First Chapter of my Book

This is the first chapter of my book. Please leave comments on it.

Prelude

There I am at a great summer program that will land me at a great college. I spend with my newly met friend how is also attending. I live up that last of my increasingly short carefree childhood before I take on life’s adventure. There is something reserved about my new friend. Almost as if she is watching and calculating us, fingering the small iron key on her necklaces. The key, bent in one are but straightened out and hid over do not bother me for we are all teens and we are acquired and must be reserved and calculating to make in to the mysteries of college and beyond.

Chapter 1 – The Chance

“I will Study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come”
- by Abraham Lincoln

Here I am, Michael Stultus Animus, I exit my plane at Washington DC. Their I am everything I on is on the duffel bag at my side or on the one box at the college I will go to next week.

I walk the streets of our capital until I reach the cheap motel my parents got me until I leave for my new life. I then am forced by boredom to walk the streets. I desperately search to find something I can grasp onto that is familiar to me. I stop at the woods one of the small state parks that dot the capital, or so I see on my map. It reminds of the small forest that surrounds Houston.

As I head into the woods for some time to myself when a scream shatters the cool evening air. I another thing familiar, the girl I meet on the summer program, Sarah. It stoned me that she would be out in the woods, since she was from New York City. More stunning was the 7 foot; pig faced; bald headed; evil eyed; muscle bound; … Well you get the picture that was attacking her. She was fighting valiantly but ineffectively with her petite 5 foot 2 inches body.

I hear over her yelling the sound of the man deep voice saying, ”Just calm down … “ grunting from a good hit he pauses to swing back and backhand her to the ground.

“We just want to ask you some questions.” He resumed, huffing with the exertion of the scuffle.

Without sparring a second more to think, my tall but lanky 6 foot body shot out toward him. Even though 160 pounds doesn’t sound like a lot pack behind it the testosterone pumping male teenage body and it does damage. I slammed him into the tree knocking him up, hopefully, for a while.

Not so much as stopping for a thank you Sarah scrambled to her feet and shot through the woods, like a bat out of hell. Brian kicking in, hoping for a thank you (or a kiss) sprinted right behind her. Although with her adrenaline pumping like a life or death fight can only get it, pulled her away from me.

She burst back into the city and quickly wound her way through the crowed streets.. As she pulled around a corner into a uncrowded alley, I feared I would lose her. I leapt around the corner to ram street into a wall of meat.

Being flung back, I see a flash of light as the man punches me sending me sprawling on the ground were my head throbs horribly. I look around groggily and see Sarah on the ground behind the man how had just assaulted me. After attempting to struggling to my feet and failing I fall back and let the darkness fade in.

Through the haze I hear the voice of the mysterious man before say, “Take him too, the little bugger broke my noise”. Smiling at least doing something I faded into unconsciousness.

Asian and American Cultures

1. I feel for the most part, Asian cultures work hard and are more dedicated to their studies/jobs than other cultures. From my experiences, especially here at Purdue, the majority of Asian people that I have seen are immersed in American culture, from clothing and shoes to the music they listen to.
2. I feel that almost all Asian people think that Americans are ignorant and selfish because we only speak English and are obsessed with social status. I think that Asian cultures get their stereotypes of Americans from the pop culture that comes from America, such as movies, music, sports, and celebrities that are unique to the U.S.
3. The pros of Asian engineering are the relatively low price and mass amounts at which things are made while the cons could be that the products are pretty basic and do just enough to get the job done. The pros of American engineering are the time it takes to produce something and the quality of the product is above average, while the cons could be the life of the product and the maintenance that can come with it down the road.
4. If I was to study in Asia I would try to learn about the country’s culture and their social mannerisms. The one thing that I would most be afraid of is the language barrier that I would have to overcome.

Week 7

I feel like impression about Asians is very different from a majority of Asians, or Americans. I was adopted at 6 months old and was raised in a suburban, predominately white community. To the world of people that don’t know me personally they see Asian, sometimes Hispanic which is always weird when they start speaking spanish and all I can do is stare back and smile. That is one of my biggest pet peeves for obvious reasons. From that background when I see someone else who looks Asian, one of my first thoughts is, will they see me and think that I’m “not Asian enough.”

My general impression about Asians is that they are people just like everyone else first, then they are Asian, just like anyone who is Hispanic is a person before they are Hispanic in my head. I usually find that if there are a couple of Asians put in a group, the will gravitate towards each other, but who doesn’t gravitate towards what’s familiar? Due to the family values a lot of Asians were raised with, they work hard and are respectful towards their elders.

Some Asians think very highly of Americans. In the Philippines, people would see my parents and in a heart beat be there to help them in stores, give them taxi rides, and in general you could see a sense of respect solely based on their appearance. Other times American are seen to be ignorant. Big headed, money grubbing, selfish, pompous individuals. Of course, there are exceptions for both cultures.

The third question depends a lot on what aspect of engineering is being discussed. American engineering is done with cost, time, and quality somewhat equally considered. Asian engineering, again depending on which aspect of engineering is being discussed, is done quickly and in the masses. Pros of American engineering, its high quality enough to get the job done pretty well while being relatively affordable. Cons, when the demand of a product is high, it is difficult to keep productrion rates high. Pros of Asian engineering, things are done quickly and in large quantities. Cons, quick and in bulk cuts into quality.

If I were planning to study or work in Asia, I would like to learn more about the mindset of the culture. In the Philippines there was a less dismal feeling. Maybe because it was only a visit, but still less dismal than big cities here that people are so focused on getting from point A to B without any regard to the people around them. I would most be afraid of the communication barrier. I unfortunately do not know any other language than English.

Alright All-nighter

Time management is the key. We have all heard this adage time and again, but do we actually go ahead and apply its true meaning into our lives? In the recent past, most of us here at Purdue were hit by a terrible thunderstorm (a.k.a EXAMS). So as I saw myself and a couple of my friends pulling of one all-nighter after another, I was forced to think if this is what college is all about. Does college demand us to stay up all night and complete all our assignments or does the ghost of procrastination ruin it for us? After giving this issue some thought, I came to the conclusion that we all have the freedom to make our own decisions in college. This is very different from high-school, at least for me as I had my mom constantly keep pushing me to keep up with my school work. On the other hand, in college, we are forced to fend for ourselves. Hence as we taste our first few drops of freedom, there is a chance that we may take the “wrong” decision. For example, who among us has not gone to a movie in spite of having an assignment due that night? I may sound like a mom in this particular blog of mine but hey, it is high time we wake up and smell the coffee. As a matter of fact, writing this blog has made me realize many of my shortcomings in terms of dealing with college life. I’d like to conclude this blog by saying that be careful with the way you spend your time. Be stingy, very stingy. Remember that every minute counts and things will only get faster, more exciting and sadly, harder. Get yourself organized before it is too late. If you already have a decent schedule then that is great! Going further, if everyone reading this blog already has a perfectly organized life then it would be extremely awkward so please pretend you have a messed up life while you read this blog.

Week 7 Response

1. My honest opinion is that they work hard. They aren’t any smarter then we are. The Asian friends that I new while in high school studied harder and longer then I did. Thus they did better in school. It wasn’t a big difference but it meant the difference between a B and an A. Now that two of my roommates are from China that opinion hasn’t really changed. Some study harder then others but on a case-to-case basis, they study harder then their American counterparts.

2. Some of the impressions I get from non-Americans is the idea that we are ignorant. We give to the rest of the world a sort of self-righteous feeling that has crossed over into arrogances.

3. We encourage more indivuals speaking on ideas while they have a more rigid sonority structure. Their seniority structure would make it easier to organize ideas and who to pass ideas along to. Ours might be a little more chaotic.

4. I would not fear anything. It is one the places I want to travel most. To prepare I would learn some key phrases, such as “Thank You” “Embassy” and “Help.” I would also bring a small dictionary. Since I have already consumed a lot of Asian media, I don’t think I would need to learn too much on the cultural side.

Learning Community Expansion

I wouldn’t mind the expansion of our learning community from 30 students to 45 students. This would still allow the students of the learning community to get to know each other and work together. Another English class might be needed for the extra students, but the learning community can accommodate one more class into the collaborative course structure. With this amount of students, the learning community events would still be small scale, which would make it easy for students to interact with each other socially. In fact, I think expanding the learning community to accommodate another 15 students would be very beneficial for everyone. It would allow more students the opportunity to join a learning community, and it would allow students to get to know a wider range of new people.

Increasing the learning community size to about 120, however, would have many issues. Even though the students would be put into groups to maintain the “community” sense during Engineering 103, the overall number of students will make Engineering 103 feel exactly like Engineering 131, or any other class for that matter. Students like the feeling that they can get to know their teachers and that the teachers can get to know them. This is nearly impossible with a class size of nearly 120. Events for the Global Engineering Learning Community would become no more than a mass gathering of students, which will greatly reduce the options of what events can be planned. It would be difficult to have 120 students go bowling all at once or play billiards all at once. I don’t even think PMU’s Rack ‘n Roll can accommodate that many students even if half went bowling while the other half played billiards. The purpose of learning communities is to provide students with a social network that has a foundation in classes that are shared where student-student interaction is possible.

Asian and American Cultures

Based on the reading, which I found very interesting, my impression of Asians is that they are open-minded in the sense that they figure out how each person fits into the larger-scale community. I think that, since Americans are more culturally rooted in Greek culture, Asians probably view Americans as people who constantly pursue self-gratification. The Chinese engineering culture utilizes the practice of feng shui when designing buildings, which can be aesthetically pleasing and relaxing to the owners and visitors of the building. However, feng shui is so important to Chinese culture and engineering that the construction of a building can be delayed until a feng shui expert is called and gives his or her opinions on the structure. American engineering takes a scientific approach to a problem. This can be more efficient in terms of time and money, but can also leave a structure lacking in positive aesthetic qualities. If I were preparing to work in Asia, I would want to learn about how their culture and beliefs influence the way they work, and how that would contradict the way I would work with them.