Cherish
Saturday, May 19, 2012
[the list]
Friday, April 6, 2012
Peeta's Love
- Peeta’s love for Katniss, how real is it? Or is just a teenage crush? Or did develop into something more during the games
o Peeta admired her, looked up to her because she stood out, was special and different. Pretty voice, a hunter, a fighter, a survivor. I don’t think that is love yet. Peeta’s nature is so mellow and kind, aka “good” in Katniss’s dictionary. It made sense to want to protect her in the games, want her to win. He sees the importance of her survival, to her family and to District 12. Like he said, no one will miss him if he dies. True in the beginning though not so much later on. Maybe it wasn’t out of love that he protected her in the beginning, but what happened in the cave for those two really blossomed into something a lot more. A bond, a special one, shared over imminent call of death
o The way Peeta’s affections were depicted was at times too unclear and a bit forced, or rather static. There were not enough POVs from his side, which is a direct disadvantage of first person narrations. I wish the internal struggles of feelings for Peeta and Gale were more explicitly written. I suppose we can only speculate.
Friday, January 13, 2012
diggin through old files...
recently seen quite a few people posting/translating their college app essays...i found mine. looking back, there are parts that i like and parts that i found myself frowning upon. overall, its not too terrible but could've been a lot better if i had devoted more time to write it haha
Why do people believe in fairy tales and happy endings? Why do little girls wish to be princesses with big tall castles? Why do young women fantasize about chivalrous Prince Charmings?
Even I had wanted to dine with silverware, sleep until noon in my lofty canopy bed, and dance in soft satin shoes. But what fascinated me the most were the hopes that castles embody. Châteaux, castillo, castelli, castelo – in every language, the word “castle” has a certain enchanted meaning. The spiraling pinnacles reaching for the sky dare humans to think the impossible. While the soaring heights and enormity of castles seem unreal, their mere existence proves the opposite.
With these thoughts, I walked into my first castle, Alcázar of Segovia, in Spain. Alcázar’s – “fortress” in Spanish – rough exterior did not mirror the delicate walls of the castles of my dreams. Its roof of sharp slate spires was far from elegance. Inside, the light struggled to come through the aged, tinted windows.
Where was my grand ballroom with crystal chandeliers? I searched frantically through the Alcázar brochure in my hand as I stumbled into a chamber with two mullioned windows. An exquisite mural painting appeared in front of me; in the center stood a young lady dressed in white, wearing a gold crown.
My mind traveled back to the road trip during which Carmen, my Spanish correspondent, and Mercedes, my host “mom”, conversed animatedly about the monarchs of Spain, trying to count all the Alfonsos, Ferdinands, and Isabellas. Could this be a painting of one of the most famous queens – Isabella the Catholic? It never occurred to me that a woman like Queen Isabella would have ever lived in such an unadorned castle.
Yet, I began to comprehend: the castle was only a symbol of power and authority while its inhabitants were the ones that created history, adding invisible sophistication to the castle. Underneath the dull surface of the parched walls and faded splendor laid the sagas of human success and failure.
As I climbed the strenuous spiral staircase to the top of the castle, seeking to view the grandeur of Segovia, I imagined Isabella doing the same more than six hundreds years ago. Perhaps, she too wondered about dreams, enchanted tales, and the complex nature of reality. Perhaps, she too had to face extremely conflicting choices, for instance, in the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims in Spain.
Realizing that even fairytale-like queens experienced turmoil and setbacks, I felt that I could no longer run away from my fears of failure, the difficult mission to master a new language, the seemingly impossible task to blend my two cultures – the American and the Chinese – to hide behind the surreal happiness of princess tales. Without the acknowledgment of reality, hopes and dreams are as empty as a castle without its past. These ideals will only disappoint me for I need to break my own barriers and write my own fairytale, even if it has flaws. Confidently, I started my first chapter.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
对剩女/女强人一些感想。。。。
剩女这个词有太多贬义。 对于出生在良好的家庭而且接受过比较好的高等教育的女生来说, 这词太有恐惧性了。 通常这些女孩经济独立, 生活上也不渴望些什么。
Thursday, January 5, 2012
GMAT rant no.1...with numerous to come
Saturday, September 17, 2011
光火的很。。。
你没事找事的真有毛病, 你以为自己是老几啊? 老娘帮忙是出于好心,听你说你的心事, 教你一些人士道道。 你傻不溜秋的真以为我是你的全职therapist啊? 需要就到, 不需要连理都不理; 虽然说我也很忙, 也顾不着每个人,可是我会尽力。 你何时能长大啊? 何时能交一些真正适合你的朋友? 何时能知道该放下的就得放下, 有些人你没有必要去理会也没有必要去傻傻地去通知我。 有些事你得学会妥当地处理, 没头没脑的你会得罪都少人?你还真以为我是professional啊?什么事儿都能用objective的角度去看么? 错!我是有血有肉也有感情的一个人, 我没有时间跟你们去玩那些幼稚的游戏。 你和她是你们的问题, 请不要把我卷入是非。好好的我 对你们都不错,你们的事请不要拿我当筹码。 我受不起这么高的抬举!!