It's School

So it's the first day of school tomorrow!! I don't really feel the summer vacation these 2 months, probably because we basically have to come to school everyday.
I am so excited. I just can't wait for the heavy workloads, little kids' screaming, and parents' yelling everyday. Coming to school is not a bad thing since I can learn. But sometimes I just want to lean back or just lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling and falling asleep. Sometimes doing nothing helps me to clear my thoughts.
But life won't allow you to do that. Life would always trip you right on a pile of mud. When you tried to get up, life would punch you right in the face and you would fall into the mud again.
That's how simple it is.

Recently

Recently I read from news that as the alert of rabies was widespread in Taiwan, there are more and more stray dogs and stray cats found on streets. The number of stray dog caught on street increased about 30%. What makes the news even worse and sadder is that the local government is not able to trace the owners. Owners are supposed to take their dogs to the vet and inject chips so the owners could be found if their dogs are found on street. But the dogs captured on street are either not injected the chips or –the unbelievable perspective—the chips are dug out by the owners so they won’t be traced.

Recently I want to change my registered name on the ETS website. After I sent all the information requested and checked the website if my name is changed, I found that the name is still wrong. I initially want to change Jui-chia Chang to Rebecca Chang, but the name showed on the website is Jui-chia Rebecca Chang. I double checked the information I sent and everything is following the instruction. I don’t understand in what case a middle name just popped up from nowhere. But think twice, who I can blame on besides myself. It’s me the most stupid one who filled the name wrong at first.

Recently, there are so many tasks. The essays, the TOEFL, the first day of the school... I wish at least something could go right.

Earrings

I've always been obsessed with earrings. It is my favorite out of all the jewelry that I could put on. I think earrings could tell something about a person. Some people like to wear those cute earrings: the ones with neon colors or cake, rabbit, cat shape earrings, telling that those people are lighthearted. Some likes to wear something simple: geometric patterns, black-and-white colors, or literally "ear rings". This kind of earrings shows that those people might be simple, clear, urbane...etc. Some people have lots of piercings, indicating that they are diversified, free, not restricting by rules. Some people don't have any piercings at all, demonstrating that either they are reserved and cautious or it's simply because their parents do not allow them to do ear piercing. Recently I found a really awesome earring. It is an elephant. What makes it special is that its earring clutch is made to the back of the elephant. With the elephant's face and forelegs in the front of the ear and the rest of the body in the back, it just like an elephant stuck in your ear. There are other choices such as bull, cheetah, horse,  knife, key...etc. This is really cool and it will be cooler if my mom let me buy all of them.

Beach

We went to a beach last Saturday when we visit my grandparents. My grandparents live in Miaoli and they live near the sea. So every time when we go back to their house we could get to the beach by only riding bikes for 20 minutes. We rode to the beach at about 4 p.m. The beach is somehow different from what I remember when I came there as a kid. There are more garbage and vendors. When I dug, I used to find seashells and crabs, but now I only get plastic bags. The more I wanted to find what I once found, the less I could get. The only thing remains the same is the sunset. The sunset is still as beautiful as it was. When the sun reached the horizon, its yellowish fingers grasp the edge of the sea and stretched out toward us, making the ships blurred black shadows.

The Disney Movies

I knew I suppose to do some SAT practice in these days, but today I just watched all the Disney movies (well, not really "watch" but like scanning over for the plot and some particular music). Some of the movies are older and some are just as old as I am. Watching these movies as a teenager makes me have a pretty different feeling toward these movies than when I watched them as a kid. I used to think Disney movies are all about love and romance. But now I feel that they also address another topic --teenager rebellion. In Litter Mermaid (all 1, 2 ,and 3), Ariel wants to be a human despite what her dad had said; Melody never listens to her mother's words. In Lion King 2, Kiara is tired of Simba's overprotective parenting and want to be together with Kovu, the heir of Simba's enemy, Scar. In Pocahontas, the Indian princess Pocahontas keeps hanging out with John Smith even though she already has a fiance. Pocahontas 2 makes everything in the first episode a lie. Pocahontas just broke up with John Smith so easily despite they saved the American Indians and prevented a war in the first episode.

Other movies have great plot and great character. Aladdin is my favorite. Mulan is also not bad. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Alice in Wonderland (1951), The Aristocats, and so on, all are great movies. Walt Disney presents the old stories in a whole new way. With great imagination and music, he built our childhood with hopes and dreams. There is A Whole New World Under The Sea. Hakuna Matata, A Friend Like Me will be Part Of Your World. When The Bells of Notre Dame ring and When You Wish Upon A Star, You've Got A Friend Like Me.

World War Z

Recently I watched the movie, World War Z, with my family. The movie got a fairly high rate of 7.3 in the International Movie Database (IMDb) and most importantly, Brad Pitt was cast in the movie. World War Z is another movie that talks about the zombie apocalypse. However, what makes it different is that it illustrates what causes the zombie pandemic. What’s more interesting is that the original novel said zombies are caused by an advanced hydrophobic virus and the virus is origin in China. However, due to some political issue, the movie shifts the setting of the zombie hearth to Taiwan. When the actor read out the line, “When the mutated virus spread out from Taiwan…”, all the audience in the theater laughed. In the end, just like every other zombie movie, Gerry (Brad Pitt), the UN employee, finds a way to effectively fight against the zombies and saves the world……blah blah blah.

Anyway, when Gerry was sent to find the answer for the zombie problem and had to be forced to separate from his family, it’s just reminded me my mom’s flight to Netherlands. I will probably stick with this topic pathetically for the following weeks. This movie might be one of the last couple family events we could have.

Nonetheless, World War Z is a good movie. 

News

You know, there is often a kind of scene on TV that when a guy met his ex-girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend told him that she’s going to be married. The audience could then feel an awkward feeling when the guy said, “Hmm…I…feel happy for you” even though he didn't.

My mom is leaving for Netherlands.

Due to her job, mother is going to work in Netherlands for the next 2 years. She has to leave before October. In addition, she’s taking my sister with her. The news came so sudden that it shocked everyone in the family. In fact, my mom later confessed that she initially wanted to take all of us – my sister, my dad, me, and even our dog—with her. Yet, considering that I am a rising senior facing the coming college application period, she decided to leave me and my dad in Taiwan. Living in Netherlands is actually a great opportunity for both my mom and my sister. Mother can gain international working experience and my sister can have a chance to broaden her horizon. They can even travel around Europe in the vocations.

I suppose to feel happy for them. But now I feel the exact same feeling as the guy who heard his ex-girlfriend’s marriage felt. I used to think that dramatic feeling is nonsense. Now, it is so true, the contradicting feeling of happiness but also anger and sadness. When I tried to smile and said, “Have fun in the Europe”, I actually wanted to scream and shout.

Well, things are set. And since we only have 2 months left, I guess I should just cherish every minutes. 

Cousins; Visit

My younger cousins visited my place over the weekends. They are form America and decided to spend their summer in Taiwan. We don’t have a common topic to talk about since they are too young to discuss their future and I am too old to understand what’s interested to them. They also considerately brought all their 3C products ––from iPhone to PS3 to Xbox 360 –– so that they won’t be bored even if they are indoor. Yet, on the second morning they came, my mom proposed to take them to the nearest amusement park in Guanxi. At first I was concern that they would also feel bored even in the amusement park since, comparing to the ones in the States, its size is relatively small. I am not sure if my cousins really want to go there or just tired of playing video games, they agreed to go.

It turned out that they loved everything in the amusement park.

We rode on every roller coaster, took as many pictures as we can, and ate food that they couldn’t get in the States. However, while we were waiting for the firework show in the night, it began to rain. It rained heavier and heavier. My cousins were shocked by what they saw, they said they’ve never seen that kind of heavy raining before (they lived in California). I said they actually saw that before. When they were little, just a little bit younger than they are now, still living in Taipei, it rained like that all over the summer afternoon. They didn’t remember. But as it kept raining, memories seemed to flow back. After all, they are homed.

The Greatest Distance

It’s been a long time that I didn’t talk to my great grandfather. He’s already 97 years old. He lives in Mioli. Due to busy school work and long traveling time, I seldom visit him. Last time we talk was in his 97^th birthday dinner last December. He always wears a hat to keep his head warm. Years of time carved wrinkles all over his face. His eyes remain sharp even they are small and barely can see. He loves to seat in his rocking chair in the afternoon and watch Taiwanese folk opera with my great grandmother. When I was little, my great grandfather used to take me around, walking along on the country road and introduce the history of the buildings. Born in the Japanese colonial period, he witnessed lots of things. He remember the Japanese ruling; though most people stereotypically consider Japanese are vicious, he did not tell me what they’d done bad but what they’d done good. They constructed many modern infrastructures and sanitation, making the death rate rapidly decrease. He also remembered the day when the KMT came to Taiwan, everyone excitedly cheered for their arrival and soon became disappointed by their corruption. My great grandfather told me so many stories that I can’t exactly remember all of them.

Yet, last time we visit him, he couldn’t remember who I am. He couldn’t recognize me, nor my sister, nor my mother, nor any other relatives. When I stood right in front of him, I only felt the farthest distance –– that I missed someone so much but he couldn’t know.

 

The Day We Met

Last Sunday we sent our dog to get ligation. We hospitalized it for a week. Today, we finally got it back from the vet. When it saw our face from the cage, it shook its tail so hard that it bounced a rhythmic beat against the iron bars of the cage. It looked as if it saw a pool of water in front of it after wandering in desert for days. This actually reminded me of the day when we first picked it up from the stray. Yes, it is a stray dog. It hometown is in Nanliao. We met on the PAS biking field trip. Someone saw it roaming around the street alone. When they picked it up, they found out that it is sick. They thus decided to bring it back and offer it with medical treatments as well as a home. After several discussions (and some disputed) with my family, we adopted it. At first, we worried that it could survive. Back then it’s January, it’s very cold. And the one-month old puppy was sick. Yet, as if it was a miracle, the little puppy recovered from the illness and grew to a beautiful hound dog. We serve it with cooked pumpkin and potato for everyday meals. We also massage it every night, making sure that its muscle is relaxed and it is comfortable. We even bath it with Hinoki soothing oil, so that its fur is smooth and shining. Given these kinds of high class care every day, it has considered itself as human rather than as a dog. As a result, it must freak out when it live in the hospital, along with other animals that are not belongs to its “species”.

However, I am glad it is back. Although it will spoil the little dog, I kind of enjoy when I serve the dog as if it holds some VIP membership in my family.

Dance and live

Today is the Dancing Performance of Hot 5, the dance club of Hsinchu Girl Senior High School, which is the high school I attended before I went to PAS. I was pretty nervous when I first enter the performing place. They are my friends but we’ve lost contact and didn’t talk for a long time. I don’t know what to say when I saw them. The only thing I can do was to sit down, wait, and watch. The sophomores started the opening dance, which was very entertaining. Then it’s the juniors’ performance. I was astonished by their dance. They improved a lot. All of them were dissolved in the music. Their arms and legs stroke and stretched perfectly. Their dance move was so beautiful as if it was the language between the dancers and the audience. They conveyed their emotions as the hip hop rhythm guided them. As the music went on, they kept on spinning, jumping, and posing. The performance only lasted for 4 hours. Yet, I knew that 4 hours of dancing came from practicing for 6 months; no matter there’s a cold current, a hot sun, or a heavy rain, they just kept on dancing. I was touched when I saw them present their efforts to the audience. They are no longer the same people I knew—they’ve grown. During the performance, I was speechless. No words can describe my amazement. I could only hear and feel the music and their moves. It’s really glad to see a group of people share their enjoyment of dancing and do what they love to do. With unconditional devotion and infinite passion, they will dance on. WE dance on.