I am currently a senior here in North Hollywood High School. I belong here to the same school where Christina Milian and Cuba Gooding Jr. graduated. So the Hollywood scene is really into me. My dad is a police officer while my mom is just a housewife and we have no relatives whomsoever who are connected with the entertainment industry. But then again, that has not stopped my dream of becoming a great actor or director someday. In fact, being a black person, Cuba Gooding Jr. is one of my idols and I am in pain right now of watching him relegated to minor roles. He must be given roles which can do justice such as the ones he did a decade ago like Jerry Maguire, Chill Factor and Pearl Harbor.

This fate of Gooding has never disappointed me to continue with my dream though. Instead, I imagine myself having the life of Clint Eastwood, Robert Altman and Woody Allen who have built successful lives beyond their prime. After graduating from high school this summer, I am planning to take up a degree in film and television major at UCLA. I already have submitted my college essay to UCLA when they came here to our campus in North Hollywood High for college recruitment fair and they are currently evaluating my college essay.

In the meantime, I’ll be spending spring break by devoting my time entirely online in a one-week introductory online course in filmmaking. Spring break here in North Hollywood High doesn’t come till about two weeks from now but I can’t almost wait to take that online course in filmmaking right now. And I’m gonna be reviewing Cuba Gooding Jr., my co-alumnus here in North Hollywood High. I first saw his movie with Tom Cruise in the title role of Jerry Maguire when I was already 15 years old because I was still six when the movie was released. The scene that I liked most in the movie was when Cuba was rotating on his head at the soccer field. Man, that was cool and daring! Then in Chill Factor, he exchanged wits with a madman to intercept a bomb and prevent it from harboring catastrophe in the country. Another memorable role was in Pearl Harborкомпютри when he portrayed the very first American World War II black hero, a mere cook at one of the ships bombed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor named Petty Officer Doris Miller who was the major influence in shaping the personality of Casey Ryback as portrayed by Steven Seagal in the Under Siege franchise.

TODAY, everybody is talking about global warming and is quite panicky. Of course, it must be taken seriously. As one Australian futurist would grimly put it, we are in the brink of another Ice Age. China and the rest of Southeast Asia will be submerged in water. And everybody will have to move somewhere in Norway, Greenland, Iceland the rest of the Scandinavian region because by that time, the glaciers in northern Europe will have melted. And all of that will supposedly occur in the next 40 years or so. If that will be true, then definitely that will not be a long time from now. That’s why everybody must be ready. However, no one is heeding the warning of the Australian futurist seriously. Still, there is some hope.

Today’s educational degrees taken in college are geared towards environmental concerns. It’s not just climatology which is involved but every aspect of education. Environmental concerns must be touched in every aspect of education known to mankind. Let’s start with agriculture. There must be constant studies on how to have organic agriculture. In the United States and in certain farms in Israel, there is what is called as extreme organic agriculture. They’re practicing not just organic agriculture, it’s beyond that actually. In extreme organic agriculture, they use composting or filling in carcasses of dead animals to be used as fertilizer. Now that is recycling in the truest sense of the word.

Now let’s cross to another educational field – journalism. In developing countries, they have this tertiary program called development education. It is geared towards guiding impoverished communities towards development and progress using any means of communication. Now development communication may be practiced in the First World as well. The concepts are basically similar but we with one goal – the survival of humankind. That may be stuff presented in late 90s disaster movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact but with the impending and very grim result of global warming that we all dreadfully wait, this is one thing for real of course. Communication with an environmental awareness twist has already been practiced by such Hollywood actresses as Hayden Panettiere who defied Japanese laws and evaded arrest, leaving back to the United States unscathed, by penetrating the facility of a Japanese whaling firm and vandalizing it. It is the stuff that Greenpeace is made of.

If you want to help, you can take the less violent approach. In the United States, there is a group of geneticists who are now studying on how to create genes that will steer the mass production of biofuels. They are in essence playing God but for me, they are just divine instruments who are used by a Higher Being so we can offset what we can to minimize the effects of global warming around us. Craig Venter’s effort is highly laudable and it is the kind of spirit that we must get involved in.

STUDENTS who are taking courses online vary on the level of programs they are taking. For example, there are online programs intended for high school students. There are also online programs leading to bachelor, masteral and even doctoral degrees. But then again, there are also online classes only leading to associate degrees and these are usually offered by vocational schools and community colleges in areas where the demand for jobs is high. And then there are also short courses for professionals and these are in turn classified into two – courses intended to update the students in their professional field and short term courses.

One example of the former is if you are a specialist in infectious diseases working in South Africa. If you want to know updates of Ebola and mad cow disease that have already been researched by your colleagues in France or CDC in Atlanta for example, you may want to take up a short course online. And since it is Christmas time and you are in Johannesburg and the course that you are taking up is online, you can definitely have between your Christmas break and between taking exams online.

Johannesburg can be one pretty jolly place to celebrate New Year. Of course, fireworks are a must but there are lots of indigenous celebrations here that are worth drooling. For example, restaurants here serve a special menu and course during New Year’s Eve. You can have a choice of roasted tomatoes, a concoction of shrimps, scallops, avocado, tomato, popcorn and coriander broth, vegetable puree (now this one is really amazing), black cod deep-fried in olive oil and cap everything else with orange parfait or chocolate mousse. All New Year celebrations in South Africa are not complete without the obligatory wine. For those who do not know how South Africa looks like, then you may want to watch the movie Blood Diamond. Leonardo di Caprio’s character there is South African.

Or if you want, you can go to the city of Joburg where an ala-Brazilian carnival ushers in New Year’s Eve. The Rose Parade in Pasadena pales in comparison the Joburg carnival which is held every New Year. Aside from the usual dancing with elaborate skimpy costumes, there are eating binges everywhere as well as dozens of other activities such as horseback riding and golfing. South Africa is also one place in the world where the party never stops. There are various New Year parties everywhere including the rural areas as well as in urban places like Cape Town and Johannesburg of course.

But so much for South Africa. Let’s have another example. If you are from Salamanca and you are taking up an online course on how to be a spa therapist, the course just take five months to finish. If one of the months covered in the course happens to be in December, then why not be an intern at one of the spas in Salamanca and have a fulfilling Christmas?