When I walk down Commercial street and what do I see, the hunting and game store, the flower and hat shop, Pasta Andiamos where I washed dishes for minimum wage two summers ago. There are several bars where my friends and I have been harassed, threatened, and more or less run across drunks who share a disturbing experience with us. Without going into too much detail one can see how eccentric but dull of a town East Rochester is.

I don’t even want to mention the several acre-sized pieces of nothing that are the Techniplexes, but I will. What do they store? Not much! Their almost the most depressing sight in East Rochester wouldn’t you agree? I realize Techniplex I is being used for corporate purposes but what about the one across the street, lying right across the libraries parking lot. It’s barren and bland, and takes up the land! What about the Youth center? One pool table, two couches that smell like decaying pine trees with a hint of wet dog, two obsolete pc’s, old pool sticks. Plus the youth center doesn’t help in the prevention of dope smoking youths at all.

The puritans of America’s past would say, ” The idle mind is the devils playground”. I think this quote can apply to such a town as east Rochester. I believe that more music availability for the teenagers in this town and also the college students at Saint John fisher would help the problem of inactivity. All the bars in east Rochester that are “venues” are basically disgusting and none too inviting to the younger crowd. I would also love to see more public displays of art in the town, Commissioned works that take away from the all around blankness of East Rochester.

I realize that every kid in a suburban town claims that their town is boring as heck, but I have to start somewhere and I know I may be a pessimist. Maybe I should go to the mayor or maybe a town meeting with my ideas. If you have a clever thought on how to keep the brain active stop me in the hall and tell me what you think…

However, balancing a part-time job is not always easy. For example, school can be a problem. Teenagers have to manage their time wisely. School, work, homework, and practice for many students take up a great deal of time. How are they supposed to fit it all in? Tying to juggle all these activities is why I believe a lot of teenagers are so exhausted all the time. Looking around, it is easy to see that all kids have a busy schedule. You need to go to school so you can get an education, but you also need money to live. Most kids that have a job usually go there right after school. This means that from 7:45 a.m. in the morning until anywhere from 7pm to 10pm at night their days are booked. The 40-minute lunch period just isn’t enough time to take a breather and settle down before the next day and when you have to go through it all over again. The labor laws protect kids from working too much during the week, but this doesn’t help when you do not get the hours you really want or need. In addition to the lack of hours, you are not making enough money to meet your needs. This varies for everyone of course.

Another problem with maintaining a part-time job is that most teenagers are probably the youngest at their job. This makes it very easy for their employer to take advantage of them by giving them the jobs no one else will do or making them come in on days that others choose not to work. Many jobs make kids work on weekends sometimes very early, which can be frustrating because those are the only days teens have the opportunity to sleep in and relax. These things are what lead teens to being over-exhausted.

Finally, if you are able to figure out a way to manage your time, you are hit with another problem; taxes. A large amount of the money that teens earn is taken away for tax purposes. It is unfair to everyone when they realize they basically work a few days a week for free, since you don’t get the money you deserve. Although taxes are very important, our government cannot run without them. I believe kids that are still in high school or even college should get all the money back when it’s tax return time.

Kids are overloaded with responsibilities. They should be kids while they still can!

As spring approaches, students are beginning to pick classes for the next year, however some students may not be fully aware of the class options they actually have. Here at the district of East Rochester, students are allowed to attend the Eastern Monroe Career Center, along with students from Brighton, East Irondequoit, Fairport, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Penfield, Pittsford, Rush-Henrietta, Webster, and East Irondequoit. Students who take a course at EMCC spend two hours either in the morning or in the afternoon at the campus in Fairport. Some of the courses can substitute for certain graduation requirements therefore requiring fewer classes here at East Rochester, and others can result in a certification or even college credits. There are nine types of courses with more specific classes beneath those. The nine courses are Automotive Technologies, Building Trades, Business and Information Technology, Communication and Arts, Hospitality and Tourism, Human Services, Education and Public Safety, Manufacturing Technology, and Health Sciences. Courses are taken both your junior and senior year. During that time the school also provides a program called work experience where students work side by side with professionals in that field.

There are three types of work experience a student can go through. The first is shadowing which is a short-term (one or two class periods), unpaid experience at a business or agency. An internship is a one to ten week unpaid experience at a business or agency. Interns spend time observing or assisting employees with activities for which you have received training at EMCC. A third option is co-ops, which are paid positions (normally from one to four half days per week) during the second semester of the senior year. Students who go to EMCC do not pay tuition either year, unlike if students were to take these courses after high school through the adult education program.

Sophomore students are invited usually three times a year to visit the course they are assuming to take. Any students that are interested in taking a course at EMCC next fall can stop by guidance at any time for more information.

A high school sport can be very competitive and add a lot of stress to a teen’s life. A varsity sport has high expectations that students need to live up to. Most teenagers that play on a varsity sport are very dedicated to their team and it essentially becomes “their life.” Intense two-hour practices almost every day can add a lot of stress to a teen’s life. On top of the practices, there are games, meets or competitions that the athletes have to prepare for. The pressure is extremely difficult to deal with and it builds up stress. Playing a sport is just one element that has a stressful effect on students.

The social aspect of school can also add a tremendous amount of stress to a student’s life. Not only do we worry about what we are wearing to school or what our hair looks like, but many also worry about who’s in the popular group and who’s not. The tension between couples and the drama that goes along with it can make the environment a very stressful one. This can lead to being unfocused on what school is really for, learning. Of course the social aspect of school is not the only part that can be stressful, but it’s a huge element.

The education part can add a lot of stress to a teen as well. Some classes are extremely hard to handle. There is a great deal of concentration and focus needed to do well in these difficult courses. Students that have a lot of responsibility tend to have a lot of stress in their life. Naturally, the teens want to be committed 100% to all of their obligations but it’s extremely difficult to be at five places at one time. I know that Katie C, a senior, is extremely busy and is involved with many activities.

“I love keeping busy because it keeps me motivated, but it can get crazy at times. The best thing to do is take it a day at a time and keep communication open with those that you’re involved with.” Katie said.

Although teenagers can’t completely eliminate the stress within their lives, they can certainly try and reduce it. There is such a huge opportunity to be involved with school activities; however, being involved with more than one can be quite intense. On top of the activities and sports, teenagers have to keep up with their schoolwork. Right from the start students should prioritize their lives. A way to reduce the amount of stress in to a teenager’s life is to eliminate the most unimportant activities or sports. Try to get involved with only one at a time or make sure that it doesn’t interfere with what you have already committed to.

Organization can also assist in the reduction of stress. I know that I have had to become very organized with my schedule and have to plan ahead in order to keep my stress level down. A technique that I use to help me is specifically writing down what I have to do. I feel as though if I write it down, I can actually see it and then can plan out what I have to do to.

Teenage years are supposed to be fun and relaxed; yet, in reality it’s the most critical time period for many. Although teens can solely take responsibility for their own lives and actions, there comes a time when it’s just too much to handle. Many students, including myself, should realize that having a stressful feeling doesn’t get them anywhere. Staying calm and relaxed helps me and may help many others to lead a stress free life!

“What’s better, Xbox360 or PS3?” This is a frequent question in the gaming world and the answer is quite simple. PS3 is far superior to the Xbox 360 in many ways. For example, Playstation and PS2 have created some of the greatest games ever and the PS3’s backwards compatibility allows you to play these games. Also the graphics for the Playstation and PS2 games are better when played on the PS3. Some examples of these games would be Grand Theft Auto, Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil,…etc. Also Dragon quest 13 is so popular in Japan that it can be only sold one day out of the week. So if you call yourself a gamer, or even somebody who likes playing video games you will know that Sony is the way to go. Great games, amazing graphics, and competitive and free online services are just a few key ingredients to this masterpiece.

One giant difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 is that Sony’s online server is free, while Microsoft continues to charge its users around fifty dollars per year for their service. Although many Xbox users don’t seem to mind paying the fifty dollars Sony fans are enjoying it’s free services. Another major difference between the two is that PS3 has an Internet browser, enabling you to search the web and bookmark all your favorite sites J. This makes PS3 a broader and more advanced machine. Xbox is only capable of playing games, but PS3 can do that and more, including Downloading and saving video’s, pictures, and even music. You can connect your ipod to any USB port on your PS3 and play songs right off of your media center option in the PS3’s diverse main menu.

So if you are looking for a great system that will allow you to do more while still playing all of the classic titles that have been and are soon to be released then the PS3 is for you. With it’s multiple hard-drive options you are sure to find the perfect one to fit your skill and lifestyle.

Let me go back and further explain The World of Warcraft. This game came out in November of 2004. Being that it is only four years old it is amazing that an impressive ten million players are currently playing WOW (World of Warcraft). When you purchase WOW you must install it onto your computer. This game takes a lot of space on your hard-drive; however, with computers today it doesn’t seem like it.

When you start up you must first make a character. This character can be one of nine different classes consisting of rogues, warlocks, warriors, paladins, priests, shamans, mages, druids, and hunters. After selecting your class you can choose from either of the two opposing fractions in WOW. You can choose to be the noble Alliance side, consisting of Humans, Night elves, Gnomes, Dwarfs, and with the new expansion Dranei. On the opposing side, the Brute force of the Horde you can select from Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, undead, and also with the new expansion blood elves. The next step after selecting your race and class would be to choose from many different styles of skin color, hair, jewelry, and facial features to customize your character. When this has been satisfied to the players content they must then choose a name to call themselves. Upon completing this final step the player is now ready to fully embrace WOW for the first time.

In entering WOW the starting position for each player is different depending on which race you choose. Each race starts out around their races major city, or the place where you would find the most trade and battleground for that matter. When you start you are obviously at the lowest level, level one. One goal in WOW is to get to the maximum level, which at first before the expansion was level sixty, but has now been raised to level 70 if you have the expansion. To level your character you must talk to NPCs (non-playable-characters) that will give you a quest that has an objective you must complete, once completing the quest you return to the one who gave you the quest. You may only take twenty-five quests at one time. When you hand in your quest you will gain experience that is required to level your character up and reward you with money, reputation with certain groups in WOW, and items to equip your character.

To obtain weapons and armor, a player must either kill monsters or hand in quests to be able to obtain the weapons and armors. These items have a system of rarity. An item in gray is usually worthless and can be sold to any vendor of any kind for money. Items that appear in white are better than gray items and are usually only used in low levels. After reaching double-digit levels some items appear in green, which are uncommon. These items are usually useful to the player if they are appropriate for their class. One of the best types of items in the game are blue, which are rare items, these items usually don’t appear unless in dungeons or on very rare drops on normal monsters plus harder quests. The next highest items are purple. Which are considered epic items. Purple drops don’t occur until around level forty so a more experienced player would be the only one to receive these sorts of items. The only type of items that are scarcer than epic items are orange items, considered being legendary items. These items are so rare that only a small amount of people in the entire game of WOW have obtained these mighty weapons.

While you play and level your character up you become stronger and learn new spells and improved version of your old spells. Once a player reaches level forty he can purchase a mount to help get to and from regions and lands faster and swifter. In leveling up a players character players may find that they can choose to participate in dungeons, which are instances with tougher enemies with a greater chance of uncommon and rare drops of enemies. In a dungeon there are different bosses that require different approaches to defeating them. A group that runs a dungeon contains a group of five different characters. These groups that form need three elements, a tank, a healer, and three more DPS (damage per seconds) or CC (crowd control). A tank is a class that happens to be a warrior, a paladin, or a druid. These classes have increased health and can take heavy damage. A healer is a variety of many classes including priests, druids, shaman, or a paladin. Those classes obviously heal the party for any damage received from boss battles as well as enemy fights. The healer is also a crucial part to the group and without one, the group usually cannot function properly. DPS or CC’s are rogues, shaman, druids, warlocks, mages, priests, hunters, pretty much any class that’s leveled their character to damaging based classes. However any class can be a DPS. The best ones for DPSing are rogues, hunters, and warlocks. Without DPS’s the group could never fully get through a dungeon, without three players doing massive damage on enemies dungeons would take forever and nothing would ever get done. Without DPS classes the group would also fall apart.

Once the player becomes fairly acquainted with WOW they begin to understand the game better and further explore the possibilities of WOW. The player will start to level faster and can achieve level sixty in a fairly good amount of playtime. Upon reaching level sixty players can join 10-25 man raids. These raids are improved dungeons and obviously are more difficult compared to normal dungeons because of the necessity of more people. These raids can consist of up to fifty people in order to achieve goals that normal groups couldn’t possibly think of achieving. Some fun things to do with raids are to attack the opposing factions main cities. With the alliance a target would be the hordes main city orgimmar, and the hordes would be stormwind. Doing so results in massive battles between players and usually results in extensive death of players’ characters. It is one of the finest things in WOW.

If a player has purchased the expansion they can raise their characters level to 70. At level 70 there are many things to do including many more dungeons as well as an increased amount of raids set for improved level seventy players. Outside of just leveling your character and such you can do so many things it’s almost unreal. Believe it or not people actually get married online in WOW; they have special vendors who sell wedding rings and engagement rings. As you may have guessed, yes, people do actually get married on WOW, and I mean seriously get married. On the other end there was an occasion where a player died in real life. So to mourn the death of their comrade they had a funeral in-game for the player. Another scary thought is a mother and a daughter once played together in a dungeon and when an item dropped they both wanted it, well the daughter won it. In real life the mother was so upset with the daughter that the argument resulted in the daughters death. This is disturbing and scary to think people actually can get that violent over a video game. Hearing things like this give WOW a bad reputation. However for some, WOW is a great opportunity to escape the real world and create something or someone they can be proud of. This game isn’t just for kids, either, many adults choose to play WOW for the escape and because it does take some intelligence to play WOW. It helps people better socially interact with their peers and others in general.

If you play WOW and your friends play WOW, you should make sure your located on the same server or realm so you can talk and group with each other. This makes for a better experience while playing WOW. You and your friends can enjoy dungeons and raids and other fine qualities of WOW together.

If you are willing to try WOW or want to play with people you know, You can contact either Bubba Zeppatella or myself for information on WOW. Our realm is the perenolde. In WOW my name is Suitengu and Bubba’s is Bubmann. Message us on WOW if you happen to be on our realm of if you want to transfer to our realm. Enjoy!