Saturday, August 28, 2010

Common elements In Creation Myths


"A myth is the projection of a culture's soul" which some people believe is true. This explains how different cultural myths can connect with one another. Many cultures have creation myths which are unique to their identity, but at the same time contain common themes of creators, nothing and a cosmic egg. This is amazing due to the facts of creating the world.

A common element in many myths is that there were creators. For example, the Chinese myth created the world for us to live in. Also the Egyptian myth created the world by having gods to create different parts of the world. Therefore it can be said that even though these myth are from different places, and times, there are some kind of connection between them.

Another common element is nothing. In the beginning of many myths there was nothing. For example in the Chinese myth of Phan-Ku there was nothing except for a cosmic egg. This also relates to the Egyptian myth where it started of with nothing except for a swirl. This proves that people in other countries, with different thinking can share the same idea.

A similar element in many myths is a start from a cosmic egg. for example in the Chinese myth it starts of with a cosmic egg. This is related to another Chinese myth that talks about a cosmic hen's egg instead. As we can see, many elements in myths started from a cosmic egg and then became more organized even though the places are not so far always even if both of the stories are told in China.

Many cultures have creation myths which have themes that are common such as creators, nothing and a cosmic egg. These are the things that all myths have in common. This was based on what people saw in the past and even more excited when it is past down from generation to generations.

As Paul Ricoeur said " But myth is something else than an explanation of the world, of history, and of destiny."


Picture URL: http://interacc.typepad.com/.a/6a01053596fb28970c0112790e10c128a4-pi

Thursday, August 19, 2010

What's in a Name?





Well, well, well. In every grade, in the mist of the third week of school the humanities teacher always want to know what your name means and where it comes from. I think that this will turn up every year from experience. The reason why I like to scrutinize about my name is because I always get something new from my parent’s about my name. This is my chance to figure out the juicy details that my parent’s will tell me about my name. It’s now my chance. I’m hitting the road to tell you about my name.

Let’s begin!

It all began on a sunny Sunday, when I was just born. It took my father months to figure out a name for me before I was even born. This was a tough decision for my father. Since my mother named my brothers starting with an M, it was my father’s turn to choose my name starting with a P. I think it was fair for my father to choose my name. When I was born my father still didn’t come up with a name for me. Then my mother had a back up plan in case my father couldn’t think of a name for me. My name means pearl in Greek and in Welsh too. My mother named me after an actor playing a role in the Melrose show. She thought it was a petty name for a girl. Since the actor was nice and kind she thought it would be a great name for me. This was then my name became Megan. My parents then realised that me and my brothers all start with M and end with an N just like my mother’s name. My mother chose all our first name so it was my father who chose our middle names. This was how my middle name was formed.

I and my brothers’ middle name are in Chinese. Of course some people thing it’s weird to have a Chinese name which they can’t pronounce but I think it's cute because my middle name mean daddy heart. My middle name is Feixin as in daddy heart if you say it in Chinese. I like my middle name because it's easy to pronounce and my middle name really describes me. Daddy's heart. I love my dad a lot so it's a perfect name for me. This really is a special middle name because I love my father very much.

I love all my names. It represents who I am and how it suits me. The reason I like my first name is because it unique just like me, gentle, and beautiful in my own way. Every pearl has there own way in being gentle with others, unique with different colors and beautiful because it shiny and sparkly. I guess everyone has an impact in there name but for me I think my name is easy to remember and also easy to say. I really don’t care if people misspell my name because in everyone name some people will spell your name wrong. I guess it's OK if they spell my name wrong starting with an H, such a Meghan. I really don’t mind because Megan and Meghan sound the same except one has an H in it. as long as they say it right I'm fine. Now it's on to my last name.

Of course everyone in the world has a last name even if it's a made up or one that come from your great great ancestors. Well my last name came from a city named Zhao in China. My last name is Chew but in Chinese its means Zhao. During the Zhou dynasty from 1001-947 b.c. was the year the Zhou dynasty was made and my last name is from the city of Zhao. Now the city of Zhou is no longer here, in the present it is called the province of Shanxi. In my last name there's not a lot of information to dig out but it excellent I know where it came from.
It's a lot of information you could learn about your first name, middle name and sort of your last name. I think it unique how each name symbolizes how a person is just like my name. My name means pearl in Greek and in Welsh so it sort of unique because not a lot of people have the name Megan in the world. Well that's what the Internet says, but during my 12 years of living I've know about 5 Megan's. You can really learn a lot from your name.

URL:
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

My Bag





10 things in my bag is a coin box, a sketch book, a grasshopper, a camera, a wayside school book, a mad lib, a treasure box, a climbing metal, a Ds and a piano book.

This first things I would like to start of with is my coin box on the left hand side. This coin box is very special to me. It was giving to me by my god-ma. She would say, whenever you get a penny with the year 1998 on it, keep it. At first I did not know why it would be so special to me if I kept pennies that had the year 1998 on it. 1998 was the year I was born, so I guess it was something special. I thought the idea of getting a penny and putting it a coin box was weird but later on in the years ad I started to collect pennies, I realise that it was really special to me. I would collect a lot of pennies in Canada and my god-ma would always give me something such as another penny. This was special because I got this when I was 8. Ever since then I would keep pennies but when I moved here I stop collecting pennies because in Kuala Lumpur there are no pennies. It was really special to me because every time I looked at the coin box it reminded me of my god-ma. Where so far away and even though sometimes I don’t remember who was special to me I would always look at the coin box and remember how far we are away from each other but still have a warm heart by not forgetting her. My next important object is my sketch book.

I chose to put in a sketch book because whenever I’m bored or unhappy I would always draw in my sketch book. Ever since I was a little girl I would always draw cartoons whenever I didn’t have homework or have something to do. This sketch book has a lot of memories because even though I’m not the best at drawing I still like drawing. I like to improve my drawing sometimes as much as I can. When I look at my drawings from 2nd grade it was really bad compare to now. Since I’ve been at ISKL I’ve learn a lot of skills and techniques now, then when I was in my old school. In ISKL I’ve learn many things. I’ve learn to make objects with wire, clay, paper and more. I like art and drawing because it’s a great way for me to learn the skill I need to become a better drawer. My favourite thing is drawing in my sketch book because when I draw before making things it helps me improve and know what I’m doing before I make anything. The thing I especially like doing is drawing cartoon because you can make them look cute or funny and when you mess up you could just erases it. This is my favourite thing to do when I’m bored or unhappy.

On the top is a treasure box. This treasure box holds a lot of memories of when I was in Canada. During the school year I and my friends would always write notes to each other in class. This was a habit that happened during 4th grade. Whenever my friends wrote a note to me I would put it in this treasure box that my mom drew for me. This treasure box represents friendship and love. It represents friendship because when I left Canada there was a lot of note that I had so instead of keeping all the note I decided to put them in a book, and also this represent love because my mom made it for me and my mom is a really important person in my life. She’s the hot summer days that I love. Inside the treasure box has many things not only notes but special things that I keep. I keep things that are special to me, well because it a treasure box and a treasure box is suppose to be treasured.

The next thing is on top of my treasure box. This is a grasshopper. Since I now live in Malaysia one of my dad’s friends, daughter gave me a grasshopper which she bought it somewhere. I thought it was really pretty because since my dad's friend daughter gave it to me it consider that we are friends to. I know them for about 5 years so she is my best friend. I thought the grasshopper was a really nice gift for me because it was weaved and unique. When she gave it to me I decided to search on the Internet for what it meant because of course a things that someone gives you means something. As I search I found out that the meaning of a grasshopper is good luck. Since my friends is somewhere else in the world, I don’t get to see her anymore so it harder to get in touch with her now. When I have time and I’m not busy with school work and stuff I would go email her or try to see if she online and chat with her. This is important to me because it was my best friends and it means a lot to me that it represents the symbol of good luck.

On top of the treasure box on the right hand side is a metal. This is really important to me because it’s the first metal I ever got! This metal is when I won a climbing challenge. It was the beginning of 6th grade at ISKL and activities just started I was having so much fun climbing the rope going as fast as I could. I could feel the breeze in my hair my hands starting to hurt as I climb 15 more times. During my climbing activity I was really into climbing. I like how you’re like a monkey climbing up reaching for the next rock and trying to reach the bell at the top. After a few month of climbing the trimester was almost over and it was time to do another one. Of course my activity teacher though I was really good and said that I should try out for the competition. I really liked climbing so I thought I should give it a try. When I try out, I got the third top score. I couldn’t believe it because I got third place out of like 100 people from all kinds of different schools. I was really happy that I at least got in third place. This is my favourite metal because it shows how much I like climbing and how I can really win a metal.

I have a camera that represents strength. I think a camera represents strength because when I was young I didn’t like to take photos. I always thought photo were a waste of time and nobody would really like to see pictures, but as I got older I realise that the more pictures you take the more memories you have to visualize when you get older. Sometimes I would forget what I’ve done last summer so when I have a camera I could see the photos when I put them on a computer. This shows me what I’ve done when I forget. This helps me show what I’ve done when I get older and want to remember what I’ve done. If people want to see photos I could just show them it instead of describing the details. A camera is the best visual you can have if you forgot what you’ve done. This is important to me because I like seeing where I’ve been and what I’ve done, looking back at the photos on the Internet as I download them.

A piano book. When I think of a piano book I think about the different classical music I could play. I love playing classical music because it sounds nice and it relaxes my moms mood and mine if I'm sad or angry. The piano book symbolizes my life. Ever since I was in 2nd grade I’ve started playing the piano. It represents the music we listen or how it could relax someones mood. I like playing different verity of songs because I get to learn news song or songs that I've heard of. I like how my finger just move and suddenly my figure gets into the rhythm on the song I'm playing.

My favourite book of all time is Wayside School is falling down. I love this book so much because it makes me laugh on how funny the school they go to is so different from my school. Of course this book is not real but it's fun to read even though it really easy to read. I like reading Wayside School is falling down because it funny and neat how the author can make it sound so realistic but fake at the same time. This is still my favourite book even though it's really easy to read. This book it by Louis Sacher,he is my favourite author because I also like the book he wrote called Holes.


My favourite entertainment to do when my friends come over to sleep is mad libs. I love mad libs. I got this mad lib book from my 3rd grade teacher. We were having a Hawaii party at the end of the school year and me and my friends both won the limbo contest so we got a mad lib book. It was really fun because usually I play with my brother and they would say really weird words like refrigerator or something and it would be really funny to read it because it wouldn't make sense. I love mad libs because everyone always get a good laugh.


And now finally my last thing in my bag is my DS. I got my Ds in 4th grade and I really think it's important to me because every weekend I would play my DS and even now I would still play my DS. The game I like playing on my DS is The Sims and Cooking Mama. I know its doesn't really describe me but the games I play on the Ds describe me a lot because I like playing a person in the Sims who could be themselves and try to help the world and I like cooking mama because I just love cooking but I think I'm better in real cooking than in the game.

These are the ten things in my bag and I hope you know now why these things describe me now. when you think of it an object could really tell a personality.