beta-endorphin2010-07-24T05:37:58+09:00beta-endorphinThe most powerful endorphin to relieve your pain. From Columbia, MissouriExcite BlogCreative Writing Gone Wronghttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/13641777/2010-07-24T05:34:00+09:002010-07-24T05:37:58+09:002010-07-24T05:34:35+09:00beta-endorphinCulture
A Creative Writing professor told his class one day: “Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting next to his or her desk.
As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth.
Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.”
The following was actually turned in by two of his English students, Rebecca and Bill:
(first paragraph by Rebecca)
At first, Laurie couldn’t decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now at all costs keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.
(second paragraph by Bill)
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. “A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,” he said into his transgalactic communicator. “Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far…” But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship’s cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.
(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. “Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,” Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. “why must one lose one’s innocence to become a woman?” she pondered wistfully.
(Bill)
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu’udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu’udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized even poor, stupid Laurie.
(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
(Bill)
Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. “Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some sort of F—KING TEA?? Oh no, what am I to do? I’m such an air headed bimbo. I guess I’ve read too many Danielle Steele novels!”
(Rebecca)
A$$H@le.
(Bill)
B*tch!
(Rebecca)
F*** YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!
(Bill)
In your dreams, Ho. Go drink some tea.
(TEACHER)
A+ - I really liked this one.
]]>Please don't put holes in other peoplehttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/12022819/2009-09-28T12:33:00+09:002009-09-28T12:34:36+09:002009-09-28T12:33:47+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
I told her the parable of Will, a 9-year-old whose father abandoned his mom two years earlier. Will was angry, and he often lashed out at others with hurtful words. He once told his mom, "I see why Dad left you!"
Unable to cope with his cruel outbursts, she sent him to his grandparents for the summer. His grandfather's strategy to help Will learn self-control was to make him go into the garage and pound a two-inch-long nail into a four-by-four board every time he said a mean thing.
For a small boy, this was a major task, and he couldn't return until the nail was all the way in. After about ten trips to the garage, Will began to be more cautious about his words. Eventually, he even apologized for all the bad things he'd said.
That's when his grandmother stepped in. She told him to bring in the board filled with nails and instructed him to pull them all out. This was even harder than pounding them in, but after a huge struggle, he did it.
His grandmother hugged him and said, "I appreciate your apology, and of course I forgive you because I love you, but I want you to know an apology is like pulling out one of these nails. Look at the board. The holes are still there. The board will never be the same. Your dad put a hole in you, Will, but please don't put holes in other people. You're better than that."
A fourth-grade teacher once told me how she relates this story to her class. When a child says or does an unkind thing, she says, "Did you just put a nail in someone?" Then she'll ask, "Did you take it out?"
She says her students always know what she's talking about and recognize what they did was wrong, which isn't always the case if she just asks what happened, which usually results in the child blaming everyone else.
She also urges students who've been hurt not to automatically reply, "That's all right" after an apology because usually what was done was not all right and the person who said it didn't feel it was all right either. She tells her class to say instead: "I accept your apology" or "I forgive you."
The teacher uses the story to help her kids understand difficult family matters outside the classroom, too. She tells them some people will never take out the nails they've pounded into them, but everyone has the power to pull them out themselves and get on with their life rather than let others rule them.
She told me, "The story is simple, but the message is powerful—especially when reinforced with 'You're better than that.'"
]]>24の瞳http://endorphin.exblog.jp/10861950/2009-05-03T11:19:36+09:002009-05-03T11:19:36+09:002009-05-03T11:19:36+09:00beta-endorphinMovies I watched
1954年に映画化。
これもミズーリ大学の日本文化の講義でとりあげられている作品だが、家人は延々とつまらない映画を見せられたと文句をいっていたが、なかなかの名作である。
反戦映画という評が多いが、それがこの映画の本質ではないという気がする。
]]>Need-expansion dynamichttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10766382/2009-04-21T11:57:10+09:002009-04-21T11:58:44+09:002009-04-21T11:58:44+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
If you listen to the way we tend to toss around the word “need” you will soon realize how many things we have defined as needs are, in fact, not essential for life.
You probably don’t really “need” a good meal.
You probably don’t really “need” a raise.
You probably don’t really “need” that new house
You probably don’t really “need” the affection of that person.
You probably don’t really “need” that position you have aspired to.
You probably don’t really “need” the recognition of your peers.
Yet the more you focus on your own neediness, the more you desires will be christened as need.
Paul Tripp from " A Quest For More"]]>Watch thishttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10744123/2009-04-18T10:43:44+09:002009-04-18T10:43:40+09:002009-04-18T10:43:40+09:00beta-endorphinMiscもうすぐイースターですが、ウサギの話です。http://endorphin.exblog.jp/10692047/2009-04-10T05:02:40+09:002009-04-10T05:02:31+09:002009-04-10T05:02:31+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Walk softly and carry a big chocolate bunny.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
There's no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute little tail always attracts a lot of attention.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off other people's jellybeans.
Good things come in small sugar-coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.
An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare.
To show your true colors you have to come out of your shell.
The best things in life are sweet and gooey and come in assorted colors.
Get rid of all your black jellybeans.]]>My dear friendshttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10666021/2009-04-06T11:27:00+09:002009-04-06T11:30:46+09:002009-04-06T11:29:02+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
Desire for a good thing becomes a bad thing when that desire becomes a ruling thing.
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.]]>男性が長生きできない理由http://endorphin.exblog.jp/10604660/2009-03-28T02:44:15+09:002009-03-28T02:43:27+09:002009-03-28T02:43:27+09:00beta-endorphinMiscQuote of The Weekhttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10602214/2009-03-27T20:34:00+09:002009-03-27T20:37:15+09:002009-03-27T20:35:47+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
- Paul Tripp 「Lost In the Middle」
西洋のポジティブ思考はこういうところにも読み取れます。東洋にはあまりみられないパワフルな西洋の知恵の一つでしょう。
]]>Quote of The Weekhttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10561734/2009-03-22T11:54:00+09:002009-03-22T11:57:09+09:002009-03-22T11:56:18+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
- May Sarton]]>Quote of The Weekhttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10561718/2009-03-22T11:53:00+09:002009-03-22T11:57:35+09:002009-03-22T11:53:20+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
If you can humbly make this admission, your life will never be the same.
- Paul Tripp]]>日本なら切腹もの?http://endorphin.exblog.jp/10533254/2009-03-18T11:22:00+09:002009-03-18T11:35:04+09:002009-03-18T11:23:52+09:00beta-endorphinNews
公的資金を受け経営再建中の米保険大手アメリカン・インターナショナル・グループ(AIG)の子会社幹部が巨額のボーナスを受け取っていた問題で 米上院財政委員会のグラスリー共和党筆頭理事は、地元アイオワ州のラジオ局とのインタビューに答えて以下のように述べたそうである。
"The first thing that would make me feel a little better toward them [would be] if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say ‘I’m sorry’ and then either do one of two things; resign or go commit suicide," Senator Grassley told an Iowa radio station.
確かに日本ならそうなる可能性もありますが、、、さて、米利堅は今後どこにむかっていっているのでしょうか?]]>Quote of The Weekhttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10510774/2009-03-15T08:20:00+09:002009-03-15T08:20:58+09:002009-03-15T08:20:04+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.
Watch your words; they lead to actions.
Watch your actions; they lead to habits.
Watch your habits; they form your character.
Watch your character; it determines your destiny"
]]>今週のquotehttp://endorphin.exblog.jp/10430015/2009-03-02T12:45:00+09:002009-03-02T12:47:44+09:002009-03-02T12:46:42+09:00beta-endorphinenglish expression
"Money-giving is a good criterion of a person's mental health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill people."
– Dr. Karl Menninger ]]>自由とは...http://endorphin.exblog.jp/10420463/2009-02-28T14:52:00+09:002009-02-28T14:57:01+09:002009-02-28T14:53:39+09:00beta-endorphinMovies I watched
京大教授の八木原(大河内伝次郎)の娘として何不自由無く活発に育った幸枝(原節子)に八木原が劇中で何回も繰り返しておくるメッセージ。