To a Stranger

This poem by Walt Whitman is very interesting. At one point it got me thinking it was about someone who betrayed him. But that was from reading the title. Another time I was thinking it was about someone who reminded him about a sibling because of the line "You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me," but there can be relationships with another kid who grew up in the same neighbourhood as you did. Now I think it's about his secret love. It says in his bio in Wikipedia that he was suspected to be a bisexual man, and possibly he could be referring to a man because of the following line: "I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone, I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again," because the time he was alive in, the 19th Century, there was a big grudge against homosexualism because it didn't "seem right" and to speak up and say that he liked other men, he would put himself in a place where the rest of the world would look at him and say, "That man is crazy." That's where, "I am not to speak to you" comes in. And the fact that he referrs to the person as "he or she" and not just "she", sheds more light to the idea.

How is Your Heart Argument

     Charles Bukowski is a poet who was abused by his father and lived a shady life. He wrote a poem called "How is Your Heart" and talks about waking up in a dirty motel room, and being hungover, and looking at his "ugly" self in a cracked mirror and smiling at all of those things in life that seems very weird to us. But after a class discussion, I'm starting to see why he was smiling at his current state, because if I had a past like his, I'd be thankful for just a place to stay. I agree that he should be satisfied for what he has because honestly he came a long way. And sure it's good to want more than a motel room with various fluids on the bedsheet with roaches on the walls but from Charles' past, being alive is good enough. I'm not Buddhist but I think the fact that people ditch their lives to become monks with no worries of riches and material things. It's rather peaceful. It helps with inner peace, which I believe is important because without inner peace, I'm not myself, I'm not who I want to be. And honestly there are more people who have it worse than the character in the poem does. There are still people who sleep on the benches, and have no lovelife at all and yet, we think the character's got it worst. I think he should be content because he hasn't died of pneumonia, and he has a girl, and he has a place to stay, he has less of a risk to die than those who don't have those things. He doesn't have it worse so that's why I think he should be content with his life.

How Is Your Heart part 1

So I discussed with my group (Parmveer, TJ, and Jassi) and we said we thought the poem would be about emotional pain, questioning the feelings you have for someone, getting cheated on, and even physical pain like heart attacks.

How Is Your Heart? Poem Relating Part 2

"what matters most is

how well you 

walk through the

fire."

     It's similar to a quote I live by: "It's not getting there that matters, it's how you did it."

Yeah this post is really short. ;)

What Do I Have? (Interim)

Well, honestly, I don't think I have a solid mark in English so far. But, I feel like I'm doing fine. Firstly, our class is tech based. Now I know that you guys aren't as well coordinated with new technology, but this is simpler than you think. This is a link to my Blogger where I post the assignments Neuf gives us: CLICK HERE! Yes we call him Neuf. Yes he's also my gym teacher. And this is my Edmodo link where we submit assignments: CLICK HERE!Yes I used this in French 8 and 9. I feel like my work in class is pretty good, even though I'm always tempted to go on my device to text a few friends or like a few photos on Instagram, check my Twitter and honestly, I do that sometimes, it's just after I'm done most assignments. My assignments are usually on point. I have them handed in usually on time, the only late I got was for the Literary Terms because I couldn't insert a picture through my phone. Which really isn't that big of a deal. Sometimes I even get them submitted early. Like my Tattoo Assignment. I already had a meaningful tattoo design in my head since last year so that's why I was able to complete it really quickly. If I were to give myself a mark, I'd play it safe and say a High B(77%-85%). Probably because I know there's room for improvement and there are people who seem smarter than me and do somethings on their blogs much better.
OH one more thing, this is the Parent Code for Edmodo just in case you want to join in to keep track of my work. Just create an account here: www.edmodo.com and enter the Parent code: m394pi. That is all. I hope this answers everything. :)

My Tattoo

This is my tattoo design for my left forearm, it's a kid (representing me) holding on to six balloons (the souls of My Grandmother, my brother, my dad's godfather, my cousin's grandfather, my cousin's cousin, and my dad's sister). Each balloon is the soul of each listed person and the "A balloon" was a balloon that I wanted to buy on my brother's birthday when I was 4. It represents my older brother, Arsenio Romano Samudio, which is also what I'll name my first son. And each time I lose a loved one, I add a balloon. It's like a memorial for my family. That keeps going and going until I too become a balloon. And the reason why I chose balloons is because heaven is up there, not down here. And also you can see the word "Salamat" under the child. "Salamat" is "Thank You" in Tagalog, as I'm thanking them for the times we shared.

Extended Metaphor: Aliens Represents the Vietnam War

Aliens by James Cameron actually represents the Vietnam War. In the Aliens: Quadrilogy Box Set there's a special feature that says that the whole movie is a Vietnam War flashback. The soldiers were modeled after the American Soldiers that served in the war. And their general designs on what they put on their clothes and on their aircraft is fairly similar to the designs of the soldiers that served back then. And the similarities aren't necessarily just cosmetic, but in terms of the plot they're similar too. Like the attitude of the soldiers in the beginning of the movie to the attitude of the soldiers midway because they underestimated their enemies. They went from "Awww yeah we're the best we won't lose to these chumps." to "Aaaaand we're done. Game over dude." Which is what the American soldiers were like after underestimating the Vietnam soldiers. Then the way the movie portrays the authorities of the movie. Lieutenant Gorman represents what soldiers thought American officers were like during Vietnam. And let's face it, Paul Reiser was totally impersonating Nixon for ten minutes. But yeah that's about it.