Quality Project

For our final english project, we are assigned to design any project of quality (vague, no?). For anybody who might actually read these blogs, I wanted to throw out an idea for my project. I don't know exactly what I'll do for all the details, but here's the idea. I'm going to make a few, maybe about three or more, noodle dishes from different cultures from around the world from scratch. Examples include japanese ramen, maybe italian pesto, and middle eastern lentils. The reasoning behind this is to show how different culture's ideas of quality can be seen from the making of their respective noodle dishes. I know, sounds kind of funky, but I think I might be able to do something with it. Any ideas?

Come, Casanova! A True Man Will Have This Title!

Mask (n): A covering for the face, and related senses. Mask (v: To be or go about in disguise; to hide one's true form or character behind an outward show.
If it is a mask you ask for, of the absolute highest quality, and most efficiently performs its primary functions, why sir, you need a Venetian mask. While Venetian masks come in a variety of different styles, colors, shapes, and designs (and all those other words referring to appearances), one is worn by a special breed of people known as Casanovas, after a guy named Casanova. I say "sir", because unfortunately for females, the privilege of wearing such a mask is normally reserved for a man referred to as a Casanova as I said earlier. (You could cross-dress if you're into that kind of stuff I guess.) Simply put, Mr. Casanova was a pretty sexy guy, so the title for Venetian males who were big playas was of course Casanova. No kidding.
Only a magical mask such as a Casanova mask could have been hand crafted in the equally magical city of Venezia. (sounds way sexier in Italian) It's actually one of those things that does its job so well, you're in fact afraid of putting it to use; not that you would ever actually use a Venetian mask anymore of any kind. Real Venetian masks were left unpainted, but rich people probably owned masks with very fancy designs on them for their masque around town. Either one will do, as they both should hide your entire face except your eyes, unlike many masks that hide only a portion of the wearer's face. Everything about this mask is to multiply the attractiveness of the wearer. Therefore, it should normally be worn with a triangular shaped hat, similar to the one Captain Jack Sparrow wears, but much less ghetto to add to the adventurous aura that is Casanova.
Why do you think Casanovas wore this mask in particular? The women can't see through you, your motives, your thoughts, facial expressions, and most of all feelings. The only thing that should escape the mask is the charm of the individual wearer. After all, isn't that what all masks strive to do? A mask is a facade, a false front. While its most obvious function is concealment of the face (so the lovely ladies can stay lovely without knowing who it was that didn't really love them), its primary function is the extraction of a certain feeling from the person you are trying to hide something from. Don't complain about how confusing this post was, just think about it.

Lit Circle post 4 or so

In class, we talked about the chapter titled, "Bel and the Serpent". To summarize this chapter, Leah hates Nathan and Ruth May is bitten by a green mamba snake and dies.

At the beginning of the chapter, for the first time, the political drama unfolding in the Congo has been brought to the foreground, and is described with Orleanna's usual sense of inconcievable guilt. Orleanna's narrative also tells us another reason why she is guilty: because her inabillity, or her utter unwillingness to change or know what has been going on. In this sense, the political struggle the Congo faces parallels her personal one raging within her family and is equally as tragic. The death of Ruth May, the death of Independence.

Ruth May's death was quite expected. Taking into consideration Nathan's utter lack of concern for his family's well-being, and Orleanna's inabillity or unwillingness to act bravely and responsibly brings her worse fears into reality. The fact that the adults could not make a responsible decision about Nelson is what spurred the children to action, resulting in a childish mistake, and Tata Kuvudundu's obvious rage against the Prices.

Her death also turns Nathan's charachter into a far more depressing and tragic one. Leah finds his reaction to her unbaptized state so repulsive, and I do too. But with the utterance of the words "it can't be" sums up one of two things: Nathan's inabillity to show his emotions, or the fact that he disallowed himself to show emotion long ago.

Commonplace 4

It's been a really long time since my last commonplace post. I think I'm not being as enthusiastic as I should be about sharing my deepest, darkest, personal secrets with everybody in the whole wide world. Nah, jus' jokes! It's just that I don't think there's much I can say that would pique other people's interests. Not stuff like a magazine article I read, or a chick book I read, but cool stuff; like I got into a street fight cool, or Holden Caulfield cool, I dunno.

Speaking of street fights, I got this scratch about a half or quarter of an inch below my eye. Sadly, it's not from a street fight. Before I went to sleep on Sunday night, I thought of what I could say about my scratch and how to make myself seem more badass. So here's what I thought of essentially: My favorite shaved ice place is a couple blocks down the hill that I live on and a few more towards the east. Well, the quickest way to get to the shaved ice place is through these two or three blocks that are really ghetto. So, I'm on my way back with my shaved ice, and these mokes are hanging outside of a house. They ask me for some shaved ice and I say "piss off". Well, that pisses them off, and one jumps me from behind and kind of claws at my face. I throw him off my back, ditch my shaved ice on the ground and make a run for it with a rugged battle scar to tell the tale. Lame, huh? Oh, I guess if I've already gone this far, I might as well tell you where I actually got it.

Truth is, I don't know exactly. But last Thursday at the Judo tournament during an exhibition match, I was playing some punk from kam school. Sometime during the match he gave me the scratch, and the thing that pisses me off is that I didn't even win the match. Yeah, that's right. I lost. God, I said. Geez, lay off. Oh, come on, gimme a break! Hey, just shut up already. Oh, you're done? Whoops, my bad.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to say but, what I'm trying to say is, not much really. This has been a lot more like story time. God, knows I hate losing, but therein lies one of my greatest flaw as a person. If I'm bad at something, I want to get better. It's natural right. Oh, I'll try as much as any mediocre person to improve or whatever, but that's exactly the problem. The point isn't to be mediocre, it's to be great. That's why I have to make up queer stories to excuse myself from humiliation. I know the problem, but I'm just too lazy to fix it. Hell, I even know how to fix it, through hard work, but I'm too lazy. Arrgh!! I have everything in front of me in my youth, but I fail to do anything with it. It's like paying for a buffet, but only eating the salad or something I guess. Wow, I've just about killed what little pride I have left in me through that stupid rant. There, is that cool enough for you yet? Entertaining? Whatever...

The Judges critical response to a passage

"I felt the breath of God go cold on my skin. 'We never should have come here' I said. 'We are just fools that have gotten by so far on dumb luck. That's what you think isn't it?'" (309-10).

This passage is the climax of Leah's realization or conversion away from Christianity, or at least Nathan's kind. I have chosen this passage from one of Leah's narrations, and it is while she is escaping with Anatole down the river on a boat away from the ants and Kilanga. They are having a discussion about race and justice when Leah comes to this saddening conclusion. While the entire process of Leah's conversion has been a steady one through her observations of Kilanga, Leopoldville, and her discussion with Anatole, this is the real turning point of her faith.

For her entire life, except for the past few months in the Congo, Leah believed in a idealistic God who rewarded good deeds, and punished bad ones. When she "felt the breath of God go cold on [her] skin" (309), metaphorically speaking, it could possibly refer to her lapse of faith in general. Originally, Leah had viewed their mission as holy, their family as good people, and even most of the other people in the village as good. But when the ants swarm the village, she can no longer believe in a God who would punish good people. As a person convinced she is doomed to die, she relinquishes her ties to her father's simplistic views of God.

SAT Practice Essay 2

People may say that practicallity is taking over people's desires to "learn for learnings sake", but I believe that it is just the opposite and there is too little emphasis on practical learning. It seems the task of living has just become so easy for some people, that practical learning is not required. The material people are being taught nowasays goes beyond practical, adn is more to ensure practical knowledge will never be required in the future.

When my grandpa was growing up as a kid, he was the oldenst son fo eight children in a traditional Japanese family. This meant he had to quickly leanr practical skills, find a job at a young age, and son no in order to help support the large family. Therefore, he did not graduate from high school, although he wanted to, and instead became a learned, experienced car mechanic. And if you ask me, a very practical job selection. My grandpa didn't learn advanced calculus or anything, but he did learn the skills to help him happily through a very demanding life.

Secondly, in the book I am reading for my english class titled, "The Poisonwood Bible," just the opposite happens. The five main charachters fo the story arrive in the Congo with extensive knowledge of scriptures, advanced schooling, and all the things they think they will need to survive. But none of these help them on their mission, and they find everyday life to be a struggle between life or death. The native Congolese end up helping them out much more with their practical skills and knowledge that they implement everyday. The charachters came prepared with everything they didn't need, and therefore should definitely not be considered practical.

Finally, the definition of the word practical gets altered with each passing day. What was practical yesterday is no longer necessary to know for the future. But knowledge that is practical should never be forgotten. History is practical knowledge that people can look to for help, but is forgotten nearly everyday. If you understand history, then you should know what blunders haave been made in the past and how to avoid them in the future. In school, people are taught techniques and solutions for avoiding and vener making mistakes. But a good lesson leanred from history allows you to acknowledge that a mistake has already been made, insuring that you will not make the same one again.

In conclusion, a practical skill can vever be emphasized too much. There's no reason to learn impractical skills with a disregard to ones that actually help you through your life. I cannot comprehend those who deemphasize or ignor what is useful.

Lit Circle 3: Charachter Anayst

On this post, I would first like to talk about Leah. Most people don't like her, or even think she's a bitch for being stuck-up and a daddy's little girl. Me? I find her quite interesting. As a character, she has experienced the most growth out of all the Prices so far. While we know that Leah does the most out of all the Prices to please Nathan, and therefore shares a portion of his zealous religiosity, she also has some views that conflict deeply with Nathan's beliefs.

Of all the Prices, Leah is the one who embraces Africa the most and hopes that someday she will be able to teach the lessons of her childhood in Africa to her future children. In contrast to Leah's acceptance of Africa, Nathan is the self-centered mountain whose views are unmovable, and his personality tyrannical. I found it ironic that Nathan "smacked [Leah] hard for the sin of pride, and made her do The Verse" (156), when it is quite obviously Nathan himself that displays excessive pride the most by being so stubborn. So we see that even though Leah is the one who identifies the most with Nathan and his mission, she is also the one that loves and changes around Africa the most.

Another event in this section is the hope chest saga. While Rachel takes on the project with enthusiasm, Adah and Leah exhibit the same hopeless expectations for their futures when it comes to marriage. It's almost obvious that Rachel's idea of marriage is self-centered around her partner lavishing her and such (and I kind of hope that she takes a great fall from those high expectations). Leah on the other hand seems like a very compassionate girl who would seem successful in a loving marriage, and even though she doesn't want to get married, she does think about having a family of her own.