Southern is a Good Place to go to School

For my video project I decided to talk about downtown night life as well as what you can do there in the daytime such as shop. I also discussed the benefits for living on campus and why I enjoy it. Lastly, I discussed why I believe more people should attend Southern Connecticut State University. The main differences in this video to my first one is that I am the only person talking in the video, there are no other interviewees which is kind of not what I wanted but due to the weather I had to settle for less. In comparison to the first video I worked on, I still had transition animations and music because I just think it adds a little bit of spice. I have a lot more pictures in this video than I did the last and now that I think about it I don’t think I even added pictures to my last video. Well, anyway, I think I progressed with the timing because I was told my video was too fast. My weakness was making the video this time was making it five minutes. Last video I was easily over now I’m about 20-30 seconds other. I am happy enough with my results even though I wanted more input from other people, what I ended up with was a little masterpiece. :-D

Campus Safari: Pumpkin Painting

This past Thursday, there was pumpkin painting on campus. I was the only one of my friends who signed up I guess because they thought it was lame but I love Halloween. I met a lot of new people and painted not one but three mini pumpkins. At first, I wasn’t so sure if we were allowed to take the pumpkin we painted back to the dorm with us so I did more than one so I would possibly have that opportunity. When I went there I saw my friend Pam, which was shocking and we both painted our pumpkins like kittens. When I was painting I started to miss home though because I always carve pumpkins and get into the Halloween spirit but now that I’m at school it just doesn’t feel the same. I’m also hoping that there isn’t a snow storm this Halloween AGAIN I will be so disappointed even if I won’t be trick-or-treating all the little kids should at least be doing it. J

Midterm Grades

When I logged onto Banner Web to access my student record midterm grades I was surprised to see what I got. I thought it would be the complete opposite between two classes which are geography and inquiry. The grades throughout the semester that I received in inquiry were fairly decent but in geography they were quite low. Come to find out I got a B- in geo and a C inq. I wish that I could actually see the number grade because I don’t know how to determine my GPA from a letter. I thought that was stupid until I found out that when the semesters over my GPA will be posted. I have a B- in math and a B in anthropology. I’m okay with that. I really wish that I did better than B-‘s because I was shooting for a B+. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Overall I am satisfied with my performance but there is still room for improvement. As for the C in inquiry, I am not disappointed because I don’t participate like I should in class discussions and I forget to blog sometimes so what I got is what I deserve; like right now for example this is late. For the remainder of the semester I really need to buckle down. I keep telling myself that so I need to actually stick to my promises. I know that for the rest of my college experience it’s not going to get easier but harder and if I don’t accept that right now then I won’t have the mindset to want to continue later. These grades were an eye opener so I look forward to the rest of the year.

Natures Beauty

This picture was done by Nina Martinez; she is a freshman and also my roommate. If I were to give it a title it would be Natures Beauty. That’s kind of corny but whatever. She had to either make a picture or take one for her wellness class. What I like most about the picture is its simplicity and how it seems peaceful. I also like how the leaves on the tree are a relief to the picture. Lastly, I enjoy that its nature colors and that the bark of the tree is made from yarn as well as the detail in the sky and grass. What could have been improved is the sun because it looks so dull and not expressing the bright sky like it was supposed to. Or maybe there could have been lighting and shading done differently to the sky to make it appear like the sun was actually shining. I asked her what her picture meant and she just said she likes art. The background represents her love for the clear sky because she was born in the U.S Virgin Islands and the skies are always blue. The picture I don’t believe was put anywhere in a classroom on campus but it is in our room which is technically on campus. Anyways, instead of making a tree Nina actually wanted to make a palm tree but she thought that was too difficult which is why the bark looks like it was supposed to be one from a palm. I still like the picture anyways. I wish every day I could wake up and have the ability to even make something that looks nice but I am just not skilled in that. I can do sculptures and pottery but drawing and painting just isn’t my thing although I really want it to be. Art is beautiful. 

Tour

I haven’t done anything on campus that’s worth talking about in this safari. So I guess I will talk about what I am going to be doing tomorrow. There is a tour and I volunteered to be a tour guide which I am really excited for. I remember when I came for my tour the guides in my group were really enthusiastic and nice. They made me want to come to Southern more than I already wanted to before. I hope I can do as well as they want us to and I am excited to meet new people. If only the tour was today I would have something more interesting to talk about. Now I have to study the paper they gave us so I can actually have some relevant information to give as well as answer questions.

Stress

On campus I don’t know anything that that is really fun besides the quad in the front of my dorm. There is a volleyball court in front of my hall. I have been stressed lately only because in the beginning of the semester I was more on top of my school and now I am not so on top of things. Well anyways I went to play volleyball and to come to find out it really is a stress reliever. Going back and forth and serving the ball is so enticing, I enjoy it a lot. Another thing I find stress relieving is stress balls. In my hall we have this group thing that’s made for people with stress and anyone can come and there is yoga too which is very relaxing. In my opinion, I stay active by going to the weight room or taking runs around campus because it keeps my mind off of all the things that keep me stressed. School is very stressful itself and on top of all that there are relationships with other people and professors that you have to maintain. I don’t know but college is on another level of stress and I realized that once I got here. One friend told me to relieve stress be masturbating, I thought that was rather weird so I was decided not to. Another way I try to lower my stress level is by eating. That is my main problem, I eat my problems away and then I become more stressed because I gained weight. There are so many things that I try to relieve my stress but none of it is ever good enough. The best thing for me to do is put myself is to go into a solo area where I can just think about all the things that are bugging me.

Setting Goals

I am so impatient when it comes to getting my grades because in high school I was able to go online whenever I wanted to and see how I was doing in my classes. Although we’re still in the first semester I was really dedicated to my work and trying hard but as the time went by I was getting less motivated. Well actually I wouldn’t say I slacked off but I don’t think mind is in the right place. For example in geography class I got a really low score on a reading quiz and I would get it if I didn’t read but I actually read page my page. It was so aggravating!! Ugh. I did meet my goal requirements but I just feel like my head isn’t in the right place. I’ve had successes with my other classes besides that damn geography class. My setbacks have really been myself. For the second half of the semester I plan on going to the library much more often to get away from all the busyness and make sure I am more focused on what I need to do. Another goal I have is to dedicate more time on my school work rather than going out. I will continue to stay on task by just making sure I actually do all the stuff in my classes and finish them before I decide to do anything irrelevant.

Campus Safari: First Day of Work

On Saturday I had my first day of work which was door knocking for the election on November 6^th for Linda McMahon. I was a little bit nervous but not really because I knew a friend there who was going to be in my group, granted we got to choose. There were people there who already did this so they were going to be the leaders of us new comers. My group was all guys except for me, total sausage fest. Well anyways I had my eye on three out of the three who were there. They were out of my league but they seemed quite interested. OK ha-ha I will talk more about the job. So while I was there it was three of us students working and we each got two packets with a map and then addresses of the houses we were supposed to be going to. None of us encountered rude people which I was happy about but it was just tedious work that I actually didn't mind too much. We’re supposed to be going back out sometime this week which I’m looking forward to. I enjoyed my first day because it was fun and it wasn't cold and I think I will like working much more in the future.

Failure = Success (eventually)

Failure isn't necessarily a bad thing in actuality I think it is positive because if you don’t fail that means you never tried. In the book Mindset people with a growth or fixed mindset handle failure differently. For example, having a growth mindset you’re more open to take responsibility and learn from failure and have room for self-improvement. On the other hand people with a fixed mindset are the ones to believe that they don’t need new knowledge and the genes they have inside caused by nature is what they want to remain with. In the reading The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination Harry Potters author, J.K Rowling discusses failure in like I said before, a positive way. In her opinion failure is a stripping away of the inessential. In other words the things you don’t need might be taken away from you but that only leads to the thriving to want get them back. There was one thing I agreed with in the reading, What if the Secret to Success is Failure? “The idea of building grit & building self-control is that you get that through failure” says Randolph. To understand that I guess you would first have to know the meaning of grit which is to go or look through carefully in order to find something missing or lost. In this case the missing piece is success and you’re looking through failure. When I fail at something I tried so hard to achieve I used to get really upset and not want to continue to try. It’s easy to give up but much more difficult to have the ability to get up and do it all over again. In life things are not just given to you and if you ever really want something you’re going to have to be willing to do anything to get that.

Nursing Program

Okay so I forgot about this Campus Safari thing yet again. Too busy focusing on the wrong stuff. Hm so I guess I will talk about today when I went to the mandatory meeting today for nursing major freshman and it opened my eyes up to a lot of things. One being that I thought to apply for the program the people who look at all your grades looks at everything but it's just the numbers of the pre-rec classes you need in order to go into the program. This weekend at home my mother and I went over classes to register for the spring and this meeting helped me narrow down and select my options.  I just hate that being a freshman we register for classes last I think it should be opposite because we haven’t exactly experienced it like students have older than us.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

Recently I've sort of stepped outside my comfort zone but only because I didn't want to feel left out. It wasn't anything serious but it was done off campus. When I went home this weekend I hung out with some old friends and some people I didn't know. I like to meet new people yeah, but lately I've been feeling kind of down and not wanting to that. So anyways when I went home I saw my friend from high school and he said he was going to be meeting up with some other friends of ours so I like invited myself to hang with them. Within that time they were not pressuring me but pretty much pressuring me to meet their home town friends that I've never met before. I was hesitant but I did and he told me that every Friday they all go to the Burlington Turnpike and car race. I think that type of stuff is fun but only on the Fast and Furious not in real life. I went anyway. I had more fun than I expected!! It was awesome even though my friends weren't the ones driving it was their friend whose name I forgot but his car had a really good system and sub and HYDRAULICS  Wow it was so cool ha-ha. So anyways I was really happy to have stepped out of this awkward stage I’m going through and met a handful of new friends so when I come back home I have more people I could hang out with and also a car race so exhilarating I want to participate in that again. I hope now that I’m back at school I won’t be so kept to myself and I can start putting myself out there again like I once did before.

How to Stay on Task and Deal with College on Your Own.

I posted this wrong I put it on google and not blogger. Oops

I started the video late but I was still able to complete the assignment. I think that it was fun to actually put it all together because I can personalize it and make it my own. I had my voice in the background asking the questions but I didn't like it much so I incorporated the questions into the video following my interviewees’ responses. All in all, in my opinion I think my video turned out quite well. BESIDES THE FACT THAT IT IS TAKING ME NUMEROUS AMOUNTS OF TIME TO UPLOAD THE STUPID THING. I hate this.

Mindset

I have yet to buy the Mindset book which I will be doing tomorrow but from what I’ve listened to in class it is about the types of mindset people may have and what they are. I think they may be arguing the reasoning if the people who are put into a certain category should be in there and what characteristics do they have that lead them into that category. In class we discussed fixed and growth mindset. A fixed mindset is belief that you have a fixed amount of ability and intelligence and cannot change that. For example not wanting to seek new knowledge and all you know is what you need to know or capable of knowing. On the other hand a growth mindset is belief that the basic qualities are things you can cultivate through effort. For instance, the willing to learn, take on new challenges, and capacity for growth and also taking responsibility to learn from failure in order to self-improve. Not too long ago we read 10,000 hours to success and in my opinion this is a type of growth mindset. Basically 10,000 hours requires you to put in time and effort in order to achieve your goal and be successful in whatever that may be. That is a perfect reason why it is growth because your skills are getting better and better as time goes by.