Boston Celtics championship 2007-08

 

Part 1 of Boston Celtics Championship 2008 from Youtube

 
  I felt terrible because I ruined my test that I've really worked hard on. So what I did was to release my stress by watching a documentary called "Boston Celtics Championship 2008". Basically, it's about basketball team called Boston Celtics winning its championship. Not only that, but Boston Celtics became a team that completed the largest turnaround in the league history. (24-58 record turned into 66-16 record in the following year) I watched this video because I thought this documentary will make myself feel better.

  Boston Celtics used to be one of the most successful franchise in sports history. They won 16 championships until 1986, and until then, people called 1960s, 1970s, 1980s the Boston Dynasty of NBA. However, after big 3 Robert Parish, Kevin Mchale, and Larry Bird left the Celtics as they retired or was traded, Boston Celtics became one of the worst teams in the league.

Although they had a superstar Paul Pierce, they couldn't advance to second round of the playoff. In 2006-07 season, Boston Celtics had the worst regular season record in their franchise history, which was 24 wins and 58 loss. Leader Paul Pierce and general manager Danny Ainge (former Boston Celtics) became frustrated about their results.

 GM Danny Ainge had three on one trade to get Ray Allen (currently leading in three point shot made) and rookie Glen Davis from Seattle Supersonics, and five on one trade for former MVP Kevin Garnett of Minnesota Timberwolves. So basically Boston Celtics had eight players leaving their team and three players coming in. Everyone thought that this trade was never going to happen. However, it was possible because both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were eagering to win a championship. I thought that General Manager Danny Ainge's action was decisive. He was not afraid that he would fail, but he was courage enough to make this unbelievable trade happen.
 

 There were not much impact on regular season except that all the players and fans seemed happy compared to the previous season. However, the playoff was dramatic.
Nobody doubted that Boston Celtics will cruise to the NBA Finals.

In the first round, Boston Celtics won two games in their home, but people were surprised as they lost two games in away. Boston won game 5 in their home, but lost game 6 in Atlanta. Boston won game 7 by using home court advantage.

In the second round, Boston and Cleveland went back and forth, eventually Boston barely beating Cleveland in game 7.

In Conference finals against Detroit, they went back and forth again, but this time, they won in the away court first time in the playoff.

NBA Finals was special. Boston and Los Angeles was playing, and it was their 10th time to meet in the NBA Finals. (Last met in 1987) A lot of people were excited to see the traditional rivalry in 20 years.  The series was quite tight. They Boston and Los Angeles were tied until the game 4, but Boston Celtics won the NBA championship as they won two games in a row including 131-92 victory.

I was touched during I was watching the video. Boston Celtics seemed like they would never stand up again. However, wide vision of general manager allowed the Celtics to stand up again. During the playoffs, the Celtics faced difficult and unexpected challenges. They played 26 games in the playoff, which is NBA record. Although they struggled to get up to the finals, they eventually won the championship. It was quite thrilling to watch Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce who was enjoying the moment they have dreamed for entire career.
I'd like to end up with the quote that I liked the most from the video.

"The dream started when frustration turned into hope"

I thought that this is the quote that I should always remember.
When I get frustrated, I should not end up being frustrated. I believe that my moments in KMLA is part of learning how to change frustration into hope, so that I could achieve my dream or goal.

"Minjok, Minjok, Minjok....."

  "Minjok, Minjok, Minjok....." 

  Minjok is a term that we can hear a lot in Korea. We say minjok is important, and nobody doubt it. However, when we are told to define 'Minjok', lots of people have difficulties telling it. Then what is minjok? Why is it important to us? Defining the term 'Minjok' is one of the most vague questions to answer, but lot of people take minjok positively as they believe that it's a word that make Koreans into one.


  In definition, minjok is usually translated into ethnic group. Definition of ethnic group is group of people whose members are identified through a common trait. This can, but does not have to, include an idea of common heritage, a common culture, a shared language or dialect. These two words seem almost the same except that one is Korean and the other one is English. However, term minjok, which is also called korean ethnic nationalism, is based on the belief that Koreans form a nation, a race, or an ethnic group that shares a unified bloodline and a distinct culture. 

Dangun, who's known as a founder
of Gojoseon

  Not much people in the world know how long the Korean history is. Korean students were taught that Korean history have lasted for 5,000 years, starting from Gojoseon. Gojoseon have lasted over 2,000 years as united country. Although there were Three Kingdoms of Korea for 700 years, every Korean kingdom remained as an united country until 1910. So we could say that Korea stayed as an united country for nearly 4,000 years. Therefore, Koreans thought united country as a natural thing, and so is their purity. Koreans were able to keep their ethnic purity because Korean kingdoms didn't expanded their land for nearly a thousand of years. Therefore, when the term minjok was first used, minjok could be used as another word of Korean.




  Minjok is a term that was first used in the early 1900s. Before the colonial period in Korea,  Japanese tried to persuade Koreans that both nations were of the same racial stock. To resist from Japanese persuasion, Korean intellectuals like used the term minjok to tell Koreans that they are different from Japanese. Minjok is a term that was formed by  few people recently. Somehow lots of people started using it, but definition of minjok was not clear when people began using it. In other words, there's no exact meaning of minjok. 

Minjok was used for various purposes. In 2002 for example, during 2002 FIFA World Cup held in Korea, South Korean soccer team became one of the best underdog upset in soccer history. People say that it was possible for South Korean to advance to semi-finals because there were millions of South Korean supporters who cheered for South Korea. How was this possible? Why did all these people supported South Korea as a united group? Reasons may vary. People could have come out to the street and cheered because it's rare to have their country host World Cup again and advance to the semi-finals in their first tournament appearance. However, it's still hard to understand why a million (literally million) of crowds came out to street to cheer. I believe that the answer is in minjok. At that time, there were lot of public commercials or sayings that encouraged people to cheer South Korea as they are a same minjok. Thus, a lot of people say that they felt unity when they went out to the street and cheered for their team, South Korea.

nearly 10 million people volunteered
 to clean the oil in Taean.

Another example that shows the positive function of minjok is Taean oil spill in 2007, which is recognized as one of the worst oil spill in Korean history. Oil spill was so serious that experts expected that it will take at least four to five years to clean the oil spill completely. However, it only took about an year to clean the oil spill thanks to ten million people who volunteered to clean the oil. It was possible because lots of people claimed that as Koreans(not minjok, but used as same meaning), they should help the other Koreans. There were no specific reasons for people to help Taean clean up the oil. It's about the unity as Korean(in terms of ethnic group). Because lot of people began to volunteered to clean the oil, other Koreans felt that they  should go help Taean, too. 

Immigrants in Korea is increasing

  By viewing the two examples that shows when term minjok is used, people mentioned minjok when they needed to be united to overcome difficulties or to make an advancement. In last 100 years, people and government also used the term minjok when they needed to unite and overcome difficulties. Considering how the term minjok was used, I believe that minjok is more than just an ethnic group. Lots of people tend to think that minjok is equal to Koreans (as an ethnic group), which may also mean that half-blooded people are not part of the Korean minjok. However, people immigrating to Korea is rapidly increasing. South Korea is not composed of 100% pure Koreans any more. Proportion of pure Koreans will decrease as the time pass. Thus, minjok, which is also defined as pure Koreans by many people will constantly decrease. If there's lots of Korean who tends to exclude immigrants or other ethnic group in Korea in defining minjok, it will be difficult for Korea to survive in globalized world. Because word minjok is a word that is not formed naturally by lot of people, but was made for a certain purpose by few people, it's likely to find an errors in the word itself. Thus, concept may change as the time pass.

                                              Lot of foreigners live in Itaewon

Random Post #6 Jimmer Fredette

 

Jimmer Fredette is one of my favorite basketball players who plays in the NBA. Although he is struggling in the league now, I always watch his play after the game. When I find that Jimmer didn't played the game, I become disappointed and go to the another page instead of watching the recap.


  First time I knew Jimmer Fredette is during the March Madness in 2011. (March Madness refers to NCAA men's basketball tournament. Because 64 colleges in U.S participate, its very large in size and lots of people cheer for college they like.) I think he was at his peak at that time. He was spotlighted for his amazing scoring skills, especially in 3-point shooting.


This is a highlights of Jimmer Fredette in his senior year. He averaged 28.9 points/ game at that season and scored career high 52 points. Thanks to his scoring ability, BYU cruised up to elite eight, which is only three games away from winning the national championship. Due to his outstanding performance in his final year in college, he was drafted 10th picks in the NBA.



 Lots of people and NBA players were excited about Jimmer Fredette finally playing in the NBA. However, when the season started, Jimmer had difficulties playing game. Everybody was surprised, and Jimmer was out of people's attention. Some analyst even said that Jimmer will not be able to play in the NBA anymore. He'll have to move to the other league in order to continue his basketball career.


 Although people don't really pay attention on Jimmer anymore, I continued to watch his game. Sadly, he didn't have a huge impact in his rookie season.
 However, his second season (2012-2013 season) seems to be different than his previous one. At the beginning, he seemed to be struggling in the league. But recently, I found out that Jimmer Fredette seems to be getting used to the league.

Analyst from Sacramento Kings said that
"Although Jimmer is a good shooter, he needs to improve in his defense, and get used to his new role in the team. If he plays more aggressively, it will help him a lot. With his talents, I can find no reason why Jimmer Fredette will have no chance in playing in the NBA anymore. Like he did in BYU, I believe that he will improve in a few years."

It seems like Jimmer Fredette have improved a lot in the summer league. He scored a game high two weeks ago and made into plenty of game highlights. I'm happy that Jimmer seems to be improving and is getting used to the game in NBA. It's quite surprising to me that I could be a fan of somebody, regardless of his performance.

Last but not least, I believe that people who truly like or love constantly is a people who pays attention to those things (or people) regardless of people's thoughts on it.

Random post #5

 It's been almost a year since I've came into KMLA. When I try to think what I've done so far in this school, I feel that I'm lucky to be in this school. If I went to ordinary school instead of KMLA. I'm pretty sure that I would have ended up studying and preparing for 수능, and I still think it will be terrible if I spend three years just for a single test. Sometimes, I think that I would have lived a busier life if I went to ordinary school. I can feel that I am wasting a lot more time than the past. However, I believe that KMLA provided better stuffs than living a busy life. Although I became a bit lazy after I entered the school, I was able to learn how to use time EFFICIENTLY. Plus, friends here in KMLA are unique. All of them are outstanding and talented, which allows me to study harder. Also, course in KMLA is differs from 일반고, or in other words, course in KMLA is faster than 일반고. It allowed me to learn many things in such a short time. I think that amount of knowledge I gained in KMLA for a year is equal to amount of knowledge that other students gain in 일반고 for two or three years. What I love about my school is that they have an indoor gym. Most high schools in Korea don't have indoor gym, which means that it will be hard to play sports when it's too cold or hot. Thanks to the indoor gym, I can play sports whenever I want to. Although school life may seem too tough, I believe that coming into KMLA is never a wrong decision.

What should I do when I'm alive?

  A creature that seems to be bunny doll making another one and disappearing is a simple summary of the video. Before I start the essay, I would like to notice that I'll be calling this "unknown creature" from the video a bunny. Right after I finished watching, there was a thing that came up to my mind. I felt that this video can be related to our lives. Specifically, I had a feeling that the video had shown me life as a whole.
  At the very beginning, a bunny is holding a book, standing still and blinking its eyes. It could be portrayed as a baby or a child who has no idea why they were born and what they are supposed to do. Then the bunny goes to the table, and reads the book. It was similar to the youths learning about something in order to use the knowledge when they become an adult. Also, it could mean the youths who set a goal for their lives. After the bunny read a book, it started to work in order to create the other bunny. When the bunny finished its work, a doll he made didn't move. In my view, it seemed similar to failure in one's life. Eventually, a doll started moving and the original bunny was happy about it. Right after the two rabbits faced each other, the original one gave a book to the new one and disappeared. Now, the new bunny reacted almost the same as the original bunny at the beginning of the video.
  It felt awkward at the last part of the video. I was able to feel sadness, anger, and happiness at once. I felt happiness because it showed that people may achieve their ultimate goal of their lives and feel the sense of accomplishment. However, I was able to feel sadness and anger at the same time because it seemed like the video was suggesting that all you get is happiness after all the hard work and preparation through a whole life. After the work is done, people usually leave inheritance for next generation. This is what I thought when a bunny passed a book and disappeared.
  At first, the video made me think about my life deeply. I questioned myself. "Why do I have to live hard and achieve something if I'm going to die anyway?" I still couldn't find the answer of it. What people say is that we should work hard when we are alive for the NEXT GENERATION. However, the problem is that I couldn't find other good reasons for it. I believe that I'll have to deal with this question for a long time.

                                  The Maker

Nacirema and People Today

   First thing that comes into my mind after I read the article is that it's quite hard to understand it. It's interesting that people in tribe called "Nacirema" tried to cure their body using magic. However, medicine person tries to keep information about the magic, which allowed myself to know that the magic was fake. Then why did people in Nacirema tried to cure other people using magic when there is no effects? According to the article, it functioned as one of the ritual activities, based on people's belief on magic. Then, next question about this article is about the purpose of this article.
   When we read the article at first, there is no way that we can find the purpose of this article. All this medicine men, ceremonies, temple called latipso, holy-mouth-man, and etc.; it may sound quite ridiculous. But once I found out that these ridiculous thing has so many similarities with the society now, it becomes serious. However, in order to think critically about this article, we should first notice a thing. As some might have noticed, Nacirema is a back-spelled letter of American. Once we get up to this idea, it gets much easier to understand the article. When we write temple called latipso backward, it is ospital, which indicates hospital today. Things done in the temple is not exactly the thing that people or doctors do today, but it's nothing more than a hospital that is described as a ceremony. Including holy-mouth-man and other many ceremonial activities, it all indicates things people do these days to keep their body clean and people who keeps other's body clean.
    However, it seems that the writer of this article is making fun of people and medical technology these days. According to the article, writer stated that people still believe in magic although the magic sometime causes a negative results. Although some people might argue that the article is one sided, I don't think that there's a problem about writer's one sided opinion. If the article is being sarcastic about every incidence, I'll also say that it's wrong. It is true that lots of disease are gone and people are living longer than the past due to scientific development and change of people's habit of keeping themselves clean. However, I believe that the article is being sarcastic about several incidence that are excessive and un-needed. As one of many people who believe that medical technology today and people's habit of keeping them clean has more benefits than without it, I think that this article is written to make people think critically.

TOEFL Workshop revision on Jiho's essay

TOEFL ESSAY WORKSHOP

10a1 김지호, 권하람, 인혜민, 장석우

1) Chosen Essay : The essay that our group chose for this workshop is Jiho Kim’s Essay

2) Why we chose this essay : The idea about changes in transportation in the near future was creative.

권하람-basketball
인혜민-disabled people
장석우-technology

3) Merits&Shortcomings

①     Merits

Inspiring ideas about changes in transportation

Organized well

Clear body paragraphs

② <!--[endif]-->Shortcomings

Some of the sentences too wordy

Little or no example of each idea

Minor grammatical mistakes

4) Revision

In order to fill up the weak spot of the essay, each of us came up with some examples to support the ideas. Since the essay is about the expectation of future technology, most of them are corresponding examples from the past or present.

Also, we tried to revise the essay according to concision. This was done by erasing some unnecessary parts or changing sentences into more concise ones.

5) Original version

              As time goes by, world is changing faster and more drastically than before. As technology develops, and as the world gets more complicated than before, changes are so fast that it’s next to impossible for people to catch up the changes. Among these changes, transportation will change drastically to be faster, more comfortable, easier, and more environmentally friendly.

             First of all, transportation of 21 century will be much faster and more comfortable than the past. As the word globali implies, it is impossible for people to live without the contact with foreigners and their cultures. Confronting such differences is much important for young people who will live in a world that is more complicated and which requires broader sight with vision and creativity. Such need will make the transportation to develop so that it can transport people faster and more comfortable since it will become a norm unlike before where only few needed to move such long distances..

           Not only this, but it will be much easier for people to move around than now. Even though transportation system has developed a lot compared to the past, the process that we are required when going from one country to another is so complicated and hard for those who are trying it for the first time. 21^st century being the century of speed and simplicity, such processes will also get much simple so that people don’t have to worry about it even if it’s their first time. It might be hard to become true for another decade or so, but it seems possible that roads and rails would be constructed between countries so that moving between countries would be just like moving from one village to another in their home country.

           Finally, more transportation will use environmentally friendly substances as their fuels instead of fossil fuel. The main reason why such change can be predicted is because the world is running out of usable fossil fuel. Humans used too much of it for past century, and it’s time for use to change different way that will allow us to keep the transportations moving. The second reason for this change is because more people are getting aware of the seriousness our environment is facing. Too much use of fossil fuel and exploitation of nature made the environment to get barren and dirty. Knowing that environment is one of the most important thing to us, it is a social trend to think more about the environment before trying anything. Such trend will also have a significant impact to change in the fuel used to run transportations, making technicians to invent cars and airplanes that can go by solar power or hydrogen.

          To sum up, transportation will take more parts of people’s life as time goes by. More people will feel the need for better transportation than before, meaning that there will be drastic changes in transportations. Predictions mentioned above might not become a reality, but it’s certain that transportations will change a lot in one way or another.

6) Revised version

          As time goes by, world is changing faster and more drastically than before. As technology develops and as the world gets more complicated than before, changes are made so fast that it’s next to impossible for people to catch up the changes. Among these changes, the change intransportation system will be drastic, changing transportations to be faster, more comfortable, easier, and more environmentally friendly.

        First of all, transportation in the 21st century will be faster and more comfortable than the past. Let’s take an example of the development of the ship. First starting out as a small raft, it developed into sailing ship, steamship, merchant ship, and even cruise ship while trying to fulfill the need of people. Especially, it is impossible for people to live without interacting with foreigners and their cultures since the world we are living in is “globalized world”.(Changed the structure of the sentence) Confronting such differences is very important for young people who will live in a world that is more complicated and which requires broader sight with vision and creativity. Such need will make the transportation to develop so that it can transport people faster and more comfortablysince it will become a norm unlike before where only few needed to move such long distances

       Not only this, but it will be much easier for people to move around in the future. Even thoughthe transportation system has developed a lot compared to the past, the current immigration policy(concision-too wordy) is so complicated and hard for those who are trying it for the first time. 21^st century being the century of speed and simplicity, such processes will also get much simpler so that people don’t have to worry about it even if it’s their first time. Such drastic change will need another decade or so to actually happen(concision), but it seems possible that roads and rails would be constructed between countries so that moving between countries would be just like moving from one village to another in their home country. Existing tunnels like Mont Blanc Tunnelhas been thought as impossible until they were actually built. Just like it was a innovation in transportation, numerous tunnels, rails, and roads will be built in the future as a way to innovate the transportation system.

Current Mont Blanc Tunnel, which is finished building

 

          Finally, more transportation will use environmentally friendly substances as their fuel instead of fossil fuel. This is easily predictable just by the fact that usable fossil fuel is running out.(concision) Humans used too much of it for past century, and it’s time for us to change different way that will allow us to keep the transportation moving. Another reason for this change to be predictable is that(changed structure in order to fit the rest of the revised sentences) more people are getting aware of the seriousness our environment is facing. Too much use of fossil fuel and exploitation of nature made the environment to get barren and dirty. Knowing that environment is one of the most important things to us, it is a social trend to think more about the environment before trying anything. Such trend will also have a significant impact to change in the fuel used to run transportation, making technicians to invent cars and airplanes that can go by solar power or hydrogen.

          To sum up, transportation will take more parts of people’s life as time goes by. More people will feel the need for better transportation than before, bringing(concision) drastic changes in transportation. Predictions mentioned above might not become a reality, but it’s certain that transportation will change a lot in one way or another.

Random post->about my goal

   I'd like to write about my goal for THIS SEMESTER again. Sometimes, thing you have planned can change when it's needed. I think it's time for me to change my goal and plan for this semester. I tried to stay calm and keep patience about my scores from the mid-term, but after I've checked all the score, I think it would be better for me to get stress from the score right now.
   I planned to study without getting any stress at the beginning of the semester. However, I realized that it was wrong. There is nothing you can do without getting a stress. Even playing sports or game can become a cause of a stress. I did not think about that, and whenever I was tired of studying, I would just go up to my bed and sleep or play game. With this kind of behavior, I will never make any positive change this semester. Lesson I learned from the mid-term is that when you really want to achieve something, getting a stress is inevitable.
   Plus, I got some stress for a foolish reason. I've got a stress because I've been studying for a good grade this semester. Receiving a good grade requires a perfection. Since I'm not, and never was a perfectionist, trying to study perfectly gave me a lots of stress. Because it was stressful, I gave up too early. I think there is no problem with getting a stress, but getting a stress that I can avoid will be very harmful to me.
  Right now at this point, I need a stress. I've barely lived with stress until now. However, in order to make a change, I need a strong stimulants. From now on, until the end of the semester, my goal is to forget about my score from the mid-term and not study for the grade. Plus, I will try not to avoid from getting a stress because without stress, I will be just sitting on the chair playing computer games.

Short random post: Sports Taping

  Recently, I had a chance to use sports taping. About three weeks ago, I jammed my finger when I was playing a basketball. I thought it would be better if I just wait without playing a basketball. I waited for a week without playing a basketball, and all the pains were gone. Since I wanted to play basketball so bad, I immediately played basketball right after my pains were all gone. Unfortunately, my fingers started to hurt again after I played basketball. I was getting worried about my finger. I had my pinky jammed three years ago. From this point, it was hard for me to move my pinky. I was afraid that my jammed finger would become like my pinky. Plus, it was index finger on the right, so I was worried that my index finger won't be normal anymore.

  However, thanks to sports taping, I was able to protect my finger and also play BASKETBALL. At first, I doubt if the tape would cure my finger. Surprisingly, the taping actually worked. I was curious how this things worked. According to Wikipedia and other youtube videos, taping functions as a muscle. Therefore, by taping my finger, I was able to reduce the activity of my muscles in finger as the taping worked as a muscle. I am very thankful to the guy who made sports taping as the taping almost cured my finger.

TOEFL Essay #2

The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer. 

   Throughout the 20th century, lot's of things have changed. One of the most significant changes is technological development. Lots of people say that technological development has made our life more convenient than before, but is that all? Even sports nowadays have lots of difference compared to 1950s. Speaking of basketball, due to technological development, it has changed a lot and it's quite interesting to think about basketball in future.

  

  First of all, basketball court have changed a lot. Game timer was able to develop due to technological development. Timer in 1950s, 1980s, and timer in present shows a lot of difference.Timers in 1950s were nothing more than just a large clock. In 1970s to 80s, timer have been replaced into electric clock. After the electric clock has been removed, new machine have been replaced. It's more than just a timer, as it allows the audience to watch the game easier than before. In my opinion, even more advanced 'timer' can be placed on the court. If there's a timer on the court just like one in american football field, it will facilitate the audience to know time remaining, as they won't have to miss the game when looking up to see the timer.

maybe people will be able to
make a court as a screen

  Ticketing system have changed either. In the past, people had to go to the stadium in order to buy a ticket. However, thanks to the internet, we don't have to go to the stadium to buy a ticket anymore. Instead, we can buy a game ticket in house. Also, way people enter the stadium has changed. In 1950s, there were lots of employees placed on the entrance, to get the ticket, check the ticket, and let them in. These days, entrance became lot more easier. With few security guard standing, people enters the stadium by put the ticket into the machine and machine opens the path. With this machine, entering have become more accurate and faster. In the close future, stadium may not need security guard anymore. It is because from the past, it is evident that machines are doing something that human has been doing before, and security guard may not be an exception.

basketball uniform in
1960s

  Basketball uniform is quite hard to tell. Basketball uniforms have less to do with technology. Until 1990s, basketball pants were very short, because with short pants, players will be able to run faster and play more aggressively, and make crowd more interesting. However, after the 90s, pants became longer. The reason is that people might  have repulsion of looking at full-grown man wearing shorts, which shows up to their thigh. Although shorts are more convenient in playing aggressive and fast paced game, social view about the shorts have changed a basketball uniform. Because the change of the uniform depends on social view rather than technology, it is hard to guess how it will change in the future.

development of science
enabled the backboard not
to get broken like the
picture above.

 Even basketball had a lots of things that have changed and will change as the time pass. Such as uniforms and sports science, changing of these are related to change of our society. They are mostly related to technological development, and some are related to social view. However, it's too early to predict about sports in the future because popular sports like basketball and soccer were played less than 100 years. For the last 60 years in basketball history, development of basketball usually depended on technological development. However, from now on, changes in basketball will  usually rely on creativity rather than technological development, as it seems like development is getting slower than before.

Film Review: Earthlings-Only when we NEED IT

animal skins can be used
 in making coats

   Foods, cloths, pets, entertainment, and science.....Animals are used in a various ways in order to fulfill human's desire such as curiosity, fashion, or meal. It is quite easy to meet 'animals' in our
daily life. It may be alive, such as pets and zoo animals, or it could be the dead one, just like the pictures in both sides.
However, the thing is that the animal we meet most of the time are nothing more than a product. People often tend to show their interest in animals, but it's irony that they have no attention to the animals that they meet the most. Earthling is the film that might make people think more about the 'animals' around them.



     First of all, the film shows about the pets. How pets live before they are sold and death of homeless pet are shown in this part of the film. As it's shown in the film, homeless pets dies of either hunger, thrown away to the dump truck, gas chambers, or euthanasia. There are groups that finds new home for homeless pets such as Homeless Pets Foundation. However, because number of homeless pets are increasing very fast, death of homeless pets is inevitable as they will either die of hunger or killed by human. I agree with the quote "We need to learn the way to see the eyes of the animals." Kicking pets out seems wrong to me, because pets are live animals that could show their emotions, not a toy.
   

   I was shocked when the film showed about the animals that are used in making cloths. Lots of people won't know how animals die to make a cloth, and I didn't either. Since there is no law that indicates about killing of the animals in fur farm, people working in the farm prefers the costless way to get the skin out of animals. As cost of killing animal gets cheaper, way of killing animals become more cruel. In the Chinese fur farm for example, they take the leather of an animal when it is alive. It is even more shocking that although animals that lost its leather are alive, people throw away the animals without any mercy.


coats can be made without killing the animal

  These days, cloths can be made without using leather of the animals. Cost is the only difference between cloths made of leather and cloths made of artificial materials. Of course, cloths made of animal's fur keeps our body warmer, but is it really necessary? Most people who buys luxurious coat buy not because of its warmth, but to show the others that he or she is rich. Therefore, it seems like killing an animal to make a luxury cloth is meaningless thing to do. Plus, cloth that are made of animal are sold either cheaply or expensively. Regardless of its cost, valuing the cloth made of animals is nothing more than pricing their lives. Once the animals are dead, they cannot revive anymore. Although many new lives are borned,, those new lives are not the same as the dead one. In contrast, money;which is traded with 'life of the animal', have no special meaning like an individual like life. What I want to point out is that by resisting a desire to buy luxurious product, we can save thousands of wild lives.

Eating other creatures is part
of the Law of Jungle

       Food part was a bit disappointing. I agree that some slaughter houses are too cruel when they kill the animals to get the meat. However, it seemed like the film makers exaggerated too much by showing only the extreme case so that they could persuade people. Throughout this part of the film, another problem came into my mind. When I saw how people in slaughter house react and behave on the animals, I was able to realize that they are somewhat different from the normals. They acted and talked very similar to the criminals, as if they were suffering mental illness. In my opinion, they were probably one of the normals before they started working in the slaughter house. It would have been better if the director mentioned how to solve this problem. If we claim that government should increase price of the meat that are made in such a cruel way. Then, companies that produce meat will change their way of slaughtering the animal. Plus, if price of the products are expensive for its cruelty when killing an animal, consumers will probably buy cheaper products, that are killed painlessly. I know that it's not the best solution to the problem. What I wanted to say is that it's tentalizing because director could have gone further more to persuade people better in the food part.


 Overall, the film was quite persuading to me, but with the exception in the food part. Although I saw the film of slaughter house, I only ended up feeling the mercy to the animals. Since eating the other creatures is inevitable as it is part of the Law of Jungle, showing the cruel video of animal dying and saying that we should not eat meat couldn't persuade me very much. However, I agree that excessive amount of meat production should be stopped, because the truth is that tons of meat productions are thrown away when they are not sold on time. It's not about the content, but  film makers should have set an age limitation when watching a film. Below is a review by seven year old kid. He seems too young to watch such a cruel video of animals dying and being killed. It is likely that young kids might get shocked for a while. Regardless of these tentalizing things about the films, the film changed my thoughts about people killing the animals for money. Before I watched the film, my thoughts and opinion about killing animals for human was vague, but after I finished watching the film, my opinion became clear. Human should never kill the animal unless it has something to do with his or her life.

Short random post

   My third test in KMLA ended today.(Yesterday, actually) Of course, I'm not really happy about my score. I always regret about playing instead of studying during my normal life after I take the test. However, this time, I did not regret after I took the test. It's because nothing is going to change if I end up with regretting without putting into action. Instead, I promised myself not to cram before the test, but study few hours EVERYDAY, so that I could remember what I learned that day easily.
  After the test, I was excited about upcoming 18th waivers interview instead of being excited about playing games or basketball. In my view, having a 후배 in KMLA is meaningful, especially to juniors. Relationship between freshman and junior is special compared to other schools. First of all, KMLA is dormitory school. Students will, and have to meet each other everyday, and this is why we call each other 'KMLA Family'. As a family, students help each other. For example, when Freshmen enters the school, 속삭임 make a pair of freshman, junior, and senior so that junior and senior can help freshman to get used to school easily. This year, my friends are already excited about upcoming 18th waivers. I thought of a reason why students in KMLA are happy about new students coming into school. In my opinion, it is because new students are the chosen one that went through fierce competition just like we have, it is obvious to be pleasant with students that have gone through similar event. Right now, three students including my sister, who are willing to be a student of KMLA are in my house discussing and helping each other to prepare for the upcoming interview. I hope that they could be part of KMLA Family soon. :)

Neverwhere reading journal 1-3 revised

  Contents of chapter one to three contains Richard Mayhew's life in London and his life changing after meeting a girl called 'Door'. When Richard and Jessica was walking the street to meet Jessica's boss, Richard found a girl wounded on the street. Jessica saw it too, but she wanted to ignore Door. However, Richard didn't, and he takes Door to his home. After then, his life started to change. Nobody was able to recognize him, and chapter three ends as Richard meets the Rat-speaker.
  Where Richard meets the rat-speaker is underground. It seems like Richard had no idea if such a place have ever existed in London. Ever since Richard met Door, weird things happened. Everybody ignored him and Richard saw things that he has never seen before in London, such as underground, or the rat-speaker. Actually, it kind of seemed like he didn't even cared about it before.
But now, he is being ignored by everyone, but someone he has never heard of, or cared about such as characters from underground are the only one that don't ignore Richard. I wonder what this situation tells us. To me, it seemed like people in London above symbolizes wealthy or people who are part of the society, and London underground symbolizes the people who are ignored from society and live on their own without help of society. Therefore, I think situation that Richard is facing may symbolize the wealthy person starting to know about the ignored people after being alienated from society.
  After my thoughts about Richard's situation was pretty much done, I started to think about the character, 'Door'. Door is the one that changed Richard's life. It seems like she's the one who caused this situation. So I wondered. What does Door symbolize? She's the one who moved Richard to the other world, but why Door? After I thought about it, it seems like it relates with her name. Her name is Door. She's the one who moved Richard to the other world. It may symbolize the one that connects two different world, or society. I also think that Door may symbolizes the person that needs help. In this perspective, Richard represents a person who is socially active, but after he helped a poor people, he gets to go to the group of people that are ignored. It kind of seemed weird. Wealthy person becoming one of the ignored people for helping poor people doesn't seem right. However, I also thought that people doing good stuff becoming unfortunate might be the reality. I can't really think what the book is trying to tell because I've only read three of twenty chapters, but it's good to keep thinking about what contents in the book symbolize.

Last Day of Track, Revision #1

    Wehn I lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I participated in a school track&field team. Every single day running in the track meet was memorable to me. All among that, the Conference track meet was most memorable meet. About ten schools participated. I was supposed to run in three events. Right before the race, I heard a guy from the other school talking to his teammate, who was about to run in the same round with me, saying,
"Dude, you are definitely beating that Asian and go to the final round."
    I felt bad to hear such a thing. However, after the race started, I and the other guy were running 1st and 2nd. It was quite hard to tell who was going to win until we jumped over the last hurdle. After the last hurdle, I ran as fast as I could as my left foot landed on the ground. My friends were cheering for me, and I wanted to prove that asian can run fast, too. As I sprinted after the last hurdle, I easily passed the guy who was an inch in front of me.As a result, I was able to advance to the final round. I placed fourth afterall, which was satisfying result for me.
   The problem started in the 4X100m relay. I was nearly out of my mind because it was too hot that day. As a starter, I started running late because I couldn't concentrate. Despite my late start our relay team came in fourth, but as 2nd and 3rd team was disqualified, our team ended up second. After the 4X100m relay, 4X200m relay remained. Because I was too tired to start, I went to coach and said,
"Coach, can I be the third runner? I don't think I'll be able to start as usual,"
and the coach said
"Okay, sure, go tell Ian to change place with you and be the starter."
I was able to be the third runner. Our team was coming in sixth place. As the second runner passed the baton, I ran as fast as I could, but soon I became tired due to hot weather.
"It's too hot. I feel like giving up and just walk. Should I walk? But it's my last race. I won't be able to do such a special thing when I go back to Korea. I will not give up!"
I decided to run as fast as I could for the remaining 100m. However, I wasn't able to catch a runner in front of me. I felt really bad. I was about to faint, and our track team could have won the conference championship.
    As I arrived home, I posted on my facebook wall saying,
"It was my worst race ever. If I started a bit faster in the 4X100m relay, we could have placed first. If I ran like usual in the 4X200m relay, we could have done better. If I ran faster, we could have won the championship. I feel terrible today :("
      I spent my time blaming myself. However, I was surprised when I went back into my facebook wall. My friends left comments saying,
"It was too hot. It's alright!"
"You did your best."
It changed my mind when I read what my coach left on my status: "Hyrum , whatever you say, you are the bast. I know you could have run faster if it weren't for the hot weather. However, I was happy to see you not giving up. As I told you before, there was a guy who walked during the race because he was too tired, but you were different. Although you were tired, you didn't give up. It's not about winning or losing, but about the spirit. I'm proud of you!"
      The letter from coach made me feel better, and I learned a lesson.
Every competition, including sports, is not about the result, but your behavior. Although I lost the race, I was happy that I had a passion that stopped me from giving up the race.

Respecting the elders

Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.

    When Korean moves to foreign country, it takes long time for them to get used to the culture there. Different behavior toward the elderly people usually makes them confused. Unlike many countries in the world, in Korea, people had no doubt that elderly people should be respected over thousands of years. Although this custom has lasted long, respecting elderly is still important today. First, elderly people have lots of experience that can possibly be helpful to young people. Next, in aging society, people should respect the elderly naturally so that they won't ignore the elderly.
    To begin with, elderly have lots of experience that can help and guide the next generation. It is because when young people don't have much experience as elderly people does, it will be helpful for them when elderly shows them what they should do and they should not do. For example, Vietnam War showed the American that war is not a good decision for their country, and shouldn't have a war unless it's inevitable. Lots of people died from Vietnam War, and they gave U.S a valuable lesson through death. After the Vietnam War, U.S became more cautious, which resulted in less people dying out of war. Young people should be thankful to their upper generation since they allowed young people not to repeat the same thing again.
    Next, in order to live in aging society, respecting old people will help a bit. People's thought about elderly have changed since rate of aged people increased dramatically. Most people think aging society, or elderly people in a negative way. However, negative thoughts about elderly does not make anyone feel good. Instead, if people think that respecting an elderly people is a natural thing, elderly people may be able to have a better life. For instance, I met an old woman who used to live with her children when I visited 'home for the aged'. She said that her life there wasn't that good. Her family didn't like her very much, because they thought she was useless. However, after she came into the 'home for the aged', she said that her life became better because there are lots of people who respects her, which made her feel comfortable.
    To sum up, I want other countries to adopt Korean custom such as respecting the elderly. It is because they have lots of experience that helps us live through and it will allow more people to have happier life in aging society. All in all, I claim that respecting the elderly people is a good custom that I'd like other countries to adopt.

Free Writing

   Because I'm a bit tired now, I would like to make my post short. I had a great day so far. I sprained my ankle a week ago. I sprained my ankle a lot of time because of 'prehallux syndrome'. People who has this syndrome have unnecessary bone, also called accessory navicular, in their feet. Some people who has this syndrome has weak feet when the bone pressures the muscle. Because of my weak feet, I sprained my ankle four times in past ten months.Since I hurted my ankle a lot in a short time, I felt necessary to take a rest.
   First time to sprain my ankle was last October, I sprained both ankle in a week. However, I couldn't stop myself from playing basketball, so I did, with sprained ankle, and even ran four kilometer in KMLA with it. At that time, I didn't felt necessary to take a rest, which resulted my ankle sprained for six months. Because I learned that taking a rest after I get hurt is important, I took a rest for a week. I didn't play basketball or run for a week. Since I was very active in sports, it was hard for me to resist all these. Not being able to play sports made my life boring, and I couldn't find any fun things to do other than sports.
   Today, I finally started playing basketball again in first self-study time. Although I couldn't play well because I didn't play it for a week, I was happy that my ankle was healed enough to play basketball. I felt so proud of myself, because not playing a basketball at all for a week, was a hard decision to follow, but I did. However, it doesn't mean that I can play basketball two hours everyday. I am sure that I still need to take a rest, but my life won't be boring anymore because at least I'll be able to play basketball twice to three times a week.

Introduction& my goal

       Before writing my goal for this semester, I would like to introduce myself simply. My name is Kwon Haram. I've been to the states and lived there for two years, each year in Boston, Massachusetts and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I love playing sports and even participated school track&field team in US as a sprinter. When I get into something, I concentrates on it for long time, which could be my strength, but also weakness.
       First of all, in this semester in Mr. Garrioch's writing class, I want to improve my writing skills. In order to improve my writing skills, I believe that I should know my weakness in writing. My weakness in writing is grammar and organizing my thoughts. In order to improve these skills, I should not only focus on class, but also try hard outside of class, too. To be specific, I believe that I can improve myself in organizing my thoughts by publishing a lot of free writing in my blog in order to make myself used to writing an essay. However, I don't have clear solution about my grammar problem, but I've been working on my grammar by studying a grammar book during vacation and I'm planning to continue my work on grammar.