Summer Plans

I can't wait!! Summer is my favorite time of the year. Not only is it hot, but I don't have to worry about doing homework, which is such a relief. I also love the fact that I have time in the morning to make good breakfasts. Every day at school, I feel like I’m starving during 6th period. In the summer, I’ll have time to make myself omelets, pancakes, and other breakfasts I particularly enjoy. Another part of summer that I will really enjoy is getting up late. I won’t ever feel like I didn’t have enough time.
However, there is another thing that I am going to do over the summer that I am really excited for. I have three vacations planned. The first is to Hilton Head. My family goes to Hilton Head every year and it is a nice and relaxing break right after school. I’m even leaving two days early from school. My entire days there will be spend between the pool, the ocean, and biking.
After I get back I’ll be doing a babysitting job, and then, in the middle of July, I will be off to Europe. This year I am going to school in Spain for two weeks. The school is in the city of Cadiz, which is on the Mediterranean coast. The residence are located on the beach and there will be Spanish everyday for four hours. There will be organized tour trips and I am looking forward to learning more about the Spanish culture. I have taken the language for four years and this will be an occasion to practice it in real life.
Thankfully, I convinced my dad to take me to Poland as well. Every year we go to Poland as a family, but this year was different because of my trip to Spain and my brother’s football. My mom said that maybe I shouldn’t go to Poland because it would be too much. I, however, insisted that I loved going to Poland and that I wanted to. While my mom will stay with my brother, my dad, sister, and me will be vacationing in Poland. After I come home I will end up doing all the AP work I didn’t do throughout the summer and a new school year will begin. I am happy that I’ll get to go on so many vacations, but I hope that I won’t feel like I have to much to do. Sometimes, it’s good to just sit at home and do nothing.

Family

    What is it? How is it defined? Who is included in this special group of people? There are many different ways of going about answering and defining what family is, but for now I'll just talk about one: what family means to me. In my immediate family there is my brother, sister, mother and father. Unfortunately, all of my grandparents have passed away, my mom’s sister lives in Wisconsin, and the rest are in Poland. Therefore, when it comes to family I think in terms of the people I live with everyday.
So, what are these people like? Well, I would say that they are loving, caring, sometimes funny (other times not so much), and annoying. They give me emotional support and have my back, but also sometimes force me to do things I hate. My family always has the best intentions for me in mind, yet I feel like my punishments are often harsher than my brother’s. What I am trying to say here is that the family is a unique group of people that will be annoying and bothersome at times, but, in the end, they will always love each other and will be there for each other.
Each family has its own aspects that make it different from any other. I would say that my family has many aspects that qualify it as special. First, we are living a dual-culture life style. Both my parents, as I have mentioned in previous posts, come from Poland, and I would say that this Polish background is definitely what ties us as a close family. Another aspect is that everyone has a job to do. In other families, the rules might be less strict and the kids might not help around the house, but that is their problem. In the future, we (me, my brother and my sister) will be the ones that know how to cook, clean, and take care of a house. So, it is through work for the common good of the family that binds us closer as well.
However, there will be days where my brother and I will get into a big fight. The bond between us might seem like galaxies apart, yet all will return to its original form in the end, some day…I hope. But in all seriousness, what defines a family is the recurring cycle of bondage. Therefore, remember to always love your family.

I also have mentioned previously that I am an artist and because of someone’s request, I would like to use this post to showcase some of my work.

Big Data

     Humanity has been on a long journey and has progressed exponentially from the times of B.C. So many inventions have influenced the way humans function as a society. One of the most important features of a global society is the incredible speed of the flow of information. The computers, telephones, and the internet all contribute to binding society closer than ever. Globalization began in the nineteenth century, yet it is definitely not over. Developing countries are yet to fully immerse themselves in stronger global connections.

     In fact, the rate of data exchange has become so large that a term has developed for it: “Big Data”. It is a broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. The different aspects of “Big Data” include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, and visualization. The most simple description for “Big Data” is that it is a predictive analysis. In 2012, it was estimated that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were created everyday. Quintillion is the number 1 followed by 18 zeros after it. However, this was only for 2012. The numbers for 2015 are immensely larger and are simply becoming incomprehensible for the ordinary person.

     The social media outlets are the primary contributor to this ever-growing number of data flow. For 2012 the facts are as follow per day:

• 144.8 billion emails
• 340 million tweets
• 684,000 bits of content on Facebook
• 72 hours of uploaded Youtube videos

     The list goes on and on. Predictions for 2017 exist that there will be over 600 big-data companies working on analyzing and storing all this information.

     However, the limits are endless. Every time a movie is produced about the future, society realizes how much more advanced people could become. The future is evolving to be a one in which most things will be flowing through the air in streams of data. Technically, it is already happening right now: we see many schools and places of work turning into paper-less environments. This can be looked upon as very environmentally friendly action; less trees will die. But how many more satellites will have to go up into space? How much more energy will have to be used to run all this flow of information? Humanity will not only have to make progress, but also adjust to an entire world based on technology in the future.