It's your turn

Yesterday is obsolete...
What happened yesterday? Who cares! What should I do tomorrow? Who cares! Don't think about those things, it's stupid wasting time thinking all day long about things that you can't control nor change. It's true that the future might be controlled, but not completely, just some specific things like what you'll wear or eat, but who knows, maybe you just won't wake up.


You are so dramatic! Well, maybe, but you can't tell me that's wrong, life is like that, sometimes very dramatic, others it's scary and later maybe even creepy. You can call it destiny or coincidence, but some things just happen for a reason, and I know it.


Once you take a step forward, you can either continue walking or go back, but you took it and that is something that you can't erase, and that little step WILL teach you something that you'll use in the future, even if you thing it's useless. 


Make, belive.

Why??

So I'm sitting in front on my lap top crying... Why?? Well, maybe something similar has happened to you to. I have been studying Japanese for 2 and a half years by now, so I should be in an Intermediate level, but because of some school issues my generation had to repeat Basic 2 and now Basic 3 so we can continue studying (well, this semester only a girl friend repeated this level with me, the rest withdraw for personal reasons).

Last year, in December, 4 friends and I decided to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), it is a certificate that evaluates your knowledge of Japanese in Levels from N1 to N5, being 1 an expert (not many Japanese people have this level) an 5 the most basic. I decided to go for the easiest (N5) although my teachers and friends told me to do the N4 instead because N5 would be too easy for me, but anyways I chose 5, why? Because I wanted to see first how was the exam was structured and everything, just to get the picture of those exams.


The day we took the test, I was very nervous, as many other students there, but the reason for my nervousness was not the test itself, it was that I was very afraid not to pass it because it would mean I wasn't as good as everybody thought I was, I was afraid of loosing to the expectation people had of me, I was afraid I wouldn't be as good as I wanted to be, I was afraid I would have a "NOT PASSED" in the thing I had been dedicating 2 years of study and what I wanted the most, I WAS AFRAID.


After the test was finished, the fear and nerves were higher, "Did I answer correctly?", "Was that answer the best one?", "Was...?", "Did...?" and more "Was...?". My head was about to explode, but I tried to keep calm because my friends were nervous as well and I had to look strong and confident so they could calm a little bit. The wait would be long because the results would arrive 3 months later, so that meant 3 months of non-answered questions and doubts, of desperation, of guesses, of not knowing what that little piece of paper will say.

Now the 3 months are up, the answers, the desperation, the everything was just about to be over, the envelope in my hands had the answers to "everything", my hands were shaking but managed to open it, took the holy piece of paper, read to find the result and then my complete world fall apart. "NOT PASSED" was written on it,the paper lost it's holiness, those words were like a meteor crashing part of my dreams. The rest of the class was watching me, so I joke a little bit about it, I even laugh but I just made it more painful. Then my friend said that I was only missing ONE point for it to be a "PASSED!!!", but it didn't change anything, even if it was only ONE point i was expecting so much more of the test everyone said "would be too easy for me".

Now I'm just writing to express what I feel at this very moment, and to tell you that you won´t always win, sometimes you have to retreat one step to regain the strength to fight again. So for me it means that I have to study harder so that next December I will do the N4 and pass it, or maybe even N3. Hope you like it, it was just a more personal entry that I felt of doing, so we all have to try harder! ^^ 

Accidents

There are times destiny make us overcome tests that are very difficult and can change the way we see our life go on, but everything happens for a reason. This Blog is dedicated to a cousin that days ago had a very unfortunate accident, he is ok physicaly, but psychologically the impact of what he had to overcome was very big and he is still in shock.

Sometimes things that happen are just accidents, and as accidents they are not intentional, but that does not mean that we can forget about them that easy, those accidents do not only affect us, but also a lot of people, from our family, friends and the other people involved in the accident. We have to know that accidents happen, and most times we can't stop them, they are called accidents for something, they are not intended, we do not plan them, but we can try to prevent them.


If a problem faces us, threatening to change our confortable life, it's for a reason, God wouldn't make us face a problem which we can't overcome succesfully. If we have to fight against the world, it's because we are stronger than it.

So please, to end this, do not give up, you are a wonderful person, you can do it, so do not give up before succeeding, trying isn't everything, if it happened to you was because you are the amazing hero of your own story, the hero might sometimes feel weak, but that only means he needs to realize that he isn't, you have the tools you need to defeat the problems.


Sometimes you will need help, so don't be afraid to ask for it, remember that your family and friends are here to help with anything you need, that's why we are here in this life-time with you. Accidents are also experiences, and they only make you grow as a person.

Too violent??

Yesterday I turned on the TV and the first thing I watch is a dead guy, I got traumatized because the news were showing it in a very crude way, I change the channel and a cartoon starts, where some little kids are "saving" their town, but there's something different nowadays, there's more blood, there are always falling teeth everywhere, more "boom!", "pow!" & all those things. I don't remember cartoons being so "violent" then I was a little kid, the only violence back then were the colorful "boom!" & "pow!" every now & then, but nothing more, just with some punches the bad guys were defeated and went to jail with some birds flying around their heads and spiral eyes. I was shocked, how can the new generations watch those things!! And if you tell them they are violent they say no!!
Now, today I was watching an anime called "Bleach" with my mom (she doesn't like that kind of stuff, but she was accompanying me ^^), there's blood, swords & obviously fights, so later she asked me:
"Why do you like that cartoon so much if it's only violence and lots of blood? I mean, you can't even stand watching blood because you get "dizzy"!"
There's when I realized something, It's not that the cartoons, TV series or the news are getting violent and crude, it's just that they are becoming more realistic. There are wars everywhere, people getting killed in the streets and roads, more new weapons, more militarily, nuclear weapons, kids that take guns to school, more suicides, divorces, kidnappings, drugs, alcohol, smoke, more "violence" in videogames, more, more & more of everything that make us kill ourselves! We are crazy people! LOL

Videogames, cartoons, etc are not "too violent", they are more realistic each time, think about it, the world is getting so much crazier and insane and so are the things we watch and play.
If we want to stop it, we have to start within ourselves. I don't have the recipe for worldwide peace, but I have an hypothesis that I'll share with you:


1) Star with yourself (the way you act and think)
     1.1)Change the way you treat yourself (if you make a mistake don't tell yourself you're stupid or hit a wall to get hurt, it's just a mistake)

     1.2) Don't play the role of the victim, accept you did something wrong and correct them, blaming others will harm them and maybe make them hate you a little bit.
     1.3) Hating gets to vengeance, and vengeance to more blood and violence.


2) Get together with your family. They love you and will always support you. A family is the group of people that walk with you in your life and help you grow, don't abandon them or make them to a side, become more close. A close family will be able to overcome all obstacles! (Family is not only the people with whom you share DNA, also your friend count if you want).


3) Ignore. The people around you will make mistakes to, and they might be having a bad day, if they say or do something that hurts you, ignore it, if you get mad things might get out of control. Don't talk or take any decision while you are mad. Think twice, and they think again.


4) Share. No explanation needed right?

     * Share knowledge
     * Share experience
     * Share jokes
     * SHARE LOVE!


5) LAUGH! (Life was meant to be happy Ü)

Tic Toc

¿Será que en verdad el tiempo nos maneja?

Porque de no ser así, parece ser el mejor pretexto que encontramos a todos los problemas que tenemos que enfrentar.

"El tiempo dirá", "Tiempo al tiempo", "No hay mal que dure 100 años"...

Es cierto que nosotros no manejamos el tiempo, este solo sucede, corre sin que nadie lo pueda parar, pero si hay algo que podemos hacer es elegir como queremos que pase por nuestra vida, es elección nuestra si dejamos o no que nos gobierne y decida nuestra vida.

El tiempo siempre existirá, no hay aún manera de pararlo, y posiblemente no la habrá. El tiempo conlleva a crecer y con eso a morir, algunos de los miedos más comunes, pero no tendríamos estos si dejáramos de solo soñar y empezáramos a vivir.

Nuestra vida se basa en el tiempo, estudiamos para después trabajar, trabajamos para luego tener dinero y futuramente gastarlo para nosotros o seguir ahorrandolo para después. Nuestra vida e incluso nuestro idioma se basa en tiempos, presente, pasado y futuro.

"De grande quiero ser...", frase común de todos los niños(as), pero es necesario pensar así, en el futuro, sino,seguiríamos estancados en un mismo presente. No quiero decir que no pensemos en el después, solo que no hay que vivir ahí, hay que vivir en el ahora pensando en el "hoy" y en el "mañana".

El tiempo es solo una herramienta que podemos decidir si usar a nuestro favor o dejar que obstaculice nuestra vida. Si pensamos en el tiempo hay de pensar en el de estas 3 maneras:

1) Pasado = Recuerdos buenos y malos convertidos en experiencias.

2) Presente = Regalo, sinónimo de que estamos vivos y que es el momento para hacer lo que queremos, no esperes.

3) Futuro = Planes, hacer que nuestros sueños que no se pueden hacer en el ahora se logren.

Do you care?

Do you ever feel people care about others?
Do you?

Most people walk over the streets watching either the floor or ahead their way, but they never try to see what's near them, and of course, what's far doesn't exist in their world. Even if they walk that same path everyday, you could ask randomly about someone that just passed by, even wearing colorful clothes, and they wouldn't know a thing.


We don't care and we won't, we just think about what WE do and what WE want, everything else is nonexistent. Our life as we want it is more important than other's, but it's normal, we have to thing about ourselves before thinking about the rest of the people. But then, what about wanting something that could hurt others? Then we have a dilemma, because we can't just harm people for our benefit, not just like that, and then laws and rules appear.
Rules, we grew up with them and learned to hate them, those are the reason we got grounded so many times and why teachers made us write a hundred times phrases like "I won't eat in class" or "I won't talk while the teacher talks". Oh god, I loved those times, but hated the idea of not being able to do what I wanted because my mom said so.. =(

Okey, back to the topic, We can't just completely think about ourselves and ignore the rest of the world, they are alive and have feelings to, they are important, they are humans, they exist just like you and because of that, we have to think about them as well, about what's best for all of us, not just "YOU". We can't pretend we don't see, it's our world, we live together and have to coexist. We can continue doing what we want, but within some limits, like that we can preserve order and avoid unnecessary fights.

Respect!
You just can't expect others to think about you if you don't do the same.
*Teach with the example.*

Have you ever felt life is a recipe?

Just like when we enter the kitchen and start cooking, we have the ingredients and the exact steps to reach what we call "happiness", but we prefer to add more of this and less of that. Maybe it's just boring to follow the instructions just the way they are written, and that's good because life gets more interesting and somewhat mysterious (we won't know if we added to much salt or if we needed more heat until we try it, right?).

Life has a variety of flavors and colors, and we decide which ones to taste, not always consciously but we do, like when a friend says something that shouldn't be said at that exact moment, we decide whether to ignore it and move on or get upset and yell at him/her. I know sometimes it's very difficult to forget others, it's easier getting angry and blame them than staying calm and accept your fault, I mean, no one like feeling you were wrong, we are "perfect".

And speaking about perfection, we are always taught that humans can make mistakes, but once we do one every single person that notices it will criticize you and then the gossip will get the ears of people like your parents, teachers, friends and even your boss, and there we have a problem.

Why are mistakes such a big deal? Why can't we just say "Oops! I did it again..", correct it and continue walking without everyone staring at you? We know that there's no prefect human, I can bet my car on it, we ALL make mistakes at least once in our life, and only once is impossible. We trip, we fall, we say one thing instead of another, we do crazy things that then regret, we fall in love with someone we don't know, we gossip, we laugh about others and talk behind our friend's back, we add too much salt, we take the cake 10 minutes before from the oven and sometimes we even get burned.

This is life, just like cooking, we can do whatever we want and life will be sure to make of every mistake, a life long experience, so next time we try doing a delicious meal, we will succeed making it the most tasty and colorful of all.