Journal 31-My Passion

1. My passion is drawing. I really like to express myself through drawings,
and I feel like when I design or draw something, I am free to be creative
and make something that I like. So through drawing, I gain INTRINSIC rewards
rather than extrinsic because it's something I do that makes me happy and I do
it because I want to

2. Well, there aren't too many experiences that I can share relating to my passion
of drawing, but I remember when I was younger, I used to watch my favorite
cartoons and just focus on a certain moment in the show and just keep that in
my head so that I can try to draw it later on. I've tried drawing Spongebob and
when that show "Dragonball Z" was still being aired, I used to draw certain
characters from that show. Also, when my older cousins were in high school before
and needed to draw something for their assignment, they usually asked me before
to draw it for them.

3. I plan on just using drawing as a "getaway" when I want to escapr from my problems
and just release it all through ink on a piece of paper.

Journal 30

Brainstorm:

9/11
H1N1 Epidemic
Hunger
Violence
Lack of morals
Random acts of kindness
High School
Coming of age

An idea that I was thinking of using as my main topic in my essay was about how life could be like a blender, where we're always mixing things up

Mi Familia Es Mi Tesoro

With his bare hands
He defeated the unimaginable
His strength known to the lands
And his secret was desirable

Then came that serpent
Twisted his mind, now full of deceit
Her words he did not know what they truly meant
Now his strength was gone after a deep sleep

No one would have known
That it was that long hair
Now he was all alone
And to complain he did not dare

Not physically
But I possess that strength
And thats what keeps me going
No matter life's length

Everyday
I'm thankful for them
They're the secret that empowers me
Take it away, and that will weaken me

Just like Samson
And his hair
This is me, Jonas
And it's my family for who I care

Final College Essay

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That is the most commonly asked question when you’re at least four years old. When you’re young, your imagination runs wild and you think that you can be whatever you want to be: a chef, doctor, firefighter, or engineer. But when you grow up, you realize that that’s not how easy life is. There are a lot of steps to get to the top. Everyone tells you when you are four years old that all you have to do is “chase your dreams”, but they never mention things such as college. Over the years, my growth has been a slow process and is still in progress. I have always admired how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. Caterpillars are vulnerable, small, and don’t really know much about the rest of the world; because of that, their freedom is restricted. It takes a while before that restriction is removed, and they are free to be whatever they want.

My whole life, I was sort of afraid to think for myself for fear of failing and being a big disappointment. In 7th grade, there was an activity where our future careers were discussed. The eleven people before me had pretty satisfying answers, such as, “Veterinarian” or “Business person”. When it came to me, I didn’t want to pretend like I knew, so I said, “Oh, I’m not sure.” Everyone thought I was joking, and so they laughed. Deep down, I was so stunned, that I laughed too so I could hide what I truly felt.

“Mom, what should I be in the future?” As usual, there’s this lecture about having a respectable job, and doing what you want. “I think you could try being a Civil Engineer”. In my mind, I was like, “Are you kidding me, I hate numbers”, but of course, I didn’t’ say it. I decided from that day that I shouldn’t let someone beside myself steer my life for me. During this time, I was still a caterpillar. Three years later, a sophomore in High School, I still feel that I’m still not the President of my life. During this time in High School, every one is starting to prepare for after High School, such as colleges or careers. From civil engineer, now, I supposedly want to be a nurse now. Honestly, I don’t like the medical field. Life is coming at me too fast, and it’s not even waiting for me to adjust to it. I feel as if I’m currently in a cocoon; my process of growing up is still in progress, but I can’t say yet that I am a butterfly. But when the time comes, hopefully, I will hatch out and finally let my wings spread out, so I am free. Free just like a butterfly.

Journal 10-College Essay Draft

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That is the most commonly asked question when you’re at least four years old. When you’re young, your imagination runs wild and you think that you can be whatever you want to be: a chef, doctor, firefighter, or engineer. But when you grow up, you realize that that’s not how easy life is. There are a lot of steps to get to the top. Everyone tells you when you are four years old that all you have to do is “chase your dreams”, but they never mention things such as college. Over the years, my growth has been a slow process and is still in progress. I have always admired how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. Caterpillars are vulnerable, small, and don’t really know much about the rest of the world; because of that, they freedom is restricted. It takes a while before that restriction is removed, and they are free to be whatever they want. My whole life, I was sort of afraid to think for myself for fear of failing and being a big disappointment. In 7th grade, there was an activity where our future careers were discussed. The eleven people before me had pretty satisfying answers, such as, “Veterinarian” or “Business person”. When it came to me, I didn’t want to pretend like I knew, so I said, “Oh, I’m not sure.” Everyone thought I was joking, and so they laughed. Deep down, I was so stunned, that I laughed too so I could hide what I truly felt. “Mom, what should I be in the future?” As usual, there’s this lecture about having a respectable job, and doing what you want. “I think you could try being a Civil Engineer”. In my mind, I was like, “Are you kidding me, I hate numbers”, but of course, I didn’t’ say it. I decided from that day that I shouldn’t let someone besides myself steer my life for me. During this time, I was still a caterpillar. Three years later, a sophomore in High School, I still feel that I’m still not the President of my life. During this time in High School, every one is starting to prepare for after High School, such as colleges or careers. From civil engineer, now, I supposedly want to be a nurse now. Honestly, I don’t like the medical field. Life is coming at me too fast, and it’s not even waiting for me to adjust to it. I feel as if I’m currently in a cocoon; my process of growing up is still in progress, but I can’t say yet that I am a butterfly. But when the time comes, hopefully, I will hatch out and finally let my wings spread out, so I am free. Free just like a butterfly.

Journal #9

The novel I read, "Perks of Being a Wallflower", definitely captured the theme of "Coming of Age." In the beginning of the book, Charlie is sort of an "UN-SOCIAL" type of a person where he doesn't hangout with anyone, and no one even knows him at school. He's incredibly emotional and cries at simple things. But when Charlie meets Sam and Patrick, his whole life changes and he discovers so much things, both the DARK and LIGHT side of life. Sam and Patrick teach him about how to have friends, how to "participate", and other things. Drugs, sexuality, and alcohol are some things that sort of affect Charlie's life. You can see that as the book reaches the end, the things he writes about show his maturity. There was an incident that really tested Charlie's honesty to show what he really thinks and feels. When Mary Elizabeth, one of the people Charlie has met through Sam and Patrick, reveals that she has a crush on Charlie and starts "clinging" to him, he doesn't know whether he should be nice and let her do what she's doing, or whether he should honestly tell Mary Elizabeth that he doesn't even like her because he actually likes Sam. But his life seems to mess up when he was dared in one party to kiss the girl who he thought was the prettiest, he kisses Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth. Growing up, maturing, and experiencing difficult things all supported the theme of "Coming of Age."

Journal #8

I think that reading those excellent college application essays helped me give an idea of what my own essay would be like. The one I favored a lot was the "January 1987" because I really felt that I got to know the writer more. I really appreciated how they introduced us to her mother and their struggles, and it's much better than listing a whole bunch of awards. I definitely want to make the admissions officer reading my essay feel at ease and inrigued and if he decides that I am qualified, I want to make sure that he made the right choice. Honestly, I'm not sure how to write my essay, but I want to focus on getting the emotion out and making myself sound real and not too exagerated. That way, they'll "meet" me even though they might not even see me. I never really liked the medical field, but somehow, I ended up deciding that I want to be a nurse in the future. I'm probably staying here on Hawaii, so I will try to apply at UH Manoa.

Link:

University of Hawaii Manoa

My New Poster (Might Be Final)

Here's my new poster that I just made. Might be my final.

Journal #6

Making My Poster
Well, the idea I got for my poster was the same concept as the "Theory of Evolution."
EXAMPLE:

So to transfer that concept to Coming of Age, I wanted to show a baby slowing growing up into a teen. I also added a quote, "From Hot Wheels to Steering Wheels." It means that you start off by playing toy cars, but eventually you'll be driving s car yourself. I don't think it's my final psoter yet, but so far, that's what I have. I had a hard time actually coming up with the idea. You can't count the number of times I actually started all over again on Photoshop. It wasn't hard putting it together and editing it to add that silhouette effect.

My Ugly Poster (First Draft)

Seriously, I was thinking for 2 days about ideas to do for my poster. First, I came up with a little boy riding those little toy cars, and he's on a road that leads to a teen actually driving a car. But I thought that was too ugly. The poster I posted above is only temporary and I'm kinda still working on another one. But yeah, I found images on Google and did the silhouette effect on the images, same as the "iPod people". This one is supposed to have the same concept as the evolution of apes to humans, but this one is babies to teens.