Hi, my name is Wendy Yao!  I’m a first year majoring in chemical engineering, and like most other freshmen, I hope to graduate by 2022 … but we’ll see.

Me in 2022 when I’m supposed to graduate

English has always been one of my favorite classes, though they’ve generally been “traditional” English classes filled with reading quizzes and poetry discussions.  My high school English classes were generally chill because strict memorization was less important than synthesizing creative arguments or debating the virtues of Shakespeare’s antagonists, though there were still assessments to worry about.

Out of all the categories for communication in WOVEN, my most favorite would be written, and my least favorite would be oral.  After all these years of practicing my writing skills, I’d like to believe that they’re at least semi-decent.  I enjoy using written communication because of its permanence and because of the time I’m given to compose and collect my scattered ideas.  Even when writing this blog post, I’ve been jumping around, writing some sentences first before going back to fill the gap.  As a result, my issue with oral communication is that I like having time to gather my thoughts, whether it’s presenting a coherent response to “How may I help you today?” or contributing thoughtfully to a group discussion.

English 1102 is my first and last English class at GT, so it’ll definitely be memorable, especially because of the course theme.  I grew up watching some TV in the form of PBS Kids and CW4Kids shows, such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and Yu-Gi-Oh.  At some point in my childhood, TV just kind of faded away to a distant past.  One constant in my life, though, has been Chinese dramas.  Wuxia dramas were integral in my upbringing, and I still manage to find the time to fit in each remake that happens every few years to bask in the nostalgia, unless, of course, the remake is terrible, in which case I just binge my favorite version, all 60 45-minute episodes.   Now, besides c-dramas, I’ve also added Korean dramas to the mix, which tend to average at about an hour long for each episode, so procrastination occurs whenever I’m sucked into the productivity-eating vortex that is Asian dramas.

When you think you have enough time to finish your homework after binging a drama

I’ve chosen to review New Girl, which is a sitcom that finished airing on Fox this year about a zany teacher named Jess in Los Angeles who suddenly moves in with three guys because of a break-up.  I chose this show because the premise and the first episode seemed cheerful and quirky, and I’m interested in learning more about how the relationships among the main characters will play out.  Once I get into a TV series, I can’t stop, so the 20-minute episodes and the definite ending to the show are going to be a blessing.