Bazinga! :)

What special challenges do doubts and fears bring to an individual?

Dan Brown explores doubt and fear in all of his books that contain Robert Langdon. This is because Robert has one major fear: claustrophobia. Throughout the books, Brown mentions this fear many, many times. When Langdon was a little boy, he fell into a well and had to tread water overnight before someone found him. This initiated his fear.

Not so much in the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons does Robert have to face his main fear. In this book, however, he comes face-to-face with his fear more than once.

In this book, Robert Langdon, Katherine Solomon, and the CIA are all in a mad race to stop Peter’s (Katherine’s brother) captor from killing him. Peter’s captor has kidnapped the thirty-third degree Mason to expose one of the world’s oldest secrets: a sacred Masonic treasure hidden somewhere in D.C.

He must be strong when traveling on a conveyor belt to save his friend. The challenge in this is either come face-to-face with your fear, or risk your best friend’s life, get arrested, and unleash one of the world’s most sacred secrets. Obviously enough, Langdon chose the first one.

A little while on, Langdon is kidnapped by the same person that kidnapped Peter. To torture him, the captor places Langdon in a coffin (confined space) and begins to fill it with water in the hopes to get another part of the secret out of him. Sadly, it works. Langdon spills EVERYTHING because the kidnapper knows exactly what his fears are.

But fear is not the only thing explored in this book. Langdon also has many doubts throughout the book. Doubt that the treasure exists and doubt that this has anything to do with the CIA. This poses a few problems. This makes it hard for Robert to believe what people are trying to tell him about the treasure, in turn making it difficult to save Peter and later on, Katherine and himself as well. Doubting that this has anything to do with the CIA makes wanting to tell the director anything.

This book was not disappointing by any means. It ended pretty much how I expected it to. With a few twists I never would’ve expected. But that’s the power of a good suspense novel: unexpected results. I would recommend this book to anyone in about Grade 9 and up looking for a good read. Anyone younger probably wouldn’t be able to understand the vocabulary and power of some of the meanings.

“Do you believe in fortune telling? Do you read your horoscope? Why or why not?”

Fortune telling is defined as the act or practice of predicting the future. Honestly, I don’t believe that someone can predict my future. Sure, they could guess what MIGHT happen later in my life, but not accurately tell me when I’m going to die, or who I’m going to marry. Now, I’m not shunning or thinking less of people who do believe that someone could tell them what is to become of their life. I just, personally, don’t want someone trying to tell me something that may or may not be true. Besides, isn’t that part of the fun in life, waiting and letting your future be a surprise? I mean, you don’t want someone what they got you for Christmas or your birthday? I sure don’t.

Yes, I will admit that I regularly check my horoscope. But that’s not to see what’s going to happen later. I check it only to see how close they can get that day. Sometimes (operative word being some), my horoscope is pretty accurate. Like, when I fight with someone very close to me, sometimes my horoscope will correctly predict that the fight happened.

Most of the time though, the prediction is way off. For example, last week, my horoscope said that I was financially prospering. Last week, I was pretty much broke. I don’t know what their definition of financially prospering is, but to me, it’s not only having $50 in the bank.

I am a creature of reassurance and knowing the facts for sure. I don’t like to put my trust in chance or an abundance of “maybes” and “mights”. At least, when my life depends on it. There are the everyday “maybes” and “mights” like, ‘Oh, I MIGHT have lasagna or MAYBE I’ll have soup.’ These kinds of things are usually not life-threatening. But, if someone tells that if I go out and spend all my life savings on a car, I MIGHT prosper, then I’m not going to do it. Unless someone can guarantee me that if I do what they say it will benefit me or others, then you have my word that I most definitely won’t be buying that car or selling my house.

I cannot find reassurance in my horoscope because every horoscope I read is different. And, I’m talking the same on one day. Like, on Tuesday, I read my horoscope in the Edmonton Sun. All was good. To do some research though, I read my horoscope in the Edmonton Journal, AND my mom’s calendar too. Each horoscope was different. This just goes to show that you cannot trust everything you read. In my opinion, anyways.

My sister’s hands are ice. 

This metaphor is describing my sister’s hands. Of course they aren’t really ice, but they are so cold they feel like ice. That’s what a metaphor does. It describes something without using the word’s “like” or “as”. Another good example is the baseball diamond is a sandy beach.

Decision making is hard to do. We make decisions everyday. What we want to be when we “grow up”, what we are going to wear, how we are going to act, etc. These decisions aren’t solely made by our opinions, dislikes and likes. People influence everyday to make “the right decision”. But, in reality what is “the right decision”? What is “normal”? What is “good behavior”? And why are we letting other people control what we do, what we wear and how we act?

I very rarely make decisions for myself anymore. I always contemplate what others will think, what others want of me, what is “acceptable”, etc. Before making any decision, I ask other people what they think or if this looks/sounds good. I have a dream of becoming a teacher. But before making that final decision, I probably asked about 15 different people if they thought that was acceptable or if they thought that was something I would be good at. There are three other people living at my house with me. Every time I get dressed in the morning and do my hair/make-up, before leaving the house, I ask every single person in my house if it looks good or if I should change. I am very dependent on others to give me their opinions and don’t even bother with my own half the time. 

In a book I recently read by Meg Cabot called ‘Every Boy’s Got One‘, Holly and Mark have a difficult decision to make. They love each other. So far, so good. But their parents don’t approve because of religion. This is an example of two beliefs clashing together when trying to make a decision. After much thinking and discussing, Holly and Mark decide to elope. Why elope and not just get married, you ask? Well, because then they would have to come right out with it and tell their parents that they are getting married. If they get married in secret, then they can easily break the news to their parents a lot easier. This is also an example of someone or some people controlling their own future rather than letting someone else control it for them. Sometimes, characters in books aren’t so lucky as to have the courage to determine their own future.

Books like Ella Enchanted aren’t so successful. Well, at the beginning at least. In the beginning, Ella has a spell put over her that lets others control what she does. This can make life very difficult for her. In the end, she overcomes the spell and becomes ruler of her own life again. But, nonetheless, she wasn’t that lucky in the earlier parts of her life. 

Some people in the real world are really good at controlling their own future and not letting anyone stop them. People like my big sister. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of what she does and is her own person. She controls what she does and is not easily influenced by others. As I mentioned before, I am one of those people who lets others control what I do. It’s not a very good thing, but I am trying my hardest to step out and be myself. It’s not as easy as it sounds, I know. But, if you really want something, then you have to try as hard as you can to achieve it. 

I look around and see society as a whole dictating everyone else’s future. People are constantly saying “Well, I don’t think I want to wear this because other people will laugh at me.” or “I’m going to be this instead of that because that’s what others want me to do.” Where did individuality and doing things for yourself go? I really don’t understand why society thinks they can control our future. Yes, our values and beliefs may clash and go head-to-head, but hey; that’s life and we have to deal with it like mature adults and stop throwing mini temper-tantrums when things are different. Diversity is a good thing and it should be embraced and accepted with open arms.

Good deeds come in many forms. Large and small. But they all have the same meaning: they all impact someone’s life in one way or another.

People can be extremely polite and nice when they want to be. I have experienced nice people countless times in my life. Even the simplest ‘Have a nice day!’ can have the biggest impact on my life. And I try everyday to return those same compliments. I mean, hey I’m only human. I’m not perfect. But I try my best.

I can vividly remember one day I was shopping and went to the counter to buy something. I was trying so desperately not to use my bank card because I still hadn’t put money in my Italy fund account for that paycheck. But I got to the counter and was a couple of dollars short. I was about to pull my bank card out of my wallet with a huge feeling of embarassment in my stomach. I didn’t think anyone could tell which was a relief because I hate it when people can see my bad feelings.

All of a sudden, a total stranger stepped beside me and threw a five dollar bill on the counter and said ‘Here ya go.’ I thought I was going to jump and hug him! He was so nice about it telling me how it was only five dollars and it wasn’t a big deal.

I never realized before that day how much a small, kind act like that could make my day. It really made me think of all the people I simply smile to everyday and I wonder everyday just how happy I might have made them.

So, the next time someone smiles at you, smile back. When someone waves, wave back. When someone says ‘How are you?’ answer and return the question. Just something that little could maybe have the biggest impact ever on them. You really do never know.

I am a multitude of things. I am quirky, compassionate, defending, determined, integretive, and quite often stressed. I can almost never say no to a challenge or favor. Sometimes it’s a burden and sometimes it’s a good quality I possess. That’s what makes me stressed. I say yes and then I try to deal with the stress after it’s too late.

I’m not like most people. Sometimes I’m shy and other times I’m outgoing.  I try to balance millions of things at once. But that’s life and we all deal with it.

I have a dream/goal that I am working towards. I am bound and determined to succeed at it. No matter what it takes. I push myself to the limit and try my hardest on everything.

But at the same time, I am similar to other people in that I often lose sight in who I am and have to find myself all over again. I go through some of the same problems and stresses as others: heartache, grades, work, responsibilities, and finding some “me” time in the big ball we call life.

In the end, though, I am pretty satisfied with life and all it has to offer. I’m still the same me I was 3 years ago. I’m still trying to save the world in every way I can. I’m still loud and quiet. I’m going to be the same in 3 more years. Just older and wiser.

For my One’s Self En-Masse Poem, I did Unnoticed, a poem of a girl who has nothing to live for. She is all alone and does not like her life very much at all. She just wakes up, goes to work, comes home, and goes to bed. All with being unnoticed. No one pays attention to her at all. Just treats her like she is nothing but a pesky fly on a wall.

I got the inspiration from the “Fed-Ex” girl on What Women Want. She is completely unnoticed by anyone until Mel Gibson begins to hear women’s thoughts and kind of connects with her. She reminds me a lot of the girl in my poem.

This poem is pretty similar to Josh’s poem The Red Couch. I don’t think he wrote it for his One’s Self En-Masse, but it tells the story of a man all alone on a red couch. It is similar to mine because the people in both are all alone. However, they are different in that the man in Josh’s peom is very content and happy with his life while the woman in mine is very unhappy with hers.

My poem tends to depress people while I feel that Josh’s poem is very relaxing and happy. I really enjoying Josh’s poems. They are new and refreshing ideas that I would never come up with.

Julius Caesar was an epicurean patrician running for senate. That is, he believed that something could NOT come from nothing, that God didn’t exist because he didn’t come from something, he believed we had a soul, but not an immortal one (because an immortal soul wasn’t made from stuff), but that we DID have free will. You see, they believed that everything happened by change or chance. The universe was created by molecules(stuff) squeezing together, that we died because of chance and a parade could happen for whatever reason whatsoever.

You see, when looking at philosophy, we ask four questions about the topic:

1. Can something come from nothing?
2. Does God exist?
3. Do Humans have an immortal soul?
4. Do Humans have free will?

He was running against Pompeius Magnus, a stoic patrician. That is, he believed that something COULD come from nothing, believed that God DID exist, believed that we did have an immortal soul, but that we DIDN’T have free will. You see, they believed that for something to occur or happen, there had to be good reason. We died for good reason, a parade could happen only if there was good reason.

So, Julius Caesar promised a life with no regrets or second thoughts and that appealed to many people because he was like the candidate promising tax cuts now but not mentioning what would happen in the future.

But there was another class of people who didn’t have voting rights: the Plebs. They were very attracted to the stoic way of life because the stoics had something to live for and worked toward a common goal.

That’s not to say there weren’t those epicurean Plebs. They just lived in the moment. They did things that made “their molecules all excited”.

Really, in all honestly, ancient Rome isn’t much different to our society today. We have those people who live for something specific and live to work and work to live. We also have those people who live only in the moment because it gets them happy and excited. But we have something that ancient Rome didn’t necessarily have: those in between people.  The people who live to accomplish something but live in the moment and go with the flow on their way to their goal.

I am one of those people. I have a goal I am living towards but on my way there, I am going with the flow.

The BlackBerry is very popular nowadays. They are very big in the corporate world for people who need one. Someone who contacts people through either a phone or email. That’s what it is: a computer and a phone in one. 

They let you send emails, phone people, text people, or surf the web. My grandpa and aunt both own one and sometimes they can be a real pain. But other times they can be life savers. My aunt uses it to communicate with co-workers, friends, family and her many bosses above her. My grandpa uses it to communicate with co-workers, friends, family and his many clients. 

But it’s not just business people/owners using them. There are many students/teenagers that own them too. They use the excuse that it helps them stay more organized and they “need” them. I can understand if an adult owns one. I mean, they run very busy lives and it most definitely does keep them organized and more in touch with co-workers and/or clients. You get an e-mail like you do a text message: instantly.

But I don’t see why a teenager needs one. Or seems to think they need one. All a teenager really uses a phone for is to text and keep in touch with their parents. Well, the average teenager. Teenagers e-mailing is slowly becoming a thing of the past. I know myself I don’t really use my e-mail unless I am keeping in touch with a friend who doesn’t have a phone (and that’s not very many anymore) or I have to e-mail myself something for school or work.

I’m not going to lie. When this movie first came out, I could not figure out what it was all about. So, naturally, I wasn’t interested in watching it. Then the Oscars came around and, just like every other year, I watched them. 

This movie won eight Oscars! I couldn’t believe it! And, I FINALLY understood what this movie was about and was immediately dying to watch it. I waited and waited and waited and the day it came out, I went and bought it. I took it home and watched it right through, start to finish and instantaneously fell in love with the movie.

This movie tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young adult who lives in Mumbai, India and works as a tea server. He lived in the “slums” of India as a child alongside his brother, Salim and his girl friend, Latika. 

The movie starts with Jamal being questioned by the police as he has made it to the final round of the Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’. There are only four possibilities of how he has made it this far: A)He cheated, B)He got lucky, C)He’s a genius, D)It is written. I mean how else do you explain a person who lived in the slums most of his life making it this far when doctors and lawyers can only make it to the third or fourth round? Nobody can believe it.

So, as the police and Jamal watch the video, Jamal explains how he knows all these answers: he has experienced them. After each question, the movie flashes to a scene in his life when he gains knowledge whether it be when his mother gets murdered, when he, Salim, and Latika get taken in by a gangster posing as an orphanage owner or when he and Salim pose as tour guides at the Taj Mahal so they can earn money. 

As I mentioned before, Salim, Jamal and Latika are taken in by a gangster posing as an owner of an orphanage promising a better life. But when he tries to blind Jamal, Salim helps all three of them escape. However, Latika gets left behind when Salim purposely lets go of her hand. 

Life goes on for the two brothers and eventually, they see Latika again. But after Salim goes on a violent rage and kicks Jamal out of their little one bedroom, Jamal doesn’t see his brother or Latika again for a few years. He then contacts his brother and finds Latika. But Latika is working for an evil man as a young prostitute. Jamal eventually convinces her to escape but her escape was cut short when she is found and captured. 

So, Jamal goes on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to find her. Now, I’m not going to be really evil and tell you the end. You’ll just have to go watch it!

This movie really makes you realize how lucky we all are to not be getting captured everyday or to have a house to live in. We are always wanting something better and bigger but we don’t sit down and think about just how much we have and we don’t think about how we have way more than those in places like the slums in India or even the alley ways in Canada. It’s very sad that our society has come to that but there is room for change and chance for hope.