Crystal's Crazy Crazes

This blog is about some social problems I have observed that I am greatly annoyed by and it saddens me when I see these things.  I want people to learn the meaning of being human; gratitude, appreciation, and manners.  I figure I can do my part in society by bringing awareness to some problems.

The meaning of gratitude. Say thank you!! For example, I had a festival trip for my band class and the night before, I slaved over the oven making cookies so they can enjoy some sweets in the sweltering sun the next day.  I was being thoughtful and I wanted my classmates to have some fun and some goodies to enjoy.  Of course, everyone was excited about the cookies and everyone wanted some.  But the day came to a close and NO ONE EVEN SAID THANK YOU.  I am not trying to be a martyr or anything, but a little appreciation would be nice, and ‘thank you’ can go a long way.  It’ll make people happier to do nice little things for you. If I was shown some gratitude, I would be happier to make more goodies for my class.  I am a busy person, so I have better things to do.

Manners: Call me an old fashioned 16 year old, but I wonder where manners have gone today.  When you bump into someone while walking down the hall, no one says sorry anymore, they just give you evil stares. If you’re wrong, just admit it and say sorry.  It’ll get things done faster and leave fewer hard feelings.

No one ever says thank you anymore.  Or please.  Everyone expects others to do things for them for free, and it doesn’t occur to them that other people have to go out of their way to do things for them, and they are only doing it out of the goodness of their heart.  They don’t HAVE to do it.  But now everyone has a mind set of oh, everyone is their slave and if the other person refuses to do something for them, they are automatically labeled a “bitch.”  Whatever happened to please and thank you?  Do we need to pop in a video or Barney for people to watch?

Appreciation: No one appreciates anything they are given.  Its always, oh, I want this, I want that.  I want more!! I don’t care that I already have it at home. I need the latest gadgets so I can show off to my friends.  It doesn’t matter that my parents are barely making enough money to get by.  I want what my neighbors have.  For example, why would a fifth grader need a blackberry?  Why do they need a phone, period?  Sure, it may be for safety or emergencies, but why would a fifth grader be in situations that would require a phone?  Ask what a kid does with a phone and you’ll likely get an answer of “games.”

Happiness doesn’t come from material things.  It comes from the simple things, like spending time with family, sitting on the grass and enjoying the cool breeze on a hot summer day, or just laughing with friends.  America is in the mind set that more equals better, and money means happiness.  Everyone is reaching for their “American dream” and some have lost sight of that dream.  It’s always money, money, money for that house house, house and that car, car, car or that new iphone, iphone, iphone. But ask the richest people if they are happy, and you might be surprised at their answer.

In the Buddha teachings, if you want nothing, then you will never be miserable.  Don’t want what your neighbors have, because you’ll always have neighbors that have more than you and you can’t always have everything.  THINGS do not make you happy.  “What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use thing stead of using people and loving things.”

How would you show gratitude? Well on the simple scale, just say thank you.  Or give compliments.  But actions speak louder than words, so if you really want to show someone you appreciate them, do something nice for them.

How would you reach happiness without things?  Simple, go out for a walk and enjoy the breeze and appreciate that the sun comes out everyday.  Be happy that you are alive.

Please feel free to comment, or disagree.

Animals need love and care.  It is the saddest thing when you walk into an animal shelter you find all these lovable and playful animals behind bars, not having a home to live in.  They are often strays, or their previous owners left them to be adopted into a different family.  The even sadder part is that the oldest animals in the shelters are usually put to sleep.

Last Sunday, I went to volunteer at East Valley L.A. Animal Shelter with a couple of my friends. It was my first time volunteering at an animal shelter, so I didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as I stepped foot inside the clean, air-conditioned building, my eyes fell upon the most adorable litter of 7 week old kittens ever.  They were sleeping and some were playfully fighting with each other with their small furry paws.  They were really playful and cute and at the end of the day, they decided to perform some acrobatics for the people watching them by climbing all over their cages.

Our assignment for the day was to visit the animals and get to know several of them and do a write-up to get people to adopt them.  My friends and I split up into groups while they visited the dogs and I visited the cats.

I have never owned a pet before, or ever thought that I would like animals, but the instant I visited the first cat, I fell in love.  She was just so playful and she kept on pushing her paws out to be petted.  She loved being petted and she kept on banging against the side of the cage.

The next cat I visited was given the nickname “Tuxedo Kitty” because she was covered in all black and white.  She was really energetic and so funny!  She would start singing and she would get the other cats in the cages next to her to start singing too.  This little cutie pushed her whole body out to be petted by strangers.

The last of the six cats I decided to do a write up on was possibly my most favorite just because she would constantly purr when she was being petted.  I would stick my fingers through the cage bars and she would rub her chin against my fingers and I could feel her purr.  She wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to get a good enough picture so we had to take her out of her cage.  She is really old but to be, she was still young and healthy and she just wanted to be loved.

If I could have adopted a pet, I would have because all of them were just so adorable, but I instantly fell in love with the cats.  They just seemed like the pet for me because they are quiet and soft and smart.  They seem like the pet that could keep me company and love me.  And even though I came home with homework, I would love to and will volunteer at the animal shelter again because I love the animals.

Possibly the best part of the day was when we saw a cute black and white dog I nicknamed Oreo, get adopted by a sweet old lady.

This dog I nicknamed Sugar because she had a really sweet and energetic personally and could bring a smile to anyone’s face.

So if you would like to adopt a pet, please visit http://www.amrt.net/ or go to 14409 Vanowen, Van Nuys, CA 91406.  Their phone numbers are: Toll-free: (888) 452-7381 – menu option 1, then 4, then 5; Inside line: (213) 485-8613; (818) 756-9323.

Save a life and adopt your own adorable pet today!

Photo credits: (Alizen Rodriguez) and Crystal Kumtong

In English class, we learned about “loaded words”. So I decided to give it a try and I found a beautiful picture and I made up a story for it.  So here it is.  One picture really can speak a thousand words (nevermind the fact that my story is only 900 words.) Enjoy!

Danny knew it was up to him.  His five year old mind couldn’t comprehend more than that, but his brave heart told him to plunge into the dark, forbidding forest.  The fairies were with him.  They lighted the path and whispered melodic songs and encouragement in his ear.  They knew he had a special heart, for they reveal themselves only to the chosen ones…

Danny didn’t know when the fate of the world rested on his tiny shoulders, but he distinctly remembers the day when everything turned topsy-turvy.  It was one fine sunny morning; the gentle rays of the morning sun filtered through his window and kissed his cheeks to tell him to wake up.  His little fists sliced the dust in the air as he yawned.  The wonderful aroma of warm maple syrup and pancakes danced up the stairs and met him in his bed.  “Oh boy,” Danny thought.  He hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed into his favorite red sweater and blue jeans.  He ran down the stairs as fast as his little legs could carry him into the kitchen.

“Mommy! Good Morn-,” Danny stopped in his tracks.  His mom was nowhere to be seen.  The fire on the stove was still burning and Danny distinctly remembered how his mom told him to never ever leave the stove unattended if the fire was still on.  He grabbed a chair to see what his mom was making.  The batter on the pan began to burn and turn to the color of charcoal so Danny turned off the red-orange flame before smoke surrounded the kitchen.  Danny wandered upstairs to his parents’ bedroom and crept to the door.  An eerie feeling filled the pit of his stomach.

“Dad?” He looked in the shower stalls.  It was still damp from an early morning shower, but it was void of life.  “Mommy?”  He looked through her antic jewelry box.  All her pearls were still in place.  He peeked out behind his mahogany door.  The whole world was at a standstill.  The sun was in the sky, but it seemed as if every living thing disappeared.  It was stone quiet.  The usual song of the birds was absent from the air.  The bees weren’t buzzing around the roses.  The trees lost their sway.  Danny looked around.  He went inside every unlocked door and found no one at home.  He began to feel lonely.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” mumbled a voice.

“Hello?” Danny called out?

“This is not good,” a small pixie voice said, “not good at all.  Oh dear.”  Danny heard a frantic flutter.  He followed the sound until he saw a small fairy floating back and forth in front of a purple flower.  She was as big as his face and she was the loveliest thing his eyes ever saw.

“Excuse me, Miss.  Can you please tell me where everyone went?” Danny asked timidly.  He stood a few feet away from the lovely creature for fear he might disrupt her concentration.  The fairy stopped her fluttering and her small gray eyes bore holes into his skull.

“You can see me?” her sharp voice asked.  Danny nodded his head.  She flew around him and checked him out.  “Mmm, I would expect the Chosen One to be a bit older, but you’re the only one we got.”  She reached around her waist and grabbed a small leather bag.  She opened it and reached in and blew glistering sparkles only known as pixie dust into the air.  Danny looked at her curiously, afraid of what she was doing.  The pixie dust swirled around the purple rose and it began to turn into a variety of colors.  The rose opened up into a portal to a mysterious world. The fairy pushed Danny through the portal and yelled, “Follow your heart!  And don’t talk to any monsters.”  And with that, Danny transported to the Land of Heart.

Danny traveled many days in the dark forest, avoiding the dark patches where evil lurked.  But the creatures living in the forest were friendly to Danny because they knew he could save them from the darkness that would soon envelope the world.  The birds sang him songs every night to go to sleep and the geese protected him from the fierce predators.  The small fairies lit his path and talked and giggled in his ear.  Danny spent his time counting the petals of the glass flowers and eating the sweet apple berries from the trees.  The juices slid down his cheek as he bit into the soft skin of the fruit.  Danny learned to love the forest, but he was still deathly scared of it.  And he missed his parents’ warm tuck and good night kisses as he went to sleep every night.

Danny knew he was near the end of his journey.  The dark places got darker; the forest got colder.  But he could see the light.  Oh, the light was majestic.  It was bright and pure.  Its energy pulsated throughout the whole forest and his heart was drawn toward it. He wandered through the musty air and traveled his way around twisted roots and overgrown grass.  The fairies gave him more encouragement, for they cannot travel any further with him.  The birds sang a farewell song and the darkness couldn’t catch him.  Danny took in a deep breath and walked on.

Finally, I’ll get to see my mom and dad again, Danny thought, and he plunged into the light…

http://www.daniellieske.com/exhibitions/wormworld_saga/exh_wormworld_saga.php

http://digitaldecoy.cgsociety.org/gallery/712620/

The mind is a tricky thing.  We know the least about the human brain because it is so complex.  Sometimes, things can play tricks on you, like an illusion or a hard riddle, or just a chemistry quiz.  Last night, I did something I never did before: look through my teacher’s recommended websites (http://www.diigo.com/list/paigelahaise/weekly-reader). While going through them, I found a blog titled “GET HIGH NOW” and I took a step back from my computer screen and wondered, wow, why would my teacher put a blog like this for her students to see?  So I clicked on it, and no, it is not a site for drugs.  It is a site that boggles your mind, literally.  Looking at the pictures will actually make you feel like vomiting, so before reading further, I advise you to take caution.  These pictures are not for people who vomit easily or who have epilepsy and if you feel dizzy while looking at the pictures, “immediately look away and cover one eye. Do not close both eyes! Doing so could prolong and increase the intensity of the attack.”

From what I deduced from this website, the mind can’t take in too much contrasting information at once, so it tries to make sense of everything and things look like they aer moving or wavy when they are straight lines.  Here are three of my favorite visuals:

The Café Wall

You would have noticed that the lines seem wavy, but they are not.  These are actually straight lines and squares.  There is a very complicated reason behind why you see the links as curvy, but it is basically because we are trying to make sense of the contrast overload.

Rotating Snakes

If you stare at this picture long enough, you might notice that the circles are rotating.  It looks like they are moving because of the alternating colors.  To make sense of all these colors, the objects start moving around in circles.

The Fraser- Spiral

Try to follow the spiral starting from the outside to the middle.  You can’t, because they are just a bunch of circles.  ”But they look like spirals!” You exclaim.  Yes, they do, because there are a lot of different angles and contrasting black and white colors.  All the complex geometric shapes are boggling your mind and your mind is trying to make sense of it all by making the spirals look like sprials.

In this website, there is also an “audio high” section where it heps you relax or get over a hangover.  It didn’t work for me, maybe because I was also listening to music, but try it out and tell me if it works for you!

Check out the website for further in depth explanations and more “visual highs” and “audio highs” http://gethighnow.com/

Fun fact: how smart you are doesn’t matter on how big your brain is, but how much wrinkles it has.  Wrinkles increase the surface area of the brain, so it can contain more information.

Fun riddle: (it’s not a trick question) http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle

Do you have any mind boggling things to share? Comment here!

Today I was reading the National Geographic and I stumbled across a very interesting topic.  A very important insect is going extinct.  These flying insects produce more than 100 crops (fruits, nuts, vegetables) for humans each year and are responsible about 80 percent of America’s pollination services.  That’s about 15 billion dollars in the crop industry.  They buzz around pollinating delicacies such as apples, apricots, avocados, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and blueberries, peaches, pears, pumpkins, squash, watermelons, plums, cranberries, cantaloupes, cucumbers, soybeans and almonds.  But a big problem today is that their population is rapidly declining.  They are slowly disappearing, and if they disappear, so do our food.  What important insect am I talking about?  I’ll give you one more hint: they also produce honey.  If you haven’t already guessed it, yes, I am talking about the honey bee!

Honey bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years.  (That’s a lot of years.)  They are also the only insect that produces food for humans. In fact, they pollinate 1/3 of the food that we eat.  But a big sad and critical problem is that they are disappearing.  Scientists say they don’t have a definite reason why these buzzing creatures are disappearing, but I personally believe it is because people are scared of them.  I am back in my middle school PE class minding my own business when suddenly I hear someone screaming.  “A bee!”  Suddenly half the girls are jumping up and down and are running away.  Some of the guys stand up and decide it is time to act like a hero.  They zoom in on the threat and decide to put their feet up into the air and down on the poor bee.  The threat is gone and the girls swoon over their savior.  I look down at the broken body of a bee I never knew.  I silently make a memorial for it.  “I am sorry you never got to see your flower.”

Why are people afraid of a buzzing insect that is smaller than the size of their thumb?  Yes, they do sting, but it is only for protection.  If they sense that you are a threat, they will sting you.  It will hurt, but the pain will eventually go away.  Why take a life because you somehow aggravated it and it stung you?  These creatures have an important job to perform: feeding you.  It is ungrateful to kill them just because they made a tiny mistake and met your foot.

There are campaigns to help save the bees, and there is a website dedicated especially for raising money to fund research to find a solution to the bees’ disappearing act.  The website is listed below.  They have many fun activities, to making your own bee to email to your friends, to learning about these beautiful creatures and how to help save them.  If you are thinking, “Oh, I don’t trust the groups that raise money because they will take my money and run,” well, have no fear!  You can still help.  Here’s how:

You can buy a carton of Häagen-Dazs Honey Flavored Ice Cream!  Häagen-Dazs donates the money they earn to help fund research.  They use honey from the bees to make their delicious ice cream.  You can also plant bee friendly flowers in your garden.  This is not as hard as it may sound.  Here are some beautiful flowers that are bee-friendly:

The Rose    

Aster    

Daisy                          

Dandelions

Peony

Sunflower

And much much more.  (You can get the full list from the website by simply downloading a booklet.)  These flowers can grow beautifully in your garden and help bees thrive at the same time!  Also, bees need water, so providing them water may be as simple as leaving a dish filled with water out for them to drink.  Also, be aware of the harmful effects of pesticide in your garden.  They are detrimental to the bees.  If you really need to use pesticide, use insect specific pesticide.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers.  Spread the pollen!

Website: http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/

Ice cream flavors: http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/#helpingflavors

Pictures: http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/02034/images/european%20honey%20bee.jpg

http://happyhomemaker88.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/honey-pot-print-c10069558.jpeg

http://aster.gforge.inria.fr/aster.jpg

http://media.dailyprogress.com/dailyprogress/images/snap/rose3sharp_medium.jpg

http://www.fosjp.org.uk/wildflowers/oxeye_daisy.jpg

http://img.allposters.com/6/LRG/8/842/ENKY000Z.jpg

http://www.bridgewatergardens.com/Peony%20Big%20Ben.JPG

http://originallamby.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/sunflower.jpg