Entry 20: Effective Anecdotes

As I think back to my 9th grade art teacher I can't help but think of the first time I met him and the first impression I had of him. Carefully opening the door of the Art room I peeped my head in to make sure that I was in the right. I saw classmates that I have yet to know of chatting and sitting together and a middle aged man sitting in a chair that seemed 2 sizes too small for his butt. The roomed smelled of wet paint and rice paste, the table messy, and bags laying where ever people wanted. Then the teacher turned to me and said: "Oh look we have a new little boy in class, what is your name little boy?"
"Patrick Chen" I replied.

That is just a part of the anecdote and when I think of it the frame jumps from place to place and moves all around the room and even turns back to look at myself. The sounds I hear are of people chatting and objects being moved on the tables and ground. Chairs being dragged and people laughing.

Entry 19: The Hardest Part

It was years after I quit doodling and sketching in my note books and on my homework. My teachers found it unorthodox and my parents found it to be disrespectful to my teachers. I slowly shut down my creative side of mind and focus to try to squeeze as much out of my academic side as possible. I ignored all my instincts and forgot how much I loved to draw and to be creative. I guess that is why I loved poster projects so much because then I can manifest my creative skills.

Moving back to Taiwan and meeting my new art teacher seemed to be just the thing I needed for breaking open the wall I set up years ago, and finally revealing my creativity again. The art teacher unlike the one before acted as a guide instead of a slave driver. He didn't tell us exactly what to do but he guided us and gave advice set by set. Slowly I regained my interest in art and the creative track of life. I told my parents that I was going to be an art major. I wanted to express my self freely to escape a cage that I have built for myself. The teacher showed me the way through talking to me and giving me advice. When ever he sees me doing something wrong he would correct me and help me understand the reason behind the wrong and explain the right to me.

Entry 18: Your Attributes

I learn from my mistakes, am concerned for others, creative, dignifying, honest, humorous, positive, a team player, unique, immature, and at some times prejudice. Some of my qualities have been added or enhanced do to my influential person and some reduced or removed because of them. I was born left handed and as many people know left handed people are always more creative. However it wasn't only that which jogged my mind for a creative career. My influential person was the one who made me notice what I have forgotten about myself. I had hid my interests in art because of boring art classes and restricting rules back in my old school. I could never draw anything I wanted and felt that creativity was caged. When I attended  my first art class in PAS I felt awkward and didn't know what to do because compared to my old class it was so unrestricted. The teacher was there as a guider and not a over seer who makes sure you do everything right the way he wants it. I realized how much I loved art and inborn creativity started up its engines again. However creativity was not the only thing that was enhanced by this teacher. He helped me to open up to my classmates to interact more and to learn from my mistakes. To be honest in whatever I do or say and to think positive because at the end of the day everything works out one way or the other. I taught me to become more mature and more of my age and to not hold any prejudices against others who I see as being different.

Entry 17: Oral History

As the interview began I was nervous about asking the questions because I thought I would get minimum response, and that it would become awkward. Then as my partner gave me the type of response that I was hoping for I opened up and began asking more questions and the interview got easier. I started off with basic questions and led onto follow up questions that provided me with deeper knowledge of my subject. I learned from the interview that I myself had to take time to adapt and get comfortable to talk and open myself up. If I had more time to prepare for the oral history project I would have tried to get acquainted with my subject before the interview to make it more comfortable for me and him. If I had a choice of a subject I would probably choose someone who is a lot older than me because they are wiser and probably have more stories to tell. With more stories the history would be more intresting and more captavating. Oral history have great value as a source of information because they're a first handed source and intriguing information.

Entry 16: Emergency!

I have been in many types of emergencies before. From car crashes to forgetting to do homework, the word emergency means a lot of things for me.To be more specific I was once on a plane back to Taiwan with my family and after we got on the plane it was delayed for one and a half hour. No body knew why and as a kid I was annoyed and hungry. It was 8:00 when we got on the plane and we didn't have time to eat before the flight so I was starving. I couldn't hold it in any longer and began to cry for food. The flight attendants said they could serve dinner yet because the plane wasn't flying. My mother argued and pleaded with them until they have me a bun to eat and that satisfied me for a little while. We later found out that the plane was delayed for one and a half hours that their was a suspicion of a bomb having been carried on for planted in the plane. It was for me an emergency of hunger and for other the emergency of either getting the plane to fly or to get off and to a safe place. I have been in emergencies myself before but never anything big. I think that if I was in a big emergency by myself the fear would take over me and freeze up but only for a while. I would then stop and try to think it through and find a solution. I am usually quick on my feet and hopefully that would help me through an emergency by myself.

Entry 15: Dissapointment

When I get a topic to work on, I usually let it sit for a bit in my head and allow it to develop. I hardly ever write anything down on paper until I am completely done with the ideas in my head, during the process I would only draw the main ideas to help me think more. I find it better to allow an idea to sink in more and to take a longer time to think about it. It is because the longer you have a question in your head the more ideas develop. I also go online to search relating topics or images to get inspired. Once I get that “light” I begin to write and I don’t stop until I am done with it, same goes for my art works. I don’t like stopping in the middle of something because it ruins or slows down the thought process. When I really can’t think of any ideas I would try to distract myself from thinking about the subject and come back to it later with a refreshed mind. If it end up being a dead end and it is impossible for me to come up with my own idea I would look online for answers that I am searching for or ideas that other people have used. I don’t like doing that but sometimes that’s the only way. 

Entry 14: Your Influence

As Newton's third law states a action must have a equal reaction, it may be true for physical actions but not psychological actions. When someone is a influential person to another that doesn't mean the one being influenced is also influential. for example in my life I had a teacher who influenced me by helping me realized what I wanted to do in the future. However I didn't influence him on the decisions he made, and even if I did influence him it was on a smaller scale than that of his. Yet there are cases of equal or if not greater influences. During my first year of high school I enrolled into a new school in a different country. I met a senior who was always crazy and wild, running and shouting through the hall ways. She seemed to be happy all the time, and she guided me on my path of art. She inspired me to do things and also made my future seem even clearer. I also influenced her and she told me by the time she was leaving. She told me that I have made her a more happy person and more true to her own feelings. I was shocked knowing that a person like her could still be more happy or opened but she told me she was always hiding from the truth. I was shocked at finding that such an influential person like her could be influenced by me.

Entry 13: Influential Person

Before I moved back to Taiwan I had no idea what I was interested in and I had even less clue as to what my future is going to be. I was always the kind of person who followed whatever my friends did. What ever I was interested in was because someone else told me it was interesting and never because I found out myself. The only things that I found interesting myself were video games, but so was everyone else. I wanted to be unique but couldn't. However when I moved back to Taiwan a person changed the way I acted and helped me find my interests. That person was my art teacher. He was a very interesting person himself and always encouraging me no matter what I chose to do. In his class I learned to open up to people, to make more friends, to not be afraid of being different. To be different is to be unique and he was the one who opened it up for me. I found my interests in art, a path where I can express myself freely and openly. I no longer had to hold back the things I wanted to do.