London in July

So my family wants to bring me on a trip to London next summer if we can pull it off. The problem is, they don't want to do anything exciting. My Dad wants to go to a graveyard where some of our ancestors are born and then go look at bookshops. My Mom is fixated on that huge building with the clock on it. I really don't care about any of that stuff. I am in love with anything that is remotely related to nature and culture, and I like taking time to stop, eat, meet people with great stories while i search for the most beautiful nature London has to offer. So my question is, where is the most beautiful nature and cultural spots in London?

In Need of Fresh Raspberries Recipes

I have a good amount of raspberries sitting in my fridge that i need to use up. My good neighbor just have around 5 pounds of raspberries he brought from Oregon ( how i just love him!)
I need to use them fast before they go to waste; I'm not a fan of freezing fruits. Every tasty sounding thing i can think to google calls for raspberry preserves. I'd make my own quick jam as a substitute, but that'd take way too much time i got to thinking about somehow incorporating cream cheese and chocolate if possible because that would be delicious. Maybe in a cheesecake, but i only have a pound or so of cream cheese and would rather not go to the store due to my low budget lol.. Maybe some type of oatmeal bar? have any suggestions?

I just made my mom and girlfriend a black forest cake, but instead of using cherries I used raspberries, since my mom does not care for cherries. I used up some of my berries making the filling, decorating it, and I even made my own raspberry-infused liqueur (although I just used chambord =p). And guess what? there are still plenty of raspberries left! They need to be put in good use ASAP, any any ideas are more than welcome.

Advise

A girl in my English class was asking my professor for advice about her boyfriend so my professor goes on a 10 minute rant regarding advice from others.

She says something like this, "Stop, stop this for your own good. If you let other people give you advice, whether its bad or good you are giving up what make you YOU. Why cant you understand that every choice you make is a string that pulls on other strings. Why do you want others to pull those strings for you, even if its indirect. Make your own choices, your own mistakes and learn from them. Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose.

Then i argue to her, "Asking for advice gives you several different perspectives on a matter that allow you to see it from various different angles than what you, yourself can think up of. Following advice blindly is stupid, yes, but obtaining advice to consider and see how it fits into the equation is not."

And my teacher says, " Im giving you a wake up call not advice. Im just asking you to be yourself, and you say NO I'd rather be someone else. Everyone is somebody but nobody wants to be themselves. The worst advice someone can give you is to ask for advice. "

So i reply to her, "So you are giving me advice about not taking others' advice..."

HAHA! How i just love my English class, the only class that wakes me up in the mornings.

FRISCO: Nature and City

So most of my family lives in San Francisco and although I am not really found of cities in general I find San Francisco and exception. I lived  in San Francisco, California until the age of 12 and It is arguably one of the most beautiful city in the United States--a great combination of natural setting (hills, Bay, Pacific Ocean) and man-made beauty (lots of attractive parks, Victorian and other architecture, Golden Gate bridge). It's also within a few hours' drive of a great range of beautiful natural sites (redwoods, mountains, beaches that aren't too cold to set foot on). On a cultural lever Frisco is one of the most educated places in the country--they have a lot of incredibly smart and creative people running around (or maybe they seem smart to a 12 year old lol) . San Francisco also a very diverse and generally extremely tolerant place. Not to mention its restaurants and vibrant cultural activities. Not that there aren't downsides--it may be the most expensive place to live in the U.S., and the schools are struggling, so it's not a very family-friendly city. Also, the region's famously progressive leftist tendencies, while hardly monolithic, can get a little extremist and silly, although I'm a leftist myself. But aside for those typical problem every city in the US is a really nice that in fact bring me closer to nature than no other. The nice cold breeze down at the harbor, eating some chowder, next to the bay area wild life really connects my primitive self back to the outer world; I cant believe such a city really makes me feel alive.

School @ 6AM Tomorrow

Hello!!  I'm back from my 3 day weekend. I spent the whole 3 day weekend faarrr away from the city with my girlfriend and friends and we had so much fun bike riding. Now is time to go to school and I am not looking for to it. I need some aid here. I don't have the typical relationship dilemmas you see throughout your days, nor do I have self esteem issues. To be quite honest with you, I consider myself relatively happy and quite content with my life as far as internal happiness/joy is concerned. I am, however, concerned with my studious attitude as of late. For some reason, I've been completely detached from my studies this semester and I feel absolutely deplorable about it. Each time I pick up a book to learn, or to study, I feel somewhat displaced. Homework problems seem like a chore; classes simply bother me; assignments are nothing more than tedious tasks for me to complete. The tasks/assignments aren't easy either; a good portion of them are moderately difficult. Regardless, I feel as if my mind is miles away from my intellectual pursuits. Furthermore, I've been feeling very .. cloudy, as of recently. If not hazy, then my remembrance of certain concepts has seemingly evaporated from my mind. I just feel like a shell of my former self. I don't know what to do. The only thing i really think all day is being outside. Has anyone felt this way?
For the record, I'm a Science major with a relatively ''high'' GPA. I'm in the second semester of my Junior year.

Ohhh that Nietzche

So we are reading a lot of Nietzche in my critical thinking class and today I finally sat down and crack open my first book of the year. I tried to read Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil , and I just could not do it. Whatever brilliant points Nietzsche is making here, I can't even make out what they are. When he isn't complaining about other philosophers for paragraphs at a time, he's throwing in Latin phrases for no reason other than the fact that throwing in some Latin makes your sentence 500% smarter, or rambling about nothing forever with tons of obscure sentences that you have a master's degree to even hope to decipher. I can't even critique Nietzsche's philosophy, he's so far arrogant I can't even make out what his philosphy is underneath all that "prophetic words"t he uses.Maybe we are jumping into hard writters too soon? Maybe is like picking up a journal article in quantum chromodynamics and not understand it, same with Nietzche, expecting to be able to just pick up one of the most difficult philosophers and just read him. Why? I know that reading serious works requires serious background and serious training but if a writer isn't able to convey their point to the reader, then the writer is at fault. You can't blame the reader for not being willing to read a dozen other books first. The reader gives the writer their livelihood, so the writer owes it to the reader to make things as easy to understand as is reasonably possible. I have learned one important thing though. Intellectual does not necessarily mean good.

Rain in Southern Calirofnia

Alas! It's finally raining! How I missed the rain, to say how much i like rain would be an understatement. I'm about to call up some friends and go get WET! There is nothing better than feeling like a kid again, special with people you really like. Hopefully I don't get sick. I must leave know before this rain stops, knowing how how rare rain is over here lol.

Have a nice 3 day weekend friends.

HELLLOOOO!!!

 I have been overwhelm by school work that is taking all of my free time. I'm taking an 8 unit combine anatomy and physiology class and to this point all i keep dreaming of  collegen fibers and bones.seriously. My vatelatines went so great! So i made my girlfriend her favourite chicken sandwich: wheat cranberry-walnut bread, free-range chicken pattie, organic spinach, grilled onions, swiss cheese, and a splash of chicken appricout sauce.

 I wrapped it up put it in a picnic basket along with a bottle of red wine, box of chocolates and some fresh picked tulips courtesy of my friends backyard (Thanks Pumo!). We then drove to my local $1drive-in which play 3 month old movies for cheap. We saw Megemind, which was hilarious. All in all it was a good valentines day. I'm so blessed to have Jennifer in my life, she was so pleased and happy even though I cant really buy her the things she wants. I spent less than $15 this valentines day and it was one of the best I have ever had. I really want to thank the people that shared their valentines ideas with me. I appreciated that sooo much. We don't need money to make others happy, all we need is to put our heart, thought and dedication to make things happen.

Our Brain Wants to Learn

The brain is such an amazing organ that is composed of numerous areas that control our bodies from our physical to emotional state. Today in my psychology class we studied the frontal part of our brain, the one deep inside our upper foreheads known as the frontal lobe.The front lobe helps create better judgment and decision making. I found this very interesting because the front lobe of our brain does not fully develop till the age of 25. . I've noticed while growing and maturing that my thoughts and actions have become wiser and better over all. When I was a teenager, I didn't care about anything. Without thinking twice, I was able to make horrible decisions for myself as well as others around me. I was not a good friend, and I also surrounded myself with not so good people. On the news we hear about teenager’s texting, or driving under the influence leading into fatal accidents. We also hear about kids as young as 13 over dosing on drugs. I believe these types of decisions are made due to a strong and postive parental presence and their lack of a developed brain.  I found that it’s very important to have a solid ground of understanding that we all have the potential to be the best people we can possibly become. Having this understanding at a young age would greatly benefit our lives, others and ourselves. Nevertheless, our front lobe is still trying to grow which makes our brain very vulnerable to easy manipulation by others. Its very sad seeing homeless middle aged people beings lost and alone, never knowing what the day will bring them. This can come from many things but can also greatly be involved with the brain and the way it works. Maybe these people have lost hope? Maybe the way they thought as a child or teen carried on into their adulthood. There can be many reasons as to why people make the decisions they do. I believe the love of education, hope, faith and strength greatly needs to be passed through parents to their children. Children and teens can easily be manipulated into dangerous or life-threatening situations, the second you turn you’re back. I was blessed with a very caring family and strict mother, and I still was able to get away with making horrible decisions for myself. Thanks, to this study of the front lobe, I am now able to understand why young people act the way they do. For every action there is a reaction-thus, having a well develop brain you are going to get not so well reactions. This information is not necessarly bad, I find extreme comfort in the fact that I know I can only do better from here. I love learning, I have dreams and goals for myself. So, as i get older my brain is going to continue to better myself and make better decisions to help others in need.

CANT WAIT FOR TONIGHT!!

I'll keep things short. Happy valentines days for everyone out there! It doesn't matter if you are single or have a special someone in your life. Valentines day is not whether you have a girlfirend or a boyfriend. Its not about what you are getting your significant other. Its not about going on a spending spree to buy the most expensive gift because its a rule that you have to buy your wife something. It's about letting ANYONE know how much they mean to you. We let Valentines day turn into another consumerists day that we forget along the way what today is really about. So everyone out there without a "date" do not worry you have plenty of valentines! Just simply look around you to see how lucky you really are!

PS. I'll post tomorrow how many day went!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ONCE AGAIN!!

My Stomach: On the Way to Recovery

Thanks god is the weekend. Now I can let the healing begin!! As most of you know I had a really bad food expirence which resulted in a really precistent stomach ache. My stomatch really gets upset everytime i eat something. However thanks to the internet I have found certain food people should be avoided by people with upset stomachs. Here is the list of the top 5 foods you should defenatly avoide when ever you are expiriencing stomach disconfort:

5)  Tomatoes

Do not get me wrong, I encourgae you guys to eat tomatoes and lots of them! Just not when you are sick, the lycopene in tomatoes is a tremendous nutrient that you should be getting on a regular basis but the acidity in this fruit can aggravate an already upset tum.

4) Nuts

 Just like tomatoes nuts are really good, but nuts are really hard to digest. Any kind of nuts can disturb your digestive tract even more if it is already in distress.

3) Spicy food. :(

Oh man I hate not spicing things up! I literraly have to have something spicy at least once a day! I'm addicted to the trhill of anything spicy, the hotter the better! As we all know spicy foods can wreak havoc on your stomach in a normal situation, much less when you're already sick.

2)  Caffeine

This is was a huge shocker for me. I was drinking green teas as an alternative cure to cope with my upset stomach. Caffeine is a stimulant, absorbed by the stomach lining, and can cause excess production of stomach acid.

1) Tantaratan........

Dairy products!!

Cut back on dairy products. If your upset stomach is due to illness, you should avoid dairy products. The fat in dairy products can cause stomach problems to worsen. No cheese, milk, yogurt, cream, etc.

into the wild

Into the wild is a true story about an unbelievable man named Chris McCandles, who leaves society's materialistic environment to set off on a journey to Alaska. He was born into a well off family, had owned a car, had excessive funds in his account after college (which he attended and graduated. He abandoned his car, donated $25,000 to charity and burned the money left in his wallet. Chris was disgusted by how materialistic everyone was, in society and even his own parents. He left without saying a word to anyone, so they reported him missing. His sister knew otherwise, they were really close and she had a feeling he just up and left. His family felt ashamed, how could there son just leave his life? he was going to be successful! he was so educated! Well, while his parents were thinking this, Chris was on the road, backpacking and living off natures resources. Chris brought with him, some good books, that gave him the much needed information he would need to live off of. He hunted, he ate exotic plants and animals, he took baths in the lakes, and he of course didn't shave. He met some amazing people along the way, who at times, provided resources for him; and shelter, before he was back in the wilderness. A lot more events happen but he eventually makes it to Alaska. He is not in very good condition because he hasn't been able to eat much, so he finds what he can, which at the time were berries. He misread a passage in one of his books, and accidentally ate the poison ones. This killed him very fast, the side effects of eating this berry caused him to throw up everything he ate, and anything he would eat, which resulted in him starving to death. When writers/people found him later, they discovered his body in a bus he was living in, and on the wall it read "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!" Chris McCandles was such an amazing human being, finding what truly makes a person happy,.... or at least me, traveling.

Too Good to be True

First of all I want to thank all of my followers for helping me reach almost 100 followers.
I had such a wonderful util 5:30pm...Ah! Where to begin?....So I visited my local flea market and bought some homemade hummus and pita chips along with some organic apples. The hummus delivered and by the time i got into my car it was already down in my stomach! So snacked on the apples on my way home. Here I was in a great mood, cruisin'  next to California coast, enjoying the fresh smell of the ocean, blasting my music, checking out the beautiful scenery, enjoying my last apple (i know i eat a lot) and then it all took a turn for the worst. I had to pull over ASAP!!!! The whole hummus and both apples just erupted from my esophagus into the sandy beach of venice! I vomited 4 times and not the nice kind of vomiting when you feel all better after. That painful kind when you feel sharp pains in your stomach and nose (sorry for the mental picture). The worst part is that my stomach still hurts right I feel nauseous...ugh! I'm just disappointed that its going to take me while to eat more of this:

Inexpensive Valentines?

So I started school today! I had my anatomy class at 7:10am so I woke up at 5:30am. Ugh! Valentines is approaching and I'm still unemployed.It looks like no one is hiring here in LA but oh well I won't let that ruin my feb. 14. It would have been nice to take my girlfriend to a nice restaurant for dinner or get her that huge stuffed bear she always wanted. Luckily I have those rare kind of girlfriends that with a simple "I love you" would make her day. She deserves much more than that so I came up with some ideas on how to have an inexpensive valentines and still show your loves ones how much they mean to you. When she comes over I going to prepare her favorite meal, chicken sandwich with some fresh cheese on the side (seriously) and add a bottle of a wine to the mix. After draw a hot bath filled with rose petals and have a glass of wine and some chocolates to nibble on by the side of the bathtub. If you have any more ideas let me know I'm open to anything!

          As I was watching the new Superbowl commercial things began to look more clear than ever on how our  media has had the uncanny ability to bombard our minds with everything from advertisements to “reliable news casting”. Media has repeated the same advertisements over and over and over again until they have become “a reliable source” for people to depend on whether they realize it or not. Most  media on television today tells woman that they need makeup and the newest clothes in order to be beautiful. The news advertise is also very general; they highlight accidents and dramatic scenes only for one desired outcome, ratings. Who really cares about the GLEE kids entering a chevy contest? With the views Superbow ads get, why to use it the air time for a good cause? Maybe address important global issues, like Egypt. Media, in general, misguides people in what’s actually really important in life. They pretty much leave out, when there advertising,ways to be truly happy.Media has had more of an impact on my life then I’d like to admit. I feel at times, unable to escape it.  The only time I feel media truly has absolutely no effect on me is when I’m traveling.  When I travel I feel free, free from what’s suppose to make me look and feel “beautiful” “high fashion clothes”, make-up, “the newest shoes” and to be honest I truly don’t care about these ridiculous things when I’m walking the streets of London or Dublin, or looking down at the beautiful Colorado River beneath one of the wonders of the world. When I’m traveling I don’t care about media or its electronics at all. I think media has a way of confusing people with who they really are! Because they have a way of telling people who they are, and they buy into it! Our culture does not make people feel good about themselves

Free your mind!

You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old gramophone records that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years. This is what is meant by “watching the thinker,” which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence.That little voice inside us to us more about ourselves than we would imagine. 

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You’ll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This “I am” realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.

So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence-your deeper self-behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.

If you are still interested please read more here. This link includes 50 questions that will help you freeing your mind and reducing all that junk that pollutes our mind everyday.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/

I have been with my girlfriend from more than a year and by god have i learn a lot. she has thought me so many things about myself! she has made me discover the kind of person I really am. I know for a fact now that I am selfish! why is that good a thing? Its not! its a good thing that now i KNOW that i am selfish. this knowledge brings me closer to discover who I am. Little by little im now more "real" more authentic thanks to her. And it feels so good saying and liking/hating what you true self real does. I have remove most of this mask i use to wear all my life. I do not fake to be polite now i want to be polite! how has anyone change your life?

I love you

Mitch Albom. Such an inspiring person/author, I'm just in love with his wisdom about life and its journeys. Here's a really touching encounter his Rabi once told him about. A man buried his wife. At the grave site he stood by the Reb, tears falling down his face. "I loved her", he whispered. the Reb nodded. "I mean... I really loved her." The man broke down. "And....I almost told her once." The Reb looked at me sadly. "Nothing haunts like the things we don't say." I find myself at times not able to express the way I feel to my loved ones, and its sad. Life is way too short to not show these simple acts of love to one another. I have told myself, since reading this, that I am going to be more affectionate with my family but I still haven't. I hope one day I can be the person I always dreamed of being, and maybe one day, soon, I will be.

jobless and no luck

a complete month of submitting 15+ job applications. last day of the month i lose my cell phone