compare and contrast essay

    

          I love listening to music. I love it so much that I can’t live without listening to music. I just love how music pleases my ears. I get goose bumps when talented singers sing at such a high pitch, and I like getting goose bumps. But as time passed by, I witnessed a change in music in Korea – the songs are more focused on ‘visual’ rather than the ‘talent’, but I also realized that rap didn’t change that greatly. So in this essay, I am going to compare and contrast between rap and K-pops made nowadays.

          First of all, most (not all) singers nowadays use auto tune to make their voice go higher, or to make their voice sound ‘nicer’. The standard of a good singer changed from a talented singer who can reach high notes to a ‘singer’ who look good and dance well. On the other hand, most rappers don’t use auto tune to rap, but still spend a lot of time to make their own ‘flow’ to rap. Most people who don’t know about rap think that rapping is just saying words fast with end rhymes, which is wrong. All the rappers sound different, and rappers with ‘special’ or ‘odd’ voice get more attention. Rap listeners usually agree that a good rapper is a rapper with a special voice and a flow. Of course, some main stream rappers use auto tune, but they are doing so to just earn money off teenagers who like music with auto tune.

          The lyrics also differ greatly between rap music and k-pop. K-pop singers don’t write their own song, they usually buy lyrics from song writers. More than three quarters of K-pop lyrics are about love. It’s either about how I am in love that’s good, how I am sorry that I love someone but can’t anymore, how upset I am because my love left me, how I am suppose to get the person I love, how I am different from other people, etc. The other one quarter of K-pop lyrics are either partying, describing someone’s looks, what they should do on holidays, etc. On the contrary, almost all rappers write their own lyrics. A lot of rap music has lyrics about love, but most rap music has lyrics about the hard life, life lessons, the reality, and many more. Rap music lyrics are not always good, because there are many rap music with inappropriate messages and swears. K-pop music has a lot of repeated words in just one song; while most rap music don’t repeat the same word over and over again.

          In conclusion, rap music is more ‘free’, in a sense that rappers can swear in their songs, but also they write about what they want; so many rap has meanings to it. But K-pop music in the other hand is most of the time clean, but we can’t really get any useful message out of them. One can’t decide which is better than which, because people’s mind differ. Many Korean teenagers like performances, and so ‘concerts’ are becoming more to a ‘dance performance’. Some people predict that soon K-pop will change to K-dance, music without any lyrics. If that happens, rap and K-pop, or K-dance, will not be a topic that can be even compared.

Metacognitive essay

How did I start the process?

I started my research by finding articles from the internet, encyclopedias, and a book on diet drugs. I wrote down all the sources I found on a paper and used three of the listed sources as my source cards. I started writing notes from those sources on my note cards, and I was putting effort to keep them organized. Then by reading those notes I realized how diet drugs actually work, and the wrong beliefs that people made about diet drugs. So my thesis statement was about how diet drugs are not magical pills that make people lose weight in an instance, but it’s a pill that takes a long time to show effect that also need exercise to lose weight. After that I started writing many rough drafts about diet drugs to be error free when it comes to the final draft.

 

Who is my audience and what is my purpose?

My audience for my research paper is people who want to lose weight by using diet drugs. I also wanted to learn about diet drugs too, because I was curious how they worked. My purpose at first was to tell people how diet drugs work and its advantages on us; but as I researched more, I changed my purpose to inform people how unreliable they are. So in my paper, I wrote both – how diet drugs work, and the side effects that come along side diet drugs.

What trouble did I have?

I had trouble working consistently day by day, working separately step by step to finish the research. I have never tried working on a paper for this long, and it took me a while to get used to it. I usually take just one day to finish a paper, and I never organized sources and information on note cards before writing an essay. But by this process, I learned how being organized helps my paper look more mature.

What are my paper’s weaknesses?

In my paper, I used a lot of information from one source, and used only a little from the other two sources I had. I could have used more from the other sources that I barely used for more variety in my paper. Also, I used ‘a lot’ instead of many, which I shouldn’t have.  

What goals do I have for future writing?

For future writing, I am going to try to be organized like I did for this research, taking time day by day writing notes down. I will also not finish a paper in just one day. I am going to try and take as many days possible to finish a paper, having time to check and read what I wrote over and over again. I am also going to try and use more links rules instead of using full stops every time. I will also use more sources for my paper to have variety of information.

Research Paper – Diet drugs

            Many people think that diet drugs can make them lose weight in an instance without any side effects; but diet drugs don’t work instantly – it takes a very long time (about six to twelve months) and has many unpleasant side effects. For any diet drugs to work, it must be part of a weight-loss plan that includes a reduced calorie intake and exercise (Trevor, Adam, note card number two)

            Xenical is one of the most famous diet drugs. It is a fat absorption inhibitor which works by blocking thirty percent of dietary fat from being absorbed. Xenical takes around six to twelve months to show effect (Webmd.com, note card number three). Appetite suppressants are another popular diet drugs which increases serotonin or cate cholamine – two brain chemicals that effect mood and appetite (Webmd.com note card number three). Appetite suppressants decrease one’s appetite, but not eating won’t make him or her lose weight; exercise is needed to lose weight even with appetite suppressants.

            There are many unpleasant side effects that come along side diet drugs. They are increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, sweating, constipation, insomnia, excessive thirst, light headedness, drowsiness, stuffy nose, headache, anxiety, dry mouth, and many more (Webmd.com, note card number four). Another side effect that can occur is the yo-yo effect. People who use diet pills often put the pounds they have lost right back on as soon as they stop taking diet drugs. This process is called yo-yo, because the affected individual’s weight goes up and down like a yo-yo (Enotes.com, note card number five).

            But diet drugs are not always bad, and are necessary sometimes. People with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of thirty and above with no obesity-related conditions and people with BMI of twenty seven and above with obesity-related conditions such as diabetes are appropriate for diet drugs (Webmd.com note card number four). But doctors are required to follow certain restrictions when prescribing diet drugs since they can be addictive (webmd.com note card number three).

            In conclusion, diet drugs take a long time to work, and has many side effects. But diet drugs are needed for some people (listed in paragraph four), but doctors should follow certain restriction because of addiction.

2nd poem – lyric poem

Since 1995, stages gave me a motive in life

Born to make peace with a MIC, not with a knife

Neither trial nor bafflement can stop my passion for rap

I’m blind so I walk toward only one direction even though there’s a trap

A fighter to this scene never show my back

Face off with reality there’s no turning back

I will go for my dreams the fakes will face slaughter

Even if it’s like finding diamond, or oasis full of water

1st Poem – anthropomorphic poem

I am a new UFO Microphone

                        My body is a cylindrical metal

                        My body is attached with wires

                        My back attached to a stand

I produce clear sound for my master

                        My master holds me around the neck

                        He kisses me on the head every time he raps

                        He leads me to the stage to show off his skill

I just have to follow the lead of my master to appeal

The Clock Tower (Descriptive essay)

            As I walk pass the clock tower, I can’t stop to think how long she was standing there just for us. So mighty-looking and tall, she stands forever still; ticking her arms at the right timing. Nobody talks to her, nobody gives attention. People just take a glimpse of her to know the time, and walks away. But still, the clock tower doesn’t get mad, or cry out loud for her loneliness. She works her arms even if no one is looking.

            How scary would it be? To stand alone in the night while everybody has gone to sleep? It gets worse when it rains; it’s scary and its cold, but she stands there mighty strong, ticking her arms at the right spots. She is white but turns black day by day, for dusts gets in her way. Her face is perfectly round and has arms attached to her nose. She smiles at 10:10 am, for its morning and birds chirp; but frowns when its 8:20 pm, for its night and birds stop to chirp. She smells different every day, depends on whether it rained; Smells like rock when she’s dry, and like popcorn when she’s wet. Her name is probably Eve; before she ate the fruit from the tree of good and evil, for she has no shame for her nakedness.

            She works hard day and night, never falls asleep just for us to see the time. If she stops working the whole world stops, and she knows that she has the responsibility and doesn’t stop. Even if the rain strikes her head or hot sunshine at day, she doesn’t stop working. She doesn’t really care about her health. Her skin is so rough, because of all the hard works she has done. We tend to lean on her when our legs hurt, not realizing how long she was standing there just for us.  But she doesn’t care and stands still. Just for us, she gave her all in all.

            I wonder if she ever talked to anyone before, like those high school kids talking at the white table. Maybe she is socially awkward, or maybe she likes to overhear people’s talk. She never complains how hard her job is to us; maybe we should learn life lessons from her. But I am sure of one thing – it has been standing there for a long time, and will stand a lot more in the future for us.

Mattie Ross Character Analysis

                 Mattie Ross is one of the major characters of True Grit. She is a dynamic character that changes gradually. It is not obvious, but when she ministers La Boeuf’s arm, I realized she is gradually opening her heart to him. When Mattie first saw La Boeuf, she hated him, but later in the novel, she shows kindness to him; that’s when she bandages La Boeuf’s arm.

                The author reveals Mattie as a strong character who is always brave and not afraid to deal with adults. She stays strong and doesn’t cry even when she saw her father in the coffin. The undertaker told Mattie she can kiss her father if she wanted, but she just said, “No, put the lid on it”. She accepts the sad truth that her father is dead. She is also very reasonable with her arguments. She offers Rooster twenty five dollars first, twenty five dollars again when they leave, and fifty when the job (getting Tom Chaney) is done. But even if she acts strong and brave with her talk, the book shows that she can be scared sometimes. She was scared near to death when she heard gun fires from the bandit named Moon.

                   Mattie Ross, based in the book, was not very attractive outside; but strong in the inside. La Boeuf tells her she is “unattractive to boot”, which means she is not beautiful from top to bottom. Also, Quincy tells her that she looks like somebody has “worked her over with the ugly stick”. This also means she is basically ugly. Later in the novel, she falls into a pit and breaks her arm; but she did not stop from moving on. She also gets bitten by a snake on the hand in the pit, and has to leave La Boeuf alone in pain; because if she doesn’t find a doctor, the poison in her hand will kill her.

                     In conclusion, she has both strong and weak features. She doesn’t allow people to take advantage of her. She also talks bravely to others. But deep down in her heart, she is a normal, teen-aged girl who is scared of gun fires, dark, and snakes. At the end of the story, her goal is accomplished. Tom Chaney dies, and she comes back to her family; and she returns to her normal life again.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

Hyun Soo: Hello, and thank you all for coming to my house for dinner.

Everyone except Hyun Soo: You’re welcome. We thank you for inviting us.

Hyun Soo: So Fagan, I want to ask you, why were you sad in grief when the stranger (prophet) died by your dad?

Fagan: Well, first of all, I was angry at myself and my dad for not protecting the stranger. It’s not a problem now since his back alive, and also, I was starting to believe the stranger. I thought what the prophet said about the true Sin Eater was true, so I was sad when I thought ‘now I can’t be saved by the true Sin Eater’. That was why I started to cry in grief. But now I’m fine because I accepted Jesus, and I am baptized.

Hyun Soo: Thank you for the answer Fagan. So, Prophet, I want to ask you, why weren’t you scared when Fagan’s dad was coming?

Prophet: Like I said, ‘Do not fear the one who can kill my body, but the one who can destroy the soul’, I was not afraid of human. Also, I wanted to save the people of this village, and in order to do that, I knew the one with power must be saved first. So I stood firmly and told Kai ‘repent and be saved’, which he didn’t believe at first and beat me up to death.

Hyun Soo: Thank you for your response. Back to you Fagan, when you saw the prophet getting beaten up, and hear your dad say, ‘so much for the power of his God’, did you start to believe that the prophet was lying?

Fagan: I didn’t know why God didn’t help the prophet when he was getting beaten up, but I still believed in what he said. That is why I shouted to my dad that I hate him and I hate to be his son. I thought my brothers will try to protect me at least a little bit, which they didn’t.

Hyun Soo: Thank you for the honest reply. So prophet, when you were almost dead, you told Cadi to ‘remember’, what does that mean?

Prophet: I didn’t want to give up spreading the word of God even after death to the village. I somewhat knew Cadi will do a good job spreading what happened that day, spreading the love of God. So that’s why I wanted Cadi to remember what I told her and tell the word of God to the village.

Hyun Soo: Oh, thank you for explaining what that meant. Mr. Forbes? Mr. Forbes? Please wake up; I have a question to ask.

Mr. Forbes: Oh I’m sorry that I felt asleep. So what is the question?

Hyun Soo: No, I’m sorry that I didn’t ask you any questions. So, why did you want Cadi to stay away from the stranger when you talked with Kai and his two older sons?

Mr. Forbes: First of all, Kai told me he was mad, saying what the village should do. I had no choice but to believe Kai and his ways for the village.

Hyun Soo: Oh ok, and how did you respond when Fia asked what Kai told you?

Mr. Forbes: I told her a crazy outsider came saying we need redemption. When Fia asked me ‘what’s the harm of letting him in our village if he does no harm’, I had nothing to say other than say there is not enough room at the village. I had no choice but to believe in Kai’s ways. And I didn’t want to talk against Kai, so I told Fia not to talk against Kai too.

Hyun Soo: What was Fia talking about when she said, ‘they did what he wanted, dinna they? And now we’re cursed for it!’?

Mr. Forbes: She was talking about the first time our ancestors came to this village, killing all the natives and stealing this land. She thought we were cursed for that and also cursed for following Kai’s ways. By cursed, she meant the death of our 3 children out of five. And the death of Elen was what made her so sad.

Hyun Soo: Thank you for answering my questions. Now back to Fagan. Fagan, where did you get the courage to gather all the people and tell the villagers about the truth?

Fagan: I thought it was about time to reveal the truth. I wanted to tell the villagers that the sin eater we had before, which is Sim, is not real. I wanted to tell the villagers Sim was just chosen because of the things the Kai’s family had done to the natives at this village. Sim was just chosen because the Kai’s were afraid of what they had done to the natives, which is killing them all and taking over the village. Also, Kai chose Sim because the girl who Kai loves loves Sim, and he was jealous. Also, I wanted to tell the villagers that Jesus is the one who was nailed to the cross and died for us, taking our sins away.

Hyun soo: Ok. So prophet, did you think Cadi Forbes and Fagan did a good job of spreading the word of God?

Prophet: Yes I do. First of all, the truth is revealed that the sin eater is not true. And also, people began to believe in Jesus gradually as Kai’s secrets were revealed. Also, I want to personally thank Sim to decide to tell the villagers that all he did was eat bread and drink wine, doing an empty ceremony. Despite of his years of being a sin eater, it would be hard to accept that he did ceremonies that didn’t do anything. But still, he came to the villagers and told them he accomplished nothing. I am so happy that most of the villagers were baptized and turned themselves to God.

Hyun Soo: I see. It is good to hear everyone is saved. I really appreciate you guys for coming to my house. I enjoyed a lot talking to you guys. I hope to invite you guys again to talk more about the work of God.

Everyone except Hyun Soo: We also had so much fun. Now we’ll get going. See you next time!

Should there be handphones allowed in schools?

          Should there be hand phones allowed in schools? Many people believe that hand phones are very distracting and will pull the grades down of students who take their hand phones to school, because students might end up texting during class hours or even play games on their phone. However studies show that students who take their hand phones to school and the students who don’t take their hand phones to school have similar grades. There are two ideas of which I think hand phones should be allowed in school.

          The first idea is that, students can use hand phones for the good purposes. In the first place, students can text their teacher that is late to class that the bell rang, or remind the teacher that the class was moved in case the teacher forgot about the change. Of equal importance, students who have diarrhea or other emergencies can inform the teacher that they will be late or won’t be able to attend the class because of their emergencies. Furthermore, hand phones at school can be very useful for the teachers and students who are forgetful, because text messages can inform whoever and whenever.

          The second thought is that it will definitely be used for emergency purposes. In support of this, if a student forgot that he or she had a meeting or an activity practice; the student can call their parents that they will be late. Consequently, many irresponsible students forget to bring their assignments they worked on at home; they can call their parents and ask them to bring the assignment. Also, there can be other emergencies like breaking a leg while doing an activity, then the student can call their parents or guardians immediately. Instead of going to the office, getting the number of the parents, and wasting time, with a hand phone right beside each student, no time would be wasted.

          Now that we have examined the good use of hand phones during school hours, schools should try to allow hand phones to school. But also, the schools should take another step for strict rules about using hand phones during class time. If a student brings a phone, they must give it to the teacher of their class, and get it back after class. So, should there be hand phones allowed in schools? I would say yes.

Molester

           I was running like a cheetah, chasing after a girl who had long straightened hair. Behind me were police officers, and some old men from the nearby village chasing me. I didn’t know things will go this bad. I didn’t know I would be considered to be a molester. I wish I could just run back home, but if I did, I would be caught by the police officers. The girl in front of me was also running as fast as I was, shouting, ‘Molester is after me! Help me!’ But I am not a molester; I am just an ordinary boy! I will explain how all this happened.

            First let me introduce myself. My name is Kyle, I am seventeen years old and I live in ‘Hado town’ at an apartment, and the town is next to a village called ‘Pomo’. There is only one bus stop which is located at ‘Pomo’. So every night after taekwondo class, I would have to ride a bus from the city called ‘Seoul’ and travel seventeen bus stops and reach the destination, which is Pomo’s only bus stop. Every time I get off the bus, it would be around ten o’clock, and it is pretty dark. Also, since the bus stop is at a village, it is darker than normal cities and there are not that many people around. Plus, I need to walk another fifteen minutes to my home next to the village. I spent almost around three months without meeting any robbers or getting into trouble around the bus stop. But on 13^th of October, 2010, I was accused of being a perverted molester.

            I am usually the only human to get off at the Pomo bus stop, but that day, a girl got off the bus too. She had a long straightened black hair. I couldn’t see her face because she got off before me, so I could only see her back. She was skinny with tight blue jeans with well matching red shirt. She wore sneakers instead of heels, which I think that was because she was tall; she was almost my height. When I got off, she was about fifteen meters away from me. I took out my mp3 player and my headphone from my bag and started to listen to some of my favorite hip-hop music. There was nobody around me except for the girl in front of me. So I felt quite awkward with only the girl and I walking the dark street, and I realized that the girl was taking a glimpse at me every twenty seconds to see if she and I had ‘safe’ distance away each other. I was getting quite angry every time she turned back to see me because I felt that she was assuming me as a pervert, which I am not! So I thought, if I outran her, she would not assume me as being a pervert, and we could walk peacefully to our own destinations. So I began to walk a little faster, getting closer and closer to her. And as I almost outpaced her, she turned her head. She was surprised to see me only two meters away from her, and she started to jog. When she jogged, that made me so mad and motivated me to jog after her; and so I started to jog. When I jogged, she heard my footsteps and started to run. That action of her almost blew my head off my neck and I started to run after her screaming with anger. She looked behind, shocked with me running after her with my top taekwondo uniform off. I just realized that I loosened my taekwondo belt a little bit at the bus so that air could ventilate in my taekwondo uniform, and when I ran, the top came off me. So I was running with only my pants on, and that really terrified the girl; and that’s how this ‘molester chase’ all started.

            The girl started screaming ‘Molester is chasing after me! Help!’ as I started to run after her. Unfortunately for me, we reached where some houses were; people inside some of these houses came out to help the girl. All the villagers thought I was a molester because I was chasing the girl with my top uniform off; plus the girl was confirming the villagers mind by screaming ‘Molester!’ And so the girl was up front, I was at the back, and there were some old villagers behind me, racing after one another for no reason.  I was running like a tiger that’s been bitten by a mosquito on the butt, but the girl was running like a F1 driver’s car. I didn’t know a girl could run that fast with jeans on. As we kept on running, I checked my back and I was astonished; there were around five police officers chasing me, more than ten villagers, and two fat un-trained police dogs. I was puzzled, and I had a sudden epiphany of ‘why am I running for no reason?’ then I started to think philosophically. I was asking myself the ‘why’ questions for more than a thousand times, but didn’t come out with an answer. I couldn’t hear a single word from the people behind me. There was a moment of silence, everything seemed like a slow video; there was a girl in front of me, running, I too, was running, people behind me, were running, even the fat dogs, looked as if they were running, and the whole world was running after the girl and I. Because of this ‘silent moment’, I didn’t realize that we were heading to the car road. And as my ‘slow video’ stopped and came back to real time, I could see 2 big and round flash lights coming toward me. It was a truck.

           I couldn’t move. My feet were glued on the ground. My brain knew I had to move, but my body didn’t listen. I could hear big horning sound, the flashlights coming closer and closer. Every good moments of my life came to my eyes really fast; my mom buying me a play station for my birthday, water park on Christmas, my girlfriend accepting my proposal, watching twilight with my girlfriend, getting an ‘A’ on English test, Lotte theme park with my best friends, and many more memories flashed right in front of my eyes for four second, and everything turned blur after that.

            Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… I woke up by an unstable alarm beeping. But the thing was that the alarm was not an alarm when I found out that it was the heart rate counting machine, and I realized right away I was at a hospital. I was feeling a little dizzy and looked around the room with my ‘what should I do next’ look. As I turned my neck to the left, I had a really bad pain at my neck, I realized I was hurt. Then I decided to check on my body first, and my mouth wide opened not knowing what to say. I had a cask on my left leg and another cask on my right arm. I had something that wrapped my forehead, and I had bandages all over my right leg and my left arm. I had lingerie on my left hand. I felt something cool on my right neck; it was a pas pack. I was totally crushed. As I was watching myself, a middle aged doctor came in with few young nurses behind him. The doctor explained what happened to me in detail. He told me if I was just a few seconds late to the hospital, I would have been dead. He told me I was sleeping for three days like this. He told me I broke my left leg and my right arm seriously, and he also told me I had to stay in the hospital for more than four months. As the doctor was explaining what I need to be careful about, my mom came in. She was crying so badly and held my hand tight, thanking God for saving my life. She also thanked the doctor for looking over me so kindly. The doctor said welcome and left the room with the nurses, leaving my mom and I alone in the room.

            She was first crying and prayed to God for saving my life, than she smiled happily for me being alive, than she turned angry and gently shouted at me for not being careful, than she turned normal talking to me about what happened at home while I was in hospital. I think I am the only person in the world who saw his or her mom’s feelings change three times in less than twenty seconds. A few moments later, my girlfriend and someone else came in along with her in my room, and I realized that the ‘someone else’ was the girl I was chasing after! My girlfriend and the ‘chased’ girl sat next to me. When my girlfriend scanned me from top to bottom, she began to cry in deep grief. I was a little annoyed with people crying and I thought ‘is this a crying room or what?’ to myself. As she calmed down a little, she began to talk to me. We talked random stuffs as usual, totally forgetting about the girl beside my girlfriend. After a communication about donuts she finally introduced to me the girl beside her. Her name was Tiffany and she was her elder sister! Tiffany apologized for accusing me as a pervert, and I apologized back for scaring her by running after her. After greeting one another, the room became joyful and the four of us (mom, me, my girlfriend and Tiffany) talked about this and that until it turned dark.

            I have learnt so many lessons through that incident. First of all, I should never ever loosen any kind of belts on public places, my clothes might come off. Secondly, I should learn to control my anger. The whole reason the chase started was because I got angry when she thought I was a molester. Thirdly, I should stop my actions before a problem gets bigger. If I stopped running when Tiffany started to run, I wouldn’t have banged into a truck. Lastly, I should practice running faster – I lost to a girl!