Wish you bad luck today

MaryJoy Sun ' 11

Once my friend asked me: " Do you know why the earth turns?" I shook my head. She laughed: " it turns so that I would not get stuck in a bad-luckspot forever."

Actually, she was right. Nobody wants to have anything to do with bad luck. That's probably the reason why we only wish each other good luck. Have you ever heard anybody wish another person bad luck?

Despite the fact that we try so hard to avoid bad luck, it is still inevitable. Here are some examples of bad luck that I have already experienced.

To become a human being, in the first place, is definitely bad luck. Our ancestors created this thing called society and made up repressing tools called laws. Sadly, we were born to be oppressed and restricted, loaded up with responsibilities, too. However, I used to debate whether it is better to be a human or to be a bug. Being a little bug means to be hated by majority of females, especially beautiful teenage girls. Compared to being screamed at and getting squashed all the time, I would rather just be a human, follow a few rules and lead a relatively secure life. Humans are the only animals that have the concept of future. Although thinking about tomorrow and planning ahead might make us panic or overwhelmed, I still regard this thinking ahead ability as a gift. I would rather worry about whether the world will end in 2012 or getting tangled in TOK class, than having to search for food, starving and running for life all the time. Therefore, in a sense it's better to be a human being. I feel my existence more valuable and significant. Well, maybe it's not such bad luck after all.

There are certain things we can do nothing about; one of them is a wall falling on you. May 12th, 2008 is a day I will never forget. When that huge 8.0 earthquake hit my hometown, I experienced the frailty of human lives. I was lucky enough to survive and later on volunteered in the hospital where my parents were both working. No wards or surgery rooms were available, because the buildings might collapse any second during the aftershocks. People died in the tent outside under the burning sun every single day. Our whole town did not have water, electricity or cell phone signals for 3 days. As time went by, the town started to stink, that was because countless dead people could not be identified or buried right away. I carried patients on the stretchers, occasionally gasped under my breathing mask, looked at the gray dusty sky and helplessly waited for the next wave of aftershocks. Nevertheless, it was also during those dark moments that I felt the power of united wills. The survived restaurants had people cook in half-collapsed kitchens and deliver food to the hospital every day. People from all over China and around the world came to support us. There was even a French medical team helping out. All of a sudden I felt so close to other individuals and so close to the vivid energy of life. I learnt to be calm and brave during difficult situations. I also learnt to be loving and helpful for others, because we are all humans, we have the same color of blood, and we are never alone. I always believed this bad luck brought me strong will power and faith in life.

Last but not least, the IB we are all facing or going to face is another example of bad luck. I hope everybody agrees with me. Juniors, don't giggle yet, this is just the first month. Wait till you reach the point when you hold a piece of cake in one hand, and a coke in the other, trying to load yourself up with sugar and caffeine at 3am, and then realizing there is going to be a biology test and history book review due tomorrow. Then you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, I personally think this is still a valuable experience, because we are challenged both physically and academically by the competitive sports and IB program. We acquire so much knowledge and learn how to arrange time wisely. We gain confidence while we become more mature. We are going to be the master of our lives at age 16 or 17 rather than 35. It is good to be prepared and ahead of our contemporaries. You will feel it after you go to college.

The inevitable bad luck in our lives is not there to fail us. It is there to make us better, because the things that don't beat us make us stronger, just like my cycling coach said.

Some people are born smart, just like some are born beautiful, but nobody is perfect. That's why we all get bad luck, so we can make mistakes, and learn from them. Bad luck is a actually a treasure of life.

So, please do me a huge favor now. Put your right hand up in the air, point to the person next to you, smile, and say: " wish you bad luck today".

They appear.They disappear

by Lauren Kessler

They appear. They disappear.

I have always envied women their friendships. It’s not that I don’t have friends. I do. But I don’t have a friend I’ve known since first grade , someone I could call at 4 a.m. who would hop on the next plane to come hold my hand through disasters great and small. I don’t have a friend I’ve known for so many years that I can’t remember life without her. I don’t have a friend who knows all my secrets.

I know of such friendships. We all do. They are the stuff of fiction and melodrama: the YaYa sisterhood, Judy Blume’s “summer sisters,” Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey on the beach. But these are not real women, women, like me, who have moved eight times and lived in six different states since graduating high school and with each move have shed more people from the past; women who have had to trade friends for kids because there wasn’t time to be good and true to both; women who have mostly kept their own counsel.

But it’s hard to be jealous of fictional pals.

Then I read a story in a magazine about five women who have been meeting for dinner once a month for twenty-seven years, and I was, for a moment, truly envious. These were real women. I cannot imagine the stability of a group friendship like that, the sense of history — the marriages, divorces, births and deaths, toddlers and teenagers that must have come and gone — the ease, the comfort, the fullness of time. I will never have that.

Be present

Senior Speech
Ali Maricich
December 4, 2009

The air was cool. The lake silent and the noise from my big knee brace was a faint click, as my dear friend Rosie and I started on our way down to the beach to spend the night. Rosie and I often find ourselves in the position of memory making. It is not that we try but we have one of those relationships that effortlessly puts those experiences in front of us. As we rolled out our sleeping bags, we found ourselves talking about the choices we make everyday and how those choices make an impact on us. The conversation wound back and forth between IB schools, friends, boys, food and family but ultimately we ended where we started, the choice we have to create moments for ourselves.

I realize that my relationship with Rosie is not exactly the same as my relationship with VVS. Sometimes I have to try to make things happen here. And other times opportunities are created effortlessly and living in the present purely is.

I have had the great privilege to spend two years at Verde Valley School. I have created friends and moments that cannot be replaced. I am spending time and space with Sarah Jane, with whom I went to preschool school. We used to run around naked in her house and play dress up, now we laugh and paint together. Jazz and I have been friends since fourth grade and still she makes me laugh harder then anyone. Though Charlie is a close second. Meme I will always remember the first time we talked in my room leaving nothing unsaid. Sam Kim, every time I walk pass you, you never fail to acknowledge me and make me giggle. Jordyn, I know that wherever life takes you, you will flourish and shine. Paula, I have shared more than music with you but often I can’t help but think of Modest Mouse.

“Sight is just a window from the room we're bound to. If you find a way out, Oh would you just let me know how.” – Modest Mouse

Lannie, my gluten-free sister. Power to the rice bread. Bryce, “I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.” Sam, my love, I am going to miss you so much. Keep living the revolution! Hanson, you always make me smile and I will never tire of your singing to me along with you and Tom’s entertainment. Katja, you are an amazing girl and I know that life will bring all that you wish of it. Ashley, we have many more early meditations ahead of us! Karel, your mannerisms will always stay with me. Zach Shed, Wanna come home? Katie, you’re so mild, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoy it and hope that you will stay in my life a long time to come. Julia, I love you so much and no matter how our views differ, the fact that we can sit and listen to each other and come out the other side with complete communication means more than I can explain. You are so dam logical yet so spirited. Hannah you silly girl. I would make some crazy noises and perhaps a little jig but those actions are beyond how much you mean to me. Rosie you motivated me in the first place. To those who I have not mentioned I would fail if I did not acknowledge your presence in my life for which you have retained.

I believe that being a teacher, no matter what form or degree, be it history or dance, is one of the most rewarding and powerful vocations. I am deeply grateful and honored to have had the privileged to make the most amazing of moments with my teachers: The moment of learning. They have given me the gift of loving to learn and this has leaked out from the classroom to my view of the world. Just remember one is always the teacher and always the students and it is worthwhile to observe those moments in your life.

What I wish people to leave with today is knowledge that anything is possible. That life is today. Not when one becomes a senior nor when one finally gets to college, but now. Every moment is an opportunity to make one’s life the way one wants it. Create, live, love, laugh and be Present.

Run

Artist: Leona Lewis

I'll sing it one last time for you

Then we really have to go

You've been the only thing that's right

In all I've done

And I can barely look at you

But every single time I do

I know we'll make it anywhere

Away from here

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Louder, louder

And we'll run for our lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes

Makes it so hard not to cry

And as we say our long goodbyes

I nearly do

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Louder, louder

And we'll run for our lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Louder, louder

And we'll run for our lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

Stay at the Presence

With a little rain, Hanoi is powerful enough to make a soul stop at some point during its hurrying journey. 

Trying to keep my consciousness away from the stomach ache that is preventing my mind from focusing on reading a book, I start to think about those who are important to me at the moment. I am not looking too far into the future.  I am not turning the head back to the past even just a little bit. What my eyes see now is simply the presence wearing a shape of my heart which has four chambers:

One is a chamber of love and appreciation I fill with smile and tears of my parents.

One is a chamber of memories I fill with peaceful faces of Tokyo night who never forget me and who I will never be able to forget.

One is a chamber of passion, excitement and a lot more I fill with crazily awesome kids, HDC crew, with whom I dance my whole wonderful summer.

The last one is a chamber of hope and sorrow I selfishly fill with the one named me.

The heart always beats to the fullest to carry those invaluable four chambers.

Now somebody is telling me how about not looking at the presence anymore. Why don't let  the heart take a rest for a while. Just close my eyes and fall asleep. What is next? Hanoi, decorated by  its beautiful darkness will embrace the ones I love.

Good night.

Vẽ xuyên biên giới

Thời sinh viên, Khoa từng tiết kiệm tiền, một mình đi khắp nơi trong nước để thỏa sức khám phá, đến mức nhiều người tin rằng, Khoa đi như thể ngày mai sẽ bị nhốt ở nhà mãi mãi.

Năm 2005, Khoa tốt nghiệp khoa Sư phạm Mỹ thuật, trường CĐ Văn hóa Nghệ thuật TP. HCM. Bàn chân mê đi của Khoa có lẽ không thích hợp lắm với công việc của một giáo viên dạy vẽ mẫu giáo. Hơn nữa, niềm đam mê của Khoa gần hơn với thời trang và hội họa. “Hai đam mê này cũng lớn như mê du lịch vậy!” – Khoa nói.

Từ trường mẫu giáo ra thẳng... nước ngoài

Thời sinh viên, Khoa đặc biệt mê những tranh vẽ chi tiết các sản phẩm thời trang như áo quần, giày dép… của các họa sĩ cũng là nhà thiết kế danh tiếng như Kenzo, Alexander McQueen. Nể phục những họa sĩ tên tuổi, vốn được học hành bài bản, nhưng để đi theo họ thì Khoa nói “không”.

Anh chàng chia sẻ: “Con đường hàn lâm đã có quá nhiều đỉnh cao. Mình phải đi theo con đường ít người đi (trên thế giới) và chưa ai đi (ở Việt Nam)”. Thế là Khoa bắt đầu vẽ các bức tranh minh họa các mẫu thiết kế áo quần, giày dép chỉ với các nét cọ đen và đỏ trên nền trắng.

Ý tưởng về những bức tranh của Khoa ra đời trong chuyến đi Bangkok lần thứ nhất, hồi năm 2005. Sau khi xem triển lãm của 2 nữ họa sĩ người Thái, Khoa khám phá đây chính là thể loại tranh mình thích vẽ.

Về Việt Nam và ở Hội An năm 2007, anh chàng mới bắt đầu tìm phong cách riêng cho mình và bắt đầu vẽ. Vẽ và giữ bí mật, không nói với ai ngoài “tiết lộ” cho một người bạn thân.

Ngôi sao “chợ bệt” phố Tây

Chuyến đi đầu tiên ra nước ngoài (Khoa sống ở phố Tây Khao San, tại Bangkok) chỉ với 400 đôla, quả là thiếu thốn. Khoa vẽ tranh để bán kiếm thêm tiền, vừa để thăm dò thị hiếu của khán giả về dòng tranh mình đang theo đuổi. Anh chàng được biết đến tại phố Tây Khao San với biệt danh “Họa sĩ lang thang”.

“Mình lấy tư liệu từ các tạp chí thời trang hiện đại như Elle, Bazaar (ấn bản Thái Lan) để làm thông tin nền, rồi vẽ tranh bán lại cho du khách như một món hàng lưu niệm.

Nhớ ngày đầu tiên, một đôi du khách nước ngoài hết sức ngạc nhiên vì tranh của mình. Họ lập tức mua ủng hộ hai bức với giá 300 bath (tương đương 150.000 đồng). Họ nói, nếu mình sang châu âu, chắc chắn được nhiều người ủng hộ. Gợi ý này khiến mình vừa hứng thú, vừa có thêm động lực để sáng tác” – Khoa kể.

Cái duyên cầm cọ và những bức tranh vẽ tay mà cứ như được vẽ máy khiến nhiều người mê mẩn tranh Khoa. Gian hàng bệt ở chợ đêm Khao San của Khoa lúc nào cũng đông nghịt khách Tây. Anh chàng vừa vẽ, vừa chụp ảnh lưu niệm với khách. Các kỷ niệm hết sức thú vị. Lúc đó, anh chàng thấy mình như một ngôi sao.

Không ít đêm, Khoa phải thức đến 3h sáng để hoàn tất yêu cầu của khách. Chỉ với tuần đầu tiên bán tranh, Khoa đã gửi được 10.000 bath (khoảng 5 triệu đồng) về cho gia đình ở Rạch Sỏi (Kiên Giang), xem đấy như tháng lương đầu tiên cho cha mẹ mừng.

Bán được tranh và bán được giá

Trong hành trình phiêu lưu của mình đến Lào. Anh Khoa đã gặp rắc rối với… cảnh sát. Gặp không ít rắc rối, nhưng Khoa không cô đơn. Anh chàng gặp nhiều bạn bè, ân nhân và những chuyện bất ngờ.

Trong chuyến xe buýt từ Varanasi gần sông Hằng đến biên giới  ấn Độ - Nêpan, Khoa gặp hai bạn trẻ người Nhật. Cả ba nói chuyện về đam mê của mình say sưa. Vô tình, một đôi tình nhân người Hà Lan và Mỹ ngồi cạnh nghe được. Họ hẹn để mua những bức tranh của Khoa. Nhưng vì va li đựng tranh của Khoa đang còn nằm ở Varanasi nên Khoa chỉ mang những bức phác thảo cho họ xem. Thế là hai bên hẹn gặp nhau ở Khao San (Thái Lan) để giao tranh.

Gần một tuần sau, Khoa và đôi tình nhân này có duyên gặp lại trên đất Thái. Đôi này xem tranh rất thích. Họ quyết định mua tranh Khoa với giá cao bất ngờ: 75 Euro/bức. Người đang giữ nhiều bức tranh của Khoa nhất hiện nay là một giáo sư người Mỹ. Ông chuyên sưu tầm tranh và đang dạy ở Đại học Tokyo. Vị giáo sư này gặp Khoa lúc cậu bán tranh ở chợ đêm Khao San. Ông mê mẩn, trở thành một người hâm mộ tranh Khoa nên đã mua đến 200 bức. Ông cũng liên lạc thường xuyên, chia sẻ với Khoa những sáng tác mới nhất.

“Hợp thức hóa” tranh của mình tại Việt Nam

Duyên cầm cọ và sự độc đáo cũng như độc bản của tranh đã giúp Anh Khoa bán được hàng ngàn bức tranh cho hàng ngàn người khắp nơi trên thế giới. Khoa tự tin nói rằng, chưa có một họa sĩ dòng tranh minh họa chi tiết nào trên thế giới - vốn cũng không đông - lại bán được nhiều tranh như anh.

Đó có thể coi là một thành công của sự dấn thân và thể nghiệm, điều mà trước khi lên đường, ngay cả những người lạc quan ủng hộ Khoa nhất, cũng khó hình dung được.

Sắp tới, Khoa sẽ sang châu âu theo lời mời của GS Arrak Dirk (Bỉ) thăm những thắng cảnh và các viện bảo tàng, trang bị thêm kiến thức hội họa. Khoa cũng bật mí, chuyến về nước lần này anh sẽ mang dòng tranh thể nghiệm của mình ra triển lãm. Còn trong tương lai, Khoa dự tính sẽ làm một thương hiệu thời trang riêng, sẽ dùng các mẫu thiết kế của chính mình bán khắp nơi trên thế giới.

Đến nay, Anh Khoa đã đi qua 10 nước và vùng lãnh thổ châu Á như Thái Lan, Lào,  ấn Độ, Malaysia, Indonesia, Trung Quốc, Hồng Kông... Đến đâu, Khoa cũng lấy tư liệu thời trang hiện đại nơi đó như vải vóc, giày dép, quần áo… để vẽ tranh và bán tại chỗ. Nhưng nơi bán tranh chính của Khoa vẫn là phố Tây Khao San (Thái Lan)

The forget-me-not blue

"We ran into lots of old friends. Friends from elementary school, junior high school, high school. Everyone had matured in their own way, and even as we stood face to face with them they seemed like people from dreams, sudden glimpses through the fences of our tangled memories. We smiled and waved, exchanged a few words, and then walked on in our separate directions." 

(Goodbye Tsugumi_Banana Yoshimoto)