Spending the holidays with your parents

        It is a natural thing that the teenagers would like to be free and independent from their parents, so because of this they find holidays with parents embarrassing and awkward. But do they really think about the advantages and disadvantages of travelling with their parents or they just follow their natural instincts and personal desires? I tried to figure out the pros and cons of this topic.
        On the one hand, travelling alone or with friends can be a very tempting idea for the teenagers, due to some unpleasant points of spending the holiday with parents. Firstly, there are things you cannot do in front of your parents, for example drinking alcohol and having big parties. However, these are very important to the youth in this period. The two generations simply do not have the same interests. The parents would mainly like to relax, maybe go sightseeing and visit a few museums, but in contrary to them teenagers just want to have fun. Plus, the parents often do not let their children spend a lot of money during a holiday. The teenagers should ask them for permission, if they intend to buy something. 
        On the other hand, spending the holidays with your parents is a very nice and respectable thing to do. Due to today's modern world children and their parents spend very little time together, as a result the gap between them is constantly widening. Spending a week or two together in the summer can improve their relationship a lot. In addition to that, if you have a sibling, the trip is never boring, because you have a brother or a sister you can have some fun with. Moreover, travelling and visiting new places is always great. If you skip a holiday with your family, you also miss out who knows how many cool experiences, such as meeting new people, getting to know other cultures or seeing beautiful landscapes. At last but not least, these family trips later cannot be brought back, so you have to seize the opportunity now.
         Taking everything into account, I admit that spending the holiday with your friends can be awesome, but in my opinion you'll have time to make trips with them later, for example when you go to university. Although there are some disadvantages of travelling with your parents, I think these holidays are very important, nearly essential for a good relationship between the two generations. Furthermore, they insure many unforgettable and funny memories for everyone.

Diary entry (Dorian Gray)

Dear Diary!
Until now I thought that my life has been happy and I was satisfied with it. But I was completely wrong. Harry made me realize that. I've lived an extremely boring and empty life. I was an innocent boy who knew nothing about the world. But now that's going to change because I feel very powerful. I've got the two most important values: youth and beauty. And thanks to the lovely Basil and my wish, I own them forever. I will always stay young and beautiful and my portrait will grow old.I feel free, because I've got nothing to worry about. I can do anything I want. And I will. There are plenty of things I'd like to try out. Now I can start enjoying my life. Of course, Harry will help me with this. He's already shown me many secret places. I didn't even know that they existed. We have so much fun together. I don't even dare to write down what we are doing at nights... I'm sure you don't want to know that. I bet most of them are illegal, but I'm absolutely not ashamed of the things I do. I'm just enjoying my life! I guess everyone should do that.


The pictures are from the movie Dorian Gray. You can watch it online here.

It's a mystery...

I spent a few days in Italy this April, so I had the chance to visit Pisa. As I was lying on the grass next to the most famous building of the city, I was wondering about the question: 
Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa ever fall?

The Tower of Pisa (Torre di Pisa) is the freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt to one side. The tower's tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure's weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.

The tower of Pisa has been leaning so long - nearly 840 years - that it's natural to assume it will defy gravity forever. According to engineers the famous structure will remain stable for at least another 200 years. By then, another intervention may be required, but the technology available to make improvements could be far more advanced and preserve the tower for another 800 years.

I'm glad to hear that, because in my opinion we have to save a beautiful building like that. It was amazing to be there. I think I'm very lucky.

To solve the mystery I used wikipedia and science.howstuffworks.com.

My alter ego

If I had an alter ego, I would try out being a boy. I've always wondered about that. I would be the lead singer of a cool rock band and I would also play the guitar. My band's name would be something interesting. Maybe Bleeding Rose or Dead Star? No, these are horrible...  I can't think of a good name, so if you have an idea, please write a comment.:) Our style would be similar to the band Three Days Grace or Papa Roach. We would give huge concerts where I would stage dive a lot (of course without being dropped). I would live a wild and dangerous life. I would be free and unstoppable. I would do whatever I want and whenever I want.

Spring

Spring is my favourite season of the year. I have two main reasons why I love it this much.
Firstly, because of the nature. I like winter as well, but usually I become sick of it when spring is near. This year it particularly happened to me like that. I just couldn't get used to thought that it was still snowing. In March. We had kind of a white Easter... It was 'a bit' too much for me.... (It was unbearable.)
 
For me spring means that I can get rid of my coat and my boots (I hate them.) and I can wear anything I want. I think spring is the season of warmth, sunshine, birds, flowers, rainbows and other nice things. I live near a forest, so I can really enjoy the resurgence of the nature. 

The other reason is emotional. It's because of the events which are in spring. There are many holidays in this season, for example: Easter, 1st of May and my birthday. I'm really looking forward to these. Mostly, for my birthday, which is on the 27th of April. I can't believe that I'm already getting 18 years old! In my opinion spring is the season when I start waiting and making plans for the summer. I'm going out with my friends more and more and I'm thinking about the school less and less.:)

Success is...

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” (Bob Dylan) 
What is success? According to The Free Dictionary it is the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.

I think success can mean different things to people. When the average man hears the word 'success', usually he thinks of lots of money, a good job, a nice car, a big house and a loving family. That's everybody is trying to achieve in order to be happy. In order to be successful.

But I think there are other things as well. To me, success means many things. Of course, good marks, winning a competition or a debate are a kind of success. However, in my opinion we shouldn't appreciate only the 'biggest' accomplishments. There are also smaller, but not less valued achievements. Little things can also make our lives happier. Like making someone smile or even laugh. Or helping someone. Doesn't it feel good? I think making someone happy is one of the best things we can do. Sometimes it's better to give than to receive. 

The other thing I'd like to write about is doing what you want to do. I agree with the quote above. Everyone has his own hobbies, things he loves to do. It can be either reading, gardening, doing a sport, collecting something or travelling. In my opinion, we have to find time for these things. I know, today it's very hard to do that, we must work, go to school, we have commitments. But I think the most successful people are whose job is their hobby as well. I know they're rare, but I'd really like to be one of them. Wish me luck with that! At the end a good advice:

Discursive essay

The only way to cut crime in our country is to make punishment more severe
            Crime is one of the most important issues in Serbia. In the last few years the crime rate has been going up. The most common felonies are burglary, rape, drug dealing and murder. Lots of people think that the only way we can solve this problem is making punishment more severe.
            On the one hand, punishment here is truly too permissive. For example, there were some cases when a criminal was not incarcerated just because the prisons were totally full. Many people feel that in order to be rightful, this cannot be allowed. In addition to this, in our country it is tolerated to steal up to 15 000 dinars without being arrested or anyhow punished. The idea of restoring the death penalty also has some supporters. According to their opinion, if the sentences were harder, less people would commit crimes.
            On the other hand, there are some arguments against more severe punishment. People point out that the main reason for theft is poverty and the poor steal due to the high level of unemployment. They suggest that the government should use public work as a punishment in those cases when people commit minor crimes because they are starving. Others oppose the capital punishment as they reckon that this kind of penalty is inhumane and against dignity. Furthermore, they think that it is not better than any other kind of murder.
            All things considered, our country surely needs some changes, but I would not bring back the death penalty. In my opinion the government ought to build more prisons, doom people to public work, do something about the huge unemployment rate and should not allow petty thefts.