Flowers for Algernon
What does intelligence have to do with memory?
If I try to measure my intelligence by my memory, I would be horribly dim. My mind is like a sieve, in many ways. I look at books and write about them, but if I haven’t looked at a book for a week, I wouldn’t be able to write about it. After a month, I couldn’t tell you ten facts about it. Some have accused me of brilliance, but they don’t realize that I’m nothing without continual nurture. I hate going back and forth with “where, where” as the custom requires us to show humility, however false, so I just smile and say nothing. Think I’m a pompous ass? No, just a lazy one.
What lies ahead troubles me, daily. Will I be able to cope or will I sink under the mire of pressure because the curriculum was designed for geniuses, not dim-dumbs like me? Challenges excite me, too much depresses me. Most of all, I fear going under people’s expectations. For example: Suppose you meet a ball, it’s shiny and round. After you get to know the ball better, you realize it doesn’t bounce, and has flaws on the surface, just like any other ball. You would dismiss it more because it’s good points are the ones you anticipated and saw in the first place, but it’s flaws have let you down so you think less of it then ordinary balls because you thought at first to admire it and it was lower than your expectations, though not substantially, enough to make you discard it. Continual brilliance is not my thing, making a good first impression is. It’s a horrible flaw. I aim to please anyone I meet, but I hate doing it. I’m just smile and no talk, or talk and no action. It’s not completely sincere because the reason behind all the smiles is the agenda of not being punched in the face or pushed aside. I know ordinary people don’t punch complete strangers in the face, but I want to live every opportunity to meet new people to the full, because I believe everyone has great potential and good qualities in them that might make awesome friends, and by attracting them in the first round, I will have more opportunities and get to know them better later on.
It makes me angry that a girl would dismiss a guy so readily just because he didn’t match her expectations of a ‘good-looking match’. People cannot choose how they look, though they can choose a little how they look in the long run. A cruel person will look cruel when he/she is forty, a kind person will look kind vice versa. As teenagers, we can’t tell. So don’t diss someone on first sight, you might have lost a wonderful friend and created an enemy.
The fact that popular teen-magazines endorse such behavior is very disturbing.
From Cosmogirl.com's guyblog:
Worst. Date. Ever.
We've all had dating mishaps at some point, and in the moment it might seem like the world is ending, but once it is all said and done, it makes for a funny story. One of the WORST dates that I have ever been on was actually my junior prom. I went to a very small all-girls high school and for me, meeting guys was more like a search; I didn't just have them right at my fingertips.
Well because I had no guys that I could convince to go with me, I took the initiative and made a phone call to this random guy (the best friend of a friend's friend) exactly one week before the event. Sure, my heart was racing and my palms were sweating when I made that phone call, but I knew it was something that I had to do and I was glad when he agreed to go with me.
BIG MISTAKE!! The night of prom, I see this 6' 3" (which is a foot taller than me) scrawny kid with braces walk up to my front porch. All I wanted to do was hide and pretend that I was sick, but my parents wouldn't let me. After all, he was doing me a favor. I didn't talk much the whole night. I just sat and listened to him blab on about his aspirations to be a pilot. We had nothing in common, so let's just say the conversation was lacking. Since I didn't know he was going to be a giant (well next to me that is) I wore shoes with only small heels, and when it came time to dance, he literally had to pick me up to dance with me! The date ended with him dropping me off at my door and us never talking again.
Yes, it was pretty awful, but now whenever I'm on a date that seems bad, I just think about the prom guy and it all seems better (P.S. I ended up dating his friend my senior year!). What about you: have you ever gone on a date with some guy you didn't know too well and it turned out to be a disaster? Tell us what happened!
XO, Trish, Features Intern (and guest blogger)
7/21/2005 10:28:00 AM
If I try to measure my intelligence by my memory, I would be horribly dim. My mind is like a sieve, in many ways. I look at books and write about them, but if I haven’t looked at a book for a week, I wouldn’t be able to write about it. After a month, I couldn’t tell you ten facts about it. Some have accused me of brilliance, but they don’t realize that I’m nothing without continual nurture. I hate going back and forth with “where, where” as the custom requires us to show humility, however false, so I just smile and say nothing. Think I’m a pompous ass? No, just a lazy one.
What lies ahead troubles me, daily. Will I be able to cope or will I sink under the mire of pressure because the curriculum was designed for geniuses, not dim-dumbs like me? Challenges excite me, too much depresses me. Most of all, I fear going under people’s expectations. For example: Suppose you meet a ball, it’s shiny and round. After you get to know the ball better, you realize it doesn’t bounce, and has flaws on the surface, just like any other ball. You would dismiss it more because it’s good points are the ones you anticipated and saw in the first place, but it’s flaws have let you down so you think less of it then ordinary balls because you thought at first to admire it and it was lower than your expectations, though not substantially, enough to make you discard it. Continual brilliance is not my thing, making a good first impression is. It’s a horrible flaw. I aim to please anyone I meet, but I hate doing it. I’m just smile and no talk, or talk and no action. It’s not completely sincere because the reason behind all the smiles is the agenda of not being punched in the face or pushed aside. I know ordinary people don’t punch complete strangers in the face, but I want to live every opportunity to meet new people to the full, because I believe everyone has great potential and good qualities in them that might make awesome friends, and by attracting them in the first round, I will have more opportunities and get to know them better later on.
It makes me angry that a girl would dismiss a guy so readily just because he didn’t match her expectations of a ‘good-looking match’. People cannot choose how they look, though they can choose a little how they look in the long run. A cruel person will look cruel when he/she is forty, a kind person will look kind vice versa. As teenagers, we can’t tell. So don’t diss someone on first sight, you might have lost a wonderful friend and created an enemy.
The fact that popular teen-magazines endorse such behavior is very disturbing.
From Cosmogirl.com's guyblog:
Worst. Date. Ever.
We've all had dating mishaps at some point, and in the moment it might seem like the world is ending, but once it is all said and done, it makes for a funny story. One of the WORST dates that I have ever been on was actually my junior prom. I went to a very small all-girls high school and for me, meeting guys was more like a search; I didn't just have them right at my fingertips.
Well because I had no guys that I could convince to go with me, I took the initiative and made a phone call to this random guy (the best friend of a friend's friend) exactly one week before the event. Sure, my heart was racing and my palms were sweating when I made that phone call, but I knew it was something that I had to do and I was glad when he agreed to go with me.
BIG MISTAKE!! The night of prom, I see this 6' 3" (which is a foot taller than me) scrawny kid with braces walk up to my front porch. All I wanted to do was hide and pretend that I was sick, but my parents wouldn't let me. After all, he was doing me a favor. I didn't talk much the whole night. I just sat and listened to him blab on about his aspirations to be a pilot. We had nothing in common, so let's just say the conversation was lacking. Since I didn't know he was going to be a giant (well next to me that is) I wore shoes with only small heels, and when it came time to dance, he literally had to pick me up to dance with me! The date ended with him dropping me off at my door and us never talking again.
Yes, it was pretty awful, but now whenever I'm on a date that seems bad, I just think about the prom guy and it all seems better (P.S. I ended up dating his friend my senior year!). What about you: have you ever gone on a date with some guy you didn't know too well and it turned out to be a disaster? Tell us what happened!
XO, Trish, Features Intern (and guest blogger)
7/21/2005 10:28:00 AM
posted by Mignon Chang at 11:56 PM
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