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?

Paragraph to Essay

                                     Paragraph to Essay

          After you write a paragraph about some topic, it is easy to change that paragraph into an essay. Paragraphs are made up of sentences. Every paragraph has three main parts; an introduction, body and conclusion. Every essay also has three parts; an introduction paragraph, three or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. So if you have already written a paragraph, all you need to do is expand the sentences into paragraphs and you will have an essay. The essay will have more information and details than the paragraph, but remember that the essay will have the same three main parts that a paragraph has--introduction, body and conclusion. When we start learning to write, we start with paragraphs because they are the basic "building blocks" that writers use. After you know how to write a good, well organized paragraph, it is easy to write essays with five or more paragraphs. It is kind of like learning to crawl before you walk, or learning to walk before you run. In conclusion, writing essays is easy after you know what you want to write about and after you know how to write good paragraphs.

My Top Five Strengths

            I have many strengths and weaknesses, but I am going to write about my top five strengths, in my opinion. First of all, my strongest strength is that I am good at learning languages. For example, I know how to speak Spanish. I also like to teach English as a Second Language and beginning Spanish courses.  Second, I am good at music. For example, I have always liked to sing, especially in the shower, and I play the guitar and the drums. Third, I love to read. I have read many books and I usually read a couple of books every month. I would rather read a book than watch television. Fourth, I have quite a bit of patience. For example, it takes a lot to make me angry. I have three daughters who were teenagers. It is good to have patience when you are a teacher, to be able to answer questions and be polite to your students. Finally, I am not good at math in general, but I was always good at Geometry. For example, when I was in school, I was always one of the best students in Geometry, but I was usually the worst student in Algebra. I hated Algebra, and I still do. In conclusion, I have at least five strengths that I have discovered about myself in life by understanding what I am good at.  

Why Ivy Tech Community College is an excellent place to study

          Ivy Tech Community College is a good option to study at the college level for the following three reasons. First, the low cost of tuition makes it accessible to everyone, not just the rich. For example, you can take a course at Ivy Tech for only $100 per credit hour. You don’t even have to buy a parking sticker if you are a student at Ivy Tech. Ivy Tech has different options for payment and financial aid for most students. Second, Ivy Tech is a convenient place to study. For example, it is fairly close for anyone who lives in the Indianapolis area. There are over 20 campuses in Indiana, so if you live in Indiana, there is probably a campus near you. Finally, Ivy Tech has some very well qualified teachers with a lot of experience working with students. For example, all the ESOL teachers have many years of experience teaching ESL to international students, have lived in different countries and speak another language besides English. In conclusion, I would recommend that everyone should consider studying at Ivy Tech because of the low cost, convenience, and excellent teachers.

How I learned to play the drums

           If you want to learn how to play the drums, there are many ways you can do it, but this is the way I did it. When I was a kid, I always wanted to play the drums, but my family didn't have a lot of money to buy drums and things like that. So when I was about five years old,  I started hitting pots and pans in the kitchen with big spoons and sticks. My mom didn't like that. I used cardboard boxes or plastic tubs for drums. In school I would bang on my desk with my hands or pencils. I used whatever I could find. I finally decided to buy a drum set about 20 years ago and learn to play. You can get a starter set of drums with cymbals for about $300 to $500. I bought a nice set of used drums for $500 that was worth a lot more than that because the guy needed money, fast. After I got the drums, I just started playing around on them by myself, but then I realized I was just making noise, so I bought some CDs about how to play drums and then found a drum teacher for weekly lessons. I tried to practice my drums every day for at least half an hour, but sometimes I was too busy with work, or was just lazy, or didn't want to bother my wife and daughters.  So I found a guy my age who played the guitar and liked the same kind of music. We didn't play too well, but we played LOUD. We had fun playing music together, but neither one of us could sing, but we had fun. Now I don't take drum lessons, but I listen to rock music from the 60s and 70s like The Beatles, The Who, and The Police, and I just play along with the music. I have a good time, but I would not say that I am a good drummer. There are many great rock drummers, but I like Ringo Star of The Beatles and Stewart Copeland of The Police. Now, I am teaching my little grandson Alex how to play the drums, and he can have my drums later when he gets older. I bought him some little drums. Like grandpa, Alex thinks it is fun to bang on the drums. Most drummers like to play drum solos as a way to show their skills. Click here to hear a drum solo by one of my favorite drummers: Stewart Copeland drum solo  Wow!  I wish I could play this well, but for now I just enjoy listening to drummers like him. In conclusion, when you know how to do something, you don't necessarily have to be good at it; what is important is that you have fun doing it and don't take yourself too seriously, because if you think you are a great drummer, there is always some drummer out there who is better than you.