“Frank the Owl” is how many people have named me.
Picture 1 shot by Owen Jin
Personally, I believe there’s nothing I have that’s similar with an owl.
Well, there must be something because some of my classmates keep calling me “the owl”. Many of them believe that when I’m wearing glasses and being extremely serious, my eyes are the same as Picture 2. (I guess.. maybe?)
I’m just a normal student who’s quite afraid of math tests (most of the time) but I enjoy some hobbies. Before, I used to play music (TRUE!) but that was in ancient times. Now, I’m quite interested in basketball, debating, reading, and some other things. As a teenager, I always have some big dreams in my head but they seem quite unrealistic. At least at this moment. I’m not really concerned about my future. There’s a saying that goes “When the boat comes to the bridge, it’s going to have its way”, so I’m mostly thinking things that will or may happen recently but not the ones that may happen 10 years later. Honestly, I can’t really decide what I want to do or who I want to be yet because my ideal job is always changing with my horizon and my age. I started realizing this when I was so young that I could only watch cartoons. When I was that small, I used to be a big fan of TV. When I was watching cartoons and those heroes, their performances and skills all caught my eye and my ideal job was to be one of the heroes in a cartoon episode. However, as I was growing up, I started realizing that it’s quite unrealistic for me to achieve, so I changed my ideal job into something else.
The motto of my life
The highest excellence is like that of water.
Lao Tzu
Personally, I believe the quote from Lao Tzu “The highest excellence is that of water” is my life motto. It is a quote where Lao Tzu uses water to represent kindness. The whole passage of him talking about water is all about how the fluid helped others wholeheartedly and not desiring anything for itself. Though I believe that it’s quite hard for me to achieve such a high state of kindness, the reason I choose this quote as my motto is that it leads me on the path towards helping people.
My hobbies
Debate
I started my “Debating life ” in English debate. However, it only lasted about two years before I turned to Chinese debate. When I first stepped into this field, I didn’t think about how it might improve my mind or what skills it might cultivate. The only thing that kept me going was excitement. When I am participating, time always goes pretty fast. One of the rounds is my favorite and it goes like this, each member of the two teams has 4 minutes to ask and answer the opponents’ question. When coming to this round, it’s always when the bell rings that I finally realize the time is up. My first debate made me really excited. When doing something that you love, you put your whole heart inside. I enjoyed the feeling, so I started participating in debating events organized by NSDA (now called the WSDA). As I mentioned, my English debating life stopped when I was in 7th grade and I started participating in Chinese debates. There’s not much difference, so I quickly got used to it. When you can claim your point and when you successfully persuade the judge, the achievability fills your head and brings pride and happiness. However, like other competitions, there’s winning and losing. It truly feels bad when you prepared for nights and nights but all your preparation collapsed in 30 to 60 minutes. Although it’s frustrating, making yourself stay positive can help you go longer in this field.
Reading
I like reading. I don’t even remember when I started to love reading, but I know that I love it. When reading, feeling knowledge jump into your mind is good, but when the knowledge that you just gained in your reading is used somewhere in your life, no matter anywhere anytime, it feels great. (TRUE!) I used to wonder why it’s so important for us to read and gain knowledge from the book, but I always couldn’t understand until I discovered the feeling after using it. When I was small, my dad used to make me read and remember poems from books that write about ancient Chinese poems and poets. I was unhappy…extremely unhappy. It feels awful sitting in front of a book and reading things that seem the same and remembering such long poems. But my only motivation to do so was his checking during the night time. When I couldn’t remember one of the poems, there were punishments. At that time, I couldn’t understand why my dad did so. But when I used them in competitions, in tests, and in school life I gradually gained the meaning of reading. Anyway, that’s all. Thanks for reading!
Shot on iPad
Debate events must be exciting, have you ever had difficulties in preparing for a debate?
Yes, it’s sometimes hard to find relative resources that proves our point. However, in comparison, I believe that the most difficult thing is to rebuttal every point your opponents made.
You really love debating! I think that’s the reason you are so good at it.
The saying goes “Interest is the best teacher”. Sometimes when we’re into something, we have the inner motivation. And that’s why we want to do it.
Hi Frank.I am Lynn. You look really different from several years ago. I am curious what’s happened to you these years.
A handsome and humorous boy who has some interesting hobbies.