Goodbye...

"Time flies so fast."

I learn a lot of different things from this class thanks to the enthusiasm and valuable instruction of Sean. I learn much knowledge from that. Thank you so much, my really cool teacher!!!
Although we don't have much time to understand each other clearly, I think it's very good and lucky to be your classmates. I learn more thank to your interaction to help me improve my English.

English is not easy to study, but it is an important key to open our new doors in the future. So study hard and then we will be able to fulfill our dream.

Good luck and I wish that we will all reach our dreams and achieve our goals!!! 

BARAKA

Baraka has many different scenes which impress people somehow, but there are two scenes that make me think much: destruction and chickens. Those scenes described terrible destroy on environment caused by people's activities. Although the nonverbal film brings me good emotion when watching the beauty of nature, it is such a bad emotion when watching destructive, homeless, and death scenes. For the chickens scene, it is seem that the chicken production relates to people's life. Today people usually do same thing day after day as industrial process. The film makes me think about the past and the present. In addition, it transfers a message to make people think about traditional and cultural value.

Anticipating my parents' objections

Dear Mom and Dad,

You think that I should not get a part-time job while studying because it will affect my result. Perhaps your view of this matter is reasonable, but you ignore the fact that part-time jobs have many benefits. For instance, I can get experience from the job which is very useful for my curriculum vitae when I graduate and then apply for a full-time job in the future. In addition, through the part-time job, I have more opportunities to approach people and improve my communicative skill. Although you think part-time job may disturb my concentration on study, it is just part time so it just takes me Tuesday, Thursday night and the weekend. Therefore, I have enough time for both studying and working. I know how to manage my time to not neglect my study. Could you consider my opinion about this situation after thinking about my reasons above, please?

Your daughter, always!

Huyen

Journal 14

Crovitz, L. G. (2011, October 31). Steve Jobs’s Advice for Obama. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://online.wsj.com

The article named Steve Jobs's Advice for Obama discusses about the formal talk between Steve Jobs and President Obama. Crovitz (2011) reports in this article from the Wall Street Journal that the regulations which are partial cause the difficulties of economy infuriated Mr. Jobs. While many companies in Silicon Valley try to support for the U.S. economy, it is gummed up by the government’s official rules. In particular, the immigrant policy has caused lack of talents or outstanding engineers in the U.S. because they tend to come back their countries to find good jobs instead of waiting for long time of having green cards. In addition, Crovitz mentions that Apple employs 700,000 workers in China since there are inadequate engineers in the U.S. Therefore, the company can create hundred thousand jobs in the U.S. if the immigrant regulation is simpler. 140,000 green cards are issued per year is not enough to the demand of the economy. It is hoped that there is a change for the better in policy to encourage the best students to stay and work here.

Analyzing an Argument

Calle, B. (2011, Nov.4). Brian Calle: Schoolkids need an education lobbyist. The Orange County Register.

In this article Calle argues the agenda of educational system now does not represent students' interest. Although there is little improvement in the students' result for some subjects, it still needs the restructuring to boost the education. The article suggests that the policy such as evaluating and layoff policy should be change to create the better educational environment. 

November 3rd, 2011

This morning I found some books that are very useful for my research paper topic. Among them, the reference source I prefer most is Evans, K. (2010).Capital Punishment: Cruel and Unusual?. Detroit, Mich.: Gale because the book mentions about many aspects related to the death penalty. For instance, the book discusses about US capital punishment's history, capital punishment cases, laws of death penalty, the costs related to capital cases, race affect capital punishment outcomes, public view, and capital punishment round globe.It is credible because the author mentions specific examples of some cases in her book to prove the points. Therefore, it gives me a lot of helpful information about the topic.

 

Journal 12

Ellsworth, P. , & Gross, S. (1994). Hardening of the attitudes: Americans' views on the death penalty. Journal of Social Issues,50(2), 19-52.

Phoebe Ellsworth, the Frank Murphy Distinguished University Professor of Law and Psychology, has conducted pioneering scholarship in the field of psychology and law. Samuel R. Gross, the Thomas and Mabel Long Professor of Law, graduated from Columbia College in 1968 and earned a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973. The article discusses how Americans react with the controvesial issue-the death penalty. Through the study over 20 years almost people think that the death penalty is more depends on emotion than information or rational argument. It is useful for me since this relate to my research question about the two both sides opinion of the death penalty. Therefore, I can combine information from  the journal and compare to my answer for this issue.

            When I thought about some topics for research paper, there were many questions I want to do research such as business, society, health, and education. Therefore, it's difficult to choose one topic. Then I try to think about questions relating to some topics: tax, penalty, or shopping culture of American. I’m interesting in controversial topics because I think there is a lot of information I can find on the internet as well as in some books. Thus I chose gambling because it harms to society. However, I changed my mind when searching information on Wikipedia. I found much more information about the death penalty which still has lots of controversy, so I make some questions about the topic. For example, What are two sides of death penalty? or Should death penalty be changed? By using Wikipedia, I’ve already found out about a useful example for it.

Advice

When I was young, I received almost advice which was from my parents. However, I still too young to understand the importance of their useful advice. Thus I usually did not follow it. When I was older, I got lots of helpful advice from my family, my teachers, and my friends, even some are younger than me. Each one has dissimilar experience in different fields.Therefore, I think their advice is useful, but sometimes it make me confuse because of their different advice for the same matter. Then I will follow my feeling to consider what I should do or follow some of the advice.
I think I'm not really a good adviser, but fortunately I usually a good listener. Hence my friends often talk to me about their problem to feel better. Sometimes, I give them some advice after considering carefully their problem. The most important that is the reason for their talking heart to heart with me is my keeping their secret, so they trust me.

By the way, If you have some hitch difficulty or problem, feel free to approach and talk to me. I'm a good listener 'as long as I have enough time to listen' ^.^

American food

American food makes me immediately associate it with fast food such as hamburger, French fries, and protein smoothies. I can easily find a fast food restaurant here with several different brand names such as Mc Donald, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out, Carl’s Jr. Although fast food is not a heathy food, I still like it because it’s convenient and easy to find anywhere. Besides that, I also love American barbeque, it’s delicious and I have a lot of fun when make a barbeque with my friends.
People in my countries eat rice as main meal. However, there are many American food restaurants have developed there such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Domino. Therefore, Vietnamese youngsters tend to eat out rather than to eat at home. They usually eat at the restaurants at night or on the weekend, especially many prefer to celebrate their birthday parties there.

"Half full or half emty"

 “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” said Winston Churchill. I think this quote means the way each person react to the situation in life. It mentions two kinds of attitudes. For the same case, these people look difficulties in optimism while other thinks in pessimism. For example, an optimist person looks a half water of glass as “half full” whereas a pessimist looks it as “half empty.” For the same thing, the way these two kinds of people think is completely different. Therefore, a dismal person cannot find the way to solve any problem, and thinks it’s very very hard to overcome. Whilst a hopeful individual think they can find a good solution to solve the difficulty. In addition, the negative people focus on their difficult situations instead of finding solutions for the problems. Conversely, the optimists do on the contrary way.

However, it’s not the best if people just look everything in positiveness since they are more disappointed when results is not like what they want it is. Thinking in optimism is good but people should afraid of not good potential consequences. Thus we can recommend our relatives and my friends who are over optimistic should doubt whether they can achieve their ambition. On the other hand, we should advise the pessimistic people tend to think they can reach their goal or solve their trouble as long as they try their best.

Birds of a Feather

“Bird of a feather flock together” is the saying which can express the friendship of Dien, my best friend and me. Although we are different in some ways, we have several similarities. She and I met each other the first time when we studied at third grade of primary school, but we became close friends at sixth grade. Since she has been my best friend, we found that we have the same hobbies such as travelling, listening to music, reading books, and watching movies. After we became good friends of each one, we have a new hobby which is hanging out and talking heart to heart with each other. On the weekend, she and I can spend a whole day at coffee shops or parks near my house for chatting about anything else. At the end of each small topic, we usually have the same opinions J. When I have something fun or I’m in bad mood, I usually share my feeling with her. She always listen to how I felt, and I do the same thing when she has problems. Besides that, she and I study the same major, accounting. We often share, exchange documents and study together although we learned at different universities. However, we have some differences in eating. I like to put chili or hot sauce in my dishes whereas she can’t eat spicy food. Because we are similar in many things, we easily understand the feelings of each one. Thus I feel better after talking with her when I have a problem in my life. She is the best friend I have! ♥

If animals could talk, what would they say???

If animals could talk, I would like to ask them how they think and how their lives are. I would talk to my little dog to understand what he wants and how he sees the world around. In addition, I want to know the meaning of their sound, their facial gesture, and their body language. I think some kinds of animals would say that people should not eat them. Furthermore, they might express how they are angry with people because of environmental damage from human’s activities. Then, they could carry negotiation with people to live in peace. Imagine that they could sing and celebrate some parties or events of human; it would be so interesting. :)

A very moving song!!!

Last week, I cried when I heard a song which my roommate sharing with me. The song named “Mother’s diary” was composed by a talented musicians Nguyen Van Chung. It told about the feelings of a mother from the pregnancy to the maturation of her child. The child is all the world to her. She has followed the child’s life, from the first step to learn how to walk to the first love of her child. The lyric of this song which has the deep meaning about mother’s love really touched my heart. The mother loves her child so much and always wishes the best things to the child. When I heard it, I miss my mother so much. I remember my childhood and the years when I lived in Vietnam, my mother always took care of me. My mom gives all her love to my family. She has taught and given to my sister and me the best things. After hearing the song, I wanted to see my mom and say “Mom, I love you so much!!!” I always feel the protection of my parents when living with my lovely family. It is such a moving song which makes me cry even I heard the fifth time.

Weather

The weather in California is pleasant because it’s not too hot, not too cold. It’s usually sunny for whole year. In my hometown, it’s hot all the year round. Therefore, I felt a little cold when I came here, especially the wind here is often cold. It’s usually a little cold in the morning and evening, but it’s hot in the afternoon because of dazzling sunshine. In general, the weather here is mild because the sky is often clear and it rarely rains. To me, I like the weather varying so I can see the change of seasons. Spring of green trees, flowers and warm; summer of beach and rain; autumn of yellow leaves; and winter of white snow. Therefore, when I lived in Vietnam, I like to visit Da Lat to contemplate many kinds of flowers and beautiful sense in spring. I often go to the beach in summer break. However, I don’t have chances to visit Hanoi to see the beauty of fall, and feel freezing wind in Sapa in winter. I love the beauty of all four seasons.

How do I overcome my fear?

I have a fear of riding motorcycle because it’s very dangerous when moving on the streets in Ho Chi Minh City. The roads are usually crowded, and vehicles move fast. People don’t have a good habit in yielding to other vehicles or even pedestrians. Sometimes, they ride their scooters in wrong lanes which are not for the wheelers. When I tried to ride motorbike in the first time, I felt like I would fell immediately. My friend suggested that he would show me how to ride motorbike. I was so nervous whilst start up the motorcycle. Then I tried to turn left, but I couldn’t control it and I nearly hit a plant on pavement. At that scary moment, my friend sitting behind me and helped me to control the motorbike to not be fallen so I still survive ^^. Fortunately, it’s just a small and uncrowded street. After a few times I tried to ride motorbike, I can control it not too difficultly. However, when he said I should ride it on a bigger street which has more vehicles, I was so afraid of a danger to people riding around me consisting people crossing the street. Thus, I couldn’t ride on the larger streets without someone sitting behind me. As a result of that, I couldn’t overcome my fear. I will try it again when I go back Vietnam, and I hope I can ride to go around my city.

Journal 2

I don’t have a driver license, so I usually take buses or ride my bike to go around here. For the first time I came here, my relative picked me up by car, and I’m so amazed because the transportation in the US is really safe and modern. The local streets and high ways are wide and nice because of planting a lot of trees and grass on roadside. Moreover, they’re constructed and divided logically, so the traffic of vehicles is easy. People can drive their cars to go their destination quickly by using free way systems. In addition, it’s not difficult to change the direction. For example, when they want to turn right or turn left, they can change the lane which is just for people who want to make a right turn or left turn. In contrast, the traffic in my country is very tangled, since the construction of streets is not good. The streets are often small while there is usually the high traffic, especially on prime time. Furthermore, the traffic jam there is a very very big problem. If you visit Ho Chi Minh City and travel on rush hours, you’ll easily get stuck in a traffic jam. Besides that, it’s very terrible if there are traffic jams in rainy season because of flooded streets. The most different between the traffic in my hometown and the one in American is the quantity of motorbikes which is the most popular mean of transportation in my country. To me, although the public transportation in my hometown is not good and safe as the one in the US, it’s very easy to go around the city by buses and cabs. When I want to go somewhere in the city, I just wait about 15 minutes at the bus stop or bus station whilst it takes a large amount of time for waiting bus in Orange County. It’s also hard to take a cab on the street if don’t have the phone number of that service. Therefore, I’ll learn how to drive and then take a driving test to get the license. When I pass the test, I’ll buy a car to get around here easily.

Journal 1: Introduction

       My name is Huyen. I’m from Vietnam where my heart belongs to, since it is the place my lovely family lives and my early memories were. There are four people in my family: my parents, my older sister, and me. In my spare time, I usually spend it for my avocation. I have many different hobbies such as travelling, listening to music, and reading books. When I was in my country, I studied accounting. After graduating from my university in Vietnam, I decided to come here to continue my learning. When I get enough TOEFL and GMAT score, I will apply for the MBA program. Thus, I try to improve my English skills which are not only for the program’s requirement but also for the preparation to study MBA fruitfully. I hope I will finish the course and have the degree so that I can get a good job in the future.
       One of my classmates I interviewed yesterday is Thinh, who has the same nationality with me. Her English name is Jeannine, who has been here from last spring. She has two siblings: one older sister, who live with her in Garden Grove City and one younger sister living other state. She got a bachelor’s degree of chemistry at a university in France, so she is a polylingual student. She can speak three languages: Vietnamese, French, and English. Now she studies hard to get high scores of TOEFL iBT and GRE to be accepted to a good Master program. Afterwards, she will choose other majors relating to chemistry such as medicinal chemistry. Therefore, her ambition is to become a good pharmacist who can dispense medicine to treat patients.