Major Probs

Now that some of us are on the verge of making the transition into college, choosing a major might be one of the major problems for us. We don't know what we want to be because this decision is like choosing the path of life. The time span is dependent on which major we'll be taking. No one likes the idea of taking four years of general ed and then four more years for law school or medical school. Some majors take longer than others, but it's our choice on whether to commit to it or not. And the problem I've been hearing from all my friends in college is their consistent change in course.

I don't think I know anyone who knew what they were going to major in and stuck with it until the end. If someone has, then that person must have been really confident because the most common reason as to why they have changed majors is because their previous major seemed to disinterest them. Now, I have known what I wanted to major in since eighth grade and I haven't changed it since. Sure I've had a few doubts in my mind but they've only begun to stir ever since I heard about these switches. I'm afraid that when I begin medical school, it would suddenly frighten me into switching out. Sometimes I even thought of majoring in something completely different and then switch out just so I can reassure myself that becoming a Pediatrician is what I truly want to do.Yet, I don't want to make that complication in my  life. 

If you know what you love to do, then you should take that risk, right?

Reading..

  I've always had trouble with reading something that I didn't want to read. English has always been my best subject, but its always been hard for me when the teacher assigns us to read a book that i'm not really interested in. Not that I don't give the book a chance, there's just certain type of books that I actually enjoy reading. I will read the book that the teacher assigns because I have to but it makes it so easy for me to lose focus. I end up reading it but not actually paying attention therefore I have to read it over and over. I enjoy reading fiction books such as ones I can sometimes relate to. Fiction books are more interesting to me because the stories are real so they make more sense to me. When I read a book I like I can finish it very fast but if not it takes me forever. I need to work on staying focused while I read because I need to brighten my horizons with reading different types of books.    

It really works guys !!

Yesterday night when I was doing revising on my final Personal Statements, I realized something pretty cool. I had actually done the correct writing process on not one, but two essays. Both of my personal statements were products of the process Revising with Feedback. Although I did not plan it this way at all, I am very happy that it worked out this way.

Last year when I had Ms. Fletcher for AP English 11, at the end of the year she had us write 2 personal statements. So, when Fletch said we had to do that for this class, I thought this would be the perfect chance to go back to my essays from 4 months ago and see what was up. I was pretty disappointed at what I found. I didn't even know what I was trying to say and I'm the writer ! So, I gave my personal statements to 2 different people, asking them for suggestions.

When they got back to me, I had to remember to receive constructive criticism with grace. It is so hard though, because these stories that we have all written mean something to us (personal, duh...) and we don't want to hear that they are bad. I had to take all of their comments into consideration, and remember from Elbow that we have to revise with feedback especially because these people can tell you exactly what the piece looks like from the readers view.

What I have learned from this process is that yes, you can use it with a shorter amount of time, but it works so much better with more time. This is because every new time you look at it, it is a fresh look. Me not looking at my papers for about 4 months gave me a whole new perspective on them, and then I had more time to play with different ideas.

So, even though I know we all procrastinate as much as possible, I am highly suggesting to all of you to try this process, because I am very glad I tried it. Although I am still not completely ready to  turn these papers into my college application, I am very close to my final product.

anxiousness got the best of me

     I let my nerves get to me. I do not mean to compliment myself or brag, but I perform fairly well with presentations. What can I say I am pretty social and love talking. Today though I really let myself down. I spoke to fast, which in my defense is how I usually talk, but that isn't really a good excuse. That was not the only flaw in my presentation I noticed though. I let the music overpower my voice, did not keep eye contact, and my voice was just horrible.The old saying that "you are your worst critique" falls true for me. Reading some of the feedback, I should start by saying thank you to everyone for them, well I believe two things when I looked them over. One this person probably wasn't sincere with their scores, they just gave 10s for the sake of getting it done. Two this person was just being generous.
     Thinking on everything it probably doesn't really even matter how I feel about it. It was a small project that I over thought and I made myself nervous for no reason.When I say got nervous I am not referring to stage fright because given any day I feel pretty confident in myself to not worry about others opinion. I got myself nervous of how I met up to my expectations. It sounds cocky and arrogant to say this, but I hold myself to a higher standard then others especially when the work specifically represents me. I feel that effort and quality of the work you give tells you a lot about person. So I take presentations seriously. I am starting to rabble on so I will cut it short.
     So to recap I messed up in my perspective. A little philosophy of mine is to do work that makes you proud and to be confident. I really bopped it on this little life rule. Well, I am just going to chalk it up to just one of those days. Forgive my informality, but on a side note I thought that the baby girl that said she had stage fright was adorable. If your reading this babe I thought you did great.

Our Elbow Presentations

To be honest, when I found out that we have to do presentations on what we read in our Peter Elbow books, I wasn't all that happy about it. I was wondering why we had to present, and how that would help us. Once I saw how the presentations worked, I was very interested in what was actually going on. I was understanding the purpose of presenting the chapters we read, and that purpose is to inform the class about what Elbow advises us to do when it came to writing. I became interested in what people were saying about their chapters and one thing that really stood out to me was, it doesn't matter what you write about, just keep writing. It could be the most weirdest thing in the world but that doesn't matter, just keep writing. That is something that I plan to hold on to when it comes down to free writing. Another thing that stood out to me was, don't worry about the audience when you are writing. If you are writing a paper and you believe it's a pretty good paper and you like it, STICK WITH IT. Don't worry about what other people may think. If other people don't understand what you wrote, that's okay. As long as you understand what you wrote, that's what really matters (I believe Ms Fletcher told us that.) I appreciate Ms Fletcher for having us do these presentations because it is actually helping me in my writing and that was the whole point of this exercise.

Worries and Concerns

     I can’t lie, reading “The 10 Most Common Excuses for NOT Going to College and Why They’re All Wrong!” really helped to reassure me that everything will be okay. 
     Going to college is a for sure thing for me. I know that I am going, but of course, I still have worries and concerns for what I might face. After all, I am about to dive head first into uncharted waters considering that I am the first in my immediate family to go to college. Things like “I don’t know how to apply to college, or where I want to go” and “I don’t know where all the money is going to come from” have gone through my mind countless times. But after reading this article I was able to breathe a short sigh of relief. 
     Many of my concerns were addressed in this article and I really think that it would offer some reassurance to people in a similar position as me. In addition, this paper really got me researching and looking into scholarships/college websites and I found out a lot of information. I wanted to share a couple of websites with you guys that I thought were really helpful! First, Cappex is an amazing website that is kind of a one stop shop for college stats and scholarships and I really recommend checking it out. Then, the California Student Aid Commission has a lot of information about what California has to offer to students who are new to college.
     I wanna know what you guys think! How do you feel about this article? What are your worries or concerns about college? Did you visit the websites, if so, did they offer any help?

Half the world is starving the other is trying to lose weight

Have you ever felt you never have enough. I know i cant be the only one, we all have our selfish tendecies. There have been moments where we believe we absulutly need this or we'll die without it. When the honest truth is we probably won't even think about it next year. Whenever i get like this i try to think about those who couldn't even dream to achieve such thing. The part of the world that us "starving" for my item/object. Then  while  i persuade myself to forget whatever i was gushing about i suddenly think yolo. No really i do. I then start asking myself why not obtain this  why try "lose weight". Note this iem or object could be the iphone 5c or it could be a hot n ready pizza. Should we really throw away something whilst trying to mimik others. Or should we spend and pretend the other half dosen't exist.