Balancing work and school is not an easy task for me. My first term in college has come and gone and I've had to balance a job there, too. I want to cut one loose. Honestly, many times I thought I wanted to drop out of school and just do my job because I needed the money. For a long while I made myself believe that school was getting in the way of my job and money. Not only was I trying to do work and school, but also I was trying to have a social life. Many times I thought that there were not enough hours in the day but I wasn't managing my time right. Hanging out with friends may have been wonderful but it wasn't putting money in my pocket or knowledge in my brain. Friends would have to wait. I was back on the see-saw (跷跷板) of balancing work and school.

    Scheduling and planning became the key to my success. Setting deadlines and meeting them were important to my college experience. Planning was going well and I felt ready to try and throw a social life back there. I tried to make plans with friends that didn't conflict with my deadlines. That was actually harder than I thought. So once again my social life had to be put on hold (搁置). My friends were very understanding and encouraged me to do my work. The extra motivation really proved helpful in the end. Some friends would joke that I was all work and no play but sometimes that's what has to happen to get work done.

    As the last term came to an end I can say I learned a lot about college life. Planning is necessary for organization. Drawing up a list of all things I had to do at the beginning of the week and actually completing them made me feel good. Not only have I learned something new about organization, but also I acquired a new tool that I can take everywhere with me and use effectively.

    Have you ever had your hand held during a dental procedure you feel uneasy about? What about a dental office that mimics（模仿） the spirit of Disneyland? If you're looking for a dental office that provides the best care and the best environment, you're looking for Dr. Licking's office in Sunnyvale.

    Office manager Judy, who has worked with Dr. Licking for 38 years, speaks highly of his kindness. She believes that the office is “the Disneyland of dentistry”. Everyone from children to their grandparents loves the environment and care they receive from this welcoming office.

    Dr. Licking is known as the best dental care provider for anyone who fears facing appointments with the dental office. The staff goes out of their way to make patients feel comfortable and at ease. Dr. Licking and Judy set the standard with their saying, “when someone comes to your home, you stand up and welcome them, like an old family friend.”

    Dr. Licking's office has all. They recently relocated to put the new equipment into their practice. The office is equipped with an intra-oral video camera, and as a patient you can get pictures of your teeth as you're walking out the door.

    Setting himself apart from other dentists, Dr. Licking continues his education beyond what is required. For this reason, he is one of few dentists in the country who offers ozone treatment. Ozone can naturally stop decay (蛀蚀) in its tracks. For more information on this new technology, visit their website at www.drjohnlicking.com.

    Dr. Licking's office is Diamond Certified, an honor given only to companies with the higher quality after extensive and continual research. Dr. Licking's office extends an invitation to you to meet their gentle staff and offers you a free office visit, including x-rays and an exam.

    The office holds extended hours ranging from 7 a. m. to 8 p, m., Monday through Thursday. Don't worry if you have an emergency. Dr. Licking's office responds to all emergencies and urgent calls.

    JOHN LICKING, D.D.S.

    Cosmetic & Family Dentistry since 1970

    408—736—6235

    drjohnlicking.com

    877 W. Fremont Ave. Suite C3, Sunnyvale

    From now, if all goes well, a high-tech spacecraft will land in the South Pole of the moon. There, it will drill 66 feet down into the surface(表面) and collect samples of the mantle(地幔样本) to bring back to the earth.

    But before it leaves, it will have a two-part time capsule(时光胶囊): a public part, full of the Earth's history, and a private part, full of digital(数码的) memory boxes created by individuals(个人). These memory boxes can hold digital files — records of family trees, videos or actual DNA in the form of human hair. Not everyone can have a digital memory box, though. The boxes are only delivered for the people who donate the money to the project.

    The project, called Lunar Mission One, has already raised more than half of its ￡600,000 goal since its launch(启动) just a few days ago. The founders thought that it would succeed because of the attraction of both exploring the moon surface and leaving a time capsule behind. The mission was a technical action, but it was also an emotional one, bringing the excitement of knowing that something humans built on the Earth reached somewhere else in space.

    Still, it does seem risky(冒险的) for a person to donate￡60 to keep a digital memory box for a project that won't come true until 2024. What if the project never takes off? What if the technology isn't good enough? What if those digital memory boxes break on the moon's surface? And how will anybody ever even know if that happens? Ian Crawford, a professor at Birkbeck College in London and scientific advisor to the mission, says it is not necessary to worry about these. The plan to leave a time capsule on the moon isn't really about physically leaving something on the moon — it's more an opportunity to encourage people's interest in space.

    Not long ago, a good friend of mine asked me to help him in a halfway house in Nashville. I agreed and made my way there one evening.

    When I got there, I sat with my friend and talked about how he ended up there. As we talked, another man came up, lighting up his cigarette as he sat down. He had dark, leather skin, and looked like he had endured the sun, the rain, and the wind for long, long time. I couldn't tell how old he was, but I was sure that he was younger than he looked.

    Through a bit of conversation, I found out that he had been on the streets for many, many years.

    Without my asking, he started describing life as a homeless man. How he got food; how he stayed warm; how he got money. And he told me something that caught my attention.

    He said, "You want to know how I keep my stuff safe at night?"

    "Sure," I replied.

    "I put it up in the trees."

    "Why is it safe in the trees?" I asked.

"The homeless are always looking for treasure on the ground— coins, something someone's dropped, half-smoked cigarettes. I know if I put my stuff in the trees, they'll never find it because they never look up. Never. "

    Profound words from an unexpected place. And his message is for all of us.

We all have our particular search. We're looking for treasure on this earth. But what we are REALLY looking for is right there above us. There's really nothing we need on the ground.

    In fact, it's surrounding us.

    It was only -28℃ when we landed in Siberia. That was cold enough to make breathing difficult. Five minutes later, I asked for a second pair of gloves and pulled my scarf tight over my nose and mouth. Clearly, I was a complete beginner to this. At the bus station, Mikhail laughed when we asked him why he wasn't freezing. He had spent the whole day outside only with his fur hat and a sheepskin coat for warmth. It was mid-afternoon and icicles（冰柱）were hanging from his beard.

    In Siberia, there's a belief that enough vodka（伏特加酒）will save you from the cold. However, it's wrong. The local hospital is crowded. Even here, icicles are hanging down on the inside of the windows, though the heating is at full power. The doctors are too busy to talk to us.

    The winter here is cruel —and this one is especially so. After her work as a teacher, Natasha Fillipova comes home. It is a freezing house. She shows us the bedroom — where ice has built up on the inside walls. One night, Natasha washed her hair before going to bed. When she woke up, it was frozen hard to the wall. Now the children are doing their homework in the bathroom — the only room warm enough to sit in. Natasha doesn't want to complain. But she is angry with the government and the architects for building terrible houses.

    The houses here are supposed to stand up to -40℃, but they don't. And her children are ill with coughs and colds. Of course, Natasha's anger is brief, and she seems embarrassed about it. According to her, Siberians are used to the cold weather. People here prefer to depend on themselves and the knowledge that spring will come in the end.

For Adam Johnson, a potter from Brighton, the interest stirs (萌动) each spring. "It grabs a hold of me," he said. "I just get the desire to dig." Together with his shovel (铲), he is part of a larger movement. Around the world people are discovering the joys of an ancient practice: the digging of holes. TikTok videos of people digging purely for fun have been viewed millions of times. Instagram accounts devoted to the pastime have many followings.

Charlie Mone, a student at St Andrews University, was changed while digging on the beach in Gran Canaria last year. When he returned home, he founded the university's first hole-digging society. "I didn't think it would go anywhere," he said. Dozens of diggers regularly attend its events on East Sands Beach on the east coast of Scotland and the society's Facebook page has more than 300 followers.

Mone believes that that much of the appeal lies in the friendship working on a shared project in the sea air. "It's struck a chord (共鸣) with people," he said. "There's something therapeutic to just switching your brain off and digging a hole." At the end of each 1 session, the holes are filled in to prevent accidents.

Back in Brighton, Johnson, 38, is more of a lonely digger. "I have often started digging without an actual plan," he said. "Once I took out an unruly bramble (荆棘) and found some rock so I dug that out, then carried on a bit until I was in a good general digging rhythm. A few hours later my partner asked if I was coming in for dinner-the bramble had come out at breakfast and I found myself in a six-foot hole. The hole would become a sunken hot tub, but the digging would have been worthwhile anyway, he suggests. "There's something basic about it. And you find all kinds of buried treasure from people who had the garden before you. There's something magical about digging."