Peering through the dusty window, Tina lives in that house alone. So, Tina thinks that she need to clean the window alone after almost 2 months she did not clean it up. She takes some water and soap to clean it.

Whole day Tina try clean her window because it too dirty, but, she is having a trouble when she wants to clean the window because the dusts on the window don’t want to remove from the window. She start fed up and give up because of cleaning. So, she calls the clean service and say,

“Hello, Good Afternoon. I’m Tina. I’m having trouble to clean up the dusty window. I need your help.” And someone answer her,

“Hello and Good Afternoon, Miss. You having trouble, we will help you all the time. What time do you want we come to your house?” Tina answers the lady in the telephone,

“I want you to come at five ‘clock. Thank you for helping me.” The lady answer Tina,

“Ok Miss. We will be right there. No problems miss. This is our job.” At that moment, Tina’ best friend, Jane come to her house. Tina asks Jane,

“What dream makes you come here, Jane?” Jane answer her best friend,

”Well, today’s weather is good. Not too hot and not too cold. Why not we go to the mall? It will be so great.” Tina answer Jane,

” Ohh! I can’t go today because later a clean service will come to my house for cleaning. I’m so sorry Jane. We will go to the mall next time ok? Hope you understand my situation now.” Jane answers,

“Ohh.. It’s ok. I always understand your situation. We can go to the mall next time. Well, why we don’t to do a cleaning together? It wills so much fun.“ Tina answers her,

“Jane, I already call the clean service thing. They will come at five o’clock.”

“Well, if you already call them it’s ok. Tina, I will go back home now. See you at school tomorrow. Bye!” Jane said.

“Bye! See you tomorrow at school, Jane!” Tina said.

After a few minutes later, the clean service comes to Tina’s house for cleaning. Tina shows the window that she can’t clean the dust on the window. A lady quickly cleans the dusty window and also the whole house.

After a few hours later, that house already did cleaning. Thanks to the clean service. Now her whole house is clean. The lady from the clean service tells her that she needs always clean up the house and also the window because the germs and bacteria always there to stay at her window. Starts for that day, Tina always clean her house when she has a free time, and she will invites her best friend to clean up the house together.

Suddenly, the window slammed shut when I came back to my room from the kitchen after I had a drink of milk. It was stormy and snowy outside. I wondered if we wouldn’t have school tomorrow because usually if it snowed the night before the school on the next day and the snow was 1 foot on the ground then the school would be canceled. Before I slept, I still wondered if there wouldn’t be school tomorrow because if there wasn’t, then I might go out of town with my friends just like what we planned whenever we suddenly don’t have school.

The ringing clock beside my bed woke me up.  Then I quickly got up and opened my window, it was a cold windy weather outside. After having a breeze of the cold wind, I started preparing for school but before I went downstairs, I heard my mom shouted “Selena, I just got a call from your school saying that the school is closed and you don’t have school today.” When I heard what my mom said, I went downstairs and asked her excitedly “Can I go with my friends out if the town today?” My mom came up with an answer which was yes.

Marvin started the van and we got inside of it. It took us 2 hours to travel and when we arrived it was 4o’clock on the afternoon. First we went to this new opened shop which was gigantic. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant where we ate Chinese foods which tasted really yummy and good. And our last stop was this theater which showed some awesome movies. We picked this movie called 2012. The story was about the world ending and getting destroyed on December 21, 2012. Before we got out of the city, there were this policemen standing on the side roads. They stopped us and said that we shouldn’t be out at this time so then they wanted our parents’ numbers and called them and said “Your son/daughter shouldn’t be out at this kinda of time, so please don’t allow them to go out at this kind of time.”

It was almost midnight when I came back. I opened the door and saw my Dad seated on the sofa. I couldn’t understand the look on their faces, so I just asked “What’s wrong?” Dad said “Do you know what time is it, young lady?” I knew that this would be some of my dad’s lecture again. So I just sat back on the sofa and listened to him. When his lecture finished, I stood up and said good night to him, but before I reached the stairs he reminded me something “You are grounded for 1 week, Selena.”

PS. I know that story kinda sucks and not really inetersting…

Jane is a senior graduate, and now she continue her studies in California. The things that Jane cares about are her parents, siblings, educations and also her future life. Jane active in sports, have a talents of singing and also like to help others. She is very active in sport especially in volleyball. She also respects who older than her. Jane likes her family and loves them too.

Well, she also good in computer. She likes to teach other when they need help. Jane also understands her best friend feeling and situation. Wherever she go, she always remember her best friend. Sometimes, when she went to vacation, she will bought something for her best friend for their memories together. Now, she already went to university, and also her best friend. Even though they different school, they always contact each other..  :)

Hi

Here you can listen to my English presentation.

Enjoy

Hello,

This is my blog for English class in the university of “Marne La Vallée” in France.

Here, you will find many sound recordings, videos and articles.

I wait for your comments

See you

Raed. B

Tiger woods, the world’s no.1 golfer, has recently been found guilty of having an affair with two women. As someone who had been a fan of Tiger Woods and supported him throughout the year (along with my dad, who is a major golf fan) this comes as a shock. For years Tiger Woods has been a role model for America, the son of an immigrant and a golf prodigy. I respected Tiger for always showing sign of self-control, with the firm aura of coolness as he played the golf game. Yet his affair provides some reasonable doubt to his morality. Can he still remain a true role model?

In the end, I’ll simply have to wait. No man is perfect. Every hero had some kind of a flaw in his/her lives – flaws are a natural thing for a human being. Yet it is how one tries to overcome his/her flaws that can truly make them worthy of respect. Thus in the end, I shall wait to see how Tiger redeems himself and tries to pull himself out of this mess.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrew Jisu Pai, and I am the first speaker of the proposition side. Today we are here to debate on the motion “This house believes that meat should be included in people’s diets”, which is undoubtedly one of the hottest and most controversial topics of the contemporary world. As the first speaker I will be doing three things – firstly, I will be defining the motion as presented; secondly, I will be introducing our four main irrefutable arguments; and thirdly, I will be further solidifying upon our first and second arguments.

Now, to define the motion. The proposition would like to define the motion as following: Meat, in our debate, would talk about red meat, beef, and poultry. Meals are self-explanatory, meaning diet in our everyday lives.

Our four main arguments make up what I would like to call ‘NEND’. NEND stands for each of the four virtues that is essential in our lives- Natural, Economical, Nutritional, and Democratic. By natural, I mean that people have always eaten meat throughout their lives, and not including meat in one’s diet is opposing the forces of nature. By economical, I am talking of the enormous size of the meat industry, and the chaos that will ensue once meat is banned. By ‘nutritional’, I am talking of the healthiness of an omnivorous diet as opposed to a vegetarian-only diet. Proponents of vegetarianism will undoubtedly come up with various reasons why a vegetarian diet is healthier, but yet our team will show why those reasons are flawed. Lastly, by democratic, I am talking about the freedom of people to choose what to eat. People are free to eat whatever they want, and meat cannot be an exception. My third and fourth points will be further elaborated by our second speaker Choi Jina, and Kang Kyumin, the whip, will find points of clashes and show why we the proposition have won this debate.

I’d like to further elaborate on my first and second point. Throughout history, humans have always eaten meat. There is no single civilization that survived with a vegetarian-only diet; our earliest beginnings of civilization worked under a hunter-gatherer system. By blending vegetables with meat, our society was able to survive and develop. Ladies and gentlemen, we are omnivores, not carnivores nor herbivores. Further evidence can easily be found by inspecting our body- our anatomical structures. We have long teeth- longer than that of any herbivores- which at times were used to threaten other animals, and were used for tearing meat and chewing them. We have salivary glands that are specialized for meat consumption. And there is also a very simple evidence to support our claim – meat contains “essential” nutrients for our survival, as our second speaker will explain. Lastly, the fact that we simply love the taste of meat shows that we were meant to be omnivores. If humans are to be condemned for eating meat when they can eat vegetables, should we kill of all the bears because they eat meat?

Next, the meat industry is huge – enormously huge. By the term ‘meat industry’ I talk not only of restaurants, but farmers, meat processors, butchers, etc. Suddenly going vegetarian can have an extremely debilitating effect on our economy. There are opponents who cite the extreme amount of resources “wasted” on the meat industry, and how stopping it can eventually solve poverty – yet they are sadly mistaken. When demand for meat falls, so does the supply. If meat is to be banned, than the resources used for growing meat will simply be converted to some other profitable usage.

Ladies and gentlemen, to wrap things up we have inspected two major points as to why meat SHOULD remain in people’s diets. Our second speaker will elaborate further on our third and fourth points.

Thank you.

If I were to tell you that three of my friends and I traveled from the USA to Dresden, Germany then back to the USA in fifty minutes you would say I am crazy right? Well thanks to Second Life that journey was made possible.

picture of me and my group avatars

Our assignment was to visit the Dresden Gallery in Germany. Nothing attracted my attention right away. I figured what possible fun can you have looking at a bunch of pictures you know nothing about. As I entered into the Gallery there was a guest book. I then clicked on the book and it gave me information on who the gallery was made for and what it has to offer. The guest book stated that. The Dresden gallery holds outstanding masterpieces from European Art, making them available to the residents of second life. So I figured it was created for everyone interested in the history of European Art. This location was also an experiment in response to the new challenge of 3-D web communication. The guest book then gives you a note card and asks you to write about your experience so that it would be uploaded to the Dresden Gallery website.

picture of the Dresden Gallery guest book

As I toured the gallery there were pictures everywhere. If you click on the picture they gave you facts about the picture but, since it was in Germany I couldn’t understand the description. I than went from room to room seeing nothing but paintings on the wall

picture of my avatar looking at the paintings within the Dresden Gallery

I then made it to the bottom of the gallery where they had the gift shop. There was a rack of free t-shirts for your avatar and pictures that you are able to purchase for both your second life and real life. Other than this interaction and the clicking of the pictures, the only other activities that you could do was an audio guided tour.

picture of my avatar in the Dresden Gallery gift shop

This particular site didn’t really have anything to see other than pictures or people to interact with so I became bored. If I were to make this site more interesting I would add more activities within the gallery for the avatar to do. I would also make the painting note cards language changeable so that everyone can read them.

  The disequilibrium of the status quo lies in Fort Hood, where a Muslim massacred numerous soldiers, due to his belief that America is waging a war on the Islam society itself. Now, I do believe that America has gone a little over the top in the war with Iraq and Afghanistan, and believe that that the troops should pull out immediately.

  Part of the blame for the terrible massacre does lie in the U.S. governmnent. The United States keeps making actions that seem to be directed toward not only the Taliban or the Al-Queda, but at the Islam people themselves. Of course this is not the case, but that’s what it simply appears to be. It’s the little things that matter – such as guaranteeing the safety and freedom of Islams in America, supporting the Islam religion (it’s the external outlook that’s really important – for instance, a picture of Obama respecting the Islam in any way will really boost the image of the U.S. government), and so forth. Appease the anger, fury, and nervousness of the Islam population, and then slowly make amends in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I was once chased by a wild turkey… well semi-wild and it wanted my soul, or something. It definitely was not chasing me down for a hug or returning a dropped wallet.
When I was a junior in high school I had an odd English class. One half of the year it was taught by a coach and one half of the year by the drama teacher. Our school was shy an English teacher for just one period. Some people thought it was awful, but I think I received the best education that year. They both had a different approach to English that was captivating and challenging. And even though I still complain a little now, I learned a lot from the Walden Pond assignment. Although, I am not sure I learned exactly what I was supposed to learn.
The drama teacher decided to have us do an assignment that he had to do in college. We were to go into nature, have no one else around, have nothing that was entertainment, or anything too civilized. We were told that we couldn’t even take fishing polls or see civilization. We also had to document in a journal all events, preferably every hour. I assumed watches were completely allowed. He wanted us to do the project over the weekend. I was wondering the entire time he spoke, “How am I going to convince my mother that I needed to get lost in the woods for 7 hours?” My grandparents and my aunt had some land in Mariposa that they shared. It was over 20 acres large and I always ended up with poison oak when I went hiking there. I still wanted to go up to their cabin to do this project.
I pondered all day about how I was going to ask. My mother had class that night after work and this bought me time to think. My mother walked in the door and before I said a word she said, “I don’t want to hear any bitching from you or your bother, we have to go to Mariposa. My teacher is making us do a Walden Pond assignment.” I found out later that she had the same teacher as my teacher had when he was in college. She and I talked for a short while on the project. She only needed to be out in the wilderness for 3 hours, not 7.
We went to Mariposa and my brother got to bring a friend to help keep him out of the way. He was 16; his Super Nintendo alone should have kept him out of the way. Before we left my aunt warned us that a guy a few roads over just let out 12 turkeys because he was being kicked off his land and that turkeys can get fairly aggressive. My mom said she wasn’t too worried, she was just going to tan by the cabin, listen to music and if I turkey came near she would go inside. I was miffed. She wasn’t going to do her assignment like she should. I had planned on doing every little bit of it (well, all but peeing in the bushes, I did not want to end up with poison oak there!). I had already decided that I would even document that. I was not going to lie.
On the windy and bumpy drive leading to the cabin a turkey ran in front of our car. It was bigger than I thought. Upon reaching our destination another turkey was in our front yard. My brother and his friend tried to chase it off, but the turkey in turn chased them. While the two boys were running all over the country side, my mother looked at me and said, “Well, that should keep the birds busy. Let’s get the car unpacked.” Never mind that there were wild and crazy turkeys out there chasing one of her children already. Was she going to trip me if the turkey came back and use her other child as live turkey feed for her own personal escape? I got out and unpacked the car. After the first load to the house, where she carried near nothing, she said, “Why don’t you bring everything to the door and I will take the bags to the rooms?” Great, I felt like she just tripped me to free herself from the turkey. An image flashed before me, my mother slamming the door closed as I’m running up to it, being chased by a flesh eating turkey, locked out and left for dead. I tried to shake the image from my head as I carried very large loads to the door all the while being rushed by my mother.
My brother and his friend ran across the yard screaming and yelled, “Are they still chasing us?”
“They?” I said as I looked behind him. There were two running after them. I yelled, “Two! Split up!”
“NO! You never split up in a horror movie!” my brother’s friend yelled while grabbing a push broom that was on the side of the house. I was as still as could be. I thought of the seen with the raptors in Jurassic Park. All I had to do was grab the one bag in front of me, shut the trunk, and make it into the house. I did it all as fast as I could move. I didn’t think the birds saw me. Once in the house, I saw my brother was at the glass back door and my mother was in the bathroom with the door shut and locked. I let my brother in but his friend was still out there. My brother ran to the kitchen window and looked out. His friend had a broom and was swinging it at the bird.
My brother and I looked at one another. “He is my guest,” he said as he went to the back door opened it and yelled, “RUN!” His friend ran for the door and once inside started to laugh like a madman.
My mother emerged from the bathroom. “Who’s next? Those long car rides just make a person need to go.”
It was near dinner time, so I would need to go on my venture the next day. I got a hold of the very cute and friendly ‘boy next door’ (next door there is about 3 or 4 blocks over). He let me know that only 2 of the turkeys were left. A few of the birds had been shot, some just died, and one was hit by a truck. From what he said it did do some damage before it went. His little sister was scared to go outside because the birds were so mean. I told him of my class project and he promised if he saw any turkeys he would chase them down the hill and not towards me. I was very leery of going into the wild wilderness now. Before my biggest worry was poison oak and mosquitoes, now I had to fear massive, freakish birds with a taste for human blood.
I readied myself the next day. I brought OFF!®, a blanket to sit on, my notebook, a pen, a few pencils, a couple pbjs, and a stick… a very long stick. I walked out the door, past my mother sunbathing and listening to old 60’s and 70’s music. I shook my head as I walked by. I went to a spot that was a little thick with brush so I would hear them if they came. There was a crib of rocks near by I could climb up and scream if I needed. I looked out at the woods. I heard birds and thought of the turkeys. I heard leaves and thought of the turkeys. Every journal entry was full of my new found fear of turkeys. I wondered back to the cabin for a bathroom trip twice in the 7 hours (my bladder was stronger then) and saw no turkeys. As it grew time for dinner I wasn’t as worried and felt I had picked a safe place. I packed up my things. I stayed an extra 15 minutes because I felt guilty about the trips to the bathroom.
I went to the cabin, nothing. I went in and made dinner. My mother sat down and started looking over my journal. The night came and went. After I had my shower my mother told me to pack the car while she took hers. My brother and his friend were out hiking to the tip of “lookout rock” to see if the day was clear enough to see Yosemite.
I put all of the bags in the car and as I shut the trunk I saw a head pop out from the overgrown grass and weeds near by. I looked over at it. It was the turkey. The turkey cocked its head at me and charged. I ran like hell screaming “TURKEY!” I ran circles around the cabin.
Soon my brother and his friend were back. They were yelling and screaming at the bird. Things like, “I’m going to eat you!” “I’ve been waiting for this!” “Your time has come!” “Luke, I am your father.” and lots of profanity. I jumped in the car and wished I knew how to drive. My mother, done with her shower, looked out one of the windows and watched.
The boys never hurt the turkey. They did scare the hell out of it and the man down the hill, with the two asses in his yard, fired a gun. My brother said he warned them first and they moved out of the way. He missed but it freaked the bird out enough for us to make our escape.
I vowed, while I was rubbing Campho-Phenique© onto my poison oak patches, that I will forever and always enjoy turkey. I will never feel guilt of any kind for devouring poultry. That year my family enjoyed turkey more than we ever had. While we sat at my grandparents table, taking pleasure in our wonderful meal, we all talked about different run-ins we had with the birds. We found out how the last one met its maker. My uncles went hunting.

She said it took different skills to interpret the interplay of words and pictures in graphic novels – skills that were important in today’s highly visual world.

“You’re actually reading the pictures at the same time that you’re reading the words, so if you’re not used to it that can be very difficult. It’s something you have to learn.”

The above is a quote from Perth’s daily newspaper The West Australian and it was supplied to reporter Bethany Hiatt during an interview with me Last week I was interviewed about graphic novels and my research by Education Editor Ms Hiatt. My brain is mush due to thesis, but I actually made some lucid comments that gave the impression my brain is not mush On Saturday the article was published [1]. Some of The West Australian’s articles are reprinted online, but comics just don’t cut it. You can only read it if you’re in Perth and you’re one of those people who read the paper. What newspapers already know (and are desperately grasping for ideas on how they can make money from the younger generation who don’t read papers) I have now worked out.

I felt almost famous being in the newspaper. Unfortunately my fame is only among those older people who read the paper. I’m not denigrating the older generation of newspaper readers and I’m not sure what the cut-off age is, but when I txtd my friends to tell them to look for me in the paper, their answers were along these lines:

• Ignore me (it happens a lot due to most of what I txt being something totally random that I think is enormously funny but no one else does)
• Tell me to save the article for when we next met up
• Tell me he’d look at it at work on Monday

They’re obviously below the magical age, as am I. While I knew there was going to be a story with my input, I only found out it was published when my dad rang me to tell me. Other people I know such as my parent’s neighbour and a past colleague who retired and now does volunteer work with my mum, saw me in the paper. Dorothy the neighbour even cut out a copy to send to my bro in Darwin. This was nice of her, but I’m not sure he even cares knows what I do with my time. (He certainly doesn’t know when my b.day is and it’s two days after his!) Perhaps when he receives the letter my mum is so excited about sending, he’ll be enlightened (she could tell him my b.day at the same time). We can discuss my niblings’ introduction to comics when they all visit at Christmas. Altho I’ve never come across comics in boardbooks – that’s what they’re up to.

Due to non-onlineness I’ll explain some of the other points in the article. Mainly that graphic novels need to be included among classroom literature because they are literature and can add so much to the lives of students and perhaps turn some kids who hate books onto reading something else. Something that is just as much a book, and in my opinion, often much more. Some of the students I talked to for my research don’t agree with me and need to be exposed to more graphic novels to discover the diversity available and the profound stories which can be told when word and image collide.

I also had to tell Ms Hiatt I’m not a teacher and not exactly qualified to say they should be used in class. So she talked to teachers and Wendy Cody, president of the English Teachers Association of WA, agreed that visual literacy is as important as traditional literacy [2]. Ms Hiatt visited Hale School because they have a great collection of graphic novels in their library (which may have featured in my research). Hale’s curriculum director David Bean said they use graphic novels in class, such as adaptations of Shakespeare,

as a way into Shakespeare’s language.

I hope they use more than just these, because the quality of many graphic novels is phenomenal. Skim by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki [3] and The Great Gatsby by Nicki Greenberg [4] come to mind, but there are many more that I’ve read and are yet to read. Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan [5] being my latest recommendation from Mr Shaddow.

And Mariko Tamaki is writer in residence all this month at Inside a Dog, so get there quick before she leaves Inky and goes back to boring life outside of a dog.

For those who’d like some reading on the proven complexity of the interaction between word and image in graphic novels, see 6-13 below. Or wait for my lit review, which will be online next year, early if those examiners are kind to me

References

1. Hiatt, Bethany (2009, 21 Nov) “Graphic novels win over guardians of school literature” The West Australian, p.16
2. Kress, Gunther (2003) Literacy in the New Media Age London: Routledge
3. Tamaki, Mariko & Tamaki, Jillian (2008) Skim Toronto: Groundwood
4. Greenberg Nicki (2007) The Great Gatsby Melbourne: Allen & Unwin
5. Vaughan, Brian K. (2003) Y: The Last Man New York: DC Comics
6. Arnold, Andrew (2007) “Comix poetics” World Literature Today, vol.81, no.2, pp.12-15
7. Baetens, Jan (2001) The Graphic Novel Louvain, Belgium: Leuven University Press
8. Carter, James Bucky (Ed.) (2007) Building literacy connections with graphic novels: Page by page, panel by panel Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English
9. Gravett, Paul (2005) Graphic novels: Stories to change your life London: Aurum Press
10. Hatfield, Charles (2005) Alternative comics: An emerging literature Jackson: University Press of Mississippi
11. McLaughlin, Jeff (Ed.) (2005) Comics as Philosophy Jackson: University Press of Mississippi
12. Miller, Steve (2005) Developing and Promoting Graphic Novel Collections New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers
13. Saraceni, Mario (2003) The Language of Comics London: Routledge

Delicious

Julianna is eight years old and lives in a big house. She loves animals and keeps a lot of them. Her favorite pet animal is her dog, Spike, and she always spends her free time playing with him. During school, she always daydreams because she always thinks about playing with her pets after school or eating ice cream. She has two parents who adopted her and one smaller sister (also adopted), who she likes playing with. She’s close to her grandparents, who considers her as their favorite. Even though she’s adopted, she still considers her sister and parents as real family. She’s  independent so she hardly hangs out with her other classmates but she likes to take long walks with her dog. When she grows up, she wants to be a veterinarian, it’s like a pet doctor. During her eight years of life, she had a lot of challenges but she moves on quickly. She tells herself, “Being depressed is pointless. Move on. Think of the present and not the past.”

Nancy is a 9th grade student in Los Angeles High School,  and about 15 years of age. She is the only child of her parents.  She loves music especially playing the guitar and piano.  When she was 10 years old, she discovered her love for music and started learning playing instruments, singing and composing songs. At the age 13 years old, Nancy started performing on stages and joined many competitions  which made her a talent of Disney (she is not really famous but somtimes you can see her in some shows and music videos). She likes watching Disney shows like the Wizards of Waverly Place and listening to music. She also likes taking picture of nature and people then edit it on Photoshop to make it look more better.  She cares about her parents the most then her future.

Nancy faced a lot of problems and challenges. One of the problems she faced was when her father got a disease called brain cancer when she was 14 years old. But thank god her father was healed by a specialist doctor. Now, the only thing she worries about is her education and future.

Wow. So today’s English class was amazing.

The students had looked at the article “A village of 100 people.” They had talked about what it meant in their previous class. I was amazed.

Today in class, the students sang the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Definitely a song from the 60’s or 70’s, it fits with the types of songs my parents listen to from that era. After the song, they were given some photojournalism magazines. These photos showed real people in real hurt.

What a powerful message. What is the Lord trying to speak to me?

Jesus called us to be the light into the dark places, to let his love shine into the places where people are hurting, in pain and can see their need for him. How am I doing that? He called us to the world. Am I living that out or am I hiding in a safe bubble of light not sharing it with those around me? It’s so easy to make excuses. Maybe I can’t physically go right now, but can I support those that are? In what ways can I be the light into the dark places where I am? I can’t go to all the dark places nor can I fix every problem. But what can I do? I feel more and more the Lord is calling me to action. How does that look? I’m not sure.

A part of me wants to live the safe life (American Dream) with the 2.5 kids and a dog (or cat). But is that really something worth working toward? Is it just an illusion? Is that life really so easy or safe or perfect? What happens when something happens to one of the kids, the dog dies, or the perfect spouse loses their job? Is that really something we can hang onto? Is it really the life the Lord has called me to live?

Where does that life make room for the Lord to move? For me to be moved by him? If that’s what my life is supposed to be about, why does the “American Dream” not fit so well with it?

I feel like the Lord has been bringing messages like this into my life a lot lately. How do I help? How do I make a difference? What can I do to bring light into those dark places, into the places of hurt and oppression?

What is the Lord calling me to? What is the calling he has placed on my life? Does he want me to live overseas forever and be a missionary? Does he just want me to live a missional life wherever he’s placed me?

I think what I really want is to live my life passionately following the Lord. Where will he lead? Where will I go next? I don’t know. I want to follow the passions he’s put in me. I want to be where he’s moving. I don’t want to live a passive life, hoping to see him move. I want to live an life actively acting as his hands and feet.

Hazel is a senior graduate, about 21 years of age, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently living in Boston. She cares for her parents, little sister, and her big brother, who is around two years older than her. Hazel also cares a lot about her education and future life (what kind of job she will get, etc.). She likes reading novels by J.K. Rowling, particularly the Harry Potter series. She also likes designing web pages and sites, and is also interested in programming (making new programs for people to use in the computer).

Throughout her college life, she has faced many different challenges, but still succeeded in almost all of them. Whenever she fails in some of those challenges, Hazel tells herself, “I can do better next time. I know I can, and I will.”, and her motto is, “Be a better person than who you were yesterday, and you will succeed in anything.” Hazel worked very hard in order to graduate from university, and is now able to get a job.

So, my english teacher told us to make a wordpress blog account. I told him I’d use my old account (this one) for that assignment. The internet at school was so freakin’ slow, and I don’t think all of us got to create an account.

Oh well. Haha. I’ve got a lot of things to do this weekend, but today would just be a chilling day. Tomorrow, I’m gonna be a busy bee.

Yesterday, for homework, I have to write six names which are important people in my life. I didn’t put in my family, parent and sisters, because they’re not important but the MOST important people in my life. So if these six people are VIP, then my family is VVIP. Anyway, I won’t mention the names here.

Six names. Five males and one female. These five are my best friends and one is my favorite writer. It’s so hard to pick the names because many names are important for me. Actually there’s only one name that always across in my mind and every time I write about our relationship, I always had a tears. Huffhh.

Five names are my best friends. One is also my mentor. Another takes a big part in my personality transformation, especially about self confidence. Others support me, enlighten me, cheer me up, and shared almost everything. Friendship is about chemistry, comfort, understanding, and had great deep conversation. Quotes from Melanie Matson; “friends are the family that you choose for yourself”.

The last name in my list is not my friend. He’s one of Indonesian tremendous writer. If you enjoy his book as well you enjoy comic, that mean your reading level is increasing. Congratulations. Well that’s a bit about the six important people in my life. How about yours?

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. -Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Every week in Ms. Jackson’s 7th-grade English class we had to commit a poem to memory and recite it in front of the whole class. This one by Robert Frost was one of my favorites. I often find myself reciting this last stanza when I’m weary.

In Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection, one of the tasks ask you to make 3 promises to yourself–and to keep them. These actually came to me rather quickly:

1. I promise to set aside 20 minutes a day for meditation.
2. I promise to exercise my body and keep it strong.
3. I promise to believe in myself.

I have a lot of anxiety; I’m neurotic. And I had no coping mechanisms until it finally got the best of me and I was forced to see a psychiatrist and therapist. (This is all part of a bulimia and depression/bi-polar saga that I have yet to discuss.) Learning how to meditate and exercising on a daily basis probably saved my life. . . ok. That may be a slight exaggeration, but those habits definitely kept me more sane–whatever “sane” is. By re-introducing those habits in my life, I hope to regain some of that clarity that eludes me now.

I don’t think the last promise needs much explanation. Through The Artist’s Way I uncovered a lot of false truths that I believed about myself. Now it is time to erase them from my memory so that I can move on to bigger and better things in my llife. I can be great–I will be great–once I believe in myself.

I can’t believe that there are only 2 more weeks left in The Artist’s Way. Next week: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy.

I picked up bits and pieces of Thai simply by virtue of living here and going about my daily business, but it wasn’t until January that I started formal classes. I’d struggled to find one that was both affordable and fit into my timetable. However after a few months of searching, I found one almost opposite where I live! For a set annual fee, I can have unlimited lessons and can schedule them as I see fit. I try to go three times a week, but always manage at least once.

I realise I may not be here forever, and that Thai is irrelevant elsewhere, but of course it is valuable within the country. I haven’t reached a great standard but definitely certain aspects of my life are now easier, and I can read Thai script, which is great for monolingual signs and menus.

If anybody is interested in learning Thai, I recommend the school I attend for both price, convenience and format – the classes are informal and fun and conducted by Thais who are fluent in English. It also offers Japanese, Chinese and English classes. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a website, but the contact details are as follows:

Cambridge Language Centre, 8 Phahon Yothin Road Soi 29, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900. Tel 02 513 4137

The semester is almost over and we have had the best time ever! We’ve read stories, books, poetry and now we will finish the semester by reading a play which is a Christmas Classic! Oh and we will go see the Titanic exhibition at San Patricio Plaza!WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! I LOVE YOU ALL! Teacher Gretchen Miraglia

Foreign and despised, they creep in on boats, on trucks, and in planes. Are they necessary? Beautiful? Interesting? Transplants in inhospitable soil, they haphazardly borrow our forests, our fields, and our yards. Fascination tears them from their homes, but to what end? To be burned out to make room for oaks? To be massacred in their new grove?

So we call them invasive. We rip them out of our yards and our forests vengefully, regretfully. These species cannot live with our local flora, so these plants cannot live. But they have no opinion either way and for the sake of botanical interest and historical accuracy, they must be removed. So, conscious of collective guilt, the arboretum runs controlled burns, pulls up hundreds of unwelcome immigrants, and plants the seed for new life in the old way, oak and prairies.

I welcome the change. The arboretum presents dazzling displays of biological diversity in its most unnatural splendor at its front, but secretly houses a true gem of analysis and a massive historical research potential deep in its wooded acres. I yearn for the recuperation of the Pennsylvanian pre-European biome. I want to see, to walk through, to feel. I want to know what must have been so obvious to its natives three hundred years ago.

Ignoring the agricultural echoes of its roots, Penn State is isolated, a world apart from the farms and forests that surround it. Our arboretum is different, a modern fantasy of a deprecated age. The world has changed. Yards must be full of bright flowering trees and vibrant brush. I welcome the dream.