miércoles, 27 de febrero de 2008

Class Composition

Last week, I figure out what I want to do once I finish my career. I had always been a little confused and insecure about what would happen the moment I step out into the real-adult world amnd start surviving independently. I sort of knew I wanted to do a master's degree, yet the thought of staying in Tampico to do it wasn't that apppealing, so I realized I had to start looking at the possibility of moving to the US and do my master's there. Now, it was just a matter of doing some research and start planing for the future.

The first thing I did was to contact a friend that lives in Indiana and have him ask in his University if they have language or education master's. He called me a few days later telling me that they have both of them. I was thrilled!

Now, I had to start thinking about financial aid for school. I found a really good site online called International Scholarship Awards, they have a large directory of institutions that provide aid for students that want to move to another country and continue their education there.

Another thing I began to consider was having a place to live. I could take in a host program, that is living with a family that would take me in while I study or I could move in with my friend and share expenses, for that I would have to get a job and talk to him about it, yet I know that he'd be delighted with the idea of seeing each other again.

I feel very optimistic about my future now, well, you could say I feel more secure about what I'm going to do. It's something I have set my mind to do, so as an starter I have to save money. I still have a year left so it'll probably turn out for the best. I'm hoping it will!

viernes, 22 de febrero de 2008

Music!

I don't really feel like talking about Julie Andrews, instead I'm going to talk about music. Classical music.

We talked about it yesterday in class, we mention composers, some of their pieces and the oh-so-many benfits of classical music and it inspired to write here and tell you my favorite pieces by some of the greatest composers of all times and provide you with some links for you to listen to the songs.

Cavalleria Rusticana- Intermezzo - opera in one act written by Pietro Mascagni in 1890. You have to listen to it conducted by Herbert von Karajan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDVFaheqQAg

Moonlight Sonata - Ludwig van Beethoven, master piece written after a love rejection, written somewhere between 1803-1814. The beginning is incredibly sad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck

El Barbero de Sevilla - Powerful composition. Opera buffa written in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, this opera follows the first of the plays from the Figaro Triology written by French playwriter Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. The second part of the triology was written by Mozart 30 years earlier: Le nozze de Figaro.

Requiem - Giuseppe Verdi, he was noted for his combination of vigorous rhythms and dramatic contrast. The opera for this, include "Libera me" written by Gioachino Rossini. It was all played at Alessandro Mazoni's funeral.

miércoles, 20 de febrero de 2008

Have you ever heard of DINK couples?

Yesterday in class, we talked about matters of choice and we came up with an interesting topic: the pros and cons of having no kids.

Some time ago, I read an article in a magazine about the new trends for couples nowadays, the DINK couples who are medium to high-earning couples who have decided not to have kids and focus more on their relationship and the opposite of the DINK couples (can't remember the name right now) where, usually, the mother leaves a high-paying career behind to just focus on having kids and take care of them.

It's easier for us to understand a woman that leaves a successful career behind to be a housewife, but it's hard to understand a DINK couple without feeling the urge to call them "selfish" or "not mature enough" because after all, having a kid means taking care of another human being for I don't know how many years, which is a great deal of responsibility.

This acronym (DINK = Double Income No Kids) it's an expression that applies to millions of people especially in North America, China and Europe and it's slowly moving towards other nations. For these couples many of the traditional ideas are obsolete like a: "conventional" family standard, or getting married, buy a house, buy a car and add kids to that.

So, instead of staying up late at night over crying babies, picking up kids from school, etc... This couples are doing other things together as a couple like traveling more, have more time for entertainment, money, who knows, the reasons for this choice are as as wide and diverse as the couples who follow this trend.

This trend started somewhere around the late 80's and it was considered like an scandal and the couples would have to go through all the pressure from family, friends and just society in general. They might even feel like they don't fit in and misunderstood. One of the biggest misconceptions is that DINK couples are selfish. Many people can't seem to understand why a woman doesn't have the biological urge to have children or why a man doesn't rush into carrying out the family name and we can throw in a bunch of other misconceptions.

Despite all of that, people are ignoring society "traditions" and pressure and are going for the childless option and it's growing, according to the American Demographic Magazine, the number of married couples without kids will rise by 50%, that ismore than 31 million, in 2010 in North America.

Anyway, it's a matter of choice and what does "happily ever after" means to you family wise.

domingo, 17 de febrero de 2008

Twilight!

I'm going to dedicate this entry to the Twilight Saga and upcoming movie written by Stephenie Meyer.
[Disclaimer: I, by any means, don't own Twilight or any other book in the saga, nor the movie, it's all trademarked and property of Stephenie Meyer and the publishers, nor I'm related to her or them in anyway.]
As you already know, I'm an avid reader, deeply in love with books and the such, so everytime I go to the States I try to go to Barnes & Noble, Walden Books or Borders, pretty well-known libraries over there. Anyway, I'd seen this book called Twilight here in Sanborn's of which I'd read some good reviews and even though I felt curious about it, I didn't buy it.
While being in Corpus Christi, I went to Barnes & Noble and saw the book with the pretty cover called Twilight again, along with other two, one called New Moon and the last one Eclipse, out of my curiosity again, I just bought Twilight, read a few pages and left it aside. It wasn't until I was on the bus on my way back here that I grabbed the book and began reading again. I never would've guessed what happened then!
I couldn't put it down! at all!
I think I finished it in like 6 hours and it's a 500+ pages book, when I got to the last page, I realized I had to buy the sequel, 'cause it leaves you like "aaaaaaaaah! and then what? what's going to happen?!" The day after I got here I found out that New Moon had barely come out here, that same morning I went to Sanborn's and bought it, I finished it in a day, again a 400+ pages book. It became like an obsession hahaha, no, really. After that, I found out the production of the movie starts at the end of this month and it'll be in theatres by December.
So, I finished New Moon and Eclipse isn't out here yet, I searched and searched and finally found it online, again finishing it in like a day and a half and there's actually a fourth book coming out in the States in August, the finale to the saga, Breaking Dawn.
Good thing is I'm not alone in this "obsession" anymore, Daniela and Paty are in it haha, they totally loved the books too and are as excited as I am.
If you like popular fiction then this is going to be an incredible book for you too read and even if you don't like pop fiction, give it a try! I promise you won't regret it!
Here is some praise for Twilight (all from SM's site, I don't own this):
  • A New York Times Editor's Choice
  • A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
  • An Amazon "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
  • A Teen People "Hot List" pick
  • An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers"
  • Has been translated into 20 languages
  • "Propelled by suspense and romance in equal parts [this story] will keep readers madly flipping the pages of Meyer's tantalizing debut."— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
  • "The novel's danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it."— School Library Journal (starred review)

For more info on the Twilight saga, movie and other projects, visit: www.stepheniemeyer.com

martes, 12 de febrero de 2008

Reading on the top!

Remember my TV entry and how I think reading is better, well.. here is an article from the American Reader's Digest about it.


Read All About It

Maybe you've heard, while watching TV, no doubt: A second National Endowment for the Arts study in four years has found that Americans of all ages are reading for pleasure less than ever before. The finding - spanning fiction and nonfiction in books, magazines, newspapers and online - is bad news for those invested in the reading business.
But it's troubling for everyone. As the report notes, this trend has major implications beyond the written word: People who don't read by choice are less likely to succeed at work and less likely to be involved in civic life. So it was slightly encouraging to learn, around the time the NEW report was released, that sales at the nation's bookstores were up for the third straight month. Hopefully, that's sign we're set to start a new chapter.
See! Read, please. It's good for you!
P.S. I guess you noticed already how much I love reading haha!

Valentine's Day is around the corner!

So here is a cute love story I heard a while back...

On a Sunday evening last November, Patrick Moeberg, 21, a website developer was in one of the many subway stations in NYC, when out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl of his dreams. He was his perfect girl. He immediately noticed every detail like her braided hair, that she was writing in a journal and the desire to talk to her.
But in such a big city like NY, there's a thin line between blind love and stalking, yet, he was determined to find her, so he had an idea, that same night he posted a plea online and the internet had a new website: www.nygirlofmydreams.com. On it, Patrick declared "I Saw the Girl of My Dreams on the Subway Tonight." He drew a picture of the girl etched in his mind, a long with one of himself, including phone numbers and an e-mail address, asking people to pass it on to see if anyone knew her.
Apparently, two days later, he got an e-mail from someone claiming to know the girl, the person even sent him a photo. Patrick realized it was her. She was an Australian interning at a magazine, her name was Camille and she wanted to meet too.
Soon, the media found out about the love story, their first date was set up by a popular TV show in the States: Good Morning America. He, later on, declared, it had been awkward but once they were out of camera lens, everything went smoothly, she is everything he was looking for and she feels mysteriously attracted to the subway guy. From what I've read, they've been hanging out ever since.
Isn't it cute? Everything worked out withouth a hitch!

Picture time!

I'm going to use this entry to show you some pictures of places where I've been, lived and studied.

First, we've got Galena Park High School in Houston, Tx. (crappy high school, crappy town, nice people... some of them at least.)


Then, we have Matawan Regional High School (nice high school, nice-too small-town, nice people, weird accent.)

Home of the Huskies!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matawan,_New_Jersey

This was by far the smallest town I've ever lived in, yet it was an amazing experience, mostly because I lived by myself and got to live it all. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Da da! You saw a little bit through my eyes ;D

Last week's holiday.

Well... last week's holiday wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be, I think it happened because I was waiting for it so anxiously that it kinda didn't go that well.
I had to go out of town for a family emergency and I actually missed one day of school and a test, not so good, is it?
Now, I'm just looking forward to spring break, I'm probably going out of town to Guanajuato (Dolores, San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato -capital-) I'm quite excited about it, I've only been in like 2 or 3 states here in Mexico and the last time I went somewhere here was like... 2 or 3 years ago, I dunno!
I want to go back to Tijuana, I was actually born there and then I move to Tampico when I was about 6 or so, but I still keep some images and memories in my mind of what it was like when I lived there, but I guess that trip will just have to be put on hold for a while.
That reminds me that I have to go to Acapulco, during the summer, to visit my dad, but if I'm given the choice I'd rather go back to Las Vegas, after all I'm already going to be 21 (yay! gambling! haha not really) I went there last summer, it's such a hectic/one-of-a-kind city and of course! there's New York again, some family members invited me to go with them around these days but I had to say no because of school. It's going to be 4 years since the last time that I was there and I still love it! it's such a multi-cultural, multi-facetic city. If you ever have the chance to go, do it! you're not going to regret it, mark my words on that.

Closing up, *sigh* seems like spring break is so far away.

Even later...

I can't believe I let my blog died, I dunno... laziness, lack of inspiration, who knows, well I'm back on request (hahaha suuuuure) and I'm going to try to keep up with late assignments, how's that? ok, let's start with the TV assignment:

What do I think about watching TV? Uhmmmm... tough one!

I like watching TV, I enjoy some shows I'm not going to say that I don't but truth is I'd rather read a good book than sit in front of the TV. I'm not going to put myself as an example of what people should do, if you don't like reading and enjoy sitting in front of the TV for hours non-stop that's great! go for it! yet we can't ignore the fact that if it's not for the news or some cultural/educational show then there's nothing to it, y'know what I mean?
If you watch TV and you do it a lot, take a break, step back, look at what you're doing and ask yourself if the shows you're watching 24/7 bring you some sort of extra-cultural-knowledge that is probably going to be helpful in the future.
And if, just in case, you don't want to stop watching you're regular shows, try to include an educational one once in a while, it won't hurt you a bit, I promise!

P.S. Read a good book, too. It increases your vocabulary a loooot.