~dIaNa’s BLOG~

Dear Class of 2012,

As I sit in Mr. Morales’ Spanish class, the count-down starts in my head. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. PAUSE. The last Middle School bell we will hear penetrates my ears. HECK YEAH! I run out of the class and start screaming with joy. Some other 8th graders also dash out of their classes and together, we all jump in excitement. Then, by Ms. OB’s class, they’re blasting “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. Everyone gathers there and starts partying. What a nice moment. 

YES! Finally! Wohoo! No more school! 

Congrats fellow classmates, we made it. We’re done with Middle School. But I will miss being in Middle School. “We’re just crossing the street, it’s no big deal,” some may say. The thought that next year we will be right across the street doesn’t make a big difference. But when you think about how life in High School will be like, it is a big deal. Obviously, academically, it will be much harder. I remember in the previous years, the teachers would always tell us to be prepared for next year because it will be much harder than the current one. But as I live through one year, that grade becomes easy. It never appears to be as challenging as people put it. For example, I used to think the Geography Fair was so hard. But as I look back at it now, I think to myself: Big deal. It wasn’t as hard as people say it is. Also, one of my best friends told me that life is a cycle. You start off being the small ones, then eventually become the big ones. But then, you become the small ones again and it goes on and on. In first grade, you are the smallest ones, but then when you’re a fourth grader, you’re the oldest ones of elementary school. Then you enter fifth grade. Then time flies by and you soon rule the middle school. But eventually, you become the small ones again. You’re a freshie. Then a senior. Then you’re in college. So you see, life is a cycle. 

Andre: this tiny section is dedicated especially for you. I will miss you a sh*t load. The thought that you will not be here on the first day of school hugging me with a big warm smile and starting 9th grade has not hit my mind yet. I still can’t believe you’re leaving. I mean, all these years I’ve known you and now you’re leaving. I know I will get to see you again, but it feels like you’re leaving forever. Anyways, you’re such a great friend. You’ve always been there supporting me and helping me. In those times when I felt depressed, down, or sad, I turn around and you’re there. That feeling is great, knowing that when you turn around, there’s someone there for you. Thank you for EVERYTHING. I hope you have the time of your life in summer and in Mexico, but don’t have too much fun without me You better e-mail me during summer and update me with every single detail that’s going on in your fantastic life. I can write a full page of all the memories and inside jokes we’ve had, but I’ll leave it like this. T.Q.D. (XOXO, you know you love me… *wink*) hahahaha

Middle School with all of you was awesome. Class of 2012 rocks! I can’t wait for next year in High School. I’ll see you soon. Well, I’ll see you in the graduation and the party and the after party. But other than that, I hope you have a GREAT summer and enjoy all you can before starting High School. Thanks to all of you that have helped me in any way. I’ll see you soon. 

Love,

D

P.S. I will keep on blogging as long as there’s something on my mind. I know I won’t be blogging as much as when we had to because since we don’t have a due date, I’ll procrastinate. But I’ll try my best to blog as much as I can. 

Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance

Recently, I wrote a short story about a girl that had to live with her alcoholic dad. Well, I was thinking about addictions, because the dad was addicted to alcohol. I came up with a question I still find hard to answer: Is any form of addiction bad for you?

Well, the obvious addictions that are definitely bad are: alcohol, smoking and drugs. When I hear the word “addiction”, I automatically think of drugs and alcohol. Moreover, and addiction of nicotine prohibits someone to stop smoking. These are the three main things that are addictions, which are obviously bad.

Then comes the phrase: “I’m addicted to candy.” or “I’m addicted to (a particular TV show).” Why yes, these can also be classified as addictions, but they aren’t as bad as the ones I mentioned previously. Of course it’s bad to get addicted to candy or chocolate because then, you become fat. And when you’re addicted to a TV show, you can’t stop watching it and then you’re distracted from doing homework.

I came to a conclusion that too much of something is always bad, even if it’s not as bad as something else. But then I think to myself: Wait… addiction and too much of something… they’re different. After I looked up the definition of addiction, I analyzed it and I realized that they’re different. If you think deeply, they ARE different. When I started typing this blog, I thought that they were the same thing, but then I got confused and I didn’t know if I was talking about addiction or too much of something.

“Too much is just an excess in number. Addiction is not being able to live without the damn thing,” a friend explained.

Anyways, I also realized that both are bad, even if they mean something different. Moreover, an addiction is not good for you because when you don’t have it, you suffer and you can’t live without it. If you ask me, I would say that having a lot of something is better than being addicted to something. Addiction is something terrible, and I’m grateful that I’m not addicted to anything. I can’t imagine how life would be. Wanting something so badly and when you don’t get it, you’re depressed. For example if you are addicted to alcohol, you can’t stop drinking; you drink every single day. Then, when you don’t have anymore, you long for more. Maybe alcohol is not the only thing an alcoholic’s life depends on, but it is very important for him/her (although it’s very bad).

Now about excess amounts of something. I’m gonna give as many examples I can possibly think of. Too much:

• alcohol = kills your brain cells and causes trouble (violence, poverty, bad grades)
• drugs = screws up your body, poverty
• products that contain high oxalic acid = kidney stones
• coke/diet coke = weakens teeth, increases possibilities of digestion problems and stomach ulcers
• intelligence = cockiness
• money = power, manipulation, spoiled
• proteins = kidney diseases
• water = water intoxication
• food = obesity
• TV/video games = electricity

Anyways, you get the idea. While I was typing, I also thought of “too little of something”; the complete opposite of excess amounts. There are some situations where too little of something doesn’t make a difference. For example too little alcohol and drugs doesn’t matter, it’s better than too much, don’t you think? But then if you say too little intelligence, money, proteins, water, and food, that creates problems. So there are many perspectives about this; it goes in all directions.

I CAN’T seem to stop thinking about that other day. It was AWFUL. I really want to forget about it, but that thought and image keeps on coming up in my mind. I guess if I blog about it and clear my mind, I will feel better, so I’ll just give it a try.

It’s a Thursday morning and we’ve got a few minutes before the second bell rings. We’re on the road, rushing to get to school. Going downhill, I see a dog. A stray dog in the streets running around and is indecisive about where to go. As we pass the car in front of us, the dog dashes right in the middle of the street. I hear the penetrating screech of the breaks. I feel the seat belt holding me back from flying out. The car comes to a sudden stop.  My heart stops for a second and then beats rapidly. I drown my face into my hands. NO, I said to myself. This can’t happen. No, it’s a mistake. Quickly, I look back as we accelerate and go on. I see the cream white stray dog limp its way to the other end of the road. I take a deep breath and sigh.

This was the start of my Thursday. I tried not to let this incident come up in my mind so that I would be concentrating on school work. But that task is incredibly hard. Yes, there were a few times when I wasn’t thinking about it, but there was always something that would trigger it and then I would start thinking about it again. It was such a shocking experience. Even though this poor dog is still alive, it kind of left a stain on my heart. I feel really bad, although I wasn’t the one driving. I could have done something and whatever happened to being generous and letting other people-animals-go first? I mean, if we just stopped, let the dog cross the street, and then go on, nothing would have happened. That would have only taken about one minute. I would have rather gotten my third demerit for getting to school late than injure a poor dog. But the past is the past, I don’t think you can change it and the only thing I can do now is learn from other’s mistakes. Every time I pass that place, I look for the dog. But I haven’t seen it since. I truly hope that it’s alright and doesn’t have any broken bones. I blanked out in that moment and I’m really not sure what EXACTLY happened. I was pretty sure the dog was under the car, but I guess it wasn’t and it miraculously got away. I will never forget that moment and I hope it doesn’t haunt me. I feel guilty for some weird reason. I’m so thankful that the dog was still alive. If it wasn’t, I don’t think this post would have existed because I would have been too miserable and I wouldn’t have said a word about it. I noticed that the feeling of seeing a dead dog on the side of the streets is different than believing that you were there witnessing the death, but then realizing that it was alive. Well, before I get too caught up thinking about this until the point that I won’t be able to sleep, this is where I cease to talk about it… ever again I think.

I’m pretty sure everybody is aware about all the global issues surrounding us. Driving through the San Jose Centro, Costa Rica, everywhere I look, there is poverty. Dirty and messy hobos sleep on the sidewalk, whether from a hangover or just because they’re tired. I look at them and a bunch of thoughts invade my brain. Poverty is a vast problem in the world, as a result, every year nearly eleven million children die before age five. I want anyone reading this post to be aware of the horrible life victims in poverty have to live through. Poverty: when people lack to get health services, food, housing, clothing, and education (basic needs).

In Costa Rica, the victims of poverty usually live in rural areas. Triangulo de Solaridad (middle of the city in San Jose) is a location where you will witness a lot of poverty. About 159,000 household in Costa Rica are in poverty. They often live in substandard housing in socially insulated areas. Low-income families love in crowded, run-down buildings. Their shelters are usually made of scraps of wood and tin that are patched together. As I have stated, poverty is not only lack of shelter, but also lack of food. These people mostly eat cereal in form of millet, wheat, or rice. The average calories you are supposed to get a day is about 3,500. Nearly one half of the people today get less than 2,250 calories per day. Because of malnutrition and starvation, tens of thousands people die every year.

About twenty percent of children ranging from ages seven to ten do not go to school. There are education and training programs that are being held. The government provides special education, training, and employment assistance.

There are many causes of poverty. Some of them are overpopulation, crime, diseases, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, lack of education and skills, and age, gender, or racial discrimination. Moreover, women tend to earn less money for many reasons. First of all, women who are mothers have to spend more time caring for their children. Because of that, they are not able to work extra hours to earn promotions and overtime pay. Many times, women become poor after they have become widowed, divorced, or separated from their husbands. Most of the people do not encourage teen pregnancy because it may lead to poverty too. When teens have children, they usually do not complete their education, causing them to limit their job opportunities. Also it is said that women encounter discrimination in jobs. They receive lower pay than men when they are doing the same type of work. “Most of the poor are not criminals, and many criminals are not poor, but people from environments dominated by poverty are more likely to commit crime and to be punished” (Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia). Very important issues that cause poverty are drug and alcohol abuse. When people are drug-addicts or alcoholics, they spend most of their money on alcohol or drugs, causing them to become poor. Because of poverty, the poor receive less medical care, causing them to easily get illnesses. Also, they do not have enough money to buy food, which causes malnutrition and hunger. These problems cause them to die at a younger age than people do. Moreover, poverty is associated with crime.

Important facts to be aware about:

• Half the world - nearly three billion people - live on less than two dollars a day (Causes of Poverty)
• About 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day die due to poverty
• Eight-hundred million people go to bed starving every day
• “The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world’s poorest countries.” (Poverty Wikipedia)
• Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed t put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen” (Causes of Poverty 1)
• One billion children live in poverty
• 640 million live without adequate shelter
• 400 million have no access to safe water
• 270 million have no access to health service
• 10.6 million died in 2003 before they were 5 years old
• According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day

As you can see, this a terrible situation. It is great to know how fortunate we are. I am able to eat every day. I have a nice house. I go to school. I have plenty of clothes. I am very thankful for everything I have and I wouldn’t ask for more. I have all of my basic needs and that is just fine with me. If I switch lives with someone in poverty, I’m pretty sure that I will see the world very differently. Right now, I have no idea how it is to live without a home, without food, without education, without proper medical care, without…anything. Just thinking about it makes me feel horrible, but imagine how the people living through it are feeling. There are many organizations trying to fight poverty and maybe it’s impossible to completely eliminate poverty, but I hope that someday, the numbers of poor and homeless people will decrease extremely.

• Please visit www.freepoverty.com, www.freerice.com, and www.freeflour.com

Information was found on:

• http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
• http://www.wikipedia.org
• Microsoft Online Encyclopedia

Do drug-addicts and alcoholics deserve to be in poverty?

As my fingers dance on the piano, the thoughts in my head are set free. This might seem weird to you, but this is why I want to write about it. Don’t you ever have a time when you’re just thinking about random things? I’m pretty sure you do. Every single time I’m playing piano, I am always thinking. Thinking about my friends. Thinking about tomorrow. Thinking about my family. Thinking about school. Thinking about the unsolved mysteries of life. Thinking about… ANYTHING, EVERYTHING. It seems to me that all of my clogged up thoughts are released while I’m playing music. It’s almost like I’m daydreaming while playing the piano. Of course when I’m learning or practicing a new song, I am focused. But most of the times when I’m there, I play music that I know by heart (which is probably why I haven’t finished the new song I started learning a long time ago). When I think about it, I’m always thinking. Well of course, you always have to be thinking about something. Usually when you’re in class, you’re thinking. But that’s a different kind of thinking. It’s the brain-exploding thinking that has to do with math, science, literature, english, or us history. As some of you might now, I space out a lot. Many times you will see me just staring at something. But when someone says “I’m thinking”, what do you think they’re thinking about? Are they thinking of a solution? Are they thinking about someone? Are they thinking about something you can do to kill time? There are so many questions that can come to your head when you ask yourself about thinking. I’ve probably used the word “think”, “thinking”, and “thoughts” a million times already. But what is your definition of thinking? When I think while I play the piano, very random thoughts come to my mind. It seems that the thoughts are like a slide show, one by one coming and going. It’s just like a collection of thoughts that escapes and runs wildly. I’ve found it very hard to control these thoughts. But there’s many kinds of thoughts u see. When you are thinking hard, you can be trying to solve a math problem or trying to answer an essay. There are other times when you are just thinking about someone, a situation, or an event. It’s complicated if you think too much about this topic. I’m getting my brain all confused with all the thoughts in my head now. I want to write about something, but something else gets in the way and I end up confused. I hope you understood what I was trying to say. I tend to be quite confusing sometimes. It seems to me that it’s hard for me to write out EVERYTHING I’m thinking about. It’s hard to get all my ideas and organize it onto a simple blank piece of word document/blog. Its difficult to write exactly what I’m trying to say because sometimes what I write just doesn’t make sense. I hope by time, I get better at expressing my thoughts by writing. I wonder if any of you out there have this problem. Maybe it’s only me.

I feel the sun shining strongly on me. “Ahhh”, I sigh, “this is life”. The sound of waves crashing the sand rings in my ear. The sound of birds singing with happiness.

(Never mind…that didn’t work. I was in a poetic mood, but no matter what, I just can’t seem to be poetic. I really can’t think of something to write about. Let me try this again.)

I wake up this morning feeling the heat of the sun hitting my body. For a second, I thought I was at the beach. All I could hear was the sound of the waves and birds. All I could feel was the sea dancing in a smooth, slow rhythm. I slightly open my eyes, fighting the strong morning light, and a heart-sinking realization breaks through: I’m not at the beautiful beach. Instead, I’m in my lame, yet comfortable room. NO, why couldn’t we stay at the beach for at least ONE more day? I mean, the seventh graders went on their trip for four days. Why couldn’t we if they did? But after thinking about it, I realized that it didn’t matter anymore. If I had a choice to go to either one, I would definitely have chosen the trip we went on. First of all they had to go camping. I like camping, but it’s just not something I would look forward to on a school trip. Second, the food wasn’t great. And third, tents are not comfortable. The eighth grade trip was one of the best school trips ever. White water rafting was so exciting. That, for me, was the best part of the trip. Canopying was fun too, but I have done it many times before, so it wasn’t as adrenaline-rushing as white water rafting. Anyways, I can write my whole blog about our trip to Manuel Antonio, but I don’t really feel like writing a summary about what we did, since most of the people reading this already know.

I just wanted to blog about this Saturday, which is a boring one…so far. After I woke up thinking that I was at the beach, I walked to the kitchen on the search for a little snack. I had nothing to do. No homework, well except for this blog, which I was planning to do tomorrow (on a Sunday, which is usually the days I REALLY don’t do anything). Saturdays are the days that you go out with your friends or family and just hang out. Not Sundays. Sundays are homework and stay-at-home days. This might not apply to you, but it is definitely true for me. Anyways, I walked around my house a million times finding something to do. Plus, my internet was insane, it kept on going on and off, on and off so I gave up using my computer. Another bad thing was that my xbox is broken. I never play though, it was only today that my brother brought back Rock Band that I wanted to play so bad. As some of you might now, he lives in the states and he came back yesterday to visit. On the way back to San Jose, I couldn’t wait to get back home to play Rock Band. After I called home and found out that our xbox was messed up, I was kind of depressed. But thankfully, we were watching Transformers, so that kept my mind from thinking about how I couldn’t play Rock Band when I get home. So then I decided to play the Wii for a while. I played a few games, but I got bored of it. I came back upstairs and turned on the TV, but there was nothing good on. “Darn, how I hate these days,” I said to myself. I finally just gave up on finding something fun and useful to do and I turned my computer back on, hoping that the internet was normal now. Finally, it was working, and here I am blogging, chatting, and watching TV shows like Scrubs, Gossip Girl, Life as we know it, My Wife and Kids, and ANTM. All of that and it’s only three o’clock right now. I just wanted the clock’s hand to fast forward and land on 6 pm. After six, I will definitely be doing something productive and fun. Well, this was probably the most random and pointless post you have read on my blog. But always remember this saying: “Whatever you have to say, it’s important”. I guess this can be true, but sometimes it really does not apply, or does it?

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, is a great book. Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t put the book down. For those of you who haven’t read it, I strongly recommend this book. It’s wonderfully written and I don’t think I will find a better book out there. Check out what Natalie, who introduced me to this book, has to say about Twilight. When I first found out that the book was going to be made into a movie, I was excited, but at the same time, I felt that I would be disappointed. At first, when I heard that there was going to be a movie, the casts weren’t chosen yet, and I didn’t really want a movie version of the book. Most of the times, books are written first and later made into a movie. Moreover, I had my own visions of the characters. The beauty of a book is that you can always use your imagination. So basically, I had the perfect Edward (one of the main characters) in my head and I didn’t want it to be ruined. On the other hand, I was excited that there’s going to be a movie because I like to see different interpretations of the book. For example, I read the fourth series of Harry Potter and later watched the movie. The movie turned out to be good and I wasn’t disappointed. This is not a great example because before I read the fourth book, I watched the previous movies; therefore I had a clear and concrete picture of the characters. To be clearer, the characters were REAL people. Going back to Twilight, this is the first book and there weren’t real people to represent the characters. So when I was reading the book, unlike Harry Potter, the characters were imaginary, perfect, yet unreal. But now that they have chosen all of the casts and started filming, I can’t wait for the movie to come out. I am pretty satisfied with the casts, although I didn’t really imagine the characters to look like them. List of the casts:

• Kristen Stewart as Isabella Swan (At first, I didn’t think she suited Bella, but later, I changed my mind. She does look like a Bella to me)
• Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen (Acceptable, but not very vampire-looking.)
• Billy Burke as Charlie (Bella’s Dad)
• Ashley Greene as Alice (Almost fits my picture of Alice, but not quite)
• Nikki Reed as Rosalie
• Jackson Rathbone as Jasper
• Kellan Lutz as Emmet
• Peter Facinelli as Carlisle
• Cam Gigandet as James
• Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black
• Elizabeth Reaser as Esme

“To conclude, I would like to make a few comments about Rob and Kristen, who are the true heart of this movie. First, they are both amazing actors. Second, they are channeling Edward and Bella like nobody’s business. Third, you might want to bring a paper bag to the movie, because their on-screen chemistry may cause hyperventilation. That is all.” –Stephenie I have posted a picture of the Cullen Family (taken from Stephenie Meyer’s website)

(Left to Right: Jasper, Rosalie, Esme, Edward, Carlisle, Alice, Emmet)

On the way home from school, my brother and I were talking about something very random. “If you do something nice, you will get something nice in return,” I told him, but he didn’t agree. He told me that if you’re too nice, people will take advantage of you. In my opinion, it all depends on the person. For example if I do something nice for a good person, I doubt they will take advantage of me. In the other hand, if it was a bad person, they would take advantage. I told my brother “Well then, I’ll just do nice things for good people.” “But you never know if that person is good or bad, you don’t know them well enough to judge them,” he argued. I think he had a good point. You don’t know for a fact if someone is good or bad. You never deeply know someone enough to know for sure if that person will take advantage of you. Sometimes a person acts really nice and you think that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt you and all of a sudden, he/she back-stabs or takes advantage of you. Anything can happen because life is full of surprises. You do not know everything in life. In my opinion, your life is not planned out, therefore, anything can happen. Anyways, I believe that you should always try to be nice to people, but at the same time, keep in mind of the type of person they are. When I do something nice, I don’t exactly expect something nice in return from that person. My question is: If you’re nice, shouldn’t nice things happen to you? Isn’t that the way things work? You do something nice for someone; something nice in return will happen to you. I mean, if you’re always purposely doing something bad, I don’t believe that good things should happen to you. Anyways, this little thought was in my head and I just wanted to share it and know what people think about this.

  Yes, a hotel made out of ice. Doesn’t that sound awesome? After a friend informed me about this, I became interesting about this particular hotel. There are ice hotels located in Sweden, Canada, Norway, and Romania.    (more…)

The harp, the harp played by angels floating on soft, white clouds, is a majestic instrument. I have always wanted to play the harp for various reasons. The harp itself is a wonderful and antique instrument. What makes the harp so fascinating and appealing is the sound it produces. Another aspect is the complex and unique shape of the harp. Uniqueness gets a lot more attention than unoriginality. Well, with no doubt, the harp is a very unique instrument, which called my attention. Unlike all other stringed instruments (guitars, violins, cellos), its strings are perpendicular (not parallel) to the soundboard, or sound hole. In contrast of its complexity, the harp is made up of three main parts:

1. The Soundboard/Soundbox (body or resonator)
2. The Neck
3. The Strings

There are many types of harps, which come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. The most modern is the pedal or concert harp. This is the harp that I would love to play. I liked this one the most because of its shape. The soundboard is made out of Sitka spruce, which is the the same wood from piano soundboards. To make this kind of harp, several kinds of woods are necessary. These woods include willow, birch, pine, spruce, and maple. Not only are there a variety of woods, there are many metals too, which include brass, bronze, gold, and steel. The strings can be made out of nylon, gut, wire, or silk. Typically, there are forty-seven strings in a concert harp. These are some components that make the harp so intricate. As I am writing this entry, I am researching some information about harps to learn as much as I possibly can. This information is interesting to know, although it is not very useful to me right now. I learned that each string represents a white key on the piano. Then I wondered: what about the black key on the piano? What represents that? Well, I discovered that harpists use the pedal to play an “accidental”, which is the black key on the piano. Learning this information encouraged me to want to play the harp. The reason for this is because the harp is similar to the piano, in spite of all the different characteristics. Since I know how to read music, playing the harp would be slightly easier for me. Also, while playing the piano, my fingers are very relaxed, enabling me to fluently move them. To play the harp, your fingers have to be agile and well-coordinated. I am always amazed when I watch harpists smoothly dance their fingers on the strings, creating a beautiful high quality note. Similar to the piano, you don’t only play one note at a time. Sometimes, you have to play a lot of notes at the same time to make a harmony. Therefore, harpists pluck many strings at the same time, which seems very complicated. But when I think about it, playing the piano is very complicated too. The reason it doesn’t seem so complicated is because I have been playing the piano for a long time and I am used to it. So I guess if I start playing the harp, with no doubt, it will be hard. But after a while I don’t think it would be so hard. I am very eager to play the harp, but this is not something that falls into the place of “I want, and I get”. First of all, if I start taking lessons, wouldn’t it be reasonable to have to own a harp? You have to practice to get better, therefore, if I don’t have a harp, I wouldn’t be able to practice. Moreover, the harp is not a very common and popular instrument, unlike the guitar and piano. I am hoping that in the future, I will be able to experience the feeling of playing the harp.