A Leaf

As you can probably see, I changed my blog's background to a picture that I took in Oxford. :)
Please note that this is lower quality than the actual picture because the large file was taking a long time to upload.

-Cora

The Nature of Trusting Others in Our Daily Lives

I brought up the following topic at the dinner table, and the conversation that ensued really got me thinking.

Does everyone realize how many people you have to trust to live a normal life? Of course, many people regard their family and best friends as the ones that they trust the most, which is usually a very good thing, as those are the people you most likely see quite often and who you are closest to. At first, it might seem as if trust ends there. However, think about it. Unless every moment of your life is spent in a self-made cage that you made from scratch, without any tools or materials, eating absolutely nothing, the chances are high that you trust a LOT of people. Every time that you buy something from someone else, you're trusting them not to put something toxic or dangerous inside of it. Every time that you ride in someone else's car, or bus (or other vehicle), you're trusting them not to crash or do something wrong, and even if you're driving the vehicle, you trust every single other car on the road not to crash into you. If you're an average person, you probably trust every single person that you see in your daily life (what if you were afraid that every single person you crossed was about to throw a punch at you, or worse?)- to a certain extent- people some more than others, of course, and rightly so.
Though this requires people to be reliant on so many other people, this is not a bad thing. It means that there is definitely good in the world, and an abundant amount, because otherwise humans would not- and should not- trust others as much as they do.

I realized how many times I post poems on here about something depressing like death, so I thought about life and happiness instead. That was a bit of a rant up there, but I hope you still liked it! :)

-Cora

Acts of Good #61, 62, and 63

1. Yesterday, I jogged for an hour and twenty minutes (with a few breaks in between). I really don't like running or jogging, but I figured that I would do it just to get some extra exercise. :)
2. I did extra (and probably unnecessary) Mandarin studying for a dictation quiz, which will definitely help me in the long run. :)
3. I organized my bathroom with my Mom today, which REALLY helped. I'm extremely glad that I did it, and it'll make everything easier to find. (I have a lot of drawers and cupboards that were SO cluttered!)

Following my Blog and Receiving E-mail Notifications

If you want to receive e-mail notifications on this blog to know whenever I post something here, just tell me (by commenting to this post or by other means if you know me personally). If you click "follow," that does not mean you subscribed.

Just wanted to let you know! :)
-Cora

Act of Good #60

I got second in my grade in a math competition! Part of it was probably just luck, but I feel like I did really well for what I expected before I took it. I just wanted to commend myself for that. :)

it burns.

it burns.
no more dreams
crush crush
crushed
no more laughs
laugh laugh
laughter
all just going
going going
gone
no more songs
sing sing
sang
no more peace
fight fight
fighting
no more life
lie lie
truth
cold cold
ice
burn burn
burns
skin skin
skin
die die
dead

Carry On

Staring
blankly
down.
Unmoving,
Unhurting
yet inside
dying,
dying,
dying,
dead.
Death
eerily
silent
A shake,
a question,
a hug,
a sigh. It's
Nothing
in the end.
Still staring,
yet now-
dying,
dying,
dying,
dead.
It's gone.
Forgotten.
Carry on.

A Short Note

A short note/analysis about the poem above: it's another poem about Night, and I've been looking around for it a while because I lost it, but I found it again! Anyway, it's a response to the Holocaust. The main lesson is that after depressing and horrifying events, people just have to move on sometimes. It's tragic, but true.
So, carry on, my friend.
Carry on and look past the death.
Hope that works out for you.
It didn't for me.

No, I will never forget.

Acts of Good #56, 57, 58, and 59

1) Today, Mollie couldn't come to school because her plane was cancelled, so I took the time to email her the homework, though it was quite a tight squeeze with Student Government, and I was actually a bit late to the meeting, but I'm still glad that I wrote her. :)
2) Speaking of Mollie, she usually announces for people to remember to compost, so I took over that role for her- though now that I think about it, I'm not sure if anyone remembered to even bring the compost bin out... *sigh*
3) We took a math contest during math class today, and surprisingly (since I hate those things), I think I did pretty well, and I made sure to take my time in finishing it up, though the other people in my class had already left to go to our next class (which happened to be Gym). It made me late compared to everyone else, and I took much longer to run the laps required of us, but I dealt with it. I actually ended up coming out on time, and it worked out fine. I'm glad that I spent an extra few minutes trying to finish it up to the best of my ability.
4) We have some kids who are younger than us in our gym class, so I took the opportunity to try to socialize with them a bit, but I'm not sure how well that worked...

Acts of Good #53, 54, and 55

I just came back from Boston! I'll probably post some pictures later on, most likely on my other blog for traveling, http://corastravels.blogspot.com.

Yesterday, I went to the Science Museum and it was BRILLIANT! I LOVE science museums. xD
My first act of good for this weekend was that when I was in the museum's bathroom, there was a little girl (probably about 2 or 3 years old) and her mom, and the girl was impatiently dancing around and whining. I wanted to let them go ahead of me, but I wanted to teach the girl patience. Then, I realized that she would almost definitely not remember that moment in time, and she wouldn't realize its significance in the future, so I went ahead.

My second act of good was over the whole course of the weekend, and it's on more of a green note: Whenever possible, I searched for recycling bins to discard my recyclables and I made an extra effort to turn off lights, use hand dryers instead of paper towels for drying my hands... etc. Our city's airport doesn't have recycling bins, which makes me really upset. I'm going to see if I can change that somehow... I'll bring it up at our next MAD club meeting.

I performed my third act of good today, when I was in the airport back home in the second flight, and during the whole flight, I did extra math homework. :) I ended up actually completing two days worth of homework and I just finished the second assignment within a minute of touching down, because my mom had challenged me to see if I could get it done, and I did! Yay! Over the whole course of this weekend, I've completed all of my math homework for the rest of the week, so my next assignment will be due Monday- and I think I deserve some sort of prize for doing that, so I thought: "What's better than an act of good?"

So, I'm back home, and I hope to update you soon on all of the other amazing things I did this long weekend. Talk to you later!
-Cora

The Tension of Opposites

I just finished The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride. It is SUCH an amazing book. I was completely attached to it, and there was absolutely no way anyone could tear me away from it. I think I devoured it. ;)

McBride has created a beauty. Her characters are real and imperfect (not like one character in Twilight- *cough* Edward *cough*- sorry, that's just my opinion), which is how characters should be, like the real people that they seem to represent. The plot is catchy- it's always changing and exciting- and I always wanted to read on to know what would happen next. I felt like I was actually in the story- and it was such an exhilarating experience! It was also really inspiring- I've written a novella in the same genre, and McBride's book reminded me of it. They're both slightly dark- yet cheerful at the same time- and the characters in both of our books are in similar environments. My book isn't nearly as good and needs a lot of improvement, but as I mentioned before, The Tension of Opposites was a great source of inspiration. I'll definitely look back at this book as a source of motivation whenever I need it. Kristina McBride accomplished her dream of publishing a book, and I hope to do the same in the future.

-Cora

Act of Good #52

Hey, everyone! I'm in Boston right now, writing from the hotel room. I'll talk more about my day soon, but for now I just wanted to post an act of good quickly, since I really have to go. My mom and I were at Au Bon Pain, and I was waiting in line and I let a guy in a hurry in front of me. Yes, it was pretty small, and only took a few minutes of my time, but he was really, really grateful for it, and I was grateful that I could make that difference, no matter how small. :)

Act of Good #51

Though I probably would have done these things anyway without this act of good program, but I want to award myself for helping out others and myself today. I did a few extra chores around the house, and I did extra math homework, which benefits myself. :)

I'm going to Boston this weekend, so I might not be able to post very much from tomorrow until next Monday. Tomorrow, we don't have school because our teachers are finishing our grades and comments- it's the end of Winter Term already!- and on Monday, we don't have school, either, because it's President's Day! So my family is taking advantage of the weekend and going to Boston to visit my brother at college. I'm really excited! :D

-Cora

Acts of Good #48, 49, and 50

Happy belated Valentine's Day, everyone! Yesterday, a guy in our grade gave every girl a flower. Isn't that really nice? Anyway- by the end of the day, someone's had shriveled up, and they threw it away, so I took it over to the compost bin.

I also made an effort to help as many people who were younger than me as possible with their homework during study hall, which made me feel really good. I guess that's one of the benefits of doing acts of good!

Today, I made a sandwich for my mom and went shopping with her. I don't usually go shopping, since I really dislike the activity, though we were looking for toys for my younger cousins, so it was a technique to persuade me to do something I didn't want to do.

That was my 50th act of good! Yay! I think I'm going to do something nice for the 100th that I do.

Anyway, now I have to go do homework. Talk to you later!

-Cora

Blogs and an Awesome Author

I follow my best friend's blog, http://gollie-worldofwords.blogspot.com/, and I saw Mollie's post that she wrote about Kristina McBride. Mollie actually reminded me that I had wanted to write a response to the amazing author's visit (but I got sidetracked with working on my NaNoWriMo), so here it goes:

As Kristina McBride mentions on her website (http://www.kristinamcbride.com/), and as she also told us, it takes a long time to get down the road of writing and finally get published, as that is the final goal that every author dreams of. It's what I dream of (among other things, such as happiness :)), and it's what I admire about McBride. She persevered through writing several manuscripts of several novels, most of which received too many rejections to count. These are struggles similar to many other writers out there- but this author carried through with her ideas, and she let them speak for themselves.

Though I haven't gotten into the book yet, I can tell that it's going to be brilliant, and I can't wait to start reading! I loved meeting her, especially because I saw part of me in her. For example, I haven't written one piece of writing that I believe is good that doesn't have some level of depression or darkness to it, and I love to watch dark crime TV shows (like Bones and Castle), and McBride seems to have a similar dark theme evolving in her previous novels (the ones that weren't published), and her latest book regards a kidnapping- and she also loves criminal TV shows!
Another thing I really love about her is her extreme enthusiasm. She was so engaged in what she was talking about, and it gave me an extra burst of motivation. I felt drawn in, and I felt ready for the journey to becoming an author. I was ready to meet my characters directly and to interact with them personally. I was ready to make time to write. I was ready to work on my previous works (which I did- Mrs. McBride inspired me to finish my NaNoWriMo formatting and continue writing poems, and ideas, and simply writing!) and start new ones. I was ready, and I still am.

So, thank you, Kristina McBride. Thank you for the motivation, and the inspiration. I'm really excited to read your latest novel, The Tension of Opposites, and I'm also excited to see what experiences the path of writing throws my way.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Cora

Act of Good #47

I just finished chatting with an old friend of mine from Oxford, and finished a present that I want to give to her and a few of my other Oxford friends!

The Passage of Time: a Thoughtful Remark

The passage of time ... is it the act of time passing away- anxiously tapping one's foot in annoyance, or the clock ticking indifferently as time continues- or the moment that you missed because time had elapsed, washed away before anyone could stop the tide from erasing all memory of the message engraved on the sandy beach? Or is it the journey time must take to reach the end of the road, the end of time, and the end of its lifespan?

Just something to think about, as the passage of time increases, every second a second more, and as time runs away, counting up, not down, to the end.

My NaNoWriMo Novel- an update

I told you earlier that I would tell you about this, so I will: I wrote a NaNoWriMo novel in November (look it up if you don't know what it is!), though I used the Young Writer's Program, because I wanted to start out without pressuring myself too much, since I have SO much to do around that time of the year. I started with a word count goal of 10,000 words, though I had no idea how fast I could write that much, and I ended up with 21,212, and I finished the novel! It wasn't very long, but I concluded it and I'm really proud that I actually accomplished that, since it's often hard for me to complete something that I've started.

Then, I heard that CreateSpace was offering each NaNoWriMo winner a free, self-published copy of his or her novel, and I was extremely excited. I had already self-published a book before, though I wrote it in 4th grade. Needless to say, it wasn't very good, but I guess it was okay as a book for kids starting to read. To make matters worse, I made the mistake of sending all of my friends copies (and by friends, I mean relatives, teachers, family members- basically everyone), and I ended up with a limited number of copies left, with my name on the cover of a book that represented writing that wasn't my own after the passage of a few years.

Anyway, I was thinking about majorly editing and revising my NaNoWriMo novel, but I decided that I want to use my writing just from a month in my free copy. I don't want to have a polished novel that I've worked on for 7 months after November. I wanted a one-month showcase and memory for myself. I want to be able to remind myself, "I did this in a month," with only a few changes, and keep it like that.

Yesterday, I made a temporary cover for my book using CreateSpace, and I started formatted my book. I'm on the way to finally having it done!

-Cora

Acts of Good #45 and #46

Yesterday, I helped my parents out a bit with cooking, since we were inviting guests over for dinner. I've also been as diligent as possible with working on my NaNoWriMo novel (more information coming soon).

ORA Diary/Cora's Travels

To those of you who are currently following my ORA Diary blog, I have changed its web address to http://corastravels.blogspot.com/ in order to include my further travels- including the excursion to China that I'll be making this summer.

To those of you who haven't heard of my blog, I suggest that you check it out. The blog accounts my diary entries, with pictures, from when I studied in Oxford University in the UK for a two-week academic course on experimental psychology and creative writing at Oxford Royale Academy (ORA).

Thanks for checking it out if you do!

-Cora

Acts of Good #43 and #44

Yesterday and today, I helped my teachers by unstacking chairs efficiently before class, and I took an extra effort to bring in leftover banana peels and apple cores for the composter.

The Holocaust and 9/11

After finishing Night, by Elie Wiesel, today, I wrote a poem (if you haven't read it yet, see below), and I've written other poems as a response to the book before (look at the "poem" tag).

Then, a thought came to me- how much worse, in terms of the number of deaths, was the Holocaust than 9/11? The Holocaust has an unknown number of fatalities, but I used the rough estimate of 11 million (as used in the documentary Paperclips and on about.com in an article I found that contained holocaust facts)- 6 million for Jews, and 5 million for the other groups persecuted against, including homosexuals and gypsies.

6,000 people died in 9/11. 11 million divided by 6,000 is roughly 1833. To honor 11 million people, one would spend a minute of silence 1833 times a year, which equals to be about 5 times a day. Compared to 5 minutes a day, a minute a year seems like nothing. That is the difference between the Holocaust and 9/11.

If a person made 100 pencil marks on a piece of paper a day, one mark per fatality, 9/11 deaths would be covered in 60 days, but the Holocaust deaths would take a person 110,000 days, or more than 300 years. It would be an impossible feat to carry out in any less than 3 lifetimes.

What does this tell us? That there are so many things around the world that aren't taken account for. Yet we must value the things in life that are beautiful, because there are too many depressing things in life to think about. I feel like I need to do something to honor this belief, but nothing is coming to me. For now, this blog post must suffice.

Composting!! (Act of Good #42)

Today, I volunteered to bring empty lunch trays to the cafeteria after student government, and I saw a stack of about 15 trays, all disorderly and stacked incorrectly. After further inspection, I observed that the reason causing this was that almost all of the trays had scraps of food in them. Grumbling out of annoyance that other people didn't care about what happened to their leftovers, I cleaned off each tray. I knew that I shouldn't have to do that, but I did. I guess it's a fact of life that most people simply don't care. *sigh*

Silence: A Poem Inspired by Night, by Elie Wiesel

No more light.
No more warmth.

Cold?

No.

Silence…

Eerie.

A corpse.

Look at me.

This is not me.

It’s different.

It’s horrible.

A figment of madness.

Of death.

Of pain.

Why?

Quiet.

Staring.
I can’t look.

I can’t see.

It’s not there.

Nothing.

But- shoes.

Piled.

Lying there.

Empty.

Without souls,

For they have been

Taken away.

Still there?

Gone.

Monsters.

Nothing comes.

Death.

Silence…

Acts of Good #40 and #41

Today, I tried to help out: I composted food, I turned off lights, I recycled a bunch of paper (and protested against other lazy people who didn't feel like doing it), and I also helped teachers stack chairs. I'm going to count those as two acts of good in total.

50th Post!!!! (And Acts of Good #37, #38, and #39)

Today, I: 1) organized my bookshelf, 2) recycled a bunch of old magazines, and 3) set apart some books that I don't need any more... though a plan of action for what to do with them will have to come later...

Other than that, the only news I have:
This is the 50th post! I feel like doing something special for it... if I think of something, I'll let you know!

Act of Good #36

Despite feeling completely tired yesterday morning, I actually went to tennis and played with my dad for 1.5 hours. At first I was really upset because my bedraggled self was playing horribly, but I made it through. Yay for exercise!

A Tribute to the Mad Hatter

Carted away on two pairs of wheels
To others, merely a hat and a bright orange wig
A part of my soul sucked away
But his spirit will live on.

Acts of Good #34 and #35

Yesterday, at the opening night of the play, I gave people a lot of encouragement and compliments and composted a lot of leftover grapes!

Update and Acts of Good #32 and #33

Acts of good that I did recently:

1) I collected a bunch of leftover food from home and brought it to our school's compost bin: three cheers to Mollie for setting that up!

2) I turned off a lot of lights today, around the house, and at school. Yay!

Anyway, a short update:

• Our school play is going to have its opening night tomorrow, and I'm kind of scared because a lot of people aren't ready since we missed two days of school because of the snow.
• Umm, I kinda touched on that up there ^. We had no school for two days because of our weather- thick black ice, drifting snow, etc.- and power outages.
• The end of this trimester at school is coming to an end, so I have a feeling that I'm going to have to start bracing myself against the tests that will probably come rushing my way- which means that I might not be posting as often as I usually do, so just a heads up on that. Is that phrase even proper grammar?
• I'm reading Night, by Elie Wiesel, in school, and I'm extremely depressed about it. By the way, if you were wondering, the poem that I posted on here earlier, the Other side of the world, was inspired by that book. I'm also going to probably post something else that I wrote today as a response of Night.
• On a happier note, we're having an advisory- which, in case you don't know, is like a small group of students from different grades that basically hangs out twice a week together and has a teacher who is basically the head of it who you go to with any questions or concerns you have- ice cream party tomorrow!

So... I have to go for now, and this weekend is going to be extremely hectic... so, I'll write to you whenever possible!

-Cora

Going Green Link: London 2012 Olympics

You know what's really interesting? The path one's mind takes and the journey from one thought to a different one, seemingly completely different until you see the track.

For example, what's the connection between Rafael Nadal, the #1 tennis player in the world, and going green?
Read more to find out. ;)
I was looking at Nadal's Facebook site, and I went to the Facebook page for Tennis to make sure that I had "liked" it already. I had. :)
While on that page, I read something about Tennis being an Olympic Sport. I knew this before, but it led me to go on to the next Olympic Game's website, London2012.com so I could see when exactly the games would take place.

And then, lo and behold, an article about how the London Olympics was trying its best to go green. *cheers*
Here's a link to the article that I found. Hope you like it!

http://www.london2012.com/making-it-happen/sustainability/index.php

-Cora

An Icelandic Lake

Below is a picture I took this summer on vacation when I was in Iceland.

the Other side of the world- News!

Please go to the following link. It's my poem, the Other side of the world, on TeenInk! Please rate it so that I know how you think you did. If it's rated high enough, it might be published in their magazine!
Thanks,
Cora

the Other side of the world