Hi guys!
I know I've disappeared from this blog for about two months, but this second semester has been crazy busy for me. I guess that's what I get for taking 20 hours of coursework. Anyways, I have two weeks before my final exams and then after that my freshman year of college is over. I know people always say, "Woah, time just flew by!" but for me it really did happen. My parents kept telling me that life will "speed up" now and I always thought, "Pshhh, no it hasn't this past week felt like a month long" but in actuality they were right (I guess that's kinda their right being my parents and all). But what I had initially thought wasn't wrong. Some of the weeks where it seemed like there just wasn't enough time in a day to get everything done, passed in what felt like the duration of a month. I remember distinctly my first week back after fall break was the longest week of my life. I was sitting with some of my friends in the dining hall on a Wednesday, and saying, "Can you believe fall break was just last week"? I mean honestly, it was just so crazy. But those are college kid problems.
You know thinking about how this school year is almost over, and trying to figure out what to do this summer and next year as well, I couldn't help but think about my future. My friends are all finding crazy things to do independently during the summer; they are acting like true adults. And I know that I am an adult, or at least my age reflects it, but I still love to go home and see my parents, have my mom do my laundry, and eat the food that they buy and cook for me. At this moment it freaks me out to think that I won't be able to relish in these luxuries in the next (at max) 3 years. My roommate got an internship for the better part of her summer, and she's trying to find a room to rent to live in because the internship isn't exactly in driving distance from her house. She literally has to live independently as an adult going to work for about two months, and we're just freshmen in college. It literally blows my mind and kinda scares me.
This week has been crazy for me, but now that I've finished everything for this week I had a lot of time to just chill and watch some shows online. One of which was Gilmore Girls, a show that never fails to make me happy. I have just finished the series finale, where Rory after thinking that she has not job prospects for the summer or future gets a job offer and has to leave in three days. She has almost no time to get everything prepared and say goodbye to her family, friends, and town. Just all the talk on the show about having no time and not being sure when she will see everyone again no doubt freaked me out and made me reflect on my life and my next steps. I know I want to be a doctor, I feel like that's what I have been called to do and I love all the science and just awesome things that can result from being a doctor, medical and otherwise, but all the work and things I'd have to go through to get me there scares me. It doesn't make me second guess my job choice in any way but just thinking about classes for next year, the MCAT, going to medical school, finding a residency and then eventually being an established doctor is a little daunting. I'm getting close to the age where I have to pay my own bills, buy and cook my own food, do everything for myself by myself because I can't live at home for the rest of my life. It's just a lot to take in and I'm ready for the challenge and change, but you can't just help to stop, reflect, and go "Woah!"
Sorry guys, I didn't mean for this post to be so heavy and a little freaked out, but this was something I've been thinking about a lot this past week. Are/were you guys scared about your future or are/were you ready to just take the next step? I hope to be writing another post within the near future because I have a lot of things that I want to reflect on, but we'll see how my schedule pans out within the next few weeks.
Bye!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Awkward Moment #1
Hello!
So you are walking across campus to meet some of your friends for dinner. You leave a little late from your dorm because you get distracted by your phone. So you fast walk your way thinking that at this rate you will make it just in time. There aren't a lot of people walking around so it's pretty easy to weave around those that are going slower than you would like. However, just as you are heading up some stairs that you can't avoid, you see two girls casually walking along in the middle of their conversation. You see a little path next to them that will allow you to pass them without having to slow down. Then for some random reason the two girls decide to take up as much room on the stairs as possible, leaving some space around them, but not nearly enough you need to get around them without hitting one of them. You notice this just at the last moment leaving you immediately behind one of the girls, causing them to notice. Of course you're thinking, "great now I have to wait for them to get up this set of stairs before I can get around them." They of course must be thinking, "what is this girl doing creeping on our conversation"? You realize that this is a really awkward moment for them because they stop their conversation mid-sentence causing you to feel awkward. Finally, they get past that set of stairs allowing you to get on the other side of the stairs and get around them. Of course this puts you further behind schedule, and so you hope to make up some time by running up the rest of the stairs. Now that you think back on this, you realize that it must have looked like you were running away from them. Even more awkward, but nonetheless a moment in your life that you no doubt have to back on and think, "oh well, it really wasn't that bad actually. If anything I got some good exercise out of it." A good time, indeed.
Now why did I just describe all of this? Well because this of course happened to me earlier this evening, and as the title of this blog entails, I wanted to occasionally dictate the awkward moments in my life that turned out to be pretty good. This is the first one, not because it's the first awkward moment I've had in a while, but because it's the first one I've remembered in a while. I mean when awkward moments are as frequent as they are in my life, you kinda just learn to brush them off.
See you guys later!
So you are walking across campus to meet some of your friends for dinner. You leave a little late from your dorm because you get distracted by your phone. So you fast walk your way thinking that at this rate you will make it just in time. There aren't a lot of people walking around so it's pretty easy to weave around those that are going slower than you would like. However, just as you are heading up some stairs that you can't avoid, you see two girls casually walking along in the middle of their conversation. You see a little path next to them that will allow you to pass them without having to slow down. Then for some random reason the two girls decide to take up as much room on the stairs as possible, leaving some space around them, but not nearly enough you need to get around them without hitting one of them. You notice this just at the last moment leaving you immediately behind one of the girls, causing them to notice. Of course you're thinking, "great now I have to wait for them to get up this set of stairs before I can get around them." They of course must be thinking, "what is this girl doing creeping on our conversation"? You realize that this is a really awkward moment for them because they stop their conversation mid-sentence causing you to feel awkward. Finally, they get past that set of stairs allowing you to get on the other side of the stairs and get around them. Of course this puts you further behind schedule, and so you hope to make up some time by running up the rest of the stairs. Now that you think back on this, you realize that it must have looked like you were running away from them. Even more awkward, but nonetheless a moment in your life that you no doubt have to back on and think, "oh well, it really wasn't that bad actually. If anything I got some good exercise out of it." A good time, indeed.
Now why did I just describe all of this? Well because this of course happened to me earlier this evening, and as the title of this blog entails, I wanted to occasionally dictate the awkward moments in my life that turned out to be pretty good. This is the first one, not because it's the first awkward moment I've had in a while, but because it's the first one I've remembered in a while. I mean when awkward moments are as frequent as they are in my life, you kinda just learn to brush them off.
See you guys later!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
An 8 Year Old's Life
Hey guys!
I hope all has been well and I apologize for the lack of posts for a while. So recently I started volunteering at an after school program in an elementary school close to my college and at first I was really anxious about the kids and if they would respond well to me. Not to mention, I was doing all of this by myself even though there are other people from my school doing this, I'm just not able to go with them because of my schedule. Anyways, so as I'm driving to the elementary school, I get stuck in the car pick-up line and begin to stress about being late for my first day. Anyways, once I walked in, I realized that the school is really small, population wise, and that everything is shorter to accommodate the height of the students. After finally meeting the person in charge of the after school program, she's really nice and awesome, I discover that I'm going to be helping a junior in high school with a rowdy group of second graders. These second graders are also the largest group of kids in the after school program. It took them a while to quiet down and let her introduce me, but I was really shocked and relieved to discover that they took to me really quickly. They were supposed to be reading when I met them but they all kept calling my name and wanted to show me things in the magazines and books that they were looking at. After like 10 minutes of talking to me and showing me things, some of the kids instantly took to me and didn't leave me alone. When it came time for them to work on their homework, one boy kept trying to hug me because he loved the fuzziness of my jacket. Those kids were so smart and cute that I just couldn't believe that I was initially afraid of whether I would be accepted and liked. They were soon let out to play on the playground and the kids astonished me even more with just how creative and energetic they were. I really had to get going so that I could work on homework back in my dorm, but I just didn't want to leave the kids until they began to leave for home. One girl had found an old scrap piece of paper on the ground and pretended like it was a treasure map and was taking me around the playground in pursuit of a hidden treasure near a bush. I mean I probably had the same type of imagination when I was little, but right now I couldn't fathom just how she truly loved what she was playing. Even the little kids in K-5 took to me even though I wasn't really their "teacher." One cute little boy kept taking me around on the slides and climbing random things because he wanted to show me what he could do.
All in all, I found all of these kids just so entertaining, energetic, happy, and innocent. They weren't mean or deliberately hurtful to any of their fellow classmates and that just amazed me. I love how these kids are able to trust and view everyone as their friend and it really saddens me that these things are going to change once they get to middle school. This is going to sound very Peter Pan-esque but the world would just be so much better if we could view our fellow human beings as our friends even though we look different and come from different backgrounds. Sure things will happen and people will do things that will cause us to dislike people and things but just the way they viewed life was amazing.
I'm so excited to go back to these kids again this coming week even though I have a load of homework and tests to study for. But I feel like working with these kids and easing the workload of the after school workers will be such a better break then watching YouTube and going on Facebook or Tumblr. (Not that I don't find any of these sites bad or a waste of time in anyway.)
What are some things that have made you change the way you look at the world? I hope you all have a great week and enjoy some of the little things that happen to you during your day!
I hope all has been well and I apologize for the lack of posts for a while. So recently I started volunteering at an after school program in an elementary school close to my college and at first I was really anxious about the kids and if they would respond well to me. Not to mention, I was doing all of this by myself even though there are other people from my school doing this, I'm just not able to go with them because of my schedule. Anyways, so as I'm driving to the elementary school, I get stuck in the car pick-up line and begin to stress about being late for my first day. Anyways, once I walked in, I realized that the school is really small, population wise, and that everything is shorter to accommodate the height of the students. After finally meeting the person in charge of the after school program, she's really nice and awesome, I discover that I'm going to be helping a junior in high school with a rowdy group of second graders. These second graders are also the largest group of kids in the after school program. It took them a while to quiet down and let her introduce me, but I was really shocked and relieved to discover that they took to me really quickly. They were supposed to be reading when I met them but they all kept calling my name and wanted to show me things in the magazines and books that they were looking at. After like 10 minutes of talking to me and showing me things, some of the kids instantly took to me and didn't leave me alone. When it came time for them to work on their homework, one boy kept trying to hug me because he loved the fuzziness of my jacket. Those kids were so smart and cute that I just couldn't believe that I was initially afraid of whether I would be accepted and liked. They were soon let out to play on the playground and the kids astonished me even more with just how creative and energetic they were. I really had to get going so that I could work on homework back in my dorm, but I just didn't want to leave the kids until they began to leave for home. One girl had found an old scrap piece of paper on the ground and pretended like it was a treasure map and was taking me around the playground in pursuit of a hidden treasure near a bush. I mean I probably had the same type of imagination when I was little, but right now I couldn't fathom just how she truly loved what she was playing. Even the little kids in K-5 took to me even though I wasn't really their "teacher." One cute little boy kept taking me around on the slides and climbing random things because he wanted to show me what he could do.
All in all, I found all of these kids just so entertaining, energetic, happy, and innocent. They weren't mean or deliberately hurtful to any of their fellow classmates and that just amazed me. I love how these kids are able to trust and view everyone as their friend and it really saddens me that these things are going to change once they get to middle school. This is going to sound very Peter Pan-esque but the world would just be so much better if we could view our fellow human beings as our friends even though we look different and come from different backgrounds. Sure things will happen and people will do things that will cause us to dislike people and things but just the way they viewed life was amazing.
I'm so excited to go back to these kids again this coming week even though I have a load of homework and tests to study for. But I feel like working with these kids and easing the workload of the after school workers will be such a better break then watching YouTube and going on Facebook or Tumblr. (Not that I don't find any of these sites bad or a waste of time in anyway.)
What are some things that have made you change the way you look at the world? I hope you all have a great week and enjoy some of the little things that happen to you during your day!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Review: The Fault in Our Stars
Hello internet!
So John Green's book The Fault in Our Stars came out on January 10. And like the good nerdfighter that I am, I had pre-ordered the book from Barnes and Noble and immediately went to pick it up. Even though I knew that they had held a copy for me to come and get, I kinda wanted to go to the shelf and find the big stack of TFIOS books and flip through them to see if any of them had a Hanklerfish. Alas, my local B&N had added a GIGANTIC Nook section in the middle of the store completely moving the shelves around as well as the customer service desk. So no longer could I find the teen fiction section, the new releases table, or even the customer service desk where I could ask someone to help me. After finally finding the help desk and the man who helped me found my reserved copy, I turned around to check out. On my way out I noticed that they had put a temporary shelf of TFIOS books right beside the door and out of my immediate line of sight. Of course half the shelves of books had a "signed copy" sticker and half did not. However, I thought it would have been weird for me to stand there looking through all the books a copy of which I held in my hand. Anyways I walked outside totally excited and saw that I had a green J-scribble and completely walked past my car.
Now of course since I had the book I wanted to read it immediately, but sadly I had to go back to college that day and of course classes began the next day completely limiting my time to read for pleasure. But luckily, college wasn't that busy and I finished the book in two days. And all I have to say is SO MANY FEELINGS!!!! It's been about a week since I started the book and also a week since the book has come out, and I still cannot get over the awesomeness that is this book. You get really witty and funny characters, romance, and sadness. Basically, John takes you on an emotional rollercoaster as you follow the main characters Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters through their adventures while living a life with cancer. There are so many themes, motifs, and symbols in this book that really makes me want to sit down and have an in-depth, analytical discussion about this book. I would also love to pick John Green's brain in the process. There are so many good quotes in this book that I would also love to mark-up and highlight but I really don't want to mess up the prettyness that is The Fault in Our Stars.
If you guys are in the mood for a good book to read, on top of The Mortal Instruments series that I recommended last time, this is definitely a good pick. In fact, I would probably put this in front of any other books on that list. Or, if you aren't quite convinced, here are links to John reading from chapters one and two via YouTube. Finally, if you just fall in love with TFIOS and really want to read more books by John, check out Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Will Grayson Will Grayson. The last book, Will Grayson Will Grayson, was co-authored by David Levithan in which John wrote the odd numbered chapters and David wrote the even numbered chapters.
So John Green's book The Fault in Our Stars came out on January 10. And like the good nerdfighter that I am, I had pre-ordered the book from Barnes and Noble and immediately went to pick it up. Even though I knew that they had held a copy for me to come and get, I kinda wanted to go to the shelf and find the big stack of TFIOS books and flip through them to see if any of them had a Hanklerfish. Alas, my local B&N had added a GIGANTIC Nook section in the middle of the store completely moving the shelves around as well as the customer service desk. So no longer could I find the teen fiction section, the new releases table, or even the customer service desk where I could ask someone to help me. After finally finding the help desk and the man who helped me found my reserved copy, I turned around to check out. On my way out I noticed that they had put a temporary shelf of TFIOS books right beside the door and out of my immediate line of sight. Of course half the shelves of books had a "signed copy" sticker and half did not. However, I thought it would have been weird for me to stand there looking through all the books a copy of which I held in my hand. Anyways I walked outside totally excited and saw that I had a green J-scribble and completely walked past my car.
Now of course since I had the book I wanted to read it immediately, but sadly I had to go back to college that day and of course classes began the next day completely limiting my time to read for pleasure. But luckily, college wasn't that busy and I finished the book in two days. And all I have to say is SO MANY FEELINGS!!!! It's been about a week since I started the book and also a week since the book has come out, and I still cannot get over the awesomeness that is this book. You get really witty and funny characters, romance, and sadness. Basically, John takes you on an emotional rollercoaster as you follow the main characters Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters through their adventures while living a life with cancer. There are so many themes, motifs, and symbols in this book that really makes me want to sit down and have an in-depth, analytical discussion about this book. I would also love to pick John Green's brain in the process. There are so many good quotes in this book that I would also love to mark-up and highlight but I really don't want to mess up the prettyness that is The Fault in Our Stars.
If you guys are in the mood for a good book to read, on top of The Mortal Instruments series that I recommended last time, this is definitely a good pick. In fact, I would probably put this in front of any other books on that list. Or, if you aren't quite convinced, here are links to John reading from chapters one and two via YouTube. Finally, if you just fall in love with TFIOS and really want to read more books by John, check out Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Will Grayson Will Grayson. The last book, Will Grayson Will Grayson, was co-authored by David Levithan in which John wrote the odd numbered chapters and David wrote the even numbered chapters.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Review: The Mortal Instruments Books 1-4
Hello!
So you're on your 3 week long winter break. There is no stress from college because, well frankly, you haven't started any of your new classes yet. You've caught up with your marvelous high school friends and finally have free time on your hands. What do you do if you're me and a total nerd? You read. Read what exactly? The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Okay, so yeah I know I'm behind on the hype of this series. But, cut me some slack. I've wanted to read the books for a while now, I just haven't had the time. But that doesn't matter to me because the wait was totally worth it. I'm completely obsessed. And how do I know I'm obsessed? I read all four books in about four days. Now I'm a fast reader, but these books aren't that short and it kinda shocked me how much I just didn't want to put the books down. I think the last time I was like this was when I finished the Harry Potter series and read John Green's books. (I can't wait for The Fault in Our Stars to come out!!!)
Anyways, on to my thoughts of the series as a whole. (WARNING SPOILERS) The plot line is pretty engaging, however it's your classic supernatural, young adult, romance-ish series. There are many aspects that remind me of the Harry Potter series and, as you get to books 3 and 4, the Twilight series. However as my AP Literature class taught me, all books and movies are related to each other in a way called intertextuality. Basically, everything with a plot line has the same themes and obviously the same plots. The Mortal Instruments are similar to Harry Potter in that you have an evil guy named Valentine who is trying to purify the Shadowhunter race believing that this is the best thing for the human world. Not to mention he is a bit egotistical. Now who does that sound like? Lord Voldemort. The Mortal Instruments series is reminiscent of the Twilight books because of the crazy and whirl-wind forbidden love of the series' two main characters, Jace and Clary. Okay so one isn't human and the other a vampire that is completely in love with the scent of the other's blood but forbidden love is forbidden love. Why are Jace and Clary forced to fight their passionate love for each other? Well even though they are both Shadowhunters, they learn that they are brother and sister. And not only that but their father is Valentine. Now when I read books I am a big sucker for the romance. Jace and Clary's relationship was no different except the incest aspect practically killed me. I desperately wanted them to be together. Luckily for me, my wish came true in book three. However, introducing the character of Jonathan, Clary's true evil and half-demon brother only to have him killed at the end of the book seemed a little pointless except to save the relationship of Jace and Clary. But of course, Cassandra Clare had a purpose for him as shown in book four. Now I personally hate cliff hangers. Authors use them to keep readers interested in the series but this last book ended the most abruptly out all the books published so far. If she wanted to work on her cliff hanger skills then she definitely improved but I just hate how this book ended mainly because I just wanted the whole Jace angst to end.
All in all I really love this series and I can't wait for Clare's last two books to come out. If you guys are looking for a new series to read and are like me and haven't read these books I would highly recommend them especially if you love anything regarding the supernatural and fantasy.
So you're on your 3 week long winter break. There is no stress from college because, well frankly, you haven't started any of your new classes yet. You've caught up with your marvelous high school friends and finally have free time on your hands. What do you do if you're me and a total nerd? You read. Read what exactly? The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Okay, so yeah I know I'm behind on the hype of this series. But, cut me some slack. I've wanted to read the books for a while now, I just haven't had the time. But that doesn't matter to me because the wait was totally worth it. I'm completely obsessed. And how do I know I'm obsessed? I read all four books in about four days. Now I'm a fast reader, but these books aren't that short and it kinda shocked me how much I just didn't want to put the books down. I think the last time I was like this was when I finished the Harry Potter series and read John Green's books. (I can't wait for The Fault in Our Stars to come out!!!)
Anyways, on to my thoughts of the series as a whole. (WARNING SPOILERS) The plot line is pretty engaging, however it's your classic supernatural, young adult, romance-ish series. There are many aspects that remind me of the Harry Potter series and, as you get to books 3 and 4, the Twilight series. However as my AP Literature class taught me, all books and movies are related to each other in a way called intertextuality. Basically, everything with a plot line has the same themes and obviously the same plots. The Mortal Instruments are similar to Harry Potter in that you have an evil guy named Valentine who is trying to purify the Shadowhunter race believing that this is the best thing for the human world. Not to mention he is a bit egotistical. Now who does that sound like? Lord Voldemort. The Mortal Instruments series is reminiscent of the Twilight books because of the crazy and whirl-wind forbidden love of the series' two main characters, Jace and Clary. Okay so one isn't human and the other a vampire that is completely in love with the scent of the other's blood but forbidden love is forbidden love. Why are Jace and Clary forced to fight their passionate love for each other? Well even though they are both Shadowhunters, they learn that they are brother and sister. And not only that but their father is Valentine. Now when I read books I am a big sucker for the romance. Jace and Clary's relationship was no different except the incest aspect practically killed me. I desperately wanted them to be together. Luckily for me, my wish came true in book three. However, introducing the character of Jonathan, Clary's true evil and half-demon brother only to have him killed at the end of the book seemed a little pointless except to save the relationship of Jace and Clary. But of course, Cassandra Clare had a purpose for him as shown in book four. Now I personally hate cliff hangers. Authors use them to keep readers interested in the series but this last book ended the most abruptly out all the books published so far. If she wanted to work on her cliff hanger skills then she definitely improved but I just hate how this book ended mainly because I just wanted the whole Jace angst to end.
All in all I really love this series and I can't wait for Clare's last two books to come out. If you guys are looking for a new series to read and are like me and haven't read these books I would highly recommend them especially if you love anything regarding the supernatural and fantasy.
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