Tune In or Tune Out!

To:  All Middle School Students

TUNE IN OR TUNE OUT!!!!!

Many people listen to music while doing school work.  It is a proven fact that when we listen to music while studying, we cannot concentrate or learn any better.  First, it is simply distracting because of how catchy the music and tune is.  You start to listen to the song instead of concentrating on your homework.  Secondly, your brain moves to the beat of the song and the tempos make the absorption of the knowledge more difficult.  Next, only one type of music, which is Baroque music can enhance learning.  Although, people claim that music is only a ‘white noise’ in the background, studies have proven that it is only an excuse.

 Studies expose the truth, which is that listening to music while studying is distracting!  One of those studies took place in the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, UK in 2010.  One of the trials they conducted was looking at the results of having people memorize numeral sequences while listening to music, compared to those in silence.  Almost every time they repeated the experiment, the same results surfaced.  Silence was best compared to the modern day music including lyrics.  Music, especially with lyrics, impairs cognitive abilities, especially short-term memory performance.  Also, another study was done and according to the Stanford University (Professor Clifford Nass) says, “The human brain listens to song lyrics with the same part of the brain that does word processing, which is the same part of the brain that supposedly is being employed for studying.”

 I attended a presentation in May, 2010 at the International School of Zug and Luzern in Switzerland by a teacher and a studies strategies expert, Terry Small.  During the presentation, he explained the three states of mind.  The first is the Alpha mode.  It is when the brain is most open to the flow of knowledge and enables learning.  The second is the daily state of the brain and the third is its activity while we are sleeping.  The Alpha state occurs naturally during the most engaging parts of your homework or studying.  Small asserts that maintaining the Alpha state renders your mind able to absorb knowledge at a rapid rate.  This state occurs naturally when your heart beat is at rest and at a steady beat.  Although, there is another way to jumpstart Alpha mode and learn in a more efficient way.  

Baroque music is a blend to strings and soft wind instruments.  The key soul of the music is that it is between 55 - 70 beats per minute, which sets your brain into the Alpha mode.  It allows you to learn better by increasing your concentration and memory and gives you less stress with an overall uplifted feeling.  Other research and studies have come to the same conclusion that this type of music has awakened the Alpha state faster and maintains it for a longer period of time.  I also have listened to Baroque music while doing my homework and assignments.  It blends every other background noise together and seems to mute them.  The pleasant sounds and waves of sweet music makes me feel satisfied and quite engaged.  Infact, I gave myself quite a scare because while I was doing my social studies family tree assignment, I was enjoying myself!  If Baroque music can uplift you and improve your school work, why do people want to listen to the unearthly pounding and clashing of modern-day music?

 People often say classical and Baroque music are the same. Although, the two are distinctly different from each other but do share some similarities.  For example,  Baroque music came to be in the 1600s and lasted to the 1750s.  Also its tunes are quite dramatic and made up of more melodies.  Classical music, however, dates from 1750s to 1825.  The musical style is balanced and the melodies are organized and structured formally.  Bach wrote many Baroque pieces and Mozart composed more classical music.

 When I ask anyone why they listen to music while doing homework, they tell me that they like it and they can handle the multi-tasking.  Also people think that this depends on your preference for music or silence.

When I took a survey asking how many people listen to music while doing school work, in one of my questions, I asked what kind of music the class listens to.  The most popular answer was Hip Hop.  When I asked them later about which music could worsen school work performance, the most popular answer was Heavy Metal, yet three people do listen to it!  We all enjoy listening to music that keeps us occupied and happy but we need to break out of that and think about what is best for our minds!

 Thankfully Baroque music can be heard and accessed anywhere online.  YouTube holds many pieces from multiple composers such as Bach and Vivaldi.  Do your own experiments, try and listen to your own music and then try with Baroque.  You will find that the outcome will be the same as reflected in the research already collected.  So now I have finished my homework, have you finished yours?

Bibliography

1.  When Doing Work:  Music or No Music?

http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/2011/10/school-work-and-studying-music-or-no-music.html

2.  Does Listening to Music While Doing Homework Help You Concentrate?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_listening_to_music_while_doing_homework_help_you_concentrate

3.  Will Backround Music IMprove Your Concentration?

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/11767/1/Will-Background-Music-Improve-Your-Concentration.html

The Not so Great Elena Hope Morey #1 (part 2)

Well, to all who felt some suspension to my previous blog post (as I did.  :D), this post is for you all.  To who ever is wondering, I learned that someone can have a really horrible audition (thanks random stage fright) and still get in because of "her attitude".  XD  To all you folks who want to try out for something or are going for a job interview, remember that your attitude is seemings more important that what you have to offer because people look at who you are rather than what you can do first.  You will get more people to like you in life if you can be nice and have a good, strong attitude.  You can be the best car dealer or artist but if poeple don't your attitude or the way you treat them, they will NOT hire you.  Life looks at how you dealt with all the ups and downs, not what grades you got in school or something.  I think one should live their life looking and focusing on bettering their person, not their skills or their body.  Remember, the physical things are just distractions and an empty shell.  Their pleasures won't last forever but your soul will.

We are this little bug compared to the wide and wondrous world ahead of us.

PS.  photo taken by me.  :P

The Not so Great Elena Hope Morey #1 (part 1)

When someone or people depend on you... it really means that they think you can do something that you yourself might not realise yet.  For example... I have to memorise something for a Centre Stage production in Singapore.  I have to memorise a whole page and well... I really am struggling.  I should have practiced more but I just didn't have that passion inside myself for it.  Through this, I realised that the people close to you really mean to just help you get through things.  They care about as much as you do and just want to best for you...

You know the old saying, "You don't know how much something means to you until you loose it,"...  Well... that is how I feel right now.  I have not gone and done the auditions yet but... I still feel like I have lost something.  I am still going to give it my best shot until then but I have one day left.  It will certainly not be enough but I know I can try.  I have pressure from school in exams coming up and then other things in my life to worry about.  Then... there is this little monologue.  At first... I though nothing really of it.  I would come up with excuses and just keep procrastinating until today.  My mom was talking to me and telling me that I was going to do it and going to go try out.  All through the process she was telling me I was going to go... as though there was no other option but to go.  Now, she sees that I won't be able to actually memorise it, she tells me that I should not do it.  Only after she said not to... I felt a change in the air.  I felt a shift into something different inside me.  I felt a sense of deep deep sadness and pain in my heart, as though someone I loved passed away.  I felt as though things would never heal.  I felt as though there was something I had but now was gone forever.

As human beings, we never really do realise what we truly care about until it is gone.  I am not trying to give my loving and caring mother a 'bad name' here but she is showing me what I care about. I think she knows that I care very deeply about what she thinks of me and what she expects.  I think all parents feel that their child understands and tried to except their expectation level but parents only really see one side of their child.  It is hard for them to care so much but let go...  A normal child tells their parents only that the feel that they need to know.  For me, that is not the case.  I tell my mother everything.  And I mean EVERYTHING!!!  We are extremely close and we know each other very well.  Although, there are some things, as a normal teen has, that their parents don't know or need to know.  Anyway, my mother and I are very close.  We trust and love each other deeply but, nothing is always perfect.  About 99% of the time, everything almost is.  But, like things like this (miscommunication), something goes slightly wrong.  We don't throw fits or slam doors but I mainly keep the feelings of sadness and loss of hope to myself.  Usually it is fine but most of the time, it needs to come out and in this kind of form of writing.  I trust the readers of my blog and I let them in on things like this.  Things that make us human.  Things that make us all alike in some way.  Feeling defeat and loss of hope is one of them but it does not mean that we should stop caring and trying about something.  Even if someone as close to you as a mother or father is, you should never stop trying.

Today, my amazing mother taught me an important lesson folks.  She taught me, in a strange and unusual way but nonetheless, taught me something VERY important.  No matter what you do, always think about it.  Ask yourself how much it means to you, no matter how small or little it seems, it may be important to you when it is gone.

Truths

Truths are really necessary in the lives we lead today.  Think about all the things you say in a day.  We say a lot, perhaps more than we should sometimes.  Well, we may end up saying some things that might hurt or lots of things that lift people up.  That's how things should be, it's only normal.  Although, I am not ever feeling normal...  That on its own is usually labelled as a bad thing in this modern society.  You hear comments all the time about people acting too strange or too far from the "status quo"...  Gossip only exists if people take a step out into the ocean and do something out of the ordinary.  Although, the way we talk usually leads right back to our morals or values.

I value people's opinions.  I listen and I talk, as usual.  The thing most people don't do is analyse that you hear based on what kind of aura the person is emitting.  Many people can easily tell is someone is lying.  It is mainly because they might be giving it away in some form, maybe blinking rapidly, fidgeting, playing with their hair or clothing (which is all very ok, everyone can make mistakes)...  But there is some other technique which is usually always overlooked.  That is the person's aura.  It is the soul's way of communicating directly to someone else's.  Charisma or social chemistry comes form this type of hidden communication between people.  This also occurs in animals or other species because we are all created by one being or BANG.  But, when one lies to another, their aura can change colour, feel different, or act in a different way.  Some auras target certain places on another's aura, maybe staying higher up, lower, middle, or circling from behind.  The aura's actions are mainly based on the person's intensions or acts, maybe before or after the aura is sent out by the soul.  Now, highly skilled investigators can somewhat sense this aura or get a feel of where it is.  Now, someone who is insecure will have a very wavy aura, one that lets the other aura dominate it fully, very passive and transparent.  The other person can sometimes pick up on this through body language or the way the person speaks but if you were to pick them out in a crowd, one could see it through the aura.

Also, some aura's come through to people as colours.  I seem to be able to feel the other person's aura at times, controlling mine at will.  Some people can't control their auras for they haven't learned to feel for them or understand them.  Imagine this, put yourself in an imaginary bubble.  Feel every inch of it around you, giving you just enough space to move but not something that will constrict you.  Now try and close your eyes, imagine this bubble.  Now, everyone's bubble is a different colour and size.  This is almost like your aura because when most people do this, their aura mimics it because you are manipulating the aura through willpower.  Once you get the hang of this, move it around you and try to feel the way it moves.  Now, it won't feel like you are actually moving some object but it will feel transparent or illusive.  I have learned that my aura is multi-coloured.  Sometimes one's aura is based off the core being of the soul, like an outer representation of it.  Mine is always changing based on my deep emotions, for example, when I am writing on this blog right now, my aura is a light blue or green, a warm colour.

Most people can mistake this aura talk for intensions.  I think intensions are what the aura is trying to say that the person can't or doesn't want to.

Well, thanks to all of you folks that read my blog.  I hope you enjoy more in the future.  XD

Wings

I drift through time, space, through non existent things.  I feel the presence of other living things around me but I cannot see.  Then I am pulled away from them all, going forwards into nothing.  I feel another presence before me, an older, more developed one.  My vision begins to clear and I see before me an aged man, floating but yet his feet are planted firmly on nothing.  He looks at me and smiles.

My, she is beautiful.  He has worked his magic on her.  Karen will be blessed!  I can’t believe He could give this child so much in so little time and in one body.  My!  I move towards her, my old legs moving with the energy my body forgot I had when I was a child.  My knees bend effortlessly, unlike  the creaky feeling I  had felt before, for they had been oiled by eternal life.  Her small soul shivers before me, not out of fear but of the freshness of life’s cold nibble on her pureness.  I smoothly take my wrinkled hands out of my pockets, rearranging the acorns and nuts for the squirrels.  My hands outstretch to touch her, now or never again for it will be a long wait until she takes the one way trip to visit me again.  When my hand makes contact with her aired soul, a gush of warmth overcomes me and I smile.  I feel the peace of Him run through me.  She does not say anything but she just smiles, not with her face but with her heart and soul.  Her eyes twinkle and go wide, too undeveloped to properly see me.

“Child, everything is going to be fine.  I want you to know that.”

His warm, calming voice overwhelms me, sending my head spinning with new feelings and sounds, though his lips do not part.  His hands hold my face, touching my forehead and shaping it slightly like clay.  He overlooks everything, making sure my features are fully formed and in his perfection.  I feel another presence, something more powerful and inspiring come over into our space.  It does not speak and it does not move but it is what it is.  I feel a powerful sense of self move into me and I begin to fully see.  I can see the older man more clearly, a quirky mustache perched on his upper lip.  A few wrinkles around his eyes but they definitely surrounding his smile.  This man truly must have smiled upon a thousand suns to have become this happy!  He takes my hands in his and I look down at my body, now full and human like.  Pure, I am in front of him, perfect in his eyes.  The old man sits down in front of me and rests, his mind fresh but his body fading.  I sit down with him but he does not let go of my hands.  I feel a warmth run over them as feeling comes into them.  He heart beats fast and I can hear distant voices but they are faint.  The other presence leans over towards the old man and he shifts his weight.  He looks back at me and smiles a golden smile, warming me up inside.

“I want to give you everything, Elena.  I want to make sure you know I will always love you and will always be with you, forever and ever.  Thus, there is so little time for me to do so but I know you will always remember me.  Though you have never met me, I give you life,” coos the man, letting go of my hands.  I look down at them, my own hands slightly wrinkled, as the old man’s..

“He has given you amazing gifts Elena.  I now give you the ability to use them for His glory,” I smile, tapping her forehead lightly, sending in His grace and forgiveness.  Her eyes shutter and I feel the tug of life in her, pushing her gently away from me.  A twinge of sadness pricks my heart but I push it away.

“Love Elena, love your heart out and always forgive those who hurt you because only others can hurt back.  Take my wings, for they will let you fly,” smiles the man, taking my hand in his again, walking with me towards the voices, getting louder and louder.  I can just make out what they are saying but then I feel a tug and an uncomfortable push around me.  Then the light fades and all I see is darkness.  I feel around for the man’s hand.  He squeezes mine reassuringly, urging me forwards.

“I love you!” he says as I am met with light.

This is a work of Non-Fiction.  My grandfather died on April 27th, 1999.  I was born on April 28th, 1999.

My adopted parents married in 1994 and they wished to adopt a child.  They prayed and hoped for one and their families watched over them.  They submitted their paperwork in about November 1998, hoping for a child they could raise as their own.  

The day before Harold Vogel died, Karen, his daughter asked him to ask God to send down a child for them.  He held her hands tightly and nodded, promising he would.

Four months later, Karen and Mark Morey received word through mail that there was a baby girl in Russia who needed a family.  They went through all the paperwork and soon they were off in Russia, awaiting the official meeting with me.

As soon as Karen saw me she thanked Harold because she could feel deep down inside that I was something special, sent to her from him.  He kept his promise.

Music and the Soul

I play the violin.  I love it because I have been playing for about four years.  I am not that competitive for the lead soloist position but in the few years when my musical talents have soared, I have started getting competitive for the position of Concert Master.  For those who don't know that term, it is the person who is like the playing conductor who sits in the first row on the conductor's left hand side.  They need to know the first person's piece best and they set an example for the rest of the players.  I have started getting competitive for that placement for it is an honour.  You work with the conductor and help him to maintain order during rehearsals and so forth.  You help the other musicians and tune their instraments.  Thus, the Concert Master must be the best player.  Last concert I was awarded that position.  I was overjoyed!

I have started feeling competitive because music has taken a part of my life to stand in.  It makes my heart soar, being a part of a moving, breathing, playing orchestra in mid piece, when everything is flowing smoothly and wonderfully.  I feel my heart soar and nothing can go wrong.  Usually, I am right but even in that perfect moment, one still needs to stay with the music and not fall behind.

In every living thing, music moves them.  When you play something to a dog, they bark or howl with the music's tune.  They might act differently out of fear or happiness.  This is just because their soul feels the music's tug, sometimes granting them wings to fly or tears to cry.

Even plants seem to grow faster with more low key music than rock or heavy metal.

Since we humans are more complex than our animal cousins, our brains act differently to different types of music.  Most people call this a musical preference.  I think it is which ever music the soul rests in.

Comment if you like this post or if you have any stories to add.  :)

Companionship (Friends)

This is something humans cannot live without.

Studies show that as human beings, we value companionship highly because we are very social creatures.  Scientifically, we need this feeling to live.  Without feeling valued by another human, we feel our lives are not worth living.  Suicide victims choose that way to go because they feel like no one cares anymore.  Believe me, I have felt that no one cared about me but of course, suicide is the coward's way out of things.  I kept struggling, hanging on by a thread, hoping, waiting for something good to occur in my life.  I showed myself and the God I believe in that I can get through the hard times.  I believe the more suffering you endure during your lifetime, the happier things will be when you get older.  Eventually the pain of this world will fade away and you may find real peace in death or later in life.  Friendship is at the core of our peace and emotions.

By having a friend, people bond with each other and enjoy spending company together.  There are a few things needed for a good friendship.  The first and most important is chemistry.  If the two don't have that natural enjoyment of each other, there is no use trying to make the friendship continue.

Second is effort.  Without effort, nothing would get done.  Each side of the friendship must work at things to make it right and to allow the bond to progress and get stronger.

Next is trust.  Trust builds the true bond between two people, sealing away their stranger like qualities and allows the two to get very familiar with each other.  People who know other people's secrets feel empowered, knowing they have a 'piece' of the other person's soul.  This is most commonly why people tell each other secrets for this bonds them together.

Keeping a friend though is more difficult.  Making a friend in a day is simple, you just hang around with them and feel like you trust them enough to give them your email or other contact so you can learn more about them.  After the month part of the friendship, you both should know quite a lot about each other.  Now it gets harder.  It is easy just to have a whole pile of 'temporary' friends but they come with their own risks and consequences.  You cannot really tell them many secrets because you cannot trust them for too long.  That is why I only befriend people I can be friends with for a very long time, perhaps my whole life (preferably).  I still keep in contact with a friend I made when I was about 7-10 months old.  We are practically like sisters even though I have been living in another place from her for about 5 years.  :(

I do try really hard to maintain friendships because everything pays of in the end.  You are surrounded by people that have the same interests as you and when you are old enough to leave the house, the whole world opens up before your eyes.  It is good to have someone (many people) to visit or be with.  Not only do friends make you smile, but they also offer advise that parents cannot give.  Friends go through the same feelings and things as you.  They have had different experiences and met other people but have the same feelings and usually understand things better than your parents.  They are good to have around to help you make choices that your parents wouldn't really understand.  Also, their company makes you feel secure and loved.  :)

Friends depend on each other and act as unrelated family.  Almost like a half sister or brother.  Once you tell someone a large secret, it is their duty to hold onto it and keep it safe form prying arms of the outside world.  A friend is the one you go and cry to, telling them all of your pains and feelings because they listen.  They not only listen with their ears but with their souls.  They try to feel what you feel and understand what you go through each day.  A real true friend is someone who you could switch places with and they would understand how you life works and would be able to survive.  I really feel that way for about a few people and I know that we will be friends for my whole life!

For all of you who read this blog, share it with your friends and spread the word.  Comment to correct or share your ideas with me. I need topics to discuss too.  :)