Entry 30, Symbols of Heritage

  I have grew up in an Asian family with a strong Asian culture background. The mindsets of my family has been altered due to present day ideologies, but the culture and heritage still lies within us. My family has many paintings and art sculptures that resembles where I come from. There are many Chinese Calligraphy paintings framed being put on the wall. The paintings of words tells how to live your life, mostly only a few words, short and concise, but it explains a basic way of living your life, or moral values that is commonly worshiped upon. These calligraphy paintings shows that I come from an Asian family, and that these words, that are being framed and passed down from generations, is how my family lives their life, and what they think is the most important in life. Also we have some sculptures or Buddhist sculptures that resembles our multi-generation religion as it is been passed down one after the other down to me. Our family has always participated quite greatly for things like religion, due to the fact that  our family believes that religion can be also another way of living, therefore we follow the ideologies and ways of behaving as those Buddhist stories and rules tells us. I believe that these heritage is great, it shows that my family believed, and may I add, strongly believed that these thoughts were important to us, and that is why we pass it down.

Entry 29, Family Traditions

  I come from a Taiwanese family, both ways, both sides of my grandparents are Taiwanese and I have been living and growing up in the Taiwanese system. I have been to the many cultural events such as Chinese New Year and many more and I have grown to understand and believe the culture we share and have. The heritage and culture is not as big of a role in my life or in my families life. My family is traditional, but not too traditional to a degree where everything must have an order, and everything all happens for a cause. This is due to the fact that all my Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents are adopting very young mindsets set off by the media and therefore they have a less traditional way of thinking. Our family is more traditional as it gets around the holidays, we still celebrate Chinese New Year, we still receive red envelopes from the elders and we still eat the dinner all together as a family for the last night of the year. We are traditional, but we don't tend to have so many other cultural and traditional holidays where we gather together and celebrate as a whole. Our generations have adopted a more western way of thinking as it gets to my generation. It gets more open minded and lets the culture sink as we adopt a new way of living.

Entry 28, Thanksgiving

  I am thankful for alot of things actually, when people normally think back they would always think, " well I have nothing great in my life, I am not that thankful of anything". Well, I would like to tell those people that they are taking everything for granted. I thank having a healthy body, I give thanks for the great living my parents made for me, I give thanks for the people that has touched my lives for the good or the bad. I can give thanks to everything, and I can continue, but I would not want to bore you with such list. I like to give thanks for three things in my life. Family, Health, and Love. Families are what makes the successful, sucsessful. Behind every incredible story, behind every inspirational person ever lived, there is a supportive, loving family behind them, being alongside with them as they go through this glory. Health is what we take for granted, there are millions of people dying this second, troubled because they need a kidney transplant, and we do not see it as an importance to our everyday life because we don't notice these small things. I believe that without health, there is no way of making any sorts of accomplishment, making any types of contributions to the society, without good health, you are nobody. At last, but just as important, is love. Love, not the family kind, but the relationship love, the love you give and share with the special someone. Some people do no take relationships seriously, bouncing from people to people, changing it as if they were pieces of tissue. I take it seriously. Don't be telling be how stupid I am for being so serious at such a young age, well, without being serious, how do you know it could've actually worked out? I take my relationships seriously, I see it as, one less heart break around the world would make the world better. I give thanks to many other things, but these three are the biggest, most effective to my life.

Entry 27, Doing the Right Thing

  People will do everything they can for achieving what they desire. Principles are things they say they might follow, but in reality, the principles they claim they have, will vanish as it gets in their way of getting what they wanted. This is not that surprising that people does this, lets say that people always talk about how you should not date your friend's ex or who your friend likes. This is not a law, this is just a simple principle in life many tend to try to live by, but many fail to succeed. I am the exact guy I am talking about, I am the guy that claims the principles I live my life by, but not follow half of them due to the fact that they are in the way of what I really want. To me, I use these principles as advice to my life, I will not have to specifically follow it if it gets in my way. That is how I feel about these principles of life and my attitude towards it. I know that it is pointless claiming these principles that you don't even follow, but it is just something there you know you shouldn't do. Something that will hold you back at doing certain things. I think this is common all over the world, there is not a specific place where this happens. I believe that competitive people will have this occuring on them. I am normally not a competitive person, but when it comes to relationships, I feel as if it is not my fault that I fall in love with someone, that I have feelings for someone. People can call me selfish all they want, but I feel as if this is the only principle I don't actually obey.

Entry 26, Conflict Avoidance

  Conflicts are never avoidable in stories. In real life however, I believe that it is easy and it would make life alot easier if conflicts were avoided. In real life, conflicts are never completely avoidable but many external conflicts can be avoided with a little more attention to your surroundings. Things that can be avoided, such as getting into a car accident and you being the cause, this could be stopped by driving slower and less recklessly. Things like, staring at a gang member outside of a bar, will not be a good idea and conflicts later on such as this, can be avoided if you know what you are handling and dealing with. It is a good thing to avoid most conflicts in my opinion, after all, no one benefits from it. All disputes are never beneficial, sometimes only just showing the sheer amount of power one has. What does that mean to most people? Nothing. I believe that I am the type of guy that would not want trouble. When I am in a pool hall, I stare at the things I should be staring at and nothing more. I wouldn't be touching things I am not suppose to touch to avoid further conflicts that could arise after such actions. I believe that in times that could potentially harm you, physically, then the conflict should be avoided. A simple word, "sorry" can solve everything. That is from my previous experiences and it is your choice to take it or not. I would never want to be caught in some serious conflicts.

Entry 25, Heritage Revisited

    The culture that has been passed down to me, the strict rules of the Asian traditional family, will be what gets in my way of certain things. It benefits me as well, starting from the fact that I can study and I will study. This way I will learn, I will for sure get down information in my head and I will apply that. This is good in many ways, we tend to succeed a little bit more due to the fact that we work a bit harder than everyone else. This also has alot of disadvantage as well, This culture, this way of life, this way of educating the kids, will terminate all sorts of imagination that is going through their mind, this will put a border on their imagination. Limitation is never good, and it would be bad when it comes to limiting the imagination of a child. I believe that this sort of heritage had benefited me more than I have lost things. I believe the way that I am determined to finish all my work and try to get the best out of it. I have definitely felt embarrassed about this sort of heritage before. Whenever I see someone with no limitations, and I am the only one being left out, I somewhat feel embarrassed of my heritage. The more I grow up, the more I realize there is no need of being ashamed, as there are unique parts of every culture and this is just one of thme. 

Entry 24, Crossing the Rubicon

 Some people always makes changes in their life. Choices in life often are not always the easiest situations to deal with. Some choices some changes they take, people often come to a point where they make a mistake and they cannot go back. When you face a situation like this, it is painful to your mental self, seeing something you had one time vanish into thin air. People don't know which choices to make and which choices to not make. Let's say, you break up with your girlfriend because you are not ready for a serious relationship before you realize that you needed her more than you thought. Now you have to choose between going back and putting your ego aside, or you can not be with her and be unhappy. These choices are very hard to make for most people and for most people, these are choices they do not want to make. People are mostly devastated as they have to face this kind of dilehma. I have personally been in this type of situation quite often, it is not a very good feeling and it is never a good place to be. Choice making is hard, but sometimes, there will always be the better of the worse.

Entry 23, Influence of Childhood

  An author of a story or a book could get his or her ideas from her previous life experiences or even part she has never experienced. I believe that there is always an effect on the author's life if there was a horrendous or remarkable event that occurred in the author's life. The opinions could show some bias in some stories or it could be based in a different point of view, often the author's beliefs themselves. I think my life would be a decent information for some books or stories. My life is not the most interesting life, but it has some qualities that could make it a great story. Some qualities like the drama in my highschool life, or the excitement when I accomplish something I have never been able to accomplish, or even trying new things. I believe if someone wrote a story like that, it would be very interesting due to all the people and the amount of audience that can relate to them. I think there are actually alot of stories that I can relate to with my life. I believe the closest could be Captain Underpants series. In elementary school, I had a blast reading those books due to the similar things my friends and I would be doing to some teachers. I could relate my life to the book back then, therefore it turned out to be a great and suitable book for me. As for my later life, I believe many people would and could relate themselves to the book of Siddartha, because everyone in their life, will experience things, and will learn mistakes from their experience. They will not be going through the woods, but they will want to reach the final enlightenment, which is death, a peaceful death. That is what I think everyone can somewhat relate to even if we are not walking around in the woods barefooted.

Entry 22, Your Character

  I believe that many people have different characters with whoever they are with. This means that when they are with a certain type of person, they would be different than another type of person. I believe that people do this because they need to fit in with the group, to have something to talk about, or atleast that is why I do it. Let's say, you are with friends that like to go out and have fun alot, you would tend to have fun with them, do the stuff they like to do with them, but when you're with the friends that likes to study alot, you would probably be doing the same thing they are doing, just to have something in common and just to have something you both share to talk about. These two are the polar opposite and sometimes it is good to have these changes, so you can blend in with every type of people. At the same time, people would see it as if you were a double sided person who tries to fit in with everyone. From what I see myself, I believe that I am a very out going guy, I talk alot and I like to joke around and have fun. I go along better with people of my own kind, I don't really find people who games or people who studies all day amusing to hang out with. I don't really think I have two sides to my own character, I have one side and everyone knows me, Brandon as that one side.

Entry 21, Bullies

  Bullies are a very common thing in our society today. As people these days stand out, or are different than the majority of the people, those are the most potential bullied targets. I have personally witnessed many bullies in my life, ever since I was little, there would always be that one group or an individual who is always the bully. There are many different forms of bullying, from the normal physical bullying, which is physically hurting one another, or mental bullying, using verbal languages to affect the victim's mood. Don't think that mentally hurting someone's pride or self esteem is not powerful, there has been many cases in which kids killed themselves due to bullies hurting them, bullying them in school so much to a degree where they cannot find any further solutions. I have personally been a bully myself, or is still sometimes one. I mean, we are teenagers, and being a teenager, you are always there to impress your friends and having a good time, and when there are people that are physically challenged or is more socially awkward than most people, we tend to make fun of them. It is not because we feel insecure or anything, but its just simply funny. I know it is immature and it has been getting less and less in amount as I get older. I believe that people always believe the reasons for bully to bully people is because they are insecure with their social status, or they are actually the bullied ones. I don't believe that is true most of the time, like my example, we do that for fun, it is not because we are insecure of our social status in school, it is just because it is funny. Bullies needs to end, the longer bullying lasts, the more impact it could have within our society.

Entry 20, Character Questions

 In Nectar in the Sieve, Rukmani, The story's main character is a very interesting character with interesting characteristics. She is the main character, she is a very loving character, she is kind and has wisdom that was passed down to her from her father which will then be passed down to her children. She came from a very wealthy family to her husband Nathan's dirty mud hut. She then performs these acts that makes her survive her hardships as she goes on with her life. This character is a protagonist and is the narrator and the point of view of how this story is written. Direct characterization would be the author telling us straight up that she is a rich kid, she came from a wealthy family. Indirect characterization could be implying that she is rich by saying how nice and big her house is, how luxurious she lives her life and much more. These are called the different types of characterization. Motivation is very important when it comes to stories. When a character has a motivation to do a certain things, then they will complete it with a higher rate and will be alot more willing to complete it. I believe that Rukmani's motivation could be for her children or her will to have a better living. She has to overcome all the bad stuff in life that she has to experience later on. She will have to grow out of herself.

Entry 16, Influences

  I have been influenced by people ever since I was a little kid. Everyone gets influenced by something throughout their life. In my life, I have always tried to be something, either following the shadow of my father or trying to copy some older kid with what I use to think was considered "cool". People like my father and mother has a positive impact on me, I have in fact learn so much, and the reason why I am probably somewhat healthy, is because of them. They teach me alot of everyday life things rather than academic things. They tell me to be smart about your health and eat healthy. Because of them, I eat healthy everyday for dinner and breakfast. People like my friends would give me negative influences. I am not saying I don't like being with them, I love my friends, but I know, ever since I was a little boy, my friends would be my biggest negative influences. I never wanted to admit it, but I know that is true. When you are with friends, that is when you normally get in trouble, being caught by someone doing something bad, or breaking things and just everything that we do can turn out to go wrong. I am not saying I am the only influenced one, I influence others as well when it comes to negative impacts. I believe we all influence each other rather than only influenced by others and never influencing people.

Entry 19, Nectar in a Sieve

  When I first read this quote, i did not understand the meaning behind this quote. I went through, thought about this a few times and asked myself how this is true. I completely agree with this quote, this quote actually applies to many things in life, in school work and many more. I see this as, the nectar is the things you are learning, or the things that you are trying to attain, but without actually having hope, without having the positive mind, without wanting to accomplish it even, will get you nowhere, and you will never receive what you wanted to in the first place. The sieve is the conflict, is the struggle within yourself that is not accepting the nectar. You are like a bowl, with a positive attitude, with your mind completely willing to accept it, you will absorb the nectar, which is the experience or the skill out of the thing you are doing. Without being like a bowl, which is sort of like having hope and being confident and willing to accept the truth, you turn into the sieve, which will cause you to not perform as well when you are doing a certain task, or cause you to not learn anyhting from the experience. This definitely applies to my life, when I did not accept some things before, such as classes like expository writing, I thought it was not an important class, I did not learn anything out of it. I believe that if I had the chance of going back, I would accept the fact that I was in that class, and mind as well make something out of it while being there.

Entry 18, Character in Painting

  This picture actually has some very deep meanings behind this. When you first notice the picture, you would see that there is a man and a women, both are sitting down, staring into different things and different directions. This room is illuminated by the bright lights at the background which blends in with the shirt color of the women. The man is studying something in his hands, looking directly into it, paying full attention, or he could be thinking of something and therefore playing with his hands. The women, staring towards the man's direction, is also studying something, but something far away, something so far in reach that she does not get up to examine closer. This could also mean that the atmosphere could be awkward, after one of them tells them or admits something to one another, and one of them is trying to think and avoid each other. I believe that there is a meaning behind the color choices of the painter. I believe that the reason why the women is blended into the shiny warm lights in the background and the reason why the guy is blended in with his blazer to the purple wall, is because the author is trying to show the light and darkness of this atmosphere. By what I mean by light and darkness is that maybe the man did something wrong, or is the "darker" one in this situation, and the women is the giving and the thoughtful one who is forgiving him, and that is why she has the bright lights and the yellow shirt blended in. It is like two forces together, but one is always the "right" side.