A Place I'd Like to Call Home...

Defining Myself [UC essay Prompt 2]

2007-11-04T08:22:03Z

Defining Myself

*NOTE: Read first prompt FIRST... or it'll seem off.

I remember reading The Tragedy of Julius Caesar during my 10th grade honors English class. Brutus had murdered Caesar because he and the other councilmen had feared the magnitude of his ambition. I hadn't understood why; I had been one of the few who had admired his ambition. It so mirrored that of myself, one of the two qualities that almost make me who I am. People can't simply be defined with words; we're much too complicated for that. But words try.

Ambition. The will -- my will -- to win. Despite my pathetically dark past, and none too bright future, I always, always try to win. Most of the time, I do. Not always, but almost. Life is a game that everyone plays to win; I'm going to win. My past won't bring me down. I'm a player who intends to win no matter how high the odds are stacked against me. My mom had quit once. I don't plan on following her footsteps in that direction. One is one too many in life.

Perseverance. The will -- my will -- to survive. This is why I must win, to survive. In this society in which social Darwinism establishes and breaks the rules, I will be the fittest to win, to survive. Taking on my life two steps at a time may not be enough sometimes. I might fall behind. I might altogether lose my way or be purposely thrown off course by another. I might grow tired of the same scene passing me by. I won't cry or give up. I'll find a different road. Maybe, I'll find a shortcut.

People don't start off this race to the finish line with a map or compass. We only have our hearts and our wits to reach our goals. I will guide my heart with my will to win and employ my wits with my will to survive. Ambition and perseverance. Two words, two meanings that are so closely related they could be twins. They will be my key to unlocking the door to the path that will lead me to what I will define as victory.

This is the prompt:

Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

I feel like I totally killed this one.. T^T constructive criticism completely welcome.

The Road Closer to Home [UC essay Prompt 1]

2007-11-04T08:06:48Z

The Road Closer to Home

December 16, 2000. My mother was forever put to rest on that cold, rainy day. Cancer, the vile beast, had eaten away at her body and sanity until she decided enough was enough. My mom had never been a quitter. That was her first and last time. I remember standing before her coffin filled with hopelessness and feeling helpless because of it. Hope is such a fragile thing and I had been too careless with it. Each of our lives is like an hourglass held carefully on a balance meant to tip over ever so slightly and no more; mine had fallen and shattered. The grains of my memories spilled across with valley of mourning and I ran after them, desperate to hold on to the splintered remnants of what defined my world. I hadn't known how precious she is and my ignorance had forced her away; I felt numb with the realization that it was I that had ultimately devastated her world and mine. I stood in the rain trembling not at the cold, but at the thought of having to live with only half myself. Before my every eyes, my life had crumbled and scattered into an endless black abyss and because of this, I felt like a child, lost in the dark with only my blind eyes and deaf ears to guide me back to the home I didn't have.

I'm living in a place with people who wear the mask of family but bear the soul of strangers. I'm a prisoner in this place I dread to call home and only myself and my captives are aware of it. My mother left me to an unfaithful step father who remarried a little less than a year after her passing. I loathe him. He never deserved her. An angel had been sullied by his hands and I was the only witness. I'm forced to live with a man who abhors my very existence but tries, not very hard, not to show it. I watch his family be a family and I feel like an intruder, one that doesn't belong on the inside or outside of anything. At nights I shed bitter tears, cursing my life and feeling childish doing so. I don a smile despite the sting of tears behind my eyes and bite back sobs for fear of being weak. Every day is a battle in my war against demons I can see but can't understand, and I feel like I'm slowly losing. And I can't lose. Not yet.

Because of my fear of facing my reality, I began to see the realities of everyone around me. Everywhere I turn, people strive to reach success -- whatever success happens to be. I see them -- and inadvertently myself -- take on life one step at a time and realize how vain their -- our -- efforts are. If everyone is taking life one step at a time, no one would be moving forward. Without knowing it, we've all been walking through our lives at the same pace, one step at a time. I don't want to fall into place. I want to reach the finish line. I don't want to be the runner-up. I want to be first. So what if I took two steps? Maybe, if I took two steps, I would get somewhere. Maybe I could begin to understand the Life that I fear but wish to know. I don't know exactly what I want as of yet. I do know that I don't want to be blinded by the illusion of single step dreams; I don't want to hold on to dreams that aren't really there. I want to find that one place where I'll finally belong, a home that'll be my home; I want to understand this impossible-to-solve mystery called Life and succeed in finding my truths to happiness.

I want to find my dream.

I will find my dream.

I have to.

This is the prompt:

Describe the world you come from -- for example, your family, community or school -- and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Did I do well or totally bomb?

Story of My Comically Insane (and Tragic) Life

2007-10-07T06:42:38Z

*sigh* I've been so tired. I was like.. almost ALMOST depressed. I was in a slump.. (which is practically depression for me anyways.. ><)

So much crap has happened in the past I don't know.. week? My life's doing a nose-dive into an empty pool and I can't seem to do anything to stop it from plummetting to its death.

School's getting harder... I can't seem to concentrate. I missed two huge assignments for AP Governemnt which will probably butcher my A... AP Biology was a total rollercoaster; it took everything I had to get an A and now the other 10 kids in the class are doing voodoo and shit to destroy it (it being me and the A)... sadly, 4 of the people cursing me to my demise are my friends. CLOSE friends. AP Calculus is a fcking joke. My teacher treats us like a bunch of retards... mentally retarded people get better treatment. Who calls a calculator a FUNulator? To him, everything is "fun". (Activity = FUNtivity, Classroom = FUNroom). Can he get any more ridiculous? I feel like I'm stuck in the twilight zone where the teachers are turning into 2 year olds and the kids are well.. not much to say about them.

I'm moving out of my house; that's the other turning point of my life. The people I live with suddenly is moving to Arizona, the city of deserts and dry.. DRY.. did I mention DRY? weather. It's like.. a stove there. Good luck to them I guess. Too bad my stepdad got transferred there. Oh well.. at least I won't have to see their faces.

My real dad is a joke. WTF has he been doing for the past 11 years that he hasn't raised me? My grandma calls to inform him about my current problems and need for his help and he says 'sorry, I'm broke too'. Ugh. My life is filled with hypocrites and surrounded by idiots. Ignorance is a disease and it has spread all over the fcking globe. And people wonder why we fight. Goes to show how fcking STUPID people are.

At least my life is progressing SOMEWHAT. I'm officially starting on my college essays soon (although I've attempted a few before). My brain has just decided to produce a writers block the size of China and so, I'm a nervous wreck that has to pretend everything is just FINE. Gawd... shit's turning me into a pissy whiner.

Whatever.

I hope everything works out in the end. I can't stand to lose and there's no way in hell I'm losing to Life.

Harvard University

2007-09-08T03:49:51Z

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

BIG NEWS!!!!!~~~

Well, for me anyways..

Okay so like.. I was checking my emails since I tend to get a lot of junk and it crowds my inbox. So like I was saying, I was checking my email when all of a sudden, I see one labeled "Harvard College". At first, I was all like.. naw.. it's probably just some wannabe Harvard or whatnot. I checked it up online and..

*drumroll* dudududdududududdududu~

Harvard College is the undergraduate branch of HARVARD UNIVERSITY!!!~~~~ xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD so so very happy... *sigh* It's not a letter of acceptance or anything.. but I was just so happy that I got ANYTHING at all from Harvard.

Mm.. today's a happy day. OOO.. and I did well on my APs.. SCORE! Life is currently good... well.. almost.. sort of.. ^-^;;; ㅍㅁㄱㅇ

Gender Test

2007-08-25T07:38:59Z

Mark all that are applicable. And tag your friends.

BOY PART... (girls have to answer this too.)

[x] In the winter, you love hoodies.
[ ] Dogs are better than cats.
[x] its hilarious when people get hurt.
[x] You've played with/against boys on a team.
[x] Shopping is torture.
[ ] Sad movies stink.
[ ] Wanted/played with Hotwheel cars as a kid.
[ ] At some point in time you wanted to be a firefighter.
[x]You own/ed a gameboy, PS2 or Sega.
[ ] You used to be obsessed with Power Rangers.
[x] You watch sports on TV.
[x] Gory movies are cool.
[ ] You only go to your dad for advice.
[ ] You own like a trillion baseball caps.
[ ] You like going to (American) football games.
[ ] You used to/do collect baseball cards.
[ ] It's kinda weird to have sleepovers with a bunch of people
[x] Green, black, red, blue or silver are one of your favorite colors.
[x] You love to go crazy and not care what people think.
[x] Sports are fun too.
[ ] You talk with food in your mouth.
[ ] Wear boxers to bed.
[x] Sleep with your socks on at night.

Total:11
Multiply the total by 10
Score = 110
_______________________________________

GIRL PART (guys have to answer this too)

[ ] You wear lip gloss.
[ ] You wear/have worn eyeliner.
[ ] You have some of the same shirts in different colors.
[ ] You wear the color pink.
[x] you only go to a female for advice.
[ ] You hate wearing the color black.
[ ] You like shopping.
[x] You wear jewelry (earings etc.)
[ ] Skirts are a part of your wardrobe.
[x] You don't like the movie Star Wars.
[ ] It takes you at least 1 hour to shower
[ ] You smile a lot more than you should.
[x] You have more than 5 pairs of shoes.
[x] You care about what you look like.
[ ] You like wearing dresses when you can.
[x] You love movies.
[x] Used to play with dolls as a little kid.
[ ] Like putting make-up on someone else for the joy of it.
[ ] Like taking pictures of yourself when you're bored.

Total: 7
Multiply by 10
Score: 70

OMG.. I'm practically a man. Eh.. expected it anyway. xDD

I tag everyone who hasn't done this yet.

My Birth Month

2007-08-17T07:54:59Z

Your Birth Month is December

You love life and exude an outgoing, cheerful vibe.
Blessed with a great sense of humor, you can laugh at adversity.

Your soul reflects: Celebration, success, and wealth

Your gemstone: Blue Topaz

Your flower: Narcissus

Your colors: Indigo, green, and blue-green

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Except for the colors, I think everything rings true (or I hope they do... xD)

Super Junior clips

2007-08-11T12:48:46Z

For all you KangTeuk fans out there, here are some clips of KangTeuk moments that I found. Putting all these up took a long time.. longer than I expected. I was looking for one with Kang In talking about Lee Teuk and how they were together in the hospital after the accident.. *sigh* took forever but.. KT is so totally worth it. x]

Chun Ji Radio (KangTeuk acting... there's a little kiss scene between Kang In and Lee Teuk~)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=1418785&page=1&rowNum=4&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EB%9D%BC%EB%94%94%EC%98%A4+%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%B8+%EC%9D%B4%ED%8A%B9

Chun Ji interview (KangTeukDong... there are little KangTeuk moments.. like when they do the dance moves for U and Lee Teuk controls Kang In and stuff.. if anyone noticed.. Kang In's wearing the same hoodie that he wore on Adonis Camp the day he left x])

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=191221&page=1&rowNum=10&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%B8+%EC%9D%B4%ED%8A%B9+%EB%9D%BC%EB%94%94%EC%98%A4

Young Street (KangTeuk!!!! It took me so long to find this... T^T Miracles do come true! For those of you who were looking for this clip, I found it! Muahahaha.. it's the conversation on Young Street where Kang In was talking about Lee Teuk in the hospital. You may all love me now.. lol jp jp xD)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=920554&page=1&rowNum=15&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EC%98%81%EC%8A%A4+%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%B8

OMG.. this is like the best thing in the world. KangTeuk PLUS showing off biceps.

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=235128&srcId=&lu=v_srcclip

KangTeuk (Kang In worrying about Lee Teuk's health)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=224630&srcId=&lu=v_srcclip

KangTeuk (this is a fanvid.. it's Kang In singing and the person matched the pics with the lyrics. Really pretty... can't remember the song though. If anyone does, can you tell me?)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=3899338&page=1&rowNum=37&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EA%B0%95%ED%8A%B9

KangTeuk (Kang In first goes against Lee Teuk then defends him.. x] <33)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=3989059&page=1&rowNum=16&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EA%B0%95%ED%8A%B9

~*~

As a special treat, I added some other couple and misc. clips. xD

MinHyuk, KangMin, KangHyuk (playing around after Chun Ji.. can you see how think Kang In's eyeliner is? o.o The treat is the little kiss that Sung Min gives Kang In and Eun Hyuk.)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=3834225&srcId=&lu=v_srcclip

Kang In (showing off his tummy during Chun Ji... one word: HOT)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=304793&page=1&rowNum=17&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EC%98%81%EC%8A%A4+%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%B8

Kang In, Hee Chul, and Shin Dong being freaking hilarious (Young Street and Hee Chul is so totally high~ LOL.. for those who need subs, there's one with subs on youtube. Just type in 'kang in young street' and it'll come out... I think xD)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=2170282&page=1&rowNum=4&sort=wtime&svcid=t&q=%EC%98%81%EC%8A%A4+%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%B8

Dong Hae being the cutest little thing ever! Bonus - Jang Wook Hyuk being adorable~

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=235127&srcId=&lu=v_srcclip

KangHyuk (Hyukie falls off his chair and Kang In L.His.A.O... Kang In sounds like he's choking.. he laughs so hard xDDDDD)

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=202446

Well, that's all for now. I'm writing a KangTeuk fic so for those who love KT, check mine out~ Please? xD