I spent half an hour today to make a GPA Calculator. Check it out!

A Beginning

It is the beginning of my junior year in high school, and writing has become one of the most important skills of my life. Not only do we write essays on demand in my literature class, but we do so in history and on the SAT too. The process of writing has already been ingrained in my head: introduction, thesis, topic sentence, example, analysis, restated thesis, conclusion. Everything has gotten harder, from the classes to the tests to the courses itself, and to life in general, as the relationship between father and son begins to transform.

Something New

Months have passed since I first met Penguin. That boy has taught me so much more about myself then I would ever learn alone. This may sound cliche -- and I don't mean it to be -- but I'm sure that meeting Penguin has changed my future for the better.

He's someone I lean on for comfort.

He's someone I care for... I think.

Someone New

--Written August 30, 2013--

It wasn't until this year when I understood what change meant.

My school year began in chaos, having grandma over from China, and having family friends sleeping over. I felt as if the few days before school started this year were the days where I finally understood the family I was born into, as I took a journey down history. Not only did I take a peek into the days of my mother's childhood, but also the days of my grandma as a child. My grandma would tell stories, scary stories such as eating tree bark due to the lack of food;where sometimes, even the tree bark would be all taken. One of my mom's best friends as a child also came to visit, who, let's just say, I called Auntie.

I started my sophomore year of high school this semester, and I felt as if my life had undergone a transformation. Now to understand this transformation, I will first need to introduce some of the major characters in my life before. I moved to the city of Santa Clara back in 2005, when I met a kid named KX in a summer camp, who became my first friend in the city. After two school years in Santa Clara, I then moved to a neighboring city called Cupertino, where I currently reside. When I attended 4th grade at Lincoln Elementary in Cupertino, the only two people that I knew in the whole school were KX, and his friend, ML. From KX, I knew ML, from ML, I knew others. And with that, my list of friends grew exponentially -- or so I had thought. See that's one of the major changes in my life: the realization that there were true friends and friends that were not.

Throughout middle school, I had little contact with ML as well as the others I had met at Lincoln Elementary, because they had all gone to another middle school. By fate or luck alike, my best friend in middle school became DM, someone who today, I can still lean against. I met EZ, who had not gone to Lincoln Elementary, in a summer camp in 4th grade. During that same summer camp was where I strengthened my connection with DM. DM and EZ did not know each other.

Sometime during the first few weeks of Freshmen year, I met Jim. I don't remember what had quite happened, but we had some special connection. By the first sight of his smile and before I had spoken a word, I felt like Jim would play a major role in my high school career. This may seem impossible, but my instincts were right. Jim became one of my closest classmates who I would talk with on a daily basis.

But equally significant or maybe more so was getting to know someone called Penguin. I had known him by but his full name for the entirety of freshmen year. This semester was when I really got to understand his character. I don't even know why it took so long for me to do so. You see, JP and another freshmen friend of mine, KK, were great friends with Penguin, yet I had rarely talked with Penguin last year. I believe maybe taking this long was because I felt lame after our first conversation. I remember it being something like: Me: "Hey [Penguin], what are those people doing over there?" Penguin: "I don't know. Go look for yourself."

What makes Penguin such a special kid is that after getting to know him, he became the first person that I would emotionally connect with. I felt comfortable telling him my opinions on things, or how badly I really scored on a test. I didn't hesitate telling him what I was jealous of nor tell him about the lugubrious day I was having. Penguin was the first person that I would spill out my feeling to, without having to think of what consequences may ensue.

Please Don't Leave Me! - A Forgotten Memoir

When I was around four years old, they left me.

Papa was in his last years of university studies and wanted to obtain his master’s degree of engineering in a country beyond the oceans: America. With his departure, Mama would later be gone too, leaving me in Shanghai under the care of my grandparents. Of course, there was no way that is going to happen.

At that time, I had never been outside of China before. But I had heard America was fighting some war. I imagined my parents running through a battlefield in that other country, jumping from explosions and ducking from bullets overhead. War, I thought, is very fatal. I may never see them again.

I never shared my fears with anyone, too scared to uncover any more of the bitter truth. I did not understand their choice. All Papa told me was that he wants to go to school in America.

He left first, and did so inconspicuously. On a night where a white blanket covered the roads, Papa stepped out the silver-trimmed doorway to never be seen again. It was not until a few days later did I realize he moved to America.

Only Mama hadn’t left me yet. I had to know every detail about her departure and hug her until she missed her flight.

“Grandma,” I asked, “when is Mama leaving for America?”

“Tomorrow,” she answered.

“I want to go to the airport with her,” I said.

“Sure,” she replied.

As planned, I went with Mama to the airport. We stood on the flight ground, by the stairs that lead up to the passenger seats for a final farewell. But there were no goodbyes, no laughs, no smiles. Just silence. As if I stood face to face with my archenemy. Salty droplets rolled down my cheeks, and I ran forward to cling my body around her legs like a monkey to banana.

“Mama,” I cried, “bu yao zou.” Don’t leave.

“Get. Off.” Her icy voice was impenetrable. I did not know this tone. I never heard it before. Mama’s words were never so firm. I looked up and saw no expression on her face. I couldn’t even tell if she was happy, sad , or annoyed. Mama brushed the back of my hair with temperate strokes , but gazed only forward, like a statue.

Still left motionless and in anguish, I had a sudden urge to use the bathroom. Not the best time, I thought, but I would be left drenched with embarrassment if I were to pee in my pants. When I rushed back for her, only a saltwater puddle was left where she stood. That spot where Mama had been standing just five minutes ago, was no longer a spot I wanted to remember. It’s now just a puddle of isolated cries, as if those cries remained unheard of; as if those cries were too small to be understood.

She had vanished. A bond between mother and son became long lost. Those tears were not there because the sun fell down nor because the stars had left the sky.

*****

Those tears were real.

*****

My mother and I were reunited two years later. At age six, I flew to America to live the rest of my late childhood with my parents. They had successfully ran through the war field of bullets, mines, and blood. Furthermore, they had established, in Los Angeles, a new home for a family — my family.

Royce Yang- Final Edit On December 23, 2012

A letter postmarked from my grandmother arrived a few weeks into December: "Christmas marks the end of a time period, often a period of 365 days. This holiday season, I thought back about who I am and how I came to live life as is. You, [my grandson], were my cherry on a sundae. But that cherry soon rolled off when you left to live in another country. I, as well as your grandfather, are getting old and tired. My sundae will soon melt back into milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. I will forever be grateful, however, because the memory of that cherry is something that will never be lost. You are still young and have time to grow sugarcane, to milk the cows, and to make that sundae. My suggestion to you is to live happily, by holding tight, what you most value; hold it for eternity."

What's Writing Worth? (Why I Write)

With a dilapidating fascination for essays, you don’t believe this is worth reading, do you? But what what you don’t understand is “What’s writing worth?”

Wait! Don’t lose your attention span yet. I didn’t enjoy writing this essay as much as you don’t want to read this. That’s why all I’m going to do is tell my side of the story, as a writer. Putting words on paper, when I first began to write, it was not easy, not entertaining, and not exciting. Looking at an essay, I see through students and notice most works are filled with lists of words, lists of ideas, and lists of opinions. Little did I know, what I saw was only the structure of sentences, not the meaning of them. My 8th grade teacher at Kennedy Middle School, Ms. Schneck, entirely altered my perspective towards the construction of literature.

What really sparks up someone’s writing is creativity, like this example from This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. “‘How’s life treating you?’ ‘Ruff!’ barked the dog. ‘Ah, rough! I see what you mean.’” It was these examples my teacher had used to convince her students to pursue writing as a hobby. Why hadn’t I thought of writing with such clever wordplay? These examples immediately grabbed my attention and left me mired in interest and inspiration to continue writing. From Ms. Schneck’s hodgepodge of lessons, I saw writing in a new way.

Whew, learning new words can also be tiring! I only learned a word a day in my 8th grade class, but that really added up. By the end of the year, I effortlessly learned more than one hundred fifty words! Now that is what I call magic. I always thought differently in the past. Great writers have no life. Great writers studied vocabulary. Great writers sharpened their pencils everyday. Great writers followed a routine. Great writers had their whole life planned out for them. Learning vocabulary in Ms. Schneck’s class contradicted and changed my opinions about who a writer is. Hard to believe though.

Without many rules, writing does not have to be honest. Writing does not have to be true either. Michael Jackson wrote the song “ABC” and the lyrics are “A, B, C, it’s easy as 1, 2, 3. It’s simple as do, re, mi...”. Although in some cases this may be factual, the meaning of the song did not consider people like me. A, B, C is not as easy as 1, 2, 3, nor is it easy as do, re, mi! I moved from China to America at age five. I did not know any English back then. I struggled through kindergarten and cried everyday. As a talented musician and mathematician, I well knew do, re, mi and 1, 2, 3. But from the perspective of a child, new languages seemed impossible for me to learn. Charles Bradlee introduced me to my first known piece of American writing -- his alphabet song written to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Again, I was a musician. Writing a song for learning English was a brilliant idea! This composition proved to me how writing, whether book or music, can influence a future.

Why do I write? It’s what I get from writing that I enjoy so much. Writing is a way of relaxation, maybe after a stressful situation. Writing is seen to many as a hobby because it challenges creativity. But most importantly, I learned, through my experiences, writing is essential, playing a significant role over the course of history as well as what will come to be.

W’s are the symbols for writing. The word itself starts with a W. If you have not yet noticed, all my paragraphs begin with this letter because W’s represent the basics of writing. Over the years, I was taught that an experienced writer details who, what, where, when, and why. The purpose of writing is to share an author’s insight with a reader. Writing, being beneficial to everyone, not only generates new ideas in a writer, but also gives a chance for readers to romanticize in their own imagination.

The Outsiders vs. Lord of the Flies

The thirst for power -- its what human individuality declares. Some will do anything to step on the throne, claim the territory, or prove their worth. Throughout the books, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the two rival groups battle for control, expressing the savageness of humans of the wild. As part of nature, the two groups end up fighting, though useless to solve their problems.

The Outsiders is a novel based on two gangs: the Socs and the Greasers who live in an unsecured town. Accidents and conflicts occur, leading to trouble. Ponyboy, Dally, Darry, and Johnny are important characters in the story. Lord of the Flies is a book explaining the situation of schoolkids who end up stranded upon a tropical island, eventually seeing differences that split the friends apart.

“What I mean is... maybe it’s only us” (Golding, 126). When there are worries, people find a way to withstand through fantasizing and adding stronger emotions. The group of kids stranded on the island start to miss home and begin to imagine a beast, enabling scare to overcome the hopeless. Simon, remaining calm and overviewing the situation, realizes the “beast” in the little ones’ dream is nothing but a symbol of helplessness. Away from the dreams, Ponyboy, the main character in The Outsiders, smokes a cigarette when he is disconsolated. “I wished they’d let me have a cigarette; I was more than a little shaky myself” (Hinton, 167). No different to numerous others around the world, Ponyboy uses pleasure to sway sorrow and nerve.

Everyone wants to be a part of society, but unresolved conflicts will always remain. Just as plants compete for sunlight, the gangs compete for power. “I’ll fight anyone anytime, but I don’t like to” (Hinton, 133), Darry says, showing his distressed perspective. Seemingly, Darry and Ralph, the main character in Lord of the Flies, both understand not to awaken the cold inner instincts in humans because it will only result in “[weeping] for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true wise friend called Piggy” (Golding, 290). and “[It’s] useless... fighting’s no good....” (Hinton, 148). The excerpts from The Outsiders and Lord of the Flies are intertwined being the undesirable impact of mortal tendencies.

“Soul” describes the essential nature in animals. The spirit of the dead, the ones who suffered, is often the rope pulling on fists and whipping away sanity. “Dally raised the gun and I thought: You blasted fool” (Hinton, 154). Since Dally’s closest friend, Johnny, left the world,  Dally lost his mind and caused his own fall. However, when Ralph, from Lord of the Flies, lost his best friend, he was still able to control his emotions and “obey an instinct that he did not know” (Golding, 261). Ralph swallowed his worries to follow animals instincts, supporting his survival, contradictory to Dally’s actions.

Ideally, The Outsiders and Lord of the Flies are in agreement to the theme of humans having unrevealed tendencies. When involved in the crucial moments in life, the true nature of animals is exposed. Although shown in a variety of situations, the two novels leave readers with a sense of mindless but natural actions throughout.

Sources:

Golding, William. "Lord of the Flies [PDF]." Book- eRead. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <gv.pl/pdf/lord_of_the_flies.pdf>.

Thanksgiving Trip

Death Valley Photo Taken By Royce Yang  

     From November 23 to November 27, I went on a road trip to Las Vegas with my parents, Darren, and Michelle (Darren's mom). I felt that this Thanksgiving break was one of the best vacations I had. The trip to Las Vegas consisted of dining, shopping, and viewing landscape around western United States. 

     My first impression of arriving at my hotel, Mandalay Bay, was, "Wow." Although I've been to many hotels in my life, I feel Mandalay Bay is one of the most comforting, luxurious, and inclusive hotels I have seen. The price for Mandalay Bay was about $80 per night, but that's not much for what it has to offer. The room I received had a fine view of Luxor, which impressed me by its everlasting sky light. The pillows on the bed were as squishy as marshmallows and ALL of the hallways were spotlessly clean. To me, the bathroom was the best. It even had a TV! During my first night, I took a long, relaxing bath in the warm bathtub. 

     I like food. Who doesn't? Every meal at Las Vegas was delicious. I went to Bayside Buffet, Makino, Cathay House, and Red Road Grill. My favorite restaurant was Makino. Makino is a Japanese buffet with sushi, hot foods, Udon, and delightful deserts. The sushi were very fresh and clean. The warm foods were cooked to tradition with perfection. And the deserts were simply -- "addictive." I would give this restaurant a 5 star rating because of its freshness, popularity, location, value for money, and high cooking skills. I recommend this restaurant for anyone, hungry or not.

     Las Vegas was created for people to get and then spend money. I went shopping inside the resorts: Flamingo, Cesar's Palace, and Bassi. My most exciting experience was in Cesar's Palace. If you ever go shopping inside Cesar's Palace, you will find yourself in a world of dreams, where clouds float forever in the stunningly gorgeous blue sky. Buying stuff was actually really boring because I hate buying clothes with my take-forever-to-pick-out-an-outfit-mom. The fun was all by the crowds in the walkways and vigor of excitement in the sounds. My mom was the one who bought a whole bag of items, yet I had just as good of a time at shops in Las Vegas.

     Three days into the trip, my dad drove us to Death Valley National Park and Zion National Park. I was extremely bored at Death Valley because the only things there, are sand, salt and rocks. Zion National Park, on the other hand, was a significant part of my trip. The lush plants growing in elevations of 900 feet express themselves to the tourists at Zion National Park. The challenging trails lead all devoted hikers to an unbelievable view point. Michelle, Darren, my parents, and I were short on time, so we weren't able to hike 10 hour trails to the peaks of Zion. Not much hiking doesn't mean spoiling the views. We saw the cliffs hundreds of feet above us as we were surrounded by plantation. The photos we captured were so magnificent, they look Photoshoped. Glorious sights really sparked up the entire trip. Without a doubt, everyone needs to go to Zion and enjoy the wonders of nature.

     I had a fun time at Las Vegas and hope to have another trip like this sometime in the near future.

     This Thanksgiving, I am thankful to have a family and friends to be with.

Spanish Recipe: Arroz Con Garbonzos

During the 8th grade, I decided to take the Spanish course. While looking for a recipe to cook for the class, I found the Spanish recipe: Arroz Con Garbonzos. Arroz means rice, con means with, and garbonzos are a type of beans. Here is a video of me making the recipe.

WEB

In the later months of my seventh grade, I applied for an organization called WEB (Where Everybody Belongs). WEB was designed to help the 6th graders feel welcomed and comfortable in middle school. At Kennedy Middle School, there are 3 steps in entering WEB: filling in an application with essay attached, be involved at the "play day" where everyone comes together for activities, and meet with the teachers for an interview.

My filled out the application truthfully and thoughtfully by myself and wrote the essay independently. One part that was hard for me to write was 5 words to describe myself. I didn't know what to write because I didn't want to exaggerate or something. I used dictionary.com to find synonyms of words that I wanted to use to describe myself. Then I asked my friends if they thought of me that way. Most people agreed and so that's how I chose the words to describe myself. The next test, playday, was rather he people that were grading my performance were both people that I knew so getting in was easy I guess. In addition to this, I am familiar with one of the teachers involved in this giving me ad advantage because those people know me better. With the group activities at the playday, I was quite active, giving ideas and showing them to the group. I noticed one person in our group, named Vicky. She was very bossy, taking over control yelling all over the place. As a result, she wasn't able to get into WEB. During the break before my interview, I was quite nervous because I didn't know what the teachers were going to ask me or how I should answer them. Once I got inside the room, Mrs. Kampp gave me a warm smile, making me feel welcomed. The interview went great and I successfully answered all the questions. A few weeks later, I found out I made it into WEB.

Nearing the end of summer, it was time for the annual WEB training where the people who are in WEB all come together and train to prepare for the orientation. During the orientation every year, all the new kids who are first going to middle school get to Kennedy and have some fun while learning more about each other.

The training started on the Monday of last week, where we got donuts and pizza everyday. On Monday of the training, everyone came together to play lots of games and activities, just to have fun. The second day is where the real training started. To be honest, we didn't do much training before the orientation. Most of the practice was done at home. At school, we just looked at demos of the proper way to lead an activity. After many times watching how to lead an activity, the WEB students all mastered how to lead. The training was actually only 3 days, from Monday to Thursday. Friday came quickly for me and the orientation day was already here.

The orientation began with all the 6th graders gathering to answer questions about themselves. Followed by songs, 13 six graders came to me to play games and interact. I knew what I had to do from top to bottom, so I was able to well lead my part. I was happy with myself at the end of the orientation, feeling accomplished.

This WEB group was fun and a new experience for me. I was glad I joined it. Everyone in the group got WEB t-shirts, which were cool. Anyone who is still thinking about joining WEB in their middle school, I would highly recommend to do so.

Summary of: "Cheater by Michael Laser"

   In the book, Cheater, by Michael Laser, the author tells about cheating and the consequences of doing so. The child born to learn, Karl, thrives well in school, while lazy people cheat their way through. It's already high school, so every grade matters for getting into a good college. The group of cheaters, called The Confederacy, includes Blaine, Cara, and many other people. However, the boss, Upchurch, is only know during the conclusion of the story. Blaine, tempted by his evil boss, hires Karl into the group of cheaters to help them. Karl is a good kid and he would never join a group of cheaters unless he had a reason. Cara, one of Blaine's friends told Karl that she likes him, creating love between the two. Karl's best friend, Lisette tries to convince Karl not to join; but after learning so much about this group, he has no choice but to join. With Karl's brilliance, he would be able to give all the correct answers to teammates.

    The Confederacy takes a test run by cheating on the easy chemistry quiz. Since this was high school, laptops were available to students at any time, even when taking tests. Using this resource, Karl sends emails to the Confederacy and gives everyone the answers through the computer. Making his first big mistake, Karl forgets to turn the sound off on his computer, alerting his teacher that he is on his email. The teacher demands to see Karl's computer screen, but Karl is saved my Upchurch, who had planned this all along. Upchurch is an A+ student and sits strait as a pole. At this time, Karl has no idea that Upchurch is part of the Confederacy, and is confused with why Upchurch saved him.

   This school has a missing principal, so the assistant principal, Klimchock takes control. A few weeks after cheating through tests, Karl gets devastated when Klimchock gives a speech about cheating. "How does he know about this?" Karl thinks to himself as the lecture from Klimchock goes on for hours. New policies formed and security cameras were installed everywhere in classrooms to prevent cheating. Even the computers were taken away.

   Without any other ways, the Confederacy gifts to Karl a cheating tool: a pen than captures answers and plays back on other voice systems. During the first test using the pen, Karl was successful after waving the camera in the pen around on his paper. However, Cara got caught by Klimchock and was expelled from the high school forever. Now, readers understand that the evil "villain" of the story is Klimchock. Cara was brave and didn't give away the names of people that helped her cheat. She moves away from the city and all the contact information that Karl knows is broken.

   With Cara away, Karl wants to leave the Confederacy as well. But Blaine won't let him leave, explaining how he will fail his tests after Karl leaves. All the members of the Confederacy has perfect grades and not cheating would dramatically drop them. Once again, Karl is forced to cheat for the others. Unfortunately the second time he uses the pen, he is caught by the camera and sent to the assistant Principal's office for talking. Klimchock offers to not punish Karl if he gives away the names of cheaters. Karl refuses, but gets another chance of learning in school when Klimchock offers: "Cheat again on the SAT so I can discover who is using the signal of that pen to cheat. Do this for me and I will lie to colleges and say that you are active as well as smart. You know, colleges want sporty people and hate cheaters!" Karl agreed reluctantly.
   Karl gets sick after school that day and ends up in the hospital. After cheating through the school year, Lisette still comes to comfort him for getting caught cheating. Even though Lisette broke her friendship with Karl months ago, she still cares about him. Cara also came to visit after hearing the problem. However, Cara doesn't really care about Karl and simply left Karl saying he has no options but to betray his friends.

   Samantha, a news reporter also comes to visit Karl because she wants to catch the cheaters. Samantha doesn't know Karl is one of the cheaters and wants Karl to help her catch cheaters. With this done, Samantha could possibly be accepted into a major news channel as a reporter, for a job. Mr. Upchurch arrives at the hospital the same time as Klimchock and so Samantha helps to organize conversations 1 on 1. Karl sets up a microphone to record the conversations as evidence later on when he rebels against both groups. Klimchock repeats to Karl about lying to the colleges and Mr. Upchurch repeats how he wants Karl to cheat so Upchurch can get into Harvard.

  On Monday of that week, the SAT started and with his iPod, Karl broadcasts  the whole story on a radio channel. His friends all hear it as well as the adults. With sufficient evidence, Klimchock immediately runs into his car and drives away never to be seen again. The Confederacy thanked Karl for not exposing them. The real principal also thanks Karl for kicking away Klimchock because Klimchock was an evil man who banned the real principal from the school. Lisette gets back in relation with Karl and the have a good time together. The story ends with the two sitting at the park amazed by some of Karl's own inventions that he had worked on over the school year.