I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the jazz concert last Friday. The advertisement in the paper said that you could buy tickets at the theatre box in Richland Hills any day between 10:00 and 4:00. Since I work from 9:00 to 5:30, the only time I could go to the theatre was during my 45-minute lunch break.

    Unfortunately, the theatre is on theother side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. Butif you are lucky, you can make the round trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, Istood at the bus stop for 15 minutes waiting for the bus, By the time I saw onecome around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip.

     So I gave up and went back to the office. The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again next day. On Thursday, my luck changed. I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in exactly 20 minutes. When I got there, however, I found along line of people at the box office, I heard one man say he had been waitingin line for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough timeto wait in line. I caught the next bus and headed back across the town.

    By Friday I realized my only hope was tomake the trip by taxi, it was expensive, but I felt it would be worth it tohear the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, however, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold all the tickets.

    Do you love holidays but hate the increase weight that follows? You are not alone. Holidays are happy days with pleasure and delicious foods. Many people, however, are worried about the weight that comes along with these delicious foods.

    With proper planning, though, it is possible to control your weight. The idea is to enjoy the holidays but not to eat too much. You don't have to turn away from the foods that you enjoy. The following suggestions may be of some help to you.

    Do not miss meals. Before yon leave home for a feast(宴会),have a small, low-fat snack(小吃). This may help to keep you from getting too excited before delicious foods. Begin with clear soup and fruit or vegetables. A large glass of water before you eat may help you feel full. Use a small plate; a large plate will encourage you to have more than enough. Better not have high-fat foods. Dishes that look oily or creamy have much fat in them. Choose lean meat(瘦肉 ).Fill your plate with salad and green vegetables. If you have a sweet tooth, try mints (薄荷) and fruits. They don't have fat content as cream and chocolate.

    Don't let exercise take a break during the holidays. A 20-minute walk after a meal can help burn off excess(过多的) calories.

    The Golden Week holiday is extended to eight days this year, as China is ushering in two celebrations from Oct. 1-8: the National Day holiday and the Mid-Autumn Festival. For anyone who is looking forward to a rich，refreshing break, here is a list of some of the best exhibitions, shows and things to do around town.

    Qin and Han dynasties relics

    The Civilizations of Qin and Han celebrates the glory of those two dynasties (221BC-AD2 20) in terms of politics，economics, arts and culture. More than 300 artifacts from 30 museums and institutions across the country are on show through Nov. 30.

    If you go: 9am-5pm till Nov. 30. Closed on Mondays. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue，Dongcheng District. 010-6611-6188.

    Ticket: Free

    Artist's solo show

    Chen jialing is a famous artist who seeks a connection between Chinese and Western art, and demonstrates and excellence for industrial design. He will show dozens of ink paintings. Also on display are his designs on decorative works for daily use, such as bowls, furniture pieces and silk scarves.

    If you go: 9am-5pm till Oct. 8. National Museum of China, Dongcheng District.

    Walk into a time machine at Beijing Design week

    This year's Beijing Design Week is allowing visitors to explore exhibitions and events in the city's Dashilar area with interactive experiences that apply advanced technology, such as virtual reality.

    By simply scanning a QR code, information about exhibitions and events linked to the Beijing Design Week being held in the Dashilar Design Community pop up. Push the button on your screen, and you can use the “time machine” to wander through the alleys of Dashilar area.

    If you go: till Oct. 5.3 Cha'er Hutong, Xicheng District.

    Ticket: Free

    German designer Weingart's works at Beijing Design Week

    Another highlight of this year's Beijing Design Week is an exhibition from German - born designer Wolfgang Weingart. His style has been influencing designers and his students in Europe and North America over the years.

    If you go: 9:30 -5:30 pm till Oct 8. Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, 8 Huajiadi South Street, Chaoyang District 010-6577-1018.

    Ticket: 120 yuan per person.

Discover Nature Schools Programmer

    Becoming Bears (Kindergarten—2 grade)

    By becoming baby bears, children learn from their "parent" to survive the seasons. Kids will find safety in the spring and learn kinds of food bears eat during the summer, and then create a cave for winter hibernation (冬眠). After learning the skills needed to survive, students will go out of the cave as an independent black bear able to care for themselves.(1.5—2 hours)

    Whose Clues? (3—5 grade)

    Kids will discover how plants and animals use their special structures to survive. Through outdoor study of plants and animals, kids will recognise their special structures and learn how they enable species to eat, avoid their enemies and survive. Using what they have learnt, kids will choose one species and tell how they survive in their living places.(3—4 hours)

    Winged Wonders (3—5 grade)

    Birds add colour and sound to our world and play an important ecological (生态的) role. Students will learn the basics of birds, understand the role birds play in food chains and go bird watching using field guides and telescopes. Students will do hands－on activities. Students will use tools to build bird feeders, allowing them to attract birds at home.(3—4 hours)

    Exploring Your Watershed (6—8 grade)

    We all depend on clean water. Examining how our actions shape the waterways around us. Go on a hike to see some of the first－hand challenging water quality problems in a city. Students will test the water quality to determine the health of an ecosystem.

    Each programme is taught for a class with at least 10 students.

    All programmes include plenty of time outdoor. So please prepare proper clothing, sunscreen and insect killers for children.

    To take part in a programme, please e－mail dcprogrammes@mdc.mo.gov.

    On my first day of high school, I asked an eleventh grader where my class was. And he told me it was "on the fourth floor, next to the pool." I found out five minutes later that we don't even have a fourth floor and there's no pool either! Besides that, I didn't have any trouble with the older kid.

    I think the biggest difference between middle and high school is the homework load (工作量) and size of the school. I went from maybe fifteen minutes of homework a night to several hours, so I had to learn how to make full use of time! Our class size is around 550, but joining in clubs, sports, music, and other activities at school makes it easier to get to know people in every grade.

    The best advice I can give about the years you spend in high school is to learn things for yourself, not just to get a good grade. There have been so many tests that I've prepared for the night before, gotten an A, and not remembered anything later. I've changed that this year, and I enjoy school so much more. Don't take easy classes just to have a simple year. If you have a choice between chemistry and sports, the first will prove to be a lot more useful!

    While drinking and smoking might be present in some middle schools, they're also around in high school. I have a lot of friends who promised they'd never drink or smoke, but are now partying every weekend. If you have "fun" and spend your nights wasted instead of studying, you will regret it when you're applying for (申请) college. The "friends" who say you're a loser for not partying are really not your friends at all. It's hard to see your closest friends grow apart and go in different directions, but don't follow their footsteps. Create your own path in life and make your own decisions.

Photographic self-portraits have existed for as long as cameras have been in human hands. But what about selfies in space? On Twitter last year, NASA astronaut Edwin Aldrin, who famously became the second man to walk on the moon in July 1969, laid claim to a spaceflight first: taking the first selfie in space during the Gemini XII mission in 1966.

"For me, it needs to be digital to be selfie," argues Jennifer Levasseur, a director at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. According to Levasseur, the concept of a selfie is directly linked to internet culture. "The thing that makes a selfie is sharing it," she says.

Still, astronauts have been carrying cameras aboard space vehicles since the 1960s. In 1966, Aldrin used a Hasselblad camera designed specifically for space. Hasselblad also painted the first camera in space a matte(磨砂) black to reduce reflections in the orbiter window. But cameras used in space need to survive extreme conditions, like temperature swings from -149° to 248°F, so Hasselblad painted later model silver.

Astronauts visiting the moon then had to take out the film and leave their camera bodies behind when they returned to Earth, because early space missions were limited by a weight limit on the returned trip. Then a big change in space camera technology came after the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on its return to Earth in 2003, Levasseur notes. "Fear that they'd never be able to bring film back from space and lose all that hard work accelerated the push for digital," she says.

Today, astronauts also have access to internet and social platforms in space and can post true space selfies made using digital cameras. Similarly, space robots are participating in selfie culture, capturing remote pictures of themselves in space or on other planets and sending them back to Earth.