Goodness, it’s almost that time of year: AP tests. It’s that time of year but no one seems to be worrying. Why? Because all AP courses teach you is how to PROCRASTINATE. I try my best to get a good grade because if you do really good in an AP, your GPA is able to gain a few extra points. However, honestly, all I do is procrastinate. I see the difference between a normal class and an AP class. In a normal class, you have to follow the teachers orders and it feels as though everything is required. However, in an AP class, it’s so carefree until it gets around March or April because that’s when the teachers really start caring.

Currently, I’m taking AP Chemistry and in my opinion, it is the hardest AP that the school gives. I never took other APs but I have a hunch that it is. It combines a little everything: math, english, chemistry, biology, physics, and more. It’s packed with so much information that your brain blows up. Literally. I think the main reason we procrastinate the most in AP classes is because it’s too damn hard. We got other things and other homework assignments to do but this one takes up the most time. It’s mindblowing. I wouln’t be able to concentrate even if I only had AP chem homework. There’s also extra credit available in my class but don’t get my started on that. AP chem homework PLUS MORE AP chem? Kill me. I would rather die than do that. But as it turns out, I did do AP chem extra credit because my grade is slipping away. Now that I think about it, I should be doing my math homework, 5-8 page physics essay and my U.S. History outline for my OTHER 5-8 page essay.

This is my life.

P.S.

There is a group on Facebook that is dedicated to the thousands of people around the world who think AP course are just a big waste of our time.

http://www.facebook.com/video/?oid=2210063215#/group.php?gid=2210063215

I had  a horrifying experience the past 3 days. I was stripped of my internet. Not because my parents wanted me to study or anything but during the process of my house move, I had no access to the internet. It was the worst 3 days of my life. Not knowing anything. Oh, and mind you, we didn’t recieve the newspaper also. All I had on my mind was where to put my stuff and cleaning up the new house. But this mortifying experience helped me realize something. Without the internet, nothing can go well for us humans.

Credits to DavidErickson

The internet has basically consumed our lives. Without the internet, our lives would not be the same. The internet was truly a great creation but at the same time, it was the bane of our lives. If you think about it, it’s kind of like the Frankenstein monster. It was a great scientific, medical and biological breakthrough but at the same time, it went around killing people. I, myself being an internet addict, have gone through some enlightment. We got to prepare ourselves for something like this. It gave me time to think about some stuff. And I asked my dad about the internet. I said “our lives have grown so dependent on the internet, it would probably be the end of mankind if the internet was suddenly gone”. He replied “that’s why we have to free ourselves. Unplug ourselves”. Of course, he meant the plugs from the movie Matrix. What he said was pretty true though. Currently, the countries that use the most internet are American, Japan and Korea. Other countries like China and Russia come pretty close.

All I could do was text with my friends and complain about how I didn’t have internet. Thank goodness I still have a cell phone to communicate. If I didn’t have one, I fear I would’ve have had to send letters.

Ah, I wish. When we were all kids. Quite recently, I was forced to wear a cast due to an injury during a soccer game. Now that I can’t participate in anything that uses my legs too much, I become more aware of my surroundings. Today, during one of the classes that I had, we played soccer. Obviously, I couldn’t play so I sat with some other injured guys and the supervising teacher. The middle school were playing beside us on the other side of the field. Suddenly, the teacher asks us “Remember those times? You guys were retarded.” HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!! Yes, I was. I truly was.

I’m guessing he said retarded because he taught some of us back in middle school but I have no recollection of that. Nevertheless, I do remember those times. Now that I look back on my life, I’ve never really done anything serious and if I have, it’s because someone forced me to. I never did anything for myself. I’m actually sounding like when I had my mock interview a few weeks ago. My interviewer told me I was very self-concious of myself because I said I don’t listen to my mother even though I know what she’s saying. Am I supposed to be proud of that? I guess not many people are self-aware. They just hate whoever controls them. So I suddenly realized that I have to do something. Something that will quench this unraving thirst of mine. But what’s there to do? This is Asia. Nothing but study and work here, mates. However, if this were America, parties all night long, bro.

I AM missing all those times in middle school. If you think about it, you always have fun when you’re in elementary and middle school. There are rules to break and yes, people do say the most fun time is when you’re in college. I disagree. When you’re in college, true, you can drink and have you’re own room but if you caught breaking the law, or in other words, college words, then you go to jail! On the other hand, there are rules to break in elementary and middle school but the only punishments you get are detentions and suspensions, or if you go too far, expulsion (God forbid you go that far). What I’m saying is that you should live your life BEFORE you enter high school. But the chances of an elementary student looking at this is 1 in 100000000. So, I advise any readers who have children to let them run free wild. Don’t lock them up in your cages.

Credits to here

Letting them wild might not mean going as far as giving them cell phones but you get the idea

I’ve seen, read and heard about many mangas and animes. Every time I read a manga, I see a moral lesson. Most of them are very superficial but they all have one thing in common: never give up. No matter what happens, you must never give up because some good will come out of it. Currently, the three biggest anime/mangas are Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Of course, it is my lifelong dream to become one of these characters and live in their world but since I’m too much of an idealist, it’s impossible.

Credits to fanpop

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Monkey D. Luffy: The one with the red shirt and blue pants. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. His power is being a rubber man.

Roronoa Zoro: A pirate hunter who uses three swords. He is unbelievably strong however, he has no sense of direction.

Nami: The girl with the orange hair and the blue staff. She is the navigator of the ship and is excellent at predicting weather. Her weapon allows her to manipulate weather in a closed system. However, she is very greedy and will do anything for money, even if it means dangering the lives of her crew.

Usopp: The on with the brown overalls and the green sling shot. He is usually a liar and has no strength at all. He is a coward and doens’t usually step out that much. However, he has exceptional skill at markmanship. He almost never misses a shot.

Sanji: The one with the yellow hair and the black suit. He is the cook for the ship. He attacks his enemies with his legs claiming that a chefs hands must never be hurt so he only uses his legs. However, he is weak against women. He will never hurt a woman.

Tony Tony Chopper: The reindeer with the pink hat. He is the doctor for the crew. He has the power of the Devil’s fruit. He is able to talk and change into different forms, each one with a strength and weakness.

Nico Robin: The one with the white hat and several arms coming out of her. In reality, she only has 2 arms but she has the power of the Devil’s Fruit to sprout any part of her body anywhere she likes. She is very quiet and is the archeologist of the crew. She is very wise.

Not here

Franky: A cyborg who is the ships mechanic. Franky build the Straw Hat Pirates a new ship as a thank you. One thing led to another and Franky was part of the Straw Hat Pirates. He has many functions and most of them have to do with weapons such as guns and rocket launchers.

Brooke: A violinist who ate a devils fruit that gave him the power to live a life once again. He basically looks like a skeleton with a huge afro. He uses a cane which has a sword hidden in it. He is very agile due to his lack of flesh.

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The anime I like the most right now is One Piece because of all the symbols it creates. The main character Monkey D. Luffy is on a quest to find the greatest treasure of the world, One Piece. No one knows what it is but the last pirate who saw it said to go find it and died a very, what should I say, heroic death? Anyways, it sparked the start of the pirate era and thousands of pirates formed to find this One Piece. There’s so many things in this storyline that can portray symbols. FIrst, there’s the Devils Fruit. Supposedly, these are supposed to be fruits with devils residing in them. When you eat one, you receive a godly power but you lose your ability to swim. It’s a pretty big price to pay since pirates live at sea.

Anyways, Luffy has the power of the gomu gomu fruit or in other words, he is a rubberman. Everything about him is rubber, even down to his blood cells. The interesting thing about Luffy is that he’s stupid. He has the mind of a 5 year old. However, he basically sets his life on morals and honor. What I mean by this is he doesn’t use logic to overcome his obstacles but simple morals. Some of his greatest feats and obstacles that he overcame takes a lot of explanation so I’ll only explain one.

In the Shanbody Archipelago series, Luffy and his crew are in search of a ship coater so their ship can go under the water to proceed on their quest. However, on that island, there are people who claim to be descendants of the people who created a holy city. They’re called the Tenryuubito. In respect to that, no one is allowed to offend them. They are allowed to do whatever they want. They’re human gods. And they’re connected with the Marines, the police of the sea, so if you anger one tenryuubito, you anger the marines. Of course, being a manga, the unexpected happens. Luffy and his crew see a tenryuubito killing a slave. Then the tenryuubito starts badmouthing him saying things like “he was trash” and “let’s just get a new one”. Basically, they’re shitbags. However, our hero, Luffy, jumps in and can’t take much more. When a tenryuubito shoots one of his friends, he loses his temper and punches a tenryuubito right in the face (yeah!). Of course, now the whole Archipelago is screwed because the Marines are coming with their battleships and admirals. One thing, admirals are freaking strong. They have the power of the devil fruit so you expect how strong they can be.

Anyways, the question here is ‘is authority important?’. Luffy completely throws away the concept of hierarchy and analyze people on their behavior. If Luffy likes their behavior, then they’re on his good list. Would you punch a teacher who was wacked a student because he hated him? Would you punch the president if he abused his power?

On Febuary 25, 7:45 P.M. in Spain, the greatest team in the world will defeat Liverpool. Yes, that is right, Real Madrid and Liverpool are hitting it off tomorrow. As for me, I’m going to watch it live (hurrah!) but for all those who can’t, I can already tell you the score. Actually, the score doesn’t matter because no matter how many goals that Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres puts in the goal, Real Madrid will come out as the victor. I know many people rip on Real Madrid fans because they have the a freakingly, monstrous amount of money, but money isn’t skill. I’m not a lot into soccer but I am a strong Real Madrid fan. I was a fan since I ever heard of the word ’soccer’.

VS

Credits to Soccerway.com

Before current news, I was fairly happy because I heard that Gerrard couldn’t play because of injury but a few days ago, he announced that he could play against Real Madrid. However, I think Real Madrid set out a little bit of a scare to Liverpool. Real Madrid was able to beat Real Betis 6-1 while Liverpool had a draw 1-1 with Manchester City. TO me, that feels like a taunt. “We can do this amount of damage, can you hold up against it?”Quite frankly, I don’t know what might happen but as far as I know, Real Madrid will definitely make it hard for Liverpool if they want a win.

I also see a grand, invincible team starting to crumble: Barcelona FC. From the beginning, everybody knew Barcelona was a strong team because they never lost. However, recently, all that is about to change. A few days ago, Barcelona drawed with Real Betis 2-2. This, Barcelona probably thought as a fluke or a mistake but it didn’t stop there. A few days later, they lost to Espanyol, the 2nd worst team in the Spanish Primera League. It was a startling event. No one ever suspected that team to win but they did. It’s amazing what you can do nowadays with just a little determination.

There is something in this world that does not die and yet everyone knows it. A monster that lives off people, that feeds off of green mana. It is the bane of a diet, the usurper of healthy thoughts and the harbinger of obesity. That’s right, McDonalds. The once thought to be friendly, evil, indestructible company that rules the world. Don’t misjudge me for attacking your favorite restaurant but that is really what is. McDonalds has a reputation for being the worst paying job and the worst food ever. But why is it thriving? In my community, there was once a McDonalds that started as a small restaurant. Now it controls the first floor of a four floor building. Over the course of 3 years, I have seen that McDonalds grow from a small restaurant to a food-delivering, 24/7 food court.

Credits to gyopo wife

There have been many cases where McDonalds were accused of faulty food. There is the famous case where a customer discoered a fried chicken head in her hamburger. McDonalds, I believe, was sued. However, the invincible restaurant still stood on it’s feet. McDonalds grew. I don’t think this occurs in America but I found out about 6 months ago that McDonalds had started a delivering service. Customers were now just one call away from having Shanghai Spice Chicken Burger Set. Unbelievable. Another scheme to enlarge their enterprise. It almost to a point where it’s disgusting and problematic. Sooner or later, one company will dominate each field, in this case, McDonalds would own the fast food business. I had thought about this a couple of times. There can’t always be competition. I had always imagined that one company would surpass all others and win the race to the top. The one company that I have my eyes on is Walmart.

Credits to Hecate

The two giant companies rule most of their businesses. I remember a South Park episode where a Walmart was established in the town. Gradually it grew bigger and bigger to an extent where Walmart was the only store in town. People had fed it so much money that it practically ruled their lives. A similar episode occured on Family Guy where Superstore USA dominated the town. Eventually, both shows ended up destroying the evil corporations. I may sound like a hippie but it’s true. There’s undeniable proof that enterprises like these are growing everyday. We must do everything possible to keep the competition at a perfect balance. I fear for other fast food restaurants in my community such as Quizno’s and Subways.

Face it, it’s reality

I’m sure you’ve heard that a lot of times and it’s beginning to tick you off. Yeah, it’s reality, so what? Well, my friend, so you want to fight against the laws of gravity? Do you want to knock the Earth off it’s rotating axis? Be my guest. A word of caution: you can’t do that. Sorry. It’s the truth. Reality pretty much controls our lives. You go around doing what you do and someone or something just has to go and screw up your day by spilling a cup of coffee all over your $500 dollar suit. Sucks, yeah, but it’s reality. But it’s those little screwups in our lives that make our lives interesting. I’m not saying that we should totally ruin our lives but living in an ideal world can mess up some serious stuff.

Let’s imagine an ideal life. I’ll take an American family for example. You are a businessman. Decent job with decent pay. You are good looking and spend a few hours each week at the gym to look good for the ladies. You have a beautiful wife and loves you dearly; two children, one boy and one girl; you also have a moderate house. You don’t have everything yet you have everything you need. Let us simulate that perfect, ideal day. Wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast and take your kids to school. You go to the office and you meet all your co-workers. You work until 7, go home and have a nice, delicious dinner with your family, help your kids with their homework and eventually go to bed. What a perfect day. No mistakes, no flaws. Now multiply that by 260. There are 365 days in a year. Divide that by 7 and you have 52 weeks a year. Then multiply that by 5 (5 work days a week) and you have 260. 260 days of that. Wouldn’t that be the most boring day of your life?

Credits to Shawn Handyside

I don’t want to go through the hassle of describing a realistic work day but you get the idea. People who live in a idealistic world have no life, no soul. They life for money, practically. I hear all this talk about becoming doctors and lawyers. When that day finally comes when you become a fully certified doctor, will you be happy? Are you going to be willing to go through the same routine every day, doing the same work every time, going the same path every day? Personally, I think a doctor would be a fun job just because of the variety of sicknesses you can cure. But yeah, it would be a pretty depressing job. Living that perfect dream would be the equivalent to being stuck in a quantum time vortex for all eternity. Lifeless. But you might say, “Hey! There’s no such thing as perfect! You can try to live a perfect live, what’s wrong with that?” Good question. Trying to live a perfect life is perfectly fine . Nothing is wrong with ‘trying’. It’s just that people these days push themselves way to hard to attain that life they so dream for. It’s like a game show where you get to the final but you only win a coupon for one at VIPS. Kicks you right in the ass.

I was watching a video of a comedian named Dane Cook and he talks about a time when he encountered an atheist. It was very funny. Some guy on the subway sneezed on Dane. Dane politely says “God bless you” but the guy says “Yeah, I’m an atheist”. I don’t why this guy is so snotty about one phrase. He was just trying to be nice and how was he supposed to know he was an atheist? Also, what are you supposed to say to an atheist when he sneezes (Dane Cook: “when you die, nothing happens”)? Anyways, I want to shed some light upon the many religions on our earth. At first, you only think of all the big ones such as Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism but if you think about it, theres over 100 religions. Imagine what it would be like if someone wanted to join a religion but didn’t know which one to join.

Credits to lido_6006

That’s another thing with religion; which one is the right one? You got probably the biggest religion in the world: Catholicism. This is everything about Jesus. He died for the sake of our sins. It also has all those stories abotu Noah, Job, Solomon, etc. Then you have the Islamic religion with Mohammad. However, there’s civil unrest within the Islamic religion about the successor. This is where the Shi’ites and the Sunni’s come in. I could go on forever but I choose not to. OUt of all the religions in the world, how can we know which is the true one or if any of them is true. To me, the whole idea of religion is a little far fetched. One ultimate being that controls the universe and galaxy. Nah. I’m almost at the point of becoming an atheist but I don’t. Just for the sake of going to church with my parents. I would love to see their reaction when I say “I don’t believe in God. He is fake and he doesn’t exist”. I just hope that I’m going to a true church.

I like the idea of church though. I think the best thing religion does to a family is that it brings it together. It’s basically all the morales in life in one. The supreme combo package. You want to fix your family problems? Join a religion. However, I’m amazed at those kids who actually follow the rules. In my church, I can’t think of one person around my age that follows the rules completely. But that’s what being a human is all about right? Making mistakes? It’s be hell if another Jesus came out. Think of all the people that would want to meet Jesus. Let alone kill Jesus. There are cults out there that worship Satan. It’s scary. Many of today’s problems are possible to originate from there. But that would be going too extreme.

If you’re having any doubts in life. Just ask yourself: What would Jesus do? All your problems will just…vanish into thin air.

Asian kids these days have it hard. They’re parents are being obsessed with grades. What are the poor students to do about it? Well, what are we supposed to do about it? Parents are becoming ever so worried about our future and all we care about is for them to shut up. Compared to other asian kids, my parents have been pretty soft. I mean, they don’t go ballistic and take out a 5 foot stick and start whacking my behind but they (my mom in particular) have these ways of getting to my inner self. Since I’m in high school, I guess that doesn’t affect me as much. Should I be glad or worried?

I love this comedian. He rants on about beating your kids.

Russell Peters – Beat your Kids

When my mom scolds me, I feel like my body is on listen mode. I can’t move, I can’t talk and most of all, I can’t talk back. She contradicts herself so many times and I want to refute her words but I guess it’s a son-mother thing: she has more power than me. Also, the whole thing about Asian schools and parents beating their children is just horrible. In psychology, I eventually learned about conditioning. Basically, if you give a either a punishment or a reward for an action, then the outcome will follow. Most of the time, rewarding is the process that gives a higher chance of success. My church friends are 100% Korean and they are scared out of their minds about getting bad grades. For them, studying is their world. Since I go to an international school, I have it more easygoing. I tell them about myself and how I used to play every week in sophmore year. They just scowled at me. I can understand that. I guess one of my goals is to make Korea a brighter place for out generation. After all, who wants to have no life and study?

If you wish to visit my blogs before this date, go to http://jinsooc10.kiswrites.org/

The reason is that the pictures of the former blogs won’t come up.

Thanks,

jinsooc