EXAM IS OVER!

OMG Midterm is over!

         It was my first exam in KMLA, and I was so nervous. I heard that the grade of first exam cannot be easily changed throughout whole 3 years in KMLA. Every single teacher I met talked the same thing. They said that it will be difficult to raise your grade despite your effort because not only you but also everyone will study harder after seeing their own terrible grades. This was the case of students who are to go to domestic universities using relative evaluation, but even for students going to international universities, they would find coming to KMLA meaningless if they don’t work harder.

         I have natural competitiveness, and it developed itself to a strong desire to satisfy myself. Once I set my goal, then I try as hard as possible I can. For example, when I do homework, I check it again and again until I feel it can’t be better. Usually I want things to be perfect, and don’t want to disappoint myself, my parents and teachers. I assume this would be same to all KMLA students. And that’s why I felt that I had to work harder than in my middle school days. I slept at 1:30 every day from 1 week before the exam.

4.18	4.19	4.22	4.23	4.24
Chinese character Sat chemistry	English	Mathematics	Chinese Medieval history	Korean Urban Geography

 

 

           For last 3 years of middle school, I started preparing my exams 4 weeks before, but this time I started it about 2 weeks before. That resulted into panic! I quickly started from SAT CHEMISTRY. I made a summary note of it and solved every question in the book. Then I started URBAN GEOGRAPHY, then mathematics, then Chinese and Chinese characters. Then I had only 5 days left! OMG! I haven’t even started English, Korean, and Medieval history. Thankfully, all of these subjects didn’t require much preparation such as Sat chemistry or urban geography. So I read Neverwhere, The Tell-Tale Heart, and Korean textbook several times. My exam schedule was like this.

           So, from 4.16 I solved questions in General chemistry for the last time. Then, at 4.18, I read Neverwhere, The Tell-Tale Heart once more, and analyzed both. Then, I made an outline of some topics which are expected to be essay topics in the exam. After English exam, I solved mathematics textbook once more, and extra problems. On Saturday, I reviewed Urban Geography for the last time before exam, and went through my notes during the Medieval history class. On Sunday, I studied Chinese and Urban Geography each. Then I took Chinese and Medieval history exam. I read Korean and Urban Geography textbook several times and memorized details in Urban Geography. Then! My exam was over!!

As my first exam in KMLA, I thought, ‘it’s not so bad except few subjects, is it?’ I made an outline of some topics which are expected to be essay topics in Mr.Tame’s exam. Fortunately, I guessed right one! There were two questions in the real exam, and since I’ve already thought about them and made outline before, it was much easier to write both short essays in 50min. Also, mathematics was not so bad. I always thought that I, myself is not good at mathematics, so I was really afraid of mathematics exam. However, I could solve every question. Also, every student who took Urban Geography exam said that the exam was quite easy. So did I.

However, there are some subjects that I wasn’t satisfied. Medieval history was one of the most worried subjects, and I had some difficulty in writing responses. I was gloomy after that exam, and couldn’t concentrate while studying next day’s exam. When I was informed my score, it was not so bad. But still, I was not satisfied. Also, in sat chemistry exam, I couldn’t solve 10pt question! I studied it more than any other subject, and expected myself to solve every question. But I couldn’t, and was disappointed and sad.

           Anyway, nothing matters! It is over! My first exam is over, gone, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Moreover, I guess I can’t be satisfied with just first result. It’s only the beginning and I’m sure that I will make a development at next exam. That is so exciting! I now have to cope with several things such as Medieval history presentation(so called THE GANSE PRESENTATION), Chinese project, Chinese character presentation, essay on ‘Why I write’, and blogging since the exam is over. But at least today, I want to enjoy this time! On top of that, today is chicken day, which means we can smell the outside food and civilization. What a nice schedule! I’m not sure if I will receive nice, satisfying result, but let’s enjoy this moment!

 

THE AGE OF CONTRADICTION

 

150m of glacier is gone in less than a century. Massacre happened at a little village of Odiyama. Oil companies correct the government report on environmental issues. They do seem disparate, don’t they? But they are not. Filmed by Franny Armstrong, and starring Peter Postlethwaite, The age of stupid(2009) portrays the striking facts, and stories. And the powerful theme, contradiction courses through the whole film.

The man went through a terrible hurricane, Katrina, and lost everything including his house, truck and computer. He doesn’t regret working at the oil industry, SHELL for 30years and he returns to his work to find more oil. People are cognizant of the danger of hurricane, but they are just aware of it. They neither act nor look back at their life.

Then, the video goes to Nigeria. Despite Nigeria’s possessing abundant amount of oil, Layefa, 22 year old woman says that she is getting poorer and poorer. She is suffering the Resource Curse by Shell. After all these, Layefa says ‘If we live that (American) kind of life, we’ll just want to live in the Earth forever.’ She is suffering, but still wants to live like them, wasting things. And one more thing, the Earth doesn’t want you to live forever if you live like them.

                                                                        

Lastly, there are UK people who recognize the importance of wind energy. Piers, joining the environmental movement, persuades them, but they reject the wind farm plan at last. They say it spoils your enjoyment, or your view. They silently shout out Not In My Backyard(NIMBY).

 

As we can see, these are the contradiction in the movie. In other words, these are the obstacles blocking the protection of environment. Especially, NIMBY is one of the main reasons why renewable energy plan fails. In the U.K., which aims to generate about one-third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, local opposition is holding up proposed wind projects. (forbes) Moreover, according to a March report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 45% of clean energy projects proposed in recent years have been delayed or abandoned due to local opposition..

           In the movie, some British people don’t want wind farm though they know its benefit. They don’t want their views to be spoiled, nor to be sacrificed just for some renewable energy whose efficiency is not even proved. However, they should know the fossil fuel energy wasn’t also efficient from the first. Renewable energy is at the very start of their development. If NIMBY drives out the renewable energy, then I doubt if they would have a proper chance to improve themselves.

 

 

After I saw what SHELL did to Nigerians, I thought of book having a different opinion.

Basically, [The World is Flat] advocates globalization, multinational corporation and outsourcing. Friedman agrees that there are some problems of them, but he tries to emphasize on the bright side; as a developing country, they can make an economic basis to build their own industry. As a multinational corporation of developed country, they can make even better quality products with same cost.

However, this film goes against it. SHELL, representing the multinational corporation, is shown to be irresponsible, immoral company. In the case of Layefa, she suffers a resource curse from SHELL. because the government and Shell built an unsound relationship. Also, Pareau criticize transporting potato from France to Italy, and then bringing them back as a mash. He says the same thing happens to the milk, and calls it meaningless trip. Ever since the tunnel emerged in Mont Blanc, they are generating carbon. And this question popped in the mind. ‘Should economical and environmental concern always be contradictory?’ I couldn’t find an answer to it. But, I think this is an ultimate question that we should solve. Since this is a contradiction between industry and environment that we should solve.

 

The age of stupid is a nice piece of documentary film. It provided us a new aspect towards the environment, and a chance to think of it. Finishing this review, I’d like to make a quote from the film. ‘They are fixated on the sand of small area under their feet, as a tsunami races toward the shore.’ Now I will ask one more question. Aren’t you being like those people in the picture?

Raining

It's raining outside. Though the sky is not blue and the weather is not warm, I feel cozy. This morning, listening to the slow tempo music through the earphone, and walking with an umbrella was quite nice. I used to hate the rain because getting the car messed with water, taking care of my umbrella, and getting wet was the least favorite thing. But after I came to KMLA, I found I can feel the cozy when I walk under the umbrella with the earphones on. It might sound strange, but having the personal place, though it is small, was what I was missing ever since I started living in the dorm. Rain allowed me it. Inside the library, typing, emotions become larger and larger. Well, if not emotion, THINKING would be the alternative.
This morning, after the exercise, I took mr.sung hun jae's car. We had extra exercise, and I was the last one who came out of the gym because my ankle hurt so much. I was kind of lame, and going up the staircases. Mr. sung asked what was dist
urbing me, and after hearing the answer, he allowed me to get on his car. Driving to the dorm, he said that I seem to have a lot of complaint judging by my look. In fact, I was. I was supposed to go the court by some kind of parcel violation which I've never heard of and was possibly caused by dorm teacher's fault, and I felt kind of sentimetal by the raining weather. I was so worried about my future dream, major. I felt that I am good at nothing, and got dubious at how come I could get accepted to this school. Lastly, I felt lonely, and like I had no one to trust. Whole bunch of gloomy, blue idea intruded my mind, and I could hardly show the smile on the face. However, I never thought my look was showing my emotion and mind, which was incredibly silly. I thought I was quite good at hiding the emotion. Even though I always look kind of worried and gloomy, I never thought that someone would be looking at my look, which was also incredibly silly. Mr. Sung recommended me to have some time with advisor teacher, or older students. I truly thank him for showing concern for me, though he himself could have said it in unintended way.

The Tell-Tale Heart(Edgar Allan Poe) as gothic fiction (2)

 

The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe) as gothic fiction

 

131031 Yesuel (Lillian) Kim

 

Gothic fiction originally refers to a story with a dark and horrific atmosphere based on medieval background. However, its meaning expanded, and now it involves several genres such as thriller, Romanticism, mystery, science fiction, and horror. Gothic fictions also deal with human’s unreasonable, evil desire, and abnormal emotion. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, [The Tell Tale Heart] has the characteristics of gothic fiction.

Lack of description, or information shows this novel is gothic fiction. There are no detail background description except door, bed, and chair. The writer is mentioning the minimum furniture that is crucial to maintain the plot. Also, we don’t have sufficient information of who the madman and old man are, and what kind of relationship they’re in. Even if, the protagonist him(her)self is telling the story, he(she) only shows his emotion, not the information of himself. The readers have to imagine the background, character, and actively participate in making the story. Thus, people will get more afraid of this amorphous penetrator than when all the information is given. Also, a lack of information generates the mysterious and horrific atmosphere.

We can find the emotion of the protagonist contributes to making this novel into gothic fiction. At the beginning of the novel, we can find a lot of exclamation marks and interjections such as ‘Ha!’, and ‘Oh’, which mean that he/she is excited. He actually smiled ‘gaily’ in the process. The idea of killing the old man is abnormal, but considering that he is excited, this tells that the man is mad and psychopathic. Next, he doesn’t show much emotion when telling how he dealt with corpse. He is narrating what he did in stable, nonchalant tone. Being indifferent at what he did makes the reader feel more horror. Lastly, the reader can definitely feel the upsurge of emotion at the end of the story when he hears the heartbeat of the dead man. He acted with audacity, then, becomes impatient. At last, he bursts out, “Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!” The sense of guilt verbalized as the heartbeat throbs in his mind, and the readers can feel that he is afraid of the sense of guilt in his own mind since the emotion which used to be hidden suddenly showed upsurge and exploded at the end of the novel, giving the strong impact to the readers. The emotion was effectively expressed, and got conveyed to the reader, which can mean that this short story has the characteristic of Romanticism.

The expression in the [The Tale Tell Heart] makes this novel more of a thriller. Poe describes the sound of heartbeat heard by the protagonist as a sound of ‘watch enveloped in cotton.’ More than description itself, each word is a symbol. A Watch shows time. Thus, the watch enveloped in cotton means killing time, which leads to an idea of killing the old man who has been living for a long time. Furthermore, the cotton reminds the readers of a bed. Therefore, the watch enveloped, covered in cotton actually means the old man dying under the bed. On top of that, ‘crevice’, used when describing the crack where the dim light comes out of the lantern through is another expression putting an emphasis on desire. The word, ‘Crevice’ is a trigger for the madman to show the evil desire to kill him. The lantern watched the same scene as the mad protagonist did. In the darkness, the mad man could have vision of the sleeping old man by opening the lantern, and making the crevice. Right before the dim light comes out, there’s a silence and no movement in the scene. It is an oppressed situation. However, as soon as the dim string of light appears, the mad man faces the blue vulture-like eye of the old man, starting off the extreme tension which leads to a terrible crime at the end. When the dim light comes out of the lantern through crevice, the abnormal desire to kill the old man shows itself in earnest.  This plot’s development maximizes the impact of evil desire. These kinds of expression make the readers feel more thrilled while reading the novel.

[The Tell Tale Heart] has certain characteristics of gothic novel in its plot, emotion, and expression. I actually felt shiver and horror reading this novel. There may be more factors of gothic novel in this story, but still [The Tell Tale Heart] is superb piece of gothic fiction dragging the readers into the abyss of horror, thriller, and mysterious story.