Miscellaneous

Proust Questionnaire

1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being surrounded by my extended family, whom I don’t get to see very often

__2.__What is your greatest fear?
Failing to do something that my heart begged me to do

__3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My sensitivity

__4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Arrogance

__5.__Which living person do you most admire?
Billie Eilish

__6.__What is your greatest extravagance?
Anything that brings joy to me or people around me

__7.__What is your current state of mind?
Hopeful

__8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Respecting authoritative figures always

__9.__On what occasion do you lie?
To spare someone’s feelings

__10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My height

__11.__Which living person do you most despise?
Someone in my grade…

__12.__What is the quality you most like in a man?
Humor, honesty, intelligence

__13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman?
As a friend, trustworthiness

__14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I mean...

__15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Stephen Curry/singing/performing

__16.__When and where were you happiest?
Start of November of 2018, during our last week of shows for Oliver

__17.__Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to play any musical instrument

__18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My level of anxiety when it comes to anything

__19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Doing so many things even though it scared the hell out of me

__20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Bird or cactus

__21.__Where would you most like to live?
In New York City or Italy without having to work and I could just go around with the love of my life

__22.__What is your most treasured possession?
My guitar

__23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being too afraid to do things that set your heart on fire

__24.__What is your favorite occupation?
Singing

__25.__What is your most marked characteristic?
My sense of humor

__26.__What do you most value in your friends?
Their ability to make me laugh about the stupidest things

__27.__Who are your favorite writers?
Fredrik Backman, John Green (poets: Rupi Kaur, r.h sin)

__28.__Who is your hero of fiction?
Spiderman

__29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Alexander Hamilton

__30.__Who are your heroes in real life?
My family, because when I’m lost, they always know how to save me

__31.__What are your favorite names?
Mackenzie, Johnathan

__32.__What is it that you most dislike?
Ignorance

__33.__What is your greatest regret?
Not moving schools earlier

__34.__How would you like to die?
Doing what I loved or saving someone else

__35.__What is your motto?
Don’t be afraid of failure or rejection because it’ll stop you from doing so many things that could make you happy

First Blog Post

The questions I struggled with the most were…

Number 31 because I had to think about what kind of names I liked and Number 33 because there are a lot of things I regret.

The answers I will probably change in 5 years are…(because)...

The answers to #7,11, and 16. My state of mind will definitely be different as I will be going through different things that I am now. And for 11, again my circumstances will change and I won't dislike the people I did when I was 16. As for 16, I will have taken part in different things that made me happy, and that will be the new standard.

The answers that surprised me the most were….

My favorite authors because I didn't really know I had favorite poets until I realized that I read their work when I'm upset.

The questions I had an instinctual reaction to and could easily answer were...

My motto, when and where my happiest moment in my life was, and my idea of happiness. These were things I had known in my heart before even being aware of it.

Then...Expand on one...for example, if your answer to number 29 was “Marie Antoinette”, explain why in a short paragraph.

I said my motto is "Don’t be afraid of failure or rejection because it’ll stop you from doing so many things that could make you happy" because it really is such a true statement. If I let fear tell me not to move schools this year even though I was unhappy, then I would still be unhappy right now. I would never have discovered how much I love musical theatre, and made such wonderful friendships with different people. There are other instances that I could bring up, but this is the one that comes to my mind at first. The bottom line is, to anyone reading this, if something terrifies you but excites you at the same time, then even more so you should do it. I don't think anyone is ever truly ready for anything. Sometimes you just have to take the leap, rip the band-aid off, and full-send. If we wait until we are truly ready to do something, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives... Is that how you want to live your numbered days? And if for some reason it doesn't work out, at least you have a story to tell when you're older, but for now, just trust that something even better will come along.

Journal Entry #1

Loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves" (pg 30, Sensei)

Write about your thoughts on this quote...in what ways, for example, does social media in our time perhaps isolate people as much as it connects people? Does it augment our egotism? Are we "together" but "alone"?

Social media ironically isolates peoples because although its name implies people being more social and connected, I always feel unattached from the people in my feed. It makes me compare myself to them and tends to bring more anxiety than joy. It’s almost like a competition to see who had the best life, but only posting one side of the story. It’s quite misleading. That's why I took a well needed break from social media last year, and if I'm being completely honest, it helped me be more productive.

Untranslatable Words

Iktsuarpok
(Inuit) "You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet? This is the word for it."

This term intrigues me because I have experienced this on numerous occasions, and never acknowledged the feeling. When I used to have friends over regularly, probably a good 4 years ago, I would get texts from my friend and would anxiously keep looking out the front door screen. I would be peeking my head out in excitement and anticipation for their arrival, and finally be relieved when I saw them getting out of the car and walking towards the gate. Next time I have a friend over, I’ll probably get the feeling again, and tell my parents!

Joiking

First video:

Why is she repeating the same phrase throughout the whole piece? There is a sort of somberness in her voice. Oh wait never mind she just started singing a new phrase. Each succession is different now. Oh now shes back to the first phrase repetition. Very passionate, almost as if shes in pain singing these words. Voice is cracking with emotion, similar to when you're so mad and you're yelling, but you're also overcome with emotion and pain that your voice cracks. She ends with a sort of whisper chant, signifying that her emotions have settled and is now on the journey to acceptance, the falling action of the story.

Second video:

This one is very different compared to the other two videos. This one is more empowering and she does not seem in pain or emotional, but more in a mindset that she is ready to take on whatever challenges befall her. There's a sense of unwavering conviction in her words, though I have no clue what she's saying. Very confident, she's owning the stage.

The listener doesn't necessarily have to understand the language of a song that's being sung, because there are other clues to cue the listener on what the singer is singing about. There is tone of voice, facial expressions, body movements, stage presence,etc. You can visibly tell when someone is upset, or angry, jealous, shy, etc, just by looking at cues. We are trained to pick up on facial expressions. Art can convey the same type of emotional reaction from people, because the art speaks for itself. Although I personally don't tend to pick up on such things from art, and am more of a musical brain, I can understand the true value for these expression mediums.

Melancholy

A brief history of melancholy: Personal:

Koev halev (Hebrew)

"This refers to a certain kind of empathy. If you can't watch people suffering or miserable, particularly if you love them, because you feel it so strongly yourself — to the point of causing you serious physical pain — then this is the term for you."

I resonated with this one, mostly because the terms on the website, I had never felt that kind of intense sadness before and it felt wrong to speak about that if I hadn't experienced it. But what I have experienced is having a little too much empathy for one of my ex close friends. I used to speak on the phone with this person almost every night this one year, and sometimes it would be lighthearted topics, but it would usually circle back to intense talks about their family or any other issues they were dealing with at the time. This person had so much chaos going on their mind, and although I enjoyed listening quietly, there was always a lingering pain in my heart after our calls. I felt like I had to help, but I knew there was no way I ever could, as this person couldn't even help themselves. That friendship was intense and complicated to say the least, and when I was mistreated in the friendship, I would always let my koev halev for this person, to justify me staying in the toxic situation. After some time, I knew this person would never help themselves, and it pained me knowing I couldn't either. I don't speak with this person anymore, but I don't think I'll ever lose koev halev for them.

FAVORITE QUOTE

“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

Ode on Melancholy by John Keats

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;

This is my favorite line because the depressing truth is that everything on Earth is gonna die, and it doesn't matter how beautiful it is. It's the circle of life *cue the lion king music* ....

Spotify Melancholy Playlist

I forgot my spotify password, but if I were to contribute, I would add 'Yesterday' by the Beatles, 'Untitled' and 'Waiting Room" by Rex Orange County. There are tons more but these just came to me.

Journal: Peer Prompt

Indoor or outdoor?

Outdoor because I like being around nature. It’s calming when you’re away from all the air conditioning and artificial light. It’s quite refreshing.

Swimming or running?

I thoroughly dislike both, but if I had to pick, it would probably be running because that’s how much I despise swimming.

Water or juice?

As much as I used to love juice as a little kid, I would have to go with water because after too much drinking, you will start to feel sick and be in need of water. Water is life, and although it can get boring sometimes, it’s essential to our survival and wellbeing.

Oreo Challenge

I represented a quote from The Great Gatsby, pertaining to the Green Light. He's sitting at the dock at the top of the picture, and the ball of icing at the bottom is the green light radiating. (crumbs)

Below is Bella's oreo illustration. The oreo creme person is Marjane/the citizens of Iran. And the oreo crumbs around her head, represent the veil (control). The rest of the oreo crumbs represent the control and destruction around the citizens.

Journal: Imagiphor... Spring Break Edition

This sums up my spring break because I started having fun during the last week, when my auntie and my cousins visited from Idaho. We crammed a lot of activities in 6 days, but this was the most fun to me.

This represents hope and endless possibilities because a plane has the potential to fly anywhere in the world, but the photo shows an almost never ending sky, indicating endless opportunities.

This represents sensei's reserved disposition. The sand and shells inside the bottle can be compared to his emotions and secrets regarding the difficult situation that involved the suicide of his close friend. The atmosphere around the bottle could represent his wife, who was always kept in the dark regarding his true sentiment.

Olfactory Diary

Friday, April 26th:

When we walked by cookie corner after school at Ala Moana; it smelled really sweet and everything around me smelled like melted chocolate and cookie dough. It brings back wonderful memories because who doesn’t have fond memories of baked goods.

When I got home, I opened up my spam musubi from foodland and smelled fresh rice, nori, and the salty, smell of spam. It brings back good memories from elementary school and basically my entire childhood.

That evening, I fed the dogs and inhaled the smell of dog kibbles. It smells like old, dry vegetables and rice. It doesn’t really remind me of anything except the chore of feeding the dogs.

We also mix in a dog food can with the kibbles, and this is definitely more potent. It has a strong wet smell of fish, and stays in your nostrils for a while. This also reminds me of simply feeding the dogs.

Saturday April 27th:

In the morning, I smelled the refreshing and pure scent of rain hitting the earth. It relaxes me and reminds me of lazy rain days when I would snuggle up in front of the tv and watch movies.

Later that morning, I did laundry and when I took my clothes out of the dryer, the clothes almost had no scent with the exception of the fresh cloth smell of the fabric softener. It reminds me of having to fold my laundry, but also comforts me knowing I have clean clothes for the next day.

Since it was prom day, my mom was helping me with my hair and use lots of hairspray to keep the braids and stray hair in place. This smelled like artificial fruit. This reminds me of my younger days when my mom would use hairspray, but I’ve never been fond of hair products or anything that isn’t natural for your hair.

When I was done with getting ready, I sprayed some perfume which smells like flowers but also has a bite of citrus. It reminds me of my birthday month (November) and all the fun birthday activities I was doing because that was when I was gifted this perfume.

That night, I went to my friends house and they were baking cookies. This smelled once again like melted chocolate and cookie dough. It filled up the entire room and made it almost impossible to resist. Reminds me of childhood when we would bake cookies often.

Sunday April 27th:

That morning I said hi to one of my dogs Seymour, and he has a tumor on the skin of his neck which smells fishy, damp, unsanitary and grimy. This doesn’t give me good memories because it reminds me of his old age.

Individual Oral

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10n6hD4bZud3RB1Xxsj8kBfVE2zFGVPDQiI0Rh-Guwug/edit#slide=id.p

My 3rd visual was not included in the presentation (I showed it to the class):

Interactive Oral One Pager

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CoOMs9TXKxhGbBjkAim6xv7QCQR45P0eAGt2y6Pp7Io/edit

Perfume Interactive Oral- Magical Realism: Pictionary!

Our game:

One drawer/rest guessers
Drawer starts drawing a scene from the book that they think is magic realism
The guessers try to guess the scene. Whoever guesses it right gets one point. If the guessers give up or if the drawer finishes drawing the scene, then the guessers get no points.
Each guesser has three chances to guess, if they guess all wrong, they get a negative point. (If the drawer draws something that is not magical realism, then we just let them know and move on)
First one to get three points wins