Tuesday 30 October 2012

Being Single Minded

Just this morning I watched a very interesting "Ted Talks" for the first time in my life, and the topic that day was about the advantages and disadvantages of being single minded. Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian woman went up on stage and gave very good examples on how being single minded could make someone have the wrong facts and ideas, and I completely agree with her. One of her best points was how when she went to college in the US, her roommate, before even conversing with her already felt pity for her. The roommate felt pity because She was a single minded person, who must have read one book about Africa, possibly in a dark light and because of that book, the Roommate's view of all African people was identical. The roommate believed that all were poor, had hard and tough lives and were always close to starving. This is wrong, because although there may be some African's who live like this, it is not all. I agree with Chimamanda Adichie that if someone stops being single minded, they can "regain a sense of paradise."


Wednesday 10 October 2012

Review on English Book

Over the last two days, I have been reading a novel called Mutation, which is part of a series called The Phoenix Files. Only after reading the first chapter did I notice that the book did not give a basic introduction of the main character, the location and what was going on. I finally noticed that this was the third book in the series, but I found it enjoyable and wanted to continue and maybe pick up what happend in the last two books.
The story already started off taking place in a cemetery where a funeral was going on, but the death of the victim was actually caused by the person who was giving a very solemn speech about this man. The main character in this case is the only person in Phoenix (a city) who actually knows the real story, about how Shackleton, the big boss of a company where everybody works at murdered the poor man. All of a sudden, a huge explosion suddenly happens, and a massive fire breaks out and soon enough the whole cemetery will be besieged. Jordan, the main character curiously stayed back to find out what was really going on, while everybody was heading back to their homes to be safe. She overhears Shackleton and one of the main officers discussing how to tell this incident to the citizens of Phoenix, and eventually concluded to tell everybody it was set up by them...
After reading this part, I got hooked to the book. This basically lures you to read more to find out who are these (or this) mysterious people that Shackleton was talking about, and how Jordan is going to somehow save Phoenix or the world from what is about to happen next.

Related Character




I was not in class today but looking at other people's blog posts, I sort of guessed that we were writing about characters that is abnormal and somehow relates to us. When I pondered about this task, I almost immediately thought about Squidward. In case you do not know who this legend is, he is basically a short tempered, easily annoyed octopus. In some cases I feel that I sort of relate to him, because when I need to concentrate or want people to concentrate, anyone who makes the slightest sound will get on my nerves. Please do not think of me in such a negative way now because only during important situations I act like this. Of course I am not all day grumpy and reticent, and just like Squidward (every couple hundred years) I am also sometimes really happy.

Saturday 6 October 2012

World Cup

As most of you might know, the World Cup is a football (soccer) version of the olympics. It takes place every four years in different places around the world with the last hosts being South Africa. Unlike the Olympics where many different sports are played around a track and field, swimming pool etc...  The World Cup consists of one sport and only 32 nations. It is the most widely viewed sporting event on earth, and an estimated 715.1 million people watched the finals in Germany in 2006.

Being German and an avid supporter of the young and promising German national side, it can sometimes be very frustrating watching your side for the last six years do so well yet loose in the semi finals many times because of sheer luck.  It almost seems like the Germans are doing that on purpose.

With the World Cup in 2014 looming ahead in Brazil, my parents have decided that we are going to travel to Brazil to support the almighty, more experience and even better German side. I pray to whoever is up there in the skies that once in my life I would like to see my German side hold up that ever elusive golden World Cup trophy.