During the Voices Performace, there were some funny monologues and there were some that were really personal. I decided to make mines personal. I feel like everyone in life goes through struggles, but its those struggles that make you, you. My dad left my mom to take care of four children all alone. This is for him. Here it goes:

Speak?

How can I speak when there are no words

What you did

Has had me torn

Laughter

Is never there

When you smile

It just doesn’t seem fair

You speak

Tell me the truth

Why did you leave us?

When all we ever did was love you

Gone. You left. The door slammed shut.

I didn’t even cry

I was too filled with disgust.

I was so small but I understood

I guess you felt like you were too good

For us

I lost trust

Not only in you, but in everything
In everyone

I felt alone

We had it so hard

My mom fell into depression

My brother was still a baby

But you didn’t care

You never came back

You never wanted to correct it

I lost my best friend

The person I loved the most in the world

But those memories

Are all just a blur

I lost my dad

Sometimes I question

What went wrong?

Was all of it a lie, all along?

We all miss you

We just have a lot of broken feelings

You asked me to speak to you

So now I’m speaking

So everybody seems to be talking about Hurricane Sandy right now… I don’t really think much of it. I’m watching the news, I see things happening away from my area, and I’m quite unsatisfied. I feel like I always miss out on fun things. Now don’t go calling me sadistic or anything just because I want a Hurricane to come crashing down near my house. I just feel like it would be a great experience to work through a Hurricane, especially since my family, being Asian, have not prepared in the slightest, going on with their daily lives like nothing’s happening outside. My friends called me out on Monday trying to get me to go with them to the beach or something so that we could “experiment with the water.” I couldn’t go because I live on a stupid island that requires mass transit to leave, and it’s all down… The only thrill I could have right now is basically sitting in front of my front door and just waiting for heavy gusts of wind to come so that I could sarcastically say “Oh my god, this hurricane is, like horrific, yo…” There are too many exciting adventures that I miss out on in my life. I don’t want to miss out on this one as well. Goddammit Sandy, Get Over HERE!!!

Why do we play video games? Of course, the most obvious answer to that question is that they’re fun. Something you can do with your friends or hell, even your family if you so choose. Every gamer in the world will give you the same answer to why they play video games. I have a bit of a different perspective on this matter. As a person who has been gaming for the past 15 years of his life, these games along the way had taught me some things along the way. As far-fetched as this sounds, it has taught me how to treat other people well, ethics, morals, you name it and most importantly “Winners don’t use Drugs”, a reference to those who know what I’m talking about. It has however, taught me how to not be ashamed of who I am as a person and try not to care what other nay-sayers will think of you.

Wait wait, before you all die from boredom, I have one more thing to talk about. Let me reinstate the question one more time, “Why do we play video games?”. As you all may know, when playing video games, you take on a different persona than yourself, just like the famous tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons. By taking on this persona, you do not have to be yourself. You can immerse yourself into this character and sort of drown yourself into that world and not worry about the harshness of reality. For those few hours in the day, the world is in the palm of your hands. You influence what happens to it. For most of us social recluses that have turned to gaming to cope with life, we play games because there is somebody in it that trusts us, depends on us and most of all believes in us to strive for greatness. Thank you for listening. and most importantly thank you to whomever got through this whole thing without wanting to slam their head against a brick wall.

You know how when, you’re a little kid, you have all kinds of big dreams? You want to be in movies, or President… or you’re that little smartass in the back who pulls a Lennon and says you just want to be happy? Me, I just wanted that stupid american dream. You know the one, the wife who’s a stay at home mom with our 2.2 kids. House in a middle class neighborhood with the idyllic white picket fence and a two car garage. I didn’t dream of what job was part of that picture, because to me, as long as it paid decently and I didn’t absolutely hate it, it just made the dream possible. And if all the brainwashing they do in high school is any indication, to get a job that pays well enough for all that stuff… you need to go to college. Otherwise you’re going to end up living in a hovel and flipping burgers. Well, six years, plenty of stories, and a couple of scars later, and I’m finally getting started on that college bit. 

Is it weird that I’m actually terrified of finally being in college? I mean granted, none of my classmates frighten me. Half of them are maybe half my size, and the rest seem like decent enough people. Not a future serial killer or closet psycho among them, I figure. And the classes aren’t all that bad. Yeah, taking a bunch of gen. ed. classes that won’t really mean anything to the rest of my life is kind of shit, but it’s not as if they’ve been terribly difficult thus far. Even the fact that I can’t legally go to a bar with most of these kids and tease them when they’re wasted after a few beers isn’t all that bad. Mostly, I’m afraid of fucking this up. I mean, most of my high school classmates have graduated from university already. Some have their masters. Hell, a good chunk of them are even married with kid(s) already. And I’m way more awesome than those retards, so I’ve got to pull this off. Anything less just wouldn’t do. Can’t let five year old me down, after all.

I.am. ready.  That was the thought running through my head. I’ve  practiced long and hard and i know i can win. But WAIT something feels wrong.  This was all I needed to make me even more nervous then I already was. The feeling of nasea arose starting from my stomach all the way  to the back of my throat. What was wrong.? I touched my head and noticed the only swim cap i brought today  broke. Just my luck!!! -.- What was I, going to do. My race was up next and I couldn’t miss it. i thought about the possible solutions. I could sprint across the pool deck and risk the 99.9% chance of slipping and falling right on my face or ask someone from another team to use there cap. And asking people from other teams to use there things really wasn’t the best idea just because they end up saying no anyways or giving you a nasty face and walking away. soooo… what was i going to do ?!!!!. i have 1 min before they call us up to get on the diving blocks. From the corner of my eye i noticed my friend running towards me like never before. I looked at her hand at noticed she was caring a cap. Was she really going to save my life right now. A sense of relief arose throughout my whole body. Thank you god for this miracle.  Then the unbelievable happened……….My freind flew into the air her face landing in a puddle of dirty pool floor water. “OMG ” was the only word that came to my mind. Today was not going to be my day!! I rushed to her thinking about nothing but her and I rushed so fast that I slipped too gliding my body above the intense cold dirty water of the pool deck. Good to know that the event was really shocking and the whole race stopped trying to help us with our situation.

She doesn’t go to school, she doesn’t work, and all she does is sleep, eat and play. She lives a carefree life. Her parents provide her with everything she needs. She has no worries, regrets, or plans. Nothing is ever on her mind. She’s the cutest thing that I have ever seen in my life. Yet she hates me. Every time I try to hug her, she cries. Yet when I leave her house, she’s standing at the door, waving goodbye. She doesn’t even like to say my name. And when I try to play with her, she tries to break my glasses. But I will always love her. I wish I was her. She has got the perfect life. But sadly I’m 18. I’m a young adult trying to figure out life. Unlike me, she’s only 14 months old. She just learned how to walk and all she can say is mama. But I’m still jealous; I wish I could be young like her again. But I know that I can’t. So, Nyla, don’t waste your time, enjoy your youth because you will never get it back.

So the political science teacher has assigned this paper for me to do a week ago… (Groans) Oh why, oh why did I wait to start it now? Why does it have to be due tomorrow? Only if I had one more day… Ugh! Just one day! (Looks at watch) Oh! It’s only 4! I could just start at 5, I’ll still have enough time to… Go on Facebook! (Opens tab) Oh my god Sarah is going out with Ben now? And I remember when they were always picking on each other back in high school, how cute! (Scrolls) Oh Jamie, you just had to post that picture of the fried chicken didn’t you… Looks so good right now… (Yells) Mom! Can you cook some chicken tonight? Speaking of which… What time is it? (Looks at watch) What! 5:30 already?! Well I guess since I missed my hour mark I’ll just start in another 30 minutes… (Goes on Netflix) Just in time for the newest season of Vampire Diaries… Wow this is so amazing, I need to watch if Elena kisses Damon back. This will the last one! (Looks at watch again after lying to myself) Oh… My… God… Lina, seriously, it’s 9 PM and you have a 5 page essay due tomorrow. How could you put yourself in such a mess. Oh procrastination, you will be the death of me… (Plants face on desk and sobs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk

hi, i am Jianhui Chen. it is hard to find a way to introduce myself, so i show some pictures of my favorite food.

on the left top corner is lobster, which is popular amout most people.i like fish as well, because i am a seafood lover.also, there is a very special dish of fried shrimp with tea leaves, which taste very good.on the right bottom is crab, covered with eggyolk and fried.the one above the shrimp is a dish of vegetable roll and a dish of somked fish.the somked fish tastes sweet and i love it.  actually i ate those food in a  shanghai resturant.

so, i like eating.i like seafood