Life of Pi- the most dangerous animal

Which animal, do you think, is the most dangerous animal at a zoo? 

A Tiger? Lion? Bear? or maybe even an ostrich?.. 

Wrong. The most dangerous type of "animals" at a zoo, at any zoo, is humans. I bet you weren't expecting that. In the book, Pi tells us about how sinical and thoughtless humans can be. There have been many cases where humans have killed animals at zoos unintentionally and intentionally. Is this true? I don't know, but that's how the books claims to be. When I was little, I remember going to a zoo, and getting in trouble for feeding a lamb by one of the employees. It clearly said in bold letters "do not feed the animals", so it was obviously my fault.  Next time I went to a zoo, I knew better. I knew better not to get caught and be more stealthy. I was not a sinical child, I just didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to feed them. It made me feel happy and achieved as the animals gratefully ate the food I was giving them. They were so cute, peacefully eating any food they're given with no complaints. I'm not sure why, but I got a joy out of providing food for the animals that were being caged in everyday of their lives. I never realized, that feeding them could actually harm them in any way. If a person gives them food, like me, that they cannot digest for some reason, they can suffer for weeks. Constant barfing and not being able to eat any other food for a certain period of time, they become extremely weak, also effecting their immune system. You can now probably see why this could become a problem. You know what's worse? Some people tend to think that animals can digest anything. Feeding them coins, paper, etc.. There has even been a case where someone fed an aniaml a nail. Yes, a nail that we use to hang something up on the wall. This animal ended up suffering for a long time and dying. Because of that one little thing some thoughtless persond fed, it thinking it's funny. Well, think about it. How would you feel if somebody tried to feed you a nail? How would your body react if you shoved a nail down your throat? 

We, humans, have far more intelligence and common sense than any other creature on this planet. Let's use our intelligence and common sense, I insist. 

Relating to Pi (in an odd way)

  

  As I have already mentioned in my previous post (Who's Pi?), Pi's real name is Piscine. Piscine Molitor Patel, his uncles favorite swimming pool in France. Because this is an odd name, people have had difficulties spelling and pronouncing his name properly. Some thought his name was spelled P.Singh, and thought he was a Sikh (also wondered why he wasn't wearing a turban). Then, it happened when he was twelve- the name calling.

   He had just arrived at the schoolyard one morning, and a boy his age suddenly had a flash of evil light up his dull mind. He pointed at Pi, and shouted, "It's Pissing Patel!". Of course, everyone laughed at this joke, seeing how they were twelve (to be honest, people my age would  laugh at this too), and this was the beginning. Kids would constantly crack up jokes about his name like "You're facing the wall. Are you Pissing?"or "Where's Pissing? I've got to go." You can probably imagine how mortifying and annoying it would be to hear those jokes every single day, about something that's not your fault or that you can't help.

   Well, Pi was a smart kid. When he went to secondary school, he knew what to do. On the first day of school, all new classes started, and students took turns saying their names out loud. Pi had been anticipating this moment. When it was his turn, he got up with out hesitation, ran to the blackboard and wrote, 

My name is Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all as 

Pi Patel. 

  And with that, he ended the constant teasing of his name. Why is the title of this post "Relating to Pi" when I'm only writing about how Pi came up with his own new nickname? If you know my name, you would realize why I can relate to this. The name Eunsol is a pretty average, normal name in Korea, also the hardest word to pronounce in Canada. I moved here in grade 5, not realizing that my name would become a problem. No, I never really got teased for my name, but the biggest problem with me meeting new people is the introducing my name part. I already know I would have to say it over and over again, only to repeat it for them again when I see them later. That's my biggest regret, not making an English name for myself when I moved here. So in that sense, I am pretty jealous and impressed with Pi for coming up with such idea, and not just accepting the teasing as what he has to put up with for the rest of his life. Good job Pi.

Life of Pi - A little ranting won't harm

   Let me just warn you beforehand, that this is going to be the most pointless blog post that I have ever written. This is basically going to be a short rant about the book that I'm reading, "Life of Pi" from MY personal point of view. Do not assume that I'm speaking for anybody else, because I'm really not. 

   First of all, this is the post I was supposed to write this Tuesday, February 12th. 
Well, since I had 5 projects all due in that same week (I never seem to be able to get over that), I haven't been able to make much progress of reading further on. Yes, I know, that is my fault. Some may say that I need to manage my time better, some may say "there's never not enough time to read a book", and I agree. Don't get me wrong, I can be a huge book worm too. Once I get really into a book, I will not eat, go to the washroom, or even get out of my bed until I finish it. I have done it many times when I got myself some good books. But Life of Pi..? This book is getting a tad difficult to get myself absorbed into. Even if I have time to read it, I can't find myself looking for the book to read it because I truly want to, but because I have to, in order to keep up with all the overwhelming media parts of the project that I have to contribute to. I still don't fully understand what's going on in the book. I am the editor of this week, and I have no idea what to write about, because I haven't been able to find enough interest to continue on with the book. Now with the root of our group, Sabrina, gone, I'm not sure if I can keep up with this journey as well I should. 

Life of Pi- who's Pi?

So far, I have finished reading up until chapter 3. I know, I should start really start reading faster. But it's so hard getting into the story when the beginning of the book is, what can I say- a bit boring.. In the first three chapters, there hasn't been any event, or anything exciting yet. Martel focused mainly on explaining the character "Pi", mainly through Pi telling stories about himself. 

Pi seems to be a very intelligent person, maybe even a genius. In the first paragraph, Pi starts explaining about his education. He attended University of Toronto only after one year of high school. He took a double major Bachelor's degree, which were religious studies and zoology. In zoology, he focused his studies on sloths. He was tops at St. Michael's College four years in a row, and got every possible student award from the Department of Zoology. We can clearly tell that Pi is an extremely smart guy, and a very good student. 

Pi is from India. He misses the heat, the food, and small things in everyday life from India. but he loves Canada too. 

Pi is small, slim, about five foot five. He has hair graying at the temples, but he's not any older than forty. He has pleasing coffee-colored complexion and an expressive face.

The name "Pi" comes from the word "Piscine". Piscine might sound familiar to some people, as "la piscine" means swimming pool in French. His uncle Mamaji was a champion competitive swimmer, and had quite the passion for swimming. His favorite pool in France, the Piscine Molitor is a pool that Mamaji would never forget, and his nephew was named after this pool. Piscine Molitor Patel- Pi. 

"Life of Pi" -what am I getting myself into..

     For my English project on studying Canadian novels , I chose to read the book "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. This book has recently come out as a movie and has gotten several good reviews. 

That is the main reason why I chose this book. When books are made into movies, that's  usually an indication that the books are bound to have interesting plot lines. 

I have only read the first few pages of the book, so I honestly have no idea what to respect. However, I hope to learn Martel's point of view of life, and what message he has to deliver through this famous book. I am also interested to find out what kind of role the tiger from the front cover plays in this book as well - it's  intriguing to see a wild animal like the tiger and a man standing on a boat together, not being slaughtered.

Based on only the first few pages I was able to read, for now, I want to set my inquiry question on religion. Pi has his majors in zoology as well as religious studies from University of Toronto. Pi is a religious man. I don't really know how religion will take part in life of Pi, or if it will at all, but there must have been some incident, while growing up, that led him to choose to major in religious studies. So I'd like to think that it's relevant to a certain degree. 

Why is religion such a loved and despised subject? Why does it spark up such big debates, arguments, conflicts and even wars? What is religion in our society and to us human beings? 

How did it affect "Life of Pi" ? 

Short Story

Ella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT67liGjZhw

Abandoned. Ella was abandoned. She slowly looked up at the dark cloudy sky, her hot tears and raindrops trickling down her cheeks. She let the rain wash away her tears, hoping it would also wash away the feeling of being neglected and left alone. Her tattered clothes were being soaked with the pouring rain, making her shiver, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even realize she was standing in the middle of a narrow road, where the cars were forming a chaotic traffic jam around her. Impatient drivers honked and yelled, signaling her to get out of their way. Soon, she was blinded by the vigorous car lights that made her feel like a deer in the headlight.

‘Why don’t they just run me over,’ she thought, ‘nobody wants be anyways, why don’t they just run me over’.

Ella’s parents went through a divorce when she was 8. She hated everyday of her life, being raised by an incompetent, alcoholic single mom. At the age of 13, Ella and her brother, 5 years older than Ella, were left alone after her mom got arrested for shoplifting. This was too much for 13 year old Ella to handle. She became emotionally traumatized and physically abused by her brother, Sean, who was angry at the world. She was somebody he could take out his anger on. Sean, the only person she could rely on, turned into another reason to hate her life after her mom got arrested. After two years, things started to get worse; she was severely beat by her brother almost everyday. A week after her 15th birthday, Sean was suspiciously nice to Ella. He bought her nice clothes and make up with money she doesn’t know where he got from. He even made her food and often flashed his yellow, rotten teeth.

‘Maybe Sean realized how cruel he has been to me,’ Ella tried putting away her suspicions, ‘maybe things will get better after all’.

Ella was too naïve and had too much faith in her brother. Ella had come to realize one day that Sean had sold their shelter without telling her. She had come to realize that she was one of his “possessions” that were sold to his friends for drugs. She was trapped in her house that was about to crumble down. She was a toy to the psychotic drug addicts. Everyday was a living hell for Ella, and she had tried killing herself over 9 times through extreme self-abuse. She wanted to end it all. She saw no point of her existence and purpose of life. But she always had a twinge of hope that one day, she would be living like all the others. She would have an ordinary life, with people telling her that she has a nice smile. One day, she would have kids and raise them to be happy unlike her own mother. This seemed impossible to Ella. These “unrealistic” ambitions were what drove Ella to escape; with no food, no plans, and no definite destination.

She just ran. She ran as fast as she could as if she was running away from her fear of being caught by her brother’s “friends”, the consequences she would have to face if she went back to her “shelter”, and the life she has to live everyday. She was running out of breath, the howling wind blew her hair in her face, and the rocky trail was making her bare feet blister and bleed. She bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists, trying to ignore the pain as she felt the rocks and pebbles dig into her feet. She knew if she stopped, the chances of her being caught would get higher. When she reached the end of the trail that led to a busy highway, her mind went blank, and she automatically stopped. She watched the cars dash past each other motionlessly.

“What was I thinking,” she gripped onto the hem of her torn sleeve, “where am I supposed to go? I’m not even wanted anywhere.”

Without a second thought, she boldly started walking out to the road, not comprehending her action. She paused when she felt a raindrop on her hand. She let her palm face the sky and waited for more raindrops to fall into her hand. Within a second, the raindrops gathered in her palm, and she realized she was already drenched by the pouring rain.

She gathered her trembling hands around her blue lips. “Why am I here?” she cried out with accusation in her raspy voice, “why is my life so pathetic? Why am I always abandoned? How come I can’t be happy…” Ella wiped her overflowing tears with the back of her hand, and prayed that she wouldn’t end up having to go back to her brother’s friends to “take care of her”.

That’s when she saw it. A threatening headlight blinded her and appeared larger as it rapidly approached her. Ella felt a pang of agony as the blinding light crashed into her fragile body. For a few seconds, she sensed that she was no longer standing on the pavement. She slightly opened her eyes, only to see her life flash by as she flew across the air. Being separated from her dad, seeing her own mom get arrested, getting hit and being abandoned by her brother, being trapped in the living hell, getting goose bumps everytime the guys crept up towards her with their sinister sneers, and feeling that short period of freedom while running away on the trail, feeling the wind gush against her.

‘It’s okay if it ends,’ she comforted herself, ‘I don’t have anything to lose. It’s okay Ella, it’s all going to be okay.’ She closed her eyes tightly and covered her cold face.

Ella’s head hit the ground. Soon, the thick, dark red blood slowly drenched her hair and formed a little puddle around her small, frail head. Although death had taken her away, Ella’s face looked peaceful for the first time in her life.

 

True Love (poem)

 

Define "Love"

"What is love?", he asks.

"Love is making you coffee every morning, knowing it's the first thing you'll look for when you wake up."

"What is love?", she asks.

"Love is glacing at you over the newspaper in my hands, waiting for you to ask me what I'm reading about."

"What is love?", he asks.

"Love is being upset over the increasing winkles and grey hairs, but knowing you'll still look at me the same way you always have."

"What is love?", she asks.

"Love is shaving everyday, even the days that I'm staying home and feeling lazy, knowing you don't like it when I have scruffles."

"What is love?", he asks.

"Love is being used to your snoring at night, and not being able to sleep without the obnoxious rythmn anymore."

"What is love?", she asks.

"Love is realizing that you care for me more than anyone, and coming to appreciate your endless nagging."

"What is love?", they ask.

"Love is growing old together, appreciating the usual, learning to fix the broken, and knowing that you can look at each other and say, 'If I could go back a few decades, I'd still choose to fall in love with you'."