Learning a Language

Ever try learning a second language? It's pretty tough. Your brain is "hardwired" towards one language once you reach a certain age, and it is challenging to adapt to another one.

But it's quite beneficial. Not only will you be able to communicate with new people (thus opening up new means of business, relationships and information), but it also helps your mind "grow". The challenge is perfect to help keep your mind sharp, quick and healthy.

So which to choose? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of spoken languages in the world. Some, such as Spanish, are convenient due to regional reasons. Others, such as Chinese, are profitable due to business. Still others, such as French, offer the allure of the culture it provides. Choose which is best for you.

When it comes to learning, there are different ways to go about doing it. You can take a college class, an online class, purchase a program for your computer, get a tutor, or simply learn it on your own.

I'm learning Japanese on my own. I am doing so entirely free of charge because I'm using the free resources that the internet offers. It starts off basic, learning alphabet's, grammar and vocabulary. But after that, you can learn as much as you are willing to try for ... and most of it is free!

So go ahead, find a language that interests you and learn it! You will only improve yourself by doing so.

Reflections on School Subject: English Class

Being a Senior at my school is really unique, mostly because I get out of school at noon rather than 3:00. Due to this, I have the chance to gain a unique perspective on my fellow students.

Sitting at a table in the English classroom, I occasionally observe the class in session while I do random work on my computer. I hear the 6th grade learn about sentence structure., the 9th grade learn about various British poets, and the 11th grade learn read our founding documents and letters from our founding fathers in excruciatingly painful detail.

One may ask "Is this really necessary? Do we REALLY need to know about all of this?!" to which my reply would be "Yes."

English class, however boring it may be, provides you with the opportunity to learn about HOW to write, WHO wrote, WHAT was written, WHY it was written, and WHAT it did to the people of the time. Literature effects the masses, whether you notice it or not.

Ideas have consequences, some good and some bad. Ideas come to fruition on paper, and that bit of literature can have either little effect, or tremendous effect. Do you want to effect others with what you write? Then you better learn how people accomplished that in the past.

And you can only learn THAT in English class.

A little thing called courtesy...

Did your parents ever come out of their room at night and yell at you "Turn down the TV!!!" If not, then your childhood was lacking, because mine sure did. And I learned: if you want to watch TV after bedtime, you better have that volume so low that you have to hold your breath just to hear the words.

Fast forward to today: I don't watch TV. At all. To me it's simply a waste of time. But my family ... boy, they LOVE their TV. Mom watches Soap Operas, sister watches Disney channel, brother watches MTV and dad watches ESPN and movies.

Whatever, I just tune them out with my ear phones. But know when you can't tune them out: WHEN TRYING TO SLEEP.

It's been an ongoing battle between me and ... well, the whole house: I try to get to sleep around 11:00pm, and my dad watches the TV with the volume turned up VERY high. And since my room and the TV are seperated by just as small wall, I'm the only one ffected by the constant sound.

No matter how many times I'll ask, the TV never gets any quieter.

So, what are the lessons to be learned:

*if you want to watch TV late at night, have respect for those who wish to get a semi-healthy amount of sleep.

*keep the volume low, no need to kill your hearing even further.

*if half the household is asleep, and you're watching basketball, there is NO NEED to shout "Oh!' every time the ball almost goes into the basket. I guarantee you it's going to happen a lot, just save the energy.

*Yes, Forest Gump is a great movie. No, you don't need to watch it at 1:00am just because it came on TV. I bought you the friggin' thing for Father's Day, watch it at a decent hour.

*machine guns sound cool ... except for at midnight.

*commentators on ESPN don't say anything that you don't know already. If you want to hear guys say "And now he has the ball ... he passes the ball ... he shoots!" ect., go in your room and listen to it on the radio.

*ESPN has this cool thing called "high lights". They show the same ones from 6:00am - 4:00pm everyday. You don't need to keep falling asleep trying to watch it until 2:00am just so you can see the end of the game ... it'll be on replay all day tomorrow.

*One word: VCR. They still make those for a reason.

P.S. Yes, I am ticked off right now.

Fitness Tip #1 - Boost your Metabolism

Everyone wants a good, healthy metabolism. For those that don't know, your metabolism is what helps burn the food you consume, so a healthy one is a great thing to have.

If your metabolism is fast, you'll be lighter. If it is slow, you'll be heavier. This is due to the factor of your metabolism burning off the calories you consume; fast metabolism = fast burn , slow metabolism = slow burn.

So, want to speed it up? Here's my #1 trick:

In the morning, as soon as you wake up: chug an ice-cold bottle of water.

Doing so will boost your metabolism by "shocking" it into action. Try to eat breakfast immediatly after this, due to the fact that your body is practically "starving" from not eating while you're asleep, and now you've just "shocked" your metabolism awake.

Follow this and you're on your way towards a happier life.

AlterEgo - a game about life

Ever hear of a game called AterEgo? I didn't know of it until yesterday, but it's really a great game!

It's a text-based life-simulation game unlike others before. Sound odd yet? Keep reading.

It's not like other games at all. Basically, the jest of it is the following:

*the game begins before birth

*you choose your own gender - boy or girl

*as the game continues, you decide what you do

*each action you choose has a direct reaction to your game character

*you go throughout an entire life time

The game is really unique because YOU are making decisions for this "person" from infancy until death. You decide what type of attitude / values it has. You decide what job to get, when, how to go about the career. You decide if/when to start a family, and how large to make it.

I enjoy this game because it really fills me with awe to think of an infant growing into a child, learning lessons, developing character, becoming a teen, growing through issues, becoming an adult, starting a family, and living through the repetitions of life.

So go ahead! Try it out:

http://www.playalterego.com/

The difference a tip can make

Yesterday, me and my buds drove a few hours to Rockledge and ate at a Chinese Buffet. Let me tell you: that was some GOOD FOOD! I especially loved the baked oysters.

Anyway, we had a nice Chinese woman for our waitress. Very polite, horrible English, but good service. I noticed, though, that during dinner hour this restaurant had very little business. It was probably one that was struggling to stay open, which was unfortunate because they had great food.

I remembered that I was reading about there being around 5 Chinese restaurants in that city. This one probably was just going out of business. It made me a little sad thinking that this polite young lady probably didn't get much pay for her work, and not enough tips to really live off of...

Then it came time to pay the bill. All of our meals were $10.75, and my friends all gave a generous 15% tip. But something overcame me...

I decided then and there that I was going to make her day. So, I slapped a $10 on the table and thanked her for her service. She was beaming! I make enough income with my job, and Christmas money, and my birthday coming up, that I can spare the money every now and then to make someone's day.

She thanked us repeatedly as we were walking out the door, and as she was chattering to her other co-workers excitedly I kept seeing her look over at me and smile.

Tip your waitresses. Generously, too. Usually, if one is a waitress, they aren't the most financially well off. Your simple generous tip can truly make their day so much brighter.

The Importance of Directions

This evening, I drove myself and two of my best friends from Vero to Titusville for an evening of fun!

Our plan was to drive from here to a Chinese Buffet in Titusville, then drive to the Kennedy Space Center to see TRON Legacy in IMAX, then drive back home. I printed out directions for each section of the excursion.

The drive to the restaurant was flawless, the directions were perfect. After eating dinner, I began to drive to the KSC ... that's when trouble arrived.

Turns out my directions were flawed. It took me at least twice as long to find the way there, and that's ONLY because I stopped to ask for directions.

Afterwards, on the drive home, the directions were wrong again! Yet again, it took me twice as long because I had to use backroads just to get South. We had some nice scenic views, and we weren't really aggravated, but it would have been really bad kif we had to rush home for any reason.

So, after this experience, I've learned a few lessons:

* Print out more than one set of directions. Have directions for alternate routes, in case one doesn't work.

* Study the area. If I had known the roads, I wouldn't have gotten lost. But relying solely lon GoogleMaps got me into a bit of trouble.

* Ask for help! Really guys, it's okay! The people at the gas station were snickering at me a little bit, but who cares? It's not like I'll ever see them again.

Hopefully you learn from my mistakes and don't have such a hard time yourself!

Oh, and the movie was outstanding!