THE LIVES OF YAKUZA WOMEN

Yakuza women are the wives of the men that belong to the Japanese mafia. In Japan, it's a delicate subject to talk about and you must never pronounce the name "Yakuza" in a normal speaking voice. Instead, you have to mention it in a low voice tone or rather make a gesture with your hands pointing at your cheek and then moving your finger along the cheekbone.

Anh Wisle, a Ykuza model

The women are very reserved and it's complicated to gain their confidence, in other to get closer to them you must gain their husband's trust first. Their everyday life is the same as the one any other Japanese housewife would have. There's only one difference, they will always be anxious to know if their husband will come home at night.

You cannot become a Yakuza as a woman, only men can. However, a woman who gets married to a Yakuza man automatically forms part of it. Their responsibilities depend on the status the husband has. Per example, a woman who is married to the leader is the consultant, she must manage the finances of the group.

All Yakuzas have a tattoo which covers the back and extremities, they act as armour or protections (Omamori) and are not meant o be shown. Once a woman is married to a man in that cercle, it's extremely hard to leave and get reintegrated into society.

Original source

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Everyone should know to call someone "fat" is offensive. But, on the other side, calling a person that they are too thin or skinny is not considered as disrespectful. I don't understand why, after all, it means the same thing. One is the opposite of the other, yet being called "skinny" hasn't got such a negative connotation.

I used to be overweight three years ago. When I was a little bit younger, I ate lots of junk food and eventually I gained some extra weight. During that time, no one told me or even tried to refer to the fact I was fat, I realised by myself. When I lost all the finally at a healthy range and they weren't used to my new image. (This is just excess kilograms, suddenly everyone was telling me I was too skinny. I was my personal experience, I'm aware that lots of people are shamed for being fat on a much bigger scale than thin people).

A few individuals preach that anyone is acceptable and can be happy at any size. They say it doesn't matter if you are overweight, and they are right. What I don't agree with is the romanticisation of being overweight or obese and the health problems it causes, they deny that that kind of lifestyle could be harmful or dangerous for you.

I believe you can actually be happy with the way you look at any weight as long as you are healthy and it's not causing any issues.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Isn't it ironic how I made an entry saying new year resolutions were dumb? Well, now I'm writing one...

1. My first resolution is to exercise a little more, I already do it but I'd like to be more constant.

2. I want to graduate high school, I usually always pass my subjects but I see graduation as a small achievement for myself (even is secondary education is compulsory).












3. To not dye my hair. Two years ago I decided to get some pink highlights done. Because of the decolouration (I have medium brown hair), it got really dry and it lost its natural form. My goal this year is to resist the temptation to dye it.
 <<<<<<<<<<NO

4.  I need to change my clothing style, I've got a pretty basic wardrobe and I don't usually use very bright colours. That has to change, I want to include new and different pieces and discover my favourite style.

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

1. THE GOTHIC NOVEL:

• Who invented the gothic novel? The first known gothic novel is from the author Horace Walpole.

• What was the title of the first gothic novel? The Castle of Otranto
• When was it published? 1764

• Wich elements of horror do you remember? I remember  - The characteristic vocabulary in gothic novels we read.

- The horror video we watched about a pumpkin getting cut for Halloween.

- While watching the video, we compleated a text from it where a few words were missing. 

- The blog post I created where I searched for words I hadn't heard before along with a paragraph where I included those words.

- Another blog post I made where I talked about my favourite horror movie and my favourite scene.

- We read the story "The black cat" by Edgar Allan Poe and then completed a few questions about It.

- After reading "The black cat", we worked the vocabulary in the story and wrote down the words we didn't know.

- We watched a horror short in the class called "Lights out" and then commented If we found it scary or not.

- We also watched another short called "The smiling man" and then made a summary using the past tenses.

- We made groups of three or four students and started thinking about the script of a short film we had to create using all the material of the horror stories we had learnt.

- In the last class, we gathered together the groups we had created and started writing down all the ideas we could use in the horror short.

2. DISCOVERING LITERATURE:

Choose one of the topics of "discovering literature" and make a summary of It.

Dracula: vampires, perversity and Victorian anxieties

The characteristics of a vampire match the fears of the society of the late 19th century: fear of immigration, sexual promiscuity and moral degeneration. The vampire novel "Dracula" was published by Bram Stoker in 1897.

"Dracula" has lots of contrasts and shows old ways of thinking and also new ideas. Stoker uses the protagonist of the novel to portray all the fears that haunted the Victorian end of the 19th Century. Scientific rationality is put against folklore and superstition; old Europe against modern London, traditional notions are threatened by corruption and depravity.

The way Dracula moved through the crowded areas of the city without raising suspicions is a reference to the fear people had of untrammelled immigration because of It's the relation to higher levels of crime and ghetto communities. The novel also references Jack the Ripper's murders in 1888 and the location of Jacob's Island. The Ripper's murders had created panic in the press with the Jewish community. Because of the secretiveness of Jewish ghettos, It was thought they were the reason why the crimes had never been solved. The Jews were seen as having close relationships with those in their circle, probably also with the ones who had committed the crimes. "Dracula" closely shows those fears and they then lay behind the apparition of The Aliens Act in 1905.

3. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR STORY:

• Who is Edgar Allan Poe? He was a romance novel writer at the beginning of the 19th Century. He wrote poetry, novels and short stories. He mostly is known for his horror and fantasy-themed novels and is considered the father of psychological terror.

• When and where was he born? He was born the nineteenth of January 1809 and he passed away oh October seventh 1849 at the age of forty. 

• What was he famous for? He was mostly known for his horror and fantasy-themed novels and is considered the father of psychological terror. He was also one of the first science fiction writers.

• Did he get married? How did he die? Yes, he got married to Virginia Eliza Clemm. The way he died is still a mystery but there are many theories about the cause of his death. alcoholism, epilepsy, rabies, carbon monoxide poisoning...

• Some of Poe's most famous works are: "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "Metzengerstein" and "The Gold Bug.

4. ALFRED HITCHCOCK:

• What's his nickname? "The master of suspense".

• What was his most famous horror film? According to many websites, some of his most famous films are Psyco, Vertigo, Notorious, The Lady Vanishes and The Birds.

• What was his main contribution to horror? He created many unique horror films which contained new and fresh ideas portraying, per example, "the thin line between sanity and insanity".

5. COMIC RELIEF:

• What is the comic relief and why is it used in horror films? Comic relief is a funny or less serious scene in a film in order to release some of the tension created by a dramatic scene. 

Source

NEW YEAR NEW ME?

The phrase "New year new me" is a very known saying, you've probably used it many times without really thinking about Its meaning. This sentence is not my favourite for a few reasons I will present further into the text.

In the first place, I'd like to write about what it means for me. Is this phrase saying you can entirely change one day to the next just because of the time going from a second to the other? I believe a second maks the change of the year, but it does not change a whole human being.

I don't entirely agree with the sentence because changes must be progressive, they shouldn't be fast and radical since this way, doesn't work for the majority of people. They found the year with way too many goals and objectives, get overwhelmed by them and end up quitting in the first two or three months.

If you want to make a change, you don't need to wait for the year to end. You can do it right now.

THE FUTURE

Lately, I've been thinking and reflecting on what will become of me when a few years have passed. What am I going to study or dedicate to? What am I going to do when high school ends? 

I can't stop asking myself these questions all day. I feel like my friends and classmates don't worry about the future as much as I do, all the outcomes are infinite and that is overwhelming to me. I'm impatient and at the same time scared of becoming an adult, so much freedom, responsibilities and work at the same time look difficult to handle.

Where am I going to live, who's my partner going to be? Will my friends now still be there or am I going to have new ones? Is my work gonna be fulfilling or is It gonna be boring? Am I going to be happy with my life?

Of curse, I'm conscious that It's not like one day you're a kid and the next day you're an adult. It's more of slow evolution, everything changes but It happens so slowly we don't realize all the years that have passed and all the changes we've experimented. I see life as a gift, an experience, life is so rare to happen It's almost like a miracle that It does. I want to get the best out of my experience, I haven't come to just exist here, I've come to this world to live.

VOCABULARY I DIDN'T KNOW

When I entered through the door, I instantly knew something was terribly wrong with that room. The wood on the floor creaked as I started to slowly and carefully walk and observe my surroundings. I looked at the window and saw a tree's branchings were hitting it and the sky was turning gloomy. On one of the shelves, there was an ominous ritual knife incrusted on what looked like a goat's skull. Suddenly, I had a dejavu. I had seen that knife before, I dreamed about someone or something murdering me with it. Could that omen be true?

MY FAVOURITE HORROR MOVIE: EVENT HORIZON

TRILER -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Director of the movie: Paul W. S. Anderson

Year of release: 1997

Duration: 1h 37min

Main actors: Sam Neill, Laurence Fishburne, Joley Richardson, Kathleen Quinlan, Jack                          Noseworthy,                      Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee and Richard T. Jones.

ARGUMENT OF THE STORY:

This film is set in the year 2047, It talks about a group of astronauts who have the mission of finding a ship and It's tribulation, that's been lost in space for seven years (since 2040). Originally, it had It's own tripulation but they disappeared. Very strange things happen while the searchers and the designer of the ship are in there and they have to discover what's going on.

MY FAVOURITE SCENE:

My favourite scene is the one near the end where the Captain Miller is fighting against Dr. William in the ship's core to save the comrades he has left. This scene is my favourite because It's the one that concentrates all the action, the suspense and gore of the movie.

MULTI INTELLIGENCE QUIZ

Today I did a multiple inteligence quiz to know wich are my top inteligences. I'm going to explain my oppinion on the results I got:

1. Intrapersonal: I agree with this intelligence because I enjoy being in my own little world inside my mind. Sometimes I also like to be alone and have some personal space. I'm intuitive, independent and introverted.

2. Logical/mathematical: I agree with the characteristic of being logical because I try to always be resonable but, maybe, I wouldn't exactly describe myself as mathemetical. I'm rational, objective and I always try to be precise. 

3. Bodily/ Kinesthetic: This is a quite accurate desctiption of me because I enjoy sports, dinamic work, hand crafting and other activities related to this inteligence. 

What careers would be the best for my stongest points?

- Kinesthetic: the best careers for people who are kiesthetic are: being an actor, an athlete, a firefighter, a paramedic/EMT or a personal trainer.

- Intrapersonal: the most appopriate jobs for these kind of people would be: being an entrepeneur, an inventor, a librarian, a philosopher or a scientist.

- Logical/mathematical: the persons with this inteligence should work as: a computer programmer, an engineer, a medical doctor or a Military officer.

Out of all the carreers i've listed I think I would choose to be a paramerdic/EMT, a personal trainer, a scientist or a computer programmer or a medical doctor.

MY OPINION

Three or four years ago I started to realize a few things about my classmates, in general because I was beginning to grow mentally. I realized almost every student already had an opinion about politics at a very young age, while I had no idea about them or had an opinion or cared at all. 

Why and how had those kids chosen to think a certain way? It's clear the parents shared their ideas with them, and I'm not saying that's good or bad. I believe It's not necessary for the kids to know about politics without being able to evaluate and decide their "side", they should be having fun and enjoying childhood.

For now, I don't care what "side" to choose. My main goal right now is to study, that's very clear to me. I want to be successful and do something I genuinely enjoy no matter who has the "power" in my country.

I like my neutral point of view. I can understand why people think in a way or another without really relating to them. Is that being too conformist? Maybe, but that's just my opinion.

ANIMAL IN YOU TEST

After completing the Animal in you quiz, I found out I have the personality of a penguin and I'm going to give my opinion on the results it gave me.

CHARACTERISTICS: Witty, meticulous, intelligent, dual-natured, inscrutable and self-conscious. 

I agree with all these personality characteristics, I think they all describe me accurately.

POSSIBLE CAREERS: Waiter, designer, journalist, herbalist, writer.

I don't agree with any of the possible jobs apart from being a herbalist or a designer. Serving people in a bar or a restaurant is nice but it's most certainly not my passion. I have never been interested in journalism of any kind and my writing skills are good but I don't think they are enough. 

Being a designer could be a possibility because I've always liked drawing and painting, actually, a few years ago my idea was to study for something related to art but I wasn't quite sure about it and started thinking of other possible jobs. Maybe becoming a herbalist would be fun since I'm interested in science and medicine, but It's still very far from what I would like to do. 

HOBBIES: Gambling, board games, reading, family time.

I strongly disagree with gambling as a hobby, It's a very addictive game and many people have gone bankrupt because of It. On the other side, I love spending time around my loved ones and playing board games (even if I play them very little often). Reading is a hobby I love but I don't do very often neither. I have been trying to read more but can never find the right time to dedicate myself to it.