Journal 15: Anticipating my Parents' Objections

Dear Dad and Mon,

After studying the pre-MBA classes for whole semester, I realize that I am not interested in business major. I understand that you may have valid concern that I will not be able to continue our family business. Indeed, our family business needs me to get the MBA degree to continue. However, I don’t think that I will be successful in business since I have had a hard time studying business. Also, if I change my major to computer science, I would enjoy it because I am interested in it.

Best wishes,

Your Son, Alwin

Journal #12: My First Source-FINANCIAL REFORM: LESSONS FROM 1929

Frank Partnoy. (2009, October). FINANCIAL REFORM: LESSONS FROM 1929. Business Week,(4150), 84. Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1874823701).

Frank Partnoy is a professor of law and finance at the University of San Diego law school. In this article, he mentioned a discussion of Ferdinand Pecora, the flamboyant hero of Senate Banking & Currency Committee and inquiries into the causes of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. A comparison of the Pecora hearings, which took place in the 1930s, and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was established in 2009 to investigate the causes of the global financial crisis which began in 2008, has been discussed.

Journal #9: American Food

In my country, fast food is considered the typical food of American food. Since the international restaurant of American have become successful companies, the images of American food in Taiwanese’ mind are Macdonald’s, KFC, Burger King, and so on. Therefore, hamburgers are considered the staple food of American, and French fries are the main appetizers.

Before I came to the U.S., I had thought that I have to eat hamburgers every day in the U.S. I realized that was my misunderstanding after I had lived in American home stay, which is a traditional American family. They always cook and eat dinner at home, and hardly eat fast food. Also, I found that they cook various foods and try to make the dinner different everyday. Sometimes they have Mexican beans, and some times they have Italian spaghetti. In some special days, they will have American steak.

In my aspect of American food, I think the variety of American food is reasonable because American contains multicultural people. I finally realized that hamburgers are not the staple food of American, and the typical food is “variety.”

Journal #8: Optimistic Quote

Winston Churchill said "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." It means an optimist can react flexibly to every situation because of his or her attitude, even the situation is difficult. Also, the attitudes could cause different results in every event. I generally agree with this viewpoint, and it cheers me in some aspects since I am a slightly pessimistic person.

Currently, the most obvious example of this topic is that we need to do numerous home works, and it upset me all the time. I usually feel annoyed when I received plenty of home works. Therefore, when I was doing my homework, I felt that I don’t have a strong will to finish it.

On the other hand, I felt that the homework is good for us to get ready for university class after I had read the proverb. When I think about the fact, I will just tell myself that I have to do it since it is good for me in the future. I could finish it with an optimistic mood, but I would give up if I had a pessimistic mood.

Journal #7: Birds of a Feather

My buddy has become my best friend since we were high school students. The idiom “birds of feather flock together” totally can be used to describe the friendship of us. We have become buddy-buddy because we have several similar hobbies. Both of us enjoy playing pool and traveling. Also, we have experienced many unforgettable events during our high school life.

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Because of enjoying playing pool, we spent most of our spare time together to play pool. We learned from each other by exchanging views. Sometimes we also associated a team to challenge other teams. Therefore, we got an unspoken consensus through playing pool together.

We like to travel. The most unforgettable trip is that we traveled around our country by scooter when we were 17 years old. That was a one-week trip, and the trip tired and inspired us.

In short, my buddy and I are just like the idiom which describes people who are alike will be close friends. We probably would not be so close friends if we didn’t have the same hobbies.

Journal #6: Dr Dolittle

One of the most differences between human and animal is communication. People can organize things by communicating well to each other. In contrast, animals maybe can communicate to each other, but they obviously can not talk to each other. That is the reason how human can dominate the Earth.

Most people would become vegetarians if animals could talk. People would be freaked out and run away when an animal says “Are you going to eat me?” Also, animals might negotiate with people if they can talk. Fortunately, animals could not talk in the real world, so people would not be scared by speaking animals. Besides, people didn’t need to worry about negotiating with talkative animals.

Personally, I like most of animals, and I like to guess what they are thinking when I look at them. Also, I admired that the animal trainer can communicate and control animals well. But that is not talk though. However, I would rather guess their thinking than talk with them. I think if they could talk, that would be horrible to me.

Journal #5: "Summer Snow"

One of my most favorite songs is “Summer Snow” which was sung by a Norway singer, Sissel. The song is also a theme song of my favorite Japanese drama-“Summer Snow” in 2000. In Taiwan, many people love to watch Japanese drama except me. I didn’t care about Japanese drama at all. The reason why I began to watch the drama and why I like this drama as my favorite is the beautiful song.

One day, I occasionally heard the song from TV while I was turning channel through remote control. I was attracted by the beautiful song. It was also the beginning of the Japanese drama, so I was interested in and began to watch it. After the first episode, I could not miss any.
The lyrics of the song was wrote match up the plot of the drama. It is a love story. I just associated with my girlfriend, Ella, before I heard this song.

We used to argue each other in the beginning of our association. After I heard the song, I start to think what a true love is. Therefore, I always listen to the song while I argued with Ella. It will make me feel calm, and I will think about our argument deeply. Then we will be reconciled easily.

In my opinion, the song of the singer, Sissel, is the sound from the heaven. That may sounds exaggerating, but that’s how I love this song.

Journal #4: Weather

My favorite kind of weather is the rainy day. I feel calm and relaxed when it is raining. Perhaps I like the rainy day because it is usually hot and humid in summer in Taiwan. It is easy to get a bad temper in the condition. When it rains, my bad temper would be released immediately. I am used to have lots of rainy days in my country, especially in the typhoon season. Compared to my country, southern California doesn’t have much rainy day even in the rainy season.

It rarely rains in southern California during the summer. My first summer in southern California, I expected the next day would be a rainy day all the time. I am always disappointed because the rainy day never comes in the summer. Also, when I checked the weekly weather report on internet, I couldn’t believe it has the same temperature and condition everyday.

Although I like the rainy day, I don’t like it rains in winter neither in Taiwan nor in southern California. The low temperature already depresses people, so the rainy day causes more intense depression to people. On the other hand, the rainy day relax people during the summer.

Journal #3: Old Fears

Everyone has some fears that came from some reasons. You could overcome your fears by finding out the origin of the fears. For example, I had overcome my fear of dogs by discovering what I was scared of dogs.

I used to be very scared of dogs. When I was a five years old boy, I had been chased by an aggressive dog once in a while. The dog belonged to my neighbor, and they didn’t care if the dog would hurt children. In fact, the dog is a small dog in an adult’s view, but it is a huge dog in a five years old boy’s view. When it ran to me, what I only could do is run. Therefore, I just run away when a dog looks at me.

Until I grew up, I am still afraid of dogs, especially when a dog is barking at me. One of my friends knew that and told me that dogs are very smart and sly. They can detect if people were afraid of them. If they feel you are afraid them, they will bully you. After that, I tried to pretend that I was going to hurt the dog which was barking at me. Surprisingly, the dog freaked out and ran away. I realized what my friend told me was right.

I finally understand if I didn’t face my fear of dogs, I will always be scared of them. Also the truth is they try to scare people before they are scared by people.

Journal #2: How I get aruond here in America

My sister, who used to live in LA, told me that I will need a car in the USA especially in the south California before I came to the USA. I thought the USA is a developed country; the public transportation should be very convenient. Probably I won’t need a car in the USA. My sister told me that the California government focuses on building freeway, so the freeway network is well developed; but they don’t really care about the public transportation. “You will see what I am saying.” she said.
The first day I just arrived here, my sister’s friend went to the LAX to pick me up. I saw trains, buses, and taxis on the way to my home stay’s house. I still though that the transportation looks pretty good, and I could take the public transportation to any where. I told my sister’s friend I probably don’t need a car; I will use the public transportation living in the USA. Then she told me “Don’t be silly. Living in the south California without a car just is like you lose your legs.”
The third day after I arrived here, I already planed to get a CA driver’s license because I had decided to buy a car. The reason why finally I decided to buy a car is that I realized a car is really important here. I don’t like to walk an hour to the nearest supermarket, and I don’t like to spend one hour and take two buses within couple miles to school. I realized not only the public transportation isn’t convenient but also the land of the USA is too large. Finally, I got my small lovely hatchback car, so I and my wife became free in the USA.

Journal #1: Introduce Myself

My name is Alwin, and I am from Taiwan. I am married, so I came with my wife Ella. We have been married for a year and seven months, but we have known each other for 13 years because we are high school classmates.

We have been here for a year, and both of us attend the ALP. In the beginning, we decided to live in a homestay which is living with an American family. Both of us have improved English, and we have good time with the homestay family. We just moved to an apartment a month ago because Ella is pregnant. We though that we will need more space to prepare for our baby to come. We just found out that the baby is a boy, and we wish that he is a healthy and handsome boy. When you meet Ella on campus, you can say hello to her and you will see her belly is getting large.

My major was Industrial Engineering in undergraduate, but I am trying to apply MBA in CSUF because I want to have my own company in the future. I think that would be easier to become a wealth person when I have my own company.

I have read Sally's, Dannis's, and Ann's blog.