Searching Fun!

Today, we experimented with the search operators to enhance our skills with researching. I started out with 7,090,000 results by typing up the question in the search engine. Now, you probably think that "Wow! This will take forever to narrow down!" That's exactly what I thought. I won't lie. However, I made it possible by narrowing down my results to two pages (twenty results). Isn't that great? Anyway, I typed in democratic AND republican positions compare OR different "fiscal cliff" -video ~views -blog. It doesn't sound grammatically correct, but it's not like it's the actual sentence for an essay. That would've been horrible! Emphasizing "fiscal clift" definitely helped. Otherwise, I would end up with millions of results where it's all about democratic and republican positions on various topics. That wouldn't be fun. It's already bad enough when we hear them bicker in a circular conversation. Taking out the video and blog with the minus sign definitely helped. I wouldn't want to read someone's inaccuracy or opinions on their blog and get bad research from it.

I also used the advanced search option for the time. To narrow it down all the way to two pages, I put in "past hour". By regulating the time, it will give you the most updated and newest information. That will definitely help because no one wants information that's be outdated. You'll just end up with a whole bunch of inaccuracy! Anyway, experimenting with these search operators helped enhance my skills with research online. Thank goodness we have these!

The Fallen Hero: Anakin Skywalker

    Every story has its own hero. In every story, the conflict between whether we have free will or not takes place. In the Revenge of the Sith, the film depicts free will versus destiny for the character Anakin Skywalker. It was destined for him to become the Chosen One, the hero, but was it also destined for him to become Darth Vader? The fallen hero changed his destiny with his own free will. Although Anakin was given many decisions and chances throughout the story, his poor decisions led him to his downfall.
    In the beginning of the film, Anakin had a vision of Padme, his wife, dying after the birth of their child. His vision is similar to his vision of his mother's death, however, this time, he will be able to save a life. He makes a promise to protect Padme and their child. On the way to this goal, Anakin also hopes to be promoted from Jedi Knight. However, in the Jedi Council, the council does not trust Chancellor Palpatine. They see the Chancellor as a dangerous man. Because Anakin was a good friend to the Chancellor, he could not be promoted even though he is a great Jedi. If Anakin gets promoted, a leeway of power could be given to the Chancellor. This caused great frustration for Anakin as he began to resent the Jedi Council. From there, his bad decision making began. The poor decisions led him to join the Chancellor in the dark side. His worst decision before joining him was killing Windu instead of the Chancellor. With the thought of saving Padme by saving the Chancellor, Anakin begins to lose himself.
    The fear of Padme still disturbs Anakin. However, this fear engrossed him to do rash things such as killing the "younglings". His poor decisions continue as he goes to Mustafar. He decided to not return home with Padme and fights with his master, Obi Wan Kenobi. As Anakin visualizes himself as the most powerful man and having his own empire, a crucial point for Anakin came. He is completely lost. After acknowledging his yearning for his own empire, Kenobi fights with him. Kenobi, who sees Anakin as a brother, tries to find the old Anakin during their battle. However, Kenobi eventually sees that his old apprentice is gone. Anakin is completely with the dark side. Instead of finishing him off, Kenobi left Anakin to burn which cost him his legs, lungs, wife, and also his kids. This caused Anakin to finally become Darth Vader, his fall.
    Anakin had plenty of chances of remaining as Jedi. It was all part of his decision making. He would have remained a Jedi if he killed the Chancellor, come back with Padme, or coming to his senses from Kenobi's words and return with him. However, his fear took complete control of him which he had an inability to control. At the end of the film, Anakin learns that Padme is now dead. Yet, he may have also learned that he has made horrible decisions which were causes to his downfall.  This shows that Anakin acknowledges that he was completely lost. Anakin knows he could've returned to his old self, but he has failed to do so.
    In conclusion, Anakin changed his own destiny with his own free will. He made poor choices only to the point where he became lost during his battle with Kenobi and turned into Darth Vader. He let his own fear eat him. However, after acknowledging his own faults, he may have a chance to change for the better. Those chances are slim, but it takes time to go back on the right track.

Prop 30

            Education is essential to our future. Our nation is run by leaders who are highly educated. Without educated minds, we can say goodbye to our future. In other terms, we are screwed. However, we can move forward for our future if Proposition 30 passes. Proposition 30 increases sales and income tax. This proposition increases income tax rate on individuals making more than $250, 000 while couples who make more than $500,000 for seven years. It sounds horrible, but honestly, benefits will come out of it. I mean, this proposition guarantees local government funds for public safety. Who doesn’t love being safe?

            Of course, pros and cons come with every proposition. Let’s start with the good news, the pros. What Proposition 30 does is that it guarantees local public funding and it raises money for public schools from kindergarten to grade twelve and community colleges. This is perfectly beneficial to our community considering that many are still confuse on which path to go on and/or are financially struggling. This proposition is built for this year’s budget. According to the Legislative Analyst, it is estimated that this proposition will bring $6 million annually for seven years. What does this mean? Well, this will help balance our budget. Sounds good, right?

            Now, let’s proceed with the cons. Prop 30 increases personal income tax on hard working individuals, such as small businesses. It’s a shame for them considering they worked their butts off to earn that money. This can result into greediness by not sharing the wealth. Prop 30 can cost all citizens of California as much as $50 billion over the next seven years. That sounds horrible. (Hint: Prop 30 CAN cost) This proposition doesn’t guarantee new funding and new money for schools. It can be used for other purposes. These cons show that we need to work hard towards the goal of success if Prop 30 passes.

            Now that you’ve read the cons, you feel like it’s a lot of work if this proposition passes. Don’t be lazy. Every proposition will ask you to work hard in order to earn more. If I was able to vote, I would say yes to this proposition. I care for my future and for the future generations’. I have nieces and nephews with a bright future ahead of them and I don’t want their future to be ruined. I expect all to continue their education even if they are struggling. We all struggle in the beginning, but with education and hard work, we can reach for a successful future. Take advantage of your educated minds. You are smart enough to know where our future is going and to know that you have a voice to put out there. Use it.

The Monk Life

If I lived in the Middle Ages, my occupation would be the monk. Usually, monks are seen as to only work through hard labor under God’s wishes. The monk in The Canterbury Tales isn’t the type of monk you would expect in real life. This monk happens to appreciate life.

            Monks live in the rich part of town because their social status is the second highest and they earn a lot of money. If I was a monk, I would be in the richest part of London. My residence would be near the church where I work as the Prior of the Cell. This is similar to my personal life because I happen to live in the suburb which is near the St. Augustine church.

St. Augustine happens to be the saint (along with St. Maur) that is the most strict and traditional. These saints believe in working in hard labor. However, the monk in the tale doesn’t follow the rules of these saints. The monk in the tale is lazy and has a lot of leisure time. I, too, happen to have a lot of leisure time in my life. This is considered as a challenge for me. It’s hard to go straight into hard work if there is a lot of time on my hands. However, I use a lot of perseverance to overcome it.

Religion is a huge factor in not only a monk’s life, but also mine. Catholicism has taught me to love one another as a brother or sister. My family life as a monk would be a sustainable relationship. It wouldn’t go awry at all because hate cannot exist within our family.

As a monk, the world around me is what God created. Wars are something what man has made. I don’t like wars so I would not go into military training. I do not believe in killing another human being. That is immoral. Because of this, people in the world should learn to appreciate and use what life has in store for them. My moral is to use the leisure time you have and do something with it.

My plans for the future are to preach to others to go make a difference in the world. I may be a lazy monk, but I know that under my morals, we must return the favor of what life has given us. We cannot waste life.

Time cannot be wasted. The cliché quote “Live life to the fullest” does have an actual meaning to it. We came onto earth to serve as human beings. We did not come here to waste our life.

Monk

http://bradfordwgarman.com/paintings/canterburytales/canterbury05-monk-C.jpg
http://www.shmoop.com/canterbury-tales-prologue/the-monk.html

My description:

The monk in Canterbury Tales is the prior of the cell which means that he is the head of a group of monks. He isn’t the monk you would normally expect. This monk is very manly. He loves to hunt and rides his horse on his spare time. He is very fat which inclines that he loves to eat, too. Although he is the second highest in the social rank, he is nice and doesn’t prejudge others. According to St. Benedict and St. Maur, monks are expected to be strict and hardworking by devoting their lives into their occupation. However, he has more leisure than any monk. He lacks the expectations of a strict, studious monk.

American Dream

           With the future ahead of me, my American dream will require a lot of effort. This American dream I have consists of exploring the world with my future family. However, the road into achieving it will require me to overcome the obstacles that many are encountering today. There are obstacles such as education and jobs. To achieve this dream, the effort put into education, earning money, and our independence needs to prove its effectiveness.

            Education is the key to achievement. When we are educated, more opportunities would be knocking on our door. If I want to achieve my dream early, I need to complete my bachelor’s degree in four years. A graduate from San Francisco State, Lizzie Guerra, noted that those who continue their education thinks that will “give them an edge”. However, even with a bachelor’s, many are continuing for a higher education to increase their chances. Although there are people who are trying to increase their chances, Guerra also stated that these people are “incredibly educated but drowning in student loans with a job market that still isn’t hiring”. This shows that the job market strictly looks for more experienced and well-educated workers which make the job hunt a tougher task to complete. I believe that the effort put into a higher education will prove its worthiness once the job is obtained. After it is obtained, the hard effort put into your work will definitely pay off.

            Money is essential to life because it supports us. It is important to learn how to save money in order to support yourself and for others. Since I want to travel with others, I need to save up for all the expenses. This means that I cannot be lazy. Money cannot be earned if the habit of laziness is ongoing. According to Joel and Ian Gold, it is known that the youth is tied with technology. The advancement of technology and the dependency on it created us to be lazy.

            Depending too much on technology may result to problems. The career I want to pursue is accounting. With the advanced technology these days, it seems to me that this career will become competitive. I predict that in the future, we will become too dependent on technology. Sherry Turkle, an MIT psychologist, stated, “Technology can make us forget important things we know about life.” This shows that this amount of dependence we put on technology may bring down our hope for our future. Again, the job market will become even more competitive than it ever was due to the advancement of technology. Almost everything is being done electronically nowadays. Imagine how it will be in the future. With that in mind, we need to learn how to become more independent. We can’t always associate ourselves with technology.

            The effort needed must be executed in order to achieve the American dream. I understand that I will need to use it to reach my own expectations. I believe that improvement is needed for preparation of the future. What needs to be kept in mind is that hope cannot be lost nor the ability to try.

Taking Away College Entrances

In the real world, would you fight or would you hide? In this society, we cannot be lazy from doing our work. Taking the easy way out would not get you anywhere. We must accept all of the challenges that is being given to us. This applies to colleges. Colleges have the right to take away entrances from those seniors who allow their grades to decline and not completing their courses because colleges require your own effort.

The time during your college years is basically the transitioning period into the real, industrial world. Businesses won't accept anyone who is late, lazy, or deficient. College is the test of our true effort while high school is our practice. Think of this as preparing for a national sports game. You must attend all practices in order to achieve in the big game. High school, especially in senior year, is where the practice is. The final steps of your senior year are the trials to the final game. If you cannot attend all of your scheduled classes, then you are missing out on a lot. Therefore, you won't do so well in your trials and finals. Attending classes isn't the only issue either. We must put effort into your work.

Effort is a huge thing in life. Hard effort is greatly appreciated and praised upon when it is done right. Colleges look for the effort through your attendance and your grades. Being an average student may not be good enough for colleges because you might be beaten out by someone much better. They ask for the best one. What is the point of taking a course when you aren't doing the work? If you're in a college class and all you do is sleep, you basically took a spot from someone who would actually be putting effort into that class. This shows that colleges shouldn't accept any slackers into their campuses. If they did, they lose one person who achieves for the best. Society will not want slackers into their businesses.

If we had lazy people in our businesses, then there wouldn't be any work done. As said, businesses need people who can work rather than laze around. If college was a business that accepts lazy and uncommitted people, then that business will surely go bankrupt. No one will want to go bankrupt. This shows that we must continue to put in our best effort. The significance of this is that commitment plays a huge role in life. We need to commit ourselves to continue the successes in our society.

In conclusion, taking everything easily in life will prove that you cannot put any effort into anything. Colleges needs to see that effort in order to accept you as a hardworking person in society. Without the hardworking people, we will influence others and continue to hide from the real world.

Senior Year Highlights

This Senior year I am looking forward to spending my second and last year of Student Leadership. This is my last chance to prove myself on how much of a leader I am in high school. When I finish my last job as a leader here in South City, I will use those skills in post graduation. The work of a Historian-Technician (aka Tech) of Student Leadership may be tedious, but I will surely miss it after high school. Producing a lot of segments for Student Leadership and for the school are considered the best in my Senior Year Highlights. This will be my last year to be making segments for the school. I want to make sure I make the most out of them since I know for a fact that making videos after high school will not be totally possible due to the lack of great editing software. Making videos is nearly a passion for me and I'm going to use my Senior year to remind me that this may be the last video ever produced.

Like everyone else, I am definitely looking forward to graduation. It's a great sign for me to know that this is it. I am entering into the real adult world. Attending many past graduations made me want to achieve just like the post graduate. I've said many times that I just want to go ahead and grow up. Yet, sometimes I feel as if I shouldn't have said that. I may have been missing out on some things during high school, middle school, and maybe even elementary. That's why I need to make this last year the best. I need to aim for what hasn't been done yet and to only reminisce what has been done already.