Narcissism- Really, good or bad?

Well, the word narcissism means self obsessed, self-centered. To say that you are a narcissistic person is to say that you are too obssesed with yourself and care too much about yourself than others. This, to many people, would be seen as a bad thing. But actually, is it really that bad?

When a person is self-centered or obssesed, he or she becomes immune to the other pains and anxieties of other people, making them seem as if they are unfeeling towards other people. However, is it really that bad? Firstly, we can look at it from that person's point of view. Maybe the person is just being a little self protective? Or maybe the person has been teased when he was very young, saying that he could not do what other people would dare to do. Thus, he could now be giving himself some self encouragement, and that the other party would, feel mildly offended. That is psychologically common through people. Thus, is there really a need to resent narcissistic people?

Now we can look at the other party's perception. Imagine when you see a person flouting everywhere with his or her results and you obviously got higher than him, but then, when you break the news to him, he would not care and still flouts with his results. Another common psychology of people, when a person flouts about having something good and you have better, you would want to tell those people that they got better, but the news has probably spread out of your range. That is how we can see it from the receiving side.

Thus, this topic does not really have a definite answer, some people may find the person correct, or the other party correct. It is entirely up to one's judging. So, do you think that narcissistic people should be welcomed? Or should they be shunned?

A lottery- Yay or Nay

Personally, I support the holding of the lotteries. Whilst this would not be the best of choices for family counsellors, but I still think that the lottery should still be carried on. Many people or family counsellors say that gambling leads to many family and marital problems and I must agree, it does cause problems, but not that many. Actually, the lottery is not as bad as it may seem. The lottery is simply a form of more subtle gambling compared to other gambling games such as poker or roulette. Those games involve high risks that in any moment, you may lose all your money in an instant. Lotteries simply allow an opportunity for people to try their luck, for, money is the key to most things in life. The lottery must not be seen as only a bad habit, it can also be seen as a way to get money, although it is not as stable as a job. Winning the lottery gains you instant money, the sums more than you could ever work in a month, or even a year. Check out this article on the man who wins the lottery and how he truly came from rags to riches. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/06/232m_lottery_winner_is_true_ra.html

My parents also, though in not all ways, support the lottery. They say that it is something for the people to look forward to. Life would then not be so dull as they have that lottery ticket in hand, waiting eagerly for the results to come out in the weekend. So, in some ways, adds joy to people's lives. Also, they thought of something that i did not think of. They said that if lotteries were to be condemned, more people would resort to gambling illegally and causing even more family and marital problems, though the "black gambling table" already exists, condemning the lotteries would only cause more people to seek the "black gambling table" to satisfy their wishes for money. Then, those people would probably result to underhand methods to win, causing fights or disputes which may require the police, which, we are now, now seeing or hearing much about such incidences.

Thus, I support the lotteries as the way I see it, condemning the lotteries would only create more problems to people, and would also result in the lost of that wee bit of thrill in our lives, dulling their days.

Poet: Robert Frost.

For this blog post, I shall do on Robert Frost.
Personally, I think that Robert Frost is a great poet. Some of his poems are have huge symbolic and metaphorical meanings, such as The Road Not Taken, Mending Wall and many others. Though his family was plagued with death, with all but two of family members all dying before he did, he had a strong will, is famous quote was "I can sum life up in just three words: it goes on" thus, from here we can see that Robert Frost did not dwell too much time on grief, but expresses it through his poems. Robert Frost suffered from depression, just like his mother did, but had the will to live on.

Robert Frost was a man that never really, could leave his pen. Through his years, he wrote his first poem, My butterfly: an Elergy. He sold it for fifteen dollars. Afterwards, he attended Harvard University and did extremely well there. Soon after, he got married at Harvard University and attended liberal arts studies for two years. Though he was doing quite well at Harvard, he had to leave to support his family at a farm his father bought for his amily just before he died. Robert got up early in the mornings to write his poems, then in the afternoon, work to support his family. This carried on for nine years. After the nine years, his farming proved unsuccessful and he returned to education as an english teacher at Pinkerton Academy.

Then in 1912, he sailed with his family to Great Britain, where he produced most of his famous and successful works. During his life in Great Britain, he worked as an english teacher once again. Then, for the next forty-two years, Robert spent most of his summer teaching at The Bread Loaf School of Middlebury college. Robert received many honoroury degrees in his years of teaching and had a library named after him.

Through his life's years, Robert devoted most of his time to writing and teaching, a man who constantly was enriching himself, producing great works and touching others' hearts. He is a poet that deserves not only to be respected for his great works, but also, deserves to be respected for his devotion in education, as well as his zest for life. Thus, I would say that he is truly a man that never left his pen, for, it was always following him, producing works that touch lives and instill spirit. For that, I really am in awe of him.

Most of Robert Frost's works have great metaphorical and symbolic meanings. For example, his poem, The Road Not Taken. It displays the choices in life, of what choice you should make that would really help you.

Another piece of his work: Mending Wall, questions of why people must build walls, literally walls, from them and the outside world, he believes that man should leave together and not be isolated from the others.

The final piece of work I am going to share is Nothing Gold Can Stay: This poem tells that not everything can remain perfect and pure for long, and that there will come a time for things to end and die down. Everything will soon be lost to time.

That is all for the poet and for this blog post.

Figurative Language in a Poem.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This is the poem I have chosen to analyze for figurative language.
1) The poem uses symbolism and itself, is a metaphor.
The words in the starting of the poem, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood", symbolises the choices being laid out for oneself at the peak of one's life, as when the wood is yellow, is a metaphor to autumn, which is the point of one's life before old age, in which is winter. I think the author used this figurative language as he wanted to paint out a picture that seemed as if he was just talking about an ordinary forest, but was in fact talking about life's progress.

The next words in the next line symbolises that in life, you are only allowed to make just one choice in which the path of life you want to take. The author used this as he wanted to paint out that both, in a forest and in life, you cannot take nack the choices you make at the start, as you will just go deeper and deeper into the outcomes of your choices.

The next eleven lines (The whole line) are consisted of mainly metaphors in which it depicts the road that many people have traveled before and that things look way better if the author were to travel by that road and it also depicts the scene in which the road that had not been taken in a long time. This part the author chose as he wanted to emphasize that the road which many people took before seems the best way out, going to the destination where every one went to. Howver, the other road seemed unsure of where it led to, giving the metaphorical meaning that if you follow the direction where every one is going, you would achieve the same amount of success or failure as everyone else. But if taken the other road, you would achieve something that not everone has done, but it would be a risk.

The ending few lines is also a metaphor, telling the reader that after many years, looking back at the road he took, he realised that he had made the right decision by choosing the road less taken. The author put chose this as he wanted to relay the message of trying out a different road from what everyone took will bring you unexpected rewards, and would help you in the long run.

2) The like the poem as I find it inspiring and uplifting, undestanding the hidden meaning behind the poem. It illustrates the path of life, choosing the path less taken will bring unexpected rewards, and benefit in the long run. This poem will then spur me on to try new things, to endeavor. With this poem, many people would then understand that choosing what everyone else has chosen will not exactly be the more successful one, and you wil just be equal, if not just a wee bit better or worse than the other people whop have taken that road, or in this case, choice. Picking the road less traveled will bring surprises along the way, in which would help you grow more experience and in the end, emerge as the last man standing. However, it does contain its risks. The road, in another circumstance could also be dangerous, thus the avoidance of the road. Sunmming it up, I like this poem as it displays how to achieve in life not directly, but in a more peaceful, "nature-friendly" way.

2nd Book Review

Book Read: Zoology, A Novel
Author: Ben Dolnick
Questions I will be answering:

20) What lesson did you learn from the story?
30) Write a different ending to the book. Tell why you changed it.
40) Write a poem about the book.
53) Is the title a good or a poor one and why?

Before I start on answering the questions, I shall give you a bief overview of the book first.

This book, is written in a first person perspective. The reader takes on the role of Henry Elinsky, a collenge freshman that failed his freshman year and had to take it again. This book illustrates how a teenager goes through the woes of being an adult. So, for the summer, his brother, David, offers him a job opportunity for the summer at the Central Park Zoo. Henry starts to work at the Central Park Zoo, starting out at the children's zoo. Henry stays in David's apartment and one day, when he was swimming, meets the girl of his dreams, whose brother he caused to have two chipped teeth.

He tries all methods to win over her heart, but stuns when he finds out that she already has a boyfriend, he now tries even harder with no avail. Also, Henry encounters obstacles in his job, such as workload stress and the desire to stop working there and then as working at the zoo seemed diferent to him from Animal Planet.

Finally, when Henry thinks that things would not get anymore worse, the city goes into a blackout. He goes into the zoo at night, hoping to check out the animals, but accidentally lets out Newman, a goat which children love and the main attraction at the children's zoo. Henry gets fired from the zoo, never to return as a worker or even as a visitor. Henry learns that being an adult is not as easy as earning a weekly paycheck and fulfilling his life's dreams.

Now I shall proceed with the first question: What lesson did you learn from the story?

This story is all about telling us the woes and hardships of adulthood, while many children would be jealous of the adults, thinking that an adults life is much easier than their school life. This book proves them wrong utterly. Firstly, it introduces them to the workload of adults, and the displeasures of work, after that, it introduces them to the affairs of the heart and finally, problems which risk your career and your life without a job. Finally, the book will then talk about the author in school, when life was so much easier. I learnt that being an adult is not as easy as just working and getting paid, buying stuff, using stuff and more. This book actually made me realise that being a student now is actually lucky, without having to worry about as many things as the working class do.


Now for the next part: Write a different ending to the book and why you changed it.

The original ending to the story is this: But when I keep remembering is a moment just before all that, when I was still carrying the dog across the water, alone and freezing and whispering with mud smeared over my face, and how happy I felt, how simply and suddenly happy. What a strange place for a life t start, I remember thinking, and my flashlight flickered on the water.

Now I shall proceed with my own ending: But what I keep remembering was the time way before all the police and stuff, when I had just started my second freshman year, the freedom, the spectrum of choices in which to choose for my next step. Only then, did I realise that being a working adult was tough. Real tough. Thus then, I kept to my studies and passed my second freshman year. That was when, I truly felt the greatest.


Time for the next task to: Write a poem about the book.

Henry Elinsky failed his first year of college,

he wanted to try out his father's lifestyle that age.

His father wanted him to help out at the school,

but Henry refused, and worked at the zoo.

----------------------------------------

He moved in with David,

and worked like they did.

He thought it was easy,

but it was a tough duty.

----------------------------------------

One day at a swim,

he met the girl of his dreams.

He helped take care of her brother,

but taking care was a lot tougher.

----------------------------------------

He tries his very best,

to win her zest.

But he found out,

he would never win the bout.

----------------------------------------

He works at the zoo day and night,

working and working with all his might.

He got sick of it,

but did not resign.

----------------------------------------

One day at a city blackout,

he went back to check it out.

When he reached the goats',

he let a goat out.

----------------------------------------

For that blunder,

he got the sack.

He vouched to himself,

he would never come back.

----------------------------------------

He finally goes back,
back to the school he went.
He seems satisfied now,
after those dreadful events.

Okay, the poem is now over, and that brings us to: Is the title a good one or a bad one and why.

Personally, I think that the title is a good one. It is good because the title does not only cover Henry's job at the Central Park Zoo, but also means the ups and downs in adult life. So, the word zoology can mean both Henry working in the zoo, studying a bit of Zoology, or it can mean the wild mishaps and challenges in adulthood. Thus, I think that the title is a very good one.


And there we have it! The end of the book review. Hope you pick up a good book anytime soon.

Book review

Book read: Lottery
Author: Patricia Wood
Questions I will be answering:

20) What lesson did you learn from the story?
26) If your story happened in a foreign land, compare that land with Singapore.
40) Write a poem about this book.
56) What did you think was the most interesting part of the book? Why?


First, I shall start by giving you the main ideas and a summary of the book.

This book is written in a first-person point of view. The reader takes on the perspectives of Perry L. Crandell, a person who is mentally challenged, having an IQ of 76, and insists that he is not retarded, though he is just one point of being a retard, that is, with an IQ of 75. Since his birth, Perry has been living with his grandparents, until his grandfather died one day while coming back from sailing. His grandmother has since taught him many things, including writing things down so that he would not forget, and many other life skills which might help him improve in his critical thinking.

As when someone is mentally challenged, the society would be biase towards him. his was the case with Perry, being a worker at a small shop selling boat equipment. He suffers insults and frustrations such as the cashier, who would not hand the change to him, handing it to his accompanying grandmother. His cousin-brothers, including his mother, would not even talk to him, let alone acknowledge as having him as a relative. So, all through the years, Perry lived with his grandmother. All that changed when Perry won the twelve million dollar lottery.

Perry, after winning the lottery, gains instant fame, regardless of press, society, who would now readily talk to him, even his family members have now come for him. The people who meet Perry are just curious on how he feels after winning the lottery, however, his family members want the money that he is holding on to.

Perry's best friend is Keith, a crude and rude person, but is a true friend to Perry and befriends him not for his money.Together, they stick through thick and thin, go on a holiday to Hawaii and helps each other to settle problems. Keith and Perry's next best friend, Gary, together help Perry fend off the multiple attempts by Perry's family to get the twelve million dollars. Through the book, Perry learns to overcome his disability, learn how to handle his new found riches and learn whom to trust.

Towards the ending of the book, Keith dies and leaves Perry and Gary alone. Overcome by sadness, and his knowledge of the importance of sharing, and signs a legal document, then, for Perry, none of his lottery money remains by his side. Perry claims that he was happy and still does not notice the mistake he made by giving the money to them. Actually, Perry's cousin-brothers have all taken the money and fled, due to some law issues. Perry helps his store receive an award for Business Vision. Finally, Perry has outlived his days as being a retard, and has now become his long awaited dream of being a businessman.


Now, for the first question: What lesson did you learn from the story?
From this story, I truly understand how someone's determination and will can make him successful. Though Perry is mentally challenged, he lives through the mean comments and gestures that people make when close to him. He has willed himself through his grandmother's teachings, to go through every word in the dictionary, something which many people find a tedious task to complete. One can really admire his passion for learning, his will to overcome and his spirit to forgive. He reads the papers, though he can only finish one in a week, has overcame the challenges and cruelty of the society towards his mental disability, and has forgave his family members for what they did to him and eventually gives them the money since they so wanted it that much. I have also realised that the society now has not been fair to people with disabilities. The society now is neglecting the people with disabilities, they laugh at them, stare or laugh at them whenever he or she does something funny, or worse, hurl direct insults at those with the disabilities. People should try to understand the needs of these 'special people'. When people understand, they are able to feel their pain, and change their attitude towards these people. Only then, will our society improve, and then, people of different needs will be able to live among the rest.


The next question: If your story happened in a foreign land, compare that land with Singapore.
In comparison, the place where Perry lives in, Everett, the people there seem to be of a colder attitude towards people with these special needs. They criticise the special people in public and look down on those with these special need. They feel that they are a burden to society and also a threat to their businesses or lives. They only talk to them when they get some reward in return. While in Singapore, though some people are as bad as those in Everett, I would say that majority of the people in Singapore recognise the position that the "special" people are in, and they show compassion to them, making them feel that they are not alone, and that we would always except them. For this kind of scene, in which someone readily renders help when they stand nothing to gain, is almost extinct in the book's state of Everett. The children would not play with Perry as he is not as smart as them and is unable to control his urges as well as they can. This could happen in Singapore, but it rarely happens, this sets Singapore apart from Everett.

I move on to my next task, to: Write a poem about this book.
I now begin:

Poor Perry Crandell was close to being retarded,

"I am not stupid, just slow" he insisted.

He lived through all the insults,

With his granny and Keith to consult,

He turned into a stable adult.

Whenever he was bullied,

his granny and Keith worried.

All these went on continuously,

almost driving poor Perry crazy,

until the day he won the lottery.

Perry could not believe he won the lottery,

and believed that his L stood for Lucky.

Now, almost everyone knew about his wealth,

strangely, people started to care for his health,

when he thought that they were leaving him on the shelf.

With the new found fortune he just had,

he wanted to share with his grandma and grandad,

but a pity, they were already not there.

His family members now pester him,

but their thoughts look dim.

Now Perry finally has the ability,

to give him and others some luxury,

but his family wants more than that,

they want his entire bank.

Poor Perry is now at a lost of who to beg.

A tragic end meets Perry's friend,

a nightmare that haunts and will never end.

He turns sad with much anguish

of why he did not make the wish,

the wish was for him to stay.

Finally, after their long wait,

Perry's family members get their own way.

They got Perry's lottery prize,

and fled the country like a dozen mice.

They got themselves into lawsuits that were not nice.

Perry now receives an award,

his boss gives him another reward.

For now, Perry is happy,

he is finally getting recognised in the nation,

all because of his grim determination.

Now that the poem's over, here comes the last part: Which part of the book was the most interesting and why?

For me, I think that the most interesting part of the book is when Perry finally wins the lottery, and gets to do all the stuff that he listed out in a little game he and his gram used to play, about listing the things you would do with the money if they won it. I think that I would see it as interesting is because some really funny things happen on the trip, such as when Perry and Keith go to Hawaii, and that Perry was trying to find a present to give to his friends and that Keith was trying to peek under the coconut bra worn by a hula girl doll. That part knocked me out. (Not literally) Many other interesting events also happened during the time when Perry was spending his money, so I would find it the most interesting part of the book.

So, that is the end of my review, hope you enjoyed it, I really do hope.

If many people think something is true, is it true?

For this question, there are many circumstances in which will produce different answers. The first circumstance is when someone has really seen and observed something, and that it is a hundred percent true, then when he tells someone else, the story would least likely to be altered. The witness tells someone, and that person hears the story, it will be the original version, and continue to tell the original version to someone else, who, in turn, would also tell the equivalent to another person and this carries on, so under this kind of circumstance, the story, or belief, is true.

However, contrary, if a group of people have just met a coincidence, and are met with no proof or evidence what so ever, then they try to come out a reason for their fortune or downfall, with this, they start spreading their own creations of the story and that version of the story is least likely to be true.

There is also a third circumstance to the situation. It is when a person tells a true version of the story, and is overheard by a third party, however, the third party has not completely heard the whole version of the story, and tries to cover up the unheard parts of the story with her own, telling a mixture of both her own, and the original version. For this kind of circumstance, the story is of course, untrue.

Therefore, a validity of a certain story is pretty much undecided due to the many possibilities of the story's origin. So, for this question, the answer remains as plausible, the story may come from the true person who experienced and witnessed it happen, or it may come from someone who jus filled up the missing patches.