October 2008 Archives

Life in college can be a bit daunting sometimes and no matter what way you decide to look at it you are going to need to change something about the way you look at the world before the whole thing is over. If that doesn't happen to you then I am sorry but you have missed out on most of the point of college. With all of the information being pumped in to your brain and the hours of socialization that are key to making a well rounded human being, you are bound to hit some points where life just doesn't want to be in agreement with you. These are the moments when you change the way you look at the world and change who you are for the better. My developmental psychology professor always says "use it or lose it" when referring to skills that we learn. This essentially means that the less we practice something the more we're going to lose our ability to do that task no matter how simple or difficult it actually is. I also take this to mean that we can do this intentionally. If we have a fear which we wish to overcome, then we must simply refuse to use that fear as we have in the past. In other words, we must become ourselves without that fear.
I am speaking about this because I have a friend who recently had his house broken in to. He lives off campus and thus has to put all of his hopes in to the simple door locks that they have to protect his stuff ad his life. He was ever really afraid before but now since they had their house broken in to he is afraid of it happening again. They had some things stolen while they were out and none of it was insured. Since then the landlord put in a GE Simon XT which is a wireless alarm. Even with this fancy new home alarm though my friend is still scared every night when he goes to bed that his house will be vandalized. He is one of the people that I think needs to have the realization while still in college that he shouldn;t live i fear and then he will be all right for life.

    As much as I hate to say it, college really is an extension of the popularity contest that we all thought we had moved beyond when we got out of high school. We all remember the feelings of inadequacy and rejection from our peers. Even the popular kids had some issues floating around and no one could ever really escape that. Of course that period in all of our lives was much more dynamic with the hormone reactions we all had on a daily basis and the family interactions we had to balance out with our own social prerogatives. OF course we had all believed that the moment we graduate and went off the college this whole rat race would end and we would finally be fee from the prison of high school. Well folks it is not as bleak as I have made it out to seem, but college and life is one big contest to set yourself apart from everyone else.
    We all know that we stand out and say we don't care about this or that in our college lives, but we all secretly look for things that will put our names on the list for interviews at a job. We look for good report with professors in the hopes of getting a good recommendation. We look for volunteering opportunities to make us seem altruistic, for those of us who are not. All of these things are simply meant to build our name with other people so that one day we will have the big house on the hill and the great job so we won't have to worry about anything.
    Now for the big break folks; IT's OK! As I have already said, we're all doing it. I don't think any one of us should feel like a bad person for sending digital greeting cards to old professors or trying our best to get our name in the paper for doing something awesome. It's all about a balancing act though. For me I have had the toughest time finding activities that will not only add some bulk to my resume, but also will be fulfilling for me as a human being and a young college student. You may even find that those professors getting those greeting cards are going to be good friends with you for the rest of your life. They may eventually turn in to colleagues if you plat your cards right and there is nothing wrong with that. Wave you flag kids and be proud of your efforts.

I have spent so many years of my life on diets that it isn't funny. Losing weight for me has been an on again off again struggle for me, and not to mention a very costly venture. I have been on Weight Watcher's, Jenny Craig, the South Beach Diet, Atkins, and even the cabbage soup diet for a while. I have seen the pounds leave and I have seen them return again with a few more tacked on for good measure. Finally frustrated, I considered getting gastric bypass surgery, however, my doctor said that I wasn't over weight enough for it. Well, that was a kick in the head. All my life I had been fat, but now I was being told that I wasn't fat enough?! Needless to say, I wasn't considering putting on another 40 lbs just to be able to get the surgery, so I needed to come up with another answer. I spoke to my doctor and she recommended a strict diet, not cutting anything out, just changing my eating habits and an exercise program. Well, I did just what we had outlined together and I returned a month later and weighed in at 2lbs lighter. Needless to say she thought I wasn't following the plan, but truly I was and when she told me that I had only lost two pounds in a whole month, I cried. I think then she knew that I had been really trying. She told me that she would prescribe me some diet pills and check back with me in about a month. She told me that I still needed to stick with the diet and exercise program that I was doing but that she thought that I needed a little extra help, and that she felt that taking these diet pills would really do the trick. Well, she was right. Finally I began getting some results, I wasn't weighing myself, but I could see myself getting smaller and my clothes getting bigger. When I returned to her office a month later, I was 15lbs lighter and 100% happier. I have continued to lose weight on this program and I am now 5lbs away from my goal. I have more energy and confidence now and am glad that I asked my doctor for help.

    I realized something this morning when I got up. It wasn't like I just got out of bed and had this huge realization, but it was something that slowly dawned on me as the day progressed. I woke up to the sound of my alarm and immediately checked my phone for any missed messages. I went to my Bose sound system and turned on my ipod so I could shift in to my day with some energetic music. I was feeling some Mos Def today so I turned off the shuffle and turned on my Mos Def playlist. While the music was playing I turned on my automatic coffee maker and then hopped in the shower. When I got out I heard the familiar ring of my computer turning on. I have it set up so that it turns on and off automatically at the same times every day. This saves power and makes my morning much more of a routine and not an act of catching up with myself. I got my coffee and then checked my email. I wrote about a paragraph for one of my papers due next week and then I turned on a movie on my Netflix account. Does anyone see the pattern here?
    I had never really thought about it before, but I have totally succumbed to the pressures of technology and I am living right in the thick of the times we all live in. Take another example not from today but about a month ago. My mother's birthday came around and I was wondering how to celebrate. I didn't really have the money to buy her anything big and I also didn't have the time to go out shopping more than once or twice for anything at all even if I could afford it. So instead I decided that I would forgo a present this year, I am sure she understands, and I went of course to my computer. I went on to a website and found a bunch of cool digital birthday cards. I sent her about ten of them that I thought she would enjoy because they were all funny in a way that I know she really enjoys.
    I'm just sort of in awe of the fact that I missed the moment when I became a total child of technology and moved away from the life of simple things outside in the world. I am not saying I don't like technology; I am just stunned that I have been so saturated with it without even knowing it.

College can be a very busy time for everyone. Some of us are busier than other if you have to work a part time. When you get this busy it can be very easy to let the rest of your life sort of fall to the wayside. For those of us who put a large value on our filial relationships it can become quite maddening to know that we just don't have time to call or go visit on the weekends. I don't live close enough to make a weekend trip anymore so that is part of my ow situation. With all of the mountains of paperwork and projects due it can be hard to even keep track of the last time you made family contact. I have gone months without calling without realizing it until they call me.

This is where is does really help to be a college student today and understand all of the advantages of the technology. For me personally whenever holidays and birthdays roll around I have always liked to send cards and to get gifts. BEing so far away from my family does ot make this easy and going to the post office is ot always at the top of my list of things to do i a given day, even if it is for a family member. That is why I have begun using the internet to help me out with this. Whenever a holiday is rolling around I will send out family while photo cards. When a birthday rolls around I will order a gift and have it delivered the morning of their birthday. Now I ca do all of my same festivities but I can be sure with the utmost certainty that their cards ad their gifts will get to them exactly when it counts. This way also adds a bit more excitement and mystery to the whole process because they don't know anything is coming and it just shows up i their e-mail box or at their door.

For all of you out there are feelinng this pinch from your busy schedule ad your happy family at home, you do have options. 

 

            We have officially reached the middle of October folks and in the spirit of the season I have colored the words on my blog! No seriously, we have hit a great time of the year. We're slipping in to the delightful warmth of the fall season and out of the blistering inferno of the summer. Sometimes in this time of year I get sudden bouts of vertigo because it feels like I am almost falling in to the dark of the winter to come. This is why I think that humans have found for ourselves so many holidays in the fall and winter to keep us from going crazy as the weather makes us go inside our homes and inside of ourselves.

Right now we're coming up on the first holiday of Halloween and it's going to be a fun one this year for me I think. I have decided to actually dress up. This is huge for me since I haven't since like fifth grade.  After this we're in the home stretch for one of my favorites of the whole year, thanksgiving. Then it's just a matter of time before we are right in the through of winter and Christmas hits us with a vengeance. Then New Years is just the cherry on top as we glide in to the New Year and wait for the icy ground to thaw and the whole year to start over once again.

            Having grown up in a household of professional parents, I see this time not only as a time for celebration, but as a time to say thank you to those around us. When I was a kid it was always a big part of our family ritual to make the business holiday cards for their co workers, and the family holiday cards for the family. We would all sit down together, my parents and my sisters, and we'd write out little personalized messages as dictated by one of our parents. That's why I think this time of year is so special for me because I have so many memories of sitting together in the warm house talking and laughing while we worked. I hope all of you have great feelings about this time of year as well.

            Is anyone else out there feeling the crunch right about now? I think I have more work to do this week than I have had to do all semester so far. It is just like everything is culminating in dropping a bomb on my life and seeing what happens. I do get the odd feeling every once in a while that I am a guinea pig but that's just because I'm sleep deprived. IF any of you are out there feeling this as well don't worry because you are not alone on that one. You've got some good company right here. Just don't try to stop me on campus to ask how I'm handling it because I may be in a daze at that point. I've been forced to use my walks from the dorms to my classes as my meditation time because it's the only time that I really get to just be. I don't have to use my brain to make my walks. I just get to let me feet do the work and my mind can sit back and enjoy the scenery. Enough about my neurosis already!

            We're right in the thick of it as I have said and I am sure you are all breaking out your coping mechanisms. For me I usually do one of a few things to just unwind and taking my walks is one of them. Some of you may engage in any number of things that just ease your sense of despair and vertigo from all of the work you are being drowned in right now. Some of your may go out partying. Some of you may read for pleasure, certainly not me. Then there are the less common and more quirky ways of coping.

            One thing that I do to keep myself from going crazy is to look ahead to the holidays. I always love the holidays and especially Christmas. Getting Christmas cards is always a huge thrill for me because then it is time for a vacation. Since coming to college, I have used making my own Christmas cards as a way of putting myself in that space so I don't lose my mind. IT has worked so far, maybe it will work for you. Give it a try and make sure you send me one.

           

I have always been the kind of person who is just a sap when it comes to holiday sentiment.  I think that when I was in kindergarten I did those little crafts where you make cards out of macaroni for other people in your class or in your family and I just fell in love with the idea right then and there. Ever since then I don't think I have missed an opportunity to make some kind of gift or greeting for every member of my family, and some friends, for each holiday or celebration that came along.

                Now that I am in college things have gotten a lot more hectic. This semester I am especially stressed out and frustrated with the schedule that I have throughout my day. Like most students out here I have been forced to sacrifice some of my hobbies and interests for the good of my own education. Though I have held this so dear to my heart for so much of my life, I have been forced to go from making things and getting something for everyone every time, I have slimmed down my practice a bit. This year I will still do my Christmas cards personalized for each family member, it's always really fun. I won't be able to make thanksgiving cards this year since I have bunch of papers and mid terms due the weeks before.  For these cards I will just be going online to a website I really like and send out either some digital cards, the ones that play songs, or paper cards in the mail. I will still be seeing everyone this year but it is a little bit saddening to think that people won't be getting their usual gift this year before we all meet up for the holiday dinner.

                I hope that I am not alone on this funny little value. I just think that people love to feel special and it is important for family members to do that for one another.  We are the only family we will ever have and I for one am willing to sacrifice my time, when I have it, to make them all happy.

The election is coming up on us really fast now and I for one and very excited. This year will be the first year that I have been old enough to vote and I am just dying to get the opportunity to cast my say in the democratic process. This idea is a big part of my desire to be a teacher. I want to use my place as a teacher of American history and civics to get kids involved and interested in those things that are going on in the world around them. I want kids to understand what is happening and what they are a witness to. I think that this is a direct attempt to break down the idea that many kids like myself when I was younger held true. That fallacy is the idea that since we are young, or voices don't matter and or say is invalid since we have not been through what or elders have. This is not the way or system was designed and this is just not the reality of life and liberty in America.
Now to the reality of the situation on the ground here, it is just a mad house. I have been volunteering at the office of one of the candidates, I won't say who but I think yo can guess. It has been getting more and more exciting every week now. Ever since the selection of the vice presidential candidates there has been non stop action and calls to make. I have been spending a lot of time out on the streets here, you may have seen me, handing our promotional products like pens and buttons, as well as registering people to vote up until the very last moment. It's been really great because people are just really enthusiastic about this election and I think that everyone is trying to make a difference through their votes. All of these people that I have been meeting have been a big inspiration for my vision of the students I would like to guide in the future. If you haven't gotten out there are done you're part in registering yo are too late, but if yo have then you are a true patriot because you have pt faith in the system we support every day.

For all of you out there who either don't know me or don't know about my blog here, you may have missed my birthday on monday. That's right folks I am finally old enough to stand at any American bar and order a drink. I am old enough to go to any concert I want and stay ot as late as I please. It's a pretty interesting feeling even though I expected to feel a longer sense of relief when it came. I think that is is probably the fact that my birthday fell on a monday this year and I just simply had too much work to do for tuesday to really go out and enjoy my new freedom. I was stuck with my guilty pleasure of one beer and then I was done.
I didn't get off without a celebration though and it was a good one. I tried to keep my party low key this year as I knew that if I made it in to a party then it wold turn in to one much bigger than I wold have really wanted. I invited some friends but asked that we not drink. Of course everyone laughed at me but they still came and we just hung ot and ate lots of chocolates that my girlfriend brought home from the candy store where she works. Eventually I think everyone was replacing drinks with a chocolate in hand, as they seemed to be inserted or held during many conversations around the hose at any one moment. I thought it was kind of a funny sight to be seen, all of these college students having lots of fun not drinking while gorging themselves on gourmet chocolates and conversation.
This weekend I am going to be swinging the pendulum the other direction though so please come ot and chill with me. I can't say where I will be, but for the first time I will be out there and I am sure I will run in to yo if yo look long and hard enough in those cloudy rooms and smokey bars all across town.

This semester I have taken it unto myself to make sure that I take advantage of everything that college has to offer. I don't want to miss out on anything that I definitely did last year. I was too busy as a freshman worrying about my studies and trying not to drown in all of the work that I assumed I could handle, but couldn't. I don't think I really went out all year long other than on my birthday. Now I want to make things a bit different this year and I am starting by joining a couple of clubs.
The first club that I have already joined and begun training for is the boxing club. I have done about five training sessions and I bought my own sparring gear yesterday. Now I am just sort of training and trying to build up my skill but I don't think that I will challenge anyone for some time now. It's been really great for my health and I feel like I am getting in great shape. I don't think I have really felt this good physically since I was bike riding every day back in high school. I would do the seasonal bike races back then but I just didn;t have time for that last year with everything that was going on in my life.
That of course brings me to the other club which is the cycling club. This is an awesome club that we have here on campus. This club has been very well developed over the years to join p with the official team. Every week there are workshops and demonstrations put on by various companies and clothing suppliers. I have since gotten a bunch of free tools and really cheap parts that are amazing quality. It has only been a few weeks and already I have a clear vision of the perfect bike that I want to build. This will probably lead me to building up a bunch of bike because there is no way that I will be able to stop myself once I start. I think that this semester is going to be pretty awesome and is already a thousand time more fun that last year.

Song after song has told the tale of beer and the tears a pint or mug can collect. But what of the true tear-collecting beverage? Tea is well known for its soothing properties, yet to date, no popular songs have been made about wallowing in misery with a good cup of tea.

Unfair treatment is certain, but the comfort of tea is not lost to the ages simply because there is not a top forty hit about teardrops in a tea cup. Rather than a staple in songs and music videos, tea is found in excruciating detail in the places you would expect it - areas of comfort.

When you're feeling poorly, are under the weather or the victim of an ended relationship, tea is a terrific companion. The steaming liquid soothes your nerves, comforts your belly, and warms your hands and insides. Tea has been a tested method of comfort through the ages and media has not ignored it completely. Just the phrase, "Let me make you a cup of tea, dear" probably brings to mind a book or movie you call a favorite.

Tea is a powerful ingredient in comfortable novels. When you're in the mood for a book you can curl up with, take notice of how often tea appears. It's as if the Bronte sisters knew we'd have a mug of tea at hand while turning the pages.

Tea is also profoundly present in movies that make us relax and shed a few tears. It might be iced tea or it might be a cup of tea, but keep your eyes open for the soothing concoction that seems to collect the most tears - both in your life and the life of crying characters on screen.