My Life

Machiel de Groot Mrs. Carne AVID 9 March 28 2013 My Mandala DRAFT 2222222 Everybody has things that are important to them and their lives. In this essay, I will be explaining what is important to me and why they are big aspects of my life.. The things that are most important in my life are as follows: Sports, Music, Family, Education, and most of all: my best friend. In my Avid class, we were asked to make a â€Å"Mandala†, a circular piece of paper split into four slices with one space left in the middle; leaving a circle in the middle surrounded by 4 other slices.In the center of the Mandala, you were supposed to write what was most important to you; and on the outside you were to write four other, less important aspects of my life. After a prolonged period of introspection, I was surprised by what I discovered about myself and what was most important to me. Creating that Mandala and thinking about my life and who I am changed the way I thought about myself; and maybe it wil l change how you think too. The first thing I drew on the outside of my mandala was a picture of my 2 brothers and parents: my family.Family is a huge part of my life because they represent safety, security, and support in a young person’s life. Because I am close to my family at home, it means that I’ll always have a place to go to in times of need. My family is always there to support me and for that, I am extremely thankful. I always feel like I have a place to go and a home to live in and that is all because I have a loving family there for me. All of these reasons led me to draw that sketch of my family on my Mandala. The next important part of my life is my education.To represent this, I drew a pencil and books. School and academics are hugely important and they will help me later on in life. Although school is absolutely not something that I enjoy, this assignment is about importance, not feelings. Having a good education, especially in a competitive world like today’s, is key to success later in life. Going to GECA is a great example of this. An early college academy like ours can give you a competitive edge against other applicants for colleges and jobs. Having a good education means having a successful life.I am also blessed to have such a wonderful life where I can get an education and it makes sense to get the best out of what you are offered rather than leave it when so many others don’t even get the chance at it. Education, a blessing that we are very fortunate to have, is the second thing that I drew on my mandala The third thing that I drew on my Mandala was sports. Mainly soccer, for which I drew a soccer ball. I play a lot of them and I enjoy them immensely; especially soccer. I’ve played soccer for almost 11 years and it’s what I look forward to doing throughout the week.I feel a sense of achievement when I learn something new and playing the sport gives me an incentive to improve in it and excel. Th is determination can translate over into other aspects of my life as well. That motivation spills over into school and I feel more motivated to try my best. Also, because I play the sport well, it benefits my self-esteem and I feel more confident. For me, sports are a vent for emotions, a place to excel in, and a point of my life that I’m good at that helps me to feel more confident.This is where things got interesting for me: when I first received this assignment, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that music would be the most important thing to me. Music has helped me through a lot of personal issues in my life and I’ve always felt it to be my rock or something to distract me from the world around me. I am not a religious person, although I was for a very long time; therefore I don’t believe that any supernatural being is rooting for me up in the sky.That makes me feel like my issues are my own and they feel much more personal and real than if I’d t hought that there was a god helping me through it. To me, music is that place that I can go to close my eyes and drown in the music and the chords and sounds and be distracted from my problems. There were times when I felt worthless and times when life was meaningless to me (another side effect of being Atheist- you tend to think about life in a much deeper way). Music always helped me through those things and kept me going until better times came along.Because of this, I assumed that music would be the most important to me for always being my escape. However, when I completed my mandala, it didn’t sit with me. I didn’t feel like it represented me well enough. That’s when I realized what was really the most valued thing in my life. Friends. I realized how important they really are to me. I only have one very good friend and she doesn’t even go to my school or live in my city! She lives in Hollister. We met almost a year ago and we’ve gotten to know each other extremely well.It sounds cliche to say that friends are always there for you and that they love you but it really is true. A friend is somebody who you can trust with anything and they will help you out with it. My friend really knows me and we get along perfectly. We have our bad moments just like all friends do, but in the end, things smooth out again. The reason that my friend is the most important thing in the whole world to me is because she really makes me feel loved. Of course your family loves you but that’s always a given.Knowing that someone else out there loves you like a brother and having that companion through life is touching and I’m thankful beyond words for such a strong friendship at such a young stage in my life. And whenever I’m stressed or worried or upset, her voice and smiling face help me through it. That’s not something that should be put on the outside of my Mandala. These are thoughts that, until writing this essay, I hadn’t realized before. This essay made me realize how much she means to me and how much I value true friendship.The reason that my best friend is in the middle of my circle is because I love her like I would a sister and I don’t know where I would be without her in my life. These are the things that I put on my Mandala: Family, because they’re there to support me; Education, because it’s a necessary thing to have in order to lead a successful life; sports, because they give me self-esteem and help me to be more motivated; music, because it’s an escape from worry and trouble; and most of all, my best friend, for listening and talking and making me laugh and feel loved.Life is a complicated thing but sometimes, all you need is family, some sports, and one, single, wonderful friend to make you happy. I sat back and took a look at my life; and now I realize how much I treasure my friend and family; and I’ll keep that in mind now. Now why donà ¢â‚¬â„¢t you sit back and look at your life and decide what is most important to you. Maybe it will open your eyes to what is really important.

Positive Effects of Girls Playing Sports Essay

It is a saying that â€Å"Cleanliness is a part of faith†. Everybody can keep itself neat and clean and maintain his/hers health. But only by cleanliness health is not maintained properly. There is another thing, which is necessary for a fit body and a healthy mind. Sports/extra-curricular activities provide these factors and complete a man/woman. Sports provide people with fitness of body and activeness. Sports cannot be only cricket or football or any other recreational activities. Sports mean activities, which provide relaxation to the body and mind. People maintain their figure through running games as sports and provide relaxation to the mind by playing board games such as chess, scrabble, ludo, checkers and other mind-relaxing games. While many people love fighting sports such as boxing, judo, karate and wrestling. These sports provide flexibility and toughness to the body. While sports provide health and relaxation to the man, it has many benefits. All competitions and leagues are included in women sports. When women and girls were finally encouraged and devoted to this profession, their level to play in sports rose in the late 20th century. Title IX supported the efforts of women athletes in the US. As compared to previous generations women now have more skills, enthusiasm and knowledge to participate and dedicate their lives to this profession. Women athletes now have a strong work aim, motivation to encourage fresh athletes and a mentality to focus on the game. â€Å"In western modern history, few women competed in sports until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Women athletes were frowned upon by society. Due to partly women rights movement, this behavior began to change in many countries. Even now, women athletes or sportswoman are generally fewer in number as compared to men. The reasons for these maybe ill-fated societies and their conservative thoughts, which tend the women to remain in boundaries. Women are even encouraged when there is literacy. Some sports organizations encourage teenage girls to participate in sports and compete with other teams. This is done in high schools as sports day in which few girls participate and majority count is of boys. Schools encourage girls to be active and participate in sports, but wherever they reach maturity and tend to become successful sportswomen they are many times discouraged. This act generally refers to superiority of boys. In modern times women have had to fight for the right to be athletic competitors. Ancient Olympics did not allow women spectators to enter the game field or participate in the athletes. However, a separate women’s athletic event known as the Heraea Games was eventually developed†. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_sports) In olden days women were considered to sit at homes and dedicate their lives to home professions such as cooking, sewing and taking care of babies etc. Nowadays, in the modern era, where women have almost won the mankind race from the man in every field, they have also mastered in sports. Many women are famous in their sports like Stephie Graff (Germany), Maria Sharapova and Sania Mirza in tennis. The world’s famous athletic player Nadia is from Moscow. Women sports also tend them not to only stay at home but to enjoy social gatherings and avoid the marriages at what stage they want. Many conservative people think that girls should be married before they reach maturity. This makes small teenage girls pregnant in small ages and they could not look after themselves. Sports avoid these practices as a sportswoman has to look after her profession and she before popularity does not agrees to end her career. There are no negative aspects of women who start exercising when they are mature, are they tend to remain fit and fine at every age, if they do not take life stresses as major problems and began to exercise sensibly. However according to the American College of Sports Medicine, exercise causes women too have eating disorders and develop osteoporosis. This makes what is commonly known as ‘female athlete triad’. Healthy exercises however do not lead to the eating disorders and does not cause osteoporosis and other diseases. Reports suggest that by playing sports women sweat and this leads towards their healthy body. Comparing to exercising women, those who skip and jump can also maintain fitness but eventually they have fractures in their legs. Even when fit women take too distress for themselves they develop weak bones for their healthy and fit bodies. Teenage girls who do not participate in sports do not have an accurate figure, while the ones who participate in extra-curricular activities have accurate figures; healthy minds and they have big heights. Surveys suggest that short-heightened men or women can grow their heights at any age by joining sports and jumping or skipping. (http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/articles/misc/exercise_positive_view.shtml) â€Å"In contrast to the negative concepts about exercise for women’s cycles, there are several ways in which exercising is positive for women’s hormones, health and bones. These ways include decreasing premenstrual symptoms, increasing bone density, controlling weight and preventing diabetes, preventing breast and uterus cancers, and decreasing the risks for heart attacks†.(http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/articles/misc/exercise_positive_view.shtml)       Conclusion According to scholarly articles, the result is this that women should participate in recreational activities such as sports as through these activities they can control on their diet and their body type. Women who participate in these activities could curb and prevent diseases like breast cancer, diabetes and leg pains. In this era, women should have to compete with men in the mankind race and this could only be possible with a healthy body and a sharp mind which can only be obtained by activities like sports. References Women’s sports – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_sportshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_sports Retrieved February 17, 2007 A Positive View of Women’s Exercise, Menstrual Cycles and Ovulation http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/articles/misc/exercise_positive_view.shtml Retrieved February 17, 2007   

Article Critique Essay Example for Free (#2)

Article Critique Essay The author of this article is a Canadian who has raised the alarm on the increasing number poverty stricken people hence springing up of ghettos in big cities. The author rhetorically is asking a question whether there are ghettos in Canadian cities. The author is coming up with many ghetto synonyms but yet they are of not the same meaning. The name like enclave sound more ethnical and it has been described as a grouping of people from the same ethnic group living in a low income earning or a poor neighbourhood. The article pinpoints that in the year 2001 families residing in high poverty levels doubled the year 1981. The message in the article is directed to the authorities in these cities to get warned of a looming crisis and look for ways to alter the trend. The message is not has to any group that it mentions that is the people from the enclaves and the ghettos. The article has outlined many causes of ghettos in Canadian cities. Poverty has been rated as the number one cause and this article gives figures from the research to substantiate its claim. The exact time is given when immigration policy of Canada was changed and the change swung Canada into a cultural and social crisis or socio cultural crisis. According to the authorities and the research that has been carried out immigration puts Canadian cities on spotlight of having many poor neighbourhoods. The author also makes a comparison between Canadian and American cities whereby Canadian cities are going more enclave than ghettos in America. In American cities the traditional definition of a ghetto is a residential district that concentrates racial Enclave tends to collect people of the same ethnic background together while ghettos collect poor people from various ethnic backgrounds. In both cases, people involved are affected by poverty and low income level. From one of the researches that have been done, the article reveals that an alarm was raised about the growth of neighbourhood poverty in Canada. The article pinpoints groups of people who make up the population who end up to the ghettos. Their background is partly covered by poverty and the article further expose that these are immigrants from Asia, Africa, West Indies and Latin America. The research that was conducted showed that between 1971 and 2001 is the period when the majority of the Canadian population was born in the back mentioned countries. Nevertheless, some cities like London there are no ghettos and this is due to the efforts of the councils. However, I take the article head to mention that it does not clearly outline and show the consequences of the increasing population in ghettos and mushrooming of ghettos and enclaves. In many a times these nighbourhoods have been associated with crime and drugs. Does is it mean the researches that were conducted didn’t capture these common phenomenon that is associated with ghettos? Furthermore, the article does not highlight any ways that have been adopted to combat the expanding ghettos and enclaves without necessarily disrupting the social cultural set of these people in the ghettos. Walks, A. R. Bourney, L. S. (2006). The Canadian Geographer Publication: Article Critique. (2016, Dec 14).

Economic Indicator Forecast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economic Indicator Forecast - Essay Example State of Oregon projects that GDP will fall by 2.6% a rate that is not alarming in the short run given the resilience the economy has shown. Unemployment rate: Projections for unemployment (% of the labor force) are that the rate will be 5.2%. This is higher than the 4.7 % given by the Office of economic analysis (State of Oregon). The forecast is based on the fact that productivity growth rate has remained weak since 2004 GDP Deflator. IMF projects the figures for this indicator to be 2.0%. This is same as the figure given by the office of economic analysis Current account balance (% of GDP) IMF says that current account balance will decrease by 6.1% while the Office of economic analysis (State of Oregon) give their forecast as 5.0% this is attributed to the performance of the import market that will be adversely affected by the upward moving interest rates. Oil prices. Due to geopolitical factors namely volatility in the Middle East, and increasing demand especially in emerging mar kets, oil prices are set to remain high with both IMF and office of economic analysis agreeing on their projections that prices for the next quarter will be in the upward of $54 per barrel. Consumer price index (CPI). According to IMF, CPI will be 2.4% while the Office of economic analysis (State of Oregon) projects a 2.6% change. The rising cost of energy is among the factors that will influence this trend

CONTRACT LAW ASSIGNMENT 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CONTRACT LAW ASSIGNMENT 4 - Essay Example Contract terms of employment could change due to changed economic circumstances, or to bring about improvements in working conditions3. Materially changed circumstances are always admissible especially for the benefit of children. Contracts could be changed if there is an absolute change in the law4that occurs during the course of contract. If the other party becomes seriously ill, permanently incapacitated, called for military services or dies5 contract could be frustrated. If the contract depends on a certain state of affairs which alters, contracts could be frustrated6. Commercial purpose of contract could be frustrated if unalterable circumstances take place7. It also can happen if the main object of contract becomes void subsequently8 and the circumstances should be acceptable to Court. Fred and George have won the contract together for the installation of water system and this makes both of them bound by contract9. Still there is a contract between George and Fred and George defaults his side of it by delaying the work. Fred tries to accomplish his side of contract, but fails to do so, after doing three quarters of the work because he had to honour another contract. Fred has to be paid by George as he has done a lot of his share of work and it is George's delay that made Fred leave the job for honouring another contract. Still George and Fred are liable for completing the water system to the third party and here their liability is equal. Fred can claim payment from George for the work he has done. If he could prove that it was George's delay that caused him trouble, he might be able to get damages from George via Court. Still he will be liable to honour the first contract of completing water systems and will be forced to do so10. If water systems claim damages fro m the two of them for delay, Fred too may have to pay the damages, though he could have a lesser share of it, if he succeeds in proving that George defaulted his contract with him as well as with water systems. Not paying Fred would go against George and will give more strength to Fred's argument and Court might take a lighter view of his abandoning one quarter of the work under changed circumstances of contract which clearly redeems Fred for non-payment and delay by George. This could be taken as self-induced frustration. Fred also will be paid for the contract completed as it could be considered as 'substantially completed' and it entitles for a payment of services and goods, though it will be compared with the work NOT done. QUESTION THREE: Presuming that the illness of the parties could be traceable to the sandwiches and fault lies with Harry, his defence will be weak. He might be able to prove that the meat was contaminated not through his fault, but was supplied to him in contaminated state and he was unaware of it, whereby the fault will be divided between the meat supplier and Harry. If he could not prove that and if the contamination is due to his fault (meat supplier might prove that other meat of the same category is not faulty), he will be liable for the sickness caused to the parties. Ian's garden getting neglected might not cause much harm to Harry. John can

Korean War (Truce Talks and POWs) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Korean War (Truce Talks and POWs) - Essay Example Both sides waged a protracted conflict for over 4 years during which the frontlines kept shifting to and fro. The advance of the US to the Chinese border alarmed the latter to such an extent that it forced Chinese forces to intervene directly into the conflict. Sensing an opportunity, the Soviet Union agreed to the request of Zhou Enlai and provided support in the form of military hardware and logistics. Despite numerous difficulties and overstretched supply lines, the Chinese fought a prolonged campaign. For its part, the US was successful in inflicting numerous casualties on the Chinese and North Korean side, but was unable to force them to the negotiating table. Both sides gradually realized that it was impossible to dislodge the other and began contemplating negotiations. Initial negotiations began in 1951 and continued up to the day of the armistice agreement in 1953. Both sides engaged in combat alongside as a way to force the other to agree to their terms or soften their stand . Despite being technologically advanced, the allied could not consolidate their initial gains and were pushed back time and again past the infamous 38th parallel line. There were also major issues with repatriation of PoWs (Prisoners of War). While the Communist North wanted total repatriation of their soldiers, the allies insisted on leaving the ultimate decision to the PoWs themselves. Forceful tactics including bombing of Pyongyang could not force the North Koreans to scale down on this issue. For its part, the North Koreans also engaged in frequent smear campaigns against the US and accused it of trespassing the De-militarized zone (DMZ) by complaining to the United Nations. North Korea held over 15,000 PoWs while the Allies held over 15,000 PoWs consisting of North Korean and Chinese soldiers. While there is clear evidence that the allies treated their PoWs in a fair manner, the North Koreans on the other hand perpetrated massive war crimes on their prisoners. Apart from confi ning them in overcrowded camps under inhospitable conditions, the Communists also tortured and executed many of their prisoners. Allied PoWs were also starved besides being brain washed with Communist ideologies. While almost all of North Korean PoWs were repatriated after the armistice agreement, less then 10,000 allied prisoners ever made out of North Korea. The agreement has only resulted in a ceasefire, which has remained in existence ever since. Both nations continue to exist in a state of war with the border (DMZ) evolving into one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world. While South Korea has developed rapidly into a capitalist economy, North Korea has relegated into a secluded nation that depends extensively on material aid from China to feed its population. Both continue to engage in smaller skirmishes with frequent exchange of fire on a daily basis, thus keeping the situation

JP Morgan's scope of global operations, location of major foreign Research Paper

JP Morgan's scope of global operations, location of major foreign subsidiaries , their activities, and share in global revenues - Research Paper Example nd Chase brands, the bank has gained millions of customers across the worlds’ most prominent institutional, corporate and government clients (Oshri, et.al p.76). The firm has made an oversea priority by expanding its operations globally. JPMorgan Chase gets almost quarter of its revenue from the foreign operations by having branches outside the United States. The company focuses on mainly in West Europe as it main target for international operation by investing in banking and treasury services (Mergent Industrial Manual, p.167). Although the company has faced major competition from big banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered that has toeholds in emerging markets, it subsidiaries are still performing good. For example, the Citigroup has been rank to derive almost 60 percent of its revenue from overseas market and has also recorded good performance in China and India for decades (Loosvelt, p.34). The bank had been laying the groundwork for international expansion for sometimes and its now planning to open more branches in China, Russia and India. The bank assigned two top lieutenants to explore out the potential consumer overseas (Kumar, p.167). The bank created a network of global adviser that included Tony Blair the former British prime minister and established a partnership with buyout firm to hunt for overseas acquisitions. Due to the global credit crisis, the plans were postponed but the top executives are committed to bolstering the bank’s overseas business. The market plans to focus on a dozen of emerging markets that includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China as well as places like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and parts of Africa (Nelsons Directory of Investment Research, p.178). The company has  set several strategies  that have increased the bank’s international portfolio. For instance, the company has purchased trading units from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The company has greater plans to buy one of the Brazilian asset management firm known as