Persuasive essay – We should exercise and exercising is important to us.

        Why we should exercise and why exercising is important to us? It is because exercising is one of the most important things that we should and supposedly we do in our life. In Malaysia for example, heart disease is number one killer which can easily be prevented by doing exercise.  More than 1.6 billion people in the world are either overweight or obese and Malaysia is one of the countries that stated the highest rate of obesity. For your information, exercise not only reduces your risk for health problems and several diseases, but it also has an effect on overall appearance. Exercising can improve self-esteem and confidence and it has been proved. The truth is when we are doing exercising, it can be even fun and it has numerous benefits that we can that. It is important for us to exercise so that we ca live in a healthy condition, live longer and live more happy.

Let me tell you the reason why people should exercise. For number one reason is because it will help you to keep fit and healthy. As we can see, Malaysians are eating numerous amounts of fast foods these days, so heart disease is becoming more and more common. One out of every four Malaysians is suffering from some form of heart disease and it has become silent killer in this country. Obesity is the main cause of this condition. The more body fat that we have, the greater our risk for heart disease. However, we can easily prevent this disease by doing exercises. Exercising makes the heart muscles stronger.

Next is the second benefit to exercise. It can improve self-esteem and your confident level. Most people think of exercising as only being a physical activity but it is also a mental activity. There experts has been studies and show the evidence that people who exercise have higher self esteem and their confident level is higher that people who does not do exercising. It also showed that active people are less likely to have depression and anxiety. Not only that, exercise can give people more energy which will help people to have positive outlooks on life and it helps to relieve tension and stress. When we do exercise, our body releases endorphins, which are chemicals that create a happy feeling in brain. Plus, when we are exercising we will bring more oxygen into our lungs and our brain.

Next, it will help you to improve your brain function and your memory. From my own opinion, the best reason why we need to exercise is because it is really fun actually. I know that most people think that exercising takes up a lot of time and it requires too much work. Actually, when people take the time to try exercising, they will realize that it is an enjoyable experience. It does not matter how you do the exercise but it depends on as long as you are being active. Everyone enjoys different sports or activities, so it is important to figure out which is the best for us to do it. It is important because when we are having fun, we do not even realize that our exercising and we will look forward to it every day. Setting goals and rewards will help us stay motivated and consistent with exercising. We must know that, there is no greater feeling better than achieving a weight lose goal and being able to feel good and confident about our own body.

In conclusion, exercising is the key to making your life healthier, longer, and happier. It is one of the most important things in life and it's one hundred percent beneficial. Many people come up with plenty of excuses to not exercise; however, if you truly want to improve your mental and physical health you will find the energy and time to exercise. Everyone should take time out of their days to exercise, so they can improve their lives in many ways. So next time you are deciding whether or not to exercise just think of the benefits you will experience from it. It is extremely rewarding and worthwhile.

Cause and effect essay – Global Warming

Today the world biggest problem is global warming. Many scientists believed that our production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is having a heating effect on the atmosphere and this could be very dangerous for human life. There are some problems that related to the global warming and some suggestions for some ways of solving the problem.

           As we all know, there are many problems that could be the result of global warning. But one of the biggest problems is the rising of the sea level. This could result in the flooding of low lying coastal areas and cities, such as Egypt, the Netherlands and also Bangladesh. The most that frightened is some countries might even disappear completely. Not only that, there are another problems that caused by global warming is the changes in weather patterns. Some areas of the world are experiencing increased hurricanes, floods and other unusual weather. Next, the third problem associated with global warming is the effect on animals. For sure this will affect the population of the fish while the disease might become more common because of the insects which spread the disease.

As people said, if there is a will, there is a way. Actually there are a lot of things that we can do to solve the problem of global warming. One of the solution or method that we can use is to stop producing CO2. We can do this by switching from oil, coal and gas to renewable energy. Next, the other thing that we can do is by plant more trees. It is because trees can absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, which is not a greenhouse gas. The third solution is we need to use less energy and to recycle more products. The most important thing that we need to remember is generating electricity is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide. Then we will produce less CO2 if we use less electricity.

In a nut shell, if we make small changes now in the way we live, we can avoid huge changes in the future. Scientists, governments and individuals must work together to overcome this world problem. United we stand, divided we fall. 

Compare and contrast essay - Social Media; A good thing or a bad thing?

A big question needs to be answered. Social media is a good thing or a bad thing? That was the most frequent that has being asked lately. Well, there are always two sides of everything. It is because it depends on your perception and how you perceive it. Plus, everyone has their own opinions, so we do not have any rights to ask them to follow our opinion. The same goes to the social media, most people admire it as a revolutionary invention and some seem to take it as a negative impact on the society itself.

As a good human being, we supposedly complied some of the positive and negative opinions from others. As we all know, social networks started as a place to connect with our friends in the terms of much better way. To be honest and from my own opinions, many of us might have found our old pals from school or college who were out of touch due to one reason or other. Well I would say that I have and I thank to social networks for this matter. Plus, social networks have provided us with the opportunity to communicate and of course to get connected with other people. Not only that, because of this connection we can build better relationships with friends with whom we are unable to meet face to face or personally, and let them know about our life and take input about their lives and events happening with them.

With this social networks we are able to communicate even the distance separated us no matter how far it is. Not only that, we are able to communicate out thoughts and perceptions over different topics with a large number of audiences and we also can raise our voice. The sharing feature available on the social networks will make our opinion about any topic reach huge number of people even to those who are not on our friends list. Then we have to make the option to make groups with people who are like minded and share the related news with them and later ask for their opinion or input about the topic. To make it easy, there are a number of options that are available for us to communicate with others on these social networks.

Many of us have made social as a crucial part of them. We do not even noticed about this but when we opened our desktops or our laptop to access to the internet, we sub-consciously open our favourite social network to the latest up dates. Business has noticed the value of social networks in our life and they were using different techniques to promote their own product with their own way. On the social platforms, there are number of customized applications that have being made whose the main purpose is to promote their own brand or product. As a social marketing is cost effectively and brands have a huge audience, they are shifting more towards to social marketing. 

The extensive use of social media can actually cause addiction to the users and this has been shown by many studies. They feel to post something on their pages or check others posts as it has become an important part of our life. This experienced is based throughout their day.

Extreme usage of social media has reduced the level of human interaction. Because of social networks the interaction with other people has become effortless and people have isolated their lives behind their online identities. Face to face communication and meetings has been reduced and many of us have lost the flavour and charm to be together under one roof.

Mostly, businesses used social media to find and communicate with clients. But it is a great distraction to employees, who may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks. We can see that even though new technology products have become available that allow social networks to be blocked, but their effectiveness remains spotty.

As a conclusion, we stated and mentioned a few positive and negative points of social media but it does not have the explanations whether social media is a good thing or a bad thing. So it stands somewhere in between. Plus, it depends on our own perceptions. Do not forget that everyone has their own perceptions – do we think social network is a good thing or a bad thing? 

Narrative essay – A holiday I would never forget

Holidays it is a time where everyone gets hyped up over and most of parents will planning what are the activities that they will do for the whole family to spend their quality time with. Holiday is the best time for students, teachers or even lecturer to have fun, waking up late, celebrating and best of all, going for a vacation! In my case, a holiday that I would never forget is a fruitful one that I experienced two years ago, where my family and I went for a vacations and spend for a week in the land of K-Pop and ‘kimchi’-Korea.

            Finally, after ages n the plane, our family arrived in a beautiful Korea. The moment when we are stepping out from the plane, we could feel the chilly weather to our bones. We were never experienced that kind of weather before in our country so my siblings and I were so excited. When we passed through the immigration and baggage claim, we were talking animatedly about our surroundings. Since we went there with tour group, we knew we were in good hands.

The first thing that happen was we were supposedly needed to take a bus to check in at the hotel as instructed. I guessed I was overeager without thinking. Then I ran to a random bus and knocked the door. The old bus driver opened the door and locked me with a puzzled expression. He started asking me a question but he asked me in his languages, something in Korean which of course I did not understand what he was talked about and then I tried to reply in English. Luckily, my father came before I could make the attempt and he quickly apologized to the driver bus and walked me back to the tour group who was watching from far, shaking with laughter.

            It was a bit past lunch time when we were done checking our hotel. Suddenly, everybody’s stomachs were grumbling. I have no ideas why but thank God after checking in, we were going to have our lunch and do a bit of sightseeing. While waiting for the others outside the hotel, we walked around nearby. There was a row of vending machines that sold various snacks and beverages, including Haagen Dazs ice-cream and instant noodles. My mother had a craving for Nescafe, so she spent her first Korean money on that thing.

At the restaurant, a delicious meal was already spread out for us. To be truth, that was my first time we all tried to eat kimchi, a spicy and sour vegetable side dish. I did not think it was horrible, but for me I preferred the fish kimchi much better. We all used chopsticks, so that was quite awkward for me and my family as we were not skilled at using them yet. Being Malaysians, we used to eat rice, so I think it was a good thing that the Korean meal included rice and a few other side dishes, eaten from a Bento box. At first, it was weird though the rice was sticker compared to the rice that we used ate at home, perhaps it mainly to make it easier to eat using chopsticks. There was also hot and scrumptious miso soup together with the meal. Since my sister and my brother did not like it much, I finished it. Then I gulped the warm soup down my throat. It was a nice contrast from the shivering weather outside.

The most unforgettable moment that I want to highlights is when one of our activities that we did when we were in Korea which is skilling.  Everybody from the tour group was looking forward to that. But what impressed me is even the 52-year old couple travelling with us. They do not have any problems during the tour yet they were eager to do all the activities. Since it was not fully snowing yet, the hill was covered with artificial snow. After grubbing our ski gear, we listened to a briefing by the instructor. He was very kind and helpful especially toward the elders. Plus, he likes to smile.

            Feeling jumpy and hyperactive, my sister and I made our way to the cable car and successfully skied down a slope. I thought, “We’re natural at this,” and my sister do not agree with me that time when we see how our parents and brother doing. Then my brother suddenly started to throw a snowball towards me and my sister. No doubt, it hit me and we started having a small snowball fight of our own, just like in the movies. It was so fun because we cannot have this kind of moment in our own country, Malaysia. I guessed we got a bit out of hand and my sister accidently hit a man’s back. At the time when he turned around, he had and angry look on her face and started to walk towards us. Quickly I hurried my siblings to continue skiing with our parents and we ran away from him before he could catch us. Thank God we can run from him safely. It was one of the moments that we could never be forgotten as we recapped the moment.

 In our way, skiing is like swimming. Why do I say so? Well, when swimming, you will feel tired, but you would see the effect when you get ravenous and eat more after a session or when you intend to take a nap, but it is extended to long hours. The same goes to skiing. When we arrived at the hotel after skiing, we were drained out and starving. Instant noodles saved the day! We all ate curry-flavoured Maggi together, savouring the momentary pleasure. We also dozed off quite early that night, right after going for a walk to enjoy the amazing night view of the mountains, and breathing the cool, fresh winter air.

        Shopping in Korea was also different compared to Malaysia. Its malls were packed with small shops or stall on every floor. Big boutiques were not seen as much as the quaint kiosks. Nevertheless, I found shopping at their markets more enjoyable, especially because you could haggle the price. Their specialities   were crystals, fabrics and outerwear. Apart from that, I also liked their wet markets, mainly because they were very clean and they did not have that fishy smell. I remembered a shocking incident when walking through the stalls of the wet market. A large fish jumped out its aquarium and onto the floor. I stared at it and suddenly, I saw a huge cutting knife slicing through the fish's neck! It was the owner of the stall's doing. Then, the owner left the fish flapping around lifelessly without a head.

 There was also a treasure trove among the stalls of the wet market- a tiny shop which served grilled seafood. My family stepped into the shop and ordered some grilled fish and cockles.

After saying our prayers, we devoured our mouth-watering find of the day. Dripped in a type of sauces, the seafood was the best I had ever eaten, as you could taste the freshness. Or maybe I was just hungry after a full day of activities.

If it was up to me, there were so many things to write on my memorable trip to Korean. Not only we got to spend quality time together as a family, but we also learnt countless new things and even discovered hidden talents. My father always said we should travel with an open mind and an open heart. This is when you get to see your capability to adapt to changes. Just enjoy the simple things in life and be thankful of what you have. So, do just that. Who knows you might discover a part of yourself you never know existed?    

This song is for you Miss Amreet and thank you for everything :)

Argumentative essay – Health or wealth, which is better?

“Look to your health and if you have it, praise God and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of a blessing that money cannot buy”. (Izaak Walton)

            This is example words of wisdom and there is no one would question their validity. But there are times when people do value money over their own health. When a person has been desired of a thing for too long, he logs for it and money is the commodity most in demand people wants money to fulfil their needs. They think that money can buy anything they need. It can help rent or build house. It can buy medicines, clothes, fruit and food. Not only that, it can pay for the small pleasures of life as well as the big ones.

            Health is more important than wealth. Health is the necessary condition while wealth is the sufficient condition. Wealth is important but we need both of them in order to live happily. But as you can see, the necessary condition is more important. Health is the necessary condition which means you cannot get anything that you desire unless you are healthy. This is the most important factor.

            Wealth is just a sufficient condition, as there are many way to be successful not only being healthy. You can try to become a famous singer or a well-known artist of professor without having a lot of money. All you need is just being healthy. O the other hand, we cannot buy health with money. Today, there are some diseases which have no cure. We need to remember one thing, wealth does not always make life more healthy and happily. Even if you are billionaire, you will feel unsafe because afraid of being killed or kidnapped for your fortune will speedily harm their health and shorten their longevity. Furthermore, without being health, how can you enjoy your health? As an old saying, “Where there is health, there is life”. That is why health is more important than wealth.

There is no denying the value of money and the pleasure of enjoying it. I know that everyone needs money to live as well, but there are basic issues involved. If money can be got only after a huge amount of sacrifice, is it worth? Is it really necessary for human beings to go on increasing their needs and temporary pleasure? Or would it be wiser to impose a self-restraint on one’s needs? Nowadays, people get so busy in getting money and then they forget how to enjoy with that money. Engaged in getting money, man has no time for his family or his friends and at times no time even for his health. On the other hand, the pursuit of money may adversely affect both his physical and spiritual health. He may overcome his initial scruples in his desire for power and money. The big question then is how much evil is justified to get to the good.

            The statistics are clear that people who are healthy live longer and more happily than the rich people. The majority of rich people are taken effect by money pressure, it will make their life uncomfortable because they always have to think about their money, money and money. They never stop to think about how to produce more money and how to protect their money. We can see that today, many young people use almost all their time to earn as much money as possible. They do not care about themselves because they think when they have money, they will get want they want and money can make them healthy. This is completely erroneous. People earn like mad until they have stress and waste their money on treatment. They have forgotten that after they die, they will leave everything behind.

            As a conclusion and from my view point, I would like to be healthy instead of wealthy. It is because I can do anything includes becoming rich but I cannot just work hard, drop my health and live the rest of my life just in bed. I do not what that to be happen. It is good to live healthy and remember that money cannot buy health. 

Links to academic web pages :

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
http://www.examenglish.com/PTE/pte_general_level1_listening_part1.htm
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs14.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv343.shtml

Reflection - week 14 (last week)

I am quite upset because this is the last reflection for my blog because this is already week 14. The last week and last lecture for this course, Writing for Multimedia and The Web. Supposedly we have class on next Monday, 15 September but Miss Amreet said that she wanted to take a leave on that day so we need to make replacement class. We decided to do our replacement class on Wednesday, 9 September.  On that day, we only have presentation on our Digital Story Telling project. There were three groups left so they need to do the presentation on that day because it was our last lecture for this course. Muhammad Syarafuddin’s group was the first who presented their video followed by Puteri Liyana and Zul Hanif’s group.

At the same time, Miss Amreet called our name one by one because she wanted us to sign for our assignment requirements. Before she dismissed the class, she gave the last words and I am touched. Even though she is quite strict to us, but I know it is all for our own goodness. She wanted us to be the best. I got the opportunity to take picture with Miss Amreet. 

Reflection - week 13

I cannot believe that this is already week 13. It means that next week is the last week for this semester. To be truth, I am not ready to sit for final yet I still have assignments to do. So I do not have time to make a revision or study for my final. I hope I still have time and it is not late yet.

Today, in Writing for Multimedia and The Web class, we need to present our digital story telling video. There were three groups who presented their video and my group was the first group who presented our video. The title of our story is “The Ship That Never Sinks”. We did not act in our video, but we use the cartoon animation. It is because we do not have much time to act out and we thought that this is the best way to do it. Calvin, Jayson, Lim Sue Chin and I decided to use Domo Animate as a platform for our digital story telling. Since both of Calvin and Jayson were busy with their work, we need to divide our work equally. So we decided Calvin and Jayson they do the scripts. Sue Chin and I do the animations and edit the video. After presented our video, Miss Amreet asked us few questions regarding on our Digital Story Telling assignment. She asked us how we can get the title and why we choose the theme of friendship in our video. Not only that, she asked what the challenges we faced during completing this assignment. 

Yes, I admit that there were challenges during doing this assignment. First of all, we need to choose the platform. There are many cartoon platforms that available but we need to check it one by one because some of it was difficult to use it. At last, we decided to use Domo Animate because it is easy to use. Plus, the characters suit us. Next challenge is we need to do the cartoon animation on each dialogue same when we doing the recording. We need to record each dialogue. There is a part when we need to record the voice more than one time. The hardest part is when we need to edit the video. It was our part, Sue Chin and I. We need to adjust the animation time with the dialogue voice. The part of editing was the hardest and it takes time. 

Reflection - week 12

We do not have any lecture for this week - holiday.

Reflection - week 11

This is week 11 already. On this week, Miss Amreet does not do any lecture about our course. What she done is she checked each of our blog and then she gave the feedback and also comments about our blog. Some of us, they need to add pictures or maybe some quotes or a video to make their blog alive and interesting. Unfortunately, some of my classmates have not completed their reflection until week 10. So far, when the time she checked mine, everything is okay she did not say anything. 

As you can see, I chose vintage theme for my blog because I do love vintage style so much. I have post my reflection until the latest week and I have complete all of the three essays; My Family, My Friends and My Self. Not only that, I added song in my blog playlist so that when people read my blog, they can hear my favourite songs and this will not make them bored. Plus, I had posted pictures and quotes to make it more interesting.

Later, I need to update my blog because I still have to do the reflection until the last week which is week 14. Not to forget, I need to post six different types of essays in my blog. At the same time, my group and I working on in our last assignment, Digital Story Telling and we need to present our video next week. 

The music of the Piano Guys was like balm to my soul!