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YAA in the US and A – Part 1: Washington, DC

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Hey YAA-Universe, this is Phung-Bot and I’m currently in Washington, DC.  I’ve traveled here as part of a cross cultural exchange titled – Volunteerism:  United We Stand.  There are 100 countries being represented and yours truly is representing Canada.  Washington, DC is fantastic!  It’s so clean and there is so much to do.  I arrived here on Saturday and after a short drive I was at my hotel.  I walked into my room and the first thing I saw was two beds.  I said to myself “Well, they told you you’re not sharing a room.  Time to build a fort.”  That’s right I said it was time to build a fort.

After showering and changing my clothes I went for a walk around the neighborhood.  Washington is incredibly clean.  It’s like a less busy version of NYC but much cleaner and less shady.  I found a pharmacy and picked up a few items.  I also hit up an amazing burrito place on the way back.

On Sunday, the entire group of delegates met up and the Department of State took us on an amazing tour of Washington, in particular, some of the monuments.  Did you realize all of the monuments and museums are free?  Wha?  No way!  I’m not a museum type of guy but that’s value.  Everything was so big and awesome to see in real life.

While hanging out at the tourist sites I quickly made friends with many of the participants.  I met people from countries I have never even heard of.  It blows my mind that there is much culture that we aren’t exposed to.  It’s so wonderful to know that the work we do at YAA is also being done in other countries and this exchange is an opportunity to bring ideas and great minds together.

The following picture has a story behind it.  I saw this family taking photos and there was a mom, dad, and young son.  The son wanted to take photos but the dad wanted to make sure to explain the options of the camera.  This moment brought back memories of my childhood.  It also helps that this family looks just like my family, the resemblance is nuts.  I showed my girlfriend this picture and she pretty much died laughing.

After the tour the bus took us back to the hotel.  I step off the bus and asked “What time is it”?  To which someone replied “12:00”.  I realized that I could catch the Washington Capitals game.  I dropped off my stuff and rushed over to the Verizon Centre.  I flagged down a scalper and he had a single ticket left and he gave it to me for 1/2 off.  The game was amazing!  The hockey arena is really nice and the sea of red was reminiscent of the Flames Stanley Cup run.  I made friends with 3 dudes who were fascinated that I was from Canada.  They kind of scared me but I warmed up to them.

Today we started the programming for the exchange.  We’re bring divided into sub groups and after our stay in Washington, the groups will be going to different cities.  I’ll keep these locations a secret until I get there.  The day was great and I met lots of great people.  The day came to an end with a brief overview of the American Political system.  Let’s just say that it’s pretty complex:

It was a lot of information and head couldn’t quite handle it.  It was really interesting, there was just lots of it.  But I did learn that in the US Political system all of the decisions are driven by the people..  All laws and changes are made at the local level and eventually driven up to the top.  Pretty interesting stuff.

Tomorrow we head off to another location for another day of learning and sharing.  Hopefully the traffic won’t be too nuts as there are lots of road closures due to the Nuclear Summit.  Here are some more photos from my first few days:

The Secret

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” Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into yout life. And it’s attracted to you by virtue of the images you’re holding in your mind. It’s what you’re thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you.”

” Every thought of yours is a real thing —- a force. ”    — Prentice Mulford (1834 – 1891)

Have you heard about THE SECRET?

The secret is the book which explains about the secret of the life. It said The secret of the success in life is the law of attraction. In this book, the greatest teachers who have ever lived have told us that the law of attraction is the most powerful law in the universe. They are all someone who did succesful things in their life such as Bob Procter, Dr. Joe Vitale, John Assaraf and others. They knew the secret and used them properly in their life. I read this book first because my father told me to read it and I really liked it. I kept read this book over and over again all the time and I’m trying to follow their directions. Their experiences are make me help to advance to the future. Here’s the deal!

The most important things in this law is focus our thoughts on something we want and hold that focus. Our think create the things that the way we thought. However, the law of attraction doesn’t compute negative words such as “don’t”, “not” or “no”. The law of attraction is always working, whether you believe it or understand it or not.

I suggest to everybody to know this law. Even though it doesn’t work well, I’m sure the base of this law is true. For example, some people who always think in positive way, they always looks happy or not bad as negative person. Not only this reason, the think always important in our life. Everytings are start from thinking. Even if it did or didn’t success, something starts from think. So, don’t be frustrate all the time but get some positive think.

[youtube MulLAfffQoQ]

Bob Procter’s Secret

[youtube Z-J37grvZlw]

Panda: F, Great White Shark: A+

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I recently came across an interesting blog which makes it its mission to objectively review animal species and award each a letter grade.

Here’s an excerpt from the jellyfish review.
(Important preliminary knowledge: Jellyfish don’t have brains.)

Not only have they traveled the world and done fairly well despite their brainlessness, jellyfish also manage to kill and devour their prey and deter predators.  Now, one probably wouldn’t be very afraid of a shark that didn’t have a brain. Or a snake without a brain. Or a bear. Indeed, it might be entirely hilarious if a brainless bear was trying to attack you. There’d surely be a website called watchthisbrainlessbear.com and it would be ‘dedicated to providing the most recent videos of brainless bears trying to do things.’ But yet we all intuitively sense that a jellyfish – even a brainless one – is a different matter altogether. And that intuition turns out to be completely correct.

‘Animal Review’ is a very entertaining and surprisingly educational read. Written with a wonderful wit, the authors always take into account the conventional awesomeness of each species as well as the biological facts. Check it out and find out why the panda was failed and why the great white shark was given such a high grade.

Perspective Contest!

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I know this is what you’ve all been waiting for… an actual photography contest where you could win a prize! (albeit a small one). There will be four contests in all, encompassing the skills you have learned as students of the Perspective series. The winner each week will be announced prior to the next week’s challenge being posted. The winning photos will be chosen according to originality, following the challenge objectives and overall awesomeness!

Instructions:

  1. Make a Flickr/Yahoo! account here. If you have one already, please don’t feel pressured to make a new one ; )
  2. You’ll need to first upload the picture to your Flickr account, and then add the picture to the group pool. Here’s the page; it’s pretty self-explanatory.
  3. Head on over to the YAA Perspective Photography page. Feel free to become a member if you want, but it’s not necessary for the next step.
  4. You are allowed to upload 3 pictures per week to the pool, so try to pick your favourites. RULE: IT MUST BE YOUR OWN PHOTO. We have ways of checking.

When a winner is chosen for that week, I will directly message your Flickr account asking for a code and your email; this code will be included at the end of the contest posting on Youth Are Awesome, so that only YAA readers are getting the prizes, and the email is so that I can send you an awesome iTunes song. Or, if you’re not an iPod person, a song from Puretracks.

The winners will also be featured in the next week’s post! SO… Let’s get started!

Week 1 Challenge:

A macro photo. Pretty simple, but there are so many places you readers could take this. Please try to keep the editing to a minimum. If you need a refresher, I touched on macro photography in Perspective Pt. 2: The Basics. Good luck, and happy shooting!

Keyword: Analog

SaM’s Weekly Serving of NeRd: ♪ The Elements ♫

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To welcome our new page layout, I thought I’d share a lovely song to get the NeRd in you flowing 😉

Please enjoy the song entitled “The Elements”.

[youtube r7hO-1ItqXw]

School in April.

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After the long spring break, school is finally back.

homework

notes

tests and quizes

friends

they are all back

school LIFE

April

in school

Everything You Need To Know From: Timothy

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We’re back again with another Everything You Need To Know From… Youth Are Awesome recently stumbled across Vancouver based band, Timothy, who claim to being “dedicated seekers of honest, singable, and gutsy rock, performing paragraphs of clean rock melody, sweeping the audience along in ambient sound and taut, searching vocals.” Some of the bands answers definitely confirmed that, as does their new EP, “Maybe God Will Tell Us”, with Scott Bjerkness on vocals and guitar, Jonathan Milda on bass, Todd Bjerkness on drums and Joel Hagglund on guitar, this EP might just hold those answers.
the band
YAA: How did the members of Timothy find each other?
Timothy: Letus tell you a story: Scott, Jon, and Todd are optimus prime. We once had an all-spark, but he left us for a girl. A couple years later, we found a new all-spark, Joel, moping around the ditches of Mission, recently rejected by Faber Drive. In short, fate and love combined.
YAA: Why did you choose to name the band, Timothy?
Timothy: It’s Scott & Todd’s dad’s name; it’s the name of Jon’s favourite song by As Cities Burn; it’s Joel’s favourite book of the bible. All omens pointed in one direction.
YAA: If Timothy was to play a cover, what song would it be?
Timothy: We split up on this answer. Joel: Politik by Coldplay; Scott: Baby by Justin Bieber (aka Bieber fever); Todd: 1901; Jon: No One by Alicia Keys.
YAA: How did you guys get involved with the Ernie Ball Stage at Warped Tour? And how can people help Timothy play Warped Tour?
Timothy: Reverbnation sent us a notification telling us to sign up. Plus Joel had an Ernie Ball t-shirt. We need YOU to go to http://www.battleofthebands.com/timothytimothy and vote for us to play The Ernie Ball Stage at Warped Tour at the Gorge in Washington!
YAA: Is songwriting a team effort for the four of you, or does one of you fill that role?
Timothy: We have a key but we are a team. Elaboration: Scott tries to write full songs on his own, but he is deficient; we other three ‘enmatter’ his forms (cf. Aristotle, de Anima).
YAA: In your song, The Last Gentleman, who are you asking to give you the chance to “start again”?
Timothy: It was written from the perspective of a friend of Scott’s who was going through a divorce; so, an estranging wife.
YAA: If Timothy was your typical family who would play what role?
Timothy: Todd’s the dad cause he has facial hair; Joel’s the mom with the nice luscious locks; Jon’s the older brother; Scott’s the baby that everyone needs to take turns carrying around.
YAA: What was it like the first time you heard “Always Turn Back” on the radio?
Timothy: It felt like when you wake up in the morning and there’s already breakfast waiting for you. and we kept the mugs!
YAA: Where did Timothy come up for the idea for the music video for, “Always Turn Back”?
Timothy: Last year a group of students at the Vancouver Film School approached us about doing a video. The concept and storyline is courtesy of them, watch for the dream sequences!!
YAA: What is your favourite type of cheese?
Timothy: Scott: mozzarella; Todd: melted; Joel: swiss; Jon: feta!!!!!!
[youtube MsU7Z6MaGnM]
Now you can check out Timothy on just about every networking site! Check out these links to read more and hear more from these four gentlemen from Vancouver. Be their friend on Myspace, follow them on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, watch a performance on Youtube or read their blog on their website.

Earth Day Every Day

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Earth Day is still a couple of weeks away, but the City of Calgary is supporting a number of events throughout the month to help you “make every day Earth Day”. One of the first goings-on this month is “Down to Earth Week“, an event “showcasing the best in local food & responsible business”, and put on by the non-profit REAP Calgary which will run until April 11th.

They are encouraging Calgarians to dine at a number of local restaurants during the week which serve cuisine crafted from local ingredients, including The Coup on 17th and the more up-scale River Café on Prince’s Island Park. The week will conclude with Food For Thought at the Uptown, which for $15 will get you an evening composed of a local & sustainable dinner, a screening of Food Fight, and a follow-up party in the Marquee, for those who are of legal drinking age.

There are a number of other events and promotions going on before the 22nd, which you can find more about on the City website.

Frustrating Game or Challenging Puzzle?

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RoseRoseI was cleaning out bookmarks (favourited websites) when I found a bookmark for Petals Around The Rose. I’m not entirely sure if I’m happy or sad that I’ve stumbled across this again, so I thought I’d share my thoughts (read: frustration) about it…

I believe my friend sent me this a while back, as we both like brain teasers and whatnot. But I’ll admit it, this one has (apparently) had me stumped for the longest time! I’m guessing give or take a year, although I guess I don’t particularly try very hard to solve it since I get annoyed at it and stop trying (and try to forget about it, haha).

The point of this game/puzzle is to guess the “score” for the five dice rolled. This score is either zero or an even number, but the name of the game is also significant. The instructions are on the game/puzzle page itself, but there really isn’t much more to it than what I’ve said…

Has anyone heard of this game? Or beaten it? Or been frustrated by it?
Please share your thoughts! (…so I know that I’m not alone? :()
Rose

Check out Relient K!

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Relient K is one of my favorite bands. After talking to a couple of friends, I realized that many of them do not know that they even exist!

I browsed a part of their website and found out a bit more about them. Take a look below to see the information I read about them on their website:

Relient K played its first gig in December 1997, back when Matthew Thiessen and guitarist Matt Hoopes were still in high school and tooling around in the latter’s Plymouth Reliant K, which inspired the band’s name. The group recorded its first demo the following year with producer Mark Lee Townsend, who has worked on each of the band’s subsequent full-length albums (although Five Score And Seven Years Ago was largely produced by Howard Benson).

In the ensuing decade, Relient K has released five full-length albums (of which three have been certified Gold), five EPs and a Christmas collection, toured incessantly, scored a string of hit singles, a Grammy nomination and two Dove awards, and performed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and numerous other national TV shows. The Los Angeles Times praised Relient K for “its smart blend of punk pop and power pop, weaving together influences as diverse as the Beach Boys, Blink-182 and Fountains of Wayne” while Spin noted: “Few bands play punk-influenced modern rock as proficiently.”  But the band’s quirky sense of humor remains intact and there’s a fresh excitement about the future.

In addition to this, you can even see really cool pictures of the band’s members, read their blog, and much more! If I haven’t convinced you of their awesomeness yet, listen to two of their songs below.

Must Have Done Something Right
[youtube K0TrY-KWQFk]

Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been
[youtube 6tfR5KvsFVU]

Do you like their music? Browse their site here, or just youtube them. Become a fan of Relient K here!

eU: Ep 01

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Nonono, I am not talking about EU the European union, eU is my new acronym — Not exactly an acronym, but close enough =) for extraordinary Youth. What do I mean by extraordinary youth? Simply put, they are groups of people who have achieved something greater than what most adult would, for instance, young artists and prodigies are two that comes to mine mind at the time, but believe me, there are lot more others. In this series of blog, I will introduce you to a list of eUs I know and found. Hope they can inspire you and motivate you to achieve something great in your life too, or at least, be a little jealous of them, and pay a little of admiration and respect.

Adora Svitak at TEDtalkThe eU of the week is Adora Lily Svitak, born October 15, 1997 and a child prodigy in writing. While most of people are discovered as a writer or an author at age of around 20s, most of whom graduated from a proper post-secondary school, have a heavy background knowledge on history and humanity, and is equipped with solid understanding of the English language, Adora is discovered at the age of 6 for her writing ability. And just a year later, she appeared with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, not long before her book Flying Fingers was published. After age of 7, she began to write blogs and online journals, commenting on subjects of international significance. Since 2005, she has being promoting literacy and lectured in both United States and United Kingdom. As of 2009, she appeared on Channel 4 documentary The World’s Cleverest Child and Me, and had finished her second book, Dancing Fingers, and is completing her first full-length novel, Yang in Disguise.

Recently, at one of the 2010 TEDtalk, Adora has spoken about the subject of “What adults can learn from kids”.  To learn more about Adora, watch her TEDtalk below and her videos on YOUTUBE:

[youtube V-bjOJzB7LY]

March Recall: Irish Luck

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Did you wear green? The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day has spread from Ireland to many parts of the world, but who is this Saint Patrick that this day is celebrating?

Surprisingly he is not Irish at all but he was born in Roman Britain. Most would know him as the man who drove out all the snakes from Ireland. Whether this is factual or a myth one thing is for sure; he is a ‘humble-minded’ and devoted man of God that spread Christianity in Ireland. Many believed he died on March 17th, hence the date for this celebration.

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It’s a day where you can get to know a bit of the Irish culture and be ‘Irish’. The largest St. Patrick’s Day parade is in New York. This is still a religious holiday so many people attend mass, community feast, some businesses and shops close down.

How are leprechauns related to all of this? Good question, I would like to know too! Anyone have any theories?

[youtube l8oKw1Vaqfo]

Whether you are Irish, or just joining in the spirit of this day; I hope you had a bit of good luck!

-sigh- Scholarship applications… wait a minute

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Hey guys, I recently stumbled upon this awesome website called www.youthcanada.ca.  As I was browsing around, an article in particular grabbed my attention immediately: A Definitive Guide To Winning Scholarships.  (Well it was also the featured article, but that’s beside the point LOL) Now that I’m finally enjoying the last few months of my high school career, I have to say that the most stressful and tedious task in high school is not actually applying to University, but fishing for the many scholarships in an ocean of what seems to be unattainable money at times.

Whatever reasons you may need a scholarship for, be it financial assistance, or sometimes just the prestige, this guide is one of the most comprehensive guides I’ve ever seen on the net, and it’s absolutely free!

I won’t say anymore about the ebook, because you can see for yourself here, but I’m sure disappointed at the fact that I found it after already applying for several scholarships aimlessly without really knowing the art of winning a scholarship.

I hope you guys find it helpful and spread it to your friends!  Because I’m sure this guide isn’t being read as much as it deserves to be!

Rwanda Poem

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As promised, here is another poem, commenting on the Rwanda genocide of 1994. For more information, please visit this BBC news article.

Our people are scared, miserable, weak,
but won’t get help, nobody has courage to speak.
Disrespect, Torture, Rape, and Argument,
Nowhere to turn, Noplace to run
Dead bodies lying in the street,
Tutsis and others prostrate at their feet.
We will not stay here we will rise up
We are worth it, we will erupt
Despite our loss, Despite what we lack,
Rwanda has fallen, but we will fight back.

By Kaiz Alarakyia

Shutter Island (Spoiler Alert!)

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*Spoiler Alert* When people watch the trailer of this movie most would think this is a horror film, but after I watched the movie it was actually not scary at all. This movie is directed by Martin Scorsese and the main character is Teddy Daniels (Andrew Laeddiss) played by Leonardo DiCaprio. It started of by Teddy and his partner Chuck two U.S Marshals went to a prison that kept criminals with mental disorders and the prison is on an isolated island called Shutter Island. They went there to investigate a case of disappearance of a woman called Rachel Solando who drowned all of her children. The head of this prison is Dr. John Cawley who is a psychiatrist, and he descried Rachel vanished in a lock room like magic. Teddy didn’t believe a woman who didn’t wear any shoes could escape from the island by running because the weather outside are cold and rainy. After a serious of investigation, Teddy find out that this is actually a trick to kept him and his partner on this island for brain surgery which is taking people’s emotion and memories away to make them like “Ghost”, and the prisoners (Dr. John Cawley refer as patients) are all for experiments. Teddy wants to escape from this island but more importantly he wants to find a man called Andrew Laeddiss that killed Teddy’s wife and Teddy know he is on the island because his wife tells him that in his dreams. As Teddy’s partner fell off a cliff and his body disappears Teddy knows that Dr. John Cawley has taken his friend to the light house for surgery. As Teddy rush inside the light house he only see Dr. John Cawley sit there with no Chuck, and then Teddy find out the real truth about himself. Teddy’s real name is Andrew Laeddiss and he is the most dangerous patient on Shutter Island. He shot his bipolar disorder (mood disorder) wife after she drowned their three kids. Andrew creates a fantasy world in order to escape from reality, and Chuck who is his doctor played along with him. Dr. John Cawley doesn’t believe Andrew’s state because Andrew have been going on and off for many times. As Andrew pretend himself as Teddy again, Dr. John Cawley have no choice but to gave the surgery to Andrew and take away his memory.

Personally, I enjoyed the film very much because it gives tension throughout the whole movie. The ending of this movie is very surprising because I would never think that Teddy is actually a patient on Shutter Island. The very last part of this movie is interesting because is hard to figure out if Andrew is still live in the fantasy world or he have defeated his fear and face reality as he said to Chuck:“Is it worse to live as a monster or die as a good man.” Such a movie with such a ending and a excellent director and cast is really worth for watching it.

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