Rupert

It was really shocking to know the news that John Nash, one of the greatest mathematicians ever, died in a car accident days ago. I had heard of the name from watching the movie "A Beautiful Mind" and that's why I knew parts of the so called "game theory." Maybe the most parts of the theory he studied were the Nash Equilibrium and the Prisoners' Dilemma. However, he had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia that caused him to see illusions every now and then.

I had watched the movie years ago and was fascinated by the plots as the actor saw illusions and talked to them as if they were real. Sometimes I thought to myself that some geniuses are alone because no one would understand them. Some even couldn't fit in the world so that others alienated them, those geniuses. So I think it is good to be unique and strange when having extraordinary thoughts and deeds. Even I would do something weird. Do you know what I mean?

lyric everyday:

The title "On Top Of The World" discussed yesterday reminded me of those two days in Mt. Jade, especially the night in the house deep in the woods. That house is a must-stay place if you want to reach the summit the next day because there is no other artificial buildings. However, that house is said to have been haunted even if the keeper is there. I could still remember one of the acquaintances in the group telling me a horrible story which had happened just right at the site.

One day, as the keeper of the house was about to sleep, he heard someone knocking at the door. He opened up and saw three guys wearing yellow raincoats standing at the door. He invited them into the house to have cups of hot drinks. He turned to look for seats. When he turned back in a second, he discovered those guys disappeared, only three raincoats left. Actually I was scared by the story at that time. What's worse, when we were departing for the summit in the night, I saw three guys wearing yellow raincoats!!!

lyric everyday:

The sound of the pouring rain was really a lullaby to my tiring body. It was so hypnotizing that I needed to paly music when I was rearranging the learning portfolio at night, and I could easily fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. Of course, I could barely wake up and get out of my bed when the sun was up. Was the sun really up remained the mystery as the clouds were thick and the rain was falling hard. 

After eating breakfast and then lunch, I lay on the quilts and pillows, listening to my favorite songs. I tried to focus on the lyrics on the screen, however, I fainted after two or three songs. When I got up at half past four and finished taking a shower, my family was about to have dinner. The rain was still falling hard outside the window, which was again making a lovely sound to hypnotize me to sleep when the night reached its end.

lyric everyday:

After three days of staying up late to 2 a.m. I finally finished rearranging my learning portfolio. I added a catalog telling that there are some achievements and certifications. However, what took me three days to do was the last part of the portfolio -- reflections. I spent times reading others' learning portfolios and recognized that I lack reflections to show my presence. 

By putting two or three photos to my reflections, I could tell that I pride myself on showing my perspective toward lots of activities I had joined in. Also, I felt content when I rewrote and reorganized those reflections I once wrote, a kind of fire burning inside of me that recalled me of my young and crazy past that was still repeating. I hope that this learning portfolio would be not only tools to get admission to universities, but also memories for forever!

lyric everyday:

Before writing this reflection, I searched all over the Internet for the English name of "學習檔案" but failed to find one. (Actually it is called learning portfolio, but I would just roughly call it "book.") I had read some of the books of other classmates and surprisingly found lots of them put lots of trivial but meanful travel experience in their books. Maybe I used to think that reflection of doing great deads was more important than that of accompanying my family. By putting some photos into the book of mine, I think I could add something more.

Furthermore, I carefully inspected and examined my book, comparing it with other classmates' to recognize that there was LITTLE reflection to every activity I had attended. Also, there were little pictures of me to prove that I am a dynamic person. Pictures usually speak louder than only words. However, as the deadline was around the corner, I needed to finished it as soon as possible and show everyone the best of me.

lyric everyday:

This afternoon, as I was down in the dump of bad scores and felt distressed, my mom suddenly called me out to tell me that I had an evening off. This decision was made by my father, who rarely called all of our four to go out and have dinner together. Even though the sun didn't rise from the west, I still regarded this as a chance once in a blue moon that we could have fun together. However, the feast turned out to be eating at a restaurant nearby where we often went to have dinner.

Maybe this outcome seemed to be not ideal, but for me, it didn't matter where to eat or what to eat. I knew that my father wanted to show his affection toward us by inviting us to have dinner together. I knew that he couldn't express his feeling well and usually hid his emotions back, just like a father used to be. Maybe not many children understand their fathers, but I am sure I know him well because I know he loves me.

lyric everyday:

Tonight, I was thinking about the reflection of those almost countless activities I had participated in. During the leisure months after graduation of junior 3, I spent weeks volunteering in a hospital, where I learned to be more patient to patients. Also I did one of the three things that Taiwanese should do -- climbing Mt. Jade! That was the best thing I can't forget about these days. Besides, I went to China Medical Unversity for summer camp and kept a wonderful memory there. 

In addition, I realized that I had gone abroad three times, including Japan, New Zealand and Thailand, and I came back with full memories and cherish of these trips. However, there were still some memories of joining activities with classmates, like the MUN and the trek across Taiwan. Then, I conceived that these were just some of my traveling experience. Just like my mom had said, "I really enjoy my senior high life to the fullest."

lyric everyday:

Tonight, I saw a familiar shadow hiding behind a pillar in my grandfather's place. With yellow fur and brown stripes, she was lying lazily under the moonlight. Being a stray cat settling down at this place, she was sort of slim due to days of famine. At first, she was scared of me unless I brought some fish for her. When I touched her for the first time, she jumped off and glared at me. However, after times of trail and error, she no longer stared at me, but even played with me even without the lure of food. 

I could still remember dancing my fingers with music in front of that frightened face, and excited her to dance with me by her palms following up my ridiculous finger steps. This night, I watched her melting and dissolving in the milky moonlight while walking toward me. She was thrilled to stalk to my wandering fingers and rub her downy back against my arms, her tail raising high. Seeing her moving so gracefully, I thought it would be wonderful to raise a pet!

lyric everyday:

I heard about the plan you tell my mom that I would be likely in speech contest than in composition contest. And she asked me if I cared about giving up joining the relatively stressless composition contest. Since I had told her that the impromptu was strenuous and stressful without practice and that preparing for composition contest would be easier for me.

However, without much hesitation, I told her that I wouldn't regret participating in speech competition because I didn't want to waste these days of toil over organizing so-called impromptus and I wanted to make the training valueable. On top of that, it had always been wonderful to try something new and complete different. All I was worrying about was the ability to construct an all-right lecture in a short time. It was not enough to just speak impromptu, but to speak fluently and correctly in every part. I wish I could do that!

lyric everyday:

It is interesting to read this piece of news reflecting the educational problems nowadays. The header says "學會比學完還重要," which means it is more important to learn to use the knowledge than to just finish the process of learning. It is hard for students to follow up when teachers keep on teaching and ignore students' abilities. 

However, what catches my attention is the the article below clarifying a new concept of education. Sometimes I really wonder the meaning of scores when there are smart students failing to reach high scores not because of the way they study but how their brains operate. The scores used to be the only standard to evaculate a student's learning, but just like what the article claims, it is not objective and not fair for those with special talents rather than abilities for academic performance. 

Combining these two articles, I think learning should not be limited to books for school tests, but be open to all kinds of knowledge that the society requires and we learners want. Maybe the geniuses are now here in our class!