I'm sure you're not a gauche girl with no sense of style and that you' ll make sure that you have a really cool looking backpack or other classy bag to drag your goodies around school this year. I'm also sure that your bag will NOT be jejune! (I admit, I have a secret urge to buy myself a Powerpuff Girls® bag!) Anyway, I suspect you'll have no problem winnowing the YUCK from the YUM when it comes to picking out the perfect bag from the hundreds (maybe even thousands) available in malls, catalogs, and online. And I'm sure you probably have plenty of great ideas about what you'll stuff in your bag. But, just incase you feel a tad overwhelmed, here are a few tips to help you choose and use your bag so you'll still love in it December . . .
Tip #1
Don't kowtow to the masses!
In other words, don't get a bag just because all your friends are getting it.
Stand out, girl! Be yourself. You'll feel like you are walking the halls incognito
if your backpack is simply a clone of everyone else's. Don't bury your
personality. Find a bag that reflects the true you - unless, of course, you want
to hide behind LL Bean or Old Navy. Both offer great bags, but not just any bag
will do for you, cause you're NOT just any girl!
Tip #2
Wait for an epiphany!
Don't grab the first cute bag that you see. Give it some time. You have
to live with this bag for at least a year. (If you're mom is the frugal type,
you may have to live with it for two or more!) When you find a bag you can live
with - PUT IT BACK! Wait for the bag you can't live without.
Tip #3
Get a life!
School, as we all know, is NOT just about schoolwork. Your bag should be able to
handle your social life as well as reading, writing, and whatever! If you're a loquacious
kind of girl, you might want to consider a cell phone if the 'rents will spring
for it and your school allows it. (You might even want to set yourself up with
instant messaging on your cell.) If a cell is out of your reach, an outside
pocket with your favorite pen and perfectly sized paper for passing notes
without rifling through your whole bag could save you tons of embarrassment.
There are always those teachers who delight in reading your notes out
loud. Horrors!
Tip #4
Organize!
If you don't organize your pack, you'll end up with evanescent
homework. Okay, I admit, homework rarely vanishes like magic from your backpack,
but it CAN get lost amidst all the other hoopla hanging out in there and end up
crumpled and torn. If your pack doesn't have good inner sections and pockets,
get yourself some zip or snap folders to hold your work. You don't want to lose
points for sloppiness, now do you? While you' re at it, make sure your money,
pens, markers and pencils, and other loose items have a home of their own in
your bag as well. And tampons and pads should not only be in something that will
keep them clean, but you might want to make sure that they don't appear until
you need them! Oh yeah, if your best friend asks you for a tissue, you want to
be able to give one to her that actually looks clean. Think containers. Soft,
lightweight, easy-to-get-in-to containers.
Tip #5
Don't turn your pack into a deleterious
device!
I can't inculcate upon you
enough that backpacks can cause real back pain. It is a true irony
that the very device we use to make it easier to carry our stuff can actually
harm us. Take that supercilious
look off your face - it really IS true. Don't believe me? Check out what ABC
News had to say about backpacks. Weigh yourself before you put on your
backpack, then load up your pack and weigh yourself again. You shouldn't weigh
more than 20 percent heavier or you are at risk for PAIN! (Not to mention,
possible back damage.) That means if you weigh 120 lbs. without your backpack
(fully dressed), the most you should weigh with your backpack is 144 lbs.
because 20% of 120 lbs. is 24 lbs. For great lists of ways to wear and use your
backpack safely check out Security
World and Kids
Health.
Now that you're ready to return to school - at least in the backpack department - make sure you're ready for school work too with an awesome new dictionary. All the highlighted words in this article and their definitions are from the new American Heritage® College Dictionary, Fourth Edition's list of 100 Words That All High School Graduates - And Their Parents - Should Know. If you want to see the whole list, you can check it out at the publishers site.
This is a dictionary that is easy to
use, easy to read and that has great graphics (more than 2,500 photographs and
drawings). It will keep you totally tuned in to new words, and prominent people
and important places and information not just from the past, but from YOUR world
including newly coined words in science, politics, business, and the arts. It
has thousands of updated definitions (more than 7,500 new words and senses). It
even has updated info on U.S. towns, cites, and states with population
statistics from the 2000 census - a feature that no other American dictionary
currently available has. And there's a style guide that can help you write your
homework in a way that will make your teachers smile. Check it out!
[gauche] (gsh) adj. Lacking social polish; tactless. [French awkward < Old French < gauchir, to turn aside, walk clumsily, of Germanic origin.] -gauchely adv. -gaucheness n.
Back[je·june] (j-jn) adj. 1. Not interesting; dull. 2. Lacking maturity; childish. 3. Lacking in nutrition. [From Latin iinus, meager, dry, fasting.] -je·junely adv. -je·juneness n.
Back[win·now] (wn) v. -nowed, -now·ing, -nows - tr. 1a. To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air. b. To rid of undesirable parts. 2. To blow (chaff) off or away. 3. To blow away; scatter. 4. To blow on; fan: A breeze winnowed the grass. 5. To examine closely in order to separate the good from the bad; sift. 6a. To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate: winnowing out errors. b. To sort or select (a desirable part); extract. - intr. 1. To separate grain from chaff. 2. To separate the good from the bad.§ n. 1. A device for winnowing grain. 2. An act of winnowing. [Middle English winnewen, alteration of windwen < Old English windwian < wind, wind; see wind 1.] -winnow·er n
Back[kow·tow] (kou-tou, koutou) intr.v. -towed, -tow·ing, -tows 1. To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in China. 2. To show servile deference.§ n. 1. The act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground. 2. An obsequious act. [From Chinese (Mandarin) kòu tóu, a kowtow : kòu, to knock + tóu, head.]
Back[in·cog·ni·to] (nkg-nt, n-kgn-t) adv. & adj. With one's identity disguised or concealed.§ n., pl. -tos 1. One whose identity is disguised or concealed. 2. The condition of having a disguised or concealed identity. [Italian < Latin incognitus, unknown : in-, not; see in- 1 + cognitus, past participle of cognscere, to learn, recognize; see cognition.]
Back[e·piph·a·ny] (-pf-n) n., pl. -nies 1. Epiphany A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi, traditionally observed on January 6. 2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being. 3a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something. b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization. [Middle English epiphanie < Old French < Late Latin epiphania < Greek epiphaneia, manifestation < epiphainesthai, to appear : epi-, forth; see epi- + phainein, phan-, to show.] -epi·phanic (p-fnk) adj.
Back[lo·qua·cious] (l-kwshs) adj. Very talkative; garrulous. [< Latin loqux, loquc- < loqu, to speak.] -lo·quacious·ly adv. -lo·quacious·ness, lo·quaci·ty (l-kws-t) n.
Back[ev·a·nes·cent] (v-nsnt) adj. Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor. -eva·nescent·ly adv.
Back[del·e·te·ri·ous] (dl-tîr-s) adj. Having a harmful effect; injurious. [< Greek dltrios < dltr, destroyer < dleisthai, to harm.] -dele·teri·ous·ly adv. -dele·teri·ous·ness n.
Back[in·cul·cate] (n-klkt, nkl-) tr.v. -cat·ed, -cat·ing, -cates 1. To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill: inculcating sound principles. 2. To teach (others) by frequent instruction or repetition; indoctrinate. [Latin inculcre, inculct-, to force upon : in-, on; see in- 2 + calcre, to trample (< calx, calc-, heel).] -incul·cation n. -
Back[i·ro·ny] (r-n, r-) n., pl. -nies 1a. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. b. An expression or utterance marked by irony. c. A literary style employing irony for humorous or rhetorical effect. 2a. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. b. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic. 3. Dramatic irony. 4. Socratic irony. [French ironie < Old French < Latin rna < Greek eirneia, feigned ignorance < eirn, dissembler probably < eirein, to say; see wer- 1 in App.]
Back[su·per·cil·i·ous] (spr-sl-s) adj. Feeling or showing haughty disdain. See Syns at proud. [Latin supercilisus < supercilium, eyebrow, pride : super-, super- + cilium, lower eyelid; see kel- in App.] -super·cili·ous·ly adv. -super·cili·ous·ness n.
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