Word Count: 699 I was never really that great of a writer and not a very creative person either so it seems strange that I would take a class called creative writing. Nonetheless here I am struggling to think of what to write. I was born in New Jersey but grew up in Hong Kong until I got "kidnapped" by my mom and brought to America. I was too young to remember this moment but I do remember living in a family friend's basement for the first month or two while having bad indigestion. My dad subsequently sued my mom for this kidnapping.
A picture of the website that included the lawsuit
I never really knew the details of the lawsuit but one of my friends decided to Google my full name and found a website that detailed the case that included me and my brother. My dad initially wanted me because I would be cheaper to raise, but my mom forwent all the money to keep us together. We eventually got an apartment in Fort Lee where I would remember fond memories of my mom making sure we had a normal childhood. I remember I was a know it all child and didn't believe Santa was real so I wished for a bicycle that I knew my mom wouldn't be able to fit into the apartment. I actually wanted a bicycle but I was also just a difficult child. To my surprise I still got the bicycle which completely changed my skepticism. I found out later that my mom disassembled the bicycle while we were sleeping and reassembled it in a closet so she could see the surprise on my face.
My mom (left) and her best friend (right) when they were kids.
Me as a baby
I recently passed by my old apartment when me and some friends did a spontaneous 48 minute road trip to a 24/7 Pho restaurant at 3:47 am.
Pho32 & Shabu in Fort Lee
I live in East Brunswick and have a cat named Cheetah. Cheetah first showed up in our backyard begging for food, however my parents were against owning any pets in general. I struck a deal with my mom saying that if the cat stays for a few more days we'll have to take care of it which she agreed. I obviously left food outside so he would stay and we eventually adopted him. He initially got pretty fat because he was skin and bones when we first adopted him, but has since lost most of his weight due to a thyroid problem. During his prime he would hunt small animals like rats, rabbits, and birds in the forest near our backyard and bring them back to us as presents. One time he brought a baby rabbit that was still alive so we had to bring Cheetah in so the rabbit could escape. Another time he brought a rat home that was still alive that ran through our house and freaked out my mom.
My cat Cheetah that was named improperly
Last summer my neighbor found a mother cat carrying their kitten into a sewer drain near us so we decided to check up on it one day. Unfortunately the mother died, and left the kitten stuck in the sewer. We called animal control however they couldn't get the kitten out. We decided to take matters into our own hands and lowered a trap with food inside and attached strings to the cage. After periodically checking the trap for 3 hours we finally caught the kitten at 1 am. We decided to name him Brucie after Bruce Wayne since Brucie is a tuxedo cat and because of Bruce Wayne's history with his parents.
Brucie a day after being rescued
We took the kitten to the vet the next day and my neighbor decided to adopt it and nurse it back to health.
I have a love for modern super cars and their engineering, my favorite being the McLaren P1. This brought me Formula 1 and the crazy intricacies involved to make the ultimate racing vehicle.
The McLaren P1
Red Bull Racing's Formula 1 Car
My favorite album is Graduation by Kanye West so everything from the title and URL to the post title in this blog is inspired by that. The first song on the album is Good Morning.
One of my favorite movies that I recently watched is Disaster Artist
Please never post another video of a crying kitten again! I am kidding, of course, I could watch videos like that all day, but only if they have good endings (this one does). But the same care that your family took in luring the kitten out to save him reminds me a bit of your earlier story of your mom and her patience and disassembling and assembling a bicycle for you. That scene right there says more about your mom than anything else, and it also reveals something about you--that you remember it, and see it exactly for the act of love that is was, shows that you have compassion. Compassion and empathy are two of the most important components of being a writer; it means that you have the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and explore what s/he might be going through. I like too that you mentioned your early story about the kidnapping. What was it like to uncover the story of something that happened to you as told via the newspaper? An exploration of this idea could make an excellent basis for your final video project. It's up to you. I want you to choose to focus on the things that matter to you in these posts, and to continue to be specific about your descriptions and memories.
Saving the kitten was one of the most memorable and frustrating things I've done in recent memory! Our first trap didn't work because the kitten could push his way out and the second was too big to fit through the sewer drain so we had to use a crowbar to lift the grate which was pretty heavy. My mom told me the full story after I asked her about the lawsuit and it's a lot less exciting than it sounds. It was phrased as kidnapping by my dad but my mom was just trying to run away from my dad in the middle of the night with her kids (which sounds pretty bad too).
Just saw this response. You guys really took time to figure out how to rescue the kitten. As far as the kidnapping story, I suppose you should only write about it if you're still trying to puzzle out what it means. Just know that from an outside perspective, it's dramatic and intriguing.
Props on your story about saving the kitten, It tells me that you are a really compassionate person who is genuine. Graduation is one of my all time favorite albums - it's actually amazing how every song can still apply to 2018, a decade after it's been released. I've never watched the Disaster Artist but after watching the trailer i might give it a try.
I really like the name Brucie for the cat since its very clever. and blends both the cat's history and appearance. I am also a huge fan of modern supercars and I visit the international auto show in New York every year and was able to see the McLaren P1 as well as many others. I also found it interesting of how you were able to find more information that you didn't know about yourself through googling your own name.
I find it pretty crazy that you googled yourself, and found all this information that you didn't know, I once googled myself and all that comes up is deals on trips to Cabo San Lucas. It's also pretty cool that you went out of your way to save a stray cat like that, not a lot of people would even consider doing that.
I was never really creative or good at writing. I found out however that I do enjoy editing and making videos. Unfortunately my least favorite part of that is doing the voice over, however writing about topics I'm interested is more fun than I anticipated. I came into the class with low expectations because English was one of my least favorite languages. Writing about anything was difficult and often took me a while to get a substantial amount. Throughout my college career most of the writing I had done was lab reports or academic papers. I believe 3 years of academic writing made being creative that much harder for this class. I started being very critical of my writing, and looking back now overly critical. I would write something or come up with an idea and scrap it because I thought I ran out of things to talk about or didn't think it was interesting. The writing exercises where we just kept writing helped a lot with this. I also realized that I hadn't physically writte...
*Diner music* Scene opens. Jingling of a door, dishes, diner chatter, and bell sounds throughout scene Kemper Gimme 2 eggs sunny side up, on toast. A hashbrown. Hmmm.and 2 pancakes, with butter and syrup on the side. I think that’s it. Wait! Can I get your number too- Bill “-Hello--don’t give him your number, he’s really not worth your time-” Kemper “What the hell? What are you doing here?” Bill “Can I sit down?” Kemper “Why are you here? No. No you can’tsit down” *clothing ruffles, chair movements” “Stop, stop. Get up. Get out. Leave me alone” Bill “I just want to ask you a couple of questions. I’ll leave after.” Kemper “Woah there shortstack, I’ve served my time. Haven’t done anything since. Else I wouldn’t be able to sit at this diner. Or see that waitress…. Anyway, I’m not under arrest, I don’t have to answer nothing” Bill “If you haven't done anything you wouldn't mind answering my questions then would you...
Dear Sam,
ReplyDeletePlease never post another video of a crying kitten again! I am kidding, of course, I could watch videos like that all day, but only if they have good endings (this one does). But the same care that your family took in luring the kitten out to save him reminds me a bit of your earlier story of your mom and her patience and disassembling and assembling a bicycle for you. That scene right there says more about your mom than anything else, and it also reveals something about you--that you remember it, and see it exactly for the act of love that is was, shows that you have compassion. Compassion and empathy are two of the most important components of being a writer; it means that you have the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and explore what s/he might be going through. I like too that you mentioned your early story about the kidnapping. What was it like to uncover the story of something that happened to you as told via the newspaper? An exploration of this idea could make an excellent basis for your final video project. It's up to you. I want you to choose to focus on the things that matter to you in these posts, and to continue to be specific about your descriptions and memories.
Saving the kitten was one of the most memorable and frustrating things I've done in recent memory! Our first trap didn't work because the kitten could push his way out and the second was too big to fit through the sewer drain so we had to use a crowbar to lift the grate which was pretty heavy. My mom told me the full story after I asked her about the lawsuit and it's a lot less exciting than it sounds. It was phrased as kidnapping by my dad but my mom was just trying to run away from my dad in the middle of the night with her kids (which sounds pretty bad too).
DeleteJust saw this response. You guys really took time to figure out how to rescue the kitten. As far as the kidnapping story, I suppose you should only write about it if you're still trying to puzzle out what it means. Just know that from an outside perspective, it's dramatic and intriguing.
DeleteProps on your story about saving the kitten, It tells me that you are a really compassionate person who is genuine. Graduation is one of my all time favorite albums - it's actually amazing how every song can still apply to 2018, a decade after it's been released. I've never watched the Disaster Artist but after watching the trailer i might give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI really like the name Brucie for the cat since its very clever. and blends both the cat's history and appearance. I am also a huge fan of modern supercars and I visit the international auto show in New York every year and was able to see the McLaren P1 as well as many others. I also found it interesting of how you were able to find more information that you didn't know about yourself through googling your own name.
ReplyDeleteI find it pretty crazy that you googled yourself, and found all this information that you didn't know, I once googled myself and all that comes up is deals on trips to Cabo San Lucas. It's also pretty cool that you went out of your way to save a stray cat like that, not a lot of people would even consider doing that.
ReplyDelete