#70 To English 110 students

Dear future English 110 students:

I could not believe I am actually writing my last blog right now. As an international student, I have to admit I was not so looking forward to English class. I still remembered my first English class; I could not believe I have to write blogs everyday! After seeing the daily schedule Ms Chambers handed to me, I thought my winter quarter will be pretty miserable as I have to writing stuff every day. However, I have to admit I found myself improving everyday in my writing skills. I could not say my grammar skills or my structures of the article are improving a lot, but I could definitely found myself having more to write and becoming a faster writer than I used to be. Through the first ten blogs or so, I usually had hard time blogging them because it was such a pain for me to think about what to say and the proper words. But now, I feel really confident doing the blog. As people always say “practice makes perfect”. Blogging may not make you perfect writers; however, makes you more confident writers! Besides the blog, going to Ms Chambers’s office hours and writing center would also help you with your paper and grade. Ms. Chambers grades on the paper, or at least on my paper, but she is always very patient to answer my questions in her office hours. If you follow what she wants you to do, you would do fine in this class.

Good luck to all.

Sincerely,

Mengtian Chen

#69

Different parts of China have different kinds of culture. I am always fascinated by Tibetan Culture although it is part of China. Tibetan culture is quite different from the mainstream Chinese culture.

I love Tibetan art! It is related to the art of Tibet and former kingdoms. One thing I love about its art is that it is the origin of sacred art, reflecting the influence of Buddhism on these cultures. In 15 and 16 century, there were a lot of Tibetan carvers art with very simple designs containing sacred elements. I just thought they are so beautiful and could not believe they were done by hand in such a long time ago. I was really amazed.

Besides its art, I am also fascinated by its unique festival. Unlike Chinese New Year, Tibetan people have their own New Year. They celebrate it differently, for example, they put sacrifices on the altar of their deities and special foods delicately to welcome New Year. On the morning of the 1^st day, local people will make butter lamps to be sacrificed, along with grain, to their gods. They will go visit their relatives and toast with local drink. Besides the New Year, they also celebrate a lot of other festivals, like the Great Prayer Festival, the Butter Lantern Festival, etc. They all have very unique ways to celebrate.

I hope one day I could go to Tibet and see the real one with my eyes instead o reading it on the book, I bet it is a very beautiful and relaxing place!

#68

I am scared of height very much, so any time I have to get on a high stairs or a bridge, I would be really scared. I do not remember when I actually start to have acrophobia, but I remembered that I almost fainted when I climbed a mountain in my sixth grade.

My family decided to go to mountain climbing when I graduated from elementary school. So we went there and I could not wait to climb to the top of the mountain. However, when I made every effort and eventually climbed to the top, I looked down and started feeling sick. I was afraid of looking down the mountain at first, and then I started feeling dizzy and I could not feel my feet anymore because they were totally stiff. I was feeling so bad that I almost fainted at that moment. My mom later told me that my face was pale and I looked awful.

From then on, every time I look down from the very top buildings, I would panic and feel sick. Especially when I have to take the transparent elevator that could view the outside when we go up to 80^th floor, I would close my eyes for the whole ride. I would rather miss the beautiful view than faint in the elevator.

Acrophobia gets even worse when I need to get on the bridge. Since there is nothing under the bridge but water, I would try many ways to find another way to go across the ocean if possible. I am always afraid of looking down the water.

#67

After watching so many movies and news about different places are suffering from the global warming, I have to say that global warming is something that happening in the world that concerns me. My friends would sometimes laugh at me when I talked about global warming and how it is going to damage the world. They just said that it is none of my business and I have nothing to do about it.

Even though I know they are quite right, I still think it as a problem. Global warming hurts many people, plants and animals. Global warming makes the sea rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands and might kill some people. When I saw the movie “Next” and the very end part of that movie when the world is blowing up because it is too hot on the earth face, I was actually thinking it could be happening in many years. Global warming is a real serious problem happening around world. I could imagine the earth blows up someday in the future because the temperature on the surface of the earth is accelerating fast and out of control in the end.

I think I am kind of radical and kind of pessimistic about the issue. I also hope it would never happen in our real life. Sometimes I try to walk instead of driving car and turn off the lights when I am gone to help save some energy. I don’t know if that helps at all or not, at least I am trying…

#66

I am the kind of person who is quite superstitious. I believe in fate and I like reading zodiac magazines and see if I have good luck next day. One reason that I am so into zodiac is that I found them very true, or at least very true about my zodiac. I have to say the characteristics of Cancer are exactly the same as my personalities!

No.1: Cancer natives are friendly. As being a “water element” zodiac, it is really hard to get a Cancer native angry. We are not as aggressive as other zodiacs.  I am a very friendly person and I could be friends with almost everyone. When somebody is mean to me, I could never stand up for myself. It is usually my friend who stands up for me.

No.2 Cancers have reputation for moodiness. I am very sensitive to almost everything. I am emotional and I cry a lot. My friends are used to me crying now because they understand Cancers are emotional and crying is the best way for them to stress out.

No.3 Cancers like to eat a lot. I am totally a food lover! I have a huge stomach and I could eat the whole day without stopping. I used to have three sandwiches, 8 sushis, one big bag of chips, one bubble tea and a cheese cake for lunch. My friends used to scare of my huge appetite, but they are used to it now.

So, the zodiac represents me quite well. I would always check my zodiac before I go out.

#65 different time

As a matter of fact, I always want to be born in a different time period. If I had been born in Tang Dynasty (AD 618-AD 907) in China, I would probably live in a better and more relaxed life.

During that time period, China is the most populous place in the world. It is generally considered to be the highest point in Chinese’s civilization. A lot of people from all over the world would come to visit China and learn the policies and culture, for example, Chinese poetry. Women at that time have a pretty high social status. There is even a first women emperor in Chinese history. I wish I could be born in that period because I do not need to study as hard as I am right now to find a good job after graduate from college. Men are supposed to work hard and finish all the required education at that time. Men are also responsible to find a nice job and support the whole family. Women, on the other hand, could do enjoy their life pretty well and not to worry about finding jobs or raising children.

I am a pretty lazy person, and I like to live in a slow-pace life. I hate the pressure coming from the school stuff, parents and the whole society. So I would be really enjoying my life in Tang Dynasty.  I would read a book or do something else when I feel like while not worrying too much.

#64 biggest mistake

Well, I could not really think of any big mistakes I have made. One of the biggest mistakes I have made was when I was in high school. I have to say that I had the worst and the meanest chemistry teacher in my high school because she is extremely strict to us and requires tons of homework. She gives random quizzes and exams almost twice a day. What’s more, when somebody does not participate in the class, she would say all the bad things about you and you he would be in a big trouble. I have been warned several times because I was late for class or did not turn in my assignment in time. So apparently, I did not leave a good impression on her. Oh well; anyhow, toward the end of the year, on the morning of the last day of school, several of my friends decide to do something crazy to her since she was so mean to all of us. So after she parked her car in the parking lot, we used glasses to  slash the tires.We also poured some water in front of the classroom, so she fell down when she entered the room as we expected. We did a lot of crazy things and finally she got mad at us and we were sent to the principle office. This sis probably the craziest thing or I could say “mistake” I have ever made. Even though, I was sent to the principle office and was in big trouble. I did not regret I did that. Maybe I will never have the guts to do these things again in college. At least I have done something crazy for memory.

#63best friend

 My best friend is Meicheng. We know each other since fifth grade. At first, I was the best friend of her friend. Meicheng and I are friends but we are not very close. However, my best friend moved to Beijing in the sixth grade. Even though we still call or e-mail each other, we were not that close as we used to be. So, Meicheng and I got to be really close friends. After finishing elementary school, we ended up going to the same middle school. We share a lot of secrets and we talked almost everything. She was a really smart student as she was always top ten students; however, I was not so smart and I always freaked out when there were quizzes and exams. She was always there to help me out, especially chemistry! I was so bad at chemistry that I could get 20 out of 100, which is unbelievable for her because she thinks chemistry is such a easy A course. I hated when she said it was easy, but I always need her help. With the help of her tutoring, I ended up getting a B+ in my chemistry final, which is a huge progress for me. I have to say that she is a really patient and nice friend I could ever ask.

However, we went to different high school and college. As we could not see each other very often, we e-mail or online chat a lot. She would share her funny things happened in her college and I mostly would complain how hard my courses are in college as I always did in middle school. We could talk for 5 or 6 hours without stopping. We just have too much to share with each other. I cannot wait to see her when I go back. We definitely need to hang out more when I go back to Shanghai.

#62 place

My favorite place is dessert place in Shanghai. I love desserts, especially ice-creams and chocolates. There are many nice dessert places in Shanghai. I have tried different ones, some of them are way too sweet, and some of them are just too crowded.

I remembered it was a sunny Sunday; I was with bunch of my friends. We were all thinking about getting some desserts after a long-time shopping. We saw a very a little cafe right around the corner. It looks like a European style cafe and is well decorated. We were attracted by its outside and we went in. When we entered the room, we could literally sell the coffee and all kinds of desserts. I fell in love with this little cafe already. It also has the best chocolate cake and Latte I have ever had! From then on, I go there all the time. I could sit there the whole day and just read books and do homework. It is not as crowed as other big cafes, but it is the right one for me. Having a cup of coffee and a bite of chocolate cake while listening to the music, I feel like I am outside of this busy world. I could completely get relaxed and do not worry too much about the school and other things. So every time I am too tired or just feel like having some desserts, this is always my top one choice. I cannot wait to go there when I come back to Shanghai!

#61 story

Well, I am an International student from Shanghai, China. My three stories are the following:

1.     I used to be an exchange student to Columbus, Ohio when I was a sophomore in High school. I lived with my host family in Powell, Ohio. I enjoyed my first year in America very much and I have been to many places, like LA, Vegas, etc. I also met a lot of international students from all over the world, like Germany, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, etc. As exchange students, we have the same feelings, which make it easy for us to communicate with each other. It is nice to have a little international group in America.

2.     I love coffee a lot. Coffee is my favorite drink and I am definitely obsessed with it. Every morning after I wake up, I need a cup of coffee. It feels really good and it keeps me energetic all day long. My favorite coffee is skinny Latte in Starbucks. It tastes good and also “healthy” as it does not have too much calories. I love everything in coffee flavor. I like coffee candy, coffee ice-cream, etc.

3.      I used to be much heavier than what I am right now. I used to be addicted to chips and other fried foods a lot, especially when I am depressed and stressful. I would not stop eating them unless someone stops me. After half year or so, I started becoming overweight and feeling unhealthy. So it was my Mom who finally helps me to lose weight and eat healthy. She cooks me very healthy food and stops me from eating any unhealthy food.

#60 Word

As I first came to America, I heard a lot of new words. The most impressive one is the word “like”. I could hear tons of times in one or two sentences. It is common to hear from teenagers. A few months, I feel like I am using way too many “like” when I talk.

The word “like” is popular nowadays. It has become a phenomenon which has spread somewhat widely. A lot of teenagers like to use the word “like” just because they do not know which word is right to express their feelings.

The word “like” could make the sentence softer, less assertive and maybe, a little friendlier, thus making your own image more sociable. It is shown that more and more people are unwilling to offer clear opinions on matters, in fear they will be rejected. Inserting "like" makes a statement more fluid and more easily retracted if received in the wrong way. However, when people say “like” too many times, it shows lack of confidence. That is also the reason why we get all of those suggestions to 'get rid of the habit' and advice for what not to say in a business world. It can unintentionally give off the impression of boring.

So now when I am try to talk to someone, I am more aware of overusing the word “like”. I have to admit that it is a really easy word to use when you want to explain something; however, overusing it might make people think you as a boring and unconfident person

#59 my major

So my major is pre business right now. I still have not decided what major I should be. I am kind of between finance and accounting. Well, it is very interesting to see that so many Chinese students have been admitted into Business College. Almost 90 percent of Chinese students are interested in becoming businessmen or businesswomen. I am one of them. I guess the reason why Chinese people like to study business is because of Chinese education and background. People will regard businessmen as one of the top lists of social class in China. It is kind of similar to what Americans think of dentists and surgeons. What’s more, studying business can make a lot of money due to the economy in China. This is probably the most common reason for Chinese people to study it. Although my major is business, the only reason I picked it is that I could benefit a lot from it like making a lot of money. But when it comes to decision about which major to pick, it will be really tough. Accounting is boring and I have to read tons of numbers and equations. I could imagine my boring job in a bank when I was thirty years old. On the other hand, finance is a more interesting one; however, a harder one. It interacts with several fields of business. I need to study a lot in order to graduate from college. I am the kind of person who is easy to feel boring and tired of too much homework. So it is a really hard decision for me to make. Somehow I have to make one and stick to it.

#57 my dream

I am not quite sure if this should be about a dream that I had when I am sleeping or something that I really want to do when I was young. However, I could not really remember what my dream is when I woke up. Well, a dream that I had is to own company that does kids business. The reason that I want to do it is because it could make a lot of money. The customers that I would like to aim for is pregnant women and babies from 0 to 7 years old. People nowadays are becoming more aware of the importance of prenatal education. So it is a great opportunity for my company to provide a good environment for parents to do so. Doing some exercises and inviting a profession to do some lecture and give advice would also draw the parent’s attention. What’s more, after the baby is born, I also have classes ranged from newly born baby to 7 years old baby. My class would provide them the place to play, to interact with other kids and to learn. I will focus on music, language, color, etc. Kids will have fun playing as well as learning something new. This is also what parents want for kids to enjoy their childhood. I have this dream because it could make money if I work hard and make it different from other similar company. If I am doing really good, I probably will expand to have my own kids clothes and toys as well.

#55

I love beach and sunshine the best! When it comes to summer time, the place I always want to go is the beach. However, I live in Shanghai and there is no beach around which makes summer a little bit boring to me. If I have time during summer holiday, I will choose to go to some places that have beaches. What I love beach the most is the sound of waves and the smell of the ocean. I could just fall asleep by listening to the sound of waves. As my Dad used to work in Brazil for quite a long time, he always like to show me many pretty pictures about the beach, which makes me so jealous that I was dying to go there. What’s more, I like watching people surfing. In my opinion, surfing is one of the sports that I think the coolest sport. I always want to learn how to surf because I will go to the beach and surf if I am under too much pressure. Like other sports, surfing could make me feel really relaxed and what’s more, surfing could also give you a lot of energy to do other things. So overall, I would say that beach and ocean is my favorite place to go and could inspire me the most. The sound of the wave and ocean can always make me relaxed and forget all the troublesome business. It could bring me to get close to the nature and let me listen to the sound of this fascinating world.

#54

Well, the first boy that I had crush on is in my kindergarten. He is a really cute boy. His Dad is from German and his mom is from Shanghai, China. He is one of the boys that are very popular in the kindergarten because he looks so different from other kids. He has light brown color hair and very big brown eyes, what’s more, he likes playing soccer and he is really good at it. Not only a lot of girls like him, but also many teachers adore him. He could speak Germany and he is learning Chinese at that time, so he was sent to the normal kindergarten instead of those International kindergartens. When he is speaking Germany, I always feel so surprised and cannot believe how well he could speak another language. I think he is a very cool and cute kid. We have been in the same kindergarten for almost two years, we are really good friends and we play around together a lot. However, he went to another kindergarten because his family moved to Hong Kong. When I found out he was moving, I was really sad and thought we were never going to see each other again. Anyhow, he is the first boy that I had crush on, even though we did not spend a lot of time together in the kindergarten, I still think he as my first really good friend and I am hoping that everything is going well with him all the time.

#53 pet peeve

I don’t know if it is the weather is driving me crazy or not, I am always in a bad mood during the winter quarter. I just feel like the weather is way too cold than I expected and spring will take forever to come. So a pet peeve that I have is when the weather is being too cold.

 I love summer time the most, which is kind of weird for most people will become really annoyed by the hot weather. I hate winter time because I have to dress like a bear with tons of clothes on and I am always cold no matter how the weather is. The wind outside sometimes annoys me as well. Every time I go outside, I feel like the wind is chilling to the bone no matter how much I wear and I seem to be slapped really hard by the strong wind. What’s more, when it is getting really cold, it started to snow and the road is getting really bad. Especially, during the time the snow is melting, the road will become really disgusting, nasty and slippery. I always get my boots and shoes dirty. The snow on the boots is hard to get off which completely ruins the shoes.

Well, I have to say that, I may not so used to the cold weather that much so that I have some negative opinions toward winter. I might end up liking the weather when I finished my four year college here.

#52 trip

I love travelling, seeing different places and learning different cultures. I have been to lot of famous places like Vegas, Niagara Falls, DC, New York, etc. They give me different feelings of America but they are all very fascinating.  However, the most unforgettable trip I have taken is the cruise trip around China. It was a summer in 2009, my host family was trying to visit me in China and they decided to go on the cruise. Since I have never gone on the cruise trip before, I was so excited to go with them even though it was a trip to China.

We first stayed in a five-star hotel in Shanghai which has 88 floors and the view of the room was great. After spending two days in Shanghai, we flew to Wuhan and went on the boat. The boat was not really big; however, it was a quite cute and cozy four-floor ship. There were quite a few shopping areas to go and a theater room, which was really nice. During the six days in the boat, we passed by a lot of cities and had a great time. What’s more exciting, on the third day of the cruise, we saw thewhole solar eclipse on the boat, which could not be seen until 2035. After the cruise, we flew to our destiny Beijing and enjoyed a fantastic Beijing Opera show.

I have to say that it was the most exciting and unforgettable trip I have ever taken. I got to a lot of places that I didn’t have a chance to see before, and I was also lucky enough to see the whole solar eclipse on the boat.

#51 famous person

So the famous person that I wish I could become is Jiacheng Li, for anyone who does not know him, I will give a brief introduction about him. He is considered to be the richest person in East Asia and the fourteenth richest person in the world with about US$21.3 billion. He owed several companies and had made billions and billions of money. A Harvard Business School article summarizes Li's career in the following way:

From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire that includes: banking, construction, real estate, plastics, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets (pharmacies and supermarkets), hotels, domestic transportation (sky train), airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping.

I wish I were him because he is very successful in the business world and he is the head of many companies that owns a large property. I admire him and even regard him as my role model not only because he is the richest person in China, but he also has a really strong will power and smart brain. His success depends on his daring actions and his unique opinion. I wish I could be as smart as he is when dealing with business problems. Sometimes the most difficult part is when someone did not know the opportunity is coming. 

#50 gift

I remembered when I was an exchange student in America in 2008, I had a lot of fun with my host family and I was kind of sad to go home in June. Since my birthday is in July and I came to America in August, I could not spend my birthday in America, which is kind of depressing.  However, to my surprise, on a normal Sunday morning, about three days before I went back to China, I woke up in the morning and went downstairs to have breakfast, to my surprise, downstairs was decorated with many colorful balloons and small cute decorations. I was not sure what was going on at that moment because I did not expect they would celebrate my birthday at all. By the time I went to the dining room, I saw a box which had a card on it said “to Mengtian”. I opened it up and there were two cute dresses in it. I could not believe my mom bought them after we went shopping because I said I fell in love with those dresses first time I saw them, but they are way too expensive. When I got the gift, I was screaming and could feel tears coming out of my eyes. What’s more, all my friends showed up and celebrated my birthday with me. I had a really happy and unforgettable birthday in America. This was the best day ever, the best surprising birthday party and best gift I have ever gotten.

#49 babysitting

I never had a very formal job like working in the restaurant or shopping malls. My first and only job is babysitting. It surprises me that almost everybody in high school has a job like working for shopping malls, restaurants, grocery markets, etc. At that time, I have never had a job before and was dying to have a job and earn some money. So my mom offered me a job as a babysitter for one of our neighbors. They have two kids, Bella and Morgan. Bella is 2 years old and Morgan is 6 years old. The parents have a party to go and need someone to babysit their children. So I got to their house around 6 pm and got familiar with the house a little bit. I used to think babysitting as a quite easy job. Playing with kids and giving them food are what I think of the job. However, I was completely wrong. I did not expect changing Bella’s diapers at all until she was crying and showing me the diaper bag. What’s more, after giving the kids food, I thought I could finally lie down on the couch and relax. No, the kids are way more hyper than I thought. They ran from upstairs to downstairs, they took out all their toys and threw them all over the place…. I kept cleaning up and making sure that everything is ok. Finally, around midnight, their parents got back and I was exhausted! I have to admit that babysitting is a really tough job, it requires way more than you think. I am not sure if I would take this kind of job again. 

#48 family member

My cousin is my best friend. We are very close to each other. She has been living with my family for four years since she started working in Shanghai after she graduated from college. Maybe because of her work as a public relations manager, she loves fashion, she goes shopping when she does not need to work, and she reads fashion magazines and learns what the latest fashion trend is. She is always the glamorous one in her company. On the contrary, I am the one who does not care too much about fashion and tired of shopping. She always comments on my look and tries to change everything that I pick. Besides that, she loves dessert. She would search for the newest dessert cafe or any restaurant that has nice desserts. She could survive with the dessert without other things. I used to hate very sweet things like chocolate or ice-cream. However, I become addicted to dessert after she took me to those nice cafes. I always ask for desserts after the main dish and finish all of them up. Desserts really can make me feel relaxed, every time I have chocolate or ice-cream, I am in a quite good mood; however, I have gained a lot of weight because of the desserts. I had better go with my cousin every time she goes to work out.

Anyhow, my cousin is a really cool person. She works really hard and plays really hard as well. She has influenced me in many ways. I like her lifestyle and hopefully I could become as successful as she is.

#47 anything

It is Sunday again which means we have school tomorrow. Weekend is always going by fast. When I woke up this morning, I felt like 8 o’clock in the morning because it is really dark outside. The truth is it was about 11 o’clock in the morning and it has been raining for a quite long time. Oh, no! It is raining again and cold again. I thought winter is gone and I am so ready for spring and warm weather to come. “It is Ohio! It is normal!” My friend told me that the weather in Ohio is always like this. After a few days of warm weather and sunny days, it goes back to winter time again.

There is one thing that is strange about me is that I will react completely different according to the weather. For example, yesterday was quite sunny and nice outside, so I was in a very good mood and got a lot of things done. However, I am just too lazy to do anything today because of the weather. I do not feel like going outside, I started watching movies on the Internet and playing video games. It is just a lazy day for me. Some friends of mine will react the same as I do. I think there must be something to do with the human being’s brain work and psychology. The weather is a very influential factor of human being’s mood. Some people may not affected too much by it; however, people like me who does not have a strong will may be greatly affected.

#46 anything

Almost everybody around me will think that “Asians are smart.” I have heard this for a quite long time and I have to say that it is not true!

Take me as an example; I had physics and math class this quarter. I screwed up on my physics mid-term as always. The average score is even higher than mine. I was kind of pissed off; however, I do not think myself as a smart cookie. I think the reason why Americans think Asians are smart are Asian people always regard their school stuff very seriously. We have tons of homework to do and all the teachers work hard to push us to a higher grade. If all the American school have the same teaching system as we do, I bet all the Americans will be smart as well. In China, school system varies in different cities even though overall it is hard. Some of the cities have a more relaxed learning environment like my hometown. I used to be in a girl’s high school and they have the least strict rules and we have a lot of clubs and sports to join after school. I usually think my school as very strict until I came to America; I found all the other Chinese students have a much strict high school life. However, all their hard work paid off, they did great on all of their quizzes and midterms comparing to me. Now I understand why others think Asians are smart. As a matter of fact, they did not see all the hard work Asian kids have done in their schools.

#45 anything

So TGIF!! Finally weekend is coming. I am so glad that I could sleep in a little bit and not to rush to do the homework even though I have a midterm going on next week. Tonight my other Chinese friends and I went to go have dinner in a Chinese restaurant. It is very nice outside today with the big sunshine, so we decided to go out for dinner. We really had fun tonight and we love the food there. Being in another country, it is always nice to get some food from your native country. The food will remind me of China and homemade food. I wish I could go back to China this spring break; however, it is only seven-day break, which means I would spend half of my holiday at the airport. I am already counting down the days to go back to China. I never thought I will miss home that much. Maybe because of the freezing weather in Columbus and hard classes that I took this quarter, I felt very depressed and stressful, instead I just want to go back to China and relax. So I am only going to take three classes next quarter, hopefully, when the spring comes, I would have a good mood to study. Winter just sucks. It is hard to imagine I have to spend three more winters in Ohio. Anyhow, it is really nice outside today and I am in a quite mood with all the sunshine. Plus, I had a good time in the Chinese restaurant with my friends. Spring, please come soon!

#44 anything

So finally, we get to blog anything that we want! It is a nice day outside, I see lot of people wearing shorts and flip flops; however, I am just always cold and I still had a lot of clothes on, which is quite odd. Anyhow, I just cannot wait to finish this quarter. I took four classes this quarter and they all seem very hard to me. I had tons of homework and many mid-terms. I just always feel depressed this quarter because of the pressure about the courses and the cold weather. I am going to take three classes next quarter and hopefully I will have an easy quarter and have time to enjoy the spring. I like the quarter system better than semester because it is always going fast. You will not going to stick to some class that you really do not like, plus you just need to take three or four classes, which is much easier than taking 7 classes for a semester. Sadly, OSU is going to have semester system in two years and everything probably is going to be tough for me. I just hope that I could pass all my classes.

The university is much harder than I expected. I thought everything is going to be easy and does not require a lot of time and energy. It shows that I was wrong. I need to work hard to get a good grade and you deserve what you get. I better go study right now since I have midterms and finals coming up soon and I have not done really well in my last midterms. 

#43 revise CP

I think it is very useful to get all of the classmates' feedback on both title and opening sentence. It helps a lot to decide what I should write for my introduction part as people pick the interesting first sentences. However, I think I need to get a new title since the feedback is about 5 to 6 out of 10. Finding an interesting and unique title is really hard and it takes time too.

Anyhow, here is my introduction: 

Strolling around the fashion area of Apkujong in South Korea, you will find a relatively high concentration of good-looking people with big and deep eyes, straight nose and full sensual lip. There is even an entire street named as “plastic surgery Street”. Have you ever been dissatisfied with your appearance, or at least some parts of your face or figure? Have you ever dreamed of changing the way you look and becoming glamorous? Statistic shows that up to 80% of women and 90% of girls are dissatisfied with their bodies; 92% of girls want to change at least one aspect of their appearance. Nowadays, more and more women are willing to risk injury in pursuit of a perfect look, including going under the knife. 

I hope that I could end up with an interesting topic. The titles I am thinking right now are “the price of beauty” or “under the knife”. I am not sure which one to choose as the title. I think either one is related what I am going to write later in the article.

#42 relevant

I think my article is going to be relevant to the readers. Cosmetic surgery is becoming more popular and maybe some of the readers have had it before or they have seen their friends did it before. Since almost everyone would relate this topic to themselves to some extent, my topic will sound relevant. What I will mainly discuss is how nowadays, more girls and women are willing to go under knives to make them more charming and glamorous. Considering almost everyone would like to make themselves look charming, they would be interested in reading the article. I will talk about different kinds of the plastic surgeries and how many people have used it as a away to make them pretty. Besides that, I will talk about the disadvantages of it as well. There are lot of news about side effects of plastic surgery and how people suffer from it or even died. I would like readers to be aware of the plastic surgery before they decided to do it; I probably will give the readers some advice on all kinds of surgeries. Hopefully, everyone who read my article could learn more facts about plastic surgeries besides its amazing effect.

I have not worked on my paper yet; however, I think it is a good start to decide what I am going to write about and what my structure is. I will try to make my article more relevant to readers and hopefully, they will get interested in reading the article and learn something at the same time as well. 

#41 compelling

I hope that my topic will turn out to be compelling. Because the topic I am choosing is quite interesting. Nowadays, especially women would be interested in this topic. What I am going to write is a something happened related to my real life about cosmetic surgery. I will then talk about how cosmetic surgery is so popular among the teenagers. I will mainly focus on two kinds of surgeries, one is small types of surgeries such as nose life, open double-lid eye, etc, the other one is considered as big surgeries such as height increasing surgery, serotoxin injection, etc. Most teenagers have heard these technical terms, and some of them would choose to use it as a way to improve their look. I will also talk about some news about the effects about plastic surgeries. There are news about how many celebrities died because of the surgeries, how many people have got more even worse than before because they have done too many plastic surgeries. Besides that, I will probably use some research about how many people have done surgeries, which country has the most plastic surgery institutions, how many people would sacrifice anything to look beautiful, etc. These statistics would sound quite interesting and gives readers an idea what plastic surgery is, how popular it is, what are the advantages and disadvantages of them. This is a quite interesting topic and hopefully, my paper will combine all the things I have said and it would sound interesting and compelling. 

#40 timely

My topic is about plastic surgery. I think I could make my article timely because plastic surgery is always a hot topic among young people and celebrities. With the development of cosmetic equipment, making self look pretty is not as hard as it used to be, which makes the plastic surgery popular.

What I am going to talk about is how there are some small plastic surgeries such as open double-lid eye and nose life. A lot of young women have done one of these to make them look more attractive and confident. I am not against to those who did the surgery and I think these small surgeries are fine if people are not getting obsessed with it. I will also talk about how there are some big surgeries which involves considerable dangers. Hollywood stars, celebrities have done them because of their status. There are lots of news about how people get so used to the surgeries and they spend large amount of money on it; however, their face or body only got worse eventually.

After several bad news about cosmetic surgeries, it draws people’s attention and it becomes a hot topic. When talks about it, women would go crazy about it and some of them would do it regardless of the pain; men would do it to make themselves taller and stronger. It will be a timely topic because everybody has heard of this and everybody would hold different idea. It is a quite interesting topic and is worth discussing it.

#39 hypothetical scenario

So today we are supposed to write about a hypothetical scenario.

Let’s say that a woman used to have a happy life with a loving husband. Not long after their marriage, she started getting depressed about her looking and her figure. She wanted to become as pretty as the celebrities out there and she would like to change almost everything on her face.  Hearing the magical effect of plastic surgeries, she decided to do it. After doing the plastic surgery, she got divorced and married to a very rich man who fell in love with her good looking and figure. Tasting the sweetness of the surgeries, she started doing something big on her body as well. In order to make herself look glamorous, she spent tons of money on the equipments and drugs she took. However, considering the fact that there are lots of harmful substance inside the drugs and injection, her face looked awful and everything put in her body misplaced. As a result, she has spent all her money and still did not benefit anything from it. She looked much worse than what she used to look. She lost her loving husband and married to a man who only cared about her appearance. Eventually, her second marriage ended because of the bad plastic surgery.

This seems a little bit unrealistic. But these are all what plastic surgery could possibly affect people. People would be attracted by the significant change on their face and desire to change everything they look to make themselves look perfect. 

#38 anecdote

So today we are supposed to write about a personal anecdote about our commonplace articles.

The topic of my commonplace article is about plastic surgery. I have some friends who have done plastic surgeries before. For example, a friend of my mom’s has done plastic surgeries for several times on her face. She did the face life, opened double-fold eyelid and raised her nose. She looks very pretty and young comparing to other women in her age. She got married to a very good-looking rich man because of her prettiness. They had a very sweet life until their child was born.  The man was mad at her wife because the kid does not look like them at all. The kid has dark skin, small eyes, and flat nose, which does not look like either of them. Eventually, the wife told her husband the truth that she has done several plastic surgeries and that explains why the child does not look like them at all. This story seems very dramatic; however, it is a fairly true story happened around me. What I want to show the readers is how plastic surgery has some side effects. As plastic surgery could make people look pretty, a lot of women decide to do it regardless the pain and side effects. They may look glamorous in the short term, but there may appear a lot of issues like what the wife had in the long term. So always think twice before deciding to get your face fixed!

#37 anything

Finally, we get to blog anything we want. I just want to say that as an international student come from Shanghai, which is warmer than Columbus, I am so not used to the coldness here. It has been freezing outside in the last couple days and I am dressing like a heavy bear to keep warm while walking outside. I am getting really tired of the weather. I do not know other people, but I will get quite depressed when the weather is getting cold and rainy. Knowing the fact that I will probably get depressed during the winter and do not have any motivation to study, I registered all the easy classes for this quarter, except English 110. During the winter time, the leaves have fallen off, everywhere is covered with snow, which makes me kind sad. My friend got excited when it snowed for the first time last quarter because she is also from Shanghai and we do not get snow during winter time. A lot of people think snow is pretty, including my friend. I have to admit that watching snow falling down through the window is quite pretty; however, I will never want to get out if it snowed. The good news is it is going to warm up in the next few days and I am so excited for spring to come! I cannot wait to put my heavy clothes away and see the trees turn green again. This quarter is almost over, which means spring is coming up. Thank god! Hopefully, the weather will keep warming up!

#36 CP Topic

The topic of my common place is Plastic Surgery. South Korea, capital, Seoul, has a reputation as the place to go for a nip or a tuck. But despite being an unregulated industry, thousands seem willing to risk injury in pursuit of a perfect body and look. According to poll in South Korea, nearly 90 percent of Korean women would have plastic surgery to feel better about themselves. None said personality rather than looks is what matters. There is even a popular road known as “plastic surgery Street.”   Plastic surgery is becoming quite popular or even essential among the celebrities all over the world as well. They would want to change the way they look and try to become more glamorous, young and sexy. It is undeniable that plastic surgery has made some people become confident, pretty and famous. However, disadvantages way outweigh the good sides. There are news about people who died due to the cosmetic surgery. Some people would get addicted to the surgery and keep doing it until their faces become too horrible to look at. Bad plastic surgery could not be fixed, which means people need to do more research before actually undergoing the surgery.

Plastic surgery is a common thing nowadays. Some of my friends have more or less done something like opening double-fold eyelid, nose lift, breast implants, etc.  There is nothing wrong trying to have a “best face”; however, when faced with something that is quite risky like plastic surgery, it is always a good idea to do some research and try not to become addicted to it. 

#35 CP 2

The article that I read is everyone is buying it. It basically talks about how college students like to buy things they do not even need. They would buy a lot of designer shoes, purses, clothes, etc just to show off. We are getting really materialism. I completely agree with what the author said because I would have the same thoughts and maybe the same actions as the girls she referred in the article.

This article is very timely because it is a common phenomenon. We always get things that we want from our parents when we are young, which develops the bad habit. Peer pressure is often seen among the same age group, especially for college students, they are always comparing to each other. Girls would buy lots of luxurious like bags and dresses while boys buy watches, etc. What’s more, the company has done a lot of work to do advertisements to attract young people. As the article said, the company would use a lot of idols, celebrities to make us buy things. Considering different aspects, it is really easy for people, especially college students to buy something that we really do not need. After reading her article, I started thinking about my shopping habit. I would want to buy something so bad just because I saw someone else bought it or I saw my favorite idol is doing the commercial. Sometimes, after I bought the item, I will never use it again and it will be forgotten forever. Always think twice before I decided to buy something. 

#34 CP article

Today I have read an article called Think pink? Or think profit? The first thing that this article grabs my attention is its title. When I read the title, I do not know what she is going to write about but I feel like I want to read more of the article. As I kept reading, I think she has written her introduction quite interesting. I could imagine same thing happens to me as well. What she said was how some companies try to increase profits by claiming to support some charities. Her argument is that “If you’re going to the store with the intentions of helping a charity by buying a pink ribbon product, don’t waste your time or money.” This article is quite compelling and timely. As a reader, I had same experience as her for several times when I go shopping. The way how company increases their profits is true and need others to pay attention to. She has brought some examples about how other companies deal with the donation money and list several data. From these examples and research data, I think her argument is quite convincing and I would want to agree with her and try to pay attention to these things when I go shopping. I like the way she has drawn my attention by writing a quite interesting title and introduction. It is hard not to make your title too boring. Also, an effective and interesting introduction could draw lots of readers’ attention, like mine. 

#33 my paper

Today is the last day to blog about my research paper and I finally finished it! I still could not believe I finished the draft. It is the first time I have finished such a long paper. It feels tired; however, I am so proud of myself to get this work done. As a matter of fact, I am nervous to turn it in because I am not so confident about my paper. I really wish that my topic could work so that I do not need to change to another one, search information and start all over again.

This week is Chinese Spring Festival week and I just do not feel like doing any homework or even going to class, especially during the severe weather condition. My family and friends are all enjoying their 7-day holiday and celebrate New Year. That is why I was not in a mood to write on my paper until the very last minute. Thank god I still finish it in time. As for the quality, I am not sure whether it would sound good to Ms. Chambers or not. Tomorrow I have a mid-term and I still have not started reviewing it. I’d better go now and try to force myself to memorize some equations and formulas for tomorrow. Anyhow, I am glad to get this paper done finally. I have been worried about this paper since the first day of the class. Now at least I have done the first step. With the help of Ms. Chambers and writing center, it is as horrible as I thought.

#32 my paper again

It is weekend already and I finished the most part of my paper. Today is the most productive day so far. I started to write about how Dollhouse has good and bad sides and how the cloning has good and bad sides as well. Before writing this paper, I know a little about the technology—cloning and the only thing that I know about it is the first cloned sheep—Dolly. After writing my research paper, I found a lot of information about cloning, in positive and negative ways. I am surprising to find out what cloning could do for human beings and how advanced the technology is! It is a good opportunity to learn something that I would probably never go to learn on my own. Science fiction is the kind of topic that I showed little interest in. When I found out what we are watching for our English class and what kind of topic we are writing about, I was kind of worried because I seldom read something about sci-fi. As I keep researching the information about cloning and other technologies in general, I feel more comfortable about writing it.

I am happy that the draft is only worth five points because I am very confident about my paper including the topic I am choosing and the grammar problems. After getting feedback about the draft, I would be focus on what I need to improve and hopefully I will revise the paper good enough to make it sound like an informative research paper.

#31 about my paper

It is almost the weekend and I feel like I have not gotten the most part of my paper done, which is quite stressful. When I am reading other’s blogs, I feel like everyone else has been working on it quite well. There are a lot that I would like to say about cloning; however, when I read over what I have written, I started feeling like I have said too many things which are not relevant to Dollhouse. I always have trouble with focusing on what I am writing. I always started with the topic that I would like to talk about and want to write anything that I know about that, even though they are not related to my research paper. It happens this time when I tried to write my research paper. I am writing everything that I know about cloning. Seriously, I need to be really focused on what I am trying to argue and delete what are not connected to the Dollhouse. This would be a tough process and my paper would be cut down 2-3 pages quite possibly.

Has anyone finished the paper already? I have a feeling that I will not get it done until the last minute, which is not a good thing. Right now, I start to admire those writers who write tons of pages on the newspaper, website or books. It is a pretty long process to decide your topic, your thesis statement, find your information, write your outline and start writing.

#30 my paper

Today I have actually started writing my paper. I feel like having us finished our draft first is a great idea because I will not start writing my paper until the last minute, which is going to ruin my grade for sure. For me, the introduction part is fairly difficult. However, as soon as I finished my introduction part, I feel much comfortable about writing the body part. I feel like I have a lot of things to talk about cloning, for instance, the positive sides and the consequences; however, it is kind of challenging to relate the technology used in the Dollhouse and cloning together, I really need to focus on that so that the connection makes sense to the readers and I am hoping that I could do well on this paper and make it convincing enough that I do not need to change my topic to another one. 

Going to the writing center helps me a lot by narrowing down my topic and brainstorming with me about different aspects that I could write about. They would provide me with some good advice about how to build a more convincing introduction and how to introduce to the following paragraphs of my paper. They said that I need to view the technology used in the Dollhouse with another aspect so that it relates to the cloning. They suggested that instead of cloning the organs, I should mention that the Dollhouse cloned people’s skills and personalities. What they did have both good and bad sides, which I could talk about it.

Anyway, I need to move on to work on my paper.

#29 my research paper

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Back to the blog, writing a 7-8 page research paper is quite tough for me. I still remembered writing my 6 page paper for my Eng 108 last quarter. I stayed up for several nights to eventually get that done. However, I think this time I am more prepared thanks to the blog. The research paper I am going to work on is related to the Dollhouse. I am thinking about connecting the technology used in the Dollhouse and cloning together. After blogging about integrating the quotes, some people commented about my blogs saying that there is little connection between cloning and the Dollhouse. I rethink about it and feel like my argument is not strong enough to convince the readers. Does anyone who watched the Dollhouse think of some scenes that could relate these two things together?

The connection that I see is how Dollhouse uses different people’s memories and personalities to create a new one. Cloning works kind of similar, instead of using other’s memories, scientists clone organs or DNA. Cloning and the Dollhouse have both good and bad sides. People have different opinions about it while cloning is a quite controversial topic as well. I would probably focus on how the Dollhouse has satisfied the clients’ fantasy and how they treat the dolls. Meanwhile, I would discuss about the pros and cons about cloning. Hopefully, I could connect these two things together.

If anyone could help me with some ideas or come up with some scenes that could be more convincing. 

#28 quote

In the article “Pros of cloning”, it explained some bright sides of this new technology. Basically the article is talking about three advantages of cloning. First of all, Experience gained in cloning may add to our understanding of genetics and lead to the creation of animal’s organs which have been genetically altered so that they can be transplanted to humans.  Second, cloning could produce a reservoir of "spare parts". Third, cloning could treat damage for brain or nervous system. The quote I would quote is “This (cloning) would supply limitless number of organs so that people would not die while on the waiting list for the few available human organs” (Jeddy, 1). What he is saying is that scientists could clone an organ or any part of a human being and save it for later use. This is sort of similar to the Dollhouse. What the Dollhouse does is to clone other people’s personalities, skills and memories, after that, the programmer—Topher restored them and every time the dolls are assigned a mission, he would use those copies or combine them to create a new one. In the first episode of Dollhouse, Echo was programmed into a good negotiator and Sierra became a fighter. Both of them got cloned some skills and completed the mission perfectly. What cloning could help people is its possibility to save people’s life in time. Imagine when a patient needs an organ to be translated right away and there is not any that could match up. This would not be a problem if cloning could be used.

# 27 quote

A lot of people who are against cloning have a common reason which is cloning undermine the values of human life. In the article Genetic patenting and human dignity, the author claimed that many people would dispute the patenting of DNA sequences on the grounds that it treats humans as commodities because our genes are products of nature, we cannot claim them as an invention. Bruce, the professor of biochemistry at Duke University said “If they (genes) are nothing more than products of industry then I believe we are losing something of our humanity by putting them in the same box as widgets (Bruce, 2). What he is saying is that every single individual in the society is unique with all kinds of personalities and skills. If the scientists clone the DNA, human beings would lose the dignity. I could see some connection between this point and the Dollhouse. Instead of cloning genes and stem cells, the Dollhouse cloned personality and memory. All the dolls have lost their identity and are programmed into different people. According to a version known as principle of humanity, “we have a moral duty to treat all human beings as ends-in-themselves, not merely as means to other ends”. The Dollhouse is running a business of using people which devalues man-kind. Same with cloning: if the cloning technology started becoming big, human being would become very worthless because cloning could satisfy everything human beings ask for. Cloning is started treating human beings as commodities, so is the Dollhouse.

#25 quote 2

Today I read the article the benefits of human cloning; the article listed a lot of things that cloning benefits the human beings. Even though not everyone agrees with cloning, or believes it is ethical, there is lot of usages through cloning. Dr Simon Smith said that one of the leading proponents of human cloning technology suggests that it may someday be possible to reverse the aging process because of what we learn from cloning. Cloning could reverse heart attack, make embryonic stem cells to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones, advance Plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery, clone any organs for transplants, etc. So he claimed that “This new technology herald a new era of unparalleled advancement in medicine if people will release their fears and let the benefits begin” (Smith, 2). In other words, he is saying to those who are afraid of cloning or do not know much about cloning that cloning can actually do a lot for mankind and people should never look it differently. Cloning is kind of like the technology used in the Dollhouse to some degree because the company cloned different personalities into the dolls and they all look alike when they are in the house. The dolls may never have such strong bodies in their real life before; however, when they got imprinted or cloned, they have more strong body to fight and completed a lot of difficult tasks to save other people’s life. Cloning is kind of good when thinking about the medical usage when somebody needs to clone an organ and transplant. There are still a lot to think about. 

#24 quote

The United Kingdom’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill, introduced into Parliament on the 8th of November 2007 contains a number of controversial proposals inter alia expressly permitting the creation of inter-species embryos for research and destruction and increasing the scope for human cloning also for destructive research. There are a lot of debate about the permission to create inter-species embryos and human clones is conducted upon the supposition that, whereas it would be unjust to do so for the purposes of achieving live births, it should be permissible to create such embryos for scientific research and destruction.

Dr Laing, Jacqueline A, Barrister High Court of Australia, Solicitor England and Wales Senior Lecturer has claimed in the article Issues and free movement and Gestation that “the interests of scientific research are such that there may well be pressure to bring human clones, hybrids and other compromised embryos to live birth. Confidence that the law can prohibit such gestation depends on a legal distinction between the embryos created for destructive research and the same for live birth”. (Laing, 11.) What the author said was how uncertain are any legal prohibitions on gestation. The laws they introduced will not supply the effective controls over this productive technology. There are many laws introduced recently about the technology such as cloning. Soem countries are trying to abandon the cloning technology because it violates the human rights; however, some countries used cloning technology to save other peoplo's life or do scientific research. In my opinion, it does not matter whether we should have the law or we should completely abandon cloning, every advanced technology has its good sides and bad sides, what matters is how poeple should deal with the technology.

#22 article 5

Today I read an article called we have lost our humanity, in this article; the author who is a doctor in New York has claimed that the effects of greed and technology on modern medicine has made people dehumanized. He talks about how a human being reaches the end of his or her life, but the family, or the nursing home, doesn't want the person to die there, so they ship the poor soul to the hospital. Whats more, the specialist in turn orders all sorts of expensive tests, procedures, maybe even surgery. All of which gets billed to Medicaid. In fact, this money could be better spent on lives that could be saved. Another article talked about how the Internet has made people lose their humanities. There is always some video going around whose calculated effect is nothing more or less than humiliation on a global scale. Technology, it seems, has unleashed ugliness in us. He also talks about nowadays, people could go through Facebook,  iPad, automated teller, self-serve, smartphone, e-mail for entire day without the bother of having to interact with each other.

With the development of the advanced technology, people, especially the teenagers have made full use of it and are enjoying the fast pace, giant information. But at the mean time, the concern which the author has put forward is seriously a issue right now. People are getting into the technology too much to forget how to actually communicate with others face to face. Back to the old days, people write letters to each other with their personal handwriting and their special greeting; however, few people are using letters when e-mail started getting popular. So it is a drawback for technology and we should think about how human beings should use the technology more correctly.

#21 article 4

When I think about the technologies that people benefit a lot from, there are lots of things jump out of my mind; however, there is one technology that I use it almost every single day and could not live without, which is the weather forecast. So I looked up on the computer and was trying to find out how the weather forecast technology has made people’s life easier. The article technology, corporation=accurate weather forecast said that due to advancement in computer technology and measuring devices, there are more accurate weather prediction than ever before. ­­ Human beings have benefited from information gathered by weather satellites. The mass of information from the orbiting recording stations is now more efficiently handled. I also read another information chart which compares two ways of doing the weather prediction—the ancient way and the new way. Comparing the old and the new one, we could see that data is now collected and processed at a higher rate, the quality of data collected has considerably improved the level and rate of information transfer and communication has increased multi-fold. Thanks to the modern technology, nowadays, people use modern equipments such as remote sensing system, advanced radars, weather satellites, etc to make the weather report more accurate than before. For me, the weather forecast is a great technology; it makes our life a lot easier by knowing the weather ahead of time and be well prepared. There are other technologies that are quite convenient to people. So it is easier to find and feel the advantages of the technology. 

#20 article 3

Unfortunately, I had a fever right before my 2 midterms and feel dizzy all day. I don’t really feel like doing homework, so this blog probably sounds no logic and was not well organized at all.

Anyhow, I read a very short article called Technology: good or bad. To be honest, this article doesn’t seem to be a very strong one and it only talked about very shallow aspects; however, I found out a point of view which could probably be used in my research paper. Considering the fact that everything has two sides, talking about how technology is whether good or bad itself is not enough and persuasive. So I am going to write about what is human beings’ reactions toward the technology, in other words, how do people decide to use the technology. There are lots of examples to discuss: people’s attitude to the household appliances, how people use the grammar check and spelling check in the computer. The more technology has been invented, the more people get greedy. It is our responsibility to decide whether the technology is good or harmful. For instance, China has issued Plastic Restriction Oder in 2008 because of plastic’s damage to the environment. If people realized how plastic is very hard to degrade, which damages the environment in the long run, they should give up using them even without the government’s order. Therefore, human beings have the responsibility to make full use of the technology with the minimum damage to the society and other people. 

#19 Article 2

Today I have read the article how technology could contribute to the sustainable world; this is a fairly long article and talks about different sides of the technology. The article talks about the meanings of technology, the technological development and visions of technology in a sustainable world. Since it is a pretty long article, I read the “technological development” part and scanned the other parts of the article. It basically talks about different realms of the development of science and technology. The author focused on Biotechnology and Health technology, nanotechnology, information and communication technology, etc. He talked about how technology were been used in these fields and how there appears some ethical issues at the same time. For example, scientists are thinking about injecting human stem cells into the blood stream to rejuvenate human organs and thereby far extend longevity. All of these new technologies bring out controversial topics like people still hold different opinions about genetically modified organism.

After reading this article, I feel like my research topic is way too broad and not well written. I should focus on a more specific aspect. I am now thinking about dividing the technologies into several fields and discuss about how technology contributes to each area and how do people think of these developments. The technology used in the Dollhouse was regarded as a health and biotechnology because it could erase people’s memories in a minute. I could use this as a beginning to discuss how other biotechnologies affect human being’s life. 

#18 artical1

In the article: Take the lazy way out? That’s too much work, the author talked about how the technology has made people lazier in today’s world. He thinks human being are pathetic because almost everybody is using spell check, grammar check in the computer and people are losing the capacity for correct word spelling and grammar. Technology has created a new standard, not of accuracy but of laziness and this makes people too lazy to take the lazy way out.

Talking about the bad sides of the technology, many people would probably think of the bombs, nuclear power, etc at first; however, there is another side that people may neglect---the laziness. The author acclaimed that Technology and laziness are locked in a vicious cycle. Technology has always promised to make people more productive and free us to think higher thoughts. Perversely, each innovation tempts us to further slack off. Considering this point, I could focus on how does technology provide human beings an opportunity to become lazy. The examples could be the invention of typos and grammar checks. I maybe become too radical about the bad sides of the technology, people would argue that everything has two sides; no one could promise the invention would be perfectly good for people. What I would like to write about is to do a research on how the technology is used to overcome laziness or discourage it.

Hopefully, I could get all the ideas together and write a nice research paper without being too radical about the technology.