End of an Era

Well, it began with "The Boy Who Lived.."  It has been a wonderful series..and I am thankful that I have been apart of it.  I remember watching the first Harry Potter, as well as reading all the books. 

I used to boast that I could read fast, and one of the examples I would always use was: "I read Harry Potter, The Order of Phoenix in 2 hours."  While this was usually not true, I still remember reading the books over and over and over.  20 times, 50 times, even 100s of times.  Whenever the new book came out, I would read it non-stop to get the story.  Right after I finished, I would re-read it again to soak up any details that I may have flew over.  Harry Potter books are one of those books that will always show you something different every time you read it. I think my favorite Harry Potter book of all time would be the 5th.  It was quite long (which shows that reading it in 2 hours is almost impossible), and yet it was very gripping. The death of one of my favorite characters, Sirius Black, was quite sad, but I did understand why. In all, as many people say, "the books are always better than the movie", and in this case, it is quite true.

As I have said to many people, I have been very disappointed with many of the movies.  I personally believe that movie adaptations are usually bad, and in some cases the Harry Potter books.  I think that movies 1 and 2 were the best, because the books were short and they could keep every thing in.  3, 4, 5, and 6 were mostly bad as they created many plot holes and sort of kept things abridged.  I was quite glad that they split number 7 into two parts, as it allowed the producers to add more things in.  In the end the Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 were quite impressive and I actually enjoyed the movies. 

In all, it has been a wonderful 10 years.  While, it never seemed that long, it is true that the series will live on forever.  It is possible that an Extended Universe will be created, similar to Star Wars.  Finally, I would just like to say, that it truly is an end of an era, and I hope that this series will be kept alive through the billions of fans around the world.  I will definitely "force" my kids to read the series, as I did before. 

Fin.

Week 1 Day 1 (Questions)

Wow...first day, while the SAT itself wasn't that bad, it was after I took it, when I found out that I had a ton of stuff to do.  I studied the wrong vocab words which meant I had to cram them, and also I have to do make-up homework.  Sigh...tomorrow is another day.

In other news, I got a job! Teaching tennis...pro bono...not that I mind.

Today is my birthday in Taipei, and tomorrow is my birthday here...XD.

Thank you all my friends (who actually read this) for wishing me a happy birthday!

:)

Week 1 Day 0 (The Beginning)

Well its official, tomorrow I begin my Elite SAT Cram Course.  While I did take a practice SAT on Saturday, I am so not looking forward to tomorrow's SAT.   Anyways, this post was just my way of ranting before tomorrow.

Good Luck (to myself)

Week 0, Day 0 (The Horror)

Hey, my non-existent readers, this summer I plan to blog daily about this new SAT Cram Course I will be partaking.  This will be a interesting way to practice my writing, as well as throw in some vocabulary to make me sound prestigious, when in actuality I will sound pretentious and perhaps deranged.  Wish me luck as I endure the hellish journey in which I will have to complete over a time span of 6 weeks.  I pray that I won't become a lifeless cadaver afterwards.

As first impressions go, Jack Sung, the "director"(?) or "founder" of this Elite program, has failed.  When I first met him, he was: short, seemed to have OCD and quite downright depressing.  After a few minutes talking with him, I was more or less correct. He was short, most definitely OCD and very depressing.  The way he described the sheer amount of work I would be partaking, was so depressing, it took me all of my willpower to not stab myself with the pens on his desk.  An example week, he explained, had the following:
Monday: SAT Test - Lesson with Writing Teacher
Tuesday: Lesson with Writing/Reading/Math Teacher (Quiz?)
Wednesday: Same
Thursday: Same
Friday: Same (Vocabulary Quiz?)

Also, he explained that each day I would have to memorize 50 SAT words, which would later be tested at the end of the week. (250 words a week)  Each week would be the same.  No breaks, no fun, no actual "summer" life.  4.5 hours of class a day, and 3 hours of homework every night.  Goes to show you that this summer will be quite depressing and downright suicidal.  It seems that the only people that are filled with zeal over this class, are my parents and the TAS parents that recommended this program.


Notice: Due to the nature of this blog-post and subsequent posts, anyone who has gone, or is affiliated to the Elite Educational Institute, please do not take these words by heart, and only regard them as one's thoughts of the matter.

What a day...

WOW....I had so much fun today.  The level of fun I experienced was unimaginable.  Today was my early (very early) birthday party.  I had planned for paintball 3 weeks ago, but it was rained out.  This postponed event became the best I have had in the last 3 years (as I went to the waterpark all 3 years).  We began rather later, as we left at about 11, whereas last year we left at around 9.  After arriving at around 11:40, Pelix, Paulina, Ginnie, Daniel and I first went to the UFO, which was pretty great, but because we didn't have Emily for our Best Combo Ever, it wasn't as epic.  After doing a couple more turns, we switched to a different ride.  (Currently, I am not sure what the ride is called, but for now it shall be named: Dual-Pink Tube Ride.) This ride was ok, as I sat by myself due to the fact that we had an odd number, however it was quite fun as sometimes I fell of my tube and had to propel myself forward to get to it.  It wasn't very dangerous, but it made me realize what a "bob-sled" team felt like.  Seeing as the Tarzan Rope/Slide was finally open, we decided to definitely try it out.  It was very fun, as all of us attempted to do some crazy swing/jump but most of us ended failing.   After, we all decided to be brave and do the Twisty/Free-fall slide.  Now me being brave and all, decided to do the Free-fall slides.  At first it was pretty exhilarating, but after a few rounds I got pretty bored of it.  After about 15 minutes, we headed towards the center to have lunch.  As tradition, after lunch we went to the Lazy River to let our food digest.  There we took some underwater pictures, relaxed, basically a long cool down.  Afterwards, we met up with Emily and Young, where we quickly decided to head back to the Tarzan Rope/Slide in case it closed again.  After another couple more rounds, we headed back tot he UFO where we reunited the Best Combo Ever, our first ride was the best, as we all were quite full after lunch, therefore increasing the mass.  After once again, rotating the people we went back to the Dual-Pink Tube Ride, the Twisty/Free-fall slide, the Huge Castle of Water, and finally back to the Lazy River.  Once again we took pictures, and relaxed.

After the waterpark, we all packed into two cabs and headed to ACC.  There we went to the Jacuzzi and the pool, where we played around, took pictures and had tons of fun.  Afterwards, we had dinner at ACC and basically that was the end of my Birthday party.  All in all, I had tons of fun with all my friends, and I hope 365 days can go by faster.

My Resolution 2011

COMMITTEE: Human Rights

Question of: Prevention of Unethical Clinical Trials

Main Submitter(s): France

CO-SUBMITTERS:

CO-SPONSORS:

Recognizing that unethical clinical trials is a crime against humanity, involving human subjects participating in biology, clinical medicine, psychology, and other social sciences;

Reaffirming that clinical trial is unethical when the human subject has not given their consent;

Reiterating that the, “The Nuremberg Code” and the “Declaration of Helinski” both have principles that should already be implemented all around the world;

Reminding that the definition of crimes against humanity include  inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health;

Recalling that this issue can go ignored without increased amounts of public awareness;

The General Assembly:

1.      Proposes that an United  Nations Unethical Clinical Trial Committee, be formed to implement clauses 2 to 8;

2. Calls Upon all Member States to surrender medical and employee records to the United Nations Unethical Clinical Trial Committee, so that preliminary investigations can be carried out, at facilities such as but not limited to:

a.       hospitals, clinics, universities;

b.      the identity of patients will be protected during the investigations;

c.       if the preliminary investigation has yielded results, investigations will be carried out on said individual;

3.      Strongly Urges, that a hotline will be created that will be connected to the UNUCT so that people can anonymously report an unethical clinical trial for investigations;

4.      Expresses its hope that the More Economically Developed Countries(MEDC’s) would regulate and prevent the private medical corporations based in their nations from exploiting the more vulnerable populations of the third world countries for the purpose of their own financial gain;

a.       if the government discovers that the private medical corporation is indeed conducting unethical clinical trials, subsequent investigations will be carried out on said corporation;

5.      Declares that Member States can begin increasing public awareness at appropriate age groups of unethical clinical trials through means of but not limited to:

a.       education  providing means of but not limited to:

i.        seminars, lectures;

ii.      textbooks on previous unethical clinical trials,

iii.    the IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Student’ Association) will raise the awareness of the  ethical concerns when conducting clinical trials to the medical students;

b.      media such as but not limited to:

i.        radio, pamphlets, internet, television, advertisement;

6.      Requests that all Member States to provide full co-operation with regional offices of the UNUCTC, when apprehending a suspected individual;

1. with consent of the nations involved, allow the UNUCTC to extradite criminals in cases of unethical clinical trials, and try the criminals in an international criminal court,

                                            i.            if the local law enforcement are compromised by intervention from third-party individuals, either financially or physically, then the International Criminal Court should have jurisdiction of such cases and enforce UN mandates,

                                          ii.            suspects will be tried under the ICC, under the grounds of crimes against humanity,

7.      Urges that member nations with current hospitals conducting clinical trials to ensure that all clinical trials’ information is updated frequently on the International Clinical Trials Registry Programme;

a.        countries must ensure that future approved clinical trials to be imputed onto the ICTRP;

8.      Further Requests that all Member States to begin setting up rehabilitation centers with individual departments focusing on the different tests run on victims for the purpose of restoring confidence in victims towards safe medical facilities which includes  such but not limited to

a.       Sanctioned Medical Personnel, Counseling Facilities;

9.      Further Invites those member nations with victims of said unethical clinical trials to begin remunerating the victims financially;

10. Suggests that a meeting should be held every five years to review the status of the implementation of clauses 2-8, and will be open to member nations, doctors, and other respected members of the medical community.

Taimun 2011

As I was reading some of my old posts, I realized that I did a Taimun post, and that I had yet to do one this year.  Anyways, this year I was part of the TAS Taimun team, in which I was the Delegate of France for the Human Rights committee.  Our topics this year were somewhat, boring compared to last years.  They were: The Prevention of Unethical Clinical Trials, and The Protection of Journalists in Armed Combat Areas.  I being somewhat interested in medicine, chose the first topic. After many practices at school, my resolution was, in my opinion very well done.  This year, I became a Main Submitter for my topic, as I was one of the somewhat unorganized few who chose this topic.

Because many delegates chose the second topic, there weren't many other delegates to merge resolutions with.  As a result, I had a rather, abridged resolution, with only three other delegates who actually merged.  The other group had about eight other delegates, who merged.  I believed that mine would not pass because mine had barely any help, however, I still had hope. 

During debate, mine was attacked frequently, however because previous resolutions took too much time, mine was debated for only about 35-40 minutes, which was very disconcerting.  However, I still enjoyed the experience of being a main submitter.

I would like to give a shout out to my two awesome chairs: Winnie Liao and Ros Wong, as well as friends that I made and some that I have met before: Paul Wu, Chris Ko, Stephanie Yang and Julia Kee. 

Well, see you all next year!

PS. I will post my final/failed resolution.