Using your Time wisely

             Using time wisely is the key for many things. Like, College, homework, part-time job, etc. Time goes on and goes on for the rest of our lives. It's the matter of how we use it that counts. Everybody does different things with the time that we have. Whether it's after school, before school, during school, after work, after waking up, etc. If you know how to use your time wisely, then you control just about everything that goes around your life. 

             For example, after-school, I have hours and hours to do anything I want. But what do I do in those hours? How much time am I going to spend on homework and do my part-time job? I have to plan how I'm going to use my time wisely. Lately, I've been managing my time really badly. I sometimes go a few more hours than expected from my homework. I usually finish all of my homework in around 2-3 hours but it takes me around 3-4 hours now. Now what I'm planning is I should "use my time wisely" by taking breaks within homework sessions to do whatever I want. It might benefit my head better and shorten the time I need to think through a math problem and lower the time that I spend on homework each night. 

            College is great example for supporting the phrase " Use your time wisely." College students have to spend numerous amounts of hours outside of class to study the material and do the homework. They have to learn what they are going to do every night and plan it out wisely. For example: if they have a reading assignment like reading 100 pages a week. Most likely they won't read all 100 pages within a night. They will manage their time and read, say 20 pages for every 5 nights. That's using the time given to you to do the homework wisely. 

            Time is everything. If you want to treasure the time that you have, then you might as well use it wisely, and the way you want to. I know that some of you may have plenty of time to do whatever you want, but you can use it wisely to set a schedule for homework, friends and so on. In the amount of time that your bored and have nothing to do, you can allocate that time for extra studying or so on. Don't forget to add a few breaks every now and then too because those are just as important as the study time. Find a way to use your time wisely, so it's memorable and so that it just won't be another day of your life. 

Word Count: 443

More than one way

              There's usually more than one way to approach something.  More than one way to live. But when there's more than one way for everything, there's always a "correct" way. From my point of view, it seems like there is a correct way to live. Even though everyone have their own way of living, it feels like society explains life in a different manner than it once did. You go to school everyday, learn, respect your teachers, go home, do homework and have fun with your hobbies. Then go to sleep and start the next day over. We then graduate, go to college, get a career and have a family for as long as we live. That's pretty much the general life without the specifics right? 

             There's more than one way to live your life though. Even if your friends and family tell you that you should go to school and get a career, should you? A "normal" life is what most common people look for and strive to do. Some people have more luck than others, while others have much less. There's always a different way to live your life. Try to be different, you don't always have to agree to what other people say to you, if you want to then that's your choice. I'm not saying that you should not go to school, I'm just saying that there's more than one way you can choose. The most important thing is to know that your not strapped down to only one option.

            When there is a different way to do something, people will go for it. Some of us love to stand out and try something different than the "correct/fundemental/best" way to do it. It's those kinds of people who do their best to stand out of the group that makes the entire world so unique. America is the one of the better examples. We don't have just have one race here, we have every race. Each and everyone of us are different from each other and that's why we are strong. We respect each other and help each other. I'm not saying that other countries aren't as strong or united as us. Sometimes the same race all in a country is a wonderful thing. I never been in a single race country so I wouldn't know. That's why I'm only talking about the country I was born in, America.

         All in all, my point is that there's more than way to do everything. Being "normal" is good, but being an individual is also good.

Word Count: 428

Reality and the Virtual World

Since this is my last blog of the trimester, I thought I should finish it up talking about the ever so beautiful reality. All of my blogs are "only reality." I don't confuse anything outside of reality, with reality. Talking about the reality I live in, helps me know myself a whole lot better. I sometimes write about the things that I go through, without making it a everyday thing about myself. I try not to use the word "I" too much because then I'll be talking about my problems rather in the topic I'm on. My blogs are meant to help people think more in depth with life. Sometimes I get out of hand and talk about useless stuff, but I hope you will continue to listen to me while I "blog."

"Reality" is beautiful. Sometimes some of us mix up reality and the virtual world, and I admit I'm one of them. The virtual word is also great, sometimes even better than reality in my opinion. The virtual world is the place where we can escape from reality and forget what happened that day. We can have fun with our friends online, not thinking about the harsh things that happened. You can be a completely different person online, changing yourself. Since we're behind a computer screen the other person can't do anything to you and obviously, some people have taken that in account and have taken advantage of it. As I said before I was one of them. On a online game that I played, I was a really high level among others. I played the game all day with my real life friends and online friends. When I was alone and my real life friends didn't join me into this game yet, I felt like I was a completely different person online. No one could touch me. Since I was a high level, I felt like I was a little mean to the lower levels from time to time. That no longer happens, but I just wanted to say that some of us have been sucked into the virtual world and had a hard time thinking about it when we came back into reality. 

No matter what we do, we'll never be able to escape reality, it'll always, always, always come back to us. We have to face our problems sooner or later, but it's best to face them now. Reality (life) has it's ups and downs, that's what makes it reality. In the virtual world, everything can go right for us. Some games are designed that way. Maybe games were made because there were some people who gave up on life and wanted sometime more exciting. But we need "downs" in our lives to get something greater because all of us learn from those mistakes and life lessons. 

Word Count: 472

Getting Help

There's nothing wrong with receiving help. Getting help is something that all of us do, and some of us do it on a regular basis. Like receiving help from teachers on a certain problem at school or from our peers,family and friends. Some of us have too much pride to ask for help sometimes, and I admit that I'm one of them. I personally don't ask for help often, and most of the time when I do, it's not implied. Although, recently I've been seeing help in a new light, my savior sort of. We can't do everything by ourselves, we need to trust others.

Raising your hand in class is tough for some of us. Some of us are shy and really just can't get our voices out. So we either ask our question after class or during class where nobody else is listening or watching. Getting help doesn't have to be during in class in front of everyone, you just have receive help. Asking a teacher a question about a problem that you don't understand is reassuring. Your teacher tries he's/her best to explain the process to you, and afterwards when he's/ she's done, you feel relieved that you asked. Put yourself out there. Asking for help is what makes us human, no one human can do everything alone, without help.

Asking for help from our family and friends is the easiest way to get help and it doesn't feel like losing your pride at all. I would say, lose that pride. Pride is nice of standing up for yourself, but if you don't trust others and let them help you, then there's not a point in having it in the first place. Most of us can talk to our family members about anything, since we known them for a long time. We sometimes know how they'll react before we even ask them. It's more reassuring that way. Friends are just a little bit tougher. Depending on how much you've been with them and how much you trust them, you don't exactly know how they will react. For example: I could ask one of my friends for help and he could joke around and say no, and I'll take it seriously.

My point is sometimes you shouldn't be so independent because there's nothing wrong with help. All of us ask for help at some stage in our lives and we'll probably continue asking for help from time to time. You can try to be alone and have no one else to help you, but you'll be taking the much harsher path. Getting help will shorten that path and make it a lot easier to walk on.

Word Count: 450

Everyday Moments

Pictures are special. You can take them whenever and where ever you are. When you take a picture, it preserves your memories in the moment that you were once living in. Taking pictures during a trip is a wonderful thing. Rather than trying to buy souvenirs and such, pictures are less expensive and more meaningful, at least to me anyway.  I love taking pictures and I capture my precious moments regularly. When I have some free time, after a while, I look at my pictures. It doesn't matter if it’s was a day ago or 10 years ago, the picture brings back unrepeatable memories. Live in that single moment, because no matter what you do, you won’t be able to relive it again.

Every day passes by before you know it. Every day is unique and all of us take that for granted. We should treasure the days that we live each day. Rather than just waiting until the end of the week. If you read my earlier blogs I've said this before: Today is 10/23/12. After today is over, I will never be able to relive this day again. I will be able to live a Tuesday again, but not 10/23/12. The things that I do on this day can’t be replaced or changed. These moments are mine.

Showing that you appreciate everyday isn't easy. You can easily speak words saying that you will, but you won’t.  Not until you show it. The way I show how I appreciate every day is by having a point chart/diary. I rate the things I do each day from 1 to 5. 1 being ok and 5 being one of the most amazing things I have ever done.  My point chart also goes negative a lot of time if something occurs that I don’t like. My chart started around 2011 or 2010 and it’s been going every day since. I look back, and I smile. When looking at them, when they’re in my own words, I feel the emotion I had at the time. Whether I was happy, bored, crying, I showed it all in my daily writing. 

So find the thing that helps you appreciate every day. It can be anything like changing your activities every day, or hanging out with your friends. Every day is unique and shouldn't be taken for granted. Time travels fast, make the best memories of yours, now. 

Word Count: 401

Who will be World Number 1 at the end of the year?

Currently the Number 1 Tennis Player in the World right now is Roger Federer. But how long can he maintain his world number one title? Novak Djokovic is closing the gap in points to take back his number one ranking. Also, he has challenged Roger Federer to see who will be world number one at the end of 2012. I believe there's only 3 tournaments left in 2012, so this will definitely be very close. Will Roger Federer maintain his current ranking, or will he drop down to No.2? Or will Novak Djokovic take back his world number 1 ranking and be No.1 for two years in a row?

In the last tournament they both played well. Novak ended up winning the tournament (Shanghai.) Roger only made to the Semi-finals, and there he lost to Andy Murray - the grand slam winner of US Open, who is currently on fire right now.  With Roger only making it to the TOP 4 and Novak winning the entire tournament, it reduced the distance between them even more. If Novak wins the next tournament, he WILL regain his world number 1 ranking that he lost to Roger a few months ago. Both of them have a lot of pressure on them, but lets see who can take it better than the other.

One of the tournaments left in 2012 is Basel. Basel is the birthplace of Roger Federer. So we all know that Roger Federer won't lose there so easily, then again he doesn't lose easily to anybody. This is a tournament that Federer loves to win, going by his expression when he won it last time. Also another one of those tournaments is the ATP World Tour Finals. The place where Roger has won 6 times at. He is currently known as the best indoor hard court player. He dominated the other 7 players that competed in the tournament because the hard court there suits he's style of play nicely. Roger Federer is currently the strongest tennis player on grass and indoor courts. While, Novak is the strongest hard court player overall currently. With both of them in fine form, we'll just have to wait and see who gets the 2012 world number 1 spot.

Word Count: 461

Future, Mirai, Present.

I'm sure all of you guys know what "future" is, but do you know what "mirai" means? If you know what future is, then you also know what mirai is. Yes, mirai is the Japanese word for future. Since, I'm a senior in high school, I have to start thinking about my future. At least that's what everyone's saying. I haven't truly decided what I want to be when I grow up yet, but right now, presently, I want to travel around this vast world. I have never been outside of Iowa and Illinois. The only thing I believe, I should have on my mind after high school is college. I don't know what college I'll be attending so I'll just have to wait and decide soon.

The reason I bring this topic up isn't to just discuss about my future, but also the future itself. Kinda. Do you believe the end of the world will be on December 21st 2012? Well, I don't know exactly. Whether it happens or not, I don't care. I believe things always happen for a reason, and if we die, we all die together. Instead of dying off one by one in the vast future. The future is something I could talk about for days, because it's endless. What you do now, will affect your future. For example, your grades. I don't want to be limited to the amount of colleges I can get into because of my grades. If I try harder now, and receive high grades then it'll benefit me as a whole in the future when I graduate and even after that. I don't need regrets.

What's more important? The future or the present? It's an opinion question. There's always people who think differently from each other, contradicting. In my opinon, the present is much more important then my future. Solely because the future is dependent on the present. What you do now will affect your future in every single aspect. Another example: I friends I made in high school might even stick with me in the future. The memories I make now, will continue in the future with me. If I learn some college material now, I won't have to work as hard as I do if I didn't learn the material in the future. I know they are really bad examples, but I think you knew even before you started reading the examples.

Word Count: 403, might continue and revise.