College is Around the Corner



As we know, it is second semester; the time when all seniors decide they are done with high school and no longer have to accel in their studies.  As much as we like to tell ourselves that our grades do not matter anymore, we still have not given up on that feeling to succeed. For me, I am exhausted from all these years of school and all I want to do is just take a break since I will be starting college this August.  Unfortunately I feel as if second semester is just as hard if not harder than any other year of my high school career.  Teachers should just give it a rest and bring down our stress level.  Seniors have many other things to worry about unlike most of the other grades.  I am all set for my plan next year, unlike many who are still undecided about what college they will be attending next year, but I still feel like I need to try hard.  Soon enough my bags will be packed and I will be heading out of here.  I am really excited to get out of Ohio, partly because I hate the weather, but mostly because I am ready to meet new people and start a new chapter of my life.  I have stayed in Mariemont a little too long.

Winter Wonderland

clear roads in Cinci after only a couple days since storm

This past winter there has seem to be a shortage of snow, but as soon as the 2011 winter hit January, a rush of snow followed shortly after.  A huge storm coming from the south seemed to drown most cities in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  Fortunately for Cincinnati it did not seem to effect us at all.  As my family traveled down to Atlanta, it was different then the visit a month ago; there was snow and lots of it.  I am used to going down there and the weather being atleast twenty degrees above Ohio's horrible chilly temperature, but again, this time was different; it was just as cold and even more icy.  Unlike states up North, states like Georgia do not have the right supplies to deal with such a snow storm.  Roads still had a slick and thick sheet of ice covering the pavement, making it nearly impossible to manuver a car safely.  The lack of salt and total of eight plow trucks caused the lack of clean up.  Not only did it make it hard for people to get places, it also caused many schools to close for a whole week.  Crazy.  It is funny to relate these schools to the ones in Ohio, where we drive through inches of snow just to get to school like it is no big deal.  With only two snowdays on schedule, I am hopeful there will be more storms to come!

New Years Resolution

For many of us, we decide we are going to kick a bad habit it to the curb once the new year comes rolling around the corner, but how long do these resolutions tend to last? At least for me, I would not be surprised if it was a one week change.  As I went to the gym the first week since January 1, I noticed a tremendous amount of people at the gym, it was jammed pack.  Then I went again this week, funny thing is, it was not jammed pack, and I could easily get around the parking lot and to the desired machine whenever I wanted. It are simple things like these that show how hard it is to break a habit.  Scientists from the article show that breaking a bad habit is much harder because "'You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward'".  Not only do people try to lose weight or just simply hit the gym to stay healthy, others may try to quit smoking or to stop eating such bad food.  Come on, lets not make nearly impossible tasks for ourselves to just be disappointed. I think the whole new years resolution is silly, and if you were planning on changing something about yourself you should have been doing it before.  There is always that same lame excuse of "next year I will..." Stop complaining and get to it now!  Show scientists that you can trick your brain for the better.


http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/01/03/new_years_resolutions_brain_can_sabotage_success/

Snooki's New Years Ball Drop and Her Excessive Amount of Fame

We all heard that Snooki, also known as Nicole Polizzi, was planning with MTV to be dropped from New York Times Square's famous ball that they always use to ring in the new year; this plan fell a little too short. Since MTV did not get the "okay" to do this, they got denied as soon as their plan was exposed.  The people who backed up the traditional celebration in Times Square thought that it took away the real tradition by throwing a newly famous reality star into the mix.  So, MTV took Snooki back to the real Jersey Shore and did their show there on New Years Eve.  That is what confuses me the most, how can people on a dirty reality television show become so popular among America?  I will not lie, the show is quite entertaining, but not because we find these people as good role models or perhaps their fashion sense, it's because they create entertainment by embarrassing themselves.  Snooki and the rest of the Jersey Shore cast make thousands just to appear on a red carpet event, it is a little ridiculous the amount of fame and money they receive for being trashy.  What exactly is their true talents?  To me, and most likely many other people, they do not really seem to have any and that MTV has made them seem to be higher than the rest of society when in reality they are not.  This construes my idea of fame and who really deserves the appraisal.  Whether Snooki is dropping out of a ball on New Years or she is fist pumping in the club with a drink in her hand, there is no talent involved.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101230/people_nm/us_snooki

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

A review and short summary of Arundhati Roy's novel The God Of Small Things, Manorama Mathai explains how she feels about the novel.  She states that before she even read the book there was a lot of hype about it, which of course led her to want to read it.  Mathai claims that the the story contains great writing, but it is easy to read and understand even with all the jumping around between present and past.  She is criticizing the story because she thinks the the story plot is the weakness of the novel, but also adds in that the portrayal of the family is very strong and full of description and detail.  I feel like this reader is indifferent about the novel, and also seems a little bit disappointed since she was so excited to read it.  She says that Roy is manipulative in the novel through the writing and seemed that it was unnecessary.  Then again, she claims that certain parts of the novel is just beautifully written and pertains important and creative parts of the story which makes the novel so popular.  Over all, I do think Mathai is being a little critical on Roy's piece of writing, but she makes positive reflections while critiquing. 


http://www.indiastar.com/roy.htm

Miley Cyrus the next Lindsey Lohan?

It is typical for us to assume that most famous child stars will become a wreck by the age of twenty five, or earlier, but is Miley Cyrus the next to fall into the infamous pattern?  After a recent clip that has taken over the internet and even appeared on the news, it looks like Cyrus's career might be put on a halt.  The clip shows Cyrus taking a hit of a hallucinogen drug called salvia from a bong during her 18th birthday celebration.  She had a friend, obviously not trustworthy, record the video.  With the video leaked, it seems like it is going to be hard for the teen pop star to win back her young fans.  What is different for Cyrus compared to other teens, she is famous, and she can not get away with anything since she will always be in the spotlight whether she likes it or not.  We can not discriminate against her since she is not the only eighteen in the whole world who has smoked salvia (a perfectly legal drug in the state of California) but it is crazy for her to think she could get away with such an act, the world is watching her.  The sad thing about this is that Miley Cyrus has led her way up to this point after her recent pole dance at a concert and the scandalous half naked cover picture for a magazine.  Of course we can not jump to conclusions and say she will be the next Lindsey Lohan, but it is not looking to good for her.  She is going to have to clean up her act if she wants to continue her past success.

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/12/10/2010-12-10_miley_cyrus_caught_smoking_out_of_bong_experiencing_a_trip_off_hallucinogenic_he.html

New Life Form

Recently in the past week NASA has discovered something phenomenal that changes the way we can view life.  A new organism builds its DNA, RNA, proteins, and cell membranes from actual poisonous arsenic.  We have always thought life form is only capable between six main components, but clearly this is not true and our imaginations of what can be has expanded drastically.  It boggles my mind when I try to distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy.  With this new information, it seems to be almost certain that there is another life form out there in outer space, considering there our perception on the Universe can now be tripled the size.  The fact that we have discovered a life form that is made out of a substance that humans and other organisms are not adapted too is a crazy thought.  We now know so much more about life and what it is capable of being and becoming.  From the article, scientists now say that there is almost no point to keep looking out for life on other planets and to instead focus on what we have here on Earth considering there are possibly trillions of planets just like Earth orbiting around the Universe.  In my opinion, I do not think there should be any reason to give up on the search.  There are thousands of different things we will still be learning here on Earth, but we should also keep a look out on other existing planets.  This is some cool stuff!

http://www.africanaonline.com/2010/12/nasa-discovers-new-life-form/