There are many places I would like to travel to around the world, but I've always dreamt of going Down Under.  I think it would be so amazing to visit Australia and New Zealand.  The continent consists of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Island state of Tasmania. Its area is approximately equal to the main land of the United States and is south east of Asia between the Indian and Pacific Ocean. It’s particularly flat and dry with 40% of the country is in the tropical zone.  New Zealand is south east of Australia and consists of the North Island, South Island and a couple of other scattered ones.  Every time I think of that part of the world I feel like it would be an amazing nature experience.  In my mind the most beautiful wild and aquatic life is there.

Bibliography: 

1) McKenzie D.W.  Heinemann New Zealand Atlas.
        1987. Department of Survey and Land Information.

2) McLauchian, Gordon. Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia.
         Auckland New Zealand: 1984.  DB.

3) Bernette, James.  The Far East and Australasia 1992: Twenty Third Edition .
         1992. Europa Publications Limited.

4) Shaw, John. Collins Australian Encyclopedia.
         1984.  Sydney: Collins,  David Baseman Limited.

5) Milligan Cris, Peter J. Chapman, Toby Milner.  Business Traveler's HandBook: 
         A Guide to Asia, Australia and the Pacific.   Park Avenue South New York: 1982.  Fact On file Inc.

6) Duke, Suzanne, James Orton, Wendy Barker, Ceri Taylor. Debretts Handbook of
         Australia and New Zealand.  Debretts Peerage Limited.

7) Craig R. D, Frank P.King. Oceania: Historical Dictionary of Oceania.
         Westport, Connecticut, London, England: 1981.  Greenwood Press.

8)  Wiley, John. Worldmark encyclopedia of the National Asia  & Australia. 
          New York & Toronto: 1971.  Worldmark Press  LTD., John Wiley & Sons Inc.

The 20th of February is definitely an important and historical day in Puerto Rico.  It was the first time that two groups protest in the island about whether or not passing a law 54 to protect gay couples of violence like a heterosexual married one is.  One group thinks that a gay couple that lives together should be treated equally regarding the law that represents protection against domestic violence.  The other religious group believes that the only correct marriage should be of the opposite sex and therefore they are against it because if they pass this law the others will ask for gay marriage and the possibility to adopt a child also.  What's at stake is the way society will act regarding gay rights, family values and sexual education at school in the near future.  This is why the issue is so important to them, because it has never happened before and it will have a great effect on the island, for years to come, like it has already started to in some parts of the world.  

First I must say that I have many gay friends and family members whom I respect and love very deeply. I have no problem with a persons sexual orientation. To be honest I am confused on my decision. I don't like to take sides in these types of big issues.  I am catholic and I think that the correct thing is for  Men and Women to marry and have children. However,on the other hand it doesn't bother me at all what a gay person or couple does, I think everyone should be free to choose what ever they please to do and be treated equally. So I think God should be the only one to judge them for there actions when the time comes. If a person decided to be gay well it was his choice and they should be happy. This means I understand the point of view that both of the sides are coming from and  well I would wish that there was some sort of an agreement between them.  I mean, this was bound to occur anyway, it's inevitable.  I don't know which law will pass but whatever happens, happens. 

l don't recall my Valentines Day's all I know is I always just end up with my friends and maybe eat a candy or something.  I'm sure I might of had some extremely lame one which probably made me feel like poop but I don't really remember. The only one I remember was the Valentines Day when I actually got something. It was my best and worst Valentine's Day.  I'll try to explain this as simple as I can.  First, I must mention that I was 17 and this was my senior year of high school. Second, Let me tell you that my problem was about 2 dudes which I'll describe briefly. Each guy has a nickname which they new nothing about.  
-DUDE# 1  

• Bones = nick name ( I called him this because he had such fantastic face bone structure) 
  
• He was the boy that had a different girlfriend every year in high school.
• Lets just say that Bones was the guy in high school that I didn't know personally but just always thought was sexy and had an imaginary picture of how he would be and act.  I didn't actually like, like him, though I did find him attractive and every now and then had my self an occasional glimpse.  BOY WAS I WRONG ABOUT HIM!
• It turns out that my last semester in high school he "liked" me or whatever.

-DUDE #2

• Red Hot Chili Pepper(RHCP) = nickname (He has gingerish, brownish redish hair so I called him that)
• He was an older college dude I had a crush on that new already for about 8 months. 
• He used to go take a class in the Fine Arts school I went to after normal school and I'd wish for it to be friday every week so I could see him, because he'd always go talk to me. 
• We were good friends but every now and then he'd kinda flirt indirectly which made me think he liked me back at first but then he stopped going and I hadn't seen him in a while, (like maybe in 2 months I'd see him twice and eventually I stopped extreme crushing and just started to see him just as a friend ).  

Okay so now that you know about them I can actually begin with my dilemma.  
That Valentine's Day was on a Monday that year, but I'll start the story by telling you about what happened 3 days before that so you can understand my situation.  Remember when I said that I hadn't seen RHCP in a while, well he showed up on movie night that Friday before Valentine's Day and we talked for a bit. Then out of the blue he asks me: 
"What would you do if I gave you a kiss?"  The next thing I know is that I'm blushing.  So one second, I'm  looking away, waiting for my Muppet face to wear off and just when I think to my self: "Alright Sam it's safe to look," the next thing  I know is his forehead was against mine, our noses are touching, he's staring right at me and slowly closes his eyes. It was like he was waiting there for me to turn my face around.   The next second  I ended up getting my first kiss. Of course I was freaked out and in complete shock due to the fact that it was so unexpected, I hadn't seen him in a while and was just starting to De-Crush-Ify him.  Oh, and after it all happened while having the most accomplished  cocky/ douche-bag face ever, can you believe he said to me that he wasn't going to use any tongue or anything,  because that was to advanced for me now.  As if I expected any of it in the first place.  Then he told me he had to leave and couldn't see the movie, but he was going to call me or message me later that night.  

Well, guess what happened next he didn't, I was all weekend thinking about what had happened and then it was Valentines Day.  When I got to school there were a bunch of hearts on the bulletin board and there was one from Bones to me.  Then I went in the office to accompany a friend of mine for "something" but it was just a plot to distract me while bones prepared himself outside. Suddenly,  (this was embarrassing yet sweet I guess) my name the only Samantha in the whole school was called through the intercom for the entire alumni and faculty to hear.  When I got out there he was with a basket with a frog in it (I'm not a frog fan but it was cute) socks with hearts on them, and a cool chalk-olate box (literally the box cover was a chalkboard).  Then, I said thanks, gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  But wait that wasn't all then I went to the class room and on my desk was like a second gift with 2 cute eye expression  plushies (I don't know what they are exactly) and a Blue Rose (my favorite part which was really thoughtful since blue's my favorite color).   This was the first time anyone had gotten me a gift on Valentines Day.  One that actually came from boy, someone other than my than dad's Hershey Kisses and occasional Wallgeens V-Day cards from friends.  

So yes, I must say this sounds pretty good, but underneath it all I was going through a crisis.  There I was thinking  about all that time and effort Bones spent planning and getting me those gifts and at the same time that kiss with RHCP on friday.  I mean, I was just starting to like this guy at school and BAM! I start getting all these mixed feelings about the other dude just where all just coming  back to me.   

When I got home Red messaged me and we chatted a while until I finally asked him a question.  Why did he kiss me? I know what you're thinking who, who asks that? But it was just so out of the blue.  Then I waited for a while for him to respond. Do you know what he answered? He said:   "Well I was just curious, since you know you said you never had before, but I just want to be friends... but you know we can "PRACTICE" more if you want."  Of course I felt like crap so I just told him thanks for letting me know and said I just wanted to be friends also.  

That pretty much sums up my Best / Worst Valentine's Day.  At least I got a story out of it.

I am currently majoring in the  field of  Multi Media  or communication studies and I'm also striving for a minor in Drama.  I really like the fields I'm in and don't plan on changing it any time soon.  Here are some topics about the media that interested me: 

1. Scripted vs. unscripted entertainment:
Scripted entertainment can be a show that has been written and reviewed with anticipation before it's shown to the world.  For example, a TV series like Law and Order that has many chapters is scripted and may even have more than one screen writers to verify the content. The actors are given there lines and they know what they are supposed to do, contrary to an unscripted show.  Although they may have some sort of overview of what they are to do the content can be somewhat spontaneous or improvised.  For example: in any game show or sports event the people participating do things right there on the spot, and the hosts just respond or comment to what they are seeing, if it's going on live, for instance   A reality TV show is "unscripted" but may be edited of fixed to supervise some of the content depending on the show.  Movies are scripted, but in some cases the actor might have improvised a scene or line that was unscripted. 

I personally don't have of a problem watching  something scripted or unscripted.  Since we're born you  learn from what you've observed, told and experienced and I have to say I am not that fond of reality TV shows, which sadly does fall in to the unscripted category.  Don't get me wrong, sure, some call it entertaining. Yes, it can be (I do admit that I've even laughed once or twice) and yes it's very possible to get something out of it.  Definitely something completely un important and what the heck maybe just maybe you'll learn how stupid people can be and act, even though I know it's pretty obvious not everything is real.

2. How has television influenced the youth today?
I believe youth is very influenced by television.  Alot of the things one does or ways one may act has to do with  the fact that they have either heard it or seen it happen.  How? If not in school, friends, or by there parents it's defentetly coming from a media resource. I am pretty sure almost everyone has a television in there house or has seen one  at one point in there lives.  So what telivision has done is created a way for people to see things that relate to or don't to them.  A person can learn things from another part of the world just by watching a tv show, program  or brousing the internet.   Take for example a child learns from the educational cartoons given in the morning for G viewers, a young adolecent might watch a show in the afternoon  after school hours, probably everyday school life/ teen realted, or  if not an informational channel like the news, History  or discovery channel.  Then we have the late night shows for the older teens.  Even a music video shown on MTV or VH1  can send a message to as "how things are supost to be or happen" The Television networks may still have some restriction, but they have come a long way from what was aloud to be broadcasted back in the 50's for instence. Any way my point is  either good or bad the youth is learning it from somewhere and my friends  I'm telling you practically half of everything learned now a days comes from some sort of  media.  I wonder what would happen if technology ceased to exist tomorrow, the way things are now a days people just might even cause chaos.  

3. Subliminal messages in children's movies: 
Subliminal messages are everywhere, you can find them  in advertisement, music videos, songs, video games or even in a children's movies.  All I can say about this is that there have been many times when I've decided to watch an old movies from when I was a child and suddenly I realized these so called subliminal messages. What do you do when you see them? You think: "Now I get it!"  These messages are meant for the subconscious mind, those thoughts that stay in the back of your head while your conscious mind is working. What is a movie meant for? To entertain and to be watched over and over again as many times as you like.  Maybe someone only watches a movie once in there life, but, then again, there are those that you just love and see more than once, it doesn't matter how many years go by you'll see it again.  So the way I see it is that these messages are put in children's movies to in some way inform them of things they might not understand now but will at one point of there lives.  And who are the ones that watch the movies with the children? The parents or teachers, they might understand the message. So what I mean is, these moments when I saw a movie and things that I never knew where there before,  maybe knew but wasn't "supposed" to know or see according to society at that age, they were there. No matter how many times I saw it when I was younger, it eventually caught up to me and I've realized it now.  The message will one day get to you.  

Do I like to Resarch? Well when ever I here that word I get chills because It's like I'm just waiting to get stuck with some project I don't want to do with some boring or dificult theme.  That's not the answer though,  yes, I do like research, mostly about things that interst me. My problem is that i'm a great procrastinater. I could be searching all day have a bunch of sources and at the end of the day I still have nothing written down; that is a very bad habbit I must fix,. Even so, whenever the topic is the worst looking thing to me I believe that out of every thing you look up eventually something will  stick to you  and you'll learn from it. It builds curiosity in you and thats always good.

Things I like to research:
- Other Cultures
- Animals and marine biology 
- How things are originated, made or done
- Anything mysterious
- Music 
- ART 
- Any Cinematic History 
- I guess I like History in general 
- Human Behavior  

I really don't like politics, I know it's important but I always avoid these conversations because I hate conflict, though eventually this is inevitable and you have to know what's going on around you. 
 

After taking the career test I actually liked my results. I am an ENFP which means I am a Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving type of person.  I think it pretty much describes how I am in every way. 
-Some  ENFP people like me and who are compatible with me are those who are either an  INFJ or INTJ.

 Ever since I was a little girl  I  kind of new  I wanted to be involved with multimedia, basically working with film, radio and television production.  I've always liked to act so my dilemma here was which I wanted to choose to be my major and minor.  I decided to do both since I love it so much and I guess you can say that those are my plan A & B, but of course in that process of choosing what you want to study you always have your doubts. 
At home there's  your family trying to  influence you to pick a good/ well paying career and everywhere else there's your friends or just people telling you what to do.  So obviously at one point I thought of other career choices I would want to do, but none of them ended up convincing me completely.

At first I wanted to be a veterinarian, you know the usual, almost everyone loves pets, but then I just thought of opening them up and stuff; it's practically a doctor just for animals, so I eliminated it from my plans.  Then I realized that I am like a crafty type of person, I like using my hands to create things and I like to draw, (I'm not Magnificent or anything, but at least I'm coordinated and can get things done nicely). I would have picked an artist but it's more like a hobby thing for me though I know I could do a good job if I where up to it.  This led me to think of architecture, it involves drawing and I'm fond of  how things structure themselves together, and plus I'd be the one making something useful.  This was almost my plan C,  but architecture involves math and even though I'm not that bad at it I just don't think I'd be up to all the late nights racking my brain. 

Finally, If I had to choose anything else it would probably be a Art Director.  It has a pretty good balance between art and technology, I could maybe even use some animation which is also great.   It seems  like a fun  job to do.

My high school was focused on  business administration, and I realized I can't stand the fact that I would have to work with a bunch of paper work that I really don't have any interest in. It was good to learn and have the experience because I know it will come in handy some day, but I just don't think I'd be able to deal with that for the rest of my life.  My problem is I get bored, I need to move, get out once in a while. I'm definitely not the type of person to be sitting around all day, I need a job that balances my necessity to un- borify myself,  (that's not even a word). I need an active job!  Even though an Art Director can be an office job at times it's something that interests me so I wouldn't mind doing it. Really, the reason I didn't pick this career was just because I liked my first choices better, but I would consider it in a jiffy if I ever need to in the near future.   

Here are some Job offerings for an Art Director and similar occupations they can do. 
Famous Art Directors and a list. 

I think at this point it's pretty much impossible for me to choose a favorite artist, do to the fact that my list of music taste can extend so very much.  I must mention I like many different genres, for instance: Country, Rock 'n' Roll, Hip Hop, R 'n' B, Blues, Opera, Folk, Jazz, etc. I am completely versatile in this matter.  As a child I grew up with a dad who was a DJ and almost everyday he would come home from work to mix it up a little; mostly some good old school music.  So I guess you can see why and where I got such a variety of music reference, but I must say my favorite has to be Rock. 

As you all know, Rock has a long list of sub-genres within it's own category.  So I'll explain some of my favorites.  I can sincerely say I like almost every type of rock.  I can go as far back to the 1940's when you'd only hear Doo Wop's and then came the rockabily ages with artists like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.  With the British Invasion in the 60's Rock 'n' Roll ends, leaving us with a new POP and Rock beginning, Of course bands such as The Beatles, The Who and the Rolling Stones appeared on the radios through out the world.  As the years go by, psychedelic tones started to get more popular eventually evolving into Acid Rock with groups like The Doors, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Black Sabbath.  After that we see the Hard/ Heavy Metal Rockers like AC/DC, Iron Maiden or Alice Cooper through out the 80's and then the  Punk, Grunge, Garage, Ska bands arrive indulging us through the out the 90's.  I remember growing up listening to all the good stuff, as I like to say, thanks to Dad. :D 

Anyway, there might be days when I'd listen to something rather mellow like Angus and Julia Stone or Paolo Nutini. Some smooth Alternative/ Grunge Nirvana or maybe go deeper with Hard Rock. At times even some Heavy Metal, Screamo (some is actually to extreme for my ears to handle so this may ), Electro Rock, Funk, Indie or Alternative Metal, for instance Chevelle.  It all depends on my mood.  Every Rock concert I go to gives me chills; so many emotions at once just makes me feel empowering and free to do whatever I want whenever I please it.  It's such a great feeling!

So know that you've learned what music I like, you know it will be a hard decision for me to make.   When I'm given the task to mention a favorite band there will always be countless amounts from which I could choose, but if I were to pick one I really admire from this era, it would probably have to be 30 Seconds to Mars. They fit a couple of rock sub-genres and always put a great show. 

If I could have any superpower I would be a shapeshifter. This way I would be able to become any person, creature or object whenever I please. I don't necessarily have to be blue like mystique is in the X-men, although, I don't mind since I choose that color over all others.  Anyway, my point is: Wouldn't it be great to just be anything you like?  I mean for all I know I can wake up one morning thinking I should go ahead and become a prehistoric  Long Neck gone wild. 
 
Guess which one is incorrect.
1.   I do not know how to whistle.
2.  I was born in New York though I am part  Puerto Rican and Colombian.
3.  I am obsessed with mayo ketchup sause.
4.  I like filmaking, directing, producing, and acting.
5. I went to Italy and Greece to compete in a dance competition when I was in high school.
6. My hobbies are playing the drums, dancing ballet and participating in theater plays.