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As you might remember, my guiding word for the year is "love." I sure wish I had access to Tiny Buddha's 365 Tiny Love Challenges from day one of this year!
Lori Deschene's brand new book provides the perfect antidote to the digital age, when so many people leave their time on social media feeling empty, inadequate, disconnected, and depressed.
What's the answer? Love! Love for yourself. Love for others.
That might sound frivolous, but love is not an unnecessary luxury. Giving and receiving love is essential to your well-being. In fact, research shows a sense of connection can benefit your health, happiness, and ability to respond to stress effectively.
Deschene points out,
We all need to feel not just connected but deeply seen and accepted. We need to feel that people get us, value us, and love us—flaws and all. To meet these needs—and meet them for others—we have to open up, step outside ourselves, and priortize our relationships. Be we don't always do these things, perhaps because we get caught up pursuing everything that seems to be missing form our lives; or, if you're like I was, you may not have fulfilling relationships because you don't yet believe you're worthy of them.
You may have shoved this need to the background, pretending it's not important. You may think love is impossible for you. Or, like Descehne, you may think you're undeserving of love.
But you deserve to be deeply seen and accepted, and this is a gift you can give to others as well.
Your Love Is Waiting to Be Set Free
Love already exists within you. It's a matter of setting free the love waiting to be released from your own heart. Therein lies the brilliance of these 365 Tiny Love Challenges. They will help you grow your love in small steps day-by-day. By the end of a year, the warmth of your heart will glow without limits, and you'll feel love coming back to you in bushels.
For much of her life, Deschene focused on improving herself and her situation so that others would value her. Eventually, she realized she needed to accept herself as she was, get out of her head, and start loving those already around her. You see, she realized that real love lies within and it's not dependent on how you look or what you accomplish.
Deschene started to feel so much better when she began to focus less on herself and her own problems and more on loving other people. That can happen for you too.
Even if you choose love, however, it can be hard to be consistent with a new aspiration and habit. Deschene created this book: "…to help us all remember to do something, every day, to make the world a kinder, more loving place."
When you visit her popular blog, Tiny Buddha, Deschene's vibrancy, positivity, and authenticity radiates from every word she has written. You would never guess the intense struggles she's been through. For more than a decade, Descehene was challenged by depression, bulimia, shame, and self-loathing. She felt alone and unseen the whole time.
Deschene's journey of healing and transformation provides an inspiring testimony to the power of love. Now she's captured this potential in 365 Tiny Love Challenges.
How to Get Started with Love
So how do you get started with love? This is Deschene's advice for nurturing relationships, both online and off.
Make time. It's easy to deprioritize our relationships when we get busy—I know, I've been there before. But we can always make a little time to connect with people, even if it's just for a 15-minute Skype chat. Staying connected requires that we actively choose to stay connected.
Make an effort. We all want to know our friends care and will be there for us when we need them. Small acts of thoughtfulness can make a huge difference, whether that means sending someone a congratulatory email or offering to help them with their upcoming move.
Make yourself vulnerable. If we're not being vulnerable and authentic, there's not really much to nurture, because no one can relate to us if we don't show them who we are. Equally important, being vulnerable gives others permission to do the same. Then you have two people opening up, sharing their honest feelings, and maintaining a trusting, mutually fulfilling relationship.
Make amends. In the past, I held on to every perceived slight and made a big issue out of minor things—largely because I was unknowingly looking for proof that people didn't really love me. Now I strive to be more compassionate, understanding, and forgiving instead of sweating the small stuff, and my relationships feel much healthier and much less volatile as a result.
Make yourself a priority. If we want to be good for other people, we first need to be good to ourselves. In the past when I treated myself poorly, I treated others poorly as well. I was emotionally unhealthy, so I couldn't be there for them emotionally. I judged and criticized myself harshly, so I judged and criticized them harshly. Once I started taking better care of myself, I was better able to take care of them.
It's easy to stay busy and avoid connection. People with relational trauma from childhood often have a push-pull relationship with connection. They both desire and fear it. So as you begin to open the door of love, be gentle with yourself. There are many self-love challenges in this book too. You may want to start there.
12 Aspects of Love
Tiny Buddha's 365 Tiny Love Challenges is 485 pages of goodness that you'll be able to use day after day and year after year. The book is structured by 12 themes, one for each month.
- Kindness and Thoughtfulness
- Compassion and Understanding
- Authenticity and Vulnerability
- Releasing Anger and Forgiving
- Attention and Listening
- Honesty and Trust
- Kindness and Thoughtfulness
- Acceptance and Non-Judgment
- Releasing Comparisons and Competition
- Support and Encouragement
- Admiration and Appreciation
- Giving and Receiving
An inspiring short story or two starts each week, illustrating how people have put each of these qualities that define love into practice. The monthly review offers an opportunity to consolidate your learning, your gains, and your transformation.
You can go at your own pace: work with a challenge a day or a challenge a week or a challenge whenever you're inspired to cultivate love.
You don't have to feel isolated, unloved, unloving, or alone. You don't have to stay busy to avoid the longing you feel for love and connection.
Love is calling from within. Take a chance and set your love free.
Note: I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review. My recommendation, however, is based on my own personal experience and opinion. The links to the book are affiliate links. If you purchase the book through one of these links, I will receive a tiny commission. This helps me to continue writing on Always Well Within. Thank you for your support!
*Sue Scott is the winner of the book giveaway!
Thank you for your presence, I know your time is precious! Don't forget to sign up for my e-letter and get access to all the free self-development resources (e-books, mini-guides + worksheets) in the Always Well Within Library. May you be happy, well, and safe – always. With love, Sandra


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This is an intriguing short film exploring Democracy Village, an anti-war protest camp occupying Parliament Square. They're currently facing eviction so if you're in that area of London then pop in and take a look because it probably won't be there for much longer. In fact Brian Haw has become such a fixture of Parliament Square (3322 days and counting) that I suspect MPs will secretly rather miss his ranting though affable presence in the square.
Categories: Uncategorized

subset: commoncrawl


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Early Literacy
At Pixie Hill, we understand that fostering a love of books and reading is critical to lifelong learning. Thematic stories both fiction and non-fiction and social skills books are incorporated in our daily routine. Each week, students have library day where they are invited to select a book from our collection of more than 1,000 titles. Weekly take-home magazines provide an additional bridge between school and home learning.
Early Literacy for the 3's Class
Oral language development is promoted through sharing and one-on-one conversations with teachers and peers in a comfortable learning environment. Children explore letter recognition and sounds. Pre-printing exercises are introduced in the 3's class as well as beginning letter awareness. During table time students practice early literacy skills based on each child's individual needs. Some of these activities may include: name writing, rhyming, letter recognition, sound matching and tactile alphabet activities.
Early Literacy for the Pre-K Class
Speech and oral language development are encouraged among friends and classmates, each child gaining confidence as they express their original ideas. Our Pre-K class meets weekly in a fun atmosphere to learn letter recognition and sounds. Rhyming, beginning, middle and ending letter sounds, story sequencing, ordering alphabet puzzles, tactile word activities, are some of our morning table time activities. Students have the opportunity for daily handwriting practice and learning appropriate use of uppercase/lower case letters. Circle time includes fiction and non-fiction stories. The children learn to differentiate what is true or false and what is real or imaginative.
A perennial hit with the Pre-K students is our traveling mascot, "Bobo", a stuffed dog, who visits each family for one week, culminating in a written journal entry and oral "Bobo Report". Our young book-lovers learn to appreciate the written and spoken word in a supportive environment.
- Print motivation: I love books
- Vocabulary: I know words
- Narrative Skills: I tell stories
- Phonological Awareness: I hear sounds
- Print awareness: I see words
- Letter knowledge: I am learning my alphabet
- Talk: talking is how children learn spoken language. They start learning at birth.
- Sing: singing – and rhyming – help children hear the smaller sounds in words.
- Read: reading is the single most important thing you can do to prepare a new reader.
- Write: writing – and drawing – let children represent ideas and words. It begins with scribbling.
- Play: playing is how children discover, explore and understand the world and their place in it.


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It's been a while since Part 1 of this post, so I'm going to do a quick review. And then I'll give you the first instalment of my suggested key exercises to start your own Restorative Exercise™ practice.
You want to start getting healthy, learning alignment, and practicing RE™, and you don't know where to start.
This is reasonable, as there are a lot of Restorative Exercise™ blogs out there, including this one, firing off recommendations to you on a regular basis, and now you don't know whether to stretch your hamstrings, roll your eyes more often, burn all your shoes, or focus on taking the playground back from all those kids so you can hang more often. And you don't have time to do it all.
So in these posts, I am giving you my recommendations for the heavy hitters – the changes you can make that will be a great place to start your RE™ practice, but also changes that will improve your lifelong health even if you never make any others.
From last time, then:
1. Transition to 'zero-drop' shoes – get out of heels, even small ones. Bonus points if your zero-drop shoes have a wide toe-box and flexible soles – you want something that lets your feet move as naturally as possible. Do this slowly and do foot exercises too – more on this below.
2. Stop sitting in chairs. When you want to rest, sit on the ground. Use a bolster as desired. Get a standing workstation and use it. If you have to sit, take movement breaks, even if this is annoying.
3. Start practicing the basic Restorative Exercise™ stance points:
– Feet straight ahead
– Ankles pelvis-width apart
– Knees straight, not bent
– Hips back over heels
And for bonus points, legs externally rotated so that knee pits are neutral.
So hopefully you've done all this already and that brings us to right now. Without further ado, here is Part 2 of my recommendations for the top corrective exercises and daily movement practices that everyone can do to start being way healthier.
#1 – Calf stretch
This stretch is super simple, easy to fit into your day, and delivers huge benefits. It creates length through the posterior line (which has been shortened in most of us by….wait for it…sitting and wearing shoes with heels), improves lower leg circulation, and helps get your body into the perfect position for walking. Do it at least 3x a day on each leg – but you could do it 3x an hour (at your standing desk) and that would be even better (by better, I mean it would create more changes faster).
First, you're going to find a half dome, or a rolled up yoga mat, or a rock – something big enough and stable enough that you can rest the ball of your foot on it with comfort. I'm going to use a half dome in the picture (and yes, I realize that it is in fact a half cylinder, and not any part of a dome. That's just it's name).
Next you're going to stand behind and to the side of it – using your best Restorative Exercise™ stance – with your right foot behind the left side of the dome.
Place the ball of your right foot on the top of the dome, making sure your right heel stays on the floor.
Then, check in with your right hip (see picture) and make sure it is directly above your right ankle – this means your leg is vertical.*
Do you feel a stretch in the right calf? If so, you are good – hang out here and skip the next step – and while you're hanging, check in with your other alignment points – are your feet straight? Are they pelvis-width apart? Is your weight fairly evenly distributed between both heels? Is your pelvis straight, or has it rotated so that one side is leading the other? If anything is wonky, fix it – you want everything to be nice and even.
If you don't feel a stretch, you can start inching your non-stretching foot forward until you either a) feel a stretch in the right calf or b) lose the vertical alignment of your right hip over your right ankle.
If you lose your alignment, you have gone too far, even if you don't feel any stretch, so you need to move the non-stretching foot back. This is one of the biggest lessons of Restorative Exercise™ – what you feel doesn't always tell you what you are actually doing. It's a mind bender, so don't worry about it too much – instead, work with the alignment points so that you can actually see what your body is up to (and of course, if anything ever hurts, back off. Because sometimes what you feel does tell you important stuff!).
Once you're in your stretch, you're going to hold it for a minute or so then switch sides.
For bonus points:
1. Can you relax your quads when you're just standing around? If so, then try adding it to your calf stretch. If not, then keep working on it in standing.
2. Walk More
It's not fancy, but this is the best thing you can do for your health. In a perfect world, you'd be averaging 5-6 miles of walking (for me, about 14,000 steps) – unevenly distributed, so that one day you might walk 10 miles and another day 4 and another day none. Alas, we all know that the world is not perfect…
So I suggest you start by establishing your baseline – figure out how much you already walk. I use an app called Moves to help me keep track of my daily walking but any app or tracker will do. Get a tracker, and turn it on, and then a week later take a look so you can see your daily patterns.
Then, on week 2, ask yourself what you can do to increase the amount that you walk daily by a small amount. Can you add a 1o minute walk after lunch? A five minute walk when you get your morning coffee? Meet a friend for a walk instead of that coffee? It all counts. See if you can increase your weekly walking by 5-10%. See how you feel. See if you think you can add more. Keep going – and eventually you will amaze yourself! (You can do this without the tracker too, but it's pretty satisfying to see the increases and I recommend it).
(A note – tracking can be a useful tool – but it's good to remember that quality counts as well as quantity, and tracking doesn't help with that. At the outset of your RE™ practice, it is often wise to spend a bit more time on the correctives that help improve your walking, and then as your gait gets more aligned, to transition to fewer correctives and more walking. It's all about balance. Also if walking hurts you – for instance, by triggering foot or knee pain – then you definitely should focus more on correctives before increasing your mileage).
For bonus points:
1. Go for a walk immediately after doing a few rounds of calf stretch. This will improve your gait pattern naturally and easily because you'll have additional length in the backs of your legs.
2. Walk on uneven terrain – hills, trails, anything that isn't flat and level pavement.
3. Give Your Feet Some Love
You will enjoy a safer and healthier transition to minimal shoes if you add corrective stretches and exercises. Your feet are the foundation of everything else you do, so taking 5-20 minutes a day to work on them is time very well spent, in my opinion.
Here are some great options for foot work. Try them all out, not necessarily on the same day.
This is an amazing stretching and mobilizing sequence – plus it feels awesome! Use a tennis ball, a yoga tune-up ball, or something similar – you want a bit of squish.
Try some passive stretching using Correct Toes or a pair of My Happy Feet toe socks. Takes no time, just some stuff.
Do some toe exercises! Shake hands with your feet and wiggle your toes – thanks to the awesome Brooke Thomas of the Liberated Body!
4. Wildcard!
Movement is not exercise. And your whole body needs it. So even though you have to start somewhere and set some priorities, it's also nice to add something a bit more random so that you remember the bits of you that aren't top priorities. In my own practice, I usually focus on a couple of body parts or skills at a time, but I also have about 200 little cards, each with a different RE™ corrective written on it. I like to pick a few at random and work my way through them – just to make sure that I distribute the movement love. That's my final recommendation for this week – on a daily basis, try out a new and different RE™ stretch. Check out Katy's awesome Advent Calendar for daily suggestions this December, work your way through this or any of my RE colleagues' blogs and try out whatever strikes your fancy, or try an Alignment Snack from the Restorative Exercise Institute (which is a lot more than just one stretch, I confess) – it's entirely up to you!
Whew. That was a long one. This should give you lots to work on until my next and (probably) final instalment. Have a great Wednesday!
*Umm, so I'm totally not a photographer, and apparently I went and took pictures that show my left leg stretching instead of my right leg. Just pretend that I'm stretching my right leg, since the basic instructions are the same on both sides.


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Everybody is going through their own crap. For whatever ails your mind, body, or soul, this is the recipe for wellness. Whatever is wrong can be reversed or improved. Western medicine focuses solely on prescriptions. We don't have faith anymore, not in God nor our bodies, or ourselves. If something is wrong with us, in a fit of desperation we run online to find a product that will miraculously cure us. I'm guilty of it myself. After going through bouts of hair loss steadily for almost a full year, I spent hours and hours reading and learning about different products and what people said about it. Products do help, I'm not saying they don't, but we need find a middle ground where we believe in ourselves and nurture our bodies. We should take good care of ourselves, the way we would nurture our children keeping a keen eye to when is nap time and when the next feeding is. We know when they need to be mentally stimulated and when they need to
be held, given tough love, etc.
Now in hindsight being past that phase for now, I realized that you can buy any bottle promising happiness and success but it's all an illusion. You've got to fix anything wrong from the source. No matter what's wrong with you, no matter what happens in your life. This is the recipe to Wellness and Recovery... To Life and Happiness .
Overall Wellness Recipe
- Nutrition- cut out everything that comes from a drive-thru window, cardboard box, and eat only wholesome foods. If there's an ingredient you can't pronounce or recognize, you shouldn't eat it, like some shit that says azodicarbonamide. Seek out only single ingredient foods/home-cooked meals. Alkalize your diet. Seek out a naturopath if you feel that you may have allergies
- Sleep- 8-9 hours every night on schedule
- Reduction of Stress- remove yourself from toxic people/situations, re-examine your surroundings at home/city, move closer to your job, take up yoga, hot baths, massages, laughter, whatever to get you in a de-stressed state. Talk about your problems, seek out support, and ask for help.
- Exercise- 30 mins a day 3-5 times a week. Do what you can to the best of your ability, nobody's asking you to freakin' train for a triathlon. Get those endorphins going so you can feel really good.
- Pray every chance you get.
- Take action, precisely in the above order.
- Be consistent
- Be patient
- Love yourself, be grateful for every moment. Do the things you really love. I do, and it works wonders.
Articles Worth Checking Out:


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Dealing with intellectual trolling*
Don't let trolls define your experiences in work, in your communities and in your projects.
If you've ever had to deal with an intellectual bully in an online community, on a project, or social media, you know that it's one of the most unpleasant aspects of the internet. An intellectual bully may be adding value, but is mostly condescending, rude and aggressive. Don't let your toxic users define your community. Do you want a "death star" or "rock star" community member? I will also touch on how to create inclusive experiences.
Speaking experience
I've spoke at meetups, webinars and training - but they have not been recorded.
- Website: http://alexandrabowen.weebly.com/
- Twitter: @AlexandraABowen
Alexandra Bowen is a Community and Developer Relations Manager for DreamFactory Software. She has mostly worked as a Community Manager for Tech companies and startups. #Community & #DevRel @dfsoftwareinc #OpenSource #APIEvangelist #IoT Company's relationships with its users are its only lasting source of value.


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2016 has begun with a bang!
We just finished a fantastic workshop with Master Jan Silberstorff, one that challenged our bodies to achieve the best and deepest stances, pushed our limits of our understanding of the big picture, and got us really excited about the upcoming summer trip to China with Jan.
Master Ken Cohen continues to offer wonderful seminars on qigong, taiji and Taoist philosophy. He will be in town through March so don't miss this opportunity to learn from him.
Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing returns to the Taoist Sanctuary on March 3rd for a round of Chen style seminars. He'll be teaching push hands, standing/reeling silk, laojia yilu and xinjia yilu. Seminars will be "village style", with unparalleled access to deep individual corrections from this Chen family patriarch.
Bill and I continue our monthly workshop series with a February focus on Chen style taijiquan. In February we will offer 2 workshops – one on stance and sinking, and one on detailing the first five moves of the Laojia yilu. These workshops are quite the bargain at $15 each.
We are finalizing the details of the 2016 Summer China trip with Master Jan Silberstorff. This trip promises to be even better than the last one, with the addition of a trip to Hua Shan (Yellow Mountain), one of the holiest of the Taoist mountains. The trip will include time in Chenjiagou, Huashan, Lougantai, and Xian, and teaching on Chen style taijiquan and Taoism. Bill and Allison will be coordinating US participants and assisting with travel arrangements from the US.
In the meantime, regular classes continue, so if you are interested, stop in and try a taiji or qi gong class for free! You can start anytime!
Happy New Year!


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For supper, I went for a beetroot salsa to accompany some fish I'd got hold of (again…from the discount aisle – two lovely bits of trout reduced from £4 to £2)
Ingredients (to make salsa for 2)
4 beetroots
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of finely chopped mint (fresh)
4 finely cut spring onions
1 tablespoons of oil
Dice the beetroot, and then finely cut the mint and spring onions.
Add everything to the lemon juice and oil and stir it up into a phenomenal salsa.
I pan fried the trout, and while it was cooking, mixed together some crème fraiche and horseradish sauce as an accompaniment. Being the budget-cooker I am, I served the fish and salsa with leftover broccoli and beans from lunch.


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A seminar designed by Jennifer Scappettone and led during Winter 2017 at the University of Chicago Tumblr site: https://cityutopiadystopia.tumblr.com/
This course will explore the material repercussions of built, neglected, and mythologized environments on those who imagine and inhabit them, and the way the literary arts contribute to their shape. We will place the literature of the metropolis into dialogue with the writings and plans of architects and urbanists on the one hand, and activist/occupants on the other. We will study the creation (and sporadic dismantling) of the city from the perspective of its builders and inhabitants—moving swiftly from the nineteenth-century flaneur through Situationism, to the utopian schemes and conceptual architectures of the '60s and 70s and Occupy movements. A range of cities, visible and invisible, will be under consideration, with Chicago as our immediate case study. In tandem with the reading of literary texts by authors ranging from Djuna Barnes and Virginia Woolf through Italo Calvino and Anne Boyer, we will engage as time allows with architectural history and theory, encountering works by figures such as Augustus Pugin, John Ruskin, Daniel Burnham, Le Corbusier, Superstudio, and Keller Easterling.
Books available for purchase at Seminary Co-Op:
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (1912)
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (1936)
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1972)
Gwendolyn Brooks, The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (1945-2003)
Bhanu Kapil, Ban en Banlieue (2015)
David Buuck, SITE CITE CITY (2015)
Models for atlas entries: recommended purchase, but on reserve:
Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly Schapiro, eds., Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas
Rebecca Solnit, ed., Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas
Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker, eds., Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas


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Cikgu Bawak Rotan!
Yesterday was my last pra-L class! Haha. Best!! Tapi kan..the cikgu bawak rotan!! Haha. My instructor taught me how to drive (duhh), naik bukit, brake (make sure tayar dalam garisan kuning..haha), turun bukit, side parking (kiri habis, kanan dua kali, kanan habis), keluar side parking (kanan habis, kiri 3 kali), three-point-turn. Haha. Best. Finally I can drive a car! (Cheh, lambatnye..) Maybe the learning process will be faster, because my instructor is different from the others. Haha. Well, I hope I won't kena rotan.
Because You Need Me
Posted by Asyiqah Hamdan on Friday, January 29, 2010
Labels: scholarship / Comments: (2)
Just when I'm extremely excited to go for A-Levels, so that I can go to Warwick to do MORSE (that course sounds cool and only Warwick has it), and finally be an actuarial executive!; I realise, I haven't attain a scholarship! Haihhh... Tough one. Why did I apply for sooo many scholarship (takdela so many, but so many la), and why is attaining this scholarship, at least one of it, is sooooo hard?! Well, that's an easy question. Because I need it!
I thought Sime Darby was hard. Then Khazanah. I can't say it was easy. I guess it was fun. Both were great experience but Khazanah's was more interesting. Yet, I'm not so sure if I could get it. Sime Darby said goodbye to me. Haha. So now, it's up to Khazanah and MNRB. Haihhhh...
It is kinda frustrating, all the efforts, from JB to KL for the numerous selection stages, and yet, I haven't got any. But holding on to my belief; For everything that happens, there's a reason; I guess I should take all those tiring selection stages as learning process. The more the learning, the easier the next one will be.
Now, choose an answer:
Why do you deserve this scholarship?
- Because I need it!
- Because you need me!
Candidates, show them what we've got!
An Exploration to Remember!
Posted by Asyiqah Hamdan on Thursday, January 28, 2010
Labels: arisz, kawankawan / Comments: (0)
Aristocrats! Thats what we call ourselves, the 0509 class in KYS. Amigos Para Sempre, we say. But there's more than that in us. Attempting to make history, or histories? Well, achieving the Gold Medal Award for ARP is our another history-in-the-making. And going to Taman Negara in Pahang was another chapter of fun and adventure added to our ARP journey!
The trip has been postponed soo many times. It has been slowed down by bumps here and there. Yet, the Aristocrats stood strong together, with one aim, to achieve that Gold Medal. The final date was 20 - 23 January 2010. Though initially, 51 of us was suppose to be there, only 28 made it to the end. We gathered at Asrama Belia Melaka and arrived safely at Taman Negara the next day.
When we arrived, we were welcomed by the Freezone Outdoor team lead by Pak Cu. After a delicious lunch, we were asked to line up three by three, and guess what? Pak Cu thought us marching. Haha. Frankly, most of us are not familiar with marching. Except my friend, Been and thats because he's from PLKN. Haha.
That night was ice-breaking. Pak Cu has his own style of getting to know us. The session was filled with musics and laughter. It was fun. But the fun didn't last until the next morning. My roommates; Nad, Wana, Leela and Pe'ah, and I were surprised by some noisy insects. They like the lights, I guess. And well, we forgot to switch off the lights so we kinda invited them in while we were out. Thank God Nad was brave enough to pick those insects up and throw it out while me and Leela screamed and tried to ran away from it! Haha! That really put us off to bed, but ofcourse, after Nad's job is done.
The next day onwords, our time was filled with adventures. Trekking up Bukit Teresik. Canopy walk. Leeches! Tiring.. But together, we made it to the top. That evening, we did rapid shooting. That was the most exciting part of the day. All we had to do was sit in the boat and enjoy the ride! Beside getting wet when our nature guide, Abg Azli and Akim splashed water directly to our faces! We visited the Orang Asli before stopping for a short "mandi sungai time!!".
That night, we took an hour bus ride to Gua Kota Gelanggi, and slept in Gua Balai. Me, Nad and Wana just couldnt sleep yet. We just wanted to make some Maggi and Milo before we call it a day. Haha. Nad started the fire with tissues and some fire starters. And we finished our mineral water just for the maggi and milo! Eat, drink, and goodnight!
The last adventure and the one I love most was cave exploration. There wasnt any clear route. We had to crawl, climb, walk, bend, just to get in the cave. But it's worth it! Trust me. It's beautiful. God's creation, magnificent! My advice, visit it yourself. Be there. Nothing to regret.
The exploration at Taman Negara completes our last section for ARP. But what we got from the trip was so much more. Friendship, family, fun, experience. Like what Abg Reez said, "pushing our limits". And like what Pak Cu said, "walk the talk". Like what Abg Azli said, "change the pain into happiness". We were all like family. Including Haziq, the little cute boy who was son to the Mak Cik who prepared our food. =) I learned a lot from this trip. And I'm sure the other 27 of my friends did too.
Now, let's just hope the Gold Medal will be ours. =) AMIGOS PARA SEMPRE, Friends For Life.
There's Always A Beginning
Posted by Asyiqah Hamdan
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Leaving school is something I've been waiting for. I am quite sure I am not the only one. Homeworks, rules, schedules; we just couldn't take it anymore. But now that I'm home, not anymore a school kid, wow! It's not so fun like I expected it to be. No more waking up hearing numerous alarm clocks (which is not mine) with various musics (which was suppose to make you wake up, instead it wakes the person next to you, and she switch it off for you..haha). Undeniable, life a home is boring! So, that was how this whole idea of having a blog began. There's so much happening in the world today. So much to talk about. I figured, why not? Just to fill up this very-free-time of mine. Not expecting people to read, but I expect blogging to kill my boredom. I hope it works!


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Who Else Wants to Easily Make New Friends?
Getting into a new community might cause you a difficulty in finding new friends. You barely know anyone. You feel lonely. Should you just sit down and hope that someone to come to you, take your hand, ask you to be his/her friend?
I don't think so. You've got to make the move.
How to?
1.Look into Yourself
Decide first what kind of persons you'd prefer to be your friends. Do you want to make friends with those who have the same hobbies and interests with you, or the same gender, or the same age? Or, do you wish to be friends with those who have totally different passions so you can find something else more interesting in life.
2.Don't Be Shy!
It might not be easy for some people, I know. But, if you keep being a shy person, you wouldn't make friend easily. As I said earlier, make the move. Strengthen yourself, get rid of any timidity from your heart and approach someone whom you think you have a certain compatibility with.
3.Put That Smile on Your Face
Not a smirk but a sincere and nice smile. People would like those who smile a lot more than whose face is lifeless.
4.Be Yourself
Don't fake anything. If you do, you won't find it interesting to continue the relationship for you must feel tired of being someone else, not the real you.
5.Don't Be Afraid to Fail
Don't expect to get a very good friend at your first attempt. Be ready to fail. Friendship also needs chemistry. There is always a possibility that you don't have any chemistry with the person that you earlier approached. Or, that person doesn't have it with you.
Some people are taking friends for granted. But, when they get into a situation when they actually have no friend and have to start one, they realize that friendship is like a flower that needs to be watered and fertilized.
The Meaning of Friendship
It is easier to solve a problem when there are two willing minds to do it. When you need help of course you turn for help to your family. But when something really serious comes up you think about the only person whom you can trust, your faithful friend.
Even if your life is perfect and everything is running like clockwork, one day you still may get into trouble or there will be a problem that you will not be able to solve yourself. What you do is call a friend, a person whom you can always rely on. He will never betray you and your secrets, never lie, never deceive.
Once you have no way out and problems seem to surround you like enemies, your mind goes blank and the only desire you have is to hide your head in the sand and pretend that you don't hear or see what is going on. And then he comes, the rescuer, a fresh mind and a strong hand to pull you out to the surface and help you to face your problems. But does your friend correspond to that description?
You are surrounded by a lot of people daily, who claim to be your friends. You spend much time with them thinking of them as friends. But when it comes to help or advice they all seem to disappear, to evaporate suddenly after leaving you with a thousand made up excuses. You feel deceived and have no idea of what to do.
Then a thought dawns on you that in your phone book there is still a number of an old friend of yours that you haven't seen for years now. You know that if you call him and ask for help, he'll wake up in the middle of the night, lean you all his money, give shelter even he has a family of six to keep.
He helped you out in high school studies, provided term paper help, covered your back when you had some of your crazy affairs and never complained when he had been getting in trouble for his help. Being good in writing custom term papers he always seemed to fail his work to try his best to do your work. But there is also strange thing you remember; you didn't really appreciate all his efforts to help you.
They were so numerous that you started to take them for granted and didn't even pay attention to what had been done for you. It was so weird to see that somebody was ready to help you out of willingness to make your life better, that it was hard to believe that it was so.
Then it was an inseparable part of your friendship. If you are a friend you have to give, do, make and so on. Friendship turned into an exploitation of a person who cares about you. Meanwhile you continue to have fun and relax with others and leave all the difficult things on your friend's hands.
Then suddenly you've stopped communicating. After all these years of true friendship your friend disappeared and there was no sign of him for a long time. "Oh well, that wasn't a big loss", you think, and continue to live not even trying to find out what has happened. And now you are making a poor show every time you try to improve the situation.
There is nobody beside you and you burst into curses, thinking about liars that surround you now. You dial a number of an old friend with shaking hand and pray for him to be there for you. You hear a familiar voice and start explaining, and ask to forgive at the same time. The situation goes back to normal.
You feel that everything is going to be alright; your friend is coming to save the day. A minute later you sit in the kitchen drinking coffee and look in your friend's wise worried eyes. At one moment you turn into a normal person from the idiot. Now you have your friend in your life again.
Friends: They Can Make You or Break You
Your life is profoundly influenced by outside sources. The shows you watch, the things you listen to and the people you hang out with have a big impact. The people you associate can either make you or break you in life. You may not believe that it's very important. However, the people that you are around the most are your biggest influence.
Most of us see a great number of people every day. It's well known that in every social situation there are groups. Think about where you work. You tend to hang out with people that have common interests with you. However, it may not be that simple. When you are constantly around the same people, your level of success strongly coincides with their level. This is a phenomenon that is present throughout the world.
Even in the world of sports this happens quite frequently. The term "playing to the level of the competition" refers to how a team changes their style unconsciously. The better team will often play down to the level of the other team. The worst team will often play above themselves to match the competition. Not only does this happen in sports, but in everyday life.
Study after study has proven this true. Take an underachiever in any field and place him/her with a successful group of people. After a very short period of time that person will also be a success. On the other hand, if you take a successful person and surround him/her with underachievers and he/she will also underachieve. It is an amazing phenomenon but it works nevertheless.
What does this mean for you? Associate with the best people in your field. Quit hanging out with unsuccessful people even if they are your friends. Don't totally disown them by any means…just don't hang out as often. The more you are around successful people, the more successful you will become.
Are Friends Happy Being with You?
We all have different style of talking, laughing, smiling, responding and communicating. Some of us are a comfort for others. We enjoy being with some people and we don't enjoy some people. What is the difference between these persons? Why one person's presence enlivens the gathering another person dulls it? What are the qualities needed to make one self socially popular?
Smile -The very first quality is smile. When we see some body smiling, we feel pleased. And if the smile is without any malice it is more enchanting. Keep smiling. Keep your problems with yourself and keep your face smiling.
Listening - When we don't speak but only listen, people love us. All of us have our own problems and need somebody to listen to us. Become a good listener. Ask open ended question such as - and after that? Why? And so on. That will encourage the speaker to pour out all to you.
Have something funny to say - There is enough pain in the world. Bring in some laughter. Have a collection of jokes and make your friends laugh. The more they laugh, the more they will enjoy your company.
Appreciate - Have a word of appreciation for everyone. You can appreciate some body clothes, or shoes or whatever. Appreciate. Make friends feel good.
To be friendly and to be charming is not an art. It can be easily developed by all of us. The only need is to pay less attention to our self and more to others. Make friends happy and they will love your presence. Make your presence the life of any gathering. Success is yours.
Friendship - Do You Value It?
Friendship is a gift of God. Some of us are blessed with good friends. But as it happens, these friendships are taken for granted in some cases and not valued. It is similar to a case of two couples. Say one has no child even after many years of marriage and the other has many children, more than they can manage.
What do you think? Will the couple with many children value the children as much as the couple which has none? Everything is relative in life. We value what we don't have and give less valuable to what is freely available with us. Friendship is one such relationship. Why should we value friendships? What qualities does a good friend bring in our relationship that makes the friendship so valuable? Let us examine some of these.
Judgment - a good friend is rarely judgmental. We can be open in our behavior with our good friends because we know that they will not judge us. We can enjoy this freedom only with friends. It is nothing short of a blessing, because with other people our actions and behavior are always calculated and guarded and that takes away lot of pleasure from our life.
Share Sorrow and Losses - A friend can be depended upon to share all our problems and sorrows. This sharing may not reduce the impact of loss but helps us to unburden ourselves. This is no small gift of friendship. Once I saw the image of a man left alone in the village after an earthquake. The whole villages got killed except this man. With who, will this man share his sorrow? A friend gives us this gift.
Hope - During our times of trouble, only a friend comes forward and gives us encouragement and hope. With that inspiration one begins afresh. At times in life when we feel totally devastated and hopeless, and when our self-esteem reaches a big low, a friend helps us regain confidence in ourselves.


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I've been obsessing over North Korea for years now. I'm talking the "read every damn book available on Amazon" type of obsessed. So when I heard there was a North Korea owned restaurant chain within a mile of our hostel in Siem Reap I kind of freaked out. It seemed too good to be true, like there's no way they'd actually have real citizens of the DPRK working in some dingy restaurant in the middle of Cambodia right? But after a few reviews on TripAdvisor I realized this was it, my one chance to witness a small taste of the notoriously reclusive country. Tamara and I rented some $1 bikes and were off, my hands shaking from nerves as we rode.
This all may sound over dramatic but if you know anything about North Korea you too may have felt a pang of wonder. What goes on in this country where no information leaves or comes, where the leader is literally viewed as god and where technological advancement is literally stuck in the 60's. There really is nothing else like it in the world.
As we approached we would have nearly missed it if we weren't actively looking for it. The building itself reminds of a jail cell or military base. Large concrete walls with completely black tinted windows. For some reason at this point I got a bit nervous. It would be wrong to say I was scared but rather just very put off. There were no cars at all in the parking lot, no people coming in or out just a brick of a building with the words "Pyongyang Restaurant" etched in a dull gold font. We hesitated a bit before going in, sitting on the curb waiting (begging) for a tour bus to come and take away some of the attention from us. After half an hour with absolutely no one coming I just had to go in, embracing the fact that we were likely the only people in the entire restaurant. It couldn't be that awkward, right?
Right as we walk through the doors we're overwhelmed with the sheer size of this place; able to seat approx 400 people with large ornate tables and multiple tacky chandeliers akin to what your grandma might have had in the 80's. It felt like what a restaurant would look like if it were designed by someone that had only ever read about restaurants without ever seeing one. There was a large stage for performances but today they simply had a tv playing what looked like a news channel straight from NK, propaganda and all. Without much time to think we're suddenly swarmed by eight tall pale slender girls smiling with hands outstretched towards a table surrounded by four small wooden walls. As we're seated in what can be called a 'cubicle' we have large menu's shoved in front of us. I'm personally used to having a bit of time to browse through the menu but it became apparent that these 8 waitresses were not going to leave. The cubicle nature of our table has us all crammed together, all the girls hovering over our shoulders breaching every square inch of my personal space. So, I'm sitting there rushing, trying to make a decision with 8 pairs of eyes diligently watching my every move. Experiencing some new levels of awkward, I just randomly choose something trying to end it all but Tamara takes her god damn time. I can feel them all growing impatient, the girl immediately behind me tapping her fingers on my chair. One girl tries to help and aggressively points to a $30 pot of meat which Tamara brushes off and finally makes her choice lifting the strange tension off my shoulders.
But just when I thought we were in the clear...it got weirder.
Having chosen our respective meals I assumed that this pile of North Korean women would file out of our cubicle-table area leaving us to silently laugh at the ridiculousness happening to us. But no, not at Pyongyang Restaurant. All eight of them just... stood there, crowded around us watching our every move. I didn't know what to do, having never been in a situation like this. I could feel their eyes burning into the back of my head and as each second passed I felt progressively more and more unsettled. I started babbling random sentences to Tamara, making up conversation trying to ease the tension and break silence. As we were bullshitting to one another talking about (stocks?) one of the NK women at the head of our table started making mumbling sounds like she wanted to talk. I stopped talking and waited for her to speak, assuming this was the point they tried up selling alcohol to us. But instead of a sales pitch we got a question, a genuine question.
In very broken and timid english she mutters
"Ar..are you a couple?"
I look up to her and see she's half smiling and eagerly awaiting my response.
"Yes! Yes we are."
I laugh a little, realizing now that the tension I've been feeling may not have been as heavy as I had thought. They were all smiling, all the women in this 10x10 sq. foot box were looking to us with interest not judgement. In that second, all my compounding anxiety turns into excitement. I realize that I have a captivated group of North Korean women wanting to just… talk with me. This is a moment I've literally been dreaming of for years, it honestly felt akin to meeting a celebrity and I was star struck for the first time in my life. Like having JK Rowling across a dinner table, it felt once in a lifetime so I dived in head first.
"Are you married?" She asks next, her eyes opening a bit wider smile growing a bit larger
We both laugh and say no. We tell her that it's not usual for our cultures to marry this young. I then ask her if she's married and the entire group laughs loudly.
"No no no" she laughs as she buries her head into her shirt.
We all smile, tension completely gone at this point the questions just come flowing out.
"How long are you in Cambodia?"
"About a week. How long have you worked here?"
"Two years" she says very matter of factly, a tinge of sad palpable in her voice.
Our appetizer arrives. We're then put through the wildly unique experience of attempting to eat slippery dumplings with chopsticks with 8 people eagerly watching .
"What do you call these in english?" She asks
We teach her and she then teaches us how to say it in Korean. I can feel her wanting to connect with us and it excites me to no end.
We ask her her name.
"Ju Anh Sin. And you are?"
"Alex and she's Tamara." She says she likes our names and smiles.
A girl standing right behind Tamara speaks up, she seems nervous and talks louder than normal.
I tell her I'm in business (didn't know how to describe digital marketing in a way they'd understand) and tamara told them she translates languages. We then tried to tell them that we work online on our computers. They really didn't seem to understand this concept at all and Ju Anh Sin made a sour look as if she wanted to ask more but didn't know how.
As we're devouring the dumplings (which were actually quite good) my brain is going wild, trying to think of questions I could ask her without offending / potentially endangering her. I'd read online that the waitresses are heavily monitored by North Korean officials to make sure they don't talk too much about the regime or try escaping. There was even an instance in China where they shut down an entire restaurant when one of the waitresses tried to escape into the city. So I decided to be careful with my words and wait for her to ask the questions.
"Where are you from?"
"We're from Denmark" Tamara says. I agree with her, although I'm actually from the USA. I didn't know how this information would form her opinion of me and opted to go the safe route. However, for the remainder of our conversation she kept referring to us as English and our hometown as England. We assumed that this was because of her not knowing Denmark as a country and only understanding the part where we said 'In Europe'. She then tells us she's from Pyongyang and used to study 'Beauty' there. I'm still not sure what she meant by Beauty.
"Do you speak Chinese?"
I laugh and tell her no, only English. She seemed genuinely confused by this.
I asked her how she knows Chinese and English and she says she learned while in Pyongyang, that it was very hard to learn and took her a lot of work. She's been teaching herself English since she got the job at the restaurant and it's been even harder to learn.
We eat a bit more in silence, all the while still surrounded by the entire staff of this restaurant. They talk to one another in Korean, I'm assuming debating on questions to ask us. Out of no where she hits us with a weird one
"Do you like Badminton?"
"Yeah! We love sports like volleyball and football" She smiled at volleyball but made a sour face when I said football. Probably the most sour face she makes during our entire conversation.
The dumplings were running out at this point. I'm still debating what to ask her but can't come up with many safe questions.
"Do you miss home?" I finally ask. She tells us to wait a minute and runs off for a few moments. She does this each time we ask her direct questions about her home or living conditions.
"Yes very much" she says in an extremely genuine voice when she returns. There was even an ounce of longing in the way she said it.
I follow this with "Have you travelled much?"
"Only to China." She says a bit sad. She tells us it's her dream to travel more and see England.
"Have you seen much of Cambodia?" I ask
"Only Angkor Wat" she says. I'd read online that they're forced to live on the restaurant premises and are very restricted with what they're allowed to do. It was at this point I began to feel sad for her, living in this country for two years and only ever having seen one small part of it outside of this prison cell of a restaurant.
Dumplings finished and the main courses come out. Both are actually very good dishes, mine tasted like a giant bowl of Kim Chi with fish and Tamara's was a plate of pork and tofu with a roasted pepper sauce that actually blew me away. She told us that the recipes come from North Korea and are highly secretive. Surprise surprise. This restaurant is like a small personification of the country in so many ways.
"Have you ever eaten Dog?" she asks out of nowhere as we're taking our first bites. Tamara's face sinks as she considers the possibility that she may have a chunk of puppy heading towards her lips.
"Is…is this dog meat?" We ask collectively. They all laugh and tell us it's pork. She clarifies that she was asking if we would eat dog meat to which we say maybe. The waitresses can't stop laughing at this question, I think they're used to tourists freaking out at the concept but we played it cool…or at least tried to.
A bit more silence as we start eating
"English Men usually eat with knife and fork," she points out as I'm awkwardly fumbling with chopsticks. We all laugh at this, I joke about how I'm still practicing. This was the point we began to become much more casual with one another. She seemed unafraid to just ask us anything that came to mind and didn't feel like our server anymore but more of a friend.
She tells us she's 20 years old. We tell her her English is very good and she blushes giggling and saying thank you over and over. This is the typical response she gives when complimented, huge thank you's as she sinks her head into her chest and touches her heart like I'd just proposed.
After the compliment she opens up a book she'd been holding the entire time and shows it to me. I had just thought it was a wine list but it was actually a note book she had been keeping for two years. It included thousands of English phrases, neatly written in rows of three with their corresponding Korean and Chinese translations next to them. I see the phrase "Can I get you water sir?" among many other service based phrases. The notebook was worn out and old looking and it was made in such a way that I believe she was literally just collecting english words from various customers coming into the restaurant. Perhaps this is why she asked me how to say Dumpling before.
"Wow this is…Amazing! Did you do all of this?"
She blushes again and says yes, telling us she loves learning English. Her passion for learning really impressed me, the way she goes so out of her way to learn and the perfection of the notebook took me off guard. She's truly driven.
"Do you have any hobbies?" She asks.
"Yes Tamara plays ukulele and I play drums." She smiles huge and tells us she plays drums as well. She goes on to tell us she plays in the restaurant's band and that it's why she was chosen to work here. She plays every Sunday and invites us to come see her play this Sunday. We agree and I plan to hold up the agreement. She smiles very large and says,
"It was so so good to meet you"
It felt amazing when she said this, like we had genuinely made her day.
"It was so good to meet you too, Ju Anh Sin." I respond trying to emphasize how much I actually meant it.
"You should come back in one year to Cambodia to visit me again."
I didn't really know how to respond to this. In my heart I know I almost would come back here just to see her again. This girl, from a society I could never imagine, I had endless questions for her. What I would give to get her out of these walls and just speak as two humans.
"Maybe we will! We love Cambodia and we'd love to see you again if we can" She seems disappointed by my non-direct answer but satisfied.
Tamara asks for the check, I'd totally forgotten she was our waitress and it felt unnatural to ask her for something like that. I realize at this point that I had been eating way more than my body could handle, trying to extend our time together with Ju Anh Sin as much as possible.
She comes back with the check and we're leaving way too early. I could have spent the entire night at this table. She's laughing and keeps saying how good it was to meet us. She even put her hand on Tamara's shoulder as we walked out, we promise we'll see her again on Sunday for her performance. I'll make sure I'm there to see her again.
As we're leaving the restaurant I'm walking on air. I've never felt this feeling before, complete surrealism and disbelief. Just a few days earlier I'd finished reading Nothing to Envy on a beach in Vietnam, wondering what I would say if I could talk to someone from the DPRK and suddenly there it is - an opportunity that I'd never imagined could exist without somehow getting into the reclusive country itself. I'll always cherish this experience as long as I live and use it to help me humanize the millions suffering in the country to this day.
Photo credits: Eatingtheworld


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Today is a special day my friends! I've teamed up with some fellow bloggers for my first ever roundup party, a PEAR PARTY to be exact! Not only are pears in season right now, but they are packed in Vitamins C & K. In fact, pears have numerous health benefits, including aiding in digestion. So, as I was saying, I teamed up with some amazing food bloggers and we chose to each make recipes including pears. So I picked up a basket of Ontario grown fresh pears at the supermarket, and came up with this AMAZING vegan cold pear soup.
Wait a minute…
I know what you're thinking…pear…soup?? Cold soup?? Cold pear soup?
Yup, my husband had the same reaction, until he tasted it! First we tried it warm as soon as it was ready, and even he admitted, it was pretty good! But then because of mom life, a screaming baby and toddler, bath time, bed time, etc, we didn't actually sit down to take another bite until about 30 minutes later. Well, that was meant to be! This soup tastes AMAZING served cold. We couldn't believe how much better the sweet and savoury flavours combined with each other once cooled down to room temperature. Then my husband gave me his famous line ("you can make this again") that he tells me whenever he likes one of my creations. Success!!
Using in season fruits or vegetables always make for a delicious treat. You just can't beat fresh, ripe produce. I served my pear soup garnished with green onion for a savoury bite to balance the sweetness from the pears. Next time, I may try serving my cold pear soup with some chili flakes for a sweet and spicy combo! Speaking of sweet and spicy, if that's your jam, check out these sweet and spicy plantain chips, they are SO GOOD!
Okay, now let's take a look at these other AMAZING pear recipes!
First up we have…
Renana's Vegan Maple Whole Pear Cake, yes please!
Sarah's Spicy Pear Chutney, so creative!
Talida's Vegan Spiced Oat Pear Muffins, yum!
And I've brought you…
Vegan Cold Pear Soup!
I'd love to hear what you think of all these great pear recipes! Please drop me a line in the comments below. 🙂
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BK Blog Post
Posted by John Perkins.
John Perkins advises corporations, executives, and entrepreneurs on turning a Death Economy into a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and other technologies that create life-styles millennials want to inherit).
U.S. consumers celebrated a couple of victories over multinational food industry economic hit men (EHMs) last month:
Currently, states can enact their own GMO labeling requirements. Vermont now has a mandatory labeling law that will take effect this July. Connecticut and Maine have similar laws. The DARK Act would have negated these state laws. Grassroots groups like the Center for Food Safety, Food and Water Watch, and the Organic Consumers Association stepped up to counter the food companies behind the House bill, including Monsanto, DuPont, and Dow.
The agri-business EHMs and the big money behind them were defeated by a handful of consumers. Yes, there's more to be done, but these are big steps forward.
The Grocery Manufacturers' Association and Monsanto's EHMs poured millions of dollars into making HR Bill 1599 happen. Monsanto has a shady past of using many of the EHM techniques I describe in my books to influence politics, including allegedly benefiting from the Ukraine crisis that started in 2013. Ukraine has the largest fertile agricultural land area in Europe, excluding Russia. The IMF and World Bank gave the deeply indebted Ukraine a $17 billion loan with the conditions that the country allow GMO crops and lift a ban on private sector land ownership. Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych rejected a European Union agreement associated with the loan in favor of a loan from Russia, and he was ousted in a 2014 coup that had all the markings of CIA involvement. Last year, following the coup, Monsanto completed a $140 million seed facility in Ukraine to cash in on the low land prices and desperate farmers' need for cash crops.
Are all GMOs Dangerous?
GMOs have existed since the 1860s when Austrian monk Gregor Mendel first systematically crossed varieties of garden peas. They have been deemed safe by the FDA and food industry and are in virtually everything we eat. So while GMOs are used regularly and for the most part safely, consumers should be worried about how some of them are developed, sold and managed. For example, many of Monsanto's seeds have been developed specifically to be resistant to and used in conjunction with glyphosate, a commonly used herbicide. Glyphosate comes with a host of problems though, including being declared a possible carcinogen by the Word Health Organization. The crops become totally dependent on these chemical fertilizers and insecticides, and the harmful chemicals find their way into our streams, soil and air, further poisoning our planet.
The defeat of the DARK Act is all part of a larger movement to connect to the food supply and know where our food comes from. As consumers we want to know what's in our food, while corporations often want to keep that secret and thereby maintain the status quo. Many big agri-business seeds are not re-usable; that makes farmers dependent on buying more seeds every year, and it defies movements that support sustainable living.
A Strong Message
These recent consumer victories send a strong message to all of us. The marketplace is a democracy if we just use it as such. Social media makes this particularly easy—and fun. We can go way beyond GMOs and encourage legislatures to pass laws the rein in companies that pay low wages, use offshore tax havens, and pollute environments. We can use social media to convince corporations that they must serve us, the consumer, instead of just a few rich stockholders, that they must turn the Death Economy into a Life Economy (see my previous blogs for more on these).
I want to take these consumer victories as an opportunity to encourage each of you to take heart–and act. Keep telling a new story, one that is based on creating an environmentally sustainable, resource regenerative world. Pick a company and use social media to demand that it serve us, you and me, and the world our children will inherit.


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RE 5040 Fall 2011
Reading Interests
Sat Dec 10, 2011 07:48
Great job! I find it very interesting to examine students and their reading interests and how that might correlate with their reading habits. I liked the use of the reading interest inventory and the book jacket project. I think students really respond when given a fun project to work on over a time period. Do you think you will continue with these groups? Possibly grow the groups?
Amanda Solesbee/Lori Vestal/Tonya Isenhour
Tue Nov 8 16:03
Discuss Amanda, Lori, and Tonya's presentation on boys' reading interests here.
Re: Amanda Solesbee/Lori Vestal/Tonya Isenhour
Ashley Joyce,
Sat Dec 10 12:38
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing your research on these types of boys! Let's face it... boys will be boys! Most of them are more concerned with their DS or football practice. Engaging them...
Boys Reading Interest
Sat Dec 10 12:16
An all boys reading club would be very interesting this is something I think my 2nd grade boys would enjoy. I also wonder about interest based reading clubs. I have students who have similar interest ...
Re: Boys Reading Interest
whitney fisher,
Tue Dec 13 22:10
I was thinking about interest reading groups too! Students can present books that they have read and enjoyed. It could be a great way to spread knowledge about the books that are out there. It may be ...
Re: Boys Reading Interest
Ashley Joyce,
Sat Dec 10 12:40
I think it's great that you pay close attention to what your students are interested in and the types of books they choose to read. Pressuring students to read books that they are totally not...
Reading Interests -
Sat Dec 10 07:48
Re: Reading Interests
Ashley Joyce,
Sat Dec 10 12:42
I agree. The book jacket is a "fun" little project that the students can do. In order to do the project they have no choice but to read the book. It's like a little incentive for them! ;)
Amanda, Lori, & Tonya
sarah Hutson,
Wed Dec 7 08:45
Our research projects were very similar! We also used an interest inventory survey...I would love to see how yours differed from ours. Our data was also collected from journal entries and...
Tonya's group
Amanda Solesbee,
Thu Dec 8 00:05
Tonya is a PE teacher, therefore she had to pull her kids during the day during her planning time and used kids from other classes. She doesn't have her own reading classroom- hope that helps explain ...
Boys' Reading Interest
sarah patten,
Sun Dec 4 17:38
Outstanding! Enjoyed your strategies and the music! You have wonderful graphic organizers! Boys a really challenging-especially in the older grades! The Boys' Club is a super idea! In all of the...
integrating reading
Tonya Isenhour,
Thu Dec 8 11:23
Sarah, I will share ideas and activities I do in my classes to integrate literacy. I do not have any data that could proof that integrating movement, motor skill etc helps with interest but there is...
response to Tonya
sarah patten,
Thu Dec 8 21:22
Great!! I think the more ways your whole body is trying to create new motor pathways- the better chances you will remember these useful strategies! I love the tapping of the balloon while saying...
boys' reading interests
Ginger Landers,
Wed Nov 30 16:52
The design of your presentation was very interesting and organized. I liked how you included photos and music to make it more stimulating - that was very creative. Your ideas of creating an all boys...
boys book clubs
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Tue Nov 29 00:30
Awesome job! Motivating boys to read can be a challenge. In kindergarten I have even noticed it, although most of my students are really excited to learn to read. Having a boys book club is a great...
Boys' Reading Interest
sarah patten,
Sun Dec 4 17:40
I love getting the media specialist involved!! They should know the latest books in the different genres and their input would be interesting!
Re: Boys' Reading Interest
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Tue Dec 6 16:09
Thanks Sarah! We have a new one this year at Moore and he would probably love to help out. I think the kids would also like getting book advice from someone other than me- he's an expert in there...
Boys' reading interests
Marlee Wright,
Mon Nov 28 23:17
From a personal standpoint, as well as a professional standpoint, I find this to be a fascinating topic. My two "boys," who are now 25 and 22 years old, rarely read for pleasure, although they...
Kara Scott ,
Mon Nov 28 16:37
Great job getting boys to read. I liked how you were able to view different grade levels. I also like how you had the flexibility in your study to have to focus groups both before and after school....
setting the bar high
Mon Nov 28 15:23
I love the many ways the three of you set the bar high: success and thoughtfulness of the intervention, quality of the presentation in appearance and audio additions, timeliness of submission....
Re: Amanda Solesbee/Lori Vestal/Tonya Isenhour
Ashley Montgomery,
Thu Nov 24 08:33
I really enjoyed your presentation. The research you did was very interesting. I find that even in kindergarten it is difficult to get boys motivated to read. I like that you selected books based on...
Response to Boys' Book Clubs
Wed Nov 23 10:47
I enjoyed your presentation. I agree that in my classroom, it is harder for some of the boys to settle down and be motivated to read. I try to have a wide variety of books and genres available for my ...
motivating boys
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Wed Nov 30 23:44
I also have found it to be a challenge at times to keep boys in my class motivated to read. I have made an extra effort over the last several years to add many non-fiction books to my collection....
Response to Amanda, Lori, and Tonya
Whitney Fisher,
Mon Nov 21 22:11
I like how you had such a wide variety of grade levels and schools represented in your study. Your research questions are so relevant to all teachers because finding male students' interests are so...
response to Whitney
Lori Vestal,
Thu Nov 24 11:26
I do think part of the success of the boys club is because we let the boys have some say so in what they read. I think this gave them a sense of ownership in their learing.
Re: response to Whitney
Fri Dec 16 00:15
I have never taught a class before with 14 boys. And having 14 boys all fixated on dinosaurs, sharks, Superman, and Cars 2 is a lot different (and out numbering) my girls interests. I didnt have...
Re: response to Whitney
whitney fisher,
Tue Dec 13 18:00
It is so hard to let students choose their books during reading groups. I ended up choosing a couple of books that matched the group's reading level and had the students choose from those books. It...
Choosing the right book
Mon Nov 21 16:34
I enjoyed your presentation. It was put together very well and I think it covered a problem that most teachers face: trying to get boys to read. I have book clubs for my higher level students and...
choosing the right book
Amanda Solesbee,
Tue Nov 22 23:53
We chose our books by using our Interest Inventory that had questions related to their reading and what they enjoyed reading about. For some students, they didn't like reading at all- so we based...
additional thoughts on matching interests
Mon Nov 28 16:00
Amanda, Lori, and Tonya clearly approached interests thoughtfully and their data say effectively. Some additional criteria you might consider in answer to some of the questions in this thread are:...
response to matching interests
Lori Vestal,
Mon Nov 28 19:49
I know I thought it was interesting that all my boys surveyed at first stated that none of them liked what they read during reading class at school. I heard this comment often from my boys, "I really ...
Re: Amanda Solesbee/Lori Vestal/Tonya Isenhour
Nakita Carson,
Sun Nov 20 16:19
Very interesting research ladies! I think the problem with motivating boys to read is definitely one that teachers everywhere can truly identify with! The idea of a boys only book club is a great...
response to Nakita
Lori Vestal,
Sun Nov 20 17:22
I think if I incorporated more writing, I would still use a book as a jumping off point. My boys really struggle with writing so I would use some support and modeling if I were to continue it with a...
Re: response to Nakita
Nakita Carson,
Wed Dec 7 19:50
I am constantly searching for books that are great story starters! There should be a list compiled some where!
Boys' Reading Interest
Sun Nov 20 16:10
I really liked the way you all structured your book club. I also have a more difficult time getting my male students to become more motivated to read. It is often difficult to find topics in which...
repy to atkinshh
Lori Vestal,
Thu Dec 1 18:22
My boys really enjoyed the animal books I had for my book club, but I think one reason was that I had a variety of levels and let them explore. I did not make them only look at books on their level....
Boy's Reading Interest
Sat Nov 19 15:17
I really enjoyed this presentation and the study. It is so hard for some of my boys in my 4th grade classroom to get motivated to read. I really love how you have "clubs" where they join together...
Boys' Reading Interest presentation response
MaryBeth ,
Sat Nov 19 14:21
First, what a cool looking presentation. I loved the bright colors that you used, the student work samples, and the pictures that were incorporated. I have particular interest in boys, since I have 2 ...
Graphic Novels
Amanda Solesbee,
Sat Nov 19 22:50
Thanks for the comment on the presentation! It seemed like it took forever to make :-) All the pictures of the kids except for one are from our classes. The boys really had a great time in our clubs. ...
Re: Graphic Novels
Nakita Carson,
Wed Dec 7 19:51
I have found this year's boys love them!
graphic novels
sarah patten,
Sun Dec 4 17:43
I love the idea about using the comic strips after reading a book and creating a graphic novel! Boys are especially interested in these books and they can be a useful tool!
Re: Graphic Novels
Kara Scott,
Fri Dec 2 16:17
I couldn't agree more. I think graphic novels are wonderful for male students. When I taught the upper grades a few years ago, graphic novels changed my males students perspective on reading...
Re: Graphic Novels
whitney fisher,
Sun Dec 11 15:18
Not only are they great for boys and younger students but also for adults. I read my first ever graphic novel this past semester and I enjoyed it so much. I had never been able to read books like...
Re: Graphic Novels
Nakita Carson,
Wed Dec 7 20:11
I really don't understand how I had never heard of graphic novels until Dr. Moorman's class! Where have I been?
Graphic Novels
Sun Nov 20 10:18
It sound like the books about immigration were a great theme. It's always good to be able to work on other academic areas (such as Social Studies) while you are working on reading too. About graphic...
Graphic Novels
Amanda Solesbee,
Sun Nov 20 13:30
Are you taking the course with Dr. Moorman? If so, I am also in that course now and we also did a unit on graphic novels- sounds similar to what you are doing in class too?
graphic novels
Mon Nov 21 14:08
Yep! I'm taking that class. 5 years ago when I was teaching you rarely heard of them. I'm thinking of starting to write them myself! Ha! In all seriousness, it does seem like they have become really...
graphic novels
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Tue Nov 29 00:42
Since working with graphic novels in Moorman's class I have noticed them everywhere- they are SO popular now! When I was little I remember the classic comic book style and being turned off by them...
re:graphic novels
Tue Nov 29 08:04
I agree Ruth Ann. I was NOT a comic book fan as a youngster, so I guess I was a little surprised to hear in Moorman's class about how popular they were. It seems like there are much more varied in...
Graphic novels
Marlee Wright,
Tue Nov 29 23:09
I am in Dr. Moorman's class too, and as I was doing that graphic novel project I came across two wonderful graphic novels about Ann Frank. They contained lots of history - it really surprised me how...
re: graphic novels
Ginger Landers,
Wed Dec 14 21:04
I, too, was not a fan of graphic novels or superheros as a child but they are great resources to incorporate into a classroom library. They do come in a array of subject matter and can even be used...
reply to Mary Beth
Lori Vestal,
Sat Nov 19 17:22
MaryBeth, For my group, they were really interested in animals, so I focused on animal books. I started out with non fiction books at first and then added some fiction fun books at the end. I did not ...
I agree
Sun Nov 20 10:13
I agree that attitude plays a big part in success. It seems like if the students want to do something, even if it is a challenge for them, that they find a way to become successful with it. I'm...
Boys' reading interest
Rachel Hicks,
Sat Nov 19 12:24
Your presentation was amazing. If I had boys that could read in my classroom, I would love to start a boys' reading club. I think the whole idea of trying to get boys excited about reading is...
say what, Rachel?
Mon Nov 28 15:31
You have NO boys who can read, at all, in your classroom? I'm lost. And if that's really the case, it seems you need a boys club even more desperately than our 3 presenters. Lots of ways to read when ...
RE: say what :-)
Rachel Hicks,
Mon Dec 5 18:42
I guess, by that definition of reading. Meaning the ability to listen and understand text, read/recognize environmental print, then YES all of my students can read in some way shape or form. I guess...
Tarheel Reader
Mon Nov 28 17:18
I had never used TarHeel Reader Books until recently and my students with reading difficulties love it. One student in particular who is reading at a mid-year 1st grade level (I teach 4th) loves to...
what boys liked
Tonya Isenhour,
Sun Nov 20 14:59
In my group I had second grade, so I chose the books for them. I based that descision on research evidence that boys at this age still view reading as fun and enjoyable.
personalized interests
Mon Nov 28 15:36
I love how all of you responded in unique ways to your students' interests but kept the same basic framework. Another thing that boys like according to research (and my experience sure confirms this) ...
reply to koppenhaver
Lori Vestal,
Mon Dec 5 19:36
Dr. Koppenhaver, I explored the websites you have linked. The Alice story seemed interesting, is that supposed to be like an on going story as it happens?? I also wonder about what effect is...
using technology
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Tue Nov 29 01:04
It was only a matter of time that children would follow the examples of parents and other adults they see reading using the newest technology. After all, kids often seem to easily dive into using the ...
Books we read
Amanda Solesbee,
Sat Nov 19 23:02
My boys love the historical genre to where they can relate themselves to the event taking place in the book. They will always ask after reading a certain part of the book if they can go online or...
reply to Rachel
Lori Vestal,
Sat Nov 19 17:29
Rachel, I read mainly animal books with my group of boys. Because of time, we did not get a chance to explore many different genres, but I would like to if we continue this activity. On one meeting I ...
re: reply
Rachel Hicks,
Sat Nov 19 17:42
Anytime that the students say that a book should be longer is a great thing. If that ever happens again, you should give them time to write an alternative ending. I think that would be a wonderful...
re: reply
Ruth Ann Timmons,
Thu Dec 1 22:53
Great idea Rachel. I love when my kids are excited about the stories we read in class. When they ask to re-read a book- its the best! I think they would really enjoy writing their own ending.
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RE 5040 Fall 2011


text: Olympia Cafe on Savannah's Historic River Street has been serving authentic Greek Food in a festive atmosphere for 22 years. The cuisine is consistently delicious and my two favorite dishes are the dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and the lamb chops. I have been eating at Olympia since I was in my late teens and I have always thoroughly enjoyed the experience. From the plates of flaming Saganaki to begin the meal, the many shots of Ouzo, and to the espresso at the close served with a lemon twist-Olympia Cafe is a delightful dining experience in Savannah. Last night, Olympia Cafe was awarded the Hospitality Award at the Savannah Business Expo and it was well deserved. Congratulations to Vasilis and Nick!! Thank you for enriching downtown Savannah with your fantastic food and culture.


text:
How do video games convey ideas? Though video games communicate ideas by utilizing other artforms like music, film, and literature, each of these artforms operate under different rules, which develop different craft techniques that appeal to different aesthetic principles. To simplify things, we'll only consider how video games communicate ideas through gameplay in this article series. As it turns out gameplay is what makes this investigation particularly difficult. Player interactivity within a rule-based, goal-oriented system makes video games a unique artistic medium. And having to develop real skill to play most games gives us a unique criteria to analyze the efficiency and waste of gameplay.
Communication. Distraction. Waste.
Like I explained in part 4 with the concept of chekhov's gun, crafting an artwork that communicates ideas clearly requires an awareness of what the audience might be distracted by and how these elements detract from the core meaning. In general, artists don't want their audience to spend precious time and mental energy working with details that don't add up to something significant. And if just thinking about an extraneous element is distracting when engaging a passive medium like books, then actually learning extraneous complexities or participating in extraneous challenges in a video game can be damaging. In other words, because video games are interactive experiences driven by knowledge and learning, any wasted effort learning can have a strong negative impact on the conveyance of gameplay ideas and the fun of the entire experience.
Why do players work at games? The most obvious answer is to win and to become more competent. Since work is hard, we prioritize what we seek to learn about a gameplay system. Most gameplay systems feature complexities of varying importance. This is to say that some complexities are nuanced and others are core to the gameplay experience. Gamers intuitively know that nuance is an inherent property of increasingly complex systems simply because every little detail can't be essential information necessary for winning. And we know that focusing on the core or mandatory gameplay elements will ensure that we prioritize our efforts on what will be most useful.
Gamers don't want to spend too much time and effort chasing functional dead ends. We don't want to put hours into learning a useless mechanic or a character that is too weak to win. This is an issue of balance. It's the job and responsibility of the game designers, knowing far more about the game than new players do, to guide players into a fruitful experience. Sometimes a friendly reminder or a tip is all players need to steer them in the right direction. Other times entire gameplay systems need to be tuned. A common type of balance that most gameplay focused gamers appreciate is that of interesting choices.
Forcing or allowing players to delve deeply (learning) into a shallow system due to a lack of balance is a waste. Notice how I refer to both mandatory and optional gameplay challenges here. To explain why both are included, I'll draw an analogy to story design. A story is more than just a collection of details randomly dropped on a page. As I explained in great detail in my series Story Design - Story Telling, the content of the story is a completely different from its execution. The content of the story are the details and complexities that make up the raw data, which includes characters, setting, plot, and theme. But none of this data is a story. A story is a sequence of (coherent) details depicting events over time. Therefore, it is the execution, the actually assembling of words in linear order on the pages, that both makes a story a story and puts the content into the proper, appreciable context.
Video games have an analogous structure. The story content is analogous to the design space of a game in that it is a raw and somewhat abstract representation of the end product. Furthermore, the execution of a story is analogous to the level design of a video game. For a game is not a game until you can actually play it. And you can't play a game until there's at least one level with one challenge for players to take on.
Before we move away from the story analogy I want to bring up one final point. The non-interactive medium of literature and the interactive medium of video games are not too different when you think about it. Both have content that's delivered in some kind of organized fashion. And if you're thinking that the linearity of books versus the emergent nature of video games is the important differentiating factor here, consider the following. Though the words in a story are presented in a strict linear order, not all words carry the same weight (is this starting to sound familiar?). Some words are just for the construction of sentences. Some are logic bearing words. Some are content bearing words. And depending on the combination, some sentences present ideas that are much more significant and deep than others. Just because your eyes move across these sentences and your mind sounds out the words doesn't mean you've fully grasped the meaning. We already know this, though. The more you read and reread good books the more you discover and the more you get out of them. Knowledge is power.
I find it interesting that for all the control writers have over the linear order and execution of their content, language and mental human limitations allow for a range of interpretations and other inconsistencies in the delivery of content and meaning from book to reader. This is simply something we have to live with with any artform because art communicates, and the effectiveness of communication depends in part on the receiving individual. In my years studying the craft of fiction in college, I've learned that the best writers embrace the interpretive range of possibilities by carefully crafting every word of their writing to not only communicate their core ideas but to limit the possible interpretations that detract from the core. Likewise, the tightest video games are designed to lead the player back to what's most important and valuable in the work no matter how the player decides to explore the emergent possibilities. The key takeaway here is the optionality of a poorly designed or wasteful gameplay challenge may mean some players won't experience it, but that doesn't excuse the wasteful design or the fact that some players will experience it.
A Simple Case
In order to make any kind of assessment on design waste, we have to frame the analysis. First we have to declare which section of the game we're analyzing. The single player campaign? A single level? A single mode? Then we have to identify what kind of meaning is conveyed through the gameplay.
The simplest examples are games like Tetris, Pac-Man, and many other classic video games. These are relatively simple games with few complexities. These games are particularly easy to analyze because they only have one mode or level to play. As soon as the game begins, you're exposed to all of the elements, mechanics, and wrinkles the design space the game has to offer. And because you essentially play the one level until you lose, these examples can't feature design waste right? Not exactly.
Instead of considering waste in terms of distracting or detracting challenges in a series of gameplay challenges, when there's only one level to a game the waste is a direct result to the design of the game itself. Imagine a version of Tetris where all the pieces aren't tightly designed. Call it TetriZ. Let's say that the Z-block was programmed just a few pixels off so that it never fits snuggly with any of the rest of the pieces. You may not notice at first, but soon you'll see that though it appears that the Z-block fits into your formations, it never quite fits enough to register a line clear. Your initial reaction to this might be to claim that this version of Tetris is poorly designed or sloppily made. The point I want to stress is that you think this because you inherently understand something about the core meaning of Tetris' gameplay.
Tetris is a fantastically elegant, simple, and deep puzzle game that uses the tightly packed, quantified tetrominos (shapes made of 4 squares) to challenge players to solve a wide variety of player created spatial challenges. Whether intentional or not, if the Z-block was coded in the way I described above, then working with the unavoidable Z-piece would introduce unsolvable obstacles into your game. And if the core spatial, algorithmic, problem solving gameplay is how Tetris conveys the most meaning, then this poorly designed Z-block would actually introduce an obvious problem to how TetriZ communicates its meaning.
Though you may interpret the game of Tetris as a metaphor for the toils of industrial work, and though you may interpret TetriZ as a metaphor for a "disfunctional working environment," the design and interactivity of both games are clear. You may try to explain the poorly programmed Z-block of TetriZ as a legitimate part of the game's design, but the fact is the bad Z-block is not consistent with the rest of TetriZ's tight, functional design. But by merely having the bad Z-block in the game, the gampelay conveys an inconsistent interactive world to the player and therefore incomplete meaning. TetriZ is a game that clicks sometimes and at other times fails on a basic mechanical level. These two gameplay possibilites are so contrary to each other, that TetriZ fails as both a puzzle game and a satire. It's too flawed to be a skill based puzzle game. And the tricky Z-block is too subtle and infrequent to be a satire on of Tetris. For a great example of a Tetris satire, see Not Tetris depicted above.
TetriZ's poor design allows players to waste their time engaging in a near perfect gameplay system that is ultimately broken. Yes, art can convey multiple messages and multiple themes, but artists have to be careful that the multiple ideas don't work against each other. Ideally, all the parts of an artwork should work with each other to strengthen the whole. This is a somewhat abstract goal that is nevertheless important to keep in mind. Though it may seem arbitrary that I picked the classic Tetris as having meaningful design and TetriZ as conveying cluttered meaning, it's not so arbitrary when you consider what art is and how complexities work. We'll explore this idea shortly.
Now we have to consider what the aesthetic principles are of gameplay. In part 6 the examples get more complicated.


text:
Does The Location Of Your School Matter?/
When I began applying to universities I wasn't as adventurous as my peers who applied to schools in Hawaii, Texas, and California. I knew I wanted some distance, but I also wanted to be close enough to home that a weekend trip wouldn't be unthinkable.
I ended up going to the University of Idaho for one year, which was an hour and a half drive from my parents' house. It was a small, quaint university. I was able to receive a scholarship that lowered my out of state tuition because I'm from the neighboring state of Washington, and I took out a small loan of $5,000.
After a year, however, I decided the university wasn't for me and I transferred to Eastern Washington University. This university is forty five minutes from home, I don't have to take out loans, and it's well-known in my state for having an amazing program for future teachers.
There were pros and cons to both situations, but in the end the school closest to me ended up being better for me. Here are some of the factors I considered in making my decision:
1. Finances
What tuition deals and scholarships are available to you? Most student can take advantage of in-state tuition by going to a public university in their home state. However, depending on what scholarships and other forms of financial aid are available to you, an out-of-state school or a private school could be just as affordable.
At Eastern Washington University the in state tuition is $6,110 and tuition is $22,502 for a non-resident. The difference was substantial for me, and well worth it to make the switch.
However, some private schools have surprisingly generous need-based aid as well as merit aid that could make it affordable for you to go! For example, if your parents earn less than $125,000 a year you could go to Stanford tuition-free!
Of course Sanford is very competitive to get into, but other private universities have similar tuition-assistance available. Make sure you look into what's available before you make your decision.
2. Proximity to Home
Will you be able to handle being far away from home?
I am only 45 minutes away from home and am able to make a trip whenever I need to, but it is also enough distance to make me feel like I am living on my own. This is a good situation for me and my parents.
One of my classmates have parents who live in Florida. She only gets to see them a couple times a year and relies heavily on FaceTime and other technology to keep her connected. This can be hard on her family, but there are benefits to living far away as well. You are forced to get out of your comfort zone, and become more self-sufficient and independent. You may also enjoy exploring a new place that is completely different from where you grow up.
3. Career & Networking Opportunities
Depending on the field you are going into, you might need to be in a specific location to have the best chance for career growth. For example, a student studying marine biology will probably want to be near the ocean for best results. A student who is getting into film production may want to be close to Los Angeles where a lot of internship opportunities are located.
Consider the programs that your potential university has to offer and if those programs are worth the move. Every situation is different, but what's important is that you're planning for beyond your college years.
I hope you know realize there is a lot to think about when it comes to location. Studying in Hawaii may sound luxurious, but if you have to take out a lot of loans, and then relocate to a completely different location to pursue your career it may end up being a very costly endeavor.
Any place is what you make it. It is up to you to decide which location will best serve you and your future endeavors, and if a big move or a small move will benefit you in the long run.


text:
Whether graduate or undergraduate students (including co-op students), we always welcome the opportunity to work with highly motivated student researchers. If you are interested in joining our research group, please forward a copy of your resume or CV, and a copy of your transcript to Dr. Gu at email@example.com
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University of Toronto
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Phone: (416) 978 8518
Email: email@example.com
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Union Syndicale Luxembourg offers free legal advice and assistance
To whom and about what ? Without restriction: to everybody and on all subjects.
How about representation by a lawyer ? Members can apply for financial assistance for the preparation and submission of complaints and/or appeals to the European Civil Service Tribunal (TFPE).
This assistance can be up to 100% of the legal costs if the case concerns an issue of general interest for staff.
How ? Just contact the Political Secretariat: JMO C5/81
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Latest News about Legal Assistance :
At the beginning of 2014 we would like to remind you that Union Syndicale Luxembourg offers legal assistance to all members of staff who request it, whether they are me