For the upcoming midterm evaluation, I would like to reference three of my past blogs in which I felt the most joyful when writing them. The chances to write a story in collaboration with my own imagination and course materials has been a joyful yet educational experience.

The first blog I would like to present is my introduction blog to the course. The blog itself introduces me as a person and my reason to be in this course – to graduate and fulfill my last requirement.

The first blog can be found here : https://blogs.ubc.ca/haipeihuang/2020/01/10/haipeis-engl-372-blog/

The second blog I would like to present is my “Evil? Where did it come from” blog. The course materials related to this blog inspired me to think deep within and seek for an answer to the question “where does evil come from”. It was an interesting read and a creative piece to write.

The second blog can be found here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/haipeihuang/2020/01/23/evil-where-did-it-come-from/

The last blog I would like to present is by far my favorite out of the three. The concept of home is different from each of our perspectives, yet, they share the similarity of attachment. If I was to ask the same question again in a few years to myself, I wonder if I would still come to the same conclusion.

The third blog can be found here : https://blogs.ubc.ca/haipeihuang/2020/01/28/home/

U.S. Army ROTC Joint Training|Parris Island, South Carolina

First Platoon Barracks|June 11th, 2013    2059 Hours

I sat quietly in my barracks with Sgt. Johnson, SSgt. Williams, and Cpl. Jock waiting for the clock to strike 2100 hours.

“LIGHTS OUT! GET IN YOUR CRIBS AND GET SOME SHUT EYE” Sgt. Johnson sounded off.

“TOMORROW WILL BE YOUR BIG DAY. IM SURE YOU ALL KNOW TOMORROW AS THE LAST DAY OF JOINT TRAINING. THOSE OF YOU WHO DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP WILL BE THE ONES WHO CAN BRING YOUR MEN HOME AT THE END OF EVERYTHING!” SSgt. Williams emphasized.

I sat in the dark silently. The scrambling sounds in the barracked paired with the Sergeants screaming at the top of their lungs somehow made it harmonious together. Much like the scattering sound of the dishes paired with your mom yelling at you about how you never done well in school.

What is home? I wonder. As an immigrant who lived in Canada, United States, what is home for me? As a U.S. Army Reserved Officer, is the military my home? Perhaps are these man my family? It has always been a confusing concept for me as I went on the first round of night watch with my M4 cabin rifle. Pacing silently, but alerted until my battle buddy takes my shift.

U.S. Army ROTC Joint Training|Parris Island, South Carolina

Amphibious Survival Course|June 12th, 2013    0600 Hours

“I WANT YOU ALL TO TAKE OFF YOUR ACU PANTS RIGHT NOW. TIE A KNOT AT EACH LEG. HOLD OPEN THE WAIST AREA AND JUMP INTO THE WATER WITH YOUR BATTLE BUDDY. NOW I WILL DEMONSTRATE” – Lt. Cox instructed as he jumped in to the freezing water at 6 am in the morning.

The pants-less LT somehow magically turned his uniform pants into a floating device. The two legs acted as pillars to hold his head up in water as he swam around.

“YOU TWO! WHAT ARE YOU MAGGOTS WAITING FOR? YOUR GRANDMA WASN’T EVEN AS SCARED AS YOU TWO KNUCKLEHEADS WHEN SHE WAS HERE” – Lt. Cox insulted while stared at me and my battle buddy.

Me and my battle buddy jumped in the water as we were told, holding out pants above our heads. I went in water first and successfully deployed our “self-made” flotation device and as I surfaced I started to look for my battle buddy, Jock. Unfortunately, Jock’s pants did not work as a flotation device and due to his poor amphibious training (he was never a swimming guy), he struggled to keep his head above water.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR??!! GO HELP YOUR BATTLE BUDDY” – Lt. Cox

Dumbfounded and shocked, I swam towards Jock and lifted his head out of the water. As I swam towards the bay with my battle buddy on top of me, LT thought it would be a wise idea to have a mathematical pop quiz.

“WHAT IS 3 TIMES 8 Corporal?!” – Asked violently by Lt. Cox.

“Twen….Twenty…Twenty One, Sir” – Cpl. Jock could barely keep his speech together.

As a result, Cpl. Jock was not able to complete the final phase of the training and had no choice but withdrew his application. He was sent “home”.

However, I felt like with him and other brother-in-arms around me, I almost felt like I never left home. I was not particularly close with my Dad and Mom as they immigrated to the United States while I was a baby. Home has always been an abstract idea of safety and warmth to me. It is almost as if it was an imaginary concept. Sure, I have parents and blood related family, but I felt most at home when I ate, slept, trained, studied with America’s finest group of young man. I felt comfortable, in place, safe, and cared for. Despite the constant yelling, running, training, eating. Despite the wet clothes, long night marches, sickening South Carolina rain. Despite all these, I felt like the uniform I wore was a part of me. I felt like those other young man in uniform are connected to me on a spiritual level. A level of connection that I did not share with my family.

Home, to me, is where the person right next to you will do anything in their power to keep you safe.

Grab your hot chocolate. Grab your blankets. Grab somebody, because you are going on a ride with me through imagination land to look for the root of EVIL.

Randy was just strolling around the block on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Listening to his favorite tunes from Armin Van Bureen, all of a sudden everything he sees became brighter, brighter, brighter and eventually everything was so white he entered this realm of blank whiteness.

In the middle of this boundless sea of white he sees a globe like spherical shape floating a few feet away from him. Curiosity kills a cat? Maybe.

Randy walked up to the globe, rubbed his eyes, and interestingly enough he notices there are tiny little man and woman living on one side of the globe. The population was living harmoniously. Men would go hunting and fishing, while the women stayed at camp in their tents to take care of the toddlers and the elderly. Occasionally, the women would go pick berries and knit dry grass into hats. Randy smiled from deep within and thought to himself : “everything is so beautiful on this planet. People are loving each other. Everyone is happy. I wonder what else is on the other side of this globe.”

Randy turned the globe in hope to see another beautiful, harmonious community, but he was deeply disappointing. On the other side of the globe, he saw murder, war, rape and robbery. War planes thundered above the concrete jungle underneath and left a sea of fire behind. Military Generals were giving out orders on top of a pile of skeletons. A child was crying for her mom, who was buried under a mountain of fallen bricks from the previously bombed building. It was horrifying. Randy felt scared, and he turned the globe once again.

This time around a river was in front of Randy. The rolling water and occasional jumping of fishes filled Randy’s heart with sunshine. The thick treeline on both sides of the river provided excellent cover for the two rival armies. Spear heads and swords reflected the lively sunlight into Randy’s eyes as the river turned red.

“NO” Randy shouted and attempted to use his own hands to divide the fighting armies.

All of a sudden, the killing stopped. The soldiers of the fighting armies looked at each other, then diverted their focus onto the God like Randy and his gigantic hands in the river. Eyes filled with rage and glowing red, the tiny soldiers decided to team up on Randy.

The enemies lifted each other up and climbed onto Randy’s arm. Some fired tiny arrows into his eyes, and some used ropes to tie down Randy’s hands as the tiny soldiers ran up Randy’s arm onto his head. Randy was soon covered in tiny soldiers. Much like the scene where a million ants climbs onto a human. Soon enough, Randy started to bleed out of control and collapsed beside the magical globe.

The globe finished his story. A story once been told that can never be untold. So, be careful of the stories your tell, and most importantly, the stories you listen to.

Reflection:

This assignment is unique in a way that it allowed me to construct a fictional character going into fictional world but witnessing real historical events. In my story I referenced the first settlers in North America under a hunter and gathering society, World War II Germany, and finally the Bloody Battle of Hun River during the Ming Dynasty in China. Of course, some of you might have noticed that Randy is a reference to God. In this story, Randy attempted to end all evil but unfortunately evil over ran him.

This was an very interesting and fun assignment. I enjoyed writing this story.

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

” Hello everyone this is Average Dude 604 and welcome back to my blog!”

Surprisingly, that is something I would actually say as a introduction of my videos on my YouTube Channel back when I was actively producing contents around sneaker culture.

Hello everyone, My name is Haipei and believe it or not I am a 7th year UBC student who is trying to finish his last 6 credits to get his degree. I dropped out of school in 2017 to pursuit a career in banking and investments. Fast forward to 2020, I have finally reached that point where your Asian parents are acknowledging that your decision to drop out of school was correct but morally kidnaps you to finish your degree. So here I am, in this class, trying to fulfill my literature requirement. How exciting and fascinating.

And no, I did not mention YouTube so I can get more subscribers, but here is a visual of my channel and the link to it to satisfy part of the “at least two hyperlinks and a visual” requirement:

https://www.youtube.com/averagedude604

Now since we have gotten that self advertisement out of the way, lets talk about this course.

To be honest, none of the course readings sparks any interest in me making me wanting to find out more about the topic. Not to say that the course materials are irrelevant or de-valuing it in anyway. For example, I can go on and on about banking, investments, charts, candle sticks, ratios, financial statements, and I am sure I can put some of you in this class to sleep with those topics. However, I am open and interested in learning new perspectives on subjects that I have never touched before such as “Get the Most From Word Press.com” over at:

learn.wordpress.com

At the end of our first blog I would just like to add that it is a blessing to be working with all of you online. Even if we have not met in person, the connections and perspectives from this group will for sure enlighten some of my views and perhaps maybe even add in a few new ideas!

P.S. If you are just so curious and couldn’t resist on clicking into my Facebook profile and notice that I am also a club promoter? What on earth? Yes, I am a banker in Scotia Wealth Management and yes I am also a club promoter. Have a brilliant and fun weekend everyone 🙂