Love Story

It does not matter now, she thought. Nothing does. She will close her eyes and everything will disappear. The world. The tears. The pain. That was what she hoped for, that was what she believed in, that was what she had never tried before. Because if she tried and it didn’t work, she would have nothing left to have faith in. Because if she closed her eyes and the pain were still there, she would be broken. She would be destroyed. Ruined. Quashed.

But today she was ready to take that risk. Today she wanted to stick to that little hope that everything might be if not fine, but at least okay. Today she wanted to close her eyes. So what if there was a good chance that she might be knocked down and broken into pieces. How did it matter if nobody cared? How did it matter if even she did not care?

Suddenly she noticed his picture on the table. It was an old one. She realized that she didn’t remember when it had been taken. Five years ago? Six? She didn’t know anymore. She didn’t care anymore. She didn’t want to know. Should she close the eyes now, she wondered. Let herself be drifted to the world of illusions, to the world where she remembered the pictures’ dates. Where she actually didn’t need pictures to look into his eyes. Where she just did not need any pictures. Because he would be there.

She wanted to close her eyes. She really did. She hoped to see him in the world of her fantasies. She wanted to ask so many questions. She wanted to talk. She wanted to stay silent. She wanted to feel his presence. To feel his love. To feel him. To be with him. She wanted to stay there. For good. She wanted to close her eyes and never open them. No, she didn’t want to die. She only wanted to close her eyes. She wanted to dream. To hope. To live.

It was his birthday today. It was his first birthday after that car accident. It was his first birthday after the car accident that had changed their lives. It was his first birthday after thecar accident that had killed him. It was the first birthday. Damn it! She thought. It is the first birthday.

She didn’t ask “why” anymore. The time of questions had long passed. She did not cry anymore. Not in the day at least. And she did not smile anymore. All she wanted was one simple thing - to close her eyes, to disappear, to vanish. All she wanted was to live. With him.

Should I close the eyes? She asked. Silence. Of course, who would have replied to her? She was all alone. Wrapped by the blanket of loneliness. Stuck in the darkness of grief. Losing herself in an agony of silence. She was alone. And he was alone too. Somewhere. Maybe in another world. Maybe in the same one. Love like this does not end, she thought. Not this way. Not here. Not now. It just can’t end. It is not supposed to. It can’t. But he was not there. She knew that. She just was not ready to accept it. It didn’t feel right. It was not right. It was not…

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A moment later she was smiling. He sat on the bench under an old oak tree. She sat down next to him. She didn’t say a word. Neither did he. They didn’t need words. They needed each other. And all they had to do was to close their eyes at the exact same time. And they did.

Script

I am offering you an old short story of mine - “Complicated”

“Why?” He asked.
“I don’t know… It is…” She fell silent searching for the right word.
“Complicated?” He came to help.
“Well, yes, complicated.”
“Nothing complicated here, honey. I love you, you love me, why can’t we be together?”
“I am not telling you we cannot, it is just…”
“Complicated…” He sighed.
“Right. Complicated,” she repeated trying to avoid meeting his eyes.
“What’s on your mind?” He demanded. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you really not get it?”
He was taken aback at her unexpected aggression. Never before he had seen her so furious. And yet, at the same time she looked so helpless and confused.
“Do you really not get it?” She repeated. “I had been madly in love with you all these months. I was ready to make sacrifices you would never even dream of. I could easily die for you; do anything you would ask me. I cared about you. I believed in you. I trusted you blindly.”
“But…” He tried to interrupt her but it was impossible to stop her now.
“You were everything for me. And when she had come into the scene, I couldn’t believe it was you. YOU, of all people. It was not the person I knew, not the person I loved, not the one I wanted to spend my life with. It was not you.”
“But I love you.”
“I know you do. But things changed. They are … complicated now.”
“Complicated,” He repeated.
“I love you, too. But this madness is gone, this passion is not there, the trust needs to be rebuilt. I am tired to fight alone. I don’t know what else I can give you. I have given you my heart. And if this is not enough, then… I am not enough.”
“And what will we do now?”
“I don’t know… It is…”
“Complicated,” both breathed out simultaneously.
Destiny closed the book. She didn’t know what would happen to the two in the future. She had not decided on them yet. Once trust is broken you can never look at it the same way anymore. But maybe these two would stand another chance.
Destiny didn’t know. She would think about it tomorrow and then write a new chapter in the Book of Fortune. The chapter that would be a little bit complicated to write because it is always difficult to give people second chances…
More from Tuesday Love Ramblings you can read by clicking here. 

10 Internet Technologies that Educators Should Be Informed about

There are so many different tools and technologies available on the internet today, and so many associated terms and concepts. As I think about topics to focus on here , I want to make sure I am touching on the most important ones. What are the most important internet technologies for educators to be aware of, and informed about?
1. Video and Podcasting - One of the most widely adopted internet technologies for use in instructional settings is video streaming. Between YouTube, TeacherTube, EduTube, and many other video hosting sites, there are an abundance of lectures, how-to videos, and supporting materials available in the form of web based video. Podcasting has also been used to provide similar offerings of audio materials through popular sites like iTunes. [Click here to learn more about video hosting for education, or here to learn more about podcasting for education.]

2. Presentation Tools - This category is vast and rich. There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of tools on the Internet that can be used to create and share presentations, from simple Powerpoint slide players like Slideshare to multimedia timeline tools like Vuvox and OneTrueMedia. These tools can be used to support classroom teaching or distance learning, or for student reports and presentations.

3. Collaboration & Brainstorming Tools - This is another wide ranging category, including thought-organizing tools like mindmap and bubbl.us, and collaborative tools like web based interactive whiteboards and Google Documents. Additionally, some of the other tools in this list, such as wikis and virtual worlds, also serve as collaboration tools.

4. Blogs & Blogging – Bloggers and many other regular Internet users are well aware of blogs and blogging, but there are many other professionals who really are not frequenters of the “blogosphere”. In addition to a basic familiarity with this technology, educators should be aware of sites like Blogger and WordPress, where users can quickly and easily create their own blogs for free.

5. Wikis – The use of Wikis in educational settings is growing every day. Sites like Wetpaint and others allow users to create free wiki web sites and are a great way to get started with using wikis for educational applications. [Click here to learn more about the use of Wikis in education].

6. Social Networking – All educators should have a basic understanding of sites like Facebook and MySpace and how they are used. This doesn’t mean they need accounts on these sites (and many educators would recommend against using these sites to communicate with their students), but they should understand what they are and how they are being used. Educators should also be aware of the professional social networking site LinkedIn.

7. IM – A large percentage of students use IM regularly, via Aim, IM aggregator site Meebo (Meebo allows users to combine messaging from Aim, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, and other sites), or other tools. It behooves educators to be aware of this.

8. Twitter – This listing is really focused on technologies, not specific applications, but this application is currently just too popular to ignore. You should at least understand what it is and the fundamentals of how it is used. [Click here for some insight into how Twitter can be used in education.]

9. Virtual Worlds – This technology has received a lot of press, with SecondLife being the clear leader thus far in this application area. In my experience, the use of SecondLife has been somewhat constrained by high bandwidth and processing power requirements, but this also means that there is still considerable room for increased adoption of the application as systems continue to become more powerful and higher speed bandwidth more prevalant. Active Worlds is one of a number of competitive technologies, and provides a “universe” dedicated to education that has been popular with educators.

10. RSS Feeds - RSS allows users to create their own “push” data streams (that is, define data flows you want coming to you automatically, rather than having to go and “pull” the information with a Google search or other browsing effort). RSS feeds enable you to take advantage of streams of published content that will be sitting in your In Box, or in an RSS reader, when you want them. There are RSS feeds available for many topics and many web sites.

While many readers may have their own interpretation of which technologies are essential for educators to be aware of, I think this is a great list to get started with.

Sympheropol

When I first arrived in Sympheropol in odder to pass an examination everything appeared to be rather grey and dark but as I came one more time to this city there was a dramatic change. I want to present you my photo files from this trip.

There were so many fantastic buildings with very interesting architecture. Especially I got the impression that works from wood are the most impressive masterpieces.

This is the wood-horse:



I went to Sympheropol with my friend. He missed two days of his work in oder to escorting me.( I think that the master will dismiss him becouse of his absence.) His work devots to memorial works for the dead. He made gravestones and headstones. He likes every kind of tombstones and espacially memorial monuments. That's why he askt me to photograph him and monument. But I thinck that it is not aestheticly and a brainless act.                                                                                     

                      

 Speaking about Sympheropol I can't help saying that it is definitely the city of parks. There are a lot of parks: parks for walk, children-parks, parks for rast.This are photographs from small park. There are works from forged iron. This is an iron-dragon.

My sweet boy on a dragon

And, of cours I and the drdragon.                  A broom:

We had a brilliant time in Sympheropol, and the weather was good. We also went in another park. I called it "Duky-park"



It was great fun! I feeded ducky and my boy thought of names for evry duck, and I pretended to be ignorant of it. This are the video- files of our feeding:

Was My Mind Playing Tricks on me?

    I was alone in the house reading a scary-ghost-story. As snow fell silently outside, the only sound was the ticking of my old grandfather clock. The dying fire cast an orange glow onto the walls of my study.

    I was absorbed in the story when suddenly I began to fell that someone was watching me. The clock stopped ticking, I looked around, but I could see no one was- my mind playing tricks on me. 

    Trying to ignore my intense fears I returned to my book after. A few seconds though the book was knocked to the floor by an unseen hand. “Who’s there?!”  I cried. I saw something standing in front of me. That made my blood runs cold. A shadowy white ghost pointed a pale finger at me. It`s mouth moved: “Come on”. “Come with me”, it said.

    “What do you want? “, I managed to ask shaking with fear. The ghost took me by the hand and led me to the window; just as we reached it the clock truck twelve. Mysteriously I found myself back in my armchair. My book was beside me. I looked around, but only Murk, my cat, was in the room, trying to make herself comfortable on my lap. “Where’s the ghost?” I wondered. Than laughed at myself. “I`d better stop reading ghost-stories”, I thought. But then I felt a cold wind blowing in through the now open window.  

Halloween

    Halloween is a festival that takes place on October 31. In the United States Children wear costumes and masks and go trick-or-treating.

Many of them carve jack-o`-lanterns out of pumpkins. Fortunetelling and storytelling about ghosts and withes are popular activities. 

Halloween developed from New Year festivals and festivals of the dead. Christian church established a festival on November 1 called All Saint`s Day so that people could continue to celebrate their festivals. The Mass said on All Saint`s Day was called Allhallowmass. The day before All Saint`s Day was known all hallow`s Eve or All Hallow e`en.

The main Halloween activity for children is trick-or-treating. Children dress in costumes and masks and go from door to door saying “trick or treat”.

The neighbors give children such treats as candy, fruit and pennies so that children do not play tricks on them.

Jack-o`-lanterns are hallowed-out pumpkins with face carved into one side. Most jack-o`-lanterns contain a candle inside. An Irish legend says that Jack-o`-lanterns are named after the man called Jack. He could not enter heaven because he was a miser, and he could not enter hell because he had played jokes on devil. As a result, Jack has to walk on the earth with his lantern until Judgment Day.

Fortunetelling is an important part of Halloween. For example, a coin, a ring, and a thimble were backed into a cake. It was believed that the person who found the coin would become wealthy. The one who found the ring would marry soon. And the person who found the thimble would never get married. Today people practice card-reading or palmistry.

People once believed that there were many ghosts and witches on the Earth and that they met on October 31 to worship the Devil.

Today people do not believe in ghosts and witches but they like to tell stories about them on Halloween.  

  

interview

-        How are you?

-        So-so.

-        What`s up?

-        I have read the article “What is necessary to learn English well”

-        Had you found something interesting? And what information gives this article?

-         Actually this article is divided into 3 sections. The first section is devoted “Why we learn English”, the second – “English makes you fill well”, and the third about usual students with the title “Three biggest challenges facing an English learner”.

-        Oh. I had read these articles too. Honestly, I was amazing when I read that we must do crazy things such like talking to yourself in English or spending our evenings reading a dictionary

-        And we must do these things regularly, constantly, every day…

-        You know…I have no strong motivation…I mean that I spend my time in doing some exercises, I read books in English, of course I practice my pronunciation, but I don`t do it constantly. I have no time.

-        I see.

-        I have the lack of time. But I want to speak English well.

-        I think that you have not high level of motivation. At first you ought to work on your motivation, you ought to be such kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to speak English well, you will spend more time on it, and you will do it regularly.

-        All right. I know it, and what about you// do you have high motivation?

-        Of course I have!

-        And what are they?

-        From the one hand it is my lessons. Do you know that I work as a teacher at school? And I prepare to the every lesson. I think that I am a real perfectionist!

-         I consider you exaggerate a little bit.

-        OK. Can you say me how are you improve your motivation for learning English?

-        My motivation? At first it is my marks. At second I know that it is my future profession, and I want to be a real teacher. I also want to talk to native speakers just like I talk in my first language. At third I like to communicate in English. I have conversations with my pen-friend. He learns English too and he is on the same level of skills like me, I think.

-        And what it gives? I fond of our communication. These conversations increase my interest in English?

-        Do you like it?

-        Of course I do. I’m able to discuss my problems with him.

-        I understand but I think that to have an eye-contact conversation is better. I like my classes. I like to teach.

-        I’m agree with you that I’m not a perfectionist yet. That’s why it is my higher motivation. I know that I’m good, but I know that there is a lot that I do not know. I always try to find my weak areas and work on them.

-        Do you have some problems?

-        I have. But they are quite small, for example, pronunciation.

-        And what do you do?

-        I spend some money on learning English. I spend on grammar books, on internet in order to communicate on e-mail etc.

J.: I spend my money on learning English too. I also buy books in English for my pleasure. I receive various recording in English.

L.: What for?

J.: I listen them and try to understand what is being said. And then I try to imitate the speakers pronunciation.

L.: It’s very interesting.

J.: I know. Have you read the article “How to learn English”?

L.: I have. How do you think will these guidelines , described in the article benefit to usual English learners?

L.:Probably, yes, when someone still doesn’t know about them.

Ju.:Do you think its really effective way of gaining knowledge by permanent watching cable TV with English programs and dobbed cartoons, beating an adventure computer games and reading lyrics or science-fiction books?

Len.:I think, every kind of practice can help student to increase knowledge.

Ju.:How did you achieve your English?

Len.:I started learning English from 6^th form by going to English classes at school. It was awfully ineffective. I did everything that the teacher told me to do: the homework assignments, everything. But the were no results. I made a lot of mistakes in my pronunciation and spelling. My oral speech was very slow. Learning English was rather burying and annoying for me. So I gave up. Currently my English knowledge doesn’t conform to the requirements. I occasionally spoke with foreign native speaker customer. That’s why I used only a simplified English. Recently I’ve took. Skype program on my PC and now I eager to reinforce my English because I’ve to append new words for my good skype conversation. My desire increased.

 Ju.:Some guys gave their advices how to achieve perfect English. I will follow this successful peoples track.