Malaysia, a Unique Country

     Malaysia is a multiracial country. Malaysia has a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and 1 percent of other ethnic groups. Malaysia is unique because of its diversity of races, religions and cultures, the stability of the country and many places of interests. Besides, there are many international achievements which are the pride of our nation.

     Diversity of races, religions and cultures is a significant characteristic of our nation. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a rich cultural heritage. Unique to Malaysia is the 'Open House' concept where during the various cultural and religious festival like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Gawai Day and others, friends and families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by the hosts. Although the visitors may be from different races, they still can tolerate with each other and live under the same roof where they celebrate the festival together. This will help to strengthen the ties among themselves.

     Moreover, the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is also a uniqueness of us. We live harmoniously in a country where there are no wars and conflicts among Malaysians. War is dreadful and it may deteriorate humans' lives. We are fortunate that our country is safe and runs off the war. So, people can live safely here. Somehow, Malaysia is a paradise for those Iraqis or Pakistanis. Besides, our country is freed from natural disasters such as earthquakes. Earthquakes may bring death and destroy many buildings. Therefore, Malaysia is unique because of the stability and peaceful environment.

     On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest. Malaysia's rain forest is considered as the oldest in the world. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to excite a great deal of scientific research. Many believe that some undiscovered plant may hold cures to many currently incurable human diseases. There are many islands in our country such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Redang, Pulau Ketam and many others. Pulau Langkawi has a lot of historitical informations. Those who are in favour of history can go there to explore the history of that place. All the beaches in those islands are beautiful. The sand is soft and white. The accommodation is well-established and that makes those islands ideal places to visit.

     Following this, there are also international achievements of our country. Those achievements include the existence of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Formula One (F1) racing circuit and the Petronas Twin Towers. KLIA is unique because it has all that is needed for business, entertainment and relaxation within its boundaries. The airport is part and parcel of the Multimedia Super Corridor where high technology industries are being actively developed. Nevertheless, there is a Formula One Race Track near the airport, so foreign car racing enthusiasts from all over the world can come for a visit to gather here. Besides that, Petronas Twin Towers which is a building that soars 452 metres into the sky is once upon a time, the tallest building in the world and yet it is a national pride to the people of Malaysia.

     In short, Malaysia is unique that it has diversity of races, religions and cultures, a stable and peaceful environment, places of interest and some internal achievements. Those are important characteristic of our nation. It is rich of cultural heritage; it would be worth to play a visit here.

Effects of Television

     People are watching more and more television. As a result, television is having an increasing effect on society. Describe the beneficial and harmful effects of television on society. Then indicate what you believe the role of television should be and why. 

     Television is both beneficial and harmful. Its benefits are many. Firstly, it is an inexpensive form of entertainment. Secondly, it imparts news and information. The many documentaries it carries help to spread knowledge alone, or combined with the video cassette recorder, it is a very effective teaching aid widely used in schools.

     Many people also view it as a curse. Many say it wastes the time of housewives who should     be doing housework. It also wastes the time of children who should be revising their lessons or doing their homework. Many also blame television for spreading undesirable western culture and for     eroding moral values. Furthermore, they think it is a curse to healthy living for it discourages people from actively exercising outdoors. Too much television viewing also spoils one's eyesight.

     Actually, television has more advantages than disadvantages. If we choose the programmes carefully television can give us a lot of benefits. It can do harm only if we watch undesirable programmes.

     The main role of television should be to entertain, to inform and to educate. These are worthwhile objectives. All other objectives are of secondary importance. Television should provide inexpensive, wholesome entertainment to its viewers. This is to help them to relax or to forget life's worries temporarily. It should also inform its viewers about what is happening in their own countries    as well as what is happening in other parts of the world. Television should also impart knowledge to     its viewers. This is to help them to fit better in an increasingly complex world. So, we can see that television, if used wisely, can contribute positively to our lives.

Is a University Education Necessary for Success?

     Parents spend thousands of ringgit and even hundreds of thousands of ringgit for their children to get a university degree. They say that a degree will ensure/ guarantee a brighter future for their children. Is this necessarily true?

     First of all, Let us determine the criterion for judging success. Most parents equate a big income with success. They are not interested in the intellectual, spiritual or aesthetic development brought about by tertiary education. They measure success by the quantity of material rewards they can obtain with a university education. To them the bigger your bank account, house or car, the bigger is your success. So, if we judge success in this materialistic manner, does a tertiary education give/ bring you a bigger income? It is not necessarily so.

     Most successful people do not have/ posses a university degree. In fact, one very big success was a local multi-millionaire who did not even finish his primary education and could just write his name and no other words. It seems that the genius which created the world's most famous computer software and who earns millions of dollars each day did not complete his university studies. In fact, the number of successful people who are non-graduates are too numerous to enumerate. Many successful businessmen and women have not stepped inside a university. Still, they are very successful not only in their business but also other aspects of their lives.

     The truth is if you have a degree, you are less likely to succeed than someone who has none. You will only be thinking of working for others if you are a graduate in a certain discipline. Working for others will earn you only a modest fixed income, say RM2.000 per month or even RM5,000 per month. It is only for the man who does not have a university degree, who is willing to take risks and who wants only to be the boss that the sky is the limit. The world does not belong to graduates who are only thinking of working for others. If a man's success is judged by the size of his income, then the lowly educated hawker is even more successful than a university graduate. While a graduate may earn RM300 a day and think that it is a lot of money, there is one lowly-educated woman selling "pasembur" who earns twice that amount in a single day. In fact, any mildly successful hawker will out-earn a university graduate any time. In one of the local newspapers one day, a university professor wryly observed that the fried "keow teow" seller in his housing estate earned four times what he did!

     From all the above examples, we can clearly see that it is not necessary to have a university education to be successful.

Study Abroad or Locally?

     Some people believe that studying in overseas universities is better than studying in local ones. The first reason they give is that degrees from foreign universities are recognized all over the world while local degrees are not. For example, they say that it is better to get an engineering or medical degree from overseas because the standards in foreign universities are higher. It will be easier for these graduates to get jobs at the more reputable institutions and to ask for higher pay. They also claim that degrees from foreign universities are more prestigious and holders of foreign degrees are highly respected. People who prefer studying overseas also say that foreign universities have a much longer tradition than local universities. They have existed for a long, long time. Who has not heard of Oxford and Cambrige in Britain or the Ivy League universities in the eastern United States such as Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, the Massahussetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pensylvannia? They all have a reputation for high academic standards and social prestige. Some prefer to study overseas because they are allowed to take courses which they are not allowed to take locally. Another reason they prefer to study overseas is that they will be uisng English in study and this will help them later in their jobs.

     For those who prefer studying locally, the main attraction is the low cost. Studying in Malaysia is much, much cheaper than studying overseas. If one studies locally, one needs to spend only about thirty to forty tousand ringgit whereas one needs to spend a few hundred thousand ringgit if one studies overseas. With the present economic downturn and the drop in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, things are going to be worse. Another advantage is that one need not leave one's country so one can still be close with one's family. Therefore, one would not suffer from homesickness or feel out of place in a strange environment. Degrees from local universities are also recognized worldwide. One would not have any problems when one wants to take an advanced degree or when one wants to work in another country.

     After considering the pros and cons, I think that studying at a local university would be a better choice for me. In the first place, my parents are not rich. They can never afford to sed me to a foreign university. As to finding employment after getting my degree, I think a local degree would suffice as I am never going to work overseas. Since local degrees are also recognized for advanced degrees courses, it is not necessary for me to get an expensive foreign degree. Most importantly, I love my family very much and cannot bear the thought of being far away from them. If I study in a local university, I can be near them.

The benefits of reading

   Jessie, a young primary school girl from Selangor asked her father, "daddy, who is the richest man in the world, today?" "Em, I think it's Bill Gates, my dear," answered Jonathan, her father. "Ha ha, you're wrong. Its Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican telecommunication tycoon. I just read an article about him in today's publication of the Star!" From this scenario, we can conclude that reading does widen one's knowledge regardless of age. In a recent survey conducted by one of the local daily, it is stated that the popularity of reading among the Malaysian community especially teenagers has been reducing gradually over the decades. However, to revive the reading habit among our loved ones, the Ministry of Education has published the benefits one would enjoy by reading.
   We cannot deny the fact that reading would definitely improve one's knowledge. We can emend our general knowledge by reading the local dailies, encyclopedia, newsletters and may other reading materials. If we constantly read, we will be educated on all varsities of subjects, be it history, politics, sports, religions, businesses and other pivotal issues. It is never too late to read. Anyone can grab the newspapers instantly and read if he or she wishes to widen their general knowledge. For instance, the famous television series, "Are you smarter than A Fifth Grader", clearly depicts on how well educated the young ones are.
   If we question our English Language teacher on the ways to improve the proficiency of our language, the obvious reply would be reading. We cannot deny the fact that reading is one of the prime ways to improve the fluency and competency of any language be it English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and others. Reading would be also emend the grammar and the sentence structures in our verbal as well as our written communication. As such, we can avoid wasting hundreds of ringgits attending courses in language centres such as Cambridge to improve the proficiency of our English language. Besides, by improving the command of English language, it would be easier for we to continue our tertiary education in world renowned universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Howard. Everyone should understand that it would be impossible to pursue our undergraduate studies without obtaining good grades in our local examination such as SPM. The only way to pass our examination would be to read extensively and to have good understanding of our lessons. This clearly indicates the importance of reading.
   Not withstanding, reading will educate one's self on the latest issues that is happening in the country. The prime example is reading the local daily. By reading the local dailies such as The Star, Berita Harian, News Straits Time and Mandarin as well as Tamil dailies, we will know the latest cabinet line-up issues about National Reconciliation, and other political issues. It also enabled us to discover the happenings in the music industry, entertainment and also the natural disaster, precarious maladies and civil wars which would prevent us from visiting such areas.
   Apart from that, reading holy scriptures such as bible, Quran, Bhagarad Gita and other religious books, we can learn and practise the religious principals that would strengthen us to resist the temptations of our evil desires to ensure a safe and a peaceful environment. It also enables us to respect those from other religions which is essential to promote unity in our multiracial and multi religious nation. In addition, reading also helps us to motivate ourselves. When we are frustrated and demotivated by failures, we can read motivational books written by motivational gurus such as Bob Practor, Anthony Robbins and local authors as well. Reading these materials would help us to identify our hidden talents and inspire us to overcome our failure to excel in our lives.
   In a nutshell, no one can judge the benefits of reading. It is only up to an individual to make full use of the habit of reading to improve the quality of his of her life. Thus, every responsible individual in our nation should start reading to stay competitive in today's era of globalisation where people are judged by their knowledge which brings wealth and fame. If not, achieving the goals of vision 2020 would become an herculean task. Remember, knowledge is wealth. Let's not procrastinate in just opening a book to read.

Sympathy

   "She was behaving as if she was the best in the entire universe. It's all your fault, May! You should have defeated her but you didn't, only God knows why!" I stood speechless for a moment and I uttered, "she did her best, she deserve it", I confessed. I was trying to defend Jessie but my attempts were futile as my best friend Tina was telling the truth. No amount of cajoling would keep her quiet. I remembered the day which had influenced my thoughts and my acts.
   It was a salubrious afternoon, the shrill ringing of the school bell pierced through the air signalling the end of English lesson. "Class, that's all for today. May and Jessie, don't forget that your contest is just around the corner. This contest is crucial for both of you, be prepared!" Miss Lee said before she left. Although I felt hurt initially, I knew the competition rivalry was setting into her.
   I started ballet when I was four years old and it became my life ever since then. With the Almighty's blessings, I started to excel in ballet as I was victorious in most of the competition that I participated. However, things became challenging when Jessie moved into my school. Jessie who had been the state champion for Penang ballet competition for four continuous years made me to burn the midnight oil to retain my title of being the Selangor state champion for the last three years. Although, she had a good reputation in the world of ballet, in my school she was least preferred by the students. She was considered to be a very arrogant and a self centered girl as she never really associated with everyone. She just kept herself to a few girls who were from wealthy families as she was from a very wealthy family as well. Nevertheless she was quite famous, in fact very famous among the boys as she was super pretty. As a matter of fact, a few girls including me were jealous over her. She had a pair of sparkling azure blue eyes, with fluttering eyelashes, aquiline nose, thin rosy lips which was complemented by her milky hue complexion. Her lustrous brunette hair and her shapely body gave her all the reasons to be proud and snobbish. 
   It was the first time Jessie and I would be competing for the Selangor state's championship. She was very confident that she would emerge as champion as she though she was better than me. Not wanting to be over confident, I was practising day and night two weeks before the competition. Two days before the competition after my training session, I walked to my father's clinic as my ballet training centre was only a stone's throw away from my father's clinic. It was then I saw Jessie walking out from my father's clinic. I could no approach her as she never saw me and left before my arrive.
   Feeling anxious I held on to my patience and waited for my father to attend to his patients. Then, I asked my father about Jessie's presence. I was shocked when my father said that she was going to be blind very soon as she was suffering from glaucoma. When I asked him whether she knew about her disability, he said she doesn't know as her parents did not want to reveal her disability to her as they wanted her to be happy as long as she could enjoy her vision. My father who was a well known ophthamologist said she would be blind within the next three months. A melancholic mood took control of me and my eyes glistered with tears.
    Eventually the big day arrived and my parents accompanied me to the hall. My parents knew it was going to be another day of glory for me. I could see many other parents congratulating my parents as they were confident of my victory. It was then Jessie walked in with her parents which caught both my father's and my attention. I ran to my parents and told them everything about Jessie. They were flabbergasted. The bell rang and the emcee called Jessie to the stage. She performed well but my parents and my ballet teacher knew she was no match for my graceful movements. All the other contestants performed well but they were no match for Jessie. She was rather swollen with pride. I knew I was the only one who could humble her pride an I had made my decision.
   As my name was called, I stepped onto the stage which was accompanied by a great applause from the audience and my well wishes. The melodious music started and I looked at my teacher who was smiling encouragingly at me. I felt guilty. As I dance, the smile disappeared from my teacher's face as she wondered why I made so many unforced error. When I had finished dancing, there was a polite applause which I had never received in the past three years. Then I walked to the backstage where all the ballerinas were waiting anxiously. They were apprehensive but I stayed calm. When the results were announced, Jessie was declared the winner and I was the runner up. Although, I felt sad, I rejoiced when I saw Jessie and her family were celebrating her victory. Tears sprang from my eyes but I controlled myself. My father came up to me and gave me a hug which I was not expecting. "Honey, you have been so strong to make such a heart breaking sacrifice. She was not the champion but you made her one. I am really proud of you my dear. Today, you are a champion in God's eyes." I felt an immerse relieve and comfort and I realised that every word he said was true.

Ghost Hunting

   With Halloween fast approaching I began to wonder what the fascination was with not only the holiday but also with the idea of spirits and ghosts. I asked a few friends of mine that just told me they liked the idea of being scared with the haunted house that pop up at this time of year. “Some spirits remain at or near the site of their death, especially if it was sudden and unexpected.  They remain confused and don't know or accept that they have died.  These spirits remain in the area and try to make contact with anyone that passes by that is sensitive to spirits.”  I thought this was intriguing since I did not really believe that there are such things as spirits and ghosts.
  Due to that, I decided that I would try to find out why people believe this and if there was something that I was missing out on. My first stop is to check the internet; surely there is someone here in Boise that goes out looking for these spirits. When I Googled “ghost hunting in Idaho” one of the first sites listed is a group by the name of Idaho Spirit Seekers. I decided to check out the website and see what it was all about. On first glance it was just your average discussion board, when I looked further I found many articles on different paranormal topics. I noticed a section labeled investigations, I clicked on it, and they had listed investigations dating back to 2004. I checked out some of them and found that this group didn’t seem to jump at every little noise and they also didn’t say that the place was haunted just because the resident said things were going bump in the night. Ok, well I thought I would contact this group and find out if they would be willing to talk to me and tell me what it is about ghosts that make people want to find them. After looking on this website I found the directors name and sent an email to her. She emailed back that day and said that she would be glad to talk to me and also invited me to come to a meeting, which happened to be that weekend. I thought that this would be a good way to talk to many different members of the group and said that I would be happy to attend.
   Saturday, the day of the meeting, Marie, the director, emailed me the address and time of the meeting. I decided it would be a good idea to show up a little early, get a look around before the meeting started. The building that the meeting is held in very plain, just a tan with a red stripe all the way across all three buildings, they were laid out in an “L” shape with a big parking lot. The parking lot was pretty empty, just a few cars, but one vehicle had a distinctive TAPS logo on it. With my research on the website of this group I did find that the Idaho Spirit Seekers are a TAPS family member. TAPS is the team on the show “Ghost Hunters”; I had watched that show a couple times but didn’t really believe a whole lot of what they were saying. Of course, I didn’t understand a whole lot of what they were saying either. But I knew I was in the right place.
   I was told that the meeting was held in the east building, in the middle set of doors. When I went into the building there were no signs showing that this group belonged in there at all. I wondered if there was an issue with the landlord having a ghost hunting group in their building. The only way that I knew where this meeting was is by the sound of voices coming from down the hallway. I couldn’t tell if these were angry voices or just a lot of people trying to talk at once. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into, especially if these are angry voices. Finally I decided that I would just take a chance and knock on the door, about a half dozen voices yelled “Come on in!” I walked in and was greeted by about a dozen people with a warm hello and a couple handshakes. “You must be our visitor” One person said. “I am Marie, make yourself at home.
   I looked around the room, it was about the size of a small bedroom suite, sure I thought where in the heck do I sit. There didn’t appear to be anywhere to sit, someone motioned in the corner of the room that there was a chair beside them. I sat down and looked around, in one corner was a bookshelf full of books, I strained to see some of the titles on the shelves. They all had something to do with haunting. Haunted hotels, haunted historic sites, haunted toys, haunted homes, they all seemed to be true stories too. Behind me there was some electronic equipment, televisions, VCR’s, DVD players, a DVD recorder, there were also some strange looking small handheld electric machines. I found out later that these were EMF detectors; EMF is Electro Magnetic Field, EMF “measures low level electromagnetic fields. It’s used with the assumption that ghost activity causes a higher than average reading of electromagnetic energy. However, ghost hunters recognize that EMF’s don’t always detect ghosts and that not all EMF readings are paranormal.
   There were also voice recorders and digital thermometers as well as a few digital cameras. There is along one wall a table set up with various sizes of candles, in the middle of the room is two tables put together that the team members were all sitting at. It seems to me that this room is only barely capable of holding the entire group. I did learn during the course of the meeting that this was not the whole group just a portion of it. I can’t imagine the entire group being in this little room if this is only part of them. I was told that if I had any questions to go ahead and ask. I could tell that the meeting had already started and that I was the only visitor to show up for this particular meeting. Marie continued talking to the group about the investigation that night, she told me that some of the team members where wearing the black shirt because they were to be going on the investigation and that this was their uniform. They were wearing black t-shirts with the groups’ logo on the right side; the back of the shirt had a larger logo. The investigation is at a private residence and I was told that I was not to disclose the location at the owners’ request. In my research I found that there are three basic types of haunting, “The first of these we may descriptively refer to as an “intelligent” or a “human” type of haunting. In these manifestations, the entity or entities encountered seem to possess human personalities and emotions, albeit in a limited scope. They may at times appear visually in human forms, and are responsive to changes in the external conditions.” 
   The other two types are residual, which means its like a tape being played over and over, usually at the same time of day and doing the same thing, the other is demonic, I feel no explanation is needed on this one   Marie began by handing out assignments for the investigation, who was going to be doing what. I noticed that Maries husband is also on the team and was going to be their technical person for the night. Other members where assigned the voice recorders, EMF meters, or cameras. I asked her how these people were chosen for their particular assignments, if they were specially trained to be using the equipment. She told me that most people got on the job training for some of the equipment like the EMF meters, but the rest was mostly easy equipment to use and there was really no training needed. Marie continued instructing people what was expected of each of them and it surprised me that no one really said much just listened and shook their heads a couple took notes. Everyone seemed to already know what she was telling them, it made me wonder why she was telling them what they already knew. The next order of business was the Seminar that they apparently just held in September. Marie was saying that the number of attendees was a little disappointing but that there would be another one next year, the venue was going to change and things that didn’t work this year would be switched up and would be better next year. There were a few people that had some suggestions for the seminar that included vendors, speakers, and something about having lunch catered instead of the way it was held this year. It seemed to me that several of the members, including Marie were very passionate about this seminar and the success of it.
    asked Marie why this was so important to the team; she told me that this was what they were here to do, to educate the public about the paranormal. At that point the meeting was wrapped up and everyone started to leave, I asked a member if I could ask a few questions; I wondered why Marie was explaining what was expected of each team member when it seemed that they already knew what she was telling them. She told me that it is very important that each team member understand exactly what it is that needs to get done. Each member should have a working knowledge of each aspect of the investigation, which is in case someone is unable to make the investigation we always have someone that knows how to do each job. I found this time a good opportunity to ask a few questions. The first one I wanted to know is what kind of people join the group? “We have many different types of people in our group. There are people who are skeptics and there are believers, there are many different religions in our group, from Mormons to Wiccans and we all get along great.” I also wondered about any rules or rituals that the group has. “We have several rules that must be followed. We have a confidentiality rule; we are not to give any information about an investigation to the public unless we have a written release by the owner. When on an investigation we all have our own jobs to do as far as setting up equipment…..” “We are not to whisper during an investigation….we are never to wander off alone; this is not because we think the ghosts will hurt us…this is because we could trip over something and if your alone no one can go get you help” As far as rituals, this is what I was told; “We don’t have a group ritual that we do, basically that is left up to the individual since we all have our own religious believes.” After talking with this group member, I was approached by Marie and asked if I would like to join them on the night’s investigation. 
   After hesitating for only a moment I agreed, but was a little nervous about what the night was going to hold. I was a little unsure because if ghosts do exist, is there a chance that I or anyone on the team could get hurt? When I asked I was assured that I and the rest of the group would be fine that no harm would come to us even if we “saw” a ghost. “A ghost is not capable of physically hurting a living person simply because they do operate on a different plain of existence. They do not have as solid a physical state as we do; while they may manifest themselves in a way we may recognize in terms of dress and mannerisms, the image is one that has no actual physical substance. (Oliver)   I watched as the group began loading the equipment into the van, I was able to grab another group member to ask what kind of equipment it was that they were loading? I was told “we have a DVR (digital Video recorder) system. This is a video recorder that includes 4 cameras that we can watch at one time on the laptop. A laptop, digital cameras, digital voice recorders, EMF detectors (Electro Magnetic Field), digital thermometers, flashlights, and lots and lots of batteries are also included in our equipment.” Finally we were on our way to the investigation, there were three vehicles heading that way with a total of 7 investigators from the group.
   As we arrived at our destination, I noticed that the team started getting equipment out of the vehicles and started into the building. They got to the room that was going to be what they called “base” and began to set the equipment up. It all happened just like Marie had said at the meeting, each person with their own task to accomplish and getting it done without much trouble at all. Once the equipment was set up and ready to go, they began to get into separate groups. One group was instructed to go to one floor and investigate while another group went to another floor for the same purpose and two people were left at base to watch the DVR system. The group that I was in had two other group members in it, we were to go to the first floor and see what we could find. They asked me to hold the digital recorder so that we could try to get some EVP’s. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon; voices caught on recording devices such as tape recorders. I found that there are several things to remember when trying to do an EVP session.   “Spacing the questions, very important for everybody.  A minimum time between questions should be at least 20 seconds, or even 30 seconds.  Sometimes answers get stepped on by other questions, and a majority of the good EVPs I have heard seem to come 15-20 seconds after the question has been asked.” 
   here are several others, but this one I found is the most important. Several questions were asked like, “What’s your name?”   and “Do you like it here?” I didn’t hear anything but neither did anyone else. I was told that they listen to these tapes at a later time to determine if anything answered us.   After we were done asking questions we moved on. We started walking down a hallway and one of my group members started taking pictures, he was taking them pretty quickly hoping to catch something in one of the pictures. He showed me one that he took that had an orb in it. I thought it looked like a pretty good orb and I always thought that was a sign of ghost energy. He told me that it was actually dust. Apparently this is a very highly debated topic among ghost hunters. The orb is described by novice hunters as ghost energy or presence, when experienced hunters know that most of the time it is just dust or moisture in the air. I was curious as to how the digital thermometer was used and why, I asked the group member that was holding the thermometer and was told that some believe that ghosts draw their energy from their surroundings. “Measuring temperature changes can help us determine whether the cold spots are physical or only within our subjective perceptions”. 
   Soon it was time for us to switch floors with the other group, we met up in the room used for base and a few of the members stepped outside to get some air and take a break. I decided this was a good opportunity to ask a couple more questions. How many times during the month do they get together and have an investigation and how do they know where the haunted places are? “We have Friday and Saturday nights open for investigations to be scheduled. Usually the home owner or business owner contacts us by email, we conduct an interview with them to find out what it is that is happening and from there we will schedule the investigation” I did have one more question that I wanted to ask. What is the one thing that they were most looking for on an investigation? The Holy Grail you might say? I was told by all of the group members standing there with me that the one thing that they would most like to see is a full body apparition and the ability to have that image on camera. “In the larger scheme of paranormal investigation, full-bodied spirits don't appear all that often - but they certainly do appear”
   We decided it was time to return to the investigation and went back inside. The teams switched floors and began the whole process over, asking EVP questions and taking pictures. We were there for a total of about 3 hours and never once did I see or hear anything out of the ordinary except for the lights being out the whole time. I asked when they would know if they did get anything on the tapes or video or pictures. I was told that it would probably be a week before they would be able to get through all the evidence. I was given a ride back to my car that I had left at the office and then said my goodbyes and headed home. Marie called me about 5 days later and told me that there was nothing on any of the recorders or video. The only thing that the digital cameras got was a few orbs. I really enjoyed my time on this investigation with the group but I still hold to my beliefs that I do not believe in ghosts.