Hand Me Downs

Remember when we were young and you always had hand me down clothes from cousins or your own siblings?

I used to hate it because I always got used clothes, but it was inevitable. Its a great way for my parents to save money but I always wanted new clothes that were my own. Now with the economy so bad I figured hey it might not be that bad. It's good for the environment too because you're reusing! Here is a great website to look for some hand me downs. Save tons of money while you're at it.

What do you think about hand me downs?

Googles "Project 10 to the 100th"

Hey guys sorry I haven't been as active. I want to inform all of you about a project that Google is sponsoring called "Project 10 to the 100th." This project allows us all to put forth our best ideas that will better as many peoples lives as possible.

There are many exciting categories of where your ideas can be listed such as community, environment, health, education and much more. Check out the site for more information.

Remember to put in your idea before October 20!! Good Luck.

Well its time to go back to school in less than a week. Is everyone ready?

I went shopping at Staples today to pick up some folders, erasers and new pens.
Don't you get excited shopping for new supplies for your fresh new semester? Well I do!

Also I've been watching Podcasts on my iTouch and I will be looking for things to download. :)

Stay tuned :)

Well I've been working on my sheep project. So far I have completed the head! Its just rolling around waiting for its body to be finished. I think the ears need to be fixed forward a bit more, to show the brown. Besides all that, it looks pretty good so far.

More next time, stay tuned!

Do it yourself!

Today I began to work on a "Do it yourself" project once again. I love making my own stuff! Well this time I will be making a sheep stuffed animal. I'm excited to see how this one turns out to be, hopefully better than my last project.

Last time I made a teddy bear and everything came out loose and a bit smaller than it was supposed to be, but this time hopefully I'll learn from my mistakes.

This project will take me some time to finish, but once I'm done, I'll show you guys how it looks. :)

Questions and comments appreciated!

Emotional Rollercoasters

This week has been a very hectic week for me, but despite all that I see that little things really do go a long way. While I was taking the subway a guy offered me a seat, also something fell off of my cellphone and three people told me about it. I've seen many people ignore these things but I was very pleased with what these people did. It just lightens up the rest of my day. I personally enjoy helping people out and I'm happy when I am able to. So remember even just a compliment can make someones day better.

Sorry I haven't had the time to update. I will update more often now!
Well, in this busy busy time, I've manage to catch some flicks. I went to see Kung-Fu Panda and Wall-E. I must say, they are really awesome. They instantly got on my favorites list! Well thats all for now, It's time for me to meet up with my Kindergarden buddies!

More next time. Stay tuned!

There is no such thing as Race!!!

The earthquake in Sichuan, China has been devastating. I send my condolences to everyone affected. I've heard many disrespectful things towards Chinese people and I just can't believe how uneducated these people are. I'm both sad and angry that some people are saying that Chinese people deserve to die due to their own personal political views.

It is proven biologically that there is no such thing as race! The different races out there are all set forth by society. It's merely a classification in which makes it "easier" to tell apart all 6.6billion people on earth. Our ancestors are all from Africa and every human being on earth are really not that different from each other (genetically speaking). Yes i understand we may all look different, but that is due to different environmental adaptations our ancestors slowly help us adapt to. If you only look at someones DNA you would not be able to tell what race they are. Here are some reason why we all look different.

Why are individuals near the equator darker?
They produce more melanin which helps protects the suns intensive UV rays and aid in absorbing vitamin D.

Why do individuals who live in Europe have longer and more narrow noses?
The air there is cooler than it is near the equator so they must warm the air before it enters their body.

This video says it all:
Race: The Power of an Illusion

Stay tuned, more next time!!!

How big is your carbon footprint?

So with everyones talking about reducing your carbon footprint, what have you been doing?

I know I've been trying hard to reduce my carbon footprint by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when I'm brushing my teeth, switching off lights when I'm not in the room, printing on both sides of a piece of paper and much more!

During my environmental science class, my professor suggested that we should take a look at how big our personal carbon footprint is. She gave us 2 websites that can help us do just that.

www.carbonfootprint.com
This site seem more precise since they asked many questions ranging from your housing to your daily food consumption and much more. Take your time and fill out everything you do throughout the year to accurately figure out your footprint.

www.zerofootprint.net
This one helps you quickly calculate your carbon footprint but did not have to put as much information. It was easy to find where to put in your information and quickly calculated.

So what are you waiting for, go see how big your carbon footprint is!!

Stay tuned, more next time!!

Lottery

I absolutely am against the lottery! I've been telling my father to stop buying the lottery since I believe its such a waste of money. I understand it can be addicting just like people buying a pack of cigarette from the deli, its not good!!! They target the middle working class people who "dream big" and hope that they can win that million dollar so they can buy a house, new computer, or a TV.

Even though lottery tickets are $1USD, $1 every week adds up throughout the year. Lets say you buy a lotter ticket every week of the year, thats $52 gone out of your pocket. So why not use that $52 to buy yourself jewelry or that bluetooth that you always wanted.

Chances of winning the lottery is like 1 in a billion so why put your money there to support them. Not to mention lottery is on paper!! You're killing trees so I don't see anything beneficial from participating in a lottery.

Remember Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!!

More next time, Stay tuned!

How many grains of rice is in your bowl?

Last year I discovered a site www.freerice.com where you define a word and they donate 20grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The rice is donated to the less fortunate people who starve. This site not only enhances ones vocabulary stills but you also help others, thats like killing two birds with one stone!!

As of today 31,980,608,090 grains of rice have been donated!!
So challenge yourself, enhance your English and see how many words you know.

I'm proud to announce that I have donated 2,000 grains of rice today!! =)
More next time. Stay Tuned!

Rainy Days

Well today was just another rainy day. Rain just messes everything up since its all cloudy and dark, it just makes you want to stay home. I personally hate rainy days!

I was standing at the bus stop today and not to mention the bus only took forever to arrive! Despite the fact that the MTA sucks the city needs to do something about all those potholes on the ground!!! There are so many potholes and the sewers are clogged! These potholes collect so much filthy rainwater and cars just splash it on sidewalks. I was in line waiting for the bus to come and standing about 2 feet away from the street and was splashed by this filthy water. I had that filthy water on my jeans and my jacket, it was just so nasty.

Hope you had a better day than I did.

More next time. Stay tuned!

YAY to going green!

I ride the MTA to school and work every single day and I spend at least 1hour on the bus or train, its inevitable to read these advertisements that are all around you. I'm very happy to see that the MTA is promoting environmentally friendly things. I hope they keep up the good work!!!

The MTA have been reminding its riders to recycle and not litter so New York City can be a cleaner and better place in the future. They also are encouraging people to take train and buses(public transportation) more often in order to reduce our carbon footprint. I'm excited to see more environmentally friendly ideas the MTA will come up with.
Here are a few that I've seen so far, they're pretty informative. =)

"Every full rail car keeps 75 to 125 cars off the road."

"Your(New York) carbon footprint is about 1/4 oof the national average."

"Public transportation saves fuel consumption by 1.4billion gallons everyday."

"Every full bus keeps 40 cars off the road."

I remember another ad on the subway that said "be part of the solution not the pollution." I believe if we all work together to recycle and protect the environment, we can make a big difference. We should all recycle those Poland Spring bottles that we drink, we should print/write on both sides of the paper and use every inch of it, we should take public transportation, car pool and many more!!!

Remember the 3 R's!!! REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!!!

Dog names

I love dogs and just the other day I was having a conversation with a few friends while having ice cream and we discussed what we would name our dog if we had one. Well I want to name my dog Ploppers that name sounds pretty cute to me. Other names like Bob, Lucy, and Lucifer were also mentioned. Then we have names like Biscuit and my friend said well "You'd be hungry for a biscuit every time you would call him over." My other friend then says I would name my dog Sex. Imagine your dogs name is Sex!!! LOL!! Calling him/her over would sound so wrong, mentioning him to your friend would be the funniest thing ever, just many things would just sound plain wrong!!! So we spend a good amount of time laughing about that. I literally laughed till I teared a little because of certain things that we mentioned in the conversation.

Stay Tuned.
Up next is the MTA and what they will be doing for a cleaner and greener NYC!!!

A typical 4 year olds day at school

Well I haven't had the time to post here since I've been working all throughout my spring break. I'm happy I got into a daycare and gaining so much experience with kids. I teach 4year old kids and it just makes me want to travel back in time to when I was 4, I imagine my day just so carefree.

The first thing in the morning when the kids get to school, they get to play toys!!! I wish I get to play first thing in the morning too!!

Then after play time they sing along to a clean up song and they help each other clean up to get ready for breakfast (The breakfast is served to them in each table by ME!!!!).

After that its circle time!! I teach them with the mini lessons that are prepared, so they might learn something about puppies and after the lesson I organize the little ones into groups and they work together to color or do an experiment together with me.

After circle time I take them to the roof (depending on the weather) where there is a playground with slides and scooters and tricycles for them to run around and play.

Then, they go back to class and get to nap for 2whole hours!!! I wish I had nap time =( I have to watch them sleep!! Thats torture!!

When nap time is over, they wake up and there's food on their tables again so they eat another nutritious meal. They have rice or spaghetti, some fresh fruit and a carton of milk that they must finish.

After they eat its circle time again and that is when I review the mornings lesson and further elaborate on the subject for example, what are some other pets.

Finally after that, they play with toys again while waiting patiently for their parents to pick them up.

Doesn't a 4year olds day sound like something us as adult would like to experience again. Everything is planned out and we get nap time!! Wouldn't that be something?! Well I've been having lots of fun with my kids, even though it took me one full week to memorize all 20 of their names and faces. Talk about bad memory!! Well that's all for now, its time for me to catch up with some school work!

Stay tuned!! More next time.

The art of dance and performance

Lately I have been wanting to dance again. I really enjoy dancing, ballet in particular. I have been trained professionally as a ballet and Chinese cultural dancer since the age of 4. I also learned how to be a good performer.

I remember getting ready for a performance was so much work, my mom and teachers had to make my costume while I and other dancers practice vigorously week after week. At times I hated all that practice, but I knew I had to hang in there since I expected our performance to be perfect.

I remember getting ready for the performance in the backstage and it was lots of work! Everybody had to arrive two hours before the actual performance. We had to do our make-up, do our hair, put on the costume and all our accessories. After we get ready, we would practice and wait impatiently for our performance. We practiced in our group, which was by the age and how advance you were as a dancer. I remember when I was young, I always watched the older and more experienced dancers practicing. I always thought to myself, one day I too will be as good as they are. They were a source of motivation for all the younger girls.

So finally it was time for us to perform and surprisingly I was never really nervous to perform in front of thousands of people for some reason since it seemed fun to me. Instead of being scared of all the people out there watching me, I always say to myself that I must do my best and remember how to pick up from your mistakes so everything will go smoothly.

After the performance was over, all the dancers would exit the stage and have our parents, friends and relatives take pictures of us in a group, all dressed up. After that we would run to take our costumes off and undo our hair as fast a possible since they were quite uncomfortable.

Well I hope if I have enough time in the future I will definitely go back to dancing and the gymnastic I have been doing. It was very unfortunate due to personal issues that I had to leave my dance school at the age of 12. Ever since then I have been missing out so much and always wanted to go back. Now when I visit my school I see all my friends being in advance classes and I look at myself and say wow what if I had stayed? would I be at their level as well?

There are just too many things I have to do now as a college student, I barely have leisure time anymore. That reminds me, I must study for my media exam on thursday!!!!

More next time, stay tuned!!!!!

How to Bowl?

Want to learn how to bowl? Well let me teach you all about it since I was in the school bowling team.

When you begin to bowl, you must have bowling shoes on because you can easily slip and fall since there is oil on the wooden floor. Be sure you have a bowling ball picked out and that it is not too heavy for you or the holes for your fingers are not too small or too large. If the ball is too heavy and the holes do not fit your fingers, you can injure yourself. Also you should never step past the foul line because it is very slippery there and once again may result in injury. Now we wouldn't want that!

A very important rule is that you should not bowl if someone else in the lane next to you is bowling because you might distract them. The objective of the game is to try to knock all 10 bowling pins down. The highest possible, meaning you obtain all strikes throughout your 10 frames in the game is a 300.

Some terms used in bowling are gutter ball, split, spare, strike and turkey. A gutter ball is when the bowling ball is released and it goes to either side of the playing lane and this causes you to miss the pins completely. The split is when two pins are far apart from one another and you have to try to get them both down on your second turn in order to spare it. A spare is when you get all the rest of the pins down on your second turn. A strike is when you get all the 10 pins down on your first try. A turkey is when you have four consecutive strikes.

So now you are ready to bowl!
First, you pick up your bowling ball and line yourself up to where you want to aim and facing the bowling pins.
Next, make sure that your fingers are in the holes and you are supporting the ball with your other hand. Make sure your body is facing forward, since posture is very important.
Then, you begin to take steps towards the pins. Remember to make sure you stop right before the foul line and have your left foot(if you're a righty) or your right foot( if you're a lefty) to be in front of your body so you can lower your body and arm to get ready for the release of the bowling ball.
Finally, you release the bowling ball and wait to see how many pins you have knocked down by looking on the scoreboard.

Remember to relax and enjoy the sport!!

Well thats all for now, stay tuned!!

Some interesting facts!

Here are some interesting facts according to The Dynamics of Mass Communications:









1) Only 15% of all information is found online!!

Wow maybe the library really does come in handy, we should visit it more often! I sure don't visit the library enough.

2) About 25% of people reported that they smashed their monitors, pounded on their keyboards, or threw their computers on the floor.

People really do get furious with their computers! You did pay for the machine, so why would you kill the poor thing.

3) The computer language consist of two numbers, 1 and 0.

When we type, every letter is a combination of 0's and 1's! Also our on/off button is a 1 and 0, have you ever noticed that?

4) The first computer was the ENIAC, it was 2 stories tall, weighed 30tons, and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes.

Imagine yourself working with that!!!

5) "Spam, Spim, and Spit"

Spam is all over your emails and we've all heard of it. Spim, as the book explains, "is the spam on instant messaging." "Spit, is Spam over Internet Telephony, they fill up a person's voicemail box with dozens of unsolicited messages."

6) WiMax soon taking over Wifi!!

Wifi is short wireless internet access, about 200 feet, while WiMax will provide the entire metropolitan area with wireless internet access. Then, we would be able to access the internet while commuting in the train or just driving around. Cool huh?!

Well thats all for now, stay tuned!!!

Is it true that...

Since I was a child, my mom always told me all these things that I should not do. Now I wonder, was what she told me really in fact true? Thanks to google, I have been able to find all my answers right here at home.

So why is it bad to shower right after you eat?
Jim R says "The water goes right in your pores and then straight to your stomach filling you up even more. If you shower too long or with really hot water it fills up even faster. If you don't regurgitate right away you can actually have your stomach explode. That is also why you're not hungry after taking a shower with an empty stomach."

Is it true that shaving makes your hair grow back thicker and darker?
I have been scared by this one, but I never listened to her and it does not seem true to me. So what does experts say about this?
"When you shave it, you're crossing the midshaft, so it seems like it's thicker and more coarse," explains Dr. Robin Ashinoff, director of cosmetic dermatology at Hackensack University Medical Center. "But it's not."
The stubble feels stiffer because it's cut straight across, exposing the thicker part of the shaft, and because it's short. "As it gets longer it feels softer," says Dr. D'Anne Kleinsmith, a dermatologist in West Bloomfield, Mich. Hair may also look darker after you shave, but that's not true either. "You just see these little dots against your normal skin color, and it just looks that way," says Kleinsmith.

There are some validity to the things she tell me, but I just need to verify with experts out there and just find out if they are really true or not.
Overall, I know she is concerned about my well-being and I respect that. She makes many valid points and many things believable to me. Not everything she tells me is factually correct. Many times I just feel the need to verify with experts out there and make sure all the information that she has provided me all these years are indeed true.

Well more next time. Stay tune!!

Aren't advisers supposed to help?

Have you been to college advisers for help?

I went to get "advised" to plan for my education major, in which I plan to pursue as my career. I generally tend to arrive at my appointments a lot earlier than I really should, about twenty minutes earlier since I do not like to be late or have the person wait for me. I hate to be tardy so I give myself extra time to account for traffic and things like that.

So anyway I went to see this adviser during her "walk-in" schedule, which basically is a first come first serve basis. I got to her office a thirty minutes ahead of her scheduled "walk-in" time and waited, then three other students showed up and we sat there waiting impatiently, wanting to leave this place. We waited and waited for her to get there. She came twenty minutes later than the time she was supposed to be there!!! I already had a bad impression towards this adviser at that moment due to her tardiness.

When she finally gets there she spends a good five minutes outside her office talking with one of her colleagues, even though she acknowledges the fact that there are four people waiting to see her. Then, she walks into the room asking if the four of us are there to see her, and she says "Wow there are too many of you, so prepare your questions and I am going to have to see you quickly because I have no time." Well my question was, is it not the advisers job to help us? This is their "walk-in" schedule and they are supposed to make time to see each student to help them out in their college career!

I finally go in to talk to her about my credits and asked what courses I should be taking now to prepare myself. I saw her for roughly three minutes and walked out of her office only with the knowledge that I should talk to the art department regarding their majors. Not only did she not help me at all, she rushed through everything and just did not seem to care at all! I do not even know where the art department is and I did not have a chance to ask her either because she just shooed me out the door.

I have talked to countless people from different colleges and no-one was ever happy with the advisers in their schools. They all told me that they are not helpful at all and suggested that I should not go see them either. I have concluded that the best advisers are in community colleges, students actually gotten the help that they need. These advisers take their time to get to know you and help you plan for a more successful college career. This is what we lack in my college!!!!

More next time. Stay tuned!!!

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!!!

Earth Day is coming up next month, April 22!! There is only one Earth and we should do everything to protect it. If you haven't noticed, the weather patterns all around the world have been pretty abnormal. Glaciers has been melting, causing the ocean levels to rise. Greenhouse gases has been increasing.

Humans are responsible for releasing most of those gases, so what can we do about it? Well we can recycle things like soda bottles, water bottles and paper. Use public transportation to cut down on gas. Use environment friendly cars. Plant more trees to help the carbon cycle.

Hope you will be doing things to help the environment one small step at a time.

More next time!! Stay tuned!

Hardships in Tennis

I have been taking an Elementary Tennis course and it has been four classes already! I feel like I've learned so much about the sport in such a short time. Although, I have played Tennis with friends before I cannot say that I know the sport. I believe we should know the basics to a sport, or anything in life in order to fully appreciate it.

So, getting back to the class itself, we begin every class by running three laps. This warms our body up and gets the blood circulating. Afterwards, we start to stretch our legs and arms so we can avoid pulling a muscle when we play. Finally, we pair up with partners and play mini tennis or practice some drills, such as someone tossing the ball to their partner and he/she returns the ball by hitting it back with the racket.

I still have to work on controlling the ball because sometimes I hit the tennis ball, and it just does not land where I want it to! It is so hard to hit a ball that is coming at you 30-40mph, while spacing yourself 3feet away from the ball. Then you must have the right posture and the racket at the perfect angle so you can hit that little tennis ball over the net. Oh and a very important one, keeping the tennis ball inside the court!!

Doesn't that sound like a lot of work to you? I personally feel that Tennis is one of the harder sports out there, but hard work comes with lots of practice. I'm sure I will master this sport in no time if I try my best!

Stay tuned for more next time!!!

Health is number one!

So today was pretty interesting. I went to my Introduction to Human Evolution class and we saw a video titled Secrets of the Dead: The Syphilis Enigma.

So what is Syphilis? Well it is a STD(Sexually Transmitted Disease) that is transmitted through sexual contact. There are three stages to Syphilis,
1) The primary stage, you experience genital lesions, a.k.a. chancres. (about 21 days on average after contact)
2) The secondary stage, there will be rashes that do not itch, all over the palms and soles of your feet. (about 6-8weeks)
3) The latent stage, this is where you see many lesions all over the body.

I recommend this movie to you if you want to learn more about the origins of Syphilis.

I believe everyone should be informed about all the different STD's and STI's(Sexually Transmitted Infections) that are out there as early as possible. I think high schools in New York City at least are doing a pretty decent job informing teens about these things. When I was taking health class I learned that 1 in 3 college females have HPV(Human Papilloma Virus). It surprised me when I heard about this. Some girls do not even know they have it and of course some guys do not know that they are carriers of HPV since it does not affect them in any way.

Well I just want to inform you out there about some of these diseases that are out there, hopefully you want to learn more about these things and further research these topics.

Well thats it for now!! More next time stayed tuned!!

Welcome

Hi I am Susanna, and here I will be discussing the many wonderful things that are occurring in my life and just the random thoughts that go through my head throughout my day.

Currently I am studying to become a Pre-school teacher, and hopefully in the future I will have time to study interior design as well. My goal as a teacher is to provide my students with the proper foundations because I have realized that it is the most important thing in ones life. Very often I find myself referring back to the simplest things that I have learned as a child, such as listen to each other or sharing is caring. These simple gestures shape who I am today. As for interior designing, I became very interested in for a few years now. I dream to design the interior of my own house and let my imagination run wild.

Well thats all for now.
Enjoy!