As a Normal Person

Anything which humans have ever achieved, I believe, comes from a dream. Dreams can really be found in almost any place under various forms. To a child, it’s the state of ableness; to an athlete, it’s a passion; to a leader, it’s a vision; to any normal person, it can be any sort of future expectation, the goodness that lies await in the unknown. That’s why when Dr. Martin Luther King was well aware of its true name – a dream, his speech about his dream became everlasting. I am a normal person, someone who has seen his dreams busted over and over and over during the course of growing toward maturity.

Talking about dreams, we’d think of America (“American dream”). Ironically, I have been in America since I was 16 until now when I am nearly being able to buy alcohol legally, and these are the years for someone to develop his/her individuality to its highest. The period of being in America is the period of me witnessing my dreams leaving me at a ridiculous level.

I came to Montana, and a dream of high school got busted. No crowded classes full of pretty girls. No activities nor teams of any sort. No super easy homework that would guarantee easy A’s. My dream left me without any tiniest trace.

The dream of having top colleges inviting me to enroll was then busted. Despite the fact that I had tried my 150% capacity and earned an impossible result in an impossible school, no scholarship was coming to me at all. The one who tried best was nothing better than the biggest slacker.

Even when I got into UCM, I continued dreaming. Well, if my GPA was exceptional, if my performances were remarkable, then huge scholarships and good job offers would come embracing me, right? Unfortunately not, in the harshest way possible. I am here being a senior, and the graduation is drawing near. Yet I still do not see how any of my effort ever gets paid-off, as if for the whole time, I could simply mess around and would as well get through. It never was the matter of trying, it’s that after I try, I’d realize the vanity of my effort and see my dream get busted. Like any other student, there will be job searches, interviews, movings, and busted dreams await.

I can nearly see how my dreams look like: colorful balloons filled with water and still somehow fly high in the sky. When each of them gets pierced by a cold needle, the water would explode and fall down like teardrops. And when I see them I see great sadness.

In the end, all of those just to make me finally realize that I am just a normal person out there, losing sign of the dreams which are now long lost. Then, with this very reason of being normal, I once again see another dream afar. This time it seems bigger and a bit more vivid – as dreams normally would become. And I also see myself running below chasing it, in the most typical manner ever.

The Prince And Me the movie

I happened to watched The Prince and Me this summer. It wasn’t a very popular so it was hard to find. Fortunately, I saw it at the school’s library, so I checked it out immediately. I looked at the movie case, and I knew that this was some kind of movie that I wouldn’t watch – wouldn’t, if it was not because my girlfriend told me that the main character’s somewhat similar to her.

So now I found myself watching the movie, trying to note the similarities I could find, besides trying to enjoy it, of course. Here are my notes:

00:01:40 – She’s ugly. She’s like my girlfriend? Really? Even her personality, I can’t see any similarity. Yet.

00:03:11 – Did she just say “bloody”?! Well, I hope she’s not like my girlfriend.

00:04:14 – Now I realize who she is. The girl in American Pie 4.

00:06:39 – I have a pretty good picture of her now. A good person with a very unlikable personality.

00:07:26 – She didn’t even come out to catch the bride’s flowers? How dry.

00:09:03 – She’s ugly.

00:10:52 – She said that “Shakespeare is so useless”?! Would my girlfriend say that?

00:25:57 – They just met at the lab for the first time and she’s already interested in him? She has a very sensitive heart covered by a tough shell. Exactly the type I call “very fragile”.

00:32:09 – She danced while working? The fact that she doesn’t like Shakespeare, and still likes some music and dances weirdly shows that she’s neglectful with life – living without knowing or finding the meanings of it. She would normally have a hard live. Yeah, normally, when there’s no prince around.

00:33:33 – She gave the prince – her apprentice – compliments. She obviously had had a challenging life, but because of that she could become a good manager.

00:34:23 – She turned down the prince’s request after several seconds of serious hesitation. It’s not easy for her to simply accept what she wants. How sad. Being her lover would be very tiresome and stressful. Not my first choice.

00:40:54 – She couldn’t understand some simple poems. This might be how she’s similar to my girlfriend. Sometimes she couldn’t understand the things that were so obvious to me.

00:47:05 – She has Gus(?), her pet moose. That’s cute. Not as cute as Arwen though.

01:08:28 – She’s saying stuff about the prince during her important medical exam. She had reached her psychotic state because of love. Breaking up would make my girlfriend sad too, unbelievably sad.

01:10:45 – She has a great friend – a truly great one. My girlfriend needs someone like that.

01:23:36 – In the opening ceremony, she shuffled the dirt like a “farm girl”, even though the two people before her did it differently. That’s quite an unwise thing to do. Unnecessary stubbornness should be avoided, Arwen.

∞ - She gave up their love because she wouldn’t be able to do what she wanted? How unthoughtful. How selfish. Only when the prince stepped down and gave in, their love could then remain. This “happy” ending is not satisfactory to me at all, since their love was only with one side being amazing.

Dear, I don’t want to see you in her. I don’t want to see her in you, either.

Origami Extreme - Part 07!!!

This is another Origami collection (oh yeah). It’s been a long time since the last one, so I bet you’re pretty excited. This time, however, is about cats. And for those who don’t know me well enough, I dislike cats. Well, I love Doraemon, Tom, and Garfield, but maybe they’re it! I cannot really tell why I’ve chosen to fold cats this time. Maybe I should learn to do what I don’t enjoy also, for better or worse.

During the time I was working with Origami cats, I have lost my interest in them even further. Looking for good diagrams was as hard as scratching my back, and folding them was also an uneasy task. To be honest, about half of what I folded this time do not look like cats to me. This concludes my ramblings. Let us look at them, shall we?

PART 07: CATS

CAT by Seiji Nishikawa – Simple and nice. It’s a cat by the way.

CAT by Dave Brill – Very challenging you can tell. He looks like a tiger to me, but he really is a cat!

TUBBY CAT by Kimura Yoshihisa – My favorite. So tubby!

CAT by Herman Van Goubergen – It was tricky working with her face and gesture. What a cat!

STALKING CAT by Patricia Crawford – I know he looks like a weasel, don’t need to tell me. The truth is: he is a cat. Why his neck is so long, you ask? Because he is a stalking cat!!!

GATO by J Anibal Voyer – Nice and cute. The best thing is people can tell this is a cat. Or what not.

CAT by Noboru Miyajima – a complex model. Very nice looking cat.

SEATED CAT by Dave Brill – He is not a lion, he is a handsome cat!

GATO by Roman Diaz – Oh my, what we have here? A princess cat! She’s like a mascot of some fashion brand.

CAT by Eric Joisel – The best model of this collection to me. Fairly complicated. Nice face. Awesome posture. Except for the laser cannon-looking tail, he looks indeed like a cat.

BONUS:

This is the most famous CAT model. Even my girlfriend can fold this. Everyone should try!

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Related topics:

Origami Extreme!!! – Dinosaurs
Origami Extreme – Part 02!!! – Convention
Origami Extreme – Part 03!!! - Dragons
Origami Extreme - Part 04 !!! - The Winged World
Origami Extreme - Part 05 !!! - People of Humanity
Origami Extreme - Part 06 !!! - Dogs
Origami Extreme - Part 08 !!! - The Little Birds

Class Assignment - ICAP 4357 - Self Reflection

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In the beginning of the semester, the goals I wrote on my homepage were getting an A, making new friends, and having good time. I don’t know about my grade yet, but my other two goals have been fulfilled. Now looking back the road we have walked, I start to feel a bit nostalgic. On the second class meeting, right after Dr. Yue told us to form teams, I came to Lee Schmitz to ask him whether he wanted to be my teammate. He said yes, and Jennie Levine also joined in with us. We became the members of Team Four, and our journey began.

Three was a small number for a team, and each of us felt that having a clear leader was not a necessary thing. Because of that, throughout the semester, we shared to workload together in a voluntary manner. This method required a very good attitude and responsibility of each team member, and fortunately we all had those. We would meet each other outside the class if we needed to, and showed up being prepared.

As the only non-American member of the team, I had to try my best to be recognized. This always was a disadvantage of being an international student. “How could a foreign student ever be as productive as an American?” – Even I find it hard to believe sometimes. Because of that, in the beginning, Jennie and Lee often had something to tell to each other, and I was left out of the conversation. This was not anything new to me, however, so instead of being offended and becoming introvert, I pleasantly told them they should not do that or I would cry. Sometimes, good sarcasm can be really decisive.

As a student who had been through various Management courses, I tried to be as devoted and selfless to Team Four as I could. I would go an extra step anytime I needed to, such as in conducting the questionnaire or preparing the display board. On the Saturday when we were visiting the high income neighborhoods, I overcame my initial nervousness and did better than I had expected. I never had known I could go door to door and calmly ask people to fill out the surveys. When we were doing our report, we decided that each member would do one analysis. My teammates seemed to be overwhelmed with their shares, even though the report had many other sections to get done. So I volunteered to take care of the rest. In the end, our report was around 20 pages, and 14 of them were my product. Staying up until 4:00 one night was totally worth it, as before I knew it, I became a valuable asset for the team, and my teammates finally would appreciate me.

Unlike other classmates of mine in this ICAP class, I personally feel that the courses I have been learning in UCM are very beneficial to me. Thanks to them, I clearly know how to develop myself as a team member, and as a leader. The crucial keys are trying my best on my part and being willing to listen to others. In this class, I have also learned that being positive is also very important. On the presentation day, the first team’s presentation was too long and overly detailed, causing my teammates to be nervous, stressful, and unmotivated. Noticing that, I decided to present my part concisely but sufficiently, and also added some humors. It was my sudden decision, but the effect was incredible. My two teammates followed up in the same manner, and they were even smiling while presenting their parts. Our presentation was exactly 15 minutes long, and I believe it was a pleasant experience for everyone in the room. When we are happy, even if the enthusiasm is out-of-no-where, then people around us will feel at ease also.

Six weeks was not a long time, but what I was learned from this class was abundant. I became a better team member, and a better person. More than ever before, I feel that Business Management really is a right choice for me, and the path I am walking on truly will help me reaching my goals. For that, I am thankful.

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Author's note:

This was my paper for my ICAP 4357 class (the class was mentioned in my previous post The Way of Happiness). The reason why I post this is because this explains well what experience I have been through during the last July (well, kind of). Keep in mind that as my assignment, this paper is submitted to some certain criteria and requirements. Since this was intended for my professor, my frequent readers may find it repeative. If that's the case please bare with it.