Journal #19&20

The last two months with ALP was very precious time for me to review my skills and improve English. Honestly, before joining this class, I did not know some kind of basic things about writting skills such as how many kinds of essay there are, the methods for how to do with each one, and how to enhance a essay effectively :). So far, I have learned and practiced alot from this class. I hope to be able to learned from others and move forward in the future. I told myself that: "as long as you are hard and willing to learn, you will be successful". This is my quote :). However, the challenge that I am afraid it is hard for me to overcome is the communication and presentation skills. Maybe I am quiet person and it is hard for me to break the ice at the first time meeting someone. Anyway, I noticed my weakness and I am trying to improve it.

As a second entry student who did not go with you from the begining, I did not have chance to get to know each person; But I can see the solidarity in our class. I usually heard some conversations of asking each other for helping, or some small talks about their life and their studying. I wish the time could pass slowly to allow me to have more fun with you. Hope to see you all again and I am wondering if we can keep in touch through this webblog ???

Journal #18

The non-verbal film Baraka, which was filmed in 152 different locations in 24 countries, covers many aspects of our life such as religion, nature and human life. The film shows us many point of view that we hardly see in our daily life. I especially had the compassion with the scenes of homeless people who have to live in the street of a big city. I am so disappointed with the people who pass through them unmindfully. While some people are so wealthy, there are a lot of poor and homeless people. The distance between rich and poor people is too far. We have to try to stand up by ourselves, otherwise we will have to stay behind. It also encourages me to work harder in order to be sucessful so that I can be able to help those homeless people.

Journal #17: Confucius quotes

"Find a job that you love doing and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius
This means when you love to do something, you will feel like you are enjoying that job. Time will pass so quickly when you really focus on doing something you love and you will never find that you are wasting your time on doing that job.

I do agree with this quote. However, life is not as easy as we though. In order to to do the job we love, we have to go step by step to reach our purpose. For example, I love traveling, so I have to study hard to find a good job to earn money for my favorite. And the process of studying will be hard for me if I don't keep the goals in my mind. This is a kind of my motivation for my life.

Journal #16

Hi Mum and Dad,

I want to ask you for a decision. That is buying a car.

It is true that it is unreasonable to buy a car while I can go to school by bus for free. However, if you were here, you would understand and support my thinking. The distance from home to school is quite far. Everyday I have to take two buses to reach school. My class starts at 8 am and it takes 2 hours by bus from home to school. That means I have to be ready at the bus stop around 6 am. Can you imagine what time I have to wake up to walk to the bus stop. Then, after classes I would do the same trip to go home. I find that it wastes time to spend 4 hour on taking the buses everyday. Time is money. We can save money by taking the buses for free but let calculate how much we could save and how much we have to spend.

It will be faster if we drive a car in America. Most American people have car, so the bus system seems not to be popular and punctual. It takes only one hour if we drive on local streets and 20 minutes on free way. Therefore, I could save totally 2 hours per day if I drive a car for going school instead of taking the buses. That 2 hours I will use for part time job in which I can earn money and gain experience as well.

I hope you will consider about my suggestion and let me know your decision.
Miss you so much.

Journal #15

Kunza, B. (2009, February 08). Health in the Handbasket: MUFAs for flat abs. The Daily Titan. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.dailytitan.com/opinion/health-in-a-handbasket-mufas-for-flat-abs-1.1359114

In this article, Brittany shows that she doen't like belly fat, whether it belongs to her or anyone else. For this reason, she strongly wants every students in Cal State Fullerton should to release their belly fat.

She also gives the suggestion for people who want to improve their own health and their body image by taking the guide from Liz Vaccariello, the author of "The Flat Belly Diet". It seems like Brittany is very interested in this book and she tries to convince us to follow the stages of The Flat Belly Diet.

Journal #14: Summary/ Paraphrase practice

Michele Masterson (2009, March 31). American Airlines: Fly The Wi-Fi Skies. Channel Web. Retrieved 31 March, 2009 from http://www.crn.com/mobile/216402025

Being able to use laptop or handheld devices on the plane is a good news for frequent fliers, especially for business travelers. The test pilot adding Wi-fi on domestic Boeing 737-800s and MD-80s planes has been conducted successfully by American Airlines last year. Therefore, the company plans to add Wi-fi capabilities to its domestic flights starting this year. So far it already offers the Wi-fi service on Boeing 767 planes. The Wi-fi service on the plane will be offered popularly over the next two year. The service fees are affordable and variety for passengers, depending on how far they fly.

Following American Airlines, other airlines, such as Virgin Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines, have also started to offer the Wi-fi service in their flights. This is a new turning-point in technology development of airline industry.

Journal #13: My first source

I wondered what kind of topic should I choose for this research paper. Should I choose a topic which relates to my major or should I challenge myself with a new one. Finally I had a decision:

Most of companies recently have been affected by economic crisis. I would like to learn about how they are facing this issue through doing this research paper. The research will be narrowed by hotel businesses. And this is my first source:

HOWARD, H. (2009). Hotels keep the deals and discounts coming. New York Times, , 2. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.lib-proxy.fullerton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=36832729&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Actually I don't know who the author is. All I know is the last name Howard and this person is from The New York Times. I found this article on the day having class with Mr. John Hickok. This article is short but it gives me a general idea how hotel companies face the financial crisis. They almost offer discounts and deals but each one has different strategy which I am interested in. It is also a source of inspiration for me to decide a topic for the research paper.