Letter IV: How to Stop Time and the Family Quality Time I Missed Dearly

Hello, Tim!
From now on, I try to write as much as I can during Sunday since this is the day I have the most time for myself. My dad just came back from his ship -he works on a ship, shipping coals to Indonesia and Australia, I think I had mentioned before, or not-; he was tired, and he is snoring lightly on the sofa right now; mom went out with her sisters for a Taiwanese traditional musical, and I am listening to my music while typing. Tonight, we will be going to a steakhouse to redeem the vouchers that are going to be expired soon. Unfortunately, I have just had my braces adjusted yesterday afternoon, and now it hurts like someone has drilled holes in my teeth; a lot. Hope that it gets better in the evening, or I would consider resolve to painkillers because no one stops me from chewing beef. (Not really THAT serious, though)

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

"The known has gone and the unknown awaits - the story ends and the story begins, over and over, as we dangle eternally in the present. There is nothing more to add, and yet there is always a little more. Life spills over."

So this is a book I have finished reading this week.

"I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably I was about forty, but you would be very wrong."

Tom Hazard, a supposedly normal history teacher with an eccentric syndrome, was able to surpass the extremity of the length of human life and is over four hundred years old already. There is an institute of people like him, and every eight years he would have to change his identity and places to avoid the problems arising from his unchanging features.

Reading until the first few pages, I thought this would be just a regular sci-fi, with a lot of cool new things and technology, given that they have almost a thousand years of lives, but I was wrong.

Instead, with the perspective of the protagonist, we see a lot from his past, of the struggles of being unchanging, the hardships he faced when trying to blend in.

At first, I found it troublesome to be jumping to this year to another, and then back again, but as the storylines rolled on, I realized that everything was related, and I felt sympathy for this Tom. When his mother was accused of witchcraft when she had a son that aged so slowly; when she was put on trial and drowned just to save his life; when he had to leave his wife and daughter or the same fate his mother had faced might be brought about on them both; when he strived to lose connection with the world but failed miserably, etc. It was really heartbreaking to read, and at the same time, it set me thinking is life has really improved or has just morphed into another form of awfulness.

"History isn't something you need to bring to life. History already is alive. We are history. History isn't politicians or kings and queens. History is everyone. It is everything. It's that coffee. You can explain much of the whole history of capitalism and empire and slavery just by talking about coffee. The amount of blood and misery that has taken place for us to sit here and sip coffee out of paper cups is incredible."

This is an impressive read, along with the For the Winner I introduced two weeks ago. They are both hardback books I brought back from England, and I love them. Declaration of love for books is never something to be shy of!

The Voice Over

As you know, from Cathy, or from other classmates, we did the Frozen voice-over performance last Tuesday. The silenced version of the clip was playing, and we were struggling to catch up with their rapid-fire speed of talking. No, we didn't do well. But we also didn't do it that terribly, for our team -Cathy, Doris, Patrick and I- and William's -Sabrina, Allison, Jack, and he- made it to the next stage, which requires us to go to another location for the big contest. That makes roughly the fifth competition I'll participate in during this semester! Talk about boring semesters... They do not exist!

Fingers crossed, and let's hope it goes well when our team goes for the larger stage! We weren't actively thinking about participating in this contest, but now that we are in, we have no more excuses.

If you had watched Frozen, you would know the part where Elsa had just become the queen after the coronation ceremony and holding a sprightly ball in her kingdom, and the part where Anna and Elsa fought as Elsa lost her control of ice magic and fled from the kingdom. Yes, this was the part we are giving our voices to.

Answering the Questions

1. Divided by the Iowa River, the academic buildings and classrooms lie on the south side of the river, while during the times when Mr. Maher was attending university, there were the men's dormitory and the fields, buildings, and courts relating to the athletic department. (I would not call it "ancient times", though; quite, but not yet :D)

2. People, along with the players, go onto the field at the end of the first quarter of the football games and wave at the direction of the newly-established Children's Hospital, hoping them get well soon and cheer them up somehow.

3.  Chloe could make her own entrance and exit by either the cat door, one which she and Mai Mai shared, or the dog door since she would not be pestered by any dog in the house. (That was how she is expected to do, but all she does is meow a sympathy-drawing meow until someone hurries over and opens the door for her. I never understand cats.)

4. Why might Chloe be putting on a little extra weight? The reason of why Chole was gaining weight might be either 1) The queen-like behavior of eating out of her "peasants' " bowls or 2) her successful grey lizard hunting in the backyard. Possibly both of the factors.

5. Why is Chloe considered to be the “Queen of the House”? Chole is a natural leader/trainer/queen, for how she wanders in and out of the house, ignoring the other members' presence, eating out of the bowls of the other house members, how she mews when her "servants" rush over to over the "gates" for her. She is no doubt a queen.

6. I actually don't know the distinctive differences before hurricane and typhoons, so I went on the Internet for a small answer pray tell (begging for answers and wisdom, I mean) and found out that they, along with cyclones, are basically the same kind of natural phenomenon, only that its name changes when it occurs in different places: typhoons in the Northwest Pacific; hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Northeast Pacific; while (extra one) cyclones in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. I like how the same thing can have different names; it shows the complex and the variety this world can have.

7. Which foreign countries rule islands in the Caribbean? Countries ruling, or colonizing the isles in the Caribbean are France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

8. During the hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico served like a frontier, who reduced the and weakened the force of both hurricanes and saved much of the Caribbean Sea area. However, Puerto Rico paid its price as well. Flooded streets, wind-damaged buildings, and the blown down energy poles and trees, they spell months and months of recovery, and storm insurance is not quite a thing.

9. Before thinking about which of the two places were met with the greater damage, we have to know that the Caribbeans was hit with two large hurricanes of the history in a matter of several days, while Florida had gone through two as well, though one (the hurricane Maria) had gotten its force wind down by the Caribbeans, so though I am not quite sure, the Caribbeans might have met more damage than Florida did.

10. Why will rebuilding in the Caribbean probably take a lot longer than in Florida? The more damage made, the more time is needed for recovering.  According to the articles of Mr. Maher and judging by the mentioned energy poles that were pulled up and blown down, it might take more than mere months for it to be hospitable once again.

Brunch with a Bunch of Amazing Grownups

Yesterday, which was Saturday, Candy, Melody and I went out and met up with the adults from our French class for a brunch date. Including us three, there were seven people -it should have been more people with us, but they are busy adults :D- We had luxurious meals, pleasant conversations and wonderful atmosphere as a company, and I indulged in the pacifying dome of relaxing for the whole morning, after weeks of stressful events. One amazing thing about them is that, although they know that we are a lot younger than they are -ranging between 23 to 39 years old, they treated us like classmates instead of mee younglings. Though Melody doesn't take lessons anymore, she still likes the dynamics we have always had when interacting with them, she came as well.

After the brunch, they went over to a Taiwanese drinks shop for a second round. I would love to join in, but I had a dentist's appointment at 15:00 straight. I had to go. Albeit this, I still had a splendid time, and I believed that Candy and Melody enjoyed it immensely as well.

Classmates get together

Steak Home- Family Quality Time

I just came back from the steakhouse we went to, and conclusions first: It brought a perfect ending to a week -or a perfect beginning, depending on which you believe-, and I think I haven't had this kind of awesome week for a while now.

The steakhouse we went to was an old one: my dad says that it was already there thirty years or so ago. It had dark-wood colored columns, embedded in between were white-beige walls. The creamy light from the high-hanging chandeliers and the big panels of mirrors gave us a dim but well-lit room. Each of the tables has a pink candle on the side, waiting to be lit. Talk about old and elegant steakhouses, this is it.

We have, in total, 2000 NTD worth of vouchers, and also a membership card from my aunt that gives us an extra 10% off discount. I thought that was more than enough, but the menu over there certainly didn't think so. Without the vouchers, I think my parents would never have picked the steakhouse for our dinner. All the meals and the service were worth it though.

All the waiters wore formal but pristine clothes, a bright contrast to the customers who wore shorts and T-shirts. Along with the old-fashioned interior design, I felt like I was brought to some place in America, some twenty years ago, with a song from Romeo and Juliet playing from the speakers. Time was slow under the leisure air, and everyone was merrily savoring their half/medium done steak.

The candle cried wax-made tears, dandling their firelights, swaying with the steady and sure rhythm of the music. The buoyant conversations between my dad, my mom and me; everything seems perfect. 

There are no "buts" this time. My teeth got accustomed to the tightened braces, so there was no problem with chewing. I love times like this when we have the chance to get together like a family, given that my father comes back for merely a day or two once every month. The time we can spend together is as precious as geese that lay golden eggs; too foolish to waste them.

Mom & Dad

Freelance Writing Assignment for Class Magazine

In case you don't know about it yet, this year, we are going to publish our own class magazine, with bits of life in the EHP program. And me, always looking for chances to put my writing skills into trails, asked Allison and Jack, the editors, if I could write a short one-shot novel that would be included in the magazine. They approved of it and requested me that I finish it before mid-November.

What the story would be about was basically unplanned yet, but one thing would be for sure; it is a romance with a happy ending. As cliched as it may sound, I just dislike tragic endings. I told the basic concepts of the story to Aubrey, and she said that she would be looking forward to reading it, so I have to work very hard not to meet the deadline.

Long Long Article, Short short Closure

I managed to finish all this before the noon of Monday! I am so tired now, but I think I would be able to use the time I will have on Thursday to start with my novel...

Yours truly,

Hugo