Blog 10

Over my thanksgiving break, I consumed a lot of food.  I missed home food so much that I spent most of my break eating out at my favorite places and having my mom’s food. They say when people go to college they often get freshmen fifteen. I ate a lot of turkey or hokie I guess.  I got to see my friends back home and we spent a lot of time together. I went black Friday shopping with my friend after thanksgiving and it was horrible. Every year people get ready for this so called special event whether they wait or camp out. I went to the mall and it was so crowded that people couldn’t even move. I kid you not when the stores opened the whole mob of people flooded in and didn’t care about anything else in the world except shopping. They even ran over the machine thing at the front of the shops that beep when someone takes an item out. I’m guessing it was crushed and trampled to bits and people didn’t even notice or care. Everyone’s out for themselves once they get in the stores.  I actually saw two people doing the tug of war thing over an item, a pretty ridiculous sight. I’m also pretty sure that I saw someone either lightly hit or punch someone else when they were fighting over an item. I didn’t really want to go but my friend was pretty excited. Seeing people act ridiculously during black Friday shopping is enough reason enough to not go. Instead of this ridiculous event resulting in physical pain, why don’t people just stay home with family, that sounds like a much more pleasing idea.  I also heard something about the largest traffic jam in Texas or something regarding black Friday. People can be ridiculously scary sometimes; I guess when it comes to selfish desires. People can and did get seriously hurt because of black Friday events. I don’t even know why we still have it. I mean cheap prices are always great but is it worth it I wonder. Or maybe the people who came up with the black Friday idea did it just for kicks and wanted to see people act like animals. I am glad to say I would rather not go black Friday shopping ever, ide rather much spend my time doing something else. Not to say that it’s a bad thing or anything, but that watching people act this way is a bit disturbing.  Needless to say, its still an interesting experience one way or another.

Blog 9

The weather here in Blacksburg has been quite enjoyable lately. I say this because I despise the heat. I hate summer and would much more prefer having winter all the time. I actually saw snow fall in October which is amazing because I don’t see enough snow back in northern Virginia. And I loveee the snow. It didn’t snow nearly enough as I wanted but just the sight was enough to make me happy. The cold weather fits October and Halloween very well. I saw a lot of people in costumes and got a lot of candy. At my club, they played the horror movie called the grudge. I have the seen the movie before when I was little. Although the first time I watched it I could take a shower, sleep, or just do anything alone for a while. I think it was ranked in the top scariest horror movies. My roommate and I slept that day with the lights on.  Just the sight of a girl in a white dress and long black hair over her head freaks me out tremendously. This image has become like the epitome of horror though, and is likely to be seen in about every Asian horror movie. Other than the whole October and horror mood I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am very much excited to see my family and eat plenty of turkey and mashed potatoes. I thought that Virginia tech would celebrate Thanksgiving a lot since their mascot is a turkey, which I could never understand. Why would they pick a turkey of all things to be their mascot, and why did they even give it a new name. Why name it a hokie, where did that even come from, it’s a turkey. That said I am very much looking forward to feasting on our mascot. My friend who attends VCU loves to cook and said that she would cook the whole Thanksgiving meal. I love her food and can’t to see her again and can’t wait to have her food again. Winter has got to be the best season having all the best holidays such as these and the best of all Christmas. I wonder if it’ll be a white Christmas this year, Blacksburg already got snow which I find surprising since in NOVA we don’t really get a lot of snow. Besides the year when we all got like seven feet of snow, that was the best year ever. Thanksgiving break is really exciting and I can’t wait for it to come but now I can’t help but be even more excited for winter break.

Blog 8

Even though Halloween is passed, I heard a lot of scary stories and want to share them. I think this one might be the scariest one I’ve heard so far.

Caution you are about to read a scary story. If you don’t like scary stories then do not read.

A middle aged man didn’t have a place to stay for the night so he decided to stop by a nearby hotel and book a room there. When he went to the lady at the desk he asked for a room to stay in for the night. The lady took his money and got out the key for his room. They talked for a little bit and she said “alright lemme just get the key for your room.” Right before she handed him the key, she paused with her hand clutching the keys while hovering over his. She looked him in the eye and said

“Do not ever go into room 113.”

After she said this she dropped the keys into the man’s hands and told him his room was 115. He took the keys and stuffed them in his pocket and went on his way to find his room. As he walked through the hallway he saw room 112 and saw room 113 approaching. He walked slower a bit and hesitated as he began to become more and more curious about the room. “I wonder why she told me to stay away from the room... He thought to himself. With curiosity getting the best of him he decided to walk towards the door of the room. “I really shouldn’t...” he thought to himself as he backed away. “Okay I won’t open it ill just take a peek,” he said. He went up closer to the door and crouched down a bit so that he was eyelevel to the peep hole. He pushed his face closer the door and squinted a bit to look through it. Through the peep hole, all he could see was white. There was nothing in the room; it was painted completely white with no furniture or anything. “That’s weird,” he thought, “There’s nothing even in here.” As he scanned the room to the best of his ability through the tiny peep hole, he saw something in the way back corner of the room. He focused his sight on that one thing and realized that a little girl in a white dress and long straight black hair was sitting on the ground in the corner with her back facing him. “Why is a little girl all alone in this room,” he thought. He started a bit realizing that the hallway clock chimed telling him that is was midnight. “I better get going he thought and headed for his room to sleep.

The next day the man woke up and decided to head downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. He passed room 114 and remembered about room 113. With his curiosity getting the best of him again he decided to look through the peep hole again. As he crouched back down again he expected to see the same exact thing he saw yesterday, pure whiteness and a small girl in the corner, but instead he saw pure red. He was surprised he continued looking through the peep hole to find any spot of whiteness or the girl but he didn’t see anything. All he saw was red. Just the color red. He gave up when his stomach grumbled and went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Right when he was about to head for the kitchen he saw the lady at the desk. He got worried about the little girl so he decided to ask her about it.

“Hey” he said.

“Hello” the lady countered.

“I just took a look in room 113 through the peep hole because I was curious but the little girl that was in there before was gone. Do you know what happened to her?” he asked.

The lady just sat there looking at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Then after a pause she spoke in a voice just a little above a whisper.

You do know….. that that little girl….

has red eyes.

Blog 7

I was watching some videos on YouTube and somehow I stumbled upon some Dr. Phil videos.  I came across an hour and a half long video of a girl who was kidnapped by a much older man for about a decade. She told her story to Dr. Phil and the audience about the time she got kidnapped and after when she escaped.  She was fourteen years old when she first met the guy who kidnapped her.  He worked at her school and the time when she skipped a class he made a move on her. After that move they just met up more often and she began falling in love with him. She also didn’t have good relations with her family in the first place either. She said that her father never shown her any attention and that he was always occupied with a girlfriend. She said that the man made her feel special and wanted, something that she never got from her family.  The man devised a plan for her to run away from home and live with him instead. She was still young and depressed so she did go with him.  In about a week in at living with him she said that he claimed that he owned her and started to sexually attack her.  The fear and hurt that he put into her forced her to stay with him and surrender to him. He became like a god figure to him. He became a person that no matter what she could not disobey and go against. So she could never run away and the farthest she ever went was to the bus stop. She was forced to stay in a small bedroom and could only use a bucket to relieve herself and tried her best to collect toilet paper whenever she could. Even when she got extremely sick she couldn’t go see a doctor since she could never leave the house. She said that she even had to memorize the steps to take so that she wouldn’t make any creak sounds through the floor. She was just brainwashed from such a young age that she just couldn’t rebel or run away. He always told her that no one misses her and that no one’s looking for her. He just told her that she was the only one that cared and that he saved her from her depressing life and that he gave her life and that she should be grateful.  One day she just broke down and spilled her heart out to someone and he helped her escape. She called for help and they came and with that she was free.  She was brave enough to share her story with an audience but the memories still haunt and torture her.

Photo Reflection Essay

Emily Ham

English 1105

October 11, 2012

Sister Complex

The wood chips pelted me as my eyes began to sting. Blindly, I fled to avoid the showering of wood chips that continued to hit me. Tears obstructed my vision, but I ran as far and as fast as I could from my attackers. I suddenly hit a tree with full force and was thrown backwards. The burning sensation of the tree bark imprinted onto my face and the hot blood trickled down my forehead. As I struggled to get up I heard shouts draw closer. The shouts brought relief as my sister appeared and chucked wood chips and any other object she could find at my attackers. The two boys ran away as she grabbed my seven year old hand to pick me up, and carried me home on her warm back. I snuggled my face into her neck, closed my eyes and allowed my body to be flooded with comfort and pride that she was my sister. I wished for the loving and warm moments such as this one to last forever.

In the same playground where I was assaulted, there was a massive tree where my sister and I would pretend that it was our home.  Every day for nearly the entire day we would scamper off to the playground running as fast as our underdeveloped legs could carry us.  We would mash up a variety of berries we scavenged for and pretend cook with them. The playground was like my little haven that had everything I ever needed. The old and rusty tire swing was by far my favorite part of the playground. My legs were tucked securely underneath the tire as I waited patiently for takeoff. Once I had my fragile seven year old arms firmly grasping the rattling chains holding the tire, I would give a quick nod and wide smile towards my sister. Placing her stronger eleven year old arms beneath the tire, she would lift me and run around in a circle. With a strong thrust, she would let go and watch me laughing almost maniacally with my short hair dancing and my dress blowing through the wind. The feeling will never leave me, how the crisp air and winds tickled my face and the dry and musky scent of mulch filled the air. The chains which help the tire would creak loudly and groan harshly due to my weight as I enjoyed every little screech and squeal.   We would talk for hours on the bright neon orange colored swing set. The brightness of it never ceased to blind me and only intensified in the shines of sunlight.  I would always burn myself through the friction of rapidly sliding down the slides trying to beat my sister in a race. The playground was small and didn’t have much to offer, but to me it had my whole world.

Unfortunately, I never took a picture of the playground, but there was a small forest area right next to it.  My sister and I would go on journeys pretending that we were some travelers or explorers as we would wander inside the forest and rejoice when we got though. The photo shows what is beyond the forest, behind it and the playground. There would be a lake on the other side and during winters we would walk on top of it and pretend to ice-skate. I remember loving my sister more than anything in the world. I did everything with her and stuck to her like glue. I would always take a picture with her with the same expression every time. My teeth on full display clenched hard from happiness and my eyes tightly closed shut as my nose would scrunch up. I would always be grabbing her and never letting go. She always kept a clam countenance with her usual simple wink and some type of hand motion.  The photo reminds me of my past where everything was once so pure and innocent, including my sister.  We were like the perfect sisters and I saw her as my hero and role model. As we grew up we became more distant and less affectionate, but looking at this photo will always remind me of all the good times we’ve had.