Culture Badge
To earn this badge complete the following;
1. Create a time capsule (either text and image based or an actual capsule and take photos) with 10 items to reflect your every day life.
http://th00.deviantart.com/fs33/300W/f/2008/308/0/9/09bd0961c77094ca3ffa39c1de37b5f2.jpg
My time capsule is a medium sized copper metal box. Its design is to be solid to withstand time and damages so it can last. The lid on top comes off if you unlatch it on both sides, guaranteed to keep out the moisture. The carves crytic designs on it is a curse and warning for anyone to open this box before it is meant to be opened or without my permission.
2. Describe each item and say why you have chosen to add this to the capsule.
1. My laptop. That is if I’m ever able to part with my laptop to actually put it into the time capsule. My laptop is my dreams. I type out my ideas and work on here and never let anyone else see it. Even if I don’t continue with my work, I still save it just in case I ever want to come back to it.
2. My ring. I have a tiny diamond ring that isn’t even a carat, but it is the first Christmas present my boyfriend has ever given me and it hasn’t been off my finger since.
3. High School diploma. This is to remind me of all the fun times I’ve had in high school. Of the pep rallies and dances, friends and class. This is what I considered high school to be about. Not about school or studying, (which is kinda sad), but about all the memories I had of people back then. And even though we’ve drifted apart, at least we still have these memories.
4. My jewelry boxes. Long ago my friend Trish (JustLoveRon) sent me a few handmade jewelry boxes from Philippine that I just love and I always keep it on my dresser.
5. A picture of my bookcase. Because I don’t think I’d be able to part with my books at all. Not to mention that it probably wouldn’t fit into the capsule. This is what kept me going all these years. It made me sad, happy, scared, joyful, all within its pages.
6. A Necklace. I have a necklace with a ring and a pendant from my boyfriend. It’s both carved with the letter Q which is his first initial. He’s had this necklace since he was 7 and he gave it to me the day we started going out.
7. A Wish Upon A Star business card. This is our family business and has been a major part of our lives over a decade. It’s helped us grow and learn skills as we dealt with customers and late night packaging to get everything shipped out on time.
8. Two binders. This holds my first ever completed story that Elana and I wrote together. To get it ready for a contest, I printed every page out so I could read and make notes by hand. It turned out to be over 350 pages and filled up two notebook! Even if it doesn’t win, this is still my best achievement.
9. My iPod. I’m constantly having music in the background and sometimes my parents get annoyed with the things I listen to so I have this iPod so everyone wins! I always have to have something on in the background, I hate complete silence and cannot concentrate unless there’s noise.
10. My photo album. My photo album is filled with pictures of my family as I grew up and this is the most important thing to me. I’ve always had a huge family and we all never live more than 10 miles away from each other. Everyone gets together at my grandma’s house at least once at week to just eat and hang out. We’ve been compared to the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding more than once lol.
3. Choose three of the following;
Family Tree
I helped my sister make this family tree of our family a few years ago for my grandparent’s wedding anniversary. They’re in the middle and the circle around them are their children (with my great grandma on the top) and surrounding each of couple (if they’re married) are their kids. I’m the last blue circle on the upper right hand corner xD It’s also color coordinated according to each family.
History of my Hometown
New Orleans history
New Orleans is the largest city in Louisiana and is located in southeastern Louisiana. It is one of the oldest cities in United States and is named after Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans, Regent of France who was currently in reign when it was founded on May 7, 1718. The territory changed hands several times between the French and the Spanish only to the sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The city was mainly populated with Americans and French.
Over the years, this city has been known for many things. It’s food, being the birthplace of jazz, and Mardi Gras season where this city celebrated with parades, king cakes, and parties all over, although most popular is on Bourbon Street. Tourist is very big here as many travel here to party at the famous French Quarter or to stroll along the streets of the Garden District, whether by walking or the streetcars.
But unfortunately, this city is also most known for it’s flooding during hurricane season. Hurricane season is most dangerous here as most of the city is below sea level and prone to flooding. Being right at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane season is particularly worrisome here. Hurricane Betsy of 1965 killed dozens of people, yet it did not flood much. But the most famous hurricane was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when the city’s levees failed causing the city to flood from 3-20 feet in certain areas. Being under sea level and the pumping systems not working, the city remained under floodwater for several weeks causing citizens to become refugees in nearby states.
Years later, the city is slowly coming back as 70% of its citizens are back. Although there is still much fixing that needs to be done as well as business that still need to return, New Orleans is where the heart is and people stay here no matter what. I know I did xD
Images of New Orleans
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/27/NewOrleansPanoramic.jpg/800px-NewOrleansPanoramic.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/BourbonStreet.jpg/800px-BourbonStreet.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/2529126378_690940f22c.jpg?v=0
Family Tradition - Christmas
One of my most favorite family traditions is Christmas. Obviously for all the usual reasons, presents, eating, etc. But one thing that my families does differently is to gather all the grandchildren in front of the tree in the living room Christmas night and open the presents together. But the person who gives us our presents is our very own Santa Claus! Usually the Santa of the year would be a boyfriend of the family, whether it’s my sister’s boyfriend or my aunt’s boyfriend. This year, the honor of being Santa Claus fell on my very own boyfriend who had been narrowly missing the duty for over 5 years, This year he wasn’t so lucky.
Do right after we pass out the desserts, the designated Santa would have to leave so we can dress him up in the room. There, he is forced to stand still as we put makeup and pin his hair up just right to transform him into Santa Claus with pillows. While we are doing that, the other adults are arranging the kids into the living to prepare and open presents and sing Christmas carols. And once we’re ready, we’ll give the cue and they all start singing “Santa Claus is coming to town”. As they sing, Santa makes his grand appearance and sits in the chair in front of the tree. As we pass out presents, everyone is given the chance to take a picture with Santa no matter if you’re a kid or an uncle. After the present opening, Santa waves good-bye and leaves out the front door where we’ll sneak him in through the back to help him out of his costume. xD
Subject: Culture Badge 
