Would you like to have been one of the astronauts to reach the moon? Why or why not? I definitely wouldn't like to do any kind of space travel, whether it concerns reaching the Moon or any other planet. First of all, it is dangerous, I think I don't need to dwell any more on that point. Second, I would have to spend a lot of time in very close quarters with other people with minimum – if any – privacy. Third, I believe that the Earth is full of amazing things to see, and an average person's lifetime isn't enough to see all the great sites, so from the practical point of view, it's worth staying here. I remember that some time go I read about an expedition that some private enterprise was going to send on Mars. It was going to be a no-return mission, the participants were supposed to start a colony there, although I'm not sure how they would actually choose whom to mate and procreate with. Anyway, this expedition idea has received a lot of publicity and plenty of people have applied to be a part of it. Young, smart, healthy, well-educated professionals were willing to go away from it all forever, there were tens of thousands of applications, I heard. So I assume there are a lot of people ready to do any kind of sacrifice to go to space, I'm simply not one of them.

a whole bunch of ideas, from writing to having a breakfast I am not a really big fan of writing, but I want to be more or less well-rounded in my knowledge of English, so these days I am trying to make myself write more. Today I did a very quick search on writing prompts, and the first link that came up was about creative writing. I've looked through the prompts, and my first idea was that it wasn't the the thing that I was looking for, as it was actually about creating a story, and not just venting some ideas. Therefore, my first impulse was to discard it completely. Then I thought that maybe if I don't really feel like doing it, maybe it would be really useful, at least I would step out of my comfort zone. I don't believe that I am destined to be a writer, and the writing that I do now is not even recreational, because I do it practice my English, so it is understandable that the product here is somewhat less important than the process itself. Anyway, maybe tomorrow I'll give it a try. As for today, after searching for some more writing prompts I've found a page which was quite ok. And one of the topics that caught my eye was the one about breakfast. The writer was invited to explain the importance of eating a healthy breakfast and to convince a peer to have a breakfast. So I picked that up, but then I remembered that just yesterday I read on some site, that claimed to be scientific, some data about the effects of intermittent fasting and its effects on people's health. The authors of that article came to a conclusion that still more research needs to be done, as the trials on humans were really scarce and there's much more data on mice's and rats' reactions to such dietary changes. Also, it was said there that probably it is ok not to have a breakfast – again, more research is needed, so we shouldn't be so radical about breakfast. The stakes in the game are too high for those who sell and produce cereals and other typical breakfast foods, so maybe we will never know the truth. Anyway, in the meantime, I guess it's wiser to simply listen to one's own body and maybe try different things to see which fits best.

Talk about home. What does it mean to you? I guess that my understanding of home may be quite different from that of other people. I have been moving around a lot during several years of my life, but I have never actually felt homesick. Of course, sometimes I missed the convenience of having some places assigned for particular things, but it was about comfort and logistics, nothing sentimental. I think that wherever I am staying – this is my home, as my sole presence, the mere fact that I live somewhere already makes any place a home. What may also be somewhat different about my attitude towards the idea of a "home", is that I don't really get it when people spend outrageous amounts of money into remodelling it, buying some expensive furniture, when they sacrifice other important things to be able to afford it – for example, they don't go anywhere for a vacation for years. And usually, the people who invest so much into their homes underline the fact that they do it to not feel ashamed to invite somebody to their place. I understand that somebody wouldn't feel comfortable about entertaining their guests somewhere in the slums, but missing out on many enjoyable things just to impress somebody seems unreasonable.

report for the upcoming progress meeting with the manager Dear Mr. Roberts, I am writing this report in preparation for our progress meeting that will take place on November, 23, and I would like share my ideas about my job performance. I am pleased to announce that the retention rate in the four groups that I teach English is above 80%. I believe that the students are motivated to stay with our center for the rest of the course. The retention rate for my Russian group is of 100%, and I would like to be their teacher for the upcoming levels next year. As for the problems that I have experienced during the last 6 months, I have to mention just one. The windows in the Classroom 1 are not well-fitting, therefore it is rather cold inside and the students have complained about it. I would appreciate it if you could address this issue, as I had already discussed it with the office-manager, and no measures have been taken so far. Regarding my future training, I have been enjoying the webinars presented by the head office, and I would like to know whether I could have a private session with Ms. Wesly, as the students of one of the groups need more help with accent reduction, therefore, it would be beneficial if I could get additional insight on that matter from the teacher trainer. In conclusion, I would like to thank you in advance for that opportunity to receive some feeedback from you, I am looking forward to our meeting. Sincerely yours, Name

Which facilities should receive money from local authorities? Today's panel discussion was dedicated to 3 types of facilities that could receive money from the local authorities, and these are museums, sports centers and parks. In this essay I would like to let the readers explore my preferences and explain them. If were able to influence how the funds are spent, I would vote for investing into sports centers for a variety of reasons. First of all, museums are popular with a smaller category of people, so they wouldn't be as useful for the general population as the sports facilities. In my opinion, nowadays people are very much concerned with the outer presentce than their inner world, so whether we like it or not, we should answer the demands of the society. Secondly, a vast majority of adults and growing numbers of children lead sedentary lifestyles, therefore a sports center would be beneficial for their health and general wellbeing. If a person doesn't feel well physically, he or she is not likely to be intellectually curiousity, that is why I think that it is more important to address the basic physical health before trying to promote more sophisticated pastimes. Thirdly, in our continental climate the weather is rather harsh for nearly 6 months of the year, which means that people are unable to use open air facilities that are present in the parks to do exercises, for that reason I believe the sports centers are of vital necessity for people who want to maintain their good exercising habits all year round.

About a book -2 What I did not enjoy about this book were the parts about finding a life partner rather early and deciding whether one would like to have children, and if so, plan it accordingly. As for the life partner thing, it simply seemed too much for me. I can understand, to some extent, the idea about getting one's ideas clear about the career path to choose and to follow through with the plans in that domain, and although I think it can put some serious limitations on one's freedom, those constraints are somewhat acceptable as having a good job is very important, because it can cover many essential needs in the life of a person. And on the contrary, getting tied down by a relationship does not seem to help one's wellbeing in the same way. As for the "having children" theme, I believe that the author would like her patients and readers to save time and money they would have to spend for assisted reproduction if they do not have offsprings in a timely manner, therefore I understand her point, and still I probably would have loved to see more insights about considering adopting or fostering children as a legitimate choice. In conclusion, I would like to recommend that book to everybody, especially to those in their twenties and younger.

About a book -1 What I am going to write further is not supposed to be large or elaborate enough to be called a review, I would say this is a short composition about a book I've read some time ago. The author is Meg Jay, and the book's title is "The Defining Decade". The author is an experienced clinical psychologist who specializes in working with twenty-somethings, so eventually she has decided to write a book about typical problems that her patients face with. In my opinion, the most valuable input that "The Defining Decade" provides its readers with is a great reality check. A lot of young people nowadays think that they are very special, that they are predestined to have an extraordinary life full of amazing events, and that they should not settle for anything less than that. While waiting for this exciting life to start, they are working mediocre underpaid jobs, dragging on romances with inappropriate partners, and fantasizing about becoming somebody else. In some way it may seem that Meg Jay shatters other people's dreams, but actually they are no more than illusions, as these young adults do not take any action to really achieve something. So, as for that message of the book – I would call it "Wake up, you're not that special", I am quite satisfied with it. I frankly believe it is high time more people talked and wrote about it, as there are too many voices telling the opposite nowadays.

A recipe Carbonara is one of the most popular pasta dishes of the Italian cuisine. It is easy to cook and it tastes amazing! These are some flavorful nourishing spaghetti with a delicious sauce. Do not hesitate to use raw yolks, as they are blended into hot spaghetti and they have time to get cooked. You will have 4-6 servings from the ingredients listed. 200 g spaghetti 150 g bacon or ham 150 ml 30%-33% cooking cream 3 yolks 50g cheese ( ideally Parmesan cheese) 2-3 cloves of garlic salt pepper vegetable oil (preferrably olive oil) Cut the garlic into very small pieces, julienne the bacon, grate the cheese with a grater that has small perforations. Now stir-fry the garlic, then add the bacon and roast it all well. In a separate bowl shake the yolks lightly, add the cheese and the cooking cream, season the mix with salt and pepper Cook spaghetti till they are ready according to the package instructions, it's very important to not let them get sticky or mushy. Put the hot spaghetti into a frying pan, add the cheese-and-cream sauce, mingle well. Add the bacon and mix again.

Leo's story Leo was a 13-year-old sport-loving boy when the things went very wrong. During his usual soccer practice he had a rather painful kick from a player of the opposite team, which made him go to the emergency room. After the X-rays and a thorough external check the doctors became quite suspicious of an abnormally dark area on the X-ray of the boy's leg. Several days and multiple analyses later, they concluded that Leo had cancer of his right leg's tibia. Grueling sessions of chemotherapy followed one after another, but the tumor didn't respond well. Leo was very weak, he lost his hair, but he was very hopeful and optimistic, he was sure that the treatment would work. Unfortunately, nothing could be done, so the doctors had to amputate his leg up to above his knee to prevent the cancer from spreading further through his body. Leo was devastated, but he had to accept that unpleasant reality. While Leo was at the hospital going through rehabilitation process after the operation and chemotherapy, he met other teenagers, each of them struggling with an illness. There was a girl with an eating disorder from the psychiatric ward, a boy with a heart defect, a youngster who had had a bike accident, and the youngest boy who by then had been in coma for 2 years, and, surprisingly, another cancer patient who also had to have his right leg taken off. They formed a group and they supported each other in any way possible. Later on, everybody but Leo left the hospital. The boy with a heart defect died during an operation, and all the rest of his friends got well and went on with their lives, even the youngest boy miraculously came out of the coma, but Leo had to repeat the treatment as they had found cancer in his lung. He still had hope, so he went through chemotherapy again. His friends went back to the hospital – some of them wanted to be by his side, others needed a check-up or a treatment themselves, but in any case, they were together once again. Leo celebrated his 18th birthday at the hospital to discover the following day that his cancer had spread to three other parts of his body, and that even with the most effective treatment at hand, the survival rate in such cases was of about 3%. He decided that he didn't want to fight anymore, and that he wanted to enjoy what he had left of his life outside the hospital. So his friends and him went to have a vacation together and to say good bye to Leo. They had the time of their lives.