I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

Time Management

Many students discover the need to develop or hone their time management skills when they arrive at college. Unlike high school where teachers frequently structured your assignments and classes filled your day, in college, you will have less in-class time, more outside of class work, and a great deal of freedom and flexibility. These pages from Dartmouth.edu provide you with tips for managing your time well, articles, videos, printable calendars, links ....

Time After Time

Expressions with Time

Clock

beat the clock = do something within the deadline: "We managed to beat the clock and get everything finished in time."
work against the clock = work hard knowing you have a deadline: "Scientists are working against the clock to come up with a new vaccine."

to clock on / off = sign in or out of a company to show the hours you've worked: "We need to clock in after we come back from lunch."

watch the clock (a clock watcher) = make sure you only work the hours: "If you're a clock watcher, then this job isn't for you."

Lack of time

pressed for time = not have much time: "I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment. Do you mind if we have the meeting tomorrow?"

run out of time = not have any time left: "We've run out of time on this project."

a race against time = have to do something fast within a deadline: "There's a race against time to save the rainforests."

no time to lose = no time to waste: "There's no time to lose. We've got to get going."

Have enough time

have all the time in the world = have plenty of time: "You don't need to hurry. We've got all the time in the world."

have spare time = have free time: "What do you do in your spare time?"

have time on your hands / time to kill = too much time: "We've got a bit of time on our hands. What do you want to do?"

take your time = not be in any hurry: "Take your time answering the question."

in your own time = do something without worrying about how much time it takes: "I'll fix the car in my own time!"

make good time = do something faster than you thought: "We made good time. It only took us an hour to get here."

time is on your side = be young and have plenty of time ahead of you: "You've got time on your side, so you shouldn't feel pressured into making a career decision now."

The right time for something

just in time: "They arrived just in time for the wedding."

in the nick of time = without a second to spare: "We got here in the nick of time. Look at all that rain!"

high time = the right time: "It's high time you got a job!" (Note: use the past simple after "high time")

not before time: "He's finally got a job. Not before time, I might add!"

it's about time: "It's about time you found your own place to live." (Use the past simple after "it's about time")

not the time / hardly the time = an inappropriate time for something: "It's not the time to ask me for a pay rise.!

Other expressions with time

lose track of time = forget about the time: "She was so engrossed in her book she lost all track of time."

two-time = go out with more than one person at the same time: "She ought to be careful. She's two-timing Jack with Bill and Jack is a very jealous person…"

call time on = bring an end to something: "The government are calling time on internet spammers."

take time out = have a pause from something: "He needs to take some time out from his work."

keep time = show the right time: "My watch doesn't keep good time."

do time = serve a prison sentence: "He's doing time for armed robbery."

on the company's time = do something else when you're at work: "We're not allowed to use twitter on the company's time."

ahead of his / her time = be forward-thinking: "He's definitely ahead of his time. He's always got so many fascinating ideas."

behind the times = old-fashioned: "He's so behind the times. He still plays records! Can you believe it?"

keep up / move with the times = remain modern: "My mum is learning to use email to keep up with the times."

have the time of your life = have a great time: "She's having the time of her life at University. She loves it!"

before your time = before a person lived or worked in a place: "There used to be a post office here. That was before your time, of course."

time and a half = when a worker is paid extra for working overtime: "We get time and a half if we work on Saturdays."

overtime = money paid for working extra hours: "The firm are cutting back on overtime."

time share = a holiday home bought by more than one person, where each "owner" has a certain period of the year they can use it: "Time share apartments are cheap at the moment."

time warp = stuck in a past time: "This town seems to be stuck in a 1950s time warp. There are no fast food places and everything's closed on Sundays."

time zone = area where the clocks are the same: "The UK is in a different time zone from the rest of Europe."

Now take a quiz at eslpartyland  to see how well you know expressions of time ... or try these at musicalenglishlessons.

Time Quotes

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
- Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)


When people go through something rough in life, they say, "I'm taking it one day at a time." Yes, so is everybody. Because that's how time works.
- Hannibal Buress


We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.
- John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963


Regret for wasted time is more wasted time.
- Mason Cooley, O Magazine, April 2004


Time does not change us. It just unfolds us.
- Max Frisch

I'm Late, I'm Late!

We all know the feeling, but this clip from Disney's Alice in Wonderland is the classic expression of running behind the clock.

I'm late, I'm late for 
A very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye, 
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late
I'm late and when I wave, 
I lose the time I save.
My fuzzy ears and whiskers 
Took me too much time to shave.
I run and then I hop, hop, hop, 
I wish that I could fly.
There's danger if I dare to 
Stop and here's a reason why:
I'm over-due, I'm in a rabbit stew. 
Can't even say good-bye,
hello, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. 

What's the Hurry?

One woman tells how she sought to convince her continually harried friend that she needed to find ways to relax.
So she gave her a videotape on stress management and relaxation techniques and encouraged her to watch it right away.
 Fifteen minutes later, her friend handed back the tape. "It was good," she said, "but I don't need it."
 "But it's a 70-minute video," the woman replied. "You couldn't have watched the whole thing."
 "Yes, I did," her friend assured her. "I put it on fast-forward."

 A major social problem of the 21st Century is Hurry Sickness. We hurry through work by "multi-tasking." We gulp down fast food. We shop at convenience stores. We lament that we haven't enough time. We race through the days and weeks until one day we look back in amazement and comment, "My, how the years flew by."
 Or until we hit a "speed bump" -- like illness -- that stops us cold. Then we realize the heavy toll we paid to travel the express lane.
 Hurry Sickness. Its symptoms include stress and anxiety, ailing relationships, lowered work performance, and numerous physical maladies.
Some people don't survive it. What is the cure?
"For fast-acting relief try slowing down," quipped comedian Lily Tomlin.
But then, perhaps that's not so funny. Slow down and live, for life is too short to be lived fast, and too precious not to be lived well.
 "I have no time to be in a hurry," said John Wesley.
 I agree. Slow down and live. It's a guaranteed remedy for Hurry Sickness.

(from globalhealingcenter.com)

Hurry Sickness

It's 1:19 a.m. and I've been going strong all day.  And I'm thinking about what to do about this pattern I'm in.  Maybe I need to make some changes to my life.  Maybe I've got  a touch of something doctors call "hurry sickness" and need to slow down.  My body is crying for a break and some of my habits can't be helping.  And maybe you struggle too.  If so, let's you and I decide to make some changes.  Take a closer look by taking the quiz below and decide for yourself.

"Hurry sickness" is a phrase coined 40 years ago by a prominent cardiologist who noticed that all of his heart disease patients had common behavioral characteristics—the most obvious being that they were in a chronic rush (so much so that they wore the chairs in the doctor's waiting room down on the front first from sitting at the edge of the seats).

The increased pace of life has brought with it a rash of serious health problems, including heart attacks, palpitations, immune disorders, digestive ills, insomnia and migraine headaches. 

A prominent doctor, Barton Sparagon, said, "When you look at our heart rates, brain wave patterns—our basic physiology has not evolved to keep pace with the technology…we are hard-wired to be able to handle a "fight-flight" response where the stress ends within five to ten minutes. In our current culture though, we struggle for hours on end."

My good friend Ron Walborn, who heads up Nyack Seminary in New York teaches on this subject because it's so pervasive and pastors have to deal with it all the time.  Here's a quiz he put together to diagnose yourself:

1. Do you often feel in a hurry to get things done?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

2. Do you tend to walk fast?
a. Yes b. No

3. Do you tend to talk fast?
a. Yes b. No

4. Do you get irritated or upset at other drivers or when stuck in traffic?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

5. Do you find it difficult to just sit and daydream or recall memories?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

6. Do your spouse, friends, or colleagues ever tell you to take it easy or slow down out of concern?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

7. How often do you find yourself interrupting the person with whom you are talking?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

8. Do you get impatient while waiting in line or in traffic?

a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

So how did you score?  And if you are in a big hurry much of the time, what do you do?  Well, you weren't meant to live this way and you really owe it to yourself and your family to begin changing.  Walborn makes the following suggestions:

1.    Do not wear your watch for the day.
2.    Do not drive in the fast lane. Smile and wave at people who pass you and/or cut you off.
3.    Seek out the longest line to wait in. Recall fond memories, observe other people while you wait and pray for them.
4.    Listen to music in solitude and do nothing else for 15 minutes.

5.    Before adding a new activity, subtract an old one.

I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning and I'm going to drink some coffee and show up at the office late. I'll keep you posted...
(Taken from sethbarnes.com)

Downshifting

Downshifting is a social behavior or trend in which individuals live simpler lives to escape from the rat race of obsessive materialism and to reduce the “stress, overtime, and psychological expense that may accompany it.” It emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work and focusing life goals on personal fulfillment and relationship building instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success.

Downshifting, as a concept, shares many characteristics with Simple living, but is distinguished, as an alternative form, by its focus on moderate change and concentration on an individual comfort level, a “dip your toes in gently” approach. In the 1990s this new form of Simple living began appearing in the mainstream media and has continually grown in popularity among populations living in industrial societies especially the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

Read more...

The Downshifter

This interview with Richard Cannon the author of www.thedownshifter.co.uk and www.downthelane.net is an insight into the life of someone who decided that downshifting their life was worth the time and trouble and which has provided him with a life he is happy with.

Downshifting as a Way of Life

The trouble with the rat race is, even if you win, you are still a rat. 
-  Lily Tomlin 

Who hasn’t wanted to step off the ever-accelerating treadmill of work, and gain some balance in life? Most of us, at one time or another, have wanted to move from the fast track of life to a more satisfying, healthier, less work-focused lifestyle.
What is a downshifter?
 Downshifting allows family time. Downshifters are people who adopt long-term voluntary simplicity in their life. They accept less money through fewer hours worked in order to have time for the important things in life. Downshifters also place emphasis on consuming less in order to reduce their ecological footprint.

Read more at slowmovement.com...

Simple Living

Does the idea of simplicity appeal to you, too? Perhaps you’d like to have more peace in your home, and more time to enjoy your loved ones. Maybe you yearn for financial freedom, sustainable living, getting back to the basics, living more frugally, or having more unstructured time to create, think, recharge your batteries and relax.

Welcome to Happy Simple Living. This blog follows a family’s efforts to live a simple life, laugh more, get organized, enjoy good food together, live more sustainably, explore eco-friendly alternatives, save money, eliminate debt, and most importantly — have more fun.

Help for a Stay At Home Mom

This question, and the answer, come from the simplemom page. The schedule published is very northamerican - dinner is at 6:00 and the kids are in bed by 8:00. What would your schedule look like in comparison?

Reader Marilyn asks, “I am struggling to set some kind of schedule for my family. I’m new to the SAHM thing (I went back to work after my son was 5 months) and have a 5-month-old and a 3-year-old who is now at home with me.  I’ve been kind of going with the flow, but that is losing its effectiveness, and I have to take a bit more of a proactive approach. I’d love any tips on balancing the bedtimes, eating, naps and various activities of two different-aged kids.”
  Read the reply ...

SAHM = Stay At Home Mom

Daily Schedule

What is your daily schedule? What time do you wake up and go to work or school? What do you do when you get home? What time do you go to bed?




Go to esl-lab and listen to the Daily Schedule listening exercise. Then try the quiz and vocabulary exercises below.

The Daily Routine of 17 CEO's

Jim Citrin at Yahoo! Finance set out to study the daily routine of 20 CEOs. Surprisingly, he received responses to his survey from 17 of the 20 CEOs polled. Jim’s questions were focused around their daily routines. There was overwhelming similarity between the daily routines of all the CEOs.

Read more...

Schedule Strategies

Study Guides and Strategies is a public educational service dedicated to helping learners succeed. In their Time and Project Management series they recommend that you review how you spend your time in order to help you prioritize your goals and objectives.
Try this exercise to analyze your daily schedule.
Then continue with the Time management series:

Time management | My daily schedule | My weekly schedule | Scheduling your school calendar | My goals | Organizing my tasks |Creating to-do lists |  Avoiding procrastination | Developing self-discipline

Describing a Character's Physical Appearance

Angela Ackermann, one of the authors of The Bookshelf Muse blog, shows how
"Physical description doesn't need to be a dry, tasteless blob of facts to help the reader see our character. It can be seasoned and textured, and doled out bite by savory bite." 

Adjectives for Describing Appearance

Review English adjectives for describing height and body shape - from attractive to well-built - at esolcourses.

Practice with the Appearance quizes in the side bar.

Describing Pysical Appearances

Have you ever met someone who you discovered would be perfect for a friend of yours, but when asked, you found yourself without the necessary language to describe them to your friend?

Perhaps you have trouble remembering faces. You don't have to be an artist to be able to let someone know what another looks like. If you follow these instructions, you'll improve your memory and maybe even hook your friend up with Mr. or Ms. Right.

Practice by describing one of your classmates. 

Physical Attractiveness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Physical attractiveness refers to a person's physical traits which are perceived to be aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from the two; for example, humans may regard the young as attractive for various reasons, but without sexual attraction. There are many factors which influence one person's attraction to another, with physical aspects being one of them. In many cases, humans attribute positive characteristics, such as intelligence and honesty, to attractive people without consciously realizing it. 

Men, on average, tend to be attracted by women who are shorter than they are, have a youthful appearance and exhibit features such as a symmetrical face, full breasts, full lips, and a low waist-hip ratio. Women, on average, tend to be attracted to men who are taller than they are, display a high-degree of facial symmetry, masculine facial dimorphism, and who have broad shoulders, a relatively narrow waist and V-shaped torso.

Some aspects of attractiveness are culturally influenced:

• Studies based in the United States, New Zealand, and China have shown that women rate men with no body hair as most attractive, and that attractiveness ratings decline as hirsutismin creases. Another study, however, found that moderate amounts of trunk hair on men was most attractive, to the sample of British and Sri Lankan women. In a study using Finnish women, women with hairy fathers were more likely to prefer hairy men, suggesting that preference for hairy men is either the result of genetics or imprinting.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) is an important determinant to the perception of beauty. Even though the Western ideal is for a thin woman, some cultures prefer plumper women, so attraction for a particular BMI appears to be merely a cultural artifact. 
  In the United States, women overestimate men's preferences for thinness in a mate. In one study, American women were asked to choose what their ideal build was and what they thought the build most attractive to men was. Women chose slimmer than average figures for both choices. When American men were independently asked to choose the female build most attractive to them, the men chose figures of average build. This indicates that women may be misled as to how thin men prefer women to be. Some speculate that thinness as a beauty standard is one way in which women judge each other. 
  
  
  Find out more at wikipedia.

The Opportunity of Adversity

The thesaurus might equate "disabled" with synonyms like "useless" and "mutilated," but ground-breaking runner Aimee Mullins is out to redefine the word. Defying these associations, she shows how adversity -- in her case, being born without shinbones -- actually opens the door for human potential. 

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.
After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

Listen to Aimee on TED. You can click on the Interactive Transcript and follow along.

Tips for Overcoming Adversity

Whether we like it, or not, adversity is part of life. Overcoming adversity is one of the biggest hurdles we face. As Havelock Ellis wrote, "Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself." Problems, large and small present themselves to us throughout our whole existence. Regardless of how sharp, clever, or happy-go-lucky we are, we will encounter struggle, challenges, difficulties and at times, heart wrenching moments.
 Is this meant to be a negative, cynical assessment of what we have to look forward to?
Not at all!
 In fact, thank goodness for adversity! Learning to deal with, and overcoming adversity, is what makes us who we are. Every challenge, every difficulty we successfully confront in life serves to strengthen our will, confidence and ability to conquer future obstacles. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher, said, "Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence."
When you respond positively and constructively to your biggest challenges, the qualities of strength, courage, character and perseverance emerge from deep inside of you.
Of course, since we are human, it is very easy to get caught up in the self pity, unfairness of life, or 'why me?' trap. When we do, we fail to recognize the opportunities for wisdom and growth that accompany adversity. However, as soon we allow ourselves to think more clearly, we are able to let go of self-defeating and unproductive thoughts and get down to the business of dealing with what's before us.
Read more and find tips for overcoming adversity at Essential Life Skills.net

Braun refers to 'adversity' and 'challenge'

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, January 21, 2012

New York– Though not specifically referencing the drug testing controversy that has enveloped him for most of the off-season, Ryan Braun did not ignore it as many expected when accepting his National League most valuable player award Saturday night.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ star left fielder, who awaits the verdict from an arbitration panel on whether he’ll be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2012 season, talked about the “adversity” and “challenge” he is facing during his speech at the annual Baseball Writers Association of America awards banquet at the New York Hilton.

“Sometimes in life we all deal with challenges we never expected to endure,” said Braun, making his first public appearance since a report surfaced in early December that he tested positive for a banned substance and faced the suspension.

“We have an opportunity to look at those challenges and view them either as obstacles or opportunities. I’ve chosen to view every challenge I’ve ever faced as an opportunity and this will be no different. I’ve always believed that a person’s character is revealed through the way they deal through those moments of adversity.

“I’ve always loved and had so much respect for the game of baseball. Everything I’ve done in my career has been done with that respect and appreciation in mind. That is why I’m so grateful and humbled to accept this award tonight.”

Read more...

How to Tackle Adversity Like an Oyster

A few days back while I was walking to school, I felt a piece of gravel or pebble that found its way into my shoe and prodded against my sole whenever I made a step forward.

As I walked on, I thought about how oysters produce pearls to alleviate the “discomfort” that trespassing particles assert on their soft tissues. According to HowStuffWorks.com, whenever a foreign substance finds its way between the oyster’s mantle and shell, the mantle will secrete layers of nacre to cover the irritant particle. As the layers of nacre consequently cover each other, a pearl is eventually formed.

It's funny. The world is full of little lessons and solutions. Most of us, however, are too busy or too lazy to notice. Take this as an example. From the story of the oyster and the pearl, we can draw 3 life lessons from them.

Read more about the three lessons at dumblittleman..com

Inversions

What is an inversion?

In general, an "inversion" is a changed order of things. If X usually comes before Y, the inverted order will be Y first, then X. When looking at the grammar of the English language we see inversions for instance in the normal order of the subject and the verb in a sentence. To explain what an inversion is in English, first think of a simple sentence like: "Graffiti is ugly." In sentences like this the subject (graffiti) must come before the verb (is). This is the normal order. The most common example of the inverted order of the subject and the verb is seen in questions such as: "Is graffiti ugly?" The English language often uses this kind of inversion to make a question, but this is not the only time that the normal order of the subject and the verb in a sentence is inverted.

Read more about inversions in English  at fullspate

Celebrity Beauty Secrets

What is it about beautiful celebrities that everyone loves? Well, they have radiant skin, they glow when they smile and they always look great. They also tend to look as though they are healthy and full of energy.

This does not come natural and they have to work at it just like the rest of us. Every celebrity has a routine that they follow on a daily basis. This routine keeps them looking fresh and beautiful every day.

Many of them buy products, while others make their own completely natural products at home. 

Here are a few tips for daily celebrity style skin care:

• Cleanse and moisturize twice a day. Use triple fruit acid cleaners as they work great to exfoliate the skin. In the morning, cleanse and rub pure vitamin C on your face. Lastly, apply moisturizer. Use a light moisturizer in the summer and a heavier cream in the winter. - Halle Berry’s Morning Regime

• Use baby wipes to cleanse, remove makeup and moisturize. - Star Jones

• Use a facial wash and apply petroleum jelly to your face every morning and night to moisturize and soften skin. – Teri Woods

• Drink lots of water and cleanse with an astringent and moisturizer. – Mo’Nique

• Get monthly facials and treat your body to a steam sauna to cleanse the pores. – Victoria Rowell

• Use cocoa butter twice a day after showering. Cocoa butter keeps your skin soft and smooth and also aids in removing scars. – Lisa Leslie

• Live nutritionally, spiritually and emotionally. Don’t get weighed down by negative or past energy and try to live as stress free as possible. Indulge in massages, seaweed body wraps, manicures and pedicures. Exercise regularly and don’t consume carbohydrates after 7pm and drink plenty of water. – Jody Watley

• Alleviate pregnancy related stress marks by applying cocoa butter as soon as you begin to show. Consult your doctor for a proper exercise regime and do it. – Cindy Braggs

• For dry skin, exfoliate once a week and get a monthly facial. Apply a moisturizer to the face on a daily basis. Use makeup remover and treat yourself to twice-monthly manicures and pedicures. Work out at least twice a week. – Dee Dee McGuire

Adapt any of these daily celebrity beauty secrets to your life and you will be on your way to a more celebrity-like beauty.

Author's Bio:  Kimberly Fletcher is the owner of Bath and Body Secrets. It is to provide beauty secrets that the celebrities use, up to date celebrity plastic surgery, and resources about where to get pampered like the stars.

Celebrity Workouts

Ever wonder which exercise routines celebrities follow to get in shape?

Movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and Charlie Sheen can afford the best exercise regimens and professional trainers in the business, but they still have to perform the exercises; so if you know their routines, you can experience similar gains. Here are a few celebrity workout routines.

Whether you are wiry (Bruce Lee), chunky (Shaq), thin (Sly), or just plain average (Sheen), there are exercises out there that will suit your frame. Find the one that suits your schedule and body structure, and stick to it.

Read more... 

Celebrity Body-Image Confessions: How They Turned Insecurities Into What They Love Most About Their Bods Health & Fitness: glamour.com

Believe it or not, celebs share many of the same issues we do when it comes to body image, which is why we applaud these stars for embracing what they love most about their shape.

  Celebrity Body-Image Confessions: How They Turned Insecurities Into What They Love Most About Their Bods Health & Fitness: glamour.com

Top Plastic Surgeries for Men and Woman

Women are by far the industry leader for having some form of cosmetic surgery done. The number one procedure more and more woman are having these days is Botox. It is the hottest trend on the market....


When we of think of people having procedures and plastic surgery we don't usually think of men. Men often times like to make themselves more appealing just as we women do. The number one procedure being done by men is also Botox. Maybe men and women aren't as different as we think. The number of Botox procedures performed has increased by 3,000%, that is up 9% from 2009-2010....


Read about the other top plastic surgeries in 2011.

Extreme Makeover

On Extreme Makeover, Michel receives nose job, eyelift, fat removal, chin implant, and browlift procedures from New York Plastic Surgeon Dr. Morello.

Dangers of Cosmetic Surgery

Many people decide on having plastic surgery after they've seen the results on someone else. Television shows like Dr. 90210 and Extreme Makeover have lead to a rise in the number of people seeking plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures. But these shows do not make it clear that surgery is not for everyone. While plastic surgery may seem quick and easy, there are dangers to cosmetic surgery that should be considered before even contacting a surgeon to arrange a surgery consultation.

 The dangers of cosmetic surgery are not as great as they once were, and in fact, most people come through their procedures without any ill effects. However, there are certain things you should know about that can happen when having any surgery. If you are under the age of 18, going under the knife for plastic surgery may not be a good idea. Your body has not yet matured to its final shape. So if you're thinking about rhinoplasty or breast augmentation because you're dissatisfied with the way you look now – wait. There are more risks of ending up with a result you're not happy with if you're under 18.

 For everyone, there are a few common dangers to cosmetic surgery that your surgeon should tell you about. Every time you have a surgery, there is a chance that you could have a reaction to the anesthesia used to put you to sleep for the procedure. While this is relatively rare, it can be life-threatening and even deadly. You could also have other complications with reactions to drugs you are given – such as pain relievers and antibiotics.

Another danger of plastic surgery is scarring. While doctors try to do their best to minimize any scars that may arise from your surgery, there is no foolproof way to make your body heal correctly. Some people will get scars and even keloids (overgrowth of tissue in the incision area) from their plastic surgery, and there may be no way to correct it. You may also get blood clots in your surgery area. These can cause problems which can be minor, such as blemishes and bruising, up to major – the clot can break away from the surgery site and become lodged in your lungs, causing you to stop breathing.

It's very important to take into consideration all of the dangers of cosmetic surgery before you go under the knife. Make sure that you're positive that the benefits of surgery outweigh the risks, and know the limitations of your body and the surgeon before consenting to surgery.
  from streetdirectory.com

Makeover My Mom!

These four daughters adored everything about their moms — except their hair and makeup choices. So they nominated them for makeovers. Watch the video, then look through the slide show on GoodHousekeeping to see more of the makeover process.

Welcome / Howdy

The Best of British The American's guide to speaking British. The seven sections ... contain over 1000 words and expressions that have varied in their usage between the US and the UK. This site started as a simple list to amuse our friends when we moved to the USA for 2 years - believe it or not, to a house in Tossa Lane!!!This list was compiled around 10 years ago and is all based on actual discussions with Americans from many States as we travelled around the USA. Of course, everyone has different experiences and the language seems to vary so much, and has moved on over the last decade. So don't be surprised if you find yourself nodding at some parts and questioning others - the globalisation of our TV and languages has taken some of the fun out of it. Take it all with a pinch of salt and in the spirit of fun. But most of all .... Enjoy! Dr. Effingpot!

Hugh Laurie: British vs. American

The fantastically talented Hugh Laurie paid a house call to Ellen, and they played an exciting game of American slang versus English slang -- and the game was bloody brilliant!

British and American English

Those people who complain about the difficulties of learning German, don't know how lucky they really are - they only have one language to master. Admittedly, there are regional differences of dialect in German-speaking countries, but the non-native speaker who has learned Hochdeutsch (high or standard German) should have no problems in making himself understood by citizens of Germany, Austria or Switzerland. The difficulty for the non-native learner of English on the other hand is that there is no standard English form. He is confronted with two English dialects to learn: British English and American English (leaving aside Australian, Indian, South African English etc.) And despite the many cross-cultural influences, it seems that the vocabularies, spellings and pronunciations of these two dialects are diverging year by year...


Read the entire article at esl.fis.edu and try the quizes at the end:

• Introduction
• Spelling
• Pronunciation
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Usage
• Conclusion

Language Registers

British English - American English Vocabulary

Here are some of the main differences in vocabulary between British and American English. This page is intended as a guide only. Bear in mind that there can be differences in the choice of specific terms depending on dialect and region within both the USA and the UK.

British English	American English
anti-clockwise	counter-clockwise
articulated lorry	trailer truck
autumn	autumn, fall
barrister	attorney
bill (restaurant)	bill, check
biscuit	cookie Read the entire list at http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/british-american.htm

Informal Language vs Formal Language

Written by Neal Chambers

Mr.Maru: I had fun at Doggy World today. How about you? Sparky: It was totally legit. Mr.Maru: Totally legit? Sparky: Yeah! It was off the hook. Mr.Maru: Have you been listening to Sloop Dog again? Sparky: Yeah. He is the bomb! Mr.Maru: I'm sure he is. When do you need to use formal language?  When do you use informal language?  Is it bad to always use informal language or formal language?  There are different types of speaking you should use when talking to certain people.  Let's talk about some examples of when to use certain language. Read more... and take the quiz at the end.

Speaking Styles Count

(Reuters) - American researchers have found a new way to predict the success of a relationship -- compare the speaking style of a couple.
In a study of college students they found that couples whose language was in sync were almost four times more likely to want to see each other again than those who did not use similar language.
  Read more...

Register and Style

          OR         

Speaking English correctly is not just about grammar and vocabulary. EFL learners often find register and style difficult to master.

 Read more at Suite101: How to Improve Spoken English Register and Style

Two Presentations of Literary Genres

Project V.O.I.C.E.

Project V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression) is a national movement that celebrates and inspires youth self-expression through Spoken Word Poetry. Conceived in 2004, Project V.O.I.C.E. encourages young people to engage with the world around them and use Spoken Word Poetry as an instrument through which they can explore and better understand their culture, their society, and ultimately themselves. Project V.O.I.C.E. brings together performance, writing, and a supportive environment to inspire youth to recognize that their views are significant, valid, and necessary.

Genre Fiction

Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.
Genre fiction is often used interchangeably with the term popular fiction, and generally distinguished from literary fiction. The American screenwriting teacher Robert McKee defines genre conventions as the "specific settings, roles, events, and values that define individual genres and their subgenres." These conventions, always fluid, are usually implicit, but sometimes are made into explicit requirements by publishers of fiction as a guide to authors seeking publication.

Find a list of popular fiction genres at wikipedia

Reading Genres

Source: teachersnotebook.com via Jane on Pinterest

Nothing But Nonfiction

By Katherine Husser

The nonfiction genre is defined by Sarah Statz Cords, reference librarian in Madison, Wisconsin and author, as what it is not. “It is not an invented story, but rather (as David Carr defines it,) it differs from fiction in its presentation of documented experience as a written record , without fabrication” (Carr 2004, 51).

...read more and find a list of non-fiction genres in the Nonfiction Genre Study