marines!! Weblog

Shadows of the Past

pituneshi22 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:02:07 +0000

Remembering the past: do you find it sad or satisfying to look backward? You’re probably thinking, “Obviously, that depends on what’s being remembered -happy or sad times”. But is that the only view? Is there a way in which memory itself -the very FACT of the past- always shadows life in the present?

The past is what make people who they are, and regretting something that has formed your personality and your beliefs is illogical. We are what we decide to be, the difficult times that we have experienced in the past have happened because we decided, we chose for them to happen, and if we realize later that they were mistaken decisions, all we can do is learn from them, not regret them. If they have been hard or sad or full anger, we must see the bright, the positive side of our bad experiences: we wont make the same mistake again, and is we do, we will learn it twice, or ever three times, not to make the same mistake again.

The past is something that we can be either happy or sad about. I think that the happy times are those that we remember with joy, love, and happiness. The sad times, on the other hand, are those that have made us stronger and wiser, and even though they have been difficult to overcome, they are opportunities of change that have led us to life our lives in a better way.

We must look at the past as a whole, because the past is what we are right now. The present is the opportunity that life wives us to change and improve what we are. And the future is the hope and the goals that we have to work for. There obviously are sad times, but we must overcome them and try to fight for our future and our expectations, because the past is a tool for our future, and it will only make us stronger and better in every aspect that we need to change.

Read Tears, Idle Tears, by Lord Tennyson

After reading this poem, answer this: How can tears be “idle” -can you cry without knowing why?

I think that tears are useless when there is no motive for them. Tears are the expression of the soul to let our emotions of sadness and regret come to the surface. There are a lot people that cry for no reason, or worst: for a bad and stupid reason. There are people who cry for other people, while those others are worthless and do not deserve the tears being cried.

Of course that you can cry without knowing why. There are times when you feel desperate or alone, and your body and mind want to let these feeling of sadness go away, and crying is the answer to express these feelings and these emotions.

Tears can be idle or worthless when people cry only to call the attention of others. There are times when tears are idle because the person is expressing feeling with no basis of existence, or because these reasons are illogical or unneeded. People who cry for stupid reasons are just wasting their tears and their energy, while they could be doing something better.

What do you think the “divine despair” is in line 2? Could you relate it to Adam and Eve’s fall in Genesis -would that story explain the speaker’s existential sadness?

I see the “divine despair” as something brought about by human beings themselves because they have done something wrong. There is no predestination, there is no destiny already written for people: we make our own future, we decide what we want to become, and we are the sole and only builders of our life and opportunities.

The Genesis tells us the story about Eve and Adam, and the fatal mistake, or divine despair, is brought about by Eve, because she finds herself trapped between her humane desires and her heavenly expectations. She plays and tries to become better than God, and she does this by committing a sin. This sin is the fatal flaw that brings about the divine despair. This is the punishment that they receive because of Eve-s actions.

This story could explain the speaker-s sadness because we are forced to commit evil things in order to learn from life and to fight for the eternal life after death. It is obvious that when we sin, we are trapped in our own world and in our own mind of guilt, and this is what the author sees as the problem of existentialism.

Does the contradiction in the phrase “Death in Life” (line 20) make sense to you? Explain. What is your response to this line? Have you ever felt this way?

The contradiction of “death in life” makes a lot of sense to me. I think that being death in life is living but with no purpose, with no love, without friends and joy in your existence. It is the worst thing to be death in life because you are just a piece with no sense in the universe, and you are neutral for everybody, unimportant.

I feel that this feeling of being death in life has been experienced by all of us because sometimes we feel out of palace or alone and all we want to do is to actually be alone and to meditate by ourselves. I have felt this way many times, especially when the problems and troubles of life manage to overwhelm my mind and spirit, and all I see is darkness. During these times, I try to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is that hope what keeps me alive, and this hope is the Faith that I carry around with me.

Swept Away

pituneshi22 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:06:44 +0000

The faces of nature range from pacifying to terrifying, all of which the Romantics explored. Yet what so often attracted them in nature was the aspects philosophers call the sublime: the wildness, immensity, terror, and awesome grandeur of natural phenomena like the Alps or violent storms.

To suddenly grasp nature’s power -whether just by seeing Niagara Falls or by living through a hurricane- is, while terrible, also exhilarating, even transporting.

When you read Ode to the West Wind, consider why people find such power (and fear) thrilling. What moves Percy Shelley so? Why would he shout to the wind, “Be thou me…!”

Have you ever experienced the sublime aspect of nature? When? Free write about the scene and your emotions.

Nature is everything to me, I think that God is the best artist of all times. Nature is the spirit of life, and it is also the joy of human beings. I think that the most amazing aspect of nature is its peacefulness, because when I am surrounded by nature I feel peace and hope at the same time.

The time when I have experienced the amazing aspect of nature is at the lake. I have a house in Atitlan, but it is not only a house. For me, it is the home of peace and nature in my life. Whenever I go there, I get to relax and to enjoy life with no preoccupations and no stress about unimportant and illogical things, such as homework or tests, which are no important in life. I believe that love is the only important thing that human beings must take into account at all times and one way of feeling love is appreciating the greatest love of all: the love of God. This love, this amazing and huge love, is found in God-s creation, and the brightest creation of all is the wind blowing through your hair and the sun shinning in your face.

The scene that I want to portray includes the sea, the sun, and the wind, all joined together creating an atmosphere of peace, love, and happiness. Whenever I am at the beach, alone, listening to peaceful music, and feeling the breeze in your face, I find that life has a meaning, and it is too short to be worried for stupid things: we must appreciate life and live it fully, and by fully I mean full of love and happiness.

The Test of Time

pituneshi22 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:00:36 +0000

Suppose you’re a creator. Among architecture, sculpture, music, and literature, which do you think offers the most promise of an enduring monument? Explain your answer.

Between these types of art, I think that the one that last more between centuries is architecture. As time goes by, the architecture gains more value because people appreciate the art that was made in other centuries. The problem is that many other people do not know that architecture has an important position in history and in everyday’s life, so these type of people destroy many monuments or just ruin them. In architecture, you can see what the creators wanted to express and all the influences that they had during that period of time. As an example, in Europe, you can see the appreciation of architecture in all the churches and museums. People consider architecture to be a visual experience, but the other senses play a role in how we experience both natural and built environments. Attitudes towards the senses depend on culture.

Irony is the discrepancy between expectations and reality. Explain the fundamental irony in the sonnet.

This is a poem with too much power, knowledge but so little wisdom. The author illustrates with words the influence of men on the world’s destiny that chose cruelty and domination for their method. There are two contradicting themes among men, one that man improves spiritually and socially over time, and another that man never changes. The poem emphasizes the permanence of power struggles, art, and nature itself, in a world where nothing seems eternal. It also describes how the power of nature and time far surpasses the power of human beings.

Discuss what you think is the speaker’s message about pride -and whether it also applies to artists.

The authors says that people look for pride over time with their poems and other expressions of art, but at the end everything that the artists gained over time and all the effort they made go to an end. People look for things that are not too important than other things, like artists look for pride that at the end does not make sense in life.

Could this poem apply to any contemporary figures who wield political power? Explain.

Many people that work in politics look for power and after many things they do, they gain power. After these people gain power they use it for cruel things or they just do not know how to manage it that they use it in the wrong way. A good example is the power that Hitler has, but he did not use it for positive things.

The Eye of the Beholder

pituneshi22 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:55:50 +0000

In the poem She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron, what in the woman’s appearance does the speaker praise? What conclusions does he draw about her character and personality?

He praises her beauty, her eyes, and her brightness. He is clearly in love with her appearance, and she is obviously a very pretty girl. He also praises her face> her eyes, her eyebrows, her cheeks, and her smile. The writer expresses his love for her heart and innocence too, which lets us know that she has inner beauty that the author appreciates too. She is pure, and her mind is in peace, and he is deeply in love with her.

This poem has been criticized as sentimental and dependent on clichés. Tell me whether or not you agree and why?

I agree with the fact that the poem is full of love clichés and it is perhaps too sentimental. I really like the poem, but the use of common phrases and deep love is kind of tacky and too sweet in some lines. The author praises the commonly praised aspects of beauty that ordinary author express too. The eyes, the brightness, the pureness of her heart, the peace that she irradiates, are all parts of prettiness that are usually talked about in love poems.

Do you think that inward nature can be revealed by outward appearances? Explain.

No, I think that beauty is not a symbol of your inner beauty. There are so many people full of love and blessed with great qualities that are not that fortunate with their looks. What I do believe is that the way you look represents the way you feel. This does not mean that you are inside the person that people see on the outside. This means that your feelings are expressed through your appearance. When people are sad or angry, you can almost see it in their eyes, and when they are happy, you can appreciate the glow in their face and in the way they behave.

The Power of Imagination

pituneshi22 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:15:31 +0000

Have you ever felt fear, joy, wonder, or grief because of an animal? well, I used to have two little dogs, I really just like one of them, because the other one was not cute at all. I felt really sorry when both of them were runed by a car and both of them were at the hospital for couple of months, after that we give them to our maid. Sometimes I felt fear because one of my dogs used to bite me a lot.

I also used to go camping when I was like 15 years old. I love go camping, but sometimes at night I was really affraid becuase there were many creepy sounds. And I thought it were animals like lions or bears. One of those days we found a really cute deer.

POEM TO MY DOGS:

-I really love you both,

spanky you were mean

that is why I hate you color bean.

The other, the white one

you where my favorite one

and you never bite.

You always used to play

and always so dirt.

Think back to William Blake’s and try to answer these questions: Why do human beings do evil? Why do evil people sometimes prosper? Why does God allow innocent children to suffer?

Human beings do evil because there is always a temptation put in front of us and sometimes doing an evil thing is easier than doing just some good thing. Sometimes evil makes people prosper and become greater, but the fact is that they only prosper economically or with something material, but in the inside they are just the biggest losers that exist in this world. God is a great being and he allows people to suffer, because without any pain there could not be any love or true sympathy, things always have the good or the plus and the bad or the con, and without these extremes the world would be dull, there has to exist good and evil so that there can be that comparison and that people can really live a life that is reigned by a certain liberty.

If you could cry out against an evil of our day -and get people to listen-, which social problem would you choose? Why would you choose it?

I would choose selfishness, because the world should not live in a place where people do not share. I really hate people that are not there for each other and that do not share something as simple as a hug or a little bit of love. I would like the world to be a place where more people are happy, but there are just some people that I consider selfish and that I know make things in the world, at least for one person, bad.

What happens to anger that is allowed to grow and fester, anger that is nurtured with our own deceit?

When you are angry at someone and you don’t say a thing, then after a wile you grow resentment against this person and the fact that the person doesn’t know what they did and how this affecter you only makes things worse because then it is harder for people to forgive the one that did them any pain. I believe that people should speak up when they are bothered by something, because they might lose a good friend because of this.

Think of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. What does confession mean to you? What purpose does confession have for the teller and listener? Is a listener even necessary? Why do you think the act of confession plays such an important part in law and religion?

This confession is a really weird story, the mariner kills the albatross that was innocent and then he regrets his decision. The teller really wants to tell people that they should not do things juts for spontaneity, they should think before they act. Because if people confess you can really see that they regret what they have done, and any illegal or unfair acts that people do can be solved.

Persuasive Essay (violence)

pituneshi22 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:11:13 +0000

Have you ever think how will be the world if there is no violence? peace world has been this important theme and fact in humans life. I certainly, think that problems and little issues that could be however, resolved in many ways, are the ones that had taken peace world for many years. Violence is is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse. The word is used broadly to describe the destructive action of natural phenomena like storms and earthquake. More frequently the word describes forceful and intentional injury to people, damage to property and verbal and emotional abuse towards others. Wafare is large-scale organized violence carried out by one state against another, although states attempt to control violent crime by the rule of law. The causes of violent attitudes and behavior are important topics of study in psychology and sociology.

There are different ways in which violence is done. Criminals are the ones that promote violence by hurting people or even killing them. They stell and hurt people because they do not have money or they are just bad. As time passes by, I could see that this problem has affect many countries, and ones more than others. In countries that have low resources than others are the ones that have more violence because they do not have the education and the knowledge to gain the idea that violence would take you to nowhere!.

Risks

pituneshi22 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:20:52 +0000

To what lengths would you go to get something that you are passionate about? Write down what you would sacrifice or trade in return for your quest. Then write down your limits – what you would NOT trade for any amount of money or fame.

This is in a way a hard and complicated question because what is it asking, what things are we talking about? It could be a really important, life concerning, thing or it could be just a material object.

I want to base this question on both things, because I believe that everything is important in life and everything is worth a risk. So the question is “To what lengths would I go to, to get something that I’m passionate about?”.

I would do anything to get something that I want, anything at all, if the thing is extremely important to me and if I really want it, I would do anything.

However, if it concerns another persons welfare or safety I would not do anything at all. Because who am I to play with another persons life? I really think that I cant and would not do anything wrong to another person.

I would love to get all the things that I wanted and all the things that I really need, but you cannot really affect somebody else in a big and important way, just to get all the things that you selfishly want.

Many people do not think like this, but I believe that you have to do what is right no matter what. You can be selfish sometimes, but you should not be a self-centered person all the time, because this cannot get you anywhere.

I am someone who loves to make an effort for the things in life, and I do anything in my power to get things that I want. If I have to study for a great score, I study for my score. If I have to work out to get in shape, I do it. But if I have to get money, I don’t steal I work for it.

I think that things are important, but you should be able to compare and really divide between the good things and the things that you need and those that you only want because you know you cant have these things. You have to be happy with what you have, work hard for what you want, but respect al the things that are going to risk someone else.

Sketching a Friend

pituneshi22 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:18:43 +0000

Beeing popular was cool, I did not shamed about what I said and do. I could talk with anyone I wanted, well I felt really good about the situation. Bothering my classmates was really cool, I laughed a lot and did not cared about how the others were going to feel. Do not think that I made rude jokes or something like that, well, my jokes were things to laugh and be happy. During classes, I always talked and talked; I liked to bother one of my classmates, she was kind of a friend, well she was only a classmate, but I had great times talking with her during classes. She was too closed with her life, she never talked about the people she liked or situations that happened in her life, so I bothered her by being interested in all t he things she did not wanted to talk about. One day, she talked about a guy called Juanfra, and she said that he was one of his brother’s friends and that she really liked him. Just to bother her, I wanted to meet that guy; I really was not interested in the guy, I was just living my life and I did not wanted to have a boyfriend.

That was the time, when I went back home from school, and spend all my afternoon in the computer, talking with everyone in the messenger and spending my time doing nothing interesting. One day, I met a guy, who was a friend of that girl’s brother, and I asked him that he knew that guy called Juanfra, and he told me that he was one of his friends, so I asked him for the e-mail, so I could add him to my list of friends in messenger. After I add him to my list of friends, I went to school and talked to the girl of my class about the guy, just to bother her. Time went by, and one day in the school, one guy talked me, he said “are you majo?” minutes later I knew that he was Juanfra. In the moment I met him, I went into his beautiful eyes; I talked to him for a while and then I went back to my classroom. All day long I thought about his eyes, I was really impressed about those beautiful eyes and my perspective about the guy changed.

Time went by, I knew that I was just bothering that girl, but then after talking with him in the messenger I started to realize that he was a great guy. I did not felt guilty about my feelings because the girl liked that guy but he does not liked her, just because he was the best friend of the girl’s brother; and as a rule of friendship, friends does not mix up with sisters or brothers. One day, I was in the car with my mother, and my cellphone rang, I picked up and somebody said “hello majo, do you remember me?” and I said “No, who is it?” minutes later, he told me that he was Juanfra, and we talked for a while. The next weeks, he called me, we talked for hours, about any topic or just about stupid things. Everything was interesting, I was feeling comfortable with him and I really liked him.

One month later, I decided to go to a concert of Bacilos with my friends, and Juanfra t old me that he was going to go too. In the concert, we danced and talked a lot, and at the end he told me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and of course I said yes. The next weeks we went out some times and spent great times together. The relationship was incredible and we ere having a great time. We were together in school, and also we went out to the movies and parties.

As life changes and time goes by, we created a great relationship. Now, five years ago after I met him, he is still by boyfriend. We have matured together and we also have created a great relationship, with great qualities that make us to be together and feel comfortable forever. As every relationship, we have had some issues, but the clue of every relationship is to know how to solve the problems and get the positive consequences of them. He has helped me during my life to become a better person and I know that I have helped him too. Is really difficult to know the clues for every step that we take in life, but we are experimenting what to do, to have positive consequences of the things we do. As I tell him “we are a relationship, and the purpose of it is to put together both ideas and perspectives of life to get a better result”.

Today, August 11, 2008; I am living my life with a great boyfriend, a great relationship, and the best part of everything is that the girl that liked Juanfra, before he was boyfriend is my best friend. After many years of fighting because the issue that that girl and I had before I met Juanfra, the time went by and it solved the issues that we had. Two years ago, I started talking to her again and we became great friends. We have a lot of things in common and I know that this friendship will last forever. Is incredible that now, I can have a great conversation and a great time with my boyfriend and my best friend. I love them and I really care about both; and I know both help he to be a better person every day.

Friends Across Centuries

pituneshi22 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:17:32 +0000

I would love to be a friend of Mr. Samuel Johnson. I mean who wouldn’t want to be a friend of someone who lived in the past and of someone who was very famous in life. It is true that he was a bit out of his mind, but knowing someone who had the creativity and the determination to do a dictionary, and who wrote a lot would be awesome.

Personally, I believe that I love writers because they have such great imaginations, they are not just here in the world to live an ordinary life, but they end up living about 2 or 3 more lives through their characters and their writings, people do not understand the power of literature until they really learn to love it, or until they fine the right book for them; I believe that there are some books that will make you become a real fan of literature and it all depends on which book you choose. It is very important that people go and get their book, the one book that will make you fall in love with reading and writing.

It is not easy to be a writer and it is also not easy to get criticized for your work, some may think its awesome and others may think that your book is horrible or not good for any audience. I guess it all depends on timing, but the fact here is that i think that a man like Johnson would be a great friend because of the fact that he wrote and that definitely in my rank of opinion makes people cool, and awesome.

I love to read and get inside of other worlds and really experience first hand what other “people” go through in life. It is not all true or possible, but the fact that it is written and that it happened in a book and you were reading it, makes everything possible. I really believe that Samuel Johnson would be a great friend because he could get you inside of stories and you can talk about what he wrote later with him, reading the book is half of what literature is about, you also have to talk about it and express how you liked this work.

Dear Diary: Day 7

pituneshi22 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:10:14 +0000

This morning I was hoping to rest and sleep a lot, because yesterday night I stayed watching TV, but the story was different. Many time before, my parents loved to go to church every Sunday, but some time ago, they stopped going, because there was so many cars in the road to get to the church, and this morning, it was all different, because they decided that we needed to go to church. We went to church at a place named Santa Rosalia, and after one hour, we finally got out, and drove all the way to Mc Donalds, where we got breakfast, I ate an Egg Mc Muffin with juice, and also a new beverage that is a Chai Tea.

I thought that after eating breakfast, we were going to my house again, but the story was not like that, my dad needed to go to buy some things, so he drove to Pradera Concepcion and entered a store named Cemaco, he bought some new carpets for his car, materials for a reparation inside my house and a gift for one of his best friends, because his birthday is coming, after going to Cemaco, my mom needed to buy some shoes, so we walked all over Pradera Concepcion, I was a little bit angry, because I have my knee hurt, and we kept walking. Finally, my mom bought her shoes and I remembered that my mom told me days ago that she would buy a new cell phone for me, so we walked again to Tigo, where we looked at some cell phones, but the one that I liked, wasn’t available. After going up and down, we finally got inside the car, and drove to my house.

Inside my house, I rested for a while, and later I turned on the computer, while the computer started charging, I called my boyfriend and he told me that he was with his family at a place near my house named Loops, and that he was having such a great time driving go karts, at that time, I was just wondering how delicious it would be to be with him in that place having fun, but after talking, I started doing my home works. Then I watched a movie on the TV with my dad and in the middle of the movie, I got asleep.

In the afternoon, my boyfriend called me, and told me that he was eating at his uncle’s house, because it was one of his aunts birthday, and that when he finished eating, he will arrive to my house, so I told him that it would be great. An hour later, he called me that he was already outside my house, so I went downstairs to open the door.

I have told him that I needed to buy a gift for one of my friends, because she had borrowed me a dress for a really special dinner I had about two weeks ago, so he told me that he needed to buy some things in Cemaco, so I went back to Pradera Concepcion, while he was looking for some stuff in Cemaco, I went to some stores looking for the gift, and finally I found it, and I really hope that this special friend likes it.

Finally we got to my house, and ate dinner, then my boyfriend told me that he needed to go, because there was going to be a great concert of Maroon 5 on the TV, so he left my house and I went upstairs to continue doing my home works and I also watched the concert.