Twist and turn

There are always so many twists and turns in life that you would never ever have expected. Five years ago, I would never have thought that I would marry to an American and stay in America. Three years ago I would never have believed my sister would lay her trust in God insanely to go against the whole family. And just a year ago I would never have been worry a bit about my siter-in-law's health with breast cancer!!! Seriously, things have changed too much in those five years that it seems like just a wink of eyes.

The time I just met Andrew, I'm still looking for a fairy tail kind of love, such as a love-at-first-sight or an instant connection. However, things had been so smooth between me and him. There was no pressure, no tension or any obstacle in our relationship. Things had been as smooth as it could be and it gave me a feeling like "Look, how things could be so easy when I'm with him, just as it's meant to be". And just like that, our love and our trust slowly grows, even until now, we still on our adventure to understand the partner. We grow old together and never stop learning about each other and surprising each other. That's how we keep our relationship working.

My sister is now walking on her own path that completely separates her with the whole family. It's not that we family don't support the faith in God or Catholic, her religion is a strangest and weirdest religion we've known of, though. First of all, whole family believe in Buddhist, it's such a huge change that she chose God over Buddha and family. Second, her religion goes again the entire believe in thousands years about the worship of Vietnamese people. She didn't want to join in any party with family for the death anniversary and even insulted family's belief sometimes. She's changing to be a completely different person to who I've known before. Things are even seem worse when it also goes again the world Catholic or Christian believe. It's on its own and believes on its own God. It doesn't celebrate Christmas and state that the holiday the whole world have been believing for thousand year is just fake, is a joke, is a trick of Satan....bla...bla...bla... Worst of all, she doesn't even respect my Mom anymore. She believes all people have only one Dad and Mom, who is God. She and my Mom just the two spirit meet each other in life. And so, there is no need to look up to my Mom as a "Mom"!! My Mom just looses my sister like that, by a stupid religion. She can walk her own way, just like me walk out of the country, but it's really unacceptable when she just simply forgets where she comes from and drops off her identity like that.

About 2 years ago, my sister-in-law's business was blooming and doing so well that make me be happy for her as well as so jealous of her talent. She is smart, beautiful, creative and gifted. She have a wonderful family with a hilarious, kind and smart husband and 3 beautiful little angels that are just as smart and funny as their parents and such wonderful kids. And in the middle of all the wonderful things happen around her, there is only one thing happens, that such a big twist and turn - breast cancer. No one has ever expected that event at this time of life and at her young, beautiful, blooming age. With all the God's bless, I'll pray for her everyday, for those little angels that they could bring hopes, loves and joys to Leah's family. Have she strong to overcome all these obstacles, and hold tight on life for a better future. 

In those 5 years living in America, I have seen 6 babies been born, and have not made myself one :| There was baby Adam, Leah's third baby. She didn't plan to have him, however God have a bigger plan for her! There were Tam's babies, and she had 2 little cuties, one boy and one girl. There was Chaya's baby, I was still go out on the beach with her the day right before she found out she carry another spirit inside her. There was Dolly's baby, such a little princess. I saw Dolly enjoy dressing up her cutie everyday just as happy as playing with Barbie! :) And there was Nancy's baby, the friend I just made when I moved to America. Beside that, there were a lot of friends at home have gave birth. Specially my BFF - Hanh, the special one that I was lucky enough to go home and join in her wedding. And I was lucky enough to become God mother of that baby. Although I couldn't spend time with that daughter a lot, I'll look after her all my life and never refuse any request from her or her Mom!!! That's my little girl, who carry the lifetime friendship between me and her mom, and I'll let her know how special she is when she grow up. I'll let her know "how I met her mother" and "how her dad met her mother" :)))))

Life is full of unexpected changes. I believe things happen for a reason, we are too small to understand those reasons, so just LET IT BE and make the best out of any situation. There is up and down in life, that's life supposes to be. So when we feel like we are at bottom, just know that nobody is going down forever, we will go down and then we will go up. It's just like a roller coaster, so sit tight, relax and enjoy the ride. 

Mutual Funds

Abstract

J. Paul Getty says: "Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells." Investment can be risky and tricky. However, that’s the smart way to make your money work for you. There are thousand ways to spread your money, yet mutual fund is a safe and least expensive way to invest. Like other investments, they have advantages and disadvantages. That’s why we always need to learn and understand them in order to decrease the risk, yet at the same time, increase the reward. If your learn how to use them correctly, mutual funds will become your outstanding money tree. Investing in mutual funds require patience and confidence, just like real estate. You put an amount of money into a house or funds, then the price goes down and you get nervous. You sell them after only three or four years, when you have not made anything out of them yet. The key to succeed here is to do your research and believe in yourself. This research will give you a simple and clear overview about mutual funds and help you understand the basic way in which they work.


Keywords: mutual funds, succeed, investments.

What is a Mutual Fund?

A mutual fund is a pool of money from investors. A fund manager invests this pool of money in stocks and bonds market in order to meet a specific investment objective. The fund manager can be an investment company which handles various investments including stocks, bonds and money markets. For investors with limited time, expertise, or experience, mutual funds offer the perfect choice of investments at a very low cost. Each mutual fund is managed by a professional money manager who will decide where your money will go. The mutual funds investors will agree on sharing the brokerage expenses, management fees, and other operating costs incurred by the fund. Mutual funds have existed for more than 80 years and become the most common investment for average Americans.

The advantages of Mutual Funds 

Instant diversification:


If you have a little money to invest, the money will not buy many shares of single stock in the market. You also need to buy two or three different stocks to reduce the risk of losing all your money if they plummet in price. By pooling money together in mutual funds, shareholders can instantly diversify their investment without the large cost to create individual portfolios. According to Jordan E. Goodman, “If two or three stocks in the portfolios get hit hard, your losses will be much more limited because the value of many of the other stocks will probably be holding their own or going up at the same time.” (2002, p.90)


Professional management:


Professional managers use their skills and expertise to handles shareholder’s money. They have an open access to extensive company research and market information. Not every investor can have time and full knowledge to manage the personal investments at a reasonable cost like having a professional manager.


Save money and time:


With regard to the two advantages mentioned above, we can clearly see how mutual funds can save you money and time. If you are a regular full-time employee and want to earn money without taking up investing seriously, this will be the best way. In addition to this, it doesn't cost much to start your investment. One to two hundred dollars is enough to purchase smaller mutual funds. (“The advantages of mutual funds”, 2012)


Choose your risk level:


There are many choices of funds that you can match with your financial goal, time horizon and your risk tolerance. According to Infoplease.com, there are three basic kinds of funds:


Money market funds: Considered the lowest risk, they are limited by law to certain high-quality, short-term investments. Investors rarely lose money on these funds, but it's possible.


Bond funds: These have a higher risk than money market funds, but pay higher yields as well. Most bond funds also have a credit risk. “If you want safe investments, consider government bond funds; if you're willing to gamble on high-risk investments, try high-yield bond funds; and if you want to keep down your tax bill, try municipal bond funds." (Basics of investing in mutual funds, para.6)


Stock funds: These offer the highest returns, but involve more risk than other funds. A stock fund's value can rise and fall quickly in a period of time but generally a stock fund's performance over long-term is better than the other funds.


Easy access to funds:


You can get in and out with mutual funds easily. With just a phone call or few clicks of the mouse, you can buy and sell funds quickly. This instant liquidity can be a big advantage. By law, the funds have to allow you to redeem your shares at the current NAV. Therefore, you can participate anytime in the market if you suddenly see the chance of earning profit. On the other hand, you can easily sell a handful of shares if you know it will be difficult to get a decent price in the near future.

The disadvantages of Mutual Funds 

Taxes


Taxes are the biggest disadvantage of mutual funds. With an individual stock, you don't have to pay taxes as long as it sits on your portfolio. However, with mutual funds, you will receive a taxable distribution, even if you never sell a share or reinvest your gain. Your mutual funds are required either pass out all their gains each year, or pay corporate income tax on them. When you get a distribution, the taxes become yours.


Lack of control


Having a professional manager is an advantage of mutual fund, on the other hand, also becomes a weakness. The fund manager makes all the decisions on buying and selling stocks without your opinions. In additional, you cannot ascertain the exact make-up of a fund's portfolios.


Annual fees


“Mutual funds charge an annual fee of about 1 to 2 percent of your total invested assets every year whether you make new investments or not”.(Jordan E. Goodman, page 92). These costs and taxes can be a big bite of the total profit earn by mutual fund shareholders.


Performance:


During the high-tech crash of the 1999-2002, millions of mutual funds investors lost a lot of money because their professional managers had invested a large amount of money in technology and Internet stocks (Goodman, 2002, p.92). The historical performance of the funds sometimes do not show the true value of the funds. It easily guide investors, even the professional investment specialists, down the wrong path.

Keys to succeed with Mutual Funds

The magic money-making part in mutual funds is compounding. Compounding is the ability of assets to generate their own earnings. It means you can make interest from the performance gains plus any dividends and reinvested capital. The longer you invest, the more powerful compounding gets. When you invest in mutual funds, it takes longer to get the same profit that you do with the other types of investments. You need to be careful when selecting your fund, and stick with your choice over time. Based on the example in the book How to make money in stocks (William J. O’Neil, 2002, p.237), if you purchase $10,000 of a growth-stock fund that averages about 15% a year over a period of 35 years, here is how compounding might occur:


First five years $10,000 becomes $20,000


Next five years $20,000 becomes $40,000


Next five years 40,000 becomes $80,000


…....


At the 35th year 640,000 becomes 1.28 million!

As you can see, compounding interest is the way to make money work for you, instead of you working for it. So the key here is a good starting choice and to stick with it. To achieve success, you need to do your homework! Do some careful research before you decide to invest your money into any kind of fund, and stay with it long-term. Nothing is guaranteed, however the example above could happen to you if you plan and invest in mutual funds correctly. Trust in yourself and be patient. Even though the market will be up and down and the economy may go into a recession, don't be nervous. Instead, try to look ahead several years. After raining, the sky will be brighter. Like William J. O'Neil said: “Buy right and sit tight!”

References

ABC's of Mutual Funds | Infoplease.com. (n.d.). Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. | Infoplease.com. Retrieved July 4, 2013, from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001495.html


Basics of investing in mutual funds. (n.d.). CNN Money. Retrieved July 4, 2013, fromhttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson6/index.htm


Goodman, J. E. (2002). Everyone's money book. Amherst Enterprises Ltd.


Hirschey, M., &Nofsinger, J. (2010).Investments analysis and behavior. (2nd ed., p. 701). New York: McGraw-Hill,Inc.


Investopedia. (2012, March 13). The Advantages Of Mutual Funds. Investopedia - Educating the world about finance. Retrieved July 4, 2013, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/03/040403.asp


O'Neil, W. J. (2002). How to make money in stocks. (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill,Inc.

Creator or Victim, it’s your choice

Playing the Creator role turned my life completely to a wonderful road that I have never imagined. That was the time I had a chance to go to America as an exchange student and joined the Work and Travel program. This is a program for students around the world to go to work in American for a short period of time and then use that money to travel. A friend of mine was playing Victim role in that situation and that’s how I got a clear sight of how different between the Creator response and the Victim response. My friend was so scared of the entire new things, challenges and changes that we would meet such as being far away from family and encountering a new culture and new language.


Being far away from friends, family and all the familiar things was the scariest to her. She thought that she would be so sad, homesick, and lonely. I, on the other hand, chose to think of it as a chance for me to learn how to take care of myself and to be independent for the first time in my life. How interesting to meet and make new friends from all over the world.


We were also aware of the new things we would have to adapt to in America. New culture was the first things that came up in our knowledge. I have heard of so many stories about people getting culture shock. They could not stand all the differences and gave up in the middle of the program. I knew that travelling to another country and adapting to a new culture requires an opened mind and an accepting attitude. Because of doing that, I have learned so many interesting things and realize just because someone has a different custom than us, doesn’t mean they are bad; it just means they believe in a different thing.


Language was the biggest challenge. We were so scared of speaking a completely different language than our mother tongue. We would feel lost; we would not understand much when people talked around us. It would be impossible to communicate with everyone, and it’s difficult when you cannot express yourself. But that was a challenge that I looked for when I entered this program. I wanted to practice my English, and there is no better way than to live in the environment. I took it as a challenge and faced with it rather than running away from it.


Finally, my friend was so frightened of the challenge, she stayed at home. I went to America with an opened mind and positive thinking to learn a whole new world. As a student, I’ve been in the Victim role many times, but that one time only, I chose a Creator role, and it changed my life in an incredible way. It’s your choice what role you want to play in your life, and it’s your choice where your mind will lead you. So why be a Victim, when you can be a Creator?

Langston Hughes: the great race man

Langston Hughes was a writer in the time of great racial segregation in America. He was a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist who spoke for Negros. He was well-known due to his great variety of works, which were full of compassion and passion for African American’s rights. He not only spoke for black people, but also spoke with them. He traveled around the world to Europe and Africa. He was the first African American writer that made a living from writing. He is famous and inspiring even until now.


One of the most famous stories by Langston Hughes is “Salvation,” which is in his autobiography, The Big Sea. By telling the story “Salvation,” Langston Hughes expressed his true feeling of God. When his aunt took him to a big revival, it was a chance for him to see God and to be saved by God. In two sentences, he mocked about this incident and gave out his real expression: “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved”. Revival, also known as a “Spiritual Awakening”, is an activity in church to renew the faith of people in God. In this story, the thirteen-year-old boy believed that he “could see and hear and feel God in his soul,” as his elders always told him. He was sitting there, in the middle of a hot, crowded church to wait for a light, for something happening inside him. Unfortunately, nothing happened. All the other kids, “who have not been brought to Jesus”, already got up from the mourner’s bench and went to the platform. There was a last kid, named Wesley, with him. Tired of sitting there, Wesley finally decided to get up to the platform, even though he hadn’t seen God. The preacher kept moaning, shouting and singing a rhythmical sermon to call him. His aunt knelt at his knees and cried. A great amount of old people knelt, prayed, and sang around him. He started to wonder why God hasn’t struck Wesley dead, for lying in temple. He felt ashamed of himself for making all these troubles, so he decided to lie too. He got up and went to the platform to be saved by God. The whole room was broken down as he rose. In the evening, he cried and couldn’t stop, for the Jesus had not come and saved him that day. Since then, he didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore (Hughes).


Langston Hughes was born in 1902 and he was a mix race of African American, White American and Native American. His parents split up when he was two years old. He spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in Kansas. His grandmother was one of the first women to attend Oberlin College. She was well-educated, and always believed in equal rights regardless of race. She taught him black American traditions, and gave him a sense of racial pride. She reminded him that his ancestors had fought against slavery, and always believed in man’s freedom. Even though his family was poor, he was aware of his distinguished background and it had a profound effect upon his sense of identity (Walker and Rampersad). In his autobiography, Hughes said that he was lonely and unhappy during that time in Kansas. That's why he “began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books” (Hughes). When he was twelve years old, his grandma passed away, and he had to live with a friend of the family while his mom traveled to look for job.


When he finally moved in with his mother and step-father, he attended a mostly white high school in Lincoln, Illinois. Even though there were a lot of nice teachers, there was one that always picked on him. He felt isolated, rejected and insecure from that time of his life. That was a time of overwhelming racism and segregation. Colored people couldn’t vote, drink from the water fountain, or stay in certain hotel. All the alienation he felt at this time was reflected in his works later. During the time in Illinois, his mother encouraged him to explore the library, reading books, writing poems and watching plays. He fell in love with them. From those first loves, he built up a basic knowledge for his career in the future. The white student body assumed black people like him had rhythm and chose him as Class Poet (Hughes). This started him down the poetry writing path. In 1916, he moved to Cleveland and attended a high school there. “He wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook, and began to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays” (PoemHunter.com).


After graduating from high school in Cleveland, Langston Hughes moved to Mexico to be with his father. His father had left him early in his life, to run to Mexico, seeking to escape the fractious racism in the United States. Hughes had a difficult relationship with his father. Aside from having been separated for a long period of time, his father did not support his desire to be a writer. He only agreed to help Langston get into college for an engineering career. They also conflicted about their point of view: "I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn't understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much” (PoemHunter.com). He attended Columbia University and studied engineering, as his father wished. He left school two years later, because of the racial violence that he faced in college. He worked several jobs before he left the U.S to travel to West Africa and Europe. He had traveled and seen the world with the eyes of a black man and an artist, exploring the meaning of life. In 1926, he published an essay in the very prestigious Nationmagazine. “The Negro Artist on the Racial Mountain” stands as a kind of manifesto for the Harlem Renaissance (Walker and Rampersad).


Religion was always an important part in Hughes’s life, as well as many other black people’s lives. Faith for God among the African American community was a way for them to cope with the violent racial repression at that time. Hughes’s family wasn’t an exception. He had been raised to believe in Jesus and love the Holy Ghost. However, since the incident of Salvation, he started to question religion and lost faith. That was a defining moment, a turning point in his life that shaped his point of view about religion. He was not afraid of speaking out his opinions on this issue in a lot of his works. Even though he still admired and recognized the place of religion in the black community, he himself was not a believer. He was also very angry about religion hypocrisy. He pointed out that some people used religion as a tool to control others. His writings make audiences think “why would the character make religion into something that would benefit them financially instead of spiritually?” (Langston Hughes vs. Religions)


It’s difficult to see the reality of being isolated and aliened in his personal life, as well as in his society. Langston Hughes used words as his weapon against the great racial intolerance, injustice, and inequality at that time. He wrote most often when he was unhappy. His words came out of his unhappiness and represented his view of life. When he was sad, he went inside himself, to triumph over that sadness. His voice was that of African Americans. “He had a tremendous sense of devotion to the word, a sense of duty as an artist, obligation to his craft and obligation to his audience” (Walker and Rampersad). He worked hard to show the black community how beautiful they are naturally, and they don’t have to wear the mask that society prefers. He made it possible for black Americans to dream the American dream.


One of his most famous poems is “A Dream deferred”:


What happens to a dream deferred?


Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?


Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.


Or does it explode?


Langston was trying to speak for African America in particular, but not for them alone. This poem is about a general dream that is delayed. It could be the American dream, that African Americans could not have a chance to achieve. It could be the dream of a society of justice, compassion and freedom for black people. It could be any abandoned dream. What will happen to this dream? “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” The raisin in the sun is such a successful image of how people dry out of hopes and dreams. It's like a grape that withers and shrivels in the sun until it becomes a raisin. “Or fester like a sore-- And then run?” With such a poetic pain, Langston Hughes leads the audience to the bitterness and suffering of African Americans. Their wound of injustice and inequality will be never healed or fulfilled. It festers under their skin. “Does it stink like rotten meat?” Not only can you picture the rotten meat in your head, but also smell and taste the stink and offensive feelings of a dream abandoned. “Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?” Whether the dream deferred looks and sounds good or not, it’s still rotten. In a different visualization, but it's a same result. He’s eloquently describing the pain of having a dream deferred. “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.” Eventually, a dream deferred will become too heavy to pick up and carry forward. “Or does it explode?” Does deferring dream make you a ticking-time bomb? Will life blow up in your face? Through the entire poem, we can see, taste and smell the hopeless feeling of a dream deferred. His poem is really straight forward and not much hidden idea. It’s saggy, negative, and dissolutive. The beauty of this poem is just from its simplicity. It’s clear, pellucid and honest. His poem makes it all one regardless of our race, sex or religion; the pain of a dream deferred belongs to each of us. The black and white America may share nothing in common but yes, a same pain.


After all, Langston Hughes was an influential writer himself. His work captures one of the most violent, yet passionate times of America. He left a great variety of work behind, which is really influential and inspires. It still affects the nowadays youth, who can be proud and grateful of being an African American with strength and pride of Africa a long time ago. His contribution literature is invaluable to American literature.

Works Cited

"Biography of Langston Hughes." PoemHunter.com. N.p.. Web. 27 Jun 2013. <http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/biography/>.


Hughes, Langston. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: The Big Sea. Autobiography, Volume 13. 1st. 13. Columbia, Missouri: Library of Congress Cataloging, 2002. Web. <http://books.google.com/books?id=SsgPcfpjhBcC&pg=PA36>.


"Introduction to the Choas ." Langston Hughes vs. Religion . N.p., 03 Jun 2012. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. <http://langston-hughes.blogspot.com/>.


Walker , Alice , and Arnold Rampersad . Personal Interview. N.d. Web <http://www.fmgondemand.com/play/XF7ALH >.

Tips for writing

As an native Vietnamese girl, I need to practice my English everyday in order to live a successful life in America. The best way to practice my English is not only from communicating with people but also from reading and writing. By attending in ENG 111 class, I've learned a lot of good tips and accesses to helpful pages for improving my English. Here are some page that I find really helpful for my writing:

Purdue OLW (OWL stands for Online Writing Labs)

Plagiarism tutorial W. W. Norton (Publisher) On-line Handbook

My career path

I’ve chosen Accounting as my life career. I think I’m good at numbers and solving math problems. Accounting, however, is not only concerned with numbers, but also with people. During the research about Kendra Cherry’s article on Multiple Intelligences and the Occupational Outlook Handbook, I feel excited and positive about this career path. Cherry’s definition of Multiple Intelligences, and the test about my own innate intelligences have given me a closer look at my inner strengths and how they compare with the qualifications that my future career requires.


Kendra Cherry based her article about multiple intelligences on Gardner's theory. This is a popular theory from 1983 and has been discussed among critics from both physiological and educational fields. These critics assume that Gardner's view of intelligence is too wide and doesn’t have enough practical proof. Gardner believes “people do not have just an intellectual capacity, but have many different intelligences including musical, interpersonal, spatial-visual and linguistic intelligences” (Cherry). In many ways, we can understand that one person can have many kinds of intelligences and those particular intelligences express a range of ability to capture things in specific area. For example, Logical-Mathematical Intelligence defines people who are strong in things such as solving a problem, recognizing patterns or analyzing reasons. Intrapersonal Intelligence describes people that are aware of their own emotions, feelings and motivations really well. Interpersonal Intelligence is the ability to understand and interact with other people, such as understanding their emotions, motivations, desires or intentions. Kendra Cherry's explanation of Gardner's theory gives us something to reflect in understanding where are our abilities are. I think this information is useful in helping us to make educational and career choices.


My result from an inventory about my innate intelligences is pretty interesting to me (bgfl.org). According to the result, I score high in Logical, Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Intelligence. I see myself in these definitions. I enjoy playing puzzle games and am really good at math. I like to solve problems and find the patterns or logic in the things that happen around me. I also spend a lot of time to analyze my own feelings and emotions. I get lost in my own little world sometimes, and people even call me a day-dreamer. Intrapersonally, I know why I like what I like, and why I don’t like what I don’t. On an interpersonal level, I enjoy listening to people and helping them solve their problems. I love to be around people. I laugh when they laugh, and I cry when they cry. I tend to wear people's shoes as naturally as I wear my own. In many ways, this chart gives me a better look at myself and helps me understand, very clearly, my own strengths.


With that knowledge of my strengths, I connect to my own career choice. The profession I want to pick in my future is accounting. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook website, my task will be to analyze all the financial activity of the firm that I work for. I will have to keep the financial processes operating properly, punctually and effectively. This job has a potential and stable outlook. It's “grow 16 percent from 2010 to 2012, about as fast as the average for all occupations” (Occupational Outlook Handbook). In order to become an accountant that can work for a big company, I need a Bachelor degree and a lot of experiences. The average wage was $61,690.00 per year in May 2010. This job requires analytical skill, communication skill, detail oriented skill, math skill and organization skill. These skills give me an ability to tell when something lightly goes wrong and figure out where it is and how to fix it. Besides that, I need to communicate well with my clients or managers to understand their orders and discuss the problems with them.


Accounting seems fit my Logical – Mathematical Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence and Interpersonal Intelligence as well. I find myself interested in working with money and solving problems with math. I'm good at working on my own, and focusing on the main point of problems. As my Interpersonal Intelligence score shows, I can look at the situations from different side of views and be able to relate all the information to achieve the firm's goal. I can use critical thinking to identify the advantage and disadvantage of the solutions to decide the best one for the firm. I'm not extremely organized, but I pay attention to detail and am organized enough to identify whether something goes wrong or not. I've thought that being an accountant I will only deal with numbers most of my time, and can avoid communicating with people. Oppositely, communication is actually one of the main skills for this job. Conversation, which is not my best strength, should not be an obstacle for me as soon as I know what I'm talking about.


I have never looked at myself this way, to compare my capability with a job's qualifications. It gives me a clear and logical idea of my own faculty and makes me aware of whether the job is suitable for me or not. I can understand now that Accounting is not only about numbers but also about people, dealing with people and helping people. The knowledge from this research prepares me better in what to expect on the job. However, whatever the job I choose, I know it’s my attitude not my aptitude that determines my altitude. (Chinese's fortune cookie)

Work Cited

“Accountants and Auditors.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.d. Web.3 June 2013 < http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm >.


Cherry, Kendra. “Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” About.com. N.d. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell.htm >.


“Summary report for: Accountant.” Onetonline.com. 13 Jan 2011. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-2011.01 >.

Virginia Renaissance Faire

My husband and I recently visited the Virginia Renaissance Faire during Pirate Invasion Weekend. Set on grounds of gorgeous Lake Anna Winery in Spotsylvania, the Faire separated itself from the busy, modern life. With this opportunity, I escaped from my daily routine and stepped back in time to an ancient English country village. It was unexpected fun and a wonderful experience.

We were lucky to meet Baron Stafford

The Faire is based on the late 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I: “Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth has chosen to grace the town of Stafford with her presence. Baron Stafford, the lord of these lands, must find a way to host the Queen, and her court, and their servants, and their servant’s servants, and their animals, and their families. The food costs alone would turn him into a pauper. Yet, a visit from the Queen and her court would be good for the growing businesses of Stafford. A solution is delivered: levy a tax upon the people of Stafford to pay for the Queen’s visit. After all, a visit from the Queen is in their best interests, the people should be happy to pay for her. The task of establishing and collecting the tax has fallen to the Sheriff. He has been authorized to use any means necessary to collect the taxes, pay for the Queen’s visit, and ensure that Baron Stafford’s coffers are not completely emptied. Sometimes, the Sheriff becomes a bit overzealous in his pursuit of the dollar, but, after all, it is for everyone’s greater good. A lone member of the town has reasoned that the Sheriff is levying an illegal tax. When words fail to persuade the Sheriff to alter his course, the town hero must take up the sword to fight for what is right. Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” ("Staffordshire").

All beautiful dresses show the classes of the ladies

Greeting us at the entrance was a less-handsome version of Captain Jack Sparrow. He welcomed us to the Faire with a friendly smile and handed us what appeared to be a treasure map. It included all the events, activities, and concession stands that would keep us busy all day long. At first sight, I was impressed with all the corset-type dresses and costumes around me. They were so colorful and beautiful, but also extremely tight and hot in the warm weather. We could see a lot of tents selling all the unique, handmade products. There was a great variety of goods: jewelry, pottery, swords, armor, leather goods, incense, candles, oils, wood-works, and so much more. I popped into a few cute tents to shop for a souvenir. I was so delighted to buy a beautiful inexpensive necklace. Conversations with the artisans as they create unique merchandise is a must. I learned that throughout the day, the artisans and the craftsmen would demonstrate how to make glass beads and how to make thread on the spinning-wheel. We only caught a view of a blacksmith making tools, but it was enough to fulfill my curiosity. The heat was unbearable, but the bustle of a busy market day in the village kept our energy high.

Captain Jack Sparrow and me

The theme story was about the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Staffordshire, where the poor town was rebuilding after a terrible fire("Staffordshire"). Here and there, we could see minstrels and actors wandering around the street seeking the Queen's favor. They also tried to win the townspeople’s approval and permission to rebuild a theater. We saw a puppeteer control his puppet to please the royal family. We listened to a minstrel playing guitar and singing an old song as well. We watched a gipsy dance troupe in the middle of the bazaar. There were multiple stages to entertain people. Musicians, fire jugglers, and aerial gymnastics, hired by the faire, performed with skill and enthusiasm. Even though I knew they were acting, I still felt like I was back in time. Everything seemed so real.

A puppeteer was showing his talent

It was such a thrill to witness the jousting tournament. Two knights on horseback thundered toward each other, lances drawn courageously. The knights even taught us some of the art of jousting, from putting on armor to training exercises, to actual combat. We also learned how to swing a sword and differences stances for attacking. The Royal Archers explained to us the history of the bow and arrow. I now understand how archery played an important part in Renaissance life. I saw the master archer perform his fantastic skill with an accurate shot. The best part is that we could actually participate in those activities. I, for the first time in my life, was able to pet a horse and shoot a long bow. We had the opportunity to throw an ax, but I only wanted to test my ability in archery. There was a conscientious and well-educated archer who taught me a lesson about the range and the best position for the best shot. There was so much information that not only blew my mind and dazzled my senses, but also exercised my body.

I got to learn about archery

After all those amazing outdoor activities, we moved on to the indoor activities. We enjoyed a belly dancing show in a pub called Barleycorn Tavern while being served by wenches. There were so many types of food from Renaissance-age to modern time. There were savory Scotch eggs, pretzels, pickles, cinnamon roasted nuts and many other foods. I even saw the biggest roasted turkey in my life. A tankard of cold mead was such a perfect choice on this sweltering day. As we were watching the show, the Queen entered the tavern and I could see how all the other villagers greeted her respectfully. They all stood up, even the dancers stopped dancing. All men bowed and all women did a small curtsy as they all shouted “ God save the Queen”. She said “God save you all” in reply. Then she was led to the chair with the best view of the room and the show continued. I've seen all this on television, however, to do that with all those people in their costumes felt both bizarre and exciting. The environment of the decoration, the music, the food and the beer added to the realism. With the accents and the acting, these actors and actress truly amazed me.

Belly dancing in Barleycorn pub

Everybody stood up for the Queen's arrival

Among nobles and fools, tradesmen and villagers, minstrels and dancers; my day was awash with fun and history. Rarely is there a chance for us to leave behind the daily stress of life to find joy, especially with all the charming characters of the Renaissance-age. I definitely will come back and highly recommend this festival to all of my friends.