What Grinds My Gears

Posted on by melissa0525

There are many things that grind my gears, but here are a few:

When people don’t say thank  you when I say bless you

lol. I know this is being nit picky, but when people don’t say thank you when you tell them bless you after they sneezed grinds my gears. It is especially annoying when the sneezing individual acknowledges that you said “bless you” and makes eye contact with you and then turns their head down without expressing any emotion or gratitude.

When I say I’m going to study or do homework, but then I never do

This is a personal problem, but there are some days where I especially do not want to do homework even if I have no distractions. I say bye to people because I need to study, but then once they leave, I just sit at my desk and stare at my homework for about 30 minutes and then I will watch YouTube for a few hours and then scroll through the Instagram discovery page for another few hours and then by the time I finish scrolling it is like 12 or 1 and I got no homework done. Once I realize the reality of the situation, I smack my head (lightly) in frustration and yell “ayya” every 10 seconds. Hopefully, I will soon realize not to do this because it always ends with me being frustrated and annoyed. 🙂

finally

When people in China judge my chopstick skills 

Whenever I go to China and we eat dinner with my parents’ friends, they think that my brother and I can’t speak Chinese, so they talk about us. :/ So basically, the number 1 gossip conversation between the adults is how bad we hold chopsticks or how we can’t hold them in a jokingly manner. Every word that they say I can understand, but I don’t say anything back. I just smile back with dead eyes and keep using my chopsticks incorrectly. It grinds my gears how much they comment on my chopstick skills and it gets annoying really fast.

 

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

No ‘e’

Posted on by melissa0525

Running and shaking, Maximilian quickly rolls into a cabin hanging on a boundary of a trunk, but Max had no option. A colossus barbarian rascal, Bob, ran towards Max as fast as an ostrich. It was a cold, dark, and rainy day, blurring his vision causing it to slow down so Max can block him out of sight. Max was not in risk…for now. As clouds pass through and coat a distant moon, Max’s day is running out.

Hours and hours pass and Max is about to pass. Running and running, Bob quickly shows up and bangs on windows and forms a small crack so Bob can bust in.  Bob’s thighs hit and crack and Bob falls through. Sadly, Max did not grasp what was going on, and Max sat and did yoga touching windows with his back and happily, Bob lands on Max and Max was still. Poor Max.

ayya (ai-yah)

Posted on by melissa0525

In life, people show a variety of different emotions ranging from happiness to sadness. The new word I would like to add to the English language is “ayya”. I use this word on a daily basis (literally) to express my frustration, stress, dissatisfaction, regret, use it as a way of  telling someone I am shaking my head, demonstrate the feeling of “why did you do this lol”, or just using it as a synonym for “darn it”.

An example of when using ayya would be appropriate would be:

If you got a bad test score and you don’t want anyone to know the test score, but you need to let out some emotion, you can say ayya.

If you have a teacher that called you out for something that was dumb or something you didn’t do, you can say ayya.

If you don’t agree with someone’s opinion and think why is this person doing this, you can say ayya.

If you are watching a YouTube video that has a person doing stupid life threatening activities, you can say ayya.

If you are talking to someone and don’t know how to reply, you can say ayya.

If you are frustrated with a person near you and want to say something about it but at the same time not, you can say ayya.

If you are stressed and you just need a word to say, you can say ayya.

If you just want to yell a word out, you can say ayya.

All in all, even if you have nothing to say but still want to say something, then you can use ayya. Ayya is a word that the meaning can be changed by putting the stress on a different letter or holding one letter longer than another. If this word is said over and over again, it kind of gets entertaining and will relieve stress and frustration.

Unauthorized Medical Experimentation/Eugenics

Posted on by melissa0525

In the 1900s, African Americans were tricked by supposedly receiving free health care; however, they were actually testers for clinical studies. In chapter 11 of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator is located in a mental hospital after the explosion incident at Liberty Paints. The doctors experimenting on the narrator were speaking and in the narrator’s head, “the voice throbbed with icy authority and I quieted and tried to contain the pain” (Ellison 233). Back in the 90s in the Tuskegee  Institute, “investigators enrolled in the study a total of 600 impoverished sharecroppers” and gave them “a banned diet drug” and were “secretly injected with  plutonium” (Invisible Man Supplement). During these unauthorized medical experiments, African Americans were tricked by the medical doctors by not receiving treatment, but by receiving a series of different substances to test.

The narrator is encased in a glass and nickel box and he listens to what the doctors are discussing and in the end of their discussion, they come to a consensus of performing electric shock therapy. As they preform the experiment, the narrator dances and one of the doctors says  that black people “‘really do have rhythm'” (Ellison 237). This “dancing” was actually the narrator’s movements and shakes from the shock therapy and because of the electrical shocks he “but [his] lips to smother [his] screams” (Ellison 237). Also, the dancing is a stereotypical comment that ridicules black people, showing the way blacks are mistreated in these experiments.

All of this relates to the different experiments performed on African Americans in the 90s and this incorporates eugenics, which is incorporating the positive traits of a person and removing the negative traits and if a person were to pass on negative traits, they would be sterilized (Invisible Man Supplement). These people were sterilizing “socially inadequate individuals” (Nature). Unfortunately, many of these sterilizations were preformed on African Americans. showing differences in the treatment of blacks and whites at that time period.

Ellison uses unauthorized medical experimentation and eugenics in Invisible Man in order to show the differences between the power of blacks and whites.  He also highlights the racism and prejudice between people. Ellison includes the narrators point of view of the experiment to help the readers understand the pain and suffering African Americans went through with these tests. Also, readers will understand that blacks were treated as test subjects rather than human beings showing this reference as inhumane. All in all, Ellison’s reference demonstrates that African Americans had little to no control of their life in this period, exemplifying the power structure between races.

Invisible Man Supplement

Nature

 

 

Labyrinthine Sentence

Posted on by melissa0525

The voice, deep, profound, mysterious, and resonant voice echoed though the dark, dusky, pitch black tunnel continuously repeating the numbers five two six one three five nine over and over again to a group of three siblings, a brother and two sisters, with a locked briefcase; however, the three family members could not figure out the meaning of the numbers for the life of them, but then, they realized that the voice was giving them the code for the lock on the briefcase that contained several documents to help trace them back to their family after living in an orphanage for eight years of their life with a torturous orphanage director, who treated the orphans like slaves.

Wisdom Saying of the Vikings

Posted on by melissa0525

After searching through the 80 different Havamals, which is a poem that gives readers advice, multiple times, I decided on choosing verse 25 which says:

A foolish man
thinks all who speak him fair
to be his friends;
but he will find,
if into court he comes,
that he has few advocates.

In modern English, this means that a unwise man who befriends anyone who smiles or talks to him will soon realize that when he calls for support, there are a few or no people who help. We all need friends who can be there for each other in times of hardship, but the ones who stay far away through tough times you cannot rely on.

This advice is important for mainly young adults or teenagers because through intermediate, middle, and high school, friends  come and go mainly because they do not take the same classes or they do not keep in touch with each other, but in some cases, people realize who their true friends are and stick with them forever. This Havamal demonstrates and explains that not all the people who are nice to you dare your friend because in the future, you cannot depend on some of them for help. This advice helps people realize who they can trust and who they cannot trust avoiding two faced individuals. Friendships break and form all the time throughout your life, so following this advice can help pick out your true friends and avoid fake ones.

As for modern literature, in The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby, hosts multiple extravagant parties with tons and tons of alcohol with hundreds and hundreds of people. Also, Daisy Buchanan hung out with Gatsby for almost half of the novel, however, in the end, when Gatsby dies, she did not have the audacity  to  show up at his funeral. Similarly, many of Gatsby’s “friends” such as Jordan, did not show up at the funeral to honor his death and burial. Although his “friends” did not show up, his true friend, Nick Carraway, organized and prepared his funeral showing that he was his friend friend.

All in all, Havamal 25 advises readers that everyone who smiles is not always a friend that can help you in times of hardship.

Power Cancer Fighter?

Posted on by melissa0525

Annually, 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer and nearly 7.6 million people die from it. Recently, scientists genetically modified a food poisoning microbe, Salmonella bacteria, to target tumors, making the body’s immune system aggressive towards cancer cells.

Salmonella is a rod shaped microbe that is known for causing many cases of food poisoning in the United States. In 2006, a team of South Korean scientists came up the idea of creating a new cancer fighting agent; however, they were also searching for another vaccine to help fight against Vibro vulnificus, which is another microbes found in infected shellfish. As the researchers noticed that there is a protein in the bacteria’s flagella, they hypothesized that if they modified a harmless version of Salmonella typhimurium, to secrete a protien FlaB, then it can help treat the many cases of cancer. Biologist, Jung-Joon and Joon Haeng Rhee, set out to test the newly modified Salmonella on cancer cells in mice. They injected 20 mice with human cancers and then a few days later, the biologists discovered that the bacteria from the body parts had cleared and  the tumors were no where to be seen. This experiment occurred over the course of 120 days and on the 120th day, the tumors in the mice were undetectable in more than half of the mice and the control mice not injected with the modified microbe eventually died. Overall, scientists have found that bacteria usually live on tumorous tissues, so microbes like the genetically modified Salmonella bacteria can easily target these cancerous tissues.

All in all, I think that this experiment is very effective in which the biologist approached it. With the approximate 12.7 million people being diagnosed every year with cancer, this genetically modified microbe would help a significantly large amount of people creating a step forward for bacterial cancer therapies. This scientific discovery would not only impact people nationally, but it will also impact people globally. Cancer occurs all around the world, often killing an individual diagnosed with it; however, with this new FlaB producing bacteria, hopefully these techniques will battle cancer for the good. Although this recently occurred and it is still new to the scientific community, through more and more experimentation with the genetically modified Salmonella and if all goes well, this can be the next big thing for the world.

Article

An Unfortunate Day

Posted on by melissa0525

The gash on his leg slowed him down a bit, but he still managed to carry her all the way to the secluded pharmacy in the middle of no where at around 1:00 am. 

He carefully turned his head periodically to make sure no one was following them. Her time was running out with each breath she takes. Her asthma was gradually taking over her body. 

Hours before, both Liam and Cammy were on a flight to Denver, Colorado to see their family for Christmas break. As they boarded the plane to Colorado, the passengers were notified that there were technical difficulties with the plane and they needed a few hours to fix it. However, once the technicians fixed the minor problem with the plane, Liam, Cammy, and the other passengers boarded the plane. 

The plane ride was like any other ride, but 30 minutes before they were supposed to land, the pilot yelled at all the passengers and flight attendants through the intercom, “LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, BUCKLE UP YOUR SEATBELTS AND PREPARE FOR A SUPRISED LANDING. THE PLANE IS RUNNING LOW OF FUEL AND WILL MAYBE CRASH IN A FEW MINUTES.” Everyone quickly rushed to their seats and clicked their seat belts in place waiting for the suprised landing. 

Cammy had a panic/shock attack after the pilot’s urgent announcement and triggered her asthma. She could not breathe properly. Unfortunately, right as Liam was about to help her grab her inhaler out of her pocket, the plane suddenly impacted the ground and crashed in the middle of a forest. Debris flew everywhere and one aimed straight towards Liam’s leg and gashed his leg open. 

After both Liam and Cammy gained consciousness from the crash, they slowly made their way out of the forest and into the city near by.

As they walked into the abandoned pharmacy, Liam ran quickly towards the first aid section and grabbed the first bottle of rubbing alcohol and saline solution he found find along with some gauze and tape. Then, he quickly treated his wound; however, he hesitated for a split second before he poured the rubbing alcohol into his wound, but then he realized Cammy was still laying on the ground trying to catch her breath while using her almost empty inhaler, so he but into a piece of gauze and poured the alcohol on his gash. 

A muffled scream emerged through the gauze. “Ahhhhhhh!”, Liam screamed as the rubbing alcohol slowly seeped through the open flesh. He then wrapped his wound with the leftover gauze and tape multiple times until it was tightly sealed. 

Afterwards, he frantically grabbed a bottle of water for Cammy and rushed straight to her. Her face flushed red with beads of cold sweat dripping down her face. 

“Go to the pharmacy and grab me my asthma medicine,” Cammy with a weak forced voice. 

Liam, inexperienced with pharmaciutical processes, tried looking for asthma medicine. Confused, Liam finally found a section marked “Asthma”. Although he found the section for Cammy, there were at least 10 types of different asthma medicine, so he grabbed all of them and hoped one of them would help Cammy. 

Once Liam came back to Cammy with the medicine he asked, “Which one is your prescribed medicine?”

Cammy slowly opened her eyes, trying to read each package’s name. She then helplessly said, “This one or this one I don’t remember oh gosh uh…forget about it just give me this one.  Hopefully I’m not allergic to it.”

Reluctantly, Liam opened the medicine package and gave it to Cammy, praying that it will help her asthma. 

After a few minutes of taking the medicine, she gradually started breathing normally, stopped sweating, and her face turned back normal. Thankfully, she took the right medicine. 

After their time spent in the pharmacy, they stocked up on some food and water and made their way to a nearby hotel and freshened up to make their way to Denver by car the next day. 

Dust Bowl

Posted on by melissa0525

Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma Apr. 1936 Cimarron, Oklahoma

Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma April 1936 by photographer Arthur Rothstein

The above photo can be found here : Dust Bowl Photo 1

“The muffled sound more completely than fog does. The people, lying in their beds, heard the wind stop. They awakened when the rushing wind was gone. They lay quietly and listened deep into the stillness…They knew it would take a long time for the dust to settle out of the air. In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket covered the earth. It settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence posts, piled up on the wires; it settled on roofs, blanketed the weeds and trees. The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain” (Steinbeck, 3).

This photograph taken by Arthur Rothstein replicates the description Steinbeck writes in The Grapes of Wrath. During the Dust Bowl period, severe winds blew tons and tons of dirt and dust mainly over the Great Plains. From this, a lot of the land areas and crops were damaged, forcing individuals to move out of the area and go to states like California for job opportunities. In the picture, there’s a man and two children walking through the dust filled land and the littlest child is covering his eyes to avoid any particles from the outside storm. Just as Steinbeck described, the people who walked outside during the Dust bowl did not run or try to avoid the dust, they simply just walked like it was a normal day (besides covering their mouths). The landscape shown in the picture allows us to realize how dusty the air was because we’re not able to see anything in the distance.

Image result for dorothea lange photos dust bowl California at Last: Four families, three of them related with fifteen children, from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria, California. By Dorothea Lange 

The above photo can be found here : Dust Bowl Photo 2

“Grampa grunted and fought weakly against awakening, and when he was finally settled he went deeply to sleep again. Pa said, ‘Ma, you an’ Granma set in with Al for a while. We’ll change aroun’ so it’s easier, but you start out that way.’ They got into the cab, and then the rest swarmed up on top of the load, Connie and Rose of Sharon, Pa and Uncle John, Ruthie and Winfield, Tom and the preacher. Noah stood on the ground, looking up at the great load of them sitting on top of the truck” (Steinbeck 113).

The above photograph taken by Dorothea reminded me of how many people let Oklahoma in the Joad’s car. Thirteen people in The Grapes of Wrath squished into one little car,. During this time period, many families could not afford to buy multiple vehicles, thus forcing them to carry 10-15 passengers in one car. Each person in the photograph reminds me of each of the Joads plus Casy. The picture depicts the size of the family in one car and all the necessities and belongings they brought, which shows us how much families struggled to get to California for job opportunities.

Keith Emerson

Posted on by melissa0525

Honestly, picking from the numerous artists, singers, and musicians was a challenge. I have never heard of a lot of the people on the list of musicians that died in 2016; however one caught my eye. Immediately, when I scrolled through the list, together i saw two members of a band next two each other. Sadly, both members of the band passed away in 2016.  I chose to write about Keith Emerson because unlike the other musicians, he played the keyboard. After listening to Emerson’s different solos and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer (ELP) songs, I have chosen the song, “The Art of Falling Down”. The lyrics are down below:

The Art  of Falling Down

From EPL

Falling Down…

Well, you can jump the guns and corners
To save your place
It’ll never hide the guilt that’s on your face
And you can duck and dodge and scramble
And make that sound
It’ll never match the art of falling down

Wishing it away will call them all to stay

Well, you blame the slings and arrows
That curse this fate
And it still won’t shave the cost of coming late
Never a clean escape
Becoming what you hate

And you can justify the cause and nail across to it
But you need to get lost to get you found
And it’s a long drink of faith ’till you believe it
And you come across the art of falling down

Turning it away invites them all to stay

You can light yourself a candle to ease your pain
It’ll never find the song to sing your name
Ain’t it a burning shame
Enough to drive you sane

Chasing it away will call them back to play

You can fly your righteous angels
On a golden chain
But it’s a harder fall than landing on your blade
And you can call it by it’s name and put an end to it
But it’ll never change the art of falling down

Falling Down…

Initially, I chose to listen to the song because of the name of it. The Art of Falling Down. when I heard the first 6 seconds of the song, I immediately loved it. The singer, Greg Lake, sang a chromatic scale going down and it was beautiful almost kind of sounding like a harmonization. Besides the melody and music beats, the lyrics are deep. A few of my favorite lines from this song are “You can light yourself a candle to ease your pain. It’ll never find the song to sing your name” and “You can fly your righteous angels on a golden chain, but it’s a harder fall than landing on your blade, and you can call it by it’s name and put an end to it, but it’ll never change the art of falling down”. Although the lyrics were good, the tune of the keyboard in the background. Emerson carries the tune. His keyboarding skills are a+ and it sounds like he plays each note with care and precision.

On YouTube, there were many piano solo recordings. After listening to a few of his solos, I was in awe. He mixes a bit of classical, jazz, rag, and pop almost flawlessly when he plays. No matter how fast he plays, it always sounds clean and precise.

Unfortunately, this past year, he died on March 11th 2016 from self suicide. He shot himself in the head. Emerson also dealt with heart disease and depression associated with alcohol and worrying how he will play in performances and concerts.

Keith Emerson will always be remembered because of his talent and passion to entertain others with his music.