON AND HOW SHE TEACHES! (I know you are watching this!) jkjkjk.. it was interesting, and I’d say it was pretty different from old English classes I had, since lectures are shortened and we had more time to actually work and develop our knowledge of the language. Scene performance and Macbeth Thesis Presentations challenged us, yet were very fun (seriously).

G:  for AP World, I was pretty bored.. (sorry Mr. K…) but well, history is not always fun. I was interest… or mesmerized many times by the beauty of history of human kinds… Spread of Christianity, beginning of Age of Exploration… woah! What is interesting is that when we learn it, bits of details don’t really seem to matter and come together, but later on, I realize that things all come to a single big picture! I guess this is the beauty of history.

Yes. High School sophomore year for me is going quite awesome. It is not that hard! hehe!

Audio Version of the Speech I Made !

This is the recorded version of the speech I made in class for Macbeth Thesis presentation.. so basically we had to come up with a thesis, and develop our points by using textual evidences. I used keynotes (iLife) to record this.

Enjoy.

Macbeth Thesis Presentation Dennis

LG Twins, Why Like Them

To those who doesn’t know what LG Twins is..

LG Twins is a baseball team in KBO (short for Korea Baseball League). It is one of the weakest teams in the league. In 08, it was 8th out of 8 teams, in 09, it was 7th out of 8.

Apparently, it is good at everything BUT baseball. No jokes. The players are handsome (this is why LG has so many female-fans), LG cares for its fans very much (each year they open a festival where fans could meet the players) and LG is also very good at buying players who are out in FA market (they are one of the richest team). The mystery is, when will they actually win! Some impatient fans have already left the team and became fans of the Bears. GAH! The Bears! (Doosan Bears is -though I don’t want to admit it – definitely better than LG. LG and Doosan are sharing same stadium in Jamshil)

Some come to me, and say, WHY DO YOU LIKE LG TWINS, THEY SUCK B**LS! Why do I like the Twins? Well, first of all, to me, they are cool no matter what. Statistic-wise, they suck, but they are passionate, potent, and are great players. They are always trying their best, and are definition of fair play. Also, I am dying to see the young potentials, who will later become the locomotives for LG’s victory, improving. Looking at them growing up is like looking at a pet puppy or a baby growing up! Every year they become better and better. Finally, if I like another team, what I am going to talk about with my dad, and how are we supposed to go watch the games in weekends? (he is the one who introduced me to this team) To the fans of SF Giants and the Pirates of MLB, it will be easier for you guys to understand why I like LG.

If you live in Korea, and never been the ball game in Korea, I strongly suggest that you do. The spectators are not quiet, which might make you dislike the league, but I personally think them singing and cheering passionately for the players is one great thing that makes the league special.

oh gosh, I can’t wait for the season to open. I still have  like more months to wait.

Haiti..

Poor Haitians! What is making them so unfortunate? Their forefathers were forced to a desolate island all of a sudden, and they are now suffering too. Arid climate makes agriculture difficult, unstable nation make tourism more rare every time, multiple times of hurricanes kill crops, people, and hope, and now 7.0 EARTHQUAKE! How far can it go, and when will it end for them?

This world is full of inequalities! SIGH! I hope that Haitians – like the happy people of Bangladesh – can be happy under hardest circumstances.. In fact, people during 60’s thought Korea can never be well-off!

If only I could help! : [

P.S.   I just heard from a friend that his sister asked him, “what is a haiti?” Apparently, his sister  is a college student.   😦

Welcome

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I’m sure Ms. Patterson is going to be the only guest for now, but who know? It may change later!

Enjoy!