memoir

He calmly looks back at me. He maybe even winked at me. I am trying to maintain the coolness, but my body nevertheless is dominated by an uneasy hunch that something awful would happen. In front of a motionless mother lying down right front of him, the man takes down a deep breath.
And he suddenly jabs the knife into the unconscious woman. Following the trace of the knife, blood springs up. It flows down along the woman’s stiff body, smearing over the white blanket with its ruddy strain until it drops to join an already existent blood clot in the floor. A distinctive ferrous odor is prevalent in the room.
The man gains momentum. Now deeply obsessed with the body, he extracts the disgusting layers of human fat and further delves into the deepest of the organs. Yet the man’s face never loses its initial composure as if he has always been comfortable with tearing up a human being.
Even though I am considerably far from the operation table, I find myself all covered with blood. My friend next to me, who was supposed to shoot the entire process, is completely taken over by the scene. We both stood there speechless, simply immersed to the man and the body.
The man suddenly shivers. Something must have gone wrong. My heart pounds like crazy. But instead, his hands abruptly withdraw a dirty creature from the sliced body. The “thing” is all covered with a sticky fluid. It is constantly wiggling and at the same time shrieking outloud.
And another precious life is introduced to the world.

analyze a photo

The cops are all hiding behind a car. One is holding a megaphone while another is pointing a gun to someone in front of them. They are probably talking to an armed criminal. But when you come to think of it, it is quite witty to find a handful of cops all gathered behind a car. The half-projected police car, with its doors open, adds to the humor as it impies that the policemen decided to abandon their own vehicle just to hide behind a small civilian car.
A German automobile company, Volkswagen gives a quality laughter to the audience. By doing so, they are implicitly developing a friendly view on their product Polo. The commercial is trying to say that although the car is "small", it sure is "tough" for the drivers.

10 possible research topics

1. Tufts University must be more concerned with environment preservation and reflect on current school policies on that matter, such as giving out free NYTs to students, which is obviously a huge waste of paper

2. Study-Abroad programs should not be limited to students learning the language of the program-holding country

3. Course requirements, such as math and English, should be more lenient

4. Automobiles should not be allowed to enter the university (except the Joey, perhaps)

5. The school should adjust the concept of quiet hour period by delaying a couple of hours of its start and yet more strictly carrying it out

6. For male students who come from countries that require them to join the army, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, etc., certain benefits should be given after they come back to school

7. The school should provide classes of a huge number of students with a separate space for taking mid-terms and finals (I didn't like the experience of jotting down furiously on an extremely tiny table, more of an arm-stand, in the Cohen Auditorium during my first mid-term)

a significant moment regarding racial identity

In my senior year in high school, my English teacher brought up a very interesting comment on racism.
"Imagine that you are on a blind date. You have been told that you will be dating the school basketball star. What image pops up in your mind? Another one: you have been told that you will be dating the captain of the school's math team. What kind of person will you be likely to expect?"
My teacher, a Korean-American born in California and a Berkeley graduate, then told the class that without doubt, probably everyone will think of a black student for the first situation and an Asian for the other one.
"Then you are all racists. Racism is not just about calling names or bouncing people off from a group. It is your thought process."
To tell you the truth, I was shocked. I don't know why; probably because that was the first time I have ever heard of an opinion so frank and direct from an American. And how clear and vivid his examples were! Only a year remaining until I start college in the U.S., I might as well would say that I had sort of an epiphany. His words definitely shed light on an idea rather remote and unrealistic to a person who spent most of his life in a homogeneous nation.

I lost my uncle

Piece of advice: when looking after your valuables, namely your cell phones or wallets, also check your beloved ones; you might also lose them as well.
In my case, I lost my uncle.
Among the five children, my uncle was the brightest he most outgoing one. He was the only child to have the privilege to attend a college overseas. He had his college education in the United Kingdom, where he learned his thick British accent and habituated in drinking heavily.
For a man like him, it must have been quite a pain to work in “Wonderland,” a small tutoring institute for children. Struggling alphabets with naughty kids was quite not the appropriate picture. Yet he somehow managed to maintain his coolness in front of me, the only male nephew he had.
Among the family clan, He alone indulged in alcohol and cigarettes while all the others were devout Christians. And I was most ardent in trying to remove his disgusting habit by hiding his cigarettes away, but he did not even once cast anger upon me. Instead, he just smiled weakly and promised me not to smoke and drink again. And, of course, such promises always fell into vain.
He died on a rainy day. The drunken man was hit by a drunken car.
So as you can see, sometimes people just slip out of your grasp. The time you feel something strange and look back with a feeling of lack, it is already too late.
They just leave you. They just go away.

a list of 10 observations about climate change, sustainability, or other environment-related issues at Tufts.

1. frequent rise and drop of temperature
2. At night, the lounge is beyond warm; it is boiling. I wonder why.
3. You can pick up as much food as you want in the cafteria, which eventually would lead to tons of leftovers.
4. Joey bus sure is convenient, but sometimes the driver stops the vehicle with its engine on while waiting for people
5. The surprisingly high number of used books in the school bookstore
6. almost everybody has a PC or laptop; exactly how much electricity are we using?
7. low water pressure in our showers
8. election flyers everywhere; having your face all crumbled and lying in the streets will not necessarily help ones edition.
9. Water fountains can be found everywhere on campus. I think that is great.
10. A lot of teachers upload their syllabus or course materials instead of handing them out. Saves a lot of paper.

images

9/4
brilliant outdoor class
filling up my plates with cafeteria food
relaxation; only one more class to go on friday
amazing movie clip during Intro CD class
sweaty walk all the way back to my dorm room

9/5
"ridiculously" huge Tisch library
books centuries old, probably
quiet streets and cool breeze of wind during nighttime
sore eyes after looking up the German-English dictionary
intensely hot and humid atmosphere after a hall meeting

9/6
humid, humid, hot, humid...
endless pouring of raindrops
insomnia back in action
happy to have a phone call with my friend in South Korea
frustrated after finding out that I lost my keys

9/7
attending church; intense yet somewhat unfocused sermon?
beautiful sky; probably the rain washed away the pollution
gracefully taking back leftover food from the barbeque party back to my dorm room
speachless after finding out that someone took out my laundry from the washer and put his/hers instead
busy trying to finish my reading assignment

9/8
woke up at 9:29 and ran into a 9:30 class; missed breakfast
utterly stunned after finding out that I need to pay $55 in case I can't find my keys and need to get my doorlock changed
feeling a little bit heavy after carrying 7 bottles of water in my backpack
Gobbled up two hot dogs; and oh, how good they were!
a little bit of laughter after finding out what one of my reading assignment was: "How to e-mail a professor"