There's officially one week left until classes start up again. I've been looking over my schedule trying to have it memorized as best as I can before the semester starts. It's strange because it looks so bare compared to last semester. I'm only taking two fewer credit hours this semester than last, but I have a four credit hour online class this semester, which means it's not on the part of the schedule that lays out the times for each class. That's what makes it look emptier than past schedules.
I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this semester workload-wise. I don't want to underestimate the semester just because of that schedule. Since I've never taken an online class before, I'm not sure what to expect from it in terms of work. My other classes are all education classes (although one is technically a psychology class meant for education majors), and it's always hard to gauge just how much work those will be until you're in them. It can go either way.
I'm excited for this semester though. No matter how the classes turn out, it's doubtful they'll have me as busy as last semester, which included senior seminar and a very long practicum at a high school. Despite not wanting to underestimate it, I already feel like this semester will feel like a light one in comparison. If I get stressed out later on, I'm going to remind myself of what it was like last semester.
I posted my first wrap-up and TBR of the year yesterday, which wound up being far longer than I had expected it to be. I got ramble-y. You can check that out if you're interested in knowing what books I read last month and what I'm planning to read in January.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Life Post: Update on Our Dog
Luckily, I'm not writing another post about our dog because things are worse. In fact, he's acted completely fine today. In the morning, I noticed that he was blinking a bit more than normal, but even that has gone away throughout the day. His behavior is entirely normal now. Nothing seems wrong.
It's such a relief after I was so worked up about it, and I really do feel so great today just because he's doing better. I'm still petting and cuddling him more than is typical, but it's out of relief and not out of worry or fear.
We're still not really sure what happened. He tried to go after a stray cat that was in our backyard the day he started having problems with his eyes, but my mom and sister were there and got him away from the cat. Neither one of them saw our dog and the cat actually touch each other. Plus, I noticed him acting off a day before that (I'm also wondering if that was part of what lead to him going after the cat), although no one noticed anything wrong with his eye then. And despite not being able to open his eyes, noting actually looked like it was wrong with them.
I don't think we'll ever actually know what it was that happened for sure. Not to judge a dog's reaction to pain, but a lot of his yelping the other day seemed like he was in more pain than just what an eye infection would cause. I just don't know.
At least he's feeling better now.
It's such a relief after I was so worked up about it, and I really do feel so great today just because he's doing better. I'm still petting and cuddling him more than is typical, but it's out of relief and not out of worry or fear.
We're still not really sure what happened. He tried to go after a stray cat that was in our backyard the day he started having problems with his eyes, but my mom and sister were there and got him away from the cat. Neither one of them saw our dog and the cat actually touch each other. Plus, I noticed him acting off a day before that (I'm also wondering if that was part of what lead to him going after the cat), although no one noticed anything wrong with his eye then. And despite not being able to open his eyes, noting actually looked like it was wrong with them.
I don't think we'll ever actually know what it was that happened for sure. Not to judge a dog's reaction to pain, but a lot of his yelping the other day seemed like he was in more pain than just what an eye infection would cause. I just don't know.
At least he's feeling better now.
Movie Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
After sixteen days, seeing the movie twice, and thinking about it a lot, I'm finally writing my review of The Force Awakens. This feels so daunting. There's so much I could say, and I know I'm not going to fit it all into one post. Stuff will surely be left out. But here goes nothing.
Starting off with my general feelings about the whole movie: I loved it. Loved it. It was such a good movie. It was also an interesting experience. When I'm extremely excited about a movie, I'm far more used to it being a book adaptation. While there is a certain level of uncertainty there because you don't know how loyal they will be to the books, you still have a good sense of what will happen. Star Wars was so secretive about this movie that I couldn't know what to expect.
That feeling really hit me right as the movie started the first time I saw it. Everyone in the theater was cheering, and it all hit me at once what we were about to watch and how I didn't know how this was going to end. It was strange for me, and also really awesome. I loved having to guess what would happen next throughout the entire movie like I do when I read a really good book. Of course, that happens in good movies too, but I'm not usually at that level of excitement for those (again, unless they're a book adaptation).
Force Awakens definitely lived up to my excitement, and I can't wait to see what happens in Episode VIII (or Rogue One for that matter).
As for everything else, I'm going to try and talk about a few things but to not go overboard. I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing more posts in the future specifically focused on different aspects of the movies (or theories for the next movies) because there's so much I could say.
When it comes to characters, I would have to name BB-8 as my favorite. I want BB-8 in my life. I know I'm not alone in that. As far as my favorite of the other new characters though, I really can't decide. Rey, Finn, and Poe are all great characters. We didn't get to see much of Poe within Force Awakens, but I assume he'll have a bigger role later. I'm looking forward to that because I really enjoyed him when he was on screen. For now, I'm just going to say I really love all the new characters and not declare a favorite. Maybe I will come Episode VIII or I'll have a change of heart before the next movie. I don't know. But right now I just think they were all excellent characters.
I love both Rey and Finn's backstory and the way they developed over the course of just this one movie. It has me very excited to see where they go in the next one.
I know I can't talk about new characters without bringing up Kylo Ren. As far as villains go, I think he's an excellent one. Since I saw the movie the first time, I've been trying to figure out whether I think they'll kill him off or attempt to redeem him. (I'm just going to go ahead and assume that he's not just going to live and continue to be evil.) I'm not sure yet, but right now, I'm probably leaning toward redemption. We already learn in the movie that he still senses light within him, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had his story arc closely mirror Darth Vader's in that way. Like I said, I don't know for sure what I think will happen, but if he redeems himself somehow only to immediately die afterward, I wouldn't be surprised. (This might be one of the things I write a post on later.)
Of course, it was also amazing to see the old characters again. I think they played just the right role in the story. They didn't overtake it, but we got to see them and learn about what has happened to them since the last trilogy. It was fun to be in the screening opening day and hear the audience get excited when we first see the Millennium Falcon again and everything else. The decision to place Luke only at the end of the film (and R2-D2 for that matter) was a good one as it kept the focus on the new characters (not that BB-8 could be overshadowed by R2-D2. Come to think of it, I have my fingers crossed for more interaction between those two in the future.), but I'm also excited to see the role he plays in Episode VIII.
Han's death is another part of the story that I can't not mention. As much as I hate character deaths, I don't know if a character dying has ever felt so right for the story to me. (For the good guys that is. Villain deaths are another story. I can't imagine Harry Potter is Voldemort had survived the last book.) I know there was speculation about him dying beforehand, and either that or just the tone of the scene, let me know it was going to happen before it did. It was a sad moment, but I think because I had it on my mind as a possibility and because I thought it was a good decision, I'm not upset about it like I might have been otherwise.
The last thing I think I'll bring up in this review is the speculation about who Rey's parents are. Going into the movie, my best guess was that her parents would be Han and Leia. For a while in the movie, I was trying to work out if that was right. From the first hint about Kylo Ren's parentage though, I was certain his parents were Han and Leia, and to me, that made it less likely that they were Rey's parents. When Rey first discovers Luke's lightsaber, I became pretty confident that Luke was her father, and the end of the movie only made me more sure.
To me, that's the theory that makes the most sense, although I do see the reasoning behind some of the other theories. While I think Luke is the best guess, I can't decide who I would want to be Rey's parents the most if I had the opportunity to make the decision. Obviously, I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens to find out what I think about it in the end.
That's all I'm going to say in this review. It's long enough now, but like I said, don't be surprised if I write more posts in the future. I'm already thinking about writing something up on what I think will happen to Kylo Ren, what I think about Rey's parentage, and several other things, although I'm not sure I could say anything that hasn't already been said by countless people. We'll see. This is definitely a movie that I don't want to stop talking about.
Starting off with my general feelings about the whole movie: I loved it. Loved it. It was such a good movie. It was also an interesting experience. When I'm extremely excited about a movie, I'm far more used to it being a book adaptation. While there is a certain level of uncertainty there because you don't know how loyal they will be to the books, you still have a good sense of what will happen. Star Wars was so secretive about this movie that I couldn't know what to expect.
That feeling really hit me right as the movie started the first time I saw it. Everyone in the theater was cheering, and it all hit me at once what we were about to watch and how I didn't know how this was going to end. It was strange for me, and also really awesome. I loved having to guess what would happen next throughout the entire movie like I do when I read a really good book. Of course, that happens in good movies too, but I'm not usually at that level of excitement for those (again, unless they're a book adaptation).
Force Awakens definitely lived up to my excitement, and I can't wait to see what happens in Episode VIII (or Rogue One for that matter).
As for everything else, I'm going to try and talk about a few things but to not go overboard. I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing more posts in the future specifically focused on different aspects of the movies (or theories for the next movies) because there's so much I could say.
When it comes to characters, I would have to name BB-8 as my favorite. I want BB-8 in my life. I know I'm not alone in that. As far as my favorite of the other new characters though, I really can't decide. Rey, Finn, and Poe are all great characters. We didn't get to see much of Poe within Force Awakens, but I assume he'll have a bigger role later. I'm looking forward to that because I really enjoyed him when he was on screen. For now, I'm just going to say I really love all the new characters and not declare a favorite. Maybe I will come Episode VIII or I'll have a change of heart before the next movie. I don't know. But right now I just think they were all excellent characters.
I love both Rey and Finn's backstory and the way they developed over the course of just this one movie. It has me very excited to see where they go in the next one.
I know I can't talk about new characters without bringing up Kylo Ren. As far as villains go, I think he's an excellent one. Since I saw the movie the first time, I've been trying to figure out whether I think they'll kill him off or attempt to redeem him. (I'm just going to go ahead and assume that he's not just going to live and continue to be evil.) I'm not sure yet, but right now, I'm probably leaning toward redemption. We already learn in the movie that he still senses light within him, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had his story arc closely mirror Darth Vader's in that way. Like I said, I don't know for sure what I think will happen, but if he redeems himself somehow only to immediately die afterward, I wouldn't be surprised. (This might be one of the things I write a post on later.)
Of course, it was also amazing to see the old characters again. I think they played just the right role in the story. They didn't overtake it, but we got to see them and learn about what has happened to them since the last trilogy. It was fun to be in the screening opening day and hear the audience get excited when we first see the Millennium Falcon again and everything else. The decision to place Luke only at the end of the film (and R2-D2 for that matter) was a good one as it kept the focus on the new characters (not that BB-8 could be overshadowed by R2-D2. Come to think of it, I have my fingers crossed for more interaction between those two in the future.), but I'm also excited to see the role he plays in Episode VIII.
Han's death is another part of the story that I can't not mention. As much as I hate character deaths, I don't know if a character dying has ever felt so right for the story to me. (For the good guys that is. Villain deaths are another story. I can't imagine Harry Potter is Voldemort had survived the last book.) I know there was speculation about him dying beforehand, and either that or just the tone of the scene, let me know it was going to happen before it did. It was a sad moment, but I think because I had it on my mind as a possibility and because I thought it was a good decision, I'm not upset about it like I might have been otherwise.
The last thing I think I'll bring up in this review is the speculation about who Rey's parents are. Going into the movie, my best guess was that her parents would be Han and Leia. For a while in the movie, I was trying to work out if that was right. From the first hint about Kylo Ren's parentage though, I was certain his parents were Han and Leia, and to me, that made it less likely that they were Rey's parents. When Rey first discovers Luke's lightsaber, I became pretty confident that Luke was her father, and the end of the movie only made me more sure.
To me, that's the theory that makes the most sense, although I do see the reasoning behind some of the other theories. While I think Luke is the best guess, I can't decide who I would want to be Rey's parents the most if I had the opportunity to make the decision. Obviously, I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens to find out what I think about it in the end.
That's all I'm going to say in this review. It's long enough now, but like I said, don't be surprised if I write more posts in the future. I'm already thinking about writing something up on what I think will happen to Kylo Ren, what I think about Rey's parentage, and several other things, although I'm not sure I could say anything that hasn't already been said by countless people. We'll see. This is definitely a movie that I don't want to stop talking about.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Life Post: Our Dog's Health Issues the Past Few Days
By the time we reach January, winter break always feels like it's flying by. It's hard to believe there's only a week until I go back to school, but then again, our break is a week or two shorter than normal this year. (I have no idea why.)
There's been a bit of drama here the last few days. One of our dogs got kind of sick, and we're still not exactly sure what's going on. He got oddly lethargic at first. I noticed it a day before things got significantly worse. By Thursday, he was hardly moving at all. He'd just lay there. He began letting out yelps at random times when he wasn't doing anything, so it became clear that he was in pain even though we couldn't figure out what was causing it. Everything on the outside looked fine, and there was nowhere we touched him that seemed to cause pain.
Around the same time, we realized he was hardly opening his eyes, but at first, I think we all took that as a sign he was feeling tired, not because he couldn't open them. Until it became obvious that there was something more than that. By Friday, he was opening one eye all the way, but the other would hardly open and would twitch when he tried. That made it obvious that something was wrong with at least one eye. (I don't know if the other one just got better much quicker or what.)
Today things are significantly better. He's not as lethargic. For the most part, he's acting normal. One eye still twitches, but he's opening it wider than before. We still don't know what's causing it because his eyes look fine when opened. There's nothing visibly wrong with them (except the twitching).
It's really torn me up. On Thursday night, I was terrified for him, and I wound up having a nightmare that night that he died in the most gruesome way possible. That shook me up pretty badly, and I went to check on him immediately after waking up. Luckily, he was doing better at that point, and I felt much better. And he's only kept looking better. So I've been worrying about him for several days, but other than a few panicked posts on Tumblr that I used to release my fear, I've tried to only talk about other things on the Internet. I didn't want to go on terribly as it was happening and sound upsetting. I feel better about it now that he's improved so much. Fingers crossed that he keeps getting better and that his eye is fine.
Our other dog's already partly blind though, and if he winds up losing vision in his eye for whatever reason, that would be highly preferable to so many other things. It's the younger of our two dog's that this has been happening to, and since I've always worried less about his health than our older dog's health (who's partially blind and deaf enough that she can only hear extremely loud sounds), I think the whole thing caught me even more off guard.
There's been a bit of drama here the last few days. One of our dogs got kind of sick, and we're still not exactly sure what's going on. He got oddly lethargic at first. I noticed it a day before things got significantly worse. By Thursday, he was hardly moving at all. He'd just lay there. He began letting out yelps at random times when he wasn't doing anything, so it became clear that he was in pain even though we couldn't figure out what was causing it. Everything on the outside looked fine, and there was nowhere we touched him that seemed to cause pain.
Around the same time, we realized he was hardly opening his eyes, but at first, I think we all took that as a sign he was feeling tired, not because he couldn't open them. Until it became obvious that there was something more than that. By Friday, he was opening one eye all the way, but the other would hardly open and would twitch when he tried. That made it obvious that something was wrong with at least one eye. (I don't know if the other one just got better much quicker or what.)
Today things are significantly better. He's not as lethargic. For the most part, he's acting normal. One eye still twitches, but he's opening it wider than before. We still don't know what's causing it because his eyes look fine when opened. There's nothing visibly wrong with them (except the twitching).
It's really torn me up. On Thursday night, I was terrified for him, and I wound up having a nightmare that night that he died in the most gruesome way possible. That shook me up pretty badly, and I went to check on him immediately after waking up. Luckily, he was doing better at that point, and I felt much better. And he's only kept looking better. So I've been worrying about him for several days, but other than a few panicked posts on Tumblr that I used to release my fear, I've tried to only talk about other things on the Internet. I didn't want to go on terribly as it was happening and sound upsetting. I feel better about it now that he's improved so much. Fingers crossed that he keeps getting better and that his eye is fine.
Our other dog's already partly blind though, and if he winds up losing vision in his eye for whatever reason, that would be highly preferable to so many other things. It's the younger of our two dog's that this has been happening to, and since I've always worried less about his health than our older dog's health (who's partially blind and deaf enough that she can only hear extremely loud sounds), I think the whole thing caught me even more off guard.
Book Review: Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea by Jang Jin-sung (Translated by Shirley Lee)
ISBN: 147676655XPublished: May 13th, 2014
Publisher: Atria / 37 Ink
Read from December 6th to 13th, 2015
Synopsis from Goodreads:
In this rare insider’s view into contemporary North Korea, a high-ranking counterintelligence agent describes his life as a former poet laureate to Kim Jong-il and his breathtaking escape to freedom.
“The General will now enter the room.”
Everyone turns to stone. Not moving my head, I direct my eyes to a point halfway up the archway where Kim Jong-il’s face will soon appear…
As North Korea’s State Poet Laureate, Jang Jin-sung led a charmed life. With food provisions (even as the country suffered through its great famine), a travel pass, access to strictly censored information, and audiences with Kim Jong-il himself, his life in Pyongyang seemed safe and secure. But this privileged existence was about to be shattered. When a strictly forbidden magazine he lent to a friend goes missing, Jang Jin-sung must flee for his life.
Never before has a member of the elite described the inner workings of this totalitarian state and its propaganda machine. An astonishing exposé told through the heart-stopping story of Jang Jin-sung’s escape to South Korea, Dear Leader is a rare and unprecedented insight into the world’s most secretive and repressive regime.
Review:
Dear Leader is a unique book in that it is a memoir written by a North Korean defector. That makes it stand out as it is so rare to get such a first-hand glimpse of what life is like inside North Korea. Jang Jin-sung worked as a poet in North Korea and even received praise from Kim Jong-il, allowing him to reach a privileged position within North Korea's power structure. That makes his story unique even among North Koreans. Jang Jin-sung wasn't starving when he lived in North Korea. In fact, he describes within the book the horror he felt when he traveled outside of Pyongyang and realized how horrific life was for those outside of the capital.
Because of his position, I think Jang Jin-sung's story feels somewhat complicated. There are so many people starving within the country, and he wasn't one of them. In that respect, his life was easier. Still, he lived in a society so repressive that there is little doubt it would take a psychological toll. (His description of the dinner he ate with Kim Jong-il comes to mind.) I think the privileged outlook he provides into life within Pyongyang is an important one.
Between the stories of his life in North Korea to the story of escaping and running from the authorities in China as he struggled to get to the South Korean embassy, which would grant him citizenship, his story is extremely remarkable. I was left feeling extremely emotional about not just Jang Jin-sung's experiences but the experiences of others that he meets along the way (both North Koreans in the country and those he meets after defecting).
I appreciated getting to read a first-hand account of North Korea from a North Korean, and I appreciated how much humanity Jang Jin-sung incorporated into his story. He also incorporates the stories of others from those of his friends living in his hometown (who he discovers are starving upon going home for a visit) to the women who have also escaped North Korea, been sold by human traffickers, and yet remain determined to not go back to North Korea. In addition to all of that, Jang Jin-sung describes how he believes North Korea's eventual downfall must come, and I believe his perspective, as a North Korean, should be very valued in that respect. (Even today, living in South Korea, Jang Jin-sung faces threats from North Korea because of his continued writing on the country. He created New Focus to write about North Korea from the perspective of North Koreans now living outside the country.) I highly recommend this book to everyone.
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