1, 2, 3

           Three is a powerful---and you might even say--magical number. Three is considered to have special properties in different cultures around the world. In China, three is considered to be a lucky number. Fairy tales from around the world are often based on the number three, such as "The Three Little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The Three Kings traveled thousands of miles to visit baby Jesus. These are only three of many examples of  the number three. We don't really know why three is such a pervasive number. I'll talk about three areas of our lives that are tripartite in nature: the natural world,  culture, and the make-up of our bodies.  And I'll give three examples of each area.

          First of all, the natural world is full of threes. Atoms, the basic building blocks of life, consist of protons, neutrons and electrons. Now they've discovers Quarks in atoms. I don't know how many Quarks there are, what they do, or where they are in the atom, but it is a cool word--Quark!   Einstein's theory of relativity has three parts:  E=mc2, Energy equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared. Don't ask me to explain what this means because I have no idea. I didn't understand it in high school Physics class, and I still don't have a clue. We live in a three dimensional world.  This I can understand.  I can understand why we would not want to live in one dimension or two, but why three, and not four, five or six. All living things have three stages: birth, life and death.  Birth is preceded by three trimesters of pregnancy.

          Second, let's take a look at culture.  Cultures around the world often use the number three. Triangles have three sides. Geometry in high school was one of my favorite classes, partly because of triangles, which have angles that can be calculated with theorums. Pyramids are made up of triangles and are strong constructions that can withstand more force than square or rectangular structures. The ancient Egyptians believed that their pyramids had mystical powers. That's probably why they buried their dead inside pyramids.  Some people today believe in Pyramidology: the special powers of pyramids, as a way to preserve food, sharpen razor blades, improve health, and many other things. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A lot of pop culture is divided into threes. Remember that Jackson Brother's song, "Easy as 1-2-3, as simple as ABC, ABC, 123, baby you and me..."  How about all the TV programs and bands we have watched and listened to over the years? The Three Stooges, Three's Company, My Three Sons, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Three Dog Night. Remember them?  We have many words in English that divide things into three parts: trio, triad, triplet, tripartite, triathlon, trifecta, trilogy, triumvirate, the trinity are examples.

          Third, and finally, our bodies are made up of three major parts: head, torso, and limbs. The torso has a chest, abdomen and back. Each of our limbs can be divided into three parts and three joints. Our arms have an upper arm, forearm and hand, with shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. Our legs can be broken up into thigh, tibia, and foot, each with three joints, a hip, knee and ankle. Now, I can't explain why we don't have three toes and three eyes, but I guess you can't have everything. To end on a personal note, I have been married for 33 years, have three daughters, and three grandchildren. Isn't that interesting?

          In conclusion, the number three really does appear to be an important number in our world. We just don't know why.  Is this just a coincidence, or is it God's sense of humor?

The Gift of Time

           Someone once said, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and the present is a gift."  The only time that we can chose what we do is the present--we can't change what happened yesterday, or be certain what will happen tomorrow. So how do we spend our time; living in the moment, or thinking about the past or the future? We can chose to spend our time in an opportunistic way or a pessimistic way.

          The present moment is the only time that we are really in control of. We can chose to be pessimists and use our time negatively. We can hate our job, but not look for a new job. Most of us have a daily routine and do pretty much the same thing every day in our comfort zone. Habit drives most of what we do. Is spending several hours every day surfing the Net, texting, and checking FaceBook a good use of our time? How about watching 4-6 hours of TV every day?  Or we can be positive, live in the moment, talk to people, change our routine, try new things, go to new places, make new friends, stop doing things that waste our time, and just enjoy each moment as much as possible. 

          We all spend some time in the present thinking about the past. Many people do this, especially older people, regretting things that they did or didn't do in their lives, or remembering happy times and memories. Sometimes, we miss out on the present by always reminiscing about the "good old days." Or we can be positive and focus on the good things about the past, happy memories, the good things that we have done and enjoyed, and the accomplishments and successes that we have had. 

          What about the future? The future is mostly unpredictable, but is at least partly under our control. We often chose to think about the future in a negative way. We spend a lot of time worrying about the future. Most of what we worry about never even happens. As Winston Churchill said, "When I look back on all of my worries, I remember the story of an old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened." Or we can be optimists and look forward to the future in a positive way, focusing on our plans, goals, hopes and dreams, always expecting the best. We can make specific plans for the future and then do everything possible in the present to make those plans a reality.

          In conclusion, how we think about time is important. We can be optimists and spend our time living in the moment, thinking about the past and future in a positive way, focusing on happy memories of the past and positive hopes, plans and goals for the future. Or we can be pessimists, not taking advantage of the fleeting moments of our lives, but instead wasting time and dwelling on bad memories and regrets about the past, while worrying about the future. How do you use your time?



         

      

     

Fall: My favorite season of the year

     Most people like Fall more than the other three seasons.  I love the Fall because it comes after the heat and humidity of the Summer.  By August, I am tired of the hot Summer, and looking forward to the cooler days of the Fall. I like Fall for three main reasons: football, the festivities and holidays, and special Fall food.

     First, I love to watch football in the Fall, which starts in September. I like to watch my town's high school football games. I like to watch college games on the television. I watch NFL games on the television on Sundays.  My favorite NFL teams are the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Chargers, who used to be the San Diego Chargers. I just love the football in the Fall.

     Second, I love all the special festivities and holidays in the Fall, like Halloween at the end of October, Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas in December. December is really the end of the Fall and the beginning of the cold and snowy Winter, which I don't like too much. I love the cool weather of Fall. So I like the Fall because of the festivities and the change of the weather.

     Finally, I like all all of the special food that we have in the Fall. We eat a lot of delicious food in the Fall, different kinds of candy for Halloween, hot dogs and beer at the football games, turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and a lot of special pies and other delicious desserts for Christmas.

     In summary, Fall is my favorite season of the year for many reasons, but mainly because of football, special festivities and Fall food. What is your favorite season of the year, and why?

Showing Up

          There is an old saying, "Half of the battle is showing up!". This means that you can't "fight the battle" if you are not there, with your gun and ready to fight. What would happen in a war if only half of the Army showed up, and most of them didn't bring their rifles?  They would probably lose the battle, and maybe the war. The application of this saying in the workforce is that you can't work if you are not at your worksite. If you are getting married, it is very important for you to be there...:) In an educational context, it means that it is really important to attend classes. You miss a lot if you don't attend classes; you miss what is covered in class and you will fall behind.  So be sure to come to class every Friday, and if you can't for some reason, please let your instructor know. The students who show up are not always the "best" students, but they show up and do the work and get the best grades. . In conclusion, be sure to show up for class, work, doctor's appointments and other important things.

The Writing Process and Number 7

       Did you know that the number seven is considered a lucky number in American culture?  Four leaf clovers and horse shoes are also lucky. The number seven is important in betting, for example, in Las Vegas. If you get three 7's on a slot machine you might win a lot of money. Rainbows are lucky; they have seven colors. You get the idea. On the other hand, the number 13 is considered an unlucky number in the US.  Many hotels do not have a 13th floor! You follow seven steps to write a good essay: 1. Pick a topic, 2. Think about your topic and Brainstorm, 3. Create an outline, 4. Write the first draft using your outline, 5. Peer review, 6. Revise the first draft based on the peer review, 7. Write and proofread the final draft.  Follow these steps and you will write a good essay every time. Seven  is a lucky number. What is a lucky number in your country?  Are there any unlucky numbers? Are there lucky objects? 

Plagiarism is a No-No

          Don't commit plagiarism. Don't plagiarize.   What?  Many people don't even know what the word plagiarism means. If you go to a college or university, you need to know what the word means.  Plagiarism is a fancy word that means cheating when you write. Plagiarism means when you take someone else's writing and submit it as your own. Or cutting and pasting something from the internet. Or having a friend who is a good writer write an essay for you, and then give it to your instructor as "your" writing. There are three good reasons not to commit plagiarism when you write. First of all, it is dishonest, and it's nice to be dishonest.  Second, it only hurts you when you plagiarize, because when you use someone else's writing, it doesn't help you to improve your own writing skills.  Finally, when you plagiarize, it could have serious consequences. If an instructor finds out that you have plagiarized, you probably will receive a zero on the assignment. In many colleges and universities, you can be dismissed from the school if you are caught plagiarizing in a class. So that's a pretty serious consequence of plagiarism.  So be careful and don't plagiarize when you write, and if you do use another person's writing or ideas, give them credit by referencing/citing  their work in your writing.

The Power of the Number Three

     Three is a powerful number. We see it all around us in the natural world. Triangles. Pyramids. three main parts of our bodies: head, torso and limbs (legs and arms); father, mother, and children; birth, life, death; and so on. Three is also an important number in writing. Every type of writing, from paragraph to essay, to book, has three main parts: an introduction, body, and a conclusion. An essay often consists of five paragraphs, with three body paragraphs after the introduction and before the conclusion. So remember whenever you write, divide your writing into three parts.

May Flowers

We have a saying, "April showers bring May flowers."  Maybe we should change it to "May showers bring June flowers."  Let me explain. It rained a lot in Indianapolis in May this year. Now it is June. My wife and I just planted some flowers because we are preparing to sell our home and move into an apartment or smaller house. We want to make our house more beautiful and easier to sell. We have lived in our four-bedroom house for 17 years. Our three daughters grew up here, but they are all in their 20's now and have left home. Two of them have children. So my wife and I are "empty nesters." We don't need such a big house anymore. Anyway, our new flowers are doing well; we planted them in May and it's June now. It rained a lot in May. It's still raining in June.  So maybe we should change the saying to "May showers bring June flowers."

What are the best times to plant flowers in your country? What are the months with most rain?

Fitness Centers

          Do you belong to a fitness center or gym?  I don't. I think exercise is important and I exercise everyday, but for me, going to a fitness center is boring and expensive.  I like to exercise with a purpose. I would rather walk outside than walk on a treadmill inside. The idea of walking and not going anywhere is strange to me. Why walk on a treadmill inside a gym when you can walk outside and enjoy the view and fresh air? Same with the stationary bicycle. Riding a bike and not going anywhere?  If I want to ride a bike I will jump on my bike and go for a ride around the neighborhood. I walk several miles every other day. I walk to the public library, get a book, and walk home. Two miles. That's walking with a purpose. When I walk, I look for interesting rocks to give to my grandson, Alex, who likes to collect and polish them. Sometimes I go for a two-mile walk with Alex; we stop at a gas station after one mile to buy some candy. He looks forward to walking with me because he knows he's going to get some candy.  Sometimes when we walk together, we take a plastic bag and pick up trash that we find on our walk. We make the neighborhood more beautiful. Once we found a Spiderman hat on the sidewalk. That's his favorite superhero. So we took it home and washed it. He loves it. When I drive to Ivy Tech to teach, I park my car in a parking lot far from the building where I teach.  I take the the stairs instead of the elevator to the fifth floor. So my walking has a purpose. According to statistics, only about 20% of  the people who sign up for a fitness center membership continue to go after a few months. It takes a lot of self-discipline to go several times a week, every week, especially when it is so boring. Finally, there is the cost; most fitness centers charge about $40 per month. I'm cheap, so I don't like to spend money to exercise. I like to exercise naturally, and whenever possible, with a purpose in mind.  Do you belong to a fitness center?  What has your experience been?  

Indiana weather

          Indiana weather is very unpredictable. Crazy. Here in Indiana we say that if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes! March 20th was the first official day of Spring. Now it's April 15th and it is 50 degrees. It was 75 degrees just last week. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and get down to 30 degrees. I'm confused. Even the plants are confused.  The flowers are starting to bloom. The grass is turning green. And it's going to snow?  Is this climate change or just typical Indiana weather?  What do you think? 

Best way to learn another language

          In my opinion, the best and fastest way to learn a language other than your native language is to go to live in a country where that language is spoken. Find a place to live where there are no other speakers of your native language. No other people from your country. Do not speak your language at all. Take some classes in the language you are learning, but spend most of your time using the language in everyday life.  Speak the language 24/7. Use the new language for everything you do: take the bus, ask for directions, order food, go to the movies, go to parties, make friends,  read the local newspaper every day, read books and magazines, ask questions, and so on. Do this and you will be amazed how fast you will become fluent in the new language and understand the culture of the new place. This is called the immersion method. Think of the way babies learn language. It's called the immersion method.  It isn't the easiest method, but is the most effective and fastest method. What do you think?

English Passive

          There are some aspects of English grammar that can be presented as a kind of formula. Active and Passive sentences are an example of this. The most common type of sentence in English is an Active sentence, which has an Actor + Verb + Receiver, such as John robbed the bank, or an Actor + Verb, such as John slept, which has no Receiver. We can change an Active sentence into a Passive one by changing the positions of the Actor and Receiver, moving the Actor to the end of the sentence and moving the Receiver to the beginning of the sentence: Actor + Verb + Receiver ==> Receiver + Be + Past Participle + by + Actor. For example, John robbed the bank. ==> The bank was robbed by John.  Passive sentences always have some form of Be: be, for future tense and modals, am, is, are for Simple Present Tense, was, were for Simple Past Tense, being for Present Progressive, and been for Present Perfect. That's how to form a Passive sentence, but when do we use Passive sentences instead of Active ones?

We use Passive sentences in these four situations:

1. No one knows who the Actor is.  The bank was robbed (by someone).
2. We don't want to say who the Actor is.  The window was broken (by someone).  I know who broke the window (the Actor), but I'm not going to say.
3. Everyone knows who the Actor is. Rice is grown in China.  Everyone knows that Chinese people grow rice in China.
4. We want to put the emphasis, or focus, on the Receiver. In the Passive sentence, The man was bitten by the dog,  I'm more concerned about the man than the dog.

I want to leave you with a question. Can you make a Passive sentence out of an Active sentence that has no Receiver, like John died? If not, why not?

Bad News Addiction

Watching the news can be bad for you. And let's face it, most news on the TV is bad news. I found this out the hard way. You see, last November my wife went to Mexico to be with her mother, who was dying. I was lonely and thought I didn't have anything else to do at home in the evening, so I started watching TV. I liked MSNBC news. So every weeknight, usually from around 6pm to 11pm or midnight I would watch MSNBC. Its news coverage is mostly about Trump. I don't like Trump and think he will go down in US history as the worst president we have ever had. Anyway, I liked watching these news programs because they reinforced my negative opinion of Trump. I started to become addicted to the news. After a while, the evening programs weren't enough, so I would wake up early most weekday mornings and watch Morning Joe, another MSNBC news program mostly about Trump, for a couple of hours. On Sunday mornings, I would watch one or two of the Sunday morning news talk shows, like Meet the Press and Face the Nation. More bad news about Trump! But that wasn't enough. I started listening to NPR radio in my car to keep up with the latest news about Trump.  I had become completely addicted to the news, and was spending more than eight hours a day watching and listening to it. I had become a news junkie. An addict. In the middle of December, I started feeling depressed.

          So I went to see a psychologist. He talked to me about how news can be negative, addicting and bad for our mental health, just like drugs.  He told me that we should practice good mental hygiene to have healthy brains,  just like we ought to have good dental hygiene (brushing and flossing our teeth every day) to have healthy teeth. We have to be careful about what we put in our brains. News can be like "mental garbage." I took his advice and completely stopped watching the news and  listening to NPR radio.  I started listening to a Classic Rock station in my car. At first it was difficult, and I was tempted to turn on MSNBC and listen to NPR radio,  but I resisted the temptations. I spent the evening reading a book, watching sports and movies on TV, and spending more time with my grown daughters and grandchildren, all things that I love to do.  I started to feel better. I was recovering from my addiction and my mental health was improving. I'm not addicted anymore, and I feel better.

          This is my advice to you. If you find yourself doing anything too many hours a day, you might have an addiction that isn't good for you. I'll leave you with this thought. I read an article recently about a research study that showed that young people (15-30 years old) spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cell phones. That is more than half of the time they are awake. I will be writing more about this subject in a later post. Could cell phones become an addiction?  Could they be bad for our mental health?  What do you think?

Modals

          One of the hardest things to learn in English is modals, their meanings and when to use them.  Modals are sometimes called modal verbs, or helping verbs. In my opinion, it's better not to refer to them as verbs, because they are really not verbs. Verbs express actions (like eat, talk,  go),  phenomena (like rain, believe, live), and states (like be, have, sit).  Modals are those words that we put before verbs to express our attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about the verbs, such as degrees of certainty, politeness, expectation, necessity and advisability. Most modals are one word (like must, might, can, should, and would), but there are also phrasal modals that consist of more than one word (like have to, have got to, be able to, ought to, and would rather). One tricky thing about modals is that one modal can have several different meanings and uses, such as would. For example, would like is a polite way to say want, would rather expresses a preference,  would can be used for a  polite request, such as Would you mind helping me?, and talking about something that you did repeatedly in the past, such as I would ride my bike every day when I was a kid. 

          Many ESL students think that the only modal we use to express necessity is must. Actually, we don't use must very much at all when we speak, and only when we are referring to rules that you must follow or in legal written documents, such as You must pay your rent on the first day of  each month (in your rental agreement). Otherwise, when we refer to necessities, we use have to, or in more informal speech, have got to.

          Some ESL students are surprised to learn that we give advice with both should and ought to. It probably doesn't help that in normal, fast speech we say otta instead of ought to, just like we say wanna instead of want to. So should and ought to (otta) mean the same thing and they are equally common.  Learning how to use modals is more like learning words than learning grammar. You learn how to use them best by listening to how native speakers use them and in what situations.

Friends

          How many friends do you have? I have never had very many friends. And I consider myself a friendly person. I can usually count the number of friends I have on one hand. What is a friend, anyway?  We have different words for friends--buddies, buds, pals, mates, homies. Friend is a word that people define in many different ways. For me, a friend is someone who shares similar likes and dislikes as me. It is someone who I  like to hang out with, can go to if I need help, talk with or ask for advice, or even borrow a little money from if I am in a bind. I like spending time with a friend and can talk about pretty much anything. There was a popular program on TV a few years ago called Friends,  about a group a friends who share an apartment in New York City. I saw it a few times.

I saw something on the Internet recently that the average American has between five and ten friends. I have a best friend from high school that I still keep in touch with more than 40 years later. I still consider him a good friend. I have a couple of very good friends in Mexico. Even if I don't see them for years at a time, when I do see them again, I have the same feelings of friendship towards them.

 How many "friends" do you have on Facebook?  Most Americans have about 500 Facebook "friends."  Really?  How many of those "friends" do they even know?  Sometimes the word friend is confused with acquaintance and colleague, someone who we know or work with, but are they really friends?  Sometimes we might worry that we don't have enough friends. If you are living in the US and want to learn American English, it would be a good idea to have some American friends. Speaking with Americans is probably the best way to learn American English. Maybe we should focus on the the quality of our friendships and not the quantity. So, how would you define friend?  How many friends do you have? If you are an international student, do you have American Friends?

Fish Fridays

Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays before Easter?  I'm a Catholic. No one really knows the answer to this question.  There is a long tradition that goes back hundreds of years that Catholics are not supposed to eat "red meat" on Fridays during Lent, the 40 days before Easter. Easter is this Sunday. Today is called Good Friday, the day that we believe that Jesus was killed on the cross, crucified.  I usually eat meat on Fridays during Lent because I forget it's Friday. But today is Good Friday, so I remembered. I'm going to Wendy's with my wife to have a fish sandwich for lunch. They have good, fresh fish sandwiches, and cheap, two for five dollars. If you notice, all of the fast food places have specials on fish sandwiches on Fridays before Easter. It's all about business. But it's also part of the Catholic tradition.

Rock 'n Roll Music

My favorite music is Rock 'n Roll from the 60s, when I was a teenager. I have listed my Top Ten Rock groups below.  It's interesting that my Top Five are all from England. These groups were called the British Invasion. The rest of my Top Ten favorite bands (6-10) are from the US. Here they are, in order.

1. The Beatles
2. The Who
3. Led Zeppelin
4. The Kinks
5. Pink Floyd

6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
7. The Police
8. Neil Young (with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
9. Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers
10. The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson

You may have never heard of some of these bands because you're too young. If you haven't,  I'd encourage you to go to Google and sample some of their music on YouTube. They may be old, but they still sound good. It's interesting that so many of these Rock bands, especially the British ones, have "The" in their name, beginning with The Beatles. The Beatles were (and still are, in my opinion) definitely the best. Notice that The Rolling Stones are not on my list. I never liked them that much--they are still touring and their music still sounds the same as it did in the 60s. It hasn't evolved. The Beatles music evolved a lot in the less than ten years that they were together.

Don't get me wrong; I like a lot of the recent Rock and pop music, like Linkin Park, Justin Timberlake, Eminen, Bruno Mars and The Travelling Wilburys.

What kind of music and bands do you like?