Nostalgic Comforts

I love how old movies, stories, and even new movies that makes us recall of the past seems to comfort (at least me) even at the midst of a world of turmoil and suffering(ooh dramatic). First off, i watched The Little Mermaid over two weekends now and it still continues to ease and take away the stress of school temporarily. Of course the comfort was bittersweet as i am a sentimental person. Sure it has the canon of infectious disney songs such as "under the sea" and "part of your world," but as i am engaged happily at the movie, concurrently it also summons memory of the past that i felt i could never go back to again. One might only guess that 17 years or for me 15 years (i think i first watched it when i was 3 or 4) had passed since it came out, and that made me the more sad. How irony curse my life. Then there's Sherlock Holmes. I finally have read something that is out-of-school context. I first happened upon doyle's famous inspector when i was 11 in my elementary school library (learning [resource] center as the school call it), and i remembered sadly i only remembered the title ("the sign of four") and the minor detail that there was a dog that can sniff out some chemical, but i could not recall what the story was about or who the villain was. Sherlock Holmes had two effects on me. The first one is that i wanted to become a detective myself because it is intriguing. The second one and perhaps also enforced by other things (rick blaine in casablanca, and 8 man after) was i think that trench coats are fashionable. I used to pretend an oversized parka as my trench coat when i was young (pathetic). Then the new movie i saw entitled "Little Manhattan." Although i could pass as a cheeseball for saying this, i love the movie. It reminisces on the good old days of boyhood and first "love." How I remembered mine. But the most important fact that this movie asserted, although it might slight girls and no offense, is: "boys mature faster than girls." So these were the pieces i that carried me through the week. I am hoping to buy another book (Ashenden Or: The British Agent) that also has a place in one of my heart's sentimental offices. It is similar to Sherlock Holmes, but Ashenden is a spy (another occupation i fancied) WWI. I discovered him when i was 11 also introduced to me through my school library. Ah, sentiment--i love it--especially in times of stress.

On Turning Eighteen

Love this poem; i think it matches how i felt when i turned 18; had some minor adjustments though...third line: actually mine is more appropriate making it an iambic pentameter as sonnets are sometimes restricted to...

On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-three [Eighteen]

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three [eight] and twentieth [tenth] year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th.

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master's eye.

--John Milton

Regarding Survivor's Definition of Race

althoughI like their idea of doing this, race is not the completely appropriate term that they used to divide the tribes (i.e. asians, blacks, caucasians, and hispanic). it would have been proper for the three (asians, whites, and blacks), but hispanic is not a race!!!...so what is hispanic?..."it pertains to the culture of latin america and sometimes spain is included" people from latin america could be classified as black (slaves brought by europeans), white (europeans of mostly pure spanish descents), native americans, or a combination of white, black, and/or native american...when will this ignorance and pollution of young minds stop?