Final Exams

A few things i've learned about surviving the last week of the semester which are full of final exams!
Start studying early for the exams. Reviewing your notes a few nights before the test can reduce the stress of cramming it all in the nght before.
Take breaks between studying. Taking your mind off of what you are studying by talking to a friend or working out.
Vary the subjects you study. Don't study all night for one test. Take turns with each of the subjects you need to study for so you don't get bored with the information you keep going over.
Eating right can drastically help during exam week. Eating the right food, not junk food, gives you energy to focus on the test. Eating breakfast the day of the exam is best since it gives you a boost of nergy for the rest of the day. Eating foods with high sugar and fats make you sluggish so avoiding them is best.
Get enough sleep. Seven or eight hours is necessary to rejuvinate the body. Without sleeping you are more irritable and more prone to making mistakes.
Reduce the stress around you. Don't put yourself in situations that cause more stress than necessary.
Take care of your body. Excercising has been proven to help retain information. Staying away from caffiene stimulants is best because they only give a short boost of energy and then you return to feeling tired and drained.
Just a few ways to stay positive during final week!

Rent!

The Broadway musical Rent is one of the best musicals I have seen by far. Having now seen it twice I have fallen in love with it even more. The upbeat music tells a story of unfortunate city dwellers, some of which have AIDS, living their lives day to day with little money in their pockets. Roger Davis, Mimi Marquez, Mark Cohen, Maureen Johnson, Joanne Jefferson, Tom Collins and Angel Schunard are the seven main characters who have become a family through all the difficulties that life has thrown at them. Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel have all contracted AIDS so life has become even more difficult for them. Living in a world where homosexuality has not become the norm Maureen, Joann, Tom and Angel deal with the ridicule that most out upon them. Maureen, who used to date Mark, is dating Joann but hasn’t become serious enough about their relationship. Joann is looking for a commitment but isn’t sure she can find this in Maureen after speaking with Mark about Maureen’s blatant flirting with the same and opposite sex. Tom met Angel in an alley where Tom was beaten and stripped of his jacket. Angel cleaned him up and brought him to a Life Support meeting for people with AIDS. Angel is a spunky cross dresser, who has a very bad case of AIDS. Tom soon falls in love with Angel knowing all the “baggage” he’s attached to. Roger has just lost his girlfriend April who committed suicide soon after finding out they both have AIDS. Mimi works her way in to Rogers’s heart and they go through the trials of a relationship with some extra hardships along the way. Mark, a filmmaker, was the narrator of the play and a helpful friend to all. He signs a contract with a local TV station to earn money and broadcast the underprivileged and homeless in the city so maybe one day help will be provided. Another main character Benjamin Coffin, Mimi’s ex-boyfriend and ex-friend of all of the other main characters, is the landlord of their building and has demanded the rent or receive the consequence of being evicted. The movie is surrounded around the fact that these characters can’t pay the rent. Maureen hosts a protest against people like Benny who want to turn the apartments in a Cyber Arts Studio. Maureen and Joanne eventually realize they need and love each other after the death of Angel which takes its toll on Tom. Roger and Mimi also recognize that even though they both have “baggage” they can get through it if they have each other. Mark realizes he loves film but doesn’t want to “sell his soul” to a TV station and quits that job to do independent films about his friends. They all eventually find themselves back at the apartment where they were meant to be. I love everything about Rent. It shows true life in a way other producers couldn’t portray. It showed the darker side of the city where AIDS and homosexuality is what is happening. The producers didn’t hide behind the perfect life where boy meets girl and they fall in love. Rent was reality that hasn’t been seen by most. Rent is a must see!

Jobs and Internships

Getting a college education is all about the big prize at the end, the dream job. Finding out what you enjoy doing is one of the key points in being a success in a job. Internships can help in getting to this dream job. Starting small is the only way to get to the top. High school was a set curriculum and all students were forced to take the same classes. In college there are, of course, core classes that are required of every student but the main focus is on the students major. Picking the right major for you is the key to success. Choosing a major that you don’t enjoy but happens to have a high salary won’t help in the long run. Hating the job you have makes life harder. Getting up everyday hating what you do will cause a ripple of negative events in life. Choosing a major that you have interest in is the way to go. Loving what you do makes life more enjoyable and will allow you to work your way up in that specific job. This will cause an increase in salary and position and will eventually surpass that of a person who hated their job that they only took because of the high starting salary. Internships are a great way to find out what you are interested in doing. The Monster website can help students find internships that best suit them and their interests. Getting a feel for what you enjoy before making a commitment is a smart move. Working for a company that has a job you are interested in can enable you to work closely with employees of this company. Gaining knowledge from the experience can only help you in the long run. Usually, but not all the time, if the company likes the intern they will offer them a job after they finish their degree. Sometimes these companies will offer to pay for graduate school while working for them part time. Choosing the right job for you will help form the most enjoyable life possible. Internships help in the process of finding this perfect job. Two or more internships are needed to truly find out what you are interested in doing. Taking the time to do this now is better then settling for a job you are unsure of and you find out later you are unhappy with.

Christmas Tree NOT Holiday Tree

Religion has become one of the biggest controversies when the holidays come around. This year it has become even larger. In magazines and newspaper advertisements, Christmas Trees are now being called Holiday Trees. I think this is disrespectful to people who celebrate Christmas. For years trees have been the symbol of Christmas and now all of a sudden, people from all over the world come to America and now we have to change our ways? I believe they should conform to our customs instead of Americans who have been fine with the idea of Christmas Trees for decades. Do we call menorah's for Chanukah, holiday candelabra's? Each religion has their own way of celebrating and Christmas trees are what Catholics use to celebrate Christmas. People actually refuse to buy trees from stores that sell them as holiday trees. These stores are losing business from the only religion that buys trees. The Lincoln Center Tree lighting that occured Tuesday night was called the Holiday Tree Lighting. The Rockefellar Center Tree Lighting was called the Christmas Tree Lighting. Alot of people haven't and refuse to conform to the changes that society is making and I agree. It is getting ridiculous that we have to change the ways we've been living.

American Music Awards

The American Music Awards on November 18, 2007 were held at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Jimmy Kimmel, comedian, writer and talk show host returned for the fourth time to hose the 35th anniversary of the awards show. For the first time the winners will be determined by voters online. There were many performers from Alicia Keys to the Jonas Brothers. Celine Dion sang her new hit Taking Chances, and Lenny Kravitz sang Ill Be Waiting which he played on the piano which was a surprising change from his usual fast paced rock songs. The performances were upbeat and kept the show alive. Daughtry, who was founded on American Idol and was voted off at 8th place, left the show with music awards in three different categories; Favorite Breakthroug Artist, Favortie Rock Album, and Favorite Artist in the Adult Contemporary category. Other winners included Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood and Linkin Park. Beyoncé became the first female artist ever to win the International Artist Award at the 2007 American Music Awards. She performed Irreplaceable with the band Sugarland who added their own twist to the pop song. The American Music Awards is a wonderful event to show America's love for music and to support those who make this music.

Today's Energy

Today’s world is constantly using hydrocarbons to fuel our homes, cars and businesses. Researchers are trying to find a new and improved way of using our earth’s resources to do this without harming the environment. Renewable, nonpolluting sources of energy could help stop future damage that this world will eventually cause. Some experts say that we are slowly running out of hydrocarbons, but this isn’t the main reason we should start looking for new resources to use. It is because we won’t be able to live much longer with the consequences of using oil, coal and natural gas. Changes can be made, but lifestyles would have to be altered and many wouldn’t be in favor of this. Global warming could be slowed down, maybe even cease to exist if cars, homes, and factories are made more energy efficient and an aggressive investment in renewable energy is sought out. Even though plans sound feasible, this world is far from off the hook. There has yet to be found a renewable source that could replace the tasks that hydrocarbons can fulfill. Changes all over the world would have to be made for renewable sources. Car engines would have to be rebuilt to allow corn, sugar cane or hydrogen as their source of gas that would let the engine run, power plants would be built to collect energy from the sun and wind, and networks of pipelines would have to be laid out across the nation to transport hydrogen rather than fossil fuels. Some sources that could in the future be used are, solar power, which would collect energy from the sun, wind power, which would harvest energy by using windmill farms, geothermal power, which would gather heat from the earth’s core, gasification, which cleans coal so it wouldn’t emit harmful substances out into the atmosphere when being used, ethanol power, which would turn corn and sugarcane into forms of energy, nuclear power, and hydrogen power, which would use the earth’s most abundant source, water, to supply this world with clean energy.
(Time Magazine)

Alochol In College

College is a big transition from highschool and alcohol is a big part of the change. There is a chance alcohol will be present when going to parties or just hanging out with friends, so it is important to remember to be safe about the amount of alcohol consumed. One shot, one beer and one glass of wine all have the same amount of alcohol in it so remembering which kinds of drinks you consume is an excellent idea. Watching out for your drink at all times and keeping tabs on how many drinks you have had are some precautions to take. Drinking games make it harder to keep track of how many drinks you’ve had since the enjoyment of the game will distract a person from remembering their own limit. Going anywhere alone after drinking is never a good idea since judgment is impaired after only a few drinks. Also never leave a friend alone if they have been drinking to assure their safety as well. It is inevitable that all teenagers have a drink before the legal drinking age, so it is a great idea to have these labs for first year college students. Learning the ways to stay safe while drinking alcohol could help save many from becoming victims of DWI related accidents or even abuse due to intoxication. It is good that people aren’t naive to the fact that alcohol has become a large part of the college transition and instead of brushing it off they are addressing the situation in a rational and effective way.