Friday, May 18, 2012

                                          SUMMARY

Article by Joe Klein, March 19, 2012, from Time.com/swampland

Title: How Romney Can Win.

This article pits President Obama against Romney stating various things that can happen to make Romney win the election to the White House. If events in the world conspire against Obama, such as a terrorist attack, or the tanking or stalling of the economy, then Romney will have an upper hand if he has a real argument to sway enough independent voters.  Although Romney offered a foolish 20%  supply side tax cut during his campaign which placed him on the side of bleeding the treasury to aggrandize the wealthy, and also took a strong stand against illegal immigration which has alienated Hispanic voters, the author is sceptical if he might have a chance. He will have to show himself as a reformer and he will have to back it up with strong arguments. Mit Romney who is a Caddy-collecting , employee-firing rich guy, would also need to portray himself as the penny pinching guy who hates waste. Finally, he would have to create some distance between himself and wall street by breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks.


vocabulary.
1) aggrandize: to make great or greater

2) federal slovenliness: negligence, carelessness.

3) feckless Caddy-collecting: careless, unthinking and irresponsible Cadilac collector.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

                                                        BY STANDER EFFECT

                                 A near drowning experience.
I have tried to block out this experience for as long as I can remember. Each time I thought about the incident in the past years, I shivered, I got scarred. Just imagining I wouldn't be alive today but for luck ,  scares me although I think I have gotten over it somehow. This is the story.

When I was about eight years old, I went to the river with my aunt Theo. The river had a beatiful water fall, and down below was a pool. I remember, it was so silent down there and the water did not seem to flow down the river that much. It looked like a whirl pool. The water below the fall  whirled around and seemed to invite us in. My aunt knew how to swim but I didn't. However, the water felt good. At the edge of the water, it was deep so we could play around safely, but as I ventured a little further into the enticing water, it became deep and I felt myself being pulled towards the whirpool. My feet no longer touched the floor of the river. Suddenly, I realized that I was drowning. My aunt  ran out of the water and stood at the edge watching me go. She just stood there, staring, hands on her head. I fought hard to save myself, but I couldn't. The currents were pulling me further into the deep water, and I remember swallowing a lot of water and fighting to get my head above the water. I was scared. I thought I was dead. Suddenly, a good samaritan, who happened to be walking by at that time jumped into the water and pulled me out. It was not an easy pull because I was being pulled deeper by the current of the water also.

I was saved and carried home by the good samaritan who was going to his farm not far from the river.  Theo told my parents she'd been so scared , she thought if she tried to get me, we would both drown. She also said she was scared to leave the river banks in case I drowned and she couldn't find the voice to call out for help. The farmer also told us the gods of the river would have taken me to the world beyond  if he hadn't shown up on time to save me. I got really scared.  I never wanted to go to the river any more. I have not been there since the incident.

Friday, May 4, 2012

                              EATING AT HOME.
I think it is very benefitial eating at home, that is home cooked meals than eating in restaurants. First of all, if you cook at home, you will spend less money shopping for food and all the ingredients that will make up a meal for a whole family. I ate at a restaurant with a friend once, and the little plate of salmon that we each took along with a glass of water and a glass of juice for my friend, cost us $135. 98. No left overs. This amount of money could buy ingredients to cook delicious and healthy food for two people at home for about two days including breakfast. Secondly, food at home would be handled under proper sanitary conditions. Thirdly, at home, we are sure of the ingredients that are included in the meal than in the restaurant, and you can choose food to suite your health needs. You do not have to worry about the exact salt or sugar content, and if you have allergies you would be safe with home food too because you get to choose the right ingredients and food for you.  In addition to this, another benefit of eating at home is that it brings families to spend quality time together, talk about their experiences of the day, teach children the importance of cooking and eating healthy food, and also help them become productive and self sufficient.  Finally, I would say that although there are some advantages too eating out like getting served by waitresses or waiters, not having to clear the table or do the dishes among other things, it is still more beneficial eating at home. The cost of the meals in the restaurant includes the food, the services, the workers, and then there is the tip,  making a plate of food expensive. Imagine how much it would cost to have a family of more than two or three in a week.

Monday, March 5, 2012

                  SELF REGULATORY STRATEGIES.

My greatest problem has always been time management. I have not in the past managed my time well, like setting up specific time for study, work, travel and leisure. The last test I took in January 2012 taught me a good lesson.  I knew I was going to take a test some time if got accepted into the program, but I did not know when. I missed the mark by 0.7 points and this has caused me a set back in my education. I never studied for this test, I knew it consisted of math, English and science but , I never tried to find out a study guide nor did I set up some time to study for it. When the opportunity came to me, I just said yes I would take the test.

Now I have set up goals for myself. I have set up a lot of time for study and for rest and I have cut back on the time I spend on different leisure activities.  This feels good and I am actually reaping positive benefits.                            

Friday, February 24, 2012

My Reading Experience

I did not do any reading at home as a young child. About first to fifth grade, I did do some reading which consisted basically of memorising texts with no understanding of the story. Between the sixth and the twelfth grade, we were introduced to literary works of art. We had to do English  as well as African Literature.We had to read Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy,  and some African Literature from Nigerian authors like Chinua Achebe and many others. The latter were quite interesting probably because of  some familiarity with the settings and the language. These were basically for academic purposes and not for fun. It was hard for me at the time to decipher the purpose of the texts, or the author's intention or even memorising important quotations from the texts for examinations. However, watching plays based on these works made the reading easier.

 After writing a paper in the eigth grade following a reading assignment, my instructor said to me, "your grammar is correct. Your vocabulary is correct, but you lack creativity. You have to be imaginative". I did not understand what the intructor wanted, nor did I get any help jogging my brains to be creative, to  paint a vivid picture of the reading exercise. I lost interest.

I have been reading novels for fun, but other books which are loaded with dates and names and activit ies like History books were probably the most difficult in school.