Chun’s Portfolio Final draft

Engl-115 C101 Creative Writing

5/9/2013

Howard Community College

Matthew Chun

1 | P a g e

Content

1. Gray Television 2

2. Bottle Collection 4

3. The Road and Walkers 6

4. Birthday 8

5. The ordinary adventurer story 10

6. Wounds, what wounds? 12

7. The best friend 15

8. Pre-revised short stories 16

9. Reflections 27

2 | P a g e

Gray Television

Walking into an empty room

The empty white lonely room

Where only an old gray television

Shouting for people to watch and listen

The old gray television in the empty room

What are you trying to talk about?

In the empty white lonely room

Where no one else can listen to you

Wine and cheese, rose between rich and poor, drama of hope and love

This is what you want to talk about?

Waving flags, cheerful people, energetic sportsman

That is what you want to talk about?

White-dwarf, a hundred million light years away from where we are, observed by astronomers

Politicians, asking for support by speeches of ambiguous promises

War in the Middle East, dying people, starving children

Is this what you want to talk about?

So many people asked him the question yet no one had the answer

Walking out of the empty white lonely room

And wondering why he shouted for no one

While no one questioned him

Are you lonely?

3 | P a g e

Gray Television (Pre-revised)

Walking into an empty room

The empty white lonely room

Where only an old gray television

Shouting for people to watch and listen

The old gray television in the empty room

What are you trying to talk about?

In the empty white lonely room

Where no one else can listen to you

Wine and cheese, rose between rich and poor, drama of hope and love

This is what you want to talk about?

Waving flags, cheerful people, energetic sportsman

That is what you want to talk about?

White-dwarf, a hundred million light years away from where we are, observed by

astronomers

Politicians, asking for support by speech of ambiguous promises

War in the Middle East, dying people, starving children

Is this what you want to talk about?

So many people asked him the question yet no one had the answer

Walking out of the empty white lonely room

And wondering why he shout for no one

While no one questioned him

Are you lonely?

4 | P a g e

Bottle Collection

Sitting on the bar

Looking at the collection of bottles

Bottles made of glass

Collections that looks many but few

Fragile yet so beautiful glass

bluff with the reflection of themselves

Just like people, so beautiful and clear

Just like people, so fragile and hides the true-self

inside the illusion.

5 | P a g e

Bottle Collection (Pre-revised)

Sitting on the bar

Looking at the collection of bottles

Bottles those are made with glasses

Collection that looks many but few

Fragile yet so beautiful glasses

bluff with the reflection of themselves

Just like people, so beautiful and clear

Just like people, so fragile and hide the true-self

inside the illusion.

6 | P a g e

The Road and Walkers

So many roads are ahead

Waiting to be walked by the people

Men who seek the future

Various types of people

Walk different types of uncharted path

No man shares the road

Some of them succeeded

Yet some men failed

And caged by depression

People afraid to walk

Are left behind and mock who

Walk and failed and are depressed

But they have courage

To break the cage and walk forward

True pathfinders of future

People afraid of failure

Have learned, not by who easily succeeded

But who get over the failure

7 | P a g e

The Road and walkers (Pre-revised)

So many roads are ahead

Waiting to be walked by the people

Men who seek the future

Various types of people

Walk different types of uncharted path

No man shares the road

Some of them succeeded

Yet some men failed to the ground

And caged by depression

People afraid to walk

Are left behind and mock who

Walk and fail and depressed

But they have courage

To break the cage and walk forward

True pathfinders of future

People who afraid the failure

Have learned, not by who easily succeeded

But who get over the failure

8 | P a g e

Birthday

When he was a little child

He did not know what he wanted to be

When he was a young man

He did not know what he wanted to learn

When he was a business man

He did not know what he wanted to do

Now he stands, with wrinkles and scars in his heart

He now knows what he wanted to do

He now knows what he wanted to learn

He now became what he wanted to be

It was a birth of a baby

As if it was a birthday of the little child, who became a father

9 | P a g e

Birthday (Pre-revised)

When he was a little child

He did not know what he wanted to be

When he was a young man

He did not know what he wanted to learn

When he was a business man

He did not know what he wanted to do

Now he stands, with wrinkles and scars in heart

He now knows what he wanted to do

He now knows what he wanted to learn

He now became what he wanted to be

It was a birth of a baby

As if it was a birthday of the little child, who became father

10 | P a g e

The ordinary adventurer story

A man was walking. For the last whole month, he was walking across the forest,

eating only bugs and rain water after his reserved breads and water ran out. He wore a

tattered brown robe over clothes, a rusty sword at his side and a crystal ring on his left hand.

His appearance was hidden under his hood but his red eyes gleamed like a wolf under the

shadow.

“Water... water... spider... damn spider... I need water...” The Red-eyed swordsman

rattled. After several more minutes, desperately patched and hungry, he saw a bright light

over some trees ahead. When he finally reached a borderline of forest, he had reached the

limit of what his body could handle and fainted, falling on the ground.

A loud noise woke the red eyed swordsman up. He was in a stranger’s house, lying

on a bed. Looking around the room, nothing special yet it seems only one person lived in this

house. Another loud noise hit his ears when he was trying to realize the situation. Scream and

crying of terrified villagers came from outside. The swordsman got up. His body was covered

in bandages; it was probably his savior’s work. He put his pants on and grabbed his rusty

sword. He realized the situation clearly when he opened the door and step out from where he

was.

Bandits. Ten or more so of organized bandits attacked the small village. The town

guards had already been taken out. No one died yet but several villagers include town guards

were severely injured. Bandits were threatening the villagers but it was not the swordsman’s

concern. The red-eyed swordsman took a glimpse of the bandits; ten hostiles who have four

crossbows, two sword and shield, three axes, and a magician. The magician seems to be their

boss. When the observation was over, swordsman draws his rusty sword. It wasn’t his sword.

11 | P a g e

He picked up from the forest when he lost his sword fighting a giant spider. The blood of

spider corrupted his sword so he had to let it go.

“Oh, was there another villager?” the magician spotted the swordsman. “He has a

nice sword, guys! It really fits on him, ha-ha. Well, put him down!” Three crossbow-volts

from the crossbows were fired. The swordsman dodged and ran toward the closest enemy.

One, two, bandits were taken out by him each time he wield his sword. Crossbows were too

slow to reload and the swordsman knew it. When the rusty sword was broken by a shield, the

swordsman grabbed his enemy and used him as a shield when another volt was shot. He

picked up his sword, the swordsman marched. Crossbowmen threw away their weapon and

draw their sword but it was too late, the swordsman’s sword finished them off. All the bandits

were neutralized except one, the magician. He was casting a spell the whole time, waiting the

swordsman to be exhausted and stay put. Fires came from his hands and began to form into a

ball.

“I wouldn’t do it if I were you.” Swordsman said. The magician laughed and threw a

fireball to his opponent. Swordsman did not dodge this time. Instead, he opened his left hand

toward the magic. The fireball exploded when it touched the target’s hand. Explosion and fire,

the magician laughed and shouted “Fool!” But something was sparkling inside the explosion.

The shape of man was behind the fire. The swordsman was still, with his crystal ring shining

from his finger. The same exact fireball came out from the ring, fired to its maker. “Magic

reflection ring.” The swordsman said, “I told you I wouldn’t do that.” And he smiled.

The situation was over. Villagers came out from their home and praised the

swordsman, their hero. The village elder came to him and asked him, what do you want? And

the swordsman simply replied “Water and new clothes.”

12 | P a g e

Wounds, what wounds?

Do-gok was where my family and I lived together. Father, mother, and me; only 3 of

us lived together. My parents spent most of their time at work and I had to spend my time

alone until my parents came back. My kindergarten friends lived far from where I lived. It

was hard to make friends without being introduced. It was complicated to approach strangers

and ask them to play with me. However, once I met them it was more natural. Afraid of being

rejected was the biggest foe.

So I made friends, not many, but worthy friends. All of them went to different

kindergarten but we shared one aspect; our parents went to work and we had to spend times

until they came back. Under that common aspect, we united as the best friends ever. We were

all lonely and had to fill our empty spaces when parents leave us behind. We did not blame

our parents. It was a dreadful time for Koreans. Every single adult who was capable of

working had to work in order to feed their family. Even though we were all young, we knew

it clearly. But if I said I was not disappointed, it would be a lie.

We used to play in the playground. There was only one old and rusty playground

around where we lived. Although it was old, it did have what we called ‘necessary’ apparatus

such as a swing, a merry go ‘round, and a slide. The most popular playground apparatus was

the slide. People loved it, my friends loved it, and I loved it too. There were bunch of

different ways to play with a slide. Sliding with different poses was my personal favorite.

Adults said it was dangerous but, let’s be honest, how many children would have listened to

adults? Exactly.

Every single day felt the same. The same faces and the same happenings and it was

not any different from other days. I went straight to the playground as soon as my

13 | P a g e

kindergarten was over.

“Hi, Kyu”

“Where have you been?”

“Come on, join us!”

Greetings welcomed me. Meeting the same faces every day, yet I never got tired of it.

Even though we played with same materials and same games, such as hide-and-seek, over

and over again, it was fun. It did feel boring sometimes but when it did, we just sat around

and make jokes to get over it.

“Let’s play tag,” One of my friends, my best friend, Su-gon said.

“As usual.” I added a comment. Everyone giggled and Su-gon seemed a little bit embarrassed.

“Have any better ideas?” He said,

“Nope, let’s play tag.”

“I thought you don’t wanna play tag.”

“Nope, let’s play tag.”

Half right and half wrong, I did not like to play tag. I never did. But in this case, I

had no other options. We choose the tagger by rock-paper-scissors. Today’s tagger was Su-

gon.

“Three-Two-One, here I go!”

Su-gon said. I had no idea but he chased me so hard like a cat chasing a mouse. He

did not even look at other friends but me. I was sly but not as fast or with as much endurance

as he.

“Why do you keep chasing me? Dea-yong was right next to you!” I asked,

14 | P a g e

“Because I hate you!” He replied like it was obvious.

I went up to the slide, trying to evade him by jump off the slide, but Su-gon was

faster than I thought and got me. The problem was, we were on the top of the slide and he

could not kill the speed. We crashed, slid to the bottom. Su-gon was on top of me, using me

as a sled. I was laying face down whole time, pressed hard by the weight of human body.

When we hit the bottom, friends ran toward us and asked if Su-gon and I were okay. Su-gon

did not care about them but asked me as soon as he got off from me. I said I can live with it

because I did not want to look weak. The pain hurt, and was warm, and wet. Wet? My friends

seemed terrified and so as Su-gon. I touched my chin. Red liquid was coming out. A whole

lot of red liquid was coming out from my chin. I was bleeding.

“AAAARGH!!!”

“AAAAAARGH!!!”

Everyone, include me, was in panic, screaming crazily while standing still about a

minute. The first person who regained his mind was Su-gon. He asked if my parents were at

home. I said no. He then asked friends the same thing but no one responded. Most of them

were still in panic. He brought me to his home. His mother tried to greet me but as soon as

she spotted me, she panicked also. However, she was an adult and knew how to manage the

calm. She called the 911 and brought me to the hospital. It wasn’t a big deal but I had to have

small surgery. My mother arrived after the surgery and said thanks to Su-gon’s mother. It was

strange that I saw my mom while the sun was still up. I guess I should be grateful to Su-gon

for that. It was fun and a worthy day.

15 | P a g e

Gender Switched: The best friend (Original: Wound, what wound)

Do-Gok was where I and my family lived together. Father, mother, and me; only 3 of

us lived together. My parents spend most of their time in work and I had to spend my time

alone until my parents came back. It was a bit lonely for a little girl but I adapted to it. I had a

bunch of different dolls and clothes for them. Every day I gave my dolls names and role

played with them. The family was in harmony and never fought with each other. Every day, I

played with dolls. It was fun but suddenly it felt so depressed. I wanted to talk with other

people... No, I wanted to get talked to by other people.

So I made friends, not many but worthy friends. All of them went to different

kindergarten but we shared one aspect, our parents went to work and we had to spend time

until they came back. Under that common aspect, we united as the best friends ever even

though some of us were girls and others were boys. We were all lonely and had to fill our

empty spaces when parents left us behind. We did not blame our parents. It was not a good

time for Koreans. Every single adult who was capable of working had to work in order to

feed their family. Even though we were all young, we knew it clearly. But if I say I was not

disappointed, it would be a lie.

We used to play in the playground. There was only one, old and rusty playground

around where we lived. Although it was old, it did have what we called ‘necessary’ apparatus

such as a swing, a merry go ‘round, and a slide. The most popular playground apparatus was

the slide. People loved it, my friends loved it, yet I did not really like it. It seemed to old and

rusty. I believed it would make my dress dusty if I play with it. I just wanted to chat with

friends. One of my friends, Su-Yong, was an athletic and energetic girl who loved to play

with it. I liked her, and almost envyed her character.

16 | P a g e

She was shameless and tomboyish but she had something that attracted people

around her. She talked to strangers first. She helped people who needed a favor even before

anyone asked her. I gave up thinking how she could be so friendly to strangers. It was her

motto; approach first if a stranger needs help.

She was the one who invited me to her, now ‘our,’ friends. I was walking around the

playground, watching people who were playing. There were bunches of boys and a few girls.

Girls were playing on the corner of the playground and played house. It looked fun but I did

not really want my dress get dusty by sands so I kept my distance. It didn’t take a long time

me to realize that it wasn’t because of the dust but that I was afraid; afraid of getting rejected.

I was shy. When I was wasting my time wondering around the playground, she approached

me.

“Hey,” she said.

At first, I thought it was a boy. She was dressed like a boy, looked like a boy, and

played with boys in such an athletic manner; playing tag, pseudo wrestling, and fighting with

fists sometimes. I was actually shocked when I heard her voice since it was more girlish than

I expected.

“Hi,” I replied.

She smiled and said why I did not play along with them. I rejected the offer as soon

as I heard it. No way. I don’t like getting my clothes dirty, plus, I don’t want to get sweaty. I

was a shy person, but I really didn’t want to get sweaty under the sun and on the dusty old

playground. When she heard my words, she smiled in a weird manner; just like saying ‘You

are a bad liar.’

17 | P a g e

“Okay than, so be it.” She said, “But don’t say I didn’t ask, alright? It’s just so lonely

watching people playing rather than actually playing with them.”

She was right, but more importantly; she was watching me the whole time. I realized

that it was so embarrassing to be observed at an embarrassing moment by other people. Her

words actually hurt my feelings. What did you want to say? Did you want to say that I was an

outcast who doesn’t have any friends?

She looked at my face and turned around and headed back to her friends, saying “She

said she doesn’t want to play with us because she thinks she can’t win against me!”

“What!” I said, “What are you talking about!”

“Well, I said you are a coward, and if you have any complaint,” She smiled at me and ran

away from me. “Come and get me.”

I don’t exactly remember what actually happened after that. I was so mad and tried to

catch her until the twilight. I believe I used a few curse words in the process. After the chase,

the last of my memory was she was laughing so hard, yet I was laughing with her. It was the

first meeting with my best friend Su-Yong. She was always like that; warm consideration

under a rude behavior. I wonder how many years have passed from then. We separated when

I had to move to America. I wonder what she might doing right now, maybe helping other

people?

18 | P a g e

Pre-revised Short Stories

1. The ordinary adventurer story 19

2. Wounds, what wounds? 21

3. Gender Switched: The best friend 24

19 | P a g e

The ordinary adventurer story (Pre-revised)

A man was walking. For the last whole month, he was walking across the forest,

eating only bugs and rain water when his reserved breads and water ran out. What he had

right now was a tattered brown robe and clothes he was wearing, a rusty steel arming sword

on his side, and a crystal ring on his left hand. His appearance was hided under his hood but

his red eye gleamed like a wolf under the shadow.

“Water... water... spider... damn spider... I need water...” The red eyed swordsman

rattled. After several more minute, struggling with thrust and hunger, he saw a bright light

over trees. When he finally reached a borderline of forest, he hit the limit and fainted on dirty

ground.

A loud noise woke the red eyed swordsman up. He was in a stranger’s house, lying

on a bed. Looking around the room, nothing special yet it seems only one person live in this

house. Another loud noise hit his ears when he was trying to realize the situation. Scream and

crying of terrified villagers came from outside. The swordsman got up. His body was covered

in bandages; it was probably his savior’s work. He put his pants on and grabbed his rusty

sword. He realized situation clearly when he opened the door and step out from where he was.

Bandits. Ten or more so of organized bandits attacked the small village. Town guards

seem taken out already. No one died yet but several villagers include town guards were

severely injured. Bandits were threatening the villagers but it was not the swordsman’s

concern. Four crossbows, two sword and shield, three axes, and a magician. The magician

seems to be their boss. When the observation was over, swordsman draws his rusty sword. It

wasn’t his sword. He picked up from the forest when he lost his sword fighting a giant spider.

The blood of spider corrupted his sword so he had to let it go.

20 | P a g e

“Oh, was there another villager?” the magician spotted the swordsman. “He has a

nice sword, guys! It really fits on him, ha-ha. Well, put him down!” Three volts from the

crossbows were fired. The swordsman dodged and ran toward the closest enemy. One, two,

bandits were taken out by him each time he wield his sword. Crossbows were too slow to

reload and the swordsman knew it. When the rusty sword got broken by a shield, the

swordsman grabbed his enemy and used him as a shield when another volt was shot. Picked

up his sword, the swordsman marched. Crossbowmen threw away their weapon and draw

their sword but it was too late, the swordsman’s sword finished them off. All the bandits were

neutralized except one, the magician. He was casting a spell the whole time, waiting the

swordsman to be exhausted and stay put. Fires came from his hands and began to make a

form of ball.

“I wouldn’t do it if I were you.” Swordsman said. The magician laughed and threw a

fireball to his opponent. Swordsman did not dodge this time. Instead, he opened his left hand

toward the magic. The fireball exploded when it touched the target’s hand. Explosion and fire,

the magician laughed and shouted “Fool!” But something was sparkling inside the explosion.

The shape of man was behind the fire. The swordsman was still, with his crystal ring shining

from his finger. The same exact fireball came out from the ring, fired to its maker. “Magic

reflection ring.” The swordsman said, “I told you I wouldn’t do that.” And he smiled.

The situation was over. Villagers came out from their home and praised the

swordsman, their hero. The village elder came to him and asked him, what do you want? And

the swordsman simply replied “Water and new clothes.”

21 | P a g e

Wounds, what wounds? (Pre-revised)

Do-gok was where I and my family lived together. Father, mother, and me; only 3 of

us lived together. My parents spend most of their time in work and I had to spend my time by

alone until my parents came back. My kindergarten friends lived far from where I lived. It

was hard to make friends without being introduced. It is not complicated yet approach to

strangers and ask to play with me is really hard to do so. Afraid of being rejected was the

biggest foe.

So I made friends, not many but worthy friends. All of them went to different

kindergarten but we shared one aspect, our parents went to work and we had to waste times

until they came back. Under that common aspect, we united as the best friends ever. We were

all lonely and had to fill our empty spaces where parents leave it behind. We did not blame

our parents. It was dreadful time for Koreans. Every single adults who are capable of working

had to work in order to feed their family. Even we were all young, we knew it clearly. But if I

say I did not disappointed, it would be lie.

We used to play in the playground. There was only one, old and rusty playground

around where we lived. Although it was old, it did have what we called ‘necessary’ apparatus

such as a swing, a merry go ‘round, and a slide. The most popular playground apparatus was

the slide. People loved it, my friends loved it, and I loved it too. There were bunch of

different way to play with slide. Sliding with different poses was my personal favorite. Adults

said it was dangerous but, let’s be honest, how many children would have listened to adults?

Exactly.

Every single day felt like a same day. Same faces and same happenings, it was not

different from other days. I went straight to the playground as soon as my kindergarten was

22 | P a g e

over.

“Hi, Kyu” “Where have you been?” “Come on, join us!”

Greetings welcomed me. Meeting the same faces every day, yet I never get tired of it.

Even though we played with same materials and same game, such as hide-and-seek, over and

over again, it was fun. I did felt boring sometimes but when it does, we just sat around and

make jokes to get over it.

“Let’s play tag,” One of my friends, my best friend, Su-gon said.

“As usual.” I added a comment. Everyone giggled and Su-gon seemed a little bit

embarrassing.

“Have any better ideas?” He said,

“Nope, let’s play tag.”

“I thought you don’t wanna play tag.”

“Nope, let’s play tag.”

Half right and half wrong, I did not like play tag. I never did. But in this case, I had

no other options. We choose tagger by rock-paper-scissors. Today’s tagger was Su-gon.

“Three-Two-One, here I go!”

Su-gon said. I had no idea but he chased me so hard like a cat chasing mouse. He did

not even look at other friends but me. I was sly but not as fast and endurance as him.

“Why are you keep chasing me! Dea-yong was right next to you!” I asked,

“Because I hate you!” He replied like it was obvious.

23 | P a g e

I went up to the slide, tried to evade by jump off the slide, but Su-gon was faster than

I thought and got me. The problem was, we were on the top of the slide and he could not kill

the speed. We crashed, slid to the bottom. Su-gon was on top of me, using me as a sled. I was

laying face down whole time, pressed hard by weight of human body. When we hit the

bottom, friends ran toward us and asked if I and Su-gon were okay. Su-gon did not care about

them but asked me as soon as he got off from me. I said I can live with it because I did not

want to be looked weak. It was hurt, worm, and wet. Wet? My friends seemed terrified and so

as Su-gon. I touched my chin. Red liquid was coming out. A whole lot of red liquid was

coming out from my chin. I was bleeding.

“AAAARGH!!!”

“AAAAAARGH!!!”

Everyone, include me, was in panic, screaming crazily while standing still about a

minute. The first person who regained his mind was Su-gon. He asked if my parents were at

home. I said no. He then asked friends same thing but no one responded. Most of them were

still in panic. He brought me to his home. His mother tried to greet me but as soon as she

spotted me, she panicked also. However, she was adult and knew how to manage the calm.

She called the 911 and brought me to the hospital. It wasn’t a big deal but I had to take a

small surgery. My mother arrived after the surgery and said thanks to Su-gon’s mother. It was

strange that I saw my mom while the sun was still up. I guess I should be grateful to Su-gon

for that. It was fun and worthy day.

24 | P a g e

Gender Switched: The best friend (Pre-revised) (Original: Wound, what wound)

Do-Gok was where I and my family lived together. Father, mother, and me; only 3 of

us lived together. My parents spend most of their time in work and I had to spend my time by

alone until my parents came back. It was a bit lonely for a little girl but I adapt to it. I had

bunch of different dolls and clothes. Every day I gave my dolls names and role played with

them. The family was in harmony and never fought with each other. Every day, I played with

dolls. It was fun but suddenly it felt so depressing. I wanted to talk with other people... No, I

wanted to get talked by other people.

So I made friends, not many but worthy friends. All of them went to different

kindergarten but we shared one aspect, our parents went to work and we had to waste times

until they came back. Under that common aspect, we united as the best friends ever even

though some of us were girls and others were boys. We were all lonely and had to fill our

empty spaces where parents leave it behind. We did not blame our parents. It was not a good

time for Koreans. Every single adults who are capable of working had to work in order to

feed their family. Even we were all young, we knew it clearly. But if I say I did not

disappointed, it would be lie.

We used to play in the playground. There was only one, old and rusty playground

around where we lived. Although it was old, it did have what we called ‘necessary’ apparatus

such as a swing, a merry go ‘round, and a slide. The most popular playground apparatus was

the slide. People loved it, my friends loved it, yet I did not really like it. It seemed to old and

rusty. I believed it would make my dress dusty if I play with it. I just wanted to chat with

friends. One of my friends, Su-Yong, was athletic and energetic girl who loved play with it. I

liked her, almost envy her character.

25 | P a g e

She was shameless and tomboyish but she had something that attracts people around

her. She talked to strangers first. She helped people who needed her favor even before anyone

asked her to. I gave up thinking how she can be so friendly to strangers. It was her motto;

approach first if a stranger needs help.

She was the one who invited me to her, now ‘our,’ friends. I was walking around the

playground, watching people who were playing. There were bunch of boys and few girls.

Girls were playing on the corner of the playground and played house. It looked fun but I did

not really want my dress get dusty by sands so I kept my distance. It didn’t take a long time

me to realize that it wasn’t because of the dust but I was afraid; afraid of getting rejected. I

was shy. When I was wasting my time wondering around the playground, she approached to

me.

“Hey,” she said.

At first, I thought it was a boy. She wore like a boy, looked like a boy, and played

with boys in such an athletic manner; playing tag, pseudo wrestling, and fight with fist

sometime. I was actually shocked when I heard her voice since it was so girlish than I

expected.

“Hi,” I replied.

She smiled and said why I don’t play along with them. I rejected the offer as soon as

I hear it. No way. I don’t like getting my clothes dirty, plus, I don’t want to get sweaty. I was

shy person, as I admitted, but I really didn’t want to get sweaty under sun in the dusty old

playground. When she heard my word, she smiled in a weird manner; just like saying ‘You

are a bad liar.’

26 | P a g e

“Okay than, so be it.” She said, “But don’t say I didn’t ask for it, alright? It’s just so lonely

watching people playing rather than actually play with them.”

She was right, but more importantly; she was watching me the whole time. I realized

that it was so embarrassing to be observed an embarrassing moment by other people. Her

word actually hurt my feeling. What did you want to say? Did you want to say that I was an

outcast who doesn’t have any friend?

She looked at my face and turned around and headed back to her friends, saying “She

said she doesn’t want to play with us because she thinks she can’t win against me!”

“What!” I said, “What are you talking about!”

“Well, I said you are a coward, and if you have any complain,” She smiled at me and ran

away from me. “Come and get me.”

I don’t exactly remember what actually happened after that. I was so mad and tried to

catch her until the twilight. I believe I used few curse word in the process. After the chase,

last of my memory was she laughing so hard, yet I was laughing with her. It was the first

meeting with my best friend Su-Yong. She was always like that; warm consideration under a

rude behavior. I wonder how many years have passed from then. We separated when I had to

move to America. I wonder what she might doing right now, maybe helping other people?

27 | P a g e

Reflection

Before I took this class, I never thought about myself, writing stories and poems with

such an emotional manner. I’ am not saying my works are emotional. I am saying that I was

actually focusing on the creative writing. My major is psychology and everything about

psychology is being formal, excluding all emotions which might corrupt the final report.

Psychologists wanted me to be gray. It was not really hard to do so even though I was an

emotional person. If subjects showed any action by experimental variables, I just had to write

down what happened without any fancy words. And one day, I went to advisor and ask her

what course I need to take for graduation. She said I need to take the ENGL-115 Creative

Writing class. It did not make any sense. I already took ENGL-121 and got C out from it. I

barely passed the basic English course and you want me to take WHAT? She did not force me

to do it. She made up my mind by simply giving me all the other options I can take;

Shakespeare, Screenplay, and Child-book writing. Okay, I said. Not that I am afraid of

Shakespeare or anything, I just remembered that I always wanted to write creative writing, of

course. So here I am, finished the course without failing it. It was a satisficing course that

revived my emotions which might not be helpful for psychology. I don’t regret it. It was fun

after all.

Revision process

The biggest problem of my works was in the short writings. I was born with bad

English grammar and nonsensical choosing of words. Yes, the problem was in grammar. Just

like other international students, I have a bad English grammar. At first, I asked my Korean

friends to fix my grammars. They were willing to fix it and the results seemed satisfying. Yet

28 | P a g e

I always got only 1 out of 3 points of grammars every single time. I asked myself, do I have

to be perfect at grammar to get 2 out of 3? What is this madness? I just don’t get it! Well,

reality was always bitter than I thought, and I was fully aware of it. I had to do something

about my grammar fast and precisely. The first option I had was ask other classmates about

my grammar. Yet I failed to do so because of two reasons; one unfortunate and one arrogant

reason. First, I was a shy person. No, I AM a shy person. I was always afraid of talking to

others and it will not change any sooner. Second, I was afraid that they might be wrong. Yes,

I did not trust my classmates. “If I get a help, I want it from the best.” Now that was such an

arrogant statement… by me. So I had to find other option, an easy but trustworthy option. I

went to English lab and asked advisor to fix my works. The advisor helped me with verb

tenses/ forms, word order/ syntax, articles, and prepositions. The revision took about 20

minute total. I never used English lab until now and I think I can get this kind of help more

often.

Organization

My work organization for this portfolio may be awkward for people who are other

than me. What a minority people! It was a joke, of course. Back to the topic, I separated my

works in two part; poems and short writings. If you print this out in 2 pages in one paper

format, you can clearly see that the poems are in 1 by 1 position where left is revised work

and the right is pre-revised work. The reason was simply because it was way easier to

compare between them. Not like stories, poems are easy to read. They are short but highly

organized. It can even feel like an artwork (literally) if you do not know what language the

poem was written. So I added the pre-revised one right next to the revised works so that

29 | P a g e

people can see the changes more easily. However, I did not put the pre-revised short stories

next to the revised pieces because I think it is not easy to compare and it would be boring to

read same stories over again. I wanted to show audience different topic as fast as I can to

keep them interested. One of my friend said the good stories may not have a polished

grammars, but it has to be interesting. I added a new content page just for pre-revised short

stories that my original content page for revised works is a single page. I personally think

content page should be a single page if the topics are not that many. It is easier to read and

find what they really wanted to read. Not just works but even page numbers are moved right

to left. When I printed my portfolio for revision, it was really hard to find pages when the

page numbers on the right. So I moved them to left.