Royal Fairytale

It's official: Prince William's college sweetheart of nine years, Kate Middleton, is officially the Duchess of Cambridge!

In case some of you are wondering, she's not Princess Catherine as many think she is, given her marriage to Prince William. She is also not to be referred to as just 'Kate' now, but formally as Catherine. As most of you know, she's referred to as a 'commoner' and because she wasn't born as a royalty, she cannot have that title, but didn't she look just like a princess from one of the Disney films? In addition, she's also known as the Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus, and Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis. So many different names for one person, right?

Speaking of the Royal Wedding, it was magical. I'd never imagine people from all over the world would go to London just to catch a glimpse of the wedding but there they are, millions of people have come to London to be one of the millions to witness the Royal Wedding live. There is an estimate of two billion people from around the world that were watching the wedding, some even waking up at 4 a.m. EST to catch it live on television! Catherine looked stunning in her bridal dress, designed by Sarah Burton of the late Alexander McQueen, made from French lace and English lace. The dress has inspired many brides-t0-be to choose a very similar-looking dress, for which the Duchess' dress will stand as an inspiration for a long time. Catherine walked graciously down the aisle among 1,900 guests with the likes of David & Victoria Beckham, Joss Stone, Elton John, and Rowan Atkinson and 40 foreign royals.
At 8:25 a.m. EST, the newly wedded royal couple stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and kissed not once, but twice!

Procrastination: Based on Attitude?

Most of you are probably too busy studying to read this at this point but procrastination is a big issue among students, especially when it comes to homeworks and exams. I'm pretty sure most of you have heard your friends whining on their Facebook statuses, saying how much they're putting off this and that, but we never tend to think about why we do it.

When we are overwhelmed by multi-tasking, especially during very important periods such as midterms and finals, we tend to do things that are important first, in a descending order. Everything comes off as stressful at first but slowly comes off as laid back as the least important tasks, the ones that we think are easy, are put off to last.

A high school senior from Roslyn High School takes the dodge to research why students procrastinate. Caroline Trezza of Roslyn Heights, Long Island surveyed 168 sophomores and juniors to find the cause of procrastination, to see the difference between motivation and self-confidence that affect their ability to complete assignments on time as part of her research for the Young Epidemiology Scholars contest, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for which she won second-place with $35,000.

Trezza, who says she also puts things off herself at times, concluded that those who were confident tend to get things done faster. To avoid procrastination, students should be taught to make completing tasks a priority at a very young age so they could easily be more acclimated in getting things done faster.

In my opinion, I don’t think the factor of procrastination has much to do with whether a teen is confident or not. In my high school, there were many students who were confident, or appeared confident, but most have failed to complete assignments on time. Confident or not confident, it varies on each person’s motivation to learn how to make things a priority no matter how important things are. As someone who is caught up with many assignments, I try to align my tasks in a descending order of the most important to least and sometimes by the time I get to the last, I figure how easy it would be to get that task done and I hold off by taking a break. I think many students try to make their work a priority, no matter how confident or not confident they are.

Finals: Self-Exhaustion?

At this time of the year (or should I say semester?), college students are the busiest. Actually, at this time and in the middle of December. And you might ask why. For one, finals week is approaching fast and some of us are so behind lessons, we have to catch up (*coughs*). Yes, there's so much cramming during finals, we lose sleep and can't eat a decent meal. What's worse is that the weather in New York is heading towards the 80s soon and we're stuck [at home]. At least it's better than not being able to go out during 90 degree weather, right?

Here is some advice for those of us whose nervous systems are about to blow up:

1) Take a 10 minute break. It won't kill you. Grab an iced coffee, mocha, latte, whatever fulfills you. Did I mention that Baskin Robbins is doing a 31 cent scoop tomorrow night? That should be break-worthy.

2) Take a nap. Even a 30-minute nap is fine. Staying up for 48 hours straight is no good at all and can affect the brain, which is something we all don't want. Especially for a final. Besides, your eye-sight can become worse if you face the computer screen or book all day. Ladies, you don't want poofy eyes now, do you?

3) Take a nice bath. Don't think about the work. Forget all your problems during that time!

Go Eco-Friendy!

Everyone knows it’s cool to be environmentally friendly, or “eco-friendly” and “green” (whichever name you prefer to call ‘being good to the environment’) these days.

Sure, you ditch those plastic bags they throw all your groceries in at the supermarket and use your own reusable bag, separate paper and plastic from regular garbage, recycle bottles, reuse scrap paper, and even drive around with your hybrid car. But what’s better than going to a free concert, knowing that you’re actually saving the world by doing so?

Origins, a cosmetics brand, known for their organic and natural skin care products and makeup went over the top this month to promote environmentalism.

On March 21^st, Origins at the metro-New York locations were handing out goodie bags filled with containers made from recycled products and two free concert tickets to see Train at their “Origins Rocks Earth Month” at Webster Hall on April 20^th, in exchange for pledges to be greener.

Last Wednesday, Train rocked the house with a packed venue and gigs. To go further in being green, a tree was planted for each attendee. Pretty cool! Opening acts included singer and song-writer Nikki Jean and winners of “Origins Rocks Earth Month Green Artist Search” Treetop Flyers, hailing all the way from London. As soon as Train took the stage with a train-like entrance, the crowd went wild. They covered some of their hits from their past albums and from their recent album “Save Me, San Francisco”, such as the first hit off their self-titled and album, “Meet Virginia”, “Calling All Angels” and “Soul Sister”.

In the midst of the event, lead singer Patrick Monahan awed his fans by picking eight girls up to the stage, or as he calls them “Trainettes”, to have their 15 minutes of fame. Before the night ended, Monahan unexpectedly walked through the crowd, taking pictures and hugging fans while singing “Marry Me”. You can only imagine how every fangirl went gaga, right?

To close the concert, what better way is there to end the night than playing none other than their biggest hit “Drops of Jupiter”, which struck most with nostalgia? All in all, it’s probably one of those small concerts you will still remember in 10 years. Who wouldn’t the lead singer of a three-time Grammy Award winning band that soared through the crowd? I think we’re all intrigued!

But that wasn’t the only thing Origins did to promote environmentalism. This past Friday, people had the choice of choosing one of the two cleansers Origins gave when they traded in their empty bottles of skin care, in honor of Earth Day. Millions of cleanser-striving lovers awaited outside their local Origins counter to open like Black Friday for free

Hey! You There, Easter-Bunny!

Ahh...Easter is fast approaching, in just a little more than a week! For kids, it's all about egg hunting, cute bunny drawings and egg-shaped chocolate. Remember those times in grade school when we made and colored our own easter baskets and filled them up with plastic pink, yellow, blue, or green grass? Seems like only yesterday it happened.

Believe it or not, there is an Easter Parade! Actually, they call it the "Easter Bonnet Festival", but we all know it's simply an Easter Parade, right? While those pre-Easter activities at Central Park doesn't seem to be happening for the second year in a row, there are still other fun Easter activities around! After all, we live in a big city, so why does it seem like no egg hunting at Central Park is the end of the world?

For one, Central Park has been the epitome of egg hunting and Easter-related games and arts and crafts for a very long time now, so I can understand how disappointing it might be for some people who have been going to Central Park for their Easter activities for years. Too bad we have been sucked in a recession and New York State has laid off many park workers, hence spending a bit more for such activities would kill them.

Alternatively, Brooklyn Botanic Garden has always been a favorite among my family members, and is a great place to take your kids. If I remember correctly, they do offer Easter activities for children. Even so, nature is always beautiful to look at.

THE Freshman Experience

Well, well, well...here we are, just a few weeks left until we can finally say we've survived our freshman year in college (not high school). Some of us still haven't been adjusted to the college life yet, with the unexpected overwhelm of midterms, essays, and our biggest enemy yet, final exams. Here we have some freshman students who talk about their freshman year so far as it's coming to an end.

News Story

Anchor: Is it getting crowded in here? An incident at JFK tonight, where two planes collided into each other slightly, but left passengers and crews all shaken up.




Anchor: It is still unclear on why there were no signals when the arriving Delta flight was heading towards its gate and the departing Air France was heading for takeoff. Damage is only evident on Delta jet's tail.

Spring Break Activities: Brooklynites

Spring break is only a week away, or a few days for some. Whether you're in elementary, middle school, high school or college, spring break usually falls during this time of the year. And in addition to spring break, we're spoiled with beautiful weather, so why stay in when you can stay out?

Since this break is only one week (or a few days) for most of us, wouldn't it be too vague to fly back all the way to California or Texas when you can spend it in New York City?

Put your mind into the thought of Brooklyn. What do you visualize when you think of Brooklyn? Most native New Yorkers perceive Brooklyn as mostly dangerous, but it's just like any other borough in New York; there are good areas and there are also not-so-good areas.

For those who will be in the city for the break, here are some things you can do to make your time worthwhile.

1. Brooklyn Botanic Gardens - New York's most prestigious land of nature, as I'd like to call it. Walk your way through thousands of different flowers from around the world and culture-themed sites in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. This is the best time in the season to discover fully bloomed flowers that will only last for a short amount of time. While you're in the area, be sure to walk down to Prospect Park, the Central Park of Brooklyn, you won't even know you're in Brooklyn! Central who?

2. Williamsburg - This edgy neighborhood at the tip of Brooklyn, known as the land of hipsters, is more than meets the eye. Known for their live (and free!) concerts at night, clubs, bars, restaurants and shopping, it's hard to imagine what there isn't in Williamsburg. If you're one who loves art and clothing, be sure to check out the notorious Artists & Fleas, an indoor flea market with independent artists and designers. Guaranteed, you'll find something you'll love!

3. Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall - Many people don't know this, but there is a waterfall right under the Brooklyn Bridge! I know, I know, you'd think you'll only see that at Niagara Falls but you better believe it, New York City has not one, but quite a few!

4. Coney Island - Most people only think of two places when they hear Brooklyn: Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island. Coney Island is one of the oldest beaches in New York, with a notable boardwalk and amusement park, formerly known as Astroland. The preeminent rides of the amusement park, now called Luna Park, are the Cyclone roller coaster and the Wonder Wheel ferris wheel. Although I do not recommend jumping in the water, the amusement park comprises the fun!

5. Brooklyn Heights - Brooklyn Heights, right on the perfect skyline view of Manhattan, is the ideal place to live in for comfort, proximity and on top of it all, a killer view! If you're not among the millions of daily commuters and enemies of the MTA, you'll be intrigued with the New York Transit Museum, which provides an oriental historical background of the transit system of New York.

Furia for Your Skin!

I thought it'd be fun to make a video on an imaginary product and after days of creatively thinking, I have came up with none other than the Furia Skin Cleanser.

Enjoy!

Flower Power

The Macy's Flower Show is so on! But not for long.

The 37th annual flower show at Macy's Herald Square was presented this past Sunday on March 27th. This year's theme is "Towers of Flowers", with five different displays on the main floor, including

the Tropical Garden, Antebellum Garden and Japanese Garden presented by Carnegie Hall on account of their Japan NYC Festival.

In addition to the flower displays, events are also being held during the presentation, including cooking demos by chefs with the likes of Rhys Lewis and the owners of Alice's Tea Cup, decorating demos, as well as floral seminars. The flower displays will run until April 10th and is open to all during their store hours.