Just an update on reading

I have been reading short stories for a while now. I have liked them, and I think I have gotten a good amount of information and knowable from them. I'm not too sure if this is supposed to be another reading log where we depict our stories, but I am just going to write about the feelings of reading, and stuff like that. I think these short stories gave me some good analyzation skills. Most short stories are about some random thing, but the whole point of it is really just the meaning. Like in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, it was about community stoning someone, but its actually meaning is how people can blindly follow traditions. This sort of reminds me of a video I saw on Youtube by CGP Grey, an educational animator. This story can be found here. It is about a very powerful dragon that lives at the top of a mountain. The village below had no way to kill it. They were too weak. The dragon demanded 10,000 random villagers every day, and since the village couldn't fight it, they had to oblige. The teachers then taught the children how the dragon has its part in society, and is good, because it makes people live the best lives they can. There is much more to the story, so watch the video if you have the time. The Lottery reminded me of this story because they have similar meanings. In this video, the village could not refuse the dragon, so instead of trying to come up with a way to defeat the tyrant, they just accepted it in its place in society. In The Lottery, people accepted a horrible tradition just because it was already in society. They didn't question it. This also made me think that in The Lottery when the tradition was first introduced, it was probably questioned a lot and tried against, but in the end, it had its place. After years and years of the ritual happening, people just stopped questioning it. Overall I have liked reading short stories instead of an actual book more, because each one is different, and helps me understand more.

Family and Chores

How quality time with you family is worth it

“Every child must have chores to do. It gives them dignity in work and the joy of labor.”

-Earl Hammer Jr.

Almost everyone has to do mundane tasks. In my life, this isn’t too apparent, and usually these mundane tasks are a blessing in disguise. Cleaning up after dinner with my mom was one of these.

The quiet nighttime deafened the plates bumping into each other. My mom was there to my left, helping me wash and put the plates into the dish washer. I looked out the window and observed he humid summer night, We always had to after dinner, it was just one of my chores, but this time, my mom joined me. 

“How was camp today?” The boring question made me roll my eyes. I don’t want to talk about something so basic and rudimentary. “How bout’ we talk about what we should do tonight? Maybe a movie? As we cleaned, we talked. We talked about our plans, but also how we feel about current situations. We talked about the leak in our house that needs to get fixed, and we talked about recent news. We talked and talked, and eventually the dished were done. I realized something important about family that day.

I found out that misty night that chores are now something you should groan over, but something you should cherish, because they usually are with your family, and to help your family. That is what life is all about. Family.

Family is truly the most important thing you have. Some may say it’s a blessing.

Interesting Videos

How some videos are spectacular 

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt 


Some videos can just wow you, and that is why I save these videos, to look back at them. This video I will talk about is very special to me. This is a video of a Harvard law student playing a self-written song about his times at Harvard. His name is Amin Toofani. The video is a recording in a 2011 talent show.

 I feel this video is special because it has incredible guitar playing, and it has meaning. Amin is playing this song with incredible passion. Thr entire song is a trip. It has highs, lows, fast parts, and slow parts. This along with his incredible skills and performance makes this video very meaningful and awesome to watch. The title also says that he won the talent show, which I think is very deserving. This piece is truly incredible.

Experiences is really what life is about.

My Cat Mittens

The most loving animal

”Time spent with cats is never wasted.”

-Sigmund Freud 

        A thick warm feeling engulfs my body. I notice the how soft the pure white fur is on my nose. Small skin like beans touch my face, and I hear the jingle of a quiet little bell. I am woken by the purrs of Mittens, or Mitt for short. He is pushing his fluffy paws on my chin. I see his eyes fully shut and his mouth smiling. The warm heavy blankets are parted for him. He is happy to just be with me. “Eli, wake up.” My mom stands over me. I see her eyes gleaming at me. I groan, and get up. Mitt looks up at me with despair in his eyes. I go to my bathroom and brush my teeth, and than take a shower. I come back out from my bathroom, and I see Mitt peacefully waiting for me to return. I get dressed and say goodbye to him. As the day goes by, I usually get a video of Mitt from my Mom where he is very sad or is causing trouble. The “Aww.” Or “Mitt!” texts are exchanged, then I carry on with my day. At the end of my day, I come home and see Mitt staring at me with excitement. “Hi! Did you miss me?” I ask. He answers with purrs and looks of love. During my study hours, he is always with me, laying next to me or just in the same room, and as the day ends, I get into bed, and shortly later he comes in and plops down next to me in my bed. Then the cycle repeats.

Putting Someone Down

How one sentence can ruin someone’s day

“When you're marginalized, there are no "them people," if we're all on the outskirts of the same margin.”
― Darnell Lamont Walker



        Some people are just put to the side; furthermore, I see this sometimes in my life. One example of this is when a kid who was autistic was excluded in my friends game of hide and seek.

I came over to my friends house on a mild fall day in 2012 for a Hanukkah, and we decided we would play hide and seek while we were waiting for dinner. My friends house was relatively small, but they had a massive backyard with a lot of trees to disguise with. My friend has an autistic brother named John, who is very caring and nice, but has a hard time figuring out social and emotional cues.

We met up in the center of their back yard. We were practically surrounded by stout bushes and stumpy pines. We got into a circle and decided who the seeker should be. John was involved in trying to find a squirrel in the bush. I thought he might want to play with us, so I called out to him. “John, do you want to join us?” He nodded his head, but one not so kind friend said “He can’t play with us! He doesn't know how to.” This was incredibly mean because John did know how to play—like almost everyone in the world— and I am sure that the rude friend did not want John to play because he was different than us. In the end, John was excluded because of someone’s lack of empathy.

I wish this situation never happened. John most likely went to bed that night feeling terrible. Empathy could of fixed this situation. If that rude friend didn’t say those hurtful words, John would of had a great time; on the other hand, that friend could of just learned how to be empathetic to people slightly different than us, which would make everything ok. I wish people knew how to be tolerant to matters like these.

 Remember The Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

 An Experience With a Friend

How working with an friend can just flow

Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.

-Misty Copeland 


Working together as a team can be amazing; furthermore, for me, I find this to be very true. One example of this is when Panha and I worked very well together in a science lab. For Science class, we have ben burning foods to capture and calculate their calories. To do this, you out a can of water over the burning foods, and with some math, you can find out the calories by the amount of degrees the water heats up. For this lab, Panha and I decided we would work together to make this project easier. On the day of the lab, we were a little excited. We agreed that I would do the testing, and that Panha would record all of the data. This allows opus to be very efficient with our work. We set the foods on fire individually, and recorded the data. The feeling of quickly running through a tough assignment is awesome. We were the first ones in the class to finish, and we had accurate data. This experience was important to me because it shows how well Panha and I work together as a team. This gives me a good idea of how I can work with people, and how I can be a leader, but also a follower. Teamwork makes the dreamwork.

Here is the poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen

Here are the Lyrics:

When me and mama go to bed

I lay down and think about 

All the wonders in the world, and all the things I must explore

How much time will this take me?

Too much for my short life

I must find a way, to carry my story

What can I do that will set me in stone?

What if I just am lost to darkness?

How will I know? How will I know?

Well I can’t, so I must go on

Making the best of my time as I thrive

I need to carry my story

Pop Songwriting Metacognition

       I started this song way too late then I should of; very last minute. The reason being that I didn’t find out we had to write this until Sunday, and that I procrastinated a lot. This is obviously not good, but I hope my song is good. I had a lot of trouble trying to put the music audio into garage band, but in the end it never let me, so I am just going to post the lyrics, and try to record after some technical help. I think the song is pretty good because it depicts a young child thinking about their future and how can they be remembered. I think this is a deep topic, which adds depth to a song. I think I did good in writing the lyrics, but not so good in timeliness. I wish I would of started this earlier, giving me more time to explore different ideas in the song. I think next time what will make everything much better would be for me to start the song as soon as I can.

Blues Songwriting Metacognition

I started off wanting to work with Nick, but it didn’t work out. The first day we were both in class, but the next class he was missing, then the class after that I was sick, so we didn’t meet enough for it to work. I wish it did in the beginning, but I realized it was an not too bad thing. I had the idea of writing about my applications because that is what was stressing me out at the time. Fitz first told us to make our guitar recording in garage band, but after a lot of class trouble he just played it for us. Writing the lyrics was incredibly easy. It just took some shallow “deep thinking” and you were on you way. I went through the process a little confused in the beginning, but I figured it out, and most importantly, gave a damn.