After Sweet Rain, There is Sunny Day

Sweet Rain, it is a novel written by a Japanese writer, Kotaro Isaka. Kotaro Isaka is a young star of recent Japanese writers, who is knowledgeable in many aspects, such as science, art, history and music. In his novels, readers can usually see his sharp and impressive perception on human beings. The amazing characters and original plots created in his novel are his feature. Plots may be a consecutive arson events happens in a city which always accompanied with mysterious words daubed on the wall, or a story between three professional killers. The characters can be a scarecrow who has the ability to talk, or a god of death, such as Chiba in Sweet Rain.

People's image of god of death is like a skeleton in black cape with a big scaring sickle. But this image doesn't fit to Chiba. In Sweet Rain, god of death is a jod, they work under an organization. When they get the message sent by the department of imformation, it is time for them to work. The content of work is to observe an assigned human for seven days, on the eighth day the god of death will decide whether his target shall die or not. In order to make the observation work easier to do, the department of imformation will tell the god of death how their outlooking is like this time. It is helpful when they need to approach their targets.

Chiba is one of the god of death, the one among them who is enthusiastic at music. He considers music as the greatest invention of human. The love of music makes him different from his colleague. However, there is a special thing always comes with him. That is, he has never seen a sunny day. When he is on his work, it is always raining. As a god of death who has a totally different thinking logic than human, he doesn't care much about that.

In the novel, there are seven people in his investigation. (In the movie which adapts from the novel, he meets three people). We see the variety of human lives. Every person has their own life story and living philosophy. Through the eyes of Chiba, whose thought will not be affected by emotion, we can observe humanity transparently.

Since I am only a 19 year old student, I don't think I have the qualification to talk about the true meaning of human life. But I did get some thoughts after watching this movie and then reading the novel last year, that was -no matter what difficulty you encounter in your life, face it! Every person's life story is fascinating. If you don't keep going, you will never know which way your own story will go to and how will it develope. In the end, Chiba sees a beautiful sunny day scene beside the sea. It seems saying to us: after sweet rain, there is sunny day!

Crazy April!

Almost all of the mid-term exams occur in April. In addition to these horrible mid-term exams I have to do some presentation in April as well. It’s quite troubling to prepare both mid-term exams and presentations at the same time. All of our classmates study so hard in order to survive in this crazy April.

Every time I check my schedule book which is filled with marks of exams, quizzes, and presentations, my heart sinks. I had mid-term exam of Introduction to Linguistic on Monday. Though I’m interested in Introduction to Linguistic, it still annoyed me a lot to memorize abundant definitions. Besides, there were some parts left for us to study on our own because of our lack of time in class. I almost spent all of my weekend on it. Then, here came the extremely awful Tuesday. I was asked to give a prepared speech in Listening and Speaking class and after that I had a three hours mid-term exam of Introduction to Western Literature. I was totally exhausted on Tuesday. To my great disappointment, that was not the end of mid-term exams. I still have to strive for the coming quizzes, mid-terms, and presentations in the following weeks.

All that I want now is to pass all the exams and keep a general level in my presentations! For fear of landing myself into troubles again, I have make up mind to prepare the final exams which fall on June from May.

A song that I really need at this moment [2]

I tried to embed the video, but the HTML was not accepted. Therefore I put the address here.

http://mymedia.yam.com/m/2481054

This band is called McFly and this is my favorite song, "I'll be OK". Everytime when I am really upset and down I will listen to this song repeatedly. It could always cheer me up when I was a 12th grade student. Even now I am still listening.

These days, or maybe this semester, everything has changed. Everything that I liked I loved has changed a lot. I thought I could handle them well. At least in last semester I did. But now, I have lost a lot that I thought was all in my grasp. The story is too long and it is also not appropriate to talk about it here. I just want to yell and cry and let go every terrible thing.

I tried to talk to my friends, but things just cannot be OK if I don't open my mind. Things are so complicated that even I want to solve them is impossible. I know I have to overcome them by myself. No one could help me, so I listen to this song to make me feel OK and try to find some encouragement from it. I hope I'll be OK soon.

Lyrics

When everything is going wrong
And things are just a little strange
It's been so long now
You've forgotten how to smile.
And overhead the skies are clear
But it still seems to rain on you,
And your only friends all have
Better things to do.

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

Now things are only getting worse
And you need someone to take the blame
When your lover's gone
There's no-one to share the pain
Your sleeping with the TV on
And your lying in an empty bed
All the alcohol in the world
Could never help me to forget

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Just try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day,
Oh just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone

Just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Won't you tell yourself, I.....

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day

Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK

Departures

Please close your eyes slightly, and let me accompany you in the last period of life.

Departures talk about the job that is to make up the dead people in order to let these people can become beautiful at the end of life. The actor, 大悟, get this job by accident. At the beginning, he is not willing to do this job and he also afraid to do it. After he himself see the ritual again and again, he gradually know the significant meaning of this job and how important role he is.

It is a good movie that let us to know this job and realize it. It also touch me when I see people cry to their dearest friends, daughters, mothers, and fathers. The most touching scene I felt is that the son use the towel to wash his mother's face, because it recalled my memory.

It also let us to think about death. I remeber one role says " Death maybe is a door that death is not terminate of life, on the other hand, death is to go next station." Despite the fact that death probably is a terrible thing to confront, we will take it easier if we take the different kind of aspect that the role tell us.

I love this movie.

As Elections Near, Tightrope Awaits in India

Not knowing what to write, I read an article in NYtimes and came up with some ideas about it. The subject of this article " As Elections Near, Tightrope Awaits in India" is the discussion about the situation related to the upcoming elections in India. I chose this one because I am interested in international news and curious about India, one of the most potential countries in 21st. The following are the summary of what I read and what I think.

In this article, the author describes many different parties' policy of the worldwide economic crisis while few of them try hard to make India as a more open economy. Their goal are the same "to keep India prospering" but their method are different. Some say they will spend on infrastructure and social welfare. Others focus on the stock market. However, no matter who to be the next leader, he will face a hard situation just as other countries' government. Interestingly, the economic crisis is not felt in across rural India, as it is in India’s globalized cities, and this is where most of the votes are.

After reading this article, I think that the elections in India has some similarities in comparison to Taiwan; for example, in an intensely competitive political environment, every party promises benefits. Nevertheless, “ to say is one thing; to do is another,” whether the government can live up to their goals is a big doubt. Besides, this article gives me another impression about India. An image of prospering democracy India rather than poor chaos India. This inspires me that the world is changing so quickly that Taiwan will be overrun if we don’t progress. Therefore, as a Taiwanese, I am supposed to always encourage myself to become better and better.

Abercrombie Boy

two are both my classmates from Italy^^ very ''Abercrombie boy''

Yesterday, I was looking through some of my pictures when i went to Boston last summer vacation.''Abercrombie Boy'' suddenly came to my mind while i was looking this picture. It is a term that was created by me and some of my friends when we traveled to Boston. Abercrombie boy refered to guys that have perfect muscles with attractive out-looking. The reason why we have this term is that there is a chain clothes shops named '' Abercrombir and Fitch'', which always have ''Abercrombie Boys'' being the clerks. Also, they hired ''Abercrombie Boys'' on weekends to stand at the front gate with their tops off to attract customer. oooooooh~ it was such a pleasant just seeing them! One of those Abercrombie boys' job is asking girls that linger their eyes on them to take picture with them. They will put their hand on girls' waist and tenderly hug them while taking the picture. I eyes were dazzling when i took pictures with them! But it was a heart-broken pity that i have that picture lost while i accidentally deleted it! i felt sooo bad for my foolishness. There got one thing that conforts me is that many of my classmates, who has the same figure like''Abercrombie Boy'', came from Italy and South America are still in my picture gallery. Everytime when i saw those pictures, my heart butterflies~~

ooh~I miss them!!! I want to see Abercrombie boys whitout their tops on street Again!!!haha

My Happy Trip to Hualien

During the spring break, I went to Hualien for three days with my friend in the church. This is a trip for me to relax and withdraw from the tense schoolwork temporarily.

It took about three to four hours from HsinChu to Hualien. On the way to Hualien, we kill the time by singing songs or hymns together and playing guitar. When going through the Shuhua highway, we all amazed by the spectacular view of the cost. The steep cliff along the blue seashore makes up the picturesque scenery.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. The fist day we went to Taorko National Park and took a walk in the path of Yanzihkou (燕子口) and Jiucyudong tunnel（九曲洞）. These part are the most magnificent part of the national park. At Yanzihkou, the rock cliff of Liwu River gorge seemed to touch the heaven while the torrent runs swiftly. There is also an interesting place where if you throw out a piece of paper in the air, the paper will soaring up to the sky instead of falling down to the ground. The secret to it is the rear terrain that produce a special air current which makes the paper “flying” in the sky.

The second day we went river tracing. I should have joined this exciting activity, but because of the small wound in my leg, I had no choice but to give up. Therefore, I stay at the bank of the pool watching the blue and deep pool and the sunshine reflected by surface of water, listening to the sounds of the wind passing through the leaves. I was fascinated by the peaceful and quite atmosphere around me, and felt my body relaxed in the nature.

After returning to home, thanks to the short trip to Hualien, I found myself had the power to go to work again. I think going on a journey and seeing different view is really a good way to enliven our life.

[Journal 2] Making awosome things by yourself

There is a stall just outside the 水木 book store that selling many kinds of Teddy bears and rabbits this week. Lovely Teddy bears have attracted passerby' s eyes that almost everyone would stop and take a look of them. But the thing that different from other stalls is that you can make your own Teddy bears or rabbits by your hands, and it's cheaper than the finished products if you only buy the ingredients. I am interested in doing little hand-made things by myself, so that it's impossible for me to lose such a great opportunity. I bought a big rabbit and two small Teddy bears, then my friend and I were just sitting on the chairs near to the vendor and learn how to make bears from the vendor. At such a period of crazy mid-term, doing somethings different from English really makes me feel relax and joyful. When we were sitting there, we saw many people buy the ingredients and , the most surprising to me, they almost were male! When I saw this interesting thing I felt nothing but a little strange and confused. But my friend told me that she was moved by this phenomenon for the reason that they were supposed to make hand-made Teddy bears to his girlfriend. We also met a few classmates there and had a good afternoon. I wish this stall will come again soon, and I will miss the vendor because they were passion of teaching us to sew proficiently.

Articles in Common Wealth

I read the Common Wealth 418(天下雜誌) this afternoon. I found that there were some articles connecting with our essay, successful business. These articles talked about the ability of doing market research. When a company pays more attention to the market research, it can understand what clients need and adjust the direction of its business. Take Accer and Asus for example. Asus is the first company that produce small notebooks, EeePC, and Accer is its competitor. Accer was good at market research, however; Asus is not. Therefore, Accer became the first place of selling notebooks.
Another article was about the general manager of Google in Taiwan. He pointed that users in Taiwan should not limit themselves to ".tw" website. I think he is right. I usually search infomation in traditional Chinese because I'm lazy to read English ones. After reading it, I noticed that if I want to be a person with a global perspective, I should try to look more information. It will take lots of time for me to be used to read all English information but I know it is good for me and I should give a try.

Let's twitter!!

What is Twitter? Twitter is a free service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has gained more and more users worldwide. And Twitter seems to be a link between stars and their fans, for example, President Obama has a team to help him write Twitter notes to his followers; Britney Spears has an assistant to help update content for Twitter. Recently, I found and followed my favorite NBA player-- Allen Iverson! I can not wait to see his new Twitter notes! What's more, Twitter even saved a man from Egypt who used his mobile phone to twitter the message to his followers. It seems that we can find more things to do with the help of Twitter.

The Night That I Have To Rush Home

It was PM9:45 at last tuesday. i phoned my mother asked her whether she needs my attendence in my grandmaother's 頭七. She then said '' of course! you have to come back! And you have better come back right now!''
If this conversation happened two weeks ago, i would definitely have a quarral with my mother. Yet, after my grandmother's death, i tried to be my best not to let my parents worry about things other than the funeral, and try hard to distract them from feeling sad all over the time. Then, at 9:47 packed my bag immediatly in order to catch up the High speed Railroad at 10:40. Even when i recall the situation happened at that day, i can still feel the urgent sence of feeling chasing after me.
I helled a Taxi alone on the front gate of the school. At the moment i sat down, i smelled the smell of beer. Although i am a little bit concern about it, i still ignored it in order to keep on time. Yet, the moment that the Taxi drive, the only thing i did is praying, hoping that this potentailly drunken driver may drive me safely to the station on time, and also wont do anything terrible to a single young woman that need to rush home in such late night.
On the way to the station, the driver kept singing out loud with the music coming from the radio and at the same time asking me questions that i dont want to answer, i was so scared but i pretented to be in extreme calm. The only thing that i think about at that time is hoping that the driver may not taking me to somewhere else. After fifteen minutes, i saw the station, i was so relieved at that moment. The exact moment when i step out that Taxi, i swear to myself that i will never do such a dangerous thing ever after.
i am so glad i am still here, typing my homework in front of my desk.

A creative architecture in Yilan [revised]

Huang sheng-yuan, an architect has lived in Yilan for eleven years. He has designed many architectures whose style are very different from the local buildings. In 2007, he constructed a building with abnormal shape which is now used as a government institution. He tried to bring an image of "mountain" into this building and create a sense of movement through twisted pillars and large floors. He also made use of different materials in this building so that it showed various features properly itself. What's interesting of it is that he directly made the stair handrail out of the steel bars. Though this truly achieved the specially effect he wanted, it also brought some problems to maintain. As the past works he designed, this building doesn't have walls around it. Mr. Huang made it friendly blend with surroundings. Walking into the building you will not feel bored because there are many interesting and creative designs in it.

Although this building has brought about controversy between local residents, it is still a special creation. Sometimes a designer being too modern will cause some criticism, but people's opinions and thoughts will change as time goes by. Maybe after decades this kind of modern buildings will be in fashion.

Silent dancing in the field---CHIA CHIA

I am the kind of person who like baseball, love baseball, and cannot eat, sleep or have the fun of living when there is no baseball. But I am not going to explain what makes me become a crazy fan. In this entry, I want to introduce a baseball player in Taiwan who is outstanding both on field and, more being respected, his humble mind.

Unlike Chien-Ming Wang, who is now a well-known sport star not only in Taiwan but also in the States, this man doesn't seem to have that kind of luck to show his skill and the quality of star to the world. He is Cheng-Min Peng, nicknamed CHIA CHIA. Of course, he does have the good capability for being a player, which all the baseball star should have. But what makes him so unique and respectful is his humble and smooth disposition. If you had once watched a baseball game, you should have notice that it is quite usual when a batter hit a homerun, he will do some motion and pose or sometimes shout out loud to celebrate for himself during his running to the homebase. Since hitting a homerun is of some difficulty and has the worth of celebrating, it is acceptable and common. However, when you watch CHIA CHIA's baserunning after he hits a homerun, you will never see him do any special pose, and you even can't notice any change of emotion on his face. He always lows his head and runs seriously toward the homebase. What makes him do this is that he considers those celebrating poses are humiliations to the pitcher, so he just does his right thing. After game finish, when all the players, audiences and staff left, he will bow to the baseball field, to show respect to the God of baseball.

At last, he is still a human who may have emotion sometimes. He had once hit the transformer on the wall in player restroom out of anger in August, 2005, which occured by his discontent from his performence that night. The result of that event was a fracture at his right hand, which caused him away from field for almost a year. It was since that terrible event he grew maturer and maturer psychologically. Although it was a stain in his career, it made him know the importance of tranquility and shape what a popular baseball star he is today.

New York Times

Choose one of the following to read for the mid-term exam on April 22.

1. Ghosts haunt ancient banking center.
2. Drug trade revives Peru's rebel war
3. Creatures who leap off the big
4. For 'dreamgirls,' fans adn financing

Watch out for this website for every Tuesday new articles (April 7 & 14)
http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/itempage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=381&f_SUB_ID=3731

Marley & Me

In recent years, here are a number of films which acted by animals, especially by puppies. Some best-sold movie such as Quill, Lassie and so on which touch lots of people's hearts.

If you feel bored, I recommend you a popular film called,"Marley and Me". It's an adaption of a best seller with the same name. It depicts the relationship between an awfully cute dog and his owners. They shared many years accompanying with each other. Not only can Marley plea them but also he can heal the owners' pain with his sensitive heart. Seeing"Mayley and Me", I cannot help laughing out loud; however, at the end of the movie, I was moved by their deep emomtions, bursting into tears . The most impressive scene to me is that he "successfully" enrage his trainer, the one who is very experienced. Although Marley may be considered to be a troublemaker, he still entertain and comfort people by his kindheart. Watching the film is an easy way to make me happy, relaxed and even let me have more courage facing with difficulity in reality.

The film reminds me of cherishing what I have as well as living in the present. Marley and Me makes people realize the tinest but is also the simplest happiness in life. No wonder there are a lot of acclaims of its delicate description. Marley may be an extremely awful dog when he break the rules of our so-called normal life; however his innpcency, trust in humans entirely touch me from the bottom of my heart.

About Fast Food

We hear about news that in order to gain more profit, many fast food restaurants give their customers some discount or do other tricks to attract them. What’s more, because buying food from fast food restaurants is so convenient and quick, and some foods are tasty that many people like to have fast food for their meals.

There is a famous film called: Super Size Me, which was released in 2004. Young filmmaker Morgan Spurlock boldly carried out an experiment with his body: for 30 days, he took his meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner, no exception, at McDonald’s. And he directed and recorded his horror story. Morgan Spurlock’s object was to prove the physical and mental effects of consuming fast food. Before beginning shooting the film, Spurlock went to see three doctors to have some examination, showing that he was a man with the healthy body and mind. But after eating hamburgers and fries (5000 calories a day) for 30 days, a tragedy came up. Let me make a list:

1. He gained 11.1 kg.
2. His knees ached for his increase of weight.
3. He got stomachache.
4. His cholesterol index number “shot up”.
5. His GOT and GPT rose.
6. His girlfriend argued with him.

This alarming information tells us: having too much fast food will ruin your health. Spurlock spend one year time trying to restore to his originally body weight but in vain. Afterwards, McDonald’s changed menu instantly, adding salads and ending super sizing meals, but did not admit to being influenced by Spurlock's film.

Moreover, fast food restaurants were confronted with a second strike. There was another movie: Fast Food Nation, which describes that fast food have the unhealthy influence on society and individuals.

But I think that we do not have to quit ourselves eating fast food, we can still have the delights of chatting and eating with friend in the fast food restaurant. What we need to remember is not having too much fast food!

Substantial Saturday

On March 28th, I joined a one-day camp related to global warming and greenhouse effect; besides, I watched a tape Let It Be, which is called 無米樂 in Chinese, in the evening. I really had a copious day though I hadn't studied any textbooks and left many thing unfinished. At the night of that day, my mind was full of speculation on the world, on the society and on the life.

After attending the camp, I learned some new conception about global warming and greenhouse effect. I realized more about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the system related to them. Most of all, I got some significant view about those phenomena of this issue. For example, we can't see climate change as the only reason of those disaster happening around the world and the emission reduction of those so-called environmental-friendly country, such as Japan, is not for ethic but for responsibility of the long historical emission. Moreover, when reading the survey of this issue, we should take every aspect into consideration rather than rush to a sole simple conclusion.

In addition, after watching the tape Let It Be, my heart was full of complex feeling. I appreciated those farmers' attitude toward their hard life; I was angry about the unequal situation of farmers and I bothered with the complicated relationship among farming, industry, and business. Those farmers' situation become worse because Taiwan has joined WTO, which creates lots benefit for business. I think we should care more about farming in Taiwan; we can't just emphasize the industry and business. After all, farming is the primary machine that make Taiwan prosper; moreover, a country can't subsist safely without farming. Last but not lest, farming culture is the basic culture of Taiwan; if we lost it what will we have ?

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., devoted his life to helping people who were poor, disadvantaged, and racially oppressed in U.S. He born in January 15,1929 at Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1951. King then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955.
He lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott for Rosa Parks, who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to white people.
King won his Nobel Peace Prize in1964 for end racial segregation and racial discrimination.
He delivered a well-known speech, I Have a Dream, in Washing, D.C.
The important affairs he did are Albany movement, Birmingham campaign, organized” Poor People’s Campaign” and so on.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, among his 70s. He started his political life because of inheriting his father's position as a privy councilor in 1937. Since his education of Bachelor of Arts and Laws which is related to the liberal arts, Mandela represented political dreams of black people. In order to realize those dreams, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. Following his release from prison, because of the end of apartheid, on 11 February 1990, Mandela supported reconciliation and negotiation, and helped lead the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Four years later, he was elected in a fully representative democratic election in South of Africa. He and F.W.de Klerk, who was the last president of apartheid-era South Africa, known for improving the end of apartheid, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Due days for journal entries

2nd and 3rd entries due on April 17, Friday
4th and 5th entries due on May 29, Friday
6th and 7th entires due on June 17, Wednesday