Define Success

               Success is achieving what one intended to. Everyone defines success in a different way, so success is different for everyone. Some people may define success as earning a position in the society or even becoming a millionaire. Also, it might be marrying a person they love. For me, I say that people succeeded when they achieved what they wanted to. Success simply should not be earning more than particular amount of money. This is a notion that the economy promotes by encouraging competition among others. I don’t think that money is everything. Money should not be a tool to define success. Although the society categorizes the level of success by people’s salary, it should not be the same for individuals. People should not value money as the society does and get rid of the notion that the society promotes.

               Perhaps, this is because success often has to do with money. Many people set their goals as getting promoted to higher jobs, getting 1^st place in a lottery, or getting a job with good pay. All of these have to do with money, and it is apparent that they can know when they achieve their goal by looking at the amount of money they acquired. These goals were generated by society. Materialism that is rampant in American society caused people to set goals based on money. This is something I cannot influence since materialism is already too deeply rooted in the society. However, I can voice out my opinion that this should not continue. Money should not define success.

               Success can be something small. It can be something like making your parents happy every day or learning how to cook rice by yourself. There people, although little, who appreciate little things in their lives and set goals to maintain their joy from this. More people should learn that succeed can come from little things like this. Accomplishment felt by succeeding does not always have to do with money.

Success does not always have to do with being recognized in the society. Besides money, almost all people set their goals as getting A’s in class or winning a game so they can be recognized in the society. They want to be recognized for fame. This also relates to money. Famous people receive more money, and perhaps this is the reason people want to be recognized.

For me, I will finally be able to say that I succeeded when I achieve three goals in my life. One is to travel all around the world. Other one is to try all the desserts out in the world. My last one is to leave legacy in the society before I die. The legacy I mean is not talking about leaving my name in the society as a billionaire but as a contributor to a society who helped develop the society to the right direction. I am not sure if I will be able to succeed, but I am certain that I will try hard until I achieve these goals.

My definition of success may be the same as others. However, everyone will define them somewhat differently. No one thinks the same in the world. It’s a human nature to be different from one another. Everyone is unique, and that’s what it makes it so hard to succeed. One person may think that he or she succeeded, but others might say that he or she is not even close to succeeding. One thing that I can say is to stick with your own definition of success.

My Bucket List

               My bucket list is unfinished, but I have a lot. Traveling all around the world is on top of my bucket list. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, but I didn’t have enough time and money to travel to many places. I have only been to Korea, Saipan, Guam, and London. My first goal is to go on a 2-week or maybe even up to 1-month trip to Europe and go around the countries there. I planned to go to France and Switzerland while I was in London, but I ran out of money and time. In this Europe trip, France and Switzerland would definitely be on the list. Then I would possibly go to Germany and Italy and revisit England. After my trip to London, I always felt nostalgic. I think that it would be nice to visit London once again to refresh my memories and experience new things that I didn’t get to do last time.

               The second thing on my bucket list is to try as many desserts as I can. I am a dessert lover. When I go to a buffet, I only take one plate of main dish and like four to five plates of desserts. This is how much I love and enjoy eating desserts. So far, cream puff, strawberry shortcakes, and cheesecakes are my top three desserts. This bucket list is pretty broad, so I think that I can divide this into categories. The first category would be to try every ice cream flavor. Ice cream just gives me pure joy. I’ve been to Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin Robins several times, but I haven’t tried eating all of them. First, I will try all their flavors and move onto another ice cream company. My next category is cheesecake. This is the main reason I badly wanted to visit Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecakes are absolutely one of my favorites. If I ever get a chance to go there frequently, I think that I would literally go there every day to try all of their flavors. My last category is cake. Cake is my favorite dessert out of all the delicious desserts. The way that they just melt into my mouth when I eat them gives me pleasure.  I am definitely going to seek for new cakes throughout my lifetime, and I will try as much as I can.

               The third thing on my bucket list is to succeed in life and leave legacy in the society that I was part of. I define success as going to a college, getting a job I want, and living a life in my own way. I have been continuously working on this, and I am at the point of graduating high school and entering college. There is only about a year and a half left, and I am working with best of my abilities to achieve the first part of it. I am not sure of what job I want to have or how I am going to leave legacy in this society, but I think that it will come through as I advance through my goal.

               The fourth thing on my bucket list may seem extravagant. I am a shopaholic, and I think that I am materialistic in a way. Someday, I want to own a closet full of clothes that I wanted. I’m not saying that I want a huge closet full of expensive brand-named clothes like Chanel. I just want clothes that are pretty and that are something that I can afford. But in order to do this, I would have to achieve second part of my third thing on my bucket list. These four are my main ones on the bucket list, but I think that I will add things on as time passes.

Super Power

               If I could have any superpower, I would choose to have the ability to fly. Flying was the ability only birds possessed and perhaps the airplane as the technology advanced. I always begrudged the bird’s intrinsic ability to fly. Whenever I saw them fly freely in the open sky, I myself wanted to join them and fly somewhere else. Instead of pertaining to the ground, flying would give me an opportunity to overlook the world from the top. Also, flying gives me an image of unlimited freedom. Freedom was something that I always sought for. The birds from the sky seemed like they always freedom. They had freedom over where they could go. I did not have freedom over where I could go. I had to almost always follow where my parents chose to went, and I always longed for freedom of choice.

               Also, flying would reduce my expenses for traveling.  Traveling is my favorite hobby. I just love to travel all over the place, and since Saipan is so isolated, far away from other places that I want to visit, I think that this flying ability would definitely reduce the amount of money that I need to spend for airplane ticket and allow me to spend more on things that I really want to spend like shopping, eating, and buying souvenirs. With this ability, I can visit my families or friends more often than now. All of my families are in Korea, so I could only visit them once a year or two years during the summer. Also, I can visit my friends in the states or other countries. I can go to Korea to shop for things that I need and eat foods that are only in Korea. Saipan often does not have things that I need because it’s an island. If I could fly, I think that it will make my life easier.

Flying would not only be helpful for pursuing my hobby but for following my daily routine. Every morning I drive to school, and although Saipan does not really have traffic or rush hour, it does frustrate me to stand in one place for more than five minutes just because there are too many cars in the road. Most of the time, I have to come out of my house at least ten minutes early just to be ready for any traffic that might occur on my way to school. If I don’t I would certainly be late to school, and traffic would not be an excuse for my tardy in school. Also, there are often cars that drive below 30 miles per hour even when they are driving up on the slope. Saipan is small, so most of the roads are one lane only. In this case, I have no choice but to stay behind the car and hope for the car to turn left or right. But most of the time, the car coincide to be going where I am heading to. This frustrates me the most, because even when I walk, I don’t like people getting in my way, especially if they are slow. I am a fast walker and a fast driver, so it’s really frustrating to have someone drive so slowly in the front. Also, it takes twice the amount of time to reach my destination because I can’t go at 40 miles per hour which is the average speed limit on the island. If I could fly instead of drive along with few hundreds of other cars occupying the road, it will definitely relieve my stress of having to deal with slow cars every time I drive. Also, it would be less time-consuming.

               

Cell Phone Usage in SIS

               I definitely think that SIS should allow cell phone uses. Cell phones have assimilated into our life, and some people uncomfortable or even nervous without their cell phones next to them. This only applies to some people, but the assimilation of cell phones proves their usefulness and importance in our lives. Cell phone is a mean of communication. We students should be able to communicate to others in emergency, but SIS school rules do not allow us to use cell phones anywhere in campus at any time during school under any circumstances.

               Let’s say that a volleyball practice was canceled due to some reasons and students were informed on the day of the practice. How can students inform their parents of this when they are not allowed to call their parents through cell phone? Students can call right after school, and it wouldn’t be a problem if the student lived close to SIS. What if student lived in Capital Hill or even farther, Marpi? It takes about 30 minutes to get to SIS. Time is precious, and especially for juniors and seniors, 30 minutes of time worth a lot.

               When I used to go to Saipan Southern High School, teachers allowed cell phone uses. Many students took advantage of this toleration and used it for different purposes like texting and playing games. Some teachers did not even care if their students were using cell phone for other purposes and ignored this fact. Many did not report to the office for consequences, so many students were not penalizing for breaking school rules. Some students became experts in hiding their cell phone usages, and their teachers were oblivious to this fact. However, I think that it should not be a problem if there is a strict rule to limit their uses and someone who can supervise their cell phone uses. If all teachers are informed to reinforce the school regulation that had been set for a reason, I definitely think that students would not dare to use their cell phones for entertainment purposes. I also think that teachers who do not report to the office should be under pressure or be penalized for not following the school rules. Saipan Southern High School is a public school, so teachers are more lenient. But SIS is not. They have their school regulations, and teachers abide by the rule. If teachers see students using their cell phone, they give them a detention and report to the office right away. So if they set regulation that allows but limits cell phone usages, it will be a win-win situation for everyone.

               Some may say that students are irresponsible and are not reliable. We are high school students, and I think that we are mature enough to handle the responsibility. If some still doubts about reliability of students, CCTV’s should be installed in every room to keep track of what the students are doing on their phone. This will not only prevent misuses of cell phones but also cheating. Students will be under pressure of CCTV constantly watching them and would not dare to do anything that will result in punishments.

               In addition to limiting the cell phone uses, the consequences should be made more harsh and severe. Instead of giving maybe a day of detention, it should be lengthened to ten. Then students will realize the importance of following school regulations and will try to avoid breaking them if possible.

Three Things that Will Make my Life Perfect

Almost all people would say that money will make their life perfect, and this is true also for me. When I was young, I always thought that happiness couldn’t be bought with money. Now, I somewhat have a different opinion. Almost everything around of us can be accessed only through money. The society itself has turned materialistic, and money has become more imperative in our life than before. I personally think that happiness can be bought with money. Shopping, traveling, and eating are my three favorite things to do. In order to pursue my hobbies, I need money. I feel joy from shopping. Window shopping does give me pleasure, but actually buying and using the things I bought is what enthralls me. Without money, I cannot enjoy my hobbies. Traveling is the most expensive hobby that I ensue. I can travel to nearby places, but I feel happiness and joy from traveling abroad and contacting the new environment. Eating is another thing. I spend a large portion of my money in eating. Eating is an essential thing in life, but I also eat for pleasure as most of the people do. Without money, I would have not been able to pursue my hobbies, and without my hobbies, my life would be bland, without joy and happiness.

               When I was young, I used to have time to do leisure activities and enjoy my free time. Now, my life is full with academic studies and preparation for the future. Time is running out. There are so many things to do, and I do not have enough time to accomplish everything. I’m not even getting enough sleep. Usually, I used to sleep for 8 to 10 hours, but now, I barely get 6 hours of sleep. Lack of sleep makes me more sensitive and irascible, and I think that more time would definitely solve this problem for me. Without getting enough sleep, I can’t concentrate on my school work. With tons of work load in front of me, I can’t get to sleep. To finish all the works, I often stay up and sleep around midnight. I feel like I’m too much stressed out with school works. Sometimes, I wish that one day was not 24 hours but 30 hours, so I can spend more time relaxing rather than stressing out myself. I know that I’m a junior, and I am aware that high school students and college students are supposed to be bombed with works. But I think that everyone needs a break now and then to refresh their mind. For me, it certainly helps, so I really think that more time would make my life perfect along with money.

               Money and time are the only two things that I need to make my life perfect. But if I had to name the third one, I would say competition. Competition is what actually motivates me to do better. Without competition, I might have never made it this far. I get encouraged from both losing and winning. I try hard to improve when I lose, and I try hard to maintain my position when I win. I think that society is made up of different competitions. It’s just that the competitions take place at different place and has to do with different people. I think that competition is what motivates others too. Many people try to beat others in a game because they have this desire to win. This is the same for me. I have a strong desire to win over others, and this was what kept me going. Without competition, I would have been a couch potato.

Are People From the Past Friendlier than People Now?

People in modern days are definitely different from people from the past. Some people might say that people from the past are as friendly as the people in modern days. I disagree to this opinion. I think that people from the past were friendlier than the people in modern days. As time passed, people have become more corrupt losing the friendliness that existed in them. Or it perhaps might be that their friendliness is locked up deep inside them because corruption took place of their position.

               When people asked others to do them a favor in the past, they would kindly do it for them. Now, when people ask others, only few would actually take time to do this. This may not be the matter of their friendliness but of lack of time, but I think that this really has to do with friendliness. I think that people learned that they do not receive credit for what they have done to others most of them time. Some people would ask them a favor and would not even thank them for their deeds. I think people’s action caused people to become less friendly and more doubtful towards others. Some people would even question if doing the favor is worth their time. Before, people would often sacrifice their time just to do them a favor. However, this is the past. Things have changed.

               When I was in elementary school, I remember asking people favors. They would gladly help me and even offer help for next time. Now, I barely see this happen unless they are my close friends. I questioned myself once why this was happening, and I soon found the answer. People, actually majority of the people, have really asked others for help because they really needed their help. Others saw this opportunity as an advantage and used this to make their life easier. They would ask people to do homework or projects for them. At first, everyone would do it for them, but they soon realize that the person is using them. They stop helping that person, and when even someone else asks them for help, they first feel doubt. Because some people took this advantage and misused it, the friendliness that had existed in human nature disappeared.

               I agree to some extent that people nowadays are friendly as people from the past. If you get close to people, they would certainly be nice to you. People would then argue that people are actually friendly but it is not just shown as much as it was in the past. But people from the past were friendly to all people. Now, people are only friendly to people they are close to or those that have shown kindness to them first. I don’t think this can be a reason to say that people nowadays are friendly as the people from the past. When people are friendly, shouldn’t they be friendly to everyone? Why choose people whom they are going to be friendly to? I think that friendliness should be applied to everyone in order to say that people are friendly.

               There are some people even now who are friendly. But I found faults in this friendliness. It is not their fault, but the others’ fault. Because of other people, even the friendly people become corrupted. They realize that their friendliness only helps others and actually harms themselves by doing them a favor. I think that everyone is victim of the corruption.  Now, it seems almost impossible to restore trust among people to bring up this friendliness back to life, but we must certainly stop this corruption from spreading.