Archive for the Advice Category
Written on May 10, 2010 by myspi
Filed Under: Advice, General Talk
This is in response to an earlier article about making choices. It really hit home, especially since I’m a senior, and I just wanted to elaborate on a subject along the same lines.
One of the major problems with making decisions is… hesitation.
The girl considers entering the mysterious waters...
Hesitation.
It should be one of the deadly sins. Maybe more dangerous than lust, pride, sloth, greed, envy, gluttony, and wrath put all together. (Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit there.) Hesitation is the cause of many regrets and failures, as evidenced through numerous clichés in literature and media.
Because in that moment, before making a decision or taking an action, the consequences of what follows may lead to the remaining sins. And I don’t mean that Read More
Written on April 5, 2010 by theboneshavespoken
Filed Under: Advice, Solving a Problem
…Huh? You’re probably wondering why I butchered the popular idiom, “read between the lines.” I don’t normally butcher idioms, or anything else for that matter, but that cliché idiom just begs to be butchered, especially for the purposes of this article. I’m going to be talking about outlining – the ways outlining can be used, the reasons to use it, its qualities, its flaws, and its traps.
Writing Between The Lines
You probably hate that word, “outlining.” Especially if your teacher just told you to outline twenty pages from your history textbook (don’t worry, at least five of those pages will probably be sources – wink). Well, I like the word; it’s euphonic. (If you want a truly cacophonic word, try “drill;” nothing makes me wince like being reminded of the dentist.) Anyway, getting back on track, not only do I like the word “outlining” for the way it sounds, I like it for what it is, too. It’s useful for a couple of different things – like note-taking for school, or for forming the plot of a story.
Personally, I find outlining to be the best form of note-taking there is. (This must be said: Cornell notes, you suck. I’m sorry, but you do. You’re a waste of paper.) Especially, especially, especially if you’re outlining while you’re reading. (I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t flat-out read a history book to save my life. I’ll fall asleep within minutes, no matter how interesting the material is or isn’t. So writing while I read really helps me focus on what’s important – while actually getting through the reading.)
In addition, outlining makes your notes organized in a way that just taking straight bullet points never will. “Pilgrims sail to America…Colonies form…Wait, how did I get all the way to the American Revolution?” With outlining, everything is under headings, and each heading tells you exactly what you’re looking at (this satisfies the first rule of teaching: “tell them what you’re going to tell them”). That way, you don’t have to squint at your notes, wondering where the breaks are and why everything seems like one huge, jumbled pile of facts. Read More
Written on March 27, 2010 by soo1029310
Filed Under: Advice, Feeling Awkward about yourself?, Solving a Problem
Similar to my last post, if you’ve had the perfect life, this post will not apply to you. But to the other 99% of the population who have experienced times when nothing about them seems perfect, you will know what I’m talking about.
Let’s face it. We’ve all had our depressing times. Times when nothing seems to be working. You fail a test. You get turned down by someone you like. Whatever. Nobody’s perfect. But the important thing is recovering from these little down-times.
There are several basic ways to get yourself to feel better.
No matter who you are, you have skills. You are different. That cliche that they taught us in elementary school and earlier is real: everyone is different. You might be weird or whatever. You might be a genius at some random subject like astronomy or something. But accept it. It’s a gift. It’s yours. Don’t change to be accepted. I almost did, and I realized that it was a mistake. Be grateful for what you have, and live with it.
Your self-esteem & confidence is what makes you, you. Don’t let anyone steal that =) !
Written on March 22, 2010 by moe2love
Filed Under: Advice
Dear Future
I was taking a look at one of John Chow’s blogs at his website, and struck across an interesting future projection article. I like one of his quotes by the way “The path to success is paved by a string of failures.” That’s a good piece of advice, ask your parent if you don’t believe me.
Remember those time capsule projects that you’ve heard about? There were elementary schools around the US that would place every students document or note in a time capsule and dig it up. Then come 25 years later, they would pull it out at a celebration and you would get to see what you had put about your future when you were age 10. Of course, things turned out quite different then what you may have expected.
Now I would like to offer you the opportunity to build your own “time capsule”. Theres a service called FutureMe.org, where you can write an email to yourself and state the following: What you doin now, How much are you making, where are you living, what are your current plans, etc. Then set yourself to be emailed, say a year from today. Or longer. Chances are you will forget about it, then as soon as you get that email you can wow in amazement if your goals & everything remain the same. Especially if you set yourself to be emailed 5 years from today.
Remember, your future is going to consist of the foundations you lay out for yourself today.
Maybe we should set some sort of future blog post type of service, ha ha.
Written on February 1, 2010 by nanamecedo
Filed Under: Advice, Establishing who you are
Choices. Something everyone dreads, but something absolutely necessary in life.
The choices you make
As teenagers, we’ve reached that point in our lives where we may very well be making the most crucial decisions of our lives. But as teenagers, maybe we’re not all quite ready for them. I know I wasn’t. At a critical age, we’re faced with questions like “What do you want to do with your life?” “Where do you want to see yourself in ten years?” And let’s face it, we would all be pretty happy seeing ourselves rich and worry-free. But who can really get that? So even if that is our goal, how are we going to get there? In these inconvenient economic times, no one wants to take any chances with their future. Living costs money, and money requires a job. But with national unemployment up to 10%, this generation is on thin ice. It’s easy to decide you want to make the big bucks. But what kind of sacrifices are you willing to make to get there? Read More
Written on January 21, 2010 by John Doe
Filed Under: Advice, Inspirations
That aphorism Friedrich Nietzsche had created over a century ago was all I needed to recover from a heartbreak I had suffered about two years ago. The same words brought me back from depression every time I had failed in something I tried hard to do, every time people demeaned me (including parents), and every time I had lost hope for the future of my life. Every time my life looks bleak, all I do is think of these words and I can pick myself off the floor from where I fell, and keep on going. Quite frankly, this phrase is more than a phrase to me; it’s a way of life.
Before I continue, I would like to clarify what this phrase is really all about. After much reading on the Internet (on message boards, forums, chat rooms, e.t.c.) about the opinions of this phrase from different people, I see there is a misconception about what Nietzsche meant. Of course if you get hit by a truck, get into a coma, and remain a vegetable for the rest of your life, that does not necessarily make you stronger, even if it didn’t kill you. This phrase generally applies to emotional pain; this is about overcoming hardships, heartaches, and failures and being able to utilize them to your advantage.
Read More
Written on January 18, 2010 by theboneshavespoken
Filed Under: Advice, School Life, Solving a Problem
Okay, so maybe the flu has some downsides, too: fever, aches, sneezing, coughing, even nausea depending on the severity of your bug…but I digress. The truth is, unless you were really unlucky and got H1N1, your symptoms probably didn’t last longer than a week or so, right? Well, there’s another flu out there – a mental one, and this one can last for weeks, even months. The symptoms for this flu are often mind-boggling obvious, but since people rarely tend to watch for them, they can wreak astronomical damage on a person. Those symptoms include: lack of interest (in school), procrastination, spontaneous napping, elevated count of SparkNotes visits, diminished grade count, and an interest in the internet, games, TV, or any fun activity that borders addiction.
This flu is Senioritis. Read More
Written on January 17, 2010 by moe2love
Filed Under: Advice, Socializing
I told my friend the other day that I was considering writing an article on “improving your voice”. His response was something like “WHAT?? What could be lamer than wanting to improve your voice? What possible benefit could a better voice even have in your life?” I’m not sure if it was sarcasm or not, but either way his pitiful attempt at criticism ensured me that I absolutely needed to write this article.
Actually, a better voice can benefit you in many ways. A strong, determined voice improves your speaking skills, which in turn can enhance the way you present yourself. A strong speaker takes command of the room in every debate, grabs attention from guests in every party, and for us males who play the game, attracts women from every venue. Read More
Written on January 14, 2010 by soo1029310
Filed Under: Advice, Relationships
Who knows? Maybe you have a great loving relationship with your parents. Maybe you’re comfortable enough to talk to them about anything and you have the ideal family you see on TV that gets together and does everything together. But for everyone else (not to point any fingers, but this is a trait of many Asian families, one of which may be mine), our parents are either too strict or too overprotective. But for those of you that go crazy every night wondering how you’ll survive, don’t fear! You are not alone! I have gone through all of this and I have some tips on how you can maintain your sanity!
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Written on January 10, 2010 by Makornz
Filed Under: Advice, Habits, Socializing
Let’s face it. Most teens are going to end up drinking, one way or another. No matter what parents or schools try to do, most high school students will end up consuming alcohol, probably in large quantities, by the end of their educational career.
So I’m not going to try to dissuade you from doing it. And no, I’m not going to do that thing that teachers and parents do where they SAY they won’t try to dissuade you, then just proceed to tell you horrible stories of kids who drank.
Instead, I’m just going to tell you to be responsible. If you ARE going to drink, you may as well at least do it responsibly And yes, it IS possible for teenagers to drink responsibly. Adults do it all the time, don’t they? What makes it so different with us?
Read More
