Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Basketball (Week 2)
Unfortunately, this year, our girl basketball team losses our coach. Frankly, I feel jealous of the guys who share our coach. He was our coach. Due to a lack of supplies and resources, directly, the teachers, our school no longer hires a new basketball coach to replace the one who used to teach guys. Now, basketball players are sharing common resources, which genuinely disappoints me. Our coach doesn't care about the girl basketball players as much as he used to. He should belong to the girls perpetually. It's selfish and irrational to appreciate something after we lose it. However, it applies to me exactly. I now regret that I didn't work hard enough in basketball team last year since nobody will correct me anymore. When I lose our coach, I realize how precious he is. However, it was too late to regret because he has drifted away as a duckweed, coming and leaving without a trace.
The Fault in Our Stars Book Review (Week 1)
Since my AP Economics blog isn't bound by anything (MUAHAHA), I'll start with introducing my recent-favorite book-- The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene. I finished it on June 17, 2013.
"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book." This was exactly the way I felt for The Fault in Our Stars, which was ironic since the quote was excerpted from the book itself.
Contemporary novels usually didn't touch me as The Fault in Our Stars did since the formula for plot never changed-- a girl met a hot guy and it turned out that the guy loved the girl. They fell in love and unfortunately, they must undergo difficulties, such as breakups or family issues. Eventually, the conflict resolved and they lived happily-ever-after, such as ending with a marriage proposal. It was indeed bold for authors to have the courage to sabotage and kill their characters. I didn't usually believe that the authors would be brave enough to leave their characters dead. There was always magic to resuscitate the characters. Well, Augustus Waters was undoubtedly unique.
I love the quote 'Some infinities are bigger than other infinities." Indeed, we had limited life span. All the cancer patients weren't fighters. We usually embellished their successes and exaggerated their courage of fighting against the cancer. They might suffer so much that they were eager to die in order to reach eternal peace.
As a terminal cancer patient, Hazel Grace was a heroine who didn't want to leave her footprints in the sand of time, which surprised me. People left footprints such as bequeathing a legacy or outlasting the death. Most of the people were eager to live for something, if not, at least die for something. However, Hazel merely wanted to leave less scar in the world. She was a selfless hero. She didn't want to become a grenade, blowing up everyone's lives, so she insisted her parents to have their own lives since she fully understood that she would die, sooner or later. On the other hand, Augustus Water was amazingly humorous, intelligent, and sarcastic. (Not to mention he was gorgeous [wink, wink]) He was willing to let Hazel hijack his wish. He made Hazel's dream come true. He would never leave Caroline, his ex-girlfriend, behind, though she had a brain tumor and called his prosthesis STUMPY (she died eventually). He stoop up for his friend Isaac and allowed Isaac to vent his anger by breaking his basketball trophies. He always saved the innocent and the civilians in video games and he rather sacrificed himself than to reach the goals. He loved his choice of falling in love with Hazel. Frankly, he was the perfect boyfriend.
Besides the well-developed character, the sub-plots didn't merely reveal around the romance. It portrayed the family bond among Hazel and Augustus's families. Hazel's parents contributed everything in Hazel's cancer, though they were aware that Hazel would die. I realized that living to our fullest wasn't determined by the length of our lives. It was determined by the love we had, either from families, friends, or lovers. The book further depicted the sincere friendship between Augustus and Isaac. Augustus would drop out of school immediately to look after Isaac after he had the eye surgery. Augustus would stand up for Isaac by supporting him to egg-smash Isaac's aloof, promise-breaking ex-girlfriend. It was touching and I would love to have a friend like Augustus. He was fairly considerable and he took great care of Hazel in the beginning of the story. He confronted the despicable Peter Van Houten when this asshat tried to use the most hurtful way to explain Hazel's terminal cancer. Augustus was more alive than anyone I met before (I'm sorry, it's cheesy) since he shone and burnt like a candle. He didn't become a grenade eventually since people he loved moved on, though a huge hole would always remain in their hearts.
I love Augustus and Hazel. Even though the conclusion was tragic, I learnt that people might not always regret their decisions because there are people who made our decisions worthwhile.
"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book." This was exactly the way I felt for The Fault in Our Stars, which was ironic since the quote was excerpted from the book itself.
Contemporary novels usually didn't touch me as The Fault in Our Stars did since the formula for plot never changed-- a girl met a hot guy and it turned out that the guy loved the girl. They fell in love and unfortunately, they must undergo difficulties, such as breakups or family issues. Eventually, the conflict resolved and they lived happily-ever-after, such as ending with a marriage proposal. It was indeed bold for authors to have the courage to sabotage and kill their characters. I didn't usually believe that the authors would be brave enough to leave their characters dead. There was always magic to resuscitate the characters. Well, Augustus Waters was undoubtedly unique.
I love the quote 'Some infinities are bigger than other infinities." Indeed, we had limited life span. All the cancer patients weren't fighters. We usually embellished their successes and exaggerated their courage of fighting against the cancer. They might suffer so much that they were eager to die in order to reach eternal peace.
As a terminal cancer patient, Hazel Grace was a heroine who didn't want to leave her footprints in the sand of time, which surprised me. People left footprints such as bequeathing a legacy or outlasting the death. Most of the people were eager to live for something, if not, at least die for something. However, Hazel merely wanted to leave less scar in the world. She was a selfless hero. She didn't want to become a grenade, blowing up everyone's lives, so she insisted her parents to have their own lives since she fully understood that she would die, sooner or later. On the other hand, Augustus Water was amazingly humorous, intelligent, and sarcastic. (Not to mention he was gorgeous [wink, wink]) He was willing to let Hazel hijack his wish. He made Hazel's dream come true. He would never leave Caroline, his ex-girlfriend, behind, though she had a brain tumor and called his prosthesis STUMPY (she died eventually). He stoop up for his friend Isaac and allowed Isaac to vent his anger by breaking his basketball trophies. He always saved the innocent and the civilians in video games and he rather sacrificed himself than to reach the goals. He loved his choice of falling in love with Hazel. Frankly, he was the perfect boyfriend.
Besides the well-developed character, the sub-plots didn't merely reveal around the romance. It portrayed the family bond among Hazel and Augustus's families. Hazel's parents contributed everything in Hazel's cancer, though they were aware that Hazel would die. I realized that living to our fullest wasn't determined by the length of our lives. It was determined by the love we had, either from families, friends, or lovers. The book further depicted the sincere friendship between Augustus and Isaac. Augustus would drop out of school immediately to look after Isaac after he had the eye surgery. Augustus would stand up for Isaac by supporting him to egg-smash Isaac's aloof, promise-breaking ex-girlfriend. It was touching and I would love to have a friend like Augustus. He was fairly considerable and he took great care of Hazel in the beginning of the story. He confronted the despicable Peter Van Houten when this asshat tried to use the most hurtful way to explain Hazel's terminal cancer. Augustus was more alive than anyone I met before (I'm sorry, it's cheesy) since he shone and burnt like a candle. He didn't become a grenade eventually since people he loved moved on, though a huge hole would always remain in their hearts.
I love Augustus and Hazel. Even though the conclusion was tragic, I learnt that people might not always regret their decisions because there are people who made our decisions worthwhile.
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