I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签 ) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got nearer and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

    War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, "Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!" Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

    The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, sobbing.

    Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart. Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn't notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. "Thanks."

    Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn't always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in cleaning up and holding on.

    Mid-afternoon on a particularly busy Tuesday, I took leave of my desk at work and walked into a local Starbucks only to find a space where neither my clients nor my children would ask me to do something.

    Inside, I ran into Kate, a co-worker of mine. The topic of parenthood came up. I complained about how packed my schedule was. From the minute I woke up to the minute I fell asleep, I was constantly in demand and always had someone knocking at the door. But a bit of sadness seemed to come over Kate's face.

    "Well, my daughter's in San Francisco and she doesn't seem to need me at all these days," Kate said. It was in that moment that I realized although I might often feel in high demand, there will come a day when I will actually miss that same stress I then complained about.

    And as our conversation continued, it turned to our children's younger years, with Kate smiling proudly, thinking of the little boy and girl she raised who are now a man and a woman. But I noticed her smile was marked with regret. She explained that she often wondered about what she could have done differently when her children were in their earlier years.

    This got me thinking. Is regret an unfortunate footnote (注脚) to parenthood? With that in mind, I asked six older parents one question: What is your biggest regret from your early days as a parent?

    It turned out that all of them thought they could have done it better. But, each of them also has a strong, healthy relationship with their kids. Whatever regrets their parents might have had about their upbringing, one thing is clear —— it didn't affect them in a meaningful way.

    The bottom line is, we all feel like we could be doing this parenting thing better. And quite clearly, years later, we're still going to look back and wish we tried things differently. But the past can't be changed, and neither should it.

    Here are our suggestions for keeping busy this week. Dive in!

    Take to the waves in Southampton

    Always fancied trying your hand at sailing? Now's your chance. The Southampton Boat Show has plenty of opportunities for visitors to get out on the water to experience boat sailing, power boating or taking a ride on a RIB ― all for free.

    Discover an island on the Thames

    To celebrate Totally Thames, a month-long festival is held at various locations across London. We've discovered 21 of the river's most fascinating islands ― all of them with interesting stories to tell. Make the most of it with our map here.

    Catch great films in Bristol

    Over six days, Encounters Film Festival screens up to 400 films from over 60 different countries. The Bristol festival provides a platform for international filmmakers, and offers a gateway to the likes of the BAFTAs, Oscars and European Film Awards. See here for full details.

Get scientific in London

    Experience the latest, best and most challenging science covering all areas of our lives and universe at New Scientist Live at ExCel London. New Scientist Live is a four-day festival full of ideas and discoveries from the team behind the world's most popular science weekly magazine, featuring four zones Brain & Body, Technology, Earth and Universe as well as talks from experts and over 200 exhibitors.

    That people often experience trouble sleeping in a different bed in unfamiliar surroundings is a phenomenon known as the 4Tirst-nighf, effect. If a person stays in the same room the following night they tend to sleep more soundly. Yuka Sasaki and her colleagues at Brown University set out to investigate the origins of this effect.

    Dr. Sasaki knew the first-night effect probably has something to do with how humans evolved.

    The puzzle was what benefit would be gained from it when performance might be affected the following day. She also knew from previous work conducted on birds and dolphins that these animals put half of their brains to sleep at a time so that they can rest while remaining alert enough to avoid predators (捕食者). This led her to wonder if people might be doing the same thing. To take a closer look, her team studied 35 healthy people as they slept in the unfamiliar environment of the university's Department of Psychological Sciences. The participants each slept in the department for two nights and were carefully monitored with techniques that looked at the activity of their brains. Dr. Sasaki found, as expected, the participants slept less well on their first night than they did on their second, taking more than twice as long to fall asleep and sleeping less overall. During deep sleep, the participants' brains behaved in a similar manner seen in birds and dolphins. On the first night only, the left hemispheres (半球) of their brains did not sleep nearly as deeply as their right hemispheres did.

    Curious if the left hemispheres were indeed remaining awake to process information detected in the surrounding environment, Dr. Sasaki re-ran the experiment while presenting the sleeping participants with a mix of regularly timed beeps (蜂鸣声) of the same tone and irregular beeps of a different tone during the night. She worked out that, if the left hemisphere was staying alert to keep guard in a strange environment, then it would react to the irregular beeps by stirring people from sleep and would ignore the regularly timed ones. This is precisely what she found.

    The Environmental Film Festival has become one of the world's grandest supporters of the environmental film. To offer fresh views on global environmental issues, this year's festival will include a record of 190 films from 50 countries. including 110 premieres(首映). Here are just a few of the highlights.

⒈Hot Water

    Featured among the festival's opening night films is the highly expected "Hot Water, " a look 2 the depressing destructive effects of uranium铀) mining in the American West. Former US. Rep Denis Kucinich. who ran for president in 2004 and 2008, is featured in the film, along with filmmakers Elizabeth Kucinich and Lizabeth Rogers Directed by Kevin Flint and

⒉To the Wonder

    To the Wonder is the latest film by will-known American Director Trrence Malick. The film, "an exploration of love set against the power of nature," stars Ben Aleck, Olga Kurylenko. Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem The film premiered in competition at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and is making is Washington D.C premiere during the festival.

⒊Revolution

    This Washington D.C. premiere presents the Canadian filmmaker and environmental activist, Rob Stewart's new work, "Revolution" an urging cry to today's youth to change the planet before it's too late. The award-winning documentary takes Stewart through 15 countries over four years, in an effort to find the secret to save the ecosystems we rely on for survival.

⒋The Fifth Season

    Beautiful and mystery, Jessica Woodworth's latest feature, "The Fifth Season", is a poetic meditation (EA) on nature in battle against humans." The dramatic narrative takes place in Belgium's secret Ardennes, where the locals rely on the land, but nature takes a turn and seems to go on mysterious strike, In French and Flemish with English subtitles. Directed and produced by Woodworth and Peter Brosens.

    Travelling can be a fun way to gain life experiences, especially during a week-long school vacation. But what if you're a student and don't have enough money for a trip? Don't worry.

Here are some useful tips.

    Save: This probably is the most important preparation for travelling. Cut expenses to fatten your wallet so you'll have more choices about where to go and how to get there.

    Plan ahead: Don't wait until the last minute to plan your trip. Tickets may cost more when bought on short notice. Giving yourself several months to get ready can mean security(安全)and savings.

    Do your homework: No matter where you go, research the places you will visit. Decide what to see. Travel books will provide information on the cheapest hotels and restaurants.

    Plan sensibly(明智地): Write down how much you expect to spend for food and hotels. Stick to your plan or you may not have enough money to cover everything.

    Travel in groups: Find someone who is interested in visiting the same places. By travelling with others you can share costs and experiences.

    Work as you go: Need more money to support your trip? Look for work in the places you visit.

    Go off the beaten path: Tourist cities may be expensive. You may want to rethink your trip and go to a lesser-known area. Smaller towns can have many interesting activities and sights.

    Pack necessary things: The most important things to take are not always clothes. Remember medicine in case you get sick and snacks in case you can't find a cheap restaurant.

    Use the Internet: The Net can help to save money. Some useful websites include www. Iravelocity.com, www.bargains-lowest fare.com and www.Economy travel.com.

    By planning sensibly, even students can enjoy the travel. Your travel experiences will be remembered for a lifetime.