Stay in One Place or Move Around?

               I’m not used to staying in one place for a long time. I’ve stayed in Korea for 10 years and in Saipan for 8 years. After I moved to Saipan, I often went off island during breaks and I kind of got used to moving around places. Actually, I started liking it. At first, I didn’t like it because I had to get used to a new environment. But now, I really like meeting new people and going to new places. It gives new memories to treasure.

               If I had the choice to live in a town or a city, I will definitely choose city. In Korea, I did not have any problems because Korea had both. I enjoyed both environments although I dwelled mostly in cities. I liked aspects of both of them, so I loved living in both the city and the town. After I moved to Saipan, my opinion totally changed. Saipan is an isolated island only few miles wide and long surrounded by water. It is not its tropical weather that I hate or its scorching sunlight that I hate. It is the isolation that makes it undeveloped like a town or not even a town. Hawaii is also an island, but it’s one of the exceptions. There is absolutely nowhere to go in Saipan, and there is nothing to do here. When you drive, all you see is palm trees and jungles. Most buildings are old-fashioned and worn down.  All you see are markets and no shopping malls.

               When I went to Guam I was so happy, because it was totally different from Saipan. They actually had shopping malls where I could actually spend hours shopping. There was a lot more people to interact with, and this also made me happy.

               Even when I apply for college, I’m going to try to apply to places where there are lot of things to do. I’m NOT going to apply to any islands including Hawaii and Japan and apply to big cities in the states like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Big cities attract me the most. Their busy streets and noisy mood appeal to me. I think it’s because I’m too used to the placid mood of Saipan. No one honks in Saipan, and people work slowly. I used to be a fast-tempered person, and living in Saipan frustrated me massively. I think this shaped up my mind of my lifestyle. My only hope is to live in a place totally different from Saipan. The weather can be similar, but I don’t want to go to a place that is hotter than Saipan. It can be an island but not isolated like Saipan. I do not really care about the environment. Actually, I really don’t want to see the beach every single day as I do in Saipan right now.

               I think that staying in one place makes people more comfortable and people don’t have to worry about meeting new people and adjusting to a new lifestyle. As I have said before, I just really love going to new places and meeting new people. After I live Saipan, I’m planning to move around to many more countries and experience how it is like to live in different areas.

10 Maxims

There is one maxim that I always remember. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars.” It is one of the quotes by Les Brown, and I’ve always remembered this quote ever since I was in elementary school. I thought that this was very encouraging and motivating. When you try, you will at least get something out of it. If you shoot for the moon and succeed, you will be happy because you get what you want. If you fail, you will still be happy because you will still be awarded for your hard work. This is my all-time favorite.

Another maxim I live by is to live optimistically. I learned that it does not help at all to be all negative about everything. I think that living positively actually lower down my stress level and relieves worries that may be troublesome.

Similar one is to forget about the past. I think that keep thinking about the past makes me more negative. I think that it is more important to think about what is happening right now and focus on the present stuff rather than thinking about what has already happened and what is going to happen. Past cannot be reversed and present things are going to be the future, so there is no reason to think about the past and the future.

Another quote is to treat others like how others will treat you. I think that this is really true. When I am mean to others, they are also mean to me. When I am nice to others, even the mean people try to be nice to me too.

Similar one would be to care about your friend as much as you love them. I think that just loving them is not enough. When you love someone, I think that you have to show that you love them so they would actually notice that they are being loved.

One maxim that I really like is to live as if today is the last day. Everyone says that destiny is unknown, and that everyone does not know when they are going to die. I think that it would be really sad to die without doing something that you really love or trying your best, so I try to put all my efforts in for everything to reach a point where I can do things that I love without being troubled.

Another quote I live by is you only live once. This is kind of similar to the other one, but this is like the prolonged version of the previous one. Since you only live once, you should try everything you want to try and live to the fullest.

There are much more quotes, but one thing that I firmly believe is that education is the golden lock to freedom. I believe that education will lead to liberation. This is one of the reasons I study hard, and this is proven because women and African Americans were granted liberty through educated people.

Most Beneficial Book

               Mitch Albom is one of my favorite writers. Although not all his books are fictions, which are the books I usually enjoy reading, his stories are very interesting and inspirational. They contain rich themes a

nd morals that I learned a great deal from. Two of my favorites from his books are Tuesdays with Morris and Five People You Meet in Heaven. These are probably, I think, the books that I learned the most from. If I had to pick one that was the most beneficial for me, I would choose Five People You Meet in Heaven.

 Although both of them are great stories, I absolutely love the story line of the Five People You Meet in Heaven. I read Tuesdays with Morris quite a while ago (maybe when I was in 6^th grade or 7^th grade) but I read Five People You Meet in Heaven recently (I think it was last year fall or winter). After reading this book, I also watched the movie. The movie and the book was not exactly the same, but their story line was almost the same and the messages the author tried to convey were very apparent in both. I prefer the book better, but it was the movie that actually increased my love for this book. When I first read it, I thought that the theme was a brilliant idea.

In the beginning, Eddie, the maintenance, runs to save a girl, who is under a malfunctioning ride. The book and the movie do not tell if he saved the girl or not. They continue on to a different setting where Eddie meets multiple of people. Here, he learns a great deal from five people in order. The first person is one of the people he spent his life with in the military. Even though years have passed, Eddie cannot forget the memories of being out in the field surrounded by enemies. Although he is in good terms with this guy, he feels anger and deep hatred against him after he confesses that he was the one who hampered him from saving a girl who was in a fire. The second person he meets is a blue guy. He represents people’s greed and Eddie realizes that he dies because of him. The third person he meets is his wife and the next person is the person who Ruby Pier, the amusement park Eddie worked in, was named after. Lastly, he meets a little girl whom he never met before. Here, he finds out that he was the girl he failed to save from the fire. After meeting these 5 people, he is relocated to Ruby Pier where he spent most of his lifetime. Here, he sees a crowd of people whom he saved by keeping maintenance. Before, he thought that his life is useless, but now he realizes the importance of his life and what he has done.

Although I didn’t live as much Eddie or have done much to benefit others, it made me realize that my life would at least be beneficial to others. It will actually be worth living. Although I feel like I’m useless, there will be people who benefit from me.

What is Happiness

Happiness is an emotion every person has experienced at least once in their lives. It is what makes life enjoyable and worth living. Happiness can be described as the mood opposite to sadness but this would depend on the people. Sadness is defined differently among people as the meaning of happiness is not same for everyone. I define sadness as having no fun in life, meaning that there is no interesting thing going on in my life. Even when it’s studying, there is some fun although its “fun” may not be compared to the “fun” of having parties. Happiness is what I feel when I have something interesting going on in my life even though it may not be the extreme kind of fun.

               There are many things that contribute to my happiness in life, but there are three things that I need to fulfill my happiness. These are eating, shopping, and traveling. Eating is one of the things that make my life much enjoyable. When I am happy, I eat and when I am sad, I eat. The feeling I get from eating delicious food is ineffable. Desserts are what I enjoy the most, and the sweet kinds of desserts are what make me happy. Some of my favorites are cream puffs, cheesecakes, and strawberry shortcakes.

               Another thing that makes my happiness gauge go up is shopping. When I just enter a shopping mall full of pretty clothes, I get elated. I just feel the sudden rush of adrenaline. Once I start shopping, I cannot stop until I try on everything I want. This usually takes like three to five hours, and I mean that I usually take three to five hours in one shop.

               Traveling is the last thing, and this contributes to a prolonged happiness. Actually, I get more happiness from reminiscing about my trip than actually being in that trip. It is the places I go to, things that I do, and people that I go with that make my trip special even though the things I do may be ordinary. Trip gives it a special meaning, and the memories are the ones I cherish. They are my ultimate happiness of life. This is why I want to succeed in my life so I can travel around the world and build memories that will make my happiness last forever or at least until I die.

               If I could keep one feeling to last forever, it would be the feeling of happiness not hope or even love. If I have love that would mean that sadness would come along with it. However, if I have happiness, that would mean that I will get joy from maybe love and other things but sadness will not there. When there is happiness, sadness cannot exist. This is my opinion.

               I personally think that maintaining happiness is the reason of living. Happiness is what gives people pleasure, and many people do anything they can to get happiness. People try to find their love so they can feel happy and people try to get praise and honor from others so they can feel happy.

Looks or Ideas?

               In Korean society, it is not the idea that matters. Success and popularity are often determined by their looks. Koreans are heavily biased. From the beginning, people judge others by their looks. If the person is pretty or handsome, he or she will leave a good impression. If the person is ugly or fat, he or she will leave a bad impression. This impression may not change regardless of their good personality or ideas. This is very apparent in celebrity society in Korea. Even though the actors have the ability and the idea, they may not be able to appear on the television for a long time. When the actors are pretty or handsome, they will be casted for many programs including drama and show programs even if they do not have the ability or the idea.

               However, this is not true in American society. American society promotes success by ideas. This is why Steve Jobs studied even though he does not look like one of those super models who look like sculptures. He had the ideas. He first created iPod and as the CEO of Apple, he prospered the company. If a handsome (or pretty) person wanted to succeed in America but did not have the ideas for it, he or she would never be able to do it. Sooner or later the person would have to give up the idea of succeeding in America and try to go to Korea and maybe that person will have the chance to succeed.

               Although I am a Korean, I have lived in Saipan (American territory) for eight years and am influenced heavily by American point of view. Still, I have some Korean ideas as well, so I am kind of in between. Sometimes, I agree with the Koreans, and sometimes I agree with the Americans. In this case, I am on the American’s side. Judging people by their looks was one thing Koreans all did, and I was used to this for 10 years of my life in Korea. When I came to Saipan, I realized that that wasn’t the norm here. In Korea, appearance is very important. This is why plastic surgery became so rampant in Korea. People judge others not only by their look but also by their clothes and what they use. If they wear expensive clothes that have names, they will be looked upon as the idols. If they wear clothes that are bought from any shops on the street, they will be classified on the lower pyramid. Women are extreme, because they even classify people by what kind of cosmetics they use. For men, they judge others and their ability by what car they own and drive.

               I think that people’s success should not be determined or even influenced by their looks. Their ideas should be the ones being considered not anything else. If they are brilliant and they have the ideas that are worth succeeding, they should be able to succeed. If people’s looks determine their success, no one will try to work hard to become brilliant. Instead, they will start doing plastic surgery like Koreans to look prettier so that they can be judged highly by others.

Three Qualities of True Friends

               True friends are companions for life. They are different from friends whom you just hang around just because they are the only ones around you or the friends whom you pretend to hang around with just for the sake of it. True friends are friends who share their weirdness with each other and understand each other regardless of what happens. They know how to forgive each other even after fighting with each other because they realize their own mistakes. Even after not talking to each other or meeting with each other for days, it’s not awkward the next time they meet each other. It’s because they learned to become familiar with each other, and even though they are away, they still care for each other.

               Trust is one thing that keeps each other intact even when they are far away. Because they trust each other, they are able to tell each other secrets and share their thoughts. They rely on each other for support. Because they trust each other, they don’t lie to each other. They know that they would not tell others about one’s own secrets. Because of this, they are able to build trust and this deepens the relationship between the two.

               Trust builds on the relationship but love is the one that connects them. Love is an emotion common to all people but it is very influential in a way that it impacts the person greatly. It can move the person and persuade them to change their mind or do certain things. When one of them gets in trouble, the other tries hard to help them get out of the hardships they are facing. When one of them gets into a fight with another, either verbally or physically, the other one will always be there for help.  They are the ones who will always take your side (unless they are the ones fighting and they disagree with each other) and go against the others who disagree with their friends. When one of them is happy, the other one will also be happy because their friend is happy. When one is sad, the other one will also be sad because their friend is sad. They share their emotions because they are like one in a sense that they are bonded closely with love. Even though they are apart, they will never forget each other because love remains in their hearth even if they may forget some memories as they grow old.

               True friends are loyal to each other. They do not cheat on each other or deceive each other. They are faithful to one another regardless of time. True friends never depart. Their bodies may be away but their hearts are always together thinking about one another. One might forget about them as they live on with their life, but when they meet each other again, it will be like they departed yesterday or even few hours ago. They don’t tell other friends that they hate their friends because they don’t. Even if they did hate them for a while, the feeling of love will soon overrule hatred. Because they went through happiness and sadness together, they are able to form a strong bond that will keep them loyal to each other forever.